> From: > Subject: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. > > Attention Beneficiary > > I am Barrister Dick Morris Freedom Chamber, I want to inform you that your fund payment file was brought to my office this morning for me to confiscating your fund base on the director of the western union here in Benin Republic he said I should sign power of attorney to divert your fund to the Government Treasury account just because you can not pay for the fee of your fund which is $175.00 before you start receiving your fund, in his words, he said that you abandon your fund for some times now without hearing from you, my spirit did not allow me to cancel your fund because I know the value and the important of what you are about to loose, I told the director of the western union to wait until I heard from you today and I will know the reason you rejected such amount of two million five hundred thousand united states dollars ($2.5 million) which I know it will change your life future initially , I don't see any reason you will abandon the fund because of $175.00 require fee. > > I want your urgent response as soon as you receive this email and to explain to me the reason you abandon your fund, or if you don't need it again then I will send you a power of attorney which you will sign and I will change your name to another person so that the Government will not claim this which belongs to you. I will wait to hear from you as soon as possible, here is my contact Email:( > > Thanks, > Barrister Dick Morris. > Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2016 08:17:47 +0000> From: mgrammoneytransfer@yahoo.com.hk > Subject: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.> Attention Beneficiary> I am Barrister Dick Morris Freedom Chamber, I want to inform you that your fund payment file was brought to my office this morning for me to confiscating your fund base on the director of the western union here in Benin Republic he said I should sign power of attorney to divert your fund to the Government Treasury account just because you can not pay for the fee of your fund which is $175.00 before you start receiving your fund, in his words, he said that you abandon your fund for some times now without hearing from you, my spirit did not allow me to cancel your fund because I know the value and the important of what you are about to loose, I told the director of the western union to wait until I heard from you today and I will know the reason you rejected such amount of two million five hundred thousand united states dollars ($2.5 million) which I know it will change your life future initially , I don't see any reason you will abandon the fund because of $175.00 require fee.> I want your urgent response as soon as you receive this email and to explain to me the reason you abandon your fund, or if you don't need it again then I will send you a power of attorney which you will sign and I will change your name to another person so that the Government will not claim this which belongs to you. I will wait to hear from you as soon as possible, here is my contact Email:( barristerchamberesq@gmail.com ) Contact Telephone number: +22998692013 > Thanks,> Barrister Dick Morris. Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Attn Dear I acknowledged the receipt of your mail and the content is well noted. Meanwhile, I was appointed by Director of western Union money Transfer to cancel off your fund worth the sum of $2.5Million United state dollars due to your inability to comply with the requirement for the claim of the total value fund. Therefore, I am responding to let you know that I am handling file concern your fund, but bear it that you must comply with sum of $175.00 for obtaining of paper work which will dully cover your fund for safely received. Also my correspondence Bank will speedily transfer the total $2.5million in your account once you comply with the paper works demanding fee. Furthermore, our government has mandated that after 5 working days if the beneficiary of the said fund did not comply accordingly to the said fund would have to transfer into government treasury account as unclaimed fund. Finally, you should you have the required $175.00 send as soon possible to ensure you will not counter any problem for receiving your fund. Below is the information you will use to make the payment Via Money Gram money transfer. Receiver?s Name:ANTHONY UDEZUE Country: Republic OF Benin: City: Cotonou: Question Sent: Answer Soon: Sender?s Name Reference number: I am waiting your promptly response, Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris. Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2016 18:39:12 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: If you need to receive your fund go and send the fee? Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 01:14:43 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Attn Dear This is the below information to send the fee through Money Gram money transfer. Immediately and once you sendthe fee today you will receive your fund within 48hours. Am waiting for the paymentinformation from you now. Below is the information you will use to make the payment Via Money Gram money transfer. Receiver?s Name:ANTHONY UDEZUE Country: Republic OF Benin: City: Cotonou: Question :Sent Answer :Soon Amount :US$175.00 Sender?s Name Reference number: I am waiting your promptly response, Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris. Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 14:13:57 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: If you can not send it through Money Gram money transfer just stop mail us about your fund any more again. Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 16:10:44 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Attn Dear Here is the BANK ACCOUNT Info Use It And Send The Fee Now To Our Branch In USA And let me know immediately you send it now. with the payment silp. Name of the bank. . . . .Bank of America Address . .2060 S. Broadway Santa Maria, Ca.93455 Name. . . Catalina B.Valadez Account Number. . . . 001179708716 Routing Number . . . .121000358 Amount Deposit:. . . . . $175.00 Dollars Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris Here is the BANK ACCOUNT Info Use It And Send The Fee Now To Our Branch In USA And let me know immediately you send it now. with the payment silp.Name of the bank. . . . .Bank of AmericaAddress . .2060 S. Broadway Santa Maria, Ca.93455Name. . . Catalina B.ValadezAccount Number. . . . 001179708716Routing Number . . . .121000358Amount Deposit:. . . . . $175.00 DollarsBest RegardsBarrister Dick Morris Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 16:27:16 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com We give you information to send the fee since and you refuse to send it as you said, for your information after today and you did not send the fee you will lose this your fund for life, because you said that you need to send it through bank to bank now what is holding you to send it since. Waiting to hear from you immediately with the payment slip or it will cancel your name after today. Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2016 20:59:11 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: Attn Dear. If you know that you will send the fee on Monday as you said let me give you information to send it do not send it to that first information if you will send it on Monday,but if you know that you can not send it on Monday let us know and cancel you name on it today. get back immediately if you will send it on Monday for another information to send it avoid mistake and fail to send it Monday you will lose this your fund for life. Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2016 03:55:32 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: Attn Dear. What we need from you is that you will send the US$175.00 only on Monday, but if you know that you can not send it let us cancel your name on the paper work, so waiting to know if it will possible to you for sending it as federal said today before i give you new information to send it on Monday as you said that is what we needed from you now. get back if you will send it on Monday or not, and after Monday and we did not receive the fee know more of receive this fund again. Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2016 07:44:33 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: Attn Dear. Here is the BANK ACCOUNT Info. So you can use it and send the US$175, 00 only. to enable you receive your fund within 48hours to your home address, but if your bank did not send it for you use this money gram information you see here now and send it over there to our branch in U.S.A., so that we can get this done this week as federal government said today about your transfer your fund into your account here once we receive this payment information you will start receive it without any delaying on it. Name of the bank. . . . .Bank of America Address . .2060 S. Broadway Santa Maria, Ca.93455 Name. . . Catalina B.Valadez Account Number. . . . 001179708716 Routing Number . . . .121000358 Amount Deposit:. . . . . $175.00 Dollars Here is the MONEY GRAM INFORMATION TO SEND THE REQUIRED FEE. Receivers Name. .Gonzalo Vazquez Valencia City:. SANTA MARIA State:. California Country:. United States Amount:. $175.00 Dollars question. . When Answer. . . Today PAYMENT DETAILS TO SEND TO US Money transfer control number (MTCN) Senders. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Name Senders. . . . . . . . . . . . Address. Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris Date: Tue, 5 Apr 2016 01:20:56 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Attn Dear. We are waiting for the payment slip from you here immediately you send the fee today and federal waiting for the transfer fee. Name of the bank. . . . .Bank of America Address . .2060 S. Broadway Santa Maria, Ca.93455 Name. . . Catalina B.Valadez Account Number. . . . 001179708716 Routing Number . . . .121000358 Amount Deposit:. . . . . $175.00 Dollars Here is the MONEY GRAM INFORMATION TO SEND THE REQUIRED FEE. Receivers Name. .Gonzalo Vazquez Valencia City:. SANTA MARIA State:. California Country:. United States Amount:. $175.00 Dollars question. . When Answer. . . Today PAYMENT DETAILS TO SEND TO US Money transfer control number (MTCN) Senders. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Name Senders. . . . . . . . . . . . Address. Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2016 02:22:58 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris. From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com Attn Dear If you need your package to be delivery go and make the payment before canceling of it after meeting federal government have made today, that if you refuse to send it now you will have problem with your package immediately to the office of federal without any delaying on it as they said today. Waiting to hear from you immediately before it will be later for you to lose your life and once they do that know more of you to receive it in life again and this is information to you now. Finally, you should you have the required $185.00 send as soon possible to ensure you will not counter any problem for receiving your fund. Below is the information you will use to make the payment Via Money Gram money transfer. Receiver?s Name:ANTHONY UDEZUE Country: Republic OF Benin: City: Cotonou: Question Sent: Answer Soon: Amount sent.US$185. Sender?s Name Reference number: I am waiting your promptly response, Best Regards Barrister Dick Morris.phone number+22998692013 . Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2016 01:16:30 +0300Subject: Re: Attention Beneficiary Form Barrister Dick Morris.From: barristerchamberesq@gmail.com 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.... News Story not available This story has been published on: 2022-10-23. To contact the author, please use the contact details within the article. This story is no longer available on our site. This years Easter Jeep Safari marked the 50th running of the gathering of all things Jeep in the southeastern corner of Utah. Coincidentally, this year also marked the 75th anniversary for the Jeep brand. To celebrate the occasion, we spent the day with Jeep in 2016 75th anniversary models exploring some of the beautiful trails that Moab has to offer. Moab was once most known for its uranium mining, but now the small city serves as a meeting place for all types of outdoor activity such as off-roading, mountain biking, hiking, camping, rock climbing and more. The old mining roads have been repurposed as some of the most epic off-road terrain in all of North America, with the red-rock scenery of Moab providing a stunning backdrop for basically any outdoor activity. At the ripe age of 50, the Easter Jeep Safari event continues to grow, as does Jeeps presence at the event, whether it be in the form of its concept vehicles, its giant product display in town, or its mid-week new product unveiling that coincides with the New York Auto Show (which this year was a Grand Cherokee Trailhawk). Behind the scenes, though, EJS also provides a unique opportunity for Jeep engineers, product planners and other company insiders to experience the event and get a first-hand look at how enthusiasts use the product. Thats essentially how our mid-week trail ride came together with Jeep and Mopar, with us journalists getting behind the wheel of new Jeeps while sharing seats with FCA and Jeep employees. With its humble beginnings back in 1941, Jeep wanted to commemorate its 75th anniversary by creating a special edition model of every vehicle in its lineup. Each vehicle is available in unique, custom colors (Sarge Green, Recon Green or Jungle Green), is equipped with special upgrades, and touts special edition logos and badges and unique bronze accent paint. For our ride wed be driving the Wrangler and Grand Cherokee 75th Anniversary models, as these offer the most ground clearance in stock form. Along for the ride in our vehicle was our buddy Zach Berning from Overland Gourmet and Motusworld.com as well as Hadeer Konja, a director with Jeep engineering. We began the morning heading north out of town and jumping on the dirt off Highway 191. We ventured past Castle Rock and out onto a portion of the Monitor and Merrimac trail, which actually has split sections for four-wheeled off-roading and a separate mountain bike trail. We then connected with 7-Mile Rim, a scenic trail that offers a few small challenges and far tougher ones if you so choose. After our lunch break, we snuck past a few large organized trail runs, some of which were parked near Wipeout Hill but none of which tackled the landmark obstacle while we were there. Our 75th Anniversary Jeep Wrangler Unlimited may have not be fitted with the upgraded Rubicon suspension package, but it still proved why the Wrangler is one of the best out-of-the-box off-road vehicles available. Crawling in 4-Low during the trickier sections, we confidentially tackled the rocky hills, off-camber ledges and other obstacles we encountered on 7-Mile Rim. Our 75th Anniversary model sported unique 17-inch wheels, a power dome hood with functional air vents, front and rear Rubicon 10th Anniversary bumpers, and off-road rock rails for siderail protection over the rock ledges we climbed and descended. Although we didnt spend much seat time in the Grand Cherokee (available in both Laredo and Limited trims), with its air suspension engaged the 75th Anniversary Edition Grands on the trail run cleared the same obstacles the Wranglers did without any headaches. After tackling a few tricky downhill sections, we ventured through Tusher Wash and up through 3D toward Tusher Tunnel, a hollowed-out passage of slick rock you can actually walk through for a few hundred feet (of course, youll have to get out of your rig to experience this one on foot). It was the perfect resting place for a water break. In spite of its remote location, it also happened to be the perfect place for Jeep employees and journalists to check and respond to their email. Hey, at least we shut down the phones for most of the day. We then took one final detour for the day, as our guide Kevin Hawkins of Red Rock 4-Wheelers had one more spot to check out before we finished up. As we ventured down into this final canyon we came to a boulder that had fallen on the trail. As Hawkins explained it, more often than not they will simply clear the boulder from the path. This time, however, they simply carved out a hole in the rock for vehicles to pass through, and thats exactly what we did as we made our way down the valley and back into town. After a long day in the trail, we sadly had to return our decked-out 75th Anniversary Jeeps, but as always, it was another great day out on the trail with old friends and new. If you missed the Easter Jeep Safari 50th anniversary, check out our coverage here. For more information on the 75th Anniversary Jeep models, check out our news story on the models. MORE 206 EASTER JEEP SAFARI Shortcut Concept Jeep Wrangler Pays Homage to Classic CJ-5 Jeep Unleashes it 2016 Easter Jeep Safari Concept Vehicles Loading... OilVoice will be with you shortly... Nebraska and Iowa income tax collectors are taking more time to be sure refunds are going to the right people. The reason: Identity thieves are increasing their attacks on the electronic flow of tax dollars. Each year theres a little bit more, and the thieves get a little bit more advanced, Nebraska Tax Commissioner Tony Fulton said. Returns arent being significantly delayed, he said, but states and the Internal Revenue Service are telling taxpayers theyll have to be patient and allow time for verification before refunds are sent. Taxpayer identity theft is usually uncovered when a taxpayer files a return and is contacted by tax authorities because a fraudulent return already was filed and a refund issued. When that happens, the money flows into an account controlled by criminals. The IRS paid $5.8 billion in fraudulent federal income tax returns in 2013, although it prevented an additional $24.2 billion from being stolen. The Government Accountability Office called such scams a large, continually evolving threat that is costing taxpayers billions of dollars per year. Nebraska and Iowa arent immune from losses. Last year the Iowa Department of Revenue found 10,994 fraudulent tax returns, about 9 percent of the total. Of those, 2,333 were confirmed cases of identity theft, the department said Wednesday. The department was able to stop $10.22 million in refunds from being issued for the fraudulent returns, about 1.4 percent of all refund dollars. Fulton said he doesnt have a count on how much such thieves steal in Nebraska. We do think we do a pretty good job, but if it happens once to a taxpayer, we dont want that, he said. Were taking a little more time to make sure that were getting it right. He declined to describe the added security measures, to keep them secret from the thieves. The Iowa Department of Revenue said it has new security requirements for people filing taxes online, such as signing on to their accounts, to protect their personal information. In some cases taxpayers who request direct deposit will get paper checks instead, the department said. The Associated Press reported that federal and state authorities also are turning to outsiders for help, quizzing taxpayers more closely about their identities and contemplating new legislation. Its likely just the beginning of a long fight, said Edwin King, chief of staff of Kentuckys Finance and Administration Cabinet. Kentucky officials decided to go public because the problem was growing: They caught $16.5 million in fraudulent claims last year double the amount they detected the previous year. In 2014, Susan Combs and her husband got a letter from the feds questioning a refund claim of about $4,000. The couple had not yet filed a return that year. The IRS letter stopped a fraud attempt. The thieves couldnt have known Combs had a professional interest in the crime. She was Texas state comptroller from 2007 to 2014, and now is a fellow at the Center for Identity, a University of Texas think tank that specializes in questions about privacy and security raised in an age when so much personal information is online. Combs said by speaking out about the extent of the identity theft they face, bureaucrats might get support from taxpayers when they ask for money for software and other measures to improve security. But shes not entirely confident. I think people now believe, Im going to get hacked, no matter what. Tax authorities looking for convenience and efficiency have increasingly shifted to electronic filing to save taxpayers, as well as government, time and money. One way they sought to persuade taxpayers to switch from paper returns was to promise quick, direct deposit refunds to e-filers. Fraudsters, many based outside the United States, realized agencies sending deposits quickly would be unable to verify all the returns were legitimate, said Frank Abagnale, a security consultant who tries to think like a criminal. Today, impostors can create fake electronic identities and profit without going to the lengths Abagnale did in his days as the chameleon-like conman portrayed in the 2002 movie Catch Me if You Can. We transfer money, we wire funds on the Internet, said Abagnale, who has consulted with tax authorities in his home state of South Carolina. Its not a secure system. Abagnale advised South Carolina to slow down on refunds. If youre going to provide security, its not going to be very convenient, he said. Its not going to be fast. Colorado has another tactic for combating fraud. In cases in which returns raise suspicions, the state revenue department mails refund checks to the address it has on file for the taxpayer instead of making a direct deposit to a potentially fraudulent account. If the return is indeed fake, the agency counts on the taxpayer to flag it. Colorado paid almost a million refunds by direct deposit in 2011, about 60 percent of all payments, according to figures the revenue department made available to the Associated Press. Direct deposits accounted for an increasingly bigger share of all payments over the next three years. Then came 2015, when staffers started noticing more suspicious returns. The state used caution and made only half a million direct deposits that year, about 30 percent of the total. Taxpayers can also help, by taking simple steps like devising hard-to-guess passwords and changing them regularly, and using different passwords for different electronic accounts, said Verenda Smith, deputy director of the Federation of Tax Administrators, an information-sharing and lobbying group for state tax officials. Kentucky tax officials hope the states heightened security measures will head off tax crimes this year, though they declined to say exactly what steps theyre taking. Releasing that information could tip off identity thieves, officials said. Dan Bork, commissioner of Kentuckys tax agency, said he understands members of the public might find it frustrating that their returns could be delayed this year. Still, we would rather protect their refund than have it end up in the hands of criminals, Bork said. Nebraska Tax Commissioner Fulton said the state was an early adopter of electronic filing and refund deposits, sending more than 90 percent of the states refunds direct to taxpayers bank accounts. Things that are done electronically occur at the speed of light, literally, Fulton said. Electrons are moving to represent bank accounts and monetary values. Generally people ought to know that there are bad people in the world who are trying to steal property, he said, and a quick way for people to do that is to steal your identity. Steps taxpayers can take to protect personal tax information Use secure software to protect computers, including a firewall, anti-virus protection and strong passwords. Beware of phishing emails. Dont click links that could send you to a fabricated website designed to steal your information. Beware of phone scams. True tax authorities will send you letters before calling. To verify a call or if you suspect identity theft, hang up and call 800-742-7474 for Nebraska, 515-281-5986 for Iowa or 800-908-4490 for the IRS. Do not routinely carry your Social Security card or number. Properly shred documents with sensitive information. Know your tax preparer. See the IRS Taxpayer Guide to Identity Theft at irs.gov/uac/Taxpayer-Guide-to-Identity-Theft. Sources: Nebraska Department of Revenue, Iowa Department of Revenue, Internal Revenue Service Analysts will scrutinize ConAgra Foods consumer-foods business when the company reports third-quarter results Thursday morning. Its the first earnings report since the company sold its private-label division to TreeHouse Foods. With ConAgra also working to divest its frozen potato business, its remaining consumer business the products you see at the grocery store is in the spotlight. Some are skeptical that ConAgra will turn around the consumer business, which is facing pressure from cost-conscious investors and from supermarket shoppers looking for fare they perceive as more modern and healthful or who are skipping the supermarket altogether in favor of a restaurant or mail-order meal kit. Jason English of Goldman Sachs credited the company for its campaign to cut $300 million in annual costs, part of a cost-cutting trend sweeping the packaged-food industry. ConAgra Chief Executive Sean Connolly announced the cuts in October as the company was under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners. The Omaha company has worked to cut 1,500 jobs, including 1,000 Omaha positions, as it narrows the focus of its business and relocates the headquarters and 300 more jobs to Chicago, a move planned for this summer. But English said he would look to see ConAgra deliver higher sales volume, and demonstrate the ability to charge more for its often-discounted products, before he would rate the stock a buy. He attributed some of what he said has been an uptrend in the business during the quarter to lower input costs in other words, cheaper raw materials like corn. The value of what is left in the remaining portfolio largely its consumer-foods segment does not appear overly compelling to us, he wrote in a note to clients. Sales of Banquet frozen dinners, especially, are falling, he said; ConAgra has targeted that brand for a makeover with new packaging, advertising and ingredients. This earnings report may not show much progress in the companys effort to spruce up its branded food portfolio, and will probably reveal sales weakness, Stifel analyst Chris Growe said in a note this week. Details have been scarce about the transformation, and he looks for news about ConAgras plans for its brands. ConAgras strategy to focus on consumer foods faces myriad challenges, analyst Eric Katzman told Deutsche Bank clients in a Monday note. Noting that shares of ConAgra are up about 6 percent in the past three months, outperforming both the S&P 500 and the S&P Food Products Index, he said hed look at whether any improvement came from actual growth in sales versus cost-cutting. ConAgra didnt comment for this story. Wall Street analysts surveyed by FactSet expect, on average, adjusted earnings per share of 58 cents, compared to 59 cents a year ago in the same quarter. Katzman and other analysts also said investors will be looking for more information about the pending spinoff of the Lamb Weston potato business, and how the companies will be structured once split. Details are likely to be scarce until this fall, before the planned spin, he said. Analyst Jonathan Feeney agreed. He described the questions that hung in the air at a consumer goods analysts meeting in February, where everyone in the room wondered if Lamb Weston could, instead of seeing a split, be sold to a company like Post or Tyson. But there was no answer: Sean never gets one inch off message, he said of the ConAgra chief. ConAgra shares were down about 0.7 percent on Tuesday, tracking the decline in the broader market, closing at $45.09 on the New York Stock Exchange. Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com FREMONT Public Comment Period, the Fremont City Council said on its agenda. At 7 p.m. Tuesday, it said. So some 100 people packed the City Hall hearing room to have their say on a proposed chicken plant north of this city. Then the council changed its plan. We will have no public comment, Mayor Scott Getzschman said at the meeting. You gotta be kidding me, said Dawn Wiegert, who was among many in the crowd reacting with apparent disbelief. The Fremont resident said she wanted to tell the City Council what she thought about the proposed plant, pitched as an economic development boon to the region. Were for bringing career jobs, not low-wage jobs, she told The World-Herald after the meeting. The mayor said the City Council canceled the public comment period because the project is in limbo. On Monday, the Village of Nickerson, just north of Fremont, rejected a zoning change needed for the project amid heavy opposition to the plant from citizens. Getzschman, reading a statement he said came from the Greater Fremont Development Council, one of the groups trying to recruit the plant, told the crowd Tuesday: The client is listening to your current concerns. They acknowledge that mistakes have been made along the lines of not being able to share its identity. The company contemplating the plant hasnt named itself, nor will public officials disclose its identity. Getzschman said Project Rawhide, the code name for the plant, has decided to step back and re-evaluate all of their options. He said that meant a discussion of Fremonts role in extending utilities to the plant is moot for now. Wiegert still wanted a say. They should be able to listen whether its negative comments or positive comments, she said. Nickerson area resident Kathy Drawbridge, who opposes the plant because of concerns about its environmental impact and the potential for avian influenza, said the canceled hearing made her feel that opponents were having an effect. I feel more confident, she said. After the minutes-long meeting adjourned, opponents talked strategy. Randy Ruppert of Nickerson, organizer of the anti-plant Nebraska Communities United group, said the project organizers are not going away, but I think they have to redefine the project. Now its a waiting game. It gives our group time to solidify. Contact the writer: 402-444-1336, barbara.soderlin@owh.com * * * More coverage of the proposed chicken plant near Fremont New Treasury Department rules aimed at making so-called tax inversions more difficult could imperil Pfizers $160 billion deal to join Botox-maker Allergan and move its headquarters to Ireland, several corporate tax experts said. That inversion was expected to lower the pharmaceutical giants tax rate to 17 or 18 percent and save the company about $35 billion in taxes. But the new rules, announced late Monday, could make those tax savings more difficult to achieve. Tuesday, President Barack Obama followed up the rules announcement by making a forceful case for stopping corporations from combining with foreign firms and moving their headquarters overseas in order to avoid U.S. taxes. Such firms are taking advantage of the U.S. economic system and saddling the American middle class with the bill, he said. These companies renounce their citizenship but get all of the rewards of being an American company, Obama said. Moreover, such tax avoidance is a global problem, he said, pointing to a recent, large leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm, papers that allegedly detail the offshore shell companies and tax shelters used by rich leaders around the world. A lot of it is legal that is exactly the problem, he said. Pfizer, asked to respond, repeated the statement it made with Allergan on Monday: We are conducting a review. ... Prior to completing the review, we wont speculate on any potential impact. As it stands, in order to take advantage of tax savings through an inversion, the shareholders of the U.S. company must own less than 60 percent of the combined company. Pfizers shareholders would own 56 percent of the combined company, for example. But thats partly because Allergen has completed previous acquisitions of U.S. companies that have increased its size. Last year, Dublin-based Actavis completed its deal to buy Allergan for $70.5 billion, and the combined company took on Allergans name. But Actavis itself was the product of several deals that in effect relocated corporate headquarters: Actavis bought New York-based Forest Laboratories for $28 billion in 2014. And in 2013, then New Jersey-based Actavis bought Warner Chilcott in a deal valued at $8.5 billion, relocating its global headquarters to Ireland. Under the new rules, stock that Allergan has issued within the past three years to acquire U.S. companies wouldnt be included in the calculations. Applying that rule, Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that Pfizer shareholders might own about 70 percent of the new foreign company, well above the 60 percent rule, said Frank Clemente, executive director of the advocacy group. It appears that the Treasury Department has issued a rule with respect to serial inverters, such as Allergan, that will wipe out the expected tax breaks Pfizer was counting on, Clemente said. We await formal comments from the companies, but at this point we believe it is unlikely the deal will close, CreditSuisse analyst Vamil Divan said Tuesday. Analysts say they are unsure about the legality of the new regulations but note that Pfizer might not want wage a long legal fight over them. There is a $3.5 billion breakup fee written into the deal, according to a regulatory filing, but the fee would be only $400 million if the deal falls through because of an adverse change in law. The Obama administration has struggled to stem a tide of inversions. The rules announced Monday were the administrations third attempt to address the issue, and administration officials still say that stopping inversions ultimately will require congressional action. Business groups say inversions will continue to make financial sense so long as the U.S. corporate tax rate, 35 percent, remains the highest in the developed world. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) PayPal said Tuesday that it was scrapping a $3.6 million, 400-job expansion in North Carolina, the biggest economic backlash so far to a new state law that restricts protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. More than 100 corporate leaders have denounced the law, saying it is unfair and makes attracting talent harder. PayPals announcement arrived days after Lionsgate decided to move the filming of a comedy series from North Carolina to Canada. This decision reflects PayPals deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect, the company said. In another development, meanwhile, organizers say some customers have pulled out of one of the worlds largest furniture markets in High Point, North Carolina. And New Jersey-based Braeburn Pharmaceuticals said it was reconsidering building a $50 million plant in Durham County, North Carolina. The new law was the first state legislation in the nation limiting bathroom options for transgender people, requiring them to use the bathrooms conforming to the sex on their birth certificates. The law also excludes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from anti-discrimination protections. And it blocks cities from adopting their own anti-discrimination rules. Republican Gov. Pat McCrory said its up to companies to decide how to deal with the new law and said he expects PayPal to continue providing services in North Carolina. A group that supported the law, the North Carolina Values Coalition, said PayPal pulled out after receiving millions in corporate incentives. It said that a company with its hands in the pockets of the taxpayers of North Carolina shouldnt insert itself into the bathroom policies of the state. In Nebrasaka, PayPal has a global operations center and about 2,800 employees in La Vista. SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) Puerto Ricos Senate approved a measure Tuesday that would allow the U.S. territorys governor to declare a fiscal emergency and declare a halt to making debt payments. Senators said the measure would ensure the continuation of essential government services as the Puerto Rican government runs out of money. It also would create a path to place the troubled Government Development Bank into receivership if needed. Puerto Rico is in need of immediate relief, the measure states. It needs tools to exercise its police powers in order to protect the health, safety and welfare of the people of Puerto Rico. The bill would allow the governor to impose the debt-payments moratorium until January 2017. It also calls for the creation of a financial advisory authority to oversee fiscal issues. The Puerto Rican House began debating the legislation Tuesday. Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla, who supports the bill, called an emergency meeting with top government officials amid concerns that the House might not approve the bill. Some opposition legislators criticized the governor for seeking too-abrupt approval of the bill, which the Senate passed in pre-dawn hours as bondholders arrived in Puerto Rico seeking a restructuring deal. The presence of the bondholders rankled some legislators. Those prowling the Capitol are not those who lent money to our people. They are expecting an absurd profit at the expense of the people, Rep. Manuel Natal told reporters. Meanwhile, Puerto Rico continues to urge the U.S. Congress to approve a restructuring mechanism to deal with a $70 billion public debt load, which Garcia says cannot be repaid. The bill states that Puerto Rico may default on $400 million worth of the development banks bonds due in May and on $780 million due in July. It says the bank, which issues loans and oversees the islands debt transactions, has only $562 million in liquidity. The bank already faces its first lawsuit, filed Monday by a group of hedge funds seeking to stop the bank from forgiving debt. Government officials say they are still in negotiations with creditors, who have rejected the proposed bill and warned that it would lead to numerous lawsuits. LINCOLN A new report says that nearly half of all Nebraska prison inmates released in the final months of 2015 left prison without any parole or other supervision, a statistic that two state senators called unacceptable and a threat to public safety. State Sens. Heath Mello and Bob Krist, both of Omaha, said Tuesday that officials of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services and Nebraska Board of Parole need to further explain why 47.2 percent of inmates left prison without parole supervision during the last quarter of 2015. In response, Jeff Beaty of the Corrections Department and Rosalyn Cotton, the chairwoman of the state parole board, both said theyre not happy with the figure, either. But they said coming changes in the agency and in parole should decrease the number of inmates who jam out of prison without a transitional period of supervision. Were not satisfied where we are now, said Beaty, the agencys director of planning, research and accreditation. Our goal is to get those numbers down. During the months of October, November and December, 257 inmates were discharged from state prisons without supervision, either by a parole officer or through supervised release. Beaty, though, said that more than half of those inmates 138 werent eligible for parole, either because their sentences did not allow it or because they had been placed on parole previously but violated the conditions of release. Last year, state lawmakers passed a prison reform package, Legislative Bill 605, that had a goal of ensuring that most inmates undergo a period of supervised release after completing their prison sentence or are placed on parole. The idea is to better prepare inmates for re-entry into society and to reduce repeat crimes, thus avoiding a return to prison. LB 605 was developed under the guidance of the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments, an office that has helped more than two dozen states reduce prison spending by emphasizing alternatives to incarceration, including increased use of parole and supervised release. The bill required the Corrections Department to submit an annual report on the number of inmates who jam out of prison, without going through parole or supervised release. That provision was inspired, in part, by the case of Nikko Jenkins, a mentally troubled inmate who murdered four people in Omaha shortly after being released from prison in July 2013. Jenkins, it was discovered, had received little preparation for release and no supervision upon leaving prison after spending months in solitary confinement, which experts say can exacerbate behavioral problems. LB 605 took effect Aug. 30, and judges have begun using new sentencing guidelines that include a mandatory period of supervised release. Corrections first report on the issue included the first full quarter since the law took effect. The report stated that the Council of State Governments is working with the department and the Board of Parole to reduce the number of inmates who jam out and to review the states rehabilitation programs in prison. The Board of Parole, which decides whether an inmate should be released on parole supervision, is also revamping its guidelines to ensure that inmates are paroled at the earliest opportunity. Beaty said that a new risk-assessment test for inmates, scheduled to be implemented by July 1, should give the Corrections Department a better idea of what caused them to commit crimes, such as drug use or mental illness, and how to address those issues. Krist said he is growing impatient. Corrections and the Board of Parole, he said, need to quit studying problems and begin taking action to correct them. I dont see a lot of changes going on, the senator said. Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com Why Assam is BJP's best bet in the elections Assam oi-Vicky By Vicky The BJP feels that in all the states it is contesting the elections, it has the most realistic chance in Assam. The BJP is not just confident of making gains in Assam, but even putting in place a government. The BJP's national spokesperson, G V L Narasimha Rao says that the party has been robbed off a chance to form a government in Assam in the past, but this time around they are confident of winning the state hands down. Rao spoke with OneIndia about the party's performance in Assam which went to polls yesterday. Gains in Assam: "The BJP is at a major advantage in Assam. The people of Assam are fed up with the Congress and their Chief Minister in particular. In fact the BJP is not viewing the Congress as a threat in Assam. The people are looking for a change and they see hope in the BJP. This time everything has gone right for us. There is nothing in fact that is not working for the BJP. We have an alliance with the AGP and the BPF which has given us an advantage. " Rao adds. Also Read: Congress committed to 'Make in Assam': Rahul Gandhi The BJP's spokesperson goes on to add that the party will make major gains in almost all parts of the state. However, we are not expecting much in those regions where the settlement of illegal immigrants are high. Barring these areas, we are confident of doing well and will also form the government. The vibes that we have got from the state has been extremely positive in nature. Moreover our alliances are also right this time around which has only added to our chances of not only bettering our performance, but even over-throwing the Congress in Assam, Rao further added. Kerala and West Bengal: On the prospects of the party in Kerala and West Bengal, G V L N Rao says that things are looking good. In West Bengal, we are confident of increasing our vote share. We are in fact looking to increase our vote share by three times, he also says. In Kerala, the BJP is looking to make a major difference. All through the campaign we have been getting a very good vibe. We will be a player for sure. Also Read: BJP confident of forming government in Assam The workers on the ground have done an immensely commendable job and the dividends will surely pay, Rao says. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 10:05 [IST] India making every effort to deal with global economic challenges: PM Modi at 'Rozgar mela' Deepotsav 2022: In PM Modi's presence, 18 lakh diyas to create new world record in Ayodhya | Top points Narendra Modi launches Stand-Up India Programme Feature oi-Lisa By Lisa Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Stand Up India Programme from Noida on the birth anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram who had dedicated his entire life for the upliftment of the poor and marginalised. At the event PM Modi in a bid to inspire fellow Indian went Digital way and booked e-rickshaw and made payment for the same through cellphone. Main points from PM's speech: PM Modi while addressing the citizens on the occasion said that, "On his birth anniversary, tributes to the stalwart who dedicated his life to the upliftment of the poor and marginalised, Babu Jagjivan Ram. Babu Jagjivan Ram made India very proud. Today on his birth anniversary 'Stand up India' is being launched." PM dwelled on accomplishments of Babu Jagjivan Ram and said that, "As agriculture minister Babu Jagjivan Ram did a lot to usher the green revolution. In 1971 he was the defence minister. Whatever one's party is, we have to remember those who have lived for the nation." As agriculture minister Babu Jagjivan Ram did a lot to usher the green revolution. In 1971 he was the defence minister: PM @narendramodi April 5, 2016 PM Modi also lauded the spirit of enterprise of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry and its Founding Chairman Milind Kamble as he commenced his speech at Stand Up India programme. Stand Up India Programme: PM Modi said that Stand Up India aims to empower every Indian and enable them to stand on their own feet. The job seeker has to become a job creator said PM emphasising on the importance of Stand Up India Scheme. The job seeker has to become a job creator: PM @narendramodi on the importance of 'Stand up India' scheme https://t.co/Iy8hu3Nre5 PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 5, 2016 He further added that this scheme is going to transform the lives of people from Dalit and Tribal communities. Stand up India initiative would promote entrepreneurship among women, SC and ST communities PM said with confidence. Distribution of e-rickshaw: Prime Minister Narendra Modi then distributed e-rickshaw to some and then said that his government will have 'Chai Pe Charcha' with families of e-rickshaw beneficiaries. PM added, "E-rickshaws will be given to those who do not own rickshaws. The beneficiaries of this will be the poor". PM Modi further added that, "When the poor of the nation script our progress journey that is when India will develop". PM concluded by requesting e-rickshaw beneficiaries that, "You will have to educate your children particularly your daughters". You will have to educate your children particularly your daughters: PM @narendramodi tells e-rickshaw beneficiaries PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 5, 2016 For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 11:32 [IST] Why India's growing proximity to Saudi Arabia bothers Pakistan Feature oi-Pallavi By Pallavi Narendra Modi's tour to Saudi Arabia may have many bilateral agendas, but it has also shaken the strength of Pakistan that thrived upon its religious closeness to Saudi Arabia. Incidentally, economic and strategic opportunities are bringing India closer to the oil-rich global nations. And Modi being bestowed the The King Abdul Aziz Order , the Kingdom's highest civilian award, by the King Salman bin Abdul Aziz acted as icing on the cake. Evidently, a difference in opinion between the two Islamic countries is already growing them apart. Terror Diaries Although the birth place of slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden, it is to be noticed that the latter was given asylum in Pakistan. Saudi Arab's take on terrorism has also changed from being a mute spectator to sending an army contingent to fight the ISIS. [Read: Modi holds talks with Saudi King to boost strategic ties] Pakistan too claims to support Europe's and the Middle East's stance of fighting terrorism. However, it needs to be remembered that the former is the den to some of the most notorious terrorist groups in the world. So much so that Pakistan ranks third on Global Terrorism Index. The study was conducted by London-based Institute for Economics and Peace, which stated that Pakistan saw a 37% increase in deaths and 28% increase in injuries since 2012. [Read: Highlights of Narendra Modi's Saudi Arabia Visit] The report also stated that death resulting from terror incidents in Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Syria account for more than 80% of the total deaths from attacks. The report also claims that Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has conducted 778 attacks between 2000 and 2013, of which 12% were carried out by suicide bombers. It is also said that Pakistan-backed Taliban has the highest number of fighters, estimated to be between 36,000 to 60,000. Saudi Arabia's stance against ISIS and terrorism When Pakistan has failed to answer anti-terrorism calls in the world, especially against ISIS, Saudi Arabia shares similar anti-terrorism ideas with India. Saudi Arabia has finally declared sending troops to Syria to fight the ISIS. Even though it came with much pestering from the US. [Read: Modi's Saudi visit may unnerve Pakistan: US expert] Aparna Pande, director India Initiative of the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank said,"After years of considering Saudi Arabia as a major ally and economic benefactor, Pakistan may be on the verge of losing its erstwhile patron to archrival India. Modi arrived in Riyadh last week for an official visit full of diplomatic significance." She further added,"Economic and strategic issues are bringing India and Saudi Arabia closer, just as they are working to the advantage of India with other countries." Growing trade relations The economic relations of Saudi Arabia and India have become economically more significant because of the involvement of USD 39.4 billion in bilateral trade in 2014-15. Pakistan-Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, a meagre contract of USD 6.1 billion. While India is the fifth largest importer of oil from Saudi Arabia, after China, Japan, the US and South Korea. "Or it could change its own approach to India and seek rapprochement to take advantage of economic and strategic opportunities that are making India a desirable partner for Pakistan's erstwhile friends," Pande said. Losing out on its biggest financial supporter in Saudi, after USA, would be tad too difficult for Pakistan to handle. Religious and financial alienation would not only cripple Pakistan, but also create a less-appeaking picture of the country in the world. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 15:24 [IST] 2 killed, one burnt alive as police bus runs over bikers | Watch Bihar: Girls protest after being asked to remove Hijab during exam Bihar: When asked to take off hijab to check for bluetooth device, Muslim student leaves exam centre Central team roped in as dengue cases in Bihar rise to over 5000 Bihar liquor ban: Here is what Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor said to CM Nitish Kumar India oi-Jagriti Patna, Apr 6: Taking a jibe on liquor ban in Bihar, Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor said that prohibition on alcohol has failed worldwide. Bihar has become a dry state after the government extended the ban on Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) on April 5. The actor took Twitter to express his reactions after a blanket ban on liquor imposed in Bihar. Nitish promised to put a ban on liquor in the state while campaigning for the 2015 assembly polls. Here is what Rishi Kapoor said about the ban Practising drinking since Coolie days. Waise-Smoking and Drinking is hazardous. People Please abstain from it. Tx! pic.twitter.com/Tk4VNRku4L Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) April 5, 2016 Bihar you will encourage bootlegging and illicit liquor.Prohibition has failed worldwide. Wake up!You will also lose 3000 Crs revenue loss Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) April 5, 2016 10 years imprisonment for alcohol-5 years for illegal possession of ARMS? Wah Nitesh! Me no coming to Bihar!How myopic can you get in 2016?? Rishi Kapoor (@chintskap) April 5, 2016 OneIndia News CBSE not to conduct re-examination of class 12 Maths paper? India oi-Avinash New Delhi, Apr 6: In what could be understood as a massive blow to thousands of CBSE class 12 students, the board has reportedly decided not to conduct a re-examination of the alleged leaked Maths paper. CBSE has now junked the reports that it has decided a re-examination and claimed fake circular were being circulated to misguide the students. Some fake circular went viral on social media, claiming that the CBSE will conduct Maths examination on May 1. The only information about the Class XII Maths Examination which exists on CBSE website (cbse.nic.in) says, "The CBSE class XII mathematics paper was held on March 14, 2016. The feedback received from various stakeholders including students, subject teachers, examiners will be placed before the committee of subject experts and the board will take remedial measures before evaluation." (CBSE exams: Students allege Maths paper leaked on WhatsApp) Earlier, on March 16, the Centre favoured a probe into the reported leakage of a CBSE Class XII examination paper and suggestions that the questions were rather difficult for the students, after members from several parties raised the issue in the Lok Sabha. NK Premchandran (RSP) and KC Venugopal (Congress) said most questions of the mathematics paper were "very difficult" and out of syllabus, while referring to media reports that claimed that the questions were leaked in the Patna region. While even many bright students in southern India found the questions very tough, on the other hand they were leaked in north India, Venugopal said, alleging that there was a conspiracy behind it and the HRD ministry should intervene. Disappointed students from Ranchi and Dhanbad region had then said that several questions and their sequence were similar to a question paper which was leaked on WhatsApp on March 16. Their parents too said that touts were found selling 51 questions and answers near exam centres. Thousands of students and parents are since then demanding for a re-examination. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 17:33 [IST] Partial Solar Eclipse 2022: City-wise timings, when and where to watch Delhi minister defends remarks on Modi India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, Apr 6: Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra on Wednesday justified his remarks wondering if Prime Minister Narendra Modi was an agent of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI. "Every child in the country is asking the same question," Mishra told IANS. "I stand by my (Tuesday) remark. I have doubts about Modi's agenda for sure." Mishra had tweeted on Tuesday: "Do we have an ISI agent as PM now?? Its very serious the way PM is surrendering to anti-India forces?" Mishra's comments followed the Modi government decision to allow a Pakistani team to probe the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab. Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday asked Modi to "apologize to the nation" for allowing the Pakistani team to probe the terror attack. Read More: AAP minister Kapil Mishra creates controversy: Here is what he said about PM Modi BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and other BJP leaders attacked Mishra over his remarks. Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party leader Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Wednesday accused Mishra of indulging in "cheap politics". He told IANS: "They have no understanding of international politics." IANS Delhi shocker: Trucker drags victim for 8 km, friends who pleaded attacked India oi-PTI New Delhi, Apr 6: In a shocking incident, an 18-year -old boy on scooter was crushed to death by a speeding truck which dragged him for around eight kilometers, while two of the victim's friends, who clung to the dumper making desperate pleas to the driver to stop, were attacked with rod by his helper. The incident occurred in the wee hours yesterday in southeast Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area and the errant dumper was flagged down at a picket near Aurobindo College after a chase following which the body of the victim, identified as Fawad Ahamd, was pulled out, police said today. Ahmad, a waiter by profession, was on his scooter with two of his friends riding pillion driving past Lajpat Nagar in the wee hours yesterday when the speeding truck hit them from behind, a police official said. However, the driver did not stop after the collision and accelerated the vehicle, with Ahmad's body and the broken scooter stuck in the vehicle's suspension. Meanwhile, Ahmad's friend Gaurav and Shivam managed to grab railings on two different sides of the vehicle and clung on to the speeding truck, pleading the driver to stop, the official said. UP - BSF jawan killed in road accident While the driver, identified as Abdul Gaffur, refused to do so, his helper, Saikulliya, allegedly kept hitting the hanging duo with a rod until they managed to get rid of them at a spot in August Kranti Marg. It was a passerby, a 34-year-old electrician who was heading back home, who witnessed the episode and called up the police, the official said. The PCR call was received around 2.20 AM, following which a team from Lajpat Nagar police station chased the truck. When they did not succeed, the message was passed on to a PCR team deployed in August Kranti Marg and the chase continued. The truck was finally flagged down at a police picket near Aurobindo College in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar area, around 8 km away from the spot of the accident. Ahmad's body was spotted and soon pulled out. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, the official added. "We have arrested four persons under relevant sections of law in connection with the incident," DCP (Southeast) M S Randhawa said. The arrested persons include the errant driver and helper of the truck which hit Ahmad's scooter and also the driver and helper of the truck following the vehicle. They worked for the same construction enterprise and tried to evade arrest. A police team had signalled the other truck to stop, but they disobeyed. Both trucks have been impounded, an official said. He said both the trucks also allegedly tried to obstruct the electrician who chased the accused for around 2 kms and also informed the police. PTI Kalam's supporters want his official house as knowledge center 'Most graduates in India have theoretical knowledge, need skills' Kalams personal belongings on way to Delhi India oi-Oneindia By Our Defence Bureau Bengaluru, April 06: House of Kalam on Wednesday handed over some of the personal belongings of former President of India Dr A P J Abdul Kalam to Delhi Culture Minister Kapil Mishra. At a low-key event held at Rameswaram, A P J M Maraikayar, 99-year-old elder brother of Dr Kalam handed over a number of items to Mishra and his team. As promised earlier, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government has initiated the process of setting up a Knowledge Centre in Delhi, in honour of Dr Kalam. Sheik Saleem, one of the Spokespersons from House of Kalam told OneIndia that the family is extremely satisfied with the development. "We flagged off the items today and they should reach Delhi within a week. The Knowledge Center should be operational in July this year and the final date will be announced later. We are sure that the move by Delhi government will inspire many youngsters," says Saleem, grandnephew of Dr Kalam. The Knowledge Centre is being established at Dilli Haat at INA. The first death anniversary of Dr Kalam will be observed on July 27 this year. Among the personal items that were transported to Delhi included around 1000 books, pens, Presidential Suit, paintings, mementoes, shawls, digital copies of his speeches to name a few. Dr Kalam's family had written to Delhi government asking for a Knowledge Centre last year. "This is a positive development and we are happy," says R K Prasad, Dr Kalam's longest serving Private Secretary OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 20:34 [IST] Karnataka BJP president: Aspirants told to wait India oi-Vicky New Delhi, April 6: The BJP in Karnataka would have to wait a while longer before it gets a new chief. The decision to appoint a new President for the party in the state will be taken only after the elections to the four states is completed. Several aspirants to the post have been making visits to Delhi, but have returned after being told that the focus of the party is currently on the assembly elections at Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and West Bengal. The other issue that has been haunting the BJP is that there are too many aspirants and each one of them is trying to block the other. There is no consensus within the BJP in the state. Although many are backing former Chief Minister, B S Yeddyurappa, there are others who want a younger face such as C T Ravi to take over the mantle. Wait a while longer: Yeddyurappa who recently met with BJP's national president, Amit Shah was told that the decision would be taken only after the elections. We are in the process of appointing several presidents in the states including Telangana. All these decisions would be taken collectively by the top brass, Shah told Yeddyurappa. Sources also say that Yeddyurappa was not happy with the name of C T Ravi doing the rounds and he had appraised Shah about the same. However the national chief of the party said that all issues would be considered, but only after the elections. OneIndia News Keralite engineer held captive in Libya not harmed: Family India oi-PTI Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 6: A 43-year-old Keralite software professional in Libya, taken captive along with three other colleagues in Tripoli, have not been been physically harmed, according to information received by the family. Reji Joseph, working as IT engineer in the Al Diwan software company for Technical Consultancies and IT Ltd had been abducted along with three other Libyan colleagues on March 31. He was working for a project of Civil Registration Authority when he was taken captive along with others, Jojo Joseph, Reji's brother told PTI from Koorachundu in Kozhikode district. The company's owner, Khalid, today informed Reji's wife Shinju Thankachen, a nurse working in a hospital in Libya, that her husband and the others were not physically harmed. The couple have 3 young daughters. The family today contacted the External Affairs Ministry seeking their help. Emails have also been sent to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Jojo said. They were planning to come this week or next week. While Shinju had not been getting her salary for over a year, Reji's pay was also due for two months, his brother said. Reji had gone to Libya in 2007 and returned in 2010, just as the civil war broke in that country. In 2013, Reji's wife went back to Libya and he followed a year later with the children, the family said. Since the past few days, due to the unrest, Reji had been working from home and on March 31, the owner sent his car with armed guards to fetch him. Reji after reaching the work site at Suk El Juma, had texted a message to his wife and brother in Kerala that he had safely reached his workplace. However, when even late into night he did not turn up, his wife contacted the owner, who assured that he was at work. The initial information the family received was that Reji had been abducted by an extremist group. There was no information after that following which his wife contacted the embassy officials and informed them about his plight. The embassy officials got in touch with the owner who informed them that the Keralite and three others had been taken into custody by Intelligence Bureau. The family is not yet clear who has holding them captive and where, they said. PTI Kolkata flyover crash: Another plea in HC seeking probe India oi-IANS By Ians English Kolkata, April 6: Questioning the tendering process of the project, a petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday seeking a probe into the Vivekananda Road flyover collapse which killed 26 people. Filed before the bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, the public interest litigation also seeks monetary compensation from the union government for the victims. A large chunk of the under-construction flyover collapsed on March 31 in the busy Posta area, trapping scores of people underneath. Originally planned in the beginning of the last decade under the JNNURM, the foundation for the project was laid in 2008 and the work began in February 2009. "Despite the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) of the union ministry of urban development objecting to the project in 2008, the tendering process was completed in haste. "There are several documents to show, the project was ill conceived and despite being plagued by numerous delays, it has been continued. So we have sought formation of a committee which will probe the entire project under the supervision of the court," petitioner R.P. Sarkar said. The petition also calls for probing the role of the urban development ministry. Progress of all JNNURM projects is assessed on a monthly basis. Inexplicably, this project, which was scheduled to be finished in October 2011, was allowed numerous deferrals. "Moreover, traffic movement below under-construction projects is usually prohibited. Had it been done, the massive loss of life could have been prevented. We have also sought how and who gave this permission," added Sarkar. On April 1, another PIL was filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking a court monitored CBI probe into the tragedy. IANS Radia tapes: SC to first hear issue of right to privacy Niira Radia now surfaces in 'Panama Papers' India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, April 6: Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Communications whose taped telephone chats with some prominent people in India around eight years ago, including ministers, journalists and business tycoons became the matter of a probe, has now surfaced in the "Panama Papers" expose. Her name (appearing as Nira Radia, in the documents investigated, minus the extra 'i') is allegedly linked to a company in British Virgin Islands, which her office has denied, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. Panama Papers: Prabhash Sankhla says nothing to hide In the article, as Part 3 of the expose on Indians having alleged offshore links, Radia is said to have figured prominently as a director in the 232 documents pertaining to the company listed in the tax haven, Crownmart International Group. The list published by the newspaper on Wednesday also has the names of a top business tycoon in Bellary, a prominent industrialist and a chartered accountant -- each of whom, which The Indian Express says were contacted for their responses, with many also sharing their versions. Another article seeks to shows how the world's largest currency note maker De La Rue had contracted a New Delhi businessman to help bag tenders in India, in return for a 15-percent commission. The paper identifies the company as Aphra Consultants, linked to Somendra Khosla of New Delhi. Amid these allegations, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team in which the central bank has been co-opted. Raghuram Rajan: Not every off-shore company need be illegitimate On Radia, the paper said: "An investigation of these papers shows the existence of one offshore entity owned by Radia, an International Business Company registered in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseka in 1994 named Crownmart International Group Limited." In response, her office said the said entity was set up by her late father Iqbal Narain Menon and that she was not a beneficiary. Also that Radia had disclosed her assets to the authorities in UK and India and that such information was personal and confidential for third parties. In another article published on Wednesday, the newspaper said the Indian diamond merchants, who were probed earlier for having overseas accounts in Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands and HSCB, have also surfaced in "Panama Papers". Icelanders protest against PM's tax haven allegation Prominent among them are Rosy Blue, one of the largest diamond traders in the world, and Chetan Mehta of the Belgium-based Gembel family. The paper also reported that Harshad Ramniklal Mehta of Rosy Blue did not respond to its calls or queries, while Chetan Mehta said he has been a non-resident Indian living in Belgium and that the companies were shut longtime ago. A part of the list, Hyderabad-based Moturi Srinivas Prasad said the off-shore entities were started as one dollar companies with the hope of doing business, but were closed. Satish Modi of Modi Global was away from India, but an e-mail reply from his office said he is an NRI and laws were followed. Others: - Hyderabad-based businessman Bhavanasi Jaya Kumar who maintained he had nothing to do with offshore companies. - UK-based Bhaskar Rao, whose son said the companies were not exactly active and that due procedures were followed. - Civil construction business people Preetam Bothra and Sweta Gupta, with the latter when contacted, posing the query, as to why she should share any information with the newspaper. - Ahmedabad-based Bhandari Ashok Ramdayalchand, with a response from someone at his residence that he was not interested in talking. - Kolkata-based Ashok Malhotra who, the paper says, admitted to knowing about the off-shore accounts but kept changing his stories. - Dehradun-based Sanjay Pokhriyal, who said the $10,000 endowment for a Panamanian fund allegedly linked to him was not his own money. - Belary iron exporters Prasanna V. Ghotage and Vaman Kumar who the paper could not contact. - Vadodara-based Pradeep Kaushikray Buch, who denied he had any such overseas company linked to him. - Rahul Arunprasad Patel of Sintex Industries, who reportedly said he has several overseas companies but was not sure if the one named in the expose belonged to him. - Thiruvananthapuram native and chartered accountant George Mathew, who said the linked companies belonged to clients and that Indian agencies had nothing to do with them. The global expose has been conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers", based on millions of documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca that helped in setting up off-shore entities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose. IANS It is said that the non-local students of the NIT had protested when Kashmiri students had celebrated West Indies' win over India in the T-20 world cup semi final game that was held recently. They alleged that the police resorted to lathi charge and even beat them up when they were trying to approach the main gate in a bid to speak with the media. Don't fake the news of normalcy The students who have alleged police atrocity say that the administration should stop faking the news that the situation is normal. It is not normal the students have said while seeking action against the police and also those who had resorted to stone pelting against them. The police however said that they had resorted only to a mild lathi charge as the students were trying to move out of the campus towards the main road. We were trying to avoid tension the police say while denying charges of atrocities. The non-local students say that the situation is tense. Many of us want to go back home as we do not feel safe here any longer. The students have made a list of demands which includes a meeting with the HRD ministry. Further they have also sought postponement of the exams by a week as they are in no mental state to take the same. The administration of the NIT should stop saying that the situation is normal. This is fake news and instead of sorting out the situation, they cannot take cover by spreading fake news of normalcy the students have also said. Further the students have also alleged that some members of the canteen staff had indulged in stone pelting which had worsened the situation. OneIndia News Oppn seeks ex-Mumbai BJYM chief's arrest in molestation case India oi-PTI Mumbai, Apr 6: The Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly today sought immediate arrest of former Mumbai unit president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), Ganesh Pandey, who was booked for allegedly molesting a woman member of the BJP youth wing. Raising the issue in the House, NCP leader Jayant Patil said the complainant was concerned about her safety as Pandey hasn't been arrested so far. "Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also heads the Home Department, had assured Pandey will be nabbed. Despite this assurance he is roaming freely," he said. An FIR has been registered at Versova police station on the basis of a complaint filed by the woman who had alleged that Pandey harassed her, he said. Pandey posed to her obscene questions and passed lewd remarks on her in a hotel room in Mathura on March 4 during the BJYM's three-day executive committee meeting, Patil said. Fadnavis has asked the Women Commission to probe the matter but nothing concrete will emerge as this body is headed by a BJP worker, Patil said. Speaker Haribhau Bagde said the government should fulfill the promise made in the House. In her written complaint to BJP city unit president Ashish Shelar, the woman had stated that Pandey had also "held her hand" when she tried to leave the room. According to the police, the woman has alleged in her complaint that Pandey had texted her several messages which were in "bad taste". PTI Jammu admin withdraws order allowing residents of more than 1 year to become voters Kashmir edition of Kumaon Literary Festival to begin in Srinagar next week In J&K's Kupwara, IED detected and diffused Winter makes an early entry in Kashmir with snowfall, heavy rain Mehbooba Mufti gets notice to vacate official bungalow 'meant for J&K CMs' News flash: Arunachal CM Kalikho Pul meets PM Narendra Modi India oi-Oneindia By Oneindia Staff Writer Bengaluru, Apr 6: Uttarakhand HC to hear Harish Rawat's plea against budget ordinance. Get all the latest news updates of the day: 10.13 pm: Chandigarh: SAD MLA & Former hockey captain Pargat Singh says 'was assaulted by a person yesterday evening during an argument over parking' 8.36 pm: Mortal remains of Kamla Advani, wife of LK Advani, being taken to her residence. 7.56 pm: Debraj Pradhan appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Norway. 7.20 pm: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul meets PM Narendra Modi in Delhi. Delhi: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul meets PM Narendra Modi (Source: PMO) pic.twitter.com/RUZ2BldOma ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 7.10 pm: They (in-laws) used to make demands like car, jewellery. My daughter wanted to come back home.Will file case against them: Hiralal Kashyap, Father of deceased (BSP MP's daughter-in-law). They (in-laws) used to make demands like car, jewellery. My daughter wanted to come back home.Will file case against them-Hiralal Kashyap ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 6.50 pm: Deeply pained by Kamla Advani demise. She was LK Advani pillar of strength.I recall my many interactions with her, says PM Narendra Modi. 6.49 pm: Local women in Pimpri area of Aurangabad (Maharashtra) quarrel over water amid water crisis. 6.33 pm: But BJP Govt miserably failed in fulfilling such a big promise made to people of India: Dr. Manmohan Singh 6.32 pm: Modiji made a promise that he will bring back black money&Rs15 lakh each will be deposited in every citizen's account, says Dr Manmohan Singh. 6.15 pm: Former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh addressing a rally in Guwahati (Assam). 6.00 pm: BJP Leader LK Advani's wife Kamla Advani has been admitted to AIIMS hospital(Delhi) 5.38 pm: Nandur ghat, a village in Beed where 11 farmers committed suicide in 1 year due to crop damage because of drought. 5.15 pm: Manjara Dam is receiving very less water for 3 years now due to insufficient rainfall. At present it is dry, says Local. 5.00 pm: Manjara Dam, located in Beed (Maharashtra),one of major sources of water supply, dries up due to drought situation. 4.35 pm: Jayalalithaa's counsel L Nageshwar Rao has told the Supreme Court that he will conclude his arguments by tomorrow. 4.31 pm: Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressing a rally at Saltora (West Bengal). 4.10 pm: Accdn to our info,2-3 terrorists were there.1 terrorist killed,cordon and search ops underway, says Aijaz Ahmad,SSP Kupwara. 4.00 pm: Salman Khan files an affidavit in SC stating that the police is trying to falsely implicate him in the case in Salman Khan hit and run case. 3.45 pm: Delhi HC allows CBI to interrogate Virbhadra Singh. He has to appear before CBI. 3.35 pm: The eyewitnesses told police what happened,police did not take action-Shilpa Mittal (Victim's sister) on Delhi's Civil Lines hit-and-run case. 3.25 pm: Youth Congress protest over NIT Srinagar issue. 3.18 pm: SC appointed committee submits report on coal scam in sealed envelope. SC hands it to AG to examine content and ascertain if it can be disclosed. 3.11 pm: Congress incited Hindus & Muslims against each other, spread venom of communalism and did politics of nepotism, says Nitin Gadkari. 3.10 pm: Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for implementation of One Rank One Pension. 3.00 pm: Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval to MoU signed last month with Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Railway Sector. 2.57 pm: SC dismisses plea seeking probe against former CBI Dir Ranjit Sinha for allegedly demanding money from man facing charges of illegal export. 2.50 pm: Cabinet approves implementation of National Hydrology Project (NHP) and National Water Informatics Centre at a cost of around Rs. 3679 crore. 2.45 pm: CCEA approves four-laning of Hospet -Bellary-Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh Border section of NH - 63 in Karnataka. 2.40 pm: BJP MP Varun Gandhi meets MoS Finance Jayant Sinha with jewellers' delegation. 2.32 pm: VP IVRCL Ranjit Bhattacharya sent to police custody till 11th April. 2.10 pm: Our ATS team is looking at terror angle as well, says Daljit Chowdhry (ADG, law&order) on NIA Officr Tanzeel Ahmed murder. 2.00 pm: NIA arrests 1 NSCN (IM) terrorist for involvement in ambush on army personnel in Khonsa (Arunachal Pradesh) on April 2015. 1.42 pm: BSP Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Kashyap's daughter in law Himani found dead under mysterious circumstances in Ghaziabad. 1.30 pm: Congress VP Rahul Gandhi joins jewellers protest at Jantar Mantar against Centre's excise duty proposal. 1.25 pm: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addresses a rally in West Midnapore. 1.20 pm: Delhi HC issues notice to ED ovr plea of Himachal CM's son&daughter challenging agency's order to provisionally attach properties in DA case. 1.15 pm: Matter of water consumption in IPL adjourned till tomorrow. 1.10 pm: Fire breaks out at Salt Lake, Sector 5 (Kolkata), 10 fire tenders at the spot. 1.05 pm: SC seeks affidavit from Centre over implementation of MNREGA and release of funds for the states by tomorrow. 12.50 pm: Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar speaks at the launch of Carnegie India. 12.47 pm: Fire breaks out at Salt Lake, Sector 5 (Kolkata), 10 fire tenders at the spot. 12.46 pm: Student organisations protest against HCU VC Appa Rao, demand his resignation. 12.42 pm: Three accused were given ten years' sentence so they have to undergo 2 more years in jail. 12.40 pm: BJP President Amit Shah speaking at the BJP Foundation Day in Delhi. 12.38 pm: Special POTA court sentences 10 convicts in 2002-03 bomb blasts. Prime accused Muzammil Ansari and 2 others gets life imprisonment. 11.47 am: NIA officer Tenzil Ahmed's wife Farzana's condition is stable. Earlier there were reports that she had succumbed to her injuries. The officer was shot dead at Bijnor last Sunday. His wife was injured in the attack. 11.40 am: Kolkata flyover collapse: Senior executive of construction company IVRCL arrested. 11.20 am: Rahul Gandhi to join jewelers' protest at Jantar Mantar, Delhi against Centre's excise duty proposal. 10.45 am: Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been in touch with the state govt and state chief minister: Jitendra Singh, BJP 9.53 am: 'Panama Papers' law firm says 'hacked by servers abroad', complaint filed. 9.25 am: Centre sends two-member team to NIT Srinagar after clashes on campus yesterday. 9.00 am: Security forces deployed outside NIT Srinagar campus, few students were lathi charged by police Srinagar: Security forces deployed outside #NITSrinagar campus, few students were lathi charged by police last night pic.twitter.com/KDeqWG2mdL ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 8.25 am: We will defeat radical Islamic terrorism & utterly destroy ISIS: Ted Cruz after Republican primary win in Wisconsin. 8.05 am: US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson to visit India today, to meet top officials and hold discussions on a range of key issues. 8.00 am: Fire breaks out in shoe manufacturing unit in Mangolpuri (Delhi), 17 fire tenders worked at spot, fire under control. Fire broke out in shoe manufacturing unit in Mangolpuri (Delhi), 17 fire tenders worked at spot, fire under control. pic.twitter.com/M4ZkOCjjWy ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 OneIndia News Pratyusha Banerjee suicide: Should case be handed over to CBI?Sign online petition if you support Pratyusha Banerjee suicide case: Boyfriend Rahul's lawyer withdraws from case India oi-Mukul Mumbai, April 6: A day after Blaika Vadhu actress Pratyusha Banerjee's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh was booked for abetment of her suicide last week, the latter's lawyer has backed out of the case. What Rahul Raj did to Pratyusha Reportedly the lawer Neeraj Gupta said that his client Rahul Raj Singh was hiding facts from him in connection with the case. Rahul's lawyer Neeraj Gupta was quoted as saying, "I withdrew from the case on humanitarian grounds. I felt that I shouldn't be fighting the case, and hence left it so that injustice is not done to anyone". Gupta further claimed, "A client should pass on all the information, right or wrong, good or bad, to the lawyer, but I was kept in the dark and got all the details (pertaining to the case) from outside (media)". Replying to a query on whether he changed his mind after the FIR was filed against Rahul, he said, "The FIR has nothing to with the decision. A lawyer is always prepared for such things." Pratyusha Banerjee suicide case: Now, FIR lodged against Dolly Bindra Rahul, currently in hospital, was yesterday booked for the abetment of suicide after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the actress's mother Soma at Bangurnagar Police Station. Police had declined to divulge details regarding the investigation that led to registration of the FIR. They suspect Singh was in relationship with another woman about which the deceased was depressed. A case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC has been registered against Rahul. On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot to fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series "Balika Vadhu", allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs. Police are also trying to ascertain whether the deceased was in financial troubles or had any dispute with Singh. Some reports suggested the actress, who hailed from Jamshedpur, was depressed over not getting roles in TV serials. On Sunday, Singh was admitted in ICU ward of a hospital in Kandivali after he complained of chest pain and breathlessness, said police. As part of their probe, police spoke to several people, including the common friends of Singh and Banerjee, their close relatives, friends, neighbours and domestic help. Police are awaiting the viscera report of the actress. OneIndia News (With inputs from PTI) Good News! Willing to visit UK, get a visa sitting at home: Here is how India oi-Jagriti New Delhi, Apr 6: Gone are the days when getting a visa was full of hurdles, now you can get visas for European countries without leaving the comfort of your home or office. Yes, you heard it right. VFS Global, the agency to whom several countries have outsourced visa issuance, can now send the equipment for collecting biometric information along with a visa submission officer to your home for a fee. VFS Global is the world's largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide. The company manages administrative and non-judgemental tasks related to visa, passport, identity management and other citizen services for its client governments enabling them to focus entirely on the critical task of assessment. It started biometric enrolments in 2007 for the Home Office - UK Visas & Immigration (formerly UK Border Agency) in 33 countries The agency has launched "on-demand mobile visa" service in India cater to those willing to get UK visas. "High net worth individuals, large groups and those going for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) have long been asking for a hassle-free experience where all the processes can be completed at a place of their choice, like their home or office," VFS Global COO (south Asia) Vinay Malhotra was quoted as saying by the Times of India. VFS has visa centres in 16 Indian cities. 10 Indian-Americans among 21 arrested for visa fraud in US "In the initial phase, our average cost for this service (which is in addition to the regular visa fees) is 750 (about Rs 70,500 at the current exchange rate) for a group of 10 visitors. Any incremental visitor will be charged an average of 75 (Rs 7,050) additionally," he added. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 15:09 [IST] West has double standards on climate change, says Goyal India oi-IANS By Ians English New Delhi, April 6: Charging the Western nations with adopting double standards in their approach to climate change, Indian Power Minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday urged them to "show some magnanimity" and keep renewable energy out of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) framework. "My concern is that there is a lot of gap in what is being said by the West and what is being delivered. There is no denying for the fact that for last 150 years, the West has enjoyed low-cost fossil fuels and developed their economies," Goyal, who also holds the renewable energy portfolio, said at an International Finance Corporation (IFC) event here. "I appealed to the US, when negotiations were going on, that we can keep renewable energy out of the WTO framework. After all we decided in Singapore that no country will put import duties on renewable energy, on solar products. "I don't see any reason why the West could not show some magnanimity and keep renewables out of the WTO framework, particularly when Indian manufacturers had such a large heart and had withdrawn the anti-dumping request, which had been ruled in their favour and could have imposed huge anti-dumping duties on the US," he added. Noting that most of the western world survived on coal, Goyal said coal consumption in the US, in per capita terms, is as much as India consumes in 2016. "So, I think the reality is that West waited till it found cheaper sources of energy. Till shale gas become affordable, it kept talking about the inconvenient truth. "So, it is not as if the inconvenient truth came out very late. We knew this truth 50 years ago also. New South Wales University started developing solar technologies 45 years ago," he added. IANS RSS to help building Fifth Dham in Cambodia by popularizing Indian culture RSS to provide a road map for Fifth Dham in Cambodia; report to be given to senior leadership At least 9 students killed after boat capsizes in Cambodia river Cambodia wants India-style Project Tiger International oi-IANS By Ians English Phnom Penh, April 6: Cambodia on Wednesday unveiled a plan to reintroduce from abroad tigers that have gone extinct in the country, and said it will emulate India's efforts to protect the big cat. The last tiger was seen on camera trap in the Mondulkiri Protected Forest in 2007, Xinhua news agency quoted World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as saying. WWF said the tigers were "functionally extinct" in Cambodia due to poaching of both tigers and their prey. Historically, Cambodia's dry forests had supported diverse and abundant wildlife, including a large number of tigers. "Today there are no longer any breeding populations of tigers left in Cambodia and they are therefore considered functionally extinct," the WWF said. In a bid to revive the population, the Cambodian government has approved a plan to reintroduce tigers into the protected forests. "This would be the world's first transnational tiger re-introduction and will be based on best practices developed from successful tiger re-introductions within India," the group said. Keo Omaliss, director of the department of wildlife and biodiversity at the Cambodia's forestry administration, said the project needed the budget between $20 and $50 million. "At the initial stage, we want to reintroduce seven or eight tigers - two male tigers and five or six female tigers - into the forests," he said. Chhith Sam Ath, director of WWF-Cambodia, said tigers were an iconic species and part of the country's natural heritage. "To bring tigers back to Cambodia would be the biggest conservation feat of its kind and would support the conservation efforts of the whole landscape," he said. IANS Pakistan's U-turn on Pathankot not official, but expect dramatics International oi-Vicky It has become increasingly clear that Pakistan is all set to deny the role of its citizens in the Pathankot attack. Although there has not been an official statement from Pakistan, they have made sure that their views have been floated through their media outlets. When the Joint Investigation Team visited India to probe the attack there was quite a lot of bonhomie, which to be honest looked quite unreal. It appeared as though Pakistan would cooperate fully with India and even the NIA had said that they were given a patient hearing and there was never any denial. Dramatics and excuses: Pakistan following the Pathankot attack indulged in a lot of dramatics. Prior to the visit to the JIT, they detained three handlers of the Jaish-e-Mohammad namely Ishradul, Khalid Mohammad and Shoaib Mohammad. They even kept under protective custody, Maulana Masood Azhar, the ideological head of the JeM. Sources tell OneIndia that all this was done as one part of the establishment felt that it must cooperate with India and get to the bottom of it. Also Read: Pakistan's u-turn on Pathankot- This nation can never be trusted However, there is another part of the establishment which is unfortunately stronger which felt that this kind of bonhomie must be stopped immediately. When the JIT was readying its India visit, it had a demand and that was to visit the air force station. It was access to select parts of the air base. The JIT would have hoped that they were denied access as they could have quoted this as one of the reasons to not cooperate with the probe. The next demand that was made by them was to question the officials of the Indian Army, BSF, NSG and the Air Force. This was denied by India. Also Read: Oppn targets Modi over Pak media reports on Pathankot attack Pakistan now says that they were denied because India had something to hide. An NIA official says that as per the law, the statements of these officers can be recorded before a magistrate and the foreign agency would have to rely on it. Further, the NIA also says that the JIT refused to visit the mortuary where the bodies of the four terrorists has been preserved. This looked suspicious to us and we even asked them about their decision. However there never was any concrete answer and today it appears that they did this so that they could issue a statement of denial. Who calls the shots? As has been pointed out earlier in this story there is a part of the Pakistan establishment which will not give up on the likes of Masood Azhar. This man who is one of their most important proxies is a major asset to them. Be it Kashmir, Afghanistan or protecting Chinese investments in Pakistan, Azhar has a major role to play. The likes of Azhar not only flag the Kashmir issue which benefits Pakistan, but also provides crucial intelligence to the ISI regarding Pakistan's bad terrorists such as the Tehrik-e-Taliban. Azhar, who had gone out of favour for a couple of years following an assassination bid on former Pakistan President Pervez Mushraff today, has become their most important man. Hence, it was only natural for them to protect him and his outfit. For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 10:29 [IST] Aishwarya Rai grilled by ED for six hours in 'Panama Papers' leak case Panama Papers leak: Confusion over Iceland PM's resignation report International oi-Shubham Reykjavik, April 6: Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers leak which has brought all focus on offshore finance, reported the media across the world. But other reports said it was not true as there might have occurred a goof-up while translating a statement issued in Icelandic language. It was said a former Iceland prime minister had called Gunnlaugsson to resign but Google erroneously translated it as "will immediately resign" instead of "must". BNO News said Gunnlaugsson did not resign but offered to step aside temporarily and his office informed the foreign media so. The Twitter, however, went on discussing the leader's resignation in length. 3 hours later, international media is still reporting as a fact that Iceland's PM resigned https://t.co/XlL43SGzHk Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) April 5, 2016 Iceland's prime minister has NOT resigned but offers to step aside temporarily, his office has told foreign media https://t.co/dmzjpjdFUy BNO News (@BNONews) April 5, 2016 Statement saying Iceland's PM did not resign was sent to @BNONews and 11 other int'l outlets 3 hours ago, but apparently not to local media Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) April 5, 2016 Iceland's former PM is calling on the PM to resign, but Google erroneously translates it as he "will immediately resign" instead of "must" Michael van Poppel (@mpoppel) April 3, 2016 Charges against Gunnlaugsson The leaks from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm, showed Gunnlaugsson owning an offshore firm with his wife but did not declare after entering Parliament. The leader was accused of hiding family assets hiding millions of dollars. Gunnlaugsson, however, said he sold his shares to his wife and did not indulge in any wrongdoing. The former Iceland premier is one among dozens of high-profile figures who featurd in the 11.5 million leaked records that came in the open on Sunday. Pressure had been building on Gunnlaughsson with thousands protesting outside the parliament building here on Monday. The Opposition also stabled a confidence motion on the issue. On Tuesday, Gunnlaughsson asked President Plafur Ragnar Grimsson to dissolve the parliament and call early election. The latte, however, said he first sought to consult the Independence Party, which is a ally in the ruling coaltion with Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party since 2013. Oneindia News Conversions, abuse, sexual crimes: Will Pope apologise for these when he visits India too? Pope Francis set to visit refugees in Greece as expulsions stalled International oi-PTI Athens, Apr 5: Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe's refugee crisis next week, Greece announced on Wednesday as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled. The papal trip to Lesbos, accompanied by the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, is likely to pile pressure on European leaders already criticised for the deal with Turkey, which aims to defuse Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II by curbing the influx of people. Greece delays sending refugees back to Turkey under EU deal "The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with (them) to the island of Lesbos," a government source in Athens said. News of the papal visit came as a last-minute rush of asylum applications stalled operations to return migrants from Greece to Turkey under a deal signed in March. The holiday island of Lesbos has served as a major gateway for refugees and other migrants hoping to start new lives in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of people sailing there in flimsy boats from the nearby Turkish coast over the past year. The government source declined to give a precise date for the visit by Francis and Bartholomew, but indicated it could take place on April 14 or 15. The Greek Orthodox Church earlier said it had approved plans for a papal visit to Lesbos island after Francis expressed a desire to "shed light on the major humanitarian problem" of the migrant influx. Croatia to receive refugees from Turkey The pope has previously spoken out on the migrant crisis, using his recent Easter address to criticise the "rejection" of refugees. The process of returning migrants, mainly Syrians, to Turkey has been slowed "by an increase in asylum requests" in the last few days by migrants on Chios and Lesbos, the Greek Aegean islands in the front line of the migratory wave, said Greek official Yiorgos Kyritsis. Kyritsis, the spokesman for the Greek government panel coordinating the migration crisis, said no operations were planned for today. A Turkish official said the next transfer of migrants "has been postponed to Friday" at Greece's request "Greece could not send the people. Everything is ready here but we received a message from the Greek side," added the official, after others had spoken of a possible resumption of the transfers on Wednesday. All "irregular migrants" arriving in Greece since March 20 face being sent back, although the EU deal calls for each case to be examined individually. PTI 'Could be murdered in future': Lawyer of Unnao rape victim seeks DM to grant weapon license Military Doctrine to spell out Indias stand on use of anti-satellite weapons SCs say on whether an accused can be convicted if weapon is not recovered US to sell thermal weapon sights to Pakistan International oi-PTI Washington, Apr 6: The US is poised to sell sophisticated thermal weapon sights to Pakistan following the Obama administration's decision to provide eight F-16 fighter jets and nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters worth USD 170 million to the country. The Pentagon yesterday awarded a USD 17 million contract to Raytheon for supply of the thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities by enabling soldiers to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, fog and other obscurants. Raytheon is known as a pioneer in thermal weapons sights. The Pentagon yesterday said Raytheon has been awarded a USD 17,877,938 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Pakistan) for thermal weapon sights and spares, training, and contract data requirements lists. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; and Pakistan, with an estimated completion date of October 30, 2017. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of USD 17,877,938 were obligated at the time of the award, the statement said. PTI Amit Shah comes out in support of Baba Ramdev New Delhi oi-Sandra New Delhi, Apr 6: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday came out in support of Baba Ramdev after the latter courted controversy for his statement stating that 'if there was no law, he would've beheaded lakhs for not chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai.' Shah, speaking to a news channel said: "Baba Ramdev is not a member of the BJP nor is he a part of the organisation. However, I want to know from those who talk of free speech does it not apply to Baba Ramdev." Would have beheaded lakhs for not chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai', was there no law in country: Ramdev Shah said that Ramdev too had the like like others to speak his mind. This comes after Ramdev, in an apparent reference to Muslims who are against chanting Bharat Mata ki Jai, said that he would have beheaded lakhs if there was no law in the country. Recently Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too faced a lot of flak when he said that those willing to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai must leave the country. Several people have questioned asking why should one be forced to chant Bharat Mata ki jai and have stressed that it shloud be a personal choice to do so. OneIndia News For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 13:03 [IST] Eyeing UP polls of 2017, Modi blends development with Dalit sentiments in Noida New Delhi oi-Shubham Noida, April 6: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday tried to revive his people-friendly image as he had done during the last Lok Sabha elections, nine months ahead of the crucial Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh. Modi was in Noida to launch the 'Stand up India' scheme to facilitate bank loans between Rs 10 lakh-Rs 1 crore to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women borrowers for setting up greenfield enterprises in the non-farm sector and the date of April 5 was chosen as it marks the birth anniversary of Dalit leader Babu Jagjivan Ram. On the occasion, Modi hit out at the Congress saying Jagjivan Ram was never remembered earlier and he never received any acknowledgement during his lifetime. Besides eulogising the late Dalit leader, Modi also had an informal chat with local rickshaw-pullers and labourers at a tea shop set up besides the stage and reached the stage riding an e-rickshaw. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, state Governor Ram Naik and others were also present during the chat. Over 5,000 people were given e-rickshaws in this event. The prime minister said the poor and the Dalit can help transform the country if they get the right opportunity. He said his government is trying to create a situation where the job-seekers can become job-givers. Modi is strongly aiming to repeat the BJP's 2014 show of grabbing 71 of 80 seats in UP. The saffron party had gained the Dalit vote-share in that election at the expense of Mayawati's BSP. This time, issues like suicide of Rohith Vemula in a univesity in Hyderabad have raised challenges for the BJP, which has been accused of being insenitive towards Dalits. Mayawati also looks strong to regain her Dalit votes in next year's Assembly elections. In this situation, it has become very important for Modi to woo the Dalits so that his party succeeds in influencing them through the mantra of development as it had done in 2014. Oneindia News Community Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place. 2008-2022 One News Page Ltd. All rights reserved. One News is a registered trademark of One News Page Ltd. Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Harcourt has been managing a portfolio of strategy-focused fund of funds of hedge funds ("3F") for fifteen years. The approach isn't widely discussed in alternative investment circles, but recently, portfolio manager Ilario Scasascia sat down with Opalesque TV to discuss how fund selection is critical for investors looking for alpha. Harcourt Alternative Leaders Fund is a $1.6 billion fund within Vontobel Asset Management. Vontobel is a globally oriented Swiss private bank headquartered in Zurich, with approximately CHF 187 billion of client assets. The fund has been running a mandate for a large swiss pension since 2000, and recently opened to outside investors in 2015. According to Scasascia, the 3F approach consistently outperforms a multi-strategy fund of hedge funds. He explains that on the quantitative side, a strategy-focused 3F can provide as much as 3 percent greater return than a multi-strat fund over the 1, 3, and 5-year time horizons because of the alpha generated by the strategy focus. From a more qualitative perspective, he adds that analysts cover fewer managers and have a deeper understanding of specific return drivers in the fund. "On the other side, multi-strategy firms have 10 or 15 analysts that have to cover the whole spectrum of hedge fund strategies," he says. "This means ...................... To view our full article Click here Reprinted from Telesur Vladimir Putin (Image by The Young Turks, Channel: The Young Turks) Details DMCA Calling out around the world; time to put on your made in Ecuador Panama hat and frantically start dancing to the ultimate limited hangout leak. And if you believe in the purity of intentions of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) at the center of the leak, I've got a made-in-Shenzhen Panama hat to sell you (disclosure: I never was, and never will be, a member of the ICIJ). Then there is Eastern Europe-based partner organization OCCRP, an even more Orwellian outfit self-styled as playing some sort of progressive, alternative media role. OCCRP is funded by Soros and USAID. The Washington-based ICIJ gets its cash and its "organizational procedure" via the Exceptionalistan-based, Orwellian-named Center for Public Integrity. The funds flow mostly from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Kellogg Foundation and the George Soros-owned Open Society.Then there is Eastern Europe-based partner organization OCCRP, an even more Orwellian outfit self-styled as playing some sort of progressive, alternative media role. OCCRP is funded by Soros and USAID. And finally there's this fictional land named Panama -- a certified U.S. vassal. Absolutely nothing of real substance happens in Panama without a green light by the United States government. Or, as an international tax lawyer told me, "you have to be an idiot to stash money in Panama. You cannot flush a toilet there without the Americans knowing about it." This sets the scene for the Panama Papers leak -- a massive hoard of 11.5 million documents allegedly leaked from someone inside offshore heavies Mossack Fonseca to the center-left, NATO-friendly Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Munich and then shared by the ICIJ with selected mainstream media partners. Even without a smoking gun, a case can be made this alleged most massive leak ever was obtained by -- what else -- U.S. intel. This is the kind of stuff the NSA excels at. The NSA is able to break into virtually any database and/or archives anywhere; they steal "secrets"; and then selectively destroy/blackmail/protect assets and "enemies," according to USG interests. That's the essence of a limited hangout sold to public opinion as a serious corruption investigation. And that's where Western corporate media enters the scene, protecting whatever 0.00000001 percent honcho is caught in the net, as well as sacrificing some disposable pawns. So we have over 300 reporters pouring over hundreds of thousands of document/files for over an interminable year with, miraculously, no leaks whatsoever; just for a bunch of corporate mainstream media hacks meticulously cherry picked stories and decide what is "newsworthy." Western alternative media would have investigated the data without sparing anyone; but it would be out of the question to grant them access. What's already certain is that the full extent of the Panama leak will never be known. Even the by now exceedingly pathetic The Guardian admitted, on the record, that "much of the leaked material will remain private." Why? Because it may -- inadvertently and directly -- implicate a gaggle of Western 0.00000001 percent multibillionaires and corporations. All of them play the offshore casino game (although not necessarily in Panama.) So the Panama Papers, stripped to the bone, may reveal themselves essentially as an infowar operation by the NSA -- targeted mostly against "enemies" (as in the BRICS nations) and selected disposable pawns; a weaponized psyops posing as an "activist leak," straight from the Hybrid War playbook. Step on the Monster Truck A who's who of wealthy/powerful players has been directly targeted in the Panama Papers, from the -- demented -- King of Saudi Arabia to former Fiat/Ferrari stalwart Luca de Montezemolo, from Lionel Messi to (unnamed) Chinese Communist Party officials and the brother-in-law of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Extra-juicy element is provided by the presence of Alaa Mubarak -- the son of the deposed Egyptian snake; Ayad Allawi, the butcher of Fallujah and former U.S. occupation prime minister; Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (a Saudi protege, so he must get offshore advice as well); and Dov Weisglass, the butcher of Gaza and former advisor to Israeli Prime Ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert (this one already convicted of corruption.) These are all disposable. We find in the list not only Middle Eastern racketeers but also the token "respectable" European -- from Iceland's Prime Minister (already forced to resign) to David Cameron's father Ian. And some players that might be considered Exceptionalistan's friends, such as vulture fund-friendly Argentina President Mauricio Macri and chocolate heavyweight cum Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has a lot of funds parked in the British Virgin Islands. Predictably, particular emphasis is on BRICS members -- from those mysterious Chinese to Indian companies. As far as Brazil is concerned, there may be a healthy counterpoint; the presence of notoriously corrupt leader of the lower house Eduardo Cunha; his Swiss accounts had surfaced after the HSBC leaks, now some more showed up on the Panama Leaks. Still to be explained is a juicy Brazilian-related angle; whether the Panama Leaks are directly related to the fact that Ramon Fonseca, 50 percent of Mossack Fonseca, was dismissed as president of the Panamenista Party last month because of Operation Car Wash -- which targets mostly the ruling Workers' Party in Brazil. The Panama Papers are in fact a Monster Truck, global version of Car Wash. Lula, predictably, is not on the Panama list -- to the despair of the Exceptionalistan-supported regime changers in Brazil, many of them (media barons, bankers, businessmen) featured on the previous HSBC leaks. Regime-Changers-in-Chief, the Globo media empire, are also not on the Panama leaks, although they profit from a certified offshore racket. Syria was always bound to be a key target. Much of Western corporate media "newsworthy" stories now focus on "Assad's fixer" Rami Makhlouf, described in U.S. diplomatic cables as Syria's "poster boy for corruption" and under U.S. sanctions since February 2008. Such a convenient target. Yet "poster boy" happened to be quite sheltered by HSBC as well. Putin Did It And so we finally get to the key target of Monster Truck (in Brazil's Car Wash they are Lula and President Rousseff). It's got the requisite BRICS angle and it's a dream spin; cue to virtually every major Western corporate media headline blaring that Vladimir Putin has stashed US$2 billion offshore. The problem is he didn't. Putin is guilty by association because of his "close associates" Arkady and Boris Rotenberg's alleged ties to money laundering. Yet three "incriminating" emails in the files happen not to "incriminate" them, or Putin. And then there's cellist Sergey Roldugin, a childhood friend of Putin's. Here's the -- politically filtered -- spin by the ICIJ: "The records show Roldugin is a behind-the-scenes player in a clandestine network operated by Putin associates that has shuffled at least US$2 billion through banks and offshore companies. In the documents, Roldugin is listed as the owner of offshore companies that have obtained payments from other companies worth tens of millions of dollars. ... It's possible Roldugin, who has publicly claimed not to be a businessman, is not the true beneficiary of these riches. Instead, the evidence in the files suggests Roldugin is acting as a front man for a network of Putin loyalists -- and perhaps for Putin himself." What about rephrasing it as, "the evidence in the files suggests Lionel Messi is acting as a frontman for a network of football loyalists trying to evade the rape of Argentina by U.S. hedge fund vultures friendly to new President and offshore account holder Mauricio Macri"? The juiciest bit is that Moscow knew all along another Hybrid War offensive chapter was imminent, days if not weeks before Panama went viral. Make America Great Again Offshore bank accounts are not intrinsically illegal. Quite a few though involve dodgy money, or at least provide the euphemistic "low-tax environment" fundamental to the very wealthy. It's not an accident that the Panama Papers unveil connections to several dozen firms and individuals who are prominently featured in U.S. sanctions blacklists. That configures the Panama Papers as even more of a limited hangout; the real Papers would be the Cayman Papers or the Virgin Island Papers. That's where most of the in-the-know park their money (not to mention Luxembourg). Adding to the hilarity factor, David Cameron suddenly woke up to the need to stop British overseas territories -- and Crown dependencies -- being used by the wealthy to park their untaxed fortune. It's never going to happen. The so-called international banking/financial system is a demented casino. It's not only 8 percent; Hong Kong players tell me as much as 50 percent of global wealth may currently be parked, undisturbed, in non taxable offshore havens. If a fraction of these astonishing funds would be taxed, governments right and left would be paying their debts, investing in infrastructure, launching round after round of sustainable growth, and a productive spiral would be in motion. And that leads us to the cherry in the corruption cake; how come there are no Americans in this limited hangout leak? Of course there are none. Panama is for suckers. Too obvious. Too rakish. Too crude. Ergo, forget about The Cayman Papers. As for foreigners in-the-know, we just need to go back a mere three months ago to this Bloomberg piece, where Andrew Penney, Managing Director of Rothschild & Co., spells it all out; the U.S. "is effectively the biggest tax haven in the world." The circle is finally squared; Panama is revealed as the patsy -- mere collateral damage in this limited hangout Monster Truck operation. Domestic tax haven providers, such as Rothschild, are the real deal. Make America great again? It already is -- as the top tax shelter for hardcore dodgy money had to be...a monster Panama: Exceptionalistan itself. Now dance, suckers. In the Lenin Barracks in Barcelona, the day before I joined the militia, I saw an Italian militiaman standing in front of the officers' table. ... Something in his face deeply moved me. It was the face of a man who would commit murder and throw away his life for a friend -- the kind of face you would expect in an Anarchist, though as likely as not he was a Communist. ... I hardly know why, but I have seldom seen anyone -- any man, I mean -- to whom I have taken such an immediate liking. - The opening of Homage To Catalonia by George Orwell John McCain is certainly an interesting American politician. To be politically correct, maybe I should call him an American "warrior/politician," since he's a key leader in the post-911 culture saturated with the warrior-ethos. Last month, this warrior/politician wrote an op-ed in The New York Times that I can't get out of my mind. In the piece titled "The Good Soldier," McCain saluted Delmer Berg whose obituary had run March 2nd in the Times. (Belatedly appreciating the irony, the Times changed the op-ed's title online to: "John McCain: Salute To a Communist.") Berg, who died at age 100, was presumably the last living American veteran of the famous Abraham Lincoln Brigade that fought on the Republican side in Spain against a 1936 fascist coup led by the caudillo general Francisco Franco, certainly a warrior/politician of his day. The Republic had been constitutionally set up and its leaders duly-elected after the monarchy collapsed in 1931. The Soviet Union supported the Republican side and Hitler and Mussolini supported the Fascists. The Republican side had a romantic, underdog quality that drew writers and adventures like George Orwell and Ernest Hemingway. Delmer Berg in 2014 and in Spain, second from right in beret (Image by unknown) Details DMCA In 1937, Berg was a 21-year-old dishwasher who saw a poster for the Lincoln Brigade and signed up. He soon shipping out to Spain on an ocean liner; he was eventually wounded and sent home. Of the 3000 American volunteers who fought in Spain, around 800 were killed. The Fascists prevailed in 1939. Berg joined the Communist Party in 1943. The Times called him "an unreconstructed communist." A newspaper in California asked Berg what were the proudest moments of his life; one he said was "when one of my grandsons was valedictorian at his Oregon high school graduation and said in a newspaper interview, 'My grandfather is my inspiration. He's a Communist!' " Like John McCain, I'm a Vietnam veteran. In June 1965, I was an ignorant 18-year-old Army volunteer just arrived at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. I vividly recall being cursed at to get my worthless ass off the bus and badgered to run up a hill to a barbershop, where my hair was sheared off as if I was a sheep. I also recall being presented with a long list of organizations that I was to indicate whether I had ever been a member. I saw something called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and wondered why something named after such a great American could be considered subversive. My military career went downhill from there. Unlike John McCain, I didn't suffer much in my job as a radio direction finder in the mountains and valleys west of Pleiku along the Cambodian border. My job was to locate Vietnamese communist radio operators -- ie. a Vietnamese man with a leg key batting out Morse code in five letter groups, along with a second man pumping a bicycle generator. These operators would walk to a different location every day some distance from their unit so invaders like me could not locate their dug-in headquarters. Over time, we'd figure out a pattern, at which point the intelligence brass would send jet jockeys like John McCain to bomb the area in the hope of obliterating all those diminutive communists trying to liberate their country. Then they'd send a long range recon patrol to see if they'd hit anything. For one operation, I got an Army Commendation Medal. We'd located a brigade headquarters. John McCain being retrieved from a Hanoi lake in 1967, and today (Image by unknown) Details DMCA At age 68, I see the Vietnam War as a cruel national disgrace. Because I'm a humanist (versus a militarist) I don't preclude within that shameful context individual instances of humanity, bravery and great suffering of the sort that McCain went through as a prisoner of war. Besides being an invader, McCain had the added difficulty of being the son of the four-star admiral who was his ultimate Navy boss in the theater, and the grandson of another four-star admiral in World War Two. It seems fair to say, while I was a dumb kid way over his head, John McCain was 11 years older and highly invested in the enterprise of killing communists. It's good to consider the semantics of the word communist. The trouble with referring to communists is that the word is, maybe, the most belligerent and misleading epithet in history. Sure, there's Marx and then Stalin and all the tyrannical horror associated with his name. But many people throughout history have, like Marx, written about social reform and economics from the bottom up. In the real world, there's many cases like the Spanish Republic, the Arbenz government in Guatemala overthrown by US coup in 1954, the 1953 coup in Iran, the overthrow of Allende in Chile in 1973 and a host of other duly-elected, left-leaning reformist governments violently destroyed in some cases directly by Americans or dispatched with our blessing. The 2009 coup in Honduras fits this criteria. In all these cases, the word communist was employed as a justification for rightwing violence. During the Reagan years in places like El Salvador, reformers were forced to take up arms to overcome the long-suffered, brutal oppression of the poor and the powerless by what was called "the fourteen families." The pathetic fact is much of this political history had little to do with the two-dimensional idea of communism -- unless, of course, you're a rightwing blockhead with a gun such as the infamous fascist officer in Spain who presumably said: "Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my revolver." Today, as a female Republican candidate for US Senate in Nevada put it in 2012, it's known as "the second amendment option." So I'm perplexed why John McCain wrote his op-ed honoring Berg. I don't question his sincerity; I just wonder what the man was thinking. Doesn't it open a rather messy can of worms? But, then, maybe that's the point. Maybe it's John McCain's way of redefining his legacy, even in some strange way a tactic to deal with his own no doubt quite complex post traumatic stress from aerial bombing over the urban center of Hanoi. He may also see it as a paean to the warrior ethos, honoring a man who fought "for a people who were strangers to him" but who "did not quit on them." In that sense, if I had any honor at all I would have picked up a gun and fought with the peasants in El Salvador, like the M16-wielding female doctor from Belgium I met in 1986 humping the hills with FMLN guerrillas in Chalatenango. War weariness on both sides led to the FMLN (the Faribundo Marti National Liberation Front) becoming a legal political party that has elected two presidents, including the current one, Salvador Sanchez Ceren, an FMLN guerrilla leader during the war. As McCain said of the Abraham Lincoln Brigadistas, the FMLN "did not quit." Ernest Hemingway, center, in Spain with communist writers (Image by unknown) Details DMCA The access point for McCain in honoring an American communist who fought with the Lincoln Brigade is, not surprising, the late great macho icon Ernest Hemingway and his famous novel of the war in Spain, For Whom The Bell Tolls. McCain read the book when he was 12. I think I was about 15 when I read it. It never stuck with me like it did with McCain. It was the novels of John Steinbeck that moved me as a kid. The rebellious son of a comfortable, white, professional family in the farming area below Miami, in the summers I worked with migrant laborers picking limes for 25 cents a field crate. It wasn't the honor of romantic armed conflict that moved me; it was the warmth and joking friendship of poor, working people, again borrowing McCain's words, "people who were strangers to [me]." As a kid I also read Graham Greene's The Quiet American and (no doubt Graham Greene is rolling in his grave) found the colonial exoticism of Vietnam in the fifties alluring. As he wraps up his homage to Berg, McCain uses Hemingway like an ejection seat from a burning A-4E Skyhawk. Hemingway's hero, Robert Jordan, "had begun to see the cause as futile. He was cynical about its leadership, and distrustful of the Soviet cadres who tried to suborn it." Orwell famously became critical of this as well. But what's important to McCain is that Jordan stuck with it. He quotes Jordan, who is killed in the end: "The world is a fine place and worth the fighting for." The implication is that, while Delmer Berg may have been a card-carrying communist who protested the Vietnam War and fought for civil and human rights, because he took up arms and fought in Spain like Hemingway's romanticized protagonist, he was a good man worthy of Senator McCain's respect. I'll give McCain the benefit of the doubt and accept his honoring of Berg as from the heart. But I'd be less than honest myself if I didn't recognize the doubt that simmers in my mind. In the year of Donald Trump as the trash-talking logical conclusion to nearly a decade of Republican obstructionism and white working class frustration, could it be possible Senator McCain has taken this opportunity to show how magnanimous he can be dealing "across the aisle" with the left. With Trump's loathsome "birther" behavior in mind, many will recall McCain's admirable handling on the stump in 2008 of a lunatic woman suggesting Barack Obama was a Muslim and a subversive threat. It underlines the fact that, in comparison to many of McCain's odious Republican comrades, it's not hard to look like a stand-up guy. By November 2016, McCain will be 80-years-old. Anywhere but in ayatollah Iran, that seems over-the-hill as far as vigorous national leadership goes. But, then, in a highly volatile, brokered convention desperately looking for a straight shooter with the gravitas to beat the Democrats -- who knows? Maybe John McCain would like to fashion himself a spiritual elder statesman above the fray ideally suited to guide a declining imperial America. Maybe presenting himself as a militarist who has suffered but is able to see honor in a tough, idealistic leftist is part of that. Next Page 1 | 2 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). Flame Retardants For Aerospace Plastics Market Trends, Company Share To 2022: Grand View Research, Inc. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/flame-retardants-aerospace-plastics-market The global flame retardants for aerospace plastics market is expected to reach USD 29.1million by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Growing plastics demand owing to lower airframe weight and fuel savings is anticipated to remain a major driving factor for the global market.Increasing air passenger traffic and evolving safety standards are also expected to have a positive influence on industry growth. Volatile price of key raw materials such as aluminum, phosphorous and nitrogen are expected to pose challenges to industry growth.Aluminum trihydrate (ATH) was the most popular flame retardant used widely as a synergist across aerospace plastic applications, on account of its low cost and abundant availability. ATH accounted for over 40% of total demand in 2014. Organophosphates/phosphorous compounds are expected to witness the highest growth of 5.9% from 2015 to 2022.Browse full research report on Global Flame Retardants For Aerospace Plastics Market:Further key findings from the report suggest: Global flame retardants for aerospace plastics market volume was 4,099.7 tons in 2014 and is expected to reach 5,763.1 tons by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 5.3%from 2015 to 2022 Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) emerged as the leading application segment and accounted for over 30% of total demand in 2014. The material is widely utilized in defense jets as armor shields owing to its high impact resistance, in order to reduce accidental damage to engine pylons. CFRP is also expected to witness the highest growth of 5.8% from 2015 to 2022. Polycarbonates is also expected to witness significant growth owing to their increasing penetration in aerospace industry on account of their optical clarity and high transparency, coupled with durability and extreme tolerance to duress in aircraft components. Europe was the leading regional market owing to vast presence of major airline companies such as Boeing, Airbus, Rolls Royce Holding and others. Europe accounted for 43.8% of global demand in 2014. Asia Pacific remains the fastest growing market owing to expanding aviation industry and rising consumer disposable income in emerging economies such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. The region is likely to grow at a CAGR of 7.2% from 2015 to 2022. The global industry is characterized by high level of integration among major chemical and flame retardant manufacturers such as BASF and the Dow Chemical Company. Key participants in the industry include Solvay, Sinochem, Israel Chemicals, Royal DSM, Rio Tinto, DIC Corporation, Ciba, Chemtura, Albemarle, Clariant Corporation and BASF.Grand View Research has segmented the flame retardants for aerospace plastics market on the basis of product, applicationand region:Global Flame Retardants for Aerospace Plastics Product Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Antimony Oxide Aluminium Trihydrate Organophosphates Boron Compounds OthersGlobal Flame Retardants for Aerospace Plastics Application Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) Polycarbonate Thermoset Polyimide Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) Acetal/Polyoxymethylene (POM) Epoxies OthersGlobal Flame Retardants for Aerospace Plastics Regional Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) North America Europe Asia Pacific RoWGrand 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, Inc eurocom Translation Services UK launched www.kaleidoscope.at Vienna, Austria / Congleton, UK, April 1, 2016. With effect from April 1st, 2016, eurocom Translation Services UK officially started its operations. Unofficially, its clients benefit from more than 27 years of experience in the field of technical translations: eurocom UK is building on the strong foundations of Bridge Translation & Publishing through an asset purchase.Bridge Translation & Publishing Ltd has been setting standards in the field of technical translations since 1989. When founder Martin Henderson, a former industrial automation engineer with Siemens, announced his intention to retire, Austria-based eurocom Translation Services took action. We have been working with Bridge Translation for more than 20 years and have always been thrilled about both the quality of the translations and the extremely positive spirit of our cooperation!, confirmed Klaus Fleischmann and Anita Wilson, managing directors of eurocom Austria.eurocom Translation Services UK was therefore established and purchased the assets of Bridge Translations. The goal of the asset purchase was to keep the extremely motivated, well-established UK team on board, and to continue to make use of the extensive know-how and smooth processes that have been built up with eurocom Vienna. Tighter integration between the two companies will also allow these processes to be refined and improved. At the same time, eurocom UK will benefit from the considerably larger portfolio it can now offer its UK customers through being a member of the Kaleidoscope/eurocom Group.The experienced Bridge team is being kept together and will continue to operate from its premises in Congleton, Cheshire. The new eurocom Translation Services is an 80% affiliate of eurocom Translation Services, headquartered in Vienna, Austria. The other 20% is owned by two key employees of the former Bridge Translations: Paula Roussarie, the long-standing Head of Operations, and Anthony Dunn, an experienced language expert and the companys Senior Translator/Reviewer.eurocom has over 25 years of experience and is, according to the Common Sense Advisory market analysis, one of the 25 largest LSPs in western Europe. The company is one of the founding members of the AATC (Austrian Association of Translation Companies) and an active member of ELIA and tekom. Klaus Fleischmann, one of the directors of eurocom UK, has just been voted onto the board of GALA. Since English is still the most important target language for Austrian companies, Bridge Translations is a perfect fit for eurocom and strengthens our market position considerably, says Klaus Fleischmann. And for the first time, we will have translators in-house, adds Anita Wilson, This will enable us to improve processes, productivity and quality even more!Translation, terminology and global content: this is our world since 1996, both as a reseller of SDL, SCHEMA, and Acrolinx and with our own software solutions for collaborative terminology, quality management, review and translator query management. Together with our affiliate eurocom, Austria's largest and most innovative translation service provider, we synergize a complete language solution.Kaleidoscope GmbHLandstrasse Hauptstrasse 99-101 Top B3AA-1030 ViennaAustriaPress Contact:Arnold Zimmermann Digital Patient Monitoring Devices Market Growth, Industry Trends To 2022 by Grand View Research, Inc. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-patient-monitoring-devices-market Global digital patient monitoring devices market is expected to reach USD 115.0 billion by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing demand for remote patient monitoring and home healthcare is the key driver for market growth.With rising prevalence of chronic conditions such as diabetes and hypertension, the demand for real time patient monitoring for management of these disorders is increasing. Digital monitoring is the only platform, which helps in continuous patient monitoring, along with providing remote access to patient data and further reducing the clinical decision time.Rising consumer awareness levels along with acceptance amongst caregivers about digital patient monitoring utilities are helping this market to grow substantially.The industry is projected to witness technological advancements and resulting products are expected to be more durable, aesthetically attractive, and encompass guidance from experts such as nutritionist and gym instructors. Smart watches, smart bands, and clips are anticipated to be the focal areas of developments.Browse full research report on Global Digital Patient Monitoring Devices Market:Further key findings from the study suggest: Wearable technology held a lucrative share of around 25.0% in technology segment, which was followed by mHealth technology in 2015. Increasing cell phone penetration along with data connectivity assisted the growth of mHealth. Diagnostic devices dominated product segment with over 60.0% share in 2015. Rising focus on monitoring through digital monitoring platforms governed its growth Vital sign monitoring devices are anticipated to exhibit lucrative growth over the forecast period, while neuromonitoring devices are anticipated to be the largest segment over the forecast period. Therapeutic products are expected to witness substantial growth over the forecast period with a rate of over 30.0%. Insulin monitors are expected to witness lucrative growth owing to increasing prevalence of diabetes. As per the market estimates up to 2022, North America held a commanding share of around 35.0% in 2015. The Asia Pacific on the other hand would witness significant growth over the forecast period. Economic developments coupled with untapped demand of huge population are expected to govern the growth of digital patient monitoring devices in the Asia Pacific. Key players operating in this market include Omron Corporation, AT&T, Inc., Philips Healthcare, Airstrip Technologies, Athenahealth, Inc., St. Jude Medical, Welch Allyn, Medtronic Plc, GE Healthcare, Fitbit, Inc., Garmin, Jawbone, Vital Connect, ResMed, and Zephyr Technology Corporation. These players are undertaking various strategic initiatives to sustain the competition. These initiatives include collaborations, mergers, acquisitions, and new product launches. For instance, in November 2015, Vital Connect signed an agreement with Omron Healthcare Co. to distribute HealthPatch MD in Japan. This agreement helped the company to increase its geographical presence as well as market penetration.Grand View Research has segmented the global digital patient monitoring devices market on the basis of type, products, and region:Global digital patient monitoring devices market by type , 2012 - 2022 (USD Billion) Wireless Sensor Technology mHealth Telehealth Wearable Devices Remote Patient Monitoringo Hospital Inpatient Monitoringo Ambulatory Patient Monitoringo Smart Home HealthcareGlobal digital patient monitoring devices market by product , 2012 - 2022 (USD Billion) Diagnostic Monitoring Deviceso Vital Sign Monitorso Sleep Monitorso Fetal Monitorso Neuromonitorso Other Monitors Therapeutic Monitoring Deviceso Insulin Monitoring Deviceso Respiratory Monitorso Other Therapeutic DevicesDigital patient monitoring devices market by region , 2012 - 2022 (USD Billion) North Americao U.S.o Canada Europeo UKo Germany Asia Pacifico Japano China 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, Inc Frozen Food Market Trends, Growth Prospects To 2020: Grand View Research, Inc. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/frozen-food-market Improved standard of living and changing lifestyles of people across the globe are major driving factors for the significant growth of global frozen food market. Today, consumers are living a fast paced life with lesser time available for cooking and other time consuming activities. Also, they are more focused on their goals which occupy them with work load, in turn leading to growth in demand for frozen foods worldwide.Frozen foods, ready-to-eat meals, instant foods have gained popularity over the past few years due to the consumer shift towards meals that could be cooked in minutes and thus save their precious time. Another factor driving the frozen foods market is rising population of working women and female entrepreneurs across the globe. Working women tend to be busy and have a hectic lifestyle which makes them opt for frozen foods as they can be maintained at a definite temperature or frozen to prevent them from spoiling.Browse to access In-depth research report on Global Frozen Food Market with detailed charts and figures:The idea of storing food at a fixed temperature, or a sub-zero temperature, which is responsible for ensuring that the moisture content of the food stored stays intact and hence enables the preservation of food longer than the regular food items. The intactness of freshness of food items in frozen foods category makes them an ideal choice for the working-class section of the population which enables them to get a quick bite as and when possible. Not only does frozen food save time but it is also used as a break or variety in consumers regular or monotonous eating menu. The growth of the global foods market can also be attributed to the disposable income and the altering lifestyle of consumers. Introduction of staple frozen foods and availability of industrial and commercial freezing techniques are other factors which are expected to have a significant impact on the growth of the global frozen foods market. The global frozen foods market is anticipated to be worth USD 307.33 billion by the end of 2020.The global frozen foods market is segmented on the basis of regions into various locations including Europe, North America, South Africa, and Asia Pacific. Europe has reported highest revenue of about 38.9% of the total frozen food market in 2013. European consumers highly depend on packaged foods considering it to be hygienic, which is a major reason for its remarkable growth in this region. The frozen food market is expected to grow slowly in the Asia Pacific region owing to the absence of an organized market, cultural barriers, non-acceptance of frozen foods over fresh foods by the elderly population, and comparatively less population of working women. However, this region is anticipated to encounter the highest growth in the next few years with an estimated CAGR of 4.8% due to emerging economies like China and India, which have a rising manpower along with their increasing disposable incomes. Also, urbanization and globalization in these economies have led to an increase in the number of working females and women entrepreneurs. Emerging economies like Brazil and South Africa are expected to witness a growth in the global frozen food market due to increasing hygiene concerns with surging trend of super markets.On the basis of different types of frozen food products, the global frozen food market is segmented into a wide range of products including frozen vegetables & fruits, fish & sea foods, potatoes and soups. Other ready meal products include pasta, pizza, instant noodles, nuggets, cheese, jams, confectionery and dairy products.Prominent players in the market include Birds Eye Foods, Inc., Iceland Foods Ltd., General Mills Inc., Ajinomoto Co., Inc., The Schwan Food Company, Nestle, Maple Leaf Foods, Inc., Unilever Plc, McCain Foods, Allens, Inc., ConAgra Foods, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc., Heinz and Amys Kitchen, Inc.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, Inc Dodecanedioic Acid Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-164 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-164 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Dodecanedioic Acid Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Dodecanedioic acid (DDDA) is a dicarboxylic acid. DDDA is a white solid with slight odor. Its melting point is 1280C and boiling point is 2500C. DDDA is used in various applications such as surfactants, corrosion inhibitors, paints and medical applications among others. It is used as adhesives, capacitor electrolyte and as plasticizer in various applications. It can be used as an ingredient for heat transfer fluid and corrosion resistant coats. Additionally, DDDA is used as a stabilizing and curing agent in powder coatings. However, in spite of its several applications, the major application of DDDA is polyesters, especially polyamides, epoxy resins. DDDA is manufactured from butadiene through a chemical process. There is no health issue associated with inhalation of DDDA due to its lower vapor pressure. DDDA is neither genotoxic nor mutagenic.The market for dodecanedioic acid was mainly driven by polyamides market. Dodecanedioic acid is majorly used in manufacturing of polyamide 6,12. Polyamide 6,12 is majorly used in manufacturing nylon products. DDDA is also used in polyester coatings, diester synthetic lubricants and fibers among others. Dodecanedioic acid is used in flame retardants, fertilizers, flavors and fragrances, cleaning agents and dyestuffs among others. Investing in biodegradable DDDA has been the major opportunity for the dodecanedioic acid market. The manufactures are focusing on bio-based DDCA in near future. Verdezyne Inc., a U.S. based company is planning to open new DDDA plant in Malaysia. The plant will utilize lauric acid as chemical feedstock in order to manufacture DDDA. The project emphasizes on bio-based DDDA manufacturing. However, environmental issues can act as a major restraint for the dodecanedioic acid market in upcoming years.Request Free Report Sample@In terms of demand, Asia Pacific was the leading region in dodecanedioic acid market. Growing demand of dodecanedioic acid for nylon 6,12 market has been the major driver for the growth in the market. India and China are the major consumers for the DDDA market. The demand for polyamides and paints products is more in this region helping the DDDA market to grow in this region. Asia Pacific was followed by Europe where the demand for dodecanedioic acid is anticipated to grow in upcoming years owing to huge nylon, adhesives and plasticizers market. The demand for DDDA is more from European countries such as Germany, the UK and Italy.North America is expected to be growing market for dodecanedioic acid in near future. The demand is likely to grow from textile and industrial end-user applications. There is huge demand for polyamides in this market. The U.S. and Canada are the major consumers in the North America region. The Rest of the World market is expected to show steady growth for dodecanedioic acid market in upcoming years. The Middle East, North Africa and Latin America are anticipated to exhibit higher demand for DDDA in upcoming years due to increasing demand for nylon products from various end-user applications.Visit For TOC@Some of the key manufacturers in the dodecanedioic acid (DDDA) market are Beyo Chemcial Co. Ltd., Cathay Industrial Biotech Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, Invista, Sinopec Qingjiang Petrochemical Co., Ltd. US Biotech Company, Verdezyne, Inc. and Zibo Guangtong Chemical Co.,Ltd. among 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.Mr. Sudip sahaFuture 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: Surfactants Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends And Forecast, 2013 - 2019 http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/476797 Surfactants is an organic compound that constitutes both lyophilic (solvent-loving) group and lyophobic (solvent-fearing) group in the molecule. Thus, the existence of polar and non-polar group forms an aggregate called Micelles in an aqueous solution. Surfactants are extensively used in several applications such as household detergents, personal care, industrial & institutional care, food processing, oilfield chemicals, textile & leather, and others. Commercially, surfactants are derived from petrochemical and oleochemical sources. Coconut oil, palm oil, and plant carbohydrates such as sorbitol, sucrose, and glucose are some of the key raw materials derived from bio-based sources that are used in the manufacture of surfactants.Increasing demand for personal care products and detergents and cleaners, led by rising consumer awareness about health and hygiene, has boosted the demand for surfactants across the globe. The detergents market in Asia is expanding significantly owing to burgeoning middle class and increase in disposable income. Suppliers in the surfactants market have relatively low bargaining power due to intense competition. Furthermore, suppliers of raw materials and intermediates face margin pressures owing to volatility in prices of crude oil and natural gas. The surfactants market does not face any credible threat of external substitution; however, internal substitution is widespread in the market. For instance, most detergent manufacturers have started switching from linear alkyl benzene sulfonate (LAS), an anionic surfactant, to mild anionic surfactants such as sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) and sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES).This report estimates and forecasts the surfactants market on the global, regional, and country level. The study provides forecast from 2015 to 2023 based on volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn).Download Sample Copy Of Report Surfactants Market @The study provides a comprehensive view of the surfactants market by dividing it into product segments such as anionic, cationic, non-ionic, amphoteric, and others and applications such as household detergents, personal care, industrial and institutional care (I&I), food processing, oilfield chemicals, textile & leather, and others.Application segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated from 2015 to 2023 in terms of volume (Kilo Tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). Regional segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for surfactants in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). Additionally, country-level analysis with respect to volume and revenue for both product and application segments has been provided in the report. Key countries such as the U.S., France, Spain, the U.K, Germany, Italy, China, Japan, Brazil, and South Africa are included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual products and applications in all regions and countries.The report includes an exhaustive value chain analysis, which provides a comprehensive view of the market. Value chain analysis also provides detailed information about value addition at each stage of the value chain. The report comprises drivers and restraints for the surfactants market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. Additionally, the report comprises the study of opportunities in the surfactants market on the global level.The report includes Porters Five Forces Model to gauge the degree of competition in the surfactants market. It constitutes a separate section that includes qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein application segments has been analyzed. The report includes price trend analysis for surfactants from 2014 to 2023 in US$/Ton.Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.In-depth interviews and discussions with a wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents bulk of the research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further developed the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.The report covers detailed competitive outlook that includes market share and profiles of key participants operating in the global market. Key manufacturers include Archer Daniels Midland Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., Galaxy Surfactants Limited, The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Huntsman Corporation, Lonza Group Ltd., Evonik Industries AG, P&G Chemicals, Clariant International Ltd., Stepan Company, Kao Corporation, and Solvay S.A. (Rhodia). Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments and acquisitions, and financial overview.This report segments the global surfactants market as follows:Surfactants Market Product Segment AnalysisAnionicCationicNon-ionicAmphotericOthers (Including silicone surfactants, bio-based surfactants, and polymeric surfactants)Surfactants Market Application AnalysisHousehold detergentsPersonal careIndustrial & institutional care (I&I)Food processingOilfield chemicalsTextile & leatherOthers (Including agriculture, mining, emulsion polymerization, paints & coatings, construction, lubricants & fuel additives, metal working, and pulp & paper)Surfactants Market Regional AnalysisNorth AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaEuropeFranceU.K.SpainGermanyItalyRest of EuropeAsia PacificChinaJapanASEANRest of Asia PacificLatin AmericaBrazilRest of Latin AmericaMiddle East & Africa (MEA)GCCSouth AfricaRest of Middle East & AfricaMarketresearchreports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. Marketresearchreports.biz services are especially designed to save time and money of our clients.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United States Oberbank AG settles on FACT.pilot for its factoring business Oberbank AG www.fidis.com www.fidis.com More security and smaller default risk for its factoring transactions / managing limits and automatic selection of PDF documentsKaarst, 6 April, 2016. The Austrian Oberbank AG has decided to use FACT.pilot, the special software of fidis GmbH, to assist it in its factoring business. Using FACT.pilot will allow Oberbank AG to fulfill its reporting requirements for factoring. FACT.pilot is a standard software for factoring processes based on SAP. It is developed and maintained by fidis GmbH from Kaarst.Today, factoring is a salient feature of corporate business, explains Claus Retschitzegger of Oberbank AG. But, here, the costs and risks are high. Using FACT.pilot, we can accelerate the factoring processes and reduce our risk. Oberbank AG offers factoring services to corporate businesses in South Germany and Austria. The possibility of conducting its business operations on a single platform internationally is a significant criterion for deciding on this solution, says the project leader, Silvio Schedenig of Oberbank AG.The software package also contains a customer portal, a limit management and a rapid PDF identification. Using FACTportal, a web based application, the factoring company and the client can each upload documents on a daily basis. That significantly simplifies communication with the customers. In order to reduce the risk of default, LIMIT.pilot, the integrated limit management system, checks each invoice for its purchasability on the basis of its set limits. On a daily basis, interfaces to the credit insurers feed FACT.pilot with the actual information on the insurance status.Under conditions of the insolvency of a factoring client, the open invoices are often rendered worthless, explains Otto Johannsen, the managing director of fidis GmbH . By establishing the financing and purchase limits on the basis of the creditworthiness of the customer, factoring companies can significantly reduce this risk. LIMIT.pilot ensures that these limits are automatically and reliably adhered to.The DOC.pilot feature allows the factoring company to process PDF documents automatically. This means that they are checked for content as well as necessary information is extracted for further processing. That way, processing of large quantities of invoices that commonly accrue to factoring companies becomes significantly quicker and much more secure.The business of financing trade receivables is booming, as Johannsen puts it. Whoever is successful here must process large data quantities that rapidly accrue on a daily basis, while ensuring greater safety. A highly automated solution based on SAP is best suited for that.fidis GmbH is internationally one of the leading service providers of standard software for factoring and ABS processes based on SAP. The use of FACT.pilot and ABS.pilot enhances the competitiveness of factoring companies as well as the banking houses and saving banks. At the same time, they also fulfil the statutory stipulations. The modular structure of the software ensures quick implementation on the required scale. Irrespective of its size, every business can take advantage of this solution. fidis was founded in 2000. Its customers include leading factoring companies, big banking businesses and savings banks.fidis GmbHAn der Gumpgesbrucke 17D-41564 KaarstTel. 0049-(0)2131-29858-0FAX 0049-(0)2131-29858-99Email: info@fidis.com Global Food Processer Market 2016 :Industry News, Trends, Size, Share, Growth, Forecast and Opportunity Food Processer Market http://goo.gl/KJ5NWp http://goo.gl/WElRpK A market study based on the "Food Processer market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of QY Market research, is titled Global Food Processer Market 2016. The research report analyzes the historical as well as present performance of the global Food Processer market, and makes predictions on the future status of Food Processer market on the basis of this analysis.The report studies the market for Food Processer across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Food Processer market & dynamics of demand and supply of Food Processer into consideration.Request For Report Sample Here:The ' Food Processer 'research study covers each and every aspect of the Food Processer market globally, which starts from the definition of the Food Processer market and develops towards Food Processer market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Food Processer market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Food Processer market. The geographical segmentation of the Food Processer market has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Food Processer is determined by evaluating the various market participants, production capacity, Food Processer market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Food Processer market worldwide.Do Inquiry About This Report Here:The global Food Processer market 2016 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Food Processer production volume, data regarding demand and Food Processer supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the market for Food Processer across the globe.About Market Research StoreMarket Research Store, we have market research reports from competent publishers. Our Research Specialists have thorough knowledge about offerings from different publishers and different reports on respective industries. They will help you refine search parameters and get desired results at your doorstep. Here you can review the complete range of available reports, review the scope of study and methodology of reports. Apart from the published market research reports, we also provide customized study on any topic to meet the varied requirements of our clients.Whether you are looking for new product trends, competitive analysis or study on existing or emerging markets, Market Research Store has best offerings and expertise to get the critical information for you. You can also choose the option to purchase full reports or sections from the report or only charts or tables.Contact us:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442, USAUSA Tel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@marketresearchstore.com Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) Composites Market Volume Forecast and Value Chain Analysis 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-167 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-167 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) Composites Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Glass fiber is a lightweight and durable fiber produced from very fine fibers of glass. As compared to carbon fibers, glass fibers exhibit low brittleness and the fibers of glass used for their production are more cost effective. Moreover, as compared to metals, the glass fibers are possess better properties, both strength wise and weight wise. Furthermore, the glass fibers can be smoothly formed using different molding techniques. Glass fibers are widely used as an important raw material for producing distinct types of composite materials. Manufacturing of glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites, the largest class of composite materials, is the most important application of glass fibers and almost 90% of the reinforcements used in the composites industry are glass fibers. GFRP composites are extensively used in a diverse range of industries including wind energy, construction, automotive, aerospace, piping and anti-corrosive industrial equipments. The growing demand for GFRP composites from transportation and construction industries is anticipated to drive the global glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites market in the next six years.Request Free Report Sample@Asia Pacific and North America are the largest producers and consumers of glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites. Both these regions together account for more than 50% of the global market for glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites. The infrastructure development and growing construction industry in emerging economies such as China and India is anticipated to drive the demand for glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites in Asia Pacific in the next six years. The North American market for glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites is primarily driven by the growing demand from construction, automotive, aerospace, wind energy and defense industries in the U.S.Apart from glass fibers, thermoset resin is a very important raw material used for the production of GFRP composites. Polyester, a cost effective and uncomplicated material, is the dominant thermoset resin used in the manufacturing of GFRP composites. Polyester thermoset resins are vastly used in producing composite materials marine, piping and building and construction applications. In addition to glass fibers and resins, some typical materials are used as fillers are used in the production of composite materials for improving the physical properties of composite materials. The manufacturers of glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites are conducting extensive research and development activities for identifying the best range of raw materials that can be use for the production of optimum quality composite materials. Nowadays, thermoplastic resin is growingly used as a raw material in place of thermoset resin in the production GFRP composites. The use of thermoplastic resins as a raw material ultimately reduces the time and cost required to manufacture GFRP composites. Moreover, the thermoplastic resins offer higher impact strength and better surface finish to the composite materials. Furthermore, thermoplastic resins can be easily molded and can be recycled. The use of such innovative raw materials improves the quality of GFRP composites and therefore, drives the demand for GFRP composites in distinct industrial applications.Visit For TOC@Some of the major companies operating in the global glass fiber and glass fiber reinforced plastic (GFRP) composites market are Johns Manville, BGF Industries, Asahi Glass Company Limited, Advanced Glassfiber Yarns LLC, Chomarat Group, Jushi Group Co. Ltd., Taishan Fiberglass Inc., Owens Corning, PPG Industries Inc., Binani 3B-The Fibreglass Company, Saertex Group, Chongqing Polycomp International Corp., Saint-Gobain Vetrotex, Nitto Boseki Co. Ltd. and Nippon Sheet Glass Co. 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. 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.Mr. Sudip sahaFuture 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: Epoxy Resins Paints Market Revenue, Opportunity, Forecast and Value Chain 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-168 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-168 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Epoxy Resins Paints Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Epoxy resins which are also known as polyepoxides belong to the category of reactive prepolymers and polymers that contain the epoxide group. Epoxy resins are one of the most versatile compounds that are widely used in the orthophthalic and polyester family. Epoxy resins usually react either with themselves or with other co-reactants which include phenols, acids, alcohols, polyfunctional amines and thiols among others. Epoxy resins are either low molecular weight pre-polymers or high molecular weight polymers which usually contain at least two epoxide groups. The epoxide group is also known as oxirane and glycidyl group. The raw material required to industrially manufacture epoxy resins are largely derived from petroleum.However, some of the plant derived sources are becoming popular in manufacturing epoxy resins. Epoxy resins being polymeric or semi-polymeric materials and thus, are rarely exist in their pure state. Epoxy resins are known for their excellent electrical, mechanical and heat resistance properties. The epoxide content in the epoxy resins is the most crucial factor which determines the characteristics of epoxy resins. Different grades of epoxy resins are usually blended with various additives, plasticizers and fillers. Epoxy resins find wide range of applications in paints and coatings, electrical and electronic components and structural adhesives manufacturing industries. The paint and coatings industry is one of the major applications of the epoxy resins market.Request Free Report Sample@Growing population coupled with changing lifestyle is expected to boost the overall growth of the construction industry. The growing construction industry is expected to augment the growth of the paints and coatings industry. The paints and coating industry is expected to further grow owing to the rising demand from the automobile industry. The rising demand for high end luxury automobiles is further expected to enhance the overall growth of the paints and coatings industry. Thus, the growing paints and coatings industry is expected to drive the overall growth of the epoxy resins market. Epoxy resins are w9idely used by the paints and coating industry on the heavy duty metal substrates. In addition, paints and coatings containing epoxy resins use less energy than that compared to other heat-cured powder coatings. Moreover, paints and coatings containing epoxy resins are also considered environmental friendly than other chemicals.Asia Pacific is the largest manufacturer of epoxy resins owing to the presence of large manufacturers in China. The presence of many manufacturers coupled with their huge production capacities is expected to boost the overall growth of the epoxy resins market. Europe is one of the major consumers of the epoxy resins market. Epoxy resins being environmental friendly are further expected to augment the overall demand in the market. The demand for epoxy resins is gradually growing in North America. Thus, the growing consumer awareness towards environment friendly products coupled with the presence of stringent environmental regulations is expected to further boost the overall growth of the market.Visit For TOC@Momentive Performance Materials, Kukdo Chemical (South Korea), Huntsman Corporation (U.S.), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Atul Ltd (India), Sika AG (Switzerland), Cytec Industries Incorporation (U.S.), DuPont (U.S.), 3M (U.S.), BASF SE (Germany), Aditya Birla Chemicals (Thailand) Ltd, NAMA Chemicals (Saudi Arabia), LEUNA-Harze GmbH (Germany), and Spolchemie A.S. (Czech Republic) among others are expected to some of the major participants of the global epoxy resins market. The companies are mainly focused towards developing bio based epoxy resins in order to comply with the stringent environmental regulations.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.Mr. Sudip sahaFuture 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 Platform Truck Market Analysis, Market Size, Trends, Growth, Competitive Strategies and Forecasts, 2015 To 2019 http://www.9dimengroup.com/market-analysis/global-platform-truck-market-2015-industry-growth-size.html http://www.9dimengroup.com/report/56443/inquiry-for-buying http://www.9dimengroup.com/ 9Dimen Group has recently added new report "Global Platform Truck Market 2015 Industry Growth, Size, Trends, Share, Opportunities and Forecast to 2019" to their research database.The report Global Platform Truck Industry 2015 is a professional, in-depth study that includes insights extracted from complex information, which clients can use for their business advantage. A large volume of precise, reliable market data has been distilled into clear and actionable insight for clients so that they can formulate their plans or make crucial business decisions with precision.Browse full report with TOC @The report begins with an overview of the Platform Truck market and defines the trends that have shaped the global Platform Truck market. The key market drivers, restraints, and opportunities that will shape the dynamics of the Platform Truck market have been presented in the report. A detailed analysis of the key challenges the players in the market face has been also covered in the report. Key inputs from leading industry experts mentioned in the report address how these challenges can be turned into opportunities.A detailed segmentation analysis of the Platform Truck market is available in the report. The key segments in the Platform Truck industry along with their sub-segments have been covered in the report. The performance analysis of these segments and sub-segments has been included in the report along with detailed evaluation of the trends that will influence the growth prospects of these segments. Moreover, niche segments that demonstrate good growth potential and thus opportunities for new entrants and established companies in the market have been covered.Inquiry for buying reportMarket forecasts and estimates for each key segment and its sub-segments are available in the report. All estimates and forecasts in the Platform Truck market study have been verified by the exhaustive primary research with the KIPs (key industry participants), which include the markets leading participants, key consumers and clients, and client distributors and vendors. A detailed company-wise analysis of the leading market players has also been covered in the Platform Truck market report.Analysis also covers upstream raw materials, equipment, downstream client survey, marketing channels, industry development trend and proposals. In the end, the report includes Platform Truck new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, investment return analysis, and development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Platform Truck industry. Here, we express our thanks for the support and assistance from Platform Truck industry chain related technical experts and marketing engineers during Research Teams survey and interviews.9Dimen Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Contact UsJoel 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. 1-855-465-4651Email: sales@9dimengroup.comWeb: Fire Resistant Paints Market Volume Analysis, Segments, Value Share and Key Trends 2014-2020 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-169 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-169 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Fire Resistant Paints Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020" report to their offering.Most of the traditional paints available in the market lack fire retardant properties, and are in fact some of them are inflammable. According to National Fire Protection Associations (NFPA) publication in 2014, in U.S. each day seven lives are lost due to fire. On a global level even higher number could be expected due to lack of statistical data and reporting. Fire resistant paints are the need of the hour and several manufacturing companies have started to manufacture and market fire retardant paints. Changing lifestyle and methods of construction are increasingly adopting fire resistant materials and paints for commercial, residential, industrial, and infrastructure development.Fire retardant paints have enormous opportunity to grow and partially replace the traditional paints market. The main driver of fire resistant paints market is the safety concerns of the people without compromising on the paint quality. Fire resistant paints are extensively used in industrial buildings which house hundreds of people at any given time. Fire resistant paints are applied in walls, wooden surfaces and other materials and surfaces as per requirement. Fire resistant paint when properly coated bulges up to form a solid foam like appearance, when the temperature increases extraordinarily due to flames. The foam thus formed prevents the fire or the flame to intrude the solid foam surface and affect the surface which is coated with fire resistant paint.Request Free Report Sample@This type of paint is capable of resisting fire for some time and helps in preventing loss of life and property until a more capable fire fighting method such as fire fighters, sprinklers etc, is adopted. Fire resistant paints however depend on the coating thickness. Optimum paint thickness is needed to be achieved so that the desired effect is realized in case of fire. The growing number of accidents worldwide due to accidental fires in closed environment is a primary reason for the growth in this market. Growing awareness among urban population regarding health and safety is again a factor for the growth of this market. Paints which were earlier conceived as a decorating application have evolved into safety application as well.The market for fire resistant paints is limited as the concept in niche. However tremendous opportunity exists for this product in the market. Although no standard has yet been officially established so as to determine the effectiveness of the products offered by different manufacturers, the product could be applied to a variety of surfaces and applications and has endless possibilities, especially in industrial setups which are prone to fire related accidents.Visit For TOC@Although manufacturing companies encompassing the globe has developed fire resistant paint products, the majority of application can be witnessed in North America. North America typically has a lot of buildings made of wood and plywood, which render them susceptible to fire. Coating the walls and attics using the fire resistant paint, lowers the risk of the entire house getting engulfed in flames in areas which house most of these type of buildings. North America is followed by Europe by demand for fire resistant paints. However tremendous opportunity exists in Asia Pacific market owing to the high growth of new constructions as well as industrial areas. Although Asia Pacific region is the highest manufacturer of fire resistant paints, the current demand is relatively low.Some of the companies involved in the manufacturing and marketing of fire resistant paints are Contego Industries, Inc., Satya Firotech India Pvt. Ltd., Retardants, Inc, and Flame Control Coatings, LLC among many 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.Mr. Sudip sahaFuture 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 Online Lingerie Industry Analysis by 2016 Market Trends, Pricing, Demands & Key Companies(Calvin Klein, Rosy, Lejaby) http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=687106&type= http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-online-lingerie-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com The research report on the global Online Lingerie market describes the various elements defining the scope of this market. The research report discusses the numerous trends, dynamics, and determinants influencing the trajectory of the market. The qualitative and quantitative nature of the market explains the various hurdles and propellants that the global Online Lingerie market is likely to experience in the coming years. The research report has used SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats influencing the market segments present in the overall Online Lingerie market. Furthermore, the research report also points out the intensity of competitive rivalry, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products or services, the bargaining power of customers, and the threat of new entrants using Porters five forces analysis.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The research report also evaluates the political scenario, environmental concerns, social backdrops, legal framework, economic situation, and technological advancements impacting the global Online Lingerie market. The comparative analysis of the regions helps in ascertaining resources allocated to the regional markets, which allows the readers to understand the market at deeper levels. The research report also includes opinions of industry experts, which makes the document authentic in many ways.The document includes a chapter on the competitive landscape of the global Online Lingerie market. This chapter includes profiles of the top players in the market and an assessment regulatory framework governing these companies. Furthermore, the research report also provides an evaluation of the financial overview, research and development strategies, business and marketing plans, investment outlook, and product portfolio of these companies in the global Online Lingerie market in the coming few years. The document is a must-read for every investor, policy maker, and business enthusiast to strategize the best possible decisions for achieving success.Table of ContentsChapter One Online Lingerie Industry Overview1.1 Online Lingerie Definition1.1.1 Online Lingerie Product Pictures & Product Specifications1.2 Online Lingerie Classification & ApplicationChapter Two Online Lingerie Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.1 Online Lingerie Raw Material & Equipments Supplier and Price Analysis2.3 Online Lingerie Labor & Other Cost Analysis2.5 Online Lingerie Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis2.6 Online Lingerie Manufacturing Process AnalysisChapter Three Online Lingerie Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis3.1 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Online Lingerie Capacity and Commercial Production Date3.2 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Online Lingerie Manufacturing Plants Distribution3.3 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Online Lingerie R&D Status and Technology Sources3.4 2016 Global Key Manufacturers Online Lingerie Raw Materials Sources AnalysisBrowse Complete Report with TOC @QYresearchreports.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 Geosynthetics Market Growth, Trends, Absolute Opportunity and Value Chain 2015-2025 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-475 http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-475 www.futuremarketinsights.com Future Market Insights has announced the addition of the Geosynthetics Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2025" report to their offering.Geosynthetics is a class of synthetic products that are used mainly in construction and geotechnical engineering applications. These are versatile, highly durable materials and serve as cost-effective alternatives in geotechnical, environmental and hydraulic applications. Geosynthetics are made up of durable polymers such as High-density polyethylene (HDPE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyester, these Geosynthetics are incorporated in order to act as separators, filters, reinforcements, drainage facilitators and as liquid and gas barriers. As such, Geosynthetics, owing to their favourable physical properties includes strength, stiffness, durability and many others it is widely used in civil engineering, road industry,soil reinforcement, mining, among others.Geosynthetics Market: Opportunities, Drivers & RestraintsOver the recent past, the growing adoption of Geosynthetics across the globe has resulted in a steady growth of Geosynthetics. Moreover, increasing investments in infrastructure and environmental projects by both, developing and developed countries are likely to drive the growth of Geosynthetics market. Also increasing demand from waste treatment applications, transportation sector and regulatory support on account of enhancing civic amenities, several projects were taken by national government which has continued to fuel the growth in the Geosynthetics market. However, volatility of raw material prices used in manufacture of Geosynthetics is a major restraint to the growth of Geosynthetics market.Request Free Report Sample@Geosynthetics Market: SegmentationGlobal Geosynthetics market can be segmented into various key segments depending on the type of product, material types and on the basis of region. Based on type of product, global geosynthetics market can be segmented into geotextiles, geogrids, geocells, geomembranes, geocomposites, geosynthetic foams and geosynthetic clay liners. Geotextiles are geosynthetics made up of woven (fibers on cloth like material) and non-woven (randomly oriented fibre) materials; geogrids are used for stabilization and reinforcement of waste masses, geocells are used in earth retention applications, rail road support, for protecting bunkers and walls. Geomembranes are an impermeable membranes which are used for canal lining, tunnel lining and land fill linings. Geocomposites combine features of two or more geosynthetics and find applications in drainage among others. Geofoams are lightweight blocks which act as void filling materials in certain construction applications. Lastly, geosynthetic clay liners are fabric-like materials used for lining of landfills.On the other hand, by material types, global geosynthetics market comprises following segments HDPE, polypropylene, polyester and other polymeric alloys based geosynthetics. Lastly, depending on the geographic regions, global geosynthetics market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa.Geosynthetics Market: Region-wise OutlookAsia Pacific accounts for the largest share of global geosynthetics market and is expected to emerge as the fastest growing market for geosynthetics during the forecast period. Countries like India, China and Russia in particular, are expected to witness robust growth in adoption of geosynthetics in construction and geotechnical projects. Among the product type based segments of global geosynthetics market, geotextiles segment accounts for the largest share in market value.Visit For TOC@The global Geosynthetics market growth is driven majorly by their increased adoption in a variety of applications in construction sector, emergence of these as viable alternatives in waste and water applications has further bolstered global geosynthetics market growth. Moreover, increasing number of infrastructure development projects in developing countries and increasing demand of geosynthethics in roadways and rail construction applications across the globe has resulted in a steady growth of global geosynthetics market.Geosynthetics Market: Key PlayersSome of the participants in global Geosynthetics market are NAUE GmbH & Co. KG, GSE Environmental, Low & Bonar PLC, TenCate Geosynthetics, GEO Synthetics LLC, Huifeng Geosynthetics, Tenax Corporation, Polymer Group, 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.Mr. Sudip sahaFuture 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 Pendant Industry receives a significant boost in its Market Growth Elements 2016 Top Leaders(Dainolite, Golden Lighting) http://www.qyresearchreports.com/sample/sample.php?rep_id=689344&type=E http://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-pendant-industry-2016-market-research-report.htm http://www.qyresearchreports.com The global market for Pendant has been exhibiting a gradual movement in its valuation over the last few years. This research study provides a comprehensive overview of the global Pendant market, acting as a significant tool to established players active across the value chain as well as the new entrants by enabling them to materialize the opportunities and develop business strategies. It also assist the companies to understand the trends prevailing in the global Pendant market in a better way to create crucial business strategies and seize lucrative opportunities.The research study analyzes the current as well as historical performance of the worldwide market for Pendant and makes future projections on the basis of this analysis. It evaluates this market from the perspective of the current industry chain, the import and export statistics, and the dynamics of the demand and supply of Pendant across the world.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The research report covers each and every aspect of the global market for Pendant, starting from the definition of the markets product portfolio and progressing to various segments, classified on the basis of significant criteria. The regional segmentation has also been discussed at length in this market report.In this report, the worldwide market for Pendant has been studied on the basis of an assessment performed on the production chain, manufacturing capacity, and the revenue garnered of each of the major players operating in the global Pendant market. This market has also been examined on the basis of products available in the market, their pricing, production volume, and the sales revenue.Various analytical tools such as market feasibility, investment returns, and market attractiveness analysis have been employed in this research to present a comprehensive market study of the worldwide Pendant market during the period from 2016 to 2020.Browse Complete Report with TOC @QYresearchreports.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 Near Field Communication (NFC) Market Research Report to 2020: Grand View Research, Inc. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/near-field-communication-nfc-market/request The NFC market is expected to witness rapid growth across various application verticals over the forecast period, according to a new study by Grand View Research, Inc. Rapid technological advancement and high smartphone demand due to technology standardization is expected to positively impact market growth. Demand for cost effectiveness along with increasing availability of NFC-enabled smartphones is also a major market driver. In addition, the market provides opportunities to the direct mail marketing sector, which in turn may drive m-commerce and mobile payment options.NFC is integrated in a wide range of equipment and devices including tablets, laptops, cameras, headsets, televisions, cookers, washing machines, cars and vending machines. In addition to industrial and commercial applications, this technology is preferred for financial transactions. High development cost, poor infrastructure coupled with lack of consumer awareness about potential benefits may hamper market growth over the next six years. Transformation in transaction process methods along with social media engagement applications are expected to offer growth avenues for the global NFC market.Further key findings from the study suggest: The NFC market comprises non-auxiliary and auxiliary products. Non-auxiliary segment includes readers, tags and IC/chips, while auxiliary products include NFC-enabled covers, SIMs and microSD cards. NFC readers are expected to witness high growth over the forecast period, which is a result of growing application areas and demand for ticketing, access control and authentication. Mobile payment application is expected to remain the dominant market segment over the next six years. This can be attributed to benefits such as improved financial transparency, improved public sector servicing and reduced carbon footprint. In addition, emergence of mobile wallet payment methods has enhanced user experience against contactless cards. Asia Pacific is expected to witness high growth due to growing adoption of this technology in retail and transportation. Financial institutions as well as Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have supported contactless payment facilities. Increasing use of smartphones for transaction at point of sale (POS) terminals is expected to drive the market in North America. Key companies operating in the NFC market include Nexperts, Infineon Technologies, Gemalto, Renesas, Sony Corporation, STMicroelectronics and Texas Instruments. Rising emphasis on vertical integration activities in order to obtain greater product reliability and optimized manufacturing throughput is estimated to be the major growth strategy.Request for free sample of this research report:For the purpose of this study, Grand View Research has segmented the global NFC market on the basis of product, application and region:NFC Product Outlook (Volume, Million Units & Revenue, USD Million; 2012 2020) Auxiliary Non-Auxiliary NFC IC (Chips) NFC Tags NFC ReadersNFC Application Outlook (Volume, Million Units & Revenue, USD Million; 2012 2020) Payment Transportation Booking Data Sharing Service Access Control Healthcare OthersNFC Regional Outlook (Volume, Million Units & Revenue, USD Million; 2012 2020) North America Europe Asia Pacific RoWGrand 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, Inc ADANI ENTERPRISES SUCCESSFULLY MANAGED USING MATRIX CONTRACT WORKERS MANAGEMENT SOLUTION www.MatrixSecuSol.com Adani Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Its diversified businesses include resources, logistics, energy sectors and agri-business. Adani group is the largest port developer and operator in India with Mundra being the countrys largest commercial port. Having multiple ports, branches, manufacturing units and corporate offices at various locations, Adani Group is one of the largest business units. In all, this business group has 15000+ employees and 50,000+ workers (with 900+ third party contractors) involved in incorporating various work-orders across 25+ business units.Challenges Managing numerous workers attendance Verifying the number of workers allotted to each task under a contractor against the respective contractors report Eliminate fraudulent and erroneous payment of wages at contractors end Monitoring each work order status - determining its progress and segregating them Allotting workers to each work order on the basis of its requirements and skill of the workers Maintaining and automating diverse attendance, timing and leave policies for the various locations and work orders Capturing accurate and diverse time-attendance data of all workers Ensuring approved and a proper induction of each worker at a defined level Generating customized reports in order to make swift decisions and timely & error free payroll processingSolution offered: COSEC Contract Workers Management solution for 50,000+ workers under 900+ contractors, across four locations Centralized data management solution for branches across multiple locations Tracking work orders progress Contractors self-service portal for managing workers Worker Enrolment with photograph, documents, credentials and induction details COSEC integration with SAP using database to database linking Connectivity using Ethernet, Wi-Fi and Mobile broadband Real-time notification in cases of exceptional situationsResults Enhanced security with effective worker enrolment process abiding to various induction levels Increase in productivity of admin by 20% Easy decision making due to customized reports & charts generated Smooth & effective monitoring of work orders Smooth and easy security with centralized control and monitoring reduced time spent by the security department Error free man hours computation for quick & effective wages calculation Minimize manual interventionsProducts COSEC CENTRA LE (Application Software Platform Expandable up to 1 million Users) COSEC LE CWM (Contract Workers Management Module for COSEC CENTRA LE) COSEC DOOR FOW (Fingerprint and RF Card based Door Controller with Wi-Fi Connectivity) COSEC PATH DCFM (Fingerprint, Mifare Card and NFC based Door Controller) COSEC VEGA FAX (Fingerprint and RF Card based Premium Door Controller with Touch sense LCD, IP65,Wi-Fi, POE) COSEC DOOR FOP (Fingerprint and RF Card based Premium Door Controller with LCD & Keypad)Contact: MATRIX COMSEC394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara+91 93744 74302More@MatrixComSec.comEstablished in 1991, Matrix is a leader in Telecom and Security solutions for modern businesses and enterprises.Matrix Comsec394 GIDC, Makarpura, Vadodara-390010 Femaleadda, Feminine Beauty, Fashion and Wellness amenities just a mouse click away in Delhi & NCR http://www.femaleadda.com/boutique http://www.femaleadda.com/about-boutique Noida, Uttar Pradesh April 06, 2016 - Femaleadda is India's largest platform for Beauty, Fashion and Wellness Services dedicated to women, currently operating in Delhi and NCR region. FemaleAdda offers women an online portal to book appointments for Parlours, Salons, Spas, Boutiques, Fitness Centers and Doctors in Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ghaziabad.Femaleadda is currently offering heavy discounts on various services, starting on customer acquisition phase. Now the females can enjoy pre confirmed appointments for fashion services at exciting discounts. Femaleadda has tie ups with citys top Boutiques, Stitching Centers and Ladies Tailors. In the sea of duties that a woman has to perform in her daily life, waiting at a boutique or at a tailors can feel like an ordeal. To address the problem, feamaleadda gives a real time appointment booking facility, for your favorite boutiques. This helps you get prompt, effective and immediate service when you reach there. No more leaving your expensive and favorite dress material in the hands of just anyone. You can book your services at your desired center at your preferred time and there will be an attendant ready to take care of your requirements. Eliminating waiting time at these centers helps in better scheduling of the rest of the day. You can find, evaluate, and review, rate and book appointments at centers you wish at the time you prefer.Femaleadda.com has clubbed branded and unorganized boutiques, ladies tailors & stitching centers to one platform. This way, women of all financial factions get an option to take their pick. Boutiques & Ladies Tailors fulfilling the service and skill criteria of femaleadda are listed on the website, along with a list of services they provide and their prices. Bellissa Home Service is another option given to the women, where they can book appointments from boutique professionals to collect and deliver materials at their door step. By showing only the most relevant services, appointment times are accurately booked, customers time and money is well spent.Official announcement of Femaleadda stated We started this single online portal for all basic feminine amenities, so that women find everything to serve their wellness needs at one portal. Femaleadda is a trusted platform for finding quality, affordable and reliable service in any locality. Users can look through the reviews and comments of other users before deciding on a service. One can also post her opinion or give ratings after she has used a particular service. The centers and professionals delivering best services get acclamation openly, which makes it easier for them to draw new customers. It also saves service providers from overcrowding and lets them attend to their customers individually and properly.Payment can be done before or after the services are received. Appointments can be changed, cancelled or updated in real time, and users and the service providers get a conformation text message for the same. New users get a chance to register and refer their friends for the portal, which will earn them reward points. These reward points can be redeemed later .The appointments can be booked through the website, or the app. The service providers can manage their account on the website through their credentials or can ask the company staff to update it on their behalf.FemaleAdda is a total solutions provider, delivering all basic feminine requirements at a single platform. This portal will be further expanding to pan India level, starting with metro cities. Services can be booked on the website as well as through mobile app. To Know More About -andFemaleAdda, 212 3rd Floor Arcade Building Sector 18 Noida Uttar Pradesh 201301 India Dramatically Increasing Global Presence & Deal Flow by Utilizing Social Networks www.yissum.co.il Posted by Ari Huczkowski on Fri, Jun 27, 2014Universities and research organizations have massive amounts of information, technologies and know-how, which could be extremely useful to global companies. The real challenge is how to commercialize the research results to benefit these multinational corporates. In Israel, the use of databases for attracting global partners has been extremely successful. In addition, technologies and knowhow are marketed proactively by the use of Social Networks, mentioned Tamir Huberman, Vice President of Business Development at Yissum, of one of the worlds leading technology transfer companies.During June 3rd - 5th, 2014, Tamir Huberman visited technology related organizations and companies at Otaniemi (Finlands Silicon Valley) and demonstrated the TTM Software (Technology Transfer Management). The software was developed by Tamir at Yissum (the technology transfer company of Hebrew University, Israels top university according to global rankings) and is currently the leading solution for Technology Transfer Companies in Israel and used by 6 additional Tech Transfers. To commercialize new technologies and innovations, Tamir also emphasizes the use of Social Networks for proactive marketing, as the TTM by itself doesnt do the selling. With over 30,000 first connections on LinkedIn, 15 Groups, and additional tens of thousands of professionals that are part of Yissums members, Tamir has been able to contact leading professionals worldwide and generate leads from global leading companies.During the seminar in Otaniemi, Tamir shared his wide knowledge on how companies can vastly increase their productivity and results, focusing on the use of Social Networks. Tamir also demonstrated how to build an effective company website that is linked to the social networks and generates valuable leads with minimal effort.About Tamir Huberman: Tamir is Vice President of Business Development in the field of Computer Science & IT Director at Yissum (he joined Yissum in 2004). In addition, he is also the IT Director of ITTN, the Israeli Technology Transfer Organization, and a Director in a number of Spin-Off Companies of Yissum. Tamir holds a MSc. in structural biology and a BSc. in biology from the Hebrew University, a diploma in computer and electronics and has continued his MBA studies at the Hebrew University. He is also a certified Trainer of NLP from ABNLP. Tamir is also the Founder of THI, which aims to assist Companies and Individuals to gain access to the power of Social Networking and NLP.Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University ofJerusalem Ltd. was founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize the HebrewUniversitys intellectual property. Products based on Hebrew Universitytechnologies that have been commercialized by Yissum currently generate $2Billion in annual sales. Ranked among the top technology transfer companiesin the world, Yissum has registered over 8,500 patents covering 2,400 inventions; has licensed out 750 technologies and has spun out 90 companies. Yissums business partners span the globe and include companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto, Roche, Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more. For further information please visitTamir HubermanHi-Tech Park, Givat Ram, PO BOX 39135Jerusalem, Israel91390 Hyaluronic Acid Market to Register Impressive CAGR, Driven by Increasing Demand for Anti-Aging Procedures http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/hyaluronic-acid-products-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=2033 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ Hyaluronic acid, a vital component of the extracellular matrix, finds a multitude of applications ranging from drug delivery to wound healing. These wide-ranging applications will prove conducive to the growth of the global hyaluronic acid products market, leading it to post a high single-digit CAGR of 9.2% between 2013 and 2019, says Transparency Market Research in its latest report. The next few years will see a continued uptick in the demand for hyaluronic acid products with more people undergoing anti-aging and minimally-invasive procedures. TMR projects the global hyaluronic acid products market to rise from its 2012 valuation of US$5.32 bn to US$9.85 bn by 2019. These findings are further elaborated in TMRs report titled Hyaluronic Acid Products Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013 - 2019.Read More:However, market expansion will be marred to some extent because of the cost barrier being considerably high in the hyaluronic acid products market. In order to mitigate the impact of this restraint, companies in the market are recommended to focus on partnerships as a channel for expansion. More specifically, TMR analysts recommend large multinational companies to join hands with local businesses to register a wider regional presence. The other important recommendation TMR analysts make is to focus on reducing side effects resulting from hyaluronic acid products.For the purpose of this study, the global hyaluronic acid products market is segmented on the basis of the following criteria: product, application, and geography. By product, the market is segmented into three-injection cycle, single-injection cycle, and five-injection cycle products. Five-injection cycle products constituted the largest segment in the global hyaluronic acid products market in 2012 whereas the single-injection cycle products segment has the highest rate of growth from 2013 through 2019.Based on the type of application, HA injectables are segmented into ophthalmic surgery, osteoarthritis, vesicoureteral reflux (VUR), and dermal fillers. The dermal fillers market constitutes the largest segment in the hyaluronic acid products market by application, with osteoarthritis and vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) trailing. The vesicoureteral reflux (VUR) application segment is forecast to report the highest rate of growth through the reports forecast period. The expansion of this segment can be credited to factors such as a high demand for minimally-invasive and non-invasive surgical procedures and a high aging population.Request Brochure:Furthermore, the global HA products market is also studied on the basis of geography, with the key regional markets being: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Rest of the World (RoW). North America led the global hyaluronic acid products market globally in 2012 whereas Europe was seen to be the second-largest market worldwide in the same year. The recent economic downturn in Europe caused much disruption in the global hyaluronic acid products market when the unfavorable reimbursement scenario stood in the way of the higher adoption of hyaluronic acid products. The future of the hyaluronic acid products market lies in Asia Pacific and Rest of the World owing to an enhancement in the healthcare facilities here and a surging demand for minimally invasive surgeries.The market, in 2012, saw the dominance of three major players: Merz Aesthetics, Allergan, Inc., and Anika Therapeutics, Inc.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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Mr. Sudip STransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email:A sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Rising Demand for Minimally Invasive Surgeries to Drive the Demand from Global Medical Fiber Optics Market http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/medical-fiber-optics-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=546 http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/ The rising use of medical fiber optics in minimally invasive surgeries has been augmenting the demand from the global medical fiber optics market. In its report, titled Medical Fiber Optics Market- Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trend and Forecast 2013 - 2019, Transparency Market Research provides a holistic overview of the global medical fiber market and presents insights into the growth drivers and restraints impacting its growth trajectory.Read More:For the purpose of the study and to accurately arrive at market numbers, the overall market for medical fiber optics has been segmented on two fronts: applications and geography. Burning issues in this market are discussed in depth, and our analysts provide expert, fact-backed recommendations on how to plan a sustainable growth strategy in this high-growth-potential market.The report also creates a comprehensive picture of the overall competitive dynamics that prevail in the medical fiber optics market. To understand the players within this market better, our analysts have studied each leading company on certain fixed criteria such as a company overview, financial earnings, product portfolio, a SWOT analysis, and recent developments. All of these components combine to present a holistic view of where each major competitor is headed over the remainder of the decade.The report pegs the overall value of the global medical fiber optics market at US$863.1 mn in 2013. By the end of 2019, the market is expected to reach an overall valuation of US$1.3 bn. If these figures hold true, the global medical fiber optics market will exhibit a CAGR of 7.60% between 2013 and 2019.The market for medical fiber optics has been substantially capitalizing on technical advancements in medical devices, resulting in their miniaturization, said a lead TMR analyst. The market is also gaining impetus from the rising demand for advanced technologies and rapid development in fiber technology, he added.Despite exhibiting a positive growth trajectory, stringent regulations to ensure high standards and the risk linked with the high intensity of fiber optic lights are some crucial challenges inhibiting the global market for medical fiber optics. Nevertheless, improvements in healthcare infrastructure and medical standards, together with growing awareness about the diverse applications of fiber optics, will enable the market to capitalize on lucrative opportunities in the near future.The report studies the global medical fiber optics market on two fronts, namely application and regional distribution. Based on application, the global medical fiber optics market is segmented into endoscopes, fiberoptic surgical lights, fiberoptics, fiberoptic sensors, fiberoptic dental lights, and others. Regionally, the market is broadly classified into Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World.Among the segments based on applications, the endoscopes segment emerged as the dominant player in 2013, with a valuation of US$339.8 mn. The market for endoscopes is likely to expand at a positive CAGR of 8.10% during the reports forecast period and reach US$543 mn by 2019.Request A Sample Of This Report:Regionally, the global medical fiber optics market is dominated by North America, since the region boasts high standards and sophisticated healthcare and medical infrastructure. Apart from this, increasing demand for minimally invasive surgeries from the region also boosts the North America market for medical fiber optics, which through the forecast period will maintain its lead in the global medical fiber optics market.To present a comprehensive overview, the report profiles some of the leading players operating in the market such as Timbercon Inc., IPG Photonics, Coherent Inc., Schott, Rofin, Leoni AG, Vitalcor Inc., Trumph, Sunoptic Technologies, and American Medical System. Additionally, the report states that during its forecast period, Asia Pacific will exhibit the fastest CAGR as one of the regional markets for medical fiber optics.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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Mr. Sudip STransparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email:A sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Global Fluoroscopy and Mobile C-arms Market to Reach US$2 bn by 2019 due to Rising Innovation TMR http://bit.ly/1N8yjLI http://bit.ly/207clQK http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms are used in the study of human body parts providing live images, analogous to X-ray imaging. These equipments play major role in orthopedic surgeries, cardiac catheterization, lumbar puncture, biopsy, placement of interventional catheters into arteries and veins and interventional radiology procedures. Increasing preference of interventional radiology procedures is leading to faster growth of fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market. Interventional radiology is preferred because it causes less damage to tissues resulting in less pain and faster recovery.Increasing number of hospitals and diagnostic laboratories in the emerging economies is one of the major factors driving the fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market. According to the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, number of government hospitals has increased from 4,571 in 2000 to 11,993 in 2011 in India. Increase in number of hospitals lead to an increase in demand of the fluoroscopy equipment and mobile C-arms.Fluoroscopy equipment held major share of the market in 2012 in terms of revenue while in terms of volume, mobile C-arm is leading the market. Mobile C-arms are further segmented into full size C-arms and mini C-arms and it is expected that full size C-arms will grow at faster pace in global fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market during the forecast period. The growth of full size C-arms is attributed to its multiple applications and technological advancements. Prices of these equipment vary widely in different geographical areas, owing to difference in manufacturing cost and price-based demand which depends on the economic conditions of various regions.Get a Sample:Demand for refurbished systems is restraining the market for new fluoroscopy and mobile C-arm equipment, as they cost much less than the new equipment. Therefore, demand for refurbished systems is high in developing regions such as China, India, Indonesia, Brazil, Africa and Turkey. Although market for refurbished systems is growing, there are certain regulations governing the import and use of these equipment. As for instance, in Europe, only those equipment with CE mark are allowed to be marketed. However, relaxed policies in majority of developing regions are fueling the overall market for fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms.Geographically, the global fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market is differentiated into four regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. North America dominated the fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market in 2012, both in terms of value and volume, owing to the high awareness about medical imaging devices, acceptance of new and innovative products, financial capability to purchase expensive machines and high infrastructure investment supporting healthcare development. However, the Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at a high CAGR due to presence of untapped opportunities, improving healthcare infrastructure and increasing awareness about medical imaging procedures and their application in diagnosis and interventional radiology procedures.The global fluoroscopy and mobile C-arms market is characterized by the presence of few big market players including GE Healthcare, Hitachi, Ltd., Philips Healthcare, Siemens Healthcare, Toshiba Corporation, Ziehm Imaging GmbH, Hologic, Inc. and OrthoScan, Inc. Competition among these market players is high which impels these market players to develop new technologies which provide better contrast images and user convenience with an array of applications.Browse Full Research Report: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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.State Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite: Home-schooling program helps Indigenous kids get ahead www.yissum.co.il 31 JAN 2014 - 5:54PM (SBS NEWS)By Sarah AboA home-based learning program is helping families in Indigenous anddisadvantaged communities better prepare their children for their first years ofeducation.The HIPPY program has improved learning by 30 per cent in some youngsters. Today, it has expanded into 25 new locations, focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.The two-year home based tutoring program supports parents in disadvantaged communities to prepare their youngsters for school.Koori mother-of-three, Janine home-schooled two of her children, Jodie and Patrick, as part of HIPPY.She says the results in the writing, spelling and language skills were immediate."It involves spending 15 minutes a night. It's all about having fun with it and enjoying it and if they're enjoying it then they're going to want to do it more," Janine says.The program has strengthened their relationship and has empowered Janine too. She's now employed as an area coordinator of HIPPY."My mum was part of the Stolen Gens [Generations] so she brought us up as best she could, we did have issues, you know, [as a] family of 8," says daughter Jodie. "So I didnt, ever think I'd be where I'm at today."HIPPY originated in Israel in 1969 (and is Licensed by Yissum, Tech Transfer of the Hebrew University), and now operates in 13 countries including the United States, Germany, Austria, Argentina, Canada, El Salvador, Italy and New Zealand.It was introduced in inner-city Melbourne 15 years ago, before growing to 50 sites across Australia. With the help of the federal government and Brotherhood of St Laurence, it's now being expanded into a further 25 locations, with a focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.Director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Tony Nicholson says the HIPPY program helps children in disadvantaged communities catch up to and surpass the standards of other children their age."It's one of the most outstanding programs for ensuring disadvantaged youngsters get a good start in school and it's by and large because it engages parents in the process." Assistant Education Minister Sussan Ley says HIPPY also helps boost the confidence of parents, who then go on to help other families within their community."And what it does is make sure that the child is equipped to deal with the world of classroom, and obviously later the world of work and participating in society."Alice Springs grandmother Geraldine Stewart used the program to tutor two of her grandchildren who lost their mother. "I wanted my grandchildren to have an education, they'd just come from the community," Ms Stewart says.They have now improved their English skills while maintaining their Pitjantjatjara language."They're six and seven now and Jodie wins awards all the time, like role model awards at the school and Jade has just excelled in her learning," she says."Jodie's already talking about being a teacher." Five people will be employed in the communities included in the expanded program, along the Murray-Darling River, up the eastern seaboard to Far North Queensland, in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley.Yissum Research Development Company of the Hebrew University ofJerusalem Ltd. was founded in 1964 to protect and commercialize the HebrewUniversitys intellectual property. Products based on Hebrew Universitytechnologies that have been commercialized by Yissum currently generate $2Billion in annual sales. Ranked among the top technology transfer companiesin the world, Yissum has registered over 8,500 patents covering 2,400 inventions; has licensed out 750 technologies and has spun out 90 companies. Yissums business partners span the globe and include companies such as Syngenta, Monsanto, Roche, Novartis, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Intel, Teva and many more. For further information please visitYissum Representative in charge of CS & IT technologies - Tamir Huberman VP Business Development & IT Director of Yissum (Technology Transfer Company of the Hebrew University)Tamir HubermanHi-Tech Park, Givat Ram, PO BOX 39135Jerusalem, Israel91390 Global Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016: China Market Supply, Demands, Growth and Forecast Report 2021 http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/company-analysis-of-top-10-automobile-compressor-assembly-46185 http://goo.gl/2tFpzT http://goo.gl/jyQnWg http://goo.gl/gB6zto http://www.marketresearchstore.com The Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry. Starting with a broad overview, the report narrows down to offer an overview of the Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry globally as well as with a specific focus on China. By conducting a check of the current status of the Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry, the report is able to then delve deeper into the various forces that directly and indirectly impact the Industry.Access Full Report With TOC @:Given the ever-shifting and ever-evolving nature of the technologies that enable the products and services contributing to the growth of the Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry, the report conducts a detailed analysis of the technological trends and developments. This report then moves ahead to focus on the various global and China-based players in the Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry. In order to obtain specific information about the Industry participants, the report focuses on the following key aspects: Company Profiles, product/services information, contact information, as well as production/revenues.The report then delves deeper by segmenting the global and Chinese Industry for Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 into sections, based on parameters such as applications, end-users, geographical regions, or product/technology, where applicable. The degree of competition that exists in the Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry in the context of both China and the world, is studied in detail.Request For Sample:1)The Aim of this reportTo provide readers with comprehensive & indepth understanding of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry;To disclose market size of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry;To understand position of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 in the world;To predict what future of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry will be;To analyze major Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 producers in China;To find out the key strengths and weakness of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 producers, and the threats and opportunities they face;To reveal opportunities in Chinese Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry.2)Benefit from the reportObtain latest info of Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry, such as market size, status in the world, hotspots and so on;Evaluate the financial performance and growth strategies of top 20 Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 producers in China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry;Identify key trends and opportunities in China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry;Understand what are the drivers and barriers of China Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 producers.3)DeliverablesWordformat report, with around 3050 pages;Excelformat database of key Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 producers;Excelformat market data of Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 industry;Inquiry Before Buying Report Here @:Table of Content1 Global Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry1.1 Overview1.2 Manufacture1.3 Market Holding1.4 Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Market Supply1.5 Market Price2 Chinese Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry2.1 Market Supply2.2 Market Demand2.3 Chinese Market Price Index2.4 Chinese Market Competition3 Chinese Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Industry Chain3.1 Overview3.2 Upstream3.3 Downstream4 Chinese Global and China Automobile Compressor Assembly 2016 - 2021 Import And Export Data4.1 Import4.2 ExportFull Report With Toc @:MRS Research Store provides a range of marketing and business research solutions designed for our clients specific needs based on our expert resources. The business scopes of Prof Research cover more than 30 industries including energy, new materials, transportation, daily consumer goods, chemicals, etc. We provide our clients with one-stop solution for all the research requirements.Joel John3422 SW 15 Street,Suit #8138Deerfield Beach,Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 FREE (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803 FREEEmail: sales@marketresearchstore.comWebsite: New Yorker Electronics Supplying CDEs RA-Style Capacitors Cornell Dubiliar RA Style Capacitor Series NORTHVALE, NEW JERSEY - New Yorker Electronics has announced availability of Cornell Dubiliers Type RA Angstor Radial PET Film Capacitors for 125C operation. The multilayered capacitors stacked metallized polyester construction and impregnated sealant make this a rugged, self-encased capacitor that requires no external casing.This package style, now an in-stock item at New Yorker Electronics, offers the highest energy density technology available for switching power supplies, DC to DC converters and other high ripple current applications.The non-inductive multilayer metallized polyester film capacitor is impregnated with a microcrystalline polymer sealant and exterior tape wrap that protects the capacitor element from moisture. This allows it to meet 85 C/ 85% RH requirements for demanding applications in military vehicles and aerospace.Other features these high performance filter capacitors includes:- Small, Efficient Size- Self-Healing Capability- Low ESR/ESL at High Frequency- High DV/DT Capability- Wave SolderableType RA capacitors are terminated with radial leads to cover a broad range of applications in power electronics where high-density capacitors are needed for board-level DC filtering. They are available from franchised distributor New Yorker Electronics in all capacitance values ranging from 0.1 F to 10.0 F, voltage ratings of 100, 250, 400 and 500 Vdc. The RA-type capacitors are primarily used for high frequency switching power supplies, noise suppression, EMI reduction and long-life applications.New Yorker Electronics is a certified franchised distributor of electronic components, well known for its full product lines, large inventories and competitive pricing since 1948. New Yorker Electronics is an AS9210 and ISO 9001:2008 certified source of capacitors, resistors, semi-conductors, connectors, filters, inductors and more, and operates entirely at heightened military and aerospace performance levels. It also functions in strict accordance with AS5553 and AS6496 standards verifying that it has implemented industry standards into everyday practices to thwart the proliferation of counterfeit parts. It is a member of ECIA (Electronics Component Industry Association) and of ERAI (Electronic Resellers Association International).New Yorker Electronics, 209 Industrial Parkway, Northvale, New Jersey, 07647 How to Set up a Grant SQ20xx Datalogger for Temp and RH Sensors Record Temperature and Humiidty Simultaenously https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q3VCfEiMVs www.DataLoggerInc.com www.dataloggerinc.com Monitor Multiple Values using a Universal Data LoggerCHESTERLAND, OHApril 6, 2016Do you need to monitor both temperature and humidity in an industrial or lab application? CAS DataLoggers presents this handy tutorial from Grant Instruments showing how to connect a temperature and humidity sensor to Grant Squirrel SQ2010SQ2020SQ2040 dataloggers. You can also view the YouTube video atConfiguring a Relative Humidity Sensor:Setting up a Temperature Channel:Run Grant SquirrelView software. In the Logger Setup window, select the first channel under the Calculated Channels tab. Select the Sensor Type as VoltageSingle-Ended. In the Ranges Available, select -0.6 to 1.2V. Click on Add/Edit Scaling. Enter 1V as 100C and 0V as -40C. Enter the units in Celcius and a realistic number of decimal places. The Preview will then expand to show the full range selected.The diagram shows where to connect into the block of the logger. After hitting OK, enter a relevant Channel name such as Temperature.Setting up a Humidity Channel:Select the next channel under the Calculated Channels tab as above. Again select the Sensor Type as VoltageSingle-Ended. In the Ranges Available, select -0.6 to 1.2V. Click on Add/Edit Scaling.At this point under Custom Ranges youll want to enter 1V as 100%RH and 0V as 0%RH. Enter the units as %RH and a relevant number of decimal places. The Preview expands to show the full range selected. Again, you can see where to connect into the block of the logger. Enter a relevant channel name such as Humidity.Adding Sensor Power:Back in the Logger Setup window, click on Sensor Power for the channel you want. In the new Sensor Power window, select Sensor Power Time B- (5V). The diagram shows you the Sensor Power Wiring for Block E.For the second channel, just add the same details as above.Now set the Sensor Power Timer. This value is the time that the sensor takes to power up so that it can take a stable reading.When all this is completed, you can send this setup to the Squirrel SQ20xx datalogger.Universal Data Loggers:Squirrel dataloggers from Grant Instruments are world-renowned for their ruggedness and reliability. The latest generation of Squirrel 2020/2040 loggers feature 24 bit ADC's for precise measurements. The Squirrel loggers also feature a built-in display and keypad allowing them to be used in applications where users need both portability and stand-alone operation.Grant SquirrelView Software:SquirrelView is a universal software package included with every new Grant Squirrel data logger. Its user-friendly, spreadsheet-style interface allows quick setup of the data logger for any application, speedy download of data, and direct export to Excel. SquirrelView Plus gives additional benefits such as graphical data analyses and advanced reporting options.For more information on Grant Squirrel Data Loggers, for additional manufacturers, 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 2nd Annual Congress and Medicare Expo on Primary Care Conference Series LLC takes immense pleasure to extend our warm welcome to invite all the participants from all over the world to attend "2nd Annual congress and Medicare Expo On Primary Care during September 19-21, 2016 at Phoenix, USA, which includes prompt keynote presentations, Oral talks, Poster presentations and Exhibitions.Primary Care Congress 2016 is a forum to explore issues of mutual concern as well as exchange knowledge, share evidence and ideas, and generate solutions. The main focus of primary health care is the diagnosis and treatment of patients, disease prevention and screening. Primary Care Congress 2016 works with the theme Advances & Challenges to Provide Healthcare Universally aims to discover advances in health practice, management and education in relation to health disparities as well as a breadth of other topics. Driven by population magnification and aging, the total number of office visits to primary care medicos is projected to increment from 462 million in 2008 to 565 million in 2025. Patients with access to a regular primary care physician have lower overall health care costs than those without one, and health outcomes improve.Conference Series LLC invites participants from all over the world to attend "2nd Annual congress and Medicare Expo On Primary Care during September 19-21, 2016 Phoenix, Arizona, USA which includes prompt keynote presentations, Oral talks, Poster presentations and Exhibitions.Conference Series LLC Organise 3000+ Conferences across USA, Europe & Asia with support from 1000 more scientific societies and Publishes 700+ Open Access Journals which contains over 50000 eminent personalities, reputed scientists as editorial board members.Jennifer LenniePrimary Care Congress 20165716 Corsa Ave, Suite110Westlake, Los Angeles, CA-91362-7354, USAP: 1-702-508-9028E: primarycare@conferenceseries.com Running of the Roses www.wineconneXtion.com The Wine ConneXtion Hosts Complimentary Rose Tasting in Celebration of the Kentucky DerbyWHAT: Ladies, don the elaborate, and gentlemen, break out the pastels because The Wine ConneXtion is once again bringing the Kentucky Derby to North Andover, MA. On Saturday, May 7th, 2016 guests are invited to The Wine ConneXtion to celebrate the annual Run for the Roses with a complimentary wine tasting of roses from 1:00PM to 5:00PM.Roses have finished last in the past when the wine market was flooded with White Zinfandel look-a-likes, but now they are making first place finishes. Savvy wine lovers have discovered that these light-bodied and delicately flavored wines are the sophisticated summer sister of their favorite red varietals. As summer rapidly approaches, wineries are releasing their best roses to the market for optimum enjoyment.Guests must be 21+ and walk-ins are welcome all day. For more information, please contact (877) 469-5025, or visitWHERE: The Wine ConneXtion, 117 Main Street in North Andover, MAWHEN: Saturday, May 7th, 2016; 1:00PM-5:00PMCOST: Tasting is complimentary. *Please note: Must be 21 or older.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.###The Wine ConneXtion, 117 Main Street in North Andover, MA Yoga Brunch on the Pier http://yogapier6.eventbrite.com http://yogapier6.eventbrite.com WHAT: On Saturday, April 30th, 2016 Pier 6, Charlestowns premier waterfront dining destination, is bringing together a group of power players for Yoga Brunch on the Pier. From 9:00AM to 11:00AM Bostonians will experience balance, beats, bubbles and brunch while overlooking the breathtaking skyline of Boston Harbor.Beginning at 9:00AM, Equinoxs own Jess Ray, who teaches classes at Equinox Franklin Street, will treat the group to a fun-filled, energizing yoga class for all fitness levels set to music by Jon Oh. Inspired by her background in high intensity movement as a gymnast, Jess classes guide students through a dynamic routine designed to build strength and flexibility. Her innovative sequencing matched with amazing beats ensures a seamless flow that simultaneously enhances ones practice by invigorating, yet relaxing the body and mind. lululemon will provide the group with their signature yoga mats for the class.Following the hour-long class, guests will refresh with a bubbly mimosa from the mimosa bar on Pier 6s outdoor patio. Jenny Johnson, two time Emmy award-winning producer of Dining Playbook will be pouring glasses of Champy, her Sonoma sparkling wine, while guests can customize their mimosa with a selection of cold-pressed, organic juices provided by Laura Baldini and Ellen Fitzgerald of Mother Juice. Pier 6 will replenish with a family-style brunch including healthy options such as fresh fruit, yogurt, an egg station and a selection of house-made baked goods. The group will get to mix and mingle with each of the proprietors including Boston-based online boutique A Ruby, which is unveiling its brand new performance line AV-RA.The cost is $25 per guest and includes hour-long yoga class, lululemon mat rental, (1) mimosa and family style brunch. Reservations are required and can be made by visitingWHEN: Saturday, April 30th 2016 | 9:00AM-11:00AM. Check in begins at 8:30AM.WHERE: Pier 6 | One 8th Street | Charlestown, MA | 02129COST: $25 per person includes hour long yoga class, family-style brunch, and glass of Champy sparkling wine with juice from Mother Juice.RSVP: Required by visitingAbout Pier 6:Pier 6 is one of Bostons most-sought after restaurants for fresh seafood and waterfront dining. Opening in 2013, the newly renovated restaurant located on Pier 6 in Charlestown, MA has breathtaking views of the historic Navy Yard and USS Constitution, and is just minutes from Bostons historic North End. Pier 6 brings a creative, exciting approach to the menu featuring unique takes on classic New England cuisine. Pier 6 serves dinner and lunch daily as well as Saturday and Sunday brunch, and its robust bar programs serves wine, beer and signature cocktails at its two bars until 1:00AM. During the warmer weather, diners can escape to the award-winning patio for an al fresco dining experience. Just as the sea plays an important role in the dining concept, the restaurant and bar features many nautical design elements, three levels of dining including a roof deck, private dining room, mahogany bar, and floor to ceiling glass sliding doors with stunning waterfront views. Pier 6 is located at 1 8TH Street, Charlestown, MA 02129. For more information please call Pier 6 at 617.337.0054 or visit pier6boston.com.###46 Waltham Street, Suite 301Boston, MA 02118 Gone Fishing? Look for Towns Safe Disposal Receptacles for Monofilament Fishing Line at Six Locations A monofilament fishing line receptacle located at North Hempstead?s Town Dock. https://youtu.be/j8pTmYvfgaY North Hempstead Town Supervisor Judi Bosworth, the Town Board and the Towns Bay Constables remind residents about the new signage and designated receptacles which have been placed around six Town fishing sites, reminding fishermen to protect fish and wildlife by discarding of non-biodegradable monofilament fishing line properly. According to the Audubon Society, monofilament fishing line is an amazingly strong substance that gets snagged on many things in the environment. Discarded line can snag and harm people and wildlife and kill fish, turtles, frogs, birds and small mammals.The receptacles, which are made in-house for under $40 each, have been placed at Gerry Pond Park in Roslyn; Searingtown Pond Park in Searingtown; Town Dock in Port Washington; Manorhaven Park in Manorhaven; North Hempstead Beach Park in Port Washington and Ridders Pond Park in New Hyde Park.Each year our Bay Constables rescue sea birds and other marine life that have become entangled in discarded fishing line, said Supervisor Bosworth. When fishing line is left near the water, it is hard for animals to detect and it can entangle all sorts of wildlife, leading to their slow and painful death. The new signage, along with the handy receptacles, will prevent discarded fishing line from harming our wildlife and our water.According to Chief Bay Constable Mal Nathan, he has observed birds wrapped in fishing line that became entangled on telephone and light poles, causing their death.This material can be dangerous when disposed of in a careless manner and can also be a tripping hazard to people on the dock, Nathan said.The Town-made fishing line receptacles caught the eye of the New Jersey/New York Environmental protection Agency and have been included in the agencys Trash Free Waters program, which supports land-based aquatic trash prevention and reduction initiatives to reduce plastics in our waterways. The Trash Free Waters partnership seeks to helps states, municipalities, academia, NGOs and businesses work together to develop innovative aquatic trash reduction strategies.This program was implemented in conjunction with the Towns Office of Sustainability. Chief Sustainability Officer Erin Reilley said, Its important to manage all of our waste responsibly, but we ask residents to take special care with litter that poses special threats to wildlife."As the water quality in our bays and harbors has continued to improve, more wildlife has returned such as diamondback turtles that were once almost extinct, said Eric Swenson, Executive Director of the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee. We cannot afford to lose any of these creatures simply because of improperly discarded fishing line. We therefore thank the Town of North Hempstead for its foresight in this project."This is one of those times when a simple solution can cure a big problem" said Jennifer Wilson-Pines, Co-President of the North Shore Audubon Society. "Improperly discarded fishing line is a hazard not only in the marine environment, but can be fatally attractive to birds seeking nesting materials. I have had to climb into a tree to cut loose a bird that was hanging from monofilament wound around its leg."Fishing line can become lodged in bushes or shrubbery, found along shorelines or fishing docks, and even tangled in trees where they ensnare wildlife such as turtles, birds, otters, and frogs.If you have any questions please call 311 or 516-869-6311. To watch a video on how to construct a monofilament fishing line receptacle visit:Town of North HempsteadTown of North Hempstead220 Plandome RoadManhasset, NY 11030Press@northhempsteadny.gov516-869-7821 Prchard Parks Maya Clinard Orchard Parks Maya Clinard, far right, took runner-up in singles at this past weekends Section VI Girls Tennis Championships at... Boys soccer peaking into sectionals It was not an ideal start to the 2022 season for the Orchard Park boys soccer team, dropping its first... Here are five food and booze events we think should be on your calendar: 2016 Nano Beer Fest: For its eighth year, the Nano Beer Fest, will have more than 30 brewers of small quantities of beer, cider, mead or soda at John's Marketplace. Besides several meet-the-brewer opportunities and tastings, they will raffle off rare bottles of beer, memorabilia and other prizes hourly. Bonus: The raffles benefit the Oregon Humane Society, which will have adoptable dogs there Saturday, noon-3 p.m. There's a preview party, 5-10 p.m., Friday, April 8, at The Commons, with six of the participating nano-breweries. $20/person, noon-8 p.m. April 9, noon-6 p.m. April 10, 3535 S.W. Multnomah Blvd., 503-244-2617 Coffee meets waffle: Looking for a new neighborhood coffee shop? Prince, a new specialty coffee shop from Katie Prinsen (Barista), is now open in North Portland's Kenton Neighborhood. Dutch-style Stroopwafels, the thin, snack-sized waffle sandwiches fused together with caramel syrup, will be served fresh daily alongside shots of Coava and Roseline coffee. Don't miss the lattes and steamers made with stroop syrup. 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. daily, 2030 N. Willis Blvd. Get happy: Add Renata to your next happy hour rotation. Five days a week, the Southeast Portland restaurant will offer a menu at their bar and on the patio inspired by Italian street food, with dishes including salt and vinegar pork rinds, lamb and beef meatballs with polenta, fritto misto and more, along with new spring cocktails. 4 - 5:30 p.m., Mondays - Fridays, 626 S.E. Main St., 503-954-2708, renatapdx.com Sip, Sip, Syrah!: Head to McMenamins' historic Edgefield property for another year of Sip, Sip, Syrah!, the largest gathering of Syrahs in the country with more than 100 wines from Australia, France and the Pacific Northwest. Events include a Viognier reception and Syrah dinner, a Tour du Rhone lunch and a grand Syrah tasting and benefit. Tickets are required for all events and all guests must be 21 years or older. Various times, April 8 - 9, 2126 S.W. Halsey St., 800-669-8610, mcmenamins.com/622-edgefield-celebration-of-syrah Finnriver Honey Meadow Release Party: Celebrate spring with two Pacific Northwest cideries at the release of Finnriver Farm and Cidery's Honey Meadow cider at the Portland Cider House. Finnriver's farmstead cider, new barrel-aged oak & apple cider, pear and dry-hopped Ciders will also be on tap. 4 - 7 p.m., April 9, 3638 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd., 503-206-6283, portlandcider.com -- Samantha Bakall sbakall@oregonian.com Follow @sambakall OSU campus norovirus About 70 to 80 people have contracted norovirus on Oregon State's campus. (Andrew Theen/The Oregonian) At least 70 to 80 students at Oregon State University in Corvallis have confirmed cases of norovirus, the highly contagious virus that can cause severe diarrhea and stomach pain. University officials first started investigating illness on campus last week, but they weren't confirmed cases of norovirus until this Wednesday. "It's not confined to residence halls," said Steve Clark, OSU spokesman. Last week school officials started cleaning town "touch points" such as doorknobs, elevators and other commonly touched areas in residence halls and dining centers. Last week about 16 people were ill, but that has since grown to several dozen. At the time, the outbreak was believed to be contained within the on-campus dorms. About 4,500 to 4,800 students live in the dorms, Clark said. As of Wednesday, the stomach bug is no longer confined to the dorms and crews are sanitizing common areas such as the recreation center and library as a precautionary measure. Norovirus can cause severe stomach pain, diarrhea and nausea. It's highly contagious and can spread by sharing food, drinks, or cell phones. Clark said hand sanitizer is not sufficient for preventing the spread of norovirus. He said students and staff need to wash their hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Ceremonial groundbreaking for Knight Court Then-University of Oregon University President Dave Frohnmayer, Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny, and Nike co-founder Phil Knight at the Feb. 7, 2009 groundbreaking of the Matthew Knight Arena. (Olivia Bucks) Phil and Penny Knight said Monday they'd give $10 million over the next decade to a nonprofit founded by Dave and Lynn Frohnmayer to study the rare inherited disease that claimed two of the former University of Oregon president's children at an early age. The Knights will give $10 million to the Fanconi Anemia Research Fund, according to a statement released Tuesday by the Eugene-based research organization. Dave and Lynn Frohnmayer founded the research organization in 1989. Their 12-year-old daughter, Katie, died in 1991 from Fanconi anemia complications. A second daughter, Kirsten, died in 1997 at the age of 24. Pamela Norr, the research fund's executive director, said the Knights' gifts is a key piece of a $20 million project. The research fund is trying to speed up clinical trials, drug testing, therapies and other treatments for those with Fanconi anemia. "A major focus of these game-chasing initiatives will be preventing and curing the cancers that are now the primary cause of death in adults with FA," Norr said in a statement. Fanconi anemia is a rare inherited blood disorder that leads to bone marrow failure. It's a recessive disorder. Children face a 25 percent chance of inheriting the disorder if both parents are carriers for a mutation in the same Fanconi anemia gene. Phil and Penny Knight have made cancer research a cornerstone of their philanthropic efforts. The couple gave $500 million to Oregon Health & Science University to start the school's Knight Cancer Institute, part of a $1 billion challenge. Fanconi anemia leads to an "extraordinarily high risk" of cancer, according to Dr. Grover Bagby Jr., chair emeritus at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute. But Bagby Jr. said in a statement that an "explosion" of research has helped to identify 19 genes that are connected to the disorder. Lynn Frohnmayer said in a statement that cancer is the largest cause of death for young people with Fanconi anemia. "It is my profound hope that this fund in David's honor will identify new, effective therapies to prevent and treat these cancers and give young people with FA the chance to experience a full adulthood." Dave Frohnmayer, the longtime UO president and former Oregon Attorney General, died in 2015 following a battle with prostate cancer. -- Andrew Theen atheen@oregonian.com 503-294-4026 @andrewtheen Authorities say data shows Portland residents at low risk Joni Hammond, interim director of the Deparment of Environmental Quality presents information during a media briefing March 9 in Portland. Kristyna Wentz-Graff / Staff The leadership shuffle at the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is continuing. Pete Shepherd, a former Oregon Department of Justice attorney, is expected to become the newest interim leader of the state environmental agency, taking the reins as Gov. Kate Brown works to restore public trust amid an air pollution scare that's drawn a massive outcry from residents and political leaders. If Shepherd's appointment is confirmed by the state Environmental Quality Commission Wednesday, he will replace Joni Hammond, a longtime environmental quality department deputy director who became the interim leader after the agency's long-time leader, Dick Pedersen, resigned March 1. Hammond had been expected to stay in that interim role until a permanent leader was found. But she had struggled to project confidence during public appearances and press conferences. When angry Southeast Portland residents protested at the agency's headquarters last month, one asked Hammond: "Do you agree that it's a public health emergency?" "I agree that it's time that we continue to monitor with our soils and our air," Hammond responded. Hammond's fate is unclear. Two Department of Environmental Quality spokeswomen didn't immediately respond to calls. Shepherd, who could not immediately be reached, has worked in private practice since 2009 at Harrang Long Gary Rudnick, most recently representing the Confederated Tribes of the Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians. Shepherd worked at the Oregon Justice Department from 1987 until 2009, rising to deputy attorney general. He also worked on consumer protection, organized crime and public records issues. "He is a lawyer with the very highest level of integrity and professional judgment," Richard Whitman, the governor's natural resources policy director, wrote in a memo to commissioners. "I believe Mr. Shepherd will be a steady hand for the department as the agency transitions to a new permanent director." The Environmental Quality Commission meets today at 2 p.m. at 811 SW 6th Ave. in Portland to consider Shepherd's appointment as well as its criteria for a new director. -- Rob Davis rdavis@oregonian.com 503.294.7657 zombie homes This home on Southeast Caruthers Street faces city liens of $80,000 and has been under code violation since 2010, according to Portland city officials. (City of Portland) Portland announced Tuesday that it wants to be able to foreclose on abandoned, vacant and derelict homes or ask courts to place the so-called "zombie houses" under the control of a third party, paving the way for properties to get cleaned up and put back on the market. The extent of the problem isn't clear - city officials couldn't provide specific numbers, including the total number of "zombie homes" in Portland - and solving it would require navigating a complex paper trail of ownership records, mortgage debts and lien payments. But during a City Council work session Tuesday morning, Mayor Charlie Hales signaled Portland will take a more aggressive tack in dealing with landowners who let homes slide into disrepair and become havens for squatters or drug use. "What a disconnect that in a city with a red-hot housing market... where you can sell property for a very good return, we have zombie houses," Hales said. Commissioners Dan Saltzman, Amanda Fritz and Nick Fish indicated they supported Hales' plan. (Commissioner Steve Novick was absent.) Portland hasn't foreclosed on a home since 1971, city officials said. Hales thinks it's time the city at least threatened to deploy the tool again. Any foreclosure action would be lengthy and pose a steep challenge for the city. Portland could foreclose on unpaid liens resulting from code violations or fees. But a property owner, without addressing the underlying problems, could easily avoid losing possession of the home by simply getting current on lien payments. Secured creditors like banks would also have the ability to intervene and take control of the foreclosure process themselves before the city could take ownership. The other option, city staff said, is for Portland to lobby the courts to appoint a receiver, who could temporarily take title to a derelict property until it is brought into compliance with city codes. The receiver could be a local nonprofit such as Proud Ground, whose executive director Diane Linn appeared before commissioners to support the idea. The receivership model has been successful in cities such as Baltimore, said Zach Klonoski, one of Hales' policy advisers. Often, the property owner will appear "at the drop of a hat" to resolve code issues after a jurisdiction threatens receivership action. Sally Bowman, who moved to East Portland in 2009, has been dealing with squatters next door for years, she told commissioners. The empty home is near an elementary school and has become a magnet for drug use, trash and graffiti. "I have four kids now," Bowman said. "I don't want to let my little kids out in the yard. What are they being exposed to?" City staff also recommended that commissioners revisit whether to establish a registry of vacant properties, an idea floated by former Mayor Sam Adams that was eventually abandoned. Portland Police Sgt. Randy Teig said law enforcement officials manage 375 distressed properties in the East Precinct, a large area stretching from Cesar E. Chavez Boulevard to as far as Southeast 174th Avenue. More than 400 homes have been boarded up since early 2014, he said. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Development Services is monitoring 25 abandoned homes they consider to be among the city's worst cases. Police officials have spent hours boarding up and responding to zombie homes - time that could be better used fighting gang violence, Hales said. And during a building boom, the development bureau's employees have stayed busy tracking code violations at derelict houses and evaluating enforcement measures. The city could save "a fortune" if the homes were restored and then sold or rented to long-term residents, and the positive impact on neighbors would be "priceless," Hales said. As it stands now, "we are the property managers for slumlords," Hales said. "They're worse than slumlords, because at least slumlords have paying tenants." -- Luke Hammill lhammill@oregonian.com 503-294-4029 @lucashammill Unfortunately, our website is currently unavailable in your country. We are engaged on the issue and committed to looking at options that support our full range of digital offerings to your market. We continue to identify technical compliance solutions that will provide all readers with our award-winning journalism. Its a battle to help save lives. The annual Battle of the Banks blood challenge is a friendly competition to see which Bay City bank can collect the most pints of blood. This year, six area banks are taking part to help maintain a healthy blood supply as we head into the busy summer months. Flints water crisis: What really happened in terms of the science and engineering of water treatment? What has been learned and what is being done to address the situation? How can events like this be prevented from happening at other locations? Susan Masten, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan State University, will address these questions during The Chemistry of Crisis What Happened to Flints Water? The event will take place from 2-3:30 p.m. April 16 in the Midland Center for the Arts lobby. Bay County Executive Tom Hickner has announced he will seek re-election to the post. It has been my distinct privilege to serve the citizens of Bay County as their county executive, Hickner said in a press release. I am running for re-election to continue to provide and improve county services for the citizens of Bay County. Together we have accomplished so much but there is still work to be done. Hickner said he has three key priorities: effective management of county government operations and finances; implementation of policies that promote community and economic development; and intergovernmental cooperation at the local, state and federal levels. First elected in 1992 after serving five terms in the Michigan House of Representatives, Hickner said he has worked continuously with Bay Countys elected officials and employees to improve Bay County finances and services to Bay County residents. Since 1993 we have balanced 23 consecutive budgets which resulted in no increase in tax rates, while maintaining a healthy rainy day fund, Hickner said. We have also expanded recreational opportunities for residents of all ages, improved the public health of young children and families by implementing innovative public health department programs, supported programs and services for our older residents through the division on aging and advanced effective public safety. He said he would continue focusing efforts on job retention, expansion of existing local businesses and the attraction of new businesses to the region. Hickner said Bay County must maintain ongoing support of Bay Future and the Great Lakes Bay Regional Alliance. He said he will continue his involvement in implementing the Roadmap to the Future, a strategic planning effort that was led by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and Bay Area Community Foundation. Hickner said he will also continue his focus on promoting cooperation between all local government entities in Bay County and continue to increase government transparency and accountability. Hickner graduated from Bay City All Saints High School and Michigan State University and earned a masters of business administration degree with an emphasis on accounting from Western Michigan University. For more information regarding Hickners re-election campaign, visit www.tomhickner.com. VAN BUREN TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) A Michigan firefighter who crawled through a burning house without his helmet to rescue a 2-year-old girl from a blaze that killed her 14-year-old uncle has been honored for his efforts. John Henderson was awarded the Van Buren Township Public Safety Department's medal of honor on Tuesday for saving Amariyana Wells from the fire in December, The Ann Arbor News reported (http://bit.ly/206Nqg2 ). Attorney Lloyd Levitt told a Criminal Court jury on Tuesday that the Fentanyl overdose death of a 23-month boy on March 21, 2014, was "a pure accident." He told the panel in the courtroom of Judge Don Poole that Jaquelne Escareno had a Fentanyl patch on her arm and, when she lifted the child out of a bathtub, it apparently transferred to his back. Demarcus Bryant was found dead in a crib the next morning. Prosecutor Leslie Longshore contended that Ms. Escareno was guilty of criminally negligent homicide. She said the child's mother, Sarah Bryant, found out about the death when she was called by Ms. Escareno and was told, "Don't go to work." She was advised by Ms. Escareno that Kenya (four-year-old sister of Demarcus) "is right here." She said Ms. Bryant asked, "What about Demarcus? Where did he go?" The answer came, "He's dead." Prosecutor Longshore said the medical examiner, while performing the autopsy, found a Fentanyl patch on the child's back. She said nine days after the child's death, Ms. Escareno called police and said she had found that one of her patches was missing. Ms. Longshore said she later called and said it had been found. Attorney Levitt said Ms. Escareno is the great-aunt of the children, though they called her aunt. He said she often kept the children and they "meant everything to her. What motive would she have for killing him?" He said Ms. Escareno had badly hurt her back on Dec. 15, 2008, while working as a CNA at the Standifer Place facility. He said she fell against a wheelchair while trying to catch a patient who was falling. Attorney Levitt said Ms. Escareno initially "had no earthly idea" how the child died. He said her back began hurting later and she looked down and saw it was not on her arm where she usually kept it. The trial continues on Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. Ascension Michigan will now provide care through the Veterans Choice Program, giving veterans the choice to receive care at Ascension Michigan locations throughout the state, including St. Marys of Michigan in Saginaw. As part of Ascension, the nations largest nonprofit healthcare system and the worlds largest Catholic health system, Ascension Michigan joins 23 other states and the District of Columbia in sustaining and improving the health of individuals and communities by serving as an official provider of veteran care outside the Department of Veterans Affairs. Qualified U.S. veterans who face wait times in excess of 30 days at the VA or have to travel farther than 40 miles from their home can receive care from Ascension Michigan doctors at hundreds of sites of care statewide. Ascension Michigan is proud to be able to offer high quality, compassionate, personalized care to eligible veterans in Michigan through our participation in the Veterans Choice program, said Gwen MacKenzie, senior vice president, Ascension Health, Michigan Market Executive. As I have talked with Ascension Michigan associates and physicians about the program, I have been struck by how many of us have family members or close friends who are veterans, including my dad who served. This connection has made this program very personal for us. The Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 established funding to pay for healthcare services provided to veterans by private healthcare providers. Through the partnership, Ascension Michigan physicians and other caregivers are authorized to provide primary care, inpatient and outpatient specialty care, and mental health care for eligible veterans outside of VA. Ascension has established a contractual agreement with TriWest Healthcare Alliance and national provider registration with Health Net Federal Services, LLC both are federal contractors to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. As Veterans Choice Program contractors, TriWest and Health Net are designated by VA to implement the Veterans Choice Program and provide eligible veterans access to care in their community when the local VA facility cannot readily provide care. Nearly 9 million veterans received the Veterans Choice Card. Use of the card is strictly voluntary; veterans who qualify for VA healthcare can continue to receive care at a VA medical facility as they have in the past. The program will end when the allocated funds of $10 billion are used or no later than Aug. 7, 2017. Veterans can determine eligibility for the Veterans Choice Program at http://www.va.gov/opa/choiceact/ or by calling the number on their Choice Card, 1-866-606-8198. They can also contact the Ascension National Veterans Call Center at 1-844-623-3003 or visit www.ascension.org/veterans. for more information. Airmen, Sailors, Soldiers, Marines and Coastguardsmen all had the chance to earn some bragging rights as the 647th Security Forces Squadron hosted the Excellence in Competition pistol event March 29 through 31 at the 647th SFS Combat Arms Firing Range. The event, which was open to service members of all five branches, allowed would-be marksmen to test their abilities while using the Air Force standard-issue Beretta M9. Prior to the beginning of the competition, Combat Arms Instructors provided a lesson in the M9, including lessons in nomenclature and how to safely use the firearm during the EIC. The competition was comprised of various firing positions, including: single-handed, dual-handed, double-action and single-action. The participants were given a total of 40 shots -- 10 for practice and 30 for scoring. Depending on how well the participants fare, they could earn a max potential score of 300. The one-handed double-action firing is usually where we see the largest disparity of scores between marksmen, said Staff Sgt. Jordan Locke, 647th SFS Combat Arms Instructor and EIC judge. We love hosting these competitions, and it is always fun to see who comes out on top, especially when its the Air Force. Locke is able to boast again, if not for a little while, as six of the ten top-performers were Airmen. Additionally, two U.S. Marines and two U.S. Coastguardsmen placed in the top ten. Chief Master Sgt. Michael Atkins and Senior Master Sgt. Clifford Ramson tied for the competitions top spot. The EIC was a great opportunity to participate in a core skill and our Air Force CATM instructors make it a great shoot due to their professionalism, Atkins said. It was nice to get out with my fellow service members and fire off some rounds; it's been a while since I've had the opportunity. Although Atkins claims he has not had a chance to use a firearm in quite some time, his performance indicated otherwise, as he scored a 283 out of 300 points. Atkins later admitted his time-removed from using a firearm may have been exaggerated. It's an honor to place in the EIC, he said. I owe it to numerous hours of nerf-gun competitions with my three-year-old and I'm just glad he didn't make it out (to the competition) last week. According to the Combat Arms Instructors, the next competition is slated for July or August. However, the competition will have service members test their skills using the M4 rifle. Luckily for Atkins, and for his fellow marksmen, the competition is still only open to service members, and his son will not be able to participate. Airmen with the 35th Fighter Wing conducted a two-day surge exercise April 4 through 5 with F-16 Fighting Falcons at Misawa Air Base. "During surge operations, we're validating our wing's ability to generate [aircraft] in a simulated combat scenario," said Capt. Josh Plocinski, the 14th Fighter Squadron chief of standardization and evaluation. For Airmen and pilots, this meant each flying squadron increased in performance from nearly 20 to about 70 missions daily. "During surge operations our timeline is accelerated, so we'll fly with shorter turn times to simulate what we could see in a combat environment," said Master Sgt. Michael Woroniecki, the 14th Aircraft Maintenance Unit weapons flight chief. "Surge operations like this test our ability to meet a higher demand operations tempo." To make this happen, 24-hour operations were put in place with personnel working 12-hour shifts. Sorties began at 8 a.m. and finished at midnight to increase preparedness and help pilots improve their flying skills in all weather conditions. Along with the increased pace of jet generation, both the 13th and 14th Fighter Squadrons operated out of the same building to simulate a deployed environment. "At Misawa, you're not used to sharing the same space or working with different people, but you still have to make the mission happen," Plocinkski said. "It takes more planning and coordination than we would normally do on a day-to-day basis." As scenarios were carried out, data was gathered to determine the success of the surge exercise. "After action reports are completed by gathering input of what worked and didn't work and how the missions themselves went," Plocinski explained. "We then take those lessons and apply them the next time we do this." Exercises like these are held when wing leadership determines it's necessary to sharpen proficiency in aircraft maintenance resiliency and operational agility. Plocinski said they enhance the wing's ability to effectively and efficiently generate F-16s and remain combat ready. OKINAWA, Japan (April 4, 2016) -- The more than 11,000 pound airframe hovered just feet above the Soldiers' heads while sand and other debris obscured their vision as they focused on rigging the quad bike onto the belly of the aircraft with a sling -- an operation that requires a high-degree of attention to detail, meticulous preparation and an unerring commitment to safety. Dozens of support Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group, participated in sling-load operations, March 30, to stay tactically and technically sharp on the procedure, which is a staple in providing Soldiers in combat the beans and bullets required to win on the ground. "Sling-load skills are perishable like many other individual Soldier tasks," said Headquarters Support Company Commander Capt. Kai, whose last name is being withheld for operational security reasons. "This training helped introduce new Soldiers to the mechanics of sling-load operations and gave senior NCOs an opportunity to refresh skills and share knowledge and experience," he said. The battalion's support companies take pride in being able to provide depth and breadth in the logistics realm and consistently look for new ways to add value to the organization's lethal prowess, said Kai. Although it is not known for certain when the U.S. Army first lobbed provisions from an aircraft to Soldiers on the ground, by the summer of 1942 "supply by air" had become commonplace in the Pacific Theater, according to Dr. Steven E. Anders, Quartermaster Corps Historian and author of "Aerial Delivery and Field Services -- A Brief History." After the advent of the aerial delivery training department at the Quartermaster School at Fort Lee, Va. in 1951 and the solidification of aerial resupply doctrine during the Korean War, the rife use of helicopters in Vietnam proved equally effective at resupply via sling load, according to Anders. For the First in Asia Battalion, resupplying small teams of operators on the ground requires innovation and versatility. "Our Soldiers and NCOs are among the most versatile in the Pacific," said Kai. "This training reflects the flexibility and adaptability we try to instill in our Soldiers. As support elements to forward deployed Special Operations Forces, [Forward Support Company] and [Headquarters Support Company] encourage creative solutions to problems and an outside-the-box mentality towards logistics." From deepening SOF-Conventional Force interoperability to developing new concepts for support and providing options for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, 1st Battalion Soldiers remain committed to staying at the height of readiness. WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, was selected as the new home for the Air Forces first operational overseas F-35A Lightning IIs. Air Force officials chose Eielson AFB after a lengthy analysis of the locations operational considerations, installation attributes, environmental factors and cost. Alaska combines a strategically important location with a world-class training environment. Basing the F-35s at Eielson AFB will allow the Air Force the capability of using the Joint Pacific Alaska Range Complex (JPARC) for large force exercises using a multitude of ranges and maneuver areas in Alaska, said Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. "This, combined with the largest airspace in the Air Force, ensures realistic combat training for the (Defense Department). Proximity to the JPARC will enable the Air Force to take advantage of approximately 65,000 square miles of available airspace for realistic, world-class training in the Air Forces most advanced fifth-generation fighter. The decision culminates a three-year process that included an extensive environmental impact statement that examined impacts on such factors as air quality, noise, land use and socioeconomics. "The decision to base two F-35 squadrons at Eielson AFB, Alaska, combined with the existing F-22 Raptors at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, will double our fifth-generation fighter aircraft presence in the Pacific theater," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Welsh III. "Integrating that fifth-generation force with Navy, Marine, and allied F-35 forces will provide joint and coalition warfighters unprecedented survivability, lethality and battlespace awareness in contested environments. It's an exciting time for Pacific airpower." The base is projected to receive two squadrons of F-35As, which will join the wings F-16 Fighting Falcon aggressor squadron currently assigned to Eielson AFB. On-base construction to prepare for the aircraft is expected to start in fiscal year 2017 in order to be ready to accept the first F-35As, which are currently scheduled to begin arriving in 2020. Preliminary estimates had the new aircraft arriving a year earlier, but officials say the 2020 arrival will provide the Air Force more time and grow its active-duty maintenance force. The Air Force is facing a shortage of experienced, active-duty fighter aircraft maintainers as we transition from legacy aircraft to the F-35A, said Lt. Gen. John B. Cooper, the deputy chief of staff the Air Force for logistics, installations and mission support. Adjusting the initial plan and slightly accelerating F-35A arrivals at Burlington Air Guard Station, Burlington, Vermont, to fall 2019 will allow the service to stick to the overall F-35 rollout schedule, while capitalizing on the Air National Guards experienced fighter aircraft maintenance force as we put additional measures in place to increase the number of trained active-duty maintainers. The F-35A, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, is a fifth-generation fighter aircraft intended to be the Air Forces premier strike aircraft through the first half of the 21st century. It is a multi-role fighter that is expected to eventually replace the services legacy air-to-ground fighter fleets. Representative Dan Howell has received the Legislator of the Year Award from the Tennessee Development District Association. The awards were made on March 24 at the TDDA Legislative Awards Breakfast in Nashville. The TDDA is an association of Tennessees nine development districts, which are regional planning and economic development organizations. These policy boards within each District are made up of the states 95 Counties and 340 municipalities. Development districts assist with regional issues including planning and economic development coordination, transportation, solid waste, loans and grants for critical infrastructure such as water and sewer systems, housing, tourism, economic development loans, environmental quality and natural resources planning, work force development and services to the elderly. The awards are given on the basis of nominations from each of the nine development districts to those legislators who have shown leadership and put forth considerable effort on behalf of their cities and counties, said Beth Jones, executive director of the Southeast Tennessee Development District. Representative Howell continues to advocate for the deployment of high speed broadband to all rural communities as the critical infrastructure of the 21st Century. His continuing support of rural community hospitals, parks and recreation facilities and funding for roads and water and sewer infrastructure demonstrates his commitment to helping our small communities sustain a quality of life that appeals to all Tennesseans. We appreciate the support Representative Howell has given our local governments by supporting the efforts of development districts and local governments in the legislature, said Richard Driver, TDDA president and Lafayette City mayor. BLOOMINGTON The Bloomington Police Department is asking for the public's help with potential evidence that may be recorded on home and business security cameras. A new program launched Wednesday by BPD asks residents and business owners to register their exterior security cameras with the police department as part of the agency's crime-fighting efforts. "In recent years, citizens and businesses have provided the Bloomington Police Department security camera footage that has helped solve numerous street crimes, shootings, robberies, burglaries and fatal vehicle accidents," said a BPD statement. Camera owners willing to help police are asked to complete a registration form at www.cityblm.org/police with their contact information. When a crime is committed, police will search registration data to locate nearby cameras and request the video footage that may contain useful images. Police will not have direct access to the cameras. Security cameras have helped in the collection of evidence used in several local cases, including the high-profile Pam Zimmerman murder case. The July arrest of Kirk Zimmerman in the November 2014 shooting death of his ex-wife came after a review of security camera footage near her East Washington Street office and the surrounding neighborhood where police found personal items belonging to the victim. A car matching the type driven by Kirk Zimmerman was captured on video outside Pam Zimmerman's office and other surveillance cameras showed the car along a path where the victim's wallet and a cordless phone from her office were located, according to authorities. The new initiative is an addition to two existing BPD camera programs. In August 2013, the BPD rolled out Caught on Camera, a website that allows the public to see surveillance video of crime suspects. The first case featured on the website involved a stabbing at Denny's restaurant in Bloomington. The male victim refused to cooperate with police and a suspect was never identified. Video from the Denny's incident also was evidence in the criminal case against Gabriella Calhoun, who was 18 at the time she allegedly scuffled with officers as they escorted her from the restaurant. Calhoun was acquitted of aggravated battery and resisting arrest, and her lawyers are involved in settlement talks with the city to resolve a federal lawsuit she filed after her acquittal. The city also operates two overt mobile public safety cameras at two intersections on the city's west side. Bloomington police spokeswoman Sara Mayer said the camera program has been so successful that two more mobile cameras have been ordered. BPD investigators have been "extremely positive about the type of evidence they've been able to get from the cameras. It's definitely been helpful," said Mayer. First Tennessee has created a $50 million Community Development Fund that will award up to $3 million annually in grants to community and nonprofit organizations serving low- to moderate- income people and neighborhoods. These are in addition to the $5 million in grants nonprofits traditionally receive from the First Tennessee Foundation each year.Projects eligible for funding include those that promote financial literacy, support affordable housing for low-to moderate-income residents or provide down-payment assistance to LMI homebuyers.First Tennessee has been a part of Chattanooga for 40 years, said Jeff Jackson, Chattanooga market president.During that time, weve worked hard to meet the needs of an ever-changing community. With the Community Development Fund in place, were going to fund efforts that are transformational for families, neighborhoods, and the place thats been so good to us. Were excited about the return on investment these funds will have.Mr. Jackson noted that funds for 2016 have already been allocated and that funding requests for 2017 will be received for consideration in late fall.Since it was founded in 1993, the First Tennessee Foundation has donated more than $65 million to meet community needs, officials said. Depression is a debilitating mental health condition that gets in the way of life. It is also known that depressive episodes can increase heart disease risk in individuals later in life. If not treated right away, depression can result in stroke, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack and even death. A preliminary study reveals that prompt treatment of depression can lower heart disease risk. The results will be presented at a meeting at the American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago this Saturday. Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute researchers also found that if depression is not treated, the complications brought about by increased heart disease risk will be significant. "Our study shows that prompt, effective treatment of depression appears to improve the risk of poor heart health," co-researcher Dr. Heidi May said in a release via Science Daily. "The key conclusion of our study is: If depression isn't treated, the risk of cardiovascular complications increases significantly." For their study, researchers analyzed the depression questionnaires of more than 7,000 individuals. They were divided into four groups according to their survey: never depressed, no longer depressed, remained depressed or became depressed. They found that groups that remained depressed and became depressed had higher risk of contracting heart disease. However, those who were no longer depressed had a similar lower risk rate with individuals who were never depressed. The researchers came to the conclusion that treatment of depression may help reduce cardiovascular heart disease risk. Furthermore, their findings show that this could prompt patients and their health care providers to actively participate in depression treatment. "With the help of past research, we know depression affects long-term cardiovascular risks, but knowing that alleviating the symptoms of depression reduces a person's risk of heart disease in the short term, too, can help care providers and patients commit more fully to treating the symptoms of depression," May said, as reported by US News & World Report. The six-day tour of Prince William and Kate Middleton in India will start next weekend, and almost everybody in Kensington Palace is busy preparing for the royal couple's trip. So who will go with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge? Will their visit to India include a trip to the famous Taj Mahal? According to People, the royal couple's trip to India will include 11 most trusted persons. There isn't an exact certainty as to who these people will be, but People sources have been very, shall we say, resourceful. For one, the private secretary of Kate Rebecca Deacon will be with the royal couple in India. She is bound to take an April 10 overnight flight to Mumbai. Prince William's secretary, Miguel Head, will also be on the same flight. These two have been among the most trusted persons of Prince William and Kate Middleton, and it will be just right for them to be a part of the India trip. The personal assistant of Kate, Natasha Archer, will be going with them too. The princess would surely need Natasha to prepare her royal wardrobe. She wouldn't want to go in public looking less posh than she does in U.K. And, don't forget Kate's hairstylist, Amanda Cook Tucker. For sure, the Duchess of Cambridge doesn't want to appear a bit disheveled during photo ops. As to where the couple is expected to visit, Mirror has all the details. Royal tour 2016 will include not only India but also Bhutan. A trip to the world-famous Taj Mahal is expected. The royal couple will also be visiting poorer areas in Mumbai. In Bhutan, Prince William and Kate will visit Paro Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest monastery. It is also highly anticipated that they will meet with Dragon King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and his wife Queen Jetsun Pema. It will be a long and exciting six-day royal tour for Prince William and Kate. For sure, we will be following their trip closely and provide you with the latest details on the couple's royal tour 2016. A father from Brooklyn is calling the New York City to change its ways of training and employing paraprofessionals after his 11-year-old autistic son was punched in the face by a school aide. Anatoly Veltman Sr. announced on Monday that he is set to sue the city for $5 million dollars in damages after he and his lawyer obtained a copy of a surveillance video of the inapt punching. NBC New York reports that Veltman Sr. made the announcement together with lawyer Sanford Rubenstein after they were able to watch the CCTV footage of the brutal punching incident that took place on Aug. 7, 2014, during summer school. It took them more than a year to obtain a copy of the video. In the footage, Anatoly Veltman Jr., an autistic child who has a 6-year-old mental capacity, is seen reaching up to punch school aide Milton Parker at a cafeteria table inside Public School 225 in Brighton Beach. Parker, who was apparently provoked by the special child's move, immediately hit him in the head. Veltman Sr. said that his autistic son obtained a concussion from the blow and is now undergoing homeschooling. He revealed that Veltman Jr. was traumatized by the incident, making him afraid of school buildings. He is also worried that his son would run away if he would force him to go back to school. "To people working with special needs children, be compassionate. Figure out non-confrontational ways of dealing with them," Veltman Sr. expressed. He added that special needs children do not think the way normal people do; therefore, school workers should understand them. In an interview with New York Daily News, Parker, who retired from the school shortly after the incident, said that he is not sorry for punching the autistic child. He stated that the punch he delivered was a "reflex" act after Veltman Jr. hit him first. He also added that the obtained video proves his argument. According to school records, Veltman Jr. told Parker "This table is for whites only," after the black school aide reprimanded the autistic child for throwing a napkin and spilling ice on the floor. The boy later apologized for the racial comment, and then punched Parker. The paraprofessional responded by punching the autistic child in the face. "Suits" Season 6 is only a couple of months away from its premiere on USA Network and fans are wondering what will happen next after Mike decided to turn himself in prison. In an interview with Gabriel Macht, he revealed that there will be a "big mess" in the firm in the upcoming episodes. This article contains spoilers. Read on if you want to learn more about this story. "Suits" Season 6 spoilers hint that Harvey, Donna, Jessica, Louis and Rachel will be dealing with the aftermath of Mike's guilty plea in court. In an interview with Gabriel Macht, he shared that these five characters will find themselves and the firm in a big mess following Mike's decision. "[In season six] there's a big mess, the house of cards has fallen so we're going to see how they build Pearson Specter Litt back up," Macht told Stuff.co.nz. Macht also shared that fans and viewers will see these five characters in what seems like a scene from the "Breakfast Club," as they gather together and discuss their plans for the firm. The "Suits" Season 6 actor also admitted that he hopes to see Harvey crushed once more despite his character's development in Season 5. "So now we'll build him back up for a little bit and then hopefully we'll crush him again," he added. Macht described his character as an "arrogant, harsh guy" during an interview with New Zealand Herald. The "Suits" actor admitted that he was very excited to see how much his character has grown and how his personality is affected by the events of the past. "I'm trying to be uber confident and try and show that some of these guys - that is their facade and underneath they're really struggling," Macht said. "Suits" Season 6 is expected to premiere sometime in June 2016 on USA Network. Royal couple Prince William and Kate Middleton are set to visit India and Bhutan for the first time this month. While the royals are getting ready to embark on their weeklong Asian tour, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are reportedly having a difficult time leaving their two kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, at home. Prince William and Kate are scheduled to travel around the Asian subcontinent from Apr. 10 to 17. Unfortunately, the royals' weeklong trip also require them to leave their two young children behind and saying goodbye becomes a tough task to do for Duchess Kate and Prince William. The weeklong trip to India would definitely make Prince William and Kate miss their children. Thus, the royal couple is reportedly making preparations so that leaving the kids at home will be more bearable, The Stir notes. "It's often harder on the parents than it is on the children," maternity nurse Sarah Dixon, who has worked with some of the royal couple's friends, told People. Luckily, Prince William and Duchess Kate have people who can be trusted around their children. During the couple's absence, royal nanny Maria Turrion Borrallo will be responsible of taking good care of George and Charlotte as well as ensuring their daily routines. In addition, Prince William and Kate can also ask the Duchess' mom, Carole, to check on the kids while they're away. And since Carole has been a hands-on grandmother, she will definitely be glad to check on her cute grandchildren. "I'm sure that Granny is on call as a backup," Dixon added. "Two under three is incredibly difficult." Aside from having a nanny and granny Carole on speed dial, Prince William and Kate will also have an opportunity to personally check Prince George and Princess Charlotte, thanks to Skype and FaceTime. But Dixon stressed that the trip will be quite challenging to Duchess Kate since it's her first time to leave Charlotte at an age where she's doing new things every day. Meanwhile, as Prince William and Kate leave their kids at home, the royal couple will have an entourage of 11 accompanying them on their weeklong India and Bhutan tours. According to People, the team will be led by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's private secretaries Miguel Head and Rebecca Deacon. Also joining Prince William and Duchess Kate are Kate's personal assistant Natasha Archer, freelance stylist Amanda Cook Tucker, ex-British ambassador to the U.S. Sir David Manning and the couple's communications secretary Jason Knauf. Publicity team members, a tour secretary and operations manager are also reportedly joining the royals on their trip to India and Bhutan. This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions Whitfield EMA is planning Whitfield Countys PrepareAthon! later in April to promote community preparedness by encouraging citizens, businesses, faith-based organizations, and government entities the whole community, in other words - to take action to become more prepared for disasters. Several special events are being planned by Whitfield Emergency Management during the month, including a telethon on Wednesday, April 27, from 10 a.m.-3 p.m.,when staff members will monitor phones to help residents update their CodeRED information if they dont want to do it online. The telethon will focus on getting citizens to sign up and/or update their address and telephone number(s) in the CodeRED Mass Notification System to receive critical communications from public safety officials and timely severe weather notifications. Between 1990 and 2014, Whitfield County experienced two tornadoes, 82 weather events that involved high winds, 14 flash floods, nine floods, and 21 winter weather events/storms that caused moderate to severe disruption and an estimated $6.5 million of property damage in the affected communities. According to a 2012 national survey by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, however, only 39 percent of individuals reported having a household emergency plan. A similar study of U.S. health care workers found that 75 percent were either minimally prepared or not prepared at all at home. It doesnt have to be that way, though, and the Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency is doing its part to help get residents ready in case of disasters. Being prepared for disasters is a shared responsibility, says Whitfield County EMAs Amy Cooley. It takes the whole community all of us working together to prepare, respond, and recover from disasters. Throughout the month, EMA will also be promoting the PrepareAthon! via social media with contests and giveaways of disaster preparedness-related items on its Facebook page. Look up Whitfield County Emergency Management on Facebook to find the page. The agency will also be giving away 100 weather radios on Thursday, April 28 from 4-7 p.m. at the Mack Gaston Community Center. Approximately 500 radios have already been handed out. We also encourage citizens to practice their emergency plan at their house on Saturday, April 30, what they would do in case of a disaster, and then register with us what theyve done for the week at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WhitfieldCountyPrepareAthonSpring2016, said Ms. Cooley, noting that residents can find more information about such a preparedness plan on the Web at ready.ga.gov or community.fema.gov. Students from kindergarten through fifth grade are also being encouraged to take part in an art contest with the theme of Disaster Preparedness. Entries will be judged in two age categories: kindergarten through second grade and third through fifth grade. Mail entries to Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency, 804 Professional Blvd., Dalton, GA 30720. Entries must be postmarked by April 22. Students should include their name, school, and grade. Art Contest prizes include: Grand Prize One winner in each category will receive a Family Disaster Preparedness Kit, and the art will be featured on social media and displayed in the Emergency Operations Center at the 911 Center. Additionally, each grand prize winners class will receive a tour of the Emergency Operations Center, the 911 Center, and the Mobile Command Vehicle. Second and Third Prizes One winner in each category will receive a Student Disaster Preparedness Kit, and the art will be featured on social media and displayed in the Emergency Operations Center. In 2015, Whitfield County became the first county in Georgia to participate in the Americas PrepareAthon! program. Whitfield Countys PrepareAthon! helped build a more resilient community by increasing the number of individuals who understand which disasters can happen here, know what to do to be safe and mitigate damage, take action to increase their preparedness, and participate in community resilience planning, Ms. Cooley said of the inaugural event. Last year, 16,135 people took part in the PrepareAthon! activities, and we encourage residents to help us beat that number this year. For some Americans, Virgin Airlines may be best known for the eccentric behavior of its CEO, Richard Branson. However, what a lot of people dont know is that Virgin America, the companys U.S. branch, is a really, really good airline, with the Airline Quality Rating has ranking it as Americas best for four years straight. All of this may soon change though, as it was announced earlier this week that Alaska Airlines bought out Virgin America for a smooth $4 billion. Alaska Airlines, which actually services destinations across North America and not just to Alaska, purchased the company after an intense but short-lived bidding war with JetBlue. Alaska Airlines isnt too shabby itself the company was ranked fifth overall in the 2015 Airline Quality Rating but its the style and flair of Virgin America that may get lost in the buyout. Between the mood lighting, strangely awesome in-flight safety videos or leather cabin seats, Virgin has a built a reputation on its luxury and hipness. It doesnt seem like Branson is too happy with the idea of Virgins brand disappearing either. I would be lying if I didnt admit sadness that our wonderful airline is merging with another, the CEO wrote in a post on Virgins site Monday. Later in the post, Branson went on to say that, The important thing now is to ensure that once Alaska [Airlines] witnesses first-hand the power of the brand and the love of Virgin America customers for our product and guest experience. However, whether or not Alaska Airlines decides to completely change Virgins in-flight experience remains to be seen. The company has promised to look and see if there is a way to retain elements of the Virgin brand now that the airline has been bought out. Provided that the deal goes through, it would certainly help Alaska start to compete with some of the larger, more national airlines that dominate most American air travel. In the meantime, enjoy that mood lighting while you still can. Dillon Thompson is a travel intern with Paste and a student at the University of Georgia. With his latest film Demolition, Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee continues his artistic m.o. of searching for unexpected entryways into seemingly familiar material. His 2005 C.R.A.Z.Y. breathed exuberant life into a standard coming-of-age tale, refreshing its stock characters through sheer infectious energy and sharp writing and acting. Not even Vallees best efforts, though, were enough to rescue his subsequent American picturesthe costume drama The Young Victoria and Dallas Buyers Club, a redemptive Schindlers List-type drama set at the height of the AIDS crisis in the 1980sfrom banality. But in taking on Wild, Vallee brought Cheryl Strayeds self-help memoir to the screen with striking intimacy, mostly through alternating between past and present in ways that suggested the main characters own reminiscence-filled thoughts and pilgrimage. In Demolition, Vallee pushes this aesthetic to an extreme of sorts, and the results, combined with Bryan Sipes eccentric screenplay, are surprising in often off-kilter ways. This is a tale of grief like few others, one that edges into the realm of dark comedy while mysteriously maintaining a surface poise through all the madness on display. Such an approach fits with the mindset of the films main character, Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal), an investment banker who loses his wife, Julia (Heather Lind), in a car accident, but who proceeds to show his grief in the strangest ways possible. Repairing the human heart is like repairing an automobile, his father-in-law and boss Phil (Chris Cooper) says to Davis not too long after his wifes death. Upon hearing this, Davis becomes obsessed with the idea of taking objects apart in order to discover their inner workings. At first hes only interested in dissecting the likes of clocks and refrigerators; gradually, though, his mania extends to whole houses, to the point where he finally decides to, well, demolish his entire Long Island home, smashing things with a hammer and purchasing an entire bulldozer to raze it. For a finance-focused guy with a seemingly picture-perfect suburban existence, this newfound penchant for physical destruction becomes his own severe version of reassessing his life. The origins of this anguish-inspired rabbit hole are even more whimsical in nature. A vending-machine jam at the hospital where Julia died leads Davis to write a letter to the company behind the machine, spilling out his whole life story in addition to asking for a refund for the snack he failed to get. The letter gets the attention of a company PR representative, Karen Moreno (Naomi Watts), also stuck in middle-class ennui, who finds Daviss letter so moving she takes it upon herself to contact him and even stalk him until he reciprocates her perverse gestures. Its a classic connection of two lost souls, but in this case it plays more like a folie a deux, the only relief from the absurdity coming from the bond that develops between Davis and Karens son, Chris (Judah Lewis), a rebellious kid struggling with his possible homosexuality. Through all the seemingly crazy human behavior in Demolition, Vallee manages a tricky balancing act, inhabiting Daviss feverish perspective while also standing outside of it. Similar to Wild, Demolition features occasional montages between past and present, suggesting Daviss all-over-the-place mental state, his voiceover narration completing the spectacle of a man trying to take stock of his life up to that point. Still, Vallee never verges into full-on expressionism: Yves Belangers cinematography remains rooted in a hand-held realism that allows us some distance to contemplate the psychology that drives Davis. What emerges from this stylistic tightrope is a bizarrely empathetic portrait of a man who basically has to tear down his seemingly perfect life in order to realize some harsh epiphanies about it. This character arcthe privileged man who eventually realizes how soulless and empty his life isisnt exactly new either. But under Vallee and Sipe, the black-comic journey to this inevitable destination remains relentlessly, bracingly unpredictable. Director: Jean-Marc Vallee Writer: Bryan Sipe Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper, Judah Lewis Release Date: April 8, 2016 Kenji Fujishima is a freelance film critic, contributing to Slant Magazine, Brooklyn Magazine, The Playlist and the Village Voice. He is also Deputy Editor of Movie Mezzanine and former editor-in-chief of In Review Online. When hes not watching movies and writing and editing film criticism, hes trying to absorb as much music, art, and literature as possible. He has not infrequently been called a culture vulture for that reason. Moments ago in Seattle at Image Expo 2016, Rick Remender announced Seven to Eternity, a blisteringly ambitious take on the fantasy genre illustrated by Jerome Opena and colored by Matt Hollingsworth. The project chronicles the adventures of a dying knight, Adam Osidis, who sets out to slay the insidious God of Whispersa musical demon deity who manipulates humanity and conjures snake-wolf hybrids from the earth. Like the inhabitants of this new world, Zhal, were all ears. The series marks the fifth original property Remender has recently erected at Image Comics, following the surreal sci-fi dystopias of Black Science, Low and Tokyo Ghost and the 80s grindhouse Bildungsroman in Deadly Class. Seven to Eternity is also an Image Comics reunion for Remender and Opena, who worked together on the comic Strange Girl before collaborating on Fear Agent, Punisher, Uncanny X-Force and Avengers: Rage of Ultron. Outside the red tape of established properties, Opena and Remender are embracing the creative freedom of this infant fiction. Opena cites the surreal escapism of Moebius (Metal Hurlant) as a key inspiration, while Remender is creating a unique take on the genre, filled with unconventional powers and a supernatural spiritual ecosystem. Matt Hollingsworth, whose colors have graced projects as diverse as Matt Fraction and David Ajas urban epic Hawkeye to Scott Snyder and Jocks feverish horror opus Wytches, lends shocking blues and sunrise gradients to Openas chiseled line work. Though well have to wait till fall for the first issue, Paste discussed the new comic with Remender and Opena, who were kind enough to share this exclusive preview featuring an electric blade-welding warrior and the most devastating flute solo youll encounter outside an office elevator. Paste: Rick, youve been seeding a series of new sci-fi/fantasy worlds with Black Science, Low and Tokyo Ghost. What does Seven to Eternity allow you to explore that those other titles dont? Rick Remender: Well, none of those are strictly fantasy in the way Seven to Eternity is. Our story takes place in Zhal, a world where spirits inhabit all energy, and a gifted few can access those spirits. The laws of the world are based around this and offer us unlimited ways to create characters with strange and never-before-seen-powers based on this unique fuel source. Paste: Seven to Eternity is described as a modern fantasy. How do you define fantasy? What attracted you to the genre as you see it? Remender: There is no science in this world, simply those who can access the spirits within all energy and those who cannot. So Im not locked down by the natural laws of our world; were creating a strange place with its own set of rules. This allows us to deeply develop the characters and their connection to Zhal. Its modern simply in that it is a wholly new approach to this type of world, with few of the same tropes one comes to expect from fantasy. No dragons or wizardsnew classifications, new power sets, new, new, new. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Seven to Eternity #1 Interior Art by Jerome Opena and Matt Hollingsworth Paste: The comic features an antagonistic God who spreads an omnipresent paranoia to every corner of the kingdoms. How much does this comic serve as a reflection of your own views toward religion and society? Are either of you religious? Remender: I am agnostic in that I do not believe in any man-made religion. I do not believe that man has any answers; I also do not believe that man understands the nature of life and can make a determination if there is more to this than what we can see. Im the kind of person that doesnt make a determination without a mountain of evidence, and in this case, there is no evidence supporting any of it. However, the main idea were exploring with the God of Whispers is the power one can wield with fear and paranoia. Why have a standing army when you can simply incite someone elses army to revolt based on lies and misinformation? Theres more power in a whisper than there is in a scream. And our villain is the master of manipulating peoples fear and paranoia, knowing exactly what campaign of whispers is needed to achieve domination. Seven to Eternity #1 Interior Art by Jerome Opena and Matt Hollingsworth Paste: Looking at what youre doing to Marcus in Deadly Class, I cant fathom the cost of one of your characters fighting an entire belief system. Whats Adam up against? How dark are we going here? Remender: If I had to write the book a rating, its a PG-13. Its far less graphic than my other books, but in terms of how dark we go Id hate to show my hand at this point. I think the tonality of the series is high adventure in a fantasy world with high stakes. Adam is trying to combat someone who has a spy in every house in Zhal. Everyone is afraid of The God of Whispers, disproportionate to his power even. But thats going to make Adams task considerably difficult. As the famous Zhal motto goes, Trust no living thing. Paste: Jerome, more than many other genres, fantasy tends to have a conservative visual language, largely founded on Le Morte DArthur and the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. How traditional is your approach to this comic? If not, how are you innovating upon it? Jerome Opena: I dont think the visual approach weve been taking with this book has really been traditional. It might be because the story morphed a lot from when we were first coming up with it to where it is now, but also because we wanted to try to do something a bit different. That said, there are definitely some elements that are grounded in the tradition of the fantasy genre (some of the weapons, clothing, etc), and we did look at artwork from greats like [Frank] Frazetta, but the core visual inspiration we took for the book was Moebius work. Both Rick and I are huge fans (but then again, who isnt?), so the main influence of the book visually was more of a strange science fiction look with the hopes of merging that with the more traditional visual elements of the fantasy genre. Seven to Eternity #1 Interior Art by Jerome Opena and Matt Hollingsworth Paste: How do you visually channel the power of a god? What art techniques can you apply to elevate a being past a super-villain to a near-omnipotent evil? Opena: Honestly, its still pretty early in the story, so I havent had to really depict anything amazingly godly yet. Maybe if you get back to me in the future Ill be able to give you a better answer. Paste: How would you describe your collaboration with colorist Matt Hollingsworth on this project? Opena: Matt is the consummate professional and is one of the best working in the industry, so having him on the book has been amazing. Ive never worked with Matt before, but the transition of collaborating with someone new has been a really smooth one for me, and I hope for him as well. Were all extremely lucky to have him on the project. Paste: You [and Rick] have been working together for more than ten years, starting with Strange Girl and Fear Agent. How would you describe your creative chemistry? How is your collaboration evolving with this new comic? Opena: I would like to think that we bring out the best in each other just like Hall & Oates did. Hahaha! It helps that Rick is actually a real friend and not just someone I collaborate with, but I certainly feel like I do my best work when Im on a project with him. As for how our collaboration has evolved, I think the main difference this time around is that since the book is all ours with no established characters or mythology, we both had a huge hand in creating and building the world together from the ground up, right from the very beginning. Seven to Eternity #1 Interior Art by Jerome Opena and Matt Hollingsworth Back in 2012, when Hannibal Buress was a relatively unknown comedian, a crew followed him around for 28 days while he performed nightly to packed houses at the Edinburgh Festival Fringethe largest art and comedy festival in the world. The ensuing footage, along with moments of Buress exploring Scottish culture and explaining how he builds his stand-up routine, make up the upcoming Netflix documentary Hannibal Takes Edinburgh. The full-length film will premiere on Netflix Friday, April 8. With Buress coming to wider attention through his role on Broad City and his now-infamous riff on Bill Cosby, the documentary offers fans a chance to see Buress getting his start, back when he was more funny than he was sweaty. Buress previously debuted his third hourlong special, Comedy Camisado, on Netflix in February. Correction: The press release for Hannibal Takes Edinburgh originally said the film was shot in 2013. It was shot in 2012. Our piece has been updated accordingly. Last week, actress and political activist Susan Sarandon became the latest celebrity punching bag of the liberal media. Obtaining punching bag status is not difficult. All Sarandon had to do was go on the corporate worlds silly excuse for a progressive media outlet and confess that, should Hillary Clinton win the nomination, she may not be able to vote Democratic in November. In her own words: I dont know. Im going to see what happens. On the whole, a pretty uncontroversial statement to make. But at this point, expressing reluctance to vote for Hillary Clinton isto the mainstream leftakin to expressing support for Bill Cosby. How dare a person be anything other than delighted with the prospect of another Clinton presidency? One would have to be vapid and callous, as Michelle Goldberg of Slate put it, to even consider voting against Hillary. Such a sentiment can only be explained by inordinate amounts of petulance and privilege, says Charles Blow of The New York Times (who bizarrely apologized to his readers for using Donald Trumps name in his column). Ms. Goldberg concurs, dismissing Sarandon as a rich white celebrity with nothing on the line. So, by merely admitting that she might find it hard to vote for Hillary Clinton in November, Sarandon has exposed herself as a vapid, callous, petulant, privileged jerk. Sounds reasonable. The Daily Beast has run three Sarandon-related stories: Susan Sarandon and the Berniacs Who Wanna Watch the World Burn, Susan Sarandon: Trump Might be Better for America Than Hillary Clinton and Bernie: From the Guys Who Brought You W. The thrust of each article is the same: Susan Sarandon and those who think like her are idiots, because by not voting for Hillary they are lending tacit support to Donald Trumps whacky politics. Each article brings up the argument that the people who voted for Ralph Nadar instead of Al Gore in 2000 are to some degree responsible for the Iraq war and everything else the Bush 43 administration did. Bullshit. This is the sort of logic that makes subverting the political duopoly in this country impossible. Its lesser evilism at its rankest and most sophistic. By validating the concept that we have only two options, both of which are marketed to us by our corporate masters, the media commands us (in their subtly patronizing way) to settle for a catch-22. They say it because its true, and its true because they say it. No way out. Sometimes theyll pretend to empathize: I understand your pain and so forth. A few Clintonoid pundits swear that they like Bernie Sanders and what he stands for; they deeply regret the fact that hes not going to win the nomination (never mind that he still might). But theyre realiststhey can look on the bright side. For instance, they can take heart in the fact that Sanders progressive ideals are changing the shape of the Democratic Party. Thats a line from one of the Daily Beast articles. In other words, dont be privileged and callous like Susan Sarandon. You cant always get what you want. How stupid do they think people are, exactly? I suppose were expected to believe that Hillary Clinton is giving up her long-established territory in the center-right of the political spectrum and actually moving left. Shes not merely faking left to avoid looking like the Wall Street and Pentagon shill that shes always been. She wont mutate back into her reactionary self as soon as she secures the nomination. Shes a changed woman. Pardon my petulance, but Im not buying it for a second. Hillary Clinton doesnt have a reformist bone in her body. If she takes a progressive stance, its because it was politically expedient to do so (see her recent embrace of a $15/hour minimum wage, contradicting everything shes said in the past). Her much-vaunted feminism is a load of shit. (Can one be both a feminist and a warmonger? Think about it.) In his New York Times article, Charles Blow criticizes Trump from an LGBT perspective, forgetting that Hillary Clinton was officially opposed to gay marriage until 2013, when the Democratic base forced her hand. As the late Christopher Hitchens pointed out, in 2008 Hillary Clinton was the candidate you were voting against if you were in favor of change. (That change turned out to be a ruse, but thats beside the point.) Shes the same as she was in 2008, just repackaged with a veneer that better masks the putrid stench of Clinton-style hypocrisy. Oddly enough, her camp still thinks it prudent to demonize the victims of Israeli colonialism and promise to invite the revolting Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Hillarys increasingly vicious Zionism can perhaps be read as overcompensation for all the progressive posturing shes been forced to affect this season. Unfortunately, few seem to notice the contradiction, and Sanders refuses to point it outone of his many shortcomings as a candidate. Of course, the central argument in favor of Hillary Clinton has to do with her so-called pragmatism. Thats the bottom line of the pro-Hillary message, as least as far as the pundits are concerned. She knows how to get things done. Or so were constantly told, as though were being fed a lie. And arent we? After all, what has Hillary Clinton ever gotten done? I cant think of anything, but if anyone can spell it out for us, its the editorial board of The New York Times, who endorsed Hillary (again) in January. According to the Times, Hillary did in fact achieve important successes as secretary of state. These reportedly include imposing harsher sanctions on the Iranian people, as well as criticizing the Beijing governments record on human rights. She also delivered a speech that criticized Arab leaders. Bravo! Very important successes, indeed! If thats the best the Times could come up with, you know its bad. Curiously, no mention is made of the disastrous consequences of Hillarys most significant foreign policy maneuver, namely the decision to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi through the use of military force. The Hillary Doctrine, as it was briefly styled, entails the commandeering of a foreign countrys air space (euphemized as a no-fly zone) so that the U.S. and its allies can assume the role of de facto air force for whichever side of the conflict they happen to support. In the case of Libya, the U.S. wanted Gaddafi gone, so his security forces were overwhelmed by NATO airstrikes. This was all done, of course, under a humanitarian guise: the West was concerned for the welfare of the Libyan people, who Gaddafi was supposedly slaughtering indiscriminately, Milosevi?-style. Nonsense, of course, for if the West actually held such empathetic concern, it would never have left the fate of Libya and its people to the violent inclinations of the several dozen Islamic militant groups currently vying for power. Thisthe utter devastation of Libyan statehoodis the keynote of Hillarys stint as Obamas secretary of state; not the lip service she paid to human rights in China. In spite of this, and of the fact that Hillary envisions a similar future for Bashar al-Assad specifically and Syria generally, and of the fact that Hillary voted in favor of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, The New York Times has no doubt that Mrs. Clinton would use American military power effectively and with infinitely more care and wisdom than any of the leading Republican contenders. A brazen contention to make, given that the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination, a remarkably vile business mogul, has actually expressed relatively dovish (and progressive) views on foreign policy. As Ive written before, theres a reason why the neocons are lining up behind Hillary. Rolling Stone has recently endorsed Hillary Clinton as well. In Hillary Clinton for President, editor/publisher Jann Wenner adheres to the general Clintonoid formula, first playing the patronizing empathy card (its hard not to love Bernie Sanders), then dismissing Sanders as an angry, quixotic fool (anger is not a plan) and trumpeting Hillarys pragmatism (impressive command of policy, the details, trade-offs and how it gets done). He also throws in the Nadar/Gore point, presents Hillary Clinton as a first-generation civil rights crusader and compares Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump. In conclusion, this is not the time in history for a protest vote. I think more than a few people will be surprised to learn that casting a primary ballot for Bernie Sanders is a protest vote. Are we now intent on stripping that term of its meaning too? Surely, the protest vote occurs in November, when one decides to pull the lever on Jill Stein of the Green Party. The implication here is that people who vote for Sanders do so merely to piss Hillary Clinton off. While that would be understandable (and perhaps admirable), I think its safe to assume that most people voting for Sanders actually want him to win, and believe that he can. Not so, says Rolling Stone. Choosing Sanders is a protest vote because: Clinton is far more likely to win the general election than Sanders. The voters who have rallied to Sanders during the primaries are not enough to generate a Democratic majority in November. Clinton will certainly bring them along, and add them to the broad coalition that Democrats have put together in the past to take the presidency, as did Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Oh, the casuistry! Clinton is far more likely to win the general election? Thats odd, because according to the available data, Sanders beats every Republican candidate by a wider margin than does Clinton, who actually loses to John Kasich. Are we to trust Rolling Stones independent judgment over national polling data? Were assured, sans evidence, that Sanders supporters are not enough to generate a Democratic majority in November. But this only makes sense if we assume that a good chunk of Clintonoids would refuse to vote Democratic should Sanders get the nominationin which case they would be guilty of the same protest vote folly that Rolling Stone hates so much. Do you see the circularity here? Its another catch-22, designed to fortify the notion of Hillary Clintons inevitability. It is perhaps useful to note that not everybody who plans to vote third party in November is a disgruntled Sanders backer. There are plenty of people to the left of Sanders (e.g. genuine socialists) who will refuse to vote for the neoliberal and neoconservative status quo that Hillary Clinton represents, for self-evident reasons. These people dont factor into the mainstream political discourse at allthey dont exist. As far as outlets like Rolling Stone and Slate are concerned, anyone staunchly opposed to Hillary Clinton is either a mindless Republican partisan or a petulant Sandernista who just doesnt understand how the American political system works. On the contrary, the bulk of the anti-Hillary brigade know very well how the system works, which is why theyve been sidelined by the powers that be. This is understandable: informed dissent is dangerous. Whether or not you believe, as many do, that a Donald Trump presidency might be so bad that its good (in that it would galvanize the public into serious action), the medias rabid hostility to the very idea should be more than enough to make you reflect on it. Just dont do your reflecting publicly, lest you betray your vapidity and petulance. The less you know about Karyn Kusamas The Invitation, the better. This is true of slow-burn cinema of any stripe, but the difference between Kusamas film and, say, The House of the Devil is that Kusamas film is good. She slow-burns to perfection. The key, it seems, to successful slow-burning in narrative fiction is the narrative rather than the actual slow-burn. In the case of The Invitation, that involves a tale of deep and intimate heartache, the kind that none of us hopes to ever have to endure in our own lives. The film taps into a nightmare vein of real-life dread, of loss so profound and pervasive that it fundamentally changes who you are as a human being. Thats where we begin: with an examination of grief. Where we end is obviously best left unsaid, but endings are generally never an appropriate topic in a review format. Besides, The Invitation is remarkable neither for its ending nor for the direction we take to arrive at its ending. Instead, it is remarkable for its foundation, for all of the substantive storytelling infrastructure that Kusama builds the film upon in the first place. Anybody can crank their movies dramatic thermostat past 68 and make the audience sweat in its final 15 minutes. It takes a far more gifted filmmaker to encourage perspiration within the first five instead. If The Invitations basic setup makes it sound as though its cut from the same well-tread cloth of the most precious indie cinema, consider that a blessing: It means you have less than no idea what Kusama has in store for you. The film starts in earnest as Will (Logan Marshall-Green in top form) arrives at a dinner party his ex-wife, Eden (Tammy Blanchard), is throwing at what once was their house. He has brought his girlfriend, Kira (Emayatzy Corinealdi), along with him, though you get the sense hes really going along with her. What guy actively wants to hang out with his ex-wife and her new spouse? That sounds like a stairway descending through just about every major circle of Hell. But Will is dedicated to attending, if only in the pursuit of getting some unspecified catharsis out of the encounter. If theres a silver lining here aside from Kira, its that his friends will all be there, tooGina (Michelle Krusiec), Ben (Jay Larson), Tommy (Mike Doyle), Claire (Marieh Delfino), Miguel (Jordi Vilasuso). Seems like a safe-enough space. But of course it isnt. Safe might even be a strong word. Something is undeniably off at Edens place, and because Will is the lens through which Kusamas audience engages with the film, we cannot tell whether that something is Will or if its Eden, or if its her husband, David (Michiel Huisman), or if its their two chums, Pruitt (John Carroll Lynch) and Sadie (Lindsay Burge). Everyone else seems fine and dandy, if occasionally perturbed or put off by weird overtures and reflections David makes to his assembled guests. It is Will who is most on edge at his surroundings and his hosts. To the eyes of all gathered, he reads simply as a man who has inserted himself into an uncomfortable situation he isnt ready to handle. We, on the other hand, know better, or at least we think we do. It is important to avoid details of The Invitations mysteries and questions, but what can be said of the film is that it is empathetic nearly to the point of magnanimity. As much as David, Pruitt, Sadie and Eden each cut figures that range from sinister to merely loopy, we cannot help but see their humanity. By consequence, we cannot readily buy into Wills mounting suspicions about the quartet, even as Kusama employs cinematic grammar that appears to validate his paranoia. It is, in point of fact, frequently hard to root for Will, or to level with his perspective. He skulks around the hallways of Edens home, rooting around through her nightstand drawers, looking for something, anything, to assure himself of, well, what exactly? That shes just as torn up inside as he is over the tragedy that split them up years prior? That she hasnt actually moved on from him, from the life they once shared together? We dont know. Will probably doesnt either. And thats okay: Knowing isnt part of what makes The Invitation so nerve-racking and pleasing as a sophisticated exercise in genre. Not knowing isnt it, either, mostly because that would be too coy an assessment to make about a movie thats this well constructed and this smart. Instead, the pleasure of The Invitation lies in the eerily lush experience of watching Kusama toy with convention. As a director, she lifts the film to peaks of such unbearable tension that you may strain your neck forcing yourself to keep your eyes fixed on the screen. Her talent for sustaining unease is remarkable, but the key to the film is the intimacy of its setting. We feel like were intruding on the melancholic privacies of Kusamas characters, and yet she locks the doors and keeps us trapped inside with them. There is oh so much more to be said about The Invitation, especially its climax, where all is revealed and we see Wills fears and Edens spiritual affirmations for what they are. Until then youll remain on tenterhooks, but to Kusama, jitters and thrills are sensations worth savoring. Director: Karyn Kusama Writers: Phil Hay, Matt Manfredi Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Tammy Blanchard, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Michiel Huisman, John Carroll Lynch, Lindsay Burge, Tommy Doyle, Jay Larson, Michelle Krusiec, Marieh Delfino, Jordi Vilasuso, Rick Yune Release Date: April 8, 2016 Boston-based critic Andy Crump has been writing about film online since 2009, and has been contributing to Paste Magazine since 2013. He also writes for Screen Rant, Movie Mezzanine, and Birth. Movies. Death., and is a member of the Online Film Critics Society and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. You can follow him on Twitter and find his find his collected writing at his personal blog. He is composed of roughly 65 percent craft beer. Prosecutor Kristen Spires told a Criminal Court jury on Tuesday that Rodney Jennings gunned down Raphael White shortly after being told he was unable to see his sons. Jennings is standing trial in the courtroom of Judge Tom Greenholtz for second-degree murder in the Jan. 28, 2014, slaying at East Lake Courts. Ms. Spires said just before he was shot that the victim said, "I don't want a problem." Defense attorney Paul Pearce said Jennings also said he did not want a problem. He said he raised his hands while doing so as he started to leave. He said the jury should consider the theory of self defense. Attorney Pearce said the victim was a much bigger man than Jennings. Prosecutor Spires said, just as White was about to close the door that Jennings pulled a gun and shot him in the chest. She said Jennings fled the scene and was finally located in Memphis in mid-March. The jury was told that Jennings came over to an apartment at 2755 6th Ave. to try to see his two sons by Chesley Thompson. She said one was not there and the other was already in bed. She said she was not going to wake him up. White was trying to get Jennings to leave when he was shot once and fell back into the kitchen. A crime scene technician who went to the hospital soon after the incident found that he had already died. Caleb Brooks said he proceeded on to East Lake Courts. He said he found drops of blood outside and more blood splattered inside. The state had sought to call one of the EMTs who arrived at the shooting scene, but Brandy Spurgin, another defense attorney, said his name was not on the witness list. Judge Greenholtz said the state would have to wait until later in the case to call the EMT. The trial continues on Wednesday morning. If youre looking for a way clever way to support Americas disastrous free trade deals, and to pretend theyre not exclusively about letting corporations outsource jobs to countries where they can pay workers subsistence wages (at best), or to leverage the threat of such a move to reduce the wages of American workers and decimate unions, try this: 1. Gloss over the incredible damage these deals have done to Americans manufacturing sector, and the ongoing wrecking ball theyre applying to the working class, as an inevitable product of globalization. 2. Use selective research to assert the ridiculous position that deals like CAFTA, NAFTA, and PNTR are responsible for alleviating poverty in poor countries. 3. Appeal to liberal sympathies by posing the free trade question as an either/or proposition. As in, either you accept the hit to American workers and the disappearance of our national manufacturing sector, or youre a shitty nationalist who wants to condemn millions of foreigners to starvation and death just so you can keep your HBO subscription and high-fructose corn syrup. Its not a bad strategy. If you ask the average American whether he or she would support an agreement that would help destroy our economy for speculative gains abroad, all while contributing to the plight of climate change by empowering the industrial sector in countries with no environmental protection, my educated guess is that most responses would be resoundingly negative. But what if you performed the old free trade soft shoe, and framed the argument this way: Arent you willing to sacrifice some American prosperity for the good of the global poor? In that case, you might be able to hoodwink a few well-meaning liberals who dont quite understand the complex free trade issue, but who positively, definitely, emphatically dont want those poor people overseas to starve. This argument is especially persuasive to the privileged upper class liberal, who prefers to care about the less fortunate from a safe distance. Zack Beauchamp of Vox is the latest to propagate the free trade global savior myth in a recent feature called, If youre poor in another country, this is the scariest thing Bernie Sanders has said. And holy shit, that title: The fear-mongering is strong right from the jump! Im assuming that Voxs audience mostly consists of people who are not poor and from another country, which means that the title is the vanguard of a written shame campaign directed at privileged Americans who may have found themselves persuaded by progressive rhetoric. It only gets better from there. This is not a new argument, of course, but progressives are used to seeing it come from the mouths of conservatives who are trying to pretend that their support for free trade goes beyond simple greed. Its more puzzling when the message comes from a less radical voice, so lets investigate Beauchamps reasoning point-by-point to test its merit. His words in bold, my response after. In a new interview with the New York Daily News, Bernie Sanders said something striking he basically doesnt think the US should be trading very much at all with countries where wages are much lower than its own. You have to have standards, the senator said. And what fair trade means to say that it is fair. It is roughly equivalent to the wages and environmental standards in the United States. First off, I want to thank Beauchamp for making his deception clear almost immediately. A more dishonest writer (or a more clever one) might try to disguise the agenda for longer than a paragraph, but Beauchamp follows his aggressive headline with this blatant mischaracterization. Heres what Sanders actually said in that interview: I do believe in trade. But it has to be based on principles that are fair. So if you are in Vietnam, where the minimum wage is 65 an hour, or youre in Malaysia, where many of the workers are indentured servants because their passports are taken away when they come into this country and are working in slave-like conditions, no, Im not going to have American workers competing against you under those conditions. So you have to have standards. And what fair trade means to say that it is fair. It is roughly equivalent to the wages and environmental standards in the United States. Sanders is talking specifically about free trade agreements, not all trade. (#NotAllTrade?) So when Beauchamp writes that Sanders basically doesnt think the US should be trading very much at all with countries where wages are much lower, its hard to call that anything but an outright lie. One way to distinguish free trade from other forms of trade is that free trade either diminishes or totally abolishes any form of protectionism between member countries. Thats why U.S. companies can outsource to places like Mexico or China or Costa Rica, pay workers pennies per hour, and export the goods back to America to sell cheaply without getting hit by the kind of tariff that might help protect American industry. Its also why we get cheap electronics and other goods from places like Chinacompanies in China pay workers so little due to a lack of labor laws (about one-tenth of a U.S. workers hourly wage for similar industries) that they can import those goods, sell them for less than an American company, and still make big bucks. These are very basic examples, but you get the picturefree trade hurts American workers from all sides, while fair trade maintains protectionist policies. Sanders, when he talks about going back on deals like PNTR and NAFTA and CAFTA, always distinguishes between free trade and fair trade. Zack Beauchamp, over and over again, does not. From Sanderss point of view, this makes sense. He has recognized, correctly, that freer trade with countries like China has hurt a subset of American workers (while benefiting others). Enjoy this, because youre not going to get much more from Beauchamp about the disastrous effects of free trade in America. Since he wont discuss it, I will, although to do it justice Id need about 300,000 words. My boss might kill me if I gave in to that kind of self-indulgence, so instead, here are the broad strokes: Despite the prediction of many economists that the U.S. wouldnt be hit by severe job loss, and that workers who lost their jobs could simply relocate to greener pastures, what happened? Free trade led to massive job loss and decreased wages and increased poverty in manufacturing hot zones, andimagine thisit wasnt so easy for real people with actual families and responsibilities to just pack up and move somewhere better. According to an EPI study conducted in 2007less than a decade into PNTR with Chinathe effects have been disastrous: The rise in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported 2,166,000 U.S. jobs. Most of these jobs (1.8 million) have been lost since China entered the WTO in 2001. Between 1997 and 2001, growing trade deficits displaced an average of 101,000 jobs per year, or slightly more than the total employment in Manchester, New Hampshire. Since China entered the WTO in 2001, job losses increased to an average of 353,000 per yearmore than the total employment in greater Akron, Ohio. Between 2001 and 2006, jobs were displaced in every state and the District of Columbia. Nearly three-quarters of the jobs displaced were in manufacturing industries. Simply put, the promised benefits of trade liberalization with China have been unfulfilled. By 2012, that total had increased to 2.8 million lost jobs1.9 million of them in manufacturing. NAFTA has led to a $181 billion trade deficit with Mexico and Canada, as well as the loss of more than a million U.S. jobs and wage decreases in countless others, all of which has contributed to our staggering wealth inequality. Even those workers who were able to find new jobs experienced an average pay cut of 20 percentand those were the lucky ones. Meanwhile, our manufacturing exports to Mexico and Canada actually slowed down, significantly, after NAFTA. Thats some great free trade, right? Lets leave it there for noweven though we could trace similar results from CAFTA and other free trade pactsbecause this isnt the central thesis of Beauchamps argument. It should be, probably, but if youre a writer who supports free trade, you obviously dont want to talk about the American work force. You want to talk, instead, about the glorious proletarian utopia free trade has brought about in poor foreign countries. But theres one big problem, according to development economists I spoke to: Limiting trade with low-wage countries as severely as Sanders wants to would hurt the very poorest people on Earth. A lot. Free trade is one of the best tools we have for fighting extreme poverty. If Sanders wins, and is serious about implementing his trade agenda as outlined in the NYDN interview and elsewhere, he will impoverish millions of already-poor people. First, I want to point out how funny that last formulation is: He will impoverish millions of already-poor people. Beauchamp didnt mean it this way, of course, but it gets at the absurdity of his argument. These people Bernie is supposedly going to hurt are already poor, and guess why? Because free trade hasnt done a damn thing for them. Thats why theyre already-poor! This bromide for global poverty that Beauchamp is going to spend the next thousand words defending has been shown not to work, and he admits it here! Brilliant. But lets get serious and tell the truth about the effects of U.S. free trade policies on impoverished countries in the developing world. Well answer Beuachamps web of nonsense in a moment, but its important to know the facts. 1. In Mexico, poor people have been epically screwed by NAFTA. Per the NYTimes, and many others, NAFTA has cut a path of destruction through the country, and the results have been staggeringly bad. Not only has growth gone stagnant, and not only have wages gone down as unemployment rises, but U.S. exports into Mexico have forced more than two million farmers to abandon their farms since 1994. There are 20 million Mexicans who now live in food poverty, inequality is sky-high, and pollution has poisoned the countrys rivers. And if you dont think these societal ills have contributed to the thriving drug economy in Mexico, or sent waves of immigrants north to exacerbate an already problematic immigration situation, then youre not paying attention. NAFTA is a knife that cuts both ways. 2. Elsewhere, theres a serious race to the bottom phenomenon that is driving down wages in developing countriesand, worse, leading to meager enforcement of existing labor laws. If you were an American (or European, or Japanese, or whatever) company, and you wanted to outsource your factory to the country with the lowest wages, what would you do? In the absence of morals, you would play those countries against one another to see where you could pay workers the lowest wages. And thats exactly whats happening worldwide, which has predictably led to slave wages and sweatshops in places like Central America. 3. Even in the so-called success story countries, like China, Pakistan, or Thailand, workers rarely make much more than the equivalent of $2.00/hour (sometimes far less), which is nowhere near wages in the developed world, even when you factor in a reduced cost of living. These can only be said to lift people out of poverty by questionable World Bank standards, which put the extreme poverty line at around $2.00 per person per day. If a countrys average is $1.95 and it goes up to $2.05, it can be said that the country has been lifted out of extreme poverty, though the numbers show that the truth is less triumphant. If thats truly what it means to escape poverty, ask yourself how you might fare on two dollars every day. 4. And by the way, many of these countries have ZERO legitimate environmental protection laws, which makes free trade one of the worst offenders in the climate change disaster. Again, there are endless heaps of supporting evidence we could marshal for this argument, but the basic point is that in the best of cases, the benefits of American free trade on poor economies have been vastly overstated, and in the worst cases it has made things infinitely worse. Lets see if Beauchamp bothers to mention any of that Whats worse is that the specific ways Sanders has proposed to roll back previous trade agreements could lead to serious reprisals from the affected countries. The nightmare scenario, experts say, is a global slide toward protectionism, wherein China and other countries take cues from the US and impose their own retaliatory tariffs. That would devastate economies in the developing world, dooming many more millions to a lifetime of crushing poverty. Nothing yet. But I do want to analyze this paragraph for two reasons. First, that use of experts say, which is employed again and again by Beauchamp as a safety net for unsupported arguments. (And which, apparently, is one of Voxs favorite tactics.) Sometimes, the names of these experts arent mentioned. Other times, he cherry-picks economists who seem to support the points he wants to make that rely on theoretical outcomes rather than hard data. Theres an economist in the world for just about every half-baked argument you want to make, so that tactic is the easiest thing a writer can do. Its also the laziest. Second, the use of the hypothetical doomsday scenario. If free trade is repealed, heres something that might happen. Again and again, Beauchamp uses words like could and might to instigate fear in the reader, and occasionally he gets even more clever with formulations like nightmare scenario. These are all things that are possible, in the same way that its possible Ill wake up tomorrow having turned into a talking microwave. But theyre untested and unprovenirrelevant forecasts plucked from various economists for their utility in gluing together a broken argument. You know whats not theoretical? The incredible damage done to U.S. and foreign economies by free trade. What makes this issue particularly tricky, though, is that theres real truth to Sanderss critique: Recent economic research suggests that freer trade has hurt many Americans, particularly those who worked in manufacturing. The question, then, is how much were willing to hurt the worlds poor in order to help ourselves. And now that either/or choice rears its ugly head: If you dont support free trade, the implication is that youre a horrid nationalist who only cares about American lives. Were reaching a point of peak dishonesty here, and the liberal pandering follows close at hand. Extreme poverty defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.90 a day is crushing. Its the kind of grinding poverty where you dont get access to running water, adequate food, proper toilets, or basic health care. Wealthy countries like the US have (nearly) eradicated this kind of poverty. Thankfully, extreme poverty is in decline globally, with the biggest declines (roughly 800 million peoples worth since 1981) coming in China: Heres the problem for Sanders: The global decline in extreme poverty is inseparable from the global trading regime. When poor countries can sell cheap goods to rich countries, or bring in a lot of foreign direct investment, growth skyrockets. This means more jobs, better government services, and thus less poverty. Again, we have to start with the fact that Beauchamp fails to distinguish between what he calls global trading and the narrower, more harmful breed of trading we call free trade. Bernie Sander is for global trading, just as any rational human being would be. Global trade is a reality, and its not going awayunless Donald Trump becomes president, walls off the entire country, and launches a round of pre-emptive nuclear strikes. Which is totally possible, but not very likely. In a more realistic future, global trade persists. It always will, and nobody opposes that. Beauchamp is not conflating these two types of trade by accident. Its a cute technique designed to lump free trade in with the positive benefits of a more general concept of trade. Yes, China has lifted many of its people out of poverty. No, that move is not inseparable from free trade. Its very, very, veryseparable. Heres the story with China: By reducing population growth, increasing industry, increasing social benefits, and enacting a critical series of rural reforms, the country brought a lot of its people past that threshold of extreme poverty. The biggest decrease, by far, came between the late 70s and 1985. And just to put a very fine point on it, here is the World Banks conclusion from the end of that report: No clear evidence that greater external trade openness brought rapid gains to the poor. Lets just state it plainly: Beauchamps attempt to credit Chinas reduction in poverty to free trade is absolutely f***ing outrageous. In terms of serious scholarship, it is the equivalent of a toddler closing his eyes and loudly proclaiming that nobody can see him anymore. Does Beauchamp go to the China well over and over? You bet! China is, of course, the most dramatic example of this effect: Its incredible economic growth since 1981 came principally from exports. While the Chinese economy has since shifted away from exports somewhat, the sector still makes up 22.6 percent of Chinese GDP. Trade with the US the worlds largest economy is a key part of that story of uplift. Any serious attempt by a Sanders administration to impede trade with China would put a serious crimp in Chinese economic growth, which is already slowing down. This would make it harder for the roughly 54 million Chinese people still living in extreme poverty to escape and it could potentially could throw even more Chinese people into poverty. Again, this is the CRUX of the dudes argument! I get it, thoughits pretty impossible to find supporting evidence when youre trying to argue that free trade has somehow helped the poor in the developing world. You have to find something, but heres an idea: Shouldnt the thing you find not be totally made up? Maybe thats an extreme position on my end. Maybe we should be allowed to attribute effects that have nothing to do with free trade tofree trade. Maybe thats how rhetoric and debate should work now. See, for example, this 2008 study by UCLA economist Romain Wacziarg and Karen Horn Welch. Wacziarg and Welch looked at 50 years of trade data to figure out the effects of trade liberalization on economic growth. They found that, on average, economic growth increased by 1.5 points after a country passed laws opening up to foreign trade Good point, because foreign trade and free trade are the same thing. Really cant argue with this one, so DAMMIT! You got me, Beauchamp! You lumped them in so many times that I was lulled to sleep! You crafty old codger! If Sanders were to impose significant trade barriers with China, Drezner says, the marginal middle class, or the ones who had just gotten out of poverty, would likely wind up falling back into poverty. Chinas economy is already not doing as well as it was, Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, says. Anything that slows down the growth of exports is going to be bad for future reductions in Chinese poverty. Heres the insane irony: You know why Chinas economy isnt doing as well as it once was? Its due, in part, to increasing wealth inequality, which is among the worlds highest. Poverty hit eight percent in 2001, which was the year China joined the WTO and PNTR began with the U.S. Since then, inequality has increased at a higher rate than ever before, which has slowed the reduction of poverty, and some serious rural-urban disparities have emerged. Its a complicated issue with many causes, but guess what phenomenon has played a role in the recent struggles? You guessed it: Free trade! In other words, Beauchamp is using economic troubles in China to argue for the maintenance of free trade, when in fact free trade has helped spur those problems. We can take a moment to laugh at that, right? I swear, if you gave this guy a rope and left him alone in an empty room, he would manage to hang himself before you walked out the door. Canceling NAFTA and CAFTA would also be quite bad. While theres not a lot of extreme poverty in Mexico and Central America, these countries are still far poorer than the US. Impeding free trade with those countries would prevent US dollars from flowing in, thus further impoverishing their poorest. Waiting for Beauchamp to mention that NAFTA and CAFTA have aggravated poverty in those areas, badly, and not helped it. Waiting Waiting (ten years pass) Waiting (flying cars are invented) Waiting (my beard now reaches the floor, my wife has left me, and outside my window zombies are marching down the street, and all I can hear is a chorus of moans as a cloud of ash floats over their heads, heralding the apocalyptic fires that are so nearso very, very near) Oh, looks like he probably wont mention it. The proposals to end particular trade agreements that could be devastating for Central America, Elliott says. If it meant going back to the trade barriers that we had in place a decade ago, thats going to mean much less trade coming out of Central America to the United States, [and thus] many fewer jobs. What are they doing to do without those sweatshops? I hope they dont do something drastic out of tragic economic desperation, like sending their children on a dangerous mission, alone, to try to escape extreme poverty and violence in the United States. Even Dani Rodrik a Harvard economist who called NAFTA a huge disappointment for Mexico in our conversation thinks rolling back it and CAFTA would be a bad idea. It would make a big difference to how Americas partners in the world look at it, in terms of its credibility to be a leader, he says. Asked about a major tariff on Chinese goods, he waxed apocalyptic. Sounds a lot like the sunk-cost fallacy, right? Why dont we re-start the Vietnam War, while were at it? Beauchamp finishes by arguing that trade protectionism in the U.S. might lead to trade protectionism elsewhere, which might set off a second Great Depressionmore nightmare scenario fear-mongering with very little supporting evidence. And again, general trade and free trade are conflated. He also manages to totally misunderstand Nordic trade, which includes the very kind of protectionism and industry-preserving policies that he rails against, even as he holds them up as a shining example. Mostly, though, he tries to paint Bernie Sander as an isolationist, which, of course, is not remotely true. To conclude, Beauchamp reiterates his central pointif you support American labor, and oppose free trade, youre condemning the global poor. But the facts are against him. Over and over, we have seen that free trade hurts poor people. It hurts them at home, and it hurts them abroad, and its managing to kill our planet at the same time. And if you support free trade, and have the gall to accuse its opponents of an anti-poor agenda, youre either severely deluded, or youre flat-out lying. At Apple's WWDC 2014 Craig Federighi introduced Apple's Home Automation plan with HomeKit with dozens of companies like iHome, Honeywell, Philips, Texas Instruments on board to create compatible products that could be controlled on our iPhones. At the same time Google was rushing to get into the headlines about their Home Automation plans and Nest rushed out and acquired a start-up company called Revolv. Today a new report claims that a backlash is brewing against Nest, the smart home company owned by Google's parent company. To diffuse the situation, Nest is offering to pay off its aggrieved Revolv customers. According to CNN, "Nest has decided to shut down Revolv, a company that it bought in 2014. Though the Revolv Hub smart home gadget wasn't a big seller, its customers are furious. Next month, anyone who bought the Revolv Hub will basically have a dead device on their hands. The Revolv Hub is like a central control unit for household gadgets that can be controlled through Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies. A spokeswoman for Nest said that the company is working with customers "on a case-by-case basis to determine the best resolution, including compensation." But it's not about the money to some customers. The bigger problem is that the link between big software platforms and devices means there's an on-off switch that tech companies can control with potential widespread consequences to customers. CNNMoney quoted Arlo Gilbert, CEO of mobile software company Televero described it this way: "Imagine if you bought a Dell computer and Dell then informed you that when your warranty ends your computer will power down. Is the era of IoT (the Internet of Things) bringing an end to the concept of ownership? Are we just buying intentionally temporary hardware? It feels like it." A Google spokeswoman told CNNMoney that "Revolv was a great first step toward the connected home, but we believe that 'Works with Nest' is a better solution and are allocating resources toward that program accordingly. In the end it appears that it was just a bad judgement call on Google's part to trust Nest rushing Revolv to market so that they could look like a leader over Apple in this emerging market. In the end, it just makes Nest look irresponsible and scatterbrained. Back to the drawing board they go. About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 6pm PST and sporadically over the weekend. You may perhaps have missed Senator Ted Cruzs victory speech last night. It cant quite compare with Mr. Donald Trumps statement following the Wisconsin primary, of course, but its interesting, nonetheless: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/ted-cruzs-victory-speech-wisconsin-38179409 Just after the 9:55 minute mark, for example, speaking in Wisconsin, Senator Cruz explicitly pledges to appoint justices to the United States Supreme Court who will protect the religious liberty of Brigham Young University. He has special interest in questions concerning judges and the law: Famously, he memorized the United States Constitution when he was a teenager. After graduating cum laude from Princeton University with a B.A. in public policy (and a senior thesis on the constitutional doctrine of the separation of powers), he went on to Harvard Law School, where he served as a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated magna cum laude. The very liberal Professor Alan Dershowitz, who taught him constitutional law there at Harvard, describes him as having been off the charts brilliant. The future senator clerked for J. Michael Luttig of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and then became the first Hispanic clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court. (His father came from Cuba.) Thereafter, along with holding various other positions in both the private and public sector, he served as Associate Deputy Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice and as Solicitor General of the state of Texas. He wasnt necessarily my first choice for the Republican nomination, and I disagree with him on several issues. But I happily support him against Donald Trump and, should the opportunity arise, Ill be delighted to back him against either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. The Democratic operative and consultant James Carville has called Senator Cruz the most talented and fearless Republican politician Ive seen in the last 30 years. He touches every button. . . . This guy has no fear. A good advocate for religious freedom, it seems to me, against those who would restrict it. Who would Mr. Donald Trump appoint to the Supreme Court? How careful would he be in doing so? See here for a clue: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/423196/trump-praises-his-sister-pro-abortion-extremist-judge-ramesh-ponnuru *** (1999; revised in one section on 22 February 2006) * * * * * A non-Catholic wrote to me asking some questions (her words will be in blue): Please help me to understand why the Catholic church mingles pagan practices and feast into their worship? First of all, one would have to define pagan, I suppose. All of Gods creation is good. Even one of Gods greatest gifts, sexual intercourse, can be utterly immoral outside of marriage (fornication or adultery), but entirely sacred and righteous within marriage. The same physical act (or practice) can be good or evil depending on the circumstances and meaning given to it. Likewise with many pagan practices, if they are not objectively or inherently immoral in and of themselves (e.g., cannibalism would be wrong in any event). I have been studying the Catholic Catechism and The Concise History of the Catholic Church by Thomas Bokenkotter. Mr. Bokenkotter quite plainly says that during the 4th century, due to influx of many pagans forced into the church, many pagan rituals were blended into the Christian faith (such as genuflection, incense, lighting candles,). Bokenkotter is not an orthodox Catholic, as I understand it. So his account is not entirely trustworthy (though it interprets true events). His book was so bad I got rid of it (and I have dozens of books on Church history many by non-Catholics). But this is a case in point. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with candles (one had to have light at night somehow prior to electric light bulbs), incense (which represented prayer in OT temple worship), or the submissive, venerating gesture of genuflection (after all, we make similar gestures to earthly kings and judges even the innocent and quaint curtsey is a form of this, as is the oriental bow). So what if the pagans used them in a sense foreign to Christianity? We can adopt them, give them a new meaning, and so reclaim them for God and the Church, because the key to true worship and religion is the inner attitude and disposition; the heart (see, e.g., Mark 7:6-8, among many other passages). The outward gestures merely represent whatever meaning we choose to give them (except for the sacraments, which work and dispense grace in and of themselves). He also says that the feast instituted for Christmas and Epiphany were intentionally mingled with the pagan celebrations on those days. The standard reply to this charge has been to assert that the quickest way to get rid of an old pagan religious belief and festival is to incorporate its outward aspects, while not compromising any Christian belief in so doing. Thus (by this reasoning) the Church placed the feast day of Christmas on December 25th precisely because that was the date of the Roman feast of the Unconquered Sun, or Sol Invictus (it is now thought by many scholars that Jesus was actually born in October). Result?: Sol Invictus eventually went the way of the dinosaur. Again, according to this reasoning, the Roman Feast of Saturnalia, which was held from December 1-23 also disappeared (by conscious design), having been superseded by Advent. Thus paganism was defeated, and no one remembered the meaning of the old customs. The inner meaning became primary (the application of the practice to Christmas, the Christ-child, etc.). Recently (February 2006), an article by Catholic historian (and acquaintance) William Tighe was brought to my attention. In this paper, Calculating Christmas, Tighe argues (I think, compellingly) that the Christmas replaced Roman festivals argument was itself of a late origin, and that it is more likely that the reverse was true: Roman festivals were an attempt to replace the chosen date of Christmas. He maintains that the date was chosen based on the ancient Jewish belief that prophets died on the date of their conception: At this point, we have to introduce a belief that seems to have been widespread in Judaism at the time of Christ, but which, as it is nowhere taught in the Bible, has completely fallen from the awareness of Christians. The idea is that of the integral age of the great Jewish prophets: the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates as their birth or conception. This notion is a key factor in understanding how some early Christians came to believe that December 25th is the date of Christs birth. The early Christians applied this idea to Jesus, so that March 25th and April 6th were not only the supposed dates of Christs death, but of his conception or birth as well. There is some fleeting evidence that at least some first- and second-century Christians thought of March 25th or April 6th as the date of Christs birth, but rather quickly the assignment of March 25th as the date of Christs conception prevailed. It is to this day, commemorated almost universally among Christians as the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Archangel Gabriel brought the good tidings of a savior to the Virgin Mary, upon whose acquiescence the Eternal Word of God (Light of Light, True God of True God, begotten of the Father before all ages) forthwith became incarnate in her womb. What is the length of pregnancy? Nine months. Add nine months to March 25th and you get December 25th; add it to April 6th and you get January 6th. December 25th is Christmas, and January 6th is Epiphany. In any event, there were other practices or Christmas customs which seem to have been adapted from pagan customs: thus Christianizing them. The pagans of northern Europe (like the ancient enemies of the Hebrews) used trees as idols; we use the evergreen Christmas tree as a symbol of everlasting life: life in the dead of winter just as Christ brought life to the deadness of humanity and the Fall and original sin. The tree itself is a neutral (and, I might add, beautiful) object: a part of Gods good creation. To think otherwise is pure superstition, which is ironic because it typifies the attitude of many rabidly anti-Catholic fundamentalists in their dislike (hatred?) of Catholic sacramentalism and such things as crucifixes and rosary beads and statues of Paul and Peter, or the archangel Michael (not to mention . . . . . egads!: the Blessed Virgin Mary!!!). Some Protestants (usually anti-Catholic ones) falsely accuse Catholics (and often other Protestants as well) of superstition and paganism, even as they themselves hypocritically and ironically blatantly indulge in it, neglecting the crucial role of inner meaning and the heart (very Pharisaical . . .). They view a crucifix as a talisman or a charm. We view it simply as an aid to devotion to our Lord Jesus (an entirely different concept), just as Passover was a means of remembrance to the Jews for Gods deliverance of them (Ex 12:13-14). Many other similar biblical analogies could be brought forth also. To the early Calvinists, church organs and stained glass windows indeed statues of Christ Himself were clearly idolatrous, so they smashed them. This is the ancient heresy known as iconoclasm (which some have traced to the influence of Islam). Much of this thought (knowingly or not) stems from a quasi-Gnostic suspicion of Gods creation as evil. Well-known Protestant Church historian Philip Schaff often a severe critic of the Catholic Church -, while deeply ambivalent about some of these pagan customs, nevertheless sees the essential utility and Christianness of the Catholic Churchs traditional approach to such things: This connection [to pagan Roman festivals] accounts for many customs of the Christmas season, . . . and gives them a Christian import; while it also betrays the origin of the many excesses in which the unbelieving world indulges in this season, in wanton perversion of the true Christmas mirth, but which, of course, no more forbid right use, than the abuses of the Bible or any other gift of God . . . Besides, there lurked in those pagan festivals themselves, in spite of all their sensual abuses, a deep meaning and an adaptation to a real want; they might be called unconscious prophecies of the Christmas feast. Finally, the church fathers themselves confirm the symbolical reference of the feast of the birth of Christ, the Sun of righteousness, the Light of the world, to the birth-festival of the unconquered sun, which on the 25th of December, after the winter solstice, breaks the growing power of darkness, and begins anew his heroic career. (History of the Christian Church, vol. 3: Nicene and Post-Nicene Christianity: A.D. 311-600, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1974; reprint of the rev. 5th ed. of 1910, 396-397) Another question I have is why is Easter called Easter, which the Catholic Encyclopedia clearly states is the name of a goddess of some sort. I dont understand. The etymological derivation of Easter is said to be uncertain. The Venerable Bede (8th c.) thought it was connected to the Anglo-Saxon spring goddess Eostre. But see (if that is true), this is again the incorporation of an old custom into Christianity (Christianizing or baptizing human custom) in order to supersede the old paganism and give the rituals an entirely new meaning. A word is not evil in and of itself. Even sacred words usually have secular origins (e.g., the Greek Christ simply meant anointed one). We observe the Apostle Paul incorporating paganism in a sense when he dialogues with the Greek intellectuals and philosophers on Mars Hill in Athens (Acts 17). He compliments their religiosity (17:22), and comments on a pagan altar with the inscription, To an unknown god. (17:23). He then goes on to preach that this unknown god is indeed Yahweh, the God of the OT and of the Jews (17:23-24). Then he expands upon the understanding of the true God as opposed to shrines made by human hands (17:24-25), and God as Sovereign and Sustaining Creator (17:26-28). In doing so he cites two pagan poets and/or philosophers: Epimenides of Crete (whom he also cites in Titus 1:12) and Aratus of Cilicia (17:28) and expands upon their understanding as well (17:29). This is basically the same thing that the Church does with regard to pagan customs: it takes whatever is not sinful and Christianizes it. To me, this is great practical wisdom and a profound understanding of human nature. The frequent Protestant assumption that this is a wholesale adoption of paganism per se, and an evil and diabolical mixture of idolatry and paganism with Christianity is way off the mark. Hopefully, the above defense will answer this reasoning adequately. After all, the Apostle Paul is clearly guilty of mixing paganism and Christianity also. :-) Remember, it was Paul who stated, To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. (1 Cor 9:22; NRSV read the context of 9:19-21) In my opinion, the Churchs practice concerning Easter, Christmas, All Souls Day, All Saints Day, etc., is a straightforward application of Pauls own evangelistic strategy, if you will. That puts all this in quite a different light, when it is backed up explicitly from Scripture. The early Church merely followed Pauls lead. Furthermore, skeptics of Christianity trace the Trinity itself to Babylonian three-headed gods and suchlike, and the Resurrection of Christ to Mithraism or other pagan religious beliefs, but that doesnt stop Protestants from believing in the Triune God or the Resurrection. So this whole critique eventually backfires on those who give it. I have made great strides in understanding the faith of the Catholic church and the need for Apostolic Tradition, but these things are tremendous stumbling blocks to me, a pentecostal, Bible beater. It never hurts to ask for further understanding. You asked honest questions without a judgmental attitude from the outset. I appreciate that. You let me present a Catholic defense. Many non-Catholics (sadly) never even get to that point: they assume that the Catholic Church is pagan, the Beast, antichrist, etc., etc. without ever allowing it a chance to explain its teaching and practices. So I highly commend you. *** * In the continuing saga of am I the only person who remembers the 90s, seriously people, am I going crazy?, lets look at Hillary Clinton in her historical context: The word superpredator is part of the long lineage of language used to strip black people of their humanity in order to justify treating them inhumanely. It became popular because it put a clever name to what was already in the air, and this dehumanization has had real, material consequences. It is why black children are seen as inherently guilty, why police officers are more likely to use violent force against black children if they are accused of a crime, why people are more willing to condone police violence if it is against black bodies. It is this stripping of humanity from black bodies, the stripping of childhood from black children, that leads to police officers looking at a 12-year-old with a toy and seeing the threat of an adult active shooter, and it is that same dehumanization that saw this as reasonable and allowed those police officers to walk free. It is fair to be angry at the Clintons for their actions, but if we attempt to make them our sacrificial scapegoats, we run the risk of underplaying how deeply the roots of mass incarceration run, and how hard we will have to work to rip them out. Because the Clintons, despite their best efforts, did not usher in some new era of the American prison state. The ugly truth of mass incarceration is that its not a top-down phenomenon that is, not primarily governed at the federal level. The instruments of our prison state are more intimate than that. They operate at a local level, at community meetings and town halls, in schools and state legislatures. more In the continuing saga of who will save us from our solutions?, some skepticism about Fair Chance Hiring laws aka ban-the-box: First, the ordinance does not do anything to benefit the applicant. While it does forbid inquiring about the applicants criminal history prior to the employer making a conditional offer, it cannot stop the employer from performing their own criminal history search before extending the offer. Were the employer to extend an offer and rescind it upon seeing an applicants criminal history, this would open them to litigation and possible criminal penalties. Under the ordinance, it would be simpler for the employer not to extend a job offer until the candidate was vetted by the employer through public records searches, giving candidates with any criminal history no chance to explain their case. This is in large part why Goodwill, the only organization appearing before the council that actually works to reintegrate ex-offenders into the economy, testified in opposition of the ordinance. more (and bonus link which I think shows the urgency of the problem: one judges attempt to craft a certificate of rehabilitation in a federal system where punishment seems endless) In the continuing saga of wont something ever work, though?, two possibilities: Detroit to Add Complaints Against Cops to Crime Data: The U.S. Attorneys Office began monitoring the Detroit Police Department in 2003 after it was accused of covering up use of excessive force by cops. Now, as the oversight ends, that information will soon be available to everyone. Within the next 30 days, the department plans to launch a program that will allow unprecedented public access to department data online, including complaints against officers and police runs to problem areas. Officers names wont be made public, but the nature of each complaint by precinct will be available. more Should Hard-Line Prosecutors Be Nervous?: Voters delivered two big upsets in local Democratic primaries Tuesday night: in Cook County, Ill. they ousted states attorney Anita Alvarez. And in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, incumbent county prosecutor Timothy McGinty lost his re-election bid. Both prosecutors lost in part due to criticism that they failed to hold police accountable for high-profile shootings of young blacks. The results were especially surprising given that incumbent prosecutors are often a shoo-in in such low-turnout, low-information races. more (suspect this is your if you only read one link) And last: Virginia cops and prosecutors in four counties are using a bizarre legal code to secretly blacklist and outright ban residents deemed habitual drunkards from purchasing alcohol, a Daily Beast report on a class-action lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Justice Center claims. The penalties can range from huge fines to jail time. By prohibiting habitual drunkards from buying, consuming, or being near alcohol, the blacklistwhich appears to target homeless peoplesweeps poor residents, many of them with alcohol problems, off the streets and into jails where no one has to look at them. Cops are reportedly making arrests over the mere scent of booze, without even using a breathalyzer to detect consumption. These drunkards, the Daily Beast says, cant even go into 7-Eleven without suspicion. and charge them for it I know I should link to the original reporting but I wanted you to check out The Influence; so heres some stuff from a local news report: Attorneys say homeless people are not provided an attorney at the initial hearing when they are declared a habitual drunkard, and often are not even present at the trial and cant provide witnesses to help their case. One of the centers clients was ruled a habitual alcoholic, and has since been convicted more than 30 times for the past six years for alcohol-related offenses. If you look at his criminal record, you know, no violent history anything like that. Its all about being homeless and being an alcoholic, said Amy Walters. more The subtitle: My Year of HOPE and DESPAIR in a NEW YORK CITY HIGH SCHOOL (yes, thats the capitalization on the front cover). A quick synopsis: Ed Boland, a professional fundraiser for a nonprofit which aims to send talented inner-city poor kids to top-flight private schools, decides to move to the frontlines of the battle, by getting a teaching degree and teaching ninth-grade history in a high-poverty-neighborhood high school. He discovers that, all inspirational movies aside, its difficult to impossible to educate kids who dont want to be educated, and, when at the end of the year he is offered, not just his old job back but a promotion to boot, he skedaddles back to his old world. As a piece of writing, there were irritants: he is a gay man, and he weaves this into his narrative not just in the appropriate spots, such as the fact that it compounded his difficulties in classroom management, but with what really felt like excessive time telling us about the society/culture he moved in, and even telling the reader that the stress of teaching affected him, er, in the bedroom. And he had an odd, out of place, section on his time as an Ivy League admissions officer, which had the clever turns-of-phrase and descriptions of eager, even desperate, applicants that sounded so familiar that I tried to find that section again just now to see if I could google the text and see if it had perhaps been published elsewhere as a short essay online. Maybe its just that there are so many articles mocking Ivy League applicants that it all just sounded familiar. But beyond that he spent one year there, and, while he certainly didnt have an obligation to stay put, that meant that the book largely takes the form of a series of anecdotes, with little connected story of any of the kids. I was convinced that he had assembled his blog posts into a book until I read the acknowledgements in which he said he wrote it during a writers workshop. And the stories he tells are nearly all just awful stories of irredeemable kids, but, at the same time, he had three classes of 30 kids each, but its hard to get a big picture from his series of anecdotes. How bad, really, is the situation? Certainly, as a middle-aged middle-class (and culturally-gay) man with no experience dealing with insolent teenagers, he was at a serious disadvantage (among other things, he recounts being told to simplify his vocabulary), and, beyond his demographic characteristics, he just didnt seem to have the sort of personal skills needed to succeed with this sort of teaching. But he describes the last straw that put him over the edge and sent him back to fund-raising: he helped to grade final, regents exams for the 10th grade history teacher whom he admired as seemingly experienced and skilled, and even she ended up (with a very generous grading scale for the essay), with a 53% average score. And the tales of insolent students, of fights in the hallways or courtyards, of students with shockingly low writing ability, of the fact that, class period after class period, the best-case scenario was absence of disruption, but students sat in their seats without cracking a book or writing a single word (let alone doing homework!) that cant be written down to he was inexperienced. He also recounts parents being called in, excuses being made, due to a poor home life, but little progress made, with the exception of a few star students who were clearly out-of-place as well as students on the roster who seldom, if ever, actually walked into the classroom. At the end of his narrative, he concludes with a set of prescriptions. One is clear: improve training and support for teachers. He describes the fact that his graduate school education offered nothing in the way of classroom management, and his student teaching stint was woefully insufficient; his professors had little to no connection to actual classrooms and this is indeed unacceptable. Im not sure why this never changes, except that professors dont want to lose their jobs in favor of more apprenticeship-learning time, and schools dont want to spend more effort on mentoring new teachers. But some of his other prescriptions come from his pre-existing progressive politics, rather than his (one) year of experience: integrate schools (we tried that remember bussing and white flight?), spend more money on poor-performing schools, spend more money on education R&D, get teachers unions on board (that is, pay them more to get them to agree to reform), provide all kinds of therapy to troubled/suspended kids, and, oh, by the way, end poverty. End poverty, eh? Sure, thats an easy one (/sarc). Theres no easy answer, and this book paints a woefully-incomplete picture of the problem to begin with. Are these kids even fixable? Is it just a matter of spending enough money, as Boland suggests (whether directly to the schools, or to their families via social welfare spending)? At what point do kids have to take responsibility for themselves? So let me conclude with a request: after reading the recent articles on Saudi Arabia, I pulled out the most recent book in the library. Whos got some recommended reading on this subject? UPDATE: I googled reject the state admissions, and, in fact, the section on Ivy League admissions had previously been excerpted, in the New York Post, so perhaps I had read this previously! Patna: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murali Manohar Joshi, at a day-long symposium at the Agrasen Bhawan in Patna on Saturday, shrugged off the proposed merger of the 'Janata Parivar' saying it was a desperate attempt by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav to continue to hang on to power but it posed no threat to the prospect of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar. "The merger hasn't happened yet but if it does, it will have no impact on the BJP," the former Union Minister said at a symposium on 'Human Unity in Context of Democracy' organized in honor of Deendayal Upadhyaya, one of the founding members of the erstwhile Jan Sangh Party. Joshi, decrying societal division based on one's caste, class, religion, and language, said that such practices were abhorrent and a threat to the nation. "Such divisions of humans have caused immense damage across the world while giving rise to acute violence and terrorism. India faces the same problem and until we have found a solution to this, we cannot express to progress," the veteran BJP leader said. Patna: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Patna Saheb Shatrughan Sinha on Saturday paid a visit to Kankarbagh to review the condition of the drainage system that remains neglected even after a year since the entire area turned into Venice, only filthy, due to severe water-logging caused by heavy rain. Blaming the Nitish government of ignoring the agenda of development, Sinha, who has been accused by his constituents of remaining missing in action since his elections last year, said that he had talked to the former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi about construction of a sump house at the Zero Point in Ashok Nagar but nothing was done in this respect. "I had talked to Manjhi about getting the sump house built from the MP's development fund but he told me not to start a new trend of using the MP fund for urban development saying it was the responsibility of the state government. I had hoped that the government would have undertaken the job but now I see that nothing has been done in this respect," the actor-turned-politician said amidst protest by his detractors. Sinha further said that all development works in Patna was derailed by the turmoil within the ruling Janata Dal U. "After its colossal loss in the last Lok Sabha elections, the JD-U government became unstable and all the developmental work got derailed. For this, no one is to be blamed but the ruling government. It seems the state government's intentions are not good. However, I will continue to build pressure on it so the work on Ashok Nagar drainage system is completed before the arrival of the monsoon," he said. Earlier, Sinha faced loud protest from the local residents who accused him of neglecting his constituency and remaining out of Patna for most of the times. BJP legislator Arun Kumar Sinha was also present on the occasion. Patna: Activists with allegiance to the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in Patna on Monday torched the effigy of Patna University Vice Chancellor Dr. Y. C. Simahadri for failing to reach an agreement with the non-teaching staff of the university that is on an indefinite strike for the last few days leading to the postponement of exams. Accusing the Vice Chancellor of 'playing with the future of PU students', protestors burnt the effigy in front of his residence while demanding his removal to restore normalcy in the university. Pappu Verma, ABVP national working committee member, said that due to the apathy of the Vice Chancellor, functioning of the entire university had paralyzed and the biggest victims of the current stalemate were none other than the students who were left in the lurch due to the cancellation of the exams. "Students are struggling to save their future but the VC is busy making nonsensical statements. If he does not take the matter in his own hands and resolve the situation soon, we would be forced to launch an agitation of our own and the PU administration would be responsible for it," Verma said. Meanwhile, the non-teaching staff of the university also staged a protest outside Simahadri's residence where they chanted slogans for the VC's 'dictatorial' attitude. Patna: Following the imposition of total prohibition in Bihar on Tuesday, government officials, at various offices held oath ceremony to shun alcohol from their lives. Senior officers at various departments at the Patna Secretariat and elsewhere, afraid to raise the ire of the Chief Minister, took group oaths in full presence of the media to give up consumption of alcohol for good. Chief Minister's Secretary Chanchal Kumar personally administered oaths to officers at the Chief Minister's office, residence, and Bihar Development Mission office where participants repeated after him not to indulge in alcohol personally and to stop others from doing the same in social setup. "I pledge to never drink alcoholic beverage in my life because alcohol is bad for health. I will also encourage others to stop drinking liquor, this I vow," the officers repeated after Chanchal Kumar. The process was repeated by Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh and Home Secretary Amir Subhani who also administered the same oath to officers below them. At the office of the Patna Development Commissioner, Anand Kishore repeated the oath and at the Collectorate office, Patna District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Agrawal administered the pledge to shun alcohol. On Monday, Tennessee American Water identified a leak on one of its water main lines that crosses underneath the Tennessee River. The company has begun repairs to restore the water main line. Water service continues through a second line that delivers water to residents and businesses in North Chattanooga, North Shore, Red Bank, Riverview, Stuart Heights, Lupton City and Signal Mountain areas. Some customers in north Chattanooga may have experienced a minor and temporary drop in water pressure on Monday. Since that time, Tennessee American Water has stabilized pressure points in the system. The main repair will restore redundancy that is having more than one line delivering water to customers. Updates have been provided to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) to assure compliance with drinking water standards. Providing reliable, quality water is our priority, said Tennessee American Water President Valoria Armstrong. The repair of this water main line assures the water our customers use every day is there when they need it. For questions and updates, customers may visit the Tennessee American Water Facebook and Twitter pages as well as call the Customer Service Center at 866 736-6420. News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism. Rights group champions prominent Iranian activist Nargess Mohammadi ahead of her court date 04/06/16 Source: Radio Zamaneh Amnesty International has called for the release of jailed human rights activist Narges Mohammadi. The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) reports that according to Amnesty International, Mohammadi's court appearance is scheduled for April 22. Nargess Mohammadi The report adds that Mohammadi has had no contact with her children in the past eight months and is suffering from serious health complications. Mohammadi, a prominent human rights activist and member of the Centre for Human Rights Defenders and the Campaign Against Capital Punishment, was released in 2012 because of her medical condition. She was arrested again last year at her home, which forced the family to send her two minor children abroad to live with their father, activist Taghi Rahmani, who was forced into exile because of his political activities. Mohammadi is sentenced to 11 years in prison for her human rights activities and her connection with the Centre for Human Rights Defenders. She was found guilty of "assembly and collusion against national security and propaganda against the regime". Nagorno-Karabakh: Chance for EU-Iran Engagement 04/06/16 by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog) What was feared for a long time happened on April 2. Severe clashes erupted between Azerbaijan and Armenia around the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a disputed, Armenian-majority area legally part of Azerbaijan. The clashes, which claimed the lives of at least a couple hundred people, have gone beyond the regular skirmishes along the truce line established after the war in 1994. The scope, scale, and intensity of the fighting led some observers to talk about a rehearsal for the next war between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Such a war would be extremely devastating. In the 20 years since the fragile ceasefire, the two countries have each built large arsenals, especially Azerbaijan, greatly helped by its oil bonanza. Around 20 000 soldiers on each side are deployed mostly along the truce line around Nagorno-Karabakh and increasingly along the Armenia-Azerbaijan border. Both sides have the capacity to hit Baku and Yerevan and other cities far from the front line with ballistic missiles. Acts of terror and sabotage will likely ensue. The regions energy infrastructure will be targeted, disrupting the construction of new transportation routes and undermining EU energy security as a result. Mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs (US, France, Russia) have hit a deadlock. Neither side seems to be interested in making serious compromises for peace. To the contrary, a military offensive can be an attractive option to divert peoples attention from the falling living standards in Azerbaijan due to the slump in oil prices. By the same token, a hardening nationalist position could compensate for the Yerevan government's lack of democratic legitimacy. Combined, these factors make the war more not less likely. With the stakes so high, no wonder all the major international actors involved in the region-the US, the EU, Russia, Turkey, and Iran-have expressed their positions on the recent fighting. Apart from the US, the EU's perspective is matched most closely by Iran. High Representative for the EU Foreign and Security Policy Federica Mogherini in her statement called on both sides to immediately halt fighting and observe a ceasefire. Iran has demanded exactly the same, with Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan phoning his Armenian and Azerbaijani counterparts. Although the EU has no specific role in the conflict resolution or mediation efforts (apart from Frances role in the OSCE Minsk Group), this coincidence of positions with Iran could boost Europes diplomatic clout in the region. The EU doesn't have many alternatives. Russia is traditionally mindful of any external involvement in what it sees as its soft underbelly. The Kremlin is committed to Armenias defense through the Collective Security Treaty, has a military base in Armenia, but also enjoys close relations with Azerbaijan, including through arms sales. Russian President Vladimir Putin, with sway over both sides, has led some regional analysts to suggest that Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has started his offensive at Moscows behest. The aim of such a step would be to discredit any US attempts to mediate. The operation, for instance, started right after the Vice President Joe Biden met with both Aliyev and Serzh Sargsyan, the president of Armenia, at the nuclear summit in Washington. Moscow could then position itself as the exclusive peacemaker. This theory may be far-fetched, but Putins Russia certainly doesn't welcome foreign meddling in the post-Soviet space. Another big player, Turkey, has unconditionally backed Azerbaijan. Although it is unlikely to get involved directly in any possible future military conflagration, Turkey will support Azerbaijan diplomatically and through capacity-building. Another motivation for Turkey would be to undermine Russian interests by acting against its Armenian ally. That leaves Iran as the only one of the three big regional players to have a genuine stake in the stability of the South Caucasus. With its hands full in the Middle East, Persian Gulf, and Afghanistan, and with the need to rebuild its economy, Tehran certainly doesn't need another arc of instability extending over its borders. Some mortar shells have reportedly landed in Iran as a result of the recent fighting, in a poignant reminder of the capacity of this conflict to provoke wider regional destabilization. To avert such a tragic scenario, Iran can bring assets to the table that other regional players lack. It has a deep historical and cultural presence in the region. Traditionally Iran enjoyed close relations with Armenia, and later its occasionally rocky relations with Azerbaijan have improved too. The lifting of the sanctions following the nuclear deal has reinvigorated Iran's ties with both countries. Neither side perceives Iran as an enemy or a bully. Crucially, and in contrast to both Russia and Turkey, Iran doesn't sell arms to either side of the conflict. The same holds true for the EU, which is legally barred from doing so. Despite all the complexities, Tehran is also on reasonable terms with both Moscow and Ankara. As Federica Mogherini is preparing to visit Tehran in mid-April, exploring ways to defuse the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis could be included in the EU-Iran discussions on regional security. Both sides first should acknowledge that they have overlapping interests on the issue. The next step could be to coordinate their outreach to Baku and Yerevan, but also to Moscow and Ankara, to put an effective halt on fighting and move to de-escalation. On Syria, where the EU and Iran have divergent agendas, cooperation on regional security has been possible. In the south Caucasus, then, where their outlooks are much more aligned, Iran and the EU should have a somewhat easier time of it. In addition, such cooperation could further cement EU-Iran re-engagement following the nuclear deal-an objective well worth pursuing in itself. This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament. About the Author Eldar Mamedov has degrees from the University of Latvia and the Diplomatic School in Madrid, Spain. He has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the delegation for inter-parliamentary relations between the EP and Iran. Explainer: Why The Nagorno-Karabakh Crisis Matters 04/06/16 By Charles Recknagel, RFE/RL This week's Nagorno-Karabakh crisis might strike most people as nothing more than another minor conflict in a remote, faraway place. But the role of the Caucasus in the global energy trade and the potential for full-scale hostilities between Azerbaijan and archrival Armenia or its clients drawing in major regional powers are reason enough to keep a close eye on whether the April 5 cease-fire holds. Two pipelines carry oil and gas from Azerbaijan westward through the Caucasus, and both pass near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave. Any widening conflict could endanger both them and Europe's hopes of tapping the Caspian region to reduce its dependence upon Russian energy sources. At the same time, any escalating conflict could draw in neighboring powers, thanks to Armenia's military pact with Russia and Azerbaijan's pact with Turkey. That could lead to a showdown between Moscow and Ankara, which are already at odds over Russia's intervention in Syria and Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane in November. Here are some points to consider. Pipelines The Caspian region has rich oil and gas reserves that regional countries want to export to Europe. However, there are only two export routes. One is northwest through Russia; the other southwest across the Caucasus. However, northern routes through Russia do not satisfy Europe's long-term hopes of one day freeing itself from its dependence upon Moscow for energy supplies. The European Union's unhappiness with that reliance has grown for years as it has watched Russia use energy as a foreign-policy tool to apply pressure to states like Georgia and Ukraine. In some cases, cutoffs of gas to Ukraine over price disputes have caused shortfalls downstream in eastern EU states. That's why Europe values the pair of oil and gas pipelines that currently bring Caspian energy out through the Caucasus, and why it hopes to see more such pipelines in the future. But those hopes are limited so long as the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh remains unsettled. "A potential conflagration over Nagorno Karabakh is quite likely to affect both of these pipelines," says Theodoras Tsakiris, assistant professor for energy, geopolitics, and economics at the University of Nicosia in Cyprus. "They are of critical significance primarily for Azerbaijan, then Turkey and, to a lesser extent, Europe and the global economy." He notes that, in the case of a sustained conflict, Azerbaijan would likely shut down the pipelines for safety reasons to avoid oil spills and gas leaks if they were damaged. The most immediate impact upon Europe would be oil supplies. The pipeline link from Baku to Ceyhan, on Turkey's eastern Mediterranean coast, carries some 1 billion barrels of oil per day, with most of it going to Europe plus some to Israel. Tsakiris notes that any cutoff would be a setback for the EU's hopes of progressively reducing its current reliance on Russia for 35 percent of its crude oil supplies. It would not likely affect oil prices, however, due to oversupplies of oil on the world market. Of less immediate worry to Europe would be any cutoff of Caspian natural gas. Currently all of the 9 billion cubic meters of gas moving westward from Azerbaijan goes to the Turkish market. However, just as with oil, Brussels hopes one day to use Caspian gas to lower its current dependence on Russia for nearly one-third of its natural gas supply. Under its Southern Gas Corridor strategy, the EU hopes to see an additional 10 billion cubic meters of Caspian gas moving through new pipelines onward to southern and Central Europe by the early 2020s. That would be the first step toward even larger possible volumes in the future. "The important thing is to open up the corridor and have the possibility to build more pipelines through southeastern Europe which over the next 10 to 15 years could seriously open up the Caspian Sea generally for future supplies," says Tsakiris. But so long as there is conflict in the Caucasus, any new pipeline projects remain risky financial propositions. Military Pacts The other threat a growing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict presents is the possibility of drawing in neighboring states. Azerbaijan and NATO member Turkey signed an Agreement on Strategic Partnership and Mutual support in 2010 under which both agree to support each other "using all possibilities" in the case of military aggression against either. The two countries have sought to add teeth to their agreement by conducting annual joint military exercises. Worrisome for Yerevan was a military exercise last year in Azerbaijan's exclave of Naxcivan, along Armenia's southeastern border. That raised the possibility that, in any major military conflict, Yerevan could face a two-front war with Baku in which Turkey might intervene. Equally dangerous is the possibility that Russia might intervene on Armenia's side under the two countries' 1992 Tashkent Collective Security Treaty. Any such showdown would further ramp up the tensions that exist between Russia and Turkey, both of which view themselves as major regional powers. Ankara, with its military pact with Baku, has shown that it considers its fellow Turkic nation part of its sphere of influence. Russia, through its support of Armenia -- where it has 5,000 troops permanently stationed -- has long made it clear it considers the Caucasus very much its continuing sphere of influence. Copyright (c) 2016 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org The best 2-in-1 laptop 2022: our picks of the best convertible laptops These are the best 2-in-1 laptops you can buy right now For $21,999, I expected a little more from Microsofts new Surface Hub. Dont get me wrong: the Hubs 84-inch 4K touchscreen, flanked by a pair of eye-height, 1080p cameras, videoconferencing, and full Windows 10 capabilitiesall makes for one very impressive package, especially when it dominates one wall of a room. Heck, it practically is the wall. Mark Hachman Microsofts Surface Hub is, in a word, enormous. But what Microsoft executives called version 1.0 of the Surface Hub lacks capabilities I cant help but think most customers would expect. Theres no co-inking. Presentations can be saved, but just as a final imageyou cant save audio or a recording of the collaboration. Cortana is absent. You can use Windows 10s nifty snap feature to shift windows across the screen, but only two can be shown at a time. None of these may be deal-breakers, but the Hubs spartan capabilities made me question how mature the Hubs productivity argument is, 15 months after Microsoft first began showing it in Redmond. (The Surface Hub began shipping just before I saw it last week at Microsoft Build in San Francisco.) What Microsoft executives made clear, however, was that some of the omissions were deliberate. The Surface Hub is not a larger Surface tablet It helps to avoid thinking of the Surface Hub as the big brother of Surface tablets, because its not. The Surface Hub is a communal device, not a personal one. Designed for collaboration and communication, it entirely lacks persistent local storage. Previously, Microsoft said its integrated cameras could recognize you; thats not the case now. When you walk in, the Hub is a blank slate thats ready and waiting for your team to use, and when you leave, the Hub wipes itself clean. Mark Hachman A closeup of the interface. When you logout or the meeting ends, the Surface Hub wipes itself with a ten-second countdown, then it resets for the next user. In fact, those are exactly the capabilities that the Hub highlights when you walk in, with a very Bing-like login screen that shows off a clock and three apps: Call, Whiteboard, and Connect. Not surprisingly, they repurpose familiar Office apps: Skype for Business, OneNote, and the ability to connect a secondary display. You can also connect to the Microsoft Store and download any other UWP apps your administrator has approved, if you need to supplement those basic applications. Mark Hachman Looking into the Hub is like looking into a window. A word about the hardware: The $21,999 84-inch model I saw measures 46.12 x 86.7 x 4.15 inches, and weighs a whopping 280 pounds. Inside is an entire PC: a 4th-gen Core i7 chip (yes, you read that right, its Haswell) with workstation-class Nvidia Quadro K2200 graphics powering the 120Hz, 4K (38402160) display, a 128GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM. (The smaller $8,999 55-inch model is only 1080p, with a 4th-gen Core i5 inside, but thats still a decent amount of horsepower at your disposal.) Connectivity includes ethernet, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, and Miracast. The latter is important, as its apparently the only way to connect wirelessly to the display. Mark Hachman The Surface Hub cameras perch on either side of the display. Of note are the two 1080p wide-angle cameras flanking the display, at eye height. Microsoft executives played these up, and for good reason: When videoconferencing, the high position of the cameras gives the illusion that youre speaking eye-to-eye with the person on the other side of the screen. Add the cameras 100-degree field of view to the massive display and result is almost 1:1 perspective: You can look at a room of people on the display, and they look properly sized. The Surface Hub becomes less like a videoconferencing device and more like, well, a window. Collaboration shortcomings Still, the message I received regarding the Surface Hub is that it will operate best when every member is in the room. If you happened to be stuck in traffic or working at home, youre going to have a more difficult time. Calling another person or conference room via the Hub appears to work smoothly, as you might expect, and the image dominates the screen. While its not clear exactly how many other parties you can call, Microsoft tells me that you can connect up to 250 people, consistent with the number you can connect to Skype for Business. Microsoft also says that you can connect your laptop to the Hub via the Connect app, then share your screen via Call. Mark Hachman Videoconferencing on the Surface Hub tucks the window in the corner of the screen, delegating the rest of it to the whiteboard and other apps. Given that you can snap only two appswith 84 inches of screen space, this seems a little stingyyoure limited to just a few onscreen activities at any one time. (Placing a call seems to be allowed at any time and effectively serves as a third window.) This keeps teams focused, though it limits what can be done with the Surface Hub at any one time. One of those activities is the Whiteboard app, which allows for three people to ink on the screen at any one time. The Hub ships with a pair of pens, holstered on either side. Once you remove a pen from the holster, Whiteboard launches. Icons appear on the bottom of the screen so you can choose ink color, among other pen options. Unlike the Surface Pen, there are no other buttons on the Surface Hub pen, though you can erase by flipping it over. You wont find any fancy icons, brush motifs, or digital stickers in Whiteboard; each pen has a choice of what appears to be five colors, and theres a lasso tool for moving digital ink around on the page. Because the Hub supports 100-point touch, a number of hands can be on the board at any one time. Naturally, pinch and zoom gestures are supported, and the Whiteboard app is an infinite canvas, so you can just keep drawing forever. Mark Hachman The Surface Hubs whiteboard app has basic inking capabilities: a choice of several colors, and a lasso for moving text selections. Whiteboard comes up a bit short when compared with OneNote, however. You cant record the process of digital inking to see exactly how an idea evolved, as some digital whiteboards do. The end result (either a PNG file or a OneNote document) is more like a cave painting that can be emailed to remote workers. Audio isnt recorded via the Whiteboard app, either. A workaround, however, comes in the form of the Connect app, which allows anyone in the room to connect wirelessly to the Hub and control it. One interesting twist is that you dont need to hold your Surface (or a Lumia phone) in your hand to drive your presentation. Instead, the Hub lets you drive from the front, remotely controlling your laptop and any files you have stored in it. Other users cant co-ink your presentation, though, unless you drag an image from it into the Whiteboard app. Youll also have to pull a co-inked image back into your presentation manually. Mark Hachman Theres a simplfied version of the Start menu on the Surface Hub. Cortanas absence was a deliberate choice. Greg Sullivan, a director in the devices group at Microsoft, said that Cortana was a personal experience, and Microsoft hadnt decided whether to make a version of Cortana into something like a group admin. Mark Hachman Mixing 360-degree video with a telestrator app may not seem like the ideal use for the Surface Hub, but it works. Because the Surface Hub is a communal resource, expect the Windows Store to be locked down to what your IT department allows. Sullivan and other executives showed off a Siemens app that translated digital inking into straight lines, part of the process of sketching out the basics of a 3D object. Dont expect to buy Microsofts Surface Hub yourself, either. The $8,999 55-inch version and $21,999 84-inch version are designed to replace the whiteboard and videoconferencing system currently found in conference rooms where teams meet. Chances are, however, that you will not be playing Halo after hours directly on the Surface Hub. Unless you sneak in your Xbox One into work, that is. Google and Rackspace are designing a server based on IBMs upcoming Power9 processor, a sure sign that Intel is no longer the only game in town for cloud service providers. The companies announced plans for the system, which they call Zaius, at IBMs OpenPower Summit in Silicon Valley on Wednesday. Its one of several new Power servers on show at the event. They plan to submit the design to the Open Compute Project, meaning other companies will be able to use the design as well. Googles data centers have long relied on servers based on Intel x86 processors, but the search giant has lately been exploring systems based on Power as well as ARM-based processors. Two years ago, Google showed a Power server board it had developed for testing purposes, though it hadnt said much about those efforts since. Its now clear that Google is serious about using the IBM chip in its infrastructure. It wont surprise anyone to hear that demand for compute at Google has been relentless, and it isnt slowing down any time soon, the company said in a blog post. To meet the demand, Googles data centers need to be able to handle ISA heterogeneity, it said, or the the ability to support multiple instruction set architectures. Thats a big change for Google, which historically has kept costs down partly by running the most homogeneous infrastructure it can. James Niccolai Googles Maire Mahony at the OpenPower Summit Wednesday The Power architecture is now fully supported across our toolchain, said Maire Mahony, a hardware engineering manager at Google and director of the OpenPower Foundation. That means Googles developers can quickly deploy applications to Power systems. She declined to say if the company is running production applications on Power today. But she said Google has ported many of its apps to the IBM chip. Aaron Sullivan, a distinguished engineer at Rackspace, said cloud providers are attracted to Power for two reasons: One is that its a good, high-performance CPU, and the other is that Moores Law alone can no longer deliver sufficient gains from one generation of processor to the next. To get the performance they need, companies like Rackspace and Google need the flexibility to rethink how their servers are designed, he said, including finding new ways to combine memory, I/O, and accelerator chips like GPUs. Thats easier with Power than with x86, he said, because IBM has opened the platform and removed licensing restrictions that otherwise make it hard for a community of customers and vendors to design new systems together. The announcement continues a new level of openness at Google, which used to be quite secretive about the newest technologies it used in its data centers. It now apparently feels collaboration is in its best interests. Last month Google joined the Open Compute Project and submitted the design for a 48-volt server rack that it co-developed with Facebook. The OCP is a place where end users and vendors collaborate on new infrastructure. The Power server its developing with Rackspace is designed to be compatible with the 48-volt rack. James Niccolai The basic specs for Zaius The name Zaius comes from a character in the film Planet of the Apes. The basic design is for a server with two Power9 processors and 32 DDR4 DIMM sockets. Few other details were available Wednesday. Key to the design is that Power9 will support new high-speed interfaces, including IBMs CAPI and Nvidias NVLink, that will make it easy to connect the CPU to accelerator chips such as GPUs. IBM kicked off the OpenPower effort about three years ago. Aiming to breath new life into its struggling Power business, it opened up the platform to let third parties build servers and processors. The effort seems to be paying off. Rackspace has already designed one Power-based server, called Barreleye, that it plans to put in production in the coming months, offering cloud services to its cloud customers. Power is the highest performance, most cost-effective option for workloads that run on Linux, according to Sullivan. For cloud customers, he said, Power servers running Linux dont feel any different from any mainstream x86 system theyve worked with in the past. He dismissed the suggestion that companies like Google are showing interest in Power as a way to pressure Intel to reduce its pricing. I so wish we could make that narrative go away, because its so wrong, he said. Intel isnt standing still, of course. The company has been selling custom Xeon chips to keep its cloud customers happy, and its acquisition of Altera will allow it to build accelerators into its own chips. Along with the Zaius server, other companies also announced servers and components Wednesday that are part of the OpenPower effort. Among them, IBM Itself is working with white-box server vendor Wistron to build a new HPC system that uses Nvidias Tesla platform. The server will connect Power8 processors directly to Nvidias Tesla P100 GPU via the NVLink interconnect. Wistrons participation is significant, because cloud providers like Rackspace and Google like to buy systems from low-cost server makers in Taiwan and China. Tyan, another white box maker, announced it has developed a 1U Power8 server. In addition, Mellanox, Xilinx and other companies announced new accelerators that work with IBMs CAPI interface. More details about the new OpenPower products announced Wednesday are here and here. A first-of-its-kind survey shows that nearly two-thirds of visitors to the 246 million acres of public land across 11 western states and Alaska enjoyed quiet as in nonmotorized recreation activities. In California, there were 4.9 million visits during 2014 to the states 15.2 million acres overseen by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, says a recent study from Pew Charitable Trusts. Pews study, The Economic Value of Quiet Recreation on BLM Lands, was released late last week. There are more than 5.8 million acres of BLM-managed lands in San Bernardino County, although the study did not delve into county-level numbers. These quiet-seeking visitors to California BLM land: Directly spent $244 million on quiet recreation visits within 50 miles of recreation sites. Generated $97 million in income to people specifically tied to quiet recreation on BLM lands, including wages, salaries and benefits. Supported 2,605 jobs. The study comes out at a time when California BLM managers are wrestling with a court-ordered revision to the West Mojave Route Network Project, which has the goal of designating routes for off-highway vehicles while protecting sensitive desert resources, on more than 2 million acres. These lands span parts of San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Kern and Inyo counties as well as a small portion of Riverside County. The BLM has until April 29 to seek additional time and present a proposed schedule for completing the West Mojave Route vision to the plaintiffs and the court, said Stephen Razo, BLM spokesman. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the President Bush-era plan favored off-road vehicle use over protection of endangered species, archeological sites and other sensitive areas. A draft of a revised route plan would designate 10,000 miles for OHV use, up from 5,000 miles in the plan rejected by the court. The purpose of the study was to provide solid empirical data on the importance of quiet recreation to the BLMs management teams, said Ken Rait, director, Western Lands Initiative, The Pew Charitable Trusts. This new study confirms that quiet-type recreation is the primary type of recreation on public lands managed by the BLM, said Ileene Anderson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in a 2006 lawsuit against the original West Mojave road plan. Quiet recreation is compatible with wildlife conservation, and this synergistically benefits both. BLM needs to shift its recreation focus to managing for quiet recreation for the awesome benefits it provides to people and the environment, Anderson said. Camping and picnicking were listed as the most popular quiet activity on BLM lands during 2014, the year data was analyzed. This was followed by non-motorized travel. My first reaction is this is exactly the report that was needed, said Seth Shteir, desert programs manager for the National Parks Conservation Association and a Joshua Tree resident. Many of us who live here (in the California Desert) have been a little disheartened by all the renewable energy development and the (BLM) emphasis on (motorized) off-paved road recreation, said Shteir. Nationally, quiet-seeking visitors to BLM lands in 12 states generated $2.8 billion for the U.S. economy and supported nearly 25,000 jobs, the study said. Pew hired ECONorthwest, of Eugene, Oregon, to conduct the study. Contact the writer: jim.steinberg@langnews.com The Dec. 2 shooting spree at a training and holiday-themed lunch for San Bernardino county employees forever changed the way public officials there manage the region. I think that realization hit us pretty quickly that our lives and our careers in the organization had changed forever, said San Bernardino County Chief Executive Officer Greg Devereaux. Fourteen people were killed and 22 wounded in the Inland Regional Center attack carried out by Syed Rizwan Farook, an environmental health specialist for the county, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik. Afterward, county officials reset their priorities to supporting employees, continuing to help the city of San Bernardino emerge from bankruptcy, and documenting the areas post-terror recovery to serve as a framework for other communities facing similar crises in the future. We now have an additional major set of responsibilities to the victims, to the community and to the rest of the world, to those who join this unfortunate club of having mass-murder events, Devereaux said. The recovery effort is a long-term process, said Marcia Godwin, an associate professor of public administration at the University of La Verne. San Bernardino County has really responded as well as any organization could on something thats just unfathomable, Godwin said. EMPLOYEE FOCUS Supporting employees has been at the forefront of the countys recovery. We try to work with every single employee in every single situation and we try to look at each of them distinctly and separately because everyone is in different circumstances, Devereaux said. Many county employees have not yet returned to work. A number of employees of the County Public Health Department and its Environmental Health Services Division were victims or co-workers of victims of the attack. Its been difficult to keep track of how many are back because the number fluctuates. Some return to work and realize theyre not ready. Others who come back cant work full weeks. Between 40 and 50 employees who were affected by the attack have returned to work. In March, the county allocated more money for crisis counseling for employees affected by the attack. Temporary workers will be hired while many employees are still on leave recovering, relieving staff brought in to help from surrounding agencies. We fully understand that a number of these people will never be able to return to that job, Devereaux said. Some of them may never be able to return to work, some of them may find it difficult to get out of bed, out of their homes. A transition team made up of major service county providers was formed a day after the shooting and is still in effect today. It includes representatives from human resources, behavioral and public health, and the district attorney victims advocate unit. Its goal is to align the victims with the right resources. For example, if the team sees a pattern of employees who are too frightened to go and visit counselors, theyll find a way to bring counselors to them. The transition team meets once a week to coordinate the necessary resources. Godwin said its noteworthy that the county, four months after the event, is still putting significant resources into temporary staff and counseling services. Meanwhile, the county is working to renovate the second-floor of the county offices, where many of the environmental health specialists, including Farook, worked. Employees who have returned are working in temporary areas. The former work station will undergo a complete redesign thats expected to be completed in about 10 months. Nothing will look the same. There will be different furniture, entrances, wall and floor covers. That area has to be made to not resemble in any way the way it looked, smelled, felt the way it was before, said county spokesman David Wert. Things that you cannot even begin to imagine will trigger a memory one little thing that we missed, a light switch cover that has a crack through it that that person remembered noticing every time they left work at the end of the day. If they see that cracked cover it all comes back, Wert said. NOT LETTING THEM WIN Devereaux said he was inspired by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who spoke to San Bernardino County employees at a Jan. 4 memorial service. In New York, they recognized a responsibility to not let the terrorists feel like they had won, Devereaux said. Its vital to reach out to the corporate community to help revitalize areas of the city impacted by the terror attack to show the terrorists, if you attack some place in the United States, that area will come out stronger not weaker, Devereaux said. That was really the genesis early on of SB Strong, Devereaux said. For the county, it means not only helping the city move forward after the attack, but also continuing to help it emerge from bankruptcy. Godwin, who researches local government and urban politics, said investing in the city of San Bernardino is crucial because its the county seat. In many ways, the future of San Bernardino (the city) sets the tone for the entire county, Godwin said. I do see that theres better opportunity for collaboration in moving forward to recognize that out of this tragedy new partnerships can be forged and existing ones strengthened, she added. Devereaux said the county was helping by absorbing the citys fire department into the county department. And the county is helping the city get federal funds to revitalize blighted areas by creating jobs and leveraging private investment. We were already very involved, but I do mean that as a county well be doing everything we can to seek more investment for this community, Devereaux said. LESSONS LEARNED The first 24 hours of the terror attack were intense. The main task that first night was to identify how many of the deceased, injured, and those in the building were county employees. It was difficult. Employee cell phone numbers, which were often the only numbers the county had to reach them, werent updated. And others left their cell phones inside the building when they fled. One of the hardest things (in terms of disaster management) is to get people to remember to update their information, Devereaux said. We have not only employees information but we always have emergency contact information, (and) in many instances both of those were outdated. Just little bits and pieces that you learn, he added. Because the recovery may take years, its important to document the post-terror recovery process to help others in similar situations, he said. One of the things that has become painfully clear is that there arent guides to this. Contact the writer: 951-368-9462 or amolina@pressenterprise.com REMAX Renaissance Realtors announced the addition of Mike Purcell as an affiliate broker. Mr. Purcell is a native of Chattanooga and received a Masters of Business Administration degree (MBA) from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Additionally, he holds a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Mechanical Engineering from Tennessee Technological University. He recently retired from the Tennessee Valley Authority and is licensed as a professional engineer. Mr. Purcell will be joining his wife, Brenda Purcell, who is a licensed broker with over 14 years of experience in the region. He is currently a board member of Mustard Tree Ministries, The Canyons Homeowners Association and a member of Burks United Methodist Church in Hixson. He is a past president of the UTC Alumni Board of Directors and member of the UTAA Board of Governors. He is the father of Jarrod and Ross Purcell and lives in the Falling Water community. Mr. Purcell has been active in missions work with 11 construction mission trips to Orphanage Emanuel in Honduras with teams from Red Bank Baptist Church. Most recently, he participated in a benchmarking visit to Austin, TX, where he and other leaders reviewed the Community First Village, and the Mobile Loaves and Fishes initiatives aimed at alleviating homelessness. Currently, he is working with Mustard Tree Ministries on plans to develop a micro-housing community for the homeless in Hamilton County. Mike will initially concentrate on residential and land sales with the goal of gaining experience in development. Mr. Purcell has overseen the construction of two of his personal homes himself, has directed several renovation and remodeling projects, and has owned and managed rental property. While in college, he worked with a professor building one of the first passive solar homes in Cookeville. He understands the necessity of budgeting and planning. Mrs. Purcell said, Mike is very good at problem solving and listening to understand his customers needs and I know he will make a great realtor. Mr. Purcell can be reached at 423-756-5700 (office) or 423-635-2146 or by email mike@teampurcell.com. A group of Moreno Valley College students crowded around Shaughnessy Tello as she applied color rubber bands to a plastic replica of a set of teeth. Tello, a 21-year-old Moreno Valley resident, had recently completed her orthodontics rotation as a student in the colleges Dental Assisting Program and was ahead of some classmates in that skill. I think its the easiest part, she said, adding that she found it fun to teach her fellow students. Moreno Valley College is one of two Inland community colleges that offer a dental assisting program. The other is Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga. The Commission on Dental Accreditation recently renewed Moreno Valleys accreditation for six years after lauding the program for its high quality in a letter to college President Sandra Mayo. Students can earn a certificate in dental assisting after 10 months of full-time coursework. The courses prepare students for the California State Registered Dental Assistant Examination and the Dental Assisting National Board Examination. The program accepts up to 24 students a year. Its a great opportunity to get a career as a dental professional in 10 months, said Dr. Lidia Hulshof, a dentist, assistant professor and director of the program. The U.S. Department of Labor predicts a 25 percent growth rate in the profession over the next six years, according to a news release from the college. The average pay is $34,500 a year. The Moreno Valley program teaches students office and laboratory duties, dental radiology, oral health education, sterilization of dental tools, how to take teeth impressions, how to chrome and polish teeth and how to work with patients. Its Dental Education Center includes a classroom and laboratory, a faculty office with student study areas and a clinic where students can work with patients under the supervision of instructors. Dr. Valerie Lee, a dentist and instructor at the college, said the program is unusual because students do three types of internship rotations at dental offices, including Loma Linda University Medical Center. One internship involves basic dental skills, the second covers surgery and the third is in orthodontics. That helps them decide what particular type of dentistry they want to work in, Lee said. Cristina Carbajal, a 21-year-old Perris resident, graduated from the program in 2014 and worked in a dental office for a summer. Carbajal said her training fully prepared her. Its very hands on, she said. Its a very intense program. Carbajal has since decided she wants to teach dental assisting and is an educational assistant at the college. She plans to pursue her bachelors degree after completing more classes at Moreno Valley College. Student Pam Allen, a 25-year-old Romoland resident, got interested in dental assisting because of the chance to help and work with a variety of people. You have to be very precise and know what youre doing, she said. Contact the writer: 951-368-9558 or ighori@pressenterprise.com A historic strike by Cal State University faculty may be averted in the next couple of days, members of the union representing professors announced Wednesday. There is hope that talks between the California Faculty Association and the California State University may avert a five-day, systemwide strike on all 23 campuses scheduled to begin April 13, CFA officials said Wednesday in a written statement. According to CFA which represents 26,000 tenured and tenure-track instructional faculty, lecturers, librarians, counselors and coaches the union and management are working on a solution to their fight over pay, with faculty having called for a 5 percent raise and the Long Beach-based Chancellors Office offering a 2 percent increase. Both sides have agreed to honor a 48-hour blackout period on communicating with the media, according to the CFA. CFA leaders and CSU officials plan to hold a joint news conference on Friday in Sacramento, possibly to announce a settlement. Neither party will respond to media inquiries nor conduct media interviews regarding the status of negotiations or strike preparations during the blackout period, CFA officials said in its statement. An independent fact-finder in March determined that the 23-campus system should give professors the raise theyve been demanding for nearly a year. Bonnie Prouty Castrey, chairwoman of a three-person panel that included representatives from the CSU and faculty union, said in her report that the Great Recession severely impacted the faculty at CSU. While some progress has been made through targeted pay increases to restore the loss of competitive salaries, faculty suffer from structural salary issues as well as a lack of substantial general salary increases. Earlier this week, campus officials in Southern California planned conference calls with reporters to discuss preparations for the strike, which faculty members have called the largest walkout in a public university in the history of the U.S. Those calls were canceled at the last minute. The news Wednesday comes as faculty and administrators at all 23 have been preparing for a walkout, including disseminating information to students about how this affects studies and potentially graduation. On Tuesday, Mark Wiley, associate vice president of faculty affairs at Cal State Long Beach, sent a note to faculty outlining rights and responsibilities of faculty and students during strike activities. I know we all have the best interests of our students as a central concern, he wrote. It would be a courtesy to your students to let them know ahead of time if you are canceling classes. Also, for those of you who do hold classes and have attendance policies or other requirements that affect students grades, please be understanding and lenient if some students are absent as they may be uncomfortable coming to campus during the strike. On a more personal note, I would love to see the impasse over the compensation negotiations solved in order to avert a strike, he said. An Ontario father is behind bars after he was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated with his 5-year-old son in the car, San Bernardino County Sheriffs officials said Tuesday. Francisco Zepeda, 34, was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence and child endangerment late Monday night, and his son was placed with Child and Family Services, according to a sheriffs statement. Around 10:30 p.m., a deputy stopped a 1998 Mazda near Fairfax Lane and E. 9th Street, officials said. During the stop, the deputy allegedly noticed the driver, later identified as Zepeda, was possibly intoxicated, according to authorities. After an infield investigation, Zepeda was arrested. The deputy also saw a small child in the vehicle he later determined was Zepedas 5-year-old son. The boy was sitting in the back seat, allegedly unrestrained by a seat belt or child seat. Deputies took the child to the Sheriffs Central Station where he was turned over to Child and Family Services. Police are searching for the person who shot a man in the arm outside a Fontana apartment complex over the weekend, officials said. Around 9 p.m. Saturday, Fontana police officers were called to the 16600 block of Seville Avenue for a report of gunshots and a person screaming, according to a statement. Officers found a man with a gunshot wound to his forearm. He was taken to the hospital where he is expected to recover, officials said. Witnesses managed to give investigators a description of the shooters vehicle, a gray Chevrolet Impala, but a description of the attacker was not available. Several parked cars were struck by stray bullets, authorities said. The investigation is ongoing. A retired Hemet police officer has pleaded not guilty to grand theft and forgery charges involving embezzlement from the Simchat Yeshua congregation from 2007 to 2012, according to court records. The allegations came to light when Gerald Max Beamesderfer Jr., 64, of Hemet, was arrested Feb. 9 after a year-long investigation into an estimated $250,000 reported missing in 2013 by congregation leaders, the Riverside County Sheriffs Department previously reported. Members blamed Beamesderfer as the congregations sole financial officer. He made his first court appearance at the Banning Justice Center on Monday, April 4, according to court records. A complaint filed by the Riverside County District Attorneys Office accuses Beamesderfer of taking cash and checks totaling about $45,893, defrauding the congregation of credit and debit card charges totaling about $67,459, forging about 59 checks and taking or damaging property in excess of $65,000 in value. In Messianic Judaism, Jews and gentiles accept Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah. Beamesderfer is free on $133,000 bail. He was a Hemet police officer for 19 years before leaving on an industrial disability retirement in 2004, according to a Hemet police spokesman. RELATED HEMET: Synagogue embezzlement suspect a retired cop HEMET: $250,000 synagogue embezzlement prompts arrest Fans of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, should prepare themselves for some rollicking surprises in the upcoming production at the Riversides Fox Performing Arts Center on Sunday, April 10. If youve seen Joseph, you havent seen our Joseph, said James Christopher (J.C.) McCann, 28, who wears the famous coat of many colors in Andrew Lloyd Webbers 1968 classic. Our show pays homage to the classic everyone knows and loves, but the movement is modernized, hip-hop based, he said. The director and award-winning choreographer of this national tour, Andy Blankenbuehler (In the Heights, Hamilton), has created such show-stopping numbers that the female narrator has to cut off the audiences unabated applause, McCann, said. The narrator opens the play, a humorous sing-through with little dialogue, telling the story of a young dreamer named Joseph from the Book of Genesis. His father Jacob, who favors Joseph over all his 12 sons, gives him a multicolored coat. His jealous brothers sell him as a slave to a group of Ishmaelites en route to Egypt. Joseph interprets Pharaohs dreams correctly and earns a government post. Ultimately Joseph meets up with his brothers, sees that they have changed and reconciles with his family. As a child raised in the small town of Rawlins, Wyo, the oldest of four, McCann fell in love with musicals. At the University of Wyoming in Laramie, he plunged into opera, theater and choir and received his degree in vocal performance. After graduating in 2010, torn between practicality and singing, he worked as an insurance adjustor and in oil fields. Ive always been a by the book kind of guy, McCann said. A career in the arts didnt make a lot of sense to me, which pushed me into other careers. But neither could he shrug off his passion for performing. He eventually moved to New York to hit the auditions, which are filled with crazy energy, he said. Although originally trying out for the role of pharaoh, McCann was cast as Joseph. Im very comfortable with the character and see a lot of parallels to my own life, McCann said. The world is pushing him in one direction, he gets knocked down and has to find a way out. Hes a dreamer who finds hope. Bowled over by the costumes, McCann especially admires the hand-stitched coat he dons with its beautiful, awesome design taken from one of Chagalls stained-glass windows. A long wig covers McCanns short, curly brown hair. The biggest challenge, he said is to keep learning and growing and finding ways to make the performance fresh each night to connect with the audience. Contact the writer: llucas@pressenterprise.com, 951-368-9559 Infectious disease specialists will discuss the Zika and Ebola viruses impact on the world Thursday, April 7, in a World Health Day event at Loma Linda University. Emerging Infections & Their Global Impact will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, starting with a reception. The free event will be held at Loma Linda Universitys Randall Visitor Center, 11080 Anderson St. in Loma Linda. The talk is sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Inland Southern California and Loma Linda University Health. Online registration is required at wacinlandsocal.org. For more information, call 909-537-5648 or email worldaffairscsusb@gmail.com. Contact the writer: 951-368-9444 or shurt@pressenterprise.com A former Mt. San Antonio College student Tuesday angrily protested the Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees recent hiring of an administrator at the Walnut school, where the student reported being sexually assaulted in December 2013. That student is Aarefah Mosavi, who has since transferred to UC Berkeley where she is a senior close to earning a degree in peace and conflict studies. She maintains that the investigation into the incident at Mt. SAC was mishandled by then-Equal Employment Opportunity Programs Director Lorraine Jones. Mosavis assailant was not punished. The board, which oversees community colleges in Riverside, Moreno Valley and Norco, voted Feb. 16 to appoint Jones district compliance officer, effective the next day, according to meeting minutes. Jones is being paid $146,458 a year. According to a job description, her position is responsible for ensuring the district stays in compliance with laws governing equal treatment of minority and women students, and investigating allegations of harassment, discrimination and violence on campus. I am here today because this administration has insolently chosen to hire the woman who was responsible for trying to cover up the fact that I was raped, Mosavi said in a forceful and rapid 5-minute address. I am here today because this administration neglected the fact that Lorraine Jones is being sued by me as part of a federal lawsuit that aims to reclaim my dignity that was stripped from me. FEDERAL LAWSUIT Jones was reportedly not present at the meeting. Attempts to reach her Tuesday through the districts public affairs office were unsuccessful. Before Mosavi took the podium, board President Virginia Blumenthal said trustees would not be commenting on the address because state law limits public meeting discussion to items on the agenda. The address was made during a public comment period. Mosavi and another Mt. SAC female student filed a civil suit in June in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. The other student also claims she was sexually assaulted by another student at the college. Their assailants, the campus and several administrators and staff were named defendants. With regard to both incidents, the plaintiffs allege the campus violated Title IX of the U.S. Education Amendments of 1972 due to their deliberately indifferent response to the sexual assault reports. During an April 4, 2014, meeting with Jones, Mosavi was asked to physically simulate the rape and refused to do so, according to the complaint. At Tuesdays board meeting in Riverside, Mosavi maintained that Jones did not adequately examine the report and even canceled important meetings with me, which ultimately resulted in a botched and incomplete investigation. MORE TIME In June of last year, Mt. SAC spokeswoman Jill Dolan issued a statement summarizing the schools position: This incident was reported to the college in February 2014 and was thoroughly investigated in a timely manner. The evidence did not support the allegations nor did it show the accused represents a threat to the campus community. As for Tuesday nights address, it came during the first board meeting at the new district office that opened earlier this year in downtown Riverside. Several students filled out speaker slips, then offered to give time to Mosavi. Blumenthal told them board policy did not allow for giving time to other speakers and said Mosavi would be limited to 5 minutes. When her 5 minutes was up, a half dozen students rose, hoisting signs protesting the hiring decision and demanding Mosavi be given more time. Are you trying to silence her? shouted Jose Venegas, an anthropology student at Riverside City College. Mosavi said she was later given the opportunity to finish her prepared statement. Contact the writer: 951-368-9699 or ddowney@pressenterprise.com Stuart Delery, the Justice Department official overseeing civil investigations of banks for conduct related to the financial crisis, is stepping down April 14 to explore options in the private sector. Delery is the departments third-highest-ranking official with authority over the civil, civil rights and antitrust divisions. Since September 2014, he has managed a task force that reached billion-dollar settlements with Morgan Stanley and Standard & Poors over their roles in the sale of bad mortgage bonds. Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer, who heads the antitrust division, will likely be named to replace him on an acting basis, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named because the selection isnt public. For over seven years since the very first day of the Obama administration Stuart Delery has been an indispensable source of wisdom, leadership and inspiration at the Department of Justice, working relentlessly to make the ideals of equal opportunity and equal justice a reality for all, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement. Delery joined the department at the beginning of the Obama administration as a top aide in the front office and in 2012 was promoted to lead the civil division. He argued cases challenging the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act and the legality of the National Security Agencys bulk data collection. Delery was nominated to the associate attorney general post by President Barack Obama in January 2015. The Senate held a hearing on his nomination in November but never voted on it. He has come under fire from Republican lawmakers for his role in Operation Chokepoint, a Justice Department anti-fraud program that they said caused banks to close accounts of legitimate businesses, such as gun dealers or payday lenders. The Justice Departments Office of Professional Responsibility, which looked into the allegations, issued a report in July that found no evidence that any specific industry was targeted or that banks were compelled to end relationships with lawful businesses. Delery departs with bank probes still underway, including one involving sales of mortgage-backed securities by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which in January said it agreed to pay $5.1 billion to settle the case. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Schoenberg in Washington at tschoenberg@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net, David S. Joachim Despite objections from environmentalists, the Obama administration on Tuesday, April 5, approved the 287-megawatt Soda Mountain solar energy plant for a remote part of the Mojave Desert. The 1,767-acre project being developed by Bechtel is located on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, about six miles southwest of Baker. Soda Mountain is another step forward toward diversifying our nations energy portfolio and meeting the state of Californias growing demand for renewable energy, said BLM Director Neil Kornze. The project is consistent with BLMs landscape approach for the California desert, which supports careful development of renewable energy while protecting the resources and places that make the desert special, Kornze said in a statement. Not everyone was happy. The approval of Soda Mountain Solar is a stark contradiction by the Obama administration, Theresa Pierno, president of the National Parks Conservation Association, said in a statement. Less than two months ago, we lauded the administration as conservation heroes after they designated national monuments in the desert to protect and connect important landscapes, she said. Allowing the Soda Mountain project to proceed inhibits national park wildlife from migrating and adapting to a changing climate, Pierno added. The project will provide enough power for more than 86,000 homes and help Obamas Climate Action Plan goal of 20,000 megawatts of power derived from renewable energy project on public lands by 2020, the BLM statement said. The agency said it spent more than three years consulting and working with a variety of federal and state partners, members of the public and others to develop a comprehensive environmental analysis of the Soda Mountain project area and devise a project design that preserves scenic vistas, reduces potential impacts to wildlife in the area and protects groundwater. The agency said its approved design removes an array of solar panels originally approved north of the 15 Freeway, eliminating most of the visual effects of the project within the Mojave National Preserve. Last year, the project was reduced from the originally proposed 2,222 acres. The agency also said its decision ensures the project will not block future efforts to re-establish bighorn sheep movement across the interstate highway. But Ileene Anderson, a Los Angeles-based senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the massive solar array would block the last, best linkage for desert bighorn sheep between the Mojave National Preserve and the Soda Mountain Wilderness Study Area. Renewable-energy generation has to be done right, she said. The smaller, revised project is located in an area of disturbed lands including an active utility corridor for oil and gas pipelines, electricity transmission and communication lines and facilities, the agency said. However, the National Parks Conservation Association said the project is in the undeveloped South Soda Mountain region immediately adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve. Francis Canavan, a Bechtel spokesman, acknowledged that the company doesnt yet have an agreement to sell the electricity from the project, but he added that talks are underway with potential buyers. Bechtel also does not have a signed agreement to use the power lines that run past the project site, which are owned by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Getting permission to use Los Angeles power lines, however, shouldnt be a problem, Canavan said. Staff writer David Danelski contributed to this report. Google-ized, a Mega Marketing event workshop and hands-on lab at Chattanooga State Community College, will educate the attendees about all things that keep a small business effective on Google, said officials. The event will introduce participants to lead generation strategies, how to promote through social media channels, and how to create content through blogging. Leaders will also show the participants on-site Search Engine Optimization to attract the right customers. Attendees will understand the key components of an Inbound Marketing Strategy and will receive a workbook to take that will help make big changes in a small business, said officials. Upon completion of this Mega Marketing event, attendees will understand the relationship and importance of on-site SEO Titles, Headers, and Descriptions. Participants will gain insight on how to promote their business to ideal clients using specific social networks and understand the lead generation process of offers, calls to action, and landing pages, said officials. As a bonus, participants may attend a lab session to get their business on GYBO (Get Your Business Online) and be fully optimized for the participants specific industry. This session will teach how to update a Google listing. Businesses receive many phone calls a week, if not daily, from people claiming to be Google, offering to do this for several hundred dollars. Sandi Sturm, Inbound Train, and Wayne Sturm, 360 Tennessee will lead this interactive training. Ms. Sturm is certified by Hubspot as an Inbound Marketing Specialist with a Masters in Adult Education. Mr. Sturm is a Google Maps expert and has experience in helping small businesses get found on local searches as a Google Certified Street View Photographer. The training event will begin at 9 a.m. and end at noon on Friday, April 15. http://bit.ly/GoogleChattStWkshop The GYBO Lab is from 1:30-3 p.m. on Friday, April 15. http://bit.ly/GoogleChattStLab For more information, call Chattanooga States Continuing Education Department at 697-3100. The Ramona Bowls annual business competition is underway, with San Jacinto Valley businesses that best represent the theme of the annual Ramona play winning tickets to a performance. Businesses will be judged based on how their decorations represent all areas of Ramona and how many of their employees dress up on Fridays. The prizes include banners, tickets to the May 30 performance of Ramona, including transportation, a reception, backstage tours and pictures with the cast. Judges will visit businesses April 22. Information: 951-658-3111. Contact the writer: 951-368-9086 or cshultz@pressenterprise.com Local educators earn Crystal Apple Award RIVERSIDE Several Riverside Unified School District educators have received the Crystal Apple Award, which honors outstanding educators and teachers. The teachers honored March 23 were: Glen Bagwell, Poly High School; Gilbert Herrera, King High School; Catherine Murray, Riverside STEM Academy; Cassandra Rollins, Arlington High School; Stefanie Santana, North High School; and Erica Zuvia, Ramona High School. Winners are chosen by seminary Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints seminary students . Riverside Mayor Rusty Bailey and David Hansen, Riverside schools superintendent, attended the awards presentations. Manny Otiko Church continues outreach efforts REGION More than a dozen volunteers from Trinity Lutheran Church in Riverside provided dinner at Central City Lutheran Mission in San Bernardino on Easter Sunday, March 27. Members regularly participate in outreach programs, serving a free breakfast every Saturday at the church, 5969 Brockton Ave., Riverside, a news release states. Information: 951-682-1350 or trinityriverside.org. Staff report College to showcase choreographers MENIFEE Choreographers will perform at Mt. San Jacinto Colleges Menifee Valley Campus Lab Theatre on Wednesday, April 6. The free event is at 2 p.m. Choreographers will present their works in progress, which will be followed by a discussion. The campus is at 28237 La Piedra Road. Information: Paula Naggi, 951-639-5792 Anne Marie Walker Communitys clubhouse remodel done MURRIETA The Colony at California Oaks Homeowners Association will host a Thursday, April 7, grand opening and ribbon-cutting for its newly remodeled clubhouse. Mayor Randon Lane is scheduled to attend the 9 a.m. event, a news release states. Staff report Free Hebrew classes available SAN JACINTO Temple Beth Am will offer more free Hebrew classes beginning Saturday, April 9, at 11 a.m. More than 25 people attended the first course, which ran from January through March, a news release states. The course is an introduction to Hebrew. Information: Temple Beth Am, 951-445-0502. Staff report Charity garage sale to begin SUN CITY A garage sale benefiting charity is set for Thursday, April 7, through Saturday, April 9, at 29239 Desert Hills Road. Proceeds will go to local dog and cat rescue groups and no-kill animal shelters. Items for sale include kitchenware, CDs, books, clothing, furniture and golf equipment. Garage sale hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Information: 951-301-9928. Staff report Hair fair to include fun run JURUPA VALLEY The all-ages Healthy Living Extravaganza is set for Saturday, April 9. The event will feature free health health screenings, information on nutrition and meal planning, a kids zone, miniature golf, pony rides, a petting zoo, a 1-mile fun run, entertainment and vendors. The event is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Rancho Jurupa Park, 4800 Crestmore Road, Jurupa Valley. Information: HealthyLivingExtravaganza.com. Staff report Inlandia Institute to present writing workshop RIVERSIDE Lecturer and author Linda Weaver Clarke will present her Family Legacy Writing Workshop on Saturday, April 9. The event, set for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., is at the Arlington Branch Library, 9556 Magnolia Ave., Riverside. Guests will learn to preserve their families stories. The free workshop, sponsored by the Inlandia Institute. Donations will be accepted. Light refreshments and a book signing will follow. Register and information: Email Inlandia@InlandiaInstitute.org with Family Legacy in the subject line. Staff report UCR medical school sets open house RIVERSIDE The UC Riverside School of Medicine is hosting an open house Saturday, April 9. The free event, set for 8 a.m. to noon, will be at the medical schools Education Building. Reservations are requested. Free parking will be in Lot 13. Information: https://ucrtoday.ucr.edu/36032. Manny Otiko Send items for possible inclusion in Community Notes to community@pressenterprise.com. Every first and third Thursday of the month, a group of African-Americans gather in Riverside to talk issues affecting their community. On Thursday, April 7, the grassroots public policy advocacy organization known as the Group, is hosting UC Riverside Chancellor Kim A. Wilcox as the guest speaker. UCR is a vital community institution and we want to hear from him, said Jennifer Vaughn-Blakely, who chairs the Group. Vaughn-Blakely said they want to be informed on any upcoming plans at the university, and at the school of medicine. Also, they want to talk diversity, Vaughn-Blakely said. UC Riverside has been hailed as one of the most diverse public research universities. But what does the faculty and staff look like? Vaughn-Blakely said. The universitys Black Student Union has advocated to boost hiring of African-Americans among the faculty, as well as enrollment of African-American students. We generally have a speaker to inform and educate our members about whats going on to let people know what the concern is in our community, Vaughn-Blakely said. The Group meets at 7 a.m. at 3600 Lime St. in Riverside. Contact the writer: 951-368-9462 or amolina@pressenterprise.com Two Inland engineering firms were recently awarded multimillion-dollar federal contracts a Temecula firm will work at two military bases and a historic site in North Carolina and a Riverside firm will do renovation work on a downtown Los Angeles building. Crew MW III of Temecula won a $49 million contract that calls for maintenance, new construction and affiliated work at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and Dare County Bomb Range, as well as the Fort Fisher Civil War historic site, all in North Carolina. Company officials who could discuss the contract in more detail were doing out-of-office work on Tuesday, April 5 and not immediately available. Crew MW III was chosen from among seven offers, according to a government account, and the work is expected to be complete by March 17, 2017. The work was described as maintenance, repair, alteration, and new construction with mechanical, electrical, demolition, painting, site utilities, paving and earthwork. In Riverside, Stronghold Engineering won a nearly $16 million federal contract from the General Services Administrations Public Buildings Service for work on the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Los Angeles. The work will focus on turning courtrooms at the Roybal facility into administrative offices in anticipation of a new federal courthouse opening this year in downtown Los Angeles, said Scott Bailey, co-founder of Stronghold with wife Beverly Bailey. The work will cover 10 complete floors and three partial floors on the 22-story building. Stronghold also worked on a seismic retrofit and life/safety improvements on floors 1 through 8 of the nearby downtown Los Angeles Federal Building, an $80 million project, according to the companys website. Contact the writer: rdeatley@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9573 McCallie Spanish teacher Veronica Herrera was named the Prudential Positive Impact Person of the Year at the national Hispanicize conference on Tuesday night in Miami. Hispanicize, the nations premier gathering of Latino digital content creators, marketers, journalists, musicians, filmmakers and tech entrepreneurs, had previously selected Mrs. Herrera as the one of four Positive Impact Award winners for her work as a community activist. She was then chosen for the top honor in online voting at www.hispzpia.com. The Positive Impact Awards are a national honor sponsored by Prudential Financial, Inc. and were created as homage to the late Louis Pagan, co-founder of Hispanicize and well-known social media entrepreneur, who passed away in February 2013. Mrs. Herrera has taught at McCallie for the past 10 years, and she also devotes much of her time to community development in the Ridgedale community near campus, often involving her students in worthwhile community outreach efforts. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Chattanooga Area as well as with other community organizations. Hispanicize singled out Mrs. Herrera for her efforts assisting community members in building resumes, writing professional recommendations, mentoring and job readiness, in addition to other workforce related initiatives. While in Miami, Mrs. Herrera and the other finalists were honored by by CNN en Espanol host Ismael Cala and NBC UNIVERSO host Yarel Ramos, for all their work on initiatives that promote community revitalization, STEM initiatives, professional development and financial literacy. Earlier in the week, Mrs. Herrera had the opportunity to interview Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado on ways to impact communities. Mrs. Herrera will be interviewed Wednesday night on CNN en Espanol about being named Prudential Positive Impact Person of the Year and about her work in Chattanooga and at McCallie. Lees Percussion Ensemble will hold its spring concert on Tuesday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Pangle Hall. The program includes multiple works by Dr. John Wooton along with one piece by Edward Freytag. This program is unlike anything we have ever done before, said Dr. Andy Harnsberger, director of the Percussion Ensemble. Whereas we usually perform from a classical repertoire, this will be a pop-oriented show, and it promises to be a fun, enjoyable concert for everyone. Dr. Wooton is the director of percussion studies at The University of Southern Mississippi. He performs vibraphone for the Southern Mississippi Jazz Quintet and leads his professional steel band Kaiso! playing steel pans. Since joining the faculty at Southern Mississippi, he has introduced the Southern Miss Steel Band, Pop Percussion Ensemble, Samba Band, and Salsa Band. Dr. Wooton is one of the best in the world at what he has done in the marching percussion area, said Dr. Harnsberger. Student musicians playing in the concert are Robert Acevedo, Anna Betts, Dillon Finnell, RJ Hammonds, Paul Hayes, Travis Hicks, Caitlin Jones, Jordan McClain, Ivan Trac, Laud Vaught, and Alex Wingo. Richard Henson will assist the group and Mr. Freytag will premiere as a guest drummer. The Percussion Ensemble performs challenging and interesting percussion literature, involving a wide variety of percussion instruments. The group, composed of percussion majors, has rapidly developed a reputation for musical excellence and expertise, said officials. Dr. Harnsberger, an assistant professor of music at Lee, earned his Doctorate of Musical Arts in performance and literature at the Eastman School of Music located in Rochester, N.Y. In addition to teaching and directing, he is active as a freelance percussionist and recitalist. He also presents workshops and masterclasses at universities throughout the year. The concert is free and everyone is invited to attend. For more information, contact the Lee School of Music at 614-8240 or visit music@leeuniversity.edu. Migrants and refugees sleep as a man from Pakistan wrapped in a blanket watches a ferryboat leaving the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2015, file photo, former lottery security officer Eddie Tipton leaves the Polk County Courthouse in Des Moines, Iowa, after his sentencing in a jackpot-fixing scandal. On Wednesday, April 6, 2016, Tipton's brother, Tommy Tipton was charged in connection with jackpots claimed in Oklahoma and Colorado. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File) St. Mary's gets win No. 300, Felten sets 8-man kicking record What could have been a game to overlook was a milestone night for Gaylord St. Mary's in its final home game of the regular season. Rogers Park Is Named Best Neighborhood In Chicago In New Rankings By Mae Rice in News on Apr 6, 2016 7:10PM Rogers Park, via Stephanie Barto/Flickr Rent has already firmly established that we should measure our lives in love, but lately, we've all moved onto the next frontier of measurement: measuring our neighborhoods. According to real estate website Redfin, we should measure them in "hotness," which is extremely abundant in Ukrainian Village. According to lesser-known real estate website AptAmigo, we should measure neighborhoods by cost of living (but only if they're really close to the Loopotherwise we should just skip them). Real estate website Trulia recently made its own contribution to the neighborhood-measuring conversation, suggesting we measure neighborhoods by their Live Well Index. This index, which Trulia created in-house, essentially measures quality of life, and seems geared towards families with young kids. It rewards neighborhoods with quiet streets and low traffic, play amenities (like playgrounds, parks, and "indoor bounce houses"), and widely available "care" (both medical services and day care). Trulia used this index to rank a total of 877 neighborhoods across the countryand the highest ranked Chicago neighborhood was Rogers Park, coming in at #11 nationwide. Apparently, fully half of Rogers Park's streets qualify as quiet, and it has 6.5 "play-centric amenities" per square mile. The top 10 Chicago area neighborhoods to "live well" in, according to Trulia, were: 1. Rogers Park (#11 nationally) 2. DePaul (#21 nationally) 3. Uptown (#58 nationally) 4. West Town (#65 nationally) 5. Forest Glen (#68 nationally) 6. Ravenswood (#71 nationally) 7. North Center (#77 nationally) 8. Edgewater (#80 nationally) 9. Lincoln Square (#91 nationally) 10. Edison Park (#93 nationally) Take this with a grain of salt, though. This index is solid, but it also skips many key quality of life indicators, like proximity to public transportation; number of bars per square mile; and availability of tacos and/or donuts at four in the morning, which is when we all need them most. Petrobras invites 12.000 workers to a voluntary layoff program Petrobras launches voluntary layoff program to cut 12.000 jobs MONTEVIDEO Petroleumworld.com 04 06 2016 Brazil's embattled oil company Petrobras said it will launch a voluntary layoff program to cut an estimated 12,000 jobs in a bid to save up to 33 billion reais ($9.20 billion) by 2020. The program will cost 4.4 billion reais and is open to all employees, according to a statement from Petrobras, which has been hard hit by low oil prices, refinery project problems and a massive price-fixing, bribery and political kickback scandal. The company said the planned redundancies would help adjust the size of its workforce to a smaller investment plan and boost productivity. Investors have long criticized Petrobras for over hiring and struggling to cut some of the 57,000 people it directly employs when things get tough. Many of its workers enjoy job security that is close to that of civil servants, a legacy of the company's heritage as a full state company. Under the plan, employees will be offered between around 212,000 reais and 706,000 reais to take redundancy, David Bacelar, the Petrobras board member representing workers said quoting an internal memo. The move comes on the back of a plan announced in January to cut the number of managers at the firm, and a previous redundancy scheme announced in 2014. Petrobras is set to slash its five-year investment plan by about 20 percent to about $80 billion in the 2016-2020 period, sources said a month ago. Petrobras reported a fourth-quarter loss of 36.9 billion reais ($10.2 billion), its biggest quarterly loss ever, after booking large write-downs for oil fields and other assets as oil prices slumped and refinery projects faltered. A year earlier, write-downs also caused hefty losses, although they were largely related to the corruption scandal that has roiled the company and fueled calls for the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. The FDA has approved Celltrion and Pfizers biosmiliar of Johnson & Johnson's Remicade (infliximab) for treating Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and arthritis of the spine making it only the second biosimilar approved in the US. HyoungKi Kim, CEO of Celltrion, said that the companys biosimilar, named Inflectra, is expected to be priced 20 to 30 percent lower than Remicade in the US market. Remicade has generated annual worldwide sales of $6.5 billion, of which $4.5 billion were in the United States. In the UK, the approval of biosimilar infliximab last year led to a sharp decline in sales of the original drug. The first biosimilar launched in the US, Sandozs copycat of Amgens Neupogen, faced a rocky road on the way to approval, with Amgen attempting to delay its sale until a patent dispute between the firms was settled. HyoungKi said that Celltrion hopes the process will become smoother for all companies in the future: As one of the first companies to navigate the biosimilar approval pathway with the FDA, we believe this approval will be an essential step in helping to clarify the application process for these critical medicines. Our experience with biosimilars outside the US suggests that Inflectra provides patients with both therapeutic and financial benefits, and we hope to see the same value provided in the US. You are here: Home Hong Kong actress Cecilia Cheung will team up with Bigbang's T.O.P to play the main role in a Chinese action film 'Out of Control'. This is the award-winning actress' comeback film, four years after she quit acting. The film also marks the South Korean rapper T.O.P's return to the big screen, two years following 'Tazza: The Hidden Card' in 2014. The boy band megastar will take the lead role as a Korean Interpol officer that saved the top Chinese actress, who was caught in a trap of accidents while attending a film festival in Germany. 'Out of Control' also marks the debut of T.O.P in Chinese-language films. Directed by Axel Sand, who is well-known for 'Fast Track: No Limits', the film also stars 'The Vampire Diaries' actor Michael Trevino. Reports say legendary actor Al Pacino is very likely to join the film. The shooting of 'Out of Control' will entirely take place in Germany. One person died and 11 others were injured after a fire broke out in a five-story residential complex on Qixia Road, Pudong New Area, early yesterday, police said. The victim was a woman in her thirties who jumped from the fourth floor to escape the fire and later died in hospital as a result of head injuries, according to Shanghai East Hospital. Among the injured, the youngest was 3 years old and the eldest was 74, it added. Police said they received the fire report at 2:40am. Firefighters put out the blaze in about 20 minutes and managed to rescue 26 residents. According to a preliminary investigation, the fire started at an appliance repair business on the first floor. A male resident, who jumped from the second floor, suffered a broken leg. Another eight suffered slight burns and were later transferred to Ruijin Hospital. The others suffered only light injuries and were released. I was asleep and got woken up by yelling downstairs, people crying fire! fire, at about 1:30am, Chen Xiaoliang, the 34-year-old who jumped from the second floor, told Shanghai Daily at the hospital. I immediately woke up my two kids and my wife. The fire seemed rather big from the window, he said. When we tried to run through the door, the smoke pushed us back to the room. Chen soon passed his two kids, one aged three and the other aged 9, out through the window, and the children were safely caught by neighbors on the first floor. Chens wife also safely climbed down from the window. Its only at the second floor and should be fine, but at that moment a wave of fire was coming towards me suddenly. So I jumped out of panic and broke my leg, he said. There were 28 households with 45 residents living in the complex, most of whom were tenants, xinmin.cn said. According to Ruijin Hospital, all eight injured transferred to the hospital are in stable condition and the worst hit victim had 13 percent burns to his body. The injured include a 3-year-old girl, who suffered burns over 2 percent of her body, mostly on her face and left arm. An unnamed resident reportedly said the fire was worst on the first, fourth and fifth floors, while the second and third floors were only inundated with smoke. When Shanghai Daily arrived at the old residential complex, it was empty and one side of it was sealed off with large plastic sheets. Security guards were patrolling around it. A neighborhood committee official, who declined to be identified, told Shanghai Daily that all the residents living in the building had been housed in nearby hotels and that they were still looking for witnesses to assist with the investigation. Two local residents, who didnt give their names, said they heard an explosion at the appliance repair store, one of many businesses on the ground floor of residential buildings along the street. Some residents said there have been several fires in the area in recent years. These houses all have wooden staircases that could catch fire easily. Though there are fire sprinklers in the building, they didnt work last night. Matthew Sheridan, one of the 41-year-old twin sons of John and Joyce Sheridan, has been indicted for possession of cocaine police found in his car the day of the fire and deaths pf his parents. Read more A son of the late Cooper University Health System CEO John P. Sheridan has been indicted on a single count of drug possession for cocaine found in his car the day his parents died in 2014. Matthew Sheridan, 41, of Montgomery Township, Somerset County, had been arrested Sept. 28, 2014, after authorities searched his vehicle at the family's home and found cocaine and a scale in the car, according to law enforcement records. Early that morning, his parents were found dead, both stabbed, in the couple's master bedroom that intentionally had been set on fire. At the time, Matthew Sheridan lived with his parents in the Skillman home. That weekend, he was with friends on Fishers Island in New York. Sheridan declined comment. He was indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury within the last two weeks after the case was transferred from Somerset County last year. The case will be heard in Somerset County but prosecuted by Middlesex County. Matthew Sheridan's attorney, Henry Klingeman, said Tuesday that Somerset officials had promised they would not charge his client because of the circumstances of his parents' deaths. "Unambiguously they said they were not going to pursue criminal charges against Matt - ever," Klingeman said, noting that the case resurfaced only after the Sheridan family publicly criticized Somerset officials, alleging investigators prematurely decided murder-suicide and ignored evidence that suggested both parents were murdered. John Sheridan, 72, was planning his retirement from Cooper while his wife, Joyce, 69, had already retired as a teacher. After a six-month investigation, in March 2015, the prosecutor at the time, Geoffrey Soriano, issued a news release that concluded the deaths were murder-suicide, citing, in part, that there was no forced entry into the house and no evidence of an intruder. The Sheridan sons blasted Soriano's findings. Investigators never found the weapon that caused the five stab wounds to John Sheridan's neck and torso, which is highly unusual in a suicide. Matthew's twin brother, Mark, a prominent Republican attorney, said at the time that Soriano concluded the deaths were murder-suicide to hide the incompetency of his office. On Tuesday, Mark Sheridan said: "Geoff Soriano told me in a telephone conversation that the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office would not be prosecuting Matt. That position only changed months later when we attacked the conclusions reached in the report issued by the prosecutor's office." In May 2015, Somerset officials transferred Matthew Sheridan's case to Middlesex County to eliminate any "conflict or appearance of conflict" due to potential civil litigation by the Sheridan family. The sons have petitioned the medical examiner to overturn the conclusion that their father committed suicide. The case is pending. Gov. Christie said he lost faith in Soriano and removed him from office after Soriano completed a six-year term. He was replaced last month by a federal prosecutor, Mike Robertson. Robertson has not yet commented on the case. Capt. Jack Bennett, a spokesman for the Somerset Prosecutor's Office, said Tuesday that there would be no comment regarding allegations that the Sheridans were told Matthew Sheridan would not be prosecuted on the drug charges, or that the prosecution is retaliation. Klingeman, a former prosecutor, said when he was told by Somerset's assistant prosecutor Robert Hawkes that Matthew Sheridan would not be prosecuted, that was as "good as gold." Klingeman said there was no justification to search Sheridan's car and "we're going to make a motion to suppress the evidence." If convicted, Matthew Sheridan could face three to five years. Klingeman said with a first offense, there is the presumption of no incarceration. The indictment, Klingeman said, is "more abusive treatment" of the Sheridans. "Matt was living a quiet and reputable life when this tragedy occurred, and now the prosecutor is doubling down on the horror to this family." bboyer@phillynews.com 856-779-3838@BBBoyer Spy bird [By Jiao Haiyang / China.org.cn] Every single move that China's Internet industry makes is likely to cause international uproar. On March 28, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) announced on its website the Rules on the Management of Internet Domain Names (Revised Draft), inviting public discourse. Many foreign media outlets covered the announcement, raising doubts and questions which focused on two points, whether or not domestic and overseas businesses serving domestic Internet users must register domain names inside China's territory, and whether only the domain names registered with the Chinese government can be used within China's territory. The concerns are focused on Article 37 of MIIT rules stating that only websites that have specifically complied with the Chinese domain name registration and management departments are valid inside the country. As for Article 37, it won't affect the browsing of global websites and it won't affect their basic services. However, it will have some influence on large-scale commercial websites with global domain names and also with their servers set up inside China. Websites with independent domain names inside the country will suffer little impact. There is no need for over-interpretation of MIIT's rules, as the general trend of China's Internet development won't be greatly adjusted. The domain name system is designed to protect global interoperability; otherwise, both China and the United States would be impaired in Internet operations. Looking at the current wording, the rules will include large Internet service providers operating in China into the management system, while small websites including those of most businesses and individuals won't be affected. However, any move towards Internet closure will impact the entire development of China's Internet. As a driving force and catalyst for China's social and economic development and innovation, a further opening of the Internet is a lifeline to ensure vitality. The Wall Street Journal published an article on its Chinese website on March 29, claiming that China is seeking a stronger legal basis to block foreign websites. The New York Times, on March 30, had an even harshertone, asserting that the domain name registration rules will probably cause China to exist outside the global Internet. The Associated Press was slightly more objective with the headline stating, "China proposes new web rules that could enhance censorship." The article actually cited my opinion that "Chinese leaders are seeking to enhance their control, but not to wall China off from the rest of the world," and "any attempt to seal off the Chinese Internet would hurt China as much as America." Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. MEDIA QUESTIONNAIRE Name of Publication Established (Give exact date) ADDRESS TELEPHONE FAX NO NAME OF EDITOR Name of Printer Language Frequency Please attach a copy of declaration certificate Off Days Please specify whether morning, evening or state the date of issue Date on which the first issue was brought out Any special edition Price per copy Annual subscription Editorial Objectives and policy Appeal to any special community, class or section News services subscribed to Special regular features (i.e Womens or Children page etc) & when appearing Found this beautiful Rattler near the top of Stage 1. Temps, while only in the upper 70's to low 80's were still warm enough to bring out several of these guys around the mountain. Here, Steven Nedaski from the Path team demonstrates proper style for the camera during practice. Lauren Gregg is living that van life for sure. Her Ford Van is her home on the road as she travels to her race events all over the US. The Bike Garage in Lauren Gregg's Van holds her Fuji Race bike and her Fuji road bike plus plenty of gear and 45 gallons of fresh water for the road. We also had the opportunity to check in on the vendor area and found Cody Johnson in the pits. Cody, is a local to Fontana. He looked very relaxed hanging out at the 100% booth. On race day, Johnson would finish 14th in Pro Men. With an emphasis on team competition this year, The Path team brought 8 riders competing during the weekend. We wrapped up Thursday's practice day talking with Bobby from RST. With the rider's meeting complete racers loaded up on Clif products and headed out to their starting stage. Clif was a sponsor last year and will again help out for 2016. Riders pedal up the tarmac toward the start of Stage 1 The start of stage one was high atop the hill of Southridge Park. The sun really felt hotter up there. The timing crew was very happy to have Kenda Tires supply them with tents at very stage start. Despite battling a cold, Jon Buckell, racing for Troy Lee Designs and Specialized, came out to the first round to "have fun" and he did that, showing his skills with the one handed wheelie, pointing at the camera, riding up-hill. Jon would finish in 11th out of 30 pro men. Dillon Santos making easy work of the turns on Stage 2, with the city of Fontana in the background. He would finish 3rd on the day, just 0.7 seconds off of 2nd place. A few of the Pro Women at the top of Stage 3. All smiles as the weather was decent and the terrain amazing. From right to left, Liz Miller, Megan Gemelos, Brianne Spiersch, Essence Barton Essence Barton, Team Rabobank Marin, ran a couple of the events for the Fontana Winter Series and practicing the terrain paid off. She took the top step for the first round of the California Enduro Series. Jacob Marr, railing the turns on stage 3. He would finish in Second Place in the Jr. Expert Category. The 2016 California Enduro Series held their season opener in Fontana for the National Weekend. Round 1, presented by Pro Gold, saw over 300 riders take on the loose, rocky, and physical 12 miles, 4-stage course with 1800 feet of elevation change, oh and snakes, lots, and lots of snakes.Several CES Sponsors sent their reps out to support the riders in attendance for round 1.FOX rider and 2nd place in Pro Women, Lauren Gregg poses with the FOX Tech Rep. FOX has stepped up again this year as a sponsor of the 2016 California Enduro Series. CES is raffling off a 2016 FOX 36 at every race this year - you get to choose the travel, wheel size, and color - can't beat that. Tickets are available on the CES website. SRAM Tech Rep, Andy, aka Sramdy working on a Pink Bike. We couldn't help but include this one in the article. SRAM is the Official Brake Sponsor of the CES with a Guide Ultimate Brake Set being raffled off at each race.VP had several visitors throughout the weekend. They are on board as a sponsor of the series once again in 2016.Despite the timeline of the event being Friday and with practice on Thursday, several riders still made it out for practice sessions and for some good photo ops.After practice on Thursday, we took some time to check out a couple of vans. One of the more popular modes of transportation for Pro Athletes these days seems to be the modified Sprinter or Transit, with many Enduro riders loving the Van Life.He had to show me this new dropper they will be releasing in the next few months. Nothing is more vital to the enduro rider than fanny packs and dropper posts, so I had to throw it in the coverage. Some quick details: The "Elev 8" will have a range of 80-125mm in both Air and Hydraulic Height adjustments. There will be a stealth option with two diameters, 30.9mm and 31.6mm. Weights range from 610g to 810g.Friday was an early day. We arrived at 7am expecting to see riders geared up and ready for some warm up time, as official practice ran from 7am - 8:45am. With no one in site, we headed to Nogales Burger for yet another one of their amazing breakfast burritos. We made it back in time for the riders meeting.Tom from Team Big Bear giving the speech during the rider's meeting Friday morning. You can't see all the riders because the other half of them are behind me. Despite the Friday race day, there were still over 300 riders that showed up to compete. The start format was awesome too. Pro / Expert would start at 9:30 on stage 1 while Sport / Beginner would start on the same hill on Stage 4. This significantly decreased the time on the mountain covering the event, which we were pretty stoked on.At the end of race day results would play out like this....Jr. Expert Podium - 1st place: Paul Serra 17:34.5, 2nd place: Jake Marr 17:48.90, 3rd place: Blaise Janssen 17:57.90, 4th place: Nick Gallizioli 18:18.00, 5th place: Aidan Thompson 18:19.70Women's Pro Podium - 1st place: Essence Barton 20:42.20, 2nd place: Lauren Gregg 21:07.30, 3rd place: Janea Perry 21:14.40, 4th place: Ariana Altier 21:20.10, 5th place: Ashli Lewis 22:16.6.Men's Pro Podium - 1st place: Evan Geankoplis 16:31.60, 2nd place: Jubal Davis 16:47.30, 3rd place: Dillon Santos 16:48.00, 4th place: Cory Sullivan 16:51.10, 5th place: Randy Graham 16:54.80 Full Race Results , Current Individual Standings and Team Standings are available on the CES website.Round 2 takes us to Reno NV for the Battleborn Enduro on May 14th. Flash Libya's self-proclaimed government in Tripoli decided on Tuesday to step down, a statement said. "We inform you that we have stopped our work as an executive authority, presidency, deputies and minister of the government of national salvation," the statement said. The move comes less than one week after the UN-backed government had entered the capital Tripoli. "We hereby, before Allah and our people, are no longer responsible of the developments that could happen in the future," the statement added. The government's statement also said it is stepping down for "a deep concern for the national interest, save the lives of Libyans, and avoid further armed struggle in the capital." The new government, headed by Fayez Serraj, has entered Tripoli on Wednesday. Tripoli's government rejected the unity government, and previously declared a "state of emergency in the country" after Serraj had revealed that his government would enter Tripoli and take office. The government of national accord has been named based on a peace deal signed by Libya's political rivals. However, the new government has been opposed by both competing authorities. Libya had a political division with two rival governments and parliaments battling for dominance amid escalating violence and increased dominance of militant extremism. Let's talk about Crowdfunding and why youve chosen to utilize it and what are you offering early supporters? What was the impetus behind moving into the bike specific goggle market and what do you think Melon Optics can bring to the table? Can you tell us about the ability for your customers to customise your products? Whats the turnaround like and how much will the Pasrker MX cost? Not wanting to grow up and to stop doing seasons combined with a frustration with what was available on the optics market at the time. We wanted to be able to offer something unique and at a reasonable price point and creating custom eye-wear was just that... - James on why he started his own brand, Melon Optics. And does individual component availability play a factor and what happens if theres a stock issue? Looking at the technical side of things, what kind of features can we expect as far as lens and frame technology? Weve worked hard on making sure air flow is optimised through our 360 venting system and antifog Lexan lenses. What kind of accessories and lenses will be available for the Parker MX goggle? Well be offering both clear and mirrored lenses and extra straps that can be easily switched out using our 'SwitchFast' strap system. With tear-offs being increasingly banned both in moto and MTB (BDS and EWS), where do you stand on this issue and are you planning to develop your own roll-off system? Well be offering tear-offs from the initial point of launch, but we are also in the process of developing our own roll-off system... Where did your relationship with Nick Pescetto come from and will see any more riders from the MTB world sporting Melon Optics? Weve worked hard on making sure air flow is optimised through our 360 venting system and antifog Lexan lenses. Nick Pescetto has been putting them to the test in the jungle here in Bali where its super hot and humid, whilst Linda (Paluc) has been riding them when she can in the Slovenian winter. Theyve been performing exceptionally in both climates, so were pretty stoked on the result.Well be offering both clear and mirrored lenses and extra straps that can be easily switched out using our 'SwitchFast' strap system.Well be offering tear-offs from the initial point of launch, but we are also in the process of developing our own roll-off system... What does the future hold for Melon Optics? We ran a really successful crowd funding campaign when we launched our snow goggles, so it only made sense for us to do the same for our MTB/MX goggles. It's a great platform for spreading the word and building a community of early adopters. We plan to offer some limited edition lenses through the Kickstarter campaign and a limited number of super low "earlybird" prices.We started working on the goggles during the winter of 2013, shortly after releasing our first snow goggles, so it's been over two years in the making. Both friends and customers had been asking if we were going to produce MTB/MX goggles for a while, so we knew the demand for a custom goggle was there and it was an exciting new project for us to embark on. Weve concentrated on producing a goggle that really competes with the best on the market in terms of performance and style, whilst offering the concept of customization, which is completely new to the industry.Were bringing fun to the table, looking outside the box and letting you choose how your goggle or sunglasses look, rather than us. Well be starting with 240 custom frame / strap / lens combinations for the Parker MX and growing that number quickly. Weve already got some really nice patterns and colourways that were lining up for next season, which we cant wait to drop.We have next day delivery in the UK, around three days within Europe and 7-10 days worldwide. The Parker MX will retail for $59.99 (USD), $79.99 (CAD), 59.99 (EU) and 45 (GBP).We do our best to keep stock in line with what we expect demand to be for any given season. There are of course instances where a certain strap design or lens colour sells out faster than expected, but for the most part our stock levels are pretty in tune.Nick and I actually ended up living together by chance in Bali. We got chatting about Melon Optics one day in the surf and I mentioned that we had a MTB goggle in the pipeline and the rest worked itself out from there. It's great with him being around so much and working with the Bali Bike Park as it means we're able to chat face to face pretty often and work on new ideas and concepts. Other than that we're also working with Slovenian rider Linda Paluc and are in talks with a couple of others, so watch this space!We want to keep pushing the envelope of whats being done in the industry while designing new strap and frame patterns that you dont currently see on the market. We plan to work on some sick collab models (some lined up already) and the use of innovative new materials.Head on over to Melon Optics for more and stay tuned for our Parker MX goggle review soon... Out and About Audio Article Atascosa County Anti-Bullying Rally Oct. 19 Poteet Strawberry Festival grounds, main pavilion, 6-8 p.m. Guest speaker Batman & Co. and... JISD Supt. McAllister announces retirement Audio Article The retirement of Jourdanton ISD Superintendent Theresa McAllister was announced at the meeting of the school board held on Oct.... Flash Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on a ceasefire after deadly clashes between forces of both sides in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted overnight Saturday, and military operations on their contact line reportedly have been suspended. Tanks are seen in Azerbaijan's Gapanli village bordering Nagorno-Karabakh region, on April 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Military operations have been suspended on the contact line between Azerbaijani and Armenian armed forces since Tuesday noon local time (0800 GMT) with the consent of both parties, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said in a statement. Meanwhile, Armenian television reported that "the ceasefire is observed for several hours." No sound of fighting was heard early Tuesday afternoon. The defense ministries of both sides confirmed Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement is currently being prepared. Recent hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line of the mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh region flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries blaming each other for triggering the escalation. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that its forces have killed 70 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 20 armored vehicles in the past two days, while at least 16 Azerbaijani troops were killed during heavy fighting in the region. Earlier on Tuesday, the Armenian Defense Ministry said that clashes on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border continued, Azerbaijani armed forces started shelling Armenian targets in certain villages on the border, and Armenian troops returned fire. "Clashes on the border of Armenia and Azerbaijan recorded last night and early in the morning," Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan wrote on Facebook. Hovhannisyan also said on Monday that the situation on the contact line of the Nagorno-Karabakh region remained tense. "Being unable to break the resistance of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani troops attempted to use heavy military vehicles, combat aircraft, including heavy flamethrower systems and unmanned aerial vehicles," said the spokesman. Also on Monday, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said that the country's armed forces have destroyed an Armenian command and staff point in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. It said that its army may carry out strikes on Khankendi, capital city of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, noting that "Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has tasked all types of the armed forces, including the rocket and artillery troops, to be ready to carry out crushing strikes from all heavy combat weapons on Khankendi city and other occupied settlements, if Armenians do not stop shelling Azerbaijani settlements in a short time." Azerbaijan said it has neutralized 170 Armenian troops and destroyed 12 Armenian armored vehicles in Monday's counter-attack while three Azerbaijani troops were killed in the fight. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and declared to join Armenia. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes. Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hikmat Hajiyev earlier told local media that Azerbaijan is ready for a ceasefire, but on the condition that the Armenian armed forces withdraw from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan in accordance with the United Nations Security Council resolutions. The remarks came after Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said that Armenia was ready for compromises in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Flash Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and observance of cease-fire as fightings tentatively stopped in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Kremlin said. The statement came after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday after deadly clashes between forces of both sides in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted overnight Saturday, and military operations on their contact line reportedly have been suspended. In his telephone talks with presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Putin called for resuming negotiation between Baku and Yerevan with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict, the Kremlin said in an online statement. Putin said that Russia would play an intermediary role in the normalization of the situation, and all sides agreed to keep contacts in different formats, the statement added. The conflicting parties suspended military operations on the contact line starting from Tuesday, and the Armenian and Azerbaijani defense ministries both confirmed that a cease-fire agreement was being prepared. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and declared to join Armenia. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but there have been occasional minor clashes. Gentle readers, fasten your seatbelts. We are about to embark on a virtual tour on which you will join me in a Los Angeles Police Department patrol car cruising some of the citys most crime-ridden neighborhoods. We will be patrolling the LAPDs 77th Street Division, which year after year ranks at or near the top in violent crime among the citys 21 patrol divisions. We are alert to the presence of gang members traveling through rival territory, or of those in their own territory whose behavior might indicate they are preparing to advance the feud. Its just a few blocks from Main Street to Avalon Boulevard, but when one traverses that distance one has crossed from one gangs territory into anothers. As we drive slowly along 83rd Street, we see gathered near the entrance to an alleyway just east of Avalon a few members of the local street gang, one of whom is perhaps responsible for killing a rival. In an ideal world, you and I might approach these young men. We might radio for another unit or two to assist us, as the mere sight of our slowing and the opening of our doors might very well set them off running in all directions. Whats more, one or more of them might be armed, or there may be guns secreted nearby for ready access should some rival venture across Avalon looking to settle up. These and many other things cross our minds as we weigh the possibilities for our course of action. What do we do? We drive on, for we are not police officers in an ideal world. We are police officers in Los Angeles in the year 2016, and we know there is little to be gained and much to be lost if we get out of our car and engage these young men. If one of them runs? Well then we might have to chase him, and if we catch him we might have to hit him, an incident that will be captured on cell phone video and posted on YouTube and, if the footage is sufficiently inflammatory, broadcast on local television news. And if one of these young men is armed and we have to shoot him, and if video of the shooting does not clearly demonstrate that we were fired upon first, we will see our chain of command abandon us and pronounce our tactics unsound, this despite the fact that few of our superiors have actually stood in our shoes. And we might see that video become a national news story, one that will prompt the police commissioners, the mayor, the governor, and even the president of the United States himself to offer their unschooled opinions on the deficiencies of our actions. Read Complete Article at PJ Media Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print Ted Cruz was expected to win Wisconsin, but the surprise was how easily Cruz was able to defeat Donald Trump. Wisconsin Republicans had mobilized against Donald Trump in a more unified way than had been visible in any previous contest. Trump has not done himself any favors with a week that was a textbook study in how to alienate voters. Sarah Palins horrible appearance as a surrogate for Trump at a Milwaukee Republican event made it clear to one and all that Wisconsin was not going to be Trump country. Donald Trumps campaign has always had a by the seat of the pants ad-libbed feel, but Trumps winging it mentality came back to bite him in Wisconsin, where the states educated electorate showed no patience for Trumps antics. Make no mistake about it, Ted Cruzs victory in Wisconsin was really a vote against Trump. The Never Trump Republican movement got a much-needed shot in the arm. Donald Trump is not unbeatable, nor is his nomination inevitable. There are numerous reports of infighting within the Trump campaign, and Trumps numerous flip-flops and gaffes have painted a picture of a wounded frontrunner. The loss in Wisconsin is only going to fan the flames of reports that Trump is a candidate on the verge of decline. Trump is wobbly, and the delegate math is now complicated. Coming out of Wisconsin, the notion that Donald Trump is destined to be the Republican nominee may have been dealt a death blow. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print The bad news continues to pile up for Republicans as a new poll has found that millennials are power President Obamas job approval rating to a new three-year high. According to a new Pew Research poll, millennials are flexing their political muscles and boosting Obamas approval ratings: With Obamas overall approval rating at 51%, the highest in nearly three years the generation gap in approval is among the widest since he took office in 2009. About six-in-ten (62%) Millennials (adults born after 1980) approve of the job Obama is doing. By comparison, half of Generation Xers (born 1965-1980), 43% of Boomers (born 1946-1964) and just 37% of Silents (born 1928-1945) offer positive ratings of the presidents job performance. The Pew poll contains bad news for Republicans on two fronts. First, millennials remain solidly in the column of Democrats, and secondly, the rising popularity of President Obama may take the 2016 presidential election from difficult to nearly impossible for Republicans to win. The Obama coalition is alive and well, and it is reasonable to expect that these voters will come together to support the Democratic nominee in the fall. The Republican Party needs to attract more women, African-Americans, millennials, and Hispanics to have a chance of taking back the White House. Unfortunately for the GOP, Donald Trump is the wrong candidate to make the argument to these voters. President Obama trails only Bill Clinton regarding job approval at this point in their respective presidencies. Obama has equaled Ronald Reagans approval rating and is ahead of George W. Bush among modern era two-term presidents. Obama is flourishing at a time when Republicans are trying to convince voters that the country needs a change in direction with a slate of presidential contenders that may be the most unlikable in recent American political history. With Obamas popularity surging, while their frontrunner is on the verge of collapse, the Republican Party continues to get drilled with bad news. Democrats have the momentum as younger Americans are appreciating the job that Obama has done as president. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print On Wednesday, Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) called out Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for turning the Senate Judiciary Committee into a political arm of the Republican Party. Senator Grassley has been facing brutal push back at home from both constituents and the press for his unprecedented decision block President Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Justice Merrick Garland. On Tuesday, in a rather desperate attempt to toss the hot potato of his own obstruction onto others, Grassley tried to blame Chief Justice John Roberts for the politicization of the Supreme Court. This was a pretty awkward argument, especially since Grassley is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee and as such, is supposed to be holding hearings on the court nominee, but has refused to do so. Theres quite simply no justification for Grassleys actions, so Grassley has basically been crying, The dog ate my homework! When busted for not even having a dog, Grassley turned around and blamed the teacher for holding him accountable. Harry Reid wasnt having it. But now, Senator Grassley has the audacity to accuse Roberts as being part of the problem, even going so far as to tell the Chief Justice: Physician, heal thyself. I say to the senior senator from Iowa, Justice Roberts isnt the one who needs healing, the Democratic Leader said on the Senate floor. What needs mending is the Judiciary Committee under his chairmanship, which he has annexed as a political arm of the Republican leaders office, Reid charged. Senator Grassley has sacrificed the historical independence of the Judiciary Committee in order to do the bidding of the Tea Party and the Koch brothers. Reid shone a little light on the subject by bringing Grassley back to reality, The American people think its political because the senior senator from Iowa is refusing to give a fair hearing to a highly qualified nominee purely because he was nominated by a Democrat. Ouch. The American people think its political when the Judiciary Committee chairman and the Republicans on his committee meet behind closed doors and make pacts to blockade our nations judiciary from the Supreme Court to the Circuit Court to the District Courts, Reid said, exposing the political motive behind Grassleys obstruction. I know my friend, who I have served with for decades in this body, is grasping for something anything to get himself off the hook here. President Harry Truman said, the buck stops here,' Reid said, reminding Grassley that he is in charge and yet blaming everyone else for his own decision to refuse to do his job. Senator Grassley wants the buck to stop with anyone but himself, the Nevada Democrat explained. He has done more to politicize this process than any chairman in history He has only himself to blame for not doing his job. Reid has previously exposed that the Koch brothers are a driving force behind Grassleys inaction. Grassley is a sitting duck in McConnells Tea Party/Koch brothers strategy of obstruct Obama and delegitimize Obama at every turn no matter what the cost. Grassley will perhaps be collateral damage as the Republican party continues to deny progress. Donald Trump is the result of this strategy. Donald Trumps racism, power grabs and assaults are a direct result of Republican strategy in the House and Senate over the last seven years. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print President Obama is ending his two-year Fox News ban, by doing an interview that will air on Fox News Sunday. What is interesting is that the President will be using the interview to hammer Republicans for obstructing his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. Why would Obama agree to be interviewed by Fox News now? The answer can be found in what the interview will discuss. According to TVNewser, Chris Wallace travels to Chicago where the interview will take place tomorrow at the University of Chicago. President Obama is speaking at the Law School, where he once taught, to discuss the importance of confirming Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. As is typical with final year in office presidential interviews, Wallace will almost certainly ask Obama about his legacy, and a few other topics, but this interview is going to be about Republican obstruction of Obamas Supreme Court nominee. Chris Wallace and Fox News Sunday have been very critical of Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans for their obstruction of Obamas Supreme Court nominee. During a March 20, 2016, interview with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Wallace called out McConnells hypocrisy on obstruction of judicial nominees. As I wrote at the time, Fox News Sunday called out Majority Leader McConnells hypocrisy because they would like to see Republicans keep the Senate, and a majority of Republicans believe that Obamas Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, should get hearings and a vote. Fox News is going to finally get to sit down with Obama, but the President is going use the Fox program to hammer Republicans for their obstruction. Obama is going to use Fox as a weapon of mass Republican obstruction destruction. According to the latest CNN poll, 55% of Republicans want McConnell to allow hearings to be held on the Garland nomination. The President is likely to find a receptive audience for his call for hearings and a vote on his Supreme Court nominee on Fox News Sunday. President Obama will use the conservative news network to make Senate Republicans pay a heavy price for their obstruction. Fox News is going to be a hammer that Obama will use to drive another nail into coffin of the fading and fatally flawed Senate leadership of Mitch McConnell. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Email Print * The following is an opinion column by R Muse * There has been a growing number of American corporations that love making billions of dollars off the people supporting this nation, but absolutely hate and refuse to pay income taxes here. Despite what Republicans claim, corporations or rich people that hide their money off-shore to avoid contributing to America are the real takers in this society. On Monday, the Obama Administration made a move to stop a pharmaceutical corporation from taking even more from the people. While the wealthy have stashed their millions in untaxed offshore accounts, corporations have filed change of address documents for their corporate offices and completely avoided paying any taxes on their billions in profits. One of the latest corporations angling to make that particularly deceitful move is the largest pharmaceutical corporation in America, Pfizer. Pfizer intends to merge with another corporation to change its corporate address to Dublin, Ireland, and escape ever having to pay American taxes. The pharmaceutical giant is planning to merge with a corporation tax-sheltered in Ireland, Allergan, in a $160 billion deal; the largest in the pharmaceutical industrys history. The big prize for Pfizer and its shareholders is that the new company (called Pfizer) will have as its corporate address, Dublin Ireland; a highly-prized tax-exempt domicile. Because Koch Republicans run Congress, most experts in the field of corporate taxes were certain that there was nothing whatsoever President Obama could do to stop Pfizers tax-escape-by-merger plan. Those experts were wrong and they once again underestimated this Presidents will to stop tax cheats. On Monday, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew laid down a new rule on corporate tax inversions calling Pfizers bluff, and to make the corporations move painful. The maneuver certainly got Pfizers attention and more importantly; it has Pfizers investors reeling. As one pundit noted, the move should heat up the discussion about what it means for a company to be considered American, and the fairness of the U.S. corporate tax code. President Obama addressed the unfairness of a corporation like Pfizer simply merging for the purpose of filing a change of address card to stop paying taxes on its monumental profits. The President told CNBC last year that, There are a whole range of benefits that have helped to build companies, create value, and create profits. For you to continue to benefit from that entire architecture that helps you thrive, but move your technical address simply to avoid paying taxes, is neither fair, nor is it something thats going to be good for the country over the long term. So, the Treasury is proposing a new rule for the purpose of putting major pressure on the latest Pfizer-Allergan merger deal that would allow the pharmaceutical giant to grow bigger and change its address. Secretary Lews announcement means that none of the shares that resulted from a fairly large number of mergers involving Pfizer that occurred in the past three years count toward Pfizer being a corporation big enough to avoid paying taxes. It may not seem like a big deal, but if through its many mergers over the past three years Pfizer ends up owning 60 percent of the new bigger Pfizer, it triggers a U.S. law that makes the companys move to Dublin far more onerous as Forbes noted; the Presidents action could sink the deal before it can be completed. And, as an portent of the effectiveness of the Treasurys action, Monday night after the announcement and after the stock market closed shares in Allergan fell 22 percent and Pfizer shares rose only 2.9 percent. It was a stunning 19 percent drop that has both companys investors very, very nervous. Pfizer has spent the past three years acquiring smaller pharmaceutical companies in an effort to grow large enough to merge with Allergan to change its address to Ireland and thus avoid paying its fair share in taxes. The Obama Administration, through the Treasury Department, is well within its purview and right to attack the devious strategy of daisy-chaining corporations together to either avoid paying taxes or to get a better tax rate. The bottom line is that all of these deals and machinations by Pfizer were funded in great part by the American taxpayers. Every company that was bought out or merged were able to reduce its U.S. tax rate. In Pfizers case, they created a series of larger and larger companies to be able to merge with Allergan and an exemption from paying income taxes. President Obama, like most Americans, has been pretty clear that these companies have benefited from taxpayer-funded research by the National Institutes of Health as well as the American scientists who were trained by Stanford, M.I.T. and Harvard. They damn well should pay their share in taxes after benefiting from the taxpayers and the nations largesse. It seems obvious that Pfizer will fight the Treasury Departments proposal and that Republicans will be behind them at every turn. No American can avoid paying their fair share of taxes, unless they are wealthy enough to spirit their money away to offshore tax havens, or corporations filing a change of address of their corporate office even though they operate and make their billions in America. This is just another case of President Obama stepping in to do the work the Republican-controlled Congress refuses to even consider doing; protect the taxpayer and against all odds attempt to make corporations pay their fair share. You are here: Home Flash A motion to impeach South African President Jacob Zuma, proposed by the opposition, was defeated in parliament on Tuesday. The motion received 143 votes in favour and 233 against, with no abstentions. The result had been expected as Zuma's ruling African National Congress (ANC) party has a large majority in parliament. The motion came after South Africa's highest court ruled last week that Zuma violated the constitution by ignoring orders for him to repay part of the public money used to upgrade his private home. A debate ended in chaos as opposition MPs walked out of parliament in defiance of the result. Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) said: "We are far from finished on this matter." He said the opposition would write to Parliament Speaker Baleka Mbete to ask for "disciplinary process" against Zuma. Juliu Malema, leader of another opposition party, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), said that even after the court ruling, "no single individual has been held accountable". The opposition vowed to forge a united front to push for the removal of Zuma. A two-thirds majority -- 267 MPs out of 400 -- was needed for the motion to pass. The ANC has 249 MPs in parliament, the National Assembly, while opposition parties have 151 seats. The opposition had requested a secret ballot, but the demand was rejected. It is the third time in 13 months that Zuma has survived a motion of impeachment. Zuma apologized to the nation on Friday for the "frustration and confusion" caused by his home upgrade scandal. He said he would abide by the ruling and repay the money. The ANC party has vowed "full support" to Zuma. The opposition has long accused Zuma of alleged corruption and incompetence, with parliament often being marred by squabbles. Flash A Brazilian legislative committee on Tuesday decided to schedule a vote next week on whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. The vote is set for next Monday by the 65-member Special Impeachment Committee of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of parliament). A simple majority is required for the vote to pass. The committee is expected to first hold a hearing and debate on its findings starting on Wednesday. If the motion to impeach Rousseff clears the committee, it will be presented to the lower house of parliament, which will decide whether to send the proceedings to the Senate or shelve the case. At least 342 of the 513 votes in the lower house of parliament are needed for passing the motion to the senate. On Monday, Brazil's Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo, in presenting Rousseff's defense, said the call to impeach the president had no legal basis and was "tainted" by political "revenge." You are here: Home Flash Nigerian President Mohammadu Buhari will pay a state visit to China from next Monday to Friday at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang announced on Wednesday. "China and Nigeria enjoy a traditional friendship. This year marks the 45th anniversary of China-Nigeria diplomatic ties," Lu said at a daily press briefing. During the visit, President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Buhari, and Premier Li Keqiang and top legislator Zhang Dejiang will have seperate meetings with him, exchanging views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern, Lu said. The two sides will sign cooperation agreements and jointly hold a forum on production capacity cooperation as well as a reception marking the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties, said Lu. Calling Nigeria "a major strategic partner of China in Africa," Lu said the two countries have maintained frequent high-level visits, cooperated for strong results and maintained positive communication and coordination in international affairs over the past 45 years. "We believe President Buhari's visit will give new impetus to the all-round development of the China-Nigeria strategic partnership of cooperation," Lu said. Buhari will also visit Shanghai, an economic hub in east China, and Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province. Portfolio English Edition's premium content is available only for subscribers Learn about the hottest news of the day, along with immediate follow-up analyses and 1000's of exclusive articles with full access to the premium content. Register and apply for a 14 days free trial period. The St. James Hotel, a member of the Historic Hotels of America, announced it will host a free public open house from 1 to 4 p.m. on April 21. The open house will feature a 5 guest-room expansion in a newly-remodeled wing of the hotel. "Old and new collide, as architectural engineers masterfully aligned modern day conveniences with the hotel's historic 19th century settings and the storied past of Hamline University," according to a press release from the St. James hotel. "As Minnesota's oldest university, Hamline's first home was in Red Wing from 1854-1869. Mantles, archways, windows, furniture, and original wood flooring, gathered and re-purposed from the original President's House in St. Paul, have been incorporated into each suite. This unique harmony of antique vestige and hospitality luxuries create an impressive experience, enriched with history." The open house will feature guided tours, refreshments, and historical information on Hamline University relics. Staff reports The so-called Panama Papers have made a big splash in the news this week. The New York Times backgrounder on the Papers is here. Yesterday the Panama Papers led to the resignation of Icelands prime minister. A knowledgable reader writes to explain that the Papers revolve around shell companies, which are a Panama specialty, and predicts that there will be disclosures with serious consequences for the people who are exposed in the leaks. This post is adapted from our readers message. The impact of the Panama Papers is probably going to be biggest on people like Icelands prime minister those who are denominated Politically Exposed Persons in the money laundering world. PEPs, our reader adds, are a category of individuals foreign heads of state, their family members, and other ranking officeholders occupying significant positions in government placing them at risk for bribery or corruption. Financial institutions are generally required to report suspicious transactions involving PEPs. To make sure that suspicious transaction reports get filed, services compile the names of the worlds PEPs and sell this information to the financial institutions, but shell companies can prevent or complicate the filing of reports by obfuscating the identity or interest of the PEP. Hillary Clinton was a PEP as Secretary of State, and so were Bill Clinton and Chelsea Clinton. When Bill Clinton set up his shell in Sweden to accept $26 million plus his speaking fee, our reader explains, a report should probably have been filed. The transaction wasnt reported to the State Department. According to the Washington Times, the Clinton Foundation has concealed the names of the specific donors: Mr. Clintons Swedish fundraising shell escaped public notice, both because its incorporation papers were filed in Stockholm some 4,200 miles from Americas shores and the identities of its donors were lumped by Mr. Clintons team into the disclosure reports of his U.S.-based charity, blurring the lines between what were two separate organizations incorporated under two different countries laws. The foundation told The Times through a spokesman that the Swedish entity was set up primarily to collect donations from popular lotteries in that country, that the money went to charitable causes like fighting climate change, AIDS in Africa and cholera in Haiti, and that all of the Swedish donors were accounted for on the rolls publicly released by the U.S. charity. The foundation, however, declined repeated requests to identify the names of the specific donors that passed through the Swedish arm. A spokesman for Mrs. Clintons 2016 presidential campaign declined comment. Thats what shell companies do. The Washington Times originally reported the underlying facts in the excellent 2015 story by John Solomon and Kelly Riddell, Bill Clintons foundation cashed in as Sweden lobbied Hillary on sanctions. It warrants another look in light of the Panama Papers and the imminent return of the Clintons, who combine evil and corruption in Third World proportions. NOTE: Bret Stephens intimated the relevance of the Clinton Foundation in this context yesterday in his Wall Street Journal column C is for corruption (accessible here via Google). As Scott noted this morning, President Obama complains that Iran has violated the spirit of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by launching ballistic missiles and calling for the destruction of Israel. Earlier today, Iran responded to Obamas rather pathetic lament: Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi blasted US President Barack Obama for his remarks against Tehrans implementation of the nuclear deal, and said he is raising excessive demands. We studied the details of the nuclear agreement and didnt see anything but its text and dont have any information about its spirit, Firouzabadi said, addressing the Chief of Staffs commanders and officials in Tehran on Tuesday, following the US presidents call on Tehran to work on the spirit of the July nuclear deal. Is it possible that Obama fails to understand the utter contempt in which he is held by Irans leaders? Meanwhile, Iran also explained, helpfully, that it is preparing for war with the U.S. and its allies: Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari has said Iran is preparing for all-out war with the US and its allies, and has vowed Iran will continue advancing and testing its ballistic missile program. Speaking at a gathering of senior IRGC commanders in Tehran Tuesday, Jafari declared that the US would not be able to do a damned thing in the face of Iranian advances, according to official Tasnim news agency. Certainly not while Barack Obama is president. For years, we have been building power on the presumption of a widespread war with the US and its allies, and have developed all our capacities and capabilities for decisive victories over such enemies, Jafari said. The top Iranian general also blasted neighboring Arab states for what he termed as stupid behavior, in opting to align with Israel and the United States against Iran. Regimes like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and their peers are symbols of modern political underdevelopment, and the IRGC has made preparations for response to their rudeness and stupid behavior, which stems from (their) reliance on the US power, he stated. U.S. power? What power? One is tempted to agree that the Gulf states that have lined up with the U.S. against Iran may have miscalculated. One thing you can say for the mullahs: they dont make any secret of their intentions. No doubt, at this moment, Obama administration staffers are puzzling over this cryptic pronouncementFor years, we have been building power on the presumption of a widespread war with the US and its allies, and have developed all our capacities and capabilities for decisive victories over such enemiesand wondering what it really means. PR-Inside.com: 2016-04-06 16:03:02 Claro, Telecom Personal and Telefonica Movistar Back GSMAs Consumer Protection Initiatives; Argentinas Mobile Ecosystem Contributes $21 Billion to National GDP Mobile Operators in Argentina Launch Mobile Phone Theft and Child Protection Campaigns in Partnership with GSMA For the GSMA Tatiana Cantoni (Brazil) +55 11 95210-2225 taticantoni@pimenta.com or GSMA Press Office pressoffice@gsma.com Argentinas leading mobile operators are backing a new GSMA initiative focused on mobile consumer protection. Mobile operators Claro, Telecom Personal and Telefonica Movistar will work to tackle mobile device theft and promote protection against child sexual exploitation, the first time such a joint campaign has been undertaken in Argentina. The launch is backed by Argentinas Ministry of Communications, the National Communications Agency (ENACOM), and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. The launch of the consumer protection campaign coincides with a new report1 by GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, which highlights the impact of Argentinas mobile ecosystem on national GDP, jobs and socio-economic development. According to this report, it is calculated that Argentinas mobile ecosystem contributed $21 billion to the countrys economy in 2015, equivalent to 3.7 per cent of national GDP. This contribution is forecast to reach $26 billion by 2020 (4.6 per cent of projected national GDP by this point) on the back of ongoing investments in mobile broadband networks and services. In addition, Argentinas mobile ecosystem provides direct employment to approximately 65,000 people across the country. Our future challenge is to harness the scale and ubiquity of mobile in Argentina to continue delivering major economic and social benefits to the country, and provide a platform for business innovation and entrepreneurship, said Sebastian Cabello, Head of GSMA Latin America. Argentinas small and medium enterprises now have an opportunity to build on this ecosystem in areas such as software, apps and local content, adding value and creating jobs. The new GSMA Intelligence report, Argentina: Impact of the Mobile Ecosystem: Perspectives and Opportunities, will be a resource for discussion for the new regulatory framework on communications. By working within a supportive regulatory environment that encourages investment, mobile operators in Argentina are set to invest almost $9 billion in building and expanding mobile broadband networks over the next five years. The number of 4G connections in Argentina is forecast to rise from 3 million in 2015 to 23 million by 2020. Consumer protection campaign in Argentina A cooperation agreement for the national launch of the GSMAs We Care campaign in Argentina is being signed today by representatives from Claro, Telecom Personal and Telefonica Movistar. Representatives from ENACOM, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights will act as witnesses of honour. The We Care campaign includes the following initiatives: Reducing handset theft Handset theft is a common crime in Argentina. Since 2013, Argentinas mobile operators have been connected to the GSMA International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) global database2, exchanging information about stolen mobile devices. ENACOM today agreed to implement the GSMAs IMEI Device Check service, reinforcing measures underway to fight device theft. This system will allow Argentinean mobile users to check the ENACOM website in real time when buying a handset to check if it is on the global list of stolen mobile devices. The service will be available in the next 30 days. IMEI Device Check is essential to empower consumers so they are not aiding crime by buying a stolen mobile phone, said Sebastian Cabello. It has been implemented with enormous success in Mexico and will soon be implemented in other countries in the region. Mobile phone theft is a problem that can be fought only by joint collaboration actions between operators, consumers, government and manufacturers. Child protection Argentinas mobile operators will launch an information and awareness campaign to support the work of Equipo Nin@s (Child Team) against Sexual Exploitation and Grooming, the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights free national helpline available on 0800-222-1717 (137 in Buenos Aires), as part of the Victims against Violence programme. Equipo Nin@s includes professionals in psychology and social work that provide advice and assist people reporting abuse 24/7 throughout the country. The 0800-222-1717 helpline allows anyone to report instances of child or adolescent sexual exploitation or abuse in any form (e.g. grooming, child abuse images and prostitution, and child sexual tourism). Companies will support Equipo Nin@s by implementing awareness-raising activities via their retail points of sale and websites to publicise the free helpline and the need to report abuse. Representatives from the operators involved in the initiative offered the following comments at todays launch: Claro considers it very important to jointly work with the GSMA on the implementation of the We Care campaign, which will translate into actions that will provide a more secure and reliable environment for children, and deliver the tools necessary to identify and control the commercialisation and use of stolen mobile devices. Julio Carlos Porras Zadik, Director General, Claro Argentina At Personal we are proud to be part of this joint industry initiative, which has its focus on the public-private cooperation to build a better service environment, increasingly safe and reliable for users. We are aware of the fundamental role that our industry plays in the daily life of society, and that is why, with the GSMA, we provide to our customers robust tools that contribute to the safe use of our services. Our main goal is to be close to our customers, delivering the services they need and facilitating their interaction with the world. Elisabetta Ripa, Executive Director General, Telecom Group In addition to supporting the development of businesses with innovative services, Telefonica, as a socially responsible company, is committed to the welfare of society. For many years we have been working towards the protection and defence of childrens rights via public welfare initiatives, both independently and collaboratively. We are committed to finding solutions to specific social problems that violate these rights by providing our technological capabilities to contribute to an environment that promotes the healthy development of children and adolescents, in conditions of freedom and dignity. Federico Rava, President, Telefonica Argentina The GSMAs We Care campaign is an initiative backed by leading mobile operators in Latin America in a bid to ensure all their users can enjoy the life-changing benefits of mobile technology in a safe and secure environment. Operators have decided to join forces as an industry and take on a series of commitments in every country in the region where mobile phones and networks can provide solutions to social problems. We Care has already been launched with several initiatives in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua, and will continue to expand throughout the region. -ENDS- 1. The new GSMA Intelligence report, Argentina: Impact of the Mobile Ecosystem: Perspectives and Opportunities, can be downloaded at the following link in English and Spanish language versions: https://gsmaintelligence.com/research/2016/4/count 2. To access the latest information about handset theft in Latin America and the GSMA IMEI database, please visit http://www.gsma.com/latinamerica/handset-theft-ime. About the GSMA The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences. For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201604060056 The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday terminated the case against Kenyas Deputy President, William Ruto, and journalist Joshua Sang. The ICC Trial Chamber V(A) decided by majority, with Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia dissenting, that the case against the two accused be terminated. According to the majority, this decision does not preclude new prosecution in the future either at the ICC or in a national jurisdiction. This decision may be subject to appeal. This was disclosed by the ICC on Tuesday in a press release bringing to close the case against the two which opened on September 10, 2013. Messrs. Ruto and Sang were accused of crimes against humanity (murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution) allegedly committed in the context of the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya. According to the media release, the chamber considered the requests of Messrs. Ruto and Sang that the chamber find that there is no case to answer, dismiss the charges against both accused and enter a judgment of acquittal. The chamber also considered the opposing submissions of the prosecutor and the legal representative of the victims, and received further submissions during hearings held from Jan. 12 to Jan 15. On the basis of the evidence and arguments submitted to the chamber, Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji and Judge Robert Fremr, as the majority, agreed that the charges are to be vacated and the accused are to be discharged. They provided separate reasons for this decision. (ANCNAN) Six minors were among 11 victims of alleged sexual abuse by Tanzanian UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that resulted in pregnancies, a UN spokesman has said. The allegations from the DRC came to light during the weekend as the UN had been embroiled in numerous reports of sexual abuse and exploitation by its peacekeepers over the last year. The sexual abuse and exploitation mainly involved troops in the Central African Republic. Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, confirmed the allegation. We can confirm that out of the 11 allegedly abused women, six were minors. Seven of the alleged victims have already given birth and four women are still pregnant, Mr. Haq said. He said Tanzania, which had the primary responsibility to respond to the allegations as the troop-contributing country, had appointed a team of investigators that would travel to DRC in the coming days. (dpa/NAN) Djibouti should ensure that journalists can report on presidential elections without harassment or fear of expulsion, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today, condemning Djiboutian authorities recent expulsion of a team of BBC journalists from the country. The BBC on April 4 reported that it had written to the government of Djibouti to ask why authorities had detained and expelled its team of reporters and producers, including the BBCs Africa security correspondent, Tomi Oladipo. The team of journalists was in the country ahead of presidential elections scheduled for April 8, and was accredited to work there, according to the BBC. Police detained the group after they interviewed Djiboutis foreign minister and an opposition candidate the afternoon of April 1, then put them on a plane the following morning, the BBC said. Oladipo described their ordeal in an interview with the BBC World Service. An election can be free and fair only if journalists can cover it without being harassed, detained, or expelled, said CPJ Deputy Executive Director Robert Mahoney. The expulsion of a news crew after they had interviewed the foreign minister and an opposition figure is an act of censorship and casts doubt on the fairness and transparency of this poll. According to the BBC, the Djiboutian government has not responded to a letter from the broadcaster seeking an explanation. Neither the office of the prime minister nor the minister of foreign affairs returned CPJs phone calls about the matter. President Ismail Omar Guelleh is seeking a fourth term in this weeks elections, according to reports. Police in January arrested two local journalists, Mohamed Ibrahim Waiss and Kadar Abdi Ibrahim, and held them without contact with the outside world for more than a week, CPJ reported at the time. Khadar and Mohamed were both released in late January. Khadar received a two-month, suspended prison sentence, journalists in Djibouti told CPJ, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The journalists were not informed of any charges against them. African Union guidelines for a free and fair elections hold that there must be freedom of assembly, association, expression, and campaigning as well as access to the media on the part of all stakeholders. SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists Theophilus Danjuma, a retired army general and former defence minister, is one of Nigerias richest personalities, courtesy of his ownership of one of Nigerias most lucrative oil blocs and a money spinning shipping firm. The retired general is a long time user of offshore entities, and the Mossac Fonseca files has now exposed another of his companies Eastcoast Investments Inc which he incorporated in Nassau, in the Bahamas, on March 25, 1997. At inception, Mr. Danjuma and a certain Colin Marcel Dixon were directors of the company. PREMIUM TIMES learnt that the general formed the company to enable him to do business with Scancem International of Norway when the later decided to expand its involvement in Africa to include a project in Nigeria. But the company soon became embroiled in a messy bribery scandal, with Scancem, according to court papers, later buying out Eastcoast Investment from the project on December 1, 2003. It was later determined that the money went mainly to another account, Eastcoast Investment had, to General T.Y. Danjuma and a certain The Volta Company. As the controversy raged, Mr. Danjuma resigned as director of the company, but we did not sight any document indicating that he transferred his shareholding to anyone. A certain Satish Chander Dosaj, who later died, replaced him. On his death, Elizabeth Dixon, believed to be Mr. Dixons wife, was brought in as director. But even before incorporating Eastcoast as a special purpose vehicle to do business with Scancem, Mr. Danjuma had used several offshore entities in the past, mostly registered in tax havens. The database, Opencorporates, indicate that Mr. Danjuma served as director and vice-president of Cross Group Holdings International, which was registered in Panama on October 15, 1976. Mr. Danjuma was still in service and was Chief of Army Staff at the time the company was incorporated. He was also director of Zara Logistics, a company registered in Cyprus on September 2, 1993. It remains unclear what businesses Mr. Danjuma used the companies to transact. The retired general was also among global personalities found to maintain secret accounts, operated with codes, with the Swiss branch of banking giant, HSBC. He was linked to HSBC account 15731CD, which was opened in 1993 and closed in 2001. That revelation came to light during the February 2015 #Swissleaks investigation which exposed some of Nigerias wealthiest industrialists, former government officials and their relatives, as among thousands of individuals around the world who operated highly secretive foreign accounts with HSBC, concealing their identities for years and using codes perhaps to shake off tax authorities from accounts. Some of the HSBC accounts were found to hold illicit assets from criminals, traffickers, arms dealers and other outlaws, secret files published last week by a consortium of journalists around the world have shown. That trove of documents, released by the French Daily, Le Monde and ICIJ, in partnership with PREMIUM TIMES, and a host of other major media organisations around the world, showed how HSBC profited doing business with people who stole from their countries and some of the worlds most notorious con artists, including people who made a fortune fuelling wars in Africa. PREMIUM TIMES was also the only Nigerian publication involved in that investigation, which lasted several months between 2014 and 2015. The documents seen by this newspaper at the time did not provide details regarding the balances in the account and the use to which Mr. Danjuma put it. An elaborate bribery and corruption Scheme Court documents obtained by PREMIUM TIMES independently of the leaked Mossac Fonseca files described Scancem, Mr. Danjumas business partner, as being involved in extensive bribery and corruption in a number of countries in Africa. The companys elaborate bribery operation in the continent was supervised and coordinated by the head of its Africa business, Tor Egil Kjelsaas, who also had a warm relationship with the retired general and his company. It was revealed that sometimes, Mr Kjelsaas withdrew cash from banks in London and Luxembourg and flew with it to bribe local contacts in Africa, especially in Ghana. Some of the monies were handed over to local contacts in envelopes while others were transferred to accounts in Luxembourg, Switzerland and other places. But while Mr Kjelsaas was helping to coordinate Scancem bribery operation across Africa, he was alleged to have kept some of the bribe money for himself. The document also revealed how Messrs. Danjuma, Kjelsaas and Dixon, who himself was an employee of Scancem, allegedly collaborated to obtain a $3.2 million buyout from Scancem. Scancem operations in Nigeria started in 1997 but was short-lived because the company incurred huge losses which the court blamed on Mr. Kjelsaas, who left the company in 1999 but was retained as a consultant until 2001 and was involved in the companys operation at the time. Kjelsaas drained Scancems involvement in Nigeria of significant funds, the court revealed. Due to the huge losses, Scancem opted to walk out from the Nigerian operations, but its contract with Eastcoast, which was signed under Mr. Kjelsaas management, required it to pay out a significant sum to Eastcoast before it could exit the partnership. If Scancem had taken this option, its losses would have been very significant. So, it decided to buy out Eastcoasts shares in the business. In July 2003, before buying out Eastcoast, Scancem hired Hibis, a private investigative company to make enquiries about the ownership of Eastcoast, the company discovered that most of the commission moneys paid to Eastcoast went toMr. Dixon and a company, Tormead Ltd. Further investigation showed that Mr Kjelsaas was the real owner of Tormean Ltd. According to court documents, $190,000.00 was transferred to Tormead Ltd from the contractual commission paid to Eastcoast. On December 1, 2003, Scancem bought out Eastcoast for $3.2 million. Once the money was paid, most of it was transferred to another account operated by Eastcoast, some to Mr. Danjuma, while $790,000.00 was transferred to The Volta Company, a firm believed to be linked with Mr Kjelsaas. Mr. Danjuma did not answer calls made by PREMIUM TIMES to his known mobile number. Neither did he respond to text messages seeking comments for this story. Enrico Monfrini, a Swiss attorney hired by the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to track missing Abacha loot in Swiss banks is himself operating over 178 companies in offshore tax havens, a massive leak of secret documents belonging to offshore shell companies has revealed. Mr. Monfrini was hired in 2000 by the then new civilian government of the country to help establish the existence of and repatriate over $4 billion allegedly looted by former military dictator, Sani Abacha. The documents showed that Mr. Monfrini, an influential legal practitioner in Switzerland, is director of 178 companies scattered around Panama and the British Virgin Islands. The revelations are among the findings of a lengthy investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other global news organizations including PREMIUM TIMES. PREMIUM TIMES is the only Nigerian publication involved in the investigation, which lasted a year. Although the documents did not directly implicate Mr. Monfrini as having committed any crime, still, the revelation points to the hypocrisy of a man widely revered for his remarkable ability to dismantle tax evaders and looters across jurisdictions. Mr. Monfrini is a founding partner of Monfrini Crettol & Associates, one of the most recognised legal services providers in Switzerland. In 2000, Mr. Obasanjo hired Mr. Monfrinis firm to help recover Abacha loot, which was estimated to be more than $4 billion at the time. According to Mr. Obasanjo, Mr. Monfrini helped the Nigerian government secure the release of N267 billion$1.34 billion. PREMIUM TIMES is unable at this time to determine if the Nigerian government still workswith Mr. Monfrini till this day or whether his contract with the federal government expired. As at December 2010, Mr. Monfrini was the director of the following offshore companies in tax havens: Director of 17 PMA (Panama) company in ACT status. Director of 3 BVI company (British Virgin Island) in ACT status. Director of 1 PMA company in CAR status (to others) Director of 38 PMA company in DIS status Director of 1 BVI in DIS status. Director of 44 PMA company in INA status. Director of 65 PMA company in MOR status. Director of 6 BVI company in MOR status. Director of 3 PMA company in REN status. Mr. Monfrini could not be reached to comment for this story. His secretary, who gave her name simply as Beatrice, told PREMIUM TIMES during a telephone conversation that her principal was on a trip outside of Switzerland. Mr. Monfrini didnt reply email seeking comment. // The Appropriation Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives have submitted the details of the 2016 Appropriation Bill to the Clerk of the National Assembly for onward transmission to the Presidency. In a statement jointly signed by the chairmen of the Appropriation Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, Danjuma Goje and Abdulmumin Jibrin respectively, the committees thanked Nigerians for their patience and understanding. The chairmen said it took their committees extra weeks to get the details ready so we could correct all the inconsistencies, errors, omissions and padding in the document submitted to them in December last year. Being the most important economic policy tool of government, the budget provides a comprehensive statement of our priorities as a nation. And as representatives of the people, the National Assembly remains the appropriate place to ensure that the details of such a document best match our national goals and aspirations. Therefore, what we have been doing in these past few weeks is to balance the projections for revenue against the estimates for expenditure based on the reality of our situation today. Unfortunately, that task has been made very difficult by the sloppy manner in which the 2016 Appropriation Bill was prepared by the executive such that many of the officials who came before our various committees practically disowned the inputs from their own departments and ministries. In most instances, and across several agencies, the bill that was initially presented to us failed in many respects to connect with the policy thrust of the government and the needs of our people. That is aside the fact that most of the figures simply did not just add up. It was one of the most controversial budgets that ever came to the National Assembly from the Executive. Fortunately, President Muhammadu Buhari, who we must commend for showing leadership, intervened and that helped in resolving what had become a serious logjam. Some officials in the executive branch have also been removed from their duty posts because of these glaring lapses. That happened because the president took direct responsibility and got involved in the process, not only to ensure synergy between the executive and the legislature but also so that we could both arrive at a budget that is implementable for the good of all Nigerians. However, it is important to stress that this is the first time we would have a transition from the ruling political party to the opposition, so some of these problems are understandable. We therefore believe that the executive will learn from the mistakes of this year, going forward. But we must also commend the leadership of the National Assembly as well as members of our own committees who have had to endure sleepless nights, especially in recent weeks. To the extent that the budget drafting phase is a long process, the committee stage provides the most significant opportunity for members of the public, including the media and civil society organizations to make their own contributions and we have taken into account all shades of opinions in arriving at the breakdown, which is now with the executive. Now that the 2016 budget has been passed, our next role is to add value to the process through legislative oversight functions that enable us to ensure adherence to priorities while monitoring effective allocation of resources. But there is a lesson that should not be lost on the executive given the current experience. We specifically urge the president to abide strictly with provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act which stipulates that the appropriation bill be presented early so that there could be sufficient time for interactive sessions between the executive and the legislature before the commencement of committee hearings. That way, we can avoid some of the controversies that dogged this years budget and add value to the entire process, the statement added. A prosecution witness on Wednesday told the Code of Conduct Tribunal that Senate president, Bukola Saraki, continued to receive salary and pension four years after leaving office as governor of Kwara State on May 29, 2011. Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of false asset declaration and other financial misappropriation at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Testifying against the Senate president in the ongoing trial, the witness, Michael Wetkast, said the EFCC demanded details of his (Mr. Saraki) salary account during investigations and discovered that he received regular salaries after the expiration of his tenure on May 29, 2011. His salary for June was N291,412:75k, while that of July, August and September were N572,286:32k, N744,000 and N743,942 respectively, Mr. Wetkast said. Mr. Saraki also received the sums of N1,165,488 between the months of October and February 2012. Since that time, Mr. Wetkast said the Senate president received his salaries and pensions regularly till 31, August 2015, before the payments stopped. Earlier, Mr. Wetkast tendered statements from the various bank accounts said to have been maintained by Mr. Saraki. Mr. Wetkast also told the tribunal that the statements were contained in a letter dated February 10, 2010. He added that the letters were a response to the request made by the EFCC while investigating the allegations against Mr. Saraki. He said the EFCC made a request for Mr. Sarakis personal naira account statement with number: 0034967455. Mr. Wetkast said further that the response to that request included details of the three accounts maintained by the accused. The tribunal heard that Mr. Saraki maintained three accounts in Nigerian currency, United States dollars and British pound sterling. The prosecution witness said the response to the request for details of Mr. Saraki s naira account came with the old account number: 441441953/1/1/0 of the said account just as the pound sterling account with the number: 441441953/3/1/0 and the United States dollar account with the number 0034967479 were provided by Guarantee Trust Bank. He added that an attached copy of the Certificate of Identification and Statement of Account was also included in the response of the GTB, in pursuant of Section 84 of the Evidence Act, 2011. The responses provided by the GTB were admitted in evidence as Exhibit 9. Explaining the various cash inflow and outflow relating to the accounts, Mr. Wetkast said at various intervals, deposits were made into Mr. Sarakis account after loans of various amounts had been taken by Mr. Saraki. On March 23rd 2010, cash lodgment of N10million was made by Mr. Saraki, while other sums of N240million and N200million were disbursed to the account as loans for the purchase of properties by an implementation committee under the Kwara State government, Mr. Wetkast stated. He said on October 16, 2006, another disbursement of N280 million was said to have been made, along with a bank draft in favour of the said implementation committee. These followed various other sums including the sum of N380 million, N180, 675, 000, among others, which were collected as loans from the GTB for the purchase of landed properties, said the witness. The prosecution witness also explained that various amounts of money were sometimes deposited into Mr. Sarakis account in one day. He said on April 7, 2007, N11million, was paid into the account with N20million also paid in three tranches and an additional 6 million, making N77million. The witness said further that on November 22, 2007 cash lodgements were made into Mr. Sarakis account in 50 different transactions. He said on October 26, 2009, cash deposits were made by several individuals numbering 87 cash deposits in all into one of Mr. Sarakis account. On 18th May 2009, $20,000 was deposited into one of Mr. Sarakis account separately, while additional $8, 000 and $4,000 were deposited separately by different individuals, said Mr. Wetkast. He added that on May 19, 2009 $10, 000 was lodged into Mr. Sarakis account in 18 different transactions, with the last three transactions made by Mr. Saraki himself. The funds were mostly used for the purchase of properties, particularly in Lagos and Maitama area of Abuja. Mr. Wetkast said the EFCC received four different petitions from Kwara Freedom Network with appeals to investigate the management of the monthly revenue account (within 2003-2011) of the 16 local government areas in Kwara State. Another petition was also received from Concerned Pensioners of Nigeria, Kwara State Branch. According to him, the investigations by the EFCC, and the details of the petitions showed the locations of some of the properties, one of which is located at 12A MacDonald Road Ikoyi, and purchased in March, 2000 in the name of Allied Property Ltd and valued at the cost of N160million. The witness said the house was leased out at N7million per annum. He also said another property was also bought by the Senate president at Number 17A MacDonald Road, Ikoyi, at the cost of N226,300,000. He said letters were also written by the EFCC to the Corporate Affairs Commission, which were tendered in evidence as exhibits. We didnt pay Saraki after he left office as governor Kwara Governor The Kwara State Government has risen in defence of Mr. Saraki, against claims he received salary for four years after he served as governor of the state. The government, in a statement its Secretary, Isiaka Gold, on Wednesday, denied the EFCC claims, saying it had only been paying Mr. Sarakis pension since he left office. The state government said the last amount it paid Mr. Saraki as salary was N291,474.00 meant for May, 2011 his last month in office. According to the statement, From June 2011, former Governor Saraki started receiving his pension which was N578,188.00 as other past governors in the country. The statement added that after the review of pensions of former political office holders by the State Pension Board, the former governors pension increased to N1,239,493.94 monthly from October 2014 to date. Kwara State Government, therefore, dismissed as false and misleading the allegation that former Governor Saraki was receiving salaries after the expiration of his two-term tenure as governor of the state. The statement advised interested stakeholders to seek clarification from appropriate authority to avoid misleading the public. Similarly, the Director General of the Abubakar Bukola Saraki Constituency Office, otherwise known as Mandate, Abdulwahab Isa, explained that since the former governor left office in May 2011, his pension which was paid into a special account has been managed by a group of trustees and used for education endowment for students across the state. The Code of Conduct Tribunal is trying Mr. Saraki for corruption charges brought against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau. The reconstituted board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, has outlined its priorities, saying it would translate the implementation of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, EITI principles into improved quality of life for Nigerians. The chairman of the board, Kayode Fayemi, said at the inauguration of the reconstituted board in Abuja, that the transparency agencys intervention in the extractive industries governance must help resolve some of the countrys key national development challenges. Mr. Fayemi, who is also the minister of Solid Minerals Development, identified areas NEITI could impact to include ensuring that revenues from oil, gas and mining resulted in poverty reduction. He said other areas are creation of jobs for the people; provision of security of lives and property; access to health care, education and social welfare as well as improved infrastructure. Mr. Fayemi said Nigerias membership of the global EITI would have been meaningless without NEITIs intervention in the extractive industry governance, leading to the realization of its goals. The inauguration of the board preceded three-day induction programme for members of the board in Abuja. The minister said the responsibility of the NEITI National Stakeholders Working Group was to develop and establish policy targets on how the implementation of NEITI Reports findings and recommendations could boost revenue generation. He described the induction programme for members as a forum for strategic thinking and knowledge sharing on ways to efficiently address the identified challenges in line with the EITI and NEITI mandates. Mr. Fayemi reaffirmed President Muhammadu Buharis commitment to building better systems and procedures to strengthen the capacity of relevant government agencies to halt mismanagement, inefficiency, lack of transparency in the extractive sector as well as the diversification of the economy. In his remark, the executive secretary of NEITI, Waziri Adio, outlined key challenges facing the agency, namely implementation of remedial issues in successive NEITI reports, human capacity development for the multi-stakeholders, and the alignment of NEITI-EITI principles to government economic reform programmes. The immediate past Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Dele Olugbemi, has disclosed how he took the embattled former Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the State, Temitope Aluko, to Governor Ayodele Fayose on Sunday. Mr. Olugbemi said it was a lie that Governor Fayose stage-managed the reconciliatory meeting and that himself, and Mr. Aluko prostrated for Mr. Fayose three times to beg the governor to forgive Mr. Aluko. Mr. Olugbemi, who said he was surprised that Mr. Aluko could address the press yesterday and deny that he willingly attended the Sunday night meeting with Governor Fayose and that he spoke to the press under duress after the meeting, disclosed that he, out of genuine concern for peace took Mr. Aluko to Eko Hotel, Lagos venue of the meeting. He said, The existing cordial relationship between Aluko and myself brought us to a discussion that eventually led to the last Sunday April 3, 2016 meeting. The former speaker said Mr. Aluko cannot deny that he re-affirmed that Governor Fayose remained his mentor, leader and father, that all his previous actions were devils work, and that he was under spiritual attack when he was saying all those things against the governor. Even when the governor told him to sit down, he prostrated and I also prostrated along with him to beg the Governor for total forgiveness. The Governor asked Aluko four questions: whether he knew the implication of his coming to him; why he behaved in that manner; how old he was; and whether he wanted the reconciliation to be total or partial and he (Aluko) replied that he knew the consequence of coming to him and that if he did not want total reconciliation, he would not come to see the Governor. At this point, Aluko stood up again, saying my mentor, my leader, my egbon, I am your boy, you know, I am your boy. Whatever step I have taken before now, forgive me. Aluko and myself prostrated again. Narrating how the meeting was arranged and held, Mr. Olugbemi said, Before we agreed to meet in Lagos, I first suggested that the meeting should take place in Ekiti State Government House after the wedding of the niece of Governor Fayose but Aluko said he was not too comfortable with the arrangement because of fear that he might be arrested. I re-assured him that the intention of the meeting was not to arrest, embarrass or humiliate him rather than to reconcile with Governor Fayose, whom he called his mentor. In the morning Sunday, April 3, we agreed to meet in Lagos and I left Ekiti for Lagos. I got to Lagos at 12 noon; I lodged in a hotel at Magodo Area of Lagos. At 1 pm, Aluko called me to confirm my hotel room number and I gave it to him. Aluko called me back and promised to be with me within 20 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, he called me again, and I told him that I was barbing my hair at a salon in Magodo. He asked me to come out of the salon and we met. He came in a blue Ford Jeep together with his woman. I joined them in the car and we drove to my hotel room where Aluko stayed with me till 2 pm. He later instructed me to call the Governor to ascertain the time and place of the meeting. I called the Governor, he did not pick the call. I later called Chief of Staff to the Governor. The Chief of Staff told me to call either the ADC or CSO to the Governor for further directive. The CSO told us that the meeting will take place at the Governors House residence in Magodo at 7.30pm. I told Aluko but he was not too comfortable with venue of the meeting. He said if the meeting is about reconciliation, it should hold elsewhere and not the Governors residence. I pleaded with the Governor that the meeting should hold elsewhere as demanded by Tope Aluko, which the governor obliged. All these I was doing because I wanted the crisis to be totally resolved. Immediately we were told of a new venue for the meeting, Aluko left my hotel room for Victoria Island and promised to come back at 7pm. At 7.45pm, Aluko came back to meet me at my Magodo hotel. At 9pm, I called the Governor to inform him of Alukos arrival. The Governor asked if I was sure Aluko was with me and I said yes. The governor told to us to come to Eko Hotel and his friend will welcome us and that he would join us later. We drove in Alukos car, myself, a woman, a driver and my Personal Assistant. We got to the Eko Hotel at 9.50pm. We were taken to the Hotel waiting room. Myself, Aluko, ADC, the Governors friend entered the same lift to the fourth floor of the hotel. Inside the hotel room, we prayed and I opened the floor for discussion as agreed by Aluko. In my submission, I pleaded with the Governor to forgive and forget about the previous comments and allegations made by Aluko against him since he is father to us all. Aluko interjected and said that I should allow him to lead the talk. The governor told him to stop fooling himself at 50 and since he allowed himself to be used by the APC at 50, what legacy will he leave for his children?The Governor told him that there is going to be reactions to this meeting by the APC and therefore advised Aluko switch-off his phones and rest for at least for two weeks to avoid counter allegations. The Governor said that the APC will fire back at Aluko because of the money he had received from the APC to malign him. Aluko promised the Governor to dismantle all the structure he had put in place to attack the Governor. The Governor said he had forgiven him totally and that he should go and sin no more. The governor told Aluko that he would call soon and that he would need to study him (Aluko) very well within two weeks because he could go out of the meeting and say something different. The Governor also said it was better to let the press know that he had reconciled with Aluko to which he initially disagreed and later agreed to meet the press with the Governor, and myself, which we did and the video recording is everywhere for the public to see. On Tuesday April 5, 2016, Aluko called me, sent a text message to me that things were falling apart as the party, and aide of the governor were attacking him. That he would renege on his promise. I advised him not to take any negative action or talk to the press if he wanted his already battered image to be rebuilt. Unfortunately, he did not listen to my advice and having come to deny what he willingly took part in, I have no option than to let the public know the true story. Rt. Hon. Dele Olugbemi, Former Speaker, Ekiti State House of Assembly. Harmonization of demographic data is very important for national development planning, especially including some of the Buhari Presidencys Social Investment plans, according to Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo. We must be able to honestly determine how many we are as a people, Mr. Osinbajos spokesperson, quoted the vice president as having said at a meeting today with a delegation from the National Population Commission. According to him, having a reliable harmonized data base will help social-economic planning including the Homegrown School Feeding Programme and the Conditional Cash Transfer, two of the several social investment plans of the Buhari administration. Prof Osinbajo then tasked the Commission on conducting a reliable, cost-effective and acceptable census bearing in mind the irregularities that have trailed some of the previous census exercises. Technology has now made it possible to harmonize data, the VP noted adding that with technology we can actually bring down the cost of data-gathering. He also noted that because of technology, data gathering has also become simpler, more efficient and cheaper. Mr. Osinbajo said having a single platform for data management in the country is very important for national planning and economic development. In his presentation earlier, the Chairman of the Commission, Eze Duruheoma, said the Commission is working with other agencies and stakeholders such as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to produce a single platform of data management for the country. This, he said will reduce cost in the future, ensure authenticated identities as well as easy personal identification. He noted that the national population register about to be put up by the National Population Commission would be the primary source of data as it will give reliable identification of the citizens from the cradle to the grave. The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has called for speedy establishment of electoral offences commission and tribunal. INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, made the call according to a bulletin of the commission released on Wednesday. Mr. Yakubu spoke at a Stakeholders Forum on Elections convened by the Situation Room, with support from UK AID, held in Abuja on Tuesday. He lamented the spate of violence that marred elections recently held in Nigeria, particularly those of Bayelsa State and Rivers State which claimed lives. He said, More worrisome for INEC is the spectre of violence both in the course of political campaigns and against staff, materials and facilities of the Commission. Under such atmosphere, INEC is severely constrained. Where we cant fully deploy staff or the staff are held hostage and processes disrupted, there can be no elections and where we manage to deploy, there cant be a conclusive outcome. Stating further, he decried the non-implementation of the recommendations of the Justice Uwais Committee report of 2008 and the Justice Lemu Committee report on the 2011 post election crisis. The two reports recommended, among others, the establishment of the Electoral Offences Commission and Tribunal to try and penalize electoral offenders. Mr. Yakubu, a professor, said, A nation that does not punish violators of its own laws is doomed to be repeating its own misfortunes instead of making steady progress. On the observations and recommendations from observers and stakeholders, the electoral chief explained that INEC had begun the progressive implementation of some of them at policy level, adding that the Commission was aware of the need to go back to the drawing board and review its security architecture with the security agencies. He, however, pointed that, some of the fundamental reforms needed are outside the responsibility of INEC because they are not purely matters for policy change. We need the enabling legislation which only the National Assembly can provide. We also need institutional reforms, some of which again, only the National Assembly can legislate. He called for attitudinal change in order to stem the tide of violence in elections and to deliver credible, free and fair elections. We need attitudinal change which only comes with value re-orientation as far as I can see comes in an evolutionary rather than a revolutionary manner and this takes time and the tireless efforts of all and sundry, he said. The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, also lamented the spate of electoral violence experienced in recent elections. Mr. Malami said of concern to this administration are the increasing levels of electoral violence as seen in some of the recently held elections. He explained that efforts were being made by the executive to ensure the much needed reforms in the Electoral Act were achieved. On her part, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Electoral Matters, Aisha Dukku, assured that efforts were in place to ensure the Electoral Act (2010 as amended) got reviewed as quickly as possible to meet the standard that would improve elections in Nigeria. An Abuja High Court has ordered the Nigerian government to allow former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, access to his lawyer during working hours to enable him defend himself in the charges brought against him by government. Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf gave the order following the application by Mr. Dasukis lead counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN) that he and other lawyers in the former NSAs legal team had no access to their client. Mr. Daudu had told the court that because they had no access to him, they could not get enough information for his defence. Mr. Dasuki, Shuaibu Salisu, former Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser and Aminu Baba-Kusa, former NNPC Executive Director, were arraigned for diversion of N13.6 billion meant for purchase arms. The other defendants were Acacia Holding Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited. At the resumed hearing Wednesday, Adebisi Adeniyi, who held brief for lead prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), informed the court that his team was ready with its witnesses. Mr. Dasukis counsel, Mr. Daudu objected and applied for long adjournment because the defence had no access to the former NSA and had an application before the Court of Appeal. Mr. Daudu said the application before the appellate court was for stay of proceedings. But Mr. Adeniyi opposed the application for longer adjournment and prayed the court not to grant Mr. Daudus application. Mr. Adeniyi reminded the court that the State Security Service said it never received any request for access from anybody. The prosecuting counsel said there was no concrete evidence before the court on why such application should be granted. After listening to the counsel, Justice Baba-Yusuf ordered that Mr. Dauski should be made available to his lawyers to enable them get information from him that would aid them in his defence. The court adjourned the case till May 3, 2016 for continuation of hearing. At least 11, 595 civilians held at various enclaves by Boko Haram have been rescued, the Nigerian Army headquarters said on Wednesday, as troops intensify efforts to clear and mop up all insurgent activities in the terror-ravaged northeast. The army said the rescue operations were carried out within the past six weeks. Women and young children who have been caught in the Boko Haram crossfire finally regained their freedom and temporarily settled in camps for the internally displaced persons, IDPs. In continuation of the clearance and mopping up operations of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists in various parts of the North East geo-political region, troops have rescued no fewer than 11,595 persons held hostage by the terrorists within the last one month, the army said in a statement signed by the Acting a Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, and made available to PREMIUM TIMES on Wednesday. The military further explained that the rescue operations were carried out by different military outposts across the beleaguered region and a significant number of them were received from Cameroonian authorities. On 1st March 2016, troops of 155 Task Force Battalion received 10,000 refugees from the Republic of Cameroon at Banki and Bama axis, Mr. Usman said. Two days later, Army Headquarters Special Forces (AHQ SF) Battalion also rescued 63 persons held captives by terrorists at Maleri. The same unit on 5th March 2016 rescued 779 persons at Fotokol general area, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon. Within the first week of March 2016, the 254 Task Force Battalion also rescued 45 persons at Kuaguru, while 143 Battalion similarly rescued 27 persons at Gadayamo,15 at Galadadani Dam in Madagali and 10 persons from Disa village. On 11th March 2016 troops of 231 Battalion and Armed Forces Strike Force (AFSF) also rescued 7 persons held captives by Boko Haram terrorists at Betso village; 5 of whom were elderly women and 2 young girls. Similarly 117 Task Force Battalion on 15th March 2016, received 14 refugees from Sahuda a border town with Cameroon. The Battalion equally rescued 59 at Bitta general area on 19th March 2016. In similar vein, troops of 22 Brigade in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group (AHQ SG) rescued 309 hostages from Kala Balge general area on 23rd of March 2016. While on 30th March 2016 troops of 25 Task Force Brigade rescued 45 men, 85 women and 137 children from the Boko Haram terrorists at, Zahdra and Weige villages. Thus the total number of persons rescued by the troops during the ongoing clearance operations is 11,595 from February 26th, 2016 to date. The military also promised to prioritise the rights of civilians and always uphold their dignity. The gallant troops in the course of these clearance operations would continue to place high premium on respect for human right and dignity, hence the rescue operations. The trial of the Senate president, Bukola Saraki, continues Wednesday at the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge at the Code of Conduct Bureau for alleged false declaration of assets while he was governor of Kwara State. The trial commenced April 5 after several attempts by Mr. Saraki and his lawyers to prevent its commencement. A prosecution witness, Micheal Wetkast, had appeared before the CCT, April 5 to testify against Mr. Sarakis not guilty plea by providing evidences of alleged transaction by the Senate president with banks in Nigeria. The witness said the proceeds of the said transactions were used to purchase properties, some of which were never declared by Mr. Saraki. The Senate president arrived the CCT 10:05am amidst cheers by loyalists. As always, Mr. Saraki is accompanied by dozens of senators, including Dino Melaye, Andy Uba, Sam Anyawu, as well as the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. Mr. Saraki had 80 lawyers as defence counsel at the previous sitting, while the number went down to 51 at Tuesdays sitting. The Senate president was invited to the CCT to respond to the 13-count charge of fraud levelled against him in September 2015. The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, on Wednesday appeared at the Code of Conduct Tribunal with 90 lawyers for the continuation of his trial. Mr. Saraki had in the last two sittings presented 80 lawyers. But in Wednesdays sitting, Mr. Sarakis lead counsel, Kanu Agabi, told the court that 90 lawyers formed the defense team for the Senate president at the tribunal. We are altogether 90 of us here today, Mr. Agabi told the tribunal shortly after the commencement of trial. During the previous sitting, when Mr. Agabi was accompanied with 79 lawyers, he (Mr. Agabi) told the tribunal that his client was well prepared for a contest by vote, between counsels, if the need arises. At some point, the trial should be subjected to vote, My Lord, Mr. Agabi told the court in an effort to buttress the fact that they had a numerical strength. The prosecution team had about 10 lawyers at Wednesdays sitting. But while calling for the appearance of the 90 lawyers, it was found that scores of them were not physically present in court. This was not the case when Mr. Saraki arrived with 80 lawyers, as all 80 of them confirmed their presence in court. President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday cautioned state governments and the private sector against engaging foreign partners without conducting proper background checks. Mr. Buhari gave the advice in Kaduna at the opening ceremony of the maiden Kaduna Economic and Investment Summit, organised by the state government. The president, whose speech was delivered by Governor Nasir El-Rufai, noted that various state governments have been making efforts to shore up their revenue base in view of the current economic problems. In the face of dwindling oil revenue, I am very pleased to note the efforts being made by state governments to diversify their internally generated revenue sources by opening up their economy for investors and providing a conducive enabling environment. More recently, these efforts have been demonstrated not with mere rhetoric or political statements, but with practical policies and well thought out legislations. The Kaduna Investment and Economic Summit is a pointer to one of these efforts. State governments and indeed the private sector should take care and make background checks before engaging with foreign partners, he said. Mr. Buhari noted that the summit would help diversify our oil dependant economy to other viable sectors, where we have competitive advantage. The president stressed the importance of the private sector in driving the economy for greater efficiency and growth. Private sector led investments remain the most sustainable way of creating much needed jobs and engendering purposeful growth, he said. He said all stakeholders must make concerted efforts towards sustaining functioning industries, establishing new ones as well as revival of moribund industries. The effect on employment and social peace would soon be apparent, said the president. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the summit, with the theme Lets move Kaduna into the Global Economy, drew participants from across the globe including leading multilateral institutions. (NAN) Senators in support of Bukola Sarakis leadership of the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday vowed to resist every attempt to impeach their leader. Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false asset declaration levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau. The senators who were represented by Senators Rafiu Ibrahim and Samuel Anyanwu, representing Kwara South and Imo East respectively told journalists on the sidelines of the tribunal sitting that they consider Mr. Sarakis trial as an attempt by the leading All Progressives Congress to blacklist him before the Nigerian masses. We have since discovered that the trial of the senate president is a mere attempt to blackmail him and make him look bad in the court of public opinion, Senator Ibrahim said. No more, no less. A dispassionate analysis of the proceeding of the CCT yesterday has pointed to the fact that the APC-led executive is still embittered against Dr Saraki over the manner of his election as senate president. The senators, who were 12 in number at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Wednesday, said regardless of its outcome, the trial of Mr. Saraki would be subject to other statutory procedure for the impeachment of Nigerias Senate President. For those calling for the impeachment of the senate president, we urge them to avail themselves of the provisions of the law relating to such a sensitive step. They will have to produce as many as 100 senators to achieve that aim. As long as they dont have the majority, the call is a tall dream that will remain a figment of the imagination of the groups and their sponsors, the senators said. During the previous sitting Mr. Saraki was accompanied by as much as 80 senators. On Wednesday he was accompanied to court by just eight senators, including Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. Mr. Sarakis trial was adjourned to April 18, following application by both counsel on both sides. The tribunal chair, Danladi Umar, ruled that during the next trial date, the examination of the first prosecution witness would continue, to be followed immediately by his cross examination. The Niger State Chief Judge, Fati Abubabkar, on Wednesday released 70 inmates from Minna prisons. Ms. Abubakar announced the gestures during a visit to the facility as part of efforts to reduce overcrowding in prisons in the state. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Minna old prison has a total of 467 inmates with 82 convicts and 385 awaiting trial, while the new prisons has 418 inmates, comprising 314 awaiting trial and 104 convicts. NAN also reports that the freed inmates were mostly those awaiting trial with offences ranging from armed robbery, culpable homicide to conspiracy. The chief judge, who granted bail to 11 others, urged the Director of Public Prosecutions to hasten the trial of inmates and advised those freed from prison to be of good conduct and shun criminal acts. In his remarks, the controller of the new Minna Prisons, Deputy Controller Jibrin Mohammed, commended the chief judge for the visit. He called for assistance from the state government, adding that the prison has only one functional Green Maria. As at today, the prison has only one functional medium Green Maria, making logistics very cumbersome. That is why some of the inmates are making appearance at the court late. We want to also appeal for the repair of the second vehicle, he said. (NAN) An Abuja-based group, Club De Pals, has reprimanded President Muhammadu Buhari for failing to pay due attention to the ongoing killing of villagers across Benue State, even as voices from all over the world have continued to express concerns over the crisis. Club De Pals, a non-profit organization comprising young professionals of Tiv extraction, wrote an open letter in which it said Mr. Buhari should remember the maximum support he received from Tiv people during the last general elections and desist from his contemptible attitude towards them. The letter, dated March 29, was signed by 13 young Tiv professionals who live and work in Abuja and was directly addressed to the President himself. PREMIUM TIMES is in possession of a copy of the letter. We are compelled to use this medium of communication to join our voices with other well meaning Nigerians in condemning the on-going genocide in our state, Benue, the group wrote. The group said the people of Benue have not experienced peace since the beginning of the year, adding that the attackers are actually terrorists and not merely herdsmen as has been argued by many. Since the beginning of this year, the whole of Benue State has been under siege from armed militia and terrorists masquerading as Fulani Herdsmen. The unprovoked attacks, which occur mostly in the night or early hours of the morning have left hundreds of people dead and property worth millions of Naira destroyed! These attacks have rendered thousands of people homeless, most of who are now camped in different parts of the State as internally displaced persons (IDPs). The group said the crisis, which began in Agatu Local Government Area has now spread to no fewer than 9 other local government areas in the state. The latest round of the crisis, which started in Agatu local government area with the killing of over 400 people in one single attack, has spread to Tarka, Makurdi, Guma, Logo, Katsina-Ala, Buruku, Gwer West, Ukum and Kwande LGAs of the state. The group said, after a line-by-line consideration of the crisis, it discovered that the administration of Mr. Buhari holds the people of Benue in contempt and has been forced to list its demands. The letter was jointly signed by leading members of Club De Pals. Their names are: Mike Tyowua, Teryila Uganden, Tom Chiahemen, Sylvester Kwen, Cletus Akwaya, Pamella Abellegah, Hon. Wuese Tyopev, Esther Miaphens, Patience Tarza, Engr. Toryila Zugu, Tarsoo Ade, and Mary Ordam. Except a common ground over the lingering salary crisis is reached between the Oyo State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress and Governor Abiola Ajimobi, the public sector in the state might be paralyzed after the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum given by labour on Thursday. In separate interviews, Mr. Ajimobi, through his spokesperson, Yomi Layinka and NLC State Chairman, Waheed Olojede, spoke exclusively to PREMIUM TIMES on Tuesday, expressing divergent views on the workers strike threat over non-payment of salaries. Except primary school teachers who have received January salaries, workers, including staff of tertiary institutions, in Oyo State were last paid in November last year. The situation has brought severe hardship on the workers and crippled the economy of the state, some civil servants and residents told PREMIUM TIMES. Ten months ago, the government and labour agreed to a deal which meant the utilisation of 90 per cent of the states monthly statutory allocations from the Federation Accounts to pay civil servants. Messrs. Olojede and Layinka confirmed this. But workers are still owed salaries for four months, or three in the case of primary school teachers, as federal allocations continue to dwindle due to international oil market crisis. So, what we want now is a review of the agreement to include Internally Generated Revenue in the agreement because 90 per cent of federal allocation is not enough again to pay workers, Mr Olojede said, stressing that 90 per cent of all the resources, including IGR and federal allocations, accruable to the state should be used to pay workers and settle backlog of salaries. At the last meeting we held with the government representatives yesterday (Monday), we demanded to see the governor himself to tell him our demands directly, the NLC chief added. But Mr. Ajimobi would not review the agreement with labour as, according to him, doing so will mean spending almost all resources of the state on civil servants. Even if we add everything it cannot still pay workers salaries. We cannot use all the resources to pay workers who make up just over 60,000 of about seven million citizens of the State. It is completely irresponsible, Mr. Layinka said, speaking for the governor. Before the 90 per cent of monthly allocation agreement, Mr. Layinka said the government proposed slashing workers salaries by half or reducing the workforce as a realistic way of addressing the pay crisis but that labour rejected both proposals. Mr. Olojede did not controvert this claim. I said no! He disclosed that, at Mondays meeting, labour demanded that available funds be used to defray November salary balance of senior staff on Levels 13-17, while the governor should issue directive that local government and primary school teachers be paid their February salaries. Insisting on the demand for review of the 90 per cent of monthly agreement and immediate payment of November and February salaries of senior staff and primary school teachers as well as local government workers respectively, Mr. Olojede hinted at possible industrial action after expiration of the ultimatum on Thursday. Without fruition of our demands? Lets wait till after close of work on Thursday, he said. He stressed that the planned industrial action could not be halted unless workers demand are met and that labour leadership was ready to negotiate with the governor directly. Mr. Olojede, who dismissed allegations of compromise, denied governments claim that the ultimatum issued did not follow due process, explaining that labour had sent three letters to which there was only one reply which was non committal, hence the ultimatum issued. But Mr. Layinka warned the workers against industrial action, saying labour must stick to realities. If they go on strike, we will take the matter to the court of public opinion to determine if we should close down the state to because 60 thousand workers at the expense of millions of citizens access to road and other infrastructures. Yes, there is hardship; but in the face of facts and realities, there is nothing we can do. It is not matter of emotional outbursts. If they go on strike, government will be grounded for months but they will later come back to the table. So what is the point? Should the labour proceed on strike, the governor has vowed to enforce no work no pay rule if we find out it does not follow due process, the spokesperson said. Workers not creative When the labour and government representatives met on Monday, Mr. Layinka said the latter kept asking the latter to suggest ways out of the economic crisis. He said the government charged the workers to be creative and focus more on how to generate income for the state. Assuming we have run out of ideas, they should come up with idea but they were just saying edogbon si (just find a way) without any creative idea. They asked us to borrow. Even if we are able to borrow because no commercial bank will borrow any state money to pay salaries it is a recurrent cycle that does not make sense. If we borrow money to pay workers, how do we repay the loans? We want to avoid the mistake Osun made, Mr. Layinka said. ATLANTIC CITY If Fridays threatened City Hall shutdown is a time bomb, the corner of Atlantic and Tennessee avenues will be near the heart of the blast zone. Nasir Ahmeds EZ Super Mart is right at that intersection, which makes him one of City Halls nearest business neighbors. He cant say exactly how much of his sales come from the seven-story box of a building about half a block away, but he knows the citys workforce is a key force in his bottom line. Were the closest one to them, so its convenient for them to come and buy something, a soda or a sandwich, Ahmed said from behind his checkout counter. So we will be losing money, but I dont know how much. In this countdown-to-shutdown week, opinions, theories, rumors and fears have been hot topics in the store, which Ahmed has run for 10 or so years. Customers weighed in the other day as they checked out with their lunches, candy and cigarettes. Atlantic City workers unsure, 'Am I essential?' ATLANTIC CITY Am I essential? Jessica Hamill, of Mays Landing, is a student at Atlantic Cape Community Colleges nearby city campus. She sees Gov. Chris Christie as the citys biggest problem. I blame him directly, said Hamill, whos studying to be a social worker. She doesnt think a shutdown will hurt me personally, but it will affect Atlantic City definitely. It will put a big damper on it. Another customer, Pamela Wright, says shes lived her whole life in Atlantic City, 50 years. She hates the thought of City Hall closing for business, and no one but police, firefighters and other emergency workers staying on the job until the citys next quarterly property-tax payments start coming in May 1. Of course, because that stops a whole lot of things going on, she said. You cant get a C.O., or certificate of occupancy to move to a different home, you cant get a marriage license or anything. ... The city is going down, period. There are no jobs. Its bad for people out here now. The store owner, Ahmed, added that he knows many City Hall workers not just as customers but as people who could see things get much worse for their families this week. It hurts to see them having no pay, no money, he said. You need money to live on. ... We need the City Hall to be open. Next door at the Cup & Saucer, a breakfast and lunch spot, Arly Hernandez said the business would take a huge hit if City Hall locks its doors for three weeks or at all. Yeah, because 50 percent of the customers we see at lunchtime are from the city, said Hernandez, the restaurant manager, taking a quick break from a lunch rush a few days before the deadline. Gyril Lowe has two businesses, including the soon-to-open Yardy @ Fiesta Pizza, which will also sell specialties from his current restaurant, Yardy Real Jamaican Food. Plus Lowe is in construction, so this weeks watch-and-wait worries him both ways. I get two infections at one time from the city closing, he says. One would come from losing close to 90 percent of his lunch business if City Hall people stop going to work and ordering from Yardy. The other problem is not being able to get inspections or approvals on his construction jobs. To Lowe, the timing is miserable both for the citys economy and his own. His restaurant is moving two doors away on Atlantic Avenue to a bigger, nicer space. You try to move up to a higher level just when its going to slow down on you, he says. Its a bad time to close the city too, just as the peak is coming back up, the tourist season. Carlos Bobe is general manager at Aarons, a furniture, electronics and appliances store closer to South Carolina Avenue, also just a block away from City Hall. He can think of at least 20 customers who work in the hall. The economy has been down for a while. Were still trying to recover from the casinos closing, he said. And if he includes city police and school employees, its over 50 people who deal with the store, Bobe added. Don Latham is the public information officer for the Atlantic City Free Public Library, just across a courtyard from City Hall. The library was busy Monday, both with regular customers and with the start of a series of programs for aspiring entrepreneurs co-sponsored by the Small Business Development Center at Stockton University. We fully expect that the city will remain open and the employees will be working, Latham said, and well be doing the same thing. Contact: 609-272-7237 Few in Latin America are even thinking about the possibility of an Islamic State terrorist attack in the region, but - following the recent attacks in Brussels, Paris and Tunisia - it may be time to do so. It's not a matter of academic speculation. Latin America had two major Middle East-sourced terrorist attacks in the 1990s, when suspected Iranian terrorists blew up the AMIA Jewish community center and the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. And, judging from what I heard in an interview last week with Luis Almagro, secretary general of the 34-country Organization of American States, there are good reasons to start preparing for a possible new Middle Eastern terrorist strike in the region. Almagro, whose organization presides over the Inter-American Committee against Terrorism, told me that an undisclosed number of Latin American youths have been recruited by the Islamic State on the Internet and have joined the terrorist group in Syria. "We also know that people from the Americas and the Caribbean are returning to their home countries, some of them after having participated in the Syrian war," Almagro said. "We cannot speculate how many, but enough to undertake (terrorist) actions." At least 27,000 foreigners from 86 countries have traveled to Iraq and Syria to join the Islamic State since 2011, including 250 from the United States and 76 from South America, according to a study by the Soufan Group, a New York-based private security intelligence firm. On March 9, a man who identified himself as an Islamic State follower murdered a well-known Jewish merchant in Paysand, Uruguay. In 2011, the FBI charged two Iranians in an alleged plan to kill the Saudi ambassador to the United States, bomb the Saudi and Israeli embassies in Washington and carry out a bomb attack in Argentina. U.S. law-enforcement officials said the plot was discovered in Mexico, where one of the Iranian would-be terrorists shared his plans with an undercover U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration source. Anti-terrorism experts say ISIS is being militarily defeated in Syria and Iraq, where it seeks to establish its Islamic caliphate, and is therefore shifting to growing terrorist activities abroad. While it is likely to continue focusing on Europe and the United States, the Islamic State may seek to strike against U.S., European or Israeli embassies in Latin America in an effort to show the world - and its own followers - that it is still alive, and that it has a global reach. In addition, there are many other Middle Eastern terrorist groups already active in Latin America - such as the Iran-backed Hezbollah - which have a growing presence in Venezuela and other countries, U.S. officials say. In testimony before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee last year, Gen. John Kelly, at the time commander of the U.S. Southern Command, said that "partner nation officials throughout the region have expressed concern over the increasing number of suspected Islamic extremists from the hemisphere who are traveling to Syria to participate in jihad." "Some take part in military and weapons training before departing. Last year, 19 Trinidadian Muslims were detained in Venezuela for conducting training with high-powered weapons," Kelly said. Kelly added Iran has established about 80 "cultural centers" in Latin America, and that "as the foremost state sponsor of terrorism, Iran's involvement in the region and these cultural centers is a matter for concern." My opinion: What's most worrying is not that some Latin American youths are going to Syria to join the Islamic State - there are losers searching for a cause in every continent - but the fact that most Latin American countries lack serious intelligence agencies that are focusing on global terrorism. When the Islamic State carried out its recent attacks in Brussels and Paris, it was only a matter of hours until the terrorists were identified, and we could see their faces on TV. In Latin America, more than two decades have passed since the bombings in Buenos Aires and we still don't know who the terrorists were. What's worse, most intelligence agencies in Latin America are geared to spy on government opponents, not foreign terrorists. It's time for the region to take a serious look at ISIS, Hezbollah and other Islamic terrorist groups. There are already enough warning signs out there. Andres Oppenheimer is a Latin America correspondent for the Miami Herald. Email him at aoppenheimer@miamiherald.com. 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. HATFIELD, England, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- PRESS RELEASE NOT FOR SWISS OR AUSTRIAN MEDIA EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 GMT 6 April 2016 Japanese research and development pharmaceutical company Eisai and PharmStandard, a leading Russian pharmaceutical company, today announce that they have signed Cooperation Agreements relating to the localised production of Eisai products in Russia. These agreements relate to Eisai's global oncology therapies, Halaven (eribulin) and Lenvima (lenvatinib), as well as the Company's global epilepsy therapy, Fycompa (perampanel). Under the proposed agreements, important stages in the manufacturing process for both eribulin and lenvatinib will be completed in PharmStandard's cutting edge facilities in Ufa, while for perampanel these will be performed in PharmStandard's facility in Kursk. Eribulin was registered in Russia in July 2012 and became accessible for patients with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer who have progressed after at least one course of chemotherapy for advanced disease from September 2013. Lenvatinib was registered in Russia in December 2015 and will be accessible for treatment of radioactive iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer from June 2016. Perampanel was registered in August 2013 in Russia as adjunctive treatment for patients with partial onset seizures, with or without secondarily generalised seizures, in patients with epilepsy aged 12 years and older. "This is an important step forward for the establishment of Eisai in Russia. Through this arrangement with PharmStandard, we can ensure that Russian patients will have access to our innovative drugs, eribulin, lenvatinib and perampanel. Our presence in Russia continues to grow and we are pleased to partner with this leading company to increase our value to patients and their families," comments Olga Konopleva, General Manager, Eisai Russia. "We are pleased to partner with Eisai, one of the worldwide leaders in oncology and epilepsy, to expand the reach of their therapies and address patient needs in Russia," comments Grigory Potapov, CEO, "Pharmstandart PJSC" This collaboration underscores Eisai's human health care (hhc) mission, the company's commitment to innovative solutions in disease prevention, cure and care for the health and well-being of people worldwide. Eisai is committed to epilepsy and oncology to address the unmet medical needs of patients and their families. Notes to Editors About Eisai Co., Ltd. Eisai Co., Ltd. is a leading global research and development-based pharmaceutical company headquartered in Japan. We define our corporate mission as "giving first thought to patients and their families and to increasing the benefits health care provides," which we call our human health care (hhc) philosophy. With over 10,000 employees working across our global network of R&D facilities, manufacturing sites and marketing subsidiaries, we strive to realise our hhc philosophy by delivering innovative products in various therapeutic areas with high unmet medical needs, including Oncology and Neuroscience. As a global pharmaceutical company, our mission extends to patients around the world through our investment and participation in partnership-based initiatives to improve access to medicines in developing and emerging countries. For more information about Eisai Co., Ltd., please visit http://www.eisai.com About PharmStandard PharmStandard is Russia's leading pharmaceutical company and develops and manufactures high-quality modern pharmaceutical products which meet the requirements of the healthcare system and the expectations of patients. PharmStandard manufactures more than 250 pharmaceutical products including drugs for treatments of cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes, growth hormone deficiency, gastroenterological, neurological, contagious diseases, metabolic disorders, cancer and other diseases. More than 120 PharmStandard products (taking into account all forms and dosages) are included in the list of Vital and Essential Pharmaceuticals. As of 2004 PharmStandard developed more than 60 new pharmaceutical products in co-operation with Russia's leading scientific centres. Date of preparation: March 2016 Job code: Corporate-UK2036 SOURCE Eisai DUBLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Selenium Global Market Review 2015/2016" report to their offering. The report presents a thorough study of selenium, covering both global and regional markets. It aims to give a proper picture of the market, its trends, perspectives and opportunities. Comprehensive data showing selenium worldwide production, consumption, trade statistics and prices are provided. Each country's market overview covers the following: selenium production in the country, major manufacturers, selenium consumption, selenium trade. The report offers a 5-year outlook on the reviewed market, including selenium market volume predictions and prices trends. Reasons to Buy: - The report provides analysis of factors that affect the market. - Company's business and sales activities will be boosted by gaining an insight into the selenium market. - The report will help to find prospective partners and suppliers. - Detailed analysis provided in the report will assist and strengthen company's decision-making processes. Key Topics Covered: 1. WORLD SELENIUM INDUSTRY 1.1. General data about Selenium1.2. Selenium market trends- Selenium resources globally- Selenium production and consumption- Demand structure1.3. Prices 2. SELENIUM INDUSTRY IN EUROPE 2.1. Belgium2.2. Finland2.3. Germany2.4. Poland2.5. Serbia2.6. Sweden 3. SELENIUM INDUSTRY IN CIS 3.1. Russia 4. SELENIUM INDUSTRY IN ASIA PACIFIC 4.1. China4.2. India4.3. Japan4.4. Philippines 5. SELENIUM INDUSTRY IN NORTH AMERICA 5.1. Canada5.2. USA 6. SELENIUM INDUSTRY IN LATIN AMERICA 6.1. Chile6.2. Peru 7. SELENIUM INDUSTRY PROSPECTS TO 2020 7.1. Production forecast, projects7.2. Demand future trends7.3. Consuming industries For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f8dsp5/selenium_global 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 http://www.researchandmarkets.com SOURCE Research and Markets NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- 2016 Global Outlook of the Oil and Gas Industry : Massive Cuts in Upstream Capex Investment Create Challenges, but Opportunities are Ripe for Those with Funds to Invest The decline in the oil price has had a massive impact on the sector and the wider economy. Upstream capital expenditures (capex) have been significantly cut, with many exploration and production projects being put on hold. However, for the midstream and downstream, investment is continuing, as participants invest for the longer term. The decline in the oil price is causing hardships for some exploration companies, but will create opportunities for those with the financial resources to acquire value assets that become available. On the equipment side, all suppliers are under pressure to reduce costs; the oilfield service companies that enjoyed high margins in the recent boom are particularly impacted. Key 2016 Oil and Gas Industry Predictions Explained Opportunities are ripe for those with access to funding. Top Predictions for 2016 1 .Oil Prices to Stay Below $ in 2016: Frost & Sullivan agrees with the general consensus that prices will gradually recover, but will stay below $ per barrel in 2016. 2 Time of Opportunity: The low oil price provides an excellent opportunity for oil companies and private equity firms with capital to invest in either projects or assets. 3 Global Oil Production to be Stable: Increases in Iraq and Iran will be offset by declines in North America. 4 Global Operational Rig Count to Decline by %: The majority of rigs are used for natural gas, hence the limited impact on oil production. However, the efficiency of operational rigs for both oil and gas continues to increase. 5 Greater Focus on Transportation Costs: As a percentage, transportation costs have increased and the impact is significant for rail and trucks. 6 Increasing Competition in the Gas Market: With the United States shipping liquid natural gas (LNG) to Europe, the balance of power is shifting to consumers of natural gas. 7 Refinery Margins to Stay Strong: In particular, margins in Asia will hold up. The United States will some modest declines, but a recovery is forecast for the end of the year. 8 Downstream Investment Remains Strong: Long-term demand and strategic expectations mean that storage and refinery investment will continue to be strong. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03754592-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 SOURCE Reportlinker Related Links http://www.reportlinker.com Available exclusively at 7-Eleven stores, the new Airheads Xtremes Slurpee flavor is Rainbow Berry. Like the candy, the Airheads version of a Slurpee drink is described as a berry-licious rainbow of fruity, sweetly sour flavor. "It's an extreme offer for an extreme Slurpee flavor, and we invite people to post photos of their extreme Airheads Xtremes Slurpee experiences on their favorite social platforms," said Laura Gordon, 7-Eleven vice president of Brand Innovation and Marketing. "Slurpee fans love putting candy in their drinks, especially sour, fruity candy like Airheads Xtremes. This new Slurpee flavor is already a hit with customers. On Airheads day, we will make it easy for our customers to create their own combination of Airheads Xtremes Rainbow Berry flavor fun." The free-with-purchase promotion continues the yearlong 50th birthday celebration "Slurpee Fiftee Partee." During a recent two-day BYOCup promotion, thousands of Slurpee fans filled cup-like containers and posted fun and funny cup shots on social media. A Wild Cherry donut marked the first Slurpee in donut form and has gained an online following as well as media attention. For the Slurpee Fiftee celebration, 7-Eleven redesigned the Slurpee.com website to share the fun of Slurpee and excitement happening all year long. Part of the fun is capturing any Slurpee experience with photos and sharing it on social media. To encourage social media participation, 7-Eleven is using the hashtag #Slurpee50 for events this year so Slurpee fans can share photos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. 7-Eleven is also promoting Airheads Day on its Snapchat account under the username REALLYSLURPEE. "There are not many brands that have brought more smiles to faces than Slurpee, which is why it's such an honor for Airheads Xtremes to be part of Slurpee's 50th birthday," said Sylvia Buxton, vice president of Marketing U.S. for Perfetti Van Melle. "Airheads Day will be an extremely fun celebration for fans of both brands a sweetly sour Slurpee pairs well with any Airheads candy, especially our limited-edition Airheads Xtremes Bluest Raspberry Bites." The Airheads Xtremes limited-edition Slurpee flavor will be available at participating 7-Eleven stores through May. New products, however, are continually brought in and out of stores based on customer feedback. For more information about Airheads Xtremes Rainbow Berry Slurpee, visit www.slurpee.com, www.facebook.com/7-Eleven or www.twitter.com/7eleven. "7-Eleven is always looking to bring fun new Slurpee flavors to the more than 7 million customers we serve every day," Gordon said. "Stay tuned for more candy fun during Slurpee season." About 7-Eleven, Inc. 7Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas, 7Eleven operates, franchises and licenses more than 10,700 7Eleven stores in North America. Globally, approximately 58,900 7Eleven stores serve customers in 17 countries. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com. About Airheads Airheads is a brand long loved by people of all ages for its chewy texture, tangy fruit flavors and bright colors. Airheads were invented in the USA and are available in original bar form as well as chewy and intense bite-sized pieces called Airheads Bites. For a sweetly sour candy that packs a punch, Airheads Xtremes belts and bites are also available. Airheads are perfect for a quick treat, social gatherings and for sharing with others. They can be purchased at many convenience, drug, club and grocery retailers. Find out more online at www.airheads.com. About Perfetti Van Melle Perfetti Van Melle Benelux B.V. is a privately owned global company that was established in March 2001 through the merger of Perfetti SpA and Van Melle B.V. Perfetti Van Melle manufactures and distributes sugar confectionery and chewing gum products in over 150 countries. Today Perfetti Van Melle is one of the world's largest confectionery groups, marketing highly renowned brands like Mentos, Frisk, Chupa Chups, Smint, Fruittella, Alpenliebe, Golia, Vivdent, Airheads, Happydent & Big Babol. The Group has corporate headquarters in Italy and The Netherlands. U.S. operations are solely operated out of Erlanger, KY. Find our more online at www.perfettivanmelle.com. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352060 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101208/DA14293LOGO SOURCE 7-Eleven, Inc. Related Links http://www.7-eleven.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- All Nippon Airways (ANA) has extended its On-Site Support (OSS) agreement with UTC Aerospace Systems for ANA's fleet of Boeing and Airbus aircraft. UTC Aerospace Systems is a unit of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX). The agreement, valued at more than $60 million, includes total repair and inventory support services for air management, electric power and engine systems. Under the program, UTC Aerospace Systems' global network provides spare parts, allowing ANA to maintain their fleet in ANA repair shops. In addition for the first time, UTC Aerospace Systems will provide support for ANA's Boeing 787 variable frequency speed generators and Boeing 787 auxiliary starter generators. "All Nippon Airways has been a key OSS customer for more than 10 years and we are extremely proud of the confidence they continue to show in us," said Ajay Agrawal, Vice President, Aftermarket for UTC Aerospace Systems. "Our customers continue to benefit from our unique capability to deliver products and services through a variety of customized solutions." The On-Site Support program is one offering in UTC Aerospace Systems' suite of comprehensive long-term maintenance and service agreements. On-Site Support is a performance-based material management program designed to lower total costs through a simplified supply chain and improved product performance. With 6,000 customer service employees in 60 global locations, UTC Aerospace Systems operates one of the industry's largest maintenance, repair and overhaul networks in the world. "All Nippon Airways is pleased to expand and continue our strong relationship with UTC Aerospace Systems," said Mr. Toshiaki Kobori, Senior Vice President of Materials Management. "This agreement allows us to maintain the highest quality of on-time services in our repair shops, and to evolve to maintenance on next-generation platform such as the Boeing 787." UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries. UTC Aerospace Systems supports a global customer base, with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. Follow the company on Twitter: @utcaerosystems. United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. To learn more about UTC, visit the website at www.utc.com or follow the company on Twitter: @UTC www.utcaerospacesystems.com SOURCE UTC Aerospace Systems Related Links http://www.utcaerospacesystems.com Fleishaker will oversee the Clinical Pharmacology and Exploratory Development function which includes all clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, modeling and simulation support for early as well as late-stage development programs. As a member of the Development Leadership Team, Fleishaker will play an instrumental role in leading this functional area to fully characterize clinical candidates to bring new innovations to patients. "Joe brings a wealth of experience to this important position at Astellas, including more than 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry leading clinical pharmacology and translational medicine research as well as a preclinical drug metabolism group," said Zeiher. "We are pleased Joe has accepted this role to help our organization continue to advance our capabilities in clinical pharmacology." Since joining Astellas in 2012, Fleishaker has made significant contributions to the growing and evolving neuroscience portfolio. Most recently at Astellas, he served as vice president and global therapeutic head of Neuroscience and previously held the role of executive director and project lead of Development, leading the CNS/Pain therapeutic area. Fleishaker received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Duquesne University School of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and his doctorate of philosophy degree in Pharmaceutical Science with a major area of concentration in pharmacokinetics/biopharmaceutics from the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy in Lexington. About Astellas Astellas is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information on Astellas, please visit our website at www.astellas.us. You can also follow us on Twitter at @AstellasUS, Facebook at www.facebook.com/AstellasUS or LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/astellas-pharma. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351809 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140416/84970 SOURCE Astellas Related Links http://www.astellas.us PACHECO, Calif., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Two of Bay Alarm's leading executives have been inducted into the Security Sales & Integration (SSI) Industry Hall of Fame. Bay Alarm CEO Roger Westphal and retired President and Chairman Bruce Westphal received the prestigious honor, which recognizes individuals who have contributed to advancements in the security industry through remarkable achievement and professionalism. Roger and Bruce Westphal have each contributed more than 50 years to growing and managing Bay Alarm Co., which, as the largest independent security and burglar alarm company in the U.S, has provided security systems to California residents and businesses for over 70 years serving more than 130,000 customers. The brothers are well respected throughout the North American security community for their leadership in the industry, as well as for their focus on integrity and service. From their dedication to early alarm system software programs in the '70s to their adoption of a recurring revenue model that has aided in the growth of the business, Bruce and Roger's achievements form the bedrock of the company's success. "More than 20 years ago, we established an advisory board made up of business leaders outside our industry," Roger told SSI. "It has functioned as a board of directors and has provided forward-thinking advice and direction." "We have a management style that allows co-workers to lead and prosper while having full confidence they are in charge of both their responsibilities and their future," Bruce added, citing another reason for the company's prosperity. Bay Alarm was founded by Roger and Bruce's father, Everett Westphal, in 1946. Today, their sons serve as co-presidents and executive vice president, continuing the Bay Alarm family legacy. About Bay Alarm Founded in 1946, Bay Alarm is a family-owned California company that provides security systems and alarm system monitoring for commercial and residential customers. With a reputation for expertise as well as excellent personalized service, Bay Alarm is dedicated to keeping California communities educated, safe and protected. SOURCE Bay Alarm Related Links http://www.bayalarm.com As part of their trip promoting the Toronto-Waterloo Tech Corridor to Silicon Valley, Mayor Dave Jaworsky of Waterloo and Mayor Doug Craig of Cambridge visited TextNow's new office to meet with CEO Derek Ting as well to help recognize the company's rapid expansion. TextNow is hitting major milestones across the board, including: 2M new users joining the service each month 500M messages and 81M calls being sent and made each month 360 percent growth of TextNow Wireless subscribers from end of 2014 to end of 2015 1B total calls since 2014 (95 percent of which are out of network) "The growth we have experienced this year has been extraordinary, particularly because we are growing and expanding differently than most start-ups. This means we aren't relying on major funding, we are not operating in the red nor are we launching some 'never been seen before' idea. We have been successful by proving we could take on the gigantic telecom industry, where the barriers of entry are intense, all while maintaining profitability. Not many startups can say that," said Derek Ting, CEO and co-founder of TextNow. "Even more surprising is that this growth has been fueled primarily by organic demand, we have not even pulled the paid acquisition levers yet. Our organic baselines are extremely healthy so we are really looking forward to putting our foot on the gas and investing aggressively in performance marketing to scale the business." TextNow is also announcing the appointment of Chas Castell as vice president of revenue operations and Mark Braatz as general manager and vice president of growth. Castell joins TextNow from Scopely where he was head of mobile advertising, growing direct sales exponentially and more than doubling ad revenue on their flagship app each year. Before Scopely, he helped build and manage the first ever mobile ad network at Warner Bros, running on "TMZ," "Ellen" and "Extra." Castell will focus on building a strong infrastructure to drive revenue growth through TextNow's ad and IAP business. As general manager and vice president of growth, Braatz will head the first U.S. TextNow office in San Francisco. Braatz previously served as vice president of user acquisition at video game company KIXEYE where he directed over $65M in marketing investments and helped build a gaming portfolio generating nine digit annual revenues. Braatz will be managing all aspects of growth for TextNow across its mobile and e-commerce businesses. TextNow currently has 82 employees and is looking to ramp up the San Francisco office with several more key hires. The company was recently selected as one of Canada's Top Small & Medium Employers for 2016. "Our numbers strongly highlight the demand for the TextNow service and key executive hires such as Mark and Chas will aid in propelling the company to continue its path forward offering a stellar alternative to costly existing mobile phone services," added Ting. Founded in 2009, TextNow has established a multi-million dollar profitable business with minimal initial funding. The company raised a $1.5M seed round in 2011 led by Freestyle Capital with participation by the Menlo Talent Fund, Menlo Ventures' Seed Program, as well as prominent investors Troy Carter and Scooter Braun. With TextNow, consumers can expect more from their mobile phone service. TextNow's cloud-based mobile service allows users to use their phone numbers across multiple platforms and devices. The company uses a hybrid model of WiFi and traditional phone service to offer premium quality mobile service at affordable prices. About TextNow TextNow is making mobile phone service ultra-affordable through its unique cloud based technology. Through TextNow Wireless and the free TextNow app, the company provides millions of users a better and more affordable alternative to traditional wireless plans and services. For more information, please visit www.textnow.com. Contact: Zella Panossian [email protected] (310) 452-4446 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352307 SOURCE TextNow Related Links http://www.textnow.com ROCKVILLE, Md., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In today's world of severe droughts and dramatic changes in climate, the shortage of clean water has become a major challenge. To support the improvement of community water sources, the USDA Water for Agriculture Challenge program has awarded a $10M four year grant to the University of Maryland, College Park, School of Public Health and its collaborating partners, one of which is CosmosID, to launch a new Center named CONSERVE: A Center of Excellence at the Nexus of Sustainable Water Reuse, Food and Health. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, said, "the grants we are announcing today are the latest of many steps USDA has taken to help communities who are struggling with water quality." The multidisciplinary team, led by Dr. Amy R. Sapkota at the University of Maryland, College Park, School of Public Health, will dedicate its efforts to developing innovative, safe, and sustainable ways to irrigate food crops in variable climates. "We are running out of water in our key food production regions," Dr. Sapkota, an environmental microbiologist, said. "We need to act now to figure out how to shift water usage patterns and successfully reuse water to sustainably and safely grow our food." The University of Maryland, College Park, School of Public Health selected CosmosID to join their team based on the capability of CosmosID to provide a rapid, accurate, and actionable platform for metagenomic microbial identification and characterization. CosmosID Founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Rita Colwell, is a world leader in water-related research and a distinguished microbiologist. Dr. Colwell was awarded the 2010 Stockholm Water Prize by the King of Sweden for outstanding water-related achievements. "The University of Maryland has a long history of excellent work in water research," said Dr. Colwell. "CosmosID has partnered with the Orange County, CA, Water District and organizations in Europe and the Middle East to develop methods for water reuse. Therefore, it's exciting to be part of this effort developed by the University of Maryland because water reuse is a major challenge globally. This award by the USDA to the University of Maryland, College Park, School of Public Health is recognition of the strength of the formidable team clearly highly qualified to meet this challenge headed by Dr. Sapkota, an outstanding scientist." Contact: Jon Ryan, 703-995-9879 Email www.cosmosid.com SOURCE CosmosID Related Links http://www.cosmosid.com The new store design features a holistic sensory experience, from decor made largely of sustainably-sourced, reclaimed wood to the hand-crafted design elements highlighting Dickey's history on the walls paired with a specially curated singer/songwriter playlist heard from a Bose surround sound speaker system. Dickey's has made great strides in sustainability with the new store model, which also includes recyclable and compostable takeout containers made of 100 percent sugarcane. Other paper products are made with post-consumer recycled fiber. The new store will also slow smoke all its meats using Dickey's proprietary wood-blend pellets, which consume 80 percent less wood and are made from a blend of hickory, cherry and other flavorful woods. To celebrate the new store's grand opening, three guests will win free barbecue for a year at the new Erie location. Guests can enter to win using hashtag #1FreeYearofBBQ on any social media page, order online or sign up for the Big Yellow Cup Club to receive special offers and loyalty points which can be redeemed for free barbecue. Doors open on Thirsty Thursday, when all guests will receive a free Big Yellow Cup with Dickey's new reusable travel lid and straw. On Philanthropy Friday, all proceeds from Dickey's signature potato chip sales will benefit Dickey's charitable foundation, Barbecue, Boots & Badges, which supports first responders and their families. Musician Dave Van Amburg will play from 6:00 8:00 p.m. on Friday. Kids eat free on Sunday as always! To find the Dickey's Barbecue Pit nearest you, click here. "We worked on developing our new store concept for over a year, and look forward to bringing the new model outside of Dallas, Texas to Erie, Pennsylvania," says Roland Dickey, Jr., CEO of Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. "We are glad to partner our family business with the McBrier family to serve authentic, Texas-style barbecue." The grand opening weekend includes: Thursday, April 7 Thirsty Thursday Free Big Yellow Cup with Dickey's new reusable travel lid and straw. Friday, April 8 Philanthropy Friday 100 percent of potato chip sales benefit Dickey's charitable foundation Barbecue, Boots & Badges, which serves the families of first responders. Musician Dave Van Amburg will play original tunes from 6:00 p.m. 8:00 p.m. Sunday, April 10 Kids Eat Free All Day! Owner/Operators Dale and Lynn McBrier along with their son Brandon have owned franchising business Lyndal for the past 15 years. They have opened 21 Little Caesars in their franchising career and look forward to expanding their portfolio with Dickey's Barbecue Pit. "Our family business has a strong commitment to give back to the Erie community where we live and work," Lynn says. "We look forward to offering a great value for delicious, slow-smoked barbecue with friendly service in a stylish atmosphere, and hope to become a neighborhood favorite for lunch and dinner." Dickey's Barbecue Pit is located at 3716 Liberty Street, Erie, PA 16508. The phone number is 814-868-4227. About Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc. Dickey's Barbecue Restaurants, Inc., the nation's largest barbecue chain was founded in 1941 by Travis Dickey with the goal of authentic slow-smoked barbecue. Today, all meats are still slow smoked on-site in each restaurant living up to the company tagline, "We Speak Barbecue." The Dallas-based family-run barbecue franchise offers a quality selection of signature meats, homestyle sides, tangy barbecue sauce and free kids' meals every Sunday. The fast-casual concept has expanded to over 540 locations in 43 states. Dickey's Barbecue Pit was recognized for the third year by Nation's Restaurant News as a "Top 10 Growth Chain" and by Technomic as the "Fastest-growing restaurant chain in the country." For more information, visit www.dickeys.com or for barbecue franchise opportunities call 866.340.6188. Media Contact: Kimberly Harms / Brittany Taylor [email protected] / [email protected] 972.248.9899 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352181 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140102/LA39739LOGO SOURCE Dickey's Barbecue Related Links http://www.dickeys.com LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital Roadmap for European Manufacturing : Digital, Virtual, and Resource-Efficient Factories Will Transform the European Industrial Landscape The European manufacturing industry is the largest contributor to the non-financial business economy value added and the second-largest of the Nomenclature of Economic Activities (NACE) sections. Manufactured products contribute to more than 80% of all European exports, mainly supported by SMEs, which provide about 59% of the manufacturing employment. Digitization of the manufacturing sector will not only deliver sustainable and inclusive growth but also address the needs of citizens and the environment. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of European manufacturing on social-driven targets and challenges, including joint government-industry investments in cross-disciplinary manufacturing sectors. Executive Summary European ManufacturingState of the Industry - In 2014, the European Union (EU) produced an economic output of $ trillion, in which % of the GDP was contributed by the manufacturing and industrial sector. - Germany, France, and Spain are expected to witness stable growth in manufacturing. Poland and Turkey are recovering steadily and are also expected to contribute to the EU's growth in the near future. European ManufacturingMega Trends Shaping the Future Challenges such as the declining industrial sector's share of value-added, dwindling skilled workforce and disparities in digitization are expected to be overcome by evolving mega trends such as collaborative enterprises, optimisable digital factories, and customer-centric transformation. Top Technologies and Applications Fuelling the Digital Wave Control-on-the-go, data analytics, and robot-centric manufacturing are some technologies that are likely to pave the way for digitization in the manufacturing sector. - The manufacturing sector is expected to witness high data growth rate resulting in storage requirements increasing by % % year on year. End-user Perceptions on Smart Manufacturing Concepts Collaboration between ICT companies and manufacturing firms is expected to increase, to enable real-time data management and analytics. - This is to develop a workforce that diverts from performing routine tasks to focus on more value-added activities Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/3754588/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Chef Steven Sturm, corporate executive chef for Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, received the 2016 Produce Excellence in Foodservice Award for Casual and Family Dining Restaurants. Sponsored by PRO*ACT LLC and now in its ninth year, the program honors chefs and their companies for their innovative and influential use of fresh produce in the culinary arts. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351757LOGO "At Firebirds, we strive to offer our guests the freshest, boldest and most flavorful selections," said Chef Sturm. "It is an honor to be recognized for our work. Using fresh fruits and vegetables will continue to be an essential part of our menu development process." The winners will be honored at the United Fresh 2016 Convention and Trade show June 20-22 in Chicago. "These chefs showcase the best our industry has to offer by incorporating the freshest produce into their cuisine," said United Fresh CEO Tom Stenzel. "Chef Sturm uses fruits and vegetables in inventive ways, both on the regular Firebirds menu and with seasonally inspired feature offerings." These winners were selected from over 120 nominations submitted by produce companies and foodservice operations across North America. A panel of produce and foodservice industry leaders reviewed each nominee's incorporation of fresh produce into menu development, use of food safety protocols for proper storage and handling of produce, leadership in produce-related community service and special events and recognition by their company and industry peers. About Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Firebirds Wood Fired Grill is a collection of 38 polished-casual restaurants known for its bold flavors, warm hospitality and inviting atmosphere. Specializing in classic American cuisine grilled over an authentic wood-fired grill, Firebirds heightens the guests' experience with unexpected delights such as chilled salad plates, meticulous table manicuring and refreshed frozen martini glasses. Unique features, including stacked stone entryways, exclusive artwork and the award-winning FIREBAR provide a full-spectrum dining experience. The FIREBAR boasts a wide selection of artisan cocktails such as its signature Double Black Diamond Martini and a robust wine list, including its own private label wines, served at proper cellar temperatures. Firebirds' scratch kitchen features a variety of offerings infused with bold flavors, including items such as its Wood Grilled Salmon and Chile Rubbed Delmonico grilled over local hickory, oak or pecan wood. With its mission to "Serve, Enrich and Exceed," Firebirds prides itself on providing real value to its guests. Consistent community involvement and partnerships with organizations such as Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation, with over a half million dollars donated to ALSF through the sales of fresh-squeezed lemonade, are also a large part of how Firebirds weaves itself into the fabric of the local communities it serves. Firebirds was listed as part of the FSR 50 "Top 10 Fast-Growing Chains" and also received a Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence, as well as other national awards. For more information or to find a location, visit firebirdsrestaurants.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter at @FirebirdsGrill and Instagram at @FirebirdsGrill. Media Contact: Trey Newstedt 770-650-2608 SOURCE Firebirds Wood Fired Grill Related Links https://niles.firebirdsrestaurants.com WAUKESHA, Wisconsin, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Generac Holdings Inc. (NYSE: GNRC) ("Generac"), a leading designer and manufacturer of power generation equipment and other engine powered products, announced today the signing of an agreement to acquire a majority share of PR Industrial S.r.l and its subsidiaries, owner of the Pramac brand (collectively Pramac). The transaction is expected to close prior to the end of the first quarter of 2016. Founded in 1966 by the Campinoti family and headquartered in Siena, Italy, Pramac is a leading manufacturer of stationary and mobile generators for a variety of commercial and industrial applications primarily sold under the Pramac brand, as well as portable generators used for numerous residential, light construction and recreational purposes. The company also has a line of material handling equipment sold under the Lifter brand. Selling into over 150 countries through a broad distribution network, Pramac employs over 600 people across its four manufacturing plants and 14 commercial branches worldwide. "Acquiring a majority share of Pramac will be a great strategic fit for Generac as we build out our power generation business around the globe," said Aaron Jagdfeld, President and Chief Executive Officer. "This acquisition will dramatically increase our global presence by adding product, manufacturing and distribution capabilities that serve local markets around the world. In addition to creating global opportunities for our existing product lines, this transaction should also generate meaningful cost synergies as we leverage our combined sourcing and manufacturing capabilities across the world." CONTACT: Michael W. Harris Vice President Finance (262) 544-4811 x2675 [email protected] HTML http://www.infosol.com.mx/proyectos/generac/Generac-to-Acquire-Majority-Share-of-PR-Industrial.html Word http://www.infosol.com.mx/proyectos/generac/Generac-to-Acquire-Majority-Share-of-PR-Industrial.docx SOURCE Generac FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- GERTIE is the true story of an African-American woman navigating the post-slavery era of the early 1900s and refusing to be defined by her second-class citizenship. It is based on Author Michele A. Phelps Brown's recollections of her cousin Gertie, a forthright woman who despite growing up with the odds stacked against her as a black woman in a society divided by gender and oppressed by race, remained outspoken and unafraid. Told in traditional oral African-American syntax, this biography reveals Gertie's belief in self-preservation, folk healing, and the improvised solutions fostered by dire poverty. To survive, she will use everything at her disposal from her lively wit to her use of hoodoo root workers. Through the book, readers will get to see many folk remedies and country spells that Gertie used to support her friends and fend off her enemies. The book doesn't shy away from describing the social afflictions that decimated the African-American community of the time. The author does not back away from revealing how endemic many social dysfunctions among rural African-Americans were including child abuse, domestic violence, and promiscuity. As a young woman coming up in the world, Gertie must learn what behaviors to adopt and which ones to reject. GERTIE surveys the choices she made and the actions she took to weather her one hundred and one years of life. "All freedom did for us was make us pay money to be slaves," says Gertie. Yet she will defy her circumstances to lead a life of integrity. GERTIE is available in printed or ebook form on Amazon.com and through various online retailers. SOURCE Michele A. Phelps Brown LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Driven by emerging application markets such as new energy vehicles and industrial energy storage, the global lithium battery electrolyte market has been growing steadily. In 2015, the sales volume jumped by 42.1% year on year to 117,000 tons; and it is expected to exceed 600,000 tons in 2020. As the world's largest consumer of lithium battery electrolyte, China sold 63,000 tons of lithium battery electrolyte in 2015, up 48.9% year on year; the output value amounted to RMB2.86 billion, a year-on-year surge of 52.2%. The output value grew faster than the sales volume mainly because: First, functional electrolyte which is expensive than conventional electrolytic accounted for a rising proportion of the sales volume. Second, the soaring raw material prices pushed up the electrolyte price from RMB90,000/ton in early 2015 to over RMB200,000/ton at the end of the year. The uptrend is expected to continue in 2016. By applications, electric vehicle and energy storage will become major growth engines of lithium batteries. The global shipment of electric vehicle power lithium battery surged beyond 110% year on year to 20.8GWh in 2015, and will grow at the CAGR of above 50% in 2016-2020. However, the shipment of small lithium batteries used for consumer electronics represented by smart phones and tablet PCs will see sharp slowdown with an expected growth rate of 5% -10% in the future. Concerning the development trend, high voltage and temperature-resistant electrolyte will be the focus, mainly because: First, high voltage electrolyte (above 4.35V) makes up about 70% in the consumer electronics field, and the proportion will rise further in future. Second, high-voltage cathode materials are developing rapidly in the field of power and energy storage batteries, but the high-voltage resistant electrolyte is relatively backward now; only a small number of Japanese and American companies master high-voltage 5V electrolyte production technology, and the majority of Chinese enterprises have embarked on R & D of high-voltage electrolyte, but lagging behind the international level. In terms of competitive landscape, the global lithium battery electrolyte market is highly concentrated. In 2015, the world's top ten electrolyte companies seized the combined market share of approximately 62.2%. Capchem replaced Panax-Etec to become the world's largest manufacturer of lithium battery electrolyte with the market share of 9.2%, and Panax-Etec ranked second with 8.8%. Over the same period, China's top ten electrolyte manufacturers occupied the combined market share of over 85%. Panax-Etec sells 55% of its products to its biggest lithium electrolyte client -- Samsung SDI. In addition, the company shares some of its electrolyte patents with Samsung SDI. Being optimistic about Chinese new energy vehicle market, Mitsubishi Chemical has set up lithium battery electrolyte production base (Changshu city) and anode material production base (Qingdao city) in China, with the lithium battery electrolyte capacity of 10,000 t/a. Capchem acquired 76% stake in Zhangjiagang Hicomer Chemical Co., Ltd. (a producer of lithium battery additives) in 2014 to get involved in the upstream electrolyte industry chain. In 2015, it raised the lithium battery electrolyte capacity to 20,000 t/a, but its capacity utilization desired to be improved. Guotai Huarong put its 5,000 t/a lithium battery electrolyte project into operation formally in 2015, so that the company's lithium battery electrolyte capacity was expanded to 10,000 t/a. In addition, the company has also established South Korea Guotai Huarong to cooperate with South Korean customers in R & D of lithium battery electrolyte. Global and China Lithium Battery Electrolyte Industry Report, 2016-2020 by ResearchInChina highlights the followings: Development history, market size, competition pattern, development trend, etc. of lithium battery electrolyte worldwide; Market size, market price, competitive landscape, etc. of lithium battery electrolyte industry in China; Market size, competition, etc. of main upstream and downstream lithium battery electrolyte industries; Operation, customers, production, marketing, etc. of six foreign and ten Chinese lithium battery electrolyte manufacturers. Download the full report: https://www.reportbuyer.com/product/2590387/ About Reportbuyer Reportbuyer is a leading industry intelligence solution that provides all market research reports from top publishers http://www.reportbuyer.com For more information: Sarah Smith Research Advisor at Reportbuyer.com Email: [email protected] Tel: +44 208 816 85 48 Website: www.reportbuyer.com SOURCE ReportBuyer Related Links http://www.reportbuyer.com SAN DIEGO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI), the genomics-based, technology-driven company working to revolutionize the practice of medicine, announced today several key promotions and additions to the company's senior leadership team. Kenneth Bloom, M.D., will now assume the role of President of HLI. Bloom joined the company to head the oncology product area and to oversee laboratory operations. He will continue to oversee these areas and will lead all product development and commercialization as well as laboratory functions and operations. He reports directly to J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., HLI Co-founder and CEO. Ashley Van Zeeland, Ph.D., who joined HLI after the company's acquisition of Cypher Genomics, will now serve as Chief Technology Officer. In this role she will lead the development and commercialization of all software and database products and continue to enhance and refine the commercial genomic pipeline for HLI. Since joining HLI in November, Van Zeeland has been focused on leading the pediatric and rare disease group at HLI as well as integrating the Cypher software into HLI. Tom Wamberg has joined HLI as President of the company's Insurance and Corporate Business Group. "HLI's comprehensive suite of products and services are rapidly moving into the marketplace for a wide range of customers. As HLI has grown and evolved we are continuously striving to bring new expertise and top talent into the company as our products are commercialized. With Ken and Ashley moving into their new roles and with the addition of Tom, we are confident in our paths to commercialization and in our abilities to bring our vision for genomic-driven healthcare to reality," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO, HLI. Kenneth Bloom, M.D. Dr. Bloom has more than 30 years of clinical and business experience and has been an early adopter and big proponent of information technology to revolutionize pathology and other areas of medicine. He is also a prolific and renowned researcher and lecturer in pathology, cancer, telemedicine, and informatics. He comes to HLI most recently from GE Healthcare where he was since 2011 as Chief Medical Officer, In Vitro Diagnostics, Life Sciences. There he had oversight of Medical Affairs, Clinical Pathology Services, Pharma Pathology Services, Bioinformatics and Research and Development. He was also President and CEO of Clarient Pathology Services, the professional group contracted to provide pathology services to Clarient Diagnostic Services and SeqWright. In these roles he led the overall development and execution of the medical and scientific strategy, aligning them with the overall GE mission and business strategy. Prior to Clarient, Dr. Bloom was with US Labs where he was Senior Medical Director since 2002. In addition to Dr. Bloom's extensive business experience, he has held a series of impressive academic medical posts including Clinical Professor of Pathology at University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine; and Associate Professor of Pathology at Rush Medical College. Dr. Bloom received his M.D. from Rush Medical College and his B.A. from Grinnell College. Ashley Van Zeeland Dr. Van Zeeland joined HLI as part of the acquisition of Cypher Genomics, a leading genome interpretation company, where she was co-founder and CEO. Prior to founding Cypher Genomics, she served as Director, Strategic Partnerships at the Scripps Translational Science Institute where she focused on novel public-private partnerships to accelerate translational research. Before transitioning to her role as Director, Strategic Partnerships she was a research fellow at the Scripps Translational Science Institute working on multiple projects leveraging human genome sequencing to identify disease causative variants and biomarker signatures for various conditions. Dr. Van Zeeland has significant experience leading innovative scientific programs, including groundbreaking work in the genetics of autism, neurodevelopmental disorders and other rare genetic pediatric diseases. She received a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles and MBA from the University of California, San Diego. Tom Wamberg Wamberg is President, Insurance and Self-Insured Business Unit, at HLI. In his role, he will shape and direct HLI products such as whole genome and whole exome reports, as well as the HLI Health Nucleus, as offerings that insurance companies can bring to their clients. He will also be working with self-insured companies to offer whole genome, whole exome and Health Nucleus as benefits to their employees. In his 30-year career, Wamberg has built and led numerous financial and professional insurance services businesses. Wamberg comes to HLI most recently from Uniphy Health, a secure healthcare collaboration platform for physicians, a company he co-founded in 2013 and where he remains its Chairman. He previously started and led as Chairman and CEO two other consulting companies, Clark & Wamberg, LLC and Clark Inc. Wamberg is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and is a past president of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting. He has also been past president of the 25 Million-Dollar Forum, chairman of the Legislative Task Force and Nonqualified Benefit Plan committee, and has served as a member of the American Society of Pension Actuaries and the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Wamberg is also the author of three books covering various aspects of the insurance industry. He received his B.S. from Baldwin Wallace University. About Human Longevity, Inc Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) is the genomics-based, technology-driven company creating the world's largest and most comprehensive database of whole genome, phenotype and clinical data. HLI is developing and applying large scale computing and machine learning to make novel discoveries to revolutionize the practice of medicine. HLI's business also includes the HLI Health Nucleus, a genomic powered clinical research center which uses whole genome sequence analysis, advanced clinical imaging and innovative machine learning, along with curated personal health information, to deliver the most complete picture of individual health. For more information, please visit http://www.humanlongevity.com or http://www.healthnucleus.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140304/LA76169LOGO SOURCE Human Longevity, Inc. Related Links http://www.humanlongevity.com MERIDIAN, Idaho, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Idaho College and Career Readiness Academy (IDCCRA), a tuition-free, online public school, welcomes new and returning students for the 2016-2017 academic year. IDCCRA is an innovative, individualized high school for college and technical career-minded students. Students gain exposure to relevant technical and specialty trade skills from courses built around four career paths -- Website Development, Business and Marketing, Healthcare and Automated Manufacturing -- that help students prepare for industry certification tests after graduation. Courses allow students to gain a competitive edge in the workforce and explore a possible college major. The IDCCRA program allows for first year students to explore CTE courses, exposing them to all four potential pathways. In their second and subsequent years, students can begin to specialize, selecting from one of the four course clusters, which include: Healthcare: Planning, managing, and providing therapeutic services, diagnostic services, health informatics, support services, and biotechnology research and development. Planning, managing, and providing therapeutic services, diagnostic services, health informatics, support services, and biotechnology research and development. Business: Planning, organizing, directing and evaluating business functions essential to efficient and productive operations. Planning, organizing, directing and evaluating business functions essential to efficient and productive operations. Manufacturing: Planning, managing, and processing materials into intermediate or final products, and related professional and technical support activities such as production planning and control, maintenance, and manufacturing-process engineering. Planning, managing, and processing materials into intermediate or final products, and related professional and technical support activities such as production planning and control, maintenance, and manufacturing-process engineering. Web Design: Building linkages in IT occupations for entry level, technical, and professional careers related to the design, development, support and management of hardware, software, multimedia and systems integration services. Monti Pittman, Head of School, said "IDCCRA is a one-of-a-kind school setting in the state of Idaho. Students enrolled in IDCCRA receive an education that maximizes their exposure to a high-quality curriculum and allows students dive-deeper into a career subject area of their interest." IDCCRA is accepting enrollments for this fall. For more information on the school, visit http://idccra.k12.com. About Idaho College and Career Readiness Academy Idaho College and Career Readiness Academy (IDCCRA) is a full-time online public school program that serves students in grades 9 through 12. As part of the Idaho public school system, IDCCRA is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the award-winning curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's largest provider of proprietary curriculum and online education programs, alongside robust Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses. For more information, visit http://idccra.k12.com. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150901/263031LOGO SOURCE Idaho College and Career Readiness Academy Related Links http://idccra.k12.com BURLINGTON, Mass., April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- inVentiv Group Holdings, Inc., the parent company of inVentiv Health, Inc., today announced that it has filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to a proposed initial public offering of shares of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley, along with Goldman, Sachs & Co., Jefferies, Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays and Wells Fargo Securities will serve as bookrunners for the proposed initial public offering. This proposed offering will be made only by means of a prospectus. A copy of the preliminary prospectus relating to these securities, when available, may be obtained from Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, Eleven Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10010, by telephone at 1-800-221-1037 or by email at [email protected]; or Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC, Attention: Prospectus Department, 180 Varick Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10014. A registration statement relating to these securities has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, but has not yet become effective. These securities may not be sold nor may offers to buy be accepted prior to the time the registration statement becomes effective. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. About inVentiv Health inVentiv Health is a leading global provider of outsourced clinical development and commercialization services to biopharmaceutical companies. Contact Investors: Brandon Eldredge +1 781 425 4676 [email protected] Media: Sard Verbinnen & Co. Matt Benson/Devin Broda +1 212 687 8080 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150805/255613LOGO SOURCE inVentiv Group Holdings, Inc. TORONTO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The estate of Joseph Rotman is making a landmark $30 million gift to the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. The gift will help the Rotman School, already one of the leading global brands in management education, continue to be at the forefront of transforming management education and research. This latest gift from Joseph and Sandra Rotman makes them the most generous benefactors in the University's history, following numerous significant gifts over the past 20 years. This new $30 million gift will be matched by the University of Toronto in order to establish a $45 million Rotman Catalyst Fund as well as provide additional support to the School's highest priorities such as scholarships, faculty positions and infrastructure investments. The Rotman Catalyst Fund will act as a "venture fund" for the Rotman School, used to fund bold and innovative initiatives to continue to transform management education and to increase the impact of the School's students and new thinking. The Rotman Catalyst Fund was conceived by Joseph Rotman in collaboration with the leaders of the School shortly before he died. "The University of Toronto is immensely proud of the rise of the Rotman School of Management to the top ranks of business schools worldwide. We heartily support the School's aspirations for continued excellence and applaud Joe Rotman's brilliant vision for a catalyst fund. It will quickly stimulate and drive opportunities for major contributions to national issues such as prosperity, innovation, and leadership development," says Prof. Meric Gertler, President of the University of Toronto. "More than 20 years ago, Sandy and Joe believed that Canada needed a world class management school, which was the beginning of their commitment to the Rotman School and the University of Toronto," said Prof. Tiff Macklem, Dean of the Rotman School. "With their support, the School underwent a remarkable period of growth led by my predecessor Roger Martin. Today with this new support from the Rotman family, we will take the next leap forward with more intrepid thinking, innovative and transformative programs, and an enhanced commitment to experiential education and lifelong learning. We express our deep gratitude for Sandy and Joe's vision, foresight and enduring support." The Rotman Catalyst Fund will help the School continue to foster innovation to enable students to access previously unimagined innovations in business education, to enable faculty to conduct more ground-breaking research and to spur the delivery of a transformative student experience and lifelong alumni engagement. Specifically, the Rotman Catalyst Fund will support initiatives in the School's three areas of academic emphasisentrepreneurship and innovation, a global mindset, and leadership in financial management and good governance. It will seed intrepid thinking on the most pressing problems of our time. The Rotman School has already reached a tremendous level of success. In January, the School's faculty was ranked third in the world for its research by the Financial Times. Many of the School's research centres and hubs such as the Martin Prosperity Institute, the Clarkson Centre for Board Effectiveness, and the new Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman have achieved global prominence in their fields. In addition, the School's innovative labs including the Creative Destruction Lab, Self Development Lab, DesignWorks, and the BMO Financial Group Finance Research and Trading Lab are delivering unique opportunities for experiential education and personalized development for students. The Rotman Catalyst Fund will allow us to scale up our most successful initiatives and imagine new innovations. The Rotman School of Management is located in the heart of Canada's commercial and cultural capital and is part of the University of Toronto, one of the world's top 20 research universities. The Rotman School fosters a new way to think that enables our graduates to tackle today's global business and societal challenges. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca. For more information: Follow Rotman on Twitter @rotmanschool Watch Rotman on You Tube www.youtube.com/rotmanschool SOURCE Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto Related Links http://www.rotman.utoronto.ca WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The KM Institute, the global leader in Knowledge Management Certification, has added Change Management training to its growing curriculum, debuting with a symposium event this June focused on Transformational Change Leadership. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351607LOGO Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351608 Students can earn new CKS* Certification in Transformational Change Leadership, and past Grads (CKM) can earn their Master CKM in Transformational Change Leadership. The event, called the "Transformational Change Management and Leadership Symposium" will feature three tracks and up to 16 courses ranging from half-day to full-day classes. The event will be held June 27-29 at the Sheraton Tysons in Tyson's Corner, VA, outside Washington, DC. "Change management has rightfully focused on traditional communications and learning plans," says Douglas Weidner, KM Institute Chairman, "but change is accelerating. Today's Knowledge Age leaders need to master transformational leadership models and methods. For the first time, in one program, this symposium provides the knowledge and learning leadership skill sets well ahead of traditional offerings. The KM Institute's mission is to enable you to excel in the Knowledge Age. This symposium will set you on that path to success." KMI is partnering with leading experts and consultants in the Change Management space, including Jane Maliszewski (Owner, VAULT Associates), John Lewis, PhD (Co-Founder, CoHero Institute, LLC), Paula Pierce (CEO and Principle Culture Builder, Peridona Strategies), Katy Saulpaugh (Practice Lead at Enterprise Knowledge, LLC) and Arno Boresma (World Bank, and acclaimed consultant in Design Thinking). The entire event will be video recorded, so attendees can literally benefit from all sessions. These sessions will be converted to online/e-learning programs (2017), which will enable online Certification programs for the CKS and MCKM. Students who attend the debut event will be granted access to the e-learning courses when available. This training and its associated pre-requisite training for certification is ideal for anyone tasked to lead or help manage a traditional Change-related project, or an enterprise transformation such as a KM implementation entails. But all classes are open-enrollment master classes, not just certification programs. Common Change Management will be addressed, from IT adaptability to cultural awareness to leadership and personnel challenges. Plus new methods and techniques for enterprise transformation will be explored by leading consultants in the field. Registration is now available. Go to the main event page here: http://www.kminstitute.org/content/change-management-symposium-2016 and choose your path. Questions? Contact KMI at (US) 866-360-IKMI (4564) or email: [email protected] *CKS = Certified Knowledge Specialist. About the KM Institute Based in Washington DC, the KM Institute is the global leader in KM Certification and Training (many thousands certified since 2001 with classes delivered in over 23 countries). The KM Institute trains and certifies KM Team Members and Knowledge Workers in the methods and tools that enable individuals and organizations to transform (and substantially improve) human performance in the Knowledge Age. http://www.kminstitute.org Media contact: Eric Weidner 703-327-7096 SOURCE KM Institute Related Links http://www.kminstitute.org FUKUOKA, Japan, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyulux, Inc., an advanced materials startup that is commercializing the next generation of OLED display and lighting technology known as TADF (Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence), announced today that Samsung Venture Investment Corporation took the lead in a $13.5 million (1.5 Billion Japanese Yen) Series A round of venture funding. Participating in the round were global OLED panel manufacturers including Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display and JOLED, top tier Japanese venture capital funds, and a Japanese Government affiliated venture fund. Kyushu University also announced the transfer of a large portfolio of TADF related patents and equity participation by the university in the financing. Co-founder Professor Chihaya Adachi, the inventor of TADF technology said, "We are extremely pleased with the enormous response we have had from strategic partners and investors. This funding will allow Kyulux to develop TADF technology into the new de facto standard for OLED displays and lighting. Because our technology has achieved high efficiency and deep blue emission as well as red and green without using rare metals such as iridium that are required for the previous generation of phosphorescent emission that I was also an inventor of, we will now have an alternative that is better for the environment, cheaper to produce, and absent the finite limits that the supply of iridium would allow." Dr. Christopher Savoie, a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Kyulux stated, "We are very glad to announce this significant funding milestone and the agreement on technology transfer with Kyushu University. We have brought in some key global OLED leaders and world renowned investors who will give us a strong base to accelerate the market for this next generation of OLED technology." Junji Adachi, the visionary CTO of Kyulux who has led commercialization efforts for TADF for several years before co-founding Kyulux with Prof. Adachi stated, "We are confident in our development progress with novel TADF materials especially with support from our corporate partners. We will be introducing the next generation of emitting materials to the market very soon. We believe OLED displays with TADF will be the most prevalent interfaces for IoT in the future." Apple recently reported plans to begin using OLED display technology for its devices such as the iPhone starting in 2018. This move by Apple will cause the global OLED market to increase dramatically. OLED market researchers estimate that the OLED market will reach more than $32B worldwide in 2020. About Kyulux Kyulux is a leader in developing and delivering the next generation of organic light emitting diode (OLED) technology, TADF. Kyulux develops and sells TADF and Hyperfluoresence based OLED materials and solutions to manufacturers in the display and lighting industries. Founded in 2015, the Company currently owns or has exclusive or co-exclusive rights to a large TADF intellectual property portfolio developed over the past seven years at Kyushu University and its industrial partners. Kyulux's cofounder and inventor of TADF technology, Prof. Chihaya Adachi, is widely viewed as the top global researcher in OLED technology, having been a key author and inventor in all previous generations of OLED materials used globally everyday by consumers of cell phones, televisions, and other displays. Based in Fukuoka, Japan, Kyulux enjoys global development partnerships with some of the leading manufacturers in the display market. Kyulux and the Kyulux logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Kyulux, Inc. All other company, brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks. Follow Kyulux on Facebook Kyulux Inc. Suite #2-227, FiaS, 4-1 Kyudai Shinmachi, Nishi, Fukuoka 819-0388, Japan Junji Adachi, CTO Phone: +81-92-834-9518 URL: http://www.kyulux.com/ Email SOURCE Kyulux, Inc. Related Links http://www.kyulux.com WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A new regulatory standard requiring those who advise retirement investors to act in the best interests of their clients was approved today. This measure is expected to save hard-working Americans billions of dollars in fees while driving much needed pro-consumer reforms of the stock brokerage, mutual fund and insurance industries. Rebalance IRA, a leading investment firm, played a central role in helping to achieve this pro-consumer victory. The Firm is a key member of the Save Our Retirement coalition and Managing Director Scott Puritz testified before the U.S. Senate (see testimony) as it evaluated the new rule. During his testimony, Puritz noted: "The story we see over and over again is all too familiar- a client at a brokerage firm who is stunned to find out that their so-called trusted retirement investment advisor does not have a fiduciary responsibility." Most American workers assume that their retirement advisor acts in their best interest, exercising what is known as a "fiduciary" responsibility. Unfortunately, the reality is that investment advisors often recommend the funds that pay them the largest commissions and fail to disclose a second level of fees charged by the mutual funds and shared with the advisor, observed Puritz. The U.S. Department of Labor finalized the landmark federal rule today, ending an epic five-year political struggle against armies of lobbyists and multiple congressional bills aimed at derailing the regulation. The current, vague requirement that an investment be "suitable" to a client will be replaced by an unequivocal standard that requires anyone offering retirement investment advice to clearly put clients' interests ahead of their own. "This is an extraordinary victory for the American consumer," said Puritz. "The U.S. Department of Labor has estimated that consumers lose over $17 billion through excessive fees every year, draining investment accounts of money needed for retirement. "Regrettably, this is an industry built upon hiding fees and offering conflicted advice," Puritz continued. "When fully implemented, the U.S. Department of Labor's new rule requires putting the interests of retirement savers first and mandates a much higher level of disclosure regarding fees and potential conflicts of interest. Once consumers finally are armed with accurate information, the transformative power of the free market system has the potential to drive fees lower and dramatically expand the quality of retirement investing options. "Labor Secretary Thomas Perez and his team should be commended for persevering in the face of serious opposition by the brokers," he concluded. "All too often, investors in retirement plans pay higher fees than they should and their accounts contain high-cost funds that reward the provider of advice rather than the client," observed Professor Burton G. Malkiel, one of America's foremost economists and a member of the Rebalance IRA Investment Committee. "Business models that depend on selling high-cost, low-value retirement investment products aren't going to cut it any more. The fiduciary standard will accelerate the process of changing outmoded and ineffectual financial business models to better address the needs of small investors." About Rebalance IRA Rebalance IRA is one of America's leading investment firms that is at the forefront of providing consumers with a fundamentally different and better set of retirement investment options: lower costs, "endowment-quality" globally-diversified retirement investment portfolios, and systematic rebalancing. This investment approach is combined with a team of sophisticated and highly credentialed finance professionals who provide advice that is unbiased and focuses on the client's long-term retirement investment goals. The Firm's Investment Committee is anchored by three of the most respected experts in the finance world: Princeton Economics Professor Burton Malkiel, author of the classic investment book, A Random Walk Down Wall Street; Dr. Charles Ellis, the former longtime chairman of the Yale University Endowment; and Jay Vivian, the former Managing Director of IBM's $100+ billion in retirement investment funds for more than 300,000 employees worldwide. Rebalance IRA's innovative, pro-consumer approach to retirement investing has garnered high profile coverage. The Firm, and its leadership, regularly have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Fox, PBS, Forbes, USA Today, CNBC, Nightly Business Review, CBS, The Washington Post, The Economist, and a wide range of other national and local media. Managing Directors Scott Puritz and Mitchell Tuchman are acknowledged industry thought leaders, and Mr. Puritz recently testified before a U.S. Senate Committee evaluating the U.S. Department of Labor's new fiduciary rule. Rebalance IRA is headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif. and Bethesda, Md., and currently manages more than $360 million of client assets. For more information, visit www.rebalance-ira.com. Contact: Norman Black The Hatcher Group 301-656-0348 SOURCE Rebalance IRA Related Links http://www.rebalance-ira.com IRVING, Texas, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Lightbeam Health Solutions, Inc., a leader in end-to-end population health management solutions, announced today the acquisition of Browsersoft, Inc. Based in Shawnee Mission, KS, Browsersoft is a privately held health information exchange (HIE) solution provider for hospitals, health systems, states, communities and other stakeholders within the US and various global markets. Browersoft's OpenHRE solution enables healthcare communities to exchange data from disparate systems enabling providers to have the most comprehensive, up-to-date patient information resulting in better coordinated care, improved quality and reduced costs. The platform has been deployed in over sixty (60) communities within the US and in various global markets and Browsersoft has successfully demonstrated their capabilities in multiple IHE Connectathons both in the US and Europe. "Lightbeam is committed to our leadership position in the population health technology space. Maintaining the lead in interoperability and data aggregation solutions is therefore a strategic imperative. It all starts with the data," said Jerry Shultz, president of Lightbeam. "In addition to our extensive data acquisition assets, OpenHRE will enable the two-way exchange of clinical data and will allow providers to have the most current health information for each patient. The result of all this will be improved care coordination and a lower cost of care." Don Grodecki, Browsersoft CEO, added: "We believe our health information exchange products will enhance Lightbeam Health's population health management product suite. We look forward to working with the Lightbeam team and their customers, as well as our existing customers, to provide an industry leading solution that will enable providers to more readily exchange clinical data for the patient populations under their care." About Lightbeam Health Solutions Lightbeam Health Solutions delivers a revolutionary model for managing patient populations and associated risk. Lightbeam's vision is to bring health data into the light through the use of analytics, and to provide the insight and capabilities healthcare clients need to ensure patients receive the right care at the right time. Lightbeam's platform facilitates end-to-end population health management for ACOs, Payers, Large Provider Groups, Health Systems and other healthcare organizations aspiring to provide superior care at a lower cost. For more information, visit www.lightbeamhealth.com. PRLog ID: www.prlog.org/12547338 SOURCE Lightbeam Health Solutions Related Links http://www.lightbeamhealth.com WASHINGTON and NEW YORK and London, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Allergan and Pfizer announced they are calling off their proposed merger. MarketResearch.com is pleased to provide further insights into this new development. In December 2015, the two companies announced the proposed merger at a total enterprise value of approximately $160 billion, which would bring Pfizer back into a therapeutic area of focus of dermatology. It also would have created the world's largest drug company and moved Pfizer-Allergan's headquarters to Ireland, where the corporate tax rate is 18% as opposed to the U.S. corporate tax rate of 35%. To learn more about what the deal included, read this blog post from industry expert Kalorama Information: http://www.kaloramainformation.com/article/2015-12/Pfizer-Back-Dermatologics-Allergan-Deal The decision to call off the merger was "by mutual agreement." Pfizer cited the Treasury's new regulations, which were issued on Monday, to make tax inversions less lucrative. The Treasury Department's latest rules take aim at U.S. companies that move their headquarters overseas to lower their tax bills. According to Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew, "We are announcing additional actions to further rein in inversions and reduce the ability of companies to avoid taxes through earnings stripping." With the discussion of a merger now over, the two drug makers will have to focus on other strategies to boost profits and sales. To learn more about Allergan and Pfizer, check out all of MarketResearch.com's reports on these companies: About MarketResearch.com MarketResearch.com is the leading provider of global market intelligence products and services. With research reports from more than 720 top consulting and advisory firms, MarketResearch.com offers instant online access to the world's most extensive database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends. Moreover, MarketResearch.com's Research Specialists have in-depth knowledge of the publishers and the various types of reports in their respective industries and are ready to provide research assistance. Follow us on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/marketresearch Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/marketresearchdotcom Follow us on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/marketresearch_ Press Contact: Caitlin Stewart 240.747.3086 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150819/259741LOGO SOURCE MarketResearch.com Related Links http://www.marketresearch.com SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- In the age of globalization in which more people are pushed to use the major languages in their business and everyday lives, there is one app that wants to continue to allow people throughout the world communicate in their native tongues despite the digital-era push towards a homogenous society. Kika Keyboard is the only smartphone application that has a team of linguists and engineers working together to make sure the younger generations, who tend to communicate via text and messaging apps, have the opportunity to communicate in their native languages. Where other tech companies have ignored the needs of larger alphabets and distinct characters needed for some lesser-known languages, Kika Tech and its Kika Keyboard product have stepped up and focused on providing this invaluable service. "We have observed the transition from the analog era to the digital era, and if we want our language to survive, we have to make more applications like Kika Keyboard," - Rail Salminov, Bashkort Projects Community Coordinator. Recently CCTV News America spoke to Rail Salminov who lives in a place called Bashkortostan (a Russian republic) and discovered that nearly 80% of the republic's population that uses smartphones had downloaded and use the Kika Keyboard app for their text-based communication. Previously their only option was to type in Russian, which is similar but not the same as their native Bashkir. Another reason for the high conversion rates, is that Kika Keyboard does not only support their language and nearly 70 other languages, it is also one of the world's top downloaded keyboard apps in the Google Play store and comes with 1600 emojis, plus hugely popular stickers and GIFs. Kika Tech is not stopping here though, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility mission, Kika's engineers are also designing keyboards for the Tartar and Romansh languages, along with an updated French keyboard that will finally give the French all the intricate characters and accents that their language requires but have been absent from the normal French language keyboards. Learn more about this story by contacting Kika Tech and see the keyboard firsthand by downloading Kika Keyboard from the Google Play store. http://bit.ly/KikaGP About Kika Tech Kika's mission is to provide users with a seamless mobile experience that allows them to freely express their ideas. More than just emoji and GIF sharing, Kika's keyboard apps provide our users with super fast typing & swiping, natural language prediction, theme & layout customization, and an open plugin platform capable of making any task more convenient. Quick Facts #1 Keyboard on the U.S. Google Play Store 130 Million Downloads +300,000 New Downloads Every Day Over 40 Million Monthly Active Users Product Family - Kika Keyboard, Emoji Keyboard Pro, & Emoji Plus SOURCE Kika Tech Inc NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has committed over $25 million to support an expected 60 new MS research projects, as well as 7 MS clinical training awards. These are part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at stopping MS, restoring function that has been lost, and ending the disease forever for every single person with MS. This financial commitment is the latest in the Society's relentless research efforts to move us closer to a world free of MS, and part of a projected investment of $54 million in 2016 alone to support more than 380 new and ongoing studies around the world. The Society pursues all promising paths, while focusing on priority areas including progressive MS, nervous system repair, gene/environmental risk factors and wellness and lifestyle. Just a few of the new cutting-edge research projects include an ambitious project at Harvard and the University of California, San Francisco that tracks a group of people with MS over time and creates a platform to enable researchers worldwide to identify factors that drive MS progression; a clinical trial in Germany and the U.S. testing an online program to treat MS-related depression to increase wellness; a study at Ohio State University looking at whether low vitamin D in early life increases the risk of developing MS; and a Collaborative MS Center at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota focusing on whether abnormal energy production in nerve cells contributes to nerve degeneration, and strategies to correct it in MS. The Society is also launching 7 clinical training awards to increase the number of MS specialists who can provide the highest quality of care to people with MS. Download details about the new research awards. "The comprehensive nature of these new research investments is very exciting," notes Bruce Bebo, PhD, National MS Society's Executive Vice President, Research. "We're funding scientific breakthroughs that will propel the knowledge we need to end MS and identify everyday solutions that change the lives of people with all forms of the disease." Multiple sclerosis disrupts the flow of information within the brain and between the brain and the body. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. Worldwide, over 2.3 million people live with the unpredictable challenges of multiple sclerosis. To find the best research with the most promise, the National MS Society relies on more than 130 world-class scientists who volunteer their time to carefully evaluate hundreds of proposals every year. This rigorous evaluation process assures that Society funds fuel research that delivers results in the shortest time possible. There are FDA-approved therapies that can impact the underlying disease course in people with the more common forms of MS. However, none of these can stop progression or reverse the damage to restore function. National MS Society-funded research paved the way for existing therapies none of which existed just several decades ago and continues to be a driving force of MS research. About Multiple Sclerosis Multiple sclerosis is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system that disrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body. Symptoms vary from person to person and range from numbness and tingling, to walking difficulties, fatigue, dizziness and pain, to depression, blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are leading to better understanding and moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with at least two to three times more women than men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 2.3 million worldwide. About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society The Society mobilizes people and resources so that everyone affected by multiple sclerosis can live their best lives as we stop MS in its tracks, restore what has been lost and end MS forever. To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. Last year alone, through our comprehensive nationwide network, the Society devoted $122.2 million to help more than one million individuals connect to the people, information and resources they need. To move closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested $54 million to support more than 380 new and ongoing research projects around the world. Early and ongoing treatment with an FDA-approved therapy can make a difference for people with multiple sclerosis. Learn about your options by talking to your health care professional and contacting the National MS Society at nationalMSsociety.org or 1-800-344-4867. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090302/DC77093LOGO SOURCE National Multiple Sclerosis Society Related Links http://www.nmss.org WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- National Small Business Week 2016 kicks off next month, May 1-2, with an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. where national award winners including the naming of this year's national Small Business Person of the Year will be recognized and awarded for their achievements. This year's theme is "Dream Big, Start Small." National Small Business Week is being held from May 1-7, and is an annual event hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration to recognize the nation's top small businesses, entrepreneurs, small business advocates and champions. SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet will host all the awardees at the national awards ceremony and events. The rest of the week she will be traveling across the country promoting and attending numerous events recognizing the tremendous contributions of small businesses, women entrepreneurs, millennial entrepreneurs, immigrant entrepreneurs and veterans. Cosponsors Every year, National Small Business Week is made possible thanks in part to the support of cosponsors. Our presenting sponsor this year is Chase for Business along with our Gold, Silver and Bronze level sponsors who provide the resources to make this recognition week possible. The below companies have joined forces with SBA to help celebrate National Small Business Week 2016: Presenting Sponsor Chase for Business Lead Sponsor SCORE Gold Level Sponsor ADP Silver Level Sponsors Colonial Life Intuit Square YP Bronze Level Sponsors ESET Facebook Instagram Lockheed Martin Microsoft National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders (NAGGL) VEDC Events throughout the week will be live-streamed on SBA's website. Make sure to check in during the event for live social media engagement, using the hashtag #DreamSmallBiz. For additional information on National Small Business Week, please visit http://www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek About the Small Business Administration The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 and since January 13, 2012 has served as a Cabinet-level agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, the SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. www.sba.gov Cosponsorship Authorization #SBW2016 SBA's participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any Cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA/SCORE programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact: [email protected]. SCORE is partially funded by SBA Cooperative Agreement No. SBAHQ-14-S-0001. Release Number: 16-24 Contact: Terry Sutherland (202) 205-6919 Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110909/DC65875LOGO SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration Related Links http://www.sba.gov CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Economic mobility in every region of North Carolina ranks well below the national average, according to a new report, and unless communities create better opportunities, the limited chances of success for a growing portion of the population could jeopardize the state's economic future. Building on recent national economic mobility studies, the North Carolina analysis also found promising initiatives across the state to strengthen the education-to-career continuum and prepare more people for occupations that command family-supporting wages. The report includes a roadmap communities can follow to create better opportunities, particularly for low-income, first-generation and minority students. "This study advances national research that has drawn attention to troubling economic and educational realities in North Carolina," said David Dodson, president of MDC, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center in Durham that conducted the study. "While the report identifies serious challenges for the state's long-term economic health, it also found communities building an infrastructure of opportunity that moves people toward better paying occupations and can be replicated statewide." The report, "North Carolina's Economic Imperative: Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity," was commissioned by the Charlotte-based John M. Belk Endowment to illuminate strengths and weaknesses in the education-to-career continuum and promote systemic change through collaboration among government, businesses and communities. "A growing number of North Carolinians do not have the education and skills they need to perform jobs that can support a family," said Kristy Teskey, executive director of the John M. Belk Endowment. "The most important takeaway is that family-sustaining jobs require more than a high school diploma, so we must do everything we can to help more people attain postsecondary credentials and degrees that align with workforce needs." The study examines education, income and workforce data, and profiles innovative efforts to boost mobility in eight communities across the state. It documents the link between education and economic success: While 31 percent of North Carolinians who attain only a high school degree live in poverty, just 5 percent of people with a bachelor's degree are in poverty. Among other findings: Upward mobility in 22 of North Carolina's 24 regions called "commuting zones" ranks within the bottom quarter nationally and Charlotte , Raleigh , Fayetteville and Greensboro rank in the bottom 10 of the nation's 100 largest commuting zones. 24 regions called "commuting zones" ranks within the bottom quarter nationally and , , and rank in the bottom 10 of the nation's 100 largest commuting zones. While mobility varies depending on where people live, only about one-third of children born into North Carolina families making less than $25,000 annually manage to climb into middle and upper income levels as adults. families making less than annually manage to climb into middle and upper income levels as adults. Latinos and African Americans are more likely than whites to be in poverty and attain lower levels of education, leaving them less prepared for high-skill, well-paying jobs and those disparities will increasingly affect North Carolina's economy as these populations grow to make up a larger proportion of the population. economy as these populations grow to make up a larger proportion of the population. A family of one parent and one child needs an income of $21 an hour to cover basic living expenses in North Carolina , yet only 26 percent of full-time jobs pay median earnings of that amount. Upward mobility is poor in both rural and urban areas of North Carolina, particularly in areas with high levels of income inequality and segregated housing, low performing K-12 schools, and low levels of postsecondary education. "One key piece of the solution is that corporations and businesses need to play a bigger role in working with educators, government and community organizations to ensure we are developing the talent our advanced economy needs and guiding students toward better paying jobs that are in demand and can elevate their quality of life," said Dodson. In coming months, MDC and the John M. Belk Endowment will engage communities in conversations about how they can create infrastructures of opportunity, and also will lend support to efforts that better connect education and workforce to prepare more people for family-sustaining work. To download a copy of the report, go to North Carolina's Economic Imperative: Building an Infrastructure of Opportunity. About MDC MDC is a Durham, N.C.-based nonprofit that has published State of the South reports for 20 years and whose mission is to help communities, organizations, and leaders close the gaps that separate people from opportunity. Founded in 1967 to help North Carolina make the transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy and from a segregated to an integrated workforce, MDC now brings together foundations, nonprofits, and leaders from government, business and the grassroots to build equity in the South through courageous conversations and systemic community solutions. About John M. Belk Endowment The John M. Belk Endowment is a private family foundation committed to creating a stronger North Carolina by improving access to postsecondary education for all students, increasing the number of students who complete postsecondary degrees and credentials, and ensuring that graduates can secure lifelong, family-sustaining employment. Founded in 1995 by John M. Belk and headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the Endowment funds and partners with organizations that are leading the way for systemic change to better align education with workforce needs in a global economy through collaboration with educators, policymakers, employers and communities. For more information, please visit www.jmbendowment.org. SOURCE John M. Belk Endowment Related Links http://www.jmbendowment.org This year's show takes a strong significance in the industry since the Paris Climate Change Conference was held last year and the Korean government decided double its investment of R&D in clean energy from 1.5 trillion won. Some of the global companies that are participating in the show are Schmid from Germany, JA Solar from China, and ABB from Switzerland, specializing in electric equipment, power grid and smart grid, and high-efficiency solar module. In Korea, some of the major power corporates like KEPCO, KOGAS(Korea Gas Corporation), and Daesung Energy joined, along with smaller companies that came up with brilliant development in new renewable energy like Shinsung Solar Energy, BJ Power, and Parang E&C. The City of Daegu is introducing the three major new energy industries represented by dispersed power self-sufficient energy city, national industrial district block-type micro grid implementation project, and smart grid expansion project. Gyeongbuk Province is introducing the environmental-friendly Ulleung-do project by using micro grid. Also, these two hosts are introducing the electric car, hybrid car, and clean diesel car together. The tracks in the International Green Energy Conference will be divided by the type of power including fuel cell, wind power, water power, natural resource map, coal gas, as well as global solar power market insight, which will be hosted by Korean and foreign specialists, and they will be presenting the topics in terms of market, technology, policy, and finance. Also, GPVC 2016(Global Photovoltaic Conference) participated by 500 people from 12 countries will be held during the show. Co-organized by KOTRA and Pohang Technopark, there will be an export consultation between 100 buyers from 15 countries and the exhibitors. Also as a cooperative project to implement the marine and wind power between Korea and Netherlands, there will be a signing ceremony between Wind Mind and Haecheon. Also, New Renewable Energy Business Conference hosted by Turkey Foreign Investment Agency will be held. SOURCE AVING News ORLANDO, Fla., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Orlando Abstract Expressionist artist Arland Michael Simmons has been selected by a jury of international art experts to participate in the Artexpo, [FOTO SOLO] 2016 in New York. The exhibition displays at Pier 94 NYC, on April 14th to 17th, 2016. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351812 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351813 Arland Michael Simmons, a native of Orlando, Florida, demonstrated his innate artistic talent at a very early age, and he and was fortunate to be encouraged and supported by his parents. Arland's original passion, which is painting, is a story of inspiration in itself. Each creation is symbolic of his spiritual relationship with God, and his commitment and love for his family. Each painting represents a rebirth, which is an opportunity for mankind to right the imperfection and sorrows of the world. Through his use of bold and vibrant colors, his creative imagery leaps from the canvas and engages even the casual art enthusiast. "Art that not only touches the heart, but the eyes." "I am very excited about the opportunity to exhibit my work at Artexpo New York," commented Simmons. "My purpose as an artist is to create abstract cubism paintings with a heavy textured medium that are an experiment of people and the many layers of life experiences that it takes to complete a person's soul. Painting allows me to define myself in relation to the world and how we view it." Artexpo New York, the annual juried art show, taking place at Pier 94 in the heart of New York City, will run from Thursday, April 14 to Sunday, April 17, 2016. Artexpo New York will host hundreds of art publishers, gallery owners, and artists from around the globe. This year's show will host more than 400 exhibitors, showcasing original prints, paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, giclee, lithographs, glass works, and more. Artexpo 2016 will include three shows under one roof: Artexpo New York, the world's largest fine art trade show; [SOLO], highlighting established and emerging independent artists. [SOLO] offers established and emerging independent artists the opportunity to showcase their work on an international stage, [SOLO] has become the ultimate venue for independent artists to be discovered not only by gallery owners and art publishers, but also by collectors and enthusiasts in search of exciting new works. Further details can be found on the official website at www.artexponewyork.com. Passionate, engaging, creative and challenging unique with style and flare is the simplest way to describe the beautiful artistic creations of this artist Arland Michael Simmons. For further information about Arland Michael Simmons' work including dates and showings, please visit the website at www.arlandsimmons.com or email [email protected]. Contact: Arland Michael Simmons Tel: 407-592-3831 Alt: 407-592-3832 SOURCE Arland Michael Simmons Related Links http://www.arlandsimmons.com ASHLAND, Ore., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- PLEXIS Healthcare Systems, today announced it has achieved a Gold Application Development competency, demonstrating a "best-in-class" ability and commitment to meet Microsoft Corp. customers' evolving needs in today's dynamic business environment and distinguishing itself within the top 1 percent of Microsoft's partner ecosystem. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351874LOGO To earn a Microsoft gold competency, partners must successfully complete exams (resulting in Microsoft Certified Professionals) to prove their level of technology expertise, and then designate these certified professionals uniquely to one Microsoft competency, ensuring a certain level of staffing capacity. They also must submit customer references that demonstrate successful projects (along with implementing a yearly customer satisfaction study), meet a revenue commitment, and pass technology and/or sales assessments. PLEXIS' Deep Technological Experience "The Microsoft Gold Application Development competency reflects our long-term experience working with the world-class Microsoft solution-set," said Pete Escobar, PLEXIS' Vice President of Product Development. "It showcases our expertise in and commitment to today's technology market and demonstrates our deep knowledge of Microsoft and its products." The technological architecture of PLEXIS' leading platform approach to payer software is built upon the Microsoft solution-set. This system design ensures nearly unlimited scalability to serve both small and large payer organizations world-wide. Healthcare payers utilize this solid technological foundation to maintain flexibility and optimize organizational growth over the lifetime of their business. Application Development Earning the Application Development competency helps partners differentiate themselves as a trusted expert to their customers through development and deployment of commercial or custom applications built using core Microsoft technologies like Windows Server and Windows 8 operating systems, the Windows Azure platform, Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 development system, Microsoft BizTalk Server and emerging cloud-based and web business models. By gaining access to a comprehensive set of benefits through the Application Development competency, partners can acquire new customers and help them be more productive and profitable through deployment of business applications, advanced web portals or rich client user interfaces that run on premises or in the cloud. The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners strengthen their capabilities to showcase leadership in the marketplace on the latest technology, to better serve customers and, with 640,000 Microsoft partners in their ecosystem, to easily connect with one of the most active, diverse networks in the world. "By achieving a gold competency, partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the latest Microsoft technology," said Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. "These partners have a deep expertise that puts them in the top 1 percent of our partner ecosystem, and their proficiency will help customers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft technology." PLEXIS Healthcare Systems In its 20th year of service to global healthcare payer and delivery systems, PLEXIS Healthcare Systems is a leading technology company that delivers trusted enterprise core administration and claims management solutions. PLEXIS empowers the business of healthcare, igniting growth, innovation, and efficiencies across business lines for diverse payer organizations. Based in Ashland, Oregon, PLEXIS currently serves organizations in 37 states (doing business in all 50), 15 countries, and over 70 million people worldwide. PLEXIS provides mission-critical solutions that catalyze efficiencies and connect evolving business ecosystems. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com SOURCE PLEXIS Healthcare Systems Related Links https://www.plexishealth.com "Aragon Research provides leading insights into emerging digital disruptors of Silicon Valley and in technology sectors useful to all businesses," said Rob McGillen, founder and CEO of Practically Digital. "Bringing those insights together with our proven transformation experiences makes perfect sense, and is something different than found elsewhere in the market today. Together, we provide the 'why', 'what', and 'how' for clients in their digital transformation journey." Jim Lundy, Founder and CEO of Aragon Research commented, "I have worked with Rob for many years and look forward to our strategic partnership." Lundy continued, "Our deep understanding of strategy and technology makes for the perfect combination to help clients succeed." Rob McGillen will join Aragon Research in an advisory capacity as "CIO in Residence" as part of the strategic partnership. Prior to founding Practically Digital, Rob was the global head of technology and CIO for Grant Thornton LLP, a public accounting firm located in 130 countries with 40,000+ employees. For more information about the Digital Transformation offerings, go to www.practically.digital/services About Practically Digital Practically Digital is a Chicago based technology consulting firm which specializes in digital strategy formation, innovative technology solutions, cognitive computing applications, and IT due diligence / mergers support. With a focus on entrepreneurial and growth minded companies, Practically Digital helps business leaders achieve digital transformation through practical advice. For more information, visit www.practically.digital About Aragon Research Aragon Research is the newest technology research and advisory firm. Aragon delivers high impact advisory, interactive research and consulting services to provide enterprises the insight they need to help them make better technology and strategy decisions. Aragon Research serves business and IT leaders and has a proven team of veteran analysts. For more information, visit http://www.aragonresearch.com Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351756 SOURCE Practically Digital, LLC Related Links http://www.practically.digital ATLANTA, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. (NYSE: APTS) today announced plans to release its first quarter 2016 earnings after the market closes on Monday, May 2, 2016. Following are the details of a conference call Preferred Apartment Communities will host on Tuesday, May 3, 2016, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss its first quarter 2016 results. To participate in the conference call, please dial in to the following: Live Conference Call Details Domestic Dial-in Number: (800) 860-2442 International Dial-in Number: (412) 858-4600 Company: Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Date: Tuesday, May 3, 2016 Time: 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) The live broadcast of Preferred Apartment Communities' first quarter conference call will be available online, on a listen-only basis, at the company's website, www.pacapts.com, under "Investors" and then click on the "Upcoming Events" link. A replay of the call will be archived on Preferred Apartment Communities' website under Investors/Audio Archive. About Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. is a Maryland corporation formed primarily to acquire and operate multifamily properties in select targeted markets throughout the United States. As part of our business strategy, we may enter into forward purchase contracts or purchase options for to-be-built multifamily communities and we may make real estate related loans, provide deposit arrangements, or provide performance assurances, as may be necessary or appropriate, in connection with the development of multifamily communities and other properties. As a secondary strategy, we may acquire or originate senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or mezzanine debt secured by interests in multifamily properties, membership or partnership interests in multifamily properties and other multifamily related assets and invest not more than 20% of our assets in other real estate related investments such as grocery-anchored shopping centers, senior mortgage loans, subordinate loans or mezzanine debt secured by interests in grocery-anchored shopping centers, membership or partnership interests in grocery-anchored shopping centers and other grocery-anchored shopping center related assets as determined by our manager as appropriate for us. Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. has elected to be taxed as a real estate investment trust under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, commencing with its tax year ended December 31, 2011. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151105/284364LOGO SOURCE Preferred Apartment Communities, Inc. Related Links http://www.pacapts.com NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Shareholder rights law firm Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP has commenced an investigation of Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) concerning possible breaches of fiduciary duty by its board of directors. If you are a shareholder of Autodesk and are interested in obtaining additional information regarding your rights, free of charge, please visit us at: http://pjlfirm.com/autodesk-inc/ You may also contact Robert H. Lefkowitz, Esq. either via email at [email protected] or by telephone at 212-725-1000. One of our attorneys will personally speak with you about the case at no cost or obligation. Purcell Julie Lefkowitz LLP is a law firm exclusively committed to representing shareholders nationwide who are victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty and other types of corporate misconduct. For more information about the firm and its attorneys, please visit http://pjlfirm.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. SOURCE Purcell Julie & Lefkowitz LLP Related Links http://www.pjlfirm.com BETHESDA, Md., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SANS Institute, the global leader in information security training, today announced its ICS515: ICS Active Defense and Incident Response is now available OnDemand. This popular course empowers students to build an active defense against advanced adversaries targeting industrial control systems (ICS). Providing access to this course via the SANS OnDemand e-learning platform allows students to train anytime, anywhere at their own pace. According to Robert M. Lee, SANS Certified Instructor, course author of SANS ICS515, and Founder of Dragos Security, "ICS515 is the only class in the world to provide hands on training for ICS/SCADA incident response and active defense techniques and tradecraft. Taking an active defense is required when dealing with sophisticated and targeted adversaries such as those that we have seen in the BlackEnergy2 and HAVEX campaigns as well as the Ukrainian power grid and German steel works attacks. Taking ICS515 to an OnDemand format makes the class accessible to those who are not able to travel to conferences or cannot commit five days in a row to learn the material. Allowing students to have access to the material for four months ensures that any styled learner can take away everything intended from the class without being rushed." The ICS515: ICS Active Defense and Incident Response course will teach students how to monitor their ICS environment for threats. Students will learn how to deconstruct ICS cyber attacks, leverage an active defense to identify and counter threats in their ICS, and use incident response procedures to maintain the safety and reliability of operations. SANS OnDemand enables cybersecurity students to learn at their own pace and provides extended training access to more than 30 SANS information security courses. The SANS OnDemand e-learning platform includes a mix of presentation slides, video demonstrations, interactive labs, and assessment tests supported with video and/or audio from SANS' top instructors teaching the material. To learn more about SANS OnDemand or to register for an OnDemand course, including ICS515: ICS Active Defense and Incident Response, please visit: www.sans.org/u/fYm. Students that register for a SANS OnDemand course by April 27th will receive special discounted pricing. About SANS Institute The SANS Institute was established in 1989 as a cooperative research and education organization. SANS is the most trusted and, by far, the largest provider of cyber security training and certification to professionals at governments and commercial institutions world-wide. Renowned SANS instructors teach over 50 different courses at more than 200 live cyber security training events as well as online. GIAC, an affiliate of the SANS Institute, validates employee qualifications via 30 hands-on, technical certifications in information security. The SANS Technology Institute, a regionally accredited independent subsidiary, offers master's degrees in cyber security. SANS offers a myriad of free resources to the InfoSec community including consensus projects, research reports, and newsletters; it also operates the Internet's early warning system--the Internet Storm Center. At the heart of SANS are the many security practitioners, representing varied global organizations from corporations to universities, working together to help the entire information security community. (www.SANS.org) SOURCE SANS Institute Related Links http://www.sans.org The #SleepRevolution College Tour, coming to more than 50 college campuses across the United States runs April 8 through May 13. The Tour will focus on teaching college students about the importance of sleep and the dangers of sleep deprivation based on current sleep science. The #SleepRevolution College Tour coincides with the launch of Arianna Huffington's new book, THE SLEEP REVOLUTION: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time (Harmony Books, on sale April 5), on the science, history and mystery of sleep. Since National Sleep Foundation's report noted that one in three people suffer from some form of insomnia, working on solving this issue is critical in the United States, Canada and beyond. Through the #SleepRevolution College Tour, students will be able to learn good sleep hygiene at a young age that they can carry through their entire life. "Students' health and productivity are threatened by the lack of sleep they endure," states Richard Shane, Ph.D. and founder of Sleep Easily, "that's why we are pleased to join The Huffington Post #SleepRevolution College Tour to increase student awareness about the importance of sleep." Sleep Easily is not hypnosis or meditationit's a technique. Quickly learned through audio recordings and written material, it teaches you five specific physical triggers you can use to fall asleep tonight! The Sleep Easily Method is available on the company's website. For more information on the Sleep Easily Method visit http://sleepeasily.com. Sleep Easily encourages people to talk about their sleep difficulties so we can deal effectively with them and improve health nationwide. Share this: Join @sleepeasily in promoting better sleep health for the #SleepRevolution College Tour! About Sleep Easily One in three people suffer from insomnia. Sleep Easily provides a medication-free sleep solution to help them sleep well and perform better during the day. The Sleep Easily method was developed by Richard Shane, Ph.D. For over 25 years, Dr. Shane has helped more than 2,000 insomnia patients sleep better. In an independent study with Sleep Easily used by police, firefighters, commercial airline pilots and the general public, 81.6 percent of participants reported improved sleep. Sleep Easily LLC is based in Boulder, Colorado. To learn more, visit http://sleepeasily.com. Media Contact: Mary Cochran Sleep Easily Director of Marketing 303-818-3978 [email protected] @mccochran Available Topic Expert: For information on the listed expert, click appropriate link. Richard Shane ProfNet - http://www.profnetconnect.com/drshane Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160111/321188LOGO SOURCE Sleep Easily Related Links http://sleepeasily.com NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Smartling today announced that it has acquired Techstars accelerator alumnus Jargon, a mobile technology company that provides a radically easy way for global brands to localize their mobile applications. The acquisition augments Smartling's industry leading Global Fluency Platform, enabling the company to empower global brands with instant, over-the-air localization of mobile apps and on-device quality assurance (QA) testing. Now the world's most ambitious brands will have the ability to easily capture all the nuance and character of their content in their mobile applications, so they look and feel local to global audiences. In many parts of the world, mobile is the only way to engage with customers. Fully localized mobile apps in most languages lead to more downloads, more customers and more purchases. However, for most enterprises, mobile app localization is a time-consuming and complicated process. Every change to an iOS or Android app typically requires an app store review, which can take weeks to complete. Simply adding a new language, or modifying a single word of translation, often requires weeks to reach a global audience. In today's fast-moving mobile world, this is not acceptable. With the acquisition, Smartling is uniquely addressing this major pain point for companies and further transforming the way global content is created, consumed and managed. The Jargon technology provides enterprises with the unprecedented ability to easily and instantly localize global content by simply dropping a single line of code into a mobile app. Any new content, new languages or corrections can be immediately pushed over-the-air to native apps around the world. "To truly help enterprises with all of their localized content needs, a service provider must offer technology that handles every type of content. Companies need real process automation solutions across every platform and every channel," said Jack Welde, co-founder and chief executive officer, Smartling. "This acquisition augments our comprehensive API and impressive set of direct platform connectors, filling out the mobile channel in a way that no other company in the industry can match. This is the first of several strategic developments to come as we seek to expand our Global Fluency Platform's capabilities as well as our own market footprint through organic growth and acquisition." Beyond over-the-air updates, the Jargon technology also introduces a far superior approach to QA testing on mobile devices. Mobile apps with smaller screen sizes mean that localized content and longer words in some languages can prove problematic for a mobile design, or worse, cause an app to crash. Jargon developed an elegant set of interfaces that allow developers and localization professionals to test apps across any language via specialized mobile QA workflows, revise translations directly on the app, or flag problems to be fixed by the translator or developer. No other app localization solution on the market offers a comprehensive set of interfaces for translating and performing QA on a mobile app, in-context, directly within the app and on the actual device. "It is gratifying to see the technology we worked so tirelessly to develop go to an industry innovator like Smartling," said AJ Cihla, chief executive officer, Jargon. "This acquisition is a most effective means of concluding our work and providing continuity to our customers, which represent both public enterprises and top-ranked consumer mobile companies around the world. Smartling's platform is a robust offering for all major web content platforms, document management, and developer files. Now, with our technology, Smartling can also provide a simple, yet sophisticated solution to the mobile localization challenge making mobile localization virtually effortless." Smartling is in the process of fully integrating the Jargon technology into the Smartling Global Fluency Platform. However, the company has already experienced market demand for the combined solution, deploying more than a dozen implementations year-to-date. Smartling's enhanced offering solves a very specific need for enterprises rapidly and effectively localizing mobile apps on an ongoing basis. About Smartling Smartling's content solution helps brands gain a more competitive global position by transforming the way their content is created and consumed around the world. Smartling's technology, the Global Fluency Platform, helps brands access new markets, more customers and greater value. Smartling enables brands such as British Airways, InterContinental Hotels Group, Uber, AdRoll, Shinola, Spotify, Pinterest, Hasbro and SurveyMonkey to provide truly native brand experiences. Smartling is headquartered in NYC with over 150 employees. For more information, please visit: www.smartling.com. Media Contact: Amy Krigman LEWIS Global Communications 781-418-2449 [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150909/264857LOGO SOURCE Smartling Related Links http://www.smartling.com SHANGHAI, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consumer demand for high quality dairy and beverage products in the health and wellness space is growing. As a global provider of food processing equipment and solutions, SPX FLOW, Inc. has established its new Innovation Center in Shanghai to help producers create innovative dairy products and beverages that are both healthy and tasty. Customers using this facility can test new product formulations to help bring their creations to market more quickly, thereby potentially giving their business a competitive edge. The SPX FLOW Innovation Center offers food and beverage manufacturers state-of-the-art facilities for the trialing and testing of new processes and recipes prior to full scale production. It includes a wide range of pilot thermal processing, mixing, dispersion, separation and other processing technologies for customers to establish optimum process conditions and help ensure their food and beverage products provide the necessary characteristics to meet consumer demands. "Innovation in food and beverage processing is at the heart of SPX FLOW. The investment we have made in the new Shanghai facility is designed to support the growing nutritional beverage market in this region and give vital, local support to our customers," said Marc Michael, SPX FLOW President and CEO. "We are not just a technology supplier; we are a partner for growth and will continue to work hard to help define future markets as well as support them." SPX FLOW has a long history in serving the food and beverage market and vast experience in food and beverage industry. Its continued research and development of technologies have enabled its customers to produce premium products more quickly at lower cost. The new center in Shanghai, in addition to SPX FLOW's existing centers in Denmark and France, is supported by local and global food, beverage and technology specialists that can help optimize processes, improve existing products, develop new products and ensure smooth scale-up to full production. About SPX FLOW, Inc.: Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SPX FLOW is a leading global supplier of highly engineered flow components, process equipment and turn-key systems, along with the related aftermarket parts and services, into the food and beverage, power and energy and industrial end markets. SPX FLOW has more than $2 billion in annual revenues and approximately 8,000 employees with operations in over 35 countries and sales in over 150 countries around the world. To learn more about SPX FLOW, please visit our website at www.spxflow.com. Certain statements in this press release, including any relating to impacts of the Innovation Center, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and are subject to the safe harbor created thereby. Please read these results in conjunction with the company's documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's annual reports on Form 10-K, and any amendments thereto, and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. These filings identify important risk factors and other uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from these statements. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, estimates of future operating results are based on the company's current complement of businesses, which is subject to change. Statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release, and SPX FLOW disclaims any responsibility to update or revise such statements. Investor and Media Contact: Ryan Taylor, Vice President, Communications, Market Insights and Financial Planning Phone: 704-752-4486 E-mail: [email protected] APAC Contact: Annie Zhang, Marketing & Communications Manager, APAC Food and Beverage Phone: +86 21 2208 5695 Email: [email protected] SOURCE SPX FLOW, Inc. Related Links http://www.spxflow.com "My mama inspired me to cook and in turn I want to pass down the traditions, starting with my nephew Jojo," said Chef Martita Jara, Food Network Star Alumni and cast member of OWN's Home Made Simple. "We've been cooking with the HERDEZ brand since he was able to sit up. Sharing these moments with our kids means the world to them." In honor of the holiday, Chef Martita Jara and Jojo have created simple kid-friendly recipes with everyday household ingredients like tortillas, cheese, salsa and broccoli to help kids and families collaborate in the kitchen, preparing easy after school snacks, light lunches and even dinner together. Available exclusively on www.herdeztraditions.com, Martita and Jojo's recipes include: Pizza Casera -- This all-time favorite gives traditional pizza an HERDEZ brand twist. Featuring a combination of Salsa Casera, Salsa Verde, on a tortilla crust, topped with jack cheese, ham, basil, herbs and a touch of olive oil. Perfect for a quick and tasty after-school snack. -- This all-time favorite gives traditional pizza an HERDEZ brand twist. Featuring a combination of Salsa Casera, Salsa Verde, on a tortilla crust, topped with jack cheese, ham, basil, herbs and a touch of olive oil. Perfect for a quick and tasty after-school snack. Albondigas de Pollo a la Barbacoa -- Barbeque delight! This version of meatballs including chicken, jack cheese, HERDEZ Salsa Verde, oregano, breadcrumbs, spices and homemade barbeque sauce will create fun forms in the kitchen culminating in a leisurely light lunch. -- Barbeque delight! This version of meatballs including chicken, jack cheese, HERDEZ Salsa Verde, oregano, breadcrumbs, spices and homemade barbeque sauce will create fun forms in the kitchen culminating in a leisurely light lunch. Mac and Cheese Verde -- No kid-friendly recipe is complete without mouthwatering mac and cheese. This take incorporates pasta, tortillas, milk, butter, broccoli, sharp cheddar, HERDEZ Salsa Verde, Maseca, a touch of olive oil and spices to taste for a crisp, creamy creation. -- No kid-friendly recipe is complete without mouthwatering mac and cheese. This take incorporates pasta, tortillas, milk, butter, broccoli, sharp cheddar, HERDEZ Salsa Verde, Maseca, a touch of olive oil and spices to taste for a crisp, creamy creation. Cheesy Spinach Enchiladas-- This appetizing arrangement is made with tortillas, spinach, jack cheese, corn, avocado, olive oil, spices and a combination of HERDEZ Salsa Casera and Salsa Verde. Inspired by traditional enchiladas and elaborated with kid-friendly ingredients, this recipe is a delicious dinner-must the whole family can enjoy. "Food is always a part of the celebration! Most of our happy childhood memories are centered around our Tia's kitchen," said Gilberto Gutierrez, senior brand manager for the HERDEZ brand. "Martita and Jojo's Dia del Nino recipes are an easy and fun way to celebrate our kids and get them involved in the cooking experience." To further encourage the celebration, the makers of the HERDEZ brand are hosting a "Celebrate Your Chef" video and photo social media contest so families can get that extra motivation to jump in the kitchen with their kids and win fun prizes. Simply cook with your kid, capture the moment and share on Facebook or Instagram using #HERDEZKids for a chance to WIN $1,000 cash, cooking classes and prizes. All participants are eligible for a free child-size apron while supplies last. For more information on the HERDEZ Brand "Celebrate Your Chef" Contest, to download kid-friendly recipes or learn more about the holiday visit www.herdeztraditions.com/dia-del-nino. Follow the HERDEZ brand via social media on Facebook and Instagram @HERDEZTraditions and on Twitter @HERDEZBrand. Join the conversation via #HERDEZKids. About the HERDEZ Brand HERDEZ salsa is made the authentic way, using fresh ingredients like tomatoes, onions, chile peppers and cilantro. Today, HERDEZ Salsa is the No.1 selling salsa brand in Mexico and a growing staple in homes in the United States. HERDEZ authentic Mexican products are available nationwide at major grocery stores. Visit www.herdeztraditions.com for more information. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352310 SOURCE HERDEZ Brand Related Links http://www.herdeztraditions.com UTICA, N.Y., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Utica College has just received approval to offer six new online certificate programs in advanced computer forensics, cyber operations, cyber crime and fraud investigation, cybersecurity technologies, cyber network defense and advanced cyber policy. In collaboration with UC's industry partners, the new programs were created to answer current industry needs. Financial institutions, in particular, are facing increased regulation coupled with greater cybersecurity threats, and they need cybersecurity professionals with specific technical and operational skills. "Each of these new certificates prepares our students to take on specific challenges in business, industry or government positions," said Joseph Giordano, professor and chair of cybersecurity programs at Utica College. Utica College, recognized by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education, was the seventh institution in the nation to earn a National Center for Digital Forensics Academic Excellence award from the Defense Cyber Crime Center, a U.S. Department of Defense agency. The advanced computer forensics certificate program is designed to provide students with the detailed knowledge to investigate computer and network-related cyber incidents. Students will complete courses such as advanced topics in cyber crime investigations and computer forensics, as well as access methods and data hiding. The cyber crime and fraud investigation certificate familiarizes students with the technologies used to investigate white collar crime, financial crime and fraud. It includes courses on fraud prevention and detection techniques, cyber technologies for criminal justice, and payment systems and fraud. The cybersecurity technologies certificate provides students with the basic foundation to understand cybersecurity, computer forensics and other related technical areas. Students will complete courses including computer hardware and peripherals, software foundations for cybersecurity and information security. The certificate in cyber operations provides students with an understanding of the tools and techniques used to actively protect cyberspace systems and networks in both cyber defense and cyber-attack domains. Students apply the latest tools and technologies in hands-on, controlled experimental environments. In addition, students examine how data-hiding methods such as steganography and anonymity are used in the conduct of cyberspace operations. The cyber network defense certificate will provide students with the foundational skills to apply defense measures to networks and information systems. They will take courses including system vulnerability assessment and information system threats, attacks and defenses. The cyber policy advanced certificate is designed to give students an overview of the constitutional, legal and public policy issues associated with the field of cybersecurity. Students will take courses in cyberspace law, the law and ethics of cyberspace espionage and international aspects of cyber policy. Each of the certificates requires students to complete 18 credit hours of online courses relevant to business management, cybersecurity and financial crime and compliance management. Most credits may be applied to the appropriate degree programs if a student wishes to continue. The new programs add to Utica's suite of online and campus-based undergraduate and graduate-level cyber programs. Utica College has been a pioneer in specialized cybersecurity, higher education programs, addressing the needs that are critical to intelligence, military, national defense, corporate and law enforcement organizations. For more information, visit programs.online.utica.edu/programs/online-certificates.asp. About Utica College Utica College, founded in 1946, is a comprehensive private institution offering bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees. The College, located in upstate central New York, approximately 90 miles west of Albany and 50 miles east of Syracuse, currently enrolls more than 4,400 students in 38 undergraduate majors, 31 minors, 21 graduate programs and a number of pre-professional and special programs. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130916/DC80456LOGO Contact: Christine Leogrande, Director of Media Relations, (315) 223-2519 [email protected] SOURCE Utica College Related Links http://www.utica.edu SILICON SLOPES, Utah, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- To support its strong year-over-year business growth and business transformation, YA, one of the largest engagement marketing and promotional companies, implemented Workfront to meet faster time-to-market requirements while remaining committed to executional excellence. Because all employees now have visibility into the hundreds of campaigns being run monthly, YA has seen strong efficiency improvement across the organization. Prior to deploying Workfront, project managers used several approaches to communicate project goals to their cross-functional team colleagues, but did not have a comprehensive view of communications or milestones across all of the 300-500 campaigns running monthly. And although they already had a legacy time-tracking system in place, they wanted a single, integrated project and resource management solution that would enable better collaboration, visibility and accountability. Now YA's more than 150 employees in every department within the company use Workfront to communicate about client projects in real time. The single platform has reduced email traffic, and staff members now have a clear repository and chain of information. The historical record that Workfront provides is especially helpful in getting new and existing employees or teams up to speed as they are joining a new project. "We absolutely see the benefits of greater standardization, transparency and accountability," said Chris Behrens, YA President and CEO. "In Workfront, every project has clear deliverables and deadlines. With every functional team using the solution, we gain efficiencies across the board from proposal development to project delivery." In addition to the increase in efficiency following its deployment of Workfront, YA has also benefited from better visibility into resource utilization and the ability to provide complete project transparency across teams. "Looking ahead, we can see the value of adding Workfront functionality to help us become more efficient while we simultaneously transform and grow our business," said Janeen Coyle, YA Senior Vice President, PMO and Client Delivery. Read the complete case study, https://www.workfront.com/enterprise/resource/casestudy/ya-case-study. To learn more about how Workfront can help your team, visit https://www.workfront.com. Follow us on social: Follow @Workfront_Inc on Twitter Like Workfront on Facebook About Workfront Workfront is a cloud-based Enterprise Work Management solution that helps marketing, IT and other enterprise teams conquer the chaos of excessive email, redundant status meetings and disconnected tools. Unlike other tools, Workfront Enterprise Work Cloud is a centralized, easy-to-adopt solution for managing and collaborating on all types of work through the entire work lifecycle, which improves team productivity and executive visibility. Workfront is trusted by thousands of global enterprises, like Cars.com, Cisco Systems, Comcast, iProspect, Schneider Electric and Trek. To learn more, visit www.workfront.com or follow us on Twitter @Workfront_Inc. About YA For more than 40 years, YA has been a leader in the promotional marketing services space. We deliver flawless digital, mobile and traditional promotions such as rebates/rewards, enter-to-win and loyalty programs for the nation's most respected brands. Our end-to-end management of 3,500+ promotions that reach tens of millions of consumers annually makes us experts at turning even first-time customers into loyal brand advocates. More information on YA can be found at www.yaengage.com or follow YA on Twitter @YAEngage. Contact: Shelbi Gomez [email protected] 801-477-9813 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150121/170565LOGO SOURCE Workfront Related Links http://www.workfront.com NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Yext today announced its exclusive partnership with goldenpages.be, Belgium's largest digital media company, giving them sole rights to leverage Yext's location management technology for small businesses in Belgium. Supported by Yext's PowerListings Network, the world's largest global listings network, goldenpages.be will be able to help its customers easily manage and update their location data on listing sites across the web in real-time, in order to engage local Belgian consumers, improve brand awareness, and drive more sales. goldenpages.be is a versatile digital marketing agency focused on helping Belgian companies grow their businesses through a wide set of marketing and communications solutions, which can be customized and tailored to each business' specific needs. goldenpages.be also offers complementary directory services (mobile, online, print, and telephone) to help potential customers quickly and easily find businesses they are searching for in their local region. Through the exclusive partnership with Yext, goldenpages.be will be able to offer the Belgian SMEs using its solution with a much more comprehensive platform for their location data through the global PowerListings Network, which includes 100+ maps, apps, search engines and directories, such as Google, Apple, and Facebook. By leveraging Yext's real-time updating capabilities, goldenpages.be's customers can ensure they always have accurate, complete, and consistent business information everywhere customers are searching, in order to drive more foot traffic through their stores' front doors. "With this exclusive partnership with goldenpages.be, Yext continues to strengthen its international presence and solidify its status as the market leader in location data management for businesses worldwide," said Howard Lerman. "We're proud to be able to offer our product to Belgian businesses through goldenpages.be, and help them harness the power of location to reach their local customers and drive more foot traffic." "We're very excited to launch this partnership with Yext and help our customers improve their store location information to engage more consumers and build their businesses," said goldenpages.be Marketing Director Wim Vermeulen . "As Belgians are increasingly searching for business information online, sites, maps, and apps like Google and Facebook, as well as navigation tools, such as Garmin, are obviously a huge source of search traffic for our customers. That's why we're thrilled to be able to offer them real-time, automated updates across the country's most popular online platforms, including a local player like openingsuren.be." About Yext Yext is the global location data management leader, and our mission is to help people go places. The award-winning Yext Location Management Platform enables companies of all sizes to manage location data across their websites, mobile apps, internal systems, and the industry's largest ecosystem of maps, apps, social networks, directories, and search engines including Google, Apple, Facebook, Bing, and Yahoo. Our productsPowerListings, Pages, and Xoneenable the world's 50 million businesses to drive face-to-face and digital interactions that boost brand awareness, drive foot traffic, and increase sales. Based in the heart of New York City with a growing team of over 475 employees worldwide, Yext has been recognized as one of America's fastest growing companies by the Inc. 500 (#212 in 2015), one of Forbes' Most Promising Companies (2014 & 2015) and one of Fortune's Best Places to Work (2014 & 2015). Learn more about how we help people go places at www.yext.com. About goldenpages.be goldenpages.be, the largest digital media company in Belgium, helps all Belgian companies in growing their business. As a versatile digital marketing agency, goldenpages.be assists entrepreneurs by offering them a full set of flexible and effective marketing and communication solutions, tailored to their specific needs. The complementary services (mobile, online, print and telephone) allow potential clients to quickly and easily find the businesses and suppliers they are looking for in their region. goldenpages.be is owned by Truvo Belgium. For more information go to www.info.goldenpages.be. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150223/177279LOGO SOURCE Yext Related Links http://www.yext.com --===============0098388744133834070== Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha512; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="6WlEvdN9Dv0WHSBl" Content-Disposition: inline --6WlEvdN9Dv0WHSBl Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline ========================================================================== Ubuntu Security Notice USN-2947-2 April 06, 2016 linux-lts-wily vulnerabilities ========================================================================== A security issue affects these releases of Ubuntu and its derivatives: - Ubuntu 14.04 LTS Summary: Several security issues were fixed in the kernel. Software Description: - linux-lts-wily: Linux hardware enablement kernel from Wily for Trusty Details: Ralf Spenneberg discovered that the usbvision driver in the Linux kernel did not properly sanity check the interfaces and endpoints reported by the device. An attacker with physical access could cause a denial of service (system crash). (CVE-2015-7833) Venkatesh Pottem discovered a use-after-free vulnerability in the Linux kernel's CXGB3 driver. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2015-8812) Xiaofei Rex Guo discovered a timing side channel vulnerability in the Linux Extended Verification Module (EVM). An attacker could use this to affect system integrity. (CVE-2016-2085) It was discovered that the extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) implementation in the Linux kernel did not correctly compute branch offsets for backward jumps after ctx expansion. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2016-2383) David Herrmann discovered that the Linux kernel incorrectly accounted file descriptors to the original opener for in-flight file descriptors sent over a unix domain socket. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (resource exhaustion). (CVE-2016-2550) It was discovered that the Linux kernel did not enforce limits on the amount of data allocated to buffer pipes. A local attacker could use this to cause a denial of service (resource exhaustion). (CVE-2016-2847) Update instructions: The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS: linux-image-4.2.0-35-generic 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-generic-lpae 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-lowlatency 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-powerpc-e500mc 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-powerpc-smp 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-powerpc64-emb 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 linux-image-4.2.0-35-powerpc64-smp 4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 After a standard system update you need to reboot your computer to make all the necessary changes. ATTENTION: Due to an unavoidable ABI change the kernel updates have been given a new version number, which requires you to recompile and reinstall all third party kernel modules you might have installed. Unless you manually uninstalled the standard kernel metapackages (e.g. linux-generic, linux-generic-lts-RELEASE, linux-virtual, linux-powerpc), a standard system upgrade will automatically perform this as well. References: http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-2947-2 http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-2947-1 CVE-2015-7833, CVE-2015-8812, CVE-2016-2085, CVE-2016-2383, CVE-2016-2550, CVE-2016-2847 Package Information: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-lts-wily/4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1 --6WlEvdN9Dv0WHSBl Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1 iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJXBMIhAAoJEC8Jno0AXoH0tX0P/iOqEZAUXc9jbh4usQCx3PnH tJtn9XA1opIc+aHK2aP0j7RYyX7mHSyTxO5IipEfLt/FNSvc+wi+vmO0QemVuxtk MPbz92X9Ek9/5vtChF0sAxd9LV5I9Xti4Yox83kaKhSuDEWuNZDCBUsH7uqCRq6g 7krD7HIgQQ2+8AB2AP8Icfv91qkvt2TP9xI45K4t3saRB9BqclnAi7EMSY1MVgMf wJI6veyf0bb2oxaPd4vskXjLt0J96J+0qSj6y0MFr7oiNzMyLzSSi36sJTzdbhHc n/1iN+fgKJkq9xjiT189Qui/u1xl4vO4vksabIy5b8A87jsWYD/X1b3H9B1QkM/N imScLhZDB83mhxqyU7XAmHvvCkf6uQm+ESotj5lbqfXwFhSo/5tOxFQSEkA6lf34 IwYB1iyac3ST+1xxsB4M+1sCm3kIMF6wwt4TJmhtXDqe4e1UFxU555c7taSil93d T/WP0WDGrGydzZa5A+3CGM2Feqte3kSACSyEg25Kr0MRzU5IzLSckMvZTpLuEb5k bV8nG/7G0pxX06teVj4qJtjwPx8QNRk10zfLaUbUrxIfX3CDQy+KCff/f6pYgCYj 1l10QuSr9Vm1QwdI+ikGVMsDWqEpmJUFHEI/eM7wxNRbhYK/OF6A67byekisuSTT bvUhJA6rs1VjDhhLCBKc =D5BA -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --6WlEvdN9Dv0WHSBl-- --===============0098388744133834070== Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline -- ubuntu-security-announce mailing list ubuntu-security-announce@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-security-announce --===============0098388744133834070==-- United Nations, April 2 : China's Permanent Representative Liu Jieyi has reiterated Beijing's claim that Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohamed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar does not qualify as a terrorist who would have to face UN sanctions, after China put on hold a ban sought by India on the Pathankot terror attacks mastermind. Speaking to reporters here Friday after assuming the rotating presidency of the Security Council, Liu asserted that Azhar did not meet "the Council's requirements" to be considered a terrorist. Asked about China exercising a virtual veto at the UN sanctions committee by putting a hold on Azhar being declared a terrorist subject to a range of punitive actions, Liu made a general statement: "Individuals and orgnisations on the sanctions list of the United Nations would have to meet the requirements. It is the responsibility of all the members of the Council to make sure that each requirement is followed." Pressed further about in what way Azhar fell short of being a terrorist, Liu only said: "The Council's requirements" - implying that he (Azhar) did not meet them. Liu would not go into details. Following the January 2 attack on the Pathankot air force base, India had requested the sanctions committee in February to include Azhar in its list of terrorists. The action by the panel, popularly known as the 1267 committee after the Council's resolution number setting it up, would have required Pakistan and other countries to freeze his assets and ban his travel. At the committee's meeting on Monday, all the other 14 members of the Council supported placing Azhar on the list, but China put a hold on it, which is in effect a veto. The exercise of veto through holds by permanent members in the sanctions committee falls into gray area as it appears to extend the right beyond the Council where the veto is recognised by the Charter. India has called it a "hidden veto". This is the second time that China has come to the aid of Pakistani terrorists in the sactions committee. Last June, China blocked India's demand for taking action under the Council's anti-terrorism resolutions against Pakistan for freeing Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lashkar-e-Taiba mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed. India has criticised Beijing's latest action to prop up Pakistan-based terrorists. External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said Friday it was "incomprehensible" that while JeM was listed by the sanctions committee as far back as 2001 "for its terror activities and links to the Al Qaeda, the designation of the group's main leader, financier and motivator has been put on a technical hold". In the statement issued in Washington, where he is accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Swarup said the committee's "working methods, based on the principles of unanimity and anonymity, is leading the Committee to adopt a selective approach to combating terrorism. This does not reflect well on the determination that the international community needs to display to decisively defeat the menace of terrorism." Islamabad, April 3 : Iran has conveyed to Pakistan that it is investigating whether an alleged Indian spy arrested last month in Balochistan crossed the border illegally or was picked up from its soil, the Express Tribune reported on Sunday. Kulbhushan Jadhav, said to be a RAW agent arrested on March 3, was reportedly deployed in Iran's Chabahar port before crossing into Balochistan to meet some separatist leaders. Iranian authorities have directly and indirectly conveyed to Pakistan that they are investigating whether or not Jadhav crossed into Pakistan illegally, the daily said. India, which has already disclaimed Jadhav as a spy, has alleged that the Indian national was picked up from the Iranian soil. It was putting pressure on Tehran to register a case against Pakistani agencies, the daily quoted sources as saying. India was also seeking to enlist support of the US, Britain and France to convince Iran to go by its claim that Jadhav was kidnapped from the Iranian soil, it said, adding that New Delhi has even threatened Tehran to choose between Pakistan and India, leaving Iran in a quandary. India was investing billions of rupees in the Special Economic Zone in Chabahar, a port New Delhi has partially built and developed. Lying in the Gulf of Oman, Chabahar port gives India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia, bypassing Pakistan, to conduct trade. Moreover, India also buys a large share of its oil from Iran. Pakistan has already handed over evidence regarding Jadhav's arrest to key world powers, including the US and Britain, but they have yet not responded, the daily said. New Delhi, April 3 : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said imposition of excise duty on jewellery items will bring back Inspector Raj in the country. "The excise duty is sought to be introduced without consulting the jewellers. I have written a letter to the prime minister that the government is not going to benefit by this tax. Rather, it will give rise to corruption. The excise inspectors will ask for bribes from the jewellers," Kejriwal said while addressing the protesting jewellers at Jantar Mantar here. He said he met President Pranab Mukherjee to discuss the issue. "When the United Progressive Alliance government was in power, Pranab Mukherjee as the then union finance minister had also introduced the same tax in 2012. However, the then Congress-led government had to roll back the tax after resistance from the jewellers. The president also agreed with the view that it will bring the Inspector Raj back in the country," Kejriwal said. The chief minister said Modi himself had opposed the excise duty on jewellery when he was Gujarat chief minister. "In 2012, Modi also wrote that the excise duty will bring Inspector Raj. But now, as prime minister, Modi has imposed the same tax he opposed as the chief minister. What has changed now?" Kejriwal said if the central government was so keen on increasing its revenue it should recover the money lent to big corporate houses. "The banks have failed to recover Rs.7.3 lakh crore lent to 10 big corporate houses in the country. Those businessmen were not even paying any interest. The government will not have to impose unnecessary taxes on the common man if it manages to recover the money," he said. Taking a dig at Jaitley, the chief minister advised Modi to leave the union finance minister's company. "Jaitley doesn't have to contest any polls; but Modi ji, you have to face the people again in future. You are more experienced than me, but still I'd advice you to leave his (Jaitley) company or he would land you in trouble," Kejriwal told the gathering. Lakhs of jewellers across the country have been protesting the budgetary proposal to impose one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. Their strike continued for the 33rd day on Sunday. Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston Kolkata, April 4 : West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, who is the Trinamool Congress' candidate from Khardaha in North 24 Parganas, possesses assets in excess of Rs.7.50 crore. Mitra, whose annual income for the year 2014-15 stood at Rs.14.82 lakh, has movable assets worth over Rs.4.97 crore and immovable assets in excess of Rs.2.76 crore, as revealed by his affidavit filed with the Election Commission. His movable assets mostly comprise of bank and fixed deposits besides a car worth Rs.1.68 lakh and 4 kg silver valued at Rs.1.28 lakh. A noted economist, who received his PhD from US' Duke University, Mitra's immovable properties include two plots of non-agricultural land in West Bengal and residential apartments, jointly owned with his wife, in New Delhi and Gurgaon. His wife Meera has declared annual income of Rs.16.98 lakh in 2014-15 and possesses assets worth over Rs.4 crore including movable assets of Rs.1.34 crore. The assets of Mitra, a former secretary-general of business chamber FICCI, have grown by over Rs.2 crore in the last five years. In the 2011 assembly polls, he had declared they were worth over Rs.4.80 crore of which Rs.1.94 crore were in movable assets. Jammu, April 5 : Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minster Mehbooba Mufti allocated portfolios to her team of ministers here overnight and told the ministers to "perform or people will teach a lesson". Chairing her first cabinet meeting late Monday night after she took over as the first woman chief minister of country's only Muslim majority state, Mufti told her ministerial colleagues: "Perform or else the people will teach you a lesson." Having already lost nearly three months in re-stitching an alliance her late father Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had tailored by calling it 'the meeting of the north and the south', Mufti settled down to administrative business immediately after being sworn in here on Monday. Nirmal Singh (BJP), deputy chief minister has been allotted power development, housing and urban department portfolios. Abdul Rehman Bhat Veeri (PDP) is the new minister for roads and buildings and parliamentary affairs. Haseeb Drabu (PDP) gets the all important portfolio of finance, planning and culture. Naeem Akhtar (PDP) has again been allotted the education portfolio. Abdul Haq (PDP) get rural development, panchayati raj and law. Syed Basharat Bukhar (PDP) has been allotted revenue, relief and rehabilitation. During his 10-month stint as education minister Akhtar was 'blamed' in a lighter vein for having pushed non-performing teachers to suffer from sleep disorders. Bali Bhagat (BJP) gets health and medical education, Sajad Lone (Peoples Conference) social welfare, Chowdhary Zulfiqar (PDP) consumer affairs and public distribution, Choudhary Lal Singh (BJP) gets forests, ecology and environment, Abdul Ghani Kohli (BJP) animal husbandry and veterinary department. All other departments including general administration, home, tourism and th ose not allotted to any other minister will be handled by the chief minister herself. Madrid, April 6 : FC Barcelona will take a slender 2-1 lead for their Champions League quarter-final second leg after two second half goals from Luis Suarez helped them beat 10-man Atletico Madrid. An intense game between the two sides on Tuesday in the Spanish league was perhaps decided by Atletico striker Fernando Torres, who left the pitch with 55 minutes to play, Xinhua news agency reported. Diego Simeone's side was able to recall Diego Godin and youngster Lucas, who replaced injured Stefan Savic, in the heart of the visitors' defence, while Barca named an unchanged starting 11 to that which lost to Real Madrid on Saturday. It was clear from the start that Atletico had come to Barcelona to fight every inch of the way and although Barca went close through a Messi shot which went wide and a Neymar header which flashed over the bar, they were not finding space or time in midfield. The home side were laying siege to the Atletico goal and Messi drew a full length save from Jan Oblak, before Suarez finally leveled the score on 62 minutes after diverting home Jordi Alba' s misplaced shot. Suarez scored Barca's second 16 minutes from time with a brilliant header from Dani Alves' cross as Barca kept their foot on the accelerator, prompting Simeone to introduce Thomas Teye for Antoine Griezmann. Rafinha came on for Barca for his first appearance since injuring his knee in six months as Barca looked to retain their pressure in the closing minutes. Jammu, April 6 : Apparently dissatisfied with the portfolio allotted to him, Sajad Lone, a minister in the PDP-BJP ruling coalition in Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday sent his resignation to the BJP high command, sources said. "Yes, he has sent his letter of resignation to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command for forwarding the same to Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti," sources close to Sajad Lone told IANS here. A separatist-turned-mainstream politician, Sajad is the son of senior separatist leader, Abdul Gani Lone who was killed by guerrillas in 2002. Sajad, chairman of Peoples Conference (PC), contested 2014 assembly elections from Handwara constituency in Kupwara district and won. After the elections, he announced support to the BJP and was a cabinet minis ter in the 10-month long Mufti Muhammad Sayeed headed government as a BJP nominee in the council of ministers. "Sajad Sahib is not satisfied with the portfolio allotted to him. He has to answer people who reposed trust in him," sources close to him said as Sajad switched off his phones to avoid the media. After he refused to meet local BJP leaders who called on his official residence on the Wazarat Road in winter capital Jammu late Tuesday evening, senior PDP leader and finance minister, Haseeb Drabu called on him to persuade him to re-consider his decision. Sajad was allotted the social welfare department portfolio by Mehbooba Mufti while sources said he had expected to get health and medical education department. In Mufti Muhammad Sayeed headed government, Sajad was minister for sheep and animal husbandry department. Milwaukee (Us), April 6 : Senator Ted Cruz has won the Republican presidential primary in Wisconsin, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump, while Democratic contender Senator Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in a close contest. The loss is more damaging to Trump, because he is in greater danger of failing to lock up the party's nomination ahead of the July convention. In the Republican race, the first results showed a massive lead for Cruz: With more than 20 percent of votes in, he led Trump by more than 20 percentage points. Trump may still get some delegates from Wisconsin, however, the state awards some delegates by congressional districts, and Trump was leading in rural districts in Wisconsin's northwest, according to Washington Post. Cruz savoured the victory, casting it as proof that the GOP race had turned. The party's anti-Trump forces had coalesced behind an unlikely champion: a Texas senator who seemed like the worst possible choice for the GOP establishment, right up until they met candidate Trump. "Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry," Cruz told supporters in Milwaukee. "We have a choice. A real choice. The national political terrain began to change two weeks ago," he said, meaning when he won by a large margin in Utah. Cruz said his campaign had raised $2 million on Tuesday alone. In the Democratic race, Sanders was leading Clinton by about seven percentage points, 53 percent to 46 percent, with 30 percent of precincts reporting A victory on that scale may not allow him to make up significant ground on Clinton in the race for Democratic convention delegates. But it will allow Sanders to cite growing momentum going into a crucial contest in New York, where Sanders was born - and where Clinton served as senator - on April 19. A win in Wisconsin also allows Sanders to make the case to "super-delegates", who can make up their minds about whom to support. New Delhi, April 6 : Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Communications whose taped telephone chats with some prominent people in India around eight years ago, including ministers, journalists and business tycoons became the matter of a probe, has now surfaced in the "Panama Papers" expose. Her name (appearing as Nira Radia, in the documents investigated, minus the extra 'i') is allegedly linked to a company in British Virgin Islands, which her office has denied, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. In the article, as Part 3 of the expose on Indians having alleged offshore links, Radia is said to have figured prominently as a director in the 232 documents pertaining to the company listed in the tax haven, Crownmart International Group. The list published by the newspaper on Wednesday also has the names of a top business tycoon in Bellary, a prominent industrialist and a chartered accountant -- each of whom, which The Indian Express says were contacted for their responses, with many also sharing their versions. Another article seeks to shows how the world's largest currency note maker De La Rue had contracted a New Delhi businessman to help bag tenders in India, in return for a 15-percent commission. The paper identifies the company as Aphra Consultants, linked to Somendra Khosla of New Delhi. Amid these allegations, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team in which the central bank has been co-opted. On Radia, the paper said: "An investigation of these papers shows the existence of one offshore entity owned by Radia, an International Business Company registered in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseka in 1994 named Crownmart International Group Limited." In response, her office said the said entity was set up by her late father Iqbal Narain Menon and that she was not a beneficiary. Also that Radia had disclosed her assets to the authorities in UK and India and that such information was personal and confidential for third parties. In another article published on Wednesday, the newspaper said the Indian diamond merchants, who were probed earlier for having overseas accounts in Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands and HSCB, have also surfaced in "Panama Papers". Prominent among them are Rosy Blue, one of the largest diamond traders in the world, and Chetan Mehta of the Belgium-based Gembel family. The paper also reported that Harshad Ramniklal Mehta of Rosy Blue did not respond to its calls or queries, while Chetan Mehta said he has been a non-resident Indian living in Belgium and that the companies were shut longtime ago. A part of the list, Hyderabad-based Moturi Srinivas Prasad said the off-shore entities were started as one dollar companies with the hope of doing business, but were closed. Satish Modi of Modi Global was away from India, but an e-mail reply from his office said he is an NRI and laws were followed. Others: - Hyderabad-based businessman Bhavanasi Jaya Kumar who maintained he had nothing to do with offshore companies. - UK-based Bhaskar Rao, whose son said the companies were not exactly active and that due procedures were followed. - Civil construction business people Preetam Bothra and Sweta Gupta, with the latter when contacted, posing the query, as to why she should share any information with the newspaper. - Ahmedabad-based Bhandari Ashok Ramdayalchand, with a response from someone at his residence that he was not interested in talking. - Kolkata-based Ashok Malhotra who, the paper says, admitted to knowing about the off-shore accounts but kept changing his stories. - Dehradun-based Sanjay Pokhriyal, who said the $10,000 endowment for a Panamanian fund allegedly linked to him was not his own money. - Belary iron exporters Prasanna V. Ghotage and Vaman Kumar who the paper could not contact. - Vadodara-based Pradeep Kaushikray Buch, who denied he had any such overseas company linked to him. - Rahul Arunprasad Patel of Sintex Industries, who reportedly said he has several overseas companies but was not sure if the one named in the expose belonged to him. - Thiruvananthapuram native and chartered accountant George Mathew, who said the linked companies belonged to clients and that Indian agencies had nothing to do with them. The global expose has been conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers", based on millions of documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca that helped in setting up off-shore entities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose. Amman, April 6 : Jordan has submitted a letter of protest to Israeli embassy in Amman, condemning repeated raids into al-Aqsa Mosque. Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani on Tuesday said Jordan condemned the Israeli violations against the holy site, Xinhua reported. The government urged Israel to stop its provocations and cease such violations. Jordan condemned all Israeli attempt seeking to change the status quo in Jerusalem, the minister said. He said Jordan will continue to defend the holy Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem, adding that the country will continue to exert efforts at the international level to put an end to Israeli violations. New Delhi, April 6 : A man in his late 20s committed suicide by jumping on a Metro track here on Wednesday morning, police said. The incident took place at Rohini West Metro station at 9.16 a.m. "The man has not been identified yet as we could not recover any identity proof from him. The reason behind the extreme step is yet to be ascertained as he had no suicide note," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Delhi Metro) Jitendra Mani told IANS. Mani said that the man died at the spot as he was hit by the Metro moving towards Rithala. New Delhi, April 6 : Mughal rulers patronised Sanskrit literature in their courts, especially between AD 1560 to 1660, and also took up Persian translations of epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana as ambitious projects, says scholar Audrey Truschke in her book 'Culture of Encounters: Sanskrit at the Mughal Court'. Truschke, an assistant professor of South Asian History at Rutgers University, says that Hindu nationalism is deeply tied to colonial ideas and rewriting the past is a "dangerous activity". The author also says that she faced backlash from Indian right wing groups against the book, published by Penguin Books India. Excerpts from an email interview: Q: Your book 'Culture of Encounters' comes at a time when there is a perceived effort to demonise and rewrite Mughal influence in Indian history. How do you view this? A: The Mughal empire is a critical chapter in India's long, diverse history. I think that it is essential for future generations to learn about the Mughals and the Indo-Islamic past more broadly. Q: The book has revealed how Mughals patronised Sanskrit. Do you think it has helped the language flourish? A: It is difficult to assess the degree to which Sanskrit was dependent on courtly patronage during the Mughal period. I would need more data from elsewhere in India in order to answer this question. Q: What made you research on a subject like the patronage of Sanskrit in Mughal courts? What were the cultural, academic and social challenges you faced? A: A combination of my language skills (I read both Sanskrit and Persian) and my interests led me to this topic. I have more recently faced some popular backlash against my work, mainly from the Hindu right. Q: Was the Mughal court's decision to translate the Ramayana and the Mahabharata more of a political necessity than a literary urge? A: The Mughals did not fully distinguish between political and literary aims. On the contrary, they expressed and pursued political goals through literature, and so the translations of the Indian epics were about both aesthetics and power. All translations point up the limits of understanding across cultural and linguistic divides. The Mughals found certain aspects of the Indian epics difficult to translate, such as some of the religious scaffolding of the texts, and so adjusted these aspects accordingly. Q: What has been the impact of British rule in India in demonising the Mughals as anti-Hindu? A: The British attempt to demonise the Mughals carries on today in the efforts of Hindu nationalists, who have gobbled up this colonial argument. Today two major impacts are the ongoing suspicion of Indian Muslims and the persistence of the troublesome notion that somehow Hindu and Indian are collapsible into a single identity. Q: There is a perception in some quarters that Aurangzeb is being overtly demonised by the current political dispensation in India. Though he was instrumental in the destruction of many temples, the number of Hindus in the Mughal courts was the highest during his reign. A: Yes, Aurangzeb is being historically demonised in India today. He destroyed some Hindu temples, although he protected many more. He killed some Hindus who opposed the Mughal state, such as Sambhaji, but he also welcomed willing Marathas into the Mughal administration to the extent that they outnumbered Rajputs at one point. My argument is not that Aurangzeb was not as bad as we think, although that is probably true. Rather, I contend that we should strive to treat Aurangzeb with historical rigour and understand him on his own terms. This is a basic mission of historians, and I think that we stand to learn about pre-colonial India if we come to a more historically-grounded interpretation of Aurangzeb and his impact on the subcontinent. Q: India is witnessing an emergence of Hindu nationalism. As a historian, how do you evaluate the trend? Also how worrisome are the attempts to rewrite history? A: Hindu nationalism has a particular history that is deeply tied to colonial ideas, as I have written about elsewhere. Hindu nationalism faces a significant problem, however, which is that it advances historically bogus claims. Hence the need to rewrite history arises. Rewriting the past is a dangerous activity with potentially serious repercussions in the present and future. Hindu nationalist attempts to simultaneously villainise and erase Indo-Islamic history go hand-in-hand with casting aspersions on modern Muslims and bode ill for religious tolerance in India. Q: Your book says "Indo-Persian court histories often obfuscate the importance of Hindi as a spoken vernacular in the Mughal imperium, and that it was on the ascent in the 17th century". Could that be the reason for the decline of Sanskrit? A: Possibly, but we would need to explain why it suddenly became a problem that Sanskrit was an elite language. Sanskrit had been used for thousands of years in India, and at earlier points the language even attracted people (such as Buddhists) who had previously written in more accessible tongues. I am not convinced that Sanskrit's limited reach is responsible for its demise, especially since the written versions of vernacular languages in the seventeenth century were hardly accessible to everyone. Q: Persian translations are an eye-opener to how theological interpretations have been given to both the Ramayana and the Mahabaratha to juxtapose Hindu Gods as intermediaries between humans and Allah. You have extensively explained the use of gushayandah (solver) and rahunama (guide) in the translations. Please comment. A: There is no set relationship between God and the gods in Akbar's Persian Mahabharata. At times, Hindu deities occupy a middleman position between people and Allah. At other times, however, Allah replaces Hindu gods, such as Brahma. I argue that the Mughal translators necessarily understood the religious landscape of the Indian epics as mediated through Islam. Accordingly, they introduced Allah as needed to make the Mahabharata intelligible to readers who had an Islamic background but who were relatively unfamiliar with Hindu traditions. Q: The Mughal translators have adopted a severely shortened Bhagavad Gita, a text considered as the soul of Hinduism, to a few pages. Do you think it was necessitated due to social, political or religious reasons? A: I think that the Bhagavad Gita made little sense within the Mughal concept of the Mahabharata as a book about India's past. For the Mughals, the Mahabharata was what the Brahmins understood to be Indian history. The Gita was arguably a digression from this narrative, from a Mughal perspective, and in any case the Gita was theologically awkward within an Islamic worldview. (Preetha Nair can be reached at preetha.n@ians.in) New Delhi, April 6 : A new campaign #UnitedByDonts to tackle gender inequalities has been launched by clothing brand United Colors of Benetton. The #UnitedByDonts party will be held in the capital on Saturday at the Nehru Park here. Taking a cue from India's diverse culture, this campaign is divided into phases and focuses on the most pertinent and high priority issues being faced in the country today: women's Safety and gender Equality. #UnitedByDonts is the first leg of the campaign that aims to break stereotypes regarding women's safety and well-being in India. #UnitedByDonts is a concept launched with the intent to focus on one of the most relevant women's rights issues in India today. "Women's safety and gender equality are issues very close to our hearts and we promote them also through the Benetton Women Empowerment Program, a long-term initiative to support women's rights worldwide. The #UnitedByDonts campaign is our way of reiterating the critical and urgent need for women's safety and gender equality in the country," Sundeep Chugh, CEO Benetton India Pvt. Ltd, said in a statement. The campaign aspires to mobilise women to reclaim their rights and the streets they work and walk in, so that they can move about the city without fear of being harmed. The idea is to highlight the need for genuine equality for women and a safer environment that does not restrict them through taboos defined by society. Islamabad, April 6 : Pakistan carried out 326 executions in 2015, the highest ever recorded in the country, Amnesty International reported. Amnesty International organisation said at least 1,634 people were executed globally last year -- up from 1,061 in 2014 (54 percent), and Pakistan ranked third in executions, Dawn online reported. The figure does not include executions in China where data on the death penalty is considered a state secret. Pakistan followed Saudi Arabia and Iran in global executions, and together the three countries were responsible for nearly 90 percent of total executions, the report said. According to the report, the number of executions recorded in Saudi Arabia increased by 76 percent to 158, while those in Iran rose 31 percent to 977. Amnesty said it received information that both Iran and Pakistan in 2015 executed people who were under the age of 18 when the crimes were committed, and it said juveniles face the death sentence in several other countries. Champa Patel, Amnesty International's director of South Asia Regional Office, said: "Over the past year, Pakistan has vaulted to the number three spot for recorded state executions in the world -- a shameful position no one should aspire to. Only to be beaten by Iran and Saudi Arabia." Patel said Pakistan executed 326 people last year. Most of those executed were not convicted of terror-related offences, and there is evidence that at least two and possibly more of them were juveniles when they committed their alleged crimes. "The death penalty is always a rights violation, but its use in Pakistan is all the more troubling, given the serious fair trial concerns -- including insufficient access to lawyers and endemic police torture to extract confessions," said Patel. In the US, 28 people were executed in 2015, nearly half in Texas, the most active death penalty state, which put 13 people to death, the report said. New Delhi, April 6 : BJP president Amit Shah on Wednesday said nationalism was the party's identity and it was the responsibility of the new generation to take it forward. "The party started by 11 people has become a family of 11 crore members. This has happened due to the sacrifices made by thousands of party workers," Shah told a gathering of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activists at a function here to mark its foundation day. "Nationalism is the identity of our party and our three generations have maintained it by their sacrifices. Now it is our responsibility to protect, preserve and carry on this identity," he asserted. Shah started and ended his speech with the slogan "Bharat Mata ki Jai". The party chief said the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP's predecessor, and the BJP were founded to provide an optional political ideology to the country. "After (Jawaharlal) Nehru became prime minister, his Western-oriented policies and decisions compelled nationalistic forces to pave the way for founding the Jana Sangh. If we had followed Nehru's policies, we would have gone on the wrong path," he said. Describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the world's most popular leader, Shah urged party workers to take the central government's policies and programmes to the people. "No doubt, Narendra bhai is the world's most popular leader. For the first time there is a government at the centre which is making policies and taking decisions by keeping the poor and deprived (in mind)," he said. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi addresses during a demonstration organised by All India Bullion Jewellers and Swarnkar Federation to protest against the one percent excise duty ... Image Source: IANS New Delhi, April 6 : Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday joined jewellers protesting against the imposition of excise duty on non-silver jewellery, saying the government's proposal was to crush small businessmen in India. "We would stand with you for your cause. I am not here to make speeches. I feel your pain, I stand with you," Gandhi Gandhi told the protesting jewellers at Jantar Mantar in Delhi. "It's not your fight alone, it's ours too. Me and the Congress party stand with you," he said. Jewellers have been on nationwide protests for more than a month now against the government's budgetory propsoal to impose one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery and mandatory PAN cards for any transactions of Rs.2 lakh and above. The Congress leader took pot-shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make In India" scheme, saying it would benefit only "a few big industrialists" and not the common men of India. "The idea of 'Make In India' is to throttle small businesses through excise. It is not excise duty, it is an attempt to crush small businesses... (it) will only benefit a few big businessmen," Gandhi said. Kabul, April 6 : A civilian was killed and another injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up in Kandahar city of Afghanistan on Wednesday, an official said. "A terrorist with an explosive device wanted to target security personnel. Before reaching the target, he was identified and so detonated his suicide vest, killing a passerby," Xinhua quoted the official as saying. The attacker was also killed. Kandahar, a former stronghold of the Taliban militants, has been the scene of militancy over the past few years. New Delhi, April 6 : Terming the controversy related to chanting of 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' as "unnecessary and uncalled for", Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah has said that there was nothing wrong in praising the motherland and religion has nothing to do with this. "Whichever country is your 'vatan' (motherland) you should be loyal to it," the minister told IANS in an interview. Heptullah emphasised that there was some politics behind the controversy and said she herself being a Muslim had no problem in saying 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai'. "By saying so I am not doing anything against my religion. My 'imaan' (faith) is not that weak. In fact there is no religion involved in it," she said, adding that even Prophet Muhammad had endorsed this. "I want to ask every Muslim where would they go after dying?" and answered: "It's their motherland which would take them in her arms." The minister, however, said that there are different ways of showing or expressing loyalty towards the nation. Commenting on yoga guru Baba Ramdev's controversial statement where he had said that he would have "beheaded" those who refuse to chant "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" if the law of the land was not there, she said people should refrain from making such comments. "My freedom of speech must not hurt anybody. We should be careful," she said. Asked whether these kinds of statements, which often come from various leaders of the BJP and other people related to it, affect the working and moral of the Modi government, the minister said she was "focused" and other ministers and functionaries were also busy doing their work. Speaking about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the policies of his government in relation to minority communities, the minister said that the central government was actually doing a lot for every single minority community of the country. She accused the previous UPA governments of "doing nothing" for any of the minority communities and said they were busy labelling Modi as anti-Muslim. "Whatever was to be done (for minority communities during Congress-led governments) was not done," she contended. Heptullah said 8.6 million scholarships were given to students of minority communities and she was inspired by Modi's vision for the development of Muslim community -- that he would like to see a copy of the Quran in one hand of a madrasa student and a computer in the other hand. The minister also said that 27 madrasas are working with the central government's skill development programme. (Sushil Kumar could be contacted at sushil.k@ians.in) New Delhi, April 6 : Actor Arjun Kapoor, who is currently riding high on the success of his latest release "Ki & Ka", says he will like to be part of a biopic only if he relates to the character he gets to portray. The 30-year-old actor says an actor should do a biopic only if the character connects and not just because everyone is doing it. "You should do a biopic when it connects with you. It should not be done because everyone is doing it," Arjun told IANS. The "Gunday" star says he would only be interested to be part of a biopic if he gets a "genuine script" and if he could relate to the person he will be seen playing on-screen. "If a genuine script comes to me and if I feel I can play that character and it connects with me, then of course I will consider it (biopic)," he added. Arjun is currently prepping for his next "Half Girlfriend", an adaptation of the eponymous novel of the same name written by author Chetan Bhagat, directed by Mohit Suri. He says he is not just "looking for a biopic specifically" "I am looking to (do) all kind of films," he added. Mumbai, April 6 : A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday awarded life sentence to three of the accused for the 2002-03 triple bombings here that claimed 12 lives. The three are the prime accused Muzammil Ansari and his associates Farhan Khot and Wahid Ansari. Four others were given 10 years jail term including Saquib Nachan, the general secretary of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Ateef Nasir Mulla, Ghulam Kotla and Hasib Zubeir Mulla. Three convicts were given two years jail term by Special POTA Judge P.R. Deshmukh. They are Mohammed Anwar Ali, Mohammed Kamil and Noor Mohammed. All the 10 accused were found guilty and and convicted by the Special Court on March 29, followed by arguments between special public prosecutor Rohini Salian and defence lawyers on the quantum of sentencing which ended on Tuesday. That day, Special Judge Deshmukh acquitted three people - Haroon Lohar, Nadeem Paloba and Adnan Mulla - for lack of sufficient evidence against them. Another five accused named by the investigators continue to be absconders in the case. Linked by a common conspiracy, the three blasts occurred near McDonald's eatery in Mumbai Central Terminus on December 6, 2002, in a Vile Parle market on January 27, 2003 and in a crowded ladies First Class compartment of a suburban train near Mulund on March 13, 2003, killing a total of 12 people and injuring 139 others. In the first blast (December 6, two people died and over 50 were injured. In the second (January 27) one person was killed and 30 others were injured, while in the third blast (March 13) nine were killed and over 70 injured. During the trial, the prosecution contended that Nachan, along with a Pakistani, Faisal Khan - linked to terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba - carried out the blasts along with others. Of the 25 accused listed by police, a majority were nabbed in 2003, five died during the trial and five are still absconding. Nachan has been sentenced for his role of arranging the required manpower, arms and ammunition while Wahid Ansari and some absconders have been punished for manufacturing the bombs. Muzammil Ansari and another absconder-accused have been convicted and sentenced for executing the terror plot by planting bombs at the targeted locations. The three cases - though far between and in different parts of Mumbai - were clubbed together by the court as they were linked by a common conspiracy angle. The police had charged all the accused with murder, attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt, waging war against the nation, criminal conspiracy besides several charges under the Indian Penal Code, Railways Act, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and POTA. Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUeM) Maharashtra, which provided legal aid to the accused, expressed happiness that the capital punishment was spared but said it would challenge the verdict in the Bombay High Court. A JUeM spokesperson also urged the government to set up fast-track courts to dispose off terror-related cases within two years so that the accused, who are finally acquitted, do not spend prolonged periods in jail. Mumbai, April 6 : He has emerged as the man to watch out for when Tata Steel initiates the formal process to sell its UK assets. Meet Sanjiv Kumar Gupta, founder of the UK-based Liberty House. Gupta is the key man British Business Secretary Sajid Javid met in London on Tuesday, just before flying to Mumbai for a meeting with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry. Gupta, in fact, has already indicated his intention to stop widespread job losses in Tata Steel UK. "I am pleased to report we had a positive meeting today. UK government appears highly supportive and is proactively engaged in finding a long-term solution," Gupta is quoted as saying after his meeting with Javid. "The next step is for Tata (Group) to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers. We await further details on this and then will assess our own next step." For the record, Liberty Group has revenues approaching $5 billion, covering steel, raw materials and non-ferrous metals, while employing more than 2,000 people globally. It also produces about 5 million tonnes per annum of steel and steel products. Gupta is also not new to takeovers. Ten days ago, Tata Steel UK announced it has reached an accord to sell its Clydebridge and Dalzell steel facilities in Scotland. The deal involved the sale of the two plants to the Government of Scotland, which was to, in turn, sell them on to Liberty House. Prior to that, Gupta's group had acquired a 1.5 million tonnes per annum steel plant in Wales that was set up as an integrated producer of steel based on electric arc furnace route with downstream hot rolling mill. This complex was shut for over two years, before Liberty's takeover. Now the mill's operations have commenced and plans are on the anvil to eventually revamp the steel melting shop and grow the rated capacities of the mill -- a testimony to Gupta's turnaround skills. Liberty's other investments include medium-sized mills and service centres in markets such as India and Ghana to strategic stakes in large producers, like a 2.5 million tonne per annum mill for steel and value added products. As per the group's website, it operates from four financial hubs in London, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong with a network of offices spread across 30 countries around the world. And "SKG", as Gupta is called by his peers, comes from a successful business family of Punjab. The 44-year-old left for Britain when he was 12 years old as a resident student at St. Edmunds College, Canterbury, in Kent. He graduated from the Cambridge in 1995 and was subsequently awarded his Master's from Trinity College. Since then, he has been trading in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. "From 2000 onward, SKG's focus has been on growing the trade in steel, metals and raw materials while developing the industrial asset base of the group," the Liberty website said. Islamabad, April 6 : Eight militants were killed in two intelligence-based operations in Pakistan's Lahore province and southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday, the media reported. Six militants associated with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were killed during a search operation by the investigation department in Lahore, Xinhua reported. The police launched the operation on an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of the militants in the area. The operation against the militants was kicked off on the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following a deadly attack at a public park in Lahore which claimed 75 lives killed and left over 300 others injured last month. In a separate operation, the CID killed two IS-related militants and arrested four others in Gulshan-e-Maymar area of Karachi, the capital city of the country's Sindh province. Police said a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the arrested militants. New Delhi, April 6 : Expanding the economy is the key to India becoming a leading global power, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday. "India's quest for becoming a leading power depends on expanding our economy," Jaishankar said while delivering the keynote speech at the launch of Carnegie India, the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In this context, he said hand-holding investors was part of the government's daily foreign policy activities. New Delhi is the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment after Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Beirut and Brussels. Jaishankar said "neighbourhood first" was the phrase most heard in India's foreign policy. "With our neighbours, we have to sharply raise the levels of connectivity," he said. He further observed that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) mechanism has become more important after the last summit of the regional bloc in Kathmandu in 2014. The foreign secretary said India was ready to deal with the incoming government in Myanmar. According to Jaishankar, India's neighbourhood policy now extended to the Gulf to the west and the Malacca Straits to the east. Highlighting the thrust that the new government at the Centre was giving to foreign policy, he said there have been ministerial visits from India to around 130 countries. With the US, he said, relations have deepened across the board while energy cooperation was one of the cornerstones of the ties with Russia. With Japan, India's ties have reached new vistas, the foreign secretary said. "We have reached out to Africa and Latin America at the highest levels," he said. Chennai, April 6 : Charging that the DMDK is controlled not by actor-turned-politician A. Vijaykant but by his wife Premalatha, the party leaders sacked a day earlier on Wednesday challenged their expulsion. Legislator V.C. Chandrakumar told the media that if Vijaykant was in control of the party, then he would have aligned with the DMK for the May assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. On Tuesday, Vijaykant dismissed 10 party functionaries for opposing his decision to align with the People's Welfare Front (PWF) - a combination of two Communist parties, Dalit party VCK and Vaiko's MDMK. Chandrakumar said his expulsion and those of others was not valid as they were not given any notice. He also asked why the party never took action against its legislators who openly supported the ruling AIADMK party for the past four years. He claimed that Premalatha was the one who initiated talks with the PWF for an alliance while Vijaykant had been saying within the party that he was in talks with the DMK. Chandrakumar also said many of the outgoing legislators and other party members were not willing to contest the coming elections. Mumbai, April 6 : In a surprise development, lawyer Neeraj Gupta representing actor-director Rahul Raj Singh, who is accused of abetment to suicide of television star Pratyusha Banerjee, exited from the case here on Wednesday. Gupta has claimed Singh concealed certain crucial details of the case, and this prompted him to listen to his conscience and leave the case. Singh has contended that he had no role to play in Pratyusha's suicide. He filed an application for an anticipatory bail before the Dindoshi court On Wednesday, a day after Bangur Nagar police slapped him with abetment to suicide and other counts. The police action followed a complaint and a fresh statement by Pratyusha's mother Soma Banerjee that Singh used to assault her daughter. Pratyusha committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her Goregaon residence last Friday (April 1). New Delhi, April 6 : Pulin Kumar, group senior legal and compliance director of adidas India, has made it to the country's Top 50 General Counsels Power List compiled by the renowned Legal Era Magazine. "It is a privilege to be nominated among top general counsels and share the space with my esteemed contemporaries in the power list. Our work culture has changed significantly and as corporate citizens, we go beyond our traditional mandate to ensure legal and ethical compliance," Kumar said in a statement. Other top legal luminaries making it to the Legal Era's power list include ITC's K.S. Suresh, HCL Technologies' Vineet Vij, Adani Group's Badrinath Durvasula and Glenmark's Meera Vanjari. "He has been part of many significant best practices and improvements in internal governance in the corporate sector and co-hosts a knowledge sharing platform 'Sadgamaya', founded by a few like-minded general counsel and lawyers," Legal Era said about Kumar. In November 2015, Kumar was conferred with the Indian National Bar Association's General Counsel of the Year 2015-Retail Award for his contribution to the legal field in and outside the country for more than 24 years. New Delhi, April 6 : India on Wednesday approved top telecom towers company ATC Asia Pacific to acquire a majority stake in Viom Networks for Rs.5,856.51 crore. "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the proposal of ATC Asia Pacific Singapore for acquisition of 51 percent of shareholding in Viom Networks by way of transfer from existing shareholders," an official statement said here. The approval would result in a total foreign direct investment inflow of Rs.5,856.51 crore into the telecom infrastructure of the country which will spur economic growth, besides fostering inclusiveness and equity, it added. Viom Networks has over 42,000 towers across India and it is present in all telecom circles in India, with 15 offices and a workforce of 1,400 employees. The company builds, rents, operates and manages telecom towers across India in addition to providing tower solutions to various downstream sectors. Ahead of the cabinet approval, global markets research firm Nomura said the ongoing consolidation among telecom companies implies that eventually four or five will remain. "This is positive for tower companies over the medium term -- these telecom companies will be more active on rollouts, plus their contracts will also be more sustainable." It said the tower companies are exploring new revenues sources -- such as in-building and Wi-Fi. Viom Networks was formed in 2009 through a joint venture between Tata Teleservices and Quippo, which is a part of the SREI infrastructure. Tata Teleservices owns 54 percent, Quippo owns 18 percent, while the rest is sponsored by some leading private equity investors including IDFC PE, SBI Macquarie, OIF and GIC, among others. ATC India, on the other hand, has a portfolio of over 15,000 towers across all 22 telecom circles in India. It is a subsidiary of New York Stock Exchange-listed American Tower Corp. Globally, it has over 100,000 communications sites. Lucknow, April 6 : A research scholar at the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) has been found dead in his room at the institute, police said on Wednesday. The man -- identified as 30-year-old Chandra Prakash Gupta -- was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday night and it was yet to be ascertained whether it was suicide or murder. The research scholar, who hailed from Kushinagar, was last seen by his friends on Monday night. He did not come out on Tuesday and his friends thought he might be sleeping after a late night study session. There was no response when they knocked on the door of his room late on Tuesday. They informed police who arrived on the scene and broke open the door. Gupta was found lying dead on the bed and a half-empty bottle of a cold drink was found on his bedside table. Police have sent the bottle for forensic tests and the body for post-mortem examination. Kolkata, April 6 : Questioning the tendering process of the project, a petition was filed before the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday seeking a probe into the Vivekananda Road flyover collapse which killed 26 people. Filed before the bench of Chief Justice Manjula Chellur, the public interest litigation also seeks monetary compensation from the union government for the victims. A large chunk of the under-construction flyover collapsed on March 31 in the busy Posta area, trapping scores of people underneath. Originally planned in the beginning of the last decade under the JNNURM, the foundation for the project was laid in 2008 and the work began in February 2009. "Despite the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee (CSMC) of the union ministry of urban development objecting to the project in 2008, the tendering process was completed in haste. "There are several documents to show, the project was ill conceived and despite being plagued by numerous delays, it has been continued. So we have sought formation of a committee which will probe the entire project under the supervision of the court," petitioner R.P. Sarkar said. The petition also calls for probing the role of the urban development ministry. Progress of all JNNURM projects is assessed on a monthly basis. Inexplicably, this project, which was scheduled to be finished in October 2011, was allowed numerous deferrals. "Moreover, traffic movement below under-construction projects is usually prohibited. Had it been done, the massive loss of life could have been prevented. We have also sought how and who gave this permission," added Sarkar. On April 1, another PIL was filed before the Calcutta High Court seeking a court monitored CBI probe into the tragedy. Mumbai, April 6 : "Pyaar Ka Punchnama" fame actress Sonnalli Seygall is ready to dole out fitness tips via a new web-series titled "Blush Fitness". The series, which went on air on Wednesday on digital media company Culture Machine's YouTube channel Blush, highlight all aspects of wellness for women, right from morning routines, meditation and dealing with stress. "I love fitness and I usually create plenty of short videos and snippets out of my workouts and share them with my fans across social media platforms," the actress said. "So, when Culture Machine approached me with 'Blush Fitness' and presented an opportunity to have my own fitness series of eight episodes I said 'Yes'. The synergy was apt as they had a similar understanding on fitness and overall wellness and to top it. I had a blast shooting with them," Sonnalli said in a statement. The eight-part series stars with Sonnalli sharing secret mantras of her morning fitness routine and what keeps her glowing through the hectic lifestyle in the first episode titled "Morning Mantra". New Delhi, April 6 : The Wisconsin results appear to have thrown a spanner in the White House run of Republican Donald Trump, affecting the future count of votes required to win the party nomination. The billionaire businessman lost to close rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz by a wider than expected margin. On the Democratic Party side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost to her close rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton, who has surged ahead in delegate counts, however, does not appear unduly worried with the Wisconsin set-back. Both Trump and Clinton did not make an appearance in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, probably anticipating the defeat widely predicted by exit polls. Both have already started focusing on the next big fight -- the April 19 New York primary. Clinton spent Tuesday night at a fundraiser with top donors in New York City. Cruz beat Trump by about 13 percentage points, 48 per cent to 35 per cent, giving a boost to the "Never Trump" movement. For the Republicans, 42 delegates were up for grabs in Wisconsin. With some results still coming in, Cruz looks set to win either 36 or 39, according to reports. Democrat Sanders won by about 13 points, 56 per cent to 43 per cent, earning his sixth victory in the last seven contests. Of the 86 delegates at stake, Sanders has won 45 so far to 31 bagged by Clinton, according to reports. Cruz's double-digit win over Trump raises the prospect of a prolonged Republican nomination fight leading to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Sanders' win in Wisconsin has given momentum to his fight against Clinton, trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Manhattan billionaire Trump, known for making controversial comments, did not face the television cameras after the results came in on Tuesday night, offering only a statement from his campaign -- loaded with vitriol toward Cruz and the party establishment. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," his campaign said in the statement. Cruz said the Wisconsin win showed the party was beginning to rally behind him. Addressing cheering supporters in Milwaukee, Cruz, 45, said: "We're winning because we're uniting the Republican Party." Presidential hopefuls need to win just over 50 percent of their party's available delegates to secure the nomination. For Democrats, the total delegates are 2,383, and for Republicans, 1,237. Pledged delegates are based on state primary results. Speaking ahead of the Wisconsin primary, Sanders said he believed he had "an excellent chance" of winning the New York primary next Tuesday, and of picking up a lot more delegates. From then on, he added, he would have a great chance of winning in Oregon and California. The high stakes contests will continue through June, leading to the party conventions in July - when the nominations are to be announced. The number of delegates in each state -- the US has 50 states -- is based on the size of its population. Most delegates are "pledged", which means they are mandated to support a particular candidate at their party's national convention in July. Each party also has a certain number of "super delegates" who can technically support whoever they please. Trump, 69, despite the numerous controversial statements he has made during his campaign -- including for deportation of around 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, construction of a wall on the Mexico-US border, a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the US and proposing that women who have had abortions should be punished -- has managed to attract the maximum votes, and attention, so far. After the New York primary, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania vote on April 26. Many of those states are expected to be favourable territory for Trump. Trump's fate will remain undecided until June 7, when California goes to the polls, and puts its 172 delegates up for grabs. Also at stake are Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey, and South Dakota. In the Democrat camp, disputes between Clinton, 68, and Sanders, 74, have been markedly on the rise since the beginning of the campaigns on February 1. Until now, the disputes were behind closed doors, especially on where and when to host a debate before the New York primary. However, on April 2, the fight went public. In the past, the two opponents have sparred over other major issues, including an extended confrontation over immigration reform where Clinton rebuked Sanders for opposing a comprehensive immigration reform effort during former president George W. Bush's administration. The primaries and caucuses will continue until June 7 for Republicans, and for Democrats until June 14. After that, the Republicans and Democrats will begin their conventions where a president and a vice-president candidate is chosen, on July 18 and July 25 respectively. On September 26, the first presidential debate will take place at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. There will be three debates between the presidential candidates and one for the vice-presidential candidates. The presidential elections of the United States will take place on November 8, 2016. (Karishma Saurabh Kalita can be contacted at karishma.k@ians.in) New Delhi, April 6 : A total of Rs.2,861 crore has been given to 15.91 lakh defence forces' pensioners under the 'One Rank One Pension' (OROP) scheme till March 31, union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Thursday. The union cabinet had earlier approved the OROP scheme for ex-servicemen. "After the cabinet approval, the government will pay Rs.10,925.11 crore as arrears, in addition to Rs.7488.7 crore as annual financial liability," Prasad told reporters here. Prasad said the government had fast-tracked the process to clear the OROP backlog for the remaining beneficiaries and it will be cleared soon. New Delhi, April 6 : India is set to exchange tax evasion information with all G20 countries by 2017-18, as a step to address cases like those coming out of "Panama Papers" in which over 500 Indians are said to have invested in foreign accounts, sources in the finance ministry said. "By 2017-18, India will have automatic exchange of information (AEIO) with all the G20 countries. As many as 96 countries, including the UK, Germany and France, already have a consensus on AEIO and more countries will join this gradually," a government official told IANS. The recently revealed cases like "Panama papers" would not have occurred, had India had an accord on the common reporting standard (CRS) under automatic exchange of information with other countries, the official told IANS. Common reporting standard falls under AEIO, which allows for countries to exchange foreign investment details of its citizens, to check tax evasion and stashing of unaccounted wealth in tax havens. The information exchange agreement will enable the government to clamp down on tax evasion as off-shore accounts of citizens will be curtailed substantially with information on accounts, interest payments and beneficial ownership being shared between countries. India was a part of the Early Adoptor Group of this automatic information exchange framework. It joined the global efforts during an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) meeting in October 2014. The first exchange of information on new off-shore accounts opened in 2016 and at the end of 2015 will take place in 2017, as agreed upon by the Early Adoptor Group. The global standard of automatic exchange of information was developed by the OECD in July 2014. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday adventurism in avoiding taxes will prove costly. "This is a stern reminder to all of us that with the G20 initiatives, FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and bilateral transactions in place with effect from 2017, the world is going to be a far more transparent institution," he told industry captains. "The world is becoming one where adventurism, like in the past, is going to be increasingly a risky proposition," Jaitley said at the CII Annual Session. Last year, India signed a convention on administrative assistance in tax issues. In 2014, the G20 nations agreed to a new global transparency standard for around 90 countries and jurisdictions to begin automatic exchange of tax information. (Meghna Mittal can be reached at meghna.m@ians.in) New Delhi, April 6 : President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday advised Indian Foreign Service (IFS) trainee officers to read extensively not only about India but also the country to which they were accredited to during the course of their service. The president gave the advice after a group of 64 trainee officers of the 2014 and 2015 batches of the IFS called on him at Rashtrapati Bhavan here. "The foreign service is a unique opportunity to project our country's civilisational and cultural ethos along with its developmental aspirations to the rest of the world. A foreign service officer is the spokesperson, interpreter and narrator of the country's story to other countries," the president said on the occasion. He pointed out to the trainee officers that they will represent the world's largest functional democracy as well as a very old civilisation which had guided humanity over the centuries. The president said the need for diplomacy was always felt. "(Indian philosopher-economist) Kautilya advised the king that he must be careful in appointing his envoy who should not be greedy or foolish or tell lies and should be knowledgeable." Mukherjee said that Indian foreign policy's foundation was laid by the first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and was based on our core civilisational values. Reminiscing about his own experiences, he said that while serving as India's external affairs minister, he got many opportunities to interact with IFS officers. The trainee officers met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday. New Delhi, April 6 : With a view to promoting India's exports to Iran, the union cabinet on Wednesday approved an increase in the corpus for funding the purchase of goods and services from India to Rs.3,000 crore. The hike comes in the wake of a framework agreement between the Exim Bank of India and a consortium of Iranian banks led by the Central Bank of Iran. "The increase to Rs.3,000 crore (from Rs.900 crore) will enable the Exim Bank to provide buyer's credit facility to Iran, secured via sovereign guarantee from Iran, for the export of goods and services. It will help Indian companies penetrate and enhance their footprint in Iran," a cabinet communique said. "This will be done by utilising the Export Development Fund (EDF). The proposal provides for domiciling two contracts of export of steel rails by the State Trading Corporation and for the Chabahar port development project, previously approved by the cabinet under the EDF," it added. India's Exim Bank and seven Iranian banks led by the Central Bank of Iran had negotiated a framework agreement in November 2014 for financing the purchase of goods and services from India by Iranian entities to the tune of Rs.900 crore under the EDF. The limit has now been raised. The cabinet had, in February, approved to provide 150 million dollars in credit from the Exim Bank for the development of the Chabahar port in Iran. The Chabahar port outside the Persian Gulf will help expand maritime commerce in the region. India is negotiating this project to facilitate the growing trade and investment with Iran and other countries in the region, notably Afghanistan. According to a memorandum of understanding signed in May 2015 between India and Iran, India will equip and operate two berths in the Chabahar port Phase-I with a capital investment of 85.2 million dollars and with an annual expenditure of 22.9 million dollars on a 10-year lease. New Delhi, April 6 : The union cabinet on Wednesday permitted national oil companies autonomy in operational, financial and investment matters, not requiring them any more to seek the cabinet approval in this regard. The permission was given in view of the vast and quick changes in the global oil market for over a year. "In a far-reaching decision today (Wednesday), the cabinet has decided to vest all PSU (public sector undertaking) oil companies the power to pursue their own policies, autonomy to take spot decisions, and act according to exigencies required by market conditions," Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here after the cabinet meeting. "The only condition to this autonomy is that the decisions should adhere to CVC (Central Vigilance Commission) guidelines and have the approval of the company board of directors," he said. "The decision is designed to give autonomy to all PSU oil companies in operational, financial and investment matters. They need not first come to the cabinet for approval," the minister added. Noting that the global oil market has become very flexible in terms of the way prices have fallen over 70 percent through last year, before firming up somewhat, Prasad said that companies now needed to take spot decisions dictated by market conditions. "Government has been laying down guidelines from time to time, but also allowing flexibility in terms of autonomy to take decisions," he said. London, April 6 : Fashion brand Gucci's advertisement featuring an "unhealthily thin" model has been banned in Britain. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that the way the model is standing and her "dark make up" make her look "gaunt", reports mirror.co.uk. The fashion house defended the advertisement and insisted that the woman was just "toned and slim". However, the ASA ruled the image was "irresponsible". The advertisement appeared on The Times website in December 2015 and included stills at the end of a video of two models -- one sitting on a sofa, and another leaning against a wall wearing a long, printed dress. The ASA found the advertisement breached the rules on responsible advertising as set out in the code. One complainant, who believed the featured models appeared unhealthily thin, had challenged whether the advertisement was irresponsible. The ASA upheld the complaint saying: "We considered that her torso and arms were quite slender and appeared to be out of proportion with her head and lower body. Further, her pose elongated her torso and accentuated her waist so that it appeared to be very small. "We also considered that her sombre facial expression and dark make up, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. For those reasons, we considered that the model leaning against the wall appeared to be unhealthily thin in the image and, therefore, concluded that the ad was irresponsible." The Italian fashion house told the ASA that the advertisements were part of a video portraying a dance party and were aimed at an older, sophisticated audience, in keeping with The Times' readership. It added that it did not feel the model did not appear unhealthily thin but "toned and slim", because "nowhere in the advertisements were any models' "bones" visible, their make up was natural rather than heavy... lighting was uniform and warm to ensure there were no hollows caused by shadows and their clothes were not revealing". The advertisement must not appear again in its current form, the fashion brand was told. Thiruvananthapuram, April 6 : Kerala's ruling Congress-led UDF on Wednesday expressed confidence in retaining power in the state. Ahead of hitting the campaign trail in full vigour, the United Democratic Front held a meeting here on Wednesday. UDF convenor P.P. Thankachen told reporters that members at the meeting were confident that the Oommen Chandy-led UDF will win the upcoming polls and retain power. Thankachen also said the meeting discussed and cleared the draft of the poll manifesto which will be released next week. Kerala will elect 140 new legislators on May 16. No government has, however, returned to power after a full five-year term in the state's history. Alappuzha : Putting all speculation to rest, tribal leader C K Janu on Wednesday confirmed to the media that she would be contesting the forthcoming assembly elections under the banner of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). She informed the media of her decision to float a new political outfit for the purpose of contesting the polls. She also affirmed that the new party would not merge with the BJP or Vellappally Natesans Bharat Dharma Jana Sena. Instead, the new party, christened Janathipathya Rashtrya Sabha, would function as a constituent of the NDA under a common minimum programme, she said. Janu announced her decision to contest polls after holding talks with Vellappally Natesan at the latters residence at Kanichukulangara on Wednesday morning. Speculation had been rife in the media since yesterday that C K Janu would contest on the NDA ticket following her holding talks with BJP State President Kummanam Rajasekharan. She would contest from the Sulthan Bathery assembly constituency in Wayanad district. C K Janu is the president of the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha, which has been at the forefront of the struggles for the rights of Adivasis and Dalits in the State for the past many years. BJP must be hoping that roping in Janu as an ally would help the party shrug off its tag of being a party of upper caste Hindus and also help it corner votes of the minority communities. However, it remains to be seen if Janu can bring around the Gothra Maha Sabha to support her latest endeavour given that her close aide M. Geethanandan had publicly stated that the Sabha would stay away from electoral politics for the time being and that they would not support Janu should she decide to contest. Renowned Bengali writer Mahashweta Devi also expressed her displeasure at C K Janu joining hands with the BJP. She urged Janu to reconsider her decision, saying that the BJP was not what it looked like on the surface. United Nations, April 6 : The European Union's border agency has said it cannot fully track the flood of refugees pouring through its borders, as a "staggering number" of Europeans join terror groups, and many try to return to the continent as asylum seekers. Europe reported a record 1.82 million illegal border crossings last year, according to Frontex, but the group conceded that the true number of illegal crossings is probably higher because so many refugees have entered Europe undetected. "The Paris attacks in November 2015 clearly demonstrated that irregular migratory flows could be used by terrorists to enter the EU," the Fox News quoted the report as saying. "With no thorough check or penalties in place for those making such false declarations, there is a risk that some persons representing a security threat to the EU may be taking advantage of this situation." Two extremists involved in the Paris attacks entered through the Greek island of Leros and registered with Greek authorities using fraudulent Syrian documents, The Telegraph reported. The route through the Greek islands accounted for the largest number of detections - more than 885,000. "There is no EU system capable of tracing people's movements following an illegal border-crossing. Therefore it is not possible to establish the precise number of persons who have illegally crossed two sections of the external borders of the EU," the report stated. Austria's Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Tuesday the EU must link efforts to control migration and improve security by establishing functioning outer borders and improving information exchange channels among its member nations over terror threats, Fox News reported. "A Europe without internal borders can exist only when a European outer border" functions to control those entering the EU, Mikl-Leitner said. Citing figures of 5,000 radicals in Europe, she said the EU needed "systematic border controls ... where EU citizens first and foremost are the ones controlled." De Maiziere also focused on the need for all EU nations to work together to reduce the threat of new terror attacks. The European Union began sending back refugees Monday under an agreement with Turkey. New Delhi, April 6 : Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday supported the jewellers protesting against the imposition of excise duty on non-silver jewellery, saying the government proposal will crush small businessmen. "We stand with you for your cause. I am not here to make speeches. I feel your pain, I stand with you. It's not your fight alone, it's ours too. I and the Congress stand with you," Gandhi said at a rally of the All India Bullion Jeweller and Swarnakar Federation at Jantar Mantar here. "This is not an excise duty on you. This is an attempt to crush you. You are being killed. But why are you being killed? Who will benefit from this?" "Our target is to free you of your pain and fear. We will try to convince (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji, make him understand your problems. We will try to convince the leaders of his party (BJP) also. We will put in all our might in this exercise," the Congress leader said. Taking a dig at the prime minister, he said: "Modi ji says his 'mann ki baat' but doesn't want to understand the 'mann ki baat' of others." He said Modi's 'Make In India' scheme would benefit only a few big industrialists and not the common man. "The idea of 'Make in India' is to throttle small businesses through excise. Big industrialists will be benefitted and those people who extract money from your profit through pressure and blackmail," Gandhi said. He also invoked Mahatma Gandhi, comparing the 'charkha' associated with the Father of the Nation with 'Make in India's 'lion' symbol, saying that while the former was powered by the strength of small businesses, farmers and labourers, the latter symbolised a handful of five to ten big industrialists. "When Modi ji talks about Make in India, he actually refers to five to ten big industrialists. Traders associated with jewellery don't have factories of Rs.10,000 crore. They have small units," he said. Jewellers have been holding nationwide protests for more than a month against the government's budgetary proposal to impose one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery and making PAN cards mandatory for transactions of Rs.2 lakh and above. Bengaluru, April 6 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached Rs.9.43 crore of Associated Mining Company (AMC), owned by Karnataka's former BJP minister G. Janarahdan Reddy and his wife G. Lakshmi Aruna, as the balance amount from illegal sale of iron ore to JSW Steels at Ballari. "This (Rs.9.43 crore) is the balance amount of the Rs.33.80 crore AMC generated from illegal sale of iron ore to JSW and kept with the steel firm," ED said in a statement here. ED's Bengaluru office had also attached the major amount (Rs.24.37 crore) in March 2015 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after investigations through this amount was also kept with JSW. "AMC and its former partners (Reddy & Aruna) projected the ill-gotten money as untainted," the statement noted. The value of total proceeds of the crime attached in this case is Rs.71.54 crore, including Rs.37.74 crore recovered from other illegal proceeds of AMC. Reddy, who was a cabinet minister in the first BJP government from May 2008 to July 2011, is on bail after languishing in Hyderabad and Bengaluru central jails till January 23, 2015 following his arrest by the CBI on September 5, 2011 in multi-crore mining scams in both the neighbouring states. The Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe Reddy's illegal mining activities, including exports through his mining firms in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The CBI also raided Reddy's palatial bungalow at Ballari, about 300km from here, and in Bengaluru in October 2011 and recovered several incriminating documents in connection with the mining scams. Hyderabad, April 6 : Protests erupted again on and outside the campus of Hyderabad Central University on Wednesday with a section of students sticking to their demand for removal of vice chancellor P. Appa Rao. There were clashes between protesters and security personnel at the main gate as activists of various students and youth organisations marched to the campus and tried to barge in to demand lifting of restrictions on entry of activists, students and others into the campus. Raising slogans against the vice chancellor, the protesters climbed on the gate and tried to push their way into the campus as police and university security personnel resisted. Holding banners and placards, the activists of SFI, PDSU and AIDSO staged a noisy protest, triggering tension. Terming this as unlawful assembly, police from Cyberabad, by displaying a banner, warned the protesters to disperse. Policemen were seen dragging protesters to waiting vans and taking them away. Some of the placards read "Recall Appa Rao" and "Sack Dattatreya, sack Smriti Irani from cabinet". The protest was in response to the "Chalo HCU" called by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, an umbrella group of various students' organisations to condemn police excesses on students and continued lockdown of the campus since Rao's return as vice chancellor. Inside the campus, the JAC members staged a protest outside the VC Lodge, where Appa Rao was presiding over the meeting of the Academic Council. Stating that Rao has no right to continue as vice chancellor and preside over the council, the students took out the march but were stopped by university security and police. The protesters squatted on the ground and raised slogans against the vice chancellor. The JAC had given a call for voluntary boycott of classes on Wednesday. Police beefed security around VC Lodge, the scene of violent protest on March 22, the day when Rao resumed charge as vice chancellor after nearly a two-month leave. The JAC has been protesting his return on the ground that he has been booked under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. He was named in the FIR registered after the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in January. The JAC blames Rao for Vemula's suicide. As many as 25 students and two faculty members were arrested on March 22 during the police crackdown on protesters. They were in jail for a week before being released on bail. Meanwhile, a professor walked out of the Academic Council, taking exception to Rao's continuance as vice chancellor. V. Krishna came out soon after the meeting began. He also announced his resignation as the controller of examination. Some other teachers who attended the meeting reportedly questioned Rao's return as the vice chancellor. Students union president Zuhail K.P. and general secretary Raju Kumar Sahu also boycotted the Academic Council meeting. According to the university, 106 faculty members out of the total 170 attended the meeting, which commenced with members observing a minute silence and offering condolence on the "sad and untimely passing away" of Economics professor A.V. Raja and Rohith Vemula. "The appointment of an ombudsman, activating the Equal Opportunities Cell, and the appointment of an anti-discrimination officer in line with relevant UGC regulations of 2012 were discussed in detail and the Academic Council decided to put in place a mechanism to redress relevant issues at the earliest," a university statement said. New Delhi, April 6 : President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and many prominent leaders have condoled the death of veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani's wife Kamla. Kamla Advani died on Wednesday following a heart attack, doctors at AIIMS said. "I fondly recall many visits of Kamla Advani to Rashtrapati Bhavan accompanying Advani-ji and her endearing presence. Kamla Advani was soft, cultured and left a lasting impression on whomsoever she met," Mukherjee posted on his official Twitter account. "Deeply pained and saddened by Kamla Advani-ji's demise. She always inspired and motivated karyakartas and was L.K. Advani-ji's pillar of strength. I recall my many interactions with Kamla Advani-ji. My thoughts are with the Advani family in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace," tweeted Modi. Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted: "Deeply pained to learn of Kamla Advani's demise. May god give L.K. Advani-ji and his family the strength to bear this great loss." Congress president Sonia Gandhi also expressed deep grief and sorrow at the death of Kamla Advani. Extending her condolences, she said she shared the pain caused by their loss and prayed for the departed soul. West Bengal Governor K.N. Tripathi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also condoled the death. "The governor conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family," the Raj Bhavan in Kolkata said in a press statement. Condoling the death, Mamata Banerjee wrote: "Saddened at the passing of Kamla Advani-ji. Great loss to Advani-ji and family. My deepest condolences." BJP president Amit Shah tweeted: "Deeply saddened by the demise of Kamla Advani-ji. My heartfelt condolences to the Advani family. May god give strength to bear the great pain." "My sincere condolences to Advani-ji on the passing away of his wife Smt Kamla Advani. My prayers are with him&his family in this time of grief," Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi posted on his official twitter account. New Delhi, April 6 : The Supreme Court has directed the Kerala government to pay Rs.40,000 to Jose Sabastin whose wife died after being bitten by a dog and could not be cured despite undergoing treatment. Noting that unless an ex-gratia amount was paid, the victim's family was not in a position to sustain itself, the bench of Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Shiva Kirti Singh said: "We think it apt to direct Kerala to pay a sum of Rs.40,000 to the applicant (Sabastin) within four weeks." The court was told that Sabastin, who has two children, was working as a bus driver and his wife was working in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). However, the court made it clear that it would not henceforth entertain any application for payment of compensation to victims of dog bites as it has constituted a three-member fact-finding committee to look into such complaints. "Any person intending to avail this kind of remedy has to move the committee and not directly come to this court or move the high court," the court said in its order on Tuesday that was made available on Wednesday. Counsel V.K. Biju, appearing for Sabastin, said the applicant's wife succumbed to the injuries because of the dog bite and could not be cured despite undergoing treatment. Biju told the court that because of inadequate action by the state, the number of victims has risen in Kerala and also led to a "catastrophe", for the deaths ruined the families. Addressing the issue of menace caused by dogs and remedies for the victims, the court set up a three-member fact finding committee comprising a former judge of the Kerala High Court, Justice Siri Jaga, the law secretary, law department and director of health services of Kerala. The committee, the court said, "shall entertain the complaints with regard to the injuries sustained by people in dog bites, the nature and gravity of the injury, availability of medicines and the treatment administered to them, the failure of treatment and its cure and in case of unfortunate death, the particulars of the deceased and the reasons behind the same". The committee, the court said, "shall also identify the centres/hospitals where the anti-rabies vaccines are available free of charge". The court said that on the basis of the facts recorded by the committee in each case, it would be in a position to think of granting compensation or making certain arrangements. Bhubaneswar, April 6 : Normal life was hit as heat wave continued to prevail across Odisha with state capital Bhubaneswar recording a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. A Met official here said the state capital's recorded temperature was the highest for April in the last six years. Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum of 43.6 degrees on April 9, 2010. According to an India Meteorological Department regional office release here, apart from Bhubaneswar, 15 other places in the state registered temperatures over 40 degrees on Wednesday. These are Balasore (41 degrees), Chandbali (41.3), Cuttack (40.6), Angul (40.7), Baripada (40.8), Jharsuguda (41), Sambalpur (40.8), Sundergarh (42), Talcher (41.6), Bhawanipatna (40.5), Balangir (41), Titlagarh (40.5), Malkangiri (42), Sonepur (41.2) and Dhenkanal (40.6). The Met department forecast that temperatures would continue to rise in several parts of the state. IMD regional director Sarat Chandra Sahu said the heat wave will continue in central Odisha and temperatures in most parts of Odisha's coastal region, which came down in the last two weeks, will increase again due to clear sky. Sahu said the state capital usually records around 42 degrees from the third and fourth week of April. Kolkata, April 6 : Alleging a "match-fixing" between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday charged the Mamata Banerjee government with "institutionalising corruption" in West Bengal. Campaigning for the assembly polls in Siliguri in north Bengal, the Marxist leader also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "selling the country". "The Supreme Court had ordered a CBI probe in the Saradha scam, but it is being done clumsily. It is so because there is a match-fixing between the Trinamool and the BJP. The BJP needs the support of the Trinamool in parliament," said Yechury, referring to the multi-crore-rupee chit fun scam in which many Trinamool leaders have been arrested and interrogated. Citing the recent sting operation by Narada News, in which over a dozen Trinamool leaders including MPs and state ministers have been purportedly caught on camera accepting bribes, Yechury said Bengal has never seen such corruption before. "From Saradha to Narada, in the last five years, they have institutionalised corruption. It has never happened before in Bengal," he said. He also took a jibe at Modi's recent election campaign in Assam where he touched on his early days as a tea-seller. "Campaigning in Assam, the prime minister said he used to sell Assam tea, when he will campaign here, he will say he used to sell Darjeeling tea. Don't know what tea he sold, but now he is selling the country," Yechury said. Mumbai, April 6 : The Tata Group on Wednesday sought the British government's help in finding a suitable buyer for its floundering steel assets in Britain, while also exploring the possibility of a third party independent auditor to oversee the transition. The main focus of the talks was to avert over 40,000 job losses at Tata Steel UK. These issues were discussed at a meeting between British Business Secretary Sajid Javid, who flew into this city to specifically hold talks with the Tata Group top brass led by chairman Cyrus Mistry. Speaking to reporters here following the meeting, Javid called it "constructive and positive" and said the Tata Group was a "responsible company", adding it had told him that a "reasonable amount of time" would be allowed for the sale process. Among parties that had shown interest in purchasing the Tata assets, the British business secretary only named Liberty Steel. India-born, London-based businessman Sanjiv Kumar Gupta, founder of the UK-based Liberty House, is touted as a strong contender to take over Tata Steel's British assets. He was one of the potential buyers Javid met in London before flying out to Mumbai. Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron held emergency talks in London with his colleagues to tackle the crisis, amid warnings that the firm has just weeks for a rescue deal. The Labour Party has termed it a national crisis and wants the UK steel industry to be nationalised. Having suffered nearly $3 billion in losses on the British operations, Tata Steel last week said it will explore options to put its entire portfolio there up for sale, some 10 years after it forayed into Europe by acquiring the Anglo-Dutch Corus for over $8.1 billion. Bhubaneswar, April 6 : An aide of Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma on Wednesday submitted documents relating to a vehicle owned by the minister to the CBI which is inquiring into the multi-crore-rupee chit fund scam in the state. Gourang Sahu, representative of the minister, submitted the documents to the CBI on allegations of taking the car from the Artha Tatwa chit fund company. The CBI had issued notice to the minister on April 4 to submit documents relating to the vehicle. Dasburma, however, said everything will come out after the CBI inquiry. Congress leader Lalatendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra had alleged that the vehicle was gifted by Artha Tatwa chief Pradeep Sethi, who is in jail for duping thousands of depositors. The CBI is inquiring into the chit fund scam of 44 companies in the state following directions of the Supreme Court. Islamabad/New Delhi, April 6 : Pakistan on Wednesday said its Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that was in India to probe the Pathankot terror attack had visited the "crime scene" but witnesses from the Indian security forces were not produced before the probe team. A day after India dismissed a report in Pakistan Today, quoting sources in the JIT that the January 2 attack on the Pathankot Indian Air Force base was stage-managed by India, a statement from the Pakistan foreign office said the JIT had visited India from March 27 to April 1, 2016 for "investigating the allegations regarding the attack on Pathankot airbase, India". "The visit started with a presentation given by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) regarding its investigations so far. "The JIT visited the crime scene and also recorded the statements of some witnesses. However, the witnesses belonging to the Indian security forces were not produced before it. "The JIT briefed the NIA on progress of investigations in Pakistan. Further investigations are underway. "The visit of the JIT to India took place in the context of the cooperative approach being pursued by the government of Pakistan as part of its commitment to effectively fight terrorism in all its forms," the statement said. Earlier, a Pakistan Today report quoting sources in the JIT said "the Indian authorities had prior information about the attackers" but the country used the incident as a tool to expand its "vicious propaganda". "India used the attack as a tool to expand its "vicious propaganda" against Pakistan 'without having any solid evidence to back the claim'," the source told the newspaper. India on Tuesday dismissed the Pakistan Today report as "total concoction", while union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said no one, including people in Pakistan, will believe that the Pathankot attack was stage-managed by India. The January 2 attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohamed terrorists from Pakistan, in which seven Indian security force personnel were killed. The attack has led to stalling of the resumption of dialogue between India and Pakistan, which had been kick-started by a visit to Pakistan late last year by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and a December 25 stop-over visit to Lahore by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during which he held talks over tea with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. During Sushma Swaraj's visit to Islamabad and her meeting with the Pakistani leadership, including Sharif, both sides had agreed to resume the stalled dialogue -- which they called Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue. The modalities of holding the dialogue, including a section on tackling terrorism, was to be discussed by the foreign secretaries of the two countries in January this year. But the Pathankot attack has put a spanner in the process. Sharif has directed a high level team to probe the "specific and actionable" evidence provided by India. Jakarta, April 7 : A critically endangered Sumatran female rhino, captured a few weeks ago, has died. Indonesian conservation experts in Borneo said the female rhino named Najaq had a severe infection from wounds they believe were caused by poaching traps. Najaq was captured on March 12. She was the first critically endangered Sumatran rhino to be found in an area of Borneo for 40 years. The species had been thought to be extinct in Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo, until a few years ago. Experts said the Sumatran rhino population in the region is about 15. The species is threatened with extinction. According to the International Rhino Foundation, only 100 Sumatran rhinos remain. The foundation said on its website that in Africa alone, poachers killed three or more rhinos per day last year due to demand for the horn on the black market. "Our hearts are saddened by this devastating news from Kalimantan. There are many lessons to be learned from this event," the International Rhino Foundation said in a statement. Wildlife charity WWF has said it is saddened by news the animal had died. While the cause of death was still being determined, the conservation group said there were indications the rhino was suffering from a severe infection caused by snares from an earlier poaching attempt. Nyoman Iswarayoga, spokesman for World Wildlife Fund, said an autopsy on the 10-year-old rhino will be performed to determine the cause of death. Carlos Drews, director of the WWF International Global Species programme, said: "WWF is saddened by the news of the death of the Sumatran rhino found in Kalimantan. The hope we felt a few days ago was in celebration of the first live sighting of a rhino that was thought to be extinct in the Indonesian part of Borneo until recent surveys revealed footprints of this unique species." "Today, we feel despair over the loss of that same rhino. We now know that there are more Sumatran rhinos in this region and we will work to protect the remaining individuals. This was the first physical contact with the species in the area for over 40 years, we will make great efforts to make sure that it is not the last," Guardian quoted Dews as saying. Arnold Sitompul, WWF Indonesia conservation director, added that the indication the rhino was suffering infection as a result of poaching snares demonstrated the threats faced by the species. New home approvals in Australia fell to a five year low towards the end of last year with property experts blaming tightened lending from banks. Overall new home approvals fell by 9.1% with multi-unit homes down by 18.4% and detached home approvals down by a more modest 2.3% in November, according to the figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The weak approval rate shows how much the current credit squeeze is weighing on the home building sector, according to Diwa Hopkins, Housing Industry Association economist. The credit squeeze is happening at the behest of the banks own lending practices which have been tightened above and beyond APRAs requirements, she said. She pointed out that HIA research has found that the time taken to gain approval for a loan to build a new home has blown out from around two weeks to more than two months. APRAs decision late last year to lift its 30 per cent cap on banks interest only lending is a welcome development, but more needs to be done to mitigate the growing risks of a hard-landing in the housing market, Hopkins explained. Policy makers and lenders alike need to be cognisant that ordinary home buyers are now facing blowouts in loan processing times and also much greater rates of flat out loan rejection. The results show how this is weighing substantially on the new home building sector, she added. While the housing industry has been anticipating the current downturn in new home building, Hopkins believes that there is a risk it could develop more quickly and strongly than expected. In particular policy makers and lenders will need to respond judiciously to the pending release of the Banking Royal Commissions recommendations, she warned. A breakdown of the figures shows that approvals fell by 14.6% in Victoria, by 9.3% in New South Wales, by 7.3% in Western Australia, by 4.6% in South Australia and by 4.35 in Queensland. Tasmania was the only state to record an increase in approvals with a rise of 30.6%, while approvals fell by 9.5% in the Australian Capital Territory and were unchanged in the Northern Territory. Landlords in the UK may be unwittingly issuing incorrect Section 21 notices, resulting in thousands of pounds being wasted on aborted possession claims and extensive delays in recovering property, it is claimed. According to legal firm Kirwans confusion has arisen as a result of legislation changes applying to residential Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) agreements which began on, or have been renewed, since 01 October 2015. Danielle Hughes from Kirwans explained that old Section 21 notices, which can still be used in relation to AST agreements made up to 30 September 2015, require a minimum standard of proof from landlords that there is a written AST in place, that the deposit is protected and prescribed information relating to the deposit was served on tenants. Licences are also required for HMOs or in Selective Licensing areas. However, the new Section 21 notices, which are currently intended for AST agreements made from 01 October 2015 onwards and wont apply to older ASTs until late 2018, impose several additional obligations on landlords which must be complied with before the eviction notice can be served. She believes that landlords and letting agents are serving new Section 21 notices on old AST agreements, putting them at greater risk of having their case thrown out of court and pointed out that there are multiple reasons why it is beneficial to serve the old Section 21 forms on AST agreements made prior to 01 October 2015. Section 21 has until recent years been known as the non-fault notice, with the landlord required to provide only basic information for the older form to be valid, while tenants have limited grounds on which to dispute a possession claim, said Hughes. The new form sets out strict requirements with which the landlord must comply prior to serving the notice, including providing the tenant with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), a Gas Safety Certificate, and the Governments How to Rent: The Checklist for Renting in England booklet, she explained. She also pointed out that the new notice has a shorter validity period compared to the older forms, and can only be relied upon for a limited time after service, meaning that the landlord either has to issue a possession claim within four months or serve a new notice. A failure to adhere to any of these requirements renders a notice invalid, which could see the case being struck out of court, a minimum 12-week delay to the landlord, loss of the court fee of 355, and a possible order to pay the tenants legal costs, she said. The new notice also provides tenants with grounds for defending the claim on the basis that the eviction was retaliatory and came about only because they had raised concerns over repairs that needed undertaking on the property, she added. It means that if a tenant has reported a repair that needs undertaking to the local authority and an improvement notice has been served, the landlord may be prevented from recovering possession of the property using Section 21 for over six months under the new regulations. Service of the new notice where it is not needed, therefore, puts the landlord at unnecessary risk of this defence being successfully raised by the tenant in court, Hughes said. She is now urging all landlords and agents to take advantage of this crossover period to use the old Section 21 notice where circumstances permit before the regulations come into force across the board. I would urge landlords and agents to seek advice and to carefully consider how they approach Section 21 Notices if their AST pre-dates October 2015, she added. EngagePoint CEO Pradeep Goel will participate in a discussion titled, The Force Awakens: Accelerating Industry Participation in the Modular MMIS, H&HS Ecosystem, at the 2016 Healthcare IT Connect Summit, on March 21st and 22nd, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. Goel, along with other leaders in government and healthcare information technology sector, will discuss a modular approach to system modernization. Citizen centric benefits cannot be properly delivered or managed through outdated, monolithic IT systems. Modularity is our best option to reduce risk, increase use of shared services, improve time to market and lower cost, with the goal of delivering the right benefit at the right time to the citizen, said Goel. In addition, EngagePoint is hosting a roundtable discussion during the summit. This roundtable, Managing Modularity for Desired Outcomes, will discuss the risks, opportunities, and methodologies in managing modularity to achieve the goals and objectives of modular system implementations. Calverton, Maryland-based EngagePoint is a proud sponsor of the 2016 Healthcare IT Connect Summit. EngagePoint is a software and solutions company providing enterprise software and solutions for state and federal government agencies, across a wide array of health and human services programs. # # # For more information about EngagePoint and modular solutions, products, and services, please visit http://www.EngagePoint.com or send an email to info(at)engagepoint(dot)com. For more information about the March 21 and 22, 2016 Healthcare IT Connect Summit in Baltimore, MD, please visit http://www.healthcareitconnect.com/2016-state-healthcare-it-connect-summit/ Optimized schedules help banks put the right bankers in front of the customers at the right time and place Kiran Analytics a leader in intelligent branch transformation announced today that it launched Scheduler version 3.0, a major software upgrade of its innovative staff scheduling software specifically designed for retail banks. Given the rapid pace of changes in consumer banking behaviors and technology deployments, retail banks are struggling with how to evolve their branch workforce. Most banks are deploying universal bankers who are capable of performing personal banker, teller, and customer service roles. Some banks are pooling their branch managers and bankers across multiple branches in close proximity. Others are recruiting staff from other retail industries. All of these workforce transformation initiatives are intended to leverage declining face-to-face interactions in branches for improved customer experience, revenue growth, and operational efficiency. Using advanced analytics, Kirans solutions help retail banking managers optimize their workforce throughout their branch transformation journeys. Jim DeLapa, CEO of Kiran Analytics said, We are proud to announce the Scheduler 3.0 release with four major features -- auto-scheduler, integrated tutorial, recruiting recommendation engine, and internationalization." He added, Making the branch managers job easy to plan and schedule shifts was our number one design criterion for this release. Scheduler 3.0 simplifies the branch managers job by automatically creating the highest quality shift schedule that takes into account various factors such as staff skillsets, branch attributes, staff availability, and resource pooling. Optimized schedules help banks put the right bankers in front of the customers at the right time and place aligning sales and service capacity with market opportunity. Alignment of retail branch staffing strategy with on-the-ground operational execution is a huge challenge for retail banks. Most banks are either over-hiring, under-hiring, or not hiring the right skillsets. DeLapa said, We are really excited about our intelligent recruiting recommendation engine in Scheduler 3.0. It will be instrumental in helping banking managers align strategic, tactical, and operational staffing decisions. Driven by prescriptive analytics, the engine only recommends a new hire if the auto-generated schedule does not have sufficient staff in the roster to cover the forecasted resource level. If the engine recommends hiring new staff, its recommendations are based on running through a set of scenarios and addressing questions such as what skillsets are required, should the new hire be full-time or part-time, during what specific days/hours is the new staff member needed, and which branches they need to be available (in those cases where resources are pooled among multiple branches). Another major feature of the Scheduler 3.0 release is internationalization. DeLapa said, Localization is an important requirement for our global customers with branch networks in multiple countries. With the new internationalization features of Scheduler 3.0, we made localization easy and fast for our global customers. The adoption rate of software products used by banking managers is heavily dependent on ease-of-training. Kirans Scheduler 3.0 features an integrated tutorial that simplifies workflows and provides a step-by-step navigation to guide managers through the user tasks. The integrated tutorial makes it really easy for banking managers to come up to speed thereby increasing user adoption rates. Kirans new release of Scheduler 3.0 powered by CloudCords is offered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) for retail banks so the benefits of this major update are immediately available to all customers and end users. About Kiran Analytics Kiran Analytics drives intelligent branch transformation for retail banks through the application of predictive analytics. Kirans solutions have been deployed in over 10,000 branches helping to forecast optimal branch staff levels accurately, hire better people faster, and to plan and schedule resources efficiently. As a result, retail banks increase sales and customer service while reducing operational costs. Kiran Analytics is a member of Bank Administration Institute (BAI) and Consumer Bankers Association (CBA). ISC WEST (PRWEB) April 06, 2016 -- SpotterRF, the leader in low cost compact surveillance radar (CSR), today announced milestones in addressing drone threats and protecting critical infrastructure. The company, in conjunction with Black Sage Technologies, is now shipping an exclusive UAVX system to detect and track unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) movement outside the perimeter. In addition, SpotterRF has teamed with IndustrialENET and Bosch to protect bridges and electrical utilities. SpotterRF CEO Logan Harris will speak on these and other advanced perimeter security issues at this years ISC West Conference. Electric utilities, bridges, and other critical infrastructure are under increasing perimeter threat, states Logan Harris, CEO for SpotterRF. The nations 55,000 electric substations and 600,000 bridges are now considered targets that need protection. Inexpensive drone threats require affordable, effective deterrence. We provide that through rapid detection and tracking. The unique UAVX system leverages SpotterRF C550 compact surveillance radar, Black Sage advanced artificial intelligent target classification , and video tracking software to produce an all-weather 24/7 drone deterrence system that is one-sixth the cost of any alternative technology. It has a 350-meter range with a 15 percent vertical field of view. The new system may be seen in action at ISC West booth #14135. See video HERE. In other news, SpotterRF has entered an agreement with and is delivering radar units through IndustrialENET to integrate radar with rugged Bosch MIC cameras to protect bridges, tunnels and electrical substations in harsh conditions. Although the locations are high security and not made public, IndustrialENET is using SpotterRF for major projects in Northern California and SpotterRF has previously worked directly with the Maryland DOT to protect high traffic bridges in that state. IndustrialENET has a legacy of providing critical system networking with high availability, video surveillance, states Jon Amack, Director of Business Development for IndustrialENET. Our mandate is to protect the public by utilizing the best technology. SpotterRF radar is just that. SpotterRF delivers its award-winning compact surveillance radar (CSR) systems through more than 60 strategic integrators to a global marketplace in 24 countries on six continents. This award-winning radar will be demonstrated at the upcoming Security Industry Association (SIA) ISC West tradeshow in Las Vegas, Nevada April 6-8 (booth# 14135). About SpotterRF SpotterRF provides the worlds most advanced Compact Surveillance Radar (CSR) system for perimeter security and force protection. Made in the USA and engineered for extreme conditions, SpotterRF technology is the most compact, lightweight, energy efficient, and cost-effective radar for elite warfighters and critical infrastructure requirements, such as electrical utilities. For more information visit https://spotterrf.com/commercial-products/ Global Futurist Jack Uldrich Each year information technology gets better, faster, and cheaper; and hundreds of millions of new individuals are being drawn into a hyper-connected and networked global economy. Highly acclaimed global futurist Jack Uldrich has been confirmed as the guest keynote speaker for the 2016 Emerson Global Users Exchange in Brussels, Belgium on April 12. Highly regarded for his insights when it comes to future trends and preparing for change, Uldrich says, "Each year information technology is only getting better, faster, and cheaper; and hundreds of millions of new individuals are being drawn into a hyper-connected and networked global economy. The previously unknown ideas and insights of those hundreds of millions of individuals are now being added to the global consciousness, further accelerating change." Having delivered a keynote for the 2014 Emerson Global Users Exchange that was "designed to help them create the future by thinking about it in a new light," Uldrich plans to take the work a step further with his updated 2016 keynote, "The Big AHA: How to Future-Proof Your Business Against Tomorrow's Trends. Today." Considered by clients and colleagues as "an extremely knowledgeable and engaging speaker" and for "setting a tone of optimism and creativity," his keynotes, workshops, and articles focus primarily on technology, change management and leadership. Uldrich has addressed Fortune 100 corporations, venture capital firms, associations, not-for-profit organizations and state and regional governments on five continents. His client list includes the National Association of Manufacturers, Trane, Siemens, Eaton, PMMI, ABB/Thomas & Betts, among others. Parties interested in learning more about this event, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website. The new headquarters building will provide capacity for increased research and development, support operations and a larger sales team going forward. This expansion is not only the opening of a new expanded, modern and stylish office, but it also marks the opening of further opportunities within the company. We are currently seeking skilled individuals to fill roles in both software and business development, we want individuals that are not afraid to explore new paths and who consistently think outside the box. The new office will allow us to increase our capabilities in key areas that support our current and future growth plans. It will also allow us to increase our workforce and support the growth we are already generating said James Hunter, Chief Executive Officer for JAR Technologies. Our team is delighted with the new facilities. The new office also represents a commitment to continue to build on our success and we are very excited about the future of JAR Technologies. Ryan McAnlis, Global Head of Sales and Marketing at JAR Technologies, said: We had the complete freedom to refurbish the office space with bright seating and flooring, all of which represents the JAR company culture. The exposed red brick walls, high ceilings and abundance of natural light are overall aesthetically inviting. We wanted to create a relaxed, bright and exciting environment to work in; we recognize the significance of how the working environment affects employees and boosts motivation and efficiency. The new office is based at 7 James Street South, Belfast, BT2 8DN. About JAR Technologies: JAR Technologies has been trusted to deliver cutting edge products and technology to our clients and resellers. Our products and services have been used throughout the world by industry leaders to guarantee the operation of their mission critical software and infrastructures. Delivering to a global audience, our technology has helped drive innovations in multiple technology sectors including financial, telecommunications, media and Internet of Things (IoT). For more information, please contact JAR Technologies on 028 9023 3322 or email info(at)jartechnologies(dot)com "Our pin remains a symbol of American pride. If youve been watching Showtimes brand new compulsively watchable drama series Billions, youve more than likely noticed that alpha male Chuck Rhoades (played by Paul Giamatti) has a law-and-order sense of style. Upon each specially tailored suit Rhoades wears he dons American pride and patriotism with an American flag lapel pin comparative to PinMart's. Short of wearing a full on stars and stripes suit, the American flag lapel pin is the quickest sartorial way for a politician like Rhoades to demonstrate his patriotism. The derivation of the American flag lapel pin is vague, however, it is associated with the history of the American flag as a frequently used symbol. Prior to the Civil War era few possessed or even flew their own American flag and was limited to only military and federal facilities. Since then, American flag imagery has been associated with moments of conflict or crisis. PinMarts Director Steve Geyer states For PinMart the September 11th attacks in 2001 had a significant impact on PinMart more specifically in relation to the immediate desire to display ones pride and solidarity for our country in such dire times by wearing our American flag pins. PinMarts goal was to not profit from this yet to support and unite the American spirit when it was needed most. My route to work following the days after the attacks changed for now each home and business was proudly flying an American flag. Now fifteen years later our pin remains a symbol of American pride. The donning of the American flag pin is a sacred ritual, a way for politicians to demonstrate their love for America that might otherwise be in doubt. The American flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. Therefore, the flag lapel pin being a replica, should be worn on the left lapel near the heart. The American flag lapel pin is by far the most popular lapel pin across the United States. Wear the Stars and Stripes with pride and glory! About PinMart: PinMart, Inc. is a privately held company located in Elk Grove Village Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, specializing in the design and manufacture of stock and custom emblems, custom lapel pins, and recognition and awareness products. PinMart sells products via its online store and offers custom design and manufacturing. PinMart has taken advantage of its well positioned internet presence and now boasts a client list that includes over 300 of the Fortune 500 companies. Staff members at Christian Blue Network. (Photo Provided) At Trust Blue Review, we believe that the best way to gain trust is when you know from the beginning that the business owner has made a commitment to honor God by doing the job right, with honesty and integrity. Move over, Angies List and Better Business Bureau. Trust Blue Review is a new online Christian directory network serving eight metropolitan areas in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Christian Blue Network, headquartered in Miamisburg, Ohio, has launched TrustBlueReview.com, an online product and service reviews-based referral directory for people looking to connect with businesses whose owners identify themselves as Christians. Everyone is looking for businesses they can trust, said Darrel Geis, president of Christian Blue Network, a 25-year print, web and mobile app promotional network that serves eight Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana metropolitan areas. At Trust Blue Review, we believe that the best way to gain trust is when you know from the beginning that the business owner has made a commitment to honor God by doing the job right, with honesty and integrity. The new digital reviews system allows people to secure feedback from others who have used a business in the network and get a glimpse into the companys value system, in particular, the character of the person steering the ship of that business, said Geis. Ultimately, he added, it should make selecting excellent, trustworthy product and service providers easier. We believe our unique filter of business competence and Christian character is different than any other way consumers find businesses they can trust, said Geis. With the new reviews component, our consumers are able to voice how our advertisers are performing. Our advertisers have been operating with excellence in their businesses all along, and now with consumer reviews, well have the means to affirm it. Christian Blue Network publishes an annual print directory of Christian-owned and operated businesses called Christian Blue Pages in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis, Akron/Canton, Springfield/Urbana, and Northern Kentucky, along with its current ChristianBluePages.com online directory. It also produces Christmas Blue Pages, an annual Christmas carol songbook, which includes lyrics and music to traditional, Christ-centered Christmas carols and a read-aloud Christmas program. For more information about the Trust Blue Review referral directory, go to http://www.ChristianBluePages.com, http://www.TrustBlueReview.com, or contact Geis at 1-800-860-2583. # # # To watch a video of how a busy mom chooses Christian business partners to serve her family, go to http://bit.ly/1WeRpqX # # # Contact: Darrel Geis Email: connect(at)trustbluereview.com Phone: (937) 847-2583 About Christian Blue Network: Christian Blue Network is a 25-year print, web and mobile app promotional network that aims to develop a connected community of consumers and businesses, based on trust and Christian values, where accountability is established, product and service needs are met, and the Kingdom of God is extended SonoDepot Announces E-CUBE i7 Hand-Carried Unit Wins Prestigious iF Design Award I am very proud of the E-CUBE i7, its design achievements, and the fact that the inspiration for the new portable ultrasound systems design came from one of our customers. - Seok-Bin Ko, CEO ALPINIONS newest portable ultrasound system, the E-CUBE i7 recently won FDA as well as the esteemed iF Design Award 2016. The E-CUBE i7, a portable diagnostic ultrasound system, gave the edge to ALPINION MEDICAL SYSTEMS in winning the iF Design Award for 2016. The iF Design Award is one of the largest and most renowned industrial design competitions in the world. In the category of Health/ Medicine, the E-CUBE i7 HCU (Hand-carried Unit) stood out amongst 5295 entries from 53 nations for this prestigious 2016 international award. A prestigious jury of experts evaluated the E-CUBE i7 on major criteria including product design, workmanship, choice of materials, innovation, environmental friendliness, functionality, ergonomics and safety. The E-CUBE i7's groundbreaking design makes it the world's first ultrasound system equipped with a sliding keyboard cover. The smart design protects the keyboard from contamination by gel, fluid, blood and dust. With superior functionality and ergonomics, the streamlined design offers a solution for users who suffer from wrist pain that often accompanies the use of bulky, heavy systems over a prolonged scanning time . The keyboard placement provides support and comfort for a user's arms and wrists when typing and, with the sliding cover closed, allows it to be used as a space for a wrist rest. ALPINION continues to gain ground in innovation and has already collected design awards for a previous model. In 2011, ALPINIONs E-CUBE 9 received the iF Design Award as well as the RedDot Award: Product Design 2011. Seok-Bin Ko, CEO of ALPINION MEDICAL SYSTEMS, said, I am very proud of the E-CUBE i7, its design achievements, and the fact that the inspiration for the new portable ultrasound systems design came from one of our customers. In accordance of ALPINIONs commitment to a user-focused product design philosophy, we will continue to correspond with end-users working in the field in order to integrate the user-experience and requirements in product development. He added, This award demonstrates that ALPINION with the E-CUBE i7 has truly gained international recognition in industrial design despite fierce competition with the worlds most well-known manufacturers. About SonoDepot Floyd McAuliffe, Founder and President along with his brother Jack McAuliffe, CEO, are the owners of SonoDepot and trailblazers of OEM-Independent Ultrasound Support providing superior service to healthcare providers in the U.S. since 1985. SonoDepot, based in Central Florida, is an exclusive sales and service provider for the revolutionary Alpinion Ultrasound product line featuring the E-CUBE series. The company also proudly repairs, services and sells the industry's most respected brands including GE, Philips, HP, and Siemens. SonoDepots services include ultrasound repair, transducer repair, probe evaluation and maintenance. They are retailers of both new and refurbished ultrasound systems. With a rapid 15-30 minute response time and 24/7 nationwide service, SonoDepot is keenly focused on customer service. 90% of SonoDepot's ultrasound repair clients are repeat customers who refer colleagues. Florida National University BSN Natural Sciences Student, Rachel Bibilonia "FNU assisted me in every aspect." ~ Rachel Bibilonia Florida National University (FNU) is proud to announce that its first Bachelor of Science student in Natural Sciences has earned early acceptance into Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine for Dentistry. Rachel Bibilonia, an FNU junior, expects to start dentistry school at LECOM Spring of 2019 in Bradenton, Florida. FNU signed an affiliation agreement with Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) that allows early acceptance into its pharmacy or dentistry program as early as a students sophomore year. LECOMs programs are held in Erie, Pennsylvania and Bradenton, Florida. The dental program is in Bradenton. Upon successful completion of an undergraduate degree program, students will have the opportunity to immediately start their graduate studies at LECOM and earn their Doctorates of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) degree. The application process to LECOM appears to be fairly quick as Bibilonia said she applied in October of 2015. She praised the FNU staff for assisting her through the process. FNU assisted me in every aspect, Bibilonia said. They also prepared the bachelors program with the best classes so we could be prepared and on the same level as the other applicants. In order for FNU students to earn early acceptance into LECOM, they must have a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher, and a science GPA of 3.2 or higher. They must also score greater than, or equal to 1,170 on the SAT Score in Math and Verbal Reasoning. Bibilonia went on to state how FNUs Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences program greatly attributed to helping her meet these qualifications. The reason I chose FNU, is because this is the only university that made it possible for me to work and study at the same time. Bibilonia said. Each of the science classes plays an important role in dentistry. As a Dental Assistant I see the importance of science everyday in the dental field, from the way we identify the anatomy of the skull in a panoramic X-ray, to the way we correctly use and store chemicals products. Bibilonia expresses how well constructed FNUs Natural Science courses are and how the academic stafffrom Dr. Caridad Sanchez, the Vice President of Academic Affairs, who she said guided her through every step of the LECOM application process,, to the instructors like Professor Victor Hernandez who continue to make her college experience enjoyable. She admits that the courses are challenging, but with the professors help, it is make it easy to understand. For Bibilonia, FNUs first Bachelor of Science in Natural Sciences student, she refers to her personal experience with this academic program as a filter that will determine who has what it takes to be a dentist. Other students who are considering a degree in the field of dentistry or any medical field may also benefit from this program. FNUs Bachelor of Science of Natural Sciences program is designed to prepare students for pre-medicine, pre-pharmacy, or pre-dentistry. The program provides a basic background in chemistry and biology. It has a minimum of 120 credits to complete, with 39 credits of general education requirements, 60 credits of core requirements, and at least 18 elective credits. To view the full list of course requirements, visit the Bachelor of Science of Natural Science page here. #### About FNU Florida National University is a regionally accredited higher learning institution founded in 1982. FNU awards a variety of certificates, associates, baccalaureate, and master degree programs, including 22 distance-learning program opportunities. FNU: opening doors to the future. Alcance Launches their Variety-Focused Chilean Wines For International Distribution I have a deep love for wines from the Maule Valley of Chile, said Andres Sanchez, winemaker for Alcance Winery. Alcance Winery today announces the 2014 vintage release of their variety-focused wines worldwide. Although Carmenere is most commonly associated with Chilean wines, Alcance is excited to also showcase their Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grown from the cooler regions of the Maule Valley. I have a deep love for wines from the Maule Valley of Chile, said Andres Sanchez, winemaker for Alcance Winery. It requires a lot of finesse and careful oversight to produce bolder wines from this cooler geographical region in Chile. With the 2014 vintage, we are seeing true expressions of the vineyard location and specific variety. Alcance is built around two estate vineyards planted with dozens of soil types used to extract the most potential from each vine. The El Maiten Estate Vineyards sits on the cool bench of the Licray River in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. As a result, El Maitens wines are rich, concentrated, and balanced. The San Francisco Estate Vineyard is located in the southwest portion of the Maule Valley amongst rolling hills, pine trees and cool ocean breezes. These wines are tightly wound and precise with high-toned aromatics and firm upfront flavors. Alcance Spring 2016 Wine Releases: 2014 Alcance Merlot // SRP: $22 A lush and concentrated wine with flavors of ripe plums, cherries and dried herbs. 2014 Alcance Cabernet Sauvignon // SRP: $24 A ripe, elegant and structured wine with primary flavors and aromatics that include blackberry, sage and earth. 2014 Alcance Carmenere // SRP: $22 An obscure Bordeaux variety that was once believed to be extinct and now is Chiles signature grape. This wine is deep, rich and exotic with flavors of cassis and blackberries. More information and wine technical sheets can be found at AlcanceChile.com About Alcance Winemaker, Andres Sanchez Born and raised in Santiago, Chile, Andres Sanchez has built an international reputation as one of South Americas most talented and well-travelled winemakers. After earning his degree in Agronomy, Andres began his career in 1994 at Domain Oriental Winery in Chile. The following year he began working with legendary California winemaker Randy Ullom in Maule Valley, then spent time in California and Italy before returning to Chile to become winemaker at Vina Calina and eventually Alcance. In recent years, Andres has consulted for wineries throughout Italy and he is currently the president of VIGNO, a group he helped establish to promote local wines made from old-vine Carignan in Chile. About Alcance Winemaster, Randy Ullom Randy Ullom received his degree in Viticulture and Enology from Ohio State University in 1975, eventually making his way to California where he spent 12 years at DeLoach Vineyards in the Russian River Valley. In 1993 he was hired by Jess Jackson to oversee his expanding international portfolio. Randys first stop was Chile, a country the two men believed had the potential to produce spectacular wines. Randy was promoted to Winemaster in 1997 and to this day he continues to oversee winemaking operations in Chile. About Alcance When Alcance was created in Chile in the early 1990s most of the countrys wineries were congregated to the north in the warmer areas of the Central Valley. Renown California vintner Jess Jackson and winemaker Randy Ullom chose a different direction, applying their extensive winemaking knowledge of cooler regions in California to their Chilean vineyards. With the belief that cusp climates produce the most complex and balanced wines, they looked to the Maule Valley. Over the past two decade Alcance has learned that Maule is a place of unlimited potential. With modern planting, farming and winemaking techniques, Maule is now producing wines that deliver depth, character and complexity that rival many of the worlds finest wines. Alcance can be found online at Alcance Chile and on Twitter @AlcanceChile. It was announced today that Kiva Zip, in partnership with Malena, is launching an innovative crowd funded order platform (http://malena.com/campaign-for-rock-pillar) that introduces a new and unique way to support Kivas community of artisans and entrepreneurs. It works like this: You invest in an entrepreneur or small business to fulfill an order of their products, and in return you receive a Malena gift card of equal value, to use in the Malena Marketplace, for that entrepreneurs goods, or any others in the marketplace, anytime you like. Its a brand new way to shop, to support growing Kiva businesses, and to make a positive social impact on communities by simply shopping for beautiful goods. Flynn Coleman, founder and CEO of Malena, said: We believe Kiva Zip is the perfect partner for us. They help many small businesses get their start and tell their stories, and this new order platform we created is a way to help grow their businesses and access new marketplaces, that will help us continue on our mutual journey to support the voices, futures, and dignity of these entrepreneurs, while having a hugely positive social impact on communities. Spencer Larkin, US Lead of Kiva Zip said: This novel order funding technology is a great way for us to continue to work with Kiva Zip funded businesses and to help them access new markets for their products. It also offers our many loyal Kiva Lenders an inventive way to continue to support these businesses as conscious shoppers of Malenas beautiful goods. This new crowdfunding platform will help invest in the dreams of Kiva supported artisans, entrepreneurs, cooperatives, and groups. Check out the first campaign for an order of Rock+Pillars fabulous handmade shoes and bags at http://malena.com/campaign-for-rock-pillar. Join Malena and Kiva in this new initiative, and become a changemaker and an investor in dreams. About Kiva Zip: Kiva Zip (https://zip.kiva.org) is a US focused division of Kiva.org, a non-profit micro lender with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty, by providing safe, affordable capital to help people create better lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. About Malena LLC: Malena (http://www.malena.com) is a social enterprise, platform, and ecommerce marketplace that supports a global community of artisans and entrepreneurs by helping them grow their businesses, tell their stories, and by providing a global market for their goods. Find Malena on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/shopmalena Contact: connect(at)malena(dot)com spencerl(at)kiva(dot)org Kuga Campervan - New Zealand It's only taken us 23 years to make the leap and open in New Zealand, we are a campervan company that wants to deliver a quality experience to our customers. A favourite with the backpackers and budget conscious travellers from all over the world, Travellers Autobarn promises to deliver the same friendly service and backpacker benefits, such as unlimited kilometres, rentals to 18-21 year olds at no extra cost, and no cash bonds and just great value spacious campervans. Everything that made Travellers Autobarn famous in Australia is now also in New Zealand. Travellers Autobarn will continue to work with their successful strategic partner - The iconic New Zealand brand, Escape Campers - to offer a full range of campervan options in New Zealand. Peter Burke, owner of Travellers Autobarn, stated, The current macro economic conditions, of low capital cost, favourable exchange rates for travellers and low fuel costs for renters, make it the perfect time to launch a new and exciting product into the New Zealand market at time when tourist numbers are showing strong growth. "For Travellers Autobarn it just makes sense to broaden our appeal to agents and to capitalise on growth opportunities as they arise. It's only taken us 23 years to make the leap and open in New Zealand. We are a campervan company that wants to deliver a quality experience to our customers. That's our only goal, and offering the new Kuga Hitop campervan to our New Zealand clientele will help us achieve more happy customers." Travellers Autobarn aims to reach a fleet size of 300 campervans in New Zealand within a few short years and a combined fleet across Australia and New Zealand of 1000 Campervans within 5 years. Concept Facelift key features What makes the Concept Facelift so revolutionary is that it has the same results as traditional facelift methods, but patients can return to their daily lives within one week, rather than the usual six weeks. A revolutionary new surgical facelift, carried out completely under local anaesthetic and resulting in full recovery within just one week, has been launched at the Bella Vou Clinic, Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The pioneering Concept Facelift is the brainchild of consultant plastic surgeon, Mr Amir Nakhdjevani. Carried out completely under local anaesthetic, the unique two hour procedure has revolutionised facial surgery by using minimally invasive techniques that result in less scarring, bruising and swelling and potential for hair loss that can occur. The Concept Facelift enables patients to be discharged on the same day as their surgery, without the need for lengthy hospital stays. The transformative procedure minimises bruising and swelling when compared to more invasive traditional facelift surgeries, and patients are able to return to work within a week, while the results last up to 10 years. Procedures that target the face and neck represent a growing sector of the cosmetic surgery industry in the UK. More than 50,000 face and neck procedures are carried out in the UK every year, resulting in the loss of more than one million working days as a result. Mr Amir Nakhdjevani, consultant plastic surgeon at the Bella Vou Clinic, said: What makes the Concept Facelift so revolutionary is that it has the same results as traditional facelift methods, but patients can return to their daily lives within one week, rather than the usual six weeks. The procedure is carried out under local anaesthetic, so the patient remains conscious throughout, and it is less invasive than a traditional facelift, with no staples or drains, resulting in minimal scarring, bruising and swelling and a rapid recovery. By contrast, traditional facelifts are carried out under general anaesthetic and often take up to six weeks to heal. Such procedures are more invasive than Mr Nakhdjevanis Conceptmethod, generating significant bruising and swelling that forces patients into hospital stays and a month to 6 weeks off work to recuperate. Mr Nakhdjevani continued: As with a traditional facelift, the Concept Facelift is a fully SMAS (Superficial Musculo-Aponeurotic System) procedure, so it addresses the muscles underlying the skin, rather than just tightening the skin itself, allowing the face to be elevated, repositioned and lifted according to the needs of the individual. This reduces tension on the incisions which results in a natural, youthful look. Patients are able to return to work within one week and the effects last up to 10 years. Mr Nakhdjevani has carried out over 400 Concept Facelift surgeries in the past year. He said: Patients feel no pain after the local anaesthetic has been administered and they can chat with the surgical team during the procedure which helps them to relax and feel comfortable. The purpose-built private Bella Vou Clinic in Royal Tunbridge Wells was launched in June 2015. The clinic incorporates two state-of-the-art operating theatres, a cosmetic dentist theatre and treatment rooms. All procedures are undertaken by British-trained Consultant plastic surgeons are members of the worlds prestigious surgical boards, specialising in cosmetic surgery procedures for the hands, body, hair, face and smile. For more information call 01892 257357 or visit http://www.bellavou.co.uk. -Ends- Notes to Editors: Mr Amir Nakhdjevani is available for interview to discuss the Concept Facelift, as well as cosmetic industry trends and surgical procedures. For more information contact Michael Taylor or Charlie Vavasour at Quantum Public Relations on 01233 500200 or email michael(at)quantumpr(dot)co(dot)uk Bella Vou Clinic The Bella Vou Clinic is a fully private cosmetic surgery clinic, offering cosmetic surgery and dental treatments from a new purpose-built private clinic in the Pantiles, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. The Bella Vou (meaning beautiful you) clinic opened in June 2015 and boasts some of the most renowned cosmetic surgeons in the UK, specialising in cosmetic surgery procedures for the hands, body, hair, face and smile. All plastic surgery procedures are led by British trained Consultant plastic surgeons that are on the specialist register and members of the General Medical Council, BAPRAS and UKAAPS. Lead consultant Mr Amir Nakhdjevani MBBS, MRCS, FRCS (Plast.) specialises in facial rejuvenation procedures in addition to weight loss and hair transplants. Unlike many cosmetic surgeons, Mr Nakhdjevanis pioneering techniques enable many procedures to be carried out under local anaesthetic, including the revolutionary Concept Facelift. Bella Vous treatments offer men and women the most up to date and comprehensive range of treatments and services available in the UK today and the clinic is committed to providing the highest standard of treatment that cosmetic surgery can offer. Bella Vou Cosmetic Surgery is recognised with many of the UKs and international most regarded aesthetics and cosmetic surgery associations including the UK Associate of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (UKAAPS). The clinic is also approved and inspected to ensure the highest standards of patient care are assured with exacting standards on cleanliness and infection control safeguards. Mr Amir Nakhdjevani MBBS, MRCS, FRCS (Plast) Amir Nakhdjevani graduated from St Georges Hospital Medical School, University of London, and undertook his plastic surgery training in a number of prestigious hospitals in England and overseas. As part of his training he undertook fellowships at The London Clinic, Harley Street and the McIndoe Surgical Centre, East Grinstead. After passing his Plastic Surgery fellowship, he underwent advanced training in hair restoration surgery at the internationally renowned Talizi Clinic, Tbilisi, Georgia. Michele Baird Im thrilled to join Six Red Marbles and am looking forward to the opportunity to assist our academic partners to design exceptional programs and courses. Six Red Marbles today announced that Michele Baird has joined the companys leadership team as SVP, Academic Partnerships. Were very excited to add Michele to our team as we expand our efforts in the higher education market. Michele is an experienced leader who has spent her career immersed in higher education publishing, excelling at building successful businesses, and spearheading entry into new markets, said Bob Fogel, CEO of Six Red Marbles. Her strong industry background and her success at directing higher education sales will grow Six Red Marbles presence in this vital market. For 20 years, Six Red Marbles has been a leader in developing educational content, blended learning materials, interactive curriculum, and online courses for e-learning companies, educational publishers, schools, and nonprofit organizations, with the goal of engaging students through rich personalized experiences. Long recognized as a leader in the K12 market, over the past several years Six Red Marbles has expanded into the higher education market, working closely with online program management firms (OPMs), higher education publishers, and directly with universities to develop leading edge courses and digital interactive content. Michele Baird will oversee all sales and marketing efforts in higher education and be responsible for accelerating Six Red Marbles traction in the space. Its an exciting time in higher education, as institutions seek new ways to deliver compelling learning experiences that will attract and retain students and ensure their employability. Im thrilled to join Six Red Marbles and am looking forward to the opportunity to assist our academic partners to design exceptional programs and courses, said Baird. Michele spent 25 years of her career at Cengage Learning, where she built the higher education course development business supporting both for profit and not-for-profit universities. Micheles team built over 1,400 on-ground and online courses for institutional partners and deployed courses in every major learning management system. Micheles team also launched the first outcomes-based online course product line to the marketplace, winning both CODIE and IMS recognition. Most recently, Michele led the academic sales team at Newsbank in the library information space. About Six Red Marbles Six Red Marbles is an award-winning creator of innovative digital and blended learning programs and educational solutions. As the largest U.S.-based provider of Learning Experience DesignTM, content development, and education technology (edtech) services, the company works on approximately 250 projects each year for more than 50 customers, including publishers, schools, universities, foundations, and technology companies. Six Red Marbles is able to partner with customers to develop interactive and engaging products that support personalized learning for students across the early childhood to adult education markets. Backed by Calvert Street Capital Partners, a lower middle market private equity group, the company is headquartered in Boston and has additional offices in Baltimore, Austin, and Delhi, India. At its first Demo Day on March 23 , Relevant Health , a health technology startup accelerator in the Washington, DC metro area, hosted a group of more than 150 investors, industry leaders, and top technology company representatives to experience first -hand the progress of the accelerator's seven startups. Coming from Bethesda, Rockville , Washington , DC, Baltimore, New York City , and Latvia, the inaugural cohort developed a wide range of health tech products and devices to meet the healthcare needs of a diverse patient population. The new accelerator is managed by ProductSavvy and supported by BioHealth Innovation (BHI) and Montgomery County Economic Development. Relevant Health also announced yesterday its new line -up of investors, including: Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Maryland Department of Commerce , and the newly formed Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation , as well as other private angel investors. We are delighted to have had the opportunity to develop and manage the Relevant Health accelerator. We were able to attract some of the most exciting health tech startups in the US and internationally and its great to see how far they have come in the last 5 -months. Having all the companies develop an MVP while in the accelerator and showcase at demo day is unique said Andy Richman, Partner at ProductSavvy and who also serves as Managing Partner of Relevant Health. Attendees at Demo Day filled the new cowork space in the Rockville Innovation Center -home to Relevant Health-to see the presentations from AgeWell Biometrics, CheeksUp, ErgonometriX , Gastro Girl, GlucoseMama, Lazy Corporation and Neopenda. Highlights of Demo Day included: Agewell Biometrics developed an analytics platform, which uses the sensors in wearable and mobile devices to determine risk of falling among seniors. Agewell initiated a multi-site pilot of its falls detection software that includes working with retired actors and film and video professionals who take part in the healthcare services from the Motion Picture & Television Fund. CheeksUp developed an interactive computer -guided system to support childhood speech therapy and initiated collaboration with laboratories at Johns Hopkins University working on speech and facial nerve paralysis rehabilitation. ErgonometriX developed a wearable device and centralized software system to detect and contribute to prevention of lower back injury among industrial athletes. The company recently completed three successful pilot studies validating their technology and machine learning algorithms. Gastro Girl developed a digital health platform for individuals with gastrointestinal issues that features telehealth, an interactive symptoms journal, and support community. Gastro Girl signed a licensing agreement with The MITRE Corporation to integrate MITRE's Patient Toolkit prototype with Gastro Girl's telehealth platform for dietitians and health coaches to better treat patients with chronic gastrointestinal symptoms and disorders. GlucoseMama, a digital therapeutic software system for self -managing gestational diabetes. The product is set to be pilot tested with maternal fetal medicine departments in multiple hospitals, as well as extensive beta testing in private OBGYN practices. Lazy Corporation developed MEASUREASE, a streamlined solution for service providers seeking ways to simplify the health quality measures process for their provider clients. In addition to launching Measurease, Lazy's existing qualified registry is processing and submitting quality measure data for hundreds of healthcare providers powered by its 'measure graph' warehouse. Neopenda developed a device and integrated digital dashboard to monitor and process vital signs in newborn babies born in the developing world. The company announced a partnership with the Ugandan Pediatric Association to pilot its vital signs wearables in the country's neonatal care units. Neopenda also launched a crowd -funding drive on Kickstarter at Demo Day. About Relevant Health Relevant Health is a health tech startup accelerator program. Admitted companies have access to a cowork facility in Rockville, Maryland and receive additional support that includes $50,000 in funding, software development support, mentorship and working in the local health tech ecosystem. Relevant Health is a partnership between BioHeaIth Innovation, Inc., ProductSavvy Consulting, and Montgomery County Economic Development. Learn more at http://www.relevanthealth.md. About ProductSavvy ProductSavvy is a Rockville -based product acceleration company which supports early stage companies with all aspects of product strategy, product marketing an d product development management. ProductSavvy are the managers of Relevant Health and lead on the programmatic aspects of the accelerator and supporting the companies build great products and great businesses. Learn more at http://www.productsavvy.com About BioHealth Innovation, Inc. BioHealth Innovation, Inc., is an innovation intermediary providing commercial assistance to scientists and founders, educating and infusing Maryland's biohealth community with new entrepreneurial firms. BHI's strategic partners come from industry, investment, academia, and government sector to support the development of emerging biohealth companies. Learn more at http://www.biohealthinnovation.org. Advocating for physical education and youth fitness is part of our companys mission. Over 300 advocates participated in the second annual Minnesotans for Healthy Kids Coalition Lobby Day to lobby for stronger physical education and Safe Routes to School funding. Everlast Climbing was especially interested in voicing support for the 2016 PE Bill SF343/HF498 which would strengthen physical education programs by adopting new standards and grade-specific benchmarks to strengthen physical education in schools. Currently, physical educators are using outdated standards from 2004. Updating the standards and benchmarks will give Minnesota schools better information to design, execute and evaluate their local curriculum. In attendance from Everlast Climbing was Mertyce Mrvos, Coordinator of Programs and Partnerships. She met with State Representative Ron Erhardt, Senator Melisa Franzen and her Legislative Assistant, Thomas Melton. Children who receive regular, quality physical education are 2 times more likely to be active adults. They also learn more effectively and achieve more academically, said Mrvos. I was thrilled to see that legislators are in favor of strengthening physical education with this bill. Childhood obesity is a major health concern for Minnesota, with nearly 1 in 4 of its high school students being overweight or obese. Obesity is linked to 14 types of cancer, heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Physical activity improves health and reduces risk of these chronic diseases. Quality physical education in schools is one way to increase physical activity levels in youth. It also promotes enjoyable participation in physical activity and helps youth develop the knowledge, attitudes, motor and behavioral skills and confidence needed to improve physical fitness and adopt and maintain a physically active lifestyle throughout their lifetime. Advocating for physical education and youth fitness is part of our companys mission, said Tim Sudeith, General Manager of Everlast Climbing. We regularly communicate the importance of physical education and are eager to play a part in strengthening physical education in our state. About Everlast Climbing Everlast Climbing is committed to improving youth fitness with dynamic and innovative products that engage children and inspire physical activity. The company is headquartered in Mendota Heights, MN, and is a PlayCore company. More information is available about Everlast Climbing at http://www.everlastclimbing.com. Dr. Monique Howard I look forward to ensuring just treatment for sexual assault survivors. Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR) announced today that Monique Howard, EdD, MPH, a public health administrator with a 15-year history of protecting and improving the health of women, families and communities has been named as the organizations executive director. Previously, Dr. Howard was the executive director of the Office of Womens Health at the New Jersey Department of Health where she oversaw the Office of Cancer Control and Prevention, the New Jersey Cancer Education and Early Detection program and the New Jersey Commission on Cancer Research. Her goals included ensuring that womens health issues were addressed throughout the work of the Department. Prior to the NJ Department of Health, Dr. Howard was the executive director of the New Jersey Women and AIDS Network, the only female specific HIV organization in NJ and amongst the first in the nation. She led a team of dedicated case managers and health educators who provided comprehensive social services to women and families living with HIV/AIDS. In her new position, Howard looks forward to working on rebranding the organization as WOAR continues to address the impact of sexual assault within the many diverse communities of Philadelphia. I am very excited about my new role as the executive director of WOAR, commented Howard. I look forward to ensuring just treatment for sexual assault survivors and continuing my work providing a voice for the voiceless and championing the rights of individuals who are victims of sexual assault and move them toward survivorship. Commenting on Dr. Howards appointment, Frank Perras, president of the board of directors of WOAR, Were pleased Dr. Howard accepted the position as executive director. She brings significant experience in strategic planning, program development and management, and is an excellent team builder. Monique Howard earned a Bachelor of Science from Wagner College in Staten Island, New York, a Masters Degree in Public Health from East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Pennsylvania. About WOAR: WOAR is a non-profit organization in Philadelphia, PA whose mission is to eliminate all forms of sexual violence through specialized treatment services, comprehensive prevention education programs, and advocacy for the rights of victims of sexual assault. Founded in 1971 and incorporated in 1973 WOAR is Philadelphias only rape crisis center and one of the first in the nation. Over the years the organization has grown from a group of volunteers working in a small room of a hospital to an organization that touches individuals across the city. It has been a long time coming. The Chippewa Falls City Council approved the fourth revision to the State/Municipality Agreement for a State-Let Local Bridge Project Tuesday night to make improvements on the Spring Street Bridge, locally known as the Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge. The agreement makes the 80 percent of the projects estimated $841,000 cost distribution to be federally funded, with the remaining 20 percent or about $168,200 in local funds. Rick Rubenzer, director of public works and city engineer, said an improvement analysis study was done back in 2011, but the bids for the project originally came in too high. There was even talk of replacing the bridge, but Rubenzer said financially and aesthetically it didnt make sense. It is the last historical bridge like this in the state of Wisconsin and theres a strong public sentiment to keep it in place, Rubenzer said. It is a prominent feature as you come up Rushman Drive, and quite simply, it is a nice-looking bridge. The improvements include removing existing overlay and adding 4 inches of concrete, reconstructing a 2-foot curb on the non-sidewalk side and doing a fiber-glass wrap over three quarters of the bridge, he said. This will give the bridge a new face. The entire bridge will also be restained white. When finished, he said the bridge will be westbound traffic only. The best thing to do is just get it done, Rubenzer said. This has been a long time coming. While they are still waiting on a definite construction schedule, he said he expects repairs to start in the summer and last a couple of months. They will also work to protect Duncan Creek as best they can during the construction process. This year also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Marsh Rainbow Arch Bridge, but Rubenzer said the improvements were necessary no matter what. It just happened to work out that its the same year, he said, cracking a smile. But maybe the bridge wanted to hold off so itd have more significance this way. The Chiropractic Protector Plan is excited to announce a partnership with multiple A rated and above, admitted insurance carriers who specialize in coverage for Chiropractic Physicians nationwide. The Chiropractic Protector Plan delivers comprehensive insurance solutions for Chiropractors by providing risk management benefits, specialized claims and legal services and litigation support programs. The Tampa, Florida based program benefits from an experienced and knowledgeable team that specializes in niche markets. Bernadette Green CISR, Program Manager, has over 20 years of specialized program experience related to marketing, underwriting, operations and finance. The insurance carrier teams have over 100 years of combined experience in underwriting, claims and risk management, making us industry experts in professional liability and practice insurance. The Chiropractic Protector Plan is a unique insurance program with a singular mission to continually provide superior service to our customers and agents, while working together with our carrier partners to provide the highest quality insurance programs designed specifically to meet the unique needs of Chiropractic Physicians nationwide, states, Bernadette Green CISR, Program Manager. Our approach is a collaborative one. We leverage the best of what the industry has to offer from our carriers seasoned team of underwriters and claims personnel as well as from the expertise and financial strength that only AM Best A XV and above, rated carrier partners can deliver. I couldnt be more excited to be a part of this team and look forward to robust growth throughout 2016. The Chiropractic Protector Plan offers insureds exceptional coverage benefits including, but not limited to: Defense cost is outside the limit of liability Consent to settle clause built into the policy Vicarious Liability coverage Dual License coverage for acupuncture, massage therapy and physical therapy Risk Management courses with CE credits and premium discounts New to Practice credits, Part time credit, Moonlighting coverage and Group discounts Additionally, the Chiropractic Protector Plan provides a full array of professional insurance products designed to meet each chiropractors individual insurance needs, such as: Professional Liability Insurance General Liability Insurance Property Insurance Coverage Employment Practice Liability Insurance (EPLI) Workers Compensation Insurance Flood Insurance Cyber Liability/Data Breach Insurance Disability Insurance and Business Overhead Insurance Long Term Care Insurance About The Chiropractic Protector Plan The Chiropractic Protector Plan is todays premier professional liability program for Chiropractors Nationwide. Created in 1996, the Chiropractic Protector Plan has continually enhanced program coverages in order to meet the ever-changing needs of the Chiropractic profession. The program offers a full range of professional insurance products for Chiropractic Physicians with a dedicated network of agents chosen for their knowledge and expertise in order to provide superior service. The Chiropractic Protector Plan offers a comprehensive insurance program backed by the financial strength of carrier partners, proving insureds with a one-stop-shop for all of their professional insurance needs. The Chiropractic Protector Plan is a division of B&B Protector Plans Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brown & Brown, Inc. Brown & Brown, Inc., which is one of the largest insurance intermediaries in the nation, with over 75 years of continuous service. The Company is ranked as the sixth largest such organization in the United States by Business Insurance magazine. To us, its hair. But to women with cancer, its hope. The Westfield High School class of 2017, Pantene, the American Cancer Society and Alexandre de Paris Beauty Spa Centre are excited to once again be taking strides to make a real difference in the lives of women battling cancer. One and all, Westfield students, Fairfax residents, and members of the larger northern Virginia community are encouraged to Share Your Hair! Interested parties should gather in the Westfield High School (in Fairfax, Virginia) gymnasium on Monday, April 11, 2016 for an event that promises to be life changing. A guest speaker will be present with a story to tell: of her life with cancer, how she has and how she will continue to overcome the disease. And then its time to cut some hair. Ponytails will be bagged to mail to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, and professional stylists from Alexandre de Paris Beauty Spa Centre will be standing by to trim and style event participants hair at no charge. To be donated, hair must be: At least eight inches (measured when straight) Freshly washed, blown dry, and free of any chemicals or products Less than five percent gray Learn more about how you can Share Your Hair; contact Alexandre de Paris Beauty Spa Centre, at (703) 222-7661. About Pantene Beautiful Lengths Beautiful Lengths is a partnership between Pantene and the American Cancer Society, the largest nonprofit health organization committed to saving lives from every cancer and improving the quality of life for people facing the disease. The role of Pantene is to help women grow long, strong, beautiful hair and to provide the funds to turn this hair into free, real-hair wigs for women with cancer. To us, its hair. But to women with cancer, its hope. About Alexandre de Paris Beauty Spa Centre Alexandre de Paris Beauty Spa Centre features a wide array of services for men and women, including haircutting, hair highlighting, hair coloring, facials, massage, body treatments, and nail services. Celebrate a bridal party, special occasion, or simply treat yourself. For more information, or to request an appointment, visit http://www.alexandredeparis.com. Michael Bornstein We are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and loyal employee in Michael Bornstein NewFED Mortgage Corp. congratulates Michael Bornstein for ranking as a Scotsman Guide 2015 Top Originator. Michael Bornstein was ranked #440 in Top Dollar Volume of $67,648,815. Scotsman Guide, the leading resource for mortgage originators, released its seventh annual Top Originators rankings on April 1. The list, which ranks the nation's top mortgage producers, appears in Scotsman Guide's April 2016 residential edition, and the rankings are available online at ScotsmanGuide.com/Top2015. Michael Bornstein was ranked among entries from more than 2,400 mortgage professionals across the country, and this is the second time that he has made the list in the last 3 years. To be eligible for initial consideration in Scotsman Guides Top Originators rankings, originators must have had at least $40 million in loan volume or 100 closed home loans for the 2015 calendar year. After receiving submissions, Scotsman Guide required written verification of top entrants volume data from a certified public accountant, the chief financial officer at the originator's company or a similar source. Michael started his mortgage banking career in 2005, and over the past 11 years he has taken an all-in, 24/7 approach to the mortgage business. His tremendous success is due to an unwavering commitment to excellence for his customers and his do-whatever-it-takes team approach with his operations staff. Mike is most importantly a dedicated family man, residing in suburban Boston with his wife and two young children. NewFED Mortgage has specialized in residential retail mortgage lending since 2001. Licensed in six states, NewFED offers a multitude of mortgage programs, including Conventional, FHA, VA, USDA along with access to various portfolio products. NewFED President, Brian DAmico, commented We are extremely fortunate to have such a dedicated and loyal employee in Michael Bornstein. Scotsman Guide Media Inc. publishes a residential edition and a commercial edition of Scotsman Guide, in addition to Scotsman Guide News, Loan Post, Scotsman Guide Community and other platforms at ScotsmanGuide.com. Each month, the magazines reach tens of thousands of subscribers nationwide. Scotsman Guide is the leading resource for mortgage originators and connects mortgage originators with wholesale and commercial lenders. For more information, visit http://www.newfed.com or call (877) 639-3331. Phil brings exactly the kind of experience and knowledge that will drive the continued growth and presence of The Stow Company in the home organization market, said Dick DeVos, Chairman of The Stow Company. The Stow Company Inc., a leader in custom home storage and organizational products, announced the appointment of Phil Dolci, 48, as President and Chief Executive Officer, effective April 4, 2016. Dolci succeeds Frank Newman, 67, who is retiring. Newman will continue to serve the company as a member of the Board of Advisors. Dolci is an accomplished leader with over 23 years of experience in consumer products manufacturing and marketing. He most recently served as the President and CEO of Crosman Corporation, a leading global designer, manufacturer and supplier of products for shooting sports, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Phil brings exactly the kind of experience and knowledge that will drive the continued growth and presence of The Stow Company in the home organization market, said Dick DeVos, Chairman of The Stow Company. We thank Frank for his exemplary leadership over the last four years. Dolcis background includes serving as President and CEO of U.S. Playing Cards, a subsidary of Jarden Corporation. Prior to his position with Jarden Corporation, Phil held senior executive positions with Sanford, a division of Newell Rubbermaid, ConAgra Foods, Dean Foods and Kraft Foods. Dolci holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a bachelors degree in economics from the University of Chicago. About The Stow Company Founded in 1984 in Holland, Mich., The Stow Company is the leading provider of storage and organization systems for all areas of the home. With manufacturing facilities in Holland, Mich., and Indianapolis, Ind., the companys innovative products and services are tailored to customers needs through four distribution channels. ORG Home custom solutions are available through a nationwide network of authorized design and installation dealers. EasyClosets do-it-yourself, custom-cut products are sold online at http://www.EasyClosets.com. Easy Track modular storage systems are available through leading home improvement retailers. Distinctive Wine Cellars, available through authorized design and installation dealers, provides custom wine cellars and storage solutions. The Stow Company is part of The Windquest Group. Click here for more information on the company and employment opportunities. Weve been using Preco for more than four years, and its ruggedized solution has significantly improved our operator efficiency and reduced collisions. Preco Electronics, the global leader in heavy-duty vehicle collision mitigation, today announced Montana-Dakota Utilities Co.s (NYSE: MDU) Fleet Maintenance and Repair Specialist, Kim Hodges, as the recipient of the 2015 Safety in Motion Award. Mr. Hodges, a 20-year veteran of the Montana-Dakota Utilities, is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the utilitys fleet that spans eight Northern and Pacific Northwest states. Safety in Motion is an annual award given by Preco that recognizes an individual who demonstrates the highest initiative, imagination and involvement within the safety industry. Montana-Dakota Utilities is responsible for the installation and maintenance of electric and natural gas utility lines in cities, suburbs, and in the countryside. While Montana-Dakota Utilities fleet, along with its sister utility companies, consists of more than 2,500 vehicles, its active safety initiative focuses on the larger trucks in the fleet from ton to class 6 and 7 medium and heavy-duty trucks. Montana-Dakota Utilities has been systematically upgrading its fleet of heavy-duty utility vehicles so that the operators experience an active safety solution that combines visual and audible alerts. The combination of safety solutions eliminates blind spots and has resulted in fewer side and rear-end collisions, as well as improved safety and lower installation costs. We are proud to present our 2015 annual Safety in Motion award to Mr. Hodges who has continually addressed the needs of his operators and has been proactive in his vision to expand their safety program, said Matt Wood, Vice President of Sales at Preco. Mr. Hodges team of operators works in all types of environments. It was critical that operators have access to both visual and audible alerts from the rear and side of their vehicles. Mr. Hodges completed an extensive review and had the vision to understand the needs of his operators and the value a combination of solutions would have on the operation of the vehicle. I am thankful for this recognition, as safety is paramount to Montana-Dakota Utilities, said Hodges. Weve been using Preco for more than four years, and its ruggedized solution has significantly improved our operator efficiency and reduced collisions. And because of their ongoing commitment to safety, I am confident that Preco will stay on top of the changes within the safety industry. About the Safety in Motion Award Precos commitment to the heavy-duty vehicle safety industry has continued to move safety forward. As a safety leader, Preco identifies and honors other safety professionals who also keep safety moving forward in their companies, communities, and industry. Preco Electronics created the Safety in Motion Award to honor one person each year who is the voice of safety in their industry. The award criteria include the following characteristics: Initiative: The ideal candidate will initiate candid discussions, programs (corporate, community, or industry), and/or give voice to safety issues in the industry or community. Imagination: The ideal candidate will demonstrate creative and original suggestions to move safety into the forefront of the community, legislature, company or industry they serve. Involvement: The ideal candidate will take an active role in industry associations, community safety programs, and/or corporate/legislative policy changes to advance safety. Nominations for the 2016 Safety in Motion award will be accepted beginning in November 2016. An official call for nominations will be sent out via email to key contacts in the heavy-duty vehicle industry. To ensure your email is included in this notification, please email Tamara Humpherys at THumpherys(at)Preco(dot)com with your contact information. About Montana-Dakota Utilities Co Montana-Dakota Utilities Co. is part of MDU Utilities Group, which also includes Cascade Natural Gas Corporation, Great Plains Natural Gas Co. and Intermountain Gas Co. MDU Utilities Group serves more than 1 million customers with electric and/or natural gas service in Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. Montana-Dakota Utilities is a division of MDU Resources Group, Inc., a diversified natural resources company traded on the New York Stock Exchange as MDU. About PRECO Electronics Preco is the global leader of collision mitigation solutions for heavy-duty equipment industries. Precos patented safety technology systems provide customers a scalable and customizable solution for object detection that actively engages operators to vastly improve worksite safety. Customers across a wide spectrum of markets, including construction, mining, over the road, waste, transportation and utilities have realized reduced collisions, improved productivity and mitigated risk. Established in 1947, Preco is a privately held company based in Boise, Idaho. Learn more at Preco.com or follow us on Twitter @PrecoElec. Zetec Topaz32 Ultrasonic Instrument Topaz32 reduces typical processing times by up to 50% at setup creation, calibration or reporting compared with previous versions. Zetec, Inc. introduces the New Topaz32, a fully integrated phased array ultrasonic instrument for nondestructive testing (NDT) projects. Optimally designed for Oil & Gas, Power Generation, Manufacturing and Transportation applications, the Zetec Topaz32 ultrasonic instrument boosts productivity, reduces job time duration and can lower total cost of ownership, making it a smart investment. Boost Inspection Productivity Since its introduction in 2013, the award-winning Topaz ultrasonic instrument has always stood for portable productivity. Now, the new Topaz32 takes it to the next level. An advanced on-board computer substantially improves the power of the instrument reducing typical processing times by up to 50% at setup creation, calibration or reporting. The ultra-bright touchscreen is crystal clear whether indoors or outside, and getting started couldnt be easier -- users interact just like they would with a smartphone or a tablet. Configuration is simple as well -- connect any Zetec scanner or accessory such as a probe to the Topaz32 and it will automatically recognize and pre-configure accordingly, saving valuable time and resources. Reduce Analysis Time When it comes to analysis, the Topaz32 ultrasonic instrument is truly revolutionary. Data acquisition speed is significantly improved, reducing time for processing and creating reports by up to 50% versus previous versions. Furthermore, sectorial and linear scanning combine to increase the covered inspection area while reducing scanning time. Lower Total Cost of Ownership With UltraVision touch software embedded in the Topaz32, its the complete solution. 2D matrix array probe support is now included without the need of any external software. This fully-integrated and simplified approach can reduce the amount of equipment needed to perform an inspection. Plus, the rugged magnesium housing is long lasting and has no air intake making it ideal for harshest of environments. Since its launch in 2013, the award-winning Topaz has set the standard for portable Phased Array Ultrasound performance, states Federico Zottig, Zetec Product Manager. This next generation Topaz32 redefines inspection performance and productivity. adds Zottig. For more information on the Topaz32 ultrasonic instrument, please visit http://www.zetec.com/topaz About Zetec Zetec is a global leader in nondestructive testing (NDT) solutions for the critical inspection needs of industries the world counts on every dayincluding power generation, oil and gas, transportation, heavy industry and manufacturing. We serve as a single source for high-performance solutions in both eddy current and ultrasonic technologies. For nearly 50 years, weve advanced NDT standards and science, providing new insight and control through inspection solutions that protect our customers most important assets and ensure the quality of their products. By integrating design and engineering with our own manufacturing, Zetec delivers solutions that optimize productivity, safety and total cost of ownership. Zetec is a subsidiary of Roper Technologies, Inc., with global engineering and manufacturing centers in Quebec City and at our corporate headquarters in Snoqualmie, Washington. Zetec support spans the globe, with Centers of Excellence in Houston, Paris, Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. For more information about Zetec, visit: http://www.zetec.com and follow us on Linkedin. Zetec, Topaz, UltraVision are registered trademarks or trademarks of Zetec in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. The information provided in this press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These forward looking statements include, among others, statements regarding operating results, the success of our internal operating plans, and the prospects for newly acquired businesses to be integrated and contribute to future growth and profit expectations. Forward looking statements may be indicated by words or phrases such as "anticipate," "estimate," "plans," "expects," "projects," "should," "will," "believes" or "intends" and similar words and phrases. These statements reflect management's current beliefs and are not guarantees of future performance. They involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward looking statement. Such risks and uncertainties include our ability to integrate our acquisitions and realize expected synergies. We also face other general risks, including our ability to realize cost savings from our operating initiatives, general economic conditions, unfavorable changes in foreign exchange rates, difficulties associated with exports, risks associated with our international operations, difficulties in making and integrating acquisitions, risks associated with newly acquired businesses, increased product liability and insurance costs, increased warranty exposure, future competition, changes in the supply of, or price for, parts and components, environmental compliance costs and liabilities, risks and cost associated with asbestos related litigation and potential write-offs of our substantial intangible assets, and risks associated with obtaining governmental approvals and maintaining regulatory compliance for new and existing products. Important risks may be discussed in current and subsequent filings with the SEC. You should not place undue reliance on any forward looking statements. These statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events. Leading provider of research services to organizations and investigators developing treatments for brain health and TBI. This new relationship with QuesGen Systems is an important milestone for ImmunArray, particularly at a time when we are expanding both our revenues and investment base. QuesGen Systems, Inc., a provider of research services to organizations and investigators developing treatments for brain health and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), is expanding their business capabilities and is pleased to announce the formation of a business relationship with ImmunArray, a privately held molecular diagnostics company co-headquartered in Rehovot, Israel and Richmond, Virginia. ImmunArray, which has developed and launched the first of a suite of products for diagnosis and management of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and is developing novel sets of markers for TBI, will use the QuesGen platform to support the development and exploration of next-generation biomarker-based diagnosis and monitoring for both autoimmune disease and TBI. The company is currently conducting joint research in collaboration with leading medical centers in the United States and Israel in both fields. This new relationship with QuesGen Systems is an important milestone for ImmunArray, particularly at a time when we are expanding both our revenues and investment base, said Donna Edmonds, CEO and chairman of the board, ImmunArray. QuesGens expansive database and analytic capabilities will not only help us validate our work from a quantitative standpoint in Lupus, especially as we contemplate expanded studies and a registry, but also further enhance our data management and analysis capabilities as we broaden our study populations and clinical data collection in both Lupus and TBI populations. We look forward to tapping QuesGens expertise and resources. About ImmunArray: Co-located in Rehovot, Israel and Richmond, Va., ImmunArray is a privately funded molecular diagnostics company dedicated to the development of novel blood-based tests that support the diagnosis and management of complex acute and chronic immune and neurodegenerative diseases. The company designs and analyzes sets of biomarkers known to be linked to a particular condition and develops tests on platforms that are most appropriate to facilitate the adoption of additional tests. The company, which introduced its first commercial tests, is currently conducting research in collaboration with leading clinicians and medical centers in the U.S. and Israel. The company was a grant recipient of the GE-NFL Head Health Challenge as well as secured additional corporate research funding to conduct research into the use of biomarkers to identify traumatic brain injury. For more information about SLE-Key and ImmunArray, visit http://www.immunarray.com. ________ About QuesGen: QuesGen Systems, Inc. (http://www.quesgen.com) provides data management and study resources to organizations, with the primary focus on TBI and brain health. QuesGen is working with Track-TBI (11 medical centers across the US), CENTER-TBI (72 centers across Europe), CENTER-TBI/China (40 centers in China), CARE (Prospective TBI study in 30,000 college athletes) and many others. For more information about QuesGen Systems, please contact Barbara Maley, 650-727-0611; email: barbara.maley(at)quesgen(dot)com We need more students to study abroad and it is the mission of Abroad101 to capture these life-changing accounts and publish them. Abroad101, producers of America's first and largest study abroad review website, released the fifth annual Study Abroad Rankings today highlighting the success of international education. The rankings recognize the study abroad programs and locations rated highest by American students who have studied abroad in the last year. The rankings also reflect the dynamic nature of study abroad and identify up-and-coming destinations and program types in addition to top programs and providers. Notable in this year's rankings was a shift in popularity toward programs operating in big cities, especially in Europe, which hosted 12 of the top 16 programs. The broad reach of study abroad is reflected in the Top 5, which featured programs in China, Czech Republic, Spain, Costa Rica, and Australia. In addition to rating programs, the Study Abroad Rankings also identify the "Most Livable Cities." Students are currently favoring large cities, contrary to last year's rankings featuring smaller college towns; London tops the list, with Rome, Madrid, Paris, Madrid, and Sydney all in the Top 10. The full list of Top Study Abroad Programs is here - http://www.StudyAbroad101.com/rankings Since students often attend programs run by organizations outside of their home university, the Study Abroad Rankings also identify the Top Providers: The Education Abroad Network (TEAN), IES Abroad, Sol Education Abroad, API / Academic Programs International, and The Asia Institute. With more than 1,700 evaluations published on Abroad101, IES Abroad has received the most reviews of any provider and an overall rating of 4.6/5. The quality and quantity of these student reviews demonstrate the success of IES Abroad, crowning the company as a top provider as well as host of two top programs. CEO of IES Abroad Mary Dwyer stated, "At IES Abroad, we are dedicated to increasing accessibility to study abroad, while maintaining the highest levels of academic excellence and student health and safety in the field. We greatly value student feedback, and appreciate so many of our alumni taking the time to share their authentic program experiences with others. Student feedback like this is used by advisors to help future students find programs. Each year Abroad101 highlights destinations for the budget conscious; these rankings are often dictated by shifts in currency. India topped this year's list "Budget Friendly" list, with China, Tanzania, Morocco, and Thailand close behind. Also highlighted in the rankings are "Top Non-Traditional Countries" for more intrepid students. This year's the top rated non-traditional countries include Ghana, Cuba, Tanzania, Turkey, and Morocco. The overall top program honors go to Loyola University Chicago and The Beijing Center. According to Katie Rooney, Senior University Relations Coordinator, "The Beijing Center has it all top-notch academics, unique travel experiences, immersion with the local community, and an array of co-curricular activities that really round out the student experience. Students have the opportunity to make the most of their time in China, and they cant stop talking about it when they come back." The rankings also reflect the ongoing change in study abroad with the rise of several specialty programs and providers and a wide variety of program formats. "Study abroad continues to be a dynamic field with innovative offerings from a steady flow of new organizations" says Mark Shay, CEO of Abroad101. "This year's rankings give prime examples of this shift as we see the popularity of touring programs rise as well as programs offered through partnerships between universities and providers. We also see the rise in popularity of internships as part of study abroad program formats." To see the full list Study Abroad Rankings, click here: http://www.StudyAbroad101.com/rankings Students continue to flock to summer study abroad programs, and this year's "Top Summer Programs" list includes an incredibly diverse mix of options and destinations featuring The GREEN Program as the top choice. Founder Melissa Lee states, "As a millennial-driven company, we are thrilled that GREEN alumni champion our fresh take to study abroad. Created by students, for students, we strive to provide social impact-minded participants with the career-enhancing global experiences that not only fit into their rigorous academic schedules, but also allow them to check awe-inspiring adventures and authentic cultural experiences off their bucket lists." There is no better way to get to know a new culture than tasting fresh, local food, and with over 300,000 American college-age students studying abroad each year, Abroad101 pays homage to millennial foodie culture by highlight "Top Foodie Cities." Four of the top ten cities were in Italy (Florence, Rome, Milan, and Bologna), another two were in France (Paris, Aix-en-Provence), and two were in China (Beijing, Shanghai). These delicious destinations go above and beyond by winning students' hearts, minds, and mouths as part of this high-impact educational experience. We produce the study abroad rankings as a way to overcome some of the objections that parents and families may have and hope that highlighting other aspects of the experience will bring more students to experience different cultures and different perspectives" says Mark Shay, the CEO of Abroad101. Young, open minds are the key to a peaceful and prosperous future and giving them the chance to have cultural immersion experiences is life changing. We need more students to study abroad and it is the mission of Abroad101 to capture these life-changing accounts and publish them. Our tools help capture these personal triumphs and turn alumni stories into examples of the benefits of study abroad so that we can draw more students abroad" concludes Shay. About Abroad101: Founded in 2007, Abroad101 is the first and largest study abroad review website and program evaluation software. This innovative platform serves past and future students, parents and advisors through its market-leading online evaluation tool. Under the direction of their academic advisors or program providers, students complete thorough online evaluations hosted by Abroad101 with both quantitative and qualitative responses. For the 2015 rankings, more than 6 thousand evaluations were processed and 1,262 different programs received reviews. To learn more, visit http://www.StudyAbroad101.com/rankings Real Time Freight, a cloud-based TMS and division of Truckstop.com, today unveiled a refreshed brand identity and website. The changes represent a facelift for the companys brand and digital space, to better align with the technologies they offer as a leading TMS provider. It was time for a change, Real Time Freight General Manager Trent Broberg said. Real Time Freight products have advanced considerably in recent years and our web presence needs to match that evolution. In addition to making the site more navigable, weve streamlined both the look and the content surrounding our products and packages, which is a better reflection of our brand. Plus, our new logo suggests the sleek, push-button simplicity of using Real Time Freight as your TMS solution. Real Time Freights new site includes updated information about the companys cloud-based transportation management system, broken out into segments addressing the freight execution lifecycle. Additionally, the site features product information about Real Time Freights other services and solutions, including rate benchmarking, carrier onboarding, RFP event hosting and organization, and a variety of carrier tools. Visitors can also request a demo on any page throughout the site. To learn more about Real Time Freight, visit https://www.RealTimeFreight.com. About Real Time Freight Real Time Freight is a scalable, cloud-based TMS, powered by Truckstop.com (https://truckstop.com). Real Time Freight gives users the ability to automatically match, manage, and review freight shipments, covering the entire lifecycle of a load. The Real Time Freight solution seamlessly manages freight, streamlines communication and offers the best user experience for all parties involved in the freight transportation transaction. Real Time Freight was founded in 2003 and joined the Internet Truckstop Group in 2013. Media Contact: Larry Hurrle larryh(at)truckstop(dot)com (208) 647-6288 Truckstop.com P.O Box 99 New Plymouth, ID 83655 (800) 203-2540 In schools around the country, standing desks are proliferating in classrooms as a means to boost test scores, battle obesity, and improve student engagement. A recent pilot study found students who used desks that accommodated standing experienced significant neurocognitive improvement in executive function and working memory. These exciting discoveries are drawing attention from school administrators and educators searching for ways to maximize student performance and wellness. One manufacturer, The Marvel Group, went directly to real-world classrooms for guidance in creating its new movement-friendly product, The Focus Desk. Designed in cooperation with teachers and students at the Hyde Park Day Schools in Chicago and Northfield, Illinois, The Focus Desk enables K-8 students to sit or stand at will. In addition, the Focus Desk incorporates a host of unique design features that promote organization, concentration, and workspace flexibility. Marvel Group designers asked the Hyde Park teachers and students for a wish list of features they would like to see in a next-generation desk. In their feedback, a top priority was to have a desk that allowed children to be in control of their movement without asking for teacher assistance or disrupting the class. To meet that need, The Focus Desk can be easily and silently raised or lowered by students, no tools required, with the touch of a patent-pending FeatherTouch lift mechanism. In addition, The Focus Desk includes teacher-recommended design features for organization, such as integrated hanging folders, separate interior shelves for books and electronic devices, backpack hooks, and drop-leaf worktop extensions that can be raised or lowered as necessary. To allow teachers to easily rearrange seating groups, the entire desk rolls on smooth, durable casters. The Focus Desk even has customized privacy panels that can set up in moments for test-taking or quiet study and then folded into the built-in holder for storage. Since its introduction in early 2015, The Focus Desk has been chosen by schools all around the country. Students and teachers are discovering the benefits of increased engagement, focus, and productivity that its innovative design provides. According to Mark Frenzel, Principal of the Creekside School in Fairport, New York, The Focus Desk has enhanced student independence and self-regulation. Using the desk, the students are able to meet all their sensory needs to remain focused. It creates independence as they remain engaged in instructional tasks, notes Frenzel. Its easy to use so students can manipulate it themselves. When they need to stand, they stand; when they need to sit, they sit. To view The Marvel Focus Desk in action, visit http://www.marvelfocusdesk.com/video.html. About The Marvel Group The Marvel Group is a 70 year-old Chicago-based manufacturer of a wide range of high-quality furnishings to large, small, and home office markets as well as the education market. Product lines range from office chairs and file cabinets to executive office furniture and open office work-stations. Marvel products are manufactured to ISO 9001 certified guidelines and backed by a lifetime warranty. The Marvel Group offers superior customer service to assure a problem-free and timely project completion. For more information, visit http://www.marvelgroup.com. The Foundation for End-of-Life Care, a nonprofit charity that funds the special needs of hospice patients and their families, discussed negotiations around the Hospice Medicare Benefit with the Hospice Foundation of America. Amy Tucci, the CEO of the Hospice Foundation of America, interviewed Hugh Westbrook and Esther T. Colliflower, the founders of The Foundation for End-of-Life Care, to discuss the negotiations around the Hospice Medicare Benefit and the current landscape of end-of-life care. When Tucci asks if the six-month limit for entry into hospice should continue, Westbrook responds that, "No, it should not continue. When we wrote the [hospice] law in Florida, terminal illness was defined as one year or less. That was also proposed for Medicare and it is one of the things that the Republicans at the time on the House Ways and Means Committee refused to accept, and they cut it back from one year to six months. I think six months is too short. I think that we ought to open up hospice and make it available for a longer period of time and pay hospices [so] at least their costs are covered." Additionally, when expenses are made outside of the traditional realm of hospice care, Medicare will deny payment. For example, if a hospice patient was taken out to the movies, Medicare will review that day and deny payment saying something along the lines of "if they are well enough to go out and go to a movie, they were not terminally ill." Meanwhile, the hospice team would be thrilled that the patient was able to go to the movies. This type of scenario occurs on a daily basis for individual on the system. Hospice care should be about having a high quality end of life experience however Medicare simply doesn't cover this social or spiritual support. Tucci goes on to ask about future changes to the benefit and should the government reimburse hospice providers for concurrent care? Westbrook answers by saying, "I think its very controversial and very dangerous, but at the same time, I dont believe that anywhere, politically, would you win an argument that would say to somebody that they dont have the right to try one more thing to cure themselves, particularly when we are in an environment in which many of the commercials on television are talking about new drugs that are going to cure you from things that were once thought to be incurable." Westbrook's & Colliflower's additional comments: The Foundation for End-of-Life Care was established to fund extraordinary expenses outside the traditional realm of hospice, meaning these individuals need resources to advance their quality of end-of-life care. Extraordinary needs that could be funded by the foundation include mortgage payments/rent, emergency clothing, transportation for family, utility bills, personal items, etc. Medicare Hospice Benefits don't cover enough and that's why outside nonprofit charities and foundations like ours exist to help those in need. About The Foundation for End-of-Life Care: The Foundation for End-of-Life Care, a not-for-profit organization established by Hugh Westbrook and Esther T. Colliflower, was created to improve end-of-life care for individual patients and their families, while supporting fundamental societal change. Hospice care is a very special type of care and philosophy, which focuses on the terminally ill patients pain and symptoms, while at the same time, attending to their emotional and spiritual needs. It is estimated that less than one fourth of the terminally ill patients who could benefit from hospice ever use it. This lack of access denies patients and their families the medical, social and spiritual support necessary for a quality end of life experience. Please call The Foundation for End-Of-Life Care for more information about their special needs hospice programs at 1(877)800-2951. Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP Co-Founder David A. Johnson on Friday, April 1, participated in the University of West Georgias SAS Analytics Summit, where students present their year-end projects related to data analytics. Johnson, an alumnus of the school, participates in the summit every year to meet and discuss the SAS certification program at UWGs Richards College of Business. In 2011, Johnson provided a significant donation to establish the David A. Johnson Applied Econometrics and Analytics Fund to support a dedicated professorship within the program. SAS is software that offers applications in data entry, forecasting, financial modeling and time series analysis. It is used by business, financial and economic institutions as well as academia. The University of West Georgia made such a significant impact on my life and success, and I want to ensure other young people have the same opportunity to succeed in this field and learn these skills, Johnson said. I am so proud of these students, who daily demonstrate that UWG produces top quality students that any employer would be lucky to hire. During this years SAS Analytics Summit, Johnson talked about credit card debt, credit scores and how their data is evaluated. During the SAS summit, students present the culmination of their research projects that solve real life problems using the SAS software. The program has benefited a number of people by allowing them to enter into the competitive field of data analytics. Graduate Brittany Benefield, for example, is now a cost and energy analysis intern at the Southern Company. She enrolled in the program because of her strong interest in statistics and thought the certificate would set her apart. I would thank David Johnson for providing us with the ability to utilize a program not readily available at all colleges, Benefield said. This program makes our university more desirable for students who would like to pursue a career in statistics, and it provides students already in the Richards College of Business an opportunity to gain a unique skill set that is valuable to future employers. I personally appreciate the program because I know I would not have gained my current internship without the training provided in this program. The professors who are a part of this program are very involved and interested in the students' success, and I'm appreciative of the donor for making the program possible as well as the professors for being so supportive and encouraging throughout my time in the program. Mr. Johnson's investment at our university has allowed the students around me and myself to become competitive potential employees and graduate school applicants in a field where statistical experience and data management knowledge is highly valued. For more information on the SAS certification program, visit http://www.westga.edu/business. In addition to Johnsons support for his alma mater West Georgia University, Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP, and its co-founders Johnson and Kirk Chewning, also partner with the local University of the Virgin Islands to offer the Enhanced Business Computational Science and Modeling program on St. Croix. In addition to supporting the program, Cane Bay Partners has hired several graduates of the program. Demand around the world is high for these types of skills, right here on St. Croix we have a demand, so it is critical as a good corporate citizen that we support the programs through donations as well as providing these graduates with opportunities to apply their skills, Chewning said. About Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP: Cane Bay Partners VI, LLLP was formed in June 2009 and founded by internationally experienced business executives with many years of experience in the financial services industry. Focusing our efforts primarily in the financial services industry, our management consulting practice specializes in providing services to clients in need of sophisticated risk management models, debt collections organizations which require liquidation models and analytics, and portfolio management companies desiring a variety of services. More specifically, our practice has elected to specialize in three areas where we believe our core competencies reside: (1) management consulting (2) risk management/scorecard development and (3) service provider analysis. For more information on Cane Bay Partners VI, go to http://www.canebayvi.com or contact Director of Content & PR Perry Sheraw at 678-279-2931. The Executive Director Leadership Institute is strategically developed to offer a more customized and relevant content experience to executive directors attending the Argentum conference, with content designed to develop executive skills, facilitate solution-oriented conversations and enrich the organizational contributions of the executive director in his or her leadership role in their senior living community, said Sharon Brothers, MSW, CEO and Co-Founder of the Institute for Professional Care Education (IPCed), the parent company of the Care and Compliance Group. Senior living leadership experts serving as CEO, founder, chief medical officer, SVP of sales, and SVP of development serve as mentors as they share their knowledge and expertise in mission critical areas such as operations management, leadership, human resources, sales and marketing, clinical oversight, risk management, and more. In collaboration with IPCed/Care and Compliance Group, we welcome the best community executives from across the country to participate in this advanced program that arms you with the knowledge, skills and resources necessary in your professional development as a senior living administrator, said James Balda, president and CEO of Argentum. Executive directors will receive 16.5 NAB approved CEUs, an Argentum Certificate of Completion, and a micro credential that provides executive directors the opportunity to gain recognition for skills they master throughout their career. Please use promo code CARE2016 for $50 off the $200 Executive Director Leadership Institute registration fee. Executive Directors choosing to participate also have to purchase the All-Access Pass to the Argentum conference. Rates available online. Seats are limited to 150 executive directors. *The CARE2016 promotion code is not available for companies purchasing an Argentum Conference Group Package. About IPCed/Care and Compliance Group Care and Compliance Group and its parent company, IPCed, have assisted more than 100,000 administrators and healthcare professionals in acquiring their licensing and certification. The combined companies offer over 500 educational resources including online, live, and DVD training for the senior care industry. For more information, visit IPCeds website at http://www.ipced.com/. About Argentum Since 1990, Argentum has advocated for choice, accessibility, independence, dignity, and quality of life for all older adults. Argentums programs promote business and operational excellence designed to foster innovation and entrepreneurism in the field of senior living. Visit Argentums website at http://www.argentum.org. Donn Fullenweider has been selected as one of five 2016 recipients of the Texas Bar Foundations Outstanding 50 Year Lawyer Award. The award recognizes attorneys whose practice has spanned 50 years or more and who adhere to the highest principles and traditions of the legal profession and service to the public. Donn Fullenweider is one of the premier family law trial lawyers in the United States, admitted to the state bar in 1958, his legal career has earned him a spot in the Hall of Legends of the State Bar of Texas and in 2010 he was named one of the 25 Greatest Texas Lawyers of the Past Quarter Century by Texas Lawyer. In 2008, 24 years after founding the firm of Haynes & Fullenweider, during which he and his former partner represented Dr. John Hill in the infamous murder trial of 1970, he started his own firm and joined in partnership with Randall Wilhite. Mr. Fullenweider is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of family law and civil trial techniques throughout the country and has spoken before Bar groups in every major city in America. He is also the author of more than 75 legal papers and articles. Mr. Fullenweider is a member of the American Board of Trial Advocates. Mr. Fullenweider has been the founder of many law groups, including the Texas Bars Litigation section, serving as its first chairman; ABA Family Law Trial Advocacy Institute and the American Inns of Court Houston Family Law Inn, serving as president. Mr. Fullenweider has also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the State Bar of Texas. In 2009, he was named Texas Family Lawyer of the Year by Best Lawyers. Mr. Fullenweider is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation. The Bar Foundation commissioned an oral history to recognize and preserve the accomplishments of Donn Fullenweiders legal career. Additionally, he will be publicly recognized at the Texas Bar Foundation Annual Dinner held on June 17, 2016 at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth. About the law firm of Fullenweider Wilhite The Houston family law firm of Fullenweider Wilhite serves the legal needs of men, women and children throughout Texas. With a highly accomplished team of attorneys and more than two centuries of combined experience, clients are frequently high net worth individuals seeking superior legal advice and representation in all family law matters. For more information, please visit http://www.Fullenweider.com Plumbline Consultings depth and breadth of project expertise has allowed us to expand our growing base of solutions to project-based companies. The Progressus Software solution will provide valuable tools to project managers and employees worldwide." Plumbline Consulting, LLC is pleased to announce the availability of Progressus, an advanced business management solution built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV and designed specifically to meet the needs of professional services and project-based businesses. Progressus is next-generation Professional Services Automation and ERP software, mobile-enabled and architected for the intelligent cloud. Progressus provides all the capabilities needed to manage professional services and project-based businesses of any size - operating in any geography. Functionality spans all the important processes in your firm resource management, project management, sales and marketing, human capital management and financial management to give you unparalleled insight and control of all of your critical business functions. Built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Progressus is constructed for cloud deployment, and provides role-based clients optimized for any browser or mobile device. Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a global business management solution that provides small and midsize organizations greater control over their financials and can simplify all aspects of their company from professional services and project management to supply chain and manufacturing. It's quick to implement and easy to use, with the power to support your growth ambition. Microsoft Dynamics NAV is available in the cloud on Microsoft Azure, and offers deep interoperability with Office 365. Progressus adds advanced project accounting, project management and resource management to the powerful financial management functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV to provide the most advanced business management solution for professional services and project-based businesses. Progressus offers unique and powerful functionality in these areas: Quick Project Setup Project Budgeting Resource Management Project Monitoring and Analyzing Project Cost Tracking Remote Project Time & Expense Entry & Approval Project Invoicing Project Reporting, Analytics & Forecasting By leveraging Dynamics NAV as platform, Progressus adds powerful project management to the vast ERP capabilities of NAV without costly or complex integration, including robust Service Management, Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing or Sales and Marketing Management. Plumbline Consulting has extensive experience creating solutions for project-based and professional services organizations, and were excited to have them bring that expertise to a new offering built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, said Paul White, General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics. Were also very pleased to announce that Progressus will be available in the cloud on Microsoft Azure through the Microsoft Dynamics NAV managed service for partners. Plumbline Consultings depth and breadth of project expertise has allowed us to expand our growing base of solutions to project-based companies. The Progressus Software solution will provide valuable tools to project managers and employees worldwide, said Joseph Longo, President of Plumbline Consulting. About Plumbline Consulting The Plumbline Consulting team has over 30 years history in implementing project-based ERP solutions. Plumbline provides software engineering and consulting services for Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics Channel Partners and Microsoft Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). Plumbline offers software development, application support, technology and business process consulting, with a focus on delivering excellence and building lasting relationships. Plumbline also provides Dynamics SL (formerly known as Solomon Software) Product Management, Development and Support services for Microsoft Corporation. The company is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio. More information about Plumbline Consulting can be found at http://www.plumblineconsulting.com. ### Media Contact: Diane Wienczkowski Phone: 419.581.2300 Email: info(at)plumblineconsulting(dot)com Website: http://www.progressussoftware.com YouTube site: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEJ_7z4gDGr1iz_pGVvAoTw Today Appterra, Inc. and ORO Commerce announced a partnership agreement to extend the capabilities of the first open-source B2B ecommerce solution OroCommerce to Appterras network of global integration capabilities. Appterra will also implement, extend and manage OroCommerce solutions for its network of customers. We are thrilled to be working with the team at OroCommerce, said Charlie Alsmiller, CEO of Appterra. The need to provide seamless integration to the B2B eCommerce solution that OroCommerce is addressing to wholesalers is only growing and our partnership is uniquely positioned to address this on a global scale. We are very excited about our partnership with Appterra. This partnership further validates our approach to B2B ecommerce and our ability to address the huge gaps exists in this market today, said Yoav Kutner CEO and co-founder of Oro. "Our partnership with Appterra and integration with their robust supply chain integration service allows us to deliver solutions to SMBs that did not exist before." About Appterra Appterra provides managed B2B connectivity and EDI solutions for customers world-wide. Appterra is also widely recognized as a leader in GS1 standards, operating global GS1-based solutions for several customers all over the world. Appterra, Inc. is the industry-leading provider of business-to-business (B2B) technology integration solutions that processes millions of mission critical transactions, simplify business processes and enhance collaboration among multiple global trading partners. At its core, the Companys Smart Data Integration engine (SDI Engine) allows companies with disparate enterprise systems to conduct business as if they were on a single network. Appterras solutions are deployed as an integration-as-a-service (IaaS) business model and therefore provide a faster and more predictable ROI than traditional enterprise offerings. About Oro Oro, founded in 2012 by industry leaders in open-source business application development, is the company behind the suite of products including OroCommerce, OroCRM and OroPlatform. OroCommerce, a pioneering B2B-focused e-Commerce software platform that will redefine the benchmarks for best-in-class customer experience practices. By providing a diverse range of capabilities such as personalization, localization, intelligent marketing tools, powerful reporting and ground-breaking segmentation, OroCommerce will deliver a truly B2C customer experience to the underserved B2B world. VeriShip, a Kansas City-based parcel audit and intelligence company, will release their second e-book March 30, 2016. In an industry where access to relevant benchmarking information is not always easily accessible and carrier contracts can seem like moving targets with ever-changing surcharges, fees, and accessorials, this e-book peels back the curtain on a complex topic impacting many in the logistics industry, Andy Brueckner, Vice President of Business Solutions at VeriShip, said. Based on more than a decade of experience in parcel data auditing, analysis, and contract engineering, the e-book provides industry insights for parcel shippers attempting to negotiate better rates with their parcel carrier. Entitled An Ace Up Your Sleeve: The Parcel Contract Negotiations Handbook, this free content features case studies, tips and tricks for parcel shippers negotiating with carriers, and a full Q&A with two experts in parcel data analysis and contract negotiation. Through content and resources like this, VeriShip hopes to bring to light many of the issues that parcel shippers might not even realize affect their businesss bottom line, said Travis Rhoades, Director of Data Science at VeriShip. Created with parcel logistics insights gained from 3,300+ clients, comprehensive benchmarking data, and more than a decade of industry expertise from two VeriShip parcel experts, Andy Brueckner and Travis Rhoades, An Ace Up Your Sleeve gives parcel shippers the information they need to begin the process of negotiating better rates for their parcel spend. The e-book is available March 30, 2016 for free download at http://www.veriship.com/ace. About VeriShip VeriShip is a cloud-based parcel audit and intelligence company providing innovative parcel audit, intelligence and engineering solutions. More than 3,300 clients have uncovered significant cost savings using our turnkey software for real time analysis and benchmarking of parcel spend. http://www.veriship.com "Ad fraud and brand safety concerns are escalating at an alarming rate..." Jeff Finn, CEO, zvelo Today, zvelo, the proven market leader for content categorization,malicious website and botnet detection, is excited to announce zveloSHIELD, the industrys first real-time, dual-decisioning ad fraud prevention and botnet detection system. The new solution combines pre-bid blocking of fraudulent IP addresses with zvelos award-winning malicious exploit and botnet detection capabilities. This powerful combination allows customers to fight against fraud down to the page level in two distinct channels, user traffic flow and URLs. This unparalleled level of granularity provides valuable campaign insights that are accessible through detailed and transparent reporting. Ad fraud and brand safety concerns are escalating at an alarming rate, said Jeff Finn, CEO of zvelo. zveloSHIELD directly addresses these issues and ensures that brands can be confident that their stories are delivered in a non-fraudulent environment while publishers can be confident that their inventory quality is clean and performing at its optimal efficiency. A powerful component of zvelos latest offering is its multi-channeled ability to drill in to the campaign, creative, domain, and page levels. Customers will now have significant insight into key page-level data points, including non-human traffic (NHT) and low quality traffic (LQT) impressions, as well as the domain and page-level insights connected to those impressions. zveloSHIELD is specifically designed to combat ad fraud by providing real-time analysis and coupling it with zvelos award-winning malicious protection system, protecting over 500 million users globally. A primary part of our mission is to help the ad tech industry fight ad fraud, said Cordell BaanHofman, VP of Business Development at zvelo. zveloSHIELD empowers customers with clearly detailed and actionable insights to allow for immediate pre-bid blocking on impression opportunities from known botnets, or where the URL is fraudulent, malicious or dangerous. zvelo concluded zveloSHIELDs beta testing earlier this year and the products general release is available now. For a product tour, information on partnerships, pricing or evaluations of zveloSHIELD, interested companies are encouraged to contact zvelo directly at (720) 897-8113 or sales(at)zvelo(dot)com. About zvelo, Inc. For nearly a decade, zvelo has been the leading provider of content and contextual categorization, as well as malicious and botnet detection. zvelo is the trusted partner for the markets preeminent ad tech, network security and mobile subscriber analytics vendors solving a diverse range of client business needs including brand safety, web filtering, contextual targeting, subscriber analytics and ad fraud prevention. The processing power, accuracy, coverage and speed of zvelo technology delivers the fastest real-time updates available today. zvelo is headquartered in Denver, Colorado with offices in the Philippines, Spain and Florida. ACRON; Castleton Holding, LLC; Condra Group LLC; Capella Hotel Group; and The City of Hapeville break ground on Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive Weve assembled a team of the most talented and admired leaders in their respective industries to create Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive, a world-class hotel that will be unmatched in the Atlanta market, said Klaus Bender, Chairman ACRON Group. Swiss real estate investment company ACRON hosted a ceremony today to commemorate the groundbreaking of Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive in Hapeville. Bruce Bradleys Castleton Holdings and Scott Condras Condra Group will oversee the development of the hotel, which will be managed by Capella Hotel Group. Bank of Ozarks provided financing. Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive, which will open in late summer 2017, will offer the following: 214 guest rooms, including a 1,400-square-foot presidential suite 6,500 square feet of event space, including a 3,600-square-foot ballroom Rooftop terrace overlooking the 27.7-acre Porsche Experience Center Restaurant Bar Cafe selling coffee and house-baked breads and pastries Pool and fitness center Specialty retail shop ACRON is investing an estimated $52 million in the four-star hotels development. The investment was structured by a Swiss stock corporation, ACRON 2 Porsche Drive AG. Weve assembled a team of the most talented and admired leaders in their respective industries to create Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive, a world-class hotel that will be unmatched in the Atlanta market, said Klaus Bender, Chairman ACRON Group. The hotel will represent the understated elegance and sophistication for which Porsche is known throughout the world. Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive is located on the site of the former Ford factory, which operated from 1947 to 2006 and is now the home of the Porsche Experience Center and North American Headquarters. The hotel will be the first new hotel on the east side of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport since the new international terminal opened. The City and the Hapeville Development Authority have worked diligently with Castleton Holding, LLC; Condra Group LLC; and ACRON, and we are proud to be a part of this first-rate project team, said City of Hapeville Mayor Alan Hallman. As we embark on 2016, Hapevilles Commemorative 125th year, the timing of this groundbreaking marks a significant milestone for Hapeville, symbolizing many new possibilities on the horizon. Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive will have a direct impact on Hapeville, strengthening the tax base, supporting the revitalization of the City, and bringing new and skilled jobs for the citizens of the City, the burgeoning Aerotropolis district, and south metro Atlanta. The hotel will be a catalyst for additional investment in Hapeville, making the area more attractive to international corporations and other organizations that can benefit from proximity to the worlds busiest airport. We look forward to bringing Capella Hotel Groups high standards of excellence to Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drives discerning customers from around the world, said Horst Schulze, Chairman and CEO, Capella Hotel Group. Every detail of the hotel from the meticulous design, flawless service, and exceptional amenities exemplifies the Porsches brands signature level of luxury and creates memorable experiences for customers. HOK designed Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive to complement the adjacent Porsche Cars North Americas headquarters, which HOK also designed. Peter Silling & Associates designed the hotels interiors, taking cues from the premium automobile brand to create a sleek environment. Winter Construction is the design-builder. HOK designed Solis Hotel Two Porsche Drive to reflect the bold and progressive design we created with the Porsche North American Headquarters and Experience Center," said HOKs Todd Bertsch. "We wove in subtle motor-sport-related elements into the hotel's timeless design to further encapsulate the essence of the Porsche brand. About ACRON ACRON is a management company specializing in real estate investments founded in Dusseldorf, Germany, in 1981. Every real estate investment designed by ACRON is based on a single-asset structure for investments in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, or the United States. Hotel properties are a focal point, making up 40% of the ACRON Groups current investments. The companys transaction volume as of December 31, 2015 amounted to CHF 1,064 million. ACRONs clients are private individuals and families from around the world. The ACRON Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with subsidiaries in Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Dusseldorf (Germany), Dallas (USA), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). http://www.acron.ch, http://www.acronusa.com ABOUT SOLIS HOTELS & RESORTS Carefully crafted to appeal to discerning, well-traveled guests, the Solis Hotels & Resorts brand is an exclusive collection of resorts, hotels and residences offering a convergence of unparalleled designs, settings and experiences. Each Solis property presents luxury accommodations with a true sense of discovery and is designed to showcase the distinctive character of its environment with a global palette of cosmopolitan comfort, inspiring cuisine, world-class spas and spirited activities that explore its distinct surroundings, all enhanced by the highest level international service quality standards. Solis Hotels & Resorts has corporate offices in Singapore and the United States; http://www.solishotels.com. ABOUT CASTLETON HOLDINGS, LLC Castleton Holdings LLC (Castleton) is a privately held real estate investment company that engages in the acquisition and development of investment grade real estate. Founded by Bruce Bradley in 1993, Castleton has consummated twenty-one transactions in various asset types, representing over 1.2 million square feet. Castleton developed and owns Capella Georgetown. ABOUT CONDRA GROUP, LLC Scott Condra recently formed Atlanta-based Condra Group to continue developing mixed-use commercial real estate. Scott was previously President of Jacoby Development, Inc. where he played a leadership role in some of the Atlanta regions most significant redevelopments of the past several decades, including Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta and Aerotroplis Atlanta home to Porsches North American headquarters. He is also the 2016 Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Council for Quality Growth. B2BGateway B2BGateway worked quickly and efficiently to resolve our EDI problems. The B2BGateway team were always helpful and easy to communicate with. Now our EDI system is up and running, saving us time and from tedious work. B2BGateway, a leading global, cloud based EDI solution provider has just celebrated the first year anniversary of opening an office in Sydney, Australia. The office in Sydney was opened in 2015 to further enhance and strengthen B2BGateways EDI and automated supply chain solutions to clients and new prospects in the ANZ and APAC regions. B2BGateway, recently recognized by Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine as a 2016 Supply Chain Pro to Know, with global offices in North America, Europe, Australia and China can support all internationally recognized EDI standards and communication protocols including but not limited to EDIFACT, ANSI X12, Tradacoms, Eancom, XML, VAN, sFTP, AS2, etc. By fully integrating the EDI solution to the clients ERP system through cloud based technology, B2BGateway is able to remove the need for the user to re-key data. This, in turn, leads to greater accuracy, increased labour efficiencies and it expedites the order-to-payment cash cycle for the B2BGateway customer. The first year of operations in the Sydney offices have been extremely busy for the B2BGateway staff with new clients joining the B2BGateway family from Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan as well as supporting new and existing ERP systems such as NetSuite, MYOB Advanced, SAP, Sage, Xero, QuickBooks and Tradegecko. One of B2BGateways new ANZ clients, Bellroy - a leather wallet manufacturer from Victoria, is not only succeeding on home based soil, but theyre also succeeding greatly overseas in Europe, South East Asia and North America. Working with B2BGateway, Bellroy are perfectly aligned to dominate global markets, benefiting from B2BGateways 24/7 emergency support, global presence and international expertise on all worldwide EDI standards and protocols. According to Nicholas Ng Logistics Coordinator at Bellroy, B2BGateway worked quickly and efficiently to resolve our EDI problems. The B2BGateway team were always helpful and easy to communicate with. Now our EDI system is up and running, saving us time and from tedious work." Dante DellAgnese, Director of Sales for APAC at B2BGateway added Not alone is it wonderful to be able to support local, home grown organizations such as Bellroy in their home territories, but to be able to offer them the same level of support and expertise as they expand their business on a global level gives great added value to our clients in the APAC region. It has been a tremendously successful first year for B2BGateways Sydney office and we have developed wonderful partnerships with leading APAC software ERP resellers such as Walker Scott, Fronde, Kilimanjaro, Fern Ltd. and Alea Technology, to name just a few. About B2BGateway: B2BGateway is a leading global EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) solutions provider with offices in North America, Europe, Australia and China. B2BGateway is a GS1 Accredited solution provider and offers 24/7 dedicated customer support with each client assigned their own designated setup Project Manager. B2BGateway EDI solutions are simple to use, competitively priced, highly effective and can increase profitability by reducing costs associated with manual data entry. Our EDI solutions are flexible and adaptable, catering to any organization from the sole trader to the Fortune 500. For further information please call +61 (2) 8003 7584 or log onto http://www.B2BGateway.Net Ekahau Site Survey & Planner is the industry standard tool for professional Wi-Fi network planning, verification, and troubleshooting. "The singular focus on Wi-Fi Design Tools will enable Ekahau to serve its rapidly growing customer base even better says Mika Hakala. Following the recent divesture of the RTLS business as a part of the strategy to exclusively focus on the Wi-Fi Design Tools market, Ekahau, the global leader and pioneer in Wi-Fi network design tools, today announced the appointment of Mika Hakala as its CEO. "Mr. Hakala has been with Ekahau for almost 4 years, and has served as its COO since early 2014", says Michel Wendell, the Chairman of Ekahau, and he has made a significant contribution to the growth of the company by introducing more efficient processes and agile operations. It is with pleasure that we appoint Mr. Hakala as the new CEO, as we are confident that his leadership and vision will take Ekahau to the next level. Mr. Wendell will remain as the Executive Chairman. 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 today, the flagship product, Ekahau Site Survey and 3D Planner, is considered the industry standard tool for designing and maintaining wireless LANs. The singular focus on Wi-Fi Design Tools will enable Ekahau to serve its rapidly growing customer base even better says Mika Hakala. He continues: Well performing Wi-Fi networks have become a mission-critical component for a wide range of industries, fueled by bring your own device (BYOD) and Internet of Things (IoT). Together with our customers and partners, we help design Wi-Fi networks that satisfy the rapidly increasing demand for high capacity. Ekahau's headquarters is in Reston, VA while research, development and marketing is 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. Ekahaus 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. Ekahaus flagship product, Ekahau Site Survey & 3D Wi-Fi Planner, is the first ever enterprise-grade Wi-Fi site survey software and the undisputed industry standard tool for professional Wi-Fi design. Ekahaus product portfolio includes software tools for laptops, desktops and mobile devices, and hardware products for Wi-Fi measurement and spectrum analysis. Our program is designed to prepare graduates with problem solving and quantitative reasoning skills as well as business process knowledge. Dr. Kimberly Rassau Career Training Academy (CTA) has announced that the Pennsylvania State Department of Education has approved plans to launch a new Phlebotomy program. With courses beginning April 25, 2016, students who enroll in the Phlebotomy Technician diploma program will engage in a rigorous course schedule including four days each week for seven months and nine months for evening students. The new program will be offered at each of CTAs three campus locations in Monroeville, North Hills and its new campus in Lower Burrell which will hold its Grand Opening on Friday, April 8, 2016. Coursework is followed by 120 hours of practical experience in a required externship through which students combine classroom theory with career skills in a supervised work environment. Graduates are prepared to sit for certification through the NCCT (National Center for Competency Testing) NCPT exam. The Phlebotomy program at CTA provides students the training needed to function as an entry-level phlebotomist in hospitals, blood donor sites, medical/diagnostic laboratories, physicians offices, research or other health care settings. Phlebotomists perform functions such as blood drawing, specimen collection and processing, lab procedures, and administrative duties, said Kristy Graff, CTA lead faculty for the new program. According to Graff, the specialized skills of certified phlebotomists are in high demand. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics suggests that employment of phlebotomists is projected to grow 25 percent through 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. Earlier this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 7.9 million Americans are unemployed, while at the same time 5.4 million jobs remain unfilled in America. This crisis exists because employers demand "job ready" employees and prospective employees are simply not able to bridge the skills gap without appropriate education and training. The Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities took an in-depth look at the shortage of skills in the U.S. and discovered that the stats point to one of the fastest growing sectors of the American economy: health care. BLS projects health care and health care support occupations are projected to be the two fastest growing occupational between now and 2024, with a combined increase of 2.3 million in employment, representing about 1 in 4 new jobs. Many healthcare facilities today require an employee that possess both technical skills and have developed communication and interpersonal skills for front office work, said Dr. Kimberly Rassau, CTA President and CEO and Dean of Academic Affairs. Our program is designed to prepare graduates with problem solving and quantitative reasoning skills as well as business process knowledge. Competencies of the program include medical terminology, anatomy, physiology, laboratory and clinical assisting, clinical hematology, ventipuncture, administrative procedures, medical law and CPR and first aid. Career opportunities include positions such as Certified Phlebotomist, Phlebotomy Technician, Phlebotomist, Patient Services Representative, Patient Service Technician and Medical Lab Assistant. About Career Training Academy Founded in 1972, Career Training Academy offers professional career training and advancement in the medical, dental and massage therapy fields. Career Training Academys main campus is located in Lower Burrell, PA with additional campuses in Monroeville and West View. The mission of Career Training Academy is to provide an educational environment that enhances learning and personal enrichment with unique and traditional methods, new techniques to learning, and a curriculum designed to meet career goals and industry needs. CTA maintains an active student community service program to foster character and self-esteem and is dedicated to the education and advancement of each individuals career goals. CTA is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) and licensed by the State Board of Private Licensed Schools, Pennsylvania Department of Education. (L-R) Bruce Bartscher and Brandi Combs Bruce has established a solid track record of success, while holding different positions and Brandi brings over a decade's worth of project management experience. - Bryant Luke, Gate Precast VP, Operations Gate Precast Co. has announced several key promotions and new hires at its Kissimmee, FL, precast production facility. Bruce Bartscher has been promoted to plant manager and Brandi Combs to senior project manager. Additionally, Noble Levesque and Todd Friend have been hired as project managers, and Alvey Carrillo as an estimator. Bartscher, who most recently served as senior project manager at Gate, is now responsible for all operational, production and quality control issues. He joined the Gate team in 2007 as superintendent of field operations for Gate Erection Co., a role he held for two years. Bruce has established a solid track record of success, while holding different positions, said Bryant Luke, vice president, operations, Gate Precast Kissimmee. Bartscher has also earned his 30-hour OSHA designation and is certified in scaffolding, welding, rigging and first aid/CPR. Combs has 15 years of precast industry project management experience managing multiple and multi-phased projects of all sizes. Combs is also a Florida Certified General Contractor and is OSHA certified. Brandi brings well over a decades worth of project management experience in the Florida precast market, Luke said. Levesque possesses 25 years of experience in the precast industry overseeing precast operations, and engineering/sales. His experience equips him to manage the entire project lifecycle from precast production to final erection. He is certified as a PCI Quality Inspector Level II, an ACI Level I and is a Massachusetts General Contractor. Friend began his career with Gate in 2010 as a superintendent for Gate Erection Co. He is responsible for communication and coordination between Gate, its subcontractors and customers in the field. He began his precast career in 1986 working in precast production. Later, he erected both architectural and structural precast in the field. He is a PCI Certified Field Auditor. Carrillo has 16 years experience in the construction industry, including precast design and estimation, project management, drafting and architectural design. He has also received his AutoCAD Advanced Drafting Certification and is a LEED Accredited Professional. Gate Precast Co.s 60,000-square-foot Kissimmee plant is among eight Gate manufacturing facilities that regularly engage in the design, engineering, fabrication, transportation and erection of architectural and structural precast concrete systems. More About Gate: Gate Precast Company is a subsidiary of Gate Petroleum Company, a privately-held diversified corporation headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Gate Precast has become one of the largest and most diversified precast concrete producers in the United States, with eight manufacturing facilities, and is known for its design-assist collaboration with design teams. Annually, the company is recognized as a top subcontractor by Engineering News-Record Magazine and wins Best-in-Class PCI Design Awards for a wide range of projects. For more information, please visit http://www.gateprecast.com. 2016 Spring CLO Symposium Corporate learning leaders know they can rely on the symposium to not only take them in new directions but also take them out of their comfort zone. As the Spring 2016 CLO Symposium wraps up in Amelia Island, Florida, today, hundreds of senior learning and development professionals, corporate executives and human capital management experts are headed back to their organizations with new ideas about how employee education is evolving as a strategic driver of business performance. The three-day event, developed and hosted by Chief Learning Officer magazine, is widely valued as an intimate executive summit with a high-level focus on knowledge sharing and networking and a forward-looking agenda. Corporate learning leaders know they can rely on the symposium to not only take them in new directions but also take them out of their comfort zone, said Mike Prokopeak, vice president and editor in chief for Human Capital Media (HCM), which publishes the magazine. This week, we got them thinking about more than just new technologies or innovative training solutions. We pushed them to envision how their role is changing and its increasing impact on meeting strategic business imperatives such as talent and culture. Highlights of the symposium included keynote presentations by best-selling business authors and management thought leaders, as well as lively panel discussions and fireside chats featuring current and former chief learning officers from some of the worlds top companies. During the symposium, the 2016 LearningElite list also was announced based on Chief Learning Officers rigorous benchmarking program that singles out international organizations using exceptional L&D practices to create business value. Platinum sponsors of the event were Keller Center for Corporate Learning of DeVry University and Saba. Beginning May 9, industry executives who were unable to attend the live event in Florida will have a unique chance to watch the workshops, keynotes, panel discussions and presentations they missed via HCMs new, easy-to-navigate Video Library. Advance registration for 90-day, on-demand access to symposium sessions currently is available at closymposium.com/spring. HCM also announced the theme and dates for the magazines next conference, taking place in Arizona, Sept. 26-27 at the JW Marriott Scottsdale Camelback Inn. For the 2016 CLO Symposium+PLUS, the magazines editorial staff has reinvented this premier L&D conference to be even more collaborative, conversational, and conducive to breakthrough interaction and ideas. Taking a cue from its theme, The Talent Economy, CLO Symposium+PLUS will take a deeper look at the evolution of the chief learning officer role and its growing influence as a strategic linchpin of organizational performance. For more information about the 2016 CLO Symposium+PLUS, please visit: closymposiumplus.com We have over 100 Georgia-based clients currently but we want another hundred who recognize the value of local service and top notch technology. TalentQuest, a leading provider of comprehensive talent management software and solutions, announced today the companys leadership role in the recent SHRM-Atlanta HR Conference, held March 29-30, 2016 in Atlanta. As the exclusive diamond sponsor, TalentQuest President, Kevin Sessions, kicked off the conference by welcoming attendees. Mr. Sessions also presented the annual Pegasus Awards, a highlight of the event each year, together with Barbara Mackintosh, Executive Director, Learning and Development Solutions, at TalentQuest. We are honored to once again present the Pegasus Awards to recognize the people and teams who are human resources and talent management leaders and innovators, said Kevin Sessions, TalentQuest President. Working every day with our blue-chip clients, we are fully aware of the challenges these professionals face and tip our hat to their dedication and achievements. This is the fourth consecutive year that TalentQuest has sponsored the SHRM-Atlanta event that offers HR professionals and talent managers cutting-edge educational content and networking opportunities. The 2016 conference theme, Building Brilliance, was leveraged in TQs general session welcoming video and served as the perfect backdrop for the companys debut of its new software functionality, TQ Insights. The company showcased this revolutionary new functionality at their SHRM-Atlanta conference exhibit to rave reviews. Announced recently, this game-changing innovation can only be provided by TalentQuest and layers behavioral information and insights throughout the talent management lifecycle to help companies: deliver and discuss feedback more productively motivate and coach employees increase employee engagement and teamwork build mentoring relationships between employees and managers We are the only provider of a full range of talent management consulting and technology solutions south of Boston and east of Silicon Valley, Sessions continued. But, Atlanta is our home turf and we have a special place in our hearts for SHRM-Atlanta and its goals. We have over 100 Georgia-based clients currently but we want another hundred who recognize the value of local service and top notch technology. From Genuine Parts to Rollins to Emory Healthcare to Kauffman Tire to Cousins Properties to Waffle House, we are the supporting cast to the rock stars of every industry in this state. SHRM-Atlanta is the premier HR association in Atlanta, with more than 2,300 members from 1,300 local organizations and businesses of all types and sizes. For more information, visit shrmatlanta.org. ABOUT TALENTQUEST TalentQuest provides comprehensive talent management software and consulting solutions that empower companies to effectively select, manage, develop and retain the best talent. Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, TalentQuest serves organizations of all sizes, industries and geographic locations. The combination of TalentQuests expert consulting and dedicated client support model coupled with flexible, configurable and easy-to-use software results in an industry-leading 99% client retention rate. Visit talentquest.com for more information. Our Native Video Content Network doesnt rely on algorithms, and it ensures that video content appears in premium, viewable positions above the fold, enhancing engagement and delivering results. Magnet Media, a global strategic content studio, today launches its Native Video Content Network a content distribution platform for brands, agencies, content creators and publishers. Leveraging newly formed network partnerships with over 400 media publishers and social influencers, Magnet manages custom distribution channels and negotiates best-in-class editorial and social integrations for maximum engagement and measurable ROI. Magnet gives clients full transparency into where content is running, how it is being engaged with, and what actions are being taken as a result of the premium viewing experience. Each video distribution strategy is customized to achieve campaign specific KPIs, such as view time, completion rate, awareness, engagement, brand sentiment, lead generation and purchase attribution, and optimized daily towards performance. Weve already had tremendous results for brands like Nutrisystem that have benefited from a more strategic, targeted approach to native video content distribution, stated Megan Cunningham, CEO, Magnet Media. Our Native Video Content Network doesnt rely on algorithms, and it ensures that video content appears in premium, viewable positions above the fold, enhancing engagement and delivering results. Magnet Medias Native Video Content Network uses proprietary technology to ensure successful content integration and delivery that is not susceptible to ad blocking. All videos are distributed in large players, in the editorial well of the page, accompanied by relevant copy to provide context and ensure increased engagement. Magnet has been an incredible ally for both content production and strategic video distribution! We're thrilled to have found a trusted partner with the right relationships to secure truly native integrations at scale, stated Robin Shallow, Vice President Communications, Nutrisystem. We're looking forward to tapping Magnet's premium publishers and influencers for future campaigns. Magnet Medias intuitive, yet unique distribution model is presenting new opportunities to better reach and engage audience segments across all digital platforms. Publishing partners include a diverse mix of consumer and trade media ranging from mom-bloggers to legacy power-houses such as Yahoo, Business Insider, Huffington Post, Forbes, Slate, among many others. Combining rich analytics of online media with handpicked partners containing targeted audiences already endemic to each site, Magnet Medias end-to-end solution for quality content distribution creates a win-win-win for both publishers, brands and consumers. About Magnet Media Magnet Media is a leading strategic studio that helps brands tell their stories through innovative digital strategies, video content creation and targeted digital distribution. Top brands and media clients include Google, National Geographic Kids, JPMorgan Chase, Adobe, PBS Digital Studios, Amazon, BlackRock, The Food Network and Microsoft. For more information, visit http://www.magnetmediafilms.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Media Contact: Lenny Sydney Adler Manager, Content Development & Integrated Marketing Email: ladler(at)magnetmediafilms(dot)com This will be the first forum on Chinese investments in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean countries! The 2016 China-Caribbean Investment and Finance Forum presented by Artisan Business will be hosted at La Concha Resort Hotel San Juan, Puerto Rico on May 3rd, 2016. The one day forum will focus on attracting Chinese foreign investments into the Caribbean region. Direct investments from Chinese high net-worth individuals and private businesses are increasing due to Chinas rapid economic growth during the past 15 years. Investors are looking overseas for their next investment projects as Chinas growing economy is 2nd largest in the world, only behind the United States. Investments from Chinese are exploring Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda, Haiti, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Trinidad and Tobago, Bahamas, and Saint Lucia as their next wave of foreign investments. The much-anticipated investment and finance conference will bring together the most senior-level executives and professionals for a day of high level discussion, peer to peer exchanges and networking sessions. The event will have limited seats for senior-level executives from both China and the Caribbean featuring honest and in-depth dialogues with the leading experts on how to effectively attract private equity and alternative investments from China. In addition, the Forum offers networking sessions that will enable participants to establish useful and productive contacts and generate fresh deal flow or potential investment opportunities as well as possible funding leads from business partners in China. The forum will feature VIP speakers such as Minister Alexandra Otway-Noel, Grenada Ministry of Tourism; Lisa Farrell-Davis, Assistant Secretary of the Citizenship By Investment Unit, St Kitts and Nevis; Orin A. L. Roberts, Senior Manager, Citizenship By Investment Unit, St Kitts and Nevis; Emmanuel Nanthan, Director of Citizenship by Investment Unit, Dominica; Thomas Anthony, Acting CEO, Antigua Citizenship Program; Juan Carlos Suarez, Esq., Deputy Secretary of The Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development; Rubi Rodriguez Bustillo, Esq. Deputy Director of The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Regional Center; Luis D. Muniz Martinez, Deputy Director of The Puerto Rico Tourism Company; Edgar Rios, Esq., Pietrantoni Mendez & Alvarez LLC; Margaret Pena Juvelier, Founder & President Puerto Rico Sotheby's International Realty; Rick Newman, CEO of Flagship Services Corp.; Raymond Ku, CEO of Westlead Capital (China); and Mr. Brian Su, CEO of Artisan Business Group. Artisan Business Group is a US-China Market Entry Consultant focusing on connecting professionals from both countries in accomplishing their business goals. Artisan Business specializes in working with financial and investment companies including real estate developers, banks, wealth management firms, private equity firms, family offices and others to achieve their business and marketing goals. Come learn the keys to success in the international capital markets and gain invaluable knowledge on securing Chinese capital for Caribbean investment projects. The China-Caribbean Investment and Finance Forum will be hosted at La Concha Resort Hotel near San Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. Register online at http://ChinaCaribbeanForum.com/. Press Contact: Mr. Tyler McKay 1.217.899.6661 Artisan Business Group, Inc. http://www.ArtisanBusinessGroup.com AspectCTRM will be a life saver. The fact that Aspect can do all this too was a real influencer in our choice of the solution. Houston, Texas headquartered shipping and energy marketing/physical commodity trading firm Elliptical International, LLC has chosen the AspectCTRM trade and risk management solution as a key part of its oil and gas sales and marketing arm. Aspects leading global multi-commodity solution will also play a vital role in Ellipticals shipping and logistics operations as the firm grows and develops its overseas markets. The choice of Aspects advanced solution precedes news of Ellipticals accreditation to trade with major Russian suppliers including Rosneft and Gazprom. Effective and credible systems for real time management of operations, trading and risk were key to the Russian deal as Ellipticals Director of Operations Brad Mothersbaugh explains: It was a defining moment as far as showing our capabilities. Having AspectCTRM underscored the fact that we had a solid capability of managing our operations. No doubt it played a part in obtaining these accreditations which we are justly proud to have received. AspectCTRM is now widely seen as the benchmark for cloud-based energy/physical commodity trading and risk management systems. As well as mainstream trade and risk functionality the solution has modules for physical operations, logistics, storage, and shipping by sea, road and rail. As more territories and logistical resources become available to Elliptical, managing supply chains and scheduling will become increasingly complex. Were not worried about how were going to be handling all this, added Ellipticals Gail Randle. AspectCTRM will be a life saver. The fact that Aspect can do all this too was a real influencer in our choice of the solution. Mothersbaugh and his colleagues were influenced in other ways too, not least of which were previous experiences with other solutions at prior employers. In the past weve used other big name ETRM and CTRM software and found them inflexible, cumbersome and difficult to use. Were talking square pegs in round holes. Conversely, other colleagues who had used Aspect at previous firms had nothing but good things to say, and this has since been borne out at Elliptical. We like Aspects cloud foundation, we need no extra IT and as we travel a lot, we can get to our transactions from pretty much anywhere at any time globally, adds Mothersbaugh. With Aspect we literally hit the ground running. Theres a completeness to the system thats missing in other offerings: it does everything we need in one system. Also the degree of understanding and the level of service we get from Aspects Houston team has been exemplary. About Aspect Aspect is a leading global provider of multi-commodity trade, risk and operations management applications delivered Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) in the cloud. With almost 500 customers in 90 countries, its one of the fastest growing providers with rapid deployment, affordable subscriptions, and immediate ROI for all size companies. Solutions include AspectCTRM, a full-featured commodity trading and risk management enterprise suite for front, middle and back office. Its available in three editions: Lite, Standard and Enterprise, expanding in functionality according to the needs and budgets of clients. Aspect is the only ETRM/CTRM solutions provider with market data and analytics tools delivered with its trade and risk functions on the same platform. This provides users with a seamless packaged solution beginning with pre-trade pricing analysis and market assessments via AspectDSC. Aspects solutions are available on desktop, tablets and mobile devices and through its new Aspect Partner Program (APP). Media Contact Brigette Gebhard Aspect +1 347-328-0396 bgebhard(at)aspectenterprise(dot)com Savills Studley is pleased to announce that Ryan Miller, a managing director in the Baltimore office, has been elected to Junior Achievement of Central Maryland, Inc.s Associate Leadership Council. He has also been named one of Living Classrooms 2016 Rising Stars. Miller, age 26, is a native and lifelong resident of Baltimore and has been in commercial real estate since graduating from the University of Maryland in 2012. Junior Achievement of Central Maryland (https://jamaryland.org/) is part of Junior Achievement USA, the world's largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their future, and make smart academic and economic choices. These K-12 programs provide relevant, hands-on experiences in financial literacy, work readiness and entrepreneurship. Junior Achievement of Central Maryland reaches more than 40,000 total students in 12 Maryland counties each year. Living Classrooms 2016 Rising Stars (https://livingclassrooms.org/risingstars.php) presented by the Baltimore Business Journal, honors a select group of young professionals who are recognized for their professional achievements and philanthropic efforts. By accepting this award, honorees commit to raising a minimum of $3,000 for Living Classrooms Foundations education programs serving disadvantaged youth and communities through donations, sponsorships, an auction item, events, etc. by September 30, 2016. These important funds support hands-on education and job-training programs that serve disadvantaged youth and positively impact the greater community. This distinguished group of young men and women will also participate in the 7th annual Rising Stars Celebration, held in conjunction with Baltimores most popular benefit party, Maritime Magic, on September 30. After being a part of several networking organizations, strictly for the purpose of developing new business, I began a search to find non-profits to become entrenched in philanthropically, said Miller. After meeting with Jennifer Bodensiek and Kaitlin Bowman of Junior Achievement and hearing their mission, I was immediately inspired to get involved. The fact that JA is dedicated to giving young people knowledge and skills to ensure future economic success really resonated with me. These were skills that I wasnt taught in middle school, high school or even college, but are essential to surviving in the real world. I was also was honored to accept my nomination for Living Classrooms 2016 Rising Stars program. I met James Bond through mutual connections and was finally given the opportunity to learn more about what Living Classrooms is trying to accomplish. I am a Baltimore kid so I strive every day to give back to the community I grew up in and make a difference in the city I love. I look forward to contributing to and participating in these organizations, not only in 2016, but for many years to come, as these two organizations make a major difference in Charm City! About Savills Studley Savills Studley is the leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation. Founded in 1954, the firm pioneered the conflict-free business model of representing only tenants in their commercial real estate transactions. Today, supported by high quality market research and in-depth analysis, Savills Studley provides strategic real estate solutions to organizations across all industries. The firms comprehensive commercial real estate platform includes brokerage, project management, capital markets, consulting and corporate services. With 27 offices in the U.S. and a heritage of innovation, Savills Studley is well known for tenacious client advocacy and exceptional service. The firm is part of London-headquartered Savills plc, the premier global real estate service provider with over 30,000 professionals in over 60 countries around the world. Savills plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange (SVS.L). For more information, please visit http://www.savills-studley.com and follow us on Twitter @SavillsStudley and LinkedIn. Zingle logo "Zingle offers Hyatt hotels the ability to instantaneously build one-on-one relationships in ways our guests want to engage." - Jeff Bzdawka, senior vice president, global hotel operations for Hyatt. Zingle, a leading mobile messaging company that helps businesses better communicate with their customers, today announced that Hyatt has selected Zingle as its preferred guest messaging service for Hyatt hotels worldwide. Zingles multi-channel messaging platform will allow guests to seamlessly and instantly text and message with staff at participating Hyatt hotels before, during and after their stays. Recent trend data from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers (KPCB) reports that mobile messaging apps are now 6 of the 10 most-used apps worldwide, and mobile usage continues to accelerate, having recently eclipsed desktop and tablet usage. Following this trend, messaging is rapidly becoming the preferred method of communication, especially for travelers worldwide. We arent about tech for techs sake. At Hyatt, we look for ways to create experiences that scale care for our guests, said Jeff Bzdawka, senior vice president, global hotel operations at Hyatt. Zingle offers Hyatt hotels the ability to instantaneously build one-on-one relationships in ways our guests want to engage. Zingle now gives Hyatt hotels that implement the service the ability for guests to request on-demand service, whether its for extra hangers or restaurant recommendations. Participating Hyatt hotels will be able to leverage Zingles capabilities, including messaging intelligence, automations and analytics to continually improve the guest experience. Hyatt is a leader in hospitality and a forward-thinker in guest experiences. We couldnt be more proud to be selected as Hyatts global preferred service, said Ford Blakely, founder and CEO of Zingle. Im confident that we will help extend Hyatts world-class reputation for authentic and exceptional service. The term Hyatt is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates. About Zingle Zingle is a software solution that helps businesses communicate with customers via texting and other mobile messaging channels. Zingle allows businesses to engage, support and respond to customers in the new mobile messaging era. Zingles real-time enterprise platform works on any device and provides all the software tools to deliver an instant, actionable and seamless customer service experience. Zingle pioneered the business messaging space in 2009 by being the first to offer business texting on its patented platform. Web: Zingle.me Twitter: @ZingleMe Facebook: Zingle ### The potential benefits of education policies extend far beyond the usual metric of test scores. A policy might be considered beneficial, for example, if it leads to reduced criminal behavior. That is the claim made in a recent report from University of Arkansas researchers, who studied the relationship between crime and a school voucher program. A review of the report finds that the study, while suggestive of a possible correlation, has several weaknesses and certainly does not support the implication that the voucher programs caused a reduction in crime. Using data from the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP), the researchers compared crimes processed through the Wisconsin courts for program participants and a matched sample of public school students. Although most of these comparisons showed no association, the report finds that some subgroups of MPCP students were less likely to commit crimes as adults. Clive Belfield, an Associate Professor of Economics at Queens College, City University of New York, reviewed the report, The School Choice Voucher: A Get Out of Jail Card? for the Think Twice Think Tank Review Project at the National Education Policy Center, housed at the University of Colorado Boulders School of Education. Professor Belfield writes that education and crime are often found to be negatively correlated, so if a program has an educational benefit, it is reasonable to expect that criminal behavior might be reduced. Moreover, the past MPCP research, from this same group of researchers, has announced some benefits, albeit modest and mixed. But the findings in this new study do not warrant any strong claims. One concern is that the paper employs a matching method that omits some important factors that explain school choice and crime. So differences between the voucher group and the matched (control) group cannot easily be attributed to the voucher policy. Also, the studys results are highly variable, with most of the comparisons between MPCP participation and measures of adult crime showing statistically insignificant results. Professor Belfield explains that a valid interpretation of the report is that vouchers and crime are, in fact, not correlated. Conversely, for subgroups and estimation approaches that do yield statistically significant associations, the MPCP effects appear to be too extreme. Finally, even assuming that vouchers do reduce adult crime, it remains unclear by what mechanisms vouchers might do so. Professor Belfield also cautions that the report is wrong to assert that the methods used justify a causal inference. The studys title should not imply that voucher programs are a get-out-of-jail card, and the evidence in the study is associational, not causal. Belfield concludes that, though the report contributes to policy and practice in looking at how educational processes influence behavioral outcomes, it is unclear how useful the actual findings of this paper are for policymakers. Find Professor Belfields review at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-school-choice Find The School Choice Voucher: A Get Out of Jail Card? by Corey DeAngelis and Patrick J. Wolf, published by the University of Arkansas, at: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/9398uaworkingpaper.pdf The National Education Policy Center (NEPC) Think Twice Think Tank Review Project (http://thinktankreview.org) provides the public, policymakers, and the press with timely, academically sound reviews of selected publications. The project is made possible in part by support provided by the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice: http://www.greatlakescenter.org/ The National Education Policy Center (NEPC), housed at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Education, produces and disseminates high-quality, peer-reviewed research to inform education policy discussions. Visit us at: http://nepc.colorado.edu/ Press Release: http://nepc.info/node/7921 NEPC Review: http://nepc.colorado.edu/thinktank/review-school-choice Report reviewed: http://www.thewheelerreport.com/wheeler_docs/files/9398uaworkingpaper.pdf "Our new Theme Designer is a direct response to what our members have been asking us for: more control over the design of their websites," says Bandzoogle founder Chris Vinson Bandzoogle, a website builder for bands and musicians, has released a new set of design customization tools that make it easier than ever for independent artists to create a stunning, professional-looking website and music store that matches their music, without hiring a web designer. At the core of the release is upgraded technology that gives Bandzoogle members precise control over the look of each page element when building their websites, using an intuitive Theme Designer customization menu and preview window. Musicians can now see their website come to life in real-time, without worrying about technical details. Our new Theme Designer is a direct response to what our members have been asking us for: more control over the design of their websites, said Bandzoogle founder Chris Vinson. We think weve hit the mark by offering tremendous new design flexibility without compromising on the ease-of-use that our members have come to expect from Bandzoogle. From background colors, to the height of the header area, to the opacity of the navigation menu, musicians have the freedom to apply their creative vision to their websites on-the-fly, down to the smallest detail. The user-friendly technology guarantees that any design choice will automatically be made mobile-responsive, so that it looks perfect on any screen size, device or browser. "The new design tools are straightforward and easy going, and allow total customization of every detail in a theme, said Bandzoogle member Federico Agreda Alvarez, known as top-ranked Electronic Music DJ/producer Zardonic. Its great for musicians because we can make a website ourselves, that looks and feels like our own, without a designer." Bandzoogles update also includes the ability to save customizations as drafts, which gives musicians the chance to show their designs to friends and bandmates before publishing. They can even save multiple versions and easily switch between custom drafts or pre-designed themes, without losing their website content or customization work. All of Bandzoogles 15 most popular music templates are now fully customizable, and each has its own unique set of powerful design options. With the new Theme Designer in place, the company expects to release all-new customizable website themes in the coming months. About Bandzoogle Bandzoogle makes it easy for musicians to build a professional website and store for their music. Designed by a musician for the needs of musicians, Bandzoogle combines a simple drag+drop website editor with powerful e-commerce and promotional tools. Founded in 2003, Bandzoogle powers 25,000 band websites and has helped artists sell over $20 million in music, merch and tickets all commission-free. Plans start at $10/month including a .com domain and friendly live support. Sign up for a 30-day free trial at bandzoogle.com. Aragon Research, a technology-focused advisory, research, and consulting services firm committed to providing thought leading strategic research and trusted advisory services, announced that it is launching a new Consulting Practice focusing on Digital Business and Transformation. Aragon is partnering with Practically Digital, a Chicago based technology consulting firm which specializes in digital strategy, innovative technology solutions, cognitive computing, and IT due diligence and mergers support. Rob McGillen, CEO of Practically Digital, commented, We look forward to partnering with Aragon to help companies develop and execute the right digital business strategies. As a CIO for many years, I have never seen a better time for leveraging technology to gain a competitive advantage in business. I have worked with Rob for many years and look forward to our strategic partnership, said Jim Lundy, Founder and CEO of Aragon Research. Our deep understanding of strategy and technology makes for the perfect combination to help clients succeed. For more information on the Digital Business offerings, go to http://www.aragonresearch.com/Consulting. About Aragon Research Aragon Research is the newest technology research and advisory firm. Aragon delivers high impact advisory, interactive research and consulting services to provide enterprises the insight they need to help them make better technology and strategy decisions. Aragon Research serves business and IT leaders and has a proven team of veteran analysts. For more information, visit http://www.aragonresearch.com. About Practically Digital Practically Digital is a Chicago based technology consulting firm which specializes in digital strategy formation, innovative technology solutions, cognitive computing applications, and IT due diligence / mergers support. With a focus on entrepreneurial and growth minded companies, Practically Digital helps business leaders achieve digital transformation through practical advice. For more information, visit http://www.practically.digital. Lexmark Logo This years Inspire award winners clearly demonstrate how Lexmarks broad capabilities can be leveraged in a variety of important vertical markets to automate processes, improve the customer experience and provide significant competitive advantage. Past News Releases RSS Enhanced Kofax TotalAgility... Lexmark International, a global technology leader, announced the Inspire 2016 award winners last night at the companys annual customer and partner conference. The award ceremony was held in Orlando in conjunction with the Lexmark Enterprise Software conference, which drew approximately 1,300 attendees. Winners were selected for innovative and successful implementations of Lexmark software and solutions that resulted in significant process improvements, lower operating costs, faster customer response times, and improved compliance, control and visibility. This years Customer Award categories and winners were: Healthcare Best Practice Leader Vidant Health Banking and Insurance Best Practice Leader Aviva Higher Education Best Practice Leader Loyola University Maryland Government Best Practice Leader Montana Highway Patrol Financial Process Automation Solution of the Year Pet Partners Advanced Capture Solution of the Year Department of Human Services in Australia Onboarding Solution of the Year Caruana Financeira Mobile Innovation Solution of the Year Ooredoo Algeria Analytics & Process Intelligence Solution of the Year Lagardere Travel Retail Information Integration Solution of the Year Delta Dental of Colorado First Mile Solution of the Year Colorado Housing and Finance Authority Most Innovative Use of Lexmark Software of the Year HealthPartners This years Partner Award categories and winners were: TotalAgility Solution of the Year Lithe IT Most Innovative Partner Solution iBridge Group Industry Excellence Award EDM Group OEM Software Provider of the Year Microsoft Distribution Partner of the Year NewWave New Partner of the Year Avaap Regional Partner of the Year AMS Genus Technologies Regional Partner of the Year EMEA EOH Regional Partner of the Year APAC Nikoyo (HK) Limited Global Partner of the Year Cerner Supporting Quote This years Inspire award winners clearly demonstrate how Lexmarks broad capabilities can be leveraged in a variety of important vertical markets to automate processes, improve the customer experience and provide significant competitive advantage, commented Reynolds C. Bish, vice president of Lexmark and president of Lexmark Enterprise Software. We congratulate all of our winners for their successes in implementing our products and solutions to simplify the First Mile of customer engagement and speed digital transformation. About the Lexmark Enterprise Software Conference Inspire is the Lexmark Enterprise Software annual user and partner conference. The event features a wide range of experts from industry-leading organizations who share how they've transformed their businesses using Lexmark Enterprise Software. Many of the conference sessions are delivered by customers who share real-world best practices in implementing solutions that include information capture, content management, process automation, analytics, mobile, data integration, e-signature and customer communications management. About Lexmark Lexmark (NYSE: LXK) creates enterprise software, hardware and services that remove the inefficiencies of information silos and disconnected processes, connecting people to the information they need at the moment they need it. Open the possibilities at http://www.lexmark.com. Lexmark, the Lexmark logo, First Mile and Open the possibilities are trademarks of Lexmark International, Inc., registered in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. For further information: Sylvia Chansler, (949) 783-1476, sylvia.chansler(at)lexmark.com Family members and friends provide the vast majority of care for aging Americans experiencing chronic conditions, trauma or illness. Yet, according to Addressing the Needs of Caregivers at Risk: A New Policy Strategy, a study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Stern Center for Evidence-Based Policy, current policy efforts at the federal and state levels have not adapted to address significant health and economic risks that these caregivers experience. Though caregivers provide support to over 90 percent of individuals receiving care at home, the study, published today by the University of Pittsburgh Health Policy Institute (HPI), found that they lack access to financial policies, flexible employment and social services needed to support this important function. The study builds on the Stern Centers first landmark report, Addressing the Health Needs of an Aging America, published in September of 2015. Family members and friends play a vital role in keeping aging Americans healthy and in their homes, and dramatically reducing the cost of long-term care, said lead-author Everette James, J.D., M.B.A., HPI director and the M. Allen Pond Professor of Health Policy and Management at Pitts Graduate School of Public Health. Our study shows that public policy has not yet embraced these caregivers, many of whom will experience major economic losses and are often at high risk for mental and physical health problems compared to those who dont provide care. Many caregivers simply do not have access to benefits to compensate them for the time they spend giving care or employment protections that allow them to leave work to care for their family members. And we really have no comprehensive way of providing support services, such as respite care, to everyone who needs it. Mr. James and his colleagues examined the impact of federal and state policy designs on family caregivers finances, employment, and access to services and supports. This included major programs such as Social Security, Medicaid, and the Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as lesser-known federal programs such as the National Family Caregiver Support Program, state policies on tax credits and paid sick leave. In several cases, such as tax benefits and Social Security, no comprehensive policy framework to address family caregivers currently exists, said study author Meredith Hughes, a J.D., M.P.H. student at Pitt. In other cases, such as family and medical leave, current benefits are inadequate to address caregiver needs. The study also found that, despite evidence of positive impacts on caregivers, programs that deliver caregiver supports and services, such as respite, have not expanded to meet growing demand. Our study of current legislation shows that Congress has not been focused on changing how we address the needs of family caregivers, said study author Philip Rocco, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate in Pitts Health Policy Institute. By analyzing the patchwork of current programs, weve also identified a dashboard of feasible policy options that could help mitigate caregiver economic and health risks. The study concludes by suggesting a set of policy options to address current gaps in family caregiver policy. The Stern Center is planning a series of studies on evidence-based policies to address health and economic risks experienced by family caregivers. Grapefruit Watermelon Salad with Orange Blossom Florida Honey Bee Vinaigrette at Trump Miami My Orange Blossom Florida Honey Bee Vinaigrette is a beautifully simple recipe that I want to share. It delivers a fresh splash of Florida to any dish...and it is so easy for anyone to re-create at home." says Jantz Kurtis Jantz, the Executive Chef at the Trump International Beach Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, Florida, is in search of the last remaining treasured recipe entries for the resorts' first annual "Heirloom Recipes with a Citrus Twist" Mother's Day recipe contest. With the upcoming deadline of April 15th for entry submissions, now's the time to get cooking. In preparation for for the resorts' much-anticipated annual Mother's Day brunch, Jantz is also sharing a few of his own citrus-inspired recipes, delivering a little taste of the home-grown flavors now available at Trump Miami. Why the citrus twist? Chef Jantz has received a tremendous response from guests who have complimented his use of Florida-grown flavors on the menus throughout the, family- friendly, four star resort. "It's important to incorporate local ingredients grown in our backyards. Florida citrus is so versatile and an ingredient woven throughout our menus. For example, my Orange Blossom Florida Honey Bee Vinaigrette is a beautifully simple recipe that I am sharing. It delivers a fresh splash of Florida to any dish...and it is so easy for anyone to re-create at home." says Jantz. Florida Honey Orange Vinaigrette Recipe (pictured with Trump Miami's Grapefruit Watermelon Salad) Created by Executive Chef Kurtis Jantz Yield approximately: 1 quart 1 oz. shallots Tb. olive oil cup Florida organic honey (or favorite honey of choice) 2 cups orange juice 2 oz apple cider vinegar cups olive oil blend Dash cayenne pepper Kosher salt to taste In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, saute the shallots until tender in Tb. olive oil. Add orange juice and reduce by half. Remove from heat and let orange juice cool to room temperature In a small mixing bowl add reduced orange juice and whisk in honey. Slowly whisk in olive oil then vinegar. Season to taste with cayenne and kosher salt. Details about the recipe contest: Participants can submit one original, non-trademarked family recipe, add a unique citrus twist ingredient to it and then share a special tradition or fond memory about their family recipe. The only two rules are that the recipe must include a citrus fruit of some kind, and must be original content. With 3 meal categories to choose from and countless citrus fruits across the country, the opportunities are endless. The deadline for submission is April 15, 2016. A total of three recipes will be selected as finalists and will be featured at Trump Miami's Mothers Day brunch on Sunday May 8th, 2016. Brunch guests will sample and cast their vote on each recipe. The recipe with the most votes wins. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on May 11th, 2016 and will receive: Complimentary three (3) night stay for 2 guests in a luxurious 2 bedroom oceanfront suite Daily breakfast for two (2) in Neomis Grill Two (2) fifty (50) minute spa treatments (one per person) Up to $600.00 travel credit The Winning recipe featured on Trumpmiami.com and Trump International Beach Resorts social media channels. All three finalists will receive: One (1) Omega J8006 nutrition center juicer One (1) embroidered Trump International Beach Resort culinary apron One (1) signature chef recipe from Executive Chef Kurtis Jantz Finalist recipes featured on Trumpmiami.com and Trump International Beach Resorts social media channels For official contest rules and to submit a recipe, please visit http://www.trumpmiami.com Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder/Louisville Common Area Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville welcomes Ellie Goulding fans to the 1st Bank Center this April for a concert experience fans wont soon forget. Ellie Goulding with BROODS and Bebe Rexha will perform on Tuesday, April 12th, with doors opening at 6 pm. Ticket prices range from $42.50 to $59.50. Fans will get to experience Ellies layered vocal parts, bringing a complexity not capture on her new album for the most ardent fans. For more information, please visit http://www.1stbankcenter.com. A short ten-minute drive from the 1st Bank Center in Broomfield, Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville welcomes all concert goers to make a night of it and stay in town after the event. Hampton offers great amenities, comfortable rooms and group accommodations. Amenities include free Wi-Fi, complimentary hot breakfast, indoor pool, 24-hour fitness center and much more. Guests may choose from king, double queen, king study and accessible rooms, available upon request. Concert goers will also enjoy the hotels close location to Boulder Valley Ice, Pearl Street Mall, Flatirons Crossing Mall, University of Colorado at Boulder and many other Front Range attractions. For reservations and more information on the Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville, please visit http://www.louisvillehampton.com or call (303) 666- 7700. The Hampton Inn by Hilton Boulder Louisville is proudly managed by Stonebridge Companies in Denver, Colo. Founded in 1991 by Navin C. Dimond, Stonebridge Companies is a privately owned, innovative hotel owner, operator and developer headquartered near Denver. Its diverse listing of properties includes select-service, extended-stay, mid-scale and full-service hotels in markets throughout the U.S. For detailed information, visit http://www.sbcos.com. Aruzes licensure with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is just another sign of the companys continued growth and success Aruze Gaming America, Inc. (Aruze or the Company) announced today that on April 1, 2016, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) issued the Company a license to manufacture and distribute gambling equipment in the State of Iowa. The Company had previously been issued temporary licensure by the IRGC, which granted it the ability to commence selling and leasing gambling equipment throughout 2015. The Company has already installed slot machines and Electronic Table Games at several of Iowas largest casinos. Aruzes CEO, Kelcey Allison, commented that, As the fastest growing supplier, Aruzes business plan in recent years is to continue to deliver new, exciting and innovative products and to expand its customer base. In order to reach new customers and markets, Aruze has focused on applying for gaming licenses in a variety of new commercial and tribal jurisdictions. Aruzes licensure with the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is just another sign of the companys continued growth and success. Over the last two years, Aruze has received new licenses in over twenty-five jurisdictions, including: Ohio Lottery, Nova Scotia and West Virginia Lottery (Racetrack and Table Games). About Aruze Gaming America, Inc. Aruze, based in Las Vegas, designs, develops, and manufactures slot machines and gaming devices for the global casino market. With subsidiaries in Australia, South Africa, Macau and Japan, Aruze produces highly innovative gaming products, including high resolution video and stepper slot machines, communal gaming products, and multi-terminal devices. For more news and information about Aruze, please visit http://www.aruzegaming.com. Z Gallerie, the style authority for the chic home, will officially cut the ribbon on the doors to its newest home furnishings, art and accessories store at Bellevue Square, WA., on Saturday, April 9th at 9:45 a.m. Were excited and ready to open in the beautiful newly remodeled South Common,says Mike Zeiden, Z Galleries co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. Were confident that our assortment of fashion forward home furnishings and art will be welcomed by shoppers from Seattle, Redmond and surrounding areas. Weve been anticipating this location for some time. The first 50 people who enter the store will receive a gift card with a secret value from $10, $20, $50 and one special card valued at $500. In addition, customers can Enter To Win a $5,000 Z Gallerie gift card and the opportunity to work with a personal style consultant to design a room of their dreams. Noted Seattle fashion blogger Sarah Butler of http://sarahstylesseattle.com/ will join the opening celebration by taking over Z Galleries Instagram page, posting pictures of her favorite spring trends this season. To celebrate the new location, Z Gallerie has furnished a common area in the center, transforming it into The Z Lounge. Shoppers can relax, recharge their devices and experience first-hand the comfort and elegance that Z Gallerie is known for. The Grand Opening timing is perfect, just before the Standout Style Spring Runway Show at Bellevue Square, says Chris Nicklo, Chief Marketing Officer for Z Gallerie. Bellevue Square has an amazing collection of fashion retailers and were excited to join them with our vision for a trend-right, chic home. Z Gallerie is partnering with Bellevue Squares Fashion Show on April 23rd to celebrate the brands introduction to the Seattle/Bellevue market. About Z Gallerie Headquartered in Los Angeles, Z Gallerie is the style authority for the chic home. Since 1979, the brand has inspired interior designers and stylish influencers with cutting edge design and sophisticated, accessible furnishings. Each season, Z Gallerie offers the latest ideas in furniture, art, home decor and entertaining tailored to each individual's personal style aesthetic through its celebrated Style Personalities program http://bit.ly/21WOIK6 . A catalog, a full online presence at zgallerie.com and 60 stores nationwide keep Z Gallerie in the forefront as the premier lifestyle brand in the fashion home space. ### RangeMe, the online platform that streamlines new product discovery between suppliers and retailers. For retail buyers, trade shows are an important part of their product discovery mix. We want to help make that experience as efficient as possible. RangeMe, the online platform that streamlines new product discovery between suppliers and retailers, partnered this week with CPG media giant William Reed Business Media to help facilitate new product discovery at The Healthy and Natural Show. The event, hosted in Chicago May 5-7, will leverage RangeMes technology to give retail buyers greater access to innovation and a more efficient way to connect with product suppliers. For retail buyers, trade shows are an important part of their product discovery mix, said Nicky Jackson, CEO and Founder of RangeMe. We want to help make that experience as efficient as possible. The Healthy and Natural Show brings together retailers and product manufacturers who are disrupting the industry with new and innovative natural, organic, and nutritional products. The event and its accompanying educational programs are designed to highlight local and national healthy brands across six distinct categories: food, beverage, supplements, pet products, household products, and personal care. Companies from the Midwest are often under-represented when it comes to product accessibility, and The Healthy and Natural Show gives them a local platform for display and discovery. Healthy brands are invited to showcase their innovative offerings made with clean ingredients, and address specialized needs and offerings that consumers today increasingly demand. This is a unique educational approach, states Len Monheit, General Manager, North America for William Reed. Were in an age where consumers have just as much access to information as those retailers with whom they shop. Were going to newly empower our retail community, by giving them an intimate show experience to leverage this new knowledge and then give them access to an exhibitor base filled with leaders and disruptors. RangeMe gives retailers an easy and efficient way to discover innovative new products and manage the inbound product submission process, all through a single platform. Suppliers on the RangeMe platform have increased control over the marketing of their products and greater access to retail buyers. RangeMes marketplace thrived in Australia for more than a year, when founder Nicky Jackson realized the platform was ready for the US market. The online match-making platform broke US ground in September 2015 with retail giant Target as their official launch partner. The organic and natural market in the US is leading the world in terms of innovation, said Nicky. Our latest partnership further solidifies our commitment to bring that innovation to retail buyers. For more details around the partnership visit http://www.rangeme.com/blog/the-natural-healthy-show To register for the event visit: https://www.livebuzzreg.co.uk/2016/hns16/visitor/ About William Reed Business Media The Healthy & Natural Show is brought to you by William Reed Business Media, publisher of leading titles in food and drink retailing, manufacturing and distribution. As an international multi-media events company, William Reed is focused on helping customers achieve business success and the Healthy & Natural Products show will be a major part of that success. Welcoming more than 40,000 representatives to over 40 live events, conferences and exhibitions every year on every continent the international media company regularly engages with over 2.8 million food, drink, nutrition, restaurant and food service professionals. About RangeMe RangeMe is the leading online platform that streamlines new product discovery between suppliers and retailers. The platform empowers retail buyers with an efficient way to discover innovative new products and manage the inbound product submission process. For product suppliers and manufacturers, RangeMe gives increased control over the marketing of their products and greater access to retail buyers. Mississippi governor signs law over protests of gay rights advocates 06 April, 2016 by Letitia Stein , | JACKSON (Reuters) Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on Tuesday signed into law a measure affording wide protections for people of faith who do not wish to support gay marriage with their labor. Gay rights activists consider the law to be state-sanctioned discrimination. The far-reaching law allows people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples. It also clears the way for employers to cite religion in determining workplace policies on dress code, grooming and bathroom and locker access. Bryant, a Republican, said in a statement that he signed the law "to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government." His decision comes amid national protests over a new law barring transgender people in North Carolina from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity. Meanwhile, the governors of Georgia and Virginia vetoed similar "religious liberty" bills last week. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized the Mississippi law, which it said is set to take effect in July. "This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousands of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licenses, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are," said Jennifer Riley-Collins, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi. Savings.com, a property of Cox Target Media (CTM), announced it is a sponsor of the Hispanicize 2016 Conference, taking place in downtown Miamis InterContinental Hotel this week. Hispanicize 2016 is expected to gather more than 3,000 of the nations most influential Latino professionals from the industries of digital content creation, journalism, music, marketing, film and business. Many premium brand names, such as NBC, Amazon, Facebook, Telemundo, Wells Fargo and Unilever have also joined as key sponsors. We are excited to more deeply understand and connect with the Hispanic market, said Jay Loeffler, Senior Director, National Accounts - CPG, OTC, Retail Grocery, with Cox Target Media. Our goal is to expand the Hispanic segment of our affiliate marketing and DealPro Network, enabling us to better accommodate our clients' requests for Hispanic-centric campaigns. CTM is committed to providing marketing solutions that hone in on specific market segments needs, and this is an excellent platform for us to strengthen our insights. On April 6, Sara Korab, Head of Community Development at Savings.com, will offer insights for seamlessly integrating affiliate marketing as a monetization strategy to social influencers. The presentation, titled Easy Ways Influencers Can Make Money with Affiliate Marketing, explains how, in addition to monetizing blogs and social platforms via traditional banner ads, sponsored posts, and brand partnerships, influencers can use affiliate marketing to increase their income. Thought leaders across all industries, from fashion to technology, can easily increase revenue streams through affiliate marketing programs, writing about brands and products they are already promoting organically. The key takeaways of session are: how to get started with affiliate marketing; which affiliate companies or networks to work with; planning content around affiliate marketing strategy; and using your email lists and social media platforms for affiliate marketing. About Savings.com Savings.com helps you find the best deals on everything you want. Tell us what stores and categories you like, what city you live in, and we deliver the best deals for you. In addition to providing personalized recommendations, Savings.com has one of the most in-depth databases of online coupons. Shoppers can access thousands of exclusive offers from the biggest retailer names along with up to 100,000 active deals from online and national retailers, daily deal sites and grocery brands. More than 5 million shoppers turn to Savings.com each month as their trusted resource for deals and to interact with the site's popular community of online coupon experts, the DealPros. Savings.com was recently ranked as one of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine, and it has won top awards from advertiser partners, including the 2011 Innovative Publisher of the Year from LinkShare and 2010 Advertiser's Choice Award for Top Publisher from Commission Junction. About Cox Target Media Based in St. Petersburg, FL, Cox Target Media (CTM) is a national direct marketing company that offers targeted marketing solutions to identify and engage specific shopper segments. We provide marketers with keen insights into how consumers think and behave when shopping and buying. CTMs mass reach -- coupled with powerful, precise targeting and true consumer insights -- drives measurable-buying transactions across verticals, including consumer packaged goods (CPG), over-the-counter (OTC) and omnichannel retail. CTM is the parent company of Valpak, one of North Americas leading direct marketing companies, and Savings.com, a leading online source for savings. CTM is a subsidiary of Cox Media Group in Atlanta. ### Amber Buckley Lyons attended Mid-South Youth Camp during her childhood and often spoke about her fondness for the program. Amber had so many cherished memories of camp, and she would want to pay it forward. She would love knowing that future generations of children could experience the same joy that she did. Amber Buckley Lyons is being memorialized by a fund established to help young people attend Mid-South Youth Camp in Henderson and the construction of a bell tower at the camp. Her father, Dale Buckley, and her husband, Bill Lyons, have established the fund to assist youngsters who otherwise would not be able to attend the summer camp. Camperships will be awarded each summer. The tower will house the bell used for many years to call campers to devotionals and meals, as well as announce the changing of classes and recreation periods. Amber Lyons, who died Nov. 19, 2015, following an extended battle with cancer, had attended MSYC many times, beginning when she was only 7 years old. Still two years away from the required age of 9, she started early and came home with the Best Camper Award her first year. Her love of camp grew and she attended at every opportunity. Mid-South Youth Camp was a magical place for Amber, her sister Leigh Simpson wrote. Unfortunately, with seven children in the family, it was not always financially possible for her to go. Friends stepped in and helped, so she could attend. Amber had so many cherished memories of camp, and she would want to pay it forward, her sister said. She would love knowing that future generations of children could experience the same joy that she did. Amber Lyons was a 1983 graduate of Chester County High School and attended Freed-Hardeman University. She graduated from Northwest Shoals School of Nursing. Bill Lyons graduated from FHU in 1985. He also holds degrees from the University of North Alabama and the University of Tennessee at Martin. He is founder and CEO of Lyons HR in Florence, Alabama. Since Amber loved MSYC so much, her father and I have already established a campership endowment in her honor, but we also wanted to do something that was more visual and tangible, Lyons said. We can think of no more fitting tribute to her than to have the old MSYC bell retrofitted into a bell tower. We want to call it the Amber Buckley Lyons Memorial Bell Tower. Lyons hopes a dedication ceremony for the bell tower can be held prior to the beginning of this summers camp sessions. Freed-Hardeman University has operated Mid-South Youth Camp since the summer of 1957. The camp is open for eight weeks each summer and is available for retreats year-round. Camp sessions begin June 5, 2016, and continue for eight weeks. Junior camp, a day camp for younger campers, will be June 13-16, 20-23, 27-30 and July 4-7. Additional information about the camp is available at fhu.edu/msyc. Contributions to the memorial fund may be made online at give.fhu.edu/amberlyons. Student in the NCCU School of Law Library. "The graduates of this program will provide needed resources to the legal market, which will help businesses and organizations innovate and thrive," said John Boswell, SAS Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. North Carolina Central University School of Law is establishing a new Intellectual Property (IP) Law Institute that will provide legal expertise, curriculum and training for students while serving the public interest. Analytics leader SAS has provided funding to help NCCU launch the Institute. NCCUs law school is committed to provide education and training in emerging areas of legal practice, said Phyliss Craig-Taylor, J.D., dean of the NCCU School of Law. IPLI will allow us to matriculate practice-ready graduates prepared to address the difficult IP questions in the 21st century. Institute enrollees will gain practical legal experience by helping review suspect patents at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). They will be directly serving the public interest by invalidating patents that could be used to disrupt businesses a practice that imposes significant costs on the US economy. NCCUs School of Law is one of only 11 law schools certified by the USPTO to offer both a Patent Clinic and a Trademark Clinic. The new Institute will work initially with industries in North Carolina, later expanding across the country to help to improve patent quality and protect organizations intellectual property. The IP Law Institute will fill a critical need of one of the fastest-growing practices of law, while attracting students with undergraduate degrees in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines. The Institute has the additional objectives of: 1) recruiting STEM students with diverse backgrounds and experiences to intellectual property careers; 2) providing practical experience for students in the protection of creative works and innovations; 3) advanced training for law graduates in the form of continuing legal education seminars, symposiums and publication; and 4) promoting a quality patent system through filing Inter Partes Reviews (IPRs) in the public interest. NCCU Law Professor Charles Smith, J.D., will serve as the inaugural director of the IP Institute. Prior to joining NCCU in 1979, Smith was a patent examiner, a patent attorney for Xerox Corporation, and counsel for Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco, Calif. He has also been an attorney advisor for the United States Army Corps of Engineers and the United States Information Systems Command, and Of Counsel for Olive and Olive. This support of the Institute by SAS is enormously valuable to the principle objective of training students to be key players in addressing the quality of United States Patents, said Smith. We are truly grateful to SAS for demonstrating leadership and support for students and this community. In addition to being active in patent reform efforts, SAS supports education initiatives that prepare students for the 21st century workforce, with a particular focus on efforts in its home state of North Carolina. The IP Institute is a perfect nexus of two important advocacy areas for SAS, said John Boswell, SAS Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Were helping a local university produce talent thats in high demand in the Triangle and beyond. The graduates of this program will provide needed resources to the legal market, which will help businesses and organizations innovate and thrive. For more information, please contact Professor Smith at csmith(at)nccu(dot)edu or 919-530-6348. North Carolina Central University prepares students to succeed in the global marketplace. Flagship programs include the sciences, technology, nursing, education, law, business and the arts. Founded in 1910 as a liberal arts college for African-Americans, NCCU remains committed to diversity in higher education. Our alumni excel in a wide variety of academic and professional fields. Visit http://www.nccu.edu. About SAS SAS is the leader in analytics. Through innovative analytics, business intelligence and data management software and services, SAS helps customers at more than 80,000 sites make better decisions faster. Since 1976, SAS has been giving customers around the world THE POWER TO KNOW. Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Attorney Sara Jodka has joined the firms Columbus office as Of Counsel. She joins the firm from McDonald Hopkins. Ms. Jodka dedicates her practice to working with employers to anticipate, identify, and resolve labor and employment-related compliance issues and litigation risks in todays ever-evolving workplace. She devotes a significant part of her practice to proactively counseling employers in litigation prevention and overall compliance with state, federal, and administrative laws and regulations, which includes reviewing and revising employee handbooks and policies; counseling management regarding termination decisions; performing exempt-status classification audits; and training employees on key employment policies and issues, including those related to leave, privacy, discrimination, harassment and retaliation, social media, the digital workplace, and others. She routinely defends employers, in both state and federal court, arising under Title VII, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and comparable state laws. Ms. Jodka also regularly handles charges filed with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and its state equivalents, OSHA, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). As for the ever-evolving workplace, that includes data privacy, cybersecurity, social media, bring your own device, and other technology-related issues. Ms. Jodka has been at the forefront of these emerging areas and regularly advises clients on social media, cyber smearing, workplace privacy, and the management, extraction, and authentication of electronically-stored information, including social media and other digital evidence. Her work in these areas has been prolific; she has authored blogs and presented numerous seminars on these issues. Ms. Jodka has been featured on NBC 4; LexBlogTV; Columbus Business First; and in various other media publications for her work in these areas. Ms. Jodka is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association; the Columbus Bar Association; the Human Resources Association of Central Ohio, where she chairs its Employee Relations Special Interest Group; the International Association of Privacy Professionals; among others. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees for OhioDance and a volunteer with the Salvation Armys Rescue and Restore Coalition, which works to stop human trafficking. Ms. Jodka has been recognized as a leader in her field by Ohio Super Lawyers. She received her B.A. from The Ohio State University and her J.D. from Capital University Law School where she graduated with honors. About Dickinson Wright PLLC Dickinson Wright PLLC is a general practice business law firm with more than 400 attorneys among more than 40 practice areas. Headquartered in Detroit and founded in 1878, the firm has fifteen offices, including six in Michigan (Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw) and eight other domestic offices in Columbus, Ohio; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville, Tenn. (2); Las Vegas, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Reno, Nev.; and Washington, D.C. The firms Canada office is located in Toronto. The firm offers clients a distinctive combination of superb client service and exceptional quality. Dickinson Wright lawyers are known for delivering commercially-oriented advice on sophisticated transactions and have a remarkable record of wins in high-stakes litigation. Dickinson Wright lawyers are regularly cited by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and other leading independent law firm evaluating organizations. The 33 Sonablate systems we have sold since FDA clearance is a remarkable testament to the pent up demand for alternatives to the traditional ways of targeting prostate tissue, such as radiation therapy and surgery..." - Dr. Mark Carol SonaCare Medical, LLC, the pioneer in minimally invasive high intensity focused ultrasound technologies and the first company to receive FDA 510K clearance for transrectal high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of prostatic tissue, announced today that it has sold 28 Sonablate HIFU Systems in the U.S., and 33 overall, since obtaining FDA clearance in October, 2015. The 33 Sonablate systems we have sold since FDA clearance is a remarkable testament to the pent up demand for alternatives to the traditional ways of targeting prostate tissue, such as radiation therapy and surgery. SonaCare Medical continues to advance the field of focal ablation by now partnering with four leading image-guided fusion companies, and is continuing to develop additional probes for use with our FDA cleared Sonasource console that address other indications for use for HIFU, such as our FDA cleared Sonatherm. These and other endeavors are positioning the Company ideally for rapid growth and value creation, commented Mark Carol, M.D, Chief Executive Officer. SonaCare Medical most recently promoted its technology at the European Association of Urology (EAU) Annual Conference on March 11th, in Munich, Germany. Its very encouraging to see the impact FDA clearance has had on our international market comments Alex Gonzalez, SonaCare Medicals VP of International Operations. Our exhibit at EAU was the busiest its ever been. We had promising conversations with hundreds of physicians and dozens of international distributors. I believe the Sonablate sales we have recorded in 5 different countries outside of the U.S. since FDA clearance emphasizes our position as the recognized leader in prostate tissue ablation. In May, SonaCare Medical will be attending the annual American Urology Association (AUA) meeting being held this year in San Diego, California. The Company will be highlighting its newly FDA cleared Sonablate, its redesigned FDA cleared Sonatherm laparoscopic ablation probe, and Sonalink, its tele-monitoring support system. It also will be holding the first ever HIFU Insiders Social, a cocktail and dessert event where physicians and institutions can learn about the myriad of options for gaining access to a Sonablate system for prostate tissue ablation. About SonaCare Medical, LLC SonaCare Medical is a world leader in minimally invasive high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technologies. SonaCare Medical is committed to developing focused ultrasound related technologies that support precise and innovative procedures for the treatment of a range of medical conditions. SonaCare Medical, with its subsidiary Focus Surgery, Inc., designs and manufactures medical devices, including the following: Sonablate, which has 510(K) clearance in the U.S. under a De Novo regulatory classification; Sonablate 500, which has CE Marking and has obtained regulatory authorization in more than 49 countries outside the U.S.; Sonatherm laparoscopic HIFU surgical ablation system, which has 510(K) clearance in the U.S., has CE Marking and has obtained regulatory authorization in more than 30 countries outside the U.S. For additional information, visit http://www.SonaCareMedical.com COMPANY CONTACT: SonaCare Medical, LLC Erica Griffith (704) 936-1834, EricaGriffith(at)SonaCareMedical(dot)com Forward Looking Statements. The Company's forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions regarding the Company's business and performance, the economy and other future conditions and forecasts of future events, circumstances and results. As with any projection or forecast, forward-looking statements are inherently susceptible to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. The Company's actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in its forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statement made by the Company speaks only as of the date on which it is made. The Company is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, subsequent events or other factors. We are grateful to Barrett-Jackson and our partners at Hendrick Dynamics for the opportunity to collaborate in the support of the Patriot Foundation. Friday, April 8, the first ever COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION Jeep Wrangler built by Transamerican Auto Parts (TAP) off-road performance retailer 4 Wheel Parts, will be auctioned at the Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach Collectors Car Auction. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the sale of this unique, street legal vehicle will benefit the Patriot Foundation, providing support to the families of airborne and special operations soldiers killed or wounded in combat. Similar to the military version, the COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION Jeep is a go anywhere, do anything military-inspired steel flat fender design built on a 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon platform and one of the most capable, rugged and versatile vehicles ever created. Its extensive TMG supplied enhancements include suspension upgrades, Pro Comp performance wheel and tire combination, lighting package, Smittybilt Armor and Soft Goods Package, 9.5K wide-capacity Smittybilt winch and many other distinctive features exclusively available as a complete program through participating DSI dealerships. Donated by Hendrick Dynamics and Transamerican Auto Parts, this Jeep also features a custom patriotic hood graphic painted by Zac Brown Customs Kristian Baena, Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) 2013 Rising Star Award Winner. It has been an honor for us to team up with Hendrick Dynamics to build this vehicle to raise money for this vital cause, said Transamerican Auto Parts President and CEO, Greg Adler. Tactical Jeeps have been an important part of our nations military history and the COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION continues this great tradition. We are grateful to Barrett-Jackson and our partners at Hendrick Dynamics for the opportunity to collaborate in the support of the Patriot Foundation. Inspired by the original Hendrick COMMANDO tactical vehicle, the COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION Jeep is a collaboration between Transamerican Auto Parts subsidiaries Dealer Services International (DSI), 4 Wheel Parts and Transamerican Manufacturing Group (TMG) and Hendrick Dynamics. Together they premiered this spectacular vehicle at the 2015 Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah featuring aggressive design, style and versatile up-fit technology; including an exact replication of the authentic COMMANDO Tan exterior color. The original Hendrick COMMANDO is a tactical vehicle that provides the military with a versatile mobility platform capable of operating across a wide range of missions and terrains, and was initially fielded overseas for evaluation purposes in support of a special operations science and technology initiative. Historically, the Hendrick COMMANDO was the first Jeep utilized in U.S. combat operations since Operation Just Cause in 1989. Quick Facts: Direct Auction Link http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Events/Event/Details/2015-JEEP-WRANGLER-COMMANDO-194969 Auction: Barrett-Jackson Palm Beach 2016 Date: Friday April 8th Auction Time (Approximate) 4:00 p.m. EST (Velocity) Reserve: No Reserve Status: Available Price: TBD Lot: 3002 Year: 2015 Make: Jeep Model: Wrangler Unlimited Style: COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION VIN: 1C4BJWFG8FL619661 Exterior Color: Black/COMMANDO Tan Interior Color: Black Cylinders: 6 Engine Size: 3.6L Transmission: 5-speed automatic Brief Description: Inspired by the Hendrick COMMANDO military vehicle, the first Jeep utilized in U.S. combat operations in over 25 years, this COMMANDO TACTICAL EDITION Jeep is one of the most capable, rugged and versatile vehicles ever created. One Hundred Percent of Proceeds benefiting the Patriot Foundation. COMMANDO Jeep Concept Vehicle Build Sheet COMMANDO Jeep: Suspension System Upgrade 5 - 17 COMMANDO TAN Alloy Wheels (Developed Exclusively by Pro Comp Wheel Company) 5 - 315/70R-17 Pro Comp Extreme MT2 Mud Terrain Off-Road Tires COMMANDO Front & Rear Bumper w/ Swing Away Tire Carrier (Smittybilt XRC) D-Rings (Smittybilt) COMMANDO Steel Fenders (Poison Spyder) 9.5K Winch (Smittybilt XRC Winch) COMMANDO insignia & authentic COMMANDO Tan Color Scheme Lighting: 50 LED Light Bars (Trail Master) 2x2 Square Cube LED lights (Pro Comp Explorer Lighting) Soft Goods Package: Cloak Extended Mesh Top (Smittybilt) C-RES.2 Cargo Net (Smittybilt) Gear Custom Seat Cover (Front & Rear) Armor: XRC Rock Guard (Smittybilt) XRC Front & Rear Flat Armor Skin (Smittybilt) To learn more about the Patriot Foundation, please visit: http://patriotfoundation.com/ About 4 Wheel Parts 4 Wheel Parts is the global leader in truck, Jeep, SUV and off-road performance products. With 74 locations across the U.S. and Canada and growing, 4 Wheel Parts Service Centers install all the products they sell. Maintaining the nations largest inventory of off-road tires, wheels, lift kits, and accessories, 4 Wheel Parts serves customers across the country and around the globe. Life is Better Off-Road. Visit them at 4wheelparts.com or call toll-free 877-474-4821. About DSI: Dealer Services International is a business unit of Transamerican Auto Parts, and is the nations largest up-fitter of Custom Trucks and Jeeps in North America. Exclusively serving new vehicle dealerships DSI conducts business in both the US and Canada, with over 2,000 dealer partners. Our Design, engineer, and build capabilities have enabled us to provide OE quality and tested custom vehicles that are unmatched in the industry. In addition, our industry leading service and warranty programs enable the consumer to experience the same level of ownership they expect from a new vehicle. To learn more about DSI please visit http://www.dsicustomvehicles.com. About Transamerican Auto Parts Transamerican Auto Parts is the worlds leading manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer of aftermarket parts and accessories for trucks, Jeeps, SUVs and four-wheel drive vehicles. Transamerican operations are comprised of 74 4 Wheel Parts retail locations in North America, Transamerican Wholesale sales and distribution, Dealer Services International and the Transamerican Manufacturing Group which includes Smittybilt, Rubicon Express, G2 Axle & Gear, Pro Comp, LRG Rims and Poison Spyder. We Sell It. We Own It. We Live It. For more information about Transamerican Auto Parts, Dealer Services International and Transamerican Manufacturing Group, please visit: transamericanautoparts.com. Steve Sarns, NuStep Sales and Marketing Vice President (Photo courtesy of NuStep) I even learned something on the podcast this episode. Evan made a point about celebrity and PR that I think is a lifesaver for any serious business person. A million dollar business model. I hate that I didn't think of this first! - Charlie Fusco CEO Powercast co-hosts Charlie Fusco and Evan Morgenstein cut loose in the latest episode of their new business podcast, CEO Powercast, available via http://www.ceopowercast.podbean.com and iTunes. This week, they give away tips for hiring dedicated employees and argue the impact of Pumas latest hire in celebrity spokespeople Rihanna and Kylie Jenner. The duo also shares which songs they use to motivate employees around the office! NuStep Sales and Marketing Vice President Steve Sarns was interviewed for Episode 5 discussing a number of topics highlighting the importance of a solid company foundation. NuStep is a brand dedicated to transforming lives one step at a time through exercise. During the interview, Sarns talked about the close-knit nature of a family business and how entrepreneurs can replicate that same commitment and dedication to customers and co-workers on a larger scale. He also touched on why he decided to keep his manufacturing in the United States. Perhaps the hottest topic of the episode is Pumas decision to embrace pop culture stars as brand ambassadors and sign hip hop diva Rihanna and reality TV star Kylie Jenner. After years working firsthand with celebrities on multi-million-dollar endorsement deals, Morgenstein is convinced Puma will be able to tap into a fan base full of millennials driving the purchasing decisions in athleisure with help from their new celebrity influencers. "I even learned something on the podcast this episode," said Fusco. "Evan made a point about celebrity and PR that I think is a lifesaver for any serious business person. A million dollar business model. I hate that I didn't think of this first!" Listen to Episode 5 of CEO Powercast now available at http://www.ceopowercast.podbean.com or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes to automatically receive new episodes to your phone, tablet or PC. About CelebExperts CelebExperts is a leading consulting firm dedicated to demystifying the celebrity acquisition process and finding creative solutions to effectively market your brand, leveraging the power of a celebrity. For more information on how your brand could utilize a celebrity talent as a spokesperson for upcoming marketing campaigns, please contact our team at consulting(at)celebexperts(dot)com or give us a call at (919) 459-5426. About Synergixx Synergixx, LLC is a creative think tank leading the way in merging traditional and online direct to consumer health and lifestyle product and service marketing strategies on TV, radio, print and online. The firm handles all media buying internally, and has an in-house, 24-7 sales and customer service call center for immediate fulfillment when clients products or services are advertised. For more information, visit http://www.synergixx.com or call 1-800-610-1771. The first Giving Back Event of the American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) will be held on Friday evening, June 3rd in Atlanta, Georgia. Custom knives by well-known makers Tony Bose, Ron Lake, Ken Onion, DHolder, Jim Hammond, Matthew Lerch, Tony Marfione, Kiku Matsuda, Brian Tighe, Bob Terzuola, Lucas Burnley, Alan Folts , and Mickey Yurco will be live auctioned during the BLADE Show at the Renaissance Waverly, Atlanta. Custom makers have shown tremendous support donating knives to our first Giving Back fundraiser, said event chair Bill Raczkowski of Gerber. This is an excellent opportunity to own a knife by one of these great makers. Custom knifemakers and AKTI company members are Giving Back to AKTI as thanks for ensuring their ability to make and sell their knives and to the charities of their choice. Proceeds from the live auction of custom knives will go 50% to AKTI to help fund legislative and education efforts. The remaining 50% will go to the charity of the makers choice. Company members have donated great specialty and commemorative knives that will be offered as silent auction items from 7 pm to 9 pm, explained Raczkowski. There will also be several one-of-a-kind items for the collector. Benchmade, Boker, Buck Knives, Camillus, Chris Reeve, CRKT, SOG and W.R. Case have contributed to the silent auctions. Items include Bokers Applegate Commemorative serial #1, Buck Knives 50th Anniversary 110 Folding Knife set, CRKTs 20th Anniversary Ltd Edition and signed Camillus knives by Grady Powell and Jared Ogden, to name a few. The American Knife & Tool Institute quietly and diligently works for everyone in the knife community promoting knives as essential, valuable tools, working with legislators at the state and the federal level to clarify knife laws, and providing valuable educational information, said CJ Buck, AKTI President. We cannot thank these makers and company donors enough for their tremendous support. How can you go wrong spending an evening dedicated to the future of knives, with people who are passionate about knives? More details are available, and tickets to attend the Friday evening June 3rd event can be purchased, on AKTIs website at http://www.AKTI.org About AKTI The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) is a non-profit organization (501(c)6) representing all segments of the knife industry and all knife users. Formed in true grassroots fashion by concerned industry leaders after considerable discussion with individual knifemakers, knife magazine publishers, and a broad section of the knife community, AKTI has been the reasonable and responsible voice of the knife community since 1998. AKTIs mission is to ensure that Americans will always be able to make, buy, sell, own, carry and use knives and edged tools. To learn more, please visit http://www.akti.org. *** Best Practices for Effective Pharma Technology Transfer: From R&D to Clinical to Commercial April 25, 2016 1:30 p.m. 3:00 p.m. ET http://www.fdanews.com/effectivetechnologytransfer Technology transfer of a pharmaceutical manufacturing process to either an outsourced or partner site is a significant undertaking, one that needs to be accomplished quickly and efficiently. In order to be successful and to achieve full product realization several functions at both the sending and receiving site must be employed. On April 25 industry expert Susan J. Schniepp provides a thorough analysis of the most important dos and donts drug manufacturers need to be aware of as they go through this thorny thicket of commercial development. This webinar will focus on the critical areas for a smooth handoff of technology, which include: Transfer from R&D to Clinical Development Transfer from Clinical Development to Commercial Transfer Between Company Facilities Transfer to Contract Manufacturer Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of the following areas which are essential for maximizing the effectiveness of technology transfer: Robust information exchange Planning and project management Transfer of analytical assays Small-scale verification at receiving site Pre-GMP engineering runs GMP runs This knowledge forms the basis for the manufacturing process, control strategy, process validation approach and ongoing continual improvement. Meet the Presenter: Susan J. Schniepp is a fellow at Regulatory Compliance Associates, Inc. As a pharmaceutical quality assurance thought leader with 35 years experience, Sue has held leadership roles in industry at Allergy Laboratories, Inc., OsoBio Pharmaceuticals, LLC, Searle, Abbott and Hospira. She has served PDA as a member of the Board of Directors, PDA / FDA Joint Regulatory Affairs Conference Chair, conference presenter, and Chair of the PDAs Regulatory Affairs / Quality Advisory Board, and was awarded PDAs Distinguished Service Award in 2008. Who Will Benefit: Compliance officers Engineering and design controls teams Executive management General/corporate counsel Managers Manufacturing directors and supervisors QA/QC personnel R&D staff Regulatory/legislative affairs professionals Risk management specialists Webinar Details: Best Practices for Effective Pharma Technology Transfer: From R&D to Clinical to Commercial April 25, 2016 1:30 p.m. 3:00 p.m. ET http://www.fdanews.com/effectivetechnologytransfer Tuition: $287 per site Easy Ways to Register: Online: http://www.fdanews.com/effectivetechnologytransfer By phone: 888-838-5578 or 703-538-7600 About FDAnews: FDAnews is the premier provider of domestic and international regulatory, legislative, and business news and information for executives in industries regulated by the US FDA and the European Medicines Agency. Pharmaceutical and medical device professionals rely on FDAnews' print and electronic newsletters, books and conferences to stay in compliance with international standards and the FDA's complex and ever-changing regulations. London Bay Homes' website showcases a new five-part Private Label Living video series Private Label Living is one of the most unique brand positionings in the country for a custom homebuilder, but it needed to be explained in detail for customers to understand its true value, said Dave Miles, president of Milebrand. London Bay Homes newly relaunched website at LondonBay.com enhances the browsing experience for smartphone users and elevates the custom luxury homebuilders commitment to Private Label Living. The mobile-first site accommodates the growing number of homebuyers who rely on a mobile device to search for homes by providing locational Find Your Home and Where We Build links. The demographics of London Bays customers are clear they like to use the power of their phones to get information, said Jimmy Diffee, partner and creative director of Bokka Group, which redesigned the site. These smart-phone users also enjoy learning information through video, which we are incorporating throughout. As the enhanced website was being developed, the branding agency for London Bay Homes, Milesbrand, worked on creating five videos with the express purpose of explaining what Private Label Living means to potential and existing customers. The video series showcases London Bays singular commitment to custom building that ensures each new home is a personal expression of a homeowners distinctive needs, wants and desires. Private Label Living is one of the most unique brand positionings in the country for a custom homebuilder, but it needed to be explained in detail for customers to understand its true value, said Dave Miles, president of Milebrand. Video represents an ideal medium for explaining complex content in an engaging way. Studies have shown that consumers are at least 64 percent more likely to purchase a product or service that has video representation. This makes establishing a personal connection with potential custom homebuyers through the means of video marketing a key element in the London Bay Homes online marketing strategy. Each video expands upon a different element of Private Label Living, including London Bays homebuilding process, focus on design and quality. The entire five-part series can also be viewed online at http://www.vimeo.com/londonbayhomes. Our clients have boundless imagination, their own sense of style and define life on their own terms, said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of London Bay Homes. The most important element of Private Label Living is that every home is our clients vision not ours. We make it an effortless and enjoyable experience. We provide every tool a client needs to express themselves and a talented team of relationship managers, architects, and interior designers working under one roof to make the process seamless. London Bays Private Label Living process also provides quality assurances and creates an enjoyable homebuilding experience, from conception to completion. The enhanced website also provides beautiful photography galleries offering a look inside London Bays custom estate homes, luxury villas and fully furnished model homes. The website is a great platform to showcase the London Bay Homes brand with larger images, more photography, videos and fonts that translate better to a smartphone, Diffee said. This is a premier visual representation of what London Bay does best building amazing homes. LondonBay.com has experienced a 40 percent increase in mobile visitors since 2014. Nearly 50 percent of all site visits are by smartphone users slightly higher than the industry norm and peak during Southwest Floridas winter season. LondonBay.coms enhanced navigation allows visitors to select a geographic location and explore specific communities and neighborhoods where the builder offers model homes, homesites, move-in ready homes and customizable floor plans. A digital map highlighting London Bays coverage area provides visitors with the opportunity to select a community of interest and learn more about the neighborhood lifestyle, available homes, sample floor plans, and models open for viewing. A new feature includes an inspirational photo gallery that allows users to browse by architectural style and rooms. The design is more minimal, Diffee said. Every page is simple and clean to let the pictures speak for themselves. The site also provides links to London Bays interactive brochure, magazine and blog. Visitors can register for email notifications to keep apprised of the newest model openings and premier building opportunities throughout Southwest Florida. Users can also swipe through a series of photos showcasing interiors, exteriors and vignettes of architectural details. A leader in the Southwest Florida home market for 25 years, London Bay was named Americas Best Builder by Builder Magazine in 2008. The company earned a 2013 Silver Award for Best Architectural Design of a One-of-a-Kind Home during The Nationals, sponsored by the NAHB. Its affiliate, Romanza Interior Design, earned a Gold Award for Best Interior Design of a Custom Home in the same competition. The company builds new luxury homes priced from $1 million to more than $10 million in many of the regions most exclusive neighborhoods and communities. The company also builds private residences on individual homesites in the Sarasota Keys and along the Gulf of Mexico. For more information about London Bay Homes and its commitment to Private Label Living, call 239-592-1400 or visit http://www.LondonBay.com and http://www.vimeo.com/londonbayhomes. Attorney General Seizes David Daleiden's Property Contact: Alexandra Snyder, Life Legal Defense Foundation, 202-717-7371 WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris has obtained a warrant to search and seize David Daleiden's property in retaliation against his investigation into Planned Parenthood's trade in fetal body parts. Harris threatened to pursue Daleiden after the first undercover video was released last July. She is now making good on her threat. Yesterday, Department of Justice agents searched David's home and took away many of his personal belongings. The timing of the warrant appears suspect, as only days ago LA Times reporter Robin Abcarian taunted Harris by asking "What's taking California so long?" to dispense "swift poetic justice" to David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress. Kamala Harris is a staunch supporter of Planned Parenthood and received campaign donations from five separate Planned Parenthood affiliates during the last election cycle. These affiliates are the beneficiaries of millions of dollars in state and federal funds annuallya portion of which is funneled into political campaigns so the billion-dollar abortion cartel can call in favors as needed. In a series of undercover videos, David Daleiden exposes Planned Parenthood officials skirting or violating federal laws governing fetal tissue harvesting. The CEO of California-based StemExpress is shown discussing "making it financially beneficial" for abortion providers to sell aborted babies to fetal tissue brokers. StemExpress is currently resisting subpoenas from Congress seeking information related to purchasing the bodies of intact and dismembered human fetuses from Planned Parenthood. "California's Attorney General has decided that her loyalty to Planned Parenthood requires her to turn a blind eye to the organization's criminal activities," notes Life Legal Defense Foundation Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "Instead, she has launched an inquisition into David Daleiden, starting with the seizure of his private property and papers." In contrast, when an undercover investigation of a meat-packing plant revealed potential violations of the law, Kamala Harris defended legislation to stop the barbaric treatment of animals. At no time did the Attorney General's office call for an investigation into the undercover journalist who exposed the illegal activity. Life Legal represents David Daleiden in three civil cases filed against him by StemExpress, the National Abortion Federation, and Planned Parenthood. About Life Legal Defense Foundation Life Legal Defense Foundation was established in 1989, and is a nonprofit organization composed of attorneys and other concerned citizens committed to giving helpless and innocent human beings of any age, and their advocates, a trained and committed voice in the courtrooms of our nation. For more information about the Life Legal Defense Foundation, visit www.lldf.org. If you are new to iQ you can schedule a demo and learn more about this opportunity. PSFK iQ - Where Innovators Turn for Research. Our professional-grade research platform is designed specifically for Retail and CX leaders who want to know whats next. Whether youre staying current on trends or need a real-time research partner to help you get ahead, count on PSFK iQ to deliver the info you need to make your next move. home World Christian refugees in Czech Republic to be deported back to Iraq A group of Christian refugees staying in the Czech Republic will be deported back to Iraq because they "abused the good will" of the country. They were given asylum, but they rejected it and attempted to cross the border to Germany, apparently unsatisfied with whatever future they imagine to have in the host country. "By rejecting asylum and leaving the accommodation facility we offered to them, they started acting on their own account," Martin Frydl said, as quoted by RT. "However, we are in touch with the Interior Ministry, and we will be jointly seeking the best possible solution." Frydl is a spokesman for the Generation 21 Endowment, the group that runs the resettlement project. They arranged for 153 Iraqi Christians to be accommodated in the Czech Republic, 89 of which already arrived from January to April. However, according to CTK Ceske Noviny, the program was halted by the government when 25 of the refugees asked for their travel documents to be returned to them. The refugees apparently wanted to go to another country like Sweden and Germany. According to reports, the group of Christians who tried to flee were staying in Okrouhlik near Jihlava. They rode a bus to Essen on Saturday but were stopped and detained by authorities at the Czech-German border. The two countries then agreed to let the refugees return to Prague, but they are to leave the Czech Republic by April 7. Interior Minister Milan Chovanec posted a series of tweets regarding the matter. He said, in a translated version on RT, "The seven-day deadline, which the Iraqi Christians got along with their passports, is meant for them to be able to arrange the return home. This time cannot be used to break laws or to move to another Schengen country. I asked the Czech police to use all legal means so that these people, who abused the good will of the Czech Republic and her citizens, are returned to Iraq." Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. (John 3:3 ESV) Steed Lobotzke (@CoachLobotzke) December 9, 2016 Even though the program was suspended, it will continue for those are already in and wish to remain in the Czech Republic. Reuters reported in February that roughly two-thirds or 65 percent of the people in the country are against taking in refugees. For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Here are the instructions how to enable JavaScript in your web browser Newbery and National Book Awardwinning author Beverly Cleary, named a Living Legend in 2000 by the Library of Congress and the voice behind such beloved childrens books as Henry and Ribsy, Beezus and Ramona, Ralph S. Mouse, and Dear Mr. Henshaw, will turn 100 on April 12. PW recently chatted with Cleary by telephone from her retirement community in California. Anticipation for Clearys birthday celebration has been building, and the run-up has already included reissues of several of her books and an appearance on the Today show. But what are her thoughts on the big day? Well, it sounds like fun, Cleary says. Someone told me, You dont look a day over 80, and I took it as a compliment. Im surprised that Im almost 100. I sometimes write the figures down on paper to make sure. The nearing of Clearys century milestone has stirred up many vivid memories for her, some of which she recorded in her two memoirs, A Girl from Yamhill and On My Own Two Feet. I told someone the other day that Im so old I can remember the end of the First World War, she recalled. The three church bells in Yamhill [Clearys hometown in Oregon] were ringing, and I was running across the barnyard with my mother. I tripped and ripped my long cotton stockings. She told me I must never forget that day. Then Cleary adds, Years later when I was in high school, I asked my mother, What was that day you told me to remember? She was astonished that I didnt forget. As the conversation continued, Cleary recounted her path to becoming a writer. When I was young, I told my mother I wanted to write, and she said, Thats fine, but you must have a way of earning a living. Work for one year before you try to write. It was sound advice, so I went to library school and became a librarian. She worked for about a year as a childrens librarian before moving to California with her husband, Clarence Cleary, whom she married in 1940. Then the war [World War II] came along and upset everything, Cleary says. I went to the employment office thinking Id be Rosie the Riveter. But no. They were looking for a librarian! Cleary accepted a position at the Oakland Army base. It was interesting meeting the male population of the United States, she says. It was as good as travel, but I didnt have to go very far. I would like to have gone overseas, but I was married, and we expected that my husband would be drafted any minute. My instructions from the commanding officer at the base were, Talking to the men is more important than the actual library work. But Cleary wasnt on her own in the job. There were two librarians at the same post, she says. The other woman was older, so she was junior librarian and I was junior hostess, which sounds kind of racy, but I catalogued the whole library. After a time Cleary was offered a new position at a military hospital, also in Oakland. They were much better to me there than the army base, she notes. Of course the readers were captive; they were in bed. The hospital was set up in a place she knew well. It was in an old ballroom in a hotel in Oakland. Thats where we went dancing in college. Following the war, in 1949, the Clearys moved to Berkeley, where she would begin a fateful new chapter in her personal story, sparked by her work years earlier as a childrens librarian in Yakima, Wash. It was a little boy who changed my life, she says. She has often shared the story of the boy who marched right up to my desk and demanded, Where are the books about kids like us? In our interview Cleary elaborated further, saying, I couldnt find any books about kids who played on the sidewalk in front of their houses. Authors back then thought their characters needed to go to sea or have big adventures. Well, most kids dont have adventures, but they still lead interesting lives. My life is interesting to me, but Im surprised its interesting to anyone else. I havent had any spectacular adventures or gone to sea, she says with a laugh. Finally, when I sat down to write, I thought about that little boy. And that was her inspiration for creating eight-year-old Henry and the tale of his misadventures with a stray dog, which became her first published novel, Henry Huggins (Morrow, 1950). Throughout the 1950s and 60s she worked at a feverish pace, publishing at least one book per year, and introducing a memorable cast of characters that includes Otis Spofford, Ellen Tebbits, and Beezus and Ramona Quimby. I usually started a book the day after New Years Day, she says. I kept at it until I was done, probably in May or June, and then I wouldnt write a word until the next year. Cleary likens her schedule to farm life, where the crops need to lie fallow for a period of time. For Cleary, the most rewarding thing about her writing career has been the children who have discovered the pleasure of reading with my books, she says. I remember when I made the same discovery in third grade, and it was a turning point in my life. The many children who were fans of her books often wrote to her letting her know how much they enjoyed them. I cant keep up answering letters now, she says. It troubles me. I did hang in with answering letters for a long time even though my publisher said not to. It kept me in touch with childhood. I made up for it by having twins, she jokes. Her books are still treasured by fans all ageseven some who live in her building. Ive been very touched by residents who have spoken another language their whole lives and can read my books a little easier, she says. All these years later, does she ever imagine what her characters might have done with their lives? Beezus, Cleary surmises, would be a nurse, or a teacher, and would marry and have maybe two children. She would struggle in todays world to bring them up properly. As for Henry, he would be a building contractor, because he built a clubhouse. And RamonaI really dont know, she says. I think she would probably try several different jobs and maybe go backpacking around Europe with some friends. Today, Cleary spends much of her time on some of her greatest passions. I read, she says, and work word puzzles. Asked what kinds of books she prefers, Cleary notes, I like autobiographies. When I read fiction, Im always looking for what the author is up to. But I dont care for footnotes. I was footnoted out in college. Most recently, she says, I just finished Dont Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, and now Im reading Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness. My daughter sent them to me because she thought Id like them. Cleary often makes selections from the very nice library where she lives. I hate to admit that I reached the point where I need large-print books. I was very amazed to discover them. They should make a large-print edition of all books! she says, laughing. Clearys on-site library has a full set of her signed books in its collection. At least I think they still do, she says. I know that sometimes there are residents grandchildren who come to visit and cant bear to part with them. On April 12, Clearys whole family is going to come and get together at her home, where a festive celebration is planned. She says she may even indulge in a bit of a treat that day. They make a divine chocolate mousse cake here, she says. Its probably very fattening and full of cholesterol, but they asked me what I wanted. In general, she says, I have a very pleasant life. My window looks out on a courtyard full of flowering trees. I have no complaints about this time of my life. Although little is known about the handful of new concept stores Barnes & Noble has said it plans to open this year, at least one of them is springing up outside of New York City. The book chain is moving forward on what appears to be one of its first concept store locations in Westchester County, having filed three building applications for the store in the town of Eastchester. B&N announced that it would be establishing the new concept stores in its third quarter earnings report in March. Although B&N has said it intends to open four concept stores in 2017, the chain has been vague about what, exactly, these stores will look like. B&N CEO Rob Boire described the stores as "omni-channel" locations which will encourage customers to buy products online. According to the minutes of the Eastchester, N.Y., planning board meeting held Feb. 25, the panel approved B&Ns site plan for the former Borders outlet located on Post Road in Eastchester. The panel also green-lit special permits for a type 3 restaurant and an outdoor dining area. Although B&N had no comment on the Eastchester boards action, presentations made by two B&N representatives during the application process make it clear the outlet is one of the four concept stores that the company hopes to open. At a January meeting of the Eastchester architectural review board, David Wimmer, who identified himself as a manger at B&N, said the store will be "the first of an entirely new Barnes & Noble concept store." Elaborating on this, Wimmer noted that "the interior will not be like anything youve seen in other Barnes & Noble stores." At the February planning board meeting, Greg Belanger, an architect with HB&A Architects, added a few more details, explaining that the outlet is "going to have a completely new design. Belanger said B&N has hired an Italian designer to work on the new stores. B&N hopes to open the store in October or so, Belanger said. During a brief rundown of the plans for the store's interior, Belanger said customers go down an escalator to reach the main floor, where the store opens into a large common space that B&N is calling the piazza area. That space is flanked by very tall fixtures in the back, and cloud lighting. The bookshelves will be set up around the areas perimeter. Belander suggested that B&N will be limited in how much flexibility it will have in changing the shelving. If I look at this fiction department in here, they give me a quantity of units that they want, and I have to get that in there and make it work architecturally, he said, adding that this is not going to be as flexible for them to change as in the past. Much of the discussion between board members and Belanger dealt with B&Ns plans for the store's cafe. The cafe will occupy the same space as Borders cafe, and will rely on a convection oven to prepare food on site. The final menu for the cafe is still being developed, Belanger said, noting that it will feature sandwiches. He also assured board members that the cafe will serve Starbucks coffee. Another topic that generated discussion was B&Ns plans for the existing patio. Belanger said the company will build a NanaWall facing the patio what will make it easy to retract panels to allow customers to move inside and outside. B&Ns goal, Belanger said, is to make the patio available to customers in three seasons. In making their presentations, the B&N representatives faced a very friendly board. The chairperson of the planning commission asked why it took the chain so long to take over the Borders location. "Eastchester is definitely paying attention [to the application process] because everyone wants a bookstore back," the chairperson said. Another board member noted that if he voted against the project, my younger daughter would kill me. She loves Barnes & Noble. After three venues in as many years, the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Arts annual comics show, aka the MoCCA Arts Festival, seems to have found a lasting home at the Metropolitan West event space on west 46th Street in Manhattan. Held April 2-3, the annual festival of indie comics drew a lively crowd to see artists such as Noelle Stevenson, author of the National Book Award nominated graphic novel Nimona, and animation star Rebecca Sugar, in addition to two floors of exhibitors, an art exhibition, and panels held around the corner at the Ink48 Hotel on 11th Avenue. Anelle Miller, executive director of the Society of Illustrators, which runs and organizes the MoCCA Arts Festival, said she received great feedback from our guest artists and exhibitors about the new venue. We hope this is a venue that can be our home for several years. The Metropolitan West venue features two 12,000 square foot floors, about the same space we had before, Miller said. See photographs from MoCCA 2016. Miller said the show had about 200 exhibitors, the same number as last year. Attendance for the weekend was about 6,000 people, down from the approximately 7,000 reported last year, although Miller said this years attendance was a great number. Feedback from exhibitors, she said, was that this year, attendees spent a lot more money. NBM, Abrams, Yoe Books and Nobrow were among many exhibitors reporting strong sales. Fantagraphics had a particularly tempting array of books, with a new edition of the acclaimed full color anthology, Kramers Ergot, selling out. The strong sales reported by publishers was also a bit of a surprise given the crowded calendar for indie comics events around North America. Publishers are becoming much more selective about what shows they attend, and with its New York location, MoCCA has some of the most expensive tables on the circuit. Canadian publishersD&Q, Koyama Press, and Conundrumwere notable by their absence, and several other small presses sat it out. The star of the show was definitely Rebecca Sugar, creator of the Cartoon Networks hugely popular Steven Universe animated show. As many as a hundred people were unable to get into her panel. Sugar is returning to her cartooning roots with an upcoming book from Youth in Decline, and her presence highlighted the continuing crossover between indie comics and the animation world. A panel on Wimmens Comix, the underground womens comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992, featured cartoonists Diane Noomin, Phoebe Gloeckner, Jennifer Camper, and Leslie Sternbergh talking about their involvement in the groundbreaking anthology as well as wrestling with the myriad issues around its feminist legacy. Noomin recalled that feminist ideals didnt make good comics. But looking back at the seriesFantagraphics collected the entire run in a recently released two volume reprint editionshe said she liked it and the comics they created much more with the passage of time. This photo shows freeze injury to the lower stem of a wheat plant. Note the bend in the stem due to collapsing tissue. (Purdue Agronomy photo/Shaun Casteel) Download Photo WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Unseasonably cold weather is likely to persist across much of Indiana over the next several days, posing the risk of freeze damage to wheat, forage and fruit crops. Freeze warnings were posted for the southern and central parts of the state Monday night (April 4), with temperatures falling into the mid-20s Fahrenheit in some areas. After a modest warmup during the middle part of the week, temperatures were expected to plunge again Thursday night through Saturday before recovering to seasonal norms on Sunday. Producers should be ready for the possibility of low overnight temperatures through the next several weeks, according to the State Climate Office based at Purdue University. The cold snap comes just as much of the state's winter wheat crop has "greened up" and is starting to joint, said Shaun Casteel, Purdue Extension wheat specialist. "A lot of areas have been greening up," Casteel said. "Plants from tillering stage to Feekes 5, can withstand quite cold temperatures in the 12-15 degree range without substantial damage to yield." More mature plants, however, could be at greater risk. "At the jointing stage, Feekes 6-7, the temperatures that can cause damage are at the 24-degree mark and below," Casteel said. "If you're in that range for more than a couple of hours, the concern is beyond leaf tip burn." Providing adequate nutrients can help wheat plants cope with the cold, Casteel said. "Wheat that has been top-dressed with nitrogen and taken it up fare better than those plants with nitrogen deficits," he said. "Adequate nitrogen in the plant is almost like an antifreeze agent." Casteel said freeze damage might not be apparent for 7-10 days. "You have to let the plants grow out a little bit before determining what damage has been done," Casteel said. "If you are looking at yellow and brown leaves, that is mostly cosmetic and won't cause significant yield damage at the current growth stages. Under more severe conditions, the growing points die and the lower stems split or bend. That could lead to moderate or severe yield loss. Extension forage specialist Keith Johnson advised producers to monitor their alfalfa and cool season grass crops carefully. "If the weather forecasts are correct and we are looking at the possibility of early morning temperatures in the mid-20s for several days, the next few days could be problematic," he said. "There could certainly be some vegetative burn and a reduction in early season yield." Johnson said forage crops that were harvested on time last fall would likely be in better shape to handle the cold stress. "That's why we tell people alfalfa should be harvested no later than Sept. 10," he said. "The plant needs time to build up its energy reserves before winter dormancy." Many of the state's fruit crops have already started to develop and are more vulnerable to freeze damage, said Peter Hirst, Extension tree fruit specialist. "In more southern areas of the state, fruit crops have developed more and are at greater risk of cold damage," Hirst said. "Peaches in the southern areas are at or past bloom and we expect to see significant amounts of damage to flowers. But right now there should be enough surviving flowers to still produce a crop." Apple trees are not as developed as peaches and could survive the cold snap in better shape. "While there will be some flowers killed by the cold, we are still expecting full apple crops," Hirst said. Writer: Darrin Pack, 765-494-8415, dpack@purdue.edu Sources: Shaun Casteel, 765-494-0895, scasteel@purdue.edu Keith Johnson, 765-494-4800, johnsonk@purdue.edu Peter Hirst, 765-494-1323, hirst@purdue.edu Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-2722; Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu Agriculture News Page Thank you for reading! Please log in, or sign up for a new account and purchase a subscription to continue reading. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency wants to build its new western regional headquarters in north St. Louis rather than move to a site near Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. The Belleville News-Democrat reports that St. Clair County officials are asking members of the Illinois congressional delegation to push the agency to double its 15-day public comment period on that preferred alternative. When it chose St. Louis the agency cited the urban location's greater appeal to the more than 3,000 NGA West high-tech workers A final decision is expected in early June, with project construction set to begin next year and be completed by 2021. Melodie Gliniewicz entered the plea Wednesday when she was arraigned on charges of conspiracy and personal use of charitable funds. She is accused of helping her husband, Fox Lake Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, in his money-siphoning scheme. The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reports that Melodie Gliniewicz previously pleaded not guilty to three counts of misuse of charitable funds and two counts of money laundering. Her trial is June 27. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz died Sept. 1. Authorities say he staged his suicide to look like a homicide because he feared discovery of the embezzlement. CARBON CLIFF -- Village trustees observed a moment of silence in memory of Ken Williams who passed away March 28. Mr. Williams was the immediate past president of the village and most recently its budget officer. President Bill Hintz observed that the village was incorporated in 1907 and that by serving the village as its president for over 30 years Mr. Williams had actually led the village for almost one-third of its existence. Following the moment of silence the board discussed either the possibility of naming the meeting room of the new village hall after Mr. Williams, or name the entire hall after him. Mr. Hintz will research whether there are any legal barriers to naming the building in Mr. Williams honor. Trustee Alma Neels reported to the board on the meeting of the ad hoc flood preparation committee which included discussion with the Red Cross and its services should they be needed. Trustee Keith Curry inquired about the filling of sand bags and offered the use of one of his trucks to haul sand from Consumers Concrete Corp. in Moline at no cost to the village. In other action the board: -- Approved a motion to accept a proposal from Bradshaw Construction in Colona for work on the village pavilion at a cost of $3,922.42 with 50 percent of the cost in advance and the remainder upon completion of the work. -- Approved the purchase of flood gauge and signage from Custom Products Corp. of Jackson, Mich., for a total cost of $391.70. -- Acknowledged and ratified a motion from the March 15 board meeting to accept a proposal from Efficient Pond Management in the amount of $1,466 for chemicals to control algae growth in the pond at Village Park. An award-winning columnist for The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus will be in the area for three speaking engagements on historical topics Saturday, April 9, through Monday, April 11. Tom Emery of Carlinville, who writes a biweekly column on Illinois history, will discuss the Civilian Conservation Corps, the landmark New Deal program of the Great Depression, at 2 p.m. Saturday, April 9, at the Geneseo Public Library. One of the most successful federal government programs in American history, the CCC put millions of unemployed young men to work in parks, forests and soil conservation, creating a legacy that is still felt today, particularly in the Quad-Cities region. At 2 p.m. Sunday, April 10, Mr. Emery will appear at a meeting of the Quad Cities Civil War Round Table at Butterworth Center, 1105 8th St., Moline, to talk about John M. Palmer, a Civil War major general who was governor of Illinois from 1869 to 1873. Considered by one scholar as second only to Abraham Lincoln -- and ahead of Stephen A. Douglas -- in 19th-century Illinois political history, Maj. Gen. Palmer's colorful political career saw him change political parties five times, based on impulse and principle. Mr. Emery will be at the Colona Public Library at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, to present a program on the history of Illinois. The discussion will examine the military, political, agricultural, economic and social history of the state, and cover some of the leading figures of state history. Each program will last about one hour. All are free and open to the public. Mr. Emery has appeared in the Quad-Cities several times over the last five years. His informal, discussion-based presentations encourage audience participation. CAMBRIDGE Henry County officials will register support for two bills moving through the General Assembly, and distaste for two others. With speed their priority, the countys communications committee on Tuesday voted to support two bills and oppose two others without waiting for the full county board. County administrator Colleen Gillaspie said its hard to know in an election year whether measures will be pushed through or languish. It either passes through with flying colors because of the election or it stalls because of the election, she said. The committee supported two bills also backed by the Illinois County Treasurers Association: House Bill 6311 involving uniformity in fees on tax sales and House Bill 6159 clarifying the use of sales in error section of the property tax code and lessening impact on counties. Opposition will be sent on Senate Bill 2789 that would give the governor more authority in the enactment of a budget by lessening the legislatures role. The Illinois Association of County Board Members and Commissioners opposes the bill because it would let the governor raid local government accounts, including the Local Government Distributive Fund. Minimizing the executive role in the budget might be an important one for us to weigh in on, said Ms. Gillaspie before the committees vote. I dont think wed want one person to create or have sole control of the budget, but I could be wrong. The Illinois Association of County Board Members and Commissioners opposes the bill because it would let the governor raid local government accounts, including the Local Government Distributive Fund. House Bill 5759 involves new requirements for contractors and subcontractors complying with Responsible Bidder requirements and identifying and reporting hours worked by minorities and females. The committee consulted with Henry County Superintendent of Highways Steve Brandau who termed it a bad bill. Its very limiting," he said. "It takes away the mom and pop shops. They cant do any work for us. The committee also briefly discussed House Bill 4980, which eliminates obstacles to the consolidation of townships, township assessors, and township road and bridge districts. MOLINE -- Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner still has given no indication of whether he plans to release funding for the Chicago to Moline passenger rail line, which is creating uncertainty over the future of the project. The governor used an executive order to halt funding for the rail line last May, even though it was approved before he took office and about $20 million of the $44 million in state funding already has been spent. City of Moline administrator Lew Steinbrecher said no reason was given for the suspension of funding by the governor and almost a year later the city is still in the dark. "The (Illinois) Department of Transportation will not give us any official response other than that the project is on hold indefinitely," Mr. Steinbrecher said. At the time funding was stopped by the governor, the reason given was to allow for a review of major projects that had been approved under former Gov. Pat Quinn. Gov. Rauner's spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said Tuesday that "the project remains under review per the governors executive order to ensure taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely. A total of $177 million in federal funding for the project has been awarded in addition to the $44 million in state money. The federal portion must be used by June 30, Mr. Steinbrecher said, but he's hoping a second extension of the deadline will be granted if the state does not get its act together before then. Asked if he thought the project would still go ahead, Mr. Steinbrecher responded, "I don't know." Despite the uncertainty over the state funding, which was to be used with the federal money to upgrade rails tracks and purchase locomotives and rail cars, the city of Moline is moving forward with plans for the train station and associated development. A 95-room Element Hotel is planned for the former O'Rourke warehouse building at 4th Avenue and 12th Street and there are also plans for restaurants and retail connected the station. Mr. Steinbrecher said the hotel would be a feasible project even without the train station and the developers are "very anxious to get started." Illinois has been without a budget since last July because of a standoff between Gov. Rauner and the Democrats who have a majority in the state legislature. The governor wants any budget agreement to include reforms that are part of his "turnaround agenda" and would weaken unions but are opposed by Democrats who have a majority in the state legislature. Mr. Steinbrecher noted that the governor was asking city councils to pass resolutions in support of the Turnaround Agenda around the time funding for the passenger rail line to Moline was suspended. Moline's city council did not pass a resolution to support the agenda but Mr. Steinbrecher said he had no evidence beyond "general speculation" to suggest the two issues were linked. SILVIS -- Downtown residents will get a chance to improve their property using city money, council members decided Tuesday. A city-sponsored program using downtown tax-increment financing district money to make facade improvements to businesses has been extended to residential property. Downtown residents will be able to get up to $2,000 each to repair windows, roofs, porches, siding, American With Disabilities Act amenities, or to demolish decrepit garages or outbuildings, remove dead trees or do some landscaping projects. About 40 residents may apply, Silvis City Clerk Jim Nelson said. The city will set aside $25,000 for the residential component to cover 75 percent of approved projects, not to exceed the $2,000 limit, he said. Silvis will continue to provide facade improvement help to downtown businesses, too. The commercial project will share $70,000 for business improvements. In the facade program's three-year history, it has awarded $240,000 to local businesses, which, in turn, invested $450,000 to make building improvements Applications will be available at city hall, 121 11th St. In other action, council members: -- Heard a report from city administrator Jim Grafton about a required consolidation of emergency communication services known as Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). As announced in Tuesday's newspaper, the city of East Moline, as Moline did earlier, authorized leaders to talk to Milan officials to relocate a dispatch center there. Silvis leaders will have to re-evaluate the city' plans, Mr. Grafton said. Silvis is finalizing plans to build a new police department and had hoped it would serve as one of the centers. Ald. Matt Carter, Ward 2, said the decision to form a PSAP in Milan seems to be the "pinnacle in bad decision making" and said it definitely "spells corruption." Reported costs to retrofit Milan's center are estimated to run about $500,000, Mr. Grafton said. There are also questions about whether Silvis dispatchers would be fired, and possibly rehired, he said. Mayor Pro-tem Kathy Hall, a Ward 2 alderwoman, said she couldn't understand why other municipalities would want to spend a half million dollars in Milan, instead of working with Silvis, and its new police department, which that could include whatever is needed in its building plans. "We don't have all the facts," Mr. Grafton said. "I wouldn't support a move to Milan at this time." He said he will collect more information and related costs and bring it back to council members. -- Approved sales tax agreements to refund half of 1 percent of sales tax generated by Dunkin Donuts and Barrel House for half of its lease, not to exceed 10 years. -- Authorized redevelopment agreements with Culver's and Dragonfly Endeavors. -- OK'd offering Silvis residents the chance to reserve Phipp's Prairie Park shelter for free. -- Learned about plans for a library renovation that will require a 2-3 week library closing starting May 2. -- Heard concerns from citizen Michele Bowser about loud noise emanating from the Doc's Inn, on Avenue of the Cities, during recent St. Patrick's Day celebrations. The school was a sham from beginning to end and it was created by federal authorities, who used it to arrest 21 people on charges they conspired to help more than 1,000 foreigners fraudulently keep or obtain student or work visas over the past 2 years. The defendants whose arrests were announced Tuesday knew the school was bogus, as did the foreigners, who pretended to be students there in order to stay in the U.S., authorities said. But they didn't know it was set up as part of a sting by undercover agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most of the foreigners who benefited from the scam were from China and India and were already in the U.S. on student visas, federal prosecutors said. Officials said they have been identified and will be dealt with by immigration authorities meaning they could face deportation but won't be prosecuted. The 21 people arrested were described as brokers, recruiters and employers. They were charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to harbor aliens for profit. The second charge carries up to 10 years in prison. The defendants awaited court appearances in Newark on Tuesday. Most of the defendants are in the U.S. legally and live in New York, New Jersey and California. One lives in Illinois, and one in Georgia. The University of Northern New Jersey's elaborate website promised "a high quality American education to students from around the world." The site contained links to academic programs; a message from the "president," a Dr. Steven Brunetti, Ph.D.; and photos of attractive young people sitting around a library table or consulting with a faculty member. The site, which was taken offline Tuesday afternoon, even had a school seal that appeared to have been modeled on Princeton University's, except that the fake institution's colors were bluish-purple and green instead of orange and black. The university listed as its address a real building in Cranford, about 15 miles outside New York City. The middlemen under arrest paid the undercover agents running the school thousands of dollars to produce paperwork that made it look as if the foreigners were enrolled at UNNJ, federal prosecutors said. That enabled the "students" to maintain their visa status without having to go to class. "This was just another stop on the 'pay-to-stay' tour," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said. Immigration officials have investigated hundreds of suspected fake schools, or "visa mills," in recent years. Some have led to charges: Officials at two schools in California and one in Georgia received prison sentences, including one who got 16 years for visa fraud and other charges. In this case, though, federal authorities set up their own bogus institution. And Fishman said that once word got out about the place, the middlemen descended. Obama travels to the University of Chicago on Thursday, where he is expected to continue trying to mount public pressure on vulnerable Senate Republicans and their leadership to give Merrick Garland confirmation hearings and, ultimately, a floor vote. The administrations strategy appears to be, in true Obama fashion, a long-term one. Rather than launching a full-court press on Senate Republicans, the White House seems content to make its case with a steady stream of op-eds, media interviews and public remarks from the president and his top lieutenants. The idea behind the strategy is to help intensify election-year public pressure on enough Republican senators that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Judiciary Chairman Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa, give in. White House officials said they see a sea change among Senate Republicans about the nomination, noting that nearly 20 of the chambers 45 GOP members have shifted many due to voter pushback and agreed to meet one-on-one with Garland. Obama aides shopped that view this week but there are no signs that McConnell or Grassley are budging from their position that the next president should make the nomination. Garland headed back to the Senate Tuesday to meet with four senators and make his case for why he should be the next justice. And one member of the party opposing his nomination was impressed. My meeting today with Judge Garland left me more convinced than ever that the process should proceed, said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who has been critical of the GOP leaderships decision not to give Garlands nomination a hearing or a vote. Collins and Sen. Mark S. Kirk, R-Ill., have been the two main voices in the caucus calling for the nomination to move forward. Collins stopped short of saying Garlands meetings with Republicans would change their positions, noting Its always hazardous to predict what ones colleagues are going to do. McConnell reiterated Tuesday that there has been no change in the number of Republican senators 52 out of 54 who have said the hearings and appointment should wait until next year. McConnell declined to comment on conservative groups criticizing GOP senators who agreed to meet with Garland, including Collins and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., who sat down with the D.C. jurist for roughly 20 minutes Tuesday. In Chicago, Obama will say that the Senate should do their job, and that thats an argument that youve heard him make before, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Monday. Im confident that the president will reiterate a case that youve heard him make a number of times now, Earnest said, that the Senate should set aside partisan considerations and actually focus on their constitutional responsibility. Don Stewart, a McConnell spokesman, said Obama and Senate Democrats are trying to spin phantom momentum and incrementalism (because) theyve run headlong into reality. There are now fewer (Republican senators) calling for hearings, not more as they hoped. There are some GOP senators open to a courtesy visit, but only two are open to hearings the rest have reaffirmed that they want the American people to have a voice, Stewart said. It is rare to see such a massive campaign led by the bully pulpit of the White House, funded by millions of dollars from every special interest group in the country, staffed by all the best Democrat consultants, and abetted by massive press coverage fail so spectacularly in moving Republicans off of their principled positions, he added. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, however, said in a statement that the White House and Senate Democrats collective efforts have gained zero ground toward confirming Garland, adding Democrats tactics targeting specific Republican senators have completely backfired. Citing recent polls with good news for two Senate Republicans in tight races Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Roy Blunt of Missouri the NRSC said GOP senators are improving their position and blowing a hole in the Democrats rationale for confirming Merrick Garland before the American people have a chance to speak. Expect Obama to counter such arguments by saying the Constitution gives presidents four-year terms to carry out their full slate of duties, including appointing high court justices. Also look for the president to echo themes used in recent weeks by some of his top aides. For instance, White House Counsel Neil Eggleston last Friday argued the Supreme Court, currently evenly split with four conservative and four liberal justices, will be unable to perform some of its basic functions: settling lower-court disputes on federal laws. Thats one of the things the SCOTUS is there to preclude and keep from happening, Eggleston said. A lot of people focus on hot-button cases, but a lot of what the court does is that kind of blocking and tackling. And in a speech at Georgetown Law Center late last month, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. warned that a fully functioning high court with its full array of nine jurists is needed because geographic happenstance cannot fragment our national unity. An eight-justice court split along ideological grounds would amount to a patchwork Constitution, Biden said, with federal laws implemented differently in different parts of the country. White House aides were mum this week on whether Obama would take up a dire message delivered late last month by Biden, a former Senate Judiciary chairman who oversaw eight Supreme Court confirmation processes. What Republican senators say they would do could lead to a genuine constitutional crisis born out of the dysfunction of Washington, Biden said. He was referring to a repeated vow by McConnell and others that Garland will get neither a confirmation hearing nor a vote while Obama is in office. Before Bidens speech, the Obama administrations messaging primarily had focused on its interpretation of the Constitutions orders for presidents and lawmakers, as well as Garlands legal resume and personal story. On the latter two matters, expect Obama to continue making the case that the chief judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a so-called consensus pick for the high court. The president likely will call Garland eminently qualified, a favorite description of Garland uttered in public and private settings by White House officials since his March 16 nomination. A new book by Matthew Desmond, "Eviction: Poverty and Profit in the American City," offers a detailed and clear look at a social problem that is often under the radar for most of us. The author spent several months living with and writing about eight families -- some white, some black some with children, some without -- in Milwaukee. He details their financial and personal struggles that contribute to their unstable housing status. I have been on both sides of the tenant-landlord fence. I lived in a rented apartment as a college student where I had loads of fun as it gave my parents nightmares, and then in rental housing when I graduated and started out in the work world. I paid the rent on time and parted on friendly terms with the landlords. My wife and I owned two small condos in Davenport when we got married in 1985. We moved to a larger place, and decided to try our hand at being landlords. Put that in the Bad Idea Hall of Fame, along with the Yugo, new formula Coke, and William Shatner singing Mr. Tambourine Man. We evicted one tenant for non-payment, and another disappeared and took a couch with him. We learned from experience, sold the properties, and went about our business. But not all situations are the same. It is beyond argument that tenants should pay their rent on time and not trash the property. At the same time, circumstances have grown increasingly difficult for low-income families and their housing. Desmond points out that families have watched incomes stagnate, or fall, while housing costs soared. Today, the majority of poor families in America spend over half their income on housing, and at least one in four dedicates over 70 percent to paying rent and keeping the lights on. Millions of Americans are evicted every year because they cant make rent. Between 2009 and 2011 more than one in eight Milwaukee renters experienced a forced move. The numbers are similar in Kansas City, Cleveland, Chicago, and other cities. In trying get a handle on the number and rate of evictions in local counties, I discovered a wealth of resources on landlord-tenant relationships, and many titles like How to Evict a Tenant: A Step-By-Step Guide. One indicator is that notices of eviction and foreclosure are updated biweekly in Rock Island County, weekly in Cook County. Desmond writes, Evictions fallout is severe. Losing a home sends families to shelters, abandoned houses, and the street. It invites depression and illness, compels families to move into degrading housing in dangerous neighborhoods, uproots communities, and harms children. Eviction reveals peoples vulnerability and desperation, as well as their ingenuity and guts. Fewer and fewer families can afford a roof over their heads. This is among the most urgent and pressing problems facing America today, and acknowledging the breadth and depth of the problem changes the way we look at poverty." As Desmond notes, For decades weve focused on jobs, public assistance, parenting and mass incarcerations. No one can deny the importance of these issues, but something fundamental is missing. We have failed to fully appreciate how deeply housing is implicated in the creation of poverty. Not everyone living in a distressed neighborhood is associated with gang members, parole officers, employers, social workers, or pastors. But nearly all of them have a landlord." When we try to understand ourselves, we often begin by considering the kind of home in which we were raised. Desmond is persuasive when he writes about the home as the wellspring of personhood. It is where our identity takes root and blossoms, where, as children, we imagine, play and question, and as adolescents, we retreat and try. He argues that civic life, too, begins at home allowing us to plant roots and take ownership over our community, participate in local politics, and reach out to neighbors in a spirit of solidarity and generosity. Working on behalf of the common good is the engine of democracy, vital to our communities, city, states -- and ultimately, the nation. What else is a nation but a patchwork of cities and towns; cities and towns a patchwork of neighborhoods; and neighborhoods a patchwork of homes? Isnt it high time we spend our resources and energy on ensuring that families have decent and affordable housing options so we can ensure the stability and vitality of neighborhoods, cities, and our nation? The first story my son read on his own was a work of fan fiction. I wrote it. In its entirety it read, Hulk poops on Spider-Man. My son giggled ecstatically. He was 3. Of course, as we grow older, wiser and more discriminating, we recognize were not supposed to laugh every time someone says poop. We also recognize were not supposed to like fan fiction -- in fact, fan fiction is virtually an insult. To say something is fan fiction is to say that it is derivative, low quality, unprofessional, adolescent. Fan fiction usually is associated with gushing fantasies about Star Wars characters shared on Tumblr by tweens. But if fan fiction refers to any work borrowing characters or plots from another author, then fan fiction flourishes far beyond Internet forums. Its everywhere. What is Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice if not fan fiction? Zack Snyders film is based on Frank Millers 1986 The Dark Knight Returns and the 1992 storyline The Death of Superman. Miller and the Death of Superman creators were paying homage to the original Superman and Batman comics by Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane and Bill Finger. Dawn of Justice is doubly rejiggered: Its fan fiction based on fan fiction. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is almost entirely composed of fan fiction tributes to the work of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. Then, theres Sherlock and Elementary (Arthur Conan Doyle fan fiction); Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Jane Austen fan fiction); the Tarzan film; Star Trek reboots sans Gene Roddenberry; and Star Wars sequels sans George Lucas. But just because Snyder and J.J. Abrams -- who directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens -- are fans with corporate connections doesnt change the fact that they are fans. Ang Lee got a license to turn Kirby and Stan Lees Hulk into a feature film, but his big-budget version isnt any less an example of fan fiction than the incontinent Hulk I wrote about for my son. The truth is that fan fiction has a long and illustrious literary history. William Shakespeare stole most of his plots. Mark Twain wrote Arthurian fan fiction. James Whales film variation on Mary Shelleys Frankenstein is a classic in its own right. So is the Adam West Batman. Jean Rhys 1966 Wide Sargasso Sea, Tom Stoppards 1966 Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Alice Randalls 2001 The Wind Done Gone and Jo Bakers 2013 Longbourn all revisit classics to explore minor characters or take up threads missed or ignored in the works theyre based on -- standard fan fiction operating procedure. People think in stories, and through stories. That can mean Kierkegaard trying to figure out the nature of God by retelling Job, or Gail Carson Levine trying to figure out feminism by retelling Cinderella in Ella Enchanted. Fan fiction is a way for people to talk back to narratives that exclude them, or to elaborate new possibilities in stories they already consider theirs. Uhura is the most important character in Star Trek; Holmes and Watson are lovers; Morgan le Fay isnt a spiteful witch, shes a feminist priestess. In fan fiction, anything is possible if you imagine it. Fan fiction doesnt shut down creativity; it encourages it. Thats why people like fan fiction, even when its as poorly executed as Snyders Dawn of Justice. Retellings give permission for, and spark, more retellings. You watch and you think, I can think up a better Superman story than that. A story told once is the property of the author; a story told 20 or 30 or 1,000 times is everybodys story -- which means everybody gets to tell it. Hulk poops on Spider-Man, too, sparked its inevitable variations. Hulk poops on X-Men, X-Men poop on Spider-Man, Spider-Man poops on Hulk. My son was delighted with every one. In part thats because toddlers find poop amusing. But its also exhilarating and empowering to realize that you can make anyone poop on anyone. Once youve read that story about Hulk, Hulk is yours to do with as you will. We have so much fan fiction because people dont just want to listen to stories. They want to make them their own. Meng Brings NASA Astronaut To Queens On October 17, U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) brought NASA astronaut Dr. Jonny Kim to Queens where he met and spoke with students at Francis... Celebrating Columbus The Federation of Italian-American Organizations of Queens (FIAO) held their annual Columbus Day parade in Astoria, on Saturday, October 8, during Italian Heritage Month. The... Russo-Elling Mourned More than 300 first responders lined up on Thursday night to honor FDNY EMT Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, as her body was placed into a waiting... According to the railway's annual report, which was published on April 6, passenger numbers fell to 9.4 million, a 4.5% decline compared with 2014, when RhB celebrated its 125th anniversary. Passenger revenues dropped 4.2% to SFr 93.8m ($US 97.9m). Car-carrying trains through the Vereina Tunnel carried 467,000 vehicles last year, a 1.2% reduction compared with 2014. RhB says its strategy to streamline the operation of its freight division yielded positive results despite "very competitive conditions," with revenues climbing 4.2% to SFr 14.1m. Ebit reached SFr 2.8bn and profits declined slightly to SFr 136,000. Investment in the network increased 2.4% to SFr 214m, including SFr 56m for work on the new Albula Tunnel and SFr 13m for new Stadler trains for the Chur - St Moritz Albula line, the first of which are due to enter service this autumn. RhB says it does not anticipate any significant changes in economic conditions this year, but it expects to see a slight recovery in tourism, particularly from within Switzerland. Investment in the modernisation of stations, infrastructure and rolling stock is also set to continue. "Now preparation for the project can continue at full speed," says the mayor of Tampere Ms Anna-Kaisa Ikonen. "Our goal is that next October the council can make a decision to build a tram, and construction could start next spring." The line will run from Tampere city centre to Sampola, where it will split into two branches to serve the University of Tampere and the Hervanta area. The line will have 23 stations. It is planned to open the first phase from Hervanta to University Hospital in 2021. A separate budget of 83m has been allocated to acquire the rolling stock. Tampere has issued a call for tenders for the supply and maintenance of between five and 40 LRVs, plus a driving simulator. The fleet will be acquired during a period of three to eight years. The closing date for requests to participate in the tender is April 18. Tampere awarded a contract in June 2015 to the Tralli consortium of Poyry, VR Track, Yit Construction and Ratatek to implement the project. For the latest rail industry tenders subscribe to Global Rail Tenders. BNSF Railway Company (BNSF), Hillwood and Packwell announced on April 5, 2016 that they have agreed on a framework for construction of a new plastics export packaging facility in the rail-connected Alliance Westport industrial sector, located within the 18,000-acre, master-planned, mixed-use AllianceTexas development in north Fort Worth, Tex. The facility will be part of a new global supply chain route that enables Packwell, a leading Gulf Coast resin packager, to ship its customers containerized plastic resins to end users utilizing a wide array of ocean steamship lines who are affiliated partners with BNSF. These steamship lines operate between the BNSF Alliance Intermodal terminal and Asia via the major West Coast ports in Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, Calif. The project benefits from the availability of empty containers in the DFW Metroplex resulting from the large volume of imports that arrive at the AllianceTexas Global Logistics Hub. Another factor is the Alliance Global Logistics Hub infrastructure, which will support the anticipated increase in export plastics. Frank Esposito with Plastics News reports, Overall, 27 polyethylene expansions have been announced for North America. If they all are completed, theyll add more than 34 billion pounds of capacity a 75% jump over current capacity of roughly 45 billion pounds. A good chunk of that new polyethylene will have to be exported outside North America. The timing for this project aligns with the demand for a new export route for global distribution of this expanding plastics production. The advantage of a facility at AllianceTexas is that it offers superior rail connectivity, access to the largest array of ocean steamship lines, and we can deliver the facility to Packwell in time to support the rapidly increasing demand, said Hillwood President Mike Berry. BNSF trains will deliver bulk covered hopper cars from new and expanded Gulf Coast plastics production facilities to Packwells new facility at AllianceTexas. Packwell will package the bulk resin and dray loaded containers to the BNSF ramp. The loaded containers will be delivered utilizing a new heavy-load corridor (to be constructed in order to allow the legal over-the-road delivery of the resin) from the Packwells packaging facility to BNSFs Alliance Intermodal Terminal, located less than a mile away from the site. BNSFs extensive rail network will give shippers the flexibility to reach multiple international markets faster with the option to move the commodity to the east by interchanging in Chicago, to the west via several West Coast sea ports or to the north into Canada from AllianceTexas, said Richard Miller, BNSF Assistant Vice President, industrial products sales. The collaboration between Hillwood, BNSF and Packwell is expected to greatly benefit producers of plastic resins by creating a more cost-effective and efficient supply chain solution for producers who require high volumes of exports to multiple global destinations. According to Packwell, the vision for this new facility is based on having access to all the key parts of the supply chain that will create a new value for plastics packaging and export routing. We understand the complexities of this new supply chain model and expect to expand our business model by leveraging the natural advantages of this relationship with Hillwood and BNSF, said Packwell President Al Duran. The AllianceTexas facility is ideally located to ensure the abundance of empty containers and also the ability to heavy load export containers. The Fort Worth packaging location will facilitate a quick turnaround of railcars back to the plastics producers. Welcome to Railway Gazette. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to browse this site you are agreeing to our use of these cookies. You can learn more about the cookies we use here. OK The success of rural relocation and resettlement programmes may be dependent on the transferability of migrants' skills and experiences to their destinations. New findings from an Indonesian study suggest that relocation programmes should consider providing agricultural extension services to ensure migrants adapt and cope in new environments. Forced migration due to climate change, natural disasters, or conflict may be one of the most important policy challenges of the 21st century. Myers argues that as higher temperatures lead to rising sea levels, coastal flooding, droughts, and new rainfall patterns, these changes could displace nearly 200 million people by 2050. In South Asia alone, extreme weather events are expected to uproot over 60 million people (PDF). War also continues to displace populations. The conflict in Syria has already produced more than 9 million refugees and is expected to produce even more. While income transfers are a first best solution to compensate victims of natural disasters or conflict, the poor state of land and housing markets in many developing countries often makes cash-based solutions difficult to implement. As an alternative, some governments are considering rural-to-rural resettlement programmes. Displaced migrants are given new farmland and housing in newly developed areas. For such programmes to be effective, they need to be well-designed, and adapted to suit the needs of poor rural households, where rain-fed agriculture remains a major source of subsistence. Matching matters A well-designed resettlement programme would allow settlers to optimise long-run productivity in a new environment. However, in designing these programmes, a crucial question is whether skills acquired in one environment are readily transferrable to economic activities in another environment. If skills are not transferable, then policymakers may need to play an active role as matchmakers. Information on settlers' skills at their origin should be used to match settlers based on environmental needs identified at their destination. However, it is difficult to identify barriers to skill transferability because voluntary migrants tend to choose locations where they expect their skills to be most transferable. Migrants have been selecting favorable locations for millennia; for instance, Steckel and Diamond document a tendency for migrants to move from east to west, rather than from north to south, as they settled the agricultural frontier, suggesting the important role of soil and climate conditions in determining migrant destinations. Observational data are, therefore, of limited value in identifying the importance of skill transferability in shaping productivity. In Bazzi et al. (PDF), we use a natural experimentIndonesia's largest resettlement programme, known as the Transmigration Programto measure barriers to skill transferability. Between 1979 and 1988, the government of Indonesia relocated nearly 2 million voluntary migrants from rural areas in Java and Bali to rural areas in the Outer Islands, to reduce population pressures and stimulate agricultural production (see Figure 1). Transmigrant households were given free transport to newly created settlements. Upon arrival, they received free housing, a two-hectare plot of farmland (allocated by lottery), and provisions for the first few growing seasons, including seeds, tools, and food.[1] Figure 1: Map of Transmigration Villages Source: Bazzi et al., 2015 Due to various constraints and an ad hoc, plan-as-you-proceed approach to implementation (World Bank), transmigrants experienced as-if random assignments to destinations. Some transmigrants were sent to similar locations in the Outer Islands, while others were sent to very different farming environments- they had no say in their ultimate destinations. The unprecedented spatial scope of the programme, with destination villages scattered across the Outer Islands, meant that migrants from diverse origins across Java/Bali were observed across a range of new agroclimatic conditions at their destinations. This gave rise to plausibly exogenous (and wide-ranging) variation in the assignment of migrants to destinations, which allows us to identify the causal effect of skill transferability on productivity. We use geospatial data on agricultural and climatic conditions to construct an agroclimatic similarity index that measures the similarity in the farming environment between a migrant's origin and her destination. Given the as-if random assignment of transmigrants, the coefficient of this similarity measure in an agricultural productivity regression identifies the causal effect of skill transferability on migrants' productivity. We find that skill transferability has large effects on village-level rice productivity. Rice was the focal crop of the programme and is a primary staple, both for Indonesia and more than half of world. Our estimates imply that, on average, an increase in agroclimatic similarity by one standard deviation leads to a 20% increase in village-level rice productivity. This translates to an additional 0.5 tons per hectarean effect size roughly equivalent to twice the productivity gap between farmers with no schooling versus those that have completed junior secondary. Where matching matters more Interestingly, we also find that the relationship between skill transferability and productivity is nonlinear. Semiparametric specifications (Figure 2) reveal that villages whose migrants are from the most dissimilar origins face the largest productivity losses. These results suggest that resettlement planners should try to match migrants to similar destination environments to the extent possible, and they should be particularly concerned about minimising bad matches. We provide simulation evidence to suggest that a more optimal assignment of transmigrants would have increased aggregate rice production by 27%. Figure 2: Nonlinear Relationship Between Village-Level Agroclimatic Similarity and Rice Productivity Source: Bazzi et al., 2015 Policy implications Although matching resettled populations to destinations is a good way to ensure that migrants remain productive, other coping mechanisms are possible. While many food crops seem to also be sensitive to agroclimatic similarity, other crops, such as cash crops, seem to be less sensitive to growing conditions and may be an alternative for farmers who face unfamiliar growing conditions. Moreover, consistent with agronomic literature on the complexities of soil management (PDF), barriers to transferability appear to be greatest for soil-specific knowledge. Resettlement programmes need to be coupled with effective agricultural extension services that can train farmers in managing crops in their new environments. One lesson from the programme has broader implications for resettling diverse migrant populations. We find that migrants whose native language is similar to the local indigenous language in the Outer Islands are more likely to switch into trading and services occupations. Beyond highlighting the importance of careful matching in allocating migrants across destinations, this finding also suggests that language training can help facilitate adaptation. In follow-up work, we further investigate the role of language in building social capital and interethnic cooperation within the new settlements. Resettlement programmes are logistically challenging and expensive. Moreover, the land clearing associated with resettlement programmes can be environmentally damaging, resulting in deforestation that could lead to even greater greenhouse gas emissionsexacerbating the problem that they were trying to solve.[2] Nevertheless, with careful planning, resettlement remains a feasible and politically attractive option for coping with environmentally-induced migration in many settings. The lessons from Indonesia's Transmigration programme should help inform ongoing resettlement planning. Footnotes: Alex Rothenberg is an associate economist at the RAND Corporation; Samuel Bazzi is an assistant professor at Boston University; Arya Gaduh is an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas; and Maisy Wong is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania. This commentary originally appeared on International Growth Centre Blog on March 31, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. In the aftermath of the North Korean nuclear weapon test in January and its satellite launch/ICBM test in February, the United States and South Korea announced that they would begin formal talks on deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) in South Korea. The THAAD System THAAD would join the existing U.S. and South Korean Patriot missile defenses that are intended primarily to stop short-range North Korean Scud missiles. THAAD is designed to intercept longer-range missiles like the North Korean NoDong that would be traveling at a much higher speed as they reenter the atmosphere. The NoDongs could well be the first missiles to carry North Korean nuclear weapons. Thus far, the United States has acquired only five THAAD batteries. In order to maintain a rotation base in the United States required for training and personnel sustainment, it is difficult to deploy overseas more than one-third of the batteries in peacetime. Yet one battery has already been deployed on Guam. Once the sixth THAAD battery is acquired in 2016, a second overseas battery would be available for Korea. South Korea does not possess the THAAD system and does not plan to deploy it. South Korea is focused on developing its own alternative to THAAD: the so-called long-range surface-to-air missile, or L-SAM, not due for deployment until after 2020. Thus the discussion of deploying THAAD in South Korea is about deploying a U.S. THAAD battery with U.S. personnel, focused on defending U.S. forces in South Korea from North Korean nuclear weapon threats. Reactions by South Korea's Neighbors For many years, China and Russia have viewed the developing U.S. regional missile defense system as aimed at them, and have therefore opposed this system. They have refused to recognize the U.S./allied need to defend against the very large North Korean missile force despite North Korea's fiery threats of transforming South Korea, Japan, and the United States into a sea of nuclear fire. And they have seriously pressured South Korea not to join the U.S.-led missile defense system. China has led this opposition. When pursuing its own security, one country should not impair other's security interests, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said recently. We believe that China's legitimate security concerns must be taken into account and a convincing explanation must be provided to China, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi added. The Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, sought to leverage the THAAD deployment by reportedly threatening that THAAD deployment could destroy [China-South Korea] bilateral relations in an instant. This and other Chinese threats have worried South Koreans, because China is South Korea's largest trading partner, carrying on more trade with the South than the United States and Japan combined. But there are several inconsistencies in the Chinese position. Most notably, China often does not practice what it preaches. For example, it has provided no explanation to its neighbors regarding recent deployment of air/missile defense systems like the S-300 in the South China Sea or continued development and deployment of offensive missile systems like the DF-21 on the Chinese mainland. China has also provided no convincing security rationale for its own objections to THAAD system deployment in South Korea. After all, the only Chinese offensive missiles that the THAAD missiles could intercept would be ones fired at Korea, and it would seem clear that Korea has the right to defend itself against such threats. In contrast, China's silence on Russian S-400 missile defense system deployments (or even South Korea production of offensive cruise missiles that can reach China) is puzzling. Some Chinese commentators raise concerns regarding the THAAD radar's range, which reaches well into China, but this is a modest addition to other observational means already deployed on satellites, aircraft, and ships. More broadly, there are logical security arguments for China to favor THAAD deployment to South Korea. THAAD should enhance deterrence of North Korean provocations, including limited attacks, thereby helping to stop threats to regional instability from North Korea that China does not seek. Overall, China's objections appear to be motivated more by politics than meaningful military security concerns. A Diversionary Tactic? If China's objections are politically motivated, what political dynamics might be driving its behavior? One possible explanation lies in the political relationship between China and North Korea. China has been either unwilling (or more likely unable) to rein in its ally North Korea's growing nuclear and offensive missile threats. China has had substantial motivation to do so, including the concerns of Chinese citizens living near the North Korean border, who are threatened by North Korean nuclear weapon tests. In contrast, the United States successfully convinced South Korea to stop its nuclear weapon program in the 1970s. Had the United States not done so, Northeast Asia would arguably be far less stable today. This contrast is no doubt a troubling one for China given its great power ambitions. In this context, strong objection to THAAD could be seen as a useful diversionary tactic, drawing attention from China's failures to meaningfully influence North Korean behavior. Likely Reactions It is hard to determine how China (or Russia) will respond to THAAD deployment in South Korea. China could continue its current course and rhetoric, perhaps punishing South Korea economically. Alternatively, THAAD deployment could change the dynamic and terms of the debate, leading to greater Chinese pressure on North Korea to curb its nuclear and missile threats. Regardless, South Korea and the United States need to do a better job of explaining their defensive resolve and rationale to the Chinese government and people. Chief among their many arguments should be the danger of allowing the North Korean nuclear weapons program to continue its unfettered growth. Bruce Bennett is a senior defense analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. This commentary originally appeared on The Cipher Brief on April 5, 2016. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis. Broadcast connectivity supplier SIS LIVE has inked an agreement with the media services arm of Babcock International Group to supply uplink services from their UK teleports. Babcock is one of the UK's leading engineering support services company with revenue of over 4.5 billion in 2015 and an order book of circa 20 billion. Operating in both the UK and overseas, it delivers critical asset, infrastructure and training support to many sectors, including transport, defence, energy, telecommunications and education.The service will see SIS LIVE providing uplink facilities from their MediaCityUK teleport. SIS LIVE already offers connectivity via fibre, satellite and microwave, complemented by its teleport and network operations centres (NOC) in Milton Keynes and MediaCityUK which offers 24/7 connectivity over Ku, Ka, C and DBS bands.SIS LIVEs consistent reputation for providing high quality and reliable connectivity across diverse routings made it the obvious choice of partner for this service, commented Leah Holding, director, media services at Babcock. We look forward to working with SIS LIVE to deliver our UK customers content, via their impressive satellite portfolio.We already have great experience of delivering critical distribution services for UK sport and to bookmakers across the UK, Ireland and beyond, so working with Babcock to deliver uplinking capability was the next logical service to offer, added John Bozza, commercial director, SIS LIVE . We look forward to exploring further opportunities with Babcock. Convicted Ukrainian ex-pilot Savchenko declares dry hunger strike MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI) - Ukrainian retired officer Nadezhda Savchenko sentenced to 22 years in prison for involvement in the murder of Russian journalists and illegal border crossing, has gone on a dry hunger strike, her lawyer Mark Feygin wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday. A dry hunger strike means Savchenko will refuse not only food but also water. Leonid Petrashis, the head of the Public Observer Commission monitoring human rights observance in penitentiary establishments of the Rostov Region, is going to visit Savchenko in a detention unit on Wednesday evening and to find out if she has any complaints. Members of the Public Observer Commission visit Savchenko regularly, last week she felt well, peaccording to Petrashis. Savchenko was convicted by a court in Donetsk, a town in southern Russia, on March 22. As the court has established, she was responsible for conducting concealed observation and directing mortar fire in an attack against a roadblock held by militias of the self-proclaimed Lugansk Peoples Republic and a group of civilians there, including three Russian journalists, near the village of Metallist, the Lugansk Region, on June 17, 2014. The attack killed two Russian television journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin. Savchenko, who at that time was on active duty in the Ukrainian Armed Forces as a navigator and systems operator of a Mi-24 attack helicopter, enlisted and served on the ground with a volunteer paramilitary unit, the Aidar Battalion, while being on leave. On the same day, she was captured by members of the Donbass Peoples Militia; however, she managed to escape. Charges of firing at civilians in the city of Lugansk have been dropped against Savchenko because this issue is out of a Russian courts jurisdiction. Savchenko was arrested in Voronezh, a town in the Russian territory, in July of 2014. The prosecution insisted that Savchenko had been arrested after crossing the border disguised as a refugee in order to plot attacks, what made her a common criminal, not a prisoner of war. Savchenko claimed that she was abducted from Ukrainian territory and that her seizure had happened one hour before the deaths of the journalists. The ex-navigator pleaded not guilty stating that she had killed people, but only those she considered to be enemies and in self-defense, never with malicious intent. Savchenko refused to recognize the judgement. During her detention and trial, Savchenko has repeatedly gone on hunger strikes protesting against her arrest and trial. ECHR promises to take stances of Russian higher courts into account MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI) Head of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), Guido Raimondi said that the court is going to take opinions of Russian high-level courts into account when considering applications against Russia, RAPSI learned on Wednesday from the press-service of Russias Supreme Court. On Tuesday, head of the Supreme Court Vyacheslav Lebedev met with Raimondi in Strasbourg. Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjrn Jagland, and Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of Council of Europe, Philippe Boillat were also present. This meeting was conducted in light of Russian Constitutional Courts ruling last summer which stated that Russia may abstain from execution of judgments of the ECHR and other international courts. According to the Supreme Courts press-service, Raimondi emphasized the role of Russias Supreme Court as a key partner of the ECHR and stressed its importance for compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights in Russia. Another important avenue for mutual cooperation, in Raimondis opinion, is integration of Russia into the process of creating "networks" to exchange information in the field of justice. The aim of this project is to create a system for notifying ECHR of judicial practice of the Member States so that the Court could take into account the respective legal stances in their activities, including ECHR cooperation with Russia. During the meeting respective sides came to agreement on organizing Raimondis visit to Russia. Polish trial opens for officer accused of espionage on behalf of Russia MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI) The trial of a Polish army officer, who stands charged with spying for Russian military intelligence (GRU), has begun in Warsaw, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday. Court proceedings against Lieutenant Colonel Zbigniew J. are being held in the District Court in Warsaw behind closed doors. The officer is charged with disclosure of information that could cause damage to Poland. He faces up to 15 years in prison. Details of the case have not been officially provided. Zbigniew J., who served in one of Polands Defense Ministrys departments, was arrested in October 2014 and has been held in detention ever since. His arrest was made with the involvement of military police troops; materials collected by the Military Counterintelligence Service became grounds for the arrest. 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. There is no telling how many years it may take, but the U.S. decision to lift its ban on crude-oil exports at the end of 2015 could increase the likelihood of a major war between regional Mideast powers that the U.S. will be either unable or (more likely) unwilling to stop. How is this even possible? To appreciate the argument, one should consider the second- and third-order economic and political effects that have been associated with U.S. oil exports in the past, as well as the totally new market dynamics that are the result of the ban's demise. These effects, when married with current trends in American politics, make it less likely that the U.S. will intervene in a major military conflict in the Middle East in the next 10-15 years -- even as the potential for such a conflict continues to grow. Refinery Economics: Many observers underplay just how useful a safety valve exporting U.S. crude to foreign refiners is becoming for global oil markets. In the short space of three months since the ban was lifted, and at a time when the arbitrage -- or profit margin -- for U.S. exports is quite low, U.S. crude has left the Gulf Coast to refiners in France, Italy, Germany, Israel, and Venezuela. The first test shipment of crude to China from the Gulf Coast is under sail, and the enlargement of the Panama Canal scheduled for later this year will make it even cheaper to send shipments to East Asian refineries. Each of the roughly 700 major refineries in the world is a one-of-a-kind factory with its own special set of recipes that can use a number of different crude grades to create products that best fit local markets. Given the easier-to-refine qualities of U.S. tight oil, it can become a very attractive blend stock. Venezuela's state-oil company, PDVSA, has already purchased four U.S. cargos since the beginning of the year to be used to dilute its heavier crude, and in March said it may import up to 100,000 barrels per day (b/d) of U.S. crude over a three-month period. The development is a dramatic reversal of fortune for the post-Chavez regime currently under duress in Caracas. This new trading dynamic, over time, makes the political relationship between the United States and Venezuela less tense. Economic History: In decades past, U.S. oil exports were used as an economic weapon and had dramatic impacts on U.S. foreign policy. In the summer of 1941, the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt banned West Coast oil exports to Japan to protest Japanese militarism in East Asia. This decision is viewed by many historians as a proximate cause of the Japanese Navy's attack on Pearl Harbor, with Tokyo's military government choosing to use force to acquire oil and commodity supplies from Southeast Asia rather than capitulate to U.S. political demands. Fifteen years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower undermined a joint British-French invasion of the Suez Canal in the autumn of 1956 by threatening to suspend oil exports to Western Europe until British and French troops withdrew. The threats by Eisenhower caused a run on the British pound, which in turn ended the government of British Prime Minister Anthony Eden and rocked the status quo in Europe. While little acknowledged in U.S. histories, this naked display of power greatly embarrassed European elites and helped tip the scales among French and German leaders toward creation of the European Union shortly afterward. It also turns out that long-term outages caused by political upheavals aren't as rare as conventional wisdom assumes. Outages affecting at least 1 million b/d have occurred six separate times since the late 1970s, during which the U.S. export ban was in effect: The Iranian Revolution and Iran-Iraq War (3.9 million b/d); the 1990-91 Gulf War (4.3 million b/d); Venezuela's 2002 oil strike (1 million b/d); the 2003 Iraq War (1 million (b/d); the Libyan Civil War (1.5 million b/d); and amid U.N. sanctions against Iran that were lifted earlier this year (1 million b/d). In other words, when the United States has an economic weapon that can be used in a time of need, it uses it, even when the knock-on effects can be quite large. The only reason the United States hasn't used its oil exports as leverage in foreign policy in the past 50 years is that the tool has been absent from the tool box. Now it's back. Export Economics: The current price spread between Brent oil sold in Europe and Asia and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) priced in the United States is less than $3 a barrel, leaving little profit from shipping oil to Latin America or Europe for refining. But if we again see a market environment similar to that of 2012-2014, when Libyan production fell by more than 1 million b/d due to its civil war, the spread between WTI-Brent crude grades could average $14-18 a barrel for more than two years. In such an environment, crude could be exported from the U.S. to anywhere in the world at a profit. This large price spread would induce more supply than is currently appreciated. Estimates vary, but many analysts believe there are between 4,000 and 5,000 drilled but uncompleted (DUC) wells in the U.S. that could be attached to pipelines and fracked if prices rose. The collective production of these wells during a supply shock would be enormous -- 1.6-2.0 million b/d in total if each well produced 400 b/d at peak -- although experts caution that only about 600,000 b/d could be brought on board during the first six months. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) confirms the thesis that price is the only barrier keeping U.S. light tight oil (LTO) supplies from surpassing the record 10 million b/d reached in October and November 1970. "Anybody who believes that we have seen the last of rising LTO production in the United States should think again," the IEA said in its most recent Medium-Term Oil Market report, on Feb. 21. 21st Century History: Events during the past five years have damaged, perhaps permanently, the most important strategic relationship in the region -- the alliance between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Since the end of World War II, the United States has, in one form or another, guaranteed Saudi Arabia's security in return for the promise of oil production sold on the global market, with a special focus on supplying America's European and Asian allies. This guarantee became stronger as the Cold War intensified and the United States itself became deeply dependent on Saudi oil. In the early 1980s, the Reagan administration adopted an official policy called the "Reagan Corollary" that said the United States would intervene to protect Saudi Arabia from threats and unrest from within the region. This policy can be seen as setting the conditions for both invasions of Iraq during the Bush presidencies. But since the start of the so-called Arab Spring in January 2011, the Obama administration -- taking its cue from a public clearly tired of low-intensity military conflict -- has signaled a major retrenchment in the region. This retrenchment can be seen in rhetoric coming from the top of both political parties. In a wide-ranging interview published in The Atlantic in March, Obama complained at length about "free-riding" nations in Europe and the Middle East who are happy to use U.S. military "muscle" to achieve their own private ends. The president went to some effort during the interview to highlight the administration's general animus toward the Saudi government, such as openly criticizing Saudi Arabia's institutional exclusion of women from much of public life. Meanwhile, the front-runner for the Republican Party's presidential nomination, Donald Trump, in interviews with both the Washington Post and the New York Times last month, gave the distinct impression that he views the Saudi-U.S. alliance as little more than an economic burden that fails to pay off. "We're not being reimbursed for the kind of tremendous service that we're performing by protecting various countries. Now Saudi Arabia's one of them," said Trump to the Times. "If Saudi Arabia was without the cloak of American protection, I don't think it would be around." It is doubtful either Trump or Obama could be as openly critical about Saudi Arabia without the unconventional oil and gas revolution taking place in the United States during the past 10 years, and the subsequent end of the export ban. Conclusion: Since the 1970s, U.S. involvement in the Middle East has been based on protecting the interests of its oil-dependent allies as well as the assumption that major conflict involving major regional powers of such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, or Turkey would be economically disastrous to both enlightened and selfish American interests. But given the slowly-dawning epiphany regarding the true nature of U.S. energy supplies -- the millions of barrels a day of latent oil supplies available for export from the U.S. Gulf Coast if prices return above $70 a barrel for an extended period of time -- it's doubtful the same political rules now apply. If the United States can supply millions of barrels per day of oil to its political allies by itself, the deep costs to the U.S. economy and its global alliance system caused by a Middle East regional war become much less pronounced. It's possible that the United States is returning to a position similar to its place during the first half of the 20th Century, when the country's relative energy security was so strong that it could stand back and wait for parts of the world to completely implode before acting militarily. This conclusion is a cause for unhappiness, not just for the personal misery that can be extrapolated from it, but because it portends the end of a generally benign, global liberal order that sustained more winners than losers in the global economy for many decades. When viewed through a more self-interested, mercantilist prism, however, the end of the export ban can be seen as the missing link that predicated, and in some ways dictated, much of the future U.S. posture and politics toward the region for years to come. Tensions between Ukraine and Russia show no signs of abating, and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was unsparing when he recently criticized Russia for destabilizing his country. Speaking on March 25 at a government meeting marking the creation of the Ukrainian Security Service, or SBU, Poroshenko said that of the more than 200 terrorist attacks prevented by Ukraine in 2015, most were prepared in Russia. The president said such attacks were meant to to destabilize the political situation in the country and were planned for Kiev, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Kharkiv, and Lviv -- the nation's major cities and regions. "The attacks ... are a key element of the hybrid war that is now being waged against our country," Poroshenko stressed. Ukrainian security services are successfully countering such attacks "by being effective in the information campaign and presenting to society sufficiently convincing evidence of the effectiveness of their work. The Ukrainian people today have something to thank the SBU for," Poroshenko summed up. A Stronger Military Meanwhile, two years of armed conflict with Russian-backed rebels in their country's east have begun to transform the Ukrainian military into a stronger and more professional armed force. Obozrevatel.ua looked at several new weapons in a recent report that cited improvements, upgrades, and acquisitions by Ukraine's armed forces. When major hostilities broke out in 2014 in the Donbas, Ukraine's embattled eastern region, Ukrainian artillery and military units found themselves outmatched by rebels armed with the Russian-made Grad multiple launch rocket system, which, first developed by the Soviets decades ago, is the most widespread weapon of this kind in use throughout the world. Today, the answer to the army's needs is the "Verba," or Willow, a domestically-produced 122 mm multiple rocket launcher. According to the report, the biggest differences in the new system, developed by the Kharkiv Morozov Design Bureau, are the automation of combat use; the introduction of modern navigation systems; and the chassis, changed to the domestically-produced KrAZ heavy trucks. The report notes that in earlier multiple launch rocket systems, the launcher was loaded manually, whereas Verba automates the process with special charging machines, increasing the re-armament rate sevenfold. The report adds that switching to Ukrainian KrAz truck beds not only ends system dependency on Russian-made Ural cars, but also significantly increases the vehicle's terrain navigation capabilities. Additionally, Obozrevatel.ua notes that the rocket launcher can equip the domestically-developed Raptor armored truck, which is built on the KrAz chassis. According to Roman Romanov, General Director of Ukroboronprom, the nation's main defense conglomerate, "the time has come to leave the Soviet past behind and to start looking to the future. Willow is new technology that can be supplied to the military on an industrial scale." Obozrevatel.ua's report also covered the most widespread weapon in the ongoing conflict -- the semi-automatic descendants of the ubiquitous AK-47 Kalashnikov rifle. Ukraine's defense sector wants small-arms procurements to be domestic. The varied Kalashnikovs in Ukrainian storage since Soviet days fall far short of modern battlefield requirements. According to the report, on the front lines fighters are forced to improvise upgrades to their Kalashnikovs, mounting modern sights, anatomical handles, and other improvements, making the weapon more convenient and saving precious seconds of combat that can prove absolutely crucial. Creation of a new weapon was undertaken by the experts from InterProInvest, a design enterprise that decided to modify the existing Kalashnikov. They ended up creating a new type of small arm, leaving only the barrel and the receiver from the original weapon. The main feature of what they dubbed the Maluk semi-automatic gun is the use of a forward-looking bullpup layout, which significantly reduces the size of the weapon and has a positive effect on its balancing, allowing the fighter to maintain accurate automatic fire. This design is already incorporated into a number of rifles made in the United Kingdom, France, Israel, and Austria. The Maluk has already passed military tests, grading out with the highest scores on most testing parameters. The new weapon is now recommended for adoption by the Ukrainian special forces, and its serial production has been taken on by Ukroboronprom. Ultimately, it is not just the weapons, old or new, that will determine the success of Ukraine's military in its struggles against Russian-backed rebels. That success will depend on raising professional standards for all fighting units, and on incorporating new tactics, techniques, and procedures that would allow for the waging of a modern warfare, where older forms of fighting coexist with state-of-the-art communications, observation, and command and control technologies. (AP Photo) Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale Buy real estate. Find a great selection of commercial real estate, manufactured homes, timeshares and more for Sale in US and Canada. Search Real Estate HOME > American Idol > American Idol 15 'American Idol' eliminee MacKenzie Bourg: If the judges didn't give me such harsh criticism, the outcome might've been different By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 04/05/2016 eliminated MacKenzie Bourg and determined its farewell season's Top 3 finalists during Thursday night's broadcast on Fox. ADVERTISEMENT After receiving the lowest amount of home viewer votes following the prior week's performance show -- when MacKenzie sang "I Want You To Want Me" for his classic rock pick and "Titanium" by Sia -- America sent MacKenzie, a 23-year-old musician from Lafayette, LA, home. MacKenzie was ousted from the competition on Thursday following a beautiful tribute to his hometown in which he sang "Hallelujah." He had never landed in the bottom two or three before. 's Top 3 artists are Trent Harmon, La'Porsha Renae and Dalton Rapattoni. On Friday, MacKenzie talked to reporters during a conference call about his experience. Below is a portion of what he had to say. To read what he told Reality TV World, Did Harry Connick Jr. have anything to say to you after the show, especially since you both have Louisiana roots? MacKenzie Bourg: Yeah, Harry spoke to me after the show. We kind of talked for a bit and I made sure to tell him that we'll have to connect at a Saints game if he's there. You said at the time of your elimination that you felt like you had already won. Could you explain how you arrived at that conclusion? MacKenzie Bourg: As cliche as it is -- because I know a lot of people say it -- I actually meant it when I said that. There's so many people, I mean, last night, I just posted a dumb tweet like I always do. I said, "Retweet this if you're in it for life with me," and I think it's close to like 7,000 retweets right now. And I don't know, that's nothing to kind of shake your head to, you know? Was there a piece of advice from the judges that really changed things for you during this journey? MacKenzie Bourg: I think it was when So, taking that [into account], it kind of made me more confident in who I am as an artist, knowing that someone like her and someone like the three judges recognize and appreciate me as an artist and I'm on the right track. Could you talk about your classic rock song choice of "I Want You To Want Me" during the week when Steven Van Zandt served as your mentor along with Sia? Was that song your first choice? MacKenzie Bourg: No, it wasn't. It was probably my fifth choice. I wasn't necessarily excited [about it]. I originally came in with "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi and I had a cool arrangement for it, kind of like a stripped-down acoustic. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON THE ALL-NEW GOOGLE NEWS! Reality TV World is now available on the all-new Google News app and website. Click here to visit our Google News page, and then click FOLLOW to add us as a news source! And then I came in again with "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," which, looking back, I probably should've just done that -- even though it wasn't something super special. But then it came up, you know, [Scott Borchetta] suggested "I Want You To Want Me" and the arrangement, I thought, was pretty good. I actually spoke with the producer who does our iTunes tracks. He has produced the last two Cheap Trick albums, and he said to me when I was recording "Hallelujah" that Cheap Trick loved it and they actually told him that my version was better than their version. So I do think that maybe if the judges weren't so harsh on the arrangement, things might've been different. But I'm happy with where I'm at, and I couldn't be more thankful. You said that week in particular was a tough one for you performance-wise. Could you elaborate a little bit on that? MacKenzie Bourg: Yeah, I don't know. I just felt -- I don't know the right word for it. I felt I was kind of picked on by the judges for that rock pick. They all kind of went at something that I couldn't necessarily completely control, so it kind of bummed me out, knowing that it wasn't really my voice that had anything wrong, it was just kind of, like, the arrangement with the band and all that stuff. If you had your choice of a dream artist to perform with in the finale, who would it be and why? MacKenzie Bourg: Let me think. I would probably say, I mean, just thinking of it vocally, Why did you pick the song "Hallelujah" for your hometown tribute? ADVERTISEMENT MacKenzie Bourg: "Hallelujah" is one of the first songs I ever learned, and when I first started playing in my first shows, I played it just because I only knew four or five songs. Once I kind of got my feet under me and started playing more shows, I would kind of break it out and play it at shows. Even though it wasn't the craziest thing in the world, it was kind of a reminder to me of how far I've come. And I kind of had a hunch that I was going to go home last night. I had a really [strong] gut feeling actually, and I just wanted to go out with something that left a good taste in people's mouths about me and encapsulated -- if that's the right word -- everything that I'm about. I think I did that and left a good mark on people. What inspires you when you're channeling your emotion in the song "Hallelujah?" MacKenzie Bourg: To me, the song was more than just the lyrics. It was, I don't know, it's kind of like a reminder of how far I've come. Like, I sang it so passionately just because I know that -- I remember five or six years ago when I first learned that song how bad I was at the song. I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be on the biggest stage in the world performing that. Be sure to check back with Reality TV World soon for more from MacKenzie Bourg's post- interview. About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS eliminated MacKenzie Bourg and determined its farewell season's Top 3 finalists during Thursday night's broadcast on Fox.After receiving the lowest amount of home viewer votes following the prior week's performance show -- when MacKenzie sang "I Want You To Want Me" for his classic rock pick and "Titanium" by Sia -- America sent MacKenzie, a 23-year-old musician from Lafayette, LA, home.MacKenzie was ousted from the competition on Thursday following a beautiful tribute to his hometown in which he sang "Hallelujah." He had never landed in the bottom two or three before. 's Top 3 artists are Trent Harmon, La'Porsha Renae and Dalton Rapattoni.On Friday, MacKenzie talked to reporters during a conference call about his experience. Below is a portion of what he had to say. To read what he told Reality TV World, click here Yeah, Harry spoke to me after the show. We kind of talked for a bit and I made sure to tell him that we'll have to connect at a Saints game if he's there.As cliche as it is -- because I know a lot of people say it -- I actually meant it when I said that. There's so many people, I mean, last night, I just posted a dumb tweet like I always do. I said, "Retweet this if you're in it for life with me," and I think it's close to like 7,000 retweets right now. And I don't know, that's nothing to kind of shake your head to, you know?I think it was when Kelly Clarkson was a mentor. She kind of said to me, you know, that it was really awesome I was one of the people who knows what kind of artist I am and what I want to do, and that I just have to do it.So, taking that [into account], it kind of made me more confident in who I am as an artist, knowing that someone like her and someone like the three judges recognize and appreciate me as an artist and I'm on the right track.No, it wasn't. It was probably my fifth choice. I wasn't necessarily excited [about it]. I originally came in with "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi and I had a cool arrangement for it, kind of like a stripped-down acoustic.And then I came in again with "Have You Ever Seen the Rain," which, looking back, I probably should've just done that -- even though it wasn't something super special. But then it came up, you know, [Scott Borchetta] suggested "I Want You To Want Me" and the arrangement, I thought, was pretty good.I actually spoke with the producer who does our iTunes tracks. He has produced the last two Cheap Trick albums, and he said to me when I was recording "Hallelujah" that Cheap Trick loved it and they actually told him that my version was better than their version.So I do think that maybe if the judges weren't so harsh on the arrangement, things might've been different. But I'm happy with where I'm at, and I couldn't be more thankful.Yeah, I don't know. I just felt -- I don't know the right word for it. I felt I was kind of picked on by the judges for that rock pick. They all kind of went at something that I couldn't necessarily completely control, so it kind of bummed me out, knowing that it wasn't really my voice that had anything wrong, it was just kind of, like, the arrangement with the band and all that stuff.Let me think. I would probably say, I mean, just thinking of it vocally, Taylor Swift would probably sound really good singing with me. I know that she did a song with Ed Sheeran that was really awesome. That would definitely be a cool song that I think I could do with her."Hallelujah" is one of the first songs I ever learned, and when I first started playing in my first shows, I played it just because I only knew four or five songs.Once I kind of got my feet under me and started playing more shows, I would kind of break it out and play it at shows. Even though it wasn't the craziest thing in the world, it was kind of a reminder to me of how far I've come. And I kind of had a hunch that I was going to go home last night.I had a really [strong] gut feeling actually, and I just wanted to go out with something that left a good taste in people's mouths about me and encapsulated -- if that's the right word -- everything that I'm about. I think I did that and left a good mark on people.To me, the song was more than just the lyrics. It was, I don't know, it's kind of like a reminder of how far I've come. Like, I sang it so passionately just because I know that -- I remember five or six years ago when I first learned that song how bad I was at the song. I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd be on the biggest stage in the world performing that.Be sure to check back with Reality TV World soon for more from MacKenzie Bourg's post- interview. AMERICAN IDOL 15 MORE AMERICAN IDOL 15 NEWS << PRIOR STORY Kardashian clan remains silent in wake of Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna engagement news NEXT STORY >> 'American Idol' creator Simon Fuller: 'Idol' "will certainly be coming back for sure" Get more Reality TV World! Follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook or add our RSS feed. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT - - - - Page generated Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:32 am in 0.83966898918152 seconds , We're sorry, this article is not currently available Homebuyers like businessman Brian Campbell first saw eight-bedroom homes listed in Mont-Tremblant, but quickly dismissed the idea. He owned one rental property and he was not in the market for another. He changed his mind though after inspecting the numbers more closely. The Canadian dollar, known as the loonie for the bird on its back, fell against the United States dollar in 2015, as well as, in the first part of this year. Although it had regained value in recent months, the loonie was still about 24 percent below its 2013 levels, when the currencies' values were closer to each other. Homebuyers saw bigger bargains in Canada's getaway home market. While Canada did not track data on buyer citizenship, observers in many resort communities had noticed an influx of American visitors over the past year. They claimed that more Americans were now returning to buy vacation homes, according to a feature from Realtor.com. Christopher Vincent, a realtor with Sotheby's International Realty Canada stated that all of a sudden, their phones started ringing. The a small community located an hour from Calgary had experienced almost a decade without any significant interest from the american market. Vincent said he brokered a sale with an American couple and was currently working with other potential buyers from the U.S. He expected those numbers to increase with tourism season. One of their clients was Cecilia Padilla a president of a Texas software company who had been searching for a second property in the mountains with her husband. The homebuyer couple said that they began by inspecting locations such as Colorado, Montana and Idaho before looking at Canada's western province. The two had been there several years earlier and were surprised to see what they could purchase for their money. Their offer on a three-story Canmore townhouse for just one million Canadian dollars was accepted in March, according to a feature from The Wallstreet Journal. Thailand's tropical weather and stunning islands make it an ideal playground for any beach lover. However, as the Asian country is home to several beaches, which one should you stay in? Conde Nast Traveller has come up with a guide on Thailand beaches, which include facts on each island and the possible resorts you can stay at. Here are some of the famous islands you could visit on your holiday. Koh Lipe If you prefer quiet and less touristy beaches, then this Thailand island is perfect for you. Located down south, this island is near the border of Malaysia and reportedly offers the "most beautiful beaches" in the country, according to the site. You have two beach choices here: Pattaya Beach and Sunset Beach. Pattaya Beach is ideal for those who wish to party late at night on the island, while the secluded Sunset Beach are perfect for couples who simply want to relax on the island and soak up amazing views. Koh Phi Phi One of the famous Thailand beaches, Koh Phi Phi was featured in the Leonardo DiCaprio film "The Beach." The island's turquoise waters draw various tourists, mostly the young crowd. Besides the usual water activities, cliff jumping can also be enjoyed here. Various Koh Phi Phi resorts are available, even hostels for those who are on a budget []. Phuket If you want to have a luxurious vacation, then this is the best for you. The island has everything you need - from six-star resorts with private butlers, celebrity chef restaurants to exhilarating activities day and night. Because of its popularity, the island is usually abuzz with tourists especially during summer. Similan Islands If you want to experience the beauty of Thailand's beaches in one visit, then this is the perfect place for you. Similan Islands is ideal for island hopping as nine islands can be explored here, which include Koh Miang, Koh Similan, and Koh Tachai. When it comes to dating, it is often said that opposites attract. Couples are rarely expected to have everything in common and agreeing on every issue is not always the norm. The 17th annual University of Georgia International Street Festival is once again bringing cultural experiences from all over the world into an area of just a few street blocks. The festival will hit the streets of downtown Athens on Saturday for culturally infused family fun. For all of the literary lovers out there, the University of Georgias Creative Writing program will be hosting the 2016 Book-a-Palooza on April 10, inviting all to celebrate and mingle with students who have recently had books published. FILE - In this Monday, March 7, 2011, file photo, killer whale Tilikum, right, watches as SeaWorld Orlando trainers take a break during a training session at the theme park's Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla. SeaWorld is ending its practice of killer whale breeding following years of controversy over keeping orcas in captivity. The company announced Thursday, March 17, 2016, that the breeding program will end immediately. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File) SHARE ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) Now that SeaWorld has decided to end its killer-whale breeding program, a national animal rights group says it wants the company to move the orcas it still owns to sea sanctuaries. PETA said in a statement issued Monday that it will file the shareholders' request next year. Sea sanctuaries are pens that allow orcas to be in the ocean without giving them total freedom in the wild. SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby said last week that the orcas are best off in the parks, where trainers and veterinarians can take care of them. PETA bought a number of shares when SeaWorld went public in 2013 so that it could make resolutions. PETA spokesman David Perle said the group will withdraw its now-moot resolution asking the company to end the breeding program. SHARE UPDATE 9:56 a.m. Wednesday: A man reported missing late last month from his Etna home has been found, according to the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office. Deputies found Emmett Mackey on Wendesday night, Sheriff's Public Information Officer Kelly Giordano said. He was reported missing March 28. ORIGINAL STORY: A man disappeared in late March and Siskiyou County Sheriff's deputies are searching for him. Eighty-seven-year-old Emmett Mackey was last seen leaving his home in a 2009 white Subaru Forester March 28, deputies say. He is caucasian, with brown eyes and grey-and-brown hair. He is 6-feet-2-inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. The SUV has a California license plate that reads 6ENT363. Anyone with information should call 841-2900. SHARE By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight Builders needing to submit plans for review and residents wanting to browse through records will notice Redding City Hall open every Friday beginning in June. The furloughs, which have kept City Hall closed two Fridays each month for almost five years, are being lifted effective June 5. The move, the result of a labor agreement with the Redding Independent Employees' Organization that the City Council approved Tuesday night, gives about 200 employees a 2.5 percent raise beginning Sunday. It allows City Hall to reopen five days a week. Although furloughs have been lifted for the majority of city employees, City Hall has remained closed pending the negotiations with RIEO. In a unity rarely seen on such matters, the council voted 5-0 to approve the two-year contract with RIEO and one with about 20 Redding Electric Utility employees represented by the United Public Employees of California Local 792. Those REU workers will receive three phased-in raises of 2.5 percent over the next 14 months. Councilman Gary Cadd who customarily has found himself as the lone dissenting voice on pay increases joined the majority. He remained leery of pay raises when the city has unfunded liabilities in the millions. But he noted the contracts get some of the employees to begin making a 3.75 percent contribution to the Public Agency Retirement Service. Also, the RIEO contract, which covers July 1, 2014 to June 30, commits to reopen negotiations to other changes in the PARS plan. "These folks have been really helpful through the furloughs and then with the contract, so I applaud them for that," Cadd said. His comments came after Mayor Missy McArthur suggested the council send a letter to the employees, many who work at City Hall, thanking them for their service to the city and community through the furloughs. "I think that's a lovely idea," Councilwoman Francie Sullivan said. Vice Mayor Brent Weaver early in the discussion defended the wage increases, saying negotiations were fair in that both sides city and labor group walked away offering something. The RIEO group was the remaining bargaining unit to begin contributing 7 percent toward the California Public Employees' Retirement System. The contributions will be phased in over two months starting on Sunday. City Manager Kurt Starman noted the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers electrical and maintenance groups as well as the Redding Peace Officers' Association-Miscellaneous group made similar commitments to negotiate changes to PARS. The cost of the wage increase for the 200 employees in the RIEO unit is estimated at $439,600 while the three pay raises for the 20 employees with the UPEC unit is estimated at $270,000. In other business, the council directed staff in the planning department to determine whether the city's beekeeping ban can be relaxed. Wooten's Golden Queens of Palo Cedro needs to relocate some of its beehives north of Shasta College because McConnell plans to develop walking trails there. McConnell has offered an 80-acre parcel used for grazing livestock at College View Drive and Old Oregon Trail, provided the city allows beehives on the land. The council will write a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown in opposition to the $15 per hour minimum wage taking effect by 2022. The governor signed the new law on Monday. McArthur suggested the letter to her peers near the end of the meeting and cited the difficulties the wage increase would pose for small businesses in rural communities. SHARE 8 p.m. update: The Shasta Lake City Council tonight voted to allow a third medical marijuana collective within the city limits. The council's 4-1 vote overturned a previous Planning Commission decision to stop a third collective from opening its doors. The council considered the issue on an appeal. ORIGINAL STORY: Shasta Lakes city council will consider bans on camping and smoking in parks, as well as whether to change its rules to allow a third collective, at its meeting Tuesday evening. The Record Searchlight will provide live coverage below. Heres a recap of each major issue before the council tonight: A new collective? Stacy Lidie, a Shasta Lake employee, had proposed to open a third collective inside the former Starbucks store, which sits next to Rite-Aid on Shasta Dam Boulevard. But the Planning Commission unanimously voted against reducing the minimum distance between collectives by 100 feet to 900 feet. That would have allowed her to open a dispensary at the location. At that meeting in early March, commissioners said they felt the city had enough dispensaries. They did, however, adopt another proposal by Lidie to shrink the area available for collectives to open in, effectively shutting out any more dispensaries. But Lidie had appealed to the Shasta Lake City Council to overturn the planning commissions decision. Banning camping? The city council will also consider a ban on camps to allow the Shasta County Sheriffs Office to oust homeless encampments in the city. Residents have previously complained to the council about camps and the activity they tend to draw, such as fights and yelling. The ordinance, if passed, would ban camping on any public property and any private property for more than three days. Camping on private property also would require consent from the owner. Sheriffs Lt. Tom Campbell will also give a presentation on the current status of homelessness in Shasta Lake, according to the council agenda. Smoking and building Council members will also mull another ban, this one on smoking in city parks. City employees, in the agenda, describe it as similar to Reddings ban. It would also ban e-cigarettes from the parks. Finally, the city will consider a low-interest, federal loan to help it pay for a new home for several departments at the same location as the city council chambers, 4488 Red Bluff lane. Leaders for the Redding Patriots teased the tea party is no more in an email sent to followers on Sunday in which they also announced the group is moving from their longtime home, Destiny Fellowship Church on South Bonnyview Road. SHARE By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight The Redding Tea Party Patriots are ditching part of their name in a rebranding campaign aimed at turning around negative perceptions of an angry, raucous crowd that they say have pushed people away. Leaders for the Redding Patriots teased the tea party is "no more" in an email sent to followers on Sunday in which they also announced the group is moving from their longtime home, Destiny Fellowship Church on South Bonnyview Road. Although the announcement waited until the weekend, the relocation to Shasta Bible College took place March 14. The move, however, is temporary. Seating inside a room at the campus on Goodwater Avenue is tight with 80 people, and the group sometimes has had to bring extra chairs. Starting in May, the group will begin to meet at Vineyard City Church on Bechelli Lane, where parking is ample, access to the freeway is closer and there is enough room to grow attendance to about 150, said Sally Rapoza, one of the group's leaders. Leaders signed a six-month lease that includes a provision that if it all works out, they can renew another six months. "We're trying to drive home (the message) that being at each other's throats is not helpful," said Red Smith, who described the past 18 months since Erin Ryan's departure as a time for reflection of what the group wants to be. The Patriots courted controversy when in December 2014, the leadership ousted Ryan, the part-time district representative for U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa who helped found the group nearly seven years ago. Smith spoke of the need to recognize that they can't just argue while watching as "the ship goes down." The fresh start was prompted after Destiny church, home to the Patriots for six years, announced several months ago to the various tenant groups it was changing ownership and the classrooms they use would be needed for its programming. The Rev. Larry McRorey did not immediately respond to an email on Monday. Rapoza said the church's news got her thinking about a name change purely for rebranding purposes. The Intermountain Tea Party, which had been getting some pushback, did the same thing recently, she said. It now calls itself Intermountain Patriots, and the group is politically active. "It's kind of a good thing," she said of the new name. "It stirs enthusiasm." Nationally, the tea party movement may be weakening, but the conservative phenomenon it has fueled is raising questions over a GOP split. "They want the country to change and in a conservative nature. They want democracy, but they don't believe in compromise," said Stephanie Burkhalter, a political scientist at Humboldt State University. She noted a Gallup survey from last October that found support for the tea party dropping to a new low of 17 percent. "It makes sense to shed the tarnished brand than to repair it," Burkhalter said. "A patriot makes you think, 'I love my country and I have my views.'" That sentiment is particularly important to Rapoza as the election season heats up. The group has been visited by at least seven candidates seeking local, state and federal office. This included U.S. Senate candidates Tom Del Beccaro and Duf Sundheim. Those meetings have been well attended, and Rapoza could only think of a couple times when she was in attendance that the audience got boisterous. "It's politics. It's differing opinions. You've got to expect it," she said. Sundheim's talk, for instance, turned lively after he was asked whether he would send back Syrian refugees brought to resettle in communities across the country. "It was a hot issue," said Rapoza, who opposes the move and alluded to the "one person, one vote" case. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected a conservative challenge to count eligible voters instead of total population to draw up districts. "When these people come in, that dilutes our votes as citizens," she said. Rapoza said she sees the Redding Patriots as a platform in the quest to split from California to create the State of Jefferson. "We support anything that is for liberty and constitutional principle, and accountability," she said. Smith, on the other hand, sees the Jefferson movement as a separate issue. Instead, he highlighted constitutional courses that, among things, teaches participants the differences between republicanism and democracies. "A lot of people have questions," he said. "How do we have good government if we don't know what it means?" Smith also said the group's focus is on local government, and leaders are exploring the creation of a mentoring program that partners veterans with high school students. "I would not say that the tea party has disappeared as much as it has been in the cocoon," he said. SHARE Police: Man caught in vehicle burglary Redding police said they arrested a man whom bystanders caught burglarizing a vehicle downtown and who then pulled out a stolen gun before fleeing Monday evening. Police said John Logan Beard, 30, of Redding, was arrested on suspicion of property and weapons crimes after they caught him in Library Park, Cpl. Rex Berry said. Officers were sent to the area of South Market and Sacramento streets about 7:15 p.m. after several people said they'd confronted a man who was burglarizing an acquaintance's vehicle. The man, later identified by the witnesses as Beard, pulled out a handgun, prompting the witnesses to run away, officers said. He also ran through an alley, Berry said. Police found him in Library Park where he had a .45-caliber handgun, which officers determined was stolen, Berry said. Officers also learned he was on AB 109 supervision, Berry said. Beard was taken to the Shasta County Jail on suspicion of burglary, felon in possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm, possession of a stolen firearm and brandishing a firearm, Berry said. Water main break closes city street Churn Creek Road at Parsons Drive was closed Tuesday morning due to a small water main break. City of Redding utility crews were called in to fix the pipe as water was coming up through the pavement. The break was reported about 10:45 a.m. in the area of 2900 Churn Creek Road. Missing man found safe A Silver Alert for a missing Redding man was deactivated just after 5 p.m. Tuesday after he was found safe. The California Highway Patrol and Redding Police Department issued the alert after officers said 94-year-old Morris Davis was reported missing about 10:30 a.m. Davis was last seen in the morning driving his white, 2000 Toyota Corolla four-door sedan to a doctor's appointment, according to Redding police Cpl. Levi Solada. Davis was expected to drive his vehicle from north Redding to central Redding, but he did not arrive at his appointment, Solada said. The deactivated Silver Alert did not give any details about where or how Davis was found. Deputies: Man shot at wife, arrested Tehama County sheriff's deputies Monday morning arrested a 50-year-old man after he shot at his wife in the couple's Cottonwood-area home, officers said. Deputies about 10:30 a.m. Monday went to the 19000 block of Stoneyford Place in the Lake California neighborhood south of Cottonwood Creek in Tehama County upon learning that Anthony Shepard fired gun inside his house, officers said. He'd been arguing with his wife and fired the gun at her, deputies said. She ran from the home uninjured and called 911. Deputies arrived and were able to persuade Shepard to leave the home. They arrested him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats and recklessly firing a gun, according to the Sheriff's Office. He was booked into the Tehama County Jail in lieu of $610,000 bail, deputies said. Deputies search for missing man Siskiyou County sheriff's deputies are searching for a man who disappeared in late March. Emmett Mackey, 87, was last seen leaving his Etna home in a 2009 white Subaru Forester March 28, deputies said. He is white with brown eyes and grey-and-brown hair. He is 6-feet, 2-inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. The SUV has a California license plate of 6ENT363. Anyone with information is asked to call 841-2900. Prescribed fires to be set this week Three prescribed fire operations are scheduled to start Wednesday and Thursday on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The Trinity River Management Unit will burn up to 95 acres in the Browns Concentration project area northeast of Weaverville off French Gulch Road starting about 11 a.m. On Wednesday and Thursday, the Shasta-McCloud Management Unit will burn up to 200 acres as part of the McIntosh project area, north of Highway 89 about 18 miles east of McCloud. On Thursday, the National Recreation Area Management Unit will burn up to 1,200 aces on Green Mountain, north of Redding near the confluence of the Squaw and Pit arms of Lake Shasta. This fire will create smoke that should be visible from the eastern part of Lake Shasta, along Interstate 5 near Bridge Bay in addition to the Silverthorn and Jones Valley areas. SHARE By Joe Szydlowski of the Redding Record Searchlight SHASTA LAKE A proposed third medical marijuana collective in Shasta Lake can move forward, the City Council decided Tuesday evening. The council voted 4-1 to enact changes to its medical marijuana dispensary requirements that will allow Stacy Lidie to establish the "Leave it to Nature" collective on Shasta Dam Boulevard in the old Starbucks store, including using its drive through, next to Rite-Aid. "The industry is not done growing," Lidie said to the council, noting the potential economic benefits of the dispensary, before the vote. Her chosen site had been too close to the Queen of Dragons dispensary by 100 feet. Lidie had asked the Planning Commission about decreasing the city code's required minimum distance between collectives. But commissioners unanimously voted against the idea. At that meeting in early March, some commissioners said they felt the city had enough dispensaries while others worried about potential ramifications from the change. That discussion earned some negative responses from council members. Councilman Larry Farr said the commissioners should have had a more thorough discussion. Mayor Lori Chapman-Sifers said she hesitates to disagree with the planning commission, but added that board's role isn't to decide whether the city wants another collective. Councilwoman Pam Morgan said the commissioners appeared to have ignored the staff report, which recommended they vote in favor of the change. Councilman Greg Watkins said that originally the Starbucks store was considered the possible location for a third collective when the city was writing its current ordinance regulating dispensaries. Before voting against it, councilman Richard Kern said he thought two collectives were enough. More than 10 people spoke before the council. Most, like Juliane Decker, urged the council to say yes. "Our city has earned $370,000 in revenue," said Decker. "Competition breeds competition." Others spoke about how medical marijuana has, or could have, transformed lives. Julie Hanes explained that one day she will lose her feet due to disease and noted the dispensary's proposed drive-through window would make it much easier, comparing it to a drive-through pharmacy. Not all , however, spoke well of the dispensary. Businesswoman Linda Beaver told the council two dispensaries were enough, while resident Susan Evans worried the dispensary would worsen an already "sketchy" area. Tammy Brazil, who runs the collective Queen of Dragons, expressed concern that the third dispensary's proximity to a school could attract a raid from federal agents. But she said it could also attract small businesses related to medical marijuana, such as art galleries and juice stores. The City Council also passed a ban on camps to allow the Shasta County Sheriff's Office to oust homeless encampments in the city. Residents have previously complained to the council about camps and the activity they tend to draw, such as fights and yelling. The ordinance bans camping on any public property and any private property without the consent of the owner. At the request of Councilman Greg Watkins, the ordinance also spells out an exemption for RVs. Former councilwoman Rose Smith also asked that the city drop language that limited camping on private property with the owner's consent to three days. Council members also watered down a proposed ban on smoking in city parks. They banned it during public events, but still allow it otherwise in city parks. It also bans e-cigarettes during those events. Voter guide: Race previews, what to know before you vote news SHARE Usually, when I talk about immigration, it's the high-skilled variety I'm referring to people with college degrees or professional skills. When most Americans think about immigrants, however, they focus on the manual laborers many of them without documentation who come to the U.S. from Latin America to build houses, landscape lawns or pick vegetables instead of starting the next Google. This kind of immigration is somewhat out of favor, since these folks compete with low-skilled locals for manual labor jobs. Even though the effect of the competition is small, it isn't zero, and in the current political climate everyone wants to do everything they can to protect the working class. But this opposition is probably misplaced. New research shows that low-skilled immigrants may do a lot more for the native-born working class than we thought. The new evidence comes via new research by economists Mette Foged and Giovanni Peri. Their paper studies the impact of refugees in Denmark in the 1990s and 2000s. During that time, Denmark had a program of scattering refugees throughout the country, called the spatial dispersal policy. The refugees, many of them fleeing the Yugoslavian wars, were mostly uneducated and spoke little Danish. By comparing the areas where the government decided to send refugees with other areas, Foged and Peri were able to see what happened to natives when a large number of low-skilled immigrants got plunked down next door. Instead of a small negative effect on the local native-born as most studies in the U.S. tend to find Foged and Peri found a positive effect. That's right low-skilled immigrants actually raised the wages of their less-educated native-born counterparts in the surrounding area. The data followed the native-born workers for a long time, letting the authors confirm that the change was durable. How does that happen? One reason is that immigrants are not perfect substitutes for the native-born their skills are, to some degree, complementary. The authors found that this was responsible for part of the positive effect. But Foged and Peri also found that less-educated natives responded to the economic competition by changing jobs. They shifted from manual labor to office jobs, which usually paid higher wages. The unemployed also got a slight boost low-skilled natives actually tended to enter the workforce when immigrants showed up nearby. So what does this tell us about low-skilled immigration? First, it confirms the assertion, often repeated by U.S. leaders, that low-skilled immigrants "take the jobs Americans don't want to do." But it also shows that immigrants often give the native-born a helpful push, motivating them to increase their skills and get better jobs. To the extent that Americans are like Danes, and that Latin American immigrants with little education are similar to poorly educated Yugoslavian refugees, this means that there's little reason to worry much that these immigrants put economic pressure on the American working class. That does leave one question, though why do native-born workers need that push in the first place? If desk jobs are less onerous and pay more, why don't low-skilled natives just go get those jobs even without the threat of immigrant competition? An obvious explanation is that people aren't really the rational optimizing machines of economic models, and sometimes fail to act in their own interest unless some outside force pushes them to do so. But the story may be more complicated than that. Changing occupations is a big risk there is no guarantee that that higher-paying job will materialize. If it doesn't, you'll be out in the cold. So the Yugoslavian immigrants might have simply forced the Danish laborers to take a risk they didn't want to take. That risk paid off. But it might not always. That implies that governments might want to offer more services to help low-paid native workers try to get higher-paying jobs, especially by providing them some kind of insurance should the move be unsuccessful. A stronger social safety net like Denmark's might be just the thing needed to help low-skilled immigration be a better deal for America's working class. Noah Smith is a Bloomberg View columnist. Readers may send him email at nsmith150@bloomberg.net. A new pizza place in Streeterville, a four-course dinner with beer pairings and more things to do in Chicago on Wednesday, April 6. EAT Now Open Robert's Pizza Company 355 E. Ohio St. 312-222-0905 The husband-and-wife-owned Streeterville spot serves brick-oven pizzas with varieties including roasted duck breast with hoisin ($25) and prosciutto and arugula with lemon vinaigrette ($19). 5-10 p.m. Advertisement Taste of the Gold Coast Germania Place 108 W. Germania Place 312-890-3028 Try fare from neighborhood restaurants including Del Frisco's and Devon Seafood Grill at the seventh annual event. Two drinks are included. 6-9 p.m. $60. Tickets: raymiproductions.com DRINK Spring Ping Happy Hour Spin 344 N. State St. 773-635-9999 A benefit for the Chicago Parks Foundation includes beer, wine, appetizers, pingpong games and demonstrations, a DJ and a raffle. 5:30-7:30 p.m. $70. Tickets: chicagoparksfoundation.org Very Important Brewer Dinner 1st Ward Events 2033 W. North Ave. 773-537-4440 Chop Shop's new chef Emily Ghedotte shows off her spring menu with a four-course dinner with pairings from Bell's Brewery including smoked sirloin with Hopslam ale and trout crudo with Oberon wheat ale. 7 p.m. $40. Tickets: 1stwardevents.com 'Carlyle' at Goodman Theater DO 'Carlyle' Goodman Theater 170 N. Dearborn St. 312-443-3800 See the world premiere of Thomas Bradshaw's political satire about a Republican African-American lawyer chosen to show off party's changing demographic by explaining why he joined the GOP. 7:30 p.m. $10-$25. Tickets: goodmantheatre.org/carlyle SPONSORED A recent report by the parliamentary standing committee on health and family planning pulled no punches on the abysmal state and poor functioning of the Medical Council of India. The shameful state of affairs needs an overhaul says Subir Roy. IMAGE: The standing committee report criticises the conduct of the MCI. The parliamentary standing committee for the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has produced a report on the Medical Council of India, which would shame all those at the helm if they were capable of such feeling. The transgressions of the regulatory body under the ministry, charged with overseeing medical education and doctors' right to practice and ethical conduct, are well known. The report has validated a lot of the relevant media coverage and, through the committee's own investigations, laid down solid fundamentals for bringing about systemic change. Two related episodes need highlighting. The committee had received a representation from V K Babu, a doctor from Kerala, and his spouse, M V Bindu, stating that they had complained to the MCI in 2008 and 2010 that the Indian Medical Association, the doctors' body, was endorsing commercial products of private companies (PepsiCo, in one instance), which was in violation of the MCI's code of ethics. The result? He was issued show cause notices by the IMA for complaining to the press, the MCI and the ministry. For its part, the MCI, which was reconstituted in 2013, took no action against the IMA office bearers despite its earlier ethics committee holding them guilty of violating the MCI code of ethics and recommending removal of their names from the Indian Medical Register. Instead, it also issued notices to Dr Babu and his non-medico wife asking them to appear in person before it! When the parliamentary committee went into the matter the MCI president informed it that its ethics committee has closed the case against the whistle-blower couple. The parliamentary committee asked the MCI to complete all formalities for closing the case and report back to the committee within one month from the presentation of its report. What else did the MCI do? The committee was "astonished" to note that MCI early this year notified an amendment to its ethics regulations, deleting the words "and professional association of doctors", thus exempting the IMA, the professional association of doctors, from the ambit of the MCI's ethics code. The committee saw this as "nothing short of legitimising doctors' associations indulging in unethical and corrupt practices by way of receiving gifts in cash or kind under any pretext from the pharma industry or allied health industry." The committee agreed with the viewpoint of public health activists that "an action that is ethically impermissible for an individual doctor cannot become permissible if a group of doctors carry out the same action in the name of an association." The committee's conclusion: "It seems that the MCI has become captive to private commercial interests." Not just this. The parliamentary committee also found it "intriguing that instead of intervening to thwart attempt of MCI at subverting the system, the ministry has meekly surrendered to MCI." The committee said the ministry should take immediate action to ensure that the words "and professional association of doctors" are restored in the code. The committee is "shocked" to find that compromised individuals have been able to make it to MCI, but the ministry is not empowered to remove or sanction an MCI member even if he has been proved corrupt. Otherwise how could it happen that MCI could have at its very top a person (the then president, Ketan Desai) who was arrested on charges of corruption in 2010? The quality of medical education is "at its lowest ebb" and the current model of medical education is not producing the right type of health professionals needed. Medical graduates lack competence in performing basic tasks like conducting normal deliveries. The committee states that "currently the MCI is an exclusive club of medical doctors" but across the world, a perspective has gained ground that self-regulation alone does not work because medical associations have "fiercely protected their turf". In countries like the UK and Australia, regulators are drawn from diverse groups. The regulator should have diverse stakeholders "such as public health experts and social scientists, health economists, health NGOs with an established reputation, legal experts, quality assurance experts, patient advocacy groups." The oversight of professional conduct is the most important function of MCI "but it has been completely passive on the ethics dimension". Between 1963 and 2009 just 109 doctors have been blacklisted by the ethics committee of the MCI. The parliamentary committee did not want to "taint the entire medical community but it is equally indisputable that many unprincipled doctors and private sector hospitals have lost their moral compass and overcharge or subject their hapless patients to unnecessary surgeries and diagnostic procedures." Other than validating a lot of what the media has been saying, the parliamentary committee has made many suggestions for reinventing regulation of medical education and ethics of doctors and other medical stakeholders. But what is the political reality on the ground? Ghulam Nabi Azad, long-term health minister under United Progressive Alliance-II, removed the then health secretary, Keshav Desiraju, because he tried to resist the re-induction of Ketan Desai into the MCI. The electorate gave a massive verdict against the UPA and a Bharatiya Janata Party-led government came in. Early in the day, party bigwig J P Nadda wrote to the then health minister, Harsh Vardhan, seeking removal of the chief vigilance officer of AIIMS. In a subsequent ministerial reshuffle, Vardhan was removed, Nadda was made health minister and at the end of the day the CVOs of both the AIIMS and the MCI were removed! Further comment is redundant. 'The main reason for the deaths is trust.' K Kesavan, an advocate and joint secretary of the Centre for Protection of Civil Liberties, has moved a Public Interest Litigation in the Madras high court that several undertrials and convicts died in various Tamil Nadu prisons due to lack of medical attention. The court has directed the additional home secretary to furnish all material relating to the custodial deaths of 137 prisoners in 2012-2013 to the member secretary of the Tamil Nadu Legal Services Authority. The next hearing is on June 3. Kesavan spoke to A Ganesh Nadar/Rediff.com about the issue. What is the source of your information about the deaths in the prisons of Tamil Nadu? I got the information through a Right to Information petition. Based on that report I filed the PIL. Could you give us some numbers? I have the numbers of people who died in prisons since the year 2000. It is as under: 2000 : 69 deaths; : 69 deaths; 2001 : 76; : 76; 2002 : 90; : 90; 2003 : 107 : 107 2004 : 104; : 104; 2005 : 103; : 103; 2006 : 116; : 116; 2007 : 78; : 78; 2008 : 74; : 74; 2009 : 65; : 65; 2010 : 79; : 79; 2011 : 64; : 64; 2012 : 62; : 62; 2013: 75. Doesn't every prison have doctors? Doctors are sanctioned for every prison. Every prison has two doctors, one psychologist, one pharmacist and staff nurses, both male and female. But these are not enough. In 2008 the National Human Rights Commission came out with a modern prison manual. It says for medical care the central prisons should have one chief medical officer who is an MD. He should have seven assistant surgeons along with six staff nurses and six regular nurses. There should be three lab technicians and 1 pharmacist. There should be two psychiatrist counselors with one assistant. There should also be five specialists in general surgery, orthopedics, dermatology, gynecology and dentistry. What compensation is the family entitled to when a prisoner dies in custody? Does it apply when the death is natural? Natural deaths are not entitled to compensation. When the death is due to negligence, then the government gives Rs 1 lakh (Rs 100,000) as compensation. What is the procedure that the jail authorities have to follow when a prisoner dies in custody? They have to follow the procedure laid down under Section 176 (1-A) of the CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code). A magisterial inquiry has to be conducted. The report has to be sent to the government. Then action has to be taken according to that report. So far compensation has ranged from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh (Rs 500,000). This is paid from the collector's fund. They can recover the money from the prison officials also. Out of 137 prisoners who died in custody in 2012-2013, only three have received compensation. How much compensation did they get? What about the rest? Three were paid Rs 1 lakh each and 22 are said to be natural deaths. They are waiting for the collector's report in 110 cases. Does the family get compensation automatically or do they have to claim it? Compensation is decided by the government. The family cannot claim compensation unless the death is suspicious and responsibility is fixed. What is the main reason according to you for prisoners dying in custody? The main reason is trust. Officials do not trust the prisoners. When a prisoner is sick and he says so, officials do not believe him. In the case of a heart attack, timely help is not provided. They send the prisoner to a hospital in an ambulance without a doctor accompanying them. Doctors should be available in the prison at all times. Ten Indian-Americans are among 21 people arrested as part of a sting operation in which a fake university was created by the United States authorities to expose a visa scam that allowed more than 1,000 foreigners to maintain student and work visas. In a nationwide sweep federal authorities arrested 21 people in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Virginia. These defendants arranged to obtain visas by having individuals enroll in a fake university. Unfortunately for them, the fake university was run by undercover agents of the Department of Homeland Security, Paul J Fishman, US attorney for New Jersey, told reporters. The arrested people were brokers, recruiters and employers who unlawfully and fraudulently obtained or attempted to obtain student visas and foreign worker visas for approximately 1,000 foreign nationals from 26 countries. It is learnt that a large number of students who received necessary visa and permits to work in the US as a result of the sting operation for which they reportedly paid huge sums of money are from India. Officials, however, did not give the number of Indian students who were trapped by this year-long sting operation done by immigration and law enforcement authorities. While the US government did not reveal the nationality of the arrested people, names released by authorities indicate that 10 of them are either Indians or of Indian-origin. These people arrested for their involvement in an alleged scheme to enrol foreign nationals as students in the University of Northern New Jersey, a purported for-profit college located in Cranford, New Jersey. Unbeknownst to the defendants and the foreign nationals they conspired with, the UNNJ was created in September 2013 by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations. Pay-to-Stay schemes not only damage our perception of legitimate student and foreign worker visa programmes, they also pose a very real threat to national security, Fishman said. The HIS sting investigation was carried out to unearth the unauthorised networks and educational institutions that are nothing more than sham visa mills, he said, adding that these educational institutions have no curriculum, no classes, no instructors and no real students. These purported schools and their corrupt administrators simply give out I-20 forms in exchange for payment, he said. Kamla Advani, wife of veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani, who remained out of politics but was often seen with him in public during his long political journey, died in New Delhi on Wednesday following cardiac arrest. Kamla, 83, who leaves a son and a daughter besides Advani, complained of uneasiness and breathlessness in the evening and was rushed to the AIIMS where doctors tried to revive her but in vain. She was suffering from age-related problems for some time and was on wheelchair for the last few months, family sources said, adding she was also suffering from memory loss. Advani, who was besides her when she breathed her last, often found support from her during the ups and down of his long political career. An AIIMS statement said, "Kamla Advani, wife of L K Advani, was brought to the main casualty, AIIMS at 5.10 PM in a very serious unconscious and unresponsive condition. Immediate evaluation revealed the patient to be in cardiopulmonary arrest." It said immediate resuscitation measures were provided by a team of doctors. "However, despite 60 minutes of intensive efforts she could not be revived and was declared dead at 6.10 pm," the statement said. AIIMS Director M C Mishra said, "she was pulseless, her blood pressure was not recordable and she was unresponsive. Resuscitative measures were put in place and after about an hour she was declared dead." The body was brought home late in the night and political leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, made their visit to pay their last respects. The cremation is likely to take place on Thursday. Kamla accompanied Advani during his famous and strenuous long 'rath yatra' in the late eighties and 90s that pitchforked BJP as the other pole in Indian politics and later during the "Shining India" campaign as Deputy Prime Minister in the Vajpayee government. Married in 1965, the couple celebrated their 50th marriage anniversary at a private function at their Prithviraj Road residence with family and close friends. As a constant companion in Advani's political activities, BJP leaders deferred to her as an elder figure. She was a social worker and had worked at the General Post Office. President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of leaders including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP President Amit Shah condoled her demise. Offering his condolences, President Pranab Mukherjee said, "Kamla Advani was soft, cultured and left a lasting impression on whomsoever she met. I fondly recall many visits of Kamla Advani to Rashtrapati Bhavan accompanying Advanji and her endearing presence. Heartfelt condolences on the passing away of Smt Kamla Advani, wife of Shri Lal Krishna Advani." Recalling his interactions with Kamla Advani, the Prime Minister said he was deeply pained by her demise and said his thoughts are with the Advani family in this hour of grief. "Deeply pained and saddened by Kamla Advani ji's demise. She always inspired and motivated Karyakartas and was LK Advani ji's pillar of strength," he tweeted. Shah said, "Deeply saddened by the demise of Kamla Advani ji. My heartfelt condolences to Advani family, May God give strength to bear the great pain." Expressing grief and sorrow, Gandhi said she shares the pain caused by their loss and prayed for the departed soul. RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale said, "Saddened by the demise of Kamla Advani. She lived an ideal life by Advaniji's side & an affectionate Mata to all of us thru her hospitality." Expressing his condolences, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi said, "My sincere condolences to Advaniji on the passing away of his wife Kamla Advani. My prayers are with him&his family in this time of grief." Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Sadananda Gowda, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar, were among the many who expressed grief and sorrow over her death. A public interest litigation was filed on Wednesday in the Patna high court challenging the Bihar governments decision to clamp total ban on sale and consumption of alcohol in the state. An ex-serviceman A N Singh filed the PIL in the Patna high court, a day after the Nitish Kumar ministry declared Bihar a total dry state. The petition contended that the state governments decision violated human rights of a citizen about what to eat and drink. The writ described the penal provision in the Amended Exise Act of Bihar, which was passed in the state legislative assembly on March 31 last, as draconian, arbitrary and malafide as it violated Article 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. The date for hearing the petition has not yet been fixed. The petition came a day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the state cabinets decision to impose total ban on sale and consumption of liquor including Indian Made Foreign Liquor in the state with immediate effect. The Bihar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of IMFL in towns and cities. But, the tremendous response of people, particularly women and children against liquor in Patna and other towns in a short period of four days, only convinced us that a conducive environment against alcohol has been created in the state and thats why we decided to go for a total ban on liquor after four days only, Kumar had said on Tuesday. The Army cantonment areas have been kept out of the ban order. On toddy, the state cabinet decided to strictly impose the 1991 guidelines which prohibit sale of toddy within 50 metre of places like hospital, education institutions, religious places among others in towns and 100 metres radius in rural areas. The 1991 guidelines also prohibit opening of toddy shops at bazar haat, entrance point of such haat and densely populated areas in villages among others. This weeks collection of unbelievably unusual images from across the world A woman uses one hand to unbutton models' bras during a competition at a shopping mall in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China. The shopping mall held a competition that let customers unbutton models' bras with one hand to celebrate the Women's Day in Liuzhou. A woman spent about 14 seconds unbuttoning 6 bras and won the competition. Photograph: ChinaFotoPress/ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images Villagers gather to watch two sheep fighting in a competition during a temple fair at Lihejing Village in Hua County, Henan Province of China. Every year, people hold various folk activities during the temple fair in this village to pray for a good harvest. Photograph: VCG/Getty Images A mural of 'Kanye West Kissing Kanye West' by artist Scott Marsh is seen on Teggs Lane, Chippendale in Sydney, Australia. The artist and the mural has received worldwide attention, with the artist claiming that he has been offered money to paint over the work. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images Villagers catch ducks as they celebrate a traditional festival of ethnic Miao, in Jianhe, Guizhou Province, China. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters Cosplayers attend Day 3 of Wondercon 2016 at Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Freddy Nock of Switzerland walks on a tightrope during a competition in Wulong county, Chongqing, China. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters A dog is seen in front of the head of a Sphinx replica, removed from its body, at a theme park which is also a location for the production of movies, television shows and animation shows, on the outskirts of Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, China. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters Factoria Teatro company member Teresa Espejo performs a piece from one of Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes' Exemplary Novels during the 'Night of Theatres' cultural event in Madrid, Spain. Three members of the Factoria Teatro theatre group performed parts of 'The Spanish-English Lady' for passengers on the metro as a tribute to Miguel de Cervantes on the 4th centenary of his death. Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters In a shocking incident, an 18-year-old boy on scooter was crushed to death by a speeding truck which dragged him for around eight kilometers, while two of the victims friends, who clung to the dumper making desperate pleas to the driver to stop, were attacked with rod by his helper. The incident occurred in the wee hours on Tuesday in southeast Delhis Lajpat Nagar area and the errant dumper was flagged down at a picket near AurobindoCollege after a chase following which the body of the victim, identified as Fawad Ahamd, was pulled out, police said on Wednesday. Ahmad, a waiter by profession, was on his scooter with two of his friends riding pillion driving past Lajpat Nagar in the wee hours on Tuesday when the speeding truck hit them from behind, a police official said. However, the driver did not stop after the collision and accelerated the vehicle, with Ahmads body and the broken scooter stuck in the vehicles suspension. Meanwhile, Ahmads friend Gaurav and Shivam managed to grab railings on two different sides of the vehicle and clung on to the speeding truck, pleading the driver to stop, the official said. While the driver, identified as Abdul Gaffur, refused to do so, his helper, Saikulliya, allegedly kept hitting the hanging duo with a rod until they managed to get rid of them at a spot in August Kranti Marg. It was a passerby, a 34-year-old electrician who was heading back home, who witnessed the episode and called up the police, the official said. The PCR call was received around 2.20 am, following which a team from Lajpat Nagar police station chased the truck. When they did not succeed, the message was passed on to a PCR team deployed in August Kranti Marg and the chase continued. The truck was finally flagged down at a police picket near Aurobindo College in south Delhis Malviya Nagar area, around 8 km away from the spot of the accident. Ahmads body was spotted and soon pulled out. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, the official added. We have arrested four persons under relevant sections of law in connection with the incident, deputy commissioner of police (Southeast) M S Randhawa said. The arrested persons include the errant driver and helper of the truck which hit Ahmad's scooter and also the driver and helper of the truck following the vehicle. They worked for the same construction enterprise and tried to evade arrest. A police team had signalled the other truck to stop, but they disobeyed. Both trucks have been impounded, an official said. He said both the trucks also allegedly tried to obstruct the electrician who chased the accused for around 2 km and also informed the police. Image used for representational purpose only. 'We must delink religion from politics' 'Leaders with vested interests have brought religion into politics.' Netaji's grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, the BJP candidate against Mamata Banerjee, on the campaign trail. Ishita Ayan Dutt reports. 'Hamidi Hotel -- No Beef,' reads the signboard on the blue-green wall of a corner building in the modest locality of Alipore in the southern part of Kolkata. A few feet away, Bharatiya Janata Party workers are starting to assemble for their star candidate Chandra Kumar Bose's election campaign. Many of them have come with placards that carry black and white photographs of Subhas Chandra Bose. The message is loud and clear: The candidate is part of a legacy that is impossible to ignore. Bose is the grandnephew of West Bengal's most celebrated son, freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose. His grandfather Sarat Chandra Bose was Netaji's elder brother. The irony of the location from where he has chosen to start his day's campaign is, however, hard to miss. Much before the sedition charges against student leader Kanhaiya Kumar occupied mind space, beef had made an entry into political discourse, with right-wing activists resorting to extremities even on remote suspicion of cattle trade or cattle slaughter. The sign on the Hamidi Hotel is an indication of the 'safety' measures such incidents have forced upon establishments such as this one. But Bose, among the newest entrants into BJP, does not subscribe to such views. His idea of the BJP is far removed from the dogmas associated with it. "Religion is a personal issue and should not be mixed with politics," he says. "No leader or party should advice on what we eat in our house." With no political experience, not even in student politics, which is vibrant in the state, Bose has a tough challenge ahead. At 55, not only is he making his first foray into politics as the BJP candidate from the Bhawanipur assembly constituency, he is also contesting against two political heavyweights: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and Congress leader Deepa Dasmunsi. But the BJP is hoping that his family name -- and the unmistakable resemblance he bears to his legendary granduncle -- will see him through. As his election procession, which includes 50 to 60 of his supporters, moves through Alipore, shouting slogans against corruption and drawing attention to the Narada sting operation in which ministers and lawmakers of West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress are seen allegedly accepting cash, people step up to meet him. He greets them politely, with his hands folded and a smile on his face. In the impromptu addas that spring up around him on the streets, the chatter centres around the need for a strong Opposition, something that has been missing in West Bengal for the last five years. However, while there is a lot of interest around him, few people appear confident of Bose's chances in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state. Bablu, who has been serving tea from his famous stall in Gopalnagar for the last three decades, says: "This used to be a Congress bastion. Now it is Trinamool Congress." This time, he says, all three candidates are heavyweights, but he refuses to pick the one he is most confident about. "The fight," says Mohammed Salim of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, "will be between Banerjee and Dasmunsi. Bose has no political experience. A Netaji connection alone cannot win him an election." Dasmunsi, he adds, also has the backing of the Left given that the Congress and the Left are fighting this election together. Dressed in a white kurta with the BJP's election symbol, the lotus, printed on it and an orange sash (with the lotus and BJP stamped on it) draped around his neck, Bose hardly looks like an entrepreneur who has been running a human resource and skill development consultancy firm -- Bose Information Technology -- for the last 16 years. Bose studied economics at Hendon College, London, and then joined the Tata Management Training Centre in Jamshedpur. He later returned to Kolkata as a marketing executive with Tata Steel and was the sales manager for it for 18 years before he set up his company. He says his wife will run the company once he gets busy with politics. Though he is a first-time politician, politics, he says, was never far from his mind. "I was thinking of forming my own political party, the Azad Hind Party, but it is not easy," he says. "There are 1,600 parties already out there. Mine would have been the 1,601th." Besides, he adds, when someone forms a political party, the first people who come to join it are the goons. "How would I do the screening (to keep them out)? I do corporate recruitment, not political recruitment." But why the BJP? It had to be a national party, he says, because Netaji is a national icon. "The Congress had expelled him, so it was a no-no. Although the Forward Bloc was his party, it drifted from Netaji's ideologies," he reasons. Much before he was pictured with Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting for the declassification of the files related to Subhas Chandra Bose, he had already been trying to convince the BJP about joining the party. "It took some time. There were hiccups," he says, adding, "Modi is a very tall leader, very inclusive in his attitude." Drawing a parallel between his granduncle and Modi, he says, "Many people say Netaji was a fascist, but he was a pragmatist. Modi is the pragmatist of the 21st century. I think he is willing to sacrifice his political ideology for development." Bose has his job cut out. "It is my job to see that the BJP evolves into an absolute secular party. We must delink religion from politics," he says, "Leaders with vested interests have brought religion into politics." The communal image of the BJP, he says, is the creation of the Opposition. It is the Congress, he adds, that brought religion into politics. He also accuses Banerjee of playing religion into politics. "The appeasement of both the majority and the minority are communal actions," he says. Bengal has a 27 per cent Muslim population and Banerjee realises that this sizeable number cannot be ignored. In the past five years, allocation for minorities has increased manifold. Banerjee, however, remains a formidable force in the state. Does Bose think he can beat her? "Yes, I can win," he says. His argument is that Banerjee's job was done with the removal of the Left; she has nothing more to offer. "After winning an election, the responsibility of the government is to govern," he says. The Left Front was here for 34 years. "But does that mean it was great at governance? No, say the people, and yet it won elections." Banerjee too has mastered the art of winning elections, he says. "But her contribution ends with winning elections. Besides painting the city blue and white and lighting it up as though every day is Diwali, what more has she done?" Bose could also derive comfort from the BJP's performance in the Kolkata municipal elections last year, when the party managed to defeat the sitting councillor from Trinamool in Ward No 70, which is part of the Bhawanipur assembly constituency. Whatever be Bose's contention, pollsters predict in Banerjee's favour. A recent ABP Ananda-The Nielsen Company poll survey stated that Banerjee would win. Would Bose then contest the Lok Sabha elections if he lost? "I was more interested in the Lok Sabha elections, because that would have given me time," he says. "But the party thought I should contest this time and I agreed." "It wasn't my idea to contest against Banerjee," he says, quickly adding, "Even if I win, I could contest in the 2019 general elections." He might be a late entrant into politics, but Bose makes it clear that he is here to stay. IMAGE: Chandra Bose during a campaign rally in Kolkata. Photograph: PTI UN refugee agency warns of spike in asylum-seekers fleeing violence in Central America Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as UN News Service, UN refugee agency warns of spike in asylum-seekers fleeing violence in Central America, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704b49c40d.html [accessed 23 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. 5 April 2016 - The number of people fleeing violence in Central America has surged to levels not seen since the region was wracked by armed conflicts in the 1980s, the UN refugee agency warned today, urging action to ensure that unaccompanied children and others receive the protection which they are entitled to. Last year alone 3,423 people, most of them from El Salvador and Honduras, sought asylum in Mexico, up 164 per cent from 2013 and 65 per cent from 2014, spokesperson Adrian Edwards of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva. "UNHCR considers the current situation in Central America to be a protection crisis," he said, expressing particular concern about the rising numbers of unaccompanied children and women on the run who face forced recruitment into criminal gangs, sexual- and gender-based violence and murder. Mexico currently hosts 3,448 refugees, the majority of them from Central America. Costa Rica today hosts 3,616 refugees, mainly people from El Salvador. Costa Rica registered 2,203 asylum claims in 2015, up 176 per cent from 2013 and 16 per cent from 2014. In Belize, where the population is less than 400,000, 633 people sought asylum in 2015, a 10-fold increase over 2014. Nicaragua and Panama are also seeing similar sharp increases in asylum requests from people fleeing the Northern Triangle countries - El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. As in previous years, preliminary data from 2015 shows that the United States remains the main country receiving asylum applications from the Northern Triangle, on track to receive over 250 per cent more than in 2013 and almost twice the number of 2014, she said. Large-scale violence and persecution at the hands of armed criminal actors have now become, along with poverty and unemployment, primary drivers of refugee and migrant flows from the Northern Triangle, the spokesperson said. "This reality can be seen, for example, in El Salvador, which has the highest rate of homicides of any country in the world." The crisis in Central America urgently requires a stepped-up protection response and a regional approach to sharing responsibility for this growing crisis. UNHCR is working closely with the governments of the region and civil society partners to enhance screening capacity to identify people forced to flee violence and persecution in the Northern Triangle. Death penalty 2015: Facts and figures Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 6 April 2016 Cite as Amnesty International, Death penalty 2015: Facts and figures, 6 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704b5314.html [accessed 23 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. Global figures At least 1,634 people were executed in 25 countries in 2015. This represents a stark increase on the number of executions recorded I 2014 of more than 50%; in 2014 Amnesty International recorded 1,061 executions in 22 countries worldwide. This is the highest number of executions recorded in more than 25 years (since 1989). Most executions took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA in that order. China remained the world's top executioner but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as this data is considered a state secret; the figure of 1,634 excludes the thousands of executions believed to have been carried out in China. Excluding China, almost 90% of all executions took place in just three countries Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. During 2015, 25 countries, about one in 10 of all countries worldwide, are known to have carried out executions a rise from 22 in 2014. This number has decreased significantly from two decades ago (39 countries carried out executions in 1996). 140 countries worldwide, more than two-thirds, are abolitionist in law or practice. In 2015, four countries Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname abolished the death penalty for all crimes. In total, 102 countries have done so a majority of the world's states. In 2015, Mongolia also passed a new criminal code abolishing the death penalty which will come into effect later in 2016. Commutations or pardons of death sentences were recorded in 34 countries in 2015. At least 71 people who had been sentenced to death were exonerated in six countries in 2015: China (1), Egypt (1), Nigeria (41), Pakistan (at least 21), Taiwan (1) and USA (6). At least 1,998 death sentences were recorded in 61 countries in 2015, a decline from 2014 (at least 2,466 death sentences in 55 countries). At least 20,292 people were on death row at the end of 2015. The following methods of execution were used across the world: beheading, hanging, lethal injection and shooting. Reports indicated that at least nine people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were sentenced to death were executed in 2015 four in Iran and five in Pakistan. In many countries where people were sentenced to death or executed, the proceedings did not meet international fair trial standards. In some cases this included the extraction of 'confessions' through torture or other ill-treatment, including in Bahrain, China, Iran, Iraq, North Korea and Saudi Arabia. People continued to be sentenced to death and executed for offences that do not meet the "most serious crimes" threshold of "intentional killing" as set out in international law and standards. These offences included drug-related crimes in at least 12 countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as committing "adultery" (Maldives, Saudi Arabia), economic crimes (China, North Korea, Viet Nam), "apostasy" (Saudi Arabia) and "insulting the prophet of Islam" (Iran). Sub-Saharan Africa At least 43 executions were carried out in four countries compared to 46 executions in three countries in 2014. Death sentences fell sharply from 909 in 2014 to 443 in 2015, mainly due to a decrease in Nigeria. Chad, which had not executed anyone for more than a decade, resumed executions and put 10 people to death. The other three countries that carried out executions were Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Americas For the seventh consecutive year, the USA was the only country to carry out executions in the Americas region with, 28 people executed in 2015 (seven fewer than in 2014). This was the lowest number of executions recorded in a single year since 1991. Six states executed in 2015 compared to seven the previous year. The number of death sentences decreased from at least 72 in 2014 to 52 in 2015, the lowest number recorded since executions resumed in 1977. Only one other country in the region, Trinidad and Tobago, imposed death sentences in 2015. Asia-Pacific At least 367 executions were carried out in 12 countries a huge increase on the 32 executions in nine countries recorded in 2014, almost exclusively due to the rise in Pakistan. This figure does not include executions carried out in China, where executions were still in the thousands. . But the true extent of the use of the death penalty in China is unknown as data is treated as a state secret. Pakistan put 326 people to death in 2015 after the country lifted a six-year moratorium on the execution of civilians in December 2014, following the Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar. It is the highest number of executions Amnesty International has ever recorded for Pakistan. Indonesia carried out 14 executions for drug-related offences, the first executions under President Joko Widodo. It was impossible to confirm the real number of executions in North Korea. Europe and Central Asia Belarus - the only country in the region that executes did not put anyone to death in 2015 but imposed two death sentences (compared to three executions and no death sentences in 2014). Middle East and North Africa At least 1,196 executions were carried out in eight countries a rise of 26% from the 945 executions recorded in eight countries in 2014. Iran alone accounted for 82% of all recorded executions in the region. Saudi Arabia executed at least 158 people a 76% increase on 2014 and the highest number recorded for Saudi Arabia since 1995. Amnesty International could not confirm if executions took place in Syria. Copyright notice: Copyright Amnesty International Turkmenistan: No amnesty for prisoner of conscience, no reparations despite UN instruction Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Forum 18, Turkmenistan: No amnesty for prisoner of conscience, no reparations despite UN instruction, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704bd904.html [accessed 23 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. Jehovah's Witness prisoner of conscience Bahram Hemdemov was not freed in the February amnesty and an appeal on his behalf is now being prepared to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service. Despite rulings from the UN Committee in 2015 that the rights of four imprisoned Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors had been violated (both by their imprisonment and torture during their imprisonment), the Turkmenistan government has failed to expunge their criminal records, offered recompense or taken measures to prevent similar violations in future. No alternative to compulsory military service has been introduced. Pirnazar Hudainazarov, Chair of Parliament's Legislative Committee, refused absolutely to discuss this with Forum 18. At the labour camp at Seydi where Hemdemov is being held, Muslim prisoners are too afraid to attend the prison mosque for fear of being branded "Wahhabis" and sent for harsher punishment, a former prisoner told Forum 18. Djibouti clamps down on journalists in run-up to poll Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Djibouti clamps down on journalists in run-up to poll, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704be544.html [accessed 23 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. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns the arrest and expulsion of a BBC reporting team that went to Djibouti to cover the run-up to the 8 April presidential election, and points out that a democratic election cannot be held amid such a level of censorship. The BBC journalists, who included Africa security correspondent Tomi Oladipo, were arrested on 1 April and were detained for a total of 18 hours without being able to communicate with the outside world. After being questioned for eight hours, they were held overnight and were put on a flight out of the country the next morning. The journalists, who all had accreditation, were not told why they were arrested and expelled. The BBC's written request to the authorities for an explanation has so far gone unanswered. Before being arrested, the journalists had interviewed the foreign minister and an opposition candidate. "We are deeply shocked by the way Djibouti's authorities have treated duly accredited journalists," RSF said. "It is clear that the government wants to gag the media and prevent any independent coverage of the opposition. We therefore believe that the conditions necessary for a transparent and democratic election have not been satisfied." It is safe to assume that Djibouti's president for the past 17 years, Ismail Omar Guelleh, will win his bid for a fourth term. An opposition coalition called the Union of National Salvation (USN) has described the election as a "sham." The government has been clamping down hard on all forms of dissent for months, arresting opposition politicians, human rights defenders and journalists. RSF already condemned the harassment of journalists in January. Djibouti is ranked 170th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2015 World Press Freedom Index. Croatian culture minister's irresponsible comments Publisher Reporters Without Borders Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Reporters Without Borders, Croatian culture minister's irresponsible comments, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704be904.html [accessed 23 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. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns Croatian culture minister Zlatko Hasanbegovic's irresponsible statement about a physical attack on journalist and writer Ante Tomic at a literary festival in the city of Split. Hasanbegovic said he deplored "attacks on all citizens" but went on to lecture Tomic and implicitly blame him for the attack by urging him to weigh "the importance of responsibility for words spoken or written in public." It was the second time in three years that Tomic has been the target of a physical attack. "We find it disturbing that a government minister publicly justifies violence against a journalist," RSF editor-in-chief Aude Rossigneux said. "No piece of writing, no matter how irritating, can justify a physical attack against a reporter or media outlet. Freedom of expression is not limited to the freedom to reassure or please readers." RSF is concerned about the overall situation of the media in Croatia, where journalists are often the victims of harassment or violence, and where defamation, "humiliating" comments, and insulting "the Republic, its emblem, its anthem or its flag" are criminalized. The Truce that Never Was Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Author Bahja Muallem Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, The Truce that Never Was, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c0324.html [accessed 23 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 Sunday morning, December 20, 2015, Russian military aircraft committed a massacre in my beloved city Idlib. Various media outlets reported that more than eight air raids had targeted residential areas. Reports spoke of scores of killed, injured and missing people; many of them women and children. News channels broadcast harrowing images of civil defence teams searching for survivors underneath the rubble. The martyrs and wounded who were pulled out were sent to the few field hospitals in the city. The raids were carried out during a six-month UN brokered ceasefire covering Zabadani, Kafraya and Al-Fuah. This wasn't the first time the truce had been breached by Russian and government planes, but it was the bloodiest. The truce had encouraged people to return to their homes in Idlib and its countryside. Tired of being on the move, they came back seeking safety. Houses were once again inhabited, and markets once again packed with shoppers. But the truce had been violated with no regard for these people. Their homes were shelled, and their roofs collapsed on top of them. I followed the news on TV, the internet and social media pages that day. My heart broke over the fate of these innocent people. The footage I saw showed civil defence teams gathering body parts in bags to bury them in mass graves. These body parts belonged to the missing, whose families were probably still searching for them. I saw a video of a man carrying a baby who had died in his arms. The baby was covered in dust, he had been found under the wreckage of the Sharia court that received the lion's share of the shelling. I saw footage of wounded children who were screaming in pain, of a woman desperately searching for her loved ones, and of a martyred civil defence volunteer whose face was covered in blood. Everything I saw had that one thing in common: blood. It was everywhere. The stories I read on Facebook spoke of anguish. A friend of mine described what his mother had been through during the offensive. "My mother was about 25 metres away from the area that was being shelled. Shrapnel was flying around her so she recited shahada prayers over and over again, having surrendering her fate to God. "My mother is a pious woman, she did not want to be found by men lying injured or dead in the street. As the planes circled above her she ran to a building and took shelter in its basement. She could hear repeated explosions. She did not want to die alone. "She took out her mobile phone and typed a short farewell message to us. She knew she wouldn't be able to send it as there was no network coverage in the basement, but she hoped we would find it and read it if she died. "When my mother told me all this I wept. I felt helpless. All I could do was pray for a lasting truce that would spare our mothers the agony of waiting for the death that each breach brought us." That is what women are like in my country. They are virtuous and selfless. When facing death their main concern is to find shelter not out of fear but so their bodies will not be exposed and so they can send a farewell message to their loved ones. Another friend of mine posted a picture of his two year-old son on Facebook. He asked people to pray for his baby whose mother had been martyred during the attack. The child too had sustained serious injuries and doctors had been forced to remove his spleen. He needed God's mercy and our prayers. Throughout the day, civil defence teams continued to pull more martyrs and wounded from beneath the rubble. Ambulances rushed those with life-threatening injuries to the border, so they could be transferred to hospitals in Turkey. Throughout the day, Idlib's local coordination council posted the names of the martyrs on its page, mourning them one by one. This is how people live in Syria, and still many of them refuse to leave. All I can do is pray for them, and hope God will heed my prayers and keep them safe. Bahja Muallem is the pseudonym of a Damascus Bureau contributor from Idlib. The 22-year-old was arrested for filming and participating in anti-government protests. Bahja was forced to abandon her political science studies and seek refuge in Turkey along with her family. Read the Arabic version of this article here Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Armenia: Using Prisoners to Intimidate Rights Activists? Publisher EurasiaNet Author Marianna Grigoryan Publication Date 8 March 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Armenia: Using Prisoners to Intimidate Rights Activists?, 8 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c13d4.html [accessed 23 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. In an earlier age, dissidents and political activists could be treated somewhat like royalty by fellow inmates when they were locked up. Not any more in Armenia. Some prominent government critics openly worry that they will be targeted for abuse if they ever find themselves behind bars. The abuse of inmates in prisons is a long-time issue in Armenia, and across the former Soviet Union. And violence can involve all segments of the prison population, not just those jailed for what could be described as political reasons. Yet some prominent rights activists contend that those who advocate policies and positions that run counter to government stances now face new threats. According to Armenian Helsinki Commission Chairperson Avetik Ishkhanian, "the situation [in Armenia's prisons] has gone from bad to worse." Activists imprisoned during the politically tumultuous 1990s could find "a special positive attitude" among other prisoners toward them for opposing the government. Now, Ishkhanian alleged, "criminal figures are used to [exert] pressure on those with [anti-government] political views." "None of us [government watchdogs] has a guarantee that we will not get arrested and abused in prisons," said Artur Sakunts, the head of the Vanadzor office of the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly, and a sometimes vocal critic of President Serzh Sargsyan's administration. "This is a challenge for the general public." In its 2015-2016 country report, Amnesty International described prison abuse as a significant issue. "Torture and other ill-treatment in police custody and in prisons, as well as impunity for the perpetrators, remained a concern," the London-based organization wrote, citing Armenian human rights organizations. The US State Department raised more specific concerns, identifying a problem area in its latest human rights report concerning "abuse and discrimination" against LGBT Armenians in prisons and the military. Sakunts said that many Armenians who have experienced abuse in prison - uniformly men - prefer to stay silent about their experiences. In Armenia's macho culture, some are ashamed since they think others could interpret abuse as a sign of physical weakness; others fear retaliation, while still others believe that publicizing their experiences would serve no purpose. One well-known government critic, 59-year-old civil rights activist Vardges Gaspari, is bucking the general trend, and has gone public with claims of abuse. Since the 1980s, Gaspari has carried out numerous, one-man protests over perceived rights violations. He spent a year in jail for his alleged participation in the post-presidential-election violence in 2008 that left at least 10 people dead in Yerevan. He has also been involved in numerous court cases involving administrative infractions, such as disobeying a police order. On February 19, he was sentenced to a week in Yerevan's Nubarashen prison for not having shown up at a court hearing into an accusation that he had interfered with the work of an election commission. In protest, Gaspari refused food and water. Rather than being sent to a cell for hunger strikers, he claimed he was taken to a regular cell that was designed to accommodate numerous inmates. "There were five of us, which seemed suspicious to me because normally such cells are very crowded," he told EurasiaNet.org. Gaspari alleged that three of the prisoners "received orders on the phone" to force him to eat. Although the law prohibits prisoners to have mobile phones, they nonetheless exist, according to popular reports. "I was lying on my bed [and] they were kicking my hips and ribs, saying 'This is not a cell for a hunger strike. Get up, eat something!" Gaspari alleged that prison guards did not respond to his loud cries for help. When one guard finally inquired, the other prisoners said everything was fine, and so the guard went away, Gaspari said. Proving Gaspari's claims is no simple matter. No comprehensive monitoring mechanism exists. Volunteer monitors have visited Armenia's prisons about 30 times this year, according to one participant, but only make the trip when allegations of wrongdoing surface. Gaspari's own claims gained media attention when he was taken to a psychiatric hospital - another cause for a civil society outcry - and he detailed his experiences to his lawyer. The Ministry of Justice's Penitentiary Department on February 27 stated that an investigation did not substantiate Gaspari's claims of physical abuse and verbal humiliation. The department did not elaborate on how it made its determination. Activists and MPs who have visited Gaspari since the incident support his version of events. Although unable to prove anything, Gaspari's allegations have brought the question of prisoner-on-prisoner abuse into the open. Many human rights defenders say the claims are nothing new. Opposition activists Gevorg Safarian, jailed in December for allegedly fighting with Yerevan police, and Hayk Kyureghian, sentenced in September to nine years in prison for firing off an air gun to protest another activist's jailing, also both have alleged abuse by cellmates in Nubarashen prison. Armenia's group of volunteer prison monitors has gone to Nuburashen prison before to check on reports of abuse, said Robert Revazian, a lawyer for the Armenian Helsinki Commission. But they often have a hard time getting officials and inmates to speak openly. The fear of reprisals is prevalent. A prominent opposition MP, Nikol Pashinian, who spent over three years in prison for his alleged role in deadly clashes between opposition and police after the 2008 post-presidential-election violence, voiced doubt that existing problems can be solved with new legislation. "The problem is not in the legislation," said Pashinian, who claims that masked individuals beat him during his stint in prison. "The issue is that the criminal mentality [in the prison system] must be uprooted." Zhanna Alexanian, chair of Journalists for Human Rights, said that the persistence of complaints indicates that "abuse and pressure [against government critics] is encouraged at the state level." The head of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia's parliamentary faction, Vahram Baghdasarian, rejected Alexanian's claim as unfounded. "Such phenomena, which are much spoken about, do not exist, I assure you," Baghdasarian said. "There is much attention paid to all questions [raised about prison practices.] Our penitentiaries correspond to all standards." Editor's note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Georgia: Peacekeeping Missions in Need of Reform Publisher EurasiaNet Author Ryan McCarrel Publication Date 14 March 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Georgia: Peacekeeping Missions in Need of Reform, 14 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c2254.html [accessed 23 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. EurasiaNet Commentary Allegations that Georgian peacekeepers raped teenage girls while serving in the Central African Republic should force Tbilisi, as well as the European Union, to rethink training methods aimed at reducing the risk of sexual abuse by soldiers on peacekeeping missions. The UN announced January 28 that at least three girls between the ages of 14 and 16 told investigators that they had been raped in 2014 by Georgian peacekeepers stationed in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui. French soldiers also serving with the European Union Force, known as EUFOR, are alleged to have traded bottled water and cookies for sexual favors from a seven-year-old girl. With the accusations already two years old, getting to the bottom of what actually happened could prove complicated. The Georgian contingent completed its peacekeeping mission last year, and an independent review of the Central African Republic case found that the UN had bungled its internal investigation. Yet the claims add to mounting criticism that UN reforms to prevent sexual violence by peacekeepers are not working. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's annual report, released this month, stated that in 2015 there were 69 allegations of sexual abuse or exploitation made against peacekeepers during 10 different missions; this year, 25 allegations have surfaced since January, with several involving children, the Associated Press reported. The UN has pledged reforms to eradicate proven cases of sexual violence. But turning words into deeds has not been easy. Success requires regional security organizations, like EUFOR, and participating non-member states, like Georgia, not only to cooperate with the UN, but to lead the way in implementing reforms. Georgia itself has a vested interest in doing so. While the allegations against its peacekeepers remain unproven, they come at a particularly sensitive diplomatic moment for Tbilisi as it prepares for the July 8-9 North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Warsaw. Peacekeeping missions like the one in the Central African Republic have become a hallmark of Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration strategy. And officials in Tbilisi hope the Warsaw gathering will help Georgia move closer to its goal of becoming an alliance member. In responding to the UN allegations, Georgian officials have mostly emphasized the lack of proof against their troops, while stressing the Georgian military's largely positive track record in past peacekeeping missions. Georgia's Ministry of Defense has emphasized that the perpetrators would be "brought to justice," and that "it is unacceptable for the alleged actions of several individuals, in the event these are proven, to shame the image and prestige of the Georgian Armed Forces." Georgia's defense minister, Tina Khidasheli, underlined on February 27 that "it is a matter of dignity to wash this stain off the Georgian Army." Two days after the allegations surfaced, an anonymous Georgian soldier accused refugee women of trying to blackmail peacekeepers stationed in Bangui. He alleged to the popular weekly Kviris Palitra that a refugee had threatened to say that Georgian peacekeepers had raped her, if they did not give her money. The chief of the Georgian military's general staff, Major General Vakhtang Kapanadze, has also weighed in, stating matter-of-factly: "I believe my soldiers when they say they are not guilty." Nonetheless, Georgian officials are addressing the UN complaints: six Georgian officers responsible for overseeing peacekeeping missions have been suspended, pending the results of a probe, while a special investigative unit has been established. This is more than can be said about some other countries that have failed to respond to UN allegations of sexual abuse at all. From 2007-2014, the UN, according to its own data, received a disappointing response 45.8 percent of the time. Reform rather than reputation should be the primary concern of Georgia's Defense Ministry. The same holds true for the EU, which issued a press release the day the allegations were made public, but which has not followed up since then. Additional measures the Georgian Defense Ministry could implement include: integrating more women and gender officers into peacekeeping forces working with refugees; keeping open channels of communication with refugees; improving the training of peacekeepers on dealing with refugees and on the cultural nuances of the countries in which they are deployed; working with the UN to establish onsite military courts; and providing enhanced support to victims. The fact that French soldiers have also been accused on multiple occasions of sexual abuse confirms that this is not just a Georgian issue, or a UN issue, but an EU issue that requires system-wide reform. Prior to its one-year deployment to the Central African Republic in 2014, the Georgian contingent received little training from EUFOR on working with refugees. Nevertheless, they were made responsible for a rapidly escalating crisis at the M'Poko Airport near Bangui, where as many as 30,000 refugees had gathered. According to a Georgian officer, only one person in the contingent spoke French, making it difficult to communicate with the people they were meant to protect. EUFOR does supply an information card that defines sexual abuse and exploitation, and Georgian authorities provided a pre-deployment psychological briefing that included information on working with local populations. But more needs to be done. Shortcomings in existing training mechanisms cannot be an excuse for misconduct, but they should encourage Georgia and the EU to consider broader changes for future peacekeeping missions, aiming to prevent sexual exploitation in the first place. Editor's note: Ryan McCarrel is a PhD candidate in the School of Geography at University College Dublin. He writes extensively on international security and geopolitics. You can follow him on Twitter @ryanmccarrel. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Moldova: US Expanding Security Assistance as Local Support for NATO Dips Publisher Institute for War and Peace Reporting Publication Date 15 March 2016 Other Languages / Attachments Russian Cite as Institute for War and Peace Reporting, Moldova: US Expanding Security Assistance as Local Support for NATO Dips, 15 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c2694.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The United States is stepping up military cooperation with Moldova as part of a broader effort to push back against Russian aggression in Ukraine. But local enthusiasm for integration with the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization is plummeting. Widespread public disillusionment with Moldova's pro-Western government, fueled by officials' inability to contain rampant corruption, is a major cause for the lost faith in NATO's security umbrella. Anti-corruption protests now have the government in Chisinau on the defensive. A survey run by the Washington, DC-based International Republican Institute found that the number of pro-NATO Moldovans dropped from 31 percent of 1,500 respondents in September, 2014, to 19 percent in October last year, one month after anti-corruption protests began. The corruption issue has also dented public approval for Moldova's efforts to join the European Union. Support for the Atlantic alliance has continued to decline. In a survey in November last year, the bi-annual Barometer of Public Opinion, only 16 percent of 1,160 respondents stated that NATO membership "would be the best solution for ensuring the security of our country." Neutrality was preferred by 50 percent of respondents. Octavian Tacu, professor of history and international relations at the Free University of Moldova, attributes "this significant decrease" in support for NATO membership to "political instability and the crisis in the country." Cut adrift by international lenders, the Moldovan government is focused merely on surviving the corruption scandals and protesters' demands for change. Officials no longer have much time or the political will to "intensively" pursue ties with NATO, some observers say. Public attitudes are also being influenced by Russian media, which broadcasts programming that casts NATO in a derogatory light, claimed Elena Marzac, director of the NATO Information Centre in Chisinau. Against the backdrop of flagging support for Western integration, the United States has included Moldova in a $63-million regional program for 2016 to build "more formidable defense capabilities . . . against aggressive actions by Russia or from other sources." Areas targeted include "border security and air/maritime domain awareness, as well as building stronger institutional oversight" of defense ministries, according to the Pentagon. As part of the regional program, a 13-day-long military exercise involving 130 Moldovan and American troops began on March 6 near the Moldovan city of Balti, about 61 kilometers (38 miles) southeast of the Ukrainian border. A contingent of 18 unidentified senior American military officers also visited Moldova in February to discuss defense reform and possible contributions by the United States, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union and NATO. Meanwhile, during a February 8 visit to Brussels, Foreign Minister Andrei Galbur met with NATO Deputy Secretary-General Alexander Vershbow. The US Embassy did not respond to a EurasiaNet.org request for more details about bilateral military cooperation. Some young Moldovans, such as Constantine, a 23-year-old medical student in Chisinau, are wary of US security assistance. "Wherever the Americans have turned up with guns, they have left thousands of dead and wounded in different countries, on different continents," said Constantine, who declined to give his last name. "Is this the NATO that Moldova would like to join?" Representatives of the Communist and Socialist Parties, two key political forces driving the anti-corruption protest movement, filed a motion in parliament seeking the dismissal of Moldova's chief NATO backer, Defense Minister Anatol Salaru. The measure fell far short of adoption, garnering only 25 of 101 potential votes. In an interview with EurasiaNet.org, 54-year-old Salaru scoffed at NATO critics, stating that in "civilized countries" - code among Western-oriented individuals in the post-Soviet space for EU members and the United States - NATO is synonymous with security, safety and national defense. Salaru went on to note that Communist Party boss Vladimir Voronin, a former Moldovan president, frequently vacations at a Czech mineral-water spa. If Western values are so pernicious, Salaru quipped, Voronin ought to support his words with actions, and "instead go for two weeks to drink mineral water in Donbas and Lugansk [in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine] to see how good it is there." Current plans call for NATO to provide Moldova "with all necessary equipment," short of heavy weapons, Salaru added. Rebuilding public support for NATO will take time, observers say. Dionis Cenusa, a political analyst from Chisinau's non-profit think-tank, the Expert-Group, believes the only way to counter "the dominance of anti-NATO Russian rhetoric" is via "effective communication" that emphasizes the non-military, "practical help" that Moldova receives from NATO. An example of such assistance is a program that promotes the eradication of harmful agricultural pesticides. The NATO Information Centre's Marzac also advocates "national information campaigns" that draw support from academics, civil society, "opinion makers and political commentators." The United States shows no sign of letting its enthusiasm for Moldova flag. In March 7 comments to Defensenews.com, Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the commander of US Army Europe, said that military engineers will head to Moldova as the US looks "for ways to do more exercises in the southern flank of NATO." NATO likewise appears inclined to take the long view. "Time is on our side," the North Atlantic Alliance said in a March 4 statement. Mihai Gribincea - who served from 2010-2015 as Moldova's envoy to NATO, and who now is the country's ambassador to Romania - contends that the corruption issue should be separated from the security debate surrounding NATO. "NATO's support cannot be influenced by this 'cancer' of Moldovan society," asserted Gribincea, referring to corruption. "We must not get closer to NATO as mere consumers of security, but we have to be providers of stability in this region." Editor's note: The Barometer of Public Opinion in November received support from the Soros Foundation-Moldova, which is part of the Soros foundations network. EurasiaNet operates under the auspices of the Open Society Foundations in New York, a separate entity in the Soros network. Copyright notice: Institute for War & Peace Reporting Tajikistan: Banking Crisis Nears Cracking Point Publisher EurasiaNet Publication Date 16 March 2016 Other Languages / Attachments Russian Cite as EurasiaNet, Tajikistan: Banking Crisis Nears Cracking Point, 16 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c2d34.html [accessed 23 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. Tajikistan's banking system is edging closer to the precipice. Panic is spreading among customers at the country's second-largest private lender, which services swaths of government workers and employees at international organizations. Tojiksodirotbank's cash dispensers are running dry. Customers are signing up to waiting lists in their thousands to withdraw whatever money they can. People whose salaries are transferred through the bank have not been paid for three months. Firuze, a health worker with the state's National Medical Center, said that when she saw the waiting list for hopeful Tojiksodirotbank depositors awaiting consultations had reached 3,000, she decided to swallow the added fee of withdrawing her savings from another lender. "I am paid 50 somoni ($6.35) per shift, and I have four shifts per month. When I withdrew money from another bank, I was charged a 35 somoni commission. But nobody listens to our complaints," she told EurasiaNet.org. But now rival banks are balking at processing Tojiksodirotbank transactions, further sowing alarm. "My mother hasn't withdrawn cash for the last five years - she wanted to save up. She asked me to withdraw her money, but I only just about managed to get 500 somoni ($63.5). She'll have a heart attack if she finds out," said Sulton, a Dushanbe resident in his thirties. Because of the prevailing climate of state repression, many people prefer not to be identified for fear of retribution. On March 14, Tojiksodirotbank issued a statement that attributed interruptions in its services to a switchover in its money-processing system. "Short-term disruptions in the functioning of bank cards are possible. We apologize for the inconvenience," the statement said. But signs of an impending banking meltdown have been present for a long time and have been further confirmed by a flurry of engagements with international financial organizations. Warning signs were clear from an International Monetary Fund report issued in February following an exploratory visit to Tajikistan. "One large bank is already insolvent and another one fails to meet the prudential requirements. Under an adverse scenario the system-wide capital shortfall could be around 5 percent of gross domestic product. Banks are particularly sensitive to credit risk and market [exchange rate] risk, including via indirect credit risk from lending in foreign currency to unhedged borrowers," the IMF said in its report. Although the IMF did not mention the banks by name in its report, it is evident they were alluding to Tojiksodirotbank and Agroinvestbank. Authorities are appealing for help wherever they can get it, as they struggle to restore liquidity to the country's financial system. The Financial Times reported in February that Tajikistan is in talks with the IMF to try and secure a $500 million bailout. Jamoliddin Nurarliev, first deputy chairman of the National Bank and son-in-law of President Emomali Rahmon, told the FT that he believed that sum was "reasonable," although it is a sum more than three times greater than the $130.2 million that Tajikistan currently owes the IMF. Last week, the National Bank announced it was in talks with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) over the state of the banking system. Particular attention was devoted to the role of banks deemed crucial to Tajikistan's economy, including Tojiksodirotbank. "The EBRD welcomed Tojiksodirotbank's new strategy, which is aimed at increasing capitalization, bolstering growth and quality in credit for real sectors of the economy and attracting new foreign institutional investors into the [bank's] capital structure. The EBRD hopes that success in this process will open avenues for greater cooperation with Tojiksodirotbank," the National Bank said in a statement. The authorities already adopted special measures to rescue the country's other major lender, Agroinvestbank, back in November. Under a government plan, the bank proposes to claw back around 1.56 billion somoni (around $200 million) through the seizure of assets of delinquent debtors. The bank says it has stopped giving out loans worth more than 300 million somoni, and is no longer taking on clients with a negative credit history. In its most desperate cost-cutting measure, Agroinvestbank is scaling back expenses on fuel, furniture and stationery, among other items. The government also proposed cutting staff by 10 to 15 percent. It is far from certain that any asset-recovery exercise has a good chance of success. Agroinvestbank's dismal condition appears strongly correlated to an established practice of doling out risky and uncollateralized loans to cotton producers and other agricultural concerns. Some of those loan beneficiaries are known to have links to a Rahmon confidante and current head of Agroinvestbank, Muradali Alimardon. One of the main bodies charged with asset recovery process is the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, which is currently headed by Rahmon's eldest son and presumed heir, Rustam Emomali. Even the IMF's typically bland pronouncements evince anxiety over the issue of directed lending. "Assuming that nearly 50 percent of [Agroinvestbank's] loan book consists of nonperforming loans due to directed lending, this could have reduced annual gross domestic product growth by as much as one-quarter percentage points. And while the fiscal costs are also hard to measure, restructuring Agroinvestbank could require the injection of public funds in an amount equivalent to around 2.5 percent of gross domestic product," the IMF said in its recent report. Beyond recapitalizing at the state's expense, which does not appear an option given the disastrous state of its finances, IMF solutions for Agroinvestbank include placing the bank under temporary administration, or liquidating it. Compensating depositors would be the responsibility of the government, which is likely in no position at the moment to cover even a fraction of those costs. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Kyrgyzstan: Murky Deals Remain Norm in Parliament Publisher EurasiaNet Author Anna Lelik Publication Date 24 March 2016 Other Languages / Attachments Russian Cite as EurasiaNet, Kyrgyzstan: Murky Deals Remain Norm in Parliament, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c4084.html [accessed 23 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. In the months following the cleanest elections ever held in Kyrgyzstan, several elected deputies suddenly lost their seats, and, in the process, revealed the shadowy horse-trading that passes for politics in Central Asia's most lively parliament. Some gave up their seats for a quieter or perhaps more lucrative life. Others were squeezed out in a fashion that will rekindle cynicism about the inner doings of political parties. The parliamentary vote in October was meant to be a game-changer - a test of whether the country could hold a calm and fair contest at a time of peace. The vote in 2010 was held after the violent overthrow of a president, followed by the convulsion of ethnic unrest in southern Kyrgyzstan a few months later. Fourteen parties competed for the 120 seats in parliament this time around. Six parties made it into parliament. The Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan (SDPK), a force identified with President Almazbek Atambayev, led the pack. The other parties that got in were opposition-minded Respublika-Ata Jurt; the pro-government Kyrgyzstan party; the southern-focused Onuguu-Progress; Bir Bol, a patchwork party formed by veteran officials from earlier presidential administrations; and the left-of-center Ata Meken party, a long-time fixture on the Kyrgyz political scene. The smooth election drew plaudits from local and international observers alike. Atypically for the region, even the presidential SDPK only managed to garner 27 percent of the vote. And then members of parliament started dropping like flies. Before they could get down to work, 10 MPs abandoned their seats - some quietly, others forced out by legal proceedings and scandal. At least three deputies ditched parliament for their own reasons - odd timing considering how little time had passed since the election. In December, SDPK member Akylbek Sultanov resigned his mandate, ostensibly of his own volition, as did Bakyt Esenbaeva of Bir Bol in February. The most striking departure was that of Ata Meken deputy Joomart Saparbayev, who became the country's youngest legislator at the age of 25 after the elections in 2010. Saparbayev is credited with precipitating the resignation of then Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov in 2012 with his allegations of corrupt practices. Despite being a leading figure in Ata Meken's party list in the 2015 vote, Saparbayev shocked many by announcing that he was giving up politics to pursue business interests. Another two MPs left to take up positions in government. Arzybek Kojoshev from the Kyrgyzstan party abandoned his seat to take up a job as Economy Minister. Fellow party member Kanatbek Muratbekov took the helm at the State Ecology and Technical Inspection Agency. The biggest stink was caused in January, however, when the Central Election Commission stripped three MPs with the Kyrgyzstan party - Elmira Dzhumalieva, Cholpon Esenamanova and Urmat Ishenbekov - of their mandates. Election officials explained that the expulsions were implemented at the request of party leader Kanatbek Isaev, who stated in a letter on December 21 that the trio had declared their intent to quit the Kyrgyzstan faction. Rules stipulate that MPs can lose their seats should they quit their party grouping. Deputy Election Commission head Gulnara Dzhurabaeva told EurasiaNet.org earlier this month that she was still trying to clarify some issues around the purported resignations. "I did not see the originals myself. These were copies, and it was not even clear to whom the three letters were addressed; the name of the recipient was not given. The letters were typed out, while only the signatures were handwritten," Dzhurabaeva said. Except that at least one of the trio freely admits to signing the letter, although she argues that should not matter. Dzhumalieva said 160 candidates from her party signed pre-election resignation letters during a general meeting in a Bishkek restaurant two months before the vote. "We signed a statement to say that we would give up our mandates if we don't get enough votes. But there was no date on these letters, and since I was an MP in an earlier convocation, I stated that these letters had no legal effect", she told RFE/RL's Kyrgyz service, Radio Azattyk. Cholpon Sultanbekova, another member of the Kyrgyzstan party, told EurasiaNet.org that the pre-emptive resignations were part of the deal to be considered for the running. "Those who do not get enough votes cannot be a member of parliament if there are no voters behind them," Sultanbekova said. "The threshold was not met by these [three] MPs." This kind of arrangement makes a mockery of Kyrgyzstan's proportional system. Requiring candidates to deliver a certain number of votes from their home regions - typically around 5,000 apiece, according to cognoscenti of the scene - threatens in effect to create a majoritarian voting system by stealth. Dzhumalieva has since accused Isaev of "turning [his] party into a business." Isaev, meanwhile, stands by the validity of the resignation letters and suggests they be submitted for expert examination. And there is nothing to say more resignations could not follow. Political analyst Marat Kazakpayev told EurasiaNet.org that less powerful and influential MPs, which tend more often to be women, are typically the most vulnerable. And the concern is that corruption can come into play as parties seek replacements for deposed MPs. Parties publicly admit they have used unusual ways to oblige their candidates to leave if they do not get enough votes. Respublika-Ata Jurt filmed clips of their candidates reading vows. "If I break my oath, let God punish me and may I not see the happiness of my children," the Respublika-Ata Jurt vow reads in its conclusion. None of this comes as any surprise to seasoned observers. Political analyst Medet Tiulegenov said parties in Kyrgyzstan are best seen as short-term campaign machines which become active during the pre-election season but disintegrate as soon as parliament comes into session. "Four to five months have passed since the elections, and only now is the dust settling after these battles over who has a right to a seat," he told EurasiaNet.org. "There are many ambitious actors and each one of them is trying to get something for themselves." Tiulegenov said it is the voters that lose out in the end. "People vote for parties, but in fact they are voting for a particular person from that party. But as we see, these people do not always end up staying [in parliament]," he said. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Kazakhstan: Cafe Dispels Disability Stereotypes Publisher EurasiaNet Author Joanna Lillis Publication Date 29 March 2016 Other Languages / Attachments Russian Cite as EurasiaNet, Kazakhstan: Cafe Dispels Disability Stereotypes, 29 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c4894.html [accessed 23 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. Zhuldyz Abdykarimova is catching her breath after the lunchtime rush, wiping down tables in the small cafe where she works in a suburb of Almaty, Kazakhstan's commercial capital. Tucked into a low-rise apartment block, the eatery - with its menu offering standard Central Asian fare like noodles, dumplings and plov (meat and rice) - looks like any other eatery at the budget end of the market in the city. Yet this is a cafe with a difference. The staff, smartly kitted out in long black aprons and yellow tops, live with learning disabilities and mental disorders, groups that are largely invisible in Kazakhstan. "I work as a waitress, serving people... and I help in the dumpling shop. I like the job," said Abdykarimova, a vivacious 26-year-old with a ready laugh. "I've been taught a lot here." Like the other staff, before she got a job in this outlet, which is called simply Training Cafe, Abdykarimova was isolated from the wider community. Evidence shows that across much of the former Soviet world, institutionalization remains the norm for children identified as having cognitive or behavioral difficulties. Like many others, Abdykarimova spent virtually all her time within the four walls of the residential psychiatric institution where she lives, with no apparent prospect of ever finding employment outside. "I've never worked before," Abdykarimova told EurasiaNet.org. "I went to the institution straight from school." Kazakhstan is trying slowly but surely to shed itself of Soviet practices. "We have inherited Soviet punitive psychiatry, when all those who had psychiatric illnesses were sent straight behind bars," explained Anna Kudiyarova, director of the Almaty-based Psychoanalytic Institute for Central Asia. Training Cafe is the brainchild of this US-educated psychoanalyst, who is working to challenge stereotypes and prove that many people with learning disabilities and mental health problems can integrate and make a positive contribution in society. "What we're doing is called social inclusion. Our people are now part of society," Kudiyarova told EurasiaNet.org, in an interview in the spic-and-span cafe. "We want to show that this sort of model is realistic." Kudiyarova said the privacy concerns of those benefiting from the cafe initiative prevent her from speaking in detail about their individual issues, but she said that they range from people suffering from mental illness to those with developmental difficulties. There are some 200,000 people registered as suffering from chronic psychiatric disorders in Kazakhstan, according to figures cited in January. Not all live in the country's 53 psychiatric care institutions, but many are shut up for most or all of their lives. Often, children born with learning difficulties are given up at birth by parents who fear coping with raising the child in a society that stigmatizes those viewed as somehow different. "They were born, they were abandoned, they ended up in an orphanage [then] in a residential institution for people with chronic psychological disorders, and that was it - from there it was a direct road to the cemetery," Kudiyarova explained. "It's terrible." She and likeminded practitioners are pushing back against a system that they argue wastes human potential. "There are two important priorities: de-stigmatization and de-institutionalization," Kudiyarova explained. Although there is a long way to go, the government is on board with efforts to transform mental healthcare. Last year, Kazakhstan ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and helped 4,400 people with disabilities (physical and mental) find jobs. Last fall, Tamara Duysenova, the health minister, dropped by Training Cafe for lunch to signal Astana's support, and her ministry teamed up with civil society groups to hold public hearings on promoting social inclusion and combating stigma against people with mental disabilities. Often, those with disabilities can "realize their own potential, cope with ordinary real-life situations, work productively and fruitfully, and also make their contribution to the life of society," Bakhyt Tumenova, president of the Amansaulyk foundation specializing in healthcare issues, pointed out. Reform initiatives include attempts to reduce numbers in care facilities, or even abolish them altogether as some European countries have done. There are also moves to shift the emphasis in treatment away from brain-numbing sedatives toward therapeutic treatments. Shocking revelations that emerged from one Almaty psychiatric institution last year demonstrated the need for reform. After a whistleblower went public with corruption allegations, claiming institution bosses were siphoning off state funds and inmates' welfare benefits, complaints about inhumane treatment, including physical abuse, flooded the media. Opened last summer under the slogan Different But Equal and now employing 40 people, Training Cafe has emerged as a symbol of pride for those striving to break the mold of Soviet-style care. Training Cafe it is not yet breaking even, let alone turning a profit. It survives on grants from the Eurasia Foundation of Central Asia and Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan. [Editor's Note: SFK is part of the Soros Foundations Network. EurasiaNet.org operates under the auspices of the Open Society Foundations, a separate entity in the network.] The cafe also collects private donations, raised via a savvy social media strategy, and gets some support from the local government, which pays psychologists' salaries and has funded disability-friendly renovations. In addition, Training Cafe has opened a soup kitchen, sustained by private donations, dishing out 65 free meals a day to the elderly and homeless. "I'm all alone and I can't cook for myself," said Margarita Petrovna, a frail 81-year-old queuing up in the snow for the daily distribution. "This is like a magic wand for me." Recast as givers rather than takers, Training Cafe's staff have "responded really well" to assisting others in vulnerable segments of society, said Rasima Temerbayeva, the psychologist who dreamed up the initiative. "It's aroused their compassion." Equipped with new skills, some are now setting their sights on using their experience as a stepping stone into the wider world. Kayrat Sarsenbiyev, 25 - whose jokes keep his colleagues amused as they bustle about their work - has already moved out of his institution into the home of a local family. "Home is better," he said, quipping that his colleagues will not get rid of him so easily at work. Abdykarimova is also looking to the future. "I want to work here, but I also want to be independent," she mused. "I'd like to be a manager. The main thing is to learn." Editor's note: Joanna Lillis is a freelance writer who specializes in Central Asia. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Azerbaijan, Armenian-Backed Separatists Agree Karabakh CeaseFire Publisher EurasiaNet Publication Date 5 April 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Azerbaijan, Armenian-Backed Separatists Agree Karabakh CeaseFire, 5 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c6fe4.html [accessed 23 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. Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists in its breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh say they have reached a cease-fire to halt the deadliest flare-up over that mountainous South Caucasus enclave in decades. The apparent breakthrough comes with increasingly strident international calls for restraint between forces loyal to regional archenemies Azerbaijan and Armenia, which have been locked in conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh since the waning years of the Soviet Union. A spokesman for the Armenian-backed Nagorno-Karabakh separatist forces, Senor Hasratyan, told RFE/RL's Armenian Service on April 5 that the mutual agreement called for an end to fighting from 12 p.m. local time (0800 GMT). The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry then confirmed that military operations had been stopped along the "line of contact" that effectively serves as a front line separating the combatant sides. The latest outbreak of violence -- the worst since the mid-1990s -- began early on April 2 and involved tanks, helicopters, and artillery. In a statement, representatives of the so-called Minsk Group of mediators in the conflict -- France, Russia, and the United States -- urged the sides to stop fighting, saying there is no military solution to the conflict. They also called for "an immediate negotiation" on a comprehensive settlement. "The negotiations have brought no results, but we are still prepared for the negotiating process," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said. Earlier in Paris, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the co-chairs of the Minsk Group -- France, Russia, and the United States -- would send envoys to Azerbaijan, Armenia, and to Nagorno-Karabakh in a bid to resolve the crisis. Ayrault was speaking after talks with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) would send a fact-finding mission to Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Populated mainly by ethnic Armenians and with many ethnic Azerbaijanis having already fled, the territory declared independence from Azerbaijan in a 1988-94 war that claimed an estimated 30,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Each side reported new casualties on April 5 as the death toll from four days of fighting rose above 40, with one estimate as high as 64 killed. Azerbaijan has reported 16 combat deaths, while the Karabakh military said 20 of its servicemen had died. The Armenian Defense Ministry later announced that seven people were killed in an Azerbaijani drone attack on a bus carrying volunteers to the disputed region. Azerbaijan also reported civilian deaths, including at least four overnight. The destruction of heavy military equipment has been claimed by both sides. Each side accused the other of escalating the violence as the West, Russia, and neighbor Iran appealed to all sides for restraint. On April 4, Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov warned that Baku's forces would begin an artillery barrage on Stepanakert, which has around 50,000 residents, if Armenian forces did "not stop shelling our settlements." The defense forces of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic promised a "very painful" response. They also said Azerbaijan "had been increasing the caliber of its weapons day by day," and had used Smerch multiple-launch rocket systems to shell civilian settlements and military targets. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry on April 5 denied having targeted civilians and a spokesman said that while Baku's forces had Smerches, they hadn't used them "so far." Baku also said the Armenians were using large-caliber machine guns and 120-millimeter mortars overnight. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian warned on April 4 that a further escalation of the fighting would be fraught with "unpredictable and irreversible consequences, including a full-scale war." Armenian foe and NATO member Turkey waded in on April 5 to say it was "standing side-by-side with our brothers in Azerbaijan." "This persecution will not continue forever," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. "Karabakh will one day return to its original owner. It will be Azerbaijan's." Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned what he described as Armenian attacks in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and vowed Ankara would stand by Azerbaijan. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed serious concern over an escalation in the standoff and called for a swift cessation in fighting. U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said via Twitter he had told Sarkisian and the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, that "a comprehensive settlement in Nagorno-Karabakh is critical for their stability, security, prosperity." With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani services, AFP, AP, Interfax, and Reuters. Editor's note: Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Can Karabakh Pull Back from the Brink? Publisher EurasiaNet Author Marianna Grigoryan and Durna Safarova Publication Date 4 April 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Can Karabakh Pull Back from the Brink?, 4 April 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c7b24.html [accessed 23 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. After a long simmer, the Nagorno-Karabakh war has once again boiled over. And turning off the heat at this point may not be so easy. Three days of fighting have left dozens dead and dozens more wounded. It marks the bloodiest combat between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces since the signing of a ceasefire agreement in 1994. International mediators for the OSCE Minsk Group - which is led by the United States, France and Russia, and is responsible for trying to broker a lasting Karabakh peace settlement - were scheduled to convene April 5 in Vienna to discuss responses to the renewed fighting. The situation all along the so-called contact line, the boundary separating Armenian and Azerbaijani forces since 1994, remains fluid, with details concerning casualties and territories changing hands impossible to independently verify. In the early evening of April 4, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry claimed their forces had "neutralized up to 170 Armenian servicemen and 12 armored vehicles" in combat throughout the day. According to Armenian official sources, the three days of fighting have left 20 Armenian soldiers killed in action, 76 wounded and 26 missing. There are also numerous reports of civilian casualties, including an alleged massacre of several elderly Armenian residents of the border town of Talish. In addition, a funeral was held April 4 in the village of Her-Her for 12-year-old Vaghinak Grigoryan, who died while reportedly heading to school. The explosion of violence on April 2 followed a prolonged period of escalating tension along the frontlines, including frequent firefights and occasional casualties. For the past several years, experts have warned about the rising chances of renewed warfare. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry stated all of the country's positions along the frontline had experienced heavy shelling over the weekend. The tensest areas were Aghdere, Tartar, Aghdam, Khojavend, and Fuzuli, according to military officials. Thousands of Azerbaijani citizens living near the contact line have been evacuated to towns farther away. One evacuee was 36-year-old Ulviyya Aliyeva, who was at home in the village of Azad Karakoyunlu in Tartar District when the fighting erupted. When the fighting started, several families gathered in a house that they believed to be out of the line of fire. But Aliyeva reported being wounded by an explosion that shattered windows and sent shards of glass flying about the room in which she was sheltering. "We would have all been blown up if the bomb fell a meter closer. Shrapnel made holes in the walls. The ceiling is shattered as well," Aliyeva told EurasiaNet.org on April 4. Male villagers have remained in the town to help with defense efforts. Women and children have been removed from Azad Karakoyunlu, she said. "We are now in the neighboring village, but you can still hear the sound of shooting from here," she added. The fighting erupted while both Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Armenian counterpart Serzh Sargsyan were in Washington, DC, attending a March 31-April 1 Nuclear Security Summit. This fact prompted some observers in Baku to suspect Russia of stoking the conflict as a means of reasserting its geopolitical primacy in the region. "Whenever Azerbaijan takes a step towards the West, Russia shows itself. It happened right after the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan held meetings with US officials," political analyst Zardusht Alizade. Stirring up hostilities could be Russian President Vladimir Putin's way of telling Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders that "I [Putin] am the lord of this region [the South Caucasus]," Alizade added, without providing any facts that could substantiate claims of Russian meddling. Russian media outlets have kept up a steady stream of alarmist reports about the conflict, most of it, arguably, targeting Azerbaijan and its close ally, Turkey, now a bitter foe of Moscow. The Russian government-linked LifeNews went so far on April 4 as to claim that "around 60" Azerbaijani terrorists affiliated with Islamic State were returning home from Syria to take part in the conflict against Armenian and Karabakhi forces. For Azerbaijani MP Ali Ahmadov, deputy chairperson and executive secretary of the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, such coverage means that Russia is taking sides in the conflict. "Russia is one of the co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group. The mediator should be neutral. From this point of view, it's impossible to understand the essence of anti-Azerbaijani propaganda," he told reporters. Most Armenians consider Russia to be their country's strategic ally. Nevertheless, some in Yerevan are wary of Moscow's perceived priorities concerning the Karabakh conflict. Political analyst Aghasi Yenokian, director of Yerevan's Armenian Center of Political and International Relations, believes that, after leaving Syria, Russia is searching for new tools to assert itself, and the Karabakh conflict provides many opportunities. "Russia, with its active response, shows that if the OSCE Minsk Group works slowly, [and] international structures work slowly, then a serious chance opens up for Russia to resolve [the] Karabakh conflict in a Russian way; that is, by putting Russian peacekeepers on the [ground]," he reasoned. Reports surfaced in late 2015 that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had proposed international peacekeepers to both Armenia and Azerbaijan. The potential presence of Russian "peacekeepers" in and around Karabakh would not necessarily be a welcome development for Yerevan, Yenokian said, adding that Azerbaijan may believe it could outmaneuver Armenia to curry favor with Russia and thus "get territory and solve issues with such a solution." The renewed fighting has caused a surge in patriotic feelings, and the public to unite around President Sargsyan's administration. Hundreds, if not thousands, of men across the country have volunteered to go fight in Karabakh. Decked out in combat fatigues and carrying rifles, elderly, white-haired men, often singing patriotic songs, have been boarding buses throughout Armenia to head to the frontline. Lines also have formed at medical institutes, where people are registering to give blood, even though specialists say there is no need at present. Like men filmed by RFE/RL in Yerevan, many of Armenian volunteers gained combat experience when all-out warfare raged between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh from 1988-1994. Veteran volunteers are tending to organize their own transportation to the front. "The past two days have shown that our society is united when the matter refers to the motherland," commented 35-year-old communications technology professional Armen Sarukhanian. "I have not seen such unity and enthusiasm for a long time, when everyone unites as one and stands up for a common goal." Civil activist Christine Asatrian, 33, added that she is pleasantly surprised that "people are so alert and conscientious and ready." "This is the case when people do not think of the policy run by oligarchs or the government or the like. They get united for the sake of the motherland, putting aside everything," she added. In 2014, both sides managed to pull back from the brink after frontline clashes led to the deaths of roughly 20 soldiers on both sides. But the conditions that encouraged restraint two years ago may have changed, according to Elkhan Mehdiyev, the director of Baku's Peace and Conflict Resolution Center. "Peace for Azerbaijan means the liberation of its territory, restoration of its sovereignty and peaceful coexistence [with Armenia]," Mehdiyev said. "A ceasefire is not peace." Editor's note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in Armenia and editor of MediaLab.am. Durna Safarova is a freelance journalist who covers Azerbaijan. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Armenia: When Freedom Causes Social Friction Publisher EurasiaNet Author Marianna Grigoryan Publication Date 30 March 2016 Cite as EurasiaNet, Armenia: When Freedom Causes Social Friction, 30 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c7f14.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The influx of Iranian tourists in March to celebrate Nowruz, the traditional Persian New Year, is a major economic event for businesses in Armenia's capital Yerevan. But while plenty of restaurants and clubs in the city display signs in Farsi, reports of discrimination against Iranian visitors suggest that the tourism surge is a source of social friction. Most of the discrimination reports are hard to verify and are generally spread by word of mouth. They include alleged confrontations involving Yerevan residents and Iranian tourists, or stories of taxi drivers, restaurants and supermarkets allegedly overcharging visitors. Thirty-year-old tour guide Yasha Solomonian recently sparked controversy on Facebook when he claimed that he had witnessed a staff member at a toy store in downtown Yerevan deny an Iranian family entrance. "They were pushed and yelled at, not letting them enter the store," Solomonian told EurasiaNet.org. "Meanwhile, Armenians entered with no problems. When I came up to ask for an explanation, they said that 'Iranians are thieves.' This is an extremely stereotypical approach, which is out of bounds for a country that claims tourism is a top priority." Employees at the toy store, Reima, declined to talk with a EurasiaNet correspondent. The head of the Economy Ministry's Tourism Department, Mekhak Apresian, indicated that the government is concerned about the country's reputation among tourists, although he did not specify any measures that the officials might take to address the discrimination reports. "Any discriminatory attitude toward a guest harms us, our country, our image," Apresian said. "Armenia has rich historical cultural treasures, nature, but it is more important for a tourist to feel welcome in our country. If we lose that, nothing else will matter anymore." In 2015, Iranians accounted for just under 10 percent of Armenia's roughly 1.2 million tourists, according to official data - approximately a 2 percent decline from 2014. That figure, though, is open to interpretation. Armenia requires that incoming Iranians have a visa, but border control cannot determine whether Iranians who enter with a "visitor visa" have come for tourism or some other purpose. Iranian tourists' overall financial impact on Armenia's economy is also hard to pin down. But there is no doubt about the popularity of Armenia for Iranians during the Nowruz holiday, which runs from March 20-23. Many Iranians see Armenia, their northern neighbor, as a comfortable getaway destination, where they can drink alcohol in public and ditch their chadors, yet still sense that they are in an eastern country. "It feels very familiar in Armenia, especially that there are many Iranians and we can have fun in all possible ways," commented 28-year-old Saeed Assadi, who said, speaking in English, that he traveled from Tehran to Yerevan with his friends "to relax a little bit and have fun" during Nowruz. Yerevan resident Narine Manukian, 27, alleged that often Iranian men, particularly near Yerevan's music-playing fountains, a popular venue for families, try to flirt with Armenian women. Such activity can spur animosity, particularly among Armenian men. "I can understand that it is not that easy to be in freedom after living under a closed regime," Manukian said of Iran's Islamic Republic. "And many are taken captive by that freedom, get drunk, try to pick up Armenian girls." Citing unfriendly stares and what they believe are negative remarks toward them, Iranian male tourists say they sense locals' hostility. "There are moments in stores, in public places, when people's attitude is pretty clear, and next time I will think twice before choosing to come here," Assadi said. The Iranian Embassy did not provide a promised response in time for publication. A hotline exists for tourists who encounter problems in Armenia, but an operator told EurasiaNet.org that it has not received any calls. Much of the criticism voiced in Yerevan about visiting Iranians appears subjective. "Iranian girls dress so vulgarly, semi-nude, which society clearly does not accept," complained Manukian. Although Armenian women do not necessarily dress conservatively, locals in this patriarchal society take offense at foreign females wearing bold makeup, extreme mini-skirts and decolletage. Yerevan-based ethnographer Hranush Kharatian attributes any intolerance toward Iranians to Armenia's relative ethnic homogeneity - 97 percent of the country's population of just over 3 million people is ethnic Armenian. Foreign tourists, apart from Diaspora Armenians, remain relatively few. Iranians have been visiting Yerevan in large numbers for Nowruz only for about 10 years. "Our society is unfamiliar with Iranian tourists, their culture and behavior," noted sociologist Aharon Adibekian. History also plays a role. For centuries, the territory that now comprises Armenia was part of the Persian Empire. "The word 'Iranian' is not perceived unambiguously among us," commented Kharatian. "It was associated with the enemy [overlord]." Asked what prompts rudeness toward Iranian tourists, some Yerevan youngsters joked that it was a response to the war elephants used by the Persians in 451 during the Battle of Avarayr, a fight whose origins were rooted in Persia's persecution of Armenian Christians. Ethnographer Kharatian and tour guide Solomonian emphasized that far from all Armenians hold hostile attitudes toward Iranian tourists. "Armenians are very hospitable and friendly, but sometimes you can run into extreme situations," said Solomonian. Another Iranian tourist from Tehran, who gave his name as Shahin, said that this year was his second celebrating Nowruz in Armenia, which he described as a "liberal country." He stressed that locals have always treated him well. "It is impossible that in all countries of the world everyone treats everyone else with a smile," the 31-year-old Iranian stated. Editor's note: Marianna Grigoryan is a freelance reporter based in Yerevan and editor of MediaLab.am. Copyright notice: All EurasiaNet material Open Society Institute Iraq: Aid reaches thousands of displaced people in war-ravaged west Ramadi Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 24 March 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Iraq: Aid reaches thousands of displaced people in war-ravaged west Ramadi, 24 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704c9f34.html [accessed 23 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. International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) staff distributed aid today to more than 12,000 displaced people surviving in desperate conditions in west Ramadi, central Iraq, having fled fighting in the nearby city of Hit. "We drove through Ramadi city and witnessed unprecedented levels of destruction. We have not seen anything like this in Iraq before," said Malek Baklouti, head of the ICRC's Ramadi office, who oversaw the relief distributions. "We are also extremely worried about thousands more people fleeing to remote, desert areas with little or no access to food, water, or health care," said Katharina Ritz, head of ICRC delegation in Iraq. "Regular humanitarian access is crucial in order to quickly help those badly in need of aid." Last week, the ICRC also distributed aid to another group of over 12,000 people stranded in the Kilo 18 area, west of Ramadi, amid considerable challenges. "The roads west of Ramadi city are dangerous and difficult as most are heavily contaminated with unexploded ordnance and improvised explosive devices," Baklouti added. The ICRC last operated out of its Ramadi office in May 2015. It delivers aid to remote communities severely affected by the conflict. In 2015, the organisation supplied more than 1.35 million displaced people in Iraq with food and other aid, including 200,000 people from Ramadi and Fallujah. Western Balkans: Deep concern over numbers of people still missing in Kosovo Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 25 March 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Western Balkans: Deep concern over numbers of people still missing in Kosovo, 25 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704ca424.html [accessed 23 October 2022] Comments All reference to Kosovo should be understood in full compliance with United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244. Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. The working group on persons unaccounted for in connection with events in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999 held its 42nd session in Belgrade today. Officials from Belgrade and Pristina discussed further steps to be taken to clarify what happened to 1666 people who are still missing from that time. The session was chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and attended by representatives of the families of missing people and the international community. The ICRC is concerned by the lack of progress in this area. Only four cases were resolved in 2015, the lowest annual figure recorded since the end of the fighting. The working group's chairman, Laurent Burkhalter of the ICRC, said: "The families are right to express their terrible disappointment about the lack of progress. They feel their right to know and have closure is being ignored. It is high time that the political will of the authorities were translated into action, and hence results." Some small progress was made in 2014 when the remains of 53 people that had been found in a quarry in Rudnica, Raska, southern Serbia, were exhumed and identified. However, the process virtually stalled in 2015. It is crucial that the authorities now actively engage in investigating the cases of missing people and searching for potential gravesites. For its part, the ICRC has continued to collect and process information on missing people and alleged gravesite locations from national and international archives. Under international humanitarian law, the families have the right to know what happened to their missing relatives. They have been waiting for 17 long years. The ICRC will continue to support them in their efforts for this right to be upheld, their demands to be heeded and their voice to be heard. Colombia: Insidious violence on the rise in 2015 Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 10 March 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Colombia: Insidious violence on the rise in 2015, 10 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704cada4.html [accessed 23 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. Although the fighting is abating between government forces and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP), the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) is continuing to register the same levels of violence in the country as in previous years. In a report released today about the humanitarian challenges facing Colombia in 2016, the ICRC underlined the high incidence of death threats, disappearances and sexual violence in 2015. "This shows us just how complex the situation is in Colombia right now," said Christoph Harnisch, head of the ICRC delegation in Colombia. "The country is waiting for the conflict to end but the progress in Havana is not yet making a difference to the lives of most Colombians. They still face violence in various forms and need humanitarian relief." In 2015 the ICRC documented 812 alleged violations of international humanitarian law and other attacks - both linked to and separate from the armed conflict - which claimed 19,000 victims. For the most part, the perpetrators of this insidious violence attacked an individual or small group of people, so as to keep a low profile. Half of the acts targeted women and children. When presenting its report, the ICRC highlighted four challenges for Colombia in 2016: searching for 79,000 missing persons; dealing with anti-personnel mines and other explosive devices; addressing violence not linked to the conflict; and improving prison conditions. "These challenges concern all of us," added Mr Harnisch. "The ICRC will continue working to find solutions and supporting the implementation of humanitarian agreements reached by the parties to the conflict. We stand ready to act as a neutral intermediary in any talks between the government and the National Liberation Army (ELN), which have yet to begin formally." Over 275,000 people were helped by the ICRC's work in Colombia in 2015. Many activities were carried out jointly with the Colombian Red Cross, which marked its 100th anniversary last year. Pakistan: Campaign to make Karachi safer for ambulance services Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 11 March 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Pakistan: Campaign to make Karachi safer for ambulance services, 11 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704cb1d4.html [accessed 23 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, a public-service campaign was launched in Karachi to get motorists to give way to ambulances and generally increase respect for ambulance services. Joining forces for this important cause are: the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Edhi Foundation, Aman Foundation, Indus Hospital, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and Jinnah Sindh Medical University. Samaa TV and Samaa FM are the media partners for the campaign. The ICRC is also planning to work with government authorities to enact legislation requiring drivers to make way for ambulances on roads. Last November, the ICRC and its partners released the results of a study on violence against health care in Karachi. It found that, of all health-care professionals, ambulance staff were the most vulnerable to violence. In the 12 months leading up to the study, 66% of ambulance drivers had experienced either verbal or physical violence. Factors contributing to the violence included the perceived low social status of the job, a lack of coordination and ways for institutions to coordinate, and the risks involved in travelling to neighbourhoods experiencing law and order problems in order to pick up people injured in ethnic and/or political violence. Failing to give ambulances the right of way is also a form of violence. It is violence against medical staff, but first and foremost against the patients, because it jeopardizes their survival. For the campaign, a number of media outlets have been contacted to run public-awareness messages, host talk shows that highlight the lifesaving work of ambulance services and inform the general public of their civic duty. Ambulance staff too have a role to play in increasing their safety. By upholding their ethics and not misusing their sirens, they can prevent their image - and that of the medical profession as a whole - from being tarnished. The ICRC and its partners are appealing to all media outlets, bloggers and civil-society activists to help spread the word and make Karachi safer for patients, ambulance staff and all health-care professionals. Honduras: Facilitating health care in detention Publisher International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Publication Date 15 March 2016 Cite as International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Honduras: Facilitating health care in detention, 15 March 2016, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5704cb65d.html [accessed 23 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's National Penitentiary Institute (INP) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) today inaugurated a medical clinic in Gracias prison in the region of Lempira. The prison's 500 inmates will now enjoy decent basic medical and dental care. "Health is a fundamental right. The State has a duty to ensure that everyone has access to health services, without discrimination," said Eduardo Ubierna, ICRC head of mission in Honduras. "Initiatives like this clinic mean that the right measures are being taken to ensure that the prison population has access to decent health-care services, on a par with the rest of the population, regardless of their legal situation." The construction of this new facility comes under the plan of action to improve and modernize the prison system in Honduras which was signed by the government and the ICRC in May 2015. The plan selected three pilot detention facilities - Gracias, La Esperanza and Marcala - to undergo upgrades to improve material conditions of detention. The new clinic belongs to the health department's network, and will therefore be involved in wider efforts by the authorities to step up health-related monitoring and protection in the region. "Opening this clinic is another step towards modernizing the country's penitentiary system in line with international standards and upholding respect for human dignity," said the director of the INP, Colonel Luis Robelo Valladares Castellanos. Work is also underway in these three detention facilities to bring the legal aspects of the treatment of prisoners into line with international standards and rules. The ICRC is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and to provide them with assistance. Airline travelers who find themselves with an unscheduled visit to Abilene will be given a dose of Big Country hospitality, thanks to a joint effort by the Abilene Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Abilene Regional Airport. "Rerouted: Destination ABI" was rolled out Tuesday afternoon during a news conference at the Abilene Regional Airport. Starting now, passengers who are forced to deplane in Abilene during an unscheduled stop will receive a "survivor kit." It includes bottled water, cookies from AbiMar Foods in Abilene, crayons and coloring pages, playing cards, a fan and literature about things to do in Abilene. Nanci Liles, executive director of the ACVB, said the purpose behind the program, which is one she has pitched to the national organization of convention and visitors bureaus, is twofold: one, to make the stay, however brief, a little more enjoyable, and two, to create a favorable impression of the city. "This will help put a smile on their face," she said. Liles said the program was designed by the ACVB marketing team. So far in 2016, about 500 passengers have had to deplane in Abilene after their flights have be rerouted, primarily because of weather. "It's about 90 percent because of weather," said Don Green, manager of the airport. "Most of the planes come from the West Coast on their way to DFW." The number of passengers who deplane represents less than half of the passengers who get rerouted to Abilene. Most of them remain on the tarmac until their flight is allowed to leave. Green said that the pilot makes the decision whether or not to let the passengers off. Green said the pilot would also make the call about whether or not to let airport personnel distribute the gift boxes to passengers on the plane. Liles said that the program will initially begin with providing the boxes only to passengers who deplane, but perhaps will look later at trying to expand the program to passengers who have to cool their jets on the tarmac. Liles said there will be 500 boxes available at the airport and the supply will be replenished as needed. She said the cost of the box is $5 and the cost is being borne by the ACVB. "If this really takes off, we'll definitely need corporate sponsors," she said. Green said the cost of the boxes will be worth the good will that they generate. "Absolutely," he said. "It will be so unexpected. Like Nanci said, nobody else does this." Green said a common misperception among travelers is that they believe airline employees and airport employees work for the same company. "I understand that," he said. "When we can go out of our way to be friendly, it creates a good experience and people are generally very nice after that. We're just very cognizant of that." Police in Nashville, Tennessee, arrested Romanian Alex Ioneta on Saturday in Tennessee, in connection with the First Financial Bank debit card fraud. Rick Tomlin, APD spokesperson, Wednesdsay said Ioneta, 18, will be extradited to Taylor County Jail. Violeta Radu, 23, Daniel Ciuciu, 38 and Ioneta are accused of compromising debit cards of 200 customers of First Financial Bank in October 2015 and costing the bank more than $275,000, as bond warrants of $1.5 million on each suspect were issued. Radu was in custody in the Orange County Jail in New York, following her capture on Nov. 21 when an Orange County deputy contacted four suspicious individuals at a Walmart, according the Reporter-News archives. She posted bail and has not been extradited to Taylor County Jail, according to police. The suspects face charges of first-degree identification theft. Police said skimming devices with cameras attached were placed at five local ATMs on Oct. 10 and 17. During a two-day period, "information was stolen from (more than) 50 debit cards," according to court documents. Twitter: ARN_Titus Halloween events, fall festivals pack October in Abilene, Big Country From family-friendly to frightful, there are plenty of opportunities to don the costumes and scare up some treats. A consultant for the Texas Association of School Boards recommended the Abilene Independent School District increase its pay for all employees to remain competitive with rival employers. Ann Patton, managing compensation consultant for TASB, presented Monday evening the culmination of a project she and the district began in October. She recommended a 2-percent pay raise for almost all employees, plus additional compensation for some others based on their positions and number of years of service. Starting the investigation, she said, the mission was to determine what the pay needed to be to attract and retain employees of all positions, from janitorial to administration, while also allowing for the district to control costs as best it can. "Most school districts want to meet the market value for their employees or get close," Patton said. "But we've also got to watch the market and make sure we manage it efficiently." Patton proposed the district use the market to develop a midpoint target for all groups of employees. Range parameters would be set to limit variance from the target, she said, like stipends and other forms of additional compensation. It's an alternative to the performance-based pay increases of the private sector, she said. The midpoint would constantly change as employees move up the pay scale with experience, she said. She compared the district's starting teacher salary, as well as the five-year, 10-year, 15-year and 20-year salaries to those of a number of other districts like Midland ISD, Amarillo ISD, Wylie ISD, Wichita Falls ISD, Waco ISD and others hoping to identify the market value and develop a target. They identified the market at about what Ector County pays its new teachers, $44,500. Ector County ISD's enrollment is almost double Abilene ISD. Waco ISD pays its new teachers more and enrolls fewer students than Abilene, according to figures provided by Patton. Abilene ISD, however is paying its educators with zero through five years of experience $42,000 this year. Patton's plan would call for a $1,000 hike for next year's beginners, while a graduated scale would be added to teachers with up through eight years of experience. If adopted, teachers this year with five years of experience would earn $2,200 more next year in their sixth year of experience, or $44,200. Doing so would add about $1.4 million to the budget just for teachers, librarians and registered nurses, she said. Factoring in other district personnel who would receive a raise, about $3 million would added to the budget, she said. The plan, she said, can be implemented as she designed or slowly to lessen the immediate impact, though she said it's better for the district simply for recruiting talent to pay the scale she recommends. "This system allows the district to progress pay from the minimum to the maximum within the target," she said. "If you ignore salaries, though, the problem just becomes too expensive to fix." Taylor County will not remove signs prohibiting guns in its courthouse despite the Texas attorney general's letters to two other counties who enacted similar bans stating that the signs violate state law, County Judge Downing Bolls said Tuesday. The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued letters to Dallas County and McLennan County in the past week, ordering officials to remove signs banning guns at the Dallas County government complex and the McLennan County Courthouse, The Dallas Morning News reported. Bolls said the county was aware of the developments but had not heard from the attorney general regarding signs at the Taylor County Courthouse. "We have been following the issue," he said. But until the county receives some clarification from the state on where in courthouses licensed carriers may bring guns, Bolls said, the signs posted outside the courthouse will remain. He said he is expecting clarification to come from either the Legislature or the courts. "We'll just have to wait and see what happens," he said. A gun rights advocacy group, Texas Carry, filed a complaint with Taylor County in January about the signs posted on the courthouse banning guns. The county responded to the letter, insisting it has the right to post the signs and that they don't violate state law. Texas Carry Executive Director Terry Holcomb said in February that he planned to file a complaint with the attorney general's office because Taylor County refused to remove the signs. Bolls said he had not received any correspondence from Paxton's office. Holcomb also filed the complaints against Dallas and McLennan counties, according to the Morning News. The Commissioners Court voted in December to prohibit guns in the Taylor County Courthouse, 300 Oak St. That decision came after Paxton issued an opinion stating that courthouses that house offices in addition to courts, such as in Taylor County, should permit the open carry of guns. Judges in Taylor County issued an order in January deeming the entire courthouse building and the Old Taylor County Courthouse as areas essential to the operations of the court, one of the few exceptions to the law for government buildings. Under the law, governmental entities that improperly prohibit open carry could face financial penalties. Dallas and McLennan counties have 15 days from when they received their letter to either remove the signs or challenge the attorney general's opinion, according to the Morning News. Dallas County officials have not determined how they will proceed, the Morning News reported. McLennan County officials are weighing their options before responding, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald. Almost 60 complaints from across the state have been filed with the attorney general's office, encompassing zoos, city halls, courthouses and government centers, according to the Morning News. Advertisement - Continue Reading Below This just in... Workers bring coffins containing the human remains of migrants exhumed from a mass grave at an abandoned jungle camp in Thailand's southern Songkhla province bordering Malaysia, May 3, 2015. Organizations battling human trafficking in Southeast Asia are paying increased attention to the China connection. Because of Chinas one-child policy, which has only recently been slightly revised, and a preference for sons in Chinese families, the country has a surplus of men and a dearth of women. This has created a large number of Chinese men who cant find wives and explains why marriage brokers smuggle young Southeast Asian women into China. The women are promised jobs but end up being forced into marrying Chinese men, some of them living in bachelor villages which have sprung up in rural parts of China. We know quite a bit about this, because a number of these women have escaped and returned to Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some of them have been courageous enough to talk openly about their experiences in an effort to warn others who might be at risk. But organizations battling human trafficking in China and Southeast Asia find it difficult to measure the progress theyre making. This is partly because the traffickers, unlike the kingpins who run drug trafficking rings, tend to belong to numerous small groups that are only loosely affiliated, according to David Feingold, a Bangkok-based anthropologist and former United Nations official. Its also difficult to quantify the numbers of trafficking victims. The statistics available tend to be guestimate figures agreed upon by experts, says Feingold, who has studied the issue of human trafficking for nearly two decades. Many of the figures have little or no provenance, and achieve currency from repetition, Feingold adds. Most human trafficking is less by organized crime than by disorganized crimeat least in the Mekong region, he says. Many of those who become victims leave their homes voluntarily in search of a materially better or more exciting life, says Feingold. Or as in the case of Myanmar, they are fleeing persecution. Poverty and many migrants inability to get legal recognition and citizenship in the countries to which they flee are two underlying causes of what Feingold calls migration gone terribly wrong. Signs of progress Meanwhile, progress against human trafficking can be seen in some areas, though problems continue in others. This was made clear in a recent series of videos produced by Radio Free Asia called Breaking Free: Stories of Escape from Traffickers. This online multimedia series focuses on human trafficking in China and Southeast Asia, including forced labor on fishing boats, the abuse of undocumented and stateless workers, and the bride market in China. The series explores possible solutions to the problem and the ways in which survivors of trafficking have escaped, often on their own or with the help of nongovernmental organizations. As part of the series, an RFA video documents the first case of human trafficking brought to a court in Cambodia. But it also shows how difficult it can be for a recently enacted law and an understaffed court to tackle criminal activities often carried out with impunity. One video in the series tells the story of a married Vietnamese woman and mother who was tricked by a female relative into working in the sex trade in Malaysia. She had been expecting to get a legitimate job. Another video focuses on another Vietnamese woman who is drugged and tricked by a female relative into prostitution in China. She dares to escape and tells her story as a warning to others. In another, a young Laotian woman is forced to work night and day with no free time as a housekeeper in Thailand. When she escapes, she discovers that the money she was owed was never sent to her mother in Laos. And yet another case tells the story of young Cambodian men from a poor village who decide to work as fishermen on Thai fishing boats. They are treated brutally on the boats and end up as prisoners working on an island off the coast of Indonesia, where they are stateless and forced to work with little food or rest. The series shows the vital role played by local NGOs not only in rescuing a number of these victims but also in rehabilitating them. In one sign of progress, Laos and Thailand have agreed to work together to combat trafficking. In August of last year, the Thai police and military rescued Laotian workers who were forced to work in slave-like conditions on a pig farm. When officers raided the farm on Aug. 22 outside Bangkok they found the Lao farmhands confined to areas with metal bars that resembled animal cages. The case of Thailand Reuters news agency did pioneering reporting in 2012 and 2013 on the plight of the Rohingya, a repressed Muslim minority in Myanmar. Thousands of them were then fleeing to Thailand, where traffickers deported them into forced labor in Malaysia. A prize-winning Reuters series resulted in the Thai government being forced to recognize the problem and make greater efforts to deal with it. It also resulted in the largest human-trafficking trial in Thai history. As The New York Times described it, the first witness at the trial, a Rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, told of being beaten and starved by gun-toting captors on the boat that ferried him and more than 200 others to a trafficking camp in Thailand. The trial was sparked by the grim discovery in May of last year of a mass grave containing more than 30 bodies in a trafficking camp in Thailand. The Associated Press, meanwhile, published the results of a year-long investigation last year into how thousands of Southeast Asian fishermen had ended up as slaves catching seafood exported to the U.S. and elsewhere overseas. The AP series resulted in officials from three countries traveling to remote islands in Indonesia to conduct their own investigations into the plight of fishermen who were trapped into forced labor there. More recently, a Reuters investigation showed how forced labor among migrant domestic workers in East Asia is widespread. The U.S. State Department now places a greater emphasis in its annual trafficking in persons reports on the risks that workers may encounter in global supply chains. Examples include workers in mines and factory assembly lines. Some of the workers found in these places are not only adults, but also underage children who work long hours and forced overtime at low pay. The underlying causes, including poverty and persecution, that drive many trafficking victims to migrate from their home countries have been slow to change. So some of these issues will be with us for a long time to come. In the case of the bride market in China, experts estimate that the impact of the one-child policy and the country's traditional preference for male children will have an impact for many more decades. And brokers who make a profit from smuggling Southeast Asian women into China will continue to exploit the situation. RFA's multimedia series "Breaking Free" can be found at: BREAKING FREE: Stories of escape from traffickers Dan Southerland is the executive editor of Radio Free Asia. Members of Cambodia's parliament attend a meting at the National Assembly building in Phnom Penh, Oct. 1, 2014. The approval of a controversial law regulating trade unions by Cambodias lower house of parliament on Monday has prompted criticism from a regional human rights group that the legislation is a step backwards for workers rights in the Southeast Asian nation. The passage of a new law regulating trade unions in Cambodia represents a step backward for workers rights and violates international labor and human rights standards, the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) said in a statement Tuesday. The Jakarta-based association of regional lawmakers has requested that the Cambodian Senate, the upper house of parliament, reject the legislation and return it to the relevant committee for further review. Cambodian lawmakers ignored recommendations from trade unions and rights groups when considering the legislation, which fails to meet international legal standards, APHR said. During the debate, the opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP) opposed the legislation, but lacked the votes to stop it. Cambodian Senate spokesman Mam Bun Neang said Wednesday that committees in the upper house would discuss the legislation before submitting it to senators for their vote. We will review the draft law [and] provide feedback or return it to the National Assembly if there are loopholes, he told RFAs Khmer Service. But sending the legislation back will not likely happen, he said. So far, we havent sent any laws back because the government and National Assembly have studied those draft laws very well, he said. They [members of parliament] have held many national workshops and accepted all the recommendations. Burdensome restrictions Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has said the law will regulate the country's 3,400 trade unions, many of which represent Cambodias export-oriented garment industry, and offer protection to both workers and investors. But unionists and international human rights groups warn that it will weaken the power of labor groups in a sector still rife with abuse. Critics also oppose the laws provisions forcing unions to report their finances to the government and increase authorities power to close down labor groups. The law doesnt allow trade unions complete freedom to protest the interests of their members, the APHR said. This law includes burdensome restrictions on the right of workers to organize freely and subjects unions to undue government interference, said APHR chairman Charles Santiago. It appears, yet again, that ASEAN governments are prioritizing questionable policies in the supposed interest of promoting investment, while failing to protect their one people, he said. The vote on the trade union legislation sparked protests on Monday, resulting in two labor activists being injured during a scuffle with authorities outside the parliament building in Phnom Penh. A video recording of the scene showed government security guards assaulting the activists, though authorities on Tuesday blamed the unionists for the violence, according to a report in The Cambodia Daily. A former Capitol Tours bus driver who was beaten during a protest talks to reporters in Phnom Penh, Feb. 6, 2016. RFA Bus drivers free on bail In another organized labor development, Phnom Penhs municipal court on Tuesday released a former bus driver and union official who were jailed in February after they were attacked for protesting the firing of 45 drivers who tried to start a union at the Capitol Tours bus company. Former bus driver Nan Vanna and Ros Siphay, an official with the Cambodian Informal Economic Workers Association, were arrested on Feb. 6 and charged with aggravated intentional violence for obstructing public officials and a public road during the protest. They were part of a group of bus drivers who clashed with members of the Cambodia for Confederation Development Association (CCDA), an association that represents tuk-tuk and moto-taxi drivers, who rushed the protesters and violently beat them with sticks, metal bars and hammers. The court released the two on bail, citing that they both have permanent addresses and jobs and no previous criminal offenses. Ath Thorn, president of the Cambodian Labor Confederation, told RFA that the two men remain subject to court monitoring. We welcome their release, but we would like the court to examine court cases carefully before detaining anyone, he said. We also urge the court to drop all charges against them and prosecute the suspects according to the law. About 14 people were injured in the violence, including Ros Siphay and one policeman, according to the domestic rights group Licadho. Reported by Neang Leng and Oung Sereyvuth for RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Samean Yun. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin. Joshua Wong speaks to the media after a vote at the city's legislature in Hong Kong, June 18, 2015. Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong accused HSBC of "political censorship" on Wednesday after he was denied permission to set up bank accounts for himself and his fledgling political party. Wong said the bank turned down two separate applications to set up accounts, one in joint names for his new political party and one for his personal use. "They may think I'm quite politically sensitive, and they need to adopt political censorship," Wong, 19, told Agence France-Presse. HSBC gave no detailed reasons for the refusal, repeating instead that the decision was for "business reasons." HSBC operates more than 170 branches across the internal border in mainland China, he said. The setback for Wong comes amid a political war of words over the advocacy of some young activists for independence for the former British colony. Hong Kong was promised that its existing freedoms would continue under the terms of the 1997 handover to Beijing. Civic Passion member held Wong's banking woes come as Hong Kong police detained Alvin Cheng, a member of the political group Civic Passion, on suspicion of access to a computer with dishonest or criminal intent and theft, government broadcaster RTHK reported. The police detained Alvin Cheng after he posted a video on his Facebook page calling for books using simplified Chinese to be removed from the city's libraries. Despite a mini-constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression, Hong Kong officials have recently warned of "limits" to free speech after a new political group, the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), announced it would campaign in the forthcoming legislative elections on a pro-independence platform, and against the Basic Law that underpins the city's legal system. The growing public debate around independence, which is often broached by younger activists who, like Wong, were deeply involved in the 2014 Occupy Central pro-democracy movement, also sparked horrified responses from Chinese officials. Wong told RFA that calls for independence only emerged in Hong Kong after Beijing ruled out fully democratic elections for the city, in an Aug. 31, 2014 decree that allowed everyone a vote, but only for a slate of candidates picked by a pro-China committee. Hong Kong's Legislative Council (LegCo) voted that electoral reform plan down last June, and partial democratic electoral arrangements remain in place. 'Patriotic education' Since disbanding the academic activist group Scholarism, which came to prominence amid a 2012 campaign against Beijing's "patriotic education" program aimed at bringing Communist Party-style education into Hong Kong's schools, Wong has set up his own political party called Demosisto. The group plans to field candidates in LegCo elections later this year, and has pledged to work for "self-determination." China pledged not to interfere in the running of Hong Kong, under a pledge known as the 'one country, two systems' policy. But the recent 'disappearances' of five booksellers who were planning an expose on Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of them from their workplace within Hong Kong's separate jurisdiction, have sparked concerns that Beijing is no longer keeping that promise. A string of violent attacks and threats targeting outspoken media personalities, as well as repeated comments from Chinese officials and state media on the city's vibrant political scene, have added to concerns that the city's autonomy may be a thing of the past. "The trend towards independence for Hong Kong is occurring because there are no other options left," Wong said. "Under Chinese rule, we can't enjoy proper democracy or autonomy." Reported by Lin Jing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. Protesters demand that government officials compensate them for forced evictions and relocations from the Three Gorges Dam project in the Hechuan district of Chongqing in southwestern China, April 5, 2016. More than 20 years after construction began on China's massive Yangtze River hydropower project, the Three Gorges dam, hundreds of people are still pursuing complaints over their eviction and relocation, petitioners told RFA on Wednesday. Some 1.2 million people living along the banks of the Yangtze were relocated during the 1990s to make way for the project. But many say they have yet to receive the promised amount in compensation. "This hasn't been resolved for any of us yet," a petitioner surnamed Wu, who was among 500 people relocated to the megacity of Chongqing for the project, told RFA. "We made complaints, and the police told us to go home, and we were escorted back home [by interceptors]," he said. "When we got home, still nothing was done, even though the Three Gorges Construction Committee knows about our situation." A woman who gave only her surname Tang said she and many others relocated to Chongqing are similarly affected, but are too busy making a living to have time to pursue long-running compensation claims. "I know that the relocation authorities didn't proceed according to government policy, and that nobody has had their case resolved yet," Tang said. "They are just dragging their feet." "I haven't had time to come up with a plan because I now have to work so I can put food on the table," she said. "We have no land left now." They dare not act A third resident, surnamed Li, said the communities had moved so as to cooperate with a state construction project, but that the government had appropriated their compensation money. "We have been to complain about this, but they do nothing about it," Li said. "We have even been to Beijing on several occasions, but they dare not act." He said local media were also apparently barred from covering the lack of compensation. "Journalists don't dare to report this either," Li said. Meanwhile, a petitioner surnamed Xie said he has been detained for pursuing his compensation claims in the face of official stonewalling. "I am doing this to protect my own interests regarding the matter of compensation," Xie said, in apparent fear of being found out speaking to overseas media. "I don't know what to tell you ... It's not convenient for me to speak." Local residents, who were relocated from towns and villages along a 193-kilometer (120-mile0 stretch upstream of the Three Gorges dam site, say they have received less than 30,000 yuan (U.S. $4,600) per person in compensation, far less than was promised in the original relocation deal. Festering bog Environmental activists have repeatedly criticized Beijing's flagship dam as a prestige project for the ruling Chinese Communist Party that has brought environmental catastrophe to delicate ecosystems. "The environmental impacts of the project are profound and are likely to get worse as time goes on," the pressure group International Rivers said in an article on the Three Gorges on its website. It said hundreds of factories, mines and waste dumps were submerged in the flooding of the Three Gorges section of the Yangtze, creating a "festering bog of effluent, silt, industrial pollutants and rubbish in the reservoir." While the sheer weight of water in the reservoir has raised concerns among seismologists over reservoir-induced earthquakes, the damming of such a large river has threatened fisheries and caused massive soil erosion downstream, the group said. Chinese officials acknowledged for the first time in 2011 that there are "urgent problems" linked to the construction of the dam. Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie. A U.N.-affiliated organization is attempting to interrupt Laos booming monkey business as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species recently suspended exports of long-tailed macaques from the Southeast Asian nation. The CITES decision comes after investigations by animal welfare activists uncovered a monkey washing scam in which unscrupulous wildlife traders in Laos sold wild macaques to China, Vietnam and Cambodia, and dealers in those countries re-exported the primates to other nations falsely labeled as originating in those countries. Our investigations have raised serious concerns about the plundering of wild populations of long-tailed macaques from their native forests to feed the international research industry, Sarah Kite, special projects director for U.K.-based Cruelty Free International, told RFAs Lao Service. In particular, there is an unregulated trade and the misrepresentation of the origin of thousands of macaques exported from Laos to China and Vietnam, she explained. While the ethics of animal research are a hotly-debated topic, scientists say macaques are still necessary. Long-tailed macaques are often lumped together with their cousins the rhesus monkeys as both animals are used extensively in medical experiments because their physiology is close to humans. Laos has become a major player in the monkey trade along with Cambodia and Vietnam, as laboratories seek animals for their experiments. Long-tailed macaques are especially valuable in research connected with neuroscience and human diseases. They are only used where no other species would suffice and have been instrumental in science as diverse as AIDS research, developing deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinsons Disease and the testing of certain classes of drugs which cant be tested in other species, said said Chris McGee, a spokesman for the U.K.-based organization Understanding Animal Research. The $15,000 monkey Hard numbers for the monkey trade are difficult to come by, but a single macaque sells from $5,000 to $15,000. About 20,000 monkeys are imported into the U.S. each year, according to a 2015 Bloomberg News report. While monkeys are used in research they make up a small part of the animal population scientists use in their experiments, which generally have to be approved by a committee examining whether or not the experiments are ethical, McGee explained. They represent just 0.1% of research animals since most lab animals are mice, he said. In most countries, scientists will have to pass proposed experiments through an ethics committee which balances up possible harms against the possible benefits of the experiment. Signed over 40 years ago, CITES regulates or bans international trade in more than 30,000 animal and plant species. While it is legal to buy and sell macaques, CITES lists the species as one that could face extinction unless trade in the animal is closely controlled. In 2006, primate experts thought there were about 3 million long-tailed macaques in world, a decrease of about 40 percent over the past quarter century. Got an ID for that macaque? In Laos, the long-tailed macaque population is small, meaning Lao monkey dealers are likely getting the animals from somewhere else, according to primate researchers. According to an investigation by the Frankfurt Zoological Society and Conservation International, it is biologically impossible for Lao animal dealers to export all the macaques they claim were bred for sale. These macaques cannot be supplied from Laos, as the wild populations were limited in the southern-most area in Laos, but from nearby countries, such as Thailand and Cambodia, wrote the Frankfurt researchers. The decision by CITES to bar exports from Laos means that organizations based in the 181 countries that are parties to the convention are barred from purchasing macaques from Laos. While Laos macaques are banned from CITES countries, buyers may not know that they are purchasing Lao animals as macaques are exported with no identification, or identification that is easily removed. That makes it easy for dealers in other countries to disguise their true origins. While China exports around 12,000 macaques for research, it can be difficult to tell if they actually came from self-sustaining, purpose-bred colonies. Long-tailed macaques at breeding facilities in Lao PDR are not given a permanent means of identification such as a tattoo or a microchip, the Species Survival Network wrote in a document filed with CITES. Instead, facilities use neck tags which can easily be removed or replaced. Cruelty Free International investigators discovered that Chinese companies like to slap a made-in-China label on the macaques they export. In other words, buyers are to be led to believe that the [macaques] originated in China, despite having originated in Laos, the organization wrote in its investigative report. Wildlife business booms Macaques make up just one part of a wildlife trade that is becoming one of the worlds top illicit activities. Illegal wildlife dealing now follows counterfeiting and the illegal trafficking in drugs, people and oil as the fifth most lucrative illicit activity in the world, according to the Washington-based research and advocacy organization Global Financial Integrity. Some estimates peg the worldwide illicit animal business at nearly $20 billion a year. In Laos, export of the macaques has been linked to the notorious Xaysavsng Network and its head Vixay Keosavang. The Xaysang Network is thought to be the largest known wildlife trafficking syndicate in Asia, and the U.S. is offering a $1 million reward for information that will help dismantle the network. Vixay Keosavang has denied association with the wildlife trade. While Vixay Keosavang denies his role in the illicit wildlife trade, the Xaysavang Trading Company is definitely in the monkey business. According to Cruelty Free International, the company was holding 575 of the primates when they inspected the companys facilities. Xaysavang isnt the only monkey dealer operating in Laos. The Vientiane Xinling Scientific Development Company held around 650 of the primates, while the Bin Long 2 company held 1,000 with enough space for another 4,000. Xinling is a Chinese holding company. In 2012 the owner of Xaysavang Trading Company told field investigators that his company was involved in an unofficial trade in [long tailed macaques] exported to Vietnam, the Species Survival Network told CITES. This syndicate was involved in laundering thousands of illegally-traded [long-tailed macaques] from Cambodia into Vietnam through the Lao PDR with falsified permits. The same is true for China, Cruelty Free International told CITES. Field investigators were informed by managers and owners from each of the [long tailed macaque] from Laos are misrepresented as being of Chinese origin when exported to China, the organization told CITES. The Chinese companies want to put a made in China brand on the [macaques] prior to re-exporting them to Western countries. Inside the monkey cage Life for a prospective laboratory macaque can be deadly even before any experiments are performed on the animal, according to animal rights activists. Animal dealers arent spending a lot of money to make the macaques life bearable. Their welfare is often ignored as the concrete pens used to house the animals had little sanitation and little was done to mimic their natural habitat, the activists say. At Xaysavang Trading Company, there was a simple gutter system around the cages to collect run-off feces and urine, but the trough was stagnant, being full of a mixture of feces, rotting monkey chow, and a dark liquid, according to a Cruelty Free International report to CITES. The farm smelled putrid and could be sensed from quite a distance away. Cruelty Free International investigators were particularly critical of Xaysavang, saying the some of the macaques there appeared to be starving to death and some were dead in their pens. Laos says it follows CITES Vongdeuan Vongiharath, director general for forest resource management in Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Lao CITES team member, told RFA that they inspect the monkey farms to ensure they are CITES compliant. After inspection, if the farm has been operated in accordance with the trade principles it will be approved, but the breeding process must be certified in the criteria of CITES, he said. Vongdeuan Vongiharath told RFA that the Bolikhamxay Province monkey farm where Xaysavang Trading Company has its facility is an experimental operation. In Bolikhamxay province the macaque farm is controlled by the provincial relevant organization, he told RFA. To run a Macaque farm in Laos, the operators must be officially approved, but in Bolikhamxay province the farm has been a pilot project for study and research for years. However, the farm is not allowed to breed the monkey for export because it is for study and research. Its unclear what the next step is for Laos. In case of the macaque in Laos we must take a look at if it is likely to be endangered, Vongdeuan Vongiharath said. We have never received the recommendations on macaque registration for endangered species. We wait and see if the animal committee will inform us of this issue. Reported and translated by Ouenkeo Souksavanh. With additional reporting by Brooks Boliek. Written in English by Brooks Boliek Amnesty International says the number of confirmed executions across the world surged to its highest level in more than two decades in 2015, fueled by the rising use of capital punishment in Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. In a report released on April 6, the London-based rights group said at least 1,634 executions were recorded worldwide during 2015, a more than 50 percent rise compared to the 1,061 executions recorded the previous year. The vast majority of these confirmed death sentences were carried out in Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, whose combined total constitutes 89 percent of all executions recorded in the Amnesty report. Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials. This slaughter must end," Salil Shetty, Amnesty Internationals secretary-general, said in a statement. Shetty called the rise in executions worldwide "profoundly disturbing." "Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world. In 2015, governments continued relentlessly to deprive people of their lives on the false premise that the death penalty would make us safer, he said. The actual number of executions is likely higher. The report did not include China, which Amnesty describes as the worlds top executioner, because statistics on the use of the death penalty there are classified as a state secret. "Chinas executions remain in the thousands annually," the report says, adding that this number may be on the decline since Chinas Supreme Peoples Court began reviewing the implementation of capital punishment in 2007. Despite the spike in the number of executions, Amnesty said there were positive developments in the drive to abolish the death penalty, which the rights watchdog opposes in all cases without exception. Oluwatosin Popoola, a death penalty expert at Amnesty, told RFE/RL that "2015 was a year of extremes." "Although there were many setbacks in the fight for abolition, some positive developments offered hope, he said. Congo Republic, Fiji, Madagascar, and Surinam abolished the death penalty for all crimes." Amnesty noted that Mongolia is also set to abolish the death penalty later this year. For the first time ever, it said, a majority of countries in the world -- 102 -- have now abolished the death penalty. "In total, 140 states across the globe are abolitionist in law or practice," it said. Popoola added that the death penalty "is becoming a thing of the past in the Americas region, where executions in the U.S. reached their lowest level in 24 years." State-Sanctioned Killing Spree Iran ranked second after China in 2015, putting at least 977 people to death, primarily for drug-related crimes, according to the report. That figure is up from 743 the previous year and includes four people who were under 18 years old when they committed crimes they were ultimately convicted of, Amnesty said. Popoola told RFE/RL that the rise in recorded executions in Iran could be attributed to greater access for human rights monitors in the Islamic republic. "Some executions take place in secret, so it is very possible that human rights monitors are now in a better position to record executions in the country," he said. Pakistan, meanwhile, "continued the state-sanctioned killing spree it embarked on when it lifted a moratorium on civilian executions in December 2014," Amnesty said in its report. Amnesty said Pakistani authorities put more than 320 people to death in 2015, the highest number ever recorded by the rights group for the country. In Saudi Arabia, it said, at least 158 people were executed in 2015, up 76 percent from the previous year. Most of these individuals were beheaded, the report said, though "authorities also used firing squads and sometimes displayed executed bodies in public." Popoola said this rise could be connected to an effort by Saudi authorities "to appear tough on crime." There were no executions in Europe or Central Asia in 2015, Amnesty said in the new report. Belarus is the only country in the region that currently uses the death penalty, and it did not execute anyone in 2015, the report said. Amnesty noted, however, that Belarus handed down at least two new death sentences last year. The rights group criticized Minsk in its previous annual report for putting three people to death in 2015. Those executions were marked by secrecy, and family members and lawyers were informed only after they were carried out, Amnesty said. Kazakhstan, Russia, and Tajikistan continued to observe official moratoriums on the use of the death penalty in 2015, Amnesty said in its latest report. The report said that in the majority of countries where people were sentenced to death or executed in 2015, the death penalty was imposed after proceedings that did not meet international fair trial standards. In some cases, it added, convictions were based on forced confessions that may have been obtained through torture or other abuses. Radovan Karadzic has asked to be released from detention pending his appeal at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The former Bosnian Serb leader was sentenced last month to 40 years in jail for war crimes including the genocide of more than 8,000 Muslims. The 70-year-old Karadzic requested the tribunal hearing on April 6 because he said detention was ruining his health. Karadzic said his health had declined during the eight years he had spent in custody, something he blamed on a "malignancy" in the detention unit which he said had already claimed the lives of other detainees. Conditions there were "19th-century, like some communist or Turkish prison," he said. The head of the tribunal turned down his request but ordered that health conditions at the UN detention unit in the Dutch seaside resort of Scheveningen be looked at. Based on reporting by Reuters and AFP Leonid Tibilov, the leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, has backtracked on his proposal last fall to hold a referendum on the region's incorporation into the Russian Federation. Instead, Tibilov told journalists on April 4 that he reached agreement during talks last week in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the creation of "a single union organ" with Russia, to which South Ossetia would delegate its prerogatives. That approach, Tibilov explained, would avoid creating "political risks for our strategic partner," by which he presumably meant the widespread international condemnation and sanctions that followed Russia's unrecognized annexation of Crimea two years ago. Tibilov said that it will be necessary to conduct a referendum on amending Article 10 of South Ossetia's de facto constitution to empower the president of the separatist entity to initiate the creation of a "single union organ." At present, Article 10 of the constitution specifies only that "the Republic of South Ossetia has the right to enter a union with other states and to delegate to the union organs the exercise of part of its prerogatives." He said the referendum will take place "not in one year or two, not even in half a year, but sooner." Tibilov did not specify what he envisaged by a "union state" or what powers South Ossetia might cede to it. Neither did he explain how the creation of such a union state dovetails with the provisions of the bilateral Treaty on Union Relations and Integration signed in March 2015, Article 1 of which obliges Russia to do all in its power to expand the number of states that formally recognize South Ossetia as an independent polity. It is worth noting, however, that at the same April 4 press conference Tibilov stressed that South Ossetia will retain its own armed forces, given that the provision of the bilateral treaty that envisaged subsuming some South Ossetian military units into the Russian Army violates Russian law. 'Union State' Lack of clarity concerning that anticipated downsizing or even abolition of the region's independent military capacity had given rise to an acrimonious dispute earlier this year between the de facto defense ministry and parliament speaker Anatoly Bibilov. Commentator Yury Vazagov was quoted by RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus as suggesting that what Tibilov has in mind is something comparable to the Union State of Russia and Belarus that has existed for the past 20 years. At the same time, Vazagov noted that it is not clear how the referendum question will be phrased, meaning whether voters will be asked to approve or reject the creation of a "Union State" or South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation. Tibilov did not say how soon after the planned referendum on amending the constitution he would formally raise with the Russian leadership the question of creating the "union state." But it is logical to assume that he hopes to do so before the end of this year. His term in office expires in April 2017, and assuming he seeks reelection, his main challenger will be Bibilov, who launched a campaign two years ago for a referendum on South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation. A second pundit, Roland Kelekhsayev, suggested to Echo of the Caucasus that Tibilov's "union state" initiative is intended both to "wrest the initiative" from Bibilov and "cut the ground from under his feet," and to demonstrate Tibilov's loyalty to Russia. Moreover, in light of the international community's condemnation of Russia's seizure of Crimea, the Kremlin is more likely to look favorably on the author of an initiative that enables it to strengthen its influence over South Ossetia without laying it open to charges of illegally incorporating the territory of another state than on Bibilov's proposal that South Ossetia effectively provide Russia with a legal fig leaf for designating the territory as a Russian Federation subject. That in turn raises the question: Given that as recently as late February Tibilov defended the idea of a referendum on South Ossetia becoming part of Russia and downplayed the possible negative repercussions for Russia's relations with the international community, might the "Union State" proposal not be his brainchild at all, but have originated with the Russian presidential administration, which duly instructed him to go public with it? United Nations judges ordered an "indefinite" halt in the war-crimes trial of Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic, who is terminally ill with brain cancer. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in a majority ruling released on April 5 found that Hadzic, 57, "is currently unfit to stand trial." Hadzic was charged with 14 war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1991-95 war in Croatia, including the murder of civilians taken from Vukovar hospital in 1991. He also is charged with responsibility for the massacre of Croat civilians who were forced to walk into a minefield in the Croatian town of Lovas in October 1991. The court has indicted 161 people involved in the brutal Balkans wars, and Hadzic was the last of a string of defendants to be prosecuted. The court said UN medical reports showed "a recent and marked deterioration in Hadzic's ability to communicate." Recently, a new lesion was found in his brain which was likely to impair his functioning "from week to week," so Hadzic is "no longer able to effectively exercise his fair trial rights, even with the assistance of counsel," the court said. Hadzic was released in April 2015 so he could go to Serbia for treatment, and he has lived at his home in Novi Sad since then. Hadzic wanted to create a Serb-dominated state out of a splintering Yugoslavia. He is accused of "cleansing" non-Serbs from about one-third of Croatia through a campaign of murders, unlawful jailings, beatings, deportations, and forcible transfers. Dissenting Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua disagreed with the majority of judges who ordered a halt in the trial, saying that a judgment should have been returned as soon as possible. "Even a person who is in the final stages of his/her life is also entitled to a judgment...even if there is no hope of him/her serving a prison sentence," he wrote. The ruling on Hadzic comes within days of the court's March 24 decision finding former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic guilty of genocide, for which Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in jail. A week later, ultranationalist Serb leader Vojislav Seselj was acquitted of all charges in a controversial decision that saw him declared a "free man." With reporting by AFP and Magyar Szo online Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said on state television on April 6 that the country's crude output within a year will reach the presanctions peak of 4 million barrels a day. Iran's oil exports by March 2017 will reach 2.25 million barrels a day, thanks to the lifting of economic sanctions in January under Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers, he said. Exports already surpassed 2 million barrels this month, he said. Sanctions imposed on Iran in early 2012 by the United States and European Union over its nuclear program had cut crude exports from a peak of 2.5 million barrels before 2011 to just over 1 million barrels. Zanganeh comments come as Russia and the OPEC oil cartel have been pushing for an across-the-board output freeze by major world oil producers to try to stabilize collapsing oil prices. Iran has refused the join that freeze. Based on reporting by Reuters, AFP, and Iranian state TV Kazakhstans prime minister will not attend a summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EES) member states scheduled in Armenia's capital, Yerevan, on April 8. The summit comes just days after a cease-fire was agreed between Azerbaijan and Armenia-backed separatists in the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh to end fighting in the mountainous South Caucasus enclave. A spokesman said Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov would not attend the summit and has named Moscow as an alternative venue. The Russian cabinet, in a statement in April 6, said Moscow agreed with Masimovs proposal. Observers have said Kazakhstan has proposed to move the summit to avoid the impression that Astana, which has strong linguistic and cultural ties with Azerbaijan, supports Armenia in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Kazakhstan currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the EES, which also includes Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart, Nursultan Nazarbaev, on April 6 discussed by telephone the recent violence, the worst in decades, between Azerbaijan and Armenian-backed separatists. Putin's press service said the two leaders also discussed bilateral ties. Based on reporting by Interfax and RFE/RL's Kazakh Service Legislation in Kyrgyzstan that bans the use of foreign currency in all domestic transactions has come into force. The legislation was passed by the Kyrgyz parliament on March 18. According to the legislation, only the national currency, the som, can be used to pay for goods and services across the country. The new regulation is expected to mainly affect Kyrgyzstan's property market, automobile sales, and airline companies -- the sectors where previously all prices and transactions were conducted in U.S. dollars or euros. The failure to comply with the new regulations can lead to hefty fines. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to clamp down on illegal migration out of Turkey, but smugglers in Istanbul say they have no plans to stop their lucrative trade. "If Greece is locked, we'll go through Italy," Mouheib, 30, a Syrian smuggler originally from Deir al-Zor, says. "It's a big game. It's impossible things will stop." He is speaking in an apartment on the second floor of an alleyway in Istanbul's Aksaray neighborhood, where Arabic script advertises falafel restaurants, mobile-phone shops, and travel agencies serving the city's growing Syrian and Iraqi populations. Mouheib, who declines to give his last name as a precaution against arrest, is wearing a tight, blue V-neck shirt, bright blue sweatpants and flip-flops. He has thick black hair and a five-o'clock shadow and is smoking inexpensive Prestige cigarettes. A shop downstairs still sells life jackets, but smuggling is increasingly switching away from rubber dinghies as Turkish authorities crack down on the trade, he says. For $1,150, a migrant can attempt the Turkish-Greek land border at Edirne, Mouheib says. For each traveler, he says, $150 goes as a bribe to the Greek police. Half the profits are given to the Turkish mafia to keep the road to the border clear, and the remainder is split between Mouheib and his partner, he adds. Migrants with more cash to spare can pay $2,500 to carry on from Greece to Italy by boat. Mouheib does not specify where such migrants arrive in Italy, although the UNHCR reported that a boat carrying 22 Syrian and Somali nationals arrived at Otranto in southeastern Italy on March 31. It originated in Greece, the UN refugee agency said. In his most far-fetched scheme, Mouheib claims, he sells a $6,000 package involving a black-market tourist visa to Canada, which allows migrants holding original passports to enter Canada and stay on illegally. He claims he helped a Syrian doctor get to Canada on such a tourist visa. The Canadian Consulate in Istanbul did not respond to a press query on the matter. Under an EU-Turkey deal struck in mid-March, Ankara will take back all migrants who entered Greece illegally from March 20 unless they qualify for asylum. For every Syrian deported, the European Union will accept one Syrian refugee for resettlement. The EU pledged to provide financial assistance, visa-free travel for Turkish nationals, and progress in EU membership negotiations. Trade Continues Despite Arrests Turkey also pledged to reduce smuggling out of its borders, and authorities are cracking down. On April 6, the Turkish coast guard apprehended about 60 migrants attempting to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece, the AP news agency reported. On February 5, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported the Turkish police had established a division to counter migrant smuggling and human trafficking. The Daily Sabah reported that 3,000 police officers will staff the office. http://www.dailysabah.com/politics/2016/03/03/turkey-to-establish-special-unit-to-combat-human-trafficking "They [the smugglers] are not untouchable," said a senior Turkish official who declined to be identified. Abby Dwommoh, a spokeswoman for the Turkey office of the Geneva-based Organization for International Migration (IOM), says her group is working with Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria on strengthening border management. She says that in 2015 Turkish police arrested or detained more than 2,000 smugglers and organizers, including mostly Turkish and some Syrian criminals. Another 275 smugglers and organizers were apprehended in January, she says. The Turkish coast guard reported that it apprehended an additional 52 smugglers and organizers in the first three months of this year, but it will likely have more work as smugglers take to the seas. Still, the trade continues. Unscrupulous Smugglers Izabella Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Frontex European border agency, says smugglers "advertise their services very much like travel agencies [advertise] on Facebook." One Syrian smuggler in the seaside city of Mersin, in southwest Turkey, tells RFE/RL that he and four partners bought a 110-meter ship and plan to sail it to Italy. He says the vessel will stall in international waters while small boats motor up to 2,000 migrants from Mersin to the large ship. Another smuggler in Mersin says he sent a boatload of 170 people to Italy on April 2. This direct Turkey-Syria ship line would reinstate a route that had been abandoned in 2015, due in part to Turkish coast-guard enforcement and the emergence of the inflatable boat route. "The ongoing border closures typically lead to smugglers coming up with new ways to make money, and sadly these ways are often more and more perilous for the migrants," Dwommoh of the IOM says. She says her organization started a missing-migrant project last year to trace hundreds of people who drowned while trying to reach Europe in unseaworthy vessels. Cooper of Frontex says unscrupulous smugglers sometimes remove the manual navigation equipment of large vessels and set them on autopilot with no crew, making them particularly risky. The Turkish official said that "the important thing is to create a long-term strategy to create incentives for refugees to stick to official channels. The Turkey-EU deal is an important step forward provided that European nations will be willing to welcome refugees who are playing by the rules." In Aksaray, Mouheib says he does not feel threatened by tightening law enforcement. "One smuggler was caught by police but we paid $3,000 and he was released," he says. "The one who does this job has to have a lot of friends in the police." Still, he takes precautions. He keeps his cash in a knee-high safe in a small bedroom of an apartment in Aksaray, alongside a bunk bed and a twin mattress. The apartment is one of four homes he moves between in the neighborhood. On a visit, RFE/RL sees a few men shuffling between rooms lined with bunk beds; in summer, Mouheib says, migrants slept 15 to a room on mattresses tiled on the floor while awaiting travel to Europe. He estimates that he smuggled about 950 people to Europe on rubber dinghies. In Syria, he says, he was a clothing designer, and he worked in Kuwait in textiles for several years before moving to Turkey, leaving about $200,000 in debt. Smuggling, "an easy job with a lot of money," helped him repay his debt. Eventually, Mouheib says, he would like to return to the clothing trade. For now, however, "If people need to go, we will find a chance to take them." KYIV -- Ukrainian officials said vile Russian missile strikes on civilian energy sites have caused power outages nationwide, leaving more than a million households without electricity, while Russian authorities ordered residents to leave Kherson "immediately" ahead of an expected effort by Kyivs forces to retake the crucial southern city. Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram on October 22 that Russia carried out a "massive attack" on Ukraine overnight and that "the aggressor continues to terrorize our country." "At night, the enemy launched a massive attack: 36 rockets, most of which were shot down...These are vile strikes on critical objects. Typical tactics of terrorists," he wrote. "The world can and must stop this terror." Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Zelenskiys office, said Ukrainian air defense forces had shot down 18 of the missiles. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said a number of missiles had been shot down on the approach to the capital. "Several rockets flying toward Kyiv were shot down in the region by air defense forces. Thanks to our defenders!" Klitschko said. There was no immediate word on deaths related to the missile attacks, but officials said several people had been injured. It was not possible to verify the reports on either side. In the face of continued Russian strikes, Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba again urged Ukraine's Western allies to speed up the delivery of modern air defense systems. "We intercepted some, others hit the targets. Air defense saves lives. In [Western] capitals, there should not be a single minute of delay in the decision regarding air defense systems for Ukraine," Kuleba said. Local officials said power stations were hit in the regions of Odesa, Kirovohrad, and Lutsk, while other regions reported problems with electricity. "Another rocket attack from terrorists who are fighting against civilian infrastructure and people," the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote on the Telegram app. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told a government meeting that from October 10 to October 20, Russian strikes damaged more than 400 facilities in 16 regions of Ukraine, including dozens of energy facilities. "The Russian Army has identified our energy sector as one of the key targets for its attacks," Shmyhal said on October 21. "Russian propagandists and officials speak openly about the purpose of all these attacks: Ukraine, according to them, should be left without water, without light, without heat," he said. Meanwhile, Russian-appointed authorities in the occupied and illegally seized southern Kherson region on October 22 ordered the estimated 60,000 residents of the region's eponymous main city to leave "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counteroffensive. "Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank of the Dnieper River," the region's Russia-backed authorities said on social media. Russina-installed officials are moving people out of the strategic city in what they are calling an evacuation but which Ukrainian officials label as deportations. The order came in spite of a claim by Russia's Defense Ministry on October 22 that its forces had prevented an attempt by Ukraine to break through its line of control in Kherson. "All attacks were repulsed, the enemy was pushed back to their initial positions," the Defense Ministry said, adding that Ukraine's offensive was launched toward the settlements of Piatykhatky, Suhanove, Sablukivka and Bezvodne, on the west side of the Dnieper River. The ministry's statement said Russian forces had also repelled attacks in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Kherson city, which had a prewar population of 280,000, is one of the first urban areas occupied by Russia at the start of the invasion. Zelenskiys office said 88 settlements in the southern Kherson region and 551 settlements in the northeastern Kharkiv region have been de-occupied, while the Ukrainian forces' counteroffensive in the Kherson region moves ahead. Ukraine is trying to drive Russian forces in Kherson back east across the Dnieper. Russian soldiers on the western bank, where the city of Kherson is located, are reportedly close to being cut off from supply lines and reinforcements. Natalya Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraines southern operational command, said the Ukrainian military struck the Antonivskiy Bridge over the Dnieper in the city of Kherson during an overnight curfew Russia-installed officials put in place to avoid civilian casualties. We do not attack civilians and settlements," Humenyuk told Ukrainian television. Ukrainian strikes made the Antonivskiy Bridge inoperable, prompting Russian authorities to set up ferry crossings and pontoon bridges to relocate civilians and transport supplies. Russia has sent in thousands of recently mobilized troops to reinforce the defense of Kherson, the General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said on October 21. Zelenskiy again on October 21 urged the West to warn Russia not to blow up a dam at the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant on the Dnieper River as this could flood settlements toward Kherson. Zelenskiy said Russian forces had planted explosives inside the dam, which holds back an enormous reservoir, and were planning to blow it up. "Now everyone in the world must act powerfully and quickly to prevent a new Russian terrorist attack. Destroying the dam would mean a large-scale disaster," he said in his nightly address. With reporting by Reuters, AFP, AP, and the BBC A fragile cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh appeared to be holding, despite claims of violations, as high-level meetings were held separately with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in an effort to defuse tensions. The diplomatic scramble comes after a tenuous truce was agreed on April 5, ending three days of intense fighting between Armenian-backed separatists and Azerbaijani forces. The fighting, which has left more than 60 people dead, is the heaviest seen over the Azerbaijani territory in two decades. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994 that claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people. The conflict is generally considered to be "frozen," with internationally mediated negotiations having failed to achieve a resolution, and with sporadic violence breaking out over the years. Russia and the United States expressed optimism as the truce went into effect on April 5, but the two warring sides were urged to return to the negotiating table. Speaking in Berlin after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 6, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian urged the international community to recognize the right of Karabakh's separatists to "determine their own fate and their own future." Chancellor Merkel, for her part, said international mediation efforts were "of the greatest urgency." Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeiner, also held talks. The co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group of mediators in the conflict -- France, Russia, and the United States -- met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on April 6. The mediators had "stressed that it is important to return to the political process on the basis of a sustainable cease-fire." The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is also likely to loom large when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Baku on April 6-7. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to visit the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on April 7 and also plans to visit Azerbaijan on April 8. Also on April 6, Iranian President Hassan Rohani offered to mediate over the conflict in separate telephone conversations with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts. The truce went into effect at midday on April 5, after the chiefs of staff of the Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries reached an agreement at a meeting in Moscow to halt the fighting. Early on the morning of April 6, Karabakh's military reported that "last night, the cease-fire was generally maintained" along the "line of contact" that effectively serves as a front line separating the combatant sides. It added that "sporadic shooting" had taken place despite the cease-fire but that it had no impact on the general situation. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said the situation along the front line remained tense but calm. It was reported as saying on the morning of April 6 that separatist forces had "violated the cease-fire" 115 times over a 24-hour period, adding that Azerbaijani armed forces had returned fire on hostile positions. However, it was unclear whether the allegation referred entirely to the cease-fire agreed on April 5 or the 1994 truce that stopped the war. The ministry later said Azerbaijani positions in two areas were coming under intensive fire from Armenian mortars, which the separatists denied. WATCH: There were scenes of devastation in the village of Talish, in Azerbaijan's breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, following rocket attacks that reportedly took place before a cease-fire was declared. Populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, the Azerbaijani territory became a source of conflict in the waning years of the Soviet Union. The situation escalated following the creation of the self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991 and subsequent declaration of independence in 1992. The self-declared republic remains internationally unrecognized. Each side has accused the other of starting the latest outbreak of violence, which has involved tanks, helicopters, and artillery. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry says that 31 Azerbaijani servicemen have been killed in the fighting, while one helicopter and one tank have been lost. Karabakhs armed forces said 29 of its soldiers had been killed and 28 others were missing in action. In addition, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said two Armenian servicemen were killed in the early hours of April 6. A number of civilians were also reported killed on both sides -- about 10 overall -- along with Armenian "volunteers." Azerbaijan's army claims to have taken control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, which Armenia and the unrecognized republic deny. On April 5 in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents after the cease-fire agreement and told them to "ensure" an end to the violence, the Kremlin said. "It's a very nascent cease-fire, but were encouraged that it does seem to have taken hold," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "We are actively engaging with both sides to urge them to strictly adhere to the cease-fire." On an April 5 visit to a hospital in Baku where he met wounded Azerbaijani soldiers, Aliyev said the conflict could be solved peacefully if the Armenian leadership "behaves sincerely at the negotiating table." The unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republics involvement in the negotiating process is "a priority goal," Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian said on April 6. "This has no alternative." He said the warring sides should also get back to the positions they were holding before the recent clashes. Also on April 6, Armenian foe and NATO member Turkey weighed in to accuse Armenia of not sticking to the truce. "I hope the steps taken by Azerbaijan to end fighting will be imitated by Armenia, but this is not the case right now," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Erdogan also accused Russia of siding with Armenia in the conflict, saying Moscow was meddling as it had in Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria. Relations between Turkey and Russia have drastically deteriorated after Ankara downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani services, Reuters, AFP, TASS, and Interfax Russia says it will begin the first shipment of its S-300 air-defense missile systems to Iran in the coming days, Russian news agencies reported. "I don't know if this will happen today, but they will be shipped," Russian Foreign Ministry official Zamir Kabulov told Interfax on April 5. Moscow and Tehran signed a contract for the delivery of five battalion sets of S-300 PMU1 air-defense missile systems in 2007. But the deal was canceled in 2010 after the UN Security Council passed a resolution prohibiting the sale of heavy weaponry to Iran. The deal was revived last year after Iran reached a nuclear agreement with world powers, which Russia maintains lifted the ban on sales of S-300s. On a related matter, U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on April 5 that Russia is complying with its commitment not to provide Iran with ballistic-missile equipment. He said the United States would use its UN veto power to block any sale of Russian Su-30 fighter aircraft to Iran. However, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it has not submitted a proposal for such aircraft sales to the UN. Based on reporting by Reuters, TASS, and Interfax A Russian court has sentenced Lithuanian national Aristidas Tamosaitis to 12 years in prison for spying. Lithuania's ambassador to Russia, Remigijus Motuzas, said on April 5 that Tamosaitis had been sentenced on March 17 in a trial behind closed doors. Motuzas said the details of the case were classified. Tamosaitis was detained by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in May 2015 in Moscow. The FSB said then that Tamosaitis admitted to being an intelligence officer with the Lithuanian Defense Ministry. Two weeks before Tamosaitis' arrest, Lithuania announced it had detained a Russian FSB agent suspected of spying. Lithuania, a European Union and NATO member, has arrested four individuals in the past year who have been suspected of spying for Russia and neighboring Belarus. Based on reporting by BNS and Delfi MOSCOW -- The Kremlin has cast its new National Guard force as a timely move to combat terrorism and organized crime, but wary observers liken the agency to a "Praetorian Guard on steroids" to protect President Vladimir Putin and his hold on power, particularly as elections loom. The Russian president publicized his order for the National Guard, to comprise Interior Ministry troops, OMON riot police, and SOBR special forces, on April 5. The National Guard will stand alone as a separate federal agency and answer directly to the president, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later told Interfax. The agency will be headed by Viktor Zolotov, Putin's staunchly loyal former chief bodyguard, who is said to have been dubbed "The Golden One" by colleagues. Zolotov has effectively been handed ministerial powers and been named a permanent member of Russia's Security Council. In outlining the function of the National Guard, Putin placed the accent on its role in fighting crime and terrorism, although Peskov later clarified that it will "of course" also be involved in the suppression of "illegal" protests. Liberal journalists, analysts, and many other Russians see the latter as the evident primary task, with the authorities looking nervously ahead to parliamentary elections in September -- and to a presidential election in 2018 -- with the country currently facing a second year of recession. Interior Ministry troops are typically deployed at opposition protests and to quell unrest -- as are OMON riot police. "There is no real reason for creating the National Guard out of the Interior [Ministry] Troops (VV) and other forces unless you have a serious worry about public unrest," Mark Galeotti wrote on his In Moscow's Shadows blog following the announcement. A poll conducted by the Ekho Moskvy radio station also showed skepticism about the Kremlin's stated intentions, with 54 percent saying the new structure had been created "for the personal security of the president" and 36 percent saying it was "to combat the political opposition." State newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote late on April 5 that the National Guard force currently numbers around 180,000 men and that they may receive new armaments including tanks, helicopters, and heavy artillery. Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote that the creation of such an agency had actually been discussed since 2005. But Galeotti speculated that the decision in the end came out of the blue, suggesting it was made by the very close circle surrounding Putin, a group that he said appeared to have "big worries" about unrest in the future. "The idea of creating a National Guard for Russia bringing together public security forces under a single command has been raised periodically and always abandoned for very good reasons, not least the lack of any apparent need to have a Praetorian Guard on steroids." New Powers On April 6, draft legislation outlined eye-catching powers the Kremlin intends to bestow on its National Guardsmen. The bill submitted to the State Duma says that officers of the National Guard will be permitted to open fire on or use force against targets without warning if there is a risk to the lives of other citizens or the guardsmen themselves. The bill goes on to note that the guardsmen are prohibited from firing on pregnant women or disabled people. They are allowed to use armored vehicles and water cannons to disperse mass protests. They may seal off sites, including homes, to quell unrest; they may stop traffic and block roads during emergency situations; and they may carry out document checks and arrest Russians on suspicion of criminal or administrative offenses. The spirit of the law appears to echo a statement by Putin on March 15 in which he said: "Even when Interior Ministry staff implement, speaking frankly, repressive state measures against the subjects of the law, but the people see that this is done in the interests of society, then this evokes support from the people." A 'Putin-Centric' World Putin suggested in February that "enemies abroad" were trying to "interfere" in Russia's parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The last State Duma elections, in December 2011, were marred by allegations of fraud and brought tens of thousands of Russians out onto the streets in protest. Yevgenia Albats, the editor in chief of the New Times investigative weekly, said that the creation of the National Guard needed to be understood in the context of the Kremlin's perception of being surrounded by threats. "I think the main question right now -- it is the question of protection for Putin -- to defend him," Albats said on Ekho Moskvy. "If you look, the rhetoric of all the last days, it is all Putin-centric. Everything that happens in the world is directed against Putin, Vladimir Vladimirovich." The revelations reportedly contained in the "Panama Papers" this week have implicated dozens of world leaders and officials around the globe, but the official Kremlin reaction claimed the massive data leak was part of a U.S. plot targeting Putin. Albats said Putin's appointment of Zolotov to a prominent new post points to his desire to have trusted men in powerful positions. "Vladimir Putin fears his own circle more than anything else in the world. And he needs people who are guaranteed to be prepared to protect him," Albats said, pointing to Zolotov as a person who is "absolutely dedicated and loyal to Putin." 'The Golden One' In August 2013, Argumenty I Fakty predicted the creation of a kind of a Praetorian guard for the president, quoting an anonymous source saying that Zolotov had been tapped to prepare the Interior Ministry troops and other forces "to be reformed into the personal guard of the president." The Argumenty I Fakty piece also noted that Zolotov's nickname among colleagues was "The Golden One" ("Zolotoi" in Russian). Zolotov is an enigmatic figure, but his successful career as a bodyguard for the country's elite and his knack for making powerful friends is hinted at in a pair of photographs from the 1990s. In August 1991, he was photographed as a bodyguard standing behind Boris Yeltsin on the tank outside Moscow's White House, facing down the failed hard-line coup. Later in the 1990s, again as a bodyguard, Zolotov could be seen walking with Anatoly Sobchak, the mayor of St. Petersburg and Putin's patron, and the mayor's daughter, Ksenia Sobchack. Zolotov met Putin, who worked under Sobchak until 1996, during the latter period. Zolotov became the head of the presidential security detail when Putin moved to the Kremlin. In 2013, he was made the deputy head of the Interior Ministry troops, and the following year was made their commander. Speaking of the appointment, Ekho Moskvy editor in chief Aleksei Venediktov said: "In my opinion, first, this strengthens Putin's personal control over the internal troops. Second, the creation of more mobile brigades within the country to resolve issues linked not to operational work but to...mass unrest, mass movements, clashes, and so on." Russian prosecutors have launched a probe into opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's Anticorruption Foundation, demanding documentation about its financing and publications and singling out a Washington Post article about Muslims in Russia. Moscow city prosecutors delivered an April 6 order to the nongovernmental organization ordering it to hand over all records about its sources of financing over the past three years and how this money was spent. The probe was the latest action by Russian authorities targeting Navalny, a driving force behind street protests in 2011-12. He is serving two suspended sentences on embezzlement convictions he calls politically motivated. His foundation has published numerous investigations of alleged corruption among Russia's political elite, including pricey real estate owned by senior officials or their families that is far beyond the means of those living on the wages of a civil servant. The prosecutors' order, a copy of which Navalny posted on his website, asks specifically for information about grants the Anticorruption Foundation has received. In 2012, Russia adopted a law requiring any NGO that receives funding from abroad and engages in political activity to formally register as a "foreign agent," part of what is widely seen as broader crackdown against Kremlin critics in recent years. "I will rush to disappoint the prosecutors," Navalny wrote in an April 6 post on his website. "The only source of [the Anticorruption Foundation's] financing are donations from Russian citizens. Several thousand people transfer their money to us, and all of this is reflected directly in our bookkeeping." Prosecutors also demanded that the organization turn over copies of all of its media publications and appearances over the past three years, as well as any documents related to how they were arranged. The order specifically identifies a March 7 article, titled Are Russia's 20 Million Muslims Seething About Putin Bombing Syria? that was co-authored by the organization's chief sociologist and published by The Washington Post. The article examines whether President Vladimir Putin's air campaign in support of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad could "backfire at home" by angering Russian Muslims, a majority of whom are Sunni. The prosecutors' order said the probe was launched on the basis of an appeal by Kantemir Khurtayev, the leader of a Russian youth organization who last month accused Navalny of stoking ethnic and religious hatred. Khurtayev specifically cited the Washington Post article in an interview with the pro-Kremlin website Vzglyad. Magomed Selimkhanov, a member of Putin's United Russia party who represents the mainly Muslim Chechnya region in the lower house of parliament, said last month that he had asked prosecutors and the Justice Ministry to consider designating Navalny's organization a "foreign agent." Russia's Defense Ministry says its military aircraft have hit positions of the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Nusra Front near the Syrian city of Aleppo. As a result, the ministry said, an attempted offensive by the Islamist militants was thwarted. According to the ministry, hundreds of militants controlled by the Al-Nusra Front have attacked Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, killing 18 civilians and 11 of the fighters. The Syrian Army and its allies have launched an offensive to retake a town near Aleppo that was captured days earlier by Nusra militants, activists said earlier on April 6. Syrian activists said government forces were aiming to retake the village of Tel al-Ais, which overlooks the Damascus-Aleppo highway. The developments come as the Al-Nusra Front confirmed on April 6 the death of Abu Firas al-Souri, a senior figure in the group, in a U.S. air strike in the northern province of Idlib on April 3. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters A group of Tajik lawmakers has proposed a draft bill to establish a new official holiday in the Central Asian nation that would mark the presidency of longtime ruler Emomali Rahmon. According to the proposed legislation, the public holiday would be called either President's Day or the Day of the Leader of the Nation. It is not clear when the proposed holiday would be marked. A bill passed in December gave 63-year-old Rahmon, who has ruled Tajikistan since 1992, the title of "leader of the nation" and granted him and his relatives lifelong immunity from prosecution. On May 22, Tajikistan is set to hold a referendum on constitutional amendments that would allow Rahmon to run for office for an indefinite number of times. With reporting by Asia-Plus ON MY MIND Viktor Zolotov is finally getting what he wanted. And that's a very bad sign. For years, Vladimir Putin's longtime friend, judo sparring partner, and former bodyguard has been the Kremlin leader's boogeyman. Even among Russia's siloviki, Zolotov is viewed as a fierce Putin loyalist who is more interested in protecting his pal than upholding the law. If he ever got a top job in law enforcement or the security services, it was a sure signal that Putin was getting ready to take the gloves off -- and not just with the opposition, but with the elite, if necessary, as well. When Zolotov was promoted to deputy interior minister and put in charge of the ministry's elite forces, many saw it as a sign that it was only a matter of time before he would replace Vladimir Kolokoltsev as Interior Minister. Zolotov didn't get that job -- he got something possibly better. He will lead a newly formed National Guard that will be outside any ministerial structure and will report directly to Putin. He will lead Putin's personal Praetorian Guard. The creation of the National Guard is a disturbing development. Placing Zolotov in charge of it is more disturbing still. IN THE NEWS Putin establishes a new National Guard to combat terrorism and organized crime. A draft bill on the National Guard would allow its members to fire their weapons without warning. A Russian court has sentenced a Lithuanian citizen to 12 years in prison for spying. Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko has begun a dry hunger strike. Russia's Public Chamber has called for an investigation into the taxes of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta following its publication of the Panama Papers. Dutch voters go to the polls today to vote in a referendum on the European Union's Association Agreement and free-trade pact with Ukraine. WHAT I'M READING Putin's Praetorian Guard On his blog In Moscow's Shadows, security service expert (and Power Vertical Podcast co-host) Mark Galeotti explains why Russia's new National Guard is a very big deal. Novaya Gazeta, meanwhile, looks at the shady business dealings of Putin's longtime friend and former bodyguard Viktor Zolotov, who will head the National Guard. The Syrian Front A new report by the Atlantic Council, Distract, Deceive, Destroy: Putin At War In Syria, argues that Russia's campaign in Syria has been an exercise in duplicity from the start. "Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to deceive the West when he started his air campaign in Syria, and he tried it again when he declared 'mission accomplished,'" the report claims. Writing in Foreign Affairs, Dmitry Adamsky, professor at the Lauder School of Government, Diplomacy, and Strategy, looks at "Putin's Game In Syria." "The Kremlin has been following a policy of reasonable sufficiency in Syria, which means using just enough force to convey that Russia still has significant influence in the country, but not so much that it got pulled into a messy war," Adamsky writes. In the War On The Rocks blog, the ever prolific Mark Galeotti looks at the role Russian mercenaries have played in Syria Russia, Turkey, And Nagorno-Karabakh An uneasy cease-fire appears to be holding between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh. In a piece in Intersection Magazine, war correspondent Petr Bologov looks at whether the region could become the focus of a proxy war between Russia and Turkey. "Every action elicits a counteraction and it is quite possible that the incongruity of todays Russian leadership, which sees the plot against Russia in everything that is happening around it, could provoke a subsequent, imprudent and ill-advised counteraction from Ankara," Bogov writes. "Thus, a clear message has been sent to Baku which reads: 'Go ahead! If something goes wrong, you can count on us.' Hence, Nagorno-Karabakh will simply become a military area of Russian-Turkish confrontation, which already has its tourist, horticultural, and construction fronts. Although neither Russia nor Turkey will join the conflict officially." The Russian Economy In a piece in Slon.ru, economist Natalia Anindinova looks at four scenarios for the future of Russia's economy. Corrupt Attitudes A new poll by the independent Levada Center looks at Russian citizens' experience with and attitudes about corruption. The top line: A whopping 89 percent of Russians believe that their leaders are corrupt. Ukraine And NATO Is Ukraine's quest for NATO membership hopeless? Two sympathetic voices, Andreas Umland of the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation and Stephen Blank of the American Foreign Policy Council, offer different perspectives on the Atlantic Council's website. The Panama Papers And Ukraine What do the Panama Papers tell us about Ukraine? Tymofiy Mylovanov, the interim president of the Kyiv School of Economics and an associate professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, and Zoya Mylovanova, a lawyer and a member of the VoxUkraine Law team, take a look in The Washington Post. The State Capitalist Threat In a new book, State Capitalism: How The Return Of Statism Is Transforming The World, Joshua Kurlantzick of the Council on Foreign Relations looks at the move away from free-market capitalism by many developing countries. "The most serious threat from state capitalism is that the two big state capitalist authoritarian powers, China and Russia, will use their state companies as weapons in conflicts with other countries, as vehicles to control certain types of natural resources, as vehicles for obtaining and stealing sensitive technology from other nations, or as tools for undermining environmental and labor norms in countries where their state companies invest." An early exit poll for a Dutch referendum on a European Union pact with Ukraine says it is unclear whether enough voters turned out to cast ballots, leaving the vote's validity up in the air. Reuters and the Associated Press cited a poll showing voters who cast ballots rejecting the proposed agreement 64 percent to 32 percent. But the poll showed turnout hovering just around the 30 percent minimum required for it to be legally valid. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said his government may have to reconsider ratifying the EU pact with Ukraine. Rutte said his government would not ignore a valid "no" vote in the referendum, but it would take time to decide exactly how it will respond. The referendum concerned a proposed agreement between the bloc and Ukraine, something that would give Ukraine's battered economy a potential boost. All 27 EU members have ratified the pact, except for the Netherlands. The results of the April 6 referendum were nonbinding, but were still being closely watched across the continent for initial hints of what British voters might do in June when they vote on whether to leave the European Union altogether. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says he will introduce a ban on oil products from Russia. Ukraine has put up stiff barriers against goods from Russia over Moscow's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has responded with its own trade ban on Ukrainian goods. Yatsenyuk told a government meeting in Kyiv on April 6 that "we have introduced a number of sanctions against Russia. But for some reason, one of the key elements -- the purchase of Russian oil products -- did not make this list." He asked the economy minister to "develop a mechanism for banning the purchase of oil products from the aggressor, which Russia is." Ukraine and several Western countries accuse Russia of providing money, troops, and weapons to the separatists, a charge Moscow denies. Yatsenyuk added that he wanted to exclude Russia from proposed legislation eliminating import tariffs on used automobiles. Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko, who has been sentenced by a Russian court to 22 years in prison, has started a "dry" hunger strike, refusing to consume both food and water. Savchenko's lawyer, Mark Feigin, said on April 6 that his client's demand is "her immediate return to Ukraine." Savchenko, 34, was sentenced on March 22 on charges including complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine in 2014. The sentence came into effect on April 5. She refused to appeal the verdict and sentence, saying she does not recognize the legitimacy of the probe against her. Savchenko denies the charges and has gone on several hunger strikes protesting her detention and the court case. Savchenko said she was seized in eastern Ukraine in June 2014 while fighting with a volunteer battalion against Russia-backed separatists and taken to Russia illegally. Based on reporting by UNIAN and TASS A U.S. appeals court upheld a settlement deal between U.S. prosecutors and a Dutch company accused of illegally selling aircraft parts to Iran. The ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on April 5 said it was the Justice Department's job to negotiate the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement, and U.S. District Judge Richard Leon should not have rejected the deal in February 2015 as too lenient. The closely watched case raised questions about whether judges can refuse to accept negotiated deals withdrawing charges in exchange for a company admitting wrongdoing, paying a fine, and meeting other conditions laid down by the department. At issue was a deal that called for Dutch aerospace company Fokker Services BV to pay at least $10.5 million in penalties in exchange for the Justice Department not prosecuting the company for illegal exports to Iran and other countries between 2005 and 2010. Appeals Court Judge Sri Srinivasan said only prosecutors can make decisions about whether to bring charges and dismiss charges. "It has long been settled that the judiciary generally lacks authority to second-guess those executive determinations," he said. Based on reporting by AP and Reuters A federal judge has ruled prosecutors cannot present evidence to a jury about the most salacious parts of a flawed dossier alleging ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia at an analyst's upcoming trial. Igor Danchenko is scheduled for trial next week in Alexandria on charges of lying to the FBI. Special Counsel John Durham says Danchenko was a primary source of information for the Trump dossier. The judge ruled Tuesday it would be prejudicial to delve into the most salacious accusation in the dossier _ that Trump engaged in sexual activity with prostitutes at a Moscow hotel. Trump had called the dossier fake news and evidence of a political witch hunt against him. Back in October, The New York Times reported that the law of supply and demand still works. Yes, Soda Taxes Seem to Cut Soda Drinking, the newspaper told its readers, relating the results of Mexicos new tax on sugary beverages. Mexicos measure imposed a 10 percent tax on soft drinks, and so far has cut consumption from 6 percent to as much as 17 percent among the poorest Mexicans. The efficacy of the soda tax comes as no great surprise. After all, as the news story noted, the idea for the soda tax is in some ways modeled on . . . tobacco taxes. . . . A robust literature now exists showing that the resulting higher prices really did push down cigarette sales, particularly among young people. The papers editorial page soon came out in full cry demanding higher soda taxes for Americans, too. Noting that a big tax on sugary drinks in Mexico appears to be driving down sales of soda, the editors urged lawmakers in the United States to consider comparably stiff taxes. Some already have. Soda taxes have become a chic cause in progressive enclaves, from Berkeley and San Francisco to Philadelphia and New York. But if you want to make liberal heads in those same enclaves explode, dare to suggest that raising the minimum wage might reduce employment. Thanks to legislation their governors signed Monday, California and New York are hiking their minimums to $15, the target hourly rate of a national campaign by labor activists. Earlier this year The Times encouraged Hillary Clinton to join Bernie Sanders in demanding a $15 minimum for the entire country. Mrs. Clinton has argued that $15 might be too high for employers in low-wage states, causing them to lay off workers or make fewer hires, the paper noted, but then argued: There is no proof for or against that position. Sure there isnt not if you dont remember the argument for soda taxes, anyway. True, soda and labor like everything else have different price elasticities. When an economic good has a high degree of price elasticity, a small change in price can produce a big swing in demand. This usually applies in cases of luxury goods such as movie tickets or soft drinks. Other economic goods with lower price elasticity might not suffer weaker sales even if the price skyrockets. For example, youll eagerly buy the last parachute on a falling airplane whether the price is $1 or $1,000. Its safe to say employers consider low-skilled labor more desirable and less easily replaceable than a can of soda, but less desirable and more easily replaceable than the last parachute on a falling airplane. But it does not follow that because we cant know exactly how much the $15 minimum the highest minimum in the world will affect employment, we therefore cant know if it will affect employment at all. Yet you can find that very argument lots of places. This is on the order of saying that because we cant know how many people a thermonuclear strike on Manhattan would kill, its premature to say it would kill lots of people, or even anyone. Hey, you never know! We do have some preliminary evidence, though. Several large U.S. cities recently have enacted stiff hikes in the minimum wage, and surprise! jobs have disappeared. In D.C., Walmart abandoned plans for two new stores, and employment in the leisure and hospitality industry went from 3 percent growth to zero. Investors Business Daily does the math and finds that restaurants, hotels and other employers went from adding 2,000 jobs to adding zero. In San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., employment growth has been cut in half. In Seattle, job growth has plunged from 4.6 percent to 1.8 percent even while restaurant hiring rose more than 6 percent for the rest of Washington State. Sure, you can find studies that purport to show small hikes in the minimum wage dont hurt jobs. You can find a lot more that say they do. But the more honest advocates for a higher minimum wage acknowledge that it will cost some people their jobs. But some argue thats no big deal and might even be a feature, not a bug: Whats so bad about getting rid of crappy jobs? asks public-policy professor David Howell. WASHINGTON Lets not be coy. Theres a certain population in this country that expects unlimited government handouts despite its piggish unwillingness to work. Dont tell me this is about their child care responsibilities, or lack of access to transportation or education. Nonsense. These people simply dont want to work. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the new welfare queens: your democratically elected U.S. legislators, the laziest, most do-nothing generation of federal politicians in decades. Sure, they talk a big game about work ethic and personal responsibility. Thanks to legislators devotion to public industriousness, for example, tens of thousands of Americans lost access to food stamps Friday. Legislators had decided, as part of welfare reform, that nondisabled adults without dependents should be required to work to receive food stamps; the work requirements had been temporarily waived in many states during the economic downturn, but now those waivers are expiring. To be clear, required to work in this context means actually working an average of at least 20 hours a week. Food-stamp recipients who cannot successfully land a 20-hour-a-week job or qualifying training program within three months of receiving the benefit get the boot. No matter that the average spell of joblessness lasts about seven months; or that millions of workers who do find jobs often cant get enough hours; or that most states do nothing to help workers at risk of losing their food stamps get into employment or training programs. Our elected officials decided that jobs are so important that those who cannot find them should starve. And that ideally such sluggards should be denied other safety-net services, too such as medical care. With the stated goal of promoting personal responsibility, the House Republicans 2017 budget proposes newly attaching work requirements to Medicaid, too. For the benefit of poor people, of course. Work not only provides a source of income and self-sufficiency, but also has been demonstrated as a valuable source of self-worth and dignity for individuals, the budget resolution report reads. It goes on to suggest that making it harder for poor people to get health care in this manner could even help reduce their rates of depression. Would that members of Congress were equally concerned about the self-worth, dignity and mental health of their do-nothing colleagues around Capitol Hill. These moochers and takers continue to receive taxpayer-funded paychecks and yet refuse to do their jobs. Sure, U.S. senators and representatives are, technically speaking, employed. But its hard to argue that theyre working. By a range of measures, this Senate has accomplished the least of any Senate in decades. The Supreme Court vacancy isnt the only judgeship it has refused to fill. Last year, the Senate confirmed just 11 federal judges, the fewest in any year since 1960, according to the Alliance for Justice. A recent Congressional Research Service report likewise quantified how many other nominees the Senate has confirmed this Congress. It found that, as of February, confirmations for executive branch and other positions (Federal Reserve Board governors, ambassadors, etc.) were at their lowest level since at least 1988, the earliest data available. Why are our elected representatives twiddling their thumbs rather than doing their jobs and confirming literally hundreds of waiting nominees? Why has Congress been remarkably unproductive in passing laws in recent years? To some extent, legislators are waiting for the next president to pick his or her own people and legislative priorities. To some extent, intraparty discord means Republicans cant get their act together. To some extent, Republicans may be trying to make the federal government as dysfunctional as possible under President Obama. And to some extent, our legislators may be, somewhat ironically, just trying to keep their jobs. You might wonder: How could not doing their jobs help with that? Its a fair question. See, some legislators want to avoid making big decisions that could anger their base during election season, and doing anything that implies cooperation with Obama falls into that category. This year Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), for example, indicated that he wouldnt move any nominees out of the committee he chairs until his primary was over, presumably because fulfilling such work obligations would threaten his re-election chances. These are, needless to say, perverse incentives. Fortunately, theres an easy fix. If legislators truly believe those who wont work should be denied government handouts, they should suspend their own pay at least until they fill the Supreme Court vacancy and the backlog of other positions. But dont hold your breath: Even that solution would require doing a bit of work. CHARLOTTESVILLE The former University of Virginia student who told Rolling Stone she was gang-raped at a fraternity party will be deposed Thursday for a lawsuit against the magazine, according to court filings. U.Va. associate dean Nicole Eramo, the administrator tasked with aiding student survivors of sexual assault, believes she was portrayed as a villain in the Rolling Stone article A Rape on Campus, which fell under intense scrutiny after publication and was subsequently retracted when an investigation by Charlottesville police found no evidence to support the sexual assault claims by Jackie. Eramo is seeking $7.5 million for alleged defamation in the lawsuit against the magazine, its publisher and the articles author. Since Eramo filed the lawsuit last May, she has been in a heated legal battle with Jackies attorneys, who accuse Eramo of using scorched-earth attacks to distract from the issues at hand in the lawsuit. Eramo has countered that Jackies direct involvement in the article necessitates her full cooperation. In documents filed Monday, a judge denied Jackies attempts to quash the deposition subpoena and ordered her to sit for a deposition Thursday, with some caveats that appeal to both sides. The deposition will take place at a mutually convenient location that favors Jackie, and the scope of the deposition will be limited to the types of questions outlined at a previous hearing. That said, the judge also stated that the deposition will be conducted in the format designated by (Eramo), although it is still unclear what the format entails. Counsel for Eramo and Rolling Stone each will be allowed to depose Jackie for 3 hours, but Eramos attorneys can choose to depose her for an additional 90 minutes if their total allotted time for the deposition is divided over a two-day period. Alternatively, Eramo can petition the court for additional time to depose Jackie. All recordings and transcripts of the deposition will remain confidential. The latest filing also states that Jackies treating psychologist has given the court a declaration, which was received and shall be filed under seal, and that her psychologist will not be deposed or subjected to discovery. CULPEPER A roomful of Culpeper County citizens cheered Tuesday morning when Supervisor Bill Chase made a motion to deny a request from the Islamic Center of Culpeper for a pump-and-haul permit to serve an envisioned mosque to be built on Rixeyville Road. Chairwoman Alexa Fritz banged the gavel in response, declaring, There will be no clapping or hooting and hollering. This is a business meeting we are going to keep it civilized. Chases motion to deny the Islamic Centers request passed 4-3 with Fritz and Supervisors Sue Hansohn and Brad Rosenberger voting in the minority. Voting with Chase were Supervisors Gary Deal, Jack Frazier and Steve Walker. The split decision left applicant Mohammad Nawabe an American citizen from Afghanistan questioning the boards motives. It looks like discrimination to me, he said, This country is a great country with the right to practice your religion and freedom of speech. I have two businesses in Culpeper. I live over here, and I dont have any place to worship God. Nawabe said he planned to get a lawyer to determine his next step. What they did to me is not right, he said. I have to go forward to get what I need to get done. Nawabe felt the board denied the Islamic Center of Culpepers request not because of local and state laws dictating pump-and-haul permits, but because of the narrow thinking of small country people. Culpeper County board members voting against the permit stated they did so out of compliance with the law. Im dead-set against this not because of religion, but because of use, Chase said. The countys longest-serving supervisor said pump-and-haul permits are granted on a temporary basis and only in emergency cases, as specified in the boards policy. Chase further expressed concern about on-site monitoring of the pump-and-haul system. Who will check to see if it fills up? he said. Fritz mentioned a different motive behind the denial: pressure from constituents. She shared a cellphone photo she took Monday of a sign hung on a house in her district reading, No Islamic Center. The sign listed the date of Tuesdays meeting and Fritzs name and address. To me, thats hate, she said. University of Virginia School of Law professor Douglas Laycock said Tuesday that governments cant deny permits based on religious use of a structure and that federal law places further restrictions, referencing the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. It says developing property for religious use is a protected exercise of religion, so if the county substantially burdens the exercise of religion, if they make it substantially more difficult for this group to build a mosque, they have to justify that by showing they have a compelling government interest, which it certainly sounds like they dont, Laycock said. The federal act also says places of worship cant be treated less favorably than other places of public assembly, like theaters or meeting halls, he added. Thats harder to prove, but it sounds like that might be going on here, as well, Laycock said. The law professor found it hard to believe that the Culpeper County boards reasons for denying the pump-and-haul permit would stand up to legal scrutiny. It just looks so suspicious, Laycock said. Culpeper County, like other localities, allows for pump-and-haul septic systems in mostly rural areas where public utilities are not available or land is not suitable for a drain field. Pump-and-haul involves installing a tank on site that is emptied as needed by a septic tank cleaner. In 2002, the local office of the Virginia Department of Health determined that the site proposed for the local mosque was not suitable for a septic tank and drain field because of poor soil conditions; an alternative system was not proposed. Since 1995, the Culpeper County board has received 19 other requests for pump-and-haul applications of those, 18 were approved, including for five churches. According to a Culpeper County staff report before the board Tuesday, Nawabe was determined by the county attorney to be eligible to apply for the permit for the Rixeyville Road location. Nawabe said Tuesday he was preparing to close on the property this week with the intent of demolishing the dilapidated structure on site and building a new place for twice-weekly prayer meetings by members of the Islamic Center of Culpeper, founded in 2011. Nawabe said up to 15 people would attend the meetings with an estimated usage of the pump-and-haul of 120 gallons per week. The group currently holds prayer meetings in an old house on Brandy Road and is seeking to establish a more permanent location. Religious uses are permitted as a principal use in the zoning district in which the proposed mosque site is located. Once a site plan is approved, a building permit would be required for construction. Culpeper County Administrator John Egertson said pump-and-haul permits are not subject to public hearing or planning commission review. They are approved, however, by the elected board in accordance with its adopted policy only in cases where it is shown that a unique, temporary situation exists which goes beyond simple hardship conditions. Though not subject to public hearing, the Islamic Centers application sparked many in the public to contact their representatives, various supervisors said Tuesday. Hansohn said a neighbor of the property contacted her about the potential for a lingering odor when the system was emptied. Egertson said the process was no different than pumping out a septic tank and that it would not impact neighbors. He noted that the Rixeyville Road site was in reasonable distance to the towns utility system and that a connection could be made in the next few years. As part of approval of the pump-and-haul permit, the applicant agreed to connect to public sewer when available. Hansohn said many of the calls she received from constituents were about religion. Frazier said if it was a case of someone living in a house for years and the septic system failing, then he would support a pump-and-haul permit. He said no such hardship existed at the Islamic Center site. Advance Auto Parts to welcome new CEO Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts announced Monday that it has hired a new CEO to lead the publicly traded company, which is a leading seller of aftermarket auto parts. Tom Greco, 57, most recently served as CEO of Frito-Lay North America, a division of PepsiCo. He replaces Darren Jackson, who retired in January. The company said Jackson retired voluntarily after more than 11 years with Advance. But some observers suggested he received a nudge from Starboard Value, a hedge fund and activist shareholder that said Advance has underperformed its peers OReilly Auto Parts and AutoZone. Advance said Grecos hire will take effect Monday. George Sherman, Advances president for three years, has served as interim CEO since Jacksons exit. Va. auto dealer honored for lifetime achievement The American International Automobile Dealers Association on Sunday honored Charlottesville-area auto dealer H. Carter Myers III with the 2016 David F. Mungenast Sr. Lifetime Achievement Award. Myers is executive chairman of Carter Myers Automotive. A third-generation dealer, Myers joined his family Ford dealership in 1965. Since then, he has grown the business into 12 franchises throughout Central and Western Virginia. Over the years, he has served in many leadership roles in the auto industry, including chairman of the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association and the National Automobile Dealers Association. New Richmond flight heads west to Denver Richmond International Airport and United Airlines today will mark the launch of the airports first nonstop service to Denver, one of Uniteds largest hubs. The flight is seen as a chance to open up access to western cities. Capital Region Airport Commission Chairman John V. Mazza Jr., Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Maurice A. Jones and Kellie Clough, a United sales manager, are the scheduled speakers. The first flight departing the airport today was scheduled to get a water arch sendoff. The new route, at 1,482 miles, will be the longest and most westerly flight originating from Richmond. First Zaxbys closed after crash; second to open early The first and thus far only Zaxbys restaurant location in Richmond at 5816 W. Broad St. is temporarily closed due to a crash that occurred last week. According to franchise owner Ryan Converse, a driver lost control and hit the building around 8 a.m. Thursday. The damage was extensive, and the store will be closed until repairs can be made, Converse wrote in an email to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. She hit us in the most vital part of the restaurant. All my major equipment is there along with utility lines. That location opened on Feb. 8. Converse said theres no reopening date yet, but he was able to move many of the employees to his second Zaxbys restaurant at 9110 Staples Mill Road and move up that locations grand opening by a week to this coming Monday. It looks like nothing was found at this location. Maybe try a search? Search for: Search A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind. St. John Lutheran Church will send 330 servants into the Roanoke community on Saturday, April 23, from 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. to meet the critical needs of 13 local nonprofit organizations. Volunteers of all ages will fan out to multiple mission sites to perform such tasks as assembling food packages, sorting food for distribution, building homes, remodeling a study lounge, assembling health kits, rolling bandages, bagging lunches, improving a playground, painting and maintenance tasks, sanitizing and making up beds, creating books, visiting veterans, and making blankets for hospitalized children. At St. John, we believe and teach that the mission of the church is mission and that God calls us together for worship, learning, and fellowship and then sends us out to take the Good News of Christ to the world in word and deed, says Senior Pastor Mark Graham. Mission sites support St. Johns commitment to mission outreach locally in the Roanoke Valley and globally in several places, including Nicaragua, Zambia, and Israel. This years Compassion Weekend mission sites include: Feeding America Southwest Virginia, Habitat for Humanity, Hope Tree Family Services, Orphan Medical Network International, Permanent Supportive Housing, Rafiki Foundation, REACH, Rescue Mission, Stop Hunger Now, Veterans Affairs, West End Center, Salvation Army and Shevet Akim. At the conclusion of Compassion Weekend, more than 2,000 volunteer hours will have been contributed to the various mission sites. In addition to the donation of manpower, St. John Lutheran Church dedicates a portion of its annual mission budget to provide the financial support needed to underwrite the efforts of these volunteers. Compassion Weekend is a remarkable event bringing together capable volunteers, financial resources and the targeted needs of service providers, says Ruth Cassell, Chief Development Officer of Family Service of Roanoke Valley. St. John Lutheran has supported us for many years to accomplish projects that we would never have been able to do without their help. The volunteers have expertise that non-profits truly need, and they work with the agency to choose tasks that best match volunteer ability with agency priority. Their commitment to service shines through the quality of their work. Carsonette Hamilton and Glenda Oechslin, co-chairs of the Compassion Weekend, said another reason for the success of the ministry has been the past involvement and dedication of other congregations in the Roanoke Valley, including West End United Methodist, Bethel AME, and Temple Emanuel who participate in some of the planning, outreach, recruitment, and volunteer work each year. It is a privilege and inspiration to be a part of an effort that is dedicated to making lives better for our neighbors in need. We are so blessed to be a part of a united community of faith, serving God in love and obedience as we serve others through mission and witnessing in word and action, says Andree Brooks, member of West End United Methodist and the Compassion Weekend steering committee. Even as we aim to serve 13 mission sites on one day stretching from the Roanoke Valley to Nicaragua to Africa to Israel, our greater purpose is to bring glory to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, says Pastor Graham. It is what the born-again life in Christ is all about. It is why we exist as a congregation of Christs followers. In an ongoing commitment to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus, St. John Lutheran Church developed Compassion Weekend Plus, which is a new ministry dedicated to glorifying God year round. Compassion Weekend Plus encourages congregants to deepen their relationship with God through year round service to their neighbors in need, thereby enriching their faith and strengthening the greater Roanoke community. For more information on the church, visit www.stjohnlutheran.org. Submitted by Kim Turner Del. Sam Rasoul and Sen. John Edwards held a wide-ranging town hall Tuesday night that touched on issues of gun control, immigration and economic development. Rasoul, who along with Edwards sponsored unsuccessful bills this year to raise Virginias minimum wage, urged advocates to keep the conversation going and ensure the issue is framed in a thoughtful manner. I think its unethical, in the richest country in the world, that people are working full time and still in poverty, said Rasoul, D-Roanoke. ... Something is wrong with that equation. Edwards, D-Roanoke, was pressed on this years bipartisan gun compromise by local activists whove been calling for universal background checks and other measures. Edwards sponsored a narrower, voluntary background checks bill for private sellers at gun shows that was incorporated into the legislative agreement. I think its a step in the right direction, he said of the package. Its a compromise. ... Is it perfect? No. Tuesdays joint town hall, attended by about 60 people, is an annual event held by Rasoul and Edwards after the General Assembly session. Over the course of two hours, the pair fielded questions on mental health priorities, efforts to expand vocational training and SOL testing reform. Rasoul was asked at one point for his forecast on the possibility of passing a law protecting gay and transgender people from discrimination in the workplace. He said its vital to ensure Virginia doesnt go backwards like they did in North Carolina on equality issues and added hes seen even some deep conservatives in the General Assembly start to shift on the issue a bit. But the legislature still has a long way to go, he concluded, and the state may have to rely on the federal courts in the short-term for more substantive action. On immigration, both Rasoul and Edwards were critical of a pair of General Assembly bills that aimed to prevent local sheriffs and jails from releasing inmates who were the subject of federal immigration detention requests. The bills, opposed by the Virginia Sheriffs Association, raised constitutional questions and would have left local authorities on the hook for housing inmates while waiting for federal authorities to follow up, said Edwards. It could also unravel efforts by local law enforcement to establish trust and get immigrant communities to cooperate with their departments, he said. The governor vetoed the bills last week. The debate over so-called sanctuary cities has become a politically contentious national issue spurred in part by the 2015 slaying of a woman who was shot in San Francisco by a man whod been released from jail despite a federal immigration request that he be held for possible deportation. The sanctuary city debate flared up in the Roanoke City Council race recently when candidates voiced support for the idea during a rapid-fire, yes-or-no round of an election forum. Some later said they misunderstood the question. The initial candidate responses drew a rebuke from U.S. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, who said it was extremely alarming that anyone seeking elected office would support this wrongheaded policy. Edwards, in turn, criticized Goodlatte and other congressional leaders during Tuesdays town hall for not doing enough on immigration reform. The federal government should fully fund the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement so the agency can deal with these issues properly, he said. We have a problem in southwest Virginia. Last I heard, Giles County had around 25 percent of its workforce on disability. Coupled with an unemployment rate of approximately 6 percent, Giles has a third of its working-age adults on the dole. I have personally known only a few families in Southwest Virginia who have never accepted a government handout, and Ive lived here for 25 years. Today, people want jobs to move to where they live, not the other way around. In the western U.S., there are thousands of ghost towns that once thrived but are now dilapidated and soulless. Their citizen-workers moved in search of better opportunities elsewhere. Most of that happened before FDR created Uncle Sugar, preserving the dignity of and providing welfare for the aged, disabled, and unemployed. Republicans have always been against it; its bad business. They see a world of workers, paying taxes to the government, and dying soon after their working lives are over. In their view, the proletariat is replaceable; the bourgeoisie who control the means of production are not. Uncle Sugar wont let Grundy or Garbutt become ghost towns. Yet true dignity still takes a hit in these towns the kind of dignity that comes from working hard to provide for your family. Uncle Sugar was created to provide a safety net for working people, to prevent them from becoming street-beggars, but hes not a substitute for common sense. Donald Trump is a capitalist and an opportunist playing to the fears and petty hatreds abundant today. I think if he is elected, the people of the impoverished towns of Appalachia will be quickly de-funded and their non-working proles possibly deported right behind the Muslims and those hard-working and highly-mobile Mexicans. Dead weight does not make good business sense. Isnt it ironic that the counties of Southwest Virginia consistently vote for Republicans and against their own survival through the grace of our dear savior, Uncle Sugar? JOHN OEN MONTGOMERY COUNTY JUNIOR doctors have walked out on strike for the fourth time as a long-running dispute over contract changes rumbles on. Members of the British Medical Association (BMA), including those at Rotherham Hospital, began the 48-hour walkout at 8am today (Wednesday). A spokeswoman said for Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, said four operations have been postponed because of the strike and 82 patients had been affected by cancelled clinics. She added: "All patients whose treatment has been affected have been notified. Therefore, anyone who has an appointment at the trust and has not heard from us, should attend as normal. Although junior doctors are still providing emergency cover, it is likely that A & E will be extremely busy and we would urge people to think about the best place to access care if they become ill. "Getting the right care, first time, will ensure that they get the best possible treatment, leaving emergency health services free for those who need them most. "A&E is for serious and life-threatening injuries and conditions. If you are not sure where to attend, call NHS 111 for advice." Doctors are providing emergency cover but NHS England said 5,000 operations and procedures have been postponed across the country. The BMA claim health secretary Jeremy Hunt failed to undertake an equality impact assessment (EIA) prior to the government imposing terms and conditions on junior doctors. The changes include the curbing of junior doctors pay package and changes to what is classed as unsociable hours. Guaranteed pay increases linked to time in the job are also expected to be scrapped and replaced with a system linked to progression through set training stages. Dr Johann Malawa, BMA junior doctors committee chairman, said: This is yet another example of the incompetence which the government has demonstrated throughout its handling of the dispute. Imposing this contract will seriously undermine the ability of the NHS to recruit and retain junior doctors in areas of medicine with the most unsocial areas, where there are already staffing shortages. The strike action, which will involve all junior doctors, except those on-call to provide emergency cover, will take place from 8am on Wednesday until 8am on Friday. The BMA will also hold a full withdrawal of labour later this month between 8am and 5pm on April 26 and 27. TATA Steel will begin the formal process of selling its UK plants - including those in Rotherham - by Monday, the business secretary has said. Speaking after a meeting with company bosses in India, Sajid Javid, said a number of groups had come forward but only named Liberty Steel as being interested. He said the meeting was constructive and positive and showed Tata was a responsible company". Mr Javid was meeting Tata chairman Cyrus Mistry for the first time since the firm announced the sale a week ago. Speaking during a visit to Tata's Aldwarke site on Monday, the business minister Anna Soubry said she estimated Tata could find a buyer within four to six weeks. BRITISH Transport police are seeking an elderly man who racially abused a 14-year-old boy on a train. The boy travelling from Doncaster to Meadowhall with friends on Saturday, March 12, at around 4pm when the man aimed the racist remark at him. PC Richard Ward said: The boy was travelling with friends when a group of four elderly men boarded the train at Doncaster. A verbal dispute ensued over the fact that the some of the younger group had their feet on seats. In the course of the dispute, one of the older men made a racist remark about the victim. The victim and his friends left the train at Meadowhall while the older group remained on board the service. Police believe the man in this CCTV image can provide information about the incident. Anyone with information is urged to contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016, quoting reference 375 of 6/4. Alternatively, information can be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Villagers in the Marange area of Zimbabwe say they want the diamond mining companies back, reports Zimbabwe's Daily News. Following Zimbabwe Mines Minister Walter Chidakwa's February directive to diamond mining companies operating in Zimbabwe's Marange diamond fields to cease their operations, the area has reportedly been plagued by illegal artisanal miners invading the area in their hundreds. Villagers say their lives had improved significantly in the past few years as the companies were contributing to community development, reports the news source. "Life was much better with the diamond miners than now, where it has once again become free for all. Even the police are struggling to contain the deluge of illegal diggers who are also pillaging property," one villager said, as quoted by the news source. During a recent tour of the diamond fields by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Indigenisation, they reportedly heard first-hand from the community that the mining companies had changed their lives for the better. Mbada Diamonds was singled out for praise by members of the local community for its contributions to various community projects, and the government was asked to reconsider its decision to cancel the miners' licenses. "We look forward to Mbada's continued presence here, as the whole community is benefitting from their social responsibility projects," said Cuthbert Rungwe, the headmaster of the nearby St Noah College, as quoted by the news source. In Kansas, evacuations were underway in at least three communities. The National Weather Service warns conditions conducive to fire are forecast to occur in both states through Wednesday. Dangerous weather conditions have resulted in fire outbreaks across the state this afternoon. This is a fluid situation with fire conditions continuing to worsen, and we cant emphasize enough how important it is for everyone to be extremely careful with anything that could cause a spark said George Geissler, director of Oklahoma Forestry Services. Fortunately there were no injuries and only one abandoned building was lost to the flames. The 4 Warn Storm team forecasts Oklahoma will continue to be placed under a Red Flag Warning until midnight. Palmetto Railways Palmetto Railways is exploring the development of a 10-mile industrial rail line to serve the Camp Hall Commerce Park in Berkeley County, S.C. Palmetto Railways is a shortline railroad and a division of the South Carolina Department of Commerce. Its plan for the new rail line would connect Camp Hall Commerce Park to existing railroad right-of-way, near the Santee Cooper Cross Generating Station in Berkeley County. Palmetto Railways will construct, own and operate the rail line, which the railway said is expected to open the door to greater economic development efforts to support the state of South Carolina. The aim of the project would be to provide rail access for the development of future industries at the Camp Hall Commerce Park, including its primary tenant, Volvo, and would support future economic development opportunities for the region and state. Palmetto Railways estimates the project will take three years to complete and is aiming to begin rail service in the third quarter of 2019. The railway is still working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to identify a preferred route and did not have a cost estimate. The railway also said it would be performing the required environmental analysis to assess any and all impacts as required by the National Environmental Policy Act. The railway pledged to keep stakeholders engaged throughout the process and said it is committed to collaborating with Berkeley County, state and federal officials and local residents to ensure that the community and surrounding areas are included in the rail line development. Palmetto Railways is holding online meetings for those interested in the rail project. In the next 18 months, the railway plans to hold an additional two meetings where comments and input will be taken on the project. The online meetings can be accessed through Palmetto Railways website. Weinst dem aktuelle Streik an der Belsch gouf fir de Mettwoch den Owend am Atelier elo de Concert vun Bring me the horizon ofgesot. DKenschtler an hir Equipe stiechen nach emmer am Stau an wieren net mat Zaiten an der Hollerecher Strooss, heescht et vum Atelier selwer. Et geif een awer schonn no enger Alternative sichen. Tonights show of BRING ME THE HORIZON is unfortunately cancelled due to the traffic chaos in Belgium not kiddin here. The bands trucks have been, and still are, stuck in dreadful traffic jams caused by the strikes. Unfortunately they wont be able to make it to Luxembourg on time. So tonights show is cancelled, BUT!, no need to despair, we are working on an alternative date with the bands management. All tickets will remain valid for the new date. We will be in touch within the next couple of days, pls bear with us. Sorry for any inconvenience, well defo keep you posted! Cheers, The A-team Cabinet office is set to release preliminary Japan leading economic indicators for February at 1:00 am ET Wednesday. The leading index is expected to show a score of 99.8, down from 101.08 in January. Ahead of the data, the yen showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the yen rose against the euro and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the pound and the U.S. dollar. As of 12:55 am ET, the yen was trading at 125.49 against the euro, 156.30 against the pound, 115.29 the Swiss franc and 110.37 against the U.S. dollar. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Forex News Glencore plc (GLCNF.PK,GLNCY.PK,GLEN.L) announced that it has entered into definitive agreement with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board or CPPIB for the purchase by a wholly owned subsidiary of CPPIB of a 40% equity interest in Glencore Agricultural Products, for $2.5 billion payable in cash. Glencore expects the transaction to close during the second half of 2016 and the proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce net indebtedness. In addition, Glencore and CPPIB have agreed to an initial four year lock-up period subject to a carve-out for Glencore to sell up to a further 20% stake. Barclays, Citi and Credit Suisse acted as joint financial advisers to Glencore. Linklaters LLP provided legal advice to Glencore. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News Real estate tycoon Donald Trump is leading in the Pennsylvania Republican primary, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday. The poll found that 39 percent of likely GOP primary voters support Trump, while 30 percent favor Senator Ted Cruz, R-Tex. Ohio Governor John Kasich comes in third at 24 percent, although he is the only Republican who beats either Democratic candidate in head-to-head November matchups in the key swing state. "Can you be mired in third place among Pennsylvania Republicans and still be your party's best bet come Election Day?" said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. He added, "Welcome to Gov. John Kasich's world, where the big prize is tantalizingly close, but blocked by two candidates with the same goal." On the Democratic side, the poll showed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a 50 percent to 44 percent lead over Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. There is a wide gender gap among likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters, as men back Sanders 53 percent to 40 percent, while women back Clinton 56 percent to 38 percent. The Quinnipiac survey of 1,737 Pennsylvania voters was conducted March 30th through April 4th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. The survey included 578 likely Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points and 514 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton expressed frustration with rival Bernie Sanders in an interview conducted even before the Vermont Senator's sizable victory in the Wisconsin primary. In the interview for Politico's "Off Message" podcast, Clinton went so far as to question whether Sanders is actually a Democrat. "He's a relatively new Democrat, and, in fact, I'm not even sure he is one," Clinton said. "He's running as one. So I don't know quite how to characterize him." Sanders has previously ran for office as an independent but caucuses with the Democratic Party in the Senate. The former Secretary of State also accused Sanders of misrepresenting her record in order to turn young voters against here. "I don't appreciate that, and I feel sorry for a lot of the young people who are fed this list of misrepresentations," Clinton said. "I know that Senator Sanders spends a lot of time attacking my husband, attacking President Obama," she added. "I rarely hear him say anything negative about George W. Bush, who I think wrecked our ." Clinton also took a shot at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump in the interview, comparing the real estate tycoon to European neo-fascists. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore) For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Political News 24 . "" . 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 PPC CEO Darryll Castle said: "Over the past few months, we applied our minds extensively to the proposed merger with AfriSam. Ultimately we decided not to proceed with the deal. PPC said on Friday that it had declined AfriSams merger proposal as the two companies could not reach a consensus on the terms of a merger. The board has considered the proposed merger and its merits and has decided not to proceed. The board has therefore terminated its engagement with AfriSam PPC said. At 12.08pm PPC shares were 1.89% firmer at R18.30. AfriSam is an unlisted company. This comes a few weeks after PPC, a listed cement and lime producer, said it continued to consider the indicative non-binding proposal from AfriSam for a merger between the two cement producers. PPCs decision to halt merger shifts the focus back to whether it will take on former CEO Ketso Gordhans sizeable Algeria deal, and the firms ability to contain debt as it completes costly but important deals elsewhere in Africa. PPC has yet to decide whether to build a 2-million-tonne-a-year plant in Algeria, a deal put on the table almost 14 months ago by Mr Gordhan, who has since made an acrimonious exit from the company. Afrisams initial proposal in December was for it to dispose of its business to PPC in exchange for new PPC shares, using a merger ratio of 55%-65% in favour of PPC and 35%-45% in favour of Afrisam. The decision to end talks comes as industry sources say at least one major multinational cement firm is actively considering a takeover of PPC, whose shares had nearly halved in the six months to March 16 following Mr Gordhans exit. Germany-based HeidelbergCement, the worlds third-largest cement firm, has said it is considering investing in SA, as has French giant Lafarge, which is already a large player in SAs inland and KwaZulu-Natal markets. A HeidelbergCement executive last week declined to comment on speculation that the firm had approached PPC. PPCs projects under way in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will see its debt peaking at R10bn-R12bn in 2017, the company said this month. While its capital structure was supportive of existing projects, the company said it would have a "constrained ability to execute further expansion projects", without mentioning the Algerian deal. AfriSam is adding capacity to its Tanzanian operations, and says it wants to expand its footprint in Africa, particularly in central and East Africa. PPC said on Friday it had held "extensive discussions" with AfriSam regarding its merger proposal. "The parties have not been able to reach consensus on the terms of the merger and therefore have terminated their discussions. In lieu of confidentiality agreements between the two parties, the company is unable to elaborate on the detailed reasons for this termination. The board remains committed to its strategy of enhancing the companys position in Southern Africa and expanding its footprint into other African countries." PPC CEO Darryll Castle said: "Over the past few months, we applied our minds extensively to the proposed merger with AfriSam. Ultimately we decided not to proceed with the deal. "I have spent my first weeks as CEO of PPC acquainting myself fully with the companys operations, meeting the people and reviewing its strategic direction and growth strategy. "I have been most impressed with what I have found and am very excited about the companys future. I have established a number of priorities for the company and am looking forward to discussing these in detail when we report our interim results on May 19," Mr Castle said. The Public Investment Corporation, managers of the Government Employees Pension Fund, holds 12.57 percent of PPC and 66 percent of AfriSam. By SA Commercial Prop News - SAPOA One & Only The Palm, Dubai, clinched the overall award at the SAPOA Innovative Excellence in Property Development Awards 2012 Showcasing the SA property industrys impact on the world stage, One & Only The Palm, Dubai, clinched top honours at SAPOAs (South African Property Owners Association) Awards for Innovative Excellence in Property Development, sponsored by Nedbank Corporate Property Finance. This year, SAPOA presented a dozen awards to outstanding property developments. It announced the award winners at the 44th annual SAPOA International Property Convention & Exhibition at the Durban International Convention Centre. The winners showcase excellence in design and innovation. They reflect the constant revolution needed to meet todays challenges and tomorrows needs, in SA and globally, says Neil Gopal, CEO of SAPOA. The ultra-luxury One & Only The Palm boutique resort development, owned by Kerzner International, is a collaboration of South African consultants working in the international arena. DSA Architects International and Mirage Mille led the design and construction as principal architects and development/project managers respectively. WSP and CKR were the consulting engineers and MLC Quantity Surveyors were the cost consultants. The design package was produced and co-ordinated in Joburg. Winning the retail development category is the 75,000sqm Mall of the North, jointly owned and developed by Flanagan & Gerard Property Development and Investment, Moolman Group and Resilient Property Income Fund. This super-regional shopping centre, which opened in April 2012, was designed by MDS Architecture with strong reference to its context in Polokwane, Limpopo. Earning top spot in the industrial development category is Ellerines Cape Town, owned and developed by Growthpoint Properties Limited and designed by Loudon Perry Anderson Architects. The innovative project created Ellerines new high-tech facility for distribution in the greater Western Cape region. Taking winning position in the office development category is SANRALs new 4 Star Green Star design rated (Office-v1), AAA-grade corporate head office in Pretoria. Owned and developed by SANRAL, this energy-efficient building is designed by Activate Architecture. Sandton City Shopping Centre, owned by Liberty Properties, clinched top honours in the retail refurbishment category with MDS Architecture, MMA Architects, RTKL appointed for the centres phase-one positioning project. The development comprises refurbishing the existing mall and an addition of 30,000sqm of retail space. 25 Wellington Road in Parktown, Johannesburg, scooped the award for office refurbishment. Designed by Paragon Architects, and developed by Alchemy Property Investment Trust, the project transformed an inefficiently designed 1980s office block into a modern call centre for tenant Cell C. Taking the winning title in the mixed-use developments category is The Pivot at Montecasino, owned and developed by Abland and designed by Nsika. The Pivot introduces a 200-room, 4-star Southern Sun Hotel, a 1,200sqm conference facility, 15,000sqm offices, parking and some retail. Seth Mokitimi Methodist Seminary triumphed in the other development group. The training centre for Methodist ministers in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal is owned by Methodist Church of Southern Africa and developed by RPP Developments and Bridgeport Properties. Boogertman + Partners Architects designed the seminary. The social impact development category winner is The Soweto Theatre, the first professional performing arts venue developed in a former township. Owned and developed by the City of Joburg Property Company, Afritects designed this arts and culture landmark in the Jubulani CBD precinct. Earning top spot in the Innovative Property Solutions Category is the Vodafone Site Solution Innovation Centre, which makes its own electricity and supplies excess electricity to its neighbour. The building is the international hub for developing innovation, monitoring, and experimentation within the Vodafone Group worldwide. Its the first 6-Star Green Star SA accredited building in SA. Owned and developed by Vodacom & Vodafone Group, it is designed by GLH Architects Aurecon Century City took the crown for the top overall green development. It is the first building in South Africa to earn a 5-Star Green Star SA Office Design v1 rating by the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA). Its developed by Rabie Property Group and designed by MaC Architects This years Transformation Award goes to Khayelitsha Hospital. Part of the Presidential Urban Renewal Programme, the hospital will serve the community of Khayelitsha - the largest township in Cape Town and the third largest in South Africa. Owned by the Provisional Department of Public Works (PDPW) & Transport and built by Group Five Coastal, the hospital is designed by ACG Architects & Development Planners and Ngonyama Okpanum & Associate. Frank Berkeley, managing executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance, is passionate about furthering excellence in property development. The awards highlight the world-class innovation and local relevance of property development. It is especially encouraging to note the geographical spread of winners which is a reflection of local activity of the commercial property market, says Berkeley. SAPOA Awards Committee Chairman John Truter notes: The awards encourage a built environment that works on all levels. Were delighted at the continued enthusiastic response from the property sector. It displays the esteem in which they hold the awards. The award winners were decided by a multi-disciplinary expert panel of 16 independent judges comprising leaders in their fields. The 2012 judges panel includes Hashim Bham BTKM QS; Barend de Loor - Eris Property Group; Corne de Leeuw - Del QS; John Truter - WSP Group; Pieter Engelbrecht Growthpoint Properties; Chris Lawrence - Chris Lawrence; Ken Reynolds- Nedbank; Wessel van Dyk Boogertman & Partners; Rudolf Nieman - JHI; Anthony Orelowitz - Paragon Architects; Sam Silwamba Old Mutual Properties; Richard Cottrill Abland; John Williamson - MDS Architects; Beata Kaleta DSA Architects; Zinon Marinakos - DSA Architects and Craig Sutherland Sutherland Engineers. 50% of Indian mobile users wish to upgrade to new device in 5G era About 50 per cent of smartphone users in India plan to buy a new device within the first year as 5G ... I give my consent to Sakshi Post to be in touch with me via email for the purpose of event marketing and corporate communications. Privacy Policy Here's where to get a pumpkin in central Kansas for fall Local farms are preparing for the upcoming pumpkin harvest. Here's where to go pumpkin picking in the greater Salina area. The 20th Infantry Battalion under LtCol Hilarion Palma and partner agencies and units inked the MOA for Community-based Skills and Livelihood Training Program for the Palapagnons and was witnessed by the 154 beneficiaries at the old Palapag Church on February 22, 2016. Community-based skills and livelihood training for the Palapagnons By DPAO, 8ID PA February 23, 2016 PALAPAG, Northern Samar The 20th Infantry (We Lead) Battalion, in partnership with TESDA-LNAIS, DepEd-ALS Palapag, and the Local Government Unit of Palapag, launched the community-based skills and livelihood training program for the Palapagnons held at the old Palapag Church on February 22, 2016. The activity was further highlighted with a motorcade around Poblacion, Palapag as kick-off of the event followed by signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the partner agencies to institutionalize their commitment for peace, employability, productivity and development. This is the first livelihood program opened for calendar year 2016 participated in by 154 beneficiaries from the different Barangays of Palapag broken down as follows: Shielded Metal Arc Welding NC II - 35; Bread and Pastry Production NC II - 34; Housekeeping NC II - 35; Motorcycle Small Engine Repair NC II - 30; and Body Massage - 20. The training will be conducted for the duration of 15 to 30 days. Present during the activity were: Lt. Col. Hilarion G. Palma, Commanding Officer of 20th Infantry Battalion; Ms. Yolanda A. Pajenado, TESDA Head for Instruction Services; Ms. Sonia Mercader, Principal of Palapag Central School; Hon. Ben C. Gurimbalem, Palapag Municipal Vice-Mayor; Mr. Nelito G. Rebato, ALS Coordinator; and Mr. Roberto V. Udtujan, ALS mobile teacher. Pajenado mention in his message said that community-based trainings is same standardized modules for those who are unable to attend a school-based program. This will serve as an avenue to uplift their quality of living, and increase the employment rate of Filipinos. Gurimbalem, lauded and Philippine Army for choosing Palapag as a recipient of the program with this Palapagnons had the clear opportunity to work both local and abroad. 2Lt Marjorie Siwa presented the Comprehensive Local Integration Program and conducted a career guidance for a career in the Philippine Army during the Information Awareness Drive to 200 youths of Llorente College of Technology last February 19, 2016. 14IB conducts info drive to 200 youths of Llorente By DPAO, 8ID PA February 24, 2016 ORAS, Eastern Samar Personnel from the 14th Infantry (Avenger) Battalion, Philippine Army conducted an Information Awareness Drive to two hundred (200) youths from Llorente College of Technology held at Municipal Social Hall, Llorente, Eastern Samar on February 19, 2016. The topics discussed are the NPA infiltration and deception in the youth sector, Comprehensive Local Integration Program (CLIP) and Career Guidance on how to apply to become Officer and Soldier in the Philippine Army. The Information Awareness Drive by 14th IB is in response to the appeal of Mr. Antonio Bocar College Administrator of Llorente College of Technology in order to save and protect the students towards NPA recruitment to become prospective party cadres especially those who are residing in the upstream barangays of Llorente. Lt. Ronnie T. Ebarita, Acting Battalion Commander, encouraged the academe sector to be proactive in educating the students against the senseless ideology of NPA, however, the government has always been an open door for reconciliation and healing for our misguided brothers to embrace peace and re-integrate in the community with their families. The overwhelming support of Llorente College of Technology serve as a role model so that other institution and academe may emulate further contribute in addressing peace and security concern since purely military solution will never be enough to achieve long and lasting peace. AFP Vice Chief of Staff LtGen. Romeo Tanalgo inspects the high powered firearms, ammunitions, claymore mines, flat screen TV, satellite cable, generator, chainsaw, first aid kit, foodstuff and subversive documents recovered by 19th IB and 87th IB during encounter with NPA rebels. AFP Vice Chief of Staff visits Stormtroopers By DPAO, 8ID PA March 2, 2016 CAMP VICENTE LUKBAN, Catbalogan City The Armed Forces of the Philippines second most ranking officer paid his first visit to the home of the 8th Infantry Stormtroopers Division, Friday. Lt. Gen. Romeo T. Tanalgo AFP, Vice Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines was accorded with full military honors, and was warmly welcomed by Major General Jet B. Velarmino AFP, Commander 8ID, along with officers and civilian employees of the Command upon his arrival at 8ID Headquarters. After which, he was given a situation briefing on the Internal Peace and Security Operations (IPSO) accomplishments. Highlighted are the seizures of NPA high powered firearms and several war materiels while extending humanitarian assistance and disaster response during the recent typhoon that hardly hit Northern Samar. Maj. Gen Velarmino pointed out during the open forum that 8ID initiated numerous peace covenants of the local candidates. Lt. Gen. Tanalgo reiterated the guidance of the Chief of Staff, Armed Forces of the Philippines to be non-partisan, assure the community for a peaceful and credible election and exercise soldiers right to vote. He further commended the 8ID for their enthusiasm in serving the local populace with highest standard of honor, dedication and professionalism. Members of Parliament from around the region who are attending the 4th Pacific Womens Parliamentary Partnership (P.W.P.P) Forum got a taste of Samoa on Monday. The occasion was the welcoming ava ceremony organized by the Legislative Assembly held at Tuanaimato. The ava ceremony preceded the keynote address from the Head of State, His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi, to open the three day forum, which ends today. The ava ceremony was attended by Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament including Deputy Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mataafa. The annual Forum is organised by the Pacific Womens Parliamentary Partnerships (P.W.P.P), supported by the Australian Government through its Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development initiative. The Samoa Tourism Authority (S.T.A) welcomed their new Minister, Lautafi Fio Purcell, and his Associate, Tuifaasisina Misa Lisati, during an ava ceremony yesterday. The welcome marked the changing of the guard at S.T.A where Lautafi has taken over the portfolio previously held by Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi. And he means business. Let us not rest on our laurels, he said. Yes we have improved but there is always room for betterment. In addressing the gathering yesterday, Lautafi said he is excited about the appointment as he has always wanted to be involved in the development of tourism. When the Prime Minister appointed me to become the Minister of Tourism I was really happy inside, he said. Maybe some of the employees within the Ministry are not happy with me becoming the Minister of Samoa Tourism but I am not worried. I have been appointed by the P.M to work and build up the ministry so if people are not happy, then I am not worried. This is not the first time he has appointed me to look after a tough ministry. He appointed me to develop a new ministry and so at this time that ministry is up and running hundred miles per hour. Lautafi said challenges and barriers are not new to him. The only thing I said to the Prime Minister is that you just bowl and Ill bat so for the next five years Ill be leading our ministry. Passion is very important to Lautafi. When I was young, I was a lucky person. I grew up in an environment that even today has historical sites all around like the Pulemelei Mound and the Atua'au at Vailoa Palauli. One day, my father said to me Selafi, there will come a day when white people will come and swim in this river (Atua'au) but at that time I thought to myself why would white people want to come and swim here when there are a lot of nice rivers where they are from? With Atua'au waterfall becoming one of the most popular places in Savaii, Lautafi said his old man saw something he didnt. Looking ahead, the new Minister knows that the road is not easy. The challenge for me for the next five years, is how will we go forward with this development, he said. I believe we still havent reached the standard that we are supposed to be in the tourism industry. We should be thinking of different ways so that we can realise the potential of Samoa as a destination not only for tourists to visit for just days but actually stay in Samoa for a longer period and spend money in Samoa. Thats what we want. The Associate Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Lealailepule Rimoni Aiafi, is counter suing the man who has filed a petition against him. The petition was filed by Ale Vena Ale, a former ruling H.R.P.P M.P who ran for the Faleata west constituency. The case will be heard next Thursday. But the Associate Minister, according to Radio New Zealand International, is counter suing Ale on three counts of bribery and treating. Lealailepule said a strike out motion application will be heard first and if won that could be the end of the petition on allegations of corrupt practices against him. However, if the strike out motion is not successful the hearing will go ahead. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, has urged the unsuccessful candidates of his ruling party who have cases against fellow party MPs to reconsider their legal action. The welder who died on Monday when a fuel tank at the Matautu wharf exploded and caught fire has been identified. He is a father of one, Moemulinu'u Toleafoa Siaki, of Nuu-fou. The 31-year-old is the son of Toleafoa Mamea Savea Siaki and his wife Maria Monika. Mr. Siaki, an employee of Petroleum Products Supplies Ltd (P.P.S), was apparently working on the three fuel tanks when the incident happened. His colleague was hospitalised but has since been discharged. Yesterday at his home at Nuu, his father Toleafoa Siaki said they are still coming to terms with his sons unexpected death. On that morning, he just woke me up and asked me to drop him and his wife off to their work places, said Toleafoa. I dropped my daughter-in-law first at Valentines and then him at the Petroleum Products Supplies where he works. Toleafoa said he did not think that that would be the last time he would see his son alive. When we arrived at his work place, he just said to me that he would finish off some of the stuff he was working on at home after work that day. Those were his last words before he said goodbye to me with a smile. Toleafoa said he could not believe it when he was told that his son had died. I didnt expect my son to be gone this early, said Toleafoa. He was my greatest helper. I would just tell him what to do and he does it without a word. He was more than a son to me. Moemulinuu is the only boy in a family of six girls. He was dearly loved and we are devastated. His grieving wife, Kuini Moemulinuu, spoke through her tears yesterday. Moe was a good husband and a loving father, she said. Not a minute goes by I dont miss him, his smile and in everything that we do. Moemulinu'u and Kuini had been married for close to 10 years. Their daughter is five-year-old Maria Kalameli Moemulinu'u. Its harder on my daughter, she said. She saw her father and she knows that he is already dead but when people ask her about him she says he is still sleeping. Mrs. Moemulinu'u said the hardest part is when her daughter asks her about her father. I dont have an answer, she said. He spoilt his daughter and he would protect her from anything but now he is gone. The explosion that killed Mr. Siaki went off a 10am on Monday. The explosion triggered a fire, which was responded to within minutes by the Fire and Emergency Services Authority (F.E.S.A) personnel. Emergency workers immediately evacuated everyone within close proximity to the wharf. Investigations are currently underway to determine the cause of the explosion. In the meantime, claims that the fire could have blown up the wharf, destroying a large part of the Apia waterfront and placing hundreds of lives at risk, have been rejected by Petroleum Products Supplies Ltd (P.P.S). P.P.S. Managing Director, Fanene Samau Sefo said there was no threat of the sort whatsoever. The tanks were designed in a way that it cannot be destroyed by a fire, said Fanene. I believe the evacuation was called for precautionary measures but with the fire alone, there wouldnt have been a time when it would spread outside of the tank. The tanks are surrounded by a cement wall so if there is any fuel leakage it is contained inside the bund wall. Fanene also downplayed the concerns about the pipeline that pumps fuel from the wharf to P.P.Ss main terminal at Sogi. This pipe is buried six feet deep underground, he explained. When the incident happened, the workers shut down all fuel valves and there isnt any possibility that a problem like that will happen because any fire requires oxygenno oxygen can get through down where the pipeline is locked. According to Fanene, Mr. Siaki was doing some maintenance work on the tanks. They started work from the first tank, second and it was the third and last tank where the incident happened, he said. I cannot go into details about what might have caused the fire because there is an investigation into it. We are extremely saddened by the loss of a employee and we extend our condolences to his family and loved ones. A category 3 cyclone threatening Fiji, Cyclone Zena, is unlikely to head to Samoa. The cyclone has been developing across the Islands of Vanuatu and has brought torrential rainfall in parts of Vanuatu and Fiji for the past three days. Yesterday, the category three storm with winds in excess of 120 kph (75 mph) was predicted to hit Fiji within 24 hours as the South Pacific island nation struggles to recover from a devastating cyclone in February. Speaking to the Samoa Observer yesterday, Ese Ah Ken, of the Samoa Meteorology Office, said there was no need for Samoa to panic. Right now the cyclone is traveling South East towards Haapai, Tonga which makes it no threat to us as of now, he said. Right now it has developed into a category 2 cyclone but the forecast for us is looking good. Mr. Ah Ken however pointed out that the only possible direct affect to Samoa are high swells generated by the cyclone. The weather forecast at the moment is normal with a lot of winds coming from the north and a draft to the south, he said. This is good news for us but not for other Islands in the path of the cyclone. The wife of a former E.F.K.S Church Minister has been fined by the District Court for attempting to defeat justice. Elaine Elena Ulia was sentenced by District Court Judge, Vaepule Vaemoa Vaai, yesterday. She and a staff member of the Samoa Victims Support Group (S.V.S.G), Tumua Luafalealo, were convicted and sentenced as a result of a hearing that had also implicated the Groups President, Siliniu Lina Chang, and Police Superintendent, Salaa Salale Salaa. Luafalealo was ordered to pay $800 while Ulia was fined $200. In delivering his ruling, Judge Vaepule said there is no doubt that the charges against the defendants are serious because they go to the heart of the justice system. The very idea of averting or attempting to avert the course of justice indicates an element of disaster, Judge Vaepule said. He then explained the distinction between the charges against the two defendants. Luafalealo was charged for an attempt to defeat the course of justice after the charges were dismissed and Ulia was charged for an attempt before the charges were dismissed. Judge Vaepule reminded that any person who tries to influence a police witness, whether key witness or otherwise, is in the Courts view a deliberate attempt to defeat the very essence of justice. At the outset I want to say, the application by counsel of Tumua for a discharge without conviction is considered inappropriate, he said. In her favour she is a first time offender, 53 years of age and appears to be the bread winner of the family. I read her reference attached in the application and I do not honestly see the significance that no money and threat were involved in the chargeIve weighed the circumstances and I consider that the appropriate sentence is a fine of $800 tala that is to be paid in default - or face an imprisonment term of 4 months. As for the charge against Ulia, Judge Vaepule said this is also very serious. However, he pointed out that there are circumstances as to why the sentence would be different. Like the other defendant, Ulia is a first time defendant. It was clear from the evidence and in my judgment that despite what she did she was in the Courts view a victim of devious conduct by her husband and complainant in these procedures, said Judge Vaepule. She is now without a husband and helping her family with their business. Counsel (Alalatoa) has submitted her client has suffered a lot on the circumstances of the burden of the trial and still suffers up to now. A lot of that suffering is attributed to media coverage that the trial was exposed to and a lot of what was covered in that trial came out not because of prosecution but because counselmost of them with all due respect, was irrelevant to the charges in Court. Ulia was then convicted and ordered to pay prosecution costs of $200. Failure to do so would result in a week in prison. The charges arose from a criminal prosecution against Ulia in 2013 which was dismissed when complainant Susan Stowers had left the country. The prosecution lawyer was Fepuleai Patrick Fepuleai. Luafalealo was represented by Taulapapa Brenda Heather-Latu while lawyer Alalatoa Rosella Papalii represented Ulia. Prior to sentencing, the lawyers made their submissions. Taulapapa had asked the Judge to consider mitigating factors of her client being a first offender, financial supporter of the family and respected member of her church. She invited the Court to consider a community sentence. Alalatoa on the other hand asked the Court to be lenient towards Ulia. She told the Court the event led to her separation with her husband, resignation from their post as church ministers and public ridicule. Shes been through a lot, said Alalatoa. It is not to be taken lightly that up until now her parents had looked up to her and as well as the church and to make the decision to resign from parish was a hard one. Ms. Ulia is deserving of a second chance and deserving of mercyshould take into account the burden she had to take, the consequence of her marriage, she had to reveal herself and life. The lawyer pleaded that her client had suffered enough and give her the chance to rebuild her family and breathe again. She added Ulia had taken refuge with her parents where she now helps with the business. Is it a coincident that a thundering explosion and a deadly blaze is followed by revelations about a woman claiming to be carrying the marks of Jesus Christ? Dont these incidents bring back memories of the incidents of 2009 where an image of Mary spotted at the John Williams Building was followed by the fire at the then Kitano Tusitala Hotel and the deadly tsunami which struck the south coast? These questions and more have gripped the nations attention as the result of the events of the past few days. The questions are openly posed on social media attracting thousands of comments and views. In Samoa, the subject has become the topic of conversations throughout the country. Yesterday, the Samoa Observer spoke with 23-year-old Toaipuapuaga Opapo, the daughter of an E.F.K.S. Reverend, who has become the centre of attention since her stigmata story was made public. Does she believe the explosion on Monday was a coincident? Are these signs? I think it is a wake up call for Samoa, she said. Toa said she was at home at Vaitele when a woman called to tell her about the explosion. I looked out my window and saw the fire from my room. Immediately I felt the pain, I felt for the people who will be affected. Toa said she attempted to contact her father so they could pray together. When he couldnt come home right away, her mother picked her up and took her on Beach Road where she could see the fire. Her father joined her there. I knelt on the side of the road facing the fire and poured my heart out to God for Samoa, she said, adding that as she was praying she lost sense of where she was. I closed my eyes and I heard a voice saying that the tank wont explode and the fire wont go off. People must kneel down and ask God for a miracle. God can work miracles. According to Toa, God worked a miracle that day. We could have lost so many lives that day but God saved us, she said. I didnt work a miracle, God did. She added that the wake up call for Samoa is that people need to be appreciate of each other and know that the next five minutes of our lives is an uncertainty. I know many people dont believe me but that is okay. I feel that my mission is to spread the word of God. We will all one day be judged. According to Reverend Opapo Oeti, his daughters marks appeared fresh again during the fire. I saw blood again coming from her hands, her legs, the marks of the crown of thorns and the spear sign on her side. On Monday, Rev. Opapo said he joined his daughter in prayer on the side of the road, adding it was the first time he has knelt in such a public place. If this is how God is send his message and vision to Samoa, who are we to question it? he asked. Later that day, Rev. Opapo and his daughter went to Father Mikaele where they joined in prayer at the Catholic Cathedral on Beach Road. Two weeks ago, the story of Toa emerged, dividing opinions among Samoans here and abroad. Some people including Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi believe its a miracle. Others have suggested that she is a fake, calling for her to be delivered from demonic spirits. From the start, Toas family has maintained that its up to people what they want to believe. When I first saw the vision, I was confused I did not think that the messiah will reveal himself to me in this wayI was thinking Im not a pastor, Im not a missionary, Toa said. But me? Im a sickly person. Its been three years since Ive been carrying this sickness. Its a sickness without a cure. All I know is that Jesus is the doctor of all doctors. To receive a vision from God is humbling but she added that it is also a message to the church and to Samoa. Im just another human being but my body has been used as a reminder because God knows that the faith of his servants are dying. It starts from the people who are heading the churches, the sin begins there In the search for answers, some of Toas relatives approached a traditional fortuneteller who gave them a different story, involving someone who is dead. But this hasnt diminished Toas growing number of followers who have been flooding to take pictures with her and be blessed by her. Toas story has reached far beyond Samoa. Yesterday, ABC Australia quoted Professor Paul Morris from the department of religious studies at Victoria University of Wellington as saying that it was extremely unusual for stigmata to occur outside of the Roman Catholic Church. "It is unusual... there are literally a handful of non-Catholic stigmata cases," Professor Morris told the ABC. "But the Congregational Church the largest in Samoa has undergone tremendous pressure over the last 15 to 20 years from [other churches]. "In the history of stigmata incidents, they arise in a particular social reality and context and call those who are ebbing away from faith, back to faith. "So in that way, it isn't all that unusual in terms of the context, but, she should be Catholic." "Auto-suggestibility can lead to this physical transformation [stigmata]." But questions remain over what would be an appropriate response to the case. "The first response must be that this is a breach of nature, and that it doesn't make sense," Professor Morris said. But he said there was good evidence to see it not simply as a hoax, which is generally the norm. "The other explanation is that it's psycho-somatic, that intensity of identification... where a young woman or man identify with Jesus to an extreme degree," Professor Morris said. "This auto-suggestibility [can] lead to this physical transformation." Professor Morris cited rapid social change and the challenges of religious security, which can catalyse "a call to faith", for reasons why it could have happened in Samoa. In the meantime, Toa said she is grateful to those who have visited her from the beginning. She added that her door is always open to anyone who wants to talk to her and share the love of God. , , , , . 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe El Cajon, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- DJM Insurance Services, a leading provider of Contractor Insurance to clients in California, Arizona, Nevada and Washington announced that they are in the beginning stages of broadening their operation to include business in other states. The founder and president of the company, Darrin Mroz, gave a statement providing details of their expansion plan. "We're excited to grow in new markets and give contractors across the U.S. opportunities to reap the benefits of working with DJM," said Mroz. The news of his company's development plan came with the announcement that Texas and Georgia will be the next two states in which DJM Insurance Services will open for business. According to Mroz, contractors in need of liability insurance in those areas should "keep on the lookout, because we'll be up and running very soon." DJM Insurance Services, which has over 40 years of experience operating in the liability insurance industry, has made a name for themselves by providing exceptional customer service to their clients. "The golden age of customer service has long-since ended, given the rise of pre-recorded messages, robots and voice mail," said Mroz, vowing that customers who call his company will speak with trained, real humans. Mroz and his team of brokers, agents and staff specialize in providing general liability insurance, license, bid and performance bonds, commercial auto and other insurance services to contractors across the West Coastwith plans to expand to Texas, Georgia and beyond in the near future. Those interested in the services that DJM Insurance has to offer can visit their website, or call 866-961-4570 to learn more. About DJM Insurance Services DJM Insurance Services is a rapidly expanding California-based contractor insurance provider that specializes in a plethora of services. The family owned and operated business, which 40 years of combined experience, is known for their remarkable customer service. DJM Insurance currently operates in California, Arizona, Nevada, Washington and Texas, with plans to offer their services to contractors in other states in the near future. To learn more about DJM Insurance Services, please visit their website at http://www.djminsuranceservices.com/. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- Solvent-borne paints occupy a major share in the global market, however, with international rules and regulations playing their own cards, the market is set to shift its paradigm towards water-borne paints. The paint industry is growing at a modest rate after the recent economic recession of the 21st century. Solvent-based paints, used primarily for different types of coatings,captures a very large market volume of paints. However, high cost of solvent-based paints along with stringentregulations imposed by government agencies across the globe are pushing the paint and coatings industryto shift their technology to water-borne paints. Increasing use of aliphatic hydrocarbons, ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons as solventsisthe major cause of environmental and health concerns. Water-borne solvents areconsidered the best alternative source for paint industries. With almost nil environmental effect, it is seen to streamline the business operations of the paint and coatings industry in the near future. It is expected that the marketsoperating in the paint and coatings domain will see a moderateCAGR in between 2014 and 2020. The key driving factor behind this vertical surge can be attributed to the fact that end-user applications such as industrial, architecture, wood coatings, packaging, coil coatings, marine protective coatings and aerospace coatings aregrowing at an exponential rate. Of all these, architecture is the focused area for paint industries. It will determine the growth trajectory of the water-borne paint industry by 2020. China and India are potential markets for the water-borne paint industry in the Asia-Pacific region. By 2050, it is expected that population in the Asia-Pacific region will increase by 64%. Urbanization will be driven by infrastructure investment to meet the people's aspirations which in turn will scale the market size of the paint industry in this region. The Indian government is framing new policies to boost infrastructure across various cities. It has allocated US $ 1.2 billion for the same. It opens a new gate for paint companies for gaining high revenues. It is because of end-user applications in infrastructure that the Indian paint companiesexpect in between 10 to 15% growth in business volume by 2015. Another largemarket in Asia-Pacific is China. With GDP of China projected to grow over 8%, Chinese government is heavily focused on urbanization.The country has planned to invest US $ 6.8 trillion to develop new cities in its current five years plan. Other potential markets for the water-borne paint industry are Vietnam, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Japan. Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-188 In Latin America, Brazil is set to witness a high growth in infrastructure primarily due to its high GDP growth and considerable investment in infrastructure. It is expected to further accelerate its growth because of its destined venue for the Olympics in 2016. Other potential markets in this region are Argentina and Mexico. Growth in infrastructure is set to scale the paint market vertically upwards in Latin America. The water-borne paint industry has a bright future in North America. With the US infrastructure reaching itsmaturity, it needs constant renovation to maintain its durability. Though the paint and coatings market was not flourishing, the industry is expected to review its growth to gain high momentum owing to huge investment in infrastructure maintenance in the future. In Europe, stringent regulations imposed by REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) are driving the market from solvent-borne paints to water-borne paints. With its historical cities, it fascinates tourists from every corner of the world to have a glance at its monumental buildings. Europe, like the US, too is witnessing a maturity. In the coming years, it will need support from end-user segments, including the paint and coatings industry, to support its monumental heritage. However, in Europe, a big role will be played by healthcare and automotive sectors. Europe accounts for in between 25 to 30% of the global market share in the paint and coatings segment. The market in Europe seems to be in the doldrums mainly because of its huge market debt and slow economic reforms. Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-188 With government policies shifting their need towards water-borne paints and inks, the paint industry is set to be accelerated by water-borne paints in various geographical locations. The US and Europe have already imposed strict regulations and it is expected to be the same in other parts of global region. The water-borne paint industryisset to grow at a moderate CAGR from 2014 to 2019. It has already penetrated in between 12 to 15% of the global paint market and is set to capture the remaining market share of paints driven by solvent-borne technology, in the coming future. With water-borne paints, the paint and coatings industryis set to witness a high return on investment by 2019. Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- Global energy demand had seen an exponential growth over the decade due to changing lifestyle. At the time when natural gas prices witnessing fluctuation and coal resources are depleting, the world is witnessing a significant gap between demand and supply of energy. Though as per World Coal Association, global coal reserves are estimated to be 861 tonne and accounts to 42% of total world electricity production; the year on year growth for coal consumption was highest in FY 2013, making it the highest since 1970. The demand for coal consumption is increasing every year thereby leading to depletion of coal reserves at an alarming rate. Moreover, most regions are economically unviable to extract coal from its bed. It is due to this reason that companies are looking for alternative solution that can lead to harnessing the total potential of coal, without disturbing the ecological balance. Underground coal gasification (UCG) is an industrial process by which coal is gasified under intense heat and atmospheric pressure. This enables the production of synthetic gas, constituents of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which are extracted through a well and utilized in various sectors, ranging from power generation to biodiesel and fertilizer production. Though this concept is not new to the market, little progress has been achieved in this sector, primarily due to low R&D. However, with growing energy consumption and fluctuating oil prices, industries are focusing on UCG to offer clean, efficient and cost-effective energy to various industries. Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-ap-173 Asia-Pacific is projected as the largest market for underground coal gasification over the next 5 years due to impressive growth in end-use industries ranging from power to chemicals. China along with India, and Australia are key markets for underground coal gasification projects. China is the largest producer as well as the largest consumer of coal based energy. It consumes almost half of the total coal production to meet its energy demand. China has conducted 17 UCG trials since 1991 to check the economic viability of UCG. Major power generating enterprise SinoCoking Coal is planning to harness coal reserves in Henan Province which was abruptly shut down because of strict environmental compliance set up by Chinese government. UCG is an environmental friendly approach that empowers companies to scale high power generation. With world's most populated country, China offers a vibrant platform for energy sector companies to set up their base in China and thereby meet the growing demand of energy in China. Recently, China signed a whooping US $ 1.5 billion major pact with UK for commercial development of UCG in interiors of Mongolia. Next prominent market is India. In India, mining contributes 10% of India's GDP. With vast coal reserves, India is looking towards harnessing coal without disturbing ecological balance. There are also some sites which are economically nonviable to mine. Though India's untapped 88.6 billion tonnes of non-metallurgical coal is found at a depth of 300 to 1200 metre is economically nonviable; UCG makes it economically sound option. Coal India Limited is trying to push the UCG technology to harness the coal in Kaitha (Jharkhand) and Thesgora (Madhya Pradesh) area. These two promising region is expected to generate high return on investment (ROI) by FY 2025. Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-ap-173 Next prominent destination is Australia. In Australia, most companies are undertaking R&D to fully harness the concept of UCG. At present, three major UCG trials is being conducted by Linc Energy, Cougar Energy, and Carbon Energy at Queensland. Australian government is paying a vigil eye on these projects until the technology is commercially proven. SinoCoking Coal, Cougar Energy, Carbon Energy, Linc Energy, and ONGC are key market players that have conducted pilot projects on UCG technology. Future is optimistic for underground coal gasification. With major innovations going around globally, it is expected to meet the needs of people in oil shortage region. Regions including APAC, and Africa will be a future market for underground coal gasification segments. Oklahoma City, OK -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- The Oklahoma Career and Technical Education Equity Council recently honored two Metro Tech employees at the 22nd annual Making It Work Day on March 23 at the Oklahoma State Capitol. The two people that were honored at this event were part of a group of 17 that was recognized for their ongoing commitment to breaking down barriers to success for single-parent families by providing education experiences that go beyond the normal boundaries of the classroom. Robert Hensley, who is the Aviation Maintenance Technology instructor at Metro Tech's Aviation Campus, was honored with the title of Outstanding Instructor of Non-Traditional Students. Hensley is a former Navy SEAL who is also a pilot and owns his own business in addition to being a licensed air-frame and power plant mechanic. His coworkers nominated him for this particular award because of his reputation for making learning fun for students and encouraging them to do well in creative ways. While Hensley is very passionate about aviation, he also has a strong passion for teaching students about the future of aviation mechanics so they can benefit from it after graduating. Adolph Pearson III was given the Outstanding Member Award. Pearson is a job placement specialist with Metro Tech's Basic Education Skills Training Program (BEST). He is responsible for teaching, preparing, and organizing presentations for students so they can learn how to maneuver the work force. Pearson's nomination for this award was the result of his tendency to consistently go above and beyond the call of duty in assisting students with things like acquiring clothing as well as applying for state documents that are required for employment. All of the award recipients were chosen by their peers as a result of their outstanding service to students and overall role in the educational system. This is the 22nd year that these awards have been hosted to showcase the talents and skills and numerous educators, including two from Metro Tech, which is an institution that is committed to preparing students for the working world. Metro Tech has a history of providing its students with a top notch educational experience that is very hands-on. Numerous educators from Metro Tech have won various awards in the past for their commitment to helping their students. These awards are only given out to educators who demonstrate a passion for teaching students. About Metro Technology Centers Metro Technology Centers is a career and technology center with four campuses. The school was established in 1979 by a vote of the people to serve Oklahoma City in providing career and technology education (CTE). Metro Tech provides full-time career majors for high school and adult students. High school students receive credit toward high school graduation. Both student groups can earn trade certifications and/or licenses. Contact: Shaun Dillehay Metro Technology Centers Address: 1900 Springlake Dr., Oklahoma City, OK 73111 Phone: (405) 424-8324 Shaun.Dillehay@metrotech.edu http://www.metrotech.edu/ Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- Petroleum industries are gaining high momentum in their sales revenue with the increasing demand for sulphur across various industry segments. Today, 97% of the sulphur is recovered as a by-product of oil and gas industry followed by coal gasification (2%) and 1% from mined sulphur. Sulphur recovery is the process of harnessing sulphur from hydrogen sulphide (H2S). Sulphur constitutes 3% of earth's total mass and is the 16th most abundant element in the world. Its end use application is seen in fertilisers, rubber, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Sulphur has both, merits as well as demerits. It needs to be removed during the coal gasification and extraction process so as to avoid catalyst poisoning and prevent fouling of the downstream component. Chemical industries constantly engage in technical innovation in order to offer an efficient approach for removing sulphur from this process and using it for various other industry verticals ranging from agricultural sectors to cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Companies these days are focusing on extracting sulphur in most feasible way so as to minimise the operational cost and enhance the revenue generation. Claus process, tail gas, direct oxidation, acid gas enrichment, oxygen enrichment, cold bed adsorption and Frasch methods are the techniques most employed by industries. Of all these methods, Claus and CBA (Cold Bed Adsorption) are the most commonly used in extraction of sulphur. The reason behind its popularity is the increasing market share of oil and gas production. Request Free Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-171 Canada is the largest exporter of sulphur in the world, while China is the largest market for sulphur. Other potential market sites for sulphur are India, U.S., Morocco and Brazil. The current scenario reveals that sulphur production is dependent on China's economy. Since 1990, it has been importing sulphur to meet its various industry verticals need. However, the market seems to be in the doldrums because of the large gap between demand and supply. With major oil and gas fields operating in Canada, Russia, and MEA, the market is set to witness large production of sulphur which will surpass the demand for it. The Turkmenistan gas project alone is set to produce 2.4 million tonnes of sulphur. The decline in the demand for sulphur foretells a gloomy prospect for the industries producing sulphur. However, this downward trend will be a short term one and is expected to show improvement with sulphur's increasing use in rubber and agriculture sectors. It is predicted that the world population will increase to 8.3 billion by 2030 from 6.9 billion in 2010. This will lead to increase in food demand by 50%. With limited agricultural land, soil will need high amount of micro and macro nutrients to meet the good demand in coming years. Sulphur is one of the most important nutrient for plants. Deficiency in sulphur can result in reduced yields. The global agriculture market, including countries such as China, India, and U.S., will need sulphur to meet their crop production. High demand of sulphur in crop production offers good market scope for chemical industries operating in sulphur recovery technologies. Download TOC@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-171 The rubber industry is also a potential end use market for sulphur-producing regions. Sulphur offers durability to natural rubbers. On account of the surge in demand for rubbers in the automotive industry, Asia followed by Europe and North America have become lucrative markets for business enterprises operating in sulphur recovery technologies. Asia alone consumes 17,191 metric tonnes of rubber. China, Japan, and India are the major automotive hubs, and hold the potential to generate high returns on investment for chemical industries. Germany is the largest market for sulphur in Europe with a majority of the automotive parts being manufactured there. With tremendous growth potential in the fertiliser, automation and mining sectors, the sulphur recovery technology market looks optimistic. APAC will see the highest CAGR growth in 20142020 followed by MENA and the North American region. Palmetto Bay, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- Laura Massa, Chair of the History and Humanities Department, stated: "Part of what makes Michael so exceptional is what he did after his first trip to Haiti with Palmer Trinity faculty member, Mr. Raul Gonzalez, and a group of fellow PTS students. In 2014, he developed a project to lead a another medical trip to Haiti and raised enough funds to cover the expenses for three doctors as well as collected a significant number of medical supplies. This past week he returned from his third trip, this time accompanied by three female doctors." Dr. Manjula Salomon, Palmer Trinity School's Associate Head of School for Academics and an alumna of The Experiment in International Living commented: "This scholarship has been designed for students with a focus on global health. Michael is the perfect candidate as he has shown serious interest in intercultural leadership, global issues, and civic engagement." "There are exceptional, intrepid students who dare to take chances despite their youthMichael Eschmann is one of them," said Patrick Roberts, Head of School. Michael will participate in an intensive four-day leadership seminar in Washington D.C., followed by a four-week-long training in India focusing on public health, activism, and community development. To enhance his experience, Michael will spend two weeks with an Indian family in a homestay modality. About Palmer Trinity School Palmer Trinity Schoola coeducational, Episcopal day schoolis dedicated to promoting academic excellence that integrates knowledge, compassion, global citizenship, and social responsibility. Providing a supportive environment, Palmer Trinity School serves students from a broad range of socio-economic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds in grades 6-12. For more information about the school, visit www.palmertrinity.org. To follow Palmer Trinity School on Facebook, click here. Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- The report "Screw Compressor Market by Type (Oil-Free, Oil-Injected), Stage (Single, Multi), Technology (Stationary, Portable), End-User (Chemical & Petrochemical, Food & Beverage, Mining & Metals, Oil & Gas, Automotive, Power Plant), & Region - Global Forecast to 2020" defines, segments, analyzes, and forecasts the global screw compressor market. It also identifies the driving and restraining factors of the screw compressor market, with an analysis of trends, opportunities, and competitive landscape. Browse 69 market data Tables and 49 Figures spread through 224 Pages and in-depth TOC on Screw Compressor Market - Global Forecast to 2020. Request for Customization (Region wise report): http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomization.asp?id=122896617 Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The market on the basis of region has been segmented into the North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle East & Africa. The screw compressor market is projected to reach USD 11.5 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of 8.7% from 2015 to 2020. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to dominate the screw compressor market during the next five years Asia-Pacific is the largest screw compressor market. The region has accounted for around 35% of the total market share in 2014. Market growth has scaled up due to rise in industrial activities, standardizations on the usage of energy-efficient screw compressors, and advantages of screw compressors over others. Key Players Profiled in this report: - Atlas Copco (Sweden), - Ingersoll Rand PLC (Ireland), - Boge Kompressoren (Germany), - Gardner Denver Inc. (U.S.), - Howden Group Ltd. (U.S.), - GE Oil & Gas (U.K.), - Kobe Steel Ltd. (Japan), - MAN Diesel & Turbo (Germany), - Sullair LLC (U.S.) among others Request for a Sample Copy@ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsample.asp?id=122896617 Screw compressors are used in diverse range of end-use industries such as chemicals & petrochemicals, oil & gas, mining & metals, power plants, automotive, and food & beverages among others. These industries use oil-free or oil-injected type of screw compressors for variety of applications. Oil-injected screw compressors capture the major market, and find applications in chemicals & petrochemicals production, mining & metals, oil & gas, and automotive. In addition, increase in industrial activities in countries such as China, India, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. acts as a major driver of the screw compressor market. Scope of Research: This report caters to screw compressor manufacturers, dealers, suppliers, rotor providers, raw material providers, consulting companies in the energy & power and equipment sector, government and research organizations, compressed air and gas associations, power & electrical associations, and investment banks. The report provides insights about the major players operating in this market and the growth strategies adopted by them. The key players of the market such as Atlas Copco (Sweden), Ingersoll Rand PLC (Ireland), Boge Kompressoren (Germany), Gardner Denver Inc. (U.S.), Howden Group Ltd. (U.S.), GE Oil & Gas (U.K.), Kobe Steel Ltd. (Japan), MAN Diesel & Turbo (Germany), and Sullair LLC (U.S.) among others have been profiled in this report. Know More from Research Analyst: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=122896617 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 mailto:sales@marketsandmarkets.com Oklahoma City, OK -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- Oklahoma Heart Hospital currently has a full-time nursing position open in the Critical Care Unit. This position has a number of requirements for those who apply, including a shift availability of 7:00am-7:00pm. Those who apply for this particular position must be a graduate of an accredited school of nursing program. Applicants for the CCU nursing position must also be registered nurses with current Oklahoma licensure and current BLS certification at the time of hire. ACLS certification is required within 18 months of hire. A minimum of 1 year of experience in a telemetry or related cardiac clinical setting is preferred for the CCU nursing position. The CCU nurse must assume responsibility and accountability for a group of patients for a designated time frame, providing adequate care to the patients through therapeutic use of self, nursing interventions, treatments, modalities, the therapeutic environment and interdisciplinary collaboration. These nurses must demonstrate that they are highly knowledgeable as well as accountable and adhere to DNV Healthcare, federal, and state regulations. These nurses actively participate in and encourage teamwork to provide patient-focused care in accordance with the mission and values of Oklahoma Heart Hospital. CCU nurses deal with patients that are in critical condition, requiring the proper level of monitoring and care. These nurses will have a number of different responsibilities with regards to taking care of patients as well as working with other staff members. All applicants must be properly qualified for this position in terms of education as well as experience in this field. Oklahoma Heart Hospital is known for being one of the best healthcare facilities in the state, providing patients with the very best care with its incredible staff of nurses and doctors. All CCU nurses at Oklahoma Heart Hospital have to be comfortable working with others with regards to their peers, as it is a cooperative environment that requires strong teamwork skills. These nurses must also demonstrate their knowledge and skills as healthcare professionals on a daily basis when treating patients. The Critical Care Unit is by far one of the more intense departments for nurses to work in, and it requires extreme calm and stability in the midst of a stressful, fast-paced environment. Those who apply for the open CCU nurse position at Oklahoma Heart Hospital should be aware of what this position involves and what skills they will need to possess. About The Oklahoma Heart Hospital The Oklahoma Heart Hospital is a physician-owned hospital and was designed by cardiologists to bring exceptional care directly to those who need it the most. OHH is the first of its kind in Oklahoma and the first all-digital hospital in the United States. OHH has two locations in Oklahoma City, along with a network of more than 70 cardiovascular specialists at more than 60 clinic and hospital locations across the state of Oklahoma. Contact: Oklahoma Heart Hospital Address: 5200 Interstate 240 Service Rd, Oklahoma City, OK 73135 Phone: (405) 608-3304 https://www.okheart.com/ Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/06/2016 -- There are citizens from several countries that do not require Vietnam Visa and the relevant list can be perused at the below mentioned website. It has details of the period of stay and other requirements which need to be adhered to when using this exemption. This is a comprehensive portal that helps people with their Visa related queries and even helps them in their Visa on arrival needs. Some of the many countries that are included in the list include Russia, UK, France, Japan, Finland, Italy, etc. A few in the list are exempted irrespective of their purpose and the passport types. All the details for free entrance visa Vietnam are available under separate headings in the website and it is convenient for anyone to search for specific information. Their attractive discounts in visa to Vietnam for corporate and repeat customers are also worth a mention. For those who wish to get visa for Vietnam, there are several options available and the same can be applied for online. They are believed to be a registered travel agency who has forayed into the online visa niche. With regular updates on the regulations and visa exemption agreements with other countries, it is named as an ideal service provider. The website says, "Visa on Arrival has made it easier for many travelers to save time and effort when visiting other countries. Vietnam is one such country that offers this service and in order to know more about the process, you can peruse the site. The time taken for getting an approval letter for facilitating travel is also very less. People who have to travel in emergencies can resort to this option." To obtain more information about the services, visit https://www.visa-vietnam.org/who-need-vietnam-visa. About Nam Thang Travel Co., LTD The website claims that they offer a 50% discount to all those people who have experienced any difficulties with their online form. They have a contact form that can be used for any queries. The fact that they offer 100% money back guarantee to all their customers in case of they are not satisfied with the services proves their reliability. Media Contact Nam Thang Travel Co., LTD Address: Room A2, 64 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Dakao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Contact Number: +848 54043118 Email: info@visa-vietnam.org URL: https://www.visa-vietnam.org/who-need-vietnam-visa Despite its benefits to remote villages, solar energy plans in the Pacific are hounded by enormous obstacles, notes Mike Ives. Only one of the 33 islands that make up Kiribati, a country in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, has an electricity grid. But since 1991, the state-owned utility company Kiribati Solar Energy (KSEC) has distributed around 4,400 home-solar systems across 21 of those islands and enabled many rural residents to stop using kerosene-powered lamps. Roniti Piripi, a shopkeeper in the village of Buariki, says his family leased a solar system in 1991 for US$52, with monthly payments of US$7. They still use it to power their home and dry-goods shop on Buarikis unpaved main street. Once we got solar energy, everything was easy, says Piripis wife, Taanti Kaitangare. Were so much happier. Tavita Airam, KSECs chief executive, says solar power had enabled activities like weaving and night fishing in many villages across Kiribati. But he acknowledges that the countrys nearly three-decade solar rollout hasnt always gone smoothly, and that many poor villagers including Piripis neighbours still cannot afford to lease KSECs solar systems. Kiribatis energy story highlights the pros and cons of off-grid solar projects in the South Pacific, a region that includes some of the worlds poorest countries, according to several energy consultants. These projects have brought power to thousands of remote villages despite enormous geographic and logistical obstacles. But the regions solar programmes, which are typically funded by international donors, have also been plagued by bureaucratic inefficiency and a lack of attention to long-term sustainability, experts say. Systems are installed, and then what? says Peter Konings, chief executive of Asia-Pacific Energy Group, a US energy company that specialises in off-grid solar development. The batteries fail, and after five or six years people want to replace them but no one has money set aside. Barriers to energy access The remoteness of Pacific island states, combined with a lack of fossil-fuel reserves, makes them heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Geographic isolation also impedes construction of electricity grids and other energy infrastructure projects on all but the largest South Pacific islands. [1] According to a recent study in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, the electrification rates in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands the regions least-electrified states are in the teens. Kiribatis rate, at 63 per cent, was high by comparison. [2] Matthew Dornan, a South Pacific expert at the Australian National University, says a key barrier to improving energy access is that the regions governments direct the bulk of their energy funding to state-owned power utilities that operate primarily in urban areas. Thats an understandable endeavour given the low incomes of many people in these countries, Dornan says. But urban-centric energy policies, he added, have also prevented utilities from expanding electricity to rural areas. The push for off-grid solar power in the South Pacific began about two decades ago and has intensified as the cost of solar systems has steadily declined, says Anirudh Singh, a renewable energy specialist at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji. In Kiribati, the current renewables target is 45 per cent for urban areas and 60 per cent for rural areas. Mwaati Oten, the acting energy planner at the Ministry of Public Works and Utilities, says the government is mulling a proposal to make all of its rural homes and schools fossil fuel-free by 2025. Three other Pacific island states the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tuvalu have already set the ambitious target of sourcing all their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The New Zealand protectorate of Tokelau is already producing its electricity entirely from renewables. [3, 4] But Singh says that because Tokelau has a population of fewer than 2,000 people and sources its energy from large solar panels, it is not a realistic model for the rest of the region. The lifetime of the panels can go up to 20 years, but for the storage batteries, the lifetime is five or six years only for stand-alone solar systems, he says. And that is always a major issue. Mixed results Despite the ambitious energy goals and generous development assistance, many of the South Pacifics off-grid solar projects have produced mixed results, according to energy consultants with years of experience in the region. [3] In Fiji, for example, a plan to lease home-based solar systems to rural consumers, which began in the late 1980s, has been hampered by bureaucratic mismanagement, perverse financial incentives and a lack of interest from successive governments, according to Dornan. [3] The constant presence of donors in the regions solar energy projects encourages beneficiaries to think, If it breaks down, a donor will come and fix it, says Geoff Stapleton, the secretary of the Sustainable Energy Industry Association of the Pacific Islands, a trade association whose members include government departments. That, to me, is one of the biggest stumbling blocks, he says. Other solar energy experts says that state-owned electric utilities do not always work in the public interest because they have clunky bureaucracies and are not responsive to consumer preferences. In the Pacific, its the utilities doing the job, and they are limited in know-how and capacity, Konings says. Continuing difficulties KSEC was launched in 1984, under a slightly different name, and sold 270 home-based solar systems in its first five years. But many customers unintentionally damaged their solar systems through misuse, says Herbert Wade, a solar energy expert who worked as a UN contractor in Kiribati at the time. The government later made KSEC a state-owned electricity utility that would lease solar units to consumers for a base deposit and a monthly fee. The European Union then upscaled the project to about 300, and then 2,100, systems. Wade says that proved too ambitious for the remote countrys limited human and technical resources: How do you get from taking care of 325 systems on relatively nearby islands, to 2,500 systems spread all over the country? Airam says the company has since streamlined its operating procedures by licensing solar engineers on 21 of Kiribatis 33 islands. It has also collected US$74,235 in user fees for a long-term equipment repair fund, he adds. But Kiribatis remote location still makes it difficult to arrange equipment transfers and return damaged or defective equipment to manufacturers, Airam says. And KSECs rainy-day repair fund is only about half what it should be to ensure long-term sustainability, so the firm plans to ask the Kiribati government to make up the shortfall, he tells SciDev.Net. But even that would not help most of Kiribatis poorest villagers, who typically earn a living through fishing or harvesting coconuts. Bitta Tamoaieta and Boata Tooma, a couple in their mid-forties who live near Buariki village, said they once leased a solar system from KSEC for US$36. But the company repossessed it seven years later after they defaulted on several US$7 monthly payments so they went back to kerosene for a few years. Last year they received some hand-held solar lights one of 10,000 distributed across Kiribati by the Taiwanese government as a charity project. But Tooma says they will return to kerosene again once the lights break because they still cannot afford a KSEC solar panel. We dont have another choice, she says. This content was produced by SciDev.Nets South-East Asia & Pacific desk, with the support of the Access to Energy Journalism Fellowship and Discourse Media. Rare animal species are vital to maintaining tropical ecosystems and could cause a chain reaction of disastrous biodiversity loss if they go extinct, a paper warns today. Animals that are considered rare because they occupy a niche environment or there are few of them are more likely than common animals to perform specialised and often irreplaceable roles in their environments, the study found. This is especially true for highly biodiverse environments, such as the tropics, the researchers say. Losing rare species today may mean losing much more complex processes in the long term. Rafael Leitao, National Institute of Amazonian Research Losing rare species today may mean losing much more complex processes in the long term, says lead author Rafael Leitao, a biologist at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, Brazil. The study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, notes that rare animals perform essential ecosystem services such as dispersing seeds, filtering water and controlling other animal populations and invasive species. There is no way to know exactly how an ecosystem will change with the loss of those rare species, but chain effects are common, meaning that the loss of some functions can lead to other losses, making the whole environment crumble, says Leitao. The researchers analysed three groups of species from tropical ecosystems: stream fishes in the Brazilian Amazon, rainforest trees in French Guiana and birds in the Australian Wet Tropics region. They simulated the consequences of species loss in different scenarios, and concluded that the local extinction of rare species would have a disproportionately large effects on their habitats. The southern cassowary in the Australian Wet Tropics, for example, is very rare, explains Leitao. It is the only remaining bird that can disperse large seeds in the Australian forests. Losing this bird will mean certain trees wont be able to spread their seeds, which will affect the species diversity of the forest. Furthermore, the researchers found that losing a rare species in one place can have knock-on effects on larger animal populations, leading to the destruction of important ecosystem services regionally. They underline that ongoing conservation efforts should address the needs of rare species separately from more common ones in order to better preserve fragile environments.Joe Meisel, vice-president of US-based NGO the Ceiba Foundation for Tropical Conservation, says the research confirms existing evidence of how losing one rare species can disproportionately disrupt an ecosystem.Thus, extra effort should be exerted to conserve them, he says. Around 29 million Americans, who are suffering from diabetes, are entirely dependent on insulin for their medication. Unfortunately, insulin is no longer inexpensive. People who heavily rely on this drug have witnessed how its crippling cost tripled in just a matter of ten years. The spending on insulin per individual is now significantly higher than the spending on all other diabetes treatments combined. A study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan and University of Melbourne in Australia revealed that the other diabetes drugs' price has remained either just the same or has even dropped as cited on Science Daily. The research urges the industry leaders to take into consideration not only the effects of these non-insulin therapies, but also their cost-effectiveness. "In the United States, the more than three-fold increase in the cost of insulin over the past decade is alarming," expressed Dr. William Herman, the study's co-author and a diabetes care researcher. He believed that handling such huge costs in diabetes medications is already a big problem for patients. The increase may also deny many people access to the lifesaving medication. "Although the newer, more expensive insulin analogs appear to have incremental benefits compared to older, less expensive insulin preparations, their premium price requires us to ask whether they are really necessary, and if so, for whom?" he further said. A renowned professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health and of internal medicine at the Medical School, Dr. William Herman is an active member of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Drawing data from the federal Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the research involved almost 28,000 diabetic patients receiving treatment as cited on Medical Daily. In general, one out of four patients used insulin in controlling their blood sugar while the other three simply took an oral medication. The study also revealed that a new injectable drug, which is intended to complement the oral medication, has been used by a small percentage of the participants. The team strongly pronounces for further studies that will not only deepen our understanding of how the cost of diabetes drugs has significantly changed over the last ten years, but will also provide alternative solutions for the problem at hand. Many people won't think too much of it, after all, as early as middle school, girls and boys have been taught about why women bleed every month. While it is a natural occurrence, menstruation is not exactly as simple as tampons and sanitary pad commercials make them out to be. A woman's period could range from being a nuance to an agonizing monthly torture on the most sensitive parts of women's bodies. Fortunately, there's a company in the UK that wants to help women by making their periods safer and hassle-free. Time of the Month, or TOTM sells organic cotton tampons, pads, and liners that can help keep women's lady parts clean and fresh. So what is so important about the TOTM products? According to TreeHugger.com, feminine products today are made from synthetic materials that are not only wasteful, but are full of chemicals as well. Most of them are made out of plastic that can cause problems like yeast infections, vaginal irritations and oftentimes, allergies. Some of them are even scented with spritzes of perfume to make them smell nice, but could prove dangerous for women who use them. These materials could cause itching, rashes and infection on women's vaginal walls. Because TOTM's products use non-GMO cotton and are organic and biodegradable, their pads and tampons do not disintegrate nor leech into your body. People still think that organic disposable products are wasteful, no matter how they are made, but non-toxic products make for a healthier lifestyle as well. And a bonus? They offer personalized delivery services, so buying period products are hassle-free, too. The Huffington Post noted that on average, a woman might spend about $18,171 over her lifetime trying to avoid the unpleasantness of their periods - from pads and tampons, to cravings caused by periods, to underwear, medication and supplements to improve over-all health. It's a lot of money to spend on, so if there is a need to spend that much, why not make sure it's safe? As TOTM stated on its website, it is important to take care of one's body, especially the more sensitive parts. If you refuse to rub chemicals on your face, you should avoid it more when it comes to your female parts. What do you think of the TOTM products, would you invest in them? Sound off on the comments below. There could be a huge planet lurking in the outer solar system that is numerous times bigger than the Earth. Evidence of the existence of the mysterious world, termed Planet Nine, was first presented by two planetary scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). The Cassini spacecraft, which orbits Saturn, helped to find further link this month that connects to the theory of a missing planet. In fact, researchers now believe that within a year more breakthroughs will be made in discovering the hidden planet. The proof will have a tremendous impact on the way we view the solar system and our position in the cosmos. "Evidence is mounting that something unusual is out there - there's a story that's hard to explain with just the standard picture," said David Gerdes, University of Michigan cosmologist. Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown, two California Caltech scientists, had put forward the theory of Planet Nine's existence, based on the speculative gravitational effect it had on numerous Kuiper Belt objects, icy bodies rotating around the sun just outside Neptune's orbit. The theory was further researched by French astronomer Agnes Fienga, to see if the possibility of there being a Planet Nine better explained the disturbance studied in Cassini's orbit, because all the other planets in the solar system or asteroids do not really account for it. Hence, it was speculated that the ninth planet could be the missing clue to the puzzle. The study further implied that Planet Nine might be located towards the Cetus constellation, which means that it can be traced with the help of the Dark Energy Survey, a project developed to investigate the acceleration of the universe. Apart from this, it could also be possible to detect the missing planet with its own millimeter-wavelength light emitted due to internal heat radiation. Meanwhile, Brown and Batygin are working on more surveys and studies that will help determine the position and existence of Planet Nine. German researchers may have stumbled upon a way that speeds up the process of churning fuel from biomass. In a recent discovery, it was found that the process that enables plants to grow also aids in their faster breakdown by enzymes during biofuel production. Scientists made the discovery that monooxygenases, enzymes which are already being used to create biofuel and bioplastics, work more actively and efficiently with sunlight exposure. Consequently, biomass which includes non-food plant sources such as grass or wood, is broken down faster by the enzymes to release sugars from plant fibers, leading to ethanol fermentation. The whole process takes considerably more time in the absence of sunlight. The use of sunlight acts as a trigger that speeds up the process manifold because the enzymes then work faster to break down biomass. The further addition of chlorophyll, plant molecules that help in converting sunlight to energy, makes the whole process more efficient. In fact, the scientists reported that the whole activity, which usually takes close to a full day, could be completed successfully in just 10 minutes. "Introducing lights opens up so much more energy and it doesn't cost you a dime," said Claus Felby, University of Copenhagen professor. The researchers have applied the term reverse photosynthesis to their new discovery; because the hitherto unknown fact helped in boosting the role of enzymes in breaking down plants faster, apart from just enabling them to grow, as it was believed until now. As a result of the latest findings, the scientists from Germany have collaborated with a Danish biotech company to conduct the process in a production facility. Felby mentioned that if the technique is found to be commercially viable in the future, plastics and fuel manufacturing facilities will have to be redesigned to allow the right amount of sunlight to reach the plants inside. The Alaska Peninsula saw a volcanic eruption on Sunday that spewed a 37,000 feet high ash cloud cover by the next day. There was no noticeable prevolcanic activity that could lead to advanced warning in the region. The Pavlof Volcano, which has seen around 40 eruptions in the past 250 years, is counted among the most active ones in the Aleutian Arc. Previously, it has seen ash plumes rising as high as 49,000 feet. According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the eruption started rather abruptly during the afternoon hours of Sunday. The volcano, which is located about 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, also caused tremors on the ground. The aftermath of the volcano was said to look like ash raining from the sky. It should be noted that volcanic ash is known to be harmful for humans, and has the potential to injure the breathing passage, eyes and skin. At the moment, it is difficult to predict how long the eruption will continue. The activity also led to the delay and cancellation of 41 flights by Alaska Airlines, which were scheduled to fly to various destinations. Consequently, 3000 passengers were affected and were brought to a standstill. It is being speculated that air travel situation could get worse if the ash channels into the jet stream that is hovering over the volcanic zone. Volcanic ash cloud can play havoc with the course of flights. In December 1989, a KLM flight, carrying 231 passengers, was disrupted by the eruption of Mount Redoubt. The jet engines of the mid air flight were flamed, and it precariously dropped down two miles, before pilots were able to restart the engines and make a safe landing. There has been no report yet of ash falling in any of the residential areas near the scene of the volcanic activity in Alaska. COWARD, S.C. On April 4, while returning students home from school, a Florence County School District 3 bus was hit from behind by another vehicle on Lynch Road near Pond Road in Florence County, district officials reported. Fourteen students, from Ronald E. McNair Junior High, J.P. Truluck Intermediate School and Lake City High School, were on the bus at the time. Around 6 p.m. Monday about 10 students were awaiting pick up. According to Brian Huckabee, PIO for the district, two students were checked out by Florence County Emergency Services at the scene. There were no visible signs of injury, for any student. However, he said if a student, or his or her parent, feels a student needs to be checked out by a doctor, the district encourages them to do so. If students are not picked up from the scene, Huckabee said they are taken back to their school to await pick-up. The bus was cleared to complete the route and the seven students who remained were taken home, he said. FLORENCE, S.C. He is a father of two with a full-time job. You would think Mitch Weatherford wouldnt have time for much else, let alone holding an officers position as deputy chief at the Windy Hill Volunteer Fire Company in Florence. However, for the past two years, Weatherford has done just that. Weatherford earned the deputy chief position after being a captain at Windy Hill for six years. In total, Weatherford has volunteered for nearly 14 years, all of it with the Windy Hill Volunteer Fire Company. Windy Hill Fire Chief John DeLung said Weatherford has numerous responsibilities as the deputy chief of the department, all while managing his duties as a family man with a full-time career. DeLung said Weatherford does his best to find the right balance between the two. The deputy chief position is a lot more than your basic volunteer, DeLung said. Being in the deputy chief position could fill four or five nights a week easily. He does a pretty good job at it. Weatherford has been balancing home and work life since he started volunteering for Windy Hill in 2002. He and his family moved to the Quinby area from Darlington. Weatherford said family, more specifically his brother-in-law, got him hooked on the fire service business. We started going to a few calls, and he kind of roped me into things, Weatherford said. Going and riding with him and seeing the things they do happen in real life, that was when I decided to do it. Weatherford always had some interest in fighting fire. He recalls a time with his grandmother out in her yard when he was young. Whenever my grandma would try to burn her grass off, I would be behind her with a water hose putting it out, Weatherford said, laughing at the memory. During his time as a volunteer firefighter, Weatherford has moved up the ranks while also holding multiple paying jobs. While he was going to school at Florence-Darlington Technical College, Weatherford was studying business and working at a motel. Upon graduation, he began working for his father-in-law at the time on a mobile tool route, selling tools and equipment to mechanic shops. Currently, Weatherford works as a bridge yard supervisor for Coppers Industries. He builds railroad bridges and crossties, among other things. Weatherford said the people he works with at the fire service are a second family to him. Chief DeLung agreed, adding that Weatherford is the person in the department who bridges the gap between the paid firefighters and the volunteers. DeLung said sometimes the two groups can butt heads if volunteers arent pulling their weight. Weatherford is the guy who keeps that from happening, according to DeLung. When you got a guy like (Weatherford) with a full-time job and he does at least seven hours of training a month, comes to 30 percent of the calls we have per year, thats a guy that pulls his weight, DeLung said. When he comes up here, the paid guys respect him. Its a fine balance working with volunteers and the paid people. Hes an equalizer. Thats the word I would use. Weatherford tries to find that balance through leadership but also by trying to relate to his fellow firefighters. I ask them first, How far do you want to go? Where do you want to be in five years? And I try to make sure they get there, Weatherford said. If were at training or I teach training, I train with them right beside them doing the same things theyre doing. I lead by example. DeLung recognizes that quality in himself and Weatherford, saying neither of them acts as though he is better than any other person in the department, paid or not. Whether youre paid or volunteer, youre required to do the same things, DeLung said. You put your life on the line every day, every time you come to a call. Weatherford doesnt mind sticking his neck out for his fellow firefighters, and anyone else for that matter. He says saving lives is a major self-esteem booster. Whenever you go to a wreck, and you cut somebody out of a car and they live its just a morale thing, Weatherford said. Ive done something to change someones life. The Taste of Briggs is an annual fundraisers that helps provide money for programs at the school. This year, the event is themed Farm to School and is being combined with the grand opening celebration of the micro-farm site. The festivities presented by HopeHealth Pediatrics will be from 5:00-7:30pm and will include seven tents with various foods for sampling from SC farmers, including boiled peanuts from McCall Farms, rice and cowpeas from Carolina Plantation rice, chicken wings from Maypop Farm, collards, strawberries and smoothies. In addition to the interactive booths with Clemson Extension, 4H Club, Pee Dee Land Trust and the USDA, kids of all ages will enjoy the combine simulator, cow milking station, dancing and chorus performances and jump castles. Tickets can be purchased in advance in the office at Briggs Elementary School (1012 Congaree Drive, Florence, SC 29501) or at the door and they are only $5 per entry and $5 per game ticket. Nine in 10 (94%) of the leaders surveyed believe that it is time for the industry to make the move towards smart shipping while another 81% recognise the importance of Big Data to the future of the shipping and maritime industry. Leaders surveyed also highlighted that new technological developments are crucial in helping industry players transform the way their businesses operate sustainably. The survey, conducted ahead of Sea Asia 2017, was carried out among maritime leaders to gain insights into key trends and opportunities facing the sector. Trends highlighted in the survey will form part of the discussions that will take place at Sea Asia in April 2017. Andreas Sohmen-Pao, chairman of BW Group and the Singapore Maritime Foundation (SMF), said: The global economic, political and technological environment is changing, and the maritime industry needs to change with it. As we look for ways to adapt our business model, forums like Sea Asia provide a good opportunity to exchange ideas and find new solutions. Douglas Hsu, group chairman of Taiwans U-Ming Marine Transport Corp, added that the industry is still at the beginning of this journey. A small number of industry players are shifting towards smart shipping. However, with technology developing at a fast pace today, it is important that the industry adapts quickly. To encourage this shift, industry players need to realise the benefits of welcoming technological changes in the industry, he said. Across the region, the industry is working alongside government and private sector partners to drive the development of technology and innovation to help ensure it is well positioned to capture new opportunities and navigate new trends and challenges. In Singapore for example, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapores (MPA) Maritime Innovation & Technology (MINT) Fund has been enhanced to include the MINT-PD (Product/Solution Development) scheme. This scheme supports up to 50% of qualifying costs for projects that seek to develop technology products or solutions for the maritime industry. Through this scheme, companies are encouraged to build on existing R&D activities and harness technologies from other industries to develop new innovations for the maritime industry. Elsewhere in China, the State Council announced in May 2015 the Made in China 2025 policy, which highlighted the development of the worlds first smart ship as a priority development. Khalid Hashim, managing sirector of Precious Shipping, highlighted the benefits smart shipping technology can provide. Smart technologies in shipping will help optimise ship operations and improve ship-to-shore communications and vice versa. For example, new technologies can better enable the communication of loading and discharging schedules, and more importantly, giving crew members the opportunity to stay in touch with their loved ones on shore, said Hashim. Industry leaders also commented on the importance of harnessing Big Data. Hashim said: The collection of Big Data is important in helping shipowners evaluate the performance of their vessels. By utilising the data collected in areas like machinery parameters, fuel consumption and vessel speed, shipowners can then look into how they optimise further the capabilities of their vessels, he said. Big Data is another area where the industry is working with government and other partners. In Indonesia, for example, the government is bringing together data from 24 ports to monitor performance and ultimately reduce waiting time for ships and cargo. This data will also allow shipowners to monitor their containers in real time, enabling them to see if they have arrived safely and on time to destination ports. In Singapore, the MPA is collaborating with leading IT company, IBM, to create a unified platform which will integrate real-time data and provide a consistent view of data points across MPA. This platform will collect information such as vessel positioning and weather data. Leaders surveyed said that while there are significant benefits from this technology, the initial cost of integrating it is a barrier to adoption. Seatrade chairman, Chris Hayman, said the industry needs to work together and with technology companies to embrace new technologies and find ways to make smart shipping infrastructure more accessible. Technological developments in maritime, smart shipping and the utilisation of Big Data will be one of the topics of discussion at Sea Asia 2017. Maritime leaders will be debating with one another, as well as experts in the technology field, the benefits of smart shipping and Big Data and exploring opportunities on how best to leverage these new trends with others in the maritime sector. Sea Asia has traditionally drawn high-level leaders in the global maritime scene, and next year will be no different with some of the biggest names in the industry debating, discussing and analysing key issues shaping the industry at the three-day event, he said. Under the partnership Singtels cyber-security arm Trustwave will provide its Unified Threat Management (UTM) solution to be used shipboard and delivered through Inmarsats new Fleet Xpress high-speed broadband service. According to Singtel the UTM service offers a suite of cyber security defences, such as advance firewall, anti-virus, intrusion prevention and web- filtering, which is backed by global round-the-clock support. The new service will be launched in the second half of 2016. As maritime systems become more digital, it is imperative for the industry to protect data onboard ships against all forms of cyber attacks, said Andrew Lim, managing director, business group for Singtel. Our partnership with Inmarsat will provide maritime companies with a cyber security solution to meet rapidly evolving cyber threats, globally. Ronald Spithout, president Inmarsat Maritime, commented, The landscape of shipping is changing. As we move from traditional shipping into the ship intelligence era, the threat of cyber attacks have never been more real. The mandatory verification of container weights will come into force on 1 July under the IMOs International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). This is clearly not before time I remember hearing tales back in my rookie reporting years in the mid-90s of quay cranes being broken by overweight containers and the dangers that could result. Yet it is only from 1 July 2016 will container lines really know how heavy the cargo they carry actually is. But with less than three months to go to enforcement its being treated with apparent shock, indifference or simply err, we have to do something? by fairly serious parts of the industry and governments in many places. This was pointed out all too well by a second survey by the Federation of National Associations of Ship Brokers and Agents (FONASBA) that we reported on Monday. While the FONASBA survey was both illuminating and alarming it also brought home, as did the INNTRA briefing, the fact container shippers have very little, if any idea about how the global shipping industry operates or is regulated beyond the limited sphere in which they are used to operating in as customers. For the container shipper community SOLAS appears to be a standalone regulation that has suddenly hit it out of the blue not part something that has, in different forms, governed the safety of the global shipping industry since 1914. Indeed privately one executive said told us part of the problem is the shippers are saying What is this IMO? The disconnect between shipping and its customers on anything beyond price negotiations - has always been apparent, but even by industry standards the issues surrounding the container weighing regulation underscores this point. Based on what we have been told the neither shippers or ports are ready in many parts of the world, but container lines are adamant that the regulation be adhered to as they should be. This is about safety of life at sea, and customers and governments need to recognise this, which is what the IMO is trying to do. The Nanjing Intermediate Peoples Court announced that Sainty Marines assets will be on sale from 16 April 1000 hours to 17 April 1000 hours at a starting bid price of RMB2.15bn ($331.9m). The Chinese shipbuilders assets include 12 vessels worth RMB250m, yard facilities, properties, cars, equipment, and debts. Sainty Marine has been sued by its major creditor Bank of Chinas Nantong branch for a liquidation of its assets, and the shipyard has until 17 April to present a restructuring plan to the court. The debt-ridden shipbuilder is facing a hosts of problems including cancellation of shipbuilding contracts by buyers, frozen bank accounts, resignation of key executives, suspension of shares trading, and unpaid debts. In December last year, bankrupt Nantong Mingde Heavy Industry also resorted to auctioning its assets on Tabao at a starting bid price of RMB1.59bn, before lowering the price to RMB1.27bn in January this year when there were no buyers. Sainty Marine had applied to help restructure compatriot Mingde but it is itself mired in financial difficulties to pull off the rescue deal. Mingdes biggest creditor is Sainty Marine and the two yards had collaborated over newbuilding contracts. The team at PreDxion Bio isn't just trying to come up with new technology to help sick people. It's trying to help really really sick people. The University of Michigans Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies spinoff is in the early stages of developing a diagnostic device to help create custom diagnosis. The technology is coming from U-M's Pediatric Critical Care Precision Laboratory."One of the main thrusts of our lab is to develop new diagnostic tools to treat these really sick patients," says Walker McHugh, co-founder of PreDxion Bio and a biomedical engineering graduate student at the University of Michigan. He is launching the startup with Dr. Timothy Cornell, a physician at U-M, and Caroline Landau, an MBA student at U-M's Ross School of Business PreDxion Bio's technology is a patent-pending diagnostic device that gives doctors the information they need to precisely tailor treatments to a specific patient's immune response. The idea is to make precision care more available to people in intensive care.The team has created a prototype and is currently entering it into a variety of high-profile business plan competitions. It is one of two U-M startups to make it to the Rice Business Plan Competition next week where it will compete for $1 million in prizes.The company plans to use any winnings from business plan competitions and any seed capital it can raise to develop a next generation version of its technology that will be manufacturing grade. It hopes to then submit it for clinical trials that will eventually lead to FDA approval in 3-5 years. In the meantime PreDxion Bio's team is looking for interested parties to help it get to the next step."We're talking with strategic partners," McHugh says.Source: Walker McHugh and Caroline Landau, co-founders of PreDxion BioWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com Press Release April 6, 2016 CHIZ: HELP NOW, DON'T STARVE TO DEATH KIDAPAWAN FARMERS Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero said the national government must do everything within its legal powers to immediately assist the Kidapawan farmers and agricultural workers whose lives were significantly disrupted by the El Nino phenomenon and drought which started October last year. "It is incomprehensible that the Commission on Human Rights has stated that certain government forces are preventing the entry and distribution of assistance to Kidapawan farmers and agricultural workers. What is the present administration telling us through these actions? When will our government officials grow up and be responsible and accountable?" said Escudero, an independent candidate under "Gobyernong may Puso," along with leading presidential bet, Sen. Grace Poe. News reports from Kidapawan City said that police blocked 300 farmers coming from the town of Makilala, about 11 kilometers from the capital of North Cotabato, to partake of the rice donations from civic organizations and celebrities to help ease the hunger of protesters. Three farmers died and dozens others were injured in the violent police dispersal of farmers blocking the Cotabato-Davao highway last week. The farmers were seeking immediate help for food aid and farm assistance from the government to cope with the harsh impact of the long-drawn drought on their crops. "Can you picture the real situation here on the ground? These are farmers and agricultural workers whose jobs were to till the lands and nurture the soil to grow food. Now, they are the ones begging for food from us, from the national government, from the local government. And yet no substantial help is going their way Are we killing them through starvation?" said Escudero, the voters' top pick for vice president based on all pre-election surveys. "Food growers with no food to eat? This should not be happening in an agricultural country, whose economic growth rate being brandished by the incumbent government is one of Asia's best. Where did the benefits from this economic growth rate go?" the veteran lawmaker said. Instead of blocking or hampering the arrival of food supplies and all forms of assistance to these affected farmers and agricultural workers, the government should marshal all resources within its disposal to air lift food supplies to these people, if necessary, he said. "I am appealing to all men and women working for peace and justice to come together as Filipinos regardless of political and religious beliefs. We must help our fellow Filipinos now in Kidapawan," Escudero said. "We are talking here of thousands of Filipinos literally with nothing to eat, nor water to drink, exposed to the elements. What is unjust is that the groups severely affected are food growers who fed us through the years," he added. Press Release April 6, 2016 BARANGAY COUNCILORS LEAGUE ENDORSES BONGBONG MARCOS AS VP SENATOR Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos received yet another boost to his vice presidential bid from the big organization of kagawads, or barangay councilors. This was learned today as the Barangay Councilors League of the Philippines (BCLP), through its national president, Ricardo B. Junio, a kagawad in Valenzuela City, issued a manifesto of support for Marcos. "BCLP-National supports Vice President Bongbong Marcos in his principle that an empowered local government translates to an empowered nation - specifically his sponsorship on the creation of Retirement Fund for barangay officials and its call to rekindle the unity of the Filipinos," the manifesto said. In its facebook account, Junio said the league has 294,189 members nationwide. BCLP likewise expressed support for a clean, honest and peaceful 2016 elections. Marcos said he was elated by the outpouring of support he has been getting from the people and organizations like the BCLP as he vowed to continue bringing the message of national unity to as many people and places as possible, especially at the grassroots level. "I am very thankful to all that have been supporting me in their own big and little ways. This only confirms my belief that the Filipino people are intelligent enough to know the truth. At ang katotohanan ay ang lagi kong sinasabi na sa pagkakaisa lamang ng mga Pilipino mai-aangat ang bansa at ang ating pamumuhay," he said. The BCLP credited Marcos for sponsoring and pushing for Senate Bill No. 12 entitled, "An Act Providing Barangay Officials, including Barangay Tanods, Members of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, Barangay Health Workers and Barangay Day Care Workers Retirement Benefits," which was approved by the Senate on third and final reading last December. The measure, sponsored and defended by Marcos being the chairman of the Senate Committee on Local Government, provides a retirement pay of P100,000 for each qualified Barangay Chairman, P80,000 for each member of Sangguniang Barangay, and P50,000 each for the Barangay Treasurer and Secretary, Barangay Tanod, Member of the Lupon ng Tagapamayapa, and Barangay Health and Day Care Workers. Press Release April 6, 2016 POE OUT TO PROVE STRONG STANCE AGAINST CORRUPTION Taking a tough stance against corruption, independent presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe said she will prove that regardless of who supports her in the presidential elections, she will dispense justice to both friends and foes. The survey frontrunner said the only way to make people trust the government again is to ensure that corrupt officials, regardless of their political leanings, will have no place in government. "Dapat patas ang pagtrato kaibigan man o kaaway, mayaman man o mahirap. Papatunayan ko naman kahit 'yung mga kaibigan ko, halimbawa, sa mga pagdinig sa Senado, naging patas naman tayo sa pagdinig sa kanila. Kung tunay na may kasalanan sila ay hindi naman tayo nag-atubili na sabihin iyon at mag-file ng kaso laban sa kanila," Poe said in an interview with Bombo Radyo Cebu. The senator led the public inquiry into the Mamasapano tragedy and the state of the Metro Rail Transit, two of the most controversial hearings in the Senate. Poe is also the primary sponsor of the Freedom of Information bill in the Senate, which passed in a record time of eight months but remains pending in the House of Representatives. The FOI is a vital tool in eliminating corruption and institutionalizing citizen's participation in keeping the government honest. "Lalo na kapag ako ang naging pangulo, talagang dapat mabawasan ang korapsyon," she said. Under her administration, Poe said government officials with corruption charges will be immediately removed from office. She also encourages the courts to speed up trial. "Pinatatagal ang mga kaso diyan, dapat mahatulan agad. Kailangan tanggalin agad sila sa puwesto sapagkat tiwala ng taumbayan ang kailangan natin sa gobyerno," she said. Aside from the billions stolen from the country's coffers, Poe said corruption is the main culprit for people's distrust in government. "Kung mismong mga kaibigan mo na nasa puwesto ay hindi mo ipapakulong dahil lamang kaibigan mo, eh di walang maniniwala sa iyo," Poe said. The Philippines ranked 95th out of 168 countries in the 2015 Corruption Perceptions Index, down 10 notches from the 2014 rankings. The research by Transparency International showed that the Philippines scored 35/100, which indicates the perceived level of public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean). Based on the scores, the Germany-based watchdog said there has been no significant improvement across the region and that leaders must revisit their genuine efforts in fighting corruption. Silly rabbits are for more than just kids. Tasmanian artist Amanda Parer peered past the fluff when it came to representing cottontails on a larger-than-life scale. Like an artful take on the sci-fi classic movie Night of the Lepus, five of her 23-foot-high inflatable nylon rabbits light up at night in Intrude at San Franciscos Civic Center Plaza. I like art that is both funny and serious at the same time, so my giant rabbits have an ecological message. They represent our mismanagement of the environment, says Parer. In her native land of Australia, she explains, the rabbit is a feral species that, since its introduction more than 200 years ago, has made its home in every nook and cranny in the country. The feral species that I use in my work represents us and our effect on the environment globally, she continues. They are large the elephant in the room like the issues they represent; big, but easily ignored. The public art installation has already hopped to London, Paris and Boston, among more than 19 cities. But the United States, in particular, feels right for these globe-trotting bunnies, Parer says. The United States and Australia have a history of colonialism in common. We are part of what is considered the New World, she says. It is interesting to me that because of our countries youth, they stand as an example of how much ecological damage can be done in just a few hundred years through mismanagement and lack of forethought. Before settlement, much of natural environment in our countries was pristine and managed well by their respective indigenous peoples. Still, the effect is there and cant be avoided. The question is how do we deal with it now? Kimberly Chun Intrude: Through April 25. Free. Civic Center Plaza, S.F. www.sfartscommission.org. Army Cpl. Robert Graham disappeared after Chinese forces attacked his combat battalion in South Korea on a freezing day in February 1951. His family in San Francisco never saw him again. On Wednesday night, he came home. Things are finally coming to closure for the family ... after 65 years, said James George, 59, of Fairfield, a retired Marine Corps master sergeant who escorted his uncles remains on a flight from Hawaii to San Francisco International Airport. George and two relatives contributed DNA that enabled the Army to identify a single bone from Grahams leg last fall in a mixture of body parts of missing U.S. servicemen that North Korea turned over in 1993. Decked in his military uniform, he watched as six servicemen carried the flag-wrapped casket from the airplane to a waiting hearse. Standing nearby, her hand over her heart, was Nicole Venturelli, whose father, James Graham, was a year older than his brother Robert and, she says, the closest to him of eight brothers and sisters. The family had long known that Robert was dead in 1953, repatriated U.S. prisoners of war reported that he had been captured and starved to death in a North Korean camp. The news broke James Graham, his daughter said, and until his own death in 1995 he spoke often of hoping to see his brother come home. Were honoring my father by putting Bobby to rest and burying him near his brothers body, said Venturelli, 51, of Redwood City. A military funeral is scheduled Friday in Colma. Joined up at 17 The Graham children grew up in the Depression, moving from home to home in the Bay Area, and were soon separated from one another by poverty. Venturelli said her father and Robert Graham were placed with the same foster parents, and asked to be emancipated as adults around age 16. James joined the merchant marine, and in 1948, at age 17, Robert joined the Army. He was sent to Korea when war broke out in 1950. Venturelli said her father kept a box of letters from his brother that he hid from her. She discovered it only after James Graham died. Venturelli said they included descriptions of the relentless Chinese forces, the Siberian winter with temperatures of 40 below zero, and finally a message in 1951 that his unit was heading out on on a secret mission. That mission ended disastrously in the battle of Hoengsong, where Chinese troops routed U.S. and other United Nations forces. According to an Army report, Grahams unit came under heavy attack and withdrew south to Wonju, where Graham was declared missing in action on Feb. 13, 1951. Two years later, U.S. prisoners of war repatriated in an exchange with North Korea said Graham had been captured by enemy forces and held at the Suan POW camp, where he died of malnutrition on or about May 31, 1951. He was just 20 years old. Name not on lists His remains were not among those returned by North Korea after the armistice in July 1953, and in fact, Venturelli said, Grahams name was never on any POW list from North Korea. She said North Korean officials described the 208 boxes of bones they released to the U.S. military in 1993 as body parts taken from a holding area at the entrance to the Suan camp. The remains were shipped to a Defense Department lab in Hawaii that had the task of accounting for all Americans held as prisoners or missing in action in Korea, Vietnam and other U.S. wars. The lab moved slowly and was harshly criticized in 2013 by the departments inspector general, who described its leadership as inept and even corrupt. The Pentagon reorganized the program in January 2015 and transferred its management to Washington, D.C. But George, who along with his brother and a cousin provided DNA samples to the Hawaii base about 10 years ago, said he had no grounds for complaints. The remains released by North Korea were jumbled, deteriorating and virtually impossible to identify until recent advances in genetic testing, he said. Finally, George said, he got a call from the Army in November confirming the identification of his uncles right tibia bone. Staff members then met with the family members for several hours to describe their relatives combat service, final battle, capture and imprisonment. Elation, sadness I was elated and, in a sense, also sad, Venturelli said. She said the military supported us. Theyve been really wonderful. George told reporters he had been joyful to hear that we had identified those remains because of the sense of closure it brought to his family. He and Venturelli are too young to have known Robert Graham, and when his remains landed at the airport, none of his eight siblings was there to see him home. None of them is still alive, Venturelli said. Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate From the start, architect Renzo Piano had a clear vision for the new California Academy of Sciences. He wanted it to feel rooted in Golden Gate Park, with a green roof and glassy walls. But as he visited the finished creation Thursday, seven years and $488 million after he was selected in an international competition, Piano seemed most delighted by a design touch added late in the game: the grid of solar cells embedded in the glass roofline that extends 30 feet beyond the academy walls. "The little pieces of the cells, they allow light to slice through as if you were in a forest, under leaves," Piano said, gesturing at the tattoo-like reflections traced against the one stone wall that remains from the original academy in the park's Music Concourse. "You get the sun, but also a vibrant shadow that is not flat and stupid." Piano, 71, arrived in San Francisco on Wednesday night for a round of events and interviews in connection with the academy's official re-opening Saturday. As caterers arranged tables and spreads of fresh fruit for a $750 fundraising dinner that includes a chance to mingle with the architect, Piano moved through the commotion with courtly ease. He long ago shed the establishment-rattling image that came with the building for which he still is best-known: 1977's brashly metallic Centre Pompidou in the heart of historic Paris. Working from Paris and his native Genoa, Italy, Piano now specializes in refined cultural facilities and such select commissions as the recently built headquarters for the New York Times. Within this body of work - which in 1998 brought Piano the Pritzker Architecture Prize, his profession's highest honor - the academy is unique. It folds together an aquarium, a planetarium and a natural history museum as well as lab space for roughly 100 researchers. Layered on top is the most public exhibit of all, the undulating roof's 2.5-acre spread of native perennials and wildflowers. For now, the roof is a work in progress. It includes patches of dirt amid the lupine and beach strawberry runners. "If I was making the roof like a beautiful Swiss landscape, it would have no soul," Piano mused. "Morally, this is very interesting. It may take more time, but it makes more sense." The roof is the most obvious example of an emphasis on sustainable design that has drawn wide attention; indeed, one interview Thursday was with a BBC film crew. The solar cells fit in as well, since they help generate energy for the structure. Yet Piano also wasn't shy about exercising his prerogative as the leader of a small army of architects and engineers. This was the case with the 35-foot-tall, floor-to-ceiling glass walls set in the middle of each side of the broad rectangular structure. Sustainability engineers championed glass that would be tinted to deflect heat from entering the building - the "green" thing in terms of reducing energy use. Piano wanted ultra-clear panes. He had the last word. "I don't care as much about heat gain as letting in light," he shrugged. In addition to the choreographed build-up to the academy debut, Piano will conduct an informal seminar with 300 architecture students from the California College of the Arts and UC Berkeley. The students will gather in what Piano calls "the Piazza," the glass-walled courtyard in the center of the academy. Piano shook his head when asked if such interaction with students is part of his routine. "I've probably never done this," he said. "It only works in a building so open, where you can see everything." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The race is on for Oakland housing officials who this week won an unusual 90-day pause on rent increases in order to come up with a plan for making the citys soaring real estate market a bit more affordable. City leaders remained uncertain Wednesday about exactly what policies they will pursue, following the unanimous approval of the moratorium just hours earlier at Tuesdays raucous City Council meeting that ran well past midnight. But housing activists and city staffers have suggested that strategies to stem the tide of rising rents may include tighter long-term rent controls, cracking down on Airbnb rentals that they say are constricting the housing supply and boosting residential development. Were at day one, said Michele Byrd, city director of housing and community development. This is an opportunity to do some analysis and determine what can be done. Oaklands housing situation has indeed tightened: Rents over the past five years have nearly doubled as the Bay Areas economy has boomed. A two-bedroom apartment averages $2,950 a month, up 40 percent over the prior year, according to a 2015 city report. The typical Oakland renter, the report says, makes just $30,000 a year, putting the median unit well out of reach for most. The challenge for all of us region-wide is to accommodate the growth thats desirable and make sure the Bay Area continues to be a place for families to grow and thrive, said City Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, who authored the 90-day moratorium. McElhaney said the citys current rent policies, which date to 1980 but were amended two years ago to cap rent increases at 10 percent a year or 30 percent over five years, dont seem to be working and may need to be tightened. Re-examining current policies, she said, will be one of the first orders of business as city leaders convene to address the crisis. The new moratorium allows just a 1.7 percent cost of year rent increase the citys consumer price index in the interim. Christopher Palmer, an assistant professor at UC Berkeleys Haas School of Business who studies housing, said Oaklands pause on rent increases is well intentioned but whether its of value remains to be seen. How much can you really do in three months? he asked. Those longer solutions have taken decades to come to fruition. Is there any reason to believe were going to have substantive change now? According to Palmer, the answer to the housing dilemma lies in increasing the housing stock, and not just at the top of the market. We cant continue to build luxury apartments and expect that in the short term that is going to lower rents, he said. McElhaney and others have been looking at how to create more affordable housing. Their proposals have included committing surplus city property to residential development, easing red tape on new construction and requiring more units in large complexes to serve low-income residents. City leaders have also looked at giving preference to Oakland residents for apartments in city-sponsored projects. Tuesdays council meeting, which brought out more than 200 residents, showed just how contentious any new policy will be. As tenants shared stories of being priced out of their hometown, small property owners described how rent controls stifled not only their personal income but also their ability to maintain apartments for residents. Oakland City Council continues to use small rental property owners as the scapegoat for the citys housing problems, said Jill Broadhurst, executive director of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, which represents landlords. Placing a moratorium on units already under rent control restrictions defies logic and only serves to further punish small mom-and-pop property owners who provide the bulk of the affordable housing in Oakland. Kurtis Alexander is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kalexander@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kurtisalxander Tough primary for races 2 leaders, April 6, A12 The story about the Wisconsin presidential primary, which started on the Front Page, misstated whom South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley endorsed in her states primary. She endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. RICH PEDRONCELLI/Associated Press A stranded hiker was rescued by a California Highway Patrol helicopter crew after falling 40 feet down a cliff in Marin County and suffering major injuries Tuesday afternoon, authorities said. About 4:45 p.m., the CHPs air unit was requested by the Marin County Fire Department to help search for the hiker, who had fallen down a cliff face near Tomales Point at the north end of Tomales Bay, said Officer James Andrews, a CHP spokesman. It took a minute for the handful of homeless guys hanging out at the entrance of the Pier 80 shelter to realize who the mustachioed man in shirtsleeves and tie was when he walked up Wednesday. Then David Tompkins eyes went wide. Mr. Mayor, what a pleasure for you to come see us! he said, sticking out his hand. Ed Lee shook Tompkins hand, then sat and chatted with him and two other homeless men for half an hour. Lee dropped by to tell the shelter staff that hed decided to keep Pier 80 open until July 1, well past the original closing date of March 31, and to add that the city will open as many as 200 new supportive housing units in rehabilitated residential hotels by midsummer. The Pier 80 shelter staff had figured that as long as Lee was there, he might as well talk to some of their temporary residents. It was that talk with Tompkins and two of his shelter-mates that made this more than just a quick official visit for the mayor, whos been tussling with several city supervisors who want him to move faster on housing street people. I didnt expect much, but hes great, said Henry Harris, 59, who has been sleeping in the Pier 80 shelter for several weeks. He can be on my team any time. The shelter opened Feb. 5 at Pier 80, a cavernous warehouse at the eastern end of Cesar Chavez Street. Demand was sluggish in the first few days, but its so crowded now that the city has added 30 beds, bringing the total to 180. The main difference from other shelters is that street campers can move in with their partners, pets and belongings, stay all day and night, and come and go as they please. Pier 80 also has a health center, and case managers visit daily to help people find jobs or deal with substance abuse or mental health problems. Early in his administration, Lee was stiff when he talked with street people in places like this. But he has relaxed as the nature of his office forced him to grapple with homelessness, and on Wednesday even with the dog-and-pony-show element of sitting with three shelter residents while a reporter and Pier 80 staff looked on he appeared more at ease. Legs crossed and frequently leaning forward, the mayor listened to Tompkins, 56, tell him how hard it was to eat and sleep in the rain on Division Street before he moved into Pier 80 seven weeks ago. I was constantly being pursued by (street cleaners) and the cops to move never any time to think, Tompkins said. Michael Goodman, 58, told Lee hed had no luck finding housing and had been put off by the barbed-wire fencing that surrounds Pier 80. Harris added his frustration at being evicted from his last home six months ago. The three men said Pier 80 had surprised them the Club Med of homelessness, Tompkins called it but added that there was no way they wanted to stay in a shelter permanently. Lee nodded, then said, Ill tell you this Ive IDd 200 more supportive housing units, and well be routing people into them. I want you guys to be inside. We want this place (Pier 80) to be the best it can be, but its only temporary. The goal is permanent housing for everyone. Yeah, but I worry, said Goodman, who as a Navy veteran qualifies for more housing assistance than most. I hear this now from you, but three months from now will I have my own place? I hope so, Lee said, sounding more like the community organizer he used to be than a man who tells people what to do in City Hall. You deserve the benefits you have coming, especially as a vet you really do. As Lee got up to leave, Tompkins said, You do your job in a good way like that, and youll be a tough act to follow. I know you didnt have to come talk to us today. Kevin Fagan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kfagan@sfchronicle.com Mayor Ed Lee found himself on the wrong side of the law Monday night while he and a police officer were patrolling the streets for auto burglars. The unmarked car carrying the mayor was traveling suspiciously slow, and another police officer pulled over the mayor and his officer escort. I think I was driving maybe a little suspiciously, so the officers keyed into the way I was driving and decided to investigate further. What their investigation turned up was Mayor Ed Lee, said Lt. Luke Martin, who was driving the car with the mayor in the passengers seat. They were at the intersection of Mission Street and the Embarcadero when the incident occurred. The investigating officer immediately recognized the mayor and let them go on their way, Martin said. The officer looked right past me and over to Mayor Ed Lee with a surprised look and said, Hello, Mayor Lee, Martin said. Mayoral spokeswoman Christine Falvey said the mayor asked to go on a drive-along because he wants to address the massive uptick in property crime in the city. Property crimes in San Francisco increased 17 percent in 2015 over 2014, driven by a 34 percent jump in car break-ins. He really wanted to understand at the street level how these crimes are occurring, where they are occurring and how the police are addressing them, she said. Falvey said the mayor plans to allocate more funding to the Police Department to address property crimes. That includes potentially more money for equipment with encrypted channels that could avoid detection, as well new undercover cars that are less recognizable to criminals. Perhaps the mayors next ride-along will be in a Prius? Emily Green Emily Green is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: egreen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @emilytgreen This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Muni riders who pay with cash instead of Clipper cards will have to drop an extra quarter in the fare box. The cash surcharge also described as a discount for Clipper card users is part of the Municipal Transportation Agency budget adopted by its Board of Directors Tuesday night. The goal, said Ed Reiskin, the agencys transportation director, is to persuade more riders to use Clipper or a Muni fare app, speeding boarding times and cutting costs. The MTA budget now moves to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which can either accept it in its entirety or send it back to the agency board. If the supervisors approve the MTA budget, the 25-cent cash increase would take effect Jan. 1. Riders waiting for the 14-Mission on Wednesday were not pleased to hear of the surcharge plan. Thu Kyi, 18, a student at San Francisco City College, said he understood the reason for the move but didnt consider it fair. When he rode for free under the Free Muni for Youth program, he used a Clipper card, but now he pays cash. It should be the same, he said, regardless of how riders pay their fares. He said the additional quarter probably wouldnt persuade him to get a Clipper card. Its just another card you have to carry around, he said. Plus, I dont ride Muni every day, so Ill just pay. Even some Clipper card users, like Antoinette Nwaokoro, a 53-year-old medical assistant, thought the cash-fare penalty was unfair. They shouldnt have to pay extra, she said. Everyone should pay the same. But adding a 25-cent surcharge to cash fares boosting them to $2.50 will raise an estimated $3.8 million in 2017 and $3.9 million in 2018, according to MTA documents. While the agency wants to push passengers to pay with the Clipper card or a Muni mobile phone app, some representatives of community groups argued that the surcharge unfairly punishes people who cant afford to keep a cash balance on Clipper or who are intimidated by the card. We have people who dont have Clipper cards for a number of reasons, said Jessica Lehman, executive director of Senior and Disability Action. They dont trust it; theyre afraid of losing it. People in those situations shouldnt have to pay for it. David Pilpel, a Muni rider and transit activist, said some lower-income people who dont qualify for free fares dont have enough spare cash to use Clipper cards. Its unfair Its a bad idea and its unfair period, he said. Directors said they sympathized but added that they were committed to making it easier and cheaper for people in lower-income neighborhoods to get and use Clipper cards. Those who simply dont like using a card, said Director Malcolm Heinicke, should pay for the convenience of paying cash. If you dont want to use Clipper, you pay a little bit more, he said. Because youre costing the system. The budget $1.15 billion for the 2017 fiscal year and $1.17 billion for 2018 contained few big surprises and was approved after little debate. The board had already approved the biggest expense when it agreed last month to lower fees to recover towed vehicles, as requested by the Board of Supervisors, a move that will cost the agency $3.5 million. In addition to the cash surcharge, Muni riders who use monthly A Fast Passes, which cover Muni and BART rides within the city, will pay an additional $5 a month, raising the cost to $88. Muni discount fares for youths and seniors will rise from their current rates to as much as half of the adult fare of $2.25. But Muni will continue a program offering free fares for low-income seniors, youths and disabled people, and will increase the maximum age for youth discounts from 17 to 18. Boost for Caltrain The budget also includes a $900,000 boost for Caltrain, the Peninsula commuter railroad that relies on contributions from the MTA, SamTrans and the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority. It raises San Franciscos contribution to $6.1 million a year. Other expenditures include $8 million in 2017 and $16.5 million in 2018 for technology and equipment upgrades; $9.6 million in 2017 and $8.4 million in 2018 to give the J-Church, K-Ingleside and T-Third Muni Metro lines priority at traffic signals; and $1 million each year for education projects around Vision Zero, the citys effort to eliminate traffic deaths. Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan SACRAMENTO Two Republican candidates will appear on the June ballot despite missing the deadline to file for office after suing the secretary of state last month. A judge ruled in favor of the candidates, one running for the state Assembly seat in a Sacramento suburb and one running for a South Bay congressional seat, requiring their names to appear on the ballot. A third candidate seeking to run for another Sacramento Assembly seat was included in the lawsuit, but ultimately did not have enough valid signatures to be certified to appear on the ballot. The lawsuit was paid for by local Republican offices. The reason I pursued it is I think the citizens in (Congressional) District Nine deserve a choice, said Burt Lancaster, who is running against Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose. If Im not in there, they have no choice. Lancaster and Tim Gorsulowsky, who is running against Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove (Sacramento County), both turned in a form voters sign to allow a candidate to waive all or part of the filing fee that was due in February. In March, when they turned in their paperwork, they would have had to turn in signatures from voters wishing to nominate a candidate for office as well as the filing fee. Both candidates have previously run for office. And both candidates are running against incumbents who would otherwise have run unopposed. I was surprised that this actually had to be decided by a judge and we werent able to resolve it at an earlier stage, said attorney Brian Hildreth, who represented Gorsulowsky and Lancaster in the lawsuit. But Cooper said both candidates are gaming the system. I think it was circumvented for political reasons, Cooper said. Ive run in numerous elections, and the majority of people follow the rules. Here we have people who operated outside the rules, and they were rewarded. Its a slap in the face to everyone who does the right thing. Cooper said a voter who supports a candidate attempting to waive filing fees does not necessarily support that person running for a particular office. Allowing a candidate to avoid having to turn in nomination signatures, such as the 40 required to run for the Assembly, makes it easier for that person to run for office. Its politically motivated, Cooper said. A blind man can see that. Both Gorsulowsky and Lancaster said they did not believe the decision was politically motivated. Neither had firm details about who paid for the lawsuit, saying it was a local Republican organization. Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Jill LaVine said she could not recall during her tenure any other candidate being disqualified from the ballot for turning in the wrong form. She said Gorsulowsky turned in his paperwork two hours before the deadline and was told he had had voters sign the wrong form. The third Republican candidate who did not qualify for the ballot was Ryan Brown, who sought to run against incumbent Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento. Brown was eight signatures shy of qualifying, LaVine said. McCarty will run unopposed. Gorsulowsky and Lancaster were notified Friday that they will appear on the ballot and that the secretary of state will not appeal the judges ruling. The campaign just started Saturday morning, Lancaster said. Melody Gutierrez is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mgutierrez@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MelodyGutierrez Scientists probing the ground with airborne laser beams have mapped the Rodgers Creek Fault in the heart of Santa Rosa for the first time, they reported Tuesday. A team from the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, led by geologist Suzanne Hecker, discovered the faults signs throughout the citys downtown area where redevelopment has long obscured the evidence of past quakes, Hecker said. The newly mapped section of the fault broadens the area of downtown where a seismic hazard exists, Hecker said, but it does not say anything about the probability of future earthquakes there. There is a significant probability of a major earthquake on the Rodgers Creek Fault in the coming decades, Heckers report said. The most recent official estimates by the Geological Survey indicate there is a 31 percent probability of a quake with a magnitude 6.7 or greater striking somewhere on the combined Rodgers Creek and Hayward faults in the next 30 years, and recent research has made it clearer than ever that they are linked into a single fault beneath San Pablo Bay. According to the latest census figures, 174,000 people live in Santa Rosa, the 41-square-mile county seat of Sonoma County. The newly mapped fault zone in the central part of Santa Rosa is broader and extends farther east than scientists had previously assumed, Heckers report said, and her team also found new evidence of a small rightward bend in the fault that defined a slight depression in the ground extending a mile long and a quarter-mile wide. Precise measurements of that regions magnetic and gravity variations, as well as the airborne laser technology known as Lidar, also detected a dense magnetic body of rock underground known as an asperity, Heckers team reported. The rocks magnetism may have influenced the distribution of the many small aftershocks that followed the two well-known Santa Rosa earthquakes that struck in 1969 with magnitudes of 5.6 and 5.7. They caused $6 million in damage to buildings that were in the newly mapped area. Heckers full report on the detailed mapping project is published online in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. Her colleagues in the report include Victoria E. Langenheim, R.A. Williams, C.S. Hitchcock, and Stephen B. DeLong. As preposterous as this might sound, master Italian architect Renzo Piano has returned to the Bay Area to focus his firm's efforts on - a suburban shopping center. It's a far cry from his acclaimed California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, or such refined icons as Piano's 52-story New York Times tower. We're talking southern Contra Costa County, San Ramon to be exact, 70 retail spaces and a cineplex with 1,300 parking spaces thrown into the mix. Yet the everyday nature of the commission is what makes it important, oddly heroic. Piano is grappling with the building blocks of 21st century suburbia, a realm that other A-list architects only ponder from 30,000 feet if at all. Our very own East Bay will be the judge of whether he succeeds or fails. "This is a great opportunity for us to explore the nature of the suburban environment," said Antonio Belvedere, a partner at Renzo Piano Building Workshop who presented the San Ramon City Center project to the City Council on Tuesday. "We have to plant the seed that allows other things to grow." Grand rhetoric aside, what's proposed is down-to-earth: a block filled by a pair of two-story, U-shaped buildings that together enclose a long open space. Parking would be tucked within one of the buildings above the ground floor. The Piano vision The layout could be a 1960s shopping mall, with one engaging difference: The ground floor is glass with storefronts on all sides, facing the streets as well as what the architects call the piazza. The upper level has glass walls facing the piazza, but its exterior is corrugated aluminum. There's no resemblance to the stage-set "main streets" of Bay Street in Emeryville, or San Jose's Santana Row, where the outside world is met with loading docks and parking garages. This is meticulous minimalism, horizontal atop horizontal, porous on the bottom and solid on the top. That discipline, elegant in a way that's almost austere, embodies the belief of Piano and client Sunset Development Co. that even in the suburbs, less can be more. You see hints of the Academy of Sciences in the round metal columns that would line the piazza, one every 30 feet, or the careful proportions of 16-foot-tall walls of glass beneath 24-foot-high sheets of metal. The aluminum skin would be patterned to accentuate shadows while deflecting glare. With the gamble comes a leap of faith - that our suburbs can evolve in ways we do not yet know. San Ramon is an ideal laboratory, a city of 75,000 that has nearly quadrupled in size since 1980. That's the same year Sunset began construction of its first building at Bishop Ranch, an office park now filled with 30,000 workers from such corporations as Chevron, IBM and PG&E. The closest thing to a crossroads is the community park at Bollinger Canyon Road next to Iron Horse Trail, popular with bicyclists and strollers. Bollinger itself leads from Interstate 680 up and over hills that could pass for affluent patches of Orange County. The project shown last week to the City Council - which loved it - would fill a 15-acre block along Bollinger Canyon Road at Camino Ramon. To the east is another block that Sunset owns, where conceptual designs by Piano include a boutique hotel and nearly 500 residential units. Then comes the Iron Horse Trail and park, within which San Ramon's first City Hall will begin construction within the year. Shifting gears This is the land of the automobile, and City Center would be yet another self-contained destination. But it's also an attempt to move beyond the splayed-out norm of retail pods surrounded by parking, such as the Shops at Bishop Ranch to the west where Target and Whole Foods face off across acres of asphalt, the buildings a meaningless amalgam of traditional architectural townscapes. The idea, perhaps naive, is that this first block can be a catalyst that generates a larger district. The first block's pathways and courtyard would be replicated on the block to the east with the hotel and housing. To the north is a Bishop Ranch parking lot that sits largely empty. On the west, it's easy to imagine the Target and Whole Foods being replaced a decade from now by something that plugs into the emerging scene. "Walkability is the key issue, the thing that can create a fabric," Belvedere said Tuesday. "We don't want to do a replica of a place. That's not the right approach." While Piano wasn't at the meeting - his offices are in Paris, New York and his hometown of Genoa - a photograph of him making sketches at the San Ramon Farmers Market was part of the presentation (folks, I don't make this up). And this isn't the only evidence of Piano's interest in the edges of metropolitan areas where, in fact, most people live. Sharing values, rituals "The outskirts represent the great challenge for the next few decades," Piano said last year after being named a senator for life by the Italian government, the latest in a series of honors that includes the coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize and the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects. "The existing edges must become more urban without further pushing the sprawl ... Build places for people, places to meet, where they can share values, celebrate rituals; this is urbanity." Assuming San Ramon City Center gets built - a version by other architects was approved in 2007 but felled by the recession - it very well might fall short of Piano's lofty ambitions. Exterior signage, for instance. Instead of attaching store names to the ribbed metal, Piano's team has designed lean racks that would be attached to the upper layer of metal cladding. Belvedere described the system as a "civic information device" that would hold all manners of proclamations besides logos of the tenants below. Chains signing leases may have different ideas. As for the piazza, it is intended as a multigenerational gathering place. So was the similarly named space in the Academy of Sciences, which instead devolved into a glorified food court. But to even start with such ambitions is provocative, if only because they push far beyond what we've come to accept in America's commercialized heartland. Projects that matter Piano isn't the only internationally renowned architect at work in the suburban Bay Area; Silicon Valley campuses are being designed for Apple and Facebook by two other Pritzker winners, Norman Foster and Frank Gehry. Those projects are compounds for tech's privileged class. San Ramon's center would be open to anyone eager to catch a movie or grab a bite. If it succeeds on Piano's terms, at least in terms of nudging expectations, this is the project that will matter the most. The state Department of Transportation is partnering with the popular smartphone app Waze to help California drivers get where theyre going without getting stuck in traffic. Or at least not getting stuck in as much traffic. Under an agreement announced Tuesday, Waze will provide Caltrans with the real-time data it gathers from its millions of users. Caltrans will post that information on its QuickMap app and website (http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ ). In exchange, Caltrans will provide Waze with information on road closures, construction projects and other conditions that can tie up traffic. Waze says it is the worlds largest community-based traffic and navigation app, with more than 1.7 million monthly users in Los Angeles alone. Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty calls the partnership a win-win for California drivers. Acquisitions Orbeus sold to Amazon Amazon.com Inc. acquired artificial-intelligence startup Orbeus Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter, part of a broader push by the worlds largest Internet retailer into smart software for its cloud-computing and connected-device businesses. The acquisition took place in the fall of 2015, said the person who asked not to be identified because Amazon hasnt announced the deal. An Amazon spokeswoman and representatives at Sunnyvales Orbeus, including Chief Executive Officer Yi Li, did not respond to requests for comment. An online search shows that the startups domain name, Orbe.us, is owned by an Amazon subsidiary. Orbeus developed photo-recognition technology based on a powerful type of artificial intelligence called neural networks and made this available as a consumer application, as well as a service for other companies and developers called ReKognition. It automatically categorized and identified the contents of photos. Orbeuss app, PhotoTime, came out before Google launched its successful artificial intelligence-based Photos app. Amazon is investing heavily in artificial intelligence to automate warehouse operations, improve delivery systems, and add new products to its Amazon Web Services cloud offering. Its also an area of interest for Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos, who, like other tech moguls such as Elon Musk and Larry Page, is fascinated with the possibilities created by machines that think for themselves. Last month Bezos hosted a retreat for machine-learning and robotics experts in Palm Springs. Big technology companies are interested in this field and other areas of artificial intelligence. Salesforce.com Inc. said Monday it acquired MetaMind in Palo Alto. Retail Starbucks biggest store Starbucks Corp. is opening a sprawling new Roastery-branded store in New Yorks Meatpacking District, part of a push to bolster growth with larger locations that offer experiences to customers. The cafe will be its biggest ever: a 20,000-square-foot store at 61 Ninth Ave., Starbucks said on Tuesday. The location, near Chelsea Market, wont be ready until 2018. Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz has said he wants to bring the Roastery model to cities globally, a bet that a new format can bring fresh vigor to the company. Its a combination of a roasting facility and cafe that tries to teach customers more about coffee brewing and bean origins. The first Roastery opened in 2014 in Starbucks hometown of Seattle. That store is currently the only one, though other outlets are planned. Wal-Marts gentler eggs Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the worlds largest retail chain, will sell 100 percent cage-free eggs in the U.S. by 2025, joining an industrywide shift toward a practice thats seen as more humane. As part of the transition, Wal-Mart and its Sams Club warehouse chain will require that its egg suppliers adopt United Egg Producers rules or an equivalent set of standards, the retailer said Tuesday. Compliance will be checked annually by a third party. Wal-Mart sells more groceries than anyone else in the U.S., and its decisions typically sway the rest of the industry. The company has offered cage-free eggs since 2001, though not exclusively. Other companies, meanwhile, have set various timelines for making the switch. That includes consumer-food sellers and restaurant chains such as Taco Bell and Burger King. The idea is to give chickens more room to move around, improving the animals welfare. The challenge for Wal-Mart is transitioning to cage-free eggs while keeping a lid on prices, something the chain said it can do with the 2025 deadline. Chronicle News Services About 20,000 Ivanka Trump-brand scarves are being recalled after testing found the scarves did not meet the federal flammability standard. The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued the recall Wednesday stating that two styles from the brand posed a burn risk. The scarves are made from 100 percent rayon, a material known as highly-flammable. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 3 1 of 3 Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Michael Macor/The Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3 Police turned a triple play Tuesday when they arrested a third suspect in a burglary at the San Francisco Make-a-Wish Foundation, in which an electric scooter donated to the organization by Giants outfielder Hunter Pence had been stolen. Jacques Manns, 35, was nabbed by Mission Station officers a day after his suspected accomplices 37-year-old Judd Janke and 26-year-old Nicholas Tiller were arrested, said Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman. Officers executed a search warrant at a home linked to one of the alleged burglars on Fourth Street in the South of Market area Monday night and recovered the prized Pence scooter. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi called Tuesday for a state investigation into the San Francisco Police Department, an effort to bring potential court-ordered reforms to the force in the wake of several officers being implicated in exchanging racist and homophobic text messages on their personal phones. In a letter to Attorney General Kamala Harris, the former district attorney in San Francisco, Adachi said the text messages were the latest example of a pattern and practice in the force that has allowed racism and disparate treatment of black and Latino people to fester and grow. An investigation would help settle the pressing question of whether the racism evidenced in these incidents is endemic of a culture within the department, wrote Adachi, a frequent police critic during his more than 13 years in office. Sgt. Michael Andraychak, a Police Department spokesman, noted that the agency agreed in January to cooperate in a broad audit by a U.S. Department of Justice division that seeks to strengthen relationships between police and communities. That effort will look into potential police bias, federal officials said. However, the division does collaborative reform, as opposed to the U.S. Justice Departments Civil Rights Division, which enforces federal antidiscrimination laws and has the power to order changes in a law enforcement agency. Attorney General Harris is already familiar with the San Francisco Police Department from her tenure as the former district attorney, Andraychak said. If she initiates an audit of the SFPD, we will cooperate fully with that review. Adachi cited the fatal police shootings of three men of color Mario Woods, Amilcar Perez-Lopez and Alejandro Nieto as incidents indicative of a pattern of bias. A civil jury recently ruled in favor of the city in the Nieto case, while the other two remain under investigation. Adachi also pointed to a Haywood Burns Institute study released last year that found black people were 7.1 times more likely to be arrested in the city in 2013 than white people. If Harris, who is running for U.S. Senate, agrees to look into the police force, she will join District Attorney George Gascon, who assembled a blue-ribbon panel to investigate systemic bias. Adachi said a probe by the attorney general would have more teeth, and could result in court-ordered reforms. Gascon agreed. The blue-ribbon panel will provide a nice blueprint, Gascon said, but I think ultimately it will require either the attorney general or the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division to make sure that these reforms and many others actually take place. Adachis request was prompted by the disclosure Thursday by police and prosecutors that at least four officers had exchanged allegedly bigoted text messages. Police Chief Greg Suhr said each of the four officers directly implicated either faces termination proceedings or has already left the force. Vivian Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @VivianHo Connor Radnovich/The Chronicle A woman who helped run the committee that organized celebrations for graduating students at St. Ignatius High School in San Francisco has been charged with embezzling more than $180,000 from its accounts over a 4 -year period. Cynthia Mauer, 52, of Pacifica pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Superior Court to 12 felony charges of embezzlement and grand theft and was released on $200,000 bail. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate After a week of saturation press coverage, it's no secret that the California Academy of Sciences has reopened in San Francisco in a masterful new home designed by Renzo Piano. But if you're waiting for a Bay Area sequel from the Italian architect, here's a tip: Don't hold your breath. Piano's firm was hired in 2006 to reimagine a large site at First and Mission streets. He responded with the elegantly eye-popping twist of five reedlike towers that would slide upward as high as 1,200 feet amid alleys and low historic structures. The concept caused a splash when the developers filed a proposal with the city in December 2006. But formal designs were never released because of a neighborhood rezoning that's under way. And this spring, Piano's client put the properties up for sale. "It's a sad story. ... I loved that project," Piano said last week while visiting the academy. "The mix of functions and volumes, the fragmentation, the slenderness (of each tower)." Models and sketches still reside in Piano's studio above the Mediterranean Sea in Genoa, Italy - reminders of what wasn't to be. "All those children, they grow in the studio," he said of his firm's projects, some that get built and some that don't. "Every one has its own story and every one a personality." A complex vision If that sounds like a philosophical take on the nuts and bolts of city building, consider Piano's description of the creative process. During our interview I praised the academy's 63-foot-high glass globe, which encloses a living rain forest thick with humid air and alive with the sounds of tropical birds. In the vision of the complex that the academy released in 2002, it was a bubblelike watercolor; now it's an effortless-looking orb with impossibly large panes of curving glass locked in place by discreet steel claws. When I asked whether the evolution from sketch to real life was as easy as it looked, Piano smiled. "You do this," he said, miming a circle in the air, "but you do this 10,000 times. And then one of the little sketches works." Piano used another analogy: "With each project you put many seeds in the ground. The good ones bloom. The bad ones disappear." With regards to The Chronicle's coverage of the academy, it's fair to say we didn't underplay the reopening. On the other hand, the national media has made a fuss as well. The biggest splash came from Metropolis, an excellent design magazine that put the academy on the cover of its September issue - calling it "a building of mythic proportions" in the first of three lengthy articles grouped under the heading "Green Architecture's Grand Experiment." Not to be outdone, architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff of the New York Times last Wednesday tossed around words like "genius" and "greatness" after declaring the new academy to be "a comforting reminder of the civilizing function of great art in a barbaric age." If all that seems highfalutin, ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" is scheduled to broadcast from the academy this morning. And get this: You'll find a photograph of the academy's native-plant-draped roof in the Sept. 29 issue of ... People. Folks, it doesn't get bigger than that. Big winners But who needs big-name outsiders? No fewer than seven San Francisco firms have nabbed 2008 Design Awards from the California Council of the American Institute of Architects. San Francisco firms were recipients of two honor awards for academic buildings rooted here. Jensen Architects draped two new graduate buildings in aluminum mesh scrim for the San Francisco campus of the California Academy of Arts, while Leddy Maytum Stacy's addition to the Nueva School complex in Hillsborough includes a green roof atop the K-8 school's student center. In the urban architecture category, an honor went to the San Francisco office of EDAW for its work on Tokyo Midtown, a 25-acre mixed-use complex in Japan's capital that blends big-city terrains with more intimate, contemplative spaces. One step down at the merit award level - still no slouch, considering that there were 206 entries in the competition - recognition went to EHDD Architecture and David Baker + Partners. The former placed a stately modern library in the heart of the campus of Valparaiso University in Indiana; the latter is the architect of Curran House, which adds 67 family apartments and a burst of color to the city's Tenderloin neighborhood. Two local firms also received Urban Design merit awards for projects that, if they get built, will change the Bay Area landscape. One local luminary is the plan for Treasure Island designed by Skidmore Owings & Merrill, an environmentally focused vision of towers and housing-lined pedestrian streets around a ferry terminal. The other is the transformation of a San Mateo shopping center into what would be called Station Park Green, a 12-acre neighborhood with 599 housing units next to the Hayward Park Caltrain stop. The designer for Station Park is the firm SMWM. Fifty years ago, Robert Currier stood in front of the blackboard at Temple City High School, 20 miles east of Los Angeles, reciting the soliloquy from Macbeth. If it were done, when tis done, then twere well/ It were done quickly, it begins, as the title character mulls over murdering the king. Baffled by the language, I thought they were either putting me on, trying to make us feel stupid, or there was a lot to be mined here, recalls Currier, who went with the last option. Hes been big on the Bard ever since. Marin Shakespeare Companys longtime artistic director, Currier will again lead the festivities at San Rafaels Fourth Street Plaza on April 23 when the company observes the 400th anniversary of Shakespeares death by reading all 154 of his sonnets. Some of the poems that Currier and associates will read or perform will be accompanied by music, dance and even some fight action choreographed by the companys sword-fight-scene designer, Richard Pallaziol. Because hes the third Richard to hold the post, Currier naturally refers to him as Richard III. In addition to notable Marin performers like Will Marchetti, director James Dunn (Robin Williams teacher at College of Marin), Adam Roy as the Bard and Livia DeMarchi as the Dark Lady of the sonnets, the free celebration welcomes the public to come and recite a favorite sonnet. Theyre not being done in numeric order. Undoubtedly were going to hear Shall I compare thee to a summers day? way more than once, says Currier, referring to the all-time hit, Sonnet 18. Currier, an amiable ringmaster whos been directing at Marin Shakespeare Company since he and his wife, Lesley, were tapped in 1989 to run the new endeavor, will check off the sonnets as theyre read, making sure all 154 get heard. Some will be recited by his friend Rob Clare, an actor and director formerly with Britains Royal Shakespeare Company. Hes performed his own all-sonnets Shakespeare show at various international venues, and his script will provide fodder for Curriers narration. Currier would be pleased to recite the first sonnet he ever encountered and performed, No. 30 (When to the sessions of sweet silent thought, I summon up remembrance of things past ...). Hed been assigned the poem in a theater class at UC Irvine taught by the late British actor Brewster Mason, a big man featured as Falstaff in numerous Royal Shakespeare Company productions in the 1950s and 60s. He taught us to breathe, among other things, says Currier, who began devouring the love poems that cover vast emotional territory in a body of work he calls broad and deep, and complicated and mysterious. Theyre probably the most private information, the most personal stuff we have on this guy or whoever wrote those plays, Currier adds. The sonnets give us some clues, bring us closer to knowing what Shakespeare was like. Like many people whove pondered the sonnets written for the Fair Youth, Currier figures the Bard was probably bisexual. You can puzzle and puzzle over what he means in some of these poems, says Currier, who loves how the master tells a whole little story in 14 rhyming lines flavored with double and triple entendres. A favorite is No. 29 (When, in disgrace with fortune and mens eyes), filled with the deep strain of melancholy Currier finds in Hamlet, Jacques in As You Like It and many other Shakespearean characters. The poet finds solace in thy sweet love, essentially saying, Currier notes, Im a miserable person except for the fact I have you. I feel that way sometimes, admits Currier. A lot of people probably do. My love for Lesley makes everything all right for me. For more information, go to www.marinshakespeare.org. Sosa returns Omar Sosa, the bracing Cuban jazz pianist and composer who found his voice in the Bay Area in the 1990s, plays classic Cuban styles his way, flavored with electronics, at Yoshis on Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9, with his pan-national Quarteto AfroCubano. For more information, go to www.yoshis.com. Don Corleone in Silicon Valley South Bay fans of Francis Coppolas The Godfather shouldnt refuse an offer to catch the masterpiece when it plays on the big screen at San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, Friday-Sunday, April 8-10, accompanied live by Symphony Silicon Valley playing score composed by Nino Rota. For more information, go to www.symphonysiliconvalley.org. Jesse Hamlin is a Bay Area journalist and former San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin held its presidential primary Tuesday, with Donald, Hillary, Ted and Bernie nervously combing through exit polls and vote counts. Inside Miller Park, the Giants saw the earliest returns on their $130 million investment in Johnny Cueto and had to smile after he dominated the Brewers in a 2-1 victory that was over in 2 hours, 29 minutes. "He has a great tempo," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He gets the ball and he goes, even with men on base. He's fun to watch. He just has great savvy, stuff, everything." Cueto cuffed the Brewers for seven innings, allowing one run on a night he had to be that good because his bat-wielding teammates did not afford him the 12 runs and 15 hits they supplied Madison Bumgarner on Opening Day. The Giants did not execute well at the plate when they did get opportunities, but Cueto took Brandon Crawford's homer and a Matt Duffy run-scoring fielder's choice and ran with them. Buster Posey earned an assist with a nice defensive play, backhanding a Crawford throw to the wrong side of the plate and applying a lunging tag on Jonathan Villar to save a run the Giants ultimately could not afford to allow. The bullpen's execution was perfect, too. Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla retiring their six hitters to end the taut kind of game the commissioner's office likes so all the kiddies can stay up to watch the final out. "That's normal for me. I always work fast," Cueto said through translator Erwin Higueros. Cueto displayed his athleticism making four putouts at first base on right-side grounders and telegraphed that he has fun when he pitches. He and Ryan Braun shared a smile after a strikeout on a surprise 3-2 changeup that stranded two Brewers in the third inning. Bochy also liked Cueto's "game awareness," such as busting it to first base on a third-inning groundball when he smelled a hit but barely exiting the batter's box when he hit two more grounders. As Bochy watched Cueto running full speed he had visions of Casilla shredding his hamstring trying for an infield hit in Colorado in 2014. Cueto had fun with reporters who asked why he charged up the line like a wannabe leadoff hitter the first time, saying, "I ran because I like to sweat. The other two times, I took it easy." The biggest takeaway from Cueto's Giants debut was how sharp and strong he looked -- walking none, striking out four and hitting 92 mph in the seventh inning -- despite arriving at spring training behind the other starters in throwing. The staff even held him out of the Cactus League rotation the first time through. Bochy acknowledged that at the start of spring he would not have envisioned Cueto in this kind of form so soon, but as March progressed Bochy became more confident that the 30-year-old knew how to prepare. So did Cueto's catcher. "From the start of spring he came in with a plan," Posey said. "He didn't feel he needed to come in and impress anybody. He took it easy at the start of spring. He knew what he needed to do to get ready and he was sharp tonight." Cueto won his seventh consecutive start against the Brewers, the first victory by a Giants starter from the Dominican Republic since Sergio Valdez in 1995. The people of Wisconsin do not vote again until the general election, but the Giants get to see more early returns Wednesday when their other big acquisition, Jeff Samardzija, tries to pitch the Giants to a season-opening sweep. The guess here is that the title April and the Extraordinary World was chosen for the American release of the new French animated film because its more marketable. But the original French title, Avril et le monde truque, translates more accurately as April and the Twisted World. Way more apt. This odd example of steampunk animation is set in an alternative 1941 Paris. Theres no Hitler, no World War II; the world has been taken over by a mysterious group of giant totalitarian overlords. Electricity hasnt been discovered, so the world runs on coal (mostly) and steam power. April (voice of Marion Cotillard) is a young scientist hiding out in Paris, searching for the Ultimate Serum, which would grant immortality. It is something her parents were working on before they were kidnapped as were all scientists by the government a decade earlier to work on their secret projects (one of them is the Ultimate Serum). So April is in hiding, with her talking cat Darwin to keep her company, until she is discovered by Julius, a young man working for the police to find April. He switches his allegiances when he falls in love. Directors Franck Ekinci and Christian Desmares, working from Jacques Tardis graphic novel, have crafted a very watchable film that has a decent visual look almost black and white with splotches of bright color. But theres nothing distinguishing, really, about the story which eventually has a heavily environmental element or the characters. And the visual design doesnt have that wow factor that other examples of the steampunk genre, such as Japans Howls Moving Castle and Steamboy, have. For those who dont know, steampunk, which crosses all artistic media, is a science fiction and fantasy genre featuring Victorian designs and technology. Influences include the literature of Jules Verne and the 1950s and 60s movies from his works (such as 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea); the 1960s TV series Wild, Wild West; and Terry Gilliams 1985 breakthrough Brazil. If you needed that explanation, April and the Extraordinary World might not be for you. If youre a steampunk fan, by all means go. Just dont expect a classic. G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen April and the Extraordinary World Animation. With Marion Cotillard. Directed by Franck Ekinci and Christian Desmares. (PG. 103 minutes.) To see a trailer: https://youtu.be/RC-9eya8Yso AP In Demolition, Jake Gyllenhaal again demonstrates his affinity for portraying souls on the brink, an ability thats been evident as far back as his epic teen film Donnie Darko (2001). But the new movie is so heavy-handed that his good efforts, along with those of an exceptional supporting cast, are about the only reason to see it. The film is a letdown from Jean-Marc Vallee, the Canadian director of 2013s triple Oscar winner Dallas Buyers Club, as well as last years Wild. Theres nothing wrong with stretching audience credibility, but, to quote another movie that dabbles in the highly improbable, these things must be done delicately. After all these decades and throughout the ever-changing styles of world cinema, Japanese filmmakers are still unmatched at achieving a certain type of quiet, contemplative simplicity. The latest example is Naomi Kawases Sweet Bean, which is bare of excess in any form dialogue, setting, music, melodrama and is instead enhanced by three wonderful, understated lead performances and the directors eye (and ear) for nature and contemplation. Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase), a man in his 40s, manages a dorayaki stand (dorayakis are like small pancakes filled with an, a sweet red bean paste). Rather dour in demeanor, he serves up average dorayakis to a smattering of customers, including a few schoolgirls who try unsuccessfully to get him to crack a smile. One of them is Wakana (Kyara Uchida), a girl from a troubled home who tends to hang around the shop until it closes rather than go home. Into their lives walks Tokue (Kirin Kiki), a kindly, 76-year-old woman who asks for a job. Sentaro politely refuses, but she is persistent. One day she brings by some of her homemade red bean paste, and boy, is it delicious (Sentaro buys his stuff in bulk, presumably at some Costco-type place). So Tokue has a job and instantly transforms the business and, with it, the lives of Sentaro and Wakana. She has a Mr. Miyagi way of putting things, such as the secret to her red bean paste: Were hosting them. They came all this way from the fields. ... They tell us their stories. Just when you think the story is predictable, Sweet Bean turns into something else. Tokues hands are a bit gnarled and hamper her work speed. A rumor is floated that she might have had leprosy. That becomes a major portion of the film the stigma of leprosy in Japan, where a small neighborhood section of Tokyo that used to be a quarantine area houses mostly aging victims of the disease. (Leprosy, also called Hansens disease, is, contrary to common belief, not very communicable, is curable and has mostly been eradicated.) Kawase handles the material delicately and skillfully, and Kirin a onetime ingenue actress whose first important film was in one of the early Tora-san movies hits all the right notes. Oddly, the end of the film reminded me in some ways of the end of Michelangelo Antonionis LEclisse, that 1962 art house head scratcher. Except that for Antonioni, empty spaces are a metaphor for the bleak emptiness of humanity; for Kawase, empty spaces are a clear symbol of humanitys meaning and purpose. G. Allen Johnson is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: ajohnson@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BRfilmsAllen Sweet Bean Drama. With Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyara Uchida. Directed by Naomi Kawase. In Japanese with English subtitles. (Not rated. 113 minutes.) To see a trailer: https://youtu.be/KcwKPRfTMa4. Bay to Breakers, one of San Francisco's landmark events, is looking for a band to entertain the masses at the race's 2016 finish line. The race draws upwards of 50,000 costumed runners, crashers, and spectators every year, and for this year's #RockTheBreakers contest, the event is searching for a group to play the festival stage at Ocean Beach. OKLAHOMA CITY Firefighters struggled to contain a large wildfire in northwestern Oklahoma Wednesday, although they kept it from ravaging a small town and infiltrating an iodine-manufacturing plant. Some buildings were destroyed, and one firefighter suffered heat exhaustion. Other fires burned Wednesday in Kansas and elsewhere in Oklahoma, fueled by dry, windy conditions. The largest fire in Oklahoma has burned 86 square miles near the border with Kansas the same area where blazes last month scorched hundreds of square miles. The fire was sparked Tuesday by arcing power lines that touched the dry ground because of gusting winds, Oklahoma Forestry Services Director George Geissler said. During high winds, the power lines will start galloping between the poles, Geissler said. Theyre actually whipping around. It looks like a jump rope. Authorities issued a voluntary evacuation order Tuesday afternoon for the Oklahoma town of Freedom, about 170 miles northwest of Oklahoma City. Assisted by an overnight shift in wind, crews were able to keep the fire from jumping the Cimarron River and directly threatening the towns 300 residents. In Kansas, other fires have burned 18 square miles of rangeland. Ben Bauman, spokesman for the Kansas Adjutant Generals Office, said two homes, one mobile home and at least eight outbuildings were destroyed Tuesday. Residents of several rural communities were urged to leave their homes before the blazes were brought mostly under control. Tuesdays powerful winds also spawned a 100-mile-wide dust storm in the Texas Panhandle with winds of up to 60 mph spreading dirt picked up from Colorado and Kansas. In central Oklahoma, firefighters set up containment lines Tuesday around another fire north of Luther, about 25 miles northeast of Oklahoma City, and officials advised residents to evacuate their homes. That fire was about 80 percent contained as of Wednesday morning, a state official said. Sonny Gray was back at the Coliseum on Tuesday after a bout of what the As now believe to be stomach flu, and another starter, Kendall Graveman, was out with a similar ailment. Gray will start Wednesday night against the White Sox. Graveman is scheduled to pitch against Chicago in the final game of the series Thursday, and manager Bob Melvin said he believes Graveman will be able to make that start. With four or five team members becoming ill over the past few weeks and recent opponents, including the Giants and White Sox, dealing with the same issue, trainer Nick Paparesta addressed the team before batting practice to go over precautionary measures, including frequent hand washing. Ive had a Purell dispenser in here for years; now everyone doesnt think Im so crazy, Melvin said. Were going to do the best we can to combat it. Gray said he became ill early Monday morning, and though he needed four IV bags of fluids, he did try to lobby to make his scheduled Opening Night start. I was getting fluids and IVs, trying to get some energy and hydration back, then they told me I wouldnt pitch, he said. It was upsetting. I can tell you no one was more upset than I was. Gray had started the previous two Opening Nights for Oakland. It was really unfortunate timing, he said. I just happened to get it the wrong day. ... Its an important game, but in the grand scheme of things, its one of 162. Grays fiancee, Jessica Forkum, also required IV fluids, but their 1-year-old son, Gunnar, is fine, Gray said. Its just a bug thats going around, he said. Mine just hit at the wrong time. The As will hold their first real Sonny Siders promotion Wednesday; those who bought tickets for the Sonny Siders section Monday still did get the T-shirt after Gray was scratched. Briefly: Jason Rezaian, the Washington Post reporter held in an Iranian prison for 18 months until his release in January, is an As fan and threw out the first pitch Tuesday. On Wednesday at the Coliseum, Henderson Alvarez will throw to hitters for the first time since his 2015 shoulder surgery. Alvarez, a 2014 All-Star with the Marlins, could be ready to pitch in the big leagues by mid-May. Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. On deck Wednesday vs. White Sox 7:05 p.m. ESPN2 Rodon (9-6) vs. Gray (14-7) Thursday vs. White Sox 12:35 p.m. CSNCA Latos (4-10) vs. Graveman (6-9) Friday at Mariners 7:10 p.m. CSNCA TBA vs. Walker (11-8) Leading off Milestones: Coco Crisp got his first start Tuesday; hes one stolen base shy of 300 for his career. He needs one triple for 23 with the As, which would tie Carney Lansford, Reggie Jackson and Billy North for fifth in Oakland history. Susan Slusser This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A San Francisco Superior Court judge will interview an undercover FBI agent this month to determine whether to keep information under wraps in the case of three former public servants accused of accepting bribes in exchange for providing access to Mayor Ed Lee. Former Human Rights Commissioner Nazly Mohajer, her staff member Zula Jones and onetime San Francisco school board President Keith Jackson had been scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday on charges they tried to conceal $20,000 in illegal contributions to Lees 2011 mayoral campaign. Attorneys for the defendants, though, agreed to put off the arraignments until Judge Edward Torpoco makes a decision on whether to keep details of the case sealed. We feel we are entitled to the information, Jacksons attorney, Deputy Public Defender Niki Solis, said Wednesday. Jones attorney, John Keker, argued that his client is charged with bribery and we dont even know who shes supposed to have bribed. District Attorney George Gascon wants to keep evidence in the case suppressed to conceal the identities of undercover FBI agents and informants, and to protect innocent people who may be named in the investigation. The corruption charges came about after a five-year undercover federal investigation netted infamous Chinatown gang leader Raymond Shrimp Boy Chow, and former state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco. Jackson, who was also charged in the Chow case, was sentenced to nine years after pleading guilty to racketeering charges. Yee pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison, and Chow faces life in prison for running a criminal racketeering enterprise and ordering the murder of its former leader. Lee has not been charged, and has denied wrongdoing. But during pretrial proceedings last year, Chows lawyers released documents obtained from prosecutors indicating that undercover agents had also investigated Lee and his associates. The documents included secretly recorded conversations in which Mohajer and Jones apparently discussed accepting $20,000 from an FBI agent posing as a businessman. In the conversations, the defendants allegedly instructed the agent on how to break down the money into $500 checks to pay off debts from Lees 2011 election campaign in order to comply with San Franciscos limits on individual campaign contributions. You pay to play here, Jones told the agent in a 2012 conversation, according to the court documents. We are the best at this game ... better than New York. Gascon would not release details in the San Francisco case, saying they were bound by a protective order issued by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in the federal case. But last month, Breyer said that the order didnt apply to the local case and that releasing the information was up to the San Francisco Superior Court judge. Torpoco will speak to an undercover agent in a private interview April 22 to determine whether to grant his own protective order. Attorneys for the defendants said they want to be present during that discussion in order to cross-examine the agent. Torpoco said he will consider the defenses proposal. Mohajer, Jones and Jackson are due back in court May 24. Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky Our story from last month highlighting the history behind San Francisco neighborhood names was a hit with readers, and we decided to take a deeper dive and add to our list. Did you know Ingleside Terrace is named after a race track that was once located in this neighborhood? Urbano Drive circling this residential area was paved over the former track. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Oakland City Council voted unanimously early Wednesday to impose a controversial 90-day moratorium on rent increases, during a meeting that lasted past midnight. The emergency ordinance, brought by Council President Lynette Gibson McElhaney, comes at a time when 1 in 4 Oakland residents is in danger of getting displaced, according to Mayor Libby Schaaf. It stems from a draft resolution submitted by housing activists on March 10. The original version asked for a temporary prohibition on no-cause evictions and rent increases that arent tied to the annual consumer price index. McElhaneys modified ordinance did not include the freeze on evictions. The proposal, which drew more than 200 speakers to City Hall, elicited painful stories from longtime residents who stand to lose their homes. It also drew vigorous opposition from landlords. Many of them called it a feel-good fix that would discourage them from paying for much-needed property improvements. What you are proposing tonight is simply political showmanship, said Alan Reinke, who has owned property in Oakland for 17 years and said he has never evicted a tenant. Reinke said the moratorium, which would not apply to homes built after 1983 because of the states Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, would prevent mom-and-pop property owners from making a decent return on their investment. He and others urged the city to turn its attention instead to a severe affordable housing shortage. Lets do sensible housing proposals ... build, build, build, said Steven Edrington, another property owner. Abigail Bornstein, a teacher and owner of a small duplex, said the moratorium would unfairly penalize small property owners who are legally mandated to keep their property up to code. Roofers, plumbers and electricians are not being told they can only increase their fees by (the consumer price index of) 1.7 percent, she said. However owners must maintain their properties or be cited by the city. Wayne Rowland, president of the East Bay Rental Housing Association, suggested that property owners issue a 90-day moratorium of their own by not paying for improvements. And then maybe you start seeing a few holes and missing teeth in Oakland, said a landlord named Barbara Armstrong. But Peter Masiak of the Service Employees International Union accused the landlords of playing the victim game. The carpenter and the plumber are increasing their costs because the rents too high, he said. Supporters of the moratorium gave wrenching speeches, saying they could no longer afford to stay in a city that their families had lived in for generations. I lost my grandkids some moved to Sacramento, and the others moved to Vallejo, said Towanda Sherry, an activist with the group Causa Justa/Just Cause. I have children sleeping around the side of my apartment building, she continued. Do you know what that looks like? Councilman Abel Guillen called the moratorium a pause button that would give city officials enough time to write a slew of new policies like regulations on short-term Airbnb rentals that are constricting the citys housing supply, he said. In February, Oaklands median monthly rent soared to $3,000 per month, the council said in staff reports, citing statistics from the real estate site Trulia. One man, who spoke on a different agenda item Tuesday, said hed had to choose between paying rent or the $200 he owed for child care. He chose rent. My child may be kicked out today, he said. Rachel Swan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rachelswan Two drivers walked away shaken but unscathed from a crash early Wednesday in San Franciscos South of Market neighborhood that left one of their vehicles flipped over on its roof, officials said. The two-vehicle crash occurred around 6 a.m. at the intersection of Eighth and Mission streets. UPDATE: We did it, Internet commenters of America! The Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason seems to have a new name to avoid a profane acronym. The Wall Street Journal reports the name officially remains the same, but marketing materials and the school website now read: "The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason." The original story is below: A law school located just outside the nations capital will bear the name of late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The new title for school will be the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason. READ MORE: Cibolo Creek Ranch owner recalls Scalia's last hours in Texas As some wiseguys have pointed out in comments sections across the nation, the law schools name could lend itself to ridicule by critics of the longtime conservative justice. Well give you a few moments to figure out whats wrong with the schools new designation. First some background on why this is happening: George Mason University, a public school in Fairfax, Virginia, received a $30 million donation from the conservative Charles Koch Foundation and an anonymous donor to rename the school. The university has quietly become a conservative powerhouse in economics and law, a reputation built in part with tens of millions of dollars a year from billionaire Republican donor Charles Koch. From 2011 to 2014, the Charles Koch Foundation gave nearly $48 million to George Mason in one form or another, tax records show. In the case of the Scalia donation, the foundation gave $10 million and the anonymous donor put up $20 million more. The schools president Angel Cabrear called the donations a milestone moment for the university. WHAT WERE THEY THINKING: The worst named bars and restaurants Charles Koch's representatives say the generosity comes without conditions. Some students already have expressed skepticism over the schools relationship with Koch. Now, at the very least, they have a way to mock the latest gift. Did you figure out whats wrong with the Antonin Scalia School of Law? The acronym isnt so flattering. The newest attendees now attend ASSoL at George Mason. Or, if you prefer, ASSLaw. See the gallery above for 15 things you didn't know about Antonin Scalia. The Associated Press contributed to this report. By giving Sen. Ted Cruz a resounding victory Tuesday, Wisconsins voters made it little bit harder for Donald Trump to clinch the Republican nomination before a knockdown fight at the partys national convention in July. And the Midwestern states Democratic voters also filled Sen. Bernie Sanders sails with a big victory over Hillary Clinton before the Brooklyn native heads to the next big contest, the April 19 primary in New York. While Tuesdays victory was Sanders seventh in the past eight primary contests, he would still need to win roughly 60 percent of the delegates in the remaining contests to catch Clinton. The Wisconsin result reverberated to the West Coast, as the results make Californias June 7 primary grow in prominence, particularly for Republicans. The states prize of 172 GOP delegates could be what stands between Trump and the 1,273 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination before the convention in Cleveland. It makes California more important, said Dave Brady, a professor of political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. I dont see how Trump can get there without a big win in California. And it might be important for Democrats, too. The road ahead Theoretically, the road should now get easier for Clinton, twice elected to the Senate from her post-White House home in suburban Westchester County, N.Y., and Trump, whose name is splashed in gold across Manhattan. Both have healthy leads in the polls, as of now. However, one of several ominous signs in Tuesdays loss that should concern the Trump campaign: A majority of GOP voters said they were either concerned or scared about a potential Trump presidency, according to exit polls. Its a sign that Wisconsins primary could be a turning point in the GOP campaign, said Barry Burden, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin. These past 10 days, people have tired of Donald Trump. Theyve simply reached the end of their rope with him, said Burden, who is also director of the universitys Elections Research Center. There really is a movement in the party now, that for whatever reason didnt coalesce until April. On the Democratic side, Wisconsins demographics were friendlier toward Sanders, as its electorate is largely white and more progressive than other states, said Julia Azari, a professor of political science at Marquette University in Milwaukee. Clinton lost the Wisconsin primary by 17 points to Obama in 2008. Tuesdays results, while not final, were similar. This allows (Sanders) to continue to be viable as a message candidate and speak for a particular wing of the party, Azari said. Its a mistake to write off this candidacy as a novelty, but its also a mistake to ignore the delegate math. Despite being a swing state in general elections, Wisconsin voters have historically backed front-runners in primaries. The Midwestern state is home to some of the nations most partisan political pockets, from liberal Madison, the state capital and home of the University of Wisconsin, to deeply conservative rural northern Wisconsin. Tucked in the middle are blue-collar Democrats in Milwaukee and conservative Republicans in the citys suburbs. Because of 2012s highly polarized recall election of GOP Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsins electorate is highly engaged, with some of its counties boasting among the highest turnout rates in the country. Roughly 40 percent of the electorate was expected to cast ballots Tuesday, far above the 29 percent overall national average so far, according to Pew Research. Here are some takeaways from Wisconsin: Hometown power of Scott Walker: The governor was a terrible presidential candidate, dropping out of the race in September after being an early darling of establishment Republicans. Liberals may loathe his union-busting, but Walker boasts an 80 percent approval rating among Wisconsin Republicans. Unlike former candidate Marco Rubio got the coveted endorsement of South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and then got drubbed there, Walkers endorsement of Cruz actually meant something. When talk radio speaks, people listen: Talk radio may be losing market share around the country, but conservative talk is alive and influential in southeastern Wisconsin, which includes the Milwaukee suburbs that nurtured Walker. Longtime Wisconsin talker Charlie Sykes grilled Trump recently in one of the toughest interviews of the billionaire yet, a 17-minute skewering where he called Trump a fraud, pressed him on his lack of specificity and berated him for his lack of decorum. Conservative Milwaukee talk radio hosts may not agree on much, other than mutual loathing of Trump. Trump had a really bad week or two: Trump was ahead in early polls in Wisconsin several weeks ago. But his botched answer on an abortion question last week in a televised interview with MSNBCs Chris Matthews not only renewed concerns about how women view Trump only 24 percent of the Republican women likely to vote in Tuesdays Wisconsin primary supported Trump, according to a recent Marquette University poll but about how ill prepared a candidate he is. Anyone but Trump: Cruz won, but much of the energy in Wisconsin was aimed against Trump rather than for Cruz. Take the conservative Club for Growth Action, which funded a lot of negative Trump advertising in the state. As the group tweeted Tuesday: The Clubs Wisconsin message was simple: Vote for @tedcruz If you want to stop @realDonaldTrump Thank you #WIPrimaryvoters! Said Nicole Walker, a top adviser to 2008 GOP nominee John McCain, I think Ted Cruz is only appealing in light of the choices that remain. This could be the beginning of the end for Kasich: During the darkest days of the recall campaign, Walker would often reach out to Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a union-busting GOP Midwestern governor, for support. But that kinship didnt translate into an endorsement or much love Tuesday for Kasich, who finished a distant third. He has won only one state his own Ohio. Its hard to pitch yourself as a viable alternative when the voters dont see you that way. What Clinton needs to be thinking about in Chappaqua: While she is bunking at home in the New York City suburbs this week, Azari said, She needs to think about what this (loss) means people are saying about the direction of the Democratic Party. Clinton again lost nearly 80 percent of the youth vote, according to exit polls, a key indicator of grassroots enthusiasm for a candidate. Joe Garofoli is the San Francisco Chronicle senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate In a new study, Stanford researchers programmed a humanoid robot to ask college students to "please touch my buttocks" to see how they would react. As you might expect, the students felt uncomfortable and reluctant. What, on the first date? Not even dinner first? But the undergrads each alone in a room with a NAO robot did what was requested, using their non-dominant hand to feel the robot's bum. A skin conductance sensor showed that physiological arousal that is, attention, alertness and awareness, not necessarily sexual arousal rose when subjects touched intimate areas such as buttocks, breasts, inner thighs and genitals. "Touching less accessible regions of the robot (e.g., buttocks and genitals) was more physiologically arousing than touching more accessible regions (e.g., hands and feet). No differences in physiological arousal were found when just pointing to those same anatomical regions," IEEE Spectrum's Automaton blog quoted the study. "Further evidence of participants' sensitivity to touching low-accessible regions of a robot emerged in an analysis of response time, which was longer for participants who touched low accessible but not high-accessible areas." But why does touching a robot's plastic rear-end elicit heighten human sensitivity? It's not like it's an erogenous zone. The robot gets nothing out of this contact. You might as well be fondling a toaster. The Stanford scientists theorize that robots' human-like form may elicit a primitive response that trumps the rational assessment of "I'm touching a machine." "People are not inherently built to differentiate between technology and humans," they wrote. "Consequently, primitive responses in human physiology to cues like movement, language and social intent can be elicited by robots just as they would by real people." Stanford University will present a paper in June on the experiment at the Annual Conference of the International Communication Association in Fukuoka, Japan. The title is "Touching a Mechanical Body: Tactile Contact With Intimate Parts of a Human-Shaped Robot is Physiologically Arousing." Jamy Li, who led the research team, says the study's findings may suggest that developers should consider robot anatomy when designing interfaces. "For example, people might feel more comfortable interacting with humanoid robots in the majority of social contexts where the touch buttons are primarily on its hands, arms and forehead as opposed to buttons that are on areas like its eyes, buttocks or throughout its body," Li said. Got that, builders of future robot butlers? We don't want to have to poke Jeeves in the butt just to get him to make us a cup of coffee. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A parking version of Airbnb says that homeowners in San Francisco and other cities are making up to $400 a month renting out their unused apartment parking spaces, garages and driveways. ParkingCupid offers to match those with parking spaces to drivers who can't find a place to park their vehicles. Naturally, spaces in inner-city neighborhoods with limited or no public parking command the biggest fees, but spots near sports stadiums and airports are also in high demand. Membership, which allows you to post a wanted listing and contact parking hosts, is $15 a month. An upgraded membership with more features is available. Photos of featured listings driveways, garages, asphalt rectangles are promoted on the site. A brief look at the site's San Francisco listings revealed spaces offered at $75/month to $400/month. ParkingCupid founded by Daniel Battaglia, who created the similar ParkingMadeEasy.com.au in Australia has been around for a couple of years. It set the market value of America's 800 million car spaces at $20,800 each, a total of $17 trillion dollars, according to PRWeb. The company operates in the United States, Hong Kong and Canada, but it looks like the service has yet to get established in some cities. For example, a search of the entire city of Dallas brings up only one listing. Because the company's service deals in private parking spaces rather than public, it appears to be legal. In 2014, an app called MonkeyParking tried to introduce a service that allowed users to auction off public, city-owned parking spots to the highest bidder. The enterprise, reviled on social media, also earned the wrath of City Attorney Dennis Herrara, who wasted little time in quashing it. MonkeyParking did not die, however. It currently has an app that allows people to book daily, private spots in "the most horrible neighborhoods for parking" in San Francisco. KHIRDASDI, Bangladesh For more than two decades, Nasima Begum and her family have been drawing water from a well painted red to warn Bangladeshi villagers that its tainted by arsenic. They know theyre slowly poisoning themselves. We use this water for washing, bathing and drinking, she said. Begum, 45, is too poor to invest in digging a new well that goes deeper to reach safe water. But she shouldnt have to, according to a government program aimed at establishing safe tube wells in poor villages. That hasnt happened for this impoverished village, a clutch of tin-roofed huts set amid farm fields about an hours drive from Dhaka, Bangladeshs capital. Nor has it happened in countless other villages still relying on arsenic-contaminated groundwater decades after it was revealed as a major threat across the country. An estimated 20 million people in Bangladesh are still being poisoned by arsenic-tainted water a number that has remained unchanged from 10 years ago despite years of action to dig new wells at safer depths, according to a new report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch. The New York-based rights group blames nepotism and neglect by Bangladeshi officials, saying theyre deliberately having new wells dug in areas convenient for friends, family members and political supporters and allies, rather than in places where arsenic contamination is highest or large numbers of poor villagers are being exposed. Human Rights Watch based its report on a survey of about 125,000 government wells dug from 2006 to 2012 specifically to give villagers safer options, after an earlier survey of 5 million wells found millions exposed to water that exceeded Bangladeshs arsenic contamination limit of 50 parts per billion. Arsenic also kills about 45,000 Bangladeshis every year, and is known to be in the groundwater of at least 30 countries, including the U.S., Canada and China. BRUSSELS EU authorities introduced proposals Wednesday intended to reform the blocs overwhelmed and ineffective asylum system while avoiding a backlash from member states reluctant to accept a larger number of refugees. The proposals from the European Commission, the blocs executive arm, are meant to address an imbalance that has largely fallen on front-line nations like Greece and Italy, in the case of an influx like last year, when more than 1 million refugees arrived on European shores. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The number of executions carried out around the world in 2015 increased more than 50 percent over the previous year, a surge largely driven by three countries: Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said in its annual report on the use of capital punishment. At least 1,634 people were put to death in 25 countries last year, the highest number of executions recorded by the London-based human rights group in more than a quarter century, excluding those carried out in China. Amnesty believes that thousands more people are executed every year in China, but the government treats information about capital punishment as a state secret. In a statement released before the report was officially published Wednesday, Amnestys secretary-general, Salil Shetty, described last years rise in executions as profoundly disturbing. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials, Shetty said. This slaughter must end. The report did not attempt to explain all the reasons for the sharp increase. But it noted that in almost every region, governments use executions as a tool to respond to real and perceived threats to state security and public safety, including terrorism-related offenses. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia accounted for 89 percent of the publicly disclosed executions recorded by Amnesty, which opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. The United States also figured among the worlds top five executioners. In many cases, the report said, the death penalty was applied in contravention of international laws and standards. Iran and Pakistan executed people who were younger than 18 at the time of the crimes for which they were convicted. The rash of executions in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was in stark contrast to a long-term trend toward the abolition of the death penalty and de facto moratoriums on capital punishment in a growing number of countries. More than two-thirds of nations have abandoned the death penalty in law or in practice. When Amnesty first started tracking executions in 1977, just 16 countries had fully abolished the practice, compared with 102 more than half today. Four countries Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname removed the death penalty from their laws in 2015. Mongolias parliament also passed a new criminal code abolishing executions for all crimes effective in September. Although the U.S. remains the only country in the Americas to carry out executions, the numbers continued to decline in 2015. A total of 28 people were put to death in six states, the lowest number of executions recorded in the U.S. since 1991. ISLAMABAD Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the states ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. A suicide bombing in a park in Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them Christians celebrating Easter Sunday, brought renewed international attention to Pakistans extremism problem. In the aftermath, security forces arrested hundreds of suspected militants. At the same time, however, demonstrators calling for the implementation of Islamic law and expressing their support for the man who murdered an antiblasphemy campaigner were allowed to congregate freely in the capital. On social media, pictures circulated showing senior members of Pakistans elite police forces praying at the grave of Mumtaz Qadri, the police officer charged with killing the secular, left-leaning politician Salman Tanseer because he defended a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. When Qadri was hanged for the murder in February, tens of thousands of Pakistanis rallied in his support. The sincerity of authorities efforts to tackle extremism was further called into question when Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for Punjab province of which Lahore is the capital issued statements denying that militant groups operated in the area. Yet outlawed and violent Sunni Muslim militant groups are widely known to be headquartered in Punjab province, though many hide behind different names, according to Zahid Hussein, an expert on militancy in Pakistan. Among them is Jaish-e-Mohammed, which operates under several banners according to Hussein, and has been implicated in a number of bombings. The U.S.-declared terrorist group Lashkar e-Taiba also operates in the province, under the name Jamaat-ud Dawah. It was banned in Pakistan in 2015, but its leader Hafiz Saeed travels freely around the country and gives speeches inciting people to attack western and Indian interests. Punjab is also the headquarters of Sipah-e-Sahaba, whose military arm is responsible for scores of attacks on Pakistans minority Shiite Muslims, according to Hussein. Pakistans military spokesman, Gen. Asim Bajwa, insisted, however, that the military is determined to eliminate extremism. We want to progress. We want to move ahead, he said. And we want the world to stand with us. MANILA Her life story could have come straight out of a soap opera. As a newborn, Grace Poe was abandoned in a Catholic church and adopted by movie star parents, giving her a powerful narrative and name that have helped catapult her to front-runner in the Philippine presidential race. A political newcomer, elected to the Senate just three years ago, Poe has promised to cut taxes, fight crime and offer free kindergarten-to-college education for the poor. But it is the popularity of her late father, regarded as the king of Philippine movies, and her humble beginnings that appeal to the masses in this country, where presidents have traditionally come from the landed gentry and political elite. The 47-year-old candidates campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father, Fernando Poe Jr., popularly known as FPJ, who often played roles of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. He also ran for president, in 2004, but lost amid allegations he was cheated in an election many viewed as marked by fraud. He died months later, unable to carry out his battles off the screen. His daughter is pledging to fight real-life poverty and despair and her fathers public image is a huge asset in her campaign. I like her because Fernando Poe is my idol, said Eliza Oledan, a laundrywoman with nine children, after hearing Poe a rally in Manila. I also like her platform of government, especially that she will make college education free. Poes compelling life story nearly cost her her candidacy, however, when opponents claimed that it wasnt clear that she was a natural-born Filipino as the Constitution requires. Last month, the Supreme Court declared her qualified to run. Other detractors have questioned her allegiance because she once renounced her Filipino citizenship to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Poe later gave up her U.S. passport to accept a government post. Her husband and children are American citizens. If elected president on May 9, Poe tells voters she will offer a free lunch program for all public day care and elementary schools, more job opportunities for women and more aid to farmers. She told an audience of mostly college students that she would increase Internet speed in the country, among the slowest in Asia. And she told businessmen she would push to amend the provisions of the Constitution that discourage foreign investments. I think I can deliver on those promises, she said. Filipinos should really have a leader that unifies. 1 Brazil political crisis: The man who would take over if Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff is impeached, Vice President Michel Temer, could now be running that same risk of impeachment. Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurelio Mello ruled Tuesday that the lower house of Congress must open impeachment proceedings against Temer because he faces the same allegations of breaking fiscal rules as Rousseff. Mello ruled a commission must be created to examine the impeachment request against Temer the same procedure Rousseff is now going through. Calls for a general election have increased in recent weeks, as the possibility that Rousseff might be impeached has become more likely. With all three of those in line to succeed her Temer, lower house leader Eduardo Cunha and Senate leader Renan Calheiros ensnared in the corruption scandal at the state-run oil company, Petrobras, a growing chorus is urging general elections as a way of starting fresh. 2 Executive post: Myanmars parliament on Tuesday approved the creation of a post for Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the countrys newly installed ruling party, that is similar to prime minister. Suu Kyi is banned by the Constitution from becoming president because her children hold foreign citizenship. The bill establishing the position of state counsellor was opposed by the militarys representatives in parliament, but passed easily because of the strong majority that Suu Kyis National League for Democracy won in Novembers election. The bill must be signed by President Htin Kyaw, Suu Kyis close ally, before taking effect. On July 12, 2015, activists plastered about a dozen posters over an adobe wall at the intersection of E San Mateo Road and Old Pecos Trail. The pictures were of Palestinian children who died during Operation Protective Edge, an Israeli military campaign in Gaza that claimed the lives of 2,177 people, including 72 Israelis and 2,104 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians. It was the one-year anniversary. Someone placed roses at the base of the wall. The posters didn't last long. An anonymous dissenter tore them down, setting off a chain of actions and reactions that continues today. For about eight months now, on this residential street corner thousands of miles away from the Middle East, Santa Feans are hashing out one of the longest-running and bloodiest conflicts of our time. Their weapons are posters, paintbrushes and plywood. Pro-Palestine signs come up, neighbors complain, and someone tears the signs down. The cycle repeats. Most recently, the message took the form of a 4x8 plywood board, fastened to rebar stakes cemented to the ground. Two steel chains secured the sign to a 5-gallon bucket of cement on the other side of the wall, which belongs to a retired physicist named Guthrie Miller. Remy Fredenberg, an artist who specializes in advocacy works, painted a Palestinian flag over the board and overlaid it with white text, announcing: "Stop $45 billion to Israel. Don't support apartheid. Justice for Palestinians." The sign draws attention to a major peg in US foreign policy around the post-World War II agreements over the region's borders. More than half of all US foreign military aid goes to Israel, yet there's a growing belief that the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the partitioning of East Jerusalem, and a blockade surrounding the Gaza Strip all amount to state-sanctioned discrimination against Palestinians. Michael Peleg, a University of Miami dentist vacationing in Santa Fe with his wife, was so offended when he saw the sign that he emailed City Manager Brian Snyder to air his grievance. "We would like to think there is no room in your state filled with a mosaic of cultural backgrounds and such a rich heritage for this type of behavior," Peleg wrote. "We ask you in your position to help right what we believe is a bigoted wrong." Peleg also noted that he had spent "many thousands of dollars" in the city and planned to contact the police, local media and the American Israeli Political Action Committee, widely considered one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the country. Locals also took note. Robert Willis, who lives just down the street on Old Pecos Trail, contacted SFR to complain, saying he believes "in freedom of expression, but this is a neighborhood, and to scar a neighborhood with this particular message is inappropriate." Willis claims to have seen four college-aged men with "dark complexions" installing the makeshift billboard. He reported it to his rabbi. "I think it's a very hateful sign," says Rabbi Berel Levertov of the Chabad Center for Jewish Life of Santa Fe, who says the US plays a pivotal role as protecting Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East, then added, "Besides, it is probably illegal to put up such a sign." On that last point, Levertov is wrong. Prompted by complaints, the city sent an inspector to Miller's property to determine whether the display violates any ordinances. It doesn't. "Even if we would prefer a different method of participating in community discourse, this person is well within their first amendment rights to use the sign in the way that they are using it on private property," says city spokesman Matt Ross. If you drive to the spot in question today, you won't see any words, though. Shortly after the Palestinian flag appeared, someone painted over the sign with light blue, a white Star of David fixed in the center. And then, on Easter, someone covered the star's six points with green paint. Jeff Haas, a civil rights lawyer, claims responsibility for that last modification. "The idea was I want the sign to be neutral right now," Haas explains. His group, Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine, claimed responsibility for everything else: the fliers, the plywood, and all the construction on Miller's property. The group is not composed of dark-skinned college students, as Willis described, but a mix of locals, including a retired professor and half-Arab store clerk. They once called themselves Another Jewish Voice but changed their name after growing in scale and demographic scope. "The media just doesn't cover the Palestinian situation, and as I understood it better, I basically felt obligated to step forward," said Cheri Ibes, a 68-year-old rehabilitation therapist. Ibes joined in October 2014 after meeting Haas at a speaking event featuring Max Blumenthal, the author of two books on the conflict, and Amy Goodman, the host of Pacifica's progressive news program Democracy Now! Recently, Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine raised money for a village in Gaza called Khuza'a, which was heavily damaged during the 2014 war. Funds went to installing a water purification tank and rebuilding a bombed-out kindergarten. All in all, they have donated $11,489, according to a spokesperson for the Middle East Children's Alliance, the California-based nonprofit that was the group's beneficiary. Haas, 73, says his support for Palestine naturally extends off a lifetime of activism, including involvement in the Civil Rights movement and opposition to US invasions of Vietnam and Iraq. As a Jew, he bristles at a suggestion Willis made that his sign amounts to anti-Semitism. "They want to make criticizing Israel illegal. Why should it be? Aren't we entitled to raise some criticism?" he says. As for his sign, Haas says he hopes it will encourage people to do more research on the Israel-Palestine conflict but adds, "no one thing changes minds completely." Jamie Lapan, who lives near the disputed corner, witnessed each incarnation of Haas' installations, as well as the various defacements. Her takeaway: "Somebody's spending a lot of time in their garage." Eds: An earlier version of the story misattributed a statement to Levertov. Santa Fe Reporter Immigrants at Risk after Deportation A complaint expected to be filed today with the Department of Homeland Security alleges immigration officers and border agents are in the U.S. illegally leaving them vulnerable when they are deported, according to a new report in the Albuquerque Journal. Group Wants HSD Monitor Appointed Thousands of New Mexicans, meanwhile, are also at risk because of the states continued failure to adequately provide health care and food benefits to the poor, according to a legal motion filed by a group seeking to protect low-income residents. , The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty will argue that a federal court should appoint an independent monitor to oversee some of these key tasks from the New Mexico Human Services Department. Investigation: Cannabis Revenue Flows to Arizona The New Mexico Department of Health, operating under new confidentiality rules, provided SFR documents showing that an Arizona health management service firm is for the next 30 years. Another Judge Recused Tom Clark, who represents disgraced former lawmaker Phil Griego, has opted to recuse Santa Fe District Judge Sarah Singleton from hearing his criminal case. reports the case has now been assigned to Judge David Thomson. If he recuses himself, like seven other jurists, a judge from outside of the district will have to be appointed. Developers Booted from SF Railyard's Market A federal bankruptcy judge, citing ' of the Santa Fe Railyards Market Station building, ordered the partners who built and manage the property removed from its operations and replaced them with a trustee, according to the New Mexican . First Amendment Suit Settled The Albuquerque Public Schools District has agreed to settle freelance photographer Mark Bralleys first amendment violation lawsuit for $59,000. : First, anybody in the United States today with an Internet connection has the ability to tell stories about anything, including their local government. And second, that one need not be connected with a corporate media outlet to be able to do that, and that government has made rules that are contrary to the fundamentals of the Constitution. Recycling Numbers Increase Elizabeth Miller reports, Since adding new types of plastic and paper to what Santa Feans can toss in their blue bins, the citys recycling rate Elizabeth Miller reports, Since adding new types of plastic and paper to what Santa Feans can toss in their blue bins, the citys recycling rate has increased an average of 12 percent Santa Fe Reporter Behind the Scenes: CCC visits 20th EMS AGE Rangers A selection of 80s hard rock blasting through the speakers, wall decals that proudly proclaim Danger Is No Stranger To An AGE Ranger, and the overall smell of an auto workshop are the first impressions that welcome newcomers to the 20th Equipment Maintenance Squadron aerospace ground equipment shop. Supervised by a painting of a grinning skull over crossed wrenches, AGE Airmen in deep blue overalls and violet latex gloves go about their work. Unlike other shops across Shaw Air Force Base, South Carolina, this one isnt filled with parts from the F-16CM Fighting Falcons that line the runway. Instead, the AGE shop is filled shutter to shutter with the equipment used to fix those parts. Its business as usual in the AGE shop today, except for one thing Chief Master Sgt. Christopher McKinney, 20th Fighter Wing command chief. Though visiting the building for the first time, he is not an unfamiliar face. As command chief, McKinney usually takes the role of a teacher for much of the population of the base. Today, however, hell find himself on the other side, learning from the Airmen that spend their days (and sometimes evenings and nights) among these generators, weapons loaders, and other equipment. After a tour of the squadron, followed by an orientation drive down the flightline, McKinney donned his own set of olive green coveralls and was ready to get dirty with the Airmen. I wanted to experience life from the perspective of our Airmen and to see firsthand all of the phenomenal things our bright Airmen accomplish, said McKinney. Additionally, sometimes there are resource shortfalls and our folks just keep pressing through without asking for help and I am looking for these shortfalls. Part of my job at the wing is to knock down road blocks for our people so they can do the mission. Airman 1st Class Kristofer Kabalan, 20th EMS AGE apprentice, was McKinneys partner for the day. Together they went through the steps to replace an oil filter and safety wiring, and remove, clean, and replace tire bearings on an A/M32A-60 generator. The generator, only one of the types of equipment maintained by the AGE shop, is used as an alternative to burning fuel by maintainers on the flightline when troubleshooting the engine and electrical system of F-16s. It was awesome working with the chief because you have this big guy coming down and just showing his humility, being like I dont know but Im willing to learn, said Kabalan. Being able to teach and learn at the same time is always a great thing. And me being so low on the totem pole and being able to instruct a command chief was pretty neat. The work was filthy, tedious, and sometimes difficult, but it allowed McKinney to witness firsthand the mission of AGE in action. As his time with the AGE Airmen came to an end, McKinney called them all together for a few parting words and to present Kabalan with a coin of his own as thanks for a job well done. Sometimes we are quick to label this generation of Airmen, said McKinney. What I have observed and continue to observe is that this generation is extremely innovative and talented. If we provide them with rock solid leadership, they will grow and knock it out of the park. But that requires old-heads like me to stop using antiquated methods of leadership. McKinney plans to continue visiting shops across Shaw, meeting and observing the Airmen in their workplace and ensuring they understand how they connect to the 20th FW mission. BENGALURU: Word has come in from the Barack Obama administration stating that since the advent of the Modi government in the country, the United States has stepped up investment in India. The administration also stated that US investments in India has outpaced that of China reports Dipan Roy Chaudhury of ET Bureau! Now, thats something! When asked about the content of these high-level engagements, US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Desai Biswal stated that the engagements will comprise of six investments at the leader-level, which will include the Nuclear Security Summit too. Biswal outlined the policies and priorities of US in South and Central Asia for the year 2016. She also stated that there has been a dramatic rise of US investment in India and has definitely surpassed US investment in China. The main reason behind this rise, she stated was the focus that has been put in the recent years on economic partnership despite the challenges. Biswal also referred to the potential that Indo-US business ties showed by stating that US have made an elevation in commercial relationship with India by the strategic and commercial dialogue inauguration and CEO Forum revitalization. There have been some major success for US while trading in the South Asian market and this has created opportunities for even stronger investment and trade ties. There is a huge economic resurgence underway in India stated Biswal and that has made India into the biggest market to invest. Some data was recently released by US-India Business Council that showed that in the past year and a half, over $15 billion has been invested by 30 American companies. The data also confirms that $27 billion worth of deals is expected to be invested by 50 US firms in the near future. Another report about American investments came out from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis release which showed that about $28 billion of American investment came to India in the year 2014. Although, official statistics of India shows that inflows from the US was worth $13.19 billion from April 2000 to September 2014, but it still means that six per cent of the total FDI inflows have come into India which makes US the sixth largest source of foreign direct investment. Reports say that many aspects of an India-US Investment initiative was decided during Prime Minister Modi's visit to the US in September 2014. These aspects included FDI facilitation, investing in portfolios, developing the capital market, and infrastructure financing. According to reports, a US-India Infrastructure Collaboration Platform was also discussed during this visit which involved developing Indian infrastructure by deploying cutting edge US technologies. However, the note which was published recently by America only talks about the way in which America will be focusing on India not only in economic terms but other terms too. Biswal mentioned that the US will be engaging in an unprecedented cooperation with India by partnering on the grounds of maritime security in the Indian Ocean Region amid China's growing aggression. US will emerge into the largest maritime power for India said Biswal. Biswal asserted the need of maritime security in the Indian Ocean by stating that the average number of ships in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea increased by more than 300 per cent and there is a need of security. She also stated that 90 per cent of global trade uses the Indian Ocean as the super-highway and relies on maritime shipping. Over the last decade the defense trade of India with US has substantially increased and sits at $14 billion which was $300 million only a decade ago. Biswal also mentioned that this initiative will also mean that US would be working with India on its indigenous aircraft carrier development programme. This is the first time that US have taken an initiative like this. Indicating joint patrolling possibility in the near future, Biswal said that US hopes that a day will come when Indian and US navies will ensure that any nation can navigate freely though the sea. Read Also: ISRO's Latest Inventions Can Rescue Soldiers' Lives at Siachen Narendra Modi: Every Year a New Saudi Arabia Has To Be Built In India Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com What is the "malocchio"? STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. You might hear this word as "malloik" or "malloikia." But we are talking about "malocchio," an Italian word that means "the evil eye." If you open a restaurant and people think because you're busy you are making a mint envy could put a damper on success. At the least, ill thoughts can give you headaches literally. Wait...you can fix this. Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com Why the horns come out. Got a patron who returns food over and over? Is there a customer who refuses to adhere to the terms of, say, a Groupon an expired one no less that you've graciously honored anyway? Those are reasons to bring out the horns. And (chuckle), a person doesn't even have to know it. Heck, you're not putting any mojo on the wrong person. You're just going to make things right for yourself by sending the message quietly, secretly with this gesture perhaps under the table: "Hey. Don't cross me or the people I like." If you are a bold person or outspoken senior citizen, you are allowed to do this gesture directly in the face of your evil-wisher. A little spittle gives added effect. Don't Edit Staten Island Advance File Photo Ward off 'The Evil Eye.' The best gift from a family member to any new restaurateur (or homeowner) is a "Snake" plant. It's pure good luck. And, when you mess with the plant, it's bad luck simple as that. Case in point: When my parents moved into a new house in Dongan Hills, my Sicilian grandmother ensured we had a "Snake" plant. She instructed my English-Irish-Scandanavian mixed Mother to put it the window to ward off any "malloik." My Mom did so. (Although, I admit, she privately thought it was ridiculous.) Nonetheless, the plant stayed in our dining room. My Mother respectfully wiped its leaves, kept it thriving for years. Almost a decade later when I was home on a holiday break from college, a non-Italian woman who visited our home spotted the thing. Hysterical, she said it was a sign of bad luck and to get rid of it immediately! I moved it outside. In the weeks afterward, our house was hit with bad luck I almost failed a math course. Illness struck the family. Bah if we could turn back time, Grandma's "Snake" plant advice should never have been a-tinkered with. Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com Yup, get that 'snake' plant. Here's a big version of the "Snake" plant at Vida in Stapleton. Happily, the thing grows beautifully in the restaurant's front window, a perfect spot for a houseplant to show it's "boss." By the way, according to PlantRescue.com, you can call this special plant by a variety of telling names "Mother-in-law's Tongue, Variegated Snake Plant, Devil's Tongue, African Spear, Bow String Hemp... Good Luck Plant...Magic Sword...." Don't Edit Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com How fierce be the horns? Are there such things as "Evil Metrics"? My family and friends say, "Yes." You can measure the scale upon which someone's glare focuses on your restaurant, your family. To measure such a thing, get a bowl of water and drip a drop of olive oil into it from a finger. Now, observe: A large, intact globule confirms that bad thoughts are upon you. So, what to do? Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri Salt. You think someone's wishing you ill will? Throw salt around the restaurant (or home), a sprinkle here, a sprinkle there. Don't Edit MEL EVANS Sweep. Now, sweep that salt up and throw it out the door with gusto! As my Grandma would say, "Va' fa Napoli!" Don't Edit Pamela Silvestri | silvestri@siadvance.com Get a horn. Important in a Staten Island jewler's inventory is the horn ya gotta have the horn. This will keep the "malocchio" away. Pandora's co-owner Peter Amerosi sells only one version of the item: It looks like a curvy red pepper. Pin it to your undergarments. Display it prominently outside of your chef coat. With that, there could be less of a chance that any restaurant reviewer would have any criticism to offer your beautiful staff and eatery. Don't Edit Courtesy of Pandora Whoomp, there it is... This is the "corno" pendant otherwise known as a "cornicello," horn or plain old lucky charm. It's not just jewelry, by the way. This amulet can dangle from a car's windshield mirror, great if you've got a brand new set of wheels...over which someone might show "jealou-sia." (Grrr make that horn gesture!) Don't Edit Don't Edit Ajit Solanki Ya gotta pray. Find a person who can fix any curses on you, on your restaurant. And, that's always an older Italian man or woman well-baptized in the tradition of dispelling spells and one who will pray silently over your head. If they live too far away for the "personal touch" and you're too busy to break away from business, there's good news: The U.S. Postal Service affords you the chance to send your photo to the "fixer" of such things. From that image, your "malocchia" can go away. Don't Edit Staten Island Advance File Photo Learn the tradition. An older Italian man or woman can teach you tricks on how to shake off the "malocchio." But, the lore has it to do so, you'll have to wait until Christmas Eve. And, on December 24, by the way, you have to wear red to ensure the evil eye does not cast its glare in your direction. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Patti LuPone has some expert advice for Staten Islanders before they attend the theater -- it's for the whole the world, really. Here 'tis: "Don't Monkey with Broadway." That also happens to be the title of a new one-woman show about "how her life-long love affair with Broadway began, and her concern for what the Great White Way is becoming today." Among her heroes in the show: Rodgers & Hart, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Jules Styne, Stephen Schwartz, Cole Porter and Irving Berlin. The villain of the piece? Cell phones. But let me backtrack a bit: Her April 17 concert at the Center for the Arts in Willowbrook has been advertised for months as "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda ... Played that Role." You know, a nice little concert stuffed with a wish-list of tunes from "Hair," "Bye, Bye Birdie," "Funny Girl" and "West Side Story" -- and, of course, selections from her Tony-winning performances in "Evita" and "Gypsy." Turns out it's deeper than that. "Woulda, Coulda, Shouda" is actually the touring work-in-progress title for her much-anticipated April 19 production of, you guessed it, "Patti LuPone: Don't Monkey with Broadway" at Symphony Space in Manhattan. That's right, for once S.I. gets first dibs on a hot ticket -- without even leaving the borough. (See ticket details at the bottom of this page.) How do I know this? I heard it directly from my new BFF's (a theater queen can dream, can't he?) own luscious lips. Read on for the rest of what this outspoken and refreshingly good-humored Broadway legend told me: Your takedowns of rude patrons have become the stuff of theater legend. Do you regret becoming the Patron Saint of Cell Phone Outrage? No. (Pauses) Why would I regret it? I'll let you answer that. (Editor's note: Check out awesome videos of Patti's two righteous rants below.) First, the original, at a performance of "Gypsy" in January 2009: And this famous follow-up at Lincoln Center in 2015: I just mean, are you sick of being asked about it? (Slowly) You haven't answered my question. Oh, no, I totally agree with you! These are extremely selfish, self-centered and rude people who spend a gazillion dollars to buy a ticket and then interrupt the whole proceedings. The play and the audience is disrupted -- all so they can bring more attention to themselves. OK, how can this be fixed? It's the responsibility of the theater owners and house managers -- not the actors. We've been left onstage as cops and that's not our job. Managers have to be more vigilant. Ushers need to be more vigilant. I don't buy that it can't be done. They say, 'Oh, doctors need to be reachable. They need phones and pagers for emergencies.' No. There was a time when this was not a distraction -- and it needs to be stopped now if we are going to maintain a standard of live theater. Don't you think it's almost unstoppable now? I think it will change. After the Bataclan Theater incident? I know it will change --because audiences are scared. If a cellphone can bring down a Russian jet, god only knows what they can do. Hey, I've been terrorized since 9/11 that someone will pull out a gun and shoot me if they don't like my performance. (Nervous laughter.) Dave Chappelle has the right idea. He's working with a company to create a cell phone-free environment. It's one thing for theater, but cell phone activity is even more egregious for standup comics. It can steal their entire act. (Editor's note: Chappelle has a deal with Yondr to use its smartphone-locking pouches to ensure his material isn't leaked to the web.) Cellphones need to be checked at the door -- or banned. Period. We have to be a better society and care more about each other. There needs to be more respect paid to each other in public spaces. In the spirit of 'Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda' -- is there one role you regret turning down? Yes, the workshop of [Stephen Sondheim's] "Passions" -- the role of Fosca -- at Lincoln Center. But I was already on a plane to London to begin rehearsals for [Andrew Lloyd Webber's] "Sunset Boulevard." Thaaat's a big regret -- and we all know how that turned out. (Laughs) You can read my book for that story. And there are film roles -- tests that I gave up the chance to do. (Auteur filmmaker) Robert Altman contacted me about "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean," but I had already committed to a [Shakespeare's "As You Like It"] at The Guthrie Theatre [in Minneapolis]. I told him, 'Mr. Altman, I hope you understand that my reputation lies in my loyalty, so I have to honor this commitment." The Guthrie turned out to be a great experience -- but I always wondered if the course of my career would have changed. (Editor's note: Altman's 1982 film adaptation of the play launched a successful, Oscar-winning acting career for Cher.) Is there one part you wished you woulda turned down? No. -- Patti LuPone performs at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 17, in the Center for the Arts at the College of Staten Island, 2800 Victory Blvd., Willowbrook. Tickets are $45-$55 at 718-982-ARTS or CFAshows.com. The show is directed by Scott Wittman with musical arrangements by Dick Gallagher. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A new photo exhibit opening this weekend will celebrate Staten Island's waterways and lesser islands. "Unseen and Unknown: Staten Island and its Islands" opens Saturday at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art on the grounds of Snug Harbor Cultural Center in Livingston. It's among the many events on the campus this weekend, including two open houses (see below). The exhibition by New York photo artist Accra Shepp is part of a larger project exploring more than 40 islands that make up New York City. Curator for the exhibit is Gabri Christa, Snug Harbor's artistic director. The exhibit is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be an official opening ceremony at 2 p.m. Saturday. Admission for the opening day is free. "In 'The Islands of New York,' I am rediscovering New York City's maritime nature," Shepp writes in her artist's statement. "In a city of over 40 islands the waterfront has been until recently all but invisible. By photographing all the islands and the people who live and work there I hope to address the relationship between the urban and a degraded wilderness." "Unseen and Unknown: Staten Island and its Islands" will be on exhibit at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art until June 4. The Newhouse Center is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular admission is $5. The exhibit's opening happens as the Harbor opens its doors for a Spring open house on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art. The day's events will feature the opening of two new art exhibits: "Stories of Staten Island (SOS): An Installation," and "Unseen and Unknown." Saturday also marks the inauguration of two new spaces: Snug Harbor Commons Galleries and Snug Harbor Dance Center. There will be an official opening ceremony at 2 p.m. Admission for the day is free. At the dance center, two free dance classes will be offered to the community. At 12:30 p.m., BE Yoga will conduct a yoga class, and at 3 p.m., Snug's PASS/SHARP PA artist Lacina Coulibaly will give a lesson in African dance. Space is limited, so pre-registration for the classes is strongly advised. Please visit Brown Paper Tickets to register "This is truly an exciting time for Snug Harbor and we invite everyone with a love of or interest in art and culture to join us to initiate these wonderful exhibits and new spaces where talented young artists with diverse backgrounds and talents will be showcased," said Snug Harbor CEO Lynn Kelly. For more information on all the day's festivities, visit Snug-Harbor.org. priest.jpg Father Keith Fennessy, seen here in this 2008 photo during mass at St. Margaret Mary's Church, Midland Beach, has been barred from the priesthood over porn allegations, according to a report. (Staten Island Advance file photo) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests accused Cardinal Timothy Dolan of "secrecy" in the way the archbishop of New York has handled the case of a former pastor from Staten Island who was allegedly found in possession of "child pornography." The Rev. Keith Fennessy, prior head of St. Margaret Mary R.C. Church in Midland Beach, "was discovered with pornographic material on his computer that violated the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People," according to an article in Catholic New York. Cardinal Dolan accepted an archdiocesan review board recommendation in March that Father Fennessy not be allowed to serve as a priest, according to Catholic New York. The cardinal knew about the accusations against Father Fennessy for "months or years" before informing the public, according to David Clohessy, director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP). Clohessy stressed that "Cardinal Timothy Dolan is among the most secretive US Catholic officials when it comes to the safety of children." The SNAP spokesman criticized the manner in which the information was released by the archiocese, stating that "the website of Dolan's archdiocesan newspaper quietly posted a short notice that Fr. Keith Fennessy has been suspended because of child pornography." SNAP slammed Dolan for not alerting the public when Father Fennessy first was accused and when the allegations were deemed credible by the archdiocese. The cardinal also was faulted by SNAP for not publicizing the outcome of any possible criminal investigation. The archdiocese should have urged victims and witnesses to call police, according to SNAP. The cardinal should reveal where Father Fennessy currently lives, according to SNAP. "This is a clear violation of Dolan's repeated pledges to be 'open and transparent' about clergy sex crimes," Clohessy said. "It's also a violation, we believe, of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops abuse policy - the so-called Charter for the Protection of Children - which mandates such 'openness and transparency.'" Archdiocese: Ex-pastor found with porn hasn't been defrocked Closhessy said that many bishops now inform the media when a priest is accused of a child-sex crime. "As best we can tell, Dolan refused to do this, instead opting - as he has time and time again - for secrecy," Closhessy said. The Archdiocese of New York stressed in a statement to the Advance that no one has "come forward to allege that Fr. Fennessy abused them." The case was turned over to the district attorneys on Staten Island and Manhattan and the priest has been removed from ministry and lives in a "supervised setting," according to the statement. However, the archdiocese has not yet decided whether it will ask the Vatican to return Father Fennessy to the lay community, according to Joseph Zwilling, director of communications for the archdiocese. Father Fennessy was serving as pastor of St. Columba's parish in Manhattan from 2011 until June 15, 2015, when he was relieved of his priestly duties after the pornographic material was discovered, according to Catholic New York. Overdose.jpg Recovering addicts rally in front of the state Supreme Court building in St. George on Tuesday afternoon to spread awareness about the heroin crisis that has devastated the Island. (Staten Island Advance/Amanda Steen) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - As the federal government considers expanding use of an opioid for medication-assisted treatment of opioid addiction, some in the addiction treatment field applaud the proposal while others think it's the wrong move. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed expanding access to buprenorphine, one of three FDA-approved medications to treat opioid addiction through medication-assisted treatment, known as MAT. Methadone and naltrexone are also FDA-approved to be used with MAT. Currently, approved physicians may prescribe up to 30 patients at a time and after one year, may request to expand to 100 patients. The proposal would expand it to 200 patients. Buprenorphine, used in Suboxone, is coupled with counseling and behavioral therapies to treat addiction. The HHS acknowledges the frustration from some to what seems to be an arbitrary cap on the number of patients permitted to be on the drug. "One might wonder why there is a limit at all," the HHS states in a memo. "We have heard from physicians, addiction specialists and others that the caseload limit of 100 is too low and can mean that some people who need treatment do not get it." One of those people who supports an increased cap is Adrienne Abbate, executive director of Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness and project director for the Tackling Youth Substance Abuse initiative. 'A MOVE IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION' She said expanding the cap is "a move in the right direction" because MAT is an "effective option for managing opioid addiction," as it couples the drug with behavioral counseling either from a medical practice or through a drug treatment provider. But buprenorphine is underutilized, she said, calling the 100-patient cap "arbitrary" and is itself a barrier to treatment for addicts. Staten Island Partnership for Community Wellness is working to expand access to buprenorphine and other forms of treatment through the Tackling Youth Substance Abuse initiative and the Staten Island Performing Provider System Behavioral Health Infrastructure Project, she said. "Efforts are underway to increase capacity of medical providers to treat opioid addiction and connect people with care in their home community. Addiction is a lifetime chronic illness, we need to do whatever we can to support the management of this disease before more lives are lost." The HHS cites the potential for abuse as a reason for keeping a cap on the number of patients who can be treated with the drug. Used properly, the drug can suppress symptoms of opioid withdrawal, decrease cravings and block the effects of other opioids. It's less effective than heroin and other opioids at creating a euphoric affect, and thus has less chance of abuse. The HHS states that the number of buprenorphine prescriptions "diverted" for abuse "has been relatively flat over time." "So while the limit appears to have allowed limited diversion, it also appears to have held back progress toward another goal -- improved access to treatment." A BELIEF THAT FOCUS SHOULD BE ON COUNSELING But Luke Nasta, executive director of Camelot Counseling, sees a large opportunity for MAT to go south if doctors have too many patients and aren't diligent to focus on counseling. He recalled when during the 1960s doctors treated addicts in their offices "and what came out of that came diversion, overdose deaths" and doctors were told to stop prescribing. Then came methadone clinics in the 1970s as community-based treatment programs became popular. But in recent years the idea of focusing treatment back in the hands of individual doctors in their offices took hold. "It's a mistake because doctors are not equipped to deal with addicts" because they have a small amount of time to spend with a patient instead of the hours needed to counsel for the buprenorphine to be effective as part of medication-assisted treatment. "An addict needs time, needs treatment," he said. "I do not call chemicals treatment. I call counseling treatment and chemicals the assistant to treatment." He prefers a cap and thinks 30 patients per doctor is too much. "The cap is ... so that one doctor doesn't get inundated with addicts and so there's some lesson learned from the 1960s that doctors can't handle an overload of addicts." Anyone can walk through the door as a drug addict, get a prescription and not get counseling, Nasta argues. "These are people who need a 10-to-1 ratio. These are people who require a lot of attention." Camelot's residential treatment program has a 10-1 ratio of patients to counselors, and outpatient has a 35-1 ratio maximum because of lack of funding. "This problem just keeps escalating decade after decade because we don't demand that the government use our money in this manner," Nasta said. "We're never given enough resources for us to do the job correctly." While the HHS acknowledges there are moving parts in MAT that all need to coordinate for effective treatment, increasing the cap, it argues, will have an overall positive benefit. "We know, for example, that good clinical MAT practice includes medication monitoring, behavioral therapy, diversion control plans and care coordination. We also know that successful buprenorphine practices include administrative and billing support, advanced clinical practice providers, or established referral networks in order to deliver the highest quality care. And, we know what bad clinical practice looks like: little physician or patient accountability, poor care coordination and poor patient outcomes. We think a physician working full time to treat people with opioid use disorder can responsibly treat a caseload of 200 patients." The HHS proposal to increase the treatment cap to 200 will be open for public comment for 60 days. The public comment period started on March 30. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The construction of the New York Wheel and the Empire Outlets that commenced in the middle of Staten Island's main transportation hub at the Staten Island Ferry also began major shifts in how commuters travel to the ferry and park in the surrounding St. George neighborhood. The Advance is interested in how this has affected your neighborhood and your commute, whether you drive, ride the bus, pedal a bike or walk. Here are some observations made over the last few weeks: STREET PARKING Always at a premium in the North Shore neighborhood that is also home to Borough Hall, Family Court, Supreme Court, the 120 Police Precinct and Curtis High School, street parking became even tighter with construction. @siadvance it's ridiculous there's no spots unless you're there by 530AM most are taken by Ferris wheel workers they shouldn't be allowed Avni (@Shqipe67) April 1, 2016 Stacy Dillon of Castleton Corners catches the 6:40 a.m. ferry with her two young daughters. At a Community Board 1 waterfront committee meeting, she said she was able to get street parking in St. George up until December when all the lots were closed. Now she said, all the street spots are taken by even earlier arrivals. ALTERNATE LOTS NEARLY EMPTY Five temporary lots along Bay Street and Richmond Terrace were established for commuters located at: 680 Richmond Terrace, 22 Academy Place, 475 Bay St., 40 Prospect St. and 355 Front St. A quick stop at four of the five, on March 29 and 30, showed all but one to be underutilized. The lot on Richmond Terrace, near Gerardi's, is full with 50 spots reserved with monthly permits. However on Academy Place in St. George only about 30 of 130 spots were filled where per diem parking is provided. At two of the three Stapleton sites, the lots were visibly under-capacity. Which begs the question -- where are people parking? SPONTANEOUS PARK AND RIDE There is some evidence that more commuters are taking the bus and some are parking in a satellite neighborhood and taking the bus from there, an impromptu park and ride. At the CB 1 waterfront committee meeting a resident who lives on Ward Hill said he is seeing people parking around Ward and Fieldler avenues. Another said people are parking around Adobe Blues -- which is not far from the park and ride on Richmond Terrace. RIPPLE EFFECT ON BUS RIDERSHIP Carlene Nelson, a regular R 44 rider from West Brighton, has been feeling the crush since the parking situation changed. The chef at the Norwood Club in Manhattan, she returns to Staten Island between 7 and 8 p.m. But even then, she said, the bus is packed. "There is only one bus [no Select bus at that time] that you are cramming a ton of people onto. Some people are being left behind because there is no room; frequently I have seen altercations break out (verbal and physical) because people are on top of one another," she said in an email. A recent story about North Shore bus service told of riders who could not even get on the bus because they were being passed by while waiting at Van Duzer and Baltic streets for the S78 and S74. That story elicited responses from riders along the Richmond Terrace corridor that spoke to both full buses and parking in outlying neighborhoods. optionsguy4u: Four busses passed me without opening their doors before I could board one yesterday -- 27 minutes after arriving at the corner of Lafayette and Richmond Terrace (S44, S94 and S40). I don't think this is the drivers' fault -- I believe the routes and schedules cannot accommodate all of the additional passenger traffic caused by the simultaneous closure of all the major parking lots adjacent to the Ferry Terminal. The number of people waiting at each corner weekday mornings for routes heading to the Ferry Terminal has noticeably increased since last November when the lots closed. ... The only silver lining is that I have taken up a new hobby -- I now photograph the front of all the busses that pass me by each morning without opening their doors. I am amassing quite a collection. ladyvikin108 @optionsguy4u: I concur with the assessment of ridership increasing with the closing of the parking lots. No one wants to go through St George to try to find parking, and the temporary commuter lots are too small. Many sides streets along the 44/94/40 corridor have shown increased parking, especially closer to the ferry CHIME IN As we head for the next phase of the parking facilities -- the NY Wheel parking garage at Nicholas Street is scheduled to open mid-May -- tell us what your experience has been. Where are you parking? Did you switch to an Express Bus? Are you driving to a satellite neighborhood and getting on the bus? Are there more bus riders on your bus route? Has it affected service? Have you found an alternative that works for you? Do you see problems that need to be addressed as the North Shore waterfront develops and becomes even more of a destination? STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There's no Broadway revival for this group of "Jersey Boys." An NYPD sting in New Brighton netted 13 people on drug charges, including at least four dealers who fueled the neighborhood's narcotics trade by allegedly peddling heroin and cocaine around the North Shore, officials said Wednesday. Authorities launched the 14-month investigation, dubbed "Operation New Blood," in an attempt to round up the group of dealers who had filled the vacuum created by the takedown of a massive drug ring in the summer of 2014, according to Staten Island District Attorney Michael E. McMahon's office. That case, which had been called "Operation Jersey Boys," led to the indictments of 24 suspects in two separate crews. The crews, based around Jersey Street in New Brighton, ran drug-delivery operations that contributed to Staten Island's ballooning heroin crisis, and had also been linked to 29 shootings and at least three murders. Following the "Jersey Boys" takedown, police officials say they had noticed some troubling trends starting to form around New Brighton. "Whereas Operation Jersey Boys was predominately crack, this area had seen an uptick in heroin," said Capt. Dominick D'Orazio, commanding officer of the NYPD's Narcotics Borough Staten Island. New groups of loosely-affiliated individuals living in the area had emerged to replace the organized drug crews that had been arrested in the "Jersey Boys" sting, he said. "It was just a bunch of smaller groups all looking to get a foothold with the narcotics trade in the area," said D'Orazio, adding, "We were able to get in there and disrupt that significantly." Detectives on Tuesday raided six locations at 456 Richmond Terrace, 217 Hamilton Ave., 290B Jersey St. and 29 Homer Ave, turning up about 50 grams of heroin, three ounces of cocaine, one ounce of crack and more than $8,000 cash, police officials said. Four people were arrested in the raid for allegedly selling heroin and cocaine to undercover police officers on several occasions, according to the district attorney's office and criminal complaints. Nine others were also swept up in the bust and arrested on drug charges, the district attorney's office said. "Let this operation serve as an example that my office and the NYPD are continuing in our combined efforts to arrest and aggressively prosecute individuals who sell deadly illegal drugs on the streets of Staten Island," said D.A. McMahon in a statement. The NYPD announced the takedown Wednesday with a photo of the drug haul on its official Twitter account. Joint op w/ #120pct & SI Narcotics led by Capt. Dorazio nets 13 perps w/ heroin,crack,& marijuana in #NewBrighton. pic.twitter.com/uMS9rLcb0B NYPD 120th Precinct (@NYPD120Pct) April 6, 2016 All 13 suspects lived in or around the New Brighton area, officials said, and at least one of the individuals arrested is a member of the Original Stacks, a Bloods-affiliated crew. According to the district attorney's office and court documents, the following have been arrested on felony drug dealing charges: Tyshawn Williams, 25, of the 200 block of Jersey Street, is accused of selling heroin stamped "Predator" and/or cocaine ten times between June 23, 2015 and Dec. 9. Dwan Pegues, 24, of the 400 block of Richmond Terrace, is accused of selling heroin and/or crack cocaine nine times between Sept. 1, 2015 and March 30, 2016. Jerome Bradshaw, 27, of the 200 block of Hamilton Avenue, is accused of selling heroin 10 times between July 28, 2015 and March 25, 2016. Joshua Torres, of the 20 block of Homer Street, is accused of selling heroin five times between March 4, 2016 and March 24, 2016. According to the district attorney's office and court documents, the following are also facing felony drug charges: Nashawna Benjamin, 23, of the 400 block of Richmond Terrace, is charged with a felony count of criminal possession of a controlled substance. Gerald Gordon, 38, of the 20 block of Homer Street, is charged with numerous felony counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance. The sting also netted the following individuals on misdemeanor drug charges, according to the district attorney's office and court documents: Dwan Pegues Sr., 51, of the 400 block of Richmond Terrace; Marie Connor, 59, and Linda Torres, 55, both of the 20 block of Homer Street; Kendall Newcomb, 31, Kyleik Daniels, 20 and James Campbell, 36, all of the 200 block of Jersey Street, and Christopher Arena, 37, of the 800 block of Sinclair Avenue. Grimm.jpg Former Rep. Michael Grimm leaves following his sentencing at federal court on July 17, 2015, in Brooklyn. Grimm was sentenced to 8 months in prison for tax evasion. (AP Photo/Kevin Hagen) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As disgraced former Rep. Michael Grimm is serving a federal prison sentence for tax fraud, a former business partner of his is also facing tax fraud charges and is expected to plead guilty next week, according to a report in the New York Post. Grimm is serving an eight-month sentence in a federal penitentiary in western Pennsylvania with a release date of May 20. He pleaded guilty to a single count of tax fraud in relation to a former Manhattan health food restaurant he co-owned with Bennett Orfaly, who The Post said "cheated on his taxes at three separate eateries" including Healthalicious. Orfaly's attorney, James DiPietro, told The Post that his client "will be pleading to a single tax count." By clicking Agree, you consent to Slates Terms of Service and Privacy Policy and the use of technologies such as cookies by Slate and our partners to deliver relevant advertising on our iOS app to personalize content and perform site analytics. Please see our Privacy Policy for more information about our use of data, your rights, and how to withdraw consent. Agree With four Road Shows taking place last weekend, Slowtwitch staffers were deployed throughout the country for stops in California, Connecticut and Texas. On Friday, I hopped in the car and made the 200-mile drive from North Houston to Richardson, an affluent superb of Dallas, Texas, most widely known as home to Telecom Corridor. After three hours of passing through the rolling countryside, the final 45 minute push was a constant reissuing of marching orders spitting out from my smartphone GPS attempting to navigate me away from Dallas rush hour traffic and towards Richardsons Bike Mart via the fastest route. No mistaking the behemoth shop though and the first phrase that popped into my head upon seeing the building was Everything's Bigger in Texas. All photos Lars Finanger Sharing a wall with Richardsons was RunOn! and they opened their doors bright and early on Saturday morning for the first activity of the day, a group run. Runners were escorted from RunOn! on a 4.9-mile loop by a few ElliptiGo riders. The route went around the campus of University of Texas - Dallas. Adidas, Asics, Hoka One One and New Balance were all on hand to provide demo shoes for runners to use on the group run. Richardson Bike Mart staffer, Doug Jones, a multiple-time IRONMAN Hawaii competitor, waits for a few runners to lace up. Hoka One One is always a popular demo shoe choice at these Road Shows and came fully armed with Vanquish 2. nuun was on hand offering samples which were popular with runners and cyclists. Our gracious hosts teamed up with Corner Bakery who provided an seemingly endless offering of muffins and oatmeal for attendees. Starting at 9am dozens of cyclists used Richardsons Bike Mart as their launch point for a variety of ride options based on desired pace and mileage. Indeed, a microphone was needed to get the attention with so many cyclists on hand. Julie and Mike Johnson started their trainer ride early and stayed throughout the day as the duo were fundraising for Team in Training and an upcoming circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. Mike intentionally stopped his trainer ride at 99-miles, so his first 100-miler could be done around Lake Tahoe as part of the event. A SRAM Red ETAP session in full swing. Platform pedals allowed riders to test ETAP around the expansive parking lot. Pioneer turned heads a few months ago when they introduced an inexpensive way for cyclists to get into the power meter market with a sub $600 single-leg crank based unit. However, their dual-leg unit remains the most popular offering from the reputable car and speaker electronic company. Richardson is a relatively short drive away from Cobb Cyclings global headquarters in Tyler, Texas and being close to home base meant two saddle specialists, Seth Rider and William Ritter, were on hand assisting riders with saddle solutions. A rider checks out two of the three power options (chainring and pedal) PowerTap had on hand. These two colorful gentlemen turned many heads at the expo. The 85-year old man on the left, the oldest finisher to complete the famous Hotter'N Hell 100 ride in nearby Wichita Falls, was delighted to share with the Cervelo rep his S2, the first carbon bike hed ever owned. Doug Looney attended on behalf of Castelli and Pioneer and is seen here discussing power meters with an attendee. Theresa Francesconi (far left) was instrumental in getting this event off the ground and Ken Woody Smith (center) is the General Manager at Bike Mart. Both seen here sharing a laugh with HEDs Andy Tetmeyer. Richardsons Service Center stayed on their toes and made many customers happy throughout the day with the attentive and diligent work of over a dozen mechanics on the floor. A color coordinated wall inside Bike Mart makes the perfect home for the Wisconsin-based Saris bike racks. Mitchell runs the register on a busy Saturday. Raffle prizes included a CycleOps Fluid Trainer, a dozen BG Bike Fit certificates by the Bike Mart staff, Castelli saddlebags, embrocations and creams, Cervelo t-shirts and hats. Andy from HED Cycling travelled from Minneapolis to Dallas with his coupler cross bike and upon packing up their booth at days end took off for a ride of his own. The judge left open the possibility for an eventual delay, but she said the right to a speedy trial is paramount for now. There's also the chance of two different trials, one for defendants who want to go early and one for those who want next year. Best Canadian Blog 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 About Kate Why this blog? Until this moment I have been forced to listen while media and politicians alike have told me "what Canadians think". In all that time they never once asked. This is just the voice of an ordinary Canadian yelling back at the radio - "You don't speak for me." (goes to a private mailserver in Europe) I can't answer or use every tip, but all are appreciated! Katewerk Art Support SDA I am not a registered charity. I cannot issue tax receipts. Reconnaissance Man Economics for the Disinterested ...a fast-paced polar bear attack thriller! Want lies? Hire a regular consultant. Want truth? Hire an asshole. Weather Shop Click to inquire about rates. Dow Jones What They Say About SDA "Smalldeadanimals doesn't speak for the people of Saskatchewan" Former Sask Premier Lorne Calvert "I got so much traffic after your post my web host asked me to buy a larger traffic allowance." Dr.Ross McKitrick Holy hell, woman. When you send someone traffic, you send someone TRAFFIC. My hosting provider thought I was being DDoSed. - Sean McCormick "The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle "Thank you for your link. A wave of your Canadian readers came to my blog! Really impressive." Juan Giner - INNOVATION International Media Consulting Group I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs "You may be a nasty right winger, but you're not nasty all the time!" Warren Kinsella "Go back to collecting your welfare livelihood."Michael E. Zilkowsky Intelliweather Seismic Map Comments Policy Read this Best Of SDA Hide The Decline The Bottle Genie (ClimateGate links) You Might Be A Liberal Uncrossing The Line Bob Fife: Knuckledragger A Modest Proposal (NP) Settled Science Series Y2Kyoto Series SDA: Reader Occupation Survey Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop Flakes On A Plane All Your Weather Are Belong To Us Song Of The Sled The Raise A Flag Debacle (Now on Youtube!) (.mwv Video) Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl Trudeaupiate Kleptocrat Jeans Child Labour I Concede Small Dead Feminist Protein Hoser: THK Interview The Werewolf Extinction Dear Laura (VRWC) We Wait Blogging The Oscars Jackson Converts To Islam Just Shut The HELL Up Manipulating Condi Gay Equality Rights Thank you for visiting the Daily Journal. Please purchase an Enhanced Subscription to continue reading. To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account. We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription. A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means youre helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much! The Asia Pacific boss of blockchain company Ripple says claims the distributed ledger technology could cut a lot of costs out of securities markets don't add up. Numerous large banks around the world, including Westpac and Commonwealth Bank, have been working with Ripple for more than a year now to use its version of blockchain for currency exchange and cross-border trade financing. Dilip Rao, managing director Asia Pacific of Ripple, speaking at the 2016 Banking and Finance conference. Credit:Janie Barrett Asia Pacific chief Dilip Rao has spoken to the ASX several times about using blockchain to replace its settlement systems, but he said the benefits for exchange settlement systems and other market players are still not clear to him. "Where blockchain has had the most impact is where there are a number of networks [that interact], but they don't talk to each other very well. There is no obvious trust between these networks, [nor] a central authority," he told the The Australian Financial Review Banking and Wealth Summit on Wednesday. Could Donald Trump ever rise in Australia as he has in the US? As both countries gear up for a big election year it's worth remembering that, despite Australia's drift towards personality-driven presidential-style election campaigns, some stark differences remain. Loudmouthed narcissistic billionaires with political aspirations exist the world over, but rarely do they capture the political imagination in the way Trump has enthralled America. Thankfully, his rise is rooted in cultural forces endemic to the US that would preclude a Prime Minister Trump in Australia. Appearances matter greatly in US elections. A battle for airtime, presidential elections can hinge on visceral reactions to the glimpses people catch in the congested 24/7 media circus. Name recognition counts as much as policy positions. You can't underestimate Donald Trump's appeal based on his reality TV appearances on The Apprentice. Americans not only know him, they've seen him in the role of benevolent overlord with the power to fire deferential celebrities as they grovel. The optics of someone looking very presidential in the TV boardroom aren't far from picturing them in the Oval Office. We should nationalise driver licensing and car registration. I realise this is a bold suggestion as well as ironically timed, given recent proposals to decentralise everything from income tax to education funding. "Green, blue, pink and endlessly frustrating" is my summary of the NSW system for car registration. The green aspect the Compulsory Third Party (CTP) insurance is currently under formal review by the NSW Government. Submissions are open to April 22. Here's what I think: When I moved from Victoria to NSW, I assumed my biggest challenges would be finding work and coping without family and friends. My suggestion is a serious one, born from the massive and meaningless waste of time that changing my licence and registration has entailed. Here are some of the challenges I have had to face: The NSW Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) do not accept your main piece of ID if it shows an initial in place of your full middle name. A Victorian driver's licence is one such piece of ID. It seems that NSW doesn't trust their neighbouring state's processes for confirming their citizens' identity. Cue an extra two-hour round trip to the RMS office with additional ID. To prove residence in NSW, my rental bond lodgement wasn't acceptable, despite showing that I have paid thousands of dollars to secure accommodation. A bank statement is acceptable, despite the fact that the bank changed my address simply on my say so. Sorry to tell you, NSW Fair Trading, but your sister-department doesn't recognise your paperwork. RMS offers an online tool to calculate the amount the six different companies offering CTP insurance will charge. This is a seriously good idea and I happily answered the detailed questions. Sadly, my enthusiasm was misplaced when I rang my chosen company, it turns out that the online calculator's results are "indicative only". In other words, a waste of time. Cue needing to phone the various companies anyway. Even if you do ring multiple companies, you are not comparing apples to apples. One insurance company uses their hold soundtrack to proudly tell you that: "Not all Green Slips are the same". I can't believe that this basic insurance, which some states cover using a public monopoly system, allows private providers to offer different levels of cover. Bronwyn Bishop has a headstart in her quest to remain the Liberal Party candidate for Mackellar after four of her own staff members were granted a vote in the crucial preselection run-off for the blue ribbon seat. The presence of almost her entire electorate office on the preselectors list has angered some local Liberals hoping for generational change. Among the confirmed preselectors are Cromer branch president Parry Skene, who works as Mrs Bishop's community engagement officer and Robyn Young, who works a day a week in the Mackellar office. Electorate staffers Alex Briggs and Toby Williams, who is also secretary of the Mackellar federal electoral conference, were also endorsed as preselectors during a meeting at the Masters Builders Club in Dee Why last Thursday. "Down, down, down, get on your knees," gunman Man Haron Monis yelled during the final minutes of the Sydney Lindt cafe siege. Then a man with a strong, deep Australian voice gasped: "Oh my god." Siege survivor Selina Win Pe on her way to give evidence at the Lindt cafe sIege inquest on Wednesday. Credit:Nic Walker Not long after cafe manager Tori Johnson was shot dead at close range inside the Martin Place cafe. As investigators try to work out who gunned down Michael Davey on a Sydney street last week, police have released CCTV into the murder investigation of his mate Mark Easter. The sergeant at arms of the Rebels OMCG Sydney chapter was shot dead and his body dumped just off the Pacific Highway north of Sydney last year. It is unclear how long Mr Easter's body had been lying in bushland in Cowan before it was found by council workers on June 26, 2015. However police believe the 37-year-old was killed elsewhere, probably three days before when he left his home in Sydney's south. Lake Burley Griffin's Captain Cook Memorial Jet won't be operational until at least June, as the National Capital Authority continues a $2.7 million repair job. The jet stopped working in February 2015 after a failure in its underground pumping system caused significant flooding in a chamber below the lake, near Regatta Point. Captain Cook jet Credit:Alexandar Petkovic The jet was restarted in May last year but saw more flooding due to the mechanical failure of a cone valve that controls the flow of water to the jet nozzle from the pump chamber. Authority briefing documents prepared for Senate Estimates hearings and obtained under freedom of information rules show the failure was caused by the jet being "automatically operated while submerged during the flood event". Fremantle boom recruit Harley Bennell could still be up to two months away from his highly anticipated Dockers debut as he continues rehabilitation from a persistent calf injury. Bennell, 23, told an elite Dockers coterie function last weekend that a projected return will range from a return by the end of this month at the earliest, or as long as another eight weeks. In more positive news for Fremantle fans, Lyon said former skipper Matthew Pavlich was a certainty to play against the Eagles on Saturday evening, despite seeming to pick up a leg knock in last week's loss to the Gold Coast. Dockers coach Ross Lyon revealed on Wednesday that he will not rush star import Bennell back into playing but is ready to escalate his training in the latest stage of an on-going battle to recover. Singapore Airlines has lifted its stake in Virgin Australia amid uncertainty over the future ownership of the Australian carrier. The move comes as The Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column on Thursday reported Singapore Airlines was viewed as the most likely buyer of Air New Zealand's 25.9 per cent stake in Virgin. Singapore Airlines is the third largest shareholder in Virgin Australia. In an announcement to the Singapore Stock Exchange on Wednesday evening, the Singaporean carrier said it now owned 23.11 per cent of Virgin, up from 22.91 per cent previously. Singapore Airlines said it had elected to physically settle a series of equity swaps it had entered into with a counter-party at a cost of $3.18 million, or 46.72 a share. That represents a significant premium to Virgin's closing price of 35.5 on Wednesday. Singapore Airlines is the third-largest shareholder in Virgin behind Air NZ with 25.9 per cent and Etihad Airways with 25.1 per cent. Non-profit superannuation funds that can't afford to spend big on technology are set to flounder, while a clutch of "mega funds" emerge and mop up their smaller rivals. That is the prediction of Sunsuper chief executive Scott Hartley, who is taking a punt that investing in better online and mobile services will set his fund up to be major player over the coming decade. 'Ten years from now the superannuation sector is likely to look a lot more like the banking sector,' says Scott Hartley, CEO of Sunsuper, speaking at the Australian Financial Review Banking & Wealth Summit. Credit:Christopher Pearce "Ten years from now the superannuation sector is likely to look a lot more like the banking sector," Mr Hartley told The Australian Financial Review Banking & Wealth Summit in Sydney on Wednesday. "In the same way that we have four major banks, a few regional banks and a smattering of smaller member-owned banks, I think it is pretty clear that a handful of mega super funds will emerge." Twelve days after signing the Thiess deal, Reddy reported that he had the first of what would be numerous meetings with officials from the Ministry of Power and senior officials from India's National Thermal Power Corporation [NTPC]. By August 2008, the Thiess then managing director, Bruce Munro, should have had a reasonable inkling as to what Reddy was up to when he received this email from Trehan: "I had spoken to Syam 4/5 days ago and his loyal man has seen [a senior government official] yesterday and in his presence, [the official] has again instructed chairman NTPC, to expedite the negotiation and finalisation process. As an additional measure, through Syam, I am now trying to locate a man who can push things inside NTPC managerial levels." In any normal company, such an email from an overseas partner operating in a notoriously corrupt country would have rung alarm bells. But not at Thiess. Bruce Munro told the Deloitte investigators that he did not do any due diligence on Reddy. Munro who had told Reddy early in their relationship that Thiess would not pay bribes was so hell bent on securing the coal contract that he twice extended the memorandum of understanding with Reddy. There would be many more red-flag emails from Reddy and his cohort. By early 2010, Reddy had become so blatant that Thiess could no longer pretend it did not know what its partner was doing. Reddy had told Thiess manager Chris Fosterling at least three times that he had offered as much as $16 million in bribes to officials in order to have the contract awarded to Thiess. This news was relayed to Munro in a series of emails. Despite being in possession of information that potentially put Thiess and himself in breach of Australia's foreign bribery laws courtesy of Reddy's actions, Munro did nothing but again extend the arrangement with Reddy. Whatever Reddy was doing it worked. Towards the end of 2010, Thiess was awarded a $6 billion contract to mine for coal. This was the high-point of Thiess' Indian adventure. Things soon began to unravel; work on the mine site was delayed, Thiess' relationship with Reddy was deteriorating and corruption concerns in Australia and India were seeping out. Thiess' timebomb In 2012, Thiess auditors became concerned about the murky arrangements that had led to the company winning large contracts in Indonesia and India. Thiess asked law firm Ashurst to advise if the company or any of its executives or agents had breached the law or the company's code of ethics. Ashurst engaged Deloitte investigators to examine a trove of emails and question Thiess executives. The June 2012 report by Deloitte was dynamite. While Thiess had not made any payments to Reddy, its senior managers had abundant knowledge that Reddy had in his representation of Thiess made "corrupt" payments or promises to Indian officials. One Thiess manager told investigators that Reddy claimed: "I paid 10 million Rupee to win this contract, do you think you'd have won it if I didn't". This knowledge of Reddy's actions meant Thiess was exposed as having possibly breached Australia's foreign bribery laws and the Corporations Act. The report made it to parent company Leighton Holdings which was not told by Thiess about its pact with Reddy when it was first signed in 2008 but was kept in-house for four years. Neither police nor corporate regulator ASIC were given the report. In an astonishing series of statements, Munro told the Deloitte investigators that he did not do any due diligence on Reddy when he signed the MoU in 2008 because things were done in a "mad rush" and "there was something to be gained from working with this guy". Part of Reddy's attraction, Munro told investigators, was his government contacts. "Mr Reddy sold to us that he would be able to steer us along the route of how government worked ... he was able to access the power minister just to put our case," the Deloitte report quotes Munro as saying. Asked to account for his actions when it became clear Reddy was paying or offering payment, Munro admitted: "He probably paid someone, whether that be a holiday in Singapore or $1 million I'm not sure. I'd say that was his problem not mine." "It's easy to sit here in Australia and draw conclusions. But the culture and business in India is different, everybody in India lies to everybody." One final payment By 2014, two years after the Deloitte report was submitted, Thiess was stripped of its coal contract by the Indian government amid growing corruption concerns and a spectacular falling out with Reddy. Reddy had used his influence in the local police force to have Thiess India chief executive Raman Srikanth arrested and thrown in jail. Srikanth had been annoying Reddy by ensuring Thiess management in Australia knew the true nature of the company's partner. The Fair Work Ombudsman has launched legal action against a 7-Eleven store owner who allegedly underpaid staff as little as $13 per hour and kept false records. Store owner Jim Chien-Ching Chang through his business JS Toy Pty Ltd allegedly underpaid one staff member $13,962.14 over a 13-month period between July 2013 and August 2014. Seven other employees working at Mr Chang's store were assessed to have been underpaid $5435.01 over a four-week period between June 22, 2015 and July 19, 2015. The alleged underpayment occurred at Mr Chang's 7-Eleven store on Vulture Street in Brisbane's West End. A mahjong club has been ordered to pay more than $415,000 in damages after reducing a full-time worker's hours to part-time after he made a workers' compensation claim. The Federal Circuit Court found the Sydney business Tiy Loy had breached state and national workplace laws. The business was fined $53,500 and ordered to pay $415,698.55 in compensation. Tiy Loy in Haymarket was incorporated in 1947 by members of the Yiu Ming Society. It has provided a space for people from the province of Guangdong to play mahjong since 1994. Credit:istock Tiy Loy in Haymarket was incorporated in 1947 by members of the Yiu Ming Society. It has provided a space for people from the province of Guangdong to play mahjong since1994. The worker, whose role over 18 years included serving tea and cleaning, said he was forced to resign in late 2012 because his hours were reduced after he claimed workers' compensation for a leg injury. In his recently published decision, Judge Nicholas Manousaridis said Tiy Loy had failed to comply with state wage award and the payment of entitlements including weekend penalty rates. He said Tiy Loy's contravention of the Fair Work Act was serious, deserving a penalty at the "upper end of the scale". It had sacked a worker for claiming lawful workplace entitlements. "Tiy Loy unilaterally altered [the worker's] terms of employment because [the worker] was entitled to a benefit under the compensation act," Judge Manousaridis said. "The amount of the penalty should signal to the community that the unilateral and disadvantageous alteration of an employee's position because the employee has exercised his or her rights is a serious matter," he said. "[E]ven where such alteration is made pursuant to a decision made in ignorance of the law." In a previous judgment from last year on the same matter, the judge said he had found Tiy Loy had changed the worker's position "because it believed it would save costs". Australian politics is in an unsettled and unsettling period. Some of this instability has been obvious, typified by the Turnbull-Abbott and Rudd-Gillard-Rudd carousels of the past six years. Leading the electoral victory charge from opposition no longer means an automatic period as prime minister, as Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott discovered. Australian electoral politics is also unsettled. The Coalition's 2013 electoral success in the House of Representatives contest did not transfer to the Senate, where it, along with Labor and the Greens, lost votes. In South Australia, the Nick Xenophon Group won a quarter of the Senate vote. The Palmer United Party took 5 per cent of the vote nationally, enough to secure three Senate seats at its first federal outing. The Australian Motoring Enthusiast, Liberal Democratic and Family First parties all won seats. A new report shows countries cannot assume economic development and broader democratic freedoms guarantee electoral integrity. Credit:Joe Castro In an effort to deal with some of this instability, the government's Senate ballot reforms will make it much harder for the so-called micro parties to win seats but it is not clear exactly which parties will benefit. A double dissolution election would increase the micro parties' slim chances and almost certainly boost the representation of the Xenophon Group. Beneath these political uncertainties lie other less discussed uncertainties about the integrity of Australian elections. At the last federal election the Australian Electoral Commission lost 1370 votes from the Western Australian Senate vote count, causing a re-run of Senate elections in that state at a cost of around $20 million. The political and public outcry led to the resignation of AEC commissioner Ed Killesteyn and AEC state manager Peter Kramer. This may have been an isolated incident but it could also indicate deeper issues with the conduct of Australian elections. We've had a few thought bubbles about education and Federation from the Turnbull government a federal withdrawal from public school funding among them without much publicly available cost-benefit analysis or consultation. At least that's what the states and territories think. The Council of Australian Governments meeting on Friday ended with a resounding rejection of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's suggestion that states set their own income taxes. There is blame on both sides for that. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has rejected state requests for more money to fund the final two years of the Gonski package. Credit:Janie Barrett More concerning was that Mr Turnbull rejected state requests for more money to fund the final two years of the Gonski package which the 2014 budget kyboshed. So schools funding from 2018 onwards has been kicked down the road until early next year after the election. NSW Education Minister Adrian Piccoli is right: "People do want to know what the federal government's position is with respect to school funding and they want to know that before the election." It's the new reality television show: ex-leaders, ousted by voters or in some cases their own parties, come back to play themselves in front of a live audience. The cast is stellar. Meet the star of the show, the high-flying Kevin Rudd. Credit:Getty Images First up, there's Kevin Rudd, who carries top billing because he was an ex-prime minister twice. Now busy flying around the world counting votes for his new venture, he is expected to bring a strong international audience. His timing is limited though; his agent stipulating that the season's shoot had to be done in two days because he was expected in 17 different countries in the next week. The World According to Anna by Jostein Gaarder Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder's mega-selling novel, Sophie's World, was translated into 60 languages and sold more than 40 million copies a gratifying but rather surprising feat for a book that was, in short, a summary of the history of philosophy wrapped up in a mystery. Gaarder's latest offering is a much smaller volume and this time there are concessions and incursions into the modern world. Nonetheless the underlying structure remains similar in this precautionary tale: teenager Sophie has just been replaced by teenager Anna and Albert Knox, the middle-aged philosopher, is now psychiatrist Dr Benjamin Antonsen. Ever since she was a child, the protagonist was told she had a lively imagination, an uncanny feeling that her dreamy visitations were from another time, another reality. Anna's anxious parents sent her to mental health professionals, whereupon she disclosed her fear of climate change. Indeed, five years earlier she'd witnessed the lack of snow during the traditional Christmas sleigh outing, prompting her first stirrings that the "world was in disarray". Without much grace or preparation, the narrative promptly switches to one of Anna's dreams it's the year 2082, and now Nova, ostensibly Anna's great-granddaughter, is witness to the many changes wrought by an ill-treated and vengeful earth. The doomsday dystopian scenario is a familiar one: whole countries have been washed away; oil and fossil fuel have been depleted and there's been mass extinction of animal and plant form. ("Humans will never see a living chimpanzee or gorilla that isn't in a zoo.") Nova is understandably incensed that she has inherited a world of loss and wants to know how to repair and redress eco-system collapse. There's something static and stilted in Gaarder's plodding words, which may or may not be due to the translation. Right from the start it reads like a crash course in global warming 101 as the precocious Anna and her psychiatrist eagerly swap their learning on the matter. Like many of his works, The World According to Anna is written for young adults, with the author's avuncular attempts to educate lending his novel a didactic tone; its preachy earnestness often overrides its literary scope, so keen is Gaarder to push his message across. The supernatural elements of Anna and her great-granddaughter in their parallel worlds and a magic ruby ring handed down over the generations offer a simple framework to discuss the ailing planet and how to save it. The Eighties by Frank Bongiorno Rather than the blandly generic subtitle (when was the last decade which failed to change the nation's fortunes?), the focus in this highly approachable new history is on the long-running personal and ideological tussles that defined Australian leadership through the decade. It begins with the launch of a zeitgeist-grabbing high rise Gold Coast development and ends with the figure it adjudges the most influential of the decade, Bob Hawke, finally vanquished by the new guard. While it's pitched as something of a social history, the backbone is less leg warmers and Warwick Capper than a detailed but lucid account of the ALP's embrace of internationalism and free market economics and movement away from its ideological roots. The personalities behind this move are observed with great acuity as the Hawke-Keating partnership progresses from a productive but uneasy alliance which balanced the pair's differing strengths (Hawke's unerring political judgement and widespread electoral appeal, Keating's dominance of parliament and audacious approach to policy) but devolved into a bitter rivalry. This ideological tussle is also placed in an international context in a way that inadvertently sums up the modern Labor legacy in a way more clearly and appealingly than the party itself has managed to do in recent times. "What was distinctive about the Hawke government's approach," Bongiorno writes, "was that it sought to combine a shift towards the market with a commitment to social spending, a basic level of government support for all, and a continuing role for unions in the workplace". Some of the decade's key events proved a springboard for national navel-gazing. The America's Cup victory gave us what seemed an attractive notion of what Australia might be: cheeky upstarts taking on the world. But the infatuation with brash entrepreneurs (Alan Bond, Christopher Skase) soured as the decade progressed and the nation turned to other ways to self-mythologise. The 1988 bicentenary seemingly offered a chance for a feelgood celebration of Australian success, but ended up a hugely contentious event, highlighting the social inequalities that had been swept under a rug for too long. An estimated 1.2 million people attended a free Rolling Stones concert in Havana on March 25, making them the most famous act to play Cuba since its 1959 revolution. Credit:AP When A Bigger Bang was released in 2005, it had been eight years since the band's previous studio album, Bridges to Babylon, which had been the longest wait ever for a Stones studio record. A spokesman for the band in London told The New York Times on Tuesday that the album "is purely at the demo stage," adding, "There is no album cover and no release date yet." Late last month, the Stones wrapped up their eight-country "America Latina Ole" stadium tour, which kicked off in Santiago, Chile, and ended in Havana, Cuba with a monumental free concert performed for an estimated 1.2 million people. It was the first time they had played in Cuba, where the group had been banned for a while. But that was not the only first for the Stones, now in their 54th year, on that tour. Their shows in Peru and Colombia, for instance, were the first gigs by the band in those countries. And outside of the band, Jagger served as an executive producer of the HBO show Vinyl, while Richards wrote a best-selling memoir and released his first solo album in 23 years, Crosseyed Heart, and Wood exhibited his paintings, drawings and prints in his first US show. On Tuesday, Exhibitionism, the largest display of Stones objects ever put together, officially opened at the Saatchi Gallery in London. The multimedia exhibit is scheduled to run through September 4. During this latest stretch, though, the band has done more than just tour the globe. The Stones have released a dozen or so live recordings from their concerts over the decades, some of which are professionally remixed versions of popular bootlegs. Their 2012 greatest hits album, GRRR!, also included two new songs, Doom and Gloom and One More Shot, which were recorded that year. Also released in 2012 was Live at the Checkerboard Lounge, Chicago 1981, a DVD and CD in which several members of the Stones show up at the club and then join the blues legend Muddy Waters onstage. Waleed Aly has taken aim at the hypocrisy of Malcolm Turnbull's "age of innovation" aspirations as leaked documents reveal significant delays to the government's NBN roll out. On Wednesday's The Project, Aly dethroned Mr Turnbull, the so-called "man who virtually invented the internet in this country" - a title bestowed by former PM Tony Abbott, along with the NBN plan he championed as communication minister. The Logie-nominated host skewers the Coalition over its "mongrel" NBN promises, suggesting the earlier completion date was the only thing the inferior infrastructure had going for it over Labor's NBN plan. The big regret when one of the country's longest-running and most hard-fought Aboriginal land claims moved close to settlement on Wednesday was that so many of the land owners had not lived to witness history being made. Almost four decades after lodging a claim for a huge tract of land on the Cox Peninsula, west of Darwin, surviving traditional owners joined with politicians to announce the terms for settlement. From left: Kenbi traditional owner Zoe Singh, sister Raylene Singh, NLC chairman Samuel Bush-Blanasi and traditional owner Jason Singh are all smiles outside NT Parliament House in Darwin, after the Kenbi Land Claim settlement was announced. Joe Morrison, chief executive of the Northern Land Council, told the gathering at the Northern Territory's Parliament he was a young boy when the Kenbi claim was lodged 37 years ago. "Gloria Gaynor had just topped the Billboard Hot 100 with her song, I Will Survive. Sadly, most of those original claimants have not survived," he said. 1. Turnbull hits out at banks' greed But the Member for Wentworth says he is not "bank bashing," a favourite past-time of many politicians. Nevertheless these are some of the strongest comments made against the bankers for some time and from a Liberal Prime Minister, no less, whom Labor are desperately keen to frame as an silver-tailed "opera snob." Let's face it, the banks are rarely in the public's good books but from the CommInsure scandal to this week's allegations Westpac staff rigged a bank bill rate, they've taken a further slide in the community's eyes. Mr Turnbull visited Westpac for their 199th anniversary and said there had been "too many troubling incidents" from the sector for them to be simply dismissed. Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has demonstrated his unswerving commitment to staying on message by shouting down protesters who attempted to disrupt a press conference. Mr Pyne was speaking about road safety in his home town of Adelaide on Wednesday morning with local MP David Pisoni when the pair were beset by angry unionists. As the shouts and slogans from the crowd grew louder Mr Pyne proved his concentration would not be affected despite being live on television and surrounded by placard waving protesters: "It's a pity unions are trying to shut down democratic discussions in Australia today." Mr Pyne was announcing the government would fast track legislation to delay the introduction of new minimum pay rates for truck drivers until January next year. The chair of the Higher Education Standards panel, Peter Shergold, has proposed a national university entrance scheme that would force universities to reveal minimum, median and top ATAR marks for all students accepted into a course. University entrance schemes could see their biggest shake-up in a generation under a discussion paper due to be released by the federal government on Thursday. In February, Federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham directed the standards panel to examine university admissions after a Fairfax Media investigation revealed that the practice of admitting students with below minimum marks was endemic. Professor Peter Shergold. Credit:Wayne Taylor Since 2012, universities have sought to enrol as many students as possible under the uncapped student system introduced by the Gillard government, driving down standards and pushing up record levels of student debt. It is understood the Department of Education now expects a quarter of $42 billion in taxpayer student loans never to be repaid. Professor Shergold said that universities could be held accountable for not reporting their admissions accurately by the Federal Department of Education or the Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency and that stakeholders should come forward with ways to enforce standards. "Students and parents need to be able to make what are very significant decisions in their life on the basis of transparency, just like they can when they buy their first house," said the former secretary of Prime Minister and Cabinet. More public service news A workplace dispute over a desk went all the way to a federal tribunal after a public servant claimed she was psychologically damaged by the incident. But the Defence Housing Australia employee lost her legal bid for workers' compensation after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal found her bosses acted reasonably in response to her "disruptive" behaviour as sparks flew over the seating arrangements in the agency's Townsville office in mid-2014. A claim for a psychiatric condition, said to be aggravated by the conduct of the woman's boss, was rejected by federal workplace insurer Comcare. The woman then hired lawyers and appealed the decision to the Commonwealth tribunal. She accused her supervisor of aggression, folding her arms and pointing her finger, while the two discussed seating arrangements at the DHA's offices on the morning of June 2, 2014. The revelations about the report's contents, along with Dr Ferguson's apparent inaction in response to the scandal as chair of the board's ethics committee of Leighton Holdings, Thiess' parent company, raise serious questions about the culture of Leighton, which is now facing multiple scandals. Instead, the whistleblower was forced out of Thiess in 2014 and a confidential internal corruption inquiry report, that included bribery claims involving Thiess and a top Indian politician, remained buried. Top Australian businesswoman and ABC board member Dr Kirstin Ferguson failed to protect a whistleblower who personally alerted her to a corruption scandal inside the nation's biggest mining services company. Dr Ferguson, who has been a director and member of the ABC's risk and audit committee since November 2015, now faces serious questions about what she did, or failed to do, to protect the whistleblower and to ensure Thiess' alleged corruption was dealt with appropriately, rather than being buried. Dr Kirstin Ferguson held the top integrity role at CIMIC. Credit:YouTube Dr Ferguson declined to respond to specific questions. It is not suggested she was involved in the decision to force the whistleblower out of Thiess in 2014. The secret Thiess report at the centre of the scandal was commissioned by Thiess in 2012 and revealed the firm or its agents may have broken Australian or Indian corruption laws when it sought to win a $6.8 billion coal mining contract in India in 2010. The report, obtained by Fairfax Media, concluded that Thiess' Indian agent had, in 2010, most likely paid bribes or offered bribes to high ranking Indian officials to help Thiess win the contract, and that, according to the agent, a top Indian minister had allegedly sought bribes from Thiess. For the first time, Sydney's Anzac Day march will run down Elizabeth Street. The change in the route of the traditional march has been prompted by the construction of a tram line down George Street, but the route will instead run directly to the Anzac Memorial at Hyde Park. The new route has the backing of the RSL. The state president of the RSL, Rod White, said the route would not affect the service or the tradition of the march. "While it is no longer practical for us to march past the Cenotaph in Martin Place, we will now observe the Act of Remembrance on the command "eyes left" as we pass the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park," Mr White said. The youngest children of former NSW premier Neville Wran have settled their case against their half-sister over his fortune following a mediation by eminent former appeal judge Keith Mason. But Glenn Wran, the son of Wran's first wife Marcia, will continue to fight Kim Wran Sheftell, his half-sister and the estate's executor, over the late Labor giant's millions. Harriet Wran is led into Liverpool Local Court, 2014. Credit:ABC News Neville Wran's youngest children, Harriet and Hugo Wran, by his second wife Jill Hickson Wran, joined Glenn Wran in claiming against the late politician's estate in the NSW Supreme Court. Neville Wran's New Caledonia-born god-daughter Helene De Poortere followed suit. A cartel conduct case against Moses and Paul Obeid was brought to a halt after a banker giving evidence in the proceedings confessed he was "sleep deprived" from working on a late-night deal, prompting the judge to adjourn the hearing. In an extraordinary turn of events, Federal Court judge Lindsay Foster halted the hearing for more than three hours on Wednesday so that former Lehman Brothers banker and Obeid associate Gardner Brook could "get some sleep". Gardner Brook leaves the Federal Court on Tuesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley Justice Foster had asked if Mr Brook, who now works for Pan-Asia Capital Partners in Singapore, was having "difficulty coping" or suffering from "some sort of impairment" in giving evidence. Concerns had been raised by Cameron Moore, SC, the barrister acting for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the cartel conduct proceedings. The grass is no longer greener for Salim Mehajer. Auburn's suspended deputy mayor has ripped up the fake lawn outside his palatial Lidcombe home just hours before a panel ruled that he should be forced to do so. "There is no artificial turf at the front of the premises," the 29-year-old property developer told Fairfax Media in an email. "It's been removed." The synthetic grass, which still adorned the nature strip outside Cr Mehajer's house at 6.45am on Wednesday, was no longer in place when the Auburn Independent Assessment Panel visited the Frances Street address later in the morning. "This guy is going to be chasing the whole herd of little fellows, bouncing over rocks, galloping across the plateau it's going to be pretty amazing." Listen to David Elliott talk about the latest delivery to his Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum at Winton 10 lifesize dinosaur models cast in bronze from a foundry in Texas in the US arrived this week and you could be forgiven for thinking the world had spun back millions of years to when these creatures did indeed roam the earth, such is his enthusiasm. Australian Age of Dinosaurs founder David Elliott holding one of the lifesize dinosaur replicas just arrived from the US. Credit:John Elliott. In this latest project, the models will be placed in an outdoor gallery along the escarpment that the world-class tourist attraction sits on top of, 24 kilometres from Winton. The replica dinosaurs include a model of one found in the region, Australovenator wintonensis, Australia's most complete meat-eating dinosaur. Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten will throw his weight behind the new cross-river underground rail for Brisbane, declaring it his highest priority for the city. Tipped to be revealed on Thursday, a new proposal is for the Cross River Rail to run from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills and include a 5km tunnel beneath the Brisbane River and the CBD. Mr Shorten is expected to say a federal Labor government would assist with funding the rail project, which was previously floated in former premier Campbell Newman's government. AAP After years of promises, at least two different routes, more promises, and a constant stream of political rhetoric over funding, Queensland's most important infrastructure project is once again on the table. Acting Premier Jackie Trad and Transport Minister Stirling Hinchliffe will "unveil the new design and alignment" for the Cross River Rail project on Thursday, a transport project which has been listed as vital by Infrastructure Australia and successive state governments for the last seven years. Brisbane has one inner-city rail crossing across the river - the Merivale Bridge. The latest announcement will see a 10.2 kilometre alignment from Dutton Park to the Ekka Showgrounds at Bowen Hills, through Albert Street. Queensland University of Technology has been named among the best young universities in the world by the prestigious Times Higher Education. The list, which recognises universities less than 50 years old, ranked the top 150 universities in the world. Queensland University of Technology has been named among the best young universities in the world. Credit:Glenn Hunt QUT came in 28th place, making it the second-highest ranked university in Australia, narrowly beaten by the University of Technology in Sydney, which was ranked 21. Times Higher Education editor Phil Baty said QUT's strong relationships with industry were a big part of its success in the rankings. Lord mayor Robert Doyle has backed a push to create a tough new federal corruption watchdog while on the same day declining to say when he will disclose who is donating to his re-election campaign. The council on Tuesday backed a push for the establishment of a federal independent anti-corruption commission, to scrutinise politicians and public servants. Lord mayor Robert Doyle says he would follow Victoria's legal requirements around donations. The move was led by the council's finance chair, and long-time transparency campaigner, Stephen Mayne. He argues the nation's four biggest states now all have corruption commissions and it is untenable that the federal parliament should go on without one. An old Docklands wharf is set to become home to a massive new apartment precinct that will see Collins Street extended so far west it will almost touch the Bolte Bridge. Five residential towers with about 1500 dwellings and a number of parks and boutique offices will be built atop a "finger wharf" which juts out into Victoria Harbour and the Yarra River. The final stretch of Collins Street will be left floating above the harbour, as the road will be extended along part of the wharf that sits over the water. Melbourne councillor Stephen Mayne said the Collins Wharf project by developer Lendlease was probably the biggest-ever housing project for an Australian wharf, outstripping Sydney's exclusive Woolloomooloo Wharf, which has become a magnet for the internationally rich and famous. Dozens of firefighters have battled a blaze at the Alcoa plant near Geelong that forced the evacuation of about 30 workers on Wednesday. Firefighters were called to the decommissioned aluminium smelter on Point Henry Road in the industrial suburb of Moolap about 3.30pm. The fire at the old Alcoa plant near Geelong. CFA District 7 duty officer Wayne Aylmer said the fire broke out in a section of the old rolling mill that is being disassembled. He said about 30 workers were safely evacuated and the fire was brought under control at 4.20pm. New York: Amnesty International reports that there was a dramatic 54 per cent increase in executions globally in 2015, with Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia responsible for nearly 90 per cent of the killings.The human rights organisation said that the figure of at least 1634 people executed last year - up from 1061 in 2014 - does not include executions in China where data on the death penalty is considered a state secret. Amnesty International's secretary general Salil Shetty said that for China "our estimate is that they execute as much as the rest of the world". The execution chamber in a US jail in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1995. Credit:AP He said China is currently reviewing crimes punishable by the death penalty so there is "a slim ray of hope" that the number of executions may be reduced. Looking ahead to the Republican convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in the second week of July, he declared: "Either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win the majority of the delegates." The entrance of a polling location in Wisconsin. Credit:Bloomberg Pundits were less than certain that Cruz had grasped the complex delegate maths ahead of the convention. Tweeting on Tuesday evening, The Cook Political Report's Dave Wasserman figured that Trump would maintain his delegate lead, landing close enough to the magical 1237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination that he would be able to sway enough unpledged delegates to make up the number. Wasserman's tweet: "My latest back of envelope: Trump gets to 1192 delegates, 45 short of a majority." Campaign signs in the back of a vehicle outside a campaign office for Senator Ted Cruz in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Credit:Bloomberg Before the Wisconsin vote, Trump held 736 delegates; Cruz held 505 and reportedly his campaign has been more nimble than Trump's in looping back to states that have already voted, to lock in the support of delegates who for now are committed to other nominees, but who will be freed to vote as they please after the initial convention ballot. The various elements of the Never Trump movement within the GOP have not articulated their sense of the margin by which trump would have to fall short of the required delegate count to embolden them to attempt to knock him from the running - but Trump has promised riots if there is a plot to rob him of his prize, no matter how tenuous his grip might be. Volunteers make phone calls at a campaign office for Senator Ted Cruz in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Credit:Bloomberg As the resurgent Cruz stalks Trump for the nomination, both the Texan and the New Yorker have been showing rising irritation at the refusal by third-running Ohio Governor John Kasich to accede to their demands that he quit the race and leave them to fight it out - man-to-man. The Trump tension surfaced in a blunt campaign document acquired by The Washington Post, in which senior adviser Barry Bennett vents after its candidate's nightmarish performance last week. Under the heading "Digging through the Bullshit" Bennett positively snarls at pundits who suggested Trump had lost momentum. Donald Trump lost the Wisconsin primary. Credit:AP "America is sick of them. Their idiotic attacks just remind voters why they hate the Washington establishment. Donald Trump, 1; Washington establishment/media, 0." Speaking at a victory party in Milwaukee on Tuesday, Cruz quoted John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill, calling the night a moment of hope for the future, before going all poetic in a tweet: "We are not here to curse the darkness but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness. Tonight, Wisconsin has lit a candle guiding the way forward." Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in Wisconsin campaigning for Donald Trump. Credit:AP And minutes later, this: "Hillary, get ready. Here we come." Sanders claimed that he was gaining on Clinton, that he was a fringe candidate that few had taken seriously, but who had persevered to beat Clinton in Wisconsin and who was ahead in many notional presidential polls pitting him against Trump. Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders won Wisconsin. Credit:AP "With our victory in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries," Sanders said, revelling in his newfound momentum. "We have a path toward victory, a path toward the White House." The momentum thing is big. If the two winning campaigns to date can be presented as losers for two long weeks before the next big primary vote - New York State on April 19 - their sense of entitlement to the nomination and their We are the Champions campaign narrative inevitably will take a hammering before dignity can be salvaged by new victories. Supporters listen to Senator Bernie Sanders at a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin on Sunday. Credit:Bloomberg Similarly, there's a knock-on effect in the front-runners' domination of media time - after winning in Wisconsin, both Cruz and Sanders also win ground in the contest for unpaid media time. Trump had the most to lose in Wisconsin. His failure to stay ahead of Cruz is attributed in some quarters to a stumblebum performance on a range of hot button issues last week - abortion; security; his campaign manager's treatment of women; paying off national debt that kind of stuff. It remains to be seen how the utterly unconventional Trump will factor Tuesday's defeat into his stump performances. PHILIPSBURG:--- The Special Robbery Unit is presently investigating the armed robbery of an elderly female which took place on Monday April 4th at approximately 06.30 p.m. The 73 year old victim had just left the Rouge et Noire Casino on Front Street and was walking towards the Chinese restaurant in that alley when she was suddenly attacked from behind by an unknown assailant who was dressed completely in dark clothing with a hoody covering his head. The robber who was armed with a knife stabbed the victim and then fled the scene in the direction of the Board Walk taking the victims bag. The victim was treated on the scene by paramedics and transported to the Sint Maarten Medical Center for further treatment. After treatment the victim was free to go home. Suspect arrested. Another suspect in the ongoing stabbing investigation which took place on the school bus at the gas station in Sint Peters has been arrested. The 19 year male suspect with initials J.J.J. remains in custody for further investigation. KPSM Police Report. St. Peters:--- The buzz words in the streets today is that the NA lead government is following in the same footsteps of the previous UP lead government. This time around they are doing everything within their power to destroy one of the last business fabrics that is owned 100% by locals, the operators of school busses. This NA government is fully aware that by putting the transportation of school children out on bid that many of the bus owners would not be able to participate in the bid. I can remember many years ago that this same party that is leading the government today was a party for the people, by the people and with the people. In those days a Dutch technical assistance could never head a government department to the contrary, a local had to be the head and the technical assistant part of the supporting staff. There were talks about public/private partnership to assist local land owners who didnt have the knowledge to develop their land to enter an agreement with the government to acquire that type of assistance. But all those great ideas and initiatives have been thrown out the windows and instead replaced with draconian proposals to destroy our own people in the name of good governance or to generate savings when it suits them. The OSPP has taken note of the fact that our Honorable Minister of Education, Ms. Silveria Jacobs has suspended the bidding process for the outsourcing of the school bus transportation. We commend her for that decision, nevertheless we still expect this bidding process to be totally withdrawn and that common sense would once again prevail. The One St. Maarten People Party is proposing to assist our existing local school bus operators by firstly providing them with a contract for four years. Secondly, that these same school bus operators must adhere to all the requirements set forth in the terms of reference that was issued for the bidding process for the new school year 2016 -2017. By providing the school bus operators with a four year contract they can use it as a means of security to acquire the necessary financing to upgrade their busses to meet those requirements that were outlined in the terms of reference. Let us preserve the few local entrepreneurs that are still benefiting from this billion dollar economy of St. Maarten. Perhaps it is time for this government to encourage more locals to go into business by establishing a loan guarantee program and not destroy the few local entrepreneurs that still exist. And if the Minister of Education truly wants to make those critical investments in education with the funds that she was projecting from the savings by putting the school bus transportation on bid, the OSPP is proposing that she table a proposal in the meeting of the Council of Ministers to have NV GEBE change the commercial rates that it is charging all the school boards to residential rates. In that same proposal she must state that all the government owned companies must adopt various schools to install solar panels to commence during this year summer school vacation. Most of the school boards are paying approximately 26,000.00 guilders a month to NV GEBE for electricity and water. Between these two proposals the schools would save in excess of ten thousand guilders a month in utility cost, an annual projected savings of over 120,000.00 guilders per school board. Honorable Minister of Education, Ms. Jacobs these savings would certainly be a great help to those critical investment plans you have. Oberbank AG settles on FACT.pilot for its factoring business Kaarst, 6 April, 2016. The Austrian Oberbank AG has decided to use FACT.pilot, the special software of fidis GmbH, to assist it in its factoring business. Using FACT.pilot will allow Oberbank AG to fulfill its reporting requirements for factoring. FACT.pilot is a standard software for factoring processes based on SAP. It is developed and maintained by fidis GmbH from Kaarst. Today, factoring is a salient feature of corporate business, explains Claus Retschitzegger of Oberbank AG. But, here, the costs and risks are high. Using FACT.pilot, we can accelerate the factoring processes and reduce our risk. Oberbank AG offers factoring services to corporate businesses in South Germany and Austria. The possibility of conducting its business operations on a single platform internationally is a significant criterion for deciding on this solution, says the project leader, Silvio Schedenig of Oberbank AG. The software package also contains a customer portal, a limit management and a rapid PDF identification. Using FACTportal, a web based application, the factoring company and the client can each upload documents on a daily basis. That significantly simplifies communication with the customers. In order to reduce the risk of default, LIMIT.pilot, the integrated limit management system, checks each invoice for its purchasability on the basis of its set limits. On a daily basis, interfaces to the credit insurers feed FACT.pilot with the actual information on the insurance status. Under conditions of the insolvency of a factoring client, the open invoices are often rendered worthless, explains Otto Johannsen, the managing director of fidis GmbH . By establishing the financing and purchase limits on the basis of the creditworthiness of the customer, factoring companies can significantly reduce this risk. LIMIT.pilot ensures that these limits are automatically and reliably adhered to. The DOC.pilot feature allows the factoring company to process PDF documents automatically. This means that they are checked for content as well as necessary information is extracted for further processing. That way, processing of large quantities of invoices that commonly accrue to factoring companies becomes significantly quicker and much more secure. The business of financing trade receivables is booming, as Johannsen puts it. Whoever is successful here must process large data quantities that rapidly accrue on a daily basis, while ensuring greater safety. A highly automated solution based on SAP is best suited for that. Actiance Joins the Information Governance Initiative and Kicks Off Partnership With Joint Executive Briefing Series REDWOOD CITY, CA (Marketwired) 04/06/16 , the leader in compliance, security, archiving, and eDiscovery for all critical business communications, today announced that it has joined the , the worlds premier think tank for information management practices. As a supporter of the IGI, Actiance joins in its mission to promote the advancement of information governance strategies and best practices, as well as ongoing education to help organizations manage business information and maximize its value. As part of this new partnership, Actiance and the IGI will host a joint Executive Briefing Series roadshow that will discuss the changing regulations around eDiscovery. Actiance understands the new information governance challenges driven by the ongoing transformation in business communications, said Barclay T. Blair, executive director and founder of the IGI. We are pleased to have an innovative company like Actiance join us as a Supporter. Their solution is a critical part of the mix of technologies that organizations need to take control of their information and ensure it is providing maximum value. I very much look forward to working with the Actiance team. As enterprises turn to new communications channels, like social media and instant messenger, organizations must adjust collection and preservation processes for eDiscovery to maintain compliance and meet changing regulations. Furthermore, the December 2015 FRCP amendments reiterate the requirement that reasonable efforts must be made to preserve all potentially responsive content, no matter its sources, amplifying the need for eDiscovery strategies that address all communications channels. Actiance, along with Barclay T. Blair and IGI Co-Chair Jason R. Baron, will host an upcoming Executive Briefing Series roadshow. The series will discuss how organizations can identify and preserve new forms of communications to meet changing regulations. The series will take place in the following cities: April 5, 2016 in Dallas, Texas April 7, 2016 in New York, NY April 14, 2016 in Boston, Mass. April 19, 2016 in Chicago, Ill. May 17, 2016 in Minneapolis, Minn. May 17, 2016 in London May 31, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. June 29, 2016 in Atlanta, Ga. Sept. 15, 2016 in Toronto, Canada To learn more about the series, visit or email the IGI at . Actiance has been at the forefront of compliance, archiving and analytics, and helps customers meet regulations for emerging and evolving communications channels, said Kailash Ambwani, CEO, Actiance. We are excited to partner with the IGI and join its mission to help organizations maximize the value of their communications data. Actiance will showcase its technology at , the only national conference addressing the key operational, technical, and legal issues associated with the lifecycle management of electronic records. The conference takes place May 23-25, 2016 in Chicago. To learn more about Actiance and how it can help your organization, stop by the MER exhibitor section or visit . Stay up to date with Actiance: Become a fan of Actiance: Follow Actiance on Twitter: The Information Governance Initiative (IGI) is a think tank and community dedicated to advancing the adoption of Information Governance (IG) practices and technologies through research, events, advocacy and peer-to-peer networking. We are dedicated to the professionalization of IG and have called for the creation of a new kind of information leader called the . Our has become an industry standard reference guide for organizations benchmarking and building their IG programs. The is where thousands of practitioners from cybersecurity, IT, analytics, privacy, legal, records management and the other facets of IG come together and learn from each other. We produce hands-on educational workshops and executive roundtables each year. The IGI was founded by recognized leaders in the field of IG, and is supported by . Actiance is a global leader in communication, collaboration, and social media governance for the enterprise. Its governance platform is used by millions of professionals across dozens of industries. With the power of communications, collaboration, and social media at their fingertips, Actiance helps professionals everywhere to engage with customers and colleagues so they can unleash social business. The Actiance platform gives organizations the ability to ensure compliance for all their communication channels. It provides real-time content monitoring, centralized policy management, contextual capture of content and smart archiving which improves the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of eDiscovery and helps protect users from malware and accidental or malicious leakage of information. Actiance supports 72+ leading social media, unified communications, collaboration, and IM platforms, including Facebook (FB), LinkedIn (LNKD), Twitter, Google (GOOG), Yahoo! (YHOO), Skype. IBM (IBM), Jive (JIVE), Microsoft (MSFT), Cisco (CSCO), and Salesforce.com (CRM). Actiance headquarters are in Redwood City, California. For more information, visit or call 1-888-349-3223. Promise Technology and Symply Partnering for Exciting Rich Media Storage Solutions MILPITAS, CA (Marketwired) 04/06/16 a recognized global leader in the storage industry, is partnering with Symply Inc. to bring extraordinary storage solutions to the rich media market. Symply has excellent customer insight and expertise for meeting customer expectations, ease of use, technological development, and design, while Promise possesses outstanding engineering expertise and technology leadership. The combined efforts will be a winning strategy for both companies and sure to deliver amazing solutions for rich media customers. Promise Technology Inc. has been a recognized leader in the storage Industry, developing and delivering high-performance, reliable storage products for the IT, cloud, surveillance and rich media markets, and the recently announced Apollo personal cloud storage for consumers. Symply is an all-star team of industry talent who create high-performance digital storage for media creators and content owners, from the single editor to an entire facility. The relationship with Symply takes us into an exciting future in the rich media market, while addressing customer needs today, noted James Lee, CEO, Promise Technology. Existing rich media customers can rest assured that they will continue to see the great quality and support from Promise that they are used to, while the two companies collaborate to ensure a seamless transition. Similarly for partners and suppliers, Promise and Symply are committed to maintain the long-term relationships without interruption and disruption. Symply comprises a team of the best industry veterans, explained Alex Grossman, CEO of Symply Inc. We are poised and ready to take care of the needs unique to the rich media market, and make sure the transition is smooth. Symply will assume sales and field engineering responsibility for Promises current rich media product lines starting soon in Americas, The U.K., France and Germany. In addition, new products in current development by Promise and Symply will be debuted at NAB 2016 in booth #9321. For other regions, Promise will continue with the sales and support for all rich media products. For more information about this partnership, welcome to visit both Promise Technology and Symply websites: or . About Symply Inc. Symply Inc. creates high-performance digital storage for media creators and content owners, from the single editor to an entire facility. As a privately-held, employee-owned company with locations in Los Angeles, New York, and London, Symply blends intuitive, user-friendly software with rock-solid engineering to move storage from a need, to a want. For more information, visit . Promise Technology is a recognized global leader with over 27 years of experience in the storage industry. Promise has developed its own enterprise-class hardware and software storage architecture, in addition to complete SAN, NAS and unified storage platform lines. Promise is also committed to providing dynamic software defined storage solutions for vertical markets, including cloud and IT storage solutions, video surveillance storage solutions, rich media storage solutions and much more. With industry leading technology and research and development capabilities, combined with highly experienced global sales and after sales service teams, Promise is at the forefront of the industry with the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Promise Technology is an ISO-9001:2008 and ISO-14001:2004 certified manufacturer with operations and sales and support teams throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC regions providing unparalleled service and support to customers around the globe. For more information, visit: . CONTACT INFORMATION MEDIA CONTACTS: The Americas: Dena Jacobson 949-453-8080 EMEA: Dennis Lamers +31 (0) 40 235 2614 Japan: Ushio Koida +81 3 6801-8064 Taiwan: Ya-Ping Hsu +886-978695780 Delphix Unveils Major Platform Update to Accelerate and Simplify the Application Development Lifecycle With Delivery of Secure Virtual Data MENLO PARK, CA (Marketwired) 04/06/16 today announced a major update to its industry-leading data operations platform, delivering three technology enhancements designed to accelerate and simplify secure application development in the data center and in the cloud. Delphix 5.0 includes a new data-masking capability, Selective Data Distribution, which effortlessly and instantly delivers masked data into non-production environments. The updated platform also introduces support for IBM DB2 on Linux and Unix, and it expands support for Oracle E-Business Suite. These advancements deliver new levels of business agility and security across the application development lifecycle, enabling customers to maximize their existing technology investments while evolving toward next-generation IT models. Modern-day businesses need to respond to competitive and market demands more quickly than ever, requiring enterprises to release new software at an accelerated pace. Infrastructure previously was the main bottleneck to fast application development, but today that bottleneck is data provisioning it, securing it, and managing it in non-production environments. This makes the ability to deliver secure data at speed critical to modern application development practices. As global competition increases, enterprises are responding by engaging their customers, partners, and employees through radically improved applications, said Theresa Lanowitz, founder, voke. Every enterprise should consider deploying data masking and database virtualization to improve the productivity of their application teams and the security of their non-production data. These technologies are becoming required components of the reference architecture for application development tools. Organizations from a broad range of industries worldwide including banking, insurance, healthcare and retail, as well as government agencies, are deploying Delphix software and seeing dramatic results. Many Delphix customers increase application release speed by 10x while reducing the number of software defects, and finding those defects earlier in the process. Vertex, the leading provider of comprehensive integrated tax technology solutions for companies of all sizes, successfully deployed Delphix for its development and test environments. Using Delphix, weve achieved order-of-magnitude improvements in the speed and efficiency of developing and testing our critical internal ERP applications, and Delphix has become a vital part of our application development platform, said Chris Kohl, Vice President, Corporate Technology and Chief Information Officer, Vertex. Our vision for Delphix includes extending its use into the software development lifecycle for the solutions we offer to our customers. Delphix is working with us to realize that vision as we develop and deliver solutions that unlock the strategic value of tax for our customers. Delphix 5.0 seamlessly integrates data masking with virtual data a combination unique to the industry and it provides new support for IBM DB2 and expanded support for the complete Oracle E-Business Suite. Updates to the Delphix platform include: Organizations struggle to secure sensitive data in non-production environments, which represent up to 90 percent of the surface area at risk of data breach. With Delphix 5.0, customers can neutralize that risk by masking sensitive data in a production zone, then replicating the masked data directly to all non-production target environments. Delphix now supports IBM DB2 on IBM AIX and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. This helps customers deliver, manage and secure virtual data to accelerate projects for business-critical applications running on DB2 databases. Challenged to respond to market pressures, Oracle E-Business Suite users must quickly release new application features, but they are hampered by time-consuming processes to create development and testing environments. Delphix 5.0 enables fast deployment of secure E-Business Suite environments with multi-node application tiers, enabling customers to dramatically reduce upgrade, patching and customization cycles. Speed of development enables IT teams to provide strategic business value for their organizations, but data management and security slow down the process, said Daniel Graves, Vice President, Products, Delphix. The Delphix platform combines the efficiencies of virtualization with the protection of data masking into a unified, secure data operations solution. Delphix 5.0 is a major step forward in making app dev faster, easier and more secure for a broader set of platforms and use cases, and it helps customers get the most from their existing infrastructure while enabling the hybrid IT models of the future. Delphix 5.0 is available today from Delphix and its global network of business partners. Read the Delphix for additional commentary on Delphix 5.0 Visit the Delphix 5.0 for more information Register for a Delphix to get a deep dive on Delphix 5.0 Delphix provides data operations software that helps organizations release applications up to 10x faster by delivering secure, virtualized data across the application lifecycle. More than 30 percent of the Global 100 use Delphix software to deliver data across development, testing and reporting environments, improving developer productivity and data security whether on premises or in the cloud. Delphix is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with offices around the world, and can be found online at . Delphix is a trademark of Delphix Corp. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names may be trademarks of their respective organizations. Nick Fuentes Delphix Corporate Communications +1 (650) 681-3981 Steven MacDonnell Text 100 for Delphix +1 (415) 593-8473 nGenx Powers Workforce Mobility With Cloud Enablement of Microsoft Office 2016 CHICAGO, IL (Marketwired) 04/06/16 , a cloud services pioneer in the delivery of hosted workspaces, including applications, data, and desktops, today announced inclusion of the worlds most popular office productivity suite, Microsoft Office 2016, in the . With the new addition, customers have cloud access to this and other business critical applications on a wide range of computing devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. According to Market Research, an independent research organization, The cloud office and collaboration productivity applications market is anticipated to reach $21.6 billion by 2018. The market growth comes as enterprises select this more affordable option to get productivity tools to users as opposed to server licensing of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange. Cloud delivery of systems in a shared workload environment is part of the cloud computing business model.(1) Microsoft Office 2016 is now available as a cloud application from the nGenx Cloud Application Catalog, which now features more than 1,800 titles. Licenses come as a monthly subscription with no annual commitments. Purchasers choose Microsoft Office 2016 as a stand-alone solution (via Office365) or through integration with nFinity nWorkspace (Office 365 or Microsoft SPLA), the companys Workspace as a Service (WaaS) platform. Key advantages of purchasing Microsoft Office 2016 from nGenx include exceptional personalized support at the time of installation and thereafter. nGenx ensures the deployment and transition to Microsoft Office 2016 in the cloud is performed smoothly. On-going support is provided via phone to answer access and other questions. nGenx app services supports critical line-of-business applications and provides access anywhere and from any computing device. With more than a decade of experience in working with Microsoft solutions, nGenx has the understanding to make sure customers have a positive experience with the application when it is used. nGenx also announced today that the company has joined the Microsoft Office 365 Shared Computer Activation (SCA) Program. The program was started in 2014 so that multiple Office 365 users can share the same hardware in a customer dedicated self-hosted environment, on dedicated third-party hosted infrastructure, or in Windows Azure. The primary benefit of this program is that it allows customers to take advantage of existing licensing investments when deploying Microsoft Office 2016 to the cloud. Businesses today are seeking greater workforce mobility and nGenx delivers, said Jim Lancaster, CTO, Sagiss. LLC. Device agnostic access with integration to other business apps and Microsoft Office 2016 is a game changer for businesses that go beyond the limits of four walls. nGenx powers these businesses with productivity gains that make a substantial difference to the bottom line. We expect the Microsoft Office 2016 productivity suite to rank among our most popular cloud applications, said JD Helms, president, nGenx. As with all our applications, users have the option to access them as an application service or to use in conjunction with nFinity nWorkspace for a complete workspace as a service. .@nGenxCloud Powers Workforce Mobility with Microsoft Office 2016 in the Cloud #WaaS #cloud View nFinity nWorkspace video at: Contact nGenx today to schedule a free demo at: Follow nGenx on Twitter at: Visit nGenx at: Founded in 2000, nGenx is a cloud services pioneer in hosted application and desktop delivery. nGenx works with strategic partners such as Microsoft, Intuit, Google, IndependenceIT, Artisan Infrastructure, and others to develop hosted IT applications provided via the cloud. Through its cloud platform solution, nFinity nWorkspace, nGenx enables organizations to access their business applications on any device, anywhere business may be conducted. In 2014, nGenx was recognized by both Microsoft and Citrix for its leadership in the industry. nGenx markets its solutions through both white label and agency programs supported by its nGenx control panel, a single pane-of-glass provisioning system that allows partners and enterprise customers complete control over their IT environments. For more information, visit . (1) Market Research, Cloud Office and Collaboration Productivity Applications Market Shares, Strategies, and Forecasts Joe Austin The Ventana Group 512-531-9119 April 6, 2016 Pilots flying DHL express cargo prepare for strike Voting process to begin Wednesday, April 6 NATIONWIDE As two major cargo holding companies Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW) and Southern Air Holdings, Inc. (SAI) move forward in an acquisition that would strengthen Deutsche Post DHLs influence over the two holding companies airlines, namely, AAWWs Atlas Air and Polar Air and SAIs Southern Air and Florida West, pilots for the airlines are raising concerns about their contracts, threats to local business and increasing foreign control of the companies. DHL, a global shipping and logistics company based in Germany, has a substantial influence over these two holding companies and their airlines. Since 2014, SAIs Southern Air has operated exclusively for DHL even co-branding its planes. DHL also provides AAWW with critical financial and operational synergies, with a 49 percent equity stake in Polar Air. If AAWW acquires SAI, its expected revenue related to DHL will rise to 27 percent putting the two American companies further under the control of a foreign entity. DHL AAWW and SAI have seen profits rise in recent years. DHL reported 59.2 billion (or 66.7 billion US dollars) in increased consolidated revenue this past year, with the express division -- which includes the operations of AAWW and SAI -- being its strongest and most profitable division. Meanwhile, adjusted net income attributable in 2015 to AAWWs common stockholders totaled $125.3 million, or $5.01 per diluted share, on revenues of $1.8 billion. After filing for bankruptcy in 2012, Southern Air rebounded within six months and has since expanded its fleet. AAWW is spending $110 million in cash on the acquisition of SAI. Despite these gains, AAWW and its subsidiary carriers, Atlas Air and Polar Air, are trying to force pilots at both AAWW and SAI into an amalgamated contract that will have a devastating impact by suppressing wages and lowering quality of life issues for pilots at the two companies and throughout the industry. AAWWs Atlas/Polar pilots have been working since the beginning of the year to amend their collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Their current contract is grossly below industry standard. Meanwhile, pilots at SAIs Southern Air sacrificed pay and workplace standards during the 2012 bankruptcy. They too have entered into contract negotiations to amend their contract. Citing concerns over these developments, pilots at both airlinesmembers of APA Teamsters Local 1224will vote to authorize their union to call a strike should it become necessary. Pilots are the backbone of the logistics industry, and DHL customers and shareholders should be concerned about the companys disregard for experienced pilots, said Robert Kirchner, an Atlas pilot and Executive Council Chairman of APA Teamsters Local 1224. Pilots have sacrificed to help DHL contracted airlines succeed. We are helping DHL grow its business in the United States and building profits for all companies involved. A strike is a last resort, but our families are not going to stand by while this German company tries to further undermine our profession and American labor standards throughout the industry. He continued: DHL plays a significant role in the business of these airlines as a primary customer and even an equity partner, and its impact and influence on the airline's management is strong. We cant allow a foreign company like DHL to use its influence to drive down standards for American cargo pilots and undermine their job security. DHL makes billions of dollars a year based on our pilots hard work. DHL should respect our pilots contributions and it should neither participate in nor encourage or permit its network carriers to engage in a scheme to undermine our pilots professions and labor standards. Pilots, as well as the communities where they live, are gravely concerned about the influence that DHL has over these two airlines and the possible overreach in its U.S.-operations. As major equity partners and the sole customer for Southern Air, DHLs reach may be against legal regulations that require U.S. cargo airlines to show U.S. citizenship of company owners and operations. Additionally, the growing influence of DHL is concerning as the company has a record of closing bases, upending families and communities in the process. In 2008, the company announced its plan to cut 9,500 U.S. jobs. Despite overwhelming opposition from impacted communities, pilots, and members of Congress, the move resulted in 8,000 layoffs in a single town Wilmington, Ohio and devestated the community and its local businesses. My husband has been working for Atlas for 15 years, and Im very concerned about the influence that DHL is having over the company. Im worried about paying our mortgage and about DHL pulling out of our community like it did in Wilmington. Its hard to understand why companies that rely so heavily on pilots and are doing so well would force this kind of instability on our families and communities or even encourage such bad behavior, said Karen Boyd, wife of Atlas pilot Captain Bobby Boyd. The Boyds live in Spokane, Washington. According to a comparison conducted by the union representing the pilots, AAWWs Atlas/Polar pilots flying for DHL are paid considerably less and work far more than pilots who fly for American couriers, such as UPS or FedEx. AAWW and SAI are thriving with the growing business from DHL, but pilots are working without the job security their families need and deserve, said another Atlas pilot, Captain Mike Griffith, who has flown for the airline for 18 years. There is no reason why a U.S. pilot flying over the same routes for a foreign shipping company should be paid less than a pilot working for UPS or FedEx. April 6, 2016 Voting process to begin Wednesday, April 6 NATIONWIDE As two major cargo holding companies Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings (AAWW) and Southern Air Holdings, Inc. (SAI) move forward in an acquisition that would strengthen Deutsche Post DHLs influence over the two holding companies airlines, namely, AAWWs Atlas Air and Polar Air and SAIs Southern Air and Florida West, pilots for the airlines are raising concerns about their contracts, threats to local business and increasing foreign control of the companies. DHL, a global shipping and logistics company based in Germany, has a substantial influence over these two holding companies and their airlines. Since 2014, SAIs Southern Air has operated exclusively for DHL even co-branding its planes. DHL also provides AAWW with critical financial and operational synergies, with a 49 percent equity stake in Polar Air. If AAWW acquires SAI, its expected revenue related to DHL will rise to 27 percent putting the two American companies further under the control of a foreign entity. Business to Business AGAVE CREEK WINDOW CLEANING - Is a Clear Choice for Clean Windows. Agave Creek is offering 20% Off with this Ad. In & Out Entire Home. Hurry, this offer expires on 5/31/16. Agave Creek is professional, trustworthy, and punctual. They do Residential and Commercial and very affordable plus honor most credit cards. For Free Estimates call today 480-256-2565. BLACK MOUNTAIN COFFEE SHOP - Visit The Oldest Restaurant in Carefree with a New Look ! Black Mountain Coffee Shop has been remodeled for the comfort of their customers. Offering a great menu for Breakfast and Lunch. A few tasty Breakfast items, Angus Grub Steak & Home Fries, Eggs/Omelets made your way. Pancakes/Freench Toast, Homemade Cinnamon Rolls, Ask about our Daily Breakfast Specials. 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April 6, 2016 Grand Canyon Chapter DAR Announces Completion of Stoneman Trail Historical Marker Project From l., Jean Howell, chapter publicity chairman; Carmen Wendt, chapter recording secretary; Kandy Wagenbach, chapter special projects grants chairman; Jill Hanon, chapter DAR project patriot chairman; Norma Patterson, chapter member; Leonard Marcisz, Historian, McDowell Mountain Regional Park; Marian Hulka, chapter womens issues chairman; Katie Paulsen, chapter honorary regent. Scottsdale-chartered Grand Canyon Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) commemorated the finished restoration of the Stoneman Trail Military Route Marker Saturday, March 19 at McDowell Mountain Regional Park . The original marker was placed by the Arizona State Society DAR October 25, 1997 during the administration of state regent Patricia Godber. Mrs. Godber also served as Grand Canyon DAR chapter regent. The Stoneman Road was an important conduit between 1870 and 1890 for shipping supplies from Fort Whipple in Prescott to Fort McDowell near present-day Fountain Hills. The route, of which only minimal traces remain, was named after General George Stoneman. On April 10, 1890, Fort McDowell was vacated by the U.S. military and became Fort McDowell Indian Reservation. From l., Marian Hulka, invocations; Kathy Shields, chapter regent; Patti Godber, Honorary AZ DAR state regent and honorary chapter regent; and Kandy Wagenbach, honorary chapter regent and chapter special projects grants chairman. Leonard Marcisz, historian for McDowell Mountain Regional Park who spoke at the rededication, said, The importance of the Daughters of the American Revolution lies in preserving the human experience behind American history and honoring the values that make our country great. Grand Canyon Chapter was awarded a grant by the National Society DAR in the amount of $1,550 for the marker restoration. Funding for the project was made possible through the sponsorship of the chapter. Work on the project entailed replacing the original wood marker with marble, retaining the original bronze plaque. Kandy Wagenbach, chairman of Grand Canyon Chapter DARs Special Grants Committee, said, I want to thank the National Society DAR officers and chairmen who made the Special Projects grant available to our chapter, the Arizona State DAR officers for their support, and chapter members for their role in the projects rededication. Front row, from l., troop leader and scout, Boy Scout troop 118Salt River district; Kandy Wagenbach, chapter special projects grants chairman; Patti Godber, honorary AZ State DAR regent and honorary chapter regent; Susan von Hellens, chapter vice regent. Back row, from l., Leonard Marcisz, Historian, McDowell Mountain Regional Park; Marian Hulka, ceremony invocations; Jill Hanon, chapter DAR project patriot chairman, Terri Mott, AZ State DAR vice regent and honorary chapter regent; and Georgia Hier, AZ State DAR Historian. The DAR grants program was started in 2010 to support projects in local communities which promote the societys mission of historic preservation, education and patriotism. The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890. Any woman over the age of 18 who can prove lineal descent from a Revolutionary War patriot is eligible to join. To learn more about todays DAR, visit www.DAR.org. To apply for a DAR Special Projects grant, visit www.DAR.org/grants. For information on Grand Canyon Chapter DAR visit http://grandcanyon.arizonadar.org. April 6, 2016 Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program Set to Distribute $123 Million for Conservation in the Southwest The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently announced the nationwide distribution of more than $1.1 billion in revenues generated by Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration and Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Acts. All four states in the Services Southwest Region have the opportunity to share in this distribution of conservation funding. In 2016, $123,356,617 will be available to the states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. The money supports essential conservation endeavors performed by state fish and game agencies and is derived by excise taxes, a user-pay user-benefit system, paid on gear for fishing, boating, shooting and hunting. Hunters, shooters, anglers and boaters have done more to fund essential conservation work than any other group, said Cliff Schleusner, Chief of the Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration (WSFR) Program in the Services Southwest Region. The Service delivers the money to on-the-ground projects that prove beneficial to fish and wildlife and access to outdoor recreation. The WSFR Program has a profound influence on conservation and the economy and our heritage of outdoor pursuits. The WSFR Program has facilitated impressive conservation partnerships since 1937. Over these intervening 79 years, more than $18 billion has been generated for the betterment of wildlife, fisheries and boating access. Fishing and hunting license revenues paid to state fish and game agencies by hunters and anglers are used in part to match the conservation funding coming from WSFR, approximately $5 billion to date. This conservation funding goes to where it is neededon the ground or in the waterfor projects that directly benefit fish and wildlife or improve access to outdoor endeavors. The four states are eligible to use the following amount of funds in 2016: Arizona $25,896,359; New Mexico $20,830,305; Oklahoma $23,945,446; Texas $52,684,507. Some recently completed projects exemplify the use of WSFR funding. Arizona: The world-class Ben Avery Shooting Facility, owned by the Arizona Game and Fish Department in north Phoenix, hosts more than 120,000 shooters of all ages each year, including regional- and national-class shooting competitions. Hunters hone their skills and young shooters might pull their first trigger on the firing line with trained safety officers nearby. New Mexico: The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish trapped 47 wild turkeys near Cimarron, New Mexico, and released them in the Guadalupe Mountains inside the Lincoln National Forest, following prescribed burns and forest thinning designed to improve wildlife habitat. Oklahoma: The Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation improved boat ramps, docks, lighting and fish cleaning stations at Grand Lake O' the Cherokees near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The lake was the site of the recent Bassmaster Classic. Texas: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently used WSFR dollars at the Sea Center Texas, at Lake Jackson; CCA Marine Development Center, Corpus Christi; and the Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Station in Palacios, Texas, where scientists research and raise red drum, spotted seatrout and southern floundersport fish species important to the economy and coastal ecology. The red drum population in Texas bays has rebounded to near-record highs. Red drum are stocked in nine bays along the Texas coast. To learn more about the WSFR Program in the Southwest Region, visit: www.fws.gov/southwest/federal_assistance April 6, 2016 Scottsdale-chartered Grand Canyon Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) commemorated the finished restoration of the Stoneman Trail Military Route Marker Saturday, March 19 at McDowell Mountain Regional Park . The original marker was placed by the Arizona State Society DAR October 25, 1997 during the administration of state regent Patricia Godber. Mrs. Godber also served as Grand Canyon DAR chapter regent. April 6, 2016 Residents can get more information and share their views this spring on Scottsdales Desert Discovery Center concept. Scottsdales Desert Discovery Center is envisioned as an interpretive, education and research center intended to complement the McDowell Sonoran Preserve experience and be a focal point for understanding human interaction with arid environments. April 6, 2016 SRINGERVILLE Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests (ASNFs) Acting Supervisor Steve Best encourages people to minimize natural resource damage from travel by avoiding wet, muddy roads and trails and choosing the more hardened ones. Best says We want people to enjoy their forests, however during wet conditions such as spring run-off and the monsoons which create muddy conditions, resource damage can easily occur. April 6, 2016 Monthly, quarterly and annual membership options are now available for Scottsdale Senior Services' state of the art fitness facilities. The Granite Reef and Via Linda fitness facilities feature an extensive variety of exercise equipment including treadmills, ellipticals, stationary bikes, cardio equipment and free weights. New senior fitness center fees include: April 6, 2016 CAVE CREEK Cave Creek Museum is embracing Spring with a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for the Museum on April 10 at Harolds! Bring your appetite to Cave Creek Museums "Spaghetti Dinner" fundraiser at Harold's Cave Creek Corral, 6895 E. Cave Creek Rd., in Cave Creek, on Sun., April 10 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. April 6, 2016 The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) recently announced the nationwide distribution of more than $1.1 billion in revenues generated by Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration and Dingell-Johnson Sport Fish Restoration Acts. All four states in the Services Southwest Region have the opportunity to share in this distribution of conservation funding. April 6, 2016 Shelter takes unusual step of removing breed labels from adoptable dogs Results of study by ASU researchers support pilot program by Arizona Animal Welfare League PHOENIX The Arizona Animal Welfare League (AAWL) is removing breed labels for adoptable dogs at its shelter to help potential adopters focus on the dogs personality and how well it fits with their lifestyle, rather than what breeds make up the dog. "We have always talked about how you fall in love with the dog, and that, while breeds contribute to a dogs personality, it is just one part of who a dog is," says Michael Morefield with AAWL. These two dogs from the Arizona Animal Welfare League, which were part of the ASU study, look virtually the same. One (top) was labeled as a shepherd-cattle dog mix, while the other was labeled as a pit bull mix. "We believe we are the first shelter in Arizona to eliminate breed labels on kennel cards for all of our adoptable dogs. Potential adopters can still see what breed or breeds adoptable dogs are likely to be from their profiles on the shelters website, at www.aawl.org. The no-kill shelter started the pilot program in hopes it will help some dogs get adopted more quickly. We think this approach will encourage people to choose to meet dogs from a broader selection, adds Morefield. "We reveal everything we know about a dog during our matching process, to ensure that what we know about an animals temperament, behavior, activity level and assumed breed are a good match for the family at all levels." The AAWL pilot comes just as a new study by researchers from Arizona State University is released. The study, by Lisa Gunter and colleagues, found that dogs labeled as pit bulls wait three times as long to be adopted from shelters than "look-alikes" that are not labeled or labeled as other breeds. The study, entitled, "Whats in a Name? Effect of Breed Perceptions & Labeling on Attractiveness, Adoptions & Length of Stay for Pit-Bull-Type Dogs, was published March 23 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. Working with AAWL and a few organizations outside of Arizona, Gunter and her associates conducted four related studies to determine how perceptions of breeds and differences in labeling can impact outcomes for shelter dogs. While previous research suggested certain types of dogs take longer to be adopted from shelters, it was unclear how much the breed identification influenced adoption decisions. The authors of this research initially assessed perceptions of pit bull dogs compared to other breeds. They then analyzed the effect of the pit bull label in dog shelters, comparing the perceived attractiveness and length of stay in shelters between dogs labeled as pit bull breeds and look-alikes that were labeled differently. They found that pit bull breeds were perceived as less adoptable than other breeds such as Labradors, because they were considered less friendly and more aggressive. We were surprised how very similar-looking dogs sometimes get labeled 'pit bull' and other times as something completely different, says Gunter. "These dogs may look and act the same, but the pit bull label damns them to a much longer wait to adoption." The authors say their study suggests that removing breed labels is a relatively low-cost strategy that will likely improve outcomes for dogs in animal shelters. AAWL Previously Helped Test Dog Adoptability with DNA Results Last year, Mars Veterinary selected AAWL for a first-of-its-kind program in which shelter staff took cheek swabs for DNA testing from dogs when they arrived at the shelter. After testing, the dog's DNA profile was printed out to be placed at the kennel, in hopes that confirming the breed makeup would help potential adopters decide on a dog. Final results of this project are still pending, but Morefield says that it did show shelter staff that their best guess as to the dogs background was often inaccurate. However, he adds that nothing that we learned, one way or another, changed the dog. Based on the shelters experience and preliminary results of the ASU study, the shelter started its pilot program of removing breeds from kennel cards about two weeks ago. Other shelters have started removing the pit bull label, but AAWL believes it is the first shelter in the state to stop identifying all its adoptable dogs by breed. April 6, 2016 Community generosity in support of Soldier's Best Friend The Fundraiser for Soldiers Best Friend held by the Rotary Club of Scottsdale North on Saturday, March 19 raised over $14,000, which will be doubled through a matching Grant to Soldiers Best Friend. Our North Scottsdale/Cave Creek/Carefree communities were very generous with donations for the silent and live auctions as well as the raffle. This will help Soldiers Best Friend continue to pair U.S. Military Veterans, living with PTSD or Traumatic Brain Injury, with service or Therapeutic Companion Dogs, most of which are rescued from local shelters. The event was held in the General Store Patio on a lovely North Scottsdale evening with live music provided by the band The Last Straw. John Burnham, DVM, President and Founder of Soldiers Best Friend, spoke to the attendees and introduced a U.S. Veteran and his Therapeutic Companion Dog who told us about his experiences and his gratitude to SBF. For more information about Scottsdale North Rotary Club and Soldiers Best Friend visit https://soldiersbestfriend.org/ and www.rotaryscottsdalenorth.org/. Guest Editorial By Thomas Sowell | APRIL 6, 2016 Charlatans and sheep One of the secrets of successful magicians on stage is directing the audience's attention to something attractive or distracting, but irrelevant to what is actually being done. That is also the secret of successful political charlatans. Consider the message directed at business owners by Senator Elizabeth Warren and President Barack Obama "You didn't build that!" Assuming for the sake of argument that a man who owns a business simply inherited it from his father, what follows? That politicians can use the inherited resources better than the heir? Such a sweeping assumption has neither logic nor evidence behind it -- but rhetoric doesn't have to have logic or evidence to be politically effective. The conclusion is insinuated, rather than spelled out, so it is less likely to be scrutinized. Moreover, attention is directed toward the undeserved good fortune of the heir, and away from the crucial question as to whether society will in fact be better off if politicians take over more of either the management or the earnings of the business. The question of politicians' track record in managing economic activities vanishes into thin air, just as other things vanish into thin air by a magician's sleight of hand on stage. Another of the magic feats of political rhetoric in our time is to blame "a legacy of slavery" for problems in the black community today. The repulsiveness of slavery immediately seizes our attention, just as effectively as the attractiveness of a magician's scantily clad female assistant or the distraction of a flash of light or a loud noise on stage. Here again, rhetoric distracts attention from questions about logic or evidence. The "legacy of slavery" argument is not just a convenient excuse for bad behavior, it allows politicians to escape responsibility for the consequences of the government policies they imposed. Although the left likes to argue as if there was a stagnant world to which they added the magic ingredient of "change" in the 1960s, in reality there were many positive trends in the 1950s, which reversed and became negative trends in the 1960s. Not only was the poverty rate going down, so was the rate of dependence on government to stay out of poverty. Teenage pregnancy rates were falling, and so were rates of venereal diseases like syphilis and gonorrhea. Homicide rates among non-white males fell 22 percent in the 1950s. In the wake of the massive expansion of the welfare state in the 1960s "war on poverty" program -- with the repeatedly announced goal of enabling people to become self-supporting and end their dependence on government -- in fact dependence on government increased and is today far higher than when the 1960s began. The declining rates of teenage pregnancy and venereal diseases in the 1950s both reversed and rose sharply in the wake of the 1960s "sexual revolution" ideas, introduced into schools under the guise of "sex education," which claimed to be able to reduce teenage pregnancy and venereal diseases. Black labor force participation rates, which had been higher than white labor force participation rates in every census from 1890 to 1960, fell below white labor force participation rates by 1972 and the gap has widened since then. Homicide rates among non-white males reversed their decline in the 1950s and soared by 75 percent during the 1960s. None of this was a "legacy of slavery," which ended a century earlier. But slavery became the rhetorical distraction for the political magicians' trick of making their own responsibility for social degeneration vanish into thin air by sleight of hand. Political charlatans are not the whole story of our social degeneracy on many fronts. "We the people" must accept our own share of the blame because we voted these charlatans into office, and went along with their ever-increasing power over our lives. When it came to charlatans taking ever larger amounts of our own money to finance ever more big government programs, we stood still like sheep waiting to be sheared. We remained as meek as sheep when they turned schools into places to propagandize our children to grow up accepting more of the same. All the while we had the power to vote them out. But we couldn't be bothered to look beyond their magic words. Even now, many are too absorbed in their electronic devices to know or care. Thomas Sowell is an American economist, social theorist, political philosopher, and author. He is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. Sowell was born in North Carolina, but grew up in Harlem, New York. He dropped out of high school and served in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He received a bachelor's degree, graduating magna cum laude[3] from Harvard University in 1958 and a master's degree from Columbia University in 1959. In 1968, he earned his Doctorate in Economics from the University of Chicago. Sowell has served on the faculties of several universities, including Cornell University and University of California, Los Angeles. He has also worked for think tanks such as the Urban Institute. Since 1980, he has worked at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He writes from a conservative and classical liberal perspective, advocating free market economics. Sowell has written more than thirty books (a number of which have been reprinted in revised editions), and his work has been widely anthologized. He is a National Humanities Medal recipient. april 6, 2016 Border Patrol Agents apprehend man convicted in 2001 drive-by-killing TUCSON Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a Mexican national during the Easter weekend who had been deported after serving 11 years in prison for his involvement in a drive-by shooting in Tucson in 2001. After arresting Sergio Coronado-Mata outside of Tucson, agents conducting biometric records checks learned of Coronados manslaughter conviction in Pima County in 2001. The shooting, which wounded two others including a 17-year-old boy, occurred in the 1600 block of South Arcadia Avenue near South Swan and 29th. Coronado, previously charged with first-degree murder but was convicted of manslaughter, has now been charged with felony reentry after deportation by an aggravated felon. Individuals with criminal convictions often face stiffened penalties for reentry after deportation. Typically, Border Patrol agents do not know a subjects criminal history until after conducting biometric records checks. Tucson Sector agents remain vigilant in their pursuit of criminal offenders and work to ensure the safety of the American public. CBP welcomes assistance from the community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol by calling 1-877-872-7435 toll free. All calls will be answered and remain anonymous. april 6, 2016 Failed smuggling attempt results in two fatalities On the night of March 28 a failed smuggling attempt resulted in the tragic death of two in an attempt to evade law enforcement. At approximately 7:45, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents observed a group of suspected illegal immigrants exiting a desert area and running to a vehicle parked in a gas station parking lot near Andrade, California. The suspects entered the vehicle and fled the area. The suspect vehicle subsequently collided with a semi-truck on Interstate 8, causing injury to four individuals and two fatalities. The driver of the semi-truck was not injured. The alleged driver of the vehicle, a 30 year-old U.S. citizen, is currently under investigation for alien smuggling. Yuma Sector Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Porvaznik states that, While we lament the loss of lives in this incident, it serves as a violent demonstration of the dangerous conditions our agents face on a daily basis in the performance of their duties. The reckless actions of members of smuggling organizations know no bounds. They will endanger not only our agents, but also the migrants they transport and innocent citizens in their paths in efforts to succeed in their illegal, cross-border activities. Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents effectively combat smuggling organizations attempting to illegally transport people and contraband through southwestern Arizona and California. Citizens can help the Border Patrol and U.S. Customs and Border Protection by calling 1-866-999-8727 toll-free to report suspicious activity. Callers can remain anonymous. Nogales CBP Officers seize firearms, ammo A Phoenix woman and a U.S. citizen male living in Mexico were arrested March 27 for attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into Mexico through the Port of Nogales. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers conducting outbound inspections selected a Ford SUV, driven by the 26-year-old woman, for further inspection. During the search, officers found two tactical rifles, rifle components and 3,000 rounds of ammunition. Officers seized the vehicle and contraband, and referred both subjects to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations. Federal law allows officers to charge individuals by complaint, a method that allows the filing of charges for criminal activity without inferring guilt. An individual is presumed innocent unless and until competent evidence is presented to a jury that establishes guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. CBP's Office of Field Operations is the primary organization within Homeland Security tasked with an anti-terrorism mission at our nations ports. CBP officers screen all people, vehicles and goods entering the United States while facilitating the flow of legitimate trade and travel. Their mission also includes carrying out border-related duties, including narcotics interdiction, enforcing immigration and trade laws, and protecting the nation's food supply and agriculture industry from pests and diseases. Border Patrol Technology Detects Marijuana Smugglers on Horseback Border Patrol agents assigned to the Tucson Station seized two horses carrying large packs of marijuana through the desert Sunday evening, March 27 near Sasabe. Agents operating detection and surveillance technology observed two individuals on horseback cross into the United States illegally near Sasabe. The information was relayed to agents in the field, and a Border Patrol agent and an Air and Marine Operations helicopter responded to investigate. The smugglers continued to trek northbound until they heard the helicopter approaching. At that time, the two individuals dismounted the horses and fled back to Mexico. Agents seized the horses and marijuana, weighing approximately 95.5 pounds and worth almost $48,000. The horses will be turned over to the Arizona Department of Agriculture. These types of technology assets strengthens and multiplies Border Patrol effectiveness in a wide variety of scenarios in Tucson Sectors unpredictable and remote terrain, said Division Chief Raleigh Leonard. Improved technology has enhanced our ability to deter, detect, identify, classify, and resolve border incursions. Technology also provides agents improved situational awareness and facilitates an appropriate level of response according to the level of threat, he added. Agents are advised in advance if the detected activity is armed narcotics traffickers or unarmed migrants. Customs and Border Protection welcomes assistance from the community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol and remain anonymous by calling 1-877-872-7435 toll free. Border Patrol Agent Saves Choking Child A Douglas Border Patrol Station agent rendered aid to a 6-year-old child choking at a local restaurant Sunday, March 27 in Douglas, Arizona. The agent was waiting for a food order at Carls Jr. when he noticed a family in distress because their child appeared to be choking. The Border Patrol agent took immediate action, administering two forceful blows with the palm of his hand to the childs back. The child immediately began to breathe. The Douglas Fire Department arrived on scene and determined no further medical treatment was required. All Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents are trained as first responders and are often relied upon to administer immediate, lifesaving aid in the communities they patrol. The agency also employs more than 250 EMTs and 15 paramedics. This is just another example of what makes me so proud of our agents, said Tucson Sectors Chief Patrol Agent Paul Beeson. We are all committed to protecting and keeping our communities safe. This is where we live and raise our own families. CBP welcomes assistance from the community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol by calling 1-877-872-7435 toll free. All calls will be answered and remain anonymous. CBP canine sniffs out 52 lbs of meth in car Customs and Border Protection officers arrested a Mexican national on March 24 for attempting to smuggle almost 52 pounds of methamphetamine through the Dennis DeConcini crossing at the Port of Nogales. Officers inspecting the vehicle of a 42-year-old woman found multiple packages of meth after a CBP narcotics-detection canine alerted to the drugs hidden inside the vehicles rocker panels when she attempted to enter the U.S. Officers seized the drugs and vehicle, and turned the subject a legal permanent resident over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcements Homeland Security Investigations. Joint operation results in rescue of injured alien A Border Patrol agent from Tucson Sectors Ajo Station and an Air and Marine Operations Yuma Air Branch helicopter crew rescued an adult male Mexican national suffering from a leg injury near Ajo, Arizona, March 23. Shortly before 8 a.m., the Ajo Border Patrol Station received notification of a 911 call from a man from Sinaloa, Mexico, and that he was injured with only 10 percent battery life remaining on his cell phone. The agent responding was able to get within approximately 2.2 miles from his location by vehicle but had to hike the remaining distance. After an AMO crew was contacted, the pilot determined he could land nearby and transport the man to the Ajo Border Patrol Station. After agents determined the man was illegally present in the United States and had broken his leg. Subsequently they arranged ground transport for additional medical treatment. Entering the United States illegally, especially through the dangerous and unforgiving Arizona environment, is not worth risking ones life, said Paul Beeson, commander of the Department of Homeland Securitys Joint Task Force-West, Arizona. As a result of unity of effort, communication and coordination, this story did not have a tragic ending. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 Cruz may have bamboozled the citizens of Texas in 2012 Senate bid One cannot be considered both naturalized and natural born BROWNSVILLE, Texas On March 10, Attorney Stephen Pidgeon, lead counsel for the North American Law Center sent a letter to Texas Secretary of State Carlos H. Cascos on behalf of a legal citizen and voter in Texas, as well as in the public interest of the nation, questioning if, when Cruz ran for, was elected and certified by the Texas Secretary of State as the new U.S. Senator representing the people of Texas, he was a legal citizen of Canada. As of this writing, Pidgeon has not received a response. Ted Cruz Attached to his letter, Pidgeon provided a copy of Cruzs birth certificate indicating Rafael Edward Ted Cruz, was born on Dec. 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He also attached a copy of Cruzs Certificate of Renunciation of Canadian Citizenship, whereas Cruz formally renounced Canadian citizenship and pursuant to the Citizenship Act will cease to be a citizen on May 14, 2014. When Cruz was born on Dec. 22, 1970 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Canada didn't allow for dual citizenship, indicating Cruz was only a citizen of Canada. The Canadian Citizenship Act of 1946, which became effective in 1947, was the first citizenship act in Canada to create a new citizenship status apart from being British subjects and, at the time, chose not to allow for dual citizenship. So, despite his mother having been born an American citizen, documentation exists that she and Cruzs father voted in Canada in 1974 when dual citizenship was not permitted. It was only in 1977, the passage of the Citizenship Act, replacing the 1947 Act, provided the ability to hold dual citizenship. However, like Obama, documents indicating how and when Cruz became an American citizen are apparently unavailable or non-existent. So, when Cruz ran and was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, he was still a Canadian citizen and most likely did not hold dual American citizenship, as he claims. Its entirely possible since renouncing his Canadian citizenship in 2014 Cruz does not hold any citizenship. The requirements for becoming a U.S. Senator are stated in article one, section three and clause three of the U.S. Constitution. To become a Senator, an applicant must meet specific age, citizenship and state status. These requirements have been in effect, with no amendments since the U.S. Senate was formed in 1787 by a convention referred to as the framers of the constitution. The minimum age requirement is 30 years of age, which James Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution, justified by saying serving as a senator required greater life experience and stability of character. Those seeking a seat in the U.S. Senate must also be a U.S. citizen for nine years prior to applying for the Senate. The nine-year rule was put into place to ensure foreign-born senators would have more loyalty to the United States than to their birth countries. This provision was invoked to promote evenhandedness when dealing with treaties and making foreign policy decisions. Additionally, U.S. Senators are required to reside in the state in which they are to be elected, although the constitution does not specify how long they must reside in the state to be eligible to run. Senate candidates must also meet state registration requirements, which may vary by state, be up-to-date on their taxes and pass a criminal background check. States typically require candidates to be registered with a political party and be eligible to vote. One of the first legal challenges to Cruzs eligibility as a natural born citizen filed in New York Appellate Court has been dismissed on a technicality for missing a deadline. Although the court had the ability to waive the deadline, it chose to dismiss the case instead. Judge Gray H. Miller Meanwhile, another eligibility case, Newton Boris Schwartz, Sr. v. Ted Cruz, is scheduled for a hearing on Cruzs motion to dismiss in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas on April 13 before Judge Gray H. Miller, a George W. Bush appointee. According to Schwartzs complaint, In order for Ted Cruz to have become a US citizen at birth in 1970, his mother would have had to retain exclusive U.S. citizenship and filed a CRBA (Consular Report of Birth Abroad) to obtain exclusive U.S. citizenship at the time for her son Ted and renounced his automatic naturally acquired Canadian citizenship. The process in itself is considered a very abbreviated form of naturalization, thereby making such persons born outside of the official territories of the United States absolutely ineligible to become President of these United States in at least this one circumstance alone. Given that Canadian law did not allow dual citizenship at the time, then if his mother filed a CRBA in 1970, his Canadian citizenship would likely have needed to be renounced before a new U.S. citizenship could be granted. Schwartz presumes Cruzs father became a Canadian citizen in 1968 and says if Cruzs mothers first husband was also a Canadian citizen, she would have become a Canadian citizen even before his father. However, according to Schwartz, even if her first husband was not Canadian, according to Canadian law, Cruzs mother would have still automatically become a Canadian citizen in 1969 after having a Canadian spouse and residing in Canada for one year. Schwartzs complaint states, If both of defendants parents became exclusive citizens of Canada by 1969, then even if his mother tried to file a CRBA, she would not have been able to confer U.S. citizenship to her son as she was no longer a U.S. citizen herself. Even if she somehow retained U.S. citizenship, defendant could not have been granted dual citizenship as it was against Canadian law Cruz automatically became a Canadian citizen the instant he was born on Canadian soil. Cruz, who only decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship in 2014, has never released a copy of a CRBA or any other naturalization documents and there is no evidence Cruz ever became a U.S. citizen. Schwartz asserts, One cannot be considered both naturalized and natural born, while Cruz has openly claimed he never had to go through any sort of naturalization process or require a CRBA, indicating no such document exists, because he was automatically a U.S. citizen by birth. However, his assertion does not comport with U.S. law for persons born in another country. Schwartz goes on to state, If indeed that was just assumed and nothing was ever filed to correct that erroneous assumption, then he never has become a U.S. citizen. Cruzs motion to dismiss claims Schwartz lacks standing and states the constitutional issue he presents is a non-justiciable political question. Cruz states Schwartz is essentially implicating the court in a political dispute that it lacks authority to adjudicate, adding, The court should reject the invitation and dismiss the complaint. Dismissing a case on the issue of standing gives courts broad authority to reject cases it prefers not to adjudicate. No court ever heard any of the challenges to Obamas eligibility on the merits they were all dismissed for lack of standing or jurisdiction and it appears the challenges to Cruzs eligibility, not just as a natural born citizen but as a U.S. citizen, may head down the same path. Texans may have been bamboozled in 2012 when they unknowingly elected a Canadian citizen to the U.S. Senate in direct conflict with the U.S. Constitution. Will American voters go on to be bamboozled into nominating someone who held Canadian citizen until May 2014, and now may hold no citizenship whatsoever, to be president of the United States? april 6, 2016 Mexican officials report cross-border tunnel extends approximately 30 feet into U.S. TUCSON Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents, acting on information provided by Mexican authorities Monday, investigated a cross-border tunnel that extends approximately 30 feet into the United States east of the Morley Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona. Cross-border tunnel that came 30 feet into the United States from Mexico Mexican government officials contacted the Nogales Border Patrol Station to report they had located a tunnel entrance in Nogales, Sonora. Nogales agents, in cooperation with Mexican authorities, investigated the tunnel and determined it to be incomplete and approximately 80 feet long. Since agents discovered the first illicit tunnel in 1990 in Douglas, Arizona, Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents have investigated more than 115 tunnels (110 in the Nogales area alone) and seized in excess of 17,500 pounds of narcotics. Since October 1, 2015, Tucson Sector agents have located three tunnels. The tunnels, typically primitive in nature, are generally used by transnational criminal organizations to smuggle narcotics into the United States. Agents put themselves in dangerous, unnerving situations when they investigate tunnels. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials welcome assistance from the community. Citizens can report suspicious activity to the Border Patrol and remain anonymous by calling 1-877-872-7435 toll free. Contacting the Border Patrol to report illicit activity could result in saving someones life. By Tim Castro and Jacqueline Salit | april 6, 2016 Statement by Independent voters for Arizona and IndependentVoting.org What occurred in the Arizona presidential preference election was another black eye on the state of politics in Arizona. The exclusion of Arizonas 1.2 million Independent voters is a systemic form of voter suppression and undemocratic in the extreme. We note Governor Ducey's remarks calling for an opening of the presidential primaries to Independents, however, it appears to be politically convenient that he waited until after the election. For months, thousands of Independent voters led by Independent Voters for Arizona have been pressuring party leaders and elected officials to open the presidential primaries. Over 30,800 Arizona independents signed protest letters to the chairs of the Democratic and Republican parties asking them to open their primaries to independents which were delivered to them on February 22. They refused to do so. This voter suppression was ignored by the Governor and the party chairs until it contributed to a crisis at the polls. Independents want more than after-the-fact symbolic support, Governor Ducey. We want a system that is fair and inclusive of all. We will continue to fight on behalf of independents to open up the primary process. No Arizonan should have to join a party in order to have the right to vote and no taxpayer should have to fund an election that they are not allowed to vote in. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 Jankowski squeaks through 4-3 split council vote with one-year contract CAVE CREEK Call to the Public brought Bill Allen to the podium to advise council Tony Geiger was now chair of the Water Advisory Committee and Betsy Wise was vice chair. He also said there were two or three people who have come forward with interest in serving on the committee that will be brought to council for consideration. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 CAREFREE With no one wishing to speak during Call to the Public and no updates for Current Events, Mayor Les Peterson began Tuesday nights meeting by announcing all the members of council signed their acknowledgement of the recently passed Code of Conduct ordinance and said copies are retained on file with the town clerk. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 CAVE CREEK A motorcyclist identified as Scott Edwards Jr., 36, of Glendale was transported to Honor Health Deer Valley Hospital on Sunday with life-threatening injuries, and where he was later pronounced dead, following an accident at the intersection of Cave Creek and School House roads. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 One cannot be considered both naturalized and natural born BROWNSVILLE, Texas On March 10, Attorney Stephen Pidgeon, lead counsel for the North American Law Center sent a letter to Texas Secretary of State Carlos H. Cascos on behalf of a legal citizen and voter in Texas, as well as in the public interest of the nation, questioning if, when Cruz ran for, was elected and certified by the Texas Secretary of State as the new U.S. Senator representing the people of Texas, he was a legal citizen of Canada. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 PHOENIX Last week Gov. Doug Ducey signed HB 2451, pertaining to the release of prisoners with deportation orders, into law. HB 2451 repeals A.R.S. 41-1604.14, which allowed the director of the Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) to release certain prisoners to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after serving only half of their sentences, providing they were convicted of a lower level class 3, 4, 5 or 6 felony, not convicted of a homicide related or sexual assault offense, and not a repeat or dangerous offender. By Linda Bentley | april 6, 2016 lets stop paying lawyers and start paying teachers PHOENIX Early voting begins on April 20 for the May 17 Special Election during which voters will have the opportunity to approve or reject two constitutional amendments via propositions 123 and 124. Prop 123 proposes amendments to Article X, Section7 and Article XI of the Arizona Constitution by adding Section 11, relating to education finance. april 6, 2016 Public Notice Of Town Of Carefree Notice is hereby given that the Town of Carefree will hold elections as follows: *Primary Election: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 General Election: Tuesday, November 8, 2016 april 6, 2016 On the night of March 28 a failed smuggling attempt resulted in the tragic death of two in an attempt to evade law enforcement. At approximately 7:45, Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents observed a group of suspected illegal immigrants exiting a desert area and running to a vehicle parked in a gas station parking lot near Andrade, California. The suspects entered the vehicle and fled the area. The suspect vehicle subsequently collided with a semi-truck on Interstate 8, causing injury to four individuals and two fatalities. The driver of the semi-truck was not injured. The alleged driver of the vehicle, a 30 year-old U.S. citizen, is currently under investigation for alien smuggling. april 6, 2016 TUCSON Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents apprehended a Mexican national during the Easter weekend who had been deported after serving 11 years in prison for his involvement in a drive-by shooting in Tucson in 2001. april 6, 2016 TUCSON Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents, acting on information provided by Mexican authorities Monday, investigated a cross-border tunnel that extends approximately 30 feet into the United States east of the Morley Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona. Its been five years since the assassination of Pakistani Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, but his religious freedom legacy lives on in Canada and around the world, reports the Catholic News. I admire him a great deal, said Canadas Religious Freedom Ambassador Andrew Bennett. I wouldnt be here if it wasnt for his witness. Bennett said while Bhatti was a devout Catholic, he spoke on behalf of all religious communities facing persecution Christian, Hindu, Sikh or Shia Muslim who ran afoul of Pakistans blasphemy laws and it cost him his life. In his assassination he paid the ultimate price for religious freedom, he said. He also paid a price for the truth of human dignity and the importance of the freedom all human beings must have to practice their faith. Former immigration minister Jason Kenney met Bhatti on a visit to Pakistan in 2009. I immediately realized that he was a remarkable man, filled with courage and a profound Christian faith, Kenney told CCN in an e-mail. He described for me the plight of all of the persecuted minority communities of Pakistan, and his efforts, as the first non-Muslim Pakistani cabinet minister, to defend the afflicted. Bhatti worked on behalf of minorities even though he knew his work made him a target of extremists. When in Ottawa, Kenney introduced him to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and privately told him the Pakistani minister could soon be assassinated. Before he left Ottawa to return to Pakistan, I encouraged Shahbaz to stay until the situation there de-escalated, Kenney said. He refused to do so, telling me that I know the way of the Cross, and I am called to follow it. If I do not go back, who will defend the defenceless, who will be a voice for the voiceless. We paid a tearful goodbye to one another, Kenney said. I had at the time the sense of a man preparing to embrace martyrdom. Two weeks later, he was dead. Having known and worked with Shahbaz remains one of the great honours of my life, said Kenney. I have joined other Catholic legislators in writing to the Holy See to endorse a cause for his beatification. Bhattis inspiration solidified the Harper governments focus on religious freedom, leading to the creation of Canadas Office of Religious Freedom, one of the many good fruits of his life and witness, Kenney said. Bennett said Bhatti provides him with inspiration on the days when he finds the challenges of fighting for religious freedom overwhelming. Peter Bhatti said his brother suggested he found International Christian Voice 16 years ago.About 1,000 people in the Greater Toronto Area support the organization which marked the fifth anniversary of Bhattis martyrdom March 5 with a dinner at the Canadian Coptic Centre in Mississauga, Ont. Bennett has also developed a good relationship with Dr. Paul Bhatti, who succeeded his brother as an advisor to the Pakistani government on religious minorities. After his brothers assassination, Paul Bhatti, a surgeon, took over as head of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a group his younger brother had founded. In Canada, International Christian Voice has punched well above its weight in raising awareness of the plight of persecuted Christians in Pakistan. Last fall, Peter Bhatti and others from the organization paid a 10-day visit to about 4,000 Pakistani Christians who had fled death threats in their home country and were trying to survive in Thailand. Peter Bhatti said this group faces immigration problems there and has no money for rent, food or medical treatment. Photo caption: Shades of grey. (AP Photo/Aman Sharma) By M Rajshekhar, Scroll.in Special to The Post Industry is fleeing Punjaban investigation by us found a growing number of companies have shut down or are planning to set up newer units outside the state. Among the reasons cited by businessmen for the exodus were the bribes they claim they are compelled to pay to ruling Akali Dal politicians. But rent-seeking is not the only way Akali Dal leaders are strangling industry in the state. Over the past decade, Punjab has seen a handful of players come to dominate the states industrial sector, earlier fragmented into hundreds of small companies. This consolidation has happened in a bewilderingly diverse set of industries, including stone crushing, sand mining, cable distribution, liquor distribution and bus transport. Most of these new, big players are alleged to have links to the Akali Dal. Part 1: Liquor Till 2002, liquor distribution in Punjab was in the hands of myriad entities. The industry had the distilleries on top, a bunch of wholesalers in the middle, and hundreds of small businessmen running liquor shopsor thekasat the base. Revenue department officials at the district level used to auction wholesale and theka licences, said a businessman who used to own liquor stores in Amritsar. In every circle, the administrative subset of the revenue department, there could be as many as 12 thekas. The government would define the revenues it wanted from each circlesay Rs7 crore, the businessman explained. Since most of the companies in this business were small, they could not bid for the whole circle. And so we would form consortiums and bid. The format for choosing wholesalers was different. According to a former wholesaler, who too spoke on condition of anonymity, anyone could apply for a wholesale licence. Till the early 2000s, each district had several wholesalersas many as 20 in some. This architecture created a highly competitive market. Across the state, licences would go to more than 1,000 companies, said Sarabjit Singh Verka, an investigator with the non-profit Punjab Human Rights Organisation. No monopoly could form. Competition was stiff. The price of liquor was low. And the government earned good revenues. This structure first weakened under the Congress regime. In 2002, shortly after his appointment as chief minister, Amarinder Singh gave a state-wide wholesale licence to liquor baron Ponty Chadhaeffectively, his company had a monopoly over the sale of liquor in Punjab. According to Verka, the next four years saw men hired by Chadha wage a war against homebrews, and against people who brought in liquor from neighbouring states (or the Union Territory of Chandigarh) instead of buying it in Punjab. They would, says Verka, raid marriage halls and parties to check whether the alcohol had been bought in Punjab. In 2006, with state elections around the corner, says Verka, the government ended Chadhas contract. The liquor business reverted to the circle model with multiple wholesalers in every district. In 2007, the Akalis came to power and, a year later, began to consolidate the liquor business again. This time, says the former wholesaler, the government brought down the number of wholesale licences to just two for every district. As the number of wholesalers fell, the remaining wholesalers ability to put pressure on distilleries and retailers increased. Distilleries were told to offer higher trade discounts and longer payment periods, he said. Stores were put under pressure by slashing trade discounts and insisting on immediate payments. Of the two wholesalers, one was usually an old player, the other a new entrant allegedly known to the Akalis. This split averted complaints of monopolisation. But, according to the former wholesaler, the new entrant called the shots: he would sell most of the stipulated quota and the holder of the renewed licence could sell the rest. Most of these new wholesalers, we were told repeatedly, are connected to the Akali Dal. Said K R Lakhanpal, a former chief secretary and finance secretary of Punjab, In Punjab, it is very well known that the liquor business is dominated by functionaries of the ruling dispensation. In their conversations with us, the wholesaler, the retailer and Verka said that five individuals and their families control over 80% of the liquor trade in the state. Of them, at least three have direct links to the Akali Dal. Bikram Majithias family owns Saraya Industries, which has operations in liquor and energy. He is the brother of union minister Harsimrat Kaur and brother-in-law of Sukhbir Badal, the deputy chief minister and son of chief minister Parkash Badal. Majithia is also the minister for three departments, including non-conventional energy. Deep Malhotra heads the liquor-making Oasis Group and is the Akali Dal MLA from Faridkot. Shiv Lal Doda set up Gagan Wines and was the halka in-charge (local leader) of the Akali Dal in Abohar. Questions sent to the state government about these allegations remained unanswered. Part 2: Stone crushing If the liquor business saw smaller companies elbowed out by a few large ones, stone quarrying played out to a different pattern. Here, the industry structure stayed the same, but an outsider came in and took away the margins. Punjabs quarrying industry is concentrated in a few districts. Rivers such as the Ravi are a major source of stone. When it rains, says the owner of a crushing plant near Pathankot, The Ravi swells as wide as 3 km. When it recedes, it leaves behind boulders on the fields of farmers. This annual phenomenon created a crushing industry in two districts near the HimalayasPathankot and Gurdaspur. Apart from this, crushers also operate in districts that have rocky outcrops and hills, such as Ropar. Crushing too is a fragmented industry, thanks to the low entry costs. A crushing unit, the businessman points out, costs no more than Rs1.5 crore. Till 2007, plots for riverine crushing were awarded through auctions. Successful contractors collected the stones deposited by the river, crushed them and heaped them up in large piles. The construction industry from Amritsar and elsewhere bought its requirements from these mounds. The market price of a tractor trolley-load of crushed stone was Rs700-800. Around 2010, once the central government began insisting on environmental clearances for stone mining, things began to change. According to a 2012 petition filed by lawyer Gurbir Singh Pannu in the Punjab & Haryana high court, Punjab held very few auctions thereafter. His petition says, In Roop Nagar district itself the total quantity permitted to be taken out for three years was 159,000 tonnes. This was almost a joke as there are about 400 crushers in the Roper district itself and this much quantity of stones will last barely three days. Similarly, in Pathankot, says his petition, the quantity permitted by regular auction would generate only six days work for 400 crushers. In the guise of environmental regulation, did the government push a legal, revenue-generating industry underground? Says Pannus petition, If the crushers have to work, they will have to work on the basis of illegal mining, not acknowledged by the state nor any revenue paid to the state. Human rights investigator Verka says that if legally mined stone is so little, where is the rest of the stone being used for making roads and buildings across Punjab coming from? People in the villages near Pathankot say stone crushing never really stopped after the central government order. Travelling through the area, its clear that crushers are working relentlessly, and stone-laden trucks plying hectically. Villagers living near Pathankot say that more than a thousand trucks travel along these roads every night. This was verified separately on a visit to a crushing unit at Kathlour near Pathankot. There, workers were matter of fact about the source of the raw material. From the river, a worker said. Mining continues, said the quarry owner. It is just that now the stones are shown as coming from Jammu & Kashmir. He claimed that crushers can now mine and transport their stones only on the payment of Rs500 per tonne to a local called Kuldip Singh Makkar. On paying this money, said the owner, we are given J&K ki parchia document which attests that the stones being transported are from Kashmir and, therefore, legitimate. Kuldeep Singh Makkar, the local who allegedly collects the levies, is the brother of Akali Dal MLA Sarabjit Singh Makkar. When contacted, Makkar denied any wrongdoing. Everyone has a permit, he said. There is so much policing. How can anyone do illegal mining? On being asked why he was being named by people in the local industry, he said: I run a legal crusher and I complain about those doing illegal work. I get the illegal operators arrested. And that is why people doing illegal work are trying to defame me. As for the PIL, he says, these are false writs. His brother, he added, has no role in this business. However, Kuldip Makkars claims about the lack of illegal mining are challenged by local reporters and businessmen. For every Rs200 the crusher makes, the goonda tax is Rs500, said the quarry owner. This means that we, who made all the investments, earn Rs600 while they make Rs1,500. Questions to the state government did not evoke a response. Part 3: Buses and cable distribution Transport too was a fragmented industry in Punjab, with several companies plying buses. Here, as an award-winning investigation in The Tribune showed, a monopoly has taken root since 2007. [Sukhbir] Badal-associated transport companies not only hold a virtual monopoly in the luxury bus segment, but are clearly the dominant players in the private sector, the paper reported. Out of the 84 luxury bus permits operating in Punjab, at least 52 are with transport companies patronised by the Badals. This happened in two ways. In some cases, people close to the Badals acquired stakes in private transport firms such as the Indo-Canadian Transport Company, which plies Mercedes-Benz buses between, for instance, Delhi airport and Punjabs major cities. At other times, The Tribune reported, Companies associated with the Badals have been on a permit-buying spree from other private transporters. This is especially so after the December 2012 order of the division bench of the Punjab & Haryana high court, which put a blanket ban on issuance of new permits. Then, there is cable distributorship. As in the rest of India, the cable business began in Punjab around the first Gulf War, with a bunch of entrepreneurs rigging up dish antennae in streets and neighbourhoods. These were small businesses, feeding as few as 500-600 households and subsisting on monthly subscription fees and local advertising. Over time, according to a cable operator in a town near Ludhiana, the companies consolidated. This process picked pace after, as this 2012article in Firstpost pointed out, the Akali Dal came to power. Soon after the Akali Dal government took over, there were rapid changes in the cable network distribution front. DTH had not yet arrived, and there were three networks thenHathway (belonging to Mumbais Rahejas), Zees Wires & Wireless India Ltd, and Digicable. Today, none of them exists. A new cable distribution networkFastway Transmission Private Ltdhas usurped all three networks. The fallout of this is that cable operators are getting squeezed. Fastway Transmission sends satellite signals to local cable distributors who then send them on to their customers.I have to pay Fastway about Rs125 per connection but I am not allowed to charge more than Rs275, complained the operator. It is hard to survive. As it happens, Fastway too has a Badal connection. Between 2010 and 2015, Jagjit Singh Kohli and Yogesh Shah were directors on Fastways board. Their names, incidentally, also show up in the statutory filings of Sukhbir Singh Badals two media companiesGur-Baz Media and G-Next Media. G-Next owns the PTC Group of television channels. In 2014, Gur-Baz owned 99.98% shares in G-Next. Orbit Resorts owned 99.98% shares in Gur-Baz. Sukhbir Badal owned 67.32% of Orbit Resorts. For a politician or a party, each of these industries would have a different attraction. Stone crushing, sand mining and liquor distribution throw up a lot of cash. The control of the media allows propaganda. And buses, says Master Mohan Lal, a former transport minister with the Akali government, become profitable as the scale of the business rises. What does this centralisation mean for Punjab? Nothing good, actually. The visible damage is that many small companies operating in these spaces have been squeezed out. But the real damage goes way beyond that: as the Akalis links to major industries grow deeper, the state is increasingly lackadaisical about collecting taxes from these industries. To make up for the revenue shortfall, it has stepped up taxes on other industries, forcing many businesses to exit the state. For most states, said KR Lakhanpal, a former finance secretary and chief secretary of Punjab, there are three major sources of revenue: excise, transport (or motor vehicle tax) and real estate (stamp duty). Punjab, he said, is losing revenue from all three. In excise, for instance, Lakhanpal estimates that half the alcohol sold in Punjab is illegal. Therefore, if the state earns Rs5,000 crore from excise, then it is losing an equal amount. Anurag Verma, commissioner for excise and taxation, did not respond our queries. Former excise commissioner A Venuprasad denied there was any excise loss at all. Another instance of the loss is the motor vehicle tax. In Punjab, the government charges a higher tax on ordinary buses than on luxury busesand, remember, the Badals have a major interest in the luxury segment. As The Tribune article said, The MVT (motor vehicle tax) per km per vehicle in a day is Rs3 for ordinary buses and on luxury buses it is as little as Rs1.75. This is regressive, said Lakhanpal. It is not a coincidence that many politicians are in the transport businessnot just the Akalis, but also the Congress and the BJP. This is yet another reason the state exchequer is bleeding. As Punjab favours the luxury bus segment through tax structures and favourable time-slots, the states public transport companies suffer. The dividends they pay the state government have gone down. Then, there is stamp duty. Punjab has kept the stamp duty high, while keeping the circle rate, or the government-defined value of land, low. This has created a real estate market dominated by black money, said Lakhanpal. People are spending more on land purchases than they declare to the government. It would be better to bring the circle rates closer to actual rates and keep the stamp duty lowaround 1%, he said. That way, defaults would be minimised. Or, finally, take stone crushing: when most of stones crushed and sold in Punjab is passed off as coming from Jammu & Kashmir, the state gains no royalty. The 2012 petition filed in the high court estimates annual profits at Rs10,000 crore. If proper auctions were held, most of that value would have come to the state. At the same time, say people in the construction industry, the prices of both sand and stone for end-customers have gone up considerably after the Akalia came to power. This they attribute to the rent-seeking by the partys associates. What you are seeing in the state is predatory extraction, said Sucha Singh Gill, director-general of Chandigarhs Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development. 90% of the illicit money is retained by influential people. Abhijit Sen, an economist and former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, agrees. The ruling party, he alleges, is growing by strangling the state. Deeper malaise Besides these manifest issues, there are others just beneath the surface. The last few years have seen the state government also give contracts to two business groups, both owned by Sukhbir Badals two brothers-in-law. The first, Saraya Group, has interests in energy and liquor and is owned by Bikram Majithia, the younger brother of Harsimrat Kaur, union minister and Sukhbir Badals wife. The second, with interests in telecom, farm inputs and electrical equipment, is owned by Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, who is married to Sukhbir Badals sister Parneet Kaur. When the state government enters into business deals with these companiesfor instance, when it chooses the Saraya Group to set upco-generation energy plants for cooperative sugar mills, or awardstelecom and farm contracts to Kairons companies, it might be violating the Peoples Representation Act. Or take the PTC television channels owned by Sukhbir Badals company G-Next. As this report in Firstpost says, the network got government ads worth Rs78.32 lakh between 2007 and 2008. This was at precisely the time when it [the PTC Network] had just been launched, and needed financial support, says the article. In effect, Parkash Singh Badals government has sanctioned ads to a TV channel owned by his son, and awarded contracts to companies owned by his son-in-law. The role of Sukhbir Badal Long-term observers point out that the lines between business and politics were never so blurred, even during the previous reigns of the Akali Dal. So why now? Much of the onus for this is placed on deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the son of chief minister Parkash Badal. A cabinet minister in the state government, who did not want to be named, alleged: Sukhbir is mainly a businessman. He is running the state like a private limited company. The growth in the younger Badals net worth puts most conventional investments to shame. In 2004, when he stood for Lok Sabha elections, he and his wife pegged the value of their assets at Rs13 crore. In 2007, when he contested state elections, the couples assets stood at Rs67 crore. Seven years later, in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Harsimrat Kaur Badal declared joint assets of Rs108 crore. Thats a rise of Rs95 crore over 10 years. An eight-fold increase in 10 years. In contrast, a person who invested, say, Rs1 lakh in fixed deposits in 2004, would have seen a 2.3-fold increasenot factoring in taxes. Strikingly, while the fortunes of the Badals and Akali Dal leaders have gone up, the states welfare delivery systems have been gutted for want of money. This piece was originally appeared in Quartz (qz.com). See qz.com/648797/every-business-in-punjab-leads-back-to-an-akali-dal-leader-well-almost/ Isaiah Foskey's heroics on defense, special teams lead Notre Dame No player in program Notre Dame history had ever blocked two punts in a game, much less a quarter, before Isaiah Foskey Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city. Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea LAST UPDATED Oct.17. Launch dates are subject to change and will be updated throughout the year as firmer dates arise. Please DO NOT schedule travel based on a date you see here. Launch dates are collected from NASA (opens in new tab), ESA (opens in new tab), Roscosmos (opens in new tab), Spaceflight Now (opens in new tab) and others. Watch NASA webcasts and other live launch coverage on our webcast page (opens in new tab). Find out what's up in the night sky this month with our visible planets guide (opens in new tab) and skywatching forecast (opens in new tab). Wondering what happened today in space history? Check out our "On This Day in Space" video show here (opens in new tab)! October Oct. 20-21: The annual Orionid meteor shower, which is active all month long, peaks overnight. Oct. 25: The new moon arrives at 6:48 a.m. EDT (1048 GMT). Oct. 25: A partial solar eclipse will be visible from parts of Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and western parts of Asia. Oct. 26: A Russian Soyuz rocket will launch the Progress 82P cargo ship to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Oct. 31: Boo! It's Halloween, even in space. Also scheduled to launch in October (from Spaceflight Now): A Chinese Long March 5B rocket will launch the third major element of China's space station, the Mengtian laboratory module. November Nov. 1: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch the Joint Polar Satellite System 2 (JPSS 2) for NASA and NOAA as well as the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) on a test flight. LOFTID is a joint project between NASA and ULA. Nov. 4-5: The annual South Taurid meteor shower peaks overnight. Nov. 6: A Cygnus cargo freighter will launch to the International Space Station from Pad 0A, Wallops Island, Virginia, aboard a Northrop Grumman Antares rocket. Nov. 7-8: A total lunar eclipse will be visible from Asia, Australia, North America, parts of northern and eastern Europe and South America. Nov. 8: The full moon of November, known as the Beaver Moon, arrives at 6:02 a.m. EST (1102 GMT). Nov. 11-12: The annual North Taurid meteor shower peaks overnight. Nov. 15: The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission, jointly developed by NASA and the French space agency CNES, will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Nov. 17-18: One of the most anticipated meteor showers of the year, the Leonid meteor shower peaks overnight. Nov. 18: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a Dragon 2 spacecraft on its sixth cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Nov. 23: The new moon arrives at 5:57 p.m. EST (2257 GMT). Also scheduled to launch in November (from Spaceflight Now): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a U.S. Space Force mission, USSF 67, from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The Pleiades Neo 5 and 6 Earth observation satellites will launch aboard an Arianespace Vega-C rocket for Airbus from Kourou, French Guiana. December Dec. 7: The full moon of December, known as the Cold Moon, arrives at 11:08 p.m. EST (0408 Dec. 8 GMT). Dec. 13-14: The annual Geminid meteor shower, one of the best meteor showers of the year, peaks overnight. Dec. 21: Solstice. Today marks the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Dec. 21-22: The annual Ursid meteor shower peaks overnight. Dec. 22: NASA's Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) mission will launch to the moon's south pole on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will use the Nova-C lunar landing platform developed by Intuitive Machines. Dec. 23: The new moon arrives at 5:16 a.m. EDT (0916 GMT). Also scheduled to launch in December (from Spaceflight Now): A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a rideshare mission called Transporter 6. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. More coming in 2022... 4th Quarter: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch a new-generation Boeing-build broadband satellite ViaSat 3 Americas. 4th Quarter: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the first two WorldView Legion Earth observation satellites for Maxar Technologies. It will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Late 2022: A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its inaugural flight with the Peregrine commercial lunar lander for Astrobotic. It will lift off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Late 2022: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its first crewed flight. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Mike Fincke, along with an unidentified third crew member, will fly on the mission. The Crew Test Flight to the International Space Station will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. TBD: India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will launch its first commercial mission with four Earth observation satellites for BlackSky Global. It will lift off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India. TBD: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the USSF 44 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It will lift off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. TBD: SpaceX's first Starship Orbital Test Flight could launch from Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas to orbit the Earth and splashdown off the coast of Hawaii. TBD: NASA's will launch the Artemis 1 moon mission on the first Space Launch System megarocket. Keep up to date with the mission on our Live Artemis 1 updates page. TBD: A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the USSF 52 mission for the U.S. Space Force. It will lift off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Follow Space.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. The solar system just got a bit stranger. As astronomers continue their ongoing quest to find the elusive Planet Nine, a team found a space rock that lends credence to the idea that a huge super-Earth planet really exists in the outer reaches of our solar system. The newfound asteroid, called 2015 BP519, adds to a growing body of evidence about little worlds in the solar system being perturbed by something big. Astronomers detailed its discovery and description in a new paper, adding that the bizarre angle of its orbit gives more weight to the idea that a big planet is out there somewhere tugging on the asteroid's path around the sun. "We also consider the long term orbital stability and evolutionary behavior within the context of the Planet Nine hypothesis, and find that 2015 BP519 adds to the circumstantial evidence for the existence of this proposed new member of the solar system," read the abstract of the paper, which is available now on preprint website Arxiv and has been submitted to The Astronomical Journal. [How Astronomers Could Actually See 'Planet Nine'] Following up on the discovery, Quanta Magazine recently published an article surveying several astrophysicists who specialize in studying small worlds, including the discoverers of 2015 BP519. While not everybody agreed that Planet Nine was responsible for the strange orbit, the overwhelming majority agreed the new discovery gives more credence to the idea. "The second you put Planet Nine in the simulations, not only can you form objects like this object, but you absolutely do," lead author Juliette Becker, a graduate student at the University of Michigan, told Quanta. (You can look at the object's orbit online here.) It's not the first time Planet Nine was blamed for pushing an object around. Back in 2014, before Planet Nine was officially hypothesized, astronomers Scott Sheppard and Chadwick Trujillo noticed orbital irregularities in several small bodies beyond Neptune's orbit. These included dwarf planet Sedna, a newfound object called 2012 VP113, and several other trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs). Then, in January 2016, astronomers Konstantin Batygin and Mike Brown saw more evidence of TNOs with perturbed orbits. They were the ones who first gave "Planet Nine" a name, size and distance. They suggested that the mysterious planet could be 10 times more massive than Earth, located 600 astronomical units (AU) from the sun. (One AU is the average distance between the Earth and the sun, which is 93 million miles or 150 million kilometers.) A possible ninth planet in the solar system, known as Planet 9, is illustrated orbiting far beyond Neptune's orbit (shown as a ring around the sun). (Image credit: Tom Ruen.nagualdesign/ESO) A flood of studies followed about TNOs and how Planet Nine might have affected their orbits; the following summary is just a sampling. Not all teams were enthusiastic, with one group from the Outer Solar System Origins Survey (OSSOS) cautioning that many of these surveys could be just observational bias. But astronomers persisted, with Sheppard and Trujillo discovering at least two new TNOs possibly affected by Planet Nine. Another study showed Planet Nine perhaps influenced the tilt of planets in our solar system. And in 2017, astronomers from the University of Madrid in Spain found peculiarities in the orbits of 22 "extreme" TNOs that orbit the sun that could also be explained by a large, distant body exerting gravitational influence. (These TNOs never get closer to the sun than Neptune which is 30 AU away, orbiting the sun in a rough circle and have an average distance of at least 150 AU.) By October 2017, Batygin said, there were at least five different lines of evidence that suggest the existence of the planet. "If you were to remove this explanation and imagine Planet Nine does not exist, then you generate more problems than you solve. All of a sudden, you have five different puzzles, and you must come up with five different theories to explain them," he said in a statement. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. An artist's illustration of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), built by Bigelow aerospace, attached to the International Space Station. BEAM is scheduled to launch toward the station aboard a Dragon cargo spacecraft on April 8. This Friday (April 8), SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Dragon cargo spacecraft toward the International Space Station, carrying the first expandable habitat that will be occupied by humans in orbit. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) will be folded up into the trunk of the Dragon spacecraft like a parachute that is ready to be unfurled. The station's robotic arm will remove BEAM from the trunk, attach it to the Tranquility Node, and it will expand to more than five times its total compressed size in about 45 minutes. It doesn't take a spaceflight industry expert to start dreaming about what expandable habitats could mean for future space exploration. Why not put up a dozen space stations orbiting the Earth? Humans could use them to set up colonies on the moon or Mars. What's to stop an eccentric billionaire from starting a space hotel? Robert Bigelow, founder and head of the company that made BEAM, talked to Space.com about the company's goals for the next 20 years, and the issues that stand in the way of the company's efforts to achieve them. [Bigelow's Inflatable Space Station Idea in Photos] William Gerstenmaier, NASAs associate administrator for human exploration and operations, and Jason Crusan, director of the agency's advanced exploration systems division, view the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) in its compressed form at Bigelows facility in Las Vegas on March 12, 2015. BEAM will expand to just over 13 feet (4.01 meters) long and 10.5 feet (3.23 m) wide once it is attached to the International Space Station. (Image credit: Stephanie Schierholz) Expandable is better Bigelow Aerospace's BEAM expandable module will enhance the living area of the International Space Station. See how the BEAM module works in our full infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor) A central limiting factor to the possible size of space-based habitats or structures is the size of the payload bay on the spacecraft that carries it up to space. Many of the American pieces of the space station were sent up in the space shuttle's bay, which was roughly large enough to fit a school bus. (Russia also took the approach of building a new spacecraft that could withstand the trip to space, and then used the spacecraft itself as a module for the station). "Bigelow habitats are lighter and take up substantially less rocket fairing space, and are far more affordable than traditional, rigid modules," according to Bigelow press release. And for anyone worried about the safety of something that expands like a balloon in an environment that is fairly hostile to life, the company says its habitats provide "enhanced protection against radiation and physical debris" compared to metallic structures. BEAM is built out of a proprietary "soft-goods, expandable material." The load-bearing structure is made from something similar to Vectran, a manufactured fiber made from a liquid-crystal polymer that is used in some space suits, company representatives said in last week's telecom. BEAM is covered by a Micrometeoroid and Orbital Debris protection layer, which is also proprietary to Bigelow Aerospace. Company representatives speaking during a NASA teleconference in April said their structures are up to the standards set for all ISS structures. BEAM will only have one-fifth the livable space of the station's Harmony Module but it also only has one-tenth of Harmony's mass. When packed, BEAM can be reduced to about half of its normal width and about three-quarters of its normal length. Thus, an expandable habitat that, when compressed, was the size of the Harmony module, could expand to be even larger, thus making it possible to get bigger space habitats into orbit without having to build bigger cargo carriers. That's what Bigelow Aerospace is currently driving at. In March 2015, NASA announced that as part of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) project, the agency has a contract with Bigelow to develop "ambitious human spaceflight missions that leverage its innovative B330 space habitat." The B330 is an expandable habitat with 330 cubic meters of livable space 20 times more than BEAM and 4.5 times more than Harmony. Bigelow said that by 2021, the company will be prepared to launch up to two of the B330s. Whether or not they launch will depend on whether or not the company has a customer who wants to use the habitat, and whether or not there is an affordable way to send people there. [Inflatable Space Station by Bigelow Aerospace (Infographic)] This early concept art shows a lunar base as envisioned by Bigelow Aerospace, which builds expandable space habitats. (Image credit: Bigelow Aerospace) A ticket to space If inflatable space habitats are such a good idea, then why is Bigelow Aerospace the only company or agency that has made any significant progress toward making them? "[Why is Bigelow the only company] that's foolish enough to do it?" Bigelow asked, finishing my question for me. He laughed, but then said, "In all seriousness, it is a leap of faith in a sense, because we have been so far out in front of everything." Bigelow owns the hotel chain Budget Suites of America, and it was from that enterprise that he made enough money to start a company that would build expandable habitats. It was an idea that NASA had started investigating in the 1950s, according to Bigelow Aerospace's website, and it was work on expandables that led to the invention of Mylar. Ultimately, a lack of sufficiently strong, yet flexible materials stopped that line of research within the agency. Work on expandable habitats was briefly revived in the 1980s and again in the 1990s, but NASA wasn't able to keep the project alive. Expandable space habitats are being discussed by people in both the public and the private spaceflight industry sectors animations and artists' renditions like this one show expandable habitats playing a role in future space exploration endeavors. But, perhaps the reason no one has invested as heavily in actually building them is because a space destination is no good without a way to get there. "Transportation has been our Achilles' heel in terms of getting into a business mode, ever since we started the company," Bigelow said. The company struggled for years without success to get its first two in-space test habitats, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, into orbit using U.S.-based launch options, and then spent years working to get past regulations that made it difficult to launch them via a Russian-based space travel provider. There are an increasing number of U.S.-based companies that will fly cargo into space, but Bigelow said his major concern is how humans will reach these space habitats. Right now, the only way for humans to get to orbital space is on a Russian Soyuz capsule. NASA currently pays nearly $82 million per astronaut for space on the Soyuz. "We would never attempt a business case based on the kind of pricing per seat that NASA is willing to pay," Bigelow said. "It wouldn't work." Hope is on the horizon, however. SpaceX and Boeing have signed contracts with NASA to launch humans into space as early as 2017. SpaceX is also aiming to drastically reduce the cost of each flight by engineering reusable rocket boosters. "At this juncture, we are assuming that SpaceX is going to perfect its ability first, before other companies, to affordably move people to and from low-Earth orbit," Bigelow said. Affordability is "a key word," he said. The commercial spaceflight industry is still at a tentative stage, said Jeff Greason, a co-founder of the spaceflight company XCOR, who spoke with Space.com at the SpaceCom Expo in Houston, in November 2015. He said the success and progress of transportation providers is moving forward, but "we have not yet reached the point where I think it's irreversible." "The enterprise is much bigger than just the transportation segment. But it's all enabled by the transportation segment," Greason told Space.com. "So, if the transportation's not there, then all of the other great things we can do, which make up much more of the business, can't happen. So transportation is key." For its habitats to succeed, Bigelow's company needs transportation, but that need is a two-way street: Transportation providers need a place to take people and cargo. The topic of space destinations was also a discussion point among experts at the 2015 SpaceCom Expo. The spaceflight community is understandably concerned about NASA's plans for supporting the International Space Station after 2024, when the agency's current commitment to maintain its side of the station ends. Having an operating laboratory in low Earth orbit provides commercial space companies with a regular customer for sending cargo and (soon) humans. It also provides a platform for space-based science, and will provide a place where explorers can prepare for more trips to other space destinations. If Bigelow's plans stay on track, and it attracts the right customers, his company could relieve that threat by providing new laboratories in low Earth orbit. Countries without space programs or without a stake in the ISS could send astronauts to space without having to build the infrastructure that NASA and other space agencies currently have. Bigelow said the company has "had discussions with foreign countries who have their own space agencies for a number of years," as well as with countries who do not have their own space agencies. Already, he said, there are countries interested in using BEAM to pursue commercial activities. Bigelow said he envisions that between 2021 and 2031, the Bigelow B330s would be added on and expanded, creating "a large conglomerate of habitats" that could be owned by different customers, or jointly owned by multiple partners. If money can be generated from those LEO destinations, Bigelow said he'd like to see that put toward lunar settlements. "We would transition some of the client menu that we would have in LEO to folks who would want to be involved in some kind of business activity on the moon. And I think that by 2031, that's practical," Bigelow said. "We would also like to be part of a conglomerate of folks. I see our role as perfecting our art and being able to provide habitats for deployment in different environments in conjunction with other space or nonspace folks putting companies together to promote these kinds of activities. So I don't look at it as [if] we intend to do this alone." [Inflatable Habitats: From the Space Station to the Moon and Mars?] An artist's illustration of the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), built by Bigelow aerospace, attached to the International Space Station. BEAM is scheduled to launch toward the station aboard a Dragon cargo spacecraft on April 8. (Image credit: Bigelow Aerospace) Working with NASA Eric Stallmer is president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF), the "industry association of leading businesses and organizations working to make commercial human spaceflight a reality," according to the CSF website. Stallmer said he's an optimist about BEAM and Bigelow Aerospace's future plans for its expandable habitats. He's also a realist, and recognizes that there are still significant challenges facing the company. "There's a lot of elements to this, and just because the BEAM is going up, doesn't mean, you know, we're going to have a lunar base next week," Stallmer said. "I think [Bigelow is] paving the way, I think they're pioneers. They did something that traditionally only a government could do or only a sovereign nation could do. And they did it at a fraction of the cost. And if it succeeds, it will once again prove that space doesn't have to be prohibitively expensive." BEAM will be on the space station for a minimum of two years, where Bigelow will monitor it in order to earn NASA's approval for further human use. "NASA is essentially the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for habitats, at this point in time," Bigelow said. "It is the prime customer that you want to satisfy. It has a very high standard." Stallmer said that it may also look, from the outside, as if what Bigelow Aerospace has already accomplished were simple, or that creating the habitat technology was the company's greatest challenge. But Bigelow said the number one challenge facing the company is politics. "You have to have political permission first. You have to have the money second. If you have those two, you can create whatever technology you need," Bigelow said, perhaps referencing the company's struggles to get its Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 habitats launched. He said that refers to politics within NASA as well as the U.S. government, and "whether or not NASA is going to be an agent for this kind of change. Or is it going to be managed by an administration whose philosophy is to thwart commercialization? "If NASA resists, and the philosophy of our politics, of our administration, is to continue to pursue NASA as an owner instead of a consumer, instead of a tenant, if you will, then a lot of delay will occur and it won't proceed like it could have," he said. "But if NASA's philosophy is to expand commercialization, to promote it and really facilitate it then, oh my gosh, it'll be night and day." Editor's Note: BEAM is flying to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, not a Cygnus spacecraft as this article previously stated. Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield.Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. SpaceX completed a static fire test Tuesday night for Friday's launch of a Dragon cargo spacecraft. The company didn't disclose the outcome of the test, part of the company's standard preparations for Falcon 9 launches. If the test didn't reveal any issues, the launch is slated to take place Friday at 4:43 p.m. Eastern, with favorable weather conditions forecast. The Dragon is carrying more than 3,000 kilograms of supplies and experiments for the station, including an expandable module developed by Bigelow Aerospace. [Florida Today] More News Boeing has filed a motion in federal court to block any sale of Sea Launch by the Russian government. The company's lawyers are seeking a preliminary injunction in U.S. district court in California to halt the sale, saying it would further complicate efforts to seek payment from a former Sea Launch partner, Energia, in an ongoing lawsuit. The head of Roscosmos said last month that it had found a buyer for the launch company, but declined to name the buyer or the value of the deal. Sea Launch's two major assets, its command ship and mobile launch platform, remain in the U.S. at the Port of Long Beach. [SpaceNews] China launched a microgravity science satellite Tuesday. The Long March 2D lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 1:38 p.m. Eastern and placed the Shijian-10 satellite in orbit. The spacecraft carries 19 experiments in a variety of fields, including one involving the European Space Agency to study the effects of temperature on pressurized containers of crude oil. The spacecraft will bring some of the experiments back to Earth in about two weeks in a return capsule. [Spaceflight Now] The head of NASA's Science Mission Directorate will retire this month. NASA announced Tuesday that John Grunsfeld, who has served as associate administrator for science since early 2012, will retire at the end of the month. Grunsfeld is a former astronaut who flew on five shuttle missions, including three to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Geoff Yoder, Grunsfeld's current deputy, will take over on an acting basis until a permanent successor is named. [SpaceNews] Point-Counterpoint: Should the U.S. change current policy and allow retired ICBM assets be used for commercial launches? Yes, says Scott Lehr of Orbital ATK, who argues that these motors could lower launch costs and make U.S. vehicles more competitive on the international market, while lowering the costs to the government to maintain the motors in storage. No, says George Whitesides of Virgin Galactic, who believes that the current policy restricting the use of those motors should be maintained to avoid "chilling future investment and development" in commercially-developed vehicles. [SpaceNews] Spaceport America has signed up a new customer to launch from New Mexico. Exos Aerospace signed a five-year partnership to launch its SARGE suborbital rocket from the spaceport, with the first launch tentatively planned for late this year. The company will eventually develop a dedicated facility at the spaceport once its launch rate increases to a certain, unspecified level. Exos includes some of the same people and technology as the former Armadillo Aerospace, which also carried out launches at the spaceport. [Albuquerque Journal] A barrage of asteroids and comets might have made Mars more habitable early in its history. Models of the planet four billion years ago, during a burst of asteroid and comet impacts known as the Late Heavy Bombardment, show that the collisions would have heated up subsurface ice enough to melt it, even if the planet's atmosphere was as cold and thin as it is today. Those more habitable conditions, though, would have faded within a few million years after the end of the bombardment. [Cosmos] You can go to space without leaving your hotel room, provided you're in the right hotel in Zurich. The Kameha Grand Hotel there features a "space suite" designed by German artist Michael Najjar. The space theme permeates the suite's design, from light fixtures designed to look like engine nozzles to a spacesuit glove protruding from a wall as a place to hold your keys and phone. "Basically, everywhere you look, there's space. Literally," says a review of the room. The space suite is one of several themed rooms in the hotel. [Forbes] Home, The Final Frontier "After exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life in the universe, I can now boldly go where I've rarely gone before: home." John Grunsfeld, in a NASA statement Tuesday announcing his plans to retire as the associate administrator for science at the end of this month. This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry. Optimization Are you frustrated with a slow pc or a hard disk not performing as it should? Try SLOW-PCfighter to speed up boot time on a slow PC, or try a free scan of FULL-DISKfighter to recover space on a full disk. The latest offering is DRIVERfighter to update your driver updater. Get complete PC optimization and extend the life of your PC with these must-have software tools. Welcome To SpoilerTV We bring you a comprehensive and up to date spoiler service on all the major US TV shows and Movies. You can find specific show content by clicking the menu system at the top of the screen. We scour the Internet for spoilers as well as posting our own exclusive spoilers (Scripts, Casting Calls, Set Photos etc) as well as recaps and other fun articles and polls. We hope you enjoy your stay. The deep polarization in our country is shattering old cherished values. The middle ground has shifted out of sight replaced by an either/or culture. Gone are the days when meritocracy was the goal, when may the best man win was the right choice. Todays polarization is political, cultural and racial. Not long ago, it was considered discriminatory when Ivy League colleges had a secret quota allocating only a certain number of seats for qualified Jews. Now they must openly allocate seats to minorities even when these dont meet the standards and are not likely to graduate, while at the same time limiting entry to Asians with outstanding qualifications. Welcome back quotas. There are excellent non-Ivy League colleges, both public and private, where students can thrive according to their skills and graduate, opening the door to good jobs. Outcries were heard when an official suggested minorities would be happier and would be more likely to graduate from such less demanding colleges. As it is, such is the state of high schools, that colleges are forced to have remedial courses for incoming students who could not otherwise handle freshman classes. It is hardly an understatement that we have never been more racially conscious. The media is the guilty party in making race a prime factor. The last 15 years have seen a steady rise in specifying race in print media without reason, especially in The New York Times (for which I wrote a series of articles, so I am not biased). Straight reporting who, what, where, when and why as we were taught at the Columbia School of Journalism eons ago has been replaced with activist journalism resembling novels. After the death of Supreme Court Justice Scalia, The New York Times had an article with photographs of five possibilities as replacements. Under each photo was a list of their qualifications. It was shocking to see that the race of each person was first on the list. Yes, on the top line even though the photographs spoke for themselves. Have we reached the stage that race is a primary qualification for office? Have we forgotten what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently preached that he hoped the day would come when a man would be judged by his merit not by the color of his skin? What would he say reading news reports that mention a persons name followed by his race, which has no bearing on the story? The crucial question should be this: Are minorities deliberately ignored or unqualified? If the former, it should be rectified and the sooner the better without lowering standards. If not qualified, then education is the answer which is another topic because our education today is shameful. It produces students incapable of coping with current job demands. Lack of education produces adults who then vote for candidates such as Donald Trump because they cant think for themselves and believe everything they hear. As for Hollywood, where are the black scriptwriters to write stories involving black actors and other minorities along with whites, not rewriting history making an ancient Japanese emperor black or Henry VIII Chinese but authentic people that audiences can believe. We have become fragmented to the extreme. We see it in the current presidential campaign. In simpler times, Democrats were the liberals, Republicans the conservatives and each candidate ran his campaign accordingly. Today, we have an overflow of constituencies: college students, older voters divided into uneducated and educated, angry rural voters, blacks, Jewish, legal immigrants and urban versus rural. Candidates run from one group to another shaping their speeches accordingly. Our love affair with political correctness is responsible for Trumps popularity. His calling a spade a spade makes his fans scream in relief. He is shrewd enough to know that his uneducated followers want straight talk that appeals to their fears. That it works as it has through the centuries is the urgent problem of our time which is coming in November. Greenwich resident Carla Wallach is an author and writer of numerous articles in national newspapers and publications. Id like to take a few minutes to share with you some thoughts that I have after (a March 31) program in Stamford. I was very proud of the large number of Temple Sinai members who attended the program organized by the Interfaith Council of Southwestern Connecticut named Honest Conversations with our Muslim Neighbors. It is the latest in a series of experiences designed to enhance healthy relationship with our Islamic American neighbors. While many of us were there to experience it ourselves, it feels important enough to take this time to share some of what I heard as well as my reflections on what it means to me. The format placed three Muslims on a panel fielding moderated questions from the audience. The moderator began with the question that we are all concerned with: Why is the Islamic community not speaking out against the extremism being reported around the world which is being perpetrated in the name of Islam? Imam Dr. Kareem Adeeb,responded by saying with emotion in his voice, We ARE responding! He told us how Muslims are speaking to any audience who will listen about their rejection of radical Islam. He listed a number of venues in which he has shared this message and he told us about an open letter signed by more than 700 imams nationwide following the attacks of Sept. 11. But, he then pointed out how resistant the media has been to show us this truth. This became a theme throughout the evening. In fact, another panelist, Azra Asaduddin, told us about a new work of academic research called Terrorfied: How anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream by Duke University professor Christopher Bail. Every one of us knows that the media does us no service by crafting a significantly skewed version of reality. This is particularly upsetting to our Muslim speakers. And as one more proof, here in Stamford 150 people of various faiths, including our mayor, gathered for this conversation. The media was made aware of the event, but to my knowledge, chose not to join us. There is a perception among many of us that the Quran is a book which teaches violence. Dr. Adeeb rejects that notion and emphatically argues that it is both a matter of translation and interpretation. This should be very familiar to members of the Jewish community because the same should be said about our fundamental books. The Imam urged us to look at the verses which are often understood to instruct violence against non-Muslims and he would show us a historical tradition of explaining those verses in a peaceful manner. Similarly, and this may have been one of the most important moments for me last night, the third panelist, Gulafshan Khalil Alavi, told us about her messages to her children. Dressed in an observant manner and spoking in language heavily dependent on religious expressions, she told us that from a very early age she taught her children God Almighty will never forgive you if you hurt someone. What was most significant to me, was that she pointed to her 22-year-old son, there with us this evening, and said he is in the room, and I could never claim to have taught him this in his presence if it were a lie! That is to say that her Islamic message has been consistent long before we all turned to the concerns of radical Islam and not as a reaction to it. All three speakers were deeply committed to helping us see how unimportant the differences are between mainstream Shiah and Sunni Muslims. Dr. Adeeb pointed out how his mosque is populated with half Shiite and half Sunni and that they pray together every day without any issue. Ms. Alavi told us that she is Sunni and is married to a Shiite! All three speakers had strong personal ties to foreign Muslim communities. They explained that the clash of cultures is being fabricated by those who are not acting in the name of Islam. They told us that within their communities, nobody refers to this terrorist body as ISIS. Islamic State suggests a connection to Islam and they strongly reject that. Instead, within the vast majority of the Muslim world, this group is known as Daesh. I had heard this term before but after doing a little reading, I see that it is taken as a pejorative term by ISIS supporters. According to the Boston Globe, as an acronym, it spells out the name of the group in Arabic but, at the same time, it means loosely a bigot who imposes his views on others. As liberal Jews, we take great offense at being associated with extremist views from our ultra-Orthodox compatriots. Some of the terrorist behaviors perpetrated by settlers in the West Bank have left me furious that they are even associated with Jews because we know how little is required to change the worlds perception of us! For that reason, I personally relate to what I am hearing from these Muslims and I will choose to support their distinction between themselves and the terrorists. Moving forward, I intend to use only the word Daesh as I talk about those monsters. Many will point out that great responsibility lies with the media for corrupting our experience of moderate Islam. I would like to remind you that, just like so many other aspects of our consumption of media, it is you and me who are responsible. By playing into the sensationalism of our news sources, we show our appetite for the worst information. This has been true for many years and is growing ever more concerning. It affects our domestic political process, race relations, geopolitical trends, anti-Semitism and, of course our relationships with Muslims. It seems to me that one of the most positive outcomes to your getting this far in my (message) would be for you to communicate to your news sources that you wish to see greater coverage of moderate Muslim efforts here at home. And now, in conclusion, I feel it only right to tell you that there were several attendees who approached me afterward and had a different response to the event. It is clear to me that there is a lot to discuss and I am looking for the right format to engage in that process. Rabbi Jay TelRav is leader of Temple Sinai in Stamford. H edge funds have upped their bets against Londons luxury homes market in the latest sign of overheating in the capital, it emerged today. Earls Court developer Capital & Counties has become the latest target for short-sellers, a couple of months after hedge funds began to circle luxury housebuilder Berkeley Group, the Standard can reveal. Filings from the Financial Conduct Authority reveal Boston-headquartered Wellington, one of the worlds biggest asset managers, has built a short position of 1% in Capco. Last week, London-based Marshall Wace took out a short of 0.5%, the level at which the City watchdog must disclose bearish bets. Data from Markit suggest that as much as 5.1% of shares in the FTSE 250 group are now on loan, up from 1% in January a wager worth more than 140 million. Markit said it could mean funds were either hedging or shorting the stock. In February, Capco admitted sales had ground to a halt on the second phase of its Lillie Square flats complex in Earls Court. Its shares have slumped almost 20% this year, making a killing for short-sellers. Capco, led by Ian Hawksworth, declined to comment on the increase in short-selling. It comes amid concerns about a glut of homes in parts of the capital, with inflated prices and new stamp duty rises on buy-to-let homes scaring off potential buyers, especially from overseas. Last month, Morgan Stanley warned prices of new, upmarket London flats could fall by as much as 20% this year, meaning Capco might delay pre-sales until the market has improved. Liberums David Brockton suggested Sadiq Khans plan to make half of new homes in the capital genuinely affordable if he becomes mayor could also have contributed to the rise in Capco short positions. Sadiq is on record as having reservations about the direction of Earls Court, the analyst said. TODO: define component type brightcove Simon Stone, the Candy brothers former right-hand man and head of Stone Real Estate, said many people in the industry are blaming the stamp duty changes for pricing pressure. Many new-build developments rely heavily on buy-to-let investors, so the further increases which came into place last week could add further unwelcome pressure, he said. At Berkeley, short bets trebled in the past month and account for 250 million, or 6%, of shares rather than 2% previously. The FTSE 100 group which is behind the Riverlight development in Nine Elms, has attracted short-sellers since February. Crispin Odeys firm Odey Asset Management has the largest short stake at 1.2% worth 55 million. I t is increasingly clear that many of those campaigning to quit the European Union dont care about getting their facts right. Myths about the economy, sovereignty and immigration are recycled on our airwaves on a daily basis often without being challenged. Those who want to stay in the EU are not entirely innocent. Some suggest three million jobs would be lost if we quit the EU, when it is actually three million jobs that are linked to trade with the EU. Even in the worst-case scenario, trade wouldnt totally vanish. But the Leave camp has made an industry out of mythology. Here are seven of its deadliest economic sins. Sin 1: the UK sends the EU 55m a day This figure ignores the budget rebate Mrs Thatcher famously secured by brandishing her handbag. In addition, half of what we send to the EU gets sent back to Britain. The best figure for our net contribution is 17 million a day. If that sounds a lot, consider that it works out as 26 pence per person per day. It is misleading to suggest that, if we quit, this sum would be available for building hospitals or paying off the deficit. If we lost full access to the EUs single market, the economy would be hit and the UKs budget deficit would rise, not shrink. We would have less money to spend, not more. Sin 2: the EU needs us more than we need it Eurosceptics are fond of pointing out that we have a big trade deficit with the EU 62 billion in 2014. Other member states would, they say, lose more if our trading relationship broke down. In fact, wed be the desperate ones. We rely on exports to the EU for 13% of our GDP but the EUs exports to Britain are just 3% of its GDP. Sin 3: the UK can be in the EUs single market without free movement Every country with full single-market access has signed up to free movement. That includes not just other EU countries but also members of the European Economic Area, notably Norway. Even Switzerland, which only has partial access to the single market, has had to open its borders. Theres no reason to think Britain could be different. Sin 4: the City will thrive if we quit the EU If we lose full access to the single market, financial institutions based in the City will probably lose the passport that lets them operate freely across the EU. Banks will have to shift part of their business elsewhere in Europe, meaning well lose high-paid jobs and the taxes that go with them. Even losing a fraction of this money pot would be damaging financial services account for nearly 10% of our economy and 11% of taxes. Sin 5: Canada would be a good model post-Brexit Boris Johnson toyed with the idea that we should copy Canada, which has just signed a free trade deal with the EU. Canada doesnt have to accept free movement or pay into the EUs budget. But it also doesnt have a passport for its financial services industry, and it pays tariffs on some exports. Sin 6: the UK could keep the 50-plus trade deals the EU has cut with the rest of the world post-Brexit The EU has made free trade deals with other countries, including many from the Commonwealth, but the UK is not legally a party to them, and we would have no automatic right to piggyback on them if we left. Starting negotiations from scratch could take years. In the meantime, exporters would suffer. Brexiteers also blithely suggest it would be easy to cut new trade and investment deals with the likes of the US, China, Japan and India. But the EU is already negotiating agreements with all those countries. If we quit, wed have to play catch-up and wed lack the clout to get deals as good. Sin 7: EU red tape costs business 600 million per week This figure presents half the picture, weighing up the costs without the corresponding benefits. The source of the 600 million figure is a study by think-tank Open Europe of the 100 most expensive EU rules, according to our Governments assessment of their impact. When the Leave camp uses this figure, it doesnt mention that the same study cites the Government as saying these rules would have a benefit of 1.1 billion a week giving a net gain of 487 million a week. It also doesnt say that the UK Government, not Brussels, is the biggest source of red tape. There are, of course, plenty of opportunities to streamline regulations, EU and home-grown. But giving only one side of the cost-benefit analysis is economically illiterate. Hugo Dixon is chairman and editor-in-chief of InFacts.org, a journalistic enterprise making the fact-based case for Britain to stay in the EU T oday this paper publishes a letter from more than 50 London business leaders calling on the next mayor to make housing a priority. They fear their employees face extreme housing pressure, which must be relieved to safeguard the futures of our citys young talent. There is in fact a significant consensus among the main mayoral candidates about the need for new homes, about 50,000 of them a year. The real debate lies about where those homes should go and what kind it should be. Transport infrastructure is crucial to resolving the housing issue. Crossrail 2 would bring far more people wtihin easy commuting distance of London; that in itself transforms housing prospects. But as the Tories Zac Goldsmith has pointed out, there also needs to be a focus on high-density, medium-rise housing in central London. London could accommodate far more people, as Paris does, by dint of building apartment blocks, like mansion blocks, which house large numbers of people without impinging on the skyline. How we build matters. Sadiq Khan for Labour has usefully emphasised the situation of renters as well as buyers. Here part of the solution to providing more affordable rental accommodation is attracting big institutions into the market. Already one major insurance company is not just providing rental accommodation but commissioning housing units. Its a situation that benefits the companies offering much better returns than other investments and renters seeking security and affordability. There is also the problem of demand as well as supply, though that is outside the remit of mayoral candidates. At present, legal net migration runs at a third of a million people a year and may rise further as a higher minimum wage attracts more workers from abroad. And of course many people gravitate to London from elsewhere in the UK. This contributes to Londons dynamism but it is a formidable challenge in terms of housing. All this means that the new mayor will have his work cut out to meet the housing needs of a growing population. The good news is that all the candidates are on the case. Labour and antisemitism Just a few days ago the Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell, declared that Labour must sit up and listen to concerns that the party is open to anti-semitic elements. But as we report today, this paper found links on his personal web page to a site which has in the past carried articles which praised Islamist suicide bombers. Mr McDonnells office has removed the link but this suggests a worrying lack of vigilance about a real problem. Labour peer Baroness Royall is already investigating allegations into claims of anti-semitism in the Oxford student Labour group. But it is for the partys leadership to make clear that Labour will not tolerate anti-Semitism in any guise. To his credit, Sadiq Khan, Labours mayoral candidate, has expressed his shame at the partys failings. Both Jeremy Corbyn and Mr McDonnell are personally free from prejudice; they must now create an environment in which anti-Jewish sentiment is taboo. Trump trumped After a run of successes in the Republican primaries, Donald Trump has unexpectedly suffered defeat in Wisconsin at the hands of Ted Cruz. The partys leadership has not troubled to conceal its satisfaction, though Mr Cruz has his detractors too. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has had a setback of her own, losing again to Bernie Sanders, the septuagenarian socialist. Plainly the contest is still open and getting more dramatic. Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid have posed together for a brand new Vogue photo shoot. Showing the couple on holiday in Naples, the US fashion magazine spread was released on Tuesday, after a number of the pictures were leaked online. Photographed by Mario Testino, the pair pose at Villa Lucia wearing a number of high-end labels. In one of the images (above), Gigi can be seen wearing a checked Victoria Beckham dress,Miu Miu court shoes and Jennifer Fisher earrings, while Zayn pulls off a Saint Laurent suit and Jimmy Choo shoes. Model couple: Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik in Vogue / Mario Testino/Vogue In another, Gigi can be seen holding onto her boyfriend on the back of a motorbike as she works a leather look in Marc Jacobs trousers and a Miu Miu shirt, while Zayn fits the role in a Gucci leather jacket. US model Hadid, 20, shared the pictures on her Instagram as they dropped, writing: <3 @voguemagazine by @mariotestino on stands in May!! xx.' Gigi Hadid - Style File 1 /85 Gigi Hadid - Style File February 27, 2020 Walking in the Off-White show alongside sister Bella and mum Yolanda Rex Features February 26, 2020 Attending the Harper's Bazaar Exhibition alongside sister Bella Getty Images November 13, 2019 Attending the Country Music Awards Getty Images August 26, 2019 Backstage at the VMA's with sister Bella and friend Taylor Swift Getty Images for Republic Record April 23,2018 Gigi Hadid celebrates her 23rd birthday Felipe Ramales / Splash News March 29, 2018 Gigi Hadid wears an oversized shirt with Cara Delevingne kisses Adwoa Aboah when out and about in New York Splash News February 11, 2018 Gigi Hadid attends the Maybelline New York x V Magazine Party at the Nomo Soho Hotel Cindy Ord/Getty Images February 23, 2018 Gigi Hadid carrying a dog, presents a creation by Tod's during the women's Fall/Winter 2018/2019 collection fashion show in Milan Filippo Monteforte/AFP/Getty Images November 13, 2017 Gigi Hadid attends Glamour's 2017 Women of The Year Awards at Kings Theatre Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images May 1, 2017 Gigi Hadid attends the "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between" Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images June 27, 2017 Gigi Hadid attends Gigi Hadid for Vogue Eyewear #ShowYourParty event Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images September 19, 2017 Gigi Hadid walks the runway at the Tommy Hilfiger TOMMYNOW Fall 2017 Show during London Fashion Wee Ian Gavan/Getty Images November 3, 2017 Gigi Hadid attends the Gigi Hadid x Maybelline New York International Launch Party Cindy Ord/Getty Images November 7, 2017 Gigi Hadid attends the Gigi Hadid X Maybelline party held at "Hotel Gigi" in London Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images February 10, 2017 Gigi Hadid walks the runway for the Jeremy Scott collection during, New York Fashion Week: The Shows at Gallery 1, Skylight Clarkson Sq Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images September 29, 2016 Gigi Hadid walks the runway during the Balmain show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images October 2, 2016 Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid attend the Givenchy show as part of the Paris Fashion Week Womenswear Spring/Summer 2017 Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images November 30, 2016 Gigi Hadid walks the runway during the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images November 30, 2016 Gigi Hadid walks the runway during the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images November 30, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends the 2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show after party Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images December 5, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends The Fashion Awards 2016 Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images June 4, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends Spike TV's 10th Annual Guys Choice Awards at Sony Pictures Studios Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) June 19, 2016 Gigi Hadid arrives at the 2016 iHeartRADIO MuchMusic Video Awards Sonia Recchia/Getty Images September 9, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends the #TOMMYNOW Women's Fashion Show during New York Fashion Week Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images March 20, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends the Daily Front Row "Fashion Los Angeles Awards" at Sunset Tower Hotel Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images May 2, 2016 Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik attend the 'Manus x Machina: Fashion In An Age Of Technology' Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images February 16, 2016 Gigi Hadid attends the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2016 - NYC VIP press event Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images September 15, 2015 Attending the Serena Williams show at New York Fashion Week Grant Lamos IV/Getty Images September 16, 2015 Spotted around New York Fashion Week Mike Coppola/Getty Images May 21, 2015 At amfAR's 22nd Cinema Against AIDS Gala Tristan Fewings/Getty Images August 4, 2015 Talking on stage at Myer Macquarie Centre Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images August 30, 2015 Attending the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Jason Merritt/Getty Images September 14, 2015 Spotted around New York Fashion Week Larry Busacca/Getty Images September 14, 2015 Walking the Tommy Hilfiger runway Randy Brooke/Getty Images February 22, 2015 At the 2015 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images March 5, 2015 With Kendall Jenner at the Balmain Aftershow Dinner as part of the Paris Fashion Week Jacopo Raule/Getty Images March 14, 2015 Attending the Ultimate Spring Break Bash hosted by Victoria's Secret John Parra/Getty Images April 10, 2015 At the Official H&M Loves Coachella Party Michael Kovac/Getty Images May 4, 2015 Attending the MET Gala Rob Kim/Getty Images January 22, 2015 At The Daily Front Row 'Fashion Los Angeles Awards' Show Jason Kempin/Getty Images February 11, 2015 With Lily Aldridge at the Sports Illustrated 2015 Swimsuit Takes Over Nashville With Kings of Leon event Rick Diamond/Getty Images February 17, 2015 On the front row at Tory Burch Cindy Ord/Getty Images February 22, 2015 At the Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images November 18, 2014 On the 2015 Pirelli Calendar Red Carpet Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images February 6, 2014 Walking the Desigual runway Frazer Harrison/Getty Images February 20, 2014 At the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Beach Volleyball Tournament Frazer Harrison/Getty Images September 27, 2014 Walking for Jean Paul Gaultier Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images February 18, 2014 At the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 50 Years of Swim in NYC Celebration Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images February 19, 2014 Attending Club SI Swimsuit hosted by Sports Illustrated Neilson Barnard/Getty Images February 20, 2014 At the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit South Beach Soiree Frazer Harrison/Getty Images March 2, 2014 With her then-boyfriend Cody Simpson at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images March 29, 2014 Attending Nickelodeon's 27th Annual Kids' Choice Awards Frazer Harrison/Getty Images August 28, 2014 At DuJour Magazine's Jason Binn celebrating Kendall and Kylie Jenner's Bruce Weber shoot Mike Coppola/Getty Images September 5, 2014 At The Daily Front Row Second Annual Fashion Media Awards Rommel Demano/Getty Images September 5, 2014 Attending Harper's BAZAAR Celebrates Icons By Carine Roitfeld Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images September 11, 2014 Backstage at Marc Jacobs Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images September 29, 2014 Walking the Sonia Rykiel runway Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images September 30, 2014 Walking the Chanel runway Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images October 20, 2014 At Angel Ball 2014 hosted by Gabrielle's Angel Foundation Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images October 28, 2014 Attending the Sportmax and Teen Vogue Celebrate The Fall/Winter 2014 Collection event in New York Monica Schipper/Getty Images November 4, 2014 Arriving at the Emirates Marquee on Melbourne Cup Day Cameron Spencer/Getty Images March 23, 2013 At Muhammad Ali's Celebrity Fight Night XIX Michael Buckner/Getty Images April 13, 2013 At the GUESS Hotel pool party John Sciulli/Getty Images May 10, 2012 At The Heart Foundation Gala Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images The couple have stayed tight-lipped about their relationship ever since they started dating last year and are yet to go make their red carpet debut as a couple. Hadid did appear in the video for Maliks debut single Pillow Talk back in February, confirming reports that they were in a relationship. Malik made music chart history over the weekend as his debut solo album Mind of Mine went straight in at number one in the US and the UK. According to Billboard he is also the only UK male solo artist to have their debut album chart at number one in its first week. A spring fete is heading for south London, bringing music, food and drink together in Brockwell Park for a Bank Holiday Sunday spectacular. Gala will take place on May 29 and feature artists including Nightmares on Wax, Norman Jay, Crazy P, Tornado Wallace and Rayko across three stages. There will be food stalls from a host of local restaurants including Kricket, Made of Dough, Salon and Rum Kitchen each offering exclusive dishes. Drinks will come courtesy of an Aperol Spritz bar, Brixton Brewery and Northumberland-based Wylam Brewery, while Neil Donachie, mixologist at The Savoys Beaufort Bar will be mixing up cocktails. 10 Must Watch Artists at Festivals 2016 1 /13 10 Must Watch Artists at Festivals 2016 LCD Soundsystem Lovebox, Victoria Park 15-16 July After announcing their reunion earlier this year, the New York group announced their only UK tour date so far, a headline slot at Victoria Parks Lovebox festival. Headlining the Saturday night, LCD Soundsystem were announced alongside Major Lazer performing on the Friday. loveboxfestival.com Rex Kendrick Lamar Barclaycard British Summer Time, Hyde Park 2 July The King of Compton has yet to tour his critically acclaimed album To Pimp A Butterfly. With his performance at BST as his only UK tour date, you cant afford to miss out on his summery hip-hop sound and intricate lyricism. Kendrick Lamar will appear before Florence & The Machine, who headline BST on 2 July. bst-hydepark.com Rex The Temper Trap Field Day, Victoria Park 11-12 June Sunday 12 June sees an unexpected appearance from The Temper Trap. The Australian groups debut album was released back in 2009, and featured their worldwide hit Sweet Disposition. Having released their second album in 2012, the Australian group are returning to Britain to charm us with their soft tones. fielddayfestivals.com Rex Chet Faker Lovebox, Victoria Park 15-16 July Chet Faker is returning to London to make his only UK appearance at this years Lovebox festival. The Australian soul-electronica artist will undoubtedly seduce his crowd with a selection of alluring tracks from his Built On Glass album, leaving a possibility for new material too. Fingers crossed. loveboxfestival.com Rex Young Fathers Barclaycard British Summer Time, Hyde Park 1 July Glasgows hip-hop prophets and Mercury Prize winners, Young Fathers, are taking to the stage in Hyde Park supporting Massive Attack in July. The critically acclaimed trio released their second album last April, and are currently touring North America following their rise to success. bst-hydepark.com Rex James Blake Field Day, Victoria Park 11-12 June The melancholic, yet angelic sound of our very own James Blake returns to Victoria Park this summer. Headlining Field Day on Friday 11 June, James Blake will undoubtedly perform his bestsellers, with hope for new material. With his only other UK performance at Green Man Festival in August, theres no time to miss James Blakes appearance at Field Day. fielddayfestivals.com Rex Super Furry Animals Caught By The River Thames, Fulham Palace 6-7 August The Welsh psychedelic-rockers are headlining Caught By The River Thames this year, alongside Low, Temples and Kate Tempest, who will also be performing at Fulham Palace this August. The Welsh group are set to support Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds on his UK April tour, and will return to London for the Fulham festival in August. caughtbytheriverthames.com Rex Warpaint Barclaycard British Summer Time, Hyde Park 1 July The critically acclaimed girl group are bringing their infectious sound to London this July, performing alongside Massive Attack and Young Fathers. With this BST date being their only upcoming live performance at the moment, its not to be missed. Warpaints woeful words and turbulent sound is just part of the solid selection of acts performing that day. bst-hydepark.com Rex Craig Davids TS5 Wireless Festival, Finsbury Park 8-10 July The garage guru Craig David has returned to the charts, meaning an inevitable performance this summer is definitely necessary. His fast paced sound and his RnB influence is a boisterous blend to jumpstart a garage revival, and his performance will undoubtedly be a crowd pleaser. wirelessfestival.com Rex Skepta Field Day, Victoria Park 11-12 June With the recent revival of grime, Boy Better Know have finally gained a worldwide reputation. Skepta has been at the forefront of Boy Better Know for over a decade, and is now performing worldwide, and appearing at Victoria Park this June. For infectious lyricism and beats, Skepta is another act that isnt to be missed. fielddayfestivals.com Rex The organisers are also promising plenty of fun and games, though not necessarily of the traditional variety this is a village fete with a big city edge. It will run from 11.30am to 10.30pm on Sunday May 29. Tickets are available now for 25 at thisisgala.co.uk. Follow Ben Norum on Twitter @BenNorum Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout A British man has been stabbed to death in a village in the Algarve. Portugal's Policia Judiciaria said the man, 58, who died in Alcoutim, was stabbed in the abdomen. The 20-year-old suspected killer reportedly murdered him with a spear. A police spokesman said: "The victim was 58 years old. He was killed with a stab blow to the abdominal area. A man suspected of the crime of murder was arrested." The Briton has been named in reports as Simon Carley-Pocock, an accountant from Hertfordshire. A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We are in contact with local authorities following the death of a British national in the Algarve and are ready to provide consular assistance." F our people have denied charges over the death of a lawyer crushed by a half-tonne window frame. Media law specialist Amanda Telfer, 44, was killed after the wooden frame, which had been propped up against a wall at a building site, pinned her to the ground in Hanover Street, Mayfair as she walked to work in August 2012. Bystanders and paramedics tried to resuscitate her, but Telfer, from Bermondsey, was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Telfer, who volunteered for legal charity Reprieve, had been on her way to work at Keystone Law in Davies Street, near Oxford Street, when she died. Four individuals pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter by gross negligence and breaching general duty at work. Damian Lakin-Hall, 48, from Surrey, Claire Gordon, 35, from Leeds, Kelvin Adsett from Slough, and Steve Rogers from Sawbridgeworth, all denied the charges against them when they appeared at the Old Bailey on April 1. Slough-based I S Europe Ltd, Westgreen Construction Ltd, in Richmond, and Leeds company Drawn Metal Ltd also face charges of breaching general duty of care to a non-employee. The charges were brought following an investigation into Ms Telfers death by the Met Polices Homicide and Major Crime Command and the Health & Safety Executive. A trial at the Old Bailey is due to begin on January 31 next year. A drugs company boss who masterminded a 3.1 million fraud against HSBC in a bid to save his crumbling business empire has been jailed for three years and eight months. Baljit Brad, 53, shifted cash around like a chess game and submitted a raft of bogus invoices in the biggest ever fraud suffered by HSBC Invoice Finance. When the scam was finally uncovered, it was too late to recover all the money and the bank suffered a 1.8 million net loss, Southwark crown court heard. Brad, the director of Enfield-based Lister Pharmaceuticals, signed a factoring agreement in 2012 so HSBCIF would buy his debts to provide his business with much-needed cashflow. When two of Brads companies went into administration in March 2013, he broke down and confessed that around 2 million worth of invoices were not right. He had forged invoices and proof of delivery for large batches of medication from Sigma Pharmaceuticals, CST Pharma, Chelmack Ltd and Arrowledge. He claimed money for the bogus sales, and used it to pay off bills and mounting debts, the court heard. Prosecutor James Thacker said: This fraud represents the biggest ever loss suffered by HSBCIF. Brad, who admitted four charges of fraud, hung his head as Judge Deborah Taylor jailed him. His barrister said he was ashamed and had been left bankrupt and homeless after his conviction. To try to hide some of the debts you used the name of other companies which were wholly innocent in this matter, said the judge. In your favour there is your previous good character and your remorse and admissions, and that it was not motivated by greed and you yourself do not seem to have benefited from the money. Brad will serve half the sentence in custody and is banned from being a company director for the next 12 years. A man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of distributing magazines glorifying terrorism in Turkey. Officers from the Met's counter-terror unit detained the pair this morning. A 45-year-old woman was arrested at an address in north London on suspicion of disseminating a terrorist publication and supporting a proscribed organisation, and a 49-year-old man was arrested at an address in east London on suspicion of disseminating a terrorist publication. The offences are illegal under the Terrorism Act. Both have been taken to a south London police station, where they are being held pending further enquires. Officers were this morning searching the addresses in north and east London where the two were arrested. The arrests are linked to the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party DHKP-C, a proscribed organisation. The organisation is a far left political party, which has carried out a number of assassinations and suicide bombings, and is classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU. The offences relate to the distribution of a magazine believed to glorify acts of terrorism in Turkey, and inviting support for a proscribed organisation. A fundraising campaign for the funeral of stabbed teenage rapper Myron Issac-Yarde has raised more than 11,000 in just three days. Hundreds of people have donated to a GoFundMe page set up in honour of the 17-year-old musician, who was knifed repeatedly after a fight broke out among up to 10 youths in New Cross on Sunday. The aspiring rapper, who performed under the name MDot, was found lying in a pool of his own blood in Camplin Street at around 7.40pm and died two hours later in hospital. Friend Jay Thomas shared a plea via the crowd-funding website asking for help covering the costs of Myrons funeral. He wrote: Recently Myron (MDot) was stabbed to death in a brutal attack, with only his siblings left to pay for his funeral. Please help carry the cost of a young black boys life who had a bright future and immense talent, he shall be missed. Myrons mother Marcelle, 52, died last year following a battle with cancer. Stabbed to death: Myron performed under the name Mdot The teenagers cousin, DJ Jonathan Sobotie, 23, yesterday told the Standard: I want everyone to know this has got to stop. If people cant see sense after the death of this innocent, talented boy I dont know what will. Our family has been ripped apart. His mother died just last year. She meant everything to Myron." The GoFundMe page has been shared on social media more than 4,000 times, with many posts urging others to donate to the effort. One public Facebook post was shared by south Londons Infinity Arts Studios, where Myrons older sister April is said to have worked. It read: We want to support April and her family in any way we can so please if you can support by giving anything to help pay for his funeral the link is below. On Tuesday it emerged Myron was friends with Jamar Walker, a 15-year-old who was killed in Birmingham last year after leaving London to escape gang violence. Police have bailed two teenage boys arrested in connection with Sundays stabbing and detectives are continuing to appeal for information over the killing. Detective Chief Inspector Rebecca Reeves said: "At this stage I am still trying to establish what may have sparked the events which resulted in Myron's death so that we can build a clearer picture of what has led to a young man with a promising future losing his life." Anyone with information can call police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. T oo many schools are turning their libraries into classrooms and throwing away books, a teaching union warned today. Other school libraries are too small and do not have enough computers for all children to use, according to a survey of teachers. More than one in five school staff said their school library budget has been cut by at least 40 per cent since 2010. The report, by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, called for Ofsted inspectors to report on the state of the library in each school they visit. Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said some schools have fantastic libraries. But she added: We are also hearing alarming stories of schools cutting library hours and staff, or turning their libraries into classrooms and binning their books. "This is particularly worrying because reading for pleasure develops childrens literacy, educational attainment and ultimately their chances in life. Getting rid of school libraries also risks increasing inequalities and further disadvantaging the most deprived children who are less likely to have access to books or computers at home and will have less access to public libraries since so many are closing. An anonymous member of staff from a primary school in London who works with children with special needs said: Our school had an excellent library full of books. Sadly the library was dismantled last year and all the wealth of reading matter got rid of to create more space for group intervention work and other activities. Another primary school teacher told researchers: The new head has decided a library is no longer needed so is planning to get rid of it as all reading can be done on iPads. A teacher from Surrey said a whole load of books went into a skip, while a teacher in Cornwall said: Our library has become a wall of shelves in a corridor with two chairs we used to have a designated room where children could sit and read or research. We needed the space for another classroom. There is no statutory duty for schools to have libraries or provide access to school library services. But 94 per cent of the 485 school staff who responded to the survey said their school has one. Linda Smith, past chair of the School Library Association, said: School libraries and the staff who guide them are often the easiest department to reduce during times of economic cuts. This is exacerbated by the fact that school library provision remains an optional extra and there is no statutory necessity to house a library within a school and the misguided belief that being a digital native is synonymous with literacy. Nick Poole, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, said: ATLs survey paints a worrying picture of the state of the UKs school libraries. Every parent wants the best for their child so they have equal opportunities and the same life chances as everyone else. Unfortunately not all children can benefit from the skills of a librarian in their school. We firmly endorse ATLs call for inspections to include school libraries. Skilled staff significantly improve the quality of school libraries and increase access to their services. C elebrities came out in support of junior doctors today as the start of a 48-hour walkout forced the cancellation of more than 800 operations in London. Stars from the TV sitcom Green Wing, including Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig, were reuniting at Northwick Park hospital in Harrow, where it was filmed, to join the picket line. Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave was attending a demonstration at the Department of Health at which north London junior doctors were arriving on a fire engine showing support from the Fire Brigades Union to deliver a 100,000-signature petition to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. Mangan said: Green Wing was in many ways absolutely ridiculous but its nowhere near as ridiculous as the mess Jeremy Hunt and the Department of Health have made of these negotiations with the junior doctors. "Were here to support the doctors at the hospital where we filmed Green Wing and to urge the Government to listen to the medical professions concerns. Greig said: Doctors starting out today will be tending to us, our children and our childrens children. I am standing with them because I dont want them doing it exhausted by overwork or enforced poverty. Actor Stephen Mangan joins a picket line at Northwick Park hospital / Jeremy Selwyn Janis Burns, a junior doctor at Northwick Park, said the Green Wing reunion provided a much needed morale boost. She said: As a striking junior doctor Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of public support. Dr Aislinn Macklin-Doherty, who was handing in the petition to the Department of Health, said: We are telling Mr Hunt that this contract will put patients lives at risk by stretching an already understaffed workforce even thinner across seven days, in a chronically underfunded system. The strike action, which will continue until 8am on Friday, is the fourth walkout organised by the British Medical Association in protest at the threatened imposition of unsafe new contracts. Junior doctors' row: Further strikes take place in the UK Medics claim the new contracts, which reduce overtime payments in return for a 13.5 per cent increase in basic salary, fail to protect against the working of dangerously long shifts. The Department of Health branded todays action irresponsible and disproportionate and said almost 25,000 operations had been cancelled since the first walkout in January. Further action is planned on April 26 and 27, with the first ever withdrawal of emergency care by junior doctors. Hospital bosses remain broadly supportive of junior doctors but concerned at the impact on patients. Imperial College Healthcare linked the disruption to its failure to hit waiting time targets. There was unexpected backing for the strike from the Patients Association, which said contract imposition was not the way to resolve the dispute. T housands of patients are facing cancelled operations and treatments as junior doctors take to picket lines once more in their ongoing dispute with the Government. Figures from NHS England show that more than 5,100 procedures and operations have been postponed as a result of a 48-hour industrial action, which began at 8am today. Overall almost 25,000 procedures have been cancelled as a result of ongoing strike action by junior doctors in England. The walkout, which will still see junior doctors provide emergency care cover, is the fourth round of industrial action taken by the British Medical Association (BMA) in the row over a new contract for junior doctors. Greenwing cast attend junior doctors' strike Junior doctors are objecting to a new contract in England, which the British Medical Association says is unfair and will compromise patient safety. Medics are currently paid more for working unsocial hours at night or at the weekend. But under the proposed new contracts, the Saturday day shift will be paid at a normal rate in return for a rise in basic pay. The dispute has become increasingly fraught and junior doctors have two strikes planned for this month. Junior doctors have a message for Jeremy Hunt Strikes planned for April 26 and April 27 will see the full withdrawal of labour by junior doctors - everyone up to consultant level - between the hours of 8am and 5pm on both days. Dr Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said: "We deeply regret any disruption this action will cause to patients, but it is because we believe this contract would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term that we are taking this action. "By imposing a contract that junior doctors have no confidence in and refusing to re-enter talks with the BMA, the Government has left us with no choice. "We want a contract that is fair for all junior doctors - not one of which the Government has admitted will disadvantage women - and ensures that they feel valued and motivated so that the NHS can retain the GPs and hospital doctors of the future. "By pursuing its current course, the Government risks alienating a generation of doctors. If it continues to ignore junior doctors' concerns, at a time when their morale is already at rock-bottom, doctors may vote with their feet which will clearly affect the long-term future of the NHS and the care it provides. "Responsibility for industrial action now lies entirely with the Government. They must start listening and resume negotiations on a properly funded junior doctor's contract to protect the future of patient care and the NHS." Dr Anne Rainsberry, national incident director for NHS England, said: "We've already seen that a 48-hour strike puts considerably more pressure on the NHS and it's deeply regrettable that thousands of patients are still facing disruption because of this recurring action. "As always, the safety and care of patients is our number one priority and everything possible is being done to make sure patients will still be able to access urgent and emergency services. "Following closely on from the four-day Easter break, this will be a difficult period especially over the course of the second day. Consequently we have redoubled our planning efforts and will be closely monitoring events to make sure we can respond to any rising pressures." A Department of Health spokeswoman added: "This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate, and with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering. "If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through Acas in November, we'd have a negotiated agreement by now. We ask doctors to look at the detail of the contract and call on the BMA to cancel their plans to escalate strike action even further." Stike: junior doctors are staging their fourth walkabout over the contract row / Alex Lentati The BMA has called on the Government to resume negotiations and end the dispute through talks. On Monday it emerged that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is facing a second legal challenge to try to block the imposition of the contract, with the threat of action from NHS staff campaign group Just Health. The BMA announced last week it was launching a judicial review challenging the lawfulness of the imposition of the contract. A police officer has been missing for five days after disappearing following a meeting at the Shard's Shangri-La hotel. Met Pc Gordon Semple, 59, vanished after a meeting at the luxury hotel in London Bridge at about 3pm on Friday. His partner reported his disappearance to police when he failed to return home from work, Scotland Yard said. His niece Kerry Nicholas told Kent Online that the disappearance of her uncle, who lives in Greenhithe, Kent, was very out of character. She added: "He had been at a meeting in the Shangri-La. He's very outgoing, sociable and friendly. He's a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. "Nothing like this has happened before. There's absolutely no reason for him to go missing." Concerned loved ones have also set up a Facebook page in an effort to spread the word of his disappearance, which police say is not thought to be linked to his work as a Pc. Mr Semple, who was born in Iverness, is described as 5ft 10ins with a shaved head. He was last seen wearing brown shoes, dark trousers and a lilac shirt, police said. Mr Semple works for the Met with the anti-social bvehaviour team at Westminster City Council. Contact officers in Westminster via 101 or charity Missing People on 116000 quoting ref 16MIS013292. A mbitious plans to turn a Mayfair car park into a spectacular West End sister restaurant to the River Cafe have been scrapped after a revolt by residents. The Duke of Westminsters property firm Grosvenor, which owns the site next to the new Gagosian gallery, will not proceed with a planning application. Ruth Rogers, co-founder of the River Cafe, hoped to open the new venture on Grosvenor Hill next year. By then it would have been three decades since she launched the Michelin-starred Italian restaurant in Hammersmith with her late business partner Rose Gray. But Craig McWilliam, who heads Grosvenors huge London portfolio, said: When we started consultation with residents and business occupiers it was clear residents had strong views. They were concerned about traffic and trading late into the evening. We concluded that on balance they were right this was not the moment to put such an iconic restaurant into this particular location. Grosvenor is looking at alternative uses for the former NCP car park such as another art gallery or shops. But Mr McWilliam said he still hoped to find a location for the restaurant in Mayfair. When the plan was first mooted last year, Lady Rogers, 67, who is married to starchitect Labour peer Richard Rogers, told the Standard: Most other restaurants that started at that time have two or three more by now, but every time we thought about opening a new restaurant we did a new cookbook instead or just concentrated on making the River Cafe even better. Residents in the quiet streets near the site wrote to Grosvenor saying they were deeply worried and upset at the negative impact of a large seven-day-a-week restaurant. One said locals did not want diners revving their Ferraris outside until 1am. A 1 million artwork of Donald Trump which portrays the Republican frontrunner in the nude and led to death threats against its artist will be exhibited for the first time at a London gallery. Controversial Los Angeles artist Illma Gore's mocked-up illustration, called Make America Great Again as a parody of Mr Trump's election slogan, will be shown at Mayfair's Maddox Gallery from this Friday. The 24-year-old, who claims the piece has led to 1,000 death threats against her, said: "I drew Trump nude, I was evoking a reaction from people. "So I tried not to think about it until I spoke to a lawyer who suggested I go to the police about it and file a report in case something happens." After initially posting it on Facebook in February the image was shared more than 260,000 times online. Ms Gore eventually received a notice saying she had infringed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, forcing it to be taken offline. The Maddox Gallery's director, James Nicholls, said the piece had provoked a lot of debate because it was "contentious and interesting". He added: "Some may be offended, but others will see the humour in Gore's work. Maddox Gallery is giving London the chance to view the original artwork and make up their own minds." Asked why London was a good fit to show her work, Ms Gore said: "It seems like the United Kingdom has such an appreciation for art and is far removed enough to see the idea behind it." Additional reporting by the Press Association. T he fragile top end of Londons property market could be dealt another blow by the torrent of leaks from Panama, a leading estate agent warned today. Peter Wetherell, chief executive of Mayfair firm Wetherell, said potential buyers who would normally make their purchases through offshore companies may now decide to rent instead. He said: This latest Panama issue uncovers where wealthy people are putting or investing their money, so it going public is a massive loss of privacy for the people concerned. Some ultra wealthy may choose to rent rather than buy and face these types of politically sensitive offshore company issues. The high end of the central London market is already under pressure from huge increases in stamp duty and other property taxes as well as slumps in the oil and other raw materials markets. The latest slew of disclosure from files leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed the identities of some of the biggest investors in London property, including the prime ministers of Pakistan and Azerbaijan, Iraqs former interim prime minister and the president of the Nigerian senate. It was also revealed that a close association of Syrian president Bashar Assad used offshore companies to hold a portfolio of London homes, including a 1 million flat in St George Wharf in Vauxhall, a 1.2 million apartment at the Norman Foster-designed Albion Riverside building in Battersea and a 1.3 million home in St Johns Wood. The biggest single owner was Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, who has built up a 1.2 billion portfolio. Labours mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan said: These shocking revelations show we urgently need action to make the ownership of property in London more transparent. Ill be pushing to guarantee that anti-money-laundering checks are carried out on the purchasers of property, not just the seller. In total around 2,800 companies set up by Mossack Fonseca are connected to more than 6,000 title deeds on British property mostly in London worth at least 7 billion, it has been reported. R enting a London home is much cheaper than paying off a mortgage, surprising new research shows. Analysis by property website Zoopla shows owning a home in the capital sets people back an average of 15,216 more in payments than renting each year, a 46 per cent difference. According to the site, the median rent per month in London is 2,109, compared with the average monthly mortgage payment of 3,377. Other cities with a similar trend include Brighton, which has a 29 per cent difference, while Cambridge home owners see the country's biggest disparity, forking out 52 per cent more than tenants on average. Spokesman for Zoopla Lawrence Hall said the capital's figures were caused by a lack of housing supply in a city where the average asking price is 675,000. He said: "Despite the very high rents of London, and relatively high rents of Cambridge, Brighton and other southern cities, getting onto the property ladder is still proving tough. "The housing supply pressure in London in particular has become so intense that getting onto the property ladder can be significantly more costly per month than renting. In contrast, figures for nearly half of the country's cities show buying your own home is more cost-effective than being a tenant. Property purchasers in Glasgow are particularly better off, according to the study, with renters paying out around 25 per cent more than buyers. The cheapest places to rent near tube stations in London Mr Hall said: "Particularly if youre in Scotland, Northern England or in the West Midlands, taking the first step onto the ladder and sacrificing the flexibility of renting can be a much cheaper alternative." The top cities where renting beats buying according to Zoopla: 1. Cambridge 2. London 3. Brighton 4. Swansea 5. Wigan 6. Aberdeen 7. Reading 8. Bournemouth 9. Rotherham 10. Southampton The top locations where buying beats renting, according to Zoopla: 1. Glasgow 2. Coventry 3. Birmingham 4. Bradford 5. Newcastle-upon-Tyne 6. Bolton 7. Peterborough 8. Nottingham 9. Barnsley 10. Stoke-on-Trent T his is the bizarre letter sent to residents in a block of flats - warning them that switching taps on and off is "anti-social behaviour". Islington council circulated the warning to residents in Highbury after complaints about people running water late at night. It told baffled occupants that the use of taps was a "severe noise nuisance" and urged those responsible stop immediately or face the prospect of legal action. Council bosses have since apologised and made it clear they would not pursue legal action against people who use their taps at night. The letter, sent on March 31, begins: We would like to make you aware that we are investigating reports of on-going anti-social behaviour occurring in your block. The reports state a resident has been constantly turning taps on for a short period of time and turning them off again. This is occurring late at night and in the early hours of the morning. This has been an on-going issue which has been causing a severe noise nuisance due to a possible high-water pressure issue within the block. We would advise, if you are doing this, to stop immediately. One resident told the Evening Standard they were aware taps in the building could be noisy and blamed high water pressure but said they had never heard them at night. He described the sound as the noise of rushing water or gas through pipes in the walls. The 22-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, added: When we read the letter we thought it was hilarious to call turning taps on anti-social behaviour. And we were thinking there could be all kinds of reasons why youd need to do that [use the taps in the night]. For example you might be ill or have insomnia or work night shifts. But he also said the apartment building was quite large, meaning it could be worse for those living nearer the supposedly anti-social taps. An Islington council spokesman said they had received complaints about the noise caused by water pressure - which they intended to fix. He added: "However this letter was inappropriate and shouldnt have been sent out. "Issues of water pressure in a housing block are out of the hands of individual residents. We would like to apologise for any upset and make it clear that we would not take action against people for using their taps at night. The block in question contains a mixture of privately rented properties as well as council flats. Earlier this year, Islington council sent a different letter warning residents in Tufnell Park that a "spy" had been hired to find out who was feeding pigeons. D og owners in London will be required to have their pet microchipped or face a fine of up to 500 from today. More than one million dogs in the UK have not yet been microchipped - one in eight of the estimated canine population - the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said. From today, dog owners must make sure their pet is fitted with a microchip by the time it is eight weeks old, or face a fine of up to 500. If local authorities come across a dog without a microchip, owners will have up to 21 days to comply with the law. Battersea Dogs and Cats Home recently published a report that showed that 45% of strays found in February across the UK did not have a microchip. Batterseas Chief Executive Claire Horton said: We welcome the new microchipping law as it can really help in reuniting lost dogs with their owners. But theres a long way to go to make sure the nations dog owners know they must get their dog chipped and keep their details up to date. The charity collected data from 50 UK Local Authorities which took in 1,154 stray dogs in February 2016. Owners will be responsible for having their dog chipped and keeping their registration details up to date. It is estimated that more than 1 million dogs have still not been micro-chipped leaving owners facing fines. / Christopher Furlong/Getty Images The chip is the size of a grain of rice, implanted under the dog's skin, between the shoulder blades. Trevor Copper, a dog law consultant said: Councils and police really dont have the resources to commit to and enforce this law. So far as Im concerned it is about the benefits of compliance not about the detriment of enforcement. Only 30% of strays were reunited with their owners in 2015 due to dogs arriving without a microchip or details being out of date. Defra's Animal Welfare Minister George Eustice said: "We are a nation of dog lovers and we want to make sure they stay safe. "Microchipping our dogs will not only reunite people with their lost or stolen pets, but also help to tackle the growing problem of strays roaming the streets, and relieve the burden placed on animal charities and local authorities. F ormer International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn was caught up in the Panama Papers scandal today after it was reported that he ran a firm linked to dozens of offshore companies. The 66-year-old Frenchman, who resigned from the IMF in 2011 over a sex scandal, was the latest high-profile figure to be named in the fall-out from the massive leak of confidential tax document from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. After quitting the IMF post, he took the helm of a company called Leyne, Strauss-Kahn and Partners (LSK) in Luxembourg in October 2013. A subsidiary of LSK had been setting up offshore companies for wealthy clients since 2007, according to the French newspaper Le Monde, which is one of the media organisations with access to the 11 million leaked documents. The revelations are particularly embarrassing for Mr Strauss-Kahn as he has publicly opposed the use of offshore companies to avoid paying millions in tax. Sources close to him denied that he was aware of the offshore activities of the subsidiary. He was not involved in the day- to-day running of the funds and even less in the wealth management activities, said one. There is no suggestion that he did anything illegal. But the claims are still another blow to Mr Strauss-Kahns already battered reputation. He was once tipped to be Socialist president of France but was accused of assaulting a chambermaid at a New York hotel room in 2011. After a spell in prison on remand he was cleared on all charges. He later settled a civil case brought by his accuser. The names of as many as 31 offshore firms linked to the LSK subsidiary were reportedly found in the registers of Mossack Fonseca. They were alleged to include some companies set up in the British Virgin Islands, the Seychelles, Panama and Hong Kong. As recently as June 2013, Mr Strauss-Kahn appeared before a Senate commission held in Paris, where he talked about the unjust consequences of tax havens. He said they had a very destabilising effect on states and on the wider global economy because they denied countries tax funds. LSK, which went bankrupt, is already the focus of legal action in France, with prosecutors conducting a judicial inquiry into whether investors were ripped off. Meanwhile, David Cameron faced new questions over the Panama Papers and an offshore company that his late father Ian set up. Mr Cameron seniors fund Blairmore Holdings was reportedly a client of Mossack Fonseca and registered in the Bahamas. But The Daily Telegraph reported that it was moved to Ireland in 2010, the year in which David Cameron became Prime Minister. A source said the move was made because the directors of the fund, which is believed to be still operating with 35 million in assets, thought that it was about to come under more scrutiny. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said: The Prime Minister clearly has questions to answer still. He went on: For example, do the savings he draws interest from have any connection past or present to Blairmore? Downing Street insisted that the Prime Minister had addressed these issues by stressing that he has no shares in any company and no connection to any offshore trust or funds. It was not clear whether Ireland would be regarded as offshore. But No 10 said people accusing the Prime Minister should put up or shut up. Mossack Fonseca denies any wrongdoing and sources suggested it had been hacked from abroad. M ore than 50 business leaders today warned that Londons housing crisis is now so acute it threatens to damage the citys world-beating technology and creative industries, as well as other key sectors. Advertising chief Sir Martin Sorrell, Canary Wharf Group boss Sir George Iacobescu, architect Sir Terry Farrell and lastminute.com co-founder Baroness Lane-Fox are among signatories of a letter to the Evening Standard sounding the alarm over sky-high property prices and rents. The housing crisis in London is a major problem for business, they write. If not addressed, whole sectors, including our world-beating technology sector and creative industries, will struggle to recruit and retain staff and find themselves losing out to international competitors. Resolving the issue is now urgent, so that we can protect the creativity, innovation and energy which drive Londons business community. Other bosses to sign include John Lewis productivity director Andrew Murphy; Robert Elliott, chairman of law firm Linklaters; Kathryn Nichols, chief executive of management consultancy The Nichols Group; Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye; and British Land chief executive Chris Grigg. Baroness Lane-Fox said: Its vital for London to offer homes to the creative, tech and entrepreneurial talent we rely on to keep our city diverse and thriving. Sir George Iacobescu said: London is a magnet for talented workers but its success means the incoming mayor must fix the housing shortage. Molly Jackson, deputy chief executive of the Southbank Centre, said: Without sufficient affordable housing or access to proper studio space many workers in the creative industries will be forced to move elsewhere. This is a huge concern as Londons cultural institutions, aside from enriching our quality of life, are vital to its economy drawing millions of tourists each year as well as international businesses. Mr Elliott said: The shortage of housing is a real issue for workers in the capital and a growing problem for employers wanting to attract the best talent. If not resolved, I feel it will progressively affect Londons competitiveness. The letter was compiled by business group London First, which also released a report for the Fifty Thousand Homes campaign warning of extreme housing pressure in the city. The report warns that over the next decade the housing crisis will increasingly hit workers in the flat-white economy such as creative media, advertising, market research and software development. The study by the Centre for Economics and Business Research forecasts a range of scenarios, including one of a year when a typical worker aged 22 to 29 would have to spend at least 60 per cent of net income on rent for an inner London studio flat. Such expenditure would force many people to flat-share. For a large group of employees, including nurses, this is already the case. However, the study says this would extend to many young staff in scientific research and development by 2018, teaching and the property business by 2019, telecommunications by 2021 then architecture and engineering by 2023. In 2024 young staff in computer programming and broadcasting would be affected, followed by those in advertising and market research in 2025 then publishing and information in 2027. If the current housing market trend continues, by 2040 only young financial sector employees would be able to rent an inner London studio flat without coming under such extreme housing pressure. A one-bedroom inner London flat is already unaffordable to all young professionals apart from those in about half a dozen sectors including City workers, insurance and pension fund employees, doctors and management consultants. The study also warned that by 2025 individuals in Londons up and coming sectors, particularly hi-tech and creative industries, face having to save for more than a decade to get together 10 per cent for a deposit on a first-time home in the capital. The Fifty Thousand Homes campaign is urging the next mayor to pledge to build at least 50,000 homes annually in London. S hadow Chancellor John McDonnell was today caught in his partys growing anti-Semitism storm after directing people to a website that has carried tributes to suicide bombers. Labour MPs reacted with fury after learning that in 2014 Mr McDonnell linked from his own web page to the site, which once carried sympathetic articles about at least two bombers. One of the pieces focused on a man who murdered 19 Israelis outside a nightclub. Among other archived articles carried on the site was one posted in 2002 claiming Israel has no right to exist and should be dismantled. When the Standard asked the Shadow Chancellors office for a comment, his spokesman said the link from Mr McDonnells site would be removed immediately. Just days ago Mr McDonnell said Labour had to sit up and listen to claims of anti-Semitism in the party, adding that anyone with offensive views should be banned. A spokesman told the Standard: John was supporting a peaceful campaign against the bombing in Gaza at the time in 2014. The campaign suggested using the link to this website in order to take part. "He was obviously not aware of the views this website historically expressed 10 years previously but Johns office has subsequently removed the link in question immediately. "John has a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and has a record of campaigning against all forms of racism. Mr McDonnell wrote a post on his MP website in 2014 promoting a boycott against Israeli goods but then directed readers to another website called Innovative Minds. Among articles it has carried are one from 2001 entitled Why The Road To Paradise? An Interview With The Family Of A Martyr, about Saeed Hotary, who blew himself up outside a Tel Aviv disco, killing 19 party-goers. The piece quotes the bombers father saying: The only way the Palestinians can be stronger is through these bombings. When martyrs blow themselves up, the Jews and Americans listen. A piece thought to be from 2002 entitled A Bride In The Dress Of Martyrdom told the story of Aayaat al-Akhras, who killed two Israelis when she blew herself by a Jerusalem supermarket. Calling the attack a successful heroic operation, the article went on to say the bomber will remain an example for every Palestinian woman. A third piece from 2002 argued that even if the Zionist State is the size of a postage stamp it has no right to exist. Labour MP Michael Dugher said material the website previously published was extreme and deeply offensive, adding: The Labour Party must take anti-Semitism seriously and tackle it in the strongest possible way. "Sadly these efforts are undermined when things like this are once again exposed. Tory MP Sir Eric Pickles, chairman of Conservative Friends of Israel, said the articles amounted to tributes to suicide bombers. A spokesman for Innovative Minds said the articles were historic and not written by people who manage the website, which he said opposed all forms of racism including anti-Semitism and aimed to promote peaceful anti-racist, pro-justice, anti-apartheid activism. He added: InMinds website carries diverse views and opinion pieces on issues to do with peacefully resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In particular ... it has been to promote the work of Jews, Muslims, Christians and many more in this field and promote an understanding of shared humanity. B usiness Secretary Sajid Javid was today in Mumbai for urgent talks about the sale of Tatas UK steel works with the potential loss of thousands of jobs. Mr Javid said he was aiming to secure a final agreement on the sales process in his absolutely vital meeting with Tata chairman Cyrus Mistry. The minister, who faced calls to resign after taking a business trip to Australia despite knowing Tata was considering a sale, has held talks with union bosses, industry leaders and other politicians. But he is under intense pressure, including from Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan, who said that if the UK steel industry failed, people in places like Port Talbot, whose lives and communities have been shaped by the steel industry, will have been crushed. Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, within whose Aberavon seat Tatas Port Talbot plant lies, cautioned against rushing into a deal with Sanjeev Gupta. The steel tycoon signalled he may be willing to buy Tatas operations and is committed to saving all jobs, but would aim to convert Port Talbots blast furnace into an electric arc furnace. Mr Kinnock said: It would involve a reduction in production in Port Talbot and that would have a massive impact on the workforce. H igh-crime London neighbourhoods will be flagged up by a controversial new social app that offers people the choice of a safe or risky route to their destination. RedZone aims to become a virtual neighbourhood watch with GPS navigation similar to the A-to-B directions of Google Maps, but with a verbal warning when the user nears a crime hotspot. Algorithms geo-fence troublespots using sources including Met police data, news stories, crowdsourcing and social media. Users input to and from points and are offered a slower route deemed safer or a faster, but allegedly riskier, one. RedZone, free on Apple iOS, also features reporting buttons for users to broadcast an incident by dropping pins on a map, including the option of attaching photographs and video. Founder Ted Farnsworth told the Standard he planned releasing a London version within a month and denied it could unfairly stigmatise neighbourhoods after some Twitter users claimed the US version was racist. A view crime button shows incidents, including stabbings, assaults and thefts, as pins over the past six months and clicking on a pin shows the date it occurred. Users can drop their own pins for crimes and also alert others to hazards, traffic cameras, road closures or police activity. Mr Farnsworth said its uses could include allowing Tube harassment victims an anonymous way of instantly reporting perpetrators by dropping a pin on a map, although this will not be sent to police. He added it was not a substitute for calling 999, but could be a helpful tool for police to monitor. RedZone aims to be more comprehensive than apps such as CrimeWatch and Crime Map, which use only official sources, through a model similar to the Waze traffic and navigation community app, where drivers alert each other to incidents. Mr Farnsworth said: London is our next market and we will be there in the next 30 days. Police can use the app as another resource, another set of eyes on the streets, almost as a virtual neighbourhood watch. If officers start to notice many pins dropped in one neighbourhood at a certain time of day, for example, it would make sense for them to patrol that area more closely. People are still encouraged to call 999 if they witness a serious crime but when they also report it through the app, theyre able to warn others who might be nearby. You can look on the map to see where theres been a stabbing or fight or assault or incident or sexual harassment or robbery. You can also put in your destination and you get two routes, a safe route and a risky route. The safe route is usually about 12 to 15 per cent longer but it will calculate and take you around those pins, around that red zone. It follows the shutdown of US app SketchFactor, which crowdsourced tips for pedestrians to avoid sketchy areas, but drew headlines such as: Want to Avoid Black Neighbourhoods? Theres an App for That. Mr Farnsworth said: In the long-term the crowdsourcing side of it will be even more critical, where people are reporting whats going on. Its for the citizens to take control of their neighbourhoods and work with the police to reduce crime, its not racist at all. Were taking factual data and making you aware of your surroundings. Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: Any technology that helps to reduce crime and keep the public safe can only be seen as positive. W hatsApp has re-engineered its systems so that messages are only readable by the sender and recipient. The instant messaging app has introduced end to end encryption to its service, meaning messages are scrambled as they travel between the two devices. The security upgrade has the effect of locking out police and terror investigators as well as criminals - even if they are able to intercept the communication. It also makes WhatsApp engineers powerless to comply with warrants to hand over suspicious messages. File transfers and voice calls made over the service, which has about a billion users worldwide, will also be encrypted, WhatsApp said. The firm said: "The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us." Security upgrade: The move by Facebook-owned WhatsApp blocks all but sender and recipient from reading messages / Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The move by the Facebook-owned company comes after technology giant Apple became embroiled in a row with the FBI over access to data on an iPhone used by California gunman Syed Farook. Investigators were trying to force Apple to break into the device but dropped its case against them after claiming a third party had enabled them to break into the device. T he father of missing Madeleine McCann has been labelled a hypocrite after he appeared on breakfast TV to criticise the government for dragging its heels over press reforms. Gerry McCann, whose daughter Madeleine vanished from a holiday apartment in Portugal in 2007, was quizzed on BBC breakfast earlier today after he signed his name on a letter to the Prime Minister posing questions about the Leveson inquiry. The letter, which is also signed by other victims of press intrusion, including Christoper Jefferies, who was wrongly accused of murder, criticises the government for failing to enact promises it made over press reform. The open letter, published in the Guardian, read: "We believe that it is not just us whom you are at risk of betraying, but Parliament, the public at large and future victims of a press industry which was condemned by Leveson for 'wreaking havoc in the lives of innocent people'. "If your promises are not kept, history tells us that newspapers will wreak havoc again." Mr McCann told the programme: "The Prime Minister promised us that the victims would remain at the centre of the Leveson reforms and we feel that our views have been pushed aside." However, Mr McCann was roundly slammed on Twitter for "hypocrisy" by senior media commentators as he and his wife Kate have been accused of courting media coverage in the past. The McCanns reportedly paid PR agency Bell Pottinger 500,000 to keep the case in the media spotlight. Interview: Gerry McCann was grilled on breakfast TV / BBC Former newspaper editor Neil Wallis tweeted: "Breathtaking hypocrisy by #GerryMcCann to continue to attack Press Freedom yet spends fortune to PR in press abduction of child he caused" While another twitter user posted: "K&G #McCann paid Bell Pottinger 500,000 to keep them on the front pages + then complained to Leveson about press intrusion." And Jay Littlemore said: "When one wants a tin of beans one pays (500,000) for a tin of beans. How can one then complain when one gets beans? #Mccann" The hashtag #McCann was also trending on Twitter, with people cynically criticising him for not mentioning his missing daughter. One Twitter user wrote: "Not a mention of your missing child #mccann BBC give you a platform and not a mention...shame on you forever" While another said: "Irony & hypocrisy all in one go. Gerry #McCann doing the rounds on TV & media, whining & moaning. Not one appeal to Maddie" C CTV images have been released of the last known sighting of missing police officer Gordon Semple. PC Semple vanished five days ago after going for a meeting at the Shard's Shangri-La hotel. The Mets homicide and major crime command has now taken over the hunt to find him due to concerns for his welfare, Scotland Yard said. He is being described as a "high risk" missing person. The unit today released two CCTV stills of his last known sighting. CCTV: Another image of the last known sighting / Metropolitan Police They were taken at about 3pm on Friday in Great Guildford Street, about half a mile from the London Bridge landmark. Police believe he had left the Shard at about 12.30pm. The Metropolitan Police officer was reported missing by his partner after failing to return home from work on Friday. Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, who is leading the investigation, said: We continue to retain an open mind concerning the circumstances of Gordon's disappearance, and consideration has been given to whether he may have become a victim of a crime. However, at this stage this is just one line of enquiry it is still hoped that he will return home safe and well. 'High risk': Gordon Semple / Metropolitan Police We have released CCTV images of Gordons last known sighting on Friday, 1 April at 15:00hrs in Great Guildford Street, which runs between Southwark Street and Union Street, SE1. We have now established Gordon left the Shard at about 12:30hrs, and I would like to know where he went between 12:30hrs and 15:00hrs, when he was seen on the CCTV. We are yet to identify if Gordon met with anyone in that area, or was merely passing through. He can be seen looking at his mobile telephone, but not making or receiving a call. I am very keen to hear from anyone who spoke with Gordon at any point since Friday, 1 April or anyone with information which could assist our enquiries and establish his current whereabouts. I would like to reassure anyone concerned about calling the police, that they will be treated with the utmost sensitivity and strictest confidence. Gordon is described as a white man, 5ft 10ins tall, of a large build and with a shaven head. He was last seen wearing brown shoes, dark trousers and a lilac shirt. Police are asking anyone with information to call the incident room on 020 8721 4961 or ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 to remain anonymous. A chair used by JK Rowling while she wrote the first two Harry Potter books has sold for $394,000 (278,000). The 1930s oak seat was bought by an anonymous bidder at an auction in New York on Wednesday. It was one of four mismatched chairs that the writer was given for her council flat in Edinburgh. Rowling penned Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter And The Chamber of Secrets while sitting on the chair. Auctioned off: The chair / Joseph Schroeder/Heritage Auctions via AP Seller Gerald Gray, from Worsley in Greater Manchester, had bought it in 2009 after his Harry Potter-fan daughter saw it on eBay. He said the sum far exceeded his expectations and he plans to donate 10 per cent to charity "because that's what she did in the first place". Rowling originally auctioned off the chair for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 2002. Before she donated it to the Chair-ish a Child auction, in aid of charity, she painted on it: "You may not/find me pretty/but don't judge/on what you see." She also wrote: "I wrote/Harry Potter/while sitting/on this chair." It is accompanied by a signed letter 'by Owl Post" describing its history and provenance. The letter reads: "Dear new-owner-of-my-chair / I was given four mismatched dining room chairs in 1995 and this was the comfiest one, which is why it ended up stationed permanently in front of my typewriter, supporting me while I typed out 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' and 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. / My nostalgic side is quite sad to see it go, but my back isn't. / JK Rowling." Additional reporting by the Press Association. H unters have shot and killed an enormous alligator they claim was feasting on their cows. The gigantic reptile, said to be 15ft in length and weighing more than 350 kilograms, was spotted on a farm in Okeechobee, Florida. It reportedly surfaced in water near to where cattle graze on Outwest Farm while the two hunters were patrolling just yards away. After spying the beast on Saturday, the men shot it dead then had to use a tractor to drag it from the water. Blake Godwin told Fox 13 News: "We also discovered the remains what we determined to be cattle in the water. We determined that he was in fact attacking our livestock as they came to drink. The farmers now plan to donate the creatures meat to charity and have the carcass stuffed for display at hunting shows. T ed Cruz won a thumping victory over Donald Trump in the Wisconsin presidential election - and hailed a turning point in campaign. The Texas Senator said his 13 point victory over the billionaire, beyond what the polls predicted, was the beginning of the end for his rival. Mr Trump hit back in a bitter statement and said that Mr Cruz was a Trojan horse being used by the (Republican) party bosses to steal the nomination from him. In the Democratic race Bernie Sanders comfortably beat Hillary Clinton and added to the momentum of his campaign. He claimed that he had a path towards the White House and said that Mrs Clinton was getting nervous that he might beat her. Despite the victories Mr Cruz and Mr Sanders face uphill battles as their respective rivals have a massive lead in the number of delegates, who will elect their partys candidate. Wisconsin was seen as a crucial test for Mr Trump who outraged America last week when he said women who have abortions should undergo some sort of punishment. Loading.... His off the cuff remark went too far even for him and came after he angered the Republican establishment by going back on a pledge to back the nominee if it wasnt him. With 99 per cent of Wisconsin districts reporting, Mr Cruz had 48 per cent compared to Mr Trump on 35 per cent. Donald Trump's bad week topped with Wisconsin loss In Mr Cruzs victory speech he quoted Winston Churchill and referred to President John F Kennedy and claimed he was winning because he was uniting the Republican party. He said that his win last week in Utah followed by Wisconsin showed that the national political terrain (has) begun to change. Mr Cruz said: Tonight Wisconsin has lit a candle guiding the way forward. Tonight we once again have hope for the future. Tonight is about unity and tonight is about hope. He finished his speech by saying: Hillary: get ready, here we come. Loading.... The fighting between Mr Cruz and Mr Trump has been especially bitter in recent weeks. Mr Trump has made repeated attacks on Mr Cruzs wife Heidi and Tweeted unflattering pictures of her alongside glamorous shots of his own wife Melania, a former model. Last night Mr Cruz pulled Heidi on stage and said: I may be biased, but isnt she going to make an amazing First Lady? He said: Shes the child of missionaries, my best friend in the world, a loving mum and every day shes teaching our daughters that strong women can accomplish anything in the United States. More than $2 million was spent on attack adverts against Mr Trump in the state of Wisconsin alone as his enemies in the Republican party ganged up against him. In his statement the real estate mogul lashed out and said that he had suffered the onslaught of the establishment and that Mr Cruz had the entire party apparatus behind him. The statement said: Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet - he is a Trojan Horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr Trump. Mrs Clinton did not give a speech after it became clear she had lost to Mr Sanders. With nearly all districts in Wisconsin reporting, she had 43 per cent to his 56 per cent. During his speech Mr Sanders jubilant crowd chanted Yes he can, a nod to President Obamas campaign slogan of Yes we can. Mr Sanders, a left wing Senator from Vermont, said; Momentum is starting this campaign 11 months ago and the media determining we were a fringe candidacy. Momentum is starting the campaign 60 to 70 points behind Secretary Clinton. Momentum is the last couple of weeks which have had us one point up or one point down. Mr Sanders path to the nomination remains unlikely and he will have to win each of the remaining states by massive numbers. That includes New York, where Mrs Clinton was a Senator, which Mr Sanders would have to win by at least 60 per cent. J anet Jackson has announced that she will be delaying her Unbreakable tour as she is planning a family. The pop superstar, 49, who cancelled all of her planned UK tour dates last month, informed fans that she has been told to rest by her doctors. Putting an end to speculation over her health, Jackson released a video message to fans about her plans to have a baby with husband Wissam Al Mana. On August 31st as you probably know, I launched the Unbreakable World Tour. First I just want to thank all the fans for coming out and seeing the show thank you so much, you guys made it so enjoyable for me each and every night," she said. Were in the second leg of the tour and there has actually been a sudden change. I thought it was important that you be the first to know my husband and I are planning our family. So, Im going to have to delay the tour. Please, if you could try and understand that its important that I do this now. She continued: I have to rest up doctors orders but I have not forgotten about you. I will continue the tour as soon as I possibly can. I want to thank the dancers, the band, my entire crew you guys were so professional and so incredibly talented, so supportive and loving each and every night. Thank you so much. I cant wait to get started again. Jackson pulled out of her scheduled UK dates back in March, citing scheduling difficulties. She also cancelled a series of dates in North America in January after having to undergo emergency surgery. At the time she told fans: Hey you guys Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon. A ctress Jessica Raine says her latest role, in a futuristic play set on Pluto, is a dream come true because of the inspiring writing. Raine, who starred in period drama Call The Midwife, plays a crew member on a research base that has lost contact with Earth in X at the Royal Court Theatre. She told the Standard appearing at the Sloane Square venue had been on her bucket list and praised the plays fantastic writer, Alistair McDowall. I was just aching to be on that stage, she said. Ive always wanted to be at this theatre, Ive always come to it and watched plays here. Praise: Jessica Raine with the plays fantastic writer Alistair McDowall / Rex This is a complete dream come true because my philosophy is, The writer is king. For me its always about the writer and the play, so Im thrilled. Raine, who appeared in Wolf Hall and also recently starred opposite David Walliams in Partners In Crime, married Mr Selfridge actor Tom Goodman-Hill last September. She said: Its been about two years since Ive been back on stage and I knew that I really needed to work those muscles again. "But I also knew I couldnt do any old play, I wanted to do something that meant a lot to me. This play means an awful lot to me. I cant even tell you why its got a lot of heart and soul embedded in the writing. I feel very inspired by this play. Alistair has a fantastic head on his shoulders, he lives in Manchester and doesnt get too whizzed up by hype which is really good. I just know hes going to keep writing excellent plays. McDowall, whose first major hit Pomona transferred to the National last year, admitted the subject matter of his latest work is not going to be for everyone. He said: Its got the trappings of science fiction but actually its more a psychological drama. "Its important to me that at every point no matter how weird it gets there is something recognisable about it. WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 / Standard Newswire / -- Judicial Watch filed a reply brief in its ongoing appeal of a lower California state court ruling allowing the University of California Regents to give as much as $27.1 million in non-resident tuition waivers and financial aid to illegal alien students attending University of California schools. The appeal was filed in litigation brought on behalf of Earl De Vries, a legal resident and taxpayer of California ( Earl De Vries v Regents of the University of California (BC555614)). The appeal is now fully briefed before the California Court of Appeal and awaiting oral arguments, which should occur in late summer or fall of 2016.In August 2014, Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit on behalf of De Vries in the L.A. County Superior Court, asking the court to halt the estimated annual $19.6 million in non-resident tuition waivers; $4.3 million in taxpayer-funded grants and scholarships; and $3.2 million in state loans the Regents have started giving illegal alien students. Under California law, taxpayers have the right to sue government officials to prevent unlawful expenditures of taxpayer funds and taxpayer-financed resources.Under the "Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act" passed by Congress in 1996, unlawfully present aliens are ineligible for state or local public benefits. The only exception to this federal law is when a state "affirmatively provides for such eligibility" to illegal aliens, which states may do "only through the enactment of a State law "The California State Legislature passed statutes granting such tuition benefits to California State University students and California Community College students, but it was forbidden to do so for University of California students. Under the California Constitution, the UC Board of Regents is "entirely independent" of the state legislature in policy matters, so there is no lawful way for the California legislature to allow or require the University of California to provide public benefits to illegal aliens.In March 2015, the Superior Court ruled that the UC Board of Regents' policies themselves (and not the state statutes) are the "state laws" that affirmatively provide the benefits to UC students in satisfaction of federal law and dismissed the lawsuit. In November 2015, Judicial Watch filed its opening appellate brief with the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, arguing that the trial court wrongly read extra words into Congress' statute. Specifically, the brief argues that the federal statute in question "does not say 'state law or administrative rule, regulation or policy.' It says 'State law.' This means an enactment of the state legislature."In its March 22 appellant's reply brief, Judicial Watch highlights for its client how the appointed UC Board of Regents has not been granted the same rights as a state legislature elected by voters under federal law: A Colorado man who struck a woman, her three children and the familys dog with his car received a $100 fine during sentencing last month. A jury had acquitted Aisic Ervin, 21, of Centennial, Colorado, on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident, a Class IIIA felony, during trial in January. He was found guilty of a charge careless driving, an infraction, in the September 2015 accident that seriously injured Rainey Wittig-Keefe. The woman, her three children Ashlynn Wittig-Keefe, 14; Dreven Wittig-Keefe,10; and Alex Wittig-Keefe, 9, were struck from behind as they walked near the Western Nebraska Veterans Home on West 42nd Street near Highway 71. The children were also treated for injuries and the familys dog was killed in the crash. Ervin, who had been driving east in the 1100 block of West 42nd Street when the accident occurred, told officers he had been reaching for his wallet in a backpack when he saw a brown figure in the road. His vehicle made impact with the figure, which Ervin claimed to have thought was a deer, according to arrest affidavits in the case. Ervins vehicle had damage consistent with the accident, with damage to the right passenger side of the vehicle, according to the affidavit. He turned himself in to police later, saying he had seen on Facebook that officers were looking for a driver in the crash. Ervin was sentenced on March 18, according to Scotts Bluff County District Court documents. Scotts Bluff County Judge Leo Dobrovolny also sentenced Ervin to attend a driver improvement school certified by the National Safety Council, according to a sentencing order. He was also assessed court costs of $301.32. Ervin received the maximum sentence of $100 for the offense, a traffic infraction. First United Methodist Church will host its annual Pancake Feed & Bake Sale at the First United Methodist Church in Gering Saturday, April 9. The church is hosting an All You Can Eat breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, ham and a drink. Tickets are sold at the door: Adults $6 and children (12 & under) $3. The event will be held from 7 to 11 a.m. in the churchs fellowship hall, located at the north entrance. Countries & Areas Search for country or area A Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan B Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burma Burundi C Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Costa Rica Cote dIvoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czechia D Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic E Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia F Fiji Finland France G Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana H Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary I Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy J Jamaica Japan Jordan K Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan L Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg M Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique N Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway O Oman P Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Q Qatar R Republic of the Congo Romania Russia Rwanda S Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria T Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu U Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay Uzbekistan V Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Y Yemen Z Zambia Zimbabwe Wednesday, 06 April 2016 22:28:12 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Argentinian car output in March declined 8.4 percent, year-on-year, to 46,209 units, the nations automotive industry association, Adefa, said this week. Despite the decreased production and exports in March, domestic sales improved 20.1 percent, year-on-year, in the same period to 60,694 units. Exports in the third month of the year diminished 37.9 percent, year-on-year, to 17,192 units. As for the accumulated period of January to March, Argentinian car output totaled 98,168 units, 18.1 percent down, year-on-year, while exports and domestic sales reached 35,258 and 162,139 units, 40.2 percent down, but 29.4 percent up, year-on-year, respectively. Ukrainian steel pipe producer Interpipe has announced that producers of steel pipes, fittings and flanges have met at the International Tube and Pipe Trade Fair in Dusseldorf, Germany, to discuss the problem of counterfeit steel products which pose a challenge to the industry. The aim of the meeting, held by German-based Fight Fake Products Initiative, is to develop a joint plan of action to withstand unfair competition which creates crucial risks for the industry. During the meeting, Interpipe and the other participants reiterated their concerns regarding counterfeit pipe products. Interpipe s vice president of sales Andrey Burtsev stated that counterfeiting of steel is growing, particularly in the Middle East and the use of fake steel results in major safety issues. Counterfeit pipe products and accessories are widely used in civil engineering in the region and can pose a real threat to society, he added. Mr. Burtsev also emphasized that, as part of their initiative, producers should work further with suppliers, official authorities and governments to make the market fairer, safer and more competitive. Wednesday, 06 April 2016 22:14:23 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo Five months after a Samarcos iron ore waste dam burst, killing 19 people, the public ministry in the state of Minas Gerais (MPMG), a body of public prosecutors, filed a lawsuit against the pellets producer because mud has continued to leak from the affected dam. The lawsuit was filed this week and asks Samarco to fix the leakage in the Fundao dam within five days. MPMG is also asking for a daily fine of BRL 1 million. A court in the state of Minas Gerais is yet to decide the case. MPMGs lawsuit asks Samarco, a 50/50 JV between Vale and BHP Billiton, to be prevented from operating until the mud leakages are solved, according to a local media report. About 5 million-cubic-meters of iron ore waste went to the Doce River in 2016, according to estimates from the prosecutors. Meanwhile, Samarco is said to be negotiating with a local union the extending to June of a paid leave for its workers. The current paid leave for the companys workers in the state of Espirito Santo expires in April 25. About 1,182 workers have joined the paid leave, according to a media report. A Samarco executive admitted that the company could dismiss workers between June and October. The company expects to resume operations in Q4 this year, but depends on a license from a local environment authority. Updated at 5:30 p.m. WASHINGTON The Justice Department is suing to stop Halliburton from buying oilfield-services rival Baker Hughes, the latest effort by the Obama administration to block mergers that it believes enrich corporations but hurt consumers. The government argues that the $35 billion deal would lead to higher prices and less innovation in the business of helping energy companies drill for oil and gas. The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Delaware, charging that the deal would eliminate head-to-head competition in 23 markets for products and services including drill bits, fluids and expertise in drilling horizontal wells. Those and other innovations have helped spur a renaissance in U.S. energy production. Halliburton Co. is the world's second-biggest services company in the oil business and Baker Hughes Inc. is third. Combining them would create a duopoly with market leader Schlumberger Ltd., the Justice Department said. Halliburton and Baker Hughes said they would contest the lawsuit. They said that the Justice Department was wrong in how it viewed the deal, especially given the downturn in the oil industry The Houston companies said in a joint statement that their deal would improve competition by creating a more flexible, innovative services company. "The transaction will provide customers with access to high quality and more efficient products and services, and an opportunity to reduce their cost per barrel," the companies said. The companies announced their plan to combine in November 2014, shortly after oil prices began to fall due to a global oversupply of crude. The glut has slowed demand for drilling services. Both companies have laid off thousands of workers, and their shares have fallen sharply since the highs of mid-2014. Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, said oilfield services is a cyclical business and its companies grow and shrink with market conditions. "It's not a justification for an anticompetitive merger to say, 'We're not doing as much business as we used to,'" he said. Halliburton has proposed spinning off billions of dollars in assets to get the deal approved it could owe Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee if the deal falls through. Baer dismissed the divestiture offer, calling it a "grab bag" of the companies' less-valuable holdings. Last year saw a record of more than $5 trillion in corporate mergers and takeovers, topping 2007 as the biggest year ever for deals, according to Dealogic. Speaking to antitrust lawyers in Washington, Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the deals are also bigger and more complex. "This represents a remarkable shift toward consolidation and it presents unique challenges to federal enforcers in our work to maintain markets that serve not just top executives and majority shareholders, but every American," Lynch said. Consolidation, especially in industries that already have few competitors, raises serious concern about higher prices, lower quality and less innovation, she said. Lynch cited deals that were stopped or abandoned in the face of regulatory objections including a Comcast-Time Warner Cable tie-up, AT&T's attempt to buy T-Mobile, and a combination of Chicken of the Sea and Bumble Bee. "To even begin the merger process in these instances was little more than a waste of corporate and taxpayer dollars," she said. The high-profile victories cited by Lynch may be encouraging regulators to challenge new deals. "That gives them confidence and emboldens them in the way they think about transactions," said Jeff Jaeckel, a Washington lawyer who has represented airlines and other companies in antitrust cases. He said success is making regulators more likely to demand bigger asset sales or try to block transactions. Analysts said that even without the deal, Halliburton, a leader in the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing or fracking, would still be poised to profit from a recovery in the North American energy business. But Baker Hughes' prospects as a stand-alone company would be less certain. "Baker Hughes has great technology, but there has always been this mystifying imbalance between the technology platform and their operational results," said Bill Herbert, an analyst for Simmons & Co., part of Piper Jaffray. The company might go back on the sales block. GE could take advantage of low oil prices and the collapse of the Halliburton deal to buy Baker Hughes a quick, attractive way to enter the oilfield-services business said Raymond James analyst J. Marshall Adkins. Investors had long braced for the possibility that the deal could fail to win regulatory approval, and shares of both companies rose on Wednesday. Halliburton gained $2.04, or 5.9 percent, to $36.44; Baker Hughes climbed $3.47, or 8.8 percent, to close at $42.83. Updated at 11:43 a.m. WASHINGTON The administration of President Barack Obama administration acted Wednesday to require that brokers who recommend investments for retirement savers meet a stricter standard that now applies to registered advisers: They must act as "fiduciaries" trustees who are obligated to put their clients' best interests above all. The action, in rules issued by the Labor Department, could shake up how Americans' retirement investments are handled by brokers. The anticipated release of the rules had been the target of heated lobbying campaigns from both the financial industry and consumer advocates. "This is a huge win for the middle class," Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said in a conference call with reporters. "We are putting in place a fundamental principle of consumer protection." The rules will be phased in starting a year from now. Full compliance will be required by January 2018. The change could alter the types of investments from stocks and bonds to annuities and real estate funds that brokers recommend for people's retirement accounts. Their recommendations may soon shift away from riskier or high-commission investments. And brokers will have to disclose any conflict of interest related to a financial product like commanding a high fee for recommending it that would prevent them from putting a client's interests first. Americans increasingly seek advice to help navigate their options for retirement, college savings and more. Many professionals provide investment guidance, but not all are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest. The management of hundreds of billions in retirement accounts like 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts could be affected. About $4.5 trillion were in 401(k) retirement accounts as of Sept. 30, plus $2 trillion in other defined-contribution plans such as federal employees' plans and $7.3 trillion in IRAs, according to the Investment Company Institute, an industry group. Critics of the current system say investors lose billions a year because of brokers' conflicts of interest. The White House estimates the loss at $17 billion annually. Regulators say problems often arise when people who are retiring or leaving a company "roll over" their employer-based 401(k) account into an individual retirement account. A broker they hire to make that shift might persuade them to move their money into a variable annuity or other investment that could be risky, expensive or difficult to cash out. The Consumer Federation of America called the government action "a historic win for consumers." The financial industry, though, warns that the new requirements for brokers will likely reduce investors' choices of financial products and could cause brokers to abandon retirement savers with smaller accounts. Perez said that in drafting the final rules, his department considered many of the industry's concerns and made revisions to accommodate them. The period for the rules to begin taking effect, for example, was extended from eight months as originally proposed to one year. At ground level, the new system will force financial advisers to adapt, consultants J.D. Power says. It joins the rise of new technology such as robo-advisers automated wealth-management services as factors that are "causing more investors to question the value they are getting out of their advisers," J.D. Power said. "Full-service firms will need to adapt to make a clearer case for the value they provide versus lower-cost alternatives," it said. A strict fiduciary rule might have helped some investors who have lost retirement savings in recent years. One of them, Susan Bernardo, 58, says about seven years ago, her broker put her money into energy and real estate partnerships without explaining the risks or the fat 5 percent commission that brokers typically earn on such deals. The portfolio, once worth $400,000, has plunged to half that. A widow and single mother from Wantagh, New York, Bernardo is also angry that the broker put money that had been set aside for her then-3-year-old son and in variable annuities that he can't touch until turning 59 at least without paying steep penalties. Earnings on variable annuities can grow tax-free, but hefty fees kick in if investors withdraw cash before they reach that age. "Unfortunately, it's a little late for me," Bernardo said of the new rules. "A lot of people have been hurt." There have been numerous cases in recent years of abuses by brokers of their customers. In 2012, David Lerner Associates was fined $12 million by regulators for putting unsophisticated and elderly investors into risky real estate investment trusts. And last year, UBS paid $15 million to settle charges that it had failed to supervise a former broker who had put investors into risky Puerto Rican funds. Both companies neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. AP Business Writer Bernard Condon in New York contributed to this report. Rob Delaney was ready for the question. People who recognize him from Catastrophe, returning for a second season Friday on Amazon, typically say exactly what I said when I interrupted Delaneys breakfast at a Los Angeles hotel in January. Cant you make more episodes? The short answer is no; no, they cant. Delaney and Sharon Horgan created Catastrophe two years ago for Britains Channel 4; they also write every word, and they star as Rob and Sharon, virtual strangers brought together in Season 1 by an accidental pregnancy after a weekend fling. When Amazon introduced Catastrophe to the United States in June, it quickly became both a critical darling and a favorite of subscribers who devoured the six episodes. Six episodes. Only six! And now, only six more. Its just a spine-crushing amount of work, Delaney said during an Amazon panel when asked about writing the show. Its just two of us, Horgan echoed. It takes a long time to write. Many half-hour comedies have a team with dozens of writers, not just two. The pluses are, we can look at each other like with laser sharp-focus and see if the other person is laughing or not laughing, he said. So theres nowhere to hide. On the other hand, Theres nobody to share the blame with. Writing the show themselves is necessary, no matter how hard it is, Delaney and Horgan say. Because its so specific to us and our personal experience, it would feel a bit disingenuous to take other peoples stories, as real or as true as they might be, Horgan said. We can be very honest with the audience, and we can feel a comfort about what we are saying because we know that it comes from a place of honesty and truth. Delaney, an actor and comedian from Boston who now lives in London with his wife and three kids, may be best known outside of Catastrophe for his scathing humor on Twitter. He is a recovered alcoholic who has been sober since 2002, a storyline that he wrote into the show. Horgan, who is Irish, co-wrote the British comedy Pulling and is currently writing HBOs Divorce, marking Sarah Jessica Parkers return to TV. She is married, with two daughters. We have over 20 years of marriage between the two of us to our respective spouses, Delaney said, explaining that the original concept of the series was to show the horror of a marriage in progress. Season 1, in which the two meet and prepare for the arrival of their child, functioned as a prelude to this season, which is about a marriage that works almost in spite of itself. Rob and Sharon love each other, are committed, and sometimes want to kill each other. Catastrophe is as poignant as it is hilarious, and always, beneath the humor, are veins of anger and pain. We never try and dial back the pain, Horgan said. We never look at an episode after weve written it and go, Oh, theres too much pain in this one. We probably would try and put a bit more back in. Pain, Delaney said, is so critical. Its such a critical ingredient, because it makes the love shine brighter. Returning after a time jump, Catastrophe finds Sharon, no longer working, trying to make mommy friends and Rob reeling from temptation at the office. Carrie Fisher is back, this time not just on the phone, as Robs eccentric mother. A romantic trip to Paris is fraught with language difficulties and an inappropriate masseur. I love this show so much, I wish I could marry Sharon and Rob, Amazon Studios comedy boss Joe Lewis said before the Catastrophe panel. Weve all been in relationships, and we are all sensitive to false portrayals of them, he said. As relationship shows are a cornerstone of TV itself, it becomes even harder to make something that stands out and feels new and different, yet that is exactly what Catastrophe has done. Horgan and Delaney, though, admit they had one concern about Season 2. We were worried that there wasnt enough sex in it, Horgan said. And then we watched it, Delaney said. And then we watched it, Horgan continued, and we were, like, Oh, no. I think weve maybe put too much sex in it because people that have been married that long dont have that much sex. Viewers will have to judge, if they can stop laughing long enough. What Catastrophe When Season 2 streaming April 8 Where Amazon More info amazon.com/catastrophe BERKELEY Police are searching for a man whose mother and girlfriend were found dead inside a burning home early Wednesday morning. Firefighters fighting the blaze about 1:40 a.m. discovered the dead women inside the single-family home in the 6100 block of Eaton Drive. They were identified as Gerry D. Smith, 61, and Cierra Owens, 26. Autopsies were to be performed Wednesday afternoon. Berkeley Police Chief Frank McCall Jr. called the deaths suspicious. McCall said police were searching for Michael D. Smith, 39, who lived at the home. Smith, who neighbors say is known as Bam, hadnt been seen since the fire, the chief said. McCall said Smith was a person of interest in the case. He has not been charged with a crime in the incident, but police are asking for the publics help in locating him. Smith is described as 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds. His car is a newer model red Chevrolet Camaro with Missouri temporary tag 01B-55H. Anyone who sees him should call 911 or Berkeley police at 314-524-3311. McCall said firefighters arrived to find the house locked and had to break in to fight the fire. The older woman was found dead in a front bedroom. The younger woman was found dead in a rear bedroom. Eric Hasenfratz, 39, of High Ridge, is a maintenance man who has made repairs to the home where the womens bodies were found. Hasenfratz came to board up the home after the fire Wednesday. Hasenfratz said Smiths mother had been renting the home for about four years. People need to know she was a nice lady, he said. Updated at 4:15 p.m. with comments from House Emerging Issues Committee chairman. JEFFERSON CITY More business leaders are coming out in opposition to a resolution in the Missouri Legislature that would grant greater legal protections to those opposed to same-sex marriage. Senate Joint Resolution 39, or SJR 39, gained national attention after Senate Democrats staged a 37-hour filibuster last month in an effort to kill the bill. But Senate Republicans were able to force a vote using a rare parliamentary maneuver. The resolution then passed the Senate on a party-line 23-7 vote. If it passes the House, voters would be asked in either August or November whether clergy, wedding vendors and certain "religious organizations" should be shielded from legal liability and government penalties if they decline to service same-sex weddings. Critics have said that the denial of service could extend far beyond peoples' wedding days, and that the definition of "religious organization," which includes schools, hospitals, charities and other religious entities is too broad. The resolution has been referred to the House Emerging Issues Committee, but has yet to receive a hearing. On Sunday, several local and national business leaders penned an open letter to committee chair Rep. Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield. "While we understand the desire to protect clergy and religious institutions from having to perform ceremonies counter to their beliefs, expanding protections to individuals and private businesses that voluntarily enter the stream of public commerce sends the message to the rest of the country that Missouri condones discrimination. We urge you to amend SJR39 to remove these provisions," the letter reads, in part. The signees include executives from some of the St. Louis area's most well-known companies, including Edward Jones, Monsanto, Express Scripts, Ameren and BJC HealthCare. St. Louis native Jack Dorsey, co-founder and CEO of Twitter and CEO of Square, which recently opened an office in St. Louis, also signed on. During the Senate filibuster, the St. Louis Regional Chamber, Monsanto and and the Dow Chemical Company tweeted their opposition to the measure. The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry also opposes the SJR. Haahr said Wednesday that his committee would consider the bill, but that "we've not made any decision about what we're going to do" regarding the most controversial parts of the measure. Haahr said that when there is a hearing, the committee would most likely not hear testimony and vote on the bill on the same day, giving members time to reflect on different arguments. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states has sparked a wave of similar proposals in state legislatures around the country. In Georgia, Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, vetoed a bill that would have allowed certain people, businesses and faith organizations to deny services on religious grounds. The Georgia bill received opposition from business groups. In North Carolina and Mississippi, Republican governors have signed similar bills despite business backlash. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, has voiced opposition to SJR 39, but on this he won't get to use his veto pen. The measure, if passed, would bypass the governor and be sent to an electorate that in 2004 approved a ban on same-sex marriage with more than 70 percent of the vote. The complete list of signees: Warner L. Baxter, chairman, president and CEO of Ameren Corporation John R. Sondag, president of AT&T Missouri Steven H. Lipstein, president and CEO of BJC HealthCare Jerald L. Kent, chairman and CEO of Cequel III, LLC David Kemper, chairman and CEO of Commerce Bank Larry Ryan, president, energy and water solutions, The Dow Chemical Company David P. Hatfield, president and CEO of Edgewell Personal Care Company James D. Weddle, managing partner of Edward Jones George Paz, chairman and CEO of Express Scripts Sam Fox, founder of Harbor Group Mark Trudeau, president and CEO of Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals Rob reeg, president, MasterCard operations and technology Hugh Grant, chairman and CEO of Monsanto Company Jack Dorsey, CEO of Square Joe Reagan, president and CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber James G. Powers, president of UniGroup Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis ST. LOUIS City residents on Tuesday overwhelmingly chose to keep taxing their incomes by 1 percent. St. Louis voters, as they must do every five years, reauthorized the so-called earnings tax by more than a 2-to-1 ratio. The tax, levied on earned income of residents and anyone who works in the city, was the target of Rex Sinquefield, a stock market pioneer who has sought to end it. Sinquefield pumped more than $2 million into the Vote No on the E-Tax campaign, but it only put a minor dent in voter support. The situation has put him at odds with St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, an ardent supporter of the tax. Slay, who counts Sinquefield as his largest donor, gave $100,000 of his campaign money to a last-minute grass-roots effort to preserve the tax. Sinquefields campaign argued that the tax encourages businesses to locate outside of the city, discouraging economic development. Slay, however, maintained that the tax is an equitable way for city residents and workers to share the burden of providing regional services. If the tax failed, city officials said they would have been forced to make drastic cuts to police and fire protection. Tuesdays vote was a second victory for Slay, coming just days after the federal government selected a site in north St. Louis to house the next western headquarters of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency keeping 3,100 jobs in the city. There has been a week of good news for city residents, Slay said in a statement. First, NGA; now a resounding victory for Yes on E. City voters rejected a very dangerous gamble with our public safety and credit rating. The coalition that won tonight, as grass-roots as you can get, is now poised to do great things. The tax brings in about $160 million a year roughly one-third of the citys annual general revenue. Sinquefields campaign favored television and online advertising. The ads claimed the city is diverting portions of the earnings tax to pay for office renovations. Other ads said the tax hurts the working poor, while others featured a grinning Stan Kroenke and slammed the city for attempting to finance $150 million to build a new stadium for the Rams owner. The campaign peeled away some support, but city residents remained squarely in favor. In a few cases, the city has allowed companies to divert a portion of their earnings tax payments to pay for expansion costs. For example, the deal to keep NGA includes diverting half of its employees earnings tax proceeds to pay for development costs of a 99-acre site. That means the city will lose about $1.5 million a year for 30 years in earnings tax payments from NGA employees. Officials say such deals are necessary to keep jobs, but opponents say they whittle away tax revenue that the city says it cant live without. Tuesdays election isnt the end. Over the past several weeks of this campaign, we talked to more than 10,000 voters on their front porches, said Stephanie Lewis, a spokeswoman for the anti-earnings tax campaign. Tonight, over 12,000 voters voiced their opposition to the status quo directly on the ballot. So, tomorrow begins the next phase of this campaign. We will begin thoroughly examining city government to find inefficiencies and waste and make specific recommendations for phasing out the earnings tax without cutting police, fire or vital city services. We will then work with city officials to begin the implementation. The vote was a byproduct of a previous Sinquefield legislative effort. State voters in 2010 approved a measure requiring St. Louis and Kansas City to reauthorize their earnings taxes by public vote every five years. The two cities are the only in Missouri who have an income tax. Kansas City voters also approved their citys tax Tuesday, with 77 percent of voters in favor of keeping it. In 2011, the tax garnered 88 percent of the St. Louis vote. But Sinquefield didnt fund a campaign attacking it. St. Louis has lost two-thirds of its population over the past 65 years, but it still services an infrastructure built for a city of its former size. The Missouri Legislature authorized St. Louis to begin collecting a half-percent earnings tax in 1948 to help with its chronic financial problems. But that authorization was temporary. In 1953, the citys big chief executives formed Civic Progress Inc., and returned to the Legislature asking to make the tax authorization permanent. City voters ratified the permanent tax in 1954. Even with the tax, the city is having trouble paying for infrastructure improvements. A separate $25 million no-tax bond issue was before voters on Tuesday. It also received overwhelming support. About half of the proposed $25 million would go to the fire department for new equipment and building improvements. The rest would go to other city building repairs, refuse trucks, bridges, municipal garage, and the citys recreation centers. FERGUSON If pre-election scenarios about two proposed tax increases were accurate, the city will need to eliminate more than 13 percent of its workforce, including the positions of seven police officers. While voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase on Tuesday, they rejected a city plan to increase property taxes. Both measures were intended to offset a $2.9 million budget deficit. Even if both tax increases had passed, the city still planned to cut employees pay by 3 percent, reduce the number of workers by 5 percent and increase the amount that employees pay for health benefits by 15 percent. The city will receive about $1.2 million in new revenue from the sales tax increase. City officials also predicted that Ferguson would not be able to abide by the terms of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to reform its police department and municipal court, if the measures failed. But a City Council with two new faces will have to grapple with that problem. In Ward 1, Linda Lipka, a professional DJ, held off a challenge from write-in candidate Pat Cowan. Heather Robinett, a manager for AT&T defeated two candidates in the race for the Ward 2 seat: Annette Jenkins and Bob Hudgins, an activist, who ran unsuccessfully last year. Councilman Keith Kallstrom also fended off a challenge from a write-in candidate, Francesca Griffin, a protester. Last April, during the first municipal election since the demonstrations sparked by Michael Browns death, voter turnout nearly tripled to 30 percent. That trend continued Tuesday as 25 percent of the citys 11,920 registered voters went to the polls. Before Browns death, 11 percent was a typical turnout for a municipal election. In the months leading up to the election, city officials warned residents that Ferguson would have to reduce or eliminate numerous services if the tax measures failed. A memo from City Manager DeCarlon Seewood listed dozens of services that would be affected. The municipal jail would close. So would a firehouse. The police department would not respond to certain calls. Emergency responses would be delayed by as much as 8 minutes. It was unclear how many of those predictions would hold true if one tax increase passed, but not the other. Theres going to be some belt-tightening, Councilman Wesley Bell said Tuesday night. But with all that we have gone through as a community, I fully expect that we will find a way to get through this hurdle. Seewoods memo also warns that the city would struggle to adhere to the agreement with the Justice Department, filed in federal court last month. The agreement addresses patterns of constitutional violations by the citys police department and municipal court uncovered by a federal investigation last year. The investigation found that Ferguson police routinely used unnecessary force and conducted searches without probable cause. It claimed that the court had focused on generating revenue for the city through fines and fees rather than administering justice. The alleged violations disproportionately affected African-Americans, the Justice Department said. Seewoods memo notes that the community policing program described in the agreement, called a consent decree, requires a minimum of 52 officers. With only the sales tax increase passing, Seewoods memo projects that seven of the departments 67 positions would be eliminated. It is not clear from the memo how many are civilians and how many are officers. Bell said it was too early to identify specific cuts and how they might affect the consent decree. I dont want to be premature, he said. Thats a dialogue we will have with the council, with city staff and with our residents. The tax increases faced opposition from residents who believed that city leaders had mismanaged Fergusons resources and offered misleading estimates about the cost of the consent decree. They pointed to two trials in February. The city spent thousands of dollars prosecuting two protesters for ordinance violations, the lowest level of criminal offenses. One of them ended in an acquittal, the other in a mistrial. That latter case involved Griffin, the write-in candidate in Ward 3. She was tried for allegedly refusing an officers order to drop her keys during a protest. She said she never heard him. After a jury could not reach a verdict, the judged declared a mistrial. The city has refiled the charges against Griffin. As she walked away from her polling place Tuesday, Arnetta Peebles, a 30-year Ferguson resident, said she had grown tired of the city viewing residents as obstacles. But she opposed the tax increases simply because she could not afford them. We struggle as it is, she said. I aint got the money. CLAYTON A voting debacle in St. Louis County left residents in more than 60 precincts unable to cast ballots Tuesday, leading the St. Louis County Council and Secretary of State Jason Kander to announce separate investigations. Gov. Jay Nixon called the problems inexcusable, adding: The St. Louis County Board of Elections, and particularly its two directors, must rectify these mistakes, explain how they occurred, and be held accountable for this unacceptable failure. Kander said his offices Elections Integrity Unit would review the election in St. Louis County. He also called the election performance unacceptable. County officials plan to hold a public hearing to grill county election board members on why municipal election voters were turned away in 24 of the countys 432 polling places that had insufficient or invalid paper ballots. Im outraged by this and by that standpoint, we have to do something, said Mark Harder, the West County Republican council member who asked that County Election Directors Eric Fey and Gary Fuhr be called to account. We have major elections coming in August and November and the election board has to get its act together. This is unacceptable to us and its unacceptable to the voters of St. Louis County. The council decision to hold a hearing on how and what happened Tuesday came moments before the Missouri Court of Appeals at St. Louis ruled that 63 precincts in 24 polling places must remain open two hours beyond the scheduled closing time of 7 p.m. But by the time the order was communicated to elections officials, several polling places had already shuttered their doors. Officials encouraged those who still wished to vote to cast their ballots at county election headquarters in Maplewood. Brad Goss, 59, of Ladue, declined the offer. Turned away by a precinct at Horton Watkins High School that didnt have any ballots earlier in the day, Goss balked when election officials informed him Tuesday night that hed have to cast his vote in Maplewood. Im entitled to have my vote counted in this polling place, he pointed out. I shouldnt have to drive somewhere else to vote, and who even knows if my vote would be counted? Goss prevailed when officials located a ballot allowing him to vote in Ladue. Fey, the Democratic director of elections, said fewer than 10 people voted between 7 and 9 p.m. as a result of the court order. Their votes were not included in the unofficial totals, he said. He said the election board would consult its legal counsel on how to handle those votes. He said that because the court order wasnt received until 7:30, election board staffers were able to reach no more than five of the polling places affected by the court order. Fey said he didnt know how many of those polling places actually allowed people to vote after 7 p.m. But he said that some did and that in at least two instances, election board staffers drove to the locations with ballots for people to cast. He also said a few people cast ballots at the election board office. It was unclear how many people were turned away from voting throughout the day, but the impact of the problems was widespread. The frustration that grew exponentially across the county throughout the day began at 6 a.m. when an absence of ballots caused election workers to turn residents away from polling places. Tom Jennings showed up outside a precinct at Our Lady of Lourdes parish elementary school shortly before the polls opened to canvas for University City Council candidate Terry Crow. They had ballots for the first five people that came in, Jennings said. That was it after that. As the list of polling irregularities continued to grow, so, too, did the number of officials condemning the county election board. St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger warned election officials that theyll be hearing from our staff tomorrow. That board really needs to get its act together. The issues that surfaced Tuesday were two-fold. Fey attributed the situation to polling places that require ballots for multiple jurisdictions such as a school board election and a municipal government race. A single polling place, moreover, may serve voters electing officials representing different wards or governmental districts. The upshot is that a polling place may, for example, require 15 ballots for one election and 200 for another. And on Tuesday, Fey said, the number and type of ballots provided to some precincts were reversed. We just flipped those, the elections director said. Fey acknowledged that the problems were exacerbated by a decision to present voters with paper ballots an option election officials exercised after concluding that recalibrating electronic voting machines so soon after the March 15 Missouri presidential primary would be too difficult. Eventually, the board requested an emergency order to extend voting hours from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. for affected voters. St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge Maura McShane rejected the plea, prompting officials to appeal. Appointments to the election board are made by the governor. The board in turn selects the Republican and Democratic directors who in effect lead the agency. The lead director, Fey in this case, is an appointee of the party holding the governors office. Stenger noted that neither he nor the council controls the election board. County governance has nothing to do with the operation of the state-run board, he said. But he said he fully supported the councils effort to learn how Tuesdays mistakes could be avoided in the future. You have individuals who stepped forward to represent their communities in the best way they can, he said. And those individuals essentially had their elections screwed up by the election board. That is completely unacceptable because it affects every resident in St. Louis County. Kim Bell, Mark Schlinkmann and Kristen Taketa of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. JEFFERSON CITY A Senate panel took action Wednesday to get the states ethics commission back on track after nearly three weeks of inaction. In a unanimous vote, the Senate Gubernatorial Appointments Committee confirmed Gov. Jay Nixons pick to serve on the Missouri Ethics Commission. Pending a vote in the full Senate, former state Rep. Donald Summers, R-Unionville, will become the fourth member of the six-member board, allowing it to meet for the first time since mid-March. Summers served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1994 to 2000. His term on the commission would end in 2020. The board, which monitors state campaign law and candidates spending, has been unable to meet after the terms of three of its members ended on March 15. The governor didnt nominate any replacements for the outgoing commissioners until March 14, the day before the terms expired. Ethics Commission Director James Klahr said the board was unable to act on two complaints during the period when the board didnt have enough members to meet. The next hearing is set for April 21. The appointment occurred a day after voting problems in St. Louis County left residents in more than 60 precincts unable to cast ballots. The ethics board does not oversee those issues. Summers owns and manages a family cattle operation. I feel like I have a lot of sympathy for the citizen legislator, Summers said. I also have a keen sense of wanting the people of Missouri to have confidence in their government. In addition to Summers, the governor also nominated Kimberly Benjamin of Raymore to the ethics board. Her confirmation could come next week. Benjamin, a Democrat, has been a partner at the Benjamin Law Firm in Belton since 2002. Benjamin previously served as an assistant public defender with the Missouri State Public Defender Office. Her term would run through March 15, 2020. The full Senate could vote to confirm Summers as early as Thursday. Jim Thomson, a former Richmond Heights councilman, unseated Mayor James Beck in Tuesday's election. But most other incumbent mayors across the metro area were re-elected among them Len Pagano of St. Peters, Nick Guccione of Wentzville and Ted Hoskins of Berkeley. Meanwhile, Kirkwood Councilman Timothy Griffin and Sunset Hills Alderman Patricia Fribis won multi-candidate races to succeed incumbent mayors who didn't seek re-election. Thomson, 68, was on the Richmond Heights council from 2008 to 2012 and is a retired teacher, coach and high school principal in the St. Louis city schools. Beck, 59, a mortgage banker, had been mayor since 2008. In St. Peters, Pagano, the mayor the past decade and an alderman for 24 years before that, easily defeated state Rep. Ron Hicks, rolling up more than 58 percent of the vote. In Wentzville, Guccione won a second four-year term by defeating former Alderman Chris Gard. Hoskins, the Berkeley mayor, won a three-way race over former Mayor Babatunde Deinbo, who came in second, and William Bayless III. In the Kirkwood contest, winner Griffin got more votes than the combined total for the second- and third-place finishers former Kirkwood School Board member Scott Stream and City Councilwoman Gina Jaksetic. Griffin will succeed Mayor Arthur McDonnell. Fribis dominated the Sunset Hills mayoral race in much the same way, getting more votes than the combined total for her three opponents. She'll replace Mayor Mark Furrer. In some other races: Valley Park Mayor Michael Pennise was re-elected over challenger Rick Wilken. Terry Epps appeared to win a three-way race in Pine Lawn to fill the unexpired term of Sylvester Caldwell, who resigned as mayor last year after pleading guilty to extorting and trying to extort money from two businesses. Unofficial final returns showed Epps with a lead of only five votes over one of his two opponents, Kellie Shelton. UPDATED at 4 p.m. with details of the explosion and fire. MARYVILLE A construction worker suffered severe burns Wednesday afternoon when natural gas from a ruptured high-pressure main ignited, authorities said. An excavating machine broke the underground steel pipe about 1:45 p.m. along Illinois Route 162, about 3/4-mile west of Illinois 159. The fire spread to nearby vehicles, some of which exploded, they said. The victim was taken to a nearby hospital, but officials at the accident scene did not know his condition. The scene is at a subdivision under construction called the Villas at Nottingham. Maryville Police Chief Ron Carpenter said "flames were shooting very high in the air" when the first officers arrived. Carpenter said Ameren Illinois workers quickly shut off the gas to the line, allowing firefighters to battle the fire. John Barud, Ameren senior director of operations, said the breach in the gas main was big enough that the pressure change was noticed at a control station in Decatur, Ill., 110 miles to the north. He said utility workers closed shutoff valves at two locations on or near Route 159. Residents within 1/4-mile of the scene were evacuated, Carpenter said. When I was appointed interim president of the University of Missouri System last November, after three decades of serving in academic and leadership roles on our Columbia campus, I was both honored and humbled by the awesome responsibility before me. Stepping into the presidency of the university I love in the wake of last falls turmoil at MU has been as formidable as one would imagine, and I have focused on addressing the issues of diversity and inclusion that challenge us, while working to rebuild every Missourians confidence and trust in the UM System through transparency and accountability, every day since accepting this critical assignment. I have also spent considerable time reminding everyone just how important we are to our state, and how all 6 million Missourians in all 114 counties have a connection to the University of Missouri System. And that even during the difficult events of last November, that powerful connection between the UM System and the entire state of Missouri, and the service we provide for the entire state, never wavered. The UM System is a precious asset to take great pride in, to support and to strengthen. Arguably, no other institution in our state is more pivotal to our standard of living, our economic and physical well-being, and our future. Just consider, for example, how the UM System affects the city of St. Louis, and St. Louis County, every day. We educate nearly 78,000 students on our four campuses (the University of Missouri-Columbia, University of Missouri-Kansas City, Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla and the University of Missouri-St. Louis), providing the talented workforce that is critical to our states employers. Currently, 18,788 of those students are residents of St. Louis city and St. Louis County combined, many of who will return, educated and ready, to join the workforce and help boost the St. Louis-area economy upon graduation. You could say that no university in the region supports St. Louis $137 billion regional economy more so than our local UM System campus. With nearly 17,000 students, UMSL is the largest public research university in eastern Missouri. It provides excellent learning experiences and leadership opportunities to a diverse student body. And although UMSL graduates can be found in all 50 states and 63 countries, their greatest impact is felt right here in St. Louis. More than 65,000 UMSL alumni call St. Louis home, driving the regions economy and contributing mightily to its social well-being. In addition, the people of St. Louis benefit from the many research advances discovered on our campuses, from life-saving medical cures to the powering of some of our states most important industries like agriculture, high-tech manufacturing and aerospace. In 2015 alone, UM System research brought in more than $295 million in funding to the state of Missouri, further helping to spur our statewide economy. Our vast University of Missouri Health Care system provides health services to hundreds of thousands of Missourians, including in the St. Louis area, where 1,389 residents of St. Louis city and county combined were treated by an MU Health Care physician in 2015. Another 4,227 patients were seen at the UMSL Center for Eye Care. We share our expertise in Missouri communities small and large across our state through University of Missouri Extension. Every year, more than 2.5 million Missourians turn to our extension programs and offices in every county to seek greater practical knowledge, learn to solve problems, adapt to change and make informed decisions. During 2015, the University of Missouri Extension offices in St. Louis city and county combined had more than 136,000 contacts. Extension has always been a point of pride for me as my wife, Julie Middleton, who currently serves as director of organizational development for extension, has dedicated much of her professional career to this invaluable program. There are far more examples, but the point remains the same. For decades, the UM System has provided indispensable service in helping our state, and the St. Louis area, move forward. We have challenges now, as we have had in the past and will certainly face in the future. But our mission of education, research, economic development and service has been making Missourians proud for generations. Our university is as strong as ever and will always be a beacon of hope for our states young people. Michael Middleton is interim president of the University of Missouri System. 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. With bourbon demand high, there are plenty of excellent bourbons to be found if youre willing to pay a high price. But there are also plenty of fine bourbons available for around $20, if you know where to look. Today I want to introduce you to one of my favorite hidden gems: Old Forester Signature 100. Before I tell you why I think this is such an underrated bourbon, lets review the history of Old Forester. Prior to 1870, when George Garvin Brown introduced Old Forester in bottles, bourbon was sold in barrels, and if you wanted whiskey you went to a bar or store that sold it and filled up your own container. Today, the Old Forester brand is owned by Brown-Forman, whose biggest brand is Jack Daniels. It is made at the companys distillery in Shively, Kentucky. The same distillery supplies barrels for Brown-Formans premium brand, Woodford Reserve. If you are ever near Lexington, I cant recommend enough visiting the Woodford Reserve distillery in nearby Versailles. Surrounded by scenic Kentucky horse country, the distillery formerly known as the Oscar Pepper Distillery is the platonic ideal of a bourbon distillery. But much of the bourbon that goes into Woodford Reserve is distilled at the more industrial Shively facility alongside barrels that will become Old Forester. Since both bourbons are made with the same mashbill (72% corn, 18% rye, and 10% malted barley) there is a temptation to suggest that Woodford Reserve and Old Forester are the same bourbon, just marketed differently and sold for a different price. While that may be an overstatement, they certainly share a family resemblance, which makes Old Forester ($18 for one-liter bottle) and Old Forester Signature 100 ($22 for a 750 ml. bottle) candidates for good value. The standard 86-proof version is easy to find on a lower shelf at most liquor stores. It makes for a great mixing bourbon (its particularly tasty in a mint julep) and a decent sipping one. It may take a little effort to find (some markets seem to have plenty while others dont have it at all), but the 100-proof Old Forester Signature is a step above and worth the extra effort and slightly higher price. The nose of the deep copper-colored bourbon is sweet with cherry and caramel. The palate features rich fruit, brown sugar, baking spices, and butterscotch. The finish shows the first major woodiness, along with more ripe fruit, spice, and caramel. Its a hearty 100-proof, but still quite smooth. This easy drinking bourbon pairs nicely with almost any well-made cigar. Id particularly suggest a well-balanced, medium-bodied smoke like Arturo Fuente King T Rosado Sun Grown, Davidoff Colorado Claro Short Perfecto, Las Cumbres Tabaco Senorial, or Tesa Vintage Especial. Ultimately, although there are other bourbons more complex and sophisticated than Old Forester Signature 100, that doesnt diminish the fact that Old Forester Signature is delightful neat and cheap enough you wont hesitate to use it in a well-constructed cocktail. That makes it a staple in my bar and an under-rated bourbon. Patrick S photo credit: Stogie Guys Tristram Wallace. FOUR people launched a ferocious attack on Tristram Wallace in broad daylight near Stratford-upon-Avon town centre that led to his death, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court has been told today, Wednesday. The opening of the trial of Toney Jelf, Neil Potter, Peter Mallon and Donna Windsor, all from the Stratford area, heard Mr Wallace, 36 at the time of the incident in June last year, pleaded for mercy. But the group landed up to 30 blows, punches, kicks, stamps in the attack that the jury was told was in the mistaken belief the victim had cheated them in a drug deal. As Mr Wallace lay defenceless on the ground, they then looted his body, the jury was told. See Thursday's Stratford-upon-Avon Herald for a full report of the opening day of the trial, which is expected to last six weeks. Mr Jelf, Mr Potter, Mr Mallon and Miss Windsor all deny murder. Credit Suisse analyst R. Moskow reiterated an Outperform rating and raised estimates and his price target on Kellogg (NYSE: K) to $86.00 (from $82.00) on FX benefits and cost savings. Moskow commented, "We are raising our target price for Kellogg to $86/share to take into account higher valuation multiples in the food space. We are also raising our 2016 EPS estimate by $0.02 to $3.73 (versus consensus of $3.71) to take into account more favourable F/X conditions and raising our 1Q EPS estimate in-line with consensus at $0.94." For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Kellogg click here. For more ratings news on Kellogg click here. Shares of Kellogg closed at $76.81 yesterday. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced that the European Commission has approved Opdivo (nivolumab) monotherapy for an additional indication in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after prior therapy in adults. Opdivo is the first and only PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor approved in Europe to demonstrate an overall survival (OS) benefit versus a standard of care in this patient population. This approval allows for the expanded marketing of Opdivo in previously treated advanced RCC in all 28 Member States of the European Union. Emmanuel Blin, senior vice president, Head of Commercialization, Policy and Operations, Bristol-Myers Squibb, commented, Todays approval is reflective of our commitment to bring Opdivo and the potential for long-term survival to broad patient populations, including previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma. Opdivo is the only PD-1 inhibitor approved in Europe to demonstrate a significant survival advantage in this patient population. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are driven to work with speed to deliver new treatment options to help more patients, and in less than a year, we have expanded the approval of Opdivo in Europe to include three distinct types of advanced cancer. This approval is based on the results of the Phase 3 study CheckMate -025, which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In CheckMate -025, Opdivo was evaluated in patients with advanced clear-cell RCC who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy compared to everolimus. Patients treated with Opdivo achieved a median OS of 25 months versus 19.6 months for everolimus (HR=0.73 [98.5% CI: 0.57-0.93; p=0.0018]), representing a greater than five month improvement over a current standard of care. CheckMate -025 also evaluated patients quality of life (QoL) and found that patients treated with Opdivo had improved survival and QoL compared to everolimus throughout the duration of treatment. Dr. Bernard Escudier, Chair of the Genitourinary Oncology Committee, Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France, commented, For the first time, previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma patients in Europe will now have access to an Immuno-Oncology agent that has demonstrated a significant overall survival benefit along with a favorable safety profile compared to everolimus. In addition to the clinical efficacy results, patients treated with Opdivo experienced an improvement in their health-related quality of life and had significantly lower symptom burden throughout treatment compared to patients receiving everolimus. Combined, these data support the use of Opdivo in clinical practice and represent important progress toward establishing a new standard of care in Europe. First PD-1 Inhibitor to Demonstrate Significant Overall Survival Benefit In Previously Treated Advanced RCC CheckMate -025 is an open-label, randomized Phase 3 study, which evaluated Opdivo versus everolimus in patients with advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy, with overall survival (OS) as the primary endpoint. Objective response rate (ORR) was evaluated as a secondary endpoint. In the study, patients were randomized to receive Opdivo (3 mg/kg administered intravenously every two weeks) compared to everolimus (10 mg administered orally daily). The prespecified interim analysis was conducted when 398 events were observed (70% of the planned number of events for final analysis). Results from CheckMate -025 showed that patients treated with Opdivo achieved a more than five month improvement in OS, with median OS of 25 months for Opdivo and 19.6 months for everolimus (HR=0.73 [98.5% CI: 0.57-0.93; p=0.0018]). An OS benefit was seen regardless of PD-L1 expression. In addition to improving OS, Opdivo demonstrated a superior ORR compared to everolimus (25.1% [95% CI: 21-29.6] vs. 5.4% [95% CI: 3.4-8.0]). Forty-nine (47.6%) Opdivo responders had ongoing responses of up to 27.6 months. In addition to the OS benefit observed with Opdivo, patients treated with the drug also experienced an improvement over time in disease related symptoms and non-disease specific quality of life compared to patients receiving everolimus. Patients were assessed using validated and reliable scales in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Kidney Symptom Index-Disease Related Symptoms (FKSI-DRS) and the EuroQoL EQ-5D. Results showed that as early as week 20, patients receiving Opdivo had a significant improvement in disease related symptoms, while patients receiving everolimus showed a significant deterioration by week 4. The safety profile of Opdivo in CheckMate -025 was consistent with prior studies. Serious adverse events occurred in 47% of patients receiving Opdivo. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in at least 2% of patients receiving Opdivo were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. In the study, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported in patients receiving Opdivo versus everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs. 57%), cough (34% vs. 38%), nausea (28% vs. 29%), rash (28% vs. 36%), dyspnea (27% vs. 31%), diarrhea (25% vs. 32%), constipation (23% vs. 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs. 30%), back pain (21% vs. 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs. 14%). About Renal Cell Carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths worldwide each year. Clear-cell RCC is the most prevalent type of RCC and constitutes 80% to 90% of all cases. RCC is approximately twice as common in men as in women, with the highest rates of the disease in North America and Europe. Globally, the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with metastatic, or advanced kidney cancer, is 12.1%. Bristol-Myers Squibb & Immuno-Oncology: Advancing Oncology Research At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we have a vision for the future of cancer care that is focused on Immuno-Oncology, now considered a major treatment choice alongside surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapies for certain types of cancer. We have a comprehensive clinical portfolio of investigational and approved Immuno-Oncology agents, many of which were discovered and developed by our scientists. Our ongoing Immuno-Oncology clinical program is looking at broad patient populations, across multiple solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, and lines of therapy and histologies, with the intent of powering our trials for OS and other important measures like durability of response. We pioneered the research leading to the first regulatory approval for the combination of two Immuno-Oncology agents, and continue to study the role of combinations in cancer. We are also investigating other immune system pathways in the treatment of cancer including CTLA-4, CD-137, KIR, SLAMF7, PD-1, GITR, CSF1R, IDO, and LAG-3. These pathways may lead to potential new treatment options in combination or monotherapy to help patients fight different types of cancers. Our collaboration with academia, as well as small and large biotech companies, to research the potential of Immuno-Oncology and non-Immuno-Oncology combinations, helps achieve our goal of providing new treatment options in clinical practice. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are committed to changing survival expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer. About Opdivo Cancer cells may exploit regulatory pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. Opdivo is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells, and blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, preventing the PD-1 pathways suppressive signaling on the immune system, including the interference with an anti-tumor immune response. Opdivos broad global development program is based on Bristol-Myers Squibbs understanding of the biology behind Immuno-Oncology. Our company is at the forefront of researching the potential of Immuno-Oncology to extend survival in hard to treat cancers. This scientific expertise serves as the basis for the Opdivo development program, which includes a broad range of Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating OS as the primary endpoint across a variety of tumor types. The Opdivo trials have also contributed toward the clinical and scientific understanding of the role of biomarkers and how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has enrolled more than 18,000 patients. Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world in July 2014, and currently has regulatory approval in 48 countries including the United States, Japan, and in the European Union. U.S. FDA APPROVED INDICATIONS OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Immune-Mediated Pneumonitis Immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases, occurred with OPDIVO treatment. Across the clinical trial experience with solid tumors, fatal immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred with OPDIVO. Monitor patients for signs with radiographic imaging and symptoms of pneumonitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 and withhold until resolution for Grade 2. In Checkmate 025, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 5% (21/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 18% (73/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 4.4% (18/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Colitis Immune-mediated colitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of colitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 (of more than 5 days duration), 3, or 4 colitis. As a single agent, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 25% (100/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 32% (126/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated diarrhea or colitis occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Hepatitis Immune-mediated hepatitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for abnormal liver tests prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater transaminase elevations. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 025, there was an increased incidence of liver test abnormalities compared to baseline in AST (33% vs 39%), alkaline phosphatase (32% vs 32%), ALT (22% vs 31%), and total bilirubin (9% vs 3.5%) in the OPDIVO and everolimus arms, respectively. Immune-mediated hepatitis requiring systemic immunosuppression occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5) and Grade 2 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Endocrinopathies Hypophysitis, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid disorders, and type 1 diabetes mellitus can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of hypophysitis, signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency during and after treatment, thyroid function prior to and periodically during treatment, and hyperglycemia. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater hypophysitis. Withhold for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hypophysitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Administer hormone-replacement therapy for hypothyroidism. Initiate medical management for control of hyperthyroidism. Administer insulin for type 1 diabetes. Withhold OPDIVO for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hyperglycemia. In Checkmate 025, hypophysitis occurred in 0.5% (2/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 1 (n=1). Adrenal insufficiency occurred in 2.0% (8/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=4), and Grade 1 (n=1). Thyroid disease occurred in 11% (43/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO, including one Grade 3 event, and in 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Hypothyroidism/thyroiditis occurred in 8% (33/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=14). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 2.5% (10/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2 (n=5) and Grade 1 (n=5). Hyperglycemic adverse events occurred in 9% (37/406) patients. Diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Nephritis and Renal Dysfunction Immune-mediated nephritis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for elevated serum creatinine prior to and periodically during treatment. For Grade 2 or 3 increased serum creatinine, withhold and administer corticosteroids; if worsening or no improvement occurs, permanently discontinue. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 4 serum creatinine elevation and permanently discontinue. In Checkmate 025, renal injury occurred in 7% (27/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 5 (n=1), Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=5), and Grade 2 (n=6). Immune-Mediated Rash Immune-mediated rash can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Severe rash (including rare cases of fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis) occurred in the clinical program of OPDIVO. Monitor patients for rash. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 rash. Withhold for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4. In Checkmate 025, rash occurred in 28% (112/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 36% (143/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated rash, defined as a rash treated with systemic or topical corticosteroids, occurred in 7% (30/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=19). Immune-Mediated Encephalitis Immune-mediated encephalitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Withhold OPDIVO in patients with new-onset moderate to severe neurologic signs or symptoms and evaluate to rule out other causes. If other etiologies are ruled out, administer corticosteroids and permanently discontinue OPDIVO for immune-mediated encephalitis. Other Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions Based on the severity of adverse reaction, permanently discontinue or withhold treatment, administer high-dose corticosteroids, and, if appropriate, initiate hormone-replacement therapy. In < 1.0% of patients receiving OPDIVO, the following clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions occurred: uveitis, pancreatitis, facial and abducens nerve paresis, demyelination, polymyalgia rheumatica, autoimmune neuropathy, Guillain-Barre syndrome, hypopituitarism, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, gastritis, duodenitis, and sarcoidosis. Across clinical trials of OPDIVO as a single agent administered at doses of 3 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, additional clinically significant, immune-mediated adverse reactions were identified: motor dysfunction, vasculitis, and myasthenic syndrome. Infusion Reactions Severe infusion reactions have been reported in <1.0% of patients in clinical trials of OPDIVO. Discontinue OPDIVO in patients with Grade 3 or 4 infusion reactions. Interrupt or slow the rate of infusion in patients with Grade 1 or 2. In Checkmate 025, hypersensitivity/infusion-related reactions occurred in 6% (25/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 1.0% (4/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Embryo-fetal Toxicity Based on its mechanism of action, OPDIVO can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with an OPDIVO- containing regimen and for at least 5 months after the last dose of OPDIVO. Lactation It is not known whether OPDIVO is present in human milk. Because many drugs, including antibodies, are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from an OPDIVO-containing regimen, advise women to discontinue breastfeeding during treatment. Serious Adverse Reactions In Checkmate 025, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. Common Adverse Reactions In Checkmate 025, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO vs everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs 57%), cough (34% vs 38%), nausea (28% vs 29%), rash (28% vs 36%), dyspnea (27% vs 31%), diarrhea (25% vs 32%), constipation (23% vs 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs 30%), back pain (21% vs 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs 14%). Eversource Energy (NYSE: ES) today announced that Tom May will retire as president and chief executive officer and will become Non-executive Chairman of the Board after the Companys Annual Shareholders Meeting on May 4, 2016. As part of the companys leadership succession plan, Jim Judge, the companys Chief Financial Officer, will succeed May as president and chief executive officer. Judge will become a member of the Board and is expected to be elected as Chair of the Board at the Companys annual meeting in 2017. Mays decision to retire will bring to a close a remarkable career spanning 40 years of continuous service with the company, including 22 years as CEO of Boston Edison, NSTAR, Northeast Utilities, and Eversource Energy. Under Tom Mays leadership, the management team and employees have delivered a consistent track record of strong performance for customers and shareholders. The company has grown from a business of 600,000 customers in Eastern MA with a market capitalization of $1 billion in 1994 to one with more than 3.6 million customers throughout MA, CT and NH with a market capitalization of over $18 billion today. Shareholders experienced 19 consecutive years of positive total shareholder returns and earnings growth that has consistently outperformed the industry. Jim Judge is executive vice president and chief financial officer for Eversource, having assumed that position upon the merger between Northeast Utilities and NSTAR in 2012. Formerly, Judge served as chief financial officer for NSTAR and Boston Edison since 1995 and throughout his 38 year career with the company has had extensive leadership responsibility for finance, accounting, strategic planning, energy supply and information technology. Judge holds both a masters degree and bachelor of science in business administration from Babson College and serves on the Boards of Analogic Corporation headquartered in Peabody, MA and the United Way of Massachusetts Bay. Ive known and worked with Jim for 38 years and he has been pivotal to the companys success as CFO over the last 20 years, said May. I have every confidence in his ability to successfully lead Eversource into the future. His extensive experience in our industry, passion for our customers, leadership skills, and focus on results make him the ideal person to lead the company going forward. I am honored to assume leadership of Eversource and work with a strong management team and dedicated employees who are committed to delivering safe, reliable and affordable energy to our customers. Service and reliability levels today are among the top tier of the utility industry nationally. I look forward to working with state leaders in addressing the energy challenges facing New England, furthering our charitable commitment to the communities we serve, and bringing positive results to shareholders, said Judge. We will carry on the service oriented and performance culture that Tom instilled over 22 years as chief executive officer. On behalf of the companys board of directors, Sanford Cloud, Lead Trustee, said, Tom May has been an extraordinary leader for more than two decades as chief executive. He has delivered superior results in every category customer, financial, operations, safety, and community. We thank him for his outstanding leadership and are delighted that he will continue to serve our shareholders as non-executive chairman of our board. Chad Gifford, Chair of the Succession Planning Committee said, Jim is an extremely capable executive who will continue to provide strong leadership to Eversource and deliver results for our customers and shareholders. Jim has worked effectively with the Board over the past four years as a key member of our senior team. We are very pleased that he will succeed Tom as chief executive officer. Jim Judge will remain in his role as Eversource CFO until a successor is named. Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved an application by Pfizer Inc. to modify the FTCs January 2010 final order, which settled the FTCs competition concerns arising from Pfizers (NYSE: PFE) 2009 acquisition of Wyeth. The final order remedied the likely anticompetitive effects of the acquisition in numerous markets for animal health products, by requiring Pfizer to sell approximately half of Wyeths U.S.-based animal health business to FTC-approved buyers. It also included other requirements governing Pfizers future conduct. Because Pfizer has since transferred all of its animal health business to Zoetis, Inc. and then divested all of its interest in Zoetis in 2013, it no longer holds any interest in the portions of Wyeths animal health business it retained following the 2010 divestitures. Also, Zoetis has certified its agreement to become a party to the FTC order, and to comply with all of its obligations. Accordingly, the FTC has approved Pfizers application to be released from the order. The Commission vote to approve the application to modify the final order was 3-0. (FTC File No. 091 0053, Docket No. C-4267; the staff contact is Elizabeth Piotrowski, Bureau of Competition, 202-326-2623) (Updated - April 6, 2016 9:53 AM EDT) Halliburton (NYSE: HAL) sued by U.S. Department of Justice seeking to block Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) deal, according to Bloomberg headlines. UPDATE - The DOJ press release follows: The Department of Justice filed a civil antitrust lawsuit today seeking to block Halliburton Companys proposed acquisition of Baker Hughes Inc., alleging that the transaction threatens to eliminate competition, raise prices and reduce innovation in the oilfield services industry. The department filed its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, where both companies are incorporated. The complaint alleges that the acquisition which the companies valued at $34 billion when announcing it would combine two of the three largest oilfield services companies in the United States and the world, eliminating important head-to-head competition in markets for 23 products or services used for on- and off-shore oil exploration and production in the United States. The proposed deal between Halliburton and Baker Hughes would eliminate vital competition, skew energy markets and harm American consumers, said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. Our action makes clear that the Justice Department is committed to vigorously enforcing our antitrust laws. In the days ahead, we will continue to stand up for fair deals and free markets, and for the American people we are privileged to serve. This transaction is unprecedented in the breadth and scope of competitive overlaps and antitrust issues it presents, said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer of the departments Antitrust Division. Halliburton and Baker Hughes are two of the three largest integrated oilfield service companies across the globe, and they compete to invent and sell products and services that are critical to energy exploration and production. We need to maintain meaningful competition in this important sector of our economy. During the departments investigation, Halliburton proposed to remedy the significant harmful effects of the transaction by divesting a mix of assets extracted from certain business lines of the two companies. According to the complaint, the proposed divestitures would not include full business units but rather would be limited to certain assets, with the merged firm holding onto important facilities, employees, contracts, intellectual property, and research and development resources that would put the buyer of those assets at a competitive disadvantage. The proposed divestures mostly would allow Halliburton to retain the more valuable assets from either company while selling less significant assets to a third party. The complaint further alleges that this divesture would not replicate the substantial competition between the two rivals that exists today. Halliburton is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Houston. Founded in 1919, Halliburton is the largest provider of services and products to the oil and gas industry in the United States. It has operations in approximately 80 countries and earned revenue of $23.6 billion in 2015. Baker Hughes is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Houston. It was formed in 1987 with the merger of Baker International and Hughes Tool Company, both founded over 100 years ago. The third-largest provider of oilfield services in the world, Baker Hughes operates in more than 80 countries and earned revenue of $15.7 billion in 2015. The Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR) announced the promotion of Kenny Kimball, currently vice president of operations in the company's Smith's division, to serve as president of Smith's, effective April 30. Mr. Kimball succeeds Jay Cummins, whose retirement was announced in February. "Kenny's passion for developing associates and his commitment to putting our customers first will further accelerate growth in our important Smith's division markets," said Rodney McMullen, Kroger's chairman and CEO. "Kenny brings to this role leadership experience at all levels of our business and a record of success as both an operator and a merchandiser. We look forward to his leadership as president of Smith's." Mr. Kimball joined the company in 1984 as a courtesy clerk in the Smith's division. He served in several leadership roles with Smith's, including store manager, district manager and bakery director. In 2009, Mr. Kimball was named Smith's senior vice president of sales and merchandising. In 2012, he was named vice president of merchandising for the Ralphs division, and in 2013 was named vice president of operations for Ralphs. Mr. Kimball most recently served on special assignment at Kroger's general office in 2015, before taking on his current role in February. From its division office in Salt Lake City, Smith's 18,000 associates serve customers in 138 stores throughout seven western states. Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG) disclosed in an SEC filing: The Company previously reported that it, along with several other plaintiffs, filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against BASF Corporation, The Dow Chemical Company, Huntsman International LLC, Lyondell Chemical Company, and their affiliates, alleging that the defendants conspired to fix prices and allocate customers and markets for certain urethane chemical products. The Company previously settled its claims against certain defendants for immaterial amounts and all defendants were dismissed except for The Dow Chemical Company. We reached a settlement of our antitrust claim against The Dow Chemical Company on April 5, 2016, by agreeing to release our claim regarding this matter for a net cash payment to the Company of approximately $38 million (pre-tax, after deducting expenses) (subject to adjustment for final calculations). We expect to receive payment in the second quarter of 2016. We expect to record after-tax income of approximately $25 million in the second quarter of 2016 related to this matter. Because the settlement is largely attributable to our former Prime Foam Products business, which was sold in the first quarter of 2007, approximately $21 million of this after-tax amount is expected to be reflected in discontinued operations. Nokia (NYSE: NOK) announced that it is beginning actions to reduce company personnel globally as part of its synergy and transformation program. As previously announced, Nokia is targeting EUR 900 million of operating cost synergies to be achieved in full year 2018 related to the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. At the same time, Nokia is taking steps to adapt to challenging market conditions and to shift resources to future-oriented technologies such as 5G, the Cloud and the Internet of Things. As part of the program, the company also continues to target worldwide savings in real estate, services, procurement, supply chain and manufacturing. The headcount reductions are expected to take place between now and the end of 2018, consistent with the company's synergy target timeline. Reductions will come largely in areas where there are overlaps, such as research and development, regional and sales organizations as well as corporate functions. Nokia outlined these areas on October 29, 2015, when updating its synergy target. To start the process, Nokia representatives are meeting today with the company's two European Works Councils. Similar meetings and consultations with employee representatives are taking place in almost 30 countries in the coming weeks. Processes and timelines will vary from one country to another. "These actions are designed to ensure that Nokia remains a strong industry leader," said Nokia President and CEO Rajeev Suri. "When we announced the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent we made a commitment to deliver EUR 900 million in synergies - and that commitment has not changed. We also know that our actions will have real human consequences and, given this, we will proceed in a way that that is consistent with our company values and provide transition and other support to the impacted employees." Nokia plans to report on the implementation of the synergy and transformation program in connection with its quarterly earnings releases. By Jussi Rosendahl HELSINKI (Reuters) - Telecom network equipment maker Nokia is planning to cut thousands of jobs worldwide, including 1,400 in Germany and 1,300 in its native Finland, as part of a cost-cutting program following its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. Finland's biggest company has cut thousands of Finnish jobs over the past decade as its once-dominant phone business was eclipsed by the rise of smartphone rivals. The phone business was eventually sold to Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), which has continued cutting jobs in the recession-hit country. Now focused on telecoms network gear, Nokia is looking to reduce operational costs by 900 million euros ($1.03 billion) by 2018 after its recent 15.6 billion euro ($17.7 billion) all-share deal for Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent. The acquisition is intended to help Nokia to compete with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei [HWT.UL] in a market where limited growth and tough competition are pressuring prices. Shares in Nokia rose 0.9 percent following Wednesday's announcement, but the latest job cuts caused consternation in Finland after Nokia said it will cut only 400 jobs in France while creating 500 posts in research and development in the country, in line with a pledge to the French government during the Alcatel negotiations. Nokia declined to give a total figure for global job losses but said it was starting talks with employee representatives in about 30 countries. The company employs about 104,000 worldwide, with around 6,850 in Finland, 4,800 in Germany and 4,200 in France. "This (1,300) is a terrible figure; we have a rather difficult employment situation in the sector to begin with," said Pertti Porokari, chairman of the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland. "Seems that Finnish workers have lost this match (against the French)." Finland's economy minister Olli Rehn said: "The news on Nokia's new plans is very regrettable ... we expect Nokia to bear social responsibility and partly take care of training of those whose employment will be terminated." (Additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris and Frankfurt Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman) Trina Solar Limited (NYSE: TSL) announced that it has signed an agreement to supply 40 MW of solar modules to Tegnatia, one of Turkey's leading Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractors. This partnership will enable Trina Solar to supply Tegnatia with its innovative solar PV solutions as both companies expand their presence in the Turkish market, and represent a key joining of forces between leading players in the international solar industry and the local PV market. Under the agreement, Trina Solar will complete the delivery of its TSM-PD05 (polycrystalline, 60 cells) and TSM-PD14 (polycrystalline, 72 cells) modules by the end of the second quarter of 2016. The modules will be used in a range of solar projects in the areas of Mersin, Adana, Konya and Erzurum. As the world's largest supplier of solar PV modules and the most bankable PV module manufacturer globally, Trina Solar is ideally placed to supply the high-quality solutions that Tegnatia requires. Established in 2013, Tegnatia is a joint venture between T-Dinamik, a Turkish renewable energy investment firm which has funded large-scale solar parks in Turkey, Greece and Romania; and Egnatia Group, a Greek construction company operating in Eastern Europe and the UK. Tegnatia is committed to offering turnkey services covering the design, implementation and maintenance of medium- to large-scale solar parks, with a core aim of bringing solar power to a wider section of the Turkish population. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Tiris, General Manager at Tegnatia, commented: "We are delighted to partner with Trina Solar, a global solar energy leader. We have ambitious targets to bring the benefits of high-quality solar PV to a wider range of Turkish companies and consumers, which requires a strong and reliable partner that can provide the quality of product and service that these projects demand. In addition, we were looking for a partner that can provide support locally, as and when required. Trina Solar represents the ideal fit to help bring these projects to fruition." Mr. Rongfang Yin, Assistant Vice President, Regional Head of the Module Business Unit (MBU) of Europe and Africa at Trina Solar, added: "Tegnatia is a major player in the Turkish solar PV market, so we are very pleased to enter this partnership. It represents an important milestone in the promising Turkish market and we are looking forward to supporting and accelerating the much-needed deployment of solar PV in Turkey, through the provision of our industry-leading modules which Trina Solar will also showcase at the forthcoming SOLAREX exhibition in Istanbul. Our focus at Trina Solar is on providing high-quality PV technologies that our partners can rely on, and we anticipate great success for our latest venture into the Turkish market." Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) reported Q3 EPS of $0.70, $0.03 better than the analyst estimate of $0.67. Revenue for the quarter came in at $497 million versus the consensus estimate of $493.87 million. GUIDANCE: Global Payments sees FY2016 EPS of $2.93-$3.00, versus the consensus of $2.94. We delivered strong financial results for the quarter, accelerating growth across our key markets. We are especially pleased with our performance in North America and Europe, with sequentially higher adjusted net revenue growth in the United States direct channel and the United Kingdom, said Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sloan. We also grew margins in each region, highlighting solid execution. Sloan continued, We are delighted with the progress we have made on the partnership with Heartland Payment Systems and look forward to closing the transaction later this month. The combination with Heartland will transform Global Payments into the leading provider of payments technology solutions worldwide. For earnings history and earnings-related data on Global Payments (GPN) click here. Greek Presidential guards take part in a ceremonial change of guards at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the Parliament building in Athens, Greece, August 23, 2015. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has dismissed any suggestion that Greece could lower its target of 50 billion euros in privatisation revenues, part of its third bailout package, raising tensions as international lenders review Greek reform efforts. Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis said in Berlin on Tuesday the estimates had already been lowered and that Athens was looking at around 15 billion euros and may end up with just 6 or 7 billion euros from the privatisations. A German Finance Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday the Greek government had agreed last year with its lenders that the programme's Memorandum of Understanding included the 50 billion euros in privatisation revenue. "As far as we are concerned, this Memorandum of Understanding is still valid," Friederike von Thiesenhausen said at a government news conference. In Athens, when asked to clarify Stathakis' comments, an Economy Ministry official repeated the 15 billion euros figure "from privatisations that have been concluded and the ongoing ones". Since the recapitalisation of banks have cost Greece 5.5 billion euros and thus far less than the previously projected 25 billion euros, the 50 billion euro target "has changed de facto", the official said. Greece has raised a total of about 3.5 billion euros from state asset sales scheme since 2010 and aims to raise another 1.9 billion this year, according to the state budget. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin's stance on Greece's bailout programme remained unchanged after her meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Tuesday. "Our position is that a nominal debt cut for Greece is not possible, also for legal reasons," Steffen Seibert said, adding that Germany still wanted the IMF to be part of the current bailout programme for Greece. The IMF has fought shy of participating in the bailout without a firm promise of debt relief for Greece from its euro zone partners. Germany, while keen for the IMF to take part, has said relief cannot be discussed until Athens has demonstrated compliance with the terms of the bailout. Berlin has signalled that it could be open to some flexibility by extending the maturities of some loans. On Tuesday, Merkel reiterated Germany's position that a write-down was not possible as long as Greece remained in the euro zone. Lagarde insisted that what was needed in Greece was "long-term sustainability", and debt sustainability was important for private sector investors. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes a successful review, which will unlock an estimated 5 billion euros in bailout funds, will pave the way for talks on debt relief and convince austerity-weary Greeks that their sacrifices are paying off. The 5 billion euros are needed to repay loans from the IMF and maturing bonds to the European Central Bank, as well as unpaid domestic bills. Greece signed up to a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros in 2015, its third international financial lifeline since 2010, which hauled it back from the brink of leaving the euro zone. So far, it has received 21.4 billion of an initial 26 billion euro tranche. (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers, Gernot Heller in Berlin and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams) Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders pumps his fist after announcing he won the Wisconsin primary at a campaign rally at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, Wyoming April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Mark Kauzlarich By Ginger Gibson and Michelle Conlin WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump's Republican rivals were invigorated on Wednesday by the front-runner's loss in the Wisconsin primary and moved quickly to bolster efforts to block the New York billionaire from capturing the party's presidential nomination. Ted Cruz's emphatic victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday night dealt momentum to his once long-shot bid to force a contested convention in July by blocking Trump from amassing enough delegates to secure the nomination. The U.S. senator from Texas made the case he is increasingly viewed as the main Trump alternative by Republicans who cannot bring themselves to support Trump as their nominee for the Nov. 8 election. Allies of Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is positioning himself as a mainstream candidate who could emerge from a contested convention, met in Washington to brainstorm about how they could use obscure procedural rules to their advantage when the party convenes in Cleveland. One group trying to defeat Trump, who has alarmed many Republican establishment figures with his comments on immigration, Muslims and trade, was hopeful on Wednesday of a cash infusion to fund their efforts. "Our funders are committed to nominating a principled conservative that can win in November and can help Republicans up and down the ballot," said Katie Packer, who is leading the anti-Trump Our Principals PAC. "They understand that this is a long slog now and they are supportive of our mission and strategy. I expect that we will have the funds necessary to execute." U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, lobbyists and congressional staffers were among those who met with Kasich advisers on Wednesday to discuss what one Republican congressional staffer present admitted was the governor's "long-shot" bid. He has won only his home state in nominating contests so far. Kasich's campaign has "a plan going into the convention ... and if the convention goes to a brokered convention, they have a legitimate chance," the staffer said. SHIFT TO NEW YORK The next big test in stopping Trump will be New York, the state he calls home. A Monmouth University poll of New York Republicans released on Monday showed Trump with 52 percent of the state's support, a huge lead over Kasich at 25 percent, and Cruz at 17 percent ahead of the state's April 19 primary. Trump held a rally in Bethpage, New York, on Wednesday evening where he referred only obliquely to his Wisconsin loss, saying it "takes guts" to run for president and criticizing Cruz for drawing small crowds in the state. The Trump campaign also announced members of its New York-based team, including party leaders in each of the state's 27 congressional districts. "It's very important for Trump to bounce back strong. The sense of his inevitability is one of his strengths," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at Southern Illinois University. Cruz met with black and Hispanic religious leaders earlier in the day in the New York City borough of the Bronx. "The men and women of Wisconsin resoundingly rejected (Trump's) campaign," Cruz told reporters afterward. "Donald has no solutions to the problems that were facing." A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz statistically even with Trump among Republicans nationally. His recent gains marked the first time since November that a rival had threatened Trump's standing at the head of the Republican pack. Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz 517, and Kasich 143, according to an Associated Press count. Trump would need to win about 55 percent of the remaining delegates to reach the 1,237 threshold. "We fully expect this to go to Cleveland," Packer said of the anti-Trump effort. CLINTON GOES ON ATTACK On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn-born U.S. senator representing Vermont, is trying to stage a come-from-behind upset of Hillary Clinton, but will struggle to overcome a large deficit in delegates. Sanders' big win in Wisconsin, which brought his victory tally to six out of the last seven contests, added to Clinton's frustration over her inability to knock out a rival who has attacked her from the left. That frustration was on full display on Wednesday when the former secretary of state gave two live televised interviews in which she criticized Sanders. In contrast to a Republican primary season that has been rife with personal insults, the Democrats have largely avoided personal attacks and stuck to policy arguments. But Clinton attacked Sanders for his position on guns and said he lacked a depth of policy understanding. "You cant really help people if you dont know how to do what you say you want to do," Clinton said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." She criticized him for an interview to New York's Daily News in which he failed to offer specifics on how he would break up large banks - a key part of his campaign message - when he was asked how he would put to use the existing financial regulation Dodd-Frank law. "It's not clear that he knows how Dodd-Frank works," Clinton told CNN in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. The Democratic Party nominating race moves to Wyoming on Saturday before New York on April 19. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney) CLEVELAND, April 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE: AIT) today announced plans to release its fiscal 2016 third quarter financial results on Thursday, April 28, 2016, before the market opens. The Companys fiscal 2016 third quarter ended March 31, 2016. The quarterly conference call for investors and analysts will begin at 10 a.m. ET on April 28. Neil A. Schrimsher President & CEO, and Mark O. Eisele CFO will discuss the Companys performance. To join the call, dial 1-800-920-5541 or 1-212-231-2918 (for International callers). A live audio webcast can be accessed online through the investor relations portion of the Companys website at www.applied.com. To help ensure you do not miss any of the conference call, please dial-in or link to the call 10-15 minutes prior to the scheduled start. Replays of the call will be made available for two weeks via webcast or telephone by dialing 1-800-633-8284 or 1-402-977-9140 (International) using passcode 21809012. About AppliedFounded in 1923, Applied Industrial Technologies is a leading industrial distributor that offers more than five million parts to serve the needs of MRO and OEM customers in virtually every industry. In addition, Applied provides engineering, design and systems integration for industrial and fluid power applications, as well as customized mechanical, fabricated rubber and fluid power shop services. Applied also offers maintenance training and inventory management solutions that provide added value to its customers. For more information, visit www.applied.com. CONTACT: Mark O. Eisele, Vice President Chief Financial Officer, 216-426-4417 or Julie A. Kho, Manager Public Relations, 216-426-4483. Source: Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc BERWYN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Weiser Law Firm, P.C. (the Weiser Firm) reports that the Honorable James F. Vano of the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, presiding over the stockholder derivative action, Ross-Williams v. Bennett, Case No. 11-cv-01688, ordered the publication via press release of the following summary notice to Sprint Corporation (NYSE: S) stockholders. The full-length notice is available on Sprints, The Weiser Law Firms, and Schubert Jonckheer Kolbe LLPs websites. Please read this summary notice carefully and in its entirety. If you are a Sprint stockholder, your rights may be affected. TO: ALL RECORD AND BENEFICIAL OWNERS OF SPRINT CORPORATION (SPRINT) COMMON STOCK AS OF FEBRUARY 22, 2016, AND WHO CONTINUE TO HOLD THEIR SPRINT COMMON STOCK AS OF THE DATE OF THE SETTLEMENT HEARING, EXCLUDING THE INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS, THE OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS OF SPRINT, MEMBERS OF THEIR IMMEDIATE FAMILIES, AND ANY ENTITY IN WHICH INDIVIDUAL DEFENDANTS HAVE OR HAD A CONTROLLING INTEREST (CURRENT SPRINT STOCKHOLDERS). Summary Notice of Proposed Settlement and Settlement Hearing THIS NOTICE IS GIVEN pursuant to an order of the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas (the Court), to inform you of a proposed stipulated settlement (the Settlement) in the above-referenced derivative action (the Ross-Williams Action) and substantially similar derivative actions pending in the Court, captioned Randolph v. Forsee, No. 10CV06261 (Johnson Cnty. Dist. Ct., Kan.) and Price v. Forsee, No. 11CV03257 (Johnson Cnty. Dist. Ct., Kan.), and also in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, captioned Murphy v. Forsee, No. 2:09-cv-02242-EFM/KMH (D. Kan.) (collectively, with the Ross-Williams Action, the Actions). The Actions involve claims brought derivatively on behalf of Sprint Nextel Corporation now known as Sprint, against certain of its current and former directors and officers alleging breaches of fiduciary duty and other claims, relating to certain events, public statements, stock transactions, and alleged misconduct following Sprints 2005 acquisition of Nextel Communications. YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED THAT a hearing (the Settlement Hearing) will be held on May 26, 2016, at 9:00 a.m., before the Honorable James F. Vano, of the District Court of Johnson County, Kansas, Johnson County Courthouse, 100 N. Kansas Ave., Olathe, KS, 66061-3273, for the purpose of determining whether the Settlement should be approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate and whether an award of attorneys fees and reimbursement of expenses for Plaintiffs Counsel (the Fee Award) should be approved. Because this is a stockholder derivative action brought for the benefit of Sprint, no individual Current Sprint Stockholder has the right to receive any individual compensation as a result of the Settlement. In accordance with the terms of the Settlement, and in consideration for certain releases, Sprint has agreed to implement certain corporate governance reforms, to be administered by Sprint and the Sprint Board of Directors. IF YOU ARE AN OWNER OF SPRINT COMMON STOCK, YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE AFFECTED BY THE SETTLEMENT. This summary notice contains only a summary of the Actions and the terms of the Settlement. You may obtain a copy of a detailed notice to Current Sprint Stockholders (the Notice) describing the Actions, the proposed Settlement, and the rights of Current Sprint Stockholders with regard to the Settlement, as well as a copy of the Stipulation and Agreement of Settlement (the Stipulation), by visiting the website investors.sprint.com. The Notice and Stipulation are also available for viewing on the following websites www.weiserlawfirm.com and www.schubertlawfirm.com. Should you have any other questions regarding the proposed Settlement of the Actions, please contact the following designated counsel for the Plaintiffs: Brett D. Stecker Dustin Schubert THE WEISER LAW FIRM, P.C. SCHUBERT JONCKHEER & KOLBE LLP 22 Cassatt Ave, Suite 100 Three Embarcadero Center, Suite 1650 Berwyn, PA 19312 San Francisco, California 94111 Telephone: (610) 225-2677 Telephone: (415) 788-4220 Facsimile: (610) 225-2678 Facsimile: (415) 788-0161 Counsel for Plaintiff Ross-Williams Counsel for Plaintiff Price Sprint has agreed to pay or cause to be paid to Plaintiffs Counsel the Fee Award of $4.25 million ($4,250,000.00), subject to approval by the Court. The Fee Award was a product of a mediators proposal. Additionally, Plaintiffs Counsel may also apply on behalf of Plaintiffs for incentive awards in the amount of $5,000 each (the Incentive Awards) in recognition of Plaintiffs participation and efforts in the prosecution of the Actions. The Incentive Awards shall be funded from the Fee Award, to the extent it is approved by the Court in whole or in part. Any Current Sprint Stockholder may object and/or appear and show cause, if he, she, or it has any concern why the Settlement should not be finally approved as fair, reasonable, and adequate, why the Final Order and Judgment should not be entered thereon, or why the Fee Award, including any Incentive Awards, should not be finally approved; provided, however, unless otherwise ordered by the Court, that no Current Sprint Stockholder shall be heard or entitled to contest the approval of the terms and conditions of the Settlement, or, if approved, the Final Order and Judgment to be entered approving the Settlement, or the Fee Award, unless that stockholder has filed at least fourteen (14) days prior to the Settlement Hearing an objection with the Court. Any objection to the Settlement, the Fee Award, or the Incentive Awards and/or notice of intent to appear must be filed, in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Notice, with the Clerk of the Court (Honorable James F. Vano, District Court of Johnson County, Kansas Johnson County Courthouse, 100 N. Kansas Ave., Olathe, KS, 66061-3273), no later than May 12, 2016, and served by hand or first class mail (postage prepaid) for delivery by the same date on Plaintiffs Counsel (at the addresses listed above) and on counsel for Defendants (at the addresses listed below): Scott D. MusoffSKADDEN, ARPS, SLATE, MEAGHER& FLOM LLPFour Times SquareNew York, NY 10036 Counsel for Gary D. Forsee, Paul N. Saleh, Barry J. West, Mark E. Angelino, Timothy E. Kelly, William G. Arendt, and nominal defendant Sprint Nextel Corporation Jeffrey S. RussellBRYAN CAVE LLPOne Metropolitan Square211 North Broadway, Suite 3600St. Louis, MO 63102 Counsel for Individual Defendants Robert R. Bennett, James H. Hance, Jr., Irvine O. Hockaday, Jr., Gordon M. Bethune, Larry C. Glasscock, V. Janet Hill, Rodney ONeal, Keith J. Bane, Linda K. Lorimer, William E. Kennard, William H. Swanson, and Frank M. Drendel PLEASE DO NOT CALL OR WRITE THE COURT REGARDING THIS NOTICE. Press release link: http://weiserlawfirm.com/announcement-sprint-settlement/ View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406006569/en/ The Weiser Law Firm, P.C. James M. Ficaro, 610-225-2677 Source: The Weiser Law Firm, P.C. Opdivo is the first and only PD-1 inhibitor approved to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma patients who have received prior therapy Opdivo is the first-ever agent to demonstrate a significant improvement in overall survival, the primary endpoint, in advanced renal cell carcinoma patients who have received prior therapy vs. everolimus, based on Phase 3 study CheckMate -025 With this approval, Opdivo is the only PD-1 inhibitor approved in Europe to demonstrate overall survival benefit versus standards of care in three distinct tumor types PRINCETON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE: BMY) announced today that the European Commission has approved Opdivo (nivolumab) monotherapy for an additional indication in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) after prior therapy in adults. Opdivo is the first and only PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor approved in Europe to demonstrate an overall survival (OS) benefit versus a standard of care in this patient population. This approval allows for the expanded marketing of Opdivo in previously treated advanced RCC in all 28 Member States of the European Union. Emmanuel Blin, senior vice president, Head of Commercialization, Policy and Operations, Bristol-Myers Squibb, commented, Todays approval is reflective of our commitment to bring Opdivo and the potential for long-term survival to broad patient populations, including previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma. Opdivo is the only PD-1 inhibitor approved in Europe to demonstrate a significant survival advantage in this patient population. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are driven to work with speed to deliver new treatment options to help more patients, and in less than a year, we have expanded the approval of Opdivo in Europe to include three distinct types of advanced cancer. This approval is based on the results of the Phase 3 study CheckMate -025, which were published in The New England Journal of Medicine. In CheckMate -025, Opdivo was evaluated in patients with advanced clear-cell RCC who received prior anti-angiogenic therapy compared to everolimus. Patients treated with Opdivo achieved a median OS of 25 months versus 19.6 months for everolimus (HR=0.73 [98.5% CI: 0.57-0.93; p=0.0018]), representing a greater than five month improvement over a current standard of care. CheckMate -025 also evaluated patients quality of life (QoL) and found that patients treated with Opdivo had improved survival and QoL compared to everolimus throughout the duration of treatment. Dr. Bernard Escudier, Chair of the Genitourinary Oncology Committee, Institut Gustave Roussy in Villejuif, France, commented, For the first time, previously treated advanced renal cell carcinoma patients in Europe will now have access to an Immuno-Oncology agent that has demonstrated a significant overall survival benefit along with a favorable safety profile compared to everolimus. In addition to the clinical efficacy results, patients treated with Opdivo experienced an improvement in their health-related quality of life and had significantly lower symptom burden throughout treatment compared to patients receiving everolimus. Combined, these data support the use of Opdivo in clinical practice and represent important progress toward establishing a new standard of care in Europe. First PD-1 Inhibitor to Demonstrate Significant Overall Survival Benefit In Previously Treated Advanced RCC CheckMate -025 is an open-label, randomized Phase 3 study, which evaluated Opdivo versus everolimus in patients with advanced clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy, with overall survival (OS) as the primary endpoint. Objective response rate (ORR) was evaluated as a secondary endpoint. In the study, patients were randomized to receive Opdivo (3 mg/kg administered intravenously every two weeks) compared to everolimus (10 mg administered orally daily). The prespecified interim analysis was conducted when 398 events were observed (70% of the planned number of events for final analysis). Results from CheckMate -025 showed that patients treated with Opdivo achieved a more than five month improvement in OS, with median OS of 25 months for Opdivo and 19.6 months for everolimus (HR=0.73 [98.5% CI: 0.57-0.93; p=0.0018]). An OS benefit was seen regardless of PD-L1 expression. In addition to improving OS, Opdivo demonstrated a superior ORR compared to everolimus (25.1% [95% CI: 21-29.6] vs. 5.4% [95% CI: 3.4-8.0]). Forty-nine (47.6%) Opdivo responders had ongoing responses of up to 27.6 months. In addition to the OS benefit observed with Opdivo, patients treated with the drug also experienced an improvement over time in disease related symptoms and non-disease specific quality of life compared to patients receiving everolimus. Patients were assessed using validated and reliable scales in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Kidney Symptom Index-Disease Related Symptoms (FKSI-DRS) and the EuroQoL EQ-5D. Results showed that as early as week 20, patients receiving Opdivo had a significant improvement in disease related symptoms, while patients receiving everolimus showed a significant deterioration by week 4. The safety profile of Opdivo in CheckMate -025 was consistent with prior studies. Serious adverse events occurred in 47% of patients receiving Opdivo. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in at least 2% of patients receiving Opdivo were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. In the study, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported in patients receiving Opdivo versus everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs. 57%), cough (34% vs. 38%), nausea (28% vs. 29%), rash (28% vs. 36%), dyspnea (27% vs. 31%), diarrhea (25% vs. 32%), constipation (23% vs. 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs. 30%), back pain (21% vs. 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs. 14%). About Renal Cell Carcinoma Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, accounting for more than 100,000 deaths worldwide each year. Clear-cell RCC is the most prevalent type of RCC and constitutes 80% to 90% of all cases. RCC is approximately twice as common in men as in women, with the highest rates of the disease in North America and Europe. Globally, the five-year survival rate for those diagnosed with metastatic, or advanced kidney cancer, is 12.1%. Bristol-Myers Squibb & Immuno-Oncology: Advancing Oncology Research At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we have a vision for the future of cancer care that is focused on Immuno-Oncology, now considered a major treatment choice alongside surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and targeted therapies for certain types of cancer. We have a comprehensive clinical portfolio of investigational and approved Immuno-Oncology agents, many of which were discovered and developed by our scientists. Our ongoing Immuno-Oncology clinical program is looking at broad patient populations, across multiple solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, and lines of therapy and histologies, with the intent of powering our trials for OS and other important measures like durability of response. We pioneered the research leading to the first regulatory approval for the combination of two Immuno-Oncology agents, and continue to study the role of combinations in cancer. We are also investigating other immune system pathways in the treatment of cancer including CTLA-4, CD-137, KIR, SLAMF7, PD-1, GITR, CSF1R, IDO, and LAG-3. These pathways may lead to potential new treatment options in combination or monotherapy to help patients fight different types of cancers. Our collaboration with academia, as well as small and large biotech companies, to research the potential of Immuno-Oncology and non-Immuno-Oncology combinations, helps achieve our goal of providing new treatment options in clinical practice. At Bristol-Myers Squibb, we are committed to changing survival expectations in hard-to-treat cancers and the way patients live with cancer. About Opdivo Cancer cells may exploit regulatory pathways, such as checkpoint pathways, to hide from the immune system and shield the tumor from immune attack. Opdivo is a PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor that binds to the checkpoint receptor PD-1 expressed on activated T-cells, and blocks the binding of PD-L1 and PD-L2, preventing the PD-1 pathways suppressive signaling on the immune system, including the interference with an anti-tumor immune response. Opdivos broad global development program is based on Bristol-Myers Squibbs understanding of the biology behind Immuno-Oncology. Our company is at the forefront of researching the potential of Immuno-Oncology to extend survival in hard to treat cancers. This scientific expertise serves as the basis for the Opdivo development program, which includes a broad range of Phase 3 clinical trials evaluating OS as the primary endpoint across a variety of tumor types. The Opdivo trials have also contributed toward the clinical and scientific understanding of the role of biomarkers and how patients may benefit from Opdivo across the continuum of PD-L1 expression. To date, the Opdivo clinical development program has enrolled more than 18,000 patients. Opdivo was the first PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to receive regulatory approval anywhere in the world in July 2014, and currently has regulatory approval in 48 countries including the United States, Japan, and in the European Union. U.S. FDA APPROVED INDICATIONS OPDIVO (nivolumab) is indicated for the treatment of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) who have received prior anti-angiogenic therapy. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Immune-Mediated Pneumonitis Immune-mediated pneumonitis, including fatal cases, occurred with OPDIVO treatment. Across the clinical trial experience with solid tumors, fatal immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred with OPDIVO. Monitor patients for signs with radiographic imaging and symptoms of pneumonitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater pneumonitis. Permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 and withhold until resolution for Grade 2. In Checkmate 025, pneumonitis, including interstitial lung disease, occurred in 5% (21/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 18% (73/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated pneumonitis occurred in 4.4% (18/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=12), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Colitis Immune-mediated colitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of colitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 (of more than 5 days duration), 3, or 4 colitis. As a single agent, withhold OPDIVO for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 or recurrent colitis upon restarting OPDIVO. In Checkmate 025, diarrhea or colitis occurred in 25% (100/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 32% (126/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated diarrhea or colitis occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Hepatitis Immune-mediated hepatitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for abnormal liver tests prior to and periodically during treatment. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater transaminase elevations. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 immune-mediated hepatitis. In Checkmate 025, there was an increased incidence of liver test abnormalities compared to baseline in AST (33% vs 39%), alkaline phosphatase (32% vs 32%), ALT (22% vs 31%), and total bilirubin (9% vs 3.5%) in the OPDIVO and everolimus arms, respectively. Immune-mediated hepatitis requiring systemic immunosuppression occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=5) and Grade 2 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Endocrinopathies Hypophysitis, adrenal insufficiency, thyroid disorders, and type 1 diabetes mellitus can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for signs and symptoms of hypophysitis, signs and symptoms of adrenal insufficiency during and after treatment, thyroid function prior to and periodically during treatment, and hyperglycemia. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 2 or greater hypophysitis. Withhold for Grade 2 or 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hypophysitis. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Withhold for Grade 2 and permanently discontinue for Grade 3 or 4 adrenal insufficiency. Administer hormone-replacement therapy for hypothyroidism. Initiate medical management for control of hyperthyroidism. Administer insulin for type 1 diabetes. Withhold OPDIVO for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4 hyperglycemia. In Checkmate 025, hypophysitis occurred in 0.5% (2/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=1) and Grade 1 (n=1). Adrenal insufficiency occurred in 2.0% (8/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=4), and Grade 1 (n=1). Thyroid disease occurred in 11% (43/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO, including one Grade 3 event, and in 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Hypothyroidism/thyroiditis occurred in 8% (33/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=2), Grade 2 (n=17), and Grade 1 (n=14). Hyperthyroidism occurred in 2.5% (10/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 2 (n=5) and Grade 1 (n=5). Hyperglycemic adverse events occurred in 9% (37/406) patients. Diabetes mellitus or diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in 1.5% (6/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=3), Grade 2 (n=2), and Grade 1 (n=1). Immune-Mediated Nephritis and Renal Dysfunction Immune-mediated nephritis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Monitor patients for elevated serum creatinine prior to and periodically during treatment. For Grade 2 or 3 increased serum creatinine, withhold and administer corticosteroids; if worsening or no improvement occurs, permanently discontinue. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 4 serum creatinine elevation and permanently discontinue. In Checkmate 025, renal injury occurred in 7% (27/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 3.0% (12/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated nephritis and renal dysfunction occurred in 3.2% (13/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 5 (n=1), Grade 4 (n=1), Grade 3 (n=5), and Grade 2 (n=6). Immune-Mediated Rash Immune-mediated rash can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Severe rash (including rare cases of fatal toxic epidermal necrolysis) occurred in the clinical program of OPDIVO. Monitor patients for rash. Administer corticosteroids for Grade 3 or 4 rash. Withhold for Grade 3 and permanently discontinue for Grade 4. In Checkmate 025, rash occurred in 28% (112/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO and 36% (143/397) of patients receiving everolimus. Immune-mediated rash, defined as a rash treated with systemic or topical corticosteroids, occurred in 7% (30/406) of patients receiving OPDIVO: Grade 3 (n=4), Grade 2 (n=7), and Grade 1 (n=19). Immune-Mediated Encephalitis Immune-mediated encephalitis can occur with OPDIVO treatment. Withhold OPDIVO in patients with new-onset moderate to severe neurologic signs or symptoms and evaluate to rule out other causes. If other etiologies are ruled out, administer corticosteroids and permanently discontinue OPDIVO for immune-mediated encephalitis. Other Immune-Mediated Adverse Reactions Based on the severity of adverse reaction, permanently discontinue or withhold treatment, administer high-dose corticosteroids, and, if appropriate, initiate hormone-replacement therapy. In Infusion Reactions Severe infusion reactions have been reported in Embryo-fetal Toxicity Based on its mechanism of action, OPDIVO can cause fetal harm when administered to a pregnant woman. Advise pregnant women of the potential risk to a fetus. Advise females of reproductive potential to use effective contraception during treatment with an OPDIVO- containing regimen and for at least 5 months after the last dose of OPDIVO. Lactation It is not known whether OPDIVO is present in human milk. Because many drugs, including antibodies, are excreted in human milk and because of the potential for serious adverse reactions in nursing infants from an OPDIVO-containing regimen, advise women to discontinue breastfeeding during treatment. Serious Adverse Reactions In Checkmate 025, serious adverse reactions occurred in 47% of patients receiving OPDIVO. The most frequent serious adverse reactions reported in 2% of patients were acute kidney injury, pleural effusion, pneumonia, diarrhea, and hypercalcemia. Common Adverse Reactions In Checkmate 025, the most common adverse reactions (20%) reported in patients receiving OPDIVO vs everolimus were asthenic conditions (56% vs 57%), cough (34% vs 38%), nausea (28% vs 29%), rash (28% vs 36%), dyspnea (27% vs 31%), diarrhea (25% vs 32%), constipation (23% vs 18%), decreased appetite (23% vs 30%), back pain (21% vs 16%), and arthralgia (20% vs 14%). About the Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Collaboration In 2011, through a collaboration agreement with Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (Ono) Bristol-Myers Squibb expanded its territorial rights to develop and commercialize Opdivo globally except in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where Ono had retained all rights to the compound at the time. On July 23, 2014, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Ono further expanded the companies strategic collaboration agreement to jointly develop and commercialize multiple immunotherapies as single agents and combination regimens for patients with cancer in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. About Bristol-Myers Squibb Bristol-Myers Squibb is a global biopharmaceutical company whose mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. For more information about Bristol-Myers Squibb, visit us at www.bms.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. Bristol-Myers Squibb Forward-Looking Statement This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect Bristol-Myers Squibb's business, particularly those identified in the cautionary factors discussion in Bristol-Myers Squibb's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. Bristol-Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406006067/en/ Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Media: Audrey Abernathy, 609-419-5375 Cell: 919-605-4521 [email protected] or Investors: Ranya Dajani, 609-252-5330 Cell: 215-666-1515 [email protected] or Bill Szablewski, 609-252-5894 Cell: 215-801-0906 [email protected] Source: Bristol-Myers Squibb Company LOS ANGELES, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For generations of Christians around the world April 9, 1906 was a significant date in history. On that day in Los Angeles God moved in a powerful way on a small group of believers praying for more of His presence in their lives. That simple, humble beginning marked by a sense of unity, powerful manifestations of God's presence, and a mighty harvest of souls for Christ would become known globally as the Azusa Street Revival. And over the past century since that day, hundreds of millions of individuals across the earth have been impacted for eternity as a result of this historic move of God. On Saturday April 9, 2016, 110 years to the day after the beginning of the Azusa Street Revival, over 110,000 people will pack the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for Azusa Now, a special day of worship and prayer bringing together believers from diverse ethnicities, backgrounds, denominations, and traditions to seek God for a renewed move of His Spirit. And JUCE TV, the premier faith and lifestyle network for teens and young adults, will be on hand to broadcast the event live from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Pacific Time), featuring the ministry and worship of Bethel Music from Redding, California. JUCE TV network manager Mark McCallie noted that while the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has hosted such important events as the Olympics, the World Series, and the Super Bowl, "the last time this venue was filled to over capacity was for the historic Billy Graham Crusade on September 8, 1963. Over fifty years later Azusa Now will bring a capacity crowd to the Coliseum to raise their collective voices in prayer for God to bring revival and unity to our nation once again. JUCE TV is honored to bring this important prayer and worship event to millions of viewers around the world." Azusa Now organizers recalled that the 1906 groundbreaking Azusa Street Revival was built on three key factors: "First there was a multi-ethnic gathering of unity in Christ (Acts 2:1-11). Secondly, the miraculous, attesting ministry of the Holy Spirit was enjoyed in a unique way (Acts 2:2-4). Finally, there was a clear presentation of the Gospel leading many to salvation (Acts 2:37-41)." One hundred ten years later, Azusa Now is being organized with the deep conviction that God desires to move with the same power and purpose today. "We need a true jubilee of love and mercy to sweep our land," declared the event organizers. "A dark question looms over our children's future: riots or revival? The only answer is to be found in Christ. Prayer, love, and unity remain the Acts 2 template for breakthrough." Rachel Holden of The Call, the key group organizing Azusa Now, emphasized that one of the main goals of the event "is to begin to repair the pain, wounds, and division among different nationalities, denominations, and backgrounds throughout the body of Christ. We want to humbly learn to bless our differences while joining together for worship and the proclamation of the Gospel. Our daring hope for Azusa Now is that the body of Christ would begin, even in a small way, to fulfill the great prayer of Jesus in John 17, to make us one as He is one." Tune in to JUCE TV on Saturday, April 9th, at 4 p.m. Pacific (6 p.m. Central, 7 p.m. Eastern) for a three-hour special presentation live from Azusa Now, featuring the ministry and worship of Bethel Music. JUCE TV is carried nationally on AT&T U-verse (Channel 570) and Dish Network (Channel 264), as well as on hundreds of local and regional cable systems (CHECK HERE for JUCE TV in your area). You can also view the event online at www.jucetv.com. Media ContactColby MayE-Mail: [email protected] Tel: 972-313-9500 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352255 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tbns-juce-tv-youth-network-to-broadcast-groundbreaking-azusa-now-worship-and-prayer-gathering-live-from-los-angeles-memorial-coliseum-saturday-april-9th-300247306.html SOURCE Trinity Broadcasting Network An official adjusts Polish and European Union flags ahead of the visit of Poland's President Andrzej Duda at the European Council in Brussels, Belgium, January 18, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir By Wiktor Szary WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's constitutional crisis which has set it at odds with its Western allies could still be solved through dialogue, but the Warsaw government must first bow to a key court ruling which it has so far rejected, a top EU official said on Tuesday. The eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party has faced growing pressure from the European Union, the United States and other bodies since it swept to power in Poland last October and tightened control on media and other institutions. The conservative party is now under threat of action by the European Commission for reshuffling the judges in the constitutional tribunal and changing the court's decision-making powers - moves which critics say paralyses the top body and threatens the rule of law in the country. A rule of law procedure instituted by the European Commission could end up with Poland, the EU's largest eastern member state, being suspended from voting in the Commission. Frans Timmermans, the Commission's first vice president and one of several European officials in Warsaw who are trying to save the situation, struck an optimistic tone on Tuesday. "I don't want to prejudge, or pre-empt any next steps," Timmermans told a news conference after meeting Polish officials. "Why? Because I did get the feeling today that there is room for dialogue and room for finding a solution (to the crisis) without the European Commission having to take any next steps." But he insisted that the Warsaw government would first have to recognize the constitutional tribunal's ruling that its legislation was unconstitutional - something which the government has refused to do so far. "The starting point of the dialogue should be full respect for the rulings of the constitutional tribunal - rulings that in my view should be published and implemented," Timmermans said. Thorbjoern Jagland, head of the pan-European rights body the Council of Europe, expressed similar views on Monday. Jagland added that the constitutional court paralysis puts Poland at risk of a lawsuit in the European Court of Human Rights. (Reporting by Wiktor Szary and Adrian Krajewski; Editing by Richard Balmforth) French police clash with French high school and university students during a demonstration against the French labour law proposal in Paris, France, April 5, 2016 as the French Parliament will start to examine the contested reform bill. REUTERS/Pascal Ros PARIS (Reuters) - Young protesters clashed with police in Paris and across France on Tuesday on the sidelines of marches against plans to loosen the country's protective labor laws, although the turnout was lower than during previous protests. About 23,800 people took part in the marches across France, according to the Interior Ministry, well down from the 390,000 seen during the previous day of protest on March 31. Organizers did not provide an estimate for the turnout. Police said some 150 people were arrested during a march in central Paris and 27 during other marches in other parts of France. Reuters TV footage showed hooded youths throwing stones and eggs at police, who responded with tear gas. At issue is a proposed overhaul of France's labor code, a set of regulations that company bosses say deters recruitment. Critics say the reforms, which parliament began debating on Tuesday, will worsen working conditions and cause job losses. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by Mark Heinrich) YENAGOA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Gunmen killed a Nigerian soldier and kidnapped a Lebanese construction worker on Tuesday in a shootout in the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, police said. Pipeline attacks and violence have been on the rise in the swampland since authorities issued an arrest warrant in January for a former militant leader on corruption charges. "One Lebanese, Ramzi Bau Hadir, aged 53 years, was kidnapped by the armed bandits," said Butswat Asinim, a police spokesman in Bayselsa state. A resident said a second foreigner had been kidnapped but Asinim did not confirm this. "It was a movie scene. The soldiers were shooting and the armed men were shooting," a driver who gave his name as Monday told local newspaper Leadership. "We later saw signs of blood everywhere." Attacks have been on the rise for weeks in the Delta, which provides most of Nigeria's oil and gas wealth. Militant groups have long demanded a greater share of the mineral wealth and an end to oil pollution in the region. Last month gunmen blew up an oil pipeline belonging to Italy's ENI, killing three workers who had been repairing the pipe, according to officials. In February militants staged a sophisticated underwater attack, probably using divers, on a Shell pipeline, shutting down the 250,000 barrel-a-day Forcados export terminal. President Muhammadu Buhari, elected a year ago, has extended a multi-million dollar amnesty signed with the militants in2009, but he has upset them by ending generous pipeline protection contracts. (Reporting by Tife Owolabi; Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Richard Balmforth) Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase, arrives at the White House in Washington, October 2, 2013, for a meeting of the Financial Services Forum with U.S. President Barack Obama. REUTERS/Jason Reed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) warned on Wednesday that years of economic uncertainty would be the "best case" outcome from a decision by Britain to leave the European Union. Writing in his latest annual letter to shareholders, Dimon said the economies of the U.K. and E.U. states would be hurt even if Britain managed to quickly renegotiate hundreds of trade and other contracts following an exit. The "bad scenario" would include trade retaliation against the U.K. by E.U. states. Voters in Britain are to go to the poles in June on whether the U.K. should leave the E.U. (Reporting by David Henry in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr) By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - A Kentucky lawyer, a retired administrative law judge and a psychologist have been charged with committing $600 million in disability fraud by submitting phony medical records to the government, according an indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The 18-count federal indictment accused Eric Christopher Conn, an attorney who advertised his services through the website MrSocialSecurity.com, of directing the fraud scheme over the course of eight years with two other named defendants - David Black Daugherty and Alfred Adkins. Prosecutors allege Conn filed more than 2,000 bogus claims with the Social Security Administration seeking disability benefits totaling more than $600 million, some of which was obtained by Conn's clients in the form of retroactive payments. Claims for his clients, residing primarily in four eastern Kentucky counties, were all routed to a regional office in Huntington, West Virginia, where Daugherty, an administrative law judge for 21 years, either assigned the cases to himself or had someone else assign them to him, the indictment said. Conn also is accused of destroying evidence once he came under investigation and of threatening an individual who provided accurate information to authorities. Atkins' alleged role in the scheme was providing contractual psychological services for Conn's clients, the indictment said. Neither Conn, 55, Daugherty, 81, Atkins, 44, or any of their legal representatives, could be reached for comment. Conn faces multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Daugherty was charged with three counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud, along with two counts of conspiracy. Adkins was charged with three counts each of mail and wire fraud, two counts of giving false statements and one count of conspiracy. David Habich, an FBI spokesman in Louisville, said the three men were arrested after the indictment. Conn and Adkins, both from Pikeville, Kentucky, were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. Adkins was granted conditional release according to court documents, but Conn continued to be held pending another hearing Thursday, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear when Daugherty, now a resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, would make his first court appearance. Three unindicted co-conspirators in the case were identified as two doctors and an office manager for Conn, according to court documents. (Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Editing by Steve Gorman, Ben Klayman and Kim Coghill) UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-Q FOR THE QUARTERLY PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 x QUARTERLY REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 0R 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 TRANSITION REPORT UNDER SECTION 13 0R 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from _______________ to _______________ Commission file number 000-51707 PANEX RESOURCES INC. (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Incorporated in the State of Nevada (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) 00-0000000 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) 13 Allegro, Legato, Durbanville, South Africa (Address of principal executive offices) +41 76 753 4401 (Issuer's telephone number) ____________________________________________________________ (Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the past 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. x Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T ( 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). x Yes No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See definition of "accelerated filer", "large accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one): Larger accelerated filer Accelerated filer Non-accelerated filer Smaller reporting company x (Do not check if a smaller reporting company) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes x No APPLICABLE ONLY TO CORPORATE ISSUERS State the number of shares outstanding of each of the issuer's classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date. Class Outstanding at April 6, 2016 Common Stock $0.001 par value 1,115,636,507 Documents incorporated by reference: Refer to Exhibits INDEX PART I FINANCIAL INFORMATION ITEM 1 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 3 BALANCE SHEETS 3 STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS 4 STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS 5 STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDER'S EQUITY (DEFICIENCY) 6 NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 7 ITEM 2 MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OR PLAN OF OPERATION 13 ITEM 3 QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 16 ITEM 4 CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES 16 PART II OTHER INFORMATION ITEM 1 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS 17 ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS 17 ITEM 2 UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS 17 ITEM 3 DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES 17 ITEM 4 MINING SAFETY DISCLOSURES 17 ITEM 5 OTHER INFORMATION 17 ITEM 6 EXHIBITS 18 SIGNATURES 19 2 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) PART I FINANCIAL INFORMATION ITEM 1 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS BALANCE SHEETS PANEX RESOURCES INC. As at As at (An exploration stage enterprise) 29 February 31 August Balance Sheets 2016 2015 (Expressed in U.S. Dollars) $ $ ASSETS Current assets Investment 711,304 113,653 Cash 28,177 553,267 Total current assets 739,481 666,920 Total assets 739,481 666,920 Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity Current liabilities Accounts payable and accrued expenses 35,143 45,245 Accounts payable and accrued expenses related parties (Note 4) 27,500 30,000 Total liabilities (all current) 62,643 75,245 Stockholders' Equity Common stock Authorized: 2,000,000,000 common shares with par value of $0.001 each Issued and outstanding: 1,115,636,507 (August 31, 2015: 1,125,636,507) common shares 1,115,636 1,125,636 Additional paid-in capital 13,291,725 13,286,725 Donated capital 77,627 77,627 Accumulated deficit during the exploration stage (13,808,150 ) (13,898,313 ) Stockholder' equity 676,838 591,675 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity 739,481 666,920 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. 3 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS PANEX RESOURCES INC. For the For the For the For the (An exploration stage enterprise) Three Months Three Months Six Months Six Months Statements of Operations Ended Ended Ended Ended 29 February 28 February 29 February 28 February 2016 2015 2016 2015 (Expressed in U.S. Dollars) $ $ $ $ Listing and filing fees - 1,015 909 4,553 Investor relation expenses - - - 16,944 Professional fees 25,500 26,395 51,798 64,807 Travel costs - - - 5,095 General and administrative 50,539 71,874 86,286 117,838 Foreign currency transaction gain (939 ) (6,834 ) (755 ) (27,525 ) Mineral property and exploration costs - - - 2,384 75,100 92,450 138,238 184,096 Other income (expense) - - - - Gain (Loss) on sale of investment - (4,978 ) - (8,038 ) Investment revaluation 248,543 416,026 228,401 (91,895 ) 248,543 411,048 228,401 (99,933 ) Net Income (Loss) 173,445 318,598 90,163 (284,029 ) Earnings (Loss) Per Share Basic and Diluted * * * * Weighted Average Shares Outstanding 1,115,636,507 1,416,136,507 1,117,010,133 1,416,136,507 ______________________ * Amounts are less than $0.01 per share The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. 4 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS PANEX RESOURCES INC. For the For the (An exploration stage enterprise) Six Months Six Months Statements of Cash Flows Ended Ended 29 February 28 February 2016 2015 (Expressed in U.S. Dollars) $ $ Cash Flows From Operating Activities (Net loss) income 90,163 (284,029 ) Adjustments to reconcile net (loss) Income to cash used in operating activities Foreign currency transaction gain (754 ) (25,875 ) Loss (Gain) on sale of investment - 8,038 Investment revaluation (228,401 ) 91,895 Increase (decrease) in accounts payable and accrued liabilities (10,102 ) (1,957 ) Increase (decrease) in amounts due to related parties (2,500 ) (39,428 ) Net Cash Used in Operating Activities (151,594 ) (251,356 ) Cash Flows From Investing Activities Cash received from sale of investment - 308,816 Cash used for purchase of investment (369,250 ) - Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Investing Activities (369,250 ) 308,816 Cash Flows From Financing Activities - - Loan from related parties - (35,000 ) Common shares repurchased for cash (5,000 ) 821,600 Net Cash (Used in) Provided by Financing Activities (5,000 ) (35,000 ) Effect of Exchange Rates on Cash 754 25,875 Increase (decrease) in Cash (525,090 ) 48,335 Cash at Beginning of Period 553,267 2,524 Cash at End of Period 28,177 50,859 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. 5 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDER'S EQUITY (DEFICIENCY) PANEX RESOURCES INC (An exploration stage enterprise) Statements of Stockholder's Equity Additional Advances for Total For the Period Ended February 29, 2016 Common Stock paid- Stock Donated Accumulated stockholders Shares Amount in capital Subscriptions Capital (deficit) equity (Expressed in U.S. Dollars) # $ $ $ $ $ $ Balances, August 31, 2015 1,125,636,507 1,125,636 13,286,725 - 77,627 (13,898,313 ) 591,675 Net income - - - - 90,163 90,163 Common stock repurchased for cash on September, 2015 at $0.001 per share (10,000,000 ) (10,000 ) 5,000 - - - (5,000 ) Balances, February 29, 2016 1,115,636,507 1,115,636 13,291,725 - 77,627 (13,808,150 ) 676,838 The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. 6 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 1. Organization, Nature of Business, Going Concern and Management's Plans Panex Resources Inc. ('Panex" or the "Company") was incorporated in the State of Nevada on May 28, 2004. The Company is considered to be an Exploration Stage Company. The Company's principal business is the acquisition and exploration of mineral resources. Going concern and management's plans: The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. Since its inception on May 28, 2004, the Company has not generated revenue and has incurred net losses. The Company incurred a net income of $90,163 for the six months ended February 29, 2016, and a deficit accumulated during the exploration stage of $13,808,150 for the period May 28, 2004 (inception) through February 29, 2016. Accordingly, it has not generated cash flow from operations and has primarily relied upon advances from shareholders and proceeds from equity financings to fund its operations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The Company on July 15, 2015, through the wholly owned subsidiary corporation, Panex Resources WA Pty Ltd. (ACN 607 016 491), entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Lazaraus Resources Pty Ltd. The Company purchased Lazaraus Resources' assets, rights and interests to the Exploration License E80/4675 located approximately 85km SW of Halls Creek in the Kimberley Mineral Field of Western Australia and all data reports and technical information related to E80/4675 including copies of all regulatory reporting; metadata files and databases. The purchase price was approximately US$2,200.00. As described in Note 2c the Company also has investments in two mining companies. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts or classification of liabilities that may result from the possible inability of the Company to continue as a going concern. 7 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies a. Basis of Preparation These financial statements and related notes are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (US GAAP). The Company's fiscal year-end is August 31. b. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. c. Basic and Diluted Net Income (Loss) Per Share Earnings (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the reporting period including common stock issued effective the date committed. Common stock issuable is considered outstanding as of the original approval date for the purposes of earnings per share computations. Diluted earnings (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net earnings (loss) by the sum of (a) the basic weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period and (b) additional shares that would have been issued and potentially dilutive securities. During the reporting periods the diluted earnings (loss) per share was equivalent to the basic earnings (loss) per share because all potentially dilutive securities were anti-dilutive due to the net losses incurred. Potentially dilutive securities consist of stock options outstanding at the end of the reporting period. d. Cash Cash includes deposits in banks, which are unrestricted as to withdrawal or use. e. Investments in Securities The Company determines the appropriate classification of its investments in debt and equity securities at the time of purchase and reevaluates such determinations at each balance sheet date. Marketable securities that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are classified as trading securities and are reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses are recognized in earnings. At February 29, 2016 investments consist of 20,000,000 shares and 40,000,000 options (August 31, 2015, nil shares) of Burey Gold Ltd., an Australian listed entity, which were acquired in October 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. At February 29, 2016, investments consist of 1,000,000 shares in NSS Resources Inc, a Canadian listed entity which were acquired in May 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. Unrealized gains (losses) for the six months ended February 29, 2016 were approximately $228,401. f. Mineral Property and Exploration Costs The Company has been in the exploration stage since its formation on May 28, 2004 and has not realized any revenues from its planned operations. It has been primarily engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mining properties. Mineral property acquisition and exploration costs are expensed as incurred. When it has been determined that a mineral property can be economically developed as a result of establishing proven and probable reserves, the costs incurred to develop such property are capitalized. Such costs will be amortized using the units-of-production method over the estimated life of the probable reserve. If mineral properties are subsequently abandoned or impaired, any capitalized costs will be charged to operations. 8 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued) g. Fair Value Measurements Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date in the principal or most advantageous market. The Company uses a fair value hierarchy that has three levels of inputs, both observable and unobservable, with use of the lowest possible level of input to determine fair value. Level 1 - quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2 - observable inputs other than Level 1, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active, and model-derived prices whose inputs are observable or whose significant value drivers are observable; and Level 3 - assets and liabilities whose significant value drivers are unobservable. The Company's investments are classified as Level 1 and there are no Level 2 or 3 assets or liabilities. Observable inputs are based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs are based on the Company's market assumptions. Unobservable inputs require significant management judgment or estimation. In some cases, the inputs used to measure an asset or liability may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is required to be classified using the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Such determination requires significant management judgment. Financial instruments, which include cash, accounts payable, and loans and borrowings, were estimated to approximate their carrying values due to the immediate or short-term maturity of these financial instruments. The fair value of amounts due to related parties are not practical to estimate, due to the related party nature of the underlying transactions. The financial risk to the Company's operations arises from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and the degree of volatility of these rates. Currently, the Company does not use derivative instruments to reduce its exposure to foreign currency risk. h. Income Taxes The Company recognizes deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their tax bases, as well as net operating losses. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets or liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the period in which the tax change occurs. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce the deferred tax assets to a level, that more likely than not, will be realized. Management does not believe that the Company has any unrecognized tax positions. The Company's policy is to recognize interest and penalties accrued on any unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense. 9 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Continued) i. Stock-Based Compensation The Company accounts for share-based payments under the fair value method of accounting for stock-based compensation consistent with US GAAP. Under the fair value method, stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award using the Black-Sholes option pricing model and is recognized to expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. Where upon grant the options vest immediately the stock-based costs are expensed immediately. During the current period, there are no options outstanding. j. Foreign Currency Translation and Transactions The Company's functional and reporting currency is the United States dollar. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into the United States dollar using the exchange rate prevailing at the balance sheet date. Gains and losses arising on settlement of foreign currency denominated transactions or balances are included in the determination of income. k. Concentration of Credit Risk The Company's financial instruments that are exposed to concentration of credit risk consist of cash. The Company's cash is in demand deposit accounts placed with federally insured financial institutions in Canada. l. Interim Financial Statements In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements contain all adjustments which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary to present fairly the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods shown. The results of operations for such periods are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for a full year or for any future period. m. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In May 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09 "Revenue from Contracts from Customers," which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in "Revenue Recognition (Topic 605)," and requires entities to recognize revenue in a way that depicts the transfer of potential goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to the exchange for those goods or services. In July 2015, the FASB delayed the effective date by one year. This new standard is now effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2017, and is to be applied retrospectively, with early adoption now permitted to the original effective date of December 15, 2016. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its operations and financial statements. In August 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15 "Presentation of Financial Statements Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40)": Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. The amendments in ASU 2014-15 provide guidance in GAAP about management's responsibility to evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosures. In doing so, the amendments should reduce diversity in the timing and content of footnote disclosures. The new requirements are effective for annual periods ending after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016. Early application is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statement disclosures. In April 2015, FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03 "Update No. 2015-03InterestImputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs". To simplify presentation of debt issuance costs, the amendments in ASU 2015-03 require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the amendments in this Update. The amendments in this Update are effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption of the amendments in ASU 2015-03 is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statements and operations. 10 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) In September 2015, FASB issued ASU No.2015-16 "Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments". The amendments in ASU 2015-16 require that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The amendments should be applied prospectively to adjustments to provisional amounts that occur after the effective date of this Update with earlier application permitted for financial statements that have not been issued. The Company assessed that there is no impact to the financial statements on this update. In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes. The amendments in ASU 2015-17 eliminate the current requirement for entities to present deferred tax liabilities and assets as current and noncurrent in a classified balance sheet. Instead, entities will be required to classify all deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent. The amendments in this ASU are effective for financial statements issued for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. The amendments may be applied prospectively to all deferred tax liabilities and assets or retrospectively to all periods presented. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard. The adoption of this standard will not have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements as its net deferred tax assets are fully allowed for. Management has evaluated any recently issued accounting pronouncements to determine their applicability and does not believe that any of these pronouncements will have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements. 3. Stock Options In August 2012, the Company's Board of Directors approved the issuance of stock options as an incentive to obtain services of key employees, directors and consultants of the Company. For the periods presented there were no stock options outstanding. 4. Related Party Transactions a. During May 2015 a consulting agreement was entered into with Mark Gasson and Ross Doyle for up to USD$15,000 and USD$10,000 per month respectively. Amounts will be charged on a need basis and it is not expected the full amount will be incurred. At end of the period there was an accrued liability of $27,500 payable to management. b. The Company incurred nil in total for management, exploration and contractor expenses during the six months ended February 29, 2016 (February 28, 2015: $125,711). This amount is a combination of exploration contracting services, the CEO, Non-Executive Director, Company Secretarial and CFO of the Company. Total management fees for Coresco are determined in relation to the level of services required and comprise office rental, infrastructure, investor meeting rooms, company secretarial services, CEO, CFO, Technical Services and Non Executive Director fees. As of February 29, 2016, the Company has an accrued liability of $Nil for these services due to this related party (February 29, 2016: $6,095). The contract with Coresco was terminated in May 2015. 5. Loans and Borrowings During July 2014, Coresco loaned the Company $44,000, with no specified interest or due date. The parties may agree to settle the borrowing through repayment or issuance of equity. In August 2014, the Company repaid $9,000 of the loan and $35,000 is outstanding at August 31, 2014. During the quarter ended 30 November 2014 the balance of $35,000 was repaid in full. There is no loans subsequent. 11 PANEX RESOURCES INC. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (EXPRESSED IN U.S. DOLLARS) QUARTERLY REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED FEBRUARY 29, 2016 (UNAUDITED) 6. Material Contingencies and Commitments Panex has no material contingencies or long-term commitments. While Panex has raised capital to meet its working capital and financing needs in the past, additional financing is required in order to fully complete its plan of operation. Panex is seeking financing in the form of equity. Panex currently has no commitments for financing. There are no assurances Panex will be completely successful in raising the funds required. 7. Stockholders' Equity Common Stock On November 5, 2014 the Company filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission permitting Panex to offer up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock at $0.001 per share. The offering was being conducted on a best effort basis and there will be no underwriter involved in the public offering. The registration has been declared effective on February 3, 2016. During August 2015, the Company entered into some share repurchase agreements for a total of 318,000,000 shares for USD$189,905. The Company repurchased a further ten million shares in October 2015. During June 2015, the Company entered into debt settlement agreements with creditors in consideration for the issuance of the Company's common stock, par value $0.001, at a per share price of $0.001 per share. As a result, the Company extinguished certain liabilities with creditors via debt settlement agreements for a total of $55,000, for a total of 27,500,000 shares at a price of $0.001 per share. 8. Subsequent events Other than as disclosed in the financial statements there are no subsequent events to report at lodgement date. 12 ITEM 2 MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OR PLAN OF OPERATION THE FOLLOWING PRESENTATION OF MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF PANEX RESOURCES INC. SHOULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND OTHER FINANCIAL INFORMATION INCLUDED HEREIN. Uncertainties Relating To Forward-Looking Statements This Form 10-Q Quarterly Report for the quarterly report contains forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including statements regarding Panex Resources Inc. capital needs, business strategy and expectations. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "plan", "intend", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "predict", "potential" or "continue", the negative of such terms or other comparable terminology. Actual events or results may differ materially. In evaluating these statements, you should consider various factors, including the risks outlined from time to time, in other reports Panex files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements in this Form 10-Q Quarterly Report for quarterly report, are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in or implied by the statements contained in this report. As a result, the identification and interpretation of data and other information and their use in developing and selecting assumptions from and among reasonable alternatives requires the exercise of judgment. To the extent that the assumed events do not occur, the outcome may vary substantially from anticipated or projected results, and accordingly, no opinion is expressed on the achievability of those forward-looking statements. No assurance can be given that any of the assumptions relating to the forward-looking statements specified in the following information are accurate. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of filing of this Form 10-Q and Panex disclaims any obligation to publicly update these statements, or disclose any difference between its actual results and those reflected in these statements. Panex may, from time to time, make oral forward-looking statements. Panex strongly advises that the above paragraphs and the risk factors described in this Quarterly Report and in Panex's other documents filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission should be read for a description of certain factors that could cause the actual results of Panex to materially differ from those in the oral forward-looking statements. Panex disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any oral or written forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Background Panex Resources Inc. ("Panex" or the "Company") is a Nevada corporation that was incorporated on May 28, 2004. The Company conducts principal and technical activities from 13 Allegro, Legato, Durbanville, South Africa. The telephone number is (+41) 76 753 4401. These offices are provided to the Company on a month-to-month basis. The Company believes these offices are adequate for the business requirements during the next 12 months. The Company does not own any real property. Panex maintains its statutory registered agent's office at 1859 Whitney Mesa Drive, Henderson, Nevada, 89014. 13 Panex is an exploration stage company engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral properties. The Company's plan of operations is to conduct mineral exploration activities on mineral properties in order to assess whether these claims possess commercially exploitable mineral deposits. Panex's exploration program is to explore for commercially viable deposits of base and precious minerals, such as gold, silver, lead, barium, mercury, copper, and zinc minerals. Panex has an authorized capital of 2,000,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.001 per share with 1,115,636,507 shares of common stock currently issued and outstanding. On August 30, 2010, the authorized capital was increased from 75,000,000 shares of common stock to 500,000,000 shares of common stock. On July 14, 2014, the company effectively increased its' authorized capital from 500,000,000 shares of common stock to 2,000,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $0.001 per share. The increase in the authorized capital was approved on June 4, 2014 by shareholders of Panex owning approximately 53% of the outstanding voting shares of common stock. Panex has not been involved in any bankruptcy, receivership or similar proceedings. There have been no material reclassifications, mergers, consolidations or purchases or sales of a significant amount of assets not in the ordinary course of Panex's business. Currently, Panex has not obtained an employer identification number for the purpose of registering to do business in the United States. Panex does not currently conduct any business in the United States nor employ any staff in the United States and is therefore not required by law to obtain an employer identification number at this time. Panex will take immediate steps to obtain an employer identification number if it becomes necessary to do so at any time in the future. Plan of Operation During the next 12 months, Panex intends to conduct exploration activity on the property described as Exploration License E80/4675. 14 Results of Operations Panex has generated no operating revenues since its inception on May 28, 2004. Total expenses for the six months ended February 29, 2016 were $138,238 compared to $184,096 for the six months ended February 28, 2015. Expenses were lower in the six months ended February 29, 2016 compared to the six months ended February 28, 2015 largely due to less activity. Liquidity and Capital Resources The financial statements have been prepared assuming the Company will continue as a going concern. Since inception in May 2004, the Company has not generated revenue and has incurred net losses. The Company had a working capital surplus of $676,838 as at February 29, 2016, incurred net income of $90,163 for the six months ended February 29, 2016, and has a deficit accumulated during the exploration stage of $13,808,150 for the period from May 28, 2004 (inception) through February 29, 2016. Accordingly, the Company has not generated cash flows from operations and have primarily relied upon loans from related and unrelated parties and equity financing to fund operations. These conditions (as indicated in the 2013 audit report by the Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm) raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. During the six months ended February 29, 2016, Panex used cash of $151,594 in operating activities compared to $251,356 in the six months ended February 28, 2015. As previously noted, Panex is not generating revenues and accordingly has not generated any significant cash flow from operations. Panex is uncertain as to when it will produce cash flows from operations that are required to meet operating and capital requirements and will require significant funding from external sources to continue its operations. During the six months ended February 29, 2016, Panex used cash of $369,250 in investing activities (for the purchase of 20,000,000 ordinary shares and 40,000,000 options of the Burey investment) compared to cash received of $308,816 in the six months ended February 28, 2015. Material Contingencies and Commitments Except for the related party management consulting agreements described in Note 4 to the financial statements, Panex has no contingencies or long-term commitments. While Panex has raised capital to meet its working capital and financing needs in the past, additional financing is required in order to fully complete its plan of operation. Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements Panex has no off-balance sheet arrangements that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on Panex's financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenue or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that are material to investors, nor did Panex have any non-consolidated, special-purpose entities during this quarter. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In May 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09 "Revenue from Contracts from Customers," which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in "Revenue Recognition (Topic 605)," and requires entities to recognize revenue in a way that depicts the transfer of potential goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to the exchange for those goods or services. In July 2015, the FASB delayed the effective date by one year. This new standard is now effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2017, and is to be applied retrospectively, with early adoption now permitted to the original effective date of December 15, 2016. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its operations and financial statements. In August 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15 "Presentation of Financial Statements Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40)": Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. The amendments in ASU 2014-15 provide guidance in GAAP about management's responsibility to evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosures. In doing so, the amendments should reduce diversity in the timing and content of footnote disclosures. The new requirements are effective for annual periods ending after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016. Early application is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statement disclosures. 15 In April 2015, FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03 "Update No. 2015-03InterestImputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs". To simplify presentation of debt issuance costs, the amendments in ASU 2015-03 require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the amendments in this Update. The amendments in this Update are effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption of the amendments in ASU 2015-03 is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statements and operations. In September 2015, FASB issued ASU No.2015-16 "Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments". The amendments in ASU 2015-16 require that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The amendments should be applied prospectively to adjustments to provisional amounts that occur after the effective date of this Update with earlier application permitted for financial statements that have not been issued. The Company assessed that there is no impact to the financial statements on this update. In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes. The amendments in ASU 2015-17 eliminate the current requirement for entities to present deferred tax liabilities and assets as current and noncurrent in a classified balance sheet. Instead, entities will be required to classify all deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent. The amendments in this ASU are effective for financial statements issued for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. The amendments may be applied prospectively to all deferred tax liabilities and assets or retrospectively to all periods presented. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard. The adoption of this standard will not have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements as its net deferred tax assets are fully allowed for. Management has evaluated any recently issued accounting pronouncements to determine their applicability and does not believe that any of these pronouncements will have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements. ITEM 3 QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK Panex is a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and is not required to provide the information required under this item. ITEM 4 CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES Disclosure Controls and Procedures Mark Gasson, Panex's Chief Executive Officer and Ross Doyle, Panex's Chief Financial Officer, have evaluated the effectiveness of Panex's disclosure controls and procedures (as such term is defined in Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") as of the end of the period covered by this quarterly report (the "Evaluation Date"). Based on such evaluation, Mr Gasson and Mr Doyle have concluded that, as of the Evaluation Date, Panex's disclosure controls and procedures are not effective in alerting Panex on a timely basis to material information required to be included in its reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act, for the reasons listed in Item 9A of the Company's Form 10-K filing for the year ended August 31, 2015. While management strives to segregate duties as much as practicable, there is an insufficient volume of transactions at this point in time to justify additional full time staff. Management believes that this is typical in most exploration stage companies. Panex may not be able to fully remediate the material weakness until we commence mining operations at which time management expects to employ more staff. Management will continue to monitor and address the costs and benefits of additional staffing. Changes in Internal Controls over Financial Reporting During the fiscal quarter covered by this report, there were no changes in Panex's internal controls over financial reporting that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, Panex's internal control over financial reporting. 16 PART II OTHER INFORMATION ITEM 1 LEGAL PROCEEDINGS Panex is not a party to any pending legal proceedings and, to the best of Panex's knowledge, none of Panex's assets are the subject of any pending legal proceedings. ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS Panex is a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and is not required to provide the information required under this item. ITEM 2 UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS None. ITEM 3 DEFAULTS UPON SENIOR SECURITIES During the quarter of the fiscal year covered by this report, no material default has occurred with respect to any indebtedness of Panex. Also, during this quarter, no material arrearage in the payment of dividends has occurred. ITEM 4 MINING SAFETY DISCLOSURES There are no current mining activities at the date of this report. ITEM 5 OTHER INFORMATION None. 17 ITEM 6 EXHIBITS (a) Index to and Description of Exhibits Exhibit Description Status 3.1 Articles of Incorporation of Panex Resources Inc. filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form SB-2 (Registration Statement) filed on December 12, 2005 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 3.2 By-Laws of Panex Resources Inc. filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form SB-2 (Registration Statement) filed on December 12, 2005 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 3.3 Certificate of Amendment of Panex Resources Inc., filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on September 30, 2010 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.1 Management Agreement dated April 19, 2006 between Panex Resources Inc. and Reg Gillard, filed as Exhibit 10.2 to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on May 10, 2006 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.2 Letter of Understanding dated May 6, 2006 among Panex Resources Inc., Goldplata Corporation Limited, Goldplata Resources Inc, and Goldplata Resources, Sucursal-Columbia, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on May 25, 2006 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.3 Letter Agreement dated June 15, 2006 between Panex Resources Inc. and Emco Corporation, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on June 29, 2006 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.4 Share Sale Agreement dated July 10, 2006, between Panex Resources Inc. and Emco Corporation Inc. S.A., filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on July 17, 2006, and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.5 Heads of Agreement dated July 26, 2007 among Panex Resources Inc., Goldplata Resources Peru S.A.C., Goldplata Resources Inc., Goldplata Resources Sucursal-Colombia, Goldplata Corporation Limited, and Goldplata Mining International Corporation, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 10-K (Annual Report) filed on July 28, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.6 Letter Agreement dated December 6, 2007 among Panex Resources Inc., Emco Corporation Inc. S.A. and Minanca Minera Nanguipa, Compania Anonima, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 10-K (Annual Report) filed on July 28, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.7 Deed dated January 11, 2008 among Panex Resources Inc., Windy Knob Resources Limited, Goldplata Mining International Corporation, Goldplata Resources Inc., and Goldplata Resources Sucursal-Colombia, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 10-K (Annual Report) filed on July 28, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 10.8 Share Purchase Agreement dated December 7, 2013 between Panex Resources Inc. and Amani Consulting SPRL, filed as a subsequent event note to Panex's Form 8-K (Current Report) filed on December 23, 2013 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 14.1 Financial Code of Ethics filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form SB-2 (Registration Statement) filed on December 12, 2005 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 31.1 Certification pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 from chief executive officer. Included 31.2 Certification pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 from chief financial officer. Included 32 Certification pursuant to 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Included 99.1 Disclosure Committee Charter, filed as an Exhibit to Panex's Form 10-K (Annual Report) filed on July 28, 2009 and incorporated herein by reference. Filed 101 * Financial statements from the quarterly reports on Form 10-Q of Panex Resources Inc. for the quarter ended May 31, 2013, 2012 and beyond are formatted in XBRL: (ii) the Balance Sheets, (ii) the Statements of Operations; (iii) the Statements of Cash Flows, and (iv) the Statements of Stockholders' Equity (Deficit). Included ______________________ * In accordance with Rule 406T of Regulation S-T, the XBRL ("eXtensible Business Reporting Language") related information is furnished and not filed or part of a registration statement or prospectus for purposes of Sections 11 or 12 of the Securities Act of 1933, is deemed not filed for purposes of Section 18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and otherwise is not subject to liability under these sections. 18 SIGNATURES In accordance with the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Panex Resources Inc. has caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned duly authorized persons. PANEX RESOURCES INC. Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Mark Gasson Name: Mark Gasson Title: President and CEO Principal Executive Officer Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Ross Doyle Name: Ross Doyle Title: CFO Principal Financial Officer 19 EXHIBIT 31.1 PANEX RESOURCES INC. CERTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 CERTIFICATION I, Mark Gasson, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the reporting period of Panex Resources Inc.; 2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; 3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; 4. I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have: a. Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; b. Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; c. Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and, d. Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and 5. I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): a. All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and b. Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting. Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Mark Gasson Mark Gasson Chief Executive Officer EXHIBIT 31.2 PANEX RESOURCES INC. CERTIFICATIONS PURSUANT TO SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 CERTIFICATION I, Ross Doyle, certify that: 1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the reporting period of Panex Resources Inc.; 2. Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this report; 3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report; 4. I am responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) for the registrant and have: a. Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those entities, particularly during the period in which this report is being prepared; b. Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles; c. Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and, d. Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and 5. I have disclosed, based on my most recent evaluation of internal control over financial reporting, to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of the registrant's board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions): a. All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's ability to record, process, summarize and report financial information; and b. Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control over financial reporting. Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Ross Doyle Ross Doyle Chief Financial Officer EXHIBIT 32.1 CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 In connection with the Quarterly Report of Panex Resources Inc. (the "Company") on Form 10-Q for the reporting period as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the "Report"), I, Mark Gasson, President, Chief Executive Officer of the Company and a member of the Board of Directors, certify, pursuant to s.906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that: 1. The Report fully complies with the requirements of section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and 2. The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company. Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Mark Gasson Mark Gasson Chief Executive Officer EXHIBIT 32.2 CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO 18 U.S.C. SECTION 1350, AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO SECTION 906 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002 In connection with the Quarterly Report of Panex Resources Inc. (the "Company") on Form 10-Q for the reporting period as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the date hereof (the "Report"), I, Ross Doyle, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Corporate Secretary of the Company, certify, pursuant to s.906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, that: 1. The Report fully complies with the requirements of section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934; and 2. The information contained in the Report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company. Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Ross Doyle Ross Doyle Chief Financial Officer v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 v3.3.1.900 Organization, Nature of Business, Going Concern and Management's Plans 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 1. Organization, Nature of Business, Going Concern and Management's Plans Panex Resources Inc. ('Panex" or the "Company") was incorporated in the State of Nevada on May 28, 2004. The Company is considered to be an Exploration Stage Company. The Company's principal business is the acquisition and exploration of mineral resources. Going concern and management's plans: The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. Since its inception on May 28, 2004, the Company has not generated revenue and has incurred net losses. The Company incurred a net income of $90,163 for the six months ended February 29, 2016, and a deficit accumulated during the exploration stage of $13,808,150 for the period May 28, 2004 (inception) through February 29, 2016. Accordingly, it has not generated cash flow from operations and has primarily relied upon advances from shareholders and proceeds from equity financings to fund its operations. These conditions raise substantial doubt about the Company's ability to continue as a going concern. The Company on July 15, 2015, through the wholly owned subsidiary corporation, Panex Resources WA Pty Ltd. (ACN 607 016 491), entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement with Lazaraus Resources Pty Ltd. The Company purchased Lazaraus Resources' assets, rights and interests to the Exploration License E80/4675 located approximately 85km SW of Halls Creek in the Kimberley Mineral Field of Western Australia and all data reports and technical information related to E80/4675 including copies of all regulatory reporting; metadata files and databases. The purchase price was approximately US$2,200.00. As described in Note 2c the Company also has investments in two mining companies. The financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts or classification of liabilities that may result from the possible inability of the Company to continue as a going concern. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for organization, consolidation and basis of presentation of financial statements disclosure. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 915 -SubTopic 235 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6472506&loc=d3e38932-110933 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 10 -Section 45 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=35735333&loc=d3e288-107754 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18780-107790 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 272 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6373374&loc=d3e70478-108055 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 810 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=18733093&loc=d3e5614-111684 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 205 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6359566&loc=d3e326-107755 + Details Name: us-gaap_OrganizationConsolidationAndPresentationOfFinancialStatementsDisclosureTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 2. Summary of Significant Accounting Policies a. Basis of Preparation These financial statements and related notes are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (US GAAP). The Company's fiscal year-end is August 31. b. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. c. Basic and Diluted Net Income (Loss) Per Share Earnings (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the reporting period including common stock issued effective the date committed. Common stock issuable is considered outstanding as of the original approval date for the purposes of earnings per share computations. Diluted earnings (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net earnings (loss) by the sum of (a) the basic weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period and (b) additional shares that would have been issued and potentially dilutive securities. During the reporting periods the diluted earnings (loss) per share was equivalent to the basic earnings (loss) per share because all potentially dilutive securities were anti-dilutive due to the net losses incurred. Potentially dilutive securities consist of stock options outstanding at the end of the reporting period. d. Cash Cash includes deposits in banks, which are unrestricted as to withdrawal or use. e. Investments in Securities The Company determines the appropriate classification of its investments in debt and equity securities at the time of purchase and reevaluates such determinations at each balance sheet date. Marketable securities that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are classified as trading securities and are reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses are recognized in earnings. At February 29, 2016 investments consist of 20,000,000 shares and 40,000,000 options (August 31, 2015, nil shares) of Burey Gold Ltd., an Australian listed entity, which were acquired in October 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. At February 29, 2016, investments consist of 1,000,000 shares in NSS Resources Inc, a Canadian listed entity which were acquired in May 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. Unrealized gains (losses) for the six months ended February 29, 2016 were approximately $228,401. f. Mineral Property and Exploration Costs The Company has been in the exploration stage since its formation on May 28, 2004 and has not realized any revenues from its planned operations. It has been primarily engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mining properties. Mineral property acquisition and exploration costs are expensed as incurred. When it has been determined that a mineral property can be economically developed as a result of establishing proven and probable reserves, the costs incurred to develop such property are capitalized. Such costs will be amortized using the units-of-production method over the estimated life of the probable reserve. If mineral properties are subsequently abandoned or impaired, any capitalized costs will be charged to operations. g. Fair Value Measurements Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date in the principal or most advantageous market. The Company uses a fair value hierarchy that has three levels of inputs, both observable and unobservable, with use of the lowest possible level of input to determine fair value. Level 1 - quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2 - observable inputs other than Level 1, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active, and model-derived prices whose inputs are observable or whose significant value drivers are observable; and Level 3 - assets and liabilities whose significant value drivers are unobservable. The Company's investments are classified as Level 1 and there are no Level 2 or 3 assets or liabilities. Observable inputs are based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs are based on the Company's market assumptions. Unobservable inputs require significant management judgment or estimation. In some cases, the inputs used to measure an asset or liability may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is required to be classified using the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Such determination requires significant management judgment. Financial instruments, which include cash, accounts payable, and loans and borrowings, were estimated to approximate their carrying values due to the immediate or short-term maturity of these financial instruments. The fair value of amounts due to related parties are not practical to estimate, due to the related party nature of the underlying transactions. The financial risk to the Company's operations arises from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and the degree of volatility of these rates. Currently, the Company does not use derivative instruments to reduce its exposure to foreign currency risk. h. Income Taxes The Company recognizes deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their tax bases, as well as net operating losses. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets or liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the period in which the tax change occurs. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce the deferred tax assets to a level, that more likely than not, will be realized. Management does not believe that the Company has any unrecognized tax positions. The Company's policy is to recognize interest and penalties accrued on any unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense. i. Stock-Based Compensation The Company accounts for share-based payments under the fair value method of accounting for stock-based compensation consistent with US GAAP. Under the fair value method, stock-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the fair value of the award using the Black-Sholes option pricing model and is recognized to expense on a straight-line basis over the requisite service period, which is generally the vesting period. Where upon grant the options vest immediately the stock-based costs are expensed immediately. During the current period, there are no options outstanding. j. Foreign Currency Translation and Transactions The Company's functional and reporting currency is the United States dollar. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated into the United States dollar using the exchange rate prevailing at the balance sheet date. Gains and losses arising on settlement of foreign currency denominated transactions or balances are included in the determination of income. k. Concentration of Credit Risk The Company's financial instruments that are exposed to concentration of credit risk consist of cash. The Company's cash is in demand deposit accounts placed with federally insured financial institutions in Canada. l. Interim Financial Statements In the opinion of management, the accompanying unaudited condensed financial statements contain all adjustments which include only normal recurring adjustments, necessary to present fairly the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods shown. The results of operations for such periods are not necessarily indicative of the results expected for a full year or for any future period. m. Recent Accounting Pronouncements In May 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-09 "Revenue from Contracts from Customers," which supersedes the revenue recognition requirements in "Revenue Recognition (Topic 605)," and requires entities to recognize revenue in a way that depicts the transfer of potential goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled to the exchange for those goods or services. In July 2015, the FASB delayed the effective date by one year. This new standard is now effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within those years, beginning after December 15, 2017, and is to be applied retrospectively, with early adoption now permitted to the original effective date of December 15, 2016. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its operations and financial statements. In August 2014, FASB issued ASU No. 2014-15 "Presentation of Financial Statements Going Concern (Subtopic 205-40)": Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity's Ability to Continue as a Going Concern. The amendments in ASU 2014-15 provide guidance in GAAP about management's responsibility to evaluate whether there is substantial doubt about an entity's ability to continue as a going concern and to provide related footnote disclosures. In doing so, the amendments should reduce diversity in the timing and content of footnote disclosures. The new requirements are effective for annual periods ending after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016. Early application is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statement disclosures. In April 2015, FASB issued ASU No. 2015-03 "Update No. 2015-03InterestImputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30): Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs". To simplify presentation of debt issuance costs, the amendments in ASU 2015-03 require that debt issuance costs related to a recognized debt liability be presented in the balance sheet as a direct deduction from the carrying amount of that debt liability, consistent with debt discounts. The recognition and measurement guidance for debt issuance costs are not affected by the amendments in this Update. The amendments in this Update are effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, and interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption of the amendments in ASU 2015-03 is permitted for financial statements that have not been previously issued. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard and assessing the potential impact on its financial statements and operations. In September 2015, FASB issued ASU No.2015-16 "Business Combinations (Topic 805): Simplifying the Accounting for Measurement-Period Adjustments". The amendments in ASU 2015-16 require that an acquirer recognize adjustments to provisional amounts that are identified during the measurement period in the reporting period in which the adjustment amounts are determined. The amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2015, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The amendments should be applied prospectively to adjustments to provisional amounts that occur after the effective date of this Update with earlier application permitted for financial statements that have not been issued. The Company assessed that there is no impact to the financial statements on this update. In November 2015, the FASB issued ASU 2015-17, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Balance Sheet Classification of Deferred Taxes. The amendments in ASU 2015-17 eliminate the current requirement for entities to present deferred tax liabilities and assets as current and noncurrent in a classified balance sheet. Instead, entities will be required to classify all deferred tax assets and liabilities as noncurrent. The amendments in this ASU are effective for financial statements issued for annual periods beginning after December 15, 2016, and interim periods within those annual periods. The amendments may be applied prospectively to all deferred tax liabilities and assets or retrospectively to all periods presented. The Company is currently evaluating the new standard. The adoption of this standard will not have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements as its net deferred tax assets are fully allowed for. Management has evaluated any recently issued accounting pronouncements to determine their applicability and does not believe that any of these pronouncements will have a significant impact on the Company's financial statements. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for all significant accounting policies of the reporting entity. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18861-107790 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18780-107790 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18726-107790 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18743-107790 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6367646&loc=d3e18854-107790 + Details Name: us-gaap_SignificantAccountingPoliciesTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Stock Options 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 3. Stock Options In August 2012, the Company's Board of Directors approved the issuance of stock options as an incentive to obtain services of key employees, directors and consultants of the Company. For the periods presented there were no stock options outstanding. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for accounts comprising shareholders' equity, comprised of portions attributable to the parent entity and noncontrolling interest, including other comprehensive income, and compensation-related costs for equity-based compensation. Includes, but is not limited to, disclosure of policies, compensation plan details, equity-based arrangements to obtain goods and services, deferred compensation arrangements, and employee stock purchase plan details. + References No definition available. + Details Name: us-gaap_ShareholdersEquityAndShareBasedPaymentsTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Related Party Transactions 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 4. Related Party Transactions a. During May 2015 a consulting agreement was entered into with Mark Gasson and Ross Doyle for up to USD$15,000 and USD$10,000 per month respectively. Amounts will be charged on a need basis and it is not expected the full amount will be incurred. At end of the period there was an accrued liability of $27,500 payable to management. b. The Company incurred nil in total for management, exploration and contractor expenses during the six months ended February 29, 2016 (February 28, 2015: $125,711). This amount is a combination of exploration contracting services, the CEO, Non-Executive Director, Company Secretarial and CFO of the Company. Total management fees for Coresco are determined in relation to the level of services required and comprise office rental, infrastructure, investor meeting rooms, company secretarial services, CEO, CFO, Technical Services and Non Executive Director fees. As of February 29, 2016, the Company has an accrued liability of $Nil for these services due to this related party (February 29, 2016: $6,095). The contract with Coresco was terminated in May 2015. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for related party transactions. Examples of related party transactions include transactions between (a) a parent company and its subsidiary; (b) subsidiaries of a common parent; (c) and entity and its principal owners; and (d) affiliates. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39603-107864 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39622-107864 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39549-107864 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39678-107864 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 850 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6457730&loc=d3e39691-107864 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(k)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 04 -Paragraph b -Article 3A Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 08 -Paragraph k -Article 4 + Details Name: us-gaap_RelatedPartyTransactionsDisclosureTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Loans and Borrowings 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 5. Loans and Borrowings During July 2014, Coresco loaned the Company $44,000, with no specified interest or due date. The parties may agree to settle the borrowing through repayment or issuance of equity. In August 2014, the Company repaid $9,000 of the loan and $35,000 is outstanding at August 31, 2014. During the quarter ended 30 November 2014 the balance of $35,000 was repaid in full. There is no loans subsequent. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for information about short-term and long-term debt arrangements, which includes amounts of borrowings under each line of credit, note payable, commercial paper issue, bonds indenture, debenture issue, own-share lending arrangements and any other contractual agreement to repay funds, and about the underlying arrangements, rationale for a classification as long-term, including repayment terms, interest rates, collateral provided, restrictions on use of assets and activities, whether or not in compliance with debt covenants, and other matters important to users of the financial statements, such as the effects of refinancing and noncompliance with debt covenants. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21475-112644 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19,20,22) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 19, 20, 22 -Article 5 + Details Name: us-gaap_DebtDisclosureTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Material Contingencies and Commitments 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 6. Material Contingencies and Commitments Panex has no material contingencies or long-term commitments. While Panex has raised capital to meet its working capital and financing needs in the past, additional financing is required in order to fully complete its plan of operation. Panex is seeking financing in the form of equity. Panex currently has no commitments for financing. There are no assurances Panex will be completely successful in raising the funds required. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for commitments and contingencies. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 825 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 1 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6449706&loc=d3e16207-108621 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 460 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 8 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6398077&loc=d3e12565-110249 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 450 -SubTopic 20 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=25496072&loc=d3e14435-108349 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.25) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 440 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6394976&loc=d3e25287-109308 + Details Name: us-gaap_CommitmentsAndContingenciesDisclosureTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Stockholders' Equity 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 7. Stockholders' Equity Common Stock On November 5, 2014 the Company filed a Form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission permitting Panex to offer up to 500,000,000 shares of common stock at $0.001 per share. The offering was being conducted on a best effort basis and there will be no underwriter involved in the public offering. The registration has been declared effective on February 3, 2016. During August 2015, the Company entered into some share repurchase agreements for a total of 318,000,000 shares for USD$189,905. The Company repurchased a further ten million shares in October 2015. During June 2015, the Company entered into debt settlement agreements with creditors in consideration for the issuance of the Company's common stock, par value $0.001, at a per share price of $0.001 per share. As a result, the Company extinguished certain liabilities with creditors via debt settlement agreements for a total of $55,000, for a total of 27,500,000 shares at a price of $0.001 per share. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for shareholders' equity comprised of portions attributable to the parent entity and noncontrolling interest, including other comprehensive income. Includes, but is not limited to, balances of common stock, preferred stock, additional paid-in capital, other capital and retained earnings, accumulated balance for each classification of other comprehensive income and amount of comprehensive income. + References Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 235 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.4-08.(d),(e)) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26873400&loc=d3e23780-122690 Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 4 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21484-112644 Reference 3: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 310 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 2 -Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 4.E) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27010918&loc=d3e74512-122707 Reference 4: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 5 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21488-112644 Reference 5: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 210 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.29-31) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6877327&loc=d3e13212-122682 Reference 6: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 4 -Subparagraph (SAB TOPIC 4.C) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187143-122770 Reference 7: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 6 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21506-112644 Reference 8: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section S99 -Paragraph 1 -Subparagraph (SX 210.3-04) -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=27012166&loc=d3e187085-122770 Reference 9: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 30 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6405834&loc=d3e23285-112656 Reference 10: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 3 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21475-112644 Reference 11: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Glossary Preferred Stock -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6521494 Reference 12: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 2 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21463-112644 Reference 13: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher FASB -Name Accounting Standards Codification -Topic 505 -SubTopic 10 -Section 50 -Paragraph 11 -URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6928386&loc=d3e21564-112644 Reference 14: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 08 -Paragraph d -Article 4 Reference 15: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 02 -Paragraph 29, 30, 31 -Article 5 Reference 16: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) -Number Topic 4 -Section E Reference 17: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 08 -Article 4 Reference 18: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) -Number Topic 4 -Section C Reference 19: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef -Publisher SEC -Name Regulation S-X (SX) -Number 210 -Section 04 -Article 3 + Details Name: us-gaap_StockholdersEquityNoteDisclosureTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Subsequent Events 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Notes to Financial Statements Note 8. Subsequent Events Other than as disclosed in the financial statements there are no subsequent events to report at lodgement date. X - References No definition available. + Details Name: panex_NotesToFinancialStatementsAbstract Namespace Prefix: panex_ Data Type: xbrli:stringItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration X - Definition The entire disclosure for significant events or transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date through the date the financial statements were issued or the date the financial statements were available to be issued. Examples include: the sale of a capital stock issue, purchase of a business, settlement of litigation, catastrophic loss, significant foreign exchange rate changes, loans to insiders or affiliates, and transactions not in the ordinary course of business. + References No definition available. + Details Name: us-gaap_SubsequentEventsTextBlock Namespace Prefix: us-gaap_ Data Type: nonnum:textBlockItemType Balance Type: na Period Type: duration v3.3.1.900 Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies) 6 Months Ended Feb. 29, 2016 Summary Of Significant Accounting Policies Policies Basis of Preparation These financial statements and related notes are presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (US GAAP). The Company's fiscal year-end is August 31. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with US GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Basic and Diluted Net Income (Loss) Per Share Earnings (loss) per share is computed by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during the reporting period including common stock issued effective the date committed. Common stock issuable is considered outstanding as of the original approval date for the purposes of earnings per share computations. Diluted earnings (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net earnings (loss) by the sum of (a) the basic weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period and (b) additional shares that would have been issued and potentially dilutive securities. During the reporting periods the diluted earnings (loss) per share was equivalent to the basic earnings (loss) per share because all potentially dilutive securities were anti-dilutive due to the net losses incurred. Potentially dilutive securities consist of stock options outstanding at the end of the reporting period. Cash Cash includes deposits in banks, which are unrestricted as to withdrawal or use. Investments in Securities The Company determines the appropriate classification of its investments in debt and equity securities at the time of purchase and reevaluates such determinations at each balance sheet date. Marketable securities that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are classified as trading securities and are reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses are recognized in earnings. At February 29, 2016 investments consist of 20,000,000 shares and 40,000,000 options (August 31, 2015, nil shares) of Burey Gold Ltd., an Australian listed entity, which were acquired in October 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. At February 29, 2016, investments consist of 1,000,000 shares in NSS Resources Inc, a Canadian listed entity which were acquired in May 2015 and are accounted for as trading securities. Unrealized gains (losses) for the six months ended February 29, 2016 were approximately $228,401. Mineral Property and Exploration Costs The Company has been in the exploration stage since its formation on May 28, 2004 and has not realized any revenues from its planned operations. It has been primarily engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mining properties. Mineral property acquisition and exploration costs are expensed as incurred. When it has been determined that a mineral property can be economically developed as a result of establishing proven and probable reserves, the costs incurred to develop such property are capitalized. Such costs will be amortized using the units-of-production method over the estimated life of the probable reserve. If mineral properties are subsequently abandoned or impaired, any capitalized costs will be charged to operations. Fair Value Measurements Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date in the principal or most advantageous market. The Company uses a fair value hierarchy that has three levels of inputs, both observable and unobservable, with use of the lowest possible level of input to determine fair value. Level 1 - quoted prices (unadjusted) in active markets for identical assets or liabilities; Level 2 - observable inputs other than Level 1, quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active, and model-derived prices whose inputs are observable or whose significant value drivers are observable; and Level 3 - assets and liabilities whose significant value drivers are unobservable. The Company's investments are classified as Level 1 and there are no Level 2 or 3 assets or liabilities. Observable inputs are based on market data obtained from independent sources, while unobservable inputs are based on the Company's market assumptions. Unobservable inputs require significant management judgment or estimation. In some cases, the inputs used to measure an asset or liability may fall into different levels of the fair value hierarchy. In those instances, the fair value measurement is required to be classified using the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. Such determination requires significant management judgment. Financial instruments, which include cash, accounts payable, and loans and borrowings, were estimated to approximate their carrying values due to the immediate or short-term maturity of these financial instruments. The fair value of amounts due to related parties are not practical to estimate, due to the related party nature of the underlying transactions. The financial risk to the Company's operations arises from fluctuations in foreign exchange rates and the degree of volatility of these rates. Currently, the Company does not use derivative instruments to reduce its exposure to foreign currency risk. Income Taxes The Company recognizes deferred tax assets and liabilities for the future tax consequences attributable to differences between the financial statement carrying amounts of existing assets and liabilities and their tax bases, as well as net operating losses. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are measured using enacted tax rates expected to apply to taxable income in the years in which those temporary differences are expected to be recovered or settled. The effect on deferred tax assets or liabilities of a change in tax rates is recognized in the period in which the tax change occurs. A valuation allowance is provided to reduce the deferred tax assets to a level, that more likely than not, will be realized. Management does not believe that the Company has any unrecognized tax positions. The Company's policy is to recognize interest and penalties accrued on any unrecognized tax benefits as a component of income tax expense. Stock-Based Compensation The Company accounts for share-ba UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 6-K REPORT OF FOREIGN PRIVATE ISSUER PURSUANT TO RULE 13a-16 OR 15d-16 UNDER THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the month of April 2016 Commission File Number: 0-55139 QUATERRA RESOURCES INC. (Translation of registrant's name into English) 1100-1199 West Hastings Street Vancouver, BC V6E 3T5 Canada (Address of principal executive offices) Indicate by check mark whether the registrant files or will file annual reports under cover Form 20-F or Form 40-F. [ x ] Form 20-F [ ] Form 40-F Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(1): [ ] Indicate by check mark if the registrant is submitting the Form 6-K in paper as permitted by Regulation S-T Rule 101(b)(7): [ ] SUBMITTED HEREWITH Exhibits SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. QUATERRA RESOURCES INC. (Registrant) Date: April 6, 2016 By: /s/ Scott B. Hean Scott B. Hean Title: Chief Financial Officer April 6, 2016 QTRRF: OTCQX International QTA: TSX VENTURE NR-03-16 Quaterra Releases Results of Fourth Drill Hole at Bear Copper Deposit, Yerington, Nevada VANCOUVER, B.C. Quaterra Resources Inc. (Quaterra or the Company) and its subsidiary Singatse Peak Services LLC (SPS) today announced results from Hole B-051, the fourth core hole of a drill program to explore and further define the Bear deposit, a large porphyry copper system on the Companys 52-square mile property in the historic Yerington Copper District of Nevada. The drill program is being funded with option payments to SPS by Freeport-McMoRan Nevada LLC (Freeport Nevada). Highlights Hole B-051, drilled vertically to a depth of 3,878 feet, intercepted 1,483.3 feet (452.1 meters) of 0.26% copper beginning at a depth of 2,191.2 feet. Included within this interval is 1,213.8 feet (370.0 meters) of 0.30% copper starting at 2,191.2 feet. Several narrower intervals shown in the table contain > 0.40% copper with anomalous gold and molybdenum. Hole B-051 is a significant step-out. The nearest holes are B-049, approximately 1,150 feet to the west and historic hole B-22, about 1,300 feet to the southwest. Table 1. Significant intercepts from Bear core hole B-051* HOLE B- 051 From To Interval Interval % ppm ppm ppm feet feet feet meters Cu Mo Au Ag includes includes includes includes 2191.2 2191.2 2298.0 2416.5 3253.0 3674.5 3405.0 2602.4 2558.0 3278.0 1483.3 1213.8 304.4 141.5 25.0 452.1 370.0 92.8 43.1 7.6 0.26 0.30 0.42 0.46 0.43 54 61 55 39 182 0.021 0.025 0.032 0.041 0.120 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 <0.5 *Drill intercepts are based on actual core lengths and may not reflect the true width of mineralization. Note: 1 ppm = 1 gram per tonne Discussion Hole B-051, collared 1,150 feet east of Hole B-049, is the fourth hole of an exploration program designed to corroborate historic assay results, determine geologic controls for higher grade mineralization and attempt to extend higher grade mineralization to the north. The thickness of the mineralized intercept in B-051 is larger than those in the three previously announced holes of the current drilling program. Bornite also is more common than in previous SPS holes, occurring with chalcopyrite and molybdenite in quartz-sulfide veins, veinlet swarms and stockworks. The quartz-sulfide veins appear to correlate with higher gold and molybdenum values found in B-051 compared to the three previous drill holes. The interval 3,253 to 3278 feet averaged 0.43% copper, 182 ppm molybdenum and 0.12 ppm gold over 25 feet; the interval 2,218 to 2,241.9 feet averaged 445 ppm molybdenum over 23.9 feet. Each of the three step-out holes drilled during the current program (B-049, B-050 and B-051) have intersected significant copper mineralization, which remains open to the north, northeast and northwest. Hole B-051 was collared more than 1,000 feet from the nearest drill hole. The thick interval of copper mineralization, together with quartz-sulfide veins carrying increased amounts of bornite, molybdenum and gold, highlights the potential adjacent to hole B-051, particularly to the north. Hole B-052, located 700 feet north-northeast of Hole B-051, is in progress. Hole locations are shown on a map available on Quaterras website at http://quaterra.com/projects/quaterras-yerington-copper-projects/bear-deposit/ . A video of the current drill-program at the Bear deposit is available for viewing on the Company website at http://quaterra.com/quaterra-video-2015-bear-drilling/ . Further results will be reported when available. For background on the Bear deposit, Quaterras Yerington project and the option agreement with Freeport Nevada please see the news release dated November 17, 2015, or visit the Company website at www.quaterra.com. Quality assurance and control Core samples were either sawed or split by SPS personnel in Yerington, Nevada, and shipped to Bureau Veritas Minerals NA Inspectorate America Corporation, an ISO certified assaying/geochemistry facility, in Reno, Nevada, for sample preparation. Gold analyses are assayed in Bureau Veritas lab in Reno using their FA430 procedure (fire assay with atomic absorption finish) with a 5 ppb Au detection limit. Prepared pulps are shipped to Bureau Veritas lab in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, for analysis using their MA 300 procedure for 35 element ICP-ES analysis. Commercially prepared standards and blanks are inserted by SPS at 50-foot intervals to insure precision of results as a quality control measure. SPS has a chain of custody program to ensure sample security during all stages of sample collection, cutting, shipping, and storage. Technical information in this news release has been approved by Thomas Patton, Ph.D., the President and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. About Quaterra Resources Inc. Quaterra Resources Inc. (TSX-V: QTA; OTCQX: QTRRF) is a copper exploration and development company with the primary objective to advance its U.S. subsidiarys copper projects in the Yerington District, Nevada. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Thomas Patton, President & CEO Quaterra Resources Inc. For more information please contact: Thomas Patton, President & CEO Quaterra Resources Inc. 604-641-2758 Disclosure note: Some statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements under Canadian securities laws and within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified in this news release by words such as believes, anticipates, intends, has the potential, "expects", and similar language, or convey estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives, potential outcomes, expectations, or goals. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. In particular, forward looking statements in this news release include or assume that the Company will receive all option payments over the next six months, that exploration results on the Bear deposit will define further mineralization, that historic exploration results will be confirmed by new exploration, that further drilling will extend the boundaries of the known high-grade mineralized area, and that drill results from the current drill program point to a large copper system. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. A summary of risk factors that apply to the Companys operations are included in our management discussion and analysis filings with securities regulatory authorities, and are publicly available on our website. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 8-K CURRENT REPORT Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): April 6, 2016 MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) DELAWARE 001-10362 88-0215232 (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation) (Commission file number) (I.R.S. employer identification no.) 3600 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas, Nevada 89109 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code) (702) 693-7120 (Registrants telephone number, including area code) Not Applicable (Former name or former address, if changed since last report.) Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions: Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) Item 8.01. Other Events. On April 6, 2016, MGM Resorts International (the Company) issued a press release pursuant to Rule 135c under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, announcing that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, MGP Escrow Issuer, LLC (to be merged with and into MGM Growth Properties Operating Partners LP upon the completion of certain formation transactions associated with MGM Growth Properties LLC) and MGP Co-Escrow Issuer, Inc., priced $1.05 billion in aggregate principal amount of senior notes in a private placement. A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1. Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits. (a) Not applicable. (b) Not applicable. (c) Not applicable. (d) Exhibits: Exhibit No. Description 99.1 Press Release SIGNATURE Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized. Date: April 6, 2016 MGM Resorts International By: /s/ Andrew Hagopian III Name: Andrew Hagopian III Title: Senior Vice President, Assistant General Counsel & Assistant Secretary INDEX TO EXHIBITS Exhibit No. Description 99.1 Press Release Exhibit 99.1 PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release MGM RESORTS INTERNATIONAL ANNOUNCES PRICING OF $1.05 BILLION SENIOR NOTES OFFERING BY MGP ESCROW ISSUER, LLC Las Vegas, Nevada, April 6, 2016 MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) (the Company) today announced that its indirect wholly-owned subsidiaries, MGP Escrow Issuer, LLC (the Issuer) and MGP Escrow Co-Issuer, Inc. (the Co-Issuer and, together with the Issuer, the Issuers), have priced $1.05 billion in aggregate principal amount of 5.625% senior notes due 2024 (the notes) in a private placement at par. The notes have been offered in connection with the formation of MGM Growth Properties LLC (MGP), a real estate investment trust that will be a subsidiary of the Company. Following the consummation of certain formation transactions, the Issuer will be merged with and into MGM Growth Properties Operating Partnership LP (the OP). The offering is expected to close on April 20, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions. The Issuers plan to use the net proceeds, together with the proceeds from other anticipated financings in connection with the formation transactions, to refinance indebtedness assumed by the OP from the Company in connection with the formation transactions, and to pay related fees and expenses. The notes proposed to be offered will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to any U.S. persons absent registration under the Securities Act, or pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The notes have been offered only to qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A of the Securities Act or, outside the United States, to persons other than U.S. persons in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the notes, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of any notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The Company gives no assurance that the proposed offering can be completed on any terms. * * * Statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements and safe harbor statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and/or uncertainties, including those described in the Companys public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company has based forward-looking statements on managements current expectations and assumptions and not on historical facts. Examples of these statements include, but are not limited to, the completion of the formation transactions associated with MGP and the related financing transactions, including the closing of the private placement. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward-looking statements include effects of economic conditions and market conditions in the markets in which the Company operates and competition with other destination travel locations throughout the United States and the world, the design, timing and costs of expansion projects, risks relating to international operations, permits, licenses, financings, approvals and other contingencies in connection with growth in new or existing jurisdictions and additional risks and uncertainties described in the Companys Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and Form 8-K reports (including all amendments to those reports). In providing forward-looking statements, the Company is not undertaking any duty or obligation to update these statements publicly as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. If the Company updates one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that it will make additional updates with respect to those other forward-looking statements. SOURCE MGM Resorts International SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549 SCHEDULE 13D (Rule 13d-101) INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN STATEMENTS FILED PURSUANT TO RULE 13d-1(a) AND AMENDMENTS THERETO FILED PURSUANT TO RULE 13d-2(a) LONG ISLAND ICED TEA CORP. (Name of Issuer) Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (Title of Class of Securities) 54267E 104 (CUSIP Number) Eric T. Schwartz Graubard Miller 405 Lexington Avenue, 11th Floor New York, New York 10174 (212) 818-8800 (Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and Communications) June 30, 2015 (Date of Event which Requires Filing of this Statement) If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of Rule 13d-1(e), 13d-1(f) or 13d-1(g), check the following box. Note: Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See Rule 13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent. * The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting person = s initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information that would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page. 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 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. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 2 of 9 Pages 1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NO. OF ABOVE PERSON (ENTITIES ONLY) Ivory Castle Limited 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) (b) 3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) WC, OO 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(d) OR 2(e) 6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION British Virgin Islands NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER 952,243 8 SHARED VOTING POWER 0 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 952,243 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 952,243 12 CHECK IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) 13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 19.5% 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) CO CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 3 of 9 Pages 1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NO. OF ABOVE PERSON (ENTITIES ONLY) The Heron Bay Trust 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) (b) 3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) AF 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(d) OR 2(e) 6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Hong Kong NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER 952,243 8 SHARED VOTING POWER 0 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 952,243 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 952,243 12 CHECK IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) 13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 19.5% 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) OO CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 4 of 9 Pages 1 NAMES OF REPORTING PERSONS I.R.S. IDENTIFICATION NO. OF ABOVE PERSON (ENTITIES ONLY) Vistra Asia Limited 2 CHECK THE APPROPRIATE BOX IF A MEMBER OF A GROUP (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) (a) (b) 3 SEC USE ONLY 4 SOURCE OF FUNDS (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) AF 5 CHECK IF DISCLOSURE OF LEGAL PROCEEDINGS IS REQUIRED PURSUANT TO ITEMS 2(d) OR 2(e) 6 CITIZENSHIP OR PLACE OF ORGANIZATION Hong Kong NUMBER OF SHARES BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON WITH 7 SOLE VOTING POWER 952,243 8 SHARED VOTING POWER 0 9 SOLE DISPOSITIVE POWER 952,243 10 SHARED DISPOSITIVE POWER 0 11 AGGREGATE AMOUNT BENEFICIALLY OWNED BY EACH REPORTING PERSON 952,243 12 CHECK IF THE AGGREGATE AMOUNT IN ROW (11) EXCLUDES CERTAIN SHARES (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) 13 PERCENT OF CLASS REPRESENTED BY AMOUNT IN ROW (11) 19.5% 14 TYPE OF REPORTING PERSON (SEE INSTRUCTIONS) CO CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 5 of 9 Pages This Schedule 13D is filed by Ivory Castle Limited ( Ivory Castle ), The Heron Bay Trust ( Heron Bay ) and Vistra Asia Limited ( Vistra Asia , and together with Ivory Castle, the Reporting Persons ) with respect to ownership of the common stock, par value $0.0001 per share ( Common Stock ), of Long Island Iced Tea Corp., a Delaware corporation (the Issuer ). The percentage of beneficial ownership reflected in this Schedule 13D is based upon 4,873,332 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of March 18, 2016 as reported in the Issuers Form 10-K for the period ending December 31, 2015. Item 1. Security and Issuer. The class of equity securities to which this Schedule 13D relates is the Common Stock of the Issuer. The Issuers principal executive offices are located at 116 Charlotte Avenue, Hicksville, NY 11801. Item 2. Identity and Background. Heron Bay is a private investor investing through Ivory Castle. Heron Bay owns Ivory Castle and Vistra Asia is the trustee of Heron Bay. Heron Bay is a trust formed under the laws of Hong Kong, Ivory Castle is a British Virgin Islands company and Vistra Asia is a Hong Kong company. There are no executive officers of Ivory Castle or Vistra Asia. The directors of Ivory Castle and Vistra Asia (the Principals ) are: Name Position and Principal Occupation Citizenship Michael Raymond Shue Director of Vistra Asia Hong Kong Zeehan Limited Director of Ivory Castle British Virgin Islands The business address of the Reporting Persons and the Principals is Suite 5501, 55th Floor, Central Plaza, 18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong. None of the Reporting Persons or Principals has, during the past five years, been convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors). None of the Reporting Persons or Principals has, during the past five years, been a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and as a result of such proceeding was or is subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws. Item 3. Sources of Funds. On May 27, 2015, upon the consummation the business combination (the Business Combination ) between the Issuer, Long Island Brand Beverages LLC ( LIBB ), and Cullen Agricultural Holding Corp. ( Cullen ), (i) Ivory Castle acquired 806,371 shares of Common Stock in exchange for the membership interests of LIBB held by it immediately prior to the Business Combination, and (ii) Gallo Holdings Limited ( Gallo Holdings ), an entity owned by Heron Bay, acquired 65,000 shares of Common Stock in exchange for shares of Cullen common stock held by it immediately prior to the Business Combination. The Issuer became registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, on May 29, 2015. The Business Combination is more fully described in the Current Report on Form 8-K filed by the Issuer on June 2, 2015. CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 6 of 9 Pages On June 30, 2015, Ivory Castle purchased 100,872 shares of Common Stock from the Issuer in a private placement at $4.00 per share (for an aggregate purchase price of $403,488). Ivory Castle paid for these shares through the cancellation of indebtedness owed to it by the Issuer. Ivory Castle used its working capital to finance the indebtedness. On September 30, 2015, Ivory Castle purchased 22,500 units from the Issuer in a private placement at $4.00 per unit (for an aggregate purchase price of $90,000). Each unit consisted of a share of Common Stock (for an aggregate of 22,500 shares) and a warrant (a Warrant ) to purchase one share of Common Stock (for an aggregate of 22,500 Warrants). The units were separable immediately upon issuance and were issued separately as shares of Common Stock and Warrants. The Warrants are described more fully in Item 6 of this Schedule 13D. Ivory Castle used its working capital to finance this purchase. On January 20, 2016, Gallo Holdings sold 65,000 shares of Common Stock to a third party in a private transaction at $6.50 per share (for an aggregate sale price of $422,500). Item 4. Purpose of Transaction. The Reporting Persons acquired beneficial ownership of the shares of Common Stock described in this Schedule 13D for investment purposes. The Reporting Persons and the Principals may from time to time acquire beneficial ownership of additional securities for investment purposes, or dispose of securities, in the open market or in private transactions, including upon exercise of the Warrants, which are currently exercisable. At the date of this Schedule 13D, none of the Reporting Persons or the Principals, except as set forth in this Schedule 13D, has any plans or proposals which would result in: (a) The acquisition by any person of additional securities of the Issuer, or the disposition of securities of the Issuer; (b) An extraordinary corporate transaction, such as a merger, reorganization or liquidation, involving the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 7 of 9 Pages (c) A sale or transfer of a material amount of assets of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries; (d) Any change in the present board of directors or management of the Issuer, including any plans or proposals to change the number or term of the board of directors or management of the Issuer; (e) Any material change in the present capitalization or dividend policy of the Issuer; (f) Any other material change in the Issuers business or corporate structure; (g) Changes in the Issuers charter, bylaws or instruments corresponding thereto or other actions which may impede the acquisition of control of the Issuer by any person; (h) Causing a class of securities of the Issuer to be delisted from a national securities exchange or to cease to be authorized to be quoted in an inter-dealer quotation system of a registered national securities association; (i) A class of equity securities of the Issuer becoming eligible for termination of registration pursuant to Section 12(g)(4) of the Act; or (j) Any action similar to any of those actions enumerated above. Item 5. Interest in Securities of the Issuer. Ivory Castle is the beneficial owner of 952,243 shares of Common Stock, representing 19.5% of the Issuers outstanding Common Stock. This amount includes 929,743 shares of Common Stock held directly and 22,500 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants. Heron Bay, as the owner of Ivory Castle, may be deemed to beneficially own the shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by Ivory Castle. Vistra Asia, as the trustee of Heron Bay, may be deemed to beneficially own the shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by Heron Bay. Ivory Castle, Heron Bay and Vistra Asia have sole voting and dispositive control over all such shares. In the past 60 days, Heron Bay and Ivory Castle effected the transactions described under Item 3 of this Schedule 13D and such transactions are incorporated by reference herein. Item 6. Contracts, Arrangements, Understandings or Relationships With Respect to Securities of the Issuer. The disclosure under Item 3 of this Schedule 13D is incorporated herein by reference. CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 8 of 9 Pages Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $6.00 per share, commencing immediately and expiring on September 17, 2018. The exercise price and number of shares of Common Stock issuable on exercise of the Warrants are subject to adjustment in the event of any stock split, stock combination, stock dividend or reclassification of Common Stock. In addition, in the event of a fundamental transaction, a holder of Warrants will be entitled to receive, at the holders option, the number of shares of common stock of the successor corporation and any additional consideration that the holder would have been entitled to receive if the Warrant had been exercised immediately prior to such fundamental transaction. The Issuer may call the Warrants for redemption, in whole and not in part, at a price of $0.01 per Warrant, if (i) the closing price per share of Common Stock is at least $10.00 for 30 consecutive trading days ending on the third business day prior to the notice of redemption or (ii) the Common Stock is listed for trading on a national securities exchange and the closing price per share of Common Stock on the first day of trading on such exchange is at least $7.50. The right to exercise will be forfeited unless the Warrants are exercised prior to the date specified in the notice of redemption. On and after the redemption date, a record holder of a Warrant will have no further rights except to receive the redemption price for such holders Warrant upon surrender of such Warrant. Pursuant to the subscription agreement entered into between the Issuer and each of the investors in the June Private Placement, the investors, including Ivory Castle, have certain piggyback registration rights covering the resale of the shares of Common Stock sold in the June Private Placement and the shares of Common Stock underlying the Warrants. Item 7. Material to be filed as Exhibits. 99.1 Joint Filing Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2016, by and among Ivory Castle Limited, The Heron Bay Trust and Vistra Asia Limited. 99.2 Form of Subscription Agreement (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.2 to the Issuers Quarterly Report on Form 10Q filed on November 13, 2015). 99.3 Form of Warrant (incorporated by reference from Exhibit 10.3 to the Issuers Quarterly Report on Form 10Q filed on November 13, 2015). CUSIP No. 54267E 104 SCHEDULE 13D Page 9 of 9 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. Dated April 6, 2016 IVORY CASTLE LIMITED By: /s/ Chiu Mei Yee Name: Zeehan Limited Title: Sole Director of Ivory Castle Limited THE HERON BAY TRUST By: /s/ Michale Raymond Shue and Chiu Wai Man Name: Vistra Asia Limited Title: as Trustee of The Heron Bay Trust VISTRA ASIA LIMITED By: /s/ Michale Raymond Shue and Chiu Wai Man Name: Michael Raymond Shue and Chiu Wai Man Title: as the Authorised Persons of Vistra Asia Limited Exhibit 99.1 JOINT FILING AGREEMENT AGREEMENT dated as of April 6, 2016, between Ivory Castle Limited, The Heron Bay Trust and Vistra Asia Limited (together, the Parties ). Each Party hereto represents to the other Party that it is eligible to use Schedule 13D to report its beneficial interest in shares of common stock, $.0001 par value per share, of Long Island Iced Tea Corp. (as amended or supplemented, the Schedule 13D ). Each of the Parties agrees to be responsible for the timely filing of the Schedule 13D and any and all amendments thereto, and for the completeness and accuracy of the information concerning itself contained in the Schedule 13D, and the other Party to the extent it knows or has reason to believe that any information about the other Party is inaccurate. The Parties agree that the Schedule 13D is filed on behalf of each of them. Dated: April 6, 2016 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). * The remainder of this cover page shall be filled out for a reporting persons initial filing on this form with respect to the subject class of securities, and for any subsequent amendment containing information which would alter disclosures provided in a prior cover page. Note : Schedules filed in paper format shall include a signed original and five copies of the schedule, including all exhibits. See 240.13d-7 for other parties to whom copies are to be sent. If the filing person has previously filed a statement on Schedule 13G to report the acquisition that is the subject of this Schedule 13D, and is filing this schedule because of 240.13d-1(e), 240.13d-1(f) or 240.13d-1(g), check the following box. o Introductory Statement This amendment No. 3 to Schedule 13D (this Amendment No. 3 ) hereby amends the Schedule 13D initially filed by Ali YK Investment Holding Limited ( Ali YK ), Alibaba Investment Limited ( AIL ), Alibaba Group Holding Limited ( AGHL , and together with Ali YK and AIL, the Alibaba Reporting Persons ), YF Venus Ltd ( YF Venus ), Yunfeng Fund II, L.P. ( Yunfeng Fund II ), Yunfeng Investment II, L.P. ( Yunfeng Investment II ), Yunfeng Investment GP II, Ltd. ( Yunfeng Investment GP II ) and Yu Feng (together with YF Venus, Yunfeng Fund II, Yunfeng Investment II, Yunfeng Investment GP II, the YF Reporting Persons ), on May 29, 2014 (the Original Filing ) relating to the Class A ordinary shares, par value US$0.00001 per share (the Class A Shares ) of Youku Tudou Inc., an exempted company with limited liability incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands (the Issuer ), as previously amended by Amendment No. 1 ( Amendment No. 1 ) to the Original Filing filed by the Alibaba Reporting Persons on October 16, 2015 and Amendment No. 2 ( Amendment No. 2 ) to the Original Filing filed by the Alibaba Reporting Persons and the YF Reporting Persons (collectively, the Reporting Persons ) on November 9, 2015. Prior to the effective time of the Merger, certain Class A Shares were represented by American Depositary Shares ( ADSs ) with each ADS having represented 18 Class A Shares. Information reported in the Original Filing, Amendment No. 1 and Amendment No. 2 with respect to each Reporting Person remains in effect except to the extent that it is amended or superseded by information contained in this Amendment No. 3. Capitalized terms used but not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Original Filing, as amended. Item 4. Purpose of Transaction Item 4 is hereby amended and supplemented by adding the following to the end thereof: On March 14, 2016, at 10:00 am (Hong Kong time), an extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the Issuer was held at 42nd Floor, Edinburgh Tower, The Landmark, 15 Queens Road, Central, Hong Kong. At the extraordinary general meeting, the shareholders of the Issuer authorized and approved the Merger Agreement, the Plan of Merger and the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement, including the Merger. On April 5, 2016, the Issuer and Ali YK Subsidiary filed the Plan of Merger with the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies, which was registered by the Cayman Islands Registrar of Companies as of April 5, 2016, pursuant to which the Merger became effective on April 5, 2016. As a result of the Merger, the Issuer became indirectly wholly owned by Ali YK. At the effective time of the Merger, (i) each Class A Share and Class B Share, including Class A Shares represented by ADSs, issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger, other than the Excluded Shares, was cancelled in exchange for the right to receive an amount in cash equal to one-eighteenth of the Per ADS Merger Consideration without interest and net of any applicable withholding taxes, and (ii) as each ADS represents 18 Ordinary Shares, each ADS issued and outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the Merger (other than ADSs that represent Excluded Shares) represents the right to surrender the ADS in exchange for the Per ADS Merger Consideration without interest (less a cancellation fee of US$5.00 per 100 ADSs (or any fraction thereof) pursuant to the terms of the deposit agreement, dated as of December 8, 2010, by and among the Issuer, the ADS depositary and the holders and beneficial owners of ADSs issued thereunder), and net of any applicable withholding taxes. The Issuer did not receive any notice of objection from any shareholder prior to the vote to approve the Merger, which is required for exercising any dissenter rights under Cayman Companies Law. The Excluded Shares and the ADSs representing the Excluded Shares were cancelled for no cash consideration as of the effective time of the Merger. Following the completion of the Merger, the Issuer will cease to have ADSs listed on any securities exchange or quotation system, including the NYSE after the filing of Form 25. In addition, ninety (90) days after the filing of Form 15 in connection with the completion of the Merger or such other period as may be determined by the SEC, registration of the ADSs under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, will be terminated. Violet McClintock with her parents Lisa and Jeff at the heart of the long running battle to overhaul Christianity in schools Those battling to have greater say in how religion is taught in New Zealand schools have had a minor win in court. "We got a small part of what we wanted," said Secular Education Network's (SEN) David Hines. Hines said the aim of Wednesday's hearing was to try bring further evidence into the year-long landmark case. The judge ruled SEN could bring Paul Morris, professor religious studies at Victoria University in as an expert witness. READ MORE: * Bible lessons lead to court * Religious and devout protest together outside High Court Hines said Morris had reviewed several schools religious education programmes and found "most of the lesson plans were so biased, it would not do any children any good to listen to it". Hines said he had not decided whether to use Morris however. The judge allowed only Morris. "They wouldn't give us the option to bring in other witnesses on different subjects," said Hines. He was hoping to bring in advocates for other religions and atheism as well. "We've been talking to buddhists, we've been talking to hindu, sikh, muslim, jewish and atheist representatives who say if there's going to be religious education, let's talk about it all and give kids a balanced view of all religions. SEN advocates for all religions being taught in schools, but not by "christian missionaries". "They (Bible classes) are bad news for anybody who is not a christian. They teach all our values come from Christianity, which annoys people. They teach you have to believe in God to be a good person...they don't mention Islam in any of their lessons," said Hines. The case started early last year when SEN member Jeff McClintock said his daughter, Violet, was placed in Bible lessons at Red Beach School without his permission. McClintock is taking his daughter's school and the attorney-general to court over the issue. The Ministry of Education states that the current rules around religious education is schools is that the New Zealand Curriculum and the Maori-medium equivalent Te Marautanga o Aotearoa allow for objective religious education where students can be taught about different religions in a neutral way. The Ministry said: "This often happens in the context of a subject area like social studies. It is up to schools to decide whether religious education is offered. Religious instruction is different from religious education in that it endorses a particular faith. Religious instruction is not part of the New Zealand Curriculum. "A school's board of trustees may offer religious instruction for students to participate in on a voluntary basis while the school is closed, in other words outside school hours. The board decides on the nature and content of this instruction in consultation with the community it serves." SEN says its ideal outcome would be to have all voluntary religious instruction changed to "opt in" from "opt out", so parents had to give permission for children to take part in the lessons. SEN also wanted the classes to be held before or after school, or during lunchtimes rather than during the school day. Chairman of NZ Post Sir Michael Cullen, left makes an announcement on the ownership of Kiwi Bank with chief executive Brian Roche. Troubled state-owned New Zealand Post is selling 45 per cent of Kiwibank, 25 per cent to the New Zealand Super Fund and 20 per cent to ACC. The deal values Kiwibank at $1.1 billion, NZ Post chairman Sir Michael Cullen said. Both entities are owned by the New Zealand government. If the sale goes ahead, NZ Post will receive $495 million for its stake. It is not clear what it would do with the money. There's no sale of Kiwibank outside Government ownership," Cullen said, adding that if there had been a sale into private ownership it would have "almost certainly led to a higher price". READ MORE: * Who wins in the Kiwibank sale? * NZ Post plans to cut another 500 jobs in bid to offset falling mail volumes * Union accuses NZ Post of systematically "running down" its letter business * NZ Post's volatile history - job cuts mirror axing in 1987 While there would be no fresh cash for Kiwibank, Cullen said money could be raised through later sales of shares to the investors. There was no "bottom line" below which NZ Post would go, raising the prospect of a complete sale. However, any shares put up by NZ Super or ACC would have to be sold back to the Crown. The two organisations will be required to hold their stakes in the bank for at least five years. DAVID UNWIN/FAIRFAX NZ NZ Post recently confirmed it's set to cut another 500 staff. The sale is expected to trigger a ratings downgrade from Standard & Poors. Currently depositors in Kiwibank have an explicit guarantee from NZ Post, however this will be lifted once the sale takes place. Cullen said there was no added risk to deposits - he personally was leaving all of his liquid assets in the bank.None of the Australian banks had the guarantee which is currently offered to Kiwibank depositors, meaning the lifting of the current arrangement would simply put the bank on the same level as other banks. NOT A DONE DEAL YET NZ Post is losing up to $30m a year thanks to its mail business, while Kiwibank is becoming increasingly profitable. Cullen said it was clear that NZ Post was unlikely to be able to put more money into Kiwibank, and that as the bank grew it may need fresh injections. It was possible that the added capital would come from NZ Post further selling down its stake. Finance Minister Bill English said the deal kept the bank in NZ ownership. "Kiwibank will remain 100 per cent government-owned - that is a bottom-line," Finance Minister Bill English said. "To ensure this occurs, the proposal includes a right of first refusal for the Government over any future sale of shares - which we would exercise." Cullen insisted it was "not a done deal yet". The indicative price was the "lowest level" at which the company would be comfortable selling its stake. If during due diligence the buyers attempted to push down the price, the deal could collapse. It was possible under the current legislation that NZ Post could sell the entire bank. However, the commitment of the Crown to buy back the shares if ACC or the super fund sold increased the guarantee. None of the proceeds of the sale would go to Kiwibank, with the cash used to pay a special dividend, reduce debt and increase its own capital. NZ Post reported a net profit after tax of $110 million for the six months December 31, up $10m on 2014. However, it has been fighting dwindling mail volumes for years, and revenue has fallen. Earlier this month it confirmed it was set to cut another 500 staff, mainly management and specialists from its headquarters as well as in Auckland and Christchurch. The cuts are expected to be completed by July. The volume of letters in New Zealand is still dropping by about 60 million a year, and is forecast to fall below 500 million. Cullen said he approached Prime Minister John Key about the possible sale in 2014 and had a formal approach from NZ Super about the investment in 2015. Key was willing to support the sale if it remained in Crown ownership. Cullen is due to stand down as the chair of NZ Post at the end of the month, but he understood he would be asked to stay on for another six months. *Comments have now closed on this story* Sign up to receive our new evening newsletter Two Minutes of Stuff - the news, but different Small company names can border on hyperbole, but Christchurch's Nationwide Taxis rings true, according to a parking ticket. Auckland Transport sent the Sockburn-based firm a $12 ticket for one of its taxis over-staying a parking limit in Auckland CBD's Princes St. According to the ticket, on February 23, the company's 2009 Ford Falcon was in Auckland at 10.30pm - then under 11 hours later it logged in for duty in Christchurch. Putting your faith in Auckland Transport's ticketing means the taxi achieved a Cannonball Run-worthy 93 kilometres an hour average speed, making short work of Cook Strait in the process. READ MORE: * How I got off a parking ticket * What's your excuse? * Crashed taxi ticketed Perhaps deft cab driver Chris Howard managed to stretch out the Falcon's gas tank, avoiding petrol pit stops and losing valuable driving minutes. Company owner Margaret Wilson chuckled about the ticket but was annoyed she now had to challenge it in court having been served a reminder notice. "I've got proof that [the taxi] didn't come from Auckland, the ticket was ticketed on February 23 at 10.37pm, that car logged on in Christchurch at quarter past nine in the morning - it's an impossibility." At first Wilson rolled her eyes at receiving another parking ticket in the mail, as the car's driver, Howard, was known for getting them. "When I first approached him he went on a tangent about constantly getting tickets but when I told him it was an Auckland ticket he just laughed." If Howard had carried passengers at the firm's normal $3.10 per kilometre fare, he would have raked-in a handsome $6000 from a return run, possibly enough to offset any speed camera tickets coming in the mail. "I like to give a good service, but going up to Auckland or going down to Christchurch is a bit ridiculous," Howard said. Auckland Transport media manager Mark Hannan said the ticketing officer made an error when entering the vehicle registration into his ticketing machine. The agency had cancelled the ticket and apologised for any inconvenience the ticket may have caused, he said. WHEELY FAST MOVIES: The silver screen, domestic and international, offers myriad movies about people driving some place fast. During New Zealand's Muldoon era, 1981's Goodbye Pork Pie gives authoritarianism a big tyre-squealing raspberry. 1985's Shaker Run seems to lack pork pie's social-political subtext but features some fancy Wellington waterfront set-piece action What car movie list is complete without Burt Reynolds' Cannonball Run? If anyone needs to take a defensive driving course it's the drivers in Ronin. A Taranaki woman is angry police did not charge a German tourist who crashed head-on into her car injuring her. A Taranaki woman feels she has been denied justice after a German tourist who injured her in a car crash escaped with only a fine. Treena Hutchins, of Okato, was hit head on by the tourist who was travelling on the wrong side of the road on Upper Pitone Rd, on December 9. "I was only doing 50kmh because I know the road and I know that there are a couple of bends that you do need to slow down for," she said. "I only had seconds to react and there was nothing that I could do." READ MORE * Road kill - Must something be done about foreign drivers? * French tourist charged with dangerous driving * French tourist sentenced for dangerous driving * Tourist's head-on torments driver Maria Tairawhiti * Foreign drivers involved in two serious crashes over Waitangi weekend Hutchins suffered a fractured sternum, burns to both arms from the airbag, as well as cuts to her arms and knee. Her daughter received bad bruising from her seatbelt. She was taken to Taranaki Base Hospital for treatment, while her car was written-off on the crash. Hutchins believed the police would have at least charged the driver with careless driving causing injury. However she was angry to discover the tourist had been let off with only a $150 fine. "I just don't see how they (police) have the right to take away what should have been decided in a court of law. "I feel pissed-off because they didn't enforce the laws that are in place." Hutchins said failing to charge the German was a double standard and had denied her justice. "Me and my daughter were both injured and we didn't get the opportunity to go to court and get the decision that everyone else is entitled to. "They didn't do their job and use the laws that are in place." Hutchins, who is still waiting for a copy of the accident report, has made a complaint to the Independent Police Conduct Authority. "I'm not prepared to just let it be blown under the carpet." Senior Sergeant Allan Whaley, Taranaki road policing manager, said he was reviewing the file and speaking to the officers involved to establish why they had made the decision not to charge the tourist. Whaley said he could not comment any further until he had spoken to all of the officers who attended. New Plymouth lawyer Julian Hannam said the decision not to charge the tourist was an obvious double standard and questioned whether justice had been done. "Had the tourist been a New Zealand citizen they would have faced a charge of careless driving causing injury at a minimum, received a conviction and loss of licence," Hannam said. "It is convenient for the tourist not to face a more serious charge and obviously it is also saves the police time and costs of prosecution. "Why should we be harder on our own citizens than foreign visitors?" He said a Kiwi travelling in most foreign countries would have been lucky to be treated so leniently and questioned what message the decision not to charge the woman sent to visitors to New Zealand. "Again the tourist is free to come back here again with no conviction and the attendant risk they could drive as badly on their next visit." Transport Minister Simon Bridges says a new Auckland-Manila air service will create the first non-stop link between New Zealand and the Philippines. Air New Zealand today announced a new year-round service from Auckland to Manilla three times a week, starting in December. New Zealand and the Philippines have a strong relationship with 40,000 Filipinos permanently residing here. This new Manila service is a reflection of the people to people and valuable trade and tourism links between our two countries, Mr Bridges says. Last year nearly 21,000 New Zealanders travelled to the Philippines and more than 19,000 Filipinos visited New Zealand so its clear theres growing demand for this service. Mr Bridges says its another example of the Governments International Air Transport Policy bringing benefits to New Zealand. Since the policy was implemented in 2012 more than 50 new or amended air agreements have been negotiated, bringing the total to 76. Most of the major airlines in the world are now able to operate services to New Zealand without restriction, with 18 new air routes announced in the past year alone. In December last year, Philippine Airlines began operating a service between Manila and Auckland, via Cairns, four times a week. Both this and Air New Zealands new service are a direct result of an enhanced air services arrangement the Government signed with the Philippines in 2014. Our success in negotiating Air Services Agreements is providing New Zealand access to a large wealth of benefits including tourism and trade. New Zealand is heavily reliant on its air links with other countries, and we will continue our efforts to grow and enhance these connections, Mr Bridges says. SOURCE: Office of Simon Bridges Basic training for new recruits is set to shift from Waiouru to Burnham in Christchurch. The move is to allow for soldiers and their families to have more opportunities around housing, job opportunities for your partners, and schooling/colleges for your children. If youve got a funny bone bigger than everyone elses and your jokes inspire chickens to cross the road en mass then the NZ International Comedy Festival has the competition for you. This year the festival is teaming up with power company Flick Electric Co. to deliver the Fresh as Flick competition which runs until April 11. The pioneers of personal technology are at it again. On March 21, 2016 Apple announced their new CareKit - a software designed to take senior care to the next level by empowering seniors to actively monitor their own medical condition via an iPhone app. What Does This Technology Do? The CareKit was designed to help put health back in the hands of the patient, explained the official release from Apple. It has four components that make up it's framework: The Care Card: This system allows users to track individual care plans reminding patients to do things like take their medicine or therapy sessions. The Symptom and Measurement Tracker: Simply put, this element allows users to record symptoms and feelings and progression of illness or recovery. These updates are tracked via surveys or even photos. The Insight Dashboard: This is a map comparing user's symptoms versus their care plan in the Care Card showing if and how treatments are working. Connect: Finally, the connect aspect of the software allows participants to share health information with doctors or caregivers. The Takeaway Elder care has slowly started to see improvements, but this service has really spearheaded the battle in addressing the technology gap that was relatively stagnant with innovation before recent years. More importantly however, this technology puts health in the hands of the individual changing the situation from reactive to active and potentially saving lives. Healthcare IT News attended the unveiling event and explained that the revelation wasn't just to improve medical research, but to enhance care as well. The University of Rochester is already using the technology for senior care to better monitor their patients suffering from Parkinson's Disease, reported the release. Ray Dorsey, MD, David M. Levy Professor of Neurology at the U of R Medical Center explained the significance of the mobile app when it comes to being able to run high-quality clinical studies for cheap. "We hope that CareKit will help us close the gap between our research findings and how we care for our Parkinson's patients day-to-day. It's opening up a whole new opportunity for the democratization of research and medicine," said Dorsey. Overall, the developers want to see this app benefiting not just patients of Parkinson's but also for post-surgery progress, home health monitoring, diabetes management, mental health and maternal health. Called Metiers dArt Elegance Sartoriale, the collection comprises five watches, each with a face clothed in a classic design from the world of mens fashion. The collection was officially unveiled at an exhibition in Paris at the end of March, and will be presented during European Artistic Craft Days, to be held in different European capitals over the coming months. The engravers and enamelers of Vacheron Constantin got their inspiration from five well known fine fabrics of Vitale Barberis Canonico collection: Herringbone, Prince of Wales, Tartan, Pinstripe and Windowpane. The collection will be on sale at the Vacheron Constantin boutiques from September 2016. Founded by Jean-Marc Vacheron in 1755, Vacheron Constantin has grown to become one of the worlds most famous luxury watch makers. TULSA, Okla. The Tulsa District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently returned their maintenance tow boat, Mr. Pat, to service, after receiving major refurbishment upgrades at Ensley Engineers Yard in Memphis, Tennessee. The four deck, 82 foot long vessel, facilitates the movement of a 150 foot barge, housing a crane used for major repairs of the five lock & dams on the Oklahoma side of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigations System. In Oklahoma, the MKARNS is managed and maintained by the Tulsa District. Refurbishment of Mr. Pat included two new engines boasting a combined 2,000 horsepower. Each engine drives a five and a half inch shaft, 20 feet long, which propels a five blade, 66 inch prop. The boat performs really well now that the horsepower has been increased. Before the boat was always in a struggle, it was in a struggle just pushing itself around, stated Capt. Kelly Youngblood. The new electronically controlled engines replace the old air control system and offer a greater degree of responsiveness. All engine diagnostics were upgraded to provide immediate data read-out, available for viewing on digital control panels. The tow can hold 24,000 gallons of diesel fuel for operations, and at the rate of 1,700 rpms, can consume up to 40 gallons of fuel an hour, per engine. However, at idle, the fuel consumption rate can be as low as 3 gallons an hour. Mr. Pats electrical systems are supported by two 105 kilowatt generators. One is used as a primary and one as a backup should the need arise. Youngblood and a crew of four can sleep on the boat which provides the crew access to three bathrooms, two showers and a full kitchen. Living amenities are supported with 2,500 gallons of fresh water divided amongst two 1,250 gallon water tanks. The only thing that stops us from working is a lot of wind and a lot of current, said Youngblood. In as recent as 2014, Oklahoma Department of Transportation reported that the Oklahoma portion of MKARNS supported waterborne commerce totaling 5.7 million tons of cargo with a value of $2.56 billion to the economy. Mr. Pat and crew are an integral part of maintenance operations along the Tulsa District portion of this economically important inland water way. The vessel is permanently housed out of the U.S. Coast Guard Marine Terminal, near the navigation project office in Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Youngblood and his crew aboard Mr. Pat not only support the five lock and dam systems in the Tulsa District from W.D. Mayo L&D 14, near Spiro, Oklahoma, to Newt Graham L&D 18, but also will dispatch to perform maintenance in other districts when needed. LANSING, N.Y. -- Firefighters responded to a blaze Wednesday morning at the Cayuga power plant in Tompkins County. Emergency responders rushed to the Cayuga Operating Company just before 10 a.m. after a fire broke out. The plant is located at 228 Cayuga Drive in Lansing on the shore of Cayuga Lake. Thick black smoke and flames were spotted from miles away at Cornell University's Baker Lab, a photograph taken by Jake Uebler shows. The Lansing Fire Department and the Ithaca Fire Department are on scene, reported Ithaca firefighters. The fire started inside one of the power plant's machine, dispatchers told the Ithaca Voice. Employees evacuated the building after the fire started, reported the Ithaca Journal. Firefighters told the Ithaca Journal the fire was under control around 11:30 a.m. IFD says the fire is under control. Fire's in a concrete stack. We expect an update from Lansing FD, in charge of scene. Kelsey O'Connor (@bykelseyoconnor) April 6, 2016 Anthony J. Vita-page-0_2.JPG Anthony Vita in a mugshot after Syracuse police arrested him in 2012 on a charge of heroin possession. (Syracuse Police Department) SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Two days before Anthony Vita sold a lethal dose of fentanyl-laced heroin to a pregnant woman in Camillus, he overdosed on heroin himself, according to a federal prosecutor. Vita was in a hotel room in DeWitt with his girlfriend Nov. 4 when he overdosed and she called 911, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman said. DeWitt police officers revived Vita with Narcan, Freedman said. Vita's accused of selling Morgan Axe seven bags of what she believed was heroin on Nov. 6. She died soon after injecting the drug, which turned out to be laced with the more powerful painkiller fentanyl, according to a federal drug investigator. Axe, 24, was five months pregnant. "He was far more fortunate than Miss Axe, because standing next to him was his girlfriend" when he overdosed, Freedman told U.S. Magistrate Judge David Peebles. "Two days later, he sold the same poison to poor Miss Axe." Vita sent Facebook messages to Axe in the hours after selling her the drugs. In his last message, he asked if she was all right. Unlike his girlfriend's response to his overdose, Vita didn't call 911 when he got no response, Freedman said. "He called no one," she said. "He did nothing." Vita, 36, of Syracuse, was in court today at a hearing for Peebles to determine whether to release him from jail pending the federal charges he's facing. Federal agents arrested Vita last month in Virginia Beach, Va., on a charge of causing Axe's death by selling her heroin and fentanyl. Freedman urged Peebles to keep Vita in jail because there are "other victims out there upon whom he will prey." Peebles found Vita was too much a danger to the community to be released. The judge cited Vita's previous arrests. In one, he was caught with 1,000 bags of heroin; in another, he had 90 bags, Freedman said. Peebles called those "distribution quantities" of the drug. Vita was "clearly responsible for distributing drugs into our community," the judge said. He called Vita a "raging drug addict," based on the evidence presented at the hearing. Freedman portrayed Vita as someone with a long history of drug arrests, and skipping court appearances on those arrests. She was trying to show that Vita was a risk of flight -- another reason he shouldn't be freed from jail. Drug Enforcement Administration agents stopped Vita on a pending bench warrant a week after Axe's death, but did not arrest him because they were still investigating, Freedman said. Soon after that, Vita and his girlfriend moved to Virginia Beach, Va., even though they had no jobs lined up there, Freedman said. Axe's mother, Deanna Axe, was in court for the hearing, holding a photo of Morgan. Vita's family was also in the courtroom. His parents, William and Robin Vita of Mattydale, testified at the hearing their son told them at Thanksgiving about moving to Virginia. "He said he was planning to start over," his father testified. "He said he was tired of the street-level life that he has." Vita has a teen-age daughter in Central New York and had never lived anywhere else before suddenly moving to Virginia, Freedman noted. Vita's lawyer, Randi Bianco, cited a similar case in recent years in which Peebles had released the defendant before trial. The judge found the circumstances were different enough in Vita's case that he could not release him. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 ROCHESTER, N.Y. - An Oswego County judge failed to follow the law when he didn't consider the totality of new evidence of Gary Thibodeau's innocence in the 1994 kidnapping of Heidi Allen in Oswego County, his lawyers argued in court papers. The judge also should've compared the new evidence to the evidence that resulted in Thibodeau's conviction in 1995, defense lawyers argued. Thibodeau's lawyer, Lisa Peebles, filed an 81-page request for the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court in Rochester to hear an appeal of acting Oswego County Court Judge Daniel King's decision. King last month denied Thibodeau's request to overturn his conviction and order a new trial. Thibodeau, 62, is serving 25 years to life in prison. His brother Richard was acquitted in a separate trial. Allen, 18, was kidnapped from her job at the D&W Convenience store on Easter morning 1994. She's presumed dead. Her body has never been found. Oswego County District Attorney Greg Oakes and Allen's sister contend Thibodeau was rightfully convicted. Oakes is expected to file papers opposing Peebles' request. The appeals court does not automatically take such cases, where a defendant is seeking a review of a lower court's decision not to overturn a verdict based on a claim of newly discovered evidence and withheld evidence. The court would first have to agree to hear the appeal. The Appellate Division upheld Thibodeau's conviction in 1999, saying it was based on overwhelming evidence. Thibodeau claims new evidence implicating three new possible suspects would likely have resulted in an acquittal if his jury had known about it 21 years ago. He also contends prosecutors withheld evidence that would've benefited him. At least 14 witnesses testified at a hearing last year that James Steen, Roger Breckenridge or Michael Bohrer made admissions to them about their involvement in the kidnapping or disposal of Allen's body. Each man denies any involvement in the kidnapping. None has been charged. King ruled that the new evidence was "too remote and disconnected to show that someone other than (Thibodeau) kidnapped Heidi Allen." But under the law, the judge should not have considered each witness and piece of evidence in isolation, Peebles wrote. And the law required him to compare the evidence to the proof that convicted Thibodeau, she wrote. Peebles cited case law that says a judge "must conduct a non-mechanical evaluation of the new evidence in its totality." King did not do that, she said. The law also required King to "assess the new evidence within the backdrop of the trial evidence," Peebles wrote. In his decision, King made no mention of comparing the newly discovered evidence to the evidence that convicted Thibodeau. "Quite obviously, the likely cumulative effect of new evidence at the trial can only be determined with an understanding of the trial evidence," Peebles wrote. "The County Court utterly failed in this regard." The key evidence that Thibodeau claims was withheld before his trial was that Allen was working as a confidential informant for Oswego County sheriff's deputies, and that her status as a CI was compromised in 1992. That's when a sheriff's deputy accidentally dropped Allen's index card and photo in the parking lot of the D&W. Thibodeau's lawyer, Joseph Fahey, asked about Allen working as a confidential informant before the 1995 trial, but was told she never did any work for the sheriff's office, Peebles said. He never received Allen's CI file, nor reports detailing the dropped index card and photo, Peebles wrote. If Fahey had known about that evidence, he would've been able to argue that, right after the kidnapping, sheriff's officials quickly shut down any lines of inquiry about Allen's work as a confidential informant, Peebles wrote. Sheriff's officials would've wanted that information hushed up "because they were at fault," Peebles wrote. "Not only did they compromise her safety by exposing this information to the public, they did nothing to remedy their error," she said. "They directed the investigation away from themselves and toward the Thibodeaus in an effort to conceal their own wrongdoing." King contradicted himself on the question of whether Allen had been a confidential informant, Peebles said. In a decision in November, the judge said "it has already been established at the hearing that Ms. Allen was a confidential informant." But in his decision last month, King called the claim that Allen was a CI "misleading and inaccurate." King never addressed what Peebles called "the impossibility" of a document with a date stamp of May 23, 1995, being included as an enclosure to a letter dated May 17, 1995, she wrote in her filing. The letter was from the prosecutor, Donald Dodd, to Fahey and Richard Thibodeau's lawyer, William Walsh. The date-stamped document revealed Allen's status as a confidential informant, along with a sheriff's deputy's report saying he'd found the CI file May 16, 1995, in the bulk storage area of the sheriff's office's garage. Fahey testified last year that he never received those documents before Thibodeau's trial. If he had, he would've used that information to show that people other than the Thibodeaus had a motive to harm Allen, Fahey testified. Contact John O'Brien anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-2187 Gary Thibodeau's Appeal Request Sarmeca Johnson SHARE By Elliott Jones of TCPalm FORT PIERCE A woman inflamed over a boyfriend's infidelities set a car afire as he walked around the neighborhood, according to a police arrest affidavit. Fire investigators, who found a bag of charcoal in the car's trunk, ruled the blaze arson. She blamed the fire on her married boyfriend, from Palm Bay, who was in relationships with even other women, according to the report. She said they argued and he poured gasoline on the car and ignited it, the report states. However, a witness across the street said when the fire started, only one person was by the car: a woman who appeared to the "encouraging" the flames, according to the affidavit. The man said he parked the car on Douglas Court, went for a walk and then returned to find the car on fire around 1 a.m. Monday. Police arrested Sarmeca Johnson, 37, of the 500 block of Douglas Court, on a charge of arson. She is in the St. Lucie County Jail in lieu of $35,000 bail. While she and the man were at the scene of the fire police heard her "yelling profanities at him and calling him names," the police report states. By Will Greenlee of TCPalm PORT ST. LUCIE The first time Drago sniffed out a suspect, his two-legged partner was amazed. "I can't believe this dog actually tracks like that," Port St. Lucie Officer Mitch Miller said. "Puts his nose down and finds people." Miller still was impressed eight years later when Drago caught someone for the last time. In between, Drago, a German shepherd from the Czech Republic, was deployed for police work about 2,000 times. The 10-year-old pooch died last week, a year after retiring from the job. Miller said the dog had a series of medical issues, and his heart just gave out. "He served the community and he loved doing it," Miller said. "We've brought back kids that were missing (when) the parents were distraught and distressed." Port St. Lucie police now have six dogs, four of which specialize in narcotics detection. One specializes in bomb detection and the sixth is a search bloodhound. Miller said he got selected in 2007 for the agency's canine unit, and that Drago and two other dogs came from a vendor in Miami. Officer Mike Colton, who has been involved with law enforcement dogs for almost two decades, is the police canine unit's head trainer. He looks for a match between handler and dog. "Mitch is no little fellow, and I know he wanted kind of a big dog," Colton said. "Drago was a pretty good-sized dog even as a puppy and had all the attributes we were looking for." MORE | Meet Indian River County's K-9 deputies Miller said Drago weighed slightly more than 100 pounds, and Colton said Drago was the largest at the department by 20 to 25 pounds. "Gentle giant when he needed to be, but a very formidable police service dog when he needed to be," Colton said. Miller and Drago hit the streets of Port St. Lucie in mid 2007 after hundreds of hours of training in obedience, tracking, apprehension and narcotics. "Both of us were pretty raw. I had never handled a dog before," Miller said. "We learned together." Miller, who joined the Port St. Lucie police in 2006, spoke of the bond between handler and dog. "They're alpha males, so the dog's not just going to sit down and listen to anybody," Miller said. "The dog wants to be in charge ... that dog has to feel comfortable and confident that you as a handler are leading him." He said Drago tracked people and caught them nearly 170 times, which Colton said was a high number for an area like Port St. Lucie. "Up to this point, and probably for some time to come, that's going to be the benchmark for all of the teams to try to achieve," Colton said. Miller recalled Drago's role in helping with a January 2014 rape case that happened shortly after midnight at the Mariposa Elementary playground. Arrested in the incident was Jimmie Ernest Glover, 28, who was sentenced last week to 12 life terms in prison. "What Mitch and Drago had together was intuitive, that was something I can't teach," Colton said. "He and that dog were absolutely in tune with each other." Miller said he spent 10 hours a day working with Drago, and when he was at home sleeping, Drago was near the bed. "We were buddies," Miller said. As time went by, the years took a toll. "With a bigger dog, jumping in and out of the car, carrying that much weight ... ," Miller said. "They wear down sometimes quicker." When Drago retired in early 2015, Miller left the canine unit and his four-legged partner took on the life of a house dog. "He wanted to go out and constantly play, throw the ball, hung out with our other shepherd (a male named Rocky)," Miller said. "He knew this was his pack, his house, his den and he just hung out here like a regular dog." Drago's death last week was tough for Miller's three children. His daughter, Madison, he said, was about 5 when Drago came home, and she grew up with him. "He was the big protector," Miller said. Miller misses the companionship. "He was one of the smartest dogs I've ever seen," Miller said. "The bond we had was so strong that I could tell you what he was thinking." FILE - Senior scientist Edith Widder of the Ocean Research & Conservation Association explains the function of the Kilroy water-monitoring device she is holding during a media event in 2011. The units were deployed in certain parts of the Indian River Lagoon. SHARE By Tyler Treadway of TCPalm This summer, as rainy season runoff and more than likely Lake Okeechobee discharge water pours into the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon, there may be fewer Kilroy monitors to measure the impact. "We may have to pull 15 Kilroys out of the water, probably sometime in June, July or August just because we can't afford to keep them going," said Warren Falls, managing director of the Fort Pierce-based Ocean Research & Conservation Association. ORCA got a $2 million grant from the Legislature in 2014 to deploy 25 Kilroys throughout the river and lagoon. Maintaining the Kilroys costs about $750,000 a year, $30,000 for each unit, Falls said. For each of the last two years, the state has provided $250,000. That's just $10,000 per unit. Five state-funded water monitors operated by Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute at Fort Pierce aren't in the same predicament. Harbor Branch also received $2 million from the state in 2014 to put four Land/Ocean Biogeochemical Observatory sensor, or LOBO, monitors in the river and one in the lagoon. The branch of Florida Atlantic University gets $350,000 a year, $70,000 per unit, from the state to maintain the water monitors, said Megan Davis, Harbor Branch's interim executive director. HIGH MAINTENANCE Maintaining Kilroys includes replacing costly chemicals needed to measure nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients that can fuel algal blooms monthly, cleaning the solar-powered units every other week and running monthly lab tests to check the units' accuracy. "With 25 machines spread out over 150 miles of water, it's time consuming," said George Jones, ORCA's special projects director. "Kilroys give so much more data, and better data, that we used to have to collect by hand," said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society in Stuart. "And it would be a shame to take them out of the St. Lucie River in the summer, when they can help us find the sources of nutrients that feed algal blooms." In March, a Kilroy in the Sykes Creek area of the Banana River showed the rapid growth of a brown tide algae bloom, its sudden death and how oxygen was sucked out of the water as bacteria quickly devoured the dead algae. The lack of oxygen led to the deaths of perhaps tens of millions of fish from March 18 through 20 in the Banana River. "We're probably one of the first groups ever to capture data from a fish kill in real time," Falls said. Fishermen can use Kilroys to check water salinity and cloudiness at a favorite lagoon spot before heading out. BACTERIA CHECK Because they measure salinity, Kilroys show areas likely to be free of the potentially deadly Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, which thrives in water with salinity levels of 5 parts per thousand to 25 parts per thousand. Because of the shortfall, ORCA will be able to keep "only the Kilroys that provide the most crucial information," Falls said, adding the thumbs-up, thumbs-down list hasn't been compiled yet. In the meantime, the nonprofit is trying to raise the $500,000 needed to keep them all in the water. "We're looking for other grants, talking to county governments about sponsoring Kilroys," Falls said, "but we haven't heard anything back yet." State Sen. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, who helped arrange the Kilroy and LOBO grants, said Wednesday he's working to get more maintenance money for ORCA. "A grant of unallocated money from a state agency could be available," Negron said. "And I know ORCA is looking to local governments and private sources to help. I think we can resolve this issue before any Kilroys have to be taken out of the water." MONITORING THE MONITORS Here's a look at the two types of water quality monitors: Kilroys Agency: Ocean Research & Conservation Association Deployed: 25 Kilroys Sites: Where canals and other waterways the lagoon from Volusia County to St. Lucie Inlet; includes North Fork of St. Lucie River, Palm City Bridge, C-23 and C-24 canals, Manatee Pocket, Willoughby Creek in St. Lucie River Estuary Measure: Water temperature, depth, flow speed, direction, conductivity (can indicate pollution); levels of salinity, turbidity, acidity/alkalinity, nitrogen, phosphorus, blue-green algae, chlorophyll, dissolved fluorescent organic matter, dissolved oxygen, oxygen reduction potential Cost: $80,000 each Maintenance cost: $750,000 a year ($30,000 per unit) LOBOs Agency: Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute of Florida Atlantic University Deployed: 5 units Where: St. Lucie River North and South forks; the mid-estuary, near the Roosevelt Bridge; "The Crossroads" where the Manatee Pocket, St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon meet; lagoon north of the river; Jensen Beach Measure: Water temperature, current direction and speed, conductivity, salinity, pressure, depth (to assess tidal fluctuations), turbidity (particles in the water), color, dissolved oxygen, acidity/alkalinity, nitrates, phosphates, chlorophyll fluorescence (microscopic algae), air temperature, barometric pressure, humidity, rainfall, light, wind direction, gusts, and speed Cost: $100,000 each Maintenance cost: $350,000 a year ($70,000 per unit) Boy Scout camp Tanah Keeta Reservation in south Martin County. (FILE PHOTO) SHARE By Staff Report A prescribed burn is set for Thursday at Tanah Keeta Reservation, the Boy Scout camp in south Martin County. Weather permitting, the Florida Forest Service will conduct the burn on about 100 acres of palmetto shrub and sand pine owned by the Boy Scouts of America, Gulf Stream Council. "After the prescribed fire is mopped up, the burn area becomes a discovery center for the Scouts at Tanah Keeta Reservation," said Senior Forest Ranger Marty Harn. "With the first rainfall, the Scouts can watch the new sprouts emerge from the ash enriched soil. The Scouts also use the burn area to identify scat and animal tracks because wildlife feast on the buffet of new sprouts of flora growing from the forest floor." Tanah Keeta Scout Reservation is near Tequesta in Martin County and includes 640 acres along the south edge of Jonathan Dickinson State Park and on the Loxahatchee River. Meghan Carson (center), of New York City, carries her 7-month-old daughter Ellie Carson as she disembarks an Elite Airways flight arriving in Vero Beach from Newark Liberty International Airport. They flew to Vero Beach to visit Ellie's grandmother, Deidre Renehan. Flights have been so full that Elite last month added Mondays and Friday flights here. (XAVIER MASCARENAS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) By Colleen Wixon of TCPalm VERO BEACH Deidre Renehan might have been no more than a screen face to Ellie Carson were it not for Elite Airways landing at Vero Beach Regional Airport four months ago with direct flights to Newark, New Jersey. Instead, 7-month-old Ellie, of New York City, has been able to visit Renehan, her grandmother, at Renehan's Vero Beach home at least once a month, thanks to the 2 -hour flight she takes here with her mom, Meghan Carson. "We wouldn't be down here as often without this flight," said Carson, who has made four round-trips since December. "It's so convenient." Renehan, who was among the 50 passengers on Elite's inaugural Vero-to-Newark flight on Dec. 10, has made four trips herself. Other family members also have made multiple trips to New York. "We're here all the time," Renehan said. "It's the closest thing to a private airplane experience." Maine-based Elite returned commercial flights to Vero Beach in December after almost 20 years with Sunday and Thursday direct flights to Newark Liberty International Airport. The 50-seat planes have been consistently more than 80 percent full, with most flights sold out. The airline in February added round-trips to Naples Municipal Airport. Elite temporarily added Monday and Friday flights to Newark in March. Those flights ended April 1. "We have had a lot of demand for additional flights," said Elite Airways President John Pearsall. "They in turn have had a very high load factor." In fact, the flights have developed their own following, with passengers such as the Carsons and Renehans becoming regular, repeat customers. New Jersey resident Nevins McCann has flown Elite twice to visit his mother, Virginia McCann, in Vero Beach. "I'll come more often because of this flight," he said. In just four months, Vero Beach has become Elite's most successful market, Pearsall said. The community support of businesses clamoring to partner with the airline, and passengers booking reservations, has played a role in the airline's Vero Beach success, he said. "It's been great. It's made all the difference in the world," he said. "It's worked out well." Costa d'Este Beach Resort & Spa noticed customer demographics shifted this year to a more northeastern market, although it is unknown if that's because guests are using Elite to get to the Vero Beach beachside hotel, said Marketing Director Maggie O'Briant. In January, however, the hotel increased advertising in New York and New Jersey because of Elite's new presence here. "We want to spread the word about Vero Beach in that market," O'Briant said. The hotel is working with Elite to develop a travel package that would allow visitors to book a flight, car rental and hotel room with one click, she said. But the hotel also wants to work with Elite in bringing future residents to the Treasure Coast. "We know people come down to Vero Beach and then stay," she said. Pearsall also has plans for a long-term relationship with Vero Beach. By winter, Pearsall said, he hopes to expand Elite's Vero Beach schedule with flights four or five days a week to Newark and, possibly to other destinations. While Vero Beach will never become a connection hub on its own, Pearsall said, there's market opportunity in the small airport. But he wants to keep the focus on direct flights. "That's the key nonstop flights," he said. Passengers like not having to change planes or walk through a large airport to get to their next flight, he said. Vero is the perfect airport for that business model, he said. There's a five-minute wait to get through TSA security, no hassles at baggage claim, leather seats on the planes and there is free short- and long-term airport parking in Vero. "It makes the trip so easy. It's like flying privately," said McCann. This summer, when seasonal residents have returned north, could determine the sustainability of Vero Beach flights. "We definitely want to be careful in the summer," Pearsall said. Few changes could be made to the airline's Vero flights, he said, but officials will be monitoring booking and repeat customers to see how the airline fares in the slower summer months. The Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies By Nicole Rodriguez of TCPalm PORT ST. LUCIE Dismal employment numbers might make it impossible for the struggling Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies to meet job-creation requirements to remain in compliance with its multimillion-dollar incentive deal with the state, according to an audit report by an outside firm and an internal review by Torrey Pines. The research institute in October reported to the state a staff of 85 with an average salary of $61,140 more than 50 percent short of the 189 jobs, at an average salary of $62,321, it needs by the end of its annual reporting period, just more than two months away on June 30. The current employment, for the reporting period July 1, 2014, to June 30, 2015, is a drop from the previous year, when Torrey Pines had a staff of 108, according to the latest documents submitted by Torrey Pines to the state. "Current economic conditions in Florida, coupled with slower-than-projected federal funding opportunities, have caused the situation where it is not economically feasible for (Torrey Pines) to maintain the required job-creation totals," according to a 2014 report by BDO USA, an accounting, tax, audit and consulting firm based in Chicago. The annual reports to the state Department of Economic Opportunity historically filed in October are a condition of the state's incentive agreement with the research institute for Torrey Pines to keep receiving state money. Torrey Pines is required to disclose research programs, financial statements, spinoff businesses, employment numbers and average salaries. As of February, Torrey Pines has received approximately $27.8 million of $32 million pledged by the state. Torrey Pines had no new hires in its previous reporting period, according to its October report. Failure to meet the job-creation requirements could result in sanctions from the state, DEO press secretary Morgan McCord said in an email Wednesday. Torrey Pines would be "ineligible for further disbursements," McCord said. "The agreement contains provisions that require any unexpended funds held by the company and any undisbursed funds held by DEO are returned to the state." Richard Houghten Torrey Pines' founder, president and CEO did not return calls seeking comment. "(Torrey Pines) has requested a modification to the agreement, from the state of Florida, in order to bring the employment numbers to a level that is realistic considering the economic climate," the BDO report states. It's unclear whether a top official in the economic department or Gov. Rick Scott would make the call to modify the agreement. Department officials did not respond for comment. Scott last month vetoed money for Torrey Pines for the second year in a row $500,000 this year and $2.5 million last year. The money would have been used for the Florida Drug Discovery Acceleration Program, which supports research at 15 institutes across Florida and has applied for five to six patents, Houghten has said. The program got $6 million from the state in 2013 and 2014. Scott said he vetoed the money because Torrey Pines isn't affiliated with a state academic institution, the money was not allocated on a competitive basis and there was no guarantee the state wouldn't lose its investment. In a bright spot for the financially-strained institute, the nonprofit predicted it no longer is running a deficit, according to its report to the state. Revenue, less expenses, for its proposed 2015 budget was $171,050. It showed a spending deficit of $1.4 million in 2013 and $245,000 in 2014. Torrey Pines first revealed its financial woes in November 2014, when its directors approached the city of Port St. Lucie for help securing a mortgage on its Tradition laboratory, but a deal was never executed. City officials in October said they heard through third parties Torrey Pines was financially stable. To lure Torrey Pines to Port St. Lucie, the city mortgaged buildings in its municipal complex. It used the $45.6 million to build and outfit the 107,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility in Tradition, completing it in 2009. Port St. Lucie is repaying the money, plus interest, through 2027. The St. Lucie County wastewater treatment plant is along A1A on North Hutchinson Island just south of Pepper Park in Fort Pierce. SHARE By Keona Gardner of TCPalm ST. LUCIE COUNTY The county Utilities Department's North Hutchinson Island Reclaimed Facility is slated to receive the 2016 Reuse System of the Year award from the Florida Water Environment Association, according to a news release. Each year the association presents the award to a utility for service in education, innovative facility design, published papers, research, excellence in water quality improvement, outstanding personal service, distinctive advertising, service in the operations field and plant safety, the release stated. The award will be presented to county staff, along with the county's contract operator, Severn Trent Services, at an awards luncheon on April 26 in Orlando. The North Hutchinson Island facility recently underwent a $4 million upgrade to increase capacity for its 9,000 customers on the barrier island, the release stated. The county Utilities Department serves 32,400 water and wastewater customers. The Vero Beach Municipal Power Plant. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers VERO BEACH The city wants to initiate governmental conflict-resolution procedures with Indian River Shores over their contentious and long-running electric utility debate. Indian River Shores' electric-service agreement with Vero Beach expires in November, and the Shores has said it intends to regulate Vero's rates and service once that happens. "We've analyzed this and we don't think any of it is lawful," Robert "Schef" Wright, Vero's utility attorney, told the City Council on Tuesday. According to Wright, any attempt by Indian River Shores to regulate the Vero electric operation within its borders would be illegal or be prohibited by legal precedence. By filing a request for formal conflict resolution, the city hopes to bring about another series of meetings between officials of the two communities and enter into the formal mediation process provided under Florida law. Councilwoman Pilar Turner, however, pressed unsuccessfully for a "no-cost, no-risk" solution, arguing it would be less expensive and more effective to bring the mayors, city managers and representatives from Florida Power & Light Co. to the table to discuss the sale of the Shores portion of Vero's operation to FPL than it would be to waste any more time in conflict resolution. "Before we commit to anymore mediation, let's use some common sense," said Turner. "We spent a year in mediation meetings and all it's done is create more acrimony in this community. We have accomplished nothing." Her proposal was defeated 3-2, with Dick Winger, Vice Mayor Randy Old and Mayor Jay Kramer voting no. "We know Indian River Shores is not going to lose their resolve," said Turner. "For them, it's a $2 million savings. They want to be under FPL. Why can't we sit down and come up with a solution that's a win-win for everyone?" Kramer said he was unwilling to negotiate with anyone who is suing the city making reference to Indian River Shores' lawsuit against Vero Beach but wanted the council's approval to keep lines of communication open with Shores Mayor Brian Barefoot. The council passed a formal resolution encouraging Kramer to do so, but only on a one-to-one basis. Vero's request for formal conflict resolution must be sent to Indian River Shores within five days, along with a letter stating why the city is initiating the process, a proposed date for meetings and which officials should be present. Confederate and American flags are seen on a vehicle in the student parking lot at Vero Beach High School during school hours April 6 in Vero Beach. (ERIC HASERT/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS) Should the Indian River County School Board ban the Confederate flag? That's a question the board discussed last week after hearing about a racist flier distributed at Vero Beach's Freshman Learning Center. The board opted to look into the matter in the coming weeks. When I first heard the ban idea recently from Tony Brown, local head of the NAACP, I thought about it for a few minutes and wound up with my First Amendment cap on. No way, I thought. Displaying the Confederate flag is not quite the same thing as yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater. There are lots of things that offend different groups of people. The Republican who could be our future president makes news regularly by saying or doing something offensive to someone. The Democrats running for president may be more politically correct, but their comments are offensive to some people. All sorts of slogans and symbols promoted by one race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, movement, political party, you name it can be found offensive by someone else. But there's one point Brown made later at a School Board meeting that was on target: "I'm not talking about anybody's right of freedom of expression," Brown said. "I'm talking about an environment that's not conducive to our children getting a proper and fair education." Brown has questioned the racial atmosphere in high schools for months. It came to a head recently when students at the Freshman Learning Center created and distributed a racist flier containing the Confederate flag. The students were suspended, and rightfully so. Racism and xenophobia remain relatively quiet in Indian River County, but they exist. Their overt display, in cases such as those at Freshman Learning Center, is disturbing. The fact Indian River County schools have failed to meet goals of a 1967 court desegregation order, amended in 1994, only adds to the perception that African-Americans are discriminated against. The goals include percentage targets for minority populations of students and employees at each school, placing schools in Gifford and focusing on minority student achievement. Add in recent complaints by the ACLU over the district's minority hiring practices and race has become a more high-profile School Board issue. Solutions needn't be that complicated. As I noted a few months ago, the School District has made only a half-baked effort to hire minority teachers. A full effort should alleviate problems. The community, inside and outside of the district, has rallied behind the Moonshot Moment, which strives to get 90 percent of third-graders reading at grade level by 2018. This is a big deal. The district probably can't do much about racism and xenophobia. They're issues we, as individuals, can solve by treating our neighbors with the respect we hope they'd show us. We are all Americans. As for offensive behavior in local schools such as trying to provoke fights by displaying offensive material there's no place for it. Schools are for one thing: learning. Anything that interrupts that critical mission is intolerable. I'm not suggesting zero tolerance policies broadly interpreted by school bureaucrats. Common sense, communication and problem-solving skills are critical. One suggestion, however, might help promote teamwork and fairness among all students: a strict dress code. If everyone at Vero Beach High School had to wear, for example, a red top and same-colored pants (say khaki or black), no one would ever wear "offensive" clothing to school. Undecorated book bags or back packs could even be uniform. Students won't like it, but until they can treat each other with respect and dignity, that's too bad. Overkill? Perhaps. But it might be one thing all adults can agree on. A little common sense might go a long way if the district come close to reaching its desegregation order goals. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is greeted by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi as she introduces him to speak at a campaign event in Tampa, Fla., Monday, March 14, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) SHARE By Scott Maxwell Imagine you were mugged. You think you know who did it. So you tell your local prosecutor. But then something weird happens. Three days after the prosecutor vows to get to the bottom of things, the accused mugger gives that prosecutor $25,000 in campaign donations. Suddenly, the prosecutor has no interest in your case. If such a thing happened, there would be universal outrage. Well, you should be furious. Because that's pretty much happened with your attorney general. Three years ago, Pam Bondi's office was looking into claims from Floridians who claimed the Trump Institute a Florida affiliate of Donald Trump's now-infamous-and-shuttered "Trump University" had scammed them out of thousands of dollars. Similar complaints in New York prompted its attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, to file a lawsuit, calling Trump's get-rich seminars a "bait and switch scheme." Yet in Florida, there was no action. So the Orlando Sentinel made an inquiry, and Bondi's office vowed to look into the matter in a story that ran on Sept. 14, 2013. Three days later, Trump's charitable foundation cut a check to a committee supporting Bondi's re-election campaign for $25,000. Trump's campaign now says Bondi asked for the donation. It all stinks worse than week-old fish guts. There may be legitimate debate about whether Trump's program was a scam. (Trump says it's not and that New York has "the dumbest attorney general in the United States" while Bondi is "a truly wonderful woman.") But there is no debating that it's wildly inappropriate for a prosecutor to take money from someone her office is potentially investigating. That's why an external investigation is needed into whether the complainants got justice and whether Bondi acted appropriately. See, the national media treats this as just another tempest in the Trump teapot. (Hey look, the Florida A.G. took 25 grand from Trump! And then endorsed him! And Trump now admits the donation was a mistake!) The media circus quickly moved on to the next sideshow. But Floridians are still stuck with a serious issue a top cop who took money from a potential target. That's something a special prosecutor or independent investigator should probe. Complainants deserve to have their concerns reviewed by a fresh set of eyes with no financial connections to the man they're complaining about. Listen, we know Bondi loves chasing campaign dollars. A few years back, she postponed an execution so that she could stage a waterfront fundraiser for herself. But this is a whole new level of wrong. Most prosecutors would be insulted if a potential target tried to offer them anything. New York's Schneiderman said students of "Trump University" (which wasn't actually a university) were lured by the promise of a free 90-minute seminar to learn Trump's moneymaking secrets. That became a pitch for a $1,500 three-day seminar, which turned into a pitch for "elite" programs that cost as much as $35,000, he said. So Schneiderman filed a civil suit, which an appeals court advanced just last month. A Leesburg pool technician told a similar tale to the Sentinel back in 2013, saying a $1,700 seminar in Florida led to $5,000 for supposed mentoring, which led to little else. Bondi wouldn't answer questions last week about why her office decided not to pursue the complaints, who solicited the donation, whether she was belatedly returning Trump's money or why she thought taking the money was appropriate in the first place. But she previously stressed that many of the complaints against Trump's business outlets were filed before she took office. I'm not sure what a lick of difference that makes when her office said it was actively reviewing them three days before she got the donation. More importantly, Bondi told Tallahassee media last week: "I've done nothing wrong." Well, then, Ms. Bondi, you should welcome a fresh set of eyes to conclude the same thing and to let all the Floridians who thought they were scammed know they were simply mistaken. Scott Maxwell is columnist for the Orlando Sentinel. Readers may reach him at smaxwell@orlandosentinel.com. SHARE Scott Deal accepting the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Susan Blaxill-Deal joins IRSC Foundation Executive Director Ann Decker before Scott Deal receiving the Entrepreneur of the Year award. Entrepreneur of the Year Award recipient Scott Deal shows his family pride, with wife Susan Braxill-Deal and children Cory, Matt and Elliott. By Fran Foster, The Newsweekly Scott Deal has always been an angler with a vision. He has been fishing the waters from Indian River County all the way down to the Keys for most of his adult life. Nowadays, he's busy running his Fort Pierce-based business, Maverick Boat Group. The innovative enterprise is so successful that last month he was honored as Entrepreneur of the Year by the Indian River State College Foundation. His quest to become a leader in the boating industry started in the '80s when he was simply looking for a better way to fish in Florida. "I started when I was 25, just a few years out of (Princeton)," says Deal. "I appreciate the acknowledgement of the award but it's really not just about me it's the community of people we have assembled over the years that make up the company. I understand the program honors an individual but it's really about all the guys who have been with me ranging from 10, 15 or 25 years or longer." Deal also credits his accomplishments to the hard work and dedication of those who came before him: men who fished from wooden skiffs that took half the day or night to get out to the far banks to find their catch. "Someone had to go out there, decide that they could catch fish on light tackle. Somebody had to figure out how to do it. It certainly wasn't me, and it certainly wasn't even my generation," says Deal. It was his relationships with these experienced anglers that inspired Deal keep improving on skiff designs. The best In 1984, brothers Scott and Troy Deal decided to turn their passion for sport fishing into a full-time business that built the best shallow-water skiffs in the country. Their first model the 18 Maverick was launched on the tidal flats of the Florida Keys. It became an important milestone in the evolution of light tackle angling. Those early boats provided a new way to fish for shallow-water quarry, such as bonefish, permit and tarpon. The brothers went on to expand their operation in 1988, purchasing Hewes Boats. The acquisition solidified their top spot in the flats boat business. Challenge In the early '90s, Deal participated in the Islamorada Fall Invitational Tournament with many renowned anglers, including Steve Huff. The two were neck and neck for the early part of the contest, but eventually Huff won by only a few fish. Deal recalls him saying something along the lines of, "If only you had a real boat." That statement continues to motivate Deal to make his company's boats the best in the business. In 1991, they developed the Maverick Mirage, the first boat designed for noiseless poling. Deal then designed the Pathfinder in 1998, which launched the Bay Boat Revolution and changed fishing in shallow coastal waters. Maverick continued to expand. They changed the company name to the Maverick Boat Group in 2005 when they purchased Cobia Boats. Currently, their Cobia line accounts for more than 50 percent of their revenue the Pathfinder is their second-biggest seller, followed by Maverick, then Hewes. Inspirational IRSC Foundation Executive Director Ann Decker said that, when selecting a businessman to honor for his vision and ability to get the job done, Deal was an easy choice. "This is to recognize the entrepreneurial spirit in the community those people who have taken the risk and have had the vision to take something to fruition," Decker said. "We share these stories and people with our students so they understand: if you want to go into business for yourself, you just don't end up rich. It's the journey, the struggle, the work that brings the success." That journey brought Deal to IRSC to receive his place on the entrepreneurial Wall of Fame. The award is a central element of the Dan K. Richardson Entrepreneurship Program established by the IRSC Foundation and 13 other founding members to promote awareness and appreciation of the free enterprise system. "Throughout his career, Scott Deal has demonstrated exceptional vision, setting trends with the manufacture of four innovative lines of boats. In addition, he has played a national role in marine conservation and legislation guiding the management of our country's saltwater recreational fisheries," said Dr. Edwin R. Massey, the president of IRSC. Steward While Deal is humble about receiving the award, his background and dedication to the environment is far less modest. He is very active on national boards focused on conservation and the marine industry. He was the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) of Florida and has also been honored with the Eddie Smith Conservation Award. He co-authored "A Vision for Managing America's Saltwater Recreational Fisheries," released by the Morris-Deal Commission for the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act six key policy changes with benefits to the nation. "I have been part of the CCA for 25 years and quite serious about the issues around having healthy waters to fish on. It's pretty hard to sell fishing boats if you can't go in the water and all the marine life is dead," said Deal. "We continue to emphasize this to government officials and hope they make it a priority. Our children deserve that." The Deal family has lived in Vero Beach for 26 years. Scott is married to Susan Blaxill-Deal and is the father of Matthew, Elliott, Cory, and Clay Deal. MBG employs 275 people, including the Deals' sons Elliott and Cory. You can find out more information about the Maverick Boat Group at their website, www.maverickboats.com or take a tour of their facilities at 3207 Industrial 29th St. in Fort Pierce. Call for arrangements at 888-742-5569. For more information about the Dan K. Richardson Entrepreneurship Program, call the IRSC Foundation at 772-462-4786 or visit www.irscfoundation.org Thank you for reading! Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue. ARAY BHPian Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: WB 38 Posts: 621 Thanked: 2,262 Times View My Garage Driven: Hyderabad to Goa Its not very often that I have heard people say Goa is all about getting a chance to drive across Western Ghats. I did experience it earlier with my K10 but this time it was the Punto. I have mentioned often that except the day you go to sell off a FIAT rest of the experience will make you smile. That is the reason why one who buys FIAT seldom sells it off soon. Ok I am done complementing FIAT, lets get down to the journey and experience.Before we begin I would like to share the Before and After images of the rear suspension pre and post luggage+colleagues , please don't feel bad about the Punto. It was a charm driving at the ghats with the lowered rear. Handling became even better. March is not the ideal time to visit Goa, however my friends back at office wanted peace and beach. The idea was simple God had already implemented the concept of land and sea breeze, all we had to do was the timing. Early morning till 8am and late evenings from 8pm was the ideal relax window we aimed for. The week was very hectic and we spent discussing the places we wanted to cover in one day at Goa. Friday 1st we started for Goa. Rendezvous point was decided for ORR at 8pm. Sharing few pictures of first few hours. Since the Punto was the only car that would be going this time and I would be the only one driving, had gone through route options, however I was bit skeptical on the final route from Hyderabad to Raichur. I got mixed opinions about the 3 routes available. Gandiguda to Raichur took us 4 hours, which included a dinner break. Road conditions are excellent and as usual lane discipline is good and maintained by the truckers. Honorable mention, Redbull, Not sure if it gave me wings but sure did give Punto enough happiness. Colleagues were dozing off one by one after dinner. Punto and I were the only guys available to discuss the road condition and talk to each other. After taking the diversion at Beethupalli I had to leave NH7, do note Google map asks you to take a diversion much earlier onto 167 towards Mahbubnagar but I would suggest taking a right only after crossing Beethupalli. As the old saying goes try to stay on NHX at any point of travel. The route via Mahbubnagar was showing less of NH7 and more of 167 route and time displayed was 3H20M, while the route via Beethupalli was more of NH7 and no route 167 and time indicated was 3H30M. It was easy to derive the fact that the route via Beethupalli would give me better road although the distance was roughly 30kms more. I wanted to share the details with my colleagues but the moment I lowered the volume of the media player I could hear them snoring in a perfect rhythm. Punto said lets go for it and I headed on. Route so far. ORR>Gandiguda>Beethupalli>Raichur, Distance travelled so far 250kms, Time taken 4.5 hours. Total breaks so far was an extra-long dinner break and 3 short 5 min breaks. Moving on the route from Raichur to Belgavi, Google maps proposed 3 routes. I was aware of the fact that if I took the wrong route here it would take huge effort to rectify the time loss. So searched for Gangavati, we would be travelling a good 100kms extra but the road condition made up for the extra time taken. Raichur to Gangavati took 2 hours. From Gangavati to Belgavi the road was straight forward 268 kms in 4 hours. After all the permutations and real-time research of the best route, waking up and asking locals came the long waited Western Ghats. The place where the Punto was made and bought for. It was morning and the traffic increased slowly at the Ghats, average speed was 45 kmph, distance was about 100 kms on the Ghats. Welcome by the Ghats at sunrise. We stopped at few places to catch a glimpse of the beauty. Finally a video of the excellent tarmac at the ghats. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILS2J7Fk0rI Finally reached Panjim and then Mapusa around 10am. Booked a hotel and then I hibernated while the rest concentrated on why people come to Goa. Temple on the way before entering Mapusa. The road condition for the entire journey was excellent and thats exactly what I wanted. Total time taken was 13 hours including numerous breaks which I lost count of towards the end. ORR>Raichur>Gangavati>Belgavi>Panjim Distance:750kms Time : 14 H "Hyderabad to Goa, Route." This is exactly what I searched for when we drove to Goa recently. Went through few updates and all of them had mixed opinion. Probably the experience below and time taken to travel, helps fellow BHPans to decide on the right route.Its not very often that I have heard people say Goa is all about getting a chance to drive across Western Ghats. I did experience it earlier with my K10 but this time it was the Punto. I have mentioned often that except the day you go to sell off a FIAT rest of the experience will make you smile. That is the reason why one who buys FIAT seldom sells it off soon. Ok I am done complementing FIAT, lets get down to the journey and experience.Before we begin I would like to share the Before and After images of the rear suspension pre and post luggage+colleagues , please don't feel bad about the Punto. It was a charm driving at the ghats with the lowered rear. Handling became even better.March is not the ideal time to visit Goa, however my friends back at office wanted peace and beach. The idea was simple God had already implemented the concept of land and sea breeze, all we had to do was the timing. Early morning till 8am and late evenings from 8pm was the ideal relax window we aimed for. The week was very hectic and we spent discussing the places we wanted to cover in one day at Goa. Friday 1st we started for Goa. Rendezvous point was decided for ORR at 8pm.Sharing few pictures of first few hours.Since the Punto was the only car that would be going this time and I would be the only one driving, had gone through route options, however I was bit skeptical on the final route from Hyderabad to Raichur. I got mixed opinions about the 3 routes available.Gandiguda to Raichur took us 4 hours, which included a dinner break. Road conditions are excellent and as usual lane discipline is good and maintained by the truckers.Honorable mention, Redbull, Not sure if it gave me wings but sure did give Punto enough happiness.Colleagues were dozing off one by one after dinner. Punto and I were the only guys available to discuss the road condition and talk to each other. After taking the diversion at Beethupalli I had to leave NH7, do note Google map asks you to take a diversion much earlier onto 167 towards Mahbubnagar but I would suggest taking a right only after crossing Beethupalli. As the old saying goes try to stay on NHX at any point of travel. The route via Mahbubnagar was showing less of NH7 and more of 167 route and time displayed was 3H20M, while the route via Beethupalli was more of NH7 and no route 167 and time indicated was 3H30M. It was easy to derive the fact that the route via Beethupalli would give me better road although the distance was roughly 30kms more. I wanted to share the details with my colleagues but the moment I lowered the volume of the media player I could hear them snoring in a perfect rhythm. Punto said lets go for it and I headed on.Route so far.Total breaks so far was an extra-long dinner break and 3 short 5 min breaks.Moving on the route from Raichur to Belgavi, Google maps proposed 3 routes. I was aware of the fact that if I took the wrong route here it would take huge effort to rectify the time loss. So searched for Gangavati, we would be travelling a good 100kms extra but the road condition made up for the extra time taken. Raichur to Gangavati took 2 hours. From Gangavati to Belgavi the road was straight forward 268 kms in 4 hours.After all the permutations and real-time research of the best route, waking up and asking locals came the long waited Western Ghats. The place where the Punto was made and bought for. It was morning and the traffic increased slowly at the Ghats, average speed was 45 kmph, distance was about 100 kms on the Ghats.Welcome by the Ghats at sunrise.We stopped at few places to catch a glimpse of the beauty.Finally a video of the excellent tarmac at the ghats.Finally reached Panjim and then Mapusa around 10am. Booked a hotel and then I hibernated while the rest concentrated on why people come to Goa.Temple on the way before entering Mapusa.The road condition for the entire journey was excellent and thats exactly what I wanted. Total time taken was 13 hours including numerous breaks which I lost count of towards the end. Last edited by GTO : 6th April 2016 at 10:30 . Reason: rondevu = rendezvous :) Samsung has begun mass producing what it calls the industry's first 10-nanometer class, 8-gigbit (Gb) DDR4 chips as well as the modules they go on. The South Korean technology giant cited a number of technical challenges it had to overcome in DRAM scaling, challenges it said were "mastered" using ArF (argon fluoride) immersion lithography, improvements in proprietary cell design technology, QPT (quadruple patterning technology) lithography and ultra-thin dielectric layer deposition. As Samsung explains, DRAM is much more complex than NAND flash memory as each cell requires a capacitor linked with a transistor (the capacitor is typically placed on top of the transistor). With NAND flash, each cell consists of just one transistor. That all sounds great, but what does it actually mean to consumers? More speed (and hopefully, lower prices). Samsung says the new DRAM supports a data transfer rate of 3,200 megabits per second (Mbps) which is more than 30 percent faster than what 20nm-class variants are capable of. What's more, the new DRAM improves wafer productivity by more than 30 percent compared to 20nm 8Gb DDR4 DRAM. To illustrate just how quickly memory technology is advancing, Samsung only started mass producing 20nm DDR3 DRAM in 2014. Young-Hyun Jun, President of Memory Business at Samsung Electronics, said they'll be launching next-generation, 10nm-class mobile DRAM products with high densities in the near future. That translates to faster smartphones and tablets, something we can all get behind as overall innovation begins to slow in the mobile industry. It's worth pointing out that Samsung's choice of works can get a bit confusing. To clarify, "10nm-class" denotes a process technology node somewhere between 10 and 19 nanometers while 20nm-class means a process technology note somewhere between 20 and 29 nanometers. Microsoft has pushed back the release of their next flagship smartphone once again, with a report from the usually-reliable Windows Central claiming the Surface Phone won't hit consumers until early 2017. The report guesses that Microsoft will align the launch of the Surface Phone with the release of Windows 10's second Redstone update, which is slated for release around spring 2017. Between now and then, the company isn't planning to release any Lumia devices at all, instead phasing out that line of phones in favor of giving Windows Phone a big hardware refresh in 2017. When the Surface Phone launches, there will reportedly be three models coming for the consumer, business, and enthusiast audiences. Windows Central doesn't have any information on what will be the differences between these handsets, but you can guess there will be differences in hardware and pricing while keeping a similar design language. One thing that likely won't happen is an entry-level Surface Phone, as Microsoft has kept their Surface brand as a premium option for Windows devices. Instead it seems like Microsoft won't be releasing a new budget Windows Phone, perhaps due to strong competition from Android devices produced by Chinese OEMs. In the large gap between the launch of the Lumia 950 and the Surface Phone, which could be as large as 18 months, Microsoft is leaving it up to their hardware partners to release new Windows 10 Mobile handsets. HP is one of those partners that will launch the Elite x3 later this year, with a big focus on business computing and Continuum. Virtual reality isn't just a vessel for awesome gaming experiences. It can also be used for some innovative and useful tools, which is exactly what we're seeing from Ikea with their VR experience. The Ikea VR Experience, as it's called, allows users to explore a virtual Ikea kitchen in real-world size through a HTC Vive. As the Vive is well suited to moving around in VR, it makes the perfect choice for Ikea's tool, which gives users the ability to change the colors of cabinets and interact with various items in three pre-designed kitchens. Users can also shrink down to the height of a child to see how well the kitchen would work for them. This VR experience isn't as robust as some of Ikea's other tools that allow prospective buyers to create entire room plans in 3D, but it is a lot more immersive and sets the foundations for something greater. Ikea plans on updating the tool continuously until the beta test ends in August, and the company thinks VR will "play a major role in the future of our customers" by allowing them to try "try out a variety of home furnishing solutions before buying them". The app itself is available now through Steam for free, and requires a play area of around 2 x 1.5 meters. It was built by French company Allegorithmic using Unreal Engine 4, and apparently requires at least an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 to play, along with a HTC Vive headset. PayPal has cancelled its plan to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina, in response to the state's recently passed law that discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens. The center would have brought 400 jobs and seen PayPal invest more than $3.6 million in the area. But the digital payments company decided not to use the location as a protest against the House Bill 2 law, which supersedes ordinances protecting LGBT people from discrimination, and prevents transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture," said PayPal CEO Dan Schulman. "As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte." "This decision reflects PayPal's deepest values and our strong belief that every person has the right to be treated equally, and with dignity and respect," Schulman added Other companies, including Google, Facebook, Apple, and IBM, have spoken out aginst the House Bill 2. More than 80 CEOs signed a letter to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, urging him to repeal it. The law has proved so controversial that the White House is currently reviewing whether it could affect the flow of federal aid to North Carolina, and a federal lawsuit has been launched against the state. North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest has defended the law following PayPal's decision. "If our action in keeping men out of women's bathrooms and showers protected the life of just one child or one woman from being molested or assaulted, then it was worth it," he said in a statement. PayPal said it is now looking for another location for its operations center. Greek police escorted migrants to Turkey-bound vessels. This is the first deportation in connection with implementing the European Union plan, which aims to limit the rate of migration in European countries. The first 131 refugees who came from Lesbos, occupied two small vessels, while another boat carried 66 refugees from the island of Chios. On April 4, they arrived at the port of Dikili in Turkey. Frontex, the border agency the EU commissioned, said that the boats were carrying a mixture of nationalities - Syrians, Afghans, Pakistanis and Iraqis. "I hate to say this, but they were easy cases," said Eva Moncure, a spokeswoman for Frontex, about how the first deportation went smoothly. Those who were deported to Turkey will be sent to where they registered when they first arrived, or if unregistered, they will be sent to camps northwest part of the country. The Agreement Under the EU-Turkey agreement, illegal migrants in Greece will be sent back to Turkey if they do not apply for asylum or if the application for asylum is rejected. The agreement had been dubbed controversial because of the reactions it got from those who condemn the deportation. In particular, human rights advocates are concerned whether there have been a fair and full asylum review for the deportees. Refugees are also protesting, saying that the deportation is a "dirty deal." The European Union's part of the deal is its pledge to give billions of dollars in assistance, ease on visa rules and membership application of Turks will also be revived. The EU-Turkey deal states that for every individual sent back to Turkey, the members of the European Union will take one person with an approved asylum claim. Police from Lesbos said that there had been a flurry of last-minute asylum applications, some of the refugees still did not apply, as they are certain of being denied and eventually deported. Most of the 2,800 refugees detained in Moria applied for asylum, which could delay the process because applications for asylum still needs to undergo examination and hearing. "What we know is that 90 percent of [those in] the Moria camps have applied for asylum," said Lt. Zacharia Tsirigoti, Greek department for refugees. In Turkey There are citizens of Dikili who are opposed to the coming of refugees. About 4,000 locals even signed a petition expressing their complaints and concerns that the area is too small to accommodate those who are going to be deported. "We cannot fit the refugees," said Emirhan Cekun. On the other hand, some refugee rights campaigners carried banners of support to deportees, saying to stop the deportation and to open the borders. The Migrants According to the authorities there are already 6,100 migrants in the Aegean Islands. Forty-six thousand of them are on the mainland and not less than 20,000 are staying in makeshift camps on the border of Northern Macedonia and Athens. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A team of researchers from York University might have answered one of the biggest questions of ancient history - how did Hannibal cross the Alps during the second Punic War? What is more incredible is that the discovery was based on horse dung. Hannibal of Carthage is considered as one of the greatest historical commanders to have ever reigned. He was even compared to Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, when it comes to being one of the finest strategists of the era. The route taken by the Carthaginian army leader in crossing the Alps has been a subject of great interest and debate for thousands of years among historians, academicians and statesmen. So much so that even Napoleon had shown interest in it. In 218-201 B.C., Hannibal led his army to fight Rome, which was then headed by General Scipio Africanus, in what was later came to be known as the second Punic War. Recently, the research led by Bill Mahaney seems to have substantial evidence for the most plausible path that Hannibal followed - the Col de Traversette pass. This way was first proposed by Sir Gavin de Beer, a biologist and director of the British Museum of Natural History about a century ago, but was never seriously taken into consideration. The route, which is 3,000 meters above sea level, lies at the border of Southeast Grenoble in France and Southwest Turin in Italy. It is a narrow pass with the most treacherous terrain even as it stands today. Hannibal, along with his cavalry of 30,000 troops, 15,000 horses and 37 elephants, made their way through the treacherous and impassable Alps, which the Romans presumed would be their natural barrier against invasion. Mahaney and his team have been studying the muddy terrains of the Alps at the Traversette pass since 2011. They came across an abundance of fecal matter of animals, mostly that of horses, mixed along with the mud. Interestingly, this fecal material was found in a pond that could have served as the perfect watering hole. Using a combination of environmental chemistry, microbial genetic analysis, pollen analysis and carbon isotope analysis, microbiologists found that the mud and the horse dung dated back to 200 B.C., further supporting the hypothesis. The findings of this research have been published on Archaeometry. Photo: Robert Tannemaat | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Scientists are not ready to give up the search for stellar companions. A team from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) proposed turning to red dwarf stars as part of the continuous search for alien life. For more than 50 years, astronomers searched for signs of alien life in stars that are similar to ours. Since we have yet to find any direct evidence that we are not alone in the universe, SETI scientists proposed to widen the search net and scan the dimmest and oldest stars in the galaxy. The red dwarfs are long-lived stars with low temperatures. They are so abundant that they make up approximately three-quarters of all the Milky Way stars. They may be plentiful, but researchers have long dismissed them because astronomers theorized that alien species might be living on planets that orbit stars like our sun. SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, which is set in Northern California's Cascade Mountains, will focus on these red dwarfs in the next two years. The instrument's 42 antennas can simultaneously analyze up to three stars. The SETI scientists will look at about 20,000 red dwarfs, making the mission one of the biggest hunts for alien life so far. "When you look at what's been done, the total number of stars that have been examined carefully is a few thousand. This is a lot more," said Seth Shostak a senior astronomer at SETI. Every red dwarf ever existed is still shining today, despite not as bright as other stars. On average, these oldest stars are roughly billions of years older than other sun-like stars. "This may be one instance in which older is better. Older solar systems have had more time to produce intelligent species," added Shostak. Red dwarfs are both abundant and older. These suggested that there is a higher probability and time for life to develop. The researchers theorized that if other intelligent species are present in planets orbiting red dwarfs, then these systems are the best areas to conduct an investigation for other advanced life forms. Photo: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The bloody civil wars that have plagued the Democratic Republic of Congo since the 1990s have produced a human death toll exceeding five million but have also brought about one grave ecological consequence. The bloodshed and violence have decimated the countrys Grauers gorillas, the largest primate in the world found only in the DRC. A shocking new report by the Wildlife Conservation Society, along with Fauna & Flora International, documented the massive decline of the gorilla subspecies known as Gorilla beringei graueri. It pinpointed not only civil unrest and habitat loss, but also illegal hunting around mining sites for the catastrophic population collapse. The crash in the gorilla population is a consequence of the human tragedy that has played out in eastern DRC, says study author Jefferson Hall, also a staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. In 1998, prior to the conflict, there were about 17,000 Grauers gorillas in the Congo. Today, however, there are fewer than 3,800 left a staggering 77 percent drop. The population decline is traced back to the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, when hundreds of thousands were displaced and moved to the DRC. This resulted in the civil war in the Congo in 1996, taking place until 2003 with devastating effects such as loss of about five million human lives, heightened deforestation and increased illegal bushmeat trade. The team also cited the roots of the conflict in control of mineral rights, as the DRC is rich in minerals such as coltan, used for the manufacturing of cell phones and electronics. These minerals are within the gorillas range in far-flung mining sites, where miners often consume local wildlife including gorillas as food. The authors added that the findings justify updating the threatened status of the gorilla to critically endangered in the IUCN List of Threatened Species. For them, it is only fitting to act now. Grauer's gorilla is found only in the eastern Congo one of the richest areas on our planet for vertebrate diversity. As one of our closest living relatives, we have a duty to protect this gorilla from extinction, urges study co-author Stuart Nixon, warning that, without prompt action, the primate could disappear in many parts in the next five years. The authors and conservationists called for immediate action to reverse the decline, including keeping a close eye on the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the adjacent Punia Gorilla Reserve areas critical for the gorillas survival. They also recommended tackling illegal mining in protected areas, disarming militia groups in the vicinity and finding alternative livelihood for locals employed by the mining sector. The bright spot in all this is that we have seen, over and over again, dedicated Congolese conservationists risk their lives to make a difference, adds Hall, with the report also revealing the threat of rebel ambushes to the lives of park guards watching the only park with increasing gorilla populations. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. State officials will now have to take the necessary steps to protect wolverines from climate change after a judge rejected the decision of United States Wildlife managers to deny the Endangered Species Act protection to wolverines. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen ordered officials of the wildlife services to work as fast as possible in protecting the wolverine. The species is said to be defenseless against climate change. Global warming, in particular, endangers the habitat of these animals. In 2013, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services recommended the inclusion of the wolverine in the endangered species list, but it reversed its own proposal a year later, stating that there is not enough evidence of climate change affecting wolverines. Environmentalists challenged the wildlife agency's decision, saying it is not considering scientific data on the wolverine population. According to the Interior Department at the time, global warming had been causing mountain snow to melt, reducing the amount of snow in places where wolverines build their dens and store their food. "No greater level of certainty is needed to see the writing on the wall for this snow-dependent species squarely in the path of climate change," said Christensen. Because of "immense political pressure" in states like Idaho, the government's decision whether to protect the wolverine has been affected. Failure to act in the case of this species also has consequences for other animals, such as Alaska's bearded seal and the Pacific Walrus, as well as coral systems. Research has shown that more than two-thirds of the wolverine population could disappear by 2085 if measures are not taken. Wolverines are members of the weasel family, having a population estimated to be at 300, inhabiting the Lower 48 states. These creatures thrive in deep snow dens in the mountains of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Washington state. Some individual wolverines have also been reported in California and Colorado. Bigger wolverine populations can be seen in Canada and Alaska. "Our hope is that if they apply the best available science and look at the threats, they'll make the right decision," said Matthew Bishop of Western Environmental Law Center. Photo: Steve Slocomb | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. If you want to take a break from the U.S. elections drama, then here's something for you. Help pick the newest peanut M&M's flavor and possibly win $100,000. To celebrate Mars, Inc.'s 75th anniversary, the makers of M&M's wants all its U.S. fans to participate in the Vote Flavor campaign. It is the first time in the company's marketing history to let the consumers choose which next peanut variant should be added to its line. The new flavor candidates - coffee, chili, and honey - are pre-selected based on their strengths. "Coffee, America's #1 flavored beverage, had the highest overall purchase intent in quantitative testing; chili, the 'sweet heat' top-five flavor trend in 2015, was a leading flavor concept in focus groups," says Mars. Those who wish to join can taste these new flavors in several stores around the country and cast their vote through texting "VOTE" to 87654, after which they will receive the steps on how to proceed. Avid social media users can join through Facebook. The voting runs until June 17, 2016 and all submissions are treated as raffle entries. D.L. Blair Incorporated, a Sweepstakes specialist and the campaign's judge will draw the winner. The grand prize winner will receive $100,000, a three-day trip for two to New York with free accommodation, $750 check and the bragging rights of being called "Official M&M's Taste Tester." Winners will be notified through email, mail, and telephone. However, before you hit your local stores, know that the raffle is open only to American residents who are 13 years old and above by the time of participation. It is not open to company affiliates, partners, employees, and their immediate families. Launched in 1941, M&M's has recently adopted GMO labeling on products, which is a significant move considering that it is one of the world's best-selling candies, earning $1.8 billion in 2007. For its continued success, the Flavor Vote campaign is the perfect opportunity to say thank to their loyal fans. "At Mars Chocolate North America, we know M&M's would not be the brand it is today without our fans," said Tanya Berman, brand director. To further entice you to join, here's a delicious teaser. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. HTC is expected to announce the HTC 10 flagship on April 12, but it seems like the OEM has another device to unveil to highlight the occasion. Only recently, we reported that a leaked image of the HTC 10 shows the handset having impressive AnTuTu benchmark results, beating huge rivals that include Apple's iPhone 6s and Samsung's Galaxy S7 edge. HTC also received FCC certification on its two HTC 10 models that were identified as 2PS6200 and 2PS6500, although the company has yet to make a confirmation on the said model numbers. The latest rumor states that the HTC 10 will launch with a slightly cheaper variant that will come equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 SoC, and it now seems that model may in fact be a Desire addition. The information comes from ROM developer LlabTooFer (@LlabTooFeR) who tweeted that HTC will release a handset code-named "A56," which will be under the company's Desire lineup. "Along with Perfume, HTC will release another Desire phone, [code name] is A56. This device will have both Single and DualSIM versions," tweeted Llab TooFer. In February, we also reported how HTC's trio of new handsets from its Desire lineup became glammed up with streetwear fashion-inspired designs. TheDesire 530, Desire 630 and Desire 825 all feature a micro splash effect on their polycarbonate build. "HTC has built its reputation on pairing industry-leading design with smart features," says Chialin Chang, president of sales at HTC. "But with customers also seeking personalization, and individuality in addition to treating their phones as fashion accessories, we have needed to create something different. So, today we're launching the most unique Desire devices." HTC's Desire lineup of devices covers a wide range of device classes, which could start from the entry-level and end up to the near high-end right before the threshold that would cover the mid-range and flagship levels. It is speculated that the mysterious handset that would launch alongside the HTC 10 will be a Desire smartphone and not a variant of the flagship. Bearing the moniker A56, the Desire handset could just belong to the higher end of the lineup's mid-range spectrum. With HTC's April event only a few days away, it is but natural to expect that more details on the mysterious phone would be revealed prior to the event. HTC is holding the event on April 12 in three locations simultaneously: New York (8 a.m.), London (1 p.m.) and Taipei (8 p.m.). Along with Perfume, HTC will release another Desire phone, codename is A56. This device will have both Single and DualSIM versions. LlabTooFeR (@LlabTooFeR) April 4, 2016 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn has taken a stunning new image of the ringed planet. The new picture of Saturn shows the second-largest planet in the solar system half-lit by the distant sun. The photograph was recorded from 1.2 million miles away from the massive planet. Saturn's northern hemisphere is currently approaching summer, during which time high latitudes are exposed to constant sunlight, much like what happens on Earth. This orientation can be seen in the angle of the terminator, where day meets night. "This view looks toward the sunlit side of the rings from about 7 degrees above the ring plane. The image was taken with the Cassini spacecraft wide-angle camera on Feb. 19, 2016 using a spectral filter that preferentially admits wavelengths of near-infrared light centered at 752 nanometers. North on Saturn is up and rotated 20 degrees to the right," Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) officials report on their Web site. Each pixel in the new black-and-white image represents roughly 68 miles from side to side. The Cassini spacecraft was launched from Earth in October 1997, arriving at Saturn in 2004. This observatory is one of the largest, heaviest, most complex probes ever launched into space. Traveling with the orbiting observatory was the Huygens lander, which set down on the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in January 2005. "Cassini completed its initial four-year mission to explore the Saturn System in June 2008, and the first extension, called the Cassini Equinox Mission, in September 2010. Now, the healthy spacecraft is making exciting new discoveries in a second extension called the Cassini Solstice Mission," NASA reports on the Cassini mission page. Recent research suggests the rings of Saturn came into being after dinosaurs began to roam the Earth. During the last phase of its mission, engineers will direct the vehicle into a hazardous, yet potentially awarding, set of orbits known as the Grand Finale. The craft will begin its swan song with 20 daring passes just outside the narrow F ring surrounding Saturn. This will be followed by a last flyby of the massive moon Titan. Then, the vehicle will pass within the innermost ring of the gas giant 22 times, collecting a vast amount of data on the planet, completing the mission. Cassini is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Accepting that climate change is happening, and not merely relying on financial support from wealthy nations, is the key for poor countries to survive the effects of climate change, experts say. Embracing that a different type of climate may alter the way of life could be the big motivating push that the most vulnerable nations need to be able to adapt and respond efficiently to the changing world. While it is important to have lots of financial resources to support technologies and start projects to combat climate change, that is not the main solution. Surviving is not about the money, it is about having the willingness to fight climate change early on before things get worse. Embracing Change, Especially Leaders The University of Notre Dame has come up with a Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN), which sums up the vulnerability of nations to climate change and other global problems together with their preparedness to boost resilience. According to the index managers, adaptation is rooted in embracing change. "Many countries are grappling with a hierarchy of needs that puts climate risk close to the bottom," says Joyce Coffee, the managing director of ND-GAIN. The most pronounced challenge in poor countries is to tackle poverty and its effects on things that matter the most, like health. Coffee says this acceptance of change will not be realized within a nation unless the leaders do so themselves. Coffee cites the situation of African nation Ivory Coast as an example. In the said country, cocoa is the main product for export. However, since the plants are very sensitive to temperature changes and takes years to grow, the industry is at the greatest risk of peril because of climate change. Now, if the government will not help the farmers realize the changes, anticipate the effects and prepare for what is about to come, it will be difficult for those who have managed to get out of poverty to triumph over climate change. Ivory Coast has made tremendous improvements in solidifying its foundation to help the nation manage climate-related risks. In fact, the nation has ranked better by nearly 20 points in the vulnerability and preparedness list of ND-GAIN involving 192 other countries. Willingness Of The Wealthy To Help During the December 2015 Paris conference, which was attended by numerous world leaders, wealthy countries agreed to give away $100 billion through the year 2020 to aid nations that have been identified by the United Nations as the least developed cope with climate change. The money will be placed in the Green Climate Fund, which collates grants from different rich countries and private firms. The United States even announced a much more ambitious pledge during that time as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the country is looking at doubling the $430 million it has given out in 2014 over the next four years. But then again, while these financial aids are significantly beneficial, the most essential first step for efficient adaptation to climate change is acceptance. Global Index Results The ND-GAIN uses 25 years' worth of data to rank 192 nations every year on their readiness to tackle risks made more severe by climate change. The index specifically looks at factors such as food insecurity, insufficient infrastructure, overcrowding and civil clashes. The top five countries considered to be the most vulnerable and least ready to handle climate change are Eritrea, Chad, the Central African Republic, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On the other end of the spectrum, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany round up the top five least vulnerable nations. These nations ideally will support their neighbors in terms of finances. Worthy to mention are the countries that have improved their rankings. These nations include the Philippines, Poland, Mongolia, Laos, Russia and the Solomon Islands, among others. These countries are said to have improved their sanitation, agricultural efficiency and availability of potable water, while reducing slum areas and childhood malnutrition. Climate Change: Taking A Toll On Human Health On April 4, the White House released a new report, which details what climate change means for public health and families. The report explains the different health consequences that humans may have to suffer as climate continues to change. Among these health woes are allergies and asthma due to air pollution, premature deaths due to extreme heat, earlier occurrence of Lyme disease due to warm winters and spring, water-related medical conditions and increased exposure to toxins. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Humanoid robots have body shapes that are designed to resemble that of a human. On the surface, the expected human response to these robots is to view them as friendly, non-threatening computers. However, a new study conducted by Stanford University found that humanoid robots could elicit an emotional response from humans. In fact, touching humanoid robots in their intimate areas trigger feelings of arousal and discomfort. This discovery has several implications for the theory of artificial systems and robot design, experts said. Touch As A Powerful Tool Of Communication Previous studies have investigated gestures and speech as forms of interactions between humans and robots, but there is nothing quite as distinct and compelling as touch, researchers said. "Our work shows that robots are a new form of media that is particularly powerful," said Stanford social scientist Jamy Li, lead author of the study. Touch is a great tool of communication that is understudied when it comes to human-robot interaction, he said. Li explained that the typical notions we have of interacting through touch is by using touch screens, but it is different with humanoid robots. These robots' interfaces are bodies rather than flat panels. In order to study the role of touch in robot-human interactions, the Stanford research team experimented with the NAO robot, a small humanoid from Aldebaran Robotics in France. This tiny machine can recognize objects and faces, walk upright, understand and express emotions and react to touch and voice commands. Li and her colleagues programmed the NAO robot to verbally instruct 10 study participants, who were fitted with an Affectiva-Q sensor on the finger of their non-dominant hands, to touch 13 parts of its body. The sensors measured the electric conductivity of their skin, which reflected how much they were sweating. The sensors also assessed how long it took the participants to emotionally respond to the robot's instructions. Researchers found that most of the participants were uncomfortable in touching the NAO robot's intimate parts, like the buttocks. One of the participants simply did not touch the robot at all in its intimate parts. Li said there was heightened physiological arousal, meaning that the volunteers were more awake, more alert and paid more attention when asked to touch the intimate parts. Implications Of The Study The findings of the study suggest that people still interact with robots in a primitive way. Li said that when a robot appears to look and talk like a person, people tend to treat it like a real person, even when they consciously know that it is a robot. It also suggests that touch is a very compelling way in which people can interact with robots. Meanwhile, Li said further studies can explore interactions with other kinds of robots, such as the ones that are not humanlike. The team will present their study in Fukuoka, Japan at the International Communication Association conference on June 13. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson announced his resignation on April 5 after leaked documents revealed that he and his wife had established a company in the British Virgin Islands that had large claims on the country's banks, creating a conflict of interest for the public official. The documents, which are now known as the Panama Papers, revealed substantial information about the assets of more than 200,000 companies and 14,000 clients of a Panamanian law firm known as Mossack Fonseca. Based on the leaked documents, Gunnlaugsson failed to disclose his involvement in a company known as Wintris Inc., which his wife had bought in 2007 using money she gained from the sale of her family's business. Gunnlaugsson did not declare his interest in the company to authorities when he became a member of Iceland's parliament in 2009, as well as when he assumed the office of prime minister in 2013. The prime minister's office said that this was an oversight because Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned a joint bank account. However, this excuse was unacceptable to many of the country's citizens, who took to the streets in protest. With Gunnlaugsson's resignation, his deputy prime minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, is set to assume leadership of both Iceland's government and the Progressive Party. Panama Papers Many of Mossack Fonseca's clients involved in the leaked documents are high-ranking officials in several international governments, causing people from their respective countries to call for criminal investigations and the outright resignation of all those involved in the controversy. In the United Kingdom, people have called on the government of Prime Minister David Cameron to launch an inquiry on what they consider bald hypocrisy among officials, who have been pushing for financial transparency for years. The Panama Papers showed that Cameron's family has maintained undisclosed wealth in several tax havens overseas. Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif refused demands to step down from his office made by members of the opposition. He pointed out that he legally acquired his wealth and that his opponents should present evidence to back up their claims of any wrongdoing on his part. Sharif's daughter has also issued a challenge to their critics through Twitter to "prove or apologize." Chinese President Xi Jinping's brother-in-law was also one of those named in the leaked documents. However, the government has dismissed the accusations as a groundless attack and has ordered media censors to block any Internet search in the country regarding Panama. In Russia, government officials have denounced the Panama Papers, calling it a baseless attack designed to discredit President Vladimir Putin. The country's prosecutor general's office, however, said that it will launch an investigation regarding the possible involvement of prominent Russians in the illegal activities of offshore companies. Meanwhile, the government of Panama said on Tuesday that it is ready to defend the reputation of the country. Alvaro Aleman, chief of staff of President Juan Carlos Varela, told reporters that the government could retaliate following France's announcement that it plans to place Panama on its blacklist of known havens for tax evaders. Aleman asserted that no company in the county has been proven of any wrongdoing with regard to the Panama Papers. Photo: Control Arms | Flickr 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Robots cannot only resemble human appearance but also elicit similar physiological responses. A study conducted by researchers from Stanford University found that when study participants touched the robot's sensitive parts, there was hesitation and discomfort, increased alertness, and improved attention. The humanoid robots verbally instructed the volunteers and asked them to touch their private parts. Based on the participant's reaction, researchers concluded that people react in a primitive way when interacting with robots that look like humans. Study lead author Jamy Li believes that touch, as part of communication with robots, deserve more studies. "Our work shows that robots are a new form of media that is particularly powerful," said Li. Experts believe that the employment of touch in human-robot interaction would greatly impact robot design and development of artificial systems in the future. "What kind of relationships will people develop with these robots? While they are clearly not human, social convention such as body accessibility may apply to robots as well," scientists said. A Peek At The Future Of Robotics Will humans refer to humanoid robots as sexual partners in the future? Japanese android firm, SoftBank thinks so, as they warn buyers of their android robot to refrain from performing sexual acts with the bot. SoftBank's new generation android robot, Pepper, was developed to help in daily activities in Japan but the company, in its user agreement, stated that, "The policy owner must not perform any sexual act or engage the robot in any indecent behavior." Many believe that humanoid robots can be objectified as a sexual companion rather than just a bot to help around daily activities. Campaign Against Sex Robots published a paper that the creation of humanoid robots would have negative ramifications, such as sexual objectification of women and children and loss of human empathy. "As humanoid robots become more widespread it is necessary to develop an engaged ethical response to the development of these new technologies" the group said. Recently, a 42-year-old man from Hong Kong created his life-like robot that resembles Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson. About 70 percent of the humanoid robot, that can move and respond with phrases, was created using 3D printing technology. It looks like humanoid robots will soon be part of our everyday existence. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Ford Motor Company announced on April 5 that it will invest $1.6 billion in order to build a new manufacturing plant in Mexico, which will produce more small cars starting in 2018. The company's plan, however, is met with heavy criticism from members of its U.S. union as well as from Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who called the impending factory construction "an absolute disgrace." According to Ford, construction on the new car manufacturing plant in the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi will help produce 2,800 jobs by 2020. The move is believed to be part of Ford's plan to transfer the manufacture of lower-priced yet slow-selling cars from one of its plants in Michigan to another site. The American automaker, however, did not specify which of its cars will be built in the San Luis Potosi plant. Dennis Williams, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), said that Ford's planned move to Mexico is "very troubling," arguing that it could create jobs that should have been made available to workers in the United States. He said that the move shows the inadequacies of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the proposed trade pact Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). "Companies continue to run to low-wage countries and import back into the United States," Williams pointed out. "This is a broken system that needs to be fixed." Ford's announcement also coincided with the Wisconsin primary that was attended by three of the Republican Party's leading presidential candidates: Governor John Kasich of Ohio, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and real estate magnate Donald Trump. Trump, who has been a vocal critic of Ford and other American companies that choose to make investments in Mexico, said that he will put a stop to such moves if he is elected president of the United States. "These ridiculous, job-crushing transactions will not happen when I am president," Trump said. Despite these criticisms, Ford said that it remains committed to its plan of improving the profitability of its small-car lineup through the investment in Mexico. The carmaker asserted that the country not only has more competitive supplier and labor costs, but it also provides the company with good logistics and support from its government. Mexico is also an ideal shipping location, which allows Ford to connect with a number of countries that have trade agreements with the Mexican government. As far as accusations that the carmaker has chosen to focus on making investments in Mexico than in the United States, Ford said that it has put in more than $10 billion worth of investments in the United States from 2011 to 2015, leading to the creation of 25,000 additional jobs. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. When Paul Walker died, his Fast and Furious family was one of the first to mourn his loss. The pain of losing a loved one never goes away, but different people cope differently. Where Vin Diesel thrust himself into work to deal with his loss, Michelle Rodriguez turned to the psychedelic Ayahuasca. Rodriguez is part of The Reality of Truth, a documentary hosted by Mike Zapolin and featuring Deepak Chopra, which explores the relationship between religion, spirituality and psychedelics. In a clip, the actress talked a bit about her experience with Ayahuasca, which led to her sharing a few things in the end as well about the pain of losing Walker. "I have to say, you know, when I lost Paul, I went through about a year of just being an animal," she said, noting how she was looking at all sorts of things to help get her mind off how fleeting life is and what even is a person's purpose for existing to begin with. Deeply saddened by Walker's passing, Rodriguez confessed to going a bit crazy over the summer, doing everything she possibly could to hide from herself. According to her, experiencing Ayahuasca made her sad that Walker is gone. "[But] it wasn't a sadness that he's gone; it's more like a jealousy that he's there first," she clarified. In the documentary, Rodriguez uses Ayahuasca while in Peru. A traditional spiritual medicine brewed for ceremonies, the plant is cherished for its ability to bring about awakening and enlightenment. Arianne Cohen wrote for Elle: "Ayahuasca is the yoga of drugs: Mushrooms and acid might open your eyes, but this heals." Or at least that's what she was told before she tried it out for herself. Since chronicling her first taste, she has taken Ayahuasca several times. Despite the drug being largely scientifically undocumented, it called out to Cohen because of the clarity it provided her to help address her personal and professional issues. Despite the warning that religions, governments and businesses are trying to suppress it, The Reality of Truth was released on Feb. 19. Watch the documentary's official trailer below: 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The deadline was issued March 24 ... and it has been ticking down ever since. Now, with exactly 15 days to go, prominent environmental regulators have doubts that Volkswagen will be able to hit its April 21 deadline to come up with an agreed-upon proposal for how it's going to bring nearly 600,000 compromised diesel vehicles into compliance with U.S. emissions standards. According to Reuters, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Gina McCarthy told reporters Tuesday that although VW and regulators are engaged in "really robust" talks, she's uncertain if they can come to terms on an agreement for a possible fix by April 21. Within that, she didn't divulge about whether regulators would possibly accept the embattled automaker buying back manipulated vehicles or coming up with a way to partially fix them. Why the doubt? Well, because VW may still not have a grip on how to fix its ongoing emissions fix in a way to appease the EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB), with a full fix possibly being out of the question altogether. Last month, a California regulator revealed that the state could allow partial fixes on compromised diesel vehicles, although McCarthy seemed to cast slight doubt on that possible remedy, too. "I wouldn't take any single signal as the direction of those negotiations or where any final agreement - if we reach one - will end up," McCarthy said, as reported by Reuters. Yet, a VW spokesperson vowed to Reuters that the company is working hard in talks with the EPA and CARB to come up with a possible fix within the next 15 days. This dicey situation comes after optimism when U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer originally issued the automaker the deadline on March 24. "I would hope by the 21st that as many astounding issues as possible will be wrapped up," Breyer said at the time, according to CBS. CBS also reported that Breyer said ex-FBI director Robert Mueller informed him that VW, the EPA, CARB and lawyers representing class-action lawsuits for affected vehicle owners have made progress in their talks and that a resolution is expected. If VW fails to strike a deal with U.S. regulators, Breyer could put the company on trial as soon as this summer. 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Android wins the battle against iOS, thanks to poor iPhone 6s sales Apple is said to be going through an innovation crisis, as the company has hardly launched revolutionary products in the last couple of years. Further, the Silicon Valley giant is concentrating more on reinventing products that were designed a few years ago, which in turn has led to drop in adoption figures in major markets. iOS also appears to have been affected by the poor demand for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, which were launched in September 2015 as revives of the core devices launched one year before. With the drop in demand for new iPhones, which is expected to fall below the 200 million mark this year, more users are shifting to Android these days indicate new data provided by Kantar. With increase in Androids domination and improved shares in almost every single country, Apples iOS has lost users in the biggest markets. European performance For example, in Europe, Android has achieved increases in every single market, attaining a growth of no less than 6.7 percent in the EU5 region (February 2015 versus February 2016). The main change was noticed in Italy where Android enhanced its share by 12.1 percentage points, reaching a record 78.4 percent. On the other hand, in the same country, iOS actually lost 3.2 percent and dropped to 14.3 percent. In France, Android achieved a growth of 9.1 percent to settle at 71.8 percent, while iOS fell down by 1.7 percent to reach 19.9 percent. However, Spain was the sole country where iOS actually bettered its share, as the platform went up 0.4 points to achieve 9.1 percent. Android also managed an increase of 2.0 percent to reach no more, no less than 90 percent. This implies that in Spain, 9 out of 10 phones are powered by Android, which is very impressive. US performance Even though US remains the key market for iOS, things are not shaping well for the operating system here either. At present, Android is working in 58.9 percent of the devices in the country, a 3.3 percent rise over February 2015, while iOS lost 0.5 percent of its share and dropped to 38.3 percent. The other mobile platforms there dont even count because Windows reduced to 2.2 percent from 2.6 percent, while the Other category went down to no less than 0.2 percent. According to Kantar, current buyers are not interested to spend money on a high-end device and thats why Android is growing so fast, as there are far more affordable choices when it comes to Googles OS. However, this news should not dishearten Apple, as the iPhone SE could also see growing sales and thus help the iOS recovery on the short term. Lauren Guenveur, mobile analyst for Kantar Worldpanel ComTech explained, In the US, the average spend on purchasing a smartphone in the three months ending February was $352. For Android buyers that meant that roughly 69% of consumers reported spend under $350, while for iOS buyers, that share was 39%. This represents a unique opportunity for the newly launched iPhone SE, which, at a $399 price point, will likely appeal to more cost-conscious first-time smartphone buyers who might otherwise be more inclined to pick up an Android smartphone, and to the sizable installed base of iPhone owners who have not yet upgraded. A group of malicious cyber actors has had access to U.S. government files for years, says FBI According to an FBI alert obtained by Motherboard, a mysterious hacking group has had access to U.S. government files for years whom security experts believe to be the government-sponsored hacking group known as APT6. The hackers may still be able to tap off data from government computer networks. Their activities which have gone unnoticed for years apparently dates back to 2011, and may be linked to attacks on the U.S. governments computer infrastructure originating in 2008. According to Motherboard, the alert that is also available online shows that foreign government hackers are still successfully hacking and stealing data from US governments servers. APT6 group also known as Advanced Persistent Threat 6, have compromised and stolen sensitive information from various government and commercial networks since 2011, the FBI says. While the FBI did not comment on the alert, it only said that it was just another instance of a routine notice to private partners, provided in order to help systems administrators guard against the actions of persistent cyber criminals. This group of persistent cyber criminals is especially persistent. According to sources within the antivirus and threat intelligence industry, the group is none other than the APT6 hacking group. Old reports indicate that APT6 is a codename given to a group believed to be working for the Chinese government. Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab told Motherboard that APT6 is one of the earlier APTs. They definitely go back further than 2011 or whatevermore like 2008 I believe, researcher Kurt Baumgartner said. While he did not clarify if APT6 is linked to the Chinese government as doubted by some people, he said that its targets align with the interest of a state-sponsored attacker. Kyrk Storer, a spokesperson with FireEye, confirmed that the domains listed in the alert were associated with APT6 and one of their malware backdoors, and that the hackers targeted the US and UK defense industrial base. APT6 is likely a nation-state sponsored group based in China, according to FireEye, which has been dormant for the past several years. The FBI published an extensive list of websites in the alert that are part of command and control servers that launch phishing attacks. While domains controlled by the hackers were suspended as of late December 2015, according to the alert, it is unclear whether the threat has been removed. However, some security experts believe that hackers would still be able to move freely inside U.S. government computers. Looks like they were in for years before they were caught, God knows where they are, information security expert Michael Adams told Motherboard. Adams who reviewed the alert has served more than two decades in the US Special Operations Command. Anybody whos been in that network all this long, they could be anywhere and everywhere. Adams further added that the alert is almost admittance that the government has no hold over its own computer network. Its just flabbergasting, he said. How many times can this keep happening before we finally realized were screwed? Source: Motherboard The Tour dArgent in Paris is to auction off another chunk of its fabled cellar next month. The venerable restaurant, whose dining room looks out across Notre Dame, was founded in 1582 and became one of Frances most prestigious dining institutions. In the 19th century, Tsar Alexander II of Russia discussed politics here with Otto von Bismarck and King Wilhelm I of Prussia. Its tables have played host to movie stars and US Presidents while Napoleons personal chef once ran its kitchen. As for the cellar, its revered vaults house more than 350,000 bottles of wine. Auctioneers have described going in there as feeling, like being an archaeologist - rows and rows of bottles, as far as the eye can see, many of which have lain untouched for more than a century. The Conagua indicated that the atmospheric phenomenon registered maximum sustained winds of 140 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 165 kilometers per hour. | Read More Wants To Direct NTR; Not Interested On Akhil Director Vamsi Paidipally is getting rave appreciations for his clever narration Oopiri film. Earlier it was reported that Nag has roped in Vamsi to work with Akhil for second film. It was also said that the film will be an adoption of Bollywood super hit film 'Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani'. Now grapevine has that Vamsi is not showing interest to direct Akhil as he will get labelled as remake specialist .It is revealed that Vamsi is looking forward for Jr NTR's dates as they have a story already in hands. Vamsi earlier directed NTR's Brundavanm movie and he was having close rapport with Tarak and call him as Annayya. Vamsi feels that NTR will do full justice for the script that he has prepared. NTR is busy with shooting of Janata Graage and the film will hit screens on August. He has already gave nod to Puri Jagannath, Even director Hanu Raghapudi has narrated a love subject to NTR few days ago and the actor didn't find any reason to turn down the proposal. So let's wait and see whether Vamsi will get chance to direct NTR for second time or not. News Posted: 6 April, 2016 'Kshanam' Remake to have Star Hero's Real Ex GF Tollywood film Kshanam starring Adivi Sesh has received good response in telugu states. Now the film is going to Bollywod and superstar Salman has given his nod to the remake which is to be produced by Sajid Nadiadwala. Salman recently watched the film along with Sajid and now the actor has shown a keen interest in remaking the film. He has already purchased the Hindi remake rights and will work on the film next year. The story is about a guy who is approached by his ex girlfriend to help rescue her kidnapped daughter.Interestingly, Salman's ex-flame Sangeeta Bijlani is planning to make comeback with this film. If all goes as planned Sangeeta will be seen reprising role played by Adah Sharma. Looks like, this film will be a perfect comeback for the actress. Although there have been no confirmations yet, knowing Salman's closeness to Sangeeta, we won't be surprised if Sallu re-launches Bijlani once again in the tinsel town. Directed by Ravikanth Perepu, Kshanam which released in Feb this year starred Adivi Sesh and Adah Sharma. Kshanam is about an NRI from USA who comes to India in search of the daughter of his ex-girlfriend. News Posted: 6 April, 2016 Advani's Wife Dies After Heart Attack Veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani has suffered a personal loss. Advani's wife Kamla Advani died on Wednesday following a heart attack. Mrs Advani had been unwell for some time and had been admitted to the AIIMS hospital earlier today. Advani and his wife celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2014. She had been suffering from age-related problems for some time and was on wheelchair for the last few months.As the news of her death broke, several eminent personalities offered their condolences. Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences and pay tribute via twitter. ''Deeply pained & saddened by Kamla Advani ji's demise. She always inspired & motivated Karyakartas & was LK Advani ji's pillar of strength.I recall my many interactions with Kamla Advani ji. My thoughts are with the Advani family in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace'' modi Wrote Congress president Sonia Gandhi also sent condolence messages to Advani. News Posted: 6 April, 2016 What new initiatives is the PCCI currently involved in? YAO: Right now we are focused on the ASEAN integration. It is first and foremost in the agenda nowadays of the PCCI. What will the ASEAN integration mean for business? YAO: The ASEAN is composed of 10 countries. By December of this year, we will be like the EU. It will be one economic block, one region, no tariff, everything is duty free. And there will be free trade. Only the currencies will be different. We are now focusing on the implications of zero tariff on some industries. We will also work on non-tariff barriers. If you can produce more efficiently than those in other ASEAN countries, then youll be competitive and be able to maximize benefits from this regional grouping of 600 million consumers. What types of businesses or companies are you currently targeting to bring to the Philippines? YAO: The PCCI is inviting companies from all non-ASEAN countries to put up manufacturing plants here, and use the Philippines as a hub to export to the ASEAN counties. As I said, ASEAN has a 600 million population. These investors can utilize the Philippines as a hub and bring in technology. We are fast learners. We have an abundance of skilled human resources. The PCCI is considered by the government as the voice of industry, and I would like to take this opportunity to invite investors to come here. Our laws are very clear, and they will be well-protected. 100% ownership by foreigners is allowed. This is the best time to come in. Dont be late, grab the opportunity. How competitive is the Philippines in terms of economic growth and business climate? YAO: For the past 5-6 years, we have experienced a steady GDP growth of 6 to 7%, second to China. The investment climate is conducive. As businessmen, we are very optimistic about the future of the Philippines. I think as far as the business climate is concerned, we are very competitive. We have abundant skilled human resources and were an English speaking country. Our people are very talented, fast learners, and willing to learn. Though power costs are an issue, local industries are very competitive. The GDP growth will continue even during the next administration. The way I look at it, 5-6% is not a problem. Which economic sectors are performing well at the moment? In which areas does the Philippines remain competitive? YAO: The Philippine economy is consumer-driven. Manufacturing is steadily recovering. Garments is a viable industry here. However, we were overtaken by countries like Bangladesh because of pricing. Source link Residents of Caragabal say no prime minister - sitting or former - has ever passed through their sleepy town. So when one finally trundled through on Wednesday, it was a good thing he came bearing gifts. But the present Tony Abbott clasped in his hands wasn't exactly what the parched NSW township - which has literally run out of water - or 11-year-old locals Angus Troth and Polly Napier were looking for. "Well I can't give you water but Angus, Polly, would you like to accept this book?" the former PM asked, his upward inflection dripping with hope. "I'm not sure whether it will be the most popular book in the library, but someone might take it out at some stage." Not since Monica Lewinsky has a blue dress captivated the attention of so many political pundits. However, occasional Liberal worker Tamara Candy is unapologetic of her style some call "dangerous". The 27-year-old PhD student made headlines when she was photographed wearing a plunging blue sequin cocktail dress alongside former Queensland premier Campbell Newman and former Queensland MP Neil Symes last year. Tamara Candy with former Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul. "It's just Canberra prattle," she said of the rumours she was paid to attend the function as Symes' date. "Why is the way I look an issue? Why should a woman, or man, have to fit into a certain stereotype to be legitimate in politics? I believe that the Parliament should reflect society, evenly. Dog owners in Melbourne's west have been warned to be on the lookout for potentially fatal bait traps. News Limited reported on Wednesday that about 12 fish hooks baited with kabana sausage were found in Hoppers Crossing earlier this month. The items were found at two locations - Skeleton Creek reserve, near Grevillia Crescent, and Rosslare Court. Hoppers Crossing resident Werner Bernherdt and his wife were walking their two dogs when they were approached by a women who warned them about the baits. He told News Limited that the women had collected some of the hooks but the couple remained worried that there could be more. Having shot and killed a family friend, Alex Semaan hid in his bungalow at the back of the family home and waited for his fiancee to join him, a court has heard. Crown prosecutor Michele Williams, QC, told a Supreme Court jury Mr Semaan's girlfriend, Megan Beljulji, who was 26 at the time, and his older sister, Hannah Semaan, arrived at the Brunswick East house soon after the shooting. Megan Beljulji and boyfriend Alex Semaan. Ms Williams said Mr Semaan, who is 14 years older than his fiancee, allowed Ms Beljulji to enter the bungalow, where they stayed for several hours, refusing to leave despite repeated requests from police to come out. Special Operations Group officers eventually entered the bungalow just after 2.30am and arrested Mr Semaan. It was allegedly the lie that reeled an unsuspecting photocopy worker into a $195,000 fraud. A sale contract for a $3.19 million boat, flashed in front of a CopyQik store owner by an alleged fraudster who prosecutors say was carefully presenting an image of wealth and success. Frank Fischetti, 54, is facing 12 fraud charges in the ACT Supreme Court. Credit:Tanya Lake Frank John Fischetti, 54, spent two years regularly going to the Canberra store to copy documents. He struck up a friendship with the owner, introducing him to his children and wife. One day in 2013, he allegedly brought in the fake contract for the $3.19 million boat for copying. The more than 200 senior citizens who took part in the annual Aged Care Anzac Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Australian War Memorial on Wednesday found themselves the centre of attention. AWM director Dr Brendan Nelson said they were the most magnificent generation Australia had produced. Australian War Memorial director Brendan Nelson addresses those attending the annual Aged Care Anzac wreath-laying ceremony. Credit:Rohan Thomson "Your generation that has come here today, from the nursing homes, the aged-care facilities and retirement villages come from the most remarkable generation," he said. "Born in the aftermath of the war that was, growing up through the Great Depression, coming to adulthood under the shadows of the war that was coming; a million of you mobilised in a war that was no mere extension of World War I," he said. Visiting hours for inmates at Canberra's jail will be overhauled under a new plan being trialled by ACT Corrective Services. From May, detainees will have access to two one-hour visitor sessions between Wednesday and Sunday, down from one possible session available on each of those five days. Corrections Minister Shane Rattenbury and Alexander Maconochie Centre operations manager Don Taylor tour the jail's special care centre. Credit:Rohan Thomson The new schedule has six one-hour slots per day, as opposed to four sessions under the existing plan, and the visiting hours are sorted by which section of the prison the detainees are housed in. But Alexander Maconochie Centre manager Don Taylor said the new schedule would be fairer for prisoners and more efficient for prison staff and visitors. Bank of Queensland boss Jon Sutton is racing to shore up profit with its first variable interest rate rise independent of the major banks, as he sees funding costs staying high due to fears over global growth and Australia's outlook. The move will help slow growth in new loans, which were up 10 per cent compared with the first half of 2015, allowing the bank to achieve a higher loan growth rate than the market average for the first time in several years. Bank of Queensland CEO Jon Sutton says the increases are necessary ''to help us achieve the appropriate balance between growth, asset quality and profitability''. Credit:Steven Siewart The loan growth also led to a reduction in the bank's tier-one capital level to 8.8 per cent when most other banks are raising their capital levels in light of regulatory requirements. Despite slower loan growth profits may improve due to higher rates. The bank will next week lift interest rates 0.12 percentage points to 5.86 per cent for owner-occupiers and 0.25 percentage points to 6.28 per cent for investors. This is on top of an industry-wide interest rate rise including 0.18 per cent by BoQ in November and a rise in investor loan rates in August. The current buzzword in the financial services sector is "culture". From bank executives proclaiming employee (mis)conduct that is inconsistent with their company's culture, to regulators seeking to operationalise culture into a legislative standard and, most recently, David Murray, who led the Financial System Inquiry, invoking moral panic that enforcement of culture could thrust Australia into a neo-Nazi era. The idea that efforts to enforce corporate culture are akin to the actions of Hitler is misinformed on many levels. It adopts a passive view of culture and neglects the fact all employees are active players in shaping company culture. Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram examined the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience. Prompted by the explanation given by Nazi soldiers for their conduct towards the Jews during the war, he designed a social experiment involving ordinary volunteers aged between 20 and 50 role-playing in a "learning" research. One volunteer was the "teacher" and one a "learner". Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer has vowed to fight allegations it manipulated the bank bill swap rate, as he confirmed the bank had not stood down any staff over the affair. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission this week published taped conversations between traders in court documents alleging manipulation of the key benchmark rate, but Mr Hartzer on Wednesday said the bank believed there were valid reasons for the traders' comments. "We don't think we've done anything wrong, we don't think any of our people have done anything wrong on the basis of the information that we've seen. We think ASIC's got it wrong, therefore we still employ those people and they're still doing their jobs," Mr Hartzer told journalists in Sydney. "We will vigorously defend the allegations against us. We observe that the operation of the bank bill swap rate market is very complex. Managing a big bank's balance sheet is very complex, and there are a lot of perfectly valid reasons why different kinds of trading go on at different times." Children as young as six months are being prescribed psychiatric medication for fabricated medical reports used in fraudulent compulsory third party insurance claims. It is just one of the dishonest methods being targeted by the NSW government's compulsory third party fraud task force. The task force was set up to examine unusual claims patterns and possible exaggeration of injuries and medical expenses, following a 39 per cent jump in the number of CTP claims in Sydney between 2008 and 2014. It is already investigating a number of suspicious claims following tip-offs. Big isn't always better when it comes to Australian businesses wanting to capitalise on the so-called Asian dining boom, says the boss of a Vietnamese dairy company. Tran Bao Minh chief executive of International Dairy Products says big firms can be too slow to deliver products to meet fast changing consumer tastes across Asia. For example, he said one large overseas company he recently dealt with took 18 months to two years to deliver a product to market. "That's not suitable for the Asian market when the demand is changing fast and consumers are constantly looking for new and better products," Mr Minh said. On April 1, 2015, the Canadian government announced it would accept 10,000 Syrian refugees. This was on top of the 25,000 refugees the country had already settled over the past few months. Since Justin Trudeau became Prime Minister on November 4, 2015, Canada's government has transformed its response to Syrian refugees, generating huge amounts of goodwill and generosity among the people of Canada and providing a safe new start for thousands of Syrian families. Photo op: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, left, greets refugees fleeing Syria, during their arrival in Toronto. Credit:Nathan Denette Just months earlier, Canada's stance towards Syrian refugees was anything but generous. On September 2, 2015, images of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi lying on a beach on the Mediterranean Sea were broadcast across global media channels, his fate highlighting Canada's harsh immigration policies; the fatal ocean crossing was a last-ditch attempt at a better life by his desperate parents, who had unsuccessfully applied several times to legally seek asylum in Canada. In the lead-up to the child's death, Canada's then prime minister Stephen Harper's government had settled about 2500 Syrian refugees over three years. Resettling procedures were hampered by slow processing times and a bias towards non-Muslim applicants. Australian politics is now effectively in campaign mode. It might be the informal long campaign rather than the formal short campaign but it means much the same thing. Campaign mode is what happens when the political parties and the media change gear and all eyes are focused on the coming election. Most of what is said has the forthcoming election in mind and is tailored accordingly. It might turn out to be a false start if for whatever reason there is no election on July 2; but if that is the case it only means that we will have an even longer period of campaign mode until whenever the election finally happens. There is no going back from campaign mode once the system has entered it. Campaign mode is not inherently good or bad. Rather it brings with it opportunities and dangers. An extended campaign has an advantage over the short formal campaign in that there is more time for serious, adult political discussion and the atmosphere is not quite so frenetic. But there is also a disadvantage in that many things are not yet on the table. We are still in the dark about the concrete proposals of the competing forces. The best aspect of this extended campaign period is that it can be seen as distillation of the record of the first two and a half years of this government (complicated this time of course by the change of prime ministers after two years). We have more than three months and up to six months to reflect on the major issues that have emerged. What should be the nation's priorities now? What are the matters on which the community would like to see alternative proposals put forward by the government, the opposition and the other parties and parliamentarians? What has emerged are some major issues of process and service delivery. The three big process issues are federal-state relations, the structure of taxation and the place of trade unions in society. The four big service delivery issues are the funding of education, health, disability services and the broadband network. In my former role as chairwoman of the National Capital Authority, I frequently experienced and was deeply impressed by the powerful sense of stewardship of the Territory community in relation to its built and natural environment, its features, heritage and community assets. With that stewardship comes deep knowledge of and insight into what is valuable about Canberra and the places within it. Canberrans are right in wanting to meticulously examine any proposal that seeks to further develop the city, especially in relation to special places like Manuka Oval and the spaces around it. I share this concern, and the natural caution to protect what is valued by the local and broader community. Manuka Oval is a piece of Canberra's physical, social and cultural fabric, with a significant history. It's a cultural institution as much as a sporting facility, and it is a powerful physical and visual element, a landmark pivot point at a key approach to Parliament House. Of particular importance is the fact that it occupies this critical location in the form of a community facility, and as a landscape two characteristics that are at the heart of Canberra's meaning and identity. It is precisely for these reasons that I recommended the design competition process that the Giants and their partners Grocon have now adopted to determine the ultimate design proposal for the precinct. As has been reported, the Giants propose to run a design competition in accordance with the recommendations of the Australian Institute of Architects. I have provided advice to the Giants to inform how that process will be run and how it will be judged. The criteria for assessing the design will be determined with a focus on urban, architectural and landscape design quality, led through the design jury process and in line with AIA policy. The concerns are further highlighted by Anne-Maree Kaser, CEO of Windana in Victoria, "Our challenge is simply trying to meet the growing demand of individuals and families searching for treatments that will help them and their loved ones at a time when they need help and are vulnerable. It is with enduring frustration that we turn people away or have to suggest they come back in six months' time. When people present for help, their capacity to enter into a program, accept their role and responsibility in their recovery journey and commit to change, is at its peak." In Australia, we have been fortunate to have a national drug strategy which emphasises the three pillars of demand reduction, supply reduction and harm reduction. Demand reduction requires support and treatment facilities to help people recover from dependence and to reintegrate with the community. Harm reduction seeks to reduce the adverse health, social and economic consequences of the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Supply reduction is important but strategies must work in partnership and this includes increasing the number of drug courts. ATCA members are also working effectively within the prison system. Three of the association's members provide prison-based rehabilitation services, and the association would like to see an increase in treatment for those in custody. In New Zealand, where ATCA has six members, nine of the 16 therapeutic communities there are based in prisons. A 2015 report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, draws attention to the fact that 67 per cent of prison entrants reported illicit drug use in the 12 months prior to prison entry. Recent illicit drug use was more common among younger prisoners, with over 76 per cent of those aged 1824 taking illicit drugs in the last 12 months, compared with 53 per cent of those aged 45 and over. The adoption of a wide-ranging funding strategy that includes needle and syringe programs, new drug courts and 'care and recovery' case management must also include an increase to the total number of beds for clients. Jonathan Unleashed by Meg Rosoff. This is the first adult novel by Meg Rosoff, the award-winning, best-selling American author of How I Live Now (2004), which was made into a film with Saoirse Ronan. Her five subsequent young-adult and children's books have won a clutch of gongs including The Guardian's children fiction prize, Carnegie Medal, National Book Award and the 2016 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award. Now she changes tack. The question is, what makes an adult novel? It takes courage to make the leap. John Grisham did it in reverse to YA with his teenage detective fiction, admired by many but not by me. He wrote annoyingly down to his readers. Rosoff continues with her uniquely fizzing writing style. But what makes it adult? Sex, for a start; there's lots of that, expletives too, a hint of drugs, androgyny, a wacky wedding. But most of all, she targets her audience with Jonathan, a seemingly deranged hero who talks and listens to dogs. Not for nothing is the book directed to "anyone who has owned a dog, wanted to own a dog, or laughed at a dog on the internet", as the blurb puts it. Clever-sticks Rosoff doesn't sentimentalise, or play silly woof-woof games. She uses the dogs, collie Dante and spaniel Sissy, as a foil for Jonathan to project his outpourings on to them and get their reactions to his fears of looming adulthood. In his early 20s, he is cogitating a 9-to-5 office existence and everything else that entails, when into his life bound two dogs he has to look after for his brother James, en route for Dubai. It is love at first sight when he notices they dislike his girlfriend Julie (whose ambition is solid retirement funds from birth) as much as she dislikes them. In this instance, the protagonist is voyeur and victim in one. Parker (Lindsay Farris) is a surveillance expert, hired to keep tabs on a blonde woman (Stephanie King) from an unfurnished flat on the other side of the street. It should be a simple assignment, but before long he's faced with a moral dilemma: if he suspects that his target is in danger, should he try to help her or just keep doing his job? A clever, low-budget exercise from the young Australian-based director Joseph Sims-Dennett, Observance is a hybrid of two familiar brands of psychological thriller. There's the thriller of voyeurism, like Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window, where a character spies on his neighbours until finally the tables turn. And there's the thriller of claustrophobia, like Roman Polanski's The Tenant, with a victim-hero trapped in an enclosed space viewed as uncanny and threatening in itself. This is the kind of film where little happens but much portends, and where the narrative is hardly more than a pretext for the care put into cinematography, editing and sound design. Sims-Dennett and his team build menace through fleeting images and electronically distorted voices, along with shallow-focus close-ups of mundane domestic details: coffee grounds in an empty cup, liquid swirling down a sink. Everywhere we look, there are signs of something awry: the very walls of the apartment seem infected by a physical sickness that communicates itself to Parker's body, which breaks out in festering wounds. Yet given Parker's instability he's mourning the apparent death of his son, and suffers from bad dreams it's unclear how much of what we see and hear occurs in reality and how much only inside his head. This is not the only mystery that Sims-Dennett and his co-writer Josh Zammit fail to resolve: from early on, it's clear that they're more concerned with sustaining a menacing mood than they are in telling a coherent story. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, but it does risk reducing the film to a "calling card", with the abstract polish of a music video or a slick advertisement. The setting is American, judging by the accents, but only nominally so; Farris modulates his uneasy reactions with skill, but never manages to turn Parker into an interesting character. A bit more humour, and a stronger sense of a society surrounding the main characters, might have allowed Sims-Dennett to lure us further into his sinister imaginative world. For details of screenings see observancemovie.com. If it weren't for a chance night in Canberra, Peking Duk and SAFIA might not have hooked up to pen their dance anthem Take Me Over. But they did and as a result, their collaboration took home two gongs from the Australasian Performing Right Association Awards on Tuesday night. Peking Duk attend the 2016 APRA Music Awards. Credit:Zak Kaczmarek The Canberra outfits won Most Played Australian Work and Dance Work of the Year for Take Me Over, beating out Sia's Chandelier. Peking Duk's 2015 collaboration with SAFIA shot to number 6 on the ARIA charts and placed fifth in Triple J's Hottest 100 in 2014. It's the hottest ticket in New York and now it's coming to Australia. Drowning in Tony award nominations, lauded by the Obamas, parodied by Amy Schumer and sold out until January 2017, the hip-hop musical that follows the life of America's first treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton, is set for our shores. Carleigh Bettiol, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr and Anthony Ramos in Hamilton. Credit:Joan Marcus Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller has told the New York Times the musical will be staged in Australia. "Seller is working with the British producer Cameron Mackintosh on a Hamilton production to open in London in 2017, which will be followed by companies in Continental Europe and Australia. For Hamilton, which does not have special effects or even an elaborate set, casting is everything. Emilia Clarke has revealed her dream Game of Thrones plot line, and it involves a feminist twist. The English actress, who plays Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen on the series, appears on the cover of the May issue of Glamour magazine discussing her character's return in the sixth season of the show, which will premiere in the United States on April 24. After being asked what storyline she would explore if she was "writing some Game of Thrones fan fiction", the 29-year-old revealed she thinks there is certainly an option for the show to employ some full-frontal male eye candy. "I want to see Daenerys and her three dragons share the throne," she joked to Glamour. "Eat goat they've barbecued. And bring back all the pretty boys, get them to take their trousers down, and be like, 'I'm now the queen of everything! I'd like close-ups of all the boys' penises, please.'" Former television news presenter Chris Bath is returning to radio, the medium in which she launched her career three decades ago. Bath will replace ABC 702 Drive host Richard Glover for three weeks from next Monday. "I have had an ongoing conversation with 702 since I left Seven and the opportunity came up to fill in for Richard and I first thought, 'Wow,' and then I thought, 'Huge shoes to fill,' " Bath told Fairfax Media. The police commander on Manus Island has revealed that he was not informed for seven days that one of the men accused of killing asylum seeker Reza Barati had escaped from prison. David Yapu says he is frustrated and angry that he was only alerted to the escape on Monday, when Joshua Kaluvia was due to appear in court for the resumption of his trial. The key witness against Mr Kaluvia remains in the Manus Island detention centre and says his fears for his safety have escalated since the escape. Though neither the Liberals nor Labor consider the party a serious threat, Liberal MPs confirmed the party was stealing "rank and file" members and said there had been a rise in communications from disaffected supporters telling them they were ditching the Coalition for the ALA, following last year's leadership change and the government's subsequent poor performance. The Australian Liberty Alliance (ALA) which was launched in secret in Perth last year by the far-right and anti-immigration Dutch MP Geert Wilders puts its growth down to social media given it has received virtually no mainstream news coverage and claims it had its request to advertise nationally in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp newspapers knocked back. An Australian political party which advocates Donald Trump's idea of banning Muslim immigration says its membership has quadrupled in size since its launch with disaffected National and Liberal party members comprising the bulk of those joining. The ALA's Senate Candidate in New South Wales, Kirralie Smith, told Fairfax Media their meetings were attracting up to 300 followers in metropolitan areas and between 50-100 in the regions. The ALA's NSW Senate candidate Kirralie Smith with Dutch anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders. Credit:Kirralie Smith Facebook "We just get so many Liberal and National party supporters who were paid up members who have quit that party and joined us, they are very vocal in telling us," she said. Queensland Liberal National George Christensen confirmed the ALA was "definitely taking rank and file LNP supporters" but doubted it would translate into enough support for the party to win a senate spot. He said a recent ALA meeting held in Mackay and advertised only on Facebook attracted 50 people. By comparison a meeting he advertised through direct mail attracted 200 attendees. "Without any direct communication, to attract 50 people from a single Facebook message, that's pretty good," he said. Other Liberals who did not want to be named said they were increasingly on the receiving end of emails and social media messages from angry supporters telling them they would be abandoning the Government at the next election for the ALA. Ms Smith could not provide exact membership figures for the party but said they were in the several thousands having increased four-fold since their launch last year. A party in Australia needs 500 members to be registered. Two children remain behind wire in Australian detention centres, despite Immigration Minister Peter Dutton claiming that freeing them all was one of his government's "most significant achievements". Just days after Mr Dutton announced to News Corp's Sunday newspapers that there were "no children in detention" for the first time in almost a decade, Fairfax Media has learned that in fact two children have not been released. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. Credit:Andrew Meares One is understood to be a 15-year old from a European country. Details of the other child are not known. Asked about the case, a spokeswoman for Mr Dutton confirmed on Wednesday "there are two non-IMA [illegal maritime arrival] children on a removal pathway in immigration detention". Recent plane passengers, hostel residents, hospital and medical centre patients are among those at risk of developing measles following confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in Sydney in late March and early April. NSW Health has issued a community alert after four people with measles are known to have been in close contact with large groups of people while they were still infectious but before they were diagnosed. Two travellers spent time in hostels in Cairns and Magnetic Island while they were infectious and then respectively travelled to Sydney on a Virgin Airlines flight on March 28 and a Tiger Airlines flight the following day, the health department said. One of them also spent time in the Royal North Shore Hospital Emergency Department. A Nobel Prize winner and hundreds of Australian scientists fear new laws granting the Department of Defence power to monitor and control sensitive research are designed to intimidate the scientific community. Email correspondence between 470 fellows at the Australian Academy of Science, obtained by Fairfax Media, reveals some of the nation's leading researchers are intimidated by the law and fear it will have a chilling impact on academic freedom. Peter Doherty, Professor Laureate at the University of Melbourne, is among many leading researchers worried by the government's intervention into science. Credit:Penny Stephens The laws, which came quietly into effect on Saturday night, require Australian scientists working on projects of interest to military or intelligence services to seek permission before consulting overseas colleagues. Those who discuss their work without permission risk fines or possible jail time. The laws provide the government with visibility and control over sensitive material that may pose a risk to national security. One man is in hospital and another was arrested after a fight broke out between two drivers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Police believe the fight may have been sparked by an earlier road rage incident, resulting in the two men coming to blows in the south-bound lanes of the Sydney Harbour Bridge about 5.30pm on Tuesday. The fight on the city landmark during peak hour sparked a number of triple zero calls. Police from the Sydney City Local Area command arrived to find a 19-year-old man with a cut to his head. Riot police have forcibly removed a group of protesting students from the University of Sydney library during an event attended by the federal Education Minister Simon Birmingham on Wednesday night. In a video posted to the USyd student news site Honi Soit, police can be seen pulling students to their feet and pushing them through the open glass doorways of the Fisher Library. The group of about 30 students were protesting against the coalition's proposal to deregulate university fees as Mr Birmingham adjudicated a round of the Sydney University's Liberal Club's John Howard Debating Cup. It is understood the vision of the police clashing with protesters was shot before Birmingham had arrived. A man who stabbed his girlfriend's lover to death after finding them in bed together has had his murder conviction quashed after an appeals court found the jury was wrongly directed about returning a majority verdict. Roy Abanales Tabalbag said he was "a demon possessed" as he chased Amin Sthapit around his Darling Point bedsit, stabbing him to death with a chef's knife, on November 11, 2013. Roy Tabalbag with his former girlfriend Geecy Rebucas. Credit:Sydneytoday.com.au Mr Tabalbag, 31, had just discovered his long-time girlfriend Geecy Rebucas naked and having sex with Mr Sthapit, 30, who was her boss at the Golden Sheaf Hotel at Double Bay. Ms Rebucas had told him she would be at work that morning but Mr Tabalbag had become suspicious she was cheating on him and used a phone tracking app to locate her. A lone private plane continues the search for two missing fishermen off the Queensland coast after police admitted their chance of survival was too low to continue the official search. The police-run aerial search for skipper Matthew Roberts and deckhand David Chivers, 60 and 31, was called off on Wednesday. It followed the suspension on Tuesday of a sea search in central Queensland involving a dozen vessels because of rough conditions. Hervey Bay Water Police acting Sergeant Craig Collings said officers would continue to patrol the shoreline near where the duo's boat capsized, off the north-west tip of Fraser Island, for the next few days. What goes up must come down. And so it is with business confidence in Queensland, with the latest Sensis Business Index Survey showing optimism among the state's small and medium businesses has taken a hit in the last quarter. Queensland business confidence has dropped in the latest Sensis Business Index Survey Credit:Glenn Hunt In January, Treasurer Curtis Pitt was celebrating the survey showing Queensland had achieved its "best record" with +35 points, "higher than at any time under the LNP and the equal largest increase of any state, with NSW, with a 22 point lift". But the last three months has seen that reverse, with Sensis reporting the Queensland government "is now viewed as the least supportive of small and medium businesses" with just 12 per cent rating the Palaszczuk Government as supportive. The Palaszczuk Government plans on repealing the VLAD act, a sentencing tool, which set out mandatory and additional sentences to those found to be members of declared criminal organisation. Also set to go are the anti-association aspects of the laws, which ban members of those same declared organisations and their associates from gathering in groups of three or more, regardless of convictions, charges or whether they were wearing their colours, to be replaced with New South Wales anti-consorting laws, which require at least two of the group to have convictions for organised crime charges in the last decade. Queensland will also scrap declaring criminal organisations, and instead focus on the individuals committing organised crime. Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath said the change would broaden the number of people able to be caught within the organised crime net. But while South Australia will be holding on to its anti-association laws, as well as the power to declare criminal organisations, the Palaszczuk Government can point to the Victorian Labor Government as an ally. Victoria also moved forward with anti-gang laws last year, but drew on laws from jurisdictions which had already survived High Court challenges, basing its legislation on the NSW anti-consorting laws Queensland is examining, after the law was declared to be valid in a 2014 challenge. A bake sale that sought to highlight the disparity between wages based on gender, disability, race, sexual identity and ethnicity has ended with online rape and death threats to its female organisers. University of Queensland's Feminist Week, which is hosted by the UQ Union (UQU) and the UQU Women's Collective, holds a range of activities every semester aimed at generating discussion around gender bias in society. A cupcake sale that aimed to highlight the gender pay gap in Australia sparked online rape and death threats. Credit:Simon Schluter The biggest drawcard so far was Tuesday's gender pay gap bake sale, which charged customers based on how they identified, with men charged the most, at $1. "Each baked good will only cost you the proportion of $1 that you earn comparative to men (or, if you identify as a man, all baked goods with cost you $1!)," the UQU outlined on their site. The sister of a man police believe was killed before his body was found in a burnt-out car has described living with her brother's mysterious death as like having your "skin ripped off and walking around raw". Thomas O'Connell was found dead in his burnt-out car in bushland, not far from the Hume Freeway, north of Melbourne in February. Police have now determined Mr O'Connell was killed, before his car was set alight, confirming their suspicions the 32-year-old met with foul play. Homicide squad detectives are now leading the hunt for Mr O'Connell's killers. The two-month delay in opening the murder investigation was due to the long process of identifying the charred body, police said. A bank card and a few possessions; that's what Kylie Blackwood's life was taken for. August 1 marks three years since the suburban wife and mother was cruelly killed in her own home in what is believed to be a bungled burglary in Pakenham in Melbourne's south-east. Her death remains unsolved, but in what homicide squad detectives say is their most significant breakthrough yet, they have linked a white car captured on CCTV to a man who was seen lurking at the Blackwood family home before and after the murder. Footage shows the car, believed to be a late model Nissan Tiida sedan with a rear spoiler, driving into and out of Balmoral Way, which runs off McCaffrey Rise, where the Blackwood family lived, between midday and the early afternoon. A man jailed for the "gutless" act of spitting in the face of a McDonald's worker is out of custody after lodging an appeal against his sentence. Hassan Abdul-Rahim was on Wednesday given a one-month sentence for spitting a large amount of phlegm into the 19-year-old woman's face while he was in a Mercedes-Benz in the drive-through lane of the Essendon fast-food outlet about 5pm on January 13. Some of the saliva went into the woman's mouth and she later had medical tests, Broadmeadows Magistrates Court heard. Abdul-Rahim spent 26 days in custody last month on unrelated offences and was hoping to avoid another jail term, but magistrate Meagan Keogh said she needed to denounce his conduct and was concerned about the impact on the victim. "Spitting is a particularly awful crime; it's pretty gutless in all respects," she said. When William and Pauline Thomas' daughter Jacinta went to their farm near Wangaratta after their alleged murders, she saw a West Australian tablecloth set on the table, which made her feel sick, a court has heard. She believed the tablecloth was a sign of how hard her mother had been trying to welcome her son, Ian, a former sailor who had been living in WA, back to the farm. Pauline and Bill Thomas had been married for 40 years and had five children. Credit:Border Mail Ian Thomas is accused of strangling his mother in a shed before lying in wait for his father and shooting him in the chest. Crown prosecutor Peter Rose, QC, told a Supreme Court jury Mr Thomas had been having an affair with a married woman, Jacinta Emselle, since 2010 and he had confessed to her that he murdered his parents. It has just become easier for Victorian commuters to stand up to sometimes bullish, heavy-handed ticket inspectors doling out unjust myki fines. A group of young lawyers has launched the website mykifines.org.au to inform commuters of their legal rights. Backed by high-profile human rights barrister Julian Burnside QC - an outspoken critic of the problem-plagued $1.55 billion myki ticketing system - members of the Young Liberty for Law Reform have set out a few simple questions to help commuters work out whether they should pay the on-the-spot fine or fight the ticket, and what actions they should take to do so. More than 250,000 fines were handed out to Victorian commuters last financial year alone, contributing more than $44 million in revenue for Public Transport Victoria. The reward to catch one of Australia's most notorious sex offenders, the paedophile and child killer known as Mr Cruel, is set to be increased as the anniversary of the death of his last known victim approaches. Victoria Police is preparing to make an announcement regarding an increase in the reward for information relating to the murder of Melbourne schoolgirl Karmein Chan. Karmein Chan. The 13-year-old was abducted from her family home in Templestowe on April 13, 1991. Her body was found a year later in Thomastown with gunshots wounds to the head. Dubbed Mr Cruel, the offender is suspected of attacking at least four girls in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A man accused of the stabbing death of another man in Bentley this week has been remanded in custody after a brief appearance in Perth Magistrates Court on Wednesday. Ricki Penny was charged with murder by major crime detectives following the death of a 41-year-old father on Coolgardie Street around 1pm Monday. Coolgardie Street, Bentley, was closed after a man died on Monday afternoon. Credit:Heather McNeill When asked by the magistrate to confirm his name, the 36-year-old replied "yes boss, that's me" before apologising and then using "your Honour". At times during the brief appearance he looked down and shook his head. Heirisson Island activist Marianne McKay said protesters were not going anywhere after City of Perth rangers and police tried to remove campers for the second day in a row on Wednesday. Dozens of Perth council rangers and police descended on Tuesday to move on the crowd living on the Swan River island and confiscate their tents and belongings. City of Perth even issued media covering the event with parking tickets before removing them. Despite campers returning to the settlement shortly after getting evicted on Tuesday, police and rangers were back on Wednesday morning ejecting protesters again. Ms McKay said Heirisson Island was chosen as a settlement because it was a registered sacred site. A petition has emerged to save the jobs of up to 20 play coordinators at Princess Margaret Hospital, as Health Minister John Day and opposing number Roger Cook remained at loggerheads over the cutbacks. News emerged on Tuesday that the play coordinators, who specialise in minimising anxiety and fear for sick children, were set to lose their jobs and be replaced by volunteers as the hospital moved to "a new model" of care. The departure of play co-ordinators at PMH has triggered an online petition with more than 2500 signatures. By Wednesday lunch time, an online petition aimed at saving their jobs had attracted more than 2500 signatures. Meanwhile, new Health Minister Mr Day said publicity about the changes was "scaremongering and wrong." Consumer Protection has been forced to take legal action in the extraordinary case of a WA man who continually sends other people's money to West African criminals - but refuses to believe it is a scam. WA authorities say Peter Melvin Kleinig has sent millions of dollars to African countries, including Togo and Ghana, since 2007. Peter Melvin Kleinig and one of the documents, found to be fake. Credit:Consumer Protection According to the WA Police fraud squad, he claims the money goes to a silver and gold company but the name of the company and apparent investment certificates have proved to be fake. "Officers from our anti-fraud initiative Project Sunbird have spent a lot of time trying to prove to Mr Kleinig that the silver and gold investment company, he believes in, does not exist," acting Consumer Protection commissioner David Hillyard said. Jakarta: Outdoor music concerts have been banned from a regency in Indonesia's conservative Aceh province on the grounds they violate Sharia law. Draconian regulations such as a ban on women straddling motorcycles (they must ride side-saddle), unaccompanied women working or visiting night spots after 11pm and a requirement that boys and girls are taught separately at school have been introduced in different parts of Aceh in recent years. Sharia Police on parade at the beginning of their shift in West Aceh. Credit:Jason South The province, the only part of Indonesia that enforces Sharia law, also outlaws gambling, drinking and even fraternising with the opposite sex outside marriage. Muslim women must wear a hijab in public and gay sex is punishable by 100 lashes of the cane. Peshawar: Here in a city that has defined Pakistan's struggle against Islamist extremism, thousands of people have been killed or injured in terrorist attacks. But now, if asked their greatest fear, many residents cite one of the world's other menaces: rats. Over the past year, according to Peshawar's mayor, eight children have been killed by rats. At night, rodents spill out of the city's crude sewer system, chewing through doors and walls, feasting on food supplies and overrunning hospitals and schools. A worker holds a dead rat at the main garbage dump in the city of Peshawar. The city's new rat hunters are up against pests that can produce 20 offspring every 20 days. Credit:Washington Post Some Pakistanis say the rat problem began after a series of floods in 2010 and 2012 flushed rats from their nests in the mountains near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. London: A regional manager for Australian Reserve Bank subsidiary Securency promised to "pull a rabbit out of a hat" to lock down valuable business orders in Nigeria shortly before he arranged for a bribe to a key official, a London court was told. Referring to the man he was allegedly bribing, Peter Chapman told his bosses in an email he had seen the man and won a promise of millions of dollars worth of orders for polymer for printing banknotes. Southwark Crown Court in London. Credit:David Holt/Commons "There are some aspects to this I need to discuss, but essentially this particular rabbit will jump out of the same battered hat again. Details to follow but they are likely to be along the same lines as the last rabbit," Mr Chapman said, in a passage he had highlighted in red text in an email to his superiors at Securency. 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. 2016 Chevrolet Malibu 2LZ Review By Steve Purdy SEE ALSO: Totally Chevrolet 2016 CHEVROLET MALIBU 2LZ Review By Steve Purdy The Auto Channel Michigan Bureau We continue to be amazed at the levels of content, quality and style added to all brands of midsize sedans every time we get a significant redesign. This is especially stunning with the new Malibu front-wheel drive, five-passenger, mid-size sedan. I thought the last generation was pretty good but this one is even better, fully redesigned for 2016. The Malibu was waiting for us at the airport as we returned from a west coast trip where we reviewed both the 2016 Mustang GT convertible in Palm Springs and the new 2016 Chevrolet Volt in Avila Beach. (See both of those travel/car stories here at TAC). As it happened we returned to Michigan during one of our notorious late winter storms arriving around midnight to pick up the car. By the time we cleaned off the snow (without gloves or any other winter gear) and got onto I-94 and I-275 to I-96 the roads were seriously glazed and slippery. Fortunately traffic was light. As I found with the Volt in California, GMs new lane intervention system caused some consternation. In California it sort of bumped us around between lane markings in oppressively heavy traffic, but here it made it very difficult to discern the intervention effects from the slipping and sliding caused by the treacherous roads. The button on the steering wheel seemed to be the controller of this function but repeatedly punching it did not turn the system off. Bummer. It turned out that our Malibu tester was equipped with a teenager monitoring system that disallows the disabling of that function. (More on that later.) I can see the value of all these new safety systems that wrest control from the driver but Im not yet a fan. If I had a teenager driving my car, that might be another story. With 4 inches added to the wheelbase of the new Malibu we get both a visually larger car and a roomier interior. It is amazing what difference a few inches can make. Exterior styling makes a large departure from the previous model while retaining the brands styling cues. A narrower, wider grill and cheek vents housing LED DRLs brings the front view of the Malibu considerably upscale. More expressive character lines along the side, large optional 19-inch alloy wheels and a more tapered-to-the-rear C-pillar put it right in league with modern coupe-like design trends and emulate much more pricey sedans. Dual, chrome-tipped exhaust outlets are integrated into the rear fascia. Inside we find a complex design with a more upscale look. The 8-inch, multi-function screen is positioned high in the center dash and looks like a removable accessory, though is not, of course. Easily managed HVAC controls are positioned beneath the screen and beneath that a substantial bin houses auxiliary inputs and power outlet. Overall I found it a convenient, sensible and remarkably attractive interior. Seating is generous and comfortable front and rear. Front seats have more adjustment range than some competitors to accommodate larger drivers. Those extra few inches of wheelbase have been used to good advantage. The rear seats offer more legroom and seatbacks fold 60/40 for access to the 15.8 cubic foot (average for this size car) trunk. This new Malibu, built in Fairfax, Kansas, is 300 pounds lighter than the preceding car, coming in at just over 3,000 pounds, and it has GMs first 8-speed automatic transmission. Under the hood is the 2.0-liter, turbo with direct injection making 250 horsepower and 258 pound-feet or torque. Malibu is front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive is not offered. The EPA estimates this sedan will get 22 mpg in the city and 33 on the highway on regular fuel. We put a lot of miles on it this week, many on the highway, and managed a decent 30-mpg. The base Malibu L starts at $21,625 and comes with a tepid 1.5-liter turbo DI engine making about 160 horsepower. You can also get a hybrid Malibu starting at $27,770. Our test car is the 2LZ with the 2.0-liter powertrain and a long list of premium content. The 2LZ starts at $30,920. With the Driver Confidence Package and Driver Confidence Package II we show a bottom line on the sticker of $34,285. While that sounds like a lot for a mid-size Chevrolet, if you look closely at the content compared to the competition youll find it quite comparable. And, by the way, Malibu took the J.D. Power Initial Quality Survey honors in its category. The Malibus unexpectedly brisk acceleration makes this car fun to drive in a spirited manner. A tight, controlled suspension and good steering add to the fun. Youll not find the suspension calibration too harsh under most conditions but it is certainly firm enough to push hard if that is your driving style. The cabin is admirably quiet even on bad pavement. That adds to a feeling of serenity on a long drive. Now, back to the Malibus Teen Driver system: Built into the MyLink system is a suite of functions designed to allow parents to spoil the kids day. It restricts some functions like: no audio without front seatbelts being buckled (good deal for sure), limits on volume of the audio and disallowing the disengagement of safety features like lane keeping and blind spot monitoring. Then, parents can get a teen driver report card that reveals distance driven, maximum speed reached, and a variety of the cars electronic control events. GM will not be outdone by the competition in terms of connectivity and other forward-looking technology. The Malibu has wireless device charging, it can be its own 4G WiFi hotspot, accommodates Apple CarPlay and Android Auto in all but the low-end L model, and provides all the apps capabilities youll need. Chevrolets new car warranty covers the whole car for a better-than-most 5 years or 60,000 miles and the powertrain for the same. Some manufacturers still offer 100,000 miles of coverage on the powertrain. We loved our time with the Malibu and encourage you to include it on your list if you are in this market. While it is moving upscale with each redesign it remains affordable, particularly at the low end of the trim range. Even this pricey one is a good value considering its content. Steve Purdy, Shunpiker Productions, All Rights Reserved The Most In-Depth Independent Chevrolet Research Data Anywhere! Toyota DARTs Forward in Texas RICHARDSON, TX - April 5, 2016: Residents of Collin County searching for secure, reliable transportation for their elderly or disabled family members can rest easy, thanks to Toyota. During an event today at the University of Texas at Dallas, Toyota Motor North America, Inc. (TMNA) announced a one-million dollar grant to Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) to support non-emergency medical transportation for seniors and disabled citizens in Collin County. The grant supports continuation of an existing on-demand service in the cities of Allen, Wylie and Fairview. The service is currently receiving interim funding from the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG). The Toyota funds are expected to extend the subscription-based paratransit service for at least an additional twelve months. DART and NCTCOG are pursuing federal funds to match the grant monies and further support the service until a permanent, long-term funding mechanism can be established. Toyotas collaboration with DART is an important step in our quest to close the mobility gap for people in need,a??? said Latondra Newton, TMNA chief social innovation officer. The grant will allow Toyota to help increase mobility and provide insights into the transit needs of a rapidly growing senior population.??? Approximately 3,000 Collin County residents are registered for the subscription-based paratransit service which, at peak, provided up to 700 trips per day to and from medical appointments. Customers contribute a portion of the cost for each trip, with the balance funded by the grant. In addition to moving North Texas residents, Toyota is moving full speed ahead on its One Toyota move to Plano estimated at more than one billion dollars. The new TMNA 100-acre campus is on schedule for completion beginning in early 2017 with more than 50 percent of the construction timeline already achieved. This progress is thanks to the efforts of about 1,200 workers on-site pouring up to 500 truckloads of concrete in a single week. Toyota team members are on the mobility track as well. More than 800 team members are expected to be working at Toyotas temporary offices in Plano by the end of 2016. In total, about 4,000 team members will call the new TMNA headquarters campus home upon completion in 2017. Toyota is currently engaged in an organizational redesign as final relocation decisions are made by team members in California, Kentucky and other locations. Texans who are interested in working for Toyota in its new North Texas home can search for available positions at Toyota.com/careers. 4 On The Floor - No More? SWAPALEASE.COM ANALYSIS OF 50,000+ DRIVERS SHOWS MEN ARE LOSING INTEREST IN MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS FASTER THAN WOMEN Company Dubbs Manual Drift as a Leading Reason for Continued Sunsetting of Interest in Vehicles CINCINNATI, OHIO (April 5, 2016) At what rate is manual drift occurring in the American auto industry, and is there a difference between the rate of manual transmission use between men and women? Swapalease.com, the nations largest car lease marketplace, recently analyzed over 50,000 driver records from its marketplace dating back to 2012 to uncover some interesting trends. Manual drift is a phrase coined by Swapalease.com executives that addresses the slow sunset of interest in manual transmissions found in todays cars. According to analysis conducted recently by the company, the number of manual transmission vehicles driven by Americans has dropped roughly 22% since 2012. Equally as interesting, the rate of drift isnt occurring at the same pace for men and women. In its analysis of over 50,000 vehicle records dating back to 2012, Swapalease.com has found that the rate of use is declining for both genders, but it is happening at a faster pace for men compared to women. In fact, the percentage of men driving manual transmission vehicles has dropped from 85.4% in 2012 to 81.2% in 2015. As a result, the percentage for women has responded by adjusting from 14.6% in 2012 to 18.8% in 2015. Both genders overall are driving fewer manual transmissions during that time, but since the numbers for men are dropping faster, it has caused the percentage to actually increase for women. Its not surprising to see the sunset of manual transmission vehicles, particularly when you consider all the conversation around autonomous driving, said Scot Hall, Executive Vice President of Swapalease.com. Its difficult to explain why men are drifting away from manual faster than women, but perhaps fathers teaching their daughters to drive still see a premium in teaching both driving methods today. About Swapalease.com: Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Swapalease.com is the worlds largest automotive lease marketplace and the pioneer in facilitating lease transfers online. More specifically Swapalease.com matches individuals who want to get out of their lease with people who are looking for short-term lease agreements. Prospective buyers can search the listings for the exact vehicle they want, and then register for a nominal fee, allowing them to use Swapalease.coms safe online system to contact the prospective seller and close the deal. For more information about Swapalease.com or how to exit your lease early, call 866-SWAPNOW or visit www.swapalease.com. Executive search firm on hunt for acquisitions A LEEDS-based international headhunter says it is eyeing up acquisition opportunities as the firm celebrates its 10th anniversary. Adrian Hitchenor and John Wakeford launched executive search and interim consultancy HW in 2006, specialising in boardroom level appointments for the financial services, consumer and business services sectors. They were soon joined by partner Spencer Jinks, who heads up their consumer practice from the firms Manchester office. Also on the board are group corporate development director Alex Raubitschek, who leads on M&A activity and manages the executive interim business, industry practice lead Jack Jenkins, and chairman Paul Spetch. In the past decade HW has completed more than 1,000 executive searches and placed over 100 interim executives on behalf of numerous international businesses, working across Europe, North and Latin America, South Africa and Asia Pacific. The consultancys client portfolio includes food and non-food retailers, banks and building societies, as well as global consumer brands. It also counts an international online retailer, low cost airline, price comparison website, telecommunications provider, pharmaceuticals giant and a multinational security services company among its FTSE 250 clients. To mark its tenth anniversary, the firm formerly Hitchenor Wakeford has launched its new brand HW Global Talent Partner, as attention is turned to acquisition activity to aid its ambitious growth strategy. Mr Wakeford said: We are operating in a much different market to the one we entered ten years ago. The global banking crisis has transformed the expectations of the boardroom, with an increasing focus on corporate governance amid additional compliance and regulation, whilst the relentless pace of technology has revolutionised consumer shopping habits and introduced new cyber security threats. There is a demand for greater diversity in the boardroom to reflect both the customer base and new specialisms such as CIOs/CTOs overseeing information technology. Above all, if anything, there is an even greater need today for boards to ensure they hire the right people with both the cultural fit and skills set for their business. He added: We have been through the banking crash and the biggest recession in my lifetime, which has been the catalyst for so much change in the boardroom. But there are always new challenges at the moment we have the impending European referendum which has also created a level of uncertainty meaning our approach and level of client understanding needs to be even more thorough. Aside from such distractions we have an ambitious growth strategy and we are currently looking at a number of potential merger and acquisition opportunities to help us achieve our medium term objectives. Tortureenhanced interrogation, if you preferis yet again a hot-button issue in American politics. For some presidential candidates, the question isnt if theyd allow it under their leadership, but how much. That these candidates know nothing of what theyre blustering about goes without saying. The chickenhawk is a proud American political tradition, and 2016 may indeed prove the chickenhawks ideal roosting. Eric Fair knows all too well what these candidates are espousing. A U.S. Army veteran and former police officer, he joined the Iraq War effort as a government contractor in 2004. Though his military background was as a linguist, he ended up serving as an interrogator, due to his police experience and the bureaucratic demands of the war machine. Hed work in some of the wars most notorious detention centers, such as Camp Fallujah and Abu Ghraib. Hed later deploy again to Iraq with the National Security Agency as an intelligence analyst. Itd have been the easy choice to come home and stay quiet about what hed seen and done in Iraq. The simpler choice, too. Eric Fair isnt one for easy or simple choices, though. In 2007, he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post that detailed some of his experiences abroad, and the aftereffects of those experiences on a human soulhis own. This thrust Eric into the public eye and hes been a reluctant but vital authority on issues of military detention, interrogation, and torture ever since. Erics memoir Consequence is out this week from Henry Holt and chronicles his journey from a boy growing up in Pennsylvania steel country to some of the darkest corners of American empire in the early 21st century. Consequence is one of 2016s most significant books and one of its best. Theres a directness to Erics writing that sears inward and outward, not so much looking to blame or point fingers but because being forthright and truthful matters so much in a world full of deceits and untruths. Full disclosure: Ive known Eric since 2010, when we both joined a veterans writing workshop hosted by New York Universitys MFA program. In our own ways, I think everyone there wanted to do something important with their writing, but Eric was probably the only of us who needed to. His has been a windy road, and a difficult one. Im proud to call him a friend. In anticipation of his books publication, I sat down with Eric on a pleasant spring day at Madison Square Park in New York. Here is an excerpt of our conversation. The Daily Beast: Your journey to Iraq was a unique one. Tell us how you ended up overseas. Eric Fair: I enlisted in the Army in 1995 in the wake of the first Gulf War and [became] an Arabic linguist. This was during the Clinton years, and the military was getting smaller, and there were very few opportunities for deployment, especially for someone with my job. So I did my tour of duty and then got out, eventually getting hired by the police department in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A couple years into that work, I was diagnosed with a heart condition, which was absolutely devastating. Id wanted to be a police officer for many, many years, and suddenly, my law enforcement career was over before it even got going. This is right about when the Iraq war was ramping up in 2003. Because of the war, and because of whatd happened to me physically, there was this desperate need and feeling to regain some of myself by getting back into [the military world] somehow. I felt an obligation be a part of it all. So I found a contracting company that didnt require a physical, and they sent me over. In Iraq, what did you witness or participate in that you felt qualified as enhanced interrogation and/or torture? What is the difference between those two things, and who in your mind gets to determine that difference? We take great care in this country to offer a variety of protections to citizens when they are being interviewed by law enforcement. If a citizen does agree to an interview, law enforcement can attempt to enhance their approach during that process. We call this interrogation. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights recognize the aggressive and intrusive nature of this type of questioning, and its potential for abuse. For that very reason, every citizen has the absolute right to refuse to participate in this process. The power of this country is our example. We are supposed to be the exception to the rule. While I do not suggest that prisoners of war should be granted the same constitutional rights as a citizen, any form of questioning that encourages a prisoner to violate his own will is torture. When sleep deprivation, stress positions, confined spaces, and forced standing are used to violate a prisoners well being and manipulate his will, they are torture. I broke a part of myself off and forced it on these prisoners through these types of techniques. Ill never get it back, and theyll never be rid of it. Interrogation is an enhanced interview. Torture is enhanced interrogation. To suggest otherwise is to question the most basic principles that define this nation. You remember Abu Ghraib as a place, but for many American citizens, its a series of very disturbing images. Its also become one of those phrases thats a fixed part of the cultural memory of the Iraq war, like Mission Accomplished or Shock and Awe or Surge. What are some of your own personal experiences with this? Theres a scene in Consequence after my first tour in Iraq, when Id been in Abu Ghraib, Fallujah and Baghdad. I was home, and my wife and I were at a wedding just a few months after the 60 Minutes report [about Abu Ghraib]. Suddenly now this military prison halfway across the globe was part of the American lexicon. I was sitting at a table with old, close friends, and it came up in conversation that Id spent some time there. The mood at the table changed significantly and suddenly, and I didnt know what to say, so I said nothing. In one way or another, I think a lot of veterans have had that experience. And for civilians, its part of the question they have of, What do you ask [vets] about? Its also strange because Abu Ghraib isnt what I think about all these years later, not what wakes me up at night. I had a far worse time at Fallujahthe detention center there was my low point. Circling back to the cultural memory aspect of things: for me, its Abu Ghraib. For others, its the Surge, or Sadr City, or something else. Its just how people relate to Iraq, or war in general, or dont relate to Iraq or dont relate to war. I think thats something we all have to carry with us and recognize, whether thats fair or not. What about your journey as a writer? You have this compact, literary style that is both understated and refined. How did that develop? Id been a history major [at Boston University], so writing was a necessary part of that. But the focus for me had long been law enforcement. Writings a tool there, too, and an important one, but not the end itself. I didnt decide to write about Iraq until after my second tour in 2005. It was then when I recognized that the narrative being told about things like interrogation and Abu Ghraib were completely wrong, and that other voices needed to put themselves out there to push against it. Cheney still hadnt admitted that hed ordered waterboarding, there was certainly no Senate Torture Report back then, I think there was still this sense that enhanced techniques were only being used on one or two top-level detainees. I knew firsthand that wasnt the case. Large sections of the latter chapters of Consequence are blocked out or redacted. Who did that? Why? My second tour to Iraq was with the National Security Agency [as an intelligence analyst] and you sign a nondisclosure agreement with them in the process. You also sign an agreement that says anything you publish for the rest of your life has to go through their publication review. For this book, I had an obligation to send it pre-pub to the NSA, as part of it included my time with them. It took a few months what you see in the finished book blocked out is what the National Security Agency deemed on some level confidential or classified. Now, my intention when writing this book was never to reveal classified information. Thats not where I was coming from at all. Do I agree with what they decided to strike? Absolutely not. Nevertheless, it was an agreement that I signed and was obligated to follow. Dont they realize this allows readers to put whatever preconceived notions or worst-case scenarios they want into those sections? Seriously, are they daft? Theres an endless conversation there about unintended consequences. Ill just leave it at that, I think. Your upbringing as a devout Presbyterian plays a large role in the pages of Consequence, and you very openly explore the role that faith has had on your life, before, during and after Iraq. Why was that important to you? Its a foundational part of who I am and how I view my place in my world. And it has been my entire life, just how I was raised and how Im raising my son now. Its been a lifelong upbringing. I remember a youth pastor teaching me as child that faith was not this mystical experience, or not just it. Faith takes a lot of work and it takes a lot reading and care. Having that foundation helped me prepare for when things went totally wrong, which will happen one way or another to just about everybody. Since Iraq, I will say that Im far more cautious to suggest that my faith gives me any sort of right or privilege to tell anyone else what theyre doing is right or wrong. Approaching my faith with this type of humility is something I learned to do more of over time. I want him to be comfortable in the quiet. This is my favorite line in a book full of beautiful writing. Its about your son and his own developing faith, but what does Being Comfortable in the Quiet mean to you now, as a person, father and author? Growing up in the Bethlehem community, the Presbyterian Church had this beautiful choir, a very well known choir, at least in our area. Bethlehem Steel had purchased this beautiful pipe organ for the church many years before anyhow, every Sunday, theyd put on this incredible, incredible performance. Afterwards, though, thered be nothing but silence. You were not to applaud or express outward admiration. And if you did, you were looked upon as someone who didnt quite know what they were doing. The idea was that you modeled everything in your life after this approachyou dont do things for show, or with expectations of affirmation. You simply just had to be comfortable in the quiet, and had to be willing to listen, and listen in a way that meant actually hearing what others were saying, rather than just waiting for your turn to speak. The theological side of that quiet is when a person can experience God, or the Holy Spirit, or something spiritual, or what have you. Those moments of quiet are when we all chart our course of life, whatever it may be. And thats what I want for my son. War stories arent for me. Weve talked before about hearing that from friends and readers alike. Whats your response to that sort of mindset, especially in regards to Consequence? Well, certainly a reader can make their own decision, but Im of the thought that war stories are, unfortunately, for everyone. Thats particularly the case in a country such as ours, a democracy, a republic. On some level theres an obligation to be engaged with some war stories that doesnt mean that people have to read mine, but I think that if someone wants to self-identify as well informed, and well-read, and as a good citizen of the country, you need to interact and encounter this stuff. Literature is just one way to do that. LONDON Asad Shah was a much-loved Muslim shopkeeper in Scotlands first city of Glasgow. Embodying the slogan of his mosque: Love for All and Hatred for None, he would post inclusive social media messages such as a very Happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nation, and the locals loved him for it. Yet, on the eve of Good Friday this year, Tanveer Ahmed, a fellow Muslim, appears to have driven 200 miles from Bradford to Glasgow in his licensed Uber car in order to stab Asad 30 times all over his body, stamp on his head and then sit laughing on his chest. Asad, tragically, died from his wounds later that night. With her nation in shock, Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon attended a vigil in Asads memory, and he was buried just over a week later. The truth behind why Asad was killed makes for uncomfortable and ugly reading. Mohammad Faisal, a friend of the Shah family, described the murderer as bearded, wearing a long Muslim religious robe and addressing Asad in his native language before killing him. Police have in fact charged the suspect Tanveer Ahmed with religiously prejudiced murder. For Asad was an Ahmedi Muslim, a minority sect persecuted as heretical by much of Pakistans Sunni Muslim majority. With these facts in mind, Asad Shah has probably become Britains first spillover case of Pakistans ongoing and vicious blasphemy inquisition being waged by that countrys increasingly belligerent mullah mafia. The Ahmedis emerged in North India under the British Raj in the 1800s, and their founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmed from Qadian claimed to be the embodiment of Jesus the Messiah, returned. Such a claim has certainly caused controversy among the Sunni Muslim majority within the Indian Subcontinent. Regardless, only the stone-cold and heartless could ignore the campaign of persecution that has been unleashed since upon Ahmadis by my fellow Sunni Muslims, especially those of the Barelwi denomination. Many would expect extremists, such as the Khatme Nubuwwat group that enforces the Finality of the Prophet, to celebrate Asads murder online. Beyond that, we would prefer to assume the best in Muslims, and insist that the extremists are but a tiny minority. A closer look reveals a dispiriting and disturbing truth. Just how widespread and institutionalized this persecution is, are questions that few want to ask. This is because, as the previous case of Salmaan Taseer highlighted, to defend blasphemers in Pakistan is likely to get you killed even if youre the powerful governor of Punjab, Pakistans richest province. Taseers killer, Mumtaz Qadri, was recently executed by the Pakistani state, but nevertheless glorified and anointed by the inquisitor mullahs as a ghazi (warrior), who died a shaheed (a holy martyr), while defending namoos-e-Rasool (the honour of the Prophet). After Qadris execution, the Barelwi Muslim leadership held widespread street protests in Pakistans capital Islamabad, demanding that the government accept a list of their demands. These included imposing their version of Sharia as law, to immediately execute all blasphemers including Aasia Bibi (the allegedly blasphemous Christian woman Salmaan Taseer died defending), the immediate release of all those convicted for killing to defend the honor of the Prophet, for the state to officially declare Mumtaz Qadri a shaheed on national media, to expel all members of the Ahmedi community from Pakistan (thats 2 percent of the population), and to terminate immediately the positions of Ahmedis working in government departments. Most devout Barelwi Sunni Muslims in the West take their religious instruction directly from Pakistan, and there remains a powerful flow of ideas coming from their leaders in the Punjab. Nearly a week before Asads murder the imam of Scotlands largest mosque, also in Glasgow, Maulana Habib Ur Rehman, used the messaging platform WhatsApp to show his support for the now-executed Mumtaz Qadri. In messages seen by the BBC, the Imam said that he was disturbed and upset at Qadris execution. He then added the epithet rahmatullahi alaih after mentioning Qadris name. This is a religious blessing usually given to devout Muslims and meaning may Gods mercy be upon him. In another message, he says: I cannot hide my pain today. A true Muslim was punished for doing which [sic] the collective will of the nation failed to carry out. This, from the most senior imam at Glasgow Central Mosque, a role which involves leading prayers and giving religious guidance to an entire community. Police are also investigating links between Sabir Ali, head of religious events at Glasgow Central Mosque, with Sipah-e-Sahabah, a banned Pakistani terror group from the Deobandi sect that persecutes Shia Muslims, also for alleged blasphemy. And yet, just as Scotlands First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had attended the vigil in memory of Asad Shah, she also chose the Glasgow mosque to hold a minute of silence after the recent Brussels attacks. Few in wider society are prepared to acknowledge just how deep Sunni prejudice against alleged blasphemers can run. This thirst for an inquisition is not found only among extremist groups, nor limited to these key figures in the U.K.s largest mosques. It is also present to worrying levels in the wider community. Recently, Luton on Sunday, a local newspaper, carried a double-spread advertisement celebrating 125 years since the Ahmadiyya movement was founded. That paid advert prompted such a level of complaints from the wider Sunni Muslim community in Luton that it led to this groveling response by the newspaper: Last week the Luton on Sunday carried an advertisement from the AhmediyyahWe would like to make it clear that we completely disassociate ourselves from the content of the advertisement On Friday we met with representatives from the Muslim community to discuss the advertisement which we had accepted in good faith but now understand has caused offence to members of the Muslim Community in Luton. Included is a quotation from one of the community leaders the newspaper met with which thanks them for their sensitivity over a matter relating to the fundamental beliefs of all Muslims. But as with all things, the mosque imams and community leaders find succor in the stance taken by those in authority among them. Look no further than the Pakistani High Commission in London to behold the truly institutionalized nature of this Blasphemy Inquisition. Any British dual-national seeking to apply for a passport, or even an identity card, to travel to Pakistan visa-free is asked to partake in the persecution. Upon applying for our papers we are expected to sign a declaration (PDF) attesting among other religious interferences by the statethat I consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmed Quadiani to be an imposter nabi (prophet) and also consider his followers whether of the Lahori or Qadiani group to be non-Muslim. Hundreds of thousands of British-Pakistani Muslims have had little choice but to participate in this ritual that normalizes the Blasphemy Inquisition, in order to gain their identity cards. If we contextualize Asad Shahs murder by placing it in this hostile climate, as we must, then we begin to realize the horrifying level of persecution facing those deemed heretical, such as Ahmedis or other blasphemers. Over the years, in survey after survey, British Muslim attitudes have reflected dangerously high levels of support for enforcing blasphemy taboos. A 2007 poll found that 36 percent of young British Muslims thought that apostates should be killed. A 2008 YouGov poll found that a third of Muslim students claimed that killing for religion can be justified, while 33 percent expressed a desire to see the return of a worldwide theocratic Caliphate. A ComRes poll commissioned by the BBC in 2015 found that a quarter of British Muslims sympathized with the Charlie Hebdo blasphemy attacks. By any reasonable assessment, something has gone badly wrong in Britain, and a solution must start on the ground, within the communities where the problem has festered for so long. It starts from a recognition that religious extremism has gained significant enough traction for it to pose a danger. For Asad Shahs sake, for all those persecuted for their religious choices, or lack of, we must speak up. Just as all of us, black or white, are responsible for challenging racism, and just as all of us, gay or straight, are responsible for challenging homophobia, all of us, Muslim or not, are responsible for challenging this religious extremism. Denial that a generational struggle, no less than the civil struggle to challenge racism, lies ahead of us is no longer a viable option. So its a nice night for Bernie. A little nicer than expected, in fact. What does it mean, to win Wisconsin, and where does it leave things? Heres what it means. Wisconsin is a significant state, no doubt of that. Winning there is a sign of potential regional, and therefore national, strength. At the same time, its worth remembering that it is not a swing state. If Hillary Clinton is the nominee, shell likely beat Ted Cruz there by seven or so points, and Donald Trump by more, maybe a good bit more. Barack Obama won there in 2008 and 2012 by 14 and seven points, respectively. Its gone Democratic every time since 1988. It is to be sure one of those handful of blue states that Sanders could arguably win by more than Clinton could, but a win is a win, and its the 10 electoral votes that matter. In other words, what Im saying is, to give the Sanders campaign credit, winning Wisconsin counts for more than winning the Alaska caucuses. But it doesnt count in the same way that Ohio and Florida count. I go into this because theres been this quasi-taxonomic parsing lately of the value of each win, spurred, it must be said, mostly by Sanderswho used his victory speech Tuesday to claim momentumand his supporters. He tried to dismiss Clintons Super Tuesday wins as happening in irrelevant conservative Southern states. It is true that most of them happened in states that are going Republican in November, with the glaring and important exception of Florida. On the other hand, those states are not conservative when it comes to Democratic voters, and Sanders knows it. It was a cheap shot, made the worse by Tim Robbinss execrable dismissal of South Carolina as Guam, a dismissal he and other Sanders supporters would surely call racist if the situation were reversed. Sure, Clintons wins in Alabama, Tennessee, and some other states are what you might call valueless. [UPDATE: the preceding sentence originally included Oklahoma, which was wrongSanders won Oklahoma.] But Sanders has valueless wins, toothe aforementioned Alaska, and Nebraska, and Idaho, and Wyoming, and so on. I propose we just call that fight a draw. Meanwhile, of the six genuinely purple states that have voted so far, Clinton has won five of them (Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, and Nevada), while Sanders has won one (Colorado). And when it comes to Super Tuesday, in point of fact, not all of Clintons non-Florida wins were without value. Georgia at least is gettable, in a Clinton-Trump scenario; Nate Silver tells us so. And in fact, if Trump really collapses, South Carolina will be close. Obama lost it by 11 last time, which isnt that much for an ex-Confederate state. And one poll says even Utah could fall. And yes, theres the question of the delegate math. Sanders didnt win Wisconsin by quite enough to catch up very much on that score, or on the overall vote total, the famous will of the voters. Clinton was 2.5 million votes ahead coming into Wisconsin, and Sanders made only a small dent in that Tuesday night. So now, we look to New York. This race is somewhat eerily following the rhythm of the 1992 contest between Hillarys husband and Jerry Brown, the left-insurgent candidate of that year. Then, Bill Clinton basically locked the delegate math down on March 17. Here, Hillary did the same on March 15. Then, Brown won the contest before New Yorkthat year it was Connecticutand set up a major New York showdown. And now Sanders has done the same (no, Wyoming's caucus Saturday doesnt really impact the narrative here). In 1992, just as today, there were two weeks between that vote and the New York vote. Bill Clinton was on the ropes for the first week. Then, in the second week, the states Democratic power structure collected itself, and Bill slaughtered Jerry by 15 points. Hillary is not going to beat Bernie by that. She might not beat him at all. And if she doesnt, then this is going to get brutal. Heres what to watch for. Sanders knows that New York is his last shot. If he doesnt win it, Pennsylvania and New Jersey and Maryland and California will probably fall like dominoes for Clinton. So the question is, how negative will he go? That oil-and-gas lobbyists attack on Clinton was pretty sleazy, and false. But it wasnt a GOP talking point. Will he start going there in a big waythe emails, her trustworthiness, all that? For Clinton, the danger is if she tries to turn the New York primary into a referendum on Israel. There is a long tradition of this. Clintons people should read up on how Al Gore tried to do this to Mike Dukakis in 1988and how he came to grief. And the sentiment of Democratic voters on Israel, even and maybe especially Jewish voters, has moved well to the left since 1988. If Clinton tries to make New York an Israel votewhich is to say, basically a Likud voteshe will show a tone-deafness to her partys current state of play, and itll hurt her. So its like 1992but its also totally not like 1992. The timesthe Great Recession, and the anger that arose in reaction to ithave changed the playbook. Clinton remains the presumptive nominee by every mathematical measure, but she should want to be the nominee by more than math. The next two weeks will tell us whether shes up to it. A female U.S. Army soldier said she was beaten so severely by a soldier after making out with another man in their unit that she thought I was about to die. Jacob Andrew Avila, a combat engineer, and his friend Lucas Curtis stumbled onto the 18-year-old woman and her comrade in a bedroom at Avilas home in Copperas Cove. Avila and the victim are both based out of nearby Fort Hood, Texas. According to a police affidavit, Avila and Curtis asked her to leave the room, beat her companion, and then some time later grabbed her while she was exiting a bathroom. The twentysomethings allegedly grabbed her neck, shoved her into a wall, slapped her, and started strangling her. The woman told investigators she suffered a concussion, ruptured eardrum, and abrasions to her face and neck. At one point, she said she lost consciousness. Curtis had his hand around her neck and was squeezing tight enough that she was unable to breath," police recorded her saying. Affidavits state that he punched her multiple times, until she tripped and injured her back. Once she was on the floor, Curtis "straddled her," keeping her from getting up. The assault only stopped when another soldier saw it and intervened, according to documents. That man took her to a Fort Hood military police officers home, who drove her to the emergency room. Police say they're still perplexed by what led to the assault. "We're still trying to figure out why and what the motive is for this one," Copperas Cove police Sgt. Martin Ruiz said. "They're not ex-boyfriends or anything like that." (The victim's make-out partner was minorly injured but does not want to press charges, Ruiz said.) According to the affidavits, Avila admitted slapping her and said Curtis slapped, punched, and choked her. Avila was jailed at the Copperas Cove police department on charges of assault causing bodily injury and unlawful restraint, a court clerk said. (He was released on a $6,000 bond Wednesday afternoon.) Ruiz said the same charges have been filed against Curtis but he has not yet been arrested. Avila is a specialist and combat engineer assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Army officials said. Fort Hood spokesman Tom Rheinlander said military law enforcement officials are investigating the incident in cooperation with Copperas Cove police. "III Corps and Fort Hood takes all reports of assault seriously," Rheinlander said. "The chain of command for the soldiers involved are aware of the incident and will ensure all appropriate measures are taken." An Army spokesman said the victim is a combat engineer and private assigned to the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division at the base. ODESSA, Ukraine Defense lawyer Yuriy Grabovskiy often told his friends and colleagues: Surprisingly, nobody has rubbed me out yet. But his words were never taken seriously. None of his friends thought of recommending that the charismatic lawyer hire bodyguards. Openly gay, Jewish, with a good sense of humor, he was famous for kidding around, even under pressure. He was also famous for his personal style, wearing expensive suits, excellent perfume, smoking shisha pipes in restaurants with friends, driving a luxurious convertible, and always keeping his papers in perfect order. Instead of business cards, Grabovskiy gave his friends matchboxes with a picture of him holding a baby tiger on the cover. Only when investigators announced last month that somebody had kidnapped Grabovskiy, drugged him, humiliated him on video, cracked his skull, burned his fingertips, shot him in the side and in the head, and buried his body in a muddy field between Odessa and Kiev, did people realize just how great were the risks taken by the 43-year-old attorney. Military prosecutors investigating the murder believe it was Grabovskiys latest case that did him in. He was defending a Russian, Alexander Alexandrov, allegedly from Moscows foreign military intelligence service, GRU, arrested in eastern Ukraine last May. Ukrainian prosecutors claimed that Alexandrov was on a military mission fighting alongside separatist units in eastern Ukraine. Moscow insisted that Grabovskiys client had resigned before joining those rebel forces. Whatever the facts, Grabovskiy thought the man deserved a defense. But others, clearly, thought otherwise, if, indeed, this was the reason he was killed. Our colleagues are being attacked and murdered one by one, the head of Ukraines National Association of Lawyers, Lidiya Izovitova, told The Daily Beast. Yuriys murder was clearly directed and staged by professionals, it is a matter of dignity for all of us to find out the truth about what happened to lawyer Grabovskiy. His friends, defense lawyers running an independent investigation of the case, told The Daily Beast that Grabovskiy was kidnapped on March 5, after checking into the Arkadia Hotel, a comfortable four-star establishment in Odessa. That is when his abduction appears to have taken place. The next day, he appeared briefly at his office in Kiev, but investigators believe he was by then under the control of his kidnappers. His colleagues remember he looked awkward, behaving strangely. Without so much as acknowledging their hellos, the lawyer rushed to his safe, took something from itvaluables and papers, according to friendsand walked out, leaving the door of the safe open. Throughout that incident, the lawyer was shadowed by a man in his 30s who was unknown to the staff. That was very unusual, Grabovskiy never rushed, he was a self-confident man doing everything on time, and a strong personality, said Grabovskiys personal assistant, Bagdan, who asked that his last name not be published. Last year Bagdan, 23, came to work at the office right after graduating from the law school, hoping to learn from the well-regarded lawyer. Last week Bagdan had to identify his bosss body in the morgue. Lawyers often are murdered in post-Soviet states; 70 defense lawyers were killed in Russia between 2000 and 2014. The idea that either Russian or Ukrainian special services might have ordered Grabovskiys murder made his friend Denis Chizhov so nervous that his hands were shaking as he talked about it. Last time we smoked on this porch on March 4, he told me he would go to Odessa for a couple days and then see me again on the morning of March 7, he told The Daily Beast. Grabovskys law partner on the Russian GRU officers case, the charismatic attorney Oksana Solokovskaya, is now worried about her own life. I am still shocked; we were often threatened during the trial, both anonymously and by Ukrainian law enforcement; we were accused of defending Russian terrorists, said Sokolovskaya, who came to the interview with The Daily Beast with a personal bodyguard. On the evening of March 4, the day before the abduction, Grabovskiys Toyota broke down 167 kilometers away from Odessa, in Krivoye Ozero. According to his friend Igor Cherezov, Grabovskiy had the car towed back to Kiev, and his whereabouts at that time were confirmed. We managed to find a shop assistant who saw Grabovsky in Krivoye Ozero, Cherezov said. On the morning of March 5, Grabovskiy checked in at Arkadia in Odessa. The hotels administrator refused to reveal the time of his arrival. Police found Grabovskiys luggage at the Arkadia three days after the lawyer disappeared. His kidnappers drugged him at a private apartment in Odessa, Cherezov, who now represents the interests of Grabovskiys sister, a resident of Israel, told The Daily Beast. They twisted his hands behind his back and forced him to say that it was mistake to defend the Russian GRU soldier. One more independent investigator, Odessa lawyer Vladimir Pasechnik, was watching closely the strange activity on Grabovskiys Facebook. I believe that when Grabovskiy checked on Facebook in Krivoye Ozero was the last time he used his Facebook himself, Pasechnik told The Daily Beast. No family, no parentswork was all that Grabovskiy had in his life. During his last days on this earth he was dealing with about a dozen legal cases. He was one of the most respected defense lawyers in Ukraine. The wall in his office at Grabovskiy & Partners was covered in honorary letters and medals. Grabovskiy believed in human rights and offered his services to everybody, from Russian separatist rebels to Ukrainian nationalist radicals. Last autumn he defended one of the Svoboda party nationalists who was accused of blowing up a grenade outside of the Ukrainian parliament. His kidnappers forced Grabovskiy to say on camera that he would not defend his Russian client Aleksandr Alexandrov in court any longer. On the video taken by one of the arrested suspects and released this week by military prosecutors investigating the murder, Grabovskys interrogator can be heard twice asking why Grabovskiy would drop the case. It was a mistake, Grabovskiy said slowly. On that video you can see that Grabovskiy was badly drugged by tranquilizers, his eyes were closing, he had sweat on his forehead, said Cherzov. Besides, knowing what an aesthete Grabovsky washe would like to pose in a white suit in his cabriolethe would never agree to wear an undershirt in front of a video camera. If one defense lawyer is killed, another takes his place. Next week Russian citizen Alexandrov will have a new defender, Valentin Rybkin. I have a group called Odysseywe defend Russians accused of participating in military actions, terrorism in Ukraine, Rybkin told The Daily Beast. In fact, the community of defense lawyers all across Ukraine is trying to put a brave face on their work, but this is not the first time a defender of controversial clients fell a victim of violence. Attacks on Ukrainian defense lawyers working on such cases have come one after another. Last week, somebody fired a machine gun at the car of Pavel Nasadchuk, the defender of the so-called diamond prosecutor, Vladimir Shapakin. A few weeks ago another famous defense lawyer, Viktor Loiko, was killed in his apartment in Kharkov. The head of the Odessa regions bar association, Iosif Bronz, is furioius about leaks and speculation in some Ukrainian reports Grabovskiy fell victim to an unfortunate choice of gay companion: The murder looks more like a special operation by secret services, and the state, which fails to defend lawyers, who essentially are always in opposition, has big problems, Bronz told The Daily Beast. And that, in turn, plays into Kremlin propaganda: I can see that in Russia news reports do their best at discrediting the state of Ukraine after this murder, Bronz added. Who was behind the plot? On the eve of Grabovskiys funeral last Saturday, investigators leaked the names and photographs of two arrested suspects, one 19 and one 26, both of whom looked like buff playboys in the local vernacular. In order to confuse the investigation, the older suspect had flown from Odessa to Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, with Grabovskiys cellphone and posted photographs of the beach on Grabovskiys Facebook page. Military prosecutors told reporters that both suspects were surprising well trained and that there were four more men suspected in the kidnapping and killing of Grabovskiy. Ukraines chief military prosecutor, Anatoliy Matios, says he is convinced that the murder was ordered by one or another secret service, either Russian or Ukrainian, and promised to find and punish the real mastermind, No matter what office they occupy. Grabovskiys partner on the Russian soldiers case, Oksana Sokolovskaya, said: I do not believe in a trivial murder. It is definitely connected to the case we worked on. Odessa city hall official Alexander Borovik said that he would not be surprised if local law enforcement was involved in Grabovskiys murder: As if in Chicago-style politics 100 years ago, a mafia runs the police, prosecutors and secret services in Odessa today, Borovik said. This is a very dangerous city. In his first lecture as a tenured professor of the Bush School faculty, Texas A&M University President Michael K. Young explored the difficult and often complicated topic of the United States role in supporting religious freedom worldwide noting that the pursuit of the ideal often had benefits reaching beyond moral and ethical responsibility. During the Tuesday evening event at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, Young whose background includes roles on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as his involvement in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the German reunification treaty focused on the importance of religious freedom and the impacts that presence can have. [Religion] moves people in their individual lives, it helps shape their attitudes and their approaches to everything, Young said. If it shapes them on an individual basis, then it almost goes without saying that it is going to shape them in a collective way as well. Young said advocating for the ideal also has practical benefits. For those countries that do practice a safeguard of its citizens religious freedom, Young said that common characteristics include stronger civil liberties, lower rates of poverty and a small wage gap all of which make them a more attractive partner for nations like the United States. After giving his presentation, Young was joined on stage by Mark Sidel, professor of law and public affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Together, the two discussed questions relating to Youngs talk including secular human rights advocates, enforcing international religious freedom regulations and the separation of church and state. Ultimately, Young noted the best way for the U.S. to make progress in these areas will be to ensure that the nation itself is always striving for stronger liberties. It is important to stress that if we do weave this into our policy, like all things that we do in our foreign policy, we really have to lead by example, Young said. That becomes critical and I do think that there are some legitimate questions right now about some erosion in America on these fronts. We have to be cautious and mindful of that, because our capacity to advance these interests in a global sense will depend on our ability to live this as well. While he emphasized there are no easy or clear answers on this topic, Young advocated for the facilitation of a more prominent conversation about the impacts of religion in academia. Understanding, I think, is the first step in moving us into a place where we can do something, Young said. How can you think about political voting patterns, how can you think about educational patterns, how can you think about peoples economic choices without thinking about the overlay of the values that drive religious beliefs? Young compared the study of religious belief to other factors such as ethnicity and socio-economic status, noting their role in understanding the choices made by citizens in the population. I think religion should be woven much more robustly into the fundamentals of the discipline in terms of our analytical framework, Young said. If we do that, then I think we begin to see things that can then begin to move us in a very different direction. SEBASTIAN, Texas (AP) Rudy Garza has a thing about strings, and they weave their way through his life. Garza, 85, was a musician playing the 12-string bajo sexto with the father of Tex-Mex conjunto, Narciso Martinez, and other top performers. In fact, he says, perhaps the pinnacle of his music career was being invited to play at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., to showcase conjunto music, the toe-tapping, accordion-driven sound that was born in north Mexico and the Rio Grande Valley. "They didn't know what a bajo sexto was," Garza recently recalled at his shop, Eagles Nest Archery. "It looks like a guitar, but it's two instruments in one. It's a guitar and a bass in one. "We had a guy from Japan over here. He came down and wanted to know about it," Garza recalled. "I explained this to him, and that, and he said 'there are too many strings' and he left." Like that Japanese visitor, Garza also said goodbye to 12 strings. Now he obsesses on just one string, and its sharp "thwickk!" as it powers an arrow downrange. "My dad was an avid hunter, but with a rifle. We went hunting, but I got to the point that you don't feel the excitement to take an animal at 200 to 300 yards," Garza said. As a younger man, he had a little recurve bow he practiced with. One day, his brother-in-law told him, "'Hey Rudy, there's gonna be a demonstration in Mercedes. Wanna go?'" he recalled. "Yeah, I wanna go!" Garza said the bowman from Donna had a fancy bow with a sight. ("At that time I didn't know anything about bows," he says.) "He was hitting that little dot at close range, but to me, it was excitement. I say, 'Hey, he's good. He's good!'" Inspired, Garza said he returned home, filled up a gallon water jug, and commenced to firing in the backyard. "I used to shoot at it, 10 arrows, and I hardly hit one out of 10," he said. "But I was determined to learn." Then in the mid-1980s, Garza said he lost his job with a drug company. He couldn't find another one. He had been working on the side with a local archer and helping him with his arrows and other equipment, said his wife, Mary. That's when the idea of opening their own archery shop came to them. "So he kept saying, shall we open it? Shall we open it?" she recalled. "I told him, if you don't open it, you'll never find out." In 1985, Eagles Nest Archery was born. Running an archery shop is more than selling equipment. Both Garzas attended classes at PSE Archery, one of the giants of the American industry, to learn the basics about bows and to become certified on bow repair and construction. Since then, Rudy Garza has become an international expert on arrows. He crafts primitive arrows out of wood (modern arrows are made of carbon fiber), and naps flint and obsidian to make arrowheads the way Native Americans did thousands of years ago. Fletching for the arrows comes from turkey feathers. He's proud of continuing that ancient legacy, but he's also adept at building the best when it comes to modern carbon arrows. One of the oddest requests was from South Africa, where a big-game hunter wanted to take a record cape buffalo with a bow. What he needed was a custom arrow to take down a legendarily tough, 2,000-pound animal. "Hoyt (a major bow manufacturer) built him a special bow with a draw weight of 110 pounds, but they couldn't find any arrows that would stand that poundage," Rudy Garza said. Arrow weights are measured in grains, with an ounce being 437.5 grains. He told Rudy Garza that to get the proper permit to take a cape buffalo with a bow, he had to have an arrow that weighed at least 900 grains, which is three to four times what an average arrow weighs. "What I did was, I had to put one arrow inside the other one to make that arrow weigh so many grains," Rudy Garza said. The customer came to Sebastian to pick up those 18 special arrows, and then returned to Johannesburg. Rudy Garza said the hunter did get his buffalo, but after waiting three months for the skull to dry and shrink, it measured just short of being an official Pope and Young archery record for a cape buffalo. "We've had customers from Puerto Rico, France, and over here, from California, Minnesota, Arkansas and Kansas," Rudy Garza said. "Mostly it's for arrows, because we specialize in arrows. "How they get my number, we don't know," he said. "But we will do what they ask for. That's what we do." For Rudy Garza, it's enough to keep the strings of his life playing. January 30, 1927 April 1, 2016 Beatriz "Bea" Hastie, 89, passed away Friday, April 1, 2016. Her family invites you to join them in remembering and celebrating her life on Friday, April 8th at her home, 909 Westview St. Bryan, TX 77802 from 4:00 pm-7:00 pm; a memorial in El Paso will follow. Born January 30, 1927, in El Paso, Texas, Bea was the daughter of Giovanni Vuocolo and Felicitas de Avellano. Bea worked for Mortgage Investment Company in El Paso for 30 years before beginning a second career in the retail industry working for Dillard's in El Paso for nearly 20 years. She retired to Bryan in 2001 where she enjoyed spending her free time knitting, crocheting, and volunteering to work at numerous Brazos County elections. She loved to cook, spend time with friends and had a strong love of beautiful jewelry. However, she enjoyed nothing more than spending time with her grandsons and great grandson. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother Angelo Vuocolo; and her sister Mary Friedman. Survivors include her daughter, Bea Green, of Bryan, TX; grandsons, Sean Thomas Green and wife Jade of Portsmouth, VA, James Robert Colin Green and Fiancee Chelsea Tresp of New York City, NY; great grandson Jensen Philip Green; and numerous other family members and friends in El Paso and Bryan, Texas. In lieu of flowers, her family asks for donations in her honor be sent to the Paralyzed Veterans of America at http://www.pva.org Express condolences at CallawayJones.com July 11, 1920 - April 1, 2016 Dr. Yates Curtis Smith, 95, of San Angelo, TX, died Friday, April 1, 2016. He passed away at his home in San Angelo of natural causes. He is survived by his wife, Esther Elsa Smith of San Angelo; his daughter, Carla Patranella and husband Michael of Caldwell, TX; also his sons through marriage, Steve Yarbrough of Dallas, TX and Kevin and Pam Yarbrough of Wall, TX. Yates leaves five grandchildren, Phillip Michael Patranella of College Station, TX, Mark Tyler Patranella and his wife Daisha of Bryan, TX, Rusca Smith Kennedy and husband Cory; and his daughter-in-law, Karen McLendon Smith all of New Orleans, LA. Also, includes Dakota Yarbrough and Tyler Jurden of Wall. He leaves three great grandchildren, Liam Avery and Brady Curtis Kennedy of New Orleans and Luke Michael Patranella of Bryan, TX. He is also survived by one sister, Betty Jane Staub of Carlisle, PA; a sister-in-law, Gladys Smith of Cupertino, CA.; nieces, Peggy Morehart and Marion Ledgett of PA; and two nephews, Brian Smith of Santa Clara, CA and Hugh Staub of PA. He was preceded in death by his parents, Hugh Leach and Mary Hildred Smith of Memphis, TN; a son, Curtis Latty Smith of Marietta, GA; a brother, Robert H. Smith; and a nephew, Robert H. Smith, Jr. of Cupertino, CA; also Evelyn Bloodworth Smith, of Bryan, TX, the mother of his children.A memorial service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, April 7, 2016 at First Christian Church in San Angelo with Pastor Rev. Ben Hubert officiating. Arrangements are by Shaffer Funeral Home/Sherwood Way. Yates was born July 11, 1920 in Memphis, TN and graduated from Germantown High School in Germantown, TN in June 1938. During Yates' journey through life, he lived in several states in the South, including Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, and Georgia. As one of "The Greatest Generation", he is by all accounts a hero, who served his country honorably. Yates enlisted in the Army Air Corp in December 1941, after WWII was declared, at the age of twenty-one. He was sworn into service on March 1, 1942 as a private. From May until October of 1942, he was trained at Kelly, Coleman, and Ellington Army Air Fields for Cadet training, pre-flight, and pilot training. Then, he came to San Angelo Army Air Field for bombardier training. He graduated and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Army Air Corp Reserves, on January 28, 1943, in the top 10% of his class. He was selected to be one of 125 Second Lieutenants to attend Navigation school at Selman Army Air Field, in Monroe, LA. Upon graduation from Navigation School, in May 1942, he was assigned to Gowen Army Air Field in Boise, Idaho and Casper Army Air Field, Casper, Wyoming for B-24 Liberator training. Just two weeks before he was scheduled to go overseas, Yates was transferred to Smokey Hill Army Air Field in Salina, Kansas. The Army Air Corp wanted all dual rated officers for flight training on the B-29 Super Fortress. He was assigned to 468th Bomb Group, 795 Bomb Squadron. He left for overseas on April 9, 1943. His crew took a route from Salina, Kansas, Presque Isle, Maine, Gander Lake Newfoundland, Marrakech, Morocco and Cairo, Egypt. After four days in Cairo, the crew left for Karachi only to encounter a blinding dust storm that caused the B-29 in front of them to crash and all five crew members were killed. About one month after they left Salina, Kansas, they arrived at their permanent base, Kharagpur, India, seventy miles west of Calcutta. From Kharagpur, India and a forward base at Chengdu, China, his crew flew twenty-five missions against such targets as Japan, Manchuria, Singapore, French Indo China (Vietnam), Burma, and China. During this period more planes and crews were lost due to malfunctioning equipment than to enemy action. In May 1945, Yates' Bomb Group was transferred to Tinian in the Pacific. He completed thirty-five combat missions and ten Hump trips against such targets as Tokyo, Kobe, Nagoya, Kure, Nagasaki and Yokohama. Yates was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, five Air Medals, the Presidential Unit Citation with two clusters, Asiatic-Pacific Theater ribbons with seven battle stars, China Campaign, Burma Campaign, Air Offensive Japan, Palembang, Sumatra, Central Burma Campaign, Western Pacific Campaign, Philippine Campaign, and the Victory Medal. Yates remained in the Air Force as a Training Officer at Lackland Air Force Base until December 31, 1946. He was placed on Inactive Reserve status in the Air Force Reserve in March 1947. On July 11, 1980, Yates was placed on Retired Reserve Status from the US Air Force with the rank of Major. He attended the University of Missouri on the GI Bill and received a BS degree in Agriculture in June 1949 majoring in Soils and Chemistry. He was one of the founders of the Agronomy Club, and he was a member of Alpha Zeta, an honorary scholarship fraternity. His first jobs after college were working as an "On the Farm" Instructor for the V.A., in Senath, Missouri, a Conservationist with the Soil Conservation Service, in LaGrange, TX, and a Field Representative for Olin Mathieson Chemical Corp. in Lubbock, TX, (including Tom Green County). He was thirty-eight years old when he had the opportunity to go back to graduate school. He was accepted at the University of Georgia as a graduate assistant. He completed his degree in Soil-Water Plant Relationships in June 1961. Yates was accepted into Sigma Xi, an honorary scientific fraternity. He continued his education and completed his PhD in June 1963 in Soil Physics. Before he graduated and received his PhD, he had been hired by Tennessee Valley Authority as an Area Director, working in the states of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. He moved from Georgia back to Texas in 1965 to work in the State of Texas. Eventually, he held the position as a Regional Director for TVA for Texas, New Mexico, and Colorado where he administered and coordinated the TVA programs with Texas A & M, New Mexico State, and Colorado State Universities. He also worked with the fertilizer industry in these three states on new fertilizer processes, production, distribution, and computerization. In January 1987, he was given the Outstanding Member Award and Man or the Year Award from the Texas Plant Food Institute. In January 1992, he was bestowed and awarded for outstanding service to farmers, ranchers, and the fertilizer industry in New Mexico. Yates worked until he was seventy-two years old, and he always liked to tell people that he "was still paying in to Social Security and drawing his Social Security at the same time." Yates was a member of the American Society of Agronomy, Council of Scientific Technologies, Professional AG Workers, Rocky Mountain Plant Food Association, and the Texas Plant Food Institute, Alpha Zeta, Sigma Xi Honorary Fraternities, University of Missouri Alumni Association, University of Georgia Alumni Association, the Model A Ford Club of America, Model A Ford Club Foundation, and Wool Capital Region Antique Car Club of America. He was a lifetime member of the VFW, Reserve Officers Association, Hump Pilots Association, Selman Field Foundation, Bombardier, Inc. In his retirement, he and Esther enjoyed traveling. They were able to visit England, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as, road trips in the van around the US. Yates was a collector of just about everything! But he especially enjoyed coin collecting. He started collecting coins while a student at the University of Georgia. When the vending company would come to collect the money from the Coke machine, he would ask if he could go through the coins and trade out for the coins he needed. Later, he started collecting Mint and Proof sets of coins and also had an extensive old paper money collection. But his pride and joy was his 1930 Model "A" Ford Coupe. He was only the second owner of this car, which he had completely restored in the last ten years. He and Esther drove it in parades and short outings around San Angelo. Yates spent a lot of time during his retirement years working on the Family Tree History. He was the family's first genealogist. During the 1960's he interviewed some of his older relatives by tape recording some of the conversations and writing down as much information as he could from them. Later, after computers, he spent many hours recording family history on to Family Tree Maker. He has passed all this information on to Karen Smith, his daughter-in-law, who now carries the torch for keeping up with the family tree. He also spent many years contacting people from his Bomb Squadron, compiling a complete history of each squadron. He did some of this before computers and then completed it and put all the information online, complete with names and pictures of each squadron. Yates has written an extensive history of all the missions his crew completed while overseas, and a diary of his deployment. He has always been a historian and believed in saving all this information for the next generations. Yates was baptized as a young child at the Germantown Presbyterian Church, and was raised and active in the Presbyterian Churches in Lubbock, and Bryan, TX, Athens, GA, and San Angelo. His membership is now with the First Christian Church in San Angelo. What a story he could tell you on just about any subject you wanted to talk about. Many of us know he was the smartest man we ever knew. We owe so much to the men and women of this generation. Thank God that they were the Greatest and Bravest Americans of the modern era. Thank you God for letting us have our family patriarch for so many years. Yates and Esther were blessed with many friends from First Christian Church, Pastor Ben Hubert, also Dick Funk, Dana and Jim Glossbrenner, and others from the Henson Sunday School Class. Also including, Dee and Jerry Lackey, Rhonda Clark, Terri and Bob Thomas, Vo Wilson, Pamela Marshall, many friends, from St. Mark Presbyterian Church, the Wool Capital Antique Car Club. Yates loved his constant canine companion, Dixie. The family also expresses its appreciation to the staff of Gentiva Hospice and Encompass Home Health. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the Memorial Fund at the First Christian Church, West Texas Rehab, the New England Air Museum, West Texas Boy's Ranch, Concho Valley Home for the Girls, House of Faith, Meals for the Elderly and Concho Valley Food Bank. These were all organizations Yates and Esther enjoyed supporting. Online condolences may be made at www.shafferpioneer.com The Fighting Foxes were courteous and did a great job with the Big Event We want to express our appreciation to the eight men and three women from the Aggie Corps of Cadets, Company F-2 who helped us during the Big Event day. We had a huge, long, high pile of trees, limbs, and bushes that had accumulated and needed to be carried to the street for special pickup. The way these remarkable Aggies organized and got this difficult job done was amazing. A special note to the parents of these respectful young men and women: The courtesy and manners the students showed was wonderful. Aggieland is a special place and the "Fighting Foxes" from Company F-2 demonstrated why we should be thankful for this exceptional community in which we live. RON and LYNDA WALLEY College Station America is on its way to becoming more like Cuba I am not as enamored with the president and his trip to Cuba as The Eagle Editorial Board (April 3) seems to be. I see this president as a huge failure looking for some way to seem relevant or trying to build a legacy in his waning days in office. The trip to Cuba may be a view of the future of the United States, though, if we keep electing more liberal politicians to guide our country. We keep venturing more and more towards socialism. Our government and agencies keep exerting more power over our every move and our freedoms are being trampled. Our spending is out of control; the debt is crushing and no one on either side seems to care. We have politicians seeking the presidency by making wild promises for more free things such as college and medical care and at the same time proposing elimination of jobs through reduction of fossil fuels. Yes, we are a long way from a Cuban-style governing and suffering, but if we continue on the path of voting for politicians who promise "free" stuff, we may not be as far away as some may think. There is no such thing as "free" when talking political promises. Paraphrasing Ayn Rand, "The difference between socialism and communism is similar to the difference between murder and suicide". JAMES CONNEALY Bryan Nearly half of all natural and mixed World Heritage sites are threatened by harmful industrial activities, according to a new WWF report released today. These hugely valuable sites, which protect fragile environments and provide vital resources to millions of people, are at risk worldwide from threats ranging from oil and gas exploration to mining and illegal logging. Sites at risk include the Great Barrier Reef, the Grand Canyon National Park, the Belize Barrier Reef, Lake Malawi National Park and the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries - see detail of threats below. According to the study, 114 of the 229 natural and mixed World Heritage sites have oil, gas or mining concessions overlapping them or they are under threat from at least one other harmful industrial activity. The report also shows that over 20% of natural World Heritage sites face threats from multiple harmful industrial activities. "World Heritage sites cover approximately 0.5% of the Earth's surface and include some of the most valuable and unique places on the planet. Yet even this small fraction of our planet isn't receiving the protection it deserves", said David Nussbaum, CEO of WWF-UK. "These areas contribute to our economies through tourism and natural resources, providing livelihoods for millions of people, while also supporting some of the planet's most valuable ecosystems, so we need to work together now to ensure they are properly protected." Over 11 million people need World Heritage Sites intact! World Heritage sites could help to play a key role in achieving the global sustainable development goals agreed last year by UN member states. According to the report, 90% of natural World Heritage sites provide jobs and benefits that extend far beyond their boundaries. More than 11 million people depend on World Heritage sites for food, water, shelter and medicine, and could be negatively affected by the impacts of harmful industrial activities conducted at large-scale. In one example cited in the report, the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System is shown to be at risk from unsustainable coastal construction, large-scale mangrove clearance, harmful agricultural run-off and the potential of dangerous oil exploration. These threats put the well-being of 190,000 people - half of Belize's population - at risk. WWF is calling on national governments to ensure that no harmful industrial activities are permitted in World Heritage sites or in areas that could negatively affect them, and to hold multinational enterprises headquartered or operating in their territories to the highest standards of corporate accountability and stewardship. "Governments and businesses need to prioritize long-term value over short-term revenue and respect the status of these incredible places", said Nussbaum. "We need to turn away from harmful industrial activities and focus on sustainable alternatives that enhance World Heritage sites, their values and the benefits they provide, especially to local communities." Overseas-based Filipinos are leaning towards the Southeast Asian nations version of U.S. presidential hopeful Donald Trump, to be the countrys next leader a recent poll shows. Of the five presidential candidates, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who is making a spectacular, obscenity-filled charge towards the presidential palace, was the top choice of overseas-based Filipinos polled by the Dubai-based Illustrado Magazine. The poll comprising 5,000 Overseas-based Filipinos from 92 countries with the bulk from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Canada, US, Qatar, Kuwait, Japan, Bahrain, Australia, Oman, China, Malaysia, UK and New Zealand showed that the next set of Philippine national leaders must prioritise the following: corruption, 91 per cent (4,550); crime, 70 per cent (3,500); economy 51 per cent (2,550); peace and order, 42 per cent (2,100). About 87 per cent polled Duterte to be the next president of the Philippines. Second was Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago at seven per cent, while third was Interior and Local Government Secretary/ administration bet Mar Roxas at four per cent. Senator Grace Poe and Vice President Jejomar Binay shared one per cent each with. Sixty-seven per cent considering Poe as inexperienced. The Philippine presidential and vice presidential election is scheduled on Monday, May 9, 2016. Incumbent President Benigno Aquino III is barred from seeking re-election, pursuant to the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Therefore, this election will determine the 16th President of the Philippines. The position of president and vice president are elected separately, and the winning candidates may come from different political parties. According to the magazine survey, when asked about their most important factors for choosing a president, 38 per cent (1,900) of the respondents said discipline or strong rule; 25 per cent (1,250) pointed at track record; 18 per cent (900) invoked ability to facilitate change; and 13 per cent (650) noted honesty and incorruptibility. The overseas absentee voting is scheduled a month ahead of the election day in the Philippines that will run from April 9 to May 9. There are a total of 1,376,067 overseas voters registered for this years elections the highest number of Filipino overseas voters, ever. Kuwait has over 49,000 registered overseas voters. About 82,700 Filipino-Canadians and temporary foreign workers have registered to cast ballots in Vancouver Philippine Senate President Franklin M. Drilon, author of the Overseas Absentee Voting Act, urged the overseas Filipinos to take part in the upcoming May 2016 elections. Drilon, who is running for a re-election in the Senate under the Liberal Party, said that their fate, as well as the future of their families in the Philippines is at stake in the elections. We should not take for granted the May 2016 elections. We should exercise our right to vote and take an active role in choosing the countrys next set of leaders, Drilon said. Drilon said that the main reason why he pushed for the absentee voting law is to empower the overseas Filipino workers to participate in shaping our countrys future by electing qualified leaders. The outcome of this election will have an impact on our countrys policies on the welfare of around seven million Filipinos living abroad including the 2.3 million overseas Filipino workers, he stressed. Citing Comelecs (Commission on Elections) data, Drilon said that there are 1.37 million registered overseas voters who are expected to participate in the 2016 national elections, 826,880 of which are new registrants. Who is Rodrigo Duterte? Rodrigo Duterte curses the popes mother and jokes about his own infidelities, but many voters in the Philippines want to elect him president so he can honour a campaign pledge to kill thousands of criminals. Duterte is making a spectacular, obscenity-filled charge towards the presidential palace by selling himself as a ruthless leader willing to bypass the judicial system in an unprecedented war against crime, reports the South China Morning Post. Kill them all, Duterte, 70, told a cheering crowd of supporters this month at a campaign rally in the small northern city of Lingayen as he outlined his plans to eradicate drug traffickers in the Philippines. When I become president, Ill order the police and the military to find these people and kill them. Such comments are typical fare on the campaign trail for Duterte, who in Lingayen also jokingly gave business advice to those in the crowd to start up funeral parlours in preparation of him winning the May elections. The funeral parlours will be packed ... Ill supply the dead bodies, he said, to more cheers and laughter. On a previous occasion Duterte, a lawyer, pledged to kill 100,000 criminals and dump so many in Manila Bay that the fish will grow fat from feeding on them. Surveys indicate his law-and-order platform, which is a centrepiece of his election strategy, is winning him many fans in a nation bedevilled by crime, corrupt law enforcement agencies and deep poverty. The long-time mayor of the major southern city of Davao is one of four candidates with a genuine shot at succeeding President Benigno Aquino. And he is gaining popularity, climbing into second place just four percentage points behind Senator Grace Poe, according to the latest survey by Pulse Asia. Duterte is really a phenomenon. I like what he is saying, Clarita Carlos, a political scientist at the University of the Philippines, said. I like the fact that he has fire in his belly and he is politically courageous. His unique form of political courage has extended to insulting Pope Francis, who is revered by many in a nation where 80 per cent of the population are Catholics. In a speech to launch his presidential bid late last year, Duterte described the pope as a son of a bitch for causing traffic jams when he visited the Philippines. Duterte, who is in a long-term relationship with a woman after having his first marriage annulled, also admitted then to having two girlfriends. However Duterte jokingly assured taxpayers they would not foot his mistresses bills, explaining he only spent 1,500 pesos a month on their boarding room rent and saved money by taking them to short-time hotels. Carlos said voters were willing to ignore his indiscretions as they focused on his track record in Davao, a formerly crime-plagued city that Duterte says he transformed into one of the nations most peaceful. Never mind he cusses a lot, he is a womaniser. I dont think that will intrude into his effectiveness as a political leader, she said. Duterte also maintains a frugal lifestyle, in contrast with many corrupt Filipino politicians who use the powers of office to enrich themselves. Human rights campaigners are not enthusiastic about a Duterte presidency, warning he has the track record to back up his rhetoric. They accuse Duterte of organising or tolerating vigilante squads that have targeted suspected criminals and street children in Davao, killing more than 1,000 people since the 1980s. For many years Duterte denied the existence of death squads, which were allegedly made up of local policemen, ex-communist rebels and hired assassins. Rodrigo Duterte also maintains a frugal lifestyle, in contrast with many corrupt Filipino politicians who use the powers of office to enrich themselves. Photo: AFP But Duterte has in recent months said he was involved in them and that rights groups had in fact underestimated the number of people to have been killed. They miscalculated ... 1,700, Duterte told reporters in December. That law enforcement agencies have failed to pursue allegations against Duterte is not surprising, according to Philippine Human Rights Commission chairman Chito Gascon. Gascon said this was part of the nations culture of impunity, where politicians and powerful figures often get away with crimes. Other politicians are also accused of running death squads. Voters are attracted to Dutertes promise of a quick fix to such fundamental justice problems, according to Gascon and other rights campaigners. He is popular because he taps into this extreme disappointment in criminality and the inability of the government to deal with it, Carlos Conde, a Manila-based researcher with JASON CLARK / THE GLEANER Tore Stuen of Henderson checks out artwork created by students during the Henderson County Gifted and Talented Middle Grades Art Expo at the Professional Development Center in Henderson Tuesday. About 65 students created multiple pieces of art for the Expo. SHARE JASON CLARK / THE GLEANER Greyson Fuller, 3, of Henderson checks out artwork created by students including his sister during the Henderson County Gifted and Talented Middle Grades Art Expo at the Professional Development Center in Henderson Tuesday. About 65 students created multiple pieces of art for the Expo. By Erin Schmitt of The Gleaner Having started crafting zentangles after discovering the Japanese art form while browsing Pinterest, South Middle School sixth-grader Julianne Latimer, was happy to devote class time to creating more of the intricate designs. "It takes a lot of time because it's really detailed," she said. "It's just like a lot of patterns. We had like a picture of us and then they cut off the hair in the picture and then we made our own crazy hairdo and we filled it with patterns and things like that." Her zentangle, along with canvasses featuring multicolored giraffes, burlap mummies and holiday-themed chalkboards were all on display at the fifth-annual Henderson County Schools Gifted and Talented Middle School Art expo Tuesday evening at the Professional Development Center. All the participating students show a talent in art, said Leslie Stuen, the Gifted and Talented coordinator. The program is a way for students to hone that talent. "Our middle schools do offer art classes, but bringing these kids that have a like interest at this level of ability, it's really important that they work together," she said. "In a normal class you've got all ranges. At this level, we're able to take off with them and teach them using different mediums, on perspective and just different drawing techniques." For the art program, students are pulled out of their regular classes three to four times during the school year for a full day. The instructors, which include Gifted and Talented teachers Jill Alexander and Tracy Brown, introduce different mediums each session. "I like all the different things we do," said South eighth-grader Hannah Robards about the program. "It's really hands on." Robards was happy to show off the mummy she sculpted out of burlap to her family members Tuesday evening. "They were like, 'That's really, really cute,' " she said. "I was like, 'I really like it.' " All of the students got to take home their artwork once the expo was over. Robards also had a chalkboard featuring a quote from the movie "Elf" and a mandala, which is an intricate design in the shape of a circle. South seventh-grader Emma Gibson also made a Christmas-themed chalkboard in addition to a canvas and a few drawings on paper. Allowed to work in her favorite medium, Gibson painted a flower and butterfly on canvas with acrylic paints. Most of the students have clear preferences when it comes to creating artwork, said Stuen. Some like Gibson prefer painting, while others would rather draw. "We kind of let them have a choice," said Stuen. "We've learned that through our first year working with the kids. There are some that would rather take off with the paint and not even draw." North seventh-grader Jake Perry is more into drawing than painting. "Drawing is the easiest because it's the easiest to fix your mistakes," said Perry. His favorite things to sketch are animals, but he replaces part of their bodies. The other day he drew a turtle and transformed half of it into a robot. Stuen said she thinks if you ask most students, they would say they get a lot out of the Gifted and Talented art program. "It's really cool because I know a few of the kids from the previous years," said Latimer. "I can relate to them a lot and I'll be with them in high school, so I already know some people who have the same interests as me whenever I get into high school." SHARE By Beth Smith of The Gleaner The United Way says Henderson County has a poverty crisis, but the former president and CEO of Kyndle said there's also more open jobs here than people to fill them. These issues were discussed Tuesday morning during the Henderson Fiscal Court meeting when Melissa Clements, executive director with United Way of Henderson County, spoke to magistrates about the local poverty levels. "Joan Hoffman with the Justice Coalition approached me about holding a poverty simulation in our community. It was supposed to be April 23, but due to lack of commitment, lack of participation ... it's been postponed until the fall," Clements said. "The poverty simulation is designed where those considered to not be in poverty become the impoverished. People living in poverty become like those not impoverished. Those becoming impoverished go through a one-hour simulation of trying to get from point A to point B; working with food stamps; working with Medicaid, working with cash advance places; working with jailers and working with the court system ... We hope you all will consider being part of the simulation," Clements said. "Henderson County is facing a poverty crisis. Poverty levels have gone up," she said. "In our office, we've seen a great increase in the number of people calling our office asking for assistance" with food, rent or utilities, she said. "Because I'm a lifelong resident of Henderson County, I know there are some changes we can make here. I know there are so many ways to bring people in poverty out of poverty," Clements said. Henderson County Judge-executive Brad Schneider asked if the United Way assists those living in poverty with finding jobs or better paying jobs. "In my former job working with Kyndle, one of the challenges we faced in the community is meeting our workforce needs," he said. "Connecting people in need of a job with the job openings seems to be a real challenge. These aren't minimum wage jobs either. These are much higher paying jobs than minimum wage, and yet we still have trouble filling those positions and yet we have a poverty issue," Schneider said. "I was wondering if part of your program could involve a job referral program or if you already have that component?" Clements said United Way hopes to host job fairs and bring those particular resources to impoverished people. "I know there are families who want to be helped and families who don't want to be helped," she said. "The purpose of the poverty simulation isn't about giving a handout, but to educate and bring awareness and show these individuals where they can go to better themselves and better their families." Following Clements' presentation, Donna Crooks, Kyndle's vice president and interim CEO, provided the court with an update about the agency and some of its projects. "I wanted to talk to you about some of our successes during the last year. We are the economic development agency for Henderson, Union, Webster and McLean counties," she said. Kyndle helped companies in the four counties create more than 500 jobs, Crooks said, adding that the companies invested roughly $90 million in capital investment. "I wanted to talk about a new program Kyndle has initiated," she said. "It's called the Warriors Initiative. We've hired a consultant, Larry Wheatley, and he goes out to different military installations and sets up a table and helps companies here, which have job openings, fill those positions (with servicemen and women). These are military personnel within six months of completing their assignments. They are actively looking for jobs and possibly even a new community to move to." "It's just one more tool we're using in workforce development to recruit new workers into the region to help fill some of those job openings our companies are having trouble filling," Crooks said. In other business Tuesday: Judge's scholar: Fiscal Court declared April 5, 2016, as Callie Garrett Day. Garrett is a student at Bend Gate Elementary School and has been named as the Judge's Scholar. Proclamations: The Fiscal Court declared April as Child Abuse Prevention Month and as Fair Housing Month. Tuesday was declared as Motorcycle Awareness Day. Roads: Magistrates approved recommendations regarding rural and secondary road projects from County Engineer Bill Hubiak and Jason Ward with the Kentucky Department of Highways. The projects include replacing the beams and deck of a bridge on Kentucky 812 at a cost of $193,000 and resurfacing portions of Kentucky 416, which comes with a price tag of $451,000. Another project involves replacing culverts on Kentucky 416, which would cost around $20,000, and resurfacing a portion of Kentucky 268. That project cost is roughly $85,000. SHARE By Laura Acchiardo, laura.acchiardo@thegleaner.com At their meeting on Tuesday night, the Henderson City-County Planning Commission held a public hearing to review an amendment to seven zoning districts. Those districts in question included residential/office, neighborhood business, general business, central business, highway commercial, the Gateway Zone and innovative planning. The Henderson City Commission requested the planning commission discuss the amendment after Alan Taylor spoke about Gateway Zone restrictions at the March 8 City Commission meeting. The amendment is under conditional uses for each district and states that multiple uses (businesses) may be allowed "but no more than three, may be allowed in the same (structure) building with a conditional use permit. Uses shall be of the same general character or accessory to one another." The amendment is intended "to allow more density, make efficient use of the infrastructure and to help promote a more business friendly climate." It would be determined on a case-by-case basis and would not include shopping centers or property that has a common owner but is leased. Several residents questioned the need for a conditional use permit, saying it was "another piece of red tape." Through a conditional use permit, the city can consider uses which aren't consistent with a particular zoning district. Under the amendment, businesses could be prevented from moving into a shared building if the uses aren't compatible. To obtain a conditional use permit would be a month-long process and would cost about $56. "I'm against the conditional use permit," said Mike Richardson. "I think it's just another piece of legislation and takes more time to get a business started." "Henderson has been said not to be business friendly," said planning commissioner Herb Pritchett. "Is this another hoop businesses are going to have to jump through?" According to Brian Bishop, executive director of the planning commission, the conditional use permit was included to protect neighbors who owned adjoining property and thought an incoming business was not economically conducive. Also it would allow for multiple uses and not force businesses into a shopping center. The planning commission recommended deleting the last sentence of the amendment "uses shall be of the same general character or accessory to one another" so the board of zoning adjustment would be responsible for deciding whether two businesses were compatible with one another. "The motion does not go as far as some would like," said Pritchett. "But I think it is changed for the better." The recommendation to change the wording of the amendment now goes to the city commission. City commissioners will meet next on April 12. Budget: The planning commission has a budget of $692,332 for FY 2016-17, which is an 8.5 percent decrease from the previous year. The commission previously had a budget of $756,991. Akin family trust: Commissioners approved an agricultural division in a special flood hazard zone at the Akin family trust agricultural division outside of Smith Mills along Kentucky 136. Trick-or-treat, walk Ed Stone's Haunted Halls and more this week in SE Iowa Your guide to getting off the couch and out the door this week in Southeast Iowa. Faster loading time (lower bounce rates from) A faster loading ensures that your site visitors don't leave your site when it starts to load for too long. Guaranteed dedicated resources Bandwidth, memory, CPU power, storage of up to 200 GB SSD Storage, NVMe. Privacy and control (server admin) You will get total control over digital assets, databases, customer information, and files with no ovhcloud control panel. 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Back in January, General Electric announced that it will be moving its headquarters from Fairfield to Boston, Mass. Since that announcement, corporate lobbyists have pushed the narrative that GE's move was motivated by higher taxes and a so-called 'bad business climate.' And the move has been mentioned often to rationalize drastic and harmful budget cuts and austerity measures. But a smart look at the facts shows that GE's move has been portrayed inaccurately and we have taken the wrong lessons for the experience. Even last summer when GE injected itself into the state budget process, politicians and lobbyists decried the 'business unfriendly' budget because it closed some corporate tax loopholes to fund schools, public safety, and infrastructure. But GE's announcement in January illustrates that taxes clearly were not a major motivating factor in the decision to move. If they had been, GE could be moving to Texas or Georgia, where tax rates are substantially lower than Connecticut's. Instead, their decision came down to New York or Massachusetts, which both have higher tax rates. Ultimately GE went with Massachusetts, a state that has a long-standing reputation for higher taxes. So if taxes are not the main factor for moving to Massachusetts, other factors must be. Every serious study of the location selection of corporate headquarters shows that the rate of the corporate income tax is far down the list of factors major corporations consider. The top factors include livable communities, good education systems, transportation, and an educated workforce. GE's CEO Jeff Immelt himself backs up this assertion, saying: "Greater Boston is home to 55 colleges and universities. Massachusetts spends more on research and development than any other region in the world, and Boston attracts a diverse, technologically fluent workforce focused on solving challenges for the world. We are excited to bring our headquarters to this dynamic and creative city." Because Massachusetts does collect more taxes, it is able to invest in these very factors that attract businesses. Massachusetts has the best-ranked schools in the country according to Education Week. They have one of the highest rates of spending per pupil at $13,157, and one of the highest graduation rates at 86 percent. More than 70 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds in Massachusetts were enrolled in college or already completed a post-secondary degree, the highest percentage in the nation. The state has invested heavily in its transportation infrastructure with plans to invest $3 billion over the next year. And Boston is among the top 10 cities in the country that invests the most in public safety. GE's move comes up constantly when corporate lobbyists argue in favor of drastic budget cuts to vital services families rely on, instead of common sense revenue-generating proposals that would give our state long-term financial security. This is backwards. Corporations are looking for vibrant and vital communities with a well-educated workforce, so what sense does it make to cut vocational training programs and community college funds in the name of being 'business friendly?' Instead we should look to programs that can create additional funds for the state so we are not in a continuous cycle of cuts and austerity. For instance, we could pass the Low Wage Employer Fee. It would ask large, profitable companies to pay their workers a fair wage, or pay a small fee to offset the costs of public assistance programs their employees are forced to rely on to survive. The fee could generate $305 million a year in revenue, and give families the resources they need to make ends meet. We could join a compact with other Northeastern states in asking the 1 percent to pay their fair share by closing the carried interest tax loophole, which lets hedge fund managers and bankers pay a much lower tax rate on income earned from stock market investments, and shortchanges us about $535 million every year. If our tax rates matched the tax rates for the super-wealthy in states such as New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, it could generate over $300 million annually. The 'new economic reality' will only become permanent if we continue making harmful budget cuts and state layoffs. Shouldn't we strive to create the kind of vibrant, safe, well-educated, supported communities GE, and other companies, want to be in? If we continue cutting vital services and slashing public programs in the name of being 'business friendly,' we will create exactly the opposite environment. Only with reliable and stable sources of revenue will our state have enough resources to support our communities and draw businesses to the state. Lindsay Farrell is the executive director of Connecticut Working Families. No one can dispute the good work being done to focus on one of the biggest public health issues currently facing our society--prescription drug abuse. Just last year in Connecticut more than 700 people died from an overdose. That number is double what it was just a few years ago. From small towns in Connecticut to our nation's capital, lawmakers, law enforcement, the medical community and those who advocate for patients are coming together like never before to stop this crisis from growing worse and destroying yet another life. But while we need to do everything we can to stop the abuse, we must also be cautious to not create other problems for patients in our state. The Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is one tool that states, including Connecticut are using to help track the prescribing of potentially addictive medications, and to prevent those who are abusing prescription drugs from jumping from doctor to doctor to feed their addiction. We must remember however, that just as not everyone who takes a medication is an addict, not all medications pose a threat. And in some cases, a patient's medication can make the difference between having a functional life or being held hostage by the constraints of their disease. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) classifies substances that are tracked by the PDMP into classes, or schedules as they are known--Schedules I-V. Schedule I drugs are the most addictive, Schedule V the least. Requiring reporting of Schedule V drugs is unnecessarily burdensome and will not make a difference in the crackdown on prescription drug abuse. These medications are simply not the ones addicts are going after. There's not enough of a narcotic substance in these medications to get the desired high. And those we're talking about excluding contain no opioids at all. On the flip side, these medications do make a huge difference in the lives of the patients who are taking them for legitimate medical needs. Many of the patients we serve are prescribed Schedule V medications to manage their epilepsy. Those living with epilepsy are among the most vulnerable to changes in their medication regimens. Even the slightest dosage change can lead to major setbacks and increased seizures, which can have dangerous, even fatal results. Unnecessary reporting requirements for these medications puts an added burden on doctors and their staffs, creates an undue stigma around these medications and the patients who need them, and could jeopardize patient's getting the most effective treatment. Eighteen states including our New England neighbors Maine and Rhode Island have chosen to exclude Schedule V substances from monitoring requirements. Connecticut should do the same. While we need to do everything possible from keeping another person from being addicted to prescription medications, we need to fight the problem the right way, and not put unnecessary barriers around medications that are critical to many patients' well-being. Linda Wallace is executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Connecticut. Recently, massive wildfires destroyed hundreds of square miles of grazing land in Kansas and Oklahoma. The Anderson Creek fire started on March 22 in northwestern Oklahoma, and it quickly spread north to the neighboring Sunflower State. In less than a week, nearly 400,000 acres of prairie and ranch land went up in flames. Firefighting teams from across Kansas rallied to combat the blaze. Black Hawk helicopters from the Kansas National Guard were also deployed to bolster fire suppression efforts. After days of tireless work, the teams eventually succeeded in containing the outbreak. Still, these wildfires will go down as the largest ever recorded in Kansas history. Our neighbors in Kansas lost homes, equipment, fences, hay and livestock. One can only imagine the anxiety and uncertainty Kansans felt looking out across acres of charred earth as they wondered how to rebuild their lives and continue providing for their families. In Nebraska, agriculture drives our states economy. We understand the drastic impact this terrible event will have on local communities. We also know that the dangers of extreme weather are very real. In times of loss, however, there are often inspiring signs of resilience and compassion. For example, at a family ranch in Chase County, Kansas, the fires came close to a calving pasture. Thirteen calves were born just before the fire broke out. Fortunately, as the fire approached, the countys fire department acted quickly to keep all the calves safe. The fire department also ensured that buildings and homes remained standing. Word of these wildfires spread fast through news and social media. The Kansas Livestock Association, as well as other farmers and ranchers, needed help to feed their cattle. Nebraskans saw this dire situation and acted. Two groups, led by Troy and Meghan Anderson of South Central Cattlemen and the Thayer County Feeders, loaded trailers with hay and headed to Kansas to deliver these much-needed feed supplies. Additionally, the Nebraska Cattlemen organized an aid drive, which allows producers from across our state to donate supplies to their counterparts in Kansas. These recovery efforts, under the banner of Cattlemen helping Cattlemen, are up and running. If you or someone you know would like to join this cause, you can visit the Nebraska Cattlemens Facebook page. Additional information is also available on the Kansas and Oklahoma Livestock Foundations websites. Our states greatest treasure is our people. Not only are we tough and hardworking, but we are also generous neighbors. It makes me proud to see Nebraskans display such compassion toward our friends in Kansas during this time of need. We value community, and I know the citizens of Kansas appreciate this generosity. 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! Phillies bash Padres in wild Game 4 to move to brink of World Series Philadelphia hit four home runs in the win, overcoming a 4-0 deficit before they even came to bat against San Diego. NASA has awarded Southern Illinois University Edwardsville $11.5 million to expand its citizen science and educational activities through CosmoQuest, a second-generation citizen science facility. CosmoQuest Project Director Dr. Pamela Gay, assistant research professor in the SIUE STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) Center, will lead the initiative as principal investigator. SIUE is excited and extremely proud to be among an amazing group of institutions chosen to advance NASAs STEM education mission, said Jerry Weinberg, associate provost for research and dean of the SIUE Graduate School. This project partners SIUE with leading institutions in space and astronomy research to deliver unique online educational opportunities, building on Dr. Gays well-established work in citizen science. Dr. Gays leadership on this project supports SIUEs strong commitment to engaging the community in STEM education and elevates that engagement to a global level. With this funding, CosmoQuest will be able to grow from a seedling full of potential, into a mighty tree that supports science and learning opportunities, said Gay. We are bringing new partners with added expertise, and we couldnt be prouder of this team. CosmoQuests software and educational activities will be developed out of SIUE. This includes the software that enables everyday people to help NASA scientists make new discoveries. Programs to date have helped the New Horizons team find Kuiper Belt Objects and have helped researchers map out the moon, Mars, Mercury, and vesta. Future programs will expand beyond planetary science, including working with the University of Texas to explore dark energy and with Johnson Space Center to help earth scientists more effectively use astronaut images to study our changing planet. While engaging the public is a major component of CosmoQuest, the program also contributes to the STEM employment pipeline. By being located in SIUEs interdisciplinary STEM Center, weve been able to bring together people from all areas of science, technology and education to collaborate creatively in a shared environment, said SIUEs Cory Lehan, CosmoQuest lead developer. As we grow into the future, were going to be able to employ students on projects that support NASA science. Our team includes student programmers, graphic artists and even psychology majors who help us understand how to make our site better. Beyond science, CosmoQuest will leverage its online presence to provide planetariums and Science on the Sphere facilities new, creative commons licensed content that they can use and remix. Called Projected Science, this collaboration with Youngstown State University and Lawrence Hall of Science will create an online repository of data visualizations. "We are in a golden age of space exploration, and NASA is providing some of the highest resolution views of the Universe in the history of humanity," says Projected Science co-lead Toshi Komatsu, director of Digital Theaters at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley. "Digital platforms like the Science On a Sphere and planetariums are the perfect venues to share these discoveries with the public. Based in the Midwest, CosmoQuest looks for ways to bring science to people nowhere near a large city. This includes supporting educators in rural areas. Were working with a network of amazing educational professionals, who can support teachers bringing authentic science into their classrooms, said SIUEs Georgia Bracey, CosmoQuest educational lead. Were working to build a lasting community for our teachers, including an online home where they can get help and share their own lessons learned. From small planetariums, to small classes, CosmoQuest is constantly working to create a personalized experience while building community. In the age of MOOCs (massive open online courses), were taking a different track and offering online classes that will never go over 20 students and are generally capped at eight, says Jake Noel-Storr, director of InsightSTEM and lead for CosmoQuests CosmoAcademy program. With this grant, our classes will become free to teachers, and well be able to teach with the same best practices we hope theyll use in their classes. In mid-2016, CosmoQuest will begin competitively selecting future topics for citizen science programs. Selected programs will receive funding to support research and communications of science goals and science results. Additional programs for supporting regional science fairs and school districts will begin in the 2017 school year. With a portfolio of approximately 100 science missions, NASA's commitment to education places special emphasis on increasing the effectiveness, sustainability and efficient utilization of SMD science discoveries and learning experiences. Goals also include enabling STEM education, improving U.S. scientific literacy, advancing national educational goals and leveraging science activities through partnerships. NASAs cooperative agreement funds team members at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, InsightSTEM, Interface Guru, Lawrence Hall of Science, Johnson Space Center, McREL International, the Planetary Science Institute, McDonald Observatory and Youngstown State University. By preparing the next generation of leaders in a knowledge-based economy, SIUEs Graduate School fulfills the regions demand for highly trained professionals. Graduate school offerings include arts and sciences, business, education, engineering, nursing and interdisciplinary opportunities. SIUE professors provide students with a unique integration of theoretical education and hands-on research experiences. Students can obtain graduate certificates or pursue masters degrees, and be part of a supportive learning and rich intellectual environment that is tailored to the needs of adult learners. The Graduate School raises the visibility of research at SIUE, which ranks highest among its Illinois Board of Higher Education peers in total research and development expenditures according to the National Science Foundation. Doctoral programs are available in the Schools of Education (Ed.D.) and Nursing (DNP). The School of Engineering and the Department of Historical Studies feature cooperative doctoral programs (Ph.D.). The Leadership Council Southwestern Illinois is pleased to announce the additions of the St. Louis office of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Sandberg Phoenix & von Gontard P.C. and Weir Chevrolet-Buick-GMC-Ford-Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram & Weir GM-Ford-Chrysler Wholesale Parts to its growing membership base. Representatives from these three organizations have joined the Leadership Council in its mission to unite business, industry, government, education and labor for economic growth in Southwestern Illinois. Tim Riley, Financial Advisor, First Vice President and Producing Branch Manager in St. Louis is serving as Morgan Stanleys representative on the Leadership Council. Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in more than 43 countries, the Firms employees serve clients worldwide, including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Husnul Fitri (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Terrorist attacks around the globe early this year indicated a strong possibility of a streak of attacks in the future that need to be anticipated. Unfortunately, it appears that relying on intelligence information and aggressive military (or formal security organizational) approaches are not enough to prevent such attacks. I dont mean to be pessimistic, but this the situation we face today. It is important to posit the issues of urban terror in the context of not only combating the sources but also of protecting possible targets. In a spatial perspective, the site of a terrorist attack determines the success of the deed. Of course, a site is usually selected to have the maximum impact in delivering the message of fear and threat. The psychological nuance of this message is not always related to the number of casualties but sometimes to the extent of public horror. The evolution in the choice of terrorism sites since 2000 can be observed through the characteristic of the latest wave of terrorism, according to Rapoports classification. The landscape of potential terror targets shifted from hard to soft targets and also in the selection of victims. Except for the case of Indonesia, terrorists single out a crowd randomly that is not always representative of the group of high-profile victims. However, the important point is that all of the incidences occurred in public spaces. Public spaces are the most popular and potential targets due to the variety of activities that give advantages to terrorists. Terrorists can launch attacks that are effective in creating fear, have the potential to claim many victims and paralyze public activities. Thus, considering security issues when planning and designing public spaces is a must. However, efforts to bring about a sense of security in public spaces have their own challenges. The open nature of public spaces in itself is a weakness. This open nature -despite being characterized as one of the best qualities of a public space - is a shortcoming as it results in a lack of ability to control the users. On the other hand, this drawback offers an advantage to terrorists to manage to blend into a crowd without being noticed and then conduct their act of terror. This condition constitutes significant clues in planning security features at potential target sites without marring the vibrancy of a public space. In responding to this, we can learn from several Western countries where the issue of securing public spaces has been integrated into antiterrorism efforts. For example, after the massive attacks of 9/11 in New York and 7/7 in London, the governments of the two countries established substantial policies in the context of planning and designing public spaces. The United States is represented by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which produced a set of documents known as FEMA 426 and FEMA 430 that contain detailed guidance on how to plan and design public spaces to prevent acts of terror. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, which in the past experienced a number of attacks at the hands of a local separatist group, has for a longer time implemented strategies to protect and secure public spaces. The current policy in line with the campaign of the war on terror, entitled CONTEST (Counter-Terrorism Strategy), has a specific section on creating safer public spaces. Although the implementation of the strategies need to be evaluated in terms of effectiveness in protecting a target and also in the balancing of security and nature in the public realm, the role of a government in this situation remains clear. It states the standards and guidance in formulating secure public spaces. A government can play an active role in protecting the people and building an environment in response to a terrorist attack. From this point, the planning and designing of spaces can be divided into several strategies. In the preventive aspects, strategies can be focused on efforts to prevent terrorist attacks by analyzing and zoning high-profile areas and providing security features embedded in public spaces. Meanwhile, a responsive strategy can be used as an effort to rebuild an area after an act of terror through revitalization. The last strategy of mitigation can be directed at reducing vulnerability and the impact of a terrorist attack by establishing a set of regulations on resilience building and environment. Of course, the execution of these strategies needs to take into account the balance between the security dimension, the value and the quality of space. Securing public places is not an easy task, but it is necessary to protect society. We have experienced several attacks and stayed strong, but we also have a chance to live more securely without fear but with prepared protection. It is not a reflection of anxiety toward terrorism but thoughtful preparation of the appropriate protection of public spaces in a time of terror. *** The writer is a researcher at the Jayakarta Reform Institute and associate researcher at the Indonesia Institute for Defense and Strategic Studies (LESPERSSI). She is also a doctoral candidate at the Department of Regional and Urban Planning-School of Architecture, Planning and Policy Development, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Cyril Bennouna (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Children have the right to an identity and to have their names, family ties and nationality recognized officially by their government. But across Indonesia, at least half of all girls and boys have no birth certificates, according to national data, with coverage being especially meager among low-income and rural populations. The government knows this, which is why when President Joko Jokowi Widodo signed the National Mid-Term Development Plan in 2015, he committed to increasing birth certificate coverage for children to 85 percent by 2019. The Home Ministry, which is responsible for producing birth certificates, has responded by creating a parallel identity document. In February, the ministry formally announced that its district and municipal population and civil registration offices would issue Child Identity Cards (KIA) to every unmarried Indonesian below 18 years old. According to Home Ministry Regulation No. 2/2016 on Child Identity Cards, the cards will enable the government to better protect childrens rights, while also contributing to its data collection capabilities. By requiring birth certificates for KIA applications, the ministry also hopes that the cards will incentivize birth certificate ownership. But all this will depend largely on the ministrys ability to achieve rapid, mass coverage of KIA. Although a number of articles have reported that KIA ownership will be made compulsory for children, the current regulation actually does not provide for this. If KIA were made compulsory, parents could presumably face fines for failing to apply, as has been the case with birth certificates. While this might be enough to create demand in some areas, it could also create structural discrimination against the poor, who tend to have the lowest ownership of identity documents, while also being among the most dependent on government services and the least capable of paying fines. In municipalities that have already experimented with ID cards for children, some have found short-term success in expanding coverage by using the carrot rather than the stick. Surakarta, for instance, partnered with local businesses to provide discounts for school supplies and staple foods for parents of children with IDs. The long-term efficacy of such a system, however, hinges on the sustained buy-in of local businesses, which in turn depends on a strong consumer base and reliable government funding. This may be an especially challenging model to replicate and sustain in rural areas, where the kind of robust business environment needed to make such a discount scheme viable is harder to come by. The KIA initiative has already come under fire from child rights activists for taking away resources from more direct efforts to improve the countrys birth registration system. Training related to KIA alone will reportedly cost the ministry Rp 8.7 billion (US$650 million) this year. The home minister has defended the plan, according to a recent article from The Jakarta Post, by noting that ID cards are more convenient to carry than birth certificates. This might be true, but it is hard to believe that half of Indonesian children are unregistered because birth certificates are too large for their wallets. According to research done by the Child Protection Center at the University of Indonesia, where I work, children are unregistered because the application process is complex and confusing, laden with indirect costs like transportation fees, the offices authorized to provide them are too far away from homes and because birth certificates confer few direct benefits. It is unclear how the KIA initiative addresses or anticipates any of these bottlenecks. If the ministry can find a way to make KIA of significant value to children and their parents, especially those in low-income households, then this pull factor might be strong enough to carry over to birth certificates. This would entail going beyond partnerships with local businesses, to working closely with the education, social affairs, development planning and health ministries, at least, so that KIA can truly safeguard childrens rights by facilitating access to basic services for those with the greatest need. Resulting data on vital statistics should also be shared among relevant ministries, after being anonymized, to enable a common vision of services planning and a standard benchmark for evaluation. The ability of KIA to incentivize birth registration will also depend on the birth certification requirement being enforced consistently, which sounds easy but is not, and again, could create structural discrimination. Take the example of family cards, another form of identity managed by the Home Affairs Ministry. At the moment, birth certificates are legally required for adding new members to family cards, which is needed before the person can access many government services, like national health insurance. My interviews with multiple population administration officers around the country, however, indicate that they often ignore the birth certificate requirement when producing new or updated family cards, rather than allowing members of their community to become ineligible for services. In order to incentivize birth certificates while protecting the rights of all children, strict enforcement of application requirements must follow broad outreach services targeted to low-income families, particularly in rural villages. Critics of KIA have also noted the underperformance of the countrys existing system for providing national ID cards (KTP) to adults, as there are currently 30 million adults missing from the national database, according to a recent Post article. Investing in yet another type of identity document will not contribute to the capacity building or outreach campaigns that are needed to reach those millions, never mind those without birth certificates, family cards, marriage certificates, or death certificates, none of which have inspiring coverage. From the information that has been released to date, there is no indication that the KIA initiative will break the established pattern of favoring relatively well-off families in urban centers. On the contrary, it seems slated to add another layer of confusion about what documents to process where, when and for what purpose, a confusion that many in villages cite as the very reason they did not seek birth certificates for their children in the first place. *** Cyril Bennouna is the technical lead for research at the University of Indonesia's Child Protection Center and a senior research associate at the CPC Learning Network in New York. He is based in Jakarta. --------------- We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to community@jakpost.com. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Sarah Knapton (China Daily/Asia News Network) Wed, April 6, 2016 The lethal condition 'happy heart syndrome' can occur after a joyful event such as a surprise birthday party or the birth of a child Celebrating a birthday may not seem like a dangerous pastime but too much happiness can be heartbreaking, according to doctors. Health experts have known for some time that sad events, such as the loss of a spouse, can trigger a condition known as 'broken heart syndrome' which feels like a heart attack and can be fatal if not treated quickly. Now for the first time doctors have shown that over-excitement from happy events can also spark the condition, which they have named 'happy heart syndrome.' In short, happiness can be lethal. Since 'broken heart syndrome' was first identified in 1990, doctors at the University Hospital Zurich in Switzerland have been compiling a database of worldwide attacks which currently holds 1750 patients. Most attacks were triggered by episodes of severe emotional distress, such as grief, fear and anger. Attending funerals was a common factor and one incident occurred after an obese patient got stuck in the bath. But for 20 people the condition was precipitated by happy and joyful events, such as a birthday party, wedding, surprise farewell celebration, a favourite rugby team winning a game, or the birth of a grandchild. Study author Dr Jelena Ghadri, resident cardiologist from University Hospital Zurich said doctors should enquire about happy events as well as sad, when diagnosing heart problems. "We have shown that the triggers for 'broken heart sydrome' can be more varied than previously thought," she said. "A patient is no longer the classic "broken hearted" patient, and the disease can be preceded by positive emotions too. "Clinicians should be aware of this and also consider that patients who arrive in the emergency department with signs of heart attacks, such as chest pain and breathlessness, but after a happy event or emotion, could be suffering just as much as a similar patient presenting after a negative emotional event. "Our findings suggest that happy and sad life events may share similar emotional pathways." The condition is characterised by a sudden temporary weakening of the heart muscles which causes the left chamber of the heart to blow up like a balloon. It creates the shape of a Japanese octopus trap, which is why it's clinical name is takotsubo syndrome. The problem mostly affects women. 95 per cent of all patients in the database are female with an average age of 65. Dr Christian Templin, principle investigator from University Hospital Zurich, said further research was needed to understand the exact mechanisms underlying both the "broken" and "happy" heart variants. "We believe that broken heart syndrome is a classic example of an intertwined feedback mechanism, involving the psychological and, or physical stimuli, the brain and the cardiovascular system. "Perhaps both happy and sad life events, while inherently distinct, share final common pathways in the central nervous system output, which ultimately lead to broken heart syndrome." The new findings were published in the European Heart Journal. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mutiarini (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Because of Pinterest, it feels mandatory to have a living space that would look good on social media from every angle. This is actually getting more and more achievable, especially after Ikea sets up a store and drives other local furniture providers to step up their game, allowing a wide range options of sophisticated home decor appliances at affordable price. However, if you are looking for specific items with non-mass designs, you might want to check Instagram for alternatives. There are some local branded accounts that sell furniture, cushions, artworks and other decorative items that would make your house look like as if it pops out of Pinterest pages. Below is a list of Instagram accounts you can follow for cutting-edge home decor inspirations and a wide range of affordable products to upgrade your house. @ifurnholic (ifurnholic/-) They are at the top of my list for a high level of design innovation and consistent product improvement. If you are into the furniture design of the 1950s and '60s with just the right tweak to make it relevant to contemporary home decor ambiance, this account is perfect for you. They also have a knack at product photography; they not only show you good perspectives of their products, they arrange them in a way that it's impossible for you not to be inspired. @hello2madison (hello2madison/-) Hello2madison is actually an art gallery-slash-restaurant-slash-creative-hub located in Kemang, Jakarta. You will find unexpectedly interesting items here, but I personally love their art print collections. They are vibrant, cheerful, wall-decor friendly and affordable, with prices between Rp 200,000 (US$15) and Rp 400,000 per artwork. You might also want to check out their cushion and furniture collections as they have a distinctive eclectic style that will bring a bold touch to your rooms. @interlook.co.id (interlock.co.id/-) They provide home decor products curation and interior design services. I have to say that they have good taste at cherry-picking collections for their catalog as many of them are really cutting edge. You find it hard to believe that they are locally made. Their latest updates consist of super-cute animal-shaped cushions and stylish rugs. @buypickmeup (buypickmeup/-) Disney-inspired art prints on canvass! What could possibly be cuter than that? This account carefully chooses heartfelt quotes from children's movies and celebrities and turns them into artworks. Their art style is so feminine and sweet, its perfect for your little girl's room. @balkaliving (balkaliving/-) They are gifted at converting wooden pallets into interesting home furniture. If you are into rustic ambiance with just a light touch of vibrancy, this might be the collection for you. Their youthful style brings a feeling of fun and freshness. You should check their stag-head product. Uber cool! @thestorageshoppe (thestorageshoppe/-) If you need to keep some nitty-gritty stuff in your house organized, you might want to do it with style. This account provides a wide range of storage options: boxes, chests and desk organizers made from wood and rattan with feminine designs. They are especially perfect if you have kids at home and you want to keep their messes out of sight. @mamintanliving (mamintanliving/-) This account allows you to customize your sofas, arm chairs, cushions and rugs using their fair selection of fabrics. Even though they are not really good at product photography, we can see that they have a wide range of fabrics with stylish patterns we can choose from. Finding the right stuff for your house is one thing, putting it together is a different problem altogether. For references, you might want to follow @livinglovingnet and @dianarikasari for she has a quite unique style for decorating her house and office. I also suggest you to follow some art community accounts like @kopikeliling, @kreavi and @dialogue_arts to get the latest updates on emerging local artists who are selling their collections. Happy hunting! *** The writer is a professional marketing practitioner focusing on brand building and consumer engagement. She is currently working as manager in one of multinational company in Jakarta. You can find her other writings at https://www.inspirasi.co/mutimuti. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ni Komang Ervian (The Jakarta Post) Denpasar Wed, April 6, 2016 The Denpasar Police have arrested a Bulgarian for alleged fraud using an ATM skimming device in Bali. Police officers arrested 39-year-old Yanko Ivanov on March 27 after he allegedly attached a skimming device to an ATM in a supermarket in Nusa Dua on the resort island, Denpasar Police general crimes unit head Comr. Reinhard Habonaran Nainggolan said on Wednesday. "We suspect he is a professional in ATM skimming," he said. The case was first revealed when an employee of a Denpasar branch of state-owned Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) suspected a skimming device had been installed on the ATM. The employee reported his suspicion to PT SSI, the company that manages the ATM. The company then sent staff to monitor the ATM, Reinhard explained. The staff saw a foreigner doing something suspicious on March 27. He had apparently changed the ATM's keypad canopy with one that had an ATM skimming device. Ivanov allegedly used two devices -- a router to steal the bank data of customers using Wi-Fi and a key pad canopy that had a camera and a USB to steal data, Reinhard said. Police are investigating the matter after BNI filed a report as a victim of the scheme. The police hope to determine the total amount of money allegedly stolen by Ivanov. ATM skimming is a type of fraud that occurs when an ATM is compromised by a skimming device, a card reader disguised to look like a part of the ATM. The card reader saves the users' card and pin numbers, and the card is then replicated for illegal use. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Jakarta Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has said that his administration failed to monitor and halt the construction of buildings by PT Kapuk Naga Indah (KNI) on a reclaimed islet, stressing that the buildings were constructed illegally. "We never issue any permits [for the construction]. Our officers failed. How could they not know there are high buildings there?" Ahok said on Tuesday, referring to the construction of buildings on islet C by KNI, a subsidiary of the Agung Sedayu Group. On the request of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the immigration office issued a travel ban for Agung Sedayu chairman Aguan Sugianto on Sunday following the arrest of Jakarta councillor Mohamad Sanusi from the Gerindra Party and the surrender of president director Ariesman Widjaja to the anticorruption body. Sanusi has been accused of accepting a bribe from Agung Podomoro Land in connection with the deliberation of draft reclamation bills by the Jakarta City Council. Ahok blamed the Jakarta Spatial Planning Agency and the Jakarta City Building Supervision Agency (P2B) for failing to monitor and stop construction on the islet. The agencies should have ordered KNI to halt construction until it obtained the necessary permits, Ahok said. Meanwhile, spatial planning agency head Iswan Achmadi held a press conference in which he denied the alleged negligence. "The monitoring was not thorough, but we didn't miss it. We continuously monitored on the field," Iswan said. Iswan claims that the agency issued a warning letter to KNI in regard to sealing the buildings and ordered the company to tear them down. The city plans to develop 17 islets in Jakarta Bay through the reclamation programs. Agung Podomoro Land and Agung Sedayu Group are among companies that have obtained permits from the city to carry out the reclamation program. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin thejakartapost.com (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 A critically endangered Sumatran rhino found was found dead on Tuesday in West Kutai, East Kalimantan, just weeks after its existence was discovered in March. The death of the 10-year-old female rhino, called Najaq, is suspected to be due to septicemia caused by a leg wound that turned septic after the rhino was caught in a snare in September 2015, said a team of veterinarians from the Forestry and Environment Ministry, World Wild Fund (WWF) Indonesia, Taman Safari Indonesia, the Indonesian Rhino Foundation (YBI) and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB). The team suspected that shreds of the nylon snare had remained in Najaqs leg, causing an infection, according to a press statement. A postmortem examination may be conducted to determine the exact cause of death. Najaq was first caught on camera in late October 2015 with her left leg entangled in a snare. The team searched for and captured Najaq on March 12 and removed the snare from her leg and treated her with antibiotics and vitamins, the statement said. The team also consulted international rhino experts from Australia Zoo, Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, and US-based Cornell University. As Najaqs condition started to improve, so too did her appetite, team member Muhamamd Agil said. However, the infection on her leg worsened and her health deteriorated until she died early Tuesday morning. "She responded positively to the treatment given by the team of doctors. But her wound was severe and became infected," Agil said on Tuesday. The director general of natural resources and ecosystem conservation at the Environment Ministry, Tachrir Fathoni, said Najaq's death was a lesson learned in the protection of rhino populations in West Kutai. "Najaq's death shows that Sumatran rhinos still exist in Kalimantan, whereas we thought it there were none left here," he said. Another lesson learned was the need to be extra careful in managing the conservation of Sumatran rhinos, which have unique behaviors, YABI executive director Widodo Ramono said. West Kutai Regent Ismail Thomas expressed concern over Najaq's death and vowed to facilitate programs to protect rhinos in the area. WWF Indonesia survey team first identified Najaq from footprints found in West Kutai in 2013. A camera trap confirmed her existence by capturing footage of her wallowing in mud in mid-2013. Previously, the team of researchers assumed Najaq to be 5 years old from her body measurement. However, a dental check confirmed that Najaq was 10 years old. The Sumatran rhino is one of two rhino species in the archipelago. Sumatran rhinos are critically endangered, with a population of less than 100, mostly on mainland Sumatra. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ayomi Amindoni (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 The governments aim of reducing the national inequality ratio, known as the Gini ratio, from 0.41 to 0.39 in 2016 is too ambitious according to one activist, who points out that Brazil took 15 years to reduce its Gini ratio from 0.59 to 0.54. International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) program manager Siti Khoirun Ni'mah said the main problem with inequality in Indonesia was the high number of people with a limited education. "Limited access to jobs in the labor market is one cause of inequality, especially for a labor force with low education levels, such as those who did not graduate from high school," she said at a press conference on Wednesday in Jakarta. The government, she urged, should "lend a helping hand" and facilitate job access by obliging companies and institutions to organize job training for applicants who didn't finish high school. The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded unemployment in Indonesia at 5.9 percent in 2015; 7.45 million people out of a labor force of 128 million. Forty-five percent of those unemployed did not finish high school. At the same time, Indonesia is currently entering the ASEAN economic community. According to Siti, Indonesian workers must be prepared to compete with workers from neighboring countries. She urged the government to proactively facilitate job access, calling on the Education Ministry and Finance Ministry to allocate more funding to job training for the less educated. She suggested a further allocation of Rp 20 trillion (US$1.5 billion) to Rp 30 trillion, or roughly another 20 percent of the total education budget. "The government needs to make a rule that obliges private companies, state firms, ministries and agencies to organize job training. The Finance Ministry should also set up scholarships through the Indonesian Endowment Fund for Education (LPDP) for high school graduates," Siti said. The Education Ministry, she suggested, should also identify industries with an employment gap, resulting from shortages in either skills or qualifications, and seek to prepare workers for those jobs. An analyst at Migrant Care Wahyu Susilo said job training in Indonesia for migrants was very exploitative, requiring migrant workers to pay up to XXX US$16 million XXX for their training, when the quality of the training provided was generally inadequate. "We encourage the provision of quality training for migrant workers, funded by the state budget and other resources owned by the state, to end the burden placed on migrant workers," he said. (ags) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Liza Yosephine (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 The government has intensified communication with the Philippine government and other relevant parties to free the 10 Indonesian sailors being held hostage by the Abu Sayyaf militant group in the Philippines, says Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi. Indonesia and the Philippines are communicating daily on the issue, she added. "Both governments understand that the safety of the hostages is of the utmost importance," said Retno in Jakarta on Tuesday. Two Indonesian-flagged vessels, the Brahma 12 and Anand 12, were hijacked by Abu Sayyaf militants in Philippine waters. Tugboat Brahma 12 has been handed over to Philippine authorities. The militant group has contacted the owner of the vessel and demanded a ransom of US$1.08 million by April 8 to free the Indonesian sailors. A meeting on the hostage crisis on Monday led by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan was attended by a number of ministers and security officials, including Law and Human Rights Minister Yasona Laoly, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu, National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso and representatives from the Navy. The meeting, said Retno, discussed the hostage crisis, including the results of her trip to the Philippines on Apr. 1-2, in which she met with President Benigno Aquino III, her Philippine counterpart Jose Rene Almendras, commander of the Philippine armed forces, Gen.Hernando Iriberri and other relevant parties. During the meeting, the minister outlined the purposes of the Philippines visit: to intensify communications and coordination with the Philippine government for the safe release of the 10 Indonesian crewmen, reiterate the importance of the safety the hostages and to convey the governments appreciation for the Philippine governments cooperation on the matter. Retno said all parties she met with during her visit were committed to securing the safe release of the hostages. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Indonesia lacks the political commitment needed to develop Islamic finance, causing it to lag behind Malaysia in that area, experts have said. "In Malaysia, there is a top-down approach, the government aims to be the global Islamic financial hub," Senior economist for the British Embassy in Jakarta, Edi Wiyono, told thejakartapost.com on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Islamic finance has grown from the bottom-up, with the public-initiated establishment of Bank Muamalat, the first sharia bank in Indonesia, he added. Indonesian sharia bank assets accounted for 5 percent of conventional banking assets in 2015. In the terms of sukuk, Indonesia only had 4 percent while Malaysian shares reached 67 percent. However, Indonesia is still the biggest retail sharia market in the world but the contributions of sharia finance in big projects, such as infrastructure, are still lacking. "The government must give tax incentives to corporations to issue more sukuk in the market. Because technically the rating process and the sharia ratification are more complicated and thus more expensive compared to the conventional bonds," University of East London professor of Islamic Finance, Siraj Sait said. Along with a more complicated rating process, sharia experts were needed to speed up sukuk issuance. "Getting a pool of talent is important, if the ambition of Indonesia is to move from the 5 percent trap, it needs to prioritize human development. The challenge that Indonesia faces is in the area of human capital," Siraj said. (bbn) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post) Klaten, Central Java Wed, April 6, 2016 Residents of Klaten regency in Central Java are demanding that the government and National Police reveal the true cause of death of alleged terrorist Siyono amid allegations of abuse to provide justice for the deceased's family. Dozens of residents group under the Caring About Klaten Community voiced their demands in a protest march from the regency's square to the Klaten Legislative Council (DPRD) on Tuesday. Carrying posters, the protestors demanded that Siyonos death case be handled objectively and transparently. The protestors also demanded that the authorities punish those found to be involved in Siyono's death. "We don't agree with terrorism. We only want the government, especially the police, to not cover anything up," said protest coordinator Muslih on Tuesday. The residents also asked authorities to restore security and comfort in Pogung village, the hometown of Siyono and where he was buried, after his autopsy is completed and case is closed. The residents claimed that the case traumatized residents and incited fear, Muslih said. Klaten DPRD speaker Agus Riyanto said he would convey protestors demands to the regent, Klaten Police chief and military commander at the local leaders meeting. Siyono died while in police custody after he was arrested on March 8 by the National Police's Densus 88 antiterror squad. Siyonos family and several human rights groups suspect that physical abuse led to his death. Siyono's body underwent an autopsy by a team of 10 doctors facilitated by Islamic organization Muhammadiyahs youth wing on Sunday. Preliminary autopsy results found bruises from a blunt object on Siyono's body. "We suspect there had been physical abuse. We also found that he sustained bone injuries," said lead doctor Gatot Suharto, adding that no gunshots wounds were found on the body. The team will announce the autopsy results next week. (rin) Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Trifani Rosayu Salsabila (The Jakarta Post) Alexandria, Egypt Wed, April 6, 2016 Are you serious?, That is so dangerous! and Why did you accept the project there? Its totally unsafe! are the three top common reactions I got when I told someone I was going to Egypt. My parents were even willing to pay me to cancel my project and choose other country. But I refused as I had wanted to go there ever since I watched movie set in Alexandria a few years back. Besides, AIESEC LC Alexandria offers an interesting project, which is Amal Project Career Entrepreneurship and Career Development Program. I applied, underwent screening with the project manager and fortunately was accepted. After inquiring about safety from AIESEC LC Alexandria contact persons, I was told the city was totally safe and nothing would happen. So I left the archipelago for a month of adventure on Jan. 21. After an almost 20-hour flight, I finally arrived at Alexandria's small Borg El Arab airport. The scenery was really nice on the way from the airport to my apartment, particularly the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea, despite the windy, rainy and cold weather. The Amal Project, which I participated in, is a social project that aims to encourage fresh graduates and young people to start their own business. One of my tasks included doing a presentation on how to correlate my biotechnology studies with business. At first, I was not at all confident; a first year student who knew nothing about business having to speak in front of a large group of people and talk about how to get a startup up and running. But that was exactly why I participated in the project, became a volunteer, so that that I could improve myself, besides have a positive impact on other people. I did sufficient research, consulted with my lecturer and practiced the presentation a couple of times. We also conducted meetings with big companies and people who had founded startups. Surprisingly, the response I received was encouraging. Some high school students have said they might study biotechnology after they graduate. Staying in a totally strange country for a month was indeed a memorable experience for me. It taught me how to deal with and adapt to different circumstances and cultures. It taught me about professionalism, patience, friendship, love and loyalty and gave me more knowledge and much more. I realize that it doesnt really matter if you are the youngest in a group, as long as you interact and make the most of it; you will survive. In fact, you might feel that you dont want to return home because it feels like you still have a lot of things to do in that country. The experience has changed my life as I am now more patient, less self-doubting, curious, open-minded and eager to encourage people in a positive way. *** Trifani Rosayu Salsabila is an AIESEC member and currently a student at the School of Agritechnology at Brawijaya University in Malang, East Java. Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Mark Kennedy (Associated Press) New York, United States Wed, April 6, 2016 The Stratford Festival in Canada is commemorating the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death by making his plays accessible to a generation raised on the Internet. The festival just unveiled an online teaching platform that will include each of Shakespeare's scripts, a film clip of every scene and notes to understand each piece of dialogue. "King Lear" is the first play to be offered using these tools and more titles will be added as part of the festivals to capture on film the complete works of Shakespeare over the next 10 years. Created by the Festival's Education Department in collaboration with D2L Corporation, the toolkit called PerformancePlus is targeted for students and teachers in grades 9 to 12 but is available to all. Share this article Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Linkedin Dian Arthen (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta Wed, April 6, 2016 Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has partnered with US toymaker Hasbro to create a tablet-like toy that can be converted into a Transformer-style robot. Xiaomi vice president of international operations Hugo Barra shared on Facebook that the company's R&D team had been challenged to turn a slim 7mm tablet with color, details and feel exactly the same as the Mi Pad 2 tablet -- into a 3D robot with a 30-step folding assembly. China Daily reported that Xiaomi held a crowdfunding campaign on Tuesday to sell 1,000 of the toys at 169 yuan (US$26) each within 13 days and that people were logging in hundreds of more orders than expected. Xiaomi's vice president of international Hugo Barra shared on Facebook that the company's R&D team were challenged to turn a slim 7mm tablet -- which color, details and feel are exactly the same with Mi Pad 2 -- into a 3D robot with a 30-step folding assembly. (via China Daily/-) Originally transformed from a microcassette recorder, Soundwave is one of the Transformer series' most popular characters. The Mi Pad 2 was launched by Xiaomi late last year and is compatible with both Google's Android and Microsoft's Window 10 operating systems. The tech company reportedly plans to launch more Transformer figures that are compatible with its devices. (kes) Read the digital edition 2020-09-25 E-Edition The Jewish Advocate is a not-for-profit reader-supported 501(c)3 organization. We rely on your donations which are tax-deductible. Local elected officials and community leaders stood across the street from the former Rivington House building this morning, calling on the mayor to stop the luxury conversion of the former nursing facility. Controversy has swirled around the mayor since the city comptroller opened an inquiry in March to find out why a restrictive deed was lifted. The former property owner, the Allure Group, profited more than $70 million by selling the building to luxury condo developers. Now the citys Office of Investigation and the state attorney general have also launched investigations. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council member Margaret Chin and Community Board 3 Chairperson Gigi Li organized a news conference on the edge of Sara D. Roosevelt Park, just steps from the shuttered nursing home. They were joined by State Sen. Daniel Squadron, City Council member Rosie Mendez and District Leader Alice Cancel, among others. VillageCare, which opened Rivington House as a not-for-profit AIDS hospice in 1995, announced the closure of the 219-bed center two years ago. Community Board 3 and Council member Chin advocated to keep the facility open as a nursing home for the general population. They supported a change in the deed, allowing the for-profit Allure Group to run the home. Much to everyones surprise, the facility closed this past December, the Allure Group selling the property with all deed restrictions lifted for $116 million. Brewer this morning asserted that the whole point of deed restrictions is to make sure a luxury developer doesnt swoop in and take the property away from the community. Referring to statements from the mayor that he didnt know about the request to change the deed, Brewer added, I take the mayor at his word. He said he didnt know about it and that he would not have signed off on it if the issue had come to his attention. But admitting the mistake is only half of truly owning up to it. Once you make a mistake, you have to make it up to the people in the community. If the decision cant be dialed back, said the borough president, the city must compensate the neighborhood for the loss of a community facility and the loss of 219 nursing home beds. The city needs to invest in this community to replace a vital resource that has been lost, she said. Local leaders and residents pointed to critical needs in the community, including affordable housing and more social services. They suggested that the city make up for the loss of Rivington House by addressing some of those needs. Brewer and Chin are proposing legislation in the City Council that would require the mayor to notify local communities whenever changes in restrictive deeds are being considered. They also renewed their demand made March 29 for access to all documents turned over to city and state investigators. So far, their plea has been ignored. When she took her turn at the microphone, Chin said, I call on the mayor, Mayor de Blasio, to make this community whole and restore the 200 plus beds at Rivington House that we lost for the people of the Lower East Side and to make further investments toward their health and well being. We dont need an apology. We need action! Part of what led us to where we are today, said CB3s Gigi Li, is that information was not given to us in a timely manner. It was not transparent what was going on. Leaving the local community in the dark about the deed changes, she argued, made it impossible for people on the Lower East Side to advocate for their interests. The community board plays a very active role in pulling stakeholders together around what we like to see for our community, Li said. Finally, Squadron said, It was a community priority to preserve Rivington House for the community and the city failed to do that. That is an unacceptable outcome. It was an unacceptable process. Elected officials, CB3 and local residents had been trying to get the citys attention on Rivington House since we broke the story of the deed change Dec. 2. A mayoral spokesperson yesterday acknowledged that de Blasios Community Affairs Unit was told about the issue but explained, no one understood the implications fully until late February. Reporters today asked Council member Chin who in the administration was contacted. She responded that it was staff in the community affairs and inter-governmental affairs units. One other issue came up during this mornings Q & A. As previously reported on The Lo-Down, CB3 District Manager Susan Stetzer had been in contact with Joel Landau, an executive of the Allure Group throughout December. At one point, she invited him to attend an upcoming community board meeting to talk about the closure of the nursing home and plans to open another facility elsewhere on the Lower East Side. Landau declined, saying he would be out of town. Stetzer also asked him about reports from neighbors of the nursing home, who said theyd been contacted by people working with Slate Property Group. The neighbors were told Slate was in the process of buying the building and was planning condos. How did Landau respond? He said he never heard of Slate, Stetzer explained today. We now know that the Allure Group signed a contract for 45 Rivington with Slate and its partners in May of last year, seven months before Landau denied involvement with the firm. 585,000 m2 A Mixed Media Exhibition on the History of the Jewish Quarter of Budapest opens at WhiteBox gallery tomorrow and is on view through April 21st. Special Events are scheduled to accompany the show, including panel discussions and a special avantgarde concert inspired by urban spaces that used to be Ghettos. They write: 585,000 m2 examines the symbolic spaces and the inscriptions of history -from the pre-World War 2 period to the present-found in the Jewish Quarter in the 7th district of Budapest, through visual art statements. The title is a reference to the massive surface area of the Quarter, a dense urban neighborhood overflowing with signifiers. The curators invited nine young Hungarian artists to reflect upon particular buildings and discover the stories behind them, in their own artistic tone, using mostly visual media to mediate between past and present, history and art, artist and society. The latest classic to get the Disney 21st-century recharge is Rudyard Kiplings beloved childrens adventure tale, and thank heavens they got this one right. Yes, all those who found themselves shaking angry fists at the past few princess reboots, or even Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland retread, can heave a big ol sigh of relief: Jon Favreaus The Jungle Book is a truly masterful (and also, might we add, totally worthwhile) re-telling. The story remains the same: a human boy, Mowgli, is raised by the united animals of an overgrown jungle, until he is one day chased away by evil tiger Shere Khan. Forced to survive alone in the wilderness, he befriends a hungry bear, but soon finds himself chased down by every predator around, ranging from gigantic snakes to ancient ape kings. Yet, fans of the original animated musical may still find themselves in an odd place to start with. Favreau takes a much more realistic approach, using a mixture of motion-capture and straight-up CGI to deliver animal characters with a more hard-nosed edge, and a lot less of a penchant for singing. But in all honesty, it totally works. Favreau delivers a version of Kiplings classic for an entirely new generation (that is, I guess, what remakes are for after all) and that means no more 2D cartoons; but thankfully, Disneys computer effects are now more than up to scratch. Gone are the days of the uncanny valley and those uncomfortable thousand-yard stares; these animals feel just as alive as you or I and are perfectly cast to boot. Between Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson and Christopher Walken (as a gigantic dancing orangutang no less), Disney have more than enough talent on their hands here, and the magic of Favreaus delivery is that they all fit so seamlessly together. Kingsleys sharper, classical tones side perfectly with Murrays expected goofiness, whilst Johanssons sizzling serpent Kaa is a troubling delight. This isnt forgetting the one human at the centre of it all though: the young Neel Sethi, who is arguably the most stunning of them all, and in his first feature performance no less. Sethis Mowgli manages the tricky feat of being both spritely and cheerful throughout, without ever proving annoying or forced. In fact, hes simply a joy to watch at every turn, as he barrels through the overgrown landscape, bouncing from character to character with the kind of heartwarming chemistry that takes years to master, yet here Sethi has rolled it out on his first go. This doesnt even take into account the fact that hes working with very little. Shot largely on sound-stages with mannequins and body doubles, youd expect there to be something of a disconnection somewhere along the line, and yet, there really isnt. Even on the technical end this is faultlessly built; never once does anything feel fake or generated, which considering the sheer level of effects in play here, is truly a phenomenal achievement. Favreaus Jungle Book still isnt totally perfect: Idris Elbas big-bad Shere Khan could probably use a bit of a sinister tune-up, and the fast-paced finale could benefit from a little less shaky-cam, but on the whole these things are very easily forgotten about. Overall, this is a tremendously realised and beautifully crafted family-friendly adventure tale that bounces off so many different genres and moods, but still nailing every beat possible. The man who proved Marvel Studios could be something just gave these Disney remakes a genuine chance of success. In a few short years, Jon Favreau has gone from being that guy from Friends and Swingers to arguably one of the finest blockbuster directors working in Hollywood today, and we cant thank him enough. The Jungle Book (2016) is released in the UK on Friday 15th April through Walt Disney Studios. A sincere and heart-wrenching performance turns this predictable story of coming-out into the elegant swan song Robin Williams so deserved. In his final lead role Robin Williams adopts the character of Nolan, a middle-aged banker whose monotnous lifestyle, failing marriage and repressed homosexuality have finally driven him to become infatuated with a young male prostitute by the name of Leo. In his final lead role Robin Williams adopts the character of Nolan, a middle-aged banker whose monotnous lifestyle, failing marriage and repressed homosexuality have finally driven him to become infatuated with a young male prostitute by the name of Leo. A richly layered performance from Williams, depicting an enigmatic chatacter, is the only aspect of this movie which saves it from fading into insignifance. Attempting to avoid overdramatising the story, director Dito Montiel takes what could have been a truly striking screenplay by Douglas Soesbe and dilutes it in its entirety. From the overcompensated role of Nolan to the overly enigmatic character that is love interest Leo, Notiel manages to take this film in entirely the wrong direction. From the moment of first meeting Leo it is clear that Williams' performance will be the redeeming feature of ths movie; his at times platonic, fatherly approach to Leo is cleverly juxtaposed with the clear internal struggle which he is engaging with as a repressed homosexual. There is no spark of romance between these two struggling characters at any point however, with emotive moments feeling wholeheartedly and transparently scripted rather than felt by the viewer. The role of Nolan's wife is played softly by Kathy Baker and excluding Williams' own role is the only other solid piece of acting in the movie. She capitvates the audience throughout her short time on screen and her character exudes the air of passionless domesticity which marriage to banker Nolan has created. Her pain at Nolan's eventual decision to accept his true identity and move on with his life is a moment of sincerity paralelled only by Robin William's role within the movie. While often flat and lacking creative depth, Boulevard, released one year after Robin Williams' suicide, will resonate with viewers who are familiar with the great actors own personal struggles. Littered with moments of briliance harking back to Williams' days as an Oscar winning actor at the peak of his career, he is still unable to rescue the movie in its entirety. Sculpting a truly complex performance Williams makes Boulevard his swan song, ending a bright career on an elegant yet ever so slightly bittersweet note. Boulevard is released in UK cinemas on 8th April. Unfortunately, The Content Is Not Here You have arrived at this page because the page or post you were looking for no longer exists. 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Namun jangan khawatir, disini sebagai situs slot gacor MGS88 kami akan memberikan penjelasan lengkap mengenai tentang istilah yang ada di RTP SLOT dibawah ini. Man found dead in pick up parked at Phuket Town hotel PHUKET: A 49 year old man who had just come from a hospital appointment was found dead inside his pick up truck parked in a Phuket hotel car park this afternoon (Apr 6). deathtransporthealth By Darawan Naknakhon Wednesday 6 April 2016, 05:24PM The body of the man was found on the driver's seat of his vehicle. Photo: Darawan Naknakhon Phuket City Police were called to investigate an incident where a man had been found dead inside a pick up truck in the car park of the Phuket Merlin Hotel in Phuket Town at 1:30pm. Lt Sunan Petchnoo arrived at scene with Kusoldharm rescue workers to find a Toyota pick up truck parked with its engine still running, the doors were unlocked and the air-con on, and on the side of the truck was a Khao Sok Safari Resort sticker. On the drivers seat was the body of 49-year-old Thanakrit Sithakom. After rescue workers removed the body from the truck, police said they discovered two plasters covering an venipuncture wound on Mr Thanakrits left arm. There were no signs of robbery on the body or in the vehicle and we think he had been dead for at least two hour before his body was discovered, said Lt Sunan. After investigating we learned that the man had just came back from dialysis treatment. He left his vehicle in the hotel car park while he went to eat noodles in a nearby shop. After eating he returned to his vehicle and locals thought that he was just taking a nap, he added. Police believe the man had ongoing health issues or went into shock after eating his meal. Phukets main offices close for Chakri Day PHUKET: Important government offices across Phuket are closed today (April 6) as the nation celebrates Chakri Memorial Day (Wan Chakri). policetourismalcoholculture By The Phuket News Wednesday 6 April 2016, 09:35AM All government offices and most businesses across Phuket are closed today (April 6) to honour the public holiday Chakri Day, marking the founding of the Chakri dynasty. Photo: Tanyaluk Sakoot Officially known as King Phutthayotfa Chulalok the Great Day and Chakri Dynasty Memorial Day, the holiday commemorates the establishment of the Chakri Dynasty and the founding of Bangkok by King Phutthayotfa Chulalok in 1782. To honour the holiday, all government offices are closed, including Phuket Immigration Office, the Employment Offices, the Land Transport Office and District Offices are all closed today. All main bank branches are closed, but branches in shopping centres remain open. All Royal Thai Police and Tourist Police stations remain open and some local consulates remain open to serve their respective citizens. Unlike last year, alcohol sales in Phuket is allowed today. The sale of alcohol is permitted on Chakri Day. It is a Royal holiday, but not a Buddhist holiday, Phuket Provincial Police Commander Col Teeraphol Thipjaroen told The Phuket News. Im not sure what happened last year, maybe alcohol sales was banned as part of a campaign... Police sometimes ask people to refrain from drinking or selling alcohol on auspicious days, but the sale of alcohol is banned on only five days as required by law, he added. According to to an announcement by the Prime Ministers Office on January 22, 2015, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on five specific religious days: Makha Bucha, Visakha Bucha, Asanha Bucha Day, Khao Pansa and Wan Org Pansa days. (See story here.) Class Act Medias main office closed, but the news team is of course working. To notify us of any major news breaking in your area, click the red Tip Off box in the right-hand sidebar. Prawit vows action against seven officers YALA: Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon is vowing to take disciplinary action against seven military officers who allegedly colluded in the brutal beatings of two privates at a military camp in Yala last Friday (Apr 1), leaving one of them dead and the other seriously injured. violencemilitarypolice By Bangkok Post Wednesday 6 April 2016, 09:02AM Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, who is also defence minister, said it is possible seven army men could be prosecuted for beating an army private to death. Photo: Krit Promsaka na Sakolnakorn Gen Prawit insisted the seven also stand to be dismissed if a probe finds they broke the law. He said the seven people one commissioned officer and six non-commissioned officers attacked the privates in an altercation about theft. Their names were not given. If they are found to have violated the law, they will be dismissed from their posts immediately, he insisted. Gen Prawit said the military and police will conduct the investigation jointly as it involves criminal matters. The probe was launched after Pvt Songtham Mudmad, 23, and Pvt Chatpisut Chumphan, 23, both attached to the 1st Battalion of the 152nd Infantry Regiment, were assaulted at Payak Camp in Yalas Bannang Sata district on Friday night. After the attack, Pvt Songtham was admitted to intensive care at Yala Regional Hospital while Pvt Chatpisut was admitted to Sirindhorn Military Hospital at Ingkhayuthaboriharn Military Camp in Pattani with serious injuries. Pvt Songtham was pronounced dead on Monday morning (Apr 4). According to Pvt Chatpisut, who spoke to police after the beating, he and Pvt Songtham accused one of the officers, who would later beat them, of stealing their money. The accused officer made a counter claim, accusing Pvt Songtham of taking illicit drugs. Both privates asked to search the officer, but he refused, leading to a brawl. They dispersed after other officers intervened. About 9pm, both were allegedly attacked by seven officers including the officer they accused of theft. They were kicked and beaten with hard objects. The assault lasted until 4am the next morning. Pvt Chatpisut found Pvt Songtham, who passed out during the incident, and subsequently stopped breathing. Pvt Songtham was revived by CPR and taken to hospital. Meanwhile, army spokesman Winthai Suvaree said yesterday (Apr 5) a panel set up by the 15th Infantry Division had concluded the seven colluded in the savage punishment of the privates. Maj Pornsak Poonsawat, commander of the 15th Infantry Division, also ordered 30 days of detention for the commissioned officer and 45 days for the six others. Col Winthai insisted the army will not protect the offenders and harsh punishment will be brought against them. He also expressed his condolences to Pvt Songtham's family, adding the 15th Infantry Division will provide them with assistance. Col Pramote Prom-in, spokesman for the Internal Security Operations Command Region 4s Forward Command, said 4th Army commander Wiwat Pathompark also delivered his condolences and apologised to the public for the incident. The incident was caused by a small group of people. The army can ensure fairness to all sides. We will not protect the offenders, added Col Pramote. Pvt Songthams family yesterday filed a complaint with Bannang Sata police station against the officers who beat the private to death. A video clip featuring bruises on Pvt Songthams body was also submitted to police. The relatives also asked forensics officers to record the cause of the injuries in an autopsy report to ensure they received justice. Read original story here. Religious duel in Japan: Pastor rock versus Buddhist monk blues JAPAN: Most days, Lutheran pastor Kazuhiro Sekino preaches to his congregation in a soft voice with religious hymns playing in the background of a Tokyo church. religion By AFP Sunday 3 April 2016, 10:00AM Lutheran pastor Kazuhiro Sekino, leader of heavy rock group Boxi Rocks, performs in Tokyo. Photo: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP But as night falls, he hits a smoky stage criss-crossed with whizzing strobe lights, shedding his pious day job in a battle of the bands against a group of Buddhist monks. We are rock, pastors are rock! Sekino, 36, shouts into a microphone to stir up the several hundred concert-goers. The band, Boxi Rocks the name is a play on the Japanese word for pastor features Sekino and three other pastors, who don church robes during their raucous performances, sometimes with a leather jacket thrown over top. I like Slipknot, a real hard rock band that has nine masked members. I also like Metallica and Megadeth, a soft-spoken Sekino said. They may look demonic from the Christian churchs point of view, but they are actually shouting to fight the worlds injustice. They talk about truth, no hypocrisy. Monk Yoshinobu Fujioka head shaved and wearing a dark blue kimono hits back with an acoustic guitar offering as head of the Bozu (monk) band. I love the Blues. I love Bob Dylan and sixties music, said the 39-year-old. Living a worldly life, we always get hurt by pains and suffering which make us feel small. I like to sing about that pain in a tender way. The unlikely pair hope their musical duels help them reach more people in a country where Buddhists far outnumber Christians. Figures released by the government based on data supplied by temples, churches and shrines show that Buddhism accounts for about 46 per cent of religious followers, while Christians make up less than two%. About 4%, meanwhile, follow Japans native Shinto religion. But for many Japanese, religion of any sort is more of a seasonal formality, paying homage at a shrine or celebrating Christmas. Were actually performing secular music. We have feelings just like other people and use the same language, sometimes even more crass, said Sekino, who turned to heavenly work after his sister became critically ill. But I want people to know that God lives there [in people's lives]. I want to share this. Fujioka and his fellow monk-cum-rockers also opened a bar in Tokyo, where they offer another outlet for troubled visitors seeking a better life over cocktails. There are many people who want to talk about their problems and go home with a lighter heart. Its our responsibility to meet with people like that, he said. Sekino initially contacted the monk about his quirky idea for musical evangelism and now they perform several times a year with backing from above. I dont know if I should call this heaven or nirvana, but I think this is what the God would want to see this is something the church or a temple couldnt do. TUESDAY, April 5, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Hispanics have higher rates of heart pumping problems than other Americans, yet many don't know they have a disorder that can lead to heart failure, a new study finds. The research included more than 1,800 Hispanic people. They were between 45 and 74 years old. They lived in New York City, Chicago, Miami and San Diego. About half had a blood pumping problem (called cardiac dysfunction), the study found. But, fewer than 1 in 20 knew they had the heart problem, the study revealed. The study was published April 5 in the journal Circulation: Heart Failure. "The perception has been that Hispanics/Latinos are a low-risk group for cardiac dysfunction, but that is not true," senior study author Dr. Carlos Rodriguez said in a journal news release. He's an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C. A previous study that included mostly white people found that about one-third had cardiac dysfunction, the researchers said. The new findings show that doctors should have "a high level of vigilance" in monitoring the heart health of Hispanic patients and a "low threshold for intensifying preventative therapies to avoid the possibility of heart failure down the road," Rodriguez said. The earlier cardiac dysfunction is detected and treated, the better, he said. Some research has suggested that aggressive reduction of risk factors can reverse cardiac dysfunction. "Given that Hispanics/Latinos are the largest ethnic minority in the United States, with over 51 million people, they are likely to have a big impact on the heart failure epidemic," Rodriguez said. The study also found that among those with high rates of risk factors for cardiac dysfunction: half were obese; half had high blood pressure; two-thirds had diabetes; two-thirds were inactive; and one-fifth were smokers. These risk factors, along with heart attack, are the same risk factors for progression of cardiac dysfunction to heart failure. More information The American Academy of Family Physicians has more on heart failure. #1 South Dakota State keeps rolling with defeat of UND The top-ranked Jackrabbits fell behind by 14 points on the road for the second straight week, but took back the momentum and dominated. I had really hoped that homework would have gone out of style by now. As a longtime parenting journalist, Ive been following education issues since well before I had school-age kids. And the discontent among families was already there. At the root of it: Homework hijacks family time, involves too much repetitious work, and projects are so elaborate and high-pressure that parents wind up, at a minimum, counselling their children through the process or maybe even helping to construct that papier-mache diorama of the African Savanna or whatever. But, alas, homework hasnt gone the way of the Dodo bird and my own family life has often featured good-sized doses of calming down one or more of my children who believe their homework is impossible and Im going to fail Grade (fill in the blank). So I was interested to read recent comments from Duke University homework expert Harris Cooper, who said, There is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students. After compiling 120 studies in 1989 and 60 in 2006, Cooper found that not only is homework not helpful to elementary students, it contributes to a negative attitude about school. To me that last bit is critical, at least based on what I see playing out at home and what I hear from parents. When kids lack the time to play, they miss out not only on fun, but on the opportunity to do what child psychiatrists refer to as integrate what theyve learned at school, both in the classroom and with their peers. This can lead to stressed-out kids who think of school and teachers as negative forces in their lives forces that wont even leave them alone to shoot hoops or watch a movie with their parents. That shouldnt be the case given all teachers have to offer. Its important to note, though, that research shows homework is more useful to academic achievement in the high school years. Even then, though, the benefit comes only when homework is in moderation. More than two hours a night and the stress, strain and sleep loss start to negate any academic gains. The Toronto District School Board does have a homework policy, but despite the common perception that it mandates 10 minutes per grade, David Hawker-Budlovsky, central co-ordinating principal for teaching and learning, says the board doesnt have hard and fast timelines per grade. In grades 7 and 8, homework should take less than an hour, and in high school less than two hours, he says. The advice for the earlier elementary years is more general. Homework may look like reading a book, playing games and having a discussion at home, says Hawker-Budlovsky. He also emphasizes theres a strong link between reading with and to your elementary child and their academic achievement. Why then does the weekly homework still look like a series of worksheets that need to be handed in by Friday plus a spelling test? As easy as it is for me to get up on my anti-homework soapbox in the name of unstructured time and physical exercise for our increasingly sedentary kids, opinion varies widely on this matter. Some of the parents I informally surveyed feel homework gives them an important window into what their child is learning at school, and thats a valid point. It can also help instill work habits. As an educator, Hawker-Budlovsky has heard a huge range of parent opinion on homework. Ive been in schools and communities that ask and demand more homework, and Ive been in schools where they say enoughs enough. The key is in finding a middle ground, perhaps where homework is kept to a minimum in elementary school, then starts in earnest in middle school, ramping up through the high school years. There are rich opportunities outside of school family time, preparing meals together, sports and arts activities, says Hawker-Budlovsky. Its about finding that balance. Brandie Weikle is a parenting expert and the host of The New Family Podcast and editor ofthenewfamily.com SHARE: When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Within 48 hours, the largest leak of confidential documents in history has shaken the foundations of power around the world, triggering the resignation of Icelands prime minister and sending political shock waves from Pakistan to Argentina to Ukraine. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson relented to withering public pressure Tuesday, stepping down as Icelands leader one day after thousands gathered outside parliament in protest over revelations he held a secret offshore company. The bombshell revelations were contained in the Panama Papers a vast collection of 11.5 million documents leaked from the computers of a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca, obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the Toronto Star. Gunnlaugsson is far from being the only world leader exposed for hiding corporations and money in far-flung tax havens. The files contain evidence of offshore companies controlled by the presidents of Argentina and Ukraine, and the King of Saudi Arabia. They also include 128 other politicians and public officials and at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of evidence theyve done business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or pariah nations like North Korea and Iran. As Edward Snowden said in a tweet Tuesday: With scandals in Russia, China, UK, Iceland, Ukraine, and more, perhaps a new rule: if youre in charge of a country, keep your money in it. The fallout in Canada has been swift as well. The Canada Revenue Agency issued a statement in response to the investigation, saying it continues to pursue audits related to offshore tax evasion including some Canadian clients associated with law firm Mossack Fonseca. Like Gunnlaugsson, whose interests were formally held by his wife, many world leaders are connected to the offshore world through an intermediary either a close family member or friend. This single degree of separation wasnt enough to save the public office of Icelands prime minister, and may not be enough for other leaders to be able to deny holdings. The resignations really began last month in Panama, where Mossack Fonseca is based. The firms founder, Ramon Fonseca, stepped down from his position as an adviser to President Juan Carlos Varela after he learned about the impending publication of the leak. On Tuesday, information contained in the leak prompted France to put Panama back on its black list of tax havens, which puts a withholding tax on financial transactions between the countries. Panama had been taken off the list in 2012. Here are some leaders whose secret offshore financial dealings have come under scrutiny. Pakistan Leak: The children of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif owned London real estate through companies created by Mossack Fonseca. Response: Did not respond Fallout: Sharif has bowed to the oppositions demand for an independent investigation into the Sharif family holdings. This is a strange logic that if our children earn their legitimate money inside the country there is criticism, and if they work hard overseas and establish and run businesses, even then they are targeted by allegations, the PM said. His son Hussain has maintained that his holdings are legal and that he is not required to declare them in Pakistan because he isnt a resident. Those apartments are ours and those offshore companies are also ours ... There is nothing wrong with it and I have never concealed them, he said. The U.K. Leak: The father of Prime Minister David Cameron was a Mossack Fonseca client who used the law firm to shield his investment fund Blairmore Holdings, Inc. from U.K. taxes. Ian Cameron, a millionaire stockbroker who died in 2010, used untraceable shareholder certificates known as bearer shares and employed nominee company directors in the creation of a Panamanian investment fund. Response: Did not respond. Fallout: When the dealings of Camerons father were made public, the PMs office issued a terse statement that there would be no comment on what amounted to a private matter. Cameron has since faced a barrage of questions about his financial affairs, and whether he had inherited any interest in the offshore fund from his father. On Wednesday, Camerons office stated that neither the PM, nor his wife or children currently have any offshore holdings, but wouldnt answer questions about whether they had any in the past. Argentina Leak: President Mauricio Macri was director and vice-president of an undisclosed Bahamas company managed by Mossack Fonseca when he was a businessman and mayor of Buenos Aires. Response: A spokesman for Macri said the president never personally owned shares in the firm, which was part of his familys business. Fallout: After the allegations were published, Macri said he did not disclose his interest because he had no stake in the firm. Macri later elaborated in a televised interview, explaining that his tycoon father Franco Macri, one of the richest men in Argentina, had founded the company through a legal operation. The head of Argentinas anti-corruption office, who was quick to defend Macris offshore businesses, now faces calls to resign. Ukraine Leak: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is the sole shareholder of Prime Asset Partners Ltd., a holding company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). This corporate structure was set up in August 2014, as Russian troops were marching into Eastern Ukraine. Response: A spokesperson for Poroshenko said the creation of the company had nothing to do with any political and military events in Ukraine. Poroshenkos financial advisers said the president didnt include the BVI firm in his 2014 financial disclosures because neither the holding company nor two related companies in Cyprus and the Netherlands have any assets. Fallout: Oleh Lyashko, head of the populist Radical party that once was part of the governing coalition, has called for impeachment proceedings against Poroshenko. The president took to social media to defend himself on Monday, saying he has delegated the management of his assets to consulting and law firms. I believe I might be the first top office official in Ukraine who treats declaring of assets, paying taxes and conflict of interest issues profoundly and seriously, in full compliance with the Ukrainian and international private law, Poroshenko wrote. Egypt Leak: The son of former president Hosni Mubarak was tied to a company registered by Mossack Fonseca. Alaa Mubarak, who owned the BVI firm Pan World Investments Inc., was arrested in 2011 along with his father after he was deposed from power. In 2013, Mossack Fonseca was fined $37,500 (U.S.) for failing to properly check into Alaa, a politically exposed person or PEP. Internally, the firm admitted its due diligence procedures were seriously flawed. Response: Did not respond. Fallout: Egyptian media reported on Tuesday that Alaa Mubarak would be questioned by the Illicit Gains Authority about his offshore holdings. United Arab Emirates Leak: Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates and emir of Abu Dhabi, controlled at least 30 companies in the BVI, through which he held commercial and residential properties in London worth at least $1.7 billion. Mossack Fonseca provided an extra layer of secrecy for the Sheikh by registering its own companies to act as directors and shareholders of the Sheikhs BVI companies. Response: U.K. law firm representing Al Nahyan said it was unable to help. Fallout: Silence South Africa Leak: The nephew of President Jacob Zuma was linked to Caprikat Ltd., one of two offshore companies registered by Mossack Fonseca in the BVI. Through these companies, Clive Khulubuse Zuma acquired oilfields in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Response: Zuma and representatives of the companies have rejected allegations of wrongdoing and claimed the oil deals are quite attractive to the DRC government. Fallout: South African Revenue Service has announced that it will investigate any citizens mentioned in the Panama Papers, local media reported. SHARE: This is the first column Ive written in 30 years without doing hours of research, conducting interviews, attending a public event or community gathering or combing through my files. I didnt agonize over the theme or worry about being fair to everyone I mentioned. I did lose a bit of sleep about how to craft it but that is a long-standing occupational hazard. This is my farewell column. Ive come to the end of a remarkable career in journalism that opened unexpected doors, tested my beliefs and exceeded my expectations. You might think, after filing more than 4,500 columns, Id have nothing left to say. But I do have one parting message: a deeply personal thank you to every person who helped me, trusted me, reached out to me, stretched my understanding or challenged me. Ill begin with the readers of this column, some of whom have followed my work for years. Thank you for encouraging me to tackle difficult subjects; emboldening me to take unpopular stands; keeping me grounded; and assuring me I wasnt shouting unheard into the wind. You buoyed my spirits up on the bad days and reminded me how lucky I was on the good days. Next Id like to express my profound gratitude to the people who shared their stories with me sometimes at considerable risk. Your generosity never ceased to astound me. People in sensitive public positions gave me information that could have cost them their jobs. Community workers told me truths that could have jeopardized their government funding. Extremely vulnerable individuals trapped in abusive relationships; living in cockroach-infested rooming houses; struggling to maintain their dignity in seniors institutions; battling poverty, homelessness and mental illness; stigmatized or forgotten by society opened their lives to me. Without them, I would have been a pontificating pundit. I cant leave without thanking the public-spirited citizens who phoned, sent me letters, email, Facebook messages and mementos. I hope I responded respectfully (except to the gratuitously abusive screeds). I know some correspondence fell through the cracks when I was under deadline pressure, on vacation or consumed with family matters. Please allow me to acknowledge it now. My daily exchanges with Canadians who offered their views on what I wrote demonstrated in a small way that civilized debate is possible in this country. Finally Id like to thank my employer, the Toronto Star. No other newspaper in the country would have given me the latitude Ive had to shine a light into dark corners. No other newspaper would have stood behind me when I ruffled feathers in high places. No other newspaper has social justice written into its DNA. Shortly after joining the Star after honing my skills at two other newspapers, a national wire service, a parliamentary news syndicate and a magazine I was introduced to the Atkinson Principles, the six core values that give this newspaper its philosophical base. For 117 years, this newspaper has stood for: A strong and united Canada. Social justice. Community and civic engagement. The rights of working people. Equality for every individual under the law. The role of government as a necessary counterweight to market forces. I knew I was where I belonged. Over the years, Ive been branded a lot of things: a champion of lost causes, a bleeding-heart, a leftist crusader. There is an element of truth to all these labels. I do persist in the face of political indifference or public cynicism. I do wear my heart on my sleeve. Ive lost more battles than Ive won; social assistance rates remain below the poverty line, hunger and homelessness have become urban fixtures, too many people with mental illness are still in jail, too many seniors are still pushed out of sight. But I hope Ive broken a few stereotypes, shattered a few myths, given a voice to a few hundred people who are typically excluded from the mainstream media and listened to a few thousand people who thought they were struggling alone. Is that enough? For a journalist, it must be. Our role is to expose, explain and encourage, not charge into the fray. Tomorrow I begin the transition from observer to participant. But today I salute an open-hearted city, a fair-minded country and a newspaper that gave me the courage of my convictions. SHARE: Kevin Omar Mohamed was arrested as a terrorist last month but not, as one might expect, for an act of terrorism already committed. Instead, the arrest was initially described by police as preventive, based on a fear that Mohamed might engage in terrorism abroad; according to the polices own statement, there was no indication of any plans for a domestic attack. Even before being charged with any terrorism offence (as he eventually was), Mohamed was publicly branded a terrorist. His name and his face were broadcast on prime-time news as a terror arrest, all on the strength of a fear. In the Kafkaesque world of preventive counter-terrorism, one can be treated like a criminal without actually being accused of any crime. Canadian law criminalizes a sweeping range of actions as terrorism offences, including preliminary steps only remotely connected to actual violence. But even those who have not been charged with any crime may be arrested and detained, their freedom abrogated not for what they have done in the past but for what the state thinks they might do in the future. Canadas already-problematic regime of preventive arrest and detention was exacerbated by Bill C-51, the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2015. Bill C-51 more than doubled the maximum time permitted for preventive detention (from three days to seven), while lowering the threshold for preventive arrest. Individuals may now be arrested if police believe that a terrorist activity may (not will) be carried out, and that arrest is likely (not necessary) to prevent it. Lawyers Clayton Ruby and Nader Hasan describe the type of scenario that could fall within the scope of the states newly expanded powers of arrest: Six Muslim young adults stand in front of a mosque late at night in heated discussion in some foreign language. They may be talking about video games, or sports, or girls, or advocating the overthrow of the Harper government. Who knows? There is no evidence one way or the other. Just stereotypes ... Yesterday, the Muslim men were freely exercising constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Today they are arrestable. Bill C-51 also made it easier to impose peace bonds following preventive arrest, permitting them to be issued against people who may (not will) commit a terrorism offence. Under the Criminal Codes fear of terrorism offence provision, peace bonds can be used to place severe limitations on an individuals liberty including prohibitions on internet and cellphone use, electronic monitoring, curfews, and geographic restrictions without any criminal trial. (This is the provision Kevin Mohamed was originally arrested under.) Law enforcement agencies are increasingly relying on peace bonds to curtail the freedom of those like Aaron Driver, Abdul Aziz Aldabous, and Merouane Ghalmi: not accused of committing any crime, but bearing the burden of the states suspicion of dangerousness. Lawyer Corey Shefman, head of the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties, likens our system of preventive arrest and peace bonds to the dystopian world of Minority Report. It should shock every Canadian citizen that this is possible or is being done. I think it's a Tom Cruise movie Minority Report where they arrest people for crimes people might commit in the future and thats really what this is like to me. Real-world experiments with pre-emptive criminalization also provide a cautionary tale. In the United Kingdom, for example, only one-third of the over 1,500 people arrested preventively since 9/11 have ever been charged with any offence. The UK experience, write law professors Kent Roach and Craig Forcese, suggests that increased use of preventive arrests ... will increase false positives in the form of detention of those who are never charged and may never have an opportunity to clear their name. Canadians are understandably afraid of terrorism in the wake of devastating attacks in cities around the world. But terrorism committed by non-state actors is not the only violence we should be concerned about. As Professor Forcese reminds us, The fact remains that even in the post-9/11 period, violence by states constitutes a much greater peril to the individual than acts of terror. Even the weakest states possess means of coercive force that are only occasionally matched by non-state actors. The perils of state violence and coercion mean we should be wary of the erosion of fundamental rights in the name of preventing terrorism. No matter how good the state claims its precog powers are. Azeezah Kanji is a legal scholar based in Toronto. SHARE: The Moody's Analytics election model has been updated to reflect the March economic forecast, and the needle has moved further in the direction of the Democratic party. On strength in the president's approval rating and low gasoline prices, Nevada has moved from the Republican column into the Democratic column. This brings the projected electoral vote count to 332 votes for the future Democratic nominee and 206 votes for the Republican nominee. However, several important swing states remain extremely close. Nevada, Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire could all swing very easily with only small changes to the underlying economic drivers. The two drivers giving the most support in the model to Democrats are gasoline prices and the president's approval rating. In fact, without gasoline prices in the model, Republicans would be projected to win. Prices have rebounded in the last few weeks, but chances are remote that they could move enough by November to alter the projected outcome in and of themselves. The president's approval rating, on the other hand, is a variable that could move quickly enough, even with our smoothing process, in concert with higher gasoline prices to change the forecast. President Obama appears to be benefiting from the chaos in the primary elections over the last few months, boosting his approval rating by almost three percentage points since our first projection in August 2015. The economic variable most beneficial to the Republican challengers in the model is household income growth, which has come in below expectations much of the year. As we near full employment toward the end of the summer, we'll have a better idea how large a role slower growing wages will be on the election. But as of today, the forecast is clearly in favor of the incumbent party. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held TK positions in the stocks mentioned. If there's one message travel risk experts have for Americans in the wake of the Brussels terrorist attacks and heading into the busy summer travel season, it is this: do not live in fear. To that experts add, continue traveling, but do so well-prepared for an emergency. "Travel can continue," says Matt Bradley, Regional Security Director at International SOS, one of the world's leading medical and travel security risk services companies. "That's the number one point. Continue traveling to Europe or anywhere else. Should there be some modifications? Yes...Arm yourself with information before you go and know how you would respond in case of an incident." The March 22 attacks in Brussels -- two explosions at the airport and another at a subway station -- killed at least 30 people and wounded about 230 others with bombs that were packed with nails. It was the deadliest attack in Europe since the Paris incident about four months ago. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks. The State Department has since issued an unusually broad travel alert for all of Europe. The alert notes that terrorist groups continue to plan near-term attacks all over the continent, targeting sporting events, tourist sites, restaurants and transportation. While it's nearly impossible to predict where or when an attack might occur, says Bradley, firms like his focus on preparing travelers for emergencies. Among his top advice for American travel clients is: Curb your itinerary - minimize unnecessary activity Try and stay away from crowded public areas or large events Remain alert when in crowds If you intend to go to a large market, plaza or public square, identify a location that could provide shelter in the event of an emergency - someplace close by, that would allow you to get off the street. Have a trustworthy source of information, one that is not social media. "Anyone can put anything out on social media," Bradley says. "A lot of misinformation goes out. It's not reliable. You should have an information source that not only validates what's happening, but also provides advice." One source of such information is a travel risk company, whose job it is to monitor problems and threats and can communicate with you via text messages or an app. The International SOS Assistance App, for instance, provides members with information in more than 200 countries and 300 cities around the world, including alerts and medical and travel information. The State Department also offers a travel alert service known as the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP). The free offering allows U.S. citizens and nationals who are traveling abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. Those who sign-up receive information from the embassy about safety conditions in their destination country. Registration with STEP also helps U.S. embassies contact you in an emergency, whether it be a natural disaster, civil unrest or family emergency. Being educated and prepared before departing on a trip, says Bradley, is the most important change travelers can make to adapt to the current state of world affairs. "I think it's important to not live in fear, that is the primary objective of terrorism," Bradley says. Numerous other travel and security experts echo Bradley's support for continued travel. Many note that terrorist attacks are nothing new - pointing for example, to the 2004 Madrid train bombings carried out by an Al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist cell that left 191 dead and about 2,000 injured, as well as the 2005 incident in Britain, which involved coordinated suicide attacks on three underground lines, killing 56 and wounding about 700. "There's no doubt the recent tragic events in Europe are deeply unsettling, and it's perfectly reasonable for travelers to question their travel plans to Europe for the summer," says Greg Geronemus, co-CEO of smarTours. "However, it's also important to look at the situation in Europe objectively. As disturbing as the headlines have been, everyone should keep in mind that the risk of being injured in a terror attack in Europe still pales in comparison to the risk of being injured in many everyday activities, including driving your car." In fact, Geronemus says there is no safer place to be than a destination recently involved in a terror event, because security and general awareness is at a record high level after such an attack. "The State Department alert should serve as a reminder of what everyone already knows - that there is an elevated security threat in various parts of Europe," Geronemus says. "However, it should not be interpreted as a suggestion to stay at home. There is some degree of risk in different destinations around the world, just as there is risk in the United States of America in everyday life." Global Rescue, another travel risk and crisis management firm, has been actively advising clients about travel to Europe, (both individuals and corporations), since the Brussels attacks. The firm offers numerous safety precautions and tips. For instance, while traveling within a foreign city, consider using taxi or ride sharing services such as Uber, rather than public transportation, in order to reduce exposure to crowds and large gatherings. In addition, always have local currency and an ATM or credit card available to pay for transportation and other needs in the event of an emergency. It's also important to carry a paper map of the city or region you're visiting, which can be used in the event of cellular or Internet loss. And for coordination purposes, make sure all of your travel companions are using the same map. Finally, have a plan to communicate with someone back home in the event of an emergency, crisis or attack. Cellular networks can quickly become overwhelmed, as was the case in Brussels and Paris immediately following the attacks, so having an alternate means of communication is a must. Global Rescue recommends renting a satellite phone for your trip. "It's important that we are more aware and more vigilant and maybe change habits when traveling," says Global Rescue's Director of Security Operations Scott Hume. Like other travel risk firms, Global Rescue provides site and destination reports and travel assessments for its clients. But the biggest message the firm is offering right now is simply to put more thought into preparing for a trip and ensuring your safety while abroad. "We're not discouraging travel to Europe," Hume says. "Quite the opposite. You can't stop living life. We've had episodes like this in Europe over the course of my lifetime. Our memory is short. This is not new. Maybe the locations are morphing a bit. Maybe we haven't seen in our lifetime, attacks in Paris or Brussels. But these events are not uncommon." Moving forward, those in the security and travel community say, if a trip to Europe still makes you feel somewhat uncomfortable, then consider other options, if possible. Particularly for leisure travelers, the point is to enjoy the experience and not spend too much time being overly stressed or concerned about what you're doing and where you're visiting. "Travel is meant to be fun," Geronemus says. "Travelers need to be comfortable with their travel plans. If you think you would be too nervous to travel to Europe this summer, that's your decision, and there are plenty of amazing places outside of Europe, like Asia and South Africa, worthy of your travels this summer as well." United Airlines (UAL) , celebrating its 90th birthday Wednesday, seems to have arrived at an auspicious moment in its history. Enthused by the soap opera story of an energetic CEO three months past a heart transplant, galvanized by an unwelcome assault from a couple of hedge funds, lifted by involvement in an airline industry that has achieved record profitability -- the rising tide lifting all boats -- and widely viewed as a company that possibly has begun to recover from two decades of performing below its capabilities, United seems to actually have something to celebrate. Today's party has two major components. The first is dessert. The second is a pilot action against the hedge funds. United will serve cake to employees at every location where it has employees. It is reasonable to think that the number of cakes will reach into the thousands. At San Francisco International Airport alone, United will serve 70 cakes to employees. The airline serves 342 airports in 58 countries and employs 84,000 people. "Cake for all," said spokeswoman Erin Benson. For passengers, United is giving away specially designed birthday cookies on every domestic flight and on all international flights departing the U.S. United operates 4,626 daily departures, the vast majority from the U.S. In general, passengers like cookies, especially free ones. As for the pilot action, the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association said it will pocket the Boston offices of two hedge funds, PAR Capital Management and Altimeter Capital, that are seeking to add six new directors to the airline's 15-member board. "In recent weeks, rhetoric from investor groups PAR Capital Management and Altimeter Capital has posed new challenges for the pilots of United Airlines," the pilots said, in a prepared statement. "These investors have made disturbing statements in an attempt to force many changes within United's Board of Directors." Pilots said they have lost ground during a bankruptcy and other concessionary events during the past two decades, as "management has used opportunities of national crisis to attack our contracts and achieve, through the courts, what they could not secure at the bargaining table. "Thankfully, and due wholly to our past sacrifices, our situation has dramatically improved," the pilots said. "Now is not the time for hedge fund minority shareholders to reward themselves at our expense. Now is the time for all stakeholders to benefit from continued reinvestment in our airline's corporate infrastructure, customer experience, new aircraft, maintenance, training, IT, and improved contracts." Pilots plan to demonstrate between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. EDT at 100 Oliver St. in Boston. A spokesman for the hedge funds didn't respond to emails seeking comment. As Munoz rallies employee support, he reached a major milestone on Monday, when United and the International Association of Machinists announced they had reached seven tentative contract agreements covering about 30,000 workers. IAM, the largest union at United, represents fleet service workers, passenger service and reservations agents as well as stockroom workers, load planners, instructors, security officers and food service workers. The tentative deal would run through 2021 and calls for pay increases of approximately 30% percent during its term, as well as a 25% boost in defined benefit pension benefits. Additionally, it "stops outsourcing of work currently performed by IAM members {and} provides insourcing of additional work, a trigger to obtain new work and other work-rule improvements," the IAM said. The current agreement does not become amendable until Dec. 31, but the airline and the union agreed in October to open talks early. Sito Pantoja , IAM general vice president, commended union negotiators and also thanked Munoz for "demonstrating a willingness to partner with the IAM for the benefit of the employees and the airline." For a change, it seems, United employee relations are positive, creating a suitable backdrop for a birthday celebration -- and a tough environment for hedge funds that seem to believe that now is a good time to shake things up. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Shares of Disney (DIS) took an ugly hit on Tuesday on news that COO Tom Staggs was stepping down. Disney began Tuesday's session with a downside gap before taking out last week's low. The stock did manage to recover about one third of its early loss but still finished with a 1.7% drop. This breakdown-type action is beginning to leave behind a rather ominous mutli-week high just above $100. Disney investors should keep a close eye on the $96-to-$95 area in the near term. A close below this key zone would violate the March low setting the stage for a deep pullback. Throughout all of March, Disney remained in a narrowing consolidation pattern. The stock put in a string of higher weekly lows during this sideways action but was unable to make much in the way of headway past the century level. Just last week it appeared that Disney may have enough momentum built up to break through the upside of the pattern. The action over the last three sessions, especially yesterday's, indicates that a fresh bull leg remains a ways off. As of the close of Tuesday's trade, Disney is still inside the March range, but overhead pressure is beginning to grow. If Disney fails to hold the March low, investors should expect a pullback to begin. The stock has a very solid support zone in place near the $90 area. A drop down to this area, along with a divergent low in the MACD indicator, would offer patient bulls a rather low-risk entry opportunity. Until then, Disney shares may prove to be a fairly heavy. Click here to see the below chart in a new window. Disclosure: This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. RATINGS CHANGES Apple (AAPL) was initiated with a strong buy at Needham. $150 price target. The company has high pricing power and predictable revenue streams, Needham said. Baker Hughes (BHI) was downgraded to hold from buy at Deutsche Bank. $43 price target. The Department of Justice is reportedly trying to block its merger with Halliburton, Deutsche Bank said. CDK Global (CDK) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan. $49 price target. The company held recent positive meetings with management, JPMorgan said. CF Industries (CF) was downgraded to neutral from buy at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. $36 price target. Increased regulation makes the pending OCI acquisition less compelling, analysts said. Cisco Systems (CSCO) was upgraded to neutral from underweight at JPMorgan. $27.50 price target. The company has a solid dividend yield and limited downside potential, JPMorgan said. CST Brands (CST) was upgraded to buy at TheStreet Ratings. You can view the full analysis from the report here: CST. Fifth Third (FITB) was downgraded neutral at Sterne Agee. $18 price target. Earnings estimates were also cut, as the company's turnaround is taking longer than expected, Sterne said. Huntington (HBAN) was upgraded to buy at Sterne Agee. $11.50 price target. The company has a solid franchise with earnings leverage, Sterne said. Potbelly (PBPB) was upgraded to hold at TheStreet Ratings. You can view the full analysis from the report here: PBPB. PulteGroup (PHM) was upgraded to equal weight from underweight at Barclays. The valuation is more attractive, based on a $18 price target, Barclays said. Domtar (UFS) was downgraded to underperform from neutral at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. The valuation isn't as attractive, based on a $41 price target, analysts said. This article was written by a staff member of TheStreet. Lindsey Green, 39, is a single executive assistant from New York with dreams of meeting Mr. Right and having a child. Aware that her biological clock is ticking, Green, who asked that her real name be changed for privacy reasons, decided to take advantage of a fertility option for women that's growing in popularity. Last year, she froze her eggs. "I was getting to be in my late 30s and frankly I never imagined I would be here in this placeI always thought that by this time I would have met the perfect guy and settled down," Green says. "But here I was, single, with dreams of becoming a mother one day and still waiting for the right person." Now that Green has successfully frozen several of her eggs, she says she feels a newfound sense of freedom and empowerment. "It feels amazing to know that I have this option for me," she says. "It's a huge gift." Although the first reported birth from frozen eggs occurred back in 1986, it wasn't until 2012 that the American Society for Reproductive Medicine finally stopped considering egg freezing "experimental." Today a revolutionary new technique called vitrification, or flash-freezing, is helping to increase success rates by preventing the formation of damaging ice crystals on eggs. "Globally, there are thousands of reports of healthy babies born from frozen eggs," says Alan Copperman, M.D., director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York and medical director of Reproductive Medicine Associates of New York. "The science has pretty much caught up with the hype." With female celebrities such as Sofia Vergara and Whitney Cummings having gone public in recent years with their decision to freeze their eggs, the process has become a bit less taboo, though some misconceptions still exist. To help you separate fact from fiction, here's some essential information you should know to decide if egg freezing is right for you. How Does Egg Freezing Work? A woman who is considering freezing her eggs should begin by scheduling a consultation with a reproductive endocrinologist, a type of physician specializing in fertility issues, who will perform an ultrasound and a blood test to determine whether she is a candidate for egg freezing and what her chances are of successfully preserving her fertility. If she's given the green light to freeze her eggs, she can generally complete the process in about two weeks or less. The first part of the egg freezing process requires a woman to get over her fear of needles. After her period begins, she'll have to inject herself with fertility medication once or twice a day for about 10 to 12 days (the shots usually go into the belly or thigh). "A woman typically ovulates one egg per month, but when exposed to fertility medications, she is capable of recruiting and ovulating multiple eggs," says Copperman. "There could certainly be some cramping and bloating, but it's really not a painful process and the injections are really well tolerated." During the time that a woman is taking the injections, she'll have to see her fertility doctor every few days for a blood test and an ultrasound to monitor her progress. It's common for doctors to offer these appointments in the early morning hours so that patients do not have to miss work. Once the maximum number of folliclesfluid-filled sacs in the ovaries that each contain a single eggare mature, a woman will then undergo the egg retrieval procedure. During the quick procedure, which can last as little as ten minutes, she'll be sedated as her doctor uses ultrasound guidance to pass a needle through her vagina to remove the mature eggs. A woman will have to take a day off from work for the egg retrieval, but she can go home the same day. Although there are risks involved with any type of procedure, Dr. Copperman says that egg freezing is very safe and women can quickly go about their normal lives. "After the procedure, most women go out to dinner that night and go back to work the next day," says Copperman. Eggs are taken to a lab for preservation when the retrieval process is complete. "The embryologist would then freeze them by essentially dehydrating them, putting in cellular antifreeze, and placing them in liquid nitrogen where they're metabolically inactive," says Copperman. "The eggs are stored in a locked, secured room with temperature monitors, and whenever a woman is ready to use them, she can have them thawed, fertilized and transferred into her uterus." (To watch how the egg freezing process works, check out this video by RMA New York.) Unfortunately, not all eggs are normal and able to survive the process of freezing, thawing and eventual implantation. "Only mature, chromosomally normal eggs have a chance to become fertilized and potentially yield a pregnancy," says David Diaz, M.D., a reproductive endocrinologist at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, Calif., and founder and medical director of West Coast Fertility Centers in Fountain Valley, Calif. "Women with the greatest percentage of favorable eggs are in their 20s or early 30s." Copperman says that for the best chances of success, a woman should aim to freeze at least ten eggs, which can sometimes require her to undergo the entire egg freezing cycle more than once (she'll have to pay for the costs involved again, too, though she might be offered a discount). "We like to use the number 'ten eggs for one baby,'" says Copperman. Why Freeze Your Eggs? There are many reasons why a woman would choose to freeze her eggs. Some women elect to undergo the procedure to allow themselves more time to pursue educational and career goals or to find the right partner. Egg freezing is also an option for servicewomen who will spend long spans of time abroad. "We've spoken to a lot of women's military [members] who are going overseas for a couple of years and want to make sure that either time or injury or exposure doesn't interfere with her ability to someway have children," Copperman explains. Egg freezing is also often recommended to women who will undergo medical treatments that could impair fertility, such as chemotherapy or radiation. For instance, a woman who has been diagnosed with cancer could consider freezing her eggs before her chemo treatments begin to help preserve healthy eggs. How Much Does Egg Freezing Cost? While fees vary, Copperman says that egg freezing costs around $9,000, plus the cost of medication, which can be up to $5,000. Most insurance companies do not cover elective egg freezing, though some may help pay for fertility medications, and some may cover the procedure specifically for patients who are freezing their eggs for medical reasons, such as with cancer patients. Some large corporations, such as Apple and Facebook, are even offering to foot the bill for egg freezing as an employee benefit. Keep in mind that after a woman's eggs are retrieved, she'll also have to pay an annual fee to keep her eggs stored safely until she is ready to use them. Storage fees vary but typically average around $500 per year. When to Use Your Eggs Copperman says that because fertility issues are due more to the age of a woman's eggs than to the age of her uterus, healthy eggs that are frozen can be successfully implanted into women up to ages 50 to 55. It's hard to say for certain how long eggs can be frozen because egg freezing technology is so new, but preliminary data suggests that there might not be a limit. "In our practice, seven years is the longest time elapsed from freezing to thawing that resulted in a live birth, but theoretically eggs have the potential to remain frozen indefinitely provided they are constantly replenished with liquid nitrogen to maintain the freezing temperature at -190 degrees Celsius," says Diaz. Green isn't sure when she'll use her eggs, but she's relieved to know they are being kept in a safe place. She says she strongly encourages other women to consider freezing their eggs, too. "I think that it can be an intense two weeks as far as injections, but it's really nothing that you can't handle," she says. "It gives you the freedom to live life according your own clock, and I think it's a wonderful option that we have right now that many of our female ancestors did not have." Never one to job hop, Tim Turpin left his position at Spark, a digital marketing firm, after spending eight years building up its venture capital practice. After accepting an offer to grow a marketing firms San Francisco and Silicon Valley office, Turpin returned to his former employer in February because of the work culture. After a lot of lost sleep, I made the decision that I would return to Spark, because in many ways, it is like family, he said. I left on good terms and helped with the transition, and as I was leaving, the co-founders and the CEO had told me that I could always come back. As attitudes about the workplace progress and evolve, companies are more lax about having employees returning to their former jobs. When the workforce was largely dominated by Baby Boomers and Gen X-ers, the turnover rate was much lower and people spent the bulk of their careers with one company, said Jim Craft, a professor of business administration at the University of Pittsburghs Katz Graduate School of Business. The Millennial generations particular professional approach means they plan to have jobs with several different companies during their career, he said. The current data from surveys suggest that at any time between 30% and 60% of current employees are looking for other opportunities," said Craft, a former economics policy fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C. non-profit public policy organization and labor force analyst with the U.S. Department of Labor. Eager to encourage employees to return, human resource managers have adapted to the changes with 98% who said they would rehire a former employee who left on good terms, according to a recent survey by Accountemps, a division of Robert Half, a Menlo Park, Calif. staffing firm for accounting and finance positions. Only 48% of employees said they would return to a former employer, because 23% said they did not like the management, 14% disagreed with the corporate culture, another 14% disliked the job duties and 10% said the company burned bridges with them. Managers should treat departing employees well, especially top performers to grease the wheels for a possible future return, said Katie Essman, a regional president for Robert Half. Some managers take resignations personally, but we recommend extending that olive branch to get them back on the team in the future, she said. Maintaining a flexible policy about boomerang employees shows workers that companies are committed to their careers, said Donna Burke, a founder of Spark. The company has at least nine employees who returned. We make a big point to let them know they can always come back if they aren't happy down the road, she said. How Employers Can Win Back Workers Managers used to view employees who left their company as disloyal and would refuse to rehire them again, said Craft. Companies have shifted from this mentality and are keen to rehire employees, because getting them back up to speed is faster and costs less. Multinational companies dedicate both money and time to rehire them. EY, the London-based professional services company, created an alumni portal for former co-workers along with LinkedIn groups to encourage networking and possible returns. EY also sponsors local events in each city where the company has an office, all in an effort to draw former employees back. Their programs have worked, because 10% to 15% of their employees return, said Larry Nash, a recruiting director at EY. We recognize that not everyone will stay in our organization through their lifetime, but we want to stay connected and continue that sense of family, he said. Boomerang employees have done well at OperationsInc, a Norwalk, Conn.-based human resources outsourcing firm, because the news of their resignation was applauded. We have had our people hired away by clients or into roles we could not really offer them, he said. In those instances, I personally have emailed the firm to announce the pending departure, to thank them for their service and in some cases to even reaffirm how good a move this is for them. Why Quitting Is a Good Idea Companies that hire many college graduates often have a better grasp on Millennials and why they change jobs more frequently. Employees need to experience working in various industries and at companies with different work cultures, Nash said. For many people, working at EY is their first job out of school and their careers take them in different directions, he said. People like the growth and development or challenges they obtain somewhere else. Employees need change to remain motivated, said Christopher Cabrera, CEO of Xactly, a San Jose, Calif.-based sales performance management company. In the past 11 years, 20 employees have returned, in part because the company has a flexible work culture that has no vacation policy or annual reviews. Sometimes change is good because people get bored, he said. If you cant provide the opportunity for them, sometimes it makes sense for them to leave. Why People Go Back Some employees return to their former employer, because they miss the familiarity or the camaraderie they established with co-workers. In January, Carl Rosenblatt, a marketing and sales executive in Washington, D.C., decided to go back to PwC, the London-based audit and consulting company. He preferred the systematic and dependable work environment compared to his other job at a software company. At PwC, return employees make up 17% or 8,000 people out of 46,524 U.S. employees. I missed the culture and attention to detail in the work environment there and the friends I had made, many of whom I'd kept in touch with during my five years away from the firm, he said. The camaraderie makes coming to work fulfilling and enjoyable. Staying in touch with your former manager and co-workers is beneficial, because you might choose to work for him again or he could want to work for you, said April Masini, a New York-based relationship expert and author. Always leave a job as if you will see the person again or work for them again, she said. There is a good chance that you will run into someone from your old job. Either drop a line every few months or invite your boss or colleagues from your former job to have coffee or lunch, Masini recommends. Staying in touch makes it that much easier for you all to reconnect if a new job opportunity arises, she said. Always speak well to others of your former employer. Gossip travels faster than the speed of light and you may think that what you divulge is private, but it probably will be repeated. The Trump Hotel Collection - a small group of luxury properties - has suffered a data breach that has involved guest credit card data, according to a report from respected security blogger Brian Krebs. Big questions immediately arise: Is the attack politically motivated? How does it impact Trump guests? How does it impact guests at any hotels? The last question arises, because hotels have suffered an epidemic of data breaches in the past couple years. Hilton, Starwood, Hyatt and management company White Lodging (which runs many Marriotts) have all acknowledged significant data breaches involving guest information. If you stay at hotels you have to be cognizant of the risks. They are under assault by cyber criminals. As for the political implications, that question gets asked, because hacktivist group Anonymous in mid-March declared a total war on Trump and his companies. Did this organization hack Trumps hotels? Nobody knows. Anonymous has not issued a statement saying it had. And, said Canh Tran, CEO of Chicago based data breach monitoring firm Rippleshot, his hunch is that Anonymous is not behind this incident. Tran says the evidence is not decisive. But, he said, usually it takes up to eight months for a breach to be detected, which means this Trump Hotel breach probably dates back to summer 2015, long before the Anonymous threat. Krebs said he contacted Trump, because banking industry sources told him there was evidence of a breach at at least some Trump hotels. The company did not confirm or deny a breach. Here is what it told Krebs in a written statement: We are in the midst of a thorough investigation on this matter. We are committed to safeguarding all guests personal information and will continue to do so vigilantly. (The Trump Hotel Collection had not responded to a request for comment by TheStreet.) Last summer Trumps hotels definitely suffered a data breach. The company created a website to address the issue. It explained: Between May 19, 2014, and June 2, 2015, we believe that there may have been unauthorized malware access to some of the computers that host our front desk terminals and payment card terminals in our restaurants, gift shops and other point-of-sale purchase locations at some hotels managed by the Trump Hotel Collection. For those customers that used credit or debit cards to make purchases during this time, we believe that the malware may have affected payment card data including payment card account number, card expiration date and security code. Trump's hotels may have special security vulnerabilities that go beyond the political candidate's celebrity. In the SecurityScorecard platform Trump Hotel Collection is a C - 72% - compared to peers in the hospitality industry," said Sam Kassoumeh, COO at SecurityScorecard, a company that grades the IT security of organizations. "The security hygiene score is bordering a D letter grade - quite poor. Nonetheless, the industry as a whole has a terrible record for security, as witness the many breaches over the past few years. Why so many? There are reasons why hotels are juicy targets [for hackers] - travelers dont look at their expenses that carefully,"Tran said. "There are lots of point of sale terminals at hotels and many have vulnerabilities. Think gift shops, restaurants and bars. Tran added the zinger: Hotels collect a lot of your personal info, to market to you. Hackers dont just want a credit card. They want more information. At a hotel, they get your home address. That is gold to a hacker. A credit card number - just a number - has little value on criminal black markets. Add in a zip code and its value multiplies, because credit card security often rejects a purchase based on geographic unlikeliness. Present a Phoenix card at a big box store in Detroit to buy two big screen TVs, and unless that card has a history in Michigan, it could easily be declined. Present it in Phoenix and - even if it has no history in big boxes - if it has credit availability - its a sale. So hackers like hotels because as a group - not just Trump but the industry - there are lots of poorly tended terminals, and when a hacker gets in, he gets much more than card numbers. Experts are adamant: the attacks will continue until hotels significantly strengthen their defenses. The money question: what can you do to protect yourself? Some experts caution against using credit cards at hotels and, good as that advice may be, it is impractical. Most hotels require a credit card on check in. Monitor your accounts," said Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist at Intel Security. "Keep an eye out for suspicious activity in your transaction log. Daily monitoring of your accounts will help you see the first signs of a potential account takeover, and help you take quick action. Other advice: do not use debit cards in hotels, said Ryan Kalember, senior vice president at security company Proofpoint. Consumer protections on debit cards are lots weaker than on credit cards. Stick with credit cards and, very probably, your next hotel stay will be financially uneventful, no matter what hackers do. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held TK positions in the stocks mentioned. After ending its 16-year marriage with American Express for its co-branded credit cards, Costco Wholesale (COST) will start a new relationship with Citigroup and Visa on June 20 to launch a new co-branded card. The new alliance promises to deliver more value to customers while keeping the transfer seamless. It also positions Costco as one of the most appealing investments right now in an otherwise dangerous broader market. With this new deal, Costco is giving the chills to peers like Wal-Mart, which has taken the cue and is introducing its own card-based rewards program. But Costco seems hell bent on completely destroying the competition by making customers complete fans of its rewards program, positioning the stock for robust capital appreciation in an equity market that's expected to be tepid at beat. What's interesting is that Costco took the step to switch over from American Express to Visa despite there being no complaints from customers. In fact, early last year when Costco decide to make the shift, 88% of almost 50,000 Costco American Express cardholders had given it a four to five star rating on the American Express site. But Costco has found better reasons to partner with Citibank and Visa -- for itself and its customers. The biggest advantage is perhaps that that Visa is accepted at more locations than American Express. Getting to the specifics, let's look at the existing rewards program of the American Express' TrueEarnings card. Customers currently get 3% cash back on up to $4,000 in annual gas purchases at Costco and most other gas stations, 2% cash back at restaurants in the U.S. and on travel purchases, and 1% cash back on all other purchases. Come June 20 when customers start using their Visa card, here's what changes: Customers will now get 1% more cash back on purchases under several heads. They will receive 4% cash back for up to $7,000 in gas purchases, 3% cash back on travel purchases and restaurants even outside the U.S., and 2% cash back on all other purchases, leading to significant savings. The only cash back that stays the same is the 1% eligible for all other purchases, irrespective of whether or not they are made at Costco. Also, the redemption policy remains the same where holders receive a voucher in February, which has details of their earnings in the previous year. Customers can redeem this voucher for cash or merchandise worth the same value at Costco. If customers opt for the latter, it only means more sales for Costco. Also, Costco's liability to pay credit card fees will also be significantly lowered. Costco has been smart enough to not disrupt customer convenience. Its co-branded Visa cards would be pre-approved and shipped to holders effectively making the switch hassle-free for them. The new Visa card has no annual fee over and above the $55 Costco membership and the unclaimed reward points would also get seamlessly transferred. These are efforts that cardholders, especially millennials, love. With millennials, or people aged between 20 and 35, officially becoming the largest age group in the U.S. labor force, Costco has increasingly tried to increase its appeal to these youngsters. By tapping into this desirable demographic, Costco is poised to profit from multi-year demand. Millennials tend to attach strong importance to matters like convenient online shopping, fair wages for employees, and organic produce. Costco scores on pretty much all these fronts. Compared to Wal-Mart's $13.38 an hour, Costco employees earn an average of over $20 an hour. The big-box retailer also raised its starting hourly wage to $13 in March, compared to $10 for Wal-Mart. Competing with another big-box retailer Target in the category of organic foods, Costco is looking to increase supply responsibly by actually helping farmers buy land and equipment to grow organic produce. This goes a step ahead than offerings loans and financial assistance. Costco also beats Wal-Mart in customer satisfaction and trumps both Wal-Mart and Target on the revenue growth front. Ultimately, in an industry with big competitive players, Costco is experimenting with innovative moneymaking strategies, which for now at least look likely to succeed. With 304 million Visa credit cards compared to just 45.6 million American Express credit cards in the US, it's safe to say that Costco would witness a whole new wave of traffic. This and a host of its other efforts will help take its stock up to $198, up over 25% from its current price of $157.73, according to some analysts. Costco is your typical growth stock with its three-year average revenue growth rate of 5.4% more than doubling the industry's 2.5%. The trend is likely to continue but comes at a premium of 29.5 times price-to-earnings (P/E) compared to 17.2 times P/E for discount stores. If superior growth than competitors and a strong business model is what you are looking for, then opt for Costco. Coscto stock is a holding in Jim Cramers Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells COST? Learn more now. 85% Accurate Trader gives his Personal Guarantee. He turned $50,000 into $5 million trading this way and for a limited time, he's guaranteeing you at least $67,548 per year in profitable trades if you follow this simple step-by-step process. Click here to see how easy it is to collect thousands of dollars in "Free Money" every month. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Ford's (F) announcement that it is investing $1.6 billion to build a Mexican assembly complex in San Luis Potosi casts a piercing spotlight on U.S. presidential politics as well as the bargaining strategy of the United Auto Workers union. Donald Trump, on the day he was beaten in the Wisconsin primary, called the investment an "absolute disgrace," promising to impose a 35% tax on vehicles exported to the U.S. from Mexico if elected. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are signatories on a long-term automotive free-trade pact. "Our dishonest politicians and the special interests that control them are laughing in the face of all American citizens," Trump said in a statement. Wisconsin is a rust-belt state that has lost auto plants and manufacturing jobs. "These ridiculous, job-crushing transactions will not happen when I am president." Ted Cruz beat Trump decisively in Tuesday's primary election, increasing the chance of an open convention for the Republican Party in Cleveland in July. Dennis Williams, UAW president, called Ford's decision "a disappointment and very troubling," although the union's new labor agreement with Ford, signed last year, traded higher wages in the U.S. for more vehicle production in Mexico. Trump and UAW almost certainly are underestimating, overlooking or ignoring the extent to which Mexico's developing industrial base serves U.S. interests -- not just Ford's -- in part by strengthening that country's labor market while lessening the economic pressure that stimulates the northward flow of undocumented immigrants. Almost every major global automaker has located in Mexico in the past decade, investing tens of billions of dollars for new factories. While lower wages are an attraction, improvements in the country's infrastructure, access to the U.S. market and numerous free-trade agreements have made Mexico a hot spot for vehicle production. Ford executives have openly and consistently defended investments in Mexico. "We have to make decisions on a global scale because we compete globally," said Joe Hinrichs, Ford's president of the Americas. "But lets be clear: We are a proud American company and the majority of our investment happens here in the U.S." Ford hasn't officially disclosed which models it plans to build at the new plant, which is set to open in 2020, though the expectation among analysts is for expanded production of Ford Focus and other smaller cars, including a gas-electric hybrid aimed to compete with Toyota Prius. Ford and other automakers have argued that building small cars profitably in the U.S. is nearly impossible because wages are high while pricing for those models is weak. UAW workers, who are paid above-average U.S. manufacturing wages, earn about five times as much as the average auto worker in Mexico. Ford, General Motors (GM) and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAU) were unsuccessful in last year's bargaining in maintaining a lower wage scale for new workers negotiated prior to the global financial crisis. Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m. This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Cree (CREE) stock is dropping by 14.70% to $24.78on heavy trading volume on Wednesday, after the company lowered its 2016 third quarter earnings and revenue guidance. The Durham, NC-based LED lighting company projected revenue of $367 million, while Cree previously projected revenue to range between $400 million to $430 million. Cree lowered its guidance due to lower lighting products sales, which have been negatively impacted by new product delays. The company also faces a threat from General Electric Co.'s(GE) lighting business, TheStreet's Action Alerts PLUS Portfolio Manager Jim Cramer says. GE is a holding of Cramer's charitable trust. "GE is a big company," Cramer said. "Cree going up against GE? Well, forget about it." Cree also announced that it expects earnings to range between 13 cents per share and 15 cents per share, lower than the company's prior guidance for earnings between 22 cents per share to 29 cents per share. So far today, 7.65 million shares of Cree have traded, higher than the company's 30-day trading average of 1.08 million shares. Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings rates this stock as a "hold" with a ratings score of C-. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and increase in net income. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including disappointing return on equity and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself. You can view the full analysis from the report here: CREE Don't go chasing shares of Constellation Brands (STZ) , even if it did have the "best beverage quarter of any company in America," TheStreet's Jim Cramer. Shares of the beer, wine and spirits maker are up 4% Wednesday after it reported impressive earnings and provided guidance for double-digit earnings growth for fiscal 2017. The company also reported 13% organic growth, an incredible result, said Cramer, the co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio. Constellation is generating massive free-cash flow, some of which is being used to boost its dividend, he added. Constellation "can take over the world if they want to," and shares can still go higher, Cramer said. STZ has the highest-quality problem a business can have: meeting demand. Mexican beer is so popular right now, Cramer explained, noting how well the company's Corona and Modelo brands are selling. "Move over Bud, move over Molson, it's all about Corona and Modelo," Cramer said. Craft beer is also doing well and Constellation has enough money to make any acquisition it sees fit in this category, Cramer said. At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had no position in companies mentioned. Boom. Get it done. The scuttled merger between Pfizer (PFE) and Allergan (AGN) is going to be good for mergers-and-acquisition activity in the biotech sector. Allergan is run by Brent Saunders, the pharmaceutical industry's biggest and best deal maker. He built Allergan through acquisitions. Once the $40 billion sale of Allergan's generic business to Teva (TEVA) closes -- and it will close in the first half of the year, Saunders said -- Allergan will have a hefty cash pile to spend on more deals. [He'll pay down some debt first to maintain Allergan's investment-grade credit rating]. In an interview with Forbes Wednesday, Saunders said Allergan is different from the financially engineered, specialty pharma roll-ups like Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) . "The key difference is that we strongly believe in innovation and R&D and we have invested in innovation and R&D ... When we have done acquisitions, which is probably the thing that we have most in common with Valeant, we have exclusively focused on growth assets, not mature assets," Saunders said in the Forbes interview. That sounds like a guy who keeps a shopping list of biotech and drug companies on his desk. On Tuesday, I wrote a story identifying potential Allergan M&A targets if the Pfizer merger was killed off. Wednesday, the list, which ranges from Biogen (BIIB) , Celgene (CELG) and AbbVie (ABBV) to Anacor Pharma (ANAC) , Dermira (DERM) and Depomedundefined , is more relevant than ever. Allergan and Biogen are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS portfolio. If you haven't already, it's also worth going back to look at Allergan's investor presentation last summer explaining the rationale for selling its generics business to Teva. Here's Saunders, speaking to investors last summer (before the Pfizer deal) about Allergan's growth strategy: "We'll use a portion of these proceeds to pay down debt given our commitment to our investment-grade rating. But we also fully intend to build upon our proven track record of creating value through strong capital deployment, and that will come through either adding scale in existing therapeutic areas, thinking about new therapeutic areas and adding new geographies to our business, and certainly, transformational M&A opportunities. And in fairness, by reloading through this transaction, we can accelerate our timing on transformational M&A." Buying Biogen or Celgene would be transformational, just as an example. "We have a commitment to being growth pharma," said Saunders during a conference call Wednesday morning. He defined growth pharma as double-digit growth, adding that meeting this goal requires investing in outside growth assets, either through acquisitions or partnerships. The only growth area Saunders said wasn't in Allergan's interest today was acquiring orphan drug assets or companies. Saunders also noted that Allergan's advantageous tax situation (being domiciled in Ireland) isn't in jeopardy and actually puts the company in a superior position to acquire U.S. assets. Leerink biotech analyst Geoff Porges said he believes there will be a surge in M&A later year but not necessarily because of the Pfizer-Allergan breakup. "There's already an abundance of cash in the large-cap biotech and pharma balance sheets," said Porges. "The reason deals don't get done are due to seller's unrealistic price expectations, and mixed data about the drugs on offer, not lack of cash." Let's not forget Pfizer's need to spend its way out of the hole created by the collapse of the Allergan merger. Pfizer has now tried twice (AstraZeneca and Allergan) to consummate deals based largely on financial engineering and tax avoidance. With tax inversions now off the table, Pfizer isn't likely to try again to merge with an overseas-based pharma company. But what Pfizer could do is accelerate already-discussed plans to split the company into two parts: One focused on new, innovative products and the other on older, established medicines. Pfizer could target biotech acquisitions -- large or small -- to help grow a "new drug" focused company. In 2015, I made what seemed like a crazy prediction: Pfizer would buy Biogen and relocate its corporate headquarters to Cambridge, Mass. from New York. I was wrong. That deal never happened. Pfizer tried to merge with Allergan. But that deal's now dead, so is it crazy to think Pfizer would revisit an acquisition with a large-cap biotech like Biogen? As Rob Cyran of Reutersnoted this morning on Twitter, the "innovation" Pfizer could relocate to Cambridge while the "established" Pfizer could remain in New York. Adam Feuerstein writes regularly for TheStreet. In keeping with company editorial policy, he doesn't own or short individual stocks, although he owns stock in TheStreet. He also doesn't invest in hedge funds or other private investment partnerships. Feuerstein appreciates your feedback; click here to send him an email. This is one fight you want to avoid, said TheStreet's Jim Cramer Wednesday. Williams Companies (WMB) is suing Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) to block a private preferred share offering disclosed last month, saying it was a breach of their merger agreement. Williams is also suing Energy Transfer Chairman and CEO Kelcy Warren. "This is bloody," Cramer, co-manager of the Action Alerts PLUS portfolio, said on CNBC's "Stop Trading" segment. Williams claims the convertible offering for insiders -- despite a lower dividend -- give this class an advantage over common shareholders. Both stocks are higher on the news, perhaps an indication investors expect the merger to be completed despite the lawsuit. As for Cramer, "I don't want to touch Energy Transfer Equity or Williams." At the time of publication, Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS had no position in companies mentioned. To the ministers in Saudi Arabia who set energy policy, it must have seemed like a clever idea at the time. Throw open production and generate a worldwide oil glut, to push down prices and put the screws to key rivals such as Russia and North America. That was the plan, anyway. The problem is that price wars often move down unintended paths. And this war has careened out of control, making many energy stocks among the most dangerous investments today. However, new signs emerged Wednesday that perhaps oil has (at long last) hit bottom and begun an upward trajectory. Crude oil rallied on Wednesday after Nawal Al-Fuzaia, Kuwaiti governor for OPEC, asserted that an agreement was possible when members meet in Qatar on April 17. Below, we examine the best ways to play what remains an uncertain rally. If you want to protect your portfolio from downside risk, but still make money on a rise in oil prices, these investment moves are timely opportunities. Indeed, our bullish bet is projected to gain nearly 100% over the next 12 months. Whatever happens at OPEC's meeting later this month, the energy markets are likely to remain tumultuous for the rest of the year. Saudi machinations, combined with a gigantic oil glut and slowing economic demand, are the chief culprits. With trillions in cash reserves on hand, the Saudis were confident when they launched their price war that they could outlast competitors. The de facto OPEC leader figured it had the wherewithal to wait until competing energy producers went belly up. With the competition on the ropes, the Arab oil sheikhs would curtail production to drive up prices again. Then Saudi Arabia, the largest oil producer in the world, could sit back and gobble up larger market share while prices were high. We've been down this road before. Similar hopes for a deal among OPEC's increasingly fractious members recently evaporated after Iran intimated that it wouldn't participate and would continue pumping oil until it reached pre-sanction levels. This time around, though, a deal seems more probable. Nawal Al-Fuzaia also indicated Wednesday that approximate equilibrium between energy supply and demand was likely by the second half of this year. But is the recent surge in energy prices a "sucker's rally" that will soon reverse course? Indeed, Saudi Arabia now faces an existential crisis and could very well go broke before its competitors cry uncle. The kingdom's quandary accounts for its announced moves in March to diversify its economy beyond just oil, starting with the creation of a $2 trillion mega-fund for non-oil investments. Let's look at two energy plays -- one a strong buy and one a short -- that are well suited for an oil price rebound that still poses several investment perils. The Bullish Bet: Devon Energy (DVN) You're probably thinking: Yikes! A North American shale oil and gas producer, when energy prices are plunging and most of the sector's stocks are tanking? But that's how money is made: by going against the grain and embracing promising stocks in unloved sectors. Be a contrarian, not a sheep, because in this extremely volatile market, sheep get slaughtered. What separates Devon from its debt-laden and doomed peers such as Chesapeake Energy? Through asset sales and joint venture proceeds, Devon has been able to make ambitious but methodical and sustainable investments in Permian Basin projects, avoiding the debt that has hobbled so many U.S. energy producers. As many as half of all U.S. shale producers are expected to go bankrupt this year, which clears the field for the strongest players, such as Devon. With a market capitalization of $13.72 billion, Devon's drilling rigs are tapping shale formations in Oklahoma and Texas, as well as oil sands in Canada. The company's big opportunities these days lay beneath the Permian Basin of West Texas. Devon is operating 19,000 producing wells across 1.3 million net acres in the Permian Basin. The Permian is no upstart: it has been producing crude since 1921 and its potential remains enormous. The total recoverable resource potential of the biggest formations in the Permian Basin is roughly 75 billion barrels of oil equivalent, second only to the massive Ghawar Field in Saudi Arabia. Robust cash flow, low debt and a strong balance sheet combined with prolific production are keeping Devon afloat in otherwise turbulent waters. If you're looking for an energy stock that will survive any shakeout that results from the Saudi-instigated price wars, Devon is it. This independent energy producer proves that the North American shale revolution lives on. Over the past month, Devon shares have risen nearly 30%, as energy prices provide the stock with tailwinds. Further capital appreciation is in the cards. With the stock now trading at about $26.90, the median analyst one-year price projection is $30, for a gain of nearly 12%. On the high end, the one-year price projection is $53, for a gain of nearly 100%. Our Bearish Bet A shrewd bet now is to sell short the iShares US Oil Equipment & ServicesETF (IEZ) , an exchange-traded fund with net assets of $206.80 million that tracks the energy drilling segment. This ETF's holdings include Schlumberger, Transocean, Halliburton and other troubled drillers that are caught in the vise of falling revenue and increasingly unsustainable debt. The ETF is down nearly 30% over the past year and 2.82% year to date. If oil and gas prices actually embark on an upswing in coming weeks, don't get taken in by what's more than likely a "sucker's rally." These two energy plays give you the best of both worlds: growth potential by going long on an inherently strong energy stock, and a moneymaking opportunity by betting against the weakest players in the energy patch. Do we face a repeat of a 2008-style debacle? You need to prepare now, by weeding out the fundamentally flawed stocks that could ruin your portfolio. We've done the homework for you, by putting together a report on the world's most dangerous stocks. These equities are poised to collapse; don't get left holding the bag. To download your free copy, click here. John Persinos is editorial manager and investment analyst at Investing Daily. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned. Wisconsin is the new adult in the room in the Republican Party -- the question now is whether others will follow in the Badger State's footsteps. Primary voters delivered a resounding victory to Ted Cruz Tuesday. The Texas senator pulled in 48% of the Wisconsin Republican vote, trailed by businessman Donald Trump with 35% and Ohio Governor John Kasich with 14%. "The Republicans actually coalesced," said Georgia Duerst-Lahti, professor of political science at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin. "Mainstream Republicans actually came together." Cruz led Trump among men and women and across all age groups, education levels and income levels, according to CNN exit polls. He managed to tie Trump with 40% support from independents and led the billionaire businessman among very conservative and somewhat conservative voters, losing to him only among moderates. While Cruz appears to have been the candidate of choice among voters, the case may not be that he is the preferred pick as much as voting for him is considered the best avenue for keeping Trump from amassing the 1,237 delegates needed to cinch the Republican nomination. "I don't think that Cruz would have been their first choice, but he is the one who can stop Trump, and more than anything, they wanted to stop Trump," Duerst-Lahti said. Christian Schneider, a conservative columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, concurred. "I think, in large part, the Cruz surge is just people dropping out," he said. "Of the conservatives I've talked to here, a lot of them are voting Cruz only to stop Trump at this point. A lot of them think that voting for Cruz is almost a term of their probation." Manyhavepondered whether Cruz's victory over Trump -- and, on the Democrats' side, Bernie Sanders' win over Hillary Clinton -- may mark a reset to the 2016 presidential race. But according to Schneider, those making such suggestions may be getting ahead of themselves. "We may be an outlier," he said. "Hopefully we're not, but I guess we'll see in the weeks to come." Trump and Wisconsin Were Never a Good Fit Heading into primary voting, signs pointed to things not going especially well for Trump in Wisconsin. A RealClearPolitics average of polls had him trailing Cruz by four points among voters. Local conservative radio hosts like Charlie Sykes and Vicki McKenna were cutting the billionaire businessman no slack in their lines of questioning, nor were they masking their aversion to him. To top it all off, Trump experienced what many agree were some of his biggest missteps on the campaign trail in the week leading up to the primary. But all that aside, Wisconsin was probably never going to be especially responsive to Trump anyway. "He completely misread the conservative movement here," said Schneider. Trump railed against Governor Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan during campaign events and interviews in Wisconsin, bragging about sending Walker "packing like a little boy" in the presidential race and joking he was "told to be nice" to Ryan. What he missed: both figures are hugely popular among Wisconsin Republicans, with approvalratings of over 80%. "It would be like coming into Lambeau Field and taking a whack not only at Aaron Rodgers...but at someone like Brett Favre as much as some of us were frustrated when he went to the Vikings, in the end he's still a Packer, we still love him," Walker said of Trump's attacks on him in an interview with Sykes, reports Politico. "That would be like coming in and somehow attacking Brett Favre in Lambeau Field in Green Bay, that just would not have worked." Beyond Trump's attacks, his personality and style has rubbed many Wisconsinites the wrong way from the get-go, said Duerst-Lahti, invoking the Cruz campaign's criticism of the real estate magnate's so-called "New York values." "If Trump is the worst of New York values, then that actually probably resonated," she said. "Republicans think that he is the worst example of the worst of New York from their point of view." Trump's brash, glitzy style, combined with his insults of women, multiple divorces and bankruptcies as well as his work-the-system attitude, does not jive with Wisconsin culture and values. "The trouble for Trump is he represents the worst of what we think," Duerst-Lahti said. "There is a premium here on civility and talking about issues," Schneider said. What Happened in Wisconsin Might Not Stay in Wisconsin "I didn't think Trump was going to have a good day in Wisconsin, and he didn't," said Schneider. "But I don't know how much that translates going forward." Upcoming primary contests will take place in much more Trump-friendly territory. According to a RealClearPolitics average, Trump is polling with more than 50% support in New York, which votes April 19, and also boasts comfortable leads in Pennsylvania, Maryland and California. Big wins in those states would certainly help him regain footing and momentum, but his streak of bad luck in Wisconsin won't disappear from the rearview mirror entirely. "It exposed a lot of things that are going to cause Donald Trump a lot of trouble down the road," Schneider said. "The things that happened here in Wisconsin may go on to affect his campaign." Trump's retweet of a comparison between his wife, Melania, and Cruz's wife, Heidi, his flubbed response on punishing women for obtaining abortions, and news that his campaign manager would be charged with battery all took place in the context of the Wisconsin primary. Moreover, Wisconsin exposed another issue that may negatively impact Trump moving forward: a single-state focus. Early primary voting has consisted of many states weighing in at once; now, the rhythm is largely one state at a time -- something that may not play to Trump's favor. "Now we're in a single state, we're not jumping around all over the map and diverted," said Schneider. "Because of that singular focus on one state for two weeks, it started to expose some things." Whatever the case, Wisconsin has been the perfect storm for Trump. NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Momo (MOMO) stock is skyrocketing 34.14% to $16.15 on heavy trading volume this afternoon after Alibaba (BABA) affiliates joined the group seeking to buy out the Beijing-based social network. Momo CEO Yan Tang initially proposed the buyout in June, a mere six months after the company raised $248 million in its December 2014 IPO, Bloomberg reports. Shares then tumbled to a record low this past February, as investors increasingly doubted that the deal would be completed. "Today's announcement renewed hopes of Momo's privatization," Henry Guo, an analyst at Investment Technology Group, told Bloomberg. "With Alibaba on board it shows that money is no longer a problem." About 12.56 million shares of Momo have been traded so far today, far above the company's average trading volume of 1.62 million shares per day. Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates the stock as a "sell" with a ratings score of D+. Momo's weaknesses include its disappointing return on equity. You can view the full analysis from the report here: MOMO TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author. Montreal, CA (H4T1V6) Today Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 67F. Winds light and variable.. Tonight Cloudy this evening with showers after midnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 50%. remaining of Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribepurchase a subscription to continue reading. This April 5, 2016 file photo shows the entrance of the regional head office of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the world's biggest creators of shell companies, in Hong Kong, America's openness to foreign tax evaders is coming under new scrutiny after the leak this week of 11.5 million confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm. The Panama Papers show how some of the world's richest people hide assets in shell companies to avoid paying taxes. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) Allegan logos appears on screens above its trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. The biggest U.S.-based drugmaker, Pfizer Inc., will stay put thanks to aggressive new Treasury Department rules that succeeded in blocking Pfizer from acquiring rival Allergan and moving to Ireland, on paper, to reduce its tax bill. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Hospital acquires new surgical robotics technology Burke Health announced the purchase of new robotics technology for use during spine surgical procedures last week. The Globus ExcelsiusGPS is a revolutionary robotic navigation platform system designed to be intuitive and streamline the surgical workflow. Real-time tracking of instruments and implants, along with audible, visual and tactile feedback, enables... County center wins senior trike Local seniors now have access to an adult tricycle. Director Kimberly Mathis attended the Move Augusta Senior Expo and Bike Rodeo sponsored by Augusta Urban Ministries October 8. The event, held at The Salvation Army Kroc Center, was aimed at people over 50 years old, and included resources and health... 4-H Food Challenge Team takes State For the first time, Burke County 4-H decided to put together a junior food challenge team this summer. Teams are compromised of 2-4 students in the 6th-8th grades. This competition is very competitive and teams must advance to state after the district competition. Our team started practicing weekly in July... County rehashes trash problem I am bringing up the trash again, Commissioner Evans Martin said during the October 11 meeting. We have to do something about the trash. Martin asked that the record show that he wants to do something about the countys dumpster sites. He made a suggestion that eliminating 10 sites would... But the tribe has a long way to go Featuring: Aish Tamid, Aliya, Aliya Girls Loft, Aliya Youth Space, Lev Shlomo, The Center, Our Place Boys, Our Place Girls, The Cleveland Torah Youth Center & Project Extreme The clock continues to count down to the Pomegranate Day of Giving for Youth, a massive one day fundraising effort by 20 organizations to raise $2 million for at risk teens. The campaign will be a 24 hour, all or nothing effort to be all held on the Charidy platform with all donations to be quadrupled by unnamed donors. Over the last several years the number of kids in crisis in the Orthodox Jewish community has grown at an alarming rate. Without any intervention, the results can be disastrous, but with proper assistance and guidance by carefully chosen and caring professionals, even those who have strayed can find their way back to a healthy and productive lifestyle. While there are many agencies that deal with education, crisis intervention and rehabilitation, the importance of properly structured drop in centers, cannot be overstated. Serving a variety of different demographics, drop in centers offer recreational activities, healthy social interaction and guidance to those who need an extra dose of unconditional love and support, while others drop in centers are a last resort, the only place in the Jewish community where all are welcome, no matter what. In those cases, drop in centers are more than just a casual hangout; they are a safe haven, away from drugs and crime, where shooting pool, a hot meal and a feeling of acceptance and belonging are hopefully a prelude to the greater possibility of a brighter future. Both drop in centers and summer camps provide unrivaled opportunities for meaningful discussion and personal growth. Their more relaxed atmosphere is conducive to creating positive relationships and providing opportunities for growth that are difficult to duplicate in more formal settings. Located in Los Angeles, Aish Tamid has been using a dynamic in-reach program in a therapeutic environment, helping teens and young adults find themselves, reconnect with the Jewish community and become productive members of society for the past 15 years. Specializing in crisis intervention, case management, and emergency response, Aish Tamid uses a one on one approach to establish bonds of support and trust with youth and parents alike. Serving more than 350 boys annually, in the past year alone Aish Tamid has placed 40 boys in yeshiva, assisted 60 young men with job referrals and helped 35 teens and young adults set structured goals for their educational future. Providing physical, spiritual, emotional and vocational support to hundreds of young men each year, the Brooklyn-based Aliyais dedicated to in-reach, helping young adults to become healthy, stable and fully functioning members of the Jewish community. Over the past year Aliyas dedicated professional staff has assisted approximately 20 young men in finding accommodations, helped six young men enter rehabilitation programs, aided over 100 young men find gainful employment and arranged GED and college courses for over 20 young men. With an in-house, highly qualified and subsidized therapist offering complete confidentiality, career counseling referrals, a fully equipped gym, regular minyanim, 10 daily shiurim, uplifting shabbatons and wholesome food, Aliya is a safe recreational facility that has become an important part of the day for so many young men. Aliya Girls The Girls Loft is a full time drop-in center for school aged and post-school aged girls in Crown Heights. Their programming focuses on filling in the gaps between home and school, with creative arts classes, open forum group therapy sessions and entrepreneurial opportunities through a series of small businesses. Dedicated professionals devote their time to building trust with the girls in order to help them face their unique challenges, getting them emotional and legal help when appropriate, obtaining school placements and repairing parent/child relationships as needed. Over the past year, The Girls Loft attracted over 950 girls and ran 96 successful programs. Everyone has a back story and we all need help from each other, explained administrator Rabbi Meir New. Thats what happens at The Girls Loft. It is a community of young women and girls helping each other. Aliya Youth Space is a drop-in center in Australia dedicated to serving the Melbourne Jewish communitys youth who seek an alternative to mainstream Jewish institutions. The warm, friendly and non-judgmental environment at Aliya Youth Space encourages self-expression, builds self-esteem and creates lasting relationships while supporting career development. The only organization of its kind in Australia, Aliya Youth Space has helped young adults kicked out of their homes by their parents do a complete turnaround, going on to lead fully observant Jewish lives. You need a place where young people can just hang, be themselves and not be judged, said director Rabbi Yakov Feiglin. Only then you can try and help them. By Aliya being that place, Judaism gets the credit instead of other unfavorable youth hot-spots, and hopefully that will pay dividends down the road. Located in Baltimore, the Chananya Backer Memorial Institute offers a series of programs designed to help struggling teens lead healthy lives while simultaneously strengthening their connection to their yiddishkeit and the Jewish community. A division of Yeshivas Lev Shlomo, the program stresses the importance of personal growth, self improvement, healthy living habits, healthy interpersonal relationships and the value of Jewish learning and identity. Using innovative programming centered around Jewish learning, CBMI ensures that their teens are capable of functioning productively and becoming contributing members of Jewish society. The Center works with Jewish youth in South Florida ages 17 through 30 who are dealing with challenges such as livelihood choices, overcoming adversity, and the search for identity, meaning, and happiness. Furthermore, many of them have been victims of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or are simply jaded by the hypocrisy of their leaders, teachers, or parents. The Center provides a warm, fun and non-judgmental environment for Jewish young men, equipping them with the requisite tools to overcome the challenges of transitioning from youth to emerging adulthood, and guiding them towards discovering their own unique and fulfilling life purpose. Thanks to the Centers efforts, more than 25 boys have gone back to yeshiva, over 15 have started college, and upwards of a dozen have gotten married. Countless others have gone on to start their own business, build successful careers or have enlisted in the IDF to help protect the land of Israel. Our sages teach us, whoever saves a life, its considered as if he saved an entire world, said founder and executive director Matishyahu Abarbanel. With G-ds help, The Center has had a positive impact on the lives of over 1,800 South Florida Jewish youth. Our Place Boys and Our Place Girls serve a collective 700 young adults each year, providing a vast array of services to meet a variety of needs. Founded in 1998, Our Place was a pioneer in the drop in center movement in the Jewish community and over the years has served as the prototype for other similar facilities that serve the Orthodox Jewish population. Many of those who come to Our Place have been failed by the system, often being expelled from school or kicked out by their parents. Our Place offers not only hot meals and a friendly smile, it provides opportunities to build relationships with mentors and friends, through its fully stocked facility which includes a pool hall, a music room, a computer area, games, a television and a full gym. From ski trips to shabbatons, from distance races to weekly cholents, Our Place uses engaging recreational activities to keep teenagers coming back so that they can begin the healing process and become whole, as well as offering onsite therapists, school & job placement services and GED programs. For some of the kids we get Our Place is literally their last stop in the Jewish community, said Rabbi Aryeh Young director of Our Place. They feel like there is no one in the Jewish world who cares about them, and they know that when they come to Our Place they are in a place where they matter, where someone is happy to offer them a free dinner accompanied by unconditional love and unwavering support. The Torah Youth Center helps Clevelands youth, teens and young adults by providing family counseling, a fully equipped drop in center, mentors and tutors. Working with local schools to identify children at risk, The Center provides intervention and run Shabbos programs, trips, overnights and arranges extra-curricular activities including Zumba and music lessons. TYC, which is currently involved with over 50 kids, also offers a very successful job placement program. I was told by many members, If not for TYC I would have been on the street doing who knows what, said Rabbi Aharon Lebovics, director of TYC. While drop in centers are extremely effective tools for forging crucial bonds and are often the catalyst for serious, positive change, summer camps create an intense experience that can quickly foster lifelong relationships and be crucial turning points in participants lives. Gavs Boys is a cross country summer program run by Amudim, with a small group of teenage boys that are teetering on the brink spending six weeks together enjoying thrilling activities, building solid relationships and learning about themselves. Traveling through over a dozen states, the program is extremely fluid and combines exhilarating adventure with heartfelt emotional connections. Summer camp provides kids that would have otherwise been on the street with a unique opportunity to find themselves in a conventional, non-judgmental, therapeutic, emotionally healthy environment, explained Rabbi Moshe Frankel, director of Gavs Boys. Camp is more than a one month summer experience. It is a family, a lifestyle, and they are now part of us throughout the year. We are intimately involved in their lives and they become part of the family. Project Extremes participants come from across North America, Israel and England to attend year round programs, including Miryams House, Camp Extreme Boys, Camp Extreme Girls, weekend retreats, shabbatons, yom tov programs and more. Each Project Extreme program boasts a 1:1 staff to participant ratio with an on-site licensed therapist, creating a safe and structured environment. Project Extremes summer programs and retreats take participants out of their negative surroundings, thereby removing lifes distractions such as internet and social media and immerses them in a therapeutic environment that allows them the opportunity to focus on healthy relationships and personal growth. Other organizations that are taking part in the Charidy campaign are Amudim, Yedidim, Center Girls Merkaz Rochel, Regesh, Tekuma, Retorno, The Living Room, Saving Lives Coalition, SAFE Foundation, Matara, Ohr Yitzchok, Yeshivas Lev Shlomo, BJX and Bais Menachem Youth Development Program. To learn more about the Pomegranate Giving Day for Youth or to consider participating, please contact Rabbi Aryeh Young at 516-512-4494 or at [email protected]. To learn more about New Yorks premier Kosher shopping experience or shop online, visit ThePomPeople.com. The Navy disclosed Monday that it recently confiscated a weapons cache from a small fishing craft in the Arabian Sea, seizing about 1,500 Kalashnikov rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenade launchers and 21 .50-caliber machine guns. It marks the fourth seizure by a U.S.-led maritime task force in the region since September and underscores the difficulties the United States faces in stopping weapons smuggling to nations like Yemen, where Houthi rebels continue to rely on Iranian arms. The weapons commonly move on a small craft known as a dhow, a traditional sailing vessel in the Middle East. Foreign policy and military experts said the smuggling has occurred for years, but it comes now at a sensitive time in which the Obama administration is trying to manage the nuclear agreement it reached last year with Iran. International economic sanctions against Tehran were lifted this year as part of the deal in exchange for Iran sending the bulk of its enriched uranium out of the country, disabling one nuclear reactor and shelving the majority of its centrifuges. Iran has continued a variety of other actions in the Middle East that the United States considers destabilizing. While the U.S.-led coalition has confiscated several shipments of weapons, theres no way of knowing how many boats have made it through to Yemen, said Michael Knights, a fellow with the Washington Institute, a think tank focused on Middle Eastern issues. The U.S. military is stuck in the middle as the United States does this kind of dance between two extremes inside Iran. Were trying to help the more moderate elements of the [President Hassan] Rouhani government in Iran to justify Irans involvement in the nuclear deal by bringing more tangible economic fruits as sanctions end, Knights said. But were also trying to signal to hard-line Revolutionary Guard elements that they need to cease their destabilizing actions, such as firing missiles in Gulf shipping lanes and providing weapons to U.N.-embargoed Yemen. Retired Navy Adm. Jim Stavridis, who led a carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf in the early phases of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, said the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and northern Arabian Sea have been hotbeds of smuggling for many years. But their use to supply arms to Yemen is relatively new, and stopping the flow is a difficult tactical proposition, he said. There are thousands of dhows at sea every day, and many are used for legitimate shipping and fishing purposes. Stavridis said the United States must rely on intelligence from the international coalition that has been built over the last two decades to identify and capture dhows that are carrying weapons. A very key element in all of this of course is surveillance of cell phone technology, the retired admiral said. But overall, the key is international inter-agency and private-public cooperation. A Navy spokesman in the region, Cmdr. Kevin Stephens, declined to discuss trends in the confiscation of weapons, saying only it speaks to the intelligence that led us to these recent successes. But he said the United States and its partners will continue to carry out maritime operations in the region to disrupt the flow of illicit arms to the Houthis in Yemen. These weapons only serve to exacerbate the situation there and prolong the conflict, Stephens said. A U.S. Navy officer, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the interdiction missions, said the most recent boarding of a dhow carrying arms was likely straightforward. The crew had no incentive to resist the U.S. troops from the USS Sirocco, a coastal patrol ship, and were likely just trying to make money, said the officer, who has served in Special Operations forces and led boarding teams against smugglers in the past. But the officer said the rules of engagement are challenging when facing Iranians. Youll notice the vessel and crew were released. This was likely to avoid perturbing the Iranians, especially given the recent detainment of our own sailors, the officer speculated. This vessel and crew will likely be back to smuggling shortly. A general rule of thumb, he said, is that about 10 to 15 percent of all illicit cargoes are interdicted. They include not only weapons, but drugs and migrants who are smuggled from countries like Syria. The interdictions are known as VBSS missions, short for visit, board, search and seizure. Specific training for VBSS was created by the Navy in the 1990s following the Gulf War as a way of standardizing maritime interception operations that were introduced in the Persian Gulf as part of U.N. resolutions, according to the Navy. The first level likely used in the seizure last week focuses on ships that comply with the instructions of an inspection team, while the second focuses on crews that do not. The third level of VBSS calls for U.S. troops to board a non-compliant vessel whose main deck is 25 feet or less above the water, and the fourth calls for Special Operations troops to raid a larger vessel whose main deck is more than 25 above water, sometimes through the use of helicopters. Navy SEALs often carry out high-end VBSS missions. But they also can be taken on by elite Marine Corps units, including Raider and Force Reconnaissance teams. (c) 2016, The Washington Post Dan Lamothe The soldier whose name is blocked from publication by a gag order, the soldier who shot a wounded terrorist minutes after an attack in Hebron on Purim was back in court. The defense attorney told the court on Tuesday, 26 Adar-II that his client fired at the wounded terrorist for one reason, because he feared he had a bomb vest under his garment. He explained the soldiers hands had the blood on them from his wounded friend and he had a split second to decide how to react. The military prosecutor however appears determined to push ahead with a manslaughter indictment, telling the court that evidence shows there was no imminent threat and the soldier was heard saying that anyone who tries to kill soldiers has no right to live. The prosecutor insists that the soldier did not act out of a belief that he and others around him were in a life-threatening situation. The soldier however told the court that the terrorist was moving and he realized he was still alive and fear of the bomb vest compelled him to verify the kill to eliminate the threat. He pointed out if the wounded terrorist had indeed had an explosive belt he would not be in court. The prosecution also objects to the soldier remaining under house arrest in his base, requesting to have him incarcerated in an IDF prison pending the outcome of the trial. The soldiers battalion commander told the court that in his training, the defendant was not rehearsed for such a scenario; a wounded terrorist carrying an explosive vest. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) The Obama administrations fight against the Islamic State is at risk of becoming a grinding failure for our nation, an influential Republican senator said Tuesday in a broadside that illustrated the mounting frustrations in Congress with the U.S. strategy to defeat the extremist group. In a brief but pointed letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said U.S. military commanders are being hamstrung by an overly cautious Obama administration. McCain drew a parallel between the campaign against the Islamic State and the war in Vietnam, a conflict he served in as a Navy pilot. As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nations defeat in the Vietnam War, he wrote. I fear this administrations grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation. Carter has described the U.S. as making considerable strides against the Islamic State. He told reporters at the Pentagon last month that the U.S. progress in eliminating members of the groups cabinet was hampering its ability to conduct and inspire attacks against the West. President Barack Obama also has claimed headway in the fighting. The U.S. and its coalition partners have rolled back the Islamic State groups control of territory, he has said, and a new but fragile government has been formed in Libya. But McCain said he has talked to military commanders both on the ground and at the Pentagon. Those conversations have led me to the disturbing, yet unavoidable conclusion that they have been reduced from considering what it will take to win to what they will be allowed to do by this administration, he wrote. U.S. service members will pay the price for the absence of a coherent strategy and commitment to winning, McCain said. In Vietnam, the lack of a clear plan of action led to an erosion of public support and Americas eventual withdrawal. McCain was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than five years, an experience that adds weight to his criticism. In October 1967, during a bombing mission over North Vietnam, a missile struck McCains plane, forcing him to eject. He was imprisoned in what become known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was denied medical treatment and tortured by the North Vietnamese. He was released in March 1973. In the letter to Carter, McCain said his committee needs a full accounting of the current scale and scope of U.S. military operations against the Islamic State. Among the figures he wants are the numbers of U.S. military and civilian personnel in Iraq and Syria, and the length of time needed to retake Islamic State strongholds in both countries. McCain asked for a response from Carter within the next two weeks. (AP) The Israel Prison Authority parole board on Wednesday, 27 Adar-II rejected the request from former President Moshe Katsav to remove one-third from his prison sentence for good behavior as is customary in the prison system. The parole board delayed announcing its decision twice in the last week, preferring to take additional time to reach its decision amid a public debate for and against the decision. Katsav, 70, has already served 4.5 years of his seven-year sentence and expected to receive the one-third reduction, which would have permitted his release this month. However, the parole board voted against it. Katsavs attorney earlier this week asked to build a new rehabilitation program for him but because a strike among prosecutors, this did not occur. In addition, a representative of the prosecution did not appear for todays hearing, hence it is not known if this will impact an appeal that is expected challenging the parole boards decision. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Ted Cruz isnt supposed to get along with the establishment. Just more than a year ago, Cruz announced his presidential campaign as a senator who was almost universally disliked by his Senate colleagues. Three months ago, prominent Republicans were openly rooting against him. Six weeks ago, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joked, If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you. They dont just dislike Cruz. They hate him. But Tuesday in Milwaukee, after a decisive victory in Wisconsin that should earn him dozens of delegates while limiting Donald Trump to just a handful, Cruz seemed to want to assure his fellow Republicans: You can trust me. I will bring people together. He said some version of the word unite several times. That might be a hard sell for some of the more experienced heads in the party. A lot of them still see Cruz as the guy who shut down the government in 2013 in an attempt to fight back against the Affordable Care Act. Even more see him as a brash, obstructionist ultra-conservative. Cruz went into the Iowa caucuses with a grand total of zero endorsements from his congressional colleagues. At one point, Graham said picking between Cruz and Trump would be like choosing between being shot or poisoned, the implication being that each would be as bad a presidential nominee as the other. What changed? Why is there suddenly a clearer choice? Even Graham, the GOPs anti-Trump spirit animal, is doing some fundraising for Cruz these days. Trumps seemingly inexorable march towards the nomination is moving into April, and the only other candidate, John Kasich, seems like a non-factor (hes won one state). The wing of the Republican Party that wants very, very badly to stop Trump suddenly sees Cruz as a little more palatable. And Cruz wants to be the Republican presidential nominee. But his only real chance is to stop Trump from reaching the 1,237 delegates necessary to lock up the nomination before Julys Republican National Convention in Cleveland, and then convince those delegates to switch their votes to him on subsequent ballots. That means its time for Cruz to reach out to the GOP elite. He started Tuesday night. (c) 2016, The Washington Post Peter W. Stevenson North Korea has developed a large-caliber multiple launch rocket system and could use it to strike South Korea as soon as this year, the Souths defense minister said Wednesday. This comes a day after South Korean officials said they believed that the North was now able to mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile, and after China sharply curtailed trade with its dependent neighbor. Tensions have been running high in the region since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test at the beginning of January then followed it up with a long-range missile launch. Current joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises and a looming Workers Party Congress in North Korea both have added fuel to the fire. Han Min-koo, South Koreas defense minister, said that North Koreas recent test-firings of 300-millimeter rockets suggested that it had almost completed the development of its multiple launch rocket system. Under this assessment, I think North Korea will deploy the 300-mm MLRS as early as the end of this year, Han told local reporters. The rockets, which are much cheaper than missiles, are thought to have a range of about 125 miles. Greater Seoul, with a population of almost 26 million people, is just 35 miles from the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. North Korea recently threatened to scorch South Koreas presidents offices with its powerful large-caliber multiple-rocket-launching systems. Pyongyang has boasted of numerous improvements in its missile and rocket program in recent months, saying that it had road-mobile multiple rocket launchers, which it could deploy quickly and without detection, and that it had tested a solid-fuel rocket engine, another major advance. Its claims have not been independently verified, but Pyongyang is known to be working on its delivery systems. Separately, the South Korean government said that it believed North Korea had made significant progress towards its goal of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead so it can be mounted on a medium-range Rodong missile. We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision, an unnamed official told reporters in Seoul. The remarks were confirmed as correct by a government spokeswoman. The Rodong missile could fire a one-ton warhead as much as 1,250 miles, the official said, putting all of South Korea and most of Japan within range. North Koreas state media last month released photos of Kim with what it said was a miniaturized nuclear warhead, but this has not been verified either. Pyongyang has proved it is developing both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, but it has not yet been shown that it can put the two together. However, many scientists and American military officials say it is just a matter of time until North Korea masters this technology. Still, the timing of Seouls pronouncements is notable. South Korea is holding general elections next week, and such warnings could help President Park Geun-hyes conservative ruling party in the polls. It currently controls more than half the seats in the National Assembly. But in another sign that the international community is cracking down on North Korea over its recent provocations, China this week announced it would ban imports of coal, iron ore, gold, rare earths and several other minerals from North Korea if they were related to its nuclear or missile programs. Several North Korean mining companies have been accused of channeling funds directly to weapons programs. The Ministry of Commerce also said China would no longer allow aviation fuel to be exported to North Korea, in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions. China, which is North Koreas closest ally and shares a long border with the irascible state, has signed up for tough new sanctions against North Korea following its nuclear and missile tests. There remains a considerable amount of skepticism about how far China will go in enforcing the sanctions its big-picture strategic interest is in keeping North Korea stable. But American officials say they have been encouraged by Beijings willingness to support tough multilateral action and are hopeful that China will use its leverage over North Korea. (c) 2016, The Washington Post Anna Fifield Despite objections from the military prosecutor, the IDF Tel Aviv Appeals Court on Tuesday 26 Adar-II did not comply with the request to imprison the soldier pending the outcome of the legal proceedings against him. The court ruled to permit the soldier to remain in open detention in his base. He is prohibited from touching a weapon and he may not discuss the case with anyone. The prosecutor, Colonel Sharon Zagagi-Pinchas, appealed the decision last Thursday by Judge Lt.-Col. Ronen Shor to release the soldier to open detention. Once again the court did not side with his position. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) [PHOTOS BY HILLEL ENGEL IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] Police Commissioner William J. Bratton presided over the New York City Police Departments pre-Passover briefing Tuesday, an annual conference at which religious and community leaders are provided information on the current threat environment and implications for New York City during the upcoming religious holiday. The Departments partnership with community members and the importance of continued collaboration was also discussed. Our country has long been a beacon for those seeking safety and freedom for those seeking the ability to live their lives practice their religion and culture in peace, said Police Commissioner Bratton. There have been times when we have not fully lived up to that idea, but we have never forgotten it. Its my mission to make sure that its never forgotten here in New York City. The hundreds in attendance were briefed on police-community relation initiatives and new counterterror efforts in the wake of the recent attack in Brussels. Members of the Intelligence Bureau detailed how the NYPD is monitoring current terrorist attacks across the world and the current state of groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIS. The Departments Crime Prevention Unit and Counterterrorism Bureau presented information on active shooters. The Pre-Passover Briefing began in 1979 with 12 Jewish community leaders. Since 1991 and the development of the Clergy Liaison program the briefing has evolved into an information sharing community meeting with hundreds of religious leaders in attendance. The NYPD will deploy additional resources including Hercules patrols by heavily armed officers, the Departments new Critical Response Command and Strategic Response Group officers to synagogues, Jewish neighborhoods and other potentially sensitive locations during the religious holiday. Foot posts, visits by officers to synagogues, outreach by community affairs officers, a heightened presence of anti-crime units to deter theft, and patrols by special house of worship cars will all be part of how the Department will continue to keep New Yorkers safe. It similarly increases security at religious institutions during other religious holidays throughout all communities in New York City. Commissioner Bratton made special mention of Rabbi Edgar Gluck, who he called the most senior Jewish Liaison to the police department, having been in attendance of every single Passover Briefing since 1979. The PA (Palestinian Authority) is back in the International Court of Justice in The Hague against Israel, this time in reference to the stabbing attack in Hebron on Purim. After pathologists determined the wounded terrorist who stabbed a soldier was killed by the soldier on trial, it decided to once again take the case to the international forum as it continues efforts to chip away at Israels standing in the international community. The soldier remains in open custody, on his base, and prohibited from speaking to anyone about the case. The military prosecutor plans to file manslaughter charges against him for shooting at the wounded terrorist when there was no imminent danger. The soldiers defense attorney maintains there was a danger as there was a visible bulge from under the wounded terrorists garment which the soldier feared might be a bomb vest. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) For the first time in recent months a chareidi Member of Knesset has delivered what is being viewed as a conciliatory message. MK Moshe Gafne in an address to the Degel Hatorah Kenos on Tuesday 26 Adar-II and later in an interview with Haaretz, began with policy messages. He reiterated that gedolim have not and will not accept Reform Jewry and as such, Degel Hatorah will never change its policy and will not have any connection with the Reform. However, what has changed is that while he did not say so in so many words, Gafne stated numerous times What existed before is fine but what has been added will not be and never be acceptable to us, mentioning what Rav Wosner and Rav Elyashiv approved is acceptable. Gafne was referring to Robinsons Arch, which has been operating since 2003. He added in his conversation with Haaretz that he can live with the egalitarian prayer area for the Reform and Conservative providing it has separate entrances and exits from the Kosel area. Gafne began the days remarks at the party conference in Kibbutz Chafetz Chaim. He explained that the arrangement involving Robinsons Arch was accepted by Maran HaGaon HaRav Sholom Elyashiv ZTL and HaGaon HaRav Shmuel Halevy Wosner ZTL and that is all that will be accepted, not any changes. In his interview with Haaretz Gafne detailed, explaining we dont want any contact with them whatsoever and that is why there must be separate entrances and exits from the Kosel area. Haaretz quotes the Reform Movement responding with the following statement: We welcome the willingness of the chareidi politicians to prefer the path of compromise of dispute and quarrel. Nevertheless, the joint entrance is a central condition. Each layout is based on the idea of a single national site with two prayer areas. Moreover, the matter of a joint entrance was approved by Kosel Rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz with the knowledge of Moshe Gafne and Yaakov Litzman as well as Aryeh Deri. Chareidim who have difficult with this are invited to enter the north gate of the plaza. Chareidi journalist Benny Rabinowitz, who is close to Degel Hatorah MKs explained to Kol Chai Radio on Wednesday morning 27 Adar-II that the backing for the egalitarian area with separate entrances is a must for if not, the matter will find itself in the High Court and this will result in the chilul Hashem at the Kosel itself, instead of at Robinsons Arch. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich on Wednesday 27 Adar-II expressed the need to bring chareidim into the force as the department is required to deal with crime and other matters among the various populations around the country. He feels that it is essential to bring chareidim on board to better address crime in that community. In his address to the annual Israel Bar Association assembly in Eilat, the commissioner called for enlisting new cadets from the various communities in Israel to facilitate the department dealing with these communities, adding for if not, we will never understand these communities. He added I will be in touch with rabbonim regarding family violence. He mentioned other communities too, including Ethiopian, Muslims, Christians, the dati leumi community and more. (YWN Israel Desk, Jerusalem) NOTICENOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that Letters of Administration in the Estate of MARY ELIZABETH WILSON late of Middlesex Township, Cumberland County, Carlisle, Pennsylvania (died October 30, 2019), having been granted to the undersigned, all persons indebted to said estate are required to make immediate payment, and those having all claims will present them without delay to: Lester Norwood Straub Jr. Executorc/o Mateya Law Firm, P.C.Mark A. Mateya, Esq.55 W. Church AvenueCarlisle, PA 17013(717) 241-6500 The Innovative Finance Isa allows savers who invest in crowdfunding sites to earn interest tax-free Savers who want to boost their returns by using a new, more risky Isa deal have been hit by delays. Just eight little-known websites are offering the Innovative Finance Isa, which was due to launch today. It allows savers who invest in peer-to-peer and crowdfunding sites to earn interest tax-free. These websites lend savers cash to individuals and companies in need of a loan for an agreed rate of interest typically around 5 per cent. They have soared in popularity as the rates outstrip those of High Street savings accounts. The eight firms the City regulator has approved to offer the Isa include Crowd2Fund and Funding Tree. Experts fear they could be risky choices as they dont have the track record of some bigger rivals. The regulator says the authorised firms must meet rigorous standards. For more information on the lenders who have already gained approval, click here. Last weeks revelation that Prudentials lanky, Ivory Coast-born ex-chief executive Tidjane Thiam received 5million for his last five months at the insurance giant does not surprise peers. Natty, smooth-talking Tidjane, 53, a father of two, is well-known to possess of one of the brassiest necks in finance. Before departing Prudential for Credit Suisse last May where he promptly received another cheque for 13.7million the crafty devil told bosses he might be persuaded to stay if they could provide him access to a private jet. The Duke of Westminster, whose 9billion property fortune makes him Britains ninth richest man, has disappointed Mayfairs legion of financiers. He has torpedoed plans by restaurateur Ruth Rogers, formidable wife of the Square Miles favourite architect Richard Rogers, to open a second branch of her searingly-expensive River Cafe to cater to the areas expanding number of hedge fund and private equity firms. The Dukes property firm Grosvenor Estates, which owns the freehold on the proposed site, have rejected US-born Rogers proposals after every resident on the street planned to sign a petition in protest. One local remarks: We didnt want hedge fund p**** revving their Ferraris outside until 1am. Re Duke of Wesminster, I spotted him yesterday lunching in Mayfair hotspot 34, sucking furiously on one of those vaping devices. I am told His Grace, 64, used to chuff his way through a pack of Rothmans every day before a lung operation three years ago. Sad to note the passsing of Gillian OConnor, the widley respected ex-editor of the Investment Chronicle and doyenne of city writers whose protegees include ITVs Robert Peston. On top of her biscuit-dry wit and first-class financial brain, I am assured elegant, headmistress-like Gillian, who has died aged 74, also possessed the finest legs in finanical journalism. Admirers included swashbuckling magnates Lord Hanson and Sir Jimmy Goldsmith, who were always willing to grant her an audience and furnish her with the latest gossip. But despite the libidinous pairs best efforts, no impropriety occurred. Cenkos Securities founder and turf fanatic Andy Stewart returned from his annual sojourn in Barbados yesterday in time for this weekends Grand National meeting at Aintree. As well as having his horse Rocky Creek in Saturdays big race, the gregarious millionaire stockbroker, 63, who also owns homes in Mayfair, Sussex and Antigua, is hopeful Fridays novice hurdle will feature As De Mee, the nag he co-owns with actress Dame Judi Dench. On December 3, an assistant in my local Debenhams dropped a large bottle of foundation, which smashed, damaging two bags I had with me. One was a Mulberry costing 750 (I have given the store the receipt) and the other a Betty Barclay shopper, which cost 80 (I can't find the receipt). Debenhams admitted liability and said the claim would have to go through its insurance company. Initially, it made an offer of 600, which I rejected. Then it upped this to 700. The bags can't be replaced for the amount I paid, as things go up in price. All I have asked for is what I paid. A. J., Essex. Whoops: A Debenhams sales assistant had a little accident involving one reader's bag and a large bottle of foundation It may be my sex or my age, but I'm constantly astonished that a bag can cost more than the things put into it. Fortunately, Mrs Hazell often buys hers for a few pounds from the local market at least that's what she tells me. You made a perfectly reasonable claim: for Debenhams to pay the value of the bags that had been damaged in the accident. The people in the store backed your claim and, according to you, seemed perfectly happy for the sum to be paid. Then a claims management firm got involved and began to quibble. Now, I don't know how much it was being paid, but I'm guessing the cost of its time dealing with you and the people at Debenhams and its public relations company, which has since become involved, is rather more than the money about which it was arguing. Once I made a call, Debenhams moved quickly to resolve the issue and offered you 830, which you accepted. Neither Debenhams nor its claims handler wished to make any comment. But Debenhams may wish to reflect on the financial cost of the lost goodwill when involving claims handlers for relatively minor issues such as this. You will no doubt have told friends and family about the incident, and the handler's intransigence has resulted in negative coverage in the UK's most widely read newspaper. And all because it tried to save 130 when a customer suffered an unfortunate experience in one of its stores. YOU HAVE YOUR SAY Every week Money Mail receives hundreds of your letters and emails. Heres what you had to say about savers being told to ditch NS&I in search of better rates elsewhere. The Government moans about us all being in debt, but as long as interest rates are near zero there is no incentive to save and every incentive to borrow. The banks can get cash from government schemes, so no longer need to pay savers a decent return. Now the Government is following suit. B. R., Leeds. NS&I is the only place all your money, even more than 80,000, is safe and guaranteed. You wont get that security in the High Street. W. C., Forest of Dean, Glos. I dipped out of the National Savings rip-off, the National Lottery rip-off and the Premium Bond rip-off a couple of years ago. They are not fun competitions any more. These promotions are set up only to provide already rich people with even more money. D. Y., Coventry. Reduce rates so much that savers are forced to spend instead of save. Is this the best the Government can come up with? T. D., Cardiff. I used to get 5 per cent or 6 per cent on my savings, but my Nationwide Isa is dropping to 0.25 per cent 25p on 100. It would take interest on 500 to buy a coffee. How can people save for retirement or help their family? M. C., Cheshire. My parents took an 18,000 equity release mortgage with Bank of Scotland in 1997, when their property had an agreed valuation of 72,000. There were no interest payments, but Bank of Scotland would take 75 per cent of any appreciation in the value of the property. My parents did not have any specific need for the 18,000, other than a healthy account balance. Bank of Scotland's procedures required confirmation that its prospective borrowers had received financial advice, but this was ignored in my parents' case. My father died in March 2014 and the estate agent has advised a likely sale value of 210,000. This would give Bank of Scotland 121,500, while the family will get 88,000, minus fees. Bank of Scotland refuses to vary the terms and the Financial Ombudsman says it is outside its remit because the loan was taken from a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank. A solicitor says the cost of pursuing a case would be 10,000 to 20,000, and if we lost we may be liable for Bank of Scotland's legal fees. D. B., Shrewsbury. Bank of Scotland's share may sound excessive, but I must tell you that these shared appreciation mortgages were exceedingly popular in their day. People liked the fact that there was no interest accumulating, as is the case with most equity release loans. Bank of Scotland sold around 12,000 and Barclays around 3,000. At the time, banks were forecasting house prices would rise by around 5 per cent a year. In fact, the value of your parents' home increased by 5.7 per cent a year. After Bank of Scotland withdrew these loans, Money Mail often received calls from readers asking whether similar products were available. The Bank of Scotland mortgages were explained clearly and the implications of shared appreciation spelt out with examples. Bank of Scotland did not offer advice, but instead sent information to those who were interested and strongly suggested borrowers take independent advice from a financial adviser or solicitor. Your parents went to their solicitor, who would have had a duty of care to ensure they understood the practical implications of accepting the offer. So, if anything, your case would be against these solicitors if you felt they had not exercised that duty of care. The Financial Ombudsman has made decisions on these mortgages. In one case, it did find in favour of the borrower but this was because a Bank of Scotland adviser had explained the mortgage incorrectly, given advice on it and then altered paperwork to suggest she had only provided information. In a separate case where advice was given by a solicitor, the Ombudsman comments on how 'clearly and prominently' the lender's share was set out. This complaint was not upheld. As a matter of interest, I calculated the cost of a traditional equity release loan, where interest is added to the loan each year. Based on a typical loan rate in 1997 of 7 per cent, the loan would have grown to a little more than 60,000 by the end of last year. So, your parents made the wrong choice in 1997, but, based on the evidence, it appears it was their choice and I'm afraid you will have to accept that. Barclays shares hit a four-year low as the High Street lender warned its so-called casino bank has suffered a grim start to the year. In a surprise trading update tacked onto the end of a regulatory announcement, the bank said it does not expect as strong a performance from its investment banking operations in the first quarter of this year as last year. Shares dropped 2.4 per cent or 3.65p to 146.6p their lowest level since July 2012. The stock has lost 33 per cent of its value so far this year. Warning: Shares in Barclays dropped 2.4 per cent or 3.65p to 146.6p their lowest level since July 2012 Barclays said its investment banking arm had matched last years performance in January and February. But it added that it has since been dragged down by current market conditions for investment banking meaning it could not match a particularly strong March in 2015. Income from under-performing non-core assets is also down, driven by a fall in the value of its education, social housing and local authority loan book. Analysts at Shore Capital slashed their forecasts for the bank, saying annual profits would be 3.6billion this year or 51 per cent below their previous expectations. They said profits will rise to 6.7billion in 2017, a quarter lower than previously predicted. Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Laith Khalaf said: Theyre flagging up that we shouldnt expect great things from the investment bank. Although the short-term picture is bleak, Khalaf said Barclays remained a reasonable long-term bet for investors. He said if it could get past charges for past bad behaviour before another recession, there was a good chance of stronger returns. Its still a long way from being in robust health but it at least seems to be heading in the right direction, he said. Barclays will seek shareholder approval for a proposed spin-off of its Africa business at an annual general meeting later this month. It follows moves by chief executive Jes Staley to pull out of investment operations in countries including Brazil, Russia and the Philippines. AIM-listed tiddler Imaginatik was in focus yesterday amid talk the controversial former boss of Quindell, Rob Terry, was secretly rebuilding a massive stake in the software consulting company ahead of making of takeover offer for the business. Terry spent last year accumulating just over 15.1 per cent shareholding via his vehicle Quob Park Estate but then offloaded the stake in late January to a group called Quob Park Technologies, whose board later disposed of the stock. The mutter from the gutter is Terry, who was ousted from scandal ridden Quindell (now called Watchstone) in 2014, has instructed his brokers to buy as many Imaginatik shares as possible for under 2p. Comeback? Rob Terry, who was ousted from scandal ridden Quindell (now called Watchstone) in 2014, is rumoured to have instructed his brokers to buy as many Imaginatik shares as possible for under 2p Its not clear why Terry who often buys stakes via his investment vehicle Quob Park Estate has decided to rekindle his interest in Imaginatik. One man in dark glasses said Terry doesnt like the companys management team and is plotting a hostile move, possibly a hostile takeover of Imaginatik, whose market capitalisation stands at just 1.8million. Other well-placed sources admitted Terry is planning to purchase the whole of Imaginatik via a bid but for the moment he is focused on building a sizeable stake because Quob Park Estates bought shares in the Aim-listed business at much higher levels over the last twelve months. Imaginatiks shares rose nearly 7 per cent or 0.12p to 2p. Overall, it was a torrid day in the wider market. The FTSE 100 declined by 73.49 points almost 1.2 per cent to 6091.23 following a sell off Asia and a further decline in the oil price. Banks bore the brunt of the negative sentiment in the London market. Standard Chartered fell 4.3 per cent or 19.35p to 432.7p while HSBC lost 3.1per cent or 13.2p to 417.5p. Barclays also drifted 2.4 per cent or 3.65p to 146.6p after it released what appeared to be a veiled profit warning during the afternoon trading session. Oil producers were also out of favour as some oil prices traded near one-month lows amid mixed messages about whether Opec members can agree to an output freeze to dampen the supply glut. Kuwaits Opec governor was quoted as saying the cartel can reach an agreement for a production freeze even if Iran doesnt join the action to shore up prices. The comments came ahead of a meeting of major oil producers on April 17 in Doha but didnt do much to reassure traders. Shell dropped 2.13 per cent or 36p to 1642.5p while BP gave up 2.1 per cent or 7.25p to 337.45p. Reports Glencore was close to selling a stake in its agricultural business to one of Canadas largest pension fund for $6billion failed to boost the stock. The massive commodities trader took the wooden spoon, sliding 5.3 per cent or 7.95p to 141.85p. Paper and packaging company Mondi had another tough day following news Russian competition regulators had announced last Wednesday an investigation into the FTSE 100 companys operations in the country. Mondi fell 2.44 per cent or 32p to 1282p. Certain stocks that are favoured by merger arbitrage hedge funds were volatile yesterday following news from over the pond that Pfizers 160billion takeover of rival Allergan is on the verge of collapse. US politicians indicated on Tuesday evening another crackdown on so-called tax inversion deals. Shire, which is in the process of buying US-listed rival Baxalta for just over $30billion, dived 3.6 per cent or 151p to 4049p. In the retail sector, Tesco was hit by a Deutsche Bank downgrade to hold from buy. The broker noted the stock has rallied 35 per cent since January and advised clients to take profits. The shares lost 1.9 per cent or 3.25p to 187.65p. On more positive tack, property developer Berkeley Group which has been heavily shorted by hedge funds in recent weeks rose to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard, gaining 2.56 per cent or 82p to 3283p. Investors thought hedge funds had been trimming short positions as well long positions to make sure there was less risk on the book during a wider market sell off. Fidessa was again in the spotlight as savvy speculators revived takeover gossip. Last week reports suggested the software and trading systems provider was a takeover target for private equity firm Advent International. Investment bankers at Morgan Stanley were said to be advising Advent, which is yet to make a formal approach. British drug companies Shire, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline have all been picked out as potential takeover targets for Pfizer after the US giant's tie up with Ireland's Allergan was canned earlier today. According to analysts, Pfizer needs to find a partner in its quest to relocate its headquarters and lower its 24 per cent tax rate - with the UK's top three drug firms all fitting the bill. Atif Latif, director of trading at Guardian Stockbrokers, said: 'With the Pfizer/ Allergan deal not materialising we see scope for the UK listed pharma companies to now come into play.' Targets: UK firms have long been viewed as prime for consolidation - with a mixture of patents running out, increased competition for generic drugs and a feeling that they are badly managed has left them vulnerable Pfizer's bid for Allergan was scrapped after the US Treasury announced fresh plans to prevent deals known as 'inversions', where a US firm merges with a company in a country with a lower tax rate. The new inversion rules according to President Barack Obama are designed to stop companies 'getting all the rewards of being an American company without fulfilling their responsibility to pay their fair share of taxes.' However analysts and lawyers said the implications of the rules are not fully clear and therefore do not stop Pfizer bidding for another Irish or UK company in future. Jasper Lawler, at CMC Markets, said: 'The regulations seem to have been specifically shaped to scupper this deal, so other deals may be able to skirt things that this deal can't. Allergan already merged Actavis so government especially didn't like it doing the same thing again.' Analysts also added that Pfizer needs to look at acquisitions to help grow its business and revenue as well as help it spend its billions in overseas cash, and solve its patchy pipeline of new drugs. And UK firms have long been viewed as prime for consolidation. A mixture of patents running out, increased competition for generic drugs and a feeling that they are badly managed has left them vulnerable to foreign takeovers. Perhaps top of the list is GlaxoSmithKline, which star fund manager Neil Woodford believes needs radical restructuring and splitting into two, rather than run as a single 65billion giant. Woodford said in an interview earlier this year: 'We'd like the business to recognise that it should focus on certain activities in the portfolio and do them better than they have done in the past, demerge the bits they haven't managed particularly well and let other people who specialise in those activities run those businesses.' Last month potential corporate raiders and M&A bankers were given a window of opportunity after it was announced Glaxo chief executive, Sir Andrew Witty, would step down after 32 years at the company, in yet a further sign that investors want a change of direction. According to analysts, now would be the perfect time for Pfizer to pounce on a wounded Glaxo. Meanwhile Shire could also be another catch as the firm is currently trading at a discount to the sector, although analysts said the new inversion rules could prove to be more problematic in this instance. Earlier this year Dublin headquartered Shire completed its own 'inversion deal' when it bought US firm Baxalta International in a $32billion deal. The tie-up will mean Baxalta will re-domicile in Dublin where corporation tax is much lower. The combined group is expected to have a tax rate of just 16 per cent to 17 per cent. Latif added: 'Shire is not too large for a M&A deal to be undertaken by one of the majors. 'However much activity will revolve on the interpretation of tax inversion rules to be the lead on any other deals, for example are they to create shareholder value / or to take tax advantages, if we take the first view then deals should close.' The least likely target for Pfizer will be AstraZeneca, although analysts warned against ruling it out altogether. Two years ago Pfizer went on a hostile pursuit of AstraZeneca but its $69.4billion bid was thwarted, leaving both sides bloodied in the process. Tim Anderson, analyst at Bernstein, said: 'If Pfizer remains hell bent on inverting but cannot make the deal with Allergan work, it could theoretically even revisit AstraZeneca or approach GlaxoSmithKline. 'Had Pfizer completed the transaction with AstraZeneca two years ago its share price would very likely be meaningfully higher than it is today,' adding that 'it would have inverted and picked up a variety of interesting pipeline drugs.' AstraZeneca's defence two years ago centered on the notion that pipeline development would stall as a result of the merger. However analysts argue now that the defence no longer stacks up, with AstraZeneca's pipeline gaining little momentum since Pfizer walked away. The pressure will increase once Crestor loses US patent exclusivity and could prompt AstraZeneca into larger-scale M&A itself, argues Peter McDougall at the independent equity research firm DrugAnalyst, Shire shares were up 5.0 per cent, or 205.0p, to 4,179p on the takeover speculation. The steel crisis in Britain could cost the Government nearly 5bn over the next decade if urgent action is not taken. If a rescue is not agreed for Tata Steel UK, the loss of up to 40,000 jobs across the company and its supply chain could cost the country 4.6bn over ten years, according to the Institute For Public Policy Research. The thinktank put the hit to the public purse down to the loss of income tax and VAT receipts as well as higher spending on out-of-work benefits. Dark times: If a rescue is not agreed for Tata Steel UK, the loss of up to 40,000 jobs across the company and its supply chain could cost the country 4.6bn Tata UK has been put up for sale and the Government is in emergency talks to find a new buyer to prevent thousands of jobs being lost. Potential white knight Sanjeev Gupta, the chairman of metals company Liberty House Group, yesterday hit out at sky-high energy costs in the UK. He said a competitive energy price and Government support was needed to rescue Tatas site in Port Talbot, south Wales, raising the prospect that taxpayers may have to pump in up to 3bn to rescue the industry. Gupta, who has snapped up Tatas unwanted sites at Dalzell and Clydebridge in Scotland and is now looking at the rest of the business, said: The UK has one of the highest energy price environments in the world and this needs to be rectified. It has been rectified partially already, but not enough. Guptas plan involves transforming Port Talbots blast furnaces to arc furnaces that melt scrap. But this would require significant Government investment to rebuild the furnace and retrain workers. Alfie Stirling, IPPR research fellow, said: The steel crisis acts as a reminder that we need to work harder to embed our core material producers into supply chains around strategic sectors like car manufacturing and aerospace engineering. Greybull, which rescued Monarch Airlines and owns convenience stores in the UK, has been in discussions for over a year about a 400m deal to buy the long products business of Tata Steel which is run out of Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire. It is not interested in taking over Port Talbots furnaces however. Britains economy has slowed since the start of the year as the outlook darkens around the world, according to a report. Research group Markit estimated that output in the UK rose by just 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2016 following growth of 0.6 per cent in the final there months of 2015. The findings came as the International Monetary Fund warned that the recovery around the world is too slow and too fragile. It is no wonder that perceptions abound that the cards are stacked against the common man and woman in favour of elites, said IMF managing director Christine Lagarde. She warned that time is running out for governments and central bankers to stop the scars of the financial crisis tearing society apart. Warning: IMF managing director Christine Lagarde said time is running out for governments and central bankers to stop the scars of the financial crisis tearing society apart Speaking in Frankfurt, Lagarde said the world was heading towards a new mediocre of low growth that would be hard to reverse. This has consequences for the social and political fabric in many countries, she said. We can do better, we must do better. The watchdog is expected to downgrade its forecasts for global growth at its spring meetings in Washington DC next week. Concerns about the outlook in the UK have been exacerbated by the crisis engulfing British steel and other struggling industries such as North Sea oil and gas. Markit said its index of activity in the powerhouse services sector where 50 separates growth and decline edged up from 52.7 in February to 53.7 in March. It rounded off the worst quarter for three years for the sector, at a time when manufacturers and builders continued to struggle, and fuelled fears the economy is slowing. Business confidence remains in the doldrums as concerns about the global economy continue to be exacerbated by uncertainty at home, said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit. He pointed towards nervousness over the outcome of the referendum on Britains membership of the European Union and yet more spending cuts announced in the Budget last month. Markit said the eurozone was in an even worse state with output in the single currency bloc likely to have grown by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter. Under threat: Concerns about the outlook in the UK have been exacerbated by the crisis engulfing British steel Separate figures from official statistics agency Eurostat this week showed unemployment in the eurozone at 10.3 per cent compared with 5.1 per cent in the UK. Claus Vistesen, an economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the situation in the eurozone was ominous. Lagarde said she was on alert over the risks facing the global economy. The recovery remains too slow, too fragile, and risks to its durability are increasing, she said. Certainly, we have made much progress since the great financial crisis. But because growth has been too low for too long, too many people are simply not feeling it. Lagarde warned that the global outlook has weakened further over the last six months in part due to the slowdown in China and lower commodity prices. She said a more potent mix of policies were required to boost economies around the world. Employment minister Priti Patel, a prominent Tory Eurosceptic, said the strength of the UK economy is in stark contrast to the rest of the European Union. The UK labour market is one of the strongest in the world and Im proud of everything this Government, alongside hardworking British people and businesses, have done to build that, she said. Blundering phone giant Vodafone has been hit by a customer service meltdown that has left mobile users unable to get basic errors fixed. Money Mail has been bombarded with letters from customers who are deeply out of pocket due to billing errors. Vodafone admits it suffered a computer glitch that caused many of these mistakes but claims it has solved the problem. However, it's struggling to cope with a huge backlog of complaints and you tell us it has become impossible to get Vodafone to sort out even the simplest problems. Communication breakdown: Money Mail has been bombarded with letters from Vodafone customers who are deeply out of pocket due to billing errors Customers are spending hours on the phone to its call centre, passed from pillar to post, only to find they're no closer to getting a refund. After making numerous complaints, many are at their wits' end. We've passed a dossier containing dozens of unsolved gripes many of them about simple blunders to Vodafone and industry watchdog Ofcom, which has launched an official inquiry. Our investigation found customers were: BILLED for phone lines they didn't have and never received a refund. UNABLE to get money back after fraudsters bought phones in their names. LEFT out of pocket for pricey calls they had never made. FORCED to spend up to 50 hours on the phone to fix basic problems. IGNORED by Vodafone even when they had sent multiple letters. GIVEN conflicting information by different call centre staff. Vodafone's billing problems can be traced back to a computer systems overhaul in 2012. Behind the scenes, it started moving customers' accounts to a 'simpler' system. Victim: Maureen Thomas, 65, spent months trying to claw back 364 she was wrongly charged During the process, incorrect information somehow crept on to some customers' accounts. This has led to wildly inflated bills, with Vodafone demanding hundreds of pounds more than customers actually owe. The company claims the overhaul is 'essentially complete'. But customers are still battling to have their bills put right, win refunds and get unrelated mistakes solved. It has led to a surge in complaints to Ofcom. Between October and December last year, the regulator received 32 complaints about Vodafone contracts for every 100,000 customers: three times as many as for any other provider. The industry average is just ten per 100,000. These figures are the tip of an iceberg. Only a small number of aggrieved customers go so far as to complain to the watchdog. Others are writing to Money Mail for help. Maureen Thomas, 65, spent months trying to claw back 364 she was wrongly charged. Last August, she upgraded her phone. But something went wrong and Maureen, an IT company administrator, was billed for two lines for seven months at an extra 52 a month. She was told the full amount would be refunded in three working days, but the money never arrived. Maureen then spent hours being passed around by the call centre without a resolution. Two weeks later, she rang again and was told she would receive just 104 not the 364 owed which would be credited to her Vodafone account, not her bank. Maureen, who lives in Surrey, said: 'I have this theory there's only two people in their call centre, but as you can never get the same person on the phone twice, maybe they use different names each time! 'I'm still waiting for the other 200 and I want it in my bank account. Surely a big company like Vodafone can arrange a refund fairly easily? It is causing me stress and upset as I need the money.' Other customers report similar frustrations. Gerry Underhill-Smith, 76, was hit by a surprise 114.79 bill after Vodafone said she had exceeded her 300-minute monthly allowance. Probe: Last June, Ofcom launched an investigation into Vodafone's billing problems. By February this year, it had concluded Vodafone was taking the necessary steps to tackle the computer glitches When she questioned the bill, the company claimed she'd spent six hours on the phone to a friend in hospital until 3.20am. Gerry, who is retired and lives in London, said: 'There's no way I could speak to a hospital patient until that time he would not be allowed on the phone for half the night.' Vodafone promised no money would be taken until it had investigated. But the next day it removed the full amount from her bank account. Her letters and phone calls demanding a refund have been ignored. David Francis, 77, was wrongly charged for fraud on his account. He was billed 78 for two iPhones he had never bought. Vodafone agreed he'd been scammed and confirmed that no money would be taken. But some weeks later, the sum disappeared from his bank account. Despite numerous phone calls, visits to his local store and three recorded delivery letters, the money never materialised. He cancelled his account with the necessary notice only to receive a bill for 180 four months later. Mr Francis, a retired stonemason from East Sussex, says: 'I've spent hours and hours on the phone to them at a cost of 13 for 30 minutes in one case. 'The three letters I sent by recorded delivery were signed for, but no one's ever replied. It's been impossible to get it sorted. My wife and I are worried sick.' After Money Mail's intervention, David and Gerry got their money back from Vodafone. Last June, Ofcom launched an investigation into Vodafone's billing problems. By February this year, it had concluded Vodafone was taking the necessary steps to tackle the computer glitches. But now the watchdog is investigating the shoddy way that Vodafone is handling complaints. The company could be fined or ordered to invest more in customer service. A Ofcom spokeswoman said: 'We take customer service and complaints handling failures extremely seriously. 'We're clamping down on providers who don't meet our requisite high standards.' A spokesman for Vodafone said: 'We realise how frustrating it is when things go wrong, which is why we are working hard to improve our customers' experience. 'Due to new processes we have put into place, helped by significant additional call centre resources, we believe customers will continue to see further improvements over the coming months. Payback time: Zoe Brennan received 3,500 after complaining about her current account It was the most lucrative phone call Ive ever made - and it came about almost by accident. By chance, I stumbled across an article warning that paid-for current accounts would be the next mis-selling scandal to hit the banks. Hang on, I thought - I have one of those. For 22 years Ive dutifully paid as much as 17 a month for my Lloyds Bank account. It gives me perks - extra mobile phone and home insurance - but thats not the only reason I signed up. As with many of the ten million people who pay for their banking in Britain, it was presented as a privilege. And as a young, impressionable reporter in the mid-Nineties, I accepted the banks advice that this was the right account for me. But had I been duped? Last week, yet more evidence emerged that these deals are rip-offs. They are fuelling a 27 per cent rise in compensation payouts from banks, according to the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog. It said 269,000 was paid to disgruntled customers in the second half of last year. Many customers had been told they had to sign up to get an overdraft, credit card or loan, or given insurance they did not need or qualify for. Some banks simply upgraded accounts without telling their customers. And, braced for a backlash, banks have set aside 1 billion to pay compensation. Now, thanks to that phone call, I have a small slice of that nestling in my account. My first taste of banking was opening a student account as an undergraduate in the early Nineties. I lazily chose Lloyds, as it was my parents bank. When I got my first job in 1994, I was summoned to meet the bank manager, who said I qualified for a Silver account. In 1997, my income rose after I got a promotion, and I was told that I had earned the right to a Platinum account. It would be easier to get a mortgage, I was told, and the overdraft terms were better. There would be a dedicated bank manager and preferential services. The decision was simple. The smart Platinum card seemed as much a part of my new look as the designer suits and stiletto heels I was fast acquiring. It was a mark of success. But I didnt stop to consider whether the perks were good value for money. Among the benefits my 17 a month bought were family travel insurance from Axa, but I was covered by my partners policy. There was AA breakdown cover, but living in London I havent owned a car. And it turned out that for some of the time I had also mobile phone cover as part of my home insurance. The bank also used to offer Sentinel card protection - a sort of fraud safety net if your card gets cloned but this has been removed. Perk: but what use if breakdown cover to people who do not own a car? The more I thought about it, the more I realised Id been conned. There was another option: the lowly Classic account. This offered free banking when in credit, with a planned overdraft option available. But it was never presented as a good option for me. Was the bank manager just a wolf in sheeps clothing, a glorified salesman? Surely paying 17 a month for something I didnt need was not a privilege at all. I decided to do something about it. And it wasnt even necessary to write a letter - on March 2, I simply phoned my bank. I told the call handler I wanted to make a complaint, as I believed I had been mis-sold a packaged account. She immediately put me through to a dedicated department, where a nice man listened politely as I set out the facts. I said that I was wrongly told the product was a privilege. It had been a hard sell. I didnt need the insurance. I clearly hadnt needed the AA coverage, given that I did not have a car. And the cost kept going up. I have claimed once, for a stolen iPhone in 2011. But the account has cost me far more than I was ever likely to save. He explained that the bank only held records as far back as 2001. I was given a case number and told I would have a response within 24 hours. As soon as I put down the phone, I got a text telling me to expect a call from an investigator. A charming woman duly called several times with further questions. The following evening she delivered her verdict. As I braced myself for bad news, she explained that Id received information setting out the benefits of the bank account. This I could not deny - I remember being given armfuls of glossy brochures. But you were young when you took out the account, and it probably wasnt properly explained, she said. So we will refund all the charges going back to 2001, with interest. That comes to 3,526. It will appear in your account tomorrow. If I could find paperwork going back further, I could reopen the claim. Amazed at how easy this had been, I thanked her profusely and set about mentally spending the money. The next day, that golden figure, indeed, magically appeared in my account. Soon, paperwork arrived explaining that since my Added Value Account complaint had been upheld, I would be moved to the Classic account in mid-May. My bank details will remain the same, but I will lose insurance cover and an overdraft could cost more. There will be a fee of 1 for transactions abroad. I took my family for a magnificent tea at The Wolseley on Piccadilly in London to celebrate, and we have booked a holiday. More than the cash, however, there was the satisfaction that I had held my bank to account. Some of the worlds biggest banks face a Parliamentary inquiry into allegations they helped clients avoid tax by setting up offshore accounts. MPs want to quiz bosses from HSBC, Deutsche Bank, UBS and Credit Suisse after the banks were named in a huge leak of files from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents suggest they had wealthy clients closely linked to tax avoidance schemes. And pressure is growing on the City watchdog to launch a full-blown investigation into the explosive claims. Embarrassment: Close associates of Vladimir Putin have all been caught up in the scandal The scandal has engulfed world leaders, celebrities, peers and MPs. David Camerons late father, Icelands prime minister and close associates of Vladimir Putin have all been caught up in the scandal. So have a string of high-profile City banks including Rothschild and Coutts, RBSs private banking arm, which is used by the Queen. HSBC chief executive Stuart Gulliver is in the firing line after it emerged he sheltered about 5million in bonuses using a Panamanian firm called Worcester Equities. All the banks named have said they strive to comply with regulation. There is no suggestion they have acted illegally. But MPs on the Treasury Select Committee last night said they would look into the claims as a matter of urgency setting the scene for a highly public showdown with bank bosses within weeks. Probe call: Treasury Select Committee chairman Andrew Tyrie Conservative committee member Mark Garnier said: We need to give these blue-chip banks an opportunity to answer the accusations theyre apparently supporting tax avoidance. I would hope well be able to look into this fairly quickly. Chairman Andrew Tyrie said the leaks may well have exposed serious wrong-doing and should be thoroughly investigated, with prosecutions where possible. Committee members are expected to meet early next week when they are likely to discuss when hearings could be held. Their concerns were backed by former Public Accounts committee chair Margaret Hodge, who grilled Gulliver over his tax affairs last year. She said: The more we learn the more questions HSBC and Mr Gulliver have to answer. He needs to come in and answer questions about what he knew and whether he told us the truth. Treasury committee members also lashed out at the Financial Conduct Authority, which regulates the banks, for its slow response to the crisis. Tax collector HMRC has already pledged to relentlessly pursue offshore tax avoiders, and authorities across the world have strongly condemned Mossack and the banks using it. The FCA said it had written to a number of firms in the wake of the scandal and was working closely with a number of other agencies. But it refused to say if this amounted to an investigation. Labour Treasury committee member John Mann slammed the regulator for failing to reassure the public. He said he would seek confirmation that none of its board members held assets offshore. If the FCA doesnt investigate it should be abolished because it will have no purpose. A full FCA investigation should already have begun. It also needs to be clear that theres nobody involved in the FCA who themselves is a beneficiary of offshore funds. Savers who took out popular cash Isas a year ago should move their money now. By switching your cash into a better-paying account you can boost your interest for the coming tax year (which starts today) by hundreds of pounds. Pickings are sparse. The top deals have disappeared fast over the past few days following National Savings & Investments shock announcement last week that it is to cut its Direct Isa rate from 1.25 per cent to just 1 per cent in June. Other top-paying providers soon followed suit. Post Office closed its 1.4 per cent Premier Isa to new savers, replacing it with a new version at 0.95 per cent. Shrewd move: Savers who switch to a better-paying account can boost their interest for the coming tax year Among the fixed rates, Shawbrook Bank has cut its two-year deal from a top 1.65 per cent to 1.3 per cent. But despite plunging rates, you could still do better than sticking with last years deal. Some accounts that paid top rates last year will automatically drop to as little as 0.25 per cent as 12-month bonuses that lured in savers come to an end. Once you have been in the account for a year, your rate plummets. Three of the biggest players - Halifax, Lloyds and Santander - all pay a pittance once youve been with them for a year. They shift you into another account and pay you a quarter of your original rate. If you set up a Halifax Isa Saver Variable a year ago, you earned 1 per cent. But after 12 months, the bank moves you into its Instant Isa Saver and pays you 0.25 per cent. On a 15,000 savings pot, your interest would drop from 150 a year to just 37.50. By moving it to a top-payer at 1.35 per cent from Yorkshire BS, you can boost your interest to 202.50. Lloyds does the same with its Cash Isa Saver. You are shunted into its Instant Cash Isa after a year, where the rate is 0.25 per cent. Santander moves its Direct Isa savers into its Isa Saver account. Its Direct Isa 10, on sale last year, paid 1 per cent - or 1.5 per cent to its 123 current account customers. The Isa Saver rate is just 0.25 per cent on balances up to 10,000 and 0.75 per cent for higher amounts. All three will let you switch into their current offerings, but these can be much lower than even the average 0.81 per cent on offer from all major providers. Halifax pays just 0.6 per cent. So does Lloyds Bank, unless you have more than 40,000 in your account, in which case the rate creeps up to 0.65 per cent. Other big banks, including Barclays and NatWest, have pared their rates to the bone. A year ago, Barclays Instant Cash Isa Issue 1 paid 1.26 per cent on savings between 1 and 14,999, 1.39 per cent on 15,000 to 29,999 and 1.49 per cent on 30,000 plus. Those rates have tumbled to 0.8 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 1 per cent. NatWest pays just 0.5 per cent on 25,000 or more, down from 1 per cent. On smaller amounts, the rate is just 0.25 per cent. There are better rates available elsewhere. Virgin Moneys Defined Access Isa 6 pays 1.31 per cent - though in this account you are limited to making three withdrawals a year. Yorkshire BS and its offshoots Chelsea and Barnsley pay 1.35 per cent on their Triple Access Isa, though they restrict access to your money to three days a year. Both deals are available over the internet or through branches. At Sainsburys Bank and M&S Bank, you earn 1.3 per cent on their phone and online accounts without any withdrawal restrictions. The top one-year fixed-rate deals include 1.45 per cent from Kent Reliance or Virgin Money and 1.4 per cent from M&S Bank. To switch a cash Isa, check that your provider accepts transfers. Fill in a form with your new provider, who will arrange the transfer. It can take up to 15 days to go through, though two-thirds are completed sooner than that. Even if it takes longer, your new provider must start paying you the higher rate after 15 days. Do not pull cash youve saved in previous years out of your Isa and reinvest it yourself or it could lose its tax-free status. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claimed its first high-profile political casualty Tuesday as Icelands prime minister stepped aside amid outrage over revelations he had used such a shell company to shelter large sums while Icelands economy was in crisis. Icelandic leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is the first major figure brought down by the publication of the names of rich and powerful people linked to the leaks, dubbed the Panama Papers. China and Russia, meanwhile, took the opposite approach, suppressing the news and rejecting any allegations of impropriety by government officials named in the leak of more than 11 million financial documents from a Panamanian law firm. Officials in Ukraine, Argentina and other countries are also facing questions about possibly dubious offshore tax-avoidance schemes. The reports are from a global group of news organizations working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They have been processing records from the Mossack Fonseca law firm that were first leaked to Germanys Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. The announcement that Gunnlaugsson was stepping down as leader of Icelands coalition government came from his deputy, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, who is also the countrys agriculture minister. It followed the refusal by Icelands president to dissolve parliament and call a new election, and after thousands of Icelanders protested outside the parliament building in Reykjavik. No replacement has yet been named, and President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson did not immediately confirm that he had accepted the resignation. Late Tuesday, a government statement said Gunnlaugsson had suggested Johannsson take over as prime minister for an unspecified amount of time, while Gunnlauggson would stay on as leader of his center-right Progressive Party. Gunnlaugson has denied any wrongdoing and said he and his wife have paid all their taxes. He also said his financial holdings didnt affect his negotiations with Icelands creditors during the countrys acute financial crisis. The leaked documents allege that Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of the Panamanian law firm. Gunnlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Iceland, a volcanic North Atlantic island nation with a population of 330,000, was rocked by a prolonged financial crisis when its main commercial banks collapsed within a week of one another in 2008. Since then Icelanders have weathered a deep recession and been subjected to tough capital controls another reason the prime ministers offshore holdings rankle many. China, on the other hand, dismissed as groundless reports that the Panamanian law firm had arranged offshore companies for relatives of at least eight present or past members of the Communist Partys Politburo Standing Committee, the apex of power in China. Among those named in the leaked documents was the brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping. State media have ignored the reports and searches of websites and social media for the words Panama documents were blocked. Meanwhile, Ukraines president was accused of abusing his office and of tax evasion by moving his candy business offshore, possibly depriving the country of millions of dollars in taxes. Shell companies arent in themselves illegal. People or companies might use them to reduce their tax bill legally, by benefiting from low tax rates in countries like Panama, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. But the practice is frowned upon, particularly when used by politicians, who then face criticism for not contributing to their own countries economies. Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Build your health & fitness knowledge Sign up here to get the latest health & fitness updates in your inbox every week! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams By Gabriel Rom Police from the 102nd Precinct have made an arrest in connection with a March 2 group-assault that left a 24-year-old man in critical condition. A 15-year-old boy was taken into police custody March 15, the NYPD said, close to two weeks after the assault on the corner of 85th Street and Jamaica Avenue. The teen faces several charges, including attempted murder, gang assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to police. He is being held on $300,000 bond or $150,000 cash bail, police said. I dont foresee that person coming out to the streets anytime soon, Jose Severino, community affairs officer for the 102nd Precinct, told the audience March 19 during a meeting of the Woodhaven Residents Block Association. The victim was found bleeding in front of Scaturros Food Market at 84-39 Jamaica Ave., but police said the stabbing occurred in front of a bodega on 84th Street and Jamaica Avenue. Police said five to six males approached the victim, conversed with him, then stabbed him twice in the neck. According to Inspector Deodat Urprasad of the 102nd Precinct, fast responding officers were able to save the mans life. The stabbing came only 12 days after a 39-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were shot inside the Rico Chimi hamburger restaurant located at 80-01 Atlantic Ave. Lt. Estrella of the 102nd Precinct said police were looking for an individual who came from Brooklyn and that the restaurant shooting was likely related to gang activity or a personal dispute. This was premeditated, Estrella had told the February Woodhaven Residents Block Association meeting. The suspect went after a specific person. Estrella said the investigation was ongoing, but that the main aggressor in the Rico Chimi shooting had been arrested. In 2010, directly above the scene of the March stabbing crime, Dario Paiva was fatally stabbed on an elevated subway platform at the 85th Street-Forest Parkway station on the J line. Three years later, Natasha Martinez was stabbed on 85th Street in a suspected gang attack. Both incidents occurred within a one-block radius of the March 2 attack. Estrella said in February the precinct had enjoyed recent success in combating gang activity within Woodhaven. There are two active gangs in the area known to police, he said, and both of them have large numbers of members who have recently been incarcerated. Airport development adding to economy, jobs in the region Pittsburgh may always be known as the Steel City, but a wave of new industries are popping up near its airport to redefine business in the region. A 202-megawatt wind farm in southwest Clay County includes 118 turbines spread across 10,000 acres. Clay County Against Wind Farms, is a community organization which seeks to preserve aesthetics and cultural heritage of the area and oppose construction of additional wind farms. By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News More than 20 landowners in Clay County have signed leases in connection with possible wind energy projects in the area, though any construction in connection with the developments likely is years away. Jimmy Horn, owner of Horn Wind PM LLC, told the Times Record News that about 10 landowners near Bluegrove signed leases for the installation and operation of wind turbines on their property; about 15 have signed leases for a development near Byers. Still, if construction begins at all, it likely won't start before 2018 developer Horn Wind and owner Alterra Energy Corp. are waiting for approval from the Federal Aviation Administration before any work can be done. Whether they're able to obtain a tax abatement from Clay County commissioners could play a role in whether the plans come to fruition. "These things take a long time," Horn said. The Bluegrove project is expected to take up 3,500 acres in the rural county and is estimated to a $150 million development. The Byers project, which Horn said was "average" size in planned for 8,000 acres could cost $300 million. Vashti, whose residents initially were being courted by wind developers, is no longer part of the plan because landowners didn't appear to be interested in signing leases, Horn said. But as the wind industry makes inroads on its development plans, opposition to the projects also have picked up the pace. A vocal group of Clay County residents who are against wind energy projects in the area were joined last week by Sheppard Air Force Base, whose officials said the developments could interfere with radar and flight operations. A high-ranking base official said at a town hall meeting in Henrietta that the Department of Defense may move its pilot training missions to another air force base is wind turbines are installed in the county. Horn said he doubts that wind projects would have a significant impact on Sheppard operations. SHARE Debbie Gustafson, of Wichita Falls, has been named to the Governor's Commission for Women by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Gustafson is the former secretary of First Presbyterian Church of Wichita Falls Foundation, former member of the Junior League of Wichita Falls, board of directors member for Christ Home Place Ministries and the Wichita Falls Ballet Theatre, and former deacon at First Presbyterian Church. n n n I.C. Evans Elementary School in Burkburnett Independent School District was honored April 1 as the Region 9 winner in the fourth annual Think Through Math Lonestar Math Cup. The contest compared Texas schools to see which had successfully completed the most math lessons on Think Through Math, a web-based system for grades 3 and above. Evans students completed 118,000 complex math problems to win the award. Contributed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT science and humanities professor Dr. Alan Lightman will speak Thursday as part of the MSU Speakers and Issues Series. SHARE Frank to address voters' league State Rep. James Frank will discuss preparations for the 85th Legislative Session on April 6 when he addresses the League of Women Voters. The meeting will begin at noon at Luby's Cafeteria, 1801 Ninth St. Members and visitors are welcome to arrive early to go through the lunch line. Frank, of Wichita Falls, is owner of Sharp Iron Group. In the Texas House, he has served as vice chairman of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee and as a member of the Natural Resources Committee. Dr. Alan Lightman will speak at MSU Scientist and author Dr. Alan Lightman will speak at Midwestern State University at 7 p.m. April 7 as part of the university's Speakers and Issues Series. The talk will be in the Midwestern State University Fain Fine Arts Center Theatre. Lightman is the author of more than 15 award-winning novels, science books and essay collections. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Granta, The New Yorker and The New York Review of Books, among other publications. His novel "Einstein's Dreams" was an international best-seller and has been translated into 30 languages. His novel "The Diagnosis" was a finalist for the 2000 National Book Award in fiction. Lightman is also the founding director of the Harpswell Foundation, which works to empower a new generation of women leaders in Cambodia. Lightman was educated at Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology, where he received a Ph.D. in theoretical physics. In 1989, Lightman was appointed professor of science and writing, and senior lecturer in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was one the first people at MIT to receive dual faculty appointments in science and in the humanities. For "The Physicist as Novelist," the title of Lightman's talk, he will draw from his unique personal experience to compare the way the sciences and the arts approach the world, their conceptions of truth, their methodologies, and the similarities in their creative process. Admission is free. Democratic Women to meet April 11 Scott Stillson, of the Wichita County Public Defender's Office, will be the speaker for a meeting of the Texas Democratic Women of the Wichita Area at noon April 11 at Luby's Cafeteria, 1801 Ninth St. Stillson will talk about wrongful convictions. He is a graduate of the Texas Tech University Law School. Information: Terry Gilleland, 692-6450. Pathways to offer trafficking program North Texas Pathways Youth and Family Services will present Texoma Child Abuse Prevention Sex Trafficking Training April 12 at Evangel Temple, 3800 Barnett Road. A session focusing on awareness for community members and first responders will be from 10 a.m. to noon. Continuing education credits are available. Information about a youth curriculum to equip adults and middle and high school students will be presented from 6-7 p.m. Both sessions are free. Information: Lisa or Geana at 322-7671, or visit www.traffick911.com. MSU will host talk on immigration Dr. Neil Foley, Dedman History Chair at Southern Methodist University, will present "The Immigration Debate and the Changing Face of America" at 7 p.m. April 14 at the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at MSU, 2 Eureka Circle. The free presentation is part of the Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society History Speaker Series and is supported by the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation. Foley specializes in the study of the U.S.-Mexico border, about which he has written several highly acclaimed books. His latest book, "Mexicans and the Making of America," was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Harvard University Press. Information: Dr. Whitney Snow, 397-8917. Desk and Derrick to discuss oil price drop The Desk and Derrick Club will meet at noon April 14 at Luby's Cafeteria, 1801 Ninth St. Curtis Knobloch, a finance student at Midwestern State University, will give a presentation on how declining oil prices have impacted the Wichita Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area. Contact Geneva Wood at 636-0491 or gawood@aol.com by April 12 for reservations. Cost for the lunch is $12. Homecoming set at Starkey Cemetery The annual Starkey Cemetery Association Homecoming will be May 1 at the cemetery near Saint Jo. The morning service will be at 10:45 p.m., with John Morris Jr. as the speaker. A covered dish lunch and fellowship will be at 11:55 a.m., followed by a membership business meeting. Information: Danna, 940-224-9233 or David. 940-995-2178. SHARE Christopher Walker/Times Record News Wichita Falls Police Officers hung signs like this one on light poles near high-traffic intersections to help educate the public to protect their property by; hiding belongings, locking their car doors and taking the keys inside. By Patrick Johnston, patrick.johnston@timesrecordnews.com Wichita Falls police are reminding the public to keep their vehicles locked, especially if they are leaving a firearm inside. Since February of this year, the WFPD has taken multiple reports of vehicles being burglarized and handguns being stolen. In all of the reports, the vehicles were left unlocked. "So, something as simple as just locking your vehicle can go a long way to prevent these guns from getting into unwanted hands," said Sgt. Harold McClure, a WFPD public information officer. McClure stressed the importance of following "Lock, Take, and Hide" approach to vehicles lock your car, take your keys and hide your belongings. "Obviously you don't want a firearm to be in the hands of someone who doesn't need it. It's your firearm; it's your responsibility to keep that thing secure," McClure said. "Now, it doesn't negate the fact that breaking into someone's vehicle is a crime." While it is legal in the state of Texas for people who can legally own firearms to carry them in their vehicles even without a licence a person must still have a license to carry a handgun in public. However, there are still some places where even a person with a license can't take his weapon, so McClure recommended purchasing a way to secure it in the vehicle. "If you do have a firearm, I'd highly suggest you get some type of lock box to secure it," he said. "I know a lot of people may put it in their glove box, but it doesn't take too much effort to defeat that. So, investing in a lock box may be the best way to go if you choose to leave it in your vehicle." McClure suggested the best practice, though, was for people to take the handgun inside once they are home. "If you're at home and done for the day, is there really any need to have the firearm still in a vehicle? " he said. "... If you can diminish the chance of that firearm getting into unwanted hands simply by taking it in at night, that's an easy step to take." Police asked for anyone with information that could help in the investigation of the burglaries to call Crime Stoppers at (940) 322-9888, or toll-free from outside the Wichita Falls area at (800) 322-9888. TRN file photo A Support Lake Wichita sign near the intersection of Maplewood Avenue and Midwestern Parkway. SHARE By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News The Wichita Falls City Council approved the use of additional funds for a water quality study in connection with the Lake Wichita Revitalization project. The $23,800 for extra services from Carollo Engineers Inc. is secured through $11,200 from a remaining balance in the Wichita Falls/LWRC matching project and $12,600 from the Friends of the Reservoirs. City Parks and Recreation Director Jack Murphy said while Carollo was working on preparing a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 404 permit application, it was determined that a dissolved oxygen study will be necessary to comply with standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The proposed paddling trail is a project in partnership with the Heroes on the Water program. HOW helps veterans from all branches of the military experience the therapeutic qualities of kayaking and fishing from kayaks. The trail would also be open to public use for kayaking, paddle boarding, fishing and nature watching. The area to be studied is a section of land east of Murphy Mountain in the Lake Wichita Park that will be excavated. The water trail is expected to be 1,200 feet long, 100 feet wide and have a V-shaped bottom with a depth of 6 feet. TCEQ had concerns with the paddling plan because it feared stagnant water could cause undesirable environmental conditions. Murphy said the application for the 404 permit is still on schedule to be submitted in June. After that, there may three to six months until they receive an answer from the corps of engineers. More information about the Lake Wichita Revitalization project can be found at www.supportlakewichita.com. In other matters, the council approved two ordinances and four resolutions. Council approved: An ordinance to appropriate $10,000 of the special revenue fund for the Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP, also knowing as Click it or Ticket). An ordinance to refund bonds totaling about $88 million from the water and sewer fund. A resolution to appoint a Wichita-Wilbarger 911 District Board representative. A resolution to approve a non-annexation agreement with P&WC (Pratt and Whitney Canada) for a period of six years. A resolution awarding a bid and contract to Jennifer McGRath, DBA McGrath Concrete Construction for $63,539 for drainage improvements at an intersection of Old Iowa Park Road. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other opponents of the Constitution natural gas pipeline gathered outside the Capitol Tuesday to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to deliver a death blow to the project by denying it state water protection permits. Kennedy, president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, fired up a crowd of about 400 people when he said the project, which would bring hydrofracked natural gas from Pennsylvania into central New York, would "make a few billionaires richer, while our children would pay for their joyride" through environmental damage and ongoing man-made climate change. And Kennedy also took aim at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has already approved the project, as have Pennsylvania officials. But the project cannot begin work in New York until the state Department of Environmental Conservation issues so-called 401 water quality permits. Kennedy blasted FERC as a "sock puppet for the oil and gas industry" and a "poster child" for an agency captured by the industry it is supposed to regulate. The planned $750 million pipeline would carry hydrofracked natural gas from Pennsylvania into New York, crossing through Broome, Chenango, Delaware and Schoharie counties, where gas then could move into the Iroquois pipeline that runs between Canada and New England. On its route in New York, the pipeline would cross 270 bodies of water and clear 1,000 acres of forest containing 700,000 trees. More than 700 parcels of land are affected by the proposed pipeline, and 120 landowners face losing property to the gas company under eminent domain. Anne Marie Garti, a founding member of the group Stop the Pipeline and an attorney volunteering with the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic, said DEC will have to make a decision on the water quality permits on or about an April 26 deadline. Garti said a state ruling against Constitution would likely cripple other planned natural gas line expansions in the state, including the Northeast Energy Direct project, which would run through southern Albany and Rensselaer counties to connect Pennsylvania gas fields to the Boston metropolitan area. A DEC spokesman could neither confirm nor deny that deadline for a water quality permit decision. "DEC is undertaking a careful and thorough review of the necessary state permit applications as required by our protective regulatory programs," said spokesman Sean Mahar. "As with all complex proposals that impact a large portion of the state, DEC works with state and federal agencies and other stakeholders to fully understand the potential impacts and make our decisions based on sound science." The pipeline is a partnership of Houston-based Cabot Oil and Gas Corp; Williams, an Oklahoma-based energy company; Piedmont Natural Gas; and WGL Holdings. Developers issued a statement that said the project is needed to meet state energy needs, is environmentally beneficial and will not ultimately be used to ship natural gas overseas. The pipeline would connect to the Iroquois line in Schoharie, where owners are considering whether to reverse the flow of gas so it would flow north toward Canada. From there, gas could move in other pipes, potentially flowing toward potential export facilities on the Atlantic coast. "The truth is that the natural gas transported by Constitution pipeline will be consumed in New York and New England, including by homes and businesses in southern New York who currently do not enjoy natural gas access. Constitution is working with a local utility to install delivery taps along the proposed pipeline route," company spokesman Chris Stockton said. bnearing@timesunion.com 518-454-5094 @Bnearing10 Thursday Beartoven and Battle Trance are New York City-based bands that play new music by new composers. Beartoven, a trio, creates its sound with familiar instrumentation: piano, bass guitar and percussion. Battle Trance relies on reeds to make its music; the band is a saxophone quartet. Both groups offer interesting musical styles that walk thin lines between jazz, classical and avant-garde. At EMPAC this week, Beartoven will perform five pieces: "Undertoad" (Brooks Fredrickson, 2013); "From a Forest of Standing Mirrors" (Anthony Vine, 2014); "Shoaling" (Fjola Evans, 2014); "The Ringing World" (Adrian Knight, 2016); and "Grizzly" (Ken Thompson, 2014). Battle Trance will play its composition, "Palace of Wind." 7:30 p.m. Thursday. $6-$18. EMPAC, 110 Eighth St., Troy. 276-3921; http://www.empac.rpi.edu Saturday The Great Fire of 1862 that decimated Troy was a firestorm fueled by gale-force winds. The fire, ignited by sparks from a train engine crossing the wood-covered Green Island Bridge, gutted more than 650 wooden buildings and razed 75 acres in the city's Fourth Ward. Bill Skerritt, Chuck Porter and Craig LeRoy, authors of "Great Fire: Troy, New York," will detail the May 10, 1862, fire in a discussion this week at the Cohoes Music Hall. The trio will also talk about Troy's reconstruction, their book and their thoughts on the historic event. Porter renovated and lives in a Troy brownstone rebuilt after the fire. Skerritt, the Hudson-Mohawk Industrial Gateway board president, has written extensively on local industry history. LeRoy, a longtime Troy fire history collector, is a retired Troy Fire Department assistant chief. 2 p.m. Saturday. Free. Cohoes Music Hall, 58 Remsen St., Cohoes. 237-5858; http://www.cohoesmusichall.com Friday-Saturday The ancient city of Troy has fallen, and the dead and dying fill the streets in Marina Carr's version of "Hecuba." And with the end of the war comes the reckoning. The characters in the play, directed by Skidmore College alumnus and off-Broadway director Ian Belton, don't mourn the destruction. Instead, they are driven to possess, consume and defile. Belton draws parallels to ISIS, the Syrian refugees and Guantanamo Bay in the production, presented by Skidmore's Theater Department. The show contains nudity. It opens this week and runs through April 16. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Saturday. $8-$12. Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater, Skidmore College, 815 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs. 580-5439; https://goo.gl/WC9G4C Friday-Sunday What might have happened if space aliens met people from the New World? Local playwright Ric Chesser and director Jacqueline Donnaruma explore the possibilities in "First Contact," billed as "an original melodrama based on the 19th- century style." The play changes each time aliens and earthlings meet; the premise can shift from first contact between aliens and Europe to an alien moving into the neighborhood. When something goes wrong, the play stops. The Master of Ceremonies appears and talks up the show's sponsor: The Singing Viper Miracle Cure. Meanwhile, the sets are changed, the actors change, and the play restarts. Staged by Steamer No. 10 Theatre, the play continues this week. 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday. $10-$15. Steamer No. 10 Theatre, 500 Western Ave., Albany. 438-5503; http://www.steamer10theatre.org Saturday They don't call Thomas Mapfumo the "Lion of Zimbabwe" for nothing. Mapfumo, who uses his music as a voice of protest in his home country, in March said that Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe is too old and feeble to run the country and should step down to save Zimbabwe from economic ruin. Mapfumo, an outspoken critic of Mugabe whose music is banned in Zimbabwe, is known for creating chimuernga music, a musical style rooted in traditional Shona mbira music played with rock instruments and infused with political statements. The Sanctuary for Independent Media will celebrate its 10th anniversary this week with a concert by Mapfumo and his band, Blacks Unlimited. 8 p.m. Saturday. $20. The Sanctuary for Independent Media, 3361 Sixth Ave., Troy. 272-2390 or http://www.mediasanctuary.org RENSSELAER A 16-year-old's threat to blow up Questar Rensselaer Academy caused city schools to be placed on lockout on Wednesday, city police said. The boy, Austin Sitterly, was arrested at his home in East Greenbush on felony charges of making a terrorist threat and falsely reporting an incident, police said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate TROY The State Department confirmed self-styled police watchdog Adam Rupeka and his girlfriend Jennifer Ogburn died in Tijuana Mexico. "The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana is providing consular assistance," Niles Cole of the Bureau of Consular Affairs in the U.S. Department of State wrote in an email to the Times Union Wednesday afternoon. "For questions about the circumstances of their death and the investigation, we refer you to Mexican authorities. Out of respect for the families of Mr. Rupeka and Ms. Ogburn during this difficult time, we have no further comment." RELATED: tu+ Estranged wife: Adam Rupeka was always ready to take off Earlier, Rupeka's estrange wife, Rebecca, said Rupeka and Ogburn died of overdoses while they were staying at a motel in the Mexican border city. Rupeka and Ogburn vanished after they were arrested March 26 in Troy on misdemeanor charges for allegedly sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. Rebecca Rupeka said she was called by U.S. consulate officials on Monday who told her that Rupeka died Sunday at the motel and Ogburn died Monday in a Tijuana hospital. She said authorities told her it appeared Rupeka, who she said did not use drugs, and Ogburn, died of drug overdoses. She confirmed what police and a Tijuana newspaper, Zeta, previously reported. The couple, who jumped bail and fled Troy, "were found dead in a room at the Hotel Caesar's in downtown Tijuana, pulmonary embolism, common cause of death by drug overdose," according to a translation of the article. "'Take our IDs and give them raite (sic) our bodies. Nobody knows we're in Mexico,'" was scrawled in English on the hotel room mirror, the newspaper reported. Mexican authorities are investigating the incident as a suicide. Troy police are awaiting crime scene photos from the FBI to confirm that the couple is Rupeka, 36, and Ogburn, 26, Troy Police Chief John Tedesco said Tuesday. The couple had said on social media that they had fled to Canada. Each posted $5,000 bail to get out of the Rensselaer County Jail on March 26 after Troy police charged them with misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child, sexual abuse and forcible touching. Rupeka has posted videos on social media claiming police have targeted him for his efforts to expose their misconduct. "I am now on the run for my life and this is all because of everything I've exposed of police doing," Rupeka said in a video posted March 27 on YouTube and his Facebook page, Capital District Cop Block. "As soon as I get to another safe location, I'll make an update to let everybody know what's going on." A day later, Rupeka posted a video showing snow and a body of water and spoke about crossing the Canadian border. Rupeka did not appear in that video, and it was unclear where and when the video was made. In May, Rupeka, caught the public's attention when he flashed his middle finger at a Saratoga Springs Police Officer Nathan Baker while driving in the city and videotaped the officer pepper-spraying him after Rupeka's refusal to get out of his car without hearing what he was being charged with. Rupeka filed a lawsuit and received a $50,000 settlement. Baker resigned. In September, State Police said Rupeka operated a drone equipped with a camera that crashed into a chimney at the state Capitol. He was charged with reckless endangerment, but a judge dismissed the charges on March 17. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Milwaukee Republican Ted Cruz stormed to a commanding victory in Wisconsin Tuesday, denting front-runner Donald Trump's chances of capturing the GOP nomination before the party's convention. Democrat Bernie Sanders triumphed over Hillary Clinton but still faces a mathematically difficult path to the White House. Trump's defeat capped one of the worst periods of his campaign, a brutal stretch that highlighted his weaknesses with women and raised questions about his policy depth. While the billionaire businessman still leads the Republican field, Cruz and an array of anti-Trump forces hope Wisconsin signals the start of his decline. "Tonight is a turning point," Cruz told cheering supporters at a victory rally. "It is a call from the hardworking people of Wisconsin to America. We have a choice. A real choice." Cruz, a Texas senator with a complicated relationship with Republican leaders, also cast his victory as a moment for unity in a party that has been roiled by a contentious primary campaign. But Trump was unbowed. His campaign put out a biting statement: "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump." For Sanders, Wisconsin was the latest in a string of victories that have given him an incentive to keep competing against Clinton. But he still trails her in the pledged delegate count and has so far been unable to persuade superdelegates the party officials who can back any candidate to drop their allegiance to the former secretary of state and back his campaign. At a raucous rally in Wyoming, Sanders cast his victory as a sign of mounting momentum for his campaign. "With our victory tonight is Wisconsin, we have now won 7 out of 8 of the last caucuses and primaries," he declared. The results in Wisconsin make it likely both parties' primaries will continue deep into the spring, draping front-runners Trump and Clinton in uncertainty and preventing both from fully setting their sights on the general election. With an overwhelming white electorate and liberal pockets of voters, Wisconsin was favorable territory for Sanders. In a sign of Clinton's low expectations in the Midwestern state, she spent Tuesday night at a fundraiser with top donors in New York City. Clinton congratulated Sanders on Twitter and thanked her supporters in Wisconsin. "To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward!" she wrote. Sanders' win will net him a handful of additional delegates, but he'll still lag Clinton significantly. With 86 delegates at stake in Wisconsin, Sanders will pick up at least 44 and Clinton will gain at least 28. That means Sanders must still win 67 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates in order to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton's campaign has cast her overall lead as nearly insurmountable. Yet Sanders' continued presence in the race has become an irritant for the former secretary of state, keeping her from turning her attention to the general election. While Trump has been the dominant force in the Republican race, he battled a series of campaign controversies in the lead-up to Wisconsin, including his campaign manager's legal problems following an altercation with a female reporter and his own awkward stumbles in clarifying his views on abortion. Wisconsin's Republican establishment, including Gov. Scott Walker, has also campaigned aggressively against the businessman. Exit polls in the state underscored the concerns about Trump that are surging through some corners of the Republican Party. A majority of Republican voters said they're either concerned or scared of a potential Trump presidency. More than a third said they were scared about what Trump would do as president, and about 2 in 10 said they were concerned, according to surveys conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks. Cruz has emerged as the best positioned to stop Trump from claiming the nomination before the convention. The Texas senator was poised to collect most of Wisconsin's 42 Republican delegates. Trump still has a narrow path to claim the nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7. But by losing Wisconsin, the real estate mogul has little room for error in upcoming contests. Complicating the primary landscape for both Cruz and Trump is the continuing candidacy of John Kasich. The Ohio governor's only victory has come in his home state, but he's still picking up delegates that would otherwise help Trump inch closer to the nomination or help Cruz catch up. To win a convention fight, a candidate needs support from the individuals selected as delegates. The process of selecting those delegates is tedious and will test Trump. Despite the concern among some Wisconsin Republicans about Trump becoming president, nearly 6 in 10 GOP voters there said the party should nominate the candidate with the most support in the primaries, which so far would be Trump. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Reykjavik, Iceland Iceland's embattled prime minister, facing accusations of conflict of interest because of offshore accounts, stepped aside Tuesday and proposed that the vice chairman of his party take over. Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has become be the first major figure brought down by a leak of more than 11 million financial documents from a Panamanian law firm showing the tax-avoidance arrangements of the rich and famous around the world. Sigurdur Mar Jonsson, press secretary of the Icelandic government, said in a statement Tuesday that Gunnlaugsson has suggested Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, his Progressive Party's vice-chairman, takes over as prime minister for "an unspecified amount of time." Iceland's president has not yet confirmed any changes to the leadership and the situation remained muddled as hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament to demand the ouster of Gunnlaugsson. There were contradictions throughout the afternoon and evening as officials first said Gunnlaugsson had resigned as prime minister, statements that were later contradicted by the press secretary's communique, which indicated he was only stepping down for a period of time. It was not clear if new elections would be held or if the governing coalition would be able to weather the crisis that developed several days ago with the release of the Panama papers. The lack of a clear resolution angered some protesters who blew whistles and banged on pots and pans in front of parliament. "I'm here because the government still hasn't resigned," said store manager Elfar Petursson. "The finance minister and the interior minister are still sitting in parliament, they refuse to resign, they both have offshore accounts." Revelations in the Panama Papers about offshore accounts held by Gunnlaugsson and his wife have infuriated many residents who suffered during the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009. Gunnlaugsson has denied wrongdoing and said he has paid taxes and done nothing illegal regarding his offshore holdings. Opposition lawmakers say the holdings amount to a major conflict of interest with his job. Gunnlaugsson said his financial holdings didn't affect his negotiations with Iceland's creditors during the country's acute financial crisis. Those assertions did little to quell the controversy. The prime minister sought at first to dissolve parliament Tuesday and call an early election, but President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said he wanted to consult with other party leaders before agreeing to end the coalition government between Gunnlaugsson's center-right Progressive Party and the Independence Party. The president met with Independence Party lawmakers later Tuesday to discuss the governmental crisis. Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, chairman of the Independence Party, criticized the prime minister for unilaterally seeking to dissolve parliament. "It was a total surprise for us to see that. I don't think it was the rational thing to do. I've never seen it done before in Icelandic politics and I hope that I will not see it again," he said. The impact in Iceland from the leaks has been the most dramatic, but leading officials in Russia, Ukraine, China, Argentina and other countries are also facing questions about possibly dubious offshore schemes. The leaked documents allege that Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm. Gunnlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Seoul, South Korea South Korea has determined that North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong ballistic missile, which could reach all of South Korea and most of Japan, a senior government official said Tuesday. The government's assessment, shared in a background briefing with foreign news media representatives in Seoul, followed a recent claim by North Korea that it had "standardized" nuclear warheads small enough to be carried by ballistic missiles. South Korean officials, like their U.S. counterparts, have said that North Korea has made progress in miniaturizing nuclear warheads, but have been reluctant to elaborate. But after four recent nuclear tests by the North, the latest on Jan. 6, some nongovernmental analysts in South Korea have said that they believe the North has learned how to fit its medium-range Rodong missile with nuclear warheads. The senior government official echoed that assessment, but did not provide any evidence of how the government has made its determination. He did not say if the North had actually built such a warhead or simply had the technology to do so. He also said that the government did not have any evidence that the North had actually fitted miniaturized warheads onto any missiles. Even if such advances have been made for medium-range missiles, most analysts in the United States and South Korea say the North may still be years away from building a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that could target the continental United States. The Rodong missile can fly about 800 miles, which would put some U.S. military bases in South Korea and Japan within its range. It could carry a warhead weighing about 1,500 to 2,200 pounds, according to the South Korean military. North Korea test-launched two Rodongs last month, flouting U.N. resolutions that ban it from developing or testing the missile technology. The tests took place days after the North's leader, Kim Jong Un, ordered more tests of ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead. Kim also recently visited a factory where he inspected what looked like a model nuclear warhead and long-range missile, according to photographs released in the country's official news media. North Korea also said that Kim had overseen a successful test of "re-entry" technology, which is needed for a warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile to survive the heat and vibrations while plunging through the atmosphere toward its target. There has been a continuing debate about how close North Korea has come to acquiring nuclear-tipped missiles. The country has never flight-tested a long-range missile. After the North's recent claims, the South Korean Defense Ministry issued a statement on March 9 saying it did not believe the North had achieved the miniaturization of a nuclear warhead. But the statement did not clarify whether it meant long-range missiles or missiles of shorter ranges. Lake George More than a decade after a deadly Lake George tour boat accident exposed a gap in state insurance law, efforts to tighten the law have gone nowhere. This week, it was revealed that a shadowy Panamanian global money-laundering and tax-evasion scheme was linked to a fake $2 million liability insurance policy held by owners of the Ethan Allen, which sank on Oct. 2, 2005, drowning 20 people, mainly out-of-state elderly tourists. At the time when the overloaded vessel sank, there was no state law requiring boat operators to hold liability insurance or any requirements that such insurance, if held, be sold by a company registered to operate in New York, as is the case for motorists. That remains the case, as bills to set rules for maritime insurance have repeatedly failed to clear the Senate or the Assembly. Ethan Allen owner James Quirk found shortly after the accident that his insurance was fake. It was later revealed that his online policy, sold out of Houston, was backed up by non-existent assets and companies fabricated by a Caribbean accountant. The accountant in turn was linked to a Panamanian law firm that specializes in creating sham companies that enable the wealthy and powerful around the world hide cash and business connections. This week, the man behind the Ethan Allen fraud Malchus Irvin Boncamper was named in a groundbreaking report centered on a "little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, that has branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and more than 35 other places around the globe," according to a yearlong investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations. Mossack Fonseca is "one of the world's top creators of shell companies, corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets," according to leaked internal files from the firm that contain information on 214,488 offshore entities connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories. The report contains revelations of involvement by dozens of political leaders, celebrities, CIA operatives, and criminals, including Russian leader Vladimir Putin and the president of China. Ownership of a shell corporation created by the law firm to hold Icelandic bank bonds forced Iceland prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to step aside Tuesday. In 2011, Boncamper pleaded guilty to money laundering for the liability insurance scam before a federal judge in Houston, becoming one of five defendants to be convicted. He is serving an eight-year prison sentence. In the case of the Ethan Allen, Boncamper created fake insurance companies in the Caribbean island of St. Kitts that were used to back a Florida insurance company called Global Property Owners Association created in 2003 by Houston resident Christopher Purser and Florida resident Robert Steve Mills. Quirk paid Global $14,140 for his insurance. Back in New York, despite the fraud, "the maritime insurance law is not going to change, and it is a sin and shame," said James Hacker, a Latham attorney representing Ethan Allen victims and their families, who reached a settlement with Quirk in 2008 "Everyone is just hoping this situation does not happen again," Hacker said. "There is still no protection here. Lake George is not the only place in the state where boats are plying the water ... these 20 victims were mostly out of state. Maybe if there had been from Shelly Silver's district, it would be different." State Sen. Betty Little, a Queensbury Republican, offered bills in 2006 and 2011 to make marine liability mandatory, so it could be overseen by state regulators at the Department of Financial Services. In 2006, her bill cleared the Senate, as did a different version in the state Assembly. But the two houses failed to link up their bills, and the measure died. Little tried again in the 2011, but the measure never got out of committee in the Senate. On Tuesday, Little said Senate and Assembly lawmakers could not agree on minimum insurance requirements, with Assembly members wanting higher liability limits than their Senate counterparts. For now, all that marine operators can do is check their policies to ensure they are legitimate, she said, adding that "I suppose we could try again to pass a reasonable bill." Little said Quirk, who remains in business, was forced to mortgage his home and other property to come up with settlement money. Similar marine insurance bills were offered in 2009 and 2011 by Assembly member Robin Schimminger, an Erie County Democrat. Both never left committee for a vote. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. With the insurance fabrication for the Ethan Allen now thrust into public light, Schimminger issued this statement: "For starters, we need to know if the Department of Financial Services, or its predecessor agency, approved the policy. In the meantime the Department of Financial Services should fully investigate." When initially questioned this week by the Albany Times Union about the status of a multi-state investigation by New York, Texas and Florida officials into the fraudulent insurance that included the Ethan Allen, the Department of Financial Services initially re-issued a five-year-old statement that reported indictments in the matter by a federal grand jury in Houston. The statement did not name any defendants, and the department never issued any public statements after the convictions. On Tuesday, DFS spokesman Ron Klug said, "The investigation was closed by the former New York Insurance Department. Neither of the (insurance) companies involved, Global Property Owners Association and United Reinsurance, were licensed by the Insurance Department." Klug could not offer any examples of changes to department rules or regulations meant to address the aftermath of the Ethan Allen insurance fraud. Once Boncamper pleaded guilty in the insurance scam, according to the international report, it created "a problem" for Mossack Fonseca, because Boncamper was on record as the frontman a "nominee" director for 30 of the shadowy companies created by the firm to benefit its wealthy clients. The law firm then altered its records in an attempt to make it appear that Boncamper had left the companies years earlier. bnearing@timesunion.com 518-454-5094 @Bnearing10 VATICAN CITY (AP) Pope Francis may visit the Greek island of Lesbos as early as next week to show solidarity with refugees who are being deported back to Turkey under the European Union's controversial program to ease Europe's migrant problem. Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, has been outspoken about Europe's moral obligation to welcome refugees and a possible visit to Greece could embarrass EU leaders already under fire from human rights groups over the deportations. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Tuesday that no decision had been made but in an email to The Associated Press he said "I don't deny that there are contacts about a possible trip." A Greek ecclesiastic website, Dogma, reported Tuesday that Francis was planning to visit refugees on Lesbos on April 15 along with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop of Athens Ieronymos. The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, the decision-making body of the Greek church, said Francis had asked to come to highlight the plight of refugees and the request had been accepted. A statement from the Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate confirmed that Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, would visit Lesbos to highlight the plight of the refugees. Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his three-year pontificate, insisting in particular that Europe and other countries open their doors and hearts to people fleeing persecution and poverty. He told the Vatican's diplomatic corps in January that Europe had the means to welcome refugees without compromising its security or culture and that the continent bore the "moral responsibility" to care for others who have fled their homes to seek a better life. A controversial EU plan to stem the flow of refugees began Monday with more than 200 people deported from Lesbos and the Greek island of Chios back to Turkey. Human rights organizations have denounced the deportations as the undoing of Europe's obligations to protect refugees. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. European officials insist the EU-Turkey agreement is the only way to deter people from heading to Greece from the nearby Turkish coast. Under the deal, those who arrived on or after March 20 will be sent back to Turkey unless they qualify for asylum. For every Syrian returned, Europe will take a Syrian to be resettled in an EU country. The Church of Greece said Tuesday that visit of the leaders of the Catholic and Orthodox churches would send a "very strong signal" about the need to help refugees and protect Christians "who are cruelly suffering" in the Middle East. "Hardcore Henry" includes just about everything audiences expect in an action movie: explosions, wild stunts, an armory of bullets. But there's no Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson or Daniel Craig to be found. Instead, the movie has a more unassuming star: you. The film, in theaters Friday, tells its story a cyborg searching for his kidnapped wife totally from the viewer's perspective. These first-person scenes turn the movie into a more active experience. Think "Run Lola Run" meets the video game "Call of Duty." And while the visual effects (and carnage) are plentiful, the core of the action involves real stunts executed by performers who scale buildings, swing from helicopters and leap from crazy heights. "Hardcore Henry" is the brainchild of, and the first feature by, Russian director Ilya Naishuller. The 30-year-old filmmaker first used the point-of-view technique in a pair of music videos for his band, Biting Elbows. His 2013 video, which includes a frantic car chase and a jaw-dropping free fall through the middle of a building, went viral. One of its fans was producer and filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), who contacted Naishuller about expanding the concept into a feature. Naishuller was not thrilled at first. "I thought, 'That's a horrible idea,' " Naishuller said during an interview at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, where the movie played to an enthusiastic audience. "I just thought: 'Why would you do that? It's a gimmick.' " But Bekmambetov persisted. More Information At a glance "Hardcore Henry" Stars: Sharlto Copley, Tim Roth, Haley Bennett Director: Ilya Naishuller Opens: Friday See More Collapse "He asked me a question that changed my life. He said, 'Would you want to see a great action POV film in the cinema?' " Naishuller said, referring to the point-of-view shots that show how a scene looks through a character's eyes and are usually used sparingly in a typical film. "I said that I would and he said, 'Well you should go make it then.' " Films told entirely through POV shots are uncommon but not unprecedented. The 1947 "Lady in the Lake" used the technique for a murder mystery. Naishuller watched that film noir, but deemed it unsuccessful because viewers didn't see the character's body in the much fuller way it is seen in "Hardcore Henry." (In an early scene, for example, Henry wakes up and looks at himself from the chest down.) "If we didn't have the hands and the legs, you wouldn't have the experience," he said. "Because as humans, we identify right away. We have the hands, we have the feet, the jeans and the sneakers. If we didn't have that, it would be a faux" POV film. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Parts of other films have nodded toward that fuller-body experience. The opening scene in the 1995 science fiction film "Strange Days," an adrenaline-charged robbery from the thief's perspective, made for a thrilling short take. And a segment from the horror anthology "V/H/S/ 2" (2013) offered a zombie's view of mayhem. But "Hardcore Henry" may be the most ambitious full-length use of this conceit. The movie was filmed in Moscow with GoPro cameras, the kind often put on a helmet or a backpack to record extreme sports. Here, the filmmakers wanted the camera closer to face level to better simulate the experience of being the character. The team built a camera rig that stuntmen wore on their heads and that magnetically stabilized the lens, creating steadier shots. In tight quarters, the camera was attached to a performer's mouthpiece. Point-of-view stunts are complicated, and scenes can't always be done in one clean take. The film often handles this with multiple edits; some moments needed smoothing out with the help of visual effects. The filmmakers used roughly a dozen visual effects companies. The company Zero VFX applied crucial effects to a high-octane motorcycle chase in which Henry and his sidekick, Jimmy (Sharlto Copley), shoot up the back of a van, then take a motorcycle through it and out the front window. Henry himself was played by 12 different people, including Naishuller. But the most action-intensive moments were given to two stunt performers, Andrey Dementyev and Sergey Valyalev, both skilled at parkour. They scaled walls, leapt onto cars and rode motorcycles, all while wearing the complicated camera rig, or "adventure mask," as they called it. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Columbia Development and a local apartment builder are shopping a plan for 170 market-rate apartments next to the Fuller Road campus of SUNY Polytechnic Institute land once slated for NanoCollege dorms and parking. The four-or-five-story apartment complex would rise on Loughlin Street just south of SUNY Poly, a dead-end block of vacant single-family homes that Columbia spent more than $3.5 million acquiring several years ago. Columbia is working with Colonie-based Dawn Homes Management, which owns and manages apartment complexes in the Albany, Syracuse, Ithaca and Rochester areas as well as the Hudson Valley and in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Under the plan, Dawn Homes Management would buy the land from Columbia and then construct and manage the apartment building, the company said. "We are talking about building middle-class housing in a walkable neighborhood where there is a demand from young professionals," said Spencer Jones, an executive with the company, whose other local holdings include Maple Manor in Delmar and The Reserve in Glenville. "It's live, work and play-type housing, and it's going to be a fantastic amenity to the city of Albany." Unlike other projects being developed around the NanoCollege and University at Albany, the Loughlin project would not be marketed to students, Jones said. No plans have yet been submitted to the city, which would have to rezone the property to allow for an apartment complex. Previously, SUNY Poly's real estate arm, Fuller Road Management Corp., drafted plans that included the Loughlin properties in the three-phase construction of about 500 beds of new student housing and a 650-space expansion of parking capacity, much of that on surface lots on or around Loughlin. Initially, Columbia was the lone bidder for that work. But the college decided to re-bid the student housing project in November, citing a "change in program requirements." The second dorm solicitation, for 130 beds of housing, yielded eight responses but none from Columbia, which in Loughlin Street controls one of the largest chunks of developable land near the rapidly growing campus. A private housing development on Loughlin would seem to blunt the possibility of the NanoCollege expanding south. Columbia President Joseph Nicolla could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Dennis Gaffney, a spokesman for Mayor Kathy Sheehan, said the city has not received a formal application but was encouraged by talk of a project "that would not only keep (Loughlin) on the tax rolls but increase the property value and the tax value." "We look forward to a formal proposal," Gaffney said. Councilman Michael O'Brien, whose 12th Ward includes Loughlin Street, said he believed the project would be popular with employees at the NanoCollege, especially those who don't want to drive to work. "I'm not saying how many (apartments) it should be," O'Brien said. "But to me the thing would be 100 percent marketable, and it would mean more taxes for the city of Albany." Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Most new residential projects in the city, including the 277-bed private dorm rising on Washington Avenue, receive tax abatements to be competitive with surrounding suburbs. The apartment building's closest neighbors would be in McKownville, where residents have consistently voiced concerns about SUNY Poly's expansion and how it might affect storm-water runoff, flooding and traffic in their Guilderland neighborhood between the campus and Stuyvesant Plaza. Don Reeb, president of the McKownville Improvement Association, questioned whether the apartment plan would generate more tax revenue if the builders seek tax breaks. Reeb also said he's skeptical that SUNY Poly does not have future plans to acquire the project and convert it to student housing, adding that he expected neighbors would oppose rezoning the property for anything other than single-family homes. "I wouldn't think that the people in McKownville would keep quiet," he said. SUNY Poly spokesman Jerry Gretzinger said the college has no designs on the apartment project and its focus is on providing student housing on land it already controls. "Our plan is on campus, and that's what we're moving forward with," Gretzinger said. "We're not involved in this and we have no plans to be." jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com 518-454-5445 @JCEvangelist_TU This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Albany Rabbi Dan Ornstein of Ohav Shalom challenged his congregation to put a Torah passage into action: "Welcome the stranger and remember you were strangers in the land of Egypt." The Torah verses described enslaved Israelites liberated with God's help during their exodus from Egypt under the leadership of Moses. The epic immigrant journey to freedom is celebrated in the Jewish feast of Passover that begins April 22. "We decided we wanted to do something to help that went beyond just talking about the refugee crisis, " recalled Ohav Shalom member Sandy Cohen, a retired social worker from Glenmont who organized volunteers. More Information How to help For more information on how to volunteer to help refugees, go to www.refugees.org or call USCRI's Albany field office at 459-1790. To read more articles in the Times Union's ongoing series, "Our Immigrant Story," go to http://timesunion.com/immigration See More Collapse It developed into a wonderful exchange between Ohav Shalom members and a large, extended family of refugees from Afghanistan. The Afghans including a single mother with eight children whose husband was killed by terrorists fled Taliban fighters who attacked their homes in the Khost province of eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. After three years in a refugee camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, they were granted visas as asylum-seekers. They were resettled through the Albany field office of U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. The first group of 18 Afghan family members arrived in February and another 17 are expected soon. They escaped with little more than the clothes on their backs. The Ohav Shalom members sprang into action. Dozens of volunteers collected and transported donations of furniture, bedding, kitchen goods, dishes, household supplies and cash that they used to buy groceries and other items to furnish four Albany apartments rented with the help of USCRI. Second-graders in B'Yachad Hebrew School in Albany made colorful posters that read, "Welcome Zadran Family!" "I asked my students to imagine what it would feel like if they had to leave their home and everything they knew and come to a new place where they didn't know the language or customs," said Judith Avner, a member of Ohav Shalom and Hebrew teacher at B'Yachad. Avner is among a dozen members from the synagogue who will serve as volunteer mentors for the Afghan refugees. "It's been a very humbling and meaningful experience for our congregation," Avner said. "It showed how welcoming we are in Albany. We haven't been caught up in the destructive political rhetoric." "Welcoming the stranger is a core concept of Judaism," said Rabbi Rena Kieval, the congregation's other rabbi. "It was wonderful to see how the members of our synagogue turned empathy into action." Dorah Rosenzweig, an Ohav Shalom member who works for the state Office of General Services, spends Sunday afternoons with the mother and her eight children, ages 5 through 18. She taught them how to use a laundromat and other unfamiliar things. She helps the kids, who attend Albany public schools, with homework. "The teenage daughter told me what surprised her most was that each one of them got their own bed," Rosenzweig said. "She couldn't get over that. We take so many things for granted." The kids were elated when she took them to a nearby playground. "They couldn't believe there was a playground that was free and open to them," she said. A cousin who arrived with them is Babark Haidari, 22. He had to suspend his college studies after the Taliban invaded Khost province. His uncle, father and other relatives were killed by the Taliban. He fled to the refugee camp in Pakistan. He hopes to find a laborer's job in Albany that doesn't require English skills. He misses his mother's cooking, especially mantu, a savory Afghan steamed dumpling with ground beef, onions, garlic and turmeric. "I want to make a new life here," Haidari said. Fellow Afghan refugee Sayeed Ahmad Noor, 36, translated Pashto into English. Noor arrived on a special immigration visa, or SIV, because he assisted international aid organizations in Kandahar, including the U.N. and Red Cross. Noor and his wife have two sets of twins, ages 2 and 6. They live in Albany and receive $2,100 in monthly federal assistance that lasts only for four months. "I'm worried about making enough money to get by," said Noor, who interviewed for a $9-an-hour call center job. "We're thankful for all the help we've received," said Noor, who rides around the city on a donated bicycle. "The support from Ohav Shalom volunteers has been tremendous," said Jill Peckenpaugh, director of USCRI. The group will resettle a record 500 refugees in 2016, a 25 percent increase from a typical year. The first Syrian refugees are expected this year. "We always need more volunteers. It's an enriching and bonding experience on both sides." The Afghans have expressed their gratitude for Ohav Shalom's help. The fact that the refugees are Muslim was an unexpected lesson in shared humanity. "That's a beautiful part of the story," Cohen said. "The Afghans brought our congregation together in a special way. It will help improve Jewish-Muslim relationships in the long term." "We never thought of them as Muslims," Rosenzweig said. "They're people in need and we live in a land of plenty. Surely, we can give them some help." They met their rabbi's challenge and welcomed the strangers, they who were once strangers themselves. pgrondahl@timesunion.com 518-454-5623 @PaulGrondahl This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Colonie The Town Board this week will consider asking permission for a hotel tax and will also gauge interest in selling the Colonie Community Center on Central Avenue. The tax could generate millions of dollars in revenue for Colonie, Town Attorney Michael Maggiulli said. The town would collect 1.5 percent on every hotel and motel bill, he said. The money would go into the general fund. If approved, the tax would also apply to bed and breakfast inns and boarding houses with four or more rooms. To start the tax, the board needs approval from the state Legislature and the governor's signature. The town administration will ask the board at its meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday in Town Hall to seek such home-rule legislation. The tax would offset costs to the town for services used by motel and hotel guests, from police protection to wear and tear on roads, Maggiulli said. "They do have an impact on our infrastructure," he said. He said the town had not determined exactly how much could be raised by such a tax, but said it would be in the seven-figure range. Jan Marie Chesterton, president of the New York State Hospitality & Tourism Association, said her association does not normally comment on proposals to implement such bed taxes. She did say her group, which represents hotel owners and is based in Colonie, prefers the money not simply go into the general fund. "If you're taxing tourists, the logical purpose is to continue the marketing and promotion of the location," she said. Colonie isn't alone among Capital Region communities weighing a bed tax. The town of Clifton Park is also seeking one, and new Troy Mayor Patrick Madden has suggested pursuing one. Rensselaer, Albany, Saratoga and Schenectady counties have hotel taxes, as does the city of Saratoga Springs. Albany County's tax is 6 percent; Colonie's would be in addition to that. The board also will discuss whether to seek proposals for purchasing the community center at 1653 Central Ave. The former school houses some 20 community programs. "Two or three months ago, the town, which had no intention of selling the place, was approached by a neighboring owner," Maggiulli said. The potential purchaser only wanted part of the property, he said, and not the former village schoolhouse that is the largest part of the property. The town has made no decision, Maggiulli said. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. "We would do a request for proposals and see what interest there is out there," he said. "We have a number of tenants in there that are all under short-term lease or license agreements." Organizations including the Colonie Youth Center, the South Colonie schools and the Mohawk-Hudson Sail & Power Squadron all rent space there. "Whoever buys it would have to allow the tenants to remain in there for at least five years on the same terms and conditions as currently exists," Maggiulli said. The issue of selling the building became a campaign issue in the 2011 supervisor's race. Republican candidate Denise Sheehan accused Supervisor Paula Mahan, who is still in office, of having an unannounced plan to sell it. At the time, Mahan said the town was in talks to sell the property to the Colonie Industrial Development Authority for a business incubator with the youth programs remaining intact. Sheehan said that would be the equivalent of the town selling property it already owned to itself. Mahan won the election, and the transaction was never made. Maggiulli said the town did have a deal to sell the property in 2007, under a previous administration, to the owner of a nearby Chinese restaurant for $2 million. That sale was never completed. tobrien@timesunion.com 518-454-5092 @timobrientu That recent downtown Schenectady shooting spree after late-night club boozing hours was not an aberration. As a matter of fact, in recent times, there have been murders at or outside six local night spots. In addition, shots were fired but nobody hit at four other late-night hangouts. Most of the incidents happened since 2012. The good news is that many of these trouble spots have since been closed. The state Liquor Authority revoked most licenses after receiving formal complaints from city police. While there were 10 places with reported gunfire, there was only one previously near the downtown late-night club circuit. In 2013, public safety Commissioner Wayne Bennett issued a report noting that seven city establishments had generated more than 1,000 police calls over a two-year period. Police were summoned to Ray's Bar in Mont Pleasant 281 times and responded to 280 calls concerning the Club Illusion off the Erie Boulevard beaten path. Both places have been shut down. During recent times, there were very late-night murders outside the Aquarius strip bar, Joe's Bar and the Eldorado Tavern in Mont Pleasant, Shanghi Bistro in Woodlawn, Mason's Club on Hamilton Hill and inside the former Tip Toe Inn on Hamburg Street. During the same time frame, police responded to gunfire calls at Club Illusion and Club 11 on North Broadway. The latter lost its liquor license after being open only six weeks. The final incident was a melee of about 100 party-goers, which included two stabbings. In 2010, two men leaving Bombers Burrito Bar at 1 a.m. started fighting. One pulled a shotgun from his car and gunned down the other just three doors from Proctors. The victim survived the blast. At the peak of these problems, then-police Chief Brian Kilcullen said most troubles came after private parties at the night spots. "It's usually a party with the same organizer, same D.J., same bouncers and pretty much the same crowd," Kilcullen said. Overkill with on-air plea for donations by WMHT Boy, oh boy, I was really looking forward to watching that recent WMHT special titled "Italians in New York and New Jersey." My interest stemmed from growing up in an Italian neighborhood and because my wife's beloved stepfather was an Italian-American. It was billed as a three-hour broadcast. That's a drawn-out show, but I was ready to soak up all the ethnic heritage. Well, as it turned out, instead of imparting Mediterranean lifestyle footage, the vast majority of the production was spent seeking donations for WMHT. Every 15 minutes or so two station reps were pleading for donations while offering Villa Italia Bakery free goods as the lure. The next day, I learned that by using the link "thirteen.org/italianamericans" I could watch the same show. Sans the WMHT pleading for bucks, the running time was just 56 minutes. So, bottom line, while watching the WMHT special I had to suffer through two hours of repetitive, annoying contribution sales pitches to enjoy one hour of Italian heritage. The station also used deceptive commentary indicating there would be Capital Region input into the film. There was none. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. Some people I spoke with said they enjoyed the show's portions about the Italian culture lifestyle, but they too were miffed at the deluge of WMHT begging. Union College should pay for city police, fire services Most folks I know are tired of the fiscal yank and pull between Union College and the city of Schenectady. College officials say the college is priceless to Schenectady. In return, city leaders say the tax-free school should start paying for municipal emergency services provided to it. College reps like to openly boast they beautified the deteriorated neighborhood adjacent to the school. Can't argue with that. However, college reps fail to explain that in the process, they annexed hundreds of acres of city land. That's a totally overlooked, really big deal. Union, landlocked with no room for growth, bought all the houses on Seward Place, Huron Street and many properties on Park Place. A couple of those acquisitions with the purchase of the sprawling Ramada Inn real estate and Union solved its no-room-to-grow dilemma. When this real estate grab was first announced, college officials told me the school would pay property taxes. That was an outright big, fat lie they haven't paid a dime. Mayor Gary McCarthy says the college is getting a free ride on $31 million of assessments. Maybe the college deserves a tax break of sorts. But for heaven's sake, throw the city a bone by paying for police, fire and paramedic services. Reach Cermak at mcermak@timesunion.com. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate If politics makes strange bedfellows, it might make stranger neighbors in downtown Albany. District Attorney David Soares and City Court Judge William Carter, who waged a three-year battle that reached the state's top court over the minor arrests of Occupy Albany protesters, would both be based in the Albany County Judicial Center come January should the Democratic candidates win their respective elections this fall. Soares is running for a fourth term. Carter will announce Thursday that he will run to replace retiring County Judge Stephen Herrick. Carter will make the announcement at a rally in Lincoln Park. If elected, Carter's chambers would be an elevator ride from the district attorney's headquarters. Neither candidate is assured of winning but both are frontrunners. More Information Contact Robert Gavin at 518-454- 2403 or email rgavin@timesunion.com. On Twitter: @Robert GavinTU See More Collapse Should Carter win, tension between the judge and Soares could make the district attorney's past issues with judges (including Herrick, County Court Judge Peter Lynch and City Court Judge Thomas Keefe) look tame. If the relationship between Soares' office and Carter in City Court has been any indication, similar tension could be on the horizon at the county level. In the Occupy Albany case, Soares and Carter battled over whether Carter had the power to compel Soares to call witnesses at a pretrial hearing for the four defendants and, if Soares refused to call those witnesses, to hold Soares and his office in contempt. In 2013, Carter threatened to hold Chief Assistant District Attorney David Rossi in contempt if he didn't call witnesses in the Occupy case. Soares' office had decided, at that point, not to prosecute. "Mr. Rossi, I can't remember a time ever where the Albany County district attorney's office has ever done that," Carter told Rossi. Ultimately, Soares won at the Court of Appeals last year but not before then-Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman said the case was a "personal issue back and forth" between Soares and Carter. And the Occupy Albany case was just one of many examples in City Court in which Soares' office and Carter clashed. Adding fuel to the fire, some Democrats believe Soares pushed his deputy chief assistant, Cheryl Fowler, to run against Carter. They note Soares' campaign manager, Kathleen Campbell, is also running Fowler's campaign. The threat of Soares openly rebelling against the party's choice of Carter is the reason insiders believe Democratic Party powers-that-be pressured Soares' 2012 opponent, Albany attorney, Lee Kindlon to challenge Soares again. Kindlon is not running but David Gonzalez, an assistant corporation counsel in Albany, said he was considering a run for DA. On Saturday, a screening committee met with Gonzalez but still recommended Soares to receive the county Democratic committee's endorsement. Sign up for The Knick Get the latest news and features with our afternoon newsletter. It was not before party members grilled Soares about any connection to Fowler's run and if their sharing the same campaign manager would mean that party resources might indirectly flow to Fowler in her run against the party-backed candidate in Carter. Soares told party brass he did not push Fowler to run, insiders say. Party Chairwoman Carolyn McLaughlin acknowledged some party leaders had concerns about Soares appearing on the same ballot petition as Fowler. "We've asked that not to happen," McLaughlin said. She expected Soares and Carter would be on the same petition. People with knowledge of Soares' and Fowler's plans insist the allegation of a Soares-Fowler pact to thwart Carter is untrue and note Fowler is resigning later this month to avoid a conflict. Colonie Town Attorney Michael Maggiulli is also a possible candidate. Jordan Carleo-Evangelist contributed Sylvain Lefevre On the eve of the Jewish holiday of Purim, killers from ISIS set off bombs in Brussels, Belgium killing 35 and wounding dozens. It is believed that this is in retaliation for Belgium's participation in the anti-ISIS coalition. What is hard to understand for Westerners is what this act of cruel terrorism hopes to achieve as its end game. In a world in which few formal armies of recognizable nations fight wars, terrorism carried out by militants who wear no uniforms kill innocent civilians indiscriminately. I agree with the program I don't agree with the program I like the idea, but feel the current proposal is too broad Let me park where I want! Vote View Results You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close April 06, 2016 The competitive landscape in the business realm has many organizations managing highly sophisticated call center operations for reaching sales goals and meeting customer service demands. However, even though call center operations are highly effective, the platform has evolved significantly over the years, opening the doors to a number of security risks -- some of which can considerably undermine the propriety data and business information of an organization. In fact, one such evolution that has greatly impacted call center data is the digital document transformation. In this new digital era companies are now using a variety of software solutions and technology platforms to gather, collect and share customer information. And, while many of these technologies significantly improve service efficiency and customer care, they do present a number of data exposure concerns as service agents share documents containing sensitive and confidential personal information. This is why it is important for companies to deploy the right security measures and data protection technologies in order to mitigate the risk of breaches from hackers. Another dynamic impacting call center data safety is the ongoing outsourcing of center operations which now has customer data being managed in numerous locations across the globe. Outsourcing risks include call center agents that arent always aware or trained of the potential customer data exposure, as well as service reps who may want to take advantage of accessing very valuable consumer information. In fact, just last year AT&T was fined $25 million for a customer data breach in their Mexico call center after two employees confessed to accessing customer information and reselling it to strangers. An added challenge with outsourcing is the fact that third parties responsible for IT system development or maintenance of call centers do not always deploy the right security technologies, which introduces a number of network deficiencies that could easily be exploited by hackers. This is why its important for companies to not only focus on cost savings in their outsourcing decisions, but to also focus on the security solutions that will protect their customer data over the long-haul. This is especially important since data breaches can cost companies up to millions of dollars to recover. The good news is...outsourcing operations and managing digital documentation should not pose an automatic risk of breaching information. Electronic documents need to be protected at all points whether being handled locally or around the globe, or whether being stored in a repository, accessed in a call center, or sitting on the customers own computer. This can be achieved using a combination of encryption technologies, password protection, access control solutions and of course, through education. With this in mind, below are 5 tips to consider for protecting customer documents: Tip 1. Have strong Q&A security protocols in place When a customer calls a call center, service representatives should be equipped with asking security questions that only an authorized customer has the ability to answer. This is why its important to have questions that allow customers to provide responses that are unique and specific to them, and that are strong enough to enforce the protection of their data. In addition to asking questions that are personal and distinct. Finally, only provide account information to customers who successfully pass through all of the Q&A security protocols. Tip 2. Control access at document level A digital document management solution should offer multiple layers of access control that enable call centers to compartmentalize and restrict access to different documents. Agent seniority or clearance should dictate what functions he/she can perform on a document: view, download or share. As an example, certain private records can be password protected so that the only access within a call center is the ability to send the document to the customer when requested, rather than the agent being able to view the details of that document. Tip 3. Provide ongoing agent education The easiest way for criminals to breach security and access a repository of confidential documents is by tricking or compromising an employee. In a call center environment, which suffers from high employee turnover, this risk is compounded. Be sure that all agents understand and operate by the security guidelines when it comes to accessing and sharing customer documents. Constantly reinforce that one should never click on links or open documents from an unknown source as this is a common method used to install malicious software that effectively puts the hackers inside the secure network. Tip 4. Use multiple layers of protection As cybercriminals continue to get smarter, traditional network and database security is not sufficient. To truly secure a customers document, multiple security layers are required, to the point of encrypting and protecting each individual document even if it resides on a secure network. This also ensures that information sent via email between a call center agent and customer cannot be compromised if intercepted or sent to the wrong recipient. It also protects the document 1) against unauthorized access from someone inside the network; 2) if a call center agent doesnt have sufficient rights to view customer information; 3) if a compromised employee or a hacker is using stolen, but valid credentials. Tip 5. Enforce a strong password policy In order to secure documents from all vulnerabilities, a strong password approach is essential. This applies to the password an agent uses to access internal systems, the one a customer uses to log onto a self-service portal, or even the password used to open an individual document. If the password is weak, all other security is bypassed, especially since one study showed that 28% of breaches resulted from weak passwords. Educate both agents and customers on the value of using only strong passwords and the risks of using easily cracked passwords such as 123456, abc123 or password. By taking advantage of these simple security tips, call centers will not only be able to deliver a strong customer service experience, but also provide the technologies needed to safeguard their information. There are numerous solutions in the marketplace that can assist organizations with strengthening their call center data protection today, while also better fortifying their data protection for the future. Mia Papanicolaou is Chief Operations Officer for document security specialist, Striata Inc. Mia joined Striata in 2006 and having worked in Africa and the UK, now heads up North, Central and South American operations. Papanicolaou is a regular speaker on her areas of expertise secure electronic document delivery and email marketing. Striata provides strategy, software and professional services that enable digital communication across multiple channels and devices. Striata technology is used to secure, send and store confidential documents for the worlds largest financial services, utility, insurance, retail and telecommunications companies; who trust Striata to achieve unrivaled results in digital transition, adoption and transformation. To learn more visit www.striata.com Edited by Stefania Viscusi As we reported earlier, the APRA Awards went down in Sydney last night. It sent several of Australias most prominent Aussie musos home with new accolades to add to their pool rooms, including Tame Impala and Courtney Barnett. Tame Impala managed to pick up Song of The Year for Let It Happen off of last years Currents, whilst Barnett was awarded the much-coveted title of Australian Songwriter of the Year, ending Sias three-year streak. But one of the most interesting awards went to none other than Peking Duk, who in addition to nabbing Dance Work of the Year for Take Me Over also managed to earn the impressive Most Played Australian Work award. For some context, APRA AMCOS are the body responsible for the non-profit collection and distribution of songwriting royalties to Aussie songwriters. In other words, they keep an eye on every time their members work is played. And we mean every time. Not just the radio play, but every use that generates a royalty, which includes everything from television and film syncs, to live performance, and even getting played in a restaurant both at home and overseas. So when APRA hand out an award for Most Played Australian Work, that means its pretty much the song you heard the most in 2015, no matter whether you were in the club, listening to the radio, watching TV, or at the supermarket. HOLY FUCK X2 BLOWN AWAY CAN't BELIEVE WE WON MOST PLAYED AUSTRALIAN WORK. it's a huge honor to even be put up against Posted by Peking Duk onTuesday, April 5, 2016 HOLY FUCK X2 BLOWN AWAY CANt BELIEVE WE WON MOST PLAYED AUSTRALIAN WORK, Peking Duk wrote on Facebook.Its a huge honor to even be put up against Sia and Jarryd James and Vance Joy. Honestly too stoked right now to have won this. Massive thank you to everyone that has love for us cos we love you to the moon and back. Big up Benny and Styalz. LETs celebrate bbs. Its not the first accolade to come Peking Duks way for their collaboration with SAFIAs Ben Woolner. The song previously nabbed the Canberra electronic duo a top five spot in the triple j Hottest 100, one of two top five spots the pair earned that year. The other went to their smash collab with Nicole Millar, High. Last Dinosaurs only recently got back on home turf after playing two massive headline shows in Asia (their sixth tour of the region in four years), but theyre not wasting any time in getting back to work. They recently announced that they will be hitting the road once again this May for a headline tour of Australia, theyve dubbed the Miracle Methods Tour, which will see them stopping all over the country. Despite the bands schedule, we somehow managed to steal some time from lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Sean Caskey, who talked about the importance of brushing your teeth and the guitar gear he couldnt live without. Back To Basics If I had to whittle my rig down to the basics, it would be a toothbrush, my Fender Jaguar, and my pedal board. Toothbrush so I could clean my tooth, Jaguar because its my favourite and most recordable guitar, then pedal board because Im nothing without it. Like Mark Skaife without a Commodore, or Shane Warne without Tinder. Evolution I dont go to the gym so my guns are still the same size as they were in grade 6. But my pedal board has changed every year or so, its kinda difficult changing though because you get so comfortable doing the same pedal stomping dance on stage. These days I have this stupidly large Line 6 multi effects unit to give me the synth sounds for Wellness and Rock With You (MJ cover). The most important thing about my rig though is my Ivory pedal. I designed it purely for my set up and it is my life support system. It gives me the bite and the colour I desperately need before going in to a Fender Hotrod Deluxe amp. Hitting The Studio In the studio I was using my brothers amp which is a beautiful hand-wired, boutique, class A, vintage style, dual channel Marshall 18 watt / Vox 15 watt, single output transformer amp head. Sorry, had to do it. It sounded great in the studio, and we were using a nice range of microphones in different positions which Scott Horscroft (producer) balanced as a way of naturally EQing. One extremely important lesson I learnt though was that my Wellness buffer proved to be absolutely vital when it came to maintaining tone. The amp is usually in another room far away from the control room for sound isolation, so your guitars signal often diminishes over long cable distances. The buffer was able to keep the tone healthy. We figured it out when I forgot to put it in the chain and we were wondering why all of a sudden my guitar sounded super shithouse. The engineer was so amazed that I ended up gifting him my buffer. Back In The Day My first guitar was a Squier Stratocaster, olympic white I think (just like Albert Hammond Jr.s). I cant remember the amp but it was some crappy transistor amp. I learnt how to play guitar by learning all of The Strokes songs so it was totally appropriate that I had that guitar. This was when they had only released Is This It and Room On Fire. My understanding of gear was super minimal, one of my friends had a Boss ME-50 which was a multi effects unit and it just blew my mind. Couldnt handle it. Gear Vs Song Gear definitely influences my songwriting. When I buy a new guitar I will often punch out a couple of new songs, I guess because you end up playing the guitar so much you stumble across an idea. Guitar pedals are also huge, for me the sounds they can make sometimes trigger feelings or a particular idea of something. Like for Andy I happened to hit the right pedals on my brothers pedal board to make it sound like a steel drum. So I wanted to make a tropical sounding lead line with it. Im a music > lyrics guy, music is all I care about, then once the song is done I stop and realise I need to write the lyrics. Step On It My pedal board is obscure in the way I have tightly packed it and routed it, but also because I have modded my Strymon Timeline. It looks like I have some random Boss pedals below it with guitar leads plugging in to where the switches were on the timeline. Thats my switching system now so I can stomp on it. But it looks kinda Mad Max-esque. Other than that its relatively simple, one overdrive (which is always on) with the only switch being for extra boost. Last Dinosaurs National Tour Dates FRI 20 MAY Fat Controller Adelaide, SA Tickets $24.95+ bf FRI 27 MAY The Foundry Brisbane, QLD Tickets $29.95+ bf FRI 3 JUN Northcote Social Club Melbourne, VIC Tickets $29.95+ bf SAT 4 JUN Northcote Social Club Melbourne, VIC Tickets $29.95+ bf FRI 10 JUN Newtown Social Club Sydney, NSW Tickets $29.95+ bf from: SAT 11 JUN Newtown Social Club Sydney, NSW Tickets $29.95+ bf Alison Wonderland is one accomplished young lady. In her 29 years, the Sydney-based DJ and producer has become one of the hottest properties in the Australian music scene, selling out tours both at home and overseas and nabbing big-time festival spots. But theres one accolade the classically trained musician has that few other Australian musicians can boast: she recently gave a talk at Harvard Universitys Business School. If youre not quite up on the reputation of the worlds most prestigious school, its a big deal. Wonderland gave the talk, which touched on her journey in the music industry, back in February and went into further detail about just what she covered in an interview with Music Feeds, including how surprised she was to be speaking at Harvard. Yeah, we spoke to a class at Harvard Business School. It sounds completely made up, I know, but it actually happened! [laughs] They approached me and my manager to talk about growing your business within the music industry, she explained. Specifically, I wanted to talk about staying true to yourself and keeping things honest, not trying to be something that youre not. It was a business talk, though, so I guess we were talking a bit about personal branding and how to stay on top of that side of things. I generally tend to have no idea about business matters Ive found Im just not that way inclined. My side of the talk was more just about being upfront about who you are and what youre about as an artist. Indeed, Wonderland has been adamant about steering her own path in the music industry. The minute I start thinking that I am somehow [a different person] is the minute that I should quit. Only caring about your own profit and inflating your ego thats not why you should be in a creative field., she told MF. Ive definitely said no a lot more than yes when it comes to being approached by [major labels] and that sort of thing, she continued. Especially in the beginning, when I was starting out. I think that made me work a lot harder in the long run. [include_post id=441280] Im so grateful to those labels for letting me do things myself. No-ones told me how my music should sound, or how I should write, or how I should record. I mean, there are some songs on Run where the vocals were literally recorded using an iPhone voice memo. The album cover was something a friend and I shot together. I arranged the tracklist myself. These are the sort of things that can often be micro-managed by the bigger labels, but not one that Ive worked with has interfered on any of those counts. No-one has told me what to do once, and Im really lucky for that. Everyone has just been so completely trusting of my own abilities and the belief I have in my own vision. If we do say so ourselves, that trust has definitely been paying off. THANK TO TKC TIPSTERS FOR SENDING THIS LINK ABOUT THE SHOCKING AIRICK WEST NAME CHANGE AND WORD OF HIS NEW JOB!!! Dallas News Blog: New Texas schools official changed his name after leaving Kansas City board Airick Leonard West is a departing member of the Kansas City School Board, a young community activist and former board president who helped improve the persistently struggling district. AJ Crabill is the new, yet-to-be-announced deputy commissioner of governance at the Texas Education Agency. Also, theyre the same guy. The agency confirmed Tuesday that Crabill is the former Kansas City official after The Dallas Morning News inquired about a possible name change; his appointment will be revealed soon. Education Commissioner Mike Morath chose him to fill the position, one of five new deputy roles the former Dallas school trustee created as part of a massive reorganization of top leadership. As of now, AJ Crabill has been hired as the deputy commissioner of governance, agency spokeswoman DeEtta Culbertson said. doesn't report WHAT DOES THE AIRICK WEST NAME CHANGE SAY ABOUT HIS TIME IN KANSAS CITY IF ANYTHING AT ALL?!?! One of Kansas City's most charismatic advocates for education is changing his name and slated to leave town.To wit . . .Here's the news . . .Here are the deets . . .############. . .Now, in fairness, people are allowed to call themselves whatever they like and some of the greatest people in history have made their mark after a name change . . . But modern-day politicos and education officials usually like to build a resume and earn some career recognition for their efforts.So we put it to our readers . . .The article goes on to note that Mr. Crabill doesn't make a lot of mention of his time in Kansas City . . . So it's fair to ask about how this reflects on his work in Kansas City if he doesn't yet seem to want his career deets noted with his new moniker via social media as of this writing.Meanwhile, Kansas City welcomes a new collection of write-in school board members to a provisionally accredited district while MSM news only reports more talk of promises and reform.Developing . . . THIS AFTERNOON PARENTS AND TEACHERS RAGE AS WORD OF HICKMAN MILLS BOND ISSUE PROPONENTS EATING SCHOOL LUNCHES!!! TKC Tipster Seyz: "I have just had word from a district employee that someone on the bond committee picked up 50 lunches made by the food service department to be distributed to campaign workers." Here's a news snack for the afternoon and the status quo when it comes to local politics . . .Here's the word . . .There's also word on another Missouri ethics complaint on the way but the reality is that most go unheard as politics typically trumps concern for students in the metro. In fairness, I guess the logic of this is that these workers are helping to secure more funds for students. You decide . . .Developing . . . "It is very sad to see a place with so much history slowly die and a total shame that it has not improved on something historic. The current ownership has allowed and encouraged the complete destruction of such a beautiful place with deep, meaningless carvings into a once gorgeous, imported, mahogany bar top along with hideous permanent writings on the woodwork and brick walls. This could have easily been a such an iconic place again with a little TLC. There are many bar owners, in this city alone, that would feel extremely fortunate to have that spot, continue its long standing tradition and make it shine. So much could have been done to continue the awesome history of the landmark at 39th and State Line. Jimmy's Jigger and Jimmy Bower's vision are the foundation of what "West 39th Street" is today. There is nothing more cool than places with a long history and our great city does not have too many of those left . . ." Jimmy's Jigger Testimony . . . Really great tribute to a piece of Kansas City history that could soon be coming to an end and the spot where TKC had his 1st drink.The money line . . .Read the whole thing . . .It is with GREAT disappointment to hear the news that the holder of Jazz and Jimmy's Jigger for the past 22 years, has decided to do away with a piece of Kansas City history, but we all know that things do not last forever.According to the Jazz Facebook page and outdoor marquee, the tradition of Jimmy's Jigger is coming to an endIt has been 63 years since Jimmy Bowers stepped foot on the corner of 39th and State Line, and the University of Kansas Medical Center is still recognizing and remembering the enormous contributions that were mutual between the medical school and Jimmy's Jigger. Even 15 years after Jimmy's passing, on the 100th anniversary of KU med's existence the medical center produced a publication recognizing the growth of the med school campus along with notorious physicians, nurses, administrators and staff who helped pave the way of what it is today. Jimmy's Jigger was recognized in a full spread centerfold of that publication. Jimmy was proudly included as an Honorary Member of many Medical School classes and received two Notorious Service awards from Executive Vice Chancellors. In 1984, at the Alameda Plaza Hotel ballroom, in a packed University of Kansas Medical Alumni banquet he was given a standing ovation when he was honored with a "Special Friend" award that was engraved on the same type of bronze plaque that an Honored Alumnus is given each year. He is the only one to have ever received such an award in the 100 plus year history of the med center. Jimmy's gregarious, generous and outgoing personality did not stop with the KU Med Center. Jimmy treated everyone with the same respect they walked through the door where you could usually find him on weekend nights greeting people, handing a flower to the ladies and genuinely thanking people for coming in. You don't see that very often anymore -- if at all. He did not know a stranger and was just at ease frequently shooting the breeze with a third generation Anheuser-Busch beer baron as he would with the homeless man who he paid to clean up the Jigger lot each morning. The stories of Jimmy's kindness and generosity are endless and go far beyond what can be mentioned here.It is very sad to see a place with so much history slowly die and a total shame that it has not improved on something historic. The current ownership has allowed and encouraged the complete destruction of such a beautiful place with deep, meaningless carvings into a once gorgeous, imported, mahogany bar top along with hideous permanent writings on the woodwork and brick walls. This could have easily been a such an iconic place again with a little TLC. There are many bar owners, in this city alone, that would feel extremely fortunate to have that spot, continue its long standing tradition and make it shine.So much could have been done to continue the awesome history of the landmark at 39th and State Line. Jimmy's Jigger and Jimmy Bower's vision are the foundation of what "West 39th Street" is today. There is nothing more cool than places with a long history and our great city does not have too many of those left. How awesome would it have been to keep this great institution in our city, clean it up and make it a place for Kansas Citians to frequent again and out of towners to seek out. KC is an old city with new life and it is ashamed to see the life and tradition of Jimmy's Jigger come to an end. This is a true loss, not just for 39th street but for all of Kansas City.##### The US President, in his statement, referred to the bonds of the two countries, Greece and the USA, and compared the struggles of both countries for their independence Greece will get out of the financial crisis stronger, US President Barack Obama said during a reception for the celebration of March 25 national holiday at the White House, ANA-MPA reports. The US President, in his statement, referred to the bonds of the two countries, Greece and the USA, and compared the struggles of both countries for their independence. He underlined that Greece is a major US ally in NATO and that his country will continue to support Greece. He also referred to the situation in Greece and the refugee crisis and praised the way the Greeks deal with refugee flows. The Greek government was represented by Deputy Economy, Development and Tourism Minister Alexis Charitsis and Greek Ambassador to the US Christos Panagopoulos. The reception was held at the White House in honor of the Greek American community for 30th consecutive year. The event was attended by Vice President Joe Biden and His Eminence Archbishop of America Dimitrios. In his introductory statement, Biden referred to the US-Greece friendship and noted that the conversation with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras proved once again that the US is an ally and friend of Greece. Charitsis had a private conversation with Biden and stressed the need for the immediate conclusion of the Greek program review so that the country implements its development plans and boost its economy. "I presented the positions of the Greek government on critical issues as well as the government programme for the next three years. I underlined that the government has implemented the major reforms included in the programme. What we aim for it the first program review to be concluded as soon as possible, which is beneficial for all sides," he said. Referring to the discussion with Biden, Charitsis said: "Biden expressed his support and agreed that all sides need to cooperate so that the Greek program review is concluded on time. He also praised the Greek government for its stance on the refugee issue and its solidarity with the refugees." RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report The first meeting in a new round of talks between the Greek governments economic team and representatives of the institutions to conclude the review of Greeces programme ended in Athens on Monday. Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said that it was an introductory talk that set a schedule for the first week of negotiations until next Monday and a road map until the Eurogroup meeting on April 22. According to the finance minister, there was no discussion regarding the Wikileaks transcript released at the weekend. Asked if the government was troubled by the fact that the European side appeared to be siding with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Tsakalotos declined to comment. Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis also attended the meeting at the Hilton Hotel, which was surrounded by protestors taking part in a rally organised by the civil servants union federation ADEDY against austerity measures, with slogans demanded that the IMF leave Greece. There was stringent security around the hotel, with riot police preventing protestors from approaching, while one lane on Vassilisis Sofias Avenue was closed. Complete agreement In the meanwhile, for the first time after six years theres complete agreement between the Greek government and the institutions on when the countrys program review will conclude, which will be by April 22, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said on Monday speaking to Syrizas parliamentary group. Commenting on the letter sent to the government by IMF head Christine Lagarde following the leak of a telephone conversation between senior IMF officials by Wikileaks on Saturday, Tsipras said that he agreed that a tactic to delay negotiations between Greece and the institutions to pressure the country to back down is nonsense. I completely agree with this view and Im glad that at least this common ground between the Greek government and Mrs. Lagarde is recognized, he said. At the same time, I wonder whether the others agree with this view, and I hope that in the next few days we will not see an intention to handle the negotiations between Greece and the institutions in a foolish way. Because it will not be the first time. Besides, since 2010, a lot of foolish things have happened, he added. RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report Tourexpi, turizm haberleri, Reiseburos, tourism news, noticias de turismo, Tourismus Nachrichten, , travel tourism news, international tourism news, Urlaub, urlaub in der turkei, , holidays in Turkey, , global tourism news, dunya turizm, dunya turizm haberleri, Seyahat Acentas, This site is best viewed with Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0+, at a minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768. Qatar's Public Works Authority (Ashghal) said the construction work on the East-West Corridor Project, the country's ambitious expressway, is progressing as per schedule and is due for completion in the second quarter of 2017. The scope of work includes construction of 22 km of a new dual carriageway on the expressway which will feature five lanes in each direction stretching from the west of Barwa City to Al Matar Street south of the Air Force Roundabout, said a statement from Ashghal. The project includes eight grade-separated interchanges that will provide new access to key roads and residential areas such as Al Matar Street, Najma Street extension, Barwa Access Road, F-Ring Road, the Orbital Highway and Al Wakra Bypass, it added. This project is considered a vital part of the Expressway Programme in the south of Qatar. Covering infrastructure improvements in the area, the project will include the upgrade and relocation of utilities, new streetlighting, installation of an intelligent transport system and storm water drainage, said a senior official. Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani recently visited the project site to study the progress of the project. He was received by Ashghal president Nasser bin Ali Al Mawlawi, Infrastructure Affairs director Jalal Yousef Al Salhi and Ashghals Expressway Department manager Nasser Ghaith Al Kuwari. During the tour, Al Mawlawi briefed the Prime Minister on the project's scope and the milestones achieved by Ashghal till date. The project also provides links to the New Orbital Highway and Truck Route "Orbital" which stretches from Mesaieed to Al Khor city and Ras Laffan Industrial City. It forms a fundamental part of the Expressway Programme providing better connectivity between the southern areas, Hamad International Airport, and New Doha Port and forming a free-flowing traffic route without the need to travel through Doha city, helping to alleviate congestion. It will see the installation of 2,842 m of drainage lines, 78,000 m of irrigation lines, more than 80,000 m of electrical high-voltage cables and over 79,000 m of medium/low voltage (MV/LV) cables. New and improved pedestrian pathways and cycle paths have also been planned to reduce the reliance on vehicles and improve accessibility. As part of the development, more than 6,000 streetlights will be installed on the East-West Corridor. Lauding the premier's tour, Al Mawlawi said: "The visit of the Prime Minister to the construction sites of Expressway projects indicates his keenness to follow up closely on the progress and developments of the projects and fully support Ashghal in completing these projects." "It also reflects the country's commitment to support the implementation of these important development projects," he added.-TradeArabia News Service Hempel Paints Saudi Arabia unveiled its new brand identity recently to coincide with the first anniversary of opening its biggest showroom in the Middle East in Riyadh. One year on, Hempels largest regional showroom, which is strategically located in the Saudi capital, has successfully catered to the needs of its customers in the area, a statement said. Ahmed Abdulaziz, Hempel area sales and marketing director in the Middle East, said: Hempel received a unique turnout from its customers. This is the fruit of distinct quality driven by global standards, and a great potential to withstand harsh weather conditions in the region. Since its opening in April of last year, the showroom has managed to record staggering results as sales have witnessed daily upturns and the store saw increased footfall. Malte Eggers, Hempels group communication director, said: The Helix, used in Hempels new logo, symbolises layers and motions of mixing coatings, while also indicating global interconnection as it integrates all Hempels visual identity into one feel. And as the world becomes more connected, so does the need for our businesses to operate, expand and appear as one unified Hempel. This strategic step comes with an aim to achieve absolute consistency across all of Hempels visual communications and to increase customer trust in delivering advanced and high-performance solutions, he added. The showroom in Riyadh instilled the concept of sustainable paints through the introduction of particular products developed and tailored for the Middle Easts severe weather conditions. Available in a variety of finishes and textures which can prolong the life span of concrete surfaces, Contex range promises protection in a large range of attractive colours that are accredited with certificates from global test centers; and it also uses advanced technology, as it is ideally suited for buildings and bridges. Hempel has developed the Strata flooring range to meet the most demanding specifications. Strata is a high-quality range of multi-layer flooring systems and coatings for ultimate protection of concrete floors. Present in more than 80 countries, Hempel delivers trusted solutions in decorative, protective, marine, container and yacht markets, becoming a true global powerhouse and world-leader in the coating industry. The group services the paint market through its showrooms but also provides to large-size companies and contractors around the country thanks to its network of independent distributors and mega project sales teams. Hempel has been in the kingdom for over 40 years and is widely considered as one of the best decorative paints providers in Saudi Arabia, whose products are currently being used in villas, residential and, commercial units and stadiums. They are also used in public buildings such as schools, hospitals and airports. TradeArabia News Service Gulf Property Show, the boutique showcase for real estate and property developments which opens this month in Bahrain, will see an increased presence of international real estate and property developers. The event will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain, from April 26 to 28 at the Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, said the event organisers Hilal Conferences and Exhibitions (HCE). "While demand from Bahrains expanding real estate and property development sector is a major focus for the Gulf Property Show, the event is becoming a major showcasing opportunity for international real estate developers, remarked Jubran Abdulrahman, the managing director of HCE. According to him, the success of the Gulf Property Show has been the result of an aggressive marketing approach geared to the needs of the real estate sector. The event has grown by over 300 per cent since its inception in 2013, he stated. "This year we have an increase in the showcasing of real estate developments from outside Bahrain, with projects from Kuwait, UAE, Turkey, Qatar, United Kingdom, US, India, Thailand and Philippines besides Eastern Europe and South-East Asia, said Ahmed Suleiman, the exhibition director. "Whether you are looking at investment or retirement opportunities from Thailand to Turkey or from Europe to the US, the Gulf Property Show will have something for everyone," added Abdulrahman. The Gulf Property Show is expected to attract over 7,000 visitors from Bahrain and the GCC; of which 20 per cent will be from Saudi Arabia. Gulf Property Show 2016 carries the strategic sponsorship of Diyar Al Muharraq and Manara Developments with the support of Bahrain Property Developers Association (BaPDA).-TradeArabia News Service Egypt has banned the trading of imported wheat inside the country, Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi said on Wednesday, a move which could reduce smuggling of the grain that cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars last year. Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, annually fixes a local procurement price for Egyptian wheat that is above global prices in an attempt to encourage farmers to grow the crop. As Reuters detailed in a special report in March, the higher local price led to record smuggling last year of cheap foreign wheat passed off as local crop. The wide scale fraud cost Egypt nearly E2 billion in public funds ($225 million). Those caught trading imported wheat domestically will be subject to a jail sentence of six months to one year and a fine of E500 to E1,000 ($56-$113), the statement said. Egypt's wheat harvest begins in April and runs through July. Last year the government said it procured a record 5.3 million tonnes of the grain, up from 3.7 million tonnes the year before. Industry sources say that roughly 2 million tonnes of last year's procurement actually came from abroad. - Reuters HH Sheikh Hasher Bin Maktoum Al Maktoum, Director General of Dubais Department of Information, today opened the second edition of World Art Dubai, the regions premier platform for affordable and accessible art, at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Running until April 9, the fair has grown considerably from last years inaugural edition. More than 140 local and international galleries and artists are onsite featuring a wide variety of artwork starting at just $100, highlighting World Art Dubais aim to provide art that is accessible and affordable to a wider community of people who are interested in contemporary art. A testament to the momentum of the contemporary art sector is its almost 20 per cent year-on-year growth, which is now valued at Dh21.7 billion ($5.9 billion) according to the TEFAF Art Market Report 2015. This sector is the largest of the global fine art market and represents 48 per cnet of all fine art sales by value. A VIP preview reception welcomed dozens of Dubais VIPs and influential art aficionados who had the chance to take in this years work of arts and enjoy a reception hosted by Coya, the Official Restaurant and VIP Preview Partner at World Art Dubai. A number of established and emerging artists and galleries from all over the world are making their debut at the fair while many prominent names have returned for the second edition of the show including Andakaluva Gallery, Cross Borders Art Gallery, Jade Flower, Nina Torres Fine Art, Anna Dudchenko, Petra Kaltenbach, Gallery KAG, and Charles Fazzino. As visitors browsed through the selection of art work on display, they also took part in engaging and informal conversations on a wide range of topics from information on the art market, transition to digital art, alternatives in art and a step by step approach to building an art collection. The Art Talks programme, presented by Digital Art Partner Microsoft, runs throughout the four-day fair as well as a Surface Digital Art Wall featured inside the Red Dot Lounge on the show floor. Microsoft brought in Ashraf Ghori, an award-winning artist and filmmaker, CEO of Dubai-based digital design agency Xpanse CGI and Senior Digital Art Consultant for Bayyinah TV who delivered a talk on the first day about the transition to digital art. Other highlights at the show offered both adult and children visitors a hands-on experience to unleash their creativity and to learn about the basic elements of art through educational workshops centered on the theme of Breaking Cultural Boundaries through Art. In the outdoor area, @The Yard featured food trucks, the Canon Activity Wall and Repton Schools Urban Dubai competition as well as an area for visitors to express themselves with paint on canvas. An Activity Wall set up by Canon, the Official Imaging Partner, gave visitors the opportunity to be part of the bigger picture by uploading their pictures on Instagram using the hashtag #mygraffitiart. The wall then uses these pictures to make up the pixels of a larger image, allowing visitors to literally become part of a work of art. Features running throughout the fair include painting demonstrations such as a live feet painting activation by award-winning artist, Zahirah Muthy, taking place tomorrow (April 7) from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm, and busker style musicians will be onsite daily from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm to create a lively atmosphere both indoors and outdoors using various musical instruments. Trixie LohMirmand, senior vice president, exhibitions and events management, DWTC, said: We are so pleased with the positive response World Art Dubai has received so far. The fair has grown considerably this year as we have seen an increasing interest from prominent galleries, both local and international, and weve also had many artists and galleries returning to showcase their work again. We hope to continue this upward growth in the next editions of the show and to expand our programme and features in response to visitor and participant feedback. LohMirmand added: Each year we are adding something new and unique to the Dubai art scene. Our aim with every edition is to position World Art Dubai as a truly affordable art fair that is open for all and so were happy to see such great demand and excitement from visitors during the shows opening day. The next few days of the fair are set to be busy, creative and inspiring. World Art Dubai 2016 is supported by Microsoft as its Digital Art Partner, and hosted at the Dubai World Trade Centre. Entry to the fair is Dh15 ($4)for a daily pass and tickets can be purchased onsite during the fair at the welcome desks. Children of 16 years and under are admitted free of charge, upon showing a student ID. More information and pre-registration is available at the website www.worldartdubai.com. - TradeArabia News Service Demand for auto parts and accessories in Africa is growing at rate of 11 per cent year-on-year and is expected to reach $15.3 billion by 2020, according to analysts Frost & Sullivan. The various opportunities and trends of East Africas automotive aftermarket were highlighted at the annual Automechanika Roadshow, held in Ethiopia and Kenya, last month, said a statement. More than 200 industry professionals attended the two-day roadshow and analysed the regions fast-growing potential, it added. The event was led by countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda, it said. The roadshow was presented by Messe Frankfurt Middle East, organiser of Automechanika Dubai and Automechanika Jeddah, the wider regions largest international exhibition network for the auto aftermarket. Ahmed Pauwels, CEO of Messe Frankfurt Middle East, said: Despite its highly fragmented nature, the African automotive aftermarket is among the most promising in terms of potential growth. Therere nearly 22 million vehicles on the continents roads today, creating demand for parts and accessories worth more than $8 billion per year. Its therefore become an increasingly significant market for global manufacturers of accessories and engine components such as bearings, brake pads, spark plugs and filters with a large amount of these being re-exported from the UAE, he said. Africa is also a major source of trade buyers and exhibitors at Automechanika Dubai and Jeddah, and the roadshow takes on increasing significance as it reaches out to African stakeholders to better understand their industry requirements and preferences, he added. The other South African pavilion exhibitors set to take part in the upcoming Automechanika Dubai 2016 spoke of the three-day event as a key stepping stone to the rest of Africa. Zane Scullard from Unicontinental Natal, a manufacturer of adhesives and sealants, said: Through Automechanika Dubai 2016 were planning to reach new customers and possibly extend our business into the North Africa. We consider Africa as very important for the growth of our business, while Dubais status as a major transhipment and re-export hub plays a fundamental role in fuelling the growth of Africas automotive aftermarket trade, he added. Automechanika Dubai 2016 will feature more than 2,000 exhibitors from 60 countries, and focuses on the six core product groups, consisting of parts and components; electronics and systems; repair and maintenance; tyres and batteries; car wash, care and reconditioning; and accessories and customising. The event is scheduled to take place from May 8 to 10, in Dubai, UAE. TradeArabia News Service Jordan has awarded two power purchase agreements (PPAs) for the development of two 50 MW wind power projects, a report said. Korea Southern Power and Daelim Energy will build the first wind park for a total cost of about $110 million, reported SeeNews, citing Jordan Times. The project finance will be sought from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Islamic Development Bank, a top official at Daelim Energy, was quoted as saying. Construction work is likely to begin next year with the aim of generating power by 2019. The other 50-MW project, also at an investment of $100 million, will be established by Abour Energy, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabias Xenel Industries, the report said. Residents of Kuwait can now apply for visas to the Netherlands at a new visa application centre launched by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Kuwait City. Applicants can visit the VFS Global centre to submit visa applications and enrol for biometrics in a centrally-located and comfortable environment. Kuwait is the seventh country in the Middle East, from where applicants can apply for a visa to the Netherlands. The Netherlands joins eight other Schengen client governments offering visa services at the same centre, making it more convenient for travellers planning multiple business or leisure trips abroad to apply at a single location. VFS Global serves a total of 13 client governments in Kuwait, and has operated visa processing services in the country since 2005. The company has partnered with the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2006, and serves the client in 24 countries from 54 visa application centres globally. Speaking about the launch, Frans Potuyt, ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the State of Kuwait, said: As the number of visa applications has risen sharply over the last couple of years, our embassy is not able to extend the necessary services anymore to the many Kuwaiti's and others, who would like to travel to the Netherlands. Of course we will miss the direct pleasant contacts with all these travellers, but we are confident that VFS and its professional staff will do everything to secure a swift application procedure. I hope that we could welcome even more friends from Kuwait in our beautiful country. Also present at the launch, Srinarayan Sankaran, COO Middle East, VFS Global, said: Our long-standing partnership with our esteemed client government, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is reflective of the trust they have bestowed on us through this time-honoured and successful relationship. We are privileged to further extend our services in Kuwait to them and remain committed to providing comprehensive end-to-end visa services for applicants." The key features of the centre include: Convenient and centrally-accessed location; Professional staff with local language capability to handle queries and applications; Well-appointed centre for enhanced comfort of applicants; Automated queue governance for smooth flow of applicants; Dedicated website for easy access to information including visa categories, requirements, check-list and applicable fees; 100 per cent secure handling of passports, documents and personal information; Door-step delivery of passports; Premium Lounge for personalised and comfortable service. - TradeArabia News Service Country Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahrain, Kingdom 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Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu US Virgin Islands Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland United States Minor Outlying Islands United States of America Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe Booking a stay on Airbnb involves navigating a lengthy list of optional amenities, or filters, to ensure you get exactly what you want. But what if the thing you want isn't on that list? Then you start a campaign asking Airbnb to add it, which is precisely what Lindsey McCoy has done. McCoy would like Airbnb to add a "green" filter to its internal search engine. This would allow travelers to find accommodations that adhere to a higher standard of sustainability than the average place and would recognize eco-minded hosts' efforts to shrink their own carbon footprints. A public letter to Airbnb, written by McCoy and posted online for others to sign in support, outlines what such efforts might look like: "A Green Filter would allow hosts to promote and users to find properties with eco-friendly features such as: powered by clean energy, using toxin-free cleaning products, reducing single-use plastic via reusable personal care products, cleaning products, and kitchen storage options, carbon neutrality, providing recycling and composting options, green linens and towels, or including Energy Star Appliances, among others." McCoy is the CEO of Plaine Products, a zero-waste hair and skincare company that sells shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and more in refillable stainless steel containers. (See related article on Treehugger.) She was motivated to launch this campaign, both as a frequent Airbnb user herself and as a business owner who works with hosts that are trying to reduce single-use plastic. She tells Treehugger, "In a recent email exchange, one [host] mentioned that her husband was concerned about spending more on sustainable products when Airbnb made it hard to recoup those investments. It got me thinking about how I would like to be able to support more sustainable hosts when I use Airbnb, and that a Green Filter addition to the Airbnb search engine could go a long way towards raising awareness of sustainable steps people can take in their own home. As a certified B Corporation, we love the idea of using business for good." She emailed Airbnb but knew she'd need broader support. "They wouldnt listen to one person and [so I] told them I intended to post an open letter and come back to them with thousands of signatures to show support for the idea," she says. So far she's managed to get nearly 1,000 signatures from 30 countries, which shows she's not the only one who thinks this is a good idea. "As Airbnb is an international company, were trying hard to get the message out beyond the United States," she explains. It's not a stretch to imagine Airbnb adding such a filter. More travelers are seeking out sustainable options everywhere they go. The campaign website states that 45% of travelers wish online booking sites offered sustainable or eco-friendly filter options. Seventy percent would be more likely to book accommodation if they knew it was eco-friendly, but only 50% say there's enough choice when it comes to places to stay and 38% are not even sure where to look. "Airbnb set the industry standard early in the COVID Crisis with cleaning protocols," McCoy wrote in her initial letter to the company. "We think that Airbnb has another opportunity to set the green standard that will meet the growing demand for more sustainable travel options." If you think a green filter is a good idea, you can add your signature to the letter here. Seen on the wall at the University of Regina School of Nursing: a poster claiming that distracted walking causes more injuries than texting while driving. I thought this was insane and untrue; where could this come from? Googling it a few weeks ago, I found similar words all leading back to about 2013, with the Atlantic on top of google search with Study: 'Distracted Walking' Causes More Injuries Than Distracted Driving. It, and every other reference of the period, points to a study by Jack Nasar and Derek Troyer, Pedestrian injuries due to mobile phone use in public places, published in the journal Accident Analysis & Prevention. Study, Pedestrian injuries due to mobile phone use in public places The study was behind a paywall when I first looked, but there was a graph in the Atlantic article that made no sense, showing 1506 injuries to pedestrians and 1162 to drivers. Which is totally crazy, because the Center for Disease Control tells us that 1161 drivers are injured every DAY, that in 2013, 424,000 were injured and 3,154 killed. Something was nuts. Then Charles Komanoff of Streetsblog had a look at the question of where all this information comes from, that is being used to justify legislation that bans texting and walking. He went deep into the study by Nasar and Troyer, as I have now too. Essentially, the source of the data for injuries to drivers and pedestrians in the table reproduced in the Atlantic was the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database, where data on injuries is collected in emergency rooms. Nasar and Troyer knew that it was grossly under-reporting injuries to drivers, writing in the report that in 2008, for which NEISS estimated 1099 driver injuries related to mobile phone use: 515,000 people were injured and 5870 people died in traffic accidents in the United States related to driver distraction. So in what Charles Komanoff calls the the wildest extrapolation youll see in any peer-reviewed journal this decade, the study authors write: Thus, for drivers using mobile phones, the number of crash-related injuries are about 1300 times higher than the CPSC national estimates of emergency room injuries. If similar numbers apply to pedestrians, then the 2010 national estimate from emergency rooms may reflect about 2 million pedestrian injuries relate to mobile phone use. Given that there were a total of 66,000 pedestrian injuries of any kind for the year, that number seems a bit off. In fact, it is apparent that the whole meme, that distracted walking causes more injuries than texting while driving, is nonsensical. Who you calling distracted?/Public Domain So why is the auto industry, and those on its payroll, from orthopedic surgeons to governors, peddling this canard? Komanoff has a great quote from sociologist William Ryan: Victim blaming is a subtle process, cloaked in kindness and concern. I think it is pretty much of a continuation of the anti-jaywalking campaigns, and the bike helmet wars, where out of an abundance of kindness and concern, they scare people off the streets and get them to walk quickly and purposefully and not delay (or jump out of the way of) cars. Either that, or they are trying to convince us that the only place you are ever safe is inside a steel cocoon. Distracted walking is dumb. But it is being blown all out of proportion and the University of Regina nurses, like everyone else using these statistics, is peddling nonsense. Tribune News Service New Delhi, April 6 To provide a more efficient and flexible policy for crude procurement, the government today gave freedom to PSU oil companies to have their own independent crude import policy. The Union Cabinet gave its approval to replace the existing policy on crude oil import by oil PSUs and vest the oil PSUs with the power to evolve their own policies, eventually benefitting the consumers. The existing policy for import of crude oil was approved by the Cabinet in the year 1979. In 2001, the Cabinet approved some amendment to the policy. While the current policy has ensured that collective energy needs of oil PSUs are consistently met over the years, the policy needs to evolve with the changing times. The government said with the changing geopolitical environment, the crude oil import policy needs to be modified to bring it in tune with current needs. The current market practices for purchase of crude oil on spot basis also need to be adopted to compete effectively in the market. The current policy has certain limitations and restrictions in this regard, which limit the potential sources and methods of procurement. The Cabinet has approved that the oil PSUs shall be empowered to evolve their own policies for import of crude oil, consistent with CVC guidelines and get them approved by the respective Boards. This measure, which is in keeping with the principle of Minimum Government Maximum Governance, will increase the operational and commercial flexibility of the oil companies and enable them to adopt the most effective procurement practices for import of crude oil, statement said. In a project aimed to provide flood forecasts as well as data to help farmers plan their cropping pattern, the government today gave its nod to the multi- purpose National Hydrology Project (NHP) which has an outlay of over Rs 3,679 crore. The Cabinet also more than tripled the funding for exports to Iran to Rs 3,000 crore through the Export Development Fund (EDF) of the Exim Bank to improve bilateral trade and strategic ties. The government said the proposal will promote the countrys exports with Iran and also deepen Indias relationship with Iran as a strategic partner. In another decision, the Cabinet cleared liberalisation of spectrum which was allocated without auction to telecom companies at TRAI recommended price with the balance being collected after deriving market rate through bidding. The Cabinet approved the modifications in the policy for liberalisation of administratively allotted spectrum where market determined prices were not available. This will facilitate optimal utilisation of spectrum by introducing new technologies, sharing and trading of spectrum. Gagan K Teja Tribune News Service Patiala, April 5 A four-member team of the Medical Council of India (MCI), led by Dr Pradeep Garg, reached the Government Medical College here today to prepare a compliance report pertaining to the shortcomings highlighted by it during its previous visit to the college. The MCI team had earlier inspected the college to ascertain whether it should be allowed to retain 50 MBBS seats that were increased two years ago from 150 then. In 2015, the MCI had recommended cancelling 50 MBBS seats at the college due to various shortcomings found there in November 2014. The shortcoming were 37 per cent shortage of senior and junior doctors; the emergency has only 20 beds instead of 30 and does not have adequate ventilator facility; the college has four lecture halls with seating capacity of 150 each whereas there should be five halls with a capacity of 250 each and one with a capacity of 500; the central library has a seating capacity of only about 100 whereas it should be around 200; and the college does not having reading rooms for residents and PG students. The college authorities had then submitted a compliance report following which the MCI team reached had revisited the campus and later, allowed the college to retain the seats. Similarly, the team had visited the college again to see whether all anomalies had been removed. The MCI team today held a surprise visit to the college and took attendance of the staff. The team members also reviewed the records of various departments and visited various wards to see the facilities being provided to interns and patients. The team will submit its report shortly. G Parthasarathy ON March 2, 1962, General Ne Win, then Burmas de facto ruler, seized absolute power by assuming the office of President of the country. It thereafter took 54 years for the country to elect a civilian head of government. It earlier took 26 years to oust the growingly unpopular Ne Win, who reduced the mineral-rich and agriculturally well-endowed country to economic stagnation, abject poverty and virtual bankruptcy. The subsequent elections in 1990 led to a sweeping victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the hero the countrys independence, Gen Aung San. The army, however, remained determined to retain power. After ruling for two decades, it imposed a constitution that denied Suu Kyi the possibility of becoming the head of government. Undeterred, she led her party to a sweeping victory in the national and provincial elections last year, which guaranteed her and the NLD a predominant position in the national government and in the governance of all but two provinces in the country. On March 30, Htin Kyaw, a mild- mannered economist and confidante of Suu Kyi, with no independent political standing, was sworn in as the first civilian President, after over five decades. Suu Kyi has manoeuvred skillfully to ensure that she remains the key figure in governance. Despite the elections, the constitution drafted by the military guarantees it a crucial role in governance. The army nominates one-fourth of MPs. The constitution cannot be amended on issues like enabling Suu Kyi to become President without the concurrence of the military. One of the two Vice-Presidents is from the army, which also dominates the powerful National Defence and Security Council. The ministries of home, defence and border affairs are also controlled by the army, with their ministers being drawn from the ranks of the military. Lastly, the army commander in chief, Senior General Aung Hlaing, wields substantial authority in dealing with ethnic insurgencies that have torn the country apart since its independence. Suu Kyi has acted expertly by reducing the number of government ministries, in an attempt to streamline government functioning. But her most astute move has been getting key responsibilities allocated to her. She now holds charge of the ministries of foreign affairs, education, energy and electric power. Crucially, she is also head of the office of the President. As foreign minister, she will have a seat in the powerful 11-member National Defence and Security Council. As head of the office of the President, she will be involved in finalising decisions on key appointments, while controlling economic and development policies. But she has stoked a controversy by obtaining legal approval for her to become a State Counsellor, assuming a role which is normally the prerogative of the President. Suu Kyi has established a separate ministry to deal with ethnic affairs, which will play a key role in ending decades of vicious ethnic conflicts. Efforts by former President Thein Sein last year to restore ethnic peace, were only partially successful. Only eight out of 18 armed ethnic groups joined a formal ceasefire. The most powerful armed separatist groups in the Shan state bordering China and the Kachin state bordering both India and China have not signed any ceasefire agreement. Domestically, the real test of the abilities of the new dispensation will be on its ability to bring about ethnic peace in Myanmar. Suu Kyi will not only be challenged by the ethnic groups, but also the army while seeking to deal with these challenges. Myanmar also faces several external challenges. The primary challenge is going to be on dealing with China which got used to its economic projects in Myanmar being sanctioned without any serious questions being raised. Tensions between Myanmar and China across their borders in Shan state escalated after members of the Wa tribe carried out attacks on Myanmar territory from bases in China. Beijing also has a cosy relationship with the Kachin Independence Army, which operates across the border between its Yunnan province and Myanmars Kachin state. Armed insurgents from Indias northeastern states like Assam, Manipur and Nagaland take refuge in these border areas, from where they maintain links in Yunnan province. China will inevitably use its leverage with these groups to seek economic and diplomatic concessions from Myanmar. While Suu Kyi has visited China and met President Xi Jinping, the Chinese inevitably have doubts and misgivings about what are perceived to be her close links with the Americans and the British. There are also questions in the minds of Myanmars ASEAN partners, about how Suu Kyi will take forward the links that Myanmar has with its ASEAN members. She has, reportedly, not been too pleased with what she regarded as ASEAN support for the military rulers. Suu Kyi has a wide circle of personal friends in India. She spent a number of years in India, graduating from Lady Sri Ram College in New Delhi, when her mother was Burmas Ambassador in New Delhi. She knows that while there was admiration for the struggle for the restoration of democratic freedoms in Myanmar, and that this had been clarified regularly at the highest levels to the military rulers, India had its own national security imperatives which required it to maintain a continuing, correct and friendly relations with the country. Like her father, Suu Kyi is first and foremost a Burmese nationalist, whether it comes to addressing the issues of Muslim Rohingyas, or the Indian community. She will deal with India as a friendly neighbour and base the relationship on what it does to fulfil the aspirations of Myanmars people. Like most of her fellow citizens, she was unhappy at our crude chest thumping that accompanied the cross-border raid we carried out last year on Myanmar soil. We would do well to remember this while dealing with Myanmar and, indeed, with all our neighbours. Myanmars economy grew at 7.2 per cent in 2015-16 and is expected to grow at 8.4 per cent in 2016-2017. Our diplomacy should remain focused on expanding trade and economic ties, promoting regional connectivity to and through Myanmar, and most importantly, on security cooperation for maintaining peace, stability and cooperation, along the 1,640-km land border. Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Fatehabad, April 6 All India Jat Arakshan Sangharash Samiti (AIJASS) president Yash Pal Malik has announced that the community would hold a rally to demand release of those arrested in connection with the community's protests in February at Fatehabad on April 13. The Jat leader, who led 300 protesters to demonstrate outside mini-secretariat at Fatehabad to demand release of five youngsters arrested for arson during the communitys protest in February, threatened to use cattle during their protest this time. In his speech to protesters on an indefinite strike, Malik accused the state government of going back on their promises to the community. Jats from several villages nearby, among them Dhani Bhojraj, Sanchla, Bhuna and Gorakhpur, began an indefinite protest against the youngsters arrest on April 4. AIJASS district president Balwan Singh were among the five youngsters arrested for arson and blocking roads on April 3 after they returned from Delhi. Police had tried arresting the youngsters several times previously, failing each time as villagers foiled their attempts. Maliks announcement a little over a week after Haryana Assembly approved two Bills that guaranteed reservation for six castes Jats among them in government jobs and educational institutions in the state. By state governments own estimates, some 30 people had died in the violent caste protests the state had witnessed in February. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, April 6 The Board of Management, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) has appointed heads of different departments. Dr Sushil Prabhakar, registrar, GADVASU, said the management approved names of heads of four departments of the College of Veterinary Science as the term of the incumbents has ended. Department of Veterinary Gynaecology &Obstetrics Dr Parkash Singh Brar will be HoD, Department of Veterinary Gynaecology and Obstetrics. He is having additional charge of director, Livestock Farms. He handled 16 research projects as principal investigator for various funding agencies including two from joint division of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, Austria. He has travelled to more than 12 countries in different capacities. He has more than 200 publications to his credit. He has guided seven postgraduate students as major advisor. His priority area will be to strengthen the undergraduate teaching and developing better linkages with farmers for combating the serious problem of sub-fertility among dairy animals in the state. Department of Veterinary Medicine Dr Sanjeev Kumar Uppal has been appointed as Head of Department, Veterinary Medicine. He has more than 25 years of teaching, research and extension experience. He has guided 10 MVSc and 2 PhD students. He did his PhD under German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship. He was awarded Commonwealth Post Doctorate Fellowship by UK and DC Blood Gold Medal by Indian Society for Veterinary Medicine. He is a fellow of National Academy of Veterinary Sciences of India. He has more than 100 publications referred in international and national journals to his credit. He has attended a good number of national and international conferences. Animal Disease Research Centre Dr Charan Kamal Singh, senior veterinary, Pathologist, has been appointed as in-charge, Animal Disease Research Centre. With his continued scientific contribution of more than 28 years in the field of rabies diagnosis, pathogenesis and control, is now a leading name in the field of rabies. His pioneering work on intravitam diagnosis of rabies in animals has brought in promptness and authenticity in speedy diagnosis of rabies in live animals by least invasive molecular approaches out of secretions/excretions and tissues of animals. Dept of Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex Dr Sarvpreet Singh Ghuman has been selected as HoD, Department of Teaching Veterinary Clinical Complex. He has been associated with 16 research projects. His research work has been recognised with Nils Lagerlof Memorial Award-2010, Dr NC Sharma Memorial Award-2010. Dr Ghuman has 7 review articles and 132 scientific publications in referred journals of repute and has presented 10 lead papers in various conferences as well as 56 presentations in national/state level training courses. He has published 101 popular articles and a book on Scientific Dairy farming for farmers. Also, he is editor of Indian Journal of Animal Reproduction. His major research interests include development of an economical and efficient fixed-time Artificial Insemination protocol for buffaloes reared in tropical areas. Dr AS Nanda, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, congratulated the new heads of departments and hoped that they will perform excellent to meet the growing needs of the livestock sector. Washington, April 6 Special US representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson will embark on a two-day visit to India on Wednesday to hold talks with top officials on a range of key issues, including Indias role in promoting stability and prosperity in the region. Olson will hold discussions on promoting Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process, the State Department said. The visit is also an opportunity for US officials to express appreciation for Indias support for the people and government of Afghanistan, including trade ties, security and development assistance, as well as Indias key role in promoting a more stable and prosperous region, the State Department said. PTI Tribune News Service Dehradun, April 6 The Doon School headmaster, Dr Peter McLaughlin, inaugurated the new building of Taxila Public School at Chakha in Rudraprayag district here today. The building of Taxila Public School was destroyed on June 16, 2013 due to flash floods that had claimed thousands of lives. The staff, children and parents of The Doon School have constructed the school building. The guest of honour during the inauguration ceremony was Lakshmi Rana, Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh of Rudraprayag, who along with Dr Peter McLaughlin cut the ribbon. It was the autumn of 2013 when The Doon School decided to rebuild Taxila Public School, which served 175 underprivileged children. Going beyond donating food, water, clothing or money, the school community felt that it should step forward. Once the initial rescue and relief operations were over, the school dedicated itself to a role in the long term reconstruction of the state. In September 2013, over 200 Doon School students and teachers visited several disaster-hit villages on a reconnaissance mission, which included digging debris filled buildings. The buildings where they took up work included a government school as well. They set up a medical camp, extended emotional support to the bereaved families and rebuilt foundations of bridges washed away by swollen rivers. It took The Doon School two and a half years to raise funds and rebuild Taxila Public School on a high and safe ground as its long-term project. It cost approximately Rs 1 crore on the building and furnishing. Finding a suitable land was the most challenging task. Five villagers came forward and donated land. The school also bought a chunk of land from a landholder, who needed money to make a new beginning after the flash floods. Students visited Rudraprayag several times to help in the construction of the new building. Over the years, students made hollow bricks, build retaining walls and did masonry work. They also formed human chains to carry tonnes of building material to the new construction site across the narrow bridge rebuilt to replace the one washed away in the floods. Teachers and students of Taxila Public School were huddled in crowded tents and two corrugated iron sheds through the monsoon and bitterly cold winter. Taxila School Principal Om Prakash Benjwal never lost hope, and his spirit motivated teachers and pupils of The Doon School to fulfill their promise. The Doon School deployed technical experts from within the Dosco (alumni) community and the schools engineering and other departments to complete the project. A member of Doon Schools Board of Governors donated Rs 18 lakh. As the Doon School students and masters engaged themselves in the project, they were joined by Round Square schools across India and South Asia and the Gulf region. Over 200 students and teachers from 10 Indian schools such as Mayo College, Ajmer; Daly College, Indore; MGD, Jaipur; Vivek High, Chandigarh; Scindia Kanya Vidyalaya, Gwalior; participated in the project. Besides, schools from Oman and Dubai also participated over the years. Over 80 girls and boys from Round Square schools were present at the inauguration ceremony of the resuscitated Taxila Public School. Round Square Schools, through the Friends of Round Square charity, also donated Rs 15 lakh for construction and furnishing the new school. The Doon School Headmaster said, Of all the achievements of The Doon School during my tenure, this is the one which I am probably most proud of. Washington, April 6 The US is poised to sell state-of-the-art thermal weapon sights and spares to Pakistan, in the wake of Obama Administrations decision to provide eight F-16 fighter jets and nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters worth $170 million to the country. The Pentagon yesterday awarded a $17-million contract to Raytheon for supply of state-of-the art thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities by enabling soldiers to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, fog and other obscurants. Raytheon is known as a pioneer in thermal weapons sights. The Pentagon yesterday said Raytheon has been awarded a $17,877,938 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Pakistan) for thermal weapon sights and spares, training, and contract data requirements lists. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; and Pakistan, with an estimated completion date of October 30, 2017. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of $17,877,938 were obligated at the time of the award, the statement said. PTI tricountyleader.com expired on 09/23/2022 and is pending renewal or deletion. Backorder Domain Godlewski. Photo courtesy of NGVAmerica. Matthew Godlewski, president of NGVAmerica, asked Oklahoma legislators not to pass a bill that would cut a number of tax incentives for natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and fueling stations. Oklahoma Senate Bill 977 would establish a moratorium that stunts progress made through incentives that helped the growth of NGVs in Oklahoma and created statewide public access to compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) stations, Godlweski wrote in a letter to the editor for The Journal Record. The bill would cut incentives Oklahoma passed in 2009, 2010, and 2011, which includes a tax credit that covers up to 45% of the cost of a new or modified clean-burning motor vehicle. The state also offered the incentive of covering 75% of the cost of installing commercial alternative fueling infrastructures. The growth in fueling stations has grown 79% since 2011, according to Godlewski. The incentives have saved Oklahomans millions of dollars and helped with the states air quality and economy, according to Godlewski. He said that NGV drivers have already saved nearly $85 million since the tax credits were enacted, and that clean transportation motorists would save approximately $55 million over the next four years if the credits continue. The tax credits have meant a net cost benefit of over $18 million dollars for all taxpayers, according to Godlewski. He says Oklahoma has more CNG fueling stations per capita than any other state. Oklahoma faces a $1.3 billion budget deficit, according to Bloomberg. If the bill passes, the tax credits would be suspended from July 1 of this year to June 30, 2018. NAYPYITAW, Myanmar Myanmars parliament on Tuesday approved the creation of a new post for Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the countrys newly installed ruling party, which is similar to prime minister. Suu Kyi is banned by the constitution from becoming president because her children hold foreign citizenship. The bill establishing the position of state counsellor was opposed by the militarys representatives in parliament, but passed easily because of the strong majority that Suu Kyis National League for Democracy won in last Novembers election. The bill must be signed by President Htin Kyaw, Suu Kyis close ally, before taking effect. The military representatives, who under the constitution drafted under the former military regime hold 25 percent of parliaments seats, boycotted Tuesdays vote, standing in protest. Suu Kyi, who is already foreign minister, met Tuesday with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. China is Myanmars biggest neighbor and most important economic partner, and was the main ally of the former military government. It has come under criticism for allegedly exploitative and environmentally unsound projects in Myanmar. The projects include a mega-dam and mines in the countrys northern Kachin state, a gas pipeline in western Rakhine state, a large copper mine in central Myanmar and several special economic zones. At a news conference after their meeting, neither minister indicated whether those sensitive issues had been discussed. Wang congratulated Myanmar on installing its first civilian government in decades and declared that China would work only on projects that were beneficial to both countries. The move to make Suu Kyi the countrys de facto top leader, initiated last week, was the new governments first legislative act. Suu Kyi, 70, originally took on four Cabinet posts foreign affairs, education, energy and the presidents office but dropped the education and energy portfolios as the move to give her the influential new position was launched. Merle Haggard, 79, died Wednesday. Five things you might find interesting about him: Haggard was serving time for burglary in San Quentin when Johnny Cash performed a prison concert there Jan. 1, 1958. Watching Cash perform sparked Haggards desire to turn his life around. Haggard once said this about Cashs prison concert: He had the right attitude. He chewed gum, looked arrogant and flipped the bird to the guards. He did everything the prisoners wanted to do. He was a mean mother from the South who was there because he loved us. When he walked away, everyone in that place had become a Johnny Cash fan. Ronald Reagan is part of Haggard lore. As Californias governor in 1972, Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for past criminal offenses. In 2004, Haggard told CMT the pardon meant everything to him. It really did. Well, you can imagine yourself, you know, you got this tail hanging on you, and suddenly you dont have it anymore. Its just wonderful not to have to walk up and say, Pardon me, before I do this, I want to tell you that Im an ex-convict. You have to do that with any sort of legal transaction, with leaving the country, with anything of that nature. All those things went away when Ronald Reagan was kind enough to look at my case and give me a pardon. A road sign led to Haggard penning his 1969 Okie from Muskogee anthem. Haggard said he was driving down the highway and saw a sign that said 19 miles to Muskogee. His family had roots in the area, and Muskogee came to be part of a song that was written in response to a youth culture that was unappreciative of freedom, according to Haggard. The funniest thing thats happened over the years is that everybody who was against the song has come over to my side of thinking about it, he told Performing Songwriter in 2007. They understand it now. Haggard and Buck Owens are the names most synonymous with the Bakersfield Sound branch of country music. But the Bakersfield Sound isnt the only thing Haggard and Owens had in common. Owens first wife, Bonnie, later became Haggards wife. Born Bonnie Campbell in Blanchard, Oklahoma, she was the Academy of Country Musics female performer of the year in 1965. Some country singers sang about trains. Haggard lived in one. Haggard grew up in a boxcar that his father converted into a family home. According to a 2014 New York Times story, the Haggard family learned of the boxcar from a fellow church member. The owner of the boxcar asked Haggards father if he thought he could turn a surplus refrigerated train car into a dwelling. Recalled Merles sister, Lillian Haggard Rae, in the New York Times story: She asked my daddy where he was from, and when he said Oklahoma, she said, I hear Oklahomans dont work. Well, his blue eyes met her blue eyes, and he said, Ive never heard of one who didnt. WAGONER Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert has agreed to be suspended from his duties with pay pending a jury trial on a multicounty grand jurys accusation seeking his removal from office. Colbert arrived at the Wagoner County Courthouse just after 9 a.m. and spent more than a half hour in conference with his attorneys before appearing before Associate Judge Darrell Shepherd, where he announced his voluntary suspension ahead of a planned hearing to decide the matter. The grand jury on Thursday indicted Colbert and sheriffs Capt. Jeff Gragg on three felony counts of bribery and extortion, and recommended Colberts immediate suspension and eventual removal from office for extortion, willful neglect of duty and failure to produce and account for public funds. The accusation alleges Colbert failed to account for $440 of $2,500 he received from the Wagoner County Treasurers Office for undercover operations in October 2011, as well as neglected his duties when participating in a bribe involving taking $10,000 in cash from two motorists in 2014. Gary James, one of Colberts attorneys, told Shepherd that the situation is a very political issue in Wagoner County. Colbert did not speak in court, nor did he comment to reporters following the proceedings. This (hearing) would require the calling of employees of Sheriff Colbert, James said. It would require things that are not in the best interest of the sheriffs office ... and the people of this county. We are not waiving anything by voluntarily suspending. James said his client will submit a formal suspension request within 10 days to the Board of County Commissioners, which has its next regular meeting Monday morning. Assistant Attorney General Megan Tilly said the state did not object to the request but maintained that the hearings main purpose was to ensure this suspension is effective as of today. Colbert will return to court May 9 to determine whether he is ready to proceed with a tentative mid-June jury trial date that will determine whether he is removed. James and Clint Hastings, another of Colberts attorneys, told reporters they continue to deny the allegations against their client. They have received about 2,500 pages of documents from the attorney generals office so far. Ultimately, we think the issues are quite simple, and well prove the sheriff innocent of the charges, Hastings said. The documents and such, as a matter of course we need to review them, but I think everyone will find that these issues are quite simple in the end. Colbert and Gragg are accused of taking $10,000 from two motorists, including a then-17-year-old, in exchange for not pursuing drug charges against them in December 2014. Colbert called the news conference after local media reported that the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation were looking into allegations he falsified his continuing education records, which consisted of having deputies sign him into classes he did not attend. The OSBI said March 30 that its inquiry into that issue is still open and active. Colbert and Gragg were booked and released on $10,000 bond March 30, then charged Friday in Wagoner County with conspiracy to receive a bribe, receiving a bribe and committing extortion through threats. The first two charges include an alternative for conspiracy to commit extortion and extortion, respectively. Both face up to 25 years in prison and could be ordered to pay fines of up to $10,000 if convicted. They are set for arraignment on the criminal charges May 4. In an unrelated incident, Colbert, the Board of Commissioners, a deputy and other law enforcement employees were sued this week in connection with the August 2014 shooting of a man by deputies during a standoff, which began after deputies responded to a domestic violence call in unincorporated Broken Arrow. The plaintiff in the case, who has a mental illness, claims deputies recklessly provoked him to attack them and misrepresented the circumstances of the shooting to the public by not stating his mental health status. The suit asks for a $3 million judgment against the defendants. OKLAHOMA CITY Proposed constitutional amendments that ask voters to return a Ten Commandments monument to the Oklahoma Capitol grounds have been approved by separate House and Senate committees. The Republican-backed measures were approved Wednesday by rules committees of the Oklahoma House and Senate and sent to the full chambers for a vote. The resolutions call for a statewide referendum on whether to abolish an article of the Oklahoma Constitution that prohibits the use of state funds to support a religion. The state Supreme Court relied on that constitutional requirement in June when it ordered a Ten Commandments monument removed from the Capitol grounds. The 6-foot-tall granite monument was authorized by the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2009 and was erected in 2012. CATOOSA Catoosa Public Schools will make the move to a four-day week starting next school year. The districts Board of Education approved the move at a special meeting earlier this week. The move is expected to save the district about $200,000, said Superintendent Rick Kibbe. Catoosa has been considering the option since early October. The discussion was temporarily put on hold because of parent concerns, and district officials decided to await further word from the Legislature regarding how large education cuts could be in the upcoming year. The district sought feedback from the community through various methods over the past months. Kibbe said about 68 percent of those surveyed approved the change in schedule. Kibbe said people need to realize that education funding is now at the same level it was about 10 years ago, with cuts piled on to cuts that were never re-funded when the economy improved. Schools have got to do drastic things, he said. This is devastating. The districts new schedule means students will not be in school on Fridays. Kibbe said his district is trying to reach a savings of $750,000 next year in anticipation of the state aid cuts. In addition to moving to a four-day week, Catoosa has had a de facto hiring freeze, with other employees absorbing the responsibilities of most people who have resigned or retired this year. That means class sizes are going up, Kibbe said. The district is also looking at general cost-savings areas, such as watching its utility costs. Although there was a suggestion of cutting bus service to students, district officials did not think that was a viable option. Were not there yet, Kibbe said. Buses are a vital service to provide for our student body. Catoosa Public Schools has about 2,100 students. It's Divali time so at TV6 over the next few days, we bring you some of the interesting aspe Hypnotist Keith Barry is going to be racking up the frequent flyer points, after joining the US production of Youre Back in the Room. Barry will appear alongside US host Taye Diggs for eight episodes on FOX. Thats three more than Nine commissioned for Australia. He also features in the original series, now in its second season in the UK. In an article earlier this week Daryl Somers mentioned that he recommended Barry to US producers when they were considering a US hypnotist. The second I saw this show I knew I needed to be a part of it. Its the most unique blend of comedy and competition Ive seen in years, said Diggs. Im also quite excited as this is a program I can watch and laugh at with my six-year-old son. Over the weekend Youre Back in the Room won the Best Gameshow at the International Format Awards in Cannes. Launching to 1.16m viewers for Nine, its off to a solid start in Australia despite polarising comments on social media. Source: Deadline UK actress Miranda Hart is returning to Call the Midwife for its 2016 Christmas special and will star in series six in 2017. Hart, who plays nurse Chummy, had a recurring role in season 4 (currently screening on ABC) but departed to take over as matron of the mother and baby home Nonnatus House. She did not feature in season 5. Weve been bursting to share the news Chummy has left the mother and baby unit and is heading back to Poplar for series six! said producers Neal Street Productions. Were thrilled to be once again featuring Miranda Hart and her fabulous blend of warmth, strength and vulnerability as Chummy gets to grips with the medical and social challenges of the 1960s. Season six will include filming in South Africa. Source: The Sun Seven, Nine and TEN have held talks to campaign over their push to lower or erase licence fees in Australia. It follows recent reports that they are likely to miss out on a cut in the upcoming Federal Budget. Networks have argued the $153m in fees is onerous and prohibits them from investing further monies into Australian production. Seven CEO Tim Worner (pictured) recently told a Senate hearing Were paying licence fees that are far in excess of any other jurisdiction in the world. Governments in other jurisdictions have moved some years ago to address this. Weve shown already with the last lot of licence fee reductions that more than 100 per cent of it will go back into the production of local content. We will see hundreds if not thousands of new jobs created because of the amount of local production that we can undertake, he said. We simply cannot now. We have things that are parked waiting at an amber light. We just do not have the money to fund them. FremantleMedia boss Ian Hogg also expressed support for the move earlier this week. After the last licence fee reduction in 2011, the free-to-air spend on local content increased by more than $300 million (FreeTV), he wrote. Healthy broadcasters, all of whom recognise that Australian content will become increasingly important to their schedules, will lead to more money being spent on local production. This could lead to a new era of investment in Australian stories. Any reinvigorated ecosystem needs a catalyst and the forefront of that change should be strong, considered policy that contemplates the entire sum of the parts. A joint campaign by Seven, Nine and TEN on our screens could prove to be very influential in garnering support for their argument. Licence fees were previously halved to 4.5 per cent of TV revenues, but without any increase in local content requirements. Source: The Australian 11:26 a.m., April 6, 2016--Zakia Salime, assistant professor of sociology and womens and gender studies at Rutgers University, will speak at the University of Delaware from 12:30-1:45 p.m., Friday, April 15, in 208 Gore Hall on Bodies, Sexuality and Revolutions in North Africa. The lecture, hosted by UDs African Studies program and Center for Global and Area Studies and co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and International Relations, is free and open to the public. Salime teaches courses in comparative feminism(s), gender, globalization, social movements, international inequalities and postcoloniality. Her research interests include race, empire, the political economy of the "war on terror," development policies, Islamic societies and movements and Middle East-U.S. relations. She is the author of Between Feminism and Islam: Human Rights and Sharia Law in Morocco. In her lecture, Salime will discuss how, after the euphoria of the first waves of Arab Spring uprisings that toppled heads of state in Tunisia and Egypt, the woman's body became the front line of the protest scene. She will ask: In what language did "other" bodies of "ordinary" women speak in the context of the uprisings? Through what kind of representational regimes are these "other" bodies allowed to speak, or be made silent? Global April Salimes lecture is just one of many events being sponsored this month by the Center for Global and Area Studies as a way for the UD community to explore the world from campus. See a full list of the centers Global April activities at this website. Secretary of Ukraines National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Oleksandr Turchynov next week will travel to Poland to meet with the leadership of the country and visit the Special Operations Center and defense enterprises. The NSDC press service reported this following the results of a meeting of NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine Henryk Litwin. The sides discussed details of the visit of Ukraines NSDC secretry to the Republic of Poland that is to take place on April 14-15 of the current year. In the scope of the visit, Turchynov will meet with the highest leadership and heads of Polands security and defense bloc. Ukraines NSDC secretary plans to visit the Special Operations Center and defense enterprises of Poland, reads the report. iy The situation in eastern Ukraine remains tense with a tendency to further escalation. This is reported by the ATO press center. "The Russian-terrorist groups launched 76 attacks over the past day. In particular, 23 attacks were launched using 120mm and 82mm mortars, banned by the Minsk Agreements," reads the statement. The tensest situation was observed in Donetsk direction, where the militants shelled the Ukrainian positions using heavy weapons, grenade launchers, machine guns and small arms. In particular, Ukrainian positions near Avdiyivka (18km north of Donetsk), Zaitseve (67km north-north-east of Donetsk), Opytne (11.5km north-west of Donetsk), Pisky (12km north-west of Donetsk) came under fire. ol President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has invited Japanese companies to invest in Ukraine and participate in the privatization of Ukrainian ports and the energy sector companies. The President stated this during the meeting with representatives of the Keidanren Japan Business Federation. "Bilateral cooperation has never been so dynamic in our history. It has never reached such a high level of trust," Poroshenko said. The Head of State noted that the Ukrainian export to Japan had grown by 12% the year before and the Japanese direct investment in Ukraine exceeded USD 130 million. The President emphasized that the Agreement on Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investments signed in November 2015 by Japan and Ukraine facilitated the activity of Japanese companies in Ukraine. The meeting was attended by representatives of Toshiba Corporation, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Hitachi Ltd.Asahi Kasei, Itochu Corporation, Sumitomo Corporation, Sojitz Corporation, Teijin Limited etc. ol Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has thanked Japan for a decision to allocate a new tranche of financial aid worth $13.6 million for Ukraine to restore eastern regions. President Poroshenko said this at a joint press conference with Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, an Ukrinform correspondent reports. I would like to thank the government of Japan and Mr. prime minister for granting financial, technical and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. In particular, we are grateful for todays decision of the Japanese side to allocate a new tranche of humanitarian aid worth $13.6 million to restore eastern regions of Ukraine, he said. iy Twice more than before - UAH 5 million - were transferred to the Kharkiv region by the UN Agency for Refugees for the implementation of "Station Region" project to assist IDPs from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2016. Head of the field office of the Agency for Refugees in Kharkiv city Aslak Sulumsmuyen has stated this amount, while answering questions from Ukrinform. According to him, special attention is paid to such vulnerable groups of population as Roma and former prisoners released from jails. He also noted the beneficial cooperation between the UN field office with the volunteers of NGO "Kharkiv Station", which has begun in 2015, resulting in over 90,000 persons were assisted thanks to the joint activities. Thanks for visiting ! The use of software that blocks ads hinders our ability to serve you the content you came here to enjoy. We ask that you consider turning off your ad blocker so we can deliver you the best experience possible while you are here. Thank you for your support! In his small workshop in Dzaleka refugee camp in Malawi, Patron Pulashong produces handcrafted guitars that are sold all over the world. UNHCR/K.Shimoh DZALEKA, Malawi, April 6 (UNHCR) - Hidden among the dirt footpaths of Dzaleka refugee camp is the nerve centre of a business that strikes a chord worldwide. In one of the mud houses crammed together in the congested camp, Patron Palushong can be found carving and polishing handcrafted wooden guitars, his signature product. Born in 1980 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Palushong learned how to make guitars at a skills training centre in his home town of Bukavu in the conflict-torn east of that vast country. He fled civil war in the DRC in 2007 and was separated from his wife. The couple were reunited in Dzaleka camp, outside Malawi's capital Lilongwe, where they now live with two young daughters. Realizing he could use his guitar-making skills to survive, he got to work. "Life in the camp can be very hard if one is idle," Palushong said. "But those with special skills like myself can survive in one way or the other. My aim is not to rely on UNHCR handouts forever, but to survive on my own. I started making guitars in the DRC and continued even when I arrived here." Word of his meticulous work and craftsmanship spread and his guitars were soon being snapped up, not only in Malawi, but also by customers in the United States, Sweden, Norway, Canada, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Palushong has been a refugee in Malawi for almost a decade. In accordance with the country's strict rules, all refugees must live at Dzaleka. He says life in the camp is a challenge, but his skill, talent and entrepreneurial flair have enabled him to survive financially. Patron Pulashong plays one his guitars near his workshop in Dzalake camp. UNHCR/K.Shimoh He has received training in entrepreneurship and community development from the Jesuit Refugee Services (JRS), UNHCR's partner in Malawi, which has helped his business forge ahead. Palushong says his work requires concentration, as well as finesse in carving, polishing, measuring and fine-tuning the guitar. It takes several weeks to complete one instrument using products such as wood, string and sometimes, cowhide. "Apart from the physical work, making one guitar requires a lot of physical stamina, meticulousness and mental calculation, so that I produce a product that is sophisticated enough for international consumption," he said. The money he earns supports his family, and buys farm equipment for his maize field and supports other small businesses he is involved in. Some of the guitars are sold to clients who visit Dzaleka refugee camp and to musicians based in Malawi. However, most are referrals from people abroad whom he has never met. Palushong's aim is to grow his business using his business acumen and determination, but he says insufficient capital is a major impediment. Monique Ekoko, UNHCR's representative in Malawi, said UNHCR would like to continue to help refugees in Dzaleka and elsewhere in Malawi to become self-reliant. "However lack of resources does not allow us to provide more in start-up capital," she added. Food rations were cut between October 2015 and January 2016, and refugees in Dzaleka struggled to make ends meet. "We are happy that a number of our refugees, despite the many challenges we face in supporting them, are using some of the opportunities we are availing them, to change their circumstances in life, especially through various forms of entrepreneurship," Ekoko said. "It is even more critical that we support them, as the refugees in Dzaleka are almost completely dependent on international aid." Dzaleka camp was established by the Malawian government in 1994, and has more than 25,000 refugees, mostly from the Great Lakes region and the Horn of Africa. There are more than 35,000 persons of concern to UNHCR in Malawi, of whom more than 10,000 are asylum seekers from Mozambique. They have been arriving since December 2015, fleeing clashes between RENAMO rebels and Mozambican government forces. By Kelvin Shimoh, Dzaleka refugee camp, Malawi Privacy Overview This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful. OBJECTIVE - To evaluate semen parameters in infertile Saudi Arabian men. METHODS - In this retrospective study, semen analysis and other clinical data were extracted from medical records of men attending an infertility clinic. Patients were stratified according to smoking status and presence or absence of varicocele. RESULTS - The study included 425 patients. Nonsmokers (n = 322) had significantly higher serum testosterone and sperm motility than smokers (n = 194). Serum testosterone, semen volume, motility, morphology, sperm/ejaculation and sperm count were significantly higher in patients without varicocele (n = 328) than in those with varicocele (n = 188). CONCLUSIONS - In this study, smoking and the presence of varicocele had negative effects on semen parameters in infertile men. The Journal of international medical research. 2016 Apr 01 [Epub ahead of print] Haifa A Al-Turki University Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, College of Medicine, University of Dammam and King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia PubMed http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27036147 All the latest Uttoxeter news Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. You've chosen your summer vacation destination, planned the itinerary, and booked your hotel and airfare. Time to get excited, right? Well, yes, of course but just watch out for some money-related surprises you might not be expecting. Unfortunately, a myriad of hidden costs can besiege your wallet when you travel, causing you to go over budget. Some are insignificant costs like that bottle of hotel water you thought was free, but turned out to be $3. Others, like resort fees, can add up to hundreds of dollars. To help you avoid unwanted extra expenses, we've put together a list of the most common ones. Transport To and From Your Hotel Touchdown, your flight has landed, and you can't wait to get to your hotel and start relaxing. But suddenly you're accosted by hundreds of alternatives for getting out of the airport, all of them claiming to be the cheapest way, while at the same time seeming to cost a small fortune. Avoid this scenario by doing some advanced research and deciding on the best price and time option for you. Bear in mind that most airports are connected by relatively cheap public transport links. SEE ALSO: Your Hotel Rewards Program Is (Probably) Changing Soon Necessary Extras A vacation isn't a vacation without a little "Treat Yo' Self" indulgence like room service, the minibar, and even a trip to the spa. These are all optional extras that turn a journey into a vacation. But there are plenty of extra charges on vacation that aren't really optional. Hotel parking is one such extra charge. In areas like Boston and Fort Lauderdale, parking can cost almost $50 per day! Avoid this charge by choosing a hotel that specifies free self-parking, or choose a car-free vacation in a city where walking and public transport are convenient. Beach or pool towels and chairs (and even in some cases access) is another such extra that you really have little choice in. If you're booking a beach holiday, make sure you thoroughly check the hotel's policies and pricing before you book. If your hotel is one that charges for towels, it might be worth investing in your own towel at one of the local souvenir shops. You can take it home as a keepsake after! Resort Fees Probably the most hated concept in the world of travel, additional resort fees can double the cost of your nightly stay in certain locations. Hotels say they use this additional fee to cover things like housekeeping, coffee, toiletries, and other sundry services. In Las Vegas, it's not uncommon for resort fees to add an extra $20 to $40 per night. One city that's notorious for its exorbitant resort fees is Las Vegas, where it's not uncommon for fees to add an extra $20 to $40 per night. There are still a few hotels in Sin City that have held out against adding these extra charges. For more information, check out this list. Other destinations where you can expect a daily resort fee include Florida, Hawaii, the Caribbean, and Mexico. The resort fee is not always included in your final price (you may find information about it on the hotel booking page, as with BookIt), so it is wise to ask the hotel or travel agent directly before purchasing. Car Rental Insurance The open road, the wind in your hair, the music blaring: You feel like you've hit the vacation jackpot and you don't have a care in the world. But did you take out more insurance than you need on that rental car? SEE ALSO: 8 Smart Money Moves to Make While Traveling Most car rental companies offer expensive insurance, but chances are you don't need it. Before you rent, put a call in to your credit company to check if they are already providing you with collision coverage. If they are, paying for your rental with your credit card will alleviate the need for additional coverage from the rental company. It's also worth contacting your personal car insurance provider to check if your existing policy covers rental car claims as well. Airport and Hotel ATM Fees Withdrawing money on your vacation can be an expensive habit, especially in areas where you have little choice of ATMs, like at the airport or your hotel. Typically, the bigger the bank, the more they charge, with average withdrawal costs for banks such as Bank of America coming in at $5 per transaction. If you want to avoid these fees but don't fancy carrying around large wads of cash, check out your bank's International Partner ATMs. They may still charge a fee, but it will be considerably less. Cruise Service Fees and Port Charges Setting sail and leaving all your day-to-day stress behind can be liberating, but the pinch you feel when you see the bill will bring you right back down to Earth. When you find a cruise you like for a price you can manage and get through to checkout, you'll often notice an extra $200 to $300 added to your bill. Watch for automatic gratuity charges when you take a cruise. They usually range from $12 to $15 per person, per day. This is mostly tax, but it may also include port fees, which is the cost of the ship docking. Another shock may come when you see the automatic gratuity amount your cruise line charges usually from $12 to $15 per person, per day or when you check your bar bill and notice that a 15% or 18% mandatory gratuity has been added to the price. Check beforehand if this is the case, and if so, think twice about stuffing extra dollars into that tip jar at the bar. Mobile Roaming Charges In this day and age, not using your mobile device on vacation can seem like a punishment. (Though give it another day and you will probably discover that it's a liberation. Try it!) If you don't want to unplug on your vacation but also want to avoid hefty roaming charges, consider contacting your mobile service provider to find out about switching to a temporary international package while away. Notably, some T-Mobile plans already have roaming included in their service. SEE ALSO: The Pros and Cons of Mobile Payment Alternatively or additionally, invest in some (free) VoIP apps for texting and making calls. If your location offers free WiFi, you'll be able to stay connected. For content you want to use out and about on vacation (like guidebooks or maps), download it in advance and save it to be viewed offline. Exit Fees In the long litany of hated hidden charges, country "exit fees" are the most unexpected and untimely. These fees usually crop up as you are departing a country (even if your stop in that country was only a layover) and, although they are usually only $20 to $30, they start to add up when you're traveling to several countries. Expect to be charged when leaving countries or territories like Hong Kong, Cambodia, Costa Rica, and many more besides. If you are booking a vacation package, contact the agent first and see if the package price includes exit fees. If you have booked a multi-stop airplane ticket, the airline will be able to provide you with information on additional fees to be expected. Readers, have you ever experienced a hidden cost while on vacation? Leave us a comment below. New Delhi: CIIs new president Naushad Forbes on Wednesday warned that a long-term restriction on steel imports will have a negative impact on the economy. The government in February imposed a minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products ranging between $341 to $752 per tonne. The minimum price will remain in place for six months only. In March, the government has extended the safeguard duty on some steel imports till March 2018, to protect domestic industry from cheaper supplies from China, amid a global glut. If we see them as short term measures to prevent a flood of imports as a result of global supply glut, then it is okay. But if you see it as something which is going to be around for long-term, then it is a problem for the economy, said Mr Forbes. He said that any long term restriction means one is feeding higher cost to all the using sectors and a commodity like steel gets used by a very wide spread of industries. Adding a tariff only raises raw material costs and makes those other industries less competitive, said the new CII president. The biggest documents leak in history, called the "Panama Papers", links many high-profile individuals as well as political figures to offshore money trails. One of the name listed in the documents is Argentinian president Mauricio Macri. However, the President has denied any wrongdoing in his connection with the offshore company from which the documents were obtained. The 3 terabytes documents, consisting more than 11 million documents including emails, transaction, and papers, were obtained from an internal database from a law firm in Panama, Mossack Fonseca. The documents listed tens of thousands high-profile individuals, including president Mauricio Macri among other political figures. The documents suggest that those names are clients that have took advantage of Panama as an offshore haven. There are many reasons people would take their money offshore. Some reasons are not against any law, but some reasons are illegal, such as money laundering, dodging sanctions, or supporting other criminal activities such as drug dealing. President Mauricio Macri, whose name is listed as director of an offshore company Fleg Trading Ltd, has stated that he is not involved in any wrongdoings in regard of the company's existence. According to Reuters, President Macri has explained his role at the offshore company in a television interview with La Voz to answer demands from opposition lawmakers. President Macri revealed that his father, Franco Macri, had founded the company through a "legal operation". Franco Macri is a business tycoon and one of the richest men in Argentina. In the interview, President Macri elaborated, "It was an offshore company to invest in Brazil, an investment that ultimately wasn't completed, and where I was director. There is nothing strange about this." According to the documents, Fleg Trading Ltd was registered in Panama, founded in 1998 and dissolved in early 2009. Buenos Aires Herald reported that President Macri was accused for failing to declare his ties to the firm. He was supposed to report his ties to the firm while serving as Buenos Aires City mayor. He did, however, report accounts abroad in 2007 and 2008. A statement from the Macri administration revealed that the president never personally owned shares in the ghost company, as reported by teleSUR. However, he did play an occasional role as CEO. The statement claimed that Macri never reported the company because he was never an active stakeholder. However, the statement did not directly address the use of offshore tax havens tied to Macri's family. Argentinian president Mauricio Macri has denied any wrongdoings in his connection to a Panama-registered offshore company, in which he was listed as director. The statement was a response to leaked documents obtained from a law firm in Panama, which linked many high-profile and powerful individuals to offshore money trails. Mumbai: Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on April 6 said the country provides a lot of freedom to its people to air their views but one has to be more articulate while expressing independence. "There is tremendous space for you to exert your independence in our country despite all pressures. Of course, you have to articulate why you are using your independence the way that you are using," Rajan told a group of B-school students who assembled for a contest at the RBI headquarters. In the contest four teams-- Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, Delhi, College of Engineering & Technology,Bhubaneswar, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad and IIM-Raipur made to the final rounds. Two teams-- IIFT, and IIM-Raipur secured the first position, while JNTU and CET were the runner-ups. The governor also said though RBI's job from outside looks glamorous there is lot of hard work and pressure. He emphasised on having a strong framework for formulating a policy and said it is equally important to take broader public along with you to bring in any reforms. "One of the most important aspects of policy making is to have a framework, to have a sense of why you are doing things, how are you going about it and how every new development fits into your framework, as it is important to make people understand the policy objectives", Rajan said. "If you want to make changes, you want to reform, you have to take the larger public along with you. That's the way that the political establishment also goes along with you. You have to explain to them why it makes sense," he added. Rajan said RBI does a lot of analysis and develops logic but when it goes to the public it presents in a simpler manner. "I never bring up regression when I talk to the political establishment in Delhi, but I certainly use the kind of data that we have to make the policy recommendations," the academic-turned central banker told the participants. KLP, the Oslo-based pension and insurance provider has beaten the benchmark in five out of the past seven years. Its portfolio stratgy to bet on low beta stocks is a proven success. The Fund, Aksje Global Lavbeta II was established in 2008 as an open-end fund. Domiciled in Norway, it was created with an objective on stocks with lower volatility than the benchmark. The Fund invests globally in equity with a quantitative methodology. Magne Valen-Sendstad who manages about 100 billion kroner ($12 billion) of fund at KLP told Bloomberg in a Thursday interview. He said the Fund aimed to avoid the 2008 crash by focusing on lower volatility stocks. Bloomberg commented that the lower volatility can be a volatile business as the portfolio has performed surprisingly well. "We want to avoid dips as in 2008 and now in January and February -- this portfolio outperformed a lot," Valen-Sendstad said. "It's proof in the pudding." The Fund was opened to client in 2014 after began as pension fund. Still focusing on low beta stocks, the Aksje Global Lavbeta II performs well as it is able to manage downturn better than than other more volatile funds. Bloomberg reported last year the Fund returned 1.3%, a much better than 4% loss ot its peers. "There's a volatility anomaly in the market," Valen-Sendstad explained further. "Over decades low volatility companies outperform the market. Why is it like that? And why doesn't that trade get crowded? It's still there and it has existed for a long time -- and it has delivered and delivered." Kommunal Landspensjonskasse (KLP) is a Norwegian mutual insurance company. Its traditional clients are pension and insurance fund for municipal and county authorities. Along with that, KLP also manages health trusts and public sector companies. KLP was established by Byforbundet (the Union of Norwegian Cities) and Herredsforbundet (the Norwegian Association of Rural Municipalities) in 1949. The company was founded to provide occupational pensions for local government employees. It also has a major subsidiary, KLP Eindom that manages a large portfolio of real estate in Norway and neighboring country. Recently KLP Eindom just acquired a new office building as Property EU reported. KLP Eindom purchases the 14,900 m2 office building for 81 million ($92 million). The property was built by a subsidiary of Norwegian State Railways (NSB) in Bergen, southwest Norway. Norway is the second wealthiest country in Europe based on GDP. Its government pension fund, the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), is the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. As the country has one of the most beautiful landscape, it also actively involves in promoting the environmental protection. Recently GPFG has delisted 11 companies for conducting deforestration. Strait Times reported the GPFG action demonstrates finance sector power in pushing for greener practices for firms around the world. Meanwhile, other Norwegian pension fund, KLP has beaten benchmark in five out of seven years. KLP uses portfolio strategy to bet on stock with lower volatility than the benchmark. The leaked documents from a law firm in Panama's internal database link thousands of rich and powerful individuals to offshore money trails. One of the high-profile political figure listed in the document, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, has been under investigation over allegations of tax evasion using an offshore firm. However, he already denied such accusations. President Poroshenko has been under attack after the leak of confidential documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents suggest that he had registered an offshore firm to avoid tax. He has been under investigation over the allegations in connection to the Panama Papers leak. According to BBC, President Poroshenko was accused to have set up a company in the British Virgin Islands in August 2014, when he was already president. The company, called Prime Assets Partners, describes itself as a holding company of the Roshen confectionery group. Before elected as the president of Argentina in 2014, he has a business empire where he earned the nickname "Chocolate King." Although the Mossack Fonseca firm claims that it did nothing illegal, President Poroshenko was accused to have acted illegally by starting a new company while president, and not reporting it on his disclosure statements. During his presidential campaign in 2014, he vowed to sell most of his business assets. In his official Twitter account, President Poroshenko revealed, "I believe I might be the first top official in Ukraine who treats declaring of assets, paying taxes, conflict of interest issues seriously." Furthermore, President Poroshenko explained that instead of managing the assets himself, he has been handling duties to consulting and law firms, as reported by Chicago Tribune. The president claimed to has not been managing the assets including confectionery company Roshen since he became president. The law firm managing the sale of Roshen, Avellum Partners, said that the offshore firm was set up without violating any Ukrainian law. Avellum stated, as quoted by Reuters, "The creation of a foreign structure does not affect the tax liabilities of the Roshen group in the Ukraine, which continues to pay taxes," the firm said in an emailed statement. "Any allegations of tax evasion are groundless." Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has denied any wrongdoing in form of tax evasion practices in connection to an offshore company linked to him in the Panama Papers leaked documents. He claimed to have appointed consulting and law firms to manage the assets in question, as the law firm claimed to not violate any Ukrainian law and that the firm is paying its taxes accordingly. Alaska Air Group agreed to acquire Virgin America for $2.6 billion, as it announced on Monday. This marks another episode of U.S. airline industry consolidation. The offer is waiting for the regulatory approval. Alaska Air Group is going to be listed in the top five airlines in U.S. when the takeover pass regulatory approval. The combined company will surpass JetBlue in the fitfth largest U.S. airline behind American, Delta, United and Southwest. Currently Alaska Air Group accounts for 5% of the U.S. domestic flight capacity, while Virgin America has 1.5%. With the acquisition, the Seattle-based airline will add 60 Airbus A320 jets currently operated by Virgin America, adding to its 147 Boeing 737s fleet. Alaska will pay $57 per share in cash. The company will also assume existing Virgin America debts and aircraft operating leases of $1.4 billion. That will sum up total aggregate transaction value of approximately $4.0 billion. Alaska won the purchase bid with JetBlue who withdrew its bid. However, Alaska must pay the premium price for Virgin America above its current market capitalization at 86%. Previously, the $1.5 billion caps of Virgin has already inflated to $1.7 billion following the takeover issue. Alaska CEO Brad Tilden said in a statement, as cited by The Seattle Times, that the deal brings together "two incredible groups of employees to build on the successes they have achieved as stand-alone companies to make us an even stronger competitor nationally." Virgin America is a San-Fransisco based airline with its main hub located in Los Angeles and San Fransisco. Acquiring the company will strengthen the positioning of Alaska Airlines in the West Coast. Billionnaire Richard Branson, who owns 24.9% of Virgin America, expressed his sadness about the company changing hands. Branson said. U.S. Department of Transportation stipulated that he take some of his shares in Virgin America as non-voting stock. Therefore, reducing his influence over any takeover of the company. Following the acquisition, many Virgin America flyers expect Alaska to maintain the unique presence of the airline. One of them is Maggie Lang, a marketing executive who lives in San Francisco. She admitted to fly Virgin America every six to eight weeks, but she never once flew on Alaska. "It's really a boutique airline experience," she said in an interview with Wall Street Journal. "The flight attendants are extremely amiable. You get the sense that they really love working for Virgin. The gates don't look like anyone else's gates. The furniture is different." Reuters reported that shares of Virgin America were up 42.1% to $55.27 in afternoon trading. While Alaska Air was down 5.2%. Alaska Air on Monday announced that it will acquire Virgin America. The acquisition will be another consolidation in American airline industry. The combined airline will become the fifth largest airline in the U.S. and accounts for 6.5% of domestic flight capacity. Russian oil surpass the highest output in 30 years. The record showed an increase of 0.3% in its production and raising doubt on the meeting between oil producing countries to freeze production. Members of the OPEC cartel and other oil producing countries will meet on April 17 in Doha. They will discuss the production cut in order to increase the global oil price. Prior to the published Russian oil output data, Iran already mentioned that it will boost oil production after sactions on the country's nuclear program is lifted. Bloomberg reported that Deputy Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud said in an interview with Bloomberg TV that if any country raises output, Saudi Arabia will also boost sales. Following his remark, oil price sank more than 4%. With the continuous supply glut and oil price is in turbulence, leading oil producing countries have been searching for a solution. In February, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and Qatar proposed an accord to cut the production which targeted to reduce a worldwide surplus and boost prices. Following the proposal, Brent price in London have increased 40% after hitting 12-year low in January. However, recent data from Russian Energy Ministry showed that Russian oil output reached 46.149 million tonnes in March. An increase of 43.064 million tonnes in February. In term of barrel, the output in March is 10.91 million barrels compared to 10.88 million barrels per day in February. Reuters reported that Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak assured that March production would not be an obstacle to the expected agreement on a production freeze. Some industry observers said that Russian oil industry is dominated by big companies with their own agendas, therefore it will be difficult for Russia to maintain outpur freeze. Nevertheless, major big Russian oil companies were reported to have reduced their output. Rosneft, the biggest oil producer, reduced its production by 0.7%, while Lukoil and Surgutneftegaz each have 0.1% reduction. The main increase were in fact reported from the joint ventures between Russian and foreign companies. They are reported to raise the production by 11.9% to 1.16 million barrel per day, or equal to 4.92 million tonnes. Market Analyst at London Capital Group Ipek Ozkardeskaya emailed comments to Market Watch, saying, "It appears that despite the financial difficulties on cheapening oil, Russia continues to fight with all its might. [The] April 17th meeting in Doha is now under the spotlight. Expecting a cut in production is clearly a dream, but even hopes to see the major oil producers freezing their [output] turns into an unrealistic expectation." Russian oil production in March is reported to increase from 0.3% to 10.91 million barrels per day. This data raised concern on the agreement to freeze production between oil producers which will be discussed in Doha this month. Investigations to unearth probable financial wrongdoings by the rich and influential have been initiated by several governments around the globe. The probes are being held following leakage of documents covering four decades tenure from a Panamanian law firm. Mossac Fonseca, the law firm is familiar for establishing offshore companies. Financial arrangements of politicians and public figures have been revealed through the leaked 'Panama Papers'. The dignitaries include friends of Russian and Ukrainian Presidents, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain, Iceland and Pakistan. Depositing money in offshore companies is not illegal. However, the leaked documents represent evidence of wealth hidden to abate tax, money laundering, sanctions bursting or other crimes, reports Reuters, citing journalists with physical knowledge on the papers as the source. Fees in investment banking sector across the world declined 29% during the first three-month period of 2016 as uncertainty in the global market halted deal proposing activities and other investment events. Global banking fees for services like capital markets underwriting and merger & acquisitions consultative services was $16.2 billion at the end of March, marking the lowest quarter since 2009. Regional fees in the US amounted to $8.7 billion, a decrease of 32% from the previous year. Investment banking charges in Europe declined 27% to $3.9 billion while fees in the Asia-Pacific region dropped 18% to $2.6 billion. Profits in the investment banking sector were hurt by volatility in the global market coupled with other factors like sluggish Chinese economy and geopolitical worries surrounding the Middle East countries, THE ECONOMIC TIMES quoted a data from Thomson Reuters. Among other sectors, fees in equity capital markets witnessed the sharpest fall of 48%, tailed by an 18% decline in mergers & acquisitions income and a 26% decrease in debt capital markets revenue. JPMorgan outstripped other players in the global fees league table, pulling in $1.2 billion in the first quarter of 2016, a fall of 23% from the previous year, but managed to get the lion share in the industry. Europe banks like Barclays and Credit Suisse followed the US banks in the rating rally, winning the sixth and seventh place respectively. Investment banks across the globe are experiencing a new industrial revolution, according to the consultancy company GreySpark. The digital hurdle, similar to the industrial revolution, will convert banks into more reliable producers of financial services and products with lenient business rules, GreySpark noted. The consultancy firm wants banks to adopt the business versions of aircraft and automotive manufacturing sectors - the two sectors that are impacted by measures direct government policies, regulation, demand and need to stock resources in order to modernise. GreySpark expects banks to set up a fully-automated manufacturing unit to create and assemble financial services and products. In addition, the firm requires banks to create distribution franchise to enrich relationship with its clients, as reported by Finextra. According to Sonoran Weekly Review, few US banks like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase are anticipated to report a lower earnings in the first quarter of 2016. Analysts predict a decline in quarterly adjusted earnings for banks with a high focus on areas of investment banking and capital markets. The average analysts estimate the banks like Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JPMorgan and Citigroup to report a year-on-year drop in quarterly adjusted profits. While banks like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are anticipated to record a year-on-year fall in adjusted earnings per share. RBC Capital Markets predicts overall banking industry to register an average income growth of 1.8%. Like other sectors, the banking industry also faces serious challenges in the global market. The industry is attempting to implement various business adjustments to overcome global hurdles. The US Justice Department has announced on Monday reviewing international media outlets published documents in search of evidence for corruption prosecutable in the US. French prosecutors have also confirmed initiating investigation to find out involvement of any French national or financial institute in dodging tax using Panama. The leaked 'Panama Papers' include thousands of internal documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The documents detail allegations against 140 public figures, executives and celebrities around the globe for offshore holdings. The reports have been published on late Sunday, according to news published in the Wall Street Journal. All credible allegations of high level foreign corruption with possible link to the US or the US financial system are considered very seriously by the Justice Department, cites Peter Carr, spokesman for the Justice Department's criminal division. The journalist who obtained the leaked documents haven't shared the documents with the Justice Department or any other authorities, reports Reuters quoting Peter Bale, chief executive of an organization coordinating the investigation. His organization involves more than 100 media outlets around the world. Nigeria's internet provider Ntel seeks $1 billion investment for 4G mobile broadband by 2020. It has finished plans of rolling out services starting April 8 and will offer fourth generation Long Term Evolution network service to begin from Lagos to Abuja. Sub-Saharan African mobile internet companies are enticing investors because of fixed-line infrastructure deficiency to assist the rising demand for online access. In August, the Smile Telecoms Holdings Ltd. raised $365 million to extend its wireless internet network in Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania while MainOne Cable Co. which is based in Lagos plans to raise $300 million in July, as reported by Bloomberg. "We are speaking to investors and to banks who are interested in a growth story for Africa," Chief Executive Officer Kamar Abass, 51, said in an interview on March 31. "We are seeing the very beginnings of a shift from a voice-oriented communications market in Nigeria to one that will be dominated by mobile broadband." He added that Ntel has spread out almost 600 base transceiver stations in the two cities and will be built with 2000 sites as the network expands. It also has placed LTE Advanced which is the most updated 4G technology with multi-antenna MIMO sites, allAfrica reports. According to a report by TECHCABAL, Ntel will embark phase 1 of their product launch on April 8, selling their 0804 mobile numbers specifically in Abuja and Lagos. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has provided Ntel the license to establish its VoLTE (Voice over LTE) network and has deployed nearly 200 kilometers of metro fiber optic transmission cables. Ntel is the rebirth of the no longer operating telecoms company NITEL. Last year, its assets were turned over by the Nigerian government to NATCOM (Nitel's parent company) in $252 million deal. Ntel will battle with Nigeria's four mobile companies namely, Bharti Airtel Ltd. of India, Etisalat, Globacom (local provider) and MTN. The company will begin servicing Lagos and Abuja on April 8. RCB, a Cyprus-based lender, has clarified that it had never extended unsecured loans. Latest British media reports highlighted the alleged role of RCB in providing unsecured loans to people close to Vladimir Putin, President of Russia. Cyprus Central Bank is examining the issue, promising it would take appropriate action against illegal financial deals. According to media reports, the Guardian newspaper on Sunday alleged that RCB and other banks have extended 'enormous unsecured loans' to entities linked to close Vladimir Putin acquaintances. RCB bank is affiliated with the Russian state-owned bank VTB. The Central Bank of Cyprus regulates RCB. Responding to a news report by Britain's Guardian news paper, RCB denied such reports. The news site has reported about the alleged role of RCB in helping people close to Vladimir Putin make money. Reuters couldn't independently confirm the allegations. Cyprus-based RCB said those allegations were 'unfounded' and 'duly refuted as untrue.' In a note sent to Reuters, Cyprus Central Bank said it was 'evaluating' the information about such deals pertaining to the Cypriot banking system. Cyprus Central Bank is probing the financial deals connected to Cypriot banking system and came out with an announcement that it would take appropriate action if necessary. In a statement emailed to Reuters, RCB Bank said "it did not and does not provide unsecured loans. The Bank always acts in a transparent manner and all information about its activities is available to the relevant Cypriot and European authorities." Massive leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm further reveal that hundreds of thousands of clients had evaded tax and laundered money and this malpractice went for about 40 years. There was a network of secret offshore deals and loans worth $2 billion that laid a trail to some close friends of Russian President as says Guardian. However, the President's name has not appeared in any record, although the data has tracked a pattern on how his friends earned millions from such deals. The documents show that Putin's family has benefited from this money. The leaked Panama papers threw spotlight on Sergei Roldugin, a best friend of Putin. Roldugin introduced a lady to Putin, who later married her. Her name is Lyudmila. He is also the god father of Putin's older daughter Maria. Yahoo Finance further adds that Cyprus has close business relations with Russia. A part of deposits were converted into equity for recapitalizing the Bank of Cyprus, country's largest lender. A second bank Laiki was wound down. RCB and Hellenic, another Cypriot systemic bank, were never considered for a bail-in as they had no much exposure as other two banks had to debt crisis in Greece. The leak of millions of papers from the database of Mossack Fonseca reveal how rich and influential people avoid paying tax using secret offshore tax regimes in several ways. Mossack Fonseca is the world's fourth largest offshore law firm. The offshore deals began in Panama and went through Russia, Switzerland and Cyprus. This included a private ski resort as well. Putin's younger daughter Katerina got married in 2013 at this resort only. The line of network included right from Sergei Roldugin, Bank Rossiya, Swiss lawyers, Mossack Fonseca, RCB of Cyprus, Sandalwood, Ozon, Igora and Yuri Kovalchuk, as per the media reports. Nordea Bank AB, the largest lender in Scandinavia, has been summoned by the Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) of Sweden. FSA will meet with Nordea's management on Tuesday following the report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. During the meeting, Nordea management will have to explain its alleged role to assist wealthy clients in evading tax. FSA considers the 'Panama Papers' too seriously, informs Christer Furustedt, head of the FSA's supervision unit for large banks in Stockholm. However, Nordea rejects the published allegations while claiming to follow all rules and regulations related to these issues. A statement furnished in the Nordea website claims for transparency in its tax advising policy. The bank also denies any role for aiding in tax evasion purposes and extends support only in paying taxes, reports Bloomberg. The RBI set a cut-off of 6.85 percent for the 91-day t-bills, the lowest since November 2010, and 6.93 percent for the 182-day t-bills, the lowest since October 2010. The Reserve Bank of India sold treasury bills at their lowest yields in more than five years at a weekly auction on Wednesday after its pledge to infuse cash into the banking system sparked a rally in short-term rates. The RBI set a cut-off of 6.85 percent for the 91-day t-bills, the lowest since November 2010, and 6.93 percent for the 182-day t-bills, the lowest since October 2010. The sale comes a day after the central bank cut its key repo rate by 25 basis points, while also pledging to inject liquidity through purchases of bonds via open market operations or by buying dollars and selling rupees every month. The liquidity injection measures are meant to pump enough cash into the banking system, allowing the sector to cut the lending rates and pass on the lower borrowing costs to the broader economy. Analysts said short-term rates would likely rally as a result: the overnight cash rate dropped to as low as 6.05 percent on Wednesday, after touching a one-year high of 11.95 percent just last week. Such a rally could spur the government to pay lower yields while leaving demand still healthy. "In the next few auctions they could slide a bit more and by next month, they should trend 10-12 bps lower than current levels," said Vijay Sharma, senior executive vice-president at primary dealer PNB Gilts Ltd. On Thursday, the RBI will buy up to 150 billion rupees ($2.25 billion) of bonds through OMOs, taking the total amount of purchases since December 2015 to 870 billion rupees, more than in the two previous years combined. Businesses owe money from SunEdison apparently, ranging from Silicon Valley venture capitalists to a small Massachusetts solar installer. A controversial acquisition planning is believed to be responsible for the solar and wind energy company's financial woes. SunEdison and its executives have been facing two-dozen legal claims since beginning of the year. Shareholders appear as the major plaintiffs, accusing the company for misleading them over its financial position, reports Reuters, citing a review report on cases by Westlaw as the source. The reviewed lawsuits are yet to be adjudicated and claims wait for validation. Most of the cases are recently filed and SunEdison has been allowed to file a response. However, the renewable energy giant hasn't responded to requests for comment, according to a report published in Texas News. The solar energy plant provider has also been facing a major lawsuit from solar installer Vivint Solar Inc. following its failure in completing the $1.9 billion acquisition deal. SunEdison has reported only two significant lawsuits during its annual regulatory filing in March last year, reports in USA News. Ford Motor Co., the Detroit, Michigan based multinational automobile company, has been planning to spend $1.6 billion to develop a new car factory in Mexico. The planned move appears as the second largest expansion announcement for Ford. It is expected to help the auto-manufacturer to double its Mexican production starting in 2018. The second largest auto-maker in the US has announced last April outlining a $2.5 billion production investments in Mexico. The move is expected to create 6,600 jobs in the country over the next few years. The new plant, in the central Mexican state of San Luis Potosi, aims to build small cars the company is struggling to sell at a profit, reports The Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, the United Auto Workers (UAW), a rights platform for automobile workers, has rallied on Tuesday in front of Ford Motor Co. The rally has demonstrated protest against company's announcement for building new small-car plant in Mexico. Starbucks revealed on Tuesday its opening of "Roastery" superstore in the trendy and wealthy city of the Meatpacking District with a measurement of 20,000 square-feet. It will also be the largest of all Starbucks stores around the world. The Roastery which is second in an idea that Starbucks launched two years ago in its hometown Seattle is almost the size of a Barnes & Noble. The new store will display the craft on how coffees are roasted and brewed locally and from around the world and educate customers about coffee in the same manner they would learn wine from a vintner. It would be known as the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room and will start operation in 2018, reports Fortune. "Our Seattle Roastery experience created something that had never been done before, transforming a retail environment into something far beyond just a coffee shop and into the single-best retail experience of any kind," said CEO Howard Schultz in a statement. According to the Bloomberg report, the company cites more rivalry from local and regional shops, frequently showcasing domestic roasting and coffee bean origin information. Still, Starbucks has been able to maintain its customers' loyalty with its rewards program with millions of U.S. members. The coffee company has now almost 94 stores scattered in the New York metro area. The conclusion of bringing a roastery to the city is the company's scheme of differentiating itself from the competition, says Arlene Spiegel, a Manhattan restaurant and retail consultant, but not associated with Starbucks, The Wall Street Journal reports. The Roastery will be headquartered at 61 Ninth Ave near Chelsea Market. It will be on two levels in a 170,000 square foot office building developed by Aurora Capital Associates and Vornado Realty Trust where several commercial developments are under way in the area with small office vacancy and increased demand from office tenants. TOM KISKEN/THE STAR Moody Brickett stands alongside the boat he was fishing in Monday when he and the vessel's captain found a body. SHARE TOM KISKEN/THE STAR Moody Brickett said discovering a body at sea made him think of dangers of his livelihood as a commercial fisherman. It's a point emphasized by this memorial at Ventura Harbor Village. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO The Miss Jacinda sank at sea on Feb. 26. Fishermen think they found the body of its captain Monday. By Tom Kisken of the Ventura County Star Fisherman Moody Brickett thought the object caught in a boat's net late Monday afternoon was a decomposed seal. It was a human body. Brickett and his friends are convinced they know who it is, though Ventura County authorities have not confirmed the identification. On the last Friday of February, Vietnamese commercial fisherman Tra Nguyen searched for ridgeback prawns at sea between the Ventura and Santa Barbara harbors. He and his deckhand, Dinh Nguyen, pulled up the last catch of the day. The boat was listing because of an empty starboard fuel tank. It began to tip after being struck by a wave, according to Dinh Nguyen, who survived. Tra Nguyen, the boat's captain, found a life ring and jumped from the boat, Miss Jacinda. The ring was tethered to the boat. When it sank, he sank too. The Coast Guard called off the search after 16 hours. Dinh Nguyen, who told his story five weeks ago in The Star, was rescued by another boat, the Victoria. He was taken to the Ventura Harbor, where the Miss Jacinda had departed that morning. He isn't related to the captain but they knew each other for many years. Tra Nguyen lived in the Monterey area. His wife and their five children live in Vietnam. One of the children is hospitalized, Brickett said. He loved dogs and brought one onto Miss Jacinda. The pet died too, said Dinh Nguyen. About 4 p.m. Monday, Brickett and another man captain of a boat called the Sea Hawk were fishing for ridgeback prawns about 17 miles outside of Ventura Harbor near the spot where Miss Jacinda sank. They were circling and pulled up the net to try to repair a chain. The body was in the net, white and decomposed, still wearing black pants, said Brickett, who knew Tra Nguyen through the tight Vietnamese fishing community. The boat's captain, also Vietnamese, had known Tra Nguyen for 20 years. He immediately recognized the pants and identified the body, Brickett said. Several of Nguyen's friends, including Dinh Nguyen, identified it too. The body was brought carefully back to Ventura Harbor, the boat escorted by the Harbor Patrol. When it arrived, the welcoming party included the Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office, the Sheriff's Office and a Coast Guard detachment. The corpse was transferred in a meticulous, videotaped process to Medical Examiner staff. "We have the body here," said Senior Deputy Medical Examiner Michael Tellez on Tuesday morning. "We haven't positively identified him yet." Tellez called the identification by the fisherman presumptive. He said it's not known what process would be used to try to identify the body. A Coast Guard spokeswoman also declined comment on the body's identity. Ventura Harbormaster John Higgins wasn't at the harbor patrol headquarters when the body arrived. He noted the Vietnamese fishermen make up a close-knit community and are convinced of the body's identity. He said he wasn't aware of any other missing boaters in the same area. If the body turns out to be Tra Nguyen, it would be meaningful that he was found by people who knew him, Higgins said. "It was the worst thing anybody could come upon," he said, "but it's the best thing they could do in bringing closure to the family." The boat that carried the body disposed of its fish in a carefully supervised process, Higgins said. Tuesday morning, Brickett and the captain left Ventura Harbor to clean their boat at sea. Brickett hopes the body's ashes are eventually given to the Vietnamese fishermen. He wants to send them to Tra Nguyen's family in Vietnam. The experience made Brickett think about the dangers of his livelihood. He thought about mortality. He thought about Tra Nguyen. "I kind of feel like it's a happy ending for him," he said. "He's no longer out there alone." STAR FILE PHOTO SHARE By Staff Reports Officials were warning residents Tuesday of increased aircraft noise and activity starting next week at Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu in anticipation of a military exercise. Aircraft will be arriving Tuesday from bases in Maryland, Nevada, Florida and elsewhere, military officials said. Many of the aircraft are variations of the FA-18 and some are helicopters from the U.S. Coast Guard's Los Angeles station, authorities said. The military exercise is expected to take place April 17-29, officials said. Those living in the Camarillo and Oxnard areas may notice the increase in noise and jet activity. Anyone with questions can call 989-9234. STAR FILE PHOTO The Port Hueneme City Council on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to keeping its lifeguards at its beaches. SHARE By Anne Kallas, Special to The Star The Port Hueneme City Council unanimously reaffirmed its commitment to continuing its lifeguard program, thereby protecting visitors to its beaches. During the council's regular meeting Monday, Interim City Manager John Baker said he was reintroducing the matter because there was some confusion over the council's action March 21 when it voted 3-2 to approve various cost-saving measures excluding the lifeguards. Baker explained that he had included the proposal eliminating the $175,900 lifeguard program because the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority said the city would be exposed to less liability by posting signs instead of having lifeguards watching over the beach. Baker said the city will carry a balance of $41,000 into fiscal year 2016-17 if the lifeguard program is kept intact for the summer, and the junior lifeguard program would require only about $1,000 in city subsidies if fees are raised, more participants enroll and transportation is eliminated. Baker said this would accomplish his short-term goal of eluding another shortfall, which would further deplete the city's dwindling reserves. Casey Graham, a Port Hueneme lifeguard who helps run the junior lifeguard program, explained that it is less a "lifeguard program and more a lifeguard service," noting that the people who patrol the hazardous south-facing beaches that are especially prone to rip currents in the summer only make $15 to $20 an hour. As people spoke passionately in favor of keeping the lifeguards, Port Hueneme Mayor Doug Breeze reminded them that the council had approved the program. After a 5-0 vote, Councilman Tom Figg said: "Who in their right mind would say no to lifeguards or police? But we can't sustain it. I call on all of you to support me in my effort to get a public safety parcel tax on the ballot. These subsidies require people to open their pockets to pay for them." Figg repeatedly called for Baker to prepare an item on a public safety parcel tax for the council's next meeting agenda. But Baker countered that he and city staff members are working to finalize a budget to present to the council by May 18. Baker said the parcel tax would be considered then, along with other suggestions to cut costs and raise revenues. Earlier in the evening, residents of Mar Vista, a public housing building for low-income seniors and people with disabilities, addressed the council in its capacity as the city's Housing Authority. Catherine Broude, who has led the effort to eliminate smoking from the building, told the Housing Authority that in spite of its action Sept. 28 eliminating all on-site smoking in the building by April 1, nothing has been done to curtail the six smokers who were "grandfathered" in when the building was declared nonsmoking in 2008. Broude said her calls to the city asking where no-smoking signs are and whether any action would be taken to remind smokers of the new policy have been ignored. Other residents of Mar Vista, including Carla Boykin, recounted how the smoking has negatively affected their health. And Boykin said she can't live in her apartment full-time because of the secondhand smoke. At the end of the council meeting, Breeze asked Baker to have a response for the Mar Vista residents about the status of implementation of the smoking ban. In another matter, Baker explained to the council that he was unable to get representatives of Ventura County Animal Services to come to the Monday meeting to explain the increase in fees for Port Hueneme animal control services from $78,500 to $243,000. He said he was told the agency was preparing its own budget, which is due by April 19. The council had directed Baker to hold off on paying the animal control fee until the council had heard the explanation for the steep rise in rates. "It feels like a runaround," Baker said. STAR FILE PHOTO Pall bearers representing all branches of the U.S. armed services carry former first lady Nancy Reagan's casket during her funeral service at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. SHARE By The Associated Press A longtime Los Angeles Times photographer has been charged with a misdemeanor for refusing to cooperate with police while transmitting photographs of the funeral motorcade of Nancy Reagan. The Times reports that the Ventura County District Attorney's office charged 65-year-old Ricardo DeAratanha on Monday. The prosecutor on the case declined to give details. The photographer's attorney Mark Werksman says his client gave police no reason to arrest him and he is disappointed the case is advancing. Simi Valley police said at the time that officers were responding to a report of a suspicious vehicle near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where the public viewing for the former first lady was being held last month. They say the photographer was arrested after refusing to identify himself and balking at providing identification. Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada, one of the largest nonprofit social service providers in the state, has been awarded $2,420,329 in Clark County Community Development Block Grant funds to grow the Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry and Meals on Wheels programs (Pictured: Meals on Wheels Driver Alex Pociernicki, Deacon Tom Roberts, Mayor Goodman and Meals on Wheels client Frances Pemberton and Grandson). The Meals on Wheels kitchen will be consolidated into the St. Vincent Lied Dining Room kitchen and add 3,778 square feet of kitchen space to the facility. Approximately 2,000 low-income, homebound seniors are currently receiving home-delivered Meals on Wheels. The added kitchen space will allow Catholic Charities to serve upwards of 2,600 clients. The food pantry expansion will give Catholic Charities the space and resources to serve 1,000 individuals every week, a 33 percent increase over current levels. The Korte Company, who was instrumental in the original campus construction, was the successful bidder and will begin construction on this project on April 12. Construction is scheduled to be completed by mid-August. As Catholic Charities celebrates 75 years of providing hope and help to Southern Nevadans, we are honored to be the recipients of such a generous grant, said Deacon Tom Roberts, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. The expansion of the Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry and Meals on Wheels programs will benefit thousands of our most vulnerable community members. The Hands of Hope Community Food Pantry redesign will include a 3,090-square-foot expansion, resulting in approximately 7,480 square feet for food pantry use. In addition to the remodeling, funding will be used to acquire fixtures for food storage, display and distribution. To learn more about Catholic Charities of Southern Nevadas suite of programs or to make a donation, please visit www.CatholicCharities.com. The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to replace the existing policy on crude oil import by state-run oil companies and vest them with power to evolve their own policies. New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave its approval to replace the existing policy on crude oil import by state-run oil companies and vest them with power to evolve their own policies. This will provide a more efficient, flexible and dynamic policy for crude procurement, eventually benefiting consumers. The Cabinet has also approved a fiscal deficit target of three per cent for states, as recommended by the 14th Finance Commission (FFC) for the 2015-20 period. FFC has adopted the fiscal deficit threshold limit of three per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for states. It approved recommendations with two flexibility options. FFC provided additional headroom to a maximum of 0.5 per cent over and above the normal limit of three per cent in any given year to states that have had a favourable debt-GSDP ratio and interest payments-revenue receipts ratio in the previous two years. The existing policy for import of crude oil was approved by the Cabinet in 1979. State-owned firms like Indian Oil Corp (IOC) have traditionally been allowed to source crude only from national companies of oil producing nations. On May 21, 2001, the government permitted refiners to buy oil from top 10 foreign firms. While the current policy has ensured that collective energy needs of oil PSUs are consistently met over the years, the policy needs to evolve with the changing times. With the changing geopolitical environment, the crude oil import policy needs to be modified to bring it in tune with current needs, said a statement issued after the Cabinet meet. It said that the current market practices for purchase of crude oil on spot basis also need to be adopted to compete effectively in the market. The current policy has certain limitations and restrictions in this regard, which limit the potential sources and methods of procurement. The Cabinet has approved that the oil PSUs will be empowered to evolve their own policies for import of crude oil, consistent with CVC guidelines and get them approved by the respective Boards. This measure, which is in keeping with the principle of Minimum Government Maximum Governance, will increase the operational and commercial flexibility of the oil companies and enable them to adopt the most effective procurement practices for import of crude oil, said the statement. Tang Quoc Chinh, deputy chief of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control, said that as the storm raged in Tuyen Quang, Ha Giang and Yen Bai, 18 dwellings collapsed; five in Tuyen Quang and 13 in Yen Bai. Once the storm subsided, local authorities carried out inspections and enacted solutions to minimize damage, as well as offering support to local farmers and residents. The latest reports said on Monday that the climatic event injured one man in An Phong Village, Tan Thinh Commune, Chiem Hoa District, Tuyen Quang after he was hit on the head by a hailstone while farming. There were 3,066 homes which had their roofs punctured by hailstones, with diameters ranging from three to ten centimeters, Chinh said, adding that Tuyen Quang had the most homes damaged, 2044, followed by those in Ha Giang and Yen Bai, 959 and 63, respectively. Ten classrooms in Tuyen Quang also had their roofs lifted off by the weather event, he said. The hailstorm also devastated 548 hectares of food crops in Tuyen Quang, and left 990 hectares of vegetable crops in Ha Giang destroyed, according to reports. Tran Quoc Hiep, chief of Chiem Hoa Hydrological Office, said that this is the first time in 30 years he had witnessed a hailstorm with such large hailstones. The office said that bad weather conditions, especially hail, vortexes, and thunderstorms, usually occur in Tuyen Quang at this time of year. Wokers repaire a broken section of the Da River Water pipeline Phase 1. The Hanoi Peoples Committee has proposed that the Prime Minister ask the developer of the Da River Water Project Phase 2 to postpone signing a contract with a Chinese pipe supplier. The information was released by deputy head of the municipal Party Committees Publicity and Education Department, Tran Xuan Ha, during a press meeting yesterday afternoon. The recommendations were made following a review of the whole project upon a request by the Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The Peoples Committee also recommended the Government to ask the project developer to soon hire an international consulting firm capable of assessing and verifying the quality of the pipe sample supplied by the contractor. The project, worth a total investment capital of VND94,922 billion (US$223 million), is implemented by the Vinaconex Water Supply Joint Stock Company (Viwasupco). The project review was only undertaken after media reports showed public concern of the quality of the water pipes made of ductile iron supplied by the Chinese contractor, Xinxing Corporation. Viwasupco was assigned to be the main investor of the Da River Water Project Phase 2 in 2010 by the Ministry of Constructions Vinaconex Corporation. Viwasupco opened bids between August 2015 and March 2016 to seek suppliers for the projects ductile iron water pipelines and spare parts. The pipeline is 21km long and 1.8m in diameter. On March 21, the company made public the result of the bid. Two days later, the company leaders met with local media to explain about the bidding process following media coverage voicing public concerns. Concerns have been raised by the public about the quality of the project as well as the choosing of the Chinese contractor as the pipe has broken 17 times since the completion of the first phase in 2009. Shortly after that, Deputy PM Phuc instructed the city administration to review the whole project and to clarify information relating to the project after concerns by local residents. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said its analysis of a huge data leak from a Panama-based law firm show how "major global banks work hand-in-glove with other players in an offshore industry that helps the super rich, politicians and criminals keep their assets under wraps." The ICIJ report is based on more than 11 million documents, emails and client reports leaked from Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm that allegedly helped world leaders, officials and celebrities hide billions of dollars in shell companies and offshore accounts. The firm said the information published about it was false. In a statement to CNN, the firm said it had done nothing wrong. It also denied many of the people named by the reports were its clients. ICIJ said more than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches registered nearly 15,600 shell companies with the firm. Six big international banks are named in the report: HSBC ; UBS ; Societe Generale ; the Royal Bank of Canada ; Commerzbank ; and Credit Suisse . None of the banks commented on their alleged involvement with Mossack Fonseca. HSBC HSBC said Tuesday it works closely with the authorities to fight financial crime. "Our policy is clear that offshore accounts can only remain open either where clients have been thoroughly vetted, where authorities ask us to maintain an account for the purposes of monitoring activity, or where an account has been frozen based on sanctions obligations," the bank said in a statement sent to CNNMoney. The ICIJ report claims the British bank and its subsidiaries registered more than 2,300 companies with Mossack Fonseca, and that the law firm agreed to give HSBC clients "special treatment," which included softer due diligence process. Related: Rich and powerful respond to claims they hid billions offshore This is not the first time HSBC found itself under the spotlight because of offshore finance. Swiss authorities raided two HSBC offices in Switzerland in February 2015, after the bank was accused of using its private Swiss arm to shield accounts worth more than $100 billion. In a statement provided to the ICIJ in 2015, the bank said: "We acknowledge that the compliance culture and standards of due diligence in HSBC's Swiss private bank, as well as the industry in general, were significantly lower than they are today." Credit Suisse Credit Suisse said in a statement on Tuesday that it is committed to a "tax compliant business and conducts its cross-border banking business in strict compliance with all the applicable laws, rules and regulations in the markets in which it operates." "For Credit Suisse it is key that its clients use structures only for legitimate purposes," it added. The reports said Credit Suisse registered 1,105 shell companies with the Panamanian law firm. Credit Suisse too has a history of being implicated in tax evasion cases. The Swiss bank pleaded guilty in 2014 to federal charges that it illegally allowed some U.S. clients evade their taxes. It agreed to pay $2.6 billion fine to the federal government and New York financial regulators as part of a settlement. Attorney General Eric Holder said the bank "engaged in an extensive and wide- ranging conspiracy to help U.S. taxpayers evade taxes." UBS UBS said Tuesday it "conducts its business in compliance with applicable law and regulations." The ICIJ reports claim the Swiss Bank worked with Mossack Fonseca until 2010, when it decided to stop setting up companies for its customers. Related: China censors searches for Panama Papers The ICIJ said the UBS registered 1,100 companies with Mossack Fonseca. UBS has a sorry history when it comes to offshore financing. In 2009, the bank admitted to helping U.S. taxpayers hide money oversees. It agreed to pay $780 million in fines and restitution, and to turn over account information. Societe Generale Societe Generale rejected claims that it was helping disguise the identities of its clients. It said it not only knows the identities of the beneficial owners of offshore companies, but that it is also willing to share this information with regulators and tax authorities under relevant international agreements. Related: A look at the group behind the Panama Papers The ICIJ report said it identified 979 companies registered by the bank with Mossack Fonseca. The French bank said on Tuesday it closed its operations in countries identified as non-cooperative or blacklisted by the international money-laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force. "Societe Generale has closed its establishments in the countries which were on this grey list, but also in those which were included on the list of Non-Cooperative States, which, in practice for us, meant Panama," the bank said in a statement. The Royal Bank of Canada The Royal Bank of Canada and its subsidiaries are named in the ICIJ report in connection with 378 offshore companies registered with Mossack Fonseca. RBC said it works within the legal and regulatory framework of every country in which it operates. "Tax evasion is illegal, and we have established controls, policies and procedures in place to detect it and prevent it occurring through RBC," the bank said in a statement sent to CNN on Tuesday. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron speaks during a question and answer session on the forthcoming European Union referendum with staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Birmingham, central England. (Christopher Furlong/POOL/AFP) LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Tuesday (Apr 5) he had no personal offshore funds as he faced growing pressure over the so-called Panama Papers, which raised questions about his family's financial affairs. A massive leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed how an investment fund co-founded by the premier's late father, Ian Cameron, avoided paying taxes in Britain for 30 years by basing itself in the Bahamas. Faced with calls by the opposition Labour Party for an investigation into all those implicated in the leak, including his family, Cameron said his wealth consisted of his salary, some savings and a house. "I own no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that," Cameron said. Downing Street had previously insisted that any offshore holdings by members of his family were a "private matter". However, it issued a statement on Tuesday stating: "To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds." The revelations about his father are embarrassing for Cameron, who has sought to lead international efforts to improve financial transparency and whose government hosts an anti-corruption summit next month. He insisted that "no prime minister has done more" to tackle tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, and said British authorities would look into the Panama leaks. However, campaigners called for more action to tackle secretive company ownership in British overseas territories such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn raised the prospect of Britain taking full control of the territories if they did not act. PURSUING TAX EVADERS Ian Cameron helped found Blairmore Holdings Inc in the Bahamas in the early 1980s and was reportedly one of five UK-based directors until shortly before his death in 2010. His offshore activities were already in the public domain but the leaked documents revealed that the investment fund hired local residents - including a part-time bishop - to sign its paperwork to avoid paying tax in Britain. "In 30 years, Blairmore has never paid a penny of tax in the UK on its profits," said The Guardian newspaper, which has seen the leaked documents, along with the BBC. There is no suggestion that the fund acted illegally or that the family did not pay tax on any repatriated assets. But Corbyn called for an independent investigation and said: "I think the prime minister, in his own interest, ought to tell us exactly what's been going on." He demanded the government "stop pussyfooting around on tax dodging", saying: "There cannot be one set of tax rules for the wealthy elite and another for the rest of us." Cameron's government has recovered 2 billion (US$2.83 billion) from offshore tax evaders since 2010 and introduced a range of measures to clamp down on evasion, officials said. The prime minister also said Britain had "led the world" by introducing legislation forcing its companies to disclose who owns and benefits from their activities, which comes into effect in June. DIRECT RULE OPTION The leak of 11.5 million confidential documents from Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies, shone the spotlight on tax havens as well as wealthy individuals. Among them is the British Virgin Islands, a tiny British overseas territory in the Caribbean which is among the top five investors in Russia and China, according to a 2014 report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Cameron said Britain had made "huge progress" in pressing its overseas territories and crown dependencies to share tax information and make it harder for companies and individuals to hide their financial affairs. But it has yet to persuade them to sign up to the company ownership law, and Corbyn said the government should consider imposing direct rule on overseas territories to resolve the issue. "If they've become a place for systemic evasion and short-changing of the public in this country, then something has to be done about it," he told the BBC. As part of their five-day trip during April 4-8, the guests, including Tomsk State University, Vologda State University (VoGU), Far Eastern Federal University, National Technical Research University (IRNITU), and L.N. Tolstoi Tula State Pedagogical University, worked with Hanoi University, Transport University, and Hanoi Architectural University on future cooperation programmes. They also held meetings with students of Amsterdam high school for gifted students, Tran Phu, Nguyen Trai, and Hoang Van Thu high schools to introduce their training programmes for the 2016-2017 academic year. The guests also had discussions with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training about mutual support and cooperation between Russian and Vietnamese universities. photo source VOV The visit was part of the fifth phase of the Russian universities education project launched in March 2013, which aims to improve bilateral cooperation in scientific research initiatives and education, as well as affect technological renewal. The project, implemented by the Russian Cooperation Agency in collaboration with the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, focuses on establishing and developing direct links between the two countries universities and attracting young Vietnamese citizens to study in Russia. This year, the Russian government plans to grant 855 scholarships to Vietnam, significantly more than the 795 scholarships offered in 2015, promising that this number will reach 1,000 by 2018. According to figures released by the Education and Training Working Group at the 2015 Vietnam Business Forum (VBF), some 110,000 Vietnamese students studied overseas, each paying $30,000-40,000 annually for tuition, meaning $3 billion a year, shunning a local system so backwards that experts say it is impeding economic growth. Australia, the US, Japan, Singapore, France, the UK, and Russia are the most favoured destinations. Mumbai: Saif Ali Khan and Kangana Ranaut recently shot a bed scene for Rangoon but things got heated while filming it! It had nothing to do with them getting intimate with each other. According to an insider, Kangana apparently was not amused with Saif for his bedside antics. This is what transpired. The two were on the bed and as soon as the camera zoomed in on Saif, the actor started making funny faces which didn't go down well with Kangana. The actress wanted her co-star to be serious about the scene as she is reported to have told Saif not to joke around as this was an important scene. Watching all this on the monitor, director Vishal Bharadwaj asked Kangana to take it easy. "Relax Kangana, Saif is just joking," Vishal told the actress, according to our source. But Kangana kept insisting that it was an important scene and needed everyones undivided attention. She asked Saif to finish with the shooting first. The entire crew had a good laugh seeing Saif trouble his leading lady. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon attends a joint press conference with Swedens Prime Minister Stefan Loefven during a visit at the Rosenbad government office on Mar 30, 2016 in Stockholm. (AFP/Jonathan Nackstrand) GENEVA: Countries must urgently cooperate to halt the spread of violent extremism around the globe, the United Nations said on Tuesday (Apr 5), ahead of a high-level conference focused on preventing dangerous radicalisation. Jehangir Khan, head of the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre, warned that the problem of violent extremism was "mushrooming" and constituted a "clear and present danger" worldwide. He noted that tens of thousands of foreign fighters, coming from more than 100 different countries, have flooded into conflict zones like Syria and Iraq, while home-grown extremists have wreaked havoc in Europe with deadly attacks like the ones recently in Brussels. "Everybody is potentially affected by violent extremism. Nobody is spared," Khan said, insisting that "the need for international cooperation has never been more than now." The UN will on Thursday and Friday co-host a conference on preventing violent extremism, drawing some 30 government ministers, including the foreign ministers of Belgium, Switzerland, Egypt and Malaysia. UN chief Ban Ki-moon will open Friday's high-level segment in Geneva, alongside the foreign minister of co-host Switzerland. Counter-terrorism experts, representatives of regional organisations and social media companies will also figure among the more than 600 participants. The conference is meant to take stock of worldwide efforts to halt violent extremism, after Ban in January launched a global action plan and asked all countries to come up with national plans to address the problem. The UN is hoping that the growing realisation of the global reach of violent extremism will spur countries to come together and rethink their approach to countering the threat from the Islamic State group and similar organisations. "The security, military logic, while necessary, has shown its limits," Khan said, stressing that strategies aimed at preventing youths from radicalising in the first place needed to be given far more weight. Ban's plan encompasses a broad range of measures, from boosting education to promoting human rights to counter the recruiting drives of groups like IS and Boko Haram which prey on disaffected youth. Among his 79 recommendations was a call for countries to try to appeal to foreign fighters who have joined groups like IS to return home by offering them education and job opportunities, and urges governments to engage with social media to find ways to challenge the militants' messages. Experts have repeatedly warned that tough, sometimes brutal measures taken by some countries in the fight against extremism can be counter-productive by pushing more people to radicalise. "We have to break this kind of vicious circle," said Stephan Husy, ambassador-at-large for counter-terrorism at the Swiss foreign ministry. "One of the findings over the last 10 or 15 years (is) that maybe more terrorists have been generated than removed," he told reporters. Rahul has been booked under IPC sections related to abetment of suicide, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation. Mumbai: TV actress Pratyusha Banerjees suicide shocked the entire nation, including her close friends and fans. While so far many of her friends from the industry have said several things, a close friend of the TV actress has come forward and made a shocking revelation. As revealed by producer Vikas Gupta, Pratyusha Banerjees boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has a 9 year old child from his first marriage. "Pratyusha's boyfriend Rahul has a 9-year old son from his pehli shaadi," Vikas Gupta was quoted on Spotboye. Meanwhile, Rahul has been booked for abetment of her suicide last week and also slapped with the charges of criminal intimidation. The producer, currently in hospital, was booked after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Banerjee's mother Soma at Bangurnagar Police Station. Read: Rahuls ex-girlfriend sent an intimate clip of them to Pratyusha: Rakhi He has been booked under IPC sections related to abetment of suicide, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, among others, a police official said. "He (Rahul) should not get out. My daughter should get justice and I would like to appeal to the entire nation to help me in seeking justice for my daughter. He tortured my daughter a lot and finished her," Soma told reporters here after the prayer meet held in memory of Pratyusha. When asked what kind of justice she expects, Soma said, "He should be kept alive in jail and made to suffer for his entire lifetime." Also read: Rahul used to beat Pratyusha, claims actress' mother Pratyusha's father Shankar Banerjee, said, "We could not come out in the open earlier as Pratyusha's last rites were not performed. Today, we lodged an FIR against Rahul and told the police about her suffering." On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot into fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs. When Africans go on Twitter, they are increasingly talking politics. A study done by Portland Communications, a London-based business, shows that nearly 10 percent of the most popular African hashtags in 2015 were related to political issues and politicians. In the U.S. and Britain, only two percent of those conversations were about politics, the study shows. The top political hashtag in Africa was #Nigeriadecides during Nigeria's presidential election in 2015. Another popular conversation was the strife in Burundi. "In the U.K., we were using Twitter a lot and we wanted to know how Africa was using it. And suddenly we noticed that everyone was curious, as well. It showed us that people are using Twitter to have those important conversations," Mae Dobbs, Portland's senior account executive, told VOA. The results make up the third part of the company's "How Africa Tweets" report. Dobbs says the first two stories were more "quantitative," while the new study shows the "rich" and "diverse" conversations that people in Africa are having. Portland says it analyzed 1.6 billion geo-located tweets to determine the 5,000 most popular hashtags in Africa during 2015. The report says Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia, Burundi and Egypt were the most active countries in the political conversations. Tweeting in English It notes that 77 percent of the tweets were in English. "Our thoughts on the language is that the popularity of English has snowballed to the point where people want to use it on social media in order to be part of the global conversation," Dobbs said. "There were interesting Englishizations of Arabic words, for example, which showed that those who speak Arabic are still interested in joining conversations in English in order to reach wider audiences. "As we say in the report, we find that English is becoming the lingua franca of Twitter in Africa." Egypt tweeted more than any other country in Africa, with about 450 million tweets. Among sub-Saharan countries, Nigeria led with 350 million tweets, followed by South Africa with 325 million. Dobbs says people may feel more comfortable expressing their political opinions online. "I think that is definitely that gut reaction that we had when we saw all that political data coming in," she said. Dobb adds that journalists confirmed they used Twitter to obtain information when "it is a bit harder to do in a formal setting." Portland says it may repeat its study in a year or two to track changes and compare information. African Union Commission head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is tipped to take over the leadership of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, will step down at the end of her four-year term in July, her spokesman said on Wednesday. Dlamini-Zuma did not submit an application to remain as chairperson for a second term before the deadline for candidates closed last week, Jacob Enoh Eben said. "She is not seeking a second term as chair of the African Union Commission," he said. The decision was personal, he said, without giving details. Dlamini-Zuma's is a leading candidate to succeed South African President Jacob Zuma, her ex- husband, as ANC leader. She served as home affairs minister in Zuma's cabinet before becoming the first female head of the Addis Ababa-based bloc's executive arm in 2012. She had also previously served as minister of health and of foreign affairs. Zuma, who is expected to stay president until an election in 2019 and is likely to be influential behind the scenes in picking a new ANC leader at a conference in 2017, is expected to support Dlamini-Zuma. Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is seen as another strong candidate to replace Zuma as party head and has the support of powerful business lobbies. The African Union is expected to name Dlamini-Zuma's successor at a heads of state gathering in the Rwandan capital Kigali in July. The bloc is yet to disclose the names of contestants vying to replace her. More people were put to death in countries around the world last year than in any other year during the past quarter-century, Amnesty International said Tuesday. The report said at least 1,634 people were executed in 2015, a rise of 54 percent from the year before and the highest number the human rights watchdog has recorded since 1989. Executions were carried out in 25 countries, but just three Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan -- accounted for 90 percent of all recorded executions. Pakistan ends moratorium In Pakistan, the December 2014 Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar that killed 141 people led the government to end its moratorium on executions. "Initially the moratorium was meant to be lifted only for terrorism-related crimes," said Chiara Sangiorgio, death penalty researcher at Amnesty International. "But very soon, we saw persons being sent to the gallows for murder or other ordinary crimes, often on the basis of trials that leave a lot of doubts about the safety of the conviction. Amnesty said at least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia, a predominantly Sunni country. Among those executed was Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Riyadh said it uses the death penalty against terrorists, but Amnesty claims it is often used against political dissidents. Drug offenses In Iran, many executions were carried out for drug-related offenses. A significant proportion of the 977 executions that we recorded for Iran were carried out for drug-related offenses even if international law clearly states that the use of the death penalty should be restricted to intentional killing," Sangiorgio said. Iran is one of the last countries to execute child offenders, in violation of international law. Last year, it executed at least four people who were under 18 at the time of their crimes, the report said. However, the true number of people executed globally is likely much higher, because China is excluded from Amnestys data, she added. This figure does not include the thousands of people that we believe were executed in China last year, where the use of the death penalty and the figures in particular in relation to the use of the death penalty remain classified as a state secret," she said. Belarus, the only European country to use the death penalty, and Vietnam also do not provide data. US executions The U.S., the only country in the Americas to use capital punishment, was fifth on the Amnesty list of the most executions carried out in 2015. There were 28 executions in six U.S. states the southern state of Texas accounted for almost half the total. America "recorded the lowest number of executions since 1991. And also the lowest number of sentences imposed since the death penalty was reintroduced in the United States in 1977," Sangiorgio said. Amnesty Secretary General Salil Shetty said, "Thankfully, countries that execute belong to a small and increasingly isolated minority." For the first time, a majority of the worlds countries -- 102 -- have now fully abolished the death penalty. Four countries adopted the ban in 2015: Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname. If you go to just about any Bernie Sanders rally these days, youll feel it right away: the 74-year-old Vermont senator is really popular with young people. With his grumpy, plain-speaking demeanor and scraggly patch of white hair, the Democratic presidential candidate has somewhat improbably attracted huge crowds of energetic young progressives to his campaign events. They come to hear Sanders essentially give the same speech every time: He says public colleges should be free. He calls for a single-payer, universal health care system. He wants the minimum wage doubled. Hell break up the big banks. The proposals are all part of what the Sanders calls a political revolution, a self-described democratic socialist vision that in many ways would fundamentally restructure how the U.S. federal government relates to its people. Sanders' campaign also provides a stark contrast, both in terms of policy and approach, to that of his rival, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. Sanders dominating youth vote Clinton, who generally takes more centrist Democratic views, has a large delegate lead and likely will emerge as the Democratic nominee. But it doesnt take much digging into polling data to find a clear trend: young Democrats, especially those in the millennial generation, prefer Sanders to Clinton. And its not even close. For months, Sanders support among 18-29-year-olds nationwide has hovered around 70 percent, compared to about 30 percent for Clinton, according to Reuters polling data. His dominance of the youth demographic was on display once again in the latest state to hold a primary, Wisconsin, which he won with the help of a stunning 82 percent of those in the 18-29 year old age bracket, according to exit polls. That's a pretty typical result for Sanders in most states this primary season. The septuagenarian senator even has dominated the youth vote in states Clinton has won. In Florida, for example, which Clinton took in a landslide last month, young Democrats supported Sanders over Clinton by a margin of 64 to 35 percent. Democratic Socialism: the future? Sanders extreme popularity with youth voters raises the question: do his democratic socialist ideas represent the future of the Democratic Party? One of the most prominent figures in Americas political left, Noam Chomsky, thinks thats very possible. He says the rise of Sanders represents a return to the Democratic Party of the middle 20th century, which was far more liberal than the party is today. His campaign has, so far, restored some of the concerns and aspirations of the reformist New Deal Period, Chomsky told VOA in an email. Chomsky, who identifies as a libertarian socialist, was referring to the New Deal domestic relief programs put in place in the 1930s by then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal, a response to the Great Depression, helped bring about many government welfare programs, including the Social Security safety net for seniors, which is widely popular with voters across the political spectrum. There is still support for expanding such programs, says Chomsky, but he is reluctant to predict that Sanders' rise means there will be an organized democratic socialist wing within the party anytime soon. Will the Democratic Socialist trend last? Others argue that many of Sanders young supporters will become more moderate, mainstream Democrats as they get older, and eventually reject the more fringe, socialist views of their youth. But there's not actually much evidence to suggest that's the case, says John Sides, a political science professor at George Washington University. Instead, political attitudes mostly tend to harden over the lifespan, says Sides. The aging process is mainly reinforcing your views, not moving them in any particular ideological direction. David Sears, who studies political psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, agrees. "The 'aging produces conservatism' idea is pretty widespread," he told VOA. "But I don't know that there is a lot of positive evidence for it." Sears says political attitudes are determined in large part by the popularity of whoever the president is when voters reach their late teens and early 20s. In this case, that would be Barack Obama, whose popularity has continued to rise as he prepares to leave office in January. As a result, "the young Bernie supporters are likely to look unusually progressive when they are 50," concludes Sears. So does that settle it? Will the Democratic presidential nominee 30 years from now look something like Bernie Sanders and espouse his democratic socialist ideas? Ideology or character? Will Marshall, who heads the Progressive Policy Institute, a research organization that represents more centrist liberal views, doubts that will be the case. He points out that many young Democrats are attracted to Sanders for non-ideological reasons. Some of them clearly are [motivated by Sanders political views], but I dont think that explains the extraordinarily large margins hes rolled up with millennial voters, Marshall says. What Bernie offers is authenticity, simplicity, principles, clarity things that people who are deeply estranged from traditional politics are interested in." Sanders perceived trustworthiness does seem to be a major factor for many of his supporters, according to polling data. In Tuesdays exit polls in Wisconsin, 82 percent of Democratic voters said Sanders is more honest and trustworthy than Clinton. And most voters ranked honesty and trustworthiness as their most important concern. Economic concerns Another reason young voters may be attracted to Sanders is that they are often the most affected by a sluggish economy. Sanders has tailored his campaign to appeal to college students and recent graduates who are saddled with massive student loan debt or who have had difficulties entering the job market. If those economic concerns were to be addressed, would there still be such an appetite among young voters for European-style social welfare programs? Marshall says no. He predicts that an economy strengthened through more traditional liberal market policies will restore the normal balances of American politics. Anti-establishment sentiment The uniqueness of Sanders' political views, especially during an election that has been dominated by anti-establishment sentiment, may actually be another factor driving his popularity, according to some analysts. No self-described "socialist" presidential candidate has ever had this much success in a U.S. presidential election. Could that actually be one of the things that is actually making him more attractive? According to Peter Hart of the Hart Research organization, many young voters may be for Sanders simply because he represents something they've never tried before. Theres a willingness to look at whats going on in America and say, We need to change. Were unhappy with the status quo. We dont necessarily know the answer, but were willing to look around for solutions,' Hart says. Unrealistic expectations But what happens if Sanders loses his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination? Will his supporters, who have become energized to enter the political process, once again find themselves burned out and disappointed? Garry South, a veteran Democratic strategist, says that's the danger of building up "unrealistic expectations." "It's an attractive pitch to millennials, and they're buying into it with a great deal of enthusiasm. But it's not going to happen," South insists. "We're not going to have free college for all. It's never going to happen." "And at the end of the day, when you try to be a 'Pied Piper' and then you don't lead everyone to the promised land, there's a disillusionment that sets in," he adds. Sanders has repeatedly stressed that his campaign has been about more than just trying to get him elected president. Instead, he says, it is about building a movement for social change. Many of Sanders' most loyal devotees are getting that message, according to Ken Quam, a 32-year-old database administrator who helped form a grassroots volunteer organization supporting Sanders in the Washington, D.C. area. "The message is being heard, and people know we need to stay involved and continue to be involved in the political process after the election," Quam told VOA. "If Sanders loses, I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing." The number of anti-Semitic incidents reported in Austria increased more than 80 percent last year, with reported internet postings denouncing Jews more than doubling, an Austrian group said on Wednesday. Jews across Europe have warned of a rising tide of anti-Semitism, fueled by anger at Israeli policy in the Middle East, while far-right movements have gained popularity because of tensions over immigration and concerns following militant Islamist attacks in Paris and Brussels. The Austrian Forum Against Anti-Semitism, which began monitoring anti-Semitic incidents in 2003, said 465 incidents were recorded during 2015, over 200 of them being internet postings hostile to Jews. The total number of internet postings reported to Austria's constitutional protection authority as offensive remained stable in 2015, but the number of postings liable to be used in criminal proceedings doubled compared to 2014, according to an interior ministry spokesman. "The whole picture is terrifying," Oskar Deutsch, president of the Jewish Communities of Austria (IKG), said. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) urged the European Union and its member states in January to increase efforts to combat widespread anti-Semitic cyber hate, arguing that anti-Semitism in the region did not show any sign of waning. IKG's Secretary General Raimund Fastenbauer said it was difficult to clearly tell who committed some anti-Semitic acts because offenders could not be identified and internet postings were usually anonymous. But there was a clear trend of increasingly hostile behavior against the 15,000 Jews living in Austria from Muslims, the Jewish community representative said. "There is an increasing concern in our community that if the proportion of Muslims in Austria continues to rise due to immigration, due to the refugees - this could become problematic for us," Fastenbauer said. Austria has mainly served as a conduit into Germany for refugees and migrants from the Middle East and Africa but has absorbed a similar number of asylum seekers relative to its much smaller population of 8.7 million. United Nations aid agencies say the conflict in South Sudan, combined with recent weather patterns, have further reduced crop production in the country. The U.N.s Food and Agricultural Organization and World Food Program say South Sudans cereal production is down by 400,000 metric tons this year, a drop of 53 percent compared to last year. The situation has aggravated the already severe food shortages across the country. These estimates follow reports from other aid groups that most families are surviving on only one meal a day because of skyrocketing food prices. Bernard Owadi, head of the WFP Food Security and Vulnerability Analysis in South Sudan, said the situation is expected to get worse. Food prices are four or five times what they were just a few months ago, according to Owadi. Traders are not able to import as many commodities as before, because they face far more difficulties in transporting food along the main roads. What is significant at this point in time is that due to the depreciation of the local currency, due to the economic downturn, the imports are no longer able to meet that gap," he says. Seeds, tools needed The agencies estimates stem from a joint crop and food assessment report conducted across the country from November 30 to December 18, 2015. Mario Zappacosta, an economist with the FAOs Global Information and Early Warning System Trade and Markets Division in South Sudan, said there are two major reasons for the steep drop in food production. The 2015 cropping system was affected by lets say two factors; in some areas by the unfavorable weather and in some areas by the conflict. Former states like Western Equatoria were once referred to as The food basket of South Sudan. Thats no longer the case, due in large part to ongoing fighting between government forces and so-called Arrow Boys, local, armed vigilantes who have rebelled against the government. Zappacosta said food insecurity is worsening across the entire country -- not only in the most conflict-prone areas of Upper Nile state but also in places like northern Bar El Ghazal and Lakes states. U.N. agencies are calling for immediate action to address the hunger and strengthen domestic food production. Zappacosta says if seeds and tools are provided, the communities are able to produce their own food and withstand market disruptions. Both the international community and the local institutions should try to improve the food security situation in the coming months," he says. In February, the FAO, WFP and U.N. Children's Fund warned that South Sudan was facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity, adding that 2.8 million people, about a quarter of the population, remain in urgent need of food assistance. The U.N. agencies said at least 40,000 people in South Sudan are on the brink of catastrophe. Belgium's prime minister says life is returning to normal, after the suicide attacks on the Brussels' airport and metro that killed 32 people and wounded dozens of others. Speaking with reporters in Belgiums capital, Charles Michel admitted his country has made mistakes in combating violent extremism, but he rejected criticism it has become Europe's weakest state in efforts to eradicate terrorist threats. The March 22 attacks in Brussels were the deadliest since World War II. "When there is an attack like that, of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this," the prime minister said. "I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state." But, in the fight against terrorism, "everywhere in the world and in Europe, there have been successes and there have been failures," he stressed. Michel said Belgium has had "great successes," having "prevented many attacks" and securing scores of convictions on terrorism-related charges. "If we were weak, then we would not have been able to convict 100 persons on terrorism issues," he said. He also referred to the 9/11 attacks on the United States, saying it took a decade to find the mastermind behind them even "with all the police in the world searching." Osama bin Laden was found in a Pakistani compound and killed there by U.S. Special Forces in May 2011. Roughly 3,000 people died in attacks of September 11, 2001, when hijackers crashed planes in New Yorks World Trade Center, at the Pentagon near Washington and in a field in Pennsylvania. Investigators discovered links between assailants in the Brussels attack two weeks ago and those behind the Paris attacks last November 13, all claimed by the Islamic State extremist group. With neither side commanding enough firm support in the battle to impeach Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, the outcome of a crucial vote in Congress this month may boil down to a handful of no-shows and abstentions. Brazil's lower house is due to vote within two weeks on a committee report about whether Rousseff, the country's first female president, broke fiscal laws to secure her 2014 re-election. With her allies wavering following mass protests against her scandal-hit government, Rousseff risks losing the impeachment vote in the 513-seat lower house. The Eurasia consultancy calculates the odds of her defeat at 60-70 percent. If the Senate agrees to put her on trial, Rousseff would be suspended from office. Financial markets favor her impeachment on hopes her substitute, Vice President Michel Temer, would introduce more-business-friendly policies. Yet polls suggest her opponents have not secured the 342 votes - two-thirds of the chamber - they need to take impeachment to this stage. Nor does Rousseff's Workers' Party and its allies have the 171 votes or abstentions needed to block it. Each abstention favors Rousseff by reducing the chances her opponents obtain two-thirds of the chamber. Brasilia-based consultancy Barral M. Jorge Associates estimates the government has 115 firm votes against impeachment versus 213 in favor, with the rest of the votes undecided or not publicaly stated, analyst Gabriel Petrus said. With the government's fate in the balance, both sides are using every means at their disposal to eke out an advantage. Rousseff's team is working overtime to build a new coalition, offering jobs in her embattled government in exchange for votes. "The government is scraping the bottom of the barrel, offering jobs in ministries and money for public works in congressional districts," said Darcisio Perondi, a lawmaker from Rio Grande do Sul state and a fierce Rousseff opponent. Government officials have denied offering public works spending in return for votes or abstentions. Uncertainty Meanwhile, lower house Speaker Eduardo Cunha, a bitter rival to Rousseff, is seeking to favor impeachment by holding the roll-call vote on a Sunday, when most Brazilians will be at home and can follow which way lawmakers vote on television. Polls show more than two-thirds of Brazilians support impeachment, after Brazil's worst recession in decades and a sweeping corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras drained Rousseff's support. Congressmen say Cunha plans to start the voting with southern states, where anti-Rousseff sentiment runs strongest, so momentum for impeachment piles pressure on uncertain lawmakers, especially from the northeast, a bastion of Workers' Party support, who would vote last. Rousseff suffered a blow last week when her main coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), deserted her. The PMDB expected smaller parties in the coalition to follow suit, boosting chances that Rousseff would be impeached by Congress and Temer, leader of the PMDB, would take over until the end of her term in 2018. The Progressive Party, the Republic Party, the Social Democratic Party and the Brazilian Republican Party - with 142 seats in the lower house - signalled they might abandon Rousseff but have held off as the government wooed them with cabinet posts. Rousseff's negotiations have been complicated by several PMDB ministers who refused the instruction to resign, preferring to risk expulsion from the party. Barral M. Jorge consultancy estimates that up to 30 percent of the PMDB's 68 lawmakers could swing one way or the other, depending on how the vote unfolds. Or they could just abstain, because they are unsure impeachment will succeed and are not prepared to commit themselves to an uncertain post-Rousseff scenario, said Petrus. "The offer of jobs will lure some, but uncertainty over what comes next will keep others away, prefering not to back Dilma or a future Temer government that might not succeed," Petrus said. "Their absence will work in Rousseff's favor." Chinas recently proposed new regulations that require companies to register Internet domain names domestically is raising concern about a further tightening of access in cyberspace in a country that already has some of the worlds strictest online controls. Analysts said it is also feeding worries about the impact the rules could have on business and competition. Domain names provide Internet users with a simple way of linking up to websites. Behind each name is a numerical IP (Internet Protocol) address that connects users to a server where information and data for the website is stored. For security and service reasons, many domain names for websites in China are registered overseas. But that is something authorities are looking to change. Who will be impacted? Chinas Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, or MIIT, published in March the draft rules for public comment and immediately sparked a backlash, with some wondering if the regulations could lead to the complete blockage of websites with domain names abroad. The deadline for public comment ends April 25 and it is unclear how soon the rules could be approved after that. The regulations state that all websites with network access in China, must have their domain names registered in China. But when concerns were raised, MIIT issued a statement assuring businesses that the proposed regulations wouldnt impact websites with network access abroad. The body also said the rules would not affect the ability of users to access those websites and that the rules would not impact the efforts of foreign companies to launch services in China. Domestic firms hardest hit Assurances aside, there are still questions about the possible impact of the new regulations. And for now, it appears that local Internet companies will bear the brunt of that burden. For starters, if the new rules are approved, they will add to an already heavy load of administrative work that local Internet firms bear, said Charlie Smith (pseudonym), co-founder of GreatFirewall.org, a website that monitors Chinas online censorship. In an emailed response to questions about the proposed rules, Smith said authorities should be concerned the new rules could spur local companies to speak out about the overbearing costs of doing business in China. In many ways, these companies have far more power to fight back against these restrictions than foreign companies, Smith said. I wonder if somehow authorities felt that domestic companies were fighting back and decided to add an extra layer of security. Although the rules aim to promote local data storage and real-name registration for websites, something that could benefit local companies, the requirement to register domestically will bring extra costs for Internet firms, such as marketing and maintenance. Right now it seems that the key target of the regulations are companies that use domestic servers but have their domain name registered overseas, said Matt Ma, an intellectual property rights lawyer. More control In addition to companies, the new regulations are also likely to have a huge impact on personal websites, blogs and online forums as many are registered overseas but use domestic as well as international servers to host their content. "Some domain names can be used to connect to multiple servers, both those in China and abroad. And if the website is blocked in China, the domain name can still be accessed through a server overseas," Ma said. "And it appears that this is a loophole authorities are looking to close. The new regulations go further than just the blocking of sites, said Rob Atkinson, president of the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. The new rules could allow authorities to take the domain name away and not let you have it. And with the requirement to register a domestic domain name, the management of websites becomes more like how authorities in China regulate the media, Atkinson said. If they dont like what is on the website, they now have more control beyond just shutting down the site, he said. It is not just about the act of shutting something down. It is the fact that now you have to get a license to do this, you are going to be more careful than you would be if you didnt have to do that. Alibaba monopoly Domain names for many of Chinas websites are registered abroad, including Taobao, Baidu, Netease and even state-run broadcaster China Central Television. Some analysts argue that it is unlikely any company will be willing to allow Chinese regulators to block their sites at will. William Long, an IT blogger, said another problem the proposed rules raise is the fact that the main company for registering domain names in China is run by a subsidiary of Alibaba, called Wanwang. Long said it is hard to imagine domestic competitors being willing to register with Wanwang, let alone multinationals. But that is not the only possible outcome, said Ma, the lawyer. He said that while there is a chance that Wanwang could dominate the market, the requirement to register domestically could also help shake up the domain-name market. "Once those companies, which have registered their domain names overseas, return back to China, the monopoly enjoyed by [Alibabas] Wanwang may be challenged as they may seek to partner with other providers, Ma said. China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of the artificial islands it built up in the South China Sea, a move that will likely further inflame tensions between China and its regional neighbors. State news agency Xinhua says the 55-meter-high lighthouse on Subi Reef was turned on Tuesday during a ceremony led by Chinese transportation officials. Subi Reef, part of the Spratly Island archipelago, is one of many once-submerged reefs that Beijing has transformed into islands that can support runways and other facilities. China ignored competing claims to the outcroppings by the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and other Asian nations. A Chinese civilian airplane made a test landing on a runway on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands in January. China claims the Subi Reef lighthouse is designed to assist with maritime safety and search-and-rescue efforts. It is also building lighthouses on two other reefs in the Spratly Island chain. The United States and other nations have also criticized Beijing for its island-building projects in the South China Sea, characterizing the activity as destabilizing for the region. Last year, China was angered when a U.S. naval warship, the USS Lassen, sailed within 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles) of the Subi Reef in an operation Washington says was meant to uphold "freedom of navigation" in international waters. The South China Sea is home to one of the worlds busiest shipping routes. Mumbai: While many have expressed their shock and grief over the death of TV actress Pratyusha Banerjee, controversies queen Rakhi Sawant had something entirely different to say. Read: Boyfriend Rahul booked for 'abetting' Pratyusha Banerjee suicide, assault Rakhi, a close friend of Pratyusha, claims that Pratyusha was tensed about her relationship with boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh. Rakhi alleged that Rahuls ex-girlfriend had forwarded an intimate video of him and herself to Pratyusha. She went on to add that Pratyusha was upset because of the video, and it might have led her to commit suicide. Read: Rahul used to beat Pratyusha, claims actress' mother On Tuesday, Rakhi held a press conference and urged Indias PM Narendra Modi to ban ceiling fans. She said, Daughters, sisters, daughter-in-laws commit suicide by hanging themselves from a ceiling fan. I want ceiling fans to go away. I request PM Modi to ban ceiling fans from everyones house. If you love your daughter or sister, then banish the ceiling fan. Remove it from your house and use a table fan or AC. Meanwhile, Rahul has been booked for abetment of her suicide last week and also slapped with the charges of criminal intimidation. The producer, currently in hospital, was booked after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Banerjee's mother Soma at Bangurnagar Police Station. He has been booked under IPC sections related to abetment of suicide, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, among others, a police official said. On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot into fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs. A Japanese court has rejected a challenge to a lower court ruling that allowed the restart of two nuclear reactors. The Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court ruled Wednesday that the Number 1 and Number 2 reactors at the Sendai plant in southwestern Japan could remain operative. Local residents filed suit last year to keep the reactors shutdown, arguing that the plant's operator, Kyushu Electric Power, had underestimated the threat of volcanoes and earthquakes. All of Japan's nuclear reactors were shut down in the aftermath of the March 2011 Fukushima disaster, which occurred when an earthquake triggered a massive tsunami that struck the plant and knocked out its cooling systems, leading to core meltdowns in three of the six reactors. It was the world's worst nuclear accident since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has advocated resuming nuclear power production as a key energy source for resource-poor Japan. Sendai's Number 1 reactor resumed operation last August, with the Number 2 unit coming back online in October. Back in March, the Otsu District Court ordered Kansai Electric to shut down a nuclear reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant, located west of Tokyo. The judge raised concerns about the plant's equipment upgrades and emergency response plans in his ruling, siding with residents who argued that a Fukushima-style incident posed a risk to Lake Biwa, a key water source for the region. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson called for cooperation from the American Muslim community Wednesday, during a speech at a symposium on Countering Violent Extremism. The terrorist attack in Brussels last month has renewed debate over ways to counter violent extremism in the United States, with calls by some Republican presidential candidates calling for surveillance of American Muslim neighborhoods. But Homeland Security head Jeh Johnson says that proposal does not reflect reality. There is not one neighborhood or ghetto or city that one could encircle or surveil, to surveil American Muslims, contrary to some of the political rhetoric that is out there, some of the overheated political rhetoric out there. While last years mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, renewed concerns about the threat of homegrown terrorism, Johnson said Homeland Securitys efforts to prevent more attacks largely have been met with cooperation in the American Muslim community. "The overwhelming, overwhelming majority of American Muslims, including those who serve in our United States military, by the way, and in our government, are patriotic, dedicated people who love this country and who want to help us with public safety and secure our homeland because they know its their homeland too," he said. Johnson also dismissed criticism that Homeland Security's counter-terrorism efforts target American Muslims. The Islamic State, which is the most visible, most prominent and probably the most dangerous terrorist organization that we face right now, is targeting American Muslims," he said. "We must respond in countering that effort as a matter of homeland security. Johnson ended his speech with a call for cooperation and bridge-building, saying American Muslim communities should not be isolated or vilified. The mosquito breeding season is getting underway in the U.S., and with it has come a growing concern about the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Dozens of organizations joined the March of Dimes on Tuesday in urging Congress to approve an emergency funding measure to protect pregnant women and to promote research on the Zika virus. "Zika virus is on our nations doorstep. It is up to us to close the door," said Dr. Edward McCabe, senior vice president and medical director of the March of Dimes Foundation. McCabe's remarks came during a teleconference in which he and others implored lawmakers to provide immediate, emergency funding. "We have only weeks to prepare before the mosquitoes, and perhaps the virus, will get ahead of us," he said. Zika is linked to microcephaly, which causes a spectrum of birth defects, miscarriages and deaths in infants, as well as paralysis in adults. In January, the World Health Organization called the virus an international public health emergency because of its link to microcephaly. President Barack Obama asked Congress in early February for $1.9 billion in emergency funding to fight the Zika virus. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan responded in late March by saying the federal government has "plenty of money" and could use emergency funds left over from Ebola programs to fight Zika. But the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health say that money already has been allocated to prevent another Ebola pandemic. Pregnant women have been cautioned to wear protective clothing and use insect repellent to try to avoid getting mosquito bites. But Dr. Hal Lawrence, executive vice president of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists noted that "50 percent of pregnancies in this country are unintended." In an interview with VOA, Lawrence pointed out that the virus is also sexually transmitted. "Contraception is a very important part of the multipronged attack in protecting women" against a virus for which there are "no treatment options and a lot of uncertainty," Lawrence said at the news conference. Agency cutbacks Associations representing state and local health departments also signed the petition. Dr. Oscar Alleyne, senior adviser for public health programs at the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told VOA, "Many health departments have seen reduced funding, reduced budgets over the course of time, whether its for vector control or normal surveillance activities. That just makes us a weaker infrastructure to combat this particular threat and other threats like it." James Blumenstock, chief program officer at the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, also made that point during Tuesday's news conference. He said funding and positions with public health programs have been severely cut over the years, which is another reason that emergency funds are needed. Because of what they see as an urgent need, 68 patient advocacy and health organizations have added their voices to those of the federal health agencies and Obama in petitioning Congress for new funding to help slow the spread of Zika and to finance programs to develop and test a vaccine. The House of Representatives returns from recess April 12. The recent movie The Monuments Men told the story of U.S. soldiers who were charged with recovering and protecting works of art stolen by the Nazis in World War II. A new documentary, The Liberators, is the story of a U.S. soldier who stole priceless art from a site in Germany and kept it with him in Texas until he died 35 years later. Art experts value the stolen thousand-year-old works at more than $200 million. To the people of Quedlinburg, Germany, the gold-enhanced figures and other items are a priceless part of the heritage they had tried to protect from the Nazis and Allied bombardments during the war. A U.S. army unit found the cache of treasure in a cave and tried to protect it, but one soldier, First Lieutenant Joe Meador, who had studied art in college and had some idea of the artworks' value, managed to carry some items out of the hiding place. Later, town representatives noted that a number of items were missing and they became part of a long list of treasures that investigators tried to find in the years after the war. No one knew where the Quedlinburg artworks were until some items were put up for sale in 1990 by members of Meadors family. He had kept the stolen art works in a store in his hometown, Whitewright, Texas, and later in a bank vault in nearby Denison, Texas. After he died in 1980, his family sold some of them for $3 million to a German foundation dedicated to recovering lost art. What followed was a media frenzy, as the New York Times, CBS News and others rushed into the small towns in north Texas to learn more about how the precious art work had ended up there. There were also lawsuits and a U.S. government indictment against two members of the Meador family. The criminal charges were later dropped after a judge ruled that the statute of limitations had passed. Filmmaker focuses on why In 2004, a Denison native who had studied filmmaking at New York University, Cassie Hay, read some of the old newspaper stories as well as a book about the stolen art. The book was told from a very New York perspective, she said, and I knew all the people in Denison and so I thought, Wow, this is really fascinating, what if we heard from all the different sides. So she began her film project with the goal of finding out why a man most people regarded as honest and upright would take works of art from their rightful owners in Germany. What she found, she said, was nuance. Meadors family and friends defended him and tried to justify what he had done. Nobody is 100 percent evil or 100 percent good, Hay said, so they wanted to share what they remembered about him and how he appreciated the treasures. For her, it is important that Meador never tried to gain financially from his theft. He apparently took the art pieces as souvenirs to enjoy privately, and he told very few people about them. Yet he never seems to have considered returning them. I like the stories that are not so black and white, Hay said, I like the gray areas that we live in. Seeking answers When she had the funding to make the film, Hay interviewed everyone she could find in Whitewright and Denison and also the lost art detective, Willi Korte, in Washington, D.C. and community leaders in Quedlinburg, Germany, who she says were very cordial and helpful. One reason she says Meador might have balked at returning the artwork was that Quedlinburg is in eastern Germany and was occupied by Soviet troops after Meadors unit pulled out. That part of Germany was still under communist rule in 1980 and German reunification would take another decade. But that still doesnt answer the question of why he took the art in the first place. Hay said, We just really tried through his scrapbook, through interviews with neighbors who knew him his entire life and his family to get at the heart of why he would have done something like this. She speculates that Meador may have thought the works of art would end up being ruined in the war-torn region where he encountered them and that they would be safer with him. Another reason is offered by one of the people Cassie Hay interviewed for the documentary: You dont really own things like this; they own you. A majority of the Dutch who voted in Wednesday's referendum rejected the European Union trade deal with Ukraine, but exit polls showed the turnout may have been too low to be valid. The exit polls, carried out by polling institute Ipsos, showed 64 percent of those who voted said "no" to the deal, with some 36 percent voting in favor. But it was not immediately clear if turnout had reached the 30 percent of the 12.5 million eligible voters needed to be valid. The exit polls initially put turnout at 29 percent, before updating it to 32 percent with a margin of error of 3 percent. The referendum is nonbinding, but it will be an important measure of EU support. It comes just three months before British voters cast ballots on whether to remain in the European Union. Dutch opponents of the EU agreement say its ultimate goal is to bring Ukraine, which struggles with corruption and an ongoing separatist movement, into the bloc. Supporters say the agreement would aid economic development on both sides and improve human rights in the former Soviet republic. The United States backs the deal. State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday that it is "in the interests of the United States, of the Netherlands, of the EU to help ensure that Ukraine becomes a democratic and economically stable country." Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, has urged Dutch voters to say "yes" to the agreement. Whether or not the Netherlands' voters approve or reject the agreement, it is expected to send an important signal to the Dutch government about the citizens' attitudes toward the European Union, which is struggling to cope with economic woes, political divisions, and the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Dutch voters are going to the polls to cast votes on whether to back a European Union free trade agreement with Ukraine. The referendum is nonbinding, but it will be an important measure of EU support. It comes just three months before British voters cast ballots on whether to remain in the European Union. Dutch opponents of the EU agreement say its ultimate goal is to bring Ukraine, which struggles with corruption and an ongoing separatist movement, into the bloc. Supporters say the agreement would aid economic development on both sides and improve human rights in the former Soviet republic. Ukraine's president, Petro Poroshenko, has urged Dutch voters to say yes to the agreement. Whether or not the Netherlands' voters approve or reject the agreement, it is expected to send an important signal to the Dutch government about the citizens' attitudes toward the European Union, which is struggling to cope with economic woes, political divisions, and the worst refugee crisis since World War II. The number of registered Dutch voters is estimated at 12.5 million, but turnout is not expected to be high for Wednesday's referendum. Results from the first exit polls are expected immediately after polling stations close at 1900 GMT. The European Union (EU) has urged Bangladesh to arrange for the repatriation of thousands of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants living in EU member countries. A six-member delegation from the EU met with senior officials in Dhaka Tuesday and conveyed concerns about the rising number of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Bangladesh says the EU officials told them that among the nearly 250,000 Bangladeshi immigrants in different EU countries, about 80,000 are staying there illegally and more are still arriving. Making lists Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said the two sides discussed how to ensure the safe return of migrants. We have sought the lists of the Bangladeshi illegal immigrants living in the EU countries. After we get the lists of those 80,000 people, we will verify if they all are Bangladeshis. We will then chalk out a plan to bring home the Bangladeshi illegal immigrants and the EU will cooperate with us in the process, Kamal said in a news conference. Another official, Jabed Ahmed, said the Europeans told them the EU is eager to assist in the reintegration of the illegal immigrants so that they do not become desperate enough to seek work abroad again. EU team leader Christian Leffler, deputy secretary-general for economic and global issues at the European External Action Service, said the two sides discussed all the dimensions of the issue, but provided few details. On the issue of the Bangladeshi illegal immigrants we shall continue dialogue with the Bangladesh government at a higher level. We hope both sides will be able to settle the issue amicably, he said. Earlier this week, he tweeted about the need for a stronger framework for legal migration and tougher measures against irregular migration. Shrinking options With a quarter of Bangladeshs 160 million people living below the poverty line and the country being regularly hit by natural disasters like floods and cyclones, large numbers of Bangladeshis have, for years, migrated abroad in search of work. Countries like Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Singapore and Malaysia have long been the preferred destination for these migrant laborers. However, for various reasons, most of these countries began cutting down on imported labor from Bangladesh in recent years. According to a Bangladesh government figure, more than 870,000 Bangladeshis worked abroad in 2008, most of them in Persian Gulf countries. But by 2014, the figure had dropped to 425,000. With the traditional foreign job markets shrinking, larger numbers have turned to the EU countries. Transit routes A Bangladeshi who last year reached Italy with the help of some human traffickers from Libya said Britain, Germany, Italy, France and Greece are the favorite destinations of the illegal Bangladeshi migrant workers. I personally know some hundreds of Bangladeshis who, like me, are living in Italy and some other EU countries illegally, he told VOA via Skype. We all are concerned about our fate here after EU announced plans to deport illegal immigrants, said the 32-year-old man, who only wanted to be identified as Suman. Osman Goni, a travel agent in Chittagong, told VOA that many of the illegal migrants first transit through North Africa. A section of those Bangladeshis are they who entered the countries on tourist visas but planned to stay on, overstaying their visas. However, most of those illegal immigrants entered the countries by illegal sea and land routes after they had reached some African and other countries from Bangladesh legally, said Goni. In the past one or two years several thousand Bangladeshis legally traveled to Libya, from where they planned to land in Europe through illegal routes. Human Rights Watch has said several Bangladeshis were among the three boatloads of migrants who were deported from Greece to Turkey this week. As Turkey prepared to receive a second group of migrants deported from Greece this week, European Union officials on Wednesday pledged there would be no automatic return for the migrants before they are given a chance to apply for asylum. The announcement follows angry protests by international human rights activists who have accused the EU of denying migrants the basic rights of refugees to seek asylum as the deportations began from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios Monday. There will be individual assessments. There will be no automatic return. Everybody will be given the right to ask for asylum, Jean-Pierre Schembri, spokesman for the European Asylum Support Office, told VOA from Lesbos. Schembri was among nearly 70 EASO staff arriving on the island Wednesday to begin handling asylum claim procedures following a wave of protests against the deportations, which are happening under the terms of a March agreement between the EU and Turkey to address Europe's migrant crisis. Among those protesting on Lesbos was Kavita Kapur, a lawyer from California who has been in contact with those deported earlier this week. The biggest problem is the people who were going to be returned to Turkey had no idea they were going to be returned to Turkey up until maybe a few hours before it happened, she told VOA. They were supposed to be given the right to seek asylum. They were given Know Your Rights sheets in English. They were not provided with interpreters. Most of them who indicated to us volunteers that they wanted to seek asylum were not actually given access to that process, she said. Addressing concerns EU officials are working to ease those concerns and address accusations the process has not been transparent, fair, or humane. Schembri said EU asylum officers would take the individual applicants vulnerabilities into consideration. This would be key to addressing activists concerns about sending the deportees to Turkey, a country with a spotty human rights record. Those deemed ineligible for asylum will have five days to appeal the decision. Slower process The new procedures for handling asylum cases could further slow the process of clearing an estimated 3,000 migrants now housed at Moria, the largest, overcrowded migrant detention center on Lesbos. EU officials say about 1,000 migrants have expressed interest in applying for asylum. Starting Thursday, officials will only be able to process up to 50 cases a day. Greek officials say between 300 and 500 migrants continue to arrive from Turkey daily. WATCH: Migrants Fear Deportation to Turkey Former Israeli president Moshe Katsavs request for a conditional early release from prison has been rejected by a parole board. He is serving a seven-year term for raping an employee, while he was the minister of tourism in 1998. Katsav has always maintained his innocence. The Justice Ministry said Wednesday the parole board concluded Katsav, the first Israeli president to be incarcerated, did not show remorse, regret or sympathy toward victims. The parole board also said Katsav could still be a threat to women and conducts himself in an aggressive manner. His victims also expressed opposition to an early release before the board. Charges of rape, sexual harassment Katsov was convicted in 2010 on charges of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts, and obstruction of justice. The board emphasized that the prisoner has presented himself as victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others, the Justice Ministry said. During his 18-month trial, his former secretary made allegations against him. AFP reported the woman described Katsav as monstrous, with a split personality that subjected her to terror. The 70-year-old Katsav took the mostly ceremonial role as president in 2000. After public pressure following the allegations, Katsav was offered a plea bargain and resigned in 2007. He later decided to call off the plea bargain and face trial and said he would fight until the truth comes out. Nobel Peace laureate Shimon Peres took over the presidency after Katsavs resignation. Katsavs lawyers are expected to appeal Wednesday's decision. A political pressure group has petitioned the electoral commission of Ghana to "clean up" the voter list to be used for the November 7 presidential, parliamentary and local elections. The group Let My Vote Count Alliance also teamed up Wednesday with other civil society and opposition groups to protest in the Ashanti Regional capital, Kumasi. David Asante, leader of Let My Vote Count Alliance, says his group plans to demonstrate across the country to pressure the electoral commission to compile a credible voter list for use at the polls. It is regrettable, he says, that the electoral commission refused to implement recommendations by a committee that it established following complaints that the voter list was flawed and not credible. Asante says his group's demand for a clean voter list is non-negotiable. "The purpose was to drum home the need for the electoral commission of Ghana to deliver a credible, clean voters register through a validation process that the electoral commission committee recommended for us to have a free, fair, open and transparent election, which we believe will guarantee all of us peace after the election. It was that simple," he said. "[The demonstration] is not going to end here, and we believe it is better for us to speak up today than to watch the nation eventually think along the lines of post-election violence," he added. Commission: No new list Opponents of the pressure groups accuse them of doing the bidding of the main opposition party to create tension before the elections. They contend that if the voter list is not credible, then previous elections organized since 1992 when the country returned to constitutional rule also were not credible. Asante disagrees. "Our electoral processes have evolved with time, he said. "Our next line of action is to replicate this street agitation in all the regional capitals. But the ultimate objective of this action is to remind the EC, [to] clean the register through the validation process." Past ruling The electoral commission of Ghana previously said it will not compile a new voter list to be used for the polls, despite calls to do so by the main opposition, New Patriotic Party (NPP). The NPP backed by other opposition groups and some civil society organizations had petitioned the electoral commission, saying the current voter list was bloated with minors and non-citizens. The electoral commission appointed an independent panel to examine the NPP concerns. However, in a January interview with VOA, panel chair Professor V.C.R.A.C. Crabbe said having a clean and credible voter register is the shared responsibility of all Ghanaian citizens. "The problem of the voters register is that it's not static," Crabbe said. "As a panel, we had to get into the problems of minors getting on the register and aliens getting on the register. These considerations were uppermost in our minds you have to appreciate that we have a problem of ethnic communities, which cut across our borders, and we have to take such things into consideration and see how far we can be able to get a voters register, which reflects the people who have a right to vote." Vishal Bharadwajs next offering Rangoon is currently being shot in Mumbai. The film, which stars Saif Ali Khan, Shahid Kapoor and Kangana Ranaut in lead roles, is in the last leg of its schedule. Except for Kangana, the other actors have worked with Vishal in the past and have a certain understanding of how he functions and respect it. So while there are rules about crew members not being allowed to carry their cellphones on the sets, there are also other unspoken rules on Vishals sets for the lead actors. A source told us, Actors often return to the chair close to the monitor to check their phones in between shots. They constantly keep a tab on their phones and sometimes do not realise that the director may want to keep you more informed about the character. However Saif, Shahid and Kangana are all ears for Vishal. The three generally leave their phones behind in their respective vanity vans before coming to the sets. Rangoon is a period drama set during World War II in the 1940s. A source reveals, The characters in Rangoon are very complex and the actors need constant updates from Vishal on how to make things better. They discuss the scenes and their performances, in between shots, which is an exercise towards making the final product better. Military spending around the world has increased for the first time since 2011, according to new data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Total world military spending was $1.7 trillion for 2015, an increase of 1 percent over 2014. The Asia-Pacific region was largely responsible for the rise, with countries averaging a 5.4 percent increase in military expenditures. Heightening tensions between China and others in the region sparked "substantial" spending increases by Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, SIPRI reported. The situation also caused Japan to reverse its long-term downward trend in military spending. Central European nations Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia increased military spending 13 percent because of concerns about Russian aggression in Ukraine, SIPRI said. The U.S. was still the largest military spender at $596 billion, SIPRI said. While U.S. military spending decreased from 2014 to 2015, it did so at a slower rate of decline, 2.4 percent, than past years. The second-largest spender was China. Beijing's figure for 2015 rose 7.4 percent to $215 billion. Saudi Arabia came in third, spending $87 billion, and Russia was fourth, spending $66 billion on its military. On a sun drenched day, an elaborate parade rolled out on the central street of Baltimore, Marylands Greek town, marking the 195th anniversary of Greeces independence from the Ottoman Empire. Young girls in long flowing traditional dresses and tresses waved, beaming at the crowds along the sidewalk. Young men in the characteristic white skirts of the Evzones, the historical elite light infantry and mountain units of the Greek Army, paraded in formation, their feet rythmically stomping the ground. Greek-American couples, clad in colorful beaded costumes of the Greek islands, danced to the upbeat tune of Aegean string music. The parade harkened back to different eras of Greek history. A group of Greek-American youth donned Spartan helmets and uniforms and performed a choreographed attack, their spears piercing the air. Spectators with Greek flags in hand could not contain their enthusiasm, applauding, saluting, hailing Greece, which has been an independent nation since 1821. Current concerns amid historical celebration But the festivities also had a bittersweet tone for many Greek Americans there. The refugee crisis in Greece has cast a shadow over this community an ocean away. Some opened up about the challenges Greece has been facing, with hundreds of thousands of refugees arriving on its shores or stranded within its borders. Their feelings are made more complicated by the EUs decision to start sending new arrivals back to Turkey just across the Aegean Sea. New York-born John Pallas braces for the worst. Its going to cause massive upheaval in the country of Greece and they are not able to control that. And its going to be a problem and they are not getting any assistance from the rest of Europe, they are getting criticism that Greece is not closing their borders. Its kind of tough to protect all those islands. Its not like you can build a wall across the sea he said. Paul Kotrotsions, a Washington DC resident and publisher of the Hellenic News of America, feels that the European Union needs to do more to support Greece on the migrant crisis. Its not five people, its not ten people, its not 1000 people. We are talking about millions of people arriving in bulk numbers in Greece. Who is going to feed them? Who is going to establish all the mechanisms so they can survive safely? So, I think the United States should intervene, not only the European nations, he said. But Virginia resident Apostolos Kakaes criticized what he calls an inexperienced Greek government for the long-standing refugee problem. As for Turkeys role in returning refugee boats from Greek islands into Turkey, he said, Greece should be front and center in coordinating how those controls are exercised so that the sovereignty of Greece is not violated while Turkey does its part in controlling the crowds. Turkey and Greece have had a troubled relationship for centuries, marked by wars and atrocities. Personal feelings Since the terrorist attacks in Europe, Maria Fotiadis, a Baltimore realtor and a first generation immigrant herself in the U.S., regards most migrants in Greece as a threat and has some strong words against them. I feel disgusted," she said. "I dont like it at all. I feel they are taking our beautiful country, which it is one of the most beautiful countries in the world, and I think its a shame. When asked how does she -- an immigrant herself -- justify such feelings, she said that when we came here we were immigrants; the world was totally different. We were more honest, we worked hard, our parents worked really hard, and we didnt harm anybody else. So, I feel the world has changed. So, its not like the good old days. But Mrs. Emilia, a Greek American with her heart still in the old country, has a different view about the fate of the refugees. "Where should they go? Return them? Easier said than done! How about some humanity? Many of those critics ancestors were refugees themselves. A stark reminder of the personal costs of war, under the gaze of Greek and American flags in a country of immigrants. Twenty-one-year-old Abd al-Fatah al-Sharif was lying flat on his back, eyes shut, hands spread out, in the middle of a street in the West Bank town of Hebron. A few minutes earlier he and an associate had stabbed an Israeli soldier. The soldiers killed his partner and wounded the black clad al-Sharif. An ambulance crew was evacuating the soldier when someone shouted, This terrorist is still alive, the mad dog. A shot rang and blood trickled from al-Sharifs head down the gray road. The incident intensified an argument among Israelis over the security forces ethics. Some people were appalled by the shooting of a wounded person. Others maintained al-Sharif got what he deserved. Israeli soldier arrested The soldier, who cannot be identified because of a court order, was arrested. He reportedly told his commanders that whoever stabbed my friend should die. Later he said he had fired because he feared al-Sharif was carrying a bomb. Visibly angry, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon accused him of breaking the law, violating our ethical standards and the rules of engagement. We have to know how to win and remain human beings, Yaalon stressed. Prosecutors told the soldier he could be charged with murder and aroused a storm. Sharp disagreement about arrest Education Minister Naftali Bennet of the hawkish national-religious party, Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) said that a soldier sent to the battlefield cannot be a murderer, period." Former Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, who heads the hawkish Yisrael Beitenu (Israel is Our Home) maintained the legal process was a farce. A soldier who killed a terrorist is certainly no murderer nor should he be accused of manslaughter, Liberman maintained. Oren Hazan, a member of Netanyahus Likud Knesset faction declared that every terrorist must end such an event [as the stabbing] with a bullet in his head. Hundreds of people who gathered in the soldiers hometown, Ramla, to support the soldier responded with resounding applause. Yaalon was resolute. What do you want? An army that becomes bestial? An army that has lost its moral backbone? he challenged his critics in parliament. PLO, some US politicians have complained The Palestine Liberation Organization recently asked the United Nations to investigate 207 cases of what it called extrajudicial Israeli executions of Palestinians. U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and 10 members of the House of Representatives asked the U.S. State Department to investigate reports of what may be extrajudicial killings of four Palestinians and the torture of two others by Israeli security forces. The findings could lead to a curtailment of U.S. military aid to Israel. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted Israel was not culpable. Israels soldiers and police officers defend themselves and innocent civilians with the highest moral standards against bloodthirsty terrorists, he said. The army's rules of engagement provide that soldiers should kill an assailant to avoid an attack. However, a second after the attack ends the rules change and it does not matter whether the attacker succeeded or not. What the soldier did "is not our way," said Major General (in the reserves) Elazar Stern who was chief education officer. Debate continues In an attempt to stem excessive reactions, the army's Chief of General Staff Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot told high school students: "When a 13-year-old-girl holds scissors or a knife and there is a barricade between her and soldiers, I wouldn't want a soldier to open fire and empty a magazine" at her. The rebuttal came from Sepharadi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. It is a religous commandment to kill a terrorist "who comes at you with a knife... Fear not the High Court of Justice or some chief of general staff," he said. Last October, during a peak in Palestinian stabbings, Israel Democracy Institute pollsters asked Jews whether every Palestinian who attacks Jews should be killed on the spot, even if he is caught and no longer poses a danger. Fifty three percent of the respondents said yes. Last week the pollsters asked whether one can ignore human and civil rights in order to fight terror more effectively. Forty nine percent of the respondents thought so and another 26 percent replied they dont agree so much. Soldiers get mixed messages According to the Haaretz newspaper, ministers, rabbis and popular Internet sites urge soldiers to kill every terrorist. The argument could affect the army's cohesiveness. Pnina Sharvit-Baruch who heads the Law and National Security Program at the National Institute for Strategic Studies noted, We want a professional army, an army that knows what it is doing, an army that has a chain of command. If we let loose on discipline and values we will get a very bad army and that will be our end, she warned. Fear of deterioration prompted the defense establishment to react to al-Sharifs death with unusual speed. The army was scared of the impact the shooting might have on other soldiers unless it acted immediately, Stern told reporters. Last Wednesday the chief of general staff issued a letter to the soldiers. He said the army will back every soldier who errs in the heat of battle but will not hesitate to severely punish soldiers and commanders who deviate from the ethical and operational standards under which we operate. Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is asking to be released from prison pending his appeal on his conviction for genocide and other atrocities, saying his continued detention is ruining his health. While addressing a special hearing at the Yugoslav War Crimes Court Wednesday in the Hague, Karadzic again proclaimed his innocence, slamming the verdict as "monstrous." He also complained about his detention conditions and asked for a new laptop to help him prepare his case. Judge Theodor Meron denied his request to be released, but said he would order officials to look into conditions at the detention facility. "My proposal is that my stay in the detention center should be suspended and that I should be released pending the finalization of the legal procedure to uphold or refute this verdict, which would not pass among first year students of law," Karadzic said. Karadzic was found guilty last month of committing Serb atrocities throughout Bosnia's 1992-95 war that left 100,000 people dead. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison. The U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said Karadzic was criminally responsible for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, when Serb forces killed 8,000 Muslim men and boys, in what has been called the worst atrocity in Europe since the Holocaust. The International Criminal Court judges ruled Tuesday on a 2-1 vote there was insufficient evidence to continue the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto and his co-defendant, broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang. Ruto and Sang had been charged with three counts of crimes against humanity for acts allegedly committed during the deadly violence that followed Kenya's disputed 2007 elections. Kenyans who spoke to VOA generally welcomed the ruling. Taxi operator Shaban Njoroge said terminating the case was the right decision. "We are praying our country to go forward, Njoroge said. We don't want to remember those things that happened before 2007 and whatever; what we want is we want peace in our country." Okiya Omtatah also welcomed the ruling. "If it was a question of political responsibility, it would have been President Mwai Kibaki and then Prime Minister Raila Odinga who were vying for seats and these are the people who should have been taken to task, Omtatah said. They were never taken to task because of political considerations, and so having gone for the mid-level people, we felt that it was injustice from day one." Governance and security strategist Mummoh Nzau hopes the country and affected communities can now focus on peace. "This is good for social cohesion, Nzau said. The country in the first place was somewhat at pains with the whole process. There are, of course, people who have been aggrieved since the post-election violence in 2007, but we believe that this is a unifying thing and the country can pull forward together." Samuel Muhochi, executive director at the International Commission of Jurists, disagreed. He spoke to VOA moments after the ruling, saying the victims of the post-election violence are likely to be disappointed. "Their quest for justice will have been nipped in the bud, Muhochi said. The victims will never get to know their truth on what really transpired, and bearing in mind that there [have] been measures to bring to closure the post-election violence issue in Kenya, then the victims will not access any justice." One of two rival Libyan governments says it is disbanding to make way for the new U.N.-brokered unity government. The Tripoli-based Islamist National Salvation Government issued a statement Tuesday saying it "put the interests of the nation above everything else and stress that the bloodshed stop and the nation be saved from division and fragmentation." The statement said its prime minister, parliament and ministry chiefs are all stepping down. Another Libyan administration in the eastern city of Tobruk is, so far, refusing to recognize the unity government. The new prime minister, Fayez al-Serraj, arrived in Tripoli last week and set up shop at a naval base. The United States and the West hope the new government can start to assert its authority across all of Libya, bring the country together and successfully enter the fight against Islamic State. Libya has been in chaos since longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in 2011. Rival armed factions have spent the last five years trying to grab power and take control of Libya's oil industry. The turmoil has opened the door for extremists, such as Islamic State, to grab territory. The fight for oil fields and refineries has destroyed the Libyan economy. Arab media are reporting Libya's unrecognized government in Tripoli has formally stepped down in favor of the new "unity" government of Prime Minister-designate Fayez al-Saraj. But Libyan TV reports the country's internationally recognized parliament, the House of Representatives, based in Tobruk, once again postponed its approval of the country's U.N.-mediated national unity government, despite moves by the rival government and parliament in Tripoli to cede power to it. The television channel announced the new government's council of state met in Tripoli and elected Abdel Rahman Swehli to be its head. It also reported Libya's central bank has been instructed to stop paying institutions that do not take orders from the new administration. A key member of the parliament in Tobruk, Abu Bakr Baeira, told Arab media the new council of state has not been legally approved and warned Prime Minister-designate Saraj's new unity government must be approved by parliament in order to be lawful. Al Arabiya TV reported the Tobruk parliament was unable to obtain a quorum to vote on Saraj's Cabinet. It said it was the ninth bid to hold a session to approve the new government. Parliament Speaker Aguileh Salah has told Arab media that his body agrees to the new government, but not to all the ministers that have been proposed to be a part of it. The unrecognized government in Tripoli and the General National Congress, a rival Tripoli-based parliament, officially ceded power to the new government this week. Sadek Institute Director Anas El Gomati told VOA there are major power centers in Libya that do not accept the unity government. He said the head of parliament in Tobruk insists Army Commander Khalifa Hafter be part of the government. "Khalifa Hafter is unwilling to cede his position as the chief of the army in the HoR (House of Representatives) government and any new government of national accord will end up seeing him resign his post. Now, that is what the HoR is holding this government of national accord at ransom to. They want the Libyan political agreement changed (and adapted) so that they can keep Khalifa Hafter in his current position and continue the status quo in the east," Gomati said. U.N. Libya envoy Martin Kobler stated in a tweet Wednesday he welcomes the convening of (the country's new) state council in Tripoli, calling it an important step. Mexico has named a new ambassador to the United States, planning to send a more seasoned envoy to Washington in an apparent effort to try to combat the vitriol heaped on the country by the leading U.S. Republican presidential candidates. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto promoted his current consul in Los Angeles, Carlos Sada, to the Washington posting in what his government said was a shift in strategy to better promote Mexican interests in the U.S. capital. Sada, whose nomination is subject to a confirmation vote by the Mexican Senate, has worked in three other U.S. cities as well, including a stint as a liaison to the U.S. Congress. He would replace Miguel Basanez, an academic who has only been in Washington for eight months and has a background in opinion polling. The phenomenon of illegal immigrants crossing the southern U.S. border from Mexico has played a key role in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. The front-running Republican candidate, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, branded the Mexican immigrants as drug smugglers and rapists as he announced his candidacy last June. He is calling for Mexico to pay for construction of an impenetrable wall along the 1,600-kilometer border to block further migrants from streaming into the U.S. Trump's chief challenger, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, says his first immigration priority is to secure the U.S.-Mexican border, complete a partially built barrier between the two countries and triple the number of U.S. agents patrolling the border. This week, Trump said he would try to force Mexico to pay for his proposed $8 billion wall by threatening to cut off the billions of dollars Mexican workers living in the U.S. annually send back to relatives and friends in their homeland. Trump said he would end the threat when Mexico sends the U.S. $5 billion to $10 billion for the wall, something Nieto says he has no intention of paying for. Mexican Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu did not mention the U.S. candidates in discussing the switch in diplomats. But she said the move was prompted by "the anti-Mexico atmosphere, which is largely due to lack of knowledge about our country. We had to implement a strategy focused on protecting our community but also on projecting Mexico's image." She added, "We have been warning that our citizens have begun to feel a more hostile climate. This [anti-Mexican] rhetoric has made it clear that we have to act in a different way so that this tendency being generated doesn't damage the bilateral relationship" with the United States, Mexico's biggest trading partner. About 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the United States, about half of them Mexicans, and millions more Mexicans live in the U.S. legally or have become U.S. citizens. U.S. government officials say currently there is no net flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S., with as many entering illegally as there are returning to Mexico and Central American countries to the south. What's in a name? Just ask George Mason University officials, who announced last week the law school would be renamed to honor the late U.S. Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia. Officials said on March 31 the new name would be the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University. Social media, predictably, erupted over the acronym, which became the subject of ridicule, so officials at the Washington area school quickly decided to change the name. "The name initially announced... has caused some acronym controversy on social media. The Antonin Scalia Law School is a logical substitute. We anticipate the naming will be effective on July 1, 2016 pending final approval by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, the school's dean, Henry Butler, said in a letter to students and alumni. The law school was first prompted to change its name after receiving $30 million in donations, $10 million of which came from the Charles Koch Foundation and the other $20 million from an unnamed donor. When the first boatload of deported migrants arrived Monday at the Turkish port of Dikili, a small group of Turkish human rights activists turned up to welcome them. Turkey is expecting to receive another group of 200 migrants deported from Greece on Friday, as part of the deal reached in March between the European Union and Ankara to alleviate Europe's migrant crisis. But there is also nervousness among some Turks who question whether their country can and should absorb the refugees who do not return to their nations of origin. The deportees from Pakistan and other countries who arrived in Turkey from Greece this week have been whisked away from the docks where they disembarked and taken to a reception and removal center in Kirklareli, 500 kilometers away. The deal brings a list of incentives for Turkey, including billions of dollars in aid and the possibility of visa-free travel to Europe, as well as eventual accession to the EU. But some Turks condemn the deal, saying it does little to widen their long-sought access to Europe. For Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the agreement is an opportunity to raise his standing at a time when he is under scrutiny for his government's offensive against Kurdish separatists in Turkey's southeast and its crackdown on the media. This week, Erdogan criticized the European Union's approach to the migration crisis. "Did we turn Syrians back? No, we didn't, but they [EU nations] did," he said in Ankara. "By way of placing razor wire, they did not let these people into their countries. We see who is dying on the Aegean Sea, but the number of those rescued by us on the Aegean is 100,000." Officials say more than 400 people have died over the past year while trying to make the short, but dangerous, crossing between Turkey and the Greek isles. Under the deal reached in mid-March, Turkey will receive more than $3 billion in aid to take care of the refugees. For every migrant returned, Turkey sends one Syrian refugee to the EU. Greece and the EU are to deport all migrants who arrived on Greek soil after March 20. While Greece reports that between 300 and 500 people continue to turn up on its shores daily, that number reflects a considerable drop from before the agreement. Acceptance, skepticism In Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, many migrants found acceptance, especially in the city's Basmane neighborhood, where many of them congregated before setting out on the sea journey. Today, parks and a roundabout once filled with migrants now sit empty as the prospect of being returned to Turkey deters many from coming here to make the crossing. Their presence is missed by some in Basmane. "They do no harm to us, no harm at all. On the contrary, the business I did last year was double than this year," Aydogan Kirisci, a spice vendor in Izmir's Basmane neighborhood, told VOA. "When they were here, I was doing better business." Not all Turks are as ready to accept the newcomers, and skepticism about continuing to host them in large numbers has grown, especially after a series of deadly terrorist attacks in the country recently. That skepticism is shared even by those who see the benefits Turkey stands to reap by taking back the migrants. In Izmir's city center, scores of Turkish travelers form a long line in the early morning hours in front of a private business that processes visas for Turks who want to visit EU countries. One of them, a marketing manager who identified himself only as Emre, said the prospect of having visa-free travel in the EU is, for him, not enough to justify the agreement. Some wonder how long the migrants will stay. "This is the main thing: that we don't know what [is] going to happen because we don't know those people and where they will live and if they [are given] a place anywhere in Turkey if it is a secured place," he told VOA. Turkey's government is ensuring that the deported migrants remain out of sight, a move analysts say is meant, in part, to minimize tensions. Ankara says Syrians will be placed in refugee camps, and others will be sent to their home countries. Cansu Akbas Demirel, an international relations and migration studies scholar at Ege University in Izmir, says the government's approach reflects the anxiety and fear of many Turks that the migrants may never leave. "Turkish people are now understanding they [the migrants] will not go to back to their country, especially in the [next] 10 years, maybe more. Maybe they will become citizens of Turkey," she told VOA. If our tinsel town sources are to be believed, Samantha has bought the remake rights to the yet-to-be-released Kannada film U Turn, a murder mystery thriller directed by Pawan Kumar of Lucia fame. It is a female-centric movie where the lead girl plays an investigative journalist. Sources say that in all probability, Sam will play the protagonist in Tamil and Telugu, with a new producer making the movie. The ravishing actress is eagerly awaiting her upcoming flicks Theri with Vijay in Tamil, which is slated for the April 14 release, and 24 with Suriya. Shelling from Syrian rebel forces Tuesday killed at least 11 civilians and wounded dozens in a Kurdish district in Syria's Aleppo, Kurdish officials and local activists said. Despite a fragile cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia that began early last month, rebels with the Army of Islam and their allies say they will continue fighting Kurdish YPG forces in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud in Aleppo. The Army of Islam, an extremist rebel group, said in a video statement that the ongoing bombardment of the Kurdish neighborhood is a response to attacks by Kurdish forces and their allies on rebel-held areas of Aleppo. "We will bomb all positions of the Kurdish militias in Sheikh Maqsoud," an unidentified commander of the rebel group said in a video posted as the bombing started. Local news reports said that most of the casualties are civilians who were trying to flee. "The bombing hasn't stopped since this morning," local journalist Berfin Roj told VOA. "They use all types of weapons like mortars and heavy artillery." "They [rebels] only target civilians here," she told VOA via phone as the sound of gunfire could be heard in the background. The wounded can't be treated because of shortages of medical supplies as the area has been surrounded by rebel forces for weeks, she added. A YouTube video posted Tuesday by the Army of Islam showed surface-to-surface missiles being fired on Kurdish forces. YPG Kurdish officials wrote to the U.N. Syria cease-fire coordination team, which monitors possible violations. The intensification of fighting between Kurdish forces and Islamist rebels has come as rebels are trying to take control of the strategically important Kurdish areas of Aleppo city, local activists said. The Obama administration announced the release of a long-anticipated rule Wednesday regarding how the financial industry gives retirement savings advice to clients. The plan includes more concessions to brokers than what was originally proposed six years ago, in an effort to make it less disruptive to current operations. The fiduciary rule targets brokers and financial advisers who promote retirement plans that may not necessarily reflect the clients' best interests, but instead provide extra commissions to the firms. More specifically, when clients transfer savings from a 401k (required to operate in the saver's best interest), the individual retirement accounts must now be established in the clients' best interests. Before this rule, financial-product salespeople were only required to give "suitable" recommendations. Signed contracts Financial advisors, now "fiduciaries", will have to sign contracts with clients at their first appointments, committing to working in their best interests. One of the recent compromises in the plan, however, states that brokers may give "advice" and retirement savings education without necessarily entering a contract. The preliminary version of this rule released last April was met with criticism and comments from across the financial community. "With every meeting we took, every comment letter we read...we got smarter and we listened, we learned and we adjusted. Youll find that reflected in the final rule" Labor Secretary Thomas Perez told Wall Street Journal reporters. Loopholes These loopholes, while seen by many as placating critics, may give skeptics the opportunity to further dilute the rule or abolish it entirely under the new administration. The Wall Street Journal estimates that $14 trillion of retirement savings could be affected by this new rule. The White House Council of Economic Advisers found that conflicts of interest lead to an average of 1 percentage point lower annual returns on retirement savings, adding up to a total of $17 billion of losses for American families each year. A new poll in Pakistan says a sweeping majority, or 90%, of its citizens, support blocking Afghans from entering the country without a visa in order to help counterterrorism efforts. The field survey of 1,755 men and women in rural and urban areas of all four Pakistani provinces was conducted from January 25 February 01, said Gallup Pakistan, the local affiliate of Gallup International. It said that only 9 percent Pakistanis opposed the restriction. Pakistan survey shows belief porous border is major factor in terrorist attacks. Authorities in Islamabad maintain that anti-state militants sheltering in border areas of Afghanistan are behind terrorist attacks in Pakistan. The two countries share a more than 2,500-kilometer long porous border called the Durand Line. Pakistani officials estimate up to 50,000 Afghans move across the border every day through two officially sanctioned crossings at Torkhum and Chaman. Divided families The travelers include divided families who are issued special passes by authorities in both countries to enable them to see their relatives. A large number of the border crossers are also from around three million Afghans living in Pakistan as registered refugees fleeing the conflict in their homeland, or as illegal economic migrants. The refugee population uses a proof of registration card issued by Pakistani authorities to travel across the border while illegal migrants rely on bribes and unauthorized crossing points traditionally used by smugglers. Dominant refugee group Economic and security challenges have forced tens of thousands people in Afghanistan to flee the country in recent months. The United Nations says Afghans make up the second largest group of people arriving in Greece after Syrians, with percentages varying from 28 percent in January to 25 percent in February. The rate, according to U.N. officials, shows an increase from 2015, when about 21 percent of arrivals through the Mediterranean were from Afghanistan. Women and children make up more than 60 percent of sea arrivals to Greece, more than double the figures documented last year. Strained ties The porous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan has long strained bilateral ties. Afghanistan is strongly opposed to visa and other monitoring restrictions for the divided families. It has rejected long-standing Pakistani proposals for imposing strict measures to discourage terrorist and other illegal cross-border movements. Afghans insist the restrictions will add to the problems divided families face. The issue remains at the center of bilateral tensions because Islamabad believes without effectively monitoring the cross-border moment, counterterrorism efforts in Pakistan and Afghanistan will remain under pressure. North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns grip on power is now "unshakable" following the countrys recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a South Korean official said Tuesday. Despite purges of numerous high-ranking officials, including the execution of Kims uncle and mentor, Jang Song Thaek in 2013, and last years removal of the countrys defense minister, Hyon Yong Chol, there are no indications of growing instability in the North Korean leadership, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. And the tougher international sanctions that were recently imposed have actually seemed to strengthen the North Korean leaders authority and power. The new United Nations measures adopted last month are meant to cut off sources of funding and supplies to North Koreas nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Sanctions enforced China on Tuesday moved to enforce the sanctions by banning imports of gold and rare earth minerals from North Korea and exports to the country of jet fuel and other oil products used to make rocket fuel. Kim seems now in a hurry to advance his countrys nuclear capabilities before the full effects of the sanctions take hold, said the South Korean official. Last month, Kim said his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles although this claim has not been independently verified. Warhead, missile The South Korean official said Seoul believes North Korea has developed a one-ton (907 kg) warhead that can fit on a Rodong missile that can reach a distance of 2,000 kilometers and potentially strike U.S. bases in Okinawa and Guam. But he said Pyongyang is still a couple years away from developing the capacity to strike the U.S. mainland. By moving quickly to increase its technical capabilities North Korea reportedly hopes to solidify its status as a nuclear power in the eyes of the world. South Korea's defense ministry this week rejected Pyongyangs call for talks to resolve the standoff over the Norths nuclear program. Seoul is not interested in dialogue for dialogues sake, and time is needed for the sanctions to force Pyongyang to change its behavior and agree to give up its nuclear ambitions, the South Korean official said. Kim is expected to demand continued nuclear development. But if the sanctions restrict needed funding, materials and equipment, North Korean officials will be unable to meet their goals. And that, the South Korean official said, will introduce an element of chaos within the highly secretive and repressive regime. Possible humanitarian crisis Any further nuclear or ballistic missile tests will be met with additional sanctions that could include a ban on the export of North Korean labor. The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) estimates there are more than 50,000 North Korean laborers working in China, Russia and other countries, and that they earn billions of dollars, most of which goes to the state. There is concern that North Korean sanctions could have a severe impact on much of the general population, which already lives on the margins of poverty. South Korean President Park Geun-hyes decision in February to close the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex put more than 54,000 North Korean employees out of work. North Korean state media last week warned that the sanctions could cause another arduous march, a term that refers to the severe North Korean famine that killed more than 3 million people in the 1990s, and the hardships suffered after the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped sending economic aid, and because the communist government grossly mismanaged the countrys economy. Aid suspended Most South Korean aid to the impoverished North has been suspended in light of the recent provocations and sanctions. Little is known about these privately funded assistance programs because North Korea set conditions for accepting aid that include an agreement not to disclose what aid was sent, and not to acknowledge that a request was made. The Seoul official said North Korea bears the responsibility for any humanitarian needs that arise due to the sanctions, and that it would be wrong to criticize South Korea for supporting measures that restrict the Norths economic activities. While the sanctions target economic activities that fund North Koreas nuclear program, they could also aid in the growth of private markets that will more directly benefit ordinary people. Since the famine of the 1990s North Korean authorities have allowed the growth of the private economy to increasingly provide for the needs of the people. North Korean leader Kim has embraced economic reforms that include allowing farmers to sell a portion of their crops, and provides some industries more incentives and control to manage their production and workforce. A Panamanian law firm says that the 11.5 million documents leaked from its offices this week about the offshore bank accounts of the world's powerful, rich and famous were stolen by hackers, not divulged by an insider. Ramon Fonseca, one of the founders of the Mossack Fonseca firm, said Tuesday, "We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack." Fonseca said the hacking was carried out from overseas, but did not say what country. "We have a theory and are following it," he said. Fonseca said his firm, which has set up about 250,000 offshore companies over the last four decades, has lodged a complaint about the leak of the documents with Panamanian prosecutors. The disclosures about the creation of the offshore accounts have forced several world leaders to defend their investments and say whether they have paid taxes on their profits. Creation of the offshore companies is not illegal, but the accounts have often been used to hide wealth and dodge taxes. Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first casualty of the leaks, stepping down after the documents showed that his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, owns a company in the British Virgin Islands that has $4 million in claims against Iceland's collapsed banks, debts that he is helping the government settle. But Fonseca dismissed concerns about the information in the leaked documents, saying, "The only crime that has been proven is the hack. No one is talking about that. That is the story." He added, "We don't understand. The world is already accepting that privacy is not a human right." WATCH: Panama Leak Sparks Global Investigations Tens of thousands of Peruvians gathered in Lima and other cities Tuesday for an annual protest that, this year, was also aimed at the presidential campaign of Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru's jailed ex-president. Protesters shouted "Never again!" as they commemorated the anniversary of Alberto Fujimori's "self-coup" in 1992 when, after two years in the presidency, he suspended the constitution, intervened in the courts, and ordered the Peruvian military to shut down the legislature. Fujimori defended the move as the best way to neutralize special interest groups and enact economic reforms. Fujimori served until 2000 but met with widespread protests when he tried to start a third term following elections that were criticized as fraudulent. He fled to Japan, was later extradited to Peru, and was sentenced in 2009 to 25 years in prison for corruption and human rights abuses, which included authorizing "death squads" to enforce his authority. Daughter Keiko Fujimori, a 40-year-old conservative, is seen as the front-runner in the upcoming April 10 election. But polls predict she will not get the simple majority of the vote needed to avoid a runoff. Keiko Fujimori's critics fear she will reinstate the authoritarian rule for which her father is remembered. She ran unsuccessfully against President Ollanta Humala in 2011. Humala is stepping down this year because of term limits. Drug makers Pfizer and Allergan are abandoning their merger plan after the U.S. Treasury Department announced new rules seeking to curb corporate inversions used to lower a company's U.S. tax bill. The two firms agreed to the merger last November in what amounted to a $160 billion deal. On paper it would have moved Pfizer to Ireland, like Allergan, where the corporate tax rate is much lower, and brought the combined company significant savings. Under the terms of the merger contract, Pfizer will now pay Allergan $400 million to terminate the deal. U.S. President Barack Obama did not specifically comment on the Pfizer plan Tuesday, but said tax avoidance is a "big global problem." "A lot of it is legal and that's the problem," he said. "They're gaming the system. A lot of these loopholes come at the expense of middle class families. This is all net outflow of money that could be used here in the United States" to improve roads, schools and other government programs. Obama called on the Republican-controlled Congress to permanently ban corporate inversions. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew also said ultimately it is up to Congress to pass new legislation to prevent companies from using the practice. He said until then, creative accountants will find new ways to avoid paying U.S. taxes. Washington's top cyber warrior said Tuesday that the time has come to elevate the status of U.S. Cyber Command, arguing the move would make efforts more effective against a variety of threats, including the Islamic State (IS) terror group. "A combatant commander designation would allow us to be faster, which would generate better mission outcomes," Cyber Command's Admiral Michael Rogers told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. U.S. Cyber Command is a branch of the armed forces that centralizes command of cyberspace operations and defends the information security environment. Upgrading it to combatant command would put it on par with the most powerful institutions in the Defense Department. Rogers said such upgraded capabilities would be critical as a growing number of U.S. enemies are looking at the possibility of using cyber capabilities to do more than steal data or disrupt online communications. "What happens if the nonstate actor, ISIL being one example, starts to view cyber as a weapons system?" Rogers asked, using an acronym for the terror group. "It's certainly not beyond their ability." Upgrading cyber Speaking separately in Washington, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said giving Cyber Command a more prominent role is under consideration. "The world is getting more integrated, so we've got to get more integrated, too," Carter said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, citing IS as an example. "These guys are really using this tool, and we need to take it away from them," he said. "It means interrupting the ability to command and control their forces, interrupting their ability to plot," Carter said, calling the anti-IS effort Cyber Command's "first wartime assignment." "We're seeing how that works out," he added. Established in 2009, Cyber Command became fully operational in 2010, but has been focused on providing support to nine main unified commands, most of which are organized along areas of geographic responsibility, such as Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees U.S. military operations against IS in the Middle East and South Asia. Senate Armed Service Committee Chairman John McCain said Tuesday that he would push for the change in the upcoming budget bill, and criticized the Obama administration for being "detached from reality" on the country's cyber policies. "For years, our enemies have been setting the norms of behavior in cyberspace while the White House sat idly by, hoping the problem would fix itself," McCain said. Other lawmakers cited a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, issued Monday, which criticized the Defense Department for failing to "clarify the roles and responsibilities of key DOD entities that may be called upon to support a cyber incident." Weaponize cyber Defense and intelligence officials have long credited IS with using the internet to recruit new members and burnish its reputation among would-be jihadists. There is also growing concern that the group is successfully using encrypted websites to get information from operatives in Europe and then send instructions for possible terror attacks. "It certainly has been able to weaponize cyber in the sense that it fully views its media operations as completely part of the overall campaign," said Harleen Gambhir, a counterterrorism analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. One favorite tactic, she said, has been for IS to use cyber to elicit "calculated provocations" to get its enemies to act in ways it wants. Gambhir said the spate of videos showing the beheadings of Western hostages in August 2014, which pushed the United States to start launching airstrikes in Syria, is just one example. At the time the question was: Why would ISIS want this? she said. The answer was, that put ISIS in a position whereby it could claim it was the leader of Sunni against Western aggression in Syria, which proved to be an incredibly useful recruiting tool. Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Bernie Sanders trail in the overall race to be their party's nominee for president, but each scored an important primary victory Tuesday in the northern state of Wisconsin. Cruz defeated Donald Trump 48 percent to 35 percent, and called the victory a "turning point" and "rallying cry" to America. The Texas senator also turned his attention to former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, boasting that he will win not only the Republican nomination but also the November general election. "So let me just say, Hillary, get ready. Here we come," Cruz said. Watch video report from VOA's Jim Malone: Trump gave no public comments Tuesday night, but his campaign issued a statement harshly attacking Cruz as being propelled by those who seek only to keep Trump from being nominated at the party convention in Cleveland in July. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," read the statement. Heading into Wisconsin, Trump had 737 delegates to Cruz's 475, with Ohio Governor John Kasich trailing with 143. Cruz won almost all of Wisconsin's 42 delegates, increasing the chances that Trump will be unable to secure the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination before the convention. Sanders, a senator from Vermont, beat Clinton with 56 percent of the vote in Wisconsin. He has now won six out of the last seven states and he told supporters in Wyoming, which holds its caucus on Saturday, that his campaign has momentum. "With your help on Saturday, we are going to win here in Wyoming. And then we are headed to New York," Sanders said. "Now please keep this a secret; do not tell Secretary Clinton, she's getting a little nervous and I don't want to get her more nervous. But I believe we have an excellent chance to win New York and a lot of delegates in that state." Clinton also did not make a speech after Wisconsin's vote. She posted on Twitter congratulating Sanders on his win and told her supporters, "Forward!" Clinton has a large delegate lead, especially when adding in the so-called super delegates who have pledged to support her, but are free to change their mind later. Democratic contests award delegates proportionately, so Sanders needs to not only beat Clinton in future states, but also to do so by a large margin in order to make up ground. He has vowed to stay in the race until the Democratic convention in Philadelphia, also held in July. People around the world have reacted with shock and outrage to the trove of documents leaked from a law firm in Panama that revealed secret bank accounts connected to hundreds of public officials, politicians and celebrities. The list of notables includes the current leaders of Argentina, Britain, China, Iceland, Russia, and Ukraine, among others, or people closely linked to them. But, while the Panama Papers named close friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and suggested Putin himself might be involved, the reaction of the Russian public has been muted. While thousands of people protested outside the prime ministers office in Reykjavik Monday demanding Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugssons resignation, a mere three demonstrators showed up outside the Russian parliament building in Moscow Tuesday, and they were quickly detained. The fact that even such a small public protest was quickly silenced comes as little surprise to political analysts, who say authorities are taking no chances with parliamentary elections scheduled later this year. Russians See Corruption as Permanent The Russian public's general apathy to the Panama Papers' allegations of high-level corruption may perplex some outside observers. A public opinion poll released Wednesday by the independent Levada Center sheds some light on Russian thinking on the issue. It shows that while 56 percent of Russians think that corruption and bribery can be reduced, only 15 percent say it can be eliminated while 24 percent believe it is permanent. The poll was conducted in February, before the Panama Papers leak was made public. The Levada Centers Alexei Grazhdankin says Russians do not so much tolerate corruption as accept the idea that little can be done about it. On the one hand, these revelations do not add anything new to what is known by the part of the Russian public that takes an interest in it, as compared to the information that has been published in reports by [the late opposition leader] Boris Nemtsov and his co-authors and in the materials by the Anti-Corruption Fund of [opposition blogger] Alexei Navalny, he tells VOA. And, moreover, it is expected of the authorities because of the belief that corruption can't be rooted out in Russia." State Media Control While Russians have to deal with everyday corruption - paying bribes to avoid tickets from traffic police, to get decent care in hospitals, and to more quickly navigate the state bureaucracy - they rarely get a glimpse of high-level corruption. Most Russians get their information from ubiquitous Russian state media, which all send the same message, designed to show officials, especially at the very top, working hard for Russia. As Western media, and the few independent media in Moscow, were awaiting the revelations of the Panama Papers, the Kremlin prepared the public by announcing an expected information attack against Putin and his associates. Meanwhile, Putin confirmed a proposed National Anti-Corruption Plan for 2016-2017. One must remember that during 16 years of Putin's rule a certain image of Russian power was formed in the mass consciousness, Grazhdankin tells VOA. Putin is perceived not as a key figure in the corrupt system of Russian power, but as a separate element above it, that does all in his power to curb corruption in Russia. Russian state media gave only dismissive coverage to the Panama Papers, portraying them as part of a Western conspiracy to diminish Russia by any means necessary. According to Grazhdankin, most Russians buy into this conspiracy theory. Under the present confrontation with the West, they are interpreted by most Russians as anti-Russian propaganda and the attempts of the West to discredit Russia, he said. Russia to Investigate Allegations? The Russian Prosecutor Generals Office told the Interfax news agency it plans to investigate the data in the leaked documents to see if any Russian laws or international commitments were broken. But few, if any, expect cases to be brought against the Putin loyalists named in the report. "The explanation of this is, well, very simple too, says Ekaterina Schulmann, a political scientist at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. "We don't have an independent judiciary, we don't have independent prosecutors, and we don't have a full-potential parliament that can conduct a parliamentary investigation, which would be a natural thing in a parliamentary democracy, but not in today's Russia, she told VOA. Schulmann says the mounting allegations against top officials, combined with Russias worsening economy, could eventually accumulate negative sentiment among the public. It was easy to be tolerant to officials living the good life if your own wages were getting higher and higher with every year, your standard of living was getting better and better, she says. But now, when the trend is exactly the opposite, this type of information will grate on peoples' feelings more and more. Channeling Mass Discontent The World Bank on Wednesday downgraded its economic forecast for Russia in 2016, from a 0.7 percent to a 1.9 percent contraction, and warned that more than 15 percent of the population could be living below the poverty line by 2017. But the Levada Centers Grazhdankin says it would take a much worse collapse of the economy to convince Russians to turn on their own leaders. If the downfall is not catastrophic, the authorities will have enough resources to channel mass discontent into something else, he says. Especially because international tensions grow and [authorities have] campaigns connected with the search for internal enemies and fifth columnists that open up impressive opportunities, with propaganda going on for a few years now. Grazhdankin says the worse the situation in Russia becomes, the more ire the Kremlin will direct at its critics and opponents before finally looking at scapegoats within the ruling class. All routes for escape are already prepared, he concluded. Hyderabad: Hyderabad traffic police on Wednesday levied a fine of Rs 700 against Junior NTRs car (a Range Rover, AP 37 AX 9999) for violation of tinted glass norms. The challan was issued against the name of the actors driver, Mr Eshwar, who was driving the car. Junior NTR was in the rear seat. The SR Nagar traffic sub-inspector G Ramesh stopped the car at Maitrivanam cross roads. The Tollywood actor remained inside the car, did not talk to the police but advised his driver to collect the challan. The driver told the cops that Junior NTR was on his way to a film shoot at Sarathi Studios at Ameerpet. The Supreme Court has banned use of tinted glass. It states that a vehicles windows must be fully transparent. The glass on Junior NTRs car was very dark and not much of the inside was visible, Traffic SI Ramesh said. The SR Nagar police booked another car under the tinted glass violation rule and has booked 11 more cases against motorists for using non-regulation number plates. Last year, this part of the city was teeming with smugglers leaning over card tables, brokering deals over small glasses of tea. Men, women and children who were fleeing hardships arrived in the seaside city in droves with every dollar they could muster, ready to pay for their services. But after the European Union-Turkey plan to reduce migrant flows to Europe went into effect last month, the rubber-boat business here has nearly ground to a halt. Refugees and locals say Europe's plan to increase security by cutting migrant routes is deeply flawed, and pressure is building in Turkey. Europe may not want more refugees, they say, but it opened the floodgates and Turkey alone cannot shut the door or contain the crisis. Haesam, a Syrian refugee in Izmir with no plans to travel farther, says Europe may shut down this exact route, but fleeing Syrians are increasingly desperate as they wait to see what happens next. "The people who are planning to travel to Europe these days are in hiding," he said. "They are afraid smugglers will convince them of new routes to Europe and then ship them to refugee camps." And the tens of thousands of people who were blocked from crossing into Turkey from Syria earlier this year have not simply gone home, he adds. For many, returning to the place they fled could mean certain death. And other people in Syria are still gathering resources to pay smugglers or pay price-inflated visa fees to get out of the country. In an Izmir park, Basil, a 25-year-old tailor who fled Syria three years ago, says some people are still arriving in the city from Syria. But new arrivals are not in a rush to travel to Europe at the moment, while Greece remains in chaos and borders remain closed. If smugglers are already devising new routes, he has not heard any details. "The smugglers are still here," he said, "but they are mostly out of work." Locals, refugees skeptical The EU-Turkey deal is meant to shift much of the responsibility of caring for new refugees and migrants from Europe to Turkey, in exchange for aid to help new arrivals, and other perks such as visa-free entries to European countries for Turkish citizens. On the streets of Izmir, locals and refugees say they doubt it will work that way. "The Turkish government will not suddenly help us," Basil said, before returning to his shift at the tailor shop. "There have been so many promises that have never materialized." Down the street in the market, Yashar, a Turkish man sitting at a shop selling thick sandwiches with chicken meat sliced off a spit, says Turkish citizens are already feeling the strain of sharing limited resources with more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees. "We are citizens, but we are just surviving," he said. Yashar works only a few days a week at the market. "We can't afford to go to the beach or enjoy our country," he added. Hope for legal ways fading Europe's plan to pluck Syrians out of Turkey and take them to countries like Germany or Sweden is also moving slowly enough that many families are giving up hope, according to Heasam. Dozens of Syrians have been flown to Europe, while hundreds of people mostly Pakistani have been shipped back to Turkey. The fact that Syrians now have the right to obtain working papers is of little comfort to most refugees struggling in Turkey, Heasam adds. "Companies are not complying to this rule because it costs them more money," he said. "They tell Syrian employees, Well, you don't have to work here' and the government is not enforcing the rules." Falafel shop owner Moaz, a father of four who fled Syria a year and a half ago, is stunned by the sudden disappearance of the human wave toward Europe. His business and many others in the neighborhood, such as sellers of everything from waterproof mobile phone cases to life jackets, have all but fizzled out. Like so many others, he says, he chose his path opening a shop in Turkey to cater to Syrian travelers in response to Germany's claim that it would take 800,000 refugees in 2015. Germany took more than a million people that year, but now the borders are strictly controlled. "It was Europe that opened the road for refugees," he said, dropping balls of raw falafel into a tub of boiling oil. "Now they want to close it?" Tanzania says it will promptly investigate allegations that several of its troops sexually abused women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where its soldiers are U.N. peacekeepers. Our political and military authorities recognize the implications and seriousness of such charges, Ambassador Tuvako Manongi told a meeting of the General Assembly on Tuesday. He said a board of inquiry was being dispatched to investigate the allegations. The Tanzanians are part of the 18,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force known as MONUSCO, which operates in eastern DRC. They participate in an elite intervention brigade that pursues armed groups. The troops accused of abuses are based near Beni, in North Kivu province. Paternity claims Last Friday, MONUSCO said it had received 11 allegations of sexual abuse by soldiers from the Tanzanian contingent. The U.N. confirmed Tuesday that six of the alleged victims were minors. Pregnancies have resulted in all 11 cases, with seven babies having been born and four females still pregnant. The Tanzanian envoy said all implicated personnel had been confined to their camp in the DRC. Following the outcome of the investigation, and in compliance with the secretary-generals zero-tolerance policy, prosecution and disciplinary measures will be taken including dismissal from the military upon completion of applicable penalties, Manongi said. Pattern of abuse The accusations against the Tanzanian peacekeepers are the most recent in a series of rape and money-for-sex allegations against U.N. and non-U.N. troops, most based in Africa. The U.N. mission in the Central African Republic has been plagued by abuse allegations. Last month, the mission said it had received reports of a hundred cases that had taken place between 2013 and 2015. Peacekeepers from Burundi and Gabon and French Sangaris forces were implicated. The U.N. and troop contributors are investigating those charges, which include abuse of minors and, in one disturbing instance, allegations of a French commander tying up young girls and forcing them to have sex with a dog. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recently appointed Jane Holl Lute, a former American official with extensive experience in U.N. peacekeeping, to coordinate the organizations response to the abuse problem. We must change our thinking, Holl Lute told the General Assembly. There is not a family, a school, a church, a military, an organization or a government on this planet that doesnt face this problem. Holl Lute said the number of abuse cases must be measurably reduced and assistance must be quickly given to victims. After addressing the session, she left for the CAR and DRC. Accountability The U.N. has more than 100,000 troops and police from 122 countries, working in 16 operations, most in very difficult and dangerous environments. In 2015, there were 69 reported cases of sexual abuse or exploitation against peacekeepers in nine current and one closed mission. The U.N. cannot prosecute troops under its command; it is up to their national governments to do so. In many past instances, peacekeepers have gone unpunished at home. Under new measures, the U.N. secretary-general can repatriate entire contingents from countries where there is evidence of widespread or systemic sexual exploitation or abuse by their troops. That could bar them from future lucrative peacekeeping work. The politics of trade took center stage again this week after the Ford Motor Company announced it would soon open a small car assembly plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, that will employ 2,800 people by the year 2020. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump immediately blasted the automobile manufacturer for sending U.S. jobs out of the country, calling it a disgrace. This is not a new issue for Trump. In fact, he targeted Fords Mexico plants when he announced his candidacy in June of last year, saying that, as president, he would tell Ford that he was rescinding the tariff-free imports established by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Every car and every truck and every part manufactured in this plant that comes across the border, we are going to charge you a 35 percent tax, Trump said. He did not explain how this could be done, since the president does not have the authority to impose a tariff in violation of a trade deal negotiated with other countries, approved by Congress and signed by a previous president. But his supporters cheered this statement, along with his promise to create more jobs. On the Democratic side, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has used free-trade pacts against his rival, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose husband, former President Bill Clinton, signed the NAFTA agreement. Sanders has said that if he is elected president, he will renegotiate NAFTA and other trade agreements. We have got to lift up the standard of living of workers in this country and throughout the world, he said. Trade is a good thing, but it has got to be based on fair principles." For her part, Clinton has backed off from her support for President Barack Obamas Pacific trade deal, which she endorsed when she was secretary of state. Political advantages Political analyst Mark Jones at Rice University in Houston said anti-free-trade rhetoric resonates with displaced workers, the unemployed and workers who worry about losing their jobs. Sanders and Trump are taking advantage of the vision held by a significant number of Americans that, while free trade may be good for the overall economy, it is not good for their individual situation, he said. Part of the problem, Jones said, is that the 5 million jobs economists say were created by NAFTA are not visibly connected to free trade, even by many people holding those jobs. It is very easy to find individuals who have lost their jobs to free trade, but it is difficult and nebulous to find people whose jobs have been created by free trade, he said. San Antonios experience One person who does see how free trade benefits the country is Tom Long, executive vice president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. We are living and working in a global economy, he noted, so free trade, in my opinion, makes that global system of commerce more efficient and more effective. San Antonio has benefited directly from NAFTA by being the closest large city to the major border crossing to Mexico at Laredo. Trucks travel up Interstate Highway 35 to terminals and warehouses in San Antonio. The interstate, which has been dubbed the NAFTA highway," also passes through the Texas state capital, Austin, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. San Antonio has long-standing economic and cultural ties to Mexico, which have been strengthened by NAFTA, according to Long. But he said the citys receptiveness to international trade has helped it gain manufacturing plants from Asian nations. Companies are looking at San Antonio to serve a North American market because they have realized from a manufacturing standpoint that it is more efficient and effective to manufacture certain products here than it would be in the Far East, he said. Long provided the example of Toyota, which has a plant making trucks in San Antonio that directly and indirectly adds thousands of jobs to the area economy. Cities like Houston and Dallas also benefit by having many foreign companies open their U.S. headquarters offices in those cities. Other cities and states around the country have also benefited from the global economy. But because the direct impact on peoples lives is not always easy to see, some politicians tend to focus on the negative aspects of free trade, rather than the positive. The chance of a rare contested Republican presidential nominating convention is growing in the wake of U.S.Texas Senator Ted Cruz's resounding win over front-runner Donald Trump in the Wisconsin primary election. There are 16 state Republican nominating contests to go, extending into early June. Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul making his first run for elective office, would have to win more than 60 percent of the remaining delegates to July's national convention in order to claim the party's presidential nomination before the convention starts. Trump still has a sizable lead, but has so far won only about 47 percent of the delegates selected. Cruz would have to take nearly 90 percent of the remaining available delegates to claim the nomination ahead of the convention. U.S. Republicans have not had a contested convention since 1976. Delegates selected to attend the 2016 convention in the midwestern city of Cleveland, Ohio, are generally required to vote according to the outcomes of primary elections and caucuses in their individual states on the first ballot. They mostly can vote for candidates of their choice on subsequent ballots until a nominee is picked. Surveys of the convention delegates already picked show that while Trump, a brash one-time television reality show host, is likely to have a plurality of convention delegates on the first ballot, many delegates could switch to support Cruz on the second ballot or beyond. A majority of 1237 delegates is required to win the nomination. Some of these delegates have told U.S. media outlets that they think Cruz is more consistently conservative and in line with their political views than Trump is and would have a better chance to defeat the likely Democratic nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in November's national election. Recent U.S. political surveys show Clinton consistently defeating both Trump and Cruz in hypothetical match-ups, but in a much tighter race against the Texas senator, a conservative thorn in the side of both Republican and Democratic leaders in Washington. Wisconsin turning point? Cruz called his 48-to-35 percent rout of Trump on Tuesday in the northern state of Wisconsin a "turning point" and "rallying cry" to America. "It is a call from the hard-working men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America," Cruz said. "We have a choice, a real choice." He also turned his attention to Clinton, saying, "So let me just say, Hillary, get ready. Here we come." Trump's loss in Wisconsin, following a series of controversial comments about abortion, women, NATO and the proliferation of nuclear weapons, has put him on the defensive after months as the leading Republican presidential contender. Unlike his primary election victories, Trump made no public appearance after losing the Wisconsin contest. His campaign issued a dismissive statement, saying, "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump." A third Republican candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich, trailed badly in the Wisconsin voting and cannot mathematically win the Republican nomination ahead of the convention. He is hoping that neither Trump nor Cruz claim the nomination beforehand and that convention delegates eventually turn to him as the nominee. So far, Kasich has won only in the midwestern state he governs. He is meeting Wednesday in Washington with his political advisers on his next steps in the face of demands from both Trump and Cruz that he drop out of the race. Sanders challenges Clinton In the Democratic race, Clinton is facing growing competition from her sole challenger, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who now has defeated her in six of the last seven state nominating contests, including Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin. Clinton, however, still holds a sizable lead, but not a majority yet, in the number of national convention delegates she needs to claim the party's presidential nomination. If eventually elected, she would be the first female U.S. president. The next key nominating contest for both parties is April 19, in New York, where pre-election surveys show Trump and Clinton ahead. Turkey will develop a new rule to strip citizenship from Turks found to be supporting terrorism. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag disclosed the plan Wednesday, one day after it was floated by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The call for the new rule comes as Turkey faces unprecedented security troubles in a renewed battle against the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which has been fighting for self-determination for Kurds, and ongoing threats from the Islamic State. Rights advocates fear that anti-terrorism laws will be used in courts to further suppress discussion on the Kurdish conflict and other issues. Erdogan did not specify who would be targeted as Turkey attempts to identify supporters of terrorism. In the past, the Turkish justice minister said those accused of supporting terrorism, including journalists and aid workers, are no different from terrorists themselves. Turkish anti-terrorism laws are already used to detain opposition journalists and academics, some of whom were recently imprisoned for speaking out against Turkeys conflict with Kurdish rebels. Facing blistering internal criticism over its failure to halt a wave of terrorist attacks, the Turkish government on Tuesday set a reward of $14 million for information leading to the arrest of Islamic State suspects in at least four recent suicide bombings. Turkeys Interior Ministry updated its list of wanted terrorists to include 23 alleged IS members, including five women. Three of the suspects are believed to be held captive by the YPG, or the People's Protection Units, the main armed service of the de facto Kurdish government in northern Syria. In the last week, Turkish authorities have conducted several raids in Izmir province in western Turkey, arresting five IS suspects. On Tuesday, Turkish authorities detained four alleged IS members in the province of Gaziantep near the Syrian border. The men were carrying cellphones, computer tablets, flash drives, guns, ammunition clips and knives, according to the local governors office. Alleged IS recruiter detained In recent days, Turkish officials said they detained a man known by the nom de guerre of Sari Murat, or "Yellow Murat," who, according to the Izmir police, recruited people from Izmir to fight for IS. According to a pro-Kurdish media agency in Turkey, Murat ran classes for prospective IS recruits. Turkish police said he operated out of a mosque in Izmir where IS recruits received religious training. Up to 2,000 Turkish nationals are fighting for IS, Turkish analysts say. More than 800 people have been arrested in the last year for having ties to IS, Turkish officials say. Turkey is reeling from recent terror attacks blamed on IS militants. In all, more than 150 people have died in IS-related terror incidents in the last nine months. Turkey has tightened its borders against IS infiltration and has stepped up arrests of IS suspects. Turkeys leaders are facing strong internal pressures from opposition groups who claim they have not done enough to combat IS. In some instances, opponents claim, Ankaras policies have supported IS aims and left Turkey vulnerable to terror attacks by the group. Turkey needs to focus on limiting the social and psychological habitat of ISIS by adopting a preventive stance, rather than a reactive one or carrying out operations against ISIS after it commits terrorist attacks, Suleyman Ozeren, a terrorism expert, told VOA. And to do that, it is of utmost importance to stop ISIS from recruiting new members, Ozeren said. Nadiya Savchenko, a Ukranian military pilot jailed in Russia for allegedly killing two Russian journalists, launched a hunger strike Wednesday to demand her return to Ukraine, according to her lawyer. Savchenkos lawyer Mark Feigin said on Twitter that she started a dry hunger strike, in which she is refusing both food and water. Feigin also posted a letter from Savchenko demanding that she be released by Russian authorities and calling for her immediate return to Ukraine. A Russian court sentenced Savchenko last month to 22 years in prison after finding her guilty of killing two journalists during a shelling campaign in east Ukraine while Russian-backed rebels fought with the Ukrainian government. Since the trial began, Savchenko denied the charges against her but refused to appeal the courts guilty verdict. She has said she doesnt recognize Russias legal authority, and instead, has chosen to subject herself to several hunger strikes. The United States has joined other European countries in condemning Russia for Savchenkos detention, and she has reached the status of hero in Ukraine, where she was elected to parliament despite being imprisoned. According to a statement on his website, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called Savchenko Tuesday to tell her about the latest steps taken for her release, and that justice will certainly prevail. Savchenko has been in detention in Russia for nearly two years. A U.S. military service dog that saved the lives of thousands of troops by sniffing out explosives has been awarded the highest honor of bravery by a British animal charity. Lucca the German shepherd completed six years of active service with more than 400 patrols in Iraq and Afghanistan. U.S. Marines say she protected the lives of thousands of American and allied troops. "She's incredibly smart and loyal, said her handler, U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Willingham. I thought I knew a lot about her, but when you deploy with a dog in a combat environment and you spend seven days a week with them for seven months, you truly find what the depth of a bond is between a dog and a handler." Both Lucca and Willingham traveled to London on Tuesday, where the 12-year-old German shepherd received the British People's Dispensary for Sick Animals' (PDSA) Dickin Medal for bravery in battle the 67th recipient of the honor, which stretches back to World War II. "Her uncanny bravery in the face of adversity, both on and off the battlefield, proved to be an invaluable asset and served to make her the most deserving of being awarded the Dickin Medal," said PDSA Director General Jan McLoughlin. Lucca was so good at her job that not one human was killed or injured during any of her patrols. Bomb detonates On her final mission in March 2012 in Afghanistan, Lucca discovered a 14-kilogram roadside bomb. As she searched for additional devices, a second bomb detonated. She instantly lost her front left paw and suffered severe burns to her chest. Within 10 minutes, a medical evacuation helicopter was taking Lucca for emergency surgery. Her leg had to be amputated, but otherwise she made a full recovery. Retired from her role, Lucca now lives in California with Willingham who says she's adjusted well to life outside the military. "Most importantly, she enjoys just being a dog, he said. Just relaxing, laying on the couch, going for family walks instead of combat patrols and we spoil her in her well-deserved retirement." One of Vietnam's top health officials says neither of its two confirmed Zika patients had recently traveled abroad. The country's health ministry confirmed its first two cases of the mosquito-borne Zika virus on Tuesday, announcing that a 64-year-old woman in the popular beach resort of Nha Trang and a 33-year-old pregnant woman in Ho Chi Minh City tested positive for the Zika virus in late March, after they were both hospitalized with fevers, eye strain and rashes. "[They were infected with the virus] by mosquitoes. However, its unclear where and how, since the number of tourists coming to Vietnam and the number of Vietnamese traveling abroad are huge," Dr. Tran Dac Phu, who heads the tropical country's preventive health department, told VOA. "So up to now we have not yet determined where and how they got the virus from mosquitoes." Tran also said Vietnam is raising its virus alert system to level 2, which indicates there have been confirmed cases but has not yet issued travel restrictions. He said the country was launching a Zika prevention campaign including educating pregnant women, raising awareness, and expanding measures to protect against mosquitoes. He also said Hanoi officials are working closely with the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in monitoring and sharing information on Zika, which has been linked to increased rates of microcephaly a birth defect in which babies born to infected mothers have unusually small heads and brains. Tran said both patients are in stable condition with mild symptoms and could be discharged in several days, adding that it is unlikely either had spread the virus to others. "One of them came from a clean working environment and the other, upon developing symptoms, was hospitalized immediately and actively quarantined," he said. Brazil, which has been hardest-hit by Zika, has reported more than 4,000 cases of microcephaly since October. The World Health Organization has declared the Zika outbreak an international health emergency. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Vietnamese Service. A former coal mine executive was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison and a $250,000 fine for his involvement in an explosion that killed 29 workers at a mine in the eastern U.S. state of West Virginia in 2010. Don Blankenship, 66, former chief executive of Massey Energy, was charged with conspiracy to willfully violate mine health and safety standards. He was found guilty by a jury on December 3. On Wednesday, a U.S. district judge sentenced Blankenship to the maximum prison time and maximum fine for his crime. The explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia was said by prosecutors to have been the result of worn and broken cutting equipment that created a spark, igniting coal dust and methane gas. Blankenship denies the allegations, saying he believes natural gas in the mines caused the explosion. It is important to everyone that you know that Im not guilty of a crime, he said. Blankenship will not be required to pay restitution to former miners and their family members. He also will not have to pay $28 million in restitution to Alpha Natural Resources, the company that bought Massey Energy in 2011. Blankenships trial and conviction is a part of a five-year investigation of the 2010 explosion that has resulted in five criminal convictions up the corporate chain of Massey. The trial was moved from Beckley, a town near the site of the explosion, at the request of the former CEOs lawyers, citing intense pre-trial publicity. We buried our kid because of you, Robert Atkins, father of a victim, said outside the courthouse alongside other family members of the deceased miners. The judge denied a motion by Blankenship's attorney that he should remain free pending appeal. Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika. Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability - a clinical outlook that adds urgency to vaccine development efforts. Scientists are of two minds about why these new maladies have come into view. The first is that, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote and sparsely populated areas. The second is that the newly detected disorders are more evidence that the virus has evolved. "What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a typically rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, signaling a problem with brain development. Evidence linking Zika to microcephaly prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in February. The suspicion that Zika acts directly on nerve cells began with autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showing the virus replicating in brain tissues. In addition to microcephaly, researchers reported finding other abnormalities linked with Zika including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and injury to the central nervous system. Doctors also are worried that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects, such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, that are not apparent at birth. "If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand," said Dr. Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico. First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms. A 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, the largest at that time, led researchers to make the Guillain-Barre link. Other neurological effects were noted but scientists made little of them at the time. A rare and poorly understood condition, Guillain-Barre can weaken muscles and cause temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to need respirators to breathe. Prior to her death on Thursday of last week, British architect Zaha Hadid was working to help Cambodia rebuild after the tragedies of its history. As was well-known, she was designing a new institute in Phnom Penh to foster research and remembrance of the countrys darkest hours under the Khmer Rouge. However, she also possessed a more obscure aspiration: to create an architectural master plan for the capital itself. Born in Iraq, Hadid astonished the world with her signature designs characterized by the use of curves. In 2004, she became the first woman to win the coveted Pritzker Architecture Prize. Her achievements included the Vitra Fire Station in Germany, the Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati, Ohio, Romes MAXXI Art museum, the Guangzhou Opera House and the Aquatics Center for Londons 2012 Olympics. In 2014, she unveiled the designs for Phnom Penh's Sleuk Rith Institute at the behest of Youk Chhang, executive director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia. But that projectthe design for which is now finishedspawned a broader interest in the region. Although she never set foot in Cambodia, Hadid had a vision of making Phnom Penh an improved, healthier place for inhabitants, according to Chhang. With that in mind, she decided voluntarily to work on plans for the capital city's development over the coming decades. She thought that the first thing to do was a specific master plan that is usable rather than imaginative, Chhang told VOA Khmer. She wanted to draw on the presence of the citys converging Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers to create a balance preserving historic areas while accelerating development in the city center, said Chhang, explaining the late designers vision. Due the lack of budget in the government, she worked on this voluntarily, Chhang said, adding that Hadid wanted to submit the proposal regardless of whether the government was already working with another company. She just thought: its not too late for this project, which would last until 2050," Chhang said. "She wanted [a plan to make] this city the best place possible, and then submit it to the government. But such an ambitious plan would require support of Cambodias government and ultimately Prime Minister Hun Sen. Hadid made an official request and received permission in a letter from Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron to engage with the Phnom Penh municipality. Ministry spokesperson Ros Salin confirmed that a group attached to Hadids company had been working with the Phnom Penh Municipality, as well as the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, but said he didnt know what whether progress was made. Phnom Penh Governor Pa Socheatevong said cooperation was limited. They only had a plan to study and assist in the field of urban planning, he said. There are just researchers who help organize our master plan. Thats all what we have discussed so far. 'Very complicated' city Local urban campaigners said the citys administration could do with help from an international design firm like ZHA, which had painted a picture of Phnom Penhwith a population of 3 million peopleat a breaking point after years of poorly planned development. The citys expansion, said Ee Sarom, executive director of the group Sahmakum Teang Thnaut, which advocates habitat rights, has left many residents worse off. Particularly disastrous was the plan to build a high end real estate development on the site of the former Boeng Kak lake by the ruling party-linked company Shukaku Inc. The lake itself was pumped full of sand, and the surrounding community was displaced in a mass eviction that sparked the countrys most high-profile land dispute. Some of the 4,000 former residents who say they were not properly compensated have been protestingenduring police beatings and repeated arrestsfor years. We support a redesign, a better master plan, because we previously saw there were a lot of impacts," said Sarom, referring to the governments slapdash planning efforts. "The buildings are tall at some places, while at other places they are short; some places are filled with too much land, while the other places are flooded. Its very complicated in Phnom Penh. Hadids sudden death from a heart attack at 65, said DC-Cams Youk Chhang, has not killed her vision for a better Phnom Penh. Her team is still working on the master plan at her own cost, and I am hoping to use it to convince the city governor and the government of Cambodia, he wrote in an email. Cambodia, he added, has lost a rare and valuable ally. We lost a good friend, because Cambodia is a country she wholeheartedly helped, he said. This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Khmer Service. Iceland's prime minister says he has not resigned, as previously reported, but has merely "suggested" that the vice chairman of his party take over the office "for an unspecified amount of time." The announcement came in a news release from the prime minister's office late Tuesday. The release continued to say that Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson "will continue to serve as chairman of the Progressive Party." Earlier Tuesday, reports said Gunnlaugsson had resigned as prime minister, the first casualty of the Panama Papers disclosures about the hidden offshore investments of the wealthy, powerful and famous around the world. British Virgin Islands company Leaked files from a Panamanian law firm showed that Gunnlaugsson's wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, owns a company in the British Virgin Islands that has more than $4 million in claims against Iceland's collapsed banks. Gunnlaugsson said his wife's overseas assets were taxed in Iceland, but his opponents said he should have disclosed his wife's ownership of the company since the government is involved in settling claims against the bankrupt financial institutions. He stepped aside ahead of a planned no-confidence vote in parliament, with the ruling Progressive Party naming its deputy leader, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, to take over as the country's new leader. Thousands of Icelanders protested in Reykjavik outside parliament Monday, hurling eggs and bananas and demanding Gunnlaugsson's ouster. Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up the company with the help of the Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the massive leak of 11.5 million documents from its files. Panama Papers The Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on Sunday detailed the creation of offshore companies for 140 politicians and public officials, wealthy individuals and other prominent figures from across the world, raising questions about why they set up the companies and whether they have dodged taxes on their profits. WATCH: Related video Governments across the world said they are examining the documents to check on the tax liability of the individuals named in them, while some people whose names were disclosed have denied any wrongdoing and denounced the reports as unfounded attacks. World leaders In addition to Iceland's prime minister, the journalists' group said the documents showed dozens of transactions totaling nearly $2 billion involving people or companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other high profile individuals named included the prime ministers of Pakistan, the presidents of Ukraine and Argentina, and the king of Saudi Arabia. The journalists also said the documents revealed that at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the U.S. government because of evidence that they had been involved in wrongdoing, such as doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or rogue nations like North Korea and Iran, have had dealings with Mossack Fonseca. The group also claimed the documents showed that major banks are behind the creation of the hard-to-trace companies in the offshore tax havens. More than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches have created more than 15,000 offshore companies for their customers through Mossack Fonseca from 1977 to late last year. The full extent and implications from the leaked records are not yet clear, and more stories about them are expected in the coming days. Judging by prevote polls, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders beat expectations Tuesday in the Midwestern state of Wisconsin, where they each scored expected wins but with wider margins. However, political analysts say those overachievements do not mean people should rush to bet on them to win the next states or their party nominations. "It's been pretty common in this process for the race just to change from state to state. Momentum hasn't always helped," said Craig Gilbert, the Washington bureau chief for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Sanders spoke of momentum to his supporters Tuesday night, after having won six of the last seven state contests. But despite that success, he still trails far behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in terms of Democratic delegates. Cruz is closer, but in a similar position behind Republican front-runner Donald Trump. "I think Wisconsin's impact is that it prolongs the race," Gilbert told VOA. "Had the front-runners won here, it was an opportunity for them to really put their opponents away. It was a difficult state for them, but it was a chance for them to really put a nail in the coffin of the other candidates and they didn't do that." Instead, Cruz took almost all of Wisconsin's 42 delegates, making it more difficult for Trump to amass a majority of delegates and avoid an open Republican convention where the nominee could be anyone's guess. 'Steal the nomination' Trump blasted Cruz in a statement after the vote, saying conservative radio hosts and "the entire party apparatus" backed Cruz in a bid to "steal the nomination" from Trump. WATCH: Video report by Political Correspondent Jim Malone Gilbert said Wisconsin became the place where a candidate began to consolidate support after the once-large Republican field narrowed, and the support went to Cruz. "The governor got behind him, conservative activists, conservative media, a lot of Republican politicians lined up behind him in this race partly just because they saw him as a vehicle to stop Trump, and he took advantage of that," Gilbert said. Because the two parties have different rules when it comes to awarding delegates, Sanders is in a much more difficult situation than Cruz. Democrats use a proportional system, meaning Sanders has to beat Clinton by wide margins in lots of states to catch up. For Cruz, more than half of the remaining Republican contests are winner-take-all or winner-take-most, so wins will deliver many delegates. "That knife-edge change going from being in second to being in first can be huge, and there's a lot of delegates up for stake in some of these states, which then makes it more unpredictable from this perspective," said Hans Noel, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University. The next Republican primary is not until April 19 in New York, and Noel told VOA there is probably some significance with that break and a narrative that Trump is beatable. WATCH: Related Wisconsin primary video He said the Republicans who want to beat Trump have to do extraordinary things and need "the excitement to believe that they can pull it off." He also said uncertainty in the race works in favor of Cruz. "As soon as it becomes very clear that Trump is going to have a majority of delegates, as soon as that happens, it's going to be very hard for people not to get used to the idea of Trump as the nominee," Noel said. "And then when the party tries to do whatever maneuvering that they do to stop that at the convention, it's going to be seen as illegitimate." Trump's statement Tuesday night was the latest in which he suggested the Republican Party was treating him unfairly. To this point, he has not said he would consider a third-party bid if denied the Republican nomination, but doing so would make it more difficult for a Republican to win the White House in November. Uncertainty is much harder to find in the Democratic race, where Noel said the math suggests Clinton is going to win. Sanders has built his campaign on a grassroots movement that heavily features the support of young people. He has pledged to not drop out of the race before the Democratic convention in July and continues to draw big, passionate crowds to his rallies. While the Republican candidates have backed off their early pledges to support whoever becomes their nominee, there is little doubt Sanders will throw his support behind Clinton. But that does not mean all of his backers will be happy to do so. "Sanders has got to be starting to think, what can I do to transition to play a role in the convention, play a role in the party, play a role in a post-primary period where his is not the nominee," Noel said. He suggested one possible path for Sanders is to look at what the Tea Party movement has successfully done in the Republican Party by putting all of its focus on congressional races. "If Democrats and Democratic voters who like Sanders wanted to pursue that agenda, that would be a strategy, and he's got this organization now," Noel said. "It's hard to transition that from him to someone that's not him, but you can see that happening, possibly either at his initiative or at the initiative of other people who are involved in the Sanders movement." The Zimbabwe Peace Project has called on Zanu PF leaders to end factional wars amid violent clashes in the party. Children of former freedom fighters are not happy with the way government has treated their parents leading them to grow up under immense poverty despite the critical role they played to liberate Zimbabwe. We will give you an update on peaceful protests over human trafficking, which were supposed to be held in Harare today. In the Diaspora Forum we will be talking with a Zimbabwean who is back home after living overseas for a couple of years. 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. This evening on Livetalk our hosts will be talking with listeners and experts about President Robert Mugabes meeting with war veterans tomorrow. War veterans want a major political stake in the party and Zimbabwe in general. Participate by sending your messages on our WhatsApp number 001 202 465 0318. The number again 001 202 465 0318. Stay tuned!!!!!! To mark Zimbabwes 36th independence anniversary, Studio 7 will be giving out solar-powered radios for our lucky winners. Simply invite 10 friends to join our VOA Studio 7 Facebook page. Ask them to like our page. Keep their names so we can verify your claim. We will also be running a daily competition for lucky winners. You only need to answer a simple question about Zimbabwes independence. The question today is: Who was the commander of the ZANLA forces? The draw will be conducted April 18th. Dont be left out!! Some Zimbabwean gender rights activist, who intended to stage a public protest in Harare today over local women stranded in Kuwait and were blocked by the police, have vowed to continue with their action. They say police dispersed them and asked top officials of various non-governmental organizations leading the peaceful march to report at a local police station. Hundreds of Zimbabwean women, promised good jobs in Kuwait by alleged conmen, have allegedly have been turned into slaves and commercial sex workers in the Arabian nation. Linda Masarira, founder and national co-ordinator of the Zimbabwe Women In Politics Alliance said her organization will be filing an urgent High Court application seeking to compel the government to assist in the repatriation of the stranded women. Three women were briefly detained by the police but were later released without charge. "We will not stop demonstrating until the women are repatriated back to Zimbabwe and reunited with their families. We believe the government is sleeping on the job and hope that it can join hands with Kuwait to bring back the girls," said Musarira. Meanwhile, one of the women who were briefly detained Wednesday, Lynette Mudehwe said although they were not harassed or beaten by riot police they were verbally abused while in a police truck in which they were kept captive for several hours. "This incident will not deter us we will continue raising our voices and making noise until something is done by the government and Kuwait to repatriate the women who are being held captive after being promised lucrative posts in the Arab state," said Mudehwe. Mudehwe added that no amount of intimidation or harassment will deter them. She advised those seeking jobs in Arab states to exercise due diligence before taking up the posts. Striking National Railways of Zimbabwe workers families have joined them and have camped at the parastatals Lochnivar Rugare offices in Harare demanding payment of 15 months outstanding salaries. Zimbabwe Amalgamated Railways Workers Union president Kamurai Moyo told VOA Studio 7 the families started gathering at the Rugare premises since last Friday night. NRZ workers in Harare, Mutare, Gweru and Bulawayo went on strike last week to press for the payments of their owed salaries. Moyo said the workers had no other option because they have been trying to engage the parastatal but to no avail. The action by workers is out of the desperate situation that is faced by NRZ employees, said Moyo. He added that they have gone for months without salaries as they have gone for 15 months without salaries and five months without being paid their transport allowances. It is very unfortunate that a responsible employer has chosen to ignore what employees are saying on the ground, Moyo said. He accused the NRZ of rushing to the Ministry of Labour to seek for a show-cause order, yet it was well aware of the reason why they are on strike. Contacted for a comment, NRZ spokesperson Fanuel Masikati confirmed that it was true that workers were on strike. Masikati said NRZ was doing its best to address this issue but the problem was returns from transport business is currently low. He said that like most parastatals his company has been struggling to raise money to pay its workers. He assured the striking workers that the impasse will be resolved once the parastatal raises enough money to pay then the outstanding salaries. A Zimbabwean peace watchdog on Wednesday condemned violence that it said was escalating between rival factions in the ruling Zanu PF party jostling to succeed President Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwe Peace Project (ZPP) called on Zanu PF leaders in a statement to demonstrate commitment to peace and rein in the internecine factional fights, which have gone on for far too long with increasing social cost. ZPP cited a shadowy terror group calling itself Al Shabaab, saying it was harassing party members in Midlands who travelled to Harare last week to welcome Mr. Mugabe from his Japan trip. Al Shabaab is originally a Somali-based terrorist organization affiliated to al Qaeda. We are concerned that terror elements elsewhere on the continent and in the world at large are allowed to be emulated, and violence unleashed at the altar of factional fights and in the name of political expediency for real or imagined factional leaders, ZPP said. Where are the leaders when such violence is meted out? ZPP asked. May leaders demonstrate their commitment to peace in deeds and instruction. May leaders also desist from using speech which fans violence and hate across the factional/political divides. ZPP director Jestina Mukoko said they were greatly disturbed by the Zanu PF clashes. Commenting, Zanu PF parliamentarian Joseph Tshuma said his party doesnt condone violence, adding the perpetrators must be arrested. The Southeast Asia region which includes heavily populated India and Indonesia was the next most affected, with 96 million cases. Geneva: The number of adults estimated to be living with diabetes has nearly quadrupled over 35 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, urging huge efforts to change eating habits and increase physical activity. Globally, an estimated 422 million adults were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980, the UN health agency said in its first-ever report on the disease, warning that the condition had spread because of worldwide changes in the way people eat, move and live. The disease directly caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012 the latest available global figures but elevated blood glucose levels linked to diabetes were responsible for an additional 2.2 million deaths that year, the report said. The region worst affected, with 131 million estimated cases in 2014, was the WHOs Western Pacific region, which includes China and Japan. The Southeast Asia region which includes heavily populated India and Indonesia was the next most affected, with 96 million cases. Europe and the Americas were third and fourth on the list, with 64 million and 62 million cases respectively. Diabetes is divided into two types. There is no known way to prevent type one, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin. Most people living with diabetes have type 2, which is associated with obesity and other lifestyle factors and emerges in adults and increasingly among children. To curb the intensifying burden of the disease, huge efforts were needed to change eating and physical activity habits, especially early in life, when key behavioural patterns are formed, World Health Organization said. Noting that in 2012 there were an estimated 2.2 lakh diabetes related deaths in India, Indian Society of Clinical Research said that there is an urgent need to focus on prevention, early detection and treatment of diabetes to effectively combat the chronic disease. The WWF rates the Great Barrier Reef as under threat from mining and shipping. (Photo: Pixabay) Industrial activity such as mining and logging threatens almost half of the world's natural World Heritage sites, from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, the WWF conservation group said on Wednesday. It urged companies to obey UN appeals to declare all heritage sites "no go" areas for oil and gas exploration, mines, unsustainable timber production and over-fishing. A total of 114 World Heritage sites out of 229 worldwide that are prized for nature or a mixture of nature and culture were under threat, according to the study by WWF and Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a US-based consultancy. "This is staggering. We're trying to raise a flag here," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, told Reuters. "We're not opposing development, we're opposing badly planned development." 'The WWF findings are far higher than the 18 natural sites listed as "in danger", a more severe condition, by the World Heritage Committee of the UN's cultural agency UNESCO. The WWF rates the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, as under threat from mining and shipping, while last year, the Heritage Committee stopped short of an "in danger" listing. And the WWF says Machu Picchu in the Andes, also not on the UN list, is under threat from logging. Other sites under threat include the Everglades in the United States, Ecuador's Galapagos islands or Russia's Kamchatka volcanoes, it said. Of those, only the Everglades were rated "in danger" by the Heritage Committee. Mechtild Rossler, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre in Paris, said she welcomed such non-governmental reports as an aid to raise awareness of risks. Only some companies have heeded repeated UN calls for no go zones. The International Council of Mining and Metals, grouping major companies, agreed in 2003 to stay out of World Heritage sites. Some oil and gas companies, such as Total and Shell , have made similar commitments. "Oil and gas is more an individual discussion. We lack the overall organised approach," Rossler told Reuters. The WWF study said that more than 11 million people depended on the heritage sites for food, water, shelter and medicine. Lambertini said that the economic value of nature was too often ignored, even though the sites created jobs, for instance from ecotourism worth billions of dollars. "Nature continues to be taken for granted,"he said. The study expands on a report by the WWF last year that said about a third of sites were threatened by mining and oil and gas. It adds threats such as over-fishing, harmful logging and disruptions of water supplies from dams. The Honorable Ashton Carter Secretary of Defense 1000 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 Dear Secretary Carter: As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nations defeat in the Vietnam War. Now as Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, I fear this administrations grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL) risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation. My conversations with military commanders both on the ground and in the Pentagon have led me to the disturbing, yet unavoidable conclusion that they have been reduced from considering what it will take to win to what they will be allowed to do by this administration. And it will be the men and women serving in our military and our national security that will pay the price. This is unacceptable. The most important responsibility of the Senate Armed Services Committee is to determine the capabilities that our military requires to defend our nation and provide the necessary resources and support our warfighters need to achieve their missions and return home safely. In order to inform the Senate Armed Services Committees ongoing review of the Department of Defenses fiscal year 2017 budget request, the Committee must have full insight into the scale and scope of U.S. military operations against ISIL. Therefore, I ask you to provide the Committee with written responses to the following questions: 1) As of March 31, 2016, how many U.S. military and civilian personnel were present in Iraq in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, including personnel that are not accounted for under the force management level numbers? 2) As of March 31, 2016, how many U.S. military and civilian personnel were present in Iraq in support of missions other than Operation Inherent Resolve, including personnel that are not accounted for under the force management level numbers? 3) As of March 31, 2016, how many U.S. contractors were present in Iraq providing contract security support to the U.S. Government? 4) Does the U.S. Government have any plans to negotiate a Status of Forces Agreement with the Government of Iraq (GOI) or to ask the Iraqi parliament to approve the presence of U.S. military personnel in Iraq? 5) As of March 31, 2016, how many U.S. military and civilian personnel were present in Syria in support of Operation Inherent Resolve? 6) With the current U.S. force level provided in response to Questions 1 and 5, how long do you estimate it will take for coalition forces to recapture Mosul and Raqqa? 7) Given your current estimates of available coalition forces going forward, how many U.S. military and civilian personnel would be required in addition to the current force level provided in response to Questions 1 and 5 in order for coalition forces to recapture Mosul and Raqqa by the end of 2016? 8) As of March 31, 2016, how many U.S. military and civilian personnel were present in Libya? Given that ISIL reportedly controls an army of up to 8,000 fighters in Libya, do you assess that the deployment of U.S. military personnel to Libya above the present level will be required in order to achieve ISILs lasting defeat? If so, please provide your estimate of what U.S. forces may be required. 9) As ISIL metastasizes and gains allegiances throughout Africa, what U.S. military presence is required to stop and roll back its advances on the continent? Please provide your responses to these questions in coordination with the Department of State in an unclassified form, with a classified addendum if necessary, within the next two weeks. Thank you for your service to our nation, and I look forward to your response. Sincerely, Leigh, Turner. Photo: Ron Galella Barbara Turner, the Emmy-nominated scribe behind Georgia and Hemingway & Gellhorn, died in L.A. on Tuesday. Variety first reported the 79-year-olds death, but a cause wasnt initially noted. The New York natives showbiz career began in the late-50s, with appearances on Playhouse 90, The Frank Sinatra Show, and Mike Hammer, among other TV series. Her first screenplay came in 1966, as an adaptation of Jean Genets Deathwatch, and later that decade, Turner began focusing less on acting and more on writing and producing. I realized that I was making my living as a writer and not as an actress [after having adapted Petulia], she said in 2003, per THR. So I said, I guess Im a writer and the rest is sort of the rest. Turner went on to pen more than a dozen projects for TV and film, including Pollock, The Company, and Georgia the last of which starred her daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh. My mother always helped me because she was kind of a research fanatic, Leigh told People earlier this year. When she would write a screenplay there would be so much research all over the walls. And so when I started working as an actress I would do the same thing. She instilled in me a love of taking everything very seriously. It didnt matter what it was. The War Between the Tates earned Turner an Emmy nom in 1978, and her work on Hemingway was nominated for both an Emmy and a WGA Award after it premiered in 2012. Turner, who was first married to Vic Morrow and then to Reza Badiyi, is survived by her three daughters, five grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. This post has been updated throughout. Alexander Hamilton! (Alexander Hamilton!) They are getting very rich off you! (Getting very rich off you!) Photo: Theo Wargo/Getty Images How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean, by providence impoverished in squalor, make a rich man of Lin-Manuel Mirandas father? To find the answer, all you have to do is read THRs reporting on the finances of Hamilton, which recently paid off its $12.5 million capitalization after less than a year on Broadway. Now that thats happened, a bunch of people and institutions associated with the show are about to get paid. Lin-Manuel Mirandas father, Luis A. Miranda, for example, gets one percent of the profits for serving as the shows political consultant. The Public Theater, where Hamilton began, gets five percent, up from the one percent of the gross it got previously. Lin-Manuel himself gets three percent of the profits, on top of his fee for playing the title role and the royalties he gets for writing the whole damn thing himself. (Ron Chernow gets his own cut out of Mirandas royalties.) To give you a sense of the scale, Hamilton reportedly pulls in around $1.5 million a week, with overhead running more than half a million. Give a toast to the newly not-poor of them! Of the many smart decisions made by the creators of The People v. O.J. Simpson, the smartest may have been to start with the premise that Simpson killed Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. The show is not aiming to retry the case before a public jury in 2016, or even re-create the experience of watching the trial unfold as it did two decades ago. It is about understanding how a guilty man could be found not guilty, and what the dynamics behind that verdict say about race, gender, celebrity, and social class. This was the trial of the century, but not because of its flashy tabloid appeal. It exposed the cultural fault lines that divide the country. The question that haunts us now, after the series is over, is whether we could expect the same result today. The best answer comes from Chris Darden, when Johnnie Cochran approaches him with conciliatory remarks after the verdict. Cochran had gotten the best of Darden at every possible turn during the trial, exploiting his weaknesses at key moments (the glove debacle chief among them) and encouraging the impression that he was a traitor to the black community. Cochrans offer to help him rehabilitate his image is a misread that Darden slaps away, and what he says next is prescient: This isnt some civil-rights milestone. Police in this country will keep arresting us, keep beating us, keep killing us. You havent changed anything for black people here, except your famous rich one in Brentwood. The Simpson trial may have taken place in the shadow of the Rodney King beating, but if youre looking for instances of police violence and racial injustice in the present, theres always a fresh, horrid supply at the ready. The People v. O.J. Simpson has shown us moments we didnt get to see in 1994 and 1995, but, miraculously, the writers and directors have also kept the tension high during all of the big courtroom moments and known outcomes. Theres a sense of dread that comes from the inevitable, and The Verdict is a crashing payoff to the slow-motion train wreck thats been developing all season. Now that we understand the key players as human beings, in all their nobility and weakness, the personal stakes are ramped up. That may be the shows most important legacy, even beyond its usefulness as a cultural barometer: We can finally see the case as more than an abstraction, which wasnt possible as it happened. The O.J. Simpson trial may have been a media circus, but the coverage neglected to mention that the clowns werent wearing makeup. We could have noticed Robert Kardashians oddly crestfallen reaction to a favorable verdict, but we couldnt have known the context. We could have watched the press conference where Christopher Darden breaks down mid-sentence, but couldnt have understood fully the pressure building up to this release. We could have considered Johnnie Cochrans blistering attack on the LAPD a cynical ploy, but we no longer question the sincerity and importance of his agenda. But still: Four hours? After nearly a year of sequestration, its hard to look too unkindly on the jury, but four hours isnt even a repudiation of the evidence its an outright denial of evidence as something worth consideration in a murder trial. If the initial straw poll did indeed break down 102 along racial lines, then the two holdouts had a moral and civil obligation to challenge the majority before capitulating. By the same token, declaratory statements like I will never, ever think they proved it do not suggest a devotion to a fair, open-minded discussion. Whatever the case, dramatically speaking, an insta-verdict proves that the prosecutions concerns about inflaming the jury and getting an emotional verdict were entirely justified. And given the defenses strategy, they paid most dearly for Mark Fuhrmans sins. The gloves may have been an error, but in the end, they stuck out mostly as a rhetorical flourish. The Verdict finds pockets of dissatisfaction in every corner, not just from the losing squad. As the series began, David Schwimmer, John Travolta, and Cuba Gooding Jr. were curious casting choices, yet theyve each brought a surprising melancholy to men who cannot celebrate the unlikely victory thats been handed to them. After the verdict, Schwimmers Kardashian shares a sympathetic look with Clark, then bolts to the bathroom to guilt-vomit. Travolta transforms his smug, glad-handing Shapiro into a hurt puppy after his handpicked defense team completely isolates him. And then theres Goodings temperamental Simpson, whos freed from prison but faces a new kind of isolation. Because O.J. didnt testify, the writers can only speculate what he must have been feeling based on the trial and its immediate aftermath still, their impression seems astute. If race was the chief factor in determining the Juices guilt, then it follows that his return to Brentwood would be a chilly one. It also stands to reason that he might assume his not guilty verdict would exonerate him in the court of public opinion. It didnt. The lonely, final shot of O.J. staring up at his own statue seals it: No one else is looking up to him anymore. Though The People v. O.J. Simpson has been an irresistible pop-culture nugget from the start, whats surprising and gratifying about the show is how weighty its gotten over such a limited run. The early punchlines of Kato Kaelin, Faye Resnick, and the Kardashian kids have long since faded into a consequential, multifaceted essay about American life. There are still moments of levity in the finale, like F. Lee Bailey shrugging off Shapiros concerns about using Louis Farrakhans security detail (Just get in the van or Ill tell them youre Jewish), but The Verdict plays it mostly straight. The shows creators fought off the temptation to turn the trial into a mid-90s nostalgia piece, and did so without losing its value as a conversation starter. Its deepened our understanding of the trial and, in the process, deepened our understanding of our culture. Dancing Itos: It was only a matter of time until a racist, homophobic grandparent arrived to wreak havoc in the ONeal household. Enter Grandma Agnes, played by Frances Conroy. Although Conroy brings her usual commanding presence to the role, Agnes isnt all that compelling of a character. She spurs along plenty of character development, but its just not enough to liven up this dull episode. As The Real Grandma opens, the ONeals have established a working rhythm for their new lives. Pat and Eileen split meal-prep duty, and Eileen is inching closer to something like acceptance for Kennys sexual orientation. (She now refers to Kenny being gay as the situation.) As the family prepares to eat Pats basement-crockpot entree, Grandma Agnes arrives unannounced, of course. She makes her presence known by loudly refusing to tip her cab driver, claiming the fact that hes allowed to stay in the country is tip enough. While she delivers her xenophobic rant, the family hurries to make the house look as Catholic as possible. According to Kenny, Grandma Agnes is the original Catholic gangster. And because shes such a devout Catholic, Eileen hasnt told her about the pending divorce or Kenny being gay. Eileen is Grandma Agness only child, and Agnes never lets her forget how disappointing she is. Agnes blames Eileens birth for her lack of a large Catholic family, and Eileen has been searching for her mothers approval all of her life. Pat is the only thing about Eileen that Agnes likes, so Eileen isnt prepared to tell her mother the truth. Kenny refuses to hide his sexuality anymore, however, and he encourages his mother to come out with her own truth about her marriage. After some back and forth, they agree to tell Grandma Agnes when dessert is finished. Eileen sends Kenny out to find a lemon-potato cake, an old-school Irish dessert that harks back to the time when the British kept all the real cake for themselves. Too bad theres no such thing as an Irish lemon-potato cake. If Eileen can keep Kenny out on his fools errand long enough, Grandma Agnes will have finished her traditional two-hour visit and be gone. Of course, Kenny figures out her ruse and rushes home. He arrives just as Grandma Agnes is about to leave, and found a special cake to boot. Its a seven-layer rainbow cake with IM GAY written in icing. Grandma Agnes faints at the news and has to spend the night. Everything else that happens in The Real Grandma isnt exactly predictable, but its not all that unexpected, either. Its interesting to see Agnes dote on Pat, but since its largely based in the resentment of her own child, its not as disruptive as it couldve been. Jimmy seems to be leaning into the dumb-jock thing, and Shannon is still as enterprising and money-hungry as ever. This time, we see how her passion may have started. For every small thing she does, like wearing certain clothes or coloring a coloring book, she gets money. In the first night of Grandma Agness visit, she makes $124. Not bad, Shannon! For some reason, Pat has grown a mustache as a sign of his basement independence. And because Agnes is spending the night, Pat and Eileen have to share a bed to continue the facade of a happy marriage. Kenny suggests Pat is Eileens beard, just like Mimi was his beard. And as with Mimi, Pats mustache is going to get itchy and bitchy real quick. Eileen doesnt want to hear that kind of talk from Kenny, going so far as to use his full name (Kenneth Christopher Sebastian ONeal) to chastise him. Eileen and Pat sleep with a body pillow between them to avoid any problems. In the morning, Grandma Agnes claims shes going to help Kenny fix his problem, as if being gay is something that should be corrected. She wants to send him to a gay-conversion camp called Prayer and Penance Camp. As much as Kenny would love to go away for a two-week vacation in the woods with a bunch of other gay boys, he knows the practice of conversion therapy is wrong. And so, Agnes digs in her heels and decides to stay as long as it takes until Kenny can be saved. Shannons probably the only one in the house who is happy to see her sticking around; itll certainly help her piggy bank. Faced with the idea of faking her marriage and living with her mothers constant disapproval, Eileen begins to stress-eat. Kenny finds her hiding in the guest bathroom with his coming-out cake. He tells his mom that she has to admit the truth, and Eileen gets a little snarky with him about all the times hes had to come out because its never gone smoothly. Kenny describes how, ideally, he wanted to come out to her by cooking Eileen some of her favorite foods, then listing all of the celebrities she likes who are gay so shed recognize that gay people arent bad. They decide that this is the technique to use on Grandma Agnes. Its good of The Real ONeals to note that coming out can be a constant thing. Many people have to come out repeatedly to family, to classmates, to friends. Its not as if you can say it once and all the important people in your life suddenly know. Its a challenging, anxiety-inducing process. You never know how people will react, so you have to be prepared for the worst. Like, say, a grandmother who wants to pray your gay away. The family gets Agnes tipsy on sherry. She compliments the dinner Eileen prepares (corned beef and cabbage, of course) without a single cutdown and it makes Eileen so happy, she reneges on the plan to tell her mother the truth. When she brings out dessert, she tells Agnes that Kenny made it. Grandma Agnes calls it dry and refuses the sauce Kenny offers. She tells him he is broken and God doesnt like broken things. Its a vicious, hurtful thing to say, and Eileen tells her mother off for it. She will not allow Agnes to talk to her children that way, and in the heat of the moment, she admits that she and Pat are divorcing. Agnes begins to choke and nobody moves until Jimmy asks, Is this what were doing? Letting God take out Grandma? (Like last weeks camping story line, the moment is reminiscent of a scene from Frasier, when his terrible girlfriend began choking during a Pictionary game and no one offered to help.) The next day, Eileen drops Agnes off at another family members home and tells her she is no longer welcome to visit until she learns to respect the entire family. The kids are duly impressed, and Eileen praises Kenny for his bravery in coming out. She notes how terrifying it is, and later, the two bond with cake. Kenny makes good on his promise to list the celebrities Eileen didnt know were gay, including her favorite actor from The Good Wife, Alan Cumming, whos also Scottish. Its a cute little shout-out to Martha Plimptons role on that show, and it nearly excuses the rest of The Real Grandma, which is as dry as the bread-and-butter pudding that left Grandma Agnes choking. Despite its flaws, the show remains admirably committed to drawing parallels between straight people problems and gay people problems. Revealing the truth about who you are or whats going on in your life is never easy, and its rarely a one-time thing. This is a human problem, and no matter how you identify yourself, telling a difficult truth can have enduring consequences. Thats why, as The Real ONeals demonstrates, its important to surround yourself with people who are supportive, respectful, and wont judge when you stress-eat rainbow cake. Photo: Getty Images; FX In a show largely uninterested in picking a side, it has been Robert Kardashian, the Armenian-American lawyer played by David Schwimmer, who has emerged as the heart of The People v. O.J. Simpson. This was by design, after all. He was the one guy in this case that didnt have any other weird motive involved. He had no agenda, creators Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski told us on the Vulture TV Podcast. He was there because his best friend said he didnt do it, and he loved his friend. Publicly, Kardashian sat by O.J.s side every day during the trial, and even when he wasnt there, spent time with him playing gin rummy at the county jail. He was the closest to knowing what was going on in O.J.s head besides O.J. himself. Even the coroner told Kardashian, I want to tell you, I wish I had a friend like you. That was essentially Kardashians function during the trial as well. He wasnt a legal strategist, having renewed his law license last-minute to join the defense team, but pivotal nonetheless. During the trial, Kardashian told the Los Angeles Times, I know O.J. better than anyone on the legal team. There are so many things I know about his personality. My job is really strategy and liaison between the lawyers and O.J. Still, Robert Kardashian is one of the more enigmatic figures from the O.J. Simpson trial. Even though his children and ex-wife Kris Jenner have eventually become symbols of the very American thirst for fame, Kardashian himself was a private man. Unlike the other major figures from the trial, he didnt write a tell-all book, even though he may have had the juiciest gossip. Eventually though, he provided the basis for Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerths book on the trial, American Tragedy: The Uncensored Story of the Simpson Defense, where he gave voice to his nagging doubts. Written in an omniscient third-person style, the book ends on a note of misgiving: Bob started out believing in O.J.s innocence. But over the months, he has begun to doubt quietly at first, then more insistently. In public he has never wavered. He has kept his private thoughts private. Now the jury has spoken, and, as Kardashian has feared for a long time, it has settled nothing. Kardashian knows his doubts will never leave him, his friendship with O.J. will never be the same. He has learned a great deal. He wonders if Simpson has. His public admission would come by way of a 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters when American Tragedy was published in October of 1996. I have doubts, he admitted to Walters. The blood evidence is the biggest thorn in my side. That causes me the greatest problems. So I struggle with the blood evidence. The People v. O.J. Simpson wrote this doubt into the series even though Kardashian is a peripheral figure in their chief source material, Jeffrey Toobins book, The Run of His Life. Its Kardashian whom we see emerging from the courtroom after the verdict comes down in Tuesday nights finale: Stricken, appalled, and filled with doubt. He looks at Marcia Clark, and his face says it all: What have we done? Robert Kardashian looked devastated when he heard the verdict. He knew, Clark told Vulture after watching the finale. I could see it on his face. There was no need for words, just like in the series. Photo: Prashant Gupta/FX Indeed, its Robert Kardashian who serves as the mirror for Americas growing disillusionment with the trial. As The People v. O.J. unfolded in the courtroom, Schwimmer stole every reaction shot, no more so than in the finale. His face, that long, drooping canvas of self-doubt, falls in disbelief when the prosecution presents the blood and DNA evidence, and by the end, he can hardly look his old friend in the eye. Its a beautiful creative decision on shows part, and as the trial further propelled American culture into the free-for-all of the 24-hour news cycle and reality television, one that encapsulates our collective loss of innocence. We often come across weird sex stories and no doubt Reddit is one such platform where people openly share their experiences. Two days ago, a user on Reddit, KoalaOne, kicked off a weird conversation asking, "Current or former sex workers, what is the strangest thing a client has asked you to do?" And you will not believe the answers that they gave, some are totally crazy and dangerous, while some are hilarious. We have compiled some of the most interesting answers by users: Piss addiction: I was a strip club dj for a bit... Had this one odd duck that would come in and pay girls like $200.00 to piss in a glass for him... This happened several times, then once the girl took it to a bouncer and had him pee in it. She took it back to him, he took one sniff and said "this is a man's urine" Left, and never came back while I worked there. I said no: Former Pro-Domme here. Client wanted me to scald him in a tub until he passed out, revive and repeat for several hours. I said hell no. A fantasy to do jazzercize: Client had a fantasy about being forced into a leotard and legwarmers and forced to do jazzercize with my canes as motivation. I did that and it was awesome. The dentist: I had a guy lay me out on the table, take my shoes off, get out a set of dental picks and mirrors and electric toothbrush, and do a "dental exam" on my feet. For an hour. Checking for 'cavities', 'polishing', 'flossing', etc. I was supposed to play the whole thing straight as if it was really my teeth he was examining. Never did his penis come out of his pants. It was actually a totally great time, if a bit bizarre to start. Also read: Women reveal the weirdest things they have used to masturbate He never touched me: Had a very nice gentleman come in wearing one of those dust masks. Wanted me to get up on basis pieces of bondage furniture, naked, and pose/spread. Then he would come right up and put his face about 1 cm from my parts and stare intently for a few minutes, then have me take a different position. Never touched me, even accidentally, over the course of the hour. Playtime: Had a gentleman who would book multiple girls, have us play completely dead, then whack us with riding crops and pinch nipples and stuff. If you grimaced or flinched our gasped, you were out of the (several hour, lots of money) session. Teeth sinking: Had a very muscular guy come in who would shower, and then once he was clean, would flex and want me to sink my teeth into his muscles and gnaw gently. Was surprisingly fun! The VIP client: Used to work as a stripper a few years ago. Hands down, the weirdest thing was when a guy in the VIP section bought a few dances and then asked me to step on his dick in my 7 inch stripper heels. At first I was being careful, but then after he assured me that there was no way I could hurt him, I went to town. I even threw in a few combos where I'd step on it and twirl. It was actually pretty fun. Afterwards, he bought my thong for like $50. Really fun night. A listener: I had a friend who was a sex worker. My favourite story from her was a client who wanted her to stand in a corner, facing the wall, wearing nothing but combat boots and reading from Ulysses. Vampire tits: Am a camgirl, as the name implies. Only saw this guy once so maybe he didn't like my art skills, who knows. He asked me to draw on crazy eyebrows, like stick straight pointed upwards 'angry' brows so I did. Then I needed a clown scowl. That was enough for the face so then he had me draw fangs on my nipples. Vampire tits haha. And then lastly, a face for my pussy. Complete with eyes, a nose, and mouth. We both had a lot of fun, I could see him and I don't think he was jerking it, just laughing hysterically with me. Wish he'd come back! He wanted me to fart: Recently had a different guy ask me to just fart, like continuously. He didn't know that for fart porn vids the girls literally pump their asses with air. Yeah that wasn't going to happen... Also read: Man with two penises reveals everything, answers curious questions Submissive sugar daddy: A girl I know is a Dom. She has one client who pays for public abuse. I was at a bar with her last month and she asked if I wanted to see her next appointment: She waits for this guy at a street corner and they walk together a hundred feet or so, then she starts raving and screaming at him about how pathetic he is. She screams at him to give her money, so he stops at a cash machine and while he's there she's just goading him. There's a crowd now and he takes out 250 and hands it to her. She takes it, spits in his face and walks away, we go and have more drinks. Other clients of hers, if we're bored, she'll call one up and make him collect us and drive us to another city for a party or shopping somewhere. He'll wait in the car and be ignored, or come into shops silently and pay for whatever she picks up, then when we're done drive us back AND PAY HER FOR THE PLEASURE AFTERWARDS! Good times. Kick me on the balls: Guy used to come see me every week and pay me to kick him in the balls. HARD. Repeatedly for 5-10 minutes. And I usually wore boots. He obviously loved it. He would flinch a bit, but usually asked me to kick him harder. I was apprehensive the first few times, but quickly learned that he seriously wanted me to kick him as hard as I could. If I had a stressful week dealing with assholes I would look forward to him visiting so I could take out some aggression. He wanted to escalate: I know I'm late to the party but I have a great story. I used to be a male escort, had a guy once who I had going so bad he was up in a swing and I was shocking the shit out of his balls while he begged and screamed for more. I told him to shut the fuck up and stuck a plug up his ass, and that was the breaking point. I've had people use a safe word before and it's really no big deal, everyone has their limits, and I can dial the intensity back and adjust the play pretty well. This guy, however wanted to escalate. He used the safe word to take me out of the zone in order to discuss the next thing. This guy wanted me to castrate him. I had to talk him down from that, he said nobody ever got him to the point I got him, and he was certain that it would never be this great again so why bother? Let's full fill this last request. I refused and gave him a bit of aftercare, Sent him on his way. He came back a few times that month, never asked for that again. He wanted gunfight: Camgirl here, I hope that counts! I have a guy that comes in every few months and wants to have a pretend "gunfight" with me. Like, we face off, draw our "weapons", and "shoot" each other. He is super specific with the wording he wants me to use, and it's such an easy show. This client asked me to make grocery list: I was a cam girl for about six months in college. My weirdest customer wanted me to make him weekly grocery lists, errands lists, and just general "honey do" lists for things he had to do around the house. He was a young guy, maybe 25, and actually really attractive. British. He claimed he was lonely after his fiancee moved to Belgium for a year for school, and now they were on a break. These were all the things she used to ask him to do, and now she was too busy. So every week, I'd have a private show with him, and we'd drink coffee and go over that week's list, and I'd wish him luck at work that day. It was kind of sweet, kind of heartbreaking. The Waco-McLennan County Library will have an East Waco Library Grand Reopening Celebration from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday at the library, 901 Elm Ave. The event will include food, goody bags and free books for children, from newborns to age 18. For more information, email jessicae@wacotx.gov or call 750-5974. WCY golf tourney Space is still available for the Waco Center for Youths annual Were Swingin for Kids golf tournament fundraiser scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. Thursday at Cottonwood Creek Golf Course, 5200 Bagby Ave. Teams of four or individuals can sign up at the course beginning at 11 a.m. Individuals will be assigned to a team. Cost is $340 per team or $85 for single players. Lunch will be provided at noon. For more information, call 745-5173. Crime Prevention Fest The Parents Against Crime Coalition will hold its inaugural PACC Crime Prevention Festival from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Dewey Park Recreation Center, 925 N. Ninth St. The event will include music, dancing, food stations, hula hoop contests, paddle ball contest, three-on-three basketball, face painting, and art/poetry contests about crime prevention. With a focus on high-risk families. PACC seeks to involve parents and families in the process of addressing issues related to crime and violence prevention, and to strengthen relations between law enforcement and the community. For more information, visit www.hewitttx.wix.com/pacc. DAR luncheon The Elizabeth Gordon Bradley Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will host its annual Constitution Week luncheon at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Austin Avenue United Methodist Church, 1300 Austin Ave. McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara will present a program about Protecting and Defending the Constitution. For more information, call Marilyn Judy at 744-6076. Down N Dirty trail race The Waco Striders Running Club will have a Down N Dirty trail race starting at 8 a.m. Saturday at Cameron Parks Northern Gateway Pavilion, located at Lovers Leap Road and Cameron Park Drive. Race-day registration will be conducted from 7 to 7:45 a.m. The event will include a 5-mile trail run and a 2-mile trail hike. Cost is $40 for the 5-mile run and $25 for the hike. All finishers will receive a medal and post-race food. For more information, visit www.wacostriders.com. Museum Marketplace Museum Association of Waco will have its annual Museum Marketplace event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Dr Pepper Museum and Free Enterprise Institute, 300 S. Fifth St. The annual trade show highlights the services that member organizations offer educators, students and the general public. Attendance is free and open to the public. Door prizes will be available. Submit items to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com. Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan is mired in an ugly controversy with actress Kangana Ranaut. But if you take a look at his social networking pages, you will not get a whiff of the turmoil in his life. Instead, you will find him posting holiday pictures with his sons Hrehaan and Hridaan, or motivating fans with sweet messages. T V actor-turned Bollywood star, Sushant Singh Rajput also used a similar distraction method when rumours of his break-up with longtime girlfriend Ankita Lokhande did the rounds in the media. My jaans first holi and isnt he excited! Love you Nirvanh, he captioned the picture of his cute nephew that he posted on his Instagram page. Hollywood celebrities are not far behind. When Tom Cruise was seen with his assistant Emily Thomas a number of times, it sparked rumours that the two were dating. In the midst of these rumours, the Top Gun actor then took some time off from his shooting to reunite publicly with his daughter Suri, who he hadnt seen in three months. Pop sensation Madonna was also seen looking happy while pampering and shopping with her daughter Mercy, a few days ago despite being in a tough custody battle over her son Rocco with her ex-husband Guy Ritchie. While most celebrities either post pictures of their children on social media or are seen publicly with them, Drew Barrymore took it a step further and got a tattoo of her childrens names on her wrist. She then went on to upload the picture on her Instagram page around the same time she announced her divorce from Will Kopelman who she had been married to for four years. Celebrities use this as a defence mechanism for themselves because they dont want the world to know about their personal pain. They could also be trying to move past what has happened, and through social media, they are encouraging fans to do so as well, says relationship expert Nisha Khanna. The McLennan County Elections Commission will report to county commissioners that it appears all necessary corrective actions have been taken to prevent a repeat of the March 1 Republican primary debacle. The decision by the five-member commission came Tuesday after an hourlong meeting in open session, another hour behind closed doors and harsh words from commission member Jeb Leutwyler. County Judge Scott Felton, who sits on the commission, called for the meeting to help answer any questions still remaining after the commissions first meeting March 8. The commission called its first meeting after learning more than 600 McLennan County voters were disenfranchised during the primary. Leutwyler, the outgoing McLennan County Republican Party chairman, said based on his review of the election results, Van Wolfe underreported the problem. Leutwyler said there were closer to 900 voters disenfranchised, not 600 as Van Wolfe reported. Im very disappointed in the feedback weve gotten, he said. Leutwyler said when Van Wolfe discovered in February there was a problem with the election equipment, she should have taken a different course of action that would have ensured every vote counted. He said the election was a failing on Van Wolfes part. Leutwyler said he takes it seriously when he feels someone fired an employee in order to use that person as a scapegoat for problems. He said Van Wolfes decision to fire her employee shows her failings as a manager. Van Wolfe fired Karen Hall last week, writing in a termination letter that it was Halls responsibility to test the Election Day ballots, which was not done. Van Wolfe wrote that the error wasnt found until it was too late, forcing employees to manually pull up ballots. Van Wolfe, who said she is down two people in her office, said she cant guarantee there will never be another mistake in her office but said she has taken measures to improve training. She said it wasnt a whistleblower that brought news of the ballot problems forward, as she was upfront about what happened in the election. As far as firing someone, she said, that matter needs to be handled in her office and not the front page of the paper. Van Wolfe said she needed a job done, asked Hall to comply, and Hall didnt complete the task. She said she needs help in her office she cant fill her two vacancies with just warm bodies; its an important job and it needs to be done correctly, she said. I am only one person and I cant be everywhere all the time, Van Wolfe said. I do believe in the system. Im probably the only one that comes through that door that loves what I do. Van Wolfe said after 19 years in her position, her integrity is at stake. Unlike other county departments, she said, her office is under the microscope every day. Unfortunately everything that goes on in my office, good and bad, is on the front page of the paper, she said. This is a huge black mark on that office. She said shes most disappointed that the public has lost trust in the office. Van Wolfe said her office relies heavily on volunteers, and most are elderly and not comfortable with the increases in technology. She said she needs more tech-savvy and detail-oriented volunteers. Van Wolfe said she has had some incompetent volunteers. Leutwyler said he could not recall a single instance that Van Wolfe had ever called asking for a volunteer to be replaced because of incompetence and it not being done. Weve replaced more than a dozen, Leutwyler said. Next elections The next election is May 7 for several city and school districts, and then theres a countywide runoff for state races May 24. Van Wolfe said ballots already have been tested for the May races, and she is going to start training all election workers and not just election judges. She also said with Cory Priest deciding not to pursue further court cases, the county can put this election to bed as far as any other discussion about incorrect ballots. Priest, whose legal challenge of the primary for the Precinct 1 commissioners court seat was denied, announced Monday he would not appeal the judges recent ruling. Priest filed a lawsuit March 11 for a new election after the county announced voters had been disenfranchised, which affected the race for Precinct 1. A judge ultimately ruled there wasnt a need to call for a new election. Felton said Van Wolfe was candid and open during the questioning and he appreciated the commissions time and effort in handling the situation. Commission member Mary Duty, McLennan County Democratic Party chairwoman, pledged the support of her party to do whatever is needed to help educate voters and clerks to ensure a seamless election happens in the future. Felton said the commission would send a report to the county commissioners for review in the near future. A 31-year veteran of the Fort Worth Fire Department is poised to become Wacos new fire chief after an international search and interviews with city administrators and firefighters. Bobby Tatum Jr., a Fort Worth deputy chief in charge of fire prevention, is expected to be ratified for the position by Waco City Council on April 19. City Manager Dale Fisseler chose him for the job after a monthslong recruitment process that involved a private firm and panels of city leaders. He discussed the appointment with the council in executive session this week. Fisseler said Tatum impressed him and other city officials with his leadership ability. I am excited to recommend Bobby to the city council for consideration as our next fire chief and am looking forward to introducing him to them at our next meeting, Fisseler said. The interview panels were impressed with his experience and enthusiasm, and I believe that he will bring outstanding leadership to this important position. The appointment puts a black chief in charge of a department that has struggled to find minority recruits. Of the departments 203 civil service positions, only 14 are held by minorities. One of our goals is to increase diversity, not only ethnic diversity but gender-wise, and he has some ideas for that, Fisseler said. Tatum said he hopes to make young minority students in the area more aware of firefighting as a career. I think we can present a positive image to show that its available to them, said Tatum, who started with the Fort Worth department at age 19. When I started in fire service, I was looking for a job. I wasnt one who said I wanted to be a firefighter when I grew up. But once I saw others advancing in the fire department, I saw the opportunity. He said he also hopes to recruit more female applicants, possibly including local college athletes who could pass the firefighters physical exams. Tatum, 50, said it is a big step to move out of the city where hes lived all his life, but added hes looking forward to new challenges. Im so excited about the opportunity to live in Waco, he said. I never imagined being there. I dont say that in a negative way, but I never had the opportunity to stop and visit the city. Tatum said he got a tour of the city during the interview process and for the first time visited Wacos attractions, such as Cameron Park, the zoo and Lake Waco. While I was riding in the car, I started thinking, this is the place for me, this is a place I can bring my family, he said. Tatum said he plans to live within the city limits of Waco with his wife and wants to be actively engaged in civic affairs. Community connection Its not a requirement to live in the city of Waco, but I wanted to be connected with the community, he said. Tatum would replace Acting Chief Paul Simmons, who has led the department since former Chief John Johnston stepped down in January for family reasons. Johnston remains an assistant chief. The private recruitment firm Strategic Government Resources considered 76 applicants from 23 states and Australia and narrowed the search to four finalists that were interviewed by the city panel. Simmons was among the four finalists. Since Tatum started with the Fort Worth Fire Department in 1985, he has graduated from the National Fire Academy Executive Fire Officer Program and earned master firefighter and master arson investigator certifications from the Texas Commission on Fire Protection. He is an FBI-certified bomb technician and is certified in aircraft fire rescue, hazmat and other courses of study. He holds a masters degree in leadership with an emphasis in disaster preparedness from Grand Canyon University, as well degrees from Midwestern State University and Tarrant County College. Fisseler served as Fort Worth city manager before coming to Waco but did not know Tatum, who served as a fire captain at the time. But Fisseler said he has heard glowing reviews of Tatum from Fort Worths city manager. He said Tatums experience with a larger city is also valuable. Fort Worths department has about 950 firefighters and a geographical coverage area about three times that of Waco. Tatum said other Fort Worth fire officials in the past year have gone on to be fire chiefs in Plano and Burleson. Fort Worth has a reputation of doing things right and developing their employees, he said. McLennan County commissioners voiced support for the Extraco Events Center to work to bring the Texas High School Finals Rodeo to Waco. Wes Allison, Extraco Events Center president and CEO, said the annual event has been in Abilene for 26 years and is up for bid for its location. Allison said bringing the event to the Extraco Events Center would mean 800 contestants plus their families visiting, shopping, eating, and buying gas in the area. The nine-day event would have a large economic benefit for the area, he said. The county agreed to pay $20,000 per year for three years to support the event in a bid fee. Allison said the city of Waco already approved a matching amount. Allison said he also is requesting funding from other McLennan County cities. He said the rodeo association will make a decision in June about the location. If it moves to Waco, it would be one of the largest single events at the fairgrounds, he said. Commissioner Ben Perry said the court must work to foster new events that generate economic development in the county. Commissioner Will Jones said he has a family member in junior rodeo and bringing the event to Waco could be a big deal. Youre talking about the parking lot completely full at the H.O.T. for that entire nine days, Jones said. Polyglass incentives Also at the meeting, commissioners approved allocating $112,500 to the Waco- McLennan County Economic Development Corp. to provide incentives to Florida-based Polyglass. The company has purchased and is looking to renovate a 150,000-square-foot former Anheuser-Busch distribution building at 1701 Exchange Parkway. Kris Collins, Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce senior vice president for economic development, said the city of Waco already approved allocating $112,500 for its half of the incentive package. Collins said the international company, established in the 1950s, has expanded its global footprint. The company was originally looking in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Oklahoma market but ultimately chose Waco for its next location, she said. We feel really great about that, Collins said. The company manufactures rolled polymer roofing for commercial buildings and will create 45 positions during the next three years, she said. Insurance payments County commissioners also approved two payments to its insurance company, the Texas Association of Counties Risk Management Pool. County Administrator Dustin Chapman said the first payment of more than $3,700 will go toward a lawsuit, after an individual filed an appeal to his case. Chapman said the county has now paid right at $6,000 toward its $10,000 deductible for that claim. The other payment approved Tuesday is for a case related to the Twin Peaks shootout. After that payment, the county has paid about $8,500 toward Twin Peaks-related lawsuits. Chapman said that claim also has a $10,000 deductible. Chapman said lawsuit- related bills will not be covered by a grant the county applied for through the governors County Essential Services Program. The county is seeking about $270,000 from the state to cover some costs associated with the deadly May 17 Twin Peaks shootout in Waco. Chapman said that grant would primarily cover the costs of housing of inmates May 17 at the Jack Harwell Detention Center and costs associated with overtime for the McLennan County Sheriffs Office, autopsies, and transportation of bodies. Chapman said the governors office is still reviewing the countys grant application. Friends of the beloved Waco philanthropist Audre Rapoport on Tuesday remembered the gracious but shy woman as a fierce proponent of womens rights and a champion of social justice. Rapoport died of natural causes Monday in her Waco residence. She was 92 years old. Rapoport is survived by her son, Ronald Rapoport; a daughter-in-law; two granddaughters; and two great-grandchildren. Married to Bernard B Rapoport, Audre Rapoport was quieter than her boisterous husband but was no less influential or generous, friends said. Audre was a fascinating personality, said Lyndon L. Olson Jr., former ambassador to Sweden and a lifelong friend of the Rapoports. She was married to someone bigger than life, and she managed that life they had together with tremendous grace and astuteness. She was every bit as philanthropic as B. As friends spoke of Audres warmth and passions, stories of Bernard Rapoport began to weave into the narrative. They went everywhere together, traveling from Washington, D.C., to Jerusalem to London. You just never knew where the two of them were going to end up. One day they were at the Chicken Shack in Waco. The next day theyre at the White House having dinner with the president, Olson said of the Rapoports, who developed a friendship with former President Bill Clinton through the years. Born Audre Newman in Chicago on July 8, 1923, Rapoport moved to Waco at age 3 with her mother. They lived with her grandmother until she graduated from Waco High School in 1941, the only girl in her class to have taken geometry. She met Bernard Rapoport on a blind date during her first year at the University of Texas in Austin. Bernard Rapoport was a jewelry salesman, and they married on Feb. 14, 1942, a month after meeting. They were married for 70 years, starting and eventually selling American Income Life Insurance. Bernard Rapoport died in April 2012 at age 94. The couple established The Bernard & Audre Rapoport Foundation in 1987, through which they donated millions of dollars locally and internationally, including to many efforts in Israel. Since its inception, the foundation has donated $64 million to education, health care and other causes. Audre Rapoport focused on the reproductive rights of women and supported the Audre Rapoport Library for Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas Inc., where women can get books, videos and curricula on womens health. The foundation has given to several programs that support education, including about $450,000 in the past 16 years to a Waco Foundation program that awards scholarships to local, low-income students. The Rapoport Family has provided immeasurable benefits to the Waco community, and I am just one person on a long list of people who will always be grateful to them, Waco Foundation Executive Director Ashley Allison said. Audre and B set an example for the rest of us about what it means to be philanthropists by giving during their lifetimes and engaging their family as philanthropists of the future through their foundation. Former U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, a longtime friend of the Rapoports, said most people knew Audre Rapoport first as a philanthropist, and the love she had for her own family also showed through. Her son Ronald had two daughters who drove up from Austin almost every weekend to visit her, Edwards said. She didnt preach family values. She lived them, he said. If anyone was ill in her family, she was by their bedside every day. One time in mid-2003, as I was exiting the White House Situation Room a day after President George W. Bush had delivered a major speech on foreign policy I remarked to a career guy at the State Department that we needed more discussion on some issues but that, at least on those the president had covered, we now knew what the policy would be. I distinctly remember his answer, which was that the speech did not matter. Policy is made by the interagency process, not some speech! he said. My colleague was wrong: Presidents can and certainly should make policy, but they get their way only if they lead and fight. The federal bureaucracy is vast, especially when it comes to national security policy, which includes as a start nearly 34,000 State Department employees, more than 2 million people at the Defense Department and perhaps 20,000 more at the CIA. So how is policy made? Is it through the so-called interagency process meaning the endless meetings, memos, arguments and agreements by which the many agencies and departments make decisions? In truth, if the president is ignorant, uncommitted or simply relies on assistants and the bureaucracy, his or her administration will get a hodgepodge of policy a pudding with no theme. The presidents loyalists, primarily at the National Security Council but also sprinkled throughout the bureaucracy, can enforce the presidents policies if they are clear and detailed if the administration is willing to insist on them and if the staff believes in the presidents agenda. Under Ronald Reagan, for example, Secretary of State George Shultz was always willing to listen to in-house criticism of the presidents policies. But I recall him ending one meeting by saying, You know, you may be right. And all you need to do is get yourself elected president and well do it your way. But since Ronald Reagan got himself elected president, were going to do it his way. Shultz deliberately selected assistant secretaries who were not career Foreign Service officers but were instead political appointees loyal to the administration. Such an approach can work only if there are clear policies to follow and if the president will enforce them. In bureaucratic warfare, big fights get elevated, level by level, until they reach the Cabinet or, in critical cases, go right up to the president. Fighting for a presidents policies against powerful officials requires some confidence that when the issue reaches the president, hell back you up. If not, why bother? In the George W. Bush administration, I resisted for months the desire of one top general to visit Syria and speak with Bashar al-Assad about the war in Iraq. Assads Syria was then the route of most of the jihadis entering Iraq to kill Americans, and I was sure the president would view pleas to Assad as a mistake suggesting real American weakness. Eventually, the general balked at having his plans stopped by a White House staffer and set a date for his trip. The only way to prevent his travel was to go to the president. I gambled on knowing what the president would want and I was right. When asked, he immediately said no: No four-star general of the United States would beseech that vicious dictator to be nice to us. Even with presidential leadership, controlling the huge apparatus called the U.S. government is very difficult. The National Security Councils size has ranged from about 50 members under George H.W. Bush to about 400 today. But it isnt size that matters most: Its having clear presidential guidance and knowing what the president wants, best of all by hearing it directly from him. Thats why a 400-person council may encounter diminishing returns. The most effective thing a loyalist can say in an interagency meeting is No, the president said yesterday that he wants X and not Y. Policy details emerge from policy themes. The Bush administrations freedom agenda did not emerge from and was in fact resisted by the bureaucracy. It was up to loyalists in his administration to push it, year after year and day after day: in speeches, in instructions to ambassadors, in meetings, in cables and emails. But that happens only when the president demands it. Elliott Abrams is senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as an assistant secretary of state in the Reagan administration and a deputy national security adviser in the George W. Bush administration. At least some county officials rankled by State Attorney General Ken Paxtons formal March 30 slap-down of a ban on guns throughout the McLennan County Courthouse and its annex will want to vent about the ethically compromised attorney general, but in this instance their aim is misdirected. They should look at their state legislators as well as, possibly, themselves. When the Republican-led Texas Legislature was crafting open-carry legislation more than a year ago, local Republicans in fact, Republican office-holders throughout the state failed to express justifiable concern about carrying guns in venues where justice is dispensed and laws are enforced. Maybe they balked because of the political risks for anyone who dares to suggest even modest limits to the Second Amendment. Maybe some assumed legislators would be more prudent in their legislation. Now the clear logic that district judges and county leaders voice comes late. State legislators made no special provisions for banning guns in courthouses with the exception of actual courtrooms and auxiliary offices such as judges chambers and so Paxtons staff of lawyers is free to press his interpretation of the law, however insane it might seem to those who know well the level of emotion and contention that erupt daily in the courthouse. We supported the county commissioners courts ban on firearms in late December. We agreed that the spirit of dispute, even rage, could all too readily arise in a venue where cases involve everything from property-right fights to child custody to murder and that it would be all too easy for a judge, juror, attorney or witness to wander into a hallway or restroom only to encounter someone armed and angry over a particular decision, plea, objection or sworn testimony. Given the level of outrage and the strong feeling by some that wrongs have already been dealt by the local criminal justice system, it doesnt take much to imagine some sort of clash in the upcoming trials involving bikers arrested in the wake of 2015s deadly shootout at Twin Peaks. The idea of armed folks walking the halls and stairwells could easily intimidate some jurors. One citizen already expressed such fears on our Facebook page. Few stronger advocates of the Second Amendment exist than McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara, who dismisses the notion that our courthouse is a gun-free zone when, in fact, armed security guards the courthouse and its annex. One can justify the right of Texans to carry arms in many venues in the name of self-defense these days, but is it needed in a place whose protection is overseen by the sheriff? One can grasp why state legislators, in passing open-carry legislation, endeavored to make sure it applied to governmental facilities as well as elsewhere. One of the original tea-party tenets back when the tea party was more narrowly and honestly focused is that laws apply to both the people and those in government equally. The problem here is that government has special duties that sometimes provoke, anger and outrage which means special precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of all. Second Amendment advocates insist those who carry concealed-handgun permits are the most law-abiding citizens of all. No argument there. Perhaps the county can settle on a solution that allows courthouse security to carefully check for permits at the front door, assuming at least this passes muster with the attorney generals office (and it should). But if our county officials decide to mount a legal challenge to the decision, they should join other counties similarly inclined, something they might be able to quickly ascertain through the Texas Association of Counties if its on the ball. Inspiring news There is so much bad news today with terrorism, drugs and human trafficking that it was a delight to open the March 25 Trib and read two stories with good news. A front-page story focused on the Waco Police Department honoring Dwayne Bolton on his 10th birthday with a surprise party. Then on the editorial page, Baylor University administrator and civic leader Ashley Bean Thornton, who serves on the Trib Board of Contributors, offered a column, Miriams Army dancing their way to success, an inspiration of things that can be done for at-risk girls whose families have trouble providing the extras that will help these girls excel in life. How wonderful too that the president of the Waco Independent School District board of trustees took the time to be part of a recent event so that the girls could meet and talk with him. Kudos to the Waco Trib for coverage of these events. Jane E. Gates, Moody Locking up profits A popular president once said, Government isnt the solution. Government is the problem. And so we the people stepped aside and allowed the deregulation of corporations and the privatization of many government services. Even our prisons are now run like a Walmart. And Walmart depends on customers to stay in business. Our prisons depend on inmates to stay in business. A recent case sheds light on this concern. A gentleman in this case chose a plea bargain arrangement instead of a life sentence, only for the judge to double the agreed-upon incarceration time. I do not appreciate my tax dollars going to a business that profits from the incarceration of innocent individuals. I question the efficacy of our current system and the ethics of some judges. What if somebody got a kickback for increasing incarceration time? Its happened before. What if the behemoth of the prison industry undermined justice and the innocence of the individual? What if the land of the free turned into the land of greed and nobody noticed? My prayers go out to you, Thomas Kolar. May God bless you and keep you in his care. And God help us all. Carolyn Reyes, Natalia EDITORS NOTE: Mr. Kolar was sentenced to 15 years in prison last week after he pleaded guilty to reduced charges of second-degree felony manslaughter in the July 1991 strangling death of his 27-year-old wife, Amy Kolar. There is no indication that anyone doubled the time laid out in the plea bargain arrangement. Now read this! I am in total agreement with the letter by H.P. Bloomer III warning Americans about the charismatic, high-pressure pitchman running for president. I think this letter should be published nationwide by the Associated Press. A. Lucas Jr., Waco ALVO Debra and John McNaught of Alvo have nothing but good words to say about the Alvo and Elmwood communities and their residents. And after losing your home, and everything in it, you would think those words would be hard to say. But not for Debra. Oh my, the people that have come forward offering us furniture and clothing is just a miracle, she said. The outpouring of help started while fire departments were actually fighting the March 22 fire. Our daughter, Beth and her two daughters are living with us and they and John were getting ready for bed, she said. She was thinking about going to bed herself, when she smelled smoke and then saw flames through the utility room that lead to the garage. See immediately sprang into motion getting her family to safety. It is really funny what you do when your house is on fire. I grabbed the granddaughters book bags out of the house. Then I saw my daughter holding two of the cats, so took the cat carriers out as well. She said a rescue attempt to save a third cat failed. We had neighbors come and open their cars so my granddaughters could stay warm, and someone took the cats so they could stay warm as well. Its little things like this that you are really thankful for. Fire departments from several towns were unable to save the house. Debra said that the state fire marshal was still unsure what started the fire. We lost everything, Debra said, adding that they had lived in the house for 25 years. Three vehicles were also destroyed. We have been walking through the remains and its been interesting what we find. Its like I forgot about some of the things we have found. They spent the next night with a friend, then moved to Mahoney State Park. Then I received a call from a friend in Elmwood that they had just moved out of a house and invited us to move in there until we rebuilt. She said it would work out perfect for them as the couple owns the convenience store in Elmwood and their two granddaughters attend Elmwood-Murdock Elementary School. But we plan to rebuild in Alvo as that is our home, she said. Alvo has been wonderful to us. We have had offers of clothing and are receiving calls from people who want to donate furniture to us. And Elmwood has been the same way. She said a fund has been set up for them at American Exchange Bank in Elmwood and that the Elmwood community was planning a fundraiser for them in April. A pancake feed will be held at the Elmwood Community Center on Saturday, April 9 from 7 a.m. to 12 noon with all proceeds going to the McNaught family. Debra said that they have even heard from people in other communities, including Ashland. I grew up in Ashland, so we received a call offering help from them. And my daughter attends a church in Millard and they have offered us help. The outpouring of love is just overwhelming, she said. She added that the veterinarian in Ashland had even offered to board their two cats free until they get settled. But we want them with us, so they are in the office at the store, she said. Debra said that they were very grateful for all the help they have received. Receiving these acts of kindness has been amazing, she said. ASHLAND On Saturday April 2, the Ashland Rotary Club will be holding a Final Four Food Drive to benefit the Ashland VFW Food Pantry. Around 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., members of Ashland Rotary will be at No Frills Supermarket in Ashland collecting non-perishable food and household items for the Food Pantry. The food pantry is not able to take perishable items like fruit, meat and milk; but any canned soups, stews, fruits or vegetables; rice, pastas, cereals, hot cereal mixes, etc. are all accepted. Cash donations for the Food Pantry are also appreciated so that perishable items can be purchased for those in need. The 45 Rotary Clubs in District 5650 (eastern Nebraska and western Iowa) participate in similar food drives to benefit their local food pantries. Rotary is an international organization of people who work to enhance the quality of life in their local community as well as internationally. The Ashland Rotary Club includes business and professional leaders who live or work in Ashland and the surrounding area. Founded in 1935, and chartered through Rotary International, it is one of oldest service organizations in our community. To find out more about the Ashland Rotary Club, contact treasurer Dave Lutton at 402-944-3383. Meetings are each Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., in the upstairs meeting room at Cheri Os, 1404 Silver St. in downtown Ashland. To contact the Ashland VFW Food Pantry contact Marie Lutz at 402-944-3489. Dabbing herself in black paint and wearing a strikingly contrasting white attire, artist P. S. Jaya doesnt have any qualms walking around in public. Many eyes follow her; some even start a conversation with her. Interestingly enough, that is exactly what she wants. Some think she is unhinged while others pity her for a particular medical condition. Either way, the curious minds get to her and the interactions that follow make her day. For Jaya this step is part of a 100-day experiment, started on January 26, post the suicide of Hyderabad University research scholar Rohit Vemula. The entire nation was shaken by the incident. Jaya strongly felt the necessity to react. Being an artist, I am making myself a medium to convey my thoughts. Rohiths suicide was an open evidence of how the Dalits continue to face danger in society. History is getting repeated for those who are in the lower caste strata. The whole issue of untouchability is seeing new dimensions and people are getting discriminated against their caste, colour and creed, says Jaya. A post-graduate in fine arts, Jaya teaches at a private art institution in Kochi, where she also attends dance classes. This gives her a space to interact with the young-gen who are amused at her dark-shaded appearance. Some students are disturbed by my darker look. But it gives me space to deconstruct the notion of fairness. The whole discourse should start with students who can transform society for a better future. One form of protest is a catalyst. There is a chain reaction that follows a protest. We are inspired by former protests and I hope someone else gets inspired by it. I believe everyone should mark their awareness one way or the other and it should come as a responsibility, says Jaya. She is also a part of an artists group known as the Kalakakshi that actively react to social issues. Through art into public, Jaya, along with her fellow artists, is reaching out to people with their respective tools of art. Our group compiles a reaction against the existing discrimination and fascism in society. Whatever problems society faces, we use art as an expression to spread awareness on it. There is constant research and study that comes along with it, explains Jaya. On Womens Day too, she went to the public wearing LED lights as part of a project. Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that women cannot go out after a certain time, it was made by society. I was fighting this, making women realise their rights. Even though her mother was initially indifferent to her act, she gets a lot of support from her sister, artist P.S. Jalaja, and her artist partner. It takes her more than an hour to apply the natural kajal to her skin. By making myself a subject, I am trying to understand different reactions. Talking with people from different walks opens different kinds of platforms for your protest. For instance, I was recently invited to conduct a protest outside the Hyderabad Central University premises. Jaya is also documenting her entire experiment through photographs, videos and a calendar to be released on the 100th day. Often, we find calendars with visually appealing images of fair-skinned models or beautiful nature. But if you look at the timeline of historical struggles, the achievements of the Dalit community is not marked. We only know of Ambedkar day or Ayyankali. The calendar I design will have the images from the days of my protest. ASHLAND Although it was April Fools Day, it was no joke when the police chief drew his gun on a quartet of suspicious men who had stopped at residence outside of Ashland. Aaron T. Swartz, Dustin S. Reiss, Jimmy L. Lewis and Theodore A. Lewis were arrested April 1 after a short chase southeast of Ashland. Ashland Police Chief Joe Baudler said law enforcement was first alerted to the four men when a concerned citizen called to report the quartet they felt were suspicious had been trying to solicit to a business outside of Ashland. Baudler said the men had gone to Mechanics, Inc. on Highway 6 to sell asphalt, but the owner was not interested. The incident alerted this citizen, who followed the men as they drove away from the business. The suspects pulled into the driveway at a farm southeast of Ashland on Highway 66. Shortly thereafter, Baudler arrived at the farm in plain clothes and in an unmarked vehicle. The suspects refused the police chiefs commands, and because Baudler was concerned they were carrying weapons, he drew his gun on the men. They fled in their vehicle and headed on Highway 66 towards Interstate 80. Ashland Police Officer Travis Herbolsheimer, Saunders County Sheriffs deputies Tim Hannan and Tom Janecek and deputies from the Cass County Sheriffs Office arrived in the area and helped detain the suspects after a short pursuit of a few miles, Baudler said. During a search of the vehicle, methamphetamine, pills and drug paraphernalia were recovered. The suspects were arrested for felony possession of meth and several misdemeanor offenses. Swartz, of North Platte, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance, carrying a concealed weapon and obstruction police. He was the driver of the vehicle, which had Idaho license plates and belonged to a relative of Swartz, Baudler said. The three passengers were also arrested. Theodore Lewis of North Platte was arrested on the same charges as Swartz. Jimmy Lewis, of North Platte, and Reiss, from Red Cloud, were each charged with possession of a controlled substance. Baudler said Reiss was recently stopped by local law enforcement for an unrelated incident, which could mean he has been living in the area. Brian Syskal, director of corrections for the Saunders County Sheriffs Department, said the four suspects remain at the Law Enforcement and Judicial Center in Wahoo. No bond had been set as of Monday afternoon. They are scheduled to appear in court on April 7. Baudler applauded the concerned citizen for his alert actions, which helped bring in the suspects and prevent other possible criminal activity in the area. The APD is always grateful for the publics help when they have concerns and/or suspicions that something is wrong and welcome the heads up to the suspicious activity that is underway, he said. WAHOO The purpose of a series of discussions last week in Wahoo was to get input on the community. That was exactly the result. JEO Consulting Group Planner Kevin Anderson said the focus groups and evening open house that took place March 30 gathered a lot of community input. We were thrilled with the focus groups, he said. Good participation from a wide representation of the community yielded good information for JEO and the Citizens Advisory Committee that continue to construct Wahoos Comprehensive plan update. According to the Nebraska Planning Handbook, a comprehensive plan is a long-range plan that focuses primarily on the factors and function that affect the physical growth and development of a community. It is a living document that changes as the community changes. JEO has been hired by the city to help guide the update of the existing comprehensive plan. Anderson said the information gleaned from community members last week will help in the process. City Administrator Melissa Harrell said about 25 people accepted the invitations to attend one of three focus groups held during the day. The specific topics for the groups were housing, business/economy and parks and recreation. In the evening, more than 30 people attended the open house at the library. Displays on various topics and aspects of the city were set up to generate discussion. Anderson said public input is vital to the update process. It is necessary, he said to help pin down the priorities. It was clear from last weeks discussion, Anderson added, that adequate housing is a top concern for many people. Housing issues raised to the top. Its a top priority for many people, he said. There were no real surprises when it came to economic development. Anderson said the need to keep Wahoo viable was key to the discussion. Development of the Chestnut Street corridor was also central to the discussions, the planner added. The public input about Wahoos parks and recreation didnt reveal any surprises either. Anderson said comments from the focus group as well as the public forum was only a re-affirmation of what he had already heard from other sources. People are really happy with the current state of the park service, he said. He said her heard time and time again, the only piece that is missing in the overall recreation system are more trails. One of the displays set up last Wednesday was the map with Wahoos master trail plan. Anderson also explained which components of that master plan were currently in the works. Other stations set up for the town hall session dealt with land use and utilities. The focus groups and town hall were just one step in the update process that will culminate with a new comprehensive plan later this year. We have quite a lot of work left to do, Harrell said. It will be up to the Citizens Advisory Committee, a group of Wahoo residents appointed by Wahoo Mayor Loren Lindahl, to assess all of the information and present their recommended new plan to the Wahoo Planning Commission and Wahoo City Council. The update process will continue to gather community input. Wahoo is utilizing mySidewalk for this update process. Anderson said it is a fairly new internet site, but it is one they have used in other comprehensive plan processes, and it has worked well. Not everyone can attend public meetings. But mySidewalk extends a easy use platform for public interaction. It allows us to reach out to the public on their own time and from the comfort of their homes, Anderson said. The web address is www.EnvisionWahoo.mysidewalk.com. The link to the site is also available on the City of Wahoos Facebook page. The public can answer questions, offer comments and view information about the community. Information such as demographics, housing tenure, age/gender distribution, community trends and household income is under review for the comprehensive plan update. Harrell pointed out that new questions and information relating to Wahoo will be regularly posted to this website. So just because you have gone there once, doesnt mean you shouldnt revisit the site, she said. Anderson agreed. One of the main things is (the public) continues to give input and stays energized, he said. EAGLE The Eagle Community Building may be soon approaching the end of the line. Its doors have been shuttered, and the village has kept it off limits to residents for the better part of a month, since discovering mold in the structure that could be potentially hazardous for any curious villagers trying to sneak a peek inside. The village has had outside experts enter and inspect the building. They discovered high levels of mold, prompting officials to close the location until a solution can be agreed upon. Its not been condemned as of yet, but the village is attempting to decide what step it should take next. There have been discussions to eradicate the mold and restore the building, but some leaders worry that endeavor could become a money pit, with payments snowballing into exorbitant sums. How much more money do we want to put into this building thats over 100 years old, asked Board of Trustees Chairperson Travis Moore at the March 21 meeting. Moore has some ideas of his own, mostly involving the construction of a new building utilizing prefabricated pieces to make the process move quickly and smoothly. That would leave the fate of the existing building, a piece of Eagle history, up in the air. It could be outright demolished or sold at a fraction of its worth to an interested party. Those ideas at this moment are just that, ideas. As was the one floated by the fire department at last weeks meeting. Assistant Fire Chief Ben Glantz questioned whether the board would be interested in teaming up with the department to create a joint community building and fire hall outside of town. Referencing recent projects by the Valparaiso department and other nearby volunteers to establish similar structures in their communities. The project would help the city greatly, Glantz said. If we could work together on something like this, it would be awesome. In addition to housing both the department and the community hall, Glantz suggested the proposed building could also be the new home for the highway and maintenance shops, as well as the clerks office. Initially Moore was reluctant about the proposition, arguing that the village would like to spend as little time as possible to open a new community building. Planning a project as large in scope as a joint building would take too much time. Theres kind of an urgency, Moore said, adding that the village had already delayed handling the mold concerns. Unfortunately, weve sat on our hands. Glantz offered another perspective. We have an opportunity in front of us not to sit on our hands, he said. We have an opportunity to take action. Glantz estimated his proposal could take up to two years to complete, but could be used for the next 50 to 100 years. Funding for the joint building could be easier to gain access to with the inclusion of the fire department, opening the project to grants made available to rescue departments. Trustee Perry Gillaspie endorsed the proposed project. I absolutely love the idea, he said. No official action was taken on any proposal, but the department and village agreed to create a subcommittee to look into the projects potential. The board also heard a presentation from an insurance agent offering to help the village establish a pension plan for its employees. No plan was adopted, but the most likely option would allow the village to match up to 3 percent of employees paychecks at a cost of roughly $3,500 to to the village. The village would be required to notify employees annually regarding the amount of funds it would match. The village will meet with employees to discuss all options before making a final decision, Moore said. WAVERLY A host of Waverly residents will take the stage in Lincoln next month, sharing their most memorable stories and lessons they learned from their mothers, as well as their own motherhood experiences. Listen To Your Mother is a relatively new speaking series created by founder and National Director Ann Imig in 2010. The event is now in 41 cities across North America that will be hosting similar events on or around Mother's Day 2016. Lincolns event is scheduled for April 29 at the Rococo Theatre and will feature four speakers from the Waverly area, including the events local organizer, Judy Daniell. A few months ago, I had this crazy idea to bring Listen To Your Mother to Lincoln, Daniell wrote in a cast announcement earlier this month. I sent in an application telling about how great our community is, how strong our stories are and how I think I could pull a show like this together. Daniells writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications, including the Omaha World-Herald and The Best Advice for New Moms, along with numerous local and national websites. Daniell hosted auditions and urged a number of area residents to take a shot, including Jina Leavitt, Jen Wilke and Hunter Radenslaben. Those three all made the cut and will speak at the event along with Daniell. Gracing a public stage in Lincoln wont be a new experience for Radenslaben, a Waverly High School junior who spoke at Lincolns TEDx event last fall. He originally reached out to Daniell on a lark, thinking the auditions were open to mothers. He was wrong, and Daniell asked him immediately to audition for real. I decided to go through with it, he said. Now hes preparing to speak in April, and hes not quite as nervous as he was at the TEDx event. He spoke before an audience of 600 people then, so hes at least acquainted with the anxiety that comes before a performance. I was so nervous I didnt sleep the night before, he said. After taking the stage and starting to speak, however, all those nerves soon faded away. The more he saw the audience engage, the more comfortable he became. People dont want me to fail, he said. Theyre not monsters, theyre people who want to hear my message. After he saw how much people were listening to his words, he discovered public speaking was something he would like to continue doing. It was an amazing experience to be up there, he said. Thats a feeling I want to keep having. Radenslaben shortly talked about his mother during the TEDx speech, but LTYM will allow him to expand on the topic. The subject is one thats had a lot of influence in his life. Radenslaben lost his mother, Taina, in 2013. She had been diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma at an early age, and had successfully warded of the disease. She fought through a breast cancer diagnosis in 2008 and thyroid cancer in 2010, but the resurgence of breast cancer in 2013 brought along a terminal diagnosis. During the time he had with her, Radenslaben learned a lot from his mother. My message is that in the short time that I had with my mom, the legacy and the impact that she had on me it impacts me every day, he said. I think of her every single day. Radenslaben remembered how selfless and caring she was and hopes to be able to share that piece of his mother with anyone willing to listen. She always put other people before herself, he said. She always strived to help people. Radenslaben hopes listeners will leave understanding just how strong a mothers impact can be, even when their time with their children may be cut short. Never take a mother for granted, he said. I just think that a mom is there from the very beginning, he said. Theyre the one person you can always turn to no matter the situation. you can always turn to a mom. Talking about his mother doesnt bother Radenslaben. I love sharing about who my mom was and her impact on me, he said. I like the idea of keeping her legacy alive. And Radenslaben isnt as nervous about speaking this time around. Hes more concerned with getting the speech as perfect as can be. He admits hes a little bit of a perfectionist. Im not nervous about going on stage, he said. But Im making sure Im prepared. Listen To Your Mother is a one evening, live staged-reading event Friday, April 29 at 8:00 p.m. at the Rococo Theatre. Tickets are $20, and can be purchased by visiting rococotheatre.com or by contacting the Rococo Theatre. From the hilarious, celebrated cartoonist Gary Northfield author of The Terrible Tales of the Teenytinysaurs! comes a brand-new illustrated chapter book series set in Roman times! From a smelly watering hole deep in the heart of the Serengeti to the ferocious clamour of the Colosseum, join Julius Zebra and his motley menagerie of friends as they gear up to be ... gladiators ! Only if they win the love of the Roman crowds will they win back their freedom. But do Julius and his pals have what it takes to succeed in a world where only the meanest and toughest survive? Madagascar meets Gladiator in this exciting, action-packed and hysterically funny story brimming with entertaining Roman facts. Reviews 'Bonkers but brilliant' angels & urchins '[A] pleasingly daft romp. . . the book has a very Horrible Histories sense of humour and grounds its silliness with facts about gladiatorial combat.' Financial Times 'It's perfect for 6 to 8 year olds, and especially for those fascinated by the Romans as there are plenty of snippets of history to be picked up while enjoying the story.' Parents in Touch 'My favourite character is the warthog because he is always citing uninteresting facts, even at the very worst of times. I found this both funny and annoying and he reminded me of my brother.' Guardian Children's Book Site 'Madagascar meets Gladiator in this exciting, action-packed and hysterically funny story brimming with entertaining Roman facts.' World Book Day ' has a laugh out loud cartoon on nearly every page.' The Herald 'The comically classical way to learn about the Romans!' Lancashire Evening Post 'Brilliant!' Families South East London 'I thought that this book was thought up from one inventive brain, willing to make a mind-blowing book and they achieved just that.' The Guardian Online 'Completely ridiculous plot line and zany characters are highly entertaining and somehow manage to combine daft antics with historical facts. Great!' WRD 'As well as providing much hilarity Julius Zebra cunningly educates about Ancient Rome without ever feeling like a lesson [] A wonderfully ridiculous book; full of fun it will educate and entertain in equal measures. Highly recommended.' The School Librarian 'Sometimes a book comes along that is pure joy, and this is one of them.' Literary Review 'This quirky, humorous book is part graphic novel, which makes it ideal for reluctant readers.' Washington Independent Review of Books You're Amazing, Anna Hibiscus! By Atinuke The eighth and final title in this brilliant series about Anna Hibiscus, who lives in Africa with her large extended family, by an internationally renowned Nigerian storyteller. In the eighth title of the series about the universally loved Anna Hibiscus, written by internationally renowned Nigerian storyteller Atinuke, Anna Hibiscus is worried: her twin brothers, Double and Trouble, have boundless energy. They won't stop climbing and they can't keep out of trouble! Meanwhile Grandfather is tired and cant stay awake. In the final book of this wonderfully charming illustrated series, Anna Hibiscus proves just how amazing she is. Categories: Fiction For readers aged: 6+ Publication details: Format: Paperback ISBN: 9781406349139 Published: 07 Apr 2016 Price: 5.99 At the physical kiosks at stores and malls across the US, customers can exchange items purchased online for a full refund. Shopping online is always a gamble. What looks amazing in a perfectly-lit photo on the Internet rarely looks as good once youve taken it out of the box. Also, returning goods purchased online isnt always simple or cheap and some consumers may feel dissuaded from e-shopping all together. Now, one new start-up is looking to change that by combining the best of both retail worlds. As reported by Re/Code, Happy Returns aims to open physical kiosks at stores and malls across the country at which customers can exchange items purchased online for a full refund. By making it easier for shoppers to return their purchases, the start-up believes they will encourage more people to shop online. The plan is to make their profits by charging retail sites a fee for each item thats returned. This could end up saving everyone money in the long run, as shipping multiple returns at once would be cheaper than having each customer mail back the item individually. Happy Returns is the brainchild of founders David Sobie and Mark Geller, who have already raised $1.9 million in seed funding for the company. They had both worked for Nordstrom in the past, and their time there served as an inspiration for their latest business venture. When Nordstrom acquired the flash-sale site HauteLook in 2011, they gave online shoppers the choice to return sales at one of the chains physical discount locations. According to Sobie and Geller, providing the customer with this extra option led to a boost in HauteLooks sales. In addition to being good for e-commerce sites, Happy Returns could also have a positive impact on brick-and-mortar stores. The company believes their kiosks would eventually generate enough foot traffic in shopping malls to justify charging them to use their spaces and not the other way around. As of now, Happy Returns is still far way from being able to set up shop rent-free. Theyll soon be launching a test run at the Santa Monica Place shopping mall, California, where shoppers can return items to a real-life human being. Source: www.mentalfloss.com She called out to those on the terrace, recognising a few of the students staying in the school complex. Chennai: The headmistress of a government-aided middle school, who had moved for a transfer fearing for her life, was reportedly assaulted by the school management, on Monday. Sources said Sridevipriya, headmistress of R.J.R Middle School in Korukkupet, was leading the assembly on Monday when the gathering was disrupted following the splashing of water from the terrace on the students. She called out to those on the terrace, recognising a few of the students staying in the school complex. She suggested to them not to disturb the assembly, which then resumed shortly only to be disrupted as the splashing of water recurred. This time, Pushparaj, former secretary and present president of the School Committee, appeared at the parapet and showered abuses on Sridevipriya from there. The headmistress sent the students off to their classrooms and got on with her class for VIII standard students in a first floor classroom. A little later, the duo Pushparaj and his wife Jayanthi, who is the secretary of the school barged into the classroom and allegedly abused the HM besides thrashing her in full view of her students in the classroom. An injured Sridevipriya was treated at Government Stanley Hospital later. Based on her complaint, the Korukkupet police issued a community service register receipt against Jayanthi and Pushparaj. In 2013, Sridevipriya had lodged a complaint with the Korukkupet police against Puspharaj for sexually harassing her. Subsequently, he was arrested and remanded in judicial custody for 15 days. Apart from this, Pushparaj faced another sexual harassment charge filed by another teacher of the school. The management reportedly continued to victimise her by locking the toilet and not providing her seats in the classrooms. The number of students on the rolls dropped to 240 from 500. We have already moved the Madras High Court seeking to direct the authorities to dispose her transfer request citing the hostile working atmosphere at the school. Pushparaj was ousted from the secretarys post following serious allegations against him, Sridevipriya's husband Somasundaram told DC. Morneau Shepell Inc. provides technology based human resources consulting services in Canada, the United States, and internationally. It provides health and productivity, administrative, and retirement solutions to assist employers in managing the financial security, health, and productivity of their employees. The company offers health and productivity services, including absence and disability management, Internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, safety groups, influencecare, and workers' compensation services; and administrative solutions, such as defined benefit and contribution pension administration, employee self-service, health and benefits administration, and human resources contact centers, as well as pension and benefits software. It also provides modern employee assistance, wellness, news feed and recognition, perks and savings, workplace learning, total health index assessment, workplace mental health, children's support, traumatic event support, workplace support programs, domestic and international student support, and HR support solutions. In addition, the company offers retirement solutions comprising actuarial; compensation consulting; defined contribution consulting; international pension regulatory; investment consulting; governance, legal, and compliance; pension sustainability and design; pension regulatory; pooled registered pension plans and voluntary retirement savings plans; and retirement planning and total plan solutions. Further, it provides asset and risk management, and communication and change management solutions. The company was formerly known as Morneau Sobeco Income Fund and changed its name to Morneau Shepell Inc. in January 2011. Morneau Shepell Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. The 24th of July is a special day for Samaritans. 24/7 is a day we use each year to highlight that we are available... The victim restrained herself from retaliating during the two-hour ride from home to office, as she was afraid that he might take a detour or attempt to physically harm her. (Representational image) Bengaluru: A 24-year old techie was allegedly sexually assaulted on her way to work by office cab driver. The woman, an investigation specialist for the Amazon Development Centre in India, said that the driver made obscene remarks and openly voiced his desire to have sexual relations with her. The victim restrained herself from retaliating during the two-hour ride from home to office, as she was afraid that he might take a detour or attempt to physically harm her. As soon as she reached the office, she immediately filed a complaint with the transportation department of the company, who proceeded to sack him and asked her to lodge a complaint at the police station. The victim boarded the cab at around 12:30 pm last Wednesday. The driver Santhosh Somegowda, who was driving her for the first time, began to make conversation with her. He initially asked general questions about her background and work, but then the conversation began to get sleazy. His following questions delved into personal areas of my life, such as Do I love anyone, Do I have boys or girls as friends, etc. I showed my disinterest by not responding and engaging myself with phone, the victim recalled. While she was hoping he would take the hint that she wasnt interested, his questions got bolder. When they were a few kilometers away from office, he asked her, Madam, what would you do if a man forced himself sexually on you, under the influence of alcohol? Would you heed to his request? Please do not speak with the transport team about what I say. Although shocked, the victim kept her cool and told him that she always carries a pepper spray. Instead of getting intimidated, Santosh went on to ask her to engage in sexual activities with him, adding that he would gladly use protection. The driver continued to say he was not looking to get married, but his intent was plainly to have some fun with me. He also suggested that we become friends and said I should call him home when I am alone. I was in a state of shock and felt awfully helpless as I was the only passenger, and the road we were on was entirely deserted. Since I feared the driver would stop the car or take a detour if I raised an alarm, I immediately got on a call to convey that I was busy, but he continued talking till I reached office. Just as I was getting down, the driver asked me to say I love you to him, but I ignored him and ran into the building, she said. After lodging the complaint, the victim said that Santosh has not tired to contact her. Police confirmed the cabbie's arrest and said, The driver verbally harassed the victim on way to office. The victim has also confirmed the harassment was not physical in nature. He has been booked for sexual harassment and intentional insult to outrage a woman's modesty. CHANGES to the junction between New Street and Barrack Street have backfired, becoming yet another source of traffic chaos in the heart of the... Seven jobs at a Waterford charity look set to be lost after it was announced that it is to be wound down. The U-Casadh... WATERFORD is the most sunny city in Ireland and the county is second in the sunshine league, being pipped to first place by our... IF you are one of those parents who bought your child a bicycle for the new year but are struggling to find somewhere to... AN Animal Welfare Inspector with the ISPCA has described how defenceless dogs that were saved from an illegal puppy farm in Waterford have been... Christmas is such an important time for family reunions, but there are many of us for whom Christmas is also a time when those... Hooker is an unrestricted free agent, meaning Essendon would be unable to match any bid placed for him when the free agency period starts in October, should he choose to leave. The Hawks have joined Fremantle in pursuing the All-Australian, one of the 12 Bombers to be sitting out this season. Hawthorn is targeting suspended Essendon defender Cale Hooker, a free agent at the end of this season. The 27-year-old has a long-term offer from the Dockers to consider, as he contemplates whether to return to Essendon or start over elsewhere. Hooker last signed with the Bombers at the end of 2013, and is not one of the club's top 25 earners. Hawthorn made a bold play for another Essendon backman, Jake Carlisle, during last year's trade period. The Hawks moved in as initial talks between St Kilda and Essendon stalled, proposing a deal that would have seen the Bombers receive two first-round draft picks for Carlisle. Carlisle, who was also suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was eventually traded to the Saints as part of a deal involving Sydney's first-round pick. A decision by Hooker to leave Essendon for a large contract would see the Bombers granted a first-round pick as compensation for the 2015 best and fairest winner they want to keep. Guwahati: Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, said here on Wednesday that ruling Congress party has been giving shelter to illegal migrants in Assam for vote bank politics and the issue can only be solved with coordination of state and Centre governments. Talking to reporters, Gadkari said that the NDA government is committed to solve the burning issue of influx in Assam and since it assumed power at the Centre has detected and sent a list of 60,000 illegal migrants staying in the state. But the Congress government has not taken any action on the issue. Raking up the vexed issue of cross border infiltration, Gadkari said that since the management of border and fencing comes in the concurrent list, it is the responsibility of both the state and the Centre to tackle the foreigners issue. Gadkari exuded confidence that BJP led alliance would come to power with absolute majority in Assam. The voter turnout in the first phase of polling has been very high and it proves that people need change. And BJP is the only alternative. Asserting that BJP led alliance would have better result than expected in Upper Assam, Gadkari pointed out the achievements of his government. The BJP has stepped up its campaign for the second phase with national leaders making a beeline in the state to address rallies. Counting on the achievements of the two-year-old NDA government, Gadkari said that his ministry has taken up various road contract projects in the north eastern states and promised that if voted to power BJP led alliance would accelerate the pace of development in Assam. They're the faces of the election campaign for the two major parties. And by the end of the (very likely, very long) 2016 election campaign, you'll probably want to block your ears, burn your newspaper or throw something at the television every time you see or hear from them. No, we aren't talking about Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten. While the party leaders will be front and centre - along with deputies Julie Bishop and Tanya Plibersek and Treasury spokesmen Scott Morrison and Chris Bowen - we are talking about the official campaign spokesman or woman. New Zealander Jono Matla had just pressed the shutter button when the night sky lit up. Starting as a ball of orange, a meteor was cutting its way through the sky over Waikanae, north of Wellington, turning a neon green as it went. Wellington man Jono Matla had no sooner pressed the shutter for the last photo in his six-shot panorama when the meteor burned across the sky. Credit:Jono Matla "I had literally just pressed the button to take [the photo] and I looked up and saw it," he said. It was Tuesday, about 9pm, and he was the only one on the beach. Software produced by a little-known Australian developer has helped journalists piece together news leads from the mountains of data found in the contents of the Panama Papers, one of the biggest document leaks in history. Sydney-based Nuix donated its document analysis programme to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to sift through the millions of leaked documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The Panama Papers include 2.6 terabytes of data including emails, images, PDFs and other documents and raise questions about the financial arrangements of high profile politicians and public figures through the use of offshore companies. MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan, Matt Preston and George Calombaris. "Anyone who has followed my career will know I'm passionate about food and I'm sure there will be people in the audience who will have a favourite question they've always wanted to ask about Masterchef or about cooking, generally." Mr Mehigan said that people often approached him with a range of questions, from how to poach the perfect egg to the complexities of molecular gastronomy. Mehigan says Masterchef has had an amazing impact culturally on Australia. "Whatever people want to ask fire away," he said. The Masterchef judge said he would be happy to give the audience a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the popular television show. "Most people don't know that we shoot the show with 11 cameras and the entire production staff must number well over 100," he said. "George, Matt and I are only small cogs in a big production." Mr Mehigan was born on Hayling Island on the UK south coast and was influenced by his artist mother, and grandfather who was a chef at hotels like the Ritz and the Savoy in the 1950s and 60s. "I always remember how different food tasted when my grandfather prepared our meals," he said. "I'd made up my mind in my early teens, food was where I wanted to go with my career." Mr Mehigan learned his craft at London's Connaught Hotel under Michel Bourdan and Le Souffle at the Hyde Park Intercontinental under Peter Kromberg. "They were hugely influential chefs in Britain with opposing styles and ideas; one classic French haute cuisine and the other modern, creative and progressive," he said. Mr Mehigan and his now-wife Mandy travelled to Australia in 1991 and stayed, later opening his own restaurants including the Maribyrnong Boathouse in 2007. By then he had appeared in a number of television shows including Good Morning Australia and Ready, Steady, Cook. Masterchef has been a "game-changer" for Mehigan and his judging colleagues and will begin its eighth season in May. "I've been incredibly privileged to be part of it and I love George and Matt to bits," he said of the trio, whose chemistry might be compared only to ex-Top Gear hosts Richard Hammond, James May and Jeremy Clarkson. "I think Masterchef's success involves a number of factors," he said. "There is an insatiable interest in food the food draws people in, but they are equally fascinated by the contestants and their dreams. "And the incredible guests we get on the show, like Heston Blumenthal and Nigella Lawson, it's mind-blowing." The Masterchef judge said the show had had an amazing impact culturally. "We've now got kids who have grown up with it and can now tell their parents about produce, where to source it and how to cook it," he said. "We've got a 19-year-old in the next series who has been watching the show since she was 11." As for general restaurant trends, Mr Mehigan said he was noting a revival of complex techniques among young chefs. "This is where they can experiment, where they can layer taste with different cooking methods and new ingredients in the same dish to create 'wow' factor," he said. "There's mastery and showmanship in these types of dishes." And that, for him, was one of the reasons people love dining out. "We're incredibly lucky with our multicultural environment you can be eating Chinese one day, Italian the next, Vietnamese the following and so on," Mr Mehigan said. "Our embrace of cuisine from different cultures has been part of the reason behind the explosion in food culture over the last 20 years or so and the new generation is creating new dishes that are really exciting." Mehigan said the other huge influence had been social media. From Dan Balz at the Washington Post: The Republican race is about to become granular. The coming battles will be waged in targeted congressional districts where Trump shows weakness regardless of his statewide appeal, in hand-to-hand competition at state party conventions where the delegates are being selected, and ultimately in a battle for the hearts and minds of the men and women who will go to Cleveland, bound or unbound on the first ballot but free agents after that. Until now, the nomination fight has been portrayed, rightly, as a series of state-by-state contests, where victories beget momentum and bragging rights. In this competition, Trump has won more than anyone else - the most votes overall and the most delegates. From here on, delegate accumulation matters above all. For Trump and Cruz, winning states certainly remains important. But every delegate denied to Trump will be considered a small but important victory by the anti-Trump forces. Srinagar: A two-member team of HRD ministry arrived at National Institute of Technology in Srinagar, which witnessed clashes between protesting outstation students and police on Tuesday evening, leaving many students injured. The HRD team comprising S.K. Sharma, Director NITs and Fazal Mehmood, Deputy Director Finance, along with NIT authorities are holding a meeting with the protesting students to resolve the issue. Sources said that the authorities have accepted demands of outstation students that the examinations be postponed and they should be provided adequate security. Read: J&K NIT students beaten up for trying to leave campus, Centre sends team The students also demanded that the local faculty and administration staff at the NIT be replaced by outstation people, a tricolour should be hoisted atop the collage building and a temple must be constructed at the campus. Besides the J&K police, two companies of the CRPF have been deployed at the campus and situation is tense. Although classes were held on Wednesday, majority of outstation students boycotted lectures in protest and reiterated that they feel insecure. On April 1, the campus witnessed clashes between local and outstation students in highly emotional and surcharged atmosphere set off by previous days win by West Indies over India in ICC Twenty20 semi-final. Read: Unrest at NIT Srinagar; outstation students protest, lathicharged The celebrations by local students led to clashes. While local students had alleged that some of their mates were thrashed by outstation students who also damaged the college infrastructure and even misbehaved with faculty members, the latter said that it were the local students who targeted them when they objected to celebrations over Indias defeat. A local courier boy was gravely injured in the clashes. The police and CRPF, who were brought in by the authorities, had to resort to tear gas canisters to quell the protests by local students seeking action against the outstation students. On Tuesday, outstation students attempted to leave the campus expressing a sense of insecurity, leading to a confrontation with police, which resorted to lathicharge. Read: NIT Srinagar shuts down after clashes over India's defeat With the situation being tense, CRPF was deployed at the campus and Jammu and Kashmir government assured full security to the students from other states studying here. Some non-local students attempted to leave the campus and return to their home states, saying, they were not feeling safe inside the campus, a police official said. Police personnel on duty at the NIT tried to reassure the students that they were safe inside the campus but they were not pacified, he said. As the head of the security deployment was speaking to them, a few of the students allegedly resorted to sloganeering and even pushed him around, the official claimed. He said the other police personnel then resorted to lathicharge to disperse the students who were getting violent. The situation, however, was brought under control shortly, the official said. Outstation students, on the other hand, alleged that they were holding protests and were lathicharged by the police with brute forces and not allowed to move out of the NIT gate. "We sat on dharna and were demanding meeting with HRD officials. We held meeting with NIT administration and they agreed to the demand. We were allowed freely to move out the gate," said one of the students on condition of the anonymity. "When we were going out of the campus as per the past practice, police did not allow us and resorted to cane-charge resulting in injuries to several students," he claimed. Patrick Norman Pat Chapman is a 34-year-old, Caucasian male who was last known to be in Piedmont which is near the area of Greenville, Missouri on May 10, 2020. Pat had stayed the night with a friend and his wife at their home. In the early morning when the friend woke to go to work. Pat was gone in his own Burgundy color 1995 Ford Escort. That is the last anyone was known to have seen him. The vehicle was later recovered on May 29, 2020 in Mill Spring, Missouri. Hyderabad: The clamour for the removal of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile grew louder on Wednesday with fresh protests rocking the university, leading to preventive detention of scores of students. The students attempted to enter the campus by scaling the main gates of the varsity, and tried to break past the barricade and heavy security to reach Podile's office. The Joint Action Committee earlier had appealed to all students, political organisations, and people to come to HCU, register their protest and express solidarity against the alleged injustice to deceased Dalit student Rohith Vemula and to the university. Since the university administration has imposed a blockade on the campus preventing students to contact anyone from outside, 'Chalo HCU' call is also against the imposed blockade on the university, JAC had said. On March 23, the varsity authorities had decided not to allow any outsider, including mediapersons and politicians, on the campus. Read:Hyderabad University may appoint ombudsman, anti-discrimination officer The students raised slogans against the Vice chancellor and Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani, and also demanded to know how Appa Rao, who has been booked on charges of abetting suicide, could chair the 76th Academic Council meeting. The vice chancellor also found himself in fresh controversy on Tuesday over alleged plagiarism of three study papers. The protests took place as the 76th academic council meeting was underway, which was deliberating the appointment of an equal opportunity cell among other things such as appointment of an ombudsman and anti-discrimination officer. Read: Students vandalise official residence after HCU VC Appa Rao resumes work The meeting comes on the heels of the high ranking the University achieved in the list announced by the government. Meanwhile, the university authorities termed as rumours the reports in a section of media that there was a bandh in the varsity today. "This is false information. The reports from various schools and departments confirm that the classes are functioning smoothly and it is also clarified that administration is also functioning normally," a statement from HCU said. In another development, Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna, expressing solidarity with the protesting students against Rao's removal, resigned from the post and walked out of the Academic Council Meeting going on in the Varsity. The varsity was hit by protests over the suicide of Rohith Vemula earlier this year, and recent agitation against resumption of duty by Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile. Shimla: Himachal Assembly Speaker B B L Butail was on Wednesday visibly distressed and overcome with emotion as he expressed anguish over frequent disruption of the House and was later hospitalised. As soon as the House assembled, the Speaker expressed unhappiness over frequent disruption of the House by opposition seeking discussion over developments in the money laundering and disproportionate assets cases registered against Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh by the ED and CBI and appealed to the members to let the House run smoothly. In a voice choked with emotion, he said that an all party meeting was held last evening in this regard and appealed to the BJP members to help in maintaining a cordial atmosphere. Looking at his condition, Health and Family Minister Kaul Singh Thakur asked him to take rest and said that Deputy Speaker Jagat Singh Negi would conduct the House. BJP member Gulab Singh, whose question was listed at the top, told the speaker that he was aware of his agony and pain but certain developments had taken place which must be raised in the house. The Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition P K Dhumal also went to his chamber and tried to comfort the visibly upset Speaker. The chief minister requested him to go to the hospital. Seventy-five year old Butail was taken to IGMC Hospital and admitted to Cardiac Care Unit (CCU). "Butail's condition has improved and besides routine tests, eco test and CT scan has also been conducted and everything is normal", Dr Romesh Chand, Medical Superintendent of IGMC said, adding that he has been admitted to CCU and is under observation. The opposition BJP, which had been disrupting the question hour for past six days since the House reassembled after nine days recess, participated in the question hour today with Deputy Speaker Negi in chair. BBC News has reported that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has banned alcohol in the State of Bihar. The world knows how well prohibition went the United States from 1920 - 1933. Of course Bootlegging proliferated and the ban on alcohol was bad for the economy and government revenue declined. Not to mention an increase in crime. Read more about the Bihar State ban here This article provides some insight on how banning of alcohol has gone in other Indian states. This all reminds me of Professor Bruce Yandles brilliant work, Bootleggers and Baptists. Find out more here Oomen Chandy had locked horns with KPCC President V M Sudheeran, over the candidature of ministers K Babu and Adoor Prakash, who had faced corruption charges. (Photo: PTI) Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday refuted reports that he had brought pressure on Congress high command in the selection process of party candidates for the May 16 assembly elections and said as a "loyal" partyman he never disobeyed the wishes of central leadership. "As a loyal Congressman, I have never disobeyed or went against the wishes of Central leadership. I am also confident that the high command would only take decision in the larger interests of the party and the people of the state," he said. Chandy had locked horns with KPCC President V M Sudheeran, over the candidature of ministers K Babu and Adoor Prakash, who had faced corruption charges, besides NORKA Minister K C Joseph and two MLAs, Dominic Presentation and Benny Behanan with the state party chief opposing tickets to them. Only Behanan was kept out of the list announced late Monday evening and it was interpreted that the high command fielded the tainted leaders because of Chandy's pressure tactics. The Chief Minister said he was saddened by such "wrong propaganda" and asserted that no Congress worker can challenge the authority of the party high command. "There is a propaganda that we had challenged the authority of Congress high command while determining party candidates. There are reports that the high command had to succumb to our pressure tactics. That is completely wrong," Chandy said. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala also endorsed Chandy's statement saying, "We have never disobeyed party high command". Chandy said party high command's decisions cannot be disobeyed. "We will never do so. We are pained by such reports." He said the high command cleared the list of 83 Congress candidates after listening to everyone in the leadership of state Congress. "We are completely satisfied with the list. Some say that the list is delayed and it has affected the poll campaign. That is also wrong. It is only April 6 and we have enough time for us to reach out to the people," he said. Chennithala dismissed as "baseless" the reports that the high command had succumbed to the pressure from party leaders from Kerala while preparing list of Congress candidates. "There is absolutely no issues with the high command. Nobody has got the authority to challenge the high command. We discussed the issues, various views were expressed. High command listened to it and took a final decision. We all are satisfied with the decision taken by the high command," Chennithala said. Sudheeran had reportedly insisted that those who faced corruption allegations and had contested more than four times should make way for fresh faces. However, this was not acceptable to Chandy. Admitting that there were issues with Sudheeran, Chandy said all such things are common in a democratic party like Congress. "Nothing serious in it. All such issues are resolved and we are now ready for the election battle," he said. Chandy, Sudheeran and Chennithala spent nearly a week in Delhi to iron out differences among them over the candidature of tainted leaders. A pair of bodies discovered in Kentucky Lake this week Advertisement By Bill Hughes Apr. 05, 2016 | PADUCAH, KY By Bill Hughes Apr. 05, 2016 | 06:14 PM | PADUCAH, KY A service provided by one area hospital has reached a milestone this week. Baptist Health Line is 20 years old and going strong. Nurse Manager Bonnie Bullard, RN, has been with the program since the beginning, as one of the original four employees. "I've been here for 20 years. I am the only one from the original group that is still here," Bullard said. She was hired by then-Manager Marquita Sutton, who retired last March, and Bullard replaced her with the responsibility of overseeing fifteen nurses who currently answer phones. The Health Line started taking calls on April 1, 1996, with staff working overnights, weekends and holidays. After about 10 months, the service was expanded to 24 hours each day. Bullard said, "We kinda got our feet on the ground that first year, just to see how it was gonna be accepted, and then it just kinda boomed. We are a free service, and it caught on like wildfire." Calls doubled between the first and second year, and in 2010 they got 50,000 calls in one year. Bullard said a crew of nine nurses ran the service for a long time, but grew to more than 3 times the original staff a few years ago when their duties expanded. Those tasks include follow-up calls in an effort to keep recently discharged patients from having to be re-admitted. "They've got their appointments, they have their medicines, and anything we can do to help them. And even how their visit was here at the hospital, to find out what people may need or what they want that we may not be providing to them." Bullard said. Bullard said hospital follow up calls are required by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, but her department makes more calls to patients than what is required - up to four calls over several weeks for those that are high-risk. She said if a nurse determines that a caller has an emergency, they quickly get a phone number and then tell the patient to call 911 themselves. Nurses usually wait a few minutes and call back to stay on the phone until help arrives. Doctors and hospital staff are readily available to help if a nurse gets an unusual question. Bullard said some folks call regularly because they know the nurses will be helpful and friendly, even if they just need someone to talk to for a moment. Bullard said Health Line staff members frequently get cards and calls from patients thanking them for their help, and she recently had a man recognize her voice while she was out in public. She said the staff takes pride in the service that brings help and reassurance to the community. "There's nothing like helping somebody that you know was afraid, and then by the time you hang up the phone with them, they're okay. They know what to do, they know how to do it, and they know how to get back in touch with us. We're so proud of this service to the community," Bullard said. Talk to a Baptist Health Paducah nurse any time free by calling the Health Line at 270-575-2918 for general health questions, the StorkLine at 270-575-BABY for information on newborn care, or the Chest Pain and Stroke Hotline at 1-800-575-1911 for advice on heart attack or stroke symptoms. By Ro Morse, WestKyStar Staff Apr. 05, 2016 | 08:38 PM | PADUCAH, KY Judging of the most beautifully lighted dogwood trees on and off the 52nd Annual Dogwood Trail is this evening, April 5th. Signs will be placed in the winning yards today and tomorrow and awards will be presented to the winners at the city commission meeting on Tuesday, April 12th. If you notice a beautifully lighted dogwood that is not on the officially marked trail, the Civic Beautification Board would appreciate a heads-up call to 270-217-4098. Dabney Haugh, Civic Beautification Board member and Dogwood Tail Co-chairman says, "If you are on the trail, thank you for lighting your dogwoods, turning your porch lights on, spotlighting other blooming trees and shrubs. Our 52nd lighted Dogwood Trail is only possible when our neighbors 'light up'. Paducah is sincerely grateful to all who make the effort to create a truly spectacular experience for those who drive/walk/ride the trail." Lighted American flags all along the trail are an added treat. If you are on the trail and part of Boy Scout Troop 1's Holiday Flag program, they have placed a flag in your yard this first week of the trail (as long as you agree to spotlight it over night). Dogwood Trail trolley rides will be Thursday, April 7th. The trollies will depart from the Paducah Area Transit System (PATS), 850 Harrison St. at 7:30 and 8:30 pm. Tickets are $1 per person. Stop by City Hall in April to view the winners of the Dogwood Art and Photography Contest. Their creations will be featured in the Mayor's office on the second floor as part of her Art Club exhibit. They will be on display through June. The annual Dogwood Trail bicycle ride is scheduled for Sunday, April 17th. The ride is free and open to everyone. It will start at BikeWorld, 809 Joe Clifton Dr. at 2:30 pm. Register before the start, and wear a bike helmet while riding. The leisurely ride is followed by a cookout and community potluck on the BikeWorld parking lot. Grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and drinks will be provided by BikeWorld. Guests are invited to bring side dishes to share. BikeWorld will have a follow vehicle on hand, but the pace is deliberately slow to enjoy the beauty of Paducah in spring. The entire route is 11 miles, but riders may turn back at any time, riding as little as just a block if that's their wish. More details are on the BikeWorld site: http://www.bikeworldky.com or call 270-442-0751 for more info. By National Weather Service Oct. 20, 2018 | 06:55 AM | PADUCAH The National Weather Service office in Paducah has issued a special weather statement that very gusty winds could develop for parts of the area this afternoon.Meteorologists say that cold northwest winds will increase significantly by 3 pm. Most of the area along and east of the Mississippi River will see gusts up to at least 30 mph at times late this afternoon. The strongest winds will be across southern Illinois and southwest Indiana. Wind gusts in these areas may approach 40 mph.The winds will begin to diminish after 6 pm, but gusts to 25 mph may continue for much of the evening before finally settling down.The National Weather Service has also issued a freeze warning in effect from 3 am to 9 am Sunday. The warning includes portions of southeast Missouri through Jackson and Perryville, portions of southern Illinois from Carbondale and Pinckneyville northeast to McLeansboro and Mt Carmel, and portions of southwest Indiana.Temperatures in those areas could be at or below 30 degrees for a few hours. The sub-freezing air will damage or kill unprotected sensitive vegetation. On the Net: By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 05, 2016 | 02:52 PM | MURRAY, KY Kentucky Farm Bureau is hosting a Measure the Candidates Forum for Kentuckys 1st U.S. Congressional District on Friday. The forum will be held from 6:30 - 8:30 pm at Murray State University's Curris Center. Candidates seeking to replace Rep. Ed Whitfield, who is retiring, will be participating. Candidates who will be there are Republicans Jason Batts, Miles Caughey, Jr., and Mike Pape, and Democrat Samuel Gaskins. Tom Osborne has not confirmed whether he will attend. Each candidate will be offered three minutes to make opening comments before being presented with a series of topics related to Kentucky Farm Bureau priority issues. Questions will accompany each topic so candidates can display how their campaigns align to the interests of KFB, Kentucky agriculture and life in rural communities. The primary election is set for May 17, and one candidate from each party will be on November's general ballot for the office. By West Kentucky Star Staff Apr. 05, 2016 | 10:06 PM | BENTON, KY A Benton man faces a long list of charges following what police called a hostage situation Monday morning in Marshall County. Police said 41-year-old Ronald T. Fleet of Benton held his girlfriend, 33-year-old Melissa Buchanan of Benton and two juveniles, ages 8 and 12, against their will inside his home on Wadesboro Road. At some point, Buchanan was able to contact a family member who in turn contacted police. The juveniles were allowed to leave the home prior to the arrival of police. They were located by police at a neighbors home unharmed. When police arrived at Fleet's home, they found him outside holding a rifle. He was arrested without incident. During a search of Fleet's home, police found a long gun, a small amount of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia. Fleet was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, wanton endangerment, unlawful imprisonment, possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia and public intoxication. He was lodged in the Marshall County Detention Center. The development came after police in Latur decided to deploy police at water supply spots in that town if the situation demands. (Photo: Representational Image) Mumbai: Jail authorities in Maharashtra are considering to shift inmates from drought-hit Beed and Latur districts in view of the acute water scarcity in the areas. "We have prepared a contingency plan for shifting the jail inmates in these districts. So far, no inmate has been shifted, but we will do so if the situation warrants," a top official said. If the situation demands, the prisoners will be shifted to places like Nasik and Dhule, the official said. The move comes amid decision by officials in drought-hit Parbhani town, which is experiencing an unprecedented water scarcity this summer, imposing prohibitory orders near water supply spots in the town. "Orders under section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in the vicinity of the water supply spots in Parbhani," Parbhani district collector Rahul Mahiwal had said yesterday. The orders will be in force from April 4 to May 3. The development came after police in Latur decided to deploy police at water supply spots in that town if the situation demands. "The municipal corporation has already deployed home guards at the water tanks. If needed, we will deploy police there to prevent law and order issue over water supply," Latur Superintendent of Police Dnyaneshwar Chavan had said. "There are six main water tanks in Latur. There is already a police chowki next to one of the tanks. We have increased patrolling in these areas," Chavan had said. Amid an unprecedented scarcity of water, district collector Pandurang Pol last month clamped section 144 of CrPC in drought-stricken Latur to bar assembly of more than five people around the wells and water filling points to prevent possible violence. Loading... This adaptation of Jonathan Coe's best-selling coming-of-age tale set in 1970's Birmingham is an ideal vehicle for the actors of the Young Rep. The young performers grasp the production with enthusiasm, bringing their own touch of teen spirit to the angst-ridden school days of Ben Trotter and his friends. Their teenage love trysts, rivalries, dreams and fears are set against a backdrop of industrial unrest, black-outs, racism and IRA attacks. This is an era in which strikers fought with police, Birmingham was bombed and the National Front called for a return to England for the English' all of which are graphically featured in the show. Adapted by Richard Cameron and directed by Gwenda Hughes, the production is over-ambitious in trying to cram so much of the novel into a two-and-a-half hour show. There's an impressionistic feel to the production with scenes short and swiftly paced and that can lead to a sense of disconnect with the story. While the first half is highly concentrated, the second lacks focus and becomes a series of separated scenes with no clear narrative. Though the team do capture the nightmare of Birmingham's pub bombings very effectively the portrayal is simple and yet no less agonising in its intensity. Designed by Michael Holt, the sets are lively with effective use of video which snapshot newspaper headlines, school books, concert tickets and love notes onto the rear of the stage creating a scrapbook of ephemera of the period. There is a real sense of nostalgia to the production and particularly for people who know the Birmingham landmarks of the time from Barbarella's club to the immense Longbridge car plant. This sense of time and place is enhanced by the frequent references to the music of the period from Roxy Music and David Essex to the dawn of punk. The performances from the Young Rep are strong. Charlie Mills balances Ben's sense of wonder at all that life has to offer him with a teenage reluctance to fully grasp its consequences. Anna Bradley is the ever-faithful female friend Claire Newman and Alice McGowan is Ben's sister Lois whose life changes in one moment. The Young Rep offers young people a wonderful opportunity to work together with professionals on productions which are showcased in the main house of one of the UK's leading regional theatres. The sense of dedication shows throughout this production and there is no shortage of talent among the young cast. The one area in which a good many of the youngsters could improve though is to slow their diction a fraction it would make them much clearer to hear and give this production an added edge. The Rotters' Club runs at The Rep until 9 April 2016. The line up for this year's Edinburgh International Festival will feature John Tiffany's Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie. The piece transferred from the King's Theatre to Broadway in 2013 and stars Cherry Jones as Amanda Wingfield. Tennessee Williams' play is a semi-autobiographical look at his own family and looks at a fading 'Southern belle' and her cripplingly shy daughter. The Glass Menagerie will feature as part of the line up of this year's International Festival, which runs alongside the Edinburgh Fringe Festival between 5 and 29 August. EIF Festival director Fergus Linehan launched the festival today, saying: "The International Festival is an invitation from the people of Scotland to people from all over the world to join us in an unparalleled celebration of creativity, virtuosity and originality." Barry Humphries, known for his alter ego Dame Edna Everage, will be making his EIF debut, performing an evening of music from the time of the Weimar Republic alongside cabaret star Meow Meow. Actor Alan Cumming will stage a nightly show called Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs! throughout August at The Hub. There will also be a world premiere of a new piece from American company The Team called Anything That Gives Off Light. Kicking off the festival is a free outdoor public event called Deep Time on 10.30pm on 7 August. The piece is a digitally animated artwork which projects visuals inspired by the city's past onto Edinburgh Castle and Castle Rock. Deep Time has a soundtrack of music by Scottish rock band Mogwai. Shakespeare will feature strongly in this year's EIF, with three international companies staging productions of his work. Thomas Ostermeier's reworking of Richard III performed by Berlin's Schaubuhne Theatre arrives alongside Cheek by Jowl and Moscow's Pushkin Theatre's Measure for Measure which draws paralells with modern Russia. French company Eat a Crocodile also perform Shake a five piece re-imagining of Twelfth Night. There will also be a series for pieces of children and families, including Akram Khan's Chotto Desh, which is a reworking of his Olivier Award-winning solo show DESH. Star ballet dancer Natalia Osipova will perform, along with her company and Sergei Polunin, three brand new dance works created for her by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Russell Maliphant and Arthur Pita. The full line up includes a series of classical, opera and pop music events. Tickets go on sale Saturday 16 April at 10am. I started out as an actor not a very good one, granted, that's why I'm now a writer, but I digress The point is I'm Palestinian-Irish, I have pale skin, and I continually went to auditions to be met with disappointed faces, sighs and "You don't look very Palestinian". Back then I didn't have the guts to say: "What are you on about? What does a Palestinian person look like? Did you expect a hijab? Browner skin? An accent? A crazed glint in my eye?" Of course they'd seen a picture of me before I even arrived, so it was doubly moronic. What those people failed to recognise is that what they thought of as an Arab' probably doesn't exist. Here in the diaspora you can find a beautiful diversity of hyphens I know people who are Lebanese-Spanish, Welsh-Libyan, Moroccan-Irish I could go on. And then there are the second generation Arabs who are born and raised in the UK. But I'm talking about ten years ago so things have moved on since then haven't they? Well they're on the move. There's a fantastic organisation that's been set up by actors and creatives to raise awareness called Act for Change, but the trouble is that often the thinking is that there needs to be more roles for people of colour or for people with disabilities. But that's nonsense. What we need is equality of opportunity so for people not to just presume that the main character in something has to be able-bodied, white and (probably) male. An actor explained he was tired of disappointing people who thought he wasn't their imagined version of an Arab. I started writing because I was frustrated by the lack of interesting parts for the fantastic Arab actors I knew. They had audition after audition for the terrorist or terrorist's mother or terrorist's sister role. So I thought carefully about what I was writing either making pieces set in the Arab world so there was no avoiding casting Arabs, or making sure characters had Arabic names so it was clear what my intention was casting-wise. One such play is Scenes from 68* Years my new play which is on at the Arcola this month. It's a big play about life under occupation and uses anecdotal stories to paint a picture of everyday life in Palestine since 1948. It has 30-plus scenes and 50-plus characters, but the minimum you can do it with is six. Here, however we are doing it with six actors in the UK and one in Palestine (who Skypes in for every performance). Writer Hannah Khalil We have a fantastic cast made up of a wonderfully diverse group of actors. But when we were auditioning we sometimes found it hard to locate the mixed-race Arab actors. I scolded one person we met who was recommended to us, because without that recommendation we wouldn't have found him nowhere on any of his online profiles did it mention his Arab connections. He explained he was tired of disappointing people who called him for audition and then were unhappy he wasn't their imagined version of an Arab. So we may not have come as far as I'd hoped. But I'm an optimist at heart and if interesting writers keep writing interesting parts and indicating that they're for diverse, interesting actors maybe producers and directors will sit up and take notice, and things will get, well, more interesting. By Hannah Khalil Scenes from 68* Years is on at the Arcola Theatre until 30 April. Loading... There has been something of a glut of high-profile Lears in recent years, with everyone from Ian McKellen to Simon Russell Beale tackling Shakespeare's greatest tragic role for the more mature actor. For Michael Pennington, launching into a nationwide tour of this Northampton-made production, it's actually his second go at the part and what a fine rendition he offers. But more of that anon. This version, directed by Max Webster, has the potential to feel old-fashioned: dressed in Edwardian costume with a company doubling many roles, it's also visiting some distinguished old playhouses. The sense of a traditional actor-manager decamping with his troupe to the next stopover is never far away. But Webster and his creative team seem to have taken this possible risk and turned it into a majestic success. Every sumptuous outfit looks beautiful; every doubled part is seized as a new opportunity for interesting characterisation; even the theatre itself becomes a dramatic backdrop to Adrian Linford's simple but brilliantly effective set, which either hems the claustrophobic court in with dark brick or opens out to a sweeping expanse of emptiness as a blasted heath. Technically, the show is superbly supported throughout. Natasha Chivers turns lighting into an artform, exploiting every chance to add nuance to the play's meaning with her subtle craft. Matthew Bugg's soundscape is equally evocative the only slight reservation coming with a heavily-scored fight sequence late in the second half. On stage, the quality of the production is no less evident. In parts that can sometimes feel underdone or caricatured, Catherine Bailey and Sally Scott are steely and scheming as Lear's two older daughters Goneril and Regan, while Adrian Irvine and Shane Attwooll make something meaty and substantive out of their respective husbands. Gavin Fowler is touching and tortured as the wronged Edgar, Joshua Elliott an entertaining Fool who avoids the pitfalls of overplaying and instead provides a perfect counterpoint to the king's descent into madness. Even tiny roles such as Daniel O'Keefe's servant Oswald are given a breath of fresh air, played with real sincerity and effectiveness. So, what of that mad old king? Well, from a workmanlike start, when his division of the kingdom between his three daughters feels a little perfunctory and artificial, Pennington draws a clear line through betrayal and familial disloyalty to complete disintegration, undercut by a stunning return to realisation in his final scene. His versatile voice is a joy to listen to, his range all-encompassing, and there are some truly heart-rending moments along the way. It's not the flashiest Lear you'll see, and it's so much the better for that. Instead, Pennington gives a well-defined, poignant rendition of this mighty role in a production that consistently relies on to a clear and intelligible narrative. In the 400th year since Shakespeare's death, it's a welcome addition to the anniversary tributes. Running time: 3 hours. King Lear runs at Royal & Derngate until 23 April, 2016, then tours to Oxford Playhouse (25-30 April), Theatre Royal, Brighton (3-7 May), Richmond Theatre (9-14 May), Grand Opera House, York (23-28 May), Manchester Opera House (31 May-4 June), Theatre Royal, Bath (6-11 June), The Hall for Cornwall, Truro (13-18 June), Cambridge Arts Theatre (20-25 June) and Malvern Theatre (27 June-2 July). Rawoof is the ninth alleged ISIS sympathiser/recruiter from Karnataka, who has been arrested by the NIA. 25 such arrests have been made across the country so far. (Representational image: PTI) Bengaluru: My son, Ismail Musab Abdul Rawoof, has studied only up to class eighth and he is computer illiterate. He carries a simple mobile phone, which does not have internet facility. How can he chat online with ISIS members? What is ISIS, asks a distraught Abdul Rawoof, father of Ismail, who was detained on Tuesday evening for alleged ISIS links. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Ismail at the Pune International Airport, for alleged links with Daesh (ISIS) the banned terror organization when he was about to board an (IX) Air India (211) flight to Dubai from where according to the agencies he had allegedly planned to go to Syria. Read: Suspected ISIS recruiter from Karnataka held at Pune airport Speaking to Deccan Chronicle from Bhatkal, Rawoof said that he received a call from Ismail at 1.10 am on Wednesday. He told me that he was detained by the immigration officials at the Pune International Airport after they found a meat dish in his hand baggage and they wanted to test it as they suspected that it could be beef and beef is banned in Maharashtra. He said that he would go to Mumbai. I havent heard from my son since then, said an emotionally charged parent. He said that on Tuesday evening, two policemen came to their residence in Darul Zakwan, Ayesha Masjid compound, Aminuddin Road to inquire if Ismail was his son. I told them that he was my eldest son and that he had gone to Dubai to look for a job, said Rawoof. Ismail is married and has two children. He doesnt live with us, but visits us very often. He had gone to Dubai before he got married. He wanted to try his luck again there, he said. When asked why Ismail went to Pune to board a flight to Dubai, his father said that the airfares from Bengaluru and Mangaluru were more expensive than from Pune and he decided to fly from Pune. He had taken a bus to Pune on Monday (April 4). I saw him off. I dont know where he is. My son is innocent. I know the police will let him off, because he has not done any wrong. Nobody has called me yet, said Rawoof. He rubbished the claim that Ismail was planning to go to Syria. Ismail is the eldest of the four children. He was working in Dubai as a labourer and had returned to Bhatkal for his marriage. He wanted to return to Dubai for a better income, said a local resident. Meanwhile, sources in the NIA said that Ismail was being questioned by multiple Central agencies at an undisclosed place. He has not been arrested so far, said an officer on condition of anonymity. The Punjab police has issued the warning based on inputs from Delhi Police (Representational photo: PTI) New Delhi: Three Pakistani terrorists and a local are on the run in an explosive-laden grey Swift hatchback, the Punjab police said in a warning note to cops throughout the state on Wednesday. According to reports, the warning said that the Swift Dzire, with licence plate number JK-01 AB-2654, is expected to pass through Jammu and Kashmir's Banihal tunnel and will enter Punjab by later tonight. Also read: Terrorism remains focal point of ties with Pakistan: India Delhi, Mumbai and Goa could be potential targets for these terrorists. The car is believed to be loaded with sufficient amount of ammunitions including a suicide belt. The alert was issued by Punjab's Director General of Police (Law and Order) to all the Commissionerates and SSPs in the state based on inputs from Delhi police. It has asked the officers to be on high alert and maintain security checks near important locations such as government offices, military buildings, markets, malls, train stations and educational institutions. "An alert has been issued in the state (Punjab) after we received an input from the special cell of Delhi police," a senior official in Punjab police said. Punjab has witnessed two terror attacks in less than six months. In January this year, terrorists had attacked an air force base in Pathankot, killing seven military personnel. They had car-jacked two vehicles - one belonging to a Punjab Police SP and another to a taxi driver - to travel to the base near the Pakistan border. In July last year, the state had witnessed an attack in Dinanangar of the border Gurdaspur district. Some reports also claim that the survivor was a minor and also mentally challenged (Representational image) Lucknow: A rape survivor was refused any medical assistance by a government hospital in Lakhmipur, Uttar Pradesh and had to be carried by a policeman after she was refused even a stretcher. According to reports, the girl was raped repeatedly by a youth when she went to the fields near her home, and was left bleeding and writhing in pain. Some reports also claim that the survivor was a minor and also mentally challenged. A case was lodged at the near by police station, and the victim was taken to the hospital, but had to be carried by a police officer and one of her family members after the hospital authorities denied her a stretcher. She was also denied any form of assistance by the hospital despite serious injuries, the reports said. Recounting the incident, the survivors mother said, "My daughter had gone out to the fields, where she was raped. She was bleeding profusely. We are waiting for her to regain consciousness to identify the perpetrators. The district authorities have taken note of the apathy, with the District Magistrate directing the Chief Medical Officer to attend to the case with required medical attention. Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. When youre trying to create a sense of intimacy in a restaurant space, bigger is never better. Two new McMillan-neighbourhood establishments demonstrate this maxim vividly by daring to operate in spaces that are not just small, but minuscule. The Roost, a converted loft on the Corydon strip, seats precisely 18 people. Close Co., on Stafford Street in Grosvenor Village, has sit-down space for a grand total of 10. Both tiny spots offer a short menu of small plates and a similarly sized selection of cocktails. Both pretty much require their customers to interact with each other, given the small amount of seating. Both, as a result of their menus and physical environments, offer the potential for a tremendous amount of fun. TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS At the aptly named Close Co., you'll get to know your neighbour. But theres something else going on here. On a philosophical level, the Roost and Close Co. are making a bold and staunchly urbanist statement. Theyre essentially pocket bars, the neighbourhood establishments that serve as a foundational aspect of everyday life in cities that are much more dense than Winnipeg. And given the modest profit margins involved in the food-and-beverage industry margins that usually demand restaurants go big and rely on volume to survive the people behind these pocket bars are putting their dreams of recreating a tiny piece of Brooklyn or Barcelona ahead of their potential for profits. Its not quite altruistic, but it is a radical move in a city where the suburban surface-parking lots can be seen from the International Space Station. People are super-excited about it, says Tammie Rocke, one of the three entrepreneurs behind Close Co., which opened in February in a space occupied by Steves Hairstyling For Men for the previous 61 years. They dont want to tell anyone about it. They want us to be their secret. That was never going to happen, given Closes pedestrian-friendly location between the Grove pub and Maque restaurant. But Close is a destination unto its own. TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Beef carpaccio at Close Co. There are precisely six items on the regular menu right now, including a great warm salad of squid rings and tentacles, shaved fennel and orange slices, dressed with an acidic and spicy roasted-pepper mayo. Theres also a pair of meatballs swimming in a salty but addictive tomato sauce, and dish of roasted carrots and beets placed over the strained yoghurt known as labneh in the Middle East. The cocktail menu is only six items, too. Try the Close take on a Diablo, an old cocktail traditionally made with tequila, ginger beer and cassis. This version goes with espresso and ancho syrup. In order to gain an occupancy permit, Close Co. is technically a food service and not a restaurant. This space was created by Rocke, who pays her own bills as an interior designer. The Roost is a similar labour of love, but licensed as an actual restaurant. It opened in September in a former office space above a structure best known as the former home of Soup Pierre. The upstairs location presented as many regulatory challenges, as did the small size of the space itself, said Caiden Bircham, one of six partners in the Roost four of whom are in their early 20s. TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Beef carpaccio (rear) and tomato salad at the Roost. You may have noticed were upstairs, and we have a wheelchair-accessible washroom, he says. In more sensible cities, officials would have granted an inaccessible, second-floor loft an exemption from an accessible-washroom requirement. But I digress. Compared with Close Co., The Roost is more focused on cocktails. Over the winter, they offered an eye-popping array of 26 (including an amazingly dry, basil-infused number called the Cleo, which is no longer on the menu but still available). That list has been whittled down to 10 cocktails, as the Roost prepares to open a patio that will effectively triple its capacity. The kitchen has ambitions of its own, however. Over the winter, they served a decent mushroom risotto topped with slices of seared duck breast, a classic dish of gnocchi tossed with brown butter, butternut squash and sage and a playful plate of minced-rabbit fritters that would have worked better as Kentucky fried rabbit had they been bunny nuggets instead of meatballs. Theyve just switched over to a spring menu, which includes a satisfying dish of pork-neck meat tossed with spaetzle and topped with a poached egg, plus (unsampled) offerings such as mackerel ceviche and quinoa salad. In both the Roost and Close Co., you can not help but speak to your neighbours. You may, in fact, be required to share a table with strangers, should you desire to sit. TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Roost at 651 Corydon Ave. A living nightmare for introverts? Perhaps, but welcome additions for a city plagued by too much personal space. bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca A student uses a tree branch to try and extinguish a fire that started near the UoH check dam. Hyderabad: A fire erupted on the UoH campus just before noon on Wednesday in the bushes near the check dam. Fire officials said ei-ther somebody lit the fire deliberately or a burning cigarette butt might have caused the fire. Though two fire tenders were on the campus, UoH officials asked students to help extinguish the fire. Students demanded an inquiry to find out who set off the fire. Senior fire officials said untrained civilians must not be asked to fight fire when the fire brigade is present there. It might cause casualties, said district fire officer T. Mahender Reddy Madhapur station fire officer R.A. Qureshi said he and his men had to persuade the students to move away from the fire. The fire started at around 11.30. The fire spread to more than an acre. Two fire tenders, which were stationed on the campus, rushed to the spot. We extinguished the fire in less than two hours, Mr Qureshi said. Cyberabad police and fire officials said a probe would be launched into the fire. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. MONTREAL A Montreal teen convicted on two terrorism-related charges for attempting to join up with Islamic State militants was handed a three-year sentence Wednesday. The boy, now 16, was found guilty in December on two charges: committing a robbery in association with a terror organization and planning to leave Canada to participate in the activities of a terrorist group abroad. Despite some reservations, youth court Judge Dominique Wilhelmy agreed to a joint recommendation of two years of supervision, with 16 months in a detention centre and another eight served in the community. The final year would be 12 months probation with stringent conditions: refraining from social media activity; consulting an imam or theologian on a regular basis; undergoing a psychological follow-up; staying in Canada; and avoiding people who have terror links. Three years is the stiffest sentence that can be doled out under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Despite the worry and the questions that exist I will sign off on the common suggestion, Wilhelmy told the boy. The case stems from an October 2014 convenience store robbery by the teen, then 15, who had hatched a plan to go to Syria to help ISIL. His father found out about the robbery and turned him in. Subsequently, terrorism charges were laid and the boy has since served a sentence for the hold-up. Wilhelmy said the recommendation by the Crown and defence was based on reports on the boys considerable progress. Five experts, working independently, came up with largely similar views about his chances of reforming. The defence argued at trial the teen was confused and just wanted to help fellow Muslims. The Crown argued he was radicalized, as shown in Twitter conversations with jihadist sympathizer Martin Couture-Rouleau and in the accuseds references to the convenience store loot as war booty when he spoke to police investigators. Wilhelmy noted one expert said the risk of recidivism couldnt be evaluated and another suggested the length of the deradicalization process would be equivalent to the time it took to radicalize him in the first place. The court heard the teen has reconciled with his family and that his rigid views on Islam and radical views have changed thanks to the help of an unnamed imam. His father told the court his son has changed considerably but is not yet 100 per cent reformed. Wilhelmy praised the boys parents for intervening and likely saving his life. We cannot predict the future, I wish you good luck, she told the teen. I hope your decision to modify your perception of things, of life and society will hold. The boys lawyer, Tiago Murias, said his client shows enormous potential academically and wants to pursue studies in mathematics. Murias still believes the accused fell prey to radical propaganda. You cannot say that a young man of 15 years old, who is subject to heinous propaganda, isnt a victim at some point, he said. The case is described by prosecutors as the first involving someone charged under a 2013 law that made it illegal to leave or attempt to leave the country to participate in terrorism-related activities. As such, prosecutor Lyne Decarie told the court there was little jurisprudence to work with. Follow @sidhartha_b on Twitter. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A community is mourning after a 75-year-old Lac du Bonnet retiree was killed in an apparent home robbery while vacationing in the Dominican Republic this week. Leo Frank Boulangers body was found Tuesday in an apartment he had rented for three months with his Dominican girlfriend in the beach town of Sosua, according to an Associated Press report. Police in Sosua arrested two suspects they said had Boulangers cellphone and other belongings. Police said the suspects confessed to killing him in the course of robbing him and trying to get his bank code. Boulanger, a born-and-bred Lac du Bonnet man, worked for many years developing the areas cottage industry with his sand and gravel hauling business. He had travelled to the Dominican Republic several times, spending winters there following the death of his wife about eight years ago, his son Ron Boulanger said. My dad has lived here his entire life. Hes well-known in the community and he has a wealth of family, including six grandchildren, Ron said. Theres not a person thats lived here for any amount of time that doesnt know who he is. Backcountry, cottage country, he was a big part of it and so am I still. Together, we started a big business out here and after he retired I just slowly slowed down to working like he did, just enjoying it, Ron added. He was always doing something always pulling a rope in a forward direction all the time. And he was always encouraging, he said of his dad. Leo was due to return to Winnipeg April 7, two days after he was found dead. As far as what he does in the Dominican, he doesnt share that with us, Ron said. I have no idea what goes on there or what might have led to this. I mean, were shocked. No funeral arrangements have yet been made. A preliminary examination determined Boulangers cause of death as asphyxia. The killing of Boulanger follows by two weeks that of a German visitor to Sosua, 76-year-old Ernst-Gunter Haun, also in a robbery. With Associated Press files katie.may@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @thatkatiemay Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 05/04/2016 (2392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Its historys biggest data leak, easily eclipsing WikiLeaks in scale and scope. Its an enormous amount of information, some 11.5 million documents worth, from the database of the now-famous Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposing how the very, very rich hide their money in secret offshore accounts. Yes, what will go down in the history books as the Panama Papers is a damning, blockbuster story of (alleged) corruption, conspiracy and tax evasion. Celebrities, pro-athletes and heads of state including Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Argentinian president Mauricio Macri, Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Russian President Vladmir Putin, and Icelands Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who resigned Tuesday are linked to the files. The stories making headlines this week are likely the first of hundreds more that will come out over the next few months, maybe even years. And already, theyve proven galvanizing; Icelanders took to the streets to demand their PM resign. Closer to home, the Panama Papers revealed 350 Canadians with offshore tax havens. While some Canadians are good about declaring their offshore investments, others, well, not so much. The Toronto Star reports that Canadas tax losses to offshore accounts are somewhere between $6 billion and $7.8 billion annually. Arnulfo Franco / The Associated Press A security guard sit outside the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama City, Sunday, April 3. German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung says it has obtained a vast trove of documents detailing the offshore financial dealings of the rich and famous. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism says the latest trove contains includes nearly 40 years of data from the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The company didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But lets set aside the incendiary content of the documents for a moment and look at the equally fascinating way this story came to be. An anonymous source, John Doe, contacted Suddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germanys largest newspapers, saying they had data. More than you have ever seen, Doe told the paper. Were talking 2.6 terabytes of data. Thats way too much information for Suddeutsche Zeitungs five-person investigative team to parse, so the paper decided to collaborate with the Washington, D.C.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The ICIJ coordinated almost 400 journalists from more than 100 media organizations in over 80 countries, many of whom worked on this story, clandestinely, for a year. Among themselves, they shared sources and transcripts. They collaborated on ideas. And they agreed to publish their stories at the same time. This is an unprecedented globe-spanning media collaboration, one that wouldnt have been possible pre-Internet. But it also required a few things that, as ICIJ senior editor Mike Hudson pointed out in an interview with Poynter, journalists arent exactly known for such as teamwork and patience. It also required the newsrooms within the consortium to dedicate resources to a long investigation. (In case you missed it: times are tough in journalism.) Much has been written of late about the importance of newsrooms maintaining an investigative team dedicated to heavy-lifting reporting, particularly in the wake of the film Spotlight about the Pultizer-winning Spotlight team at the Boston Globe, and its investigation into the sexual abuse of children at the hands of numerous Roman Catholic priests picking up the Academy Award for Best Picture at this years Oscars. But the Panama Papers project is bigger than one single investigative team. Its an inspiring, and encouraging, example of what can happen when journalists work together. At a time of diminishing resources in newsrooms, I think this model of transnational cooperation is the way to go, Luke Harding, one of the journalists who worked on the leaks at the Guardian, told Politico. Everybodys broke, but if we hold hands we can do amazing stuff. That thinking flies in the face of the scoop-oriented, get-there-first ethos of traditional newsrooms. You dont have to look far to find hardboiled newspaper types lamenting the death of original reporting, the kind that takes time and money, murdered by heavily aggregated content and hot takes quicky turned out to feed the insatiable appetite of the Internet. And, to be fair to those hardboiled newspaper types, you dont have to look far to find examples of quality being sacrificed for quantity. But, as were seeing with the Panama Papers projects, its possible to have it all: quality, quantity, not to mention a trove of original reporting. Instead of one German newspaper telling a story that would be copied and aggregated by countless news outlets and blogs, a bunch of media outlets worked together and came away from the process with their own stories, developed specifically for their individual audiences. These outlets were able to do what great journalism is supposed to do: hold the powerful accountable and serve their public. And they used the Internet to do it, developing technology to share sensitive information with each other securely. Everyone is trying to do more way more with less, chasing the elusive way forward. Perhaps the answer lies not in competition, but collaboration. jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @JenZoratti Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 05/04/2016 (2392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A terminally-ill Manitoban who won the legal right to have a doctor-assisted suicide has died, the persons family said Tuesday. The death was the first of its kind following the legal ruling March 15, which made legal history in Manitoba. The Supreme Court ruled in February 2015 Canadian adults in unending pain have the right to end their lives with the help of a doctor, and outlined clear criteria. The federal government has until June 6 to pass a physician-assisted-death law. Until then, Canadians can ask for a legal exemption. Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press Law Courts Building on York and Kennedy. A statement regarding the Manitoba death was released by the familys lawyer, John A. Myers of Taylor McCaffrey LLP, Tuesday night. As the family of the first patient in Manitoba to be granted permission from the Court to exercise their right to die with dignity, we would like to confirm that our beloved family member has passed away. Their death was as peaceful as we all had hoped. We deeply appreciate the support our family received from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and the physicians and other professionals involved. We are grateful that our privacy was respected during this stressful and challenging time. No other details were released Tuesday. Patient unidentified Lawyers for the unidentified patient appeared in Winnipeg Court of Queens Bench last month for an emergency application based on a recent Supreme Court ruling. They sought a constitutional exemption to allow for the procedure, which is still considered illegal in Canada. They also filed for a sweeping publication ban that prohibits the disclosure of the patients gender, age and specific medical condition, along with the identities of all medical personnel who are involved. Lawyers representing numerous other parties including the doctors working with the patient, the Attorney General, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority and several local media outlets had standing at the hearing. None was opposed to the patients request. Chief Justice Glenn Joyal ultimately approved both applications in what he described as very much uncharted waters, saying they met the strict legal test established by the countrys highest court last year. I believe that an integral aspect of a persons right-to-die with dignity includes the opportunity to have a physician-assisted death. My decision to seek a physician-assisted death is borne out of the physical pain I am suffering and the intolerable effects of my diseases on my overall quality of life, the patient said in the written statement provided to media following the court hearing. My family is the most important and fulfilling part of my life. While it has been sad to say goodbye and to plan to leave my family, I am not feeling anxious, depressed or in fear of death. Rigorous medical and psychological evaluation Court heard the patient in question was suffering from two terminal illnesses and likely had less than a month to live. One of the conditions was described as rare and impacting only a very small population, which is why lawyers want it kept secret for fear of identifying the person. The other condition was described as being more acute. The patient had undergone rigorous medical and psychological evaluation and had been deemed competent to make the right-to-die decision based on criteria established by the College of Physicians and Surgeons. There are enough safeguards in place here, the patients lawyer, John Myers, told court. The applicant understands there is considerable public interest in the topic of physician-assisted death. Among the factors a court must consider is whether the applicant may be suffering from depression or other mental illness that could play a role in their decision, which also must be found to have been made freely and voluntarily and without any coercion or pressure. Joyal agreed with legal submissions that all those so-called checks and balances had been met. As the spouse, I recognize it takes great courage to elect a physician-assisted death as ones end-of-life medical treatment. I and my family deeply appreciate that the decision of my spouse will also help to relieve our emotional burden, having watched my spouse suffer enormous pain and watched as their quality of life has rapidly deteriorated, the patients spouse said in a written statement. I understand my spouses wishes to seek out a physician-assisted death, and I fully and wholeheartedly support those wishes to exercise the constitutional right to die with dignity. Specific details about when the death will occur were not set out in court, but it was expected to happen almost immediately based on Tuesdays ruling. My clients health is deteriorating rapidly, Myers, who was near tears at times as he spoke about the case, told court. The applicant does not want any treatment that would prolong their suffering. with files from Mike McIntyre Opinion Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. wfpvideo:114511059:wfpvideo Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari had just finished a breakfast speech to the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce on Wednesday morning when she was asked a rather innocuous question. The man posing the question was chambers president Chuck Davidson, a long-time political observer. Davidson wanted to know, all things being equal, whether she was enjoying the process of a provincial election campaign. Bokhari smiled at Davidson, which suggested to the audience that this may have been a topic of conversation during the breakfast portion of the mornings events, when both shared the head table. Im enjoying the process. Lets just leave it at that, she said. WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari with Chuck Davidson, president & CEO Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, Rana was the keynote speaker at the Commerce breakfast Wednesday morning. Let the record show that Bokhari went on to talk a bit more about her experience leading a political party through an election campaign. But the message was clear: this has been a rough road for the rookie politician. After a relatively smooth launch in the first week of the campaign, Bokhari and the Liberals began to engineer one of the longest streaks of self-inflicted political wounds ever suffered by a party in the throes of a Manitoba election race. The Liberals have lost candidates to nomination snafus and an endless string of revelations of past misdeeds some quite serious that should have been identified through a proper background vetting, a must-have function of any modern election campaign. But an absence of proper candidate vetting has not been the only problem. Liberal policy announcements have been sloppy and confused at times, while Bokhari has been inarticulate at a moment when her party most needed her to offer a clear and well-enunciated vision. Bokharis struggles remind all of us of two of the most fundamental and inconvenient truths about electoral politics. First, that campaigns really do matter. And second, that it is really, really hard to make politics look easy. The chambers breakfast offered evidence of both hard truths. During her brief speech, Bokhari tried valiantly to cover a lot of her partys policies, including initiatives for improving health care, infrastructure, tax fairness and a more modern social safety net. However, as earnest as she came across, her language was awkward and her delivery stilted. Many of her assertions were rushed and disjointed. Ultimately, she resorted to statements that were little more than a loosely connected string of electoral buzzwords. Performances like this raise the prospect that despite evidence the Liberals were ready to become a bona fide player in this provinces political arena, Manitoba will remain a two-dimensional marketplace where only the Progressive Conservatives and NDP are competent enough to compete for the right to form government. That is not, in the long run, a good thing for democracy. For evidence to support this assertion, one need only look at the last 30 years of Manitoba politics. The Tory government of premier Gary Filmon ruled for 11 years. That was followed by 16 years of NDP government. The absence of a viable Liberal alternative during those years meant Tory and New Democrat premiers could wrack up long periods of uninterrupted rule where they were under no immediate threat of being defeated. Not since the 1988 election, when then-Liberal leader Sharon Carstairs won a remarkable 20 seats and left a stunned PC party with a minority government, have we seen true competitiveness from all three major parties. What has gone wrong with the Liberal campaign? Much of the current Liberal travails can be traced back to a lack of organizational depth. Although she has been leader since October 2013, Bokhari has failed to assemble a large enough, or experienced enough, team of organizers, strategists and grunt volunteers. The absence of a comprehensive ground game is bad, but it does not have to be a fatal mistake. Canadian politics is littered with tales of political parties that did not have the volunteers, the funds or the organizational competence and still managed to make gains. The federal NDP in the 2011 federal election is a great example of a party that found momentum in the electorate without organizational savvy. Had the Bokhari Liberals managed to be just modestly competent, and managed to get a legitimate candidate on the ballot in all 57 ridings, there is a good chance they would have been able to make significant gains in this election. Of course, with only one sitting MLA now (Jon Gerrard), even a second seat in the legislature could have been positioned as a major victory for the new leader. But competence has been out of reach for Bokhari. Of greater concern is the fact that, in the face of traditional campaign adversity, Bokhari and her campaign have taken to accusing the media of ignoring or dismissing her policies out of hand. In one instance, she argued that news organizations were ignoring her ideas because they were afraid of angering the NDP government, which purchased many advertisements in newspapers and on radio and television stations. This past week, a senior campaign staffer circulated an email to most news organizations outlining a plan to have party supporters circle the wagons and avoid talking to reporters from the CBC who were trolling for dissident critics in Liberal ranks. The staffer claimed the note was supposed to go out to all media, but it was hard to see how this was anything other than an inadvertent click of the send button. As mentioned, campaigns do matter. It is a time of severe scrutiny in which many voters make decisions about who to vote for based on what they see and hear. What voters have seen and heard from Bokhari has been amateurish at best. As well, it is hard to make politics look easy. That is a lesson Bokhari is learning now. The real shame is that unless she is somehow able to turn her campaign around, it is unlikely Manitoba Liberals will give her the chance to use that lesson learned in future elections. dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 05/04/2016 (2392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Liberal staffers very public attempt to circle the partys wagons against perceived unfair media coverage could damage an already wounded campaign. Liberal communications director Mike Browns email Tuesday afternoon to party candidates which also found its way into media inboxes urged caution in dealing with CBC, which he said was actively seeking out negative comments about Leader Rana Bokhari. Please do not be part of that story, Brown cautioned party hopefuls. If we learned anything from 2011 its that abandoning the leader leads to poor showings on election day for everyone. The email soon became a sensation on Twitter, retweeted and commented upon by pundits well beyond Manitobas borders. While it appeared to be addressed only to Liberals, Brown denied in an interview that it was sent to journalists by mistake. Claims email was meant for media Originally it was talked about as an internal email, but then we decided wed push it out to everybody, he said. Bokhari, who had no public events on Tuesday, endorsed the emails contents, he said. She certainly felt that the message needed to be sent, he added. The Liberal campaign has taken several hits in recent days. First, it was unable to field a full slate of candidates, then its fiscal plan for the province was panned and its candidate in Brandon West said Manitoba had too many hospitals On Monday, Bokhari announced she had punted Elmwood candidate Kurt Berger after his former common-law wife stepped forward alleging a pattern of abuse. And the Free Press revealed another candidate, Garry Gurke (Dauphin), is the subject of a protection order from his family. MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS During a campaign stop in Niverville, MB, Manitoba Liberal leader Rana Bokhari chats with Mike Brown her Director of Communications Thursday, March 31. The partys missteps have commentators predicting that Liberal popularity, pegged as high as 29 per cent among decided voters in a December poll, may be about to plunge. Brown stopped short of saying Tuesday that the media were on a witch hunt; rather, he termed it a hunt for negativity. He accused a CBC reporter of feigning a request to interview a candidate for a constituency profile only to try to ask about Bokharis performance. Theyve only covered scandals We feel, at this point, that CBC is actively seeking to make news, as opposed to covering news. For a couple of weeks now, they havent covered any of our actual announcements. Theyve only covered the scandals, he charged. Asked for comment, Cecil Rosner, managing editor of CBC Manitoba, said, Our journalists do responsible work in a fair and balanced fashion, as we do in every election. The Free Press was also singled out for criticism by the Liberals. Brown accused a reporter of repeated editorializing in news stories and has said the party will not respond to questions posed by him anymore. Paul Thomas, a political scientist and professor emeritus at the University of Manitoba, said he doesnt think the Liberal campaign can recover from the recent string of bad news days. Lashing out at the media wont help, he said. One of the rules of thumb is dont pick a fight with the media, because they get the last word and especially not when you are in a downward spiral and it looks like sour grapes and complaining, Thomas said. You cant complain about them when they are describing what went on, and it is so universally the same themes about the campaign and the leader that it is not (like there is) any one media outlet trying to torpedo the Liberals. Tough tests to come Thomas said Bokhari faces some tough tests in the coming days. There is a party leaders debate in Brandon on Thursday and two more next week, including a televised debate on Tuesday. She speaks to the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce Wednesday morning. In the 2011 election, some high-profile Liberals, despairing the state of their election campaign, urged party members to support certain NDP candidates, such as Theresa Oswald in Seine River and Sharon Blady in Kirkfield Park. The Liberals wound up with only 7.5 per cent of the popular vote five years ago. Prominent Liberal Bob Axworthy said the Liberals have missed an opportunity to make big gains in this election, noting that the party was flying high in public opinion polls and riding the momentum from the federal election. Axworthy, a former Liberal leadership hopeful and provincial candidate, said Liberal policies have lacked coherence and sometimes missed the mark. How do you say you want to privatize the liquor commission, and two weeks later you want to get into the grocery business? Manitobans dont understand that. I dont understand that, he said, referring to an announcement last week that an elected Liberal government would spend $20 million in tax dollars to launch a downtown grocery store. I make no apologies (for being critical of the Liberal campaign). Im very saddened by the course of events, he said in an interview. larry.kusch@freepress.mb.ca kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari may not support her federal counterparts' plan to expand the CPP. As the potato famine swept through Ireland in the late 1840s, the Irish turned to the United States for a new life. It is estimated that one million people died in the famine and approximately a million more immigrated to America. But the Irish found they were less than welcome in their new country. At the time, being from Ireland was only a rung or two above being from Africa. In addition, the Irish were willing to work at jobs below the current wages paid in America. They were seen as a serious threat to the American worker. Many believed this quick upsurge in Irish immigrants would not only drive down wages but also take away jobs from real Americans. The prejudice shown to the Irish was also borne out by the fact that most of the Irish immigrants were Catholic. There was a deep-seated fear that loyalty to the Papacy would subvert traditional American values. Clashes between established citizens and newly planted Irish began to erupt in cities. The worst came in Philadelphia in 1844. Scores were killed and wounded. Two Catholic churches and a Catholic school were burned down. In reaction to the Irish immigration, a number of secret societies began to spring up across the country. Known by names like the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, these extremely nativist groups espoused all that was Anglo-Saxon and Protestant, and descried all that was not. When a suspected member of one of these societies was questioned, the standard answer was, I know nothing. Soon the groups were lumped together and identified as the Know Nothings. When asked about the Know Nothings by friend Joshua Speed, Abraham Lincoln wrote back saying, As a nation we began by declaring that, all men are created equal. We now practically read it all men are created equal, except negroes. When the Know Nothings get control, it will read all men are created equal except negroes, foreigners, and Catholics. The Know Nothings organized well enough to put forward candidates in local elections and even ran former President Millard Fillmore for President. Their party platform can be summarized in two items. They were against immigration, and the Irish already here would need to wait a minimum of 25 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship. The Know Nothings were not the only group to emerge around this time. Although a bit sooner in time, but in reaction to what was seen as the over-reach and even dictatorial powers of President Andrew Jackson, the Whig Party emerged. Jackson had vetoed the bill which would have chartered the Second National Bank. Jackson accused those of wanting the bank of being un-scrupulous and greedy. Jackson also pointed out that it was legal for a percent of the shareholders in Americas national bank to be foreigners. In proportion, a share of the profits from the bank went overseas, but since going to foreign investors, that money was unable to be taxed. The bank provided many good things but Jackson tended to overlook them in his explanation for the veto. The problem for the Whigs was that they had been held together basically by fear and hatred towards Jackson. But the country was becoming deeply and seriously divided over slavery. Democrats and Whigs heatedly argued over slavery, and in time the Whigs themselves began to splinter. The sectionalism divide of the country became so heated that during one argument on the floor of the Senate, South Carolina Sen. Preston Brooks beat Massachusetts Sen. Charles Sumner so severely with his cane that Sumner did not return to the Senate for four years. South Carolinians responded by sending Brooks dozens of new canes. The fracture within the Whig establishment was beyond mending, and in early 1854 a group met in Ripon. The first block in building the Republican Party was laid. When the Republicans had their convention in Chicago in 1860, Lincoln was hardly the leading candidate. Edward Stanton was the leader but could not garner the needed delegates to capture the nomination. After the first ballot, the Lincoln operatives began wheeling and dealing behind the scenes. Promising cabinet posts left and right, Lincoln finally captured the nomination on the third ballot. His stance on slavery so angered southerners that his name did not appear on the ballot in 10 of the 11 states that eventually left the Union. Contested elections, religious animosity, xenophobia, ethnic loathing, immigration, big banks, and sharp divisions within the party: seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same. 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. Hyderabad: The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday asked a petitioner whether there was a law that barred a person from holding charge as vice-chancellor of University of Hyderabad on the grounds of having his name as accused no.1 in a criminal case. A division bench was dealing with a PIL, urging the court to remove Prof. Appa Rao Podile as UoH V-C. The petitioner questioned the Centres action in permitting Prof. Appa Rao to reassume charge despite he being Accused No. 1 in a case registered against him under various sections of the IPC in the suicide case of research scholar Rohith Vemula. Read: Hyderabad varsity plan to nip discrimination Court asks Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao to explain When counsel for Congress MP V. Hanumantha Rao told the court that the police had shown UoH vice-chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile as Accused No. 1 in the Rohith Vemula suicide case, as he was booked under various sections of the IPC and the SC, ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, the division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Dilip B. Bhosale and Justice P. Naveen Rao asked whether there was any law or rule which prevented a person from holding the post of V-C if there was a criminal case pending. The bench asked counsel to inform the court on Monday if any provision was available to restrain the V-C from holding office on grounds of a pending criminal case. Read: Fire breaks out on Hyderabad varsity campus Police bundles activists and UoH students who staged a protest on the university campus on Wednesday. Deccan Chronicle Hyderabad: The University of Hyderabad (UoH) will have an ombudsman and an anti-discrimination officer for the first time since its inception nearly four decades ago. A committee comprising an UGC official and vice-chancellors of two Central universities will finalise modalities for the new appointments. A retired judge is likely to be appointed as ombudsman. The ombudsman will look after issues and incidents relating to violations and indiscipline and problems concerning the university. The anti-discrimination officer will look into caste, religion and gender based complaints from students as well as faculty, UoH spokesperson Vipin Srivastava said. Read: Hyderabad HC asks for law that can bar HCU VC Appa Rao Podile We decided to appoint an anti-discrimination official in line with UGC regulations of 2012, he added. This development assumes significance in view of the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula citing caste discrimination within the varsity campus, in January. Other important decisions taken in the 76th Academic Council meeting included finalisation of entrance examination schedule for admissions for the 2016-17 academic year. Read: Fire breaks out on Hyderabad varsity campus The online applications will be accepted from April 11 to May 10. Prof. Sripathi Ramudu of the SC/ST Teachers Forum stated that five professors Nandini Sunder (from Delhi University), Sunitha Rani, Deepa Srinivas, Sujatha Patel and V. Krishna have voiced their protest against the functioning of vice-chancellor Prof. Appa Rao Podile at the beginning of the meeting. All these faculty members cornered the V-C on ongoing probe into cases against him, plagiarism charges, allegations of discrimination towards SC/ST students and police action on March 22 in the campus. Controller of Examinations Prof. V Krishna resigned from his administrative post in protest, he said adding that few of them walked out of the meeting. New program the next phase in bridging language barrier More than classwork Students will take 20 hours of instruction a week, but the program also will offer them opportunities to experience American culture and history. Photo courtesy Leslie Bohon Realizing a goal During his 12 years at the university, Director of International Students, Scholars, and Programs Stephen Sechrist has helped English language support programs expand. Photo by Jim Ducibella Photo - of - Hide Caption When Stephen Sechrist arrived at William & Mary in 2004, the universitys international student population numbered around 200. As that number grew to todays figure of 700, so did Sechrists concern. All of the students had met W&Ms admission standard of English proficiency, but many still struggled. Was the university offering enough English language support to its students? What did international students need? If William & Mary opened a center for English as a Second Language (ESL),what would that look like? With the building of the W&M English Language Program, W&M has been working on the answer to these questions over the past few years. Currently, Leslie Bohon, interim director of the program, oversees summer programs for incoming graduate students in the business school and international freshmen; support classes for current students; customized programs for professionals and non-W&M students; training and support for university faculty and staff and an e-learning virtual conversation partner program. That said, the plan called for more, and the time for it has arrived. In June, W&M will launch an intensive English language program for international students. Those accepted into the program, which will be operated by the Reves Center for International Studies, can enroll for one, two or three semesters, depending on their educational goals. They will be part of the W&M student community, but will not have degree-seeking status. The curriculum consists of 20 hours per week of instruction in core English language skills, enhanced by a conversation partner program, co-curricular activities on and off campus and cultural excursions. Anyone can apply, assuming they meet a certain established level of English proficiency, and there are endless possibilities as to the type of interested applicants. They may be students whod want to come here to engage in high-quality English language instruction to prepare them for attending William & Mary, or wherever they are admitted, said Sechrist, director of international students, scholars and programs. They may be professionals who want to get English language training, maybe for summer or year to advance their career. By the time the application went live, W&M had a growing list of interested students from as far away as Brazil, Mongolia, Turkey, China, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Cyprus. Bohon said she has already received emails from Chinese students who are about to start MBA programs at other universities, but want to come to William & Mary for the summer to work on their English to better prepare them for whats ahead. There may be students abroad interested in pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in the United States, but they dont have the required English language [skills]. In that case, they might come to our intensive program for up to a year to prepare themselves for university admission, she said. Or we may have non-native English speaking teachers of English in other countries who wish to spend their summer perfecting their craft. Whatever our students' English language goals are, we aim to help them meet them." One of the things that is most impressive to Sechrist and Bohon is the enthusiasm for English-language support generated from all corners of campus. In 2012, Sechrist convened a group of interested parties from across the university, including Bohon, to explore the topic. These meetings helped shape the mission and priorities for the W&M English Language Program. They also helped to launch two summer preparatory programs and prepared the university to apply for a Creative Adaptation Grant that provided seed money to establish a program. Support from top leadership was key. Even before he came to William & Mary, Vice Provost for International Affairs and Director of the Reves Center Steve Hanson met with Sechrist at a conference and they discussed the idea of establishing an English language program. The founding of the new English Language Program at the Reves Center is a major step forward in our ability to support our increasingly diverse community of international students and scholars at William & Mary, Hanson said. Resources for English language support and work in the field of English as a Second Language are not exclusive to the Reves Center. Elsewhere on campus, there are ESL and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) programs for U.S. students wanting to prepare to enter the field; an international undergraduate writing course; the Legal Advantage Program for LLM students; the CPALS program; and tutoring and consulting offered in the universitys Writing Resources Center and the W&M Tribe TutorZone. For degree-seeking and exchange students at W&M, these are key sources of academic and language support. Sechrist views these efforts as playing a critical part in the internationalization of the university. Part of our philosophy here is that William & Mary international students are William & Mary students first, so they enjoy all the privileges and benefits of being a William & Mary student, Sechrist said. They also have all the responsibilities of being a William & Mary student. And the university has a responsibility to educate and take care of them. Its collective. We are all invested in their success. Technology helps to track the peregrinations of peregrines Nesting on a bridge Adult female falcon that is currently nesting on a bridge near West Point, Virginia. This female was originally banded 86 kilometers away as a nestling on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Photo by Bryan Watts Photo - of - Hide Caption Since the early 2000s when Research Associate Shawn Padgett pioneered the use of video cameras on nests to read bands, the Center for Conservation Biology (CCB) and other groups have used camera traps to identify breeding adult peregrine falcons. The practice has helped researchers to finally address a long list of questions about peregrines, including how long they live, said Bryan Watts, director of the CCB. Natal dispersal is the term used to describe the movement of an animal from place of birth to the location where it will ultimately breed. For the majority of bird species, dispersal progresses through three phases, said Watts: a decision to leave the natal territory, a transition that includes exploration or prospecting and a decision about where to settle or establish their own breeding territory. Of these three phases, most is known about when young birds leave their natal territories, Watts added. Less is known about prospecting and, for many species, even less about where young birds ultimately settle. Peregrine falcons are famous for having an extended and dramatic period of exploration. Their very name comes from their wide peregrinations. In stark contrast to these extensive wanderings, when it comes to establishing breeding territories, peregrines actually settle relatively close to their natal sites, researchers discovered. For more than two decades, a large portion of the peregrine falcons produced in eastern North America have been marked with two bands including a United States Geological Survey (USGS) aluminum band with a numeric code and a field-readable band with unique combinations of letters and numbers. In most instances, reading the USGS band requires that the bird be captured. However, the field-readable band may be read using spotting scopes, binoculars or cameras. The use of these bands has allowed the community of biologists (and the public) to resight these birds over time and to contribute a great deal to what is known about falcon spatial ecology and natural history, Watts said. CCB researchers now have some data on how long peregrines live and the degree of relatedness within the breeding population the researchers have documented close inbreeding between siblings and parent-offspring pairings. Camera-trap technology has also led to insights on lifetime reproductive success and patterns of dispersal, among others aspects of peregrine lifestyle. As is the case in many other raptor species, dispersal serves to reduce the likelihood of pairings between parents and offspring, Watts said. In addition, differences in dispersal distances between males and females makes pairings between full siblings less likely. Dispersal distances documented by CCB and partners within coastal Virginia range from 4 to 207 kilometers for males (median of 24 km) and 0 to 473 kilometers for females (median of 105 km). Those involved with the banding and resighting efforts in Virginia are building an integrated database that is beginning to untangle several aspects of peregrine ecology that have been notoriously difficult to address, Watts said. SRINAGAR: The protesting outstation students at Srinagar National Institute of Technology (NIT) on Wednesday demanded that they be evacuated and the college should be shifted out of Jammu and Kashmirs summer capital. Though media was denied access to the venue of meeting a two-member team of the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) ministry had with the outstation students at the NIT campus in Srinagar- and even not allowed to enter the campus-, a video released by the students shows them agitating their demands before the team. The HRD team comprising S.K. Sharma, Director NITs and Fazal Mehmood, Deputy Director Finance, at the ministry earlier arrived here to visit the NIT after it witnessed clashes in which many students were injured on Tuesday evening. The students told the HRD ministry team that they are being issued academic threats. They openly tell us we will ruin your careers, said a female student. She and two other female students also alleged that when they raise the issue they are being accused of spreading rumours which is totally false. Demanding evacuation of outstation students, they also said that the NIT should be shifted from Srinagar. The NIT at Srinagar, earlier known as Regional Engineering College (REC), has nearly 2,500 students and 400 academic staff members. A majority of the students, however, comes from outside Jammu and Kashmir. Referring to police cane-charge in which several outstation students were injured on Tuesday evening, they asked which law authorises the police to use brute force against students and hit them in their heads. Tuesdays police action evoked outrage across the country and many people took to social networking sites to denounce it. The campus had earlier this month witnessed trouble when Kashmiri students celebrated Indias defeat at the hands of West Indies in ICC Twenty-20 semi final by chanting pro-Pakistan slogans. China News on Women Sorry, the page you requested was not found. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Womenofchina.cn, try visiting the Womenofchina Home page Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Chennai: The DMDK MLA and propaganda secretary V.C. Chandrakumar, along with six district secretaries, issued an ultimatum to party leader Vijayakanth on Tuesday to reconsider the alliance with the People's Welfare Alliance and join the DMK front to defeat AIADMK in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Reacting immediately, Vijayakanth removed all the dissidents from the party, making it clear he is rejecting their ultimatum and that the alliance with PWA is irrevocable. With 6 of 50 district secretaries raising a banner of revolt, the DMDK, formed in 2005, appears to be heading for a split on the eve of the Assembly elections. There are reports that more functionaries are waiting to ditch Vijayakanth and join Chandrakumar. Two of the district secretaries are MLAs and two district secretaries have already joined the DMK. It is not known if Chandrakumar and his followers will join the DMK or make claims to be the real DMDK. Vijayakanth is the party's vote catcher and cadre's hero, but the DMDK could still be in trouble if the rebels forced a split and go on to freeze the party's 'drum' symbol. Captain has now nominated A.V. Arumugam (Tiruvallur East) MLA Babu Miurugavel (Tiruvannamalai North), Sridhar (Vellore Central), B. Anandbabu (Salem West), P.K. Subramani (Erode North) and P. Gopal (Erode East) as district in charge. German court rejects EnBW's nuclear compensation claim 06 April 2016 Share EnBW has had its claim for damages arising from Germany's moratorium on nuclear power thrown out by a regional court in Bonn. The court announced today that Germany's fourth biggest utility had not used immediately "all legal means available to avert the consequences of the forced shut down of its nuclear power units. This meant its claim could not be allowed to stand, the court decided. In the wake of the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident in Japan, the German government ordered the three-month shutdown of the country's oldest reactors. These included EnBW's Neckarwestheim 1 and Phillipsburg 1 units, which are in the state of Baden-Wurrtemberg. A few months later the government changed the temporary moratorium into a permanent shutdown for the reactors. EnBW had sought compensation of 261 million ($296 million), citing German court decisions in 2013 and 2014 in favour of rival utility RWE, which had sued for damages of 235 million against the forced closure of its Biblis reactor immediately after the moratorium. But in a statement signed by the court's deputy spokesman, Bastian Sczech, the court said today that, although EnBW had questioned the legality of the moratorium in an April 2011 statement, it had added in the same statement that it would not be seeking legal redress. EOn, Germany's biggest utility, is also seeking damages, of 380 million. Like EnBW, EOn made its claim in 2014, three years after the moratorium. EnBW announced on 24 December 2014 that it would sue its 46% owner, the state of Baden-Wurttemberg, as well as the German federal government, over the 'unlawful' shutdown of two of its reactors in 2011. Announcing its decision, EnBW said it was "mindful of the statute of limitations expiring on 31 December 2014". In total, 99.6% of EnBW's shares are in state ownership. The court said EnBW may appeal the decision within one month. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Fuel loading completed at third Fuqing unit 06 April 2016 Share The loading of all 157 fuel assemblies into the reactor core of unit 3 of the Fuqing nuclear power plant in China's Fujian province has been completed. The unit is expected to start up later this year. Fuel loading operation under way at Fuqing 3 (Image: CNNC) China's National Nuclear Safety Administration issued a licence on 1 April for fuel to be loaded into the reactor. The process began at 3.00am the following day and was completed on 4 April, China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) announced today. CNNC's Fuqing plant will eventually house six Chinese-designed PWRs, the first four being 1087 MWe CPR-1000 pressurized water reactors. Unit 1 started up in July 2014, was connected to the grid the following month and entered commercial operation in November. Unit 2 achieved first criticality in July 2015 and entered commercial operation last October. All 157 fuel assemblies are now in the unit's core (Image: CNNC) Ground was broken in June 2009 for Fuqing unit 3 and 4. Containment pressure tests were successfully completed at unit 3 last August. Unit 3 is expected to start up later this year, while unit 4 is scheduled to start up in 2017. China's State Council gave final approval for construction of Fuqing units 5 and 6 in mid-April. First concrete was poured for the fifth unit in May 2015, while that for unit 6 was poured in December. These will be demonstration indigenously-designed Hualong One reactors. The Fuqing nuclear power plant project is owned by CNNC subsidiary China Nuclear Power Company (51%); Huadian Fuxin Energy Company (39%); and Fujian Investment and Development Group (10%). Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics USA sets out nuclear security strategy 06 April 2016 Share The US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has outlined its strategic plans for reducing the threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, including changes to the USA's program to dispose of surplus military plutonium. The information was published on 1 April in Prevent, Counter and Respond - A Strategic Plan to Reduce Global Nuclear Threats (FY 2017-FY 20201) - referred to as FY 2017 NPCR - which updates a full report on the NNSA's integrated strategy for preventing, countering and responding to nuclear weapons proliferation and nuclear and radiological threats. The report highlights the Iran Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - the agreement between the IAEA and the E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the USA) to ensure the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear activities - as a major development representing a significant change to the nuclear proliferation threat environment. However, it also notes the emergence of new terrorist threats in Western Europe and the USA, increasingly frequent and sophisticated cyber-attacks, and the emergence of new and potentially proliferation-relevant technologies - specifically additive manufacturing, also known as 3D-printing - as key developments in the "threat environment". The NNSA's Emerging Technologies Working Group, established in June 2015, is tasked with identifying and analysing such emerging technology developments. Plutonium disposition In the report, the NNSA says the US administration's proposal to pursue a "dilution and disposal" approach to plutonium disposition, instead of converting it into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for use in light water reactors, represents a significant change. The USA is required to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons grade plutonium under a weapons reduction agreement signed with Russia in June 2000, but President Barack Obama's FY2017 budget submission proposes a "dilution and disposal" approach as enabling the material to be disposed of sooner, at lower cost and with lower technical risks than conversion to MOX. The NNSA's strategic plan for fiscal 2017 includes the completion of pre-conceptual design and the start of conceptual design for the dilution and disposal approach; the continuation of ongoing work to develop a detailed "lifecycle baseline" for the program; studies to optimize the final waste form, including optimizing container loading and material configuration at the repository; and conducting environmental analyses and examining the potential legislative changes needed to enable the disposition of diluted plutonium "at an appropriate facility". FY 2017 NPCR is available on the NNSA's website. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Court denies injunction against operation of Sendai units 06 April 2016 Share A Japanese high court today rejected an appeal by local residents seeking a temporary injunction against the operation of units 1 and 2 of Kyushu Electric Power Company's Sendai nuclear power plant in Kagoshima prefecture. The units are the only reactors currently in operation in Japan. Kyushu's Sendai plant (Image: JAIF) A group of 12 citizens from Kagoshima and two neighbouring prefectures filed a petition in May 2014 with the Kagoshima District Court claiming that new safety regulations set by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in July 2013 were too lax to protect the Sendai plant from earthquakes and volcanoes. In April 2015, the court ruled against that petition. The presiding judge concluded that according to the latest scientific knowledge the new safety requirements are adequate and that the plant is at no specific risk. That ruling cleared the way for Sendai 1 and 2 to restart operations, becoming the first of the country's reactors to be restarted since the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011. Unit 1 was restarted last August while unit 2 resumed operation in October. However, the residents filed an appeal last May against the Kagoshima District Court's decision with the Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court. That court has today ruled against the appeal, saying "it did not find that the plaintiffs' personal rights would be violated or in danger of violation". Kyushu said it had asked the court to deny the appeal, arguing that the units "have secured safety against the standard seismic motion, and there is no concrete danger of release of large amounts of radioactive material by an accident". The company said the court's decision recognizes its assertion that the Sendai plant is safe. "We believe the court made the correct decision," it said. Unit 3 of Kansai Electric Power Company's Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture resumed operation on 29 January. Takahama 4 was restarted on 26 February, but has remained offline since 29 February following an automatic shutdown of the reactor due to a "main transformer/generator internal failure". However, an injunction imposed by a district court on 9 March has kept both Takahama 3 and 4 offline. Researched and written by World Nuclear News Related topics Chennai: Even before warming up amid the tugs and pulls of alliance parleys, the campaign for the May 16 election in Tamil Nadu hit rock bottom, or so it seems. The author of this sad soliloquy is none other than the unpredictably emotional MDMK general secretary Vaiko who, on Wednesday, advocated that the DMK chief M. Karunanidhi could practise the oldest profession in the world. He later issued an apology saying he meant no disrespect to his political mentor, but that was hardly convincing. The Tamil statement reached the newsrooms at about 7.50 pm, more than five hours after he made that oldest profession prescription during a press conference at his party headquarters in the afternoon. When I said shifting parties after taking money has been a dirty job just like the oldest profession in the world, I did not refer to Kalaignar (Karunanidhi) or his family. I swear this on my late mother, Vaiko said. It was actually a poor apology to the apparent slander that he had slung at the DMK president, actually telling him he could well turn to the oldest profession in the world. Irrespective of his clarification, it is clear that when he recommended the oldest profession to Karunanidhi, he was not referring to weavers, farmers, traders or anything else. I am talking about another profession, the most famous that is practised across the world even from the days of the earliest man. Many are even demanding that it could be legalised; they could practise that. Kalaignar can do it, they could also do it, Vaiko had said at his explosive press conference. Vaikos pathetic attempt to bury such slander under a poorly drafted apology, claiming that he had spoken about shifting loyalties for money, would not hold water since there has been no demand from any quarter to make this changing political colours for money legal! The oldest profession prescription and the apology for an apology have caused a furore in the political corridors. DMK spokesman TKS Elangovan called Vaiko a mentally disturbed person who betrayed Kalaignar (Karun-anidhi) who created him (politically). Khongsak Jitchamruang being questioned by police By: Feng Qian A mother in Thailand, called police after learning that her husband had sex with her daughter. The girl was at her home in Ratchaburi, with her stepfather and his family member while her mother was at work. 46-year-old Khongsak Jitchamruang allegedly took advantage of his time alone with the girl, and forced her to take drugs and pills. When the woman learned that her husband was raping her daughter, she called police to her home. Officers found 20 speed pills in a bowl of rice that Jitchamruang was using. Jitchamruang told the officers that he was about to have a meal. aThe arrest of Jitchamruang came after a complaint filed by his 42-year-old wife. She said that he raped her daughter and forced the girl to take speed pills,a said Ronnapop Wiangsimma, chief of Chom Bung district. The mother told police that she learned about the abuse after realizing that her daughter was depressed and she asked her what the problem was. She learned that her husband had raped her daughter several times, and forced her to take illegal drugs. The woman left her husband and took her daughter with her. Jitchamruang was trying to find them and he sent text messages threatening her and her daughter, according to police. Fearing for the safety of her daughter, the woman decided to go to the police. Jitchamruang was charged with rape and drug possession. The stepdaughter was taken to a hospital for a physical examination for evidence of rape. Margarita de Jesus Zapata Moreno and Cornelio Daza By: Chan Yuan (Scroll down for video) A mother was jailed after police learned that she forced her daughters to prostitute themselves for money. Margarita de Jesus Zapata Moreno of Bogota, Colombia, was sentenced to 22 years in prison after selling the virginities of her daughters. Moreno, 48, has 14 children. She sold the virginities of 12 of her daughters to older men and she charged about $200 for each when they turned 12 years old. She has an 11-year-old boy and a 9-year-old daughter still at home. They were placed in the custody of the state. According to court documents, after losing their virginities she forced her 12 daughters to prostitute themselves. Police learned of the sexual abuse when one of Morenoas daughters became pregnant by 51-year-old Cornelio Daza, when she was just 14 years old. Moreno, ordered her daughter to have an abortion, but the girl refused. Moreno was charges of pimping and sexual exploitation of children. She was sentenced to 22 years in prison and she was ordered to pay 72 million pesos ($23,000) as compensation to the victims. Daza, who impregnated the girl, was found guilty of sexual abuse for having sex with the girl since she was 12 years old. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. While this is a bold move from the instant messaging apps point of view, there are certain tricky problems that might arise in future. (Representational image) The recent Apple-FBI encryption issue has triggered a silent protest among numerous tech companies across the globe. While Applewith all its might and security mechanismsfailed to uphold the security of its customers, it has certainly given the impetus to other tech companies for improving their security offerings. Well, Facebook-owned WhatsApp on Tuesday announced that it had reinforced the encryption settings for its 1-billion user-base and all messages will now be accessible only to the sender and the recipient. While this is a bold move from the instant messaging apps point of view, there are certain issues that need to be rectified by the company. Also Read: WhatsApp encryption shouldn't give safe havens for cyber crime, child porn WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton in a blog, said, From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats. The Boon The new end-to-end encryption feature is based on the Signal Protocol, designed by Open Whisper Systems. According to the technical White Paper on WhatsApp encryption, the end-to-end encryption protocol has been designed to prevent third parties and WhatsApp from having plaintext access to messages or calls. From now on, when you send any message to a group or an individual, the data will only be visible to you and the group/individual you sent it tono one else can peep inside that message. The blog said: No one can see inside that message. Not cyber criminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private sort of like a face-to-face conversation. Now this is an amazing initiative, considering the exponential increase of hackers in the recent past. With more people using smartphones and instant messaging platforms for business, the new feature will certainly assist users in keeping data protected from cyber criminals. In fact, more businesses and organisations are excessively employing mobile-based messaging platforms for discussing company policies, plans, and other confidential details. In such a scenario, this feature will definitely help in safeguarding data better. With the new end-to-end encryption feature, WhatsApp will not only protect text messages, but will also secure photos, videos, voice messages, documents, and even calls. Now individual users will be able to share data without any hiccups. As mentioned earlier, WhatsApp claims that even they cannot access the message. According to the blog, with the new update, all your messages on WhatsApp will be secured with a lock and only the recipient and you have the special key to unlock and access them. For added protection, every message you send has its own unique lock and key. All of this happens automatically: no need to turn on settings or set up special secret chats to secure your messages, the blog added. The Bane While the aforementioned points indicate that the Facebook-owned instant messaging app is taking serious measures to sustain security requisites of users, there is a serious loophole that needs to be addressed to make it full proof. Sure the new measure will prevent cyber-crimes, hacking, and misuse of data, but at the same time it will become a safe haven for terrorists and criminals to communicate, which is a huge setback. In Apples case, the main issue raised was related to iPhone users, which is a fraction of WhatsApp users in the world. However, encrypting the messaging platform opens the door for a large number of criminals and terrorists to communicate safely without coming under the radar. While encrypting messages is a great step by WhatsApp, they should also figure out a way to accumulate as much user data as possible at the time of signing up/installing WhatsApp. Currently, the process of joining the messaging is so simple that even a 10-year-old can set it up in less than five minutes. With augmented focus on safekeeping data, the company should at least try to come up with a restricted sign-up process to avoid malicious users. To sum it up, the new end-to-end encryption protocol is definitely something that will protect you from the cyber-attacks, hackers, and government monitoring. However, the WhatsApp crew should also look for ways to tauten the initial installation/ signup procedure to avoid unwanted users, and have some record about each of its user in case of an emergency. Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. Wrexhams 15m Ambulance and Fire Services Resource Centre Completed This article is old - Published: Tuesday, Apr 5th, 2016 Wrexhams new 15m emergency centre, combining both the Ambulance and Fire services, is set to be operational this month. Welsh Government Health Minister, Mark Drakeford AM, recently visited the new Ambulance and Fire Services Resource Centre with local AM Lesley Griffiths. The two-story building located on Croesnewydd Road, which is the first purpose-built centre of its kind in the country, received over 8m capital funding from the Welsh Labour Government. The centre consists of an 8-bay fire station, double the current capacity of the town centre fire station, a 6-bay ambulance station, an ambulance fleet workshop and make ready facility as well as state-of-the-art training facilities. It will replace the existing fire station on Bradley Road in Wrexham, and the existing ambulance stations in Chirk and Wrexham. Wrexham AM Lesley Griffiths said: Plans to develop a joint Ambulance and Fire Services Resource Centre in Wrexham were first discussed in 2011 so I am delighted to see the building finally completed. The Welsh Government, working in partnership with the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service, has invested a significant amount of capital funding to create this innovative facility. Having toured the new centre with the Minister, it is clear the modern, state-of-the-art facilities will benefit staff and ultimately enable the emergency departments to deliver a more efficient service for the people of Wrexham. Pic: Lesley Griffiths AM and Health Minister Mark Drakeford AM, alongside representatives from Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and North Wales Fire and Rescue Service. Mumbai: Amazon.com Inc is set to release a higher-end Kindle version with a rechargeable protective case for a better battery life, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing a person familiar with the matter. The online retailer is also developing a solar-charged Kindle case, the Journal reported, citing another source. Amazon declined to comment. The company's chief executive tweeted that the latest version of the reading device is ready and details could be expected next week. Heads up readers all-new, top of the line Kindle almost ready. 8th generation. Details next week. Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) April 4, 2016 Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter. After more than a million workers and youth marched Thursday in defiance of the state of emergency to protest Socialist Party (PS) labour minister Myriam El Khomris law, security forces yesterday violently attacked continuing demonstrations against the reactionary labour law reform. Explosive anger is developing among broad sections of workers and youth to the El Khomri Law. It would increase the working day by up to two hours, undermine job security for young workers, and allow the trade unions and businesses to negotiate deals violating Frances Labour Code. This nakedly pro-business bill has provoked anger and revulsion among broad layers of workers hostile to unpopular PS president Francois Hollande. Police responded with a violent and bloody crackdown against a number of protests across France yesterday. In many cities, the trade unions made little or no effort to mobilise workers in support of the university or high school student protests. Police attacked them violently, trying to intimidate youth in the run-up to the next major protest by workers and students, called for April 9. In Lyon, a few union officials attended the student protest. Police blocked the protestprompting shouts of State of emergency, police state!and only authorised the march to begin given that the situation is under the control of the trade union organisations. Several students were arrested or hit with batons as clashes erupted between police and demonstrators towards the end of the march, with one student taken away in handcuffs and another heavily beaten with batons. In Paris, some 130 protesters were detained by security forces during a student protest that left from Nation Square. In the run-up to the march from Nation Square, as well as at the rally called by student and trade unions on Bastille Square later in the afternoon, large numbers of plainclothes police could be seen discussing tactics with riot police before leaving to blend into the crowd. Numerous squads of riot police surrounded the protesters after they left Nation Square, split the protest march in two, and then charged the protesters from behind, attacking them and hitting several journalists with their batons. They detained the protesters supposedly for identification purposes. WSWS reporters spoke to protesters at the Nation and Bastille Square protests. At Bastille, the WSWS spoke to Ada, who is working towards a technical high school degree and has an internship at a factory. Im opposed to the law to defend the workers and also the future for us, the students, she said. Asked what she thought the impact of the law would be, she said, I think we will be under ever-stricter rules, because conditions for those of us not working on permanent contracts will be shit. It will separate us more from those with permanent contracts. We will be each on our own sides, and that is ridiculous because we should be all together. Ada opposed lengthening the working day under the terms of the law, saying that there was already not enough work to go around due to the economic crisis: I have an internship at a factory and there isnt enough work to do. Workers are forced to come in seven hours per day, otherwise they are not paid. So they dont have enough work to do, and they sit around getting pissed off and doing nothing for seven hours, but at least they have a job. So if they lengthen working hours, we will be wasting our time even more because there isnt enough work to go around. Asked about the state of emergency, Ada said, Its ridiculousfor example, if someone is unarmed and [police] think that they might do something harmful, they can hit this person for no reason, and I find that ridiculous. Also, they can enter into peoples houses without a warrant, but everyone has a right to a private life. Ada criticised the presence of police at demonstrations. I find it very stressful. It leads to all sorts of tensions, she said. The youth get angrier when there are policemen everywhere. It produces bad blood, we are surrounded and dont have the right to leave the march for any reason. Once youre marching, if you need to leave or if you want to stop in a cafe, you get attacked for no reason. I saw a guy who got carted off by the cops, she added. I feared for him, because I didnt want them to hit him. I knew that if I stayed in front of him, they might not hit him because I would be there to watch and then to tell them that they cant hit people like that for no reason. The WSWS also spoke to a group of students from Sophie Germain high school who were protesting at Nation Square. They said, Now its a month that weve been protesting, and its become about much more than simply the labour law reform. Its against all the consequences of this government over the last several years. Asked what they opposed, they said, First there is the labour law itselfsome of its stipulations cannot be allowed, like limiting fines [for illegal mass sackings by employers]. Some of them will be modified under pressure from the demonstrations. Another student added, More generally, its against all the empty talk of the politicians. They say we will do this or that to help the youth. Hollande said that one of his projects is the youth, but what has he done? He dictates laws that will not help our future. The students were divided about the state of emergency, with one saying its goal is to ensure the security of the population, but it should not be abused. Another student attacked it as a pretext to do other things that are convenient for the government, a sentiment echoed by the third student, who said it allows for passing all sorts of other things that they want. For example, they use it to limit protests, supposedly because there is a state of emergency we cannot go protest, which is totally stupid. The WSWS also spoke to Nathan, who said he hoped that protests would continue throughout the springthe whole spring we should be in struggle. A general strike is developing in the universities, high schools, and work places, though not necessarily in offices in some places. I want to send a strong signal to the workers. We can win if we stay united, he said, though he complained that no political party is proposing a general strike. Asked about the role of the PS, he said, Its been a long time that they betrayed us, so its not a surprise that they betrayed us now. They are part of the system. In fact, they carry out right-wing policies, so whats happening is not surprising. He said that French society is becoming more severe and with more law-and-order hysteria and warned against bombing and massacring populations in the Middle East. Behind the state of emergency, there is the state and big business. Its to increase the power they have to repress social opposition. We have to consider this struggle very carefully, these are methods of big business to violently attack social protest. In Marseille, the WSWS spoke with youth and workers mobilised yesterday against the El Khomri law and more broadly against austerity, attacks on democratic rights and the drive to war. Before the demonstration set off, the WSWS met Olivia, a high school student. She said she was demonstrating for our future, against the labour law, the longer working times, making firing easier for bosses, I do not see myself living in a world like that. Already there is a crisis in France, its even more complicated when I no longer have the security that the law protects me. Olivia expressed concern for her future and that of her entourage: Most of my family work, my friends are also future workers. Even people who are in public service are concerned. I feel that this absurd law in France leaves too much freedom to the boss. I am for the withdrawal of this law, but I do not know if we will be successful. Weve been fighting it for some time already. Asked what she thought of the state of emergency, she replied: I see people who have been taken into custody for 96 hours for ridiculous reasons. In my high school, another student was arrested for four days for insulting policemen, all because of the state of emergency. Its crazy. Olivia also expressed her hostility to the war in Syria and the wider military escalation: Governments are all rotten, they do not care about us. They are interested only in money, its pure PR when they say the war is to protect the populations. Behind those words, they enrich themselves, having good geopolitical relations wherever they want, we can only cry, they dont care. ... Its scary, we do not know in what world we will end up, we go to school to get a job later, but if you tell me that we can finish up in a country at war. ... On the Hollande government and its austerity policy, she said, If he runs for president again its suicidal. For me this is a right-wing government. When we see the El Khomri law, it is for the bosses, not the people. This is a capitalist party that leaves people to die and enriches the bosses. Nouria, a high school student in economic and social science, expressed her broader discontent against the government: We are demonstrating against the El Khomri lawthis is crap, this law leads to nothing. We fear for our future. We are high school studentsalready before the law, we were told that life would be hard, but now we are desperate because if we make laws like that, we tell ourselves that in a few years it will be even worse, and if we do nothing and after, it will be too late. We are demonstrating against the whole government, the systemthere is nothing that makes us believe that this will change anything the government has in store for us. We wont get anything out of this. The government is trying to bamboozle us. She indicated her deep distrust of the war in Syria and terrorist attacks, stating that The fight against terrorism is an excuse for the state of emergency. Nouria has seen the consequences of the state of emergency in police intimidation: Arrests push me to demonstrate even more. I was there at all the demonstrations. I saw all the injustice. There were people who had done nothing that were battered with billy clubs. It shows us that they make no distinction. Its their fault if it degenerated. It is true that there were some rioters, but we are pacifists. We were not looking for trouble. This feeling was shared by Vives and his daughter Caroline, who demonstrated against the El Khomri law but also against austerity and the state of emergency. Vives told the WSWS: This law is a step back from all social progress since 1936. No one is immune; people on permanent contracts, they will be the first under attack. Today, if you want to do things, you have to have money, and if we dont have money, theyve taken away our freedom. We want the withdrawal of the lawthe state must not succeed, otherwise well lose what we have. His daughter Caroline added that we are losing all of our social gains. The state is so unstable. We are demonstrating against the state of emergency. This is a police state! There is not much talk of police violence on TV; when I asked people whether they had heard about it, most did not know just how violent these exchanges are. Vives spoke of the state of emergency as a way for the police to attack demonstrators: In the 70s and even in 1968, the police were all over, there were many things that the French people forgot, but there were assaults on people. It is again an attack on freedom of expression. Fortunately, there is the Internet, even if we have to sort through it, but we can filter the media and you get to see something else. My daughter showed me videosI was surprised. When there are demonstrations, Im mobilised and Im there in the evening to see what people say, and its true that even if its not talked about I can find it. For Vives and Caroline, the Socialist Party (PS) is discredited. Caroline said that Hollande is too free-market, he is a false socialist. A WSWS reporter asked what they thought of international military tensions. Caroline said: There is media manipulation, the Cold War never stopped. During our interview, the demonstration took a different direction than originally scheduled and people threw eggs at the door of the Marseille section of the PS. Yesterday, Mississippis Republican Governor Phil Bryant enacted a sweeping anti-LGBT law that allows public and private businesses to refuse service to gay people, effectively legalizing discrimination based on sexual orientation across the state. In the face of widespread public opposition, Bryant signed the bill into law within hours after it cleared its final legislative obstacle. The law is set to go into effect this July. The law is the most far-reaching of the so-called religious freedom bills to be enacted in the wake of the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage across the US. The premise of such laws turns reality on its head, arguing that through the high court decision the federal government has infringed on citizens First Amendment right to freedom of religion. Religious freedom bills such as Mississippis seek to protect those who believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman and that male and female genders are unchangeable. The Mississippi law protects churches, religious charities, privately held businesses and individual government employees that decline to provide services to people whose lifestyles violate their religious beliefs. The bill also explicitly defines a persons gender as determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth, while enabling businesses to determine who is given access to bathrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms. In response, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi commented that the law sanctions discrimination by individuals, businesses, religiously-affiliated organizationsincluding hospitals, schools, shelters and othersagainst LGBT people, single mothers, and vulnerable young people in Mississippi. While no other state has passed a law like this, Mississippi also has the dubious distinction of being the first state to codify discrimination based on a religious belief or moral conviction that members of the LGBTQ community do not matter. The law serves as a direct challenge to last years Supreme Court ruling, as made abundantly clear by the states lieutenant governor, Tate Reeves. In a statement released last week, Reeves wrote, In the wake of last years U.S. Supreme Court decision, many Mississippians, including pastors, wanted protection to exercise their religious liberties. This bill simply protects those individuals from government interference when practicing their religious beliefs. Seeking to downplay this subversion of the high court decision, Governor Bryant released a statement on Twitter immediately after signing the bill into law, which reads, I am signing HB 1523 into law to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities and institutions of higher learning. Bryant goes on to claim that the law is intended to protect religious freedom, does not limit any constitutionally protected rights or actions of any citizen of this state under federal or state laws and does not attempt to challenge federal laws. In reality, a central purpose of the law is to subvert last years Supreme Court decision that extended the fundamental democratic right to marriage to same-sex couples. Bryant is a firm supporter of Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz, a Christian fundamentalist who has vehemently opposed marriage equality and legislation protecting LGBT persons from discrimination. Cruz has made antigay rhetoric a centerpiece of his campaign, deeming the 2016 US presidential election the religious liberty election. He has pledged to push for the rapid enactment of the so-called First Amendment Defense Act, a bill that the ACLU warns would open the door to unprecedented taxpayer-funded discrimination against LGBT people, single mothers, and unmarried couples. Following last years Supreme Court ruling, Cruz told The Washington Examiner, People are not obliged to obey justices who are defying the Constitution, defying the law, who are committing acts of judicial tyranny. Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis took up this call to action and refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, saying she acted under Gods authority. Cruz and other Republican candidates loudly came to her defense, and the new Mississippi law includes provisions that would legally protect individual violations of federal law such as that committed by Davis. The passage of the Mississippi law comes on the heels of a similar attack on democratic rights in North Carolina. On March 23, the state legislature and governor hastily enacted the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, nicknamed the bathroom law, which limits the definition of sex to ones sex at birth, thereby forcing all government-controlled facilities to maintain solely single-sex bathrooms for matching biological sex. The law also prevents local governments from banning discrimination based on sexual orientation. Comparable state bans on local antidiscrimination laws have also been enacted in Tennessee (2011) and Arkansas (2015), while Florida, Arizona, Kentucky and Texas have similar bathroom bills which restrict the use of bathrooms by transgender people. In an overlooked section, the North Carolina law also prohibits the establishment of a local minimum wage above the state minimum. The law reworks the states Wage and Hour Act, preventing any local government from regulating labor conditions pertaining to compensation of employees, such as the wage levels of employees, hours of labor, payment of earned wages, benefits, leave, or well-being of minors in the workforce. A whole host of corporations have decried the North Carolina and Mississippi laws, with PayPal announcing yesterday that it is canceling plans to build a new global operations center in Charlotte due to the passage of the discriminatory law. Such actions by PayPal and other corporations do not signal their readiness to defend democratic rights, but rather express their overriding concern for maintaining their public image. The organization Human Rights Campaign estimates that nearly 200 bills deemed anti-LGBT have been introduced in nearly three-dozen states during the 2016 state legislative sessions. While the Republicans have spearheaded this campaign to criminalize the LGBT community, the Democrats have repeatedly demonstrated their unwillingness to mount any serious struggle in defense of these basic democratic rights. The task of defending all social and democratic rightsincluding freedom from discrimination, the right to privacy, freedom of speech, etc.falls to the working class. A professor of Sociology at the University of Auckland, Scott Poynting, has been forced to stop teaching following an orchestrated pro-Zionist campaign, prompted by a letter from him to the Waikato Times in November. The university has refused to comment on Poyntings status but he has, according to media reports, been placed on study leave until June when he is due to retire. Despite an internal investigation finding Poynting not guilty of professional misconduct, Vice-Chancellor Stuart McCutcheon penned a grovelling letter to the complainants, apologising for the considerable distress purportedly caused. It concluded with an assurance that Professor Poynting's employment with the University of Auckland concludes on 30 June 2016. Poynting wrote to the Waikato Times following a news report of a protest by the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Hamilton. Around 15 members of the group, which is part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, entered a shop and distributed fliers demanding that an Israeli-manufactured SodaStream soft drink machine be removed from shelves. The Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, Yosef Livne, was quoted as condemning the BDS movement's tactics, describing the action as a facet of economic warfare against Israel. The report also cited a statement by SodaStream CEO Daniel Birnbaum from the Guardian, claiming the companys Palestinian employees were given pay and benefits far higher than anything else they could find in the West Bank. Poyntings brief response, published on November 28, read: Thank you for explaining in your article how SodaStream generously provided work for Palestinians (Waikato Times, November 26). I understand that IG Farben provided work for large numbers of Jews. Not that I have anything against Germans, mind you. The letter was published over Poyntings name but did not identify his academic position. SodaStream is currently a focus of the BDS movement. The closure of the companys factory on the West Bank in 2014 resulted in its 470 Palestinian workers losing their jobs. Poyntings comparison of SodaStream with IG Farben was a reference to the German chemical conglomerates involvement in the slave labour program in Nazi concentration camps. Poynting had every right to raise his opposition to Israeli policy and to make the comparison. While his letter did not explicitly endorse the BDS movement, it was clearly intended as an ironic riposte to the official propaganda about the treatment of Palestinian workers inside Israel. The WSWS rejects the petty-bourgeois BDS campaign as politically bankrupt. It seeks to apply pressure on the Israeli regime to implement a two-state solution, i.e. the creation of an unviable mini-state that could serve only as a virtual prison for Palestinians. Underlying the BDS perspective is the deeply pessimistic view that it is impossible to mobilise the Jewish working class against the Israeli government and Zionism itself, and thereby develop a unified struggle of Jewish and Arab workers against their common oppressors. Within days of the publication of Poyntings letter, the New Zealand Jewish Council and the Zionist Federation of New Zealand began smearing him as anti-Semitic and agitating to have him disciplined. The organisations laid complaints with the university and called on others to demand that the university, along with the publishers of the Waikato Times, disassociate themselves from the letter. A History Professor at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Paul Moon, joined in, demanding an apology for the hatefulness of Poyntings comments and a retraction. Vice-Chancellor McCutcheon said the university had suggested to Poynting that he should write a second letter to the editor of the Waikato Times clarifying he was not intending to make anti-Semitic remarks. Poynting refused. The Jewish Council claimed that Poyntings comments were an example of Holocaust inversion, which it defined as seeking to draw false parallels between Nazi Germany and Israel. It said that the comparison is part of the European working definition of anti-Semitism which is also used, significantly, by the US State Department. The council noted that US academic institutions, faced with similar anti-Semitic comments from staff, had moved quickly to distance themselves while undertaking the necessary investigations. This international campaign, which seeks to suppress basic democratic rights of freedom of speech and intimidate legitimate political opposition, is based on the crude slander that those who oppose the criminal policies of the Zionist state of Israel are guilty of anti-Semitism. This falsification has been used in particular to intimidate and silence critics of the brutal Israeli war against the people of Gaza and its ever-expanding occupation of Palestinian territory. Opposition to Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism, or anti-Jewish racism. Zionism, the founding ideology of the Israeli state, is a reactionary, nationalist doctrine that pits Jews against Arabs. Its basic proposition is that the Jewish people must live within an exclusivist statemaintained and protected by US imperialism. Zionism is in fact the reverse side of the coin of anti-Semitism. The Zionist state of Israel bears full responsibility for the near 70-year oppression of the Palestinian people, including the utilisation of methods similar to those used by the Nazis against Jews. During the eight-year US-backed blockade of Gaza, successive Israeli governments have subjected its residents to the most inhuman conditions, akin to those created by the Nazis inside the Warsaw Ghetto. In August 2014, 225 Jewish survivors and descendants of survivors of the Nazi genocide warned of the spectre of fascism arising inside Israel. The group signed a letter condemning Israels massacre in Gaza and calling for an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people, saying that they were alarmed by the dehumanization of Palestinians in the Israeli media, and the emergence of right-wing Israelisadopting Neo-Nazi insignia. The fascistic sympathies of the Israeli leadership were underscored in October 2015 in remarks made by Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu to the 37th World Zionist Congress. In a grotesque apologia for the Nazis, he laid the blame for the Final Solution and the murder of millions of Jews on the Palestinian national leadership. Poynting is not the only victim of the New Zealand Jewish Councils efforts to silence political opponents of the Israeli state. In August 2003, award-winning cartoonist Malcolm Evans was sacked by the New Zealand Herald following complaints by pro-Zionist lobbyists against his cartoons critical of Israels repression of the Palestinians. Jewish Council spokesmen demanded further punitive action against Evans, claiming he had intended to incite racial hatred, which is illegal under New Zealand law. A sinister aspect of the campaign against Poynting has been baseless and unsubstantiated attacks on his professional integrity. Before his posting at Auckland University, Poynting had taught at Macquarie and Western Sydney Universities in Australia, and Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, where he was involved with the International State Crime Initiative, a group of scholars researching and exposing state crimes. On its website, the Zionist Federation of NZ listed the titles of Poyntings courses on state crime, human rights and anti-Islamic prejudice, then declared: One can only guess as to what he may (sic) taught to his students? The theme was amplified by the right-wing blog WhaleOil, which declared that it was sickening that the Jew hating professor was teaching at the university, and demanded he be sacked. WhaleOil celebrated Poyntings suspension proclaiming he would no longer be poisoning students at the university. The WhaleOil blog has close connections with the National Party government. Its founder and operator, Cameron Slater, is the son of a former National Party president, John Slater. In August 2014, Slater was invited, and partly funded, by the Israeli Embassy to tour Israel with a group of hand-picked foreign journalists in the midst of the murderous assault on Gaza. The Tertiary Education Union (TEU) has refused to defend Poynting and his basic democratic right to free speech. TEU president Sandra Grey justified the unions cowardly stance by saying that because Poynting had written as a private citizen, the matter was not work-related and therefore was not an issue of academic freedom. Grey, who is also a cofounder of Academic Freedom Aotearoa, declared: He wasn't speaking as an academic ... There was no misconduct, so the matter ends there. Regardless of whether Poynting was writing as a private citizen or not, the vicious campaign against him was aimed at silencing and removing him from the university. The case sets a dangerous precedent for the persecution of other academics and students on New Zealand campuses for making political statements. The Panama Papers claimed its first casualty Tuesday, when Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson was forced to resign following protests by thousands of people in the countrys capital. The documents, released Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), revealed that Gunnlaugsson had failed to disclose his holdings in an offshore shell company that allowed his family to profit from the bailout of Icelands banks after the 2008 financial crisis. The widening global scandal threatens to engulf UK Prime Minister David Cameron. He faces demands that he release his tax records following reports by leading newspapers, basing themselves on the Panama Papers documents, that his father, Ian Cameron, held shares in an offshore corporation. Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian legal firm at the heart of the scandal, made millions of dollars helping politicians and the super-rich stash their money and hide it to evade taxation. Its operations are a testament to the pervasive role of tax dodges, money laundering schemes, corporate slush funds and political kickbacks in the day-to-day economic and political life of the worlds leading democracies. The ICIJ report has implicated 140 public officials around the world, including 12 current and former heads of government, as well as 29 billionaires listed in Forbes magazines ranking of the planets 500 richest people. While relatively few Americans have been named in connection with the documents, experts have told media outlets that the services provided by Mossack Fonseca are readily available in domestic tax havens such as the state of Delaware. One small office building in that state is the nominal home of 285,000 separate businesses, including Fortune 500 companies Apple Computer, Coca-Cola and JPMorgan Chase, as well as an untold number of shell companies belonging to run-of-the-mill fraudsters, smugglers and financial criminals. None of the ICIJs revelations will come as a surprise to financial regulators, who have ample documentation showing that major financial institutions have facilitated tax evasion and money laundering operations for decades. In 2012, the British bank HSBC was fined $1.9 billion for having laundered money for Mexican drug cartels. However, a 2015 leak by the ICIJ documented the fact that the bank subsequently continued similar operations unhindered. It essentially ran its Swiss private banking arm as a back alley tax evasion service, handing its wealthy clients bricks of hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign denominations to help them avoid taxes. The ICIJs revelations come as politicians, including those like Cameron, who are implicated in the scandal, insist there is no money to pay for the most essential social services. The international financial elite and its bribed political stooges are allowed to dodge taxes by stashing their wealth in offshore havens right under the noses of financial regulators, while the working class is told it must accept worsening poverty and deprivation. It is now a century since the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin described the imperialist epoch as a stage of capitalism in which finance capital dominates, giving rise to a new financial aristocracy characterized by corruption, bribery on a huge scale and all kinds of fraud. The processes Lenin was describing were at the time only in their infancy. They have vastly matured and expanded in the ensuing period. A criminal financial elite has bankrupted the world economy, stealing unimaginable sums by means of speculation and parasitism and operating outside of any legal restraint. In contemporary capitalism, it has become a truism that political office is a path to great personal wealth and entry into the financial elite. One need only look at the 2016 US elections to see this principle in action. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, has, together with her ex-president husband, made over $140 million in the eight years since the 2008 financial crash. She garnered a substantial portion of this wealth in speaking fees from major corporations and banks. In the first 15 months after she left her post as secretary of state in 2012, Clinton received $5 million in speaking fees, putting her squarely in the top 0.1 percent of income earners. Such payouts are, in the world of American politics, nothing more than a form of legalized bribery. The $140 million pocketed by the Clinton household, and the millions more funneled into their foundation, are nothing less than payment for services rendered to the financial elite. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In February 2015, the Guardian reported, based on the 2015 ICIJ report, that Hillary Clinton and her family had received as much as $81 million from wealthy international donors who were clients of HSBCs controversial Swiss bank. In an editorial posted Tuesday evening, the New York Times asks rhetorically, How did all these politicians, dictators, criminals, billionaires and celebrities amass vast wealth and then benefit from elaborate webs of shell companies to disguise their identities and their assets? The newspaper bemoans the dangerous damage to democratic rule and regional stability when corrupt politicians have a place to stash stolen national assets out of public view. It asks, After these revelations, will anything change? The Times knows very well the answers to its rhetorical questions. The crimes documented in the Panama Papers have occurred because governments and financial regulators, entirely under the thumb of the financial elite, serve not as checks upon the criminal activities of the global financial oligarchy, but rather as co-conspirators. To the extent that these matters are left to capitalist governments, nothing will change. The latest ICIJ findings will be buried in exactly the same manner as its earlier reports. The task of cleaning the Augean stables of capitalisms billionaire oligarchs, corrupt politicians and criminal CEOs requires the building of a socialist movement of the working class in opposition to the present social order. The Panama Papers illuminate a basic reality: Parasitism, criminality and corruption are not warts on the face of capitalism, they are the face of capitalism. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders routed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin, winning by a double-digit margin. The result defied poll numbers showing a close race as well as media coverage anointing Clinton as the near-certain Democratic Party nominee. More than half a million voters gave their support to a candidate they believed to be a socialist. With nearly 85 percent of the vote counted, Sanders was holding a margin of 56 percent to 43 percent, by far his most impressive showing in a primary contest and four times the margin of his upset victory in the Michigan primary on March 15. Sanders swept 69 out of 72 counties in the state. He lost only in Milwaukee County, the states largest, by a narrow margin, and in two small rural counties. He dominated the vote in Madison, the state capital and site of the main campus of the University of Wisconsin, and won all of the smaller industrial cities: Green Bay, Appleton, Sheboygan, Eau Claire, La Crosse, Racine, Kenosha and Janesville. Exit polls documented the widespread support for Sanders among younger voters as well as a significant shift among younger African-American and other minority voters, who backed Sanders over Clinton for the first time. Sanders won 78 percent of white voters younger than 45 and 54 percent among non-white voters in the same age bracket. Clintons only sizeable margin came among non-whites aged 45 and older, where she won 78 percent of the vote. Those who responded to one exit poll identified Sanders as honest and trustworthy by a margin of 90 percent to 8 percent. Asked the same question about Clinton, only 57 percent said she was honest and trustworthy, while 38 percentamong Democratic primary voterssaid she was not. Three in 10 voters cited income inequality as their top issue, up from an average of 25 percent in other state contests, and Sanders won the support of two-thirds of these voters. Three quarters said they were worried about the direction of American life, with nearly 40 percent expecting the next generation of Americans to live worse than today, while only one-third thought that living standards would improve. Registered Democrats made up 70 percent of the primary voters, up from 62 percent in 2008, but this did not benefit Clinton, as she lost both Democrats and independents. The exit polling showed a distinct shift to the left among those voting in the Democratic primary. The proportion identifying themselves as liberal rose from 46 percent to 67 percent, while those calling themselves very liberal rose from 16 percent to 25 percent. Sanders won 78 percent of those who favored more liberal policies than those of the Obama administration. Perhaps the most significant finding in the exit polls, not just in Wisconsin but more generally, is the steady increase in turnout among young people, who are becoming more politically engaged and activated. Young people aged 18 to 29 made up only 8 percent of total voters in 2000 and 9 percent in 2004. This figure jumped to 14 percent in 2008 and has reached 17 percent so far in 2016. The result in Wisconsin is a devastating setback for Clinton, a fact tacitly conceded by her own campaign in its decision to hold no election night rally with her supporters in the state. Instead, the campaign issued a perfunctory written statement congratulating Sanders on his victory, while Clinton herself met behind closed doors with New York City fat cats, collecting $10,000-a-head donations at a private fundraising party in the upscale Riverdale neighborhood. The vote in Wisconsin is also a repudiation of the corporate-controlled media, which again chose to focus its coverage not on half a million people voting for a self-proclaimed socialist, but on the antics of Republican candidate Donald Trump, who lost the Republican primary in Wisconsin to Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Discussion of Trump and the efforts by sections of the Republican Party establishment to block his nomination dominated the television coverage of the Wisconsin vote. The scale and dimensions of the defeat of the Democratic frontrunner were scarcely acknowledged. On the contrary, the New York Times published a lengthy front-page article Monday, on the eve of the primary, essentially declaring the Sanders campaign dead and quoting a series of campaign aides, and even the candidates wife, as though they were participating in a post-mortem. The Wisconsin result has delivered another blow to the official narrative not only of the campaign for the Democratic nominationwhere Clinton has been decreed the all-but-certain winnerbut of American politics as a whole. According to this account, American voters are fundamentally conservative and unshakably committed to the free enterprise system. But nearly eight million voters have given their support to a candidate who claims to be a socialist and who has focused his campaign on denunciations of the billionaires and their corrupt domination of American society and its political system. The US ruling elite and its media mouthpieces know that Sanders himself is no threat to the capitalist system. His socialism is little more than a label pasted on traditional liberal policies. He does not call for public ownership of the corporations and banks, let alone the establishment of a planned economy, but merely for higher taxes and fewer privileges for the super-rich. The ruling class has been taken unawares by and fears the growth of anti-capitalist sentiment and working class opposition which are finding only an initial reflection in the broad support for Sanders, but which will go far beyond the reformist nostrums of the senator from Vermont. This class fear was expressed in a commentary published Monday in the Financial Times, written by Roger Altman, a prominent Wall Street Democrat and deputy treasury secretary in the Clinton administration. Under the headline The fury of American voters is in its infancy, Altman points to the rise of Donald Trump in the Republican campaign and Sanders in the Democratic, both appealing to deep-seated anger and distrust of the political system, and polls showing that two-thirds of Americans say the country is on the wrong track. He writes: At its heart, this anger is economic. Ever more Americans are having trouble making ends meet. Many of the jobs created since the financial crisis are low-wage. And voters do not expect better incomes in the future. For a nation accustomed to believing that each generation would live better than its predecessor, this is a bitter pill. Altman notes that real median household income is down 7.5 percent from its peak, while real median wages have fallen 4 percent since the 2008 financial crash. The majority of new jos are low-paying, and in 2013, 22 percent of children did not have enough to eat at some point during that year. Without a change in policy to alleviate these conditions, he warns, voter anger will intensify, with dire consequences. The scandal surrounding the leak of the Panama Papers from Mossack Fonseca, the worlds fourth biggest offshore law firm, goes to the very heart of the UK government. In total 11.5 million records were obtained from an anonymous source by Germanys Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In the UK the Guardian and the BBC are the major sources of revelations disclosing a vast network of tax avoidance using offshore tax havens. Among the 72 current and former heads of state and hundreds of politicians cited as using offshore accounts are three senior Conservative figures, Lord Michael Ashcroft, Michael Mates and Baroness Pamela Sharples. But by far the most damaging governmental connection is to Prime Minister David Camerons late father, Ian. Cameron senior was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, a client of Mossack Fonseca. The offshore fund was named after the familys ancestral home in Aberdeenshire and managed tens of millions of pounds on behalf of wealthy families. Its clients included Leopold Joseph, a private bank used by the Rolling Stones, and Isidore Kerman, once an adviser to the disgraced newspaper publisher Robert Maxwell. Set up in the early 1980s, Blairmore Holdings avoided paying any tax in Britain by being incorporated in Panama and formally conducting its business in the Bahamas. The Guardian states that in 30 years Blairmore has never paid a penny of tax in the UK on its profits. Camerons father was one of five UK-based directors until shortly before his death in 2010. A team of six other directors from Switzerland and the Bahamas was recruited to ensure that a majority of the board was based outside Britain. But this was essentially a legal fiction. To this end, board meetings were held every year in Nassau and Switzerland, often in the five-star Hotel Beau-Rivage in Geneva. Through the Bahamas branches of Coutts and later SG Hambros, Blairmore retained up to 50 Caribbean officers each year, filling roles such as treasurer and secretary and including as vice president for a time the late Solomon Humes, a lay bishop with the Church of God of Prophecy. In reality, all big investment decisions appear to have been taken in London, according to the documentary record, where the investment management firm Smith & Williamson and five of the directors including Cameron senior were based. Blairmore was controlled using what are known as bearer shares, which do not carry the name of the owner and which means that no other official record of ownership is required. Though legal, bearer shares have been abolished in many countries because they have been used by mobsters and tax evaders for money laundering, the Guardian writes. A decision was only taken in 2005 to replace bearer shares with traditional shares where the owners are named in a register. In 2012, Blairmore moved from Panama to Ireland, which has a notoriously low corporate tax rate and a reputation for poor financial oversight. Cameron yesterday told the press that he owns no shares in the fund, but did not state whether he benefits from it in any other way and said nothing about his family. His father left 2.74 million in his will, with the prime minister receiving 300,000. In total, six Tory members of the House of Lords, three ex-MPs, as well as dozens of donors have had offshore assets administered by Mossack Fonseca. Belize Corporate Services (BCS), a subsidiary of former party donor and MP Lord Ashcrofts BCB Holdings, began using Mossack Fonseca to provide shell corporations for its clients in 2006 when Ashcroft was in the House of Lords, it was reported. In response, Ashcrofts spokesman, Alan Kilkenny, said that allegations he had partnered or done business with Mossack Fonseca were entirely false and that records had been falsified. Michael Mates, Northern Ireland minister under Conservative Prime Minister John Major in 1992/93, chaired a company, Haylandale Limited, created in the Bahamas and registered with Mossack Fonseca. Pamela Sharples, a life peer, is named as a shareholder and one-time director of Nunswell Investments Limited, which was also based in the Bahamasthough Sharples lawyers state that when she first became a director in 2000 the company was registered in the UK. HM Revenue and Customs has asked to see the leaked documents to see whether any illegal tax evasion has taken place. The government finally banned the use of bearer shares in the UK last year. In a speech in Singapore July 28, Cameron pledged to tackle the corrupt, criminals and money launderers who take advantage of anonymous company structures by setting up a central register of what are known as the beneficial ownersi.e., the real ultimate owners of UK companies by June this year. London is not a place to stash your dodgy cash, he said. The challenge I am laying down for every country today is to root out the rot of corruptionto ensure transparency over what your own companies are doing; require transparency for foreign companies in your country too and work with us to spread this approach to transparency around the world. Comment on such bombast is hardly necessary, but reports are that little progress has been made and that few UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have taken any steps towards greater transparency. Camerons position is made worse still by the fact that next month he is due to host and chair a major summit of world leaders, charities and other NGOs supposedly to encourage more tax transparency and clampdown on offshore tax havens. The personal involvement of governmental figures is only the tip of an iceberg of global financial corruption, which means that most of the richest people in the world pay little or no tax and which centres on the UK. Mossack Fonseca, nominally Panamanian, operates in 42 countries, and focuses on tax havens including the British Virgin Islands, and in the British crown dependencies Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. More than half of the 300,000 firms listed as its clients were registered in British-administered tax havens or in the UK itself. Britain is second only to Hong Kong in a list of international jurisdictions where the most banks, law firms and middlemen associated with Mossack Fonseca formally operate. The BBCs Panorama on Monday noted as examples of the impact on Britain that 100,000 UK properties are owned by offshore companies. It cited how just one, in fashionable Islington, was sold by Nicholas Hague through an offshore company so that he paid no tax on the 1 million profit. More serious still, Chris Hudson, a property developer and the owner of 100,000 British homes, helped finance the building of the Willesden Centre for Health and Care in north-west London in a Public Private Partnership deal involving taxpayers cash. He set up the Yarrow foundation in Panama, which records show transferred 85,000 into his personal account and made available 115,000 to buy a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Panorama cited a statement by Mossack Fonseca that it was a responsible member of the global finance and business community, before contrasting this to a memo, written by one partner in Spanish, stating that 95 percent of our work consists in selling vehicles to avoid taxes. Mossack Fonseca is in any case not an aberration, but a fitting representative of the community represented by the financial oligarchywholly unaccountable, wholly parasitic. Its continued domination of economic and political life is antithetical to the interests of the broad mass of working people in the UK and internationally. A Mexican-born Canadian construction worker said he hung Mexicos flag atop Vancouvers Trump International Hotel and Tower over the weekend to remind the billionaire who built the tower. (Photo: AFP) New York: A Mexican-born Canadian construction worker said he hung Mexicos flag atop Vancouvers Trump International Hotel and Tower over the weekend to remind the billionaire who built the tower. Diego Reyna walked up 40 flights of stairs and recorded a 43-second video that said the building wouldnt exist without immigrants. It was a symbolic act, Reyna said yesterday in a telephone interview. When you say everyone in my family, my teachers, my children yet to be born are criminals and rapists, it is time to take a proactive effort. In the video he said Mexicans performed everything from drywall to concrete finishing on the project. During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has been criticized after Trump for saying Mexican immigrants are bringing crime and drugs to the US and are rapists. This building is standing here today thanks to us, to our work, he says. Theres a little present for Mr Trump, so every time you judge us you can think who is building your towers. Reyna, 30, said in a separate Facebook post that Mexicans didnt steal or rape but just did the best work they possibly could. Your tower here in Vancouver is premium quality, and we were a crucial part of it, not just Mexicans but immigrants as a whole, like your ancestors were, he said. The insults you have said about us have not changed our work ethics. Reyna, who arrived in Canada in 2011 and is now a Canadian citizen, arrived at the building in his construction gear with friend Alfonso Ramos, 37, early April 2. They took an elevator 28 floors and climbed the remaining 40 floors by stairs. Reyna said Trumps comments condemned all Mexicans. I would like him not to generalize against Mexico, Reyna said. The Holborn Group of Companies, the Vancouver developer behind the project, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment yesterday. This isnt the first time the building has been at the center of a Trump backlash. In December, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson sent a letter urging the developer to drop Trumps name from the tower, citing a petition signed by more than 50,000 people asking that the US businessmans name be removed from the tower following the Republican hopefuls call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Reyna said there are also Muslims working on the site. Trump visited the city in 2013 to help announce the project. The Trump Organization said it was lending its brand power and operating the tower, but that the family would not be investing in the development. Spending on weapons and other military costs grew by more than one percent in 2015, marking the first year of growth in total military purchasing by governments worldwide since 2011, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute found in a report published Tuesday. Total military purchases reached $1,676 billion in 2015, or nearly $1.7 trillion, consuming some 2.3 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP), SIPRI found. The United States remained by far the leading financier of militarism worldwide, spending nearly $600 billion, according to SIPRI. The real figure rises as high as $1 trillion once the Pentagons black budget, contingency money for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other hidden expenses are taken into account, according to the Center for International Policy. The Chinese government continued to fund the second largest war machine, spending $215 billion last year. Military spending by states in Asia and Oceania in general surged by 5.4 percent in 2015, an increase driven by the intensifying US war drive against China, which has militarized the entire East Asia and Pacific region, boosting weapons purchases by a coalition of US-aligned regional states, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan. Heightening tensions between China and various countries in the region contributed to substantial increases in expenditure, the SIPRI report notes. China continues to expand its military capabilities with imported and domestically produced weapons, said SIPRI senior researcher Siemon Wezeman. Neighbouring states such as India, Viet Nam and Japan are also significantly strengthening their military forces. A vastly outsized share of the growth in spending also came from Eastern European and Baltic governments aligned with the US-NATO strategic drive against Russia, including Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. Overall spending by Middle Eastern governments rose by at least 4 percent in 2015, the report found. Saudi Arabia rose to become the third largest spender in 2015, $87.2 billion in total and $5.3 billion on its year-old Yemen war alone. The report noted the staggering rise in Iraqs military budget, which grew by 536 percent from 2006 to 2015. Among the Middle Eastern powers, however, none came close to the US-backed Saudi monarchy, whose war budget surpassed that of Russia by more than $20 billion. Russia, whose military is endlessly demonized in US and European media as the primary threat to world peace, spent only $66.4 billion in 2015, lagging well behind Washingtons favored semi-feudal client regime. Governments worldwide are scrambling to beef up their forces in response to ongoing war scares and feverish geopolitical tensions. According to SIPRI, a subset of governments have implemented especially sharp upticks in their military spending in response to active or imminent regional conflicts, including Algeria, Azerbaijan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam. The overall growth of world war expediters came despite significant reductions by a handful of governments in response to plunging oil prices, including a 64 percent cut by Venezuela and a 42 percent cut by Angola. In a supplementary report, Military versus social expenditure: the opportunity cost of world military spending, SIPRI examines the military burden imposed on economies and social infrastructure by the renewed arms bonanza. The relentless siphoning of social resources into the global war industries is feeding conditions of mass deprivation in every region on the planet, and with special intensity in the ex-colonial and semi-colonial countries, where social spending is already minimal. In the past two to three years there have been particularly large increases in the military burden in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, as well as in the subregion of North Africa, SIPRI notes. According to a 2015 assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the reallocation of a small fraction of yearly war spending towards socially valuable purposes would be sufficient to resolve a laundry list of problems plaguing world society. The UN analysis found that only $265 billion annually would be required to end conditions of extreme poverty and hunger worldwide, a sum that amounts to less than 13 percent of annual worldwide war expenditures in 2015 prices. An additional $240 billion, or 12 percent of annual military costs, would be sufficient to realize universal primary and early secondary education globally. Four percent of annual military spending could guarantee universal agriculture and food security; three percent could insure universal water and sanitation; eleven percent for modern energy; and twelve percent could pay for universal telecommunications infrastructure, the UN found. No governments or establishment political parties even pretend to pursue a program that would transfer arms funding to social spending along these lines. Rational allocation of the immense wealth produced by the global economy is impossible within the historic framework of capitalism and imperialism, in which the various bourgeois governments are locked into a global struggle for markets, access to cheap labor and profits, in which the strength of their respective militaries plays a decisive role. Far from slashing their expenditures in the name of social benefits and infrastructure, all states worldwide are striving to finance their militarist agendas through ever-greater levels of social cutbacks, exploitation and police repression against the working class. 6 years, 6 months ago QPD Dennis J Morrell (42) 1231 S 22nd for Use of Intoxicating Compounds at 1231 S 22nd on 3/30/16. Released on NTA. Jamey L Brown (26) 511 N 15th for Driving While License Suspended at 15/Spring on 3/17/16. Released on NTA. Tanner T Eyler (19) 1521 Penthouse Dr for Operating Uninsured Vehicle, Driving While License Suspended, and Disobeying Traffic Control Device at 15/Spring on 3/21/16. Released on NTA. Adam N Parn (27) Monroe City, MO for Public Drinking at 1201 N 20 on 3/13/16. Released on NTA Roderick W Douglas (63) 2313 Elm for Improper Lane Usage at 12th & Kochs Ln PTC Lori A Perry 46, of MO for failure to yield. Whitney J Hays 28, of MO for illegal use of cell phone while driving. Cassandra A Duncan 32, of Quincy for illegal use of cell phone while driving. Charlotte Y Clemens 63, of Quincy for expired registration. Gale A Lewis 61, of Quincy for expired registration. Melinda M. Parrick (41) 1115 Ohio for Retail Theft at Hy-Vee, 1400 Harrison, on 3/8/16. Shawna L. Hill (40) 625 Jefferson for Retail Theft at Hy-Vee, 1400 Harrison, on 3/9/16. Clarence A. Baumann (72) homeless for Shoplifting at Kmart on 3/3/16. Amanda Brand 2121 Harrison reports her garage was entered and a vehicle was stolen out of her driveway on 3/2/16. Jeffrey Albright 928 S. 22nd reports his mother's garage at 2211 Harrison was entered & a vehicle rummaged through on 3/1/16. Randy Summers 1225 Sycamore reports someone flattened all his tires on his vehicle on 3/11 while parked at the residence. Jamie Cunningham 2315 State reports someone opened Comcast service in her name at 1527 Park Ave in 2011. James Brown of Quincy reports his vehicle was hit and run on 3/13 while parked at 2000 Broadway. Hillary Christiansen 906 Cherry reports her vehicle was struck by a box truck in front of 927 Jefferson on 3/4/16. Heaven L Ditto (21) 217 Stadium Dr # 14 for Operating Uninsured Vehicle at 6th & State. NTA Gretchen J.M. Dudley-Wolfmeyer (42) 2300 Oak for Operating Uninsured Vehicle at 12th & Maine. NTA Derek J Luthy (25) 3100 State for FTA Seatbelt at 3100 State. Lodged Rafeal E Crider Jr (35) Hannibal Mo for FTA Driving While License Suspended at 1421 Lind. Lodged Scotty J Rigg (59) 5025 Spyglass Hill for Expired Registration at 36th & Broadway. NTA Ladonna R Frieden (33) Durham Mo for Failure to Reduce Speed to Avoid Accident at 24th & Maine. PTC Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, said Obama. (Photo: AP) Washington: US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that destroying the ISIS group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. "We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure," Obama said at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House. "We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them." "As we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIS still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks," he added, using another term for the ISIS group. Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said. "We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul," he said of cities in Syria and Iraq. "Destroying ISIS continues to be my top priority." Obama spoke next to Defence Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders. Carter on Tuesday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current "top heavy" structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated. The fight against the ISIS has shown that the military's various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said. "We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans," he said. Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the ISIS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria's central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the ISIS's last strongholds in the region. The operation 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Palmyra helped secure the government's retaking of that ancient city last week after the ISIS held it for 10 months, destroying important archaeological sites and executing 280 people. ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -A man who fatally shot a former co-worker and wounded five others in a downtown Orlando office building five years ago has died in prison. A spokesman with the Florida Department of Corrections says Jason Rodriguez died Tuesday morning while at the Columbia Correctional Institution-Annex. DOC spokesman Alberto Moscoso says a medical examiner will determine the cause of death. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also is investigating. Rodriguez was convicted of killing his co-worker, but an appellate court ordered a new trial because the judge in the case mistakenly allowed the jury to hear certain instructions before deliberating. Last December, Rodriguez made a surprise plea of no contest to second-degree murder. Prosecutors had said that Rodriguez shot his colleagues out of anger that he wasn't getting unemployment benefits. The man did not have any money, but he gave up his phone. As soon as he did, the guy without a knife launched an attack. (Representational Image) San Francisco: In yet another case of violence against Sikhs in California's Fresno city, a 70-year-old Sikh man was left bloodied and bruised after armed robbers attacked him while he was taking a walk along with his wife. However, police said it was not a case of hate crime but seemed like robbers picking on older people. The robbers struck on Monday night on the northwest side of the Fresno town. The victims, the man and his 69-year-old wife who have not been named, were taking their nightly walk when they noticed three young men walking towards them. Two of those guys caught up and one of them was armed. "He pulled out a folding knife and told the male victim he wanted money and his cell phone. He repeated that three times," Fresno police Lt Joe Gomez was quoted as saying by KFSN-TV. The man did not have any money, but he gave up his phone. As soon as he did, the guy without a knife launched an attack. "He just rushes and kind of cold cocks the victim in the face, really for no reason," Gomez said. The elderly fell to the ground as blood spilled all over his clothes. The robbers then patted down his wife to make sure she had nothing of value and then they took off. "It looks like young robbers picking on older people. That's what the motivation is here," Gomez said while stating that it was not a hate crime. Just a couple blocks from the scene of the attack is a new Gurdwara and members there have been on high alert in light of recent assaults classified as hate crimes against Sikhs. A 68-year-old Sikh man was stabbed to death in Fresno city on January 1 this year. Alexis Mendoza and Daniel Wilson are charged with a hate crime for attacking Amrik Singh Bal, including by running him down in a car -- an act caught on surveillance video from a home in the area in December. Last September, Gilbert Garcia was convicted of attacking 82-year-old Piara Singh because of his cultural appearance. If you are sending a Letter To the Editor, please be sure to follow these rules: Letters have a firm 200-word limit and will be edited for grammar, clarity and accuracy. The person who signs the letter must be the author. Anonymous letters will not be considered. Letters must address the editor, not a third party. We will not print form letters, libelous letters, business promotions or personal disputes, poetry, open letters, letters espousing religious views without reference to a current issue, or letters considered in poor taste. 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. Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, told police he was drunk and high when voices convinced him 18 years ago to kill David Cardenas by beating the seventh-grader with a pipe and then cutting his throat. (Representational Photo: Pixabay) Hunstville: The US Supreme Court has been asked to block the scheduled execution of a South Texas man for the 1998 slaying of a 12-year-old boy, whose blood the convicted killer said he drank. Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, told police he was drunk and high when voices convinced him 18 years ago to kill David Cardenas by beating the seventh-grader with a pipe and then cutting his throat. He also told detectives in a videotaped statement that he lifted the boy's body, allowing the blood to drip on his face, and drank it. Vasquez's lethal injection on Wednesday evening would be the 11th execution this year nationally and the sixth in Texas. Vasquez's lawyer, James Keegan, appealed to the Supreme Court for a reprieve so the justices can review whether several potential jurors improperly were excused from Vasquez's capital murder trial because they either were opposed to the death penalty or not comfortable making such a judgment. State lawyers opposed any delay, arguing the potential jurors' exclusion was legally proper and that the latest appeal was similar to an unsuccessful one 12 years ago and amounted to "nothing more than a meritless attempt to postpone his execution," Assistant Texas Attorney General Jeremy Greenwell told the high court in a filing Tuesday. Earlier, unsuccessful appeals, including one rejected last month by a federal judge, focused on whether Vasquez was mentally ill and should be ineligible for the death penalty. Court records show Vasquez, his 15-year-old cousin, Andres Rafael Chapa, and Cardenas, Chapa's friend, all attended a party in Donna, a Texas border town where Vasquez and Chapa lived. Cardenas was from nearby Alamo, also in the Rio Grande Valley, and was spending the weekend with Chapa. The killing occurred April 18, 1998, after the three left the party. Vasquez told authorities as they reached a wooden shed, he started hearing voices telling him to kill Cardenas. "Something just told me to drink," Vasquez said in the statement to police. "You drink what?" a detective asked. "His blood," Vasquez replied. Police received an anonymous tip about the slaying that led them to Chapa and eventually to Vasquez, who was arrested in Conroe, a Houston suburb more than 325 miles north of Donna. Authorities found the body - missing some limbs and nearly decapitated - five days later under some scraps of aluminum in a vacant field. "It was really horrendous," Joseph Orendain, the lead trial prosecutor, recalled last week. Vasquez told detectives he took a ring and gold necklace from Cardenas and that Chapa, using a shovel, also participated in trying to decapitate the boy. "The devil was telling me to take (the head) away from him," Vasquez said, adding that "it couldn't come off." Vasquez declined an interview request from The Associated Press as his execution date neared. His statement to police about the devil and drinking blood fueled speculation about satanism, but the subject never came up at Vasquez's trial or in appeals. "Did he drink it? I don't know," Orendain said. Chapa pleaded guilty to a murder charge is serving a 35-year prison term. Three other relatives of Chapa and Vasquez received probation and a small fine for helping cover up the slaying. One of them was deported to Guatemala. As a result of the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, roughly 800,000 Jews were expelled from various Arab countries in which they had been living for generations. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Consequently, they were forced, like millions of other refugees throughout the 20th century, to resettle elsewhere. Although certainly not an easy task, eventually both the initial refugees and their descendants were able to let go of the past and move on with their lives. Unlike the Jewish refugees from Arab countries, the story of the roughly 500,000 Arab refugees created by Israels War of Independence has been vastly different. Rather than being encouraged to resettle elsewhere, they were turned into permanent refugees to be used as a political tool against Israel. For this purpose, a special UN agency, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), was created in 1950 for the sole intent of maintaining, as opposed to resettling, the original refugees. Even today, nearly seventy years later, UNRWA continues with this policy unabashedly. As they boldly state on their site We are committed to fostering the human development of Palestine refugees by helping them to acquire knowledge and skills, lead long and healthy lives, achieve decent standards of living and enjoy human rights to the fullest possible extent. Noticeably absent from this list is any attempt to help the refugees restart their lives in another place. The exact opposite is the case for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an agency that was also established in 1950 and which deals with every other other refugee population in the world. According to its site, "The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Palestinian in Gaza In addition, it strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another state, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. In other words, the emphasis is on problem resolution, a point that is proudly stated on its site: Since 1950, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Thus, while UNHCR is constantly trying to lower the number of refugees in the world, UNRWA is actually working in the opposite direction. By an absurd policy that is unique to UNRWA and which states that the descendants of Palestine refugee males, including legally adopted children, are also eligible for registration. UNRWA has succeeded in turning the original half million into five million and counting. In addition to the detrimental policies of UNRWA, which have deliberately kept the refugee issue alive for years, the refugees themselvesboth the originals and their descendantsas well as the other Arabs living in Judea and Samaria, have been led to believe that eventually they would receive their own country somewhere west of the Jordan River. By some, they were told the new country would include their former homes in Haifa and Jerusalem, while by others they were promised a more modest state side by side with a tiny Jewish one. Different variations of these assurances have repeatedly been made to them over the years by assorted Arab leaders, western/international leaders and even some Israeli leaders. Hence although the Arabs themselves, refugee or non-refugee, are partly to blame for not letting go of the past and simply moving on with their lives, its obvious that their permanent statelessness is also due to the fact that theyve been a pawn in a much larger game. Whats more, the seemingly endless bloody conflict between Jews and Arabs is the direct result of intentionally keeping this issue alive. This is by far the most tragic aspect of all the false promises and misleading UN policies. Nevertheless and despite the fact that at the moment there appears to be no end in sight to the conflict, something must be done since Israel cannot rule forever over another population with roadblocks and security checks and the Arabs cannot live eternally in a state of limbo. Therefore, in order to finally break this vicious cycle and to allow everyone to move on with their lives, some truths must be faced. For starters, despite all the promises that have been made its clear to nearly everyone today that Israel cannot allow for the creation of an Arab state in any shape or size west of the Jordan River since such an entity would pose an existential threat to the very existence of the Jewish state. Thus, despite all the headlines that the two-state solution receives, practically speaking its a non-starter. More than twenty-two years of the failed Oslo Process and all the accompanying wars and terrorist attacks, as well as the still unfolding events of the Arab Spring, makes this point self-evident. Equally suicidal for Israel is the granting of citizenship to another one or two million Arabs living in Judea and Samaria many of whom consider Israel an enemy state - as part of any future process of Israel declaring sovereignty over these areas. The demographic and economic problems of such an endeavor, combined with the obvious security problem of absorbing a large hostile population, would surely overwhelm the Jewish state. The only solution therefore, and by far the most humane one, is to rectify the injustice that was done to the Arabs by both the negligent polices of UNRWA and by years of being misled by false promises of statehood west of the Jordan River. Practically speaking, the Arabs need to be financially compensated and helped to resettle elsewhere, as the Jews from Arab countries did seventy years ago and as millions of refugees have done over the course of the last one hundred years as a result of various wars and conflicts. The new host country could be neighboring Jordan or another Arab country or wherever as long as its part of an international agreement. Such an agreement would also need to allow Israel to fortify its long-term security by extending Israeli sovereignty up to the natural border of the Jordan River. Although such a suggestion may sound harsh to some people, the truth is it is the only way to resolve the one hundred year conflict and to stop the pointless and never-ending bloodshed between Jews and Arabs. Moreover, the idea of financially compensating the Arabs and helping them to resettle elsewhere as part of an international agreement is the only solution that will both guarantee the continued existence of the worlds only Jewish state as well as enable the Arabs to escape their prison of false promises and to finally start building normal productive lives. For the well-being of both Jews and Arabs, the time has come to embrace the only solution that is truly capable of ending the conflict. Last week a group of Knesset members (MKs) went on an official visit to Georgia and Armenia. However, Deputy Minister Yaron Mazuz (Likud) refused to cross the border into Armenia following reports of war in the Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The region is an ethnically Armenian enclave inside of Azerbaijan, which is Armenia's neighbor to the East and West. Although the fighting was happening far from the minister and the delegation's location, Mazuz still requested to be returned to Israel. However, Mazuz said in a response that he wasn't feeling well and that he didn't want to continue with the trip. Deputy Minister Yaron Mazuz (Photo: Knesset Channel) "I'm only afraid of the Creator and not what was going on there," Mazuz said. "It seems I ate something, and it caused me to not feel well. I wasn't feeling well at the hotel, and I said that it's not worth it for me to travel in this state. I dont travel outside the country very often, and it seems I didn't bring the right clothes or anti-nausea medicine." Several hours after Mazuz's request to return to Israel was published, his bureau responded, "On Saturday morning the members of the delegation continued from Georgia to Armenia, but because I'm religious and keep the sabbath, I arrived at the border after the sabbath ended." "When I arrived at the border," he continued, "I received guidance from the Security Directorate of the Prime Minister's office not to cross the border due to the security situation in the region, and that the directive may change in the morning. Due to the fact that I wasn't feeling well, and after waiting several hours at the border between Georgia and Armenia, I decided to return to Israel." "As a public figure, I must follow directives given by security officials, and I acted according to those objectives," he added. At least 30 people were killed in fighting between Armenian and Azeri forces in the Nagorno-Karabakh region earlier this week. The region has 150 thousand residents of Armenian ethnicity, has its own civil administration, and has been receiving military and financial aid from Armenia since the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. The three Israeli victims of the Istanbul terror attack are to be recognized as victims of hostile enemy activity, the Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter A letter written by the Ministry stated that, after a review of the evidence, the Ministry believes that is has "reasonable grounds to assume that the attack in Istanbul was aimed at Israelis." In light of this decision, Deputy Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Defense Yedidiya Oron decided to recognize the attack as hostile enemy activity. This decision will allow those injured, including their families, to receive treatment from the Hostile Activity Directorate of the National Insurance. Aftermath of the Istanbul bombing (Photo: AP) Two days after the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that "our intelligence services are working to determine if the attack in Turkey was directed towards Israelis." Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denied that Israelis were the target of the attack which was carried out by an ISIS terrorist, saying "this was not directed at Israelis." Victims of hostile enemy activity and their families are eligible, according to the law, for financial assistance and other benefits in order to help then and support them during their recovery process such as: medical expenses funding, financial aid for two months, rehabilitation, annual payments and one time lump sum payments. The National Insurance is prepared to treat the victims of the Istanbul attack, and official claims have already been filed on behalf of those injured. Two days after the attack, the Turkish President sent a letter to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, saying "we must unite in the fight against terror which threatens all mankind and our basic values, and which presents crimes against humanity. I was very saddened to hear of the misfortune of the three Israeli citizens who died and the 10 Israeli citizens who were wounded in the terror attack in Istanbul." President Reuven Rivlin asked Russian President Vladimir Putin, during their meeting in Moscow last month, to take advantage of his military presence in Syria in order to bring the remains of the legendary spy Eli Cohen to Israel for burial. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Israel hopes that the fact that the Russians are the main lifeline of the Assad regime, it would be easy for them - if they so wished - to persuade the Syrian president to end the historic affair. Before the meeting, Rivlin received a briefing from the defense establishment, during which the widow Nadia Cohen's request to bring up the matter with Putin was brought to his attention. The Russian president listened and promised to look into the matter. Eli Cohen's trial in Syria (Photo: AFP) Eli Cohen spied in Syria from 1961until he was caught and executed in 1965. Over the years, including during the Syrian civil war, the State of Israel has done everything possible to bring back his remains. In 2007, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert asked Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was very close to Assad, to help in the matter. Erdogan also handed Assad a letter from Nadia Cohen, and from reports that Jerusalem received, the Syrian president answered orally that "now is not the time". Israeli president Reuven Rivlin meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin (Photo: AFP) Israel asked the American government several times to intervene. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also sent his associate Ronald Lauder to Assad in late 2010 in order to persuade him to permit the return of Cohen's remains. Nadia Cohen told Ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth, "We greatly respect President Rivlin and we all hope that maybe this time it will work. I hope that appealing to Putin will succeed. In any case, we have nothing to lose. Each person or any factor that can affect the situation will make me very happy. This will remove some of the sorrow and pain that we experience every day. I think that bringing Eli to Israel is just like a live meeting." Nadia Cohen,"We don't believe the Syrians" (Photo: Assaf Magal) According to Cohen, today there are many options in Syria now to retrieve Eli Cohen's remains, but unfortunately nobody has been able to influence the Syrians. "Mossad chief Meir Dagan was active in this regard," she added. "Dagan tacted with great fervor during his tenure so that Eli Cohen could be returned Israel for burial. He made lots of efforts." Cohen said the Syrians have argued in the past that they do not know the exact place where Cohen is buried, since in that same place a road was built and a new neighborhood was constructed, "but we do not believe them. We are convinced that they know exactly where Eli is buried." Former president Moshe Katsav's request to be released early from prison was denied Wednesday afternoon. He is currently serving a seven-year sentence for rape. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter The parole board next to the Prison Service held a discussion which started at 10am to deal with Katsavs request to deduct one third of his seven-year prison sentenced for sexual offenses. After two hours of discussion, it was decided that he will remain in jail. Former president Moshe Katsav on a temporary leave from prison (Photo: Shachar Chai) Katsav, who has already spent 4 years and 121 days in prison, took the decision with great pain and returned to his cell. His attorney Zion Amir, said that he would appeal of the decision. The committee stated that "the prisoner perceives himself as a victim, busy blaming external factors for his condition, is still behaving in a forceful manner and his absorbed with his needs, losses and the price that only he and his family has paid. Even in light of the commission's questions, the prisoner did not express remorse or empathy for his victims, but reiterated the he has paid and continues to pay a heavy price. The committee members summarized with, "The prisoner before us denies the crimes he committed, continues to claim his innocence despite the court rulings in the case, and continues to be busy proving his innocence in the manner he expressed it to us, as if there was no legal procedure at all. "The courts explicitly stated that these are serious offenses and noted the seriousness of these attacks on the victims. The victims brought their objections to the release council, and different legal opinions were consulted regarding the decision. The committee members believe that the private program will not have the power to stop (Katzav's) poor conduct, his obsessive claims of innocence, or even (stop) his continued attacks on the victims," they concluded. Katzavs lawyers, Zion Amir and Yehoshua Reznik, said in response, "The decision is 20 pages long, maybe a bit more; we will examine it, and will of course appeal the parole boards decision. What we retained from the main decision is the question of his innocence, a fundamental right, a constitutional right to adhere to ones faith and innocence. I regret very much that our society and its decision makers are enslaved to the winds blowing outside which leads to these types of decisions. On December 30 2010 Katsav was convicted of two counts of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to seven years in prison for rape and other sexual offences. A new Palestinian city is being built "illegally, with no permits, and under the noses of the Civil Administration" a spokesperson for NGO Regavim said Wednesday. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter Oved Arad, head of the Regavim field division, raised this issue during a meeting of the Subcommittee for Foreign and Security Affairs for Judea and Samaria. According to their report, the illegal village is being built on ten thousand dunams of land south of Hebron. Palestinian city reportedly built illegaly south of Hebron (: ) X The area where the building is taking place is called "live fire zone 917." In the 1980's, there were three areas set up by the Civil Administration designated to settle the Bedouin close to live fire zone 917, but the population has grown at such an exponential rate since then that the three areas have since merged into one continuous urban development the size of a city. Regavim claims to have reported these illegal construction activities several times to the Civil Administration and was told that orders were being carried out to stop this illegal construction. However, construction continued, with houses, schools, medical clinics, and mosques being built at an alarming rate. "The Civil Administration is rewarding these Palestinian lawbreakers under the noses of the Israeli public," Oved Arad claimed. . Illegal Palestinian construction south of Hebron (Photo: Regavim Movement) "The Administration is permitting the illegal construction of an entire city, a city which has no central planning, and is completely illegal. This is a scandal which requires further examination," Arad concluded. Council Chairman MK Moti Yogev said that "we must consider the construction of the Palestinians in Area C. We can't let the EU act here as if this is their territory. There are many countries who donate aid, and lots of money is being invested in financing illegal Palestinian buildings in strategic areas." Illegal Palestinian construction south of Hebron (Photo: Regavim Movement) These claims were rejected by Gen. Yoav Mordechai, head of the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories unit (COGAT). He claims that the situation is the exact opposite of the claims made by Regavim. "Incomplete quotes have emerged from my discussions with the council, quotes which make it seem as if there is a discriminatory and lenient policy in regards to the Palestinians. I want to make it clear - there is strict enforcement (of the law) vis-a-vis the Palestinians." Illegal Palestinian construction south of Hebron (Photo: Regavim Movement) Gen. Mordechai went on to state that "enforcement is inclined to be stricter on the Palestinian side that it is on the Israeli side. We have to look at the big picture, and not only look at the administration and how it enforces its policies. There has been a freeze in Palestinian planning (of new cities- ed) for the past two years, and no new building permits have been issued." The residents also complained about the destruction of a synagogue in Karmei Tzur last week, although the general said that "data regarding the enforcement of policies against the Palestinians is not available to the public due to international policy. To claim that there's one form of enforcement against Palestinians and one against Jews is a baseless argument." The Civil Administration said in response that "these are clusters of buildings in three areas which were planned by the Civil Administration in the 1980's. The areas were designed to respond to the needs of Bedouin population and the residents of the area over the course of several decades. The construction has been concentrated in these areas for the last 30 years. There have been several instances where the Bedouins violated the agreements, and all the necessary demolition and confiscation orders were made and undertaken." He was rushed to a hospital after the incident where he was released after getting 6 stitches. (Photo: YouTube screen grab) Brazil: A shocking video going viral on the internet shows a toddler cheat death after being run over by his unsuspecting mothers car. The incident reportedly took place in northeast Brazil. According to a report in the Mirror, Rita de Cassia Moreira, the little boys mother said, God put his hand over my sons head and made sure nothing bad happened to him. I thank the Lord he is okay. Hes not complaining about being in any pain. The 2-year-old escaped the horrific accident with just minor injuries to his head. He was rushed to a hospital after the incident where he was released after getting 6 stitches. In the CCTV footage the excited toddler can be seen trotting up to the vehicle after seeing his mother arrive from work. But his small size meant he could not be seen over the bumper and was invisible to his mother at the wheel. DOHA - A member of Qatar's ruling family kidnapped in Iraq last year with 26 other Qataris has been freed, along with a Pakistani man who was travelling with them, Qatar's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. About 100 unidentified armed men seized the group of Qatari hunters from a desert camp in southern Iraq near the Saudi border in December. At least nine members of the group managed to escape and crossed into Kuwait. "One man is Pakistani, the second is an al-Thani from the royal family," a foreign ministry official told Reuters. "Negotiations are continuing for the release of the others." BEIRUT - Islamic State fighters launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus overnight on Tuesday in an apparent response to the group's loss of ground elsewhere in Syria. The jihadist group said in a statement it had attacked the Tishrin power station 30 miles northeast of the capital. A Syrian military source acknowledged the group had staged assaults, but said all those who took part had been killed. Islamic State attackers, using five bomb-laden cars, also struck military positions near the airport, southeast of Damascus, killing 12 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that tracks the war, said. AMMAN- The first Syrian family to be resettled to the U.S. under its speeded-up "surge operation" departed to the United States Wednesday from the Jordanian capital, Amman. "I'm happy. America is the country of freedom and democracy, there are jobs opportunities, there is good education, and we are looking forward to having a good life over there," al-Abboud said. The family, who are from the Syrian city of Homs, had been living in Mafraq, a town north of Amman. He was unable to find work in Jordan, and the family was surviving on food coupons. "I am ready to integrate in the U.S. and start a new life," he said from Amman's airport, where the family was due to board a flight to Kansas City, Missouri. Berlin - Tegernsee, a popular tourist destination in southern Germany, has officially striped Adolf Hitler of his title of "honorary citizen," which he had been granted 83 years previously, announced on Wednesday the village's mayor to the daily newspaper Bild. "We wanted this over, once and for all," said Johannes Hagn, according to the popular newspaper's website, explaining that the decision was adopted unanimously by the sixteen village councilors. Tegernsee, with a population of 4,000, with its lake nestled in the mountains, attracted Nazi leaders, who had made one of their resorts in the town. It awarded the Nazi leader the title of "honorary citizen" in 1933, when Hitler was appointed chancellor by President Paul von Hindenburg. Whos Hiring in Toronto this week? Facebook Canada, Idea Couture, MaRSDD and SOCAN! Take a look the the roles below, and let us know if you see something you like! Good luck. Facebook Canada Facebook Canada is looking to hire a Creative Strategist in Toronto. The company is looking for someone with eight years of experience in brand marketing and advertising and a strong passion for people. Day-to-day responsibilities include inspiring clients with Facebooks brand vision, driving branding strategy by uncovering business needs, and working with Product and Engineering to refine ideas for maximum execution on the platform. Interested applicants should apply through this link: SOCAN (Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) For the music junkie, SOCAN is looking to fill a Digital Business Development Manager role in their Toronto office. The company is looking for an individual ready to take a business and technology approach to maintaining the distribution and ownership rights of the music industry. Some day-to-day tasks include the definition and planning of products that will strengthen the digital music community. MaRS Discovery District One of Torontos most well-known innovation hubs, the MaRs Discovery District is currently on the hunt for a smart, humble, dynamic Managing Director of ICT (Information and Communications Technology) and Venture Services. This role involves managing the day-to-day operation of the ICT practice. They will lead and facilitate investor relationships and international partnerships and will manage the performance of the ICT practice while promoting the MaRs brand. Interested applicants can apply through this link Idea Couture The 84th Test and Evaluation Squadron, Eglin AFB, Florida, is the recipient of the Grover Loening Trophy for 2015. The 84th TES is a geographically separated unit assigned to the 926th Wing, Nellis AFB, Nevada. The award, announced March 31, recognizes Air Force Reserve Commands best flying unit, exclusive of combat rescue and special operations units. The squadron was recognized for performance from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2015. According to the award citation, squadron personnel led and executed high profile test and evaluation programs, including the combat air forces air-to-ground Weapons System Evaluation Program and Electronic Warfare Evaluation Program, and tested nearly all emerging 4th generation operational flight software. The squadrons efforts were key to executing the 53rd Wings annual flying hour program of more than 3,000 hours and 1,900 sorties in support of a $21 billion test portfolio. In the early 1920s, Grover and Albert Loening made history when they designed the Loening OA-1A, a unique observation amphibian aircraft. The Army ordered 45 OA-1As that were used in the Pacific theater of operations, and a total of 169 aircraft were built for other military uses, to include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Around the 1960s, the Loening brothers requested more recognition programs for certain units and personnel. Soon after, the request was approved, and the first Grover Loening trophy was presented in September 1963. The award was given to a troop carrier wing that achieved the most outstanding tactical excellence that year. Albert Loening also established an award, which recognized operational excellence amongst Reserve rescue and recovery units. President Barack Obama has nominated Maj. Gen. Maryanne Miller for a third star and assignment as Chief of Air Force Reserve and Commander, Air Force Reserve Command, replacing Lt. Gen. James F. Jackson Miller is currently deputy to the chief of the Air Force Reserve, Headquarters, U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. She assists the chief of the Air Force Reserve who serves as the principal advisor on Reserve matters to the secretary of the Air Force and Air Force Chief of Staff.After Senate confirmation, she will become the first female Citizen Airman to achieve the rank of lieutenant general, the first female chief of Air Force Reserve, and first female commander, Air Force Reserve Command during a ceremony in July.She is a proven leader and will continue to lead our Citizen Airmen to the next level of excellence, said Jackson.Miller, a graduate of The Ohio State University, has received many distinguished awards and decorations in her 35-year career and is a command pilot with more than 4,800 hours in numerous aircraft. Air Force holding 4 public meetings on KC-46 beddown The U.S. Air Force is holding public, drop-in, open house scoping meetings. The purpose of these meetings is to solicit comments on the proposed beddown of the KC-46A Third Main Operating Base (MOB 3) mission. The MOB 3 mission includes the basing of 12 KC-46A aircraft, facilities and infrastructure, and manpower at a USAF installation within the continental United States where the Air Force Reserve Command leads a Mobility Air Force mission. The purpose of the MOB 3 mission is to provide a fully capable, combat operational KC-46A aerial refueling squadron to accomplish aerial refueling and related missions. The public scoping meetings will be arranged in a come and go open house format with no formal USAF presentation or opportunity for public testimony. Written comments will be accepted. The USAF has identified Seymour Johnson AFB as the preferred alternative with Grissom Air Reserve Base, Indiana, Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, and Westover ARB, Massachusetts, as reasonable alternatives. The KC-46A MOB 3 mission could be an additive or replacement mission, depending on where the aircraft are located. Along with the No Action Alternative, all four bases will be evaluated as alternatives in the EIS. The KC-46A aircraft will replace the aging tanker fleet. With more refueling capacity, improved efficiency, and increased capabilities for cargo and aeromedical evacuation, the KC-46A will provide aerial refueling support to the USAF, Navy, and Marine Corps, as well as allied nation coalition force aircraft. Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act, the USAF will analyze potential environmental consequences associated with basing the KC-46A tanker at each alternative location. A No Action Alternative (not basing the MOB 3 mission at any installation) will also be examined. No location will be selected for the MOB 3 mission until after the EIS is complete. More information can be obtained from the project website at www.KC46Abeddown.com. In order to effectively define the full range of issues to be evaluated in the EIS, the USAF will determine the scope (i.e., what will be covered and in what detail) by soliciting comments from interested state and federal agencies and interested members of the public through the Federal Register and various media in the local communities near the installations. To further solicit input regarding the scope of the proposed action and alternatives, the USAF will also hold a series of scoping meetings between 5 and 8 p.m. on the following dates: April 12: Westover ARB, Castle of Knights, 1599 Memorial Dr., Chicopee, MA 01020 April 14: Seymour Johnson AFB, Herman Park Center, 901 East Ash St., Goldsboro, N.C. 27530 April 19: Grissom ARB, Milestone Event Center, 1458 North Liberator Rd., Peru, IN 46970 April 21: Tinker AFB, Sheraton Midwest City Hotel and Reed Conference Center, 57050 Will Rodgers Rd., Midwest City, OK 73110 The scoping meetings will be in the format of an open house information session, and the public can drop in at any time. The open house session is an opportunity for community members to learn more about the beddown of the KC-46A MOB 3 mission and speak with USAF personnel one-on-one. All members of the public are invited. Public comments are encouraged. Public input supports the USAF in making more informed decisions. Scoping comments can be submitted to the website or to the address below by the date indicated. As a convenience for those sending comments by mail, a comment form is available on the website to help expedite your submission. Although comments will be accepted throughout the analysis process, to ensure consideration in the Draft EIS, public input must be received by April 25. People wishing to mail comments or obtain further information should contact: Mr. Hamid Kamalpour U.S. Air Force, AFCEC/CZN 2261 Hughes Ave, Ste 155 Lackland AFB, Texas 78236-9853 This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company. As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism. We hope you are equally as excited as us. This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers. Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited. In the meanwhile, here are some of our most popular posts and categories to keep you busy. Happy shootin' my friends! Buying Guides: Firearms Firearm Accessories Ammunition Gun Safes Scopes & Optics Hunting Air Rifles Best AR-15 Best AR 15 Scope Best Hunting Rifle Best Gun Safe Best AK 47 Best AR 10 Best Glock Triggers Best Glock Best Home Defense Shotgun A private security guard stands outside the Panama City headquarters of law firm Mossack Fonseca, at the centre of the scandal. (Photo: AFP) Panama City: Western leaders pledged to crack down on tax dodges by the rich and powerful on Wednesday amid a mushrooming scandal provoked by revelations of a web of Panama-based offshore financial dealings. A day after Icelands prime minister stepped down after being named in a massive leak of 11.5 million confidential documents the so-called Panama Papers international attention turned to tax cheats, with Panamas role in particular focus. France led global pressure on the Latin American nation, saying it would put Panama back on its own list of tax havens, four years after it had been removed. Finance Minister Michel Sapin called on the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to do the same. Unfortunately Panama has a bit of a tendency to make U-turns, to play the good guy and then the bad guy. This cannot go on, Sapin told parliament on Wednesday. In Panama, there is a law that sets out retaliation measures against countries that include Panama in 'grey lists', Alvaro Aleman, the minister for the presidency, warned France. The massive database -- purportedly containing the names, identity numbers and addresses of those listed -- was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country's leadership. (Representational Image) Istanbul: Turkey's authorities launched a probe Wednesday into a leak of the personal data of some 50 million Turkish citizens, the latest breach to expose weaknesses in the country's information security. The massive database -- containing Turks' names, identity numbers and addresses -- was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country's leadership. Ankara federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the data spill which risks exposing most of Turkey's 78 million Turkish citizens to identity theft and fraud, Turkish media reports said. Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim initially brushed off the leak as an "old story" but on Wednesday confirmed the security breach, saying "we now know who leaked it". "The data that was given to political parties for elections in 2009 and afterwards has been leaked," he said. Yildirim suggested the breach had been the work of "the parallel structure" - a phrase used to describe a network run by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch-foe, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is often accused of running a parallel state aimed at usurping Erdogan and his supporters are a favoured target of government. "In line with the law, additional measures are being taken as regards the access of personal information," Yildirim said, warning of "serious prison terms" for those who divulged confidential data. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the investigation would focus on "where this was leaked from, finding out how it was leaked." 'It is a trap' Local media said the site where the data was posted appeared to be hosted by an Icelandic group that specialises in divulging leaks, using servers in Romania. An online statement was posted by the hackers under the headline "Turkish Citizenship Database", pointing out weaknesses in the country's protection of data in a section called "lessons to learn for Turkey". It offered a hint of what the database contains, providing the personal data of Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and former president Abdullah Gul. "Putting a hardcoded password on the UI (User Interface) hardly does anything for security. Do something about Erdogan! He is destroying your country beyond recognition." "Who would have imagined that backwards ideologies, cronyism and rising religious extremism in Turkey would lead to a crumbling and vulnerable technical infrastructure?" said the statement. Several Turks on social media reported finding their details in the database, but the communications minister Yildirim advised citizens not to expose themselves further by digging around in the file. "Don't go there, it is a trap. They want to get more data that belongs to you," he said. Davutoglu, on a visit to Finland, said authorities would "take the necessary measures to protect personal data". "I read that my personal address appeared. If someone wanted my address they only needed to ask," he said. Turkey has been working on a new data protection law for over a decade, a step that is crucial as part of the process of accession to the European Union. The latest version of the draft law was presented to parliament in January and the communications minister said it would come into force imminently. "People who do things like this will have to give account for what they have done. Previously, there was no legal framework. With the president's approval it will come into force soon," Yildirim said. The US has also been exposed to massive data leaks, with hackers gaining access to some 20 million personnel records for US government employees and contractors last year. Turkey was also targeted by hacktivist group Anonymous in December with a massive cyber-attack and threats of continued attacks against a country it said was "supporting the Islamic State by buying their oil and tending to their injured fighters." Turkey has always vehemently denied accusations of giving Islamist rebels in Syria moral or material backing. Thousands of Indians and other nationals from outside the European Union (EU) living and working in Britain on a Tier 2 visa may have to leave or be deported if they earn less than 35,000 pounds a year once the terms of the visa expire. London: Allaying concerns of Indians over the new visa rules change, the UK government on Wednesday said a new 35,000 pounds salary threshold requirement for Tier 2 work visas which has come into effect will not impact a "vast majority" of Indian professionals. Thousands of Indians and other nationals from outside the European Union (EU) living and working in Britain on a Tier 2 visa may have to leave or be deported if they earn less than 35,000 pounds a year once the terms of the visa expire. "This rules change will not impact the vast majority of Indian professionals who work or are looking to work in the UK as last year 89 per cent of all work visas issued to Indian nationals were for routes which are not impacted by the 35k pounds (35,000 pounds) income threshold," UK immigration minister James Brokenshire said. "The UK government's reforms to Tier 2 work visas are intended to ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled people they need, but also see that they get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first," he said. Under the changes to the Tier 2 norms effective from today, non-EU workers will need to earn at least 35,000 pounds to remain in the UK for longer than six years unless they are working in a PhD-level occupation or a job which is on the UK's Shortage Occupation List, including nurses. The new rules mean professionals who wish to apply for "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (ILR) or settlement in the UK at the end of a five-year period of living and working in the UK must now prove they earn over 35,000 pounds per annum. The threshold was raised from the salary requirement of around 21,000 pounds per annum on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). According to the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS), of the 55,589 Tier 2 sponsored visa applications cleared in 2014-2015, nearly 78 per cent were for Indians (31,058). However, UK officials indicate that a majority of Indian nationals coming to the UK to work do so via the Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer (ICT) route, which does not lead to ILR any way and therefore remains unaffected by the changes enforced from today. The UK government has also highlighted that employers have been aware of these changes since 2011 when they were announced and affect those who entered on Tier 2 from April 2011. These non-EU professionals can extend their stay for a sixth year, until April 2017, which means it is unlikely there will be any deportations as a result of the changes this year. Concerned over the move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue with British counterpart David Cameron during a meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in the US last week, saying skilled IT professionals from India should not find it difficult to come to work in the UK. The exact figure of non-EU nationals affected by the changes remains uncertain as some who do not meet the minimum salary threshold may be able to apply under an alternate visa category. Professions such as teaching, IT and marketing professionals are likely to be the hardest hit. More than 110,000 people had signed a petition against the changes, which have been branded as "discriminatory" by the 'Stop35K' campaign group. The group marked the visa changes with a "De Party for Skilled Workers" event today opposite Downing Street as a protest-cum-celebration. "This is a campaign aiming for a reconsideration of this rule, encouraging research into industry-specific thresholds," said a Stop 35K statement. The cannibalistic rebel was the founder of Farouq Brigade. He later joined the AL-Nusra rebel group. (Photo: YouTube VIdeo Grab) Damascus: A Syrian cannibal rebel who had been accused of killing a government soldier and eating his heart and liver has been killed in the Syrian city of Latakia, according to a report in the Daily Mail. The Al-Nusra fighter, Abu Sakkar, was killed after the convoy in which he was traveling was attacked. Rival rebels assassinated Khaled al-Hamad, who was known as Abu Sakkar and who was a military commander in Al-Nusra, by gunning him down in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said late on Tuesday. Sakkar has long been in the news as he was once filmed while he cut open a dead government soldier and later ate his heart and liver. In 2013, he appeared in a propaganda video where he was shown cutting open a soldier. The video was posted online by the rebel group. The video showed Sakkar standing on top of a dead body. He looked towards the camera and pretended to rant something about Syrian president Assad. He then cut open the corpse and dug out his body parts. He is shown looking at the camera while eating the flesh. At the time, he was fighting in a rebel brigade in central Homs province. 'Soldier's heart cut out and eaten' in horrific propaganda video: The cannibalistic rebel was the founder of Farouq Brigade. He later joined the Al-Nusra rebel group. While some believe that he was killed by government forces, others say that he was attacked by rebels. The Syrian conflict began as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 but swiftly escalated into an armed rebellion after his regime unleashed a brutal crackdown. Many Syrians became radicalised, and human rights groups have accused all sides in the fighting of committing atrocities. Pakistan - which lifted a ban on execution after Peshawar school terror attack of December 16, 2014 - hanged 326 people out of at least 1,634 executed in 25 countries in 2015. (Representational Image) Islamabad: Worldwide executions marked a dramatic 54 per cent rise in 2015, with Pakistan figuring among the top three countries which together carried out 90 per cent of the capital punishment, a rights body said on Wednesday. Most of the executions in 2015 took place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the US in that order, according to Amnesty International. The trend of executions represents over 50 per cent increase in the number recorded in 2014, when 1,061 executions were carried out in 22 countries, it said. China remained the world's top executioner but the true extent of the use of the death penalty in the country is unknown as this data is considered a state secret, the London-based body said. Pakistan - which lifted a ban on execution after Peshawar school terror attack of December 16, 2014 - hanged 326 people out of at least 1,634 executed in 25 countries in 2015. The total number of executions last year is the highest worldwide since 1989, Amnesty noted. It said that excluding China, almost 90 per cent of all executions took place in just three countries including Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. India, with one execution in 2015, is also included in the list of 25 countries. So far, 140 countries worldwide, more than two-thirds, are abolitionist in law or practice. It said that at least 1,998 death sentences were recorded in 61 countries in 2015. There were at least 20,292 people on death row at the end of 2015. Stiri pe aceeasi tema - Un barbat de 43 de ani a fost arestat sambata de politia din Stockton, Statele Unite, in legatura cu sase crime care au zguduit anul trecut acest oras din centrul Californiei, noteaza AFP. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro - The prosecutor general with the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice (PICCJ), Gabriela Scutea, on Monday met Veronica Dragalin, the head of the Anti-corruption Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Moldova, the two high-ranked officials discussing, among other - Politistii de frontiera au depistat in fluxul de calatori un cetatean al Federatiei Ruse, care era dat in urmarire internationala. Acesta a fugit de raspundere pentru infractiunea comisa in tara de bastina ,contrabanda savarsita in grup criminal organizat, transmite Echipa.md . Miercuri, 21 septembrie, - Romania filed on Tuesday the Declaration of Intervention in the proceedings brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), with Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu as Romania's Agent before ICJ, informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) - Soferul unei dube facea o poluare atat de puternica pe Bulevardul Muncii, din Cluj-Napoca, incat nu se vedea masina de fum.Cazul a fost semnalat public de un clujean ingrijorat de poluarea din oras, dar rapid a fost pus la punct.Poate merge la service omul, nu mai fiti rautaciosi. E destul de urat - The 9th archaeological investigation campaign in the Lipovan Cemetery in the village of Periprava in southeastern Tulcea has ended, eight graves of political prisoners who died in the former penitentiary colony have been identified, according to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Wednesday. - Primul val al deportarilor din Basarabia, din iunie 1941 a fost o pagina neagra a istoriei neamului nostru. Prin deportarea liderilor satelor basarabene si bucovinene s-a dorit supunerea si infricosarea populatiei. - Japonia a executat un barbat in varsta de 39 de ani care a ucis sapte persoane la Tokyo in 2008, in timpul unui atac cu cutitul, a informat presa locala, citata de BBC. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro NEWSLETTER Stiri pe aceeasi tema - President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday stated that the European Commission's proposal regarding the high gas prices is good and Romania agrees with the new measures. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro Help your friends - Salome Zourabichvili, the President of Georgia, will be received on Tuesday at the Cotroceni Palace by President Klaus Iohannis, on the occasion of her official visit to Romania. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro Help - President Klaus Iohannis stated on Thursday, in respect to the modification brought to the Government Emergency Ordinance on energy that the MPs expect several clarifications from experts, as well as the European Commission's standpoint regarding the gas price capping proposal. Fii la curent - We need zero tolerance for plagiarism, and the new education laws must include explicit provisions on preventing and punishing this toxic phenomenon of the educational environment, said President Klaus Iohannis on Monday morning, at the opening of the university year at the Ion Mincu University of - President Klaus Iohannis signed on Thursday the decree on the establishment of the Romanian Embassy to the Republic of Latvia, based in Riga. Fii la curent cu cele mai noi stiri. Urmareste stiripesurse.ro pe Facebook stiripesurse.ro Help your friends know more about Romania! - On Wednesday, President Klaus Iohannis congratulated the civil society representatives for their involvement in projects that have changed lives in the last 20 years and that have recently managed situations such as the coronavirus pandemic or the refugee crisis in Ukraine. Fii la curent cu - President Klaus Iohannis participated, on Thursday, at the invitation of his U.S. counterpart, Joseph R. Biden, in a new round of consultations in a restricted format with allied global leaders, in the context of the continuation of the military conflict triggered by the Russian Federation against - President Klaus Iohannis on Monday signed a decree regarding the submission to Parliament for ratification of a loan agreement and a grant agreement between Romania and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) related to the first programmatic financing for the development Kathmandu: India was forced to change its policy towards Nepal under international criticism of a crippling blockade led by Madhesis due to which their months-long violent agitation fizzled out and lost relevance, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said. Presenting a 12-page political document during the ongoing CPN-UML party politburo meeting, party chairman Oli said that India changed its policy of supporting the Madhesi movement following international criticism during the 'unofficial' blockade imposed by it on Nepal resulting in disruption of supplies of essential goods. The international community was critical of India's approach to Nepal and exerted pressure on it, Oli said in his document. "India, then, changed its policy as it could not sustain backing the Madhesis further," he said. The Madhesis, largely of Indian-origin, launched a violent agitation in September last year when the new Constitution was announced, saying the statute failed to address their concerns. The Madhesi parties had led the six months-long agitation, mainly to protest against the seven-province federal model enshrined in the Constitution. Nearly 60 people lost their lives during the agitation that also disrupted the supplies of petroleum products and cooking gas among other essentials to Nepal, leading to severe hardships to the people. The major political parties had amended some provisions of the Constitution to address the demands of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front, which rejected the move of the parties. However in an unexpected development just before Oli's maiden visit to India, the blockade ended in February without any political agreement. But the political crisis has not ended yet and there has not been any discussion between the agitating Madhesis and the government. The Madhesis have lately warned of a fresh agitation from the Nepalese New Year that begins in mid-April. "We will decide about the date and programmes of the future movement after we sit for a meeting in mid-April," said Laxman Lal Karna, Vice president of Sadbhawana Party, a key member of the UDMF. "The relevance of the movement will not end until and unless our demands regarding the rights and representation of the Madhesi people are properly addressed," he told PTI. To a question whether the relevance of the Madhesi movement has ended as India changed its policy, he said in sarcastic remarks: "Prime Minister Oli cannot change the policy of New Delhi." "Is it government of India or Prime Minister Oli who will change New Delhi's policy?" he questioned. Meanwhile, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Nepal is likely to witness fresh turmoil if the dissatisfaction over the Constitution is not addressed soon. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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!

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!

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.!

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).

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.

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?

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.

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. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the 5th meeting of the National Security Committee of the Cabinet at his house this morning which was attended by key cabinet ministers, the three services chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies. (Photo: AP) Islamabad: Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership on Wednesday expressed concern over the apparent role of "hostile agencies" in creating instability in the country at a high-level meeting. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the 5th meeting of the National Security Committee of the Cabinet at his house this morning which was attended by key cabinet ministers, the three services chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies. According to an official statement, the meeting was briefed on the steps being taken for national security in the country and expressed satisfaction over counter terrorism efforts of the security institutions. "The meeting also expressed concern over the apparent role of hostile agencies in Pakistan," the statement said. The "hostile agencies" were not named but often Pakistan uses such characterisation for India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan National Directorate of Security (NDS). The meeting comes after Pakistan claimed that it has arrested a RAW official who was involved in "subversive activities" in Balochistan. India has dismissed Pakistans claim. The meeting also discussed at length, the deliberations at the recently held Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. The Armed Forces Development Programme including the procurement of F-16 fighter jets from US was also discussed at the meeting. Guwahati: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the Narendra Modi government's Pakistan policy is "in shambles" and accused it of "failing miserably to honour its solemn promise to the people of the country." "The (Modi) government's policy towards Pakistan is in shambles. Terrorists from Pakistan continue to operate freely not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in Punjab and other neighbouring states," Singh, who represented Assam in Rajya Sabha for 10 years, told a Congress poll rally here. "The recent attack on Pathankot airbase is the most recent evidence of our vulnerability. On the economic front, agriculture in the last two years has been stagnant bringing large scale distress to Indian farmers", he said. Continuing to hit out at Modi, Singh said his foreign trips have been projected as great achievements "though everybody knows that these have yielded nothing yet." Raking up Modi's promise before the Lok Sabha polls to bring back black money kept by Indians in foreign banks, Singh said ironically the government "failed miserably to honour its solemn promise to the people of India." "This is what the dream-merchant is selling all the time" and his (Modi's) list of promises is "endless", he said. "All he (Modi) achieved in these two years is that he has forced crores of people to open bank accounts. But people are asking what will they do with bank accounts when they have nothing to keep in the bank. "There is a saying in English that action speaks louder than words. However, it seems Modiji forgot this basic tenet of public life. There is now a deliberate attempt to befool the people by bringing "non-issues as issues of great importance," he asserted. Referring to the country's economic scenario under the BJP government at the Centre, Singh said industrial production has been stagnant and as a result there is no sign of growth of employment, while exports have continued to decline month after month in the last 15 months. Urging people of Assam to give a "strong mandate" to Congress, he said this would take the development of the state to a new high. "Whenever the reins of the state was given to a non-Congress party, the state suffered enormously," he added. Singh said the incidents in Hyderabad Central University and Jawaharlal Nehru University are indicative of the central government's "attempt to curb freedom of expression and to polarize Indian polity along communal lines." "The imposition of President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand exposes the Modi government's desire to hurt democracy and promote centralization of power in violation of constitutional norms," the former prime minister said. Alleging that BJP has been trying to divide the society of Assam, he said, "I firmly believe that such a conspiracy would never be allowed to succeed by its people who nurture a long tradition of syncretism, unity, harmony and tolerance. This land of Assam has always stood united in times of crisis." Recounting the language movement in Assam in the 1960s and 1970s, the turbulent days of the 1980s and the period of insurgency, he said many in Congress had to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the party's ideals. Singh claimed that the state machinery had become completely dysfunctional before Tarun Gogoi government came to power in 2001 and said that he was confident that people would not want to return to those conditions. The former prime minister said the Modi Government has very little interest in the development of Assam and other North Eastern states and has abolished the special category status given to the state by his erstwhile UPA government. "The UPA government had worked hand in hand with Assam government to accelerate the pace of development in the state ... The progress made by Assam in the last 15 years under the leadership of Tarun Gogoi is visible all round." Insurgency has almost been wiped out by a two-pronged Congress government strategy which invested heavily in massive infrastructure development and gave political stability in the state. It also brought various insurgent groups to the table for negotiations and the peace process was initiated and an environment was created for the peaceful settlement of political issues besides bringing in the much needed stability and development, he said. "But we have a large unfinished agenda to make Assam one of the front-ranking states of India," Singh said appealing for votes for Congress "to convert this dream into reality." Singh said Congress is firmly committed to peace and development, promotion of communal harmony and had special concern about the well-being of the poor and backward sections. UPA government, the former prime minister said, had always believed in work "rather than empty talks". It had brought in many schemes and legislations like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Aam Aadmi Beema Yojana, Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi Swasthya Beema Yojana and Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojana to help the poor and the downtrodden. "Now the NDA Government is trying to repackage the same schemes as their own", he claimed, adding, "We have also observed with dismay and trepidation that they are trying to water down some of the provisions of pro-people legislations like Food Security Act and Right to Education." Patna: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed on Wednesday in the Patna High Court challenging the Bihar government's decision to clamp total ban on sale and consumption of alcohol in the state. An ex-serviceman AN Singh filed the PIL in the Patna High Court, a day after the Nitish Kumar ministry declared Bihar a total dry state. The petition contended that the state government's decision violated human rights of a citizen about what to eat and drink. The writ described the penal provision in the Amended Exise Act of Bihar, which was passed in the state Legislative Assembly on March 31 last, as "draconian, arbitrary and malafide" as it violated Article 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Date for hearing the petition has not yet been fixed. The petition came a day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the state cabinet's decision to impose total ban on sale and consumption of liquor including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the state with immediate effect. The Bihar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of IMFL in towns and cities. "But, the tremendous response of people, particularly women and children against liquor in Patna and other towns in a short period of four days, only convinced us that a conducive environment against alcohol has been created in the state and that's why we decided to go for a total ban on liquor after four days only," Kumar had said yesterday. The Army cantonment areas have been kept out of the ban order. On 'toddy', the state cabinet decided to strictly impose the 1991 guidelines which prohibit sale of toddy within 50 metre of places like hospital, education institutions, religious places among others in towns and 100 metres radius in rural areas. The 1991 guidelines also prohibit opening of toddy shops at bazar haat, entrance point of such haat and densely populated areas in villages among others. New Delhi: A Delhi court on Wednesday took cognisance of a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly "insulting" the national flag last year on the international yoga day and during his visit to United States. "I take cognisance of the complaint. Fix the matter for May 9," Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria said while ordering recording of pre-summoning evidence on that day. The complainant Ashish Sharma, who has sought direction to the police to file an FIR against Modi, has claimed that he had committed an offence under the provisions of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and has also violated the Flag Code of India. He claimed that Modi had insulted the national flag not once but several times. He alleged that the PM had "disrespected" national flag at the event of Yoga Day at the India Gate on the international yoga day by using it as a handkerchief. "He (Modi) was again careless at the time of handing over the national flag to Barack Obama, President, USA, when he signed over the national flag which is against National Flag Code, 2002," the complaint said. New Delhi: Hyderabad cops were left surprised when they traced the missing software engineer to a city hospital undergoing a height enhancement surgery. The police were in search of 23-year old Nikhil Reddy since this Monday following a missing complaint by his father. A report in the Times of India says that Reddy's father had lodged a missing complaint with the Petbasheerabad police. Following a massive search and tracking operation, Reddy was traced at Global Hospitals at Lakdikapul. The report further says that Reddy, son of a rich farmer, was working as software engineer in a firm at Banjara Hills after completing his B-Tech course. The five feet-seven inches tall Reddy was reportedly unhappy with height and wanted to gain few more inches. Reddy was told by the doctor about the height-enhancing surgery which will cost him about 7 lakhs. The techie had already paid Rs 3 lakh in advance and got himself admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning. Cops told that he has also managed to convince doctors to take his friends's signature on the pre-surgery documents as his parents live in Bengaluru and there was no other family member to sign on papers. Reddy had barred all incoming calls on his mobile phone but police managed to trace him based on phone's IP address as he was surfing net while lying on the hospital's bed. Such epic hypocrisy! What do we hear from the GOP? Bitch bitch bitch about the low-class, lazy American 'moochers' and nothing about corporate welfare and the number of corporations who pay NO taxes. Complaining and whining about people on disability, food stamps....seniors, Vets, the blind, the deaf, the disabled and mentally impaired. "Workin' the system" and behind the curtain we've got monstrous fraud from the 90%. Obama: "When companies exploit loopholes like this, it makes it harder to invest in the things that are going to make the American economy strong for generations to come. It sticks the rest of us with the tab,and it makes hardworking Americans feel like the deck is stacked against them, he said. Well......helloooo.....of course the deck is stacked against them. Now watch as the Right screams "REDISTRIBUTION of WEALTH".....horrors. Those poor 90%. How they suffer. Makes me sick. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party on 29th March, 2015, had become the world's largest political party in terms of primary membership. According to BJP, it surpassed the Communist Party of China which has 8.6 crore members. Noteworthy, BJP has 8.8 crore members (data as of 29th March, 2015). Also, according to senior BJP leaders, the membership of BJP might surpass the 10-crore target set by the party president Amit Shah. PM Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that he salutes crores of BJP Karyakartas who have always served the BJP with admirable vigour & great dedication. On #BJPFoundationDay, I salute crores of BJP Karyakartas who have always served the BJP with admirable vigour & great dedication. @BJP4India Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 Guided by love for India & determined to take India to new heights of progress, generations of Karyakartas devoted their lives to the Party. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 My good wishes to all BJP Karyakartas as they continue their selfless journey of catering to aspirations of people & serving society. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 How it gained 8.8 crore members, became world's largest? The ambitious online membership drive of the party was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 1 November last year by becoming its first member after dialing a mobile telephone number. Hi-tech yet convenient system to become member of BJP The party had introduced a hi-tech system whereby a person can become a BJP member by merely dialing a mobile number. Record one crore member in just 8 days Noteworthy, one crore members were added in merely eight days when the party touched the 8-crore mark on 23 March, 2015. Maximum members are from Uttar Pradesh BJP leaders say the party has the maximum members from Uttar Pradesh where the BJP is aiming at forming a government on its own after the 2017 assembly elections. The BJP had won a maximum of 71 Lok Sabha seats out of a total of 80 in the state in the 2014 polls and two other seats were won by its ally Apna Dal. As of 2015, BJP is the country's largest political party in terms of representation in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Kutch to Arunachal Pradesh, people have reposed faith in BJP & see BJP as a party to fulfil their dreams. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 Washington: India is on the verge of "astounding" itself and the world as it is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship and is experiencing a "growing vibrancy", a top American diplomat has said. "India is on the verge of astounding itself and the world. And the United States is ready to be a stakeholder and partner in that future," Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H Rivkin said here yesterday. Rivkin had recently led a high-powered US delegation that included representations from corporate sector to India on the American Innovation Roadshow to promote economic growth. The roadshow was on four Indian cities - New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. "I was so impressed by what I saw," Rivkin said in his remarks to Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. "In every incubator we visited, members of our delegation, especially the solar companies, identified tangible commercial and investment opportunities," Rivkin said. Special US Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department Ziad Haider was also part of the delegation. "In every meeting, I experienced in a very refreshing way exactly what binds our two countries together: a shared passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, Americans and Indian entrepreneurs have become part of a shared culture that reveres innovation," Rivkin said. "It's critical that we continue to support these people-to-people ties between our countries, and this growing vibrancy, not only in the clean energy space but across all sectors," Rivkin said adding that the Modi government has set a target to reach 175-gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. With 80 percent of the required infrastructure yet to be built, this is a significant opportunity for American companies and research institutions to showcase innovative technological solutions to environmental challenges, Rivkin said. Sharing his experience of meetings with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Rivkin said that they were all eager for private investment. Referring to the recent decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increasingly devolve federal funding to the States and encouraging them to actively compete with one another in a "race to the top" for foreign investment, Rivkin said this new dynamic was evident in their conversations with State leaders. "They stressed their commitment to protecting intellectual property rights for investors and entrepreneurs. And they made it clear that they were eager to help steer India away from carbon fuels to a cleaner, sustainable future," he said, adding that the stakes for these States were enormous. Many of these States have populations that outnumber major countries - and the large scale needs that go with that. They not only have the motivation, they have the autonomy to do something about it, Rivkin said. New Delhi: An IT engineer from Kerala is suspected to have been abducted by rebels in war-torn Libya. News reports say that 43-year-old Regi Joseph, a resident of Koorachundu in Kozhikode district was abducted by an anti-government forces from his office at Souk al Jumaa near Libya's national capital Tripoli on March 31. Joseph's three other colleagues, all Libyan citizens, were also abducted along with him. According to a report in the Times of India, Joseph works as an infrastructure engineer with Al Diwan Company, which has been assigned to create a national citizen database. Joseph, with his wife and three daughters, has been living in Libya since last two years. His works as a nurse in the Tripoli-based TMC Hospital. Regi's father told that his daughter-in-law, who is still in Tripoli, has sought help from Indian embassy there. MK Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, has also assured the family to take up tha matter with CM Oommen Chandy and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Hyderabad: There seems to be no end in sight to row over Rohith Vemula suicide case. In a major development, Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on Wednesday witnessed massive protests by students seeking resignation of the varsity's vice-chancellor Appa Rao Podile. Tension prevailed near the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) after scores of students belonging to different organisations held protests demanding arrest of the Vice Chancello. Students tried to forcibly enter the varsity even as police took them into preventive custody. Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna, expressing solidarity with the protesting students against Rao's removal, resigned from the post and walked out of the Academic Council Meeting going on in the Varsity. The students gathered in front of the campus as part of a call for 'Chalo HCU' given by Joint Action Committee for Social Justice of HCU to intensify their ongoing agitation demanding removal and arrest of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile Some of them climbed the main entrance gate even as police deployed in large numbers, immediately intervened and prevented them from entering the campus and took them into preventive custody. The protesting students raised slogans against Rao and held banners asking him to leave the campus. They said Rao has been booked on charge of abetting suicide of research scholar Rohit Vemula, and questioned how can he hold the 76th academic council meeting, which was going on in the university today. Reportedly, 'Chalo HCU' protestors were stopped at the main gate of the university. Also, protesting students were detained outside HCU by the police. University of Hyderabad V-C Prof Appa Rao Podile, who went on leave at the height of an agitation over the suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula, had resumed charge March 22 amid protests from a section of students. Prof Podile, who is in the eye of a storm over Vemula's suicide on January 17, had proceeded on leave on January 24 as the agitating students demanded his resignation and held vigorous protests seeking "justice" for Vemula. New Delhi: India has taken up at a "fairly high level" with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as terrorist by the UN but the issue will not "overflow" into other areas of bilateral ties, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said today. Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a "backing and forthing" on the issue with the Chinese. However, China's action to block Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar at the UN was strongly justified by a top Chinese official that his government has asked for more "evidence" and "arguments" by India as China can't be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong. During an interaction, Jaishankar, when asked about India's position on the Chinese action at the UN, said, "My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese." He added "This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context. I would not like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We have had a backing with them on this issue. We have to wait and see where this goes." Later at a separate event, Liu Jinsong, Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister at the Chinese Embassy here also asserted that listing of anyone as a terrorist by the UN is a "very serious issue". "Pakistan says India's position is not good for them, it is against Pakistan. But India (says its) position is its national interest. (Then) do that. "China can't be the judge (to decide) who is right, who is wrong. With Pakistan, we are good friends. With India, we are also good friends. We asked for some more evidence, we asked for some argument...We can't stick to one side. We can't veto, we can't (remain) absent. Only thing we can do is (to put it on a) technical hold," Liu said when asked about the issue. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India's efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, that has veto powers, did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again. Last July, China had similarly halted India's move in the UN to take action against Pakistan for its release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying its stand was "based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness" with Beijing again claiming at the time that it was in touch with New Delhi. Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Saudi Arabia could unnerve Pakistan as economic and strategic opportunities are bringing India closer to the oil-rich gulf nation, a top US expert has said. "After years of considering Saudi Arabia as a major ally and economic benefactor, Pakistan may be on the verge of losing its erstwhile patron to archrival India. Modi arrived in Riyadh last week for an official visit full of diplomatic significance," said Aparna Pande, director India Initiative of the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank. She said Modi's visit and the warm reception he received were the latest reminders to the Pakistani leaders that international relations are based on national interest and not on vague religion-based ideology. "Economic and strategic issues are bringing India and Saudi Arabia closer, just as they are working to the advantage of India with other countries," Pande said. For Pakistanis who see the world in binary terms as an eternal conflict between India and Pakistan, this was clearly a win for India, Pande said. During the visit, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz conferred the Kingdom's highest civilian award, The King Abdul Aziz Order, on Modi. Pande said that despite giving billions of dollars in aid and employing millions of Pakistanis, the Saudis have never bestowed their highest civilian honor on a Pakistani leader. India and Saudi Arabia have become economically more significant for one another with USD 39.4 billion in bilateral trade in 2014-15. Pakistan-Saudi trade by contrast stood at a meager USD 6.1 billion, she said. For India, Saudi Arabia is the main source of its oil imports, supplying one-fifth of India's annual demand. For the Saudis, India is their fifth biggest customer after China, Japan, the US and South Korea, Pande said, adding that Pakistan could stick to its guns and see these developments as a threat. "Or it could change its own approach to India and seek rapprochement to take advantage of economic and strategic opportunities that are making India a desirable partner for Pakistan's erstwhile friends," she said. Modi arrived on his maiden two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday. He became the fourth Indian Prime Minister to visit Saudi Arabia after Manmohan Singh in 2010, Indira Gandhi in 1982 and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956. New Delhi: Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Communications whose taped telephone chats with some prominent people in India around eight years ago, including ministers, journalists and business tycoons became the matter of a probe, has now surfaced in the "Panama Papers" expose. Her name (appearing as Nira Radia, in the documents investigated, minus the extra 'i') is allegedly linked to a company in British Virgin Islands, which her office has denied, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. In the article, as Part 3 of the expose on Indians having alleged offshore links, Radia is said to have figured prominently as a director in the 232 documents pertaining to the company listed in the tax haven, Crownmart International Group. The list published by the newspaper on Wednesday also has the names of a top business tycoon in Bellary, a prominent industrialist and a chartered accountant -- each of whom, which The Indian Express says were contacted for their responses, with many also sharing their versions. Another article seeks to shows how the world's largest currency note maker De La Rue had contracted a New Delhi businessman to help bag tenders in India, in return for a 15-percent commission. The paper identifies the company as Aphra Consultants, linked to Somendra Khosla of New Delhi. Amid these allegations, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team in which the central bank has been co-opted. On Radia, the paper said: "An investigation of these papers shows the existence of one offshore entity owned by Radia, an International Business Company registered in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseka in 1994 named Crownmart International Group Limited." In response, her office said the said entity was set up by her late father Iqbal Narain Menon and that she was not a beneficiary. Also that Radia had disclosed her assets to the authorities in UK and India and that such information was personal and confidential for third parties. In another article published on Wednesday, the newspaper said the Indian diamond merchants, who were probed earlier for having overseas accounts in Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands and HSCB, have also surfaced in "Panama Papers". Prominent among them are Rosy Blue, one of the largest diamond traders in the world, and Chetan Mehta of the Belgium-based Gembel family. The paper also reported that Harshad Ramniklal Mehta of Rosy Blue did not respond to its calls or queries, while Chetan Mehta said he has been a non-resident Indian living in Belgium and that the companies were shut longtime ago. A part of the list, Hyderabad-based Moturi Srinivas Prasad said the off-shore entities were started as one dollar companies with the hope of doing business, but were closed. Satish Modi of Modi Global was away from India, but an e-mail reply from his office said he is an NRI and laws were followed. Others: - Hyderabad-based businessman Bhavanasi Jaya Kumar who maintained he had nothing to do with offshore companies. - UK-based Bhaskar Rao, whose son said the companies were not exactly active and that due procedures were followed. - Civil construction business people Preetam Bothra and Sweta Gupta, with the latter when contacted, posing the query, as to why she should share any information with the newspaper. - Ahmedabad-based Bhandari Ashok Ramdayalchand, with a response from someone at his residence that he was not interested in talking. - Kolkata-based Ashok Malhotra who, the paper says, admitted to knowing about the off-shore accounts but kept changing his stories. - Dehradun-based Sanjay Pokhriyal, who said the $10,000 endowment for a Panamanian fund allegedly linked to him was not his own money. - Belary iron exporters Prasanna V. Ghotage and Vaman Kumar who the paper could not contact. - Vadodara-based Pradeep Kaushikray Buch, who denied he had any such overseas company linked to him. - Rahul Arunprasad Patel of Sintex Industries, who reportedly said he has several overseas companies but was not sure if the one named in the expose belonged to him. - Thiruvananthapuram native and chartered accountant George Mathew, who said the linked companies belonged to clients and that Indian agencies had nothing to do with them. The global expose has been conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers", based on millions of documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca that helped in setting up off-shore entities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose. Mumbai: After Opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party has come under attack by its own ally over allowing the Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to India to investigate the Pathankot terror attack. Shiv Sena chief Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said India will have to pay the price for it. His comment came after 'Pakistan Today' quoted sources in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that visited India as saying that the Pathankot attack was staged by India. The Shiv Sena chief asserted that it was expected from Islamabad to shift the blame on New Delhi. "It was India's mistake to allow the Pakistan Joint Investigation Team in India to investigate the Pathankot terror attack. It was expected of Pakistan to blame it all on India. Hafiz Saeed has given statement on the Pathankot attack. The Lashkar-e-Toiba has taken its responsibility," Raut told ANI. "Today the Pakistan's team is adopting a complete opposite attitude. It was India's biggest mistake to allow Pakistan to step on our soil. Now Pakistan will shift all the blames on us. There was no need to allow them. We will have to pay the price for it," he added. The Pakistan JIT is set to give its report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and sections of the Pakistan media have claimed that India is indulging in 'vicious propaganda' against Islamabad. Sources told `Pakistan Today` that the JIT has slammed India over its claims of a Pakistani hand in the attack, saying that New Delhi continues to expand its propaganda "without having any solid evidence to back the claim". The report also claims that the Indian Government did not cooperate with the JIT, but instead made efforts to hinder the probe. On Friday, the JIT returned to Pakistan after their five-day visit to India during which all evidence pertaining to the January 2016 attack was shared with them, including the DNA of four terrorists, their identities as well as call records showing involvement of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM). Pakistani terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station in January this year, in which four attackers and two security forces personnel were killed in the gunbattle, with an additional security force member dying from injuries hours later. (With ANI inputs) Beijing: Amid reports that India is mulling tightening of security checks on Chinese firms, China's official media on Wednesday said such move will hurt India more. "India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms if it scrapped security clearance to Chinese companies," an article in the state-run Global Times said. The article came days after official sources in India said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN on India's bid in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase. "Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, India's development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the daily. Though Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to India in 2014 announced USD 20 billion Chinese investments in India in the next five years, Indian officials and business organisations say the flow of investments remained low despite India liberalising visa regime and removing security clearances for Chinese firms. A Chinese embassy official in India familiar with China's overseas investments acknowledged to the Global Times that India's security clearance of Chinese firms has been showing signs of relaxing in recent years, especially after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh's visit to China November last year. "Although India conducted a security review of Chinese firms, Chinese companies in India say the general business environment is improving, and the Chinese companies' feedback is positive," the official said. Media reports say that the Indian government has given around 25 Chinese companies security clearance in the past two years for projects mostly in power, telecoms, railways and infrastructure. But at the same time there seems to be a rethink in India over granting liberalised regime, specially after Beijing blocking its moves to get Pakistan militant groups carrying out terrorist attacks on its soil to be banned by UN. China which is permanent member of the UN Security Council has putting technical hold on India's move in the sanction committee formed under resolution 1267 to clamp down on global terrorist networks. Indian officials say the technical holds are put at the behest of Pakistan to ban Azhar after the Pathankot terrorist attack despite furnishing required evidence. Defending China's action, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "On April 1 that China always dealt with the listing issue under the UN Security Council committee "based on facts and relevant rules of procedures in objective and just manner". Sun Shihai, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Indian government is unlikely to tighten its policies toward all Chinese investments, but it may pick on some Chinese companies. Differences between China and India in other fields should not threaten the bilateral trade and commerce relation, Lan Jianxue, an associate research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies said. New Delhi: Aadit Narang, son of dentist Pankaj Narang who was brutally killed by a group of people last month, has got admission in Springdales School in Kirti Nagar. Earlier this week, Pankaj's wife Upma Narang had requested Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds education portfolio, to get her 7-year-old son admitted to a private school as her family has decided to shift from Vikaspuri to Kirti Nagar. Sisodia tweeted "I'm grateful to Springdales School for accepting govt's request, to admit son of Late Dr Pankaj Narang. It's a little but imp support(sic)." In a letter to Sisodia, Upma Narang had requested him to help in getting her son Aadit admitted to Springdales School in Kirti Nagar and his help would go a long way in rehabilitating her family and allow continued education for her son. After receiving the letter, Sisodia had asked the Delhi Education Department to look into the request for admission in Sprindales Schools (Kirti Nagar) or any other good school in the vicinity for continuation of education Narang's son. Last month, 40-year-old Pankaj Narang was beaten to death by a group of around 12 persons following a dispute in west Delhi's Vikaspuri area. Police have apprehended 10 people including four juveniles in connection with the murder. An attempt by Russia and Iran to prop up Assad and try to pacify the population is just going to get them stuck in a quagmire and it wont work. So said U.S. President Barack Obama when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his military campaign in Syria to support the countrys authoritarian ruler. Theres just one problem, though: A day after Putin announced a Russian withdrawal from Syria, its clear that his gamble has turned into a major win for Moscow. Heres what Russia achieved and why it was so successful. New Delhi: Condemning the baton charge on the students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in Jammu and Kashmir and asked them to put an end to the tensed state of affairs at the campus. "Lathi charge on students in srinagar is highly condemnable. BJP-PDP must stop this immediately," Kejriwal tweeted. Kejriwal further aimed pot shots at the BJP and said that the saffron outfit in Jammu and Kashmir is punishing those who are chanting slogan `Bharat Mata ki Jai` where as in rest of the country it is chastising those not saying the slogan. Unrest was witnessed again at the NIT campus yesterday after the scene of clash which took place last week, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. Tension simmered in the NIT after India lost the World T20 semi-final to the West Indies last week. Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after India lost. United Nations: The UN has defended its stance against terrorism saying it is "certainly" trying to take a responsible attitude in dealing with the menace, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the world body over the issue. "We certainly are trying to take a responsible attitude in terms of dealing with terrorism and the spectre of terrorism worldwide...The UN encourages international solidarity against terrorism in all its aspects, whether it is terrorist bombings or terrorist financing," Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq told PTI. Haq was asked about the UN Chief's response to Modi's sharp criticism in Brussels last week when the Indian leader had said the world body does not know what terrorism is and how to deal with it. Haq said in the next few days, the UN will hold a meeting in Geneva on the need to prevent and to counter violent extremism. "And the Secretary-General will be speaking at that in terms of the specific measures that we've been talking about, in terms of handling violent extremism and its spread throughout the world, and the Secretary-General will speak at that in just a few days from now," he said. Modi's visit to Brussels came just days after terror group ISIS carried out attacks that ripped through the departure area of the international airport and a subway station in the busy morning hours in the Belgian capital. The attack left over 30 people dead and many more injured. Addressing a gathering of Indian diaspora in Brussels, Modi had said that the UN has all means and mechanism to deal with war but does not know what the definition of terrorism is and how to address it. He also warned that the UN will become irrelevant if it does not come up with appropriate response to deal with the scourge. He pointed out that India has been pleading with the UN for years to define terrorism, a terrorist and who helps terrorists. "I don't know when the UN will do so and how it will do so but given the emerging situation, if solutions are not found to this (problem), then it does not take time for an institution to become irrelevant," he had said. New Delhi: Amid the deadlock in conclusion of India-France deal on acquisition of Rafale fighter jets, New Delhi is reported to be exploring the possibility of buying American F/A-18 "Super Hornet" fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. A report in The Times of India said on Wednesday that the jets may be supplied to the IAF under the Make in India programme. Notably, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter is due in India as early as from April 10 to 12 to further strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership. The report quoted sources as saying that India is looking at the possibility of acquiring the F/A-18 fighters, manufactured by Boeing, as the Rs 60,000 crore deal to acquire 36 Rafale fighters from France's Dassault Aviation remains stuck even a year after it was announced following a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande in Paris. The IAF currently has just 33 fighter squadrons and this has forced New Delhi to explore other options, that too on an urgent basis. The report said US government officials as well as representatives of Boeing have already made detailed presentations before the Indian establishment on how they plan to set up the American fighter production line in India. Lockheed Martin, which manufactures F-16s, has also made presentation before the Indian officials. The government, meanwhile, has yet to take a final decision on both the offers, the report quoted sources as saying. However, it is likely that India may go in for the twin-engine F/A-18s compared to the single-engine F-16s as the former can also be operated from aircraft carriers, which makes them usable for the Navy as well. Srinagar: A two-member team of the Ministry of Human Resource Development will on Wednesday visit the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, where unrest flared again on Tuesday after a group of students clashed with the police. In the wake of tension, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been deployed at the campus. Meanwhile, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh accepted that the police used force on students and assured that he would look into the incident. The NIT was closed by the authorities on March 31 following a row during the India-West Indies World T20 cricket match. The institute resumed normal functioning on Tuesday, but ended the day in chaos. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called up Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed with her the situation at NIT. What happened at NIT on Tuesday? Some non-local students attempted to leave the campus and return to their home states on Tuesday, saying, they were "not feeling safe" inside the campus, a police official said. Police personnel on duty at the NIT tried to reassure the students that they were safe inside the campus but they were not pacified, he said. As the head of the security deployment was speaking to them, a few of the students allegedly resorted to sloganeering and even pushed him around, the official claimed. He said the other police personnel then resorted to "lathicharge" to disperse the students who were "getting violent". The situation, however, was brought under control shortly, the official said. Outstation students, on the other hand, alleged that they were holding protests and were lathicharged by the police with brute forces and not allowed to move out of the NIT gate. "We had sat on dharna and were demanding meeting with HRD officials. We held meeting with NIT administration and they agreed to the demand. We were allowed freely to move out the gate," said one of the students on condition of the anonymity. "When we were going out of the campus as per the past practice, police did not allow us and resorted to cane-charge resulting in injuries to several students," he claimed. Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told PTI in Jammu last night: "We assure security to the students of various states of the country studying in NIT Srinagar. Additional security of CRPF has been deployed at the campus." Singh, who along with Minister of State (MoS) Education Priya Sethi, talked to Mehbooba, DGP K Rajendra and NIT director, said, "All measures are being taken by the administration of the NIT to instill confidence among these students and the issues raised by them are being resolved." In Delhi, HRD Ministry officials said they were in touch with the management of the institute and the Director of the NIT has spoken to the students so that normalcy prevails. On Friday last, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and non-local students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament. Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Wednesday refuted reports that he had brought pressure on Congress high command in the selection process of party candidates for the May 16 assembly elections and said as a "loyal" partyman he never disobeyed the wishes of central leadership. "As a loyal Congressman, I have never disobeyed or went against the wishes of Central leadership. I am also confident that the high command would only take decision in the larger interests of the party and the people of the state," he told PTI. Chandy had locked horns with KPCC President V M Sudheeran, over the candidature of ministers K Babu and Adoor Prakash, who had faced corruption charges, besides NORKA Minister K C Joseph and two MLAs -- Dominic Presentation and Benny Behanan -- with the state party chief opposing tickets to them. Only Behanan was kept out of the list announced late Monday evening and it was interpreted that the high command fielded the tainted leaders because of Chandy's pressure tactics. The Chief Minister said he was saddened by such "wrong propaganda" and asserted that no Congress worker can challenge the authority of the party high command. "There is a propaganda that we had challenged the authority of Congress high command while determining party candidates...There are reports that the high command had to succumb to our pressure tactics. That is completely wrong," Chandy said. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala also endorsed Chandy's statement saying "we have never disobeyed party high command". Thiruvananthapuram: A 43-year-old Keralite software professional in Libya, taken captive along with three other colleagues in Tripoli, have not been been physically harmed, according to information received by the family. Reji Joseph, working as IT engineer in the Al Diwan software company for Technical Consultancies and IT Ltd had been abducted along with three other Libyan colleagues on March 31. He was working for a project of Civil Registration Authority when he was taken captive along with others, Jojo Joseph, Reji's brother told PTI from Koorachundu in Kozhikode district. The company's owner, Khalid, today informed Reji's wife Shinju Thankachen, a nurse working in a hospital in Libya, that her husband and the others were not physically harmed. The couple have 3 young daughters. The family today contacted the External Affairs Ministry seeking their help. Emails have also been sent to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Jojo said. They were planning to come this week or next week. While Shinju had not been getting her salary for over a year, Reji's pay was also due for two months, his brother said. Reji had gone to Libya in 2007 and returned in 2010, just as the civil war broke in that country. In 2013, Reji's wife went back to Libya and he followed a year later with the children, the family said. Since the past few days, due to the unrest, Reji had been working from home and on March 31, the owner sent his car with armed guards to fetch him, . Reji after reaching the work site at Suk El Juma, had texted a message to his wife and brother in Kerala that he had safely reached his workplace. However, when even late into night he did not turn up, his wife contacted the owner, who assured that he was at work. The initial information the family received was that Reji had been abducted by an extremist group. There was no information after that following which his wife contacted the embassy officials and informed them about his plight. The embassy officials got in touch with the owner who informed them that the Keralite and three others had been taken into custody by Intelligence Bureau. The family is not yet clear who has holding them captive and where, they said. New Delhi: A suspected ISIS recruit, who was detained at the Pune airport yesterday, was released by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday after questioning, as per a media report. As per CNN IBN, the suspect Raoof Ahmed will be questioned again by the investigating agency. He was apparently questioned to verify some details. Raoof was detained yesterday as he was leaving the country and flying to Dubai for onward journey to Syria. Officials identified Ahmed as being a resident of Bhatkal in north Karnataka, as per PTI. Security agencies had been keeping a strict vigil after his name cropped up during internet chats with members of the Islamic State, which is being monitored by sleuths to look for possible followers of the terror group, active in parts of Syria and Iraq. They had said that Ahmed was detained as the Union Home Ministry had issued a Look Out Circular against him sometime back. At least 14 youths have been arrested early this year by the NIA as part of its probe on indoctrination of youths by the banned terror group. (With Agency inputs) Mumbai: Even as reports three terrorists from Pakistan being on the move in Punjab came in on Wednesday, Mumbai Police has issued security alert suspecting terror attack through aerial route. The alert was issued under section 144 of CrPC, as per media reports. Meanwhile, Punjab which had witnessed two terror attacks in less than six months, was today put on high alert following an input from Delhi Police warning about entry of three heavily armed Pakistani terrorists who might be suicide bombers. The terrorists are travelling from Jammu and Kashmir in a grey Swift Dzire car along with a local resident and are expected to cross the Banihal tunnel later tonight, the alert says, adding their target could be in Delhi, Goa and Mumbai. "An alert has been issued in the state (Punjab) after we received an input from the special cell of Delhi police," a senior official in Punjab police told PTI today. The alert issued by Punjab's Director General of Police (Law and Order) to all the Commissionerates and SSPs in the state, states the car "bearing registration number JK-01 AB-2654 is carrying three Pakistani militants and a local. The Pakistani militants have sufficient arms, ammunition and possibly suicide belt." Police officers have been asked to focus on strict checking of vehicles, security of vital installations including police buildings and defence establishments, religious places, markets, malls, railway stations and tracks, and educational institutions. In January this year, terrorists had attacked an air force base in Pathankot, killing seven military personnel. They had car-jacked two vehicles - one belonging to a Punjab Police SP and another to a taxi driver - to travel to the base near the Pakistan border. In July last year, the state had witnessed an attack in Dinanangar of the border Gurdaspur district. (With PTI inputs) April 7th, 2016 marks the birth anniversary of celebrated sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. New Delhi: Internet search giant Google has once again paid a wonderful tribute to the Indian musician by way of its trademark doodle. Born in the 1920 as Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury, the musician was one of the best-known exponents of sitar as a composer of Hindustani classical music. According to Wikipedia, Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music. His performances begin with solo alap, jor, and jhala (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious dhrupad genre, followed by a section with tabla accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent khyal style. Shankar often closed his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical thumri genre. Google's doodle on his birth anniversary celebrates the renowned artiste with an upright sitar in the middle of green creeper forming the word 'Google'. Pandit Ravi Shankar died on December 11, 2012, in San Diego, California, after undergoing heart valve replacement surgery. Bhubaneswar: Incredible though it may seem, the late Biju Patnaik had plans to print fake currency notes and circulate them across the Indian subcontinent as a means of bringing about the downfall of the British Raj. This was revealed by the legendary leader and former Odisha Chief Minister's daughter Gita Mehta in an article 'Mo Bapa (My Father)', published in 'Utkal Prasanga', the Odisha government mouthpiece. The state government, which is headed by her younger brother Naveen Patnaik, is celebrating the birth centenary of Biju Patnaik, who had founded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Popularisation of Science. Mehta, a prominent writer whose works include 'Karma Cola', 'A River Sutra', 'Snake and Ladder', 'Glimpses of Modern India', revealed several little known facts about her illustrious father. "While in jail, my father was thinking of ways to oust the British from India. Then he decided to become owner of a textile mill, because these units required the same colour and chemicals as are used to make currency notes. My father was determined that within six months of his release from jail, he will print fake notes and circulate them in the sub-continent to ensure the fall of British Rule," Mehta said. Gita said her parents, during their stay in Delhi, were busy giving asylum to freedom fighters and trying to evade arrest by the British police. "A foreign freedom fighter who was aware of this had named our house 'Absconders' Paradise'," she said, adding that while her father was arrested by British police, the Viceroy's wife had honoured the same Biju Patnaik. "My father was honoured by British rulers for his act of releasing some British families who were imprisoned by Japanese during the Second World War," Mehta recalled. As to the reason for Biju Patnaik's arrest, Mehta said, "The reason was that my father had some pistols. Soon after British police handcuffed my father, he came to my mother and on the pretext of bidding goodbye to her, hinted that she should throw away the pistols. After my father was taken away, my mother put the pistols inside a pillow cover and took them in a Sunbeam-Talbot car and threw them at a secluded place." I think the importance of what has taken place here will fly over the heads of the vast majority who believe they are politically astute. This crap about counting illegal aliens, which in turn guarantees greater representation in Congress was address by Madison and he explains why the rule of apportioning both representatives and taxation by each state's population size is critical. In Federalist No. 54 we are reminded that our Constitutions rule requiring an apportionment of both Representatives and direct taxes will have a very salutary effect. Madison observes in this paper . . . Were the various States share of representation alone to be governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exaggerating their inhabitants. Were the rule to decide their share of taxation alone, a contrary temptation would prevail. By extending the rule to both objects, the States will have opposite interests, which will control and balance each other, and produce the requisite impartiality. Unfortunately, a state may claim a huge increase in their population size to obtain a greater representation in Congress so they can vote to increase welfare programs, without having to pay an apportioned share of taxes to fund those welfare programs. Sad to say there are so many shallow minded people, including those who claim to be "conservatives" who are incapable of understanding the necessity of apportioning both representatives and each states share of federal taxes paid. The wisdom behind this rule is never discussed, and especially not with regard to Obama's intentional invasion of our borders. Just for the record and regarding the importance of the rule of apportionment, lets get down to some upsetting facts regarding Californias 55 electoral college votes. According to recent numbers, the total share of federal taxes paid by the people of 18 states [New York, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, Arkansas , Nebraska, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Wyoming] works out to be a higher per capita amount then paid by the people of California. And yet, the State of California has an overwhelming 55 Electoral College votes compared to any of these states! For example, and according to 2007 figures, the people of Wyoming contributed $4,724,678,000 in federal taxes which works out to be a $9,036.74 tax per capita. And Wyoming, under the rule of apportionment is allotted 3 Electoral College votes. By contrast, the people of California contributed $313,998,874,000 in federal taxes this same year, and this figure works out to be a mere $8,590.18 tax per capita, which is a far less per capita than that paid by the people of Wyoming. But California gets 55 Electoral College votes, about 17 times more electoral votes than Wyoming. And why should this upset the people of Wyoming and 17 other States? It violates that part of the Great Compromise adopted when our Constitution was ratified which guarantees that representation and direct taxation is to be apportioned by each States population size. The two formulas considering subsequent amendments to our Constitution may be expressed as follows: State`s Pop. ___________ X House (435) = State`s votes in House Pop. of U.S. State`s pop. _________ X SUM TO BE RAISED = STATE`S SHARE U.S. Pop In regard to the first formula, both California and Wyoming are getting their full representation which is 55 and 3 Electoral College votes respectively. But, with regard to taxes paid, the people of Wyoming in 2007 contributed a higher per capita share of federal taxes than California in spite of the fair share formula for direct taxation mandated by our Constitution which requires an equal per capita tax. In 2007, if the rule of apportionment were applied to taxation and representation as intended by our Founders, and the people of California each had to pay one dollar to meet its apportioned share of a total sum being raised by Congress, the people of Wyoming would likewise only have to pay one dollar each if the tax were shared evenly among the people living in Wyoming. Although Californias total share of the tax under the rule of apportionment would be far greater than that of Wyoming because of Californias larger population, California was compensated with its larger Electoral College vote in the last election which is also part of the rule of apportionment and gives them a greater say when spending federal revenue, but did not contribute a apportioned share of the tax burden! As things are California got to exercise 55 Electoral College votes in our last presidential election, but did not contributed a share into the federal treasury proportionately equal to its massive Electoral College vote as our Constitution requires. And this is a direct assault upon the very purposes for which the rule of apportionment was adopted. I wonder why Ted Cruz does not talk about the wisdom and brilliance of the rule of apportionment. JWK Jaipur: Police on Wednesday arrested at least six people in connection with beating and manhandling a Spanish couple in Ajmer in Rajasthan. According to ANI report, the arrests were made on Tuesday. Meanwhile, all the six accused including a minor were rounded up by the police for 24 hours. The police also recovered all the looted items they had looted from the couple. According to police, most the of the arrested persons have criminal past and have been previously named in a series of crimes. According to reports, the couple had rented a bike and were on their way to Ajaypal, situated on the back side of the Taragarh hills, when the incident took place. The attackers apparently tried to sexually assault the Spanish woman while the male tourist's head was injured after he was attacked with a stone. "They came here from Pushkar. At around 5 pm, they were attacked by some men, who were consuming liquor." One of the drunk men even tried to hold hands of one of the tourists... One person got injured," Superintendent of Police (SP) Nitin Deep told reporters here. The miscreants later fled the spot when the woman reportedly called up the owner of the hotel they were staying in. The owner arrived at the spot a little while later and took the couple to a hospital in Ajmer. The police has launched a manhunt to nab the miscreants who are still at large. Zee Media Bureau Jiuquan: To aid scientists on Earth in studying microgravity and space life sciences, China sent a retrievable scientific research satellite into space in the early hours of today. Named SJ-10, the satellite was launched from a space craft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert. According to Xinhua, the mission hopes to carry out experiments in the field of microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, space material, space radiation effects, microgravity biological effects and space bio-technology. Furthermore, Xinhua also reported that while in space, the bullet-shaped probe will house 19 experiments involving microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, space material, space radiation effect, microgravity biological effect and space bio-technology, before coming back to Earth with results. The experiments investigate how radiation affects genetics and are being conducted to try and make space travel safer in the future. Mouse embryos will also be observed to see how they develop, as they may give scientists clues about whether it would be possible for humans or animals to reproduce in space. Physicist Hu Wenrui, chief scientist of SJ-10 and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua that, The recoverable satellite is a useful and efficient tool for microgravity experiments, compared to space stations and research rockets. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency (ESA) is also taking part in the mission and has also teamed up with Chinese and French oil giants to launch containers of highly pressurized crude oil into space. Check out the video of the SJ-10 satellite launch below! (Video courtesy: SciNews) New Delhi: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as desperate and said that the saffron party wanted to form the government since March 18. Rawat held the BJP responsible for the ongoing political crisis in the nation. "The BJP is desperate to form the government in Uttarakhand ever since 18th of March and which is why they just want to siphon support of the MLAs. All this political crisis has been brewed by the BJP," said Rawat. Responding to a poser about the Congress` future course of action, Rawat said he expects that the High Court would do justice as the matter is pending before the same. The Nainital High Court on Wednesday declined the Centre`s plea seeking more time to argue Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat`s plea against the President`s rule in the state. However, the court assured the Centre that no orders would be passed today without hearing the Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi. The Centre also sought an adjournment in this affidavit so that they can study it and formulate their response. The Congress Party had on Friday filed a petition before the Uttarakhand High Court challenging the Centre`s appropriation ordinance for the state. Kolkata: The Election Commission on Wednesday said over 84 percent voters turned out to cast their ballots in 18 constituencies in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls on April 4. Among the 18 seats -- nine in Purulia, three in Bankura and six in West Medinipur -- across three districts, Salboni constituency topped the list with the maximum voter turnout of 90.18 percent. Purulia constituency had the lowest voter turnout of 79.76 percent. According to the Election Commission report, voter turnout in the nine constituencies in Purulia was comparatively less than in Bankura and Paschim Medinipur. Regarding the next date of polls in 31 constituencies to be conducted in April 11, the Election Commission on Wednesday said more than 69 lakh (69,90,900) voters across 8,465 polling stations would decide the fate of 163 candidates. In the third phase, among 62 constituencies spread across Murshidabad, Nadia and Kolkata-North, 421 nominations have been filed till Tuesday, and two of them were rejected, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar said. He said 138 nominations as on Tuesday were filed in 49 constituencies in 24 Parganas (North) and Howrah districts for the fourth phase, and 37 nominations were filed for 53 seats in 24 Parganas (South), Hooghly and Kolkata-South for the fifth phase. Asked about Trinamool Congress candidate and Saradha scam accused Madan Mitra's plea before the Election Commission for parole to campaign in the polls, he said: "The question of parole does not arise. Parole is considered for a convicted, he is not. He is an accused... this does not apply to him." Sarkar also said complaints were received against Trinamool candidate Sabyasachi Dutta about his alleged links with the syndicate mafia. The complaints have been forwarded to the Election Commission of India. District of Columbia: President Barack Obama on Tuesday dismissed as "half-baked" Donald Trump`s plan to force Mexico to pay for a border wall by holding hostage the money its citizens send home from the United States. The Republican frontrunner`s promise to build the wall and force Mexico to foot the estimated $8 billion bill is a cornerstone of his under-fire campaign to win the US presidency. In a memo that the flamboyant New York tycoon handed over to The Washington Post, the candidate said he would force Mexico`s hand by threatening to cut off billions of dollars sent home by Mexican immigrants. "This is just one more example of something that is not thought through and is primarily put forward for political consumption," Obama told a news conference in response. "The notion that we`re going to track every Western Union bit of money that`s being sent to Mexico: good luck with that," he said. Remittances are one of the most important sources of income for Mexico along with oil and tourism. In 2014, more than $24 billion was wired into Mexico from overseas, including payments from immigrants not just in the United States but in other countries such as Britain and Canada, according to the World Bank. The outgoing Democratic president said cutting off remittances, many of which come from legal immigrants sending money to their families, would be "impractical." The policy was ill conceived, he said, warning that if the Mexican economy collapsed as a result, more immigrants would flock to the United States to look for work. People expect the US president and other elected officials to address serious problems by proposing effective policies "that have been examined," analyzed and which take unintended consequences into account, he said. "They don`t expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can`t afford that."In the memo, Trump threatened to change a rule under the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that would cut off a portion of the funds sent to Mexico through money transfers, the Post reported. The paper said the feasibility of Trump`s plan was unclear both legally and politically, and that the idea could decimate the Mexican economy and set up an unprecedented showdown between the United States and a key diplomatic ally. Trump`s memo said the threat would be withdrawn if Mexico made "a one-time payment of $5-10 billion" to pay for the wall, the newspaper added. "It`s an easy decision for Mexico," it quoted Trump as saying in the memo, which the Post said was written on campaign stationery. Called "Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall," the document included other potential intimidation tactics such as increased trade tariffs, cancelling visas, and higher fees for border-crossing cards, the Post said. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request to comment. Asked if Trump`s foreign policy proposals were already doing damage to US relations abroad, Obama said yes and also called out Trump`s closest Republican rival, the evangelical conservative Ted Cruz. "I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made," he said. "I do have to emphasize that it`s not just Mr Trump`s proposals. You`re also hearing concerns about Mr Cruz`s proposals, which in some ways are just as draconian when it comes to immigration, for example." The Texas senator is leading Trump in the Republican contest for Tuesday`s Wisconsin primary where a win for Cruz could bolster his chances of blocking the real estate mogul`s drive for the Republican nomination. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has made clear "there is no scenario" in which his country would pay for a wall. He has compared Trump`s rhetoric to the rise of European dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Brussels: One of the jihadists who blew themselves up in Islamic State attacks in Brussels on March 22 briefly worked as a cleaner at the European Parliament several years ago, the EU body said today. "He held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament for one month in 2009 and one month in 2010. Those were the only instances he worked at the Parliament," it said in a statement. It did not name the individual, but a source close to the inquiry told AFP it was Najim Laachraoui. Laachraoui and fellow suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui blew themselves up at Brussels airport in coordinated attacks two weeks ago that also struck a Brussels metro station and killed a total of 32 people. Laachraoui is also suspected of being the bomb-maker for the Paris terror assaults last November after his DNA was found on some the explosives used in the attacks, which killed 130. The European Parliament said the suspect did not have a criminal record when he worked for the cleaning firm it had contracted at the time. "As required by the contract, the cleaning firm submitted proof of the absence of a criminal record to the European Parliament," the statement said. Laachraoui, 24, is understood to have travelled to Syria in 2013. He resurfaced last September, two months before the Paris attacks, when he was stopped by police on the Austria-Hungary border. He was using the false identity of Soufiane Kayal and was travelling with the Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving Paris attacks suspect. Pennsylvania: A day after losing Wisconsin, White House hopeful Hillary Clinton unleashed a blistering critique of China while campaigning Wednesday in blue-collar Pennsylvania, warning the Asian giant must "toe the line" if she becomes president. The eastern US state, where organized labor is an influential force, hosts its presidential primaries on April 26. "China illegally dumps cheap products in our markets, steals our trade secrets, plays games with their currency, gives unfair advantages to state-owned-enterprises and discriminates against American companies," she said. "We will throw the book at China for their illegal actions." Clinton`s remarks, delivered to a state AFL-CIO union convention in Philadelphia, were among her most forceful campaign trail comments about Beijing. Her rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, addresses the gathering Thursday. Clinton, seeking to regain her footing in the nomination race after losing six of the last seven state contests, pointed to her experience as secretary of state as a measure of her ability to influence Beijing. "I`ve gone toe to toe with China`s top leaders on some of the toughest issues we face, from cyber attacks to human rights to climate change to trade and more," she said. "I know how they operate, and they know if I`m president, they`re going to have to toe the line, because we`re going to once and for all get fair treatment, or they`re not going to get access to our markets." At one point she refered to China as "the biggest abuser of global trade." Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Pennsylvania in their 2008 primary battle, thanks to support from union Democrats, and she aims to repeat her victory in three weeks` time. But she will need to reassure workers who have criticized her late opposition to the trans-Pacific trade deal recently signed by President Barack Obama. Sanders has steadfastly opposed the agreement from Day One. "My message to every worker in Pennsylvania, every worker across America is this: I will stand with you, I will have your back and I will stop dead in its tracks any trade deal that hurts America," Clinton said. She also criticized Sanders, insisting that "in a number of important areas, he doesn`t have a plan at all." Clinton leads Sanders by 52.7 percent to 35 percent in a RealClearPolitics poll average, although the latest poll, released by Quinnipiac University on Tuesday, puts Clinton just six points ahead. She is well ahead in the nominations race, but she has suffered stinging defeats for two weeks. A win in the New York primary April 19 is seen as crucial for her preventing Sanders from snatching the nomination. But the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont is popular with the rank and file. "I don`t think she`s a bad person, and if she wins the nomination I`ll vote for her," said Don Long, 39, a union telecommunications worker. But considering "somebody who is as solidly behind organized labor as Bernie Sanders is," Long added, "you got to go with Bernie Sanders." District of Columbia: US President Barack Obama said Tuesday that destroying the Islamic State (IS) group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. "We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure," Obama said at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House. "We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them." "As we`ve seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks," he added, using another term for the IS group. Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said. "We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul," he said of cities in Syria and Iraq. "Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority." Obama spoke next to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders. Carter on Tuesday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current "top heavy" structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated. The fight against the Islamic State group has shown that the military`s various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said. "We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans," he said. Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria`s central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the IS group`s last strongholds in the region. The operation 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Palmyra helped secure the government`s retaking of that ancient city last week after the Islamic State group held it for 10 months, destroying important archaeological sites and executing 280 people. Brasilia: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said Tuesday she would not reshuffle her cabinet until after a congressional impeachment vote as she fights for her political survival. Abandoned by her main coalition partner, Rousseff is racing to secure enough votes in Congress to block the lower house from sending her to face impeachment in the senate. A long recession and huge corruption scandal have pushed the government to the brink of collapse, exacerbated last week when the powerful PMDB party ditched her for the opposition. In a country teeming with dozens of political parties, ministerial posts and other government jobs have become key bargaining chips in Rousseff`s negotiations to save her presidency. But the leftist leader said she would not reshuffle her cabinet before the lower house vote, expected in mid-April. "The (presidential) palace does not plan to carry out any ministerial restructuring before a vote in the Chamber," she told journalists. "We won`t touch anything for now." Rousseff`s chief of staff had said last week a reshuffle was imminent. But newspaper O Globo reported that the president`s camp was reluctant to move too soon from fear that supposed new allies could betray her and vote to impeach anyway. Rousseff`s critics accuse her of manipulating the government`s accounts to boost public spending during her 2014 re-election campaign and hiding the depth of the recession. Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo lambasted the case against her Monday in final arguments before a congressional committee tasked with recommending whether to impeach. Cardozo accused the president`s opponents of violating the constitution and seeking to exact revenge for their own legal woes in a spiraling graft scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras.Rousseff, 68, needs at least 172 abstentions or votes against impeachment in the lower house. The PMDB, a centrist juggernaut that had long been an awkward partner for her Workers` Party (PT), has 69 seats in the lower house and 18 in the 82-member Senate, where a two-thirds vote in an impeachment trial would remove the president from office. Rousseff has been sending out her scandal-tainted but heavy-hitting predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to lobby on her behalf, courting small centrist parties with promises of ministerial posts vacated by the PMDB. One such party, the PP -- which has 51 seats in the lower house -- openly said it wanted heavyweight ministries such as health and education. "We`re seeking recognition of our party`s importance in this process," said its congressional leader, Aguinaldo Ribeiro.Opposition parties have condemned the political horse-trading. "It`s a disgrace," said the congressional leader of the centrist PSDB party, Antonio Imbassahy. "Lula calls you up on the phone, comes over here and says, `Do you want a ministry? Do you want a post? How many millions (in federal project funding) do you need?` It`s shameful. The country can`t sink to this level." Rousseff`s approval rating has plunged to 10 percent, polls show. But those working to oust her face serious allegations themselves, including the PMDB`s Eduardo Cunha, the house speaker who is leading the impeachment push. Vice President Michel Temer, who will become president if it succeeds, also faces accusations. He has been linked to the Petrobras scandal, although he has not been charged. Cunha was charged in the scandal last year with taking millions of dollars in bribes. A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday ordered Cunha to launch a new impeachment committee to consider allegations against Temer, a day after the house speaker blocked the case. The accusations against Temer are the same as those against Rousseff: taking out unauthorized government loans to fudge the government`s books. As she awaits the decision on impeachment, Rousseff may also find out this week if the Supreme Court allows Lula to become her chief of staff, which would shield him from prosecution. He has been barred because of charges in a case connected to the Petrobras scandal. Paris: France on Wednesday abandoned its attempts to name a gay man as ambassador to the Holy See in the face of opposition from the Vatican, making him its representative to UNESCO instead. The nomination of Laurent Stefanini, President Francois Hollande`s head of protocol, to the job at the UN`s Paris-based educational, cultural and scientific body ends a year of diplomatic wrangling. Hollande proposed Stefanini for the Vatican job in January 2015 but when no confirmation from the Holy See was forthcoming, French and Italian media reported he had been snubbed due to his homosexuality. French Catholic paper La Croix said last year the Vatican considered it a "provocation" that Stefanini had been put forward and some reports said it was the Vatican`s revenge for Hollande`s Socialist government legalising same-sex marriage in 2013. Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said in April last year that Stefanini remained "France`s choice". A statement released after the meeting of the French cabinet on Wednesday did not give the new name put forward by Paris for the Vatican position. Stefanini, 56, worked on Vatican affairs while working in a lower-ranking diplomatic role between 2001 and 2005. He became head of presidential protocol in 2010 under then president Nicolas Sarkozy and retained the role when Hollande came to power two years later. Paris: French lawmakers on Wednesday passed a controversial law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to 3,750 euros ($4,270) on prostitutes` clients. Around 60 sex workers staged a noisy protest outside parliament during the final debate on the bill that will affect the livelihoods of at least 30,000 prostitutes in France, four in five of whom are foreign. Some carried a banner reading "Don`t liberate me, I`ll take care of myself!", while another poster read, in English, "Sex work is work". Backed by the Socialist government, the legislation has been nearly two and a half years in the making. All European countries penalise pimping, but France will become only the fifth to punish the clients of prostitutes, along with Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Britain. Sweden in 1999 became the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay for sex, in a bid to lower demand. In France, predominantly right-wing senators have opposed the ban on paying for sex, which will be punishable by a 1,500-euro fine for first offenders, increasing to 3,750 euros for repeat offenders. But after previous debates in both chambers of parliament ended in deadlock, the lower house, dominated by the left, had the final say. The proposal introduced in October 2013 has divided public opinion in France, prompting a group of 343 public figures to issue what they called a "scumbags` manifesto" asserting the right to use prostitutes. The signatories, who included journalists, writers and actors, said they resented being depicted as "perverts or psychopaths" and refused to allow "deputies (to) legislate norms on our desires and our pleasures". Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier, the architect of the bill, has argued repeatedly that prostitutes should be seen as "victims and no longer as delinquents". The new law will supersede a little enforced 2003 measure penalising the solicitation of clients for sex."This law is essential to ending the idea that it is normal to buy someone`s body," Olivier told AFP. "We will succeed in changing the mentality, but new efforts are needed to raise awareness, to train police officers and magistrates." The new law will also require offenders to take a course to learn about the conditions faced by sex workers. The bill calls for measures -- backed by an annual budget of 4.8 million euros -- to help prostitutes find other jobs and a six-month residency permit for foreign sex workers. The bulk of sex workers in France are from eastern Europe, Africa, China and Latin America. The law will "increase police repression (and) degrade working conditions" a member of the Strass sex workers union said at Wednesday`s protest. Around 20 people held a counter-demonstration nearby waving a banner reading "Prostitution, Just One Option, Abolition". On Tuesday, 13 associations that support prostitutes joined forces to condemn the law which they said threatened the livelihoods of sex workers and was "essentially repressive". "We already see the consequences. Those who can afford to have left for neighbouring countries, while others are looking for... procurers to put them in contact with clients," said Morgane Merteuil, another Strass member said earlier. Critics also point to the difficulty of proving payment for sex, since the money usually changes hands in private. And those who buy sex over the Internet are unlikely to be caught by the new law, experts say. "Dating websites are one of the main ways to connect prostitutes and clients," said sociologist Laurent Melito. "Then people call each other. How are you going to control that?" The kinds of algorithms used to block child pornography and jihadist recruitment cannot be used to combat prostitution because the "risk of error" is too great, communications researcher Olivier Ertzscheid told AFP. Vatican City: An alleged night of sex at the centre of a controversial Vatican leaks trial never took place, accused former PR consultant Francesca Chaouqui told a Holy See court on Wednesday. One of Chaouqui`s co-accused, Spanish Monsignor Lucio Vallejo Balda, has admitted leaking classified documents to journalists but claims he did so under pressure from his former colleague after she made advances to him culminating in a "compromising" encounter in a Florence hotel in December 2014. "I never had any sexual relations with him," the heavily pregnant Chaouqui told the court as she gave evidence for the first time in a trial that was adjourned last month for her to have medical treatment. "His mother was sleeping in the room while he was speaking to me," the Italian said. Chaouqui, who has previously implied that Balda is gay, added: "He confided in me about sexual matters which I will not recount in full out of respect for his status as a priest. The habit he wears has a value for me." In another bizarre twist to a case that has already thrown up claims of blackmail, computer hacking and contacts with Chinese spies, she went on claim that Balda had had a relationship with a male astrologer she had introduced him to. Chaouqui denied having passed any classified documents from a Vatican economic reform panel to Italian investigative journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, who are also on trial after publishing books based on the documents. She also depicted a poisonous atmosphere inside the Vatican after Pope Francis, early in his papacy, established the reform panel to look into issues like the running of the Vatican bank and the management of its vast property portfolio. "The COSEA (as the committee was known) was seen as a sort of monster in the Vatican, like a foreign body," she said. "They were not happy to see me there at all, it was only with the doormen that I had cordial relations."Chaouqui said Balda had been a "competent and lucid" colleague when the committee began its work but that everything changed in February 2014 with the birth of a new economic secretariat under Australian cardinal George Pell. "In May 2014, something exceptionally serious happened, a terrible thing," she said while declining to give further details citing her commitment to not spilling Vatican secrets. Pope Francis was informed and Balda was put in charge of reporting back to him on the incident, she said. When he did, the pope was sufficiently shocked by what he learned to have described it as a "prophecy", Chaouqui added, again without fully explaining. Shortly after the incident, Pell ordered the confiscation of all the reform committee`s documents and, according to Chaouqui, her relationship with Balda soured from then on as his behaviour became increasingly erratic. Listening from the dock, Balda repeatedly rolled his eyes towards the ceiling while Chaouqui received a sharp reprimand from the judge in charge of proceedings. "This court is not a stage. Keep quiet. The questions are for me to ask," he told her at one point. The trial, which many Vatican officials regard as a huge own goal, had been scheduled to continue Thursday but has been adjourned until Monday, the Vatican said later. The Holy See has been widely criticised for prosecuting journalists for revelations about waste and financial mismanagement which the Church has recognised as well-founded by implementing reforms to address them. Utah: Four men have been accused in Utah of raping a nine-year-old child while her mother smoked methamphetamine, in a case that has prompted a furious outcry and appeals for calm. According to a statement by the Uintah County Sheriff`s Office, the rape took place on March 27 as the mother was visiting friends in the town of Vernal, east of Salt Lake City, and went to the garage to smoke drugs while her daughter slept on a couch. "During that time, the child was taken into another room in the home where she was raped by the four men," the sheriff`s office said in a statement. The men, who were living temporarily at the house, were later arrested and charged with rape and sodomy. They made their initial appearance in court on Tuesday and are scheduled for a bail hearing on April 11. The case has led to a public outcry in the small town and beyond, with some calling in social media postings for the four men to face a firing squad or be hanged. The calls for vigilante justice prompted the sheriff`s office to appeal for calm on Monday in a statement on its Facebook page. "The interest and concern over the case of victimization of a nine year old girl in our county has been overwhelming and unprecedented," the statement said. "Occasionally, there are incidents that we face that are shocking to the conscience, and this case has certainly been one of those for us all." G. Mark Thomas, the county attorney, said the case was particularly disturbing as it involved the gang rape of a child. "We are always concerned when a child is abused (but) this is particularly heinous in that she was abused by four adults in rapid succession in a very demeaning way," he told AFP. "This is a first reported incident of multiple adults simultaneously abusing a child of this age." According to court documents, the four men took turns raping the child over a 30-minute period before putting her back on the couch and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. The mother said she found her daughter upset, with her dress "pulled up past her waist" when she returned from the garage and took her home. She called police the next day after her daughter told her of the rape. Authorities said the child was taken to hospital and has been placed in government custody. The four alleged attackers -- Larson RonDeau, 36, Josiah RonDeau, 20, Jerry Flatlip, 29 and Randall Flatlip, 26 -- face up to life in prison if convicted. jz/mdl London: Prime Minister David Cameron, his wife and their children do not stand to benefit in future from any offshore funds or trusts, Cameron`s spokesman said on Wednesday as the British leader continued to face questions over family tax affairs. Cameron`s late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca which showed how the world`s rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes. After having initially described it as a private matter, Cameron`s office issued a statement on Tuesday saying that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present. During a business visit in central England, Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds. But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday. "There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future," a spokesman for the British leader said on Wednesday. Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, but the opposition Labour Party have said the "Panama Papers" show the government has failed to tackle the issue. Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting, a member of parliament`s Treasury Select Committee, said the latest statement from Cameron`s office was welcome but there were still questions about whether he benefited from offshore funds in the past. "From a public point of view, the question will be when our prime minister says he is serious about tackling it (tax evasion) ... are we absolutely certain he doesn`t have a vested interest? And if he does have a vested interest, will he be up-front with us about it?" he told the BBC. The Telegraph reported on Wednesday that Ian Cameron`s fund, Blairmore Holdings, moved its operations to Ireland in 2010, the year Cameron became prime minister. It quoted a source close to the fund saying it had been moved because its directors believed it was about to "come under more scrutiny". Vatican City: Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe`s refugee crisis next week, Athens announced Tuesday, as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled. The trip by the pope, who will be accompanied by the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, is likely to pile pressure on EU leaders already facing criticism over the controversial deal struck last month. "The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees," a government source in Athens said, adding the trip would happen on April 14 or 15. "Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with (them) to the island of Lesbos," a tourist hub that has been transformed into a major gateway for new arrivals seeking a better life in Europe. Hundreds of thousands of people have landed on the island`s shores over the past year after crossing over from Turkey in flimsy boats, part of Europe`s worst migration crisis since World War II. Brussels sought to tackle the problem by signing an agreement with Ankara last month to send new arrivals back to Turkey, in exchange for resettling some of the millions of Syrians living in refugee camps on its soil. The deal has already contributed to a slowing of new arrivals, and Germany`s interior minister said Tuesday that his country could lift temporary border controls brought in last year by mid-May if the arrivals continue to dwindle. But the deal has been slammed by rights groups, the UN and even the pope, who used his Easter address to criticise the "rejection" of refugees, and has been slowed by a last-minute rush of asylum applications. The Greek Orthodox Church said it had approved the papal visit to Lesbos after Francis expressed a desire to "shed light on the major humanitarian problem" of the migrant influx.Tensions were running high on the Greek islands after the first tranche of 200 migrants were deported on Monday. A Turkish official said the next transfer "has been postponed to Friday" at Greece`s request. The process has been slowed "by an increase in asylum requests" in the last few days on Lesbos and another Aegean island, Chios, said Greek migration spokesman Yiorgos Kyritsis. On Samos, less than two kilometres (one mile) by sea from Turkey, Ali, a Pakistani, told AFP that 100 migrants had gone on hunger strike. "We risk our lives to come here, we don`t want to go back to Turkey because they are going to send us back to Pakistan," he said. "We don`t want to apply for asylum in Greece, we want to go to Germany." All "irregular migrants" arriving in Greece since March 20 now face being sent back, although the EU deal calls for each case to be examined individually. For every Syrian refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the European Union, with numbers capped at 72,000. EU border agency Frontex described the first deportation operation as "orderly", but on Tuesday the UN`s refugee agency said some of those sent back may not have had access to proper asylum procedures. "We are concerned that 13 people, most of them Afghans, who expressed the wish to request asylum were unable to be registered in time," the UNHCR`s representative in Greece, Philippe Leclerc, told AFP. The numbers crossing from Turkey have dropped since the deal came into force, with hundreds landing on the Greek islands per day as opposed to thousands. This, along with a series of border closures further up the migrant route, has reduced the number of new arrivals in northern Europe -- the main destination for the more than million people who arrived in Europe last year. French President Francois Hollande told German daily Bild that Europe had to work together to stop the crisis, adding: "There can be no question that what happened in 2015 is repeated in 2016." Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the creation of a national foundation to "popularise" history, seen as the Kremlin`s latest bid to rehabilitate the Soviet legacy. The new Fatherland History Foundation comes as Russian historians who criticise the role of Stalin are often accused of disrespect for war veterans and can even be prosecuted under a 2014 law. The Soviet role in WWII, particularly its secret pact with Nazi Germany to partition eastern Europe, remains a thorny issue, and Moscow rejects all attempts to portray the Red Army as anything other than Europe`s liberator. The foundation will "popularise Russian history in our country and abroad, safeguarding the historical heritage and traditions of the peoples of Russia", according to Putin`s decree. Putin appointed Russian parliamentary speaker Sergei Naryshkin to head the fund and named experts from universities and museums to serve on its advisory board. The foundation will not be the first organisation of its kind created since Putin`s return to the Kremlin in 2012. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, a close Putin ally, chairs Russia`s Military History Society, which has a similar mission and exerts a powerful influence over cultural life. The new foundation is the latest step in the "rehabilitation of the Soviet past" said Yury Tsurganov, a lecturer in history at Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. "When a new ideology is being created, it has an impact on the humanities, including history," he said. Naryshkin, the head of the new foundation, is known for battling what he calls "falsification" of history, particularly on Soviet post-war control of Eastern Europe and the legacy of World War II. On Tuesday he accused Ukraine of "abusing history" by outlawing Communist monuments and criticised as "cynical and immoral" Poland`s plan to remove hundreds of Soviet war memorials. Last month, the culture minister berated the longtime director of the Russian State Archive Sergei Mironenko as "immoral" for denouncing as an invention a Soviet myth about guardsmen who heroically defended Moscow in 1941. Mironenko subsequently quit his post to take a less senior position. United Nations: The UN has said it is the responsibility of member states to ensure they impose the "strongest disciplinary and criminal sanctions" against any of their peacekeepers found guilty of sexual exploitation. "We count on all member states to live up to their responsibilities to expeditiously bring to justice those who have committed crimes while serving with the UN and to impose the strongest of disciplinary and criminal sanctions warranted under their national laws," Atul Khare, a senior Indian diplomat who is Undersecretary-General for Field Support said in his briefing to the General Assembly here yesterday on recent allegations of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. Khare's comments come in the backdrop of reports of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse in the Central African Republic by UN and French troops and local armed groups. The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General has said that the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic announced on March 25 that it had received new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. Most of the allegations relate to Burundian and Gabonese contingents present in the Kemo region between 2013 and 2015, as well as to the separate French Sangaris force stationed in the same region in the same period. Allegations of abuse in other parts of the country are also being investigated. No Indian peacekeeper was found guilty of any wrongdoing in a new report last month that for the first time identified nationalities of UN peacekeeping personnel involved in sexual abuse against citizens. As many as 69 allegations of sexual exploitation were received by the UN against its peacekeepers last year, according to the report. Khare said the "new profoundly disturbing" reports from the peacekeeping missions in Congo and Central African Republic must be swiftly and professionally investigated. He added that the immediate concern of the department is to provide protection and support to the victims most of whom are "sadly" children, stressing that a victim-centric approach is absolutely essential. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Chef de Cabinet Edmond Mulet reaffirmed the UN's determination to tackle the issue head on and indicated that such violations, if verified, would trigger a decision by Ban to repatriate the units in question. Mulet said that since last June, reports of sexual exploitation and abuse have continued to come to light in the Central African Republic and in other countries. "Tragically, the vast majority of the victims are children," he said, adding, however, that "at this stage, these remain reports," which must be verified and investigated swiftly and professionally. "The Member States have been advised that if there is credible evidence to support the reports, their number would constitute widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse," he said. District of Columbia: Republican Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders snatched victories in the crucial Wisconsin presidential primary Tuesday, sending a message to frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that their march to the nominations are not foregone conclusions. US networks including Fox News and NBC called the race for the two underdogs within half an hour of polls closing in the Midwestern state that borders Canada. With seven percent of precincts reporting, Cruz, a conservative senator from Texas, was ahead with 49 percent of the vote compared to 35 percent for billionaire Trump. Ohio Governor John Kasich was a distant third at 14 percent. Cruz`s win in the Badger State is a serious blow to Trump and could alter the trajectory of the Republican race. The New York real estate mogul predicted a surprise win Tuesday in Wisconsin, but now faces a narrower path to victory and the 1,237 delegates needed to sew up the Republican nomination. Tuesday also cements Cruz`s status as the leading anti-Trump candidate, with Kasich far back in the nomination battle. On the Democratic side, Vermont Senator Sanders led with 57 percent versus 43 percent for Clinton. But the former secretary of state can look forward with some confidence to the upcoming races. She leads Sanders by double digits in New York, her adopted home state which votes April 19, and Pennsylvania, which casts ballots a week later. Trump also leads handily in his home state of New York and in Pennsylvania. MILWAUKEE: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has pulled into a statistical dead heat with front-runner Donald Trump, a new Reuters/Ipsos national poll showed on Tuesday, as the Texas senator appeared poised to pick up a key victory in Wisconsin`s primary. Cruz`s recent gains mark the first time since November that one of Trump`s rivals has threatened his lead in support among Republicans, coinciding with missteps by the New York real estate mogul that include a gaffe about abortion and the arrest of his campaign manager on battery charges. Cruz got 35.2 percent of support to Trump`s 39.5 percent, the poll of 568 Republicans taken April 1-5 found. The numbers put the two within the poll`s 4.8 percentage-point credibility interval, a measure of accuracy. Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, and Trump were also briefly in a dead heat early last week. But as recently as a month ago, when Senator Marco Rubio was also still a candidate, Cruz trailed Trump in Reuters/Ipsos polling by about 20 points. Ohio Governor John Kasich, the only other Republican now remaining in the race for the party`s nomination, placed third in Tuesday`s poll with 18.7 percent. Cruz appeared poised for victory in Wisconsin`s nominating contest on Tuesday, according to opinion polls in the state. He hopes a Wisconsin victory will deliver a powerful message that he can unite disparate factions of the party and break Trump`s momentum. Facing possible defeat in Wisconsin, Trump proposed blocking money transfers to Mexico by undocumented immigrants as a way to pressure Mexico to pay for a border wall, a key component of his controversial immigration plan, which has won votes in other states. Trump`s campaign said in a memo that if elected, he would use a U.S. anti-terrorism law to cut off remittances from people living in the United States illegally. The memo elaborated on an idea Trump floated in August, when he suggested seizing all remittances tied to "illegal wages." Asked about Trump`s remittances plan, Democratic President Barack Obama called it unworkable. "The notion that we`re going to track every Western Union bit of money that`s being sent to Mexico, good luck with that, Obama said at a White House press briefing. Trump`s support has faltered among women in particular. He said in a March 30 interview that if abortion was illegal, women who end pregnancies could face punishment. He later reversed himself to say doctors who provide abortions should be held responsible. He was also criticized for standing by his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, after the aide was arrested on misdemeanour battery charges in an incident with a journalist. More than 70 percent of likely women voters said they had an "unfavourable" opinion of Trump, according to a rolling poll average for the five-day period ended April 5. Trump dismissed concerns. "I think we`re going to do very well in Wisconsin," he told reporters on Tuesday at a diner, where he declined a customer`s offer to let him try on one of the dairy state`s signature "cheesehead" hats. Trump also disputes Cruz`s claim he can unify the party, saying at rallies that "everybody hates Cruz." The role of unifier is an unlikely one for Cruz, who has had a stormy relationship with party leaders since he forced the U.S. government to shut down for six days in 2013 in a budget fight with Obama. But enmity towards Trump among many in the party establishment was enough for five former Republican White House rivals to back Cruz. In the Democratic race, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has a slender lead in opinion polls in Wisconsin over front-runner Hillary Clinton, but she maintained her lead nationally in a Reuters/Ipsos poll also released on Tuesday. Turkmenistan has passed a law making HIV tests mandatory prior to marriage, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sign the reclusive Central Asian state fears the spread of a disease it has always downplayed. The law is the closest the highly secretive state of 5 million has come to acknowledging a public health threat from the disease which is prevalent throughout the former Soviet Union. The law, which aims to "create conditions for healthy families and prevent the birth of HIV-infected children" was published in the state newspaper on Wednesday and is effective immediately. An official from the country`s national AIDS Center, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the new law was "very necessary" given the "high risk" of the spread of the virus. The official cited use of intravenous drugs, mostly sourced from neighbouring Afghanistan, and prostitution as the main means of transmission. Other than "persons entering marriage", the legislation also enforces HIV tests for blood donors, "persons suspected of narcotics use", prisoners, citizens of foreign countries applying for work visas and stateless persons. According to the law signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the government will guarantee anonymity and free treatment for sufferers of the disease. Turkmenistan, which remains largely closed to the outside world, has always downplayed the prevalence of HIV, a disease that attacks the human immune system and is transmitted from person to person via bodily fluids. In 2002, the health ministry, which does not publish data on infectious diseases, claimed the country had only two cases of HIV and that both patients had been infected outside Turkmenistan. Arbor Week activities continue with an all-comers-welcome ivy pull, special displays of tree-related books at the Albany Public Library and a citywide Tree-sure Hunt. Tools and gloves will be provided for ivy pull, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. to noon Thursday at Monteith Riverpark. Residents are invited to enter the Tree-sure Hunt by taking pictures of themselves with Albanys historic Heritage Trees. Maps of the trees the city has about a dozen are available at City Hall, the Albany Public Library or online at the City of Albany website, www.cityofalbany.net. Tag the photo with #albanyheritagetrees and upload it to social media, then stop by the Albany Farmers Market on April 23 to receive a prize. Albany has once again qualified for the Tree City USA program, one of 57 cities honored with the designation this Arbor Week. Tree City USA is a program of the National Arbor Day Foundation, sponsored by the Oregon Department of Forestry. It recognizes cities that develop programs to plant and care for trees. Elsewhere in the mid-valley, Brownsville celebrates 10 years as a Tree City this year and Corvallis marks year 15. Lebanon, Philomath and Sweet Home also are part of the Tree City USA program. In a move that is sure to draw ire on the presidential campaign trail, Ford (NYSE:F) on Tuesday announced that it will be adding a new assembly plant in Mexico. The Detroit automaker said it will invest $1.6 billion into the facility and create 2,800 jobs by 2020, with construction expected to begin this summer. Ford's expansion in Mexico has been expected for months, causing Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump to repeatedly hammer the automaker. "This transaction is an absolute disgrace. Our dishonest politicians and the special interests that control them are laughing in the face of all American citizens," said Trump in a statement released after Ford's announcement on Tuesday. "When I am president, we will strongly enforce trade rules against unfair foreign subsidies, and impose countervailing duties to prevent egregious instances of outsourcing." Trump went on to call for renegotiating NAFTA "to create a fair deal for American workers." Joe Hinrichs, president of Ford of the Americas, told CNBC that the new plant does not mean Ford is moving jobs out of the U.S. "We're proud to be an American company," he told CNBC. "We've invested $10.2 billion here in the U.S. over the last five years and that commitment won't change even as we expand around the world." The Mexican plant, in San Luis Potosi state, will build small cars that will be exported for sale in the U.S. and other countries, though the automaker has not decided which vehicles will be built there. The company already has two final assembly plants and one engine plant in Mexico. It has a total of 8,800 employees there, compared with 85,000 in the U.S. In response to Tuesday's announcement, Dennis Williams, president of the United Auto Workers, said, "Today's announcement that Ford is investing in Mexico is a disappointment and very troubling. For every investment in Mexico it means jobs that could have and should have been available right here in the USA." Story continues The Ford announcement comes the same day as the primary in Wisconsin, a blue-collar state that has lost manufacturing jobs including many in the auto industry. Overall, 36 percent of Ford's production is in the United States and just 6 percent is in Mexico, according to IHS Automotive. Questions? Comments? BehindTheWheel@cnbc.com . CNBC's Krysia Lenzo contributed to this report. More From CNBC By Serajul Quadir DHAKA (Reuters) - A Bangladeshi cyber crime expert who went missing while he was assisting a police investigation into an attempted $951 million electronic theft from the central bank's computers, returned home early on Wednesday, his wife said. Tanveer Hassan Zoha disappeared last Thursday, two days after he accompanied special police to the offices of the Bangladesh Bank and told reporters that he knew three of the user IDs that hackers deployed to carry out the largest cyber heist in history. Police delivered him to their Dhaka home, his wife Kamrun Nahar Chowdhury said, although his disappearance was still a mystery. She said the police told them he was found loitering around Dhaka airport. "He was very tired and is sleeping now," she said. Hackers breached the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank in early February and attempted to steal $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which it uses for international settlements. Some transfers were blocked but $81 million was moved to accounts in the Philippines. The theft has already led to the resignation of Bangladesh's central bank governor. Before his disappearance, Zoha spent several hours with members of a special police force at the central bank trying to identify the culprits behind the theft. Two days later, he was taken away from a motorized rickshaw by people in plain clothes who blindfolded him and drove off with him in a vehicle, his wife said. Kamrun Nahar said at the time that police had refused to investigate her husband's disappearance and she appealed to the government for help to free him. On Thursday she thanked reporters for putting pressure on the government to find her husband. The government has also fired two deputy central bank governors, but is no closer to solving the attack on its computer systems. It has blamed the New York Fed for lapses and said it has hired a lawyer for a potential lawsuit against it. (Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Hugh Lawson) By Kylie MacLellan LONDON (Reuters) - The British government sought on Monday to deflect any criticism of Prime Minister David Cameron over his late father's inclusion on a list of clients using a law firm in the tax haven of Panama and said it would investigate the leaked data. Cameron's father, Ian, and members of his Conservative Party were among the tens of thousands of rich and famous people named in a leak of documents from Panama-based Mossack Fonseca which showed how clients had evaded tax and laundered money. The documents, which emerged in an investigation published on Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), are a blow to Cameron, a critic of tax evasion and tax avoidance. In 2012, British media reported that Cameron's father ran a network of offshore investment funds to help build the family fortune. There is no suggestion he did anything illegal. Asked on Monday whether she could confirm that no family money was still invested in those funds, Cameron's spokeswoman said: "That is a private matter." Britain's HM Revenue and Customs said it had asked for a copy of the leaked data so it could examine the information. "We have already received a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation," Jennie Granger, director general of enforcement and compliance at HM Revenue and Customs, said in a statement. "We have asked the ICIJ to share the leaked data that they have obtained with us. We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately." Opposition Labour finance spokesman John McDonnell said the Panama Papers showed Cameron had failed to end tax secrecy and crack down on offshore schemes and called for "real action". But the government said Britain had brought in more than 2 billion pounds ($2.84 billion) from offshore tax evaders since Cameron took office in 2010 and that Britain was "leading the pack internationally" on tackling tax evasion and avoidance. Story continues Since Britain made the issue a central plank of its G8 presidency in 2013, 90 countries have signed up to the automatic exchange of tax information, Cameron's spokeswoman said. She said Britain was pushing its overseas territories and crown dependencies, many of which are tax havens, to create public registers of who owns companies in their jurisdictions. Britain's own such register will go live in June. Asked if Britain would legislate to force territories such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands to publish the information, she said: "The prime minister has made clear that should they fail to do so he rules absolutely nothing out." (Editing by Angus MacSwan) A man smokes marijuana during a rally for the legalization of marijuana in Toronto, April 20, 2010. REUTERS/Mark Blinch (Reuters) By Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking marijuana in public or in clubs was banned permanently on Tuesday by the District of Columbia's city council, reversing course for a second time. Council members in the U.S. capital voted 7-6 to approve the measure, a spokeswoman for Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said. A second vote will be needed to finalize it. Two months ago, the council voted unanimously to create a task force to study the licensing of marijuana clubs and ending the ban on public consumption of pot. A law that took effect in February 2015 allows adults to possess small amounts of marijuana and grow and consume it at home. The District bans the sale of marijuana, but public smoking has become common as arrests have dried up. A council spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the vote. Tuesday's vote was the second turnaround by the council. Lawmakers voted this year to let the ban expire but then reversed themselves under pressure from Mayor Muriel Bowser. Besides the District of Columbia, the states of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have made pot lawful for recreational use. It remains illegal under federal law. Kate Bell, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group, said the task force should have been allowed to do its job. "We are very disappointed that the council voted to permanently impose this unnecessary ban on the freedoms that the vast majority of the voters support," she said in a statement. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; editing by Grant McCool) PARIS (Reuters) - France hopes to reopen its embassy in Tripoli as a sign of support for Libya's new unity government, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said on Tuesday, in what would be the first reopening of a Western diplomatic mission there. Western governments are growing increasingly concerned about Islamic State's success in establishing a firm foothold in Libya while two rival factions operating two governments fought for power. The West is now backing a U.N.-brokered national unity government, which arrived in Tripoli from Tunisia last week and has been operating from a naval base as it seeks to establish its authority. "Tunisia has reopened its embassy ... We are working on it if the security conditions are guaranteed ... It would be an extremely strong signal to show that we don't give in to terrorists," Ayrault told reporters after a meeting with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Ayrault, who described the arrival of the government as an important milestone, said Paris hoped to open its embassy "as soon as possible". Western diplomatic staff were evacuated from Tripoli in 2014 amid heavy fighting between rival factions. European Union sanctions, pushed by Paris, went into effect last week to pressure hardliners to accept the U.N. efforts to unite factions and militias that have competed for power since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Paris took a leading role in the NATO air campaign that helped rebels overthrow Gaddafi, and French aircraft are now conducting reconnaissance flights over Libya while French military advisers operate on the ground in conjunction with Britain and the United States. Asked what further military aid Paris could provide, Ayrault said: "If the Libyan government asks us for help to ensure its security, we are available, but ... there is no question of us deciding anything in their place, especially after what happened in 2011." (Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Kevin Liffey) The Government has printed 27 million glossy 16-page leaflets explaining why "remaining in the European Union is the best decision for the UK" - to be sent out from next week. The 9.3m cost will be taxpayer-funded and comes in addition to the specific provision for a mass mailing for both the official Leave and Remain campaigns. The spending consists of nearly 6m on printing and delivering the leaflets, and nearly 3m on targeted digital promotion of an online version. Number 10 says it is responding to a public desire for more information from the Government about the 23 June referendum. Liz Truss, the Environment Secretary said: "This referendum will be a huge decision for our country, perhaps the biggest we will make in our lifetimes and it's crucial that the public have clear and accessible information". She said that independent polling commissioned by the Government indicated 85% of people wanted more information from them to help make an informed decision. The use of taxpayers' money has infuriated many Leave campaigners. Brexit-friendly MPs had successfully amended the referendum legislation in Parliament to ensure no such leaflet could be distributed within four weeks of the referendum debate. London mayor and 'Out' campaigner Boris Johnson said he was concerned the leaflet would be "biased" and "hysterical" - and called it a "crazy" waste of money. "If this thing was genuinely going to help people understand what is going on in the debate, there might be a case for it," he said. "But given that I think it's very likely it will be very biased and hysterical and warning unnecessarily about the risks of leaving the EU, I think it's a complete waste of money." "If you are going to use taxpayers' money you should allow people to put the other side of the case as well," added Mr Johnson. The Government has also been obliged to delay the mailout in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland until May, in order to avoid a clash with elections. Story continues There are precedents for a mailing such as this from the Scottish referendum - and the earlier EU referendum in 1975, when the Government sent a similar document to all households. The 1975 leaflet had a personal letter and picture of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Today's leaflet does not feature David Cameron at all. The argument in the rather dry document focuses mainly on the economy, risk and uncertainty. It claims household shopping prices could go up, mobile phone roaming charges increase, and jobs put at risk. It aims to sell the PM's "special status" negotiation in Brussels from February, and warns of a "decade of uncertainty". A Number 10 insider said: "It's not designed as a campaigning document. It is a straightforward sober representation of the Government case". The Leave campaign could try to block the mailing using the courts. A wolverine walks across the snow in this U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) photo taken March 16, 2009. REUTERS/Steve Kroschel/US Fish and Wildlife Service/Handout/Files (Reuters) By Laura Zuckerman SALMON, Idaho (Reuters) - A federal judge on Monday rejected a decision by U.S. wildlife managers to deny wolverines Endangered Species Act protection, ruling the government erred in discounting the threat posed by climate change to the weasel-like predator of the Northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2013 proposed an endangered species listing for the estimated 300 wolverines believed to still inhabit the Lower 48 states, most of them in the snowy peaks of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. The Interior Department agency said then that human-caused global warming was lessening mountain snows needed by wolverines for building dens and storing food. But the Fish and Wildlife Service abruptly reversed itself in 2014, deciding against special protections for wolverines on grounds that it lacked sufficient evidence that climate change was harming the animals. Conservationists challenged the decision in court and accused the agency of ignoring scientific data that supported a listing for the wolverine, a large cousin of the weasel known for a feisty disposition and ferocious defense of its young. U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen on Monday sided with conservationists, finding the Fish and Wildlife Service decision unlawfully "arbitrary and capricious" and ordering the agency to reconsider. "No greater level of certainty is needed to see the writing on the wall for this snow-dependent species standing squarely in the path of global climate change," Christensen wrote. He added that the nation's landmark wildlife protection law demands action early to prevent further loss of biodiversity, noting: "For the wolverine, that time is now." The judge said resistance by states such as Idaho likely played a role in the federal agency's decision not to protect wolverines. Listing would have banned trapping of wolverines, which are prized for their fur, and imposed restrictions on such winter activities in the high country as snowmobiling. Story continues Christensen pointed to "immense political pressure brought to bear on this issue, particularly by a handful of Western states," and added: "The listing in this case involves climate science, and climate science evokes strong reaction." The Fish and Wildlife Service, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday, has a year to re-examine the climate-based threats to wolverines and issue a new decision. Conservationists welcomed the ruling. "Wolverines are incredibly tough animals, but they will need our protection to survive climate change," said Bethany Cotton of WildEarth Guardians. (Editing by Steve Gorman and Richard Pullin) ARLINGTON, Texas Nelson Cruz hit one of four Seattle homers, fellow former Texas player Leonys Martin had a tiebreaking double and the Mariners bounced back from an opening day loss to beat the Rangers 10-2 Tuesday night. Scott Servais, who spent six years in player development with Texas, got his first win as a manager while having a shouting match with reigning AL Manager of the Year Jeff Banister. The pair exchanged words after former Seattle reliever Tim Wilhelmsen hit Chris Iannetta with a pitch. Wilhelmsen, who was ejected, had just given up the second of two homers along with two doubles without getting an out in a six-run Seattle eighth. Nick Vincent (1-0) pitched a scoreless sixth inning. Robinson Cano homered for the second straight game and on the first pitch as a Ranger from Wilhelmsen, who spent his first five big league seasons with the Mariners. Cruz, who reached base four times and scored three runs, and Kyle Seager doubled. After Seth Smith homered again on the first pitch Wilhelmsens next pitch hit Iannetta on the left thigh. The Seattle catcher, who was with the Los Angeles Angels last season, yelled at the right-hander as he walked up the line. The managers emerged from the dugouts, eventually pointing at each other and shouting. The umpires cleared the field without any major trouble, and Luis Sardinas, another former Texas player, hit his first major league homer to cap six straight Seattle batters reaching to start the inning. Seattle starter Hisashi Iwakuma couldnt hold a 2-0 lead while going for his seventh consecutive win against Texas. The Japanese right-hander allowed consecutive run-scoring singles to Elvis Andrus and Robinson Chirinos with two outs in the fourth. By Alexis Akwagyiram LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigeria's army arrested Khalid al-Barnawi, leader of Islamist militant group Ansaru which is a splinter faction of Boko Haram that has been accused of kidnapping and killing Westerners, a military spokesman said on Monday. But a security expert said al-Barnawi's supporters had assured him that the militant leader, who the U.S. State Department named in 2012 as having ties to Boko Haram and al-Qaeda's north African wing, had not been captured. Defence spokesman Brigadier General Rabe Abubakar said al-Barnawi, who is thought to be in his late 30s, was arrested in Lokoja, the capital of the central state of Kogi, on Saturday. Reuters has been unable to independently verify the details provided by the military which has not yet released photographic or video evidence, as it has with previous arrests. "He has been arrested. We have made that giant stride," said Abubakar, adding that some Boko Haram fighters had surrendered to Nigerian troops. Muhammadu Buhari, who took office last May, has made it a priority of his presidency to defeat Islamist militancy in Africa's most populace nation. The arrest of al-Barnawi, if independently confirmed, would be significant as jihadists have been pushed out of northeastern areas they once controlled and conflicting messages on social media suggest internal schisms. But Nigerian security analyst Fulan Nasrullah expressed doubts that he had indeed been captured. "Khalid's people and I have spoken and they have said that he is free and was not captured, whether in Lokoja or anywhere else," he said. "They have killed seven different people at seven different times thinking they were Khalid al-Barnawi. They have no photos of him, nor do they know any concrete information about him," he added. The defense spokesman could not immediately be reached to respond to Nasrullah's comments. The United States has put al-Barnawi and two other Nigerian militants on the blacklist of "foreign terrorists". Britain also put Ansaru on its official "terrorist group" list, saying the group was aligned with al-Qaeda and was behind the kidnapping of a British national and a Italian who were killed in 2012 during a failed rescue attempt. In 2012 Ansaru claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of a French engineer. Reports of the Ansaru leader's arrest come amid developments that suggest the Islamist militant movement in Nigeria may be losing momentum. Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau appeared in a video circulated last month in which he seemed to suggest he was ailing and Boko Haram was losing its effectiveness. But another video emerged last week saying there would be no surrender. Boko Haram controlled a swathe of land in northeast Nigeria around the size of Belgium at the start of last year but was pushed out by Nigerian troops, aided by soldiers from neighboring countries. It has since resorted to attacks on public places, such as markets and places of worship. (Editing by Richard Balmforth) By Jack Kim SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea can mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile, a South Korean official said on Tuesday in a new assessment of the capability of a country that conducted its fourth nuclear test this year. "We believe they have accomplished miniaturization of a nuclear warhead to mount it on a Rodong missile," said the South Korean official, who has knowledge of South Korea's assessment of the Norths nuclear program. The official spoke to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last month that his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles. It was his first direct statement of a claim often made in state media though never independently verified. The Rodong missile can fire a 1 tonne (1,100 lb) warhead a distance of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles), the official said. That would put all of South Korea, most of Japan and parts of Russia and China in range. "We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision," said the official. There was no direct evidence that the North has successfully mounted a warhead on such a missile, the South Korean official said, declining to discuss the basis for the change in assessment. The United States, South Korea's staunch ally, concurred. "We know that they've said they have that capability, and we have to take them at their word," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said at a briefing for reporters on Tuesday. "But we have not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real." For decades, North Korea and South Korea have faced off against each other. An armistice ended the fighting in the Korean 1950-53 civil war but there was no peace treaty. The South's conservative president, Park Geun-hye, has reversed a policy of trying to engage the North in dialogue and has instead adopted a hard line against it, particularly since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a month later launched a long-range rocket putting an object into space orbit. The test and launch prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions. South Korea has previously said North Korea had made progress in its efforts to miniaturize a nuclear warhead but the capability was incomplete. South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that assessment remained the military's position. Rodong missiles, developed from Soviet-era Scud missiles, make up the bulk of the North's short- and medium-range missile arsenal with an estimated stockpile of 200. Experts have predicted that the delivery vehicle for the North's first nuclear warhead would be the medium-range Rodong missile, rather than an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which the North has yet to test. Despite threats to strike the mainland United States, the North is seen as several years away from building an ICBM that can carry a nuclear warhead. Experts have previously said a functioning mid-range nuclear missile would need the technology to overcome the stress of launch and re-entry and to strike the target with precision, which requires repeated testing. The North fired a Rodong missile in March. It flew about 800 km (500 miles) into the sea, in the first such launch since two Rodongs were fired in 2014. (Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati in Washington; editing by Robert Birsel and Grant McCool) Monitoring the environmental impacts of industry is a core function of government, and the vital work should be the responsibility not of an arm's-length agency but of the province itself, says Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. The minister announced Tuesday the government will disband the Alberta Environmental Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Agency, created two years ago under the Conservatives. Under the new system, the province will retain AEMERA's independent scientific review panel, but that panel, now headed by a chief scientist, will report directly to the department. The panel will advise the chief scientist about what to monitor and how often to do so, and will report on its performance. "In the past there have been questions about the credibility and transparency of this work," Phillips said. "Environmental monitoring will now take its place alongside public safety and public health as part of the core business of government." Outsourcing the work created duplication and wasted money, said Phillips, who had some harsh words for the Tory government her party replaced last spring. "Certainly, the previous government, there were many instances in which they didn't take these matters seriously at all," she said. "Which led, in many ways, to the tarnishing of our international reputation." The announcement came hours after a review called AEMERA a "failed experiment" and said its work should be rolled back into the government. The report said AEMERA was needlessly expensive, poorly co-ordinated and split by bureaucratic infighting. "It is hard to escape the conclusion that AEMERA is a failed experiment in outsourcing a core responsibility of government to an arm's-length body," wrote report author Paul Boothe, director of the Lawrence National Centre for Policy and Management at Western University's Ivey School of Business. "Three years and tens of millions of dollars later, the results are an organization that is still struggling to get established, dysfunctional relationships with its two key partners ... and a failure of all three parties to realize the promise of the ... plan to bring critically needed, world-class environmental monitoring to Alberta's oilsands." Story continues New structure met with support The agency was founded in 2012 after years of criticism about how Alberta was keeping track of the environmental impacts of the then-rapidly expanding oilsands. The plan was to bring provincial scientists together with resources from Environment Canada to jointly co-ordinate the study of how the industry was affecting the region's air, land and water. The Wildrose supports the government's move to dissolve the agency and bring environmental monitoring in-house again. "I think what we want most is world class environmental monitoring," said Todd Loewen, environment critic for the Wildrose. Liberal leader David Swann said he will have to wait and see whether the NDP is able to provide better transparency than the previous government. "In the past government there was no credibility about what the government was doing in-house," Swann said. "It remains to be seen now whether this government will provide the credibility in-house." PC leader Ric McIver, whose party created AEMERA, said during question period at the legislature that industry should not have to put money toward monitoring that is no longer arms-length. "This is taxation without representation," he said. Industry pays $50 million to the agency, while the province contributes another $28 million to fund the expansion of environmental monitoring across the province. Phillips said that will not change under the new structure. 'Bureaucratic infighting' The agency's research plans have been hailed as a dramatic improvement and numerous scientific papers have been published from its work. But Boothe, a former Environment Canada deputy minister, said the organization itself never gelled. Boothe's report points out the funding agreement between government and industry expired a year ago and has never been renewed, "in part because of AEMERA's unwillingness to accept (Environment Canada) as an equal partner in oilsands monitoring." How the agency was supposed to work with the provincial Environment Department and who it was accountable to was never made clear, he wrote. The transfer of provincial scientists to the agency made it hard for the government to fulfil its other environmental responsibilities. The agency's reluctance to allow for a federal role restricted its use of Environment Canada resources. Andrew Read, a policy analyst from the Pembina Institute, said even though AEMERA was considered arms-length, there was still political interference. "Some of our concerns at the onset of AMERA was that there was still a check with the environment minister for the release of any environmental information," Read said. "That will not be the case in the future and that is a positive step." A steep price It also cost more than it should. "In part, the higher costs come because its governance and administrative structures duplicate structures that already exist, at lower cost, in the public sector," wrote Boothe. "In addition, costs are higher because AEMERA has chosen private rather than public sector salary and benefit comparators." Boothe outlined several options for Alberta Environment Minister Shannon Phillips. But his preferred path is to return the agency's work to her department with clear lines of accountability to the minister. "This option has the benefit of consolidating scarce scientific expertise in one location in Alberta," he wrote. "The administrative structure of this option is likely to be the least costly to operate." His concerns were presaged in February by a scientific peer review, which found the agency's work was poorly focused and co-ordinated. The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers also expressed concerns about the need for more integration, analysis and coherence. Boothe concluded the agency failed because it was based on a false belief that the public didn't trust Alberta's environmental monitoring because it was done by government. Instead, he said, the public didn't trust it because it was bad monitoring. The new monitoring structure will be in place by summer 2016. The auditor general will review how it's working within two years. Several Quebec police officers engaged in sexual misconduct while working as UN peacekeepers in Haiti, including at least two who had children with Haitian women during the course of their mission, Radio-Canada has learned. "There's a code of silence. The cases that are not reported are kept secret. People come back and continue their activities," said a former police officer with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). According to CBC's French-language service Radio-Canada, at least two Montreal police officers fathered children while working with MINUSTAH. One of them had a child with his Haitian housekeeper while on a mission in 2013, contrary to UN rules of engagement, which strictly prohibit having sex with residents while deployed. The man, who was in a relationship in Canada, was denounced by colleagues upon his return. He was suspended by Montreal police for nine days. He has since retired from the force and now helps the mother of his child in Haiti. The case and subsequent suspension reverberated all the way to UN headquarters in New York, which recently released its annual report on allegations of exploitation and sexual abuse in the United Nations system. 'Trivializing the life of a child' U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power also complained at a meeting of the UN Security Council that the officer had only received a nine-day suspension for his actions in Haiti. She said the disciplinary action is clearly insufficient. It's a view shared by Rosy Augustus of the National Human Rights Network in Haiti. "Nine days is trivializing the life of a child and it is trivializing the regulation that there should be no such relationship between MINUSTAH and Haitian workers," she said. Another Montreal police officer had a child with a Haitian woman in 2012. The relationship remained secret until the woman decided to press charges against the officer, who had stopped providing child support. Story continues After investigation, the man was suspended for five days. Reportedly, he still refused to help the mother of his child. Montreal police confirmed Wednesday that there were two cases of sexual misconduct. Police Cmdr. Ian Lafreniere said the force denounces the officers' behaviour. Since 2010, police deployed in UN peacekeeping missions around the world have fathered some 20 children 15 of them in Haiti. In so doing, UN police have plunged more Haitian women into poverty, said Marie-Yolaine Gilles, who also works with the National Human Rights Network. "Leaving a fatherless child, I believe it is creating more problems," she said. Report also mentions Surete du Quebec The latest UN report also included details about an officer with the Surete du Quebec, the provincial police force, who engaged in sexual misconduct. The officer was repatriated to the country last year for having sex with Haitian women while working as a peacekeeper. One of the women complained. The officer is scheduled to appear before the SQ's disciplinary committee in July. SQ police Lt. Guy Lapointe said the force expects "exemplary behaviour" from its officers. "There are rules, specific police rules, that are deployed on such missions," he said. In 2013, Radio-Canada reported that another SQ officer had left Haiti after being involved in sexual misconduct. Once home, he resigned in order to avoid appearing before the force's disciplinary committee. The UN acknowledges more needs to be done to address the issue of sexual misconduct. "We have work to do, a lot of work to do to preserve the credibility of our mission, the credibility of our actions," said El Ghassim Wane, the assistant secretary general for UN peacekeeping operations. Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs said it will work with the UN to crack down on the problem, adding that it takes all allegations of misconduct seriously. Saint John Police Force Deputy Chief Glen McCloskey is the subject of a criminal investigation over allegations raised during testimony at the murder trial of Dennis Oland. Halifax Regional Police are conducting the investigation at the request of Saint John Police Force Chief John Bates, who described the nature of the allegation as being "for lack of a better choice of words, sort of a witness tampering." The New Brunswick Police Commission was initially investigating a conduct complaint against McCloskey under the Police Act. But within a month, the commission's investigator "came to the conclusion that there were criminal allegations that needed to be examined," executive director Steve Roberge told CBC News. The investigator, former Fredericton Police Force chief Barry McKnight "then advised us accordingly. We suspended the Police Act investigation in January. We advised Chief Bates of our investigator's conclusions and Chief Bates then assumed the matter from there." Roberge declined to comment on the nature of the "criminal allegations," citing the ongoing criminal investigation. McCloskey, a 27-year veteran, remains on active duty. He could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. Oland's lawyers, who are appealing his second-degree murder conviction in the 2011 bludgeoning death of his father, multimillionaire Richard Oland, also declined to comment. The Crown prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment. Relates to murder scene, not box of evidence The investigation stems from the testimony of retired staff sergeant Mike King at Oland's trial last fall. King testified on Oct. 13 that McCloskey had encouraged him not to reveal that McCloskey had entered the bloody crime scene. King said he was in McCloskey's office either before or during Oland's preliminary inquiry in 2014 when McCloskey referred to another officer as being an "idiot" for having said that he was there. Story continues King said his reaction was, "You were in the room." McCloskey's reply, according to King, was, "Well, you don't have to tell them that." King said McCloskey's intentions were clear. "There was no misunderstanding for me." McCloskey, who also testified at the trial, denied King's allegations and suggested it was King who lied to the court about him because he was angry about being passed over for a promotion. McCloskey told the court he entered the crime scene twice on July 7, 2011, the day Oland's body was discovered once to "observe the body" and then again out of "curiosity." "It was wrong, I shouldn't have been in there," testified McCloskey, who was inspector of the criminal investigations division at the time, but was only on site as a "resource person." King had also alleged McCloskey had a box of exhibits related to the Oland investigation in his office that he wanted him to deliver to the RCMP in Fredericton, which was not the "normal procedure." King did not say what was in the box, but did say seized exhibits normally stay in the custody of the forensic identification unit and any movement is documented to ensure continuity. 'For transparency sake' Bates told CBC News he has "no information with regard to that." "That is certainly nothing that I have asked the Halifax police to look into, or anybody else," he said. "The allegation that we're having them look into is that King had been asked by McCloskey to somehow temper his testimony." Bates had asked the commission to look into the matter on Oct. 14, but because the nature of the allegation was "beyond the purview" of the commission, has since asked Halifax Regional Police to take over. "It's unproven and it's simply an allegation at this time," stressed Bates. "Having said that, because of the nature of the allegation we thought for transparency sake, and to be fair to Deputy Chief McCloskey that we'd ask an outside agency to look into the allegation," he said. It's unclear how long the investigation by the Halifax Regional Police force's integrated criminal investigation division will take. Spokeswoman Const. Dianne Woodworth declined to even confirm it's McCloskey being investigated over "an allegation of potential wrongdoing." "We will not confirm the name of the subject(s) of the investigation or comment on any possible charges," Woodworth said in an emailed statement. "In order to protect the integrity of an ongoing investigation, we won't discuss the specifics or speculate how long it may take," she added. 'Held in high regard' In the meantime, Bates said McCloskey "continues to go about his duties and conducts his affairs in a professional and admirable way." "At this point in time, he continues to be and has my support as being a full-fledged and valuable member of the Saint John Police Force." McCloskey, who served as the force's acting chief between Bill Reid's retirement last April and Bates taking over last fall, is "held in high regard" in the policing community, said Bates. It's a reputation McCloskey "has earned and enjoys," he said. "You can well imagine the kind of impact such an allegation would have on an individual whose whole career has been dedicated to public service and conducted himself in an honourable fashion for 28 years." The New Brunswick Police Commission will resume its Police Act investigation of McCloskey "once the criminal matters are dealt with," according to the executive director. "And by saying 'dealt with,' we mean the entire proceedings are dealt with not only an investigation, but if there's any follow up criminal process," said Roberge. "Then, and only then, will we resume our Police Act investigation." Review of murder investigation on hold The commission was also reviewing the Saint John Police Force's handling of the Richard Oland murder investigation at the request of then-chair of the Saint John Board of Police Commissioners, Nicole Paquet. But that review has been suspended pending Dennis Oland's appeal of his murder conviction in the death of his father. The appeal is tentatively scheduled for Oct. 18-21, provided a transcript of the three-month trial can be completed in time. The trial heard evidence that police failed to protect the crime scene from possible contamination, used the bathroom located in the foyer outside the victim's office for two days before it was forensically tested, and never tested the back door for evidence. Oland, 48, is currently serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 10 years after being found guilty by a jury in Court of Queen's Bench in Saint John on Dec. 19. The bludgeoned body of Richard Oland, 69, was discovered lying face down in a pool of blood in his Saint John investment firm office on the morning of July 7, 2011. He had suffered 45 sharp and blunt force injuries to his head, neck and hands. His son was the last known person to see him alive during a meeting at his office the night before. No weapon was ever found. JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's parliament will debate on Tuesday a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete said on Sunday, after a top court ruled the president had violated the constitution. South Africa's constitutional court ruled on Thursday that Zuma had failed to uphold the constitution by ignoring orders from the public protector that he repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent to renovate his residence at Nkandla. Since Thursday's ruling, opposition party leaders, ordinary South Africans and even an anti-apartheid activist jailed alongside Nelson Mandela have called on Zuma to step down. Mmusi Maimane, leader of the opposition party Democratic Alliance, tabled the motion to have Zuma impeached, and Mbete told reporters "the debate on that motion has been scheduled for Tuesday afternoon." The Africa National Congress majority in parliament will almost certainly give Zuma political cover against the attempt to impeach him. But the judicial rebuke may embolden anti-Zuma factions within the ruling party to mount a challenge. The unanimous ruling by the 11-judge constitutional court also criticised parliament for passing a resolution that purported to nullify Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's findings on Zuma's private residence. On Friday, 73-year-old Zuma apologised and said he would pay back some of the money, as ordered. He said that he never knowingly or deliberately set out to violate the constitution. The scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Zuma, who has fended off accusations of corruption, influence peddling and rape since before he took office in 2009. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by Jason Neely, Larry King) By Suleiman Al-Khalidi AMMAN (Reuters) - A prominent leader in Syrian al Qaeda offshoot Nusra Front was killed on Sunday in what rebel sources said appeared to be a U.S. drone strike in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the country, confirmed reports on websites by militant sympathizers that Abu Firas, "the Syrian", was killed along with a number of his companions. While the Observatory said he was killed in a suspected Syrian or Russian air raid on a village northwest of the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria, two rebel sources said the attack appeared to have the hallmarks of a U.S. drone strike. "The Sheikh was with his son and several companions," said one of the rebel sources familiar with details of the incident. A U.S security official said the United States was aware of reports about Abu Firas' demise but had no information to offer on Sunday. Another source did not rule out it could be a Syrian strike. U.S.-led coalition forces have previously targeted Nusra Front leaders in Syria. Islamist rebel sources said Abu Firas was a founding member of the militant group who fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s and was a senior member of its policy-making Shura Council. He worked with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in galvanizing support among Pakistani supporters of the fundamentalist Taliban movement in Afghanistan several decades ago, the sources said. They added that Abu Firas, who was a former Syrian army officer discharged in the late 1970s because of his Islamist leanings, played a significant role in training Muslim Sunni jihadists who came from many parts of the Arab world to Afghanistan to fight the Russian occupation of the country. Abu Firas had many followers within the hardline group and gave commentaries released by Nusra Front on issues ranging from governance to religious jurisprudence, the rebel sources said. Originally from Madaya, near Damascus, Abu Firas was a fervent opponent of Islamic State's style and ideologically at odds with the militant group that occupies parts of Syria and Iraq. "May God accept him as a martyr, he was a commanding figure. This was engineered by the Crusader axis," said one of the sources. A fragile "cessation of hostilities" has held in Syria for over a month as the various parties try to negotiate an end to Syria's five-year-old civil war. But the truce excludes Islamic State and Nusra Front, and air and land attacks by Syrian and allied forces continue in parts of Syria where the government says the groups are present. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Additonal reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by David Evans and Peter Cooney) Pablo Vasquez, 38, is seen in an undated picture released by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Vasquez, a south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed to death a 12-year-old boy, mutilated the corpse and said he drank the blood of his victim is set to be executed on April 6, 2016 at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. REUTERS/Texas Department of Criminal Justice/Handout via Reuters (Reuters) By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to halt the execution planned for Wednesday of a south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed to death a 12-year-old boy, mutilated the corpse and said he drank the blood of his victim. The move came about four hours before Pablo Vasquez, 38, was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. If the execution goes ahead, it would be the sixth in Texas this year and the 537th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. Lawyers for Vasquez launched the last-minute appeal, saying in a petition filed with U.S. Supreme Court their client was denied a fair punishment because prospective, qualified jurors in his trial were dismissed if they had sympathies against the death penalty. The lawyers have previously said Vasquez had mental health problems and suffered from learning disabilities. The two-sentence statement from the court did not give a reason for why the petition was denied. The victim, David Cardenas, was found under metal sheets in the Texas border town of Donna in 1998. The arms were missing from the corpse, which had no skin on the back and a hole in the back of the head, court papers filed by Texas said. The incident raised worries at the time about occult rituals, which were stoked when prosecutors produced a taped confession in which Vasquez, then 21, admitted to the killing and said he drank his victim's blood after saying voices from the devil told him to do so. Cardenas, trying to fit in with a group of teenagers and Vasquez, was hanging out with the group near a mobile home, when he was attacked. Police later received tips of a murder and found the decaying and mutilated body of the 12-year-old, the court papers showed. Prosecutors said Vasquez hit the victim in the head with a pipe and cut his throat. They also said he stole some jewelry from the victim. Story continues "The body was also mutilated after death by some means that caused bones to shatter," the court papers said. It took the jury about an hour to find Vasquez guilty. A co-defendant, then 15, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on a murder conviction. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler and Alistair Bell) Floyd McKay had a ringside side during a critical time in Oregon politics and now worries that Oregon residents, both old-timers and newcomers, are in danger of losing sight of what a remarkable time it was. For newcomers, McKays new book, Reporting the Oregon Story, should serve as an introduction to the roughly 20-year span in state politics dominated by Tom McCall and Bob Straub. And it should serve as a lively refresher course for longtime residents who might have shared McKays sense at the time that something special was occurring. During that time, a lot of things converged on us, McKay, a longtime political reporter and news analyst, recalled during a recent interview with The E. We had the right people for the right time. You look back at some of the people who were really in the forefront of that movement, and they wouldnt fit the mold in todays politics, theres no question about it. From his posts at The Oregon Statesman newspaper in Salem and, later, as a news analyst at KGW-TV in Portland, McKay followed the careers of McCall, who was elected secretary of state in 1964 en route to winning the governors seat in 1966 for the first of two terms. (In fact, McKay followed in the footsteps of McCall at KGW after McCall launched his political career; the books cover image shows McCall watching a McKay broadcast from the stations coverage of the 1970 election.) But Reporting the Oregon Story, published by the Oregon State University Press, tracks the careers of other key figures in Oregon politics at the time, including Straub, elected state treasurer in 1964 and who was elected governor himself in 1974. In some ways, the rivalry between McCall and Straub forms the backbone of Reporting the Oregon Story, but other key figures also are prominent, including Hector Macpherson Jr., the Linn County farmer who helped shape Oregons land-use laws during his one term in the state Senate. He did an awful lot in those four years, and Im not sure its fully appreciated by all segments of Oregon, McKay said of MacPherson, but as an Oregonian who now lives four and a half hours away but gets down there all the time to visit family, I still love to drive down the Willamette Valley and see that it is not paved over. (McKay now lives in Bellingham, Washington.) The period beginning in 1964, with McCall and Straubs ascension, was marked by some of the landmark legislation that shapes Oregon today: During that period, Oregon crafted its beach bill, ensuring the protection of beaches for public use. It overhauled its land-use regulation. The state passed its bottle bill. The state even sponsored its own rock festival, Vortex, in 1970. Tom McCall was an unusual person to be elected governor, McKay said. In most other states at any time, and in Oregon at most other times, he probably could not have been nominated by the Republican Party or elected. At the same time, he and Bob Straub (a Democrat) came together two quite different people, but they came together and made a fascinating team of rivals, to quote Doris Kearns Goodwins biography, about Abraham Lincolns cabinet. It made things happen to have these types of people at the helm. Ive never seen another time that had that kind of convergence of unusual people joining together in a common cause. Other factors were at play during the time, McKay noted: The states economy was humming along nicely. Its always easier to make progress when people have money in their pocket and are feeling good about it, he said. In addition, the state was really fairly small at that time. If you look back at the population figures in 1960, we were only at 1.7 million people. Thats a pretty small state, compared to today, and so it was possible for people to really know the people they elected, whether they were a statehouse representative, or even the governor or a senator. They could go up to these people and talk with them, and it was easy. It was a more personal state. People were moving to Oregon at the time, McKay said, and they were moving because they saw a place where things could happen. A lot of these people got involved in the movement. And, maybe just as important, he said, there was a sense that government could be effective. Could lightning like that happen again in Oregon politics? Its possible, McKay said, but it would be harder today: The parties are more polarized in Oregon, like they are everywhere. And theres something else to remember, he said: As you look back at the signature accomplishments of that era, they were primarily thngs that had to do with issues that ordinary Oregonians could agree on. You know, who could be against open access to the beaches? The beach bill, the bottle bill, most of these things were overwhelmingly supported. Todays political debates often get hung up over tough taxation issues, he said. But theres hope: Republicans and Democrats should be able to find issues that they can attack in a bipartisan way, he said. And at least one thing hasnt changed since the decades when McKay was reporting what came to be known as The Oregon Story: Politicians and citizens alike saw something in Oregon that they thought was worth saving. And I think thats still happening. KAMPALA (Reuters) - Ugandan police will lift their blockade on the home of the President Yoweri Museveni's main rival, they said on Friday, weeks after restricting his movements when he lost an election he said was rigged. Kizza Besigye, who won 35 percent of the vote to Museveni's 60 percent, has been confined to his home since polling day on Feb. 18. He called the result a sham marred by vote rigging, bribery and intimidation by security personnel. Police accused him of inciting violence and blockaded his home in Kasangati, a suburb of the capital of Kampala. Analysts said the government feared he could have rallied mass protests aimed at toppling Museveni. Police put spiked barriers outside the property and vetted visitors, turning away leaders from his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party and delegations of supporters. Police Chief Kale Kayihura said in a statement on Friday: "We are withdrawing the precautionary security measures we had been forced to take with respect to ... Kizza Besigye." The security restrictions on Besigye caused concern among Museveni's Western backers. The United States said the detention of opposition figures and harassment of their supporters amounted to "unacceptable activities in a free and democratic society". [ID:nL1N16K0BM] FDC official Francis Mwijukye said the lifting of Besigye's house arrest marked the start of the opposition's resurgence. "We're just getting started, we'll ramp it up ... Besigye won the election and until he's declared president we'll not rest," he said. The police decision came a day after the supreme court dismissed a petition by former prime minister Amama Mbabazi, who came a distant third in the election, for the result to be nullified, clearing the way for 71-year-old Museveni to extend his three-decade rule. [nL5N1733FE] (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2016) - Anglo Pacific Group PLC (the "Company" or "Anglo Pacific") (LSE: APF) (TSX: APY) announces the publication of its Notice of the 2016 Annual General Meeting (the "AGM Notice") and Form of Proxy for the 2016 Annual General Meeting on the Company's website, www.anglopacificgroup.com. Annual General Meeting The Company's 2016 Annual General Meeting will be held at The Royal Institution of Great Britain, 21 Albemarle Street, London, W1S 4BS, United Kingdom on Tuesday May 10, 2016 at 11:00am. A hard copy version of the AGM Notice and the Form of Proxy will be sent to those shareholders who have elected to continue to receive paper communications today. Shareholders who have not elected to continue to receive paper communications, will be sent a notification of the availability of these documents on the Company's website by post or, where they have elected, by email. Anglo Pacific will submit to the UK National Storage Mechanism a copy of its AGM Notice in accordance with LR 9.6.1R. The documents will shortly be available for inspection through the National Storage Mechanism at www.hemscott.com/nsm.do and through SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Notes to Editors About Anglo Pacific Anglo Pacific Group PLC is a global natural resources royalty company. The Company's strategy is to develop a leading international diversified royalty company with a portfolio centred on base metals and bulk materials, focusing on accelerating income growth through acquiring royalties on projects that are currently cash flow generating or are expected to be within the next 24 months. It is a continuing policy of the Company to pay a substantial portion of these royalties to shareholders as dividends. By Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's government named a new prime minister and called for early elections in the autumn on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson quit to become the first global politician brought down by the "Panama Papers" leaks. It was unclear whether the naming of Fisheries Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson to head the government or the call for early elections would satisfy the thousands of Icelanders who in street protests this week demanded the government resign immediately for early elections. Gunnlaugsson quit as prime minister on Tuesday after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company that held millions of dollars in debt from failed Icelandic banks. The government said the decision to hold elections in autumn would give it time to follow through on one of the biggest economic policy changes in decades - the ending of capital controls introduced to rescue the economy from the 2008 financial crisis. Johannsson, who had served also as agriculture minister in the government, told reporters the government would further pursue its big projects of the last three years, the largest being the abolition of capital controls. The opposition has been trying to force a new election with a vote of no confidence in the government, which could lead to a radical political shift. A few thousand demonstrators, though fewer than on Monday, gathered for another evening of protests in front of the parliament building on Wednesday. Protesters, already fed up with the financial and political elite after the 2008 banking crisis wrecked their economy, have gathered the last three nights in the capital Reykjavik, some pelting parliament with yoghurt and eggs. "I feel like I am watching a live show of House of Cards," Erla Gisladottir, a 32-year-old mother on parental leave, said ahead of the government's decision to call new elections, referring to a television show about political intrigue. Polls show the anti-establishment Pirate Party in the lead if a new election is called in the country of 330,000 people, a result with potentially wider impact across Europe where mainstream political parties are fending off populists. A poll by Icelandic media outlet Visir showed 43 percent of those polled would cast ballots for the Pirate Party if elections were held now, a stunning victory for a group set up by opponents of copyright enforcement rules. The Pirate Party, which campaigns in favour of transparency and direct democracy, has had a small following in several European countries for a few years but has never before come close to political power. The Panama documents revealed that Gunnlaugsson's wife owned a previously undisclosed firm with what the government says is $4.1 million in claims on the island's collapsed banks. His opponents have said that represents a conflict of interest, because the government is negotiating the value of such claims. ELECTION DEMANDS Iceland has struggled to recover from the 2008 collapse of its highly indebted banks, which led to popular protests, the fall of a government and the jailing of many bankers. Many Icelanders still harbour a strong distrust of their leaders. "I'm here for many reasons," said Jon Thor Olafsson, a 33-year-old musician who protested near parliament on Wednesday. "To protest the arrogance of the government in its entirety and a ruined financial system in Iceland - as the outrageous number of Icelanders in the Panama Papers shows." The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialises in setting up offshore companies were unveiled this week by news organisations around the world, shining a light on the finances of global politicians and public figures. Gunnlaugsson and his wife bought a company called Wintris Inc from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in late 2007 through the Luxembourg branch of Landsbanki, one of the three Icelandic banks that collapsed in 2008. Court records show Wintris had investments in bonds in all three of those banks, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which coordinated the leaks investigation. It said Gunnlaugsson sold his 50 percent share in Wintris to his wife for $1 on Dec 31, 2009, the year he entered parliament, and violated Iceland's ethics rules by failing to disclose it. In a Facebook post on March 15, his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir said she was the sole owner of Wintris's assets, and that her husband had been listed as co-owner due to a mistake by the bank, which she said was corrected in 2009. The money came from the sale of her share in her family's business, she said. Gunnlaugsson has said his wife's assets were taxed in Iceland. The estates of the failed banks agreed with Iceland's central bank and finance ministry late last year on how to wind down their business ahead of lifting Iceland's capital controls. Glitnir said in December it had begun paying creditors, whereas Britain got its final payment from the estate of Landsbanki in January. It was not clear whether Wintris was among those creditors who had been paid. (Writing by Mia Shanley and Niklas Pollard, additional reporting by Johan Ahlander, Sven Nordenstam and Daniel Dickson in Stockholm, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Birna Osk Bjornsdottir in Reykjavik; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Howard Goller) Movies playing in mid-valley theaters as of Friday. (The complete list is available online.) NEW RAMS 3.5 stars (Drama, R, 93 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) From Iceland, a wry and affecting yarn about prize-winning sheep and the brothers who raise them on neighboring farms and havent spoken to each other in years. After a deadly disease infects nearby livestock, the authorities decree that all sheep must be killed to contain the outbreak. Grimur Hakonarsons wry, dry tale of sibling rivalry and sibling bonds takes it from there. Winner of the Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year, its funny, resonant and surprisingly affecting. Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer BOY AND THE WORLD (Animated, PG, 80 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) This Brazilian film, a nominee at this years Oscars for best animated film, revolves around a pint-sized boy, Cuca, who decides to follow his father when he leaves their rural home for the big city to find work. MR. RIGHT (Comedy-action, R, 93 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis) A manic woman played by Anna Kendrick has a killer new beau a hitman who kills the people who hire him. With Sam Rockwell, Anson Mount, Tim Roth. Written by Max Landis. Directed by Paco Cabezas. R. REMEMBER 2 stars (Drama, R, 95 minutes, playing at the Darkside Cinema in Corvallis) A widower in assisted living (Christopher Plummer) takes to the road to find and kill the Auschwitz officer who executed his family. Director Atom Egoyan delivers a typically stylish visual product, but the plot goes from eyebrow-raising to intriguing to outlandish to "you've got to be kidding me." (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) HARDCORE HARRY (Action thriller, R, 96 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) An amnesiac awakens, only to be immediately shot at before his wife is kidnapped by a vicious Moscow warlord. With Sharlto Copley, Danila Kozlovsky and Haley Bennett. Written and directed by Ilya Naishuller. In English and Russian, with subtitles. THE BOSS 1 star (Comedy, R, 99 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Regal 4 in Corvallis). Melissa McCarthy's comedy about a paroled business mogul is a dreadful viewing experience, from the awkward and unconvincing setup to the desperate performances to the depressingly unfunny slapstick scenes to the conflicts and resolutions you can see a mile away. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) RECOMMENDED EYE IN THE SKY 3 stars (Drama, R, 104 minutes, playing at the Regal 4 in Albany) The acting by Helen Mirren, Alan Rickman and others is world-class in this timely and tense, but sometimes heavy-handed drama, set in the modern world of drone warfare. Mirren plays a British colonel whose attempt to take out terrorists is stymied by bureaucrats and a little girl near the target. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) HELLO, MY NAME IS DORIS 3 stars (Comedy, R, 90 minutes, playing at the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) Sally Field gives perhaps the years first Oscar-worthy lead actress performance in the funny, beguiling and affecting little film that shows its never too late to come of age. Field plays a 60ish woman whos inspired by a self-help seminar to romantically pursue her younger co-worker. Max Greenfield and Tyne Daly co-star; Michael Showalter directed. (Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles Times) BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE 3 stars (Superhero action, PG-13, 153 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) Though it doesn't all live up to its spectacular start, Zack Snyder's hotly anticipated showdown between two great DC Comics icons is hardly a disappointment. "Dawn of Justice" is a dark-palette feast for the eyes, with some memorable set pieces and just the right amount of dark humor. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 3 stars (Comedy, PG-13, 94 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis). Still married and raising a 17-year-old daughter, Nia Vardalos' Toula returns to the big screen in a true ensemble comedy that's never subtle, rarely surprising, and as rich, syrupy, sweet and satisfying as a tray of homemade baklava. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) ZOOTOPIA 4 stars (Animated adventure, PG, 108 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) In an all-animal world, a rabbit rookie cop (voice of Ginnifer Goodwin) suspects a sly fox (Jason Bateman) in a missing-mammals case. Brimming with gorgeous visuals and terrific one-liners, this is one of my favorite animated movies, period. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) HAIL CAESAR! 4 stars (Comedy, PG-13, 106 minutes, playing at the Darkside in Corvallis and the Pix in Albany) As they recount the adventures of a 1950s Hollywood "fixer" (Josh Brolin), the Coen brothers pay homage to genres from noir to Westerns. "Hail, Caesar!" is pure popcorn fun a visual treat, a comedic tour de force and a sublime and sly slice of satire. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) ALSO PLAYING GODS NOT DEAD 2 (Drama, PG, 121 minutes, playing at the Regal 4 in Corvallis) After a student asks her a question about Jesus in a class, a high school teacher faces an epic court case that could end her career. This sequel to the sleeper religious-themed hit also features Robin Givens, Ray Wise, Ernie Hudson and Jesse Metcalfe. THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIANT 2 stars (Science fiction, PG-13, 121 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Regal 4 in Corvallis) The Divergent series starts heading for its climax with the first part of Allegiant. Tris and Four must escape the wall that encircles Chicago to discover what lies beyond it. Shailene Woodley, Theo James and Jeff Daniels star. Despite the raging teen hormones, this is a well-designed snooze. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN 2 stars (Drama, PG, 109 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) A young girl suffering from a rare digestive disorder finds herself miraculously cured after surviving a terrible accident. This family melodrama about a devastating illness and the freak accident that cured it is surprisingly effective, even for those of little faith. Jennifer Garner leads the cast. (Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service) 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Horror, PG-13, 105 minutes, playing at the Regal 7 in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) Waking up from a car accident, a young woman finds herself in the basement bomb shelter of a man who says he's saved her life. John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and John Gallagher Jr. star in what may or may not be a sequel to the found-footage monster movie Cloverfield. DEADPOOL 2 stars (Sci-fi superhero, R, 108 minutes, playing at the Pix in Albany and the Carmike 12 in Corvallis) Self-satisfied to the point of irritation, this Ryan Reynolds vehicle serves notice that it's as much about spoofing the superhero genre and winking at the audience as it is about serving up a genuine storyline. If only "Deadpool" were as clever, dark and funny as it believes itself to be. (Richard Roeper, Universal Press Syndicate) English Estonian Estonia, 2016-04-06 07:19 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Annual general meeting of Harju Elekter shareholders will be held on Thursday, 28 April 2016, beginning at 10 a.m., at venue of Keila Kultuurikeskus (address: Keskvaljak 12, Keila). The Supervisory Board of the Joint Stock Company Harju Elekter determined the following agenda of the general meeting: 1. Approval to AS Harju Elekter annual report of the year 2015. To approve the annual report of AS Harju Elekter of 2015, prepared by the management board and approved by the supervisory board, according to which the consolidated balance sheet total of AS Harju Elekter was 66,579 thousand euros as of 31.12.2015, while the sales revenue of the financial year was 60,656 thousand euros and net profit 3,186 thousand euros. 2. Approval to profit distribution. To approve the profit distribution proposal of AS Harju Elekter of 2015 as presented by the management board and as approved by the supervisory board as follows: retained profit from previous periods on 31.12.2015 23,626,972 euros total net profit of the financial year 3,190,578 euros total retained profit on 31.12.2015 26,817,550 euros Management boards proposal for the distribution of profit as follows: dividends (0,05 euros per share*) 886,994 euros increase of reserves 23,792 euros balance carried forward after profit distribution 24,906,764 euros The dividends will be paid to the shareholders on 17 May 2016 by a transfer to the bank account of the shareholder. * The shareholders registered in the shareholders registry on 12 May 2016 at 23.59 shall be entitled to dividend. 3. Introducing no par value shares and amendment of the articles of association 3.1 Introduce no par value shares. 3.1.1 In connection with introducing no par value shares, amend clauses 3.1, 3.2 and 11.3 of the articles of association of AS Harju Elekter and confirm their new wording as follows: 3.1 The minimum share capital of the company is EUR 5,000,000 (five million) and the maximum share capital is EUR 20,000,000 (twenty million). 3.2 The minimum number of no par value shares is 8,000,000 and the maximum number is 32,000,000. Each share grants one vote at the general meeting of shareholders. The company only has registered shares. The company only has one class of shares and these give the same rights to the shareholders. 11.3 The shareholders shall be paid a part of the profit (dividend) in accordance with the book value of their shares. 3.1.2 As a result of introducing a no par value share, AS Harju Elekter will have 17,739,880 no par value shares, whereas each share grants the shareholder one vote at the general meeting of shareholders. As a result of adopting the resolution specified in clause 3.1, the book value of an AS Harju Elekter share will be EUR 0.70. 3.2 Adjust the articles of association of AS Harju Elekter and approve its new wording as follows: 3.2.1 Exclude from the articles of association clauses 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.10, 2.1.11, 3.4, 3.5, 5.13 and 5.14. 3.2.2 Amend clauses 4.3, 5.2, 5.11 and 11.4 of the articles of association and approve these in a new wording as follows: 4.3 The shareholders shall be notified of the annual general meeting no later than three weeks in advance thereof. A notice of the general meeting shall be published in at least one national newspaper no later than three weeks prior to the general meeting. 5.2 The supervisory board consists of 3 (three) to 5 (five) members. The general meeting elects the members of the supervisory board for a term of 5 (five) years. The members of the supervisory board elect a chairman and, if necessary, a vice chairman from among themselves. 5.11 In the absence of the chairman of the supervisory board the chairman shall be replaced by the vice chairman or a supervisory board member authorised by the chairman. 11.4 Dividends may be paid on the basis of the approved annual report. The procedure for the payment of dividends shall be set out in a resolution of the general meeting. 3.2.3 Add the following clauses to the articles of association: 4.7 The shareholders may vote on the draft resolutions prepared in respect to the items on the agenda of a meeting of shareholders using electronic means prior to the meeting or during the meeting if it is specified in the notice convening the general meeting. The procedure for electronic voting shall be determined by the management board. The notice convening the general meeting shall specify whether electronic voting is possible and the manner for examining the procedure of electronic voting established by the management board. The shareholder who voted using electronic means shall be deemed to have taken part in the meeting and the votes represented by the shareholder's share shall be accounted as part of the quorum of the meeting unless otherwise provided by law. 5.4.9 Electing and removing the members of the bodies formed by the supervisory board and establishing the work procedure, unless otherwise provided by law. Introduce a no par value share and approve the new version of AS Harju Elekter articles of association together with the abovementioned changes. 4. Reduction of share capital Reduce the share capital of AS Harju Elekter after the entry into force of amendments to the Articles of Association on the following conditions: 4.1 Reduce the share capital of AS Harju Elekter by EUR 1,241,792.60, from EUR 12,417,916 to EUR 11,176,124.40; 4.2 The share capital will be reduced by decreasing the book value of the shares: as a result of reduction, the book value of AS Harju Elekter share will decrease to EUR 0.63, from EUR 0.70, the number of shares will remain the same (17,739,880) and the new amount of share capital will be EUR 11,176,124.40; 4.3 The share capital will be reduced by making monetary a payment to shareholders. Payments to the shareholders shall be made during the term prescribe by law; 4.4 The reason for reducing the share capital is the fact that AS Harju Elekter has no need at the moment or in the near future to own share capital within the registered amount; 4.5 The list of shareholders participating in the reduction of share capital shall be fixed as at 23.59 on 12 May 2016. The shareholders whose shares represent at least 1/20 of the share capital may request the inclusion of additional issues to the agenda of the general meeting, provided that the respective request has been submitted in writing no later than by 29 April 2015. The shareholders whose shares represent at least 1/20 of the share capital may submit a written draft of the resolution in respect to each item on the agenda no later than by 11 May 2015. More detailed information available on 287 of the Commercial Code (right of shareholder to information), 293 (2) (right to demand the inclusion of additional issues in the agenda) and 2931 (3) (obligation to submit simultaneously with the request on the modification of the agenda a draft of the resolution or substantiation) and 2931 (4) (right to submit a draft of the resolution in respect to each item on the agenda) about the rules and term of exercising these rights have been published on the homepage of AS Harju Elekter at www.harjuelekter.ee. The drafts of the resolutions and substantiations submitted by the shareholders will be published on the same homepage, if any are received. After the items on the agenda of the general meeting, including additional issues, have been discussed, the shareholders can ask for information from the management board about the activity of the public limited company. The annual report of 2015, agenda and proposals to the AGM of shareholders are available for preliminary examination in the Internet, companys home page or in Keila, 31 Paldiski Str. Questions about agenda items can be sent to the address yldkoosolek@he.ee. Questions, answers and the positions of the meeting will be published on the website. According to 297 (5) of the Commercial Code, the list of shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting will be fixed at 23.59 on 21.04.2016. Registration of the participants starts on 28 April 2016 at 9 a.m. Please submit the following documents to register the participants of the general meeting: a shareholder that is a natural person personal identification document; a representative of a shareholder that is a natural person personal identification document and a written letter of authorisation; a legal representative of a shareholder that is a legal person an extract of the relevant (commercial) register in which the legal person is registered, and the personal identification document of the representative; a transactional representative of a shareholder that is a legal person is also required to submit a written authorisation issued by the legal representative of the legal person in addition to the above listed documents. We ask the documents of a legal person registered in a foreign country to be legalised or having an apostil attached to the documents beforehand, unless specified otherwise in an international agreement. AS Harju Elekter may register a shareholder that is a legal person from a foreign country to the general meeting also in case all required information on the legal person and its representative are included in a notarised letter of authorisation issued in the foreign country and the respective letter of authorisation is accepted in Estonia. We ask you to present a passport or an ID-card as a personal identification document. A shareholder may inform of the appointment of a representative or withdrawal of an authorisation given to a representative before the general meeting by e-mail on yldkoosolek@he.ee or by submitting the mentioned document(s) on business days from 8.30 AM to 4 PM no later than by 27 April 2016 to the secretariat of AS Harju Elekter at Paldiski Str 31 (3nd floor) in Keila. Andres Allikmae Managing Director/CEO +372 6747 400 Prepared by: Moonika Vetevool Corporate communication and investor relations manager Tel: +372 671 2761 The Annual General Meeting of Alimak Group AB (publ) will be held on Wednesday, 11 May 2016 at 4.00 pm in Polhemssalen (the Polhem Hall), Citykonferensen Ingenjorshuset, Malmskillnadsgatan 46, Stockholm. Registration begins at 3.00pm. Coffee will be served. RIGHT TO ATTEND AND NOTIFICATION TO THE COMPANY Anyone wishing to attend the meeting must (i) be entered as a shareholder in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB as of Wednesday, 4 May 2016; and (ii) give notice to the Company of their intention to attend no later than Wednesday, 4 May 2016. Notification of attendance may be given in writing to the Company at the address Arsstamman i Alimak Group AB, c/o Euroclear Sweden AB, PO Box 191, 101 23 Stockholm, Sweden or by telephone on +46 (0)8 4029208 weekdays between 9.00am and 4.00pm or on the Companys website: www.alimakgroup.com. When giving notification please state your name or company name, personal ID or company registration number, address and daytime telephone number. NOMINEE REGISTERED SHARES To be entitled to attend the meeting, holders of nominee registered shares must instruct the nominee to have the shares registered in the holders own name, so that the holder is entered in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden AB as of Wednesday, 4 May 2016. Registration in this way may be temporary. PROXY AND PROXY FORM Anyone who does not attend the meeting in person may exercise their right at the meeting via a proxy in possession of a signed and dated form of proxy. Forms of proxy are available on the Companys website: www.alimakgroup.com. The form of proxy may also be obtained from the Company or be ordered over the telephone using the number above. If the proxy is issued by a legal person, a copy of their registration certificate or equivalent documentary authority must be attached. The proxy must have been issued within the past year unless a longer period of validity is specified on the form of proxy, subject to a maximum of five years. To facilitate entry to the meeting, forms of proxy, registration certificates and other documentary authority must be received by the Company in good time before the meeting. PROPOSED AGENDA 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Election of Chair of the meeting 3. Preparation and approval of voting list 4. Approval of the agenda 5. Election of one or two persons to approve the minutes 6. Examination of whether the meeting has been duly convened 7. Presentation of the annual report and auditors report, and also the group accounts and auditors report for the group 8. CEOs address 9. Resolutions on a) Adoption of the profit and loss account and balance sheet, and also the consolidated profit and loss account and consolidated balance sheet; b) Allocation of the Companys results in accordance with the adopted balance sheet and determination of the record day for dividends; and c) Discharge from liability towards the Company for the directors and the CEO for the financial year 2015 10. Resolution on number of directors and number of auditors 11. Resolution on directors fees and auditors fees 12. Election of directors, Chairman of the Board and auditor 13. Resolution concerning the Nomination Committee 14. Resolution on adoption of guidelines for remuneration payable to senior executives 15. Closure of the meeting RESOLUTIONS PROPOSED BY THE NOMINATION COMMITTEE The Nomination Committee for the AGM 2016 comprises the following members: Roger Hagborg, Triton, (Chairman of the Nomination Committee); Johan Lannebo, Lannebo Fonder; Asa Nisell, Swedbank Robur Fonder; Fraser Maingay, York Capital Management; and Anders Thelin, Chairman of the Board of the Alimak Group. The Nomination Committee presents the following proposals for the AGM to be held on 11 May 2016. Election of Chair of the meeting (Item 2) The Nomination Committee proposes that Anders Thelin, Chairman of the Board, be elected to chair the meeting. Resolution on number of directors and number of auditors (Item 10) The Nomination Committee proposes that the Board continue to be composed of six directors elected at the AGM, with no alternates, for the period until the next AGM. The Nomination Committee proposes that the Company have one auditor, with no alternate. Resolution on directors fees and auditors fees (Item 11) The Nomination Committee proposes that the total fee of SEK 2,520,000 (including payment for committee work) remain unchanged for the period until the end of the next AGM, comprising SEK 600,000 for the Chairman of the Board, and SEK 300,000 each for other directors elected at the AGM. In addition, SEK 100,000 is payable to the chair of the audit committee and SEK 75,000 to other members of the audit committee, SEK 70,000 to the chair of the remuneration committee, and SEK 50,000 to other members of the remuneration committee. Fees will be paid to the auditor in accordance with approved invoices. Election of directors, Chairman of the Board and auditor (Item 12) The Nomination Committee proposes re-election of Carl Johan Falkenberg, Anders Jonsson, Eva Lindqvist, Joakim Rosengren and Anders Thelin, and election of Helena Nordman-Knutson as directors. It is proposed that Anders Thelin be re -elected Chairman of the Board. Information about proposed directors is available on the Companys website: www.alimakgroup.com. The Nomination Committee proposes that the registered audit company Ernst & Young AB be reappointed auditor. Ernst & Young AB has given notice that if the Nomination Committees proposal is adopted at the AGM, Rickard Andersson, Authorised Public Accountant, will be the person appointed to have main responsibility for the audit. Resolution concerning nomination (Item 13) The Nomination Committee proposes that the following instructions apply to the Nomination Committee until new instructions are decided. Before the next AGM the Nomination Committee will be composed of representatives of the four shareholders holding the highest percentage of voting rights as shown in the share register kept by Euroclear Sweden[1] (http://connect.ne.cision.com#_ftn1) on 31 August each year, together with the Chair of the Board, who will also convene the first meeting of the Nomination Committee. The member representing the shareholder holding the highest percentage of voting rights will be appointed chair of the Nomination Committee. If, more than three months before the AGM, any shareholder that has appointed a member of the Nomination Committee is no longer one of the four shareholders holding the highest percentage of voting rights, the member appointed by that shareholders must stand down, and any shareholder that has then become one of the four shareholders holding the highest percentage of voting rights will then be entitled to appoint a member. If a member leaves the Nomination Committee before its work is completed, and the Nomination Committee finds it desirable that a replacement be appointed, that replacement will represent the same shareholder or, if the shareholder is no longer one of the four shareholders holding the highest percentage of voting rights, the shareholder holding the next highest percentage of voting rights. Changes in membership of the Nomination Committee must be made public immediately. The identity of Nomination Committee members before each AGM must be made public no later than six months before the AGM. No remuneration is payable to members of the Nomination Committee. The Company will pay necessary overheads incurred by the Nomination Committee in its work. The Nomination Committees term of office runs until the identity of the next Nomination Committee members has been made public. The Nomination Committee will draw up proposals on the following matters to be decided at the AGM. a) Proposed chair of the AGM. b) Proposed number of directors. c) Proposed directors and Chair of the Board. d) Proposed fees for directors elected at the AGM who are not employed by the Company, divided between the Chair and other directors. Remuneration for committee work, per member. e) Proposed auditor(s) and auditors fee. f) Where considered necessary, proposed amendments to these instructions for the Nomination Committee. In performing other aspects of its work the Nomination Committee must perform the duties incumbent on it under the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance (including accompanying instructions). RESOLUTIONS PROPOSED BY THE BOARD Allocation of the Companys results in accordance with the adopted balance sheet and determination of the record day for dividends (Item 9 b) The Board proposes that the distributable profit of SEK 1,984,942 thousand be allocated as follows. A dividend of SEK 86,653 thousand will be paid to the shareholders, equal to SEK 2 per share. The remaining sum of SEK 1,898,289 thousand will be carried forward. The proposed record day for dividends is Friday 13 May 2016. If the resolution is passed at the AGM, it is expected that dividends will be distributed by Euroclear Sweden AB on Wednesday 18 May 2016. Resolution on adoption of guidelines for remuneration payable to senior executives (Item 14) The Board proposes that the meeting resolve to adopt the guidelines for remuneration payable to senior executives, essentially as follows. Alimak Group AB has established principles and forms of remuneration payable to its senior executives. The Board and its Remuneration Committee decide on the form of remuneration scheme and the size and forms of remuneration payable to senior executives. The Board proposes that the following guidelines for determining salaries and other remuneration payable to the Companys Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and other senior executives be adopted at the AGM. The term senior executive means the Alimak Groups CEO and members of Group Management. These guidelines apply to agreements concluded after the AGM resolution and where amendments are made to existing agreements after that time. The Board may depart from the guidelines set out below in individual cases where particular reasons or needs exist. General It is of fundamental importance to the Company and its shareholders that the guidelines for remuneration payable to senior executives create good conditions in the near and long term to attract and retain competent employees and executives. To this end, it is important to establish fair and internally balanced conditions that are also competitive in terms of their structure, scope and level of remuneration. Conditions of employment for senior executives should comprise a balanced combination of fixed salary, annual bonus, long-term incentive scheme, pension and other benefits, along with conditions governing termination/severance payments. Total annual cash remuneration, i.e. fixed salary plus bonus and other long-term cash remuneration, should be at market level in the geographical market in which the individual works and is employed. Total remuneration should be reviewed annually to ensure it is in line with the market for equivalent positions in the relevant geographical market in which the individual operates. Remuneration should be based on performance. It should therefore comprise a combination of fixed salary and bonus, of which the variable component constitutes a relatively large portion of the total remuneration but is capped at a predetermined amount. The annual report states the total remuneration and other benefits received by the Companys senior executives during the year. Remuneration and forms of remuneration The Companys remuneration scheme involves various forms of remuneration aimed at creating balanced remuneration supporting near and long-term management by objectives and achievement of targets. Fixed salary Fixed salary is individual and is based on each persons responsibility and role, along with that persons competence and experience in the relevant position. Short-Term Incentive/Annual Bonus Senior executives receive an annual bonus. The annual bonus is variable and is expressed as a percentage of fixed salary. Bonus targets should primarily be related to achievement of the Companys financial targets, as well as any clearly defined individual objectives relating to specific duties of employment. The latter are used to ensure focus on non-financial objectives of particular interest. Financial targets for the bonus are adopted annually by the Board in order to ensure they are in line with the Companys business strategy and earnings targets. On the Boards instructions the Remuneration Committee adopts financial targets for individual employees as proposed by the CEO. The portion of the total remuneration comprising annual bonus varies depending on position, and may total 70 per cent of fixed annual salary when targets are fully achieved by the CEO, and up to 50 per cent of fixed annual salary when targets are fully achieved by other senior executives. Targets are formulated so that no bonus is payable unless a minimum level of performance is achieved. Long-Term incentive scheme At present the Company does not have a long-term incentive scheme, but there may be reason to evaluate the need for an additional, more long-term incentive structure. Remuneration payable to directors In certain cases directors elected at the AGM should be able to receive fees and other remuneration for work carried out on the Companys behalf, alongside their Board work. Fees at market rates, to be approved by the Board, may be payable for such services. Pensions Senior executives qualifying for a pension and concluding new pension agreements should have defined contribution pension agreements. Senior executives retire in accordance with the pension regulations of the relevant country. The main rule is that provisions made for pensions are based on fixed salary alone. Certain individual adjustments may occur in line with practice in the relevant geographical market. Other benefits Other benefits, such as a company car, wellness allowance, health care and health insurance, should comprise a minor portion of total remuneration and should be in line with market practice in the relevant geographical market. Additional remuneration In addition to the remuneration described above, agreement may be reached in exceptional cases on further remuneration, e.g. when this is considered necessary to attract and retain key competence or to persuade individuals to relocate or accept a new position. However, additional remuneration of this kind should be subject to a time limit, which should not exceed 36 months. Nor should the additional remuneration exceed twice the remuneration the holder of the position would have received if no agreement on additional remuneration had been concluded. Conditions governing termination and severance payments Conditions governing termination and severance payments should accord with practice in the relevant geographical market. The Companys CEO should have six months notice if he leaves of his own volition and 12 months notice if the Company terminates his employment. Other senior executives have notice periods of up to six months. When a new employment contract is concluded, a severance payment not exceeding 12 months fixed salary may be agreed with a senior executive. This applies solely to termination by the Company. Practice in the geographical market where the executive works applies in other respects. Miscellaneous The maximum cost potentially incurred by the Company for variable remuneration payable to senior executives in 2016 totals approximately SEK 9,100,000 (not including social security costs). DOCUMENTS Copies of the complete proposals put forward by the Board and the Nomination Committee, including the Boards statement, along with financial statements and the auditors report for 2015 will be available at the Company and on the Companys website www.alimakgroup.com as from 20 April 2016 at the latest, and will be sent immediately without charge to any shareholders who so request and state their postal address. The documents will also be available at the AGM. NUMBER OF SHARES AND VOTING RIGHTS The total number of shares in the Company as of the date of this notice is 43,326,289 shares, representing a total of 43,326,289 voting rights. As of that date the Company does not own any of its own shares. INFORMATION AT THE MEETING If any shareholders so request and the Board considers it possible without material harm to the Company, the Board and the CEO must provide information at the AGM on any circumstances that may influence determination of an item on the agenda, circumstances that may influence determination of the financial position of the Company or any of its subsidiaries, the group accounts and the Companys relationship to another group company. Any shareholder wishing to submit questions in advance may do so to Sofia Wretman (Communication and IR Director), by post to the address Alimak Group AB, Brunkebergstorg 5, 111 51 Stockholm or by e-mail to the address sofia.wretman@alimakhek.com. ____________ Stockholm, April 2016 Board of Directors Alimak Group AB (publ) For more information, please contact: Sofia Wretman, Head of Communications & IR, phone +46 708 11 64 30. About Alimak Alimak is a global market leader and a pioneer in designing, developing, manufacturing, distributing and servicing industrial vertical accesss solutions. The company provide high quality hoists, elevators and platforms primarily for the industrial and construction sectors. Alimak has a global sales, services and distribution platform across more than 60 countries with strong market positions. The company has a well-established and highly resilient aftersales business and its large global installed base of close to 22,000 units provides unique know-how into its customers needs. Alimak was founded in 1948, is headquartered in Stockholm and employ over 1,100 people across the world. www.alimakgroup.com English translation for information purposes only. If there are differences between the English translation and the Swedish original, the Swedish text will take precedence ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] (http://connect.ne.cision.com#_ftnref1) The shareholder data to be used must be sorted according to percentage of voting rights per shareholder, and include the largest shareholders registered as such in Sweden, i.e. shareholders having an account at Euroclear Sweden AB in their own name or shareholders with a custody account with a custodian that has notified Euroclear Sweden AB of the shareholders identity. As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ Low oil prices and internal management changes have forced PetroVietnam Exploration Production Corp. (PVEP), an upstream unit of the state-owned PetroVietnam, to suspend its operations in Kompong Thom, a senior official with Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) said yesterday. Meng Saktheara, Secretary of State of the MME, told Cambodian Khmer Times that the ministry had agreed to the request from the company to shut down its operations on block XV. It had asked for a delay in January when it was at the drilling stage. The company asked the ministry for a postponement in drilling within this year due to the current sharp decline of global oil prices. And secondly, they have an internal issue with a change of management, said Mr. Saktheara. We do understand their situation thats why the ministry agreed to the suspension. Yesterdays announcement occurred as the price of crude fell to $28 a barrel, its lowest in 12 years. Prices are falling on dwindling hopes that key producers will reach an agreement to freeze output when they meet this month to discuss a global supply glut. After breaking above $40 in March on expectations for the Russia-Saudi Arabia-led talks, the commodity has tumbled in recent weeks The April 17 Doha meeting aims to agree to cap output at January 2016 levels, but analysts say only a production cut can lead to a sustained recovery in prices. PVEP reached an agreement with the government to explore and exploit oil and gas at Block XV in the Tonle Sap Lake area in November 2009. The agreement to exploit oil expires in 30 years and for gas in 35 years and Block XV covers 6,900 square kilometers. It is PVEPs 55th oil and gas project and the 17th under its direct control. Recently, Singapore-based oil and gas firm KrisEnergy delayed its agreement to exploit Block A and the government last year cancelled two concessions for offshore fields Block B and Block F held by two foreign companies because they failed to comply with the terms of their contracts. All three blocks are in the Gulf of Thailand, at depths of up to 80 meters. KrisEnergys partners in Block A are Japans MOECO with 28.5 percent, Korean-owned GS Energy with 14.25 percent and Cambodia National Petroleum Authority with 5 percent. The contract area covers 4,709 square kilometers. Blocks B and F are being exploited by Malaysias Resourceful Petroleum Limited. According to Mr. Saktheara, the ministry will meet PetroVietnam officials soon to push the company to expedite the project as time is running short for them. We will have the coordinating committee meeting between the company and the ministry to work on some technical issues after the Khmer New Year because we want to push them to speed up their work as they have limited time for the work, he said. We allowed them to suspend drilling a well which they need to know about potential of the reserves, but we wont allow them to suspend oil exploration because they will be running out of time if they suspend drilling for too long. So they have a very short time to speed up their work to meet their deadline. We think that they will resume their work later this year or early next year because they are at the stage of drilling a well which normally has to happen in the dry season. Kim Natacha, executive director of Cambodians for Resource Revenue Transparency told Khmer Times this month that sharp declines in global oil prices will make investors in the gas and oil industry hesitate about investing in new projects. The current low prices of crude oil have driven most exploration and oil companies worldwide to review their operations, Ms. Natacha said. However, until we can hear from the companies or the government the reasons for termination, we cannot presume that the low crude oil prices was the main reason or one of the factors. People from a smallest ethnic minority group in Vietnam have upheld the tradition of spending hundreds of dollars - sometimes most of their savings - in a ritual ceremony to pray for prosperity Ca Dong people in the central province of Quang Nam have upheld the tradition to pour millions of VND for a ritual ceremony, believing this will bring them prosperity and wipe out all diseases and evils. Local residents held a ritual offering of three pigs heads to worship the gods and provide hundreds of liters of wine and meat to treat local residents and visitors during the four-day festival.The festival usually starts in April when people in the mountainous village take time off to take part in the ceremony. Households in the village take it in turns to hold the ceremony, so the ritual season can last for months. In the ritual season, villagers all gather at the organizers house to drink and singing all day and all night. I feel extremely happy, Ho Van Tinh, 19, a local resident said. It costs about VND20 million ($900) to hold the ritual ceremony, and not everyone in the village can afford it. Many have to borrow money while others have to save money for years to hold the ceremony. Nguyen Van Cuong had to save money for many years before he was in a position to host the ceremony. Nguyen Van Cuong prepares wine for the ceremony. Photo by Tien Hung He has tightened his belt and lived sparingly for a long time, and despite being in debt to the bank, he is determined to make his dream finally come true and host the ceremony for the first time. During the ceremony, there are bound to be added expenses, so I will borrow money to make sure my neighbors' stomachs are satisfied during the four-day ceremony, Cuong said. Nguyen Van Cuong. Photo by Tien Hung The ceremony will bring us an abundant crop and prevent disease and evils. When I am rich, the VND30 million ($1,300) I owe the bank will be nothing to me, he said. Besides praying for luck and fortune, Ho Van Kien, 36, holds the ceremony for another reason: to earn the respect of locals and show off his wealth. Kien has held the ceremony ten times. "The more ceremonies you hold, the stronger voice you have in village issues," Kien said. This year, among the total 20 households in the village, only five families will be able to afford to host the ceremony. A mountainous village in Quang Nam province. Photo by Tien Hung Besides this ritual, the Ca Dong people also have three other ceremonies to worship rice and water that can last for weeks. At present, at least 80 percent of the population of the village is poor and relies on state benefits. There are roughly 30,000 Ca Dong people in the country. They belong to the Xe Dang ethnic minority group and are not recognized as a separate ethnic group in Vietnam. Ca Dong people have their own language and age-old traditions, and holding the ritual ceremony is a way of preserving their identity. Congratulations sister! Youre our hope and pride! read Nguyen Thi Tus comment on Facebook addressed to the first woman elected to chair the National Assembly (NA), Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan. Tu, director general of the Ethnic Minorities Department, couldnt hide her joy as she was scrolling down her phone screen filled with messages from fellow female politicians. Ngan may have made history but the last two NA terms have seen a gradual fall in the number of female deputies. Despite significant increase in female participation in the 1990s, age old stereotypes and discriminatory regulations make it extra hard for women to reach to the top. The outlook for the 2016-2020 term doesnt present a much brighter picture with the share of female candidates falling to 36.65 percent. Meanwhile, the National Strategy on Gender Equality targets women to make up 35 percent of deputies for the upcoming term, but without specifying clear lines of accountability. Source: National Assembly Contrary to popular belief, there is a huge pool of talented and highly resourceful women in Vietnamese politics, according to Jean Munro, UNDP Senior Technical Advisor. But they usually have to try much harder than men to reach the same position in the government due to deeply rooted prejudice. Age old prejudgment Only 50 percent of young people believe women should aim to become high ranking government officials, economists or entrepreneurs. A 2009 study by IOS and EOWP found that female party secretaries, chairs and vice chairs of Peoples Committees at commune level had better levels of education than their male colleagues. When I chair a meeting, I need to be much more careful than my male counterparts because people think women talk too much and not to the point, said Tu. Its even harder for ethnic minority women who lack experience and soft skills to begin with. Yet, one would struggle to spot any sign of weakness in this radiant and confident woman, who is of the Muong ethnic group. She told her story with ease and charisma while people kept coming in and out of her office with queries. Nguyen Thi Tu multi-tasking during the interview with VnExpress. Photo: LL Tu wasnt always like this. The once ordinary government officer, who left her desk at 5pm everyday to return to her family, never considered trying for senior positions until she attended UNDPs capacity building workshop for women. I realized that women make up half of the population, so there should be more female leaders in the government. Biological differences make women have differing views [on certain social issues] than men, she added. A 2014 UNDP report confirms this, showing that female NA deputies are significantly more likely to raise womens issues than their male counterparts. "Guilty" about "abandoning" family Female role models like Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan have helped Tu overcome the insecurities she once had. "The most important factor is family support, said Tu, whose husband leads a state-owned company and son is doing a masters abroad. Tu thinks that with the right approach, women can have it all: Its not about sacrifice, but time management. On a typical evening, Tus family sit down together to watch the news, discuss politics and gender issues. Step by step, she turned the two men in her family into gender equality champions. Whoever comes home first will make dinner. Whenever Im going away on a business trip, my husband and son prepare food for me, Tu said with pride. A little girl suddenly run into the room as if she was at home. Shes the daughter of one of our staff. Not everyone tolerates that in government offices though, said Tu. Many female politicians struggle to balance their work and family commitments. According to Munro, women often feel guilty about abandoning their children to attend month-long political conventions. They fear their sons will succumb to social evils when theyre away, said Munro. However, she doubts childcare facilities are the solution. Instead, men should take a bigger role in caring for children. Tus family moved to Hanoi so she could pursue her political career. The decision wasnt easy. Her son was just starting school and they were settled with stable jobs after six years in Hoa Binh, a mountainous province north of Hanoi. But Tu strongly believed and convinced her husband that the move was beneficial to all, especially their son due to the better quality of education in the capital. Today, theyre glad they made the move. It all needs to start from within the family, said Tu, proudly looking at the awards her young department has earned in the last two years. But Tus case is more of an exception than the rule. Regulation bias Vietnam ranked 83rd out of 145 countries in the world in the Gender Gap Index 2015 compiled by the World Economic Forum. When it comes to women in the NA, it jumps to 58th, but the country is among the worst in terms of women in ministerial positions, ranked 119, with only nine percent of female ministers. A closer look at women representation in the 12th and 13th terms of NA reveals that a staggering 82 percent are only part-time deputies, who hold less power. The women that make it to leadership positions usually have some kind of backing, said Munro. Even someone with family support like Tu couldnt run for the upcoming NA elections because government officials have to be centrally nominated. Tus ministry had only one slot and that went to the minister. The UNDP report says being centrally nominated is the most important factor predicting who will hold an upper leadership position in the NA. It increases chances of selection to deputy chairs or higher by 48 percent. Meanwhile, only 12 percent of all centrally nominated candidates are women. To achieve greater equality, "the Communist Party needs to recognize that women have the capacity to be political leaders," said Ngo Thi Thu Ha, Vice Director of Center for Education Promotion and Empowerment of Women (CEPEW). Despite a National Strategy on Gender Equality and Vietnams international commitment to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Vietnams legislation and state propaganda still make it harder for women to advance in their political careers. Men are more likely to be promoted than women because they retire at the age of 60, five years later than women. Furthermore, 59 percent of female civil servants have never attended a training course, a requirement for career advancement. Thats because trainees are required to have three to five years of work experience and be on average 26-28 years old, while women in their late 20s are much more likely to be occupied with raising children. Propaganda and gender stereotypes State-funded propaganda and campaigns targeting women for decades continue to reinforce gender stereotypes, says a joint report by Vietnamese NGOs. The most widely known is perhaps the campaign that encourages women to compete for the title excellent in public, responsible at home launched by Vietnam's General Confederation of Labor. Others include a Womens Union initiative approved by the Prime Minister that calls women to have Four virtues: Self-confidence Self-respect Kindness and Diligence or a movement on Families with 5-no and 3-clean. The poster to celebrate International Women's day and the anniversary of the Trung Sisters' uprising reads: Ho Chi Minh City women actively study, work, create and build a happy family. The problem with this propaganda is that it upholds the age old tradition that housework and caring for children is only a woman's job and it hinders women's participation in politics," said Ha. Nevertheless, Ngans appointment is seen by many as the beginning of a new chapter, under which not only women but also other vulnerable groups will be inspired to break free. Women leaders are also considered more progressive than men in modern civil rights such as same-sex marriage, transgender rights, prostitution, etc. As leader of National Assembly, I hope and believe that Ngan can contribute to the rights of vulnerable groups and create a new image for the highest organ of state power, said Luong The Huy, LGBT rights officer at iSEE. Its a very arduous path for female political leaders, said Tu. But then she lightened up at the thought of her upcoming gender equality project. Tu doesnt have much time to sit and complain. Tan Son Nhat International Airport has stepped up measures to stop the Zika virus. Photo by VnExpress Ho Chi Minh City's Health Department has asked airlines arriving from Zika-hit areas to spray mosquito repellent before landing at Tan Son Nhat Airport. The Health Department recently sent an urgent notice to the Center for International Health Quarantine to call for a a Zika virus protection and prevention plan. Airlines are asked to spray mosquito repellent for planes departing from Zika epidemic areas before entering Vietnam, said a local health official. In case any passenger is suspected of carrying the Zika virus, Tan Son Nhat International Airport will coordinate with the city's health sector to transfer the suspected case to the Hospital of Tropical Diseases. The Health Department is also sterilizing airplanes and the area around the airport to control the risk of contamination, while authorities are educating passangers on how to identify and prevent the Zika virus. The international airport in Ho Chi Minh City has a fever scanning system to detect people who might have a fever or high temperature. With the risk of Zika spreading in Ho Chi Minh City, Director of the Health Department Nguyen Tan Binh called for competent authorities, offices, companies and citizens to help kill mosquitoes and their larvae. More than 60 countries have reported the apperance of Zika, that has spread wildly in central and south America. Countries around Vietnam including Thailand, Laos, China and Cambodia have also recorded cases of the virus. On April 5, two cases of the Zika virus were confirmed in Vietnam. One of the cases is a 32-year-old woman from District 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. She started developing symptoms such as severe fever, conjunctivitis and fatigue last Tuesday and went to the district general hospital the same day. She subsequently tested positive for the Zika virus. Newly elected President Tran Dai Quang on Wednesday nominated Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc as prime minister, after the National Assembly gave approval for Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to step down. Phuc will be appointed on April 7. After the results of the vote are announced and a National Assembly resolution on the appointment is approved on Thursday, the new prime minister will take his oath of office at an inauguration ceremony. Phuc was born in 1954 in the central province of Quang Nam. Before becoming deputy prime minister, he held the positions of chairman of the Quang Nam Peoples Committee, deputy inspector-general of the Government Inspectorate and chairman of the Government Office. He was a member of the Party Central Committee (X, XI, XII); a member of the Politburo (XI, XII); and a National Assembly deputy (XI, XIII). Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has stepped down after the National Assembly passed a resolution allowing him to officially end his near 10-year-long tenure. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. A resolution approving Dung to step down as Prime Minister was backed by the majority of NA deputies who cast their votes on April 6. Some deputies, in assessment of the prime minister's term, credited Dung and his government for their contributions to Vietnam's economic growth. According to Deputy Truong Trong Nghia, Dung's strong rebuke of China's acts of infringement on the country's sovereignty received strong public support. Deputy Vo Thi Hong Thoai said she was impressed by his fierce, tenacious opinions and ideas on how to defend national sovereignty at sea. "The attitude of the Prime Minister has made people and voters throughout the country feel more secure and confident," said Thoai. Deputy Nguyen Manh Cuong said that he appreciated the efforts and achievements of Dung during his tenure. Cuong, however, also pointed out the limitations of the government led by Dung. "Economic development has not been sustainable or lived up to its potential. Public debt is high, labor productivity is low and living conditions remain difficult for many people. Administrative procedures are still cumbersome and corruption and wastefulness are serious issues," Cuong said. Dung was born in 1949 in Ca Mau province. From 19951996, he assumed the post of vice minister of Public Security then head of the Central Economic Committee. In 1997, Dung was appointed as the country's youngest ever deputy prime minister at 48 years old, and from 19981999, he concurrently held the position of governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. In 2006, he was appointed prime minister - a position he held for two consecutive terms. Dung is no longer a member of the Party Central Committee. Dungs deputy Nguyen Xuan Phuc was the only candidate put forward by the party congress in January to become Vietnams next prime minister. The vote will be cast on April 7. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will step down today after the National Assembly passed a resolution allowing him to officially end his near 10-year-long tenure. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Photo: Giang Huy In a statement on Dungs dismissal, President Tran Dai Quang said the head of the executive branch has always completed the tasks assigned to him. "Due to the required arrangements of state and the Partys senior personnel, I ask the NA for consideration and approval of Prime Minister Dung to step down", Quang said. On March 26, Dung made a farewell speech to other government staffs and officials in the last official session of his working term, during a regular government meeting. The timing of Dungs exit will be in line with the National Assemblys plan to push forward the transition to a new government three months earlier than scheduled. Dung was born in 1949 (Ca Mau province). In 1995 1996, he assumed the post of vice minister of Public Security then head of the Central Economic Committee. In 1997, Dung was appointed as the youngest Deputy Prime Minister (48 years old) ever at that time and in 1998 1999, he concurrently held the position of governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. He was appointed as the youngest Prime Minister in 20 years - the position which he held for two terms from 2006. Dung and eight other members of the Politburo did not participate in the new Party Central Committee. One of Dungs deputies, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, was the only candidate put forward by the partys congress in January to become Vietnams next prime minister. The vote will be casted on April 7. The Communist Party of the U.S. will continue to assist Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, said Chairman John Bachtell on April 5. At a meeting with the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA), Bachtell said his party would publicize information related to a lawsuit Vietnamese Agent Orange victims have taken out against U.S. chemical companies and call for more support. He also handed over a petition of signatures of U.S. citizens who back the Vietnamese victims fight. A Vietnamese child effected by Agent Orange. Photo by Reuters. About 80 million litres of toxic chemicals, mainly Agent Orange containing dioxin, were sprayed over the south of Vietnam during 1961-1971. Nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to the chemicals and about three million people and their descendants suffer from health problems as a consequence of the exposure until today. Every year, Vietnam spends VND10 trillion ($450 million) on aid programmes for the Agent Orange community. In recent years, the U.S. Government has supported the Southeast Asian country in mine and toxic chemical clearance. Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam asks the United Nations and its International Narcotics Control Board to continue support in the fight against drugs. In 2015, for the first time in the last 20 years, the number of drug addicts in Vietnam reduced by more than 4,000 compared with the previous year. By January 2016, there were around 200,000 drug addicts in the country, Dam told International Narcotics Control Board 's vice president Jagjit Pavadia in an reception yesterday. However, many new drugs are penetrating Vietnam, while the rate of addicts recovery remains low. Vietnam will focus on narcotic supplies, eliminate drug hotspots, and intensifying methadone treatment. Jagjit Pavadia affirmed that her board and the U.N will provide resources in communications campaigns, policy consultancy, and in improving the legal system for Vietnam. Eugene Robinson Eugene Robinson is an Associate Editor and twice-weekly columnist for The Washington Post. His column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. In a 25-year career at The Post, Robinson has been city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the paper's award-winning Style section. In 2005, he started writing a column for the Op-Ed page. He is the author of "Coal to Cream: A Black Man's Journey Beyond Color to an Affirmation of Race" (1999) and "Last Dance in Havana" (2004). Robinson is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and has received numerous journalism awards. The tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, which votes Friday in presidential elections, is hitching its wagon to the star of neighbouring Ethiopia with a series of cross-border projects funded mainly by China, the new power-broker in the region. Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, is seeking a fourth term as head of the former French colony that sits at the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The vote, which the opposition has already branded a sham, will test support for a series of infrastructure projects that aim to increase the already outsized influence of the country of around 800,000 people, home to America's biggest -- and only permanent -- military base in Africa. Djibouti has been in the lucrative position of offering landlocked Ethiopia its only access to the sea since Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea next door in 1998. During the two-year conflict, Addis Ababa relied on Djibouti's main port to import weapons. Since then Ethiopia's economy has grown exponentially, and with it the tide of imports flowing through Djibouti to the country of 97 million people, which accounts for 86 percent of all goods transiting through Djiboutian ports. Not content to rely on passing trade and playing host to the military bases of several world powers, Djibouti is now looking to play a bigger role in east Africa, in tandem with fast-growing Ethiopia. "Even if the country has a very good strategic location, small economies like ours need to be integrated into regional development efforts," Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told AFP. - A 'model' for east Africa - In 2011, Djibouti was hooked up to Ethiopia's electricity grid. Two further interconnectors are planned, one of which could transport Ethiopian power across the Red Sea to Yemen. A 752-kilometre railway line linking the city of Djibouti to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa is scheduled to open soon, with another line for exporting potassium from the northern Ethiopian city of Mekele through the Djiboutian port of Tadjourah set to soon follow. Story continues In the past year the neighbours have also announced two major energy projects. A multi-billion-dollar pipeline will transport natural gas from Ethiopia to a liquefaction plant and export terminal at Damerjog in Djibouti, while in the other direction, a planned 550-kilometre pipeline will carry diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from Djibouti's ports to central Ethiopia. Completing the list of cross-border projects is a water pipeline to channel drinking water from Ethiopia to Djibouti, which like Ethiopia is prone to droughts. "Our relationship is gaining momentum", said Tewolde Mulugeta, spokesman for the Ethiopian foreign ministry, who sees the deepening ties between the two countries as "a model" for the region. It is a view shared in Djibouti. "The main thing is that the development benefits not only the two countries but also other countries in the region," Energy Minister Ali Yacoub Mahamoud told AFP. "That is why we must combine our resources, our efforts and our ideas". - Chinese money - The two countries see themselves as the engine of closer cooperation within the regional IGAD grouping, which also includes Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. Ethiopia and Djibouti's special relationship has been welcomed by China, a major investor in the region. Most of Djibouti's 14 major infrastructure projects, which have been valued at a total 14.4 billion dollars, are being funded by Chinese banks, including the railway line that will halve transit times from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. "These are very big investments," Djibouti's foreign minister said, explaining that China was "the only partner that accompanied us along this path." China is also funding the pipeline that will transport natural gas to the port in Djibouti for export to the Asian powerhouse, and recently signed an accord with the Red Sea state on the construction of a free trade zone around 50 kilometres from Djibouti city. Economists warn that Djibouti is becoming too reliant on Chinese credit. The country's public debt burden is forecast to rise from 60 per cent in 2015 to around 80 percent in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. "It's a dilemma," admits Youssouf, the foreign minister. "The more indebted we are, the more we depend on our creditor. But what alternative is there? Countries can only develop if they have infrastructure." Air New Zealand will further expand its Pacific Rim network with the launch of direct flights between Manila and Auckland starting in December. The new year-round service will operate three times a week using Boeing 767-300 aircraft with a flight time of around 10 and a half hours in each direction. Air New Zealand chief executive officer Christopher Luxon said the airline expects the service to be popular at both ends of the route. The Filipino population in New Zealand has more than tripled since 2001 and is now the third largest Asian ethnic group, with around 40,000 Filipinos resident in New Zealand. The number of visitors from the Philippines is also continuing to grow rapidly, up more than 20 percent in the past year alone so were anticipating that demand for this service will be steady in both directions, he said. The only non-stop service between New Zealand and the Philippines will save up to two and a half hours each way, making it more convenient for travelers. Tickets on this direct service will go on sale mid-year, subject to government and regulatory approvals. It has been a frustrating effort for Bangladesh Ambassador John Gomes to reclaim and send home at least part of the $81 million stolen from his government which is now in the possession of the Philippine central bank. He aired his frustration at yesterdays resumption of the hearing on the issue by the Senate Blue Ribbon committee. Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) executive director Julia Bacay-Abad noted that the $4.63 million and P38.2 million turned over by Chinese-Filipino casino junket operator Kim Wong are being kept by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in its vaults for safekeeping only. Abad said that there was no expressed consent from the camp of Wong to turn over the funds to the government of Bangladesh and so the AMLC is in a bind as to how to deal with the matter. This is very new to us today because earlier we have a document where they told us to accept the money and that is why they called us to the AMLC office and we received the money, Gomes told reporters after the hearing. He recalled being present with the embassys second secretary when the $4.63 million was turned over by Wong. We signed the receipt of $4.63 million a few days ago by the AMLC and my embassy second secretary he counted the money and then I signed it, he said. I signed the paper of the receipt and then yesterday we had another P38.280 million, so that was also counted by my embassy representative and fortunately at that time we also had two of our Bangladesh Bank officials present during that transaction. It was handed over to us and we received it and then its in the vault, he added. Gomes said the government of Bangladesh was moving ahead with the recovery of the other amounts, including the P450 million promised by Wong within the next 15 to 30 days. He said that the embassy had made an arrangement with the Standard Chartered Bank to wire the funds to Bangladesh when this development came up. Story continues Blue Ribbon chairman Sen. Teofisto Guingona III has arranged a meeting today with the AMLC and representatives of the Bangladesh embassy to discuss the matter. Abad said the process of turning over the funds to Bangladesh should include the issuance of a written consent by Wong. Without this written consent, Abad said the government may have to resort to filing a civil forfeiture case and if no one emerges to claim the funds, these could then be turned over to the Bangladesh government. So were moving ahead and now this has come up so we will discuss tomorrow and Im sure that this matter will be resolved tomorrow, Gomes said. Pleadings for forfeiture Abad said they are preparing the pleadings for the petition for civil forfeiture that would be filed before a lower court in Manila next week. Regardless of where the money went, that should be recovered, she added. She said Wongs lawyers Inocencio Ferrer Jr. and Victor Fernandez agreed to turn over the amount to the ALMC for safekeeping. The AMLC should not give the funds to the claimant without due process, Ferrer said during the hearing. Abad replied that the acknowledgement receipts for the $4.63 million and the P38.28 million were also signed by Gomes. It will appear now that their intention is just to turn over to the AMLC, but our understanding is to give it back to Bangladesh. I think everybody heard that. We just want to make a clarification that he has no objection to the physical turnover of the money to the Bangladesh government. It is just a physical turnover because effectively the Bangladesh government already received it because he (Gomes) signed the acknowledgment receipt, she added. However, she explained the lawyers of Wong are now hesitant to turn over the abandoned funds to the Bangladesh government. The end of the hearing gave Gomes the opportunity to personally ask Abad about the money. But you called me, and say within half an hour, the money is coming. You have to receive it, you have to sign the receipt of the funds. You told us, that you have to witness the counting of each and every dollar, Gomes told Abad, after the hearing. Right now I think both parties do not have an agreement, lets see how we can solve this, Guingona told Abad and Gomes. Gomes, accompanied by other Bangladesh officials, approached Guingona and Abad after the hearing apparently to ask for the immediate turnover of the money to the representatives of the Bangladesh government. Prior to this, Abad sought clarification during the hearing from the Senate panel on what to do with the money after Wongs lawyers objected to giving consent to the formal turnover of the amount to the Bangladesh government. The AMLC would not just automatically give funds to a claimant without going through the process. I think the law provides the filing of a forfeiture proceeding because nobody knows who owns the funds, Ferrer said. Since this is really a government-to-government procedure, we are just a private party. We leave it up to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee to guide right now, we just follow the law, he added. Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile stressed the need to follow the law as the money allegedly stolen from the Bangladesh central bank entered Philippine jurisdiction. Sections 12 and 17 of Republic Act 9160 or the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) require forfeiture proceedings in court before restitution could be affected by AMLC in favor of the aggrieved party, he said. While we want to help Bangladesh in this matter as we want them to help us if this happened to us, we have to observe our laws, Enrile said. The legislators lauded Wong for turning over the $4.63 million and P38.28 million abandoned funds of Gao Shuhua with Eastern Hawaii Casino and Leisure Corp. to the AMLC. Silverio Benny Tan representing Solaire Resort and Casino Manila said they were just waiting for a court order on the remaining P107 million dead chips and over P1 million in cash confiscated from Chinese players. Tan said Solaire received P1.365 billion worth of funds from Philrem, of which P1.03 billion went to two casino operators while P361 million was played via the casinos premium program. On the other hand, lawyer Katrina Nepomuceno, representing Leisure and Resorts World Corp., said a total of P532 million went to Midas Hotel and Casino consisting of P421 million played and P111 million withdrawn as winnings. With Lawrence Agcaoili Vietnams lawmakers approved legislation on the Access to Information Law during a meeting today, making Vietnam the third country in Southeast Asia to have recognized the publics right to information. National Assembly deputies passed the law. The law was backed by 437 of the 448 deputies who cast their votes on April 6. Vietnam's Law on Access to Information will come into effect on July 1, 2018. According to the law, all citizens are equal and there will be no discrimination in the right to access information . The information provided must be accurate and complete. The provision of information must be timely, transparent, accurate and convenient for citizens, while following the process and procedures prescribed by the law. All information released must have been previously declassified by the government. The Access to Information Law also specifies information that citizens cannot access, including state secrets, information with important content in politics, national defense and security, foreign affairs, economy, science, technology and other areas regulated by the law. Citizens will not be given access to information if it could harm national defense and security, international relations, public order, social morality, public health, or the lives and property of others. They are also not allowed to access information containing business secrets and details of internal meetings and documents. The law encourages state agencies to provide information they have obtained where possible. The draft of Vietnam's Access to Information Law was first put before the Standing Committee in August 2015. Since then, the National Assembly and its Law Committee have been working on a number of issues in the proposed bill, including the scope of the legislation, defining what is deemed confidential information, who is responsible for providing the information and who is eligible to make a request. In previous meetings, many deputies agreed that the right of access to information was crucial as a requirement for Vietnams further global integration while the demand for information transparency increases. While some delegates expressed concern over making available sensitive information that could be used to cause social instability, other delegates said the law would be a step forward in transparency and social development. Deputy Chairman of the NA Huynh Ngoc Son said there are many issues that need to be publicized that have so far remained confidential. For example, the health of state officials traveling overseas should not be considered confidential. Rumors will start if this information is not publicized which may stir social instability, Son said. If an invitation to a meeting is considered confidential, what exactly can we publicize? Chairman of the NAs Law Committee Phan Trung Ly said. There must be a list of information that cannot be made public outlined in the law. Around 100 countries have issued laws on access to information. The first to recognize this public right was Sweden in 1766, while other countries didn't start to include it in their laws until the 90s. The countries to have passed laws on access to information in Asia are Thailand (1997), South Korea (1996), Japan (2001), India (2005), China (2007) and Indonesia (2008). The head of Brazil's impeachment commission was to give his verdict Wednesday on whether President Dilma Rousseff should be ousted, raising the temperature another notch in a political crisis engulfing Latin America's biggest country. Lawmaker Jovair Arantes, who presided over the cross-party congressional commission examining the fate of Brazil's first woman president, was to present his recommendation at 1700 GMT. Arantes' decision is non-binding and mostly of symbolic value but will move the furious debate over Rousseff's impeachment a step closer to resolution. His declaration precedes a vote by the full 65-member commission due Monday. The commission's vote will also be non-binding but will set the tone ahead of April 18, when the lower house of Congress holds its decisive vote on whether Rousseff should go. She is accused of presiding over large-scale fiddling of government accounts to mask the depth of budgetary shortfalls during her reelection in 2014. Rousseff -- highly unpopular because of a severe recession and a giant corruption scandal enveloping the political elite -- says she has committed no impeachment-worthy crime and claims she is the victim of a coup attempt. - Shaky alliances - Intrigue is rife over which way Congress will lean on the 18th. The lower chamber's mood swings almost daily, with Rousseff sometimes appearing to have run out of allies before winning an unexpected boost. On Tuesday, the murky political landscape entered extraordinary new territory when a Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a bid to also impeach the vice president, Michel Temer, who has become a leading opponent of Rousseff -- and would replace her if she had to step down. In the impeachment request, Temer is accused of participating in the same fiscal juggling as Rousseff. Although proceedings against Temer are highly unlikely to get underway soon and could still be thrown out by the full Supreme Court, the judge's ruling weakened the opposition camp. Rousseff's ruling coalition collapsed last week when the PMDB party, headed by Temer, went into opposition. Her Workers' Party is now scrambling with the help of smaller allies to build a new coalition. Rousseff's powerful predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is holed up in a hotel in the capital Brasilia leading negotiations with parties and individual deputies. The key bargaining chip still left in Rousseff's hands are ministerial posts and hundreds of other government jobs, including seven ministries and some 600 jobs that had been given previously to the PMDB. An announcement of new ministers had been expected any day, but on Tuesday Rousseff said she would hold off from deciding on a new government before the lower house makes its vote. Newspaper O Globo reported that the president's camp decided on the delay out of fear that supposed new allies could still betray her when it came time to vote. - Number crunching - Rousseff, 68, needs at least 172 votes against impeachment or abstentions in the lower house. The opposition needs two thirds of the chamber to vote in favor, or 342 out of the total 513. If the motion passes, then an impeachment trial starts in the Senate, ending with another vote in which the upper house would need a two-thirds majority to remove Rousseff from office. With loyalties shifting daily, predictions of the outcome in the lower house are highly unreliable. However in the commission vote due on Monday, Globo published a survey Wednesday of the 65 members and found that 30 were in favor of impeachment, 18 were against and 17 undecided. - Clean slate? - Brazilians are angry at Rousseff, whose government approval ratings hover at around 10 percent, and also at many in the opposition like Temer. While Rousseff fights the allegations about budgetary manipulations, many in her Workers' Party, but also in the opposition, have been embroiled in a massive bribes-and-embezzlement scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras. Temer has been linked to the scandal though is not facing charges, while the lower house speaker and key man in the impeachment movement, Eduardo Cunha, has been charged with stashing millions of dollars in bribes in Switzerland. Rousseff's main political backer Lula has also been charged in a Petrobras-related case. Against that backdrop, some in Brazil are calling for a complete change at the top. Former minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva called for the speeding up of a separate Supreme Court probe of alleged electoral irregularities against Rousseff and Temer that would, if they were found guilty, require them both to step down. "The way forward is to hold new elections," she said. By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey bombed Kurdish militant targets in northern Iraq on Tuesday and declared a curfew in a southeastern town after a rocket attack, as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed Ankara would not step back in its crackdown on the rebels. Gunfire rang out through the night in Silopi, near the Iraqi border, where the curfew was imposed after one police officer was killed and four were wounded when a rocket hit their armoured vehicle, security sources said. In Iraq, Turkish F-16 and F-4 warplanes destroyed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) ammunition stores and shelters overnight in the mountainous Qandil area, where the group is based, the army said. It also said 15 PKK militants had been killed in southeast Turkey on Monday. The conflict, at its most intense for two decades, is a major challenge for Davutoglu, who has been promoting a redevelopment plan for the mainly Kurdish southeast after months of fighting. Pro-Kurdish politicians say Ankara should focus instead on reviving peace talks launched in 2012 with PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan but President Tayyip Erdogan ruled out such a move on Monday, vowing to stamp out the insurgency. Davutoglu reinforced that message in a speech on Tuesday. "There will be no turning back in the fight against terror," he told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party. "Turkey's policy in the peace process was correct and its anti-terror operation is correct. Our people have given great support to both processes." In Silopi, local authorities declared a curfew from 4:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) in an announcement delivered by loudspeaker from minarets and police vehicles, witnesses said. In the town of Nusaybin near the Syrian border, which has been under curfew for three weeks, a PKK rocket attack killed an army major and another officer on Monday, security sources said. Erdogan said last week that, since July, 355 members of the security forces had been killed and 5,359 militants "neutralised", a term usually meaning "killed". According to the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV), at least 310 civilians have been killed during the various curfews imposed in parts of the region between August and mid-March. It said 355,000 people had had to leave their homes as a result of the fighting, which has caused extensive damage in towns such as Cizre, Silopi, Nusaybin and Diyarbakir's Sur district, surrounded by UNESCO-listed Roman-era walls. More than 40,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in 1984. The PKK, which says it is fighting for autonomy for Kurds, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. (Additional reporting by Ercan Gurses in Ankara; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Kevin Liffey and David Dolan) Taipei (AFP) - A Taiwanese man suspected of decapitating a four-year-old girl was beaten by an angry mob, as the case sparked fresh debate Tuesday about the death penalty for child-killers. The man grabbed the child as she cycled to a Taipei metro station with her mother on Monday, and beheaded her with a kitchen knife, police said. The suspect pushed away the girl's mother as she tried to save her daughter. Seven bystanders were also unable to stop the man, police added. The girl has been identified only by her surname Liu. Local media have used her family nickname "little light bulb". Police said the suspect, a 33-year-old surnamed Wang, had previously been arrested for drug related crimes and had sought medical treatment for mental illness. The case, the second child killing in Taipei in less than a year, has sparked widespread public anger and criticism of calls to abolish the death penalty. Taiwan resumed capital punishment in 2010 after a five-year hiatus. Executions are reserved for serious crimes including aggravated murder and kidnapping, but the political elite is divided over whether or not to retain it. Parliament says it will on Thursday a review of a bill that would ensure those convicted of killing children under 12 are given the death penalty, or at least a life sentence in the case of severe mental illness. "I am deeply saddened by the case... (the suspect) should be sentenced to death in the case of a stranger killing a child," said lawmaker Wang Yu-min, who proposed the bill. Children's welfare group the White Rose Social Care Association is planning to hold a rally in Taipei on April 10 to push for enforcement of capital punishment. "This kind of random killing shows that Taiwan cannot afford to abolish the death penalty," said chairwoman Eva Liang. The girl's mother, however, urged the public not to discuss the issue to allow the family time to grieve. "If you are concerned about us or have sympathy, please respect us... I don't wish to see such discussions at the time being," she told reporters outside a funeral home, also asking people not to circulate photos of the girl's body. Story continues - 'Stop beating' - Television footage Monday showed dozens of angry people gathered outside a police station in Taipei where the suspect was being held. Some attacked the man as he was being transferred to the prosecutor's office for questioning. He pleaded with them to "stop beating". Others came to lay flowers and toys at the spot where the girl was killed and her family held a religious ceremony for her there. President-elect Tsai Ing-wen who will take office on May 20, also went to the scene to lay flowers. "This incident deals a big blow to Taiwan's society. Many Taiwanese people are saddened and feel insecure... We should work together so parents don't have to worry and children can grow up safely," she said. REYKJAVIK, Iceland Icelands embattled prime minister has resigned amid a controversy over his offshore holdings, a Cabinet minister said yesterday as outrage over the accounts roiled the North Atlantic island nation. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is stepping down as leader of the countrys coalition government, Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV. No replacement has yet been named, and Icelands president has not yet confirmed that he has accepted the resignation. Thousands of Icelanders protested outside the parliament building in Reykjavik on Monday, demanding that Gunnlaugsson resign over reported offshore financial dealings by him and his wife that opposition lawmakers say amount to a major conflict of interest with his job. Gunnlaugsson would be the first major figure brought down by a leak of more than 11 million financial documents from a Panamanian law firm showing tax-avoidance arrangements of the rich and famous around the world. Gunnlaugsson has denied any wrongdoing. He said he and his wife have paid all their taxes and done nothing illegal. He also said his financial holdings didnt affect his negotiations with Icelands creditors during the countrys acute financial crisis. Earlier yesterday, the prime minister sought to dissolve parliament and call an early election, but President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said he wanted to consult with other party leaders before agreeing to end the coalition government between Gunnlaugssons center-right Progressive Party and the Independence Party. I need to determine if there is support for dissolving (parliament) within the ruling coalition and others. The prime minister could not confirm this for me, and therefore I am not prepared at this time to dissolve parliament, Grimsson said. The president planned to meet with Independence Party lawmakers later yesterday to discuss the crisis. Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, chairman of the Independence Party, criticized the prime minister for unilaterally seeking to dissolve parliament. It was a total surprise for us to see that. I dont think it was the rational thing to do. Ive never seen it done before in Icelandic politics and I hope that I will not see it again, he said. - AP India is probably the only country in the world where a seamless business like retail is spliced into complex and artificial compartments like single brand retail, multi-brand retail, et al, to placate the powerful trader lobby History is littered with evidences that political motivations overshadow the fundamental principles of policymaking in India. Indian policymakers also have an uncanny knack for sitting on the fence for a woefully long time and then go for the overkill with botched-up policies and guidelines. Theres a famous saying in the startup world first theres the innovators, then theres the imitators, and then theres the idiot. So, when the Department of Industrial Promotion & Policy (DIPP) unveiled its policy guidelines for foreign direct investment (FDI) in e-commerce last week, I was convinced that the idiot has arrived. Legitimising an unrecognised segment in FDI policy framework That said, a formal policy framework for Indias e-tailing sector was long overdue. In fact, last year, the Retailers Association of India filed a petition in the Delhi High Court alleging that e-tailing firms were flouting FDI rules. In January, the DIPP told the Court that the marketplace model is not recognised in the FDI policy. Also Read: Why I will not found a startup Last weeks guidelines simply legalized foreign investments in e-tailing. Thats all. Now foreign capital can continue to merrily bankroll Indias e-tailing juggernaut, as long as they follow the marketplace model (and not directly sell to the consumers), which means facilitate the sale of goods and services on the platform by third-parties. through retrogressive guidelines in a progressive world The two caveats were the most laughable part of the guidelines: 1) A marketplace player cannot allow one vendor or its group companies to account for more than 25 per cent of sales through its platform. 2) A marketplace player cannot directly or indirectly influence the sale price of goods and services and shall maintain a level playing field. Story continues Who will monitor that this 25 per cent threshold is being adhered to? What happens if most buyers prefer a particular seller on a platform over others? Will they be forced to choose a different seller for fear of breaching the 25 per cent cap? How will the fact of influence, direct or indirect, be established? Above all, why is this veiled attempt to control prices? There is no mention of Indian-owned marketplaces, should we assume that e-tailers wholly-owned by Indian investors are exempt from these restrictions? Also Read: 4 global trends that Indian e-commerce sector should adopt Such policies were rampant during the License Raj of the 90s, when the sole purpose of policies was to favour the traditional incumbents known to be close to the ruling elite. Such policies are against the statement intent of improving the ease of doing business in India. Twenty-first century businesses need twenty-first century regulations. The press note issued by DIPP on the afternoon of March 29 reads: The above decision will take immediate effect. Shouldnt the government have given a reasonable timeframe for those who suddenly found themselves non-compliant? Usually, a policy comes into effect through the Gazette notification, and not through a press note. Why the hurry? FDI in retail: To do or not to do Thats the real reason behind this e-commerce policy confusion. India is probably the only country in the world where a seamless business like retail is spliced into complex and artificial compartments like single brand retail, multi-brand retail, et al, to placate the powerful trader lobby. Thats why a party known to be business-friendly, which was in favour of 100 per cent FDI in retail 2004, did a complete volte-face to keep its stakeholders happy. Its unfortunate that while our Prime Minister goes around the world trumpeting the arrival of India as an economic super power, we the consumers are still being held hostage by groups and interests that are satiated by protectionism and unwilling to get out compete. And in this pseudo progressive world, Indian consumers remain the biggest loser. 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, submit your article here. Image Credit: Shutterstock The post Indias e-tailing FDI policy: A masterpiece of ambiguity appeared first on e27. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will travel to Iran next week for a two-day trip that will make him the first major leader to visit since the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran. Renzi's office said in a statement Monday that the centre-left premier would be in the Islamic Republic on April 12 and 13, without giving further details of his itinerary. Italy has led the way among Western countries in re-establishing economic ties to Iran following the lifting of international sanctions imposed over concerns the country was seeking to develop a nuclear weapons capacity. An accord to lift the sanctions was agreed last year and came into force in January. Renzi's trip follows Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's visit to Italy and France at the end of January -- a trip which resulted in a string of major trade and investment deals being signed between Tehran and the two European countries. Contracts worth an estimated 17 billion euros ($18 billion) were signed in Rome and Rouhani said he hoped that would represent only a start, as he pitched Iran as a safe base for investors looking to get into a regional market of 300 million consumers. Iran has said it wants European help to modernise and expand its rail, road and air networks as well as seeking investment to boost its manufacturing base, notably in the automobile sector. Italy was Iran's largest European trade partner before the impact of sanctions caused exchanges between the two countries to collapse. - Nude statues row - As he seeks to consolidate Italy's early lead in the race for business deals, Renzi has also unveiled plans for cultural and academic exchanges. When Rouhani was in Rome in he talked of reconstructing a relationship between "two superpowers of beauty and culture" that dates back to the days of the ancient Roman and Persian empires. Rouhani's visit however also prompted criticism that Renzi's government was going too far in its efforts to charm Iran's theocratic regime. It emerged just after Rouhani had left Rome that ancient nude statues in the capital's City Hall had been covered up by wooden boxes to spare the Iranian president any possible embarrassment. The diplomatic niceties indulged in by the world's biggest wine producer also extended to ensuring that no alcohol was served at any of the official meals during Rouhani's stay -- a gesture France was not prepared to make, meaning plans for a state banquet had to be scrapped. Renzi is not the first European leader to visit Tehran since the sanctions deal: Greek Prime Minister Tsipras went there in February. He is the first leader of a Group of Seven country to make the trip but is unlikely to be the last this year. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced earlier this month that he plans to become the first Japanese leader to visit Iran since the 1979 revolution that created the Islamic Republic. Two Vietnamese women have tested positive for the Zika virus, health authorities said on Tuesday, adding that mosquitoes were highly likely to be the source of infection, putting the country's health sector on higher alert. The two victims are the first confirmed cases of the virus in the Southeast Asia country. At least three rounds of tests have confirmed that a 64-year-old woman living in the beach city of Nha Trang in the southern province of Khanh Hoa and a pregnant 33-year-old in a central district of Ho Chi Minh City are positive for the Zika virus, health officials said. The two infected women are in stable condition. No further infections have been reported among individuals who come into contact with the infected including their relatives, neighbors and co-workers, according to the health ministry. The younger of the patients, named Thuy, is eight weeks pregnant. She went to hospital complaining of morning sickness, scarlet fever, conjunctivitis and fatigue late March and tested Zika-virus last Thursday. Thuys husband, working in Malaysia, is said to have returned home in middle of March but has shown no symptoms identical to those linked to the Zika virus while her 2-year-old daughter suffered from dengue fever a week ago. Health official have quarantined the living areas of the patient's family and taken samples from residents living within 200 meter radius of the patient's house for further tests, said deputy health minister Nguyen Thanh Long. Thuy came back to work earlier this week right after being discharged from hospital, which has raised concerns over the safety of 1,200 people working in the same office building with her. However, the Zika virus does not spread through respiratory infection but is transmitted to people primarily through the bite of an infected mosquito, said Phan Thanh Phuoc, head of District 2 center of preventive medicine, pointing out that Thuy would not put the community at risk of infection since her incubation period was over. Vietnam has tested about 1,200 samples of medical waste from several areas nationwide and these are the first and only cases confirmed positive for the Zika virus, said Dr. Tran Dac Phu, head of the General Department of Preventive Medicine under the Health Ministry. The Zika virus is linked to thousands of suspected cases of mircocephaly or small head syndrome in Brazil, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Zika has been endemic in Asia, with infection cases confirmed in South Korea, China, Thailand and Laos. The WHO announced that the Zika virus has so far been recorded in 61 countries and territories. AFP News Pro-Russian authorities on Saturday urged residents in the southern Kherson region, which Moscow claims to have annexed, to leave the main city "immediately" in the face of Kyiv's advancing counter-offensive. It comes as President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 36 rockets overnight in a "massive attack" on Ukraine, following reported strikes on energy infrastructure that resulted in power outages across the country. And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida became the latest world leader to reproach Moscow for its talk of using nuclear weapons. Kyiv's forces have been advancing along the west bank of the Dnipro river, towards the Kherson region's eponymous main city. Kherson was the first major city to fall to Moscow's troops, and retaking it would be a major prize in Ukraine's counter-offensive. In recent days, Russia has been moving residents in the region -- which Moscow claims to have annexed in September -- east to Russia, in efforts Kyiv has denounced as "deportations". "Due to the tense situation on the front, the increased danger of mass shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks, all civilians must immediately leave the city and cross to the left bank" of the Dnipro river, the region's pro-Russian authorities announced on social media. A Moscow-installed official in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian news agency Interfax on Saturday that around 25,000 people had made the crossing. Sergiy Khlan, the Ukrainian deputy head of the Kherson region, said Russians were removing property and documents from banks and the passport office as they withdrew. Ukraine's general staff said Moscow's forces had abandoned two more settlements in Kherson and were evacuating medical personnel from a third, accusing them of looting local civilians. - A 'serious threat' - Earlier Saturday, Japan's Kishida denounced Moscow's comments regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict. "Russia's act of threatening the use of nuclear weapons is a serious threat to the peace and security of the international community and absolutely unacceptable," he said. The 77-year period of no nuclear weapons use "must not be ended", said Kishida, speaking in Australia. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Putin has made several thinly veiled threats about his willingness to deploy tactical nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that the Russian army would be "annihilated" if Russia launched such an attack. Washington has also warned Moscow of "catastrophic" consequences should they use such weapons. Japan is the only country ever to have been hit with nuclear weapons: the US atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, which killed 140,000 people, and the second US bomb on Nagasaki, three days later, which killed 74,000 people. - 'Afraid for our lives' - At a train station in the town of Dzhankoy in the north of Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Kherson residents were boarding a train for southern Russia, an AFP reporter saw Friday. "We are leaving Kherson because heavy shelling started there, we are afraid for our lives," said Valentina Yelkina, a pensioner travelling with her daughter. More than a million households in Ukraine have been left without electricity following Russian strikes on energy facilities across the country, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidency Kyrylo Tymoshenko said on Saturday. Fresh Russian strikes targeted energy infrastructure in Ukraine's west, the national operator said earlier, with officials in several regions of the war-scarred country reporting power outages as winter approaches. Russians "carried out another missile attack on energy facilities of the main networks of Ukraine's western regions", Ukraine's energy operator Ukrenergo said on social media. "These are vile strikes on critical objects," said Zelensky. "The world can and must stop this terror." Power outages were reported in other parts of the country and local officials repeated calls to reduce energy use. Some parts of Ukraine have already cut their electricity use by up to 20 percent, according to Ukrenergo. "Saturday in Ukraine starts with a barrage of Russian missiles aimed at critical civilian infrastructure," Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter. He once again urged Kyiv's allies to hasten the delivery of air defence systems. In the Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, at least two civilians were killed in strikes on Saturday, according to the local governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Nearly 15,000 people were left without electricity, he added. Russia last week reported a "considerable increase" in Ukrainian fire into its territory, saying attacks had largely concentrated on Belgorod region and neighbouring regions of Bryansk and Kursk. bur-imm/jj/ah By Enrique Pretel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - Panama could retaliate after France announced it would put the Central American nation back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions, a top government official said on Tuesday, amid a major leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm. Alvaro Aleman, chief of staff to President Juan Carlos Varela, told a news conference the government could respond with similar measures against France, or any other country that follows France's lead. "In the case of France, or any other country that includes Panama on a grey list, the national government will have to analyse the situation and take a series of measures, which of course could include reciprocal measures," Aleman said. "We are not going to allow Panama to be used as a scapegoat by third parties. Each country (implicated) is responsible, he added, saying the president had instructed the foreign ministry to contact all of the dozens of countries implicated. He said Panama was ready to cooperate in any investigations stemming from the leaks, but stressed no Panamanian company has yet been found to have committed a crime. Following a massive leak about clients of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, France's financial prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into aggravated tax fraud. Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. (Reporting by Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Alexandra Alper and Simon Gardner; Editing by Dave Graham and Grant McCool) ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey should consider stripping citizenship from supporters of terrorism, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday, adding that the government had "nothing to discuss with terrorists". His comments, in a speech to a group of lawyers in the capital Ankara, come after he ruled out on Monday a revival of peace talks with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). He has vowed to stamp out the conflict in the mainly Kurdish southeast, at its deadliest in two decades, once and for all. "We need to be decisive to take all the necessary measures including stripping of citizenship for terror organisation supporters," he said in comments broadcast live on television. "This state has nothing to discuss with terrorists. That business is over." Erdogan did not specify who he was targeting with the comments. In the past he said that those Turkey accuses of supporting terrorism - whether they are journalists or aid workers - are no different from terrorists themselves. Such comments have worried rights advocates who fear that anti-terrorism laws, already used to detain academics and opposition journalists, will now be used in courts to stifle discussion of issues such as the Kurdish conflict. The autonomy-seeking PKK abandoned its two-year ceasefire in July, reigniting a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives, mainly Kurdish, since 1984. The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The violence has wrecked a peace process, spearheaded by Erdogan, that was seen as the best chance at ending one of Europe's longest-running insurgencies. Almost 400 soldiers and police and thousands of militants have been killed since July, Erdogan said last week. He also said on Tuesday that parliament should "immediately" act to strip parliamentarians of their legal immunity from prosecution. Erdogan has been lobbying for an end to the immunity, accusing the Kurdish-rooted Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), parliament's third-largest party, of being an extension of the PKK. The HDP says it is opposed to violence and wants a peaceful solution for Turkey's Kurds. (Reporting by Orhan Coskun and Seda Sezer; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Alison Williams) The developer of the Da River water pipeline project will deter from signing a contract with a Chinese supplier of pipes following a request by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, said the government's online news portal on Wednesday. Hanoi's Peoples Committee previously asked the government to intervene in the second phase of the Da River water pipeline amid public concerns over the quality of the pipes supplied by Chinese contractor Xingxing Corporation. The public has voiced concerns over the credibility of pipe supplier Xingxing Corporation due mainly to the fact that since the completion of the projects first phase in 2009, the water pipe supplied by another Chinese contractor has broken 17 times. This has caused an estimated loss of 1.5 million cubic meters of water, and made around 70,000 residential households living in six of the city's inner districts repeatedly suffer severe clean water shortages. Hanoi also recommended the government to ask the project developer Vinaconex to hire an international consulting firm capable of verifying the quality of the pipes supplied by the Chinese contractor. Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed to Hanois request, assigning the Construction Ministry and other relevant authorities to monitor the project and ensure it is will be carried out properly as scheduled. According to a report released by Hanois People's Committee, although the Chinese contractor has completed the bidding process, it has yet to provide a pipe sample for quality verification, leading to fears that the pipes supplied by Xingxing might contaminate the water and harm public health. The second phase of the project, worth VND5 trillion ($224 million), is expected to double the current water supply to 600,000 cubic meters per day. By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States urged Russia on Tuesday to push the Syrian government to allow humanitarian access to besieged areas after a boy starved to death and three children died from landmine injuries in Madaya in the past week because they could not be evacuated. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, said less aid had reached besieged areas in Syria during March than in February, when world powers agreed in Munich to a cessation of hostilities to allow humanitarian access. U.N. aid chief Stephen O'Brien briefed the U.N. Security Council on the situation behind closed doors on Tuesday at the request of the United States. Power described his briefing as "extremely chilling, heartbreaking." "He described this boy who the U.N. tried to get evacuated (from Madaya)," she told reporters, holding a photo of the skeletal boy. "Because the Syrian government refused his evacuation, he died yesterday." She said it was "an abomination for a member state of the U.N. to be blocking food in the way that the Syrian government has done." The United Nations said 486,700 people are besieged in Syria - 274,200 people by government forces, some 200,000 people by Islamic State militants, about 12,500 people by armed opposition groups and Nusra Front, and another 6,000 people by both government and opposition forces. "We and other council members have appealed to those with influence over a government that has proven itself susceptible to influence when the pressure is intense enough," Power said. "It's going to take a very, very large push to change the trajectory for people who are this malnourished." An International Syria Support Group, led by Russia and the United States, set up a humanitarian task force in February. Members of the task force are charged with using their influence over the warring parties to boost humanitarian aid access. When asked about Power's remarks, Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said that was why the task force was set up. "It's a better way to work together," he said. Power also spoke specifically about the town of Daraya, where the World Food Programme has said some people have been reduced to eating grass. She said people are skeletal and mothers are too malnourished to nurse their babies. "Not one crumb of U.N. food has reached Daraya since 2012," Power said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Steve Orlofsky) Haiti's runoff presidential election, which has been postponed multiple times amid a paralyzing electoral crisis, will not be held at the end of the month as previously scheduled, its election authority said Tuesday. "We cannot talk about the electoral calendar in the state that we're in," Leopold Berlanger, president of Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP), said during a press conference at its headquarters in Port-au-Prince. The runoff elections, which were originally scheduled for December 27, were postponed to January before being rescheduled for April 24. Haiti has been in deep political crisis since the December runoff between then president Michel Martelly's favored candidate Jovenel Moise and opposition flag-bearer Jude Celestin was called off. The suspension followed violence and opposition protests by demonstrators alleging that foul play had helped the government candidate take the first round in October. Moise officially won 32.76 percent of that vote, to 25.29 percent for Celestin. With successive runoffs canceled and no replacement in sight, Martelly left office on February 7 and a transitional government was established under a last-minute agreement, which also set the election date of April 24. But on Tuesday, Berlanger argued that he did not have to respect that deadline. "As the electoral council, we were not part of that agreement," he said. "We are an independent institution with a framework set by the constitution and electoral law: It is clearly stated that the council has the authority to say when the election can take place," Berlanger said. During the press conference, his first since being installed last Thursday, Berlanger also criticized the political divisions that have paralyzed Haiti. The results of local elections, which were held in conjunction with the first-round presidential election on October 25, have been contested in electoral courts in 81 of the country's 140 municipalities. "This is a serious situation because it shows that the process is sick," Berlanger said. "How can you have an election in which two-thirds of the positions are contested?" he said, while also denouncing corruption. "Some people believe that litigation may be the way to buy and sell an election," he added. The second round presidential vote will also see Haitians cast ballots in a partial legislative election. Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas, still struggling to get back on its feet after being hobbled by a devastating 2010 earthquake and now plunged into a drawn-out electoral crisis. Student Information Systems Tyler Tech's New Student Portal Gives Stakeholders Access to SIS Tyler Technologies has launched a new parent-student portal, Student 360, that will provide more access for parents, students and school staff to its student information system (SIS). The new touch-enabled app works with tablets and smartphones so that student data can be available from virtually any device with a Web browser. That includes attendance, gradebooks, scheduling, enrollment, transcripts, GPA and discipline matters. Current Tyler SIS clients will receive the new platform without additional license fees and with enhanced mobile security measures. Among the districts that have already signed on is the Ozark School District in Ozark, MO. "More than 95 percent of Ozark families are able to access the Student 360 app at their fingertips," said Lisa Neiman, student data coordinator for the district. "Parents and students monitor real-time academics, contact teachers, make online lunch payments and complete yearly registration paperwork, all at one secure location. Student 360 provides yet another tool for communication and student success." "Tyler employees created Student 360 from concept to launch, showcasing the company's application development skills and commitment to building a creative software solution for the public sector," said David Grossman, vice president of product development for Tyler SIS. "With the Student 360 app, schools can deliver a comprehensive SIS solution that allows many more options for accessing student data while improving overall communication between parents, staff and students." - The last two cases of crimes against humanity against Kenyans at the International Criminal Court were dropped on Tuesday, April 5. ICC judges, led by Chile Eboe-Osuji, ruled that William Ruto and Joshua Sang had no case to answer - The judges cited troubling incidences of witness tampering as one of the reasons for dropping the cases. Three Kenyans - Paul Gicheru, Philip Bett and Walter Barasa - are wanted by the court for allegedly interfering witnesses Kenyans, led by President Uhuru Kenyatta, are celebrating the termination of cases against their countrymen at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua Sang's cases at the ICC ended on Tuesday, April 5 after judges ruled that they had not case to answer. Ruto and Sang were the only ones who remained accused at the court over the 2007/2008 violence. Uhurus case was dropped on March 13, 2015. Others who had been named in 2010 by the then ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo as having been the most responsible for violence were: Henry Kosgei, Francis Kimemia and Hussein Ali. Their cases have since been dropped as well. READ ALSO: Uhuru announces date to celebrate William Ruto ICC case termination However, not all Kenyans can go about their daily business without worrying about the ICC. There are still three Kenyans wanted at The Hague for apparently interfering with prosecution witnesses in the dropped cases. In September 2015, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II unsealed arrest warrants that had been issued against Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett in March that year for offences against the administration of justice. The court found reasonable grounds to believe that Bett and Gicheru were criminally responsible for ICC witness tampering offences which were outlined by ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. READ ALSO: 10 photos taken at Rutos Karen home after the ICC landmark ruling According to Bensouda, Bett contacted the witnesses and made withdrawal proposals; Gicheru finalised agreements and initiated reward payments. Bett allegedly approached Witness P-397 and introduced the witness to Gicheru who agreed to pay the witness KSh 5 million to withdraw statement. Gicheru apparently paid another witness KSh 1 million in two cash installments. Bensouda maintained that her office had faced serious obstacles to unveil the truth, and to hold to account those most responsible for the 2007-2008 post-election violence. READ ALSO: How Ruto and Sang cases can still be restarted at the ICC experts In August 2013, the court had issued an arrest warrant against another Kenyan - Walter Osapiri Barasa - on similar charges of ICC witness tampering, contrary to Article 70(1)(c) of the Rome Statute. The pre-trial chamber refused to substitute the warrant of arrest with summons to appear as requested by Barasas lawyer Nicholas Kaufman. Kaufman said his client is willing to appear in court if the warrant of arrest is withdrawn. The judges ruled that Barasa would have to be detained at The Hague, until an interim release is granted, if he eventually appears voluntarily. READ ALSO: Raila Odinga speaks about DP William Ruto ICC case termination It is now up to Kenyan officials to hand over the three to ICC. Source: TUKO.co.ke China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea) near which a U.S. warship sailed last year to challenge China's territorial claims. China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea), through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. China's transport ministry held a "completion ceremony", marking the start of operations at the 55-metre (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October, state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday. The U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in late October, drawing an angry rebuke from China, which called it "extremely irresponsible". Subi Reef is an artificial island built up by China over the past year or so. Before Chinese dredging turned it into an island, Subi was submerged at high tide. Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12-nautical-mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs. China says much of its construction in the South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea) is designed to fulfil its international obligations in terms of maritime safety, search and rescue and scientific research. Xinhua said the lighthouse, which emits a white light at night, "can provide efficient navigation services such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information to ships, which can improve navigation management and emergency response". The South China Sea (Vietnam's East Sea) is an important maritime area and major fishing ground, it added. "However, high traffic density, complex navigation condition, severe shortage in aids and response forces have combined to threaten navigation safety and hindered economic and social development in the region." China has lighthouse projects on two other reefs in the area - Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef. VOLENDAM, Netherlands (Reuters) - The leader of Britain's UK Independence Party said on Monday that a Dutch vote against an EU treaty with Ukraine would give a boost to the Brexit camp less than three months from a British referendum on quitting the 28-nation bloc. Voters in the Netherlands go to the polls on Wednesday in a referendum that is formally about the treaty, but that activists present as an opportunity to cast a vote against European integration. UKIP leader Nigel Farage told Reuters on a visit to the Netherlands that a Dutch 'No' would embolden British voters who believed they were alone in Europe in holding eurosceptic views. "If there is a healthy turn-out and if there is a strong 'No' vote in the referendum, it sends a big message," he said. "A 'No' vote here would be taken by many back home as a sign that this growth in euroscepticism isn't just in our country, it's happening elsewhere." British polls suggest that younger people overwhelmingly back continued EU membership, in sharp contrast to the more eurosceptical over-55s - a contrast that Farage attributed to the influence of university education. "The universities don't even attempt intellectual neutrality ... I do feel that British youth have a different view because of what they've been told," he said. The Dutch vote was triggered after a satirical website collected enough signatures to call a referendum on the treaty, a broad trade, political and defence agreement which grants Ukraine access to EU markets in exchange for ramped up reform efforts in the troubled former Soviet republic. Dutch politicians have warned that a rejection of the treaty would hand a symbolic victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who backs separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine who are widely blamed in the Netherlands for the downing of an airliner in 2014 with the loss of almost 200 Dutch lives. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Mark Heinrich) Iceland's Prime Minister has stepped down after the Panama Papers reportedly linked him to an offshore company. The leaked documents are said to show Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned a firm in the British Virgin Islands which held investments in Iceland's collapsed banks. Thousands of demonstrators protested outside parliament in Reykjavik on Monday, throwing eggs, bananas and yoghurt and calling for him to stand down. The opposition also called a vote of no-confidence in the government, saying Mr Gunnlaugsson's reported offshore dealings amounted to a major conflict of interest. :: FIFA Boss 'Dismayed' Over Panama Files Claims Ahead of the vote, agriculture minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson confirmed Mr Gunnlaugsson was standing down from the coalition government. The Prime Minister had earlier requested President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson dissolve parliament and call early elections. But Mr Grimsson refused, saying he wanted to consult the main parties before making a decision. Mr Gunnlaugsson is the first casualty of the millions of papers, leaked from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and apparently showing the ways the rich and famous exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. The papers allege Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands in 2007 with the help of Mossack Fonseca. He allegedly sold his half of the company to his wife for $1 on 31 December 2009 - the day before a new law came in that would have required him to declare the ownership of Wintris as a conflict of interest. Mr Gunnlaugsson has denied any wrongdoing, insisting his wife's overseas assets were taxed in Iceland and that he had put the interest of the public before his own financial dealings. He also said the assets did not affect his negotiations with Iceland's creditors during the country's financial crisis. The fallout from the papers is being felt around the world, with numerous public figures, politicians, their friends and relatives reportedly named in the documents. In Britain, David Cameron has been forced to declare he has "no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds" after questions were raised about his family's tax affairs in the wake of the leak. ROME (Reuters) - Italy threatened on Tuesday to impose "immediate and proportionate" measures against Egypt if Cairo did not cooperate fully in uncovering the truth behind the murder of an Italian student. Giulio Regeni, 28, vanished from the streets of Cairo on Jan. 25. His body was discovered in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital on Feb. 3, showing signs of extensive torture. "If there is not a change in tack (by the Egyptian authorities), the government is ready to react, adopting measures that are both immediate and proportionate," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told parliament. He did not elaborate, but the head of parliament's human rights committee said last month that Italy should recall its ambassador to Cairo and declare Egypt unsafe for visitors if the investigation went nowhere. Egypt said Gentiloni's words were a hindrance rather than a help. "We refrain from commenting on these statements, which complicate the situation," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Italian officials have openly ridiculed different versions of Regeni's death put forward by Egyptian investigators, including an initial suggestion that he had died in a traffic accident. Gentiloni said a change of tack "means not accepting twisted and convenient truths. It means finding out who was responsible for having probably put Giulio Regeni under surveillance before he disappeared". He called for more cooperation with Italy. Other parliamentarians then also took aim at Egypt. "Too many lies have been administered to us, bit by bit, for us to believe them any more," said Pier Ferdinando Casini, a former head of the lower chamber. After a series of delays, Egyptian investigators are due to hold talks with Italian magistrates in Rome on Thursday and Friday, Gentiloni said. Human rights groups have said the torture marks indicate that Regeni, a postgraduate student at Britain's Cambridge University, was killed by Egyptian security forces, an allegation Cairo has repeatedly denied. Regeni's mother said last week that her son's body had been so disfigured that she had only been able to recognise him by the tip of his nose. She has threatened to release the photographs of his corpse if the killers are not found. Italy has significant economic interests in Egypt, including the giant offshore Zohr gas field, being developed by Italy's state energy producer Eni. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; and Crispian Balmer; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Syria's two main jihadist groups have both suffered setbacks after a deadly US airstrike and another key advance for regime forces. Abu Firas al Suri, a senior leader with al Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front, may have been among more than 20 Islamists killed in Sunday's air raid, say activists and US officials. The Syrian army has meanwhile seized one of the last Islamic State strongholds in central Syria. A temporary ceasefire between government forces and rebels has largely held since 27 February, though it does not cover Nusra and IS. Suri, his son, members of Nusra ally Jund al Asqa and jihadists from Uzbekistan were targeted in Sunday night's airstrike, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said: "We deemed that he (Suri) was present at that meeting and we're trying to determine if he has been removed from the battlefield." Suri - real name Radwan Nammous - met Osama bin Laden in the 1980s and used to represent the al Qaeda founder in Pakistan, according to SITE, which monitors jihadi websites. On Monday, Syrian troops pressed on with their offensive, a day after recapturing the Homs province town of Qaryatain from IS under cover of Russian airstrikes. Last week the army scored a major victory in Palmyra, where the jihadists destroyed ancient temples and executed 280 people over the past 10 months. The government advance has left the Islamic State with just one bastion in Homs province, Sukhna. A federal judge has granted final approval to an estimated $20bn (14bn) settlement over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The settlement, first announced in July, includes $5.5bn in civil Clean Water Act penalties and billions more to cover environmental damage and other claims by the five Gulf states. The US Justice Department has estimated that the settlement will cost BP up to $20.8bn - the largest environmental settlement in US history. US District Judge Carl Barbier had earlier ruled that BP had been "grossly negligent" in the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion which killed 11 workers and caused a 134 million gallon oil spill. In 2012, BP reached a similar settlement with lawyers for businesses and residents who claimed the spill cost them money. That deal, which does not have an upper limit, led to a long court battle over payouts to businesses, with a claims administrator still processing many cases. BP has estimated the costs related to the spill - including cleanup work, settlements and criminal and civil penalties - will be more than $53bn (37bn). Spokesman Geoff Morrell said: "We are pleased that the court has entered the Consent Decree, finalising the historic settlement announced last July." US Attorney General Loretta Lynch praised the settlement. In a statement, she said: "Today's actions holds BP accountable with the largest environmental penalty of all time while launching one of the most extensive restoration efforts ever undertaken." Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards said the decision allowed the state to receive critical restoration funding. Coastal marshes in the state were damaged by the oil spill. The money will be paid out over the next 16 years. April 5, 2016 | 06:13 pm PT A female Aedes mosquito, which spreads dengue virus, is seen in an undated picture from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). A dengue vaccine developed by U.S. National Institutes of Health scientists protected everyone given the shot against the virus in a promising smallstudy published on Wednesday, with the researchers saying it could become widely available by 2018 : REUTERS The world's first public dengue vaccination programme was launched in the Philippines on Monday as nurses began injecting the first batch of a million children with a French drug to combat the sometimes deadly disease. Several hundred children aged 9-10 queued in front of government health workers at a public school in eastern Manila for the injections, capping a 20-year, 1.5-billion-euro ($1.8 bn) effort by French drug manufacturer Sanofi to develop the vaccine. "We are the first country to introduce, adopt and implement the first-ever dengue vaccine through the public health system and under public school settings," said Philippine Health Secretary Janette Garin. The Philippines had in December approved the vaccine, the first to be licensed globally to combat the mosquito-borne disease for people aged between nine and 45. Zelin Joice Carungay, aged nine, cried briefly as she and her classmates fell in line for the vaccine on teacher's orders. "I'm terrified of needles but they told us we need it to avoid dengue," the girl told reporters. "In the end it felt nothing more than an ant's bite," the relieved child said afterwards. Dengue or haemorrhagic fever, the world's most common mosquito-borne virus, infects an estimated 390 million people in more than 120 countries each year, killing more than 25,000, according to the World Health Organization. Symptoms are often mild but more than two million people annually develop more serious symptoms -- which can involve severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, a rash, pain in the joints, muscles or bones and leaking blood vessels. Asia is home to some 70 percent of cases worldwide. In the Philippines 200,000 cases were reported in 2013, according to Sanofi. The company said the vaccine should prevent eight out of 10 dengue hospitalisations and up to 93 percent of severe haemorrhagic dengue fever cases. "This initiative sends a strong message to the rest of the... world that dengue vaccination is a critical addition to integrated disease prevention efforts," Sanofi said in a statement. Sanofi's two-decade effort to develop the vaccine included 25 clinical studies in 15 countries. This saw 29,000 volunteers receive a vaccine that, aside from the Philippines, has also been registered in Mexico, Brazil and El Salvador, according to Sanofi. Of 17,000 people who were injected with the vaccine in the Philippines in February as part of the clinical study, just 27 developed side effects, proving it was an effective vaccine, Health Undersecretary Vicente Belizario told reporters. By Dominic Evans and Angus McDowall BEIRUT/RIYADH (Reuters) - The waspish cartoon in a Saudi-owned newspaper summed up the anger behind Riyadh's decision to cancel billions of dollars in military aid and suspend decades of engagement in Lebanon's fraught politics. "The State of Lebanon: April Fool", it read. Published on the same day that a Saudi-owned television news channel shut down its Lebanese operations, Friday's cartoon was the latest sign of a falling out which began in January and has become increasingly embittered. The cartoon's stinging message, that the Lebanese government is a fictitious joke, reflects Saudi Arabia's conviction that the Shi'ite group Hezbollah, backed by Riyadh's regional rival Iran, now pulls the strings in Beirut. But the Saudi response, cutting $3 billion in military aid and another $1 billion to the security services, appeared self-defeating to many Lebanese - by weakening the army, a counter-balance to Hezbollah, it leaves the Shi'ite group even stronger. "By default we're abandoning Lebanon to Iran," said a senior European diplomat. "It's a big blow to Lebanon". It would leave Hezbollah, and by extension the group's backers in Tehran, more dominant than they have ever been in volatile Lebanon, a Middle East banking and trade centre that is also home to more than a million Syrian refugees. The abrupt Saudi action in February was triggered by Lebanon's failure to join other Arab governments in condemning attacks three months ago on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The early release from a Lebanese jail of a former minister, convicted of smuggling explosives in a plot allegedly supported by the Iranian-allied Syrian authorities, suggested to Riyadh that Lebanon's judiciary was also now beholden to its enemies. Saudi Arabia spearheaded efforts to get Gulf Arab states and the Arab League to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation, which led to reports of Lebanese nationals being forced to leave Gulf countries because of alleged Hezbollah links. Lebanon says it is unable to confirm any expulsions, but politicians in Beirut are taking the reports seriously. What troubles Saudi Arabia is "a militia that is classified as a terrorist group is now hijacking measures in government," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said last month. Beyond that, Saudi Arabia believes Hezbollah also projects power - and Iranian influence - well beyond Lebanon's borders. The group has fought for President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's five-year conflict and Riyadh has accused it of intervention as far afield as Yemen on Saudi Arabia's southern border, accusations Hezbollah denies. LEAVING LEBANON Saudi Arabia's shift signalled a retreat from a long history of powerbroking in Lebanon. The kingdom hosted peace talks which ended Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war and, in the post-war years when violence largely subsided but rivalries festered, it supported Sunni Muslims and their Christian allies in the March 14 coalition. Six years ago, then-king Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited Beirut to defuse a crisis between March 14 and their March 8 rivals, including Hezbollah, which threatened renewed conflict. Directly or indirectly, through the billionaire businessman and former prime Minister Saad al-Hariri and his assassinated father Rafik, Riyadh also channelled hundreds of millions of dollars to its allies in Lebanon. The Hariri family owns a major Saudi construction firm, Saudi Oger. Viewed from the Gulf, the kingdom's actions reflect a rational re-evaluation of the diminishing returns on its efforts in Lebanon, frustration with its increasingly impotent Lebanese allies, and strategic priorities which placed the country well below Syria, Yemen and Iraq in a turbulent Middle East. "The grant (to Lebanon's army) was based on the assumption that it would strengthen state institutions and allow them to challenge non-state institutions. This was not happening," said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with close ties to Riyadh's Interior Ministry. "They were convinced Hezbollah hijacked the Lebanese state." A Riyadh-based diplomat said Saudi Arabia was also frustrated with Saad Hariri, Lebanon's main Sunni Muslim politician, who has spent most of the last five years outside the country because of fears for his security. His father was killed in 2005. Viewed from Beirut, Riyadh's move appears more emotional than strategic. "They are actively taking punitive measures," said a Lebanese analyst with close Saudi contacts, adding that Hariri had no advance warning of the move. "The Saudis have many fine qualities but statecraft and diplomacy is not one of their skills," said Rami Khouri, a senior fellow at the American University in Beirut. "They are really worried, frenzied and flailing around and it's very dangerous. Right now they are acting in a dangerous and reckless way," he said. "What they are doing probably alienates Lebanon more from them... (and) strengthens Iranian links, strengthens Hezbollah. Hezbollah is essential to the defence of the country today." The group, which has two ministers in the barely functioning government, fought Israel in an inconclusive war in 2006. Its leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, has mocked Saudi Arabia in recent speeches, saying it spent large sums of money trying to eliminate Hezbollah over the last decade, and was lashing out after setbacks in Syria, Yemen and Bahrain. "Yes, the Saudis are angry with us," he said in early March. "I understand the Saudi anger. Why? Because when someone fails, the least he can do is get angry." Supporters say Hezbollah's involvement in Syria has limited the spillover of fighting into Lebanon. Opponents accuse it of fuelling sectarian violence in the country, violence which led Gulf states to warn their nationals against travel to Lebanon long before the recent campaign against Hezbollah. The percentage of Gulf visitors to Lebanon has halved since 2009, said Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Lebanon's Byblos Bank. Gulf investment has dropped off and Gulf Arabs have been selling their Beirut homes, he said. "Obviously Lebanon needs to repair its relationship with the Gulf Cooperation Council - it's a lifeline of our economy," Ghobril said. Khouri, the AUB academic, did not rule out future rapprochement, but that appears distant for now. Friday's announcement that the television channel Al Arabiya was closing down in Beirut left 27 employees out of work. And hours after Asharq al-Awsat's cartoon was published, protesters broke into its Beirut offices. On Sunday, a banner was hung from a bridge over a highway near Beirut. A parody of the Saudi national flag's image of a sword and the Islamic profession of faith, it showed a bloodied sword poised above a captive's head. "The deadly House of Saud," it read. (Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; editing by Giles Elgood) Republican Ted Cruz easily won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump's hopes of amassing enough delegates for the party's nomination and boosting chances of a rare contested convention. BCruz's double-digit win over Trump was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nomination fight that could last to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against front-runner Hillary Clinton and trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Trump entered the night with 737 convention delegates to Cruz's 481, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the party's nominee in the Nov. 8 election. Cruz said the result in Wisconsin showed the party was beginning to rally behind him, but he acknowledged the growing possibility that the fight could go all the way to the convention. "Either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November," Cruz told cheering supporters in Milwaukee. "We're winning because we're uniting the Republican Party." Cruz, a conservative U.S. senator from Texas, was aided in Wisconsin by Republican Governor Scott Walker, who dropped his own presidential bid in September, and by a barrage of ads from Super PACS - independent funding groups - backed by party establishment figures worried that Trump will lead Republicans to a broad defeat in November. Trump's campaign released a blistering statement saying Cruz had been propped up "by countless millions of dollars of false advertising" from anti-Trump Super PACs. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet - he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," the Trump campaign statement said. The Wisconsin primary capped a difficult week for Trump, who was forced to backtrack after saying women who have abortions should face punishment if the procedure is outlawed, and who voiced support for his campaign manager after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for grabbing a reporter. Cruz gains on Trump A new Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz about even with Trump nationally, with Cruz's recent gains the first time since November that a Trump rival has threatened his standing at the head of the Republican pack. The poll of 568 Republicans, taken between April 1-5, showed Cruz winning the support of 35 percent of Republicans to Trump's 39 percent. Cruz and Trump were also briefly about even early last week. In the Democratic race, the win for Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is his sixth in the last seven contests for the nomination. Sanders said his message of breaking up big banks, reining in Wall Street and reducing income inequality was bringing new and young voters into the process. "What we have been seeing throughout this campaign is extraordinary voter turnout in state after state," Sanders said at a rally in Laramie, Wyoming. Clinton, who did not appear in public on Tuesday night, tweeted her congratulations to Sanders. "Congrats to @BernieSanders on winning Wisconsin," Clinton said on Twitter. "To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! -H." Sanders still faces a difficult task overtaking Clinton as the race moves to New York on April 19 and to five other Eastern states on April 26. Heading into Tuesday, Clinton led Sanders by 263 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,383 needed to be nominated at the party's July convention in Philadelphia. She also has a big lead in superdelegates, who are party leaders free to back any candidate. Sanders needs to win up to two-thirds of the remaining delegates to catch Clinton, who will keep accumulating delegates even when she loses under a Democratic Party system that awards them proportionally in all states. Sanders needs to rack up big winning margins over Clinton in the remaining states to close the gap. He has vowed to stay in the race until the convention, and his campaign says superdelegates could begin to shift their support to him if they see he has popular support. By any assessment it was a remarkable moment. Yesterday, Sajid Javid - the most Thatcherite member of Cabinet in a resolutely free market government - held open the possibility of nationalising part of the British steel industry. Javid is an honourable politician but hes been having a dreadful crisis. He knew the Tata announcement was coming on Tuesday but headed off to Australia anyway with his daughter. He lobbied to resist EU changes which would have allowed UK steel to compete more easily with Chinese imports. And, in a moment of political symbolism so perfect it should be in a David Hare play, he was actually at a right-wing libertarian conference in the US when Welsh Labour MPs were trying to warn him of the severity of the problem. Asked on the Andrew Marr programme about the options for Tata steel if the government cant find a buyer, Javid said nationalisation was rarely the answer, but it wouldnt be prudent to rule anything out. It is a spectacular sight, such a dyed-in-wool free marketeer countenancing nationalisation. It shows how weak and degraded the Thatcherite argument has become. His fellow free market enthusiasts will tell you that it is a political move designed to limit the damage of mass lay-offs in response to changing market conditions namely a reduction in demand and a massive surge in cheap steel from China. But Chinas steel production is not just the product of the free market. It massively subsidises the industry. Swiss bank UBS found that the top steel producers in China lost 7.6 billion in the first ten months of 2015, but it was mostly covered by state subsidies. And the oversupply of steel is itself partly a result of Chinas willingness to interfere in the market. It supports plants to prevent them closing and laying off thousands of people. This is one of those moments where the myth of free market utility, which the UK has laboured under since Thatcher, is laid bare. And whenever these moments crop up, one sees just how little support free market dogma has. A recent poll from YouGov shows 62% of people support nationalising the Port Talbot plant. Story continues It should hardly surprise us. A 2013 YouGov poll found a majority of the public supported nationalising rail and energy companies. And that goes for supporters of right-wing parties too. Fifty-two per cent of Conservative voters and 74% of Ukip voters supported nationalising energy companies. These numbers are pretty consistent. In 2015, when YouGov ran a similar survey, it found 58% support for nationalising rail, water and other utilities. Yesterdays Mail on Sunday column by Peter Hitchens showed the degree of discomfort with free market economics being felt even on the traditional hard right. Since Thatcherism began, many of the working class communities decimated by the loss of manufacturing industries slipped into catastrophic decline. Market forces did not step in and help, nor did they create bustling new industries for workers to migrate to. The only intellectual response to this from the right has been the imaginative suggestion that worklessness is the psychological product of welfare provision. It is not an example which convinced the public of the wisdom of the market. People do not want a government in love with its own impotence, which throws up its hands in the face of market forces, as all British governments have done since Thatcher. The public believe in economic intervention. The free market fundamentalists have had decades to make their case and they have failed. As Hitchens wrote yesterday: A journey across the heart of England, once an exhilarating vista of muscular manufacturing, especially glorious at night, turned into archaeology. Now, if it looked like a factory, it was really a ruin. There is a significant difference between this and other crises, however. This time the opposition is on side. Rather than the mealy-mouthed caution of New Labour, Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell have called for firm government action. If they cant make ground on this issue they wont be able to make ground on anything. It is exactly in the sweet spot and there arent that many of them - where their views and those of the public meet. Their performance so far has been the most effective in their short time running Labour, which admittedly is not saying much. Corbyn threw his weight behind a petition to recall parliament. It was logically insane. Petitions have to be debated in parliament, so starting a petition to recall parliament makes precisely zero sense. You might as well try to turn a chicken back into an egg. But despite being logically insane or perhaps because of it it was extremely canny. The clear implication of the petition is that the Tories are sleeping on the job and only care about their rich chums. Given Javids mishandling of the crisis, it is not a difficult argument to make. McDonnell is behaving like a train enthusiast who is asked about his favourite subject at a dinner party. Finally, he is allowed to talk about what hes been wanting to talk about all evening long. Hes pushing loudly for nationalisation and highlighting the cost in benefits from mass lay-offs. His message has been firm and clear. Instead of avoiding the media or entertaining conspiracy theories about it, he is all over the TV screens including, crucially, the morning TV sofas. And he has made Javids life a misery. Its almost like Britain suddenly has a functioning opposition. This isnt a coincidence. There were always a few key topics, such as nationalised industries, where Corbyn and the public were on the same page. Free market enthusiasts have long pretended that the public is on their side on this issue, that privatising anything that moves is sensible and follows the natural laws of politics and economics, while any form of national ownership is loony left territory. Its always been a sham. It remains a sham. The reason it has no public support is because the public has seen the consequences. If a buyer cant be found - and the Labour leadership plays its cards right - this could be a turning point in the continued decline of free market fundamentalism in the UK. We can help you make sense of the agribusiness industry, extending from chemicals and fertilizers used as inputs into agriculture, to the commodities, food and by-products that are an output to farming, with policy and regulation applied at every step of the value chain. KKR has agreed to buy into seeds provider Advanta Enterprises in a deal which values the business at about $2.25bn. Nordic Capital-backed Swedish financial group Resurs has revealed it is planning an IPO on the Stockholm exchange in th 10 years, 60 countries, nearly 100 women. That was the milestone the U.S. Department of State marked with the 2016 Secretary of States International Women of Courage Award. This year, 14 courageous women were honored. Sara Hossain is a human rights lawyer who helped draft Bangladeshs first comprehensive legislation on violence against women. Nihal Naj Ali Al-Awlaqi is a pioneer in Yemen, where she serves as the Minister of Legal Affairsand the only woman on Yemens official delegation to peace talks. Debra Baptist-Estrada has refused bribes and uncovered drug and human trafficking operations in the male-dominated Belize Department of Immigrations. Rodjaraeg Wattanapanit was subjected to so-called attitude readjustment because her bookstore promotes democracy and freedom of expression in Thailand. Her son was killed by a terrorist. But today Latifa Ibn Ziaten works with families and young people to promote peace in France. Vicky Ntetema investigated witchdoctors who murdered and sold the body parts of people with albinism. Despite threats against her, she remains an activist in Tanzania. Thelma Aldana started her career as a janitor. Today, she is the Attorney General of Guatemala, where she works to end corruption and gender-based violence. Awadeya Mahmoud was jailed for organizing women selling tea in Sudan. Thousands have joined her call for womens economic empowerment. Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan was one of the first to respond when ISIL killed, kidnapped, and brutalized Yezidi women and girls. She works to ensure survivors get the care they need. Zuzana Stevulova stands up for the rights of migrants and refugees in Slovakia. A judge threw Nisha Ayub [Nee-sha Ai-youb] in prison for being a transgender womanbut she emerged as determined as ever to fight for LGBT rights in Malaysia. After her father was murdered for being an opposition leader, Zhanna Nemtsova committed herself to exposing corruption and supporting families of political prisoners in Russia. Fatimata MBaye is the first woman attorney in Mauritaniaand one of the best. Shes taken on very difficult cases to protect human rights and dignity in her country. For her work defending Chinese legal rights, Ni Yulan was thrown in prison, where she was beaten so badly she is now paralyzed from the waist down. Yet she continues her work on behalf of others. These are 14 women of extraordinary courage, said Secretary of State Kerry. One very clear message out of all of this: Dont accept the unacceptable or wait for someone else to step up. Act in the name of justice, act in the name of tolerance, act in the name of truth. Modified On Sep 18, 2017 07:23 PM By Akshit for Maruti Baleno 2015-2022 Maruti Suzuki has announced the introduction of an automatic transmission with Balenos Zeta variant. Priced at INR 7.47 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi), the car is equipped with a CVT (Continuous Variable Transmission) unit and retains all the bells and whistles that are currently available on the manual Zeta variant. Earlier, CVT was available only on the mid-trim Delta. Alloy wheels, front fog lamps, auto headlamps, chrome door handles, auto dimming IRVM, height-adjustable driver's seat, keyless entry & go, illumination for the glovebox and an MID with a colour TFT screen are some of the features that Balenos Zeta trim comes loaded with. Apart from Baleno, Honda Jazz and Volkswagen Polo also offers an automatic variant. Whereas the segment leader Elite i20 from Hyundai is restricted to just manual variants. Introducing the new variant, R.S. Kalsi, executive director (marketing & sales), Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said,"Baleno has rapidly found success to become a popular premium hatchback owing to its design, technology and performance. We are thankful to customers for the support and continue our efforts to improve its availability. The automatic option Continuous Variable Transmission offered on the Delta variant has been much appreciated by the customers. We are now offering CVT on the Zeta variant as well, to popularise two pedal technologies. Since its debut in October last year, Maruti Suzuki has delivered over 44,000 Balenos to its customers. The carmaker has 55,000 pre-orders for the same as well. Also, the Baleno is the first model to be exported to Suzuki's home market Japan. Going forward, Maruti plans to export the model to more than 100 countries from India. The petrol variants of the Baleno draw their power from the 83bhp 1.2-litre K-Series engine and the Fiat-sourced 74bhp 1.3-litre DDiS unit propels its diesel trims. Both the engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission while the petrol engine is also available with a CVT gearbox. Read our review here. Watch First Drive of Maruti Baleno Read More on : Maruti Baleno The Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday heard critiques of CFPBs complaint database as well as arguments on the bureaus regulation of the financial industry during a hearing on consumer finance regulations. In response to a question from committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., regarding CFPBs consumer complaint database, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness President and CEO David Hirschmann said that while airing consumer complaints is good, CFPBs methodology of posting unverified complaints in a naming and shaming approach only creates more confusion for consumers who cannot know which complaints are true. George Mason University School of Laws Todd Zywicki criticized the Dodd-Frank Durbin Amendment for targeting debit cards, which he noted are not a product that contributed to the financial crisis, and for creating savings for retailers that are not being passed on to consumers. In response to a question from Shelby, Zywicki said cost-benefit analysis is the single most important thing a regulator can do to ensure credit availability while promoting competition, consumer choice, and transparency. American farmers face an impossible task in switching at least half their egg production to cage free before a 2025 deadline set by more than 130 retailers, restaurants and food service companies. Walmart, the countrys biggest supermarket chain, is the latest to join an ever-growing list of businesses that have bowed to pressure from NGOs to stop selling eggs from caged hens. There are suggestions that few caged hens will remain in the States in the coming decades, to be replaced largely by barn production. See also: Happy Egg Co recognised for US expansion Almost every day has seen more American food companies making announcements, according to Chad Gregory, president of trade body United Egg Producers. He told Poultry World his members face a bill of around $6bn (4.2bn) to convert farms, and less than 10 years in many cases to do so. Half the flock cage free With Walmarts announcement, Mr Gregory estimates around half of the countrys national flock of 300 million hens will need to be cage free to meet current commitments. But farmers expect more retailers to make announcements in the coming weeks, which could drive this figure even higher. There are currently just 13 million birds kept cage free in the US, mostly in barn systems. The 2025 deadline was fixed in place when just a few retailers and restaurants had committed to going cage free. Now, with so much of the market following suite, gearing up production will be incredibly difficult, if not impossible, according to Mr Gregory. He also questioned where the investment required would come from. End of US cages American businesses have largely followed McDonalds, which bowed to pressure from NGO the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in September last year. Companies have since followed suit to keep up with competition or because of sustained lobbying. Walmarts announcement marked the end of the caged egg industry in the US, according to HSUS president Wayne Pacelle. Since September, when McDonalds announced its cage-free policy, we knew that we had turned the corner in the fight against battery cages. But today, that debate ends, and the trajectory of this debate is clear. The era of confining hens in cages in Americas food system is officially sunsetting. Europe banned the use of battery cages in 2012, and birds kept indoors are either reared in open barns or enriched colony farms. WASHINGTON, April 5, 2016 The success of green sea turtles recovery on the U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts warrants downgrading their status from endangered to threatened, according to todays announcement by National Marine Fisheries Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in response to a petition from the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs. But the agencies emphasized that the growing threat of climate change and sea-level rise particularly on low-lying nesting beaches in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands and other threats mean that sea turtles remain threatened and still need the Act's protections. The undeniable recovery of most green sea turtle populations creates a hopeful spot in our changing oceans, said Catherine Kilduff of the Center for Biological Diversity. Sea turtles capture our imaginations, improbably crossing oceans for most of their lives before loyally coming ashore to build nests on the beach. The knowledge that green sea turtles can overcome illegal harvest, plastic pollution and warming waters testifies to their resilience.Todays final rule resulted from a global review of the green sea turtles conservation status that found that the sea turtle should be classified into 11 distinct population segments. Although some sea turtle populations are improving significantly due to the protections of the Endangered Species Act, several populations in other parts of the world, which do not benefit from the protections of the Act, continue to struggle. The Mediterranean, South Pacific and western Pacific populations remain in danger of extinction and will remain listed as endangered.Sea turtles face a lot of threats, from plastic trash they swallow to sea-level rise to getting caught in fishing gear even poaching, in some parts of the world, said Kilduff. This success story shows that the Endangered Species Act works and is an essential safety net for endangered wildlife.Photo: Green Turtle, Chelonia mydas, Saipan, David Burdick// NOAA.The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.Center for Biological Diversity BARSTOW, Calif., April 5, 2016 The Bureau of Land Management today issued a decision allowing the Soda Mountain Solar project to move forward on developing more than 2,813 acres of public land directly adjacent to the Mojave National Preserve that would cut off a vital route for desert bighorn sheep and damage other desert resources. This massive, industrial solar array would block the last, best linkage for desert bighorn sheep between the Mojave National Preserve and the Soda Mountain Wilderness Study Area a key pinch-point for keeping the sheep populations in the preserve connected to populations in the Soda Mountains and ranges beyond. The Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association, Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife oppose the decision because the project will affect biological, cultural and water resources on the site and in the adjacent Mojave National Preserve. It also runs counter to the principles adopted in the desert-wide planning under the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan because it fragments important habitat and increases sprawl.We need to get off fossil fuels and transition to renewable-energy generation, but it has to be done right, said Ileene Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity. There are other ways to implement this amount of renewable energy without hurting our precious wildlife and irreplaceable parks.The project was proposed prior to the extensive planning for renewable energy in the California desert under the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan and undermines key conservation objectives of that plan by blocking a critical movement corridor across the landscape.The BLMs environmental review was based on the false assumption that Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which controls the only transmission lines in the area, would buy the power. However, the department has publicly stated that it will not purchase power from this project. That means additional power lines would need to be built to deliver the power to the grid, causing even more damage to the desert.A recent report identifies nearly 1.5 million rooftops throughout Los Angeles County that could be used as solar power generators that would create 19,000 megawatts from rooftop solar. The total rooftop solar potential for the city of Los Angeles is more than 5,500 megawatts (more than 15 times what the Soda Mountain solar project would generate), which could power the city on most days since the highest-ever peak in Los Angeles was 6,177 megawatts. Generating electricity locally eliminates the need for new long-distance transmission lines and losses associated with transmission, creating a more efficient clean-energy alternative.The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. The House Committee on Natural Resources is poised to release the newest draft of Puerto Rico legislation amid tense negotiations. The bill could be debated in committee as early as next week. The bill currently includes both an economic oversight board and debt restructuring tools, but a group of investors are pushing to remove the restructuring language. The "Main Street Bondholders" released a new website calling the bill "an unprecedented suspension of bondholders' legal rights.""The Puerto Rican people are being asked to accept an affront to their democracy with a control board," stated Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious development coalition Jubilee USA. "In addition to stopping the democratic process on the island, now special interest lobbyists are trying to strip debt restructuring powers from this bill."Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla signed a bill placing a moratorium on debt to prioritize payments for social services. The US territory will likely default on a $422 million May 1 payment. Puerto Rico cut funding for special education, health care and law enforcement to pay its debt. The island's poverty rate is over 40% and nearly three out of every five children live in homes that receive government assistance."We want a debt restructuring process that respects the rights of creditors and the citizens of Puerto Rico," said LeCompte, who is in Puerto Rico to meet with elected and religious leaders. "We need a solution that reduces Puerto Rico's staggering child poverty rate."Jubilee USA Network is an alliance of more than 75 US organizations and 550 faith communities working with 50 Jubilee global partners. Jubilee USA builds an economy that serves, protects and promotes the participation of the most vulnerable. Jubilee USA has won critical global financial reforms and more than $130 billion in debt relief to benefit the world's poorest people. http://www.jubileeusa.org Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra to Perform March 29, 2016 BLOOMINGTON, Ill. The Illinois Wesleyan Civic Orchestra will host a concert on April 8 at 7:30 p.m. at Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington. The performance, which is free and open to the public, will include works by Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert and Edvard Grieg. A visiting assistant professor of music, Lev Ivanov conducts both the IWU Civic Orchestra and the IWU Wind Ensemble. Ivanov earned a bachelor of music degree in performance and conducting from the Tchaikovsky National Academy of Music. He received his masters degree from Brigham Young University and a doctorate from Arizona State University. Ivanov has worked with a number of orchestras across Europe and the United States, and was one of five conductors recognized in the International Conducting Competition in 2013. By Emily Phelps 19 New Orleans, LA Working with other lawyers on behalf of 32 women injured by Working with other lawyers on behalf of 32 women injured by Essure , attorney Lance Unglesby is currently serving their petition to Bayer and its subsidiaries. In the next 45 days we are going to be filing on behalf of hundreds of women harmed by Essure. By the middle of the summer we expect to have filed over a thousand complaints, says Unglesby. Bayer not only deceived these women but also their physicians, explains Unglesby. It is possible that Unglesbys thousand is a conservative estimate because some women who have Essure complications arent necessarily associating their injury with the device.Doctors and patients werent armed with the same data that Bayer had. Now that the FDA has suggested a black box warning, physicians are going to be able to accurately diagnose symptoms as being associated with the Essure device. I know a lot of gynecologists who have stopped using Essure as a result of the FDAs suggested boxed warning.The FDA also requires a Patient Decision Checklist to help ensure that women receive and understand information regarding the benefits and risks of this type of device. The mandatory box warning on the product must explain the adverse events that have been associated with these devices, including their insertion and/or removal procedures. But this warning has come too late for many women who have been injured by Essure.Women have reported heavy bleeding [some have required blood transfusions], constant heavy bleeding, dyspareunia or painful sexual intercourse, chronic pelvic pain, chronic fatigue and hair loss, says Unglesby. And if the coil breaks apart and migrates, some women have required serious emergency surgery - including hysterectomy - to have Essure removed.Another and most disturbing complication is fetal death. In February 2016, an analysis conducted by independent consultancy Device Events found that- a number that Bayer did not disclose. Madris Tomes, founder and CEO of Device Events and former FDA employee - she was working on the FDA adverse event reporting program - created a system whereby she can search the entire FDA medical device adverse events data since 1996.adverse events are reported by physicians, patients, family members and the device manufacturer. As of last fall, theform has one box to check for death. I noticed that many Essure reports had checked fetal death under injury, while some checked under death were fetal death, says Tomes.Some women had died but I was seeing fetal deaths - miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy and stillbirth - checked as injury, Tomes explains. The FDA held an advisory panel meeting last September that included a presentation showing 25 deaths, five of which were fetal deaths. But if they arent counting injuries such as miscarriage as fetal death, they are missing a lot.Tomes investigated further. She found 303 reports referencing these fetal death like terms and provided the information to Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick . Bayer lashed out, and said it was irresponsible to say Essure causes fetal death, but I didnt say that, explains Tomes. Once it was understood how I was sourcing the data, Bayer had no response. But the FDA said they found 294 failed pregnancies, which is semantics. If the agency doesnt want to call them fetal deaths, thats up to them. Women with Essure shouldnt even be getting pregnant so the device is failing in that regard. And an ectopic pregnancy can also kill the mother.FDA reports show that the device can migrate far beyond the uterus. Tomes has 10,800 adverse event reports, more than 1,000 of which are from physicians. Essure has been found buried in the spine, gallbladder, colon or bowel. One report the FDA received said Essure was found in someones rectum, says Tomes. Essure has been issued to about 750,000 women globally, according to Bayer.Essure representatives sold this device to the medical community by telling them it was a much easier procedure and less invasive than tubal ligation, says Unglesby. But nobody ever explained the true risks of the side effects. The coils can break, they can become embedded in the wrong tissue, and some medical experts say a full hysterectomy is the only way it can be removed if the side effects are persistent.If you are having any type of Essure side effect, see your gynecologist right away. And you might want to consider legal help. Unglesby says this lawsuit is about Bayers decision to deceive doctors and patients about the safety of its products. We have developed a strong failure-to-warn claim against Bayer and our team is looking forward to advocating on behalf of thousands of women, added Unglesby. Goodman Group has signed two lease agreements for a total of 12,000 sqm at Poznan Airport Logistics Centre. The new customers are Victaulic, world leader in mechanical pipe joining systems, and an exporter of food products. With these new agreements, the first warehouse at Goodmans Poznan Airport Logistics Centre, totalling [] Hines Pan-European Core Fund (HECF), advised by Hines, has acquired a historical high street retail property on Via Tornabuoni, Florence's upmarket high street, for 78 million. The 5,500 sqm 13th century building is located in the very heart of the historical centre of Florence ca. 500 metres from... [] Acting Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy during a party rally this weekend. PACO PUENTES The British kill foxes at all hours of the day and give oral sex in exchange for free drinks when theyre on vacation in Magaluf. The Spanish, for their part, are crazy about bulls killing them that is, not the other thing and sleep a three-hour siesta every day. Thats how extreme things can get in the world of cliches. Its an unfair representation of the world, and one in which a good part of the Anglo-Saxon press has incurred this week based on a proposal from acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to shorten the working day in Spain so that it finishes at 6pm. The above tweet from UK daily The Independent sums up the angle that most papers took when reporting the story. Perhaps Spaniards will have to wait until they definitively embrace said century before they can understand why the online publication illustrated the tweet with photos of runners from the Sanfermines bull-running fiesta. The Popular Party (PP) politician had suggested measures that would ensure the working day in Spain finished at 6pm and that the time zone should be shifted to match that of the Canary Islands, Portugal and the United Kingdom geographically, this is the zone that corresponds to Spain. These measures have been up for debate for some time now and seek to improve productivity and improve work-family life balance for Spaniards, many of whom still enjoy a two-hour lunch break but in exchange have to work until around 7pm. The story in The Independent mixed up the concept of a siesta with a two- or three-hour lunch break, which is still common in many companies in Spain. Workers in Spain currently tend to start work at 10am and stay until 2pm, when they take a siesta of up to three hours before leaving the office at 8pm, read the first version of the article, which was later corrected, and that also referred to acting Prime Minister Rajoy as the leader of a center-right coalition government. Reactions in Twitter ranging from anger and scorn, to the desire to set the story straight were swift to arrive. But The Independent was not alone. Rajoys threat to kill off the siesta also appeared in The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and The Times, three more prestigious titles in the UK. The story also crossed the pond and was picked up by Time and The Washington Post, which headlined its story with the attention-grabbing Time to wake up! The siesta has its origins in the rural roots of Spanish society, when agricultural workers could rest during the hottest hours of the day. But as offended internet users pointed out in response to the stories, few workers enjoy a mid-day sleep in current times. What is true is that, according to a 2011 study by the British Office for National Statistics, Spaniards work two hours more every week than workers in the UK, and an hour more than the European average. Perhaps, as The Guardian points out, the five million unemployed in Spain have the chance to enjoy a nap. And until the government can find them a job, it wont much matter when the working day begins or ends, the article concludes. English version by Simon Hunter. More than 50 percent of hotel bookings are already made through digital channels today, with platforms calling the shots in online sales and new providers crowding in to the market. Roland Berger and the Austrian Hotel Association (OHV) analyzed the online activities of international hotel chains and start-ups from the [] Atto 3 5-star Euro NCAP rating will be applicable for India, as the eSUV will be imported here as CKD units The leading luxury car manufacturer in the country, Mercedes Benz India continues to dominate their No 1 status in style. Registering their highest ever sales for a financial year till date, MB India posted sales of 13,558 units, marking a 21% increase as compared to last fiscal (FY 2014/15) when sales stood at 11,213 units. Speaking about their performance during the last quarter of the fiscal, MB India says that they had their best quarter yet as far as sales are concerned. For the period from 1st Jan 2016 to 31st March 2016, Mercedes Benz India posted sales of 3,622 units. This when compared to their performance during the same period last year, during which they sold 3,566 units, is a growth of 1.6%. Pushing the way forward were their globally acclaimed line-up of cars. E-Class continues to be the best-selling Mercedes Benz car in India for Q1 2016. Demand for their newly launched products S-Class, Mercedes-Maybach and GLE continues to grow across all dealerships. Mercedes Benz India has also stated that the month of March 2016 has been their best month as far as sales are concerned. However, the car maker has not revealed their sales figures for the month. Rivals of Mercedes Benz, BMW and Audi are yet to reveal their sales report. Mercedes Benz India has managed to post impressive sales for the quarter despite a ban on their diesel vehicles in Delhi, NCR since Jan 2016. The company states that the loss in sales in Delhi, NCR was compensated by strong demand from other regions of the country. News Release UM Renegade Commando and UM Renegade Sport S showcased at 2016 Auto Expo and at 2016 India Bike Week held in Goa earlier this year are set for deliveries from June 2016. Targeting sales of 3,000 units per month, UM Motorcycles India has announced deliveries of the new UM Renegade Commando and UM Renegade Sport S will commence from June. The company aims at delivering first lot of 500 units in June and the second lot of 500 bikes in July 2016. UM Motorcycles India plans on a total of 25 dealerships across the country with dealerships getting fully operational by the end of April or early May 2016. UM India sources components from China, Thailand and the US while over 60% of its manufacturing is localized with an aim to increase this to 80% by the end of this year. Plans to make India an export hub is also in the offing with exports to Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan being planned for later this year. While Renegade Sport S is priced at INR 1.49 lakhs, Renegade Commando comes in with a price tag of INR 1.59 lakh and Renegade Classic is priced at INR 1.69 lakhs. Each of these models are powered by 279cc single cylinder, water cooled engines offering 25 bhp peak power at 8,500 rpm and 21.8 Nm peak torque at 7,000 rpm mated to a 6 speed transmission. Production operations will be conducted by their partner Lohia Group at a plant in Kashipur, Uttarakhand. The company also plans to launch three new products in the country each year. via indianautosblog Children are far from meeting national guidelines for physical activity, and girls are at greatest risk of falling short of recommendations according to a study measuring the physical activity of 453 schoolchildren in Massachusetts during a one-week period. Led by researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, the study examined children's activity patterns during school-time and out-of-school, compared to national recommendations. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that school-age children get at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) every day and the Health and Medicine Division of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) recommends that 30 minutes of this activity occur during the school day. The researchers studied physical activity among children in grades three through five, not only during the school day, but also after school and on weekends to determine when children were more or less active. Measurements of the children's physical activity were taken from accelerometers worn for seven consecutive days during all waking hours. Notably, the study included a representative sample of children across several school districts in Massachusetts with 30 percent of the study participants being overweight or obese. Researchers found that across the entire sample of 453 children, only 15 percent achieved 60 minutes of daily MVPA and even fewer, 8 percent, met the HMD recommendation of 30 minutes of MVPA during school. The greatest disparity was between boys and girls, with girls being far less likely than boys to meet both of these guidelines, with only 8 percent and 2 percent meeting total daily- and school-time recommendations respectively. As compared to normal or underweight children, overweight and obese children were also less active overall and achieved fewer minutes of MVPA during school, out-of-school, and on weekends. "We thought that the school day would offer a protective effect where there would be few differences in activity levels between boys and girls and children in different weight categories during the school day as compared to weekends and out-of-school time. Instead, we found that girls and overweight children were less active for all measured segments, including during the school day," Kristie Hubbard, Ph.D., M.P.H, R.D., first and corresponding author on the study and an adjunct instructor in the department of public health and community medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, said, Understanding children's patterns of physical activity throughout the week can assist researchers to recommend policies and programs that increase activity levels in the settings where children live, learn, and play. The authors note that schools are uniquely positioned to encourage millions of children to increase physical activity and reduce the prevalence of obesity. "We have to find ways to increase activity levels, especially given that few states mandate and provide opportunities for children to achieve the HMD's recommendation of 30 minutes of school-time moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. In fact, many schools are cutting back on and even eliminating physical education and recess time," said Jennifer Sacheck, Ph.D., the study's senior author and an associate professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, The majority of a child's day is spent in sedentary and light physical activities (LPA) with LPA contributing the greatest amount to total activity levels. Importantly, the researchers found that LPA decreased with increasing grade level and girls were similar to boys on weekends and during out-of-school hours, but were significantly lower than boys during the school-day. This school-time disparity in LPA was not seen between normal weight and overweight/obese children. Sacheck continued, "We need to also continue to create opportunities for LPA during school-time and recognize that a distinct disparity exists for girls for not only MVPA, but also LPA during the school-day which is not apparent during out-of-school time. Clearly, schools need to be aware of this disparity and should focus on increasing all intensities of physical activity equally for all children across the school-day." Two unrelated studies on the Zika virus--one ruling out a theory for how Zika may be passing through the human placenta and another on using mouse models to trace Zika pathogenesis--appear April 5 in Cell Host & Microbe. Trophoblasts Unlikely Placental Entry Point for Zika One theory for how the Zika virus gets to the developing fetus is that it passes through the trophoblasts, a layer of placental cells that surround and nurture the fetus. But a collaborative team of virologists and reproductive scientists looking at cells isolated from full-term human placentas have found that Zika does not infect trophoblasts. How the virus is getting through the placenta is still unknown, but their work helps rule out an obvious pathway. "The trophoblasts are the baby's first line of defense against anything that comes from the maternal blood, so you may expect these cells to have some way to resist viral infections," says Yoel Sadovsky, director of the Magee-Womens Research Institute at the University of Pittsburgh. "Based on our model, it seems that trophoblasts have an inherent capacity to resist Zika virus proliferation, although we have not ruled out other ways the virus can get into the fetal cavity." Sadovsky, an expert in maternal-fetal medicine, has been working on the Zika-placenta connection with long-time collaborator Carolyn Coyne, at the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, an expert in RNA viruses, including flaviviruses--the family of viruses to which Zika belongs. Their examination of trophoblasts also revealed that human trophoblasts release a potent antiviral molecule called type III interferon, which stops the replication of Zika virus. (The researchers used two Zika strains in their study--one isolated from the Zika Forest in Uganda and another from Cambodia.) "We really know shockingly little about how viruses cross the placenta--not just Zika but rubella, herpes, and other viruses that cause birth defects," Coyne says. "What makes our finding interesting is that these trophoblasts are potentially communicating with maternal cells to protect them against viral infections as well." The strength of Coyne and Sadovsky's study is that the human trophoblasts cultured in the lab functioned nearly identically to those found in a developing placenta. One potential weakness of the study is that their trophoblasts were taken from third-trimester pregnancies, which means that trophoblasts could still be vulnerable to Zika virus during the first trimester. However, the researchers don't believe that it reduces the significance of their findings, as the virus seems to be transmitted throughout pregnancy. advertisement With primary trophoblast infection ruled out, Coyne and Sadovsky will next use their placental cultures to explore other ways that viruses can reach a developing fetus. Cell Host & Microbe, Bayer and Lennemann et al.: "Human Placental Trophoblasts Produce Type III Interferons that Confer Protection against Zika Virus Infection." This project was supported by the National Institutes of Health and Burroughs Wellcome Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Awards. Mouse Model of Zika Echoes Infection in Humans Until recent weeks, only three papers using mice to study Zika infection had been published in the last 60 years. In some of these studies, viral particles were injected directly into the brain (which is not so clinically relevant), and so with the ongoing epidemic, Washington University School of Medicine researchers returned to the mouse model to find out which tissues are most vulnerable to Zika infection, this time after infection in the skin, which mimics inoculation by mosquito. There results show high numbers of virus in the rodent brain, spinal cord, and testes. Early evidence suggests that Zika has trouble crossing into rodents. Zika doesn't seem to replicate in adult wild-type mice, so the investigators used animals genetically engineered without part of their antiviral immune systems (type I interferon) to generate a lethal infection. advertisement "If you take away interferon, then the virus replicates quite well in the mouse and goes to the places that we see it causing disease in humans," says senior author Michael Diamond, who studies mosquito-borne viruses at the Washington University School of Medicine. Diamond was inspired to pursue Zika after a meeting last June when Brazilian researchers described anecdotal evidence of a rise in infant birth defects and a local Zika outbreak. His laboratory, led by first author Helen Lazear, created the Zika mouse models and then looked for viral particles in tissues that related viruses (e.g., Dengue, West Nile) tend to infect. The biggest surprise came after they looked at the testes after mounting reports that Zika could be sexually transmitted. "Viral levels were the highest that we saw in any tissues that we measured," Diamond says. "We are now doing subsequent tests to determine how long that may last." Five strains of the virus were examined: the original strain from the Zika Forest in Ethiopia, three 1980s strains from Senegal, and a 2013 contemporary strain from French Polynesia. All yielded similar results, hinting that there may not be much difference in pathogenicity between individual strains, at least in this model. Diamond is now using his models to explore how Zika responds to the mouse adaptive immune response--the cells that generate antibodies that tag and remove viruses. Cell Host & Microbe, Lazear et al.: "A Mouse Model of Zika Virus Pathogenesis." This work was supported by start-up funds from the University of North Carolina Department of Microbiology and Immunology and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, as well as grants from the National Institutes of Health. Hispanics/Latinos have higher rates of cardiac dysfunction but are rarely aware they have the heart-pumping problem that can lead to heart failure, according to new research in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation: Heart Failure. Researchers found that about half of the 1,818 adults in their study of middle-aged and older Hispanics/Latinos had cardiac dysfunction, yet fewer than 1 in 20 participants knew they had a problem. Cardiac dysfunction is particularly serious because it can develop into heart failure, a chronic disease in which the heart pumps less blood than the body needs to remain healthy. "The perception has been that Hispanics/Latinos are a low-risk group for cardiac dysfunction, but that is not true," said Carlos J. Rodriguez, M.D., M.P.H., study senior author and associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He noted that the only other large study of cardiac dysfunction in the United States looked at an older, largely non-Hispanic white population and found that about a third had cardiac dysfunction. In the Echocardiographic Study of Hispanics/Latinos (ECHO-SOL), researchers used ultrasound images of the heart to identify cardiac dysfunction in adults, age 45-74, living in the Bronx, Chicago, Miami and San Diego. Among participants who had high rates of risk factors for cardiac dysfunction: half were obese; half had high blood pressure; two-thirds had diabetes; two-thirds reported low levels of physical activity; and one fifth were current smokers. Researchers noted that these risk factors, along with heart attack, were the same risk factors for progression of cardiac dysfunction to heart failure. advertisement Given the study's findings, Rodriguez said, health professionals should have "a high level of vigilance" when it comes to monitoring the health of their Hispanic/Latino patients and a "low threshold for intensifying preventative therapies to avoid the possibility of heart failure down the road." He added that the earlier the intervention, the better, noting that some studies have suggested that cardiac dysfunction can be reversed by aggressive reduction of risk factors. ECHO-SOL diagnosed two types of cardiac dysfunction: left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). In LVSD, the left ventricle, the heart's largest chamber, does not push blood out to the body as forcefully as it should. In LVDD, the left ventricle is too stiff when relaxed between beats to gather enough blood in its chamber. Researchers said that the prevalence of the second type, LVDD, was particularly high among Latino-Americans from Central America, whose risk was nearly double that of Mexican-Americans. Researchers said that they did not know whether ancestry or environment explained the difference. Rodriguez said that because Hispanics/Latinos have been overlooked in previous studies, there are no reliable estimates of how many with cardiac dysfunction will develop heart failure. Researchers plan to continue following ECHO-SOL participants to begin to answer that question. "Given that Hispanics/Latinos are the largest ethnic minority in the United States, with over 51 million people, they are likely to have a big impact on the heart failure epidemic," he said. Kristin Crankshaw didn't know what kind of reception she would get from the big furry dog pressed up against the door. She only knew she had to open it. After all, it had been at least three weeks since the dog, named Ali, had left this upper-level patio. How would this older, isolated dog respond to strangers suddenly appearing at the squalid balcony? "Not knowing the dog, we were a little bit nervous at first," she tells The Dodo. "The door to the patio was locked and I was like, 'Okay, are you ready for this?'" "I opened it up," she continues. "There was another screen door. He jumped up on the screen door and was looking at us. When I opened it up, he literally grabbed ahold of me and my friend Nancy." "It felt like he was hugging us." Crankshaw was at the house near Springfield, Ohio, this week because a neighbor had reached out to her rescue, The Backyard Dog Project. "They told us that the owner had been incarcerated around March 18, which meant the dog had been alone for three weeks," she says. Once there, they found the dog trapped on a balcony and no water in sight. Dodo Shows Wild Hearts Guy And Wild Shark Have Been Best Friends For Decades "Apparently, his ex-girlfriend had been coming sporadically to feed him," Crankshaw explains. But the ex-girlfriend had told the neighbor she didn't plan to return - and gave him the apartment keys. "She basically said, 'I'm done. I'm not coming back anymore,'" Crankshaw says. That left Ali alone, on a porch. With nothing more than a strained view of the street below. "There was food but it was just thrown all over the floor. I wonder if, because she was coming every three or four days, she may have just brought the whole bag and let him have at it." When Crankshaw opened that door this week, all the love that had been pent up in those cramped confines was unleashed. Despite his ordeal, the 9-year-old dog appeared to be in reasonable health. And, somehow, in the most buoyant of spirits. High, perhaps, on sheer gratitude. Today, Ali is staying at the Clark County Humane Society. He's received his shots and been dewormed. There's a three-day waiting period before The Backyard Dog Project can claim him from his former owner. By Friday, Crankshaw expects Ali to be in the group's care.

IFAW

In Russia, rescuers have been physically reaching into bear dens to save cubs they hear whining and crying - five babies in all have recently been rescued in separate incidents across the country. And they are tiny. Bears use small caves or dig small holes to create dens in which to hibernate. Likely abandoned by their mothers for various reasons, these newborn cubs, weighing only ounces, would have frozen to death in their dens had rescuers not intervened. Mike | IFAW The rescuers contacted the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Orphan Bears Rescue Centre (OBRC) in the Tver forest region of Russia for help. "We have saved over 200 bears in the Tver region in Russia ever since 1997," Shawna Moos, director of communications at IFAW, told The Dodo. Dodo Shows Adopt Me! Scared Little Dog Is So Full Of Joy Now And Looking For A Family Mike | IFAW Before IFAW stepped in, the project was run by Valentin and Svetlana Pazhetnov. Valentin is a former hunter in Russia who had an epiphany one day about the animals he was hunting and wanted to rescue them instead. "[The Pazhetnovs] were doing some work that was government supported, and then they didn't have funds to support efforts anymore, and that's when IFAW came in," Gail A'Brunzo, wildlife rescue manager at IFAW, told The Dodo. IFAW The five orphaned bears Mike, the only male of the five rescued cubs and the largest, arrived first. Born in the Tver region in December, Mike can be easily recognized by his size and a large white collar. Cleopa arrived second, from the Kirov region. She weighed about 3 pounds, according to A'Brunzo. She had health concerns at first but is now well and plays with the others. Zoya sleeping | IFAW Zoya and Zosya are presumably littermates from the Pskov region. Approximately 40 days old, upon arrival at the center they weighed about 5 and 5.5 pounds respectively. Masha arrived last from Karelia when she was just approximately 40 to 45 days old. "At first, all the bear cubs were bottle-fed six to eight times a day and then gradually diminished to four times a day as they got older," A'Brunzo said. They have tripled in weight on this regimen. IFAW The cubs are now going through the rehabilitation process before being released. In the spring, when they are large enough, the bears will be brought to an outside enclosure as a group. Here they will learn to forage for food, climb trees and, basically, act like wild bears. "When they are big enough and the food source is great enough in the wild, they are taken back usually to where they were first found and then released back into the wild," A'Brunzo said. Zoya | IFAW "They need companionship at this age although [they will be] solitary in the wild as adults," A'Brunzo said. "We don't want them habituated to people," she added. "The aim is to have them act like a wild bear." Cleopa | IFAW While the bears are released into some areas near human settlements, the rehab center makes sure to raise the cubs so they stay away from humans. Zoya and Masha | IFAW "One thing IFAW strives to do is to share the knowledge and the experience," A'Brunzo said. "The Pazhetnovs have gone to places around the world to share their expertise. We are taking the success that this bear project has had and sharing it across internationally so that there are good outcomes for bears worldwide." You can help IFAW help animals by donating here. Watch these other playful bears from the Orphan Bears Rescue Centre getting bottle-fed: Lamai's miserable life changed in an instant. WFFT A northern pig-tailed macaque, Lamai was being kept as a pet in Thailand, according to Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT). WFFT Stolen from the wild as babies, monkeys like Lamai often end up in chains when they become older and want to be wild. "The idea of keeping a monkey as a pet seems to appeal to many people, this is when they are young, small and docile enough to handle," WFFT explained on Facebook. "A few months down the line they are no longer receptive to human contact, as their wild instincts become more and more evident, they can no longer be handled like babies. This is when the reality of the often long miserable life in captivity starts." Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Rescued Animals Melt Into This Woman's Arms When She Sings To Them WFFT In Lamai's case, her owners, not knowing what else to do with her as she grew, chained her to a tree. She spent four years this way. WFFT But this week, everything changed for Lamai. Philip Brook, of the Samui Snake and Wildlife Rescue, contacted rescue workers at WFFT about Lamai. She was in "urgent need of medical attention, and in need of refuge after her 'owners' were leaving the country," WFFT wrote on Facebook. Lamai's belly was wounded where the chain was cutting into her. WFFT Rescuers got to the tree Lamai had been chained to for years, and hurried to remove her chain. WFFT After examining Lamai for further injuries, rescuers brought her to the WFFT Wildlife Hospital. WFFT "The vet team [was] shocked to see the damage done by the chain that was used to brutally restrain her," WFFT wrote. "[T]his chain has been around her waist for most of her short life, the damaged caused may have led to her death if she was not rescued." WFFT Lamai is settling in well at the rescue center, according to WFFT. After a period in quarantine, she will be introduced to some of the other macaques who live in an expansive fields at WFFT and can relate to her own painful past. Best of all, she'll never know life on a chain again. WFFT "Thankfully we got to Lamai soon enough," WFFT wrote. This block of social housing apartments in Carabanchel, Madrid has been bought by Blackstone. SAMUEL SANCHEZ A Madrid audit agency has found serious irregularities in the sale of public housing by city authorities to what is popularly referred to as a vulture fund. The Camara de Cuentas de Madrid, the regional comptroller, found evidence of misuse of insider information, lack of competition and transparency, and tremendous losses for the capitals finances in the sale of 1,860 subsidized apartments to the Magic Real State/Blackstone group. Since the transaction was completed in 2013, under then-mayor Ana Botella of the Popular Party, tenants have been fighting their new landlord, who has already evicted several dozen families unable to pay the new rent Since the transaction was completed in 2013, under then-mayor Ana Botella of the Popular Party, tenants have been fighting their new landlord, who has already evicted several dozen families unable to pay the new rent. The comptrollers preliminary report, to which EL PAIS has had access, details around 10 suspect moves by the municipal housing corporation, the Empresa Municipal de la Vivienda y Suelo (EMVS), which sold the homes. The US fund paid 128.5 million for the deal, around 32 million less than the value at which several studies had assessed the property. The Botella administration justified the move by citing the need to balance the EMVSs accounts. The city planning chief at the time, Paz Fernandez, is currently retired from politics and has declined to comment on the matter until the Camaras report is finalized. She has filed appeals against some of its content, but would not reveal their nature. The Camara de Cuentas has asked Botella and the former manager of EMVS, Fermin Osle, to provide explanations about the irregularities. The former mayor has not personally replied to the comptroller, and instead supports the appeals filed by members of her team. Another social housing block sold to Blackstone. SAMUEL SANCHEZ The 65-page report describes actions that, in some cases, might be construed as crimes. It was the parties interested in the purchase [of these homes] who set the sale price, and [the latter] was simply accepted, it reads. The EMVS bypassed internal contracting instructions set out by its own board in 2008, and divested itself of the property without a tender dossier and without previously establishing its market value. In other words, the buyer and the EMVS privately negotiated the price without an official assessment or any legal and technical reports confirming the viability of the transaction. Sign up for our newsletter! The EL PAIS English Edition is launching a weekly newsletter. Sign up today to receive a selection of our best stories in your inbox every Saturday morning. For full details about how to subscribe, click here. The sale also violated the criteria of rationality, economy and efficiency that should preside the management of public assets. According to this document, in 2012 and 2013 the city of Madrid sold off 6,844 municipally owned properties, making 261.8 million on the sales. These included the aforementioned 1,860 homes, which had been originally rented out as part of city programs to assist low-income families and the young. Many of these tenants had signed lease options with the EMVS, giving them purchase rights over the homes after seven to 10 years of renting, depending on the contract. The comptrollers study shows that all of these units were sold as a block, violating the law and ignoring the tenants right to exercise their purchase options. Residents protesting the sale of their homes. When the leases ran out, the new landlord raised the rent by as much as 43% in some cases, explains Arancha Mejias, president of a support group for affected tenants. You went from paying around 400, depending on how many square meters your unit had, to around 700. And shared community fees also went up. Then came the evictions: around 15 in the Carabanchel development alone. Residents eventually turned to the courts, noting that the city had awarded the sale to a group that has business ties to other companies that employ Botellas eldest son, Jose Maria Aznar Botella (son of former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar). The case was dismissed by the judge, but in light of the comptrollers report, Mejias said that they would press to have it reopened. English version by Susana Urra. He waited in his hole, alone and nearly forgotten, for 25 years. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand At least until Edwin Wiek, founder of Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand (WFFT), received an email from a Bangkok resident worried about a monkey he had seen living in a "dark and dirty small hole in a slum," he said in a statement. With little information, the WFFT team headed to the city to find out what was going on. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand The man led them to a crowded neighborhood where they found the monkey, whom they later named Joe, packed into the dark space between two walls. His little face was peering out from the wire that held him in. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand "I have seen a lot of animal suffering in the last 17 years, but I would say that the condition the monkey was kept in was probably in the 'top 10' of most horrible cases," Wiek said. Dodo Shows Soulmates Dog Goes Everywhere In His Dad's Kangaroo Pouch Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand The state they found Joe in was even worse than the picture they had originally seen, he added. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand Wiek described Joe's so-called home as a "hellhole." The small cage, sandwiched between the two buildings, was less than 3 feet long. Joe had no water, and was in near darkness except for the the sun that filtered through his little wire window. He lived in dirt and feces, and photos show that the floor of his hole was a solid mass of garbage and filth. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand When the team began to disassemble the prison, they found it was full of rats. Even worse, Joe's owner told WFFT that he had been living like this since 1991 - an incredible 25 years of forgotten suffering. "When the owner told us how long he had been in there I was absolutely shocked," Wiek said. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand The team got right to work, tearing down the rusted walls of Joe's cage. When they pulled him out, they found that his two-plus decades in the tiny crawlspace had taken their toll on him. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand "Joe was dirty and very weak, as his cage was so small he could not walk or climb at all and his muscle tissue was almost gone," Wiek wrote. "His teeth were very bad and he was dehydrated." Fortunately, having tracked down Joe's owner, they were able to obtain permission to take Joe home with them. The owner was happy to see Joe rescued, Wiek said, and told WFFT that the Bangkok Zoo had offered to take the macaque years ago but had asked for $100 per month to support him, which he presumably couldn't afford. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand Unfortunately, while Joe's sad plight might be more viscerally appalling than most, his story is anything but unique. The wildlife trade is thriving in Thailand and other parts of Asia, with monkeys and other animals being killed for fur, meat and use in traditional medicine. Mother animals are often killed so their infants can be sold into the pet trade, like Joe was. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand And WFFT is at the forefront of rescuing these animals. Just the other week, the team rescued an infant otter named Oscar who was being kept as a pet in a woman's home. Back in January, WFFT saved a group of slow lorises and a palm civet kitten who had been sold on Facebook; several were injured or missing toes. This week, WFFT rescued a northern pig-tailed macaque who had been chained to a tree in a yard for years; the tight chain was wrapped around her waist and cut right into her belly. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand Yet even with all the pain that Wiek has seen, Joe's face staring from that tiny hole between the walls stood out. "On Tuesday I realised that all that time that I have been living and working in Thailand, this monkey has been in that cage, waiting for someone to rescue him," Wiek wrote, saying he had "mixed feelings" about the rescue. "I just wish we would have known earlier." Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand "I felt embarrassed to be a human being, seeing what humans again and again do to animals, but at the same time I was feeling proud to be a human, being able to make a positive difference in this horrible case," he added. But for Joe, the only feeling that matters is that of freedom. And while there's a long road to recovery ahead, Joe has begun to perk up and explore his cage, taking advantage of his ability to move freely for the first time in decades. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand "He walks around but is not able to climb yet, too weak and without the experience to do so," Wiek said. "Joe was seen taking a bath in his clean water tub yesterday and has been communicating with his neighbours, other monkeys, whom he hasn't seen for so long." Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand While Joe's spent most of his life locked away in his filthy cell, WFFT reported that macaques can live up to 35 years, and the team is hoping he will be able to close out his life in peace. Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand Funnyman and provocateur Ricky Gervais has once again used his celebrity to bring attention to an important issue facing our beloved animal brethren. This time, he's advocating for dogs. On Wednesday morning, he posted the following photo to Facebook. Dodo Shows Soulmates Pig Loves To Launch Himself Onto His Dad's Lap He captioned the photo with a powerful indictment against the Yulin Dog Meat Festival, which takes place annually in Guangxi, China. "The dogs are tortured to 'make the meat tastier.' They are also skinned and boiled alive. It's not a food festival. It's Hell," he wrote. Unfortunately, too many dogs are victims to this belief. Take, for example, Chi Chi, the dog who lost all her paws in the dog meat industry in South Korea. She was recently rescued and now lives with a loving family in Arizona, but most dogs in the meat trade aren't so lucky. Ten thousand dogs were killed in one weekend at last year's festival, but Humane Society International (HSI) worked with local activists to help save hundreds of dogs. A dog stares out from his cage moments after being rescued. | Humane Society International Having one's claws plucked out is no walk in the park. For a cat, the procedure begins and ends with pain. There's pain medication before the operation. There's pain medication immediately after the procedure, typically delivered intravenously for three days. Then there's another week of pain medication at home - assuming, of course, there are no complications, like a condition known as "phantom pain" that can affect declawed cats later in life. Is all that worth saving the couch from a clawed cat's wrath? Increasingly, veterinarians and people involved in animal care are falling on the same side of the debate: Keep those claws because, well, they're part of what makes a cat a cat. A clinic in Toronto announced this week it would no longer be declawing cats, calling the procedure an unnecessary "amputation." "This is a procedure that is not medically necessary, it does not benefit our patients in any way," Suzanne Lyons, a veterinarian at Bloor Animal Hospital, told CBC News. "When we sat down to think about it, we just couldn't justify continuing to do such a procedure." Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Woman Tries Every Day For A Month To Rescue This Dog The clinic joins scores of offices across Canada and the U.S. refusing to declaw cats unless medically necessary. The list of countries banning the practice outright is also growing. Currently, according to advocacy site declawing.com, more than 25 countries, including the UK, Israel and Sweden, have made the practice illegal. In the U.S., declawing bans are left to municipalities, resulting in a decidedly mixed bag of bans across the country. People who work in rescue don't mince words. "Our view is that this is cruel and unnecessary surgery and we won't perform it," Rob Halpin of MSPCA-Angell tells The Dodo. None of the organization's three adoption centers in Massachusetts will declaw a cat. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has also long been a vocal opponent of the practice, claiming it offers no medical benefit for a normal, healthy cat. Worse, HSUS states on its website, too many people see the procedure as a manicure rather than a surgical mauling. "Declawing traditionally involves the amputation of the last bone of each toe, the organization notes. "If performed on a human being, it would be like cutting off each finger at the last knuckle." These claws are made for clawing. And sometimes, that's just what they'll do - whether that's your new couch, an unlucky bird in the yard or an overly inquisitive dog's snout. But while they're often associated with the mean end of a cat's business, claws are actually used for so much more than menace. "Cats need their claws as they walk on their toes, unlike humans who walk on their heels, and need them to be able to stretch and scratch, which is a normal, healthy behavior," Amy Haas-Gray, founder of Hardin Eldora Animal Rescue Team (HEART), tells The Dodo. Her organization makes potential adopters sign a contract ensuring they won't declaw a cat they take home. Despite the growing ranks rejecting the procedure, it remains a source of heated debate among veterinarians. Jennifer Conrad, founder of The Paw Project, and longtime opponent of the practice, estimates declawing is performed on between 25 and 45 per cent of cats in the U.S. Also a veterinarian, Conrad puts much of the blame for those numbers on her own field's reliance on quick-fixes through surgery. "Vets are like, 'Oh, there's a behavior problem? We don't know how to deal with behaviors. But we do know surgeries. So there you go. We will do surgery,'" she explains to The Dodo. "And that is inappropriate." Some veterinarians see it a little differently. "I can see both sides of the issue," Sonja Olson, a veterinarian at BluePearl Veterinary Partners, tells The Dodo. "I've had this conversation so many times." Declawing "can definitely harm cats," she says, but she also acknowledges that she's seen lots of cases where the owners were either going to declaw their cat - or drop him at a shelter. "Some families simply can't have cats who scratch," she explains. "Especially if they scratch another pet in the home, or even a small child. That behavior could get cats sent to shelters and possibly euthanized." For some families, she notes, "declawing may be the only thing that keeps some cats out of the shelter, especially considering there already are thousands of cats across the country who need homes." Conrad, on the other hand, says it's just the opposite - more declawed cats end up at shelters than their intact counterparts. That's because, among other behavioral issues declawed cats may develop, not using the litter box can rank among the most return-to-sender-worthy among some owners. "Cats are the type of animal that they know where they received pain," she says. "They know a litter box is causing pain. They don't perceive it as 'Oh it's just after surgery and my paws hurt.' "They think its painful to use it now - so they don't want to use it any more." It's all the more tragic considering cats with claws can easily find other outlets for a good, healthy raking. It doesn't have to spell the end of your furniture. No couches need be carved up. No drapes diced. In fact, there are a host of things you can do to keep your cat - and those precious claws - content. The HSUS recommends keeping claws trimmed. You can clip them yourself or have a veterinarian do it. But intervals should be no more than four to six weeks. Consider also the miniature miracle that is a scratching post, a simple outlet that you can make yourself out of cardboard or wood that lets kitty unleash all that pent-up scratchitude. President Obamas campaign to stop American companies from heading overseas to avoid U.S. taxes scored its biggest win yet Wednesday when pharmaceutical giant Pfizer called off a $160 billion merger with Dublin-based Allergan. The sudden collapse of the deal comes just days after the Treasury Department made a rule change that appeared to be aimed specifically at the transaction, stripping it of many of its benefits. The deal would have relocated Pfizers headquarters to Ireland and shaved billions offits tax bill, taking advantage of a practice that Obama this week called one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there. Criticism of corporations that use overseas deals to avoid high U.S. taxes a strategy known as inversions has never been more pitched in Washington and out on the campaign trail. But the victory by the Obama administration is not expected to put an absolute stop to the practice. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say the only sure way to stamp out inversions is comprehensive tax reform, which has proved to be a fraught issue between Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill. Until then, business groups complain that the government is cherry-picking its battles and injecting new uncertainty into the rules governing global trade. Many executives who have remained largely silent in the face of the fiery, populist rhetoric of the presidential campaigns are preparing to take their grievances to Congress, where they hope to wield more influence. I dont think companies should be intimidated by government, said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee. On the other hand, yeah, Im glad to see Pfizer stay here, and Im going to try and find a way whereby we can do this legitimately so they want to stay here. Voter anger over the power wielded by large corporations gave the Obama administration an opening to act more aggressively than many had expected, industry officials and tax experts said. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have criticized the Pfizer deal at numerous campaign stops this year, and they each cheered the news Wednesday. They call it an inversion. I call it a perversion, Clinton said in remarks at a Pennsylvania AFL-CIO convention. The deal, the largest proposed inversion in history, was projected to save Pfizer about $35 billion in taxes. But late Monday, the Treasury Department announced new rules that changed the calculus for how certain inversions would be treated by the tax code. Less than 48 hours later, Pfizer and Allergan determined the change meant that the tax benefits they had anticipated would be more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. For the rules to be changed after the game has started to be played is a bit un-American, Allergan chief executive Brent Saunders said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday morning. The Treasury Departments new regulations still allow inversions in some cases, although many companies may be reluctant to test the agencys resolve. And it leaves what Republicans and Democrats agree is a broken corporate tax code that saddles U.S. companies with the highest tax rate in the developed world, 35 percent. The United States is now becoming one of the worlds largest tax and secrecy havens. Here's why. (Daron Taylor/The Washington Post) What were doing is starting to contain the virus, the inversion virus, said Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.), the ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee. We still have to come up with a cure, and thats whats going to take legislation. The corporate tax rate of 35 percent was once among the lowest in the developed world, but over the past three decades, other countries have steadily reduced their rates, inviting corporations to relocate. What companies [are] doing when theyre inverting is trying to fix their own tax situations by self-help where Congress has failed to do anything even though its been talking about it for a long time, said Michael Graetz, a tax expert at Columbia Law School. Over the past 20 years, inversions have become particularly popular for companies with a lot of foreign profits. Instead of bringing those profits back to the United States, where they would be taxed at a high rate, companies leave them overseas. The amount of unrepatriated profits reached $2.4 trillion last year, according to the advocacy group Citizens for Tax Justice, allowing companies to avoid up to $695 billion in taxes. Pfizer had $193 billion in unrepatriated income last year, and moving its headquarters to Ireland would have made it easier for the New York-based firm to access that income without paying U.S. taxes. Inversions typically involve larger U.S. companies merging with a smaller overseas partner and locating there. Tax experts say the new Treasury Department rules may lead some companies to forgo inversions in favor of breaking themselves up in parts that can be sold to larger foreign buyers, again shielding themselves from U.S. taxes. There are still plenty of inversions under consideration. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls announced this year that it would merge with Tyco International and move to Ireland, saving the firm about $150 million a year in taxes, for example. Last month, Colorado-based data provider IHS announced a $13 billion merger with London-based Markit that is expected to provide a tax savings of up to $270 million. Meanwhile, broader efforts to reform the corporate tax code are stuck in legislative limbo. Some lawmakers believe companies should be paying less, while others believe they should be paying more. Lowering the tax rate without plugging the abundance of tax loopholes could be a fiscal disaster, while harmonizing the U.S. tax system with the rest of the world could take years, legislative staffers say. Fundamentally, it all comes down to how do you pay for it, said Frank Clemente, executive director of the advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness. At the time their deal was announced, both Pfizer and Allergan stressed that the tax benefits were not the only reason for the deal. But Pfizer had tried an inversion before, when it sought to buy the British drugmaker AstraZeneca in 2014. And both firms quickly soured on the union once the tax benefits were cast in doubt. Pfizer agreed to pay Allergan a $150 million breakup fee. Many in the business community expressed concern that the administration appeared to target a specific deal rather than adopt a broader remedy. This is particularly arbitrary, said Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This isnt tax policy. Its punitive. Its paranoia, and it totally misses the target. In numerous appearances Wednesday, Allergans chief executive expressed frustration with the new Treasury Department rules that appear to have derailed the deal. Everybodys talking about walls. The Treasury is building a wall around the U.S., Saunders said in a conference call with investors. Saunders, an American, has emphasized that Dublin-based Allergan invests heavily in the United States, including through its research and development programs. Im patriotic. I dont want to get on a soapbox, but I think its incredibly misguided and unproductive policy for the United States, he said. Mike DeBonis, Anne Gearan and Jim Tankersley contributed to this report. Trump at an event in Wisconsin on Tuesday. SCOTT OLSON (AFP) Donald Trump has won himself a place in Mexican politics because of the sheer absurdity of his comments. His xenophobic remarks against Mexican immigrants in the United States have even drawn responses from Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, who, in early March, compared the Republican presidential hopeful to Hitler and Mussolini. Thats how they got to power, Pena Nieto said in reference to Trumps strident rhetoric. But the New York businessman does not care and is continuing down the same path. Should he become president, he had promised to block remittances from the United States to Mexico to force the Mexican government to finance his proposed $10 billion border wall, causing further indignation in Mexico. Trump is a venom-spitting psychopath, says Gustavo Madero, a National Action Party (PAN) congressman. We would live through a political campaign of manure-slinging during which he would try to bring out the worst in the most racist sector of society PAN congressman Gustavo Madero It would be a disaster if he were the Republican candidate, adds Madero. We would live through a political campaign of manure-slinging during which he would try to bring out the worst in the most racist sector of society, radicalizing it even more and empowering it. Trumps impact reaches beyond the United States and is harmful for the entire international political system, the politician adds. Madero says the amount Trump demands Mexico pays to finance the wall is equivalent to its total spending on the judiciary ($6.3 billion) or healthcare ($7 billion). Mexico names new US ambassador amid Trump storm MEXICO REFUERZA SU ARTILLERIA DIPLOMATICA EN EE.UU. CONTRA MENSAJE A TRUMP SONIA CORONA, Mexico The Mexican government made the surprise announcement on Tuesday that it would be naming Carlos Sada Solana as its new ambassador to the United States. President Enrique Pena Nieto and Foreign Affairs Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu have said the decision is due to the hostile climate Mexicans face in the United States. Solana will replace the academic Miguel Basanez, who held the post for just eight months. President Pena Nieto said the new appointment does not reflect poorly on Basanez but responds to a shift in diplomacy in light of the changing social landscape in the United States. During Basanezs tenure, the Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump unleashed his bid for the presidency on the Republican ticket and began a xenophobic campaign against undocumented Mexicans, calling for deportations and a border wall to keep out newcomers. Solana has served as Mexicos consul in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Antonio and Toronto, and worked as the congressional liaison in the Mexican embassy in Washington. The appointment will become effective once the candidate receives Senate approval. Trumps fantasy of being able to stop undocumented Mexican migrants from sending money home would face a number of practical problems. It is not economically or financially viable. You cant know who sends remittances, whether they are legal or not, because transfers are basically anonymous. You would have to change so many laws that it is practically impossible, says economist Gerardo Esquivel. His colleague, Jose Antonio Romero Tellaeche, agrees with this analysis. That sounds pretty preposterous, he says, adding that the political result would be counterproductive. Mexico has been submissive to the United States but this, instead of pressuring it, would be explosive. Remittances are the most stable source of income in Mexico. The Bank of Mexico reports nearly $24.8 billion sent in remittances in 2015, more revenue than the oil and tourism industries reported that same year. It seems unlikely that anything could break this interdependence between Mexico and the United States. Our relationship will not be blocked. No matter how many walls they try to build, nothing will stop our commercial and cultural relations, says Mario Delgado, a congressman for the leftist party National Regeneration Movement (Morena). There is something there that many Americans do not want to see. They insist that Trump is an isolated accident and not the result of a system in which economic power has more and more control and influence over political power. Still, many American citizens and even Republicans are looking for alternatives to what seemed like an inevitable Republican nomination for Trump. After losing the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday night, the Trump campaign threw a temper tantrum by the means of a fiery press release. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump, the statement said. The Texas senator carried Wisconsin with 48.3 percent of the votes while Trump fell in second place with 35 percent. Ohio Governor John Kasich received 14.1 percent of the votes. English version by Dyane Jean Francois. U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said regulators were concerned that a Halliburton merger with Baker Hughes would lead to decreased competition and higher prices. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters) The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had filed suit to prevent Halliburton, an oil-field services behemoth, from acquiring rival Baker Hughes. If successful, the antitrust suit could derail a huge merger between two of the three largest oil-field services companies in the world, a deal that at one point was valued at $34 billion. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said regulators are concerned that the acquisition would lead to decreased competition and higher prices. European regulators have also expressed concerns about the deal. America and the American consumer deserve meaningful competition, Lynch said in a call with reporters. The merger would substantially reduce competition in 23 separate markets and would turn many of those markets into noncompetitive duopolies, she said. In a joint statement, the companies vowed to vigorously contest the governments attempt to block the merger, arguing that the deal was pro-competitive and will allow the companies customers to benefit from a more flexible innovative and efficient oil services company. Halliburton had earlier proposed a divestiture package, worth billions, that will facilitate the entry of new competition in markets in which products and services are being divested. The companies said they intend to demonstrate that the DOJ has underestimated the highly competitive nature of the oilfield services industry, the many benefits of the proposed combination and the sufficiency of the divestitures. The merger, announced in 2014, would allow the companies to operate more effectively, they said increasingly important because of low oil prices. But Lynch said the proposed divestiture falls far short of addressing the departments concerns. Justice Department officials said that instead of including entire business units, the divestitures would be limited to certain assets, such as facilities, employees, contracts and intellectual property, which the new firm would hold on to. That would then leave the buyer of the divested assets at a competitive disadvantage, the department said, and it would not replicate the substantial competition that exists between the two companies today. Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said the Justice Department doesnt bring these cases lightly. We bring them where the facts fully support concerns about the future competition in these markets. The department warned the companies up front that we were highly skeptical, Baer said, adding that the proposed merger never should have made it out of the boardroom. The deal is unprecedented in the breadth and scope of competitive overlaps and antitrust issues it presents, he said. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, where both companies are incorporated. The attempt to block the merger is the latest antitrust action brought by the Justice Department in recent years. Testifying before Congress last month, Baer said his office has sought to foster increasing competition to help consumers. Our antitrust laws have sought to enshrine the core principle that consumers win from competition and lose when it is unfairly restricted, he said. [U.S. regulators strike at two big consolidation deals] Previously, the Justice Department sued to block Electroluxs acquisition of General Electrics appliance business, a move that Baer said preserved head-to-head competition and choice for major household cooking appliances. Comcast and Time Warner abandoned a merger after the department raised concerns. The Justice Department also sued to block American Airlines from merging with US Airways, saying it would raise ticket prices. The parties settled in 2014, in an agreement that allowed the merger but called for slots at Reagan National Airport to be sold off. That has allowed more than 40 additional flights a day with service to 14 new airports, the Justice Department said. In the oil-field services merger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes had agreed to extend the time period to gain regulatory approval to the end of the month. In the statement issued Wednesday, they said that if the judicial review goes beyond then, they could continue to seek regulatory approval, or either company could terminate the merger agreement. I suspect that most people who love Wallace Stevenss poetry do so not because of the density of its philosophical and aesthetic thought, but simply for the humor and verbal music of his diction, for the haunting suggestiveness of his carefully cadenced lines. Some of Stevenss titles are almost poems in themselves: The Revolutionists Stop for Orangeade, Tea at the Palaz of Hoon, Final Soliloquy of the Interior Paramour. There are, moreover, scores of glorious lines and phrases, many quite simple: It was evening all afternoon. Pitiless verse? A few words tuned/ And tuned and tuned and tuned. The greatest poverty is not to live/ In a physical world. Best of all may be his easy Erik Satie-like melodiousness Complacencies of the peignoir, and late/ Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair and his jazzy diction: Ones grand flights, ones Sunday baths,/ Ones footings at the weddings of the soul/ Occur as they occur. Despite its subtitle, Paul Marianis The Whole Harmonium isnt just The Life of Wallace Stevens. At least half the text is taken up with detailed analyses of dozens of poems, including all the anthology standards: The Snow Man, The Emperor of Ice Cream, Sunday Morning, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, Peter Quince at the Clavier, The Idea of Order at Key West, To an Old Philosopher in Rome. [The misunderstood poet Stevie Smith] While certainly valuable to the student, these pages of close reading are a drag on the book as a narrative. Mariani a prolific literary biographer might argue that Stevenss poetry was his life, that outside his work as an executive for the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Co., he really only cared about to use a famous phrase heavenly labials in a world of gutturals. Yes and no. Certainly the married Stevens led a largely stolid, suburban existence, especially when contrasted with the bardic exuberance of, say, Dylan Thomas. But there are oddities, gaps and callous behaviors that Mariani never quite accounts for. Stevens grew up in Reading, Pa., graduated from Harvard in 1900 and initially hoped to earn a living as a New York journalist. He worked under legendary muckraker Lincoln Steffens, reported on the funeral of Stephen Crane, watched Sarah Bernhardt perform Hamlet, and regularly visited Manhattan art galleries and concert halls. But Stevens deeply craved financial security, so he enrolled in New York Law School, then joined various insurance companies in their surety divisions. Against his parents wishes, he also married a Reading woman named Elsie Moll. To my mind, Stevens treated his shy, psychologically fragile wife badly. He left her alone or with her mother for weeks at a time as he crisscrossed the country on business. Each year, he would take a vacation without her to the Florida Keys, where he and some of his Atlanta associates would fish a little and drink and eat too much. Once settled in Hartford, Conn., the couple established separate bedrooms, and Stevens preferred to spend his evenings and weekends by himself, staring out his window as poets will or reading and scribbling verses. Only when he was quite rich and middle-aged did he feel that he could afford to bring up a child. Holly Stevens later her fathers editor and champion was born in 1924. She was driven to and from school in a hired car. In between his explications of Stevenss poetry, Mariani does tell a few good stories. In the way of businessmen of yesteryear, the poet was a zealous social drinker and at parties would loosen up after his usual four or five martinis. At one such social occasion in Key West, he spoke insultingly about Ernest Hemingway to the writers sister. Upset, she left the party to tell her brother. That night, Stevens and Papa confronted each other and soon began to trade punches. Although the insurance executive carried the weight of a fullback, he was no match for Hemingway, who mangled his face and then decked him. The next day, a contrite and somewhat worried Stevens what would his colleagues at the office think? begged Hemingway to say nothing of the fight. The altercation remained a secret for years. During his lifetime, Stevens was certainly admired by fellow poets William Carlos Williams, Hart Crane and Marianne Moore, among others but many early readers saw him as essentially a verbal dandy. Some critics likened his work to figure skating or tightrope dancing. His chief rival, Robert Frost, even declared that Stevenss merely wrote about bric-a-brac. Whats more, as time went by, the poems grew increasingly abstract and their meaning more and more elusive. They all seemed to have something to do with the power of the imagination or could be construed as gorgeous meditations on time and mortality. In long works such as Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction and even more so in his talks and essays Stevens can be well nigh incomprehensible. While Wallace Stevens is certainly a major American poet, in Marianis pages he seldom comes across as a particularly interesting fellow, let alone a likeable or happy one. He did, rather surprisingly, convert to Catholicism on his deathbed, but his funeral was still sparsely attended: Stevens wasnt close to anyone outside a very small circle. In fact, one could almost legitimately sum up The Whole Harmonium by saying that it shows us nothing that is not there and the nothing that is. Thats too harsh a judgment and yet, despite Marianis efforts, the mystery remains: Somehow, this dull, buttoned-down, unsmiling public man is also modern poetrys greatest introspective voyager. Michael Dirda reviews each Thursday in Style and is the author, most recently, of Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living With Books. Dear Dr. Fox: I just lost my dear cat to cancer, which started at the site of his last rabies injection. I have had several friends who also have had cats that developed this kind of cancer called fibrosarcoma, I think at the rabies injection site. Veterinarians have always told me that the risks from the injection are very low, but now I dont believe them. I am incensed that an indoor cat is, by law, I am told, expected to have an injection for a disease that he would have no way of catching. What is your take on this? M.H., Bethesda DF: I am sorry to hear about the death of your cat from fibrosarcoma at the injection site. I discuss this and other adverse vaccination reactions, so-called vaccinoses, in an article on my website, drfoxvet.net. I think the protocol of annual rabies and other vaccinations to indoor cats needs revision; it is questionable to vaccinate against rabies in cats that never go outdoors and have no possibility of exposure to a rabid animal unless one gets into the house. But if you need to board your cat, all such vaccinations should be up to date, and you should get blood tests confirming that the cat does not have feline leukemia or immunodeficiency virus infections. Regrettably, we have uninformed and uncaring members of the cat-owning community who let their unvaccinated cats go outdoors whenever they like. There are not enough communities with statutes and ordinances prohibiting cats from being allowed to roam off their property, and the enforcement is a joke. All cats that are outdoors in an enclosed yard and that do not wander off their owners property but could be exposed to rabid animals and to diseased cats do, of course, need to be vaccinated. In my opinion, judging by the number of letters I receive concerning cats developing injection-site cancer, the incidence is higher than the estimates reported in the literature, and not all veterinarians are following the new protocol of no longer injecting the rabies vaccine in the neck or shoulder area but down one limb or tail. When the anti-rabies vaccine is injected at these sites, it makes surgery to remove any tumor usually total amputation more effective in preventing its spread. ACID REFLUX Dear Dr. Fox: One of our standard poodles often throws up a small amount of yellow substance when it is close to mealtime. We are very punctual about meals and try to compensate, but it doesnt work. Can you help? M.F., Springfield, Mo. DF: This is probably bile and gastric juices triggered by the anticipation of food and aggravated by acid reflux, so try giving your dog a human Tums (or similar antacid) 20 minutes before mealtime. A surprising number of dogs have this problem, but I do not advise people making their own diagnosis, because such vomiting before and after meals can mean other serious health concerns. If the antacid does not prove effective, a full veterinary checkup is called for. PANTRY MEDICINES Dear Dr. Fox: Do you have any suggested changes in your home-prepared dog food recipe for geriatric, arthritic dogs? S.M., the District DF: I have recently made a few general changes to my home-prepared dog food recipe, posted on my website. I have included natural herbal supplements that help dogs in general and older dogs in particular. Ginger and turmeric are two examples of such herbs that have a variety of beneficial pharmaceutical and therapeutic properties. I would add a little cinnamon for dogs with diabetes and high blood pressure (often associated with kidney disease). Try oregano, thyme, sage, cumin or fenugreek for those with digestive problems. I would give a pinch in the food for habituation and acceptance, and then increase it to about half a teaspoon daily for each for a 50-pound dog. Many people are surprised how many good medicines they have in their own kitchens. Traditional wisdom such as Hippocrates urging, Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food is anathema and taboo to the pharmaceutical industry. In addition to such supplements to help older dogs, I would add massage therapy, which you can give yourself. Learn about it in my book The Healing Touch for Dogs. FOR OLDER PET LOVERS Dear Dr. Fox: I have always loved animals, and for a while I did cat rescue. I am 70 years old, and my husband and I have a 16-year-old cat. We have not been replacing pets as they die because of concerns about them ending up in a facility, or burdening our daughter with a house full of animals that she would need to assimilate into her household. I was raised on a small dairy farm in rural Virginia, and when I retired two years ago, I enrolled in master naturalist training. I understand the need to connect to nature and our animals. You recommended adopting from a shelter, and I am in total agreement. It would be nice if you would have an article about how to be a pet owner for those of us who are not sure whether we will outlive our pets. Our last dog was 15 when she died, and we have had cats who lived 18 and 20 years. In December, I started volunteering with the Humane Society of Fairfax County. I have found it immensely rewarding, and I get my dog fix. The Humane Society has staff members to do the cleaning. What they desperately need are people to spend time with the cats and dogs, socializing them. If you want to bring a book and hold the book with one hand and pet a cat or dog with the other, the staff members are quite happy. I thought it might be difficult for me to see these abandoned animals, but I focus not on what I am seeing as the worst traits of our species, but on the staff and the people adopting these pets, which is what is best about our species. I think of my work with the animals as a comfort station at a particular juncture in their lives. People of a certain age do not have to own a pet; neither do people who know they will be going overseas and unable to take a pet, or people whose lives are in transition. Please share the benefits of not owing a pet, especially if a person is not settled enough to go the full 10 to 20 years of commitment. Another interesting benefit for me was that I had always had herding breeds or shepherds, and I didnt think I could consider anything else. A month of working at the kennels has shown me that what I got from my shepherds, I also get from a variety of other breeds and mixed breeds. I was able to hone in on why I love dogs: They are companions, and they make me smile, and even laugh. D.M., Fairfax County DF: Your beautiful letter will be enough to encourage older people to find satisfying alternatives to adopting an animal that might well outlive them. I appreciate the fact that you found the truth that all dogs are great and not just the particular breed with which you were familiar. Michael W. Fox, author of a newsletter and books on animal care, welfare and rights, is a veterinarian with doctoral degrees in medicine and animal behavior. Send letters to animaldocfox@gmail.com or write to him at United Feature Syndicate, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, Mo. 64106. Montgomery County Public School buses remained idle as schools close in January 2016. The state has rejected the school systems request for a waiver of two school days because of the snow. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) Maryland officials turned down Montgomery Countys request for a waiver of two school days lost to the winters snow, saying in a letter that the school system had not made calendar adjustments to compensate for the missed class time. The decision raises the possibility of an extendedschool year in Montgomery, where June 17 was slated to be the final day of classes. Montgomery school officials said Wednesday that they were disappointed by the states decision and looked forward to resolving the issue quickly so that families would have a firm date for schools end. Maryland law requires school systems to have 180 days of classes each school year, but after numerous weather-related school closings, many districts apply for waivers to avoid extending their school years or to limit how many days they need to add. Montgomerys schools were closed for six days because of severe weather this winter, but only four make-up days were built into the school calendar. To close the gap, school officials asked the state for a two-day waiver in a letter March 16. The state denied the request in a March 30 letter, noting that school systems must show that they have made a calendar adjustment and used up all of their inclement-weather days. There is no evidence of a modification made to your school calendar, said the letter, signed by Karen B. Salmon, interim deputy state superintendent for school effectiveness. The letter said Montgomery school officials appeared say that because Prince Georges County received a state waiver that allowed a 178-day school year, then 178 days was a suitable target for other systems. That is a false presumption, the letter said. Montgomery school officials noted the Prince Georges approval Wednesday, saying in their statement: We simply are asking for the same treatment. State officials said Montgomery can revise and resubmit its waiver request. [Last years waiver request in Montgomery] In Prince Georges County, students missed seven school days because of the snow. The district had four make-up days in its calendar, but it compensated by seeking a two-day waiver and converting a Feb. 12 professional development day into a day of instruction. [Last day of school in Prince Georges set for June 20] The rejection was not a first for Montgomery. In 2014, the school system was turned down when state officials said it did not show enough of a calendar compensation as it asked for a state waiver. Montgomery revised it request, which the state granted. Students at the Maurice J. Tobin K-8 School in Boston's Roxbury neighborhood eat free lunches in September 2013. Many, including educators in Loudoun County, view free school meals as a way to address childhood hunger. (Steven Senne/AP/File) Less than 10 percent of students at Frederick Douglass Elementary in Leesburg were eating school breakfast last school year, and educators noticed the impact: Students were fidgety and cranky and sometimes had to leave class to see the school nurse because of stomach aches. About one-third of the Loudoun County schools students qualify for free or reduced-price meals, but many of those children were not eating breakfast at school. The reason? Students were worried that a sit-down breakfast in the cafeteria would make them late in the midst of the rush to get to class. Cathy Wilson, the schools cafeteria manager, said she believed the bustling cafeteria was intimidating some students so much that they just didnt want to walk in. So Wilson came up with a solution: Let children grab their breakfasts and go straight to class with the meals. The idea, implemented at the start of 2015, has had dramatic results. The number of students eating school breakfast has more than doubled from the start of last school year to this school year, going from 60 to 130. The program gained the attention of Katie Wilson, deputy undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the Agriculture Department, who visited the school during School Breakfast Week in March, according to Loudoun Now. Educators have long recognized the importance of breakfast for helping children learn and stay focused, as eating breakfast has been linked to higher test scores and lower rates of childhood obesity. But there have been challenges to getting children even those who qualify for free breakfast because they come from low-income families to chow down in the morning. [Kids who eat two breakfasts are less likely to be overweight than those who eat none] Its what your mom always told you. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, said Becky Domokos-Bays, supervisor of school nutrition services for Loudoun County schools. You need to get a balanced nutritious meal in the morning so your brain can start working. Katie Wilson, who previously worked as a school nutrition director in Wisconsin, said children there who qualified for free and reduced meals tended to avoid school breakfast because they worried about being tagged as poor while their more affluent classmates ate breakfast at home. Getting breakfast out of the cafeteria and into the classroom could erase some of the stigma. Frederick Douglass Elementary draws from affluent and extremely poor communities, but Domokos-Bays said the program also has boosted participation among wealthier students who pay full price. We typically get more paying students to participate as well since they also want to be like their friends, Domokos-Bays said. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) included $2.1 million in funding over two years for school breakfast in his proposed budget, with some of that money designated to help school districts try alternative breakfast models. No Kid Hungry, an advocacy group that works on childhood hunger issues, has pushed alternative delivery models as a way to get more students to eat breakfast. School meals have been seen as a critical way to reduce childhood hunger for students who come from households in poverty. Even in wealthy Loudoun County, nearly 20 percent of schoolchildren qualify for free- and reduced-price meals, and more than 1,000 children are homeless. More than half of public-school children nationwide qualify for free- and reduced-price meals. [Majority of U.S. public school students are in poverty] At Frederick Douglass, the most marked increase in participation came among children who qualify for free school meals. The school was serving an average of 33 free breakfasts to qualifying children last year. Now, the cafeteria serves an average of 73 free breakfasts, meaning about 40 percent of children who qualify for free meals are eating school breakfast. Thats good news for children who might not have been eating at home. Countywide, about one-third of all children who qualify for free meals eat school breakfast. The county serves an average of 5,538 breakfasts every day, up 24 percent from the same time last year, but that still represents less than 10 percent of the districts student body. It also has had a soothing effect for otherwise hectic mornings. Children now eat their school breakfasts which can include a cheese stick, a sausage sandwich, fruit, zucchini bread and other options during morning announcements. They no longer have to sprint to class or chug a milk carton to make it to class on time. The program has created a much calmer start to the day for everybody, Principal Paula Huffman said. The kids arent stressed about being late to class. Some classrooms are exempt from the program. Kindergarten students still eat breakfast in the cafeteria because they need extra supervision. Students who come from classrooms that are designated food-free because of children with severe food allergies also continue to eat in the cafeteria. Huffman said the classroom breakfasts have not disrupted learning, which was a concern among some teachers. We dont really have any food fights in the classroom, Huffman said. Katie Wilson said Frederick Douglass Elementarys administration really embraced wellness. She views breakfast as an important tool for a childs success in school, adding that every teacher wants every tool possible for that child to be successful. Correction: An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect spelling of the advocacy group No Kid Hungry. It also misstated the amount of money Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) included in his proposed budget for school breakfast. The article has been updated. Correction: An earlier version of this listing included two Patti LaBelle concerts at the Music Center at Strathmore that have since been postponed. The shows, originally scheduled for April 7 and 8, will instead be June 30 and July 1. The event has been removed from this listing. THU 07 Storyfest Short Slam Storytellers tell funny five-minute stories about stupidity and foolishness. 7:30 p.m. Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. 301-452-4220. wapo.st/storyfestfool. $10. FRI 08 Intimate Landscapes Loriann Signoris exhibition of landscape paintings inspired by Maryland hills and waters continues with a reception Friday 6-9 p.m. Through May 7. Waverly Street Gallery, 4600 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. 301-951-9441. www.waverlystreetgallery.com. Free. Mosaic Modernities and See the Light Marcella Marsellas solo exhibition of upcycled art and fashion made from credit cards, currency, bullets and discarded objects and a juried exhibition of glass art by members of the National Capital Art Glass Guild continue with a reception Friday 7-9 p.m. Mosaic Modernities continues through April 24, See the Light through May 1. VisArts at Rockville, 155 Gibbs St., Rockville. 301-315-8200. www.visartsatrockville.org. Free. A Wedding to Die For Arts on the Green and Murder at the Mansion Dessert Theater present a murder-mystery comedy set during a wedding reception. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Kentlands Mansion, 320 Kent Square Rd., Gaithersburg. 301-258-6394. www.gaithersburgmd.gov. $35, $60 per couple. Ticket includes a dessert buffet and nonalcoholic beverages. Cash bar. The Firebugs Montgomery College stages Max Frischs dark comedy about a small town plagued by arsonists disguised as door-to-door salesmen. Opens Friday at 8 p.m., continues Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Monday at 8 p.m. Through April 17. Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. 240-567-5775. www.montgomerycollege.edu/cac. $10. SAT 09 Art Hop Takoma The annual arts festival, held throughout the Takoma commercial district, features more than 100 artists as well as installations, music, dancing, a fire show and free trolley rides. Visit the website for the performance schedule and participating venues. Saturday and Sunday. Throughout Takoma. 301-891-6789. www.mainstreettakoma.org. Opening night party $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Other performances and displays free. Gas & Steam Engine Show Tractors, gas and steam engines, and antique cars and trucks will be on display with live country music, hay-wagon rides, crafts, activities and food. Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park, 18400 Muncaster Rd., Derwood. 301-253-2673. www.montgomeryparks.org/facilities/ag_farm.shtm. Free. Montgomery County Council of PTAs Performing Arts Festival The two-day event features performances by ballet, Latin, Bollywood, Asian and African dance groups, vocal groups and step teams (Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Dr., Germantown) and student jazz and light-rock bands, plus dance, choral and step groups (Sunday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. at Bethesda Metro Plaza, upper courtyard, Old Georgetown Road and Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda.) 240-418-1544. www.mccpta.org. Free. Love That Dog Netherlands-based Theatergroep Kwattas production about a boy who is forced to write poetry combines puppetry, video, live music and sound effects. This is a sensory-friendly performance, designed to create a performing arts experience that is welcoming to families with children with autism or other disabilities that create sensory sensitivities. 2 p.m. BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Dr., Germantown. www.blackrockcenter.org. $18. Bandini-Chiacchiaretta Duo The Italian duo guitarist Giampaolo Bandini and bandoneon player Cesare Chiacchiaretta play Argentine tangos as part of the John E. Marlow concert series. Preconcert lecture at 7:15 p.m., concert at 8 p.m., followed by a meet-and-greet. Westmoreland Congregational United Church of Christ, 1 Westmoreland Cir., Bethesda. 301-654-6403. www.marlowguitar.org. $28, students 18-22 $14, youth free with adult ticket. Preconcert lecture free. SUN 10 Pre-Earth Day celebration and artist reception Make your own collage and meet Maryland artist Anna Fine Foer at this party celebrating Earth Day and Physiography: A Sense of Place, Foers solo exhibition of map collages incorporating imaginary landscapes. 1-4 p.m. Exhibition through May 1. BlackRock Center for the Arts, Terrace Gallery, 12901 Town Commons Dr., Germantown. 301-528-2260. www.blackrockcenter.org. Free. Marjorie Prime Olney Theatre Center stages a new comedy by Jordan Harrison, a writer for Orange Is the New Black, about an 85-year-old widow living out her life with a hologram of her husband. Thursday and Friday at 7:45 p.m., Saturday at 1:45 and 7:45 p.m., closes Sunday at 1:45 p.m. Olney Theatre Center, 2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Rd., Olney. 301-924-3400. www.olneytheatre.org. $55-$65, seniors and children $50-$60, military $35-$45. Broadway Bios: An Original Musical Revue Bethesda Little Theatres musical revue focuses on true stories about P.T. Barnum, Gypsy Rose Lee, Charlie Chaplin, John Adams, Fanny Brice, Georges Seurat and others. Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., closes Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The Writers Center, 4508 Walsh St., Bethesda. 240-479-4825. wapo.st/broadwaybios. $20, seniors $15, age 11 and younger $12. Cirque Zuma Zuma Described as an African-inspired Cirque du Soleil, this performance features acrobatics, juggling, music, dancing and comedy. Sunday at 2 and 6 p.m., Monday at 11 a.m. Montgomery College Cultural Arts Center, 7995 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. 240-567-5775. blogs.montgomerycollege.edu/cac. Sunday shows $25 in advance, $35 at the door; Monday show $15. The Cult The British rock band behind Fire Woman performs. With Holy White Hounds. 8 p.m. The Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. 301-960-9999. www.fillmoresilverspring.com. $39.50. MON 11 Finding My Own Voice This exhibition of art by crime victims and their loved ones, coinciding with National Crime Victims Rights Week, includes art by Susan Levy, mother of Chandra Levy; unfinished paintings by slain artist Azin Naimi, shown by her mother, Mary Bazargan; a glass bed installation by Nancy Weisser; and work by other area artists. Continues through April 28. Artists & Makers Studios, 11810 Parklawn Dr., Rockville. 240-437-9573. www.artistsandmakersstudios.com. Free. TUE 12 Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Roundhouse Theatre stages Tennessee Williamss drama about a Southern family. Continues Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. Through April 24. Round House Theatre, 4545 East-West Hwy., Bethesda. 240-644-1100. www.roundhousetheatre.org. $30-$50. WED 13 Frankie Ballard The Nashville country singer performs. 8 p.m. The Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. 301-960-9999. www.fillmoresilverspring.com. $22.50. From left, Imam Talib M. Shareef, Ibrahim Mumin and Sultan Muhammad, stand in front of Masjid Muhammad mosque in the District. (Courtland Milloy/The Washington Post) On my way to Masjid Muhammad DC, which calls itself the nations mosque, a slogan coined by the Department of Homeland Security came to mind: If you see something, say something. And in the blink of an eye, I was on the lookout for odd and out-of-the-ordinary goings-on. I had driven past the mosque many times but hadnt noticed that the street where it was located, the 1500 block of Fourth Street NW, had been renamed Islamic Way. In 1992, as it turned out. And heres the odd part no one had ever tried to change it back. Or even taken down the Islamic Way signs. In many parts of the country, those signs would have been obliterated the moment they went up. An armed group of outsiders called the Oath Keepers had targeted Masjid Muhammad for a protest in October, hoping to show that Muslims were violent. Residents in the neighborhood responded by putting up fliers that said Hate Free Zone. The protesters never showed up, though, apparently convinced by D.C. and federal officials that marching into the nations capital carrying semi-automatic weapons was not a good idea. Kate Connors, who made the fliers, told me the other day that if protesters had come, wed planned to make a human chain to keep them away from the mosque. Thats homeland security, the neighborly way. At the mosque, Imam Talib Shareef told me, Whats happening in D.C., with neighbors standing up for peace, should be happening across the world. Instead, Islamophobia is rampant. Jihadists, or at least the TV drama show version, have come to personify all Muslims in the misinformed American mind. In the wake of a terrorist attack carried out by two Muslims in California last year and other attacks by small groups of Muslims abroad, the leading Republican presidential candidate called for banning all Muslims from entering the country, whether they were American citizens or not; registering the ones already here in a database for tracking; and putting all mosques in the United States under surveillance. [Trumps clarification on Muslim surveillance raises more questions] Shareef, 54, had spent 30 years in the Air Force before retiring as a chief master sergeant. A scholar in Middle East studies, he had served as Islamic Faith Group Leader at seven U.S. military locations around the world. There are many Muslims in the U.S. military, all willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect our nations freedoms, he said, including the right of presidential candidates like Donald Trump to say insulting things about us. Another member of the mosque, Sultan Muhammad, 49, is a retired Army command sergeant major. I started out in the military having to pray in closets, so Ive already been through the fear cycle, and Im not at all fearful of Donald Trump, Muhammad said. Actually, Im grateful for him. Hes given us an opportunity to pick sides: Youre either for Muslims or against them; for fear or for freedom. How we react will either bring our country together or tear us apart. Most of the estimated 800 members of Masjid Muhammad, including the imam, are African American converts to Islam. (Sultan Muhammad is a second-generation Muslim, the son of a convert.) Some, such as Ibrahim Mumin, had been members of the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist organization that built the mosque in 1960. The NOI was driven mostly by socioeconomic concerns. In 1975, Imam W. Deen Mohammed, son of NOI founder Elijah Muhammad, disbanded the original Nation of Islam, rejected black separatism and began a more orthodox, mainstream Islamic movement. Mumin, 68, put down his copy of Elijah Muhammads Message to the Blackman in America, and picked up the Koran. Today, he runs a D.C.-based community economic development consulting company, Mumin and Associates. We should be Americas allies in the fight against extremism, Mumin said. Instead, were on the defensive, always being asked to respond to somebodys claim that Islam promotes violence. An odd claim, especially because white Christian vigilantes, not Muslims, have long been the foremost practitioners of terrorism in the United States. And nobody ever asks whether Christ made them do it. Despite all the Islamophobia maybe even because of it Masjid Muhammad will be sponsoring an interfaith comedy show at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Hampton Conference Center in Capitol Heights, Md. Seriously. A Muslim, a Christian and a Jew walk into a bar . . . kind of stand-up comedy show. We wanted to do something that brings people together just to have fun for a change, Mumin said. Some people dont believe Muslims even know how to tell a joke. Note to Homeland Security: Better check that out. Could be a laugh riot. To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy. Spain's largest lender is cutting its workforce by 5%. EFE After announcing the closure of 450 branches last week, Banco Santander intends to lay off 1,200 employees 5% of its workforce in Spain, according to labor union sources. Representatives of Spains biggest bank met with union leaders on Wednesday morning to discuss the layoffs. Previous staff-restructuring programs, such as that which followed the acquisition of Banesto in 2012, have been based on early retirement for employees aged 55 or over, who will be paid 70% of their salary until they reach retirement age. The move is part of a network reorganization by Santander, which says it plans to have 1,000 large branches with around eight employees in each one within three years. The lender wants to move employees to bigger branches that will focus on providing clients with personal advice, and create more opportunities for selling them complex products with higher commissions for the bank. English version by Nick Lyne. The headquarters of the Internal Revenue Service, near the Mall in Northwest Washington, will remain closed for the rest of the week after a fire there Monday forced evacuation of the building. The IRS said Tuesday that the fire in the basement of the building on Constitution Avenue affected the heating/ventilation/air conditioning system. We are working to restore service as soon as possible, the IRS said in a statement. The IRS said those employees who are ready for telework are expected to telework from their approved location. The agency said many implies did work remotely Tuesday and will continue to do that for the rest of the week. In addition, the IRS took pains to point out that the closing of the headquarters would not affect the processing of taxes. Taxpayers should continue to file their tax returns as they normally would, the IRS said. A fire in a transformer in the basement was reported about 3:30 p.m. Monday. That occurred after earlier difficulties with the HVAC system prompted officials to close the headquarters. A few hundred people were still in the building when the fire was reported, and they were told to evacuate. The imposing IRS building in the French Renaissance style is one of the structures that forms the federal triangle, near Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues. About 2,000 people work in the limestone and granite structure.. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) does a karate chop on four wooden boards that read Partisan Gridlock during a demonstration at Taekwondo Day in Maryland. The event was attended by Jhoon Rhee, a South Korean master of Taekwondo. (The Office of Governor Larry Hogan) Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) does a karate chop on four wooden boards that read Partisan Gridlock during a demonstration at Taekwondo Day in Maryland. The event was attended by Jhoon Rhee, a South Korean master of Taekwondo. (The Office of Governor Larry Hogan) It is a busy week in Annapolis, with the legislature finishing its annual 90-day session in a flurry of hearings, negotiations and votes on bills. But there is still time, apparently, for martial arts. Gov. Larry Hogan (R) hosted an event Tuesday evening to mark Taekwondo Day in Maryland, joking with the crowd in the Miller Senate Office Building that he is an honorary black belt to the ninth degree and promising they would see his skills in action. He then left the room and reappeared, moments later, dressed in a white martial arts jacket, black suit pants and dress shoes. The crowd, made up of Hogan staffers, lawmakers, his wife, Yumi, and taekwondo students and teachers, cheered. Jimmy Rhee, secretary of the Office of Minority Affairs, said any lawmakers who were thinking of overturning the governors vetoes might have second thoughts after what they were about to witness. Grand Master Chung Koo Nam lifted four pieces of wood taped together over his head. Scribbled in black marker on the front: Partisan Gridlock. Hogan chops a stack of demonstration boards with Grand Master Chung Koo Nam in honor of Taekwondo Day in Maryland. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Hogan bowed, placed his hand on the board, shuffled to get the proper stance. Then he raised his right hand over his head and started counting backwards. Three, two, one. Hi-yah! The boards crashed to the floor. And like a prize fighter, Hogan pumped his fists in the air. The crowd screamed. He took a bow, then hugged his wife. Some of his staffers were still imitating the move minutes later. During the event, the governor honored Jhoon Rhee, who is Jimmy Rhees father and is credited with bringing the Korean self-defense discipline of taekwondo to the United States. Jhoon Rhee taught taekwondo techniques to Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Muhammad Ali, his son said. Hogan said Jhoon Rhee, who is in his 80s, also trained members of Congress decades ago, including the governors father, Larry Hogan Sr. Mentioning his wife, who is Korean American, Hogan said, Korean culture has a special place in my heart. Del. Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Montgomery) said he studied with the elder Rhee 40 years ago and came to the ceremony to catch up with the legendary grand master. He also said he was impressed with Hogans chop. Thinking ahead to the legislation that is being passed by the House and Senate and moving to the governors desk, Kramer said with a smile: Hopefully, he signs bills with his left hand. Maryland 8th Congressional District candidate Kathleen Matthews. (Kate Patterson/For The Washington Post) Fourth in a series of profiles of candidates for the Democratic nomination in Marylands 8th Congressional District. Kathy Cunningham was 22 and fresh out of Stanford in 1975 when she applied for a job with Mel Elfin, Newsweeks famously acidic Washington bureau chief. It didnt go well. He very undiplomatically told me that I didnt belong in his office and that I should go out and cut my teeth in a small market, said the woman now known as Kathleen Matthews. She stayed to become a reporter and anchor for WJLA (Channel 7) and later an executive with Marriott International. Forty-one years later, as a first-time candidate running for Marylands 8th Congressional District nomination, the Democrat says she is hearing a similar message from some voters. I dont think theres a cookie-cutter resume that qualifies you for Congress, she told Frederick County Democrats last month. In a district where 60 percent of the most frequent Democratic primary voters are women, Matthews, 62, has built her campaign around gender and family issues. Pay equity, paid family leave, affordable child care and protection of abortion rights all figure prominently in her message, as does a vow to curb gun violence. She reminds female voters that women make up just 20 percent of Congress. Matthews is polished and poised from her years in front of the camera and traveling the globe for Marriott. She has tried to use her prominence in local news to connect with voters on two levels: as a working mother who dashed home to make dinner and help with homework between the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts, and as a journalist whose assignments afforded her firsthand knowledge of their problems. Ive been in your communities for years, covering your schools, covering crime, she said in Frederick. Kathleen Matthews, greets Realtors after a forum sponsored by the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post) The identity Matthews would like to shed is that of a Washington insider. She and her husband, MSNBC Hardball host Chris Matthews, occupy the top tier of the citys journo-politico establishment. Although the campaign has preferred to highlight its small-dollar donations, her finance reports are stuffed with big contributions from current and former Democratic members of Congress, former White House officials and corporate political action committees. [Hardball bounces into middle of Maryland congressional race] Despite suggestions from one of her opponents that she has traded on her husbands celebrity to raise money, he has mostly kept his distance from the campaign, per ground rules worked out with MSNBC. One exception was at a Labor Day block party in the couples Chevy Chase Village neighborhood, when the voluble pundit, invited to the microphone by his wife, touted her political bona fides. She really is a progressive liberal, much more than I am, actually, he said, according to a video of the event posted on YouTube. Im politically incorrect at home. Shes never politically incorrect, ever. During nearly a decade as Marriotts executive vice president and chief global communications and public affairs officer, Kathleen Matthews oversaw a PAC that contributed $1.4 million to House and Senate candidates. Prior to her watch, contributions skewed Republican. Under Matthews, the partisan split was close to even, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. Matthews grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, where her father was personnel manager for a biotech firm and her mother a kindergarten teacher who stayed home after her children were born. After Elfin sent her packing, Matthews landed a job as a production assistant for WJLA. Her break came the afternoon of Jan. 13, 1982, when Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street bridge in a heavy snowstorm, killing 78 passengers, crew members and motorists. Four months pregnant with her first of three children, Matthews, then working as a producer, was nearby on Rock Creek Parkway en route to another assignment. She headed for the scene and began reporting. By the weekend, she was on camera, updating viewers on the recovery operation. In 1991, she began a 15-year run as an anchor. She accepted the job with Marriott in 2006 and describes herself as a change agent for the company, having an impact far beyond public relations. The hotel giant was already in the middle of a 10-year plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Matthews led the creation of an internal Green Council to expand those efforts, which included partnering with the Brazilian state of Amazona to protect 1.4 million acres of rain forest. Glenn Prickett, a former official with Conservation International, which collaborated with Marriott on several projects, said the environment had been on the radar screen but not at that level of leadership in the company before Matthews arrived. Matthews said she also helped the company, which began offering a domestic partners benefit for employees in 1999, become more hospitable to LGBT employees urging, for example, that it join a friend-of-the-court brief in last years Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage. Opponents like to imply she was not a real executive, said Marriott chief executive Arne Sorenson. Nothing could be further from the truth. Next: Will Jawando. Marylands legislation on criminal justice aims to reduce incarceration and recidivism rates. (Benjamin C Tankersley/For The Washington Post) The Maryland House approved bills Wednesday that would make broad changes to the states criminal justice system and require convicted drunk drivers to breathe into ignition-interlock devices to start their vehicles. The bills, approved overwhelmingly by the House of Delegates, move to conference committees to be reconciled with the Senate versions before the 2016 legislative session ends in five days. The criminal justice legislation, which the House approved in a 104-to-32 vote, aims to reduce incarceration and recidivism rates by altering the states criminal penalties and guidelines for sentencing and parole. Much of the language deals with penalties for nonviolent crimes such as low-level drug possession that disproportionately affect African Americans. The House and Senate have passed significantly different versions. The House bill would repeal some mandatory minimum sentences; increase penalties for gang leaders and for child abusers who kill their victims; and reduce the age at which inmates can receive geriatric parole from 65 to 60. The Senate bill differs in that it would expunge dozens of convictions and allow the automatic parole of nonviolent offenders after they serve 25 percent of their sentences. It would also give judges greater discretion in sentencing those who violate probation. [Criminal justice bills impacts is questioned] The ignition-interlock bill, dubbed Noahs Law in honor of a Montgomery County police officer who was killed by a suspected drunk driver while on DUI patrol, would require motorists convicted of driving at or above the states legal blood-alcohol limit of 0.08 to breathe into the ignition-linked device before trying to start their vehicles. Both chambers passed the measure unanimously, but the House version includes an option of suspending a drivers license rather than requiring an ignition interlock. [In Maryland, concern that Noahs law has been watered down] Also on Wednesday, the Senate voted 31 to 14 to ramp up the states planned use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar. Under the measure, Maryland would have to generate 25 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2020, compared with the current goal of 20 percent by 2022. Sen. Robert G. Cassilly (R-Harford), who voted against the measure, argued that the bill will ultimately increase residents energy costs. I see this as a sad bill, he said. Environmentalists hailed the measure, saying the new target ranks Maryland sixth nationally in increasing its use of clean energy. Vermont, California, Hawaii, New York and Connecticut have taken similar steps. Advocates also noted that the measure is the second significant environmental bill to advance this month. On Monday, Gov. Larry Hogan (R) signed a bill that tackles the states carbon pollution by requiring sharp reductions in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. The measure takes effect in October. Maryland is on the cusp of cementing its national leadership role among states in solving climate change, said Mike Tidwell, the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. After approving deeper climate-pollution cuts, the General Assembly is now poised to accelerate clean-energy solutions. The House of Delegates passed similar clean-energy legislation last month. The two bills must be reconciled before heading to Hogans desk. The Senate also advanced a House bill that would give the state attorney general authority to regulate transfers of structured-settlement payments to businesses that purchase them at steep discounts. Additionally, the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would create a task force to study the needs of children in the states juvenile justice system. The review would include examining policies on strip searches and shackling. The measure goes to the House for consideration. State Sen. Jamie B. Raskin is the most liberal of the nine candidates running for the Democratic nomination in Marylands 8th congressional district and, according to the few polls that are out there, a frontrunner. Here are some little known facts about him: 1) Political Bloodlines: Raskins grandfather, attorney Samuel Bellman, was Minnesotas first Jewish state legislator, elected in 1935. 2) Early influence: Harvard political theorist Judith Shklar, Raskins undergraduate thesis adviser, whose book Ordinary Vices warned against the dangers of cruelty, hypocrisy, snobbery, betrayal, and misanthropy. 3) Early Job: General counsel for Jesse Jacksons Rainbow coalition, 1989-1990. 4) First Big Quote: In March 2006, testifying at a legislative hearing on a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage, Raskin responded to state Sen. Nancy Jacobs (R), who said the Bible reserved marriage for a man and a woman. Senator, when you took your oath of office, you placed your hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution, he said. You didnt put your hand on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. Raskin won his first election later that year, unseating incumbent Sen. Ida Ruben in the Democratic primary. 5) The plays the thing: Raskin works with Silver Springs Lumina Studio Theater, which adapts Shakespeare for young casts. Hes co-written productions of Measure for Measureand Henry V. Republican Gov. Larry Hogans popularity has soared to record levels in heavily Democratic Maryland, according to a new Washington Post-University of Maryland poll. About two-thirds of Marylanders, 66 percent, approve of Hogans tenure more than a year after he took office, up 5 percentage points since October and higher than any governor in Post polls dating to 1998. His predecessor, Martin OMalley (D), did not come close to Hogans level of approval in his eight-year tenure. [Read full Post-U. Md. poll results] Facing an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature, Hogan has governed as a moderate, focusing on taxes and other pocketbook issues while avoiding polarizing social topics such as abortion or religious-objection laws. A straight talker, he is not afraid to scold and snipe at Democrats who dont share his priorities. But he also has avoided potentially damaging standoffs by fully funding the states public school systems and agreeing to direct money toward higher-education projects and a Prince Georges County hospital. This approach is paying off among registered Democrats in the state. Almost twice as many approve of his performance as disapprove, 56 percent vs. 29 percent, according to the poll. Chris Zhang, a Democrat and a Bernie Sanders supporter, said he was skeptical of having a Republican in the governors mansion but is impressed by the lack of controversy surrounding Hogan. I think hes been doing a good job, said Zhang, 33, a health-care information technology worker who lives in Columbia. I havent seen anything egregious on the news to suggest otherwise. [A smashing good time for Hogan on Marylands Taekwando Day] Some poll respondents who criticized Hogan cited concerns expressed this year by leaders of the Legislative Black Caucus, who accused Hogan of carrying out racially biased policies by funding a new jail in Baltimore rather than several construction projects at historically black universities. Hogan responded by agreeing to redirect the jail funding to campus construction. I think hes prioritizing prisons over education, said Vera Holman, a 48-year-old black Owings Mills resident who is not registered with either political party. Told that Hogan had dropped his plan to build the new jail, however, she said the reversal merits a second look at the governors record. The improving economy and a sense of optimism about Marylands future is buoying support for the governor, a former commercial estate broker and first-time officeholder who successfully battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma last year and remains in remission. A majority of residents polled, 54 percent, say things in Maryland are headed in the right direction. Between 51 and 58 percent approve of Hogans handling of the economy, taxes, education and transportation. His approval ratings dip to 35 percent for dealing with heroin abuse in the state. But a smaller 25 percent disapprove, and the rest have no opinion on the issue. [A year in, Hogan is adept at sidestepping criticism] Overall, the Post-U-Md. poll suggests that black lawmakers pointed criticism has not resonated broadly outside of Annapolis, with 57 percent of African Americans statewide approving of the governor. Majority approval of the governor stretches across all demographics and regions of the state, except liberals and young people. Even among these groups, more say they approve than disapprove. Democratic lawmakers in the state are less well regarded by Marylanders, the poll found, despite their partys more than 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans. Some 48 percent of respondents approve and 39 percent disapprove of the way Democrats in the legislature are handling their jobs. More, 57 percent, approve of Hogans efforts to work with Democrats in the General Assembly. The poll found strong support for legislation on criminal justice reform that is making its way through the legislature, which ends its 90-day session on Monday. A whopping 81 percent of Marylanders support efforts to shift nonviolent drug offenders to treatment rather than prison, according to the poll. And roughly 7 in 10 support an approach combining early release from prison for nonviolent offenders and moving away from mandatory minimum sentences. When looking only at Republicans, support for changes in sentencing policy drops to a smaller majority of 55 percent. Hogan supports reducing the prison population and expanding treatment, but he has expressed concern about the House going even further to relax penalties. Progressives in that chamber are pushing to eliminate some mandatory minimum sentences. [Sweeping criminal justice bill under consideration] William Nolen, a 47-year-old assistant principal at a Baltimore elementary and middle school, said hes seen the toll of drug penalties in students who miss school to visit incarcerated relatives and who resign themselves to ending up behind bars, too. He said the shift to treatment instead of prison is overdue. Its a real big hot-button issue, whereas before everyone was saying we need to be hard on crime, we need stricter sentences, said Nolen, a Democrat who commutes to his job from his home in Silver Spring. Now the country has reversed itself, so politicians will no longer be seen as soft on crime. The poll found that a smaller majority of Marylanders, 59 percent, support a policy under consideration in the legislature to increase fines and impose jail time for adults who provide alcohol to teenagers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, middle-aged and older residents are far more likely to support the idea than young people, the poll found. [Harsher penalties for illegal drinking move forward] Hogan has sought to draw a contrast between himself and Democrats this year by backing popular policies that have little chance of getting out of the legislature. Lawmakers are set to adjourn the 90-day session next week without acting on Hogans proposals to reform the redistricting process, ease spending mandates or cut taxes for manufacturers and retirees. The resistance by Democrats doesnt surprise Harold Ertwine, a 71-year-old Republican in Harford County. When you have the same people in there year after year after year, they are untouchable, said Ertwine, a retired investigator for the Motor Vehicle Administration. He said he wasnt banking on Hogans proposal to reduce taxes on retirement benefits. Whats the sense of looking forward to something thats not going to happen? Hogan and the legislature did negotiate a $42 billion budget with little drama. And he and the legislature are on track to bipartisan agreement on criminal justice, police reform and other matters. Marylands last GOP governor, Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., came close to Hogans popularity, with a 62 percent approval rating roughly a year into office. But Ehrlichs popularity declined in the second half of his term, and he lost his reelection bid in 2006, which was a good year nationally for Democrats. [Md. Gov. Hogan says he might not support Trump as nominee] Hogan has largely steered clear of national politics, although he supported the presidential campaign of Republican Chris Christie, a close friend and the governor of New Jersey. Since Christie left the race, Hogan has said he doesnt plan to attend the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer and has declined to endorse any of the remaining presidential contenders. The Post-U-Md. poll was conducted March 30-April 3 among a random sample of 1,503 residents of Maryland reached on landline and cellular telephones. The margin of sampling error for overall results is plus or minus three percentage points. The survey was conducted in partnership with U-Md.s Center for American Politics and Citizenship. Ovetta Wiggins and Emily Guskin contributed to this report. Third in a series of profiles of candidates for the Democratic nomination in Marylands 8th Congressional District. Maryland state Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery) during a legislative session in Annapolis. Raskin is running for Congress. (Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post) The photo from Life magazine hangs on the wall of state Sen. Jamie B. Raskins Annapolis office. It shows his liberal-activist parents cooling their feet in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, listening to Martin Luther King Jr. at the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Marcus Raskin, a White House national security aide, broke with the Kennedy administration over the Vietnam War and co-founded the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. Barbara Raskin wrote a landmark feminist novel, Hot Flashes. Growing up in their Adams Morgan rowhouse meant immersion in the movements that powered the tumultuous 1960s and 70s: civil rights, womens rights, and peace. His parents legacy helped Raskin, 53, find his own path as a law professor, three-term state senator and now contender in the Democratic primary in Marylands 8th Congressional District. Our house was packed with books, Raskin said. You would trip over books. In a nine-candidate field that is almost completely left of center, Raskin who is considered a front-runner along with wine mogul David Trone and former news anchor Kathleen Matthews is furthest out on the left flank. He led the 2009 floor fight for the repeal of the death penalty and joined Sen. Richard S. Madaleno Jr. (D-Montgomery) and others in shepherding same-sex-marriage legislation to passage in 2012. The following year, Raskin worked with then-state Sen. Brian E. Frosh (D-Montgomery) to pass a state ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles. During the current legislative session, Raskin has focused on a sweeping criminal-justice reform bill and a long effort to expand the use of ignition locks for drunk drivers. [Polls by Matthews, Trone both show Raskin in the lead] Raskin says he wants to take the Maryland progressive agenda to Congress. He paints proposals with sweeping, Great Society-like strokes, such as his call for a Green Deal, a public works program to stimulate the economy by repairing roads and other infrastructure with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. A longtime resident of ultra-progressive Takoma Park, Raskin has proposed a national commission to develop legislation to liberate the American underclass from the interlocking problems of inadequate education and bad health care, environmental racism, unemployment, economic exploitation, and mass incarceration. He is an outspoken critic of Citizens United, the Supreme Court ruling that allowed unions and corporations to spend unlimited sums for or against candidates for elective office. An election is not an auction, he told a Rockville audience recently. It is a discussion among the people. What people hate about the age of Citizens United is that big money has become a substitute for everything else. [As primary clock winds down, endorsements pile up] Raskin has sought to tie his criticism of Washingtons money culture to his two wealthy principal opponents, Matthews and Trone. Theres a difference between celebrity and public service, and theres a difference between big wealth and leadership, Raskin said. The skills of politics are different from the skills of simply accumulating money in a very unequal economy. Critics point out that Raskin is wealthy in his own right, although not on the same scale as Trone, co-founder of Total Wine & More, and Matthews, a former WJLA anchor and Marriott executive. The senator and his wife, Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin, have accumulated assets of up to $6.8 million, according to financial disclosure reports. He also has the support of two super PACs. The Freethought Equality Fund, a super PAC that promotes the separation of church and state, spent $11,400 on a recent mailing for Raskin. The group Mayday, which advocates for changes in campaign finance, announced last fall that it would raise $100,000 and recruit 250 volunteers on Raskins behalf, although with three weeks until the April 26 primary, it has so far spent less than $1,000 on Raskin. Raskin says that as prescribed by law, he has had no coordination or contact with the groups. Fifth-grader Hector Vasquez and Raskin shake hands after the state senator checkmated Hector at Broad Acres Elementary School in 2010. Raskin and school counselor Fernando Moreno started All The Right Moves, a program to build childrens interest in chess. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post) Raskin is the product of an elite education that started at Georgetown Day School and continued at Harvard University and Harvard Law School. Now a professor at American Universitys Washington College of Law, he projects a genteel academic dishevelment baggy suits and curly, thinning hair askew. [Five things to know about Jamie Raskin] He prides himself on his statehouse collaborations with Republicans and more-moderate Democrats. Among his legislative efforts, he co-sponsored Marylands medical marijuana bill with then-state Sen. David Brinkley (R), like Raskin, a cancer survivor. Sen. James Brochin of Baltimore County, one of the Maryland Senates most right-leaning Democrats, said Raskins gentle and persistent advocacy got him to change his position on same-sex marriage. He spent two years working on me, Brochin said. Hes got an incredible amount of decency. Raskin said his approach to lawmaking has been informed by a look into the abyss: his 2010 cancer diagnosis and the prospect of being taken from his wife and three then-teenage children. Finishing his chemotherapy as the General Assembly debated same sex-marriage, Raskin said, he started thinking about the juxtaposition of misfortune and injustice. Life is hard enough with all the natural misfortunes that we dont need to compound it with socially created injustice, he said. The role of government should be to liberate people from injustice as much as possible. Next: Kathleen Matthews. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett says he supports a $15-an-hour minimum wage, provided it is phased in over at least six years and that increases can be delayed if economic conditions deteriorate. Leggett voiced his conditional support for a bill sponsored by Council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large) to raise the countys minimum wage currently $9.55 to $15 an hour by 2020. Elrich said he plans to formally introduce the measure next week. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has announced that she will ask the City Council for similar legislation. Montgomery County joined the District and Prince Georges County in 2013 to lift the minimum to $11.50 by no later than October 2017. [California minimum wage hike: hope and danger for workers] A $15-an-hour wage is the target of a national campaign organized by low-wage workers, labor and Democratic activists. New York and California lawmakers have recently approved plans to phase in the new wage over several years. They join Los Angeles, Seattle and several other cities. The federal minimum of $7.25 has not changed since 2009. In an interview Tuesday, Leggett said he would support the Elrich bill if the phase-in period was expanded to 2022, as it is in California. He said the proposal must also have an off-ramp that allows the county to delay implementation of increases in a bad economy. I would move it back a couple of years, Leggett said of the phase-in. Second, if you run into a clear recessionary downturn, you should have a provision to hold it [wage increases] for a period of time. The California bill provides a series of triggers tied to declines in sales tax revenue and job growth and projected state budget deficits that would pause the progression of wage increases. Elrichs bill includes no such provisions in its current draft. But he said Tuesday that Leggetts comments were encouraging. [Fight for $15 an hour has shifted presidential campaign] This is all part of sausage making, he said. But Im not going to negotiate in the newspaper. . . . I think just the fact that hes interested and has a couple of things he wants to talk about is a really good sign. Leggett said the county needed to proceed cautiously to avoid alienating a business sector that already views Montgomery as over-regulated and unfriendly. I dont think people disagree with the objective of it, he said. But we have to be clear about the messages were sending . . . especially if you dont have the entire region of the state doing likewise. Leggett was referring to Prince Georges County, which has indicated that it currently has no plans to join the District and Montgomery in considering a higher wage. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett announced Wednesday that he has trimmed the residential property tax increase he proposed last month, citing new state legislation that eases fiscal fallout from last years Supreme Court ruling that Marylands income tax system was unconstitutional. It was Leggetts second consequential economic message this week. On Tuesday, he said he supported a $15-an-hour minimum wage for the county, provided it is phased in over at least six years and that increases can be delayed if economic conditions deteriorate. Leggett (D) told the County Council on Wednesday that he reduced the property tax increase included in the 2017 budget he submitted last month from 8.7 percent to 6.4 percent. It drops the property tax rate increase from 3.9 cents per $100 assessed valuation to 2.1 cents. [Proposed Montgomery budget has biggest property tax hike in eight years] With rising assessments, it means that the average annual residential tax bill would rise just under $242 a year, from $3,749.50 to $3,991.42 instead of $4,075. Leggett said he was able to lower his proposed increase after learning that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) will not veto legislation extending the period during which the county would receive reduced revenue distributions from the state because of the Wynne case. The Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 last year that Maryland was illegally denying residents a full credit for taxes paid on income earned outside the state. The court said the provision of the states tax law constituted double taxation and ordered refunds to those who had filed claims. The county is still looking at more than $200 million in reduced tax revenue as a result of the court-mandated refunds. But under the new law, the reductions will start in May 2019 instead of this June and will be spread out across 20 quarters rather than nine. The legislation, sponsored by state Sens. Richard S. Madaleno (D-Montgomery) and Cheryl C. Kagan (D-Montgomery), means that the county will face a $17 million reduction instead of $50 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The proposed slice in the tax increase doesnt change the major elements of Leggetts 2017 budget. Most of the increase would still be devoted to the 156,000-student public school system, which is facing explosive enrollment growth. [Maryland, once opponent of Wynne, now urging residents to seek refunds] In a letter to Council President Nancy Floreen (D-At Large), Leggett urged the council to stay within this revised recommended property tax rate and overall recommended level of expenditures. The council will have a series of public hearings and work sessions before taking final action on the budget in mid-May. On Tuesday, Leggett voiced conditional support for a bill sponsored by council member Marc Elrich (D-At Large) to raise the countys minimum wage currently $9.55 to $15 an hour by 2020. Elrich said he plans to formally introduce the measure next week. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) has announced that she will ask the D.C. Council for similar legislation. Montgomery joined the District and Prince Georges County in 2013 to lift the minimum to $11.50 by no later than October 2017. A $15-an-hour wage is the target of a national campaign organized by low-wage workers, labor and Democratic activists. New York and California lawmakers have recently approved plans to phase in the new wage over several years. In an interview Tuesday, Leggett said he would support the Elrich bill if the phase-in period was expanded to 2022, as it is in California. He said the proposal must also have an off-ramp that allows the county to delay implementation of increases in a bad economy. I would move it back a couple of years, Leggett said of the phase-in. Second, if you run into a clear recessionary downturn, you should have a provision to hold it [wage increases] for a period of time. A national union that was one of the first to back the presidential bid of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is now lining up behind Rep. Donna F. Edwards in the competitive Democratic Senate primary in Maryland. National Nurses United is supporting Edwards over Rep. Chris Van Hollen for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D). [Racial split defines Md.s hotly contested Democratic Senate primary] NNU is the largest nursing union in the country, with about 185,000 members. Its super PAC has spent $2.4 million in support of Sanders, according to the Center for Public Integrity. The group is known for a combative style and commitment to liberal activism that goes well beyond nurse-specific concerns. In the past, the group has feuded with the Service Employees International Union, which is backing Van Hollen. [Edwards] shares nurses values of caring, compassion, and community, NNU Vice President Sandra Falwell said in a statement. She cited Edwardss support for single-payer health care and new taxes on Wall Street transactions, as well as her opposition to free trade deals. All three positions are shared by Sanders. Like Sanders, Edwards has attacked her primary rival as cozy with Wall Street a charge vehemently denied by Van Hollen. Yet while Edwards has many similarities with Sanders, to win the primary she will likely be relying mostly on supporters of Hillary Clinton. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released Tuesday found voters in the primary split along racial lines, with Edwardss slim lead fueled by black voters. Those same voters are likely to support Clinton in the presidential race over Sanders, who has meager African American support. Edwards herself, like Van Hollen, is supporting Clinton. In a recent radio debate, she was asked why. I believe in womens leadership and I believe that shell make a terrific president, Edwards replied, adding that she had worked with Clinton before entering public office herself. But, she said, Nobody agrees with one presidential candidate or one president all the time. NNU does not have actually have a Maryland affiliate, but staff say several thousand members who work in D.C. live in the state. NNUs headquarters is also in Silver Spring.The Laborers International Union of North America also endorsed Edwards this week. That union has about 6,000 members in Maryland. A union-backed super PAC supporting Edwards, Working for Us, is also airing television ads on her behalf. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan 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. 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Larry Hogan (R) has asked President Obama to throw his weight behind plans for removing politics from the states redistricting process. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post) Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is pulling out all the stops including asking for President Obamas help in pressing Marylands Democratic-controlled legislature to vote on his plan for redistricting reform before lawmakers adjourn for the year on Monday. It is almost certainly not going to happen. Hogan has proposed putting a referendum on the November ballot that would ask voters whether they want a nonpartisan commission to redraw the states voting boundaries, which are widely considered to be among the nations most gerrymandered, or manipulated to give one party an advantage. In a state with an extremely popular Republican governor and a 2-to-1 ratio of registered Democrats to registered Republicans, all but one of the states eight congressional seats is held by a Democrat. The state constitution gives the legislature and governor authority to create congressional and legislative districts every 10 years. [Poll: Hogans popularity has soared to record levels] Six states use nonpartisan redistricting committees to draw their voting maps, and the idea is broadly popular among Maryland residents. But leading Democrats, whose party holds large majorities in the House and the Senate, say they will not consider making Marylands system more balanced unless other states whose maps favor Republicans do the same. The House and Senate held hearings on Hogans proposal more than a month ago, but no vote has been held on whether to advance the measure. There can be no possible excuse for keeping this bill hidden in a drawer and simply ignoring the will of nearly every person in Maryland, Hogan said at a news conference this week. Its time for legislators to join with us and set an example for the entire nation. On Wednesday, Hogans office released a letter the governor sent to the White House requesting assistance from Obama, who has been a vocal advocate for national redistricting reform during his final year in office. There are only days left in the legislative session, and next year, we may not have as strong an advocate in the White House as you have been on this issue, Hogan wrote. With your intervention, I believe we could set things right in Maryland. The White House so far has not responded to the letter, which a spokesman for Maryland House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) called an attempt to make political hay. Busch and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert) have said Maryland should wait for Congress to enact redistricting reform nationwide, or for a regional agreement that involves Republican-controlled states. Jeremy Baker, a spokesman for Busch, said the speaker is going to focus on issues of immediate importance to middle-class families such as paid sick leave and retirement benefits during the final days of the legislative session. After session, the speaker plans to continue to reach out to legislative leaders in the Mid-Atlantic to gauge interest in a bipartisan, regional approach to redistricting reform, Baker said. [Activists push to tame Marylands gerrymander problem] Much like Democrats in Marylands General Assembly, the Republican majority in Congress is reluctant to take away redistricting power from GOP lawmakers in red states. When asked whether Hogan would consider a multi-state deal, which has been proposed by some Maryland lawmakers, aides to the governor said the state should lead on the issue. Marylanders dont want to have to wait for action in some other state before they can get fair election districts at home, Hogan spokesman Matt Clark said. A lawyer for Marylands General Assembly provided Democrats with ammunition against Hogans proposal last month, saying in a letter to Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore), who had requested advice on the matter, that the legislation was essentially too poorly written to be workable. Hogans office responded last week by saying lawmakers could address any problems with the bill by amending it. In Virginia, where Republicans hold eight of 11 congressional seats, legislative proposals to establish an independent redistricting commission have made no progress. Virginias districts are being challenged in a case that the U.S. Supreme Court heard last month. The justices are expected to issue a ruling about June. Thursday, April 7 Manassas farmers market Thursday 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Loy E. Harris Pavilion, 9201 Center St., and 7:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Parking Lot B, West Street (next to the train station visitors center), Manassas. 703-361-6599. visitmanassas.org. AARP income-tax preparation help Thursday and Tuesday at 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Chinn Park Regional Library, 13065 Chinn Park Dr., Woodbridge. 703-792-4800; and Thursdays at noon-8 p.m. Mondays at 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through April 18, Bull Run Regional Library, 8051 Ashton Ave., Manassas. 703-792-4530. Free. Beauty and the Beast A cast of nearly 80 students presents the Disney musical. Thursday-Friday at 7 p.m. Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m. Gainesville Middle School, 8001 Limestone Dr., Gainesville. 703-753-2997. $8, seniors and students $6, 3 and younger free. Prince William Living domestic abuse community forum A panel discusses how and why domestic abuse happens and what can be done about it. 7 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, Merchant Hall, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 703-993-7759. hyltoncenter.org. Free, registration suggested. Woodbridge Toastmasters Club An open-house meeting. Learn effective communication and leadership skills. 7:30 p.m. Ebenezer Baptist Church, 13020 Telegraph Rd., Woodbridge. 703-898-7171. woodbridge.toastmastersclubs.org. $68 membership fee. Creativity Awakens An exhibit of pottery by Marianne Cordyack of Reston and photography and digital painting by David and Jane Ernst of Springfield. Through May 2, Artists Undertaking, 309 Mill St., Occoquan. 703-494-0584. theartistsundertaking.com. Free. Impressions Osbourn High Schools student art show features mixed media, sculpture and drawings. Through April 17. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. www.manassasmuseum.org. Free. To Be Sold Works of 19th century artist Eyre Crow examine the story of enslaved African Americans sold into forced migration. This exhibit is from the Library of Virginia with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through April 17. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. manassasmuseum.org. Free. Jerry Baker art exhibit This months exhibit features pencil sketches and charcoal drawings by the local artist. Through April 15. Manassas City Hall, 9027 Center St., Manassas. 703-257-8200. Free. Friday, April 8 American Legion dinner The public is invited to dinner with a different special every week. Proceeds support local veterans and the community. 5:30-7:30 p.m. Woodbridge American Legion, 3640 Friendly Post Lane, Woodbridge. 703-494-4304. vapost364.org. $5-$15. Little Shop of Horrors Rooftop Productions stages the musical about a bloodthirsty plant named Audrey. Friday-Saturday at 8 p.m. through April 23, Candy Factory, Kellar Theater, 9419 Battle St., Manassas. 703-330-2787. center-for-the-arts.org. $18, seniors and students $15. Moscow Festival Ballet: The Sleeping Beauty Founded by Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer Sergei Radchenko, the Russian company stages new productions of classics. 8 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 888-945-2468. hyltoncenter.org. $34-$56. Saturday, April 9 Home buyer seminar Presented by local real estate broker Bob Hummer. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Strayer University, 13385 Minnieville Rd., Woodbridge. 703-878-4866. military-realestate.com. Free. Brentsville Civil War Weekend The living history event focuses on soldiers and civilians in Brentsville shortly after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox. Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Brentsville Courthouse Historic Centre, 12229 Bristow Rd., Bristow. 703-365-7895. pwcgov.org. Free. Basement to Attic tours A tour of the 1825 house as it undergoes restoration. Noon, Liberia Plantation, 8601 Portner Ave., Manassas. 703-257-8453. manassasmuseum.org. $15, reservations required. Family Day Celebrate the month of the military child with games and crafts. Noon-3 p.m. National Museum of the Marine Corps, 18900 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Triangle. 877-635-1775. usmcmuseum.com. Free. Sunday, April 10 Dale City farmers market 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Dale City Commuter Lot, (behind Center Plaza Shopping Center), Dale Boulevard, Dale City. 703-670-7112, Ext. 227. pwcparks.org. Free. Author Jonathan Horn A discussion of his book The Man Who Would Not be Washington. 1:30-3 p.m. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. manassasmuseum.org. Free. Art Journaling Hosted by Yellow Brick Road Studio, no art or writing experience necessary. 2-4 p.m. Vint Hill Craft Winery, 7150 Lineweaver Rd., Vint Hill. kerryc627@yahoo.com. 540-351-0000. vinthillcraftwinery.com. $25, journal $7. Bingo Proceeds support local veterans. Doors open at noon on Sunday with games beginning at 2 p.m. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Mondays with games beginning at 7:15 p.m. Woodbridge American Legion, 3640 Friendly Post Lane, Woodbridge. 703-494-4304. $15 minimum. Monday, April 11 Job search network group Plus discussion of topics related to the search process. 1-3 p.m. House of Mercy, 8170 Flannery Ct., Manassas. 703-659-1636. Free. Bingo Proceeds support Dale City Knights of Columbus activities and charities. Doors open at 6 p.m. with games beginning at 7:30 p.m. VFW Post 1503, 14631 Minnieville Rd., Dale City. 703-491-2378. $9 minimum. Prince William Community Band Rehearsal, for musicians 19 and older, no audition necessary. 7:30 p.m. Saunders Middle School, 13557 Spriggs Rd., Manassas. 703-791-4119. pwcb.org. Free. Tuesday, April 12 Pre-K Tuesday Songs, stories and crafts for children 3-5 with a caregiver. 10 a.m. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. manassasmuseum.org. $10. Matinee Idylls Echos Chamber Choir performs everything from Renaissance motets to Indian ragas. A catered lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m. Performance begins at 1:30 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 888-945-2468. hyltoncenter.org. Lunch and concert $43, concert only $20. Wednesday, April 13 Lake Ridge Toastmasters Club Members 18 and older develop their public speaking and leadership skills. 7:30-9:15 p.m. Tall Oaks Community Center, 12298 Cotton Mill Dr., Lake Ridge. 703-491-3020. contact-8913@toastmastersclubs.org. lakeridge.toastmastersclubs.org. $34-$64 membership fee. Compiled by Sarah Lane To submit an event E-mail: pwliving@washpost.com Fax: 703-392-1406 Details: Announcements are accepted on a space-available basis from public and nonprofit organizations only and must be received at least 14 days before the Thursday publication date. Include event name, dates, times, exact address, prices and a publishable contact phone number. One administrative law judge in the District has been charged with assaulting another at their workplace at Judiciary Square during what D.C. police described as a dispute over entry to an office. Joan Davenport, 63, who lives in Northwest Baltimore, was charged with misdemeanor simple assault on Sharon Goodie. She has been freed pending a hearing, set for May 17, in D.C. Superior Court. The March 31 incident was reported at Davenports office across the street from D.C. police headquarters and next to the D.C. Court of Appeals building on Fourth Street NW. An arrest affidavit filed in court says Goodie told police that she knocked twice on Davenports door to deliver files but got no answer. She told police that the door opened and the defendant lunged at her and aimed for her neck. Goodie said that she evaded the lunge, according to police, but that Davenport struck her with a shoulder, making her fall backwards with her arms flailing, and that she landed in a squat position against the wall in the hallway. In a written statement that police said was provided to them, Davenport said she was speaking to a witness in a case when there was banging at her door. The defendant did not open the door and did not ask the person that was knocking to enter, however the banging continued, a police affidavit says. Then, according to police, Davenport said in the statement that her colleague stomped in with case files. According to police, Davenport said in the statement that her colleague had not been invited into her office nor did she have the right to open the door. Davenport reportedly said Goodie threw down the files, backed up and started to yell that she was being attacked. A witness who was holding Davenports arm told her, Joan, its not worth it, police said in the affidavit. An attorney for Davenport could not be reached for comment on Tuesday. Attempts Tuesday night to reach Davenport by telephone and email were not successful. Both judges work for the D.C. Office of Administrative Hearings. Davenport presides over cases involving public benefits, rehabilitation services and public works, according to the agencys website, which contains her biography. Goodie presides over unemployment compensation cases and disputes over rental housing. A school bus driver was seriously injured in an accident Wednesday afternoon in a rural section of Baltimore County, a school district spokesman said. Nine students were also hurt in the crash, which happened in Parkton at 2:37 p.m., said Mychael Dickerson, a spokesman for the school district. Dickerson said the bus was carrying 43 middle and high school students when it overturned on York Road. Its unclear what caused the accident, he said. The bus crashed near Hereford High School and Bunker Hill Road, fire and police officials said. Students who were not injured were taken back to Hereford High School to be picked up by their families, Dickerson said. He added that the school system has had no major school bus accidents this year. A D.C. police officer shot and killed a pit bull on Wednesday afternoon in Northwest Washington after the dog bit a woman and then charged the officer, a department spokeswoman said. A second dog involved in the attack was taken away by animal control, police said. The incident occurred about 2:50 p.m. in the 200 block of Gallitan Street NW, just off New Hampshire Avenue in Brightwood Park. Alice Kim, a police spokeswoman, said police responded to the block after a dog had reportedly bit a woman. Police said the woman suffered minor injuries and was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Kim said that the officer was charged by a pit bull, and he fired at least once. The dog was killed in the middle of the street. It is two blocks from the Washington Latin Public Charter School. A D.C. lawmaker floated a bill Tuesday that would raise the standards police must meet to carry out search warrants and require the city to pay for property damage when officers raid the wrong houses. D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large), the bills sponsor, said the measure was designed to prevent erroneous searches and give residents a clear course of action if police mistakenly raid their home. Grosso said the bill was a response to a Washington Post investigation of 2,000 search warrants that found 284 cases in which D.C. police searched homes for drugs and guns without observing criminal activity on the property. The Post identified a dozen cases in recent years in which police searched homes using incorrect or outdated address information. The raids occurred almost exclusively in black communities. [With scant evidence, D.C. police sometimes raid the wrong homes] For a long time, Ive heard stories from the public about police breaking down doors and destroying property during searches, Grosso said. This would go a very long way to address the problem and give justice in places where mistakes were made. Called the Search Warrant Execution Accountability Act of 2016, the bill would prevent judges from issuing search warrants unless police show that they have exercised due diligence to determine that the suspect owns or lives in the property they want to search. The bill would also make it more difficult for police to search houses at odd hours. To raid a home late at night, police would have to show by a preponderance of the evidence rather than probable cause that the items being sought were likely to be removed or destroyed, or that the property could not be searched during the day. The window for executing search warrants during the day would also narrow under Grossos proposal. Without special permission from a judge, officers would only be able to search between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. Currently, police can search between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. Under current law, when police damage a home during a search, residents can file a property damage claim with the Office of Risk Management. Residents often have to pay for repairs first. The office generally denies claims when damage occurs while police are executing a valid search warrant, leaving residents to seek recourse in civil court. Grossos bill would set up a new process for filing property damage claims after a search on the wrong house. Instead of going through the Office of Risk Management, they would have 45 days to send a claim to the Office of Police Complaints. The bill would require residents to provide evidence that the suspect had not lived at the address for at least three years or that police simply got the wrong address. Residents could also receive compensation for damaged property if they are able to show that they told police in writing that the suspect did not live at the residence. A D.C. police spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The department executed 1,800 search warrants in the city in 2015, according to police. In the vast majority, they got the right house. MPD received very few complaints regarding the execution of those warrants, chief Cathy L. Lanier told The Post in March. We remain committed to unbiased constitutional policing. Other cities and states have considered measures similar to Grossos legislation. A bill before the Maryland General Assembly would require law enforcement agencies to pay for damaged property if a search does not turn up relevant evidence or is carried out at the wrong address. The New York legislature is considering a similar measure that would require cities to reimburse property owners for damage done during searches unless the owner is convicted of a crime related to the search. In the 284 warrants examined by The Post, police arrested someone on the street for possessing drugs or weapons, then obtained warrants to search their residences by citing their training and experience investigating such crimes. Police found contraband usually small amounts of drugs in about 60 percent of searches. In the remaining 40 percent, police left empty-handed, The Post found. A mentally ill inmate who died at Virginias Hampton Roads Regional Jail in August after shedding roughly 40 pounds received substandard care from contract nurses and poor oversight from jail officials, according to a state audit released Tuesday. The Virginia Office of the Inspector General found significant concerns about the quality of medical and mental health care provided to Jamycheal Mitchell, who wasted away awaiting a bed at a state mental hospital after his arrest for stealing $5 worth of snacks. [Man dies in jail awaiting space at mental hospital] The inspector general found nurses with the contractor NaphCare did not treat severe edema in one of Mitchells legs, failed to note his alarming weight loss and relied on the acutely psychotic inmate to report any health problems or suicidal thoughts himself. HRRJ has a direct responsibility to provide quality medical and mental health care for those in their custody, the inspector general concluded. Review of NaphCare records raised significant concerns regarding the quality of assessment, care, follow-up, and documentation. The report noted NaphCare is no longer providing health care to inmates at the Hampton Roads jail, but it did not state whether the companys contract has been terminated. The inspector general found little prospect of inmate care improving even with a new contractor unless the jail provides better oversight of that care. NaphCare and officials with the jail did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment following the reports release late Tuesday afternoon. The report, combined with another released by the auditor for the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services last month, creates a portrait of a system that failed Mitchell at nearly every point of contact. DBHDS oversees state hospitals. The DBHDS report found that Mitchell languished at the Hampton Roads jail for about four months because he was never placed on a waiting list for a bed at a state mental hospital after a judge ordered him into care until he was well enough to stand trial. That report concluded there was no evidence that court officials had sent the order to the hospital on one occasion. When it was later faxed, an overwhelmed employee in the hospitals admissions department placed it in a drawer and forgot about it until after Mitchells death. The inspector general echoed those findings and went further, saying more-comprehensive changes and safeguards need to be put in place. The inspector general also noted that DBHDS recommendations developed in recent years would have improved the system for handling mentally ill inmates but were never implemented. The report recommended those changes be made quickly. The report details multiple and extreme failures by those charged with caring for Jamycheal, said a statement by Mark J. Krudys, an attorney for Mitchells family. It also notes broader systemic failures across multiple agencies that affected Jamycheal and others suffering from mental illness. Maria Reppas, a DBHDS spokeswoman, said the agency was reviewing the report and would make changes accordingly. She said the department had already moved to decrease wait times for inmates seeking beds at state hospitals. DBHDS has implemented changes to reduce the forensic waitlist, both in terms of numbers of individuals and length of time waiting, Reppas wrote in an email. Significant progress has been and will continue to be made. D.C. police said they are looking for three suspects in two separate incidents involving sexual assault in Southeast and in Northwest Washington. Authorities released surveillance video showing a man they say was involved in a March 18 attack in the 2600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, in the Barry Farm neighborhood. The man in the video is wearing black clothing and a green hat. Police said that another man was also involved. The attack happened between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m., when a woman was leaving a building, police said. One of the men, armed with a handgun, forced her into the basement of the building. In another incident, police said they are looking for a suspect who they say is connected to second-degree sexual abuse on R Street NW on Sunday. Police said that about 2 a.m., a man approached a victim from behind and sexually assaulted her outside a residence. The man is described as being a 30- to 45-year-old black man with short hair. He was wearing jeans and a neutral-color jacket. Police are offering rewards in both cases for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information is asked to call 202-727-9099. Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) on Wednesday asked the state supreme court to declare a former sailor innocent in the 1982 rape of a Newport News woman and murder of her husband, saying DNA evidence proved he wasnt the perpetrator. Herring said new forensic tests showed that Keith Allen Harward, who has spent 33 years in prison, could not have been the person who broke into the couples home and committed the brutal attacks. Harward, 59, was sentenced to life in prison after a jury in 1983 convicted him of beating Jesse Perron to death with a crowbar and raping the mans wife as their three children slept in another room. Hair and semen samples failed to connect Harward to the crime, but two experts testified that bite marks on the womans body matched his dental records. Harward never admitted guilt. If the new scientific testing results had been available at the time of his trial, no rational trier of fact would have found proof of Harwards guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, Herring said Wednesday. In this case, the Commonwealth got it wrong. Herring has joined Harwards attorneys in asking the Virginia Supreme Court for a writ of actual innocence vacating Harwards convictions. It could be several weeks before the court can take action, Herring said, but in the meantime, Harward can request a bail hearing in local court that would get him out of prison. Attorneys for Harward werent immediately available for comment on Wednesday. Herrings request, made with the support of the Newport News prosecutors office, came after a state court in July ordered the Department of Forensic Science to conduct DNA tests of numerous pieces of evidence found at the crime scene, including cigarette butts and a towel the victim wrapped herself in after the attack. The results exonerated Harward but identified another sailor from the area, Jerry L. Crotty, as the likely perpetrator, according to the attorney generals brief to the state supreme court. Crotty died in 2006 in an Ohio prison where he was serving time for a 2002 abduction, Herring said in the brief. The chances that the DNA profile belonged to someone other than Crotty were greater than the world population, he said. The new findings in Harwards case could have broader consequences not just in Virginia, but nationally, said Brandon Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor and expert in wrongful convictions. Its going to have systemic repercussions for revisiting cases with outdated forensics in Virginia, but also hopefully stimulate a national discussion about forensics, Garrett said. People like Mr. Harward shouldnt have to wait three decades. Garrett, who said he has followed Harwards case closely, called Harwards trial a perfect storm of false forensics. Its more evidence that this bite-mark evidence should never be used in court, Garrett said. Armenians Should Do Everything Possible To Ensure This is the Last Azeri Attack By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The Caifornoa Courier www.TheCaliforniaCourier.com The world woke up last Saturday morning to the drumbeats of war from a large-scale assault by Azerbaijan on tiny Artsakh (Karabagh). This was not a surprise attack! For many years, Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev has had the nasty habit of launching military attacks on the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh whenever international peace talks or Summit Meetings were being held. Even a casual observer of this long-running conflict could have guessed that Azerbaijan would launch yet another attack during last weekends Nuclear Security Summit hosted by Pres. Obama and attended by 50 heads of state, including Presidents of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. Some observers were surprised by the large scale of the Azeri attack which involved tanks, helicopters, missiles, and drones. In fact, the scope of the assault should not have come as a surprise, given Azerbaijans technological escalation of aggression in recent years. Aliyevs sinister practice of timing military attacks with peace talks or international conferences reflects his intensive efforts to keep the Artsakh conflict as a burning issue at all cost. Certainly, Pres. Aliyev is increasingly frustrated by his inability to intimidate Armenians into giving up the territory of Artsakh despite Azerbaijans purchase of multi-billion dollars of modern weaponry. Aliyev is also distressed by his failure to use his countrys vast oil and gas resources as an inducement to pressure world leaders into supporting Azerbaijan in the Artsakh conflict. As a result, the Baku dictator has wasted huge amounts of his countrys wealth to bribe foreign officials and purchase expensive but ineffective weapons. Furthermore, as Azerbaijans father and son Presidential Dynasty, the Aliyevs have persistently threatened to attack and liberate the occupied territories of Karabagh for over 20 years. Since they have cried wolf for far too long, very few Azeris take their presidents bravado talk too seriously. Consequently, Aliyev has been desperate to take any and all measures, no matter how reckless, to save face at home and abroad! It is important to understand the timing and motive of Aliyevs aggressive behavior so that other countries are not blamed for instigating these attacks which would only serve to shift attention from the only guilty party Azerbaijan! However, there are other countries that have a share of the blame: First among these is Erdogans Turkey for its direct participation and support of Azerbaijans military misadventures. The Minsk Group of mediators (France, Russia, and United States) are also guilty for remaining silent during previous Azeri aggressions and blaming both sides each time Azerbaijan attacked Armenia or Artsakh. The international communitys shameful silence and doubletalk routinely equated the victimizer with the victim, thereby emboldening the warmongering Aliyev! One particularly horrifying episode during this latest attack validated the concern of all those who have been warning for years about the risk of genocide threatening Artsakhs Armenians. Over the weekend, when Azeri soldiers temporarily took over the Talish village, just inside Artsakhs border, they not only executed an elderly Armenian couple, but barbarically cut off their ears as souvenirs! Such savagery, at a minimum, is a war crime under international law! Just imagine what these brutal Azeri soldiers would have done if they had overrun the entire population of Artsakh. It would have been a bloodbath of immense proportion a second Armenian Genocide! Three firm conclusions should be drawn from the latest massive Azeri aggression: 1) Artsakh Armenians can never go back to live under the despotic rule of Azerbaijan, no matter how many times Aliyev threatens or attacks. 2) Armenians should not just repel the Azeri forces, but inflict such massive destruction that Aliyev would never again think of another attack. Already, thousands of volunteers from all over Armenia have rushed to Artsakhs defense. Azerbaijan is aware that its multi-billion dollar oil fields and pipelines are in easy reach of Armenias long-range missiles! 3) It is time to declare Artsakh an inseparable part of the Republic of Armenia. On April 4, Pres. Sargsyan told foreign ambassadors in Yerevan that if the hostilities continued and escalated, Armenia would recognize Karabaghs independence. The brave people of Artsakh desperately need everyones moral, political and material support! The Armenia Artsakh Fund of Glendale, California, gratefully welcomes your contributions to be able to ship urgently-needed millions of dollars of medicines and medical supplies the Fund has already collected. Please send your tax-deductible donations to: Armenia Artsakh Fund, 1101 N. Pacific Ave., #204, Glendale, CA 91202. Email: [email protected]; phone: 818-241-8900. Marylands Board of Public Works approved a $5.6 billion contract Wednesday for a team of companies to build and operate a light-rail Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton. According to the contract the line would be completed in March 2022. (Maryland Department of Transportation) Marylands Board of Public Works approved a $5.6 billion contract Wednesday for a team of companies to build and operate a light-rail Purple Line from Bethesda to New Carrollton. According to the contract the line would be completed in March 2022. (Maryland Department of Transportation) A Maryland board approved a $5.6 billion contract Wednesday for a team of companies to build and operate a light-rail Purple Line that state officials say will rejuvenate older communities and transform a 16-mile swath of the Washington suburbs. The 876-page agreement believed to be the most expensive government contract ever in Maryland forms one of the largest public-private partnerships on a U.S. transportation project and will result in the first major light-rail line in the nations capital in years. The Purple Line also will be the first direct suburb-to-suburb link in a regional rail system built 40 years ago to ferry federal workers between the suburbs and the city. Although the line will connect Marylands spokes of the Metrorail system, it will be owned and operated separately by the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT). The Board of Public Works made up of Gov. Larry Hogan (R), State Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp (D) and Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) approved the 36-year contract unanimously after 40 minutes of discussion. This is going to be a nationally recognized project, and the millennials around the country who have so many great economic dreams are going to flock to the Maryland suburbs in part because of this light-rail project. Its an absolute game-changer for our region, Franchot, a longtime Purple Line champion, told the packed State House meeting room in Annapolis. The millennials around the country who have so many economic dreams are going to flock to the Maryland suburbs because of this project. This is an absolute game-changer. Compared with Metro trains, Purple Line light-rail trains will be shorter, carry a maximum of 301 passengers and travel more slowly. They will be powered by overhead electrical lines and run aboveground, mostly in their own lanes on local streets between Montgomery and Prince Georges counties. As Virginia officials did with Metros Silver Line, recently built through auto-centric Tysons Corner, leaders in Montgomery and Prince Georges are counting on the Purple Line to focus growth and attract economic development around 21 stations between Silver Spring and New Carrollton. Maryland planners see new apartments, stores and offices clustered around light-rail stations in such communities as Langley Park and New Carrollton, now full of tired strip malls and bus stops where transit-dependent workers line up to get to jobs elsewhere. Students and faculty will ride for free among five stations serving the University of Marylands flagship College Park campus. The line will connect to Metros Red, Green and Orange lines as well as to the MARC commuter rail and Amtrak lines. This is a landmark day, Maryland Transit Administrator Paul Comfort said after the vote. A key aspect of transit is as an economic-development booster. Charles Lattuca, head of new projects for the Maryland Transit Administration, said developers have been calling us left and right to see when its going to be done. Unlike the Metro system, Purple Line stations wont have parking. Stations will be much smaller than Metro stations and consist largely of outdoor platforms with benches, coverings and fare machines. Fares, expected to start at $2, will be integrated with Metros payment system, likely via a smartphone app. This is a rendering of what a light-rail Purple Line train would look like running through the University of Maryland campus in College Park. (Maryland Transit Administration) Construction is scheduled to begin later this year, with trains carrying passengers by spring 2022. [10 facts about the Purple Line contract] After the vote, Maryland Transportation Secretary Pete K. Rahn said money for the Purple Line will not come at the cost of Maryland helping to pay to rehabilitate the regions aging Metro system. Weve concluded that we can afford the Purple Line and still meet the transportation needs of Maryland, Rahn said. If I didnt believe that, I wouldnt be supporting this. But critics have called the rail project too expensive and have questioned state ridership forecasts of 59,500 daily trips in the lines opening year. Some environmental activists say the line will destroy the wooded Georgetown Branch recreational trail between Bethesda and Silver Spring, and other opponents say it will bring too much development and new vehicular traffic to neighborhoods. Several opponents said they were disappointed that the board didnt let them testify before the vote. The contracts approval looked like a slam-dunk, said Len Scensny, a Takoma Park resident and Purple Line opponent who attended Wednesdays board meeting. The contracts approval means MDOT now can finalize a $900 million grant agreement with the Federal Transit Administration. That agreement, which is expected in mid-July, is almost assured, as the FTA has already recommended the funding. It would be the final hurdle before construction can begin. The contract, which is expected to reach financial close June 2, has attracted national attention because it makes the Purple Line one of the first U.S. transit projects to include private financing. A similarly financed commuter rail line in Denver is set to open this month. The team of companies, called Purple Line Transit Partners, agreed to finance $1 billion of the lines construction costs and build it over six years in exchange for a 30-year deal to operate and maintain the line at an average preset fee of $150 million annually. State officials said theyll use federal and local funds to pay for an additional $990 million in construction costs. The contracts approval was all but assured, as Maryland transportation officials had publicly warned that such a complex partnership takes years and costs companies millions of dollars to put together. If Maryland backed out at such a late point, they said, it would spook the private sector. That could lead to less competitive bidding and higher prices on future state projects. Even so, the speed at which such a highly complex and relatively unusual financial deal sailed through approval just a month after it was publicly released drew attention. Some lawmakers said theyd had little time to scrutinize the details. Under Marylands 2013 law governing public-private partnerships, the General Assembly was allowed to comment on the MDOT contract during a 30-day review but not make any changes. [Poll: Purple Line narrowly supported] Kopp, the state treasurer, told a state Senate committee earlier this week that lawmakers might want to change the law to allow for a longer contract-review period. Kopps office determined that the states payments on the Purple Lines private financing, which would come from Purple Line fares and other state transit revenues, would not count toward limits on tax-supported state debt. Thirty days, Kopp told the panel, may not really give everybody enough time. Maryland transportation officials had pushed for the contracts approval this week, saying a later vote would have jeopardized the companies 180-day financing approvals. One of the financial details that has generated some controversy is the states plan to pay off the companies debt service with fare revenues from the MARC commuter rail service. The Purple Lines own fare revenues arent expected to fully cover the private financing costs for about 15 years, state officials have said. Rahn said MARC will be funded with other revenue, such as the state gas tax. [Why Md. plans to use MARC revenues to pay off Purple Line debt] Like other states, including Virginia, Maryland has begun to look to public-private partnerships as a way to build expensive infrastructure at less government cost upfront, helping to stretch tight budgets and avoid looming debt limits. Experts say public-private partnerships can be more expensive but, if structured correctly, can provide better value by allotting to the government and private sector the risks that each can best handle. In the Purple Line case, for example, the private team assumes the risks of most cost overruns, both during construction and operation, while the state has taken the financial risk for how many people actually ride the line. [Determining if the Purple Line contract is a good deal isnt easy] The project faced an uncertain future just a year ago, when the newly elected Hogan expressed skepticism at its costs. The governor noted Wednesday that the contracts total cost came in $550 million below what was anticipated and that Montgomery and Prince Georges had agreed to contribute more money, for a total local contribution of $330 million. Hogan called Purple Line Transit Partners a world-class team that has delivered a strong design and innovative ideas and provided the state with a competitive price and maximum value. Purple Line Transit Partners is led by Texas-based Fluor Corp., the French investment firm Meridiam and Star America, a New York firm that invests in public infrastructure projects. [Purple Line firm made Metros least reliable rail cars] Commuters wait to board an inbound Red Line train at Union Station. Metro officials have argued for a dedicated funding source, but that is unlikely to happen next year. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images) Dear Dr. Gridlock: I read two dispiriting articles last week. The first said the Metro general manager is thinking about wholesale closings of entire lines for maintenance and repair. The second said the price tag for the Purple Line is escalating ever higher. What is most troubling is that Maryland is willing to spend billions of dollars on a new transportation system but doesnt seem willing along with the other jurisdictions to establish a dedicated source of funding for Metro. I realize that Metro funding involves a lot of other entities, including a dysfunctional Congress, but it just doesnt seem to make any sense to build a new system when we cant even maintain the existing one. Tim Ralston, Kensington DG: Metro board Chairman Jack Evans got everyones attention last week when he said Metrorail might shut lines, or at least portions of lines, to improve its rebuilding program, which is now about five years old. [Dont destroy Metrorail in order to save it] But in that same presentation to the regions leaders, Evans had another big theme: Metro is going to need more money. He renewed the long-standing argument that the transit authority should be among the many others in the nation that can count on annual financing, rather than having to go to its supporting governments for fresh allocations. Evans said he understood that the region is looking for Metro to show it can properly spend the money its already getting. But hes also looking at union negotiations this spring that historically wind up in the hands of arbitrators who give the workers more money. Evans also is worried about the likelihood that fresh discoveries about the maintenance program may require more costly fixes. Given the state of customer satisfaction with Metrorail, hes not planning on asking the riders to pay more. So when we get to next years budget season, wheres that extra money going to come from? One certainty: It wont be from a dedicated source of funding. Maybe someday, but not next year. Local and federal government officials like what theyve seen so far from the new general manager, Paul J. Wiedefeld, but they want to see more signs that Metro is improving. Better travels, eventually A now-notorious problem for long-distance drivers will worsen as the weather warms up. Its the bottleneck on the southbound side of Interstate 95 in Northern Virginia where the 95 Express Lanes merge with the regular lanes of I-95. The Virginia Department of Transportation is working on a fix, but its still several years away. Meanwhile, people driving in the express lanes during the height of travel season should closely watch the electronic signs as they near the southern end in Stafford County. An advisory sign before the Quantico/Joplin Road exit in Prince William County will alert drivers in the express lanes about any delays ahead. If its going to be really bad, the sign before the Joplin Road exit will advise drivers to get back into the regular lanes, so they can avoid paying a high price just to sit in traffic. VDOTplans to begin construction this year on a two-mile extension of the express lanes. The hope is that this will get a lot of traffic past the bottleneck around Garrisonville Road. This extension will take about two years to complete. [Many chances to comment on Virginias HOT lanes plans] Some travelers who heard about the extension said they were disappointed it would end after just two miles. They say that at peak travel times, the traffic doesnt really start to ease until it crosses the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. Those drivers will be pleased to hear that Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubrey Layne said last week that he wants the state to extend the express lanes 10 miles to Fredericksburg. The proposal was one of several rail and road programs in the I-95 corridor that the state has clustered into a package called the Atlantic Gateway, and Virginia is applying for federal grants to support the effort. Layne unveiled the initiative during a presentation in which he updated Northern Virginia officials and reporters on the states plans to expand the HOT lanes network on Interstates 66 and 395, and to ease the bottleneck on the south end of the 95 Express Lanes. The highway portion of the as-yet unfunded initiative also would include adding more travel lanes over the Rappahannock, another choke point for drivers launching their getaways. VDOT also is interested in fixing an infamous pinch point on the southbound side of I-395 near Duke Street through this program. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in July 2012. George Mason University is facing a backlash from Virginia lawmakers for changing the name of the law school to honor Scalia. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images) A group of Democratic lawmakers are pushing back against George Mason Universitys plan to rename its law school after the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Ten legislators from northern Virginia call the link between a $20 million anonymous donation to the school and the name change disturbing, and say the decision to honor the jurist, whose decisions have at times provoked controversy, should have been made in public. I dont think a public school should be able to be bought this way, said Sen. Scott A. Surovell (D-Fairfax). The university last week announced the Board of Visitors intention to change the name of the George Mason School of Law to the Antonin Scalia School of Law in accordance with the wishes of an anonymous donor. A gift of $20 million, the largest in the universitys history, from the donor and $10 million from the Charles Koch Foundation will be used to fund new scholarship programs. David Rehr, senior associate dean at the law school, said reaction to the name change has been mixed, but that the university is undeterred. We continue to believe the significant scholarship gift to the university will benefit hundreds of students and honor an esteemed member of the Supreme Court, he said. We plan to move ahead with the name change. Before the new name can become official, the university needs the final approval of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, a 13-member panel of business and education leaders appointed by the governor. Council spokesman Gregory Weatherford declined to comment and said the university has not submitted a formal name-change application. [Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia dies at 79] Lawmakers on Tuesday evening sent Council Chairman G. Gilmer Minor III a letter urging members to reject the name change and ask the university to consider naming a building for Scalia instead of the law school. They wrote, Public universities do not operate in the shadows of secret money and executive sessions. While this kind of practice might be acceptable in the private sector or with a private school, it is not how Virginias public institutions are expected to operate. Del. Marcus B. Simon (D-Fairfax), who signed the letter, said the move should be thoroughly discussed. We want to make sure SCHEV doesnt make the same mistake the Board of Visitors made in pushing this through and rushing this decision, he said. Scalia, who became a hero to conservatives, was known among other things for his Catholic faith and opposition to gay rights and affirmative action. The lawmakers said associating Scalia with the law school could hurt the institutions ability to attract talent and the reputations of alumni. His statements about the LGBT and New American communities were not representative of the highest ideals of our community or our Commonwealth, they wrote. But Rehr said the name change would propel the law school to national prominence. Weve tragically become so polarized as a society you cant really do anything on either side without people getting upset, he said. Sen. Richard H. Black ( R-Loudoun) speaks during a debate in the Virginia Senate at the State Capitol in Richmond. (Bob Brown/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP) Sen. Richard H. Black doesnt think of himself as squeamish. When he was a young Marine helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, his aircraft took ground fire four times, he was wounded in combat, and he received the Purple Heart. But the Northern Virginia Republican said he was so stunned by the moral sewage in Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrisons Beloved that he did something he professes to never have done in nearly two decades in office. He abandoned all diplomacy and told a constituent exactly what he thought. Black called the book profoundly filthy and smut and derided the teaching of such vile things, even though Beloved is routinely part of the curriculum in Advanced Placement English courses. The screed, first reported by Gawker, is part of an extraordinary email exchange between Black and Jessica Berg, a teacher from Loudoun County. [Read the entire, unusual email exchange between the lawmaker and the teacher] Berg wrote to Black to protest his vote for a bill that would have required teachers to give parents advance notice if they planned to assign material with sexually explicit content in class. Parents would then have had the right to opt out their children from reading the offending books in favor of an alternative. Berg, who lives and teaches in Blacks Loudoun district, said she was particularly offended that lawmakers would judge a seminal work of fiction about a former slave after the Civil War based on excerpts and without reading the entire novel. She offered to go to Blacks office and personally teach you the novel and many others. Its ridiculous that you are trying to control education when you have no idea what it entails, she wrote. You do not want free thinkers. You want people to adhere to your particular version of morality which does not encompass everyone. She also suggested that lawmakers defer to professional educators when it comes to what is taught in the classroom. Being in classrooms with these students that you think are going to be poisoned by these texts shows that you do not really know the demographic you are trying to protect, she wrote. You are not giving them the credit that is due. Students are often more mature than we think, and as teachers we guide them through these novels in a mature manner in an academic setting so that we can discuss them in a fitting manner because that is our job, not yours. Black responded: I want teachers who wont teach such vile things to our students. Slavery was a terrible stain on this nation but to teach it does not mean you have to expose children to smut. The idea that you would oppose allowing parents the opportunity to be better informed about what their child is reading is appalling and arrogant. You do not know better than the parents. One of the most conservative members of Virginias General Assembly, Black has a long history of controversial behavior. [First ISIS, now Emilys List: Va. GOP senator is a popular political target] In 2002, during debate on a bill to lift Virginias ban on prosecuting spousal rape, Black, then a member of the House of Delegates, said: I do not know how on Earth you could validly get a conviction of a husband-wife rape where theyre living together, sleeping in the same bed, shes in a nightie, and so forth, there is no injury, theres no separation or anything. The next year, he made headlines when he sent tiny pink plastic models of a fetus to fellow legislators ahead of a vote on an abortion bill. Yet Black, a former prosecutor, easily won reelection last year, and he has advocated for new state guidelines that require timely testing of rape kits. In a phone interview Wednesday, he defended his view of Beloved. If you scar the minds of children when theyre young, youre going to have problems later in life, he said. Its no wonder weve got the problems we do with kids today, when were exposing them to this type of thing in the public schools. Berg said she was taken aback that Black would question her professionalism as a teacher and suggest teachers dont care how books affect students. Thats all we care about, thats what we do every day, she said. Although about half of school districts follow the parental notification called for in the GOP-backed measure, the bill would have enshrined the practice in state law. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) vetoed the bill Monday, saying it was unnecessary because the state Board of Education is considering changing policy to address parents concerns. The bills sponsor promised to introduce the same legislation next year if the agency doesnt follow through. CALIFORNIA Former undersheriff guilty of corruption The former second-in-command of the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department was convicted Wednesday in a corruption probe that also brought down his boss and several underlings who tried to thwart a federal investigation into abuses in the nations largest jail system. Ex-undersheriff Paul Tanaka was found guilty by a federal jury of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Tanaka helped orchestrate efforts to hide an inmate when they discovered that he was an FBI informant, prosecutors said. Underlings were ordered to intimidate an FBI agent in the case by threatening to have her arrested. The corruption went all the way to the top of the department, and former sheriff Lee Baca could face six months in jail when hes sentenced next month. Tanaka could face up to 15 years in prison when sentenced on June 20. Tanaka retired from the department in 2013 and ran unsuccessfully to replace his former boss. In this Jan. 7, 2016, file photo, cowboy Dwane Ehmer, of Irrigon, Ore., a supporter of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, walks his horse near Burns, Ore. (Rick Bowmer/AP) Associated Press OREGON September trial set for Malheur occupiers The federal judge overseeing Oregons wildlife refuge standoff case scheduled a September trial on Wednesday and reinforced her decision to send Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy to Nevada next week for a court appearance. U.S. District Judge Anna Brown made those decisions during a testy hearing in which she repeatedly admonished attorneys for making repetitive points and threatened to remove one of the defendants from the court. The packed courtroom included 17 of the 27 defendants charged with taking over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for 41 days this winter in a protest over land policy. Attorneys for all the defendants were there as well, and their competing interests and schedules add to the complexity of the case the judge must oversee. Brown scheduled jury selection to begin Sept. 7, despite objections from several attorneys who said that wasnt enough time to prepare and wanted the trial pushed back to 2017. Other attorneys supported the late summer date. Also Wednesday, the judge upheld her decision to have the Bundy brothers and two other defendants flown to Las Vegas next week for a court appearance and then returned to Oregon within 10 days. The men face charges stemming from a 2014 standoff at Cliven Bundys ranch near Bunkerville, Nev. Associated Press CONNECTICUT Newtown teacher accused of carrying gun A middle school teacher in Newtown, Conn., the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with bringing a firearm into the towns middle school, police said. The teacher, identified as Jason Adams, 46, was spotted carrying a concealed weapon and detained by security at the Newtown Middle School, which called police. Connecticuts state gun laws, among the strictest in the country, prohibit possessing a gun on school property. Adams, who was released to await trial, has been placed on administrative leave. In December 2012, a gunman shot dead 26 people, including 20 young children aged between 6 and 7, as well as six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, ending his rampage by turning his gun on himself. Reuters Thousands of people 50 and older are diagnosed with HIV each year in the United States, a development that has significant consequences for the health care and social support they need and the doctors, counselors and others who provide it. Older people tend to be sicker when the infection is finally discovered. They usually have other health conditions that accompany aging and often are too embarrassed to reveal their illness to family and friends. Many never dreamed they were at risk of contracting the virus, and some have outmoded ideas of a disease that long ago became manageable through advances in medication. I said, Well, I guess thats a death sentence, a Maryland man recalled of his diagnosis at the age of 73. And the fellow who told me said: No, its not. Its not like that anymore. Once you get on medication, youll probably die of whatever old-age thing youre going to die of anyway. Yet health-care providers still dont routinely consider HIV when treating older patients, despite guidelines that call on them to screen through age 64, researchers and physicians say. They may be reluctant to ask about an older persons sex life and sometimes attribute HIV symptoms to age-related issues such as heart disease. [HIV diagnoses decline 19 percent over a decade ] Amy C. Justice, a researcher at Yale Universitys Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS, recalled a married man in his 60s who was seen by specialists at Yale-New Haven Hospital. It took more than 18 months before anyone thought to test him for HIV, despite symptoms consistent with the disease. In 2014, nearly 17 percent of the countrys new HIV diagnoses 7,391 of 44,071 were among people 50 and older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That was down slightly from 2013 but up from 15.4 percent in 2005, when data were less complete. In a study two years ago, the age group represented more than 1 in 5 of newly diagnosed patients at a New York City medical center. The phenomenon has various medical and social roots. Erectile dysfunction drugs such as Viagra, for example, have extended mens sex lives. And older heterosexuals, particularly women beyond child-bearing years, may not be in the habit of using condoms for safe sex. The advocacy organization ACRIA is trying to educate them about protected sex through a campaign called Age Is Not a Condom. Overall, this graying population has not been studied much especially compared with people who acquired HIV when they were younger and have been aging for decades with the infection, aided by improved antiretroviral therapy. While the older newly diagnosed group includes more heterosexuals and more women, it generally reflects the overall HIV universe: mostly gay men, some straight men and women, intravenous drug users. It is mostly minority, as well. A big difference for older people, however, is the shock of receiving an HIV diagnosis later in life. That is especially true for heterosexuals, mostly women, who thought they were in monogamous relationships and must confront the idea that a partner likely has been having sex with someone else. [HIV transmission rate could be cut by 90 percent, CDC says] Deer in the headlights, said Ellen A.B. Morrison, a researcher at Columbia Universitys Mailman School of Public Health, in describing the women with whom she has worked. They are predominantly African American or Latino. Theyre just completely caught off guard, Morrison said. These are not people who ever thought themselves at risk. They do not understand their partners behavior. They know nothing about HIV. They dont know anyone who has it. They dont know who to turn to for questions. And they are terribly embarrassed. The Maryland man, a 76-year-old widower who said he was occasionally bisexual during his marriage and continues to be, knew he was putting himself at risk through some of his sexual practices. Still, he was stunned when he was diagnosed in 2013. That kind of floored me. Damn. That old, and all of a sudden you get hit with it, he said. He agreed to be interviewed if granted anonymity to protect his privacy. He still hasnt told anyone but the members of a peer support group. In some ways I would like to tell my kids; I dont feel like they need the extra worry in their life. I dont see any extra positive other than the freedom of not trying to hide it, he said. Older people who feel stigmatized worry that family, friends, neighbors or caregivers will shun them at a time when they often have a heightened need for social support, especially if a spouse or partner has died, some experts said. The diagnosis and social isolation can lead to depression, studies show. That can cause people to stop taking their medication, said Stephen Karpiak, director of research and evaluation at ACRIA, which is based in New York City. The best predictor of not taking your pill . . . is depression, he said. Newly diagnosed older people have to take a pill for a disease that is hated, and that will affect the rest of their lives. And theyre entering aging, which is scary for everyone. [This entire magazine was printed using HIV-positive blood] But a 2015 study of HIV-positive women older than 50 found that many eventually transition from shock, disbelief and a sense of doom to growing acceptance. The diagnosis also prompted them to take better care of their physical and mental health, to leave toxic situations and to engage in more meaningful activities, wrote Christina Psaros, a Harvard Medical School psychologist. With age came knowledge and understanding of what it means to live with HIV and how to . . . cope effectively, she wrote in the journal Aging and Mental Health. Medically, newly diagnosed older people may immediately face the prospect of a high viral load and more severe illness if their infection is not recent. Older immune systems are not as robust and do not respond as well. A greater proportion of older people die within a year of diagnosis than younger people do. And because HIV is an inflammatory condition, it increases the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. Older people already are more likely to be managing high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, so their doctors must be careful about which antiretroviral drugs to prescribe. For example, some do not react well with statins taken for high cholesterol, said Raymond Martins, senior director of clinical education and training at the Whitman-Walker Health clinic in Washington. Alfred Newton of San Francisco said he practiced unprotected gay sex and took illicit drugs all his life until shortly before his HIV diagnosis last year at 72. By then, he already had many infirmities of age, including high cholesterol and mild chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He had had hip replacement surgery, plus two other operations on that joint, as well as prostate surgery. When he got over the shock of hearing he had HIV, he began to view it as another condition of his advancing years. He has no symptoms and a very low viral load, he said. Its just another add-on to everything else, Newton said. If there is a silver lining for older people with HIV, it is how serious they become about protecting their health. Like the women in the Harvard study, both Newton and the man in Maryland swore off unhealthful habits as they began managing their HIV. Older people are much more adherent to drug regimens than younger ones, Martins noted. Both men with HIV said theyve missed barely a day of taking their medication. In a lot of ways, being [HIV] positive has been a positive experience, the Maryland man said. Healthwise, I feel like Im really in pretty good health. Im more aware of my health. Contrasting his condition to the diabetes that afflicts many people his age, he added. Id much rather take two pills a day than have to do blood tests and take insulin shots. KENYA ICC ends case against deputy president The International Criminal Court terminated the case against Kenyas deputy president and ended his trial on Tuesday, saying there was insufficient evidence that he was involved in deadly violence that erupted after his countrys 2007 presidential election. The presiding judge said in the written decision that the reason for the lack of evidence was possibly witness interference and political meddling. The announcement marks the second time that the court has admitted defeat in its attempts to prosecute alleged ringleaders of the violence, which killed more than 1,000 people and forced 600,000 from their homes. Deputy President William Ruto had been charged alongside broadcaster Joshua Sang with murder, deportation and persecution. The case against Sang also was closed Tuesday. A case against President Uhuru Kenyatta on similar charges collapsed in late 2014 amid prosecution claims of witness interference and noncooperation by authorities in Nairobi. Associated Press IRAQ Government offensive meets stiff resistance Heavy resistance slowed Iraqi forces Tuesday as they pushed forward toward the center of a town held by Islamic State militants in the western province of Anbar, commanders said. Hundreds of roadside bombs, car bombs and heavy mortar fire slowed advancing Iraqi troops to a near-halt a day after they entered the small town of Hit. Hit is strategically important because it sits along an Islamic State supply line that links territory controlled by the group in Iraq and in Syria. Iraqi commanders overseeing the operation said Tuesday that counterattacks and a shortage of engineering teams to clear roadside bombs slowed the advance, as did the presence of tens of thousands of civilians who are trapped in the town. Gen. Husham al-Jabri said Iraqi counterterrorism forces were hit with a barrage of mortar rounds and a string of suicide car bombings early Tuesday as they pushed into Hit from the north. The offensive comes after a string of territorial gains for Iraqi forces over the past six months. Associated Press State Department Paris suspect deemed a global terrorist The State Department on Tuesday designated Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in the November attacks in Paris, a global terrorist, imposing sanctions on him and barring Americans from dealing with him. The suspected Islamic State operative has been charged with terrorist murder in the Nov. 13 attacks, which killed 130 people and injured more than 350. Abdeslam, a French national born in Belgium, was captured in mid-March in Brussels and is awaiting extradition to France. By naming him a specially designated global terrorist, the government can block Abdeslams access to any assets under U.S. jurisdiction. Carol Morello Libyas Tripoli government to step down: One of Libyas rival governments has resigned, a step that bolsters efforts by a new, U.N.-brokered unity government to establish itself in the capital, Tripoli. The existing Islamist-backed government in Tripoli said it will cease duties as executive authority and, therefore, absolve itself of responsibility for the countrys fate. Western nations view the unity government as the best hope for ending Libyas chaos. A second, Tobruk-based government still opposes the U.N.-backed body. Afghan Taliban appoints late leaders relatives to senior jobs: A senior figure in the Afghan Taliban said a brother and a son of the groups late founder, Mohammad Omar, have been appointed to leadership positions in the insurgency. Mohammad Yaqoob, Omars son, was named to lead the Taliban military commission in 15 Afghan provinces, according to a member of the Talibans ruling council, and Omars brother has been appointed head of religious affairs. 300 Boko Haram fighters arrested, Cameroon says: Cameroon said multinational forces fighting Boko Haram have arrested more than 300 Islamist extremists and freed at least 2,000 people from the groups strongholds along the borders of Cameroon, Nigeria and Chad. Cameroons commander of the joint forces, Bouba Dobekreo, said they also destroyed a Boko Haram training and logistics base about 22 miles north of the Nigerian town of Kumshe as part of the three-day operation. Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Benin have contributed about 9,000 troops to fight the Nigeria-based militant group. 28 people killed in floods in Ethiopia: The state broadcaster in Ethiopia said 28 people have been killed in severe flooding in two remote regions. The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corp. reported that 23 people were killed and 84 were injured when a river that crosses Jigjiga, the capital of the Somali region, burst its banks. It said intense rains in another drought-stricken region, Afar, led to floods, in which five people were killed. IRELAND 2nd attempt to pick prime minister fails Ireland remained mired in political limbo Wednesday after lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected all three candidates hoping to lead the next government. It was the second time since Irelands Feb. 26 election that lawmakers had failed to select a prime minister. The election left Irelands two longtime political rivals caretaker prime minister Enda Kennys Fine Gael and Micheal Martins Fianna Fail virtually neck and neck in a fractured Parliament. The center-right parties trace their origins to the opposite sides of Irelands 1922-1923 civil war and have never shared power. After the leadership vote, Kenny and Martin said they would soon meet to open discussions on forming a possible coalition. Kenny received all 51 votes from his party, and Martin 43 from his party. The third candidate, socialist Ruth Pottinger, received 10 votes. A winner would have required at least 79 votes in Irelands 158-member Parliament. Should the coalition talks between Kenny and Martin fail, Kenny could call a second 2016 election. Ireland has not had back-to-back elections since 1982. Associated Press Pope Francis waves to the crowd as he arrives on his popemobile for his weekly general audience, in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Wednesday, (Andrew Medichini/AP) FRANCE New prostitution law will target clients French lawmakers on Wednesday approved legislation against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers will face fines and be made to attend awareness classes about the harms of the sex trade. The legislation, which passed 64 to 12 in Parliaments lower house, makes the French law one of the toughest against sex buyers in Europe. Prostitution is legal in France, though brothels, pimping and the sale of sex by minors are illegal. The new law does away with a 2003 statute that banned passive soliciting by sex workers on the street, putting the legal onus on prostitutes. The latest measure focuses the punishment on the client, imposing a fine of 1,500 euros ($1,700) that would more than double for a second offense. The measure will also make it easier for foreign prostitutes many who are in France illegally to acquire a temporary residence permit. Supporters said the new law will help fight trafficking. The most important aspect of this law is to accompany prostitutes, give them identity papers, because we know that 85 percent of prostitutes here are victims of trafficking, said Maud Olivier, a sponsor of the measure. But opponents fear that cracking down will drive prostitutes into hiding, leaving them even more at the mercy of pimps and violent clients. Associated Press Imprisoned Ukrainian pilot goes on hunger strike: An attorney for Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko said she has started another hunger strike while in Russian custody. Mark Feygin said Savchenko is refusing both water and food. A Russian court last month sentenced her to 22 years in prison after finding her guilty of complicity in the 2014 killing of two Russian journalists during fighting between Russia-backed rebels and the government in eastern Ukraine. She has gone on several hunger strikes during her detention. Israel restores power to West Bank cities: Israels state electricity corporation said it has restored power to Palestinian cities in the West Bank after a two-day reduction over outstanding debt. The Israel Electricity Corp. said it reached a stopgap accord with the Palestinian Authority, which will repay about $500,000. The firm said the Palestinians owe it nearly $460 million. Israeli board denies early parole for ex-president: A parole board in Israel rejected an appeal for early release by former president Moshe Katsav, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for sex crimes. Katsav resigned in June 2007 after being charged with rape and sexual harassment. He began his sentence in 2011. From news services GOVERNORS OF the nations most and fourth-most populous states, California and New York, respectively, have signed a$15-per-hour minimum wage into law. In the District, a judge has just ruled that proponents can try to get a $15 minimum on the ballot in November; Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) supports accomplishing the $15 goal legislatively. What the success of the $15 minimum wage movement shows, in part, is that politics abhors a vacuum. In the absence of action by the Republican-controlled Congress to raise the federal minimum wage, states and cities encompassing about 65 percent of the U.S. population have decided to enact higher minimums, though usually less than $15. Maybe the GOP should have taken President Obama up on his request for a $9 minimum when he offered it back in his 2013 State of the Union address. Another lesson, however, is that, when it comes to public policy, popular and wise are not necessarily the same. Stuck on $7.25 per hour since 2009, the federal minimum is due for an increase, especially in light of stagnant wages and income inequality. The magnitude of that increase, however, is a matter for caution, given the widely varying labor-market conditions across the country and the likelihood that sharp mandatory wage hikes would reduce the supply of jobs. Also, the minimum wage is not an especially well-targeted way to help the working poor, because unlike the earned-income tax credit wage subsidy it benefits many workers who are not poor, not supporting families, or both. Moderate minimum wage increases in the past have not produced disastrous short-term employment consequences, at least not sharp enough to outweigh the perceived benefits of protecting workers from a race to the bottom of the labor market. Yet $15 per hour would represent a quantum leap in the U.S. minimum wage, from its present level of about 35 percent of the median full-time hourly wage to nearly 75 percent of it, based on our reading of figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. No other industrialized countrys statutory minimum wage even comes close. Even phased in over a few years, $15 would represent a major departure, about which existing economic research offers little solid guidance. This might be why Alan B. Krueger, the minimum-wage expert who formerly headed Mr. Obamas Council of Economic Advisers, has written: A minimum wage set as high as $12 an hour will do more good than harm for low-wage workers, but a $15-an-hour national minimum wage would put us in uncharted waters, and risk undesirable and unintended consequences. The obvious risks borne disproportionately by the very-low-income workers whom minimums are meant to help are apparent even to advocates of the $15 minimum, as the many loopholes and caveats built into the California and New York increases implicitly demonstrate. The minimum wage should go up, but sustainably. Setting the minimum at a particular historical benchmark, such as a percentage of the poverty line for a family, or a share of the median wage, would help focus the debate, and anchor it. THE CEASE-FIRE in Syria has now nominally lasted more than five weeks, at least in the sense that its death has not been declared by its international sponsors. It arguably has saved hundreds of lives: The Syrian Network for Human Rights counted 623 civilian deaths in the month of March, compared with previous monthly tolls well above 1,000. Its important to point out, however, what the accord brokered by the Obama administration with Russia has not accomplished. So far, it has not stopped the regime of Bashar al-Assad from continuing offensives against strategic territory held by rebel forces that joined the truce. It also has not opened corridors for humanitarian aid into those areas, which are occupied by hundreds of thousands of people. Much of the regimes military activity has been aimed at the suburbs of Damascus, including an area known as Eastern Ghouta. According to reports by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch, the government has continued to block aid to at least six areas in the region, populated by 250,000 people, since the cessation of hostilities began on Feb. 27. Even where humanitarian convoys have gotten through, aid workers say Syrian government forces have stripped them of vital medical supplies, including surgical equipment and antibiotics. Meanwhile, the bombing continues. Last Thursday, a government airstrike hit the Damascus suburb of Deir al-Asafir, killing 33 people, including at least a dozen children, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Last weekend, a government plane bombed a hospital in the rebel-held town of Azaz, near the border with Turkey. By the end of last week, anti-Assad forces had launched their own offensives south of the city of Aleppo, and in an area north of Latakia. The attacks, aimed at retaking ground that the government gained when it was supported by Russian bombing, were led by the al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra, which is not a party to the truce, but some elements of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army joined in. Commanders also said they were responding to the regimes violations. With the truce threatening to break down entirely, a task force set up by Russia and the United States to monitor violations looks virtually useless. With no enforcement mechanism, there has been no response to the attacks or to the blockage of aid. On Monday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said that what we have seen is that the Assad regime continues to be the biggest quote-unquote violator. But as for consequences, he conceded: That has not happened. As throughout the Syrian conflict, the Obama administration lacks the leverage to force compliance by the regime because of its refusal to take steps such as creating a no-fly zone or providing more military support to rebel forces. It can only hope that sheer jawboning by Secretary of State John F. Kerry with his Russian and Iranian counterparts will persuade them to bring Mr. Assad into line. Mr. Kerry will have to talk fast: At the rate events are moving, whats left of the cease-fire doesnt appear likely to last much longer. The April 3 editorial Md.s opportunity to make women and children safer was certainly right: Lawmakers in Annapolis have a wonderful opportunity to make women and children safer right now. How? Well, one step would be to enact the common-sense protections that would take guns from (convicted) domestic abusers and terminate rapists parental rights. How could the provisions of those two bills be clearer or more important to Marylands women and children? Or to the whole nation, for that matter? The Senate versions of both bills that the editorial board praised were written by Majority Whip Jamie B. Raskin (D-Montgomery), a professor of constitutional law who is running for Congress in Marylands 8th District. I wonder if the editorial board thought it might have been written by any one of the other people running for that seat. Oh, no none has legislative expertise. Perhaps the board thought the author was Kathleen Matthews, whom it endorsed. Mr. Raskin, for whose campaign I volunteer, should get credit for this excellent opportunity to make women and children safer in Maryland now that the lawmakers have the bills before them, ready to be enacted. Virginia M. Richardson, Bethesda Eduard Sharmazanov: Cavusoglu's statement is nothing more than a violent reaction to their failed Blitzkrieg With his recent statement, notorious Cavusoglu reaffirmed his countrys complicity in terrorist attacks carried out by Azerbaijan on the border with Karabakh, Deputy Chairman of the Armenian National Assembly, Eduard Sharmazanov, said today. On April 4, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that Turkey will always be together with fraternal Azerbaijan as Ottoman Turk, even falling himself, will never abandon his brother in need. The Turkish diplomat also accused Armenia for making provocations against Azerbaijan, accused Armenia of occupying Azerbaijani territories and criticized the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. This is not surprising [about the statement], because Turkey stands behind the crimes carried out by the IP terrorists in the Middle East, the atrocities of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces, particularly the slaughter of helpless elderly people in the village of Talish [in northern Martakert province]. Cavusoglu's statement is nothing more than a violent reaction to their failed Blitzkrieg, Sharmazanov said. He compared the Turkish official's statement with the calls for brotherhood made by Hitler and Mussolini whose terrorist policy also failed. I want to stress that Turkey which supports terrorism has nothing to do with the talks over Karabakh, Sharmazanov said in conclusion. The spectacular strangeness of this presidential election may require a new display in Ripleys Odditorium of believe-it-or-nots. Among the exhibits, curators might place the History of Conventional Wisdom, wherein the page titled Populists Never Win in America has a large, red X drawn through the word never. Like all things status quo, this bit of wisdom seems aimed for retirement. Indeed, no one wins this year by promising to keep things just the way they are. From the candidacies of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Donald Trump to the many thousands of fans who stand in line to catch a glimpse of these two, the letters in unbelievable are being worn off the keyboards of political commentators these days. Then again, when have news folks been more delighted by the horror before them? Sad but true: Whats bad for the republic is good for cartoonists and columnists. Further evidence of the uniqueness of this season is the power of small purses against the big money that Americans now find so offensive. You want to end income inequality? How better to send a message to Wall Street than to out-fund the nominee of the conventionally wise? For the past three months, Sanders has outraised Hillary Clinton with mostly small, grass-roots donations, while Clinton, whose greatest deficit may be her membership in the pantheon of power politics, relies on big-donor fundraisers. It is still Clintons nomination to lose, again according to conventional wisdom, but in a sense both Sanders and Trump would win by losing. Both have forced their respective parties further to the fringes and neither, one suspects, really wants to be president. Who would? Only a fool or the truly duty-bound. Into this camp I would place Clinton, who may feel it her duty to become president, and not only to satisfy what is necessarily a personal goal as an example to women the world over. Id also put Ohio Gov. John Kasich next to her. In addition to seeming decent and sincere (and sometimes annoyingly cheerful), he conveys that he mostly wants to do the work. And then theres this other guy named Paul Ryan. Over on Capitol Hill, far from the madding crowd of rallies and racehorses, the newest speaker of the House of Representatives has been quietly reinventing the Republican Party by creating a new governing template. Ryan recently spoke to Hill interns of his philosophy in terms of subsidiarity as an organizing principle in both his Catholic faith and his politics. Politically, subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the smallest or least centralized competent authority. Similarly, in Catholic social thought, it means that nothing should be done by a larger centralized organization that can be done as well by a smaller organization. Structurally, this is the argument behind federalism and the conservative case for limited government. Practically, subsidiarity means that Ryan is taking a bottom-up approach to leadership. This means that debating and promulgating policy proposals take place at the committee level, where a more diverse cross-section of voices and ideas can be aired. Not all Catholics favor certain applications of subsidiarity, especially when it comes to welfare reform and other poverty programs. The schism within the church, in other words, reflects the divide between the two political parties. But both Republicans and Democrats may find common ground in Ryans application of subsidiarity to the conduct of the House, which is fundamentally aimed at inviting the American people to the table. With a jaundiced eye, one notes that Ryans pro-people template seems rather well-timed for a contested convention and perhaps for unifying the party given the divisiveness and repulsion posed by Trump and, almost equally, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). Plainly, it would be dicey for party leaders to bypass Cruz or Kasich, but Cruz will lose in a general election and Kasich may lack sufficient support to justify promoting him from last to first. Thus, an argument could be made for a fresher face, a former vice presidential pick, who has a record of working with Democrats, a man of faith and family values whose only real baggage is the suitcase he carries home each weekend to Wisconsin. Finally and surely surely Ryan had something more in mind when he agreed to take the speakers job against the advice of so many. They feared, ironically, that he would be damaged by infighting and lose any shot at the presidency some day. Alas, he has done the opposite. We live and learn. And while President Paul Ryan may not fit todays conventional wisdom, his nomination would barely register on Ripleys odd-o-meter. Read more from Kathleen Parkers archive, follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. Mounds of coal sit beneath conveyor belts at an Alpha Natural Resources Inc. coal preparation plant near Yolyn, West Virginia, on Aug. 5, 2015. (Luke Sharett/Bloomberg) The April 3 Business article Will big coal just walk away? failed to recognize unrelenting federal government regulation as a key factor in the state of the coal industry. Regulation increases costs, decreases productivity and limits production and use of U.S. coal. The article said Obama administration officials have voiced concern about the reliability of self-bonding agreements for mine reclamation obligations by some coal companies. Yet those same officials pile on regulations that offer no significant environmental or economic improvements. For example, the Interior Departments Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement proposed a sweeping stream protection rule in July, despite existing protection and enforcement programs they deem adequate. Analysis shows that the rule, if implemented, would risk 30 to 75 percent of mining and related-sector jobs and federal and state tax revenue of $3.1 billion to $6.4 billion per year. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced in January a three-year moratorium on new federal coal leases while her agency does a comprehensive review of this program. This was followed last month by Interior announcing it is considering changes to the amount of royalty revenue that producers must pay under these leases, potentially raising the royalty rate by 50 percent for some coal. It is absolutely shameful that federal agency officials express concern about the ability of coal mining companies to meet their obligations while proceeding with full force on unnecessary regulations that will only exacerbate current challenges. Betsy Monseu, Washington The writer is chief executive of the American Coal Council. AN EMERGING bipartisan consensus that too many people are behind bars often frays when it comes to how, and how drastically, to pare prison rolls. In Maryland, lawmakers are debating a pair of competing reform bills, and the skirmish lines are not neatly partisan. Lawmakers are right to reexamine policies on sentencing, parole and probation, especially for nonviolent and drug offenders, with the goals of trimming the prison population, eliminating racial disparities in the judicial system and shifting funds to fight recidivism, treat addicts and ease reentry for ex-convicts. Americas incarceration rate, a product of get-tough policies stemming from the crime wave of the 1960s and 70s, far exceeds that of other countries. But lawmakers also are right to balance those priorities with the objective of public safety. Hard-nosed sentencing measures likely contributed to though dont wholly explain plummeting crime rates over the past two decades. In Maryland, those rates for a range of violent and property offenses hit all-time lows in 2014, the last year for which complete statistics are available. Marylands toll of roughly 365 murders in 2014 was almost unchanged from the mid-1980s, despite a 25 percent population jump. Thats no small feat. In Annapolis, the state Senate has taken a restrained legislative approach to reducing the prison population, one that critics consider halfhearted . It would halt a 6 percent projected increase (owing mainly to longer sentences) over the next decade in the prison rolls, now nearly 21,000, achieving a small cost savings. The House of Delegates more ambitious measure would reduce the prison population by some 3,500 inmates in the same 10-year span, saving the state an estimated $247 million. The savings in the House bill have grabbed headlines but amount to a relatively modest bit of austerity against state corrections spending that exceeds $1.3 billion annually. The real goal should be not fiscal, but fair and rational steps to improve the criminal justice system. The Senates strategy strikes a better balance. It would cut inmate counts by trimming sentences for some nonviolent drug and theft offenders and chip away at needlessly long mandatory minimum terms for others currently behind bars. It would also streamline parole procedures for nonviolent offenders who are at low risk of committing new crimes and limit the amount of additional prison time some would serve for so-called technical violations of their probations if a judge determined they posed no threat to safety. The House bill goes too far in granting more lenient parole policies for nonviolent offenders and tighter caps on additional prison time that judges could impose for probation infractions. Judges and parole hearing officers would be empowered to exercise little discretion. Advocates of the House bill note that other states have embraced similar reforms, with no spike in crime rates. But Marylands incarceration rate has been falling for years and is already below the national average. Most inmates who enter its prisons are nonviolent offenders, but the states violent crime rate remains significantly higher than most other states. Reform is critical; so is prudence. So much of Americas future is at stake in the 2016 presidential election. But lets focus for a moment on just one area energy and the environment where the Obama administration has made startling progress that could be reversed if either of the GOP front-runners becomes president. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, arguably President Obamas best Cabinet appointment, has been leading a quiet revolution in clean-energy technology. Innovation is transforming this industry, costs are plummeting and entrepreneurs are devising radical new systems that create American jobs in addition to protecting the planet. The leading GOP candidates, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), offer know-nothing denials of this march of science. Trump told The Post last month that all thats happening is a change in weather. I am not a great believer in man-made climate change. Cruz told an audience in New Hampshire in January that climate change is the perfect pseudoscientific theory, propounded by big-government politician[s]. If either is elected president, you have to assume he will try to gut clean-energy programs. Heres a suggestion for any fact-based, technology-respecting candidate in either party: Promise that, if elected, youll try to persuade Moniz to remain in place. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist by training, he has proved to be one of this administrations most skillful players, as illustrated by his decisive, behind-the-scenes role in the Iran nuclear talks. Moniz showed me the future of energy technology last month during a visit to one of his pet projects the innovation summit of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E. As the name implies, it tries to do for energy what DARPA has done for defense science. A tour of the exhibits shows why the program is succeeding: It connects with the market. Since 2010, 45 projects that were initially ARPA-E-seeded have received an additional $1.25 billion in follow-on private funding. Here are key moments from a hearing where Republican senators expressed their displeasure with the agreement on Iran's nuclear program, while Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz defended it. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) First, some Energy Department numbers that illustrate the transformation thats underway: The cost of purchasing energy-efficient LED lights has dropped 90 percent since 2008; the cost of producing large-scale solar energy has fallen 60 percent over that period; prices for wind energy and efficient batteries have declined by more than 40 percent. As costs have fallen, usage has increased radically. Since 2008, the number of LED lightbulbs installed in the United States has increased from 400,000 to 78 million. Wind energy production has tripled; production of solar energy has increased nearly 20-fold. And scientists say were still fairly early in the cycle of innovation and cost reduction. Moniz describes three ARPA-E projects he thinks are especially promising. One company is building an advanced photovoltaic cell that could, by 2020, reduce the cost of installed solar energy by 50 percent from its 2009 level. Another company is creating new systems that could significantly cut power use by electric motors, which currently consume about 30 percent of Americas electricity. A third company is building a new kind of airborne turbine that could capture wind energy from 85 percent of Americas land mass, compared with 15 percent today. Wandering through the ARPA-E exhibition hall with Moniz looking at a few of the more than 200 presentations you get a sense of how fast new technology is being applied to big, real-world problems. A company called Rebellion Photonics demonstrates a system for chemical imaging that can spot gas leaks and other potential problems before disaster strikes. A consortium of universities and private companies, dubbed TERRA, shows off robots that can assess biofuel crops and select the best genetic traits, doing in four hours what now takes seven days. A company called Local Motors pitches a car built with 3-D printing. And yes, youll be able to make a copy of the Mustang you drove back in high school, if you want. This intense interaction between technology and the marketplace is what powers innovation in the United States. Contrary to right-wing myth, the government in modern times has been a key incubator and facilitator for business. DARPAs research spawned the Internet and its world-transforming networks, and it is now helping to drive the astonishing progress of machine learning and autonomous systems. Thanks to Moniz, ARPA-E is having a similar catalytic effect with energy-related technologies. This political season has been a horror show, making even those who are optimistic about Americas future begin to wonder. Monizs innovation summit was a bracing reminder of why, as Warren Buffett likes to say, people have never gone wrong betting on America. It also illustrates the importance of having world-class scientists such as Moniz oversee the intersection of government and technology. Read more from David Ignatiuss archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. The writer, a Republican from California, is chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Iran has yet to see the economic growth it wants from President Obamas nuclear deal, and its demanding additional concessions above and beyond the agreement in return for nothing. Specifically, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wants the United States to end sanctions aimed at curbing Irans funding for terrorism and illicit weapons so Iran can gain access to the U.S. financial system, where the majority of international business is conducted. At a news conference Friday, Obama walked back reports that Iran would be allowed direct access to the U.S. dollar, saying, Thats not actually the approach that were taking. He did not, however, explicitly close the door to other steps that would give the regime access to U.S. dollars through offshore clearinghouses. In other words, Iran would be allowed to launder dollars while the administration looked the other way. This is an alarming departure from the Obama administrations position just months ago. Indeed, when selling the nuclear deal to the American people last year, the administration repeatedly stressed to Congress that key terrorism, missile and human rights sanctions against Iran would continue to be vigorously enforced. Take Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, for example. Last summer, in testimony to Congress, Lew vowed, Iranian banks will not be able to clear U.S. dollars through New York, hold correspondent account relationships with U.S. financial institutions, or enter into financing arrangements with U.S. banks. As the secretary made clear, Iran, in other words, will continue to be denied access to the worlds largest financial and commercial market. Yet when I questioned Lew just two weeks ago about whether he stood by this testimony, he refused to give a direct answer. And so this appears to be just the latest in a long pattern of concessions to protect the presidents legacy deal. In recent months, the administration gutted a new law to strengthen the visa waiver program to please the Iranians and has imposed only minimal sanctions on Irans missile program even as Iran launches missiles stamped with the words Israel must be wiped off the face of the earth. Iran claims it wants an end to these sanctions, and in turn greater access to the worlds financial systems, to spur economic growth. But countries that want to attract international investment shouldnt shovel cash to terrorists while accelerating production of the delivery vehicle for a nuclear weapon. Nor should they threaten neighbors with annihilation. Allowing a belligerent Iran access to the U.S. dollar poses real dangers to our country and economy. In February, the Financial Action Task Force an organization comprising nearly 40 nations warned that it is exceptionally concerned about Irans failure to address the risk of terrorist financing and the serious threat this poses to the worlds financial system. Thats why Im working with colleagues on both sides of the aisle on legislation to put in place strict statutory prohibitions to keep Iran from receiving the benefits of accessing the U.S. financial system. Iran has seen what Obama will do to preserve his nuclear deal, and its taking full advantage. The United States cannot cave again. Congress should make clear that until the Iranian regime drops its illicit missile program and funding of terrorism, it wont receive another dime of sanctions relief. Bernie Sanders emerged from Wisconsin with a solid victory Tuesday, prolonging his dogged but improbable bid to catch Hillary Clinton in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. The senator from Vermont was leading the partys front-runner in a state with a celebrated tradition of progressive activism and a primary open to independent voters, a bedrock Sanders constituency. Now, despite Clintons still-overwhelming lead in delegates, Sanders can claim the momentum of winning in six of the past seven states holding nominating contests across the country. The victory was certain to energize Sanderss supporters two weeks ahead of what will be a key showdown in delegate-rich New York, a state where Clinton hopes to put an end to Sanderss embarrassing winning streak and reclaim control of the race against the self-described democratic socialist. Sanders held a boisterous rally Tuesday night in Wyoming, the site of Democratic caucuses Saturday. Screams erupted and the crowd broke into chants of Bernie! Bernie! Bernie! in an auditorium at the University of Wyoming in Laramie when Sanders shared the news that the networks had called Wisconsin for him. If we wake up the American people, and working people and middle-class people and senior citizens and young people begin to stand up and fight back and come out and vote in large numbers, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish, he said. Clinton had already turned her attention to New York before voting began in Wisconsin. She appeared Tuesday morning on ABCs The View, held an event in Brooklyn focused on womens issues and attended an evening fundraiser in the Bronx where attendees were asked to raise $10,000 for her campaign. In a tweet after the polls closed, Clinton congratulated Sanders on his victory. To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! she wrote. While catching Clinton in the delegate count remains a long shot, Sanders has chipped away at her onetime lead of more than 300 pledged delegates, which was down to 263 before Tuesdays contest in Wisconsin, according to an Associated Press tally. Sanders invested significant time in Wisconsin, not leaving the Badger State in the final four days leading up to the primary and making an unadvertised campaign stop at a Milwaukee diner Tuesday morning. If people come out to vote in large numbers, I think were going to do very, very well, Sanders told reporters as he entered Blues Egg with Barbara Lawton, a former Wisconsin lieutenant governor. Sanders aggressively sought to highlight his more insular views on trade an issue that hes pressed in other Midwestern industrial states as well as Clintons ties to Wall Street. 1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What it looks like on the ground in Wisconsin for the primary election View Photos Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. Caption Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. April 5, 2016 Freshman student Abi Nesbitt votes in her first primary election at UW-Eau Claire's Davies Center in Eau Claire, Wis. Dan Reiland/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP Wait 1 second to continue. Wisconsin was viewed as difficult terrain for Clinton. In 2008, the states Democratic electorate was 87 percent white voters whom Sanders has consistently won in nominating contests this year. Its industrial landscape, large bloc of independent voters and substantial working class also were seen as fertile ground for Sanderss message of rethinking U.S. trade policy. In 2008, Clinton lost the state by 17 points to then-Sen. Barack Obama. This time, she campaigned lightly here, focusing strategically on cities in congressional districts that played to her strengths, including Milwaukee, where she is popular with a large African American electorate. She highlighted that she, unlike Sanders, has been a Democrat her whole adult life. She emphasized her commitment to supporting Democratic candidates at the state and local levels a salient issue for a state party that has been waging fierce ideological battles against Gov. Scott Walker (R). Hes won some, Ive won some. But I have 2 1/ 2 million more votes than he does, Clinton said on The View on Tuesday morning. Both candidates are now set for a showdown April 19 in New York, a state where Sanders grew up, where Clinton was elected twice to the U.S. Senate and where 247 delegates will be at stake. Clinton plans to campaign aggressively there, in part to prevent an embarrassing upset in her adopted home state and in part to deliver a decisive victory that would further marginalize Sanders. The Brooklyn-born Sanders plans to make New York his home base over the coming two weeks as well. While he will make some campaign stops in other states with upcoming nominating contests, aides say he plans to return to New York City most nights, reflecting the hard-to-overstate consequences of the primary. His decision to campaign Tuesday in Wyoming was born of a desire to add to his momentum heading into New York by notching a win in the states caucuses Saturday, though only 14 delegates are in play. At this time in 2008, Obamas pledged-delegate lead over Clinton fluctuated between 120 and 140 delegates about half of the margin by which Clinton now leads Sanders. And that doesnt include superdelegates, the elected officials and other party leaders who are not bound by their states results and who so far have broken heavily in Clintons favor. Sanders aims to catch Clinton in pledged delegates those won in primary elections once California votes June 7. Doing so would require lopsided wins in most of the remaining contests, including some in states that have demographics similar to places where he has struggled. If Sanders catches Clinton or gets close both candidates would enter the partys convention in July without enough pledged delegates to claim the nomination. That would force the partys superdelegates who are automatically made convention delegates to choose the nominee, a scenario Sanderss campaign manager reiterated during an interview Tuesday on CNN. The Sanders campaign has started making the case to superdelegates that they should side with him because he is more electable than Clinton against Republican front-runner Donald Trump a view the Clinton camp disputes. In a memo to supporters Monday, Clintons campaign manager, Robby Mook, described the Sanders strategy as reliant on overturning the will of the voters. The results in Wisconsin continued many of the trends seen in previous contests. Independents, who were allowed to participate in the Democratic primary, favored Sanders over Clinton by a 40-point margin, according to preliminary exit polls. And as in prior contests, voters rated Sanders as far more trustworthy than Clinton. Nine in 10 Democratic voters said Sanders was honest and trustworthy, compared with to 6 in 10 who said the same of Clinton. Tuesday morning, as Sanders mingled with voters over breakfast at Blues Egg in Milwaukee, Dale Dulberger, 66, of Wauwatosa, Wis., came to greet the senator after casting his vote for him. I think hes really authentic, Dulberger, who teaches at a county technical college, said of Sanders. I think people believe what hes saying. His proposals are idealistic, but thats what a president is supposed to do. Clinton, on the other hand, campaigned in New York City and did not mention Wisconsins election at either appearance. In a preview of what is expected to be a rough-and-tumble New York primary, the New York Daily News debuted Wednesdays front-page story, which encapsulates the challenge that awaits Sanders in the Empire State. The paper lambasted the senator for his position opposing legal liability for gunmakers after the massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in 2012. The headline: Bernies Sandy Hook shame. After Sen. Ted Cruzs big victory in the Wisconsin primary, Republicans enter a new and critical phase in their volatile nomination battle, with Donald Trumps rivals and those in the party establishment who are determined to stop him sharing a single objective: to keep the GOP front-runner as far short of a first-ballot convention victory as possible. The Wisconsin race represents a potentially important turning point in the Republican contest, one that will embolden Trumps opponents. A contested convention has become more probable. Whether that comes to pass will be determined by what takes place in the trench warfare that will play out over the next three months. The Republican race is about to become granular. The coming battles will be waged in targeted congressional districts where Trump shows weakness regardless of his statewide appeal, in hand-to-hand competition at state party conventions where the delegates are being selected, and ultimately in a battle for the hearts and minds of the men and women who will go to Cleveland, bound or unbound on the first ballot but free agents after that. Until now, the nomination fight has been portrayed, rightly, as a series of state-by-state contests, where victories beget momentum and bragging rights. In this competition, Trump has won more than anyone else the most votes overall and the most delegates. From here on, delegate accumulation matters above all. For Trump and Cruz, winning states certainly remains important. But every delegate denied to Trump will be considered a small but important victory by the anti-Trump forces. How Ted Cruz won the Wisconsin GOP primary, in 60 seconds (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) At his victory rally in Wisconsin, Cruz said he is more and more convinced that he can win the nomination. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, we will win the majority of delegates, he said. Cruzs clear victory in Wisconsin makes it exceedingly difficult for Trump to reach the 1,237-delegate threshold by the final day of the primaries and makes the senator from Texas the principal alternative. Ohio Gov. John Kasich hopes to hang in until the convention, but his weak showing in Wisconsin makes his case more difficult. How close Trump comes to a first-ballot majority will have a huge influence on the behavior of the convention delegates when they gather in July. For us, its how much more can we peel him back from that number, said Katie Packer, founder of Our Principles, an anti-Trump super PAC. With Wisconsin in the books, about two-thirds of the convention delegates have been allocated. Only about 832 of the 2,472 total delegates are yet to be allocated. Only Trump has even an outside chance of getting to 1,237, but his path became narrower because of Wisconsin. The immediate calendar appears favorable to Trump. The next contest, on April 19, will be held in the New York billionaires home state. It seems the ideal place for him to rebound after two weeks of self-inflicted wounds controversial foreign and domestic policy proposals, damaging statements about abortion and a campaign manager charged with misdemeanor battery and now a serious setback in a key Midwest industrial state. The most recent polls show him with a sizable lead statewide and support topping 50 percent. But New Yorks rules are less than ideal for Trump at a time when he needs to sweep up as many delegates as possible. For starters, the states 95 delegates will be awarded proportionally, rather than on a winner-take-all basis. Beyond that, 81 of those delegates are distributed on the basis of results in the states 27 congressional districts. 1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What it looks like on the ground in Wisconsin for the primary election View Photos Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. Caption Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. April 5, 2016 Freshman student Abi Nesbitt votes in her first primary election at UW-Eau Claire's Davies Center in Eau Claire, Wis. Dan Reiland/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP Wait 1 second to continue. Trump could gain 14 delegates if he wins more than 50 percent of the statewide vote. Otherwise, he will share those delegates with any rival who tops 20 percent. In any congressional district where he falls short of 50 percent, even if he has the plurality of votes, he will give up one of the three delegates awarded in each of those districts. If he runs second in any district, he would pick up just one delegate. A week after that, the biggest prize is Pennsylvania, with 71 delegates. But only 17 of those delegates will be bound to vote for the winner of the primary. The other 54 will be elected individually, three for each of the 18 congressional districts. They are not identified by the candidate they support, if they favor someone, and are not bound to vote for the winner. Polls there show Trump, Cruz and Kasich as competitive but Cruzs team believes its superior organization and attention to detail will pay dividends on the delegate front. The biggest prize comes on the final day of the primary season, when California awards 172 delegates. California is a winner-take-all state, but it is both winner-take-all for the 13 at-large delegates awarded on the basis of the statewide results and the rest awarded to the winner of each of the states 53 congressional districts. Its going to be congressional district by congressional district, now into June, said Russ Schriefer, a Republican strategist. I also think that until [Trump] has a solid 1,237, this is going to be a very active campaign. And it cant be, We project hell get to 1,237 because its close. Hes going to have to point to who they are. The other side of the battle could be just as important in determining the state of play heading into Cleveland. This is the delegate selection process, rather than the delegate allocation process, or what Republican strategist and election-law attorney Ben Ginsberg described on MSNBC on Tuesday as the dirty blocking and tackling of the nomination process. As Republicans in state after state pick their delegates, the rival campaigns will do all they can to ensure that those delegates, bound or unbound, are as friendly as possible to their candidate. In this competition, Cruz has a strong head start, having spent months developing organizations in the states and with an attention to detail that has been far superior to that of Trumps campaign. Cruzs campaign has shown its prowess in Louisiana, North Dakota and Tennessee and is confident that it can prevail in other states. Trump has taken steps to improve his operation, hiring strategists with experience. But they are starting from behind. This is all a process that takes time and planning and knowledge of not only the rules but also the delegates, Schriefer said. There are not a lot of people who are actually good at it. Trump retains important advantages because of his performance this year. He can arrive in Cleveland short of a majority with a potentially persuasive argument that he deserves the nomination. A new McClatchy-Marist poll found that 52 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents said that if Trump has more delegates, even if not a majority, he should become the nominee. For Cruz and Kasich, if you go in well below a majority of delegates and having only won a handful of states, it becomes harder to say, Yes, we should overturn what the voters have done, said Republican strategist Mike DuHaime. That is the second step of the process. The first is trying to stop Trump. The anti-Trump forces and, in particular, Cruz took an important step in that direction in Wisconsin. The results will change the conversation, but only that. Keeping Trump away from 1,237 is the ultimate game-changer. Ted Cruz rolled to a landslide victory Tuesday in Wisconsins hotly contested Republican presidential primary, capitalizing on a difficult stretch for Donald Trump to cut into the front-runners overall delegate lead and deliver a psychological blow to the billionaire mogul. Though the senator from Texas is reviled by many party leaders for his explosive and polarizing brand of politics, Cruz won over establishment Republicans as well as grass-roots conservative activists across this state who had come together in an urgent push to stop Trump. Late returns showed him leading Trump by a wide margin. Cruz hopes his Wisconsin win transforms the trajectory of the race. Wisconsin adds a important Midwestern bellwether to the basket of mostly Southern or rural states he has won to date, giving the Texan evidence that he can appeal beyond ultra-conservative and religious voters. Savoring his biggest night since winning the kickoff Iowa caucuses in February, Cruz declared before cheering supporters here in Milwaukee: Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hardworking men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America: We have a choice a real choice. Trump remains in a favorable position nationally, but Cruz now has fresh momentum heading into future contests and Tuesdays results increase the possibility that the nomination battle spills onto the floor of the partys July convention in Cleveland. 1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What it looks like on the ground in Wisconsin for the primary election View Photos Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. Caption Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. April 5, 2016 Freshman student Abi Nesbitt votes in her first primary election at UW-Eau Claire's Davies Center in Eau Claire, Wis. Dan Reiland/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP Wait 1 second to continue. Only 42 delegates were at stake in Wisconsin, however, meaning Tuesdays primary will not significantly alter the delegate count, in which Cruz had been trailing Trump by roughly 250. To secure the nomination, candidates need 1,237 delegates. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates and together, we will beat Hillary Clinton in November, Cruz told supporters. Trump spent the evening with his family in New York monitoring the returns and made no public appearance. His campaign issued a statement that read, in part: Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. Trump is planning a large rally Wednesday night on Long Island and a visit to California later in the week. Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has been fending off calls from Cruz and Trump to quit the race, finished a distant third. He now looks to the April 19 primary in New York and contests later this month in Maryland, Pennsylvania and other states along the East Coast. Kasichs chief strategist, John Weaver, wrote a memo distributed Tuesday night that predicts a contested convention. Tonights results will solidify the fact that no candidate will reach Cleveland with 1,237 bound delegates, Weaver wrote. Cruz used his victory speech to draw unmistakable contrasts with Trumps incendiary campaigning. We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us. . .to a safe and sane future, he said. Then Cruz brought his wife, Heidi, the subject of a nasty feud with Trump and his fans, to the podium and showered praise on her. For Trump, the loss here in a state where he had campaigned vigorously and which he vowed to carry caps a bruising few weeks. Since a March 15 romp in Florida and other states that seemed to position him as nearly unstoppable, Trump suffered a series of self-inflicted wounds from which he is struggling to recover. In Wisconsin, Trump ran into a wall of hostility from influential conservative talk radio personalities as well as from Gov. Scott Walker and his loyal coalition of party activists, who had lined up behind Cruz. [Battleground Wisconsin: A Trump loss to Cruz could reshape GOP race] Nearly half of voters in the GOP primary were looking for a president with experience in politics, according to preliminary exit-poll results reported by ABC News. That is an increase from earlier states that have voted, where only about four in 10 Republicans looked for someone with experience. Of those, just 7 percent backed Trump. Trumps previous wins have been fueled in part by voters who support his hard-line immigration position. But the exit polls show that in Wisconsin more than six in 10 Republican primary voters think undocumented immigrants should be offered a path to legal status one of the highest of any state voting this year, according to ABC. In the closing days of the Wisconsin race, Trump burrowed in to try to close a polling deficit with Cruz. He staged a series of relatively intimate rallies and town hall meetings and popped into diners to greet locals. Trump played up his opposition to trade deals, which he thought would resonate with Wisconsins blue-collar voters just as it had last month in neighboring Michigan, whose primary he won convincingly. And he was characteristically relentless in his criticism of Cruz and his allies, calling the senator Lyin Ted and belittling Walker by imitating him riding a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Trump also deployed his wife, Melania, to make a rare campaign appearance Monday night in Milwaukee a move seemingly orchestrated to soften his image with women after a series of misstatements on abortion policy. But it was not enough. In the exit polls, fully 35 percent of Republican primary voters said they would feel scared if Trump became president and another 20 percent expressed concern. Just over half singled out Trump for running the most unfair campaign and over one-third said they would not support him in a hypothetical general election. Sensing a big win within his reach, Cruz spent the past week barnstorming the state with a caravan of well-known Republican supporters. They framed the primary as a pivotal moment in the push to deny Trump the partys nomination. Walker, himself a candidate before dropping out last fall, was a constant presence at Cruzs side during the final 48 hours. The governor built intense loyalty from Republican voters here through his battles with the legislature and organized labor, including a brutal recall campaign in 2012 and reelection in 2014. Walker tried to bestow his supporters to Cruz, introducing the Texan at large gatherings in Green Bay and Waukesha. Together they visited a touristy cheese shop in Kenosha, where Cruz sampled local cheddar, and posed for selfies at an Italian market in Milwaukee as Cruz and his family ate gelato. Introducing Cruz on Tuesday night, Walker said, This victory is bigger than just Wisconsin. This is the night when we can look back and say that was the time that turned the tide in this election. [Stop-Trump forces see an opportunity in Scott Walkers Wisconsin] As Trump struggled for several days to explain his position on abortion, Cruz spotlighted his wife Heidi and former candidate Carly Fiorina to help make his soft pitch to women voters. Heidi Cruz and Fiorina staged their own series of meet-and-greets across the state. Rolling across the state in his campaign bus through chilly weather and the occasional dusting of snow, Cruz called on Republicans to unite behind his candidacy and framed the contest as a one-on-one fight between him and Trump. Still, Cruz and his allies were also keeping a close eye on Kasich, who was campaigning hard in Wisconsin and sought to project a positive message. The Cruz team was worried that Kasich might do well enough here to deprive Cruz of some delegates and gain a head of steam as the contest turns to the Northeast, seen as more favorable territory for Kasich. But the real battle here was between Trump and Cruz, who benefited from the outright disdain that influential conservative talk radio hosts like Charlie Sykes and Jerry Bader showed toward Trump. Bader spoke with disgust about the New York businessman at a Cruz rally in Green Bay on Sunday. The next day, Sykes appeared with Cruz in Waukesha, where the talk-show host lambasted Trump. We have to be the firewall of common sense, Sykes told the crowd. Rucker reported from Washington. Jose A. DelReal in Milwaukee, Scott Clement in Washington and Robert Costa in New York contributed to this report. After winning the April 5 Wisconsin primary, Ted Cruz appeared to reach out to the GOP establishment and ask for its trust. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) After winning the April 5 Wisconsin primary, Ted Cruz appeared to reach out to the GOP establishment and ask for its trust. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Iowa and New Hampshire voted first in the presidential election this year. New York and California are where candidates can win the largest number of delegates. But if the Republican presidential race between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is decided by just a handful of delegates, what happens in Colorado this weekend might matter most of all. Colorado is one of six states or territories including American Samoa, Guam, North Dakota, Wyoming and the Virgin Islands that opted not to hold Republican presidential caucuses or a primary decided by voters. Instead, the states Republicans are meeting this weekend to finalize a slate of 37 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July. The process is not simple, however. On Saturday, thousands will pack an arena in Colorado Springs as more than 600 candidates speak for 20 seconds each in an effort to be delegates. Cruz is also slated to speak, along with a representative for the third GOP presidential candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Its going to be messy, said George Leing, who is already guaranteed a delegate spot as a state committeeman for the Republican National Committee. Its not the prettiest thing, but so far its working. This summer's political conventions could get heated but it certainly wouldn't be the first time. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) Unlike other states where campaigns spent millions of dollars on rallies and television commercials, winning support in Colorado requires more time-consuming, arduous effort that leads to people like Kendal Unruh. The anti-abortion activist from Castle Rock, Colo., has attended seven Republican national conventions and has helped write the partys official platform. This year, Unruh is organizing a slate of like-minded, anti-abortion activists to run for Colorado delegate slots. Their main goal is to ensure that the GOP maintains its staunch anti-abortion position. Her second goal is to elect Cruz as president. Senator Cruz isnt just doing his homework by devoting time and resources to the meticulous process of winning over delegates, but by his record hes winning these people over by being a lifelong, consistent conservative, Unruh said. That is something that money cant buy. That is something that winning debates cant buy. In February, Colorado Republicans began meeting at the precinct, district and county levels to select candidates to run for delegate seats. Party faithful are gathering this week to elect three delegates for each of its seven congressional districts. Thirteen more statewide delegates will be chosen Saturday. Anyone seeking a delegate slot has the option of declaring a preference in advance or running as part of a slate of like-minded candidates such as the ones organized by Unruh and others. Pledged delegates who win must vote for their preferred candidate on the first ballot at the national convention. Unpledged delegates have until votes are cast in Cleveland to make a decision. If the race remains unsettled, unpledged delegates will become some of the most sought-after Republicans in the country as Cruz, Trump and Kasich seek to win them over. We have a lot of people coming out of the woodwork, said Amy Stephens, a former Colorado House majority leader who is supporting Kasich and helping organize slates of his supporters to win delegate slots. Colorado GOP leaders decided not to hold presidential caucuses this year, citing the costs and potentially chaotic nature of the contest. Many party members disagreed, thinking that the party was surrendering any chance of influencing the outcome. 1 of 17 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad What it looks like on the ground in Wisconsin for the primary election View Photos Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. Caption Wisconsin voters head to the polls for the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries. April 5, 2016 Freshman student Abi Nesbitt votes in her first primary election at UW-Eau Claire's Davies Center in Eau Claire, Wis. Dan Reiland/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP Wait 1 second to continue. Jimmy Sengenberger, a 25-year-old conservative radio talk-show host in Denver who is running as a pledged delegate for Cruz, initially balked at the decision not to hold caucuses. Now it seems perfect, he said. If theres any cycle in which the party should do it this way in Colorado, this is the year. Gregory Carlson, 27, is typical of the kind of politicos who turn out for state conventions. Hes studying to become a professional parliamentarian. Hes read Roberts Rules of Order cover to cover twice. Carlson is running as an unpledged delegate and says he would seek to ensure that only declared presidential candidates are considered for the nomination in Cleveland. If were going to nominate someone who hasnt been on the debate stage, its a disservice to the other candidates and their supporters, he said. Why pick somebody different at the finish line? Leing is also remaining unpledged, citing his party leadership role. I dont want to see any gaming of the system to see one campaign try to favor a particularly candidate, he said. Trump is leading the GOP delegate race and continues to lead polls nationwide. But he lost badly to Cruz in Wisconsin on Tuesday, and his team is struggling to master the complex delegate rules. In Louisiana, Cruzs campaign exploited party rules to pack the delegation with supporters even though Trump won the state handily. Cruz also won a majority of the 28 delegates elected at North Dakotas GOP convention last weekend. Trump has accused Tennessee Republicans of robbing him of his fair share of delegates. In Colorado, Cruz is scheduled to make a final sales pitch, and Kasich is sending former senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire to speak on his behalf. Trump will not be attending, according to the state GOP. Its always been difficult to parachute into these conventions and expect them to go your way, Sununu said, adding that the complicated nature of selecting delegates shouldnt be a surprise to anyone. Regina Thompson, Cruzs Colorado coordinator, agreed. A contested convention is the process, she said. It should not rip the party apart. This has been the process of the Republican Party for 160 years or so. Its not stealing it from anyone; its not dirty tricks. This has simply always been the rules. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee on Monday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post) As recently as three weeks ago, it was looking as though none of the laws of political physics applied to the phenomenon that is Donald Trump. But the days since his strong showing in the March 15 round of primaries have seen the GOP front-runner make a series of stumbles over his own feet. No longer does he appear to be invulnerable to gaffes and mistakes that would have destroyed a more conventional candidate before the Iowa caucuses. That is why Trumps second-place finish to Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) in Tuesdays Wisconsin Republican primary may represent no ordinary setback. It appears to be a pivot point although it has yet to be seen whether the trajectory from here points downward or upward. Either these are the weeks we discovered he had weaknesses he couldnt overcome, or these are the weeks when he and his team realized they had to get better, said former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). If he makes the transition to being a really professional presidential candidate, he will be really formidable. And if he does not, he will not be the nominee. Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski insisted that there will be no major shift in strategy. Republican front-runner Donald Trump says he can't wait to take on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the fall, but here are three reasons why he could lose a general election. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) Absolutely not. We have from Day One run the same campaign, Lewandowski said. Were going to continue to execute. Were not going to blow up the model. Yet some recalibration is underway. Trump thus far has offered few specifics on how he would achieve his grand goals. But on Tuesday he outlined for the first time how he would compel the Mexican government to pay for the wall he proposes for the border between Mexico and the United States, saying he could do it by threatening to cut off the billions of dollars that Mexicans in the United States send back to the country. He plans to be more specific in coming weeks, with a series of detail-rich speeches on strengthening the military, reforming education and spelling out his criteria for picking justices for the Supreme Court. Lewandowski described the new emphasis as representing the natural maturation of the campaign. As usually happens when a campaign hits a rough patch, there have been predictions of campaign-staff shakeups in the offing. [Who is Corey Lewandowski? His rise and his relationship with Donald Trump.] But in Trumps case, there is only one direction in which the finger of blame can be pointed. 1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican presidential candidate focuses on Super Tuesday state primaries after a win in Nevada. Caption Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue. The strength and the weakness of his unconventional campaign has been Trump himself. He has functioned in many ways as his own chief strategist, political consultant, policy czar and communications guru. That is the same way he built his fortune, said campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks. In real estate, he builds a building. It doesnt matter who the marble vendor is, or who the carpet vendor is, or whos providing the furniture, or who is the designer. His name is on the building, and its his product, Hicks said. He sort of approached the campaign very similarly: My name is on this, and nobody else really matters. The limitations of that approach have become more apparent as the campaign has been spread more thinly and as the field of competitors has narrowed. Trumps foes also have seized upon new signs of vulnerability, spending millions to amplify their advertising assaults and organizing efforts in Wisconsin and elsewhere. In Wisconsin, Our Principles PAC, an anti-Trump group, spent $2 million and had a robust, across-the-board operation: television and digital ads, billboards, direct mail, phone calls, and absentee and get-out-the-vote programs. Trump didnt take the time to build out an organization that could go all the way, and he doesnt have the infrastructure in various states, to the point hes not fielding full delegate slates, said Brian Baker, a senior strategist for the group. Baker said he saw Trumps recent hiring of Paul Manafort, a veteran GOP consultant who will be working on convention and delegate issues, as a de facto acknowledgment that its too late to get an organization together and there will be an open convention. Trump and his team also have made a stream of missteps and misjudgments of late. He retweeted an unflattering picture of Cruzs wife, prompting the senator from Texas to call Trump a sniveling coward and warn him to leave Heidi the hell alone. Trump, who rarely owns up to making a mistake, later admitted that the tweet about Heidi Cruz had been one. Trump brought his own wife, Melania, onto the campaign trail in an apparent effort to boost his low standing with female voters. David Winston, a veteran pollster who works with congressional GOP leaders, noted that the gender gap is emerging as a critical vulnerability for Trump. When were talking about women, were talking about the largest voting bloc in the country. The gender problem is a problem with the majority of the electorate, Winston said. Trump has made it about personality and has been very stark, being provocative in terms of creating tension. Violence and chaos have became commonplace at his campaign events, including an incident in which Lewandowski was caught on video grabbing the collar of a protester. Ten days later, Florida police charged the campaign manager with simple battery against a female reporter who had been trying to ask the candidate a question. In both instances, Trump has come to the defense of his embattled campaign manager. Trump has shown an uneven grasp of policy and world events in interviews with major news organizations, including The Washington Post and the New York Times. [In a revealing interview, Trump predicts a massive recession but intends to eliminate the national debt in 8 years] He has also botched questions on abortion, managing to draw fire from those on both sides of the issue arguing that women who get abortions should be punished, then that only providers should be, and then that law on the issue has been set. At some point, the candidates words must stand on their own. What do you believe, Mr. Trump? No one knows, said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a leading antiabortion group. Meanwhile, Trump has been outmaneuvered on the ground by the highly organized Cruz campaign, which used its superior grasp of party rules to garner more delegates in Louisiana, although Trump won the statewide vote. And at times, he has appeared to be coasting, taking a full week away from the trail after winning the Arizona primary on March 22. Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich used that time to press for votes in Wisconsin. The coming weeks will take the campaign to what should be more favorable terrain for Trump, including his home state of New York. And Trump professes not to be dismayed by the setbacks. Ive been given the last rites how many times, like 10? Every week, its the end of Trump, the billionaire said during a rally in Superior, Wis. They walk in, Sir, I dont know what happened, but your poll numbers just went through the roof. Jenna Johnson contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan Google Ad Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox UCOMS SPECIAL OFFER OF THE UNLIMITED INTERNET IS NOW TERMLESS There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol Armenia and Azerbaijan to do so without delay An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan". UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022 Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully Google Ad The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces LEVEL UP ONLY FOR STUDENTS: UCOM OFFERS X2 AND X3 MORE INTERNET STATEMENT BY SECRETARY ANTONY J. BLINKEN This criminal act is another proof that the Armenophobia policy. Tatoyan Nikol Pashinyan, Nancy Pelosi discuss a number of issues related to the Armenian-American agenda and regional developments Delegation by Nancy Pelosi Accompanied by Alen Simonyan Visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi Arrives in Yerevan Armenian Revytech, global technology leader SAP and financial services software specialist SAP Fioneer sign a cooperation agreement With 120 million drams donated by Mikael Vardanyan, the defenders of the homeland will be treated in a new building OSCE Chairman-in-Office and OSCE Secretary General call for immediate cessation of hostilities along Armenia-Azerbaijan border Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Artsakh USA Embassy Message for U.S. Citizens ANCA Issues National Call to Action to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Aliyevs Aggression Flags and posters are seen in Amsterdam for Wednesdays nonbinding referendum on the E.U.-Ukraine trade deal. (Peter Dejong/AP) Dutch voters on Wednesday rejected a trade deal between the European Union and Ukraine in a referendum that served as a rallying point for anger over the increasing powers of the blocs leadership in Brussels. About 61 percent of voters said no to the E.U.-Ukraine pact, the Associated Press reported. Voter turnout was 32.2 percent, just above the threshold of 30 percent required for the referendum to be valid, broadcasters in the country reported after all the votes were counted. The trade deal already approved by parliaments across the 28-nation European Union essentially creates a free-trade zone with Ukraine and marks another significant step in that countrys integration with the rest of the continent. The Dutch referendums effect on the trade pact is unclear. Portions of the accord are already in place, and overturning it would require all E.U. members to agree a highly unlikely scenario. In his televised early reaction to the vote, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said: If the turnout is above 30 percent, with such a big victory for the no camp, you cant just go ahead and ratify the treaty. He said he would discuss the result in his cabinet, at the European Union and in the Dutch parliament, a process that could take days if not weeks, the AP reported. The vote was closely watched as a bellwether of growing mistrust and criticism within the E.U., which has struggled to deal with a huge migrant influx and debt crises in member states, notably Greece. Opponents of the deal played on fears of growing Russian pressure on Europe and NATO. Critics argued that Russia could indirectly benefit from greater E.U. commercial openings to Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists hold territory in the east. In 2014, Russia also annexed the Crimean Peninsula amid the tensions. Supporters of the trade deal claimed just the opposite that it deals a blow to Moscow by strengthening E.U. bonds in a former Soviet republic. To vote no is to endorse the Russian effort to destabilize the European Union from within, and to encourage the continuation of Russias wars in the E.U.s neighborhood, wrote the historian Timothy Snyder, an advocate for a Europeanized Ukraine. [Kievs Western gaze] In 2014, the pact helped set off uprisings that eventually led to Ukraines civil war. The deal was initially signed but then opposed by the pro-Russian government of President Viktor Yanukovych, who was driven from office by the unrest. According to Peter van Ham, a senior fellow at the Clingendael Institute, a think tank based in The Hague, voters in the no camp in the Netherlands come from a variety of perspectives. Its a mixed bunch, he said. Some vote with their guts, and some vote with their brains. There are those, van Ham said, who oppose specific components in the deal, such as hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, or the potential to open doors for displaced Ukrainians on a continent already beleaguered by the largest migrant crisis since World War II. But there are others who are dissatisfied with what they perceive to be faulty E.U. promises and bureaucratic incompetence. The point is more of a political nature, van Ham said. Its an opportunity to signal a lack of trust, a signal that the electorate has had enough. The referendum was largely engineered by the Dutch GeenPeil, a Euroskeptic social-media group whose name means not a clue, a jab at the European Union. The Netherlands will hold elections next year, in March, and the no vote in the referendum was expected to bolster the rising popularity of Geert Wilders, a leading anti-immigrant firebrand who bears similarities to Frances conservative National Front party leader Marine Le Pen. Wilders is perhaps most famous for his criticism of Islam, including calls to ban the Koran in the Netherlands. The yes campaign was not helped by revelations this week in the Panama Papers leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm and follow-up reporting from a worldwide consortium of journalists into tax havens and shell companies. The report detailed the extent of offshore accounts held by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. For many critics of the deal, the papers have justified the findings of Transparency International, which has repeatedly assigned Ukraine a high corruption rating. Read more: A British exit could be just the start of Europes unraveling in 2016 The stunning acceleration of Europes migration crisis, in one chart 7 things to know about the incredibly complicated migrant crisis U.S. Ambassador to Jordan Alice Wells, right, meets with Syrian refugee Ahmad al-Abboud, center, and his family at the International Airport of Amman, Jordan. (Raad Adayleh/Associated Press) The first Syrian family to be resettled in the United States under a speeded-up surge operation for refugees departed from Jordan on Wednesday for Kansas City, Mo., to start a new life. Ahmad al-Abboud, who is being resettled with his wife and five children, said he is thankful to Jordan, where he has lived for three years since fleeing Syrias civil war. But the 45-year-old from Homs, Syria, said he was ready to build a better life in the United States. Im happy. America is the country of freedom and democracy there are job opportunities, there is good education, and we are looking forward to having a good life over there, Abboud said. They have been living in Mafraq, north of Amman. Abboud was unable to find work, and the family was surviving on food coupons. I am ready to integrate in the U.S. and start a new life, he said before the family boarded a flight to Kansas City from Ammans airport. Abboud said he wanted to learn English and find a job to support his family. Since October, 1,000 Syrian refugees have moved to the United States from Jordan. President Obama has set a target of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by Sept. 30. A resettlement center opened in Amman in February to help meet that goal, and about 600 people are interviewed every day at the center. The temporary processing center will operate until April 28, said U.S. Ambassador Alice Wells, who was at the airport to see the Abboud family depart. Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, said that although the target of 10,000 applies to Syrian refugees living around the world, most will be resettled from Jordan. The 10,000 [figure] is a floor and not a ceiling, and it is possible to increase the number, Kassem told reporters. The U.N. refugee agency prioritizes the most vulnerable cases for resettlement and refers them to the United States for review, Kassem said. The priority is given to high-risk groups such as unaccompanied minors and victims of torture and gender-based violence, she said. We do not have exclusions or look for families with certain education background, language skills or other socioeconomic factors, and we do not cut family sizes, she said. Jordan hosts about 635,000 of the more than 4.7 million Syrians who have registered with the U.N. refugee agency. The total number of Syrians in Jordan is more than 1.2 million, including those who arrived before the conflict in their country began in 2011. Footage from each year of the Syrian crisis shows how Homs went from a city of more than one million people to a war-ravaged ghost town. (Monica Akhtar/and Lorenzo Tugnoli for The Washington Post) The war-ravaged buildings in Homs, the Syrian city once dubbed the capital of the revolution, still hold the ghosts of the rebels who fought here. Inside one, above a gutted paint shop, fighters scrawled their names Abu Omar, Abu Ratib, Abu Sharif leaving their mark before surrendering this neighborhood and others around it to government forces nearly two years ago, outgunned and facing starvation. Bring me an ice cream and feed me, one wrote. Close by, in black marker, is a drawing of the three-star flag that became the symbol of Syrias uprising. Downstairs are the holes the fighters punched in walls so they could move from house to house without being targeted by snipers. [Inside Syrias war: I went to three cities. This is what I saw.] The rebels are long gone from the areas of the Old City of Homs where they were besieged, the last 2,000 bused out in a U.N.-brokered deal in May 2014. But most of the families that once lived here have still not returned. Broken street after broken street lies silent, aside from the sound of wreckage creaking in the wind. This yawning hole in the heart of Homs, a city once home to more than a million people, is testament to the challenge of repopulating and rebuilding Syrias cities. That is a task the World Bank estimates could cost $170 billion and would require international efforts on the scale of the Marshall Plan, which helped Europe recover after World War II. A boy plays soccer in front of a destroyed house in the Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya on March 16. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) The war has destroyed hospitals, thousands of schools and a third of the countrys homes, as it continues to uproot Syrians. It has left Europe struggling to stem a flood of refugees and finally forging a deal to send new arrivals back to Turkey. [8 stories to read if you want to understand the Syrian conflict] But even in areas like Homs, which have been relatively stable in recent years, a lack of both the money to rebuild and a political solution to Syrias crisis will prevent families from returning anytime soon. Many are too afraid, and the longer these expanses of rubble sit untouched, the more entrenched past inhabitants will become in their lives elsewhere. People have restarted their lives outside, said Ziad Akras, 43, a member of a neighborhood committee for reconstruction in the Christian area of Bab al-Dreib. Their children are in schools. They may have found work. They wont come back. In Christian neighborhoods such as Bab-al Dreib, where residents were more supportive of the regime, some families have returned. Here, churches that were destroyed have raised money to rebuild, giving financial assistance to families who want to return. Electricity and water have been restored, but the streets are still eerily empty. Repairs have started on this house in the Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya. But many buildings in the city remain abandoned. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) Milad Jamal, 36, has reopened his restaurant, though he says it is a shadow of the community hub it once was. Its our neighborhood, so we came back, he said, adding that his family is one of about 800 families in the area that have returned out of 40,000. We were the last to close and we were the first to open, he said. He paid to rebuild the cafe out of his own pocket, while the church helped him rebuild his house. Nearby, a park that was used as a makeshift graveyard when this area was in rebel hands has been dug up, the bodies of the dead removed by the government. About 500 have been found, Akras said. Milad Jamal, 36, sits in his restaurant in the Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) The Bustan al-Diwan restaurant, one of the first businesses to reopen. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) The citys old clock tower, once a focal point of protests, has been restored, the government switching it back on in a celebration a year ago on the anniversary of the end of the siege. Nearby, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has helped clear about 70,000 tons of debris from the central market area and is trying to encourage businesses to return. But there are few signs of life in other areas of the Old City that were besieged and bombed for three years. The destruction in largely Sunni areas more sympathetic to the rebels was more brutal, making rebuilding a daunting task, even if the political will for it existed. The interior of a house in the Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) A damaged house in the Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) Khalidiya, the largely Sunni neighborhood where the house with the graffiti stands, was one of the worst-damaged in the fighting in the city. Roofs and building facades are torn away. Scaffolding around the newly repaired dome of the Khalid ibn al-Walid Mosque is the only sign of reconstruction. [Tale of two cities in Aleppo] A soldier at an army checkpoint said there are 20 families somewhere in the gray wasteland, but he didnt sound that convinced. The water and electricity have not been reconnected. Where do you start? said Jihad Yazigi, editor of the Syria Report, a bulletin specializing in the Syrian economy. There is no large-scale reconstruction because there is no significant reconciliation, because there isnt money, theres uncertainty, theres no will. He said reconstruction will need a vast international program, and that can only happen once the war ends. Jamal, the restaurant owner, blames the residents of neighborhoods like Khalidiya for not returning. The government is really keen to rehabilitate the city, he said. He who did something wrong will always be afraid. But even if they wanted to come back, there doesnt appear to be much to return to. People need guarantees, Yazigi said. People may know that their names are not on a watch list on the border, but theyd still feel very threatened going back. The scale of the task is enormous said Samuel Rizk, the Syria country director for UNDP, who agreed that there needs to be a political solution of some kind in Syria before any large-scale projects can begin. The Christian neighborhood of Hamidiya. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/For The Washington Post) For the moment, the UNDP is focusing on small-scale efforts to build livelihoods and economic recovery, hoping to stem the flow of migrants to Europe. A lot of people are leaving for security reasons, Rizk said. But a lot of people are also leaving for reasons of opportunity. Homs, however, remains a city on edge. Three car bombs exploded in the Zahra district of the city late last year, killing dozens. The 2014 deal allowed some rebels to remain in the al-Waer neighborhood of the city, where a cease-fire was reached in December to let them leave. Everyone is cautious. We feel that at any time there could be a bad surprise, Jamal said. This is home, but we still cant feel comfortable here. Read more: The saddest sign yet of why Syrians flee their homeland A newly married couple took their wedding photos in Homs What it looks like to be constantly bombed by Syrias Assad Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach is shown in his office in Topeka. (Christopher Smith/For The Washington Post) Inside a federal courtroom in Washington earlier this year, the presiding judge peered down in disbelief as a Justice Department official told him that the Obama administration would not defend a tiny elections agency but was instead siding with civil rights groups suing the government. Unprecedented, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said from the bench. Ive never heard of it in all my years as a lawyer. From the back of the packed courtroom emerged someone else to argue for the federal agency: a tall, clean-cut figure in a dark suit, carrying a sheaf of papers, who had traveled more than 1,000 miles that day to make his case. Your honor, Kris Kobach, Kansas secretary of state, he told the judge. He went on to defend the actions of the director of the elections agency who had single-handedly rewritten voter registration rules, prompting an immediate challenge from civil rights groups. Kobach, 50, first entered the national spotlight several years ago when he advised Mitt Romney on the idea of self-deportation for illegal immigrants during the 2012 presidential campaign. A former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, Kobach also wrote Arizonas strict show me your papers immigration law, and he has helped lead the fight against President Obamas executive actions on immigration. Thomas Hicks, chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, is shown in Silver Spring, Md. (Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) But now Kobach is the gladiator in a different battle a major figure in a national movement to add more requirements for Americans to vote or register to vote. Since the Supreme Court struck down in 2013 a key part of the Voting Rights Act, Kobach has been at the center of many legal skirmishes over voting requirements that have popped up nationwide. [A lawsuit over North Carolinas voter-ID law] Sixteen states have made changes that will be in effect for the first time in a presidential election, many of them requiring photo identification at the polls. Kobach has gone a step further pushing for states to demand proof of citizenship, such as a passport or a birth certificate, before allowing people to even register to vote. Election-law experts say the effort could reduce turnout in November. In Kansas, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, about 37,000 people who were trying to register to vote were on a suspense list last fall and were barred from voting unless they produced documentation. Nearly 90 percent of them were because of the proof-of-citizenship requirement, the ACLU said. And it was just such a citizenship measure that drew Kobach to the federal courtroom in Washington. A new executive director of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission (EAC), a little-known federal agency that is supposed to help states run elections, unilaterally altered the instructions on the federal voting registration form for three states Alabama, Georgia and Kansas requiring residents to show documents that prove they are U.S. citizens before they can register to vote. The director, Brian D. Newby, also from Kansas and a former colleague of Kobachs, made the change in late January without consulting the agencys three commissioners, bringing the matter to a vote or explaining his actions, according to the League of Women Voters and other civil rights groups that sued the agency on grounds that the change will make it harder for thousands of Americans to vote this fall. [For the governments top lawyer on voting rights, the presidential election has begun] This is not Russia, this is not Nazi Germany, Michael Keats, the attorney representing the groups, told the judge. We provide reasoning. We explain our decisions. . . . We dont do that in this country. . . . People in real time are trying to register. The confusion this is causing, the chilling effect that this is causing, is real. But Kobach said the EAC director made the voting-form change after Kobach requested it, arguing he had evidence that in Kansas there were a significant number of aliens who became registered to vote because there were no proof-of-citizenship requirements. Eighteen cases, newly discovered cases of aliens in one county . . . alone, Kobach told the judge. That was a lot of evidence. A powerful perch Most secretaries of state are longtime bureaucrats who focus quietly on overseeing their states election processes and become known to the wider public only if something goes awry on Election Day. Kobach is different. With degrees from Harvard, Yale Law School and Oxford University, where he earned a doctorate in politics, he has turned his perch in Kansas into a powerful national platform for his ideas. In a recent interview in his Topeka office, Kobach defended his efforts to require proof of citizenship from voters. My view is that it should be easy to vote but hard to cheat, said Kobach, a former law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. The reason we have to do this is there is a significant problem in Kansas and in the rest of the country of aliens getting on our voting rolls. With so many close elections in Kansas, having a handful of votes that are cast by aliens can swing an election. When asked for examples, Kobach said the most notorious case occurred in 1997 in a referendum on hog farming. According to him, a county clerk testified that more than 50 employees of a hog operation just over the line in Oklahoma sent in registration applications, many with made-up addresses in a Kansas county. On the day of the election, the county clerk said the noncitizens from Oklahoma were bused into Kansas in a van to vote. The referendum measure did not pass, and no charges were filed. Election-law experts say that there is no evidence of significant voter fraud in this country and that Kobach is intentionally trying to make it more difficult for minority voters who tend to vote Democratic. In perhaps the most comprehensive study of voter fraud in the nation, a study of allegations of voter fraud from 2000 to 2014 by Justin Levitt, a California law professor who is now the deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Departments Civil Rights Division found only 31 credible allegations of voter impersonation out of 1 billion ballots cast. Hes a provocateur, said Richard L. Hasen, an election-law expert at the University of California at Irvine. Kobach has been a leader nationally in making irresponsible claims that voter fraud is a major problem in this country. A person registering to vote uses a state or federal form, often at the Department of Motor Vehicles or online. The federal form asks residents to swear that they are U.S. citizens. Until recently, there was no need to submit documents. In 2011, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback (R) signed a law crafted by Kobach with a strict voter ID requirement. Brownback has since given Kobach power to prosecute voter-fraud cases, a power held by no other secretary of state, according to the ACLU. Beginning in 2013, the Kansas voting law also required anyone who registers to vote to prove through documentation that they are a U.S. citizen. (Kobach has a framed copy of the law on his office wall.) [Want to vote in this state? You have to have a passport or dig up a birth certificate.] Kobach calls the Kansas voting laws burden on voters so small as to be virtually nonexistent. The only burden is finding your birth certificate in your desk or wherever you keep it and taking a picture of it with your smartphone or making a copy and sending it in to the county or taking it in yourself, he said. But two years after the Kansas law passed, Kobach hit a roadblock. In June 2013, the Supreme Court struck down a proof of citizenship law in Arizona, similar to the one in Kansas. The late justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion, said states could not impose a documentary proof-of-citizenship requirement for those who register to vote using the federal form. Undeterred, Kobach decided that Kansans who used the federal form when registering to vote still had to provide the proper documents or not be able to vote in state and local elections. The ACLU sued Kobach, citing the Supreme Courts ruling. In January, a Kansas state court ruled in favor of the ACLU. Again, Kobach did not back down. Potentially, there was a way out of this seeming legal dead end one that had been pointed out by Scalia in his majority opinion from 2013. In his opinion, Scalia had given Arizona officials and Kobach a virtual road map about the next step they should take. A state that wanted to raise the bar for voter registration requirements could turn to the EAC. A state may request that the EAC alter the federal form to include information the state deems necessary to determine eligibility, Scalia wrote. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dismissed that avenue. The EAC currently has no members, and there is no reason to believe it will be restored to life in the near future, he wrote. An obscure commission The EAC, housed on the fourth floor of a pale-brown office building in downtown Silver Spring, Md., barely registers on anyones radar in Washington. Congress created it to assist states with elections after the 2000 presidential election controversy in Florida. It is also supposed to oversee the federal online voting form. The agency has virtually no regulatory power, and from 2011 through 2014, all four commissioner positions were vacant, so the agency could not conduct any public meetings. Obama was supposed to nominate commissioners two Republicans and two Democrats. Currently, there is only one Democrat and two Republicans. To change policy, three commissioners must be in agreement, and the White House has not nominated another Democratic commissioner. The agency also had no executive director until the three commissioners chose Newby last fall. At that time, Newby was a Kansas county election commissioner whom Kobach reappointed to his state job. When he was a finalist for the job of EAC executive director, Newby wrote an email to Kobach saying he never would have been considered for the position without his support, according to the Associated Press, which obtained it through a public-records request. I think I would enter the job empowered to lead the way I want to, Newby said in the email to Kobach, also noting that he was friends with two of the EAC commissioners. I wanted you in the loop, in part because of other issues in the past with the EAC, Newby continued. I also dont want you thinking that you cant count on me in an upcoming period that will tax our resources. Kobach had previously asked that the EAC change its federal form to require proof of citizenship, but his request was denied. Two weeks after Newby joined the agency in November, Kobach wrote a letter to ask again. Newbys answer was yes. A couple of months later, Newby sent letters to officials in three Republican-led states Alabama, Georgia and Kansas and changed the instructions by adding proof-of-citizenship requirements to the forms used in those states. Newby said he did not consult all the commissioners since the changes were not related to policy and did not need their approval. Newby did not respond to a request for an interview. But in a deposition, he said he changed the form after receiving a spreadsheet from Kobach that appeared to show new evidence of voter fraud in one Kansas county. The spreadsheet, listing Kansas aliens, showed two categories of people. The first had seven individuals Kobach said were noncitizens who wound up on the voting rolls before Kansass proof-of-citizenship law took effect in 2013. In six of the seven cases, the people never voted. The second group included 11 people who Kobach says were not citizens and were stopped from registering to vote, with at least one openly telling the election office he was not a citizen. None of the people Kobach cited was charged. After Newbys decision, the single Democratic commissioner, Chairman Thomas Hicks, released a statement calling for Newbys action to be withdrawn. Hicks said the change contradicts policy and precedent previously established by this commission. The two other commissioners did not respond to requests for an interview. Newby acted without legal authority, without public notice and in direct opposition to the Election Assistance Commissions repeated rejection of such changes, said Dale Ho of the ACLU, which has also sued the EAC. His abuse of power is unacceptable and illegal. The League of Women Voters and several other civil rights groups sued the EAC, arguing that the change will make it harder for minorities, students and elderly people to vote because they are more likely to have trouble tracking down a birth certificate or passport. Voters should not have to face an obstacle course in order to participate in our democracy, said Elisabeth MacNamara, the leagues national president. The case against the EAC in federal court could take at least six months to wind through the legal system with district court hearings, briefs and a possible appeal to the D.C. Circuit, which means the requirement of proof of citizenship could stand in three states for the presidential election. Is this going to be resolvable between now and November? Judge Leon said to the lawyers from both sides at the end of the most recent hearing. Think about it. Its a very practical problem. Seyran Ohanyan: Ceasefire reached after meeting of General Staffs of Armed Forces (video) Before the start of a Cabinet meeting, members of the Armenian Government observed a minute's silence in memory of the soldiers killed in the border skirmishes between April 2 and 5. Speaking the situation on the Line of Contact, Defense Minister Sayran Ohanyan said, The military actions launched by Azerbaijan were unprecedented not only after the 1994 ceasefire, but also in comparison with the first Artsakh War. They were unprecedented because of the types of weapons and military equipment used in skirmishes, the number of troops involved and the great number of losses. However, Minister Ohanyan added that the number of Azerbaijani casualties considerably exceed those of the Armenian side. He added that there were hired mercenaries and terrorists fighting on the Azerbaijani side. The mobilization of our people and volunteer squads can be considered renaissance, he stressed. The minister also dismissed Azerbaijani reports that they have conquered several Armenian settlements. Talish and Nor Seysulan villages are under Karabakh control, he said. Minister Ohanyan added the agreement on ceasefire was reached in Moscow on the level of the General Staffs of the armed forces of the conflicting parties. In conclusion, the Armenian official said the Karabakh Defense Army remains on high alert and prepared to retaliate against any actions of the enemy. This video released by DPRK Today shows an animated depiction of a missile attack on South Korea by the North. (North Korean propaganda) This video released by DPRK Today shows an animated depiction of a missile attack on South Korea by the North. (North Korean propaganda) North Korea has developed a large-caliber multiple launch rocket system and could use it to strike South Korea as soon as this year, the Souths defense minister said Wednesday. This comes a day after South Korean officials said they thought that the North was now able to mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile, and after China sharply curtailed trade with its dependent neighbor. Tensions have been running high in the region since North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test at the beginning of January, then followed it up with a long-range missile launch. Current joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises and a looming Workers Party Congress in North Korea both have stoked the fire. [North Korea animated video shows devastating attack on Seoul] South Korea Armys 130mm multiple rocket launcher is fired during an exercise in the eastern coastal county of Goseong, which borders North Korea, on Monday. (Yonhap/AFP/Getty Images) Han Min-koo, South Koreas defense minister, said that North Koreas recent test firings of 300-millimeter rockets suggested that it had almost completed the development of its multiple launch rocket system. Under this assessment, I think North Korea will deploy the 300-mm MLRS as early as the end of this year, Han told local reporters. The rockets, which are much cheaper than missiles, are thought to have a range of about 125 miles. Greater Seoul, with a population of almost 26 million people, is just 35 miles from the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. North Korea recently threatened to scorch South Koreas presidents offices with its powerful large-caliber multiple-rocket-launching systems. [North Korea threatens to scorch South Koreas presidential offices] Pyongyang has boasted of numerous improvements in its missile and rocket program in recent months, saying that it had road-mobile multiple rocket launchers, which it could deploy quickly and without detection, and that it had tested a solid-fuel rocket engine, another major advance. Its claims have not been independently verified, but Pyongyang is known to be working on its delivery systems. Separately, the South Korean government said that it thought North Korea had made significant progress toward its goal of miniaturizing a nuclear warhead so it could be mounted on a medium-range Rodong missile. We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision, an unnamed official told reporters in Seoul. The Rodong missile could fire a one-ton warhead as far as 1,250 miles, the official said, putting all of South Korea and most of Japan within range. North Koreas state media last month released photos of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un with what it said was a miniaturized nuclear warhead, but this has not been verified. [Global powers condemn North Koreas nuclear weapons test] Pyongyang has proved it is developing both nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, but it has not yet been shown that it can put the two together. However, many scientists and U.S. military officials say it is just a matter of time until North Korea masters the technology. Still, the timing of Seouls pronouncements is notable. South Korea is holding general elections next week, and such warnings could help President Park Geun-hyes conservative ruling party in the polls. It controls more than half the seats in the National Assembly. But in another sign that the international community is cracking down on North Korea over its recent provocations, China this week announced it would ban imports of coal, iron ore, gold, rare earths and several other minerals from North Korea if they were related to its nuclear or missile programs. Several North Korean mining companies have been accused of channeling funds directly to weapons programs. The Ministry of Commerce also said China would no longer allow aviation fuel to be exported to North Korea, in accordance with U.N. Security Council resolutions. [U.N. adopts sweeping new sanctions on North Korea] China, which is North Koreas closest ally and shares a long border with the irascible state, has signed up for tough new sanctions against North Korea after its nuclear and missile tests. There remains a considerable amount of skepticism about how far China will go in enforcing the sanctions its big-picture strategic interest is in keeping North Korea stable. Yoonjung Seo in Seoul and Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report. Read more: North Korea sentences U-Va. student to 15 years of hard labor in prison What its like to be an American held in North Korea Just about the only way to escape North Korea is if a relative has already escaped Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, right, confers with Education Secretary Aurelio Nuno Mayer during a visit to Rodolfo Menendez Primary School in central Mexico City, on Dec. 7. (Rebecca Blackwell/AP) Mexicos hard-charging education secretary, Aurelio Nuno Mayer, has thrown teachers union leaders in jail, deployed federal police to guard teacher-testing sites, fired thousands of instructors and raised money to renovate 33,000 schools. All in less than a year. Mexico may be one of the worlds 20 biggest economies, but its dysfunctional education system is holding it back, officials and analysts say. To turn it around, Nuno hopes to make teaching more of a meritocracy, while taking on the powerful teachers unions long blamed for the poor results. The great battle of Mexico in the 20th century was education coverage, to extend schools all around the country, said Javier Trevino, the deputy education secretary. Now the great battle of the 21st century is quality. But education reform is especially risky for the 38-year-old Nuno, who came to the job after serving as President Enrique Pena Nietos chief of staff. The presidents party has relied on support from teachers unions for decades. A backlash by educators could tip the balance in favor of opposition parties in the next presidential election, which is set to be held in 2018. If the reform works, though, it could position Nuno as a successor to Pena Nieto and keep the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, in power. [In Mexico, teachers fight reforms familiar to those north of the border] Mexicos education system has long been troubled. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported this year that 55 percent of Mexican 15-year-olds were low performers in math, compared with an average of 23 percent in the 34 leading economies in the OECD. Mexico had similarly poor performances in reading and science. At the same time, itspends more on education as a percentage of total public expenditure than any other OECD country, according to a 2015 education report. Mexicos National Education Workers Union, which has more than 1 million members, is the largest trade federation in Latin America. Mexican teachers unions, politically influential and flush with dues collected from teachers, developed a reputation over the years for passing out jobs as political favors, while their leaders enriched themselves. Pena Nieto, elected in 2012, has made reforming the education system a top priority. One of his governments first moves was to arrest Elba Esther Gordillo, a longtime union leader once prominent in the PRI, on embezzlement and corruption charges. Since Nuno took over as education secretary, police have arrested at least four union leaders and issued arrest orders for dozens more on charges including destruction of property. This year in education will be brutally intense, with a level of transformation we havent seen in decades, Nuno said in a recent interview under crystal chandeliers in his vast Mexico City office. The government wanted to end a history of union bosses promoting teachers based on loyalty and not ability, he said. We are trying to transform a system that was clientelistic and opaque to a new system based on very clear rights and obligations, oriented toward merit. [Mexicos failing schools spell political trouble] Nuno was a little-known political operative when he was appointed chief of staff to the president in 2012. He quickly emerged as a cunning strategist who corralled support from rival parties and orchestrated a flurry of constitutional changes aimed at opening up Mexicos oil industry, breaking down powerful monopolies and modernizing the education system. Among the most controversial education measures was a requirement that all of Mexicos 1.2 million teachers be evaluated. A dissident faction of the national teachers union based in Oaxaca, known as Section 22, was so outraged by the requirement that it threatened to boycott midterm congressional elections last summer. Teachers from Oaxaca seized the local airport and a gasoline distribution depot. They also took over state electoral centers and burned files and furniture. The government agreed to postpone the teacher testing, which Nuno admits was a tactical move, then quickly reversed course after the vote. Nuno was appointed education secretary shortly after the election and made clear that he wouldnt back down. He dissolved the Oaxaca state education institute, a government body that teachers union officials controlled, and started a new organization run by state authorities. The rule of law in the education system is absolute, Nuno said. In that, Im going to be intransigent. In education, everyones going to comply with the law. While the Oaxaca faction has been the most visible in opposing the new testing, many Mexican teachers have criticized it. The mandatory exam lasts eight hours, at least, and covers the teachers mastery of their subjects, as well as teaching plans. Teachers who fail have opportunities to receive training and retake the exam. Although most Mexican teachers who were summoned for the first rounds of testing showed up, the numbers fell off sharply in southern states such as Oaxaca, Chiapas and Guerrero, home to more-radical union chapters. In those areas, the government called in 5,000 federal police officers to secure testing facilities against protesters. In February, Nuno announced that more than 3,000 teachers who had failed to show up for any portion of the exam had been fired, without any severance. Critics argue that the education changes are mostly administrative and that the standardized tests wont improve teacher performance. Nunos detractors have described him as an overbearing disciplinarian who is centralizing control over a school system with 36 million students, equal to the entire population of Canada. Were not against evaluations, of course not, said Enrique Enriquez Ibarra, the head of a Mexico City teachers union chapter allied with the dissidents. But Nuno doesnt know how to evaluate things, he doesnt have any idea about teaching, nor about methods of learning. Nuno is a neophyte. Others see political motivations behind Nunos efforts. His program is all to create an image to serve his presidential career, said Manuel Perez Rocha, former rector of the Autonomous University of Mexico City and a columnist for the newspaper La Jornada. The new reforms go beyond the teacher testing. Nuno has announced that every school will receive a new administrator to free up the principal to focus on education, rather than bureaucratic drudgery. He also has given schools the right to choose the number of school days in their year and adjust class hours to allow for differences between rural and urban schedules. He visits schools across the country to get what he calls an unfiltered view of the problems in Mexican schools. By working with the government to issue new education bonds, he raised about $2.8 billion to refurbish dilapidated schools. Hes really focusing on the implementation, said Trevino, the deputy education secretary. Hes very disciplined. Gabriela Martinez contributed to this report. Read more: Mexican government wants to tame disruptive teachers union Mexicos miserable year Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world A craftsman works beside an effigy of Donald Trump before it is burned during an Easter ritual in Mexico City's La Merced neighborhood on March 26, 2016. (Henry Romero/Reuters) The rise of Donald Trump and the anti-immigrant wave he is riding in his presidential primary campaign have alarmed the Mexican government so much that it has reshuffled top diplomats and, according to officials, adopted a new strategy to defend the image of Mexicans abroad. Trump has consistently targeted the United States southern neighbor, calling Mexican border-crossers rapists and criminals and threatening to cut off the money they send home to their families unless Mexico pays for a border wall. But for months, the Mexican government has opted to remain quiet, with a few high-profile exceptions, rather than publicly challenging Trumps claims. [Mexicans celebrate holiday by burning Trump in effigy] Under mounting domestic pressure, Mexican officials now say they have chosen a new strategy: to stand up for Mexicans and defend the reputation of their countrymen living in the United States. In recent months, we have seen a growing anti-immigrant discourse in general, anti-Mexican in particular, and not exclusively from Donald Trump, said a Mexican official who was not authorized to speak publicly on this issue. This set off our fear that it would damage the image of Mexico in the United States. From the start of his campaign, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been promising that he will build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, and that Mexico will pay for it. Not if these men have anything to say about it. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post) [Trump outlines play to make Mexico pay for border wall] After just seven months on the job, Miguel Basanez Ebergenyi, Mexicos ambassador to Washington, will be replaced by Carlos Manuel Sada Solana, the consul general in Los Angeles. Paulo Carreno King, a top aide to President Enrique Pena Nieto whose portfolio has included dealing with the foreign media and improving the countrys brand, will take over as the senior Foreign Ministry official responsible for North America. The United States is Mexicos biggest trading partner, with more than $1 billion in bilateral trade each day, and millions of Mexicans live north of the border. The Mexican government is worried that Trumps rhetoric and wider anti-Mexican sentiment could hurt foreign investment and tourism and lead to damaging U.S. policies in the future. Foreign Secretary Claudia Ruiz Massieu told El Universal newspaper on Tuesday that the government must reevaluate our performance and strategy toward the United States. We see an exacerbated mood, in some sectors, against our countrymen, against our country, she added. There is a fear on the part of our community in the United States that this spirit can grow and overflow and may generate hostilities." As Trumps stature grew at home in recent months, Mexican officials conducted public opinion polling in the United States and spoke with their network of consulates. The outreach, they said, raised new worries about the scope of anti-Mexican feeling. We found young people have begun to adopt arguments that are anti-Mexican, the official said. 1 of 13 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad How Mexicans are reacting to Trumps rhetoric View Photos Politicians, comedians, artists and developers hit back at Trumps inflammatory speech. Caption Politicians, comedians, artists and developers hit back at Trumps inflammatory speech. Oct. 3, 2015 Mexican comedians put on a play called Los Hijos de Trump, or Sons of Trump." In this play, Trump and his golden-haired carbon copies steal from the blind and bribe the police. The play was adapted from another play, a satire on big spenders, "Brokers." Henry Romero/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue. Now the government hopes that its diplomats can make a more forceful argument about the benefits that Mexico provides to the United States. [Trumps proposals could kill millions of U.S. jobs] Basanez took over the Mexican Embassy last year after serving as a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. In his brief tenure, he earned a reputation as a low-profile leader who was restrained amid the Trumpian storm. Last year, he played down Trumps comments as just part of the primary campaign and reportedly argued that attacking the Republican presidential front-runner would serve only to elevate him. Basanez could not be reached for comment. Sada, the incoming ambassador, pending confirmation, has served in several Mexican consulates, including in Chicago, San Antonio and New York. He has also been the head of congressional affairs at the Mexican Embassy in Washington. Arturo Sarukhan, Mexicos ambassador to the United States from 2007 to 2013, said Mexico must rebut Trumps claims. The new strategy is a very welcome tack, he said. There is a clear need for the Mexican government to do something about this, and there was intense domestic pressure on this front, Sarukhan added. An ambassadors job, he said, should be to counter lies, distortions and negative narratives with hard data and facts. Read more: Mexicos top diplomat calls Trumps policies ignorant and racist Mexicos miserable year Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world Azerbaijan and Armenia declared a ceasefire under heavy international pressure yesterday in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. After four days of intense fighting, tensions remain high amid fears that the fighting could trigger a broader war in the region. The four days of fighting between two nations cost the lives of 40 troops and six civilians, and more than 200 wounded. The fighting was the most intense since a 1994 Russian-brokered ceasefire. Yesterday mediators from Russia, France and the United States met in Vienna to discuss the conflict. The French Foreign Ministry said that France, the US and Russia would send envoys to visit Azerbaijan, Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called for an immediate ceasefire, saying the conflict could not be resolved by force. On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry held a phone talk calling for an immediate resumption of the ceasefire. Topic number one was to discuss efforts to secure an immediate end of the violence that has erupted along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of conflict, said US State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner. Toner said Washington encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan to resume settlement talks and to avoid further escalation. Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian mountainous region in Azerbaijan, declared independence in 1991. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when Azerbaijan and Armenia were still republics of the Soviet Union, and escalated into a full-scale war in the early 1990s, after the Stalinist bureaucracy restored capitalism and dissolved the Soviet Union in 1991. The war between Azeri troops and Armenian separatists killed some 30,000 people by the time of the 1994 ceasefire. Doubts persist as to how long the ceasefire will be effective, as tensions between both countries remain high and the fighting could re-explode in a region destabilized by imperialist wars and where reactionary regimes seek to distract rising social anger by sowing ethnic conflict. Azerbaijan and Armenia blamed each other for the recent fighting. However, it is becoming ever clearer that the Azeri regime launched a bid to reconquer the disputed region with backing from Turkey. The Nagorno-Karabakh authorities, supported by Armenia, are trying to retake areas seized by the Azeri troops. This threatens to escalate into all-out war between Armenias main backer, Russia, and Turkey, and behind Turkey the entire NATO alliance. On Monday, the Azeri regime accused Armenia of launching intensive shelling and announced that its forces had been put on full battle readiness, with an aim to strike further inside the disputed territory. The Azeri defense ministry declared, Despite repeated warnings from the defence ministry, Armenia leaves no other way to Azerbaijan but [to] take appropriate retaliatory measures in response to its inhuman steps. Defence Minister Zakir Hasanov warned that Azeri troops were prepared for a major attack on Stepanakert (also known as Hankendi, population 50,000), the capital and largest city of the Nagorno-Karabakh, if separatists did not stop shelling our settlements. The defense minister gave the order to all troops including rocket-artillery troops to be prepared to deliver crushing blows to Hankendi and other occupied Azeri cities with the use of heavy combat equipment if the enemy side does not stop striking our populated areas, Hasanov said. On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey has supported Azerbaijans efforts to reassert its control in Nagorno-Karabakh and will continue to do so. Referring to the death of 12 Azeri troops, Erdogan said, [T]he fire of Armenias massacres in Karabakh continues to burn in our hearts. Karabakh will surely be returned to its rightful owner, Azerbaijan, one day. The Wall Street Journal quoted David Babayan, an official in Nagorno-Karabakh, charging that Turkish instructors had assisted Azeri forces. Azerbaijan couldnt take that kind of initiative on its own. Armenia responded with its own reactionary saber-rattling, threatening an adequate strike if Azerbaijan continued shelling in Nagorno-Karabakh. On Monday, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan declared that his country would continue to provide security for Nagorno-Karabakh. He also threatened to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as an independent state if the fighting escalated. Being a participant in the 1994 ceasefire agreement, the Republic of Armenia will continue to fully carry out its obligations in providing security for the population in Nagorny-Karabakh. Moreover, I have tasked the Foreign Ministry to start working on a military cooperation treaty with Karabakh, Sargsyan said. He also warned that the fighting could trigger a wider war in the region, saying that the conflict threatens security and stability not only in the South Caucasus, but also in the European region. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict adds fuel to the fires provoked across the Middle East and the Caucasus by decades of interventions led by the imperialist powers. Conflicts between the NATO powers and Russia have escalated over the NATO proxy war to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a key Russian ally, as well as by the NATO-backed, fascist-led coup that toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine in 2014. Relations between Turkey and Russia collapsed after Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet in Syria, a blatant act of war aimed to signal its disapproval of Russias intervention in the region to back Assad. The Washington Post pointed to dangers of broader escalation and criticized both Turkey and Russia, writing that the Russian intervention in Syria had a disastrous impact on Turkish policy. Its not surprising that Turkish-Russian animosity would shadow another conflict in their respective back yardsone which happens to be taking place over a vital transit route of oil and gas to Europe. The war danger posed by the Nagorno-Karabakh emerges from the catastrophic consequences of the dissolution of the USSR, and the reactionary nationalist politics that predominate in all the former Soviet republics, including Russia. This provided the basis for the emergence of explosive ethnic conflicts and imperialist intervention across the region. With the Azeri economy largely dependent on Caspian oil and gas, Baku has been hit hard by the recent massive collapse in oil prices. One in every seven banks in the country has closed. Under these conditions, it appears that the Baku regime has turned to war in an attempt to divert attention from the escalating social crisis in the country by inciting ethnic Azeri sentiment. The Washington Post cited University of Birmingham researcher Kevork Oskanian as saying that Azerbaijan, under pressure to 'liberate' the region, has become disillusioned with the deadlocked negotiations, and the recent fall in oil prices has hit Azerbaijans economy hard. Thomas de Waal, senior associate at the Carnegie Europe think tank, wrote a piece for the BBC on the fighting, declaring, This kind of operation would have the additional benefit of distracting the Azerbaijani population from the economic woes caused by falling oil prices. He added, [I]f the ceasefire breaks down, there are no peacekeepers, and even if you dont have a full-scale war there could be low-intensity fighting which completely destroys the peace process. The state of Michigan has responded to the city of Flints filing of intent to sue with threats and intimidation. The Notice of Intention to File Claim was filed on March 24 with the state Court of Claims by Mayor Karen Weaver to retain the citys option to pursue legal action against the state. The governors office sent a letter to Weaver demanding that the notice be withdrawn because it is factually and legally unsupported and it creates an unnecessary conflict between the parties that will damage ongoing efforts to resolve this crisis. House Speaker Kevin Cotter publicly called it very unfortunate and very reckless on the part of the mayor. The Republican legislator went on in a comment to the Detroit News, I think that the mayors actions here could potentially blow up the states checkbook, and I think its going to have a real chilling effect on the House, as to providing any further resources in the interim. In an April official statement, Weaver said, As Mayor of Flint, I have every intention of continuing my efforts to work with Governor Rick Snyder and other state officials to seek resolution in all aspects of the Flint water crisis. I have no intention at this point of having the City of Flint sue the state. However, the City of Flint would have forfeited its right to file a lawsuit in the future if I had not filed an official Notice of Intention to File a Claim by the March 25 deadline. As the elected leader of Flint, I needed to preserve the citys right to pursue a legal remedy if it is determined a lawsuit is necessary in the future. The filing justifiably asserts that the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the state authority charged with enforcing safe drinking water standards, performed grossly negligent oversight over the citys switch to the corrosive water from the Flint River. MDEQ Director Dan Wyant was forced to resign last December, more than two months after Michigan Governor Rick Snyder authorized and funded Flints switch back to Detroit-supplied water. Wyant made the decision to pump water from the highly polluted Flint River into the citys system without the application of corrosion control chemicals. Miguel Del Toral, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) water expert who attempted to expose this last June, told Flint Journal-MLive, I was stunned when I found out they did not have corrosion control in place. In my head, I didnt believe that. I thought: That cant be true...thats so basic. Thats not possible. Mike Glasgow, who supervised the Flint Water Treatment Plant at the time of the citys switch to river water in April 2014, testified at a legislative hearing in Flint last week that he had planned to add orthophosphates as is the industry norm, but was instructed by Mike Prysby of MDEQ that it would not be necessary. He added further that to apply corrosion control would have delayed the switch to Flint River water by six months, because the treatment plant did not have the necessary equipment to do so. Glasgow also pointed out that between 2005, when he joined the staff, to the time of the switch in 2014, the number of employees had dropped from 40 to 26. The figure is quite remarkable, since the switch changed the status of the plant from a virtually mothballed facility that functioned minimally only as a backup to the Detroit system, to the full-time supplier of the citys water. Glasgow wrote an email to the MDEQ almost two weeks before the water switch protesting the rushed schedule because of a lack of equipment and trained personnel. The reaction of the Snyder administration only underscores the fear by state officials that they could end up in jail for the criminal actions that led to the poisoning of Flint and the cover-up that followed. State Republicans are essentially threatening to carry out collective punishment against the residents of Flint if city officials even threaten to take any legal action. At the same time, Republicans are firing a shot across the bow of city officials in Flint because any lawsuit could expose their own complicity in the catastrophe. Former mayor Dayne Walling, for example, played a key role in severing the citys ties to the Detroit-run water system in order to promote the corporate interests looking to profit from the alternative Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA). Walling repeatedly stonewalled Flint residents who complained of foul-tasting and discolored water and the outbreak of rashes on their children following the switch. Just over two weeks ago, Snyder announced a 75-point action plan to address the water crisis in Flint. Residents generally view this as a fraudulent exercise in public relations. The water is still undrinkable, and bottled water is largely undelivered to the residents. The replacement of the lead service lines to residential homes is estimated to cost over $60 million. Snyders plan is to replace only 30 of them. Weaver was elected last November on her promises to address the water crisis. At a press conference on Tuesday the mayor indicated that she was unhappy with the states response to requests for financial assistance, saying, We need some money. The hint of a possible lawsuit is aimed at bolstering the illusion that the Democrats are fighting to secure the resources needed to address the massive public health and social crisis in the city. Weaver said she will determine when enough is enough regarding state aid, adding that the point of the filing was to see if things are not moving fast enough for the residents. In fact, the Democrats from the Obama administration to the local level have provided only a pittance to city residents. Weaver announced this week that the citys budget deficit for 2016-17 is projected to be nearly $35 million. Flint has been in a financial crisis for decades as a result of the systematic deindustrialization of the city by General Motors, and huge corporate tax giveaways by the local Democrats. Successive emergency managers in the city, largely Democrats themselves, have sought to make city residents pay for the crisis through savage austerity measures, slashing city services, laying off public sector workers and attacking their wages and benefits. Water bills were jacked up in the years prior to the water source switch, making residents bills the highest in the US. Following the pattern of Detroit, which was thrown into bankruptcy by a Snyder-appointed emergency manager in 2013, Flint has also privatized and outsourced services. The move towards the new KWA water authority, which paralleled a similar move in Detroit, was aimed at providing a new source of revenue to bondholders, politically connected water privatizers and corporations like DTE Energy, which were promised cheaper, untreated water. Flint officials have said that many residents arent paying their water bills, though they wont say exactly how many. This has become a considerable problem for the city, as water bills are a major source of its revenue. The state has allotted $30 million to Flint to use as water bill credits for the last two years, but to be applied on a user-by-user basis. While Weaver has announced that she will not currently force residents to pay their water bills, the rate being credited amounts to only 65 percent of the total owed. Weaver announced plans to discuss the city budget with the aim of having it signed in June. The August cutoff of FEMA funds by the Obama administration combined with the threat by the state of Michigan to freeze funds to the city will exacerbate an already catastrophic situation in the city. With the support of the Obama administration, the Mexican government is operating a systematic operation to torture, beat, extort, kidnap, and kill migrants traveling through Mexico en route to find work in northern Mexico and the United States. An April 4 report in the Guardian tells of several indigenous youngsters who were captured by officials with Mexicos National Immigration Institute (INM), held in captivity, beaten, and deported to Guatemala. The young people, aged 15 to 24, had never been to Guatemala. They were residents of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas and speakers of the Mayan language Tzeltal. One 18-year-old was beaten by four Mexican agents who told him that he must sign documents admitting he was Guatemalan or be killed. One pushed me, another was kicking my leg, and a third who was very fat gave me an electric shock here, on the back of my right hand, the boy said. I really thought I was going to die, so I signed lots of sheets of paperbut I cant read or write so I didnt know what I was signing. Mexican human rights groups accuse the Mexican government of rounding up Mexicans for deportation in order to fulfill quotas aimed at securing further weapons funding from the US government. The Mexican governments crackdown against migrants in Mexico is part of the Southern Border Program of President Enrique Pena Nieto. The program was announced in July 2014 and was praised by US President Barack Obama, who said in a January 2015 meeting with Pena Nieto: I very much appreciate Mexicos efforts in addressing the unaccompanied children who we saw spiking during the summer. In part because of strong efforts by Mexico, including at its southern border, weve seen those numbers reduced back to much more manageable levels. Washington is directly implicated in the crimes carried out against migrants before they reach the United States. Between 2009 and 2013, the Obama administration provided $112 million in weapons and equipment through the Merida Initiative, a plan based on militarizing Mexican police and the INM. A February 2016 Congressional Research Service report showed that the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement also pledged over $86 million to Mexico for mobile non-intrusive inspection equipment and related equipment and training for Mexicos southern border strategy. Under the Obama administration, the US has given the Mexican government $3 billion to arm and militarize its security forces. In return, the Mexican police, military, and INM have assumed the role of US imperialisms advance shock troops, terrorizing and deporting migrants in an effort to prevent their ultimate arrival in the US. Children in particular have borne the brunt of the US-Mexican collusion against immigrants. As a result, a Georgetown Law report on Mexicos migrant policy notes that the United States has invested significant political and fiscal resources in the fortification of Mexicos southern border and that the immigration system currently in place in Mexico operates more like a child-deportation machine. Since 2010 alone, the United States and Mexico have deported over 40,000 children back to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. With its Southern Border Program in full effect, Mexico, for the first time in 2015, has overtaken the United States in terms of the number of Central American child deportations. On top of those deported from the Northern Triangle countries listed above, the Obama administration has also deported tens of thousands of Mexican children and well over 2 million migrants in total. Those that arrive in the United States are forced to live a life of fear and poverty. In January, the Obama administration launched a new round of raids aimed specifically at rounding up immigrant parents and their children. Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said that renewed family deportation raids should come as no surprise. I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed. In 2014, the Obama administration announced that it would reinstate mass detention of migrant families and began housing tens of thousands of migrants, including tens of thousands of orphan children, in cells for fast-tracked deportation. In August 2015, the Obama administration once again defended its family detention program in US District Court for the Central District of California. The widespread government persecution migrant workers face once they arrive in the US has not deterred tens of thousands from seeking to escape the poverty and violence of Central America: from 2008 to 2014, the number of asylum applicants in the US has increased by 1,185 percent. The poverty and violence that have devastated Central American society are not caused by unexplainable historical accidents. Rather, they are the product of the explicit policies of US imperialism, working in collusion with the corrupt national bourgeoisies to rob the working class and peasantry. The US has imposed the will of American banks and corporations on the masses of Latin America through dictatorship, death squads, and invasion. Today, US imperialism can also count the bourgeois nationalist and Stalinist-inspired ex-guerrilla movements as its staunch supporters. These groups, once held-up as representatives of socialism, have fully integrated themselves into the bourgeois political establishment and are now primary conspirators in the ongoing attacks against the living standards of Latin American workers and peasants. The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or grad school search. Landing that first job is a major concern for MBA students, and some programs are more likely to lead to success than others. Among the 129 business schools that submitted job placement data to U.S. News in an annual survey, two of them -- the University of South Florida and Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina -- saw 100 percent of MBA graduates who sought jobs employed three months after completing their degrees in 2015. [View job rates and starting salaries for MBA graduates based on U.S. News data.] Both of these schools, however, were ranked by U.S. News in the bottom one-fourth of the 2017 Best Business Schools rankings. In comparison, Washington University in St. Louis' Olin Business School, the highest-ranked school among the 14 MBA programs with the highest employment rates, had a job placement rate of 97.1 percent. None of the 14 schools with the highest job placement rates ranked above No. 21 in the graduate business school rankings. Overall, top-ranked schools had higher enrollments and, therefore, many more graduates looking for jobs after graduation. For instance, Harvard University, ranked No. 1, had 672 full-time grads seeking employment and a job placement rate of 91.1 percent by three months after graduation. [Learn how to target MBA jobs that pay well and require fewer hours.] Of all the schools that submitted these data, Florida International University came out on the bottom of the list with a job placement rate of 27.3 percent -- significantly lower than both the overall average of 83.9 percent and the average for the top 14 of 97.1 percent. Story continues Below is a list of the 14 full-time MBA programs where the highest percentages of job-seeking graduates were employed three months after graduating in 2015. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be numerically ranked, were not considered for this report. * RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its ranking category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it. Don't see your school in the top 14? Access the U.S. News Business School Compass to find employment data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights. U.S. News surveyed 470 colleges and universities for our 2015 survey of graduate business programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Business Schools rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges , Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs . The employment data above are correct as of April 5, 2016. Jordan Friedman is an online education editor at U.S. News. You can follow him on Twitter or email him at jfriedman@usnews.com. Beirut (AFP) - A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian rebels shelled a Kurdish neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said Wednesday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people, including 30 children, were also wounded in Tuesday's attack, adding that the shelling was a violation of a ceasefire agreement. "A major shelling attack on Tuesday has left 18 civilians dead, including three children and two women, a pregnant one and an elderly one," according to the Observatory. The attack targeted the majority-Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsud, where some 50,000 residents are caught in the crossfire of regime-held districts and those controlled by rebels. "This is a very clear violation of the ceasefire" in place in Syria since February 27, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Rebels including Ahrar al-Sham, which is allied to Al-Qaeda in Syria, kept up Wednesday their shelling of Sheikh Maqsud which overlooks regime-held areas, said the Observatory. Abdel Rahman said the rebels want to take the neighbourhood because it would allow them to have "a launching pad for attacks" on government forces. Aleppo became a divided city in 2012 after a rebel onslaught was met with resistance by the army. Kurds represent about 15 percent of Syria's population and have tried to avoid confrontation with the regime or non-jihadist rebels since war broke out in 2011. But the rise of the Islamic State group, which has seized large swaths of the war-torn country, has seen the Kurds lead the fight against the jihadists in parts of Syria. On March 17, Kurdish parties, including the powerful Democratic Union Party (PYD) and their allies, announced the creation of a "federal system" in northern Syria. The announcement was heavily criticised by Syria's opposition, who have vowed to use "all the political and military force" at their disposal to fight it. Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has since morphed into a multi-front war drawing in regional powers. Associated Press Russias military leadership has withdrawn its officers in the Russian-annexed city of Kherson across the Dnieper River in anticipation of an advance of Ukrainian troops, the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Sunday. To delay the Ukrainian counteroffensive as the Russians complete their retreat, Moscow has left newly mobilized, inexperienced forces on the other side of the wide river, it added. The troop movements come as the Ukrainian military said its forces have continued their counteroffensives in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. College acceptance letters have arrived, and families are trying to decipher financial aid awards. By balancing academic, social and financial information, families can make a smart choice together. With college debt on the minds of everyone from students to presidential candidates these days, it could be tempting to make your college choice based on cost alone. Equally important, though, is choosing a college where you have the greatest chance of completing. For example, if you borrow $30,000 to attend a more selective four-year institution and graduate, you'll be in a better position to land a good job and repay the debt than if you borrow $5,000 to attend a cheaper institution solely because of cost and then drop out before graduation because the institution wasn't a good academic or social fit. That will leave you with the debt but no degree -- and defaulting on even a small student loan can have disastrous financial consequences. Of course, you should make smart decisions when it comes to borrowing for college, so here are three questions to ask as you're comparing financial aid offers. [Follow these six steps to determine how much to borrow for college.] 1. Can you stick to federal student loans? More than 70 percent of students borrow to help cover college costs, so it's common for financial aid packages to contain student loans. It's the type of loan that you need to watch for. Individual states often offer loan programs with flexible payment options and sometimes no interest -- the terms vary from state to state, so you should check with your state department of education. Federal Stafford and Perkins loans have the most generous payment terms, and best of all, they have annual and aggregate limits on the total amount you can borrow throughout your time in college. For example, as a dependent undergraduate, you can borrow no more than $31,000 in Stafford loans for your entire four or more years of schooling. That means you'll likely have a manageable payment come graduation. Story continues On the other hand, if your financial aid package suggests you take on a private loan in addition, think long and hard before accepting that school's offer of admittance. Private student loans can be harder to repay. While federal student loan payments can be based on income and in some cases even be forgiven, private loans rarely come with such protections. [Ask these 10 questions before borrowing a private student loan.] 2. Will all the loans be in your name? Federal student loans don't require credit checks or a co-signer; you as the student are the sole borrower and the only one responsible for payment. In contrast, private student loans typically require a co-signer. Co-signing a loan should not be entered into lightly. Your co-signer is equally responsible for the loan. That means if you fall behind on payments, not only your credit record, but also your co-signer's, will take the hit. And your co-signer will be pursued for payment. Your financial aid package may also suggest that your parents take out a federal parent PLUS loan. Parent PLUS debt levels have increased significantly in recent years and since there is no debt-to-income analysis conducted before a PLUS loan is granted, many families are incurring debt well in excess of what they can ever hope to repay. While many parents want to contribute to their children's education or shield their children from debt, remember that the 18-year-old student will have far more time to repay the debt than parents nearing retirement. As the years go by, adult children may even come to appreciate economically independent parents not weighed down by heavy PLUS payments. Now's the time as a family to have an open and frank dialogue about if or how much parents should borrow. Remember, even if the student promises to repay the parent PLUS loans after graduation, these loans cannot be officially transferred to the student's name. Additionally, income-based repayment and, in most cases, public service and other forgiveness programs are not available for parent PLUS loans and they typically cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. Consequences of defaulting on these loans include wage, tax refund and Social Security garnishment, and these loans must be repaid regardless of student employment or completion of studies. [Know what to expect the first time you borrow college student loans.] 3. What will your expected monthly payment be? When you're deciding how much to borrow for college, it can be helpful to think in terms of your monthly payment postgraduation versus the total amount you'll be borrowing. For example, owing $30,000 is probably an intangible concept, but having a monthly bill of $345 for 10 years is easier to grasp. First, consider how much you'll likely borrow for all four years and then use an online calculator to determine your monthly payment. Review salary estimates for your intended major to get a better idea of how much to borrow. A good rule of thumb is to limit total student loans to less than your anticipated salary in your first year out of school, or to limit student loan payments to no more than 10 percent of your expected monthly income. While experts are quick to quote those rules of thumb, incoming college freshmen may have a hard time wrapping their heads around what they want to be when they grow up -- never mind how much they'll earn per year and their student debt-to-income ratio. That's where sticking to federal loans can come in handy, because you can base your payments on income for more breathing room in your budget, although that typically means payments for more years and more interest. Ultimately, finding the right college financial fit is not one-size-fits-all. It's a nuanced approach that takes into account your unique financial circumstances and thresholds for taking on debt, so you can make a realistic plan to pay for college. This doesn't mean you should never borrow private loans, parent loans or an amount in excess of your salary -- just go into your decision with eyes wide open. Allesandra Lanza is the director of corporate public relations for American Student Assistance. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the student loan industry, and has answered students' questions about their federal loans; conducted on-campus loan counseling sessions for students as they enter and exit school; and written about loan repayment, debt management, budgeting and more. Lanza received a B.S. in journalism from Boston University. Forty-two rock-cut tombs and a shrine decorated with a winged sun disc have been found along the banks of the Nile River in Egypt. The discovery of this necropolis, the burial ground of men, women and children, proves that Gebel el-Silsila in Upper Egypt was not just a quarry site for the kingdom's temples and tombs; it was also a bustling population center, according to the archaeological team that discovered the structures. "This is actually a major hub of commerce, worship and possibly political [activity]," said John Ward, assistant director of the Gebel el Silsila Survey Project. A big mystery surrounds the new tombs, however. Where is the lost city of Silsila? So far, archaeologists have discovered tombs, the quarry, a temple and slab monuments called stelae. But they haven't found a town or village where the people who used these structures would have lived. [See photos of the new tomb discoveries in Upper Egypt] Flooded graves Silsila was originally believed to be a sort of work camp, where the predominant activity was quarrying for sandstone. Survey project mission director Maria Nilsson, Ward and their colleagues have been discovering much more than that at the site, however. Earlier this year, for example, they announced the discovery of six statues dating back 3,500 years that depicted elite families. Yesterday (March 30), Ward, Nilsson and the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector announced the spring archaeological season discovery of the new tombs. They date back to the 18th and 19th dynasty, a period of time that runs from about 1543 B.C. to about 1189 B.C., which includes famous pharaohs like Hapshetsut. Archaeologists had known that rock-cut openings were present on the site's Nile bluffs, Ward told Live Science. But the river has been eating away at the sandstone exteriors, damaging the structures. The group of archaeologists launched a project to clean out three of the openings, both to find out what was inside them and to see if they could slow down the erosion. Story continues They found that the tombs were filled with Nile silt, indicating that they'd been flooding before the first dams in the river were constructed in the 1800s. This silt was acting as a "sponge" to draw in river water, worsening the erosional damage, Ward said. "Once we started to clear this Nile silt, we could see that the actual sandstone surface itself was starting to dry out," he said. "Tomb" 1, which was already clear of silt, turned out not to be a tomb, but a two-room shrine. While the outer room overlooks the Nile to the west, the inner room, which once had a slightly elevated floor, is damaged by water, Ward said. Despite the water damage, a carved stone solar disc with wings a symbol of power and protection is still visible, he said. Tomb 2 is an actual tomb, with stairs leading down into a rough-cut chamber without paintwork or any interior design. The space is so small that workers have to kneel to fit inside rather than stand up, Ward said. Many human bones were found in a jumble inside, which was probably caused by the Nile waters, he said. The tombs were also looted at some time in antiquity. Still, they contained many pieces of pottery such as beer jugs, offering plates, and bowls and storage jars all funerary wares that were used in ancient Egyptian tombs, Ward said. [Photos: Nile Cemetery Discovered in Sudan] People of status The other two tombs that have been cleaned out, Tombs 14 and 15, were also looted, but both contained crypts carved into the floor. The crypt in Tomb 15 even retains half its lid, Ward said. The excavation also turned up "lots and lots of beads," Ward said. And most intriguingly, the archaeologists found a scarab amulet bearing the name of the 18th-dynasty Pharaoh Thutmose III and a seal right along with his cartouche (an oval symbol surrounding a royal name), reinforcing the theory that Silsila was more than just a work camp for quarry diggers. These artifacts suggest that the people buried in the tombs were of higher standing than quarry workers, Ward said. Each of the documented tombs has a door with notches carved in the door jambs that could have held a stone portcullis, which could have been raised or lowered for new burials. "These are family tombs," Ward said. The portcullis closures would have kept out floodwaters and wildlife, though maybe not permanently. In Tomb 14, the archaeologists found crocodile scutes the triangular, bumpy protrusions seen on crocs' backs. It's not certain whether a crocodile made it into the tomb, Ward said, or whether the scutes flowed in with the Nile floodwaters. The team members plan to excavate more tombs in the next field season, and hope to find remains or names of the tomb occupants. They're also continuing the survey in hopes of solving the biggest mystery surrounding Silsila: Where was the town, or village, that this necropolis served? "We're pretty excited, to say the least," Ward said. "It's kind of nice to be able to say, 'Silsila, we've got a necropolis now.'" Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. With the peak summer vacation season just around the corner, now is the time to take stock of your travel gear and consider investing in a few upgrades. Start your search by checking out these new accessories and bags, which were recently featured at the 2016 International Travel Goods Show in Las Vegas. They strive to help solve a variety of common travel problems, from keeping your makeup and medications cool in hot weather to lightening your carry-on as you navigate busy airports. And after all, what's better than arriving at your desired destination feeling relaxed, organized and stylish? Here are must-have travel products to check out this year. [See: How to Pack Light.] Cool-It Caddy This unique toiletry kit helps keep items chilled thanks to its insulated freeze-and-go design. This is a great item for summer travel, when temperatures could cause your lipstick to melt or your medications to be stored above the recommended temperature. An added bonus: the Cool-it Caddy will soon be available in a roomier size. The new, larger Bella bag will feature a removable cross-body strap and will be available in two stylish colors. (Available at cool-itcaddy.com; prices start at $19.95.) Airpocket The handy Airpocket organizer features multiple functions. Not only does it help to protect your belongings -- thanks to its cushioned neoprene exterior -- it also allows you to organize your in-flight items before you board the plane. That way, you'll be able to stick the savvy organizer quickly into your seatback pocket without standing in the aisle or blocking other passengers from reaching their seats during the boarding process. And once you disembark the plane, you can attach the Airpocket to the handle of your carry-on bag or wear it using the shoulder strap. (Available at shop.airpocket.com.au; prices start at $74.99 Australian dollars.) [See: 5 Strange Items You Can Pack in Your Carry-On.] The BullRest Travel Pillow This soon-to-be-released travel pillow is a must-have for business travelers and those who want to be comfortable on their flight without adding a lot of extra bulk to their carry-on bag. The BullRest is designed to be significantly smaller than traditional travel pillows and will be available in several sleek color combinations, including blue, orange and green. Memory foam and a patented shape also help provide head and neck support for weary travelers. (Available at bullrest.com; prices start at $50.) Story continues JWorld New York Taqoo Art Collection Luggage JWorld New York's Taqoo Art Collection features three unique, colorful rolling bags that draw their inspiration from nature. Even the names of the various suitcase designs -- brown night, dawn and dusk -- offer a nod to the outdoors. And intricate patterns and eye-catching colors allow these carry-on bags to stand out from the crowd. Plus, the bags' polycarbonate shell keeps them lightweight without sacrificing durability. (Available at jworldstore.com; prices start at $150.) [See: 5 Photo Apps You Need for Your Next Trip.] ORGO Lite Most travelers have, at some point or another, found that their luxurious hotel room lacks one thing: ample bathroom counter space. Luckily, the ORGO Lite from Everything ORGO helps to solve this problem. This toiletry organizer unfolds over the top of the bathing sink, giving you extra space for your items while also preventing them from falling. And thanks to handy compartments and zippered pockets, you can keep all of your items organized and ready to stash into your luggage when it's time to pack up and return home. (Available at everythingorgo.com; prices start at $39.99.) Sarah Vernetti is a Las Vegas-based freelance writer who specializes in family-friendly travel throughout the American Southwest. Follow her adventures on Twitter @SarahVernetti or visit her online. For travelers in search of a stress-free vacation, cruising has an undeniable appeal. Instead of juggling flight, hotel and car rental bookings, passengers simply hop on board, unpack and let the crew take care of the rest. But even with the convenience factor a cruise vacation can offer, there's still a bit of a learning curve for first-timers. Whether it's selecting the wrong ship, packing too much or arriving late at your departure port, there are a few blunders -- some minor, some consequential -- that can have a negative impact on your vacation, and how you view cruising as a whole. To help you avoid common mistakes, U.S. News asked experts at Cruise Critic and the Cruise Lines International Association, plus several of your fellow travelers, for their tips. With their advice, you'll be a pro in no time. Booking the Wrong Type of Cruise "Before you start looking for bargains and deals, you need to understand what cruise line fits your lifestyle," says Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. "Do your homework," Brown says. For example, if you're in search of a party scene, consider booking a weekend sailing to the Caribbean instead of a weeklong trip to Alaska, where the pace is slower and the focus is more on the glacial scenery and less on deck parties. For additional guidance, enlist the help of a travel agent. "The benefits are innumerable," says Charles Sylvia, CLIA's vice president of membership and trade relations, who has been on 76 cruises. As Sylvia puts it, booking a cruise takes a certain skill set. Travel agents will interview you and help you select a cruise based on your preferences. "Not only can they get you deals, but they can also provide valuable counsel," Sylvia adds. Arriving in Port the Same Day Your Cruise Departs You can eliminate some stress by getting to the port city at least a day in advance -- arriving early is the cheapest insurance you can buy. If your inbound flight or luggage is delayed, you're giving yourself very little wiggle room to make it to the ship on time. Plus, you may even have a little time to explore before you set sail. Better yet, choose to sail out of a port close to home. Story continues [See: The Best Cruise Lines of 2016 .] Neglecting Your Onboard Account Thanks to the cashless payment system adopted by the industry, you'll hardly need your wallet or purse once you board. Your room key will double as a charge card that will allow you to purchase everything from spa services to cocktails. While this method is convenient, it also makes it easy to overspend. "I've seen many people get their bill the last night and realize they spent close to as much coming on the cruise as they did on incidentals," says Jeff Gulko, who has been on 32 cruises to date. "Remember: You chose to cruise because of the cost effectiveness, wide array of activities and shows, so don't blow the bank," Gulko adds. To avoid overspending, check your balance regularly. Whenever you're at a bar, the casino or a shop on board, ask the person manning the register for your balance, Sylvia says. You can also check your balance on the interactive TV in your stateroom. According to Sylvia, some cruise ships also have kiosks on board where passengers can quickly look up onboard charges. Bringing an Oversized Suitcase It can be easy to overpack for your first cruise, especially if you're sailing to destinations with varying climates, but you should resist the urge to bring your biggest suitcase. Your stateroom leaves little space for storage, meaning your oversized bag probably won't fit under the bed or in the closet. Instead, try fitting everything into two carry-on suitcases. Once you arrive at the port to check in, you can give one bag to the crew to deliver to your room and keep one to take to your stateroom. Remember: You have to drop off your luggage with the crew before you board. You'll have access to it only after it's sorted, which can take hours. According to Gulko, this strategy also proves advantageous on the last night of the cruise, when you're required to place your luggage outside the cabin door so the crew can sort it for disembarkation the next day. Sylvia offers another pro tip: When you're packing, save 20 percent of space in your suitcase for the purchases you'll likely make during your cruise. [Read: The Best Cruises for Foodies .] Forgetting to Book Things in Advance "Take advantage of pre-booking any chance you get," Brown says, pointing to a recent Princess cruise she took in which she neglected to pre-book a spot in The Sanctuary, the line's adults-only area. By the time she got on board, all of the spaces were sold out. Whether it's reserving a table at a specialty restaurant or booking an in-demand shore excursion, you should pre-book some experiences before you board. That said, Brown also recommends leaving a little room for spontaneity to avoid feeling overscheduled. While you're booking things ahead of time, you should also take some time to acquaint yourself with the ship. "Exploring the ships can be a fun onboard activity, but the more familiar you are with the ship before you sail, the less time you will spend walking around looking for specific locations for scheduled activities," says Scott Sanders, who created and runs the Disney Cruise Line Blog, an unofficial Disney Cruise Line news, information and photo blog. Check your cruise line's website for a map of the ship you'll be on and to learn more about its amenities. [Read: Which Is Right For You: a River or Ocean Cruise?] Trying to Do Everything With the variety of activities and amenities offered on today's cruise ships, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But you shouldn't "view the daily program as a challenge," Sylvia says. "Remind yourself why you're taking the cruise and stay true to that," Sylvia adds. And keep in mind: Your first cruise is not your last cruise. A24 has picked up the worldwide rights to the polarizing Sundance film Swiss Army Man, and will be handling the film's international release. Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (aka "The Daniels"), who took home the 2016 best director prize at the Salt Lake-based fest, the dramedy features Daniel Radcliffe as a corpse with magical abilities that enables a man stranded on a desert island, played by Paul Dano, to find his way back home. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also stars. A24 picked up the US rights to the Swiss Army Man after it screened at the film fest in January, where it sparked walkouts during its premiere. "In our short history, we have seen great success from releasing bold, original films that have distinct and cut-through storytelling and talented young cast who connect with their audience," said A24. "The Daniels are visionaries and have created one of the most original, funny and heartfelt movies we've seen in a long time. It's exactly what smart younger audiences around the world want." The North American release is set for June 17 in New York and Los Angeles, with a nationwide expansion to follow July 1. Read More: Charlize Theron, Jason Reitman, Diablo Cody in Early Talks to Reteam for New Film var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet France's Francois Hollande in Paris later this month to discuss a new French push for peace, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Abbas "will have an important meeting with President Francois Hollande to discuss convening an international peace conference in accordance with the French initiative," Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. The Palestinian leader will travel to France on April 15, before heading to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss "the evolution of the political situation in Palestine and the region", he said. Abu Rudeina said Abbas would also travel to Berlin for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before flying to New York to attend meetings at the United Nations, but he did not provide exact dates. France launched an effort earlier this year to host an international conference to revive peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It initially vowed to recognise a Palestinian state if talks failed, but French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault later said the recognition would not be automatic. "France plays an important role in efforts to establish a fair, comprehensive and durable peace in accordance with international resolutions," Abu Rudeina said. The French initiative comes amid a wave of violence since October that has killed 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians were killed while carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to the Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip. By Svea Herbst-Bayliss BOSTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor William Ackman is set to face close questioning on Wednesday when he details his hedge fund's biggest-ever quarterly loss and explains how he plans to handle the investment that led to the fall - Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management has blocked off one hour on Wednesday morning for him and his analysts to walk investors through exactly how one of its funds lost 25 percent in the first three months of 2016, including bets on Platform Specialty Products, Herbalife and Valeant. The losses are a severe blow for one of the hedge fund industry's most closely followed investors and come on top of a record 20.5 percent drop in 2015. He has already told investors that he plans to take a far more active role in Valeant and last month joined the company's board, cementing his commitment to the company for some time. The board is looking for a new chief executive and is committed to filing a long-delayed annual report by the end of April. Ackman is sure to be pressed for details on all those issues in the call, which is a regular quarterly update with investors. A spokesman for Ackman declined to comment. Five months ago Ackman held a call that lasted nearly four hours as he tried convince investors that Valeant was still a good buy. That message seemed to fall on deaf ears as the stock price has tumbled nearly 70 percent since then. Ackman lost roughly $1 billion on his Valeant investment in one day last month when its stock fell 50 percent on fears it could default. That prompted even long-time Valeant supporters such as Brave Warrior Advisors' Glenn Greenberg to liquidate half of his stake. Overall, Ackman's investors appear to be sticking with him. Redemption requests for the first quarter totaled roughly 2 percent of the firm's roughly $12 billion in assets. "This is going to be a badly scraped knee that may even require stitches but it is not life threatening," one Ackman investor said about the losses and Valeant situation. Story continues The structure of Pershing Square shields it from a sudden sharp loss of capital - investors can only withdraw their money gradually and some of them can only exit by selling shares to another investor. In a rare piece of good news, Valeant said on Tuesday that it has finished an internal review and found no additional problems that would require further restatements of its financial statements. Its shares climbed 10 percent. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Carmel Crimmins) LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - After winning fans over in the United Kingdom, television drama "The Night Manager", based on a novel by John Le Carre, lands in North America. Star Tom Hiddleston's portrayal of an everyday man who becomes an undercover operative in the series has led to speculation of the actor being a potential replacement for Daniel Craig in the James Bond franchise. When asked what his reaction to the rumors was, Hiddleston said: "Difficult, because people have very strong opinions about Bond and why shouldn't they? But it's difficult to talk about because it's a completely unreal conversation in a way. I haven't spoken to anyone who makes those films." "It's just an idea in people's minds so it's quite hard to engage with because it hasn't come from me ... The number of people per day who bring it up, it's actually becoming a weird thing to deal with. I feel like, I want to just make it stop because I have no power over it, but that's what being famous is. You have no power over other people's opinions." LOS ANGELES - Hollywood actress Drew Barrymore and her husband Will Kopelman are divorcing, according to a statement from the couple released to People magazine. "Sadly our family is separating legally, although we do not feel this takes away from us being a family," they said in the statement. "Divorce might make one feel like a failure, but eventually you start to find grace in the idea that life goes on...Our children are our universe, and we look forward to living the rest of our lives with them as the first priority." Barrymore and Kopelman married in 2012 and have two children together. The actress was previously married to bar owner Jeremy Thomas in March 1994, filing for divorce less than two months later, and comedian Tom Green in July 2001, with Green filing for divorce less than six months later. Union of Informed Citizens: International Media on Nagorno Karabakh Escalation On the early morning of April 2 Azerbaijan unleashed large-scale military actions on the border with Nagorno Karabakh Republic (NKR). Azerbaijan used multiple rocket launching systems, armored vehicles, aviation, artillery, targeting not only the Armenian soldiers but also the populated settlements. Having received a proper response and suffering considerable human and material losses, Azerbaijan kept the situation situation tense in the conflict zone for 4 days. And during the whole period, Azerbaijan kept on spreading absurd and contradictory misinformation. The aforementioned information contradicted the information provided by NKR and Armenian defense ministries in a significant manner. We have tried to summarize the coverage of the events in the leading international media. International In particular, Associated Press was the first international media to inform about the start of hostilities. It was followed by ABC News and The Washington Post. By quoting the press service of NKR, the former informed that Azerbaijan is using in order to intrude to Nagorno Karabahh. At the same time, the media cited the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Speaker who claimed that the hostilities started after the Armenian side used artillery. By referring to the same sources, The Washington Post mentioned about the Azerbaijani helicopter downed by the Armenian side (which, however, was denied by the Speaker of the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry). Later on the NKR forces down another helicopter and publish photographs and videos as a proof. Influential British BBC cited Russian President Vladimir Putin who had urged both sides of the conflict to stop the hostilities. It also presented the brief history of the conflict and the war in 1990s. Euronews was the first among international media to publish video and photo materials from the military actions scene by reporting about the downing of the helicopter, as well as the destruction of tanks. The live broadcast on CNN featuring the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh Republic (Elmar Mamedyarov and Karen Mirzoyan respectively) was really an exclusive one. It was exclusive because Artsakh (the Armenian name for Nagorno Karabakh) was de facto represented as a side of the conflict, and the Azerbaijani chief diplomat was entangled in his own misinformation. Regional The international Arabic Al Jazeera TV channel first published an article about the hostilities by mentioning that the conflict sides put the blame of provoking the military actions on each other. Then it addressed the Nagorno Karabakh conflict with a large-scale report where it was mentioned that it was Azerbaijan that provoked the hostilities on April 2. The Georgian First Channel also addressed the escalation of the situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone and reported the official statements of NKR and Azerbaijan. Russian The Russian media, especially the news websites (Gazeta.ru. Lenta.ru. Tass.ru. Ria.ru) reported on Azerbaijan provoking the escalation by citing the Armenian sources, namely the press service of the NKR Defense Ministry. Only a few hours later, when the enemy started to spread misinformation, the significant part of the Russian media started to spread that false propaganda. In particular, the popular Lenta.ru published the invented numbers of Azerbaijani propaganda machine as top news. In general, when we read the Russian medias reports on the Karabakh-Azerbaijani conflict, we do not notice in any way that Armenia is Russias ally. Such a cold approach by the Russian side arouses questions. And the fact that the enemy uses the arms purchased from Russia (e.g. TOS1, Smerch) against Armenians is not less worrying. Vahe Ghukasyan Union of Informed Citizens NGO By Aaron Maasho ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - African Union Commission head Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is tipped to take over the leadership of South Africa's ruling African National Congress, will step down at the end of her four-year term in July, her spokesman said on Wednesday. Dlamini-Zuma did not submit an application to remain as chairperson for a second term before the deadline for candidates closed last week, Jacob Enoh Eben said. "She is not seeking a second term as chair of the African Union Commission," he said. The decision was personal, he said, without giving details. Dlamini-Zuma's is a leading candidate to succeed South African President Jacob Zuma, her ex-husband, as ANC leader. She served as home affairs minister in Zuma's cabinet before becoming the first female head of the Addis Ababa-based bloc's executive arm in 2012. She had also previously served as minister of health and of foreign affairs. Zuma, who is expected to stay president until an election in 2019 and is likely to be influential behind the scenes in picking a new ANC leader at a conference in 2017, is expected to support Dlamini-Zuma. Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa is seen as another strong candidate to replace Zuma as party head and has the support of powerful business lobbies. The African Union is expected to name Dlamini-Zuma's successor at a heads of state gathering in the Rwandan capital Kigali in July. The bloc is yet to disclose the names of contestants vying to replace her. (Editing by James Macharia and Agus MacSwan) By Jeffrey Dastin (Reuters) - Alaska Air Group Inc's plan to buy Virgin America Inc makes the company a more attractive partner to Asian airlines looking for extra revenue from connecting passengers to flights within the United States, industry executives and experts say. Foreign airlines could market Alaska Air's U.S. flights to their customers in Asia and take a commission for those sales - a common airline practice called code-sharing. Travelers from Asia would earn frequent flyer miles under their preferred airline's loyalty program even while traveling on Alaska Air. Seattle-based Alaska Air said its $2.6 billion purchase of Virgin America, based in California, gives it 22 percent of seats on North America flights from the U.S. West Coast, more than any other airline. California was the No.1 U.S. destination for visitors from Asia in 2014, according to U.S. Commerce Department data. "We'll be a very desirable partner for these international airlines," Alaska Air's Chief Executive Officer Brad Tilden said on an investor call Monday. The company's effort to woo Asian airline code-sharing partners comes as Delta Air Lines Inc , United Continental Holdings Inc and American Airlines Group Inc are competing more aggressively with Asian airlines for trans-Pacific passengers. Each of the three carriers said in the past month that it intends to add a route to China. The Alaska-Virgin deal is "definitely a positive" for independent carriers abroad - those who are not in marketing alliances with the three big U.S. carriers, said Joel Chusid, the U.S. executive director for China's Hainan Airlines Co Ltd <600221.SS>. "With Alaska, we're helping each other. There's no competition," Chusid said in an interview. When Hainan's other U.S. partner American started flying to China, he said managing the relationship "became a lot trickier" even though their code-share remains in place. American, Delta and United declined to comment. Many foreign airlines already market Virgin America's or Alaska Air's flights. But the merger opens up new opportunities, said John E. Jackson, vice president of passenger marketing and sales for the Americas at Korean Air Lines Co Ltd <003490.KS>, which shares codes with Alaska Air and has a more modest arrangement with Virgin America. Industry executives said foreign airlines will likely wait to see how the merger is executed before undertaking what could be long processes of structuring new code-sharing deals and getting regulatory approval for those agreements. (Reporting By Jeffrey Dastin in New York; editing by Joe White and Brian Thevenot) BEIRUT (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's North African branch has confirmed the death of a prominent leader of the network's Syrian affiliate, Abu Firas al-Suri, in a U.S. air strike in Syria on Sunday. A statement by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb's (AQIM) media wing posted online late on Tuesday paid tribute to Abu Firas and said a U.S. air raid killed him. The statement, dated April 4, appeared to be the first public confirmation by al Qaeda. U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday the United States carried out an air strike that killed Abu Firas. He was a senior member of al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate the Nusra Front's policy-making Shura Council. A Pentagon spokesman said a U.S. air strike on Sunday hit a meeting of high-level al Qaeda officials in northwest Syria at which Abu Firas was present, and said the United States was still confirming whether Abu Firas had been killed. (Reporting by John Davison and Ali Abdelatti in Cairo; Editing by Sandra Maler) SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a letter sent to shareholders on Tuesday, Amazon.com Inc's founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, defended the online retailer's corporate culture, which was the subject of a critical report by The New York Times last year. Bezos noted the enduring nature of corporate cultures in his annual letter to shareholders. "The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select," he wrote. "Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another," he said, adding that Amazon has never declared that its approach is the "right one." Amazon was the subject of a months-long investigation by the Times, which depicted the company as having a bruising corporate culture that edged out workers who had been evaluated harshly by their peers and managers. The online retailer forcefully rebutted the paper's report after it was published last year, with the company's top spokesman, Jay Carney, taking the unprecedented step of writing a public letter to defend Amazon and revealing personnel information about a former employees quoted in the story. In his letter to shareholders, Bezos also trumpeted the success of big bets like the company's cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services, and its wildly popular membership program, Prime. Amazon does not disclose membership data of its flagship Prime service, but analysts say it may have more than 40 million members in the United States. In highlighting the speed at which Amazon launched services like Prime Now, its one- and two-hour delivery service, Bezos signaled to shareholders that the company was not done making bold investments in new business areas. "Used well, our scale enables us to build services for customers that we could otherwise never even contemplate." (Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Leslie Adler) By now, no one is debating the fact that economic inequality has grown substantially in the past few decades. It seems that almost every day theres a new report showing that incomes and wealth continue to grow for the richest while everyone else struggles to make do. But when it comes to solutions, the conversation stalls. That may be because people are focusing on the wrong parts of of inequality, says Kevin Leicht, the head of the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaigns sociology department. In a paper recently published in The Sociological Quarterly, Leicht writes that the conversation about inequality in America revolves too much around disparities between groupssay, the earnings gap between white and black workersand not enough on the disparities within them. He argues that most conversations about inequality distract from finding practical solutions, and suggest a misleading narrative about how to get ahead in America. Recommended: What Can Help Poor Kids Thrive? I spoke with Leicht about his paper and his views on better ways to think about dealing with inequality. The interview below has been lightly edited for clarity. Gillian B. White: You start off your paper by saying that sociologists have been somewhat remiss in how they approach studying inequality. Can you talk to me about why you say that? Kevin Leicht: We have ignored growing inequality within race and gender groups and have focused more on closing gaps between race and gender groups. Social mobility in the U.S. has ground to a halt. So we still see overrepresentation of white men in elite status positions, but were focusing on making those elite positions more diverse, and were forgetting about the rest of the economy. White: You say gender and race are not driving factors of inequality. I think that feels confusing at a time when people hear a lot about the growing wealth gap between races and theres evidence that the gender-wage gap has stagnated. Can you walk me through your claim that those arent critical issues? Story continues Leicht: The wealth gap is very real, and is driven a lot by housing segregation, which leads to the inability to build wealth through homeownership. The race and the gender differences in wealth accumulation are very real, and the paper doesnt address that. But if you look at all of the gaps that are happening with regard to income, the gender and racial gaps over the last 30 years or so, perhaps 40 years, have all shrunk. In the process of that happening, theres been growing inequality within all of the demographic groups. What I would further argue is that the growth in the inequality within demographic groups has made it difficult to close the gender and racial gaps that are left. Im not saying that theres no racial and gender inequality, but weve ignored other types of inequality, and those have gone berserk. Recommended: Panama Papers: The Real Scandal Is What's Legal White: What types of inequality specifically have gone berserk? Leicht: Access to high-quality jobs, increasing amounts of poverty, and downward mobility. The tails of the income distribution for each racial and ethnic and gender group have been moving away from each other almost by the day, and yet we continue to focus on the gaps between group A and group B. Kevin Leichts Three Sample Scenarios of Inequality In his paper, Leicht uses these three scenarios to illustrate hypothetical differences between and within two demographic groups. He says that comparing the current earnings distributions in the U.S. economy would look most like Market C. White: You bring up this notion that you call the politics of displacement, and you say it's one of the reasons that the country isn't adequately coping with inequality. Can you explain what that theory is and its relation to talking about inequality through the lens of social issues? Leicht: The politics of displacement is the substitution of cultural issues for discussions of issues of economic fairness. So just when it looks like were going to pass a tax bill that gives the middle class tax relief, it's time to talk about abortion, sex education in the schools, multilingual education. Just about anything to distract attention from rising inequality and the complicity that government and public policy has in producing it. White: Speaking of politics, you identify several issues that contribute to growing income inequality, including political sway in the form of lobbying, rent-seeking, and under-investment in public good. Is there one factor you think is more problematic than the others? Recommended: The Hidden Economics of Porn Leicht: I think one of the biggest things is disinvestment in public goods. When you produce extreme amounts of inequality, then there's a segment of the population that can basically purchase private access to just about anything that they want. They can live in a gated community, they can have a private police force, they can send their children to private schools, they can send their high-school graduates to private universities. They can set up their own enclave neighborhoods. So when inequality gets to a certain extreme and you can opt out of all those things, then suddenly the welfare of your neighbors is not something you have to deal with or take care of. White: And you say that, for instance, just helping more kids get into those fancy schools wont necessarily helpthat education isnt a sure fix? Leicht: Its not entirely clear that the labor market is actually producing the quality jobs that college graduates are supposed to take. A lot of college graduates are taking jobs that don't require a college education. The second problem is that the value of a college diploma is inversely related to the number of people that have it. So if you increase the number of people with a college degree, the college-wage premium will probably disappear. Or it will only grow because the unfortunate few who dont have a college degree will make practically nothing. White: Are there any other commonly discussed fixes that you dont subscribe to? Leicht: Theres also this idea that inequality would shrink if the poor would simply get married. The people who are not married have different social characteristics than the people who are married. Simply marrying them off isn't going to make them better off because of their potential pool of spouses. The education argument is kind of an extension of that. Just because the people who have college educations now are better off than people who dont, doesn't mean that if everybody who didn't have a college education had one, they would receive the same benefits in the future. White: Okay, so what should the country be focusing on instead to realistically chip away at inequality? Leicht: I think we need to focus more directly on labor-market policies that increase people's earnings and increase the steadiness of their jobs. In the end, fighting income inequality is about fighting income inequality. It's not about closing educational gaps or getting more people married, or creating a diverse pool of Fortune 500 CEOs. White: You write, The basic legitimacy of the market system is eroded as the relationship between what you do and what you get becomes indirect and obscure. I thought that was a really interesting point. Can you talk to me a little about how much meritocracy has already eroded? Leicht: I think were quite far down that road. We all have a narrative about how to get ahead. I almost guarantee you if you tell me that narrativeget a college education, do this, do thatit now doesn't work. If it turns out that what you really have to do is go to college, and make sure your roommate is the next Mark Zuckerberg in order to get ahead, that's not a narrative. That doesn't work. If where you end up is totally dependent on your parents, or a set of random circumstances over which you have no control, and theres no individual description of how you get to a stable place in the economic system, then weve lost the narrative about how to get ahead. And thats where things get dangerous. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. HUAMBO (Reuters) - An Angolan court on Tuesday sentenced the leader of a Christian sect and some of his followers to up to 28 years in jail for the killing of nine police officers last year during a police raid on the group. The raids ended with the capture of preacher Jose Kalupeteka, leader of a millenarian sect called "The Light of the World", and his followers a year ago. Thirteen sect members were also killed in clashes, police said. On Tuesday, provincial court judge Afonso Pinto sentenced Kalupeteka and nine sect members to between 16 and 28 years in jail after their trial on charges including murder, attempted murder, resistance to police detention, illegal possession of weapons and damage to property. Defence lawyers later told journalists they would appeal against the sentences at the Supreme Court. Angola launched last year's raids to crack down on fringe Christian church groups deemed illegal under new rules requiring denominations to have 100,000 registered members spread across at least a third of the southern African country's 18 provinces. Kalupeteka's church has an estimated 3,000 members. The Angolan opposition party UNITA has said that more than 1,000 sect members were killed during clashes with police last year. (Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by Mark Heinrich) LUANDA (Reuters) - Angola will begin loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this month as lower oil prices hammer the finances of Africa's second-largest crude exporter, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday. Angola's economy has grown rapidly since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing. Oil output represents 40 percent of gross domestic product and more than 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue. Brent crude traded below $39 a barrel on Wednesday, down more than 30 percent compared with a year ago. [O/R] "The government of Angola is aware that the high dependence of the oil sector represents vulnerability for the public finances and the economy in an extensive way," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. "The government requested the support of the IMF for a supplementary programme ... taking account of the decline in the price of petroleum." Finance Minister Armando Manuel told Reuters in March that Angola had no plans to approach the IMF for loans. Angola will work with the IMF to design reforms aimed at improving fiscal discipline, simplifying the tax system and increasing transparency in public finances and the banking sector, as part of loan talks, the ministry statement said. It added that the focus of its economic diversification efforts will be growing the agriculture, fisheries and mining sectors. The ministry said the government was also implementing an ambitious programme of fuel subsidy reforms to shore up the country's finances. (Reporting by Herculano Coroado; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Alison Williams) LUANDA (Reuters) - The death toll from yellow fever outbreak in Angola has risen to 225, with an estimated 1,600 cases now recorded, Health Minister Luis Sambo said on Tuesday. Sambo told a news conference after meeting with World Health Organisation officials that the disease had spread to 16 of the country's 18 provinces. "We need to increase the response capacity ... in both technological resources (such) as medicines and vaccines, as well as in personnel," he said. A WHO official on March 18 said the outbreak, which broke out late last year, had killed 158 people in Angola. (Reporting by Herculano Coroado, writing by Stella Mapenzauswa, editing by G Crosse) Vernadsky Research Station (Antarctica) (AFP) - Winter is coming, and like many scientists posted in Antarctica, Bogdan Gavrylyuk is looking forward to going home. It has been a year since the 43-year-old Ukrainian geophysicist started his latest posting, monitoring climatic phenomena on an island off western Antarctica. "Everybody misses home. Everybody has a family or a girlfriend and of course we miss them," he says. "But here, there is a job we have to do." He will ship out from Vernadsky Research Station in early April to make way for his replacement, before the sea freezes over. Scientists call Antarctica the Earth's last wilderness. For some, it is also a paradise of international cooperation. It is home to thousands of researchers and technicians from various countries who share the territory under the Antarctic Treaty. In Gavrylyuk's office, blinking computer screens show graphs of data from meteorological instruments deployed around the wind-swept base. "We share a lot of important, interesting information between different Antarctic countries -- data on the ozone layer, meteorological information, geophysical information. All the countries here are doing the same," he says. He also shows off a pair of keyboards on which he plays rock music in his free time. "I have a guitar, a flute, harmonica, keyboards. It helps me relax when I'm working hard on my project," Gavrylyuk explains. - Science and peace - Diplomats cherish the Antarctic Treaty that has governed this continent since 1959. "It has lasted for over 50 years. It brings us all together for science and for peace," says Ray Arnaudo, who was formerly the US State Department's top official for Antarctica. "If you extended the boundaries of Antarctica by five degrees every couple of years, in 50 years you would have world peace," he says. "Some say I'm a dreamer." But when it comes to protecting the region, the Antarctic Treaty is prey to international politics beyond its icy shores. Story continues "Antarctica has traditionally been a place where people have been able to cooperate more than they would on other issues. However there is an outstanding list of to-dos," says Claire Christian, acting director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a grouping of environmental NGOs. Run by Britain until it was sold to Ukraine in 1996, Vernadsky Station was one of the research bases whose atmospheric readings revealed the hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s, Gavrylyuk says. Now the focus is on climate change. Antarctica's western peninsula has warmed by three percent on average over the past half-century, according to environmental groups. They hope the Antarctic Treaty's environmental commission, CCAMLR, can agree on measures to protect the continent. "There are a lot of political obstacles," says Christian. "It's been very difficult, for example, for countries in CCAMLR to agree to marine protected areas." - Antarctic climate change - At Argentina's Almirante Brown Station, biologist Rocio Fayo and her 10 colleagues lead an isolated life. "There is no Internet connection here, so the group has a very strong bond," says Fayo, 31, standing under the gray skies of Paradise Bay outside the red wooden hut where the team sleeps. "We've been up the peak over there a few times. We climb up and slide back down fast on our bottoms in the snow. It's good fun." Fayo has spent the summer studying micro-algae. Another researcher has set up a camera for monitoring penguins in the bay. Conservationists fear the penguins are threatened by climate change and fishing. Campaigners complain that some countries are resisting conservation efforts by fellow CCAMLR members. Andrea Kavanagh, head of the penguin campaign of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a US non-government organization, says Russia and China "want to be free to catch as much krill as possible near the Antarctic Peninsula, including right next to penguin colonies that have been in decline for the last three decades." - Hiking the frozen sea - Far away from their countries, on the bases, staff say Antarctic relations run smoothly, however. "There's this great international collaboration. Politics is set aside here more than in most places," says laboratory supervisor Carolyn Lipke, 35. She is getting ready for a break after spending her sixth year at Palmer Station, one of several US Antarctic bases. Among various research projects at her station, chemists are examining spongy invertebrates on the seabed that they think give off toxins with potentially cancer-fighting qualities. When they're not deep-sea diving for specimens or working in the lab, she says, the 40 or so staff here play cards, watch movies and hold open-mic talent shows. In winter, they can hike across the frozen sea to neighboring islands. A satellite Internet and phone link helps them keep in touch with loved ones. "That makes it easier to be here for long periods, and also for the scientists to communicate," Lipke says. "You can communicate with your family but you can also get a ton of work done." By Alana Wise and Brendan McDermid (Reuters) - Demonstrators shut down an Arizona highway leading to a campaign rally for Donald Trump on Saturday while protesters rallied outside of Trump Tower in Manhattan to voice their opposition to the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Television news footage of the demonstration outside Phoenix showed dozens of protesters blocking traffic while holding signs that read "Dump Trump" and "Shut Down Trump." The demonstrators eventually started marching down the highway, and later some were seen nearing the rally at Fountain Hills, Arizona, before Trump arrived. Three people were arrested, the Maricopa County Sheriff's office said. Saturday's protests reflect rising tensions around the polarizing candidate, who has come under fire from rivals for fueling unrest with his campaign rhetoric. He has denied responsibility, but this week warned of riots if he is denied the party presidential nomination. In his home city of New York, about 1,000 demonstrators marched from Central Park to Trump Tower, the billionaire developer's signature building on Manhattan's tony Fifth Avenue. The crowd of mostly young people chanted and carried placards denouncing the Republican presidential hopeful. Some of them said police used pepper spray on them as they left the park and started marching. Police were seen taking at least one person into custody, but a spokesman for the New York Police Department could not immediately confirm whether any arrests were made or whether pepper spray was used. 'PEOPLE WHO LOVE HIM' Arizona, where political parties will hold primary elections on Tuesday, is a flashpoint for the issue of illegal immigration into the United States, as it shares a long stretch of border with Mexico. Trump, who has repeatedly accused Mexico of sending violent and unlawful migrants to flood the United States, has made illegal immigration the signature issue of his campaign. That has earned him the endorsement of Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, an outspoken critic of U.S. immigration policies. Fountain Hills, the site of the Trump rally, is in Maricopa County. "We will do everything we can do to assure freedom of speech in this country," Arpaio told CNN when asked how he planned to deal with the demonstrators. "Donald Trump has the right to be heard by the thousands of people who love him, support him and want him to be president of the United States," the sheriff said. Arpaio, wearing civilian clothes, introduced Trump at the rally. Trump rallies have grown increasing unruly as the months-long campaign has progressed. An event in Chicago a week ago was canceled over security concerns after protesters, many of them university students, swarmed the venue. Clashes then broke out between protesters and supporters. Last weekend, a man was arrested when he attempted to rush the stage where Trump was addressing the audience at a rally in Ohio. In another incident, a man who was caught on video punching an anti-Trump protester in the face at a North Carolina rally was arrested and charged with assault. Trump, the favorite to win his party's nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, currently leads in opinion polls ahead of Arizona's March 22 primary, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average, leading Senator Ted Cruz of Texas by 13 percentage points. (Additional reporting by Ian Simpson in Washington and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Writing by Frank McGurty; Editing by Mary Milliken) By Ginny McCabe CINCINNATI (Reuters) - The attorney for a former University of Cincinnati officer charged with murdering a black Ohio man during a traffic stop wants to review the victim's medical records to see if any illnesses might explain why Samuel DuBose tried to drive away. Stew Mathews, the attorney for Ray Tensing, said in court on Wednesday that he wants to see the medical records for DuBose. Mathews later told reporters DuBose was hospitalized last year, including prior to the July shooting. Mathews declined to discuss DuBose's medical condition further with reporters after Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan granted his request. Body camera video of the traffic stop showed DuBose was shot in the head by Tensing after he was pulled over for a missing front license plate on his vehicle. Mathews has said Tensing feared being dragged under the car as DuBose tried to drive away. Outside the courtroom on Wednesday, Mathews said the medical records may explain why (DuBose) left the scene in a hurry. During the traffic stop, DuBose attempted to prevent the officer from opening the car door before the car started slowly rolling forward. Tensing, who is white, pulled his gun and fired once. Use of lethal force by police, especially by white officers against unarmed blacks and other minorities, has been the focus of nationwide protests, and the killing of DuBose fueled demonstrations. Tensing has pleaded not guilty to murder and voluntary manslaughter charges and is free on $1 million bond. His trial is scheduled to begin Oct. 24. If convicted, Tensing could face a life sentence. An independent report on the shooting released last September called it "entirely preventable." [nL1N11H1BR] (Reporting by Ginny McCabe; Editing by Ben Klayman nd Steve Orlofsky) MOGADISHU (Reuters) - African Union peacekeepers and Somali government troops have killed several senior figures in the al Qaeda-linked Islamist militant group al Shabaab in Somalia in the last few days, the peacekeeping mission said on Tuesday. Al Shabaab was driven out of Mogadishu by the African Union force AMISOM in 2011, and last year it was pushed out of major strongholds in the south by AMISOM and the Somali National Army. It still controls some rural areas, however, and carries out frequent attacks in the capital and other areas in its attempt to dislodge the Western-backed government. On Tuesday, its fighters shot dead lawmaker Mohamed Ali's two bodyguards in the capital and wounded Ali himself, police said. AMISOM said the dead al Shabaab leaders included its commander and his deputy in the town of Janaale, Abdirashir Bugdube and Sheikh Mohamed Ali, and its commander in Leego, Aden Bale. They also included an al Shabaab judge in Janaale, Mohamed Abribao; a Yemeni bomb maker known as Abu Islam; and a man identified as al Shabaab's chief trainer, the Kenyan Sheikh Mansur, AMISOM's statement said. It also said AMISOM and Somali forces had killed Hassan Ali Dhoore, the head of al Shabaab's intelligence arm Amniyat in the lower Shabelle region. However, the U.S. Pentagon said on Monday that it had killed Dhoore in an air strike on March 31. Al Shabaab's military spokesman, Abdiasis Abu Musab, said only Dhoore had been killed, and dismissed the other reported deaths as propaganda. AMISOM said it was now working to clear improvised explosive devices from Janaale and its main access road. (Reporting by Abdi Sheikh and Feisal Omar in Mogadishu; Writing by George Obulutsa in Nairobi; Editing by Kevin Liffey) Vienna (AFP) - Austria on Wednesday moved to further tighten migrants' access to the country by placing tough new restrictions on asylum eligibility and making it easier to reject asylum seekers at the border. As of mid-May, the government will only accept cases of refugees facing threats to their safety in a neighbouring transit country or whose relatives are already in Austria. "We will not consider any asylum requests unless we have to because of certain criteria... like under the (European) Convention on Human Rights," Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner told a press conference in Vienna. She said the decision was in accordance with European Union law which allowed member states to take national measures in emergency situations. Austria -- which last year received one of the highest asylum claims per capita in the EU -- was no longer "obliged" to accept all requests because the migrant crisis posed "a threat to public order and national security", Mikl-Leitner said. The new rules will also force migrants to request asylum directly at the border in purpose-built registration centres, where they may be held for up to 120 hours while their application is being checked. Illegal migrants caught inside the country will be taken to the border, Mikl-Leitner warned, while rejected asylum-seekers will be returned to the nation from where they crossed into Austria. The government also reaffirmed its intention to step up controls at existing checkpoints along its southern frontiers, including at the Brenner Pass, a key European transit route on the Italian border. Some 14,000 people have already applied for asylum in Austria so far this year, according to the interior ministry -- reaching nearly half of the annual quota of 37,500 claims imposed by the government in January. But the flow has slowed to a trickle since Austria and Balkan countries along the main migrant trail leading up from Greece shut their borders at the end of February. STOCKHOLM - London-based writer Meg Rosoff was stunned and had to sit down after learning that she had won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), the world's largest children and young adult literature prize on Tuesday. ALMA chair Boel Westin announced the winner in Stockholm and informed the U.S.-born writer by telephone from a news conference. "Oh my God. That's amazing. I have to sit down. I can't believe that," Rosoff said by telephone from London. Rosoff's first novel, the dystopian young adult book "How I Live Now," was published in 2004. She was awarded the 5 million kroner ($614,979) prize for her body of work, which Boel described as "novels that speak to the emotions as well as the intellect." The Swedish government established the annual ALMA in 2002 following the death at age 94 of Swedish writer Astrid Lindgren, who is best known for her Pippi Longstocking books. From Road & Track Ahead of tonight's Tesla Model 3 launch event in Hawthorn, California, CEO Elon Musk hinted that we wouldn't get to see quite everything in store for the all-new, $35,000 electric sedan. Sadly, nobody was allowed to drive the two running Model 3 prototypes at the event. But I got to take a short ride in the back seat of what turned out to be a dual-motor, big-battery, high performance Model 3 variant. Here's my back-seat driving impressions. Every Tesla has a gimmick. The Model S introduced dual-motor all-wheel drive and Insane and later Ludicrous modes. The Model X has those ridiculous doors and the world's largest single-pane windshield. The Model 3's hallmark is a huge waterfall glass roof. Over the front two seats is a standard panoramic sunroof; the rear passengers are treated to a huge rear windshield that reaches all the way up to become a huge skylight. A piece of glass this big has got to be expensive-particularly given the Model 3's starting price of $35,000. Regardless, all that glass makes for a very airy passenger compartment. It also frees up a ton of headroom, since the only thing between you and the outside world is a sheet of glass. At six-foot-one, I had a good four inches of headroom seated in the back seat and plenty of leg room, though foot space was slightly cramped. If you're afraid that glass could be detrimental to crash safety, Musk assures us the Model 3 will get five-star ratings in every crash test category, though actual crash testing is a long way off. The dashboard is completely bizarre. There's no instrument panel in front of the driver, and aside from the standard control stalks on the steering column, not a single button or physical control anywhere on the dashboard. Instead, a single, giant, landscape-oriented touchscreen hovers a few inches proud of the dashboard. Everything is displayed there-including the speedometer, in the top-left corner closest to the driver, which seems like it would take a lot of getting used to. Story continues How'd it drive? My wheelman wouldn't give any details about our car's drivetrain, other than to reveal that it was a dual-motor all-wheel-drive setup. Rumor has it a top-of-the-line Model 3 could get an 80kWh battery, providing enough juice for Ludicrous-mode all-wheel-drive launches and 0-60 in under four seconds. I don't know if that's the drivetrain I sampled. But from the back seat, on a short stretch of road closed off for the Tesla event, the Model 3 launched with ferocious grip and absolutely zero drama. It wasn't quite the chest-collapsing wallop of a Model S P90D in Ludicrous mode, but without a stopwatch, I'd say the Model 3 I rode in zipped from a dead stop to 75 mph a bit quicker than a Subaru WRX STI-silently. Sadly, there was no place to get a good impression of the Model 3's steady-state handling or lateral grip, but our driver zig-zagged through a handful of quick slalom maneuvers. The Model 3 stayed nearly flat, with plenty of grip. Credit Tesla's low-slung platform, which puts the mass of the batteries (and in this case, the dual motors) as low as possible in the package. We can't wait to get behind the steering wheel for ourselves. Musk says that will happen sometime in late 2017-and this time, he swears there will be no delays. I do not want my children to find our house destroyed, says Karabakh resident Armenian lawmaker Manvel Grigoryan feels in his element when he speaks about the recent aggressive behavior of Azerbaijan. We have decided to silence them [Azerbaijanis] forever, he says. Twenty-two years ago, they [Azerbaijanis] begged Armenians to sign an armistice. Manvel Grigoryan can say exactly who begged for a truce. It was Heydar Aliyev who begged us to sign a ceasefire agreement then. By God, we shall square accounts with the enemy again, he said. Manvel Grigoryan, who is in Karabakh now, is trying to understand Azerbaijans actions after yesterdays ceasefire agreement reached between the conflicting sides. Perhaps, Azerbaijan is playing another game, I cannot say. Although the enemy has destroyed almost everything in Martakert, the locals did not panick or hurry to leave the city. Most of the houses were new in the city. Now people will have to start from scratch. About 21-30 houses were slightly damaged in the shelling. Baghryan Ilich, Mirzabekyan giro and Gyurjyan Mishik our mayor will help me restore the damaged houses until I go to fetch my children from Stepanakert. I do not want my children to find our house destroyed, says Artur Asryan, deputy Mayor of Martakert. Residents of Martakert treat their ruined houses in the same way as one would treat a wounded relative. What they need now is peace on the frontline. Balmain is opening a New York flagship store -- its first in the US, confirming the luxury Parisian fashion house's growing popularity stateside. Located in the SoHo neighborhood, the boutique will offer menswear, womenswear and, as of this summer, children's clothing. The 2,150-square-foot (200 sq meter) space references Villa Balmain, the mid-century vacation home on the Italian island of Elba that served as founder Pierre Balmain's retreat. Hidden behind the building's restored 19th-century black facade are a succession of clean, white residential-like spaces inspired by the simplicity and lightness of post-war American design. "It had to be SoHo," explains the house's Creative Director Olivier Rousteing. "Anyone who knows me knows that I find America incredibly inspiring." To celebrate the store will host a post-Met Ball party to celebrate its opening on May 2. Barcelona (AFP) - Fernando Torres raged that Atletico Madrid are not treated equally to Barcelona by referees after his early red card turned their Champions League quarter-final, first leg around on Tuesday. Torres had put Atletico in front at the Camp Nou before seeing two quick-fire yellow cards to leave the visitors a man light for over an hour. Luis Suarez finally converted Barca's relentless second-half pressure into a 2-1 lead as he struck twice in 12 minutes. However, Atletico were enraged as unlike Torres, Suarez escaped punishment for a kick out at Juanfran and an off-the-ball incident with Filipe Luis. "They shouldn't have been cards. If it had been the other way around then they wouldn't have been given," Torres told Spanish radio station Cadena Cope. "With 11 (men) we would have won without any doubt." However, Torres qualified his earlier comments by accepting responsibility for his side's defeat. "I take responsibility for our defeat, but now more than ever lets go to The Calderon for a comeback," the former Liverpool and Chelsea striker tweeted. Torres also claimed UEFA have their priorities wrong after making both sides play in their away kits to avoid a colour clash. "UEFA worry about making us change shirts, but they didn't appoint a referee that is up to the level of the Champions League quarter-finals." Luis went even further by implying UEFA are scared of Barcelona not reaching the final. "I don't know what Barca players have to do to get sent off just like us," Luis told Spanish TV station MEGA. "You can tell there is fear that Barca will be eliminated." Atletico's players' choice of words could prove costly should UEFA feel the need to impose bans on those that have launched attacks on German referee Felix Brych. Coach Diego Simeone was more measured in his criticism and was happy to escape Catalonia with the tie still in the balance. Story continues "There were more than two incidents involving Suarez," said Atletico boss Diego Simeone. "I can't say what I think, but I am not angry with Fernando (Torres) for sure." "We had a great first-half, in the second we tried to limit the damage as much as possible for the game that is still to come." Barca boss Luis Enrique was understandably less sympathetic towards Torres. "Both of Torres's two yellow cards are clear," he said. "They may have been unintentional, but they are clear." Barca saw a 39-game unbeaten run come to an end with defeat to Real Madrid and their bid to become the first side to retain the Champions League looked under serious threat before Torres's dismissal changed the course of the game. However, Enrique dismissed suggestions his side are beginning to pay physically for the demands of playing in six competitions this season. "Watching the second half there is no physical problem," he added. "We played with enthusiasm, but also a cool head because if you only play with the heart it is dangerous. "I think we did enough to have won by one more goal." Suva (Fiji) (AFP) - Authorities in Fiji ordered people to stay inside as a tropical cyclone bore down on the Pacific tourist destination Wednesday, taking no chances after a recent monster storm killed 44 people. Tropical Cyclone Zena rapidly developed from a low pressure trough to an intense category three storm that was approaching the main island Vita Levu, the Fiji Meteorological Service said. It was preceded by heavy rains that left one man confirmed dead and a teenage girl missing in flash flooding that also blocked major highways. The latest emergency comes with the nation of 900,000 still reeling from super cyclone Winston in February, which left 44 dead, 60,000 homeless and crippled infrastructure. "To preserve safety and public order prior to the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Zena, all members of the public are to remain indoors and secure their properties until further notice," the government said, adding police would enforce the curfew. Fiji Airways cancelled most international flights and schools were closed. The cyclone, packing gusts of 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour, is expected to brush the south coast of Vita Levu early on Thursday. The path and intensity of such storms are hard to predict -- Winston appeared to be weakening offshore at one point before roaring back as a category five cyclone with 325 kilometres an hour winds. While Zena is not expected to match that ferocity, the UN children's organisation UNICEF said it "could not come at a worse time for children and families in Fiji". "These are the same families that were directly affected by Cyclone Winston just over a month ago," Suva-based spokeswoman Alice Clements said. "Far too many are sheltering under tarpaulins, pieces of salvaged corrugated iron, in tents or again in evacuation centres." The Red Cross said volunteers were ready to distribute water purification tablets, jerry cans, and tarpaulins but had to wait for the weather to clear. Story continues "As soon as the situation is safe, we will get out and assess the damage," said the charity's Viti Levu western division coordinator, Mohammed Hafiz. "But it could be Friday, or at worst, Saturday, before this will be possible." The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said strong winds could bring down temporary shelters and buildings weakened by Winston, while a further 200 millimetres of rain in 24 hours would aggravate the floods. The agency said almost 3,600 people were already sheltering in 79 evacuation centres. "(Cyclone) Zena and associated rainfall will add to the distress being experienced by thousands of people across Fiji who remain in transitional shelter since Winston hit in February," it said. Armenian Assembly of America urges US to resume enforcement of section 907 in wake of Azerbaijan military offensive WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, in the Armenian Assembly of America's (Assembly) letter to United States Secretary of State John Kerry, Co-Chairmen Anthony Barsamian and Van Krikorian stated that Azerbaijan cannot be trusted and "must be held accountable for its egregious human rights violations." "President's Aliyev and Erdogan are very much responsible for [the] bloodshed and the failure to reach just peace," the Assembly's letter continued. The Assembly called for Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act to be fully enforced. "There can be no U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan unless and until it ceases all military hostilities against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh and agrees to a path for a peaceful and just resolution of the conflict. Anything less risks further escalation and full-scale war," Co-Chairs Barsamian and Krikorian emphasized. "The Armenian Assembly fully supports the governments of Armenia and Artsakh and their right to self-defense as they confront this full scale and unprecedented assault by Azerbaijan," stated Barsamian and Krikorian. "We also embrace yesterday's statement by President Sargsyan to the Ambassadors of OSCE countries." The Assembly letter to Secretary Kerry also highlighted the need for real, effective U.S. action and strengthening the OSCE Minsk Group peace process. "The current situation demands much more than condemnation - a robust and immediate response from the United States is needed to stop the pattern," the Assembly letter states. Further, the Assembly indicated that the Nagorno Karabakh Republic "should resume its place as a negotiating party in the Minsk process and its officials be allowed to travel to Washington and other countries freely." Barsamian and Krikorian stated that Armenia and Karabakh "deserve our full support in defending themselves" and recalled President Obama's pledge to work "for a lasting and durable settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict that is agreeable to all parties, and based upon America's founding commitment to the principles of democracy and self-determination." "The Nagorno Karabakh Republic has a right to defend its citizens and to live freely without being subjected to Azerbaijan's tyranny," the Assembly letter states. Earlier today, the governments of Azerbaijan and the Nagorno Karabakh Republic announced the cessation of hostilities and the Armenian Assembly of America hopes that the cease-fire holds. By Robert-Jan Bartunek and Philip Blenkinsop BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Two weeks after Islamic State suicide bombers killed 32 people in Brussels, Belgium's prime minister acknowledged failures in security over the attacks but forcefully rejected foreign criticism. Fielding questions from international media, Charles Michel dismissed suggestions that Belgium was a "failed state" or that it should reverse the political decentralization which some say let the militants, also blamed for attacks in Paris in November, evade detection due to poor coordination among police forces. In one swipe at criticism that has come from France, the United States and others, Michel said that the failure to find the prime surviving suspect in the Paris attacks for four months before he was caught close to his family home in Brussels was far from the embarrassment some have suggested. "Some people said it was scandalous to take a few months to arrest Salah Abdeslam. For Bin Laden, sought by all police throughout the world, it was 10 years after September 11 and 3,000 deaths in New York," Michel said, in reference to the al Qaeda leader killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011. In a remark clearly aimed at French criticism since the Paris attacks over Belgian security, he mentioned a case where it took French police four years until 2003 to find the killer on Corsica of the chief state representative on the island. He said Belgium had convicted more than 100 people on terrorism charges last year and had foiled major attacks, including a plot over a decade ago that was aimed at France and the United States as well a threat snuffed out early last year by a police raid that broke up an Islamic State cell in the town of Verviers. Saying that no government could guarantee total security, Michel made repeated references to Islamist militants succeeding in carrying out attacks in France, the United States, Britain, Spain and elsewhere and said Belgium had been a pioneer in pushing for greater international coordination of intelligence -- something many larger states have been hesitant about. "It is possible to do more in Belgium and everywhere in the world, but I cannot accept that there is a failed state," he said. "At the European table, we are systematically the most determined to advance a strategy of increased cooperation." NOT WEAKEST LINK It was "totally false", he said, to describe Belgium as the weakest link in European security. The attacks in Brussels were evidence by definition, he said, of "failure" but he noted his government's plans to spend more on security and change laws to enhance the authorities' capabilities. Questioned about whether Belgium had devolved too much power away to fractious French- and Dutch-speaking regions to provide an effective federal security policy, he said it was important to learn lessons and ensure effective coordination but ruled out a major reform of the state, which would be no "magic solution". He said that long before the attacks he had been calling for the EU to set up a "European FBI or CIA" -- an idea few other governments share for the time being, while most back greater cooperation. Michel's principle message following the March 22 attacks on Brussels airport and a metro train was, he said, that the city, capital of the European Union and home to NATO, was in the process of returning to normal. Police and troops would remain on the streets, however, and the metro would continue to run a limited service, with half its stations shut, into next week. (Writing by Alastair Macdonald) Bernie Sanders speaks to supporters about foreign policy in March in Salt Lake City. (Photo: John Locher/Associated Press) Bernie Sanders doesnt know whether President Obamas signature counterterrorism strategy, drone strikes, is the right approach to the problem. Fifteen years into a bitter national debate about Guantanamo Bay, he hasnt thought much about where he would imprison and interrogate a captured terrorist leader. He cant explain his call for Israel to pull back from some settlements on Palestinian land because he doesnt have some paper in front of him. He also cant say why he doesnt support Palestinians taking action against Israel before the International Criminal Court. Those are all takeaways from a New York Daily News interview with Sanders, whose long-shot campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination has surprised many observers by mounting a real challenge to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The Vermont senators potent message to voters in 2016 has focused on economic issues, arguing that the very rich have rigged the system in their favor with the help of venal politicians. He has marketed himself as the candidate who will upend the system and has leveraged that appeal into an unlikely string of primary victories, in part thanks to a well-organized campaign ground game and an online machinery that is without peer in the Senate. He never intended to focus on international relations. As late as August 2015, when Yahoo News looked at how Sanders would handle foreign policy, his official campaign website did not even have a section on world affairs though his team has since added one. Sanders has relied on one weapon in his national security duel with Clinton: She voted in favor of authorizing George W. Bush to go to war in Iraq; he voted against it. That argument worked for Obama in 2008, the senators aides seem to think, so why not now? SLIDESHOW The battle for New York >>> Story continues Clinton, who rarely misses a chance to refer to her crisis meetings with Obama in the White House Situation Room and peppers her national security remarks with names of foreign leaders she has met, isnt invulnerable on foreign policy. Far from it. But what the awkward Daily News interview confirms is that she has little to fear on that score from the iconoclastic senator from Vermont. The April 1 question-and-answer session came just a couple of weeks after Sanders laid out his Middle East policy in a detailed speech in Utah that seemed designed to show fluency in world affairs, whatever one might think of the policy particulars. There were common themes to both sets of remarks defeating the Islamic State requires Muslim ground troops, Middle East peace requires compromises from all sides, etc. But the Sanders who turned up for the interview seemed to have lost fluency on some central questions for candidates vying to be commander in chief. Sanders repeated his call for Israel to hold off from building new settlements in the West Bank and to pull back from some existing ones that he called illegal. The Daily News asked how much Israel should pull back. Youre asking me a very fair question, and if I had some paper in front of me, I would give you a better answer, Sanders replied. But I think if the expansion was illegal, moving into territory that was not their territory, I think withdrawal from those territories is appropriate. So, if the United States were to determine that some settlements are illegal under existing treaties and agreements, then a Sanders administration would expect Israel to pull back? Israel will make their own decisions, Sanders replied. The Daily News continued, asking him if he supports the Palestinian leaderships efforts to drag Israel before the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes. No, said Sanders. Why not? the Daily News asked. Look, why dont I support a million things in the world? Im just telling you that I happen to believe, said the senator, who went on to say that Israels military had engaged in indiscriminate bombings of Palestinians but never said why he opposed bringing in the ICC. Turning to drone strikes, the Daily News incorrectly said Obama had taken the program away from the CIA and given it to the military, then noted the yearslong controversy over the tactic. Do you believe that hes got the right policy there? the editorial board asked. I dont know the answer to that. What I do know is that drones are a modern weapon, Sanders said. The senator noted that civilian casualties from drone strikes undermine U.S. goals and urged that whoever is in control of that policy, it has to be refined so that we are killing the people we want to kill and not innocent collateral damage. (Sanders would have been on firmer ground simply by starting his answer with the mixed assessment he delivered, which echoes some of Obamas own public remarks about drones.) Marines and a detainee at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002. (Photo: Marc Serota/Reuters) Where would a Sanders administration imprison and interrogate a captured Islamic State commander? Actually I havent thought about it a whole lot, the senator answered. Sanders went on to say that such prisoners should be held in a safe, secure locale, ideally not far from where they were captured, and that he was open to jailing them on U.S. soil. Thats seen as a necessary position for anyone who supports closing the detention center for suspected extremists at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sanders the presidential candidate supports doing so, while Sanders the senators record is mixed. Sanders isnt as much of a foreign policy cipher as his opponent and many commentators suggest. Hes not a pacifist, and while he tends to oppose military interventions, he backed the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and voted in favor of giving President Bill Clinton the authority to carry out airstrikes against Serbian targets in Yugoslavia in 1999. He supports the Iran nuclear deal. He opposes Obamas sweeping trade agreement with Pacific nations. Hes more supportive of the presidents approach to Syria than Clinton, who has called for establishing and defending no-fly zones and repeatedly noted that she favored arming Syrian rebels while Obama did not. But with the Daily News interview, Sanders played into the hands of critics who charge he simply isnt interested in or informed about foreign affairs. The Clinton campaign didnt hesitate to send the transcript of Sanders interview to its mass email list. A version of this story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. "He's bought a better suit. Not a very good one, but better." So claims the proud elder brother of Bernie Sanders (or "Bernard," as he calls him) of the lifestyle changes his only sibling has made since becoming a national candidate. "Up until a couple of months ago, he was still using economy class in planes, which I told him was crazy because he needed to rest," Larry Sanders, 81, explains to THR, acknowledging that there's now a rented campaign jet. "But he was very uncomfortable to change." A fellow lifelong socialist, Larry has been watching the Bernie phenomenon from across the Atlantic. After falling in love with a British woman while "on my travels," in 1969 he decamped to Oxford, where he's lived since (although he hasn't lost the deep old-school Brooklyn baritone), working as a lecturer, social worker and local government official. He recently was appointed health spokesperson for the U.K.'s environmentally focused Green Party ("not a paid job, alas"). Read More: Two Guys From Brooklyn: The Bernie Sanders Interview by Spike Lee Despite the distance between them, he's regularly in touch with Bernie ("But not as frequent as before the campaign - he's a bit busy") and spent five weeks following him around through to the end of November. "But it's very hard when he's running all over the place - you're there to be with him, and yet you can't be with him." Like most others around the world though, he's been watching it all on TV. "Seeing him speak, he does look more and more comfortable in the role," says Larry. "But he doesn't sound in the least bit different when talking person to person. I don't think it's gone to his head." Has Bernie gone Hollywood with his growing A-list support? "Ha! In my humble opinion, he's the least Hollywood person that's ever appeared on television." Story continues After graduating from James Madison High School, Larry went to Brooklyn College (as Bernie would go on to do), from where he would begin to discuss politics with his then 11-year-old brother, although he plays down Bernie's suggestions as to how significant this was in shaping his ideology. "He exaggerates, but he's been very nice. I did help him because I was that much older, so we talked about things. I obviously knew more things than he did." But it's this ideology that, as Bernie has also claimed, is behind "really mainstream" policies, pushing for greater equality, universal healthcare, an improved Social Security system and higher taxation for the rich. And it's these policy positions - and the campaign's growing momentum - that Larry thinks will give Bernie the edge over Hillary Clinton ("a very weak candidate") in the primary, after which he'll go on to "wipe Trump up" in November's general election. Read More: Spike Lee Likens Donald Trump to Son of Sam: He "Had the Whole City in Terror" "It won't be easy, but my gut feeling is that he'll [beat Clinton] because of the excitement behind him," he says. "I just saw the last poll, and New York had him 12 points behind, but he turned up in the Bronx and there were 18,000 people who came out to see him. Now the South Bronx is predominantly black and Puerto Rican, and they're supposed to be his weakest constituencies. So I think something enormous is happening. People kind of take it in their stride, but you don't win states by 70, 80 percent as he has done. It's unheard of." Bernie's eventual victory over Trump - "Bernard is so much more superior as a candidate," says Larry, pointing to polls giving him a "20 or 30 percent" lead when they go up against each other in the general - would be the "most immense political event since Franklin Roosevelt's election" and a "world turning point" because of the size of the win. "He would bring in a new Democratic Congress, with a lot of new blood," says Larry. "And he would then be able to move toward all the economic changes that he's talked about." Read More: How a Bernie Sanders-Spike Lee Cover Photo Comes Together: Secret Service and a Nail-Biting Schedule Viewing it all from the U.K. - where he says most people are "appalled and amazed" at Trump and see Clinton as "another conventional middle-of-the-road politician" - Larry notes that many Brits "are incredibly encouraged" by his brother's successes. "Probably more significant for the rest of the world is that you would have, for the first time, an American president who didn't believe that America had to be the policeman of the world," he says. "Which would be a huge step, a giant change. It wouldn't make Utopia, the world is a difficult place and horrible things will carry on, but one horror will be removed from the pack." While he claims much of the world may rejoice, is Larry himself prepared for the attention of being first brother? "You mean will somebody take a shot at me?" he laughs. "I've actually already had a lot of attention, which I quite enjoy. I was bitten a couple of times by media people who weren't trustworthy, who took things I said out of context. Now I'm a little bit better at being careful, but I'm still not very good at it." Bernie Sanders jokingly called Bill Clinton "the first black president" for The Hollywood Reporter's cover story with Spike Lee. Lee asked Sanders about his need to secure votes from the older generation and African Americans, who previously supported Bill Clinton. "First black president right? Obama is only the second black president," said Sanders about Clinton's popularity amongst African Americans. Lee, however, quickly pointed out that Sanders wasn't the first person to make that joke. Read More: How a Bernie Sanders-Spike Lee Cover Photo Comes Together: Secret Service and a Nail-Biting Schedule "Toni Morrison said that Bill Clinton was the first black President. She said that," Lee said, referencing when the Nobel-prize winning author once made the statement in an interview. After jokingly calling Barack Obama the second black president, Sanders had nothing but praise for the current Commander-In-Chief. "This president will go down in history as one of the smartest presidents we had in this country," said Sanders. "I think people are beginning to catch on. The more they hear from Republicans, the smarter they think he is." Read THR's full cover story for more on Sanders' thoughts about education, guns and Obama's legacy on the eve of the crucial New York primary. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Miami (AFP) - Half of white US medical students harbor false beliefs about the biology of African-American people, and these misconceptions could explain why blacks are routinely under-treated for pain, a new study suggests. The study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences was based on 222 medical students and first-year doctors, known as residents, at the University of Virginia and elsewhere in the nation. Participants read two mock medical cases about a black and a white patient -- experiencing scenarios such as slamming their hand in a car door -- and made pain ratings on a scale of one to 10. There also answered a survey about biological differences between blacks and whites, including false statements such as: "Blacks' nerve endings are less sensitive than whites,'" and "black people's blood coagulates more quickly than white people's." Other false statements related to blacks having stronger immune systems, thicker skin and being "significantly more fertile" than whites. The list given to the subjects also included some true statements, reflecting that blacks have denser stronger bones, are more prone to heart disease and less likely to suffer spinal cord diseases than whites. On average, participants endorsed nearly 12 percent of the false beliefs. "About 50 percent reported that at least one of the false belief items was possibly, probably, or definitely true," said the study, led by Kelly Hoffman of the University of Virginia's Department of Psychology. "Given this sample (medical students and residents), the percentages for false beliefs are surprisingly high." Previous research has shown that black patients are less likely than white patients to be given pain medications. And when they do, the amount is often far less than allotted to whites. The study provides further evidence that racial bias may be to blame when it comes to harmful disparities in care. "To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of medical personnel (students and residents with at least some medical training) endorsing such beliefs in modern times," said the study. It "demonstrates that beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites -- beliefs dating back to slavery -- are associated with the perception that black people feel less pain than do white people and with inadequate treatment recommendations for black patients' pain." Turco (Bolivia) (AFP) - Danish chef Kamilla Seidler is carefully preparing steak tartare at Gustu, an upscale restaurant in the Bolivian capital La Paz. But instead of the usual beef, she is making it with llama meat, a traditional favorite in Bolivia that is gaining new status as producers hail it as a healthier alternative. "Before it was considered the poor people's meat, but now it's the most expensive in the country," the 32-year-old chef told AFP. The caper-dotted tartare she is making costs 75 bolivianos (about $11) at Gustu, which opened three years ago to much fanfare and an article in Food & Wine magazine entitled "Is Gustu the World's Best New Restaurant?" Thousands of kilometers away, llama herder German Churqui is thrilled at this new appetite for his product. "Llama meat is good so we are hopeful the price will keep going up. Llama meat can be a good competitor" to other red meats, said the 45-year-old father of four, who keeps a herd of 150 llamas high in the Andes mountains, in the western district of Turco. The llama, a long-necked pack animal known for its wool, has also long been a food source for indigenous people in Bolivia, a poor, landlocked country better known for its rugged high mountains than its haute cuisine. "Our ancestors consumed llama meat and traded it for wheat, barley, corn and coca," said Demetrio Luna of the Bolivian rural development ministry, which has launched a campaign to promote llama meat. Several years ago, llama meat began popping up on high-end restaurant menus in the region, for example as a carpaccio served with quinoa and parmesan. It has gotten a new boost from the World Health Organization's publication of a report last October finding that processed meat causes cancer and red meat "probably" does too. Llama is a red meat, but Bolivia insists it is healthier than beef. "Llama meat contains a high level of low-fat protein and generates low levels of cholesterol," the ministry of rural development said in a 2013 report. Story continues - 'Healthier than beef' - Most of the 5,200 people who live in Turco depend on llamas to survive. Churqui says one llama brings in around $150. He sells between 20 and 40 of them a year, his sole source of income. "That's what allows us to live," he said. Llamas are found across the Andes region, in Ecuador, Chile, Peru and Argentina, but Bolivia is responsible for 60 percent of llama meat production, with 2.8 million animals. In the western city of Oruro, Maria had just bought 16 kilos (35 pounds) of llama meat for around $50 at the "Las Americas" market. "I'm going to make roast llama. It's nutritional and healthier than beef," said the housewife. But Bolivia is still a long way from being able to export llama meat, according to Jose Luis Rios, an agricultural technician in Oruro who said the entire production chain needs to be modernized to meet international standards, "from herd management, to feed, to animal health and genetic improvements." To sleep, perchance to dream and to keep your brain working: Scientists have long known about the importance of getting a good night's sleep to improve memory, learning and mental health. But the underlying cause of primary insomnia a chronic inability to sleep soundly that's not associated with the use of stimulants, or medical disorders such as depression has eluded researchers. Now, a small study comparing healthy participants to patients who have primary insomnia has found that the people with insomnia have weakened neural connections to and from the thalamus, the region of the brain that regulates consciousness, sleep and alertness. The researchers could not determine whether these weaker connections were the cause of the insomnia or the result of a chronic lack of sleep. But the work may offer important clues to the origin and treatment of the sleeping disorder, according to experts in the field who were not associated with the study. The results of the study were published online today (April 5) in the journal Radiology. [7 Strange Facts About Insomnia] More than one-quarter of the U.S. population reports an occasional inability to sleep well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This type of insomnia can be caused by a host of factors interfering with sleep, such as drug use, stress, pain, allergies, Parkinson's disease and depression. But about 3 to 5 percent of adults have primary insomnia, according to a 2002 study by researchers at Stanford University. The diagnosis is based largely on ruling out known causes for the insomnia. Treatments include behavioral therapy, such as relaxation techniques. Doctors sometimes prescribe sedatives, but such drugs can become addictive or lose their effectiveness over time. In the new study, researchers in China examined 23 patients with primary insomnia and 30 healthy volunteers. All of the participants completed standardized questionnaires concerning their mental health and sleeping patterns. Each participant also underwent brain MRI with a specialized technique called diffusion tensor imaging, a sensitive tool that can probe deeper than the basic brain structure revealed by MRI to see how well neurons are connecting. Story continues The researchers' goal was to assess the connectivity of the brain's white matter tracts, which are "bundles of axons, or long fibers of nerve cells, that connect one part of the brain to another," said Shumei Li, a researcher at Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People's Hospital in Guangzhou, China, and the lead author of the study. "If white matter tracts are impaired, communication between brain regions is disrupted." And that is what the researchers may have found among the patients with primary insomnia. Compared to the healthy participants, the insomnia patients had significantly less white matter integrity in several right-brain regions and the thalamus, which houses "important constituents of the body's biological clock," Li said. The extent of these abnormalities in the thalamus and connected regions was associated with the duration of the patients' insomnia and their self-rated scores on the depression scale, Li said. The worse the neural connections, the worse the sleep and depression. Dr. Max Wintermark, a professor of radiology at Stanford School of Medicine in Stanford, California, who was not part of the study, said the research was important for understanding the cause of primary insomnia but that "it must be taken with a grain of salt." The MRI-based diffusion tensor imaging technique can be affected by numerous factors, such as the age of the patient and the type of MRI machine, Wintermark told Live Science. "We don't fully understand normal variation in the scanning," he said, adding that the technique is still only used as a research tool, not for diagnostics in the clinic. Wintermark said he would be interested in seeing a larger study based on these results, particularly to see whether the white matter tracts improve with treatment for insomnia. Li said that one of the limitations of her team's study was that it was too small to determine cause and effect or whether abnormalities in white matter tracts can be reversed. She, too, would like to follow a larger group of patients before and after treatment to see if the white matter tracts improve as the insomnia improves, she said. [5 Things You Must Know About Sleep] Li sees her group's work overseen by Dr. Guihua Jiang, a researcher at the same hospital as promising but in the early stages. The study results hint that the underlying cause of white matter abnormalities may be a loss of myelin, the protective coating around nerve fibers. "The mechanism underlying insomnia [and] sleep is quite complicated," Li told Live Science. "The exact neural circuit of sleep control still needs to be further investigated by other techniques in terms of function and neurophysiology." Follow Christopher Wanjek @wanjek for daily tweets on health and science with a humorous edge. Wanjek is the author of "Food at Work" and "Bad Medicine." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on Live Science. Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Maria Carolina Marcello BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff moved closer to impeachment when a key member of a Congressional committee said on Wednesday there were grounds for the Senate to put her on trial for manipulating budget accounts in 2014 to boost her reelection prospects. Congressman Jovair Arantes told the 65-member lower house committee there were "minimal indications" that Rousseff had committed an impeachable crime, but that it was up to the Senate to judge the president. Arantes had been asked by the committee to review the case and report back. The committee will vote on his report on Monday and submit the result to the full house for a final vote, expected by the end of next week. If two-thirds of the chamber approve the motion, Rousseff will be sent for trial in the Senate. She denies any wrongdoing. The impeachment effort, a wideranging corruption scandal, and a deepening economic recession have led to Brazil's worst political crisis since former President Fernando Collor de Mello resigned to avoid impeachment in 1992. Rousseff, Brazil's first woman president, could lose power as soon as May if she does not gain more support in Congress. Arantes said the delay in treasury transfers to state banks, which Rousseff's opponents say allowed her to increase spending in the run-up to the 2014 election, "evidently" countered fiscal responsibility rules and could be grounds to impeach her. "The Brazilian people deserve an answer that can only be given by a trial of Rousseff in the Senate," he said. Accusations leveled at Rousseff's government regarding the massive corruption scandal around state-run oil company Petrobras were not considered in his report, but could be taken into account in a Senate trial, Arantes said. BOOST TO ROUSSEFF The president's ouster is uncertain. Surveys by Brazilian media show her opponents have not secured two-thirds of the votes in the lower house to take her impeachment to the Senate. O Globo newspaper reported on Tuesday the opposition was three votes short of a majority in the impeachment committee. In a boost for her chances of surviving impeachment, the centrist Progressive Party (PP) said on Wednesday it will remain in her governing coalition until the lower house votes. Rousseff has been negotiating government jobs to retain the backing of allies such as the PP after her main coalition partner, the PMDB, broke away last week to back her impeachment. "It is clear a majority (of the PP) does not want to break with Rousseff," party leader Senator Ciro Nogueira told reporters. "They will tend to vote for the president over impeachment." Uncertainty over Rousseff's impeachment fueled volatility on Brazilian markets, with the Sao Paulo stock market Bovespa retreating 1.95 percent on Wednesday. Bets that Rousseff will be replaced by a more business-friendly administration have rekindled appetite for Brazilian assets, with the real jumping more than 10 percent last month and the Bovespa among the world's best performing stock indexes this year. If the Senate votes for impeachment, Rousseff would be suspended pending its verdict, and Vice President Michel Temer would become acting president. But Brazil's political crisis deepened on Tuesday when a Supreme Court judge ordered Congress also to start impeachment proceedings against Temer on the same charges brought against Rousseff. (Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Alistair Bell) By Caroline Stauffer SAO PAULO (Reuters) - In the midst of Brazil's worst recession in decades, lawyer Thiago Jabor Pinheiro switched firms to focus full-time on one of the only booming fields in the scandal-plagued country: compliance and corporate ethics. For Pinheiro, a massive corruption investigation unfolding at state-run oil firm Petrobras offers a golden opportunity. The scandal broke just as a tough new anti-corruption law went into effect in Brazil, raising the risk of prosecution for scores of companies. The sweeping Petrobras investigation and the 2013 law, known as the Clean Companies Act, have sparked a frenzy of legal activity similar to what happened in the United States over a decade ago when the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) was implemented. Brazilian magistrates have jailed some of Brazil's best-known executives, including Marcelo Odebrecht, the scion of a billionaire family controlling Latin America's largest engineering firm, and are increasingly turning their attention to companies themselves. New raids are occurring on a near weekly basis, including recently one probing alleged tax fraud at steelmaker Gerdau SA. "We believe the number of judicial and administrative cases is going to increase," Pinheiro, 33, said at the spacious Sao Paulo offices of Brazilian law firm Mattos Filho, where he started in December. "We want to be part of this movement." Mattos Filho has expanded its compliance department tasked with ensuring corporate clients strictly follow Brazilian legislation - from three lawyers to 17 people in three years. The legislation has jolted Brazil's corporate culture by making it easier for companies, instead of just individuals, to be held responsible for graft. Some say Brazil's law is in some ways even tougher than the U.S. legislation that inspired it. "This law did a lot more than just create rules. It brought new legal concepts, and even changed the opinion of society," said Fernando Villela de Andrade Vianna, a partner at Siqueira Castro, another one of Brazil's largest law firms. Since 2013, it has doubled the size of its compliance unit, which now has 15 lawyers. Story continues A 2015 survey by consulting firm Deloitte said more than 60 percent of Brazilian companies had internal legal compliance departments, double the number in 2013. Ronaldo Fragoso, head of corporate risk management for Deloitte in Brazil, said the number is even higher today. Odebrecht SA, which had previously denied participating in the Petrobras scheme, pledged on Tuesday to overhaul its transparency and anti-corruption requirements in line with international standards. It also said its executives would seek plea deals and collaborate with prosecutors to help "build a better Brazil." Brazil has few trained compliance professionals so demand for international specialists is strong, particularly as the Petrobras investigation turns up violations of the FCPA by U.S. companies that did business in Brazil or Brazilian companies whose stocks or bonds are registered to trade in the United States. U.S. law firms such as Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, which is conducting an FCPA review of Petrobras, and Hogan Lovells, in charge of the internal review at state-run electric utility Eletrobras, are partnering with Brazilian law firms to review possible violations of laws in both countries. Consulting firms and auditors like Kroll, which was hired by Eletrobras, and KPMG, contracted by meatpacker JBS SA, are also benefiting. "A lot of people I know in the market are heading down to Sao Paulo and Rio," said Richard Smith, head of Regulatory and Governmental Investigations at Norton Rose Fulbright in Washington. Smith, like many U.S. compliance specialists working in Brazil, remains based in the United States and travels back and forth. COMPANIES ADJUST The change is visible at Petrobras, or Petroleo Brasileiro SA as it is formally known. The company wrote off $2.1 billion in losses to corruption and also faces a class action lawsuit brought by investors in the United States. Previously, Renato Duque, one of the first people jailed in the corruption scandal, oversaw compliance along with engineering and services. Now a senior compliance officer is one of the company's top six executives and a former member of Brazil's attorney general's office sits on its board. Prior to the investigation, the board barely read financial statements before approving them but last quarter they got the documents in advance and worked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. without a lunch break before voting, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting. Marcel Fonseca, who is implementing a global compliance program at JBS, another of Brazil's corporate giants, says business relations in notoriously informal Brazil are becoming "more structured" as a result of the scandal and the new law. Transforming itself from a small-town butcher to the world's largest meat producer in three decades, family-run JBS was a flagship of Brazil's economic miracle. But the federal audit court is now investigating loans from state-run development bank BNDES that helped JBS finance a spree of acquisitions. The company's chairman was charged with crimes against the financial system in Sao Paulo in January. JBS denies wrongdoing. Fonseca, who previously worked for GE Healthcare, is adjusting JBS guidelines for interacting with government officials, including setting up meetings, bidding in state auctions, and giving or receiving gifts. "The greatest challenge is making people aware of why the compliance program is relevant to the company and to them," he said. "It's a change of behavior." 'YOU HAVE IT OR YOU ARE OUT' Companies that fail to establish compliance programs will pay dearly, said Carlos Ayres, a partner at Trench, Rossi e Watanabe, the firm conducting an internal review of Petrobras in Brazil. Such companies may not get loans, could be locked out of merger and acquisition opportunities, and will likely be shunned by private equity firms and venture capitalists, he said. "Either you have it or you are out," said Ayres, who teaches a course on compliance at the Fundacao Getulio Vargas law school in Sao Paulo. One of the only courses specifically focused on compliance in Brazil, it was full months before it started. Beyond adopting compliance programs, companies will have to adopt a "tougher posture" with government officials - not only refusing to pay bribes but reporting corrupt officials and taking legal action against them, said Renato Portella, another partner at Mattos Filho. "Some companies prefer to resolve things smoothly, but given the enormous risks of punishment today... I think they will have to adopt a posture of confrontation," he said. While most observers say more accountability and less corruption will ultimately benefit Brazil, economists have said the cost has been high as the woes of Petrobras and dozens of engineering firms contributed to Brazil's worst recession in decades. Uncertainty remains over the future of these firms as details need to be worked out on leniency deals that would allow them to settle their cases and pay fines to regain the right to bid for government contracts. Fragoso, of Deloitte, said it usually takes companies two or three years to see results from a compliance program. In the long-term, he said, the trend is certainly positive for Brazil. Andrew Haynes, the co-head at Norton Rose Fulbright's Brazil unit, said the shift in corporate culture was irreversible. "Now companies have to show they are managing corruption risks in a robust way or it will be much harder to do business with them," he said. "There's no going back." (Additional reporting by Jeb Blount in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kieran Murray) Brasilia (AFP) - Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's battle to cling to power enters a crucial phase Wednesday as lawmakers hear a motion on whether there are grounds to impeach her. A congressional committee has wrapped up its preliminary sessions and will now hear lawmaker Jovair Arantes present his recommendation on whether congress should vote to open an impeachment trial. He is expected to make his recommendation to the commission at 1700 GMT. Brazil's political crisis rumbled on Tuesday when a Supreme Court judge ordered a new impeachment committee be set up to consider allegations against another top official, Vice President Michel Temer. Rousseff meanwhile announced she would postpone a looming reshuffle of her cabinet until after the lower house of congress votes on the impeachment proposal. The crisis has brought the government close to collapse, as it battles a deep recession in the country due to host the Olympics in August. A long recession and huge corruption scandal have pushed the government to the brink of collapse. This mess was exacerbated last week when Temer's powerful PMDB party broke away from its coalition with Rousseff. Abandoned by her main partner, Rousseff is now racing to secure enough votes in Congress to block the lower house from sending her to face impeachment in the Senate. Rousseff's chief of staff said last week a reshuffle was imminent. In a country with dozens of political parties, ministerial posts and other government jobs have become key bargaining chips. But the leftist leader said Tuesday she would not reshuffle her cabinet before the lower house vote, expected in mid-April. "We won't touch anything for now," she told reporters. Newspaper O Globo reported that the president's camp was reluctant to move too soon for fear that supposed new allies could betray her and vote to impeach her anyway. - Lobbying for political survival - Rousseff's critics accuse her of manipulating the government's accounts to boost public spending during her 2014 re-election campaign and hiding the depth of the recession. Story continues Attorney General Jose Eduardo Cardozo lambasted the case against her Monday in final arguments before the impeachment committee. He accused the president's opponents of violating the constitution and seeking revenge for their own legal woes in a graft scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras. Rousseff, 68, needs at least 172 abstentions or votes against impeachment in the lower house. If the case proceeds to the Senate, a two-thirds vote there would remove her from office. Rousseff has sent out her predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to lobby on her behalf. He is courting small centrist parties with promises of ministerial posts vacated by the PMDB. - Call for new elections - Rousseff's approval rating has plunged to 10 percent, polls show. But those working to oust her face serious allegations themselves, including the PMDB's Eduardo Cunha, the house speaker who is leading the impeachment push. He was charged in the scandal last year with taking millions of dollars in bribes. Temer, who will become president if Rousseff goes, has also been linked to the Petrobras scandal, although he has not been charged. A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday ordered Cunha to launch a new impeachment committee to consider allegations against Temer. Like Rousseff, Temer is accused of taking out unauthorized government loans to fudge the government's books. Rousseff may also find out this week if the Supreme Court allows Lula to become her chief of staff, which would shield him from prosecution. He has been barred from assuming that job over charges in a case connected to the Petrobras scandal. Former minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva called for the speeding up of a separate probe of alleged electoral irregularities against Rousseff and Temer. If those allegations are proved, she told a news conference, "the way forward is to hold new elections." By Marta Nogueira RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Samarco Mineracao SA will not receive Brazilian government authorization to resume iron ore mining operations at the site of a dam burst that killed 19 people until leaks of tailings are stopped, environmental protection officials said on Wednesday. Samarco, which is jointly owned by mining companies Vale SA and BHP Billiton Plc, hopes to resume operations at the start of the first quarter to be able to pay for a 20 billion real (US$5.53 billion) damages settlement. The restart depends on authorization from the Minas Gerais state environmental agency Semad, which told Reuters that the miner needs to find a solution for the leaks from dikes built after the dam burst. Tailings are mineral waste and water sludge left over from mining operations and stored in ponds. Samarco has taken first steps toward reopening the mine, applying for permission to use old mining pits to store tailings. A permit, however, will only be issued once the leaks are stopped, Semad deputy director Geraldo Abreu said. Abreu said he expected Samarco to find a solution to the leaks in the six months that it will take to issue a permit. Federal environmental protection agency Ibama said the leaking was allowing water with above-permitted turbidity levels to flow down to the Rio Doce river. Ibama coordinator for emergencies, Fernanda Pirillo, said half of the 24 million cubic meters of tailings that remained in the dam after it burst have leaked into the provisional dikes, which are leaking the turbid water into the environment. Samarco representatives said provisional measures taken by the miner comply with environmental norms and a final solution was being sought. Samarco Chief Executive Roberto Carvalho said last month that iron ore pellet production for the initial two to three years would likely be at a reduced 19 million tonnes per year as the company develops a long-term plan to store the mining waste known as tailings. Before the dam disaster, Samarco was producing about 30 million tonnes per year. (Reporting by Marta Nogueira; Writing by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Toni Reinhold) Brasilia (AFP) - The head of Brazil's impeachment commission was to give his verdict Wednesday on whether President Dilma Rousseff should be ousted, raising the temperature another notch in a political crisis engulfing Latin America's biggest country. Lawmaker Jovair Arantes, who presided over the cross-party congressional commission examining the fate of Brazil's first woman president, was to present his recommendation at 1700 GMT. Arantes' decision is non-binding and mostly of symbolic value but will move the furious debate over Rousseff's impeachment a step closer to resolution. His declaration precedes a vote by the full 65-member commission due Monday. The commission's vote will also be non-binding but will set the tone ahead of April 18, when the lower house of Congress holds its decisive vote on whether Rousseff should go. She is accused of presiding over large-scale fiddling of government accounts to mask the depth of budgetary shortfalls during her reelection in 2014. Rousseff -- highly unpopular because of a severe recession and a giant corruption scandal enveloping the political elite -- says she has committed no impeachment-worthy crime and claims she is the victim of a coup attempt. - Shaky alliances - Intrigue is rife over which way Congress will lean on the 18th. The lower chamber's mood swings almost daily, with Rousseff sometimes appearing to have run out of allies before winning an unexpected boost. On Tuesday, the murky political landscape entered extraordinary new territory when a Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a bid to also impeach the vice president, Michel Temer, who has become a leading opponent of Rousseff -- and would replace her if she had to step down. In the impeachment request, Temer is accused of participating in the same fiscal juggling as Rousseff. Although proceedings against Temer are highly unlikely to get underway soon and could still be thrown out by the full Supreme Court, the judge's ruling weakened the opposition camp. Story continues Rousseff's ruling coalition collapsed last week when the PMDB party, headed by Temer, went into opposition. Her Workers' Party is now scrambling with the help of smaller allies to build a new coalition. Rousseff's powerful predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is holed up in a hotel in the capital Brasilia leading negotiations with parties and individual deputies. The key bargaining chip still left in Rousseff's hands are ministerial posts and hundreds of other government jobs, including seven ministries and some 600 jobs that had been given previously to the PMDB. An announcement of new ministers had been expected any day, but on Tuesday Rousseff said she would hold off from deciding on a new government before the lower house makes its vote. Newspaper O Globo reported that the president's camp decided on the delay out of fear that supposed new allies could still betray her when it came time to vote. - Number crunching - Rousseff, 68, needs at least 172 votes against impeachment or abstentions in the lower house. The opposition needs two thirds of the chamber to vote in favor, or 342 out of the total 513. If the motion passes, then an impeachment trial starts in the Senate, ending with another vote in which the upper house would need a two-thirds majority to remove Rousseff from office. With loyalties shifting daily, predictions of the outcome in the lower house are highly unreliable. However in the commission vote due on Monday, Globo published a survey Wednesday of the 65 members and found that 30 were in favor of impeachment, 18 were against and 17 undecided. - Clean slate? - Brazilians are angry at Rousseff, whose government approval ratings hover at around 10 percent, and also at many in the opposition like Temer. While Rousseff fights the allegations about budgetary manipulations, many in her Workers' Party, but also in the opposition, have been embroiled in a massive bribes-and-embezzlement scandal centered on state oil company Petrobras. Temer has been linked to the scandal though is not facing charges, while the lower house speaker and key man in the impeachment movement, Eduardo Cunha, has been charged with stashing millions of dollars in bribes in Switzerland. Rousseff's main political backer Lula has also been charged in a Petrobras-related case. Against that backdrop, some in Brazil are calling for a complete change at the top. Former minister and presidential candidate Marina Silva called for the speeding up of a separate Supreme Court probe of alleged electoral irregularities against Rousseff and Temer that would, if they were found guilty, require them both to step down. "The way forward is to hold new elections," she said. BRASILIA (Reuters) - The number of confirmed and suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil associated with the Zika virus declined to 5,092 in the week through April 2, from 5,235 a week earlier, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday. Of these, the number of confirmed cases climbed to 1,046 from 944 a week earlier, but suspected ones under investigation fell to 4,046 from 4,291 in the same period. Cases that have been ruled out rose to 1,814 in the week through April 2, from 1,541 a week earlier, the ministry said. Brazil considered most of the cases of babies born with abnormally small heads to be related to Zika, though the link between the virus and the birth defects has not been scientifically established. (Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Bernard Orr) LONDON (Reuters) - Support for Britain staying in the European Union has fallen slightly but still maintains the narrowest of leads over those wanting to leave the 28-member bloc, according to two opinion polls on Wednesday. The ICM and YouGov online surveys both gave "In" a one percentage point lead over "Out." Britons vote on June 23 to decide on Britain's EU membership. "Neither side has managed to stir up enough interest to break the impasse during a relative lull in media attention," Will Dahlgreen from YouGov said, adding that the latest scores are within one point of their average for 2016 so far. The YouGov poll of 3,754 voters, carried out between March 29 and April 4, found 39 percent backed remaining in the EU with 38 percent wanting to leave and 23 percent either undecided or saying they would not vote. That was a fall of one point for the "In" campaign and a rise of one point for "Out" since the last YouGov poll. ICM's survey of 2,000 people, carried out between April 1 and April 3, had the "In" campaign on 44 percent, down a point compared to its last poll using the same methodology, and "Out" unchanged on 43 percent with 13 percent undecided. Meanwhile a TNS poll found overwhelming support for staying in the EU among voters in Scotland, although many remained unsure of how they would vote. The face-to-face survey of 1,004 people found 51 percent wanted to remain in the bloc and 19 percent favoring an exit with 29 percent saying they did not know. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and other senior British politicians have said that if Britain voted to leave the EU but Scots strongly backed staying in, that could trigger another referendum on Scottish independence. Scots voted 55 to 45 percent against independence in 2014 but since then support for the pro-EU SNP has risen and it won almost all the seats assigned to Scotland in the parliament at Westminster in the 2015 national election. TNS said the high number of undecided voters reflected a current focus on elections to Scotland's devolved parliament in May, and that turnout for the referendum could be very high with 72 percent saying they were certain to vote. (Reporting by Andy Bruce and Michael Holden, editing by Stephen Addison) Windsor Castle, a home of Queen Elizabeth II and one of Britain's most popular tourist attractions, is to get an extensive facelift to improve facilities for visitors. Tourist areas at the medieval castle west of London will be redeveloped at an expected cost of 27 million ($38 million, 33 million euros), said the Royal Collection, which looks after the British monarchy's art. A further 10 million will be similarly spent at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, the sovereign's official residence in Scotland. "People have been visiting Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse for centuries and now more than 1.5 million do so every year," said Jonathan Marsden, director of the Royal Collection Trust. "We will interpret the palaces and collections in new ways, open up new spaces to the public and we're going to create two purpose-built learning centres." Windsor, the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world, dates back to the late 11th century. It survived an extensive fire in 1992 and was repaired at a cost of 36.5 million. The queen often spends the weekend there and it is said to be her favourite official residence. The work will start next year and should be completed by the end of 2018, during which time the castle will remain open to visitors. The original entrance hall will be reinstated and there will be greater public access to the ground floor state apartments. The work will be funded by the Royal Collection Trust charity, which generates its income from admissions to royal residences and from its souvenir shops. This story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. We're not an hour into breakfast, eggs and bacon scraps still on the table, when Ilana Glazer decides, without warning, that she'd prefer playing the part of interviewer. "So, I gotta ask," the Broad City star leans in, "how do your boobs feel?" I had let my pregnancy news slip when she and her co-creator, co-writer and co-star Abbi Jacobson sat down at the Greenwich Hotel eatery earlier that morning, and now I see the 28-year-old firebrand has been waiting patiently to start rattling off questions. "Are you like, 'Oh my God,' and just so aware of them now?" she asks, clutching her own chest, which already had earned plenty of airtime during the meal. "And, like, does it feel good? You know, at sexual times? Because I hope so." Jacobson, 32, has questions, too: "Yeah, does it feel like you have your period? You know how that feels. Like, gross." Read More: SXSW: 'Broad City' Stars Talk Booking Hillary Clinton, Smoking Pot Before I realize what's happening, my guard comes tumbling down, and I'm dishing about cup sizes with two women whom I met for the first time only an hour earlier. But then, Glazer and Jacobson, who play slightly younger, slightly wilder versions of themselves on TV, have built a cultlike following for that disarming mix of raunch and relatability. A latter-day Laverne and Shirley, the Long Island-reared Glazer and Pennsylvania-born Jacobson have served up a brazen, hilarious take on being young, heedless and often high in New York City. Their critically celebrated series, which regularly draws 1.1 million linear viewers, began as a web show before moving to Comedy Central with the support of executive producer Amy Poehler in early 2014. In the three seasons since, Glazer and Jacobson have not only recruited guest stars including Seth Rogen, Kelly Ripa and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton but also earned themselves a spot in the pop culture vanguard. In addition to at least two more seasons of Broad City, the pair is at work on several other projects, some of them together (a top-secret film collaboration with Paul Feig, which they won't star in), some of them apart (Glazer has the pot comedy Time Traveling Bong premiering April 20 on Comedy Central). Story continues The partners, best friends since they met doing improv at Upright Citizens Brigade nearly a decade ago, open up about how to make sex scenes funny, why they're not moving to Los Angeles anytime soon and, yes, their boobs. When you started, Amy Poehler's advice was that you'll need to be the policemen of your own brand. How have you had to do that as that brand has grown? JACOBSON Saying no is a new thing for us - but I think now more than ever we have to say no to opportunities that just don't feel right. GLAZER And it's gross to have to be like, "You guys don't get it." But sometimes it's like, you guys don't get it. What's the worst advice you've received along the way? GLAZER We're young women, so people have told us a bunch of shit, thinking that they're going to help us. But I have limited space in my brain, and I'm not taking shit unless it's gold because we have gold available [from Amy]. Has being young women helped or hurt you in this business? GLAZER Oh, I think it's helped us. Young jewesses are really hot right now. (Laughs.) You can no longer run around unrecognized in the city, which in the past would provide you with fodder for the show. How has that impacted the storytelling process? JACOBSON It's definitely a thing. We're not drawing as much from exact experiences anymore. We're more drawing from the way things make us feel. So it's a little different from Ilana and I going out one night and having this adventure because that's very different now, especially when we're together. GLAZER And that part is such a bummer, honestly. High jinks come from anonymity. But I do think it helps to be physically normal. In L.A., everybody is skinny - but in New York, somebody walks down the street and you know they're a model. We look like everybody else, so it's not as like, "Whoa! Whoa! It's them!" As we meet people who are famous or who have been famous or who are suddenly hugely famous, we have the opportunity to see those different levels, and we think ours is a cool level. JACOBSON I love this level. Read More: Comedy Central Renews 'Broad City' for Season 4 and 5; Orders Pot Comedy You realize it's very unlikely you'll stay at this level, right? JACOBSON Well, I don't know. I think New York allows you to stay at a different level. Whereas in L.A., it's like, door opens and everyone looks, "Who's in here? Who's in here? Check the room." And in New York, I'm able to forget what I do sometimes because everyone isn't f - ing obsessed. Everyone has other lives here. With Broad City, you've captured life as young people in New York. What would that life look like in L.A.? GLAZER I guess it looks like waitering and bussing and then going on auditions. So many people are there without purpose, and that's tough. JACOBSON I like how people wear their ambition on their sleeve here, whereas in L.A., it just feels like, "Oh, my day will be one meeting, and it'll take up the whole day." "It was a real trip," says Glazer of having Clinton guest as herself on season three's episode "2016." Adds Jacobson, "It was a very long process and surreal to see the episode." And often there isn't an express purpose to those meetings in L.A. GLAZER Yeah, a "general." Can you believe that's a noun and not a descriptor? JACOBSON But then don't you feel very productive? It's like, "It took me an hour to get there and parking was kind of stressful and then I did the meeting and then I went home and I'm like, 'Well, I worked really hard today.' " GLAZER It's an easier life in L.A. And with regard to the industry, you don't have to have as much existential dread because you're sharing it with a whole city, no matter what level you're at. In New York, it's like, "What am I dooooing?" And sure, everybody's like, "What am I doing?" but not necessarily about the same thing. Everyone has their own struggles in New York. Part of your appeal is your relatability. People see themselves in you. How challenging is it to maintain that when your profile rises and suddenly you're being invited to exclusive events? JACOBSON We haven't really gone to anything crazy, and I think if anyone were to see us at something like that, they'd feel like it's them there. It's still this thing where people feel like they're us getting into something. I don't know how that's happened, but Does that come with a certain amount of responsibility? JACOBSON Yeah, it's like I can't look too good. I gotta still maintain this level of extreme relatablility. That's the burden I have to take on. (Laughs.) What's your most common fan interaction? JACOBSON Recently I've had trucks drive by, moving men, and I'm stopped at a light waiting to cross the street, and these guys who you would not think would watch the show are yelling out, "Broad Ciiiiitttty!" And I'm just like, "Yeaaaah!" That's my favorite. Read More: Hillary Clinton Wins the "Presidentress" Vote on 'Broad City' How often do people ask to get high with you? GLAZER Oh, all the time. But it's like, "No!" (Laughs.) What are young viewers connecting to on this show that they haven't found elsewhere? GLAZER Most TV and film is so fake. I'm not saying that our show is reality, but it's based on authentic moments, and most TV and film is not. When people have chemistry, it's like a shock. Because most shit you watch is so fake. You're like, "These people do not talk otherwise," and I'm laughing thinking about how they don't talk otherwise. But you're just in it with us because we're real friends, and we wrote it. A lot of attention's been paid to how Broad City is edgy or raunchy. Is the rest of the landscape just populated by a bunch of prudes? GLAZER Oh, I think the landscape is prude but also the level of conversation in the media is light and fakely polite. But they don't say all that stuff about us as much anymore. Early on, it was all, "They blaze so much. They're f - ing raunchy." And now it's like, "Oh yeah, that's how people talk." You open your March 30 episode, "B&B-NYC," with a scene in which you're on the phone with each other while you're both defecating. You've muted the calls, but a) you're on FaceTime, and b) the audience can hear all of the noises. That certainly feels edgy GLAZER It's so gross, but it's also so f - ing funny. And I do it on business calls all the time. I mute and then flush and then I'm like, "Uh huh. Yep." What's the goal of a scene like that? JACOBSON We're doing it so everyone can be like, "I do that." Everyone does that. GLAZER I remember the joke in middle school or high school that girls don't fart or girls don't shit, and it's like, f - you. Because that's not a funny little joke; that's a big statement that women are somehow property of men, and they should stay in line, missy. I was surprised to hear you say you were comforted - relieved even - by the blurring of certain body parts in your nude scenes? JACOBSON So much comfort! (Laughs.) GLAZER Oh, yeah. Abbi has a big butt. I have big boobs. And I'm sensitive about my boobs. If I had smaller boobs, I think it'd be less of an issue for me. But it's like, "Yeeeah, not my precious tits." Most would assume you wouldn't care GLAZER I know. Well, we don't give a f - within Comedy Central's censorship [parameters]. The show really fits on that network for so many reasons, and that's one of them. I'm sorry to do the thing that we tell people not to do and compare us to Girls, but it's a different feel on that show, where it's more up inside them - literally. And by the way, I love the sex scenes on that show. JACOBSON Look at our pegging episode, "Knockoffs" [from season two]. I'm wearing a strap- on, but I'm also wearing underwear and a bra. GLAZER You're also wearing a hard, plastic, green strap-on because we couldn't do a f - ing dick strap-on. I think you would've felt different it if it was a dick. JACOBSON Yeah, it can't look like a dick on Comedy Central. But if this were on HBO, you'd be like, "Why is Abbi wearing all of these clothes?" Read More: 'Broad City' Creators Team With Paul Feig for Fox Comedy (Exclusive) Lena Dunham has said she no longer even bothers with the vagina strip when she's filming sex scenes on Girls. GLAZER I love and admire that about her. She's walking around naked and then, like, jumps behind camera. She's f - ing awesome. JACOBSON I'm not as confident. I'm an insecure person, which you see on the show. My character only gets naked when no one's home. GLAZER I am confident. But for me, I'm just like, "I'm not giving this (motions toward her body) to my crew." You noted how much you dislike the Girls comparisons. Are there any you do like? GLAZER To me, at this point with any comparisons, I'm like, "Great. We're in the zeitgeist." But first season it was more like, "We're making our own thing." And it's frustrating that all 20-something white girl shows are the same. But that happens to everything except white dude shows. So yeah, that is frustrating for everybody. So we can all sit and point fingers at the white dudes because they're like, "Oh, isn't this show unique," and they can generate their own think pieces about themselves that they can jerk off to or whatever. What conversations are you surprised you're still having? GLAZER Whenever we talk about raunchiness and weed, I'm really surprised. Everybody f - s, and everybody gets high in their own way. JACOBSON For me, when anyone brings up female-driven shows, female comedy, female showrunners, I'm like, "Well, maybe if we stop talking about it, it wouldn't be a thing." But then it's also important to recognize it. It's this thing that I hate and also find important. You recently had Hillary Clinton guest on the show. If Donald Trump called tomorrow and said he wanted a turn, what would you write for him? JACOBSON I would say no! GLAZER Well, what if we were throwing eggs at him and he was in a diaper with a ball-gag in his mouth in the fountain at Washington Square Park? JACOBSON Oh, I would totally do that. Read More: Comedy Central Orders Expansive Snapchat Content Slate Court of Cassation rejected appeal of journalist On April 6, Court of Cassation rejected an appeal by journalist Marine Khachatryan and her representatives Artak Zeynalyan and Ara Ghazaryan. In doing so, the law-enforcement agencies and the judicial system of our country concluded that no one hampered the journalist in her legitimate professional activities on September 9, 2014. Our courts overtly ignore the obvious facts. Of course, this decision did not surprise us. So, let the case reach the European Court of Human Rights. The person who violates journalists rights should be subject to liability at least once, Ashot Melikyan, Chairman of the Chairman of the Committee to Protect Freedom of Expression, said in connection with the courts decision. On September 9, 2014, after members of the Hakaharvats (Counter Attack) street art group hung a banner reading Hello Rob (Rob referring to Armenias second President Robert Kocharyan) on the National Assemblys main gate, the chief of the NA security Karen Hayrapetyan came out and tore down the banner. Then he hit A1+s journalist Marine Khachatryan, who was covering the incident, on the arm, causing her to drop her recording device iPad to the ground. Karen Hayrapetyan then tried to hit the journalist for a second time but he missed her. A SIS investigator dismissed the case due to lack of evidence. Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton looked to bounce back from unsettling presidential primary losses in Wisconsin, training their sights in the next White House contests on friendlier ground -- their home state of New York. The Republican and Democratic frontrunners were trounced Tuesday night in the Badger State, giving their respective rivals -- Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders -- a boost in morale and delegates. Trump's defeat makes his ascent to the Republican nomination steeper, increasing the likelihood of a contested convention in July that could throw the party's nod to someone more to the liking of the establishment. Usually at no loss for words, the real estate mogul left it to his campaign to blame his poor Wisconsin showing Tuesday on an anti-Trump movement that it said spent "countless millions on false advertising" to stop him. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr Trump," his campaign said in a statement. Cruz, an ultra-conservative senator from Texas, won with 48.3 percent of the vote, to 35 percent for Trump. Ohio Governor John Kasich took 14 percent. - 'Turning point' - "It was a turning point, I believe, in this entire election," Cruz told reporters Wednesday in New York, where he flew to challenge the brash billionaire on his home turf. Cruz painted Trump as more willing to engage in insults than substantive debate. "He gets very angry when the voters reject him," Cruz said. Trump's loss followed a brutal campaign week, in which he alienated women by saying those who have abortions should be punished -- and then retracting the comment. He also drew fire for calling NATO obsolete and a plan to make Mexico pay for a border wall by holding hostage the money its citizens send home from the US. But Trump remains the undisputed Republican frontrunner with 746 delegates to 510 for Cruz and 145 for Kasich after Tuesday, according to a CNN estimate. The first to get to 1,237 wins the nomination. Story continues Trump needs to secure those delegates before the Republican convention in Cleveland in July, or face a fight in the second round of balloting when pledged delegates are free to choose a candidate for themselves. By winning Tuesday, "Cruz increased his chances of preventing a first-ballot nomination for Trump," American politics professor John Pitney of Claremont McKenna College told AFP. "It gives the anti-Trump forces a fighting chance." Clinton also emerged from Wisconsin with her formidable delegate lead intact -- 1,780 compared with 1,099 for Sanders. To win the Democratic nomination, 2,383 delegates are needed. The race now turns to friendlier territory for both Trump and Clinton. Polls give New Yorker Trump a 31-point lead over Kasich and Cruz in the Empire State, which votes April 19. In Pennsylvania, which votes a week later, he leads by 13 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average. Clinton, who represented New York in the Senate from 2001 to 2009, has an 11-point lead over Sanders in her adopted home state and a 17-point advantage in Pennsylvania, where she also has roots. The candidates were losing no time, with Trump holding a rally in Bethpage on Long Island later in the day. Cruz sought to make his own mark in New York, addressing voters in a Bronx restaurant. Trump shook off his defeat at a fiery speech in Bethpage filled with his usual applause lines about building a wall on America's southern border and "making America great again." "We're bringing companies back to the United states. We are going to have a strong border. We are going to build the wall. It will be a real wall," he said in one of his most popular campaign refrains. Cruz, who faces an uphill battle -- especially after slamming Trump in January as having liberal "New York values" -- was heckled briefly at his stop in the minority-heavy Bronx by a man who accused him of running on an "anti-immigrant platform." - Clinton rebukes Sanders - Clinton, meanwhile, pounced on an interview Sanders gave to the New York Daily News editorial board in which he vowed to break up big banks like JPMorgan Chase but failed to explain specifically how he would do it or what the consequences might be. "I think he hadn't done his homework and he had been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadn't studied or understood and that does raise a lot of questions," Clinton said. Clinton argued that her pragmatism was a smarter approach than the grass-roots idealism of Sanders, who has touted free public college for all and a universal health care system. "Like a lot of people, I am concerned that some of his ideas just won't work because the numbers don't add up," Clinton said in Philadelphia. "Others won't even pass Congress." Sanders, who has won six of the last seven contests, has earned an enthusiastic following among young voters and white working-class populations that have been hard hit by the loss of manufacturing jobs and the 2008 financial crisis. But it was unclear how his anti-Wall Street, anti-corporate message will fare in New York, a more diverse state whose economy is anchored by the financial industry. Brussels (AFP) - The Islamic State attacks in Brussels represented a security "failure", Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted Wednesday, but he rejected the notion his country was a "failed state". Belgian authorities have faced strong criticism at home and abroad for not doing more to prevent the March 22 carnage after clear links emerged between the Brussels attackers and the jihadists behind the Paris terror assaults in November. "When there is an attack like that of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this," Michel told reporters in Brussels. But "I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state." A total of 32 people died in the suicide blasts at Brussels airport and a metro station, Belgium's worst ever terror attacks. The bloodshed came four days after the sole surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Brussels, just around the corner from his family home, after four months on the run as Europe's most wanted man. "It took 10 years to stop Bin Laden," Michel countered, referring to former Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Abdeslam is currently awaiting extradition from Belgium to France and has denied any prior knowledge of the Brussels bombings. Belgium, a notoriously complex country divided along linguistic and political lines, has been accused of a lax security apparatus and of failing to keep better track of suspected home-grown extremists. In the most damning revelation since the attacks, Turkey said Belgium ignored warnings from Ankara after it deported airport suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui as a "terrorist fighter" last year following his arrest near the Syrian border. Two minister offered to step down over the Turkey accusation, but Michel refused their resignations. "We're a small country at the heart of Europe... a hub from where one can easily organise attacks in other European countries," Michel said, pleading for better cross-border intelligence cooperation. Story continues "That's where we have a lot of work to do," he said, calling for a "European FBI or CIA". - Cleaning job - Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament said one of the Brussels bombers briefly worked as a cleaner at the institution several years ago. "He held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament for one month in 2009 and one month in 2010," it said in a statement. It did not name the individual, but a source close to the inquiry told AFP it was Najim Laachraoui, who set off a suicide bomb at Brussels airport along with Bakraoui. Laachraoui is also suspected of being the bomb-maker for the Paris terror assaults last November after his DNA was found on some the explosives used in the attacks, which killed 130. The European Parliament said the suspect did not have a criminal record when he worked for the cleaning firm it had contracted at the time. Belgian police are still hunting for a mystery third suspect in the Brussels attacks, dubbed "the man in the hat", who was seen in CCTV footage next to the two airport bombers. SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgaria's parliament paved the way for the introduction of compulsory voting in elections on Thursday, passing a draft bill to amend the electoral code at its first reading. The center-right government believes making it mandatory for Bulgarians to vote will curb electoral fraud and boost the legitimacy of the Balkan country's political institutions. European Union member Bulgaria has had five governments in less than three years. The last national election in 2014 saw the lowest turnout in 25 years, of about 51 percent, and produced a particularly fractured parliament. The bill passed on Thursday would allow non-voters to be sanctioned, either with a fine of about 50 levs ($27.75) or by having their social benefits withdrawn for three months. The amendments, approved by 121 votes to 27, will have to be voted on again, probably in late March. Bulgaria is due to hold a presidential election in October and elect a new parliament in 2018. "Compulsory voting would motivate more people to vote and we can expect bigger turnout," said Daniel Smilov, a political analyst at the Center for Liberal Strategies. "But it could limit smaller parties' chances to win seats at the parliament." In 2013, voter frustration with rampant corruption and organized crime erupted into months of street protests. Concerns about corruption and the judiciary have also kept Bulgaria and northern neighbor Romania out of the EU's borderless Schengen zone. (Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A young California sea lion found malnourished and injured inside a waterfront San Diego restaurant was returned to the wild on Tuesday, after eight weeks of rehabilitative care at SeaWorld's animal rescue center. The female sea lion pup, nicknamed Marina, made headlines when she was discovered huddled in a booth at the Marine Room, a white-tablecloth eatery known for its gourmet seafood menu, in early February. She was one of many hundreds of sea lions, mostly pups, to turn up starving and stranded along the California coast since last year, apparently the result of warming seas that have disrupted the marine mammals' food chain. At the time of her rescue, Marina, then 8 months old, weighed only about 20 pounds (9 kg), about half the ideal weight for her age, and was suffering from an eye injury of unknown origin, according to SeaWorld. After being nursed back to health, her eye healed, Marina was taken by boat, along with eight recently rescued and rehabilitated sea lions to be returned home in the Pacific, 12 miles to 14 miles (19 km to 23 km) off the coast of San Diego, SeaWorld said. Video footage of the event showed a sliding door being raised to open a small pen holding Marina and another sea lion on the deck of the SeaWorld vessel. With a little prompting, the pair quickly waddled out of their enclosure and into the water. "I was part of the team that rescued Marina, and really to see how emaciated this pup was and knowing the odds were against her, to be part of the team that returned her to the wild today is an emotion that's hard to describe," stranded-animal coordinator Jody Westberg said in the video clip, made available by SeaWorld. "The thing I want everybody to know about Marina is she was a feisty, sassy animal, and part of the success of her rehabilitation was that effort and that energy Marina put forth," Westberg added. So far in 2016, SeaWorld San Diego says it has rescued more than 300 marine mammals. At about this time last year, a record 2,250 sea lions had been found stranded on Southern California beaches since the start of 2015, federal scientists reported. (Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron, his wife and their children will not benefit in future from any offshore funds or trusts, a spokesman said on Wednesday as the British leader faced more questions over family tax affairs. Cameron's late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca which showed how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes. After having at first described it as a private matter, Cameron's office said on Tuesday that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present. Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds. But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday. "There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future," a spokesman for Cameron said on Wednesday. Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion, particularly in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, but the opposition Labour Party has said the "Panama Papers" show the government has failed to tackle the issue. Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting, a member of parliament's Treasury Select Committee, told BBC Radio the latest statement from Cameron's office was welcome but there were still questions about whether he benefited from offshore funds in the past. "The question will be when our prime minister says he is serious about tackling it (tax evasion) ... are we absolutely certain he doesn't have a vested interest? And if he does have a vested interest, will he be up-front with us about it?" he said. The Telegraph reported that Ian Cameron's fund moved its operations to Ireland in 2010, the year Cameron became prime minister, as the directors believed it was about to "come under more scrutiny". Asked whether the prime minister considered Ireland an offshore jurisdiction, his office repeated that Cameron had made clear he had no shares in any company and no offshore funds. "STEAMING PILE OF CASH" The "Panama Papers" add to a difficult few weeks for Cameron in which one of his senior ministers resigned, his government was forced to drop a key element of its budget and he has faced accusations of failing to protect Britain's industrial sector after Tata Steel put its entire UK operations up for sale. Anthony Wells, a director at pollsters YouGov, said that while the Panama story may not be that damaging for Cameron, it has stopped his Conservatives focussing on their strengths ahead of local and regional elections next month. It has also diverted government attention away from a June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. "People already think Cameron is very posh, very rich and very out of touch. I expect most of the public probably assume he's got some huge steaming pile of cash stored away somewhere," he said. "The Conservative Party could be talking about something where they are strong, like crime or the economy, where it would help them win votes. Instead they're not, they're talking about something that's really bad for them where Labour have something to say." The media interest has spread beyond Cameron, with finance minister and close ally George Osborne also asked on Wednesday whether he had any offshore funds. Osborne comes from a wealthy family, but was not named in any of the "Panama Papers". "All of our interests as ministers and MPs (members of parliament) are declared," he said. A source close to Osborne added: "George has no offshore interests, in shares or anything else." (Editing by Giles Elgood and Anna Willard) Ottawa (AFP) - A Canadian court on Wednesday gave the go-ahead to two class action lawsuits against police for alleged civil rights abuses during the 2010 G20 summit in Toronto. The lawsuits involve more than 1,000 complainants who claimed to have been swept up in mass arrests, and held in deplorable conditions at a makeshift detention center in the city. Some 20,000 policemen from across Canada were deployed in June 2010 to secure summit sites in Toronto and Huntsville, north of the metropolis, where leaders of the world's top economies were meeting. When storefronts were smashed and a police car set ablaze, police fanned out across the city on orders to "take back the streets." The complainants in the lawsuits -- including peaceful protestors, bystanders and journalists -- were rounded up in the crackdown. Most were released within 24 hours. "We were illegally arrested, thrown into overcrowded wire cages, and treated worse than animals in a zoo," Thomas Taylor, who was among those detained, was quoted as saying by local media after the court's decision. "We don't want this to happen to any other Canadian, ever again," he said. A United Airlines flight attendant recently made national news after she decided to exit a landed plane by opening up the aircraft's emergency slide and subsequently riding it down to the runway. Following that, the flight attendant calmly and smoothly walked away, as if everything was completely normal. DON'T MISS: 15 paid iPhone apps on sale for free for a limited time Originally reported by Click2Houston, there's even video footage of the bizarre turn of events. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHPj83d-4iU When news of the incident began to spread, United Airlines was quick to say it was investigating the matter while also adding that the flight attendant had been suspended: We hold all of our employees to the highest standard," United Airlines said in a statement on the matter. "The unsafe behavior is unacceptable and does not represent the more than 20,000 flight attendants who ensure the safety of our customers. United is reviewing the matter and they have removed the employee from her flying duties. Of course, the best story of all-time involving the deployment of a plane's emergency slide belongs to JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater. Back in 2010, Slater became something of a folk hero when, after deciding that he was fed up with his job, quit on the spot, grabbed a beer for the road, deployed the emergency slide, and slid down to sweet sweet freedom, national acclaim, and unemployment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBMWhMEGsNw Related stories The 'Netflix for planes' offers unlimited air travel for a monthly fee Singapore students design personal flying machine Elon Musk says Tesla will fix what critics call the Model 3's 'biggest design fail' More from BGR: We may already know who died in that terrible Walking Dead cliffhanger This article was originally published on BGR.com Los Angeles (AFP) - The Los Angeles Police Department has opened a criminal investigation against US actor Charlie Sheen, a spokesman said Wednesday. Officer Matthew Ludwig told AFP the probe was launched on March 31 in connection with a case in which Sheen was listed as a suspect. "The Los Angeles Police Department threat management unit are the lead investigators on this case and the victim's information is confidential," Ludwig said, adding that a search warrant had been obtained in the case. He did not elaborate on the nature of the probe or what prompted it, but several media reports said it was linked to claims that Sheen had threatened to kill his ex-fiancee Scottine Ross. Variety magazine said that in an "alleged audiotape," Sheen was apparently heard threatening to hire a hitman for $20,000 to kill Ross. Sheen also allegedly admits in the tape to having lied to a sex partner about him being infected with HIV, Variety said. Sheen and his publicist could not be immediately reached for comment. The "Two and a Half Men" star was engaged to Ross in 2014 but they never married. He revealed in an interview in November that he is HIV-positive and that his bad boy days were over. The alleged recording obtained by police was reportedly made by a former lover who confronted Sheen after he revealed his HIV status in an interview aired on national television. BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday appointed its first special envoy for the Syrian crisis, a career diplomat who has served as ambassador to Iran, as it seeks a more active role in the Middle East. While relying on the region for oil supplies, China tends to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, namely the United States, Britain, France and Russia. But China has been trying to get more involved, including recently hosting both Syria's foreign minister and opposition figures, though at different times. The new special envoy for Syria is Xie Xiaoyan, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news briefing. He was most recently China's ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union. "As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, China has always proactively dedicated itself to the appropriate resolution of the Syria issue," Hong said, adding that a political solution was the only way out. China supports the mediation efforts of U.N. Syria special envoy Staffan de Mistura and has provided humanitarian assistance to the region, Hong said. China's appointment of its own special envoy is to help push the peace process and "to better proactively put forward China's wisdom" and its proposals, he added. Xie, 62, is a deeply experienced diplomat very familiar with the Middle East, Hong said. "We believe he will certainly fulfill this mission well." China has appointed special envoys for crisis zones before, to mixed results. Its African envoys have been deeply involved in South Sudan, but its previous special envoys to the Middle East have had little tangible effect. There is a truce in place in Syria, accepted by President Bashar al-Assad's government and most of his foes, the first of its kind since the war began five years ago. It has been accompanied by the first peace talks attended by the warring sides. It does not apply to areas held by Islamic State or the Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard) BEIJING (Reuters) - China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea near where a U.S. warship sailed last year to challenge China's territorial claims. China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbors Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. China's transport ministry held a "completion ceremony", marking the start of operations of the 55-metre (180-ft) high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October, state news agency Xinhua said late on Tuesday. The U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in October, drawing an angry rebuke from China, which called it "extremely irresponsible". Subi Reef is an artificial island built up by China on dredged up sand over the past year or so. Before China turned it into an island, Subi was submerged at high tide. Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, 12-nautical-mile limits cannot be set around man-made islands built on previously submerged reefs. China says much of its construction in the South China Sea is designed to fulfill its international obligations in terms of maritime safety, search and rescue and scientific research. Asked about the lighthouse, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said China was dedicated to providing public services in the South China Sea to ensure safety and freedom of navigation, which would be helpful for commercial users of the waters. Xinhua said the lighthouse, which emits a white light at night, "can provide efficient navigation services such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information to ships, which can improve navigation management and emergency response". The South China Sea is an important maritime area and major fishing ground, it added. "However, high traffic density, complex navigation condition, severe shortage in aids and response forces have combined to threaten navigation safety and hindered economic and social development in the region." China has lighthouse projects on two other reefs in the area - Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel) China has expanded its presence in the contested South China Sea by switching on a lighthouse atop a reconstructed reef also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines, state media said. The 55-meter-high (180-foot) facility on Subi Reef in the Spratly chain contains technology to monitor passing ships, the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday. China claims virtually all the South China Sea despite conflicting claims by Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. It has constructed artificial islands in the area in recent months as it asserts its claims. China has turned Subi Reef -- known as Zhubi in China -- into an artificial island in the past year, satellite photos have shown, reclaiming nearly 400 hectares (988 acres) of land. The island-building has been condemned by neighbours and the United States, but Beijing insists it is aimed at helping with maritime search and rescue. Chinese transport officials held a ceremony on Subi on Tuesday, Xinhua said. Pictures showed men in white shirts beside the towering structure next to a sign reading "Lights-on ceremony". Washington regularly accuses Beijing -- which says it has built runways and deployed unspecified weapons to the islands -- of militarising the area. Beijing denies the accusations and says US patrols have ramped up tensions. Citing an obligation to uphold freedom of navigation, Washington last year sent the USS Lassen to sail past Subi Reef, a move which angered Beijing. Xinhua reported last year that China would build two 50-metre-tall lighthouses on the Cuarteron and Johnson South reefs in the Spratly islands, which are also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines. The state-run China Daily newspaper reported in 2014 that Beijing would build five new lighthouses in the South China Sea's Paracels chain. BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have begun a graft probe into the mayor of the major northern Chinese city of Jinan, the ruling Communist Party announced on Wednesday, the latest senior official caught up in a sweeping corruption crackdown. Yang Luyu was being investigated for "suspected serious disciplinary violations", a euphemism commonly used for corruption, the ruling Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection said in a statement. Yang, 59, was appointed Jinan mayor in 2012, according to his official resume. The city is the provincial capital of Shandong province. The statement gave no other details about Yang's suspected crimes. It was not possible to reach Yang for comment and it was unclear whether he had retained a lawyer. Yang is the second senior Jinan official to fall under suspicion. Jinan's Communist Party boss, Wang Min, was put under investigation in December for suspected serious breaches of law and discipline. Shandong is a major cotton and wheat producer and a top destination for Japanese and South Korean investment. Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned that rampant corruption threatens the survival of the Communist Party and his anti-corruption campaign has brought down scores of top officials in the party, the government, the military and state-owned companies. (Reporting by Jessica Macy Yu; Editing by Ben Blanchard and Nick Macfie) BEIJING (Reuters) - China is confident it can resolve business disagreements with Myanmar through friendly talks, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said after meeting his counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi, amid pressure from China to resume a stalled $3.6-billion dam project. The talks with Wang in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw were Suu Kyi's first official meeting since her appointment as foreign minister. China has been at pains to ensure its formerly close relationship with Myanmar's one-time military rulers continues under the new government, one of the reasons for Wang's visit. Last month, China said it would push Myanmar's new government to resume the controversial dam scheme, saying the contract was still valid. Former Myanmar president Thein Sein angered Beijing in 2011 by suspending the Myitsone dam project, which was to send 90 percent of its power to China. Other Chinese projects in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, have proved controversial, among them the Letpadaung copper mine, which has repeatedly sparked protests from people living nearby, and twin Chinese oil and gas pipelines across the country. With close trade and economic ties between the two countries, it was natural there would be "certain problems", Wang said, according to a statement by China's Foreign Ministry late on Tuesday. "Myself and Foreign Minister Suu Kyi reached a consensus, that all problems can find an appropriate resolution via friendly consultations," it quoted Wang as saying, without mentioning specific projects. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said Wang and Suu Kyi had discussed the Myitsone dam. He gave no details. Myanmar's new government wants to develop the economy and improve livelihoods, and China is willing to invest more in the country, including in infrastructure projects, Wang added. "We will guide Chinese companies operating in Myanmar to respect Myanmar's laws and rules, respect local customs, pay attention to environmental protection ... and fulfill their responsibility to society," Wang added. In a sign the business relationship remains on track, Chinese state-controlled commodity trader Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co has won approval from the Myanmar government to build a long-planned $3-billion refinery in partnership with domestic parties, including the energy ministry. The Global Times, an influential Chinese state-run tabloid, said in an editorial on Wednesday it hoped the Myitsone Dam could be revived. "A stable Myanmar under new systems with predictable national policies is in accordance with China's national interests," said the paper, published by the ruling Communist Party's official People's Daily. Clashes between the Myanmar government and ethnic rebel groups in recent years have pushed refugees into China, much to Beijing's anger. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Simon Cameron-Moore) BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese government warned Taiwan on Wednesday that the passage of a proposed new law governing relations between the two could seriously damage the basis for talks, and that Beijing opposed any obstacles to developing ties. China has looked on with suspicion at Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won presidential and parliamentary elections in January on the back of a wave of anti-China sentiment. In 2014, hundreds of students occupied Taiwan's parliament for weeks in protests nicknamed the Sunflower Movement, demanding more transparency and fearful of China's growing economic and political influence on the democratic island. The protests over the 2013 Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, which aimed to open up investment from both sides in industries such as banking, healthcare, and tourism, were the largest display of anti-China sentiment in Taiwan in years. The DPP is proposing Taiwan's parliament first passes a so-called cross-Taiwan Strait supervision law before it will consider agreeing to the trade pact. China is worried that the law would stymie future agreements with Taiwan. Asked about the law, a spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office said the basis for talks between the two sides should not be damaged. "Anything that damages the basis for consultations and negotiations between the two sides of the strait, interferes in or impedes relevant progress or puts up man-made blocks on the development of ties, we will resolutely oppose," spokesman An Fengshan said at a regular briefing. He did not elaborate. The trade deal has stalled in Taiwan's parliament, although the manner in which the self-ruled island moves forward in the current February-to-May session will be seen as a sign of how Tsai will steer Taiwan-China ties. China's trade minister last month urged Taiwan to pass the trade pact. China considers Taiwan a wayward province, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island in 1949 after the Chinese civil war. (Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Paul Tait) Irish actor Cillian Murphy is working with director Christopher Nolan for a fifth time, having joined the cast of wartime evacuation movie "Dunkirk." Murphy featured in all three of Nolan's films in the "Dark Knight" trilogy as well as in dream-state thriller "Inception," and adds to a growing cast of British and Irish names for the historical piece. Tom Hardy ("Mad Max"), Mark Rylance ("Bridge of Spies"), and Kenneth Branagh ("My Week with Marilyn") are other big names already attached. Also involved in the project are a crop of younger, rising stars, as The Wrap notes in its report on the Murphy news. Jack Lowden and Aneurin Barnard (both of Lifetime's "War & Peace"), while Fionn Whitehead looks to make a feature film debut, as does Harry Styles of pop group One Direction. "Dunkirk," which tracks a 1940 rescue operation evacuating 338,000 Allied troops from northern France, is set for theatrical release in July 2017. (Photo: Thinkstock) The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said a 47-year-old man will be charged in court on Thursday (7 April) for the murder of a 28-year-old woman. The woman, believed to be a Chinese national, was found dead in a flat at Block 70 Circuit Road on 22 March. According to a media statement released by the police on Wednesday (6 Apr), the man was arrested by Malaysian police on Monday (4 Apr). It is not known where exactly in Malaysia was the man arrested. If convicted, the man faces the death penalty. The police statement added that the man was handed over to the Singapore authorities on Tuesday (5 Apr) evening. Criminal Investigation Department Director Tan Chye Hee expressed his appreciation to the Royal Malaysia Police for their strong and unequivocal support for this case that resulted in the arrest of the murder suspect in Malaysia. The Singapore Police Force will continue to work with our foreign law enforcement partners, and ensure that criminals who commit crimes in Singapore and flee our borders thereafter will be brought back to justice, he said. Philadelphia (AFP) - A day after losing Wisconsin, White House hopeful Hillary Clinton unleashed a blistering critique of China while campaigning Wednesday in blue-collar Pennsylvania, warning the Asian giant must "toe the line" if she becomes president. The eastern US state, where organized labor is an influential force, hosts its presidential primaries on April 26. "China illegally dumps cheap products in our markets, steals our trade secrets, plays games with their currency, gives unfair advantages to state-owned-enterprises and discriminates against American companies," she said. "We will throw the book at China for their illegal actions." Clinton's remarks, delivered to a state AFL-CIO union convention in Philadelphia, were among her most forceful campaign trail comments about Beijing. Her rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Bernie Sanders, addresses the gathering Thursday. Clinton, seeking to regain her footing in the nomination race after losing six of the last seven state contests, pointed to her experience as secretary of state as a measure of her ability to influence Beijing. "I've gone toe to toe with China's top leaders on some of the toughest issues we face, from cyber attacks to human rights to climate change to trade and more," she said. "I know how they operate, and they know if I'm president, they're going to have to toe the line, because we're going to once and for all get fair treatment, or they're not going to get access to our markets." At one point she refered to China as "the biggest abuser of global trade." Clinton defeated Barack Obama in Pennsylvania in their 2008 primary battle, thanks to support from union Democrats, and she aims to repeat her victory in three weeks' time. But she will need to reassure workers who have criticized her late opposition to the trans-Pacific trade deal recently signed by President Barack Obama. Sanders has steadfastly opposed the agreement from Day One. Story continues "My message to every worker in Pennsylvania, every worker across America is this: I will stand with you, I will have your back and I will stop dead in its tracks any trade deal that hurts America," Clinton said. She also criticized Sanders, insisting that "in a number of important areas, he doesn't have a plan at all." Clinton leads Sanders by 52.7 percent to 35 percent in a RealClearPolitics poll average, although the latest poll, released by Quinnipiac University on Tuesday, puts Clinton just six points ahead. She is well ahead in the nominations race, but she has suffered stinging defeats for two weeks. A win in the New York primary April 19 is seen as crucial for her preventing Sanders from snatching the nomination. But the self-described democratic socialist from Vermont is popular with the rank and file. "I don't think she's a bad person, and if she wins the nomination I'll vote for her," said Don Long, 39, a union telecommunications worker. But considering "somebody who is as solidly behind organized labor as Bernie Sanders is," Long added, "you got to go with Bernie Sanders." This week Joe interviewed Shira Tarrant, a gender studies professor, about the financial side of porn. At one point doing their Q&A, Tarrant compares watching free porn to stealing from a grocery store: We wouldnt dream of walking into Whole Foods and stealing. But that part of peoples ethical behavior turns off when they go online and they find free porn. Watching free porn is the equivalent of walking into the grocery store and walking out with food that youre not paying for. Several readers disliked this analogy, offering up their own versions. This reader sticks with the Whole Foods setting: The average porn viewer does not even know that the content was stolen. A better metaphor would be that people go to Whole Foods, dont buy anything, but eat the free samples not realizing that Whole Foods stole those samples from some other store. Another reader switches to a cafe: Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. Berlin (AFP) - German police brought in a bomb squad and evacuated a gambling hall when they heard a strange noise emanating from a garbage can, but declared a false alarm after the source of the humming sound turned out to be a sex toy. Authorities on Tuesday night cleared about 90 people from the business and nearby premises and closed off a street in the eastern town of Halberstadt, after a staff member heard suspicious vibrations echoing from a metal garbage bin in the men's toilet, police said. Three explosives experts of the Office of Criminal Investigation in the state of Saxony-Anhalt were called in and cautiously examined the contents of the bin -- only to find the offending object to be not a bomb, but a battery-powered penis ring. Riyadh (AFP) - Shelling from Yemen has killed two people in a Saudi town, the civil defence agency said, in a rare breach of a calm in the border area agreed with Iran-backed rebels early last month. "Shelling from Yemeni territory on Samtah left two people dead and wounded a child," the agency said on Twitter late on Tuesday. Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition that has been bombing the Huthi Shiite rebels for more than a year, in support of Yemen's internationally recognised President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Monday that a rebel delegation was holding talks in Riyadh, ahead of a planned UN-brokered ceasefire next weekend which is to be followed by peace negotiations in Kuwait on April 18. The Saudi-led coalition announced on March 9 that after negotiations though tribal mediators, it had agreed to an exchange of prisoners and a "state of calm" along the border to enable the delivery of desperately needed aid. Dozens of people have been killed on the Saudi side of the border since the coalition launched its intervention in March last year after the rebels and their allies overran much of the country, prompting Hadi to flee into exile. In Yemen, around 6,300 people have been killed, more than half of them civilians, most of whom have died in coalition air strikes, according to the United Nations. By Ginger Gibson and Michelle Conlin WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump's Republican rivals, reinvigorated by his loss in Wisconsin's primary, doubled down on Wednesday on their efforts to block the billionaire front-runner from capturing the party's presidential nomination. Ted Cruz's emphatic victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday night dealt momentum to his once long-shot bid to force a contested convention in July by blocking Trump from amassing enough delegates to secure the nomination. The U.S. senator from Texas made the case he is increasingly viewed as the main Trump alternative by Republicans who cannot bring themselves to support Trump as their nominee for the Nov. 8 election. Allies of Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is positioning himself as a mainstream candidate who could emerge from a contested convention, met in Washington to brainstorm about how they could use obscure procedural rules to their advantage when the party convenes in Cleveland. One group trying to defeat Trump, who has alarmed many Republican establishment figures with his comments on immigration, Muslims and trade, were hopeful on Wednesday of a cash infusion to fund their efforts. "Our funders are committed to nominating a principled conservative that can win in November and can help Republicans up and down the ballot," said Katie Packer, who is leading the anti-Trump Our Principals PAC. "They understand that this is a long slog now and they are supportive of our mission and strategy. I expect that we will have the funds necessary to execute." U.S. Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, lobbyists and congressional staffers were among those who met with Kasich advisers on Wednesday to discuss what one Republican congressional staffer present admitted was the governor's "long-shot" bid. He has won only his home state in nominating contests so far. Kasich's campaign has "a plan going into the convention ... and if the convention goes to a brokered convention, they have a legitimate chance," the staffer said. SHIFT TO NEW YORK The next big test in stopping Trump will be New York, the state he calls home. A Monmouth University poll of New York Republicans released on Monday showed Trump with 52 percent of the state's support, a huge lead over Kasich at 25 percent, and Cruz at 17 percent ahead of the state's April 19 primary. "It's very important for Trump to bounce back strong. The sense of his inevitability is one of his strengths," said David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Center at Southern Illinois University. Trump was uncharacteristically silent on Twitter the day after his Wisconsin loss, and his only statement on Tuesday night was written. Cruz met with black and Hispanic religious leaders on Wednesday in the New York City borough of the Bronx. "The men and women of Wisconsin resoundingly rejected (Trump's) campaign," Cruz told reporters afterward. "Donald has no solutions to the problems that were facing." Republican New York Chairman Ed Cox said he believed the state could decide the nomination. "Given the wide diversity in New York, I think it will be a definitive moment," he said. A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz statistically even with Trump among Republicans nationally. His recent gains marked the first time since November that a rival had threatened Trump's standing at the head of the Republican pack. Trump has 743 delegates, Cruz 517, and Kasich 143, according to an Associated Press count. Trump would need to win about 55 percent of the remaining delegates to reach the 1,237 threshold. "We fully expect this to go to Cleveland," Packer said of the anti-Trump effort. CLINTON GOES ON ATTACK On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders, a Brooklyn-born U.S. senator representing Vermont, is trying to stage a come-from-behind upset of Hillary Clinton, but will struggle to overcome a large deficit in delegates. Sanders' big win in Wisconsin, which brought his victory tally to six out of the last seven contests, added to Clinton's frustration over her inability to knock out a rival who has attacked her from the left. That frustration was on full display on Wednesday when the former secretary of state gave two live televised interviews in which she criticized Sanders. In contrast to a Republican primary season that has been rife with personal insults, the Democrats have largely avoided personal attacks and stuck to policy arguments. But Clinton attacked Sanders for his position on guns and said he lacked a depth of policy understanding. "You cant really help people if you dont know how to do what you say you want to do," Clinton said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." She criticized him for an interview to New York's Daily News in which he failed to offer specifics on how he would break up large banks - a key part of his campaign message - when he was asked how he would put to use the existing financial regulation Dodd-Frank law. "It's not clear that he knows how Dodd-Frank works," Clinton told CNN in an interview on Wednesday afternoon. The Democratic Party nominating race moves to Wyoming on April 9 before New York on April 19. (Additional reporting by Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell and Amanda Becker; Editing by Frances Kerry and Peter Cooney) Nicosia (AFP) - Cyprus said on Wednesday that it had approved a request from Cairo to extradite the man accused of hijacking an EgyptAir plane and diverting it to the Mediterranean island. Egyptian Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa, 58, is accused of using a fake suicide belt to seize the Alexandria-to-Cairo flight on March 29 and force it to land in Cyprus. Cypriot government officials said that a legal process would now begin to send home the 58-year-old, who is in police custody on the island. "Instructions were given for the relevant procedures to begin," a government official told AFP. Nicosia is expected to try to fast-track the extradition process which could take several weeks. The suspect is expected to remain in custody until his extradition papers are ready. The Egyptian state prosecutor's office had asked for him to be handed over under a 1996 bilateral extradition treaty. Mostafa -- described by authorities as psychologically unstable -- has said he acted out of desperation to see his Cypriot ex-wife and children. Cypriot prosecutors said last week he faced possible charges of hijacking, kidnapping, reckless and threatening behaviour, and breaches of the anti-terror law. According to police, Mostafa has given a voluntary statement admitting to the hijacking. His ex-wife has been quoted by Cypriot media as describing their five years of marriage as a "black period" of her life. The hijacking ended peacefully with Mostafa's arrest. Most of the 55 passengers were quickly released after the plane landed, but some escaped only minutes before the six-hour standoff finished. BERLIN (Reuters) - Amazon.com and Microsoft are in talks about taking a minority stake in HERE, a digital mapping business controlled by Germany's luxury carmakers to help develop self-driving cars, Daimler said on Wednesday. Germany's luxury carmakers including Daimler's Mercedes, Volkswagen's Audi division and BMW bought HERE for 2.5 billion euros ($2.8 billion) from Nokia last year to create an alternative digital mapping business to Google. "We are talking to Amazon, Microsoft and many auto makers," Thomas Weber, a Daimler board member in charge of research and development, told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. A Daimler spokesman on Wednesday confirmed the remarks. Earlier this month sources told Reuters that Amazon and Microsoft were in talks with the carmakers. The consortium needs cloud computing providers to manage the mass of data collected from sensors on board thousands of Mercedes, BMW and Audi cars. The data about traffic and road conditions is then fed into digital maps. "We need a cloud provider to handle the huge amounts of data created by HERE and its users. We havent taken any decisions yet," Weber told the Wall Street Journal. Intelligent mapping systems supply information to control self-driving cars, which are equipped with street-scanning sensors to measure traffic and road conditions. This location data can in turn be shared with other map users. (Reporting by Ilona Wissenbach; Writing by Edward Taylor; Editing by Keith Weir) Frankfurt (AFP) - German automakers Audi, BMW and Daimler are in talks with Amazon and Microsoft over the possibility of them taking minority stakes in the Here digital mapping service, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, quoting a senior Daimler executive. "We are talking to Amazon, Microsoft and many auto makers," the Wall Street Journal quoted Thomas Weber, who is charge of research and development at Daimler, as saying in an interview. "We need a cloud provider to handle the huge amounts of data created by Here and its users. We haven't taken any decisions yet." Audi, the luxury arm of Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler acquired Berlin-based Here from Nokia for 2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) last year as part of a plan to build a platform for self-driving cars connected to the Internet. Soon after acquiring the company, the car makers began approaching tech firms and other auto makers about joining the venture as strategic investors, the newspaper reported. Here is developing a high-definition, real-time map that could be deployed in self-driving cars. It is more than a conventional route-finding or navigation service, but a high-definition, 3-D digital representation of roads, highways and their surroundings that is constantly updated as cars connected to the service upload data about traffic, weather and road conditions to the cloud in real time. That information then becomes available in real time for other drivers. Trump Tower can stay. But if The New Yorker editor David Remnick had his way, Donald Trump would be booted well beyond the farthest reaches of the outer boroughs. When asked what one person he would evict from New York, the influential magazine editor needed only one second to respond. "He's running for president," Remnick told THR. The veteran journalist went on to call Trump "a dangerous demagogue." The fact that every stump speech and tweet offers manna for the late-night talk show hosts is disarming and therefore alarming to Remnick. "Donald Trump, for decades, occupied a kind of comic space in the New York ego-scape," he continued. "He was the guy who discovered, 'If I just say outrageous things and behave like a cartoon of Louis XIV, I will become enormously famous. It doesn't matter that I'm wrong or it doesn't matter that I'm ill-informed and it doesn't matter that I'm even racist. Some portion of people will find this hilarious.' But now it's not a question of whether or not he gets to put his name on the side of a skyscraper. It's whether he has the nuclear codes." Not surprisingly, The New Yorker's coverage of the presidential candidate has been withering. Remnick penned a piece in the March 14 issue of the magazine that dredged up some Trump bon mots that would make even the shameless billionaire wince (marveling about Melania's bowel movements or his willingness to have sex with Princess Diana). "This is not a Seth Rogen movie; this is as real as mud," Remnick wrote. Regardless of the outcome, the 2016 presidential campaign will go down in the annals of politics thanks to Trump, Remnick told THR. "I can't believe that in 100 years, we won't remember the bizarre, frightening, hilarious - did I mention bizarre? - quality of this race, and it begins and ends with Donald Trump," he added. "You have an American demagogue getting very close to the Republican nomination. This is as close as an American demagogue has gotten to power in history. George Wallace, Huey Long, all those people never got as close as Donald Trump. We may laugh and find it all a gas. And for journalists, it's a kind of welfare program. Everybody's ratings get boosted and people read about it and everybody's happy, but it's pretty damn frightening." Story continues As for Trump Tower, Remnick might not call for the wrecking ball. But the whole neighborhood where the building stands on Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th streets represents one of New York's most troubling characteristics: the gap between the haves and have-not. "The thing that's most unnerving about the city is how disparate the conditions are," he said. "The distance between East New York and one of those new towers on 57th street where billionaires go to stash their money, it's just the gap between the rich and poor gets wider and wider and wider." (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on Wednesday cheered the end of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc's $160 billion merger with Ireland-based Allergan Plc . "Glad to hear Pfizer is calling off the merger. We need to close the loopholes that let corporations escape paying their taxes," Clinton said on Twitter. Sanders said on the social media site that he applauded President Barack Obama for new rules aimed at curbing so-called inversion deals, which Pfizer said led it to scrap the deal. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama) (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has ordered a central figure in a debunked Rolling Stone magazine article about an alleged gang rape at the University of Virginia to answer questions in a defamation lawsuit, court papers showed. In a two-page ruling on Monday, Virginia-based Chief U.S. District Judge Glen Conrad ordered the woman, who is identified in court papers for the case as "Jackie," to participate in a deposition on Thursday. The Rolling Stone article "A Rape on Campus" published in 2014 described a gang rape of a University of Virginia first-year student identified by her first name of Jackie, allegedly during a party at a fraternity. The article caused an uproar over the issue of campus sexual assault, but Rolling Stone retracted the story after discrepancies surfaced. The magazine later commissioned a review by Columbia University that criticized the publication for reporting and editing lapses. In the latest development, Judge Conrad ordered Jackie to be deposed in a federal defamation lawsuit filed against Rolling Stone by a University of Virginia administrator. Nicole Eramo, an associate dean of students who had met and counseled Jackie, stated in her lawsuit that she was falsely depicted in Rolling Stone as a villain who showed indifference to Jackie's allegations that she had been raped. Charlottesville police last year said an investigation was unable to corroborate the magazine's story of the assault on Jackie. In the deposition scheduled for Thursday, the judge has asked Jackie to respond to questions from attorneys for both Eramo and for Rolling Stone. (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Tom Heneghan) The roar of a volcano erupting on a remote Alaska island reveals important details about the blast, such as its size and location, a new study reports. Armed with this new information, scientists in Alaska are listening to volcanoes to better pinpoint eruption hazards. "Sound waves are very good at telling you about how, when and where a volcano is erupting," said lead study author David Fee, a research assistant professor at the Alaska Volcano Observatory and Wilson Alaska Technical Center in Fairbanks. The findings were published today (April 4) in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America. [Big Blasts: History's 10 Most Destructive Volcanoes] Erupting volcanoes are often compared to thundering jet engines. The sound is loud enough to shake the ground nearby, similar to how a passing garbage truck may rattle windows in an apartment or a house. Seismometers placed near a volcano can detect this shaking, called ground-coupled airwaves, Fee told Live Science. Ground-coupled airwaves (GCAs) occur when an acoustic wave in the atmosphere impacts the Earth's surface. Meteors and nuclear explosions also trigger GCAs. The signals are fairly small compared with felt earthquakes, Fee said. The shaking pattern produced by sound waves, which travel through the air, looks different from the shaking of earthquake waves, which travel only through the ground, the study showed. By looking at the sounds picked up by seismometers, the scientists can gather information that otherwise would not be available, Fee said. For instance, thick clouds may hide a volcano from the prying view of a satellite, but monitoring of sound and earthquakes can help determine whether or not volcanic activity is at the surface or only underground. Volcanoes unleash earthquakes and tremors before an eruption as lava and hot fluids push their way through underground fissures. The actual trembling produced by those sound waves starts only once the eruption begins. Story continues "This study is a good example of using data beyond its initial, intended purpose," Fee said. "Due to the high number, remoteness and difficult logistics of the volcanoes we monitor, we often have less than ideal monitoring networks. In these cases, we use as many processing techniques as possible to help monitor and understand these volcanoes." Knowing whether an eruption has started is crucial in southwest Alaska, because large ash clouds from volcanoes in the Aleutian Islands can affect international flight paths, as with the flights canceled when Pavlof volcano erupted in late March. Pavlof volcano is one of the three fiery peaks where Fee and his colleagues tested their new technique. The other Alaskan volcanoes studied are Cleveland and Mount Veniaminof. During eruptions at Pavlof volcano in 2007 and 2013, the researchers were able to locate the source to within about 100 feet (within tens of meters). The Alaska Volcano Observatory (AVO) already monitors some volcanoes in the state with infrasound low-frequency sound waves outside of the range of human hearing. The AVO has now added sound-wave-monitoring to its arsenal of techniques, the researchers reported. "We definitely plan on extending this type of monitoring," Fee said. However, Alaska's volcanoes continue to hold surprises, even at closely monitored volcanoes such as Pavlof. The most recent eruption of Pavlof, in March 2016, started with essentially no warning. "The seismicity started right about the same time the eruption began, which is unusual for a volcano," Fee said. 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 Ian Simpson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking marijuana in public or in clubs was banned permanently on Tuesday by the District of Columbia's city council, reversing course for a second time. Council members in the U.S. capital voted 7-6 to approve the measure, a spokeswoman for Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said. A second vote will be needed to finalize it. Two months ago, the council voted unanimously to create a task force to study the licensing of marijuana clubs and ending the ban on public consumption of pot. A law that took effect in February 2015 allows adults to possess small amounts of marijuana and grow and consume it at home. The District bans the sale of marijuana, but public smoking has become common as arrests have dried up. A council spokesman was not immediately available to comment on the vote. Tuesday's vote was the second turnaround by the council. Lawmakers voted this year to let the ban expire but then reversed themselves under pressure from Mayor Muriel Bowser. Besides the District of Columbia, the states of Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska have made pot lawful for recreational use. It remains illegal under federal law. Kate Bell, a legislative analyst for the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group, said the task force should have been allowed to do its job. "We are very disappointed that the council voted to permanently impose this unnecessary ban on the freedoms that the vast majority of the voters support," she said in a statement. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; editing by Grant McCool) There wont be enough new doctors to continue providing care for the aging American population over the next decade, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The report projects that by 2025 there will be between 61,700 and 94,700 fewer doctors than patients will need. Among primary care physicians alone, there will be a shortage of between 14,900 and 35,600 doctors. Related: Doctors Who Take Drug Company Money Prescribe More Expensive Drugs The group also highlighted shortages in the numbers of new psychiatrists and surgeons, which could pose problems for the mentally ill and older patients who require additional care for chronic conditions and age-related maladies. These updated projections confirm that the physician shortage is real, its significant, and the nation must begin to train more doctors now if patients are going to be able to receive the care they need when they need it in the near future, AAMC president and CEO Darrell Kirch said in a statement. A third of practicing physicians are now older than 55. Their retirement, alongside the aging population is a primary driver of the shortage, according to the AAMC, which has called for an increase of federal support for new doctor training. The report finds that demand for physicians will grow by 11 percent to 17 percent through 2025, while the number of doctors will increase only by 4 percent to 12 percent. Physician Density Across the United States | HealthGrove In addition to the aging of both doctors and the general population, other factors driving the shortage include increased demand for medical services due to Obamacare, and the rising cost of malpractice insurance and getting a medical degree, which are pushing some current and future doctors to explore different career paths. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it could not ignore the resounding "No" in a non-binding referendum on the European Union's association treaty with Ukraine, but that it may take weeks to decide how to respond. Although the results were preliminary, they exposed dissatisfaction with the Dutch government and policy-making in Brussels - signaling a anti-establishment mood in a founding EU member weeks before Britain votes on membership. There could also be far-reaching consequences for the fragile Dutch coalition government, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency and which has lost popularity amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Exit polls indicated roughly 64 percent of Dutch voters voted "No" and 36 percent said "Yes". Although turnout was too close to call, early tallies indicated it was just ahead of a turnout minimum of 30 percent required for the vote to be valid. "It's clear that 'No' have won by an overwhelming margin, the question is only if turnout is sufficient," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a televised reaction. "If the turnout is above 30 percent with such a large margin of victory for the 'No' camp, then my sense is that ratification can't simply go ahead," Rutte added. That sentiment was shared by Diederik Samsom, leader of the Labour Party, the junior partner the governing coalition. "We can't ratify the treaty in this fashion," he said. A person familiar with internal EU discussions on how leaders in Brussels would respond said EU officials had been hoping for very low turnout that would disqualify or diminish the impact of a "No" vote. The European Commission, the bloc's executive, will play for time, waiting for the Dutch government to suggest a way forward, the official said. The political, trade and defense treaty is already provisionally in place, but has to be ratified by all 28 EU member countries for every part of it to have full legal force. The Netherlands is the only country that has not done so. SECOND DUTCH "NO" TO EU Options include leaving the agreement in force provisionally, or drafting exemption clauses for the Netherlands. Nothing will happen in a hurry, not least to avoid giving any succor to Britain's "out" campaigners. Rutte said the government would consult with parliament and European partners "step by step. That could take days or weeks." Pollster Ipsos said the validity was still unclear with provisional turnout at 32 percent - above the threshold - but within a 3 percent margin of error. The referendum, called by eurosceptic forces, was the first since a 2015 law made it possible to force through plebiscites by gathering 300,000 signatures on the Internet - a law which is already being criticized. "It is an instrument for anti-establishment forces," said Cad Mudde, an expert on Dutch politics and populism at the University of Georgia. "It looks like the Dutch people said no to the European elite and no to the treaty with the Ukraine. (This is) the beginning of the end of the EU," Geert Wilders, leader of the eurosceptic Freedom Party, said in a tweet. "I hope that later, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, other countries will follow," he said earlier. Dutch leaders campaigning for the treaty had said voting against it would also hand a symbolic victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin. They had feared a repeat of 2005 when the Dutch rejected the European Union constitution, also in a referendum. But ignoring a clear "No" would be risky for Rutte's already unpopular government - which has lost further ground over Europe's refugee debate - ahead of national elections scheduled for no later than March 2017. (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling and Svebor Kranjc in Amsterdam, Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels, Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow and Alessandra Prentice and Natalia Zinets in Kiev; editing by Angus MacSwan and G Crosse) By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Wednesday it could not ignore the resounding "No" in a non-binding referendum on the European Union's association treaty with Ukraine, but that it may take weeks to decide how to respond. Although the results were preliminary, they exposed dissatisfaction with the Dutch government and policy-making in Brussels - signalling a anti-establishment mood in a founding EU member weeks before Britain votes on membership. There could also be far-reaching consequences for the fragile Dutch coalition government, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency and which has lost popularity amid a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Exit polls indicated roughly 64 percent of Dutch voters voted "No" and 36 percent said "Yes". Although turnout was too close to call, early tallies indicated it was just ahead of a turnout minimum of 30 percent required for the vote to be valid. "It's clear that 'No' have won by an overwhelming margin, the question is only if turnout is sufficient," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a televised reaction. "If the turnout is above 30 percent with such a large margin of victory for the 'No' camp, then my sense is that ratification can't simply go ahead," Rutte added. That sentiment was shared by Diederik Samsom, leader of the Labour Party, the junior partner the governing coalition. "We can't ratify the treaty in this fashion," he said. A person familiar with internal EU discussions on how leaders in Brussels would respond said EU officials had been hoping for very low turnout that would disqualify or diminish the impact of a "No" vote. The European Commission, the bloc's executive, will play for time, waiting for the Dutch government to suggest a way forward, the official said. The political, trade and defence treaty is already provisionally in place, but has to be ratified by all 28 EU member countries for every part of it to have full legal force. The Netherlands is the only country that has not done so. SECOND DUTCH "NO" TO EU Options include leaving the agreement in force provisionally, or drafting exemption clauses for the Netherlands. Nothing will happen in a hurry, not least to avoid giving any succour to Britain's "out" campaigners. Rutte said the government would consult with parliament and European partners "step by step. That could take days or weeks." Pollster Ipsos said the validity was still unclear with provisional turnout at 32 percent - above the threshold - but within a 3 percent margin of error. The referendum, called by eurosceptic forces, was the first since a 2015 law made it possible to force through plebiscites by gathering 300,000 signatures on the Internet - a law which is already being criticised. "It is an instrument for anti-establishment forces," said Cad Mudde, an expert on Dutch politics and populism at the University of Georgia. "It looks like the Dutch people said no to the European elite and no to the treaty with the Ukraine. (This is) the beginning of the end of the EU," Geert Wilders, leader of the eurosceptic Freedom Party, said in a tweet. "I hope that later, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe, other countries will follow," he said earlier. Dutch leaders campaigning for the treaty had said voting against it would also hand a symbolic victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin. They had feared a repeat of 2005 when the Dutch rejected the European Union constitution, also in a referendum. But ignoring a clear "No" would be risky for Rutte's already unpopular government - which has lost further ground over Europe's refugee debate - ahead of national elections scheduled for no later than March 2017. (Additional reporting by Toby Sterling and Svebor Kranjc in Amsterdam, Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels, Dmitry Solovyov in Moscow and Alessandra Prentice and Natalia Zinets in Kiev; editing by Angus MacSwan and G Crosse) The Hague (AFP) - Dutch voters went to the polls Wednesday in a referendum over building closer European ties with Ukraine, but sluggish turnout raised doubts about whether the ballot, seen as a barometer of anti-EU feeling, would even be valid. Voters were being asked if they support the European Union's association agreement with Ukraine, which aims to foster better trade relations with the war-torn country and former Soviet satellite. But organisers have admitted the ballot is essentially about broader anti-EU sentiment, and it could be an important yardstick only months ahead of Britain's "Brexit" referendum in June. For the ballot to be valid there has to be at least a 30 percent turnout from the 12.5 million people eligible to vote. The civic-minded Dutch usually flock to the polls, with past turnouts hitting around 75 percent. But amid driving, cold rain, people appeared to be staying away, and by early evening only 13.7 percent of voters had cast their ballots in the capital, Amsterdam, 22.1 percent in the busy port of Rotterdam and 20.4 percent in The Hague. A Dutch "No" to the two-year-old treaty with Kiev could pose a headache for the European Union (EU) and is being closely watched by Moscow as well. - 'Stability for Europe' - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who cast his ballot at a Hague primary school, urged citizens to vote in favour. "We have to help Ukraine build up a judicial state and its democracy. To support its minorities like Jews and its gay community. Therefore I call on the entire Netherlands: go vote and vote in favour," Rutte said. "Europe needs more stability at its edges." Opinion polls on the eve of the vote gave the "No" vote a slight edge, but many voters were undecided, saying they remained puzzled about what it was all about. "I think it's good to have a referendum, to be able to say what we think of Brussels. It's important," one voter, who identified himself only as Bert, 49, told AFP. Story continues It remains unclear what the results could mean for the Netherlands -- which currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The vote is non-binding and the government has been non-committal, saying only it would study the results after polls close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT). The "No" camp has highlighted concerns about corruption in Ukraine, and continuing separatist unrest in the east, among reasons to refuse closer ties with Kiev. According to one Ipsos poll, some 37 percent said they would vote against. Around 33 percent were in favour and the rest were undecided. Ukraine, where a Moscow-backed president who rejected the cooperation deal was ousted in 2014, has actively campaigned for a "yes" vote. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko voiced confidence in Dutch support, but his inclusion in the so-called Panama Papers tax evasion scandal has turned off some Dutch voters. "I voted against because I don't think the accord is a good thing for the Netherlands," said Nik Tam, 65, adding there were already "too many" countries in the EU. Anti-immigrant far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders tweeted to supporters: "Everyone vote today. And vote against!" - What next? - The Netherlands is now the only member in the 28-nation EU still to ratify the accord and the deal has been given the thumbs up by both the upper and lower houses of the Dutch parliament. Aaron Matta, senior researcher at The Hague Institute for Global Justice think-tank, warned of wider repercussions of a "No" vote. "The Netherlands will perhaps have to find some way of opting out of specific provisions in the agreement," he told AFP. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned a "no" vote "could open the doors to a continental crisis". A "No" win could also lend a boost to the "Brexit" campaign. "If the Dutch people vote no today, it will be a incentive for the British voters to say no," Wilders said. The Hague (AFP) - Dutch voters Wednesday rejected a key European pact with Ukraine in a people's referendum seen as a barometer of anti-EU feeling, media predictions said, dealing an embarrassing blow to the government. In a result swiftly hailed by eurosceptic groups, the Dutch news agency ANP said that with 99.8 percent of the votes counted the "No" camp had won the day with 61.1 percent. Only 38 percent voted in favour of the two-year-old treaty with Kiev. After initial doubts, ANP also projected that 32.2 percent of the electorate had turned out, meaning the ballot is valid and must be considered by the coalition government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte. "It looks like the Dutch people said NO to the European elite and NO to the treaty with the Ukraine. The beginning of the end of the EU," far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders crowed late Wednesday. Voters were asked if they supported the European Union's association agreement with Ukraine, which aims to foster better trade relations with the war-torn country and former Soviet satellite. But organisers admitted the non-binding ballot was essentially about pushing a broader anti-EU agenda -- humiliating at the very time that the Netherlands holds the rotating EU presidency. The vote was being closely watched by Europe and Moscow, and could prove an important yardstick only months ahead of Britain's "Brexit" referendum in June. - Vote could boost far-right - The Dutch "No" may pose a major headache for the European Union as it also gears up for the ramifications of a possible British exit from the bloc. The Netherlands is now the only member in the 28-nation EU not to have ratified the Ukraine accord which has already been given the thumbs up by both the upper and lower houses of the Dutch parliament. Rutte agreed "the 'no' camp won convincingly". And he was forced to concede that "if the turnout is above the (30 percent) margin then this accord cannot be ratified as is." Story continues He had earlier urged voters to vote in favour of the pact with Kiev saying "we have to help Ukraine build up a judicial state and its democracy." "Europe needs more stability at its edges." It remains unclear what will happen next, with Rutte vowing a "step-by-step" approach in full consultation with the government and Brussels. Official full results are only due on April 12. The vote is non-binding. But it could mean that the coalition government -- already under fire due to the refugee crisis -- will seek to opt out of certain provisions of the EU-Ukraine deal to satisfy the voters. It could also boost Wilders's Freedom Party (PVV) which is already riding high in the polls due to his stand against migrants. - 'Sun setting on EU' - The leaders of the Netherlands' six largest parties all agreed Wednesday the country could not just ratify the agreement with Ukraine. "The accord cannot just be ratified. We have to take into account this 'no' vote," said Diederik Samsom, the Labour Party leader which is Rutte's junior ruling coalition partner. The "No" camp had highlighted concerns about corruption in Ukraine, and continuing separatist unrest in the east, among reasons to refuse closer ties with Kiev. Ukraine, where a Moscow-backed president who rejected the cooperation deal was ousted in 2014, had actively campaigned for a "yes" vote But the message appeared to have fallen on deaf ears. "I voted against because I don't think the accord is a good thing for the Netherlands," said Nik Tam, 65, adding there were already "too many" countries in the EU. Leave EU, one of the main pro-Brexit campaigns, swiftly lay down the gauntlet to EU supporters. "Nobody could accuse the Dutch of not being good Europeans, but they have no willingness to open their borders to more migrants and pick up the tab for Ukraine's problems, just like most UK voters," said Leave.EU spokesman Brian Monteith. The vote was a signal to the British to follow suit, he said, adding: "The sun is now setting on the European Union." Quito (AFP) - Ecuador created Monday a sanctuary for endangered hammerhead sharks in a marine reserve in the Galapagos Islands. The measure prohibits fishing over an area of 38,000 square kilometers (15,000 square miles) to protect the sharks, one of numerous rare species in the archipelago. The new protected area is between Darwin and Wolf islands in the north of the Galapagos, which are classified by UNESCO as a world heritage site. "Darwin and Wolf islands contain the Galapagos marine reserve's last coral reef and the greatest abundance of sharks in the world," said Ecuador's President Rafael Correa at a ceremony launching the sanctuary. He said a third of the archipelago's waters and just under 60 percent of its land are now protected from having their resources exploited. Marine biologist Enric Sala of National Geographic said that "despite the richness (of species) that the Galapagos still houses there are risks, including excessive and unregulated fishing, illegal fishing and climate change." British naturalist Charles Darwin's study of species on the Galapagos Islands helped him develop his theory of evolution in the 19th century. Lying in the Pacific some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Ecuador, the islands' marine reserve has been set aside as a whale sanctuary since 1990. Today in One Paragraph Wisconsins presidential primary is under way, where 42 Republican and 96 Democratic delegates are at stake. Donald Trump released a plan to compel Mexico to fund a border wall. President Obama called out companies that move their headquarters overseas to avoid U.S. taxes. Mississippis governor signed a controversial religious-freedom bill into law. Meanwhile in Alabama, lawmakers started the impeachment process for Governor Robert Bentley amid allegations of an affair. And abroad, Icelands prime minister stepped down following calls for his resignation. Top News Primaries in the Badger State. Voters from both parties head to the polls to participate in the Wisconsin primaries. Ted Cruz looks like he could win on the Republican side, which some attribute to the states aversion to the brash language of Donald Trump. And Bernie Sanders is slightly favored to win over Hillary Clinton, which could give him more reason to stay in the race. Were covering it live here. (The Atlantic) Recommended: The Obama Doctrine Trump to Trap Mexico. The Republican front-runners plan includes preventing migrant workers from sending remittances back to the country and canceling workers visas unless the Mexican government agrees to pay. Mexicos president has said the country wont foot the bill. (Susanna Kim, ABC News) Obama: Tax Avoidance Is A Big, Global Problem. The president said companies that move their headquarters overseas in order to avoid U.S. taxes renounce their citizenship, but get all of the rewards of being an American company. He pointed to the recent Panama Papers leak to illustrate his point: A lot of it is legal, that is exactly the problem. (Renae Merle, The Washington Post) Governor Approves Religious-Freedom Bill. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a controversial religious-freedom bill into law, saying that it was meant to protect the rights of people with deeply held religious beliefs. The Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act will allow people to deny services or goods for the celebration or recognition of any marriage, based upon or in a manner consistent with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction. (Sam R. Hall and Geoff Pender, The Clarion-Ledger) Story continues Alabama Governor to Face Impeachment. Lawmakers in Alabama moved to introduce articles of impeachment against Governor Robert Bentley after it was alleged that he had an affair with an aide. Bentley fired back, saying there were no grounds for impeachment and calling the move political grandstanding. (Joshua Berlinger, Kevin Conlon, and Ralph Ellis, CNN) Recommended: Donald Trump and the Borderers Icelands Leader Throws in the Towel. A government official announced that Icelands prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, submitted his resignation two days after leaked documents, known as the Panama Papers, alleged that he and his wife hid millions of dollars of investments in an offshore account. Several other world leaders were also identified in the leaks. (Steven Erlanger and Stephen Castle, The New York Times) Tomorrow in One Paragraph. Hillary Clinton will be fundraising and campaigning in New York. Bernie Sanders is in Philadelphia. Donald Trump will rally voters in New York. And John Kasich will break from campaigning to deliver the annual State of the State in Ohio. Follow stories throughout the day with our new Politics & Policy page. And keep on top of the campaign with our 2016 Distilled election dashboard. Top Read Youre supposed to hit your opponent over the head with a chair, but youre supposed to pretend to hide the chair you are about to hit him with from the view of the referee. Trump is willing to be maximally crazy, when it comes to the more extreme positions of the G.O.P., but he cant remember, or perhaps never learned, the minimally sane-sounding speech acts that the referees want you first to attach to the craziness. The New Yorkers Adam Gopnik on exposing the GOPs strategy for dealing with abortion and gun-regulation. Top Lines Chief Executive or Chief Ideologue? Despite his reputation as a wonk, Bernie Sanders struggled to answer coherently when he was asked specific policy questions in a meeting with the editorial board of the New York Daily News. (David Graham, The Atlantic) Recommended: How Much Does Bernie Sanders Know About Policy? Increasing Drug Deportations. When the White House announced its efforts to reduce the number of people serving prison time for nonviolent drug offenses, deportations for immigrants accused of those same crimes dramatically increased, calling into question the administrations immigration policy. (Politico, Grace Meng) Top Views Why Is It So Hard to Vote in America? Getting into the ballot box has become increasingly difficult for many Americans after a 2013 Supreme Court ruling gave states permission to draw up their own voting laws. The Atlantics Vann Newkirk explains these lawsand what they mean for American democracy in this short video. (Caty Green and Greyson Korhonen) Voters Values. What issues and presidential qualities drive voters to choose a particular candidate? The New York Times maps it out in this interactive graphic. (Jon Huang and Karen Yourish) We want to hear from you! Were reimagining what The Edge can be, and would love to receive your complaints, compliments, and suggestions. Tell us what youd like to find in your inbox by sending a message to newsletters@theatlantic.com. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. After a California condor pair's egg went mysteriously missing in the middle of the night, the duo is back on track, raising a foster chick that biologists surreptitiously slipped into the birds' mountain nest. The family affair began with condors #111, a 22-year-old female hatched at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, and #509, a 7-year-old wild male. The two began courting in 2014, and nested together near the Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge in southern California, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Before long, #111 laid an egg. A team of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) biologists snuck into the nest on March 2 to set up a bird cam and check the egg's viability with a candle test, in which a bright light is used to check the growing fetus inside. They reported that everything looked good, and estimated that the egg would hatch between April 4 and April 6. [10 Species You Can Kiss Goodbye] But then, the egg went missing. On the night between March 20 and March 21, it disappeared. In order to save battery power, the bird cam does not record during the night, so there's no proof of what happened to the egg. But, in all likelihood, a predator made off with it, leaving only a few eggshell fragments behind, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which runs the cam. This development was worrisome to scientists, as the California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In 2010, there were only 104 adult California condors of breeding age in the wild, and just 44 had produced surviving offspring, the IUCN said. After the egg vanished, USFWS biologists devised an action plan: On March 21, they rappelled into the nest and replaced the missing egg with a dummy egg. Condor #111 entered the nest cavity just as they left, and to everyone's relief began incubating the fake egg. Her partner, #509, incubated the dummy egg, too. In the meantime, the recovery team called the Los Angeles Zoo, which was raising eggs that condors had laid in captivity. The zoo gave one of its eggs to the USFWS scientists, who furtively rappelled into the nest again and swapped the dummy egg for the new foster egg on April 3. Story continues The swap worked. The adults which look a bit like hunchbacked, black umbrellas incubated the egg, and it hatched on April 4, making it the first time that a condor chick had hatched live on a bird cam, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It's unclear whether the 9-ounce (255 grams) chick is a male or female, but a blood test within its first year of life will clear that up. Once the chick turns 4 months old, biologists will tag it so that they can track it when it starts flying, at about 6 months of age. For now, both #111 and #509 are taking turns keeping the chick warm and feeding it. Bird enthusiasts can watch the chick grow up on the California condor bird cam, and follow it on Twitter: @CornellCondors. The biologists hope that the mystery thief responsible for the first egg's disappearance will leave the new chick alone. "Sometimes, condors select nest cavities that are accessible to terrestrial predators that are skilled climbers, such as bobcats, black bears and mountain lions," the Cornell Lab of Ornithology said. "We will continue to closely monitor the condor nestling via the live streaming camera and newly placed motion activated Bushnell game camera that is capable of taking nighttime images." Condor chicks remain dependent on their parents for more than a year, so birdwatchers will have plenty of time to watch the little chick grow up, the lab said. Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel. 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. BEIRUT (Reuters) - Egyptian satellite company NileSat has stopped broadcasting Hezbollah-controlled Lebanese television channel Al Manar, an official said on Wednesday, a move the Iranian-backed group condemned as part of a campaign by Gulf Arab states against it. "This is completely in line with the attack launched by some Arab regimes on the resistance (Hezbollah) in all sectors, including the media," Hezbollah said in a statement. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Beirut have been brewing since January. Riyadh is worried Hezbollah has too much power in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and Iran are regional rivals. Saudi Arabia cut $3 billion in military aid to Lebanon after the Lebanese government failed to condemn an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in January. On Friday, the Saudi-owned television news channel Al Arabiya shut its offices in Lebanon. On the same day, protesters attacked the Beirut office of Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in response to a cartoon published by the paper criticizing the Lebanese state. There have also been reports from Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Bahrain, about Lebanese citizens being expelled because of links to Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia has lavished aid on Egypt since its military overthrew an Islamist government in 2013, and while ties have been strained over the past year, Cairo has broadly followed Riyadh's lead on regional politics. NileSat stopped broadcasting Al Manar to subscribers late on Tuesday, although the channel can be received in Lebanon through other broadcast media. A NileSat official, who asked not to be named, would not comment on the reason for the broadcast ceasing, but said: "The usual terms (of the company) prohibit the use of satellite media to broadcast programs which call for violence or racism or incite sectarianism." Al Manar said in statements on its TV channel: "NileSat is trading in flimsy excuses and its claims of inciting discord do not fool anyone." (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Mohamed Abdellah in Cairo; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Drought is causing panic in the northern Pacific nation of Palau, a group of more than 200 limestone and volcanic islands that are otherwise surrounded by turquoise waters. Officials warned Monday that the Pacific island nation could completely dry up this month as El Ninocaused droughts continue to severely threaten water resources in the region. The country of some 18,000 people is requesting urgent assistance, including shipments of water, from neighboring countries Japan and Taiwan. Officials in Palau also reached out to the U.S. military, asking it to send portable water filtration systems. Based on the current water level and usage rates, and assuming conditions persist unabated, a total water outage is likely to occur in the next two to three weeks, reads a report from Palau's National Emergency Committee, the nations advisory council for disaster management. As of right now, residents in the capital city of Koror can access tap water for three hours or less every day, and schools are open for half of the day because theres not enough drinking water for students. In a desperate attempt to preserve water, people are collecting what little bottled water is left on the island. Their efforts remain futile without foreign aid. Every morning we struggle to shower, clean up, and prepare for the day with the limited amount of water we have, Rolynda Jonathan, a Palau resident, told Agence France-Presse. Last month, Palau became the latest Pacific island nation to declare a state of emergency over its worsening drought crisis. President Tommy Remengesau confirmed that the amount of rainfall over the past four months in Koror was the lowest recorded since 1951. With the dam having dried up and the citys only other source for suitable drinking water, the Ngerikiil River, less than 20 percent full, the president warned that other basic services such as hospitals and power utilities could fail as a result of scarce water resources. Story continues Extreme El Nino weather patterns have been causing devastation around the world as warming ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean have brought a paradoxical mix of severe droughts and flood-inducing precipitation to dozens of countries, Palau included. Yet, El Nino is showing signs of weakening, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. While tropical Pacific sea temperatures remain warmer than average, subsurface temperatures are said to have sharply declined. Here are a few other island destinations that are facing crises over similar drought conditions. Marshall Islands In early February, the Marshall Islands declared a state of emergency to combat the extreme drought that threatened the regions fresh water resources for months. While President Hilda Heine said the government was increasing initiatives to fight the effects of drought, including freshwater storage and constructing reverse osmosis systems on islands, she also hoped the declaration would ignite international resources. We will be sharing our declaration with our donor partners and, of course, resources are what we need to be able to reach the people out there, she told Radio New Zealand. So we hope we can get additional resources to help in the drought. Federated States of Micronesia Some parts of the Federated States of Micronesia are being hit with record-breaking drought conditions. Drought has been especially powerful in Micronesia, with several islands just weeks away from running out of drinking water. According to Mark Adams, the emergency response coordinator at the International Organization for Migration office in Pohnpei, many of the remote islands depend on rainfall as their freshwater source, and some of these islands have had little to no rain since the end of last year. As for solutions, Adams told Radio New Zealand reverse osmosis systems and water supplies are being distributed across the country. Guam and the Northern Marianas Islands In late January, the National Weather Service forecast office in Guam reported that Guam and the Northern Marianas islands were receiving below-average rainfall in previous months and that it would continue for several more months. Increasingly dry land caused grass fires to break out in Guam as drought conditions continued to worsen and dry up and yellow the regions crops. Guam is a U.S. island territory in the western Pacific Ocean; the Northern Marianas are a U.S. commonwealth and lie right above Guam. Send a Letter: Defend Baby Lisa and Other American Children Living Without Clean, Running Water Related stories on TakePart: Drought and Heat Are More Damaging to Food Production Than Floods and Frost The South African Drought Goes From Bad to Worse If Youre a Black Farmer Californias Drought Is Stressing Out Nearly a Billion Trees Original article from TakePart (Reuters) - Eleven Boeing Co employees have been arrested in South Carolina for allegedly attempting to evade state income taxes, and the state's revenue department said more arrests were likely. The individuals collectively earned more than $2.2 million between 2011 and 2014, and evaded paying $99,729 in individual income taxes, the South Carolina Department of Revenue said in a statement on Tuesday. Boeing said the identified employees have been suspended. "We will continue to cooperate with the state and the Department of Revenue until these individual matters are closed," Boeing said. The employees submitted fraudulent W-4 forms to Boeing, claiming to be exempt from state income taxes and had failed to file state income tax returns, the revenue department said. A W-4 form is used by employers to determine the amount of taxes to withhold from paychecks. The defendants, who are being held at a detention facility in Charleston County, face up to $10,000 in fines and/or up to five years in prison per charge if convicted. (Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi) By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Tanzania will investigate accusations that some of its peacekeepers in Democratic Republic of Congo abused and exploited five women and six girls, leaving them all pregnant, the United Nations said on Tuesday. "We can confirm that out of the 11 allegedly abused women six were minors. Seven of the alleged victims have already given birth and four women are still pregnant," U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters. The Tanzanian contingent is part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission's Force Intervention Brigade, tasked with offensive operations. The mission said it received the allegations in the northeast Congolese village of Mavivi on March 23. Haq said four of the allegations are linked to members of the current Tanzanian battalion, while the rest were related to the previous contingent. The accused peacekeepers have been detained, while the remaining troops were confined to base. "Pending the results of an investigation all measures will be considered in terms of how we respond including potentially the repatriation of the unit and command accountability will also be sought," Haq said. He said Tanzania told the United Nations on Monday that it had appointed an investigation team, which would travel to Congo in the coming days. He said the United Nations had recommended that Tanzania conduct a joint investigation with the U.N. Office for Internal Oversight Services. The women and girls had been referred to the U.N. Children's Agency UNICEF, which has a team on the ground, Haq said. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, which was initially put in place during a civil war that took place in 1998-2003, is the world body's largest, with around 20,000 uniformed personnel. The United Nations pledged to crack down on allegations of abuse to avoid a repeat of past mistakes. The United Nations reported 99 allegations of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse involving U.N. staff members last year, a sharp increase from the 80 allegations in 2014. The majority, 69, involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions. It has been dealing with dozens of accusations of sexual abuse and exploitation against the U.N. peacekeepers in neighboring Central African Republic, where the U.N. troops assumed authority from African Union troops in September 2014. The United Nations currently has 106,000 troops and police serving in 16 peacekeeping missions. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by James Dalgleish) London (AFP) - Junior doctors in English hospitals went on strike again Wednesday, withdrawing all but emergency care in their fourth walk-out in a bitter dispute with the government over working conditions. More than 5,000 procedures and operations in the state-run National Health Service (NHS) have been postponed as a result of the 48-hour action, which began at 0700 GMT. The Department of Health condemned the strike as "irresponsible and disproportionate", noting that almost 25,000 operations have now been cancelled due to walk-outs since January. Johann Malawana, chairman of the junior doctors committee at the British Medical Association (BMA) union, said it "deeply regrets" the disruption but had "no choice". A new contract imposed by the government "would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term", he said, urging ministers to return to the negotiating table. If no agreement is reached, the BMA intends to stage a full strike on April 26 and 27, when junior doctors will refuse to provide even emergency care. The strike action involves recently-qualified doctors, mostly in their twenties and thirties, who are working towards becoming either consultants or community-based general practitioners. The government has said it would impose new terms in August to force an end to nearly three years of negotiations intended to provide a more consistent level of care throughout the week. Prime Minister David Cameron's centre-right government has promised to create a "seven-day NHS", where weekend care is similar to that delivered between Monday and Friday. Officials say the new contract will increase doctors' basic pay and limit working long days and nights, but the BMA disputes this and has launched a legal challenge. Opinion polls have shown the majority of the public back the doctors, while the Patient Association advocacy group also offered its tacit support for the latest strike. Story continues "Doctors have a very real concern that the imposed terms will stretch the existing resource too thinly and will threaten the quality of patient care," said Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the association. The dispute comes as the NHS, which provides taxpayer-funded healthcare free at the point of use, faces serious financial challenges. Although the service was protected from government-wide spending cuts, experts warn funding has failed to keep up with increased demand and treatment costs. "The NHS is working at or very close to its limits and patient care will suffer unless more resources are found," the King's Fund health charity warned last month. Brussels (AFP) - A divided European Union on Wednesday unveiled a fresh plan to shake up its failed asylum policy and force countries to share the burden of its unprecedented migrant crisis. Just days after Greece began expelling migrants to Turkey under a controversial swap deal, a top EU official admitted that the bloc's current system is "not working." "We need to reform our European asylum system," Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters in Brussels, as Europe battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. The influx of more than one million migrants fleeing war and poverty has put the bloc's cherished border-free rules under severe strain and sparked sharp divisions among the 28 EU nations. Under the bloc's existing rules -- the so-called Dublin system -- migrants seeking asylum must apply in the country where they first arrive and are returned there if they move to somewhere else in the EU. But critics have slammed this system as obsolete and unfair to Greece and Italy, where most of the 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants entered the bloc last year. The rules in any case fell apart in 2015 as Greece and Italy, overwhelmed by the crisis, simply waved migrants onwards to countries where they wanted asylum, like Germany. - 'Neither fair, nor sustainable' - "This is neither fair, nor sustainable," Timmermans said as he outlined two possible new approaches. The first idea, dubbed "Dublin plus", would be to keep the existing system but add a "corrective fairness mechanism" to redistribute migrants from a member state grappling with a sudden influx of refugees. A majority of countries support this option, a European diplomat told AFP. A second, more radical, proposal would be to automatically distribute migrants across the EU based on member states' population, wealth and capacity to take in newcomers. This option had the support of Germany and Sweden, which have taken in the lion's share of migrants, the diplomat said. Story continues "Both options will provide much needed solidarity," Timmermans added. But EU states have already struggled to implement an emergency scheme agreed last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. Only 1,100 of these have been resettled so far. The delays have been blamed on a range of factors -- from governments trying to filter out jihadists from among the refugees following the terror attacks in Brussels and Paris to a lack of housing and educational services. Sceptics say political foot-dragging has also played a part. Tomas Prouza, the Czech state secretary for EU affairs, said the proposals appear to revive the same quota scheme that eastern European states in particular already rejected in the previous relocation plan. "How long will @EU Commission keep riding this dead horse instead of working on things that really help?" Prouza tweeted. But German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the proposals "go in the right direction" and that the debate will likely focus on how to distribute the migrants. John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International's director for Europe and Central Asia, said the proposals on sharing responsibility head "broadly in the right direction". "But there is potential for plenty of devils to lurk in the detail, particularly if they rely significantly on sanctions and coercion," he said. - Two-week deportation 'lag' - A last-minute flurry of asylum applications by migrants desperate to avoid expulsion from Greece to Turkey will likely cause a two-week "lag" in deportations under a controversial deal between Brussels and Ankara, Greek official Nikos Xydakis said Wednesday. Around 200 migrants were deported Monday under the deal struck last month calling for sending back to Turkey all "irregular migrants" arriving in Greece after March 20. But the returns system has stalled since then. Under a "one-for-one" provision, for every Syrian returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey in an EU country, with numbers capped at 72,000. Human rights watchdogs say the scheme is badly flawed, and on Tuesday the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was concerned for 13 people who may have been unable to register for asylum before they were deported. The EU-Turkey deal, as well as a series of border restrictions along the Balkans migrant route, appear to have sharply reduced the number of new arrivals in recent weeks, and Germany said it could lift its controls on the frontier with Austria if the trend continues. Pope Francis will turn the spotlight on Europe's handling of the crisis with an expected visit on April 14 or 15 to Lesbos -- part of the Greek island chain where hundreds of thousands of people arrived last year. By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will propose on Wednesday a raft of technical measures to strengthen its external borders as it seeks to tackle both an uncontrolled influx of migrants and security threats following deadly attacks in Paris and Brussels. More than 160 people were killed in the November shooting and bombing attacks in Paris and suicide bombings in Brussels in March. The deadly strikes, claimed by Islamic State, strengthened the hand of those campaigning for tighter security checks and data sharing against those who warn of the risks of abuse and undermining privacy through enhanced surveillance. In its proposal on Wednesday, seen by Reuters ahead of official publication, the European Commission said the carnage in Paris and Brussels "brought into sharper focus the need to join up and strengthen the EU's border management, migration and security cooperation." Europol chief Rob Wainwright highlighted separately on Tuesday an "indirect link" between Europe's migration crisis, which saw more than a million people arriving over the last year, and the Islamist militant threat, saying some militants had used the chaotic migrant influx to sneak in. EU border agency Frontex also said that two of the perpetrators of the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris had entered through Greece and been registered by Greek authorities after presenting fraudulent Syrian documents. "EU citizens are known to have crossed the external border to travel to (Middle East) conflict zones for terrorist purposes and pose a risk upon their return. There is evidence that terrorists have used routes of irregular migration to enter the EU," the Commission said in its proposal. But the EU has a dozen-or-so different sets of fragmented databases for border management and law enforcement that are plagued with gaps and often not inter-operable. Custom authorities' data are held largely separate. The Commission on Wednesday will therefore set out technical proposals to beef them up and improve the way they communicate with one another, including a joint search interface. Although not a new idea in general, doing this requires complex measures that pose a host of technical and legal challenges in balancing the need for data and privacy protection with enhanced security. The Commission also revised a proposal, first made in 2013, for an "Entry-Exit" system for third-country nationals arriving in the EU to "reduce irregular migration by addressing the phenomenon of overstaying and contribute to the fight against terrorism and serious crime". Under the outline, the new system would be implemented by 2020 to register data of non-EU nationals arriving from outside the bloc, including four fingerprints and a face image. Scores of Europeans have ventured out to join the ranks of Islamic State and some have come back to the 28-nation EU, including those involved in the Paris attacks. That stirred discussion on the need to also tighten controls of EU citizens on external borders, but this angle was not included in the Commission's document on Wednesday. Also mentioned was the so-called PNR - an EU deal on sharing detailed air passenger data that has seen months of wrangling. The Commission said it should be adopted "in the coming weeks" and is crucial in efforts to increase security. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Mark Heinrich) BERLIN (Reuters) - The first few days of the implementation of a deal between the European Union and Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees to western Europe indicates that things are going in the right direction, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday. "We have not achieved everything yet but the first few days have shown that developments are heading in the right direction," Steffen Seibert told reporters at a regular government news conference. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers and Michael Nienaber) The world's first cross-border platoons of semi-autonomous trucks have successfully completed their journey, arriving in Rotterdam, The Netherlands on Wednesday afternoon as part of the European Truck Platooning Challenge. The initiative was organized by the Dutch government to highlight the environmental and logistical benefits that semi-autonomous commercial vehicles, travelling in unison in convoys or platoons' can bring. "Driving in a convoy is one of numerous examples to raise the performance of goods transport extensively with connected trucks," said Daimler board member, Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard. "We consider platooning a meaningful part of the integrated approach in which all stakeholders in road transport contribute to reduce fuel consumption and CO2." Daimler was one of six companies to accept the challenge. Its three-truck platoon set off in formation from Stuttgart, Germany on Monday and was joined in the Dutch port on Wednesday by convoys from DAF Trucks, Iveco, Man Truck 1 Bus, Scania and Volvo Group. Platooning uses connected car and other technological aids to enable a group of trucks to drive very closely together. As a result, three vehicles take up a combined 80 meters of road space, rather than 150 meters. This reduces congestion, increases safety for others and improves aerodynamics, cutting fuel consumption and emissions substantially. But driving in this formation is only possible with semi-autonomous driving aids. "The results of this first ever major try-out in Europe are promising," said Melanie Schulz, the Dutch minister for Infrastructure and the Environment, said. "It will certainly help my colleagues and I discuss the adjustments needed to make self-driving transport a reality." The discussion is necessary because each European Union state has its own laws regarding what is and isn't allowed on its road network. The platoons were the first ever connected commercial vehicles to drive semi-autonomously across EU state borders but Harrie Schippers of DAF Trucks hopes that they will soon become "a common sight" on Europe's roads. "Harmonization is needed if we want a wide-scale introduction of platooning," he said. "It is precisely for this reason that we believe that the European Truck Platooning Challenge has been a huge success: it has fostered much-needed cooperation between all relevant stakeholders right across the EU, facilitating cross-border driving, and encouraging compatibility on legal and technical issues." By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The former second-in-command of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was found guilty on Wednesday of conspiracy and obstruction of justice, stemming from a long-running corruption probe of the largest county jail system in the United States. Paul Tanaka, who retired as undersheriff in 2013, is the latest member of the sheriff's department to be convicted in the federal investigation of inmate abuse, cover ups and other wrongdoing at two Los Angeles County jails. Mr. Tanaka created a culture of corruption seen only in the movies, and certainly nothing that anyone would expect from the nations largest Sheriffs department, said David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's field office in Los Angeles. Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, 73, pleaded guilty in February to lying to federal investigators about the case, which clouded the final years of his long career with the department. Baca, who retired in 2014, faces sentencing later this year as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors that calls for him to serve six months behind bars. Tanaka, who campaigned unsuccessfully for sheriff in 2014 before he was indicted in May of last year, was convicted by a jury after a 10-day trial in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. Prosecutors told jurors the ex-lawman and his co-conspirators at the department tried to stymie the FBI probe by hiding an inmate in the jail system who was cooperating with agents. They said Tanaka and others also sought a court order forcing the FBI to turn over its information and had two deputy sergeants approach an FBI agent outside her home and threaten to arrest her. Tanaka's defense attorneys argued at trial that it was Baca who orchestrated attempts to undermine the FBI investigation. "The era of corruption which characterized the upper management in the L.A. County Sheriff's Department has ended with the conviction of former Undersheriff Paul Tanaka," George Hofstetter, president of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs, said in a statement. Story continues "The Department can move forward now that the truth about the failed leadership of disgraced former Sheriff Lee Baca and Undersheriff Paul Tanaka has been revealed through the judicial process," Hofstetter said. Tanaka, 57, also serves as mayor of suburban Gardena but took leave from that office to fight the charges. He faces up to 15 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in June. (Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Andrew Hay) By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia believes an oil price at $45-$50 per barrel is acceptable to allow the global oil market to balance, as it prepares to meet leading oil producers in Doha later this month, sources familiar with Russian plans said on Wednesday. Leading oil producers plan to meet in Doha on April 17 to cement a preliminary deal reached between Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia in February to freeze oil output at levels reached in January, to curb a surplus on the oil market. "Now there is discussion of how long production will be frozen and ways to monitor the agreement," one of the sources said. "The level of $45-50 (per barrel) is acceptable from the point of view of market balance: if prices go higher shale oil production could start to recover." A Russian Energy Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the information provided by the sources was correct. Oil producers such as Russia and Venezuela are highly dependent on energy revenues, with their state budgets at risk after global oil prices fell to under $40 per barrel from over $115 in June 2014. The Doha meeting is expected to bring together major oil producers, including the ex-Soviet nations Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, which along with Russia have seen their currencies falling sharply on weak oil. The key question concerns Iran, which saw its oil output curtailed for years by sanctions that have been lifted this year, and wants to bring its output to pre-sanctions levels before sticking to any agreement. Tehran plans to attend the Doha meeting, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said this week. The sources who discussed Moscow's position said they believed Iran would struggle to quickly reach levels it has announced. They said Iranian growth is now coming mostly from selling oil from storage and putting easy-to-launch fields on stream. "A freeze without Iran is being discussed. At the moment we don't see tough conditions (from others) for Iran to join," one of the sources said. Story continues The sources added that 17 countries in total could take part in the Doha meeting. They said Russia was considering a number of options to deepen its cooperation with OPEC, but they don't include joining the organization. PRODUCTION, NOT EXPORTS The Russian sources said that the deal to freeze oil output is expected to speed up rebalancing of oil supply and demand by around half a year. Russia was pumping at a 30-year high last month of 10.91 million barrels per day (bpd), even higher than its previous record in January. The sources said the agreement in Doha is set to cover production, not exports. They said Russia would not put new projects on hold as part of the freeze deal, and may use other methods to regulate its production, including technical ones. They did not elaborate. Last month, industry sources told Reuters that Rosneft , the world's top listed oil company by output, was floating the idea of a domestic production cut to balance the global market and as the firm faces a natural decline this year. "A cut in production was not discussed as it is hard to implement and may lead to a sharp jump in prices, causing a new wave of output activation at more costly fields," one of the sources said. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; writing by Katya Golubkova; editing by Jason Bush and Peter Graff) BERLIN (Reuters) - There were more executions worldwide in 2015 than in any year since 1990 and almost 90 percent occurred in three countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Wednesday. At least 1,634 people were executed last year, the organization said, adding that the actual number was probably significantly higher given that there are no definitive numbers for China. "The number of known executions rose by more than 50 percent compared with 2014 - this development is unsettling and alarming," said Oliver Hendrich, an expert on capital punishment at Amnesty International in Germany. At least 977 people were executed in Iran last year, mostly for drug crimes, Amnesty said, while more than 320 death sentences were carried out in Pakistan and at least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia. In the United States, 28 people were executed last year - the lowest number since 1991, Amnesty said. China is believed to remain the world's top executioner, with the number of people put to death annually in the thousands, though the exact figure is a state secret, the rights group said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked about the report, said Amnesty often released "unfair" statements about China that lacked objectivity. "So we have no interest in making comment on this," he told a daily news briefing in Beijing. Countries that impose the death penalty are in the minority for the first time now, Amnesty said. It added that 102 countries had got rid of the death penalty for all crimes by the end of 2015, compared with 60 countries in 1996. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Mark Heinrich) BERLIN (Reuters) - There were more executions worldwide in 2015 than in any year since 1990 and almost 90 percent occurred in three countries - Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, human rights watchdog Amnesty International said on Wednesday. At least 1,634 people were executed last year, the organisation said, adding that the actual number was probably significantly higher given that there are no definitive numbers for China. "The number of known executions rose by more than 50 percent compared with 2014 - this development is unsettling and alarming," said Oliver Hendrich, an expert on capital punishment at Amnesty International in Germany. At least 977 people were executed in Iran last year, mostly for drug crimes, Amnesty said, while more than 320 death sentences were carried out in Pakistan and at least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia. In the United States, 28 people were executed last year - the lowest number since 1991, Amnesty said. China is believed to remain the world's top executioner, with the number of people put to death annually in the thousands, though the exact figure is a state secret, the rights group said. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang, asked about the report, said Amnesty often released "unfair" statements about China that lacked objectivity. "So we have no interest in making comment on this," he told a daily news briefing in Beijing. Countries that impose the death penalty are in the minority for the first time now, Amnesty said. It added that 102 countries had got rid of the death penalty for all crimes by the end of 2015, compared with 60 countries in 1996. (Reporting by Michelle Martin; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Mark Heinrich) By Tariro Mzezewa (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Labor plans to announce on Wednesday its rule requiring financial advisers and brokers to act in the best interest of retirement clients when providing investment advice. The agency first proposed a new rule in 2010 but withdrew it in 2011 after widespread criticism from financial industry officials and lawmakers. A modified version was presented in 2015 and also met with criticism. Here are some key provisions of the final rule, according to a White House fact sheet provided on Tuesday: - Financial brokers must now act in clients' "best interest" when giving retirement investment advice. That is tougher than a previous standard in which they had to ensure products were "suitable" for clients. - Firms must ban financial incentives for advisers not to act in the client's best interest. - Firms must disclose compensation arrangements on a webpage and by making sure customers are aware of their right to all fee information. - The rule allows firms and advisers to continue receiving the most common forms of compensation for offering investment advice to retail customers and small-plan sponsors. The rule also does not limit the types of assets they can invest in. - Firms are allowed to sell insurance products like variable and indexed annuities under the best interest rule. - The rule clarifies treatment of small businesses that sponsor 401(k) plans, allowing brokers to sell products and services to them. - The rule allows firms and their advisers to recommend proprietary products. - Education is not included in the definition of retirement investment advice, allowing advisers to offer basic information without acting as fiduciaries. - Under the rule, financial advisers may communicate with potential clients before signing a contract. But firms must eventually tell new clients in writing that they are acting in their best interest, and any advice given before a contract is signed must be covered by the contract and meet the best interest standard. - To give firms more time to adapt to changes, the rule will be implemented in phases. Full compliance is required on Jan. 1, 2018. (Reporting by Tariro Mzezewa in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney) (Reuters) - Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas. The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak: How do people become infected? Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found. How do you treat Zika? There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots. How dangerous is it? The PAHO said there is no evidence that Zika can cause death, but some cases have been reported with more serious complications in patients with pre-existing medical conditions. It has also been associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body's immune system attacks part of the nervous system. How is Zika related to microcephaly? According to the World Health Organization, there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. In addition, the agency said it could cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis, though conclusive proof may take months or years. Research in Brazil is being conducted to confirm the suspected link to microcephaly, with initial findings expected within months, according to public health officials. Brazil said it has confirmed 944 cases of microcephaly, and considers most of them to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating an additional 4,291 suspected cases of microcephaly. Research in Brazil indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy. Recent studies from other countries have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue. What are the symptoms of Zika infection? People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms. The symptoms are similar to those of dengue or chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same type of mosquito. How can Zika be contained? Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries where they may be exposed to Zika. How widespread is the outbreak? Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 41 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brazil has been the country most affected. (http://1.usa.gov/1ovAJyh) Africa (1): Cape Verde Americas (33): Aruba, Barbados, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela Oceania/Pacific Islands (7): American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Samoa, and Tonga What is the history of the Zika virus? The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations. Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO. Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? The World Health Organization (WHO) said sexual transmission is "relatively common" and has advised pregnant women not to travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of Zika virus. The U.S. CDC is investigating about a dozen cases of possible sexual transmission. All cases involve possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners. On Feb. 27, France said it had detected its first sexually transmitted case of Zika in a woman whose partner had traveled to Brazil. On March 31, the WHO said six countries where Zika is not known to be spreading by mosquitoes have reported locally acquired infections, probably through sexual transmission, naming Argentina, Chile, France, Italy, New Zealand and the United States. British health officials reported Zika was found in a man's semen two months after he was infected, suggesting the virus may linger in semen long after infection symptoms fade. The WHO has advised women, particularly pregnant women, to use condoms. The PAHO said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism. There is no evidence Zika can be transmitted to babies through breast milk. What other complications are associated with Zika? The WHO says because no big Zika outbreaks were recorded before 2007, little is known about complications caused by infection. During an outbreak of Zika from 2013-14 in French Polynesia, national health authorities reported an unusual increase in Guillain-Barre syndrome. Health authorities in Brazil have also reported an increase in Guillain-Barre syndrome. Long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear. Other uncertainties surround the incubation period of the virus and how Zika interacts with other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue. (Compiled by the Americas Desk) Cao Bang (Vietnam) (AFP) - Long a bastion for cheap, fast-fashion manufacturing, a new crop of designers are trying to transform the Made in Vietnam label and save the country's rich ethnic heritage in the process. In the remote hills of Cao Bang, some 300 kilometres north of the capital Hanoi, Vietnamese designer Thao Vu is gleefully dropping swaths of hand-spun cotton into a large bucket of fermented indigo leaves. Her label, Kilomet 109, is at the forefront of Vietnam's new 'ethical fashion' movement -- an approach to design that seeks to maximise benefit to communities while minimising environmental harm. The 38-year-old designer has been tapping into this growing global trend by working with some of Vietnam's 54 ethnic minority groups, each of which have their own unique textiles and traditional clothing designs. "I learn the techniques from them," Thao told AFP, explaining how she has drawn inspiration from Nung women in Phuc Sec village, who use natural dyes and weave on hand looms. She then adds "a more modern, contemporary touch" to style garments that will appeal to clients in fashion capitals like Berlin and New York. But bridging this divide isn't always easy. Thao said the Nung women were shocked when she suggested experimenting with colours outside of their traditional dark indigo shade. "They looked at me like 'what'? And they said: 'if you lived here you wouldn't find a husband,'" Thao told AFP, explaining that crafting the perfect dark indigo fabric dye is a prerequisite for marriage in their community. Thao persevered, and now uses traditional roots and leaves to colour organic silk, cotton, and hemp, which are also manufactured from scratch, in a range of hues from deep indigo to pale grey, and earthy oranges and browns. - Returning to the roots - Vietnam has in recent decades become a hub for massive garment factories that churn out reams of cheap clothes as quickly as possible for fashion giants like Zara, Mango and H&M. Story continues The multi-billion dollar sector has helped drive impressive economic growth but also drawn criticism for weak environmental and labour rights regulations. Yet products made by the country's traditional fabric spinners are inherently eco friendly -- made with natural dyes and textiles, not harsh chemicals or synthetic fibres. And there is not a sweat shop in sight. "At first, I just wanted to keep the traditional techniques alive... but then I realised we need to be concerned about the environmental, ethical side (of fashion) now or it will be too late," said Thao. The designer has already attracted accolades, winning international design awards and selling her wares to high-fashion buyers. The local women who work with her, such as Luong Thi Kim, 40, say they too have benefited from the colloboration. "Before I weaved for personal use but now ... our weaving products can go to other countries. I want to earn money to raise my children," Kim told AFP. Over in central Hue -- the former imperial capital of Vietnam -- another label is also helping local artisans market their skills to the global fashion industry. Fashion4Freedom founder LanVy Nguyen, a former refugee who fled post-war Vietnam in a wooden boat and forged a successful Wall Street career, returned to Vietnam in 1998 and decided to use her venture capital acumen to save ancient artisanal techniques. "We knew these people had generations of skill, we just had to unlock it so the market could appreciate it as we did," LanVy told AFP. Fashion4Freedom stepped in to help, teaching traditional woodworkers, who carve ornate pillars in pagodas or local houses, to learn how to make platform shoes that cost some $600 a pair. Do Quang Thanh, a carpenter, said the idea of making shoes initially struck him as "strange" but he is glad he gave it a try. "In the past I carved traditional wooden houses now I carve shoes in a modern style -- I love the job," he said. - Foreign buyers keen - Jimmy Lepore Hagan, vice president of strategy for high-end US clothing line Nanette Lepore, said he's considering a collaboration with Fashion4Freedom, which also sells luxury jewelry and apparel. "Taking a brand's idea (and) design aesthetic, and matching that with people who have an incredible culture and history and are trying to build something new and exciting for US market is a real opportunity," he added. The head of Vietnam's handicraft export association, Le Ba Ngoc, sees linking Vietnamese artisans with overseas fashion designers as a chance to embrace more sophisticated designs -- what he says is the weak link in the handicraft chain. "It's the major factor holding back foreign and domestic sales," he told AFP. Ensuring consistent quality is also a problem. But his organisation is trying to work with ethnic groups to find ways to modernise their techniques -- such as developing an Indigo powder dye -- while still remaining true to their style. Tripoli (AFP) - Libyan prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj, who is facing the huge task of uniting a country ravaged by divisions, is a novice politician but comes from a family with deep political roots. The Tripoli native, described by childhood friends as warm and engaging but firm when needed, was thrown into the limelight following a December UN-backed power-sharing deal. Since arriving in the capital last week Sarraj has been struggling to assert his government's authority, suffering a setback on Wednesday as the head of a rival Tripoli administration refused to cede power. Sarraj, 56, was born into a wealthy and prominent Libyan family that owned a bookshop and stationary store in downtown Tripoli as well as swathes of land around the capital. A trained architect, Sarraj, who has jet black hair and a white moustache, had a long career in the public sector and was also a businessman. He worked for the social security administration, the public works department and served as a commissioner in charge of supervising public projects. He was well into his 50s when he entered politics, following in the footsteps of his father Mostafa al-Sarraj, a member of parliament and cabinet minister under Libya's deposed King Idriss. Sarraj was elected to parliament in June 2014 but he and fellow lawmakers fled to the eastern city of Tobruk after a militia alliance overran Tripoli and established a rival administration. Two years later and after months of arduous negotiations, the United Nations brokered a power-sharing deal between rival Libyan politicians under which Sarraj was designated prime minister. - 'Calm and level-headed' - The international community pressed reluctant Libyans to endorse the deal, seen as vital to stemming a conflict that has seen the Islamic State group establish a foothold in the country. "His political stature is still very fragile," said Silvia Colombo, a Libya expert with the Rome-based Institute of International Affairs. Story continues She noted, however, that Sarraj took everyone by surprise when he travelled with cabinet ministers to Tripoli last week from self-exile in Tunis. "He sent a very very strong message, more than what had been expected of him, by landing in Tripoli. This was an unexpected gesture... from a man who until then had never been a leader," she said. Sarraj arrived at a naval base in Tripoli last Wednesday amid global hope that his administration will end the chaos that has plagued Libya since Moamer Kadhafi's 2011 overthrow. Friends of Sarraj describe a charismatic figure who should be able to rally support. "Fayez is an extremely kind man who is always willing to listen to others. He is patient and respectful but this does not stop him from being firm and speaking his mind," said Salim Ben Hemeda, a childhood friend, fellow architect and neighbour. Another friend, Rida el-Gontrari, described Sarraj as "calm and level-headed". Sarraj's father was a member of the nationalist Hizb al-Motamar party and had close ties with Bashir al-Saadawi, one of the key figures of Libya's 1951 independence from Italian rule. The prime minister-designate is married to an architect and the couple have three daughters. (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday approved Inflectra, a cheaper version of Johnson & Johnson's drug Remicade, to treat Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and arthritis of the spine. Inflectra, made by South Korea's Celltrion Inc in partnership with Pfizer Inc's Hospira unit, was the second biosimilar approved by the FDA. Celltrion chief executive Kim Hyoung-ki told reporters on Wednesday that Inflectra is expected to be priced about 20 to 30 percent lower than Remicade in the U.S. market, but the final price would need to be decided after discussions with partner Pfizer. Remicade generated annual worldwide sales of $6.5 billion. Of that, $4.5 billion were in the United States. Merck & Co sells Remicade in Europe. Celltrion sells the biosimilar overseas under the brand Remsima. Celltrion said in a statement Inflectra gained more than 20 percent share of the Remicade market in terms of patient numbers in European countries where the copy is sold as of December 2015. The drug was approved by European regulators in 2013 and began sales in Europe's largest countries in February 2015. A year ago, the FDA approved the first biosimilar - Novartis AG's Zarxio, which is similar to Amgen Inc's white blood cell-boosting drug, Neupogen. Remicade and Neupogen are biologic drugs made from living organisms. Copies of biologic products cannot easily be replicated and are known as biosimilar, not generic, because they are similar, not identical, to the original. Remicade, as well as similar drugs made by AbbVie Inc and Amgen Inc, work by blocking an inflammation-causing protein called Tumor Necrosis Factor, or TNF. Dozens of anti-TNF biosimilars are in development. Celltrion said its biosimilar version of Roche's breast cancer biotech drug Herceptin expects to apply for global approval in the second half of this year, and its copy of Roche's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma biotech drug Rituxan, also called MabThera, is currently awaiting European approval after applying in October. Shares in Celltrion were down 5.6 percent as of 0353 GMT, compared to a 0.4 percent gain in the wider market. Analysts said the shares pulled back after gaining about 20 percent in the run-up to the widely expected approval after an FDA panel backed Inflectra in February. (Reporting by Rosmi Shaji in Bengaluru and Joyce Lee in SEOUL; Editing by Peter Cooney and Muralikumar Anantharaman) By Mark Weinraub (Reuters) - Voters in Ferguson, Missouri, rejected a property tax increase that would have helped fund police department reforms mandated under an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department after a 2014 police shooting of a black teenager. City officials said that without the funds they would have to look into cutting costs before the June 30 budget deadline, and may try to put the proposal, known as Proposition P, on the ballot again in August. That proposal, which would have added 40 cents to every $100 of assessed value and raised $600,000 a year, did not meet the required two-thirds threshold to be enacted. It received 57 percent of the vote. "There may be some reduction in services, but we do not believe there will be any major effects to the Consent Decree agreement, or our Community policing model," City Manager De'Carlon Seewood said in a statement, referring to the accord with the Justice Department. Voters approved a new sales tax, which the city has said would generate $1.225 million in annual revenue. It needed a simple majority to pass and received 69 percent. The fatal shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, 18, by a white Ferguson police officer created heightened tension between Ferguson's government and its largely black community. A suburb of St. Louis, Ferguson saw protests and rioting after Brown was killed and again after a grand jury did not indict the officer. Police killings of black men have fueled a nationwide debate over race relations, the use of excessive force by police, and police accountability. A U.S. investigation, the results of which were released in 2015, found systemic racial bias by police in Ferguson. In February, the Justice Department filed a civil rights lawsuit against Ferguson to enforce reforms that called for, among other things, bias-awareness training for officers and a system for police accountability. (Reporting by Mark Weinraub; Editing by Alistair Bell and Fiona Ortiz) MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles will invest $500 million to revamp its Cordoba plant in Argentina where a new model will be produced next year. The new model will be launched in the second half of 2017 and, once fully operational, the plant will have a total production capacity of more than 100,000 vehicles per year. "We have decided to install a new modular platform for the production of a completely new model that will only be produced at this plant, with the majority of production destined for export," FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said at a ceremony on Tuesday in Argentina that was also attended by Argentine President Mauricio Macri. More than 80 percent of the production will be destined for exports, primarily to markets in Latin America. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Crispian Balmer) KABUL (Reuters) - Fighting has broken out between Afghan government forces and Taliban militants in an area in the north where battles destroyed power lines early this year, officials said on Wednesday. The insurgents destroyed power lines in the area in Baghlan province in January, causing nearly a month of power cuts in the capital and adding to concern over Taliban gains in various places since most foreign troops withdrew in late 2014. Taliban forces had captured two government outposts in clashes overnight in the area north of Kabul, not far from the provincial capital of Pul-e-Khumri, said police spokesman Zabiullah Shuja. Thirteen insurgents were killed, along with one civilian and one policeman, he said. Taliban spokesmen were not immediately available for comment. After the January attacks on the grid bringing electricity from central Asia, it took security forces weeks to secure the area and get technicians in to make repairs. Taliban insurgents still freely operate in the area, schools are closed, and people are afraid to leave their homes, said one resident, Mohammed Hussain. Government troops had launched an offensive to blunt the Taliban advance in the area and the situation had stabilized, said Baghlan provincial governor Abdul Satar Barez. (Reporting by Zakaria Nasery; Writing by Josh Smith; Editng by Robert Birsel) SYDNEY (Reuters) - Cyclone Zena, a category three tropical storm with winds in excess of 120 kph (75 mph), is set to hit Fiji within 24 hours as the South Pacific island nation struggles to recover from a devastating cyclone in February. Category five Cyclone Winston, one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere, killed 42 people and flattened settlements in February. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said it could take years for Fiji to recover. With widespread damage to homes across Fiji, many people have returned to shelters used when Cyclone Winston hit. Nearly 80 evacuation centers have been opened with 3,592 people taking shelter there, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We have pretty significant concerns of public health outbreaks," Alice Clements, Fiji representative at the U.N. Children's Agency, UNICEF, told Reuters. "In times of flooding there is an increase in water borne diseases such as diarrhea, eye inflections and the spread of mosquito diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus." (Reporting by Colin Packham; Editing by Michael Perry) SYDNEY (Reuters) - Fijian imposed a nation-wide curfew on Thursday as officials examined damage from a category three cyclone that passed to the south of the South Pacific island nation overnight, two months after a more powerful cyclone wreaked havoc. While the public remained indoors, emergency and essential aid services were being deployed across the country to assess damage from heavy rain and flooding brought by Cyclone Zena, which packed winds in excess of 120 kph (75 mph). In February, category five Cyclone Winston, one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere, killed 42 people and flattened settlements. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said it could take years for Fiji to recover. With widespread damage to homes, many people returned to shelters as Cyclone Zena approached. Nearly 80 evacuation centers were opened with thousands people taking shelter, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Officials were particularly concerned about outlying islands in the archipelago, which bore the brunt of Winston. Aid agencies, meanwhile, were preparing for health problems. "In times of flooding there is an increase in water borne diseases such as diarrhea, eye infections and the spread of mosquito diseases such as dengue fever and the Zika virus," Alice Clements, Fiji representative at the U.N. Children's Agency, UNICEF, told Reuters. The storm, now downgraded to a Category 2 cyclone, is heading toward Tonga. (Reporting by Colin Packham and Jane Wardell; Editing by Robert Birsel) By Suzanne Barlyn and Lisa Lambert WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new U.S. rule aimed at protecting retirement savers from profit-hungry brokers turned out to be much weaker than an initial proposal after the Obama administration bowed to pressure from the financial services industry. The rule, announced by the Department of Labor on Wednesday, sets a so-called fiduciary standard for financial brokers who sell retirement products, requiring them to put clients' best interests ahead of their bottom line. The language is tougher than an existing rule that only requires brokers to ensure products are "suitable." However, the Labor Department did compromise with the industry on a range of provisions. Unlike the draft proposal, the final rule does not restrict brokers from pushing proprietary products, splitting revenue with creators of funds they promote, or recommending risky, high-fee investments in alternative assets and certain annuities. Brokers also got more time to implement the changes, which they said were costly and difficult. The rule will now take full effect on Jan. 1, 2018, compared with an eight-month compliance deadline in the Labor Department's initial proposal. Nonetheless, brokers will now be covered by a fiduciary standard, said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, a consumer advocate who helped shine a national spotlight on the proposal last year. "There's no doubt there is some risk," Warren, a Democrat, said in an interview. "On the other hand, the Department of Labor was not looking to put all proprietary products out of business," Warren said. The goal is to make sure there is "adequate regulation," said Warren, adding that she now believes there will be. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton issued a statement in support of the new rule, saying it will "stop Wall Street from ripping off families" and "save seniors billions." However, Knut Rostad, an investor advocate who chairs the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard, said he was disappointed that the final rule was not tougher, calling it "a major defeat for investors, period." Some leading Republican lawmakers also expressed continued opposition to the rule, saying it would prevent low- and middle-income Americans from saving for retirement or getting access to advice. Several major brokerage firms said they needed time to review the implications, but that they generally supported the idea of a "best interest" rule. Industry trade groups reiterated concerns that the rule could have negative effects. But several Wall Street analysts who cover brokerages, insurers and mutual fund companies affected by the rule said it turned out to be much less onerous than initially feared. Shares of brokerage, mutual fund and life insurance companies showed little reaction to the news. The Labor Department "meaningfully softened" the rule, Morgan Stanley insurance analysts said, characterizing it as "good news for those companies impacted." Wednesday's announcement caps a fierce, six-year battle involving the Labor Department, Wall Street and many U.S. lawmakers. The Department received more than 3,000 letters about the rule and took part in more than 100 meetings. It first issued a proposal in 2010 but rescinded it the following year in response to an enormous industry backlash. A second proposal issued last year also faced criticism. Firms have said the rule would raise compliance costs, and therefore fees, and force them to get rid of Main Street clients and small businesses that offer 401(k) plans. The Labor Department said complying with the rule would cost the brokerage industry up to $31.5 billion over the next decade but produce even bigger gains for investors. Some lawmakers said the Labor Department should hold off until the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission finalizes its own fiduciary rule, which it has been crafting for years. SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar expressed opposition to the final rule on Wednesday. PRIORITY FOR OBAMA President Barack Obama had made a new fiduciary rule a priority for his administration. In a speech at AARP headquarters last year, he said Wall Street brokers were bilking retirees out of billions of dollars in savings through hidden fees and that he intended to ensure the industry put clients' interests first. "If expecting retirement advisers to act in their clients' best interest sounds like it's pretty obvious and it's pretty obviously the right thing to do it's because it is," Jeff Zients, director of the White House's National Economic Council, said in a call with reporters. Although the final rule did include the best-interest provision, it made plenty of concessions. For example, the draft listed types of assets that advisers could recommend to steer retail investors away from certain high-risk products. The final version eliminates that list, mostly in response to the financial industry's concerns, the Labor Department said. Brokerages and lawmakers were also concerned about an earlier requirement that brokers sign contracts with clients at initial meetings. The document was to include investment projections, fee disclosures and other detailed information. The contracts are required in the final rule, but can be as short as a paragraph, signed later and tucked into paperwork that customers sign when opening new accounts, Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said. The final version also loosened guidelines on pay, allowing advisers to collect "common types of compensation," such as commissions and revenue-sharing, where brokerages receive payments from mutual-fund companies to help promote products. (Additional reporting by Tariro Mzezewa; Editing by Lauren Tara LaCapra and Tom Brown) The annual Microsoft Build Developer Conference has gotten progressive more interesting over the past few years, but there wasn't quite as much to get excited about in 2016. But that's not to say there weren't any announcement, with one of the biggest centering around the Windows 10 Anniversary Update. READ MORE: 24 hours with the HTC Vive was enough to turn me into a VR believer Some of the new features that Microsoft will be introducing in the update: Windows Hello: Easily sign into your device with enterprise-grade security. Windows Ink: Write on your device as you do on paper, creating sticky notes, drawing on a whiteboard, and easily sharing your analog thoughts in the digital world. Cortana Upgrades: Available above the lock screen; a new Cortana Collection in the Windows Store; proactive suggestions. Xbox One: Universal Windows apps on the Xbox One; Xbox Dev Mode; unified Windows Store. Those are the highlights, but it's the improved Start menu that seems to be getting the most attention. In order to make it easier for users to access apps from the Start menu, Microsoft has added a new All Apps list button to the top-left corner of the menu, as you can see in this GIF from Microsoft software engineer Jen Gentleman: https://twitter.com/JenMsft/status/716844501789069312 The Settings and Power buttons have also been moved to the new bar on the left side of the menu. It's not a drastic change, but it should make for a cleaner Start menu. Related stories Microsoft's HoloLens will soon let you simulate walking on Mars 3 key announcements from Microsoft's Build conference How to watch the live stream of Microsoft's Build 2016 conference at 11:30AM ET More from BGR: We may already know who died in that terrible Walking Dead cliffhanger This article was originally published on BGR.com Miami (AFP) - Unmarried couples in Florida now can live together without running afoul of the law, after the governor signed a bill Wednesday striking a measure which made cohabitation a crime. Cohabitation, illegal for a century-and-a-half in Florida, was punishable by a fine of up to $500 and as much as 60 days in jail. That changed when Governor Rick Scott signed the legislation passed by Florida's House of Representatives revoking the 1868 law. The law stated that it was illegal for "any man and woman, not being married to each other (to) lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together." Officials said that the law was rarely enforced, except in cases where other crimes had also been committed. Several US states have removed cohabitation laws from the books in recent years, but they remain in force in two states -- Mississippi and Michigan. By Keith Bliss, Cuttone & Co. Once again transparency takes center stage in todays trade Like most Fed related items, the release today of the FOMC minutes from the March meeting will undoubtedly be poured over for any clues as to monetary policy changes. Interestingly, the most talked about clue to be found is who is on Team Yellen and who isnt. This is a somewhat gossipy analysis, but will be used to determine if she still has control of the FOMC for her vision or if the "hawks" are seizing control. It is a fairly light day data-wise, so I expect a quiet trade until the release at 2:00 p.m. ET. Of course, the minutes may just be the appetizer, as Yellen is due to participate in panel discussion with former Fed chairs Bernanke, Greenspan, and Volckwhich should be interesting, indeed. Will we hear anything that will move markets? I doubt it. But, as I wrote last week, in the age of Fed transparency, the market has become a slave to anything Fed-related. Earnings are coming into focus and unofficially kick off next Monday Much of the markets recent apathy can be attributed to the unusual convergence of events and holidays. The Easter break and many school spring break holidays were earlier than normal and fell before we get to an important earnings season. After the mighty run-up from February 11, this break has afforded traders of all stripes to take a breath and think about repositioning. In a period like this, we inevitably see low volumes with a sideways-trending market into indecision. First quarter earnings are due to be poor. Sure there will be pockets that outperform, but the overall expectation for the market is a year-on-year earnings decline in the 7-10% range. If thats the case, this would be the fourth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings declines. We havent seen a performance like that since 2008-2009. What that may forecast for the U.S. economy is anyones guess, but I can be reasonably sure that poor earnings, and more importantly, top-line sales performance, wont be good for valuations. Story continues A word about policy and inversions Whatever one may think about the moral obligation for corporations to pay their fair share of taxes (whatever the arbitrary term fair share means), they also have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders (many of whom are individuals that own shares in a company through pensions, 401ks, mutual funds, or retail accounts) to maximize the value of that ownership. That means limiting their expensesincluding taxesas much as possible. The recent volley by Secretary Lew to stop serial inverters is a troubling development. These corporations have done nothing wrong and are simply acting within the rule of the law (a turn of phrase uttered relentlessly yesterday by President Obama to justify why corporations should stay in the U.S. and pay a federal and state tax rate that often runs close to 40%) to do what is right by its owners, the shareholders. This hasty rush-to-rules setting has cratered the Pfizer/Allergan deal. As a result, the shareholders of both companies have now paid their fair share and then some. Allergan lost $15B in market value once the deal collapsed, and Pfizer will now pay a $400 million breakup fee. By the way, thats $400 million that wont be used for research, jobs, or to pay taxes. This edict from Treasury is troubling because it does not solve the problem, makes the U.S. less competitive, essentially sets tax policy without the involvement of Congress, and will undoubtedly have unintended consequences. In a world where a traditionally liberal society like Great Britain is reducing its corporate tax rate to 17% by 2020 to attract businesses, jobs, and additional tax revenue, we should be doing the same. Politics should stand aside and let rational economic policies prevail. Paris (AFP) - The former leader of France's far-right National Front (FN), Jean-Marie Le Pen, was fined 30,000 euros ($34,000) Wednesday for repeating his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a "detail" of history. A Paris court found 87-year-old Le Pen guilty of the charge of denying crimes against humanity. The court rejected Le Pen's claim that he had parliamentary immunity from prosecution. The judges ordered the verdict to be published in three newspapers and said Le Pen must also pay 10,001 euros in damages to three charities which brought the case. Le Pen, who has been succeeded by his daughter Marine as FN leader, first made the comments about the gas chambers in 1987. He repeated them in 1997 in Germany and then in 2008 and 2009 in the European Parliament. He returned to the subject in April last year, telling BFMTV: "Gas chambers were a detail of the war, unless we accept that the war is a detail of the gas chambers." The comments sparked a row with his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who has tried to move the party away from its anti-Semitic and racist image. She has expelled her father from the party amid a bitter feud. Lala-Tepe heights (Azerbaijan) (AFP) - Azerbaijani and Armenian forces on Wednesday said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. "The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline," said the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh. Azerbaijan's defence ministry reported isolated firing from the Armenian side but said its forces were "strictly abiding by the ceasefire agreement" reached in Moscow on Tuesday by the army chiefs of the two former Soviet states. Later in the day the Azeri army said its troops had come under heavy fire in several front-line areas -- a claim that was later denied by the Armenian side. Armenian defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that sporadic shooting continued on Wednesday "including from tanks" but that it was "not as intensive" as during the previous days. An AFP photographer in the village of Matagis in Karabakh, some 10 kilometres (six miles) from the frontline, confirmed that the situation was calm. The fragile truce comes after at least 75 people were reported killed in the worst fighting over the disputed mountainous region since it was captured from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists in the early 1990s. Azerbaijan's army claimed to have wrested back control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since an inconclusive truce ended a three-year war in 1994. The military said it took control of the strategic Lala-Tepe and Talysh heights and the village of Seysulan. "Azerbaijani troops are currently reinforcing the liberated territories," the defence ministry in Baku said in a statement. An AFP journalist in Lala-Tepe heights confirmed that the area was under Azerbaijani control. Story continues Armenia however dismissed the Azeri claims to have regained ground as "untrue". - Shuttle diplomacy Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian on Wednesday urged the international community to respect Karabakh's right to determine its own future. Speaking after a long-planned meeting in Berlin with Chancellor Angela Merkel, he took a swipe at Armenian ally Russia, saying it was "painful for us that Russia and other countries... sell weapons to Azerbaijan". Merkel called on the two sides "to do everything in their power to stop the bloodshed and loss of life" and said international mediation was "of the greatest urgency". The German leader also said she would host Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev for talks in June. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Russia of siding with Armenia in the conflict, saying the Kremlin -- with which Turkey has been at loggerheads since shooting down a Russian jet in November -- was meddling in Karabakh like it did in Ukraine and Syria. "Russia likes taking sides, it has done so in Ukraine, Georgia and today in Syria," said the Turkish strongman, who himself has openly expressed support for Azerbaijan, declaring that "Karabakh will one day return to its original owner". Envoys from the US, France and Russia -- who co-chair the so-called "Minsk Group" that has long mediated Karabakh peace talks -- reportedly met with Aliyev in the Azeri capital Baku on Wednesday and called on both sides to step up efforts to end the fighting. Putin on Tuesday urged both Azerbaijan and Armenia to "ensure" the truce holds. Both sides accuse each other of triggering the latest outbreak of violence, which has sparked concern of a wider conflict in the region. Azerbaijan said 31 of its soldiers and four civilians died in the bloodshed, while Karabakh's separatist authorities reported the deaths of 35 military and five civilians during the fierce clashes that erupted on Friday night. The bloodshed is the worst since the early 1990s, when Armenia-backed separatists seized control of Nagorny Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region inside Azerbaijan, in a war that claimed some 30,000 lives. The two sides have never signed a peace deal, despite a 1994 ceasefire, and sporadic violence along the line of contact regularly claims the lives of soldiers on both sides. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway region by force. PARIS (Reuters) - French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday appointed to a different post a diplomat he had originally nominated as ambassador to the Holy See, who media said had been rejected by the Vatican because he was gay. France proposed Laurent Stefanini, the president's head of protocol, for the Vatican position in January last year. The Vatican did not confirm the posting for months, a delay French and Italian media attributed to his homosexuality. On Wednesday, France named Stefanini ambassador to UNESCO, the Paris-based cultural agency of the United Nations, the minutes of the cabinet's weekly meeting showed. Last year, the French Catholic newspaper La Croix cited an unnamed source as saying the Vatican considered it a "provocation" that France's Socialist government, which in 2013 legalized gay marriages, had proposed a gay man for the post. Pope Francis has maintained Church teaching on homosexuality but struck a more sympathetic personal tone towards gay people. He has said he could not judge gay people of good will who were seeking God, and met members of a Catholic gay rights group in the Vatican. But he has given no sign of easing rules against gay unions or changing the Church's teaching that homosexual acts are sinful, even if homosexuality itself is not. (Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by John Irish, Larry King) Paris (AFP) - France on Wednesday abandoned its attempts to name a gay man as ambassador to the Holy See in the face of opposition from the Vatican, making him its representative to UNESCO instead. The nomination of Laurent Stefanini, President Francois Hollande's head of protocol, to the job at the UN's Paris-based educational, cultural and scientific body ends a year of diplomatic wrangling. Hollande proposed Stefanini for the Vatican job in January 2015 but when no confirmation from the Holy See was forthcoming, French and Italian media reported he had been snubbed due to his homosexuality. French Catholic paper La Croix said last year the Vatican considered it a "provocation" that Stefanini had been put forward and some reports said it was the Vatican's revenge for Hollande's Socialist government legalising same-sex marriage in 2013. Government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said in April last year that Stefanini remained "France's choice". A statement released after the meeting of the French cabinet on Wednesday did not give the new name put forward by Paris for the Vatican position. Stefanini, 56, worked on Vatican affairs while working in a lower-ranking diplomatic role between 2001 and 2005. He became head of presidential protocol in 2010 under then president Nicolas Sarkozy and retained the role when Hollande came to power two years later. Paris (AFP) - France on Wednesday urged the OECD to place Panama on its "blacklist" of tax havens following the so-called Panama Papers scandal. "I want the OECD to meet so that the same decision (as France) is taken by all the countries concerned," French Finance Minister Michel Sapin told Europe 1 radio. Sapin had told parliament on Tuesday that France would put Panama back on its list of "uncooperative countries." "Unfortunately Panama has a bit of a tendency to make u-turns, to play the good guy and then the bad guy. This cannot go on," Sapin said. He said France "must not be alone" in putting the Central American nation back on a "tax haven" list. "It has to be a general move." Panama's government threatened Tuesday that it could hit back if France took the step, by taking measures including blocking foreign investment or withholding public tenders. Paris (AFP) - French lawmakers passed a controversial law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to 3,750 euros ($4,270) on prostitutes' clients. Around 60 sex workers staged a noisy protest outside parliament during the final debate on the bill that will affect the livelihoods of at least 30,000 prostitutes in France, four in five of whom are foreign. Some carried a banner reading "Don't liberate me, I'll take care of myself!", while another poster read, in English, "Sex work is work". Backed by the Socialist government, the legislation has been nearly two and a half years in the making. All European countries penalise pimping, but France will become only the fifth to punish the clients of prostitutes, along with Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Britain. Sweden in 1999 became the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay for sex, in a bid to lower demand. In France, predominantly right-wing senators have opposed the ban on paying for sex, which will be punishable by a 1,500-euro fine for first offenders, increasing to 3,750 euros for repeat offenders. But after previous debates in both chambers of parliament ended in deadlock, the lower house, dominated by the left, had the final say. The proposal introduced in October 2013 has divided public opinion in France, prompting a group of 343 public figures to issue what they called a "scumbags' manifesto" asserting the right to use prostitutes. The signatories, who included journalists, writers and actors, said they resented being depicted as "perverts or psychopaths" and refused to allow "deputies (to) legislate norms on our desires and our pleasures". Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier, the architect of the bill, has argued repeatedly that prostitutes should be seen as "victims and no longer as delinquents". The new law will supersede a little enforced 2003 measure penalising the solicitation of clients for sex. Story continues - 'Changing the mentality' - "This law is essential to ending the idea that it is normal to buy someone's body," Olivier told AFP. "We will succeed in changing the mentality, but new efforts are needed to raise awareness, to train police officers and magistrates." The new law will also require offenders to take a course to learn about the conditions faced by sex workers. The bill calls for measures -- backed by an annual budget of 4.8 million euros -- to help prostitutes find other jobs and a six-month residency permit for foreign sex workers. The bulk of sex workers in France are from eastern Europe, Africa, China and Latin America. The law will "increase police repression (and) degrade working conditions" a member of the Strass sex workers union said at Wednesday's protest. Around 20 people held a counter-demonstration nearby waving a banner reading "Prostitution, Just One Option, Abolition". On Tuesday, 13 associations that support prostitutes joined forces to condemn the law which they said threatened the livelihoods of sex workers and was "essentially repressive". "We already see the consequences. Those who can afford to have left for neighbouring countries, while others are looking for... procurers to put them in contact with clients," said Morgane Merteuil, another Strass member said earlier. Critics also point to the difficulty of proving payment for sex, since the money usually changes hands in private. And those who buy sex over the Internet are unlikely to be caught by the new law, experts say. "Dating websites are one of the main ways to connect prostitutes and clients," said sociologist Laurent Melito. "Then people call each other. How are you going to control that?" The kinds of algorithms used to block child pornography and jihadist recruitment cannot be used to combat prostitution because the "risk of error" is too great, communications researcher Olivier Ertzscheid told AFP. Sydney (AFP) - Australia's largest resources project will stop production for up to 60 days owing to mechanical issues, US energy giant Chevron said Wednesday, in the latest setback to hit the US$54 billion plant. Chevron's Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia's northwest coast -- one of the world's biggest -- started production in early March and began shipping fuel a few weeks later after delays and cost overruns. "Chevron Australia today advised that liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at the Gorgon Project ... has been temporarily halted due to mechanical issues with the propane refrigerant circuit on Train 1 at the plant site," the company said in a statement. Chevron added that there were ongoing repairs at the production unit and a "restart of the plant within 30-60 days is estimated at this time". The project has had its share of troubles with its isolated location, labour shortages and strict environmental conditions blowing out costs by billions of dollars and leading to a two-year delay in its start-up. The Gorgon asset is part of the US multinational's push to position itself as a major LNG supplier, particularly to the Asia-Pacific, by 2020. The first shipment was delivered to Chubu Electric Power, one of the smaller partners (0.417 percent) in the joint venture, and arrived in Japan on Wednesday, Chevron said. Chevron owns 47.3 percent of the venture with other partners Shell and ExxonMobil, which each hold 25 percent, and Japanese firms Osaka Gas (1.25 percent) and Tokyo Gas (1.0 percent). The energy company said it still expected the production unit to lift output to full capacity over six to eight months. The announcement came two weeks after Australian energy company Woodside indefinitely shelved a more than US$40 billion gas project off the country's west coast because of plunging energy prices. Australia has several other LNG plants in the pipeline and is predicted to overtake Qatar as the world's biggest liquid natural gas producer by 2020. It's last call for Kocktails With Khloe. FYI has pulled the plug on Khloe Kardashian's primetime talk show, with the final episode set to air on April 20, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The final episode of the series will feature special guests Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen. "FYI and Pilgrim Media Group appreciate everyone's great work on the series and are pleased that the show brought new viewers and significant numbers to FYI's linear and digital platforms," FYI and Pilgrim Media Group, which produces the series, said in a joint statement. "We are grateful to have had the opportunity to work with Khloe and thank her for her hard work and unique voice that she brought to the series." The decision is especially shocking given that it comes two months after FYI gave the primetime talk show an order for 15 additional episodes on top of the original eight-episode order Kocktails had received back in July 2015, when it was greenlit to series. That would have brought Kocktails With Khloe's season one count to 23 episodes. However, just 14 hourlong episodes of the show will be produced when the series goes off the air later this month. Read More: Khloe Kardashian Talks Lamar, 'The People v. O.J. Simpson' and Her FYI Talk Show The series was originally set to premiere in December 2015, but was pushed back to a January 2016 launch. Although a reason was not given for the delay at the time, many speculated that it had to do with the health struggles of Kardashian's estranged husband, Lamar Odom. When speaking with critics in January, Kardashian said that nothing would be off-limits for the talk show, which saw the reality star welcome a mix of family and friends to discuss various subject matters over drinks. "It's such a conversational show [and Lamar's health] does come up because it's my life," she said when asked about her estranged husband. Story continues For FYI, the show was an important step in establishing the young lifestyle network, which is less than two years old. FYI also has shows with reality stars including Bethenny Frankel and Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi of Jersey Shore fame. FYI's senior vp programming and development Gena McCarthy served as an executive producer on Kocktails alongside Kardashian and Pilgrim Group head Craig Piligian (The Ultimate Fighter, Fast N' Loud, Wicked Tuna). In addition to Kocktails, Kardashian also still stars on E!'s long-running Keeping Up With the Kardashians and is also set to host and exec produce a makeover show for the cabler, Revenge Body With Khloe Kardashian. LIBREVILLE (Reuters) - Gabon's former parliament speaker Guy Nzouba Ndama said on Tuesday he would run against the incumbent Ali Bongo for the presidency of the central African oil producer. The announcement is the latest blow for Bongo, who has been grappling with the formation of a breakaway faction of his Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) and the resignation of about a dozen parliamentarians, including Ndama. Bongo's announcement that he would seek re-election before the party confirmed his candidacy at its convention rankled some within PDG and dissidents have complained of dysfunction within the party and said Bongo has mismanaged the country. Speaking at a rally attended by 2,000 people in the capital Libreville, Ndama said he would run as an independent in the election in August. Despite the turmoil, Bongo, who came to power in 2009 after the death of his father, longtime ruler Omar Bongo, is expected to win a second seven-year term under a single-round electoral system that critics say favours the incumbent. Ndama, who headed the National Assembly for nearly two decades and who campaigned for Bongo in 2009, cited personal attacks on him by the government in his resignation letter last week. Former African Union commission chief Jean Ping has also announced his intention to run for president. (Reporting by Gerauds Wilfried Obangome; Writing by Marine Pennetier; Editing by Makini Brice) Russian-born Daria Gavrilova will make her Fed Cup debut for Australia this month in a World Group play-off against the United States, officials said Wednesday. The 22-year-old is in the team along with Samantha Stosur, Casey Dellacqua and Arina Rodionova to play on April 16-17 for the right to rejoin the competition's elite World Group. "We're thrilled for Dasha (Gavrilova) to make her Fed Cup debut for Australia on home soil next weekend and we know she'll bring great energy and a fighting spirit to the team," captain Alicia Molik said. Gavrilova, only recently cleared to play for her new country, was a breakout star at this year's Australian Open -- making it to the fourth round -- and is currently ranked world number 37. Molik said former US Open champion Stosur, ranked 26th in the world, would also enjoy the opportunity to play in her home town of Brisbane. "The USA has been dominant in Fed Cup competition for many decades and we know it will be a tough assignment... but we're ready for the challenge and really looking forward to the tie," Molik added. The clash is the 14th Fed Cup meeting between the nations, with the US ahead 8-5. It will be their first encounter since 1985. By David Beasley ATLANTA (Reuters) - The U.S. state of Georgia on Thursday executed a man convicted of beating another man to death with a wooden closet rod in 1994, a prison spokeswoman said. Joshua Bishop, 41, who had also admitted to being involved in a second murder, died by injection at 9:27 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, said Lisa Rodriguez-Presley, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Corrections. His execution was the third in Georgia this year and the 10th in the United States, the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center said. Bishop told police he had wanted to take the car of a man who was sleeping inside a friend's mobile home after they had been out for a night of partying. He reached into the pocket of Leverett Morrison, 35, to take his car keys, but Morrison awoke and Bishop beat him with a rod, a court document said. "I hit him too hard, I reckon, and he didn't say anything," Bishop told police in Milledgeville, Georgia, court records show. "He just wouldn't breathe." Bishop dumped the victim's body and burned his car with the help of the man living in the mobile home, Mark Braxley, who avoided a death sentence by pleading guilty. Bishop was executed after losing last-minute appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts. Bishop was never offered a plea deal, his attorneys said in a clemency petition filed on Monday with Georgia's State Board of Pardons and Paroles. Bishop has been "haunted by his crimes," his attorneys wrote, asking for his sentence to be commuted to life without parole. The parole board denied his petition on Thursday. Bishop was heavily intoxicated when he killed Morrison, the petition stated, and had suffered an abusive childhood, during which he was frequently homeless and often hungry. Bishop also confessed to involvement in the killing of Ricky Lee Wills two weeks before Morrison's death but was never tried on that charge, according to court records. The evidence of the first killing was not introduced until the penalty phase of his trial for Morrison's murder. Story continues Bishop accepted a final prayer and recorded a final statement, Rodriguez-Presley said in a news release, but did not provide his words. Bishop requested a last meal on Thursday of a barbecue sandwich, Brunswick stew, potato chips, coleslaw, lemonade and purple candy, the Georgia Department of Corrections said. On Wednesday a U.S. appeals court halted the execution of a Texas man who killed his two young daughters in 2001. (Editing by Bill Trott and Clarence Fernandez) Berlin (AFP) - German prosecutors on Wednesday announced a preliminary probe into a TV satirist who crudely insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on air in the midst of a row with Turkey over freedom of expression. Comedian Jan Boehmermann accused Erdogan, among other things, of having sex with goats and sheep in his "Defamatory Poem" that, a smiling Boehmermann declared on air, openly breaches Germany's legal limits to free speech. About 20 viewers agreed and launched criminal complaints over the offending clip, which Chancellor Angela Merkel through a spokesman labelled "deliberately insulting". Prosecutors in the western city of Mainz, where public broadcaster ZDF is based, have now opened a probe to assess whether the poem screened a late-night show at the end of March indeed constitutes a criminal offence. "It could be a violation of section 103 of the criminal code -- insulting organs or representatives of foreign states," which carries up to three years' jail, prosecution spokesman Gerd Deutschler told AFP. The prosecutors would ask ZDF to provide them with the footage which was taken offline on April 1, he said, adding that for a criminal case to proceed the Turkish government would have to file an official complaint. In the German-language rhyme Boehmermann, seated before the Turkish flag and a portrait of Erdogan, also charges that the Turkish leader loves to "repress minorities, kick Kurds and beat Christians while watching child porn". The comedian was reacting to Ankara's decision to call in Germany's ambassador in protest over a previous satirical song broadcast on German TV which lampooned Erdogan in far tamer language. The two-minute clip "Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan", set to the tune of a 1980s pop song, takes aim at the Turkey president over his alleged spending excesses and his government's crackdown on civil liberties. Berlin's muted response to Turkey's diplomatic protest sparked criticism in Germany that Merkel's government was kowtowing to the Turkish leader because Europe needs him to curb the influx of migrants setting sail for the EU from Turkey's shores. After his own clip was taken off air and the internet, Boehmermann noted ironically that he and his employer had now "demonstrated the limits of satire in Germany, finally!" Zurich (AFP) - Swiss commodities giant Glencore announced Wednesday it was selling nearly half of its vast agriculture business to a Canadian pension fund for $2.5 billion (2.2 billion euros), in cash. Glencore said it would sell 40 percent of its Agricultural Products business to a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB). "The proceeds from the transaction will be used by Glencore to reduce net indebtedness," said the company, which is undergoing a dramatic restructuring to trim its towering debt. The deal announced Wednesday, which is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close during the second half of the year, values Glencore's entire Agricultural Products business at $6.25 billion. It also recognises $600 million in debt and $3.0 billion in working capital, which Glencore said it "intends to finance with short term debt on closing." "We are pleased to be partnering with CPPIB as we embark on the next stage of the development of Glencore Agri," Glencore chief Ivan Glasenberg said in the statement. The deal is only the latest in a long line of shifts Glencore has announced in recent months to cut back its debt-load, which at the end of 2015 stood at nearly $26 billion, including scrapping its dividend, suspending production at a number of mines, and selling off assets. Mark Jenkins, the senior managing director at CPPIB also hailed the deal. "As an asset class, agriculture is an excellent fit for a long-term investor like CPPIB, and we are excited about the opportunity to acquire a significant stake in Glencore Agri," he said. At arm's length from the Canadian government, the CPPIB invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to pay current benefits to 19 million pension contributors, placing the funds in equities, real estate, infrastructure, and fixed income instruments. At the end of 2015, the CPP Fund totalled nearly $283 billion. Story continues Glencore Agri meanwhile trades major agricultural commodities like grains, oilseeds products, rice, sugar and cotton, and counts more than 200 storage facilities, 31 processing facilities, and 23 ports worldwide. When the deal closes, Glencore Agri will continue to be run by current chief Chris Mahoney and will be governed by its own board of directors, including two appointed by CPPIB and two appointed by Glencore. In addition, the two sides have agreed to an initial four-year lock-up period during which Glencore can sell CPPIB up to a further 20-percent stake in the agri-business, and to a provision allowing either side to call for the business to go public after eight years. Last year, the worlds military spending increased for the first time in four years, a directional shift that may herald even higher spending on armaments and operations in years to come, according to new data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The world heaped more than $1.6 trillion on military programs and personnel in 2015, roughly 1 percent more than in 2014, a SIPRI analyst declared at the nonpartisan Stimson Center in Washington, D.C. on April 5. The increase follows four years of decline, which was preceded by 12 years of steady increases. So the brief falloff is over, and the familiar routine is back. The dynamic for state spending has changed everywhere, Aude Fleurant, Director of the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme at SIPRI said during a panel discussion. Many non-western countries in particular increased their military spending in 2015, she said. Theres a possibility that this is a transitional year. Fleurant added. If spending continues to rise, it would make the decreases between 2011 and 2014 insignificant, she said. Fleurant noted, however, that the evidence was not clearcut, because some countries boosted spending due to conflicts while others cut spending due to economic pressures. Its a very interesting moment, Gordon Adams, a former White House budget official and emeritus professor at American University said at the Stimson event. The era of the drawdown is over. In 2015, the United States was still the worlds largest military spender its $596 billion accounting for 36 percent of the worlds military spending, according to SIPRIs data. China was in a distant second place, increasing its defense spending by 7.4 percent to reach an estimated $215 billion. Saudi Arabia surpassed Russia to become the third largest defense spender, spending $87.2 billion in 2015. Russian military spending was estimated at $66.4 billion. Current U.S. spending is well below the $711.3 billion spent in 2011, and 2.4 percent lower than in 2014, SIPRI said. Overall U.S. and Western European military spending remains lower than it was in 2006. But the Obama administration has proposed to boost U.S. military spending by roughly 0.4 percent in 2017, making the decline probably the most shallow. that weve seen since the end of the Second World War, Adams said. Story continues This story is part of Up in Arms. National security-related events, reports and findings that deserve more attention. Click here to read more stories in this series. Don't miss another National Security investigation: Sign up for the Center for Public Integrity's Watchdog email. SIPRIs tallies include spending on the armed forces, defense ministries, paramilitary forces, military research, space activities and peacekeeping forces. Overall spending in Asia, East Europe, and Oceania went up. Conflict in Ukraine pushed spending by Central European countries up by 13 percent. A drop in global oil prices moderated an expected military spending increase in Russia, SIPRI said, and forced South American military spending to drop by 4 percent in 2015. Countries such as Venezuela, Ecuador and Brazil in particular had much less to spend. SIPRI was unable to provide a regional estimate for the Middle East, noting large uncertainties about military spending in Kuwait, Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. For nations such as China, SIPRI could only provide an estimate, since China does not publicize all its spending and SIPRI draws its conclusions from official statements and open source spending data. Several Central Asian republics do not publish figures, and Saudi Arabia only announces what they plan to spend, not what they actually spent. Lauren Chadwick is a Herbert Scoville Jr. Fellow at the Center for Public Integrity. This story is part of Up in Arms. National security-related events, reports and findings that deserve more attention. Click here to read more stories in this series. Related stories Copyright 2016 The Center for Public Integrity. This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C. Researchers in Argentina say they have genetically modified an adenovirus - which can cause colds, conjunctivitis and bronchitis - to home in on cancer, killing tumor cells in patients without harming healthy tissue. Scientists have long been intrigued by the idea of using viruses to alert the immune system to seek and destroy cancerous cells. That interest has taken off in recent years as advances in genetic engineering allow them to customize viruses that target tumors. Dr. Osvaldo Podhjacer, Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Therapy at the Fundacion Instituto Leloir in Buenos Aires, and his team developed an 'oncolytic' virus designed to target both malignant cells and tumor-associated stromal cells. In February, Unleash Immuno Oncolytics announced it had entered a license agreement with Leloir Institute to develop immuno-oncology products for cancer treatment in Saint Louis. Unleash's leading product, developed thanks to work by Podhjacer, is called UIO-512. Dr. Podhjacer explained how the virus helps to attack cancer. "This is a virus, which, by genetic modification, we have restricted their infectivity exclusively to malignant cells, in spite of the fact, originally, the virus can infect normal cells and cause colds, conjunctivitis and bronchitis. Why immunotherapy? Because in addition to the changes we have made to restrict the infection only to malignant cells, it also has a gene that exacerbates the immune response. Then there is a direct attack on the tumor initial and an additional immunological response which in principle eliminates the residual tumor, which was not eliminated by the virus and disseminated metastases," Dr. Podhjacer said. Scientific journal Nature reported in October last year that cancer-fighting viruses had started to win approval. Researchers hope that ongoing clinical trials of similar oncolytic viruses and their approval will generate the enthusiasm and cash needed to spur further development of the approach. "These viruses are very effective in pre-clinical models of cancer, we have tested and in particular, ovarian cancer and melanoma but we also have other viruses for pancreatic and colon rectal cancer. These are non-toxic and they are as important as their therapeutic efficacy, where we have managed to reverse the levels of liver enzymes to a normal level with animals that have a tumor. These levels become very high due to the toxicity. In general terms, it allows us to qualify this virus as an ideal candidate to be taken to a clinical trial in humans beings," Dr. Podhjacer, said. Professor Lawrence Young, a cancer specialist from the University of Warwick, said that while similar research has been ongoing for many years, Podhjacer's team had added a mechanism to influence the cells surrounding the cancer tumor. "To be honest, it's not particularly novel. What they have done, however, which is a bit interesting is introduce a new bell or a new whistle, if you like, in terms of the virus, which is to also have an effect on some of the supporting cells. So one of the things that's very exciting about current cancer biology is an increased understanding of the fact that while you've got cancer cells and tumor cells, which are important targets; actually there's a lot of supporting cells around the cancer that also get modified in that environment and start to mis-behave," Young told Reuters. Podhajcer said that the virus attacks the entire tumor mass, not only the malignant cells themselves but also the stromal cells that support cancer dissemination. "We have prepared a virus with the ability to study everything that is characteristic of the tumor and to attack all the cells of the tumor. In other words, we have an approach different to what has been done to this day today, even within what is being used in the oncolytic therapy using these viruses which also generate secondary immune responses. In other words, it is a disruptive technology and we also add something that is unique to our research," Podhajcer said. Professor Young cautioned that there are a number of hurdles for the therapy to overcome. In addition to the cost implications for eventually making it widely available, he said that the body's own immune system could make subsequent doses of a treatment increasingly less effective. "Some of those immune responses will target the tumor, some won't. And so the degree to which you can re-use these viruses is a problem because as you get an immune response to them, as soon as you then expose a patient to a second or third dose their immune system starts to think "wait a minute, we've seen that before, we're going to wipe it out". So these are very challenging therapies," he said. According to the journal Nature, the strategy builds on a phenomenon which has been recognized for more than a century. Physicians in the 1800s first noted their cancer patients sometimes unexpectedly went into remission after experiencing a viral infection. Based on these reports, doctors in the 1950s and 1960s were then inspired to start injecting cancer patients with a menagerie of viruses. Sometimes the therapy destroyed the tumor, and on occasion it killed the person instead. According to Professor Young, however, the field of immunotherapy has advanced rapidly in the past ten years and there is a great deal of positivity for what the future holds in the fight against cancer. "I think that there's so much excitement about this now, and so much excitement about being able to use non-viral approaches to delivering drugs and genes, that it's quite clear that over the next ten years or so, we're going to see more of these therapies, especially in the more difficult to manage tumors," he said. High-Paying Graduate Degree Jobs Graduate school is a major commitment in terms of time and money. But the return on investment can be high because a more advanced credential may open the door to opportunities for higher-paying jobs. The following careers, listed in alphabetical order, are a few examples of where a graduate degree can lead to a job with an annual salary of more than $100,000. Computer and Information Systems Manager Computer and information systems managers, sometimes called IT managers, are responsible for directing the maintenance and improvement of their organization's technology systems. The median annual salary for this type of manager is $131,600, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The job outlook for computer and information systems managers is positive: The BLS estimates 15 percent growth in the number of IT manager jobs from 2014 to 2024. Dentist A career in dentistry is ranked one of the top job options out there in the 2016 U.S. News Best Jobs rankings. Dentists earn a median salary of $152,700, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The job outlook for the occupation will give aspiring dentists something to smile about: The BLS projects 18 percent growth in this occupation from 2014 to 2024. Financial Manager Financial managers develop strategies to help organizations meet their long-term financial goals. Examples of types of financial managers include chief financial officers, controllers and risk managers. Workers in this profession earn a median salary of $117,990, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS predicts employment growth of 7 percent from 2014 to 2024 for this occupation. Lawyers A law degree can lead to jobs in many different fields, such as intellectual property law or real estate law. The median salary for attorneys is $115,820, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This occupation's outlook for growth is 6 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the BLS. This is just below the average rate of growth for all occupations during this period, which is 7 percent. Story continues Mathematician Those with a graduate degree in math might research mathematical theories or work to apply mathematical techniques in fields such as science and management. Mathematicians bring home a median annual salary of $111,110, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Students with an interest in numbers will be encouraged to hear that the BLS predicts that the number of jobs for mathematicians will increase 21 percent from 2014 to 2024. Nurse Anesthetist Nurse anesthetists deliver anesthesia to patients and provide related care before, during and after medical procedures. According to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurse anesthetists earn a median salary of $157,140. The BLS predicts the number of nurse anesthetist jobs, which require a master's degree, to grow 19 percent from 2014 to 2024. Optometrist Optometrists perform eye examinations, prescribe glasses or contacts and may even provide vision therapy treatments. These medical professionals bring home a median salary of $103,900, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The number of jobs for optometrists is projected to increase by 27 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the BLS. This growth is expected to be driven, in part, by an aging U.S. population with an increasing number of vision problems. Pediatrician Pediatricians, physicians who provide medical care to children, bring home a median annual salary of $170,300, according to the most recent data available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The job outlook for for pediatricians is healthy. The number of jobs in this field is projected to grow by 10 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the BLS. Pharmacist Pharmacists fill prescriptions, consult with patients about their medications, provide some immunizations and more. These professionals can expect to earn a median annual salary of $121,500, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data. After earning a Doctor of Pharmacy degree, prospective pharmacists must pass two exams -- one covering pharmacy skills and the other pharmacy law -- in order to become licensed, according to the BLS. Podiatrist These physicians focus on conditions affecting the foot, ankle and lower leg. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, podiatrists earn a median annual salary of $119,340. The number of jobs in podiatry is expected to grow by 14 percent from 2014 to 2024, according to the BLS. Learn More About Getting Into Graduate School Explore our applying to graduate school section for information about finding and getting into to the right school for you. Also check out the latest Best Graduate Schools rankings to see the top business, medicine and law programs -- and more -- in the country. For more grad school tips follow U.S. News Education on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Kelly Mae Ross is an education staff writer at U.S. News. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at kross@usnews.com. Athens (AFP) - A last-minute flurry of asylum applications by migrants desperate to avoid expulsion from Greece to Turkey will likely cause a two-week "lag" in an EU deportation plan slammed by rights groups, a Greek official said Wednesday. Nikos Xydakis, junior foreign minister for European affairs, indicated there would likely be few migrants sent back to Turkey over the next two weeks, following the first deportation of around 200 people on Monday. "We knew there would be a lag, an intermediate period before the programme takes off, of at least two weeks to get through the first batch of (asylum) applications," Xydakis told reporters. He nevertheless said the next set of expulsions would likely take place "from Friday onwards", without going into further detail. Athens stressed that the people shipped back to Turkey on Monday were migrants who had not claimed asylum. But the UN's refugee agency has expressed concern that 13 of them, mostly Afghans, had expressed a wish to claim asylum but were not registered in time. Xydakis said some two dozen EU legal experts had arrived so far to assist the asylum process, compared to hundreds of security agents from EU border agency Frontex. "This is the weakness of the whole procedure. It is easier to deploy police officers than experts in refugee law, interpreters, debriefers," he said. But he added: "They are coming." Once the system is fully up and running, Greece has said it can process asylum claims in two weeks. "In two weeks (authorities) can get through 400 to 500 applications," Xydakis said. Under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal, all "irregular migrants" arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey since March 20 face being sent back, although the accord calls for each case to be examined individually. And for every Syrian refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU, with numbers capped at 72,000. Story continues "It was overestimated that in five days everything would begin, it was crazy. We told them many times in Brussels, we knew," Xydakis said. "Things must be done by the book, we cannot bundle people together, they have to be certified and checked," the minister said. Out of around 6,000 migrants who have arrived on the islands of Chios and Lesbos after the March 20 deadline, more than 2,300 have now applied for asylum. And many others had previously complained of not having had access to the asylum procedure. Critics of the March 18 deal include Amnesty International, which says Turkey is not a safe country for refugees -- a charge Ankara rejects. Pope Francis, who used his recent Easter address to criticise the "rejection" of refugees, is expected to visit the frontline Greek island of Lesbos next week. Green sea turtles of Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico are no longer considered "endangered," US officials said Tuesday, hailing decades of conservation for saving the long-imperiled creatures. Breeding populations on the beaches of Florida and the west coast of Mexico are now considered "threatened," and still merit protection under the Endangered Species Act, but do not face an imminent risk of extinction. In Florida alone, there are some 2,250 nesting females counted on beaches each year, up from a handful in 1978 when the breeding populations were first listed as endangered, a spokesman for the US Fish and Wildlife Service said. As part of the change, the US FWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries divided green sea turtles globally into 11 distinct population segments, "allowing for tailored conservation approaches for each population," the agencies said in a statement. That leaves three populations of green sea turtles worldwide that are considered endangered and at the highest risk of disappearing from the planet -- those that live in the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Central South Pacific and Central West Pacific Ocean. Most of the world's populations of green sea turtles are listed as "threatened." The changes were initially proposed last year and made final on Tuesday after officials reviewed the scientific data and an outpouring of more than 900 public comments. "Successful conservation and management efforts developed in Florida and along the Pacific coast of Mexico are a roadmap for further recovery strategies of green turtle populations around the world," said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. Sea turtles have long faced a host of threats, from beach development that destroyed their nesting habitat, to pollution, to fishing nets that entangled them. Successful measures have included protection of nesting beaches, reduction of bycatch in fisheries and prohibitions on the direct harvest of sea turtles, NOAA said. By Tiemoko Diallo and Adama Diarra BAMAKO (Reuters) - Gunmen on Monday attacked a hotel in Mali's capital, Bamako, that had been converted into the headquarters of a European Union military training operation, but there no casualties among the mission's personnel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which began at around 6:30 p.m. local time (1830 GMT), but Mali and neighboring West African countries have increasingly been the target of Islamist militants, some of them affiliated with al Qaeda. One of the assailants was killed and two suspects were arrested and were being interrogated, the country's internal security minister said. A witness said the attack targeted Bamako's Nord-Sud Hotel, headquarters for the mission of nearly 600 EU personnel deployed to Mali to train its security forces. "The attackers tried to force through the entry and the guards posted in front of the entrance opened fire. One attacker was killed," he said. Sekou Tamboura was also near the hotel when the shooting erupted. "We were next to the Hamdallaye Cemetery when the first shot rang out, then there was a second and a third. There were a few seconds of pause, then it kicked off and did not stop. It was every man for himself," Tamboura said. The mission confirmed the attack on its official Twitter feed. "EUTM-MALI HQ has been attacked. No EUTM-Mali personnel has been hurt ... during the attack," it said. Azalai Hotels, which runs the Nord-Sud Hotel, later posted on Twitter that the assailants had been repelled and the building had been secured. "One of the assailants was killed. We are examining the sack he was carrying, which could contain explosives," Interior Security Minister Colonel Salif Traore said on state television. "Two suspects were arrested and are being interrogated." He added that security forces were carrying out operations around the EU headquarters and seeking to secure another building nearby. A photo taken of the dead gunman seen by Reuters showed a man who appeared to be in his 20s, possibly from northern Mali, dressed stylishly in jeans, a brown shirt and Nike trainers, lying on his back in a pool of blood beside a Kalashnikov assault rifle. A Reuters reporter at the scene of the attack said security forces, including Malian army special forces, had cordoned off the area while a cleanup operation was carried out. Vehicles from Mali's United Nations peacekeeping mission were also visible. The EU mission was deployed as part of efforts to stabilise Mali, which saw Islamist militants, some of them linked to al Qaeda, seize its desert north in 2012. France led an intervention a year later to drive back the Islamists, fearing that the lawless zone could be used as a base for attacks against targets in Europe. However, violence is again on the rise. Dozens of people were killed in a November raid on Bamako's Radisson Blu hotel claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the group's North African branch. A similar assault on a hotel in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, followed in January. AQIM also claimed responsibility for another attack that killed 19 people a beach resort town in Ivory Coast earlier this month. (Writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Mark Heinrich and G Crosse) By Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE (Reuters) - Prosecutors at the Yugoslavia crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Wednesday they would appeal last week's acquittal of nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj, whose Serbian Radical party is likely to return to parliament later this month. Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor, said judges had ignored a large body of evidence when they freed Seselj, who was accused of stoking murderous ethnic hatred with fiery rhetoric against Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the early 1990s. Brammertz said judges' misinterpretation of the evidence had led them to entertain the possibility that "expelling civilians was a humanitarian gesture" and "incendiary hate speech was simply morale boosting for the Serb forces". Seselj said he was unworried at the appeal. "They have no legal grounds," he told Reuters by telephone as he headed to an election rally in the eastern town of Bor. "This will in no way affect my election campaign. I am the best jurist in the world." Pollsters say his party is likely to exceed the five percent vote threshold needed to return to parliament after four years, meaning that Seselj himself is likely to be elected. They say support for his Radical Party has firmed since his acquittal. News of the decision to appeal by prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia may only boost Seselj's popularity among his hardline supporters, who cheered his acquittal on March 31. Legal experts say the appeal would not prevent Seselj taking up a seat in parliament. But being a member of the parliament would also not give him legal immunity. (Reporting by Thomas Escritt in Amsterdam; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt) By Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Industrial activity such as mining and logging threatens almost half of the world's natural World Heritage sites, from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, the WWF conservation group said on Wednesday. It urged companies to obey U.N. appeals to declare all heritage sites "no go" areas for oil and gas exploration, mines, unsustainable timber production and over-fishing. A total of 114 World Heritage sites out of 229 worldwide that are prized for nature or a mixture of nature and culture were under threat, according to the study by WWF and Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a U.S.-based consultancy. "This is staggering. We're trying to raise a flag here," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, told Reuters. "We're not opposing development, we're opposing badly planned development." The WWF findings are far higher than the 18 natural sites listed as "in danger", a more severe condition, by the World Heritage Committee of the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO. The WWF rates the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, as under threat from mining and shipping, while last year, the Heritage Committee stopped short of an "in danger" listing. And the WWF says Machu Picchu in the Andes, also not on the U.N. list, is under threat from logging. Other sites under threat include the Everglades in the United States, Ecuador's Galapagos islands or Russia's Kamchatka volcanoes, it said. Of those, only the Everglades were rated "in danger" by the Heritage Committee. Mechtild Rossler, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre in Paris, said she welcomed such non-governmental reports as an aid to raise awareness of risks. Only some companies have heeded repeated U.N. calls for no go zones. The International Council of Mining and Metals, grouping major companies, agreed in 2003 to stay out of World Heritage sites. Some oil and gas companies, such as Total and Shell, have made similar commitments. "Oil and gas is more an individual discussion. We lack the overall organized approach," Rossler told Reuters. The WWF study said that more than 11 million people depended on the heritage sites for food, water, shelter and medicine. Lambertini said that the economic value of nature was too often ignored, even though the sites created jobs, for instance from ecotourism worth billions of dollars. "Nature continues to be taken for granted," he said. The study expands on a report by the WWF last year that said about a third of sites were threatened by mining and oil and gas. It adds threats such as over-fishing, harmful logging and disruptions of water supplies from dams. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Alison Williams) On this day in 1789, the First Congress under our current Constitution met in its first joint session in New York and undertook an important order of business: confirming George Washingtons election as President. Its predecessors, the Continental Congress and the Confederation Congress, had met under the Articles of Confederation (and without it) since 1774. James Madison The new Congress was actually set to start functioning on March 4, 1789 in Federal Hall, but bad weather, travel problems and some hesitation prevented enough Representatives and Senators from arriving in town to conduct joint business for about a month. The Founders who made it to New York on March 4 met briefly at Federal Hall in the morning, and they realized most of their fellow Congressmen hadnt shown up for the historic event. On March 11, James Madison and Richard Lee arrived from Virginia, and others soon followed. But the House had to wait until April 1, when James Schureman of New Jersey and Thomas Scott of Pennsylvania entered Federal Hall, and set the quorum needed to appoint House leaders. Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania was named as the Houses first speaker. Links: Read The Minutes From The First Congress (House) | (Senate) The House adjourned again and met briefly as it waited for the Senate to establish its own quorum, with Madison, Lee, Roger Sherman and others writing the Houses rules during the lull. It took an additional week for four more Senators to show up in New York, and on April 6th, the House and Senate took up their first official joint business: convening the Electoral College to confirm George Washington as President and John Adams as Vice President. In a note from Oliver Ellsworth, the House was notified that the election was underway in the Senate above them in a room in Federal Hall, and Muhlenberg and two other Representatives went to the Senate to monitor the vote count. Washington received 69 votes, Adams had 34 votes, and John Jay led the runners-up with 9 votes. Under the original election system, each Electoral College vote had two votes to cast, and the first- and second-place finishers became President and Vice President. Story continues Madison then appeared in the Senate to state that the House agreed that messages should be sent to Washington and Adams about their election. (The losers wont notify of their fate.) Both the House and Senate quickly ended the first session of both institutions that conducted cooperative business under the Constitution. (The House also agreed on a constitutional oath that day and the Senate chose a doorkeeper.) The First Congress was arguably the most important of the 144 Congresses that have met in New York, Philadelphia and Washington. It approved the submission of the Bill of Rights to the states for ratification; passed a Judiciary Act that set up court systems; defined Cabinet departments; and saw the Compromise of 1790 between Madison and Alexander Hamilton that moved the capital to Washington on the condition the federal government could assume state debts. Familiar names in the First Congress included Madison, Ellsworth, Sherman, Robert Morris, Fisher Ames, James Monroe and Rufus King. Historical Stories on Constitution Daily What really killed the first President to die in office? Forgotten facts about George Washingtons private life The day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. died 50 interesting facts about Abraham Lincolns life Tripoli (AFP) - Libya's new unity leaders worked to tighten their hold on Tripoli Thursday, taking over the website of a rival authority in the capital whose head is refusing to stand aside. A week after arriving by sea with a naval escort, the UN-backed unity cabinet appears to be winning the support of key institutions that control Libya's wealth and, crucially, militias in the capital. But a call by Tripoli's unrecognised prime minister Khalifa Ghweil on Wednesday for his ministers not to cede power, contradicting an earlier announcement, highlighted the still-chaotic situation. It was unclear how much influence Ghweil, an engineer from the port city of Misrata east of Tripoli, still wields in the largely tribal nation. Libya's warring rivals have come under intense international pressure to rally behind the unity government at a time when the country is grappling with a growing jihadist threat. The Islamic State group has exploited the turmoil in Libya since the overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi five years ago, raising fears that it is establishing a new stronghold on Europe's doorstep. In a sign of its widening influence, the UN-sponsored administration of prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj took over the website of the unrecognised Tripoli authorities on Thursday. The site now bears the logo of the unity government, and the names of Ghweil's cabinet have been replaced by those of a presidential council created under a power-sharing deal in December. That agreement was inked by some lawmakers from both sides but not endorsed by the country's two rival governments. The other administration, which has long claimed international legitimacy because it was appointed by the parliament elected in the last polls in 2014, has so far refused to back the unity government. - Militias hold key - The reason behind Ghweil's apparent U-turn was unclear but it hinted at divisions within the Tripoli authorities that were installed by a militia alliance that seized the capital in 2014. Story continues A statement issued a day earlier in the name of his so-called National Salvation Government had said that it was ready to step aside. The fear is that a new power struggle could spark fresh violence in a country that has been in turmoil since the 2011 uprising. Much now depends on the support of powerful militias that overran Tripoli two years ago, forcing the government backed by the international community to take refuge in the country's far east. A politician close to the unity government said money was a key factor because some of the militiamen who brought Ghweil to power are no longer being paid by his authorities. According to a security source in Tripoli, there were talks between the unity government and armed groups for weeks before Sarraj's arrival to ensure the transition went smoothly. "There is no security body or armed group now opposed to the unity government, and they are holding back while the situation, and this government's actions, become clear," he said. Sarraj's cabinet has in recent days been broadening its support, winning the backing of the National Oil Corporation, the Central Bank and the Libyan Investment Authority. His Government of National Accord on Wednesday ordered all government "ministries and institutions and committees" to respect its authority and use its logo. It also instructed the Central Bank and the Audit Bureau to freeze all state accounts immediately, except for salary payments to government employees. French President Francois Hollande said Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault spoke on Thursday with Sarraj to "reaffirm our support" to his government. Hollande told reporters at a Franco-German cabinet meeting in Metz, eastern France, that Sarraj had asked for the EU's help in efforts to combat human trafficking from Libya. UN envoy Martin Kobler, who visited Libya this week, was due to brief the UN Security Council Thursday on his efforts to bring about a peaceful power handover. Kobler has welcomed the Tripoli authority's willingness to hand over but cautioned that "deeds must follow words". Lending A Hand The big-hearted Prince was so moved by the suffering of the people in Nepal he chose to extend his official stay to help reconstruct a school in a remote community struck by last years earthquake. (Becky Maynard/Getty/Team Rubicon UK) Prince Harry has extended his stay in Nepal to help with the rebuilding of a school that was destroyed by the devastating earthquake in 2015. The Prince was so moved during his official five-day trip to Nepal in March that he decided to stay longer in the country to help communities affected by last years appalling natural disaster. Harry trekked into the Himalayas to spend six days helping disaster relief charity Team Rubicon UK with the backbreaking reconstruction of classrooms - without the help of machinery. The charity pairs first responders with military veterans to bring aid to communities affected by disasters. A version of this story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Hillary Clinton's haul from financial sector (securities, investment and commercial banks) employees dwarfs that of her presidential competitors as of April 1, according to a tally from Open Secrets, a nonprofit group run by the Center for Responsive Politics that tracks political donations (though even self-declared democratic socialist Bernie Sanders has drawn from the Wall Street pot). Not reflected in the totals below are the big-money donations that go to liberal or conservative PACs or organizations rather than to the candidates themselves. Billionaire investor George Soros, for example, gave $8 million to liberal organizations this election cycle, while Michael Bloomberg has donated $5.5 million, and Haim Saban has given $5 million. For right-leaning groups, former Univision CEO Jerry Perenchio, now of Chartwell Partners, has given $4.7 million, while Richard Kinder of Kinder Morgan gave $2.1 million, TD Ameritrade founder John "Joe" Ricketts gave $7 million and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel, an early Facebook investor who now runs Thiel Capital, gave $2 million. London (AFP) - Jurors at the inquests into the deaths of 96 Liverpool fans in the 1989 Hillsborough disaster retired to consider their verdicts on Wednesday, over two years since the hearings began. The jury of seven women and three men, which has been sitting since March 2014 at a purpose-built courtroom in Warrington, northwest England, will consider 14 key questions set out by coroner John Goldring. One question concerns whether senior police officer David Duckenfield is responsible for the unlawful killing of the fans by gross negligence manslaughter, in what remains Britain's worst sporting disaster. Addressing the jury, in front of dozens of relatives of the victims, Goldring said: "You decide the case only on the evidence you heard in court. "Put out of your mind anything you may have read, heard or discussed about the disaster. Decide the case dispassionately on the evidence. "Put emotion to one side. Do not make critical findings unless the facts justify them. On the other hand, do not shrink from making such findings if they do. "You decide what evidence you accept and what evidence you reject." The tragedy occurred on April 15, 1989 during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough stadium in northern England. Seeking to alleviate a crush that had developed outside the ground at the Leppings Lane End shortly before kick-off, match commander Duckenfield opened an exit gate. It enabled 2,000 fans to stream into the ground and they piled into the already over-full pens behind the goal at that end of the ground, causing a fatal crush. In March last year at the hearings, Duckenfield apologised to the families of the victims after admitting to lying that fans had forced the gate open themselves. - 'Conflicts' - Under English law, an inquest exists solely to determine the cause of death. It cannot impose criminal sentences. The original coroner's verdicts of accidental death were quashed in 2012 after a campaign by victims' families led to the publication of a new report into the disaster. Story continues At the beginning of the new inquests, Goldring said that none of the victims should be blamed for their deaths. Family members then paid emotional tributes to each of the 96 victims. The jurors heard evidence from more than 800 witnesses on subjects including stadium safety, match planning, the events of the day, the emergency response and evidence gathering by police after the disaster. The court then looked at each victim's final movements before medical experts and pathologists gave evidence about the circumstances of their deaths. Goldring also told the jurors that they would have to resolve "conflicts" between the accounts of Liverpool supporters and police officers present on the day. "As you will recall, it was suggested to many witnesses that senior officers collectively sought to present a 'false narrative' of the disaster," he said. "The senior officers from whom we heard strongly denied that suggestion. You will need to consider this evidence because if you were to take the view there was some deliberate decision, you might think it reflected a view of the facts of the disaster taken by the senior officers. That, of course, is a matter for you." There is no limit on how long the jury may take to reach their conclusions. The first report into the disaster, published by leading judge Peter Taylor in 1990, led to all-seater stadiums becoming compulsory in the English Premier League. By David Shepardson and Bernie Woodall WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - A 17-year-old driver of a recalled 2002 Honda Civic was killed last month after a Takata Corp <7312.T> air bag ruptured during a rear-end crash, Honda Motor Co <7267.T> and U.S. regulators said on Wednesday, the 10th U.S. death linked to a defect that has prompted recalls of tens of millions of vehicles worldwide. The latest death took place on March 31 in Fort Bend County, Texas. Honda said the owner had been mailed multiple recall notices about the five-year-old recall effort, but repairs were never made. The victim, a high school senior from Richmond, Texas, ran into the back of a Honda CR-V that was waiting for traffic to clear to make a left turn, said Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Danny Beckwith. The driver was not excessively speeding and was wearing her seat belt, he said, saying the crash resulted in moderate damage to her car. "Everybody should have walked away from this," Beckwith said in an interview. He said shrapnel punctured the air bag and sliced the young woman's neck and carotid artery. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Honda spokesman Jeffrey Smith said the automaker has more than doubled the size of its customer relations team working on this issue. "This is a very motivated, dedicated and engaged group, working seven days a week to help customers get their vehicles repaired," Smith said. He said Honda has sent more than 9.9 million mailers, 11.9 million postcards, 4.5 million emails, 12.8 million direct and automated phone calls and used targeted advertising, social media and other efforts. Overall, 10 people have died in the United States in accidents linked to exploding Takata air bags. Nine of those U.S. deaths have occurred in Honda vehicles, Honda said. Ford Motor Co has reported a death from a Takata air bag rupture in one of its vehicles in the United States. A pregnant woman was killed in Malaysia in July 2014 after the rupture of a Takata air bag in a 2003 Honda City. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said in a statement the latest death "shows that the current recall efforts are just not getting the job done. Takata and the automakers have to step up their efforts to locate, notify and fix every impacted car as soon as possible - before anyone else dies." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement it "has demanded that manufacturers work to a 100 percent completion rate, and take all efforts necessary to reach that goal." The agency said it "is renewing its call to all auto manufacturers involved in the Takata air bag recall to intensify and expand their outreach to affected vehicle owners." To date, 14 automakers have recalled about 24 million vehicles involving about 28 million Takata air bag inflators, , which can explode with excessive force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments. They have been linked to more than 100 U.S. injuries. In late December, NHTSA named John Buretta, a former official in the Justice Department's criminal division, to serve as independent monitor overseeing the Takata recalls. Last month, NHTSA said automakers have replaced more than 7.5 million defective Takata inflators, or about a third of those recalled through December. Honda has replaced about 5.4 million inflators, or 54 percent of vehicles it had recalled through December, the highest completion rate of any automaker. Honda said it has enough replacement inflators to complete repairs under the open recall of the 2002 Civic, "and we continue to encourage all owners of affected vehicles to seek repair immediately." Honda said it does not have replacements for a driver air bag inflator recall announced in February, but it expects to begin receiving replacement inflators for that recall within a few days. (Reporting by David Shepardson, editing by G Crosse and David Gregorio) Local filmmakers are proposing significant changes to the voting system of the Hong Kong Film Awards after anti-China political drama Ten Years won best film honors, reports Hong Kong's biggest daily newspaper, Apple Daily. After the awards on Sunday, a number of local film producers spoke out against Ten Years winning best film, most notably Peter Lam, chairman of Hong Kong filmmaking powerhouse Media Asia and founding chairman of the Hong Kong Chamber of Films. Lam said the awards were hijacked by politics. Other prominent members of the Chamber of Films have indicated that a proposal would be made to the Hong Kong Film Awards Association Board of Directors to change the voting mechanism of the awards. Read More: 'Ten Years' Director Talks Hong Kong Indie's Runaway Success, Government Backlash (Q&A) "I think the voting system of the Hong Kong Film Awards has room for improvement, especially in the second round of voting. It can be easily manipulated to produce an irrational result," said Daniel Lam, Chamber of Films member and owner of Universe Films, whose Little Big Master was one of the nominated pics for best film. He added: "We at the Chamber of Films will call for a meeting as soon as possible, and hope the Hong Kong Film Awards will amend its voting system. If there were nothing wrong with the voting system, how would Ten Years be crowned as the best film? We hope the Hong Kong Film Awards will listen to our comments, otherwise it's meaningless for us to participate in the awards." Read More: Local Filmmakers Speak Out After 'Ten Years' Hong Kong Film Awards Win At present, the voting of the film awards is divided into two rounds. The first round was split into a 100-person professional jury and registered voters, each group amounting to 50% of the vote for the nomination of a film in each category. The second round consists of a 55-person professional jury and members of 15 film industry and music industry associations, the former's vote taking up 55% of the final vote. The best film is voted by all the members of the 15 film industry and composer and lyricist associations, and they take up 45% of the final vote. Story continues There have been disputes over the determination of the awards in past years, but this year the result has become politicized, said Infernal Affairs producer John Chong. "This award was voted by a majority of filmmakers, so if they voted it as best film, it is the best film," he said. "Some people would think it's fair or unfair for every award. If the Chamber of Films thinks the result is unfair, they can propose to the Hong Kong Film Awards board of directors. The Hong Kong Film Awards is open and democratic." Read More: Controversial Dystopian Movie 'Ten Years' Wins Best Picture at Hong Kong Film Awards Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland's right-wing government on Wednesday named a new prime minister and said it would hold early elections in the autumn, after the previous leader was forced to step down over his implication in the Panama Papers scandal. The two coalition partners, the Progressive Party and the Independence Party, agreed after talks late Wednesday to hand the prime ministerial post to the agriculture minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, 53, of the Progressives. He replaces Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, 41, who stepped down Tuesday amid massive public protests over a hidden offshore account revealed in the so-called Panama Papers leak of 11.5 million financial documents. "We expect to have elections this autumn," Johannsson told reporters, insisting that the coalition, in power since 2013, would continue to run the country's affairs despite thousands of protesters calling for the whole government's resignation. "We will continue our work together. We are of course hoping this will help bring stability in the political system," he said. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who at 72 is due to retire in June after five terms and 20 years in office, is expected to approve Johannsson's appointment. Iceland's next legislative elections were originally scheduled for April 2017. - First casualty of Panama papers - Gunnlaugsson, who remains the head of the Progressive Party for the time being, was the first major political casualty to emerge from the leak of millions of documents detailing offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities. Two other Iceland cabinet ministers have been singled out in the leak -- Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson and Interior Minister Olof Nordal -- and the coalition is keen to stall for time to avoid what would surely be a resounding protest vote if a snap election were held soon. The coalition parties "have lost all their legitimacy, but I am sceptical they will leave of their own initiative. Time is on their side and it's crucial for them to stay in power," lamented Gyda Margret Petursdottir, a 42-year-old teacher who was one of hundreds who protested against the government outside parliament on Wednesday. Story continues The Panama Papers, revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and had placed millions of dollars of her inheritance there. The prime minister sold his 50-percent share of the company to his wife for a symbolic sum of $1 at the end of 2009, but he had neglected to declare the stake as required when he was elected to parliament six months earlier. Gunnlaugsson has said he regretted not having done so, but insisted he and his wife had followed Icelandic law and paid all their taxes in Iceland. - Vote of no-confidence - It has not been proven the couple stood to gain financially from the offshore holding, and the ICIJ noted only that Gunnlaugsson had "violated Iceland's ethics rules". But the issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to conceal their dealings in risky financial products which ultimately led to the 2008 collapse of the nation's three main banks. The left-wing opposition presented a motion of no-confidence to parliament on Monday, and said late Wednesday it intended to push ahead with it despite the government's plans for an early election. "There is a consensus between the opposition parties that we will push the vote of no-confidence," said Birgitta Jonsdottir, the founder of the libertarian Pirate Party which campaigns for more transparency in politics. "We don't see the point in continuing with a government that has 26 percent trust," she said, acknowledging however that the motion had little chance of passing in parliament because of the government's majority. A Gallup poll conducted Monday and Tuesday credited the Pirate Party with a whopping 43 percent of voter support, far ahead of the Independence Party at 21.6 percent, the opposition Left Green Movement at 11.2 percent, and the Progressives at 7.9 percent. By Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's government named a new prime minister and called for early elections in the autumn on Wednesday, a day after Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson quit to become the first global politician brought down by the "Panama Papers" leaks. It was unclear whether the naming of Fisheries Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson to head the government or the call for early elections would satisfy the thousands of Icelanders who in street protests this week demanded the government resign immediately for early elections. Gunnlaugsson quit as prime minister on Tuesday after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned an offshore company that held millions of dollars in debt from failed Icelandic banks. The government said the decision to hold elections in autumn would give it time to follow through on one of the biggest economic policy changes in decades - the ending of capital controls introduced to rescue the economy from the 2008 financial crisis. Johannsson, who had served also as agriculture minister in the government, told reporters the government would further pursue its big projects of the last three years, the largest being the abolition of capital controls. The opposition has been trying to force a new election with a vote of no confidence in the government, which could lead to a radical political shift. A few thousand demonstrators, though fewer than on Monday, gathered for another evening of protests in front of the parliament building on Wednesday. Protesters, already fed up with the financial and political elite after the 2008 banking crisis wrecked their economy, have gathered the last three nights in the capital Reykjavik, some pelting parliament with yoghurt and eggs. "I feel like I am watching a live show of House of Cards," Erla Gisladottir, a 32-year-old mother on parental leave, said ahead of the government's decision to call new elections, referring to a television show about political intrigue. Polls show the anti-establishment Pirate Party in the lead if a new election is called in the country of 330,000 people, a result with potentially wider impact across Europe where mainstream political parties are fending off populists. A poll by Icelandic media outlet Visir showed 43 percent of those polled would cast ballots for the Pirate Party if elections were held now, a stunning victory for a group set up by opponents of copyright enforcement rules. The Pirate Party, which campaigns in favor of transparency and direct democracy, has had a small following in several European countries for a few years but has never before come close to political power. The Panama documents revealed that Gunnlaugsson's wife owned a previously undisclosed firm with what the government says is $4.1 million in claims on the island's collapsed banks. His opponents have said that represents a conflict of interest, because the government is negotiating the value of such claims. ELECTION DEMANDS Iceland has struggled to recover from the 2008 collapse of its highly indebted banks, which led to popular protests, the fall of a government and the jailing of many bankers. Many Icelanders still harbor a strong distrust of their leaders. "I'm here for many reasons," said Jon Thor Olafsson, a 33-year-old musician who protested near parliament on Wednesday. "To protest the arrogance of the government in its entirety and a ruined financial system in Iceland - as the outrageous number of Icelanders in the Panama Papers shows." The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in setting up offshore companies were unveiled this week by news organizations around the world, shining a light on the finances of global politicians and public figures. Gunnlaugsson and his wife bought a company called Wintris Inc from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in late 2007 through the Luxembourg branch of Landsbanki, one of the three Icelandic banks that collapsed in 2008. Court records show Wintris had investments in bonds in all three of those banks, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which coordinated the leaks investigation. It said Gunnlaugsson sold his 50 percent share in Wintris to his wife for $1 on Dec 31, 2009, the year he entered parliament, and violated Iceland's ethics rules by failing to disclose it. In a Facebook post on March 15, his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir said she was the sole owner of Wintris's assets, and that her husband had been listed as co-owner due to a mistake by the bank, which she said was corrected in 2009. The money came from the sale of her share in her family's business, she said. Gunnlaugsson has said his wife's assets were taxed in Iceland. The estates of the failed banks agreed with Iceland's central bank and finance ministry late last year on how to wind down their business ahead of lifting Iceland's capital controls. Glitnir said in December it had begun paying creditors, whereas Britain got its final payment from the estate of Landsbanki in January. It was not clear whether Wintris was among those creditors who had been paid. (Writing by Mia Shanley and Niklas Pollard, additional reporting by Johan Ahlander, Sven Nordenstam and Daniel Dickson in Stockholm, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Birna Osk Bjornsdottir in Reykjavik; Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Howard Goller) By Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers revelations, stepping down on Tuesday after leaked files showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on the country's collapsed banks. The ruling Progressive Party's deputy leader, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, who holds the fisheries and agriculture portfolio, told reporters Gunnlaugsson was stepping down and that the party had proposed to their junior coalition partner, the Independence Party, that he become the new prime minister himself. The two parties discussed the matter on Tuesday evening but no agreement was reached. Talks are expected to continue. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in setting up offshore companies have shone a light on the finances of politicians and public figures from around the world, causing public outrage over how the powerful are able to hide money and avoid tax. Adding confusion to the political crisis, a statement emailed on Tuesday night by government spokesman Sigurdur Jonsson said Gunnlaugsson had suggested that Johannsson take over as prime minister "for an unspecified amount of time". "The prime minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as chairman of the Progressive Party," it said. An Iceland government spokesman has said the claims against Iceland's collapsed banks held by the firm owned by the prime minister's wife - in which he also temporarily held a stake - totaled more than 500 million Icelandic crowns ($4.1 million). Gunnlaugson has said his wife's assets were taxed in Iceland. His decision to step down came after thousands of Icelanders gathered in front of parliament on Monday, hurling eggs and bananas and demanding the departure of the leader of the center-right coalition government, which has been in power since 2013. Opposition politicians, pushing for fresh general elections, also filed a motion of no-confidence in Gunnlaugson and the government on Monday. The parliamentary vote could still take place this week and could trigger elections if the motion is carried. Story continues "It is clear our demand for new elections still stands," Left Green Party leader Katrin Jakobsdottir told Reuters. But Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, from the Independence party, the junior partner in the coalition government which has absolute majority in parliament, said he hoped the coalition would continue. "We have agreed to start talks with the Progressive Party and to try to continue the co-operation we have had and which has until now been very fruitful for the Icelandic nation," he told Reuters. Any new election could see victory for the anti-establishment Pirate Party, according to polls the most popular political force in Iceland, which espouses grassroots democracy and transparency. Gunnlaugsson's opponents say he should have been open about the overseas assets and the company, and that he had a conflict of interest because the government is involved in striking deals with claimants against the bankrupt banks. Iceland's main commercial banks collapsed as the global financial crisis hit in 2008 and many Icelanders have blamed the North Atlantic island nation's politicians for not reining in the banks' debt-fueled binge and averting a deep recession. (Writing by Alistair Scrutton and Anna Ringstrom; Editing by Anna Willard and Sam Holmes) Reykjavik (AFP) - Iceland's coalition government turned a deaf ear Wednesday to angry protesters calling for its resignation, a day after the prime minister stepped down over the Panama Papers scandal. Hundreds of demonstrators massed on the square outside parliament in Reykjavik, urging the entire centre-right government to quit. Inside, the two coalition partners met behind closed doors to discuss their path forward. The coalition parties "have lost all their legitimacy, but I am sceptical they will leave of their own initiative. Time is on their side and it's crucial for them to stay in power," lamented Gyda Margret Petursdottir, a 42-year-old teacher who came out to protest despite rainy weather. Valthor Asgrimsson, 36, agreed. "We need a fresh start for Iceland. Preferably with an election." But as they spoke, Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the deputy head of the centre-right Progressive Party led by outgoing Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, announced that his party and the right-wing Independence Party had agreed to stay on running the country's affairs. "We have reached a conclusion" to maintain the coalition in power since 2013, he told reporters after a meeting with Gunnlaugsson. The name of the new prime minister was to be announced later Wednesday, as well as the makeup of the reshuffled cabinet. Two other cabinet ministers named in the Panama Papers, Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson and Interior Minister Olof Nordal, could be replaced. The prime minister, who did not appear in public on Wednesday, stepped down from his post on Tuesday, becoming the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities. The financial records, revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and had placed millions of dollars of her inheritance there. Story continues The prime minister sold his 50-percent share of the company to his wife for a symbolic sum of $1 at the end of 2009, but he had neglected to declare the stake as required when he was elected to parliament six months earlier. Gunnlaugsson has said he regretted not having done so, but insisted he and his wife had followed Icelandic law and paid all their taxes in Iceland. It has not been proven the couple stood to gain financially from the offshore holding, and the ICIJ noted only that Gunnlaugsson had "violated Iceland's ethics rules". But the issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to conceal their dealings in risky financial products and which ultimately led to the 2008 collapse of the nation's three main banks. - 'They're the real pirates' - The left-wing opposition, which presented a motion of no-confidence to parliament on Monday, wants early elections to be held ahead of the scheduled April 2017 vote. The vote of no-confidence could be held on Thursday after a meeting of parties represented in parliament scheduled for 1030 GMT. Riding high on Icelanders' anger over the affair, the nascent Pirate Party has seen its support soar in the wake of the scandal. A libertarian movement founded in 2012 and campaigning for more transparency in politics, Internet freedoms and copyright reform, the Pirate Party garnered 43 percent of voter support in a Gallup poll conducted Monday and Tuesday and published by daily Frettabladid and Channel 2 television. "We are the Pirate Party, but these people are the real pirates, taking it all for themselves and hiding it on exotic islands," Karl Hedinn, a 21-year-old member of the party's youth wing, told AFP. In recent weeks, the party had been polling between 25 and 35 percent. "I think they have good chances, especially now. And why not try something new? ... I wouldn't mind trying something new," said a graphic designer who gave her name only as Sindri. The Gallup poll indicated the Independence Party would come in second place with 21.6 percent, and the opposition Left Green Movement in third with 11.2 percent. Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party garnered just 7.9 percent, behind the opposition Social Democrats' 10.2 percent. Virtual reality is here and products such as Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsungs Gear VR are ready to offer various types of VR experiences. And VR content doesnt have to be only about games, as Ikea will tell you. In fact, the Swedish furniture giant already has the right idea about using VR in unique, creative ways. DONT MISS: Tesla Model 3 is missing an important feature that no one is talking about The company has partnered up with HTC and Steam to launch a pilot virtual reality kitchen experience for the Vive. The Ikea VR Experience will let users design their own kitchens by accessing one of three real-world Ikea kitchen designs. Sure, you wont be able to move freely around your kitchen and test out various Ikea furniture ideas that would overlap over your real kitchen, but youll still be able to customize the default kitchens inside VR. For the time being, you'll be able to change colors and adjust your viewing height so that you experience the kitchen setup from the height of a child. Interestingly, the Ikea VR kitchen concept was designed using the Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games, in collaboration with developers at French company Allegorithmic. If you have a Vive, now is the time to try it out since the pilot will end in August. While the app is pretty limited in what it can offer to the user, future versions of such Ikea software might one day help you redecorate your entire home in VR. That way, you'll know exactly whether everything fits before you order, and you'd be able to test various colors and designs before settling on a final product. htc-vive-ikea-vr-kitchen-1 Related stories No company deserves a second chance more than HTC 24 hours with the HTC Vive was enough to turn me into a VR believer Oh good, another theory on what's going to kill the iPhone More from BGR: Tesla Model 3 is missing an important feature that no one is talking about This article was originally published on BGR.com Indonesia will summon the Chinese envoy in Jakarta after a confrontation between vessels from the two countries in the South China Sea, a minister said Sunday. The incident happened Saturday when surveillance vessels chased and caught a Chinese fishing boat allegedly operating in waters near the Indonesian Natuna Islands without a permit, Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti said. As the Chinese fishing boat was being towed away by the Indonesians, a Chinese coast guard vessel approached and collided with the fishing boat. A bigger Chinese coast guard vessel approached later and the Indonesians decided to leave the fishing boat, she said. "We respect a big country like China, and China should also respect the sovereignty of Indonesia and respect that we are at war with illegal fishing," Pudjiastuti told reporters. She urged the foreign ministry in Jakarta to lodge a "strong protest" over the "arrogance" of the Chinese vessels. The fisheries ministry will summon the Chinese envoy in Jakarta, the minister's spokeswoman confirmed to AFP. A foreign ministry official in Jakarta, Edi Yusuf, told AFP the ministry would also summon the Chinese envoy once it received more details of the incident. The Chinese ambassador is currently out of town so the charge d'affaires will be summoned, Yusuf added. Pudjiastuti said she believed the Chinese coastguards stopped the boat from being towed away to prevent it from being sunk. Since taking up her position as fisheries minister in 2014, Pudjiastuti has launched a crackdown on illegal fishing, blowing up and sinking numerous impounded empty foreign vessels caught fishing without a permit. Beijing voiced concern last year after Indonesia destroyed an impounded Chinese fishing vessel. Indonesia does not have overlapping territorial claims with Beijing in the hotly contested South China Sea, unlike several other Asian nations. But Jakarta has objected to China's nine-dash line -- the demarcation Beijing uses on maps to demonstrate its claim to almost the whole of the sea. This is because the line overlaps with Indonesia's exclusive economic zone around Natuna, a string of islands rich in fish on the far northwest fringe of the archipelago. LONDON (Reuters) - Kenya may come to market with a eurobond in coming weeks after finding strong interest at a roadshow in London on Tuesday, investors said, as the issuance window reopens for some African sovereigns. African issuance has yet to get off the ground in 2016. Commodity prices reached multi-year lows in the first quarter, putting fresh strains on struggling economies. But with commodity prices stabilising in March, and a rally in African bonds in conjunction with improved investor appetite for risky assets, the window looks open for some. Kenya's finance minister was in London on Tuesday to meet investors in what was billed a "non-deal" roadshow, but a treasury source indicated Kenya may return in May to roadshow a bond. Finance Minister Henry Rotich told Reuters he had been impressed with the level of interest, having met over 50 investors. "Kenya may try to issue sooner than May, in my view," said Shahzad Hasan, a portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors. "They will most likely have to come with a smaller issue size, say $500 million to $750 million." Claudia Calich, head of emerging debt at M&G Investments, agreed that the opportunity was open for Kenya to issue, given where its bonds were trading. "They might be tempted to test the waters within a few weeks," she said. But Kenya could be beaten to the punch by South Africa, which held a global conference call with investors on Wednesday for a potential 10-year dollar bond, notwithstanding a difficult political and economic backdrop [nIFR1qW6V8] [nL5N16H5M6]. The South African Treasury told Reuters it would issue a bond only if market conditions were favourable. [nL5N1793N4] South Africa's 10-year government bond traded near one-week lows on Wednesday after Standard & Poor's downgraded its growth forecast for South Africa this year [nL5N1791TD]. In contrast, the World Bank has highlighted Kenya as a bright spot in Africa, thanks to cheaper oil, improved agriculture output, supportive monetary policy and infrastructure investments [nL5N1730GM]. This has been reflected in Kenyan bonds. The yield on the 2024 dollar bond has fallen to about 7.9 percent from a high of 9.8 percent in January. "Yields have come down a lot on Kenyan eurobonds this year so there is scope for them to issue," said Kevin Daly, senior investment manager at Aberdeen Asset Management. By contrast, Ghana, which was also in London on Tuesday for a non-deal roadshow [nL5N1744MP], is likely to have to pay double-digit percentage coupons if it comes to market. The government is eyeing $1 billion of issuance, but Daly said market conditions would have to improve for them to come back. "They could try to come at a very high yield, but it would potentially do more damage than good," he said. "11.5 or 12 percent isn't necessarily the right signal you want to send to the market." Ghana issued a $1 billion bond at 10.75 percent last October, with a partial World Bank guarantee. It is under a three-year International Monetary Fund programme to try to repair its economy, and investors want evidence Ghana is reducing its fiscal deficit before it issues again. Calich said Ghana's existing 10-year bonds were trading at high 12 percent or even 13 percent yields. "The jury is still a little bit out on Ghana as they need to continue with fiscal consolidation not only this year but for several years," she said. (Reporting by Claire Milhench and Marc Jones, editing by Larry King) Doha (AFP) - A member of the Qatari royal family has been released by kidnappers in Iraq nearly four months after being taken captive while on a hunting trip, Qatar said Wednesday. A Pakistani national was also released, the Qatari foreign ministry said. The pair, who have not been named, were among more than 20 people abducted from a desert hunting party close to the Saudi border last December. "Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped," a brief statement published on Qatar's official QNA news agency said. It was unclear if any other Qatari royals were still being held. Faleh al-Zayadi, the governor of Muthanna province where the hunters were seized, told AFP at the time that "a number of members" of the Qatari ruling family were among those abducted. He said the kidnappers were heavily armed and travelled in dozens of vehicles. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that negotiations were continuing with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the remaining abductees. It is not known if any ransom was paid for the two men who were freed. The hunters were abducted when gunmen attacked their camp in a Shiite-majority area of southern Iraq. Nine members of the party managed to escape and cross into nearby Kuwait. Earlier this year, the Doha government said Baghdad had a "responsibility" to free all those who had been kidnapped. Pressure has also been placed on Iraq by the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Qatar is a member. In a joint statement immediately after the kidnapping, the GCC said Iraq should take "decisive and immediate measures" to secure the release of the hunters. There is widespread enmity towards the Gulf Arab states in Shiite areas of southern and central Iraq because of their support for Sunni rebels in the conflict raging in neighbouring Syria. Iran-backed Shiite militias, which have a major presence in the region, have sent fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Story continues The hunting party was in Iraq on an officially licensed expedition and Doha has put pressure on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad to help secure the hostages' release. Wealthy Gulf Arabs often brave the risks of travel to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Iraq to hunt with falcons without the bag limits and conservation measures they face at home. Their favoured prey is the houbara bustard, a large game bird once nearly hunted to extinction in the Middle East. BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Ali Allawi, whom Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi nominated last week to serve as finance minister in a new technocratic government, withdrew his candidacy on Wednesday, citing "political interventions and partisan bickering". Allawi is at least the second ministerial candidate to pull out. The nominee for oil minister withdrew on Friday, apparently because he had not been formally put forward by the main Kurdish groups. Abadi presented parliament on Thursday with a list of 14 names, many of them academics, to free the ministries from the grip of a political class that has used the system of ethnic and sectarian quotas instituted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to amass wealth and influence through corruption. The move, which threatens to weaken patronage networks that sustain the elite's wealth and influence, shocked the political establishment that has ruled Iraq since the removal of Saddam Hussein. Allawi said in a letter dated April 6, which was circulated online and confirmed as authentic by a source in Allawi's office and Kurdish officials, that political infighting "will certainly abort the radical and comprehensive reform project", which Abadi has been advocating. Allawi, a U.S.-educated former banker, has already served as finance minister once following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Parliament said on March 31 it would take 10 days to review Abadi's nominations, most of whom are not well known and were chosen without consulting the political parties. Lawmakers and analysts expect parliament to reject up to half the list. (Reporting by Isabel Coles in Erbil and Stephen Kalin in Baghdad; Editing by Catherine Evans) By Louis Charbonneau UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq are netting between $150 million and $200 million a year from illicit trade in plundered antiquities, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said in a letter released on Wednesday. "Around 100,000 cultural objects of global importance, including 4,500 archaeological sites, nine of which are included in the World Heritage List of ... UNESCO, are under the control of the Islamic State ... in Syria and Iraq," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin wrote in a letter to the U.N. Security Council. "The profit derived by the Islamists from the illicit trade in antiquities and archaeological treasures is estimated at U.S. $150-200 million per year," he said. The smuggling of artifacts, Churkin wrote, is organized by Islamic State's antiquities division in the group's equivalent of a ministry for natural resources. Only those who have a permit with a stamp from this division are permitted to excavate, remove and transport antiquities. Some details of the group's war spoils department were previously revealed by Reuters, which reviewed some of the documents seized by U.S. Special Operations Forces in a May 2015 raid in Syria. But many details in Churkin's letter appeared to be new. The envoy from Russia, which has repeatedly accused Turkey of supporting Islamic State by purchasing oil from the group, said plundered antiquities were largely smuggled through Turkish territory. "The main center for the smuggling of cultural heritage items is the Turkish city of Gaziantep, where the stolen goods are sold at illegal auctions and then through a network of antique shops and at the local market," Churkin wrote. Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment on the Russian allegations. Russian-Turkish relations have been strained ever since Turkey shot down a Russian plane near the Syrian border last November. Churkin said jewelry, coins and other looted items are brought to the Turkish cities of Izmir, Mersin and Antalya, where criminal groups produce fake documents on their origin. "The antiquities are then offered to collectors from various countries, generally through Internet auction sites such as eBay and specialized online stores," he said. Churkin named several other Internet auction sites that he said sold antiquities plundered by Islamic State. "Recently ISIL has been exploiting the potential of social media more and more frequently so as to cut out the middleman and sell artifacts directly to buyers," he said. EBay said it was not aware of the allegations that it was being used to sell plundered items. "eBay has absolutely zero interest in having illicit listings of cultural or historical goods appear on our platforms," it said. "We're currently looking into the claims of this letter." "To date, we are not aware of any direct evidence of listings for items on eBay that resulted from ISIL looting or similar activity," it added. (Additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Istanbul; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Andrew Hay) Paris (AFP) - Air strikes targeting oil facilities controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq have greatly eroded the jihadists' production capabilities and almost halted exports, French industry experts have told a parliamentary committee. Francis Perrin, head of the French company Energy Strategies and Policies, and Francis Duseux, president of the French Union of Oil Industries, estimated on Tuesday that IS was now producing between 10,000 and 30,000 barrels a day compared to double that amount in mid-2014. Duseux described IS's situation in Syria as "critical" because it was no longer able to even meet the fuel needs for its war against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. "The air strikes by the US-led coalition have had a big effect, especially since the launch of Tidal Wave II in autumn 2015," Perrin said at the committee hearing held on Tuesday. "It specifically targeted oil facilities, drilling rigs, pumps, wells in certain cases, refineries and mini-refineries, oil pipelines and tankers, storage facilities and collection points. "Daesh's entire oil supply line is targeted," he added, using an Arab name for IS. "Its oil revenues have therefore sharply declined since the summer of 2014," Perrin added. The fall in global oil prices had also bitten hard, and the jihadists had difficulty repairing or maintaining facilities hit in air strikes, the expert said. "Today, these profits are likely to be far lower than what is often given. It's probably not more than $400 million a year, probably less." Francis Duseux told the parliamentary committee that production was down as low as 10,000 barrels a day -- and that IS was no longer able to export from Syria at all. "The local information that we have is that Daesh's production has decreased considerably. We estimate they are now turning out about 10,000 barrels a day," he said. Story continues "We believe that Daesh can no longer export anything from Syria. "We get the impression that they are having difficulties even meeting their needs for the war those of the local population that they are controlling. So their situation is critical." The Pentagon said in January that the campaign of air strikes had reduced IS's oil-producing capacity by 30 percent compared to October 2015. Jerusalem (AFP) - A parole board on Wednesday rejected a request for early release for Israeli ex-president Moshe Katsav, who began serving a seven-year prison term in 2011 for rape and other sexual offences. The justice ministry said the parole board found that Katsav, the first Israeli head of state to be sent to prison, "expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes." "The board emphasised that the prisoner has presented himself as a victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others," the ministry said in a statement. Katsav was expected to appeal the parole board's decision. The 70-year-old has always maintained his innocence despite being convicted in December 2010 on two counts of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. The 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff. The offences committed against his employees were said to have occurred when he served as tourism minister and president. A woman who served as his secretary during his term as tourism minister in the late 1990s made graphic allegations against him. She described Katsav as "monstrous," with a "split personality" that subjected her to "terror." Katsav became president in 2000 and for months defied enormous public pressure to quit over the allegations before ultimately resigning as part of a plea bargain in 2007. He was replaced by Nobel Peace laureate and elder statesman Shimon Peres in the largely ceremonial post. Afer resigning, Katsav later decided that instead of facing trial for lesser charges he would "fight until the truth comes out" and called off the plea bargain. He appealed his conviction before the Israeli Supreme Court, but lost. He also failed to convince either judges or lawmakers that he should be allowed to serve his sentence at home. Story continues - 'Burying a man alive' - He entered Ma'asiyahu prison near Tel Aviv on December 7, 2011. Speaking to reporters as he left his home, Katsav said Israel was "burying a man alive." "Today the state of Israel is taking a man out to execute him on the basis of impressions, without evidence," he said. "One day the truth will be revealed. The state is imprisoning a grandfather of grandchildren, a former president. I never hurt anyone, I treated everyone with respect." Controversy surrounded Katsav's request for early release, with many drawing attention to the fact that he had not expressed remorse for the crimes. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also drew criticism in recent weeks after she reportedly discussed a pardon for Katsav with current President Reuven Rivlin, who was said to have rejected the idea. Katsav, an Iranian-born bureaucrat, rose from impoverished origins as a child immigrant to the nation's top job. A member of the right-wing Likud party, he was Israel's first conservative president and the first born in an Islamic country. One of eight children, Katsav was born in December 1945 and arrived in Israel three years after its creation in 1948. He was considered a competent administrator within the hawkish Likud and served terms as tourism and transport minister in the 1980s and 1990s. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli and Palestinian officials reached an agreement on Wednesday to stop several days of rolling blackouts in the occupied West Bank over what Israel says is some $450 million in debt. Under the agreement, the Palestinian Authority would make an immediate payment of 20 million shekels ($5.2 million, 4.6 million euros) and engage in negotiations on the remainder, the state-run Israel Electricity Corporation said in a statement. The company said it could reinstate the power cuts if a wider agreement is not reached within a week. Palestinian officials did not immediately comment on the deal. The Palestinian Authority is struggling financially and depends largely on foreign aid. Its economy has faltered in part due to Israeli restrictions in the West Bank. It relies heavily on Israel for electricity supplies. The IEC has since March 31 reduced power supply for hours at a time to Jericho, Bethlehem and Hebron, causing blackouts that Palestinian officials said threatened to cause further economic damage. Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's defence exports rose slightly in 2015 to reach $5.7 billion in new contracts despite a faltering global economy, the defence ministry said on Wednesday. The contracts included aircraft upgrades and maintenance, electronics, drones, telecommunications, aerial defence systems, satellites and naval systems, a statement read. Most of the exports were for Asia and Europe. In 2014, Israel's defence exports reached $5.66 billion. Israel is one of the world's top 10 defence exporters and invests in developing technological solutions to accomodate "operational difficulties posed by asymmetric warfare and the importance of precise munitions and real-time intelligence," the statement read. The defence ministry noted that 2015 was an unfavourable year to the global defence industry due to "falling oil prices and currency exchanges," but predicted the stability in its exports would continue in 2016. On Sunday, Israel's central bank said the country's economic growth in 2015, which stood at 2.5 percent, was hampered in part by a decline in exports due to the faltering global economy and its strengthening currency, the shekel. ROME (Reuters) - Italy's government on Wednesday called a confidence vote over a decree that aims to provide state guarantees to banks seeking to sell bad loans and create a holding company for small credit cooperatives. Parliamentary Relations Minister Maria Elena Boschi called the Senate vote, which starts at 1500 GMT, to accelerate the passage of the emergency decree, which will expire this week without parliamentary approval. If the government loses a confidence vote it is obliged to resign, but defeat looks extremely unlikely in this case. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has only a narrow majority in the Senate, can normally rely on the support of defectors from the crumbling center-right party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to ensure passage of important legislation. The decree, which has been approved by the lower house, sets up a guarantee scheme aimed at helping banks and other financial institutions offload some of the 200 billion euros ($227 billion) in bad loans that piled up on their balance sheets during three years of recession. The plan, agreed after months of talks with the European Commission, would let banks bundle the loans into securities that can be then sold. The decree also contains measures to pull together under a holding company the 371 credit cooperatives that are currently tiny fragments in an unwieldy and expensive system. Credit cooperatives with assets worth at least 200 million euros, or that choose to make partnerships with lenders of that size, will be able to opt out of the new structure. The holding company would have capital of at least a billion euros and the Treasury would be able to sell off some of its share if it needed to raise funds on the market. (Reporting by Steve Scherer; Editing by Janet Lawrence) NAPLES, Italy (Reuters) - Italian police fired tear gas and water cannon on Wednesday during running battles with protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi during a visit to the southern city of Naples. Renzi, in Italy's third-largest city to discuss plans for the urban development of a former industrial site, was greeted by a hostile group of 1,500 people, some of whom threw fireworks and stones and tried to force police road blocks. The protesters, who oppose the redevelopment plans which they say have not involved the local community, brandished a giant-sized model of the prime minister in the form of Pinocchio and chanted "Renzi go home" in Neapolitan dialect. Some foreign tourists were caught up in the clashes and four officers were slightly injured, according to local media. The demonstrations took place at a difficult time for Renzi, whose industry minister resigned last week in a scandal over alleged influence-peddling related to the development of an oil field in southern Italian region of Basilicata. The main opposition party, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, has presented a parliamentary motion of no-confidence in the whole government, which it says is in the thrall of industrial lobbies. The motion, which will probably be voted on next week, has little chance of success, but it will keep the government under pressure ahead of mayoral elections to be held in Italy's main cities later in the spring. Renzi has repeatedly clashed with the mayor of Naples, Luigi de Magistris, a left-wing former magistrate who is running for re-election and is favored in the polls over Renzi's candidate. De Magistris, who has dubbed Naples a "Renzi-free zone", said the premier had refused to involve him in the development of the Bagnoli former industrial site, which he claimed served the interests of construction groups rather than citizens. He slammed Renzi's visit as "an electoral catwalk." Renzi's center-left Democratic Party remains Italy's most popular party, according to opinion polls, although his personal approval ratings have fallen steadily over the last year. (Reporting By Ciro De Luca, writing by Gavin Jones, editing by Angus MacSwan) By Ange Aboa ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Purchases of cocoa in Ivory Coast's mid-crop season that starts in April have ground to a halt because of a lack of rain and harsh winds that have also hit quality, farmers and buyers said. Forecasts for the April-October mid crop say it could drop to between 380,000 and 390,000 tonnes, a 24 percent fall from 502,000 tonnes in the same harvest last year, according to several trading houses and cocoa producers. The West African country is the world's biggest producer of cocoa, with output of around 1.8 million tonnes per year, of which the mid-crop represents about 30 percent. Dry weather has already reduced forecasts for the 2015-2016 season to around 1.6 million. Many exporters have reduced or stopped buying altogether as a lack of rain has made beans smaller and twice as acidic as usual. "The quality is ... at a level where we would prefer not to buy at the moment," said the director of an exports company in Abidjan, who declined to be identified. "We will see in June if that changes." Only seven of more than 100 accredited operators have bought beans and opened their factories so far. About 80 percent of exporting companies have stopped buying, exporters said. On Monday exporters bought 2,800 tonnes of cocoa in the ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, down significantly from the normal haul of 20,000 tonnes. While smaller beans may be bought by local grinders instead of exported, they produce more acidity and less butter than larger ones, forcing grinders to purchase more for the same result. Acidity levels, or FFA, stood at 3.5 percent against a usual level of 1.75 percent, exporters said. As a result, grinders have largely foregone purchases so far this mid-crop season, opting to wait for any improvements in the crop that may appear toward the end of the harvest. Recent rain in the main cocoa-growing regions was too late to affect the development of pods on the trees, farmers said. "We are happy with the rain's return, but it's too late for the production," said Salomon Lohami, who owns a seven-acre cocoa plantation in Kahin. "If it was January or February, that could change the harvest, but not at this point." (Writing by Makini Brice; Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg and David Holmes) Justin Bieber has some pretty cinematic lyrics. James Corden highlighted the fact when he staged a soap opera on Tuesday's Late Late Show, composed entirely of lines from the musician's tracks. Entitled The Bold and the Lyrical, the clever scene saw Salma Hayek, Ray Romano and Gary Oldman reciting the lyrics in melodramatic form, including shouting "Baby" repeatedly. "Is it too late now to say sorry?" Hayek asks Corden after cheating on him with Romano. Oldman also makes a dramatic entrance and the three of the men tell Hayek to "love yourself." However, Romano accidentally slips in a lyric from One Direction's "Steal My Girl" and gets appropriately scolded. Corden previously staged a similar bit with Julianne Moore and John Stamos, using only Taylor Swift lyrics. Watch the video below. A Japanese air force plane with six people aboard went missing on Wednesday, the defence ministry announced, and a search was under way in mountainous terrain. The U-125 aircraft left a base in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu island in southwestern Japan in the early afternoon, said Yoshiyuki Sugiyama, head of the Air Self-Defense Force. The small jet "disappeared from the radar", Sugiyama told a press briefing. Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of helicopters searching forest-covered mountains for the aircraft, while military and emergency vehicles rushed towards the area. Tokyo (AFP) - US military bases remain essential to Japan's security, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in an interview on Wednesday, as he brushed off comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Tokyo should be left to defend itself. Japan's alliance with Washington has been the bedrock of its defence since the end of World War II, and the country still hosts 47,000 US troops. "I cannot conceive of any situation within the foreseeable future when the US presence wouldn't be necessary," Abe told The Wall Street Journal. Abe has vowed to boost Japan's military but he sidestepped a question on whether Japan would play a bigger role in its own defence, saying Tokyo would strengthen its relationship with Washington. "By strengthening the Japan-US alliance, we'll strengthen deterrence and that will contribute to peace and stability in the region, not just Japan," Abe said in the interview with the WSJ, conducted in Tokyo on Tuesday. Abe also said he wanted to push through a huge trans-Pacific trade deal that has been attacked by both Democratic presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. "This is the birth of an economic zone that has 40 percent of the world's [gross domestic product], one that is protected by free and fair rules,' Abe told the WSJ, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive multi-nation deal of which Japan and the US are the key players. "Through it, the US, Japan and the other countries participating in TPP will achieve great profit and gain chances for growth." Abe's comments come after Trump said that US alliances with countries such as Japan and South Korea cost too much to maintain and that they should be responsible for their own defence -- unless they bear more of the cost burden. Trump has also suggested that they could develop their own nuclear weapons, a stance particularly controversial in Japan, which is the only country in the world to be attacked with atomic bombs. Story continues Asked at a press conference last week about comments by Trump, Abe said that the alliance with the US remains strong and will not change after the US presidential election in November, comments he reiterated in the interview. "No matter who will be the next president, the Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone of Japan's diplomacy," he said. Japan, which is constitutionally barred from waging offensive war, last year passed new laws that could, under certain circumstances, see its troops fight abroad for the first time since the end of World War II. Abe says the legislation is necessary because of perceived threats from an increasingly assertive China and unstable North Korea. Opponents argue they go against both the constitution and the national psyche, and could see Japan dragged into far-flung wars led by treaty ally the US. Washington has backed the changes, but regional rivals China and South Korea have expressed concern at any expansion of Japan's military. Jesse Eisenberg has lined up a London transfer for the off-Broadway production of his acerbic comedy about American privilege and millennial neuroses, The Spoils. Currently seen onscreen as villain Lex Luthor in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Eisenberg will appear with his original co-star, Kunal Nayyar of The Big Bang Theory, as odd-couple roommates in the play, which runs in a limited engagement from May 27 through Aug. 13 at Trafalgar Studios in the West End. Read More: 'The Spoils': Theater Review Eisenberg plays Ben, a narcissistic wannabe film director living off his parents in a Manhattan apartment he shares with Nepalese business school student Kalyan. When Ben learns that his former elementary school crush is engaged to marry a banker, he sets out to sabotage the relationship and win her back. Directed by Scott Elliott for the New Group, The Spoils premiered in New York last June, generating mostly favorable reviews. Further casting is to be announced for the London run, which is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group and Lisa Matlin. The Spoils is the third play by the Oscar-nominated star of The Social Network to be produced, following Asuncion and The Revisionist, which is running through April 17 in its West Coast premiere at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills. Read More: Jesse Eisenberg Reveals How an Existential Crisis Sparked His Play 'The Revisionist' Joel McHale is in final negotiations to portray Chevy Chase, with whom he starred on NBC's Community, in Netflix's tragic story of National Lampoon co-founder Douglas Kenney, A Futile and Stupid Gesture. Will Forte is starring as Kenney with Domnhall Gleeson as fellow co-founder Henry Beard in the feature being directed by David Wain, the co-creator of Wet Hot American Summer. Kenney was the editor of the Harvard Lampoon when he met Henry Beard and Robert Hoffman, which, soon after graduation, resulted in the creation of National Lampoon, the humor magazine that became a major force and brand in 1970s comedy. Kenney ended up going Hollywood and succumbed to drug and alcohol issues before falling off a cliff in Hawaii under mysterious circumstances. Kenney co-wrote Caddyshack, the 1980 comedy that was an early Chase hit, and the two were close friends. Chase was with his troubled pal in Hawaii before his death but returned to Los Angeles for work. He was set to fly back when he received word that Kenney was missing. Stupid Gesture is eyeing an April start with a budget in the $15 million to $20 million range. Peter Principato and Jonathan Stern are producing. Ed Helms is executive producing along with Michael Colton and John Aboud, who wrote the script. Ben Ormand, Ted Hamm and Sean McKittrick are also exec producing. McHale starred with Chase for five of Community's six seasons. The actor-comedian, who continues to tour sold-out comedy shows across the U.S., is starring in the CBS pilot The Great Indoors, which shoots later this month. He also has his memoir, titled Thanks for the Money: How to Use My Life Story to Become the Best Joel McHale You Can Be, hitting shelves in November. McHale is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham. John Rhys-Davies has been cast as the lead in Winter Thaw, a holiday TV movie based on Leo Tolstoy's Martin the Cobbler. The telefilm is set to air Thanksgiving on Brigham Young University's Provo, Utah-based BYUtv, a commercial-free network available in 55 million households on Dish Network, DirecTV and cable systems. The movie, produced by Kaleidoscope Pictures in partnership with Baltic Film Services, was adapted from Tolstoy's short story (also commonly known as Where Love Is, God Is) by author Joseph Clay (Demons of the Jungle) and directed by Adam Thomas Anderegg (Touched by an Angel). Kaleidoscope's Russ Kendall (The Song the Changed My Life) is producing, with Travis Cline (Napoleon Dynamite) serving as director of photography. "Over the past five years, BYUtv has invested in creating enlightening films and docudramas that bring to life the most meaningful historical eras and figures, such as the story behind the creation of Handel's Messiah, the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the first English translation of the King James Bible and a depiction of Joan of Arc's experience through her own words," said Derek Marquis, managing director of BYUtv. "These seasonal specials embody our vision of 'seeing the good in world' through world-class production, writers and actors and resonate with audiences of all ages around the world. We are very pleased to bring Leo Tolstoy's short story Where Love Is, God Is to life this fall through one of the great actors of our time, John Rhys-Davies." Rhys-Davies, best known for his work as Indiana Jones' (Harrison Ford) comic sidekick Sallah, has appeared on more than 100 television shows and in films since the early 1970s. Other credits include playing the role of Gimli the dwarf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and, more recently, co-starring in History Channel's Killing Jesus and appearing on ABC's Once Upon a Time. BYUtv's original programming slate also includes drama series Granite Flats, which featured Christopher Lloyd, Parker Posey, Cary Elwes and George Newbern; long-running sketch comedy series Studio C; and Relative Race, billed as the first family-history-based competitive reality show that follows four couples as they meet relatives linked by DNA for the first time in a race across the States. The Hague (AFP) - Former Bosnian Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic on Wednesday slammed as "monstrous" a guilty verdict handed down by a UN war crimes tribunal in his first court appearance since being sentenced to 40 years in jail. Addressing a special hearing at the court in The Hague, Karadzic again proclaimed his innocence of all charges, including genocide, arising from the 1990s Balkans wars. He urged the court to free him to prepare for his appeal against last month's judgement, revealing he had packed his bags ahead of the March 24 verdict at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia expecting to be released. But UN war crimes judges ruled that Karadzic, the most high-profile figure convicted over the wars that tore Yugoslavia apart, bore criminal responsibility for murder and persecution during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict. Judge O-Gon Kwon pronounced Karadzic guilty of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and nine other charges including extermination, deportations and hostage-taking in a verdict issued more than two decades after he was first indicted. "Instead of the only right decision of acquittal and allowing me to leave (for) home, I had already packed in the detention unit ... We now have a judgement, it's monstrous, just like the indictment itself is monstrous," Karadzic said. "For eight years I have participated in the proceedings in an exemplary manner to make sure that I would not contribute to compromising this tribunal in any way whatsoever," Karadzic told a special hearing which he had called to discuss his "mental health" issues. Almost 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in July 1995 at Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia, when Bosnian Serb forces brushed aside lightly armed UN Dutch peacekeepers protecting a UN safe area. The slaughter, judged by two international courts as genocide, was the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II. By Jason Sickles The Department of Justice and other federal agencies are scrutinizing new state laws that some call legalized discrimination against gay, bisexual and transgender people, President Obamas senior adviser told Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric on Wednesday. Valerie Jarrett said what, if any, action may be taken against Mississippis and North Carolinas so-called religious freedom legislation is still to be determined. Well be interested in hearing what their findings are, Jarrett said during a live interview. But they are certainly taking a look at the parameters of the impact of these laws. On Tuesday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, a Republican, signed a law that allows religious groups and some private businesses to deny services to gay and transgender people. The controversial law comes shortly after the Republican governor of North Carolina approved legislation limiting bathroom options for transgender people and prohibiting local communities from enacting anti-discrimination ordinances. Nearly 200 similar laws have been proposed across the country since January. Couric asked Jarrett, who chairs the White House Council on Women and Girls, if she thought the new laws were a backlash against the Supreme Courts decision last summer to legalize gay marriage. I cant answer the motivation, but I can tell you that we think its wrong, we think its destructive and we dont think it reflects the better ideals or who we are as a country, the presidents longtime confidante said. Jarrett spoke from the White House lawn, where she had convened an all-day conference on gender stereotypes in the media and toys. The evidence shows the media that children watch, the toys with which they play, can have a great deal of influence on careers they choose, their interests, their self-esteem, she told Couric. Its going take every family, family by family; its going to take businesses that realize it is within their self-interest to break down these stereotypes. We have to highlight this issue that hasnt been done historically. Manama (AFP) - US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived Wednesday in Bahrain where he is expected to discuss human rights and regional conflicts ahead of a Gulf summit to be attended by President Barack Obama. Kerry will meet his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as senior officials in the tiny but strategic island state situated between regional powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran. He is the first US secretary of state to visit Bahrain, which is home to the US Fifth Fleet, since Hillary Clinton in 2010. A State Department official said Kerry would discuss "ways that the Government of Bahrain can address some of the internal challenges and certainly to try to improve the overall political climate in Bahrain in terms of freedom of speech, freedom of religion". Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since security forces crushed Shiite-led protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister. Since then, dozens of people have been put on trial and handed lengthy jail terms in the Sunni-ruled kingdom over charges ranging from criticising authorities to planning or carrying out attacks. The US official said that Kerry will meet Gulf ministers to discuss "some of the critical regional issues, primarily Yemen, Syria, the situation in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere in the region." The GCC also includes the Sunni-dominated monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman. Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE have carried out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria as part of a United States-led coalition. "We're satisfied, I think, with the overall level of support that we're getting from the Gulf states in the coalition," the US official said. Several Gulf nations are also involved in a Saudi-led air and ground campaign in Yemen in support of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi who has been ousted from the capital by Iran-backed rebels. Story continues "We recognise that the focus on Yemen over these last months has detracted in some sense from the ability of the Gulf states to participate in the military components of the (anti-IS) coalition, although they are coming back and they are flying sorties again with us on that," the US official said. Kerry will also ask Gulf nations to use their "influence on opposition groups" in Syria to maintain a fragile truce in force since February 27, according to another US official. His visit aims to prepare for Obama's attendance of a GCC summit in Riyadh on April 21, where Washington's policies towards the Middle East are likely to come under the microscope. Uneasy partners in the Gulf have been furious at Obama's engagement with their Shiite foe Iran and perceived retreat from the Middle East. (photo: Getty Images) New York Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich has just given Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) a huge legal victory by dismissing all but one of Kesha Rose Seberts counterclaims against the producer. Following up on her decision to deny an injunction, the judge examines Kesha's allegations accusing Dr. Luke of drugging and raping her a decade ago and committing ongoing abuse and determines that some of her claims fail because of lack of jurisdiction and other claims just dont make the elements. On Keshas assertion that Dr. Luke has violated New York statutes commonly referred to as hate crime laws, Kornreich says the facts as pled dont add up to the allegation that Dr. Luke harbored animus towards women. Every rape is not a gender-motivated hate crime, she writes. Kornreich also rules that such a claim cant be predicated on abusive remarks and threats made over a ten-year period - that there needs to be physical violence or property damage. The only allegation that fits is Dr. Lukes alleged assault of Kesha on an airplane and rape in a hotel before 2008, just past the seven-year statute-of-limitations. The claim is time-barred, states the judges opinion. As for a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, the judge writes that insults about her value as an artist, her looks, and her weight are insufficient to constitute extreme, outrageous conduct intolerable in civilized society. Kesha was hoping for a declaratory judgment that her recording and songwriting agreements with Dr. Lukes companies were void and unenforceable, and while theres one counterclaim that survives as to whether her agreement terminated when she was sued for breach of contract, she cant use Dr. Lukes failure to sue for performance as an out. Courts generally will not enforce a contract for personal services because slavery has been outlawed since the 19th Century, notes the judge. Maybe most disastrous for Kesha, the judge is dismissing the claims without an opportunity to amend her complaint. She recently added a star attorney to her team and has filed an appeal over the judges decision to deny an injunction on the basis that after expending $20 million building Keshas career, it was commercially unreasonable to rip up a contract. Unfortunately for her, theres pretty much no good news for the pop superstar from the decision today. More to come. Pet Love: A global look at cozy relationships between people and animals. Dressed in bright reds, greens and yellows, they line up atop their brown horses in a seafoam-green corral. The course is dusty and a bit run-down, but the riders focus is laser sharp. The whistle blows, the gates fling open and theyre off, hurtling around the track at extreme speeds. This isnt just any horse race, and these arent just any jockeys. Rather, theyre very young jockeys. On the Indonesian island of Sumbawa, child jockeys as young as 4 years old race horses at speeds of up to 80 kilometers per hour. Compare that with a racing-loving nation like Australia, where age 16 is the absolute youngest you can get a jockey license, says Des OKeeffe, general manager of the Australian Jockeys Association. Races on Sumbawa include gambling, even though betting is technically illegal in the largely Muslim country. Child labor is also illegal, but the young jockeys make up to $7 a race. That might sound like a lot of soda pop, but the winners can earn their bosses the horse owners significantly more, between $300 and $500 a race. Usually, the grand prize stays in the hands of the jockeys overlord, but sometimes the child will receive a cut, or a gift like a motorcycle, TV or refrigerator. Beating Santa to the chase on that last one. If youre thinking this must be a niche event, youre wrong. Indra Nienhaus, a documentary filmmaker who spent time following the races, saw one popular race with around 400 horses and 70 child jockeys. The kids compete in approximately 10 competitions a year, each of which lasts from seven to 10 days. Training sessions take place a couple of times a weekend. All of which adds up, in addition to detracting from school the kids can miss up to 100 days a year. Here, riding is a way of life, and horse racing, known locally as pacoa jara, is all many of the children have ever known, says Nienhaus. Horses are a cultural cornerstone on the islands and are used for transportation and farming. Story continues Gettyimages 488298282 A child jockey waiting to take part in the traditional horse races that are part of the Moyo festival on Sumbawa, on Sept. 15, 2015. Source: Ulet Ifansasti / Getty Although there are some similarities to races in, say, the U.S. or Australia, the stakes are a lot higher in an already dangerous profession. The child jockeys ride bareback and barefoot, their only safety equipment a leather helmet lined with local sponges. Not surprisingly, accidents occur almost every race, and there are a lot of broken bones, says Nienhaus. Just last year, a boy fell and was trampled to death. Jeff Johnston, a former jockey whos a regional manager for the U.S. Jockeys Guild, says that even in the regulated U.S., the sport is certainly dangerous, so much so that an ambulance follows the jockeys and their steeds along the course. In Sumbawa, breeders have begun to import Thoroughbreds for crossbreeding with the local stock. Heres hoping one day theyll import some safety measures too. Related Articles Owning a house and having money in the bank are important, but the most important financial milestone for Americans today is becoming debt free. More than 60 percent of those surveyed recently by TD Bank said doing so would make them feel like they have made it financially. Among Americans who have debt, more than two-thirds have said that it has hindered their ability to achieve their financial goals. It was an even bigger problem for millennials with debt, 80 percent of whom said it was impacting their financial progress. Related: The Best and Worst States for Taxes A third of those surveyed said they couldnt reach their financial goals because they were living paycheck to paycheck, and 17 percent said their credit card or student loan debt was a major obstacle to success. The survey found that 54 percent of Americans would feel like theyve made it if they could buy a home, and 52 percent would feel that way if they had enough money in a savings account to cover emergencies. A third of those surveys say that investing is an important financial milestone. Despite their debt issues, millennials were the generation most likely to say that they have the financial skills to achieve their financial goals. More than three-quarters of them felt confident they had the personal finance skills to make it, compared to just 67 percent of Gen Xers and 56 percent of those in Generation Z. Millennials are also the most competitive about reaching those milestones, with 45 percent saying that its important to them to feel like theyve made it before their friends. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - A shortage of ballot papers during municipal elections in St. Louis County, Missouri, on Tuesday prompted a judge to extend voting hours at affected polling stations, officials said. A state appeals court judge ruled that the affected sites should stay open an extra two hours to close at 9 p.m. local time, the St. Louis County Election Board said in a statement on its website. Janna Greenwalt, a worker for the board, said a minority of more than 400 polling sites had been affected, but she was unable to be more specific. However, St. Louis television station KTVI reported that more than 50 polling sites had been affected. Some of the voting sites had already closed when the judge's order was handed down, county election officials said, and voters were invited to cast their ballots at the board's headquarters. The municipal election in St. Louis County featured races for city council and school board seats in numerous jurisdictions. Those included Ferguson, the city that saw heavy protests in 2014 over the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white police officer. Voting in St. Louis city, which is separate from the county and runs its own elections, went ahead without a hitch. Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, a Democrat, said his office would investigate the county's voting problems, St. Louis television station KSDK reported. (Reporting by Greg Bailey in St. Louis and Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore) DUBLIN (Reuters) - The leader of Ireland's second largest party Fianna Fail lost a vote in parliament to be appointed prime minister as expected on Wednesday, following Enda Kenny's earlier failed attempt to be re-elected. Needing 79 votes for election, Micheal Martin was backed by the 43 members of his own party as the 15 independent lawmakers he and Kenny wanted the support of to hand them the initiative in forming a minority government voted for neither. The two leaders are due to meet for the first time since the Feb. 26 election later on Wednesday to discuss whether they can end the political impasse and avoid a second election. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Angus MacSwan) United Nations (United States) (AFP) - At least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes in an upsurge of fighting since January in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN's peacekeeping chief said Wednesday. "Clashes and aerial bombings are currently continuing" in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra, Herve Ladsous, the under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the Security Council. About 103,000 people have sought refuge at four camps set up by the joint UN-African Union UNAMID mission in Darfur, he said. Ladsous quoted humanitarian agencies as saying that at least 138,000 people had been on the run since mid-January. Restrictions imposed by the Sudanese government to aid agencies and to the UNAMID mission made it difficult to be precise in assessing the number of displaced in the recent fighting, he said. Jebel Marra sits at the heart of the Darfur region and is a stronghold of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army commanded by Abdulwahid Nur (SLA-AW). Sudan's Ambassador Omar Dahab Fadl disputed the reports of large-scale movements of civilians, saying "large numbers" of displaced people had managed to return to their villages in Darfur and were growing their crops. "Preparations are underway for the return of 100.000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) to their villages in the east and west of Darfur," the ambassador told the council. Khartoum's envoy insisted that the Sudanese army was responding to attacks from the SLA-AW and had managed to restore security to the region, with roads now open to civilians. "For the first time in 13 years, primary school students sat for general examinations. Levies ceased to be paid to hooligans," he said. "Show me in which way this can clash with UN objectives." The UN peacekeeping chief called on the government and the rebels to immediately halt fighting in Jebel Marra and begin peace talks to end the conflict. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft expressed concern over the continued violence in Jebel Marra and said humanitarian access to central Darfur had become "even harder" as a result. Story continues "We ask all parties to provide the cooperation that UNAMID needs to do its job," he said. Darfur descended into conflict in 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled, complaining the region was being economically and politically marginalized by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. More than 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict since 2003 and there are some 2.6 million displaced, according to the United Nations. When Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner launched Lenny Letter in September 2015, they hoped one day it'd be more than an email newsletter. Only six months in, the digital outlet has advanced the feminist conversation with such powerhouse bylines as Jane Fonda, Michelle Obama and Jennifer Lawrence - who put Lenny on the map when she penned an essay on Hollywood's gender pay gap, opening the door for other prominent women to do the same. Now, both Julianne Moore and Shonda Rhimes have pieces in the queue. The newsletter has kept up momentum by offering fresh takes on complex and oftentimes taboo issues, from gang rape to domestic violence to abortion, with a biweekly mix of personal essays and in-depth Q&As. And it's developed a loyal following doing so - the newsletter now boasts more than 400,000 subscribers and an impressive 70 percent open rate, which it's been able to monetize thanks to an advertising deal with Hearst. "The newsletter was a way to take the temperature of an audience and see if there really was a place for us to step into other media with the Lenny voice," says Dunham. Now, as the creative duo prepare to bid farewell to their acclaimed HBO series Girls in 2017, Dunham, 29, and Konner, 44, plan to expand the Lenny brand and, as The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively report, are in negotiations with HBO to team for what the pair describes as a series of 22-minute short films written and directed by women. "Instead of just discussing issues, we want Lenny to be a part of something that gives opportunities," Dunham says of the collaboration with the premium cable network, with which they have other scripted projects in development via their Los Angeles-based production company A Casual Romance. Among them: Max, a 1960s-set feminism comedy pilot starring Zoe Kazan. Lenny's influence soon will extend into the print world, too. Dunham and Konner are launching a book imprint with Random House, the publisher of Dunham's best-selling memoir Not That Kind of Girl, which will focus on emerging voices in fiction and nonfiction. With the first book expected to drop in 2017, Dunham and Konner join the ranks of other celebrities who have dabbled in the publishing sphere with book imprints of their own, including Oprah Winfrey, Gwyneth Paltrow, Brett Ratner and Chelsea Handler. Story continues As they prepare to launch an empire with Lenny, Dunham and Konner sat with THR to discuss the legacy of Girls, the backstory on Lawrence's poignant essay and why they aren't ruling out other multimedia formats for Lenny. With Girls ending next year, what does the next phase of your career look like? KONNER Well, we started Lenny six months ago and we were really surprised and thrilled by the reaction. It was so strong and we're enjoying it so much that we're trying to figure out as many platforms for Lenny as we can. So, the [Women of the Hour] podcast will become a Lenny podcast [it will return in the fall with 10 episodes instead of five], and we're doing a short-film series for Lenny in collaboration with HBO, which is perfect. We don't know what the limits are of Lenny. DUNHAM We're also going to be starting a book imprint with Random House. KONNER Yeah, we have our first book. There's a lot of things floating around in our heads, bubbling up, as we're trying to figure out all the things Lenny can be. See More: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner Say "Every City Has Their Own Version of 'Girls'" So Lenny will ultimately become much more than an email newsletter and website? DUNHAM We love the newsletter and it will always sort of be Lenny's flagship, but the newsletter was a way to take the temperature of an audience and see if there really was a place for us to step into other media with the Lenny voice. What we were really trying to do with Lenny was to find a way to bring humor and pathos and complexity to some issues - be it reproductive justice or complicated legislation about domestic violence - that can feel alien and alienating. And it's been amazing to see how hungry our audience is for that kind of content. What reaction to Lenny has surprised you the most? DUNHAM Some of the conversations that have been able to spring up around launching Lenny, like when we saw Valerie Jarrett from the White House congratulate Bradley Cooper on saying that he was going to share his wage info with his female co-stars. We were like, "Hey! That's our newsletter, guys!" It was just such a thrilling moment to see these things not just becoming dialogue but actually translating into action. Did you expect Lenny to be the conversation starter it has been? DUNHAM Every day we're like, "Is this real?" My Lenny [landed in] my inbox this morning and I was like, "Oh my God, this is still happening! Jane Fonda! That's awesome!" I got amazing responses [to the Jane Fonda piece, entitled 'My Convoluted Journey to Feminism.'] Every woman in my life over 50 years old emailed me about it. I was just so excited to see that they were feeling awesome and represented and heard. They are getting to hear one of their heroes talk about a journey she had where she wasn't perfectly sure the whole time. How does a piece like that come about? Do you reach out to them or do they come to you? DUNHAM It happens both ways. What's exciting though is we're increasingly seeing women come to us thinking about Lenny as a potential platform for their ideas. KONNER I think once the Jennifer Lawrence piece came out - because it was such a big deal and she was so brave and raw and such a good writer - all of a sudden other people thought, "Well, I can do that, and I have something to say, too." Read More: Lena Dunham Talks Feminism and Babies With Jane Fonda So, did Jennifer Lawrence approach you guys? DUNHAM I actually reached out to her before Lenny even launched, before we were even public about it. I just said to her, "Hey, we're starting this feminist newsletter. If there's anything you ever want to say, think of us." And I expected her to be like, "Sure, great," lovely and polite as she is. But I think she really did have something she had been waiting to find a safe channel to express, and we were really, really lucky that she trusted us so early in our process because we think it opened up the doors for a lot of other women to do the same. It's so exciting - we have pieces coming out in the next few months from Julianne Moore, Shonda Rhimes, Amanda Peet, Joy Bryant, just an amazing collection of women who have a lot to say and have wanted to say it outside the form of an interview. As wonderful as journalists are, the fact is that when you speak it's going to be dissected in a very particular way. You have a real power when you speak in your own words. And it's really cool to see female actors, who have historically been relegated to be just these pretty faces, be so excited to express themselves on such a personal level. Who else is on your wish list? DUNHAM Hmm, well, do you know what one of our staffers said the other day? "The Lenny conversation: Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan." Like, a makeup on Lenny. Whether that's even realistic for legal reasons I can't begin to say, but it would be really nice. Also, I've been chasing Babs Streisand for a little while, so if she hears this call, I got a lot of questions for you, girl. What exactly will your latest collaboration with HBO entail? KONNER They'll be short films for HBONow that are directed and written by female-identifying writers and directors. They will be based on short stories by women, and their crew is going to be 50 percent female, mandatory. They will just be little 22-minute passion projects. [The deals for this venture have not yet closed.] DUNHAM Jenni and I have really been lucky enough to be part of the conversation about the lack of representation of women in Hollywood and people of color in Hollywood. So instead of just discussing issues, we wanted Lenny to be a part of something that gives opportunities, and we were lucky enough that HBO, being our longtime partner, felt like that was a worthy goal. Also, the short film is such a beautiful form that has so much to offer. It is so delightful and is often overlooked, so we're excited to try to find a way to do that intelligently that gives a whole new kind of content, and hopefully lets our [Lenny] readers behind the scenes of the process of making the films. Part of what Jenni and I want to do is make being a writer or being a director or being a producer seem less like this ivory tower job and more accessible. So by creating a film series in which we're giving work opportunities to people who identify as female and also let our readership look at the process, we're hoping to just be a part of the change we want to see in the world. You mentioned that you'll require that half of the crew on these future short films be women. Do you have any sort of mandate like that for your writers rooms? KONNER The Girls writers room has just sort of developed over time, but certainly when we were staffing Lenny it was something we thought a lot about. We didn't have a specific percentage in mind but were like, "We need diverse voices," and we went out and looked for them. DUNHAM Obviously having been a part of the real conversation about diversity on all ends - both as subjects of criticism and people who are criticizing - it's something that is always on our minds. Read More: Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner Pen Open Letter to Donald Trump With Girls on its way out next year, what do you want the legacy of the show to be? DUNHAM I would feel really happy if we freed up some space for women to be complicated and unlikable and allow them to make some tough choices on television. I think that even in the time we've been on, we've seen so many more of those kinds of females appear on television - ones that used to be few and far between. I mean, they've always existed. There's always been your Mary Tyler Moores and your Maudes and your important kind of pioneering women, but it's funny because I just was recently rewatching Ally McBeal and I was reminded by how scandalized people were by her because she wasn't professional at the time and cried in the bathroom and pitted people against each other. I was like, "That's just another Wednesday on Girls." I feel really lucky that we get to make a show that is not just one of those women but a bunch of those women interacting with each other. KONNER Equally, I hope that we leave some space for behind-the-scenes women running shows more. So many more women since we started are running shows. There's the queen of television, Shonda Rhimes, and it exists, but there's still a big disparity between men and women. The show is the two of us, our two highest-level producers are women and our production companies are filled with women, so I think if we can [keep] pushing the ball forward for women, we're doing our job. DUNHAM And I think in the coming years as we continue to figure out what Girls meant to us, we really do want to be open about our experience and be a resource to other women who would want to do what we're doing with the show and who would want to understand what it was like writing female characters like this in the public eye. You also have other projects in the works at HBO, including the 1960s-set feminism pilot Max starring Zoe Kazan. What can you tell us about that project? DUNHAM That's not something we can really discuss right now, but what I will say is that it was really fun to shoot something else with a really strong female lead and just continue to explore our voice and to support other writers that we really like. I love directing and I love being able to have the opportunity to focus on it without the kind of schizophrenia that comes with trying to do two or three jobs at once. So I hope there's more just directing or just writing in my future because it's really refreshing for me. Even when I direct, say, a short fashion film for my sister-in-law, it's a thrilling thing for me to just be able to focus on that one part of the craft. ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss chocolate group Lindt & Spruengli AG on Wednesday named U.S. sales chief Daniel Studer as head of its U.S. operations, replacing Thomas Linemayr, who is leaving the company at the end of April. Lindt is focusing on profitability at its Russell Stover business in the United States, which will mean trimming some products and sales promotions. Lindt bought Missouri-based Russell Stover in 2014, a deal which made the Swiss premium chocolate maker the third biggest in the U.S. market, behind Hershey and Mars. The $1.5 billion acquisition cemented North America as Lindt's largest market, accounting for nearly half of 2015 group revenues. (Reporting by Michael Shields, editing by David Evans) A 22-year-old Afghan man landed in Lithuania on Wednesday after reaching out to the president for help on YouTube and securing a temporary visa that paves the way for asylum. "I heard Germany has a lot of money, but I want to be in Lithuania. I speak the language," said Abdul Basir Yoususi, a Catholic who once worked as an interpreter for the Lithuanian army in Afghanistan. "I only need one thing: to stay here," he told reporters at the airport in the Baltic state's capital Vilnius, adding that he never wanted to return to Afghanistan. After Lithuanian forces left the central Afghan province of Ghor in 2013, Yoususi received several threatening letters, prompting him to set out on a two-month journey to Greece that cost around $6,500 (5,700 euros). Last week, he drew Lithuania's attention when he posted a video to YouTube saying, "I have a request for the president (Dalia Grybauskaite). I need help. I'm currently in Greece." The social media appeal worked: on Tuesday officials granted him a five-day visa so that he could apply for asylum for himself, his wife and their two-year-old daughter. Lithuanian soldier Jurgis Norvaisa, who was posted in Afghanistan in 2012, said he recognised Yoususi when he saw the video circulating on social media. "He interpreted from Lithuanian to Dari Persian and vice versa. He helped us in our contact with the local people," Norvaisa told AFP. Lithuania has agreed to welcome 1,105 migrants over two years under an EU plan to resettle asylum-seekers among the bloc's 28 members, as Europe battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. More than a million people entered Europe last year, many of them fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East and Africa. More than half of the 7,000 Auxiliary Police Officers (APOs) deployed in Singapore are Singaporeans, Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam told Parliament on Wednesday (6 April). Shanmugam was responding to a question by Member of Parliament (MP) Sylvia Lim, who said that an officer had informed her that the ratio between Malaysian and Singaporeans among APOs was five is to one, to which the minister replied, not correct, thankfully. My ministry has deliberately required that there be a Singaporean majority despite the manpower challenges, the minister said during a Committee of Supply debate. APOs complements the police by performing a range of functions such as supporting police deployment at major events, Shanmugam highlighted. On the deployment of APOs, this depends on the risk assessment and operational requirements of the post. We are conscious of the implications of hiring and deploying Malaysian APOs. My ministry requires that all APOs deployed at land checkpoints are Singapore citizens, he said. New single rank structure for officers The Singapore Police Force (SPF) will move away from the current separate schemes that are in place for junior and senior officers, and progress towards a single rank structure, Shanmugam said. Officers who hold a diploma can look forward to seamless opportunities up the ranks, he said. SPF will be ramping up recruitment this year and enhance its schemes to attract more young people while retaining good officers. New career development pathways will also be introduced for officers with specialised skills as well as an expert track for those with specialities in investigation, intelligence and special operations, Shanmugam said. National Servicemen in the police force will also receive more opportunities to assume leadership roles, and frontline and specialist positions. More details about the changes will be revealed during a police workplace seminar later this month. Over the next 10 to 15 years, Shanmugam pointed out that the police force will experience heavier workload due to major developments including the greying population, increase in travel and cargo volumes, and the need to tackle newer types of crimes, such as cybercrimes. Story continues SPF will also need to meet growing expectations from the public. For example, that there has been an increasing trend of hurt and verbal abuse of officers with 344 cases being reported last year, Shanmugam said. Everyone has to learn to live with lesser manpower than ideal, he added. In coping with the manpower challenges, a new operating model and the use of technology are required to enhance effectiveness. Shanmugam said that the Home Team needs to focus more in deploying new technologies to combat crime. There will be a need to use data analytics and deploy resources to focus on hotspots and high priority areas with fast response time. More cameras to include town centers and walkways This year, the Singapore Police Force will also invest in PolCam2.0 to install more cameras at public areas such as HDB town centers and walkways, said Shanmugam. All motorcycle counters at land checkpoints will be equipped with automated clearance facilities by the end of the year, similar to the ones at Singapore passport-only lanes for travelers going through checkpoints by foot. Public transport cameras and Electronic Road Pricing (systems) containing existing data will also be used by the Home Team to counter terror threats, Shanmugam said. He also revealed that his ministry had initially planned not to use some of these data. But in this changed security environment, the Home Team must be able to collect and analyse suspicious travel patterns and respond swiftly and decisively for our collective security. If we dont rely on existing data, then we have to spend taxpayers money to redo the entire infrastucture, said Shanmugam. Radicalisation can happen without forewarning Radicalisation is a process that can happen without any notice and within a short time frame. In some cases, it could happen in just a month, said Shanmugam, who was responding to questions about the terror threat from MPs Christopher de Souza, Pritam Singh, Edwin Tong and Rahayu Mahzam. We need to be alert even to the slightest indication of danger, the minister said. On the Jakarta bombing, which took place in January, Shanmugam said that the four suicide bombers who were involved had just been released from prison. In Singapore, we will not release them until we believe that they have been rehabilitated. A release before rehabilitation means they will perpetrate more crimes, he said. It doesnt mean that when we release (a radicalised individual), we are sure that person will not get back to his ways, it may happen. At least not released until we made the assessment. On the rehabilitation of prisoners in Singapore, Shanmugam said that the SPF will do their best to provide them with jobs after they are being released. Among those who can work, 85 per cent are going through work programmes, while the remaining 15 per cent are waiting for work allocations, he said. In Singapore, the recidivism rate is currently 27 per cent, which is lower than other territories such as Scotland at 40 per cent, Western Australia at 31 per cent and New Zealand at 36 per cent, he added. BAMAKO (Reuters) - Authorities in Mali have arrested two men believed to be linked to an al Qaeda attack on a beach resort town in neighboring Ivory Coast that killed 19 people earlier this month, military officials said on Sunday. Gunmen shot swimmers and sunbathers before storming into several hotels in the town of Grand Bassam, 40 km (25 miles) from the commercial capital, Abidjan, on March 13. "The information concerning the arrests of two suspects in the north of Mali is true," said Lieutenant-Colonel Modibo Nama Traore, a military intelligence officer who said they had been picked up by gendarmes and the intelligence service. Ivory Coast announced last week it had detained 15 people in connection with the attack, which was claimed by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), the Islamist group's North African branch. Ivorian officials named the suspected ringleader as Kounta Dallah, but said he remained at large. While Traore gave no further details of the arrests in Mali, a second intelligence officer said the two men were arrested separately on Saturday and Sunday in the towns of Goundam and Gossi in the northern Timbuktu region. "One is even Kounta's driver," the intelligence officer said, asking not to be identified. In its claim of responsibility for the Grand Bassam shooting rampage, AQIM said the attack was revenge for France's military intervention in Mali. Eleven Ivorians, including three special forces' soldiers, died in the attack. Four French citizens were killed and other foreign victims included citizens of Germany, Lebanon, Macedonia and Nigeria. Paris sent troops to its former colony in 2013 to drive out Islamist fighters who seized its desert north a year earlier. The intervention received support from Mali's regional neighbors, including Ivory Coast, which hosts a French military base. Despite the successful intervention, violence is again rising in Mali, and militants are increasingly striking farther from their traditional desert strongholds. In the months before the attack on Grand Bassam, AQIM struck hotels and restaurants in Mali's capital, Bamako, and neighboring Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, killing dozens of civilians. (Reporting by Adama Diarra and Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Joe Bavier; Editing by Peter Cooney) By Stephen Guilfoyle | @Sarge986 Markets are attempting to stabilize after a round of profit-taking that was inspired by a spate of poor European macro data and statements by the IMF, which is always ready to present the obvious as news. First, last night, the IMF released a report that simply warns that emerging markets pose a risk to U.S. equity markets. Thanks for coming in, we have a door prize for you on the way out. On top of that, IMF honcho, Christine Lagarde, spoke this morning from Frankfurt and laid down a few beauties. I'm not going to spoon feed you line by linehey, I did that yesterday. Point is that the markets react when the head of the IMF speaks, and that is exactly what happened. IMF warnings: 1) Slow growth has become ingrained as "the new mediocre." 2) On top of slow growth, high debt, low investment, and high unemployment are bad (very bad, even). I can't help it gang, it's so easy. 3) Said mediocre growth that doesn't help ordinary people can have a political backlash. (No way!) Oh, and she apparently left the door open to some downward revisions to the IMF outlook for the global economy. Currently their forecast for planetary GDP stands at 3.4%. Do I like Christine Lagarde? Heck, I don't even know her. But I really wish that I could find a career where I can wait to see what happens and then warn everyone about it later. That said, let's take a look at today's landscape. Six things to keep an eye on this afternoon 1) The S&P 500 (^GSPC) bounced like clockwork at the 2045 level and hit resistance at 2055. It's as if the market read the script before the open. There are levels to the up and down. If you need 'em, I've got 'em. 2) All 10 sectors are in the red, and nothing looks like it's close to going green. The utility sector (XLU) is being hit the hardest, preventing the full "safety dance" from being in effect. Gold (GCM16.CMX), Treasurys (^TNX), and the VIX (^VIX) are all strong today. WTI Crude (CLK16.NYM) keeps going back and forth between being up or down on the day. For that reason, the energy sector (XLE) has been the day's leader at times. Story continues 3) As my colleague Tim Anderson at TJM has been pointing out to anyone who'll listen, the transports (^DJT) have been portraying regular weakness over the last two weeks. We all know that the general marketplace does not always follow the transports right away, but it usually gets around to it. Brain food. 4) On a domestic macro note, the U.S. trade balance may have widened, but both imports and exports grew. That's important when global demand is considered to be the big problem. Add to that the beat for the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index that we saw this morning and, economically, we've had a decent day. 5) For those following the German 10-year, that yield is back above 0.1%. 6) Mets play the Royals in Kansas City at 4:15 p.m. Syndergaard takes the hill for New York. (Reuters) - Medtronic Plc's wireless pacemaker was approved in the United states on Wednesday, making it the first pacemaker that does not need wired leads to correct slow heart rate. The device named Micra pacemaker is delivered to the heart chambers through a patient's arteries through a catheter, unlike traditional pacemakers that are implanted through an incision and connected to the heart with a wired lead to send electrical pulses to correct heart rate. The FDA evaluated data from a 719-patient clinical trial that found that 98 percent of patients had a stable heart pacing, six months after the device was implanted, the FDA said in a statement. (http://1.usa.gov/23iwftQ) (Reporting by Rosmi Shaji in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian) By Simon Jessop and Maiya Keidan LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge funds which bet on mergers and acquisitions were hurt by the collapse of a $160 billion tie-up between pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Allergan - although the effects could have been even worse. The deal was pulled after the U.S. Treasury drafted new rules to deter companies from moving their headquarters to countries with a more favorable tax regime, so called 'tax inversions', echoing the failed merger between Shire and ABBVie in 2014 which hurt many funds. Shares in Allergan fell 15 percent on Tuesday after Reuters reported the mega-deal had likely fallen through, while Pfizer rose 2 percent. The companies confirmed the deal was off on Wednesday. While few funds came through unscathed, with large U.S. funds such as Paulson & Co among the worst hit, a mix of optimism the deal would go ahead and a reluctance to super-size positions had helped many trim their losses. "For managers doing risk-arb, it was super-consensual. But most people who were trading that specific spread were lightly hedged or were long Pfizer as well, which helped," said a London-based fund of hedge funds manager. "If you were purely trading the spread, you'd have been killed. Everyone got hurt, but most got hurt just on the Allergan leg, which is unusual." Merger arbitrage funds often aim to make money by buying shares in a company that is the target of a takeover bid in the hope they will rise towards the offer price. They also bet that the share price of the company making the bid will fall and they can make a return from the spread between the two prices. If they think the opposite, they can reverse the trade, although data from industry tracker Markit showed less than half a percent of Allergan stock was out on loan heading into the news. The strategy is also used by funds with a broader event-driven investing remit, which aims to take advantage of share price differences that may occur in the run up to a corporate sale, or merger or other corporate event. Story continues PRESSURE One investment consultant said the deal had cost the 12 hedge funds he tracks between 25 basis points and 70 basis points of performance. Lyxor Asset Management senior analyst Jean Baptiste Berthon said 16 funds, mostly located in the United States, had lost up to 1 percent of their fund's value after the deal fell through, although many had lost "hardly anything" by buying both stocks. Some had also hedged their exposure by placing a short position on other firms engaged in tax inversions, effectively a bet that the share price will fall, while others had kept position sizes small after being burnt by the Shire/Abbvie hit. Given there were relatively fewer tax inversion deals in play as a result of growing political pressure in the United States to curb them, there was much less risk of contagion across a merger-arb hedge fund's portfolio. "The situation seems quite different from last year where you could see several major deals with a tax inversion embedded in it, which had a very large ripple effect on these funds ... we are not seeing such contagion today," Berthon said. Fourteen tax inversion deals were announced in 2015 for a combined $183.7 billion, Thomson Reuters data showed, with Pfizer/Allergan representing the bulk. This year there have been just two tax-driven deals, valued at $33.8 billion. After making 8.4 percent during a bumper year for deal-making in 2015, merger arb funds had enjoyed a positive start to the year, data from Hedge Fund Research showed, with the HFRX Merger Arbitrage Index up 1.75 percent to end-March. The broader HFRX Event Driven Index, meanwhile, was down 1.13 percent in the year to end-March, HFR data showed, adding to a fall of 6.94 percent in 2015 and HFR President Kenneth Heinz said it could face a 20 basis points hit from Allergan. Given the solid month for many funds in March, the impact of the deal collapse would likely not weigh on year-end performance, said Anthony Lawler, Head of Portfolio Management at GAM Alternative Investments Solutions. "It hurts ... event driven investors will dislike this Allergan news, but it will not alone badly impact year-to-date numbers except for the very concentrated event managers." (Additional reporting by Pamela Barbaglia in London, editing by David Evans) On Tuesday night's Late Show, Stephen Colbert invited The Boss' Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone to participate in his own version of a cooking show competition, which he called "Smooshed." The husband-and-wife duo were pitted against each other, asked to make new dishes using salted crackers, miniature marshmallows, bacon bits and whatever Colbert could find in the break room fridge. "Time is really flying by, I want the flavors to speak for themselves," said Falcone, as the one minute clock counted down. Meanwhile, McCarthy mixed together peanut butter and bologna before panicking when she realized she hadn't used the required ingredients. When it was time to judge, Colbert asked Falcone to go first. "This is just a bacon bit marshmallow saltine with just a bit of pickle for taste," said Falcone, who was complimented for his "immaculate" presentation by Colbert. "It's both tart and dry at the same time," said Colbert. McCarthy described her concoction as "a rustic hash [with a] Tuscan influence. I tried to play with crunchy, sweet, savory, and meaty." "There's a certain 'testicularity' to this meal," said the Late Show host. "There's a vigor that one does not associate with a hash." Watch to see who won the contest. Read More: Nick Offerman Gives Stephen Colbert a Coffee Table, Participates in 'Late Show' Community Calendar Segment Barcelona (AFP) - Barcelona and Argentina star Lionel Messi's trial for tax fraud has been reset to its initial start date of May 31 after an earlier change in the schedule threatened his participation in June's Copa America in the United States. The initial decision to delay the start of the trial till June 7 would have seen Messi at least miss Argentina's opening group game against reigning champions Chile in Santa Clara, California, on June 6. However, a judicial source said on Wednesday that the trial would start as scheduled on May 31 after a "misunderstanding" regarding the dates without offering further details. Messi and his father Jorge have been charged with tax fraud for allegedly failing to declare 4.16 million euros ($4.74 million) in taxes related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009 through front companies in Belize and Uruguay. The pair also released a statement on Monday fiercely denying further claims of tax evasion after Messi was one of a series of high-profile names accused of shady offshore dealings in the Panama Papers scandal. Spanish prosecutors are seeking a jail sentence of 22-and-a-half months for the five-time World Player of the Year. However, any such sentence would likely be suspended as is common in Spain for first offences carrying a sentence of less than two years. By Lefteris Papadimas and Mehmet Emin Caliskan ATHENS/DIKILI, Turkey (Reuters) - Turkey and Germany said on Wednesday an agreement between Ankara and the EU meant to stem the flow of migrants to the Greek islands was showing signs of success, but many were still trying to cross the sea and the route remained far from sealed off. The accord, which came into force on Monday, aims to help end the chaotic arrival of migrants and refugees, most fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, after more than a million reached Europe last year. The influx has threatened the EU's system of passport-free travel and prompted its executive on Wednesday to propose strengthening common asylum rules. New arrivals on the Greek islands from Turkey dropped to 68 in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning from 225 the previous day, data from the Greek migration ministry showed. That compared to a single day last October, during the peak of the crisis, when arrivals approached 9,200 people. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the fall was a direct result of the EU-Turkey deal. A spokesman for the German government, which lobbied sceptical European partners to back the accord and is under political pressure at home to show progress, also said things were moving in the right direction. "It is functioning, and the (number of) illegal migrants is in decline," Davutoglu said during a visit to Helsinki. Under the accord, migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea illegally are sent back to Turkey. Since Monday, 202 people, mostly from Pakistan, have been returned. Greek and Turkish officials say more may be sent back this week. But the number of illegal migrants arriving on the Greek islands fluctuates daily, and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR was more cautious about whether the deal was deterring them. "The conditions forcing these people to move, including onwards to Europe, are still present and many people are falling through the cracks," said Boris Cheshirkov, a UNHCR spokesman on the Greek island of Lesbos. Turkish authorities detained several groups at sea shortly after dawn on Wednesday, including about 40 Iraqis, some of whom set sail in a small dinghy from a cove 20 km (12 miles) south of the town of Dikili. Others, left on the beach as the dinghy was too small, watched as the Turkish coastguard intercepted them. "Greece does not want to host us. Turkey is not allowing us. Where should we go? We drown in the sea with our children, that's it," said one Iraqi, declining to give his name. Around 15 Pakistani migrants were also intercepted and taken to Dikili, where a reception centre has been set up. On a nearby road, nine Syrian Palestinians who had fled the Yarmouk refugee camp on the edge of Damascus, their belongings in rubbish bags over their backs, were trying to find transport after abandoning efforts to cross the sea, deciding the groups they planned to join were too big and the boats too small. "This agreement is not about Syrians or Palestinians. Where can we go if we go back to our land?" one said of the EU-Turkey deal, declining to give her name. EARLY DAYS Under the accord, the EU will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with financial aid, visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations. Critics say the EU was in such a rush to start the returns to Turkey that it skirted legal concerns, something that will come back to haunt it once it moves on to the deportation of asylum-seekers and refugees rather than the illegal migrants sent back so far. Human rights campaigners have questioned whether Turkey has sufficient safeguards to qualify as a safe country for refugees. European officials say it is essential for Turkey to adopt tighter regulation on protection for Syrians. A Turkish official said such regulation had been agreed and was awaiting the approval of President Tayyip Erdogan. Non-Syrians returned from Greece are being taken to a centre in the Turkish town of Kirklareli near the Bulgarian border, from where they are expected to be deported. Returned Syrians are expected to be taken to a camp in the southern town of Osmaniye. Those with the means will be allowed to settle elsewhere in Turkey among an existing Syrian migrant population of 2.8 million, officials say. Greece has reported a spike in the number of asylum applications of individuals who have arrived since March 20, the date the first phase of the EU accord took effect and new arrivals were detained in holding centres. There have been protests in the Moria camp on Lesbos. A Pakistani migrant threatened to hang himself during a demonstration there on Wednesday. According to official data, about 50,000 refugees and migrants are stranded on the Greek mainland after border closures in February sealed off a Balkan route used by thousands to reach western Europe in the past year. At Piraeus, close to Athens, tensions boiled over after government officials urged hundreds camped in tents to leave. Migrants sat on the quayside refusing to move, while one man charged at police holding an infant, a Reuters witness said. (Additional reporting by Dasha Afanasieva, Issam Abdallah and Murad Sezer in Dikili, Orhan Coskun and Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Tuomas Forsell in Helsinki, Lefteris Karagiannopoulos in Piraeus, Karolina Tagaris and Giorgos Moutafis on Lesbos, Madeline Chambers and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Writing by Nick Tattersall and Michele Kambas; Editing by Janet Lawrence) Some 20 million poor Bangladeshis are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, two decades after the potentially deadly toxin was discovered in the supply, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. A new report from the rights group said Bangladesh had failed to take the basic steps needed to tackle the problem, which kills an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every year, mostly in poor rural areas. It dates back to the 1970s, when the Bangladesh government drilled millions of shallow tube wells to provide villagers with clean water -- not realising that the soil was heavily laced with naturally occurring arsenic. "Bangladesh isn't taking basic, obvious steps to get arsenic out of the drinking water of millions of its rural poor," HRW researcher Richard Pearshouse told AFP. "The reasons why this huge tragedy has remained so pervasive are due to poor governance." Bangladesh has been building deep tube wells to source water from beneath the arsenic-tainted soil. But HRW said there was no proper government oversight of the scheme, with politicians earmarking the new wells for their own supporters rather than putting them in the worst-affected areas. "It means the situation is almost as bad as 15 years ago," said Pearshouse. The UN's World Health Organization has called Bangladesh's arsenic crisis "the largest mass poisoning of a population in history". Chronic exposure to arsenic is linked to cancers of the liver, kidney, bladder and skin as well as heart disease, but HRW said many victims in Bangladesh had no access to health care. It warned that millions of Bangladeshis would die unless the government and international donors act to mitigate contamination. Doctors say arsenic-laced water may also cause miscarriages, low birth weights and poor cognitive development in children. "It's a slow poison. You'll be affected with a host of life-threatening diseases before you can even realise," said Tariqul Islam, a University of Chicago researcher who has worked with thousands of affected people. Story continues The government says it has installed around 210,000 deep tube wells over the past 12 years to mitigate the crisis and is testing the water from millions of shallow wells for contamination. There was no immediate response from the government to the latest report. But an official who asked not to be named told AFP that individual lawmakers decided where 50 percent of the state-funded tube wells should be built. "It's a government-approved policy. The lawmakers have every opportunity to misuse their power and divert the tube wells to their supporters rather than distributing them to the people who are affected by arsenic contamination," he said. Figures cited by HRW suggest that exposure to arsenic in drinking water will eventually kill up to five million of the 90 million children estimated to be born between 2000 and 2030. In 2013 an investigation into the high levels of arsenic in Bangladesh's groundwater fuelled suspicions that eating rice boosts exposure to the poison. After testing thousands of volunteers, scientists found that those who ate large amounts of rice had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than those who ate little rice. Vice Media's aggressive European expansion is picking up speed. Following a partnership with French pay TV giant CanalPlus, announced on Thursday from MIPTV, the company's new Viceland channel is set to land in France. The channel - which launched in the U.S and Canada in February - will be available exclusively to Canalsat subscribers this fall. The news comes just a month after Vice announced it had teamed with Sky to launch Viceland in the U.K. this September, and later expanded a deal with Greece-based broadcaster Antenna to set up hubs in seven Eastern European territories - including Russia - by the end of the year. Earlier this week, Vice appointed former Discovery exec Arjan Hoekstra to oversee the European expansion of the channel. "We've been growing our production in France for the past several years preparing for a day like this - the chance to enter the French market with a 24-hour lifestyle channel, which prominently features domestic production," said Vice's chief creative officer and co-president of Viceland, Eddy Moretti. "After launching Viceland in the U.S. and Canada in February - and later this year in the U.K. - it is a proud moment for the company that Viceland France, in partnership with CanalPlus, will be the first non-English-language version of the channel with many more to come. Vive la difference!" Read More: MIPTV: Viceland Hires Executive to Oversee European Expansion (Exclusive) RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco said on Thursday it had dismantled a suspected militant cell linked to Islamic State's affiliate in Libya and that some of the nine men arrested were planning attacks in the North African kingdom. It was the latest in a series of radical Islamist groups Morocco says it has broken up. An interior ministry statement said the cell was operating in the city of Marrakesh, the coastal town of Sidi Bennour and in Smara, which is in the neighbouring territory of Western Sahara. It said the nine group members were inspired by another militant from Sidi Bennour who was killed in the Libyan capital Tripoli when militants attacked a prison in September 2015 in a attempt to free inmates there. Morocco's Central Bureau of Judicial Investigation (BCIJ), the judicial part of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service, has actively tracked alleged militants since Islamic State seized large parts of Syria and Iraq in 2014-15. Hundreds of fighters from Morocco and other Maghreb states like Tunisia and Algeria have joined Islamist militant forces in Syria's civil war. Some are threatening to return and create new jihadist wings in their home countries, security experts say. Nearby Libya has become a major draw for jihadists from North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa as Islamic State has taken advantage of the security chaos there to build a base, operate training camps and take over the city of Sirte. The Moroccan government believes 1,500 Moroccan nationals are fighting with militant factions in Syria and Iraq. About 220 have returned home and been jailed, and 286 have been killed in battle. Morocco, an ally of the West against Islamist militancy, has suffered militant attacks in the past, most recently in 2011 in Marrakesh when an explosion tore through a cafe and killed 15 people, mostly foreigners. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Patrick Markey and Mark Heinrich) (Reuters) - Close-range photos of one of the mountain lions in a group being tracked by biologists in Southern California show her feasting on a deer kill in the Santa Susana Mountains just north of Los Angeles. The mountain lion, identified as P-35, can be seen staring into a motion-activated camera as she tucks into the deer carcass. She licks her nose after rising from the kill, and after she moves on a bear and cub move in to eat the remains. Biologists are studying mountain lions in Southern California in part to understand how encroachment of urban areas on their natural habitat affects the large cats. They installed the camera to see if P-35's kitten, born last summer, was in tow. It was not seen in photos, National Park Service spokesman Zach Behrens said. "That kitten most likely did not make it," he said. The pictures, released last month, were taken in the Santa Susana Mountains roughly 30 miles (48 kms) northwest of the Los Angeles Zoo, where another lion in the group, P-22, is suspected of mauling to death a 14-year-old koala. P-22 gained fame after being photographed striding past the landmark Hollywood sign, and touched off a media frenzy last year after he was discovered hiding in the crawl space under a Los Angeles house. He stole away in the dead of night. (Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Toni Reinhold) TALYSH, Azerbaijan (Reuters) - Elmira Bagiryan was leaving her village, at the epicenter of four days of fighting between Azerbaijan and ethnic Armenian forces, even though the gunfire had stopped. "We are afraid that the shooting will begin again," she said as she prepared to get into a car laden with carpets, pillows, blankets and furniture from her home. The village of Talysh was briefly occupied by Azeri troops during four days of battles over Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region which subsided on Tuesday afternoon when both sides agreed a ceasefire. Russia said it had played a lead role in brokering a halt to the violence, hosting a meeting between military chiefs from Armenia and Azerbaijan. The fighting was the most intense since a war over Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s, and raised fears of a return to all-out conflict in a region that serves as a corridor for pipelines taking oil and gas to world markets. The guns had fallen silent in Talysh, a few kilometers (miles) from the Azeri town of Barda on the northernmost edge of separatist-held territory, on Wednesday afternoon. Ethnic Armenian troops, firmly back in control, milled around, smiling. There were signs, though, of the ferocity of the fighting of previous days. Several houses had been destroyed by shell fire. The hulk of a burned out car lay by the road. Nearby were the carcasses of several dead cows. Bagiryan, a gray-haired ethnic Armenian in her early 60s, said three villagers had been killed. Close to tears, she said she had spent days and nights in the cellar of a neighbor's house, taking refuge from the shelling. Quiet had returned on Tuesday when the ceasefire was agreed, but she planned to leave all the same. Other residents also were using the lull as an opportunity to get out. Cars and trucks loaded with belongings were heading away from the front line. OLD TENSIONS ERUPT The previous war between the two ex-Soviet states killed thousands on both sides and displaced hundreds of thousands. It ended with a truce in 1994, although there have been sporadic flare-ups since. The ceasefire was shattered over the weekend, with Azerbaijan's army and the Armenian-backed separatists of Nagorno-Karabakh exchanging heavy fire using artillery, tanks, rocket systems and helicopters. Dozens of soldiers were killed. On the other side of the front line to the village of Talysh, in an area under the control of Azerbaijan's authorities, there was no fighting on Wednesday. But there too was destruction from the previous days' clashes. Amina Suleimanly, a 46-year-old teacher from the village of Akhmetagaly, said since Saturday residents had been cowering in the internal courtyards of their homes to shelter from shells coming from separatist positions a few kilometers away. "They were shooting without pause," she told a Reuters reporter who visited the village. A house next to hers was hit by artillery fire and destroyed, though it was unoccupied at the time. She said one local man was killed when some ordnance exploded. RUSSIAN ROLE Speaking at a meeting in Berlin with Armenia's president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said urgent efforts were needed to make sure the ceasefire would last. "Above all, everything must be done such that more blood is not spilled and lives lost," Merkel said. Mediation in the conflict has for years been assigned jointly to envoys from France, Russia and the United States. But Moscow has stepped up its diplomatic role in the past few days. Officials from both sides said the truce was agreed at a meeting in Moscow between the chiefs of staff of the Azeri and Armenian militaries. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin had telephoned the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia to urge them to agree a ceasefire. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were both heading to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku, in the next few days. Russia does not have the same direct interest in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict as it does in other territorial disputes in the former Soviet Union. In Georgia and Ukraine, it provided direct support to separatists. However, its active diplomacy over the past few days is consistent with a push by the Kremlin to assert its influence, especially in places where the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has elected to take a more low-key role. (Story refiles with 'her' in lead). (Additional reporting by Hasmik Mkrtchyan in YEREVAN, Naila Bagirova in AGDAM DISTRICT, Azerbaijan, Jack Stubbs and Dmitry Solovyov in MOSCOW and Joseph Nasr in BERLIN; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Ruth Pitchford) A ninth employee at an Indian construction firm was arrested Wednesday following a deadly flyover collapse, police said, as it emerged workers neglected to act at the first signs the bridge was failing. The employee, a top official who oversees IVRCL's projects in eastern India, was hospitalised after falling sick following the accident that killed 26, joint police commissioner of Kolkata, Debasish Boral, told AFP. "He was brought to the city police headquarters on Tuesday for interrogation in connection with collapse of the flyover. He was arrested on Wednesday after questioning," Boral said. The police commissioner also said four employees were arrested Monday, including two directors of operations and two engineers who were supervising welding at the time of the flyover's collapse. All those arrested work for IVRCL, the contractor behind the ill-fated construction project in West Bengal. They face initial charges of murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy and mischief, and have been remanded in custody until April 11. The arrests came as a state investigator said workers first noticed cracks appearing in a metal girder connected to a supporting pillar and bolts coming out about 20 minutes before the disaster. But instead of taking steps to secure the bridge or alerting authorities to clear the busy street below, they tried to weld the cracks together hoping it would hold, the West Bengal official told AFP. "The cracks appeared at the pier's junction with the cantilever arms and steel girder, and bolts came out during the casting of the concrete," the investigating official said on condition of anonymity. "IVRCL engineers settled for a quick fix, that of welding the crack before concreting instead of a proper check," he added. "The construction work continued without restricting traffic on the busy, congested stretch below the flyover." He said workers also failed to alert engineers from the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, which was overseeing the project, at the first signs of trouble. Story continues A team from Rail Vikas Nigam, an Indian railway company, visited the site this week as they prepare to demolish the remaining wreckage, another government official said. A special machine will be used to reduce vibration to prevent the rest of the structure from collapsing. Rescuers pulled nearly 100 people out alive from under the huge concrete slabs and metal girders that fell onto the street immediately after the disaster. IVRCL has denied responsibility for the accident, but a company representative infuriated victims on Thursday when he described the incident as an "act of God". The tragedy is the latest in a string of deadly construction accidents in India, where enforcement of safety rules is weak and substandard materials are often used. Helsinki (AFP) - Finnish telecom equipment giant Nokia said on Wednesday it was opening talks with staff representatives in some 30 countries about cutting jobs to save money following its merger with Alcatel-Lucent. Some 1,300 jobs are to go in Finland, 20 percent of its workforce there, but Nokia gave no figures for the rest of the world. French labour unions said in a statement that Nokia was seeking 4,300 job cuts in Europe, including 411 in France. "The headcount reductions are expected to take place between now and the end of 2018," Nokia said in a statement. "Reductions will come largely in areas where there are overlaps, such as research and development, regional and sales organisations as well as corporate functions," it said. Nokia is targeting 900 million euros ($1.02 billion) of savings per year starting in 2018. "When we announced the acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent we made a commitment to deliver EUR 900 million in synergies -- and that commitment has not changed," chief executive Rajeev Suri said in the statement. Nokia has just gone through two and half years of radical transformation. In 2013 it bought 50 percent of its network activities from Germany's Siemens, in 2014 it divested its mobile phone business where it had been the world's number one brand, and in 2015 it sold its mapping unit Here and took control of Alcatel-Lucent. In 2015, Nokia's net profit fell by 29 percent to 2.45 billion euros ($2.8 billion), it reported in February. Geneva (AFP) - The number of adults estimated to be living with diabetes has nearly quadrupled over 35 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday, urging huge efforts to change eating habits and exercise more. The UN's health agency said the number of adults with the disease had surged to 422 million by 2014, compared to 108 million in 1980. The explosion in prevalence was because of worldwide changes "in the way people eat, move and live," WHO said, in its first-ever global report on the disease. An estimated 8.5 percent of the world's adults now have diabetes, compared to 4.7 percent in 1980. The disease directly caused 1.5 million deaths in 2012 -- the latest available global figures -- but elevated blood glucose levels linked to diabetes were responsible for an additional 2.2 million deaths that year, the report said. Diabetes "is one of the leading killers in the world today," said Etienne Krug, who is heading WHO's response to the disease. The region worst affected, with 131 million estimated cases in 2014, was the WHO's Western Pacific region, which includes China and Japan. The Southeast Asia region -- which includes heavily populated India and Indonesia -- was the next most affected, with 96 million cases. - Lifestyle factors - Europe and the Americas were third and fourth on the list, with 64 million and 62 million cases respectively. Diabetes is divided into two types. There is no known way to prevent type one, which occurs when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin, the hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. Most people living with diabetes have type 2, which is associated with obesity and other lifestyle factors and emerges in adults and increasingly among children. To curb the intensifying burden of the disease, huge efforts are needed to change "eating and physical activity habits," especially early in life, when key behavioural patterns are formed, WHO said. Story continues "There is a critical window for intervention to mitigate the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes later in life," the report said. It noted that rising consumption of sugary drinks and other fattening foods was a key factor, but drew particular attention to high rates of physical inactivity. According to worldwide 2010 figures, nearly a quarter of people over 18 did not do the minimum recommended amount of physical activity per week, with women recorded as less active than men. The WHO recommends that adults between 18 to 65 get at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activity -- including things like walking, jogging and gardening -- per week. "Physical inactivity is alarmingly common among adolescents," the report added, noting that the excessively sedentary lifestyles were more acute in high-income countries than low-income countries. - Economic toll, response - In 2014, one in four adults were overweight, while one in 10 were defined as obese, according to WHO figures. The WHO estimated that the annual global cost of diabetes, including health care needs, exceeds $827 billion (728 billion euros). Citing a separate study, the agency said the global GDP losses linked to diabetes could reach $1.7 trillion by 2030, with the damage split roughly evenly between developed and developing nations. Noting both the health and macroeconomic damage caused by the growing diabetes epidemic, WHO chief Margaret Chan called for a coordinated, holistic response. This should include greater efforts to curb smoking, a push to entrench physical activity in education systems and working with food companies to promote availability of healthier products, the organisation said. As with obesity, WHO has stressed that putting excessive blame on individuals for eating too much or not exercising enough ignores several key factors, including the obstacles to eating healthily in some societies. Complicating the response in lower-income countries is the limited availability and high cost of insulin in many areas, WHO said. "Effectively addressing diabetes does not just happen: it is the result of collective consensus and public investment in interventions that are affordable, cost-effective and based on the best available science," Chan said in a statement. Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said that destroying the Islamic State (IS) group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. "We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure," Obama said at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House. "We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them." "As we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks," he added, using another term for the IS group. Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said. "We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul," he said of cities in Syria and Iraq. "Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority." Obama spoke next to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders. Carter on Tuesday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current "top heavy" structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated. The fight against the Islamic State group has shown that the military's various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said. "We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans," he said. Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria's central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the IS group's last strongholds in the region. The operation 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Palmyra helped secure the government's retaking of that ancient city last week after the Islamic State group held it for 10 months, destroying important archaeological sites and executing 280 people. Doctors Without Borders says U.S. troops committed a war crime in Kunduz. Three top American officers could pay the price. In May 2013, President Barack Obamas aides indicated that they were prepared to phase out the most controversial element of the administrations drone war: so-called signature strikes against military-age men on battlefields around the world that took place even if American officials didnt know who the targets were or if they were actively plotting against the United States. The tactic had sparked fierce criticism from human rights groups and some lawmakers, who said it effectively gave the CIA carte blanche to bomb groups of men in countries ranging from Yemen to Pakistan simply because of where they lived and whether they showed any behavior commonly associated with militants. Opponents argued that the strikes were certain to kill innocents given that U.S. officials knew so little about who they were targeting and had no concrete way of identifying the dead afterward. Nearly three years later, the administration has abandoned any pretense of reining in its use of signature strikes. With the Islamic State expanding its reach, Washington is doubling down on the tactic and dispatching drones to strike at targets in Yemen and Somalia. In March, U.S. drones and other warplanes bombed an al-Shabab training camp in Somalia north of Mogadishu, killing what the Pentagon later estimated were about 150 militants who had gathered for a graduation ceremony. And an air raid a few weeks later on an Islamic State training camp in the mountains of Yemen killed dozens of suspected militants, the Pentagon said. U.S. officials privately acknowledged that they didnt know the precise identities of who they killed. Signature strikes like the ones in Somalia and Yemen form a key element in Obamas aggressive drone bombing campaign, one that will be handed over to the next president 10 months from now. The signature raids have been carried out in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia countries where the United States is not engaged in a publicly declared war and, unlike targeted killings against specific extremist leaders, do not require presidential approval. Story continues Signature strikes were first used during George W. Bushs administration, and the name refers to the fact that the targets by virtue of their ages, actions, and locations inside countries known to house terrorist operatives bear the signature of militant activity. U.S. intelligence and defense officials believe the strikes have inflicted heavy damage on al Qaeda and other terrorist groups. But critics say the rules for the drone strikes against large numbers of military-age men are too vague and carry an unacceptably high risk of killing innocent civilians who have no connection to any terrorist plot. Signature strikes have resulted in large numbers of bystander casualties in Pakistan and Yemen, Jameel Jaffer, a deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union, told Foreign Policy. Theres little doubt that the attacks have taken out hundreds possibly thousands of militants, but theres also little doubt that civilians have been caught in the crossfire. The numbers are impossible to pin down, given the lack of clear reporting on the ground in places like Pakistan and Yemen. But a few cases stand out and highlight the dangers of conducting war almost exclusively from the air. One tragic blunder came on Dec. 12, 2013, when a U.S. drone flown by Joint Special Operations Command killed 12 Yemeni civilians in a single signature strike, leading the U.S. government to reportedly make about $1 million in condolence payments. Amnesty International, which examined 45 drone strikes in Pakistan between January 2012 and August 2013, reported that one signature strike killed 18 laborers and injured 22 others in July 2012. Last year, U.S. forces bombed an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan and inadvertently killed two Western hostages, Warren Weinstein, an American development expert, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian aid worker. A grim-faced Obama stood before television cameras in the White House briefing room in April to apologize for the strike. Not only did the CIA not know that the hostages were there, but it also was unaware that two American members of al Qaeda were present at the strike targets. But last week Obama and a senior legal advisor at the U.S. State Department effectively defended the tactic, pushing back against accusations that strikes have been carried out indiscriminately and without knowing who was being killed on the ground. Asked about the recent U.S. bombing raids in Yemen, Somalia, and Libya, Obama told reporters on April 1 that the United States employs a vigorous set of criteria for its counterterrorism operations and that intelligence is checked, double-checked, triple-checked before kinetic actions are taken. If the U.S. identifies a training camp that is clearly linked to al Qaeda or the Islamic State, then a strike will be taken. But what we have been very cautious about is making sure that we are not taking strikes in situations where, for example, we think there is the presence of women or children, or if it is in a normally populated area, Obama said. The same day, Brian Egan, the State Departments legal advisor, offered a broad defense of the administrations drone war and the signature strikes in particular. To emphasize a point that we have made previously, it is not the case that all adult males in the vicinity of a target are deemed combatants, Egan said at an event organized by the American Society of International Law in Washington, D.C. The targeting for strikes is backed up by intelligence and takes into account certain operational activities, characteristics, and identifiers when determining whether an individual is taking a direct part in hostilities or whether the individual may formally or functionally be considered a member of an organized armed group with which we are engaged in an armed conflict, he said. Egans comments came as the White House prepares to release a report in coming weeks on the estimated civilian casualties from its drone campaign, a partial concession to demands for more transparency over its air raids. After Obama delivered a May 2013 speech vowing to put the fight against extremists on more solid legal footing, the administration released a three-page document outlining in broad terms who U.S. drones and warplanes can strike and how. The playbook said that U.S. commanders could only hit targets when there is near certainty that the terrorist target is present and that civilians would not be endangered. But officials have never explained the criteria that allow the CIA or the military group carrying out the strikes to waive the guidelines. The paper stated that the rules didnt apply in areas of active hostilities, but it remained silent on which countries were included in that list. During Egans little-noticed speech, he revealed more about the targeted killing program in a few minutes than U.S. officials had in three years. He said Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan all fall within areas of active hostilities, as do some parts of Pakistan. Even with these new details, weve seen a lot of inconsistencies in the Obama administrations approach to the drone and counterterrorism program, said Andrea Prasow, the deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch. Administration officials have long promised more transparency while providing little information, she said. Obamas homeland security advisor, Lisa Monaco, has said that the administration is preparing to release civilian casualty numbers for drone strikes soon, but this tells us absolutely nothing about why the strikes were taken or what the intelligence was behind them, Prasow said. National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said the administration is committed to promoting transparency and taking every step possible to avoid killing civilians. The United States goes to extraordinary lengths to avoid noncombatant casualties in lethal operations, providing protections as a matter of policy that go beyond those required by the law of armed conflict, Price told FP. While Obama has faced criticism from some members of his own party over his drone campaign, he also has come under fire from hawks on the political right who accuse him of hand-wringing over the raids and micromanaging the operations from the White House. In his new book Playing to the Edge, former CIA Director Michael Hayden, a staunch proponent of the signature strikes, compared Obama to an indecisive Hamlet for delivering the 2013 policy speech promising legal reforms for the conduct of the drone war. Obama was clearly uncomfortable with his own actions, Hayden wrote. Hayden, who worked under both Bush and Obama, argues that the signature strikes were based on robust intelligence and helped decimate al Qaedas core in Pakistan. The signature strikes had the effect of shrinking the enemys bench and [al Qaeda] leaderships sense of safe haven, Hayden wrote. The recent bombing raids in Somalia and Yemen have come just as the White House has promised to reduce the secrecy about its drone war by releasing a report possibly within weeks estimating how many civilians have been killed by the operations. The signature strikes have fed accusations that the U.S. government often downplays the number of possible civilian casualties after an operation by counting most military-age males as combatants. Since the start of the U.S. bombing campaign in Yemen in 2002, as many as 1,242 people have been killed in 131 drone strikes and 16 airstrikes, according to a New America tally. Eight U.S. drone attacks and one airstrike have taken place in Yemen in 2016 alone, numbers dwarfed by the daily bombing runs conducted by Saudi-led coalition fighting to dislodge Houthi rebels from power. Civilian casualties have been difficult to measure, though they likely number well over 100, according to New Americas analysis. In Pakistan, the numbers are much higher. The 402 recorded strikes have killed as many as 3,623 people, including more than 300 civilians. Despite criticism from some legal experts and rights advocates, and protracted court battles over the secrecy surrounding the campaign, the Obama administration has faced no serious popular pressure to curtail signature strikes or the drone war more generally. Public opinion polls have shown consistent support for drone strikes among a majority of Americans in recent years. But outside the United States, the drone war carried out in Pakistan and elsewhere is widely opposed. In a 2014 Pew Research Center survey, a majority or plurality of those polled in 39 of 44 countries said they were against the U.S. drone campaign. In Congress, lawmakers from both parties have mostly supported the drone operations or, at least, have never taken concerted action to restrict it. As a result, the next president will inherit Obamas drone war policies, including the signature strikes. Even Sen. Bernie Sanders, the avowed democratic socialist and presidential candidate, has given his blessing to the targeted killings. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told FP a number of senators have concerns with signature strikes and that he was not comfortable with what we have in place. Cardin said he was not opposed to the tactic but wanted to see Congress play a more prominent role in ensuring the program worked as intended. As a legislator, regardless of whether the next president is a Democrat or a Republican, I want to see transparent, strong oversight of the drone program by Congress. Jaffer of the ACLU said the Obama administration has normalized the practice of targeted killing, and it has built an administrative and bureaucratic infrastructure to support it an infrastructure that will be available to every future president. FP reporter Molly OToole contributed to this article. Photo credit: ISAAC BREKKEN/Getty Images Updated on April 6 at 7:33 a.m. ET Pfizer has called off its proposed $160 billion merger with Allergan, a deal that would have moved the biggest American drug maker to Ireland to reduce the companys taxes. The decision, which came Wednesday morning, followed rules this week announced by the U.S. Treasury Department that targeted such deals, which are known as inversions. Pfizer approached this transaction from a position of strength and viewed the potential combination as an accelerator of existing strategies, Ian Read, Pfizers chairman and CEO, said in a statement. We remain focused on continuing to enhance the value of our innovative and established businesses. He added that Pfizer planned to make a decision on whether to split its innovative and established businesses by no later than the end of this year. Pfizer will pay Allergan $150 million for reimbursement of expenses associated with the now-cancelled merger. Recommended: What Can Help Poor Kids Thrive? News of the merger was first announced last November. Under the deal, New York-based Pfizer would merge with Dublin, Ireland-based Allergan, and move the U.S. drugmakers headquarters to Ireland, but keep its business in the United States. This transaction would have effectively lowered Pfizers U.S. tax bill. The entire process is known as a corporate inversionthough this particular merger was technically not one because it was structured to make it look like the smaller Dublin-based drug maker was buying Pfizer. News of the Pfizer-Allergan merger, which would have created the worlds biggest drug manufacturer, was immediately criticized in the U.S. as unpatriotic by both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates. Indeed as my colleague Bourree Lam noted at the time: In the morning, [the news] relayed an image of a blockbuster merger that will produce the worlds biggest pharmaceutical company. By the afternoon, the story was a grim picture of a U.S. corporation dodging taxes by seeking refuge on Irish shores. Story continues At the time, though, few experts thought Pfizers deal with Allergan would be blocked by U.S. regulators. Then came the Treasury Departments new rules Monday, which President Obama said would help plug one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there, fleeing the country just to get out of paying their taxes. Those rules made it more difficult for certain kinds of inversionsespecially ones involving serial inverters, companies that have done this several times. Pfizers proposed deal with Allergan came under special scrutiny because the Dublin-based company is itself the product of several inversions. Under the new rules, many of the deals tax benefits were eliminated. While we are disappointed that the Pfizer transaction will no longer move forward, Brent Saunders, the Allergan chief executive and president, said in a separate statement, Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. New York (AFP) - Oil prices climbed more than five percent Wednesday after US inventory data showed a sizeable drop in petroleum stocks, the first decline in seven weeks. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery gained $1.86 to $37.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent North Sea oil for June delivery rose $1.97 to $39.84 a barrel in London. US commercial crude oil inventories fell by 4.9 million barrels for the week ending April 1, according to US Department of Energy data. The report, following a 2.3 million barrel increase last week, represented a sharp swing that suggests a significant shift in the market, said Bob Yawger of Mizuho Securities. The data also showed a rise in refinery utilization, suggesting petroleum refiners may be finishing maintenance season earlier than usual, he said. "There's hope of a very solid gasoline season coming up," Yawger said. "That would happen because gasoline is cheap." US oil production also fell last week, in another bullish sign. However, on a more bearish note, gasoline supplies rose by 1.4 million barrels. Analysts were also heartened by comments from Kuwait's OPEC governor, Nawal al-Fezaia, who told Bloomberg News that producers "have no option" but to freeze output, even if Iran does not join an agreement to cap production in response to low prices. But Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said traders were likely to wait for the results of an April 17 meeting of producers in Qatar before making big bets. "Given the welter of statements... people are probably just going to ignore (the comments) until they get the results of the meeting," Spooner told AFP. By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose 5 percent on Wednesday, their biggest advance in three weeks, after the U.S. government reported a surprise draw in domestic crude stockpiles versus market expectations for a new record high. Minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting indicating no rate hikes in April also weakened the U.S. currency, making dollar-denominated oil more attractive to those holding the euro and other currencies. After hitting one-month lows a day earlier, oil prices rallied by as much as $2 a barrel after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles dropped by 4.9 million barrels last week from lower imports and a continued ramp up in refinery runs. "These are constructive numbers and should keep the market from going lower in the near term," said Jeffrey Grossman, crude dealer with New York's BRG Brokerage. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected inventories to hit record highs instead for an eighth straight week, building by 3.2 million barrels. U.S. crude's front-month contract settled up $1.86 at $37.75 a barrel. It rallied to $37.90 earlier, after falling to $35.24 a day ago, its lowest since March 4. The 5.2 percent gain was the biggest in a day since March 16. U.S. crude futures also found additional support from TransCanada Corp's delayed restart of its 590,000 barrel per day Keystone pipeline that delivers crude to Cushing and Illinois. The discount in the front-month contract versus the second month was at its narrowest in three weeks following the outage. The front-month in Brent , the European benchmark, settled up $1.97 at $39.84 a barrel. Its session peak was $39.94. Brent prices were also underpinned by planned maintenance works at Norway's Ekofisk and Britain's Buzzard oil fields. Wednesday's oil rally signaled a sentiment shift after last week's 7 percent drop in U.S. futures and 4 percent in Brent amid worries the global glut in crude was growing again while producing countries' plans to freeze output was failing. Story continues The EIA report contained some bearish data, such as the first rise in gasoline stockpiles in six weeks and continued distillate builds. But traders chose to focus on the more bullish aspects, including the lower crude imports and higher refinery runs. "I think the market is more about the total change in (crude) inventories, rather than individual components," said Scott Shelton, energy broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina. "It's the first week of the second quarter and we have a net draw. That will force the bears to rethink their bearish balances for Q2." (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON; Editing by Diane Craft and Marguerita Choy) By Lamine Chikhi and Patrick Markey ALGIERS (Reuters) - After a deep slide in oil prices, Algeria's Sonatrach is shifting strategy to offer foreign firms direct negotiations to buy stakes in 20 oil and gas fields in a bid to attract investors and increase output, a source at the state energy company said. The campaign to bring in energy investment comes at a crucial time for the North African OPEC producer as it tackles lower revenues and stagnating production. Algeria, a key gas supplier to Europe, is also in talks with European Union officials on holding a summit in Algiers in May that will discuss energy investment opportunities in Algeria as EU leaders look to diversify from Russian gas. The switch to bilateral deals follows two energy bidding tenders that failed to attract much interest. A bid scheduled for last year was cancelled because of low crude prices. "Direct negotiations are a more efficient, less expensive, a faster, and a less bureaucratic approach," the Sonatrach source said of the talks. "Sonatrach is already in negotiations with ENI and several other foreign firms." The source did not give details of the other firms and ENI declined to comment. The stakes being sold are expected to leave Sonatrach the majority holder as Algerian law dictates. The 20 fields, which the source said Sonatrach took over from state hydrocarbons agency ALNAFT in September as part of the streamlining process, include oil and gas fields across the centre and south of the country in places such as Ouargla and Adrar provinces, and Illizi near the Libyan border. As part of the campaign, Sonatrach chief Amine Mazouzi will travel to China at the end of the month for meetings with Chinese oil companies SINOPEC and CNPC, which are already operating in Algeria. Algeria's energy potential is not in doubt, but oil executives say tough terms on production-sharing contracts, bureaucracy and other problems, such as customs delays and archaic banking systems, make the country a less attractive prospect. Reforms to open up the and gas sector to foreign investment in 2005 were reversed a year later, adding a windfall tax and more Sonatrach control, when oil prices were high and Algeria's reserves were in good shape. Security is also a factor after the 2013 attack on the In Amenas plant run by BP and Statoil with Sonatrach in which 40 oil workers died. BP and Statoil on Monday said they were reducing staff in Algeria after rockets hit another gas plant last week. Oil executives said bilateral contracts may offer flexibility, but Algeria's legal framework and red tape remained a major concern for some companies and it was still unclear what terms Sonatrach would be offering. "They will need to change the contract terms in order to get real investment," said one oil executive with Algeria experience. SQUEEZING MORE OUT Reliant on its mature fields, Algeria's output as been declining for a decade. It peaked at 233 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2007, before dipping to 187 million tonnes by 2012. Last year it was estimated at 190 million tonnes, but the government sees it at 224 million tonnes by 2019. Sonatrach is now focussed on maximising output at its mature fields and seeking foreign partners for technology. That effort centres on Hassi Massoud, Hassi Berkine and Illizi in the southwest and west. Japanese firm GJC last month won a $339 million deal to help increase production at Hassi Massoud. Southern gas fields already in development with foreign partners are expected to come online through 2018 after delays in initial start-up dates, and the government has said it expects gas output to increase by 13 percent by 2019. After multiple delays, the In Amenas gas plant -- which produced 11 percent of Algeria's gas before the 2013 attack by Islamists militants -- is expected to be back in full operation in April. That would bring its gas production from 16 million cubic meters a day to 20 million. BUREAUCRACY, DELAYS Oil executives say beyond the tough financial terms and short exploration periods, other problems in Algeria can be traced back to bureaucracy, delays in data processing, and slow decision-making at Sonatrach and ALNAFT. Mazouzi last October begun a restructuring aimed at saving money and streamlining bureaucracy to tackle the oil crisis. New assistants were put in charge of downstream, upstream, transport and pipelines, and commercial operations. But the state company itself has been in constant flux, several former Sonatrach officials and analysts say, after four changes in top management and the loss of hundreds of technicians and engineers in recent years to overseas jobs. Two corruption scandals and trials of former energy officials have also left Sonatrach ranks nervous and slowed decision-making, former company officials and executives said. "Sonatrach is a huge company but it is not a great company," Said Beghoul, a former Sonatrach official who is now an oil consultant, said. "It is in serious need of reform." At a North African oil conference in Algiers late last year, foreign executives repeatedly urged better incentives and flexibility while welcoming dialogue with the government to cut delays that can drag on for years. Even Algeria's energy minister last year called for Sonatrach to speed up work. Those discussions may be reflected by ALNAFT, which is preparing for another bidding round in addition to Sonatrach's plans, according to the Sonatrach source. That could be a more tailored process with fields open to only companies suited to developing them, one industry source said. But companies remain wary, with the most recent bid drawing only four deals even after changes in 2013 to oil laws to offer more incentives. "Its fiscal terms are too tight expecially with oil prices as they are, it is not economic. How do you change that, by being creative," one oil executive said. "They are aware of that, they are trying to change." (Editing by Giles Elgood) New York (AFP) - One of the last in a generation of jazz greats, Sonny Rollins once thought music could change the world. His optimism about humanity has since vanished but, at 85, he still has much he wants to say. The "Saxophone Colossus," a nickname that was also the title of his seminal 1956 album, is among a handful of sax players including John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins who defined the instrument, with Rollins creating a heavy-charging, mordant style that was also readily experimental. The hard-working tenor saxophonist has taken several extended sabbaticals, most famously when he temporarily retired -- yet would practice on New York's Williamsburg Bridge. He later moved to India and Japan to explore spirituality. His latest break is less intentional -- respiratory problems have kept him from playing since 2012. "I am not finished with what I want to do musically, so I definitely want to do more and I am hoping that I will be able to," Rollins told AFP in a reflective interview on a career spanning more than 65 years. Rollins voiced confidence that "new, modern medication" would help him return to form. Eager to keep releasing music in the meantime, he has been reaching into his vault of live recordings to put out collections. His latest, "Holding the Stage: Road Shows, Vol. 4," comes out on Friday and features 10 tracks, some of them never recorded in studio, of performances since 1979 across the United States and Europe. Highlights include songs from his nerve-wracking yet emotionally resonant performance that he went ahead with days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which the native New Yorker witnessed firsthand as he lived near the fallen World Trade Center. - 'This world will never change' - Fueling his desire to record, Rollins said he saw music as commentary on happenings around him. Another of his classic works, 1958's "Freedom Suite," was driven by a strong, confident tenor sax that reflected the burgeoning movement for African American civil rights. Story continues The saxophone legend now says he is no longer driven by current events and instead wants to reflect musically on "the bigger picture -- not this world, the infinite world." In the 1960s, Rollins said that he and like-minded artists "were thinking that music could change the world." "At one time in my life I thought that this world could change and get more peaceful, with everybody loving each other and all this hope. But then I learned, and I lived a little longer," he said. "I realized that this world will never change. This world is meant to be a place of war, killing, everything -- sickness, illness, death. That's this world." Rollins -- mellow and affable with his striking shock of white hair -- however does not sound bitter, rather believing that the "purpose of life is to serve others" -- in his case, by bringing joy through music. "I'm very fortunate that I was blessed to live my life playing my music," he said. - One of last legends - Born to parents from the US Virgin Islands, Rollins was inspired by musicians as he grew up in Harlem and recalls Frank Sinatra visiting his school where he successfully appealed to end fighting between young Italian and African Americans. By his 20s, Rollins already managed to play with some of the biggest names in jazz history including Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and especially Thelonious Monk, with the young Rollins hanging out at the pianist's apartment and playing on Monk's classic 1957 album "Brilliant Corners." His most complicated relationship may have been with Coltrane, who was a friend but often described as a rival until Coltrane's death from cancer in 1967. Rollins called Coltrane "a beautiful, beautiful human being" and said that he had struggled as a young prodigy to fit in with the legends. "I look back on my relationship with Coltrane, and my relationship with Monk -- a lot of stupid things I did with those people that I would not have done if I was more mature," he said. Rollins nevertheless said he had no regrets musically about his past. Besides his playing style of heavy inflections, Rollins pioneered jazz performances without piano and was perhaps most inventive with his improvisation in rhythm. "St. Thomas," his best-known song, incorporated Caribbean calypso he remembered as a child. Most known for his hard bop, Rollins later played with The Rolling Stones and brought elements of rock and even disco into his own music. - At peace with death - Two jazz legends close to Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Horace Silver, have died since 2014. Coleman was instrumental in the creation of flowing "free jazz," while Silver, a frequent collaborator who is eulogized musically on Rollins' latest album, was a leading hard bop pianist. "We are not supposed to be in this world forever, so you can't look at so-called death as some kind of bad thing," Rollins said of his friends. "They gave the world jazz, which is a never-ending phenomenon. That is wonderful." Rollins credited his longevity in part to yoga, which has helped him concentrate and to stay off drugs and drinking after trouble in his youth. But mostly, he points to his creative spirit. "I'm still alive because I'm still learning." Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh presents decisions to officers. (Photo: PANO) Addressing the decision-granting ceremony, Senior Lieutenant-General Nguyen Chi Vinh, Deputy Minister of National Defence, stressed that joining UN peacekeeping operations is a very important task assigned by the Party, State and army. He urged the officers to practice, be principled, obey local laws, push production, protect the environment and respect local residents to build up a good image of the Vietnamese army among international friends. In his report, Colonel Hoang Kim Phung, Director of the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center, affirmed that the officers had been well trained and passed strict examinations before receiving the missions. Under the State President's decisions, the five officers will work as advising and communication officers at UN peacekeeping operations. Since its operation in 2014, the Vietnam Peacekeeping Center has sent seven officers to UN missions in South Sudan and the Central African Republic./. Washington (AFP) - The US Supreme Court has a clutch of major decisions coming up on hot-button issues like immigration, birth control and affirmative action -- but with only eight justices instead of nine, those rulings could be more complicated than ever. A political fight is raging between Democratic outgoing President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over filling the vacancy created by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February. Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, currently the chief judge on a key federal appellate court in Washington, to fill the spot. Many Republicans have refused to even meet him, and say no one should be considered until after the presidential election in November. Under the US Constitution, the president appoints nominees to the Supreme Court and they are approved or rejected by the Senate. In scenarios like this, if a Supreme Court vote ends up in a 4-4 tie, the decision confirms the lower court ruling which the high court has been asked to consider. But in a deadlock, no legal precedent is established and the underlying issue remains unresolved, meaning the high court's influence is curtailed. Cases overseen by eight rather than nine judges raise "the specter that this term at the court could be replete with cases ending in four justices voting one way and four justices voting the other way" on very sensitive issues, said Justin Pidot, of the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law. "Whatever the cause, should the court be unable to resolve some of the important and high-profile cases on its docket, that will surely further dampen public confidence in the institution," Pidot said in a study on tie votes. That confidence is already at its lowest level in decades after highly divisive decisions, such as one legalizing gay marriage nationwide in 2015 or one that eliminated limits on corporate contributions to election campaigns, in 2010. Story continues - #WeNeedNine - The political leaning of the court -- conservative until Scalia died, but now divided equally between liberals and conservatives -- is at stake. Tensions mounted this week as the Senate returned to work following an Easter recess. Garland -- chief justice of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- seems to enjoy a favorable consensus among the two American political parties and received wide backing when he was nominated for his current job. But only a handful of Republican senators have agreed to even sit down with him, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is digging in his heels, insisting his nomination will not be brought up for consideration. "I think it is safe to say there will not be hearings or votes," McConnell said Tuesday. Obama says it is his right and duty to name a nominee -- and it would appear the American public is on his side. Polls show two-thirds of Americans back Obama on this issue. Social media have lit up with hashtags such as #DoYourJob and #WeNeedNine. Over the past three weeks, more than 400 newspaper editorials have hammered home Obama's message: it is his constitutional right to nominate a judge and the Senate's duty to hold hearings on approving or rejecting him or her. - Obama heads back to law school - Obama plans to travel Thursday to the University of Chicago, where he once taught constitutional law, to highlight the inaction of Senate Republicans. For the time being, only a few cracks have appeared in the Republican wall of refusal, with a few moderate Republicans receiving Garland. "These courtesy visits are an important step in the Senate confirmation process and represent opportunities for senators to have thoughtful, substantive conversations with Chief Judge Garland," the White House said. The stalemate could last a year or more. And with so many variables up in the air, the Republicans could ultimately come out on the losing end: right now, for the first time since the 1970s, the court no longer has a conservative majority. The new balance was seen clearly last week when the court deadlocked 4-4 on a case involving public sector unions, effectively affirming their right to collect mandatory fees from non-members in states that allow the practice. When the case was heard in January -- with Scalia still on the bench -- it looked like a win for the conservatives challenging the law. Without him, unions scored a victory, reflecting the court's changing dynamics. "Tie votes are, in effect, an admission that the justices have failed to fulfill their job responsibilities because they could find no manner of resolving a case that was acceptable to a majority of them," Pidot said. In the end, Republicans may regret not approving the centrist judge Garland. If either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders -- both Democrats -- is elected president and the Democrats win control of the Senate, the future president will be in a position to nominate a judge who is much more progressive, tilting the Supreme Court's historic balance to the left. By Gul Yousafzai Quetta, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan on Wednesday arrested a suspected Afghan spy believed to be behind assassinations and bombings in its Baluchistan province, security and government officials told Reuters. The move comes two weeks after Pakistan detained another man it said was an Indian spy who illegally entered the country and was also captured in the mineral rich province. "The arrested man is an Afghan national living in a rented house in Boghara area at the outskirts of Chaman town. Paramilitary forces raided the house on intelligence and detained him," Manzoor Ahmed spokesman for the paramilitary force said. "He was working for Afghan spy agency National Directorate of Security (NDS)," Ahmed said. Initial interrogation pointed to an NDS role in killings and blasts in the Baluchistan cities of Chaman and Quetta. The accused has not been identified and Afghan authorities did not immediately comment on the arrest. "He was on the payroll of NDS," said Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, spokesman for the Baluchistan government. Security forces also said they had seized a large arms and ammunition cache due to information gleaned from the Afghan. Pakistan has uneasy relations with neighbor Afghanistan. Kabul has long accused Pakistan of sheltering the Afghan Taliban insurgency's leadership, a charge Islamabad denies. For its part, Pakistan has demanded that Kabul do more to capture leaders of the separate Pakistani Taliban. They are believed to have sought refuge on Afghan soil after being dislodged in a Pakistani military operation from North Waziristan along the border. Pakistan last month said it had detained a spy from regional arch rival India in Baluchistan who had illegally entered from Iran. It later released a videotaped confession by the man. India has confirmed that the man was a former Indian navy official but denied he was a spy. (Writing by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Jon Boyle) By Gul Yousafzai Quetta, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan on Wednesday arrested a suspected Afghan spy believed to be behind assassinations and bombings in its Baluchistan province, security and government officials told Reuters. The move comes two weeks after Pakistan detained another man it said was an Indian spy who illegally entered the country and was also captured in the mineral rich province. "The arrested man is an Afghan national living in a rented house in Boghara area at the outskirts of Chaman town. Paramilitary forces raided the house on intelligence and detained him," Manzoor Ahmed spokesman for the paramilitary force said. "He was working for Afghan spy agency National Directorate of Security (NDS)," Ahmed said. Initial interrogation pointed to an NDS role in killings and blasts in the Baluchistan cities of Chaman and Quetta. The accused has not been identified and Afghan authorities did not immediately comment on the arrest. "He was on the payroll of NDS," said Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, spokesman for the Baluchistan government. Security forces also said they had seized a large arms and ammunition cache due to information gleaned from the Afghan. Pakistan has uneasy relations with neighbour Afghanistan. Kabul has long accused Pakistan of sheltering the Afghan Taliban insurgency's leadership, a charge Islamabad denies. For its part, Pakistan has demanded that Kabul do more to capture leaders of the separate Pakistani Taliban. They are believed to have sought refuge on Afghan soil after being dislodged in a Pakistani military operation from North Waziristan along the border. Pakistan last month said it had detained a spy from regional arch rival India in Baluchistan who had illegally entered from Iran. It later released a videotaped confession by the man. India has confirmed that the man was a former Indian navy official but denied he was a spy. (Writing by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Jon Boyle) The Pakistani military in coordination with law enforcement agencies launched a new offensive in southern Punjab, officials announced Wednesday, weeks after a suicide bomber killed more than 70 people in Lahore. "Coordinated operations are underway against terrorists and hardened criminals," read a military statement. The statement also included images of military helicopters hovering over the plains of Punjab and paramilitary troops loading ammunition into trucks and preparing for an operation. The offensive comes after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 73 people in a popular Lahore park on Easter day. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, the Taliban faction that carried out the bombing, said Christians were the target of the attack. The incident illuminated festering extremism in Punjab, the home province of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and provincial authorities said they would launch a crackdown against militant groups in the province long considered a bastion of the establishment. Christians make up an estimated 1.6 percent of Pakistan's 200 million people and have long faced discrimination. Twin suicide attacks against churches in Lahore killed 17 people in March last year, sparking two days of rioting by thousands of Christians. The country is still scarred by a Taliban assault on a Peshawar school in 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly children. A military operation targeting insurgents was stepped up in response. Last year the death toll from militant attacks was the lowest since the Pakistani Taliban was formed in 2007. By Elida Moreno and Enrique Pretel PANAMA CITY (Reuters) - The Panamanian lawyer at the center of a data leak scandal that has embarrassed a clutch of world leaders said on Tuesday his firm was a victim of a hack from outside the company, and has filed a complaint with state prosecutors. Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm, Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. Nor had it ever destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money, he added in an interview with Reuters. Company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organizations, were "taken out of context" and misinterpreted, he added. "We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack," Fonseca, 63, said at the company's headquarters in Panama City's business district. "We have a theory and we are following it," he added, without elaborating. "We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney General's office, and there is a government institution studying the issue," he added, flanked by two press advisers. Governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of more than 11.5 million documents, dubbed the "Panama Papers," from the law firm that span four decades. The papers have revealed financial arrangements of prominent figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Iceland's prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned, becoming the first casualty of the leak. "The (emails) were taken out of context," Fonseca said, denouncing what he called a "witch-hunt". He lamented what he called journalistic activism and sensationalism, extolling his own investigative research credentials as a published novelist in Panama. He said he feared that his rivals could muscle in on their business following the leak. "The only crime that has been proven is the hack," Fonseca said. "No one is talking about that. That is the story." He said his company had a staff of around 500, 300 of which work in Panama, but declined to comment on his law firm's structure or franchises in other parts of the world. Setting up a company might cost between about $700 and $1,000, he said, with a significant part of that fee going to the government. Mossack Fonseca has set up around 250,000 businesses over the past 40 years. He added that it is cheaper to do business in Nevada. He said business rules have tightened and that his company has adhered to them. "Fifteen years ago, due diligence didn't exist and they are judging us by other standards," Fonseca said. France announced on Tuesday it would put the Central American nation back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. Alvaro Aleman, chief of staff to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, told a news conference the government could respond with similar measures against France, or any other country that followed France's lead. "This is a tropical storm, like the ones we have here in Panama where once it passes the sun will come out," Fonseca said. "I guarantee you that we will not be found guilty of anything." (Additional reporting by Christine Murray; Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Peter Cooney and Sam Holmes) Panama City (AFP) - Panama mounted a fierce defense of its crucial financial services sector on Wednesday, trying to head off a feared international clampdown on its offshore business in the wake of the "Panama Papers" leak. President Juan Carlos Varela vowed firmly to "confront whoever comes to put down Panama's image." Diplomats accredited to the small Central American nation were called in to hear Varela and other officials argue that it was unfair to single out Panama in the expanding scandal. The government has also written a harshly worded letter to the head of the OECD, Angel Gurria, attacking a statement he made describing Panama as "the last major holdout that continues to allow funds to be hidden offshore from tax and law enforcement authorities." Those accusations were false, "unfair and discriminatory" and "distort the facts and tarnish the reputation of the country," Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie wrote in the letter, which was obtained by AFP. Varela, in comments to reporters on Wednesday, said: "I call on the OECD countries to return to the table for dialogue and seek agreements, and to not use these events to affect Panama's image." Panama has already warned it could retaliate against France if it makes good on a promise to put the country back on France's blacklist of "tax havens" -- a status that would cause transactions in Panama to be viewed as likely tax-dodging gambits. - Secrecy blown apart - The aim of the pushback is to protect Panama's discreet nexus of law firms and banks from a concerted international move to curtail business with it. The financial sector accounts for seven percent of Panama's gross domestic product, and attracts big multinationals to the small country, helping drive its enviable economic growth. But the leak obtaining 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the scandal, has exposed the workings of offshore companies and the obscured lines of ownership that hide who really benefits from them. Story continues Exposure of the secret Mossack Fonseca files has dealt a blow to Panama's efforts to shed a reputation as a hub for shady deals. Early this year, the nation managed to get off a "gray list" of countries not deemed to be doing enough to fight money laundering after introducing a number of reforms putting some curbs on anonymous ownership of companies. But the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) insists Panama falls well short in implementing international standards for the automatic sharing of tax information. France on Wednesday urged the OECD to follow its lead by putting it on a global list of "uncooperative countries." "Unfortunately Panama has a bit of a tendency to make u-turns, to play the good guy and then the bad guy. This cannot go on," French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said. European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici -- a former French finance minister -- gave heft to that appeal, saying the European Union should draw up a new list of tax havens. "Swift progress on this was important before the Panama Papers," he said. "It's now absolutely essential". - More reforms mulled - Faced with the possibility of a hard blow to its economy, Panama has promised to cooperate with any judicial investigation that emerges from the leak, and has said it will look at further reforming its financial sector. The country "may analyze" what legislative changes are needed "to protect this platform and make sure it not used for shady purposes," Hincapie said. He added: "We can't put down a system that has been effective for many years because of an attack or pressure." Photo: vtv.vn At the event, the association elected Mr. Takashi Norimoto, Head of Mimasaka citys Association of Industry and Commerce, as the Chairman of the association. The steering committee, consisting of 11 members, adopted a plan of activities for the association in the future. The establishment of the association aims to promote the cooperation and friendly relations between Mimasaka, other localities in Okayama province, and Vietnam in various fields such as economics, politics, education, culture, tourism and people-to-people exchange. Members of the association include leaders of the local administration, economists, businessmen, residents in Mimasaka city and neighbouring areas. Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Takashi Norimoto, expressed his deep affection for Vietnam, thanked the Consulate General of Vietnam in Osaka for actively supporting the establishment of the association, and confirmed that the members of the association will do their utmost to promote cooperation and friendly relations, and strengthen exchanges in all areas, between Mimasaka and Vietnam. Consul General Tran Duc Binh in Osaka congratulated the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association in Mimasaka city and confirmed the advisory role of the association. He also believed the association would have active and meaningful contribution to the development and exchange, particularly between Mimasaka, localities in Okayama province, and Vietnam, and between Japan and Vietnam in general. Mr. Seiji Hagiwara, Mayor of Mimasaka city cum Honorary Head of the Association, expressed his admiration for the tremendous achievements of the government and people of Vietnam in the process of protecting and building the country. He stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation relations and exchange between Mimasaka and Vietnam, as well as between Japan and Vietnam. He also said that the city is closely cooperating with the Vietnamese Consulate General in Osaka to establish a place to display a President Ho Chi Minh statue in the citys museum to introduce to Japanese people the preeminent leader of the people of Vietnam, and a cultural celebrity of mankind. He emphasized that this would be one of the first significant activities of the Japan-Vietnam Friendship Association in Mimasaka city. Mimasaka city signed a cooperation agreement with the University of Da Nang in April 2015 and has received a graduate from the University of Da Nang as official staff of the town hall./. Lagos (AFP) - Embattled Nigerian Senate president Bukola Saraki on Tuesday brushed off allegations of wrongdoing concerning his wife's offshore assets revealed in the Panama Papers, as he went on trial in Abuja on fraud charges. The latest graft claim to hit the senate president emerged from the "Panama Papers" investigation into a trove of 11.5 million tax documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies. Saraki is alleged to have failed to declare at least four offshore assets listed under his wife Toyin's name that appear in the leaked documents, according to the investigation's media partner Nigerian newspaper Premium Times. Under Nigerian law, it is mandatory for the president, the vice-president, state governors and their deputies to declare their assets along with those of their wife and children under 18 when they take office and before stepping down. But Saraki said he did not do anything illegal and argued that the assets are listed as part of his wife's "family estate". "I've fully complied with (the) law on asset declaration," Saraki said in a statement issued on Monday and posted on his website. "The law does not require a public officer to declare assets held by the spouse's family," Saraki's spokesman Yusuph Olaniyonu said. "It is public knowledge that Mrs Saraki comes from a family of independent means and wealth with numerous and varied assets acquired over decades in family estates and investments." - Huge payments - Saraki's corruption trial finally got under way before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja on Tuesday after months of delays. He faces charges including false declaration of assets while he was governor of the western state of Kwara from 2003 to 2011, all charges that he denies. Michael Wetkas, head of the team that investigated Saraki at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, took the stand as the first prosecution witness, telling the court Saraki had made massive payments into private company accounts. Story continues He used the deposits to repay personal loans from a local commercial bank and purchased property in Nigeria and abroad, Wetkas said. Wetkas also said Saraki had laundered money through his British and US Bank accounts and failed to properly declare most of the assets. Between 2005 and 2013, his Nigerian account had a total inflow and outflow of up to 4 billion naira ($20 million, 17.6 million euros), Wetkas said, with the local bank loan being the major source of the inflow. A trained physician and former banker, the senate president is considered Nigeria's third most senior politician behind President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. Yet anti-corruption campaigners fear that the powerful politician will, like others before him, outmanoeuvre the law. "The latest revelation about Saraki's family should not surprise anybody," Debo Adeniran, chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders lobby group, told AFP of the Panama Papers leaks. "We suggest that the Nigerian anti-graft agencies should collaborate with their foreign partners to move against Saraki and make him accountable," Adeniran added. "If Saraki escapes the Nigerian laws because of the loopholes and leniency in our laws, the international community should not allow him to escape. "He should get the Ibori's treatment," Adeniran said, referring to the case of former Delta state governor James Ibori who was acquited in Nigeria on corruption charges but jailed in London for a similar offence. Several high-profile politicians are currently standing trial as part of Buhari's drive to tackle endemic corruption in Nigeria, Africa's largest crude producer and biggest economy. London (AFP) - As-well as shining a spotlight on the secret financial arrangements of the rich and powerful, the so-called Panama Papers have laid bare London's role as a vital organ of the world's tax-haven network. The files leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca exposed Britain's link to thousands of firms based in tax havens and how secret money is invested in British assets, particularly London property. Critics accuse British authorities of turning a blind eye to the inflow of suspect money and of being too close to the financial sector to clamp down on the use of its overseas territories as havens, with the British Virgin Islands alone hosting 110,000 of the Mossack Fonseca's clients. "London is the epicentre of so much of the sleaze that happens in the world," Nicholas Shaxson, author of the book "Treasure Islands", which examines the role of offshore banks and tax havens, told AFP. The political analyst said that Britain itself was relatively transparent and clean, but that companies used the country's territories abroad -- relics of the days of empire -- to "farm out the seedier stuff", often under the guise of shell companies with anonymous owners. "Tax evasion and stuff like that will be done in the external parts of the network. Usually there will be links to the City of London, UK law firms, UK accountancy firms and to UK banks," he said, calling London the centre of a "spider's web". "They're all agents of the City of London -- that is where the whole exercise is controlled from," Richard Murphy, professor at London's City University, said of the offshore havens. - Capital of 'funny money' - The files showed that Britain had the third highest number of Mossack Fonseca's middlemen operating within its borders, with 32,682 advisers. Although not illegal in themselves, shell companies can be used for illegal activities such as laundering the proceeds of criminal activities or to conceal misappropriated or politically-inconvenient wealth. Story continues Around 310,000 tax haven companies own an estimated 170 billion (210 billion euros, $240 billion) of British real estate, 10 percent of which were linked to Mossack Fonseca. The files appeared to show that the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan owned London properties worth more than 1.2 billion and that Mariam Safdar, daughter of Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was the beneficial owner of two offshore companies that owned flats on the exclusive Park Lane. The revelations undermined promises by British Prime Minister David Cameron to clear up the murky world of offshore finance and its proceeds. "Every few years London pretends to 'clean up its act'," wrote columnist Simon Jenkins in the capital's Evening Standard newspaper. "Most world cities are ruthless against foreigners who arrive with suitcases of cash to buy property or other businesses. Not London," he added. "It is awash in 'offshore' towers overlooking the Thames." Conspicuous displays of foreign wealth are common around the British capital from the lavish statues outside the mansions of Russian oligarchs to the fleet of Lamborghinis raced by Middle Eastern princelings around the streets of plush Knightsbridge. London's reputation as the "capital of funny money" -- so-called by Jenkins -- is closely related to its legitimate attraction as a financial centre, with its light-touch regulation, laissez-faire attitude towards wealth, vibrant culture and history of global trading, said Shaxson. - 'Wild animals' - "London has been a crossroads for the world's money for centuries," he explained. "When the British empire collapsed, London swapped being the governor of the imperial engine to being an offshore island and allowing money to come with no questions asked," he added. With public pressure mounting, Murphy said Britain had the power to legislate directly on its overseas territories, but the lobbying power of the financial sector and worries about upsetting the jewel in Britain's economic crown were holding back efforts. "The City of London seems to believe that without these conduits, then it would not have the competitive edge that it needs," he said. "The financial institutions have become like wild animals," added Shaxson. "It's the government's responsibility to stop this nonsense. "The government has been captured by the banking establishment and some way has to be found for that to be broken. British politicians feel they can't do anything." London (AFP) - The president of the United Arab Emirates owns London properties worth more than A1.2 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.5 billion euros) through offshore companies revealed in the so-called Panama Papers, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was among numerous public figures named as owners of billions of pounds of central London real estate following the huge leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Owning British property through offshore companies is perfectly legal, but it is controversial because such holdings obscure the identity of the owners, allowing them to avoid scrutiny and tax. Sheikh Khalifa's property portfolio includes the BHS department store building on Oxford Street and the designer shops of Bruton Street and Berkeley Square, with tenants including Stella McCartney, The Guardian said. Three children of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have also been shown to own London real estate through offshore companies administered by Mossack Fonseca. The Guardian reported that Sharif's daughter Maryam was the beneficial owner of two offshore companies that each own flats on the prestigious Park Lane. The premier has insisted his family has done "nothing wrong". The newspaper also reported that former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi was named as a director of two British Virgin Islands companies that bought a A2.75 million Kensington townhouse in 2008 and a A750,000 commercial building near Paddington in 2009. British Prime Minister David Cameron said last year that more than 36,000 London properties were owned by offshore companies, amounting to A122 billion of property across the whole of England and Wales. While the "vast majority" of firms were legitimate, he said some high-value properties were being bought with "plundered or laundered cash" and promised to take action to improve transparency. "There is no place for dirty money in Britain," Cameron said in a speech during a visit to Singapore. By Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani ABUJA, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nigerian officials gave permission on Tuesday for a memorial event at a school in northeast Nigeria from where Islamist rebels abducted 276 girls two years ago with parents hoping this would remind the world their daughters are still missing. The event, a prayer session integrating both Muslim and Christian faiths, will mark the second anniversary of the girls' abduction by Boko Haram militants from Chibok that provoked an international outcry and a viral campaign #bringbackourgirls. It will be held on April 14 - exactly two years since Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School in Chibok in the middle of the night and kidnapped 276 girls. In total 57 managed to escape but 219 remain missing. Lawan Zanna, secretary of the Parents of the Abducted Girls from Chibok association, said the government had agreed to give the parents access to the school that is heavily guarded and all the parents of the missing girls are expected to attend. The parents were hoping the event would again garner attention for the girls who have not been seen since the night of their abduction despite calls to find them from celebrities and politicians including U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. "We have also invited all the government officials from Chibok .. and they also promised to allow any person from the media to join us," Zanna, whose 18-year-old daughter is among the missing girls, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of boys and girls in northeast Nigeria over the past seven years, turning them into cooks, sex slaves, fighters, and even suicide bombers to attack their own villages, according to Amnesty International. But the Chibok abduction remains the most high-profile. On the first anniversary of the abduction the parents held a memorial event at the school but then a military checkpoint was then set up outside the school and the area ruled out of bounds. Visitors are required to seek official permission from the government or the military to get access to the school and also to Chibok town. The parents received permission to use the venue for this year's event on Tuesday after three representatives of the parents' association met with government officials. In March last year, the previous Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan began work on rebuilding the school that was razed by the militants on the night of the abduction. But weeks later Jonathan was forced from power by Muhammadu Buhari in a national election and no buildings have yet been erected on the school site. Buhari ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January. [nL8N14Y501] (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) Lagos (AFP) - Businessman Patrice Talon was sworn in as Benin's new president Wednesday after winning last month's elections in the tiny West African country. The wealthy 57-year-old was sworn in at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in the capital Porto-Novo. He had met earlier Wednesday with outgoing head of state Thomas Boni Yayi, who stepped down after two terms in office, at the Presidential Palace in the economic hub Cotonou. In a show of goodwill, the former political rivals hugged each other after the meeting. Talon, dubbed the "King of Cotton", bankrolled Boni Yayi's successful 2006 and 2011 election campaigns. But their relationship deteriorated and in 2012 Talon, who was abroad at the time, was accused of masterminding an alleged plot to poison Yayi. He only returned last October after receiving a presidential pardon. Talon gave a short inauguration speech that focused on his popular campaign promise to change the constitution so Benin presidents serve just one term. "With my term I will exercise state power with dignity and simplicity," Talon said. "I will serve as the president with humility, selflessness and sacrifice for the welfare of all," he added. "I will work to make my term an instrument of change for major policy and institutional reforms." Talon handily won the presidential election in March with 65.37% of the vote against 34.63% for the ruling party's candidate, Franco-Beninese businessman Lionel Zinsou. Zinsou was seen as the frontrunner with the support of most lawmakers in parliament, but his popularity was dented by Talon who billed himself as the authentic Beninese candidate and repeatedly attacked Zinsou's dual French nationality. The vote was hailed as a victory for democracy in a continent where leaders sometimes cling to power for far longer than their constitutional mandate. Two weeks ago Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Joseph Dunford held a news conference where they forcefully pushed back against critics of the administrations war strategy against ISIS. The momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side," Carter declared. Related: The Nightmare Scenario Facing Iraq and the US Yet there are signs that while the extremist group is being squeezed in Iraq and Syria, it is expanding its presence elsewhere. Due in part to worries about potential attacks by the extremist group, the Defense Department may pull some of its 700 peacekeeping troops out of a base in the northern part of Egypts Sinai Peninsula, CNN reports. The White House is discussing the possibility with Egypt and Israel; the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979 that stipulated the Multinational Force and Observers mission would stay in the area to monitor adherence to the pact. Some U.S. troops could be moved to the southern part of the peninsula. The U.S. contends it can fulfill its mission in the north by relying on unmanned technology and cameras, but both Cairo and Jerusalem would have to approve the move. The news comes about a week after the Pentagon announced it would evacuate all military family members from Turkey primarily from Incirlik Air Base, which has served as a hub for allied forces in the air war against ISIS -- due to security concerns. As a result, 670 military dependents (and 287 personal pets) will be flown out of Turkey by U.S. military transports or charter flights. Related: US Says Momentum Has Shifted in the War Against ISIS Together, the developments show just how fluid the battle against ISIS remains. On Tuesday, Senate Armed Services Committee chair John McCain (R-AZ) warned that the anti-ISIS fight was becoming another Vietnam War. As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nations defeat in the Vietnam War I fear this administrations grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL) risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation, McCain, who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for years, wrote in a letter to Carter. Story continues In addition to Egypt and Turkey, there is concern among administration officials about the Islamic States presence in Libya, where the network has an estimated 3,000 fighters or more. Its possible that the group could further metastasize on the African continent, opening a third front for the U.S. and its allies to deal with and attempt to roll back. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Mr. Dang Minh Khoi and overseas Vietnamese in Macau (Photo: VNA) Speaking at the meeting, the Vietnamese Ambassador to China Dang Minh Khoi affirmed that the Party, State and especially Vietnams Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have always attached great importance to the overseas Vietnamese community, as well as affairs with overseas Vietnamese. Vietnams representative agencies are responsible to cooperate with local authorities to protect the interests of overseas Vietnamese in general and Vietnamese employees in Macau in particular. Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi expressed his pleasure at witnessing the overseas Vietnamese community in Macau unite and help each other, as well as look toward the homeland. He advised the overseas Vietnamese to strictly abide by local laws, promote the spirit of solidarity and mutual help to overcome all difficulties, arouse national pride, patriotism and have practical contributions to the homeland. Mr. Khoi stressed that over 30 years of innovation and openness, Vietnam has made important achievements, which was recognized by the 12th National Party Congress, but still faces a lot of difficulties, requiring every person living far from Vietnam to make an effort and jointly build Vietnam to become stronger and more beautiful. On this occasion, Ambassador Dang Minh Khoi presented certificates of merit to individuals who have made outstanding achievements in labour and community work. At the event, Ms. Tran Thi Gon, Head of the Vietnam Friendship Association in Macau, and Ms. Tran Thi Thu, Head of the Vietnamese Fellow-countrymen Association in Macau, also called upon Vietnamese living, working, studying in Macau to strictly abide by local laws and build a good image of the country and people of Vietnam in the eyes of the local people, and do their utmost to practically contribute to the development of Vietnam. At the event, the participants also enjoyed an art program performed by overseas Vietnamese./. WASHINGTON (AP) The Pentagon will consider opening more small military outposts that would provide artillery support and other aid to Iraqi forces as they prepare to retake the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State group militants, a senior military officer on the Joint Staff said Wednesday. Rear. Adm. Andrew Lewis, the vice director for operations, said there may be situations where the U.S. would either open a base or reopen one that was used in the earlier Iraq war. He said those outposts would be behind the front lines and would be used the way U.S. Marines are operating out of what has been known as Fire Base Bell, outside Makhmour. Fewer than 200 Marines set up that outpost last month and provided targeting assistance and artillery fire for the Iraqis. It was the first time such a base had been established by the U.S. since it returned forces to Iraq in 2014. Initially, military officials said the base was set up purely to provide protection for Iraqi forces and U.S. advisers at the nearby Iraqi base in Makhmour, southeast of Mosul. But the Marines later were firing illumination rounds to help Iraqi forces locate IS fighters and firing artillery rounds in support as Iraqi troops took control of several villages on the outskirts of Makhmour. The Marines remained well behind the front lines. Lewis said that setting up another, similar base as the Iraqi forces move toward Mosul is "dependent on what's happening on the ground" and in the military campaign. He said it would be used to provide artillery fire from behind the front lines. "Their mission is to provide fires and support of Iraqi forces, just like we do with airplanes, just it's surface-to-surface fires (versus) air-to-surface fires," he said. "Same concept, very accurate." Pentagon officials have said they are on a temporary, short-term deployment into Iraq. Lewis also noted there has been a recent name change for Fire Base Bell. It's unclear why the military changed names, but the new name, the Karasoar Counterfire Complex, reflects the Iraqi location and appears to focus more on its security mission rather than a combat role. LIMA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Peruvians marched against presidential front-runner Keiko Fujimori Tuesday on the anniversary of her authoritarian father's most infamous power grab - forcing her to suspend campaign events ahead of Sunday's elections. Protesters chanted "Never again!" and said a vote for center-right Fujimori would be a vote for ex-president Alberto Fujimori, who is now serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption committed during his 1990-2000 government. At least 30,000 took part in the protest in Lima - a sign of the stiff opposition to Fujimori that could make her vulnerable to defeat in a run-off. Fujimori is expected to win the biggest share of votes on April 10 but not the simple majority needed to win outright. Many demonstrators derided Fujimori's recent promise to never repeat her father's "self coup" on April 5, 1992, when he order the military to shutter Congress and intervened in the courts. Fujimori had previously defended the move as needed to enact economic reforms. "I don't believe her at all," said Rodolfo Lazo, a 19-year-old university student who had painted "I'm young but I'm not stupid" on his T-shirt. Protesters also criticized the country's electoral board for clearing Fujimori of allegations that she broke a law against vote-buying while disqualifying two leading rivals. "National Jury of Elections, National Shame!" one sign read. Fujimori canceled her public appearances and told her supporters to suspend campaign activities on Tuesday ahead of the rallies, which were scheduled in cities across Peru. Her political party called for tolerance on Twitter and posted pictures of campaign offices in different towns covered in banners that read "No More Violence." The protest in Lima was peaceful. Smaller rallies outside of the capital have ended with clashes and opponents have pelted eggs at Fujimori during campaign events. The demonstration on Tuesday was the biggest political protest in Lima since massive rallies against Alberto Fujimori in 2000 as he tried start a third term following elections widely considered fraudulent. Fujimori had set out early in her campaign this year to distance herself from her father after narrowly losing her first presidential bid to President Ollanta Humala in 2011. But 45 percent of Peruvians say they will definitely not vote for her - higher than her two closest rivals, leftist lawmaker Veronika Mendoza and investor-favorite Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, according to the most recent Ipsos poll. Humala cannot seek a new term because of constitutional limits. (Reporting by Mitra Taj; Editing by Mark Potter) By Caroline Humer and Ankur Banerjee (Reuters) - U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Ireland-based Allergan Plc walked away from their $160 billion merger on Wednesday, a major win for President Barack Obama, who has been pushing to curb deals in which companies move overseas to cut taxes. Pfizer said the decision was driven by new U.S. Treasury rules aimed at such deals, called inversions. The merger would have allowed New York-based Pfizer to cut its tax bill by an estimated $1 billion annually by domiciling in Ireland, where tax rates are lower. While the new Treasury rules did not name Pfizer and Allergan, one of the provisions targeted a specific feature of their merger - Allergan's history as a major acquirer of other companies. Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders said on CNBC television that the new Treasury rule would not stop the company from doing other stock-based acquisitions as soon as this fall. The new Treasury rule takes into account the past three years of a company's deals. "It really looked like they did a very fine job at constructing a temporary rule to stop this deal and obviously it was successful," Saunders said. Saunders said that he would stay to run the standalone company with a focus on both deals and research and development. Allergan will also move ahead with plans for its $40.5 billion sale of its generic drug business to Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries . It expects the transaction to close by June. With the deal behind it, Pfizer said it would decide this year about whether to split off its hundreds of generic medicines into a separate business. It had put off making that decision until 2019 after announcing its deal with Allergan last November. Pfizer will pay Allergan $150 million to reimburse expenses from its deal. Shares of Allergan, which fell 15 percent on Tuesday, were up 3.3 percent at $244.38 at mid-afternoon. Pfizer rose 4.7 percent to $32.84. Pfizer has new products coming and plenty of money that it could put to work with acquisitions, though not on the scale of Allergan, said Les Funtleyder, healthcare portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management in New York, which holds Pfizer shares. It is not clear that Pfizer should definitely split into two, he said. "It is true that these larger companies are a little unwieldy to manage," Funtleyder said, "but there are plenty of strategies to keep them together and increase shareholder value." The decision to call off the deal came in part because Pfizer was concerned that any tweaks to salvage its deal with Allergan might have provoked new rules by the Treasury, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Tuesday. Obama on Tuesday called global tax avoidance a "huge problem" and urged Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from deals that allow it. U.S. inversion rules have unraveled other mergers. U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc abandoned its $55 billion takeover of Ireland-domiciled peer Shire Plc in 2014 after the Obama administration cracked down on inversions. AbbVie had to pay Shire a $1.6 billion break-up fee. (Reporting by Caroline Humer in New York and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Nick Zieminski) By Jessica Dye (Reuters) - A federal judge in Philadelphia dismissed more than 300 lawsuits against Pfizer Inc alleging that its antidepressant Zoloft caused birth defects in children born to women who took the drug while pregnant. The decision late Tuesday from U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said that plaintiffs had not produced enough evidence to show a plausible scientific link between the drug and birth defects, following several previous decisions that excluded testimony from key expert witnesses for plaintiffs. The court recognizes that the final scientific verdict as to whether Zoloft can cause birth defects may not be delivered for many years, Rufe wrote. Nevertheless, plaintiffs chose when to file their cases, and the court concludes that for the plaintiffs who have continued to pursue their claims, the litigation gates must be closed. The ruling affects more than 300 lawsuits against Pfizer consolidated before Rufe in federal court. A Pfizer spokeswoman, Neha Wadhwa, said the decision "affirms that plaintiffs have failed to produce any reliable scientific evidence demonstrating that Zoloft causes the injuries they alleged." Dianne Nast, a lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, did not immediately return a call for comment. Pfizer had previously prevailed in two trials involving Zoloft birth-defect claims in state courts in Philadelphia and Missouri. Zoloft is part of a widely prescribed group of antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, or SSRIs. Plaintiffs said that the company played down the birth-defect risks of the popular drug in order to boost sales, while Pfizer denied it acted improperly and said that a number of major medical groups, including the American Heart Association, have supported its position. (Reporting by Jessica Dye; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Jonathan Oatis) Popular online bulletin board Pinterest on Wednesday began pushing "pins" sponsored by advertisers into countries outside the United States, starting with Britain. San Francisco-based Pinterest introduced "Sponsored Pins" about 18 months ago, making money by letting brands or companies pay to display advertising in the form of posts "pinned" to virtual bulletin boards at the service. "We are now pushing into international markets aggressively," Pinterest monetization and advertising president Tim Kendall told AFP. Kendall said the international expansion would begin in Britain because that is a "priority market" with a large number of Pinterest users, including businesses. Through the year, Pinterest planned to spread sponsored pins to more English-speaking countries including Australia, Canada, and Ireland. Markets in which English is not the main language will be then be added, with the timing yet to be determined, according to Kendall. Pinterest sees itself as being positioned at crossroads of social networking and online search, with people tending to use it as they seek products or services and make plans. Instead of coming to Pinterest to see photos of friends, people come with "commercial intent" that puts the online bulletin board in an ideal position to display native advertising for trips, clothing or other offerings users may want, according to Kendall. Many companies or marketers are already on Pinterest, with some three-quaters of the content posted there coming from company websites or corporate blogs. Paying for Sponsored Pins can get them displayed more often, and aimed at targeted audiences. For example, a pin paid for by a shoe company could display some of its selection to a Pinterest user who has searched for footwear. Pinterest ranks of advertisers in the US is already reported to be in the "tens of thousands," including many small and medium enterprises. Founded in 2010, Pinterest boasts more than 100 million users, some 45 percent of them outside the United States. A Silicon Valley star, the start-up was valued about $11 billion in a round of private financing in March of last year. By Gwladys Fouche and Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir OSLO/REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - A poet and former WikiLeaks supporter who says revolution is her favorite word, Birgitta Jonsdottir would probably become Iceland's next prime minister if elections were held tomorrow. She leads the Pirate Party, set up by a group of outsiders and activists in 2012 with the same name as protest parties in other countries, and it would get a record 43 percent of the vote, according to an opinion poll released on Wednesday. Consistently topping surveys in the past year, the Pirates' popularity surged after the release this week of the Panama Papers forced Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to quit over the disclosure his wife owned an offshore company with claims on Icelandic banks. This infuriated many Icelanders who said it was an undeclared conflict of interest. When he stepped aside on Tuesday, it provided another boost for the anti-establishment Pirate Party which campaigns for transparency. (Graphic: http://tmsnrt.rs/23hpXe5) Jonsdottir aims to turn those poll numbers into votes after the embattled government named Fisheries Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as new prime minister on Wednesday and announced it would call early elections for the autumn. "The nation has decided that enough is enough. They have shown in great number they want something different. For some reason, that different thing seems to be my political party," Jonsdottir, 48, told Reuters in a phone interview from Reykjavik hours before the government announcement. It is a stunning rise for the Pirates who won 5.1 percent of votes in the 2013 election giving them three seats in parliament including one for Jonsdottir. Its policies include granting citizenship to former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden and looser copyright enforcement rules. She said her party belonged to the same global movement for change that includes U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his leftwing Syriza party, and others in Europe where mainstream political parties are fending off populists. "We are living in a time where we are seeing real big transformative forces, where the general public are expressing in a very affirmative way that they want a different type of governance: they want more engagement," she said. "In particular, I have seen it very clearly with Podemos in Spain and the Five-Star Movement in Italy." The Pirate Party had been pushing for a vote of confidence in the government and a snap election. It was unclear if the autumn election would make them call off the confidence vote. ANOTHER KIND OF POLITICS For voters, the Pirates' appeal is as an alternative to the coalition which came to power in 2013. Fed up with the financial and political elite after a 2008 banking crisis wrecked the economy, thousands of protesters pelted parliament with yoghurt and eggs at protests this week. "They (the Pirate Party) practise another kind of politics so I am quite keen on that," said Oskar Arni Oskarsson, a 64-year-old librarian in Reykjavik, who said the latest events were "totally absurd". "I want the government to resign and that there will be (early) elections," he told Reuters. However, now that there is a chance of the Pirates being in power, their perceived lack of political experience is facing scrutiny. "People are saying now that they don't have enough experience and can't be trusted," said Eva Heida Onnudottir, a political scientist at the University of Iceland. Jonsdottir, who published her first book of poetry when she was 22, became a grassroots campaigner after Iceland's financial collapse. She soon became involved with WikiLeaks and helped get a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff, released on the WikiLeaks site. Jonsdottir, who has had rough patches in her life with both her husband and father committing suicide, sees herself as a lawmaker who puts pressure on the politicians who are doing "unacceptable things". Although she is the party's longest-serving lawmaker, others may also be candidate for the top job. Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, another of the three Pirate Party members of parliament, is also a possibility, and the Pirate Party rotates its leadership. Jonsdottir says she is not angling for the top job. "That is not something I fantasize. Actually I had a nightmare about that a long time ago that I wrote down into a poem," she said. (Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Anna Willard and Howard Goller) THE CENTRAL ORGAN OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM The Voice of the party, State and Vietnamese people on the internet Notify: The requested content was not found or the content is invalid! The strike by a group of bus drivers from China in 2012 may be no laughing matter but Fakkah Fuzz was able to make light of the incident to tickle an audience watching his performance at a comedy festival. They call that a strike? The Malay guys just call it a Monday. Chinese people, youve got to catch up, weve been on strike for years! the Singaporean Malay comedian joked to peals of laughter. His chosen profession can be traced to his unpleasant experience as a student in Malaysia. As a 13-year-old studying in a private school in Malacca that was filled with Chinese students, Fuzz was often targeted for bullying because he was a Malay from a neighbouring country. Fuzz, now 29, said that it was pointless to get into an unwinnable argument with his schoolmates. If I didnt do my homework, theyll say youre Malay, youre lazy. When I do my home work, theyll call me a kiasu Singaporean, said the comedian, whose real name is Muhammad Fadzri Abdul Rashid. Far from becoming a social recluse later in life, Fuzzs experience in school provided him with the comic inspiration for his future profession and he would go on to reach out to people of all races with his wisecracks about Malay stereotypes. Today, Fuzz regularly performs to large crowds. His joke about the bus drivers strike was part of a skit that he performed during the 2014 comedy festival, Happy Ever Laughter, at The Esplanade, where more than 2,000 people attended. Besides comedy, Fuzz has hosted television shows such as 50 Ways to be a Singaporean on Channel 5, and Adam dan Hawa (Adam and Eve) on the Suria channel. From serving food to dishing out jokes Fuzz admitted that he wasnt academically inclined in his younger days. After obtaining his Malaysian Certificate of Education, he returned to Singapore with the intention of furthering his studies. But he was rejected by several local tertiary institutions including the Institute of Technical Education. Dejected, Fuzz did various odd jobs - from being a cleaner at Far East Plaza, a waiter, a security guard, a paintball game facilitator to a stuntman at the Universal Studios Singapore. Story continues He only became motivated to pursue a diploma at a private institution after serving National Service in the army. According to Fuzz, the officers and sergeants that he met could barely string proper sentence together but were holding higher positions than him because of their educational qualifications. After graduating with a diploma in mass communications, Fuzz decided not to pursue a job in the corporate arena. Since he has been entertaining his schoolmates and friends for years with his witty brand of humour, he thought that being a comedian could be his true calling. When he made his comedic debut in 2010, it was anything but a roaring success. Performing in front of just six people at a now-defunct bar located near Robertson Quay, his skit lasted only five minutes. Still, it was not long before his jokes about Malay and other racial stereotypes drew more guffaws in front of larger audiences as he mastered the art of delivering the punchline. Take for instance another of his jokes that he has performed, Its very challenging growing up as a Malay brother in Singapore because youre always stereotyped as criminals. But I want to let you know thats not true, because I have a friend who just came out of prison, and surprise, surprisehes Chinese. Fuzz explained that many comedians in Singapore and the wider Southeast Asian region tend to focus on race as their rich diversity of cultures provides plenty of comic fodder. We are very multicultural and its a big aspect of what we know. Theres nothing wrong with it, and were not trying to offend, he said. On 26 April, Fuzz will be performing a segment entitled In Fuzz We Trust at the annual Singapore Comedy Fringe Festival organised by Comedy Club Asia. When asked if he is in touch with his Chinese schoolmates in Malacca, Fuzz said that only one of them has contacted him after watching one of his videos on YouTube. But it is possible that Fuzz might crack a joke at their expense some day. They were taking their frustrations out on me (for being a Singaporean Malay) and you know whats the funny thing? Half of them are now working in Singapore, he said. Warsaw (AFP) - A battle between Poland's right-wing government and the EU member's top court escalated Wednesday, amid a four-month-long constitutional crisis that observers allege has put democracy at risk. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro warned constitutional court Chief Justice Andrzej Rzeplinski and other judges on its bench against "operating outside the constitutional and legal framework". Rzeplinski revealed that a letter he received from Ziobro also "threatened punitive measures against disobedient judges". The Law and Justice (PiS) government plunged Poland into political crisis in December when it pushed through legislation to pack the top court and modify its decision-making rules. But last month the court itself struck down the changes as unconstitutional, pitting it against the PiS majority government, which promptly dismissed the ruling. The resulting deadlock means the court is paralysed, leaving Poland without a fundamental check on government powers. The PiS government's intransigence on the issue sparked protests across Poland, with tens of thousands of citizens demanding it respect the court ruling. Ziobro's letter drew sharp criticism from the opposition. "Not only do we now have two legal systems, but above all a minister who is telling judges he will punish them if they're disobedient," Ryszard Petru, leader of the liberal Modern party, told reporters. The escalation of the crisis came just a day after the European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans urged the PiS government to respect the court rulings as the first step in defusing the crisis that triggered an unprecedented probe by Brussels. Timmermans also said he was upbeat about the possibility of resolving the crisis "without the European Commission having to take any next steps", including possible punitive measures. The European Union launched a probe in January to see whether PiS changes to the court violate EU democracy rules and merit the punitive measures. Story continues Council of Europe chief Thorbjorn Jagland insisted earlier this week that "it is very urgent to get the constitutional court to function. "For the time being it is paralysed, which means that we do not have in place a system here that is really rule of law." His words echo a March report by legal experts from the Council's respected Venice Commission rights watchdog. Mexico City (AFP) - The environmental authorities in Mexico City will keep 40 percent of cars off the roads on Wednesday because of extremely high pollution levels, officials said. "The Greater Capital Area Environmental Commission (CAME) is activating extraordinary measures due to high ozone levels in the metropolitan area of the Valley of Mexico," CAME said in a statement together with city, regional and federal authorities. Some 5.5 million vehicles are estimated to circulate in Mexico City's metropolitan area and are considered among the main source of contaminants in the highly polluted city. Normally, 20 percent of cars are kept off the streets to reduce pollution levels. But the authorities declared the more serious pollution alert, and ordered double the normal car restriction, after smog in the capital pushed into the air quality index's more worrisome "environmental contingency" zone. Recent pollution alerts mark a reversal from years of progress to improve air quality after the United Nations declared the Mexican capital the world's most polluted city in the 1990s. SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Bondholders with nearly a third of Puerto Rico's $17 billion outstanding General Obligation bonds on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for a debt restructuring they claim would help the island avoid outright default. Burdened by an overall $70 billion debt load that the government says it cannot pay and a 45 percent poverty rate that has led to a steady exodus of its American citizens back to the mainland, Puerto Rico faces economic collapse without a solution that either changes laws and/or involves an agreement with creditors. The bondholders, representing $5 billion of GO debt say they would defer principal repayments on their bonds through June 2020. The proposal was issued by an ad hoc group of GO bondholders, including mutual funds and others, represented by the law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. In addition, the creditors said they would buy approximately $750 million in new debt at a 7 percent annual coupon and no principal repayments until 2020. "This exchange would save the Commonwealth $1.9 billion in debt service payments over the next five years," according to the document. Puerto Rico's government said the proposal failed "to solve the severe and real challenges" facing Puerto Rico. "Incurring additional debt at a higher cost is not the answer to the Commonwealth's fiscal issues," Melba Acosta, president of Puerto Rico's Government Development Bank, said in a statement. "Indeed it is exactly the type of 'Wall Street' solution that led us to the precipice we are now looking over." The same bondholders earlier criticized legislation currently being rushed through Puerto Rico's Senate and House on Tuesday that would halt bond payments ahead of a $422 million debt bill owed by the Government Development Bank due on May 1. The Senate approved the controversial legislation early on Tuesday morning while the House continued its debate. It is expected to vote before the end of the day. "While we would like to negotiate with the Puerto Rican Government in private and in good faith, the debt moratorium it has proposed that is before the Puerto Rican legislature has prompted this public release," Andrew Rosenberg, a lawyer with Paul, Weiss said in a statement accompanying the proposal. GO debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the government and is typically the senior debt paid before all others. (Reporting By Nick Brown in San Juan; Writing by Daniel Bases; Editing by Bernard Orr and Sandra Maler) SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Bondholders with nearly a third of Puerto Rico's $17 billion outstanding General Obligation bonds on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for a debt restructuring they claim would help the island avoid outright default. Burdened by an overall $70 billion debt load the government says it cannot pay and a 45 percent poverty rate that has led to a steady exodus of its American citizens back to the mainland, Puerto Rico faces economic collapse without a solution that either changes laws and/or involves an agreement with creditors. The bondholders, representing $5 billion of GO debt say they would defer principal repayments on their bonds through June 2020. The proposal was issued by an ad hoc group of GO bondholders, including mutual funds and others, represented by the law firm Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. "This exchange would save the Commonwealth $1.9 billion in debt service payments over the next five years," according to the document. These bondholders earlier criticized legislation being rushed through Puerto Rico's Senate and House on Tuesday that would halt bond payments ahead of a $422 million debt bill owed by the Government Development Bank due May 1. The Senate approved the controversial legislation in the wee hours of Tuesday morning while the House continues its debate. It is expected to vote before the day is done. "While we would like to negotiate with the Puerto Rican Government in private and in good faith, the debt moratorium it has proposed that is before the Puerto Rican legislature has prompted this public release," Andrew Rosenberg, a lawyer with Paul, Weiss said in a statement accompanying the proposal. GO debt is backed by the full faith and credit of the government and is typically the senior debt paid before all others. In addition, the creditors said they would buy approximately $750 million in new debt at a 7 percent annual coupon and no principal repayments until 2020. "The combination of principal deferment plus $750 million in new funds will help to avoid a July 1 default," the creditors said. (Reporting By Nick Brown in San Juan; Writing by Daniel Bases; Editing by Bernard Orr) By Nick Brown SAN JUAN (Reuters) - Puerto Rico's House of Representatives on Tuesday debated a bill to halt debt payments, while a government official fired back at creditors who suggested the U.S. territory was shirking efforts to hold restructuring talks. Burdened by a $70 billion debt load it says it cannot pay and a 45 percent poverty rate that has led to a steady exodus of its American citizens to the mainland, Puerto Rico faces economic collapse without a solution that either changes laws and/or involves an agreement with creditors. The next key date is May 1 when the Government Development Bank, the island's primary fiscal agent, is due to pay creditors $422 million. The islands Senate passed an emergency bill early on Tuesday that would alter GDBs structure, as well as allow Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla to declare a moratorium on any debt payment he deems necessary. The House was expected to vote on the bill on Tuesday. A group of Puerto Ricos general obligation bondholders criticized the bill. "It is no coincidence that the governor has abruptly sought overnight adoption of debt moratorium legislation at the very moment large general obligation bondholders were arriving on the island to pursue a consensual restructuring," the creditors said in a statement on Tuesday. That group, holding about $5 billion debt, then released a proposed restructuring plan that would defer principal repayments and offer new debt, a plan they say would save Puerto Rico from default. GDB President Melba Acosta disputed the notion that officials were blowing off creditors, saying Puerto Rico held meetings with creditors in March, presenting updated restructuring proposals. "We have not received an actionable, binding financing commitment from anyone, and we have received no offers that would lead Puerto Rico towards a stable and prosperous economy for years to come," Acosta said in a statement to Reuters. "We sincerely hope that the 'proposals' that the advisers to our GO holders speak of are not a public relations stunt that attempts to mislead the public and distract leaders in Congress from the real work at hand," she added. GDB is also holding consensual restructuring talks with its own creditors. Legislative efforts in the U.S. Congress to fix Puerto Ricos debt problem are not likely to come to fruition before the GDBs May 1 debt payment. On Monday, some GDB creditors sued to try to prevent a run on the bank as negotiations play out, asking a court to bar the GDB from paying certain creditors and preventing depositors from withdrawing money. A source close to the matter told Reuters some government agencies were planning to open new accounts at other banks, but denied those agencies were removing money from the GDB. (Reporting by Nick Brown; Editing by Daniel Bases and Peter Cooney) A vengeful whale rising up from the ocean's depths to wreck a boat with its massive head is a terrifying and enduring image from Herman Melville's classic novel "Moby-Dick" and, more recently, from the 2015 film "In the Heart of the Sea." Based on an incident described in 1820 involving the Nantucket whaling vessel the Essex, the film relays the terrifying tale of an enraged sperm whale turning the tables on its tormenters, using its enormous head as a battering ram to smash a whaling ship to splinters. (The event also inspired "Moby-Dick" and the book "In the Heart of the Sea," published in 2000, from which the film was adapted.) But was such a feat really possible? Were sperm whales truly the destructive powerhouses that whalers described? Recently, a team of engineers took a look at whether the unusual and oversize head of the sperm whale would be able to sustain the force required to demolish a whaling boat by ramming it. [Whale Album: Giants of the Deep] Historical accounts Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are the largest of the toothed whales. Males can grow to be up to 52 feet (16 meters) long, and the head alone can make up about one-third of that length. They can weigh as much as 45 tons (41 metric tons). The New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts describes four "famous" incidents of sperm whales allegedly attacking whaling ships. During these confrontations, all of which were said to have occurred between 1820 and 1902, the whalers reported that the whales repeatedly rammed the ships with their heads until the vessels were destroyed. The first mate of the Essex, Owen Chase, fancifully described a whale bearing down upon the ship "with vengeance in his aspect." But while there's no question that sperm-whale heads are big and heavy, could they have generated enough force in a ramming attack to utterly destroy a structure like a whaling boat that weighed up to 238 tons (216 metric tons), or four to five times the whale's weight? Story continues Given that sperm whales' heads house sensitive acoustic structures that could be damaged by ramming, the researchers knew that they would need to test the resilience of those organs as well. [Incredible Video: Curious Whale Inspects Underwater Robot] Junk science Using computer simulations and working from published data on sperm-whale tissue and skeletal structure, the scientists modeled impacts of varying types, and from a range of directions. Then, they evaluated how force was absorbed and dispersed by the two large, oil-filled sacs stacked on top of each other inside a sperm whale's head: the sound-generating spermaceti organ on top, and the "junk" mostly connective tissue, which also plays a part in echolocation on the bottom. The whale's junk proved to play a vital role, the scientists found, with tissue partitions distributing much of the stress from ramming impacts and thereby preventing the skull from fracturing. While ramming behavior is common in some animal species, used as a form of competition between males, it has been observed only once in sperm whales, the researchers reported. But their findings suggest that this behavior could be more common in sperm whales than was previously suspected, and that whalers' accounts of the devastation wrought by living, battering rams may not be such tall tales after all. The findings were published online today (April 5) in the journal PeerJ. 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 Steve Holland MILWAUKEE (Reuters) - Republican Ted Cruz easily won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump's hopes of amassing enough delegates for the party's nomination and boosting chances of a rare contested convention. Cruz's double-digit win over Trump was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nomination fight that could last to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against front-runner Hillary Clinton and trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Trump entered the night with 737 convention delegates to Cruz's 481, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the party's nominee in the Nov. 8 election. Cruz said the result in Wisconsin showed the party was beginning to rally behind him, but he acknowledged the growing possibility that the fight could go all the way to the convention. "Either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November," Cruz told cheering supporters in Milwaukee. "We're winning because we're uniting the Republican Party." Cruz, a conservative U.S. senator from Texas, was aided in Wisconsin by Republican Governor Scott Walker, who dropped his own presidential bid in September, and by a barrage of ads from Super PACS - independent funding groups - backed by party establishment figures worried that Trump will lead Republicans to a broad defeat in November. Trump's campaign released a blistering statement saying Cruz had been propped up "by countless millions of dollars of false advertising" from anti-Trump Super PACs. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet - he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," the Trump campaign statement said. The Wisconsin primary capped a difficult week for Trump, who was forced to backtrack after saying women who have abortions should face punishment if the procedure is outlawed, and who voiced support for his campaign manager after he was charged with misdemeanor assault for grabbing a reporter. CRUZ GAINS ON TRUMP A new Reuters/Ipsos poll on Tuesday showed Cruz about even with Trump nationally, with Cruz's recent gains the first time since November that a Trump rival has threatened his standing at the head of the Republican pack. The poll of 568 Republicans, taken between April 1-5, showed Cruz winning the support of 35 percent of Republicans to Trump's 39 percent. Cruz and Trump were also briefly about even early last week. In the Democratic race, the win for Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is his sixth in the last seven contests for the nomination. Sanders said his message of breaking up big banks, reining in Wall Street and reducing income inequality was bringing new and young voters into the process. "What we have been seeing throughout this campaign is extraordinary voter turnout in state after state," Sanders said at a rally in Laramie, Wyoming. Clinton, who did not appear in public on Tuesday night, tweeted her congratulations to Sanders. "Congrats to @BernieSanders on winning Wisconsin," Clinton said on Twitter. "To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! -H." Sanders still faces a difficult task overtaking Clinton as the race moves to New York on April 19 and to five other Eastern states on April 26. Heading into Tuesday, Clinton led Sanders by 263 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,383 needed to be nominated at the party's July convention in Philadelphia. She also has a big lead in superdelegates, who are party leaders free to back any candidate. Sanders needs to win up to two-thirds of the remaining delegates to catch Clinton, who will keep accumulating delegates even when she loses under a Democratic Party system that awards them proportionally in all states. Sanders needs to rack up big winning margins over Clinton in the remaining states to close the gap. He has vowed to stay in the race until the convention, and his campaign says superdelegates could begin to shift their support to him if they see he has popular support. (Additional reporting by Eric Beech and Amanda Becker in Washington, Amy Tennery and Chris Kahn in New York; Writing by John Whitesides; Editing by Leslie Adler and Simon Cameron-Moore) By Patricia Zengerle and Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Republican U.S. senators who oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran introduced a bill on Wednesday that would keep Iran from gaining even indirect access to the U.S. financial system or using U.S. dollars in business transactions. The measure introduced by Senators Mark Kirk and Marco Rubio came amid media reports that U.S. officials were moving toward allowing such transactions. President Barack Obama has denied having such plans. The legislation would prohibit the president from issuing any license for conducting an offshore U.S. dollar clearing system for Iranian transactions or providing any such system with U.S. dollars. It also would impose secondary sanctions on any financial institution found to be participating in any offshore dollar clearing system with Iran. State Department spokesman Mark Toner acknowledged the United States was advising banks and other businesses about how to conduct business with Tehran without running afoul of U.S. authorities, but that does not involve converting money to dollars. "These banks dont want to violate existing sanctions," he said, "but they are allowed to under certain condition to do business with Iran, so we do consider it as an obligation on how to counsel them." Along with some of Obama's fellow Democrats, congressional Republicans unanimously opposed the deal announced in July in which Iran agreed to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Several lawmakers have been working on legislation since to keep tight controls on Iran, especially over its repeated ballistic missile tests since late last year. U.S. Representative Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, published a column in the Washington Post on Wednesday saying Obama was so eager to preserve a signature foreign policy agreement that he would consider measures that would let Iran "launder dollars while the administration looked the other way." The issue is particularly potent in this U.S. election year, when Americans will pick a new president, and every member of the House and one-third of senators are up for re-election. The three remaining Republican presidential candidates have all vowed to tear up or back away from the nuclear deal, which Obama administration officials say would be calamitous. Rubio suspended his 2016 presidential campaign last month, and Kirk's Senate re-election race is seen as one of this year's most competitive. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) By Asad Hashim ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistani rescue workers searched on Wednesday for 23 people buried in a landslide in northern mountains as the number of people killed by unusually heavy rain rose to 92. Most of the death and destruction from flash floods and landslides took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where 65 people were killed, with 929 homes either damaged or completely destroyed, government official Abdul Latif told Reuters. In the upper reaches of the Kohistan Valley, about 200 km (125 miles) north of the capital, Islamabad, 23 people were missing after being buried under 40 metes (130 feet) of mud, Latif said. Two bodies and five injured people had been recovered from the landslide, he said. The worst of the rain occurred on the weekend and the forecast for Wednesday was for mainly dry weather in the worst-hit areas, the Meteorological Department said. Roads blocked by landslides would take longer to clear. "When the road access is cleared, then our teams can go house to house and survey the damage," Latif said. Twelve people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and 15 were killed in the far northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan. (Writing by Asad Hashim; Editing by Robert Birsel) As the rainy season draws to a close in California, a deluge of drought-related numbers have been released: reservoir levels, conservation figures, feet of snowpack. The winter, which never saw the Godzilla El Nino meteorologists promised fully realized, did bring above-average rainfall to the parched state. Gov. Jerry Browns mandatory water cuts may be eased in the coming months, and farmers are set to receive full allocations of irrigation water after years of having deliveries slashedbut only in some parts of the state. Unlike previous El Nino patterns, which tend to drench Southern California but dont hit northern mountains where key resevoirs are located, rain and snowfall was heaviest in northern parts of the state in 201516. That gives the state more water for the dry months aheadbut there still isnt enough to go around. As state and federal agencies figure out how to divvy up water for rest of the year, its not only clear that the drought will persist but that farmers and residents in Southern California will feel it the most. Just look at the most recent map from the Drought Monitor: The parts of the state colored rust-red, which remain in a state of exceptional drought, include its agricultural and population centersthe Central Valley and Los Angeles, respectively. Last week, the Bureau of Reclamation announced allocations from the Central Valley Project, the states largest water supply, which serves 3 million acres of farmland. Farmers north of the SacramentoSan Joaquin River Delta, which drains a large portion of the Sierra Nevada, will receive 100 percent of their irrigation water; farmers south of the delta, in the San Joaquin Valley, will receive just 5 percent of their irrigation water deliveries. For the last two years, they received zero. The drought has hit farmers, farmworkers, and thousands of families hard, but now with the northern reservoirs filled and spilling water to make room for spring snowmelt, the federal government has very deliberately chosen to deny available relief to thousands of Californians in the San Joaquin Valley, Tom Nassif, president and CEO of the trade group Western Growers, said in a statement. This action represents more than a failure of common sense. A government that deliberately chokes off water for its people is a government that has lost its moral compass. RELATED: Farming Without Water There are caveats, however. Thanks to the arcane system that governs water rights in the West, in which some growers have generations-old dibs on irrigation supplies, not all growers will see just 5 percent of their water allocation. Farmers with senior water rights (claimed before 1914) in the San Joaquin Valley have been promised 100 percent deliveries, while water districts on the valleys east side should see about 30 percent of their allocation. The delivery news presents a mixed bag for farmers in the Central Valleycomprised of the Sacramento Valley north of the delta and the San Joaquin Valley to the southwho produce 40 percent of the domestic fruit, nuts, and vegetable supply. Four of the five top farming counties in the state are in the drier, southern end of the Central Valley. How does some of the most productive farmland in the country continue to grow food with no surface water delivereies? Farmers have increasingly relied on groundwater to keep production up during years when water allocation has hovered around zero. But while of the drilling and pumping kept almonds in your snack bars and profits in farmers bank accounts, the aquifer that the some 100,000 wells up and down the Central Valley draw on is critically overdrafted. According to one 2015 study by hydrologists at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Central Valley aquifer has lost nearly 30 cubic kilometers of groundwater over the last decade. Lake Mead, the largest surface reservoir in the United States, has a maximum capacity of 40 cubic kilometers. Last month, the smaller State Water Project said it will deliver 45 percent of requested water to agricultural and urban water agencies, which is the highest allocation it has made since 2012. Just shy of 1 million acres of farmland, a little less area than the states almond orchards cover, is irrigated with SWP water. Even with the reservoirs whose low levels have been used to convey the catastrophic nature of the drought in recent years filling back up, many cresting at historic averages, the drought is by no means over in California. Farmers saddled with limited irrigation deliveries may blame regulators or endangered fish species for their dry land, but the fact remains that there still just isnt enough water to go around. Californians are learning a thing or two about using less water, however, which could make mitigating the droughts damage as it continues on, albeit somewhat abated, easier: Between June 2015 and February 2016, according to the State Water Resources Control Board, residents conserved nearly 1.19 million acre-feet of water, enough to supply 6 million people for a year. Take the Pledge: Let's Put an End to Food Waste Related stories on TakePart: In Parts of the West, Grazing Cattle Are Making the Drought Worse For Millions of People El Nino Brings Drought Instead of Rain Drought and Heat Are More Damaging to Food Production Than Floods and Frost Original article from TakePart BEIRUT (Reuters) - Islamic State fighters launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus overnight in what a Syrian source said appeared to be a response to the group's loss of ground elsewhere. The group said in a statement it had attacked the Tishrin power station, 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital. The Syrian military source acknowledged the group had staged assaults, but said all those who took part had been killed. Syrian and allied forces backed by Russian air strikes have forced Islamic State militants out of the town of al-Qaryatain, which lies between Damascus and the ancient city of Palmyra, itself recaptured by the government last week. Islamic State has also been losing ground to U.S.-allied Kurdish forces in northern Syria, and in recent days to Turkish-backed rebel groups fighting a separate battle against the group north of Aleppo. The Syrian source said Tuesday night's attacks outside Damascus appeared to be the jihadist group's response to its reverses around Palmyra. Islamic State attackers, using five bomb-laden cars, also struck military positions near the Dumeir military airport 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Damascus, killing 12 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organization that tracks the war, said. Islamic State claimed the bombings in an online statement, saying it carried out a suicide attack on government forces which were moving north from the military airport. Government forces responded with shelling and air strikes around the Dumeir area, which is held by a rebel group sympathetic to Islamic State, the Observatory said. It added that the strikes have killed at least 15 civilians there, including four young girls from the same family, and that around 15 Islamic State fighters, as well as the drivers of its five bomb-laden cars, died in the clashes. The Syrian military source said 13 of the group's fighters had been killed in clashes in the area around Dumeir. (Reporting by Tom Perry, Angus McDowall and Lisa Barrington; Editing by Alison Williams and Catherine Evans) Brasilia (AFP) - The impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff should go ahead, the representative for a congressional commission said Wednesday, bringing the country's political crisis a step closer to a showdown. Jovair Arantes, rapporteur for a special impeachment commission in the lower house of Congress, said he had concluded the "legal admissibility" of the case against the leftist president. "The magnitude and scope of the violations made by the president of the republic constitute a serious abuse," he said. The decision was given in a lengthy report that Arantes read aloud, live on national television, to the 65-member impeachment commission, sometimes interrupted by deputies shouting and arguing. Although Arantes' decision was non-binding and mostly symbolic, it meant the opposition drew first blood just as an increasingly bitter battle to remove Brazil's first woman president from office gathers pace. On Monday, the full commission will vote its recommendation. Then on April 18, the lower house of Congress meets to hold a decisive vote on whether impeachment will go ahead. "Today's vote was expected," said Mendonca Filho, a deputy from the conservative, pro-impeachment Democratas party. "Now we have to find out the position of the whole commission ... and then we move on to the main battle in the full chamber." Rousseff is accused of presiding over large-scale fiddling of government accounts to mask the depth of budgetary shortfalls during her reelection in 2014. The president -- highly unpopular because of a severe recession and a giant corruption scandal enveloping Brazil's political elite -- says she has committed no impeachment-worthy crime and claims she is the victim of a coup attempt. Ze Geraldo, from Rousseff's Workers' Party, shrugged off the setback, telling AFP, "We are already prepared to lose in the commission, given its make-up." Story continues - Blow, counter blow - Intrigue is rife about which way Congress will lean on the 18th. The lower chamber's mood swings almost daily, with Rousseff sometimes appearing to have run out of allies before winning an unexpected boost. Rousseff's ruling coalition took a huge hit last week when the PMDB party, headed by Vice President Michel Temer, went into opposition. Her Workers' Party is now scrambling to build a new alliance. Rousseff's influential predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is holed up in a hotel in the capital Brasilia leading negotiations with parties and individual deputies. The key bargaining chip still left in Rousseff's hands are ministerial posts and hundreds of other government jobs that had been given previously to the PMDB. On Tuesday, the murky political landscape entered extraordinary new territory when a Supreme Court judge ruled in favor of a bid to also impeach Temer, the vice president, who has become a leading opponent of Rousseff -- and would replace her if she had to step down. Temer is accused of participating in the same fiscal juggling as Rousseff. Although full-scale proceedings against Temer are highly unlikely to get underway soon and could still be thrown out by the full Supreme Court, the judge's ruling gave some relief to Rousseff. On Wednesday, however, she suffered a new blow when the powerful agricultural industry federation, the CNA, urged her to leave office, saying the government "does not recognize or understand the real nature of the problems facing the country." - Number crunching - Rousseff, 68, needs at least 172 votes against impeachment or abstentions in the lower house. The opposition needs two-thirds of the chamber to vote in favor, or 342 out of the total 513. The PMDB defection stripped her of important votes, but so far she has apparently kept hold of other parts of her coalition, notably most of the Progressive Party, known as the PP. The PP has 51 lower house deputies and 40 of them oppose impeachment, party leader Ciro Nogueira told Globo newspaper. If the motion passes in the lower house, then an impeachment trial starts in the Senate, ending with another vote in which the upper house would need a two-thirds majority to remove Rousseff from office. According to a survey updated late Wednesday by Estadao newspaper, 245 congressional deputies are currently in favor of impeachment, 110 are against, 58 are undecided and 11 did not want to reveal their position. A further 89 could not be reached. Geraldo, the Workers' Party deputy, said the president expects to defeat impeachment either by getting the 172 votes or preventing a sufficient majority on the other side. "If it's hard for us to get that 172, then it's just as hard for them too," he told AFP. Brazzaville (AFP) - The runner-up in Republic of Congo's election called on his supporters to accept the official results of the violence-tainted poll that returned longtime president Denis Sassou Nguesso to power. Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas said he did not wish to stir up controversy by challenging Monday's Constitutional Court's finding that Sassou Nguesso, Congo's ruler of 32 years, won last month's election with over 60 percent of the vote. "I accept the Constitutional Court's verdict, however questionable," Kolelas told reporters in the capital Brazzaville. "I nonetheless invite President Sassou Nguesso, the declared winner, to be humble in victory because this election has been marred by all sorts of irregularities," he said, calling on the president to work to heal the divisions wrought by the vote. On Monday, heavy fighting erupted in southern Brazzaville districts loyal to the opposition ahead of the court's confirmation of the election results. The government accused former members of the disbanded Ninja Nsiloulou militia of a "terrorist attack" targeting several public buildings. Five people were killed, including three security force members. A dozen attackers were also killed in the fighting, which saw six police stations and a town hall set on fire and sent thousands fleeing the south of the capital. The government blames the violence, which comes on the heels of the disputed election last month, on the Ninja militia, which fought two civil wars in the 1990s. The Ninjas are headed by Protestant preacher Frederic Bintsamou, known as Pastor Ntumi. He recently came out in favour of Kolelas, who took 15 percent of the March 20 vote. Kolelas was among five presidential challengers who had claimed electoral fraud when the provisional poll results were announced last month. He called for peaceful protests. Government spokesman Thierry Moungalla said there was "overwhelming evidence" that "clearly points to the active implication of Mr Bintsamou in the events of Monday". Story continues But Kolelas rejected the government's claim that former militia members were responsible for the violence, accusing the authorities of a set-up aimed at quelling protests. He said the government was trying to "nip in the bud any challenge that would come from the announcement of the final results of the presidential election". Congo has been on edge since an October constitutional referendum ended a two-term limit on presidential mandates, allowing the 72-year-old head of state to run again. Sassou Nguesso, a former paratrooper, served as president from 1979 to 1992, returning to power in 1997 following a civil war. He won two successive terms in elections in 2002 and 2009, both of which were disputed by opposition parties. 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 The U.S. is ready to step in to prevent Russia from selling advanced fighter jets to Iran. In a statement issued Wednesday, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told The Washington Free Beacon that Washington is opposed to Moscow selling advanced Sukhoi Su-30SM warplanes to Tehran. The U.S. claims such a sale would violate the United Nations Security Council Resolution governing last years nuclear agreement between Iran and various Western powers. Related: Move Over, F-35: Russia Has Raised the Stakes for Next-Generation Fighters In terms of the specific reports about the proposed sale of the Sukhoi Su-30SM multi-role fighter jets, for example, we would almost certainly veto such a sale, as provision of such equipment to Iran would further exacerbate existing tensions in the region, Toner told the Free Beacon. U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 prohibits the sale to Iran of specified categories of conventional arms as defined for the purposes of the U.N. Register of Conventional Arms, without approval in advance on a case-by-case basis by the U.N. Security Council, he added. That includes the Su-30SM fighter, according to Toner. The warplane, which was part of Moscows arsenal in its aggressive air campaign in Syria, is comparable to the American F-15E Strike Eagle fighter-bomber. Russias uptick in arms sales to Iran in the wake of the nuclear deal, and to other countries including China, has caused serious consternation in Washington. The Obama administration views the moves as part of President Vladimir Putins scheme to make Russia a superpower again, as well as a way to fill the Kremlins coffers after years of international economic sanctions and recent low oil prices. Related: Is the US Facing a Fighter Gap With China and Russia? For now, it seems, the State Department is not taking issue with Russias separate deal with Iran for the S-300 air defense missile system. The countries signed an $800 million contract in 2007 for the supply of five air-to-ground missile systems, but the transaction was frozen in 2010 due to U.N. sanctions. Story continues Putin approved delivery of the air defense missile system in April 2015. The sale is permitted under existing U.N. resolutions because it is considered defensive, according to the State Department. As for the fighter jets, since the U.N. resolution pertaining to the deal does include prohibitions on arms sales to and from Iran, the U.S. would likely have to call for a vote in the Security Council to specifically block the transaction. Such diplomatic maneuvering would do nothing to improve the frosty relationship that has existed between Washington and Moscow ever since the Kremlin annexed the Crimean peninsula in early 2014. Related: Russias Military Buildup Continues with Big New Fighter Jet Order Its also unclear if a Security Council vote would go Washingtons way. Other countries that were part of the nuclear agreement negotiations -- like China, already a buyer of Russian military hardware -- are eager to do more business with Iran, which wants to boost its military capability after decades of sanctions. Beijing might side with Russia in order to facilitate arms deals of its own in the future. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Sen. Bernie Sanders is on a roll. Sanders was projected the winner in Wisconsins Democratic presidential primary on Tuesday night. It was his sixth victory in the last seven states. Sanders also won the primary for Democrats living abroad, which was announced on March 21. However, he still faces an uphill battle against his rival, Hillary Clinton. While Sanders has performed well in the Midwest and Western states, Clintons earlier dominance, particularly in the South, has given her a delegate lead that her campaign has dubbed nearly insurmountable. In spite of the long odds, Sanders and his campaign believe his current momentum can propel him across the finish line. In a fundraising email to supporters shortly after media outlets first projected his victory, Sanders noted the pessimistic forecasts many political observers have made for his campaign. The corporate media and political establishment keep counting us out, but we keep winning states and doing so by large margins. If we can keep this up, were going to shock them all and win this nomination, Sanders said. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who won the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin on Tuesday, gestures to supporters during a campaign rally in Laramie, Wyo. (Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP) Wisconsin, with its large college population and tradition of progressive politics, has long been seen as fertile ground for Sanders. Most polls in the state showed him with a single-digit lead over Clinton heading into Tuesdays election. However, Clintons existing lead and the fact that the state awards delegates by congressional district means Sanders will have to win by a much larger margin to make a dent in Clintons pledged delegate lead. Whatever his margin of victory, his recent streak culminating with the win in Wisconsin certainly gives Sanders strong momentum heading into Wyomings caucuses on Saturday and the delegate-rich primary in New York on April 19. But the battle for the Democratic nomination wont just be about the voters and the pledged delegates who are awarded based on ballots cast. Story continues Indeed, momentum was the main theme of the victory speech Sanders delivered from an event in Laramie, Wyo., on Tuesday night. Sanders said the fact he had emerged as a serious challenger to Clinton after being behind in the polls and dismissed by many pundits demonstrates the true strength of his campaign. He also pointed to the fact that he has managed to build a substantial war chest without the help of super-PACs, which allow wealthy megadonors to back campaigns. Supporters cheer while waiting for Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally in Laramie, Wyo., on Tuesday. (Photo: Brennan Linsley/AP) Slideshow: Primary day in Wisconsin >>> What momentum is about is my belief that if we wake up the American people, that if working people, and middle-class people, and senior citizens, and young people begin to stand up, fight back and come out and vote in large numbers, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish, Sanders said. Clinton attended a private fundraiser in New York City on Tuesday night and is not likely to make a public address. Clinton has amassed a massive lead among Democratic superdelegates, who are not bound to vote at the partys convention based on the results of their states primaries. Sanders and his campaign are hoping his recent wins can help convince some of these superdelegates to change sides. His team and supporters are lobbying superdelegates, particularly in states where he won decisive victories over Clinton, and arguing it would be undemocratic for them to go against the will of the electorate. Hillary Clinton takes a selfie with a supporter after speaking at a Women for Hillary town hall event in the New York City borough of Brooklyn on Tuesday. (Photo: Lucas Jackson/Reuters) Former President Bill Clinton, who is a superdelegate in New York, has been hitting the campaign trail in support of his wife. At an event in Elmont, N.Y., on Tuesday morning, Yahoo News asked President Clinton about the superdelegate system and the frequently voiced criticism that it is unfair. Though he answered questions from reporters after a similar event in New York City last Thursday, Clinton was somewhat less forthcoming when Yahoo News asked about his role as a superdelegate. I dont answer questions on a rope line, but I got a good answer for you, President Clinton said. And then he moved on. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont was looking for a big bounce in Tuesdays Wisconsin Democratic primary to catapult him into position to beat arch rival Hillary Rodham Clinton in her adopted state of New York in two weeks. If we win here, were going to have a bounce going into New York state, where I think we can win, Sanders boasted to jubilant supporters in Wisconsin Monday. If we win in New York state, were on our way to the White House. Related: Clinton Trails Sanders in Fundraising but Still Has a Financial Edge Sanders achieved what he was looking for in Wisconsin Tuesday night, his seventh primary victory in the last eight outings. Drawing once again upon his strong following among predominantly white college-age voters, blue collar workers, liberal activists and independents, Sanders defeated Clinton by 13 percentage points, 56 percent to 43 percent, according to nearly complete returns. It was unquestionably another solid performance and important victory for Sanders over the former secretary of state and New York senator. And it provided added credibility and luster to a once improbable campaign that has grown in stature, financial resources and appeal across the country. However, as in many of his prior successes, the self-described democratic socialist fell short of the kind of blow-out victories he needs throughout the remainder of the campaign to put a major dent in Clintons delegate lead. The day began with Clinton leading Sanders in pledged and super delegates, 1,712 to 1,011, and needing 2,383 total delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination this summer. Clintons campaign set a low bar for Tuesday night after seeing a Sanders surge that resembled the one he enjoyed before his surprise win in Michigan several weeks ago. Related: Trumps Fiscal Fantasy Eliminates $20 Trillion in Federal Debt in 8 Years With 86 pledged delegates awarded proportionately in Wisconsin, Sanders and Clinton divvied up the total, with Sanders picking up 45 and Clinton winning 31. That represents a net pickup of just 14 delegates for Sanders, doing little to change the current complexion of the race. Story continues The stakes get much higher as the battle shifts to New York, where the two rivals will square off in a CNN-sponsored debate in Brooklyn April 14, just five days before the critical New York Democratic primary. Clinton, who made New York her adopted home when she ran for the Senate, and Sanders, a native New Yorker who still has a thick Brooklyn accent, will be fighting not only for pride and bragging rights but also 200 precious pledged delegates that could dramatically tip the balance of power one way or another. Related: 4 Hillary Clinton Flip-Flops That Will Make Voters Think Twice Regardless of the size of her lead in the delegate contest, a loss to Sanders in the Empire State would be a devastating setback for Clinton, who until recently held a substantial lead over Sanders in New York state polling. According to Real Clear Politics, she has an average lead of 11 percentage points over Sanders in two most recent statewide polls. If she loses in New York, Clinton would have a tough time sustaining her narrative of invincibility and inevitability as she marches towards her partys nomination and a showdown this fall with Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who stumbled as well yesterday against Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. During his victory speech Tuesday night in Laramie, Wyoming, where he was campaigning for a weekend caucus, Sanders reminded his supporters that he does better against Trump than Clinton in hypothetical matchups in national polls. And he has shown repeatedly that he draws much bigger, more enthusiastic crowds than Clinton and now regularly beats her in fundraising. If we wake up the American people, and working people and middle-class people and senior citizens and young people begin to stand up and fight back and come out and vote in large numbers, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish, Sanders said last night. Bernie Sanders Campaign Contributions by State | InsideGov Sanders campaign strategists have said that the 74-year-old senator will model his campaign in New York on his come-from-behind victory in Michigan. He intends to barnstorm across the state as if he were running for governor, according to The Washington Post, and will hit Clinton hard on issues ranging from her cozy relations with Wall Street to her inconsistent views on fracking. Related: Sanders Fundraising Surges Again as the Candidates Get Testy For her part, Clinton is leaving nothing to chance and is campaigning as if her political life depends on the outcome of the New York primary -- which it might. On Monday, she appeared at an event with Gov. Andrew Cuomo to mark an agreement that will gradually raise the states minimum wage to $15 an hour. And she continues to hammer away at Sanders for promising far more than he could possibly deliver as president including free tuition at state colleges and universal health care -- while she is promising experienced leadership and a more pragmatic approach. CNN exit polling confirms a dichotomy that has haunted Clinton throughout her campaign. While Democratic voters overwhelmingly view Clinton as having the right experience to be president, they find Sanders far more honest and trustworthy. While many think Clinton is best prepared to serve in the White House, she continues to be dogged by concerns over her handling of sensitive email when she was secretary of state and her acceptance of large speaking fees from Wall Street banks. White liberals made up two-thirds of the Democratic electorate last night and they were primarily concerned about the economy and income inequality playing into the populist Sanders wheelhouse, according to exit polling. Once again, Clinton claimed the support of seven in 10 black voters, many of whom live in the Milwaukee area. Although the delegate math dictates that Sanders must win the remaining primary contests by huge margins to catch up with Clinton, the Vermont senators best hope at this point is wooing away many of the super delegates who are currently committed to Clinton but would be free to change their vote at the convention. But that wont be easy, especially if Clinton amasses enough pledged delegates to claim the nomination even without the super delegates. David Axelrod, a former senior political adviser to President Obama and now an analyst for CNN, said last night that Sanderss strategy for ultimately winning the nomination sounds more like a prayer than a plan at this point. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: If Bernie Sanders is aware that one of the main knocks against his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination is his lack of experience and expertise in foreign policy and national security issues, he sure didnt show it in his interview with the New York Daily News editorial board, a transcript of which was published late Monday The Vermont Senator, who has been lampooned for calling a reduction of income inequality the solution to a wide range of complex problems, has for months been in a battle with a frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, who brings four years a secretary of state to the table as part of the case shes making to the voters. Related: Clinton Trails Sanders in Fundraising, but Still Has a Financial Edge Sanders, whose focus has always been on domestic policy, doesnt appear to have used that time to think over some of the major security and foreign policy issues confronting the country like the Israel-Palestine conflict, the treatment of captured terrorists or the legality of drone strikes. In a discussion with the editorial board about Israel, for example, he overstated the number of civilians killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip by a factor of four and refused to take a firm position on whether Israel should abandon settlements on Palestinian land, despite calling them illegal. Asked if President Obamas decision to take targeting authority for drone strikes away from the Central Intelligence Agency and vest it instead in the military was good policy or a hindrance to anti-terror efforts, he said: I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is that drones are a modern weapon. When used effectively, when taking out ISIS or terrorist leaders, that's pretty impressive. When bombing wedding parties of innocent people and killing dozens of them, that is, needless to say, not effective and enormously counterproductive. So whatever the mechanism, whoever is in control of that policy, it has to be refined so that we are killing the people we want to kill and not innocent collateral damage. Story continues Related: What Bernie Sanders Gets Right Calling for fewer mistaken attacks on innocent civilians isnt exactly evidence of deep thought on the question. Sanders didnt do much better when he was asked how he would handle captured terrorists, such as a hypothetical ISIS commander. Sanders: Imprison him. Daily News: Where? Sanders: And try to get as much information out of him. If the question leads us to Guantanamo ... Daily News: Well, no, separate and apart from Guantanamo, it could be there, it could be anywhere. Where would a President Sanders imprison, interrogate? What would you do? Sanders: Actually I haven't thought about it a whole lot. I suppose, somewhere near the locale where that person was captured. The best location where that individual would be safely secured in a way that we can get information out of him. Related: Sanders Fundraising Surges Again as the Campaigns Get Testy Again, for Sanders to admit at this point in the campaign that he hasnt given much thought to one of the most contentious national security issues this country has faced in the post-9/11 era is at least surprising, if not troubling. He is on the verge of winning his fourth primary in a row tonight, in Wisconsin. Sanders still trails Hillary Clinton badly in the delegate count, but he is now his partys de facto back-up plan if the Clinton campaign implodes. But hes not acting like it. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Washington (AFP) - Senator Bernie Sanders has scored a crucial victory over Hillary Clinton in the US state of Wisconsin, throwing a road block in his Democratic rival's march toward the party's presidential nomination. US networks NBC and Fox News projected Sanders the victor in the primary, extending his winning streak to six of the last seven contests and bolstering his claim that he can challenge the former secretary of state in her adopted home state later this month. Madrid (AFP) - Spain's Santander, the eurozone's biggest bank, on Wednesday told unions that it plans to slash up to 1,200 jobs in its Spanish home market, unions and other sources close to the talks said. The bank, which employs some 25,000 people in Spain, unveiled plans last week to close 450 branches -- about 13 percent of its network -- in Spain as it addresses a shift to online banking. Santander management proposed that up to 1,200 jobs be cut mainly through voluntary departures and early retirement, the UGT union said in a statement. The bank also proposed a plan to boost employee mobility within its network that involves forced transfers and economic compensation of up to 20,000 euros ($22,750), the union added. UGT said it rejected "any traumatic measures for the staff" and did not accept the bank's proposals. The bulk of the job cuts, 950, will be of bank branch staff, according to the union. Santander's planned branch closures will mainly affect smaller outlets staffed by three or fewer employees. The bank plans to upgrade 350 of its remaining offices to focus on offering advisory services to clients instead of just simple transactions. Like its peers worldwide, Santander is dealing with a shift to online and mobile-based banking as well as a threat of nascent "fintech" rivals who use computer and Internet technology to develop innovative financial services and applications. Other European banks, including in France and Britain, have also closed branches or grouping smaller offices into bigger ones than can offer a range of services. Santander's net profit edged up three percent last year to 5.97 billion euros ($6.5 billion), held back by an exceptional provision linked to a British insurance scandal. In Spain, which is starting to recover from a damaging economic crisis but is currently in a political deadlock following inconclusive December elections, the bank saw net profits rise 18.2 percent to 977 million euros Musical comedy show "School of Rock" has been given the green light for a second season. The Paramount Television show will run to a 13-episode second series on Nickelodeon, Deadline reports. Based on the hit 2003 movie starring Jack Black, the show tells the story of a group of conscientious students whose classroom time is shaken up by substitute teacher Dewey Finn, played by Tony Cavalero. It features original music as well as covers, and the first season saw a guest appearance from Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz. Production on the new season will start this month. Los Angeles (AFP) - Barbara Turner, an award-winning screenwriter and mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, has died aged 79, media reports said. She died in Los Angeles, Variety magazine reported. The cause of death was unclear. Turner, who began her career in acting before turning to screenwriting, penned numerous film works including "Petulia", "Georgia" and "Pollock". Born in New York City, she studied acting and appeared in a number of plays and television series in the 1950s and 1960s before taking up screenwriting. She was married twice, first to actor Vic Morrow, with whom she had two daughters -- Leigh and Carrie Ann Morrow -- then Iranian-born film director Reza Badiyi, with whom she had another daughter, Mina Badiyi Chassler. Among her many screenplay credits, "Petulia", an obscure 1968 movie, was nominated for a Writers' Guild of America award. Turner produced the critically acclaimed "Georgia" -- a haunting tale of two sisters -- in 1994 with her daughter Leigh, who also starred in the film. In a 1995 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Leigh spoke of her mother's influence on her work as an actress. "I grew up reading her scripts and getting my value of what a good script was from them," she said. "It wasn't about being her daughter." Turner's other credits include the screenplay for the 2000 film "Pollock", a biopic about the American painter Jackson Pollock. Marcia Gay Harden won an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in the film and Ed Harris earned a best actor nomination for his portrayal of Pollock. The future of transit is about to arrive in Singapore. A startup that spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is planning to unleash driverless taxis on the city's streets later this year. The company, nuTonomy, is currently working with Singapore to put self-driving electric taxis within the One North business district to serve as public transportation, according to the MIT News. In the next several years, the company wants to deploy thousands of such cars in Singapore. The cars are supposed to be able to pick the best routes for both reducing traffic and ferrying passengers. They'll also be relatively cheap. "This could make car-sharing something that is almost as convenient as having your own private car, but with the accessibility and cost of public transit," nuTonomy CTO Emilio Frazzoli said, according to the MIT News. The nuTonomy team, including Emilio Frazzoli (third from left, standing), with one of their driverless cars NuTonomy's driverless vehicles have already passed their first driving test a trial involving "navigat[ing] a custom obstacle course, without incident." Frazzoli co-founded nuTonomy in 2013 as a driverless car consulting service, but in the last year the company has focused more on producing self-driving taxis. Since starting up, the company has raised $3.6 million in funding and taken on contracts with notable car manufacturers like Jaguar Land Rover. NuTonomy faces big competition from Google, Uber and possibly Tesla all of which are investing heavily in self-driving cars. While self-driving cars feel like a fast-approaching inevitability, there are still lots of questions to answer before they arrive. Will this technology put taxi and other public transit drivers out of work, for one? Frazzoli doesn't seem to think so at least when it comes to Singapore. "In Singapore, they want to have more buses, but they cannot find people to drive buses at night," he said. "Robotics will not put these people out of jobs it will provide more capacity and support that's needed." While it seems driverless cars will initially provide a supplemental role in the transportation economy, eventually they seem headed for a full takeover. The Hague (AFP) - Six convoys of semi-automated "smart" trucks arrived in Rotterdam's harbour Wednesday after an experiment its organisers say will revolutionise future road transport on Europe's busy highways. More than a dozen self-driving trucks made by six of Europe's largest manufacturers arrived in the port in so-called "truck platoons" around midday, said Eric Jonnaert, president of the umbrella body representing DAF, Daimler, IVECO, MAN, Scania and Volvo. "Truck platooning", similar to concepts with self-driving cars, involves two or three trucks that autonomously drive in convoy and are connected via wireless with the leading truck determining route and speed. Wednesday's arrival concludes the first-ever cross-border experiment of its kind with self-driving trucks which left home factories from as far away as Sweden and southern Germany, Jonnaert told AFP. "Truck platooning will ensure cleaner and more efficient transport. Self-driving vehicles also contribute to road safety because most accidents are caused by human failure," said Dutch Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen. For instance, because the trucks are connected via wireless they brake at the same time to always maintain the same distances between them, added the Dutch infrastructure and environment ministry. "The advantage of truck platooning is that you have trucks driving at a consistent speed," said Jonnaert, saying the concept will greatly aid traffic flow on Europe's heavily congested roads. The trucks used in Wednesday's test however are still semi-automated and despite computers allowing them to drive by themselves, human drivers were still required on board. The proponents of truck platooning say several hurdles still need to be ironed out and road users will not see self-driving trucks just yet. Difficulties include standardising regulations across the continent to enable self-driving convoys and designing systems that will enable communication between different trucks from different manufacturers, Jonnaert said. "This is all part of a journey, which we are on as the automotive industry, towards highly-automated vehicles," said Jonnaert. The Netherlands, which currently holds the revolving EU presidency, will hold an informal summit mid-April to discuss changes to regulations needed to "make self-driving transport a reality," Dutch officials said. ZAGREB (Reuters) - Serbia must change its law on prosecuting crimes committed during the 1990s Balkan wars as a condition for completing European Union membership negotiations, Croatia said on Wednesday. More than a decade ago, Serbia passed a law claiming jurisdiction over war crimes committed on the entire territory of the former Yugoslavia that crumbled during the wars. That includes Croatia, which fought a 1991-95 war against Belgrade-backed Serb rebels to forge its independence from Yugoslavia. "Serbia cannot be some sort of judge in war crimes for all the countries of ex-Yugoslavia, including Croatia. It is unacceptable and it will have to be part of (EU) negotiation benchmarks that Serbia must meet," Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac told reporters after a cabinet meeting. Any country wishing to join the 28-nation EU must go through a complex negotiation, bringing its laws into line with those of the EU in 35 policy areas or chapters. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 whereas neighboring Serbia only opened negotiations on its first two chapters last December. Belgrade hopes to open two more chapters, on judiciary and law enforcement issues, before the end of June, and aims to wrap up the entire negotiations by 2019. All EU members must agree to chapters being opened or closed, giving Croatia an effective veto on Serbia completing the membership talks. Other conditions that Serbia should have to fulfill in the EU membership talks were full compliance with a bilateral agreement on the protection of minorities and full cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Kovac said. Belgrade says it already cooperates with the U.N. tribunal and has sent suspects to The Hague including wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison last month for genocide. [ID:nL5N16W1OS] Tanja Miscevic, who heads Serbia's EU negotiating team, told state broadcaster RTS she understood Croatia was making amending the war crimes law a condition for Serbia to wrap up negotiations with the EU on judicial matters. She did not say whether Belgrade was prepared to change the law. Serbia and Croatia have sought reconciliation over the last 15 years although the migrant crisis last year led to the neighbors trading embargoes and insults. (Reporting by Igor Ilic; additional reporting by Ivana Sekularac in Belgrade; editing by Adrian Croft) The U.S. Army general leading the 14,000-strong NATO force in Afghanistan made a plea on Tuesday to leave American forces in Afghanistan longer to train the faltering Afghan security forces, a move that would require President Barack Obama to scrap his December 2016 timeline for withdrawing the last U.S. troops from the country. Afghans still ... Drone world. Back in May 2013, President Barack Obama delivered what was billed as a landmark speech announcing his administration was getting its secretive drone program under control. He promised to tighten up who the U.S. bombs, and how, by placing restrictions on how groups of militants were targeted. But three years later, the program and the signature strikes on groups of unidentified military age men thought to be acting suspiciously continue. But weve learned a few things. In an important but little noticed speech delivered last week at a legal conference in Washington, FPs Dan De Luce and Paul McLeary report, a State Department lawyer for the first time said openly that Pakistan is considered an area of active hostilities, along with Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. But the bombings elsewhere continue unabated, as weve seen in recent strikes on al Qaeda and ISIS operatives in Yemen, Somalia, and Libya, with little of the promised transparency. No go. Another Republican senator has placed a hold on an Obama administration nominee. This time its Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who sent a letter to Defense Secretary Ash Carter earlier this week announcing she was blocking the nomination of the Pentagons top lawyer in the wake of the transfer of two prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Senegal. The hold on Jennifer M. OConnor to be DoD General Counsel will be lifted, Ayotte wrote, when Congress receives a report that is required under law that contains more information about the conditions under which the detainees will be held and monitored in Senegal. If the administration refuses to provide the requested information in unclassified form, the letter says, and instead conceals this information from the American people by placing it unnecessarily in a classified annex that will not comply with the laws intent and would be inconsistent with the Presidents stated commitment to transparency. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) has already held up the nomination of Army Secretary Eric Fanning until the Obama administration promises not to house detainees from Gitmo in Kansas, should the facility in Cuba be closed. Story continues Sinai moves. There are about 700 U.S. troops currently serving as observers in the northern part of Egypts Sinai Peninsula as part of a decades-old peace pact between Egypt and Israel. But they may soon pull out of that base and move to another outpost further south. The move would come as a result of growing American concerns over the dangers presented by the Islamic State on the peninsula, though U.S. officials stress no final decision has been made. Thanks for clicking on through this morning as we work through another week of SitRep. As always, if you have any thoughts, announcements, tips, or national security-related events to share, please pass them along to SitRep HQ. Best way is to send them to: paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or on Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley. China A former top Chinese general has admitted to taking lots of bribes during his decade-long tenure which ended in 2012, in exchange for helping officers gain promotions or transfers. Guo Boxiong, 73, who served as Chinas leading military official, has been stripped of his Communist Party membership and will likely head for trial. The generals very public prosecution highlights how far President Xi Jinping is willing to go to purge the old guard from Peoples Liberation Army in the midst of his massive reforms to the calcified institution. al Shabab American warplanes and drones have hit al Qaedas franchise in eastern Africa three times over the past week, taking out a leading commander in the process. This comes on the heels of another strike last month that wiped out about 150 fighters in one stroke. But some analysts wonder how much the strikes will matter in the end, and look to the decade and a half of bombing runs on al Qaeda and Taliban leadership that have failed to destroy those groups. What weve seen time and time again is that theres a whole swath of middle-ranking commanders who are well trained, experienced and eager to step into the shoes of their departed colleagues, Cedric Barnes, the Horn of Africa project director for the International Crisis Group, has said. Japan Japan has started moving military and surveillance assets closer to China, deploying coastal defense units to far-flung islands and setting up observation posts hundreds of miles away from the mainland. The moves come as Tokyo sets up the countrys first amphibious brigade that will give Japan the ability to quickly move troops from island to island in case of an emergency. (Read: China.) Japan is also in the midst of buying 17 MV-22 tilt-rotor Ospreys and 52 amphibious assault vehicles that can move troops from ship to shore by 2018. But is Japan ready to go it alone? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was asked Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal if Tokyo was ready to defend itself if U.S. troops were to pull out, a scenario recently raised by Donald Trump. Abe left little to the imagination. I cannot conceive of any situation within the foreseeable future when the U.S. presence wouldnt be necessary, he said. Afghanistan The Afghan government is scrambling to train and equip villagers to provide their own security against the Islamic State in eastern Afghanistan, according to a new report. The militia groups, known as the Peoples Uprising Program, are made up of about one thousand men, mostly village farmers who turned against the extremist groups harsh rule in areas it seized in the past year, are on the payroll of the spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, which receives funding from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. So far, the militias in Kot, with the backing of the army and police, have repelled six Islamic State attacks, the Wall Street Journal notes. Droned Was an Israeli suicide drone just used in the Azerbaijan and Armenia conflict? Sure looks like it, according to the Washington Post and some sharp-eyed drone spotters. A new video has emerged showing what looks to be an Israeli Aerospace Industries Harop loitering munition engaged in the conflict, apparently targeting a vehicle of Armenians, killing seven. The drone can either be piloted remotely or find targets autonomously, and in the attack captured on video, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, a spokesman for Armenias Defense Ministry, said it was piloted by Azerbaijani forces. The two sides agreed on Tuesday to a cease-fire after four days of fighting along the border of a disputed region. Photo credit: John Moore/Getty Images Snoop Dogg and Wiz Khalifa are heading on tour together. The two rappers have announced "The High Road" tour, featuring a string of live dates that will play out this summer across the US and Canada. Supported by Kevin Gates and Jhene Aiko, the duo will kick things off in Florida's West Palm Beach on July 20, before taking in Boston, New York Chicago, Toronto, Dallas, Portland and a host of other cities. The major tour will close in Seattle on September 2. Snoop took to Instagram to announce the news, with a cartoon of the pair standing in front of a cannabis plant, accompanied by the caption: "It's about to go down summer tour!" By James Macharia JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will hold local government elections on Aug. 3, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday, in what looks likely to become a referendum on his leadership after an attempt to impeach him and mounting concern about weak economic growth. This year's local elections pose a major risk for Zuma's dominant ruling African National Congress, with the party facing a strong challenge from opponents seeking to capitalise on what they see as Zuma's missteps. Any defeats in the big population centres for the ANC, which counts on rural areas for the bulk of its support, could damage the party that has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994 as it gears up for a presidential election in 2019. Zuma is unable to stand in that vote after completing two terms but is likely to be influential behind the scenes in picking a new ANC leader at a conference in 2017, even though calls are already growing for him to step down. The elections will choose provincial officials, metropolitan and local municipal councils and mayors. The opposition aims to wrestle control of the commercial hub Johannesburg and capital Pretoria from the ANC, as well as urban centres where anger has risen against the ruling party. "So yes, it's on the 3rd of August that we deal decisively with ZANC (Zuma's ANC)," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, the biggest opposition party, said on Twitter. The firebrand leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, also tweeted that his party was "ready to contest these elections". "PERSONAL VENDETTAS" At a media briefing in downtown Johannesburg on Tuesday, churches, trade unions and civil rights groups increased the rhetoric against the president, while an ANC branch in the city also urged him to resign. "People are feeling pain. Anger and urgency is growing," the groups said in a joint statement, calling for protests against Zuma. It was not immediately clear how much support the groups had. Zuma's son Edward backed his father, saying there was a conspiracy to force the president from his office. "We know it's only not about the well being of the country ... its about merely personal vendettas that they have against the president of the country," Edward Zuma said in an interview with ENCA television station. "They have tried many tricks in the book, they have failed," he said of the people who have called on Zuma to resign. He survived impeachment on Tuesday thanks to the ANC's big majority in the 400-seat assembly. Zuma had faced censure after the constitutional court ruled that he breached the constitution by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent renovating his home. He alarmed investors and caused the rand to tumble in December when he replaced former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with David van Rooyen, a little-known politician. Under a barrage of criticism, he replaced van Rooyen just days later with Pravin Gordhan, who had held the job from 2009 to 2014. The announcement of the date for the elections also comes at a time when Africa's most industrialised economy is struggling. Its currency has lost 4 percent to the dollar so far this year, the central bank has forecast growth of 0.8 percent and unemployment is at 25 percent. That, on the back of the political developments, has stirred fears of a downgrade by ratings agencies to "junk" status. S&P and Fitch currently rate South Africa's debt just one notch above sub-investment grade. Moody's has it two notches above junk, but on review for a downgrade. (Additional reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Alison Williams) By James Macharia JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa will hold local government elections on Aug. 3, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday, in what looks likely to become a referendum on his leadership after an attempt to impeach him and mounting concern about weak economic growth. This year's local elections pose a major risk for Zuma's dominant ruling African National Congress, with the party facing a strong challenge from opponents seeking to capitalise on what they see as Zuma's missteps. The opposition aims to wrestle control of the commercial hub Johannesburg and capital Pretoria from the ANC, as well as urban centres where anger has risen against the ruling party. "So yes, it's on the 3rd of August that we deal decisively with ZANC (Zuma's ANC)," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the Democratic Alliance, the biggest opposition party, said on Twitter. "We need to govern in Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Tshwane (Pretoria) and retain Cape Town," the capital of the Western Cape province run by his party. The firebrand leader of the leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, also tweeted that his party was "ready to contest these elections". The elections will choose provincial officials, metropolitan and local municipal councils and mayors. Defeats in the big population centres for the ANC, which counts on rural areas for the bulk of its support, could damage the party that has been in power since the end of white-minority rule in 1994 as it gears up for a presidential election in 2019. Zuma is unable to stand in that vote after completing two terms and is likely to be influential behind the scenes in picking a new ANC leader at a conference in 2017. He survived impeachment on Tuesday thanks to the ANC's big majority in the 400-seat assembly. Zuma had faced censure after the constitutional court ruled that he breached the constitution by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent renovating his home. He alarmed investors and caused the rand to tumble in December when he replaced former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene with David van Rooyen, a little-known politician. Under a barrage of criticism, he then abruptly replaced van Rooyen just days later with Pravin Gordhan, who had held the job from 2009 to 2014. The announcement of the date for the elections also comes at a time when Africa's most industrialised economy is struggling. Its currency has lost 4 percent to the dollar so far this year, the central bank has forecast growth of 0.8 percent and unemployment is at 25 percent. That, on the back of the political developments, has stirred fears of a downgrade by ratings agencies to "junk" status. S&P and Fitch currently rate South Africa's debt just one notch above sub-investment grade. Moody's has it two notches above junk, but on review for a downgrade. (Writing by James Macharia) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's energy ministry rejected an opposition party claim on Wednesday that the process to procure six new nuclear power plants to help overcome chronic electricity shortages had been put on hold. Africa's most industrialised economy was expected to finalise some requirements for its nuclear expansion by April, with Russia and China the front-runners to build the new power stations, Reuters reported in February. Pretoria has earmarked billions of rand for increases in power generation but the price tag of up to 1 trillion rand ($66 billion) for 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2030 has raised concerns over whether the plan is affordable. "The status quo remains. South Africa still has a nuclear procurement process," energy ministry spokesman Thabo Mothibi told Reuters. The opposition Democratic Alliance earlier said that Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson informed a parliamentary committee that an April 1 deadline in the procurement process had not been met, and that no new date had been set. The Democratic Alliance said that meant "the procurement process is now in limbo". "The minister did not give that indication," ministry spokesman Mothibi said, adding that it would probably issue a statement on Wednesday to clarify what the minister had relayed to the parliamentary committee. He said the minister had assured the committee that "the process will be subjected to the strictest scrutiny possible". Fears the nuclear project could be the most expensive procurement in South Africa's history, and that decisions could be made behind closed doors without the necessary public scrutiny, have been raised by the opposition. The government has said the procurement process would be conducted in a transparent manner. South Africa's cash-strapped power utility Eskom, which relies heavily on coal for electricity generation, is scrambling to keep the lights on and raise the capital needed to build new coal-fired units and maintain its existing fleet of plants. ($1 = 15.2124 rand) (Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; editing by James Macharia and David Clarke) By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) has closed the accounts of a company owned by the wealthy Gupta family, the latest example of companies cutting ties with the Guptas following allegations over their relationship with President Jacob Zuma. Oakbay Investments, the holding company for the Gupta familys businesses in South Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday that FNB, owned by FirstRand , South Africa's biggest bank, had closed its accounts without giving a reason. "We find the timing of FNB's decision staggering given Oakbays accounts are in excellent financial health and we have been a loyal and profitable customer for many years," Oakbay said. Three other companies - KPMG [KPMG.UL], Barclays Africa and Sasfin - have already severed links with companies owned by the Guptas. Allegations of the Guptas meddling in politics surfaced last month, when deputy finance Minister said they may have had a hand in Zuma sacking his finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. FNB had on Friday told Oakbay it did not need its business any more, a source familiar with the matter said, a day after a top court ruled that Zuma breached the constitution for ignoring an order to repay the state a portion of $16 million spent on his private home. Nainesh Desai, head of risk at FNB, confirmed Oakbay did not have an account with the bank but declined further comment, citing client confidentiality agreements. Zuma has denied numerous allegations of the Guptas wielding undue influence. The Guptas have also routinely dismissed reports of their alleged influence, saying they are pawns in a political plot to get Zuma out of office. The three Gupta brothers moved to South Africa from India at the end of apartheid in the early 1990s and went on to build a business empire that stretches from technology to the media to mining. They have also forged a close personal relationship with Zuma, whose son, Duduzane, sits on the board of at least six Gupta-owned companies, according to company registration papers. Zuma survived an impeachment motion by the opposition on Tuesday thanks to his African National Congress party's majority in parliament. (Additional reporting by Zimasa Mpemnyama; Editing by Susan Fenton and David Holmes) By Tiisetso Motsoeneng JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's First National Bank (FNB) has closed the accounts of a company owned by the wealthy Gupta family, the latest example of companies cutting ties with the Guptas following allegations over their relationship with President Jacob Zuma. Oakbay Investments, the holding company for the Gupta familys businesses in South Africa, said in a statement on Wednesday that FNB, owned by FirstRand, South Africa's biggest bank, had closed its accounts without giving a reason. "We find the timing of FNB's decision staggering given Oakbays accounts are in excellent financial health and we have been a loyal and profitable customer for many years," Oakbay said. Three other companies - KPMG, Barclays Africa and Sasfin - have already severed links with companies owned by the Guptas. Allegations of the Guptas meddling in politics surfaced last month, when deputy finance Minister said they may have had a hand in Zuma sacking his finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. FNB had on Friday told Oakbay it did not need its business any more, a source familiar with the matter said, a day after a top court ruled that Zuma breached the constitution for ignoring an order to repay the state a portion of $16 million spent on his private home. Nainesh Desai, head of risk at FNB, confirmed Oakbay did not have an account with the bank but declined further comment, citing client confidentiality agreements. Zuma has denied numerous allegations of the Guptas wielding undue influence. The Guptas have also routinely dismissed reports of their alleged influence, saying they are pawns in a political plot to get Zuma out of office. The three Gupta brothers moved to South Africa from India at the end of apartheid in the early 1990s and went on to build a business empire that stretches from technology to the media to mining. They have also forged a close personal relationship with Zuma, whose son, Duduzane, sits on the board of at least six Gupta-owned companies, according to company registration papers. Zuma survived an impeachment motion by the opposition on Tuesday thanks to his African National Congress party's majority in parliament. (Additional reporting by Zimasa Mpemnyama; Editing by Susan Fenton and David Holmes) By Nqobile Dludla JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - State-owned South African Post Office (SAPO) should return to profit in 2018, boosted by new revenue streams such as financial services products, its chief executive said. Many of South Africa's 300 or so state entities are a drain on government finances and rating agency Standard & Poor said on Wednesday they threaten the nation's credit rating, already at the lowest investment grade. SAPO, which is supported by a 4.4 billion rand ($290 million) state guarantee, is expected to record a loss of more than 1 billion rand in the 2015/16 financial year. In the previous financial year it lost 1.5 billion rand after industrial action prompted major clients to pull out. "Our ambitions here are to get back to where we were (profitable) in two years' time in terms of revenue," Mark Barnes told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. "We expect to turn profitable in 2018." Barnes, who was appointed in 2015 to staunch SAPO's losses, also said it was in talks with banks about obtaining bridge loans pending a 650 million rand capital injection from the government. "We have a scepticism bridge to cross before the government can change its mindset from seeing us as an unnecessary cost to an investment opportunity," Barnes said. Barnes said the company, which is awaiting a full banking licence from the South African Reserve Bank, would be boosted by new financial services products such as lending. A banking licence would allow SAPO to use its 1,500 branches to provide credit and other financial services to millions of people without assets as part of the government strategy to extend banking to the poor. ($1 = 15.0615 rand) (Editing by Tiisetso Motsoeneng/Ruth Pitchford) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) said on Wednesday it had suspended a planned wage strike at Sibanye Gold to allow for further talks, buoying the firm's shares. AMCU said on Monday it would launch an indefinite strike at the bullion producer to demand higher wages. Sibanye, which is in the process of acquiring Anglo American Platinum's labour-intensive Rustenburg mine and Aquarius Platinum, signed an agreement with three smaller unions last year and extended the wage deal to AMCU members, angering the union's members. "We are in discussions with AMCU and while they are taking place they have suspended the strike action," Sibanye spokesman James Wellsted told Reuters said on Wednesday. AMCU's spokesman, Manzini Zungu, also told Reuters the strike had been suspended pending the outcome of the talks. Sibanye shares rose 3.7 percent after the news and traded 2.7 percent higher at 55.67 rand. Sibanye, which produces all of its gold in South Africa, had previously said it would not renegotiate wages. "We will continue to engage constructively with AMCU leadership in an attempt to ensure a favourable outcome for all stakeholders," Sibanye Chief Executive Officer Neal Froneman said in a statement. Known for its militancy, AMCU has said it aims to get the salaries paid to its members in the gold sector to match the higher wages in coal and platinum. AMCU led a bruising five-month wage strike in the platinum sector demanding more than a doubling of wages in 2014 to 12,500 rand ($847) - the same demand sought in gold last year. In both instances the demands were unsuccessful. (Reporting by Ed Stoddard and Zimasa Mpemnyama; Writing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia) CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's ruling ANC has been harmed by the fallout from a court ruling that President Jacob Zuma breached the constitution by failing to repay some of the state funds used for upgrades to his private home, its parliamentary chief whip said on Tuesday. "There has been damage on the part of the ANC. We need to go down on the ground and explain exactly what happened. We still have a lot to do," Jackson Mthembu, chief whip of the African National Congress told reporters after the party quashed a motion launched by the opposition to impeach Zuma. (Reporting by Joe Brock; Writing by Stella Mapenzauswa; Editing by James Macharia) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's Sun International has shelved its 9.5 billion rand ($623 million) plan to buy rival casino owner Peermont Group, the company said on Wednesday. Sun International, which owns and operates casinos and hotels in Africa and Latin America, last year announced its intention to buy 100 percent of Peermont's holding company, Maxshell 114. Peermont owns and operates several hotels and eight casinos in Africa's most advanced economy. "I can confirm that we informed the Tribunal that we have abandoned our intention to merge, and will not be taking any further steps to implement the merger," Sun International spokesman Michael Farr said, referring to the nation's Competition Tribunal, an antitrust oversight body. South Africa's Competition Commission last year recommended that the deal be blocked, saying that the transaction would prohibit competition in Gauteng, the nation's most populous and prosperous province. "The parties informed the Tribunal at a pre-hearing that there was uncertainty as to whether the merger would go ahead and asked for the case to be removed from the roll," the Competition Tribunal said in a statement. ($1 = 15.2391 rand) (Reporting by TJ Strydom; editing by Jason Neely) By Joe Brock CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday survived an impeachment vote in parliament launched after the constitutional court ruled he had ignored an order to repay state funds spent on his private home. At a fiery session, the African National Congress (ANC), which controls almost two-thirds of the 400-seat assembly, gave Zuma the support he needed to save him from impeachment. A total of 233 lawmakers voted against the impeachment motion, with 143 voting in favour. Zuma did not attend the proceedings. The motion, launched by the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), led to emotional debate following last week's ruling by the court that the president had breached the constitution by ignoring an order to repay some of the $16 million in state funds spent on renovating his home. "The choice is whether or not you will choose to protect your oath of office that you took here in this house, to protect the constitution or to serve Jacob Zuma," Mmusi Maimane, leader of the DA party said. Julius Malema, leader of the smaller opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, said "Zuma and the ANC want to convert South Africa into a banana republic." After the vote, he said: "We are not going to be part of this mess of a useless parliament that votes for wrong things. You are traitors." ANC lawmakers argued that Zuma had not violated the constitution deliberately and did not deserve to be impeached. But they acknowledged the party had much to do to rebuild its image. "There has been damage on the part of the ANC. We need to go down on the ground and explain exactly what happened. We still have a lot to do," ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu told reporters outside parliament. "We believe him (Zuma). We accept his apology. We think we can now move forward." The rand weakened by more than two percent, partly on political risk jitters over the vote. (Additional reporting by James Macharia and Stella Mapenzauswa in Johannesburg; Writing by James Macharia; Editing by Richard Balmforth) By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the first prehistoric people trekked into South America toward the end of the Ice Age, they found a wondrous, lush continent inhabited by all manner of strange creatures like giant ground sloths and car-sized armadillos. But these hunter-gatherers proceeded to behave like an "invasive species," with their population surging then crashing as they relentlessly depleted natural resources. Only much later did people muster exponential population growth after forming fixed settlements with domesticated crops and animals. Those are the findings of research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature that provides the most comprehensive look to date of the peopling of South America, the last habitable continent colonized by humankind. The researchers identified two distinct colonization phases: the first unfolding about 14,000 to 5,500 years ago, with the human population hitting around 300,000; the second occurring about 5,500 to 2,000 years ago, with the population reaching about a million. "Humans are just like any other invasive species," Stanford University biology professor Elizabeth Hadly said. "If we use up our resources, we will decline. It is stating the obvious, but our study shows that even over vast geographic areas such as continents, humans can consume too much, too fast." The researchers reconstructed the history of human population growth in South America using radiocarbon-dating data from 1,147 archaeological sites. Our species first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago, then spread to Europe and Asia and eventually crossed into the Americas roughly 15,000 to 20,000 years ago using a land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska. The first phase of colonization in South America coincided with the extinction of many large animals including elephant relatives, saber-toothed cats, big ground sloths, armadillos and huge flightless birds. During this period, human populations underwent "boom-and-bust cycles" as people exhausted local plant and animal resources, Stanford anthropologist Amy Goldberg said. Some people, particularly in certain Andes regions, began domesticating animals and growing crops including squash and peppers. But most remained nomadic. About 5,000 years ago, people settled into stable societies, launching 3,000 years of exponential growth when the continent's population roughly tripled, Goldberg said. "We find that it is the large settlements, not merely stable food sources, that allow humans to 'conquer' their environment and grow unbounded," Goldberg said. "Most lived in modern Peru, Ecuador, and northern Chile, as well as a smaller but substantial population of hunter-gatherers in Patagonia." (Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Sandra Maler) This story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. Sanders has lined up an impressive roster of Hollywood endorsements: Susan Sarandon hit the campaign trail with him, Sarah Silverman's Bernie video has logged nearly 30 million views on Facebook, Mark Ruffalo's TV ad for him debuted April 4, and rapper Killer Mike hosted phone banks in Atlanta and has counseled Sanders on how to reach black voters. Spike Lee, who's speaking and making ads on behalf of Sanders, talked to THR about the campaign just moments before his first meeting with the candidate. Read More: Two Guys From Brooklyn: The Bernie Sanders Interview by Spike Lee What should be Bernie's campaign anthem? "Brooklyn's in the House." What Spike Lee character is most like Bernie? I would say the Ossie Davis character, the mayor, in Do the Right Thing. Which Spike Lee character is most like Trump? I mean, I did a film called Summer of Sam. (Laughs.) It was about the infamous summer of 1977, New York City [when so-called Son of Sam David Berkowitz killed six people]. And there was a certain person who had the whole city in terror. Read More: Bernie Sanders' Brother? Yep, Hes a Socialist Too, Living in England and He Thinks the Candidate Is Looking More "Comfortable" Which Spike Lee character would be Hillary? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in one of my films. ... I would say the Ruby Dee role in Jungle Fever. What's the Bernie ad you would do to win over black voters in New York? Well, we're gonna be filming something tomorrow, and we're gonna do the best we can. Speaking of filming, would you ever make a Sanders documentary? Will I ever make a documentary about Bernie From Brooklyn? That's the title. If I do, that's the title right there! Bernie From Brooklyn. You never know, you never know. What's your experience with Trump? Story continues I met Trump several times at Knicks games, and he would be going to his seat behind the basket. We would shake hands. We said hello to each other. It was cordial. But that was way before this thing that's happening now. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Spike Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, may agree on many things, but the 2016 presidential race is not one of them. During The Hollywood Reporter's New York issue cover shoot, Lee reveals in a video interview that he and his wife of 23 years aren't simpatico on who should score the 2016 Democratic nomination. "My beautiful wife, ... she is a Hillary Clinton supporter," Lee said on set following his sit-down interview with fellow Brooklynite Sanders. "So there's a little bit of a divide in the household." Read More: How a Bernie Sanders-Spike Lee Cover Photo Comes Together: Secret Service and a Nail-Biting Schedule Though the couple may not politically see eye-to-eye, his children - Satchel and Jackson - concur with their father. "My two children are with their daddy," Lee said of his kids. With a smirk on his face, Lee added: "We try not to talk about the two Democratic candidates in the Lee household." Read THR's full cover story for more on Sanders' thoughts about education, guns and Obama's legacy on the eve of the crucial New York primary. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> Oslo (AFP) - Norwegian police on Wednesday announced the recovery of a valuable lithograph by Edvard Munch which was stolen in 2009, with two men arrested. The artwork, named 'Historien' or 'History' in Norwegian, was retrieved undamaged, a statement said. It shows an elderly bearded man speaking to a young boy and was valued at the time of its theft at 240,000 euros ($244,000), but art experts said it was too well-known to be put on the market. Police said two men had been arrested at the start of the week on suspicion of handling stolen goods but not for the theft itself. The lithograph was stolen after one of the windows of Nyborg Kunst, a leading Oslo gallery, was smashed with a rock. "My client denies the charge," Oystein Storrvik, the lawyer of one of the arrested men, told Norway's NTB news agency. The works of Munch (1863-1944) have long been targeted by thieves. In 2004, two of his masterpieces -- "The Scream" and "Madonna", with a combined value of $100 million -- were stolen in a brazen afternoon raid on Oslo's Munch museum. Ten years before that, another version of "The Scream" was stolen from Oslo's national art gallery. All the works were later recovered. Paris (AFP) - Stone Age humans populated the Scottish islands with red deer transported "considerable distances" by boat, said researchers Wednesday who admitted surprise at our prehistoric ancestors' seafaring prowess. DNA analysis revealed that deer on Scotland's northermost islands were unlikely to have come from the closest and seemingly most obvious places -- mainland Scotland, Ireland or Norway, said a study in the Royal Society journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. "Our results imply that Neolithic humans were transporting deer considerable distances, by sea, from an unknown source" some 4,500-5,500 years ago, co-author David Stanton of Cardiff University told AFP by email. "These results are surprising... The evidence suggests that we have misunderstood our relationship with this species," he added. "Perhaps humans managed deer, having long-term relationships with herds that allowed them to plan, capture and transport deer on longer voyages." It was known that late Stone Age humans had transported cattle, sheep and pigs by boat, but not large wild animals, and not over such vast distances. Red deer, said Stanton, were central to life in Britain from the end of the last Ice Age about 11,000 years ago to the arrival of the first late Stone Age farmers. The animals provided crucial nourishment, skins, sinew, bones and antlers -- used to till the soil, among other things. Scientists say all animals, including deer, found on the islands today must have been introduced by seafaring people. The islands were covered in ice during the last "glacial maximum", a period of deep Earth freeze, and have since been separated from each other and the mainland by spans of ocean too wide for deer to swim. It was therefore thought the deer must have been brought from nearby, possibly from mainland Scotland, boat-hopping from island to island with short spurts of swimming in between. But DNA analysis of Neolithic deer bones found that those on the most distant, northern islands, were genetically dissimilar to deer from Britain, Ireland, the western European mainland or Scandinavia. "The hunt is now on to find the ancestors of these deer," said Stanton. A critically endangered Sumatran rhino has died weeks after its chance discovery on the Indonesian part of Borneo island was hailed as a landmark conservation success, an official said Tuesday. The rare rhino was caught in a pit trap last month in East Kalimantan province in an area close to mining operations and plantations, where it was struggling to survive. It was the first physical contact environmentalists had made with a Sumatran rhino on Indonesian Borneo in more than 40 years, after it was assumed the animal was long extinct. However Najaq, as the female rhino was known, succumbed to a leg infection after her health deteriorated in recent days, Indonesia's environment ministry confirmed. "The death of this Sumatran rhino proves they exist on Borneo, so we will continue protecting them," Tachrir Fathoni, a senior official at the environment ministry, told AFP. A post-mortem examination is being conducted to determine the official cause of death, he added. Environmentalists discovered in 2013 that the Sumatran rhino was not extinct on Indonesian Borneo -- as had long been thought -- when hidden cameras captured images of the animals. Conservationists had heralded the capture of the rhino in March as an exciting discovery, and expressed disappointment at the tragic turn of events. "This is a very valuable lesson that shows saving a rhino can be very difficult, and needs the support of experts," said WWF Indonesia head Efransjah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. There were once Sumatran rhinos all over Borneo but their numbers have dwindled dramatically, with poaching and the expansion of mining and plantation operations considered the main reasons for the decline. The Sumatran rhino is the only Asian rhino with two horns, and are covered with long hair. It's estimated there are less than 100 left in the wild. By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In its first major initiative in the year since the sudden death of its chief executive, Dave Goldberg, SurveyMonkey is expanding its survey business to tap into booming demand for mobile apps. The company is launching SurveyMonkey Intelligence for tracking of the mobile-device software known as apps, it said Wednesday. That way, businesses can see data - their own or the competition's - including which apps are gaining traction, peak usage times for various apps, and customer characteristics. The metrics could make it easier to find and retain customers, or deploy more targeted ads on the apps themselves. For investors, usage information could inform decisions on whether to fund an up-and-coming app. Goldberg died on May 1 last year after a treadmill accident in Mexico. His death led to an unsettled period for Palo Alto, California-based SurveyMonkey, including layoffs of about 100 employees and two searches for new leadership. Initially, the board settled in July on former HP executive Ben Veghte for the CEO role, only to see him leave in January after what he and SurveyMonkey characterized as differences over the companys strategy. Former GoPro CEO Zander Lurie, a SurveyMonkey board member since 2009 and briefly interim CEO after Goldbergs death, then took the top post. Releasing the app-tracking product marks Luries first significant public accomplishment since joining the company full time. "I don't sit around comparing myself to Dave, Lurie said about his predecessor and close friend Goldberg in an interview, while crediting Goldberg for nurturing the company's growth and culture. "He laid a lot of the groundwork for me to be successful." Goldberg had led SurveyMonkey since 2009 and built it into one of Silicon Valleys first unicorns, meaning a venture-backed company worth more than $1 billion. In its last funding round in December 2014, the company was valued at $2 billion by investors including Tiger Global and Google Capital. Any potential initial public offering is likely at least a year away, Lurie said. SurveyMonkey Intelligence, which has a free edition but also more comprehensive versions that start at $79 a month, could help bolster SurveyMonkeys coffers. The company is on track for $200 million in revenue this year, Lurie said. SurveyMonkey will draw the data for Intelligence from users of phones and devices that run Apple's iOS and Google's Android technology. Its last significant product launch was its Benchmark analytics tool, released in April last year. (Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Jonathan Oatis) "So this is the life I forgot." A24 released a trailer for Swiss Army Man, also known as the Daniel Radcliffe-Paul Dano "farting corpse" movie that cased a stir in its Sundance premiere earlier this year. Written and directed by the music video-directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as the Daniels), the absurd R-rated comedy follows Hank (Dano), a suicidal castaway who is stranded a tiny deserted island. One day a dead body (Radcliffe) washes ashore, and Hank realizes it may be his last opportunity to escape certain death, so the duo go on an epic adventure to bring Hank back to the woman of his dreams. The trailer for the survivalist tale -- which nabbed the Dramatic Directing Award at Sundance -- previews some of its quirkiest moments, including when the farts of Radcliffe's character are used to create a human jet ski of sorts. It also features "Montage," a song composed by Manchester Orchestra and performed by Dano and Radcliffe. Read More: 'Swiss Army Man': Sundance Review Watch the trailer below. Read More: Daniel Radcliffe, Paul Dano Embrace Polarizing 'Swiss Army Man' Reaction: "It's Exciting" Doha (AFP) - Syrian peace talks which fail to address the question of President Bashar al-Assad's fate are "doomed to failure", a spokesman for the main opposition grouping involved in negotiations said. Riad Naasan Agha, of the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee, said that the talks which are set to resume on April 11 in Geneva must focus on the future of the Syrian leader. "If negotiations did not address the fate of Assad, it would be a waste of time and doomed to failure," he said late Tuesday at a forum hosted by Al-Jazeera in Qatar. The UN has said the upcoming round of talks will focus on plans for a political transition to lead Syria out of five years of brutal civil war. Agha said that he was not hopeful the talks would produce a positive outcome as negotiations on forming a transitional government were almost at a "dead-end". Negotiators from the regime are expected to attend the talks but only after the completion of parliamentary elections in the country on April 13. The previous round of talks broke up on March 24, without making any concrete advances towards a political solution to the devastating war. The opposition wants Assad to leave power before any transitional government is agreed, but the regime says his future is not up for discussion. The United Nations envoy on Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Tuesday met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, whose country is a key backer of Assad, in Moscow as he prepares for the Geneva talks. De Mistura is also expected to visit several other countries ahead of the talks, including Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Berlin (AFP) - German authorities Wednesday arrested a Syrian national on war crimes charges, on suspicion of commanding a rebel militia in Aleppo that committed atrocities and plundered artefacts for sale. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the 41-year-old accused identified only as Ibrahim Al F. had been detained in the western region of Westphalia on a German arrest warrant. "The accused is strongly suspected of treating people entitled to protection under international humanitarian law cruelly and inhumanely in the autumn of 2012 during the Syrian civil war," prosecutors said. Ibrahim Al F. is believed to have led a 150-man district militia in Aleppo belonging to the Islamist rebel group Ghuraba al-Sham, then part of the Free Syrian Army, a loose coalition of opponents to President Bashar Al-Assad's regime. Prosecutors said the militia, however, mainly pursued "self-serving aims". These included repeated plunder after the withdrawal of government troops from parts of Aleppo, including the looting of valuable art that the accused later tried to sell. "Two residents who tried to protect their neighbouring district from plundering are believed to have been captured by the accused and his fighters and held for several days at a makeshift prison under their control," prosecutors said. The two prisoners were "tortured repeatedly in the accused's presence and by him personally", as were six other people who were later kidnapped by the militia, the prosecutors said. Some of the hostages only gained their freedom by paying ransoms, the prosecutors alleged. The suspect was later Tuesday to see an federal investigating judge who was to decide whether he would be remanded in custody. TAIPEI (Reuters) - An older brother of Taiwan President-Elect Tsai Ing-wen was named in the so-called Panama Papers as setting up an offshore company in 2008, his lawyer said on Wednesday, stressing that he had done nothing illegal. But the news prompted criticism from Tsai's political opponents who called for a full explanation. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specializes in setting up offshore companies have shone a light on the finances of politicians and public figures around the world, causing public outrage over how the powerful are able to hide money and avoid tax. Taiwan President-Elect Tsai Ing-wen's brother, Tsai Ying-yang, set up the offshore firm, Koppie Limited, in 2008 at the recommendation of a foreign private banking adviser on personal investments, his lawyer, Lien Yuan-lung, told Reuters, declining to elaborate. "He lost 30 percent of the investment in the first year, so he closed the contract with the bank immediately...," Lien said by phone. "He was not involved in money laundering, hiding the Tsai familys wealth overseas, evading tax or anything illegal." The president-elect's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) declined to comment. But the opposition Nationalist Party called for an explanation. "According to practice and research from the past, there are three purposes to set up companies in Panama: to evade tax, to invest overseas, especially in China, and to avoid supervision (by the Taiwan government)," lawmaker William Tseng told a news briefing. "Which of these was it? Tsai Ing-wen and her relatives should fully explain." Panama is one of just 22 allies, including the Vatican, which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, with most countries in the world recognizing "one China", led by Beijing. China claims Taiwan as a wayward province and says it has no right to have diplomatic relations with anyone. Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers revelations, stepping down on Tuesday after the files showed his wife owned an offshore firm with big claims on the country's collapsed banks. (Reporting by Faith Hung; Editing by Nick Macfie) DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - A Tanzanian government tax tribunal has accused Acacia Mining, formerly known as African Barrick Gold, of tax evasion and ordered the London-listed company to pay $41.25 million to the African nation. Acacia denied the allegations and said it would appeal against the ruling, which comes against the backdrop of a tax crackdown instigated by Tanzania's new president John Magufuli. The Tax Revenue Appeals Tribunal said in a ruling seen by Reuters on Wednesday that it had evidence that Acacia was engaging in "a sophisticated scheme of tax evasion" in Africa's fourth-largest gold producer. The March 31 ruling read by Fauz Twaib, a Tanzanian high court judge who is the chairman of the Tax Revenues Appeals Tribunal, said that Acacia paid dividends to its shareholders worth $412.5 million between 2010 and 2013 but evaded a 10 percent withholding tax by declaring losses. Acacia, which owns three gold-producing mines in Tanzania, said on its website that it believed the tribunal's judgment to be "fundamentally flawed" and that it would appeal against the ruling in Tanzania's Court of Appeal. "Acacia and its subsidiaries fully comply with all international and domestic tax legislation and have not and never will undertake any form of tax evasion or tax avoidance schemes," the company's statement added. Mining and energy companies in Tanzania have said they have come under increased regulatory pressure in recent years as the government has sought to boost its share of their revenue. (Reporting by Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala; Editing by George Obulutsa and David Goodman) LONDON (Reuters) - India's Tata Steel will launch the formal sale process for its British assets by Monday and give a "reasonable" timeframe to find a buyer, Britain's business minister said after meeting the company's chairman in Mumbai. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has sought to broker a deal with potential buyers after Tata Steel put its British operations up for sale last week, threatening thousands of jobs. Tata had said it wanted to exit the country as soon as possible, raising fears that the government would not have enough time to find a buyer for a business that has been hit by high costs and cheap Chinese imports. But Sajid Javid, Britain's business minister, told broadcasters after the meeting that Tata had not set a time frame and would allow a reasonable period to find a buyer. "Formal sales process will begin by Monday - govt will do all it can to help secure a serious buyer," he said on Twitter. (Reporting by Kate Holton and William James; editing by Stephen Addison) (Reuters) - A middle school teacher in Newtown, Connecticut, the site of the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with bringing a firearm into the town's middle school, police said. The teacher, identified as Jason Adams, 46, was spotted carrying a concealed weapon and detained by security at the Newtown Middle School, which called police. Connecticut's state gun laws, among the strictest in the country, prohibit possessing a gun on school property. Adams, who was released to await trial, did not respond to a call seeking comment on Wednesday. He has been placed on administrative leave, the schools said. "This matter is very serious and very troubling, both the Newtown Public School system and the Newtown Police Department took immediate steps to address the matter," the town's schools said in a statement. In December 2102, a gunman shot dead 26 people, including 20 young children aged between 6 and 7, as well as six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, ending his rampage by turning his gun on himself. (Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston; Editing by Sandra Maler) It used to be that Apple took its sweet time with iOS updates, but the company appears to be embracing a new strategy focused on releasing software enhancements, tweaks and bug fixes faster than ever before. Just about two weeks after releasing iOS 9.3, MacRumors is reporting that Apple has already seeded developers with a beta version of iOS 9.3.2. What's that you say? What happened to iOS 9.3.1? Well, you might have missed it because Apple quietly rolled it out less than a week ago. While iOS 9.3.2 in and of itself doesn't appear to be a momentous update - just the typical smattering of performance improvements and bug fixes - Apple's more aggressive iOS release schedule is encouraging. DON'T MISS: 15 paid iPhone apps on sale for free for a limited time Indeed, Apple's more aggressive iOS release strategy was first observed with the release of iOS 9.3. Whereas Apple typically saves exciting feature updates for major numerical iOS updates released every 12 months or so, iOS 9.3 introduced a number of compelling and surprising new features, including Night Shift, TouchID protection for Notes, and a host of enhanced 3D Touch features. Not only that, but iOS 9.3 was preceded by a whopping seven beta updates. Looking ahead, one can only hope that Apple will continue to release iOS updates at a faster clip as opposed to saving everything for larger updates spaced out over longer periods of time. As Dan Moren of Macworld wrote not too long ago, "[Apple's] goal now seems one of sustainability: keeping the iPhone and its users updated and happy, possibly with a steady stream of smaller updates rather than a single major tentpole release every summer." Related stories 12 paid iPhone apps on sale for free right now iOS 10 might introduce a new feature we've all been waiting for The FBI can't hack the iPhone 6s More from BGR: We may already know who died in that terrible Walking Dead cliffhanger This article was originally published on BGR.com Intro2 A 42-year-old designer based in Hong Kong, has fulfilled his childhood dream of building a humanoid robot. And not just any robot, but a female humanoid robot that looks a lot like Hollywood actress, Scarlett Johansson. SEE ALSO: A dancing, laser beam-shooting robot aspires to teach kids how to code According to Reuters, Ricky Ma has been obsessed with animation and robots since he was a kid. Ma reportedly spent $50,000 and a year and a half, creating the Johansson-lookalike robot he refers to as "Mark 1." The robot is made from 3D-printed parts and silicone skin, and can display animated facial expressions such as smiling and winking. "Mark 1" can also move her arms and legs and responds to Ma when he compliments her. Image: ricky ma Ma claims that his programming skills are self-taught. Although he encountered many obstacles while building "Mark 1", he says he has no regrets, especially with the end result. Image: ricky ma We wonder if the real Johansson would be flattered by her twin-bot. CHICAGO (Reuters) - PayPal Holdings Inc on Tuesday canceled plans to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina and invest $3.6 million in the area after the state passed a controversial law targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens. The digital payment company's protest is the first by a major business after North Carolina became the first state last month to enact a measure requiring people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. The law, which overturned a Charlotte city ordinance, was widely interpreted as an attack on LGBT rights. State lawmakers also voted to prohibit local governments from enacting anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture," Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman said in a statement. In a letter on March 29, founders and chief executives of more than a hundred companies, including Apple Inc , Twitter Inc and Alphabet Inc urged North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory to repeal the legislation. Earlier in March, the payment processor announced plans to open the operations center in Charlotte and employ 400 skilled workers there. It was set to invest more than $3.6 million in the Charlotte area by the end of 2017, according to a news release on the governor's website. After PayPal's decision, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, who like McCrory is a Republican, defended the law. "If our action in keeping men out of women's bathrooms and showers protected the life of just one child or one woman from being molested or assaulted, then it was worth it," he said in a statement. PayPal said it is now looking for another site for the center and has not yet made a decision on location. (Reporting by Nandita Bose in Chicago and Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Editing by Bill Rigby and David Gregorio) Do you remember the mysterious dress where some people saw it as white and gold, while others saw it as blue and black? Well there's a similarly puzzling image that's making the rounds on the internet these days -- a red dot that contains a hidden image that only some people can see. This image comes to us via PlayBuzz and it really does contain the outline of a horse... but there's a good chance you won't be able to see it. MUST READ: J.J. Abrams shines light on the creepiest Star Wars: The Force Awakens mystery In case you're curious, this is the outline some people see when they look at the image: Speaking personally, I can sort of see this image when I look closely at the dot, but only because I now know what to look for; otherwise, I would have never have spotted it because it looks only slightly discolored compared to the rest of the red dot. Try again yourself with the original image: So what does this prove? It seems to be an eyesight test to see how well your eyes can process subtle differences in color. Some people can only see the bare outline, while others can see full details of the horse. Other people, however, say they can't see anything at all. Regardless, it's a pretty cool brain teaser. Related stories Kids in Hong Kong Can Solve This Puzzle In Seconds - Can You? Elon Musk says Tesla will fix what critics call the Model 3's 'biggest design fail' Believe it or not, you can get a 3TB hard drive for your PC for under $86 More from BGR: We may already know who died in that terrible Walking Dead cliffhanger This article was originally published on BGR.com Imagine a company that specializes in selling high-end technology products, that is supported by a cultish group of devoted fans, and that's run by a notoriously demanding CEO who's hellbent on changing the world. That sounds a lot like Apple under Steve Jobs, doesn't it? It sure does, but it could also be used to describe Tesla under CEO Elon Musk right now. And those aren't the only similarities, as Stratechery's Ben Thompson makes clear in a fascinating new essay comparing the two companies. MUST READ: Answers to burning questions about the Tesla Model 3 Thompson makes a compelling argument that Tesla has forced the rest of the automobile industry to completely rethink the concept of the car just as Apple forced the mobile phone industry to completely rethink its own products after the launch of the iPhone. And because Tesla has gotten such a head start with developing all-electric cars and has such a strong brand right now, it might be able to hold off competition from rival car companies when they come out with their own all-electric vehicles over the next few years. "The radical rethinking of a car made possible by a new drivetrain gave Tesla the opportunity to make the best car: there was a clean slate," he writes. "More than that, Teslas lack of car-making experience was actually an advantage: the companys mission, internal incentives, and bottom line were all dependent on getting electric right." And this is going to be important for Tesla in the coming years: As BMW, Mercedes and other manufacturers start cranking out their own electric cars, is Tesla going to keep offering drivers an experience that they can't get anywhere else? The company definitely has a major advantage in terms of charging station infrastructure and it's done an amazing job in developing electric cars that aren't just for people who want to be environmentally conscious, but for people who just like good cars. Whether that's enough to hold up under the pressure of the rest of the auto industry is still up in the air, of course. Story continues Be sure to read Thompson's full essay at this link. Related stories Elon Musk says Tesla will fix what critics call the Model 3's 'biggest design fail' Legendary car designer discusses Tesla's Model 3 and the future of electric cars 12 paid iPhone apps on sale for free right now More from BGR: Ikea has already found a great use for virtual reality This article was originally published on BGR.com She winks, wears a crop top and giggles when you tell her she's beautiful. With her silicon skin, she's a dead ringer for actress Scarlett Johansson. She was built for $50,000 by a product designer in Hong Kong a flirty robot clone of one man's dream girl. When you design a robot in someone's sexualized likeness, dress it up, make it talk and give it behaviors, do you need to ask that person for consent? If that sexy humanoid were modeled off of you, you'd likely be screaming, "Fuck yes." We need an ethical code of conduct when designing robots in other people's likeness especially as we interact more intimately with these human-like machines. Experts agree. Before the ScarJo bot, there was Nadine: a human-like robot modeled after its creator, professor Nadia Thalmann. I asked Thalmann if she thought it was OK to design a robot in someone else's likeness without getting consent first. "It is not OK," she said in an email. Thalmann wouldn't be happy if someone had created Nadine without her consent; after all, Nadine doesn't just embody a physical likeness, but also moves, speaks and emotes in human-like ways. It doesn't just simulate her likeness it simulates intimacy. What should the rules be for designers modeling robots after real people? If the people are living, designers should have to obtain formal consent, Thalmann suggested. Perhaps designers can forego consent if the people have been dead for at least 50 years, she said. In other words, you can't go around making fembots of whomever you please without getting permission from the human being who inspired it. The Scarlett Johansson robot doesn't just have an aesthetic similarity to the actress. She moves, speaks and laughs. When simulated behavior is coupled with artificial intelligence, machines have more than just mechanical or functional purposes there exists a level of affection. Science has shown that these humanized machines can elicit an emotional and sexual response in . A Stanford study found that "humans can become physiologically aroused from touching a human-shaped robot in private places like their eyes and buttocks," the Independent reported. Story continues When someone has the ability to forge an intimate physical relationship with a machine modeled after your likeness, and you feel violated, shouldn't you have a say in whether or not that relationship should exist? You should, especially if that person can get aroused by touching your robo-butt. Robot clones, whether for sex or intimacy, grant their makers access to an otherwise unattainable fantasy. The designers can forge a real emotional and/or sexual relationship with their subject without permission. If that makes the subjects after whom these robots are modeled feel violated, they deserve a voice. Washington (AFP) - Texas Senator Ted Cruz commanded new momentum Wednesday in the race for the White House with a solid Wisconsin primary win, making it harder for frontrunner Donald Trump to clinch the Republican nomination outright. Upstart senator Bernie Sanders also beat frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Midwestern state, bolstering his claim to be a viable alternative standard-bearer to the former secretary of state and first lady. Sanders has now won six of the last seven Democratic nominating contests against Clinton. But the Wisconsin results were almost certainly more damaging for Trump. The billionaire stormed to the fore last year with a brash anti-establishment message. But he has suffered setbacks in recent weeks with a string of controversial comments about abortion, NATO and nuclear weapons. Cruz captured most of Wisconsin's 42 Republican delegates, making it far less likely that Trump will win the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination outright. This raises the prospect of a contested convention in July when the delegates meet to choose the party nominee for the November presidential election. - 'Turning point' - "Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry," Cruz told cheering supporters in Milwaukee after he received a hug from Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, one of several former 2016 presidential candidates to have endorsed him. "It is a call from the hard-working men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice, a real choice." Trump made no public appearance after the results were announced. His campaign released a statement that criticized Cruz as, among other things, "worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump." Cruz and the anti-Trump movement had eyed Wisconsin as a firewall against the real estate tycoon's march to become the GOP flag bearer. Story continues Analysts said Tuesday's vote could alter the trajectory of the Republican race. "Trump needs every delegate to get to 1,237, and tonight was a significant setback," veteran election analyst Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia told AFP. "It's not impossible for Trump to still get there, but the likelihood is that Trump will be a few dozen delegates short of a majority," he added, meaning the likelihood of a contested convention has increased substantially. Tuesday's results cement Cruz's status as the leading anti-Trump candidate, with Ohio Governor John Kasich far behind. Cruz used his victory speech to turn the spotlight on a possible face-off with Clinton. "Hillary, get ready. Here we come," he said. Cruz also predicted he could earn the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination. That goal will be extremely difficult to reach: experts have projected Cruz would need to win 90 percent or more of remaining delegates to reach the magic number. With 98 percent of votes counted, Cruz, a conservative senator from Texas, was ahead with 48.3 percent of the vote, compared to 35 percent for Trump. Kasich was a distant third at 14 percent. On the Democratic side, Vermont Senator Sanders led with 56.4 percent to 43.3 percent over Clinton. "This campaign is giving energy and enthusiasm to millions of Americans," Sanders told supporters in Wyoming, which holds a Democratic vote Saturday. Sanders said his momentum gives him an "excellent chance" to win California, Oregon and other states. "We have a path toward victory, a path toward the White House," he declared. But Clinton, the onetime first lady who is aiming to become the nation's first female commander in chief, has the delegate math in her favor and can look forward to the upcoming races with some confidence. She leads Sanders by double digits in New York, her adopted home state which votes April 19, and Pennsylvania, which casts ballots a week later. Trump also leads handily in his home state of New York and in Pennsylvania. - Trump's sour grapes - His campaign for months had appeared to be fireproof. Yet the billionaire went into Tuesday's vote after a brutal week on the campaign trail. Analysts notably pointed to comments on abortion that damaged his standing with women voters. After the Wisconsin vote, his team lashed out at Cruz, saying the senator had "the entire party apparatus behind him." Trump had 740 delegates heading into Tuesday. Cruz had 474 and Kasich 145, according to CNN. If none reaches the threshold of 1,237 before the Republican primary races wrap up on June 7, the nominee could be decided at a contested convention where, after the first ballot, delegates will be free to vote according to personal preference instead of being bound by the primary results. Clinton secured 1,742 delegates prior to Tuesday -- including 483 so-called "super-delegates" who are not bound by primary results -- while Sanders has 1,051, according to a CNN tally. A candidate needs 2,383 delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. By Emily Stephenson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz often tells supporters about his Supreme Court win against the federal government in 2008, defending Texas' right to execute a Mexican man for murder, as evidence of his conservative and anti-establishment credentials. But there is one part of the story that goes untold. The Medellin v. Texas case, decided when Cruz was the state's solicitor general, set the stage for years of diplomatic tension between the United States and its southern neighbor. Mexico has publicly protested U.S. executions of its citizens over the years, but interviews with diplomats and reviews of official Mexican government communiques reveal that the turmoil caused by the Medellin case ran deeper, coming up at nearly every meeting between the United States and Mexico and leading to an official protest to the United Nations Security Council in 2014. Given the level of frustration, Cruz's role in the court battle raises questions about U.S.-Mexico relations if he were to beat billionaire Donald Trump to the Republican nomination and win the U.S. presidential election in November. "I think relations would be complicated with a President Cruz, said Sergio Alcocer, who was Mexico's deputy foreign minister responsible for North America between 2012-2015. Alcocer praised Cruz as intelligent and pragmatic but said the senator was too inflexible on issues like immigration and the death penalty. Cruz takes certain positions that are very clearly defined. And he's much more conservative, much more dogmatic than Trump," Alcocer said. A Cruz campaign official did not respond to requests for comment. In Mexico City, a foreign ministry spokesman said Mexico had no preference among the U.S. presidential candidates and would not comment on the election. In the Medellin case, Cruz defended the death sentence a Texas court imposed on Mexican citizen Jose Ernesto Medellin after he was convicted in 1994 for his role in the gang rape and strangling of two teenage girls in a Houston park. In 2004, the International Court of Justice of the United Nations ruled that Texas and other states had violated the Vienna Convention by failing to notify Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row of their right to contact the Mexican consulate after arrest. President George W. Bush ordered Texas and other states to review the sentences. Cruz argued that, while the United States had submitted to the international court's decisions, the White House could not implement an international agreement that required states to change their court procedures without action by Congress. The Supreme Court agreed in a 6-3 decision. Winning the case raised Cruzs profile in conservative circles. He has recently said he would appoint justices who would narrowly interpret the Constitution - as he did in the Medellin case - a crucial talking point in the election following the death of Supreme Court conservative icon Antonin Scalia. "It was an unusual thing at the time for the state of Texas to be standing up against the president of the United States in front of the Supreme Court, particularly when that president was a Texan and a Republican and the former governor of this state, Cruz told cheering supporters at a Houston rally in February, one of the many times he has brought up the case. MEXICO PROTESTS The Supreme Court ruling removed a potential legal barrier to three more executions of Mexican nationals in Texas who had been part of the same international court case as Medellin, even as U.S. allies such as the European Union and Switzerland criticized what they saw as ongoing treaty violations. Mexico pressed U.S. officials and Congress to follow the international courts directive and require states to review death sentences where people had been denied consular access. "The issue came up as one of the top few issues (Mexico) raised in almost every bilateral meeting we had," said Harold Hongju Koh, who was legal adviser to the U.S. State Department from 2009-2013. Alcocer, the former Mexican deputy foreign minister, confirmed the issue of consular access was raised during negotiations on other cross-border issues like the extradition of criminals. "It's not resolved, and it's something that Mexico needs to keep insisting on, he said in an interview. Mexican officials said both the Bush and Obama administrations had been open to working on the issue. U.S. State Department officials supported consular-access legislation introduced in the Senate, but that was not enough to spur Congress to resolve the issue. Texas executed Medellin in August 2008, five months after the Supreme Court decision, drawing swift criticism from the United Nations court. Three years later, as Texas prepared to execute another Mexican national who had not received consular access, Mexico's then-ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the action would "seriously jeopardize" cooperation on a range of issues. "It serves neither the United States nor the Mexico-U.S. relationship if the U.S. cannot live up to its treaty obligations," said the letter, which was reviewed by Reuters. In 2013, Mexico warned Washington in another letter that the executions of Mexican nationals who had been denied consular access would mean "our whole forward-looking bilateral engagement could be questioned." A year later the government wrote to the president of the United Nations Security Council expressing indignation over the executions of Mexican citizens in violation of the international court directive. Sarukhan, the former Mexican ambassador, said Mexico had few options to put pressure on the United States without harming cooperation in other areas. "March 31st marks now 12 years since the decision was rendered and the United States is yet to comply with its international obligations," the government said in a statement, responding to Reuters questions about the Medellin case and Cruz's involvement in it. Critics of the Medellin ruling, and Cruz's boasts about it, say Texas could have simply reviewed the sentences as the international court had asked. Texas could have provided that remedy 20 times over in the time that it took to litigate that case up and down through the Texas courts and the Supreme Court, said Sandra Babcock, a law professor at Cornell University who was one of Medellins attorneys. The long-term damage, the reputational damage to the United States is still ongoing. But Cruzs supporters dismiss such criticism. His job as solicitor general was to defend Texas, not to worry about the international implications, they say. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a former attorney general who was Cruz's boss at the time of the Medellin case, introduced the presidential hopeful at the February rally in Houston. "He fought against the United Nations, the world court and the United States of America itself to defend Texas sovereignty," Abbott said to cheers. (Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Ross Colvin) (Reuters) - The Tennessee House passed a bill on Wednesday allowing mental health counselors to refuse service to patients on religious grounds, the latest in a list of U.S. state measures that gay rights activists have criticized as discriminating against the LGBT community. A vote by the state House of Representatives protects therapists and counselors from civil lawsuits and criminal action if they deny services to clients whose religious beliefs conflict with their own. The bill passed by a 68-22 vote and sent to Gov. Bill Haslam for his signature. The state Senate passed the bill earlier this year. Supporters of the bill say it protects the rights of counselors who object on religious grounds to the adopted code of ethics of the American Counseling Association. But opponents say it is an attempt to deny service to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, a vulnerable population often in need of counseling services. The House bill, which was sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Howell, is one of many that are being challenged by human rights organizations claiming the legislation is anti-LGBT. Howell was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon. The Tennessee Equality Project, which supports gay rights, condemned the House passage of the bill even though it does not specifically refer to the LGBT issue. The group called on the governor to veto the legislation. Haslam told Nashville Public Radio he has not decided whether to sign or veto the counseling legislation, but he was considering the impact it may have on the state and its citizens. "They (state lawmakers) need to obviously always vote their conscience," he told the radio station. "One of the things, though, that we should be mindful of is, is there a broader impact?" On Tuesday, PayPal Holdings Inc canceled plans to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina and invest $3.6 million in the area after the state passed a law requiring people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate rather than their gender identity. Tennessee is considering similar legislation related to school bathrooms, and civil rights groups are watching a Missouri measure seen as discriminatory. Last week, the governors of Georgia and Virginia vetoed "religious liberty" bills. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant on Tuesday signed a far-reaching law allowing people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples and protecting other actions considered discriminatory by gay rights activists. (Reporting by Justin Madden; Editing by David Gregorio) Amidst all the understandable hoopla surrounding the recently unveiled Model 3, Tesla yesterday quietly put out a press release detailing the number of vehicles it delivered to customers during the first quarter of 2016. At the close of the quarter, Tesla reported deliveries of 14,820 cars, a figure which includes the Model S and the Model X. Of that figure, 12,420 deliveries were of the Model S while the Model accounted for 2,400 of the company's quarterly deliveries. The larger takeaway, though, is that Tesla for the quarter missed its delivery goal of 16,000 vehicles. DON'T MISS: Tesla Model 3 is missing an important feature that no one is talking about While a shortfall of deliveries might ordinarily be cause for concern, the insanely high interest in the Model 3 will undoubtedly put to bed any concerns about Tesla's longterm viability. What's more, Tesla attributed its missed delivery goal not to a lull in demand, but rather with its inability to meet demand. Specifically, Tesla pointed to parts shortages from suppliers as the reason for lower than expected deliveries. The Q1 delivery count was impacted by severe Model X supplier parts shortages in January and February that lasted much longer than initially expected. Once these issues were resolved, production and delivery rates improved dramatically. By the last full week of March, the build rate rose to 750 Model X vehicles per week, however many of these vehicles were built too late to be delivered to their owners before end of quarter. Almost comically, Tesla also laid blame for the aforementioned supply shortages on its own "hubris." In other words, Tesla believes it made the Model X far too technologically advanced far too soon. The root causes of the parts shortages were: Teslas hubris in adding far too much new technology to the Model X in version 1, insufficient supplier capability validation, and Tesla not having broad enough internal capability to manufacture the parts in-house. The parts in question were only half a dozen out of more than 8,000 unique parts, nonetheless missing even one part means a car cannot be delivered. Story continues That aside, it's worth noting that interest in the Model S continues to rise. Tesla made a point of noting that Q1 2016 orders were an impressive 45% higher than Q1 orders in 2015. Related stories Elon Musk says Tesla will fix what critics call the Model 3's 'biggest design fail' Legendary car designer discusses Tesla's Model 3 and the future of electric cars Tesla plans to boost Model 3 production after receiving 325,000 reservations More from BGR: Android vendors have another reason to fear the iPhone SE This article was originally published on BGR.com By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition to halt the execution planned for Wednesday of a south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed to death a 12-year-old boy, mutilated the corpse and said he drank the blood of his victim. The move came about four hours before Pablo Vasquez, 38, was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection at 6 p.m at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. If the execution goes ahead, it would be the sixth in Texas this year and the 537th since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, the most of any state. Lawyers for Vasquez launched the last-minute appeal, saying in a petition filed with U.S. Supreme Court their client was denied a fair punishment because prospective, qualified jurors in his trial were dismissed if they had sympathies against the death penalty. The lawyers have previously said Vasquez had mental health problems and suffered from learning disabilities. The two-sentence statement from the court did not give a reason for why the petition was denied. The victim, David Cardenas, was found under metal sheets in the Texas border town of Donna in 1998. The arms were missing from the corpse, which had no skin on the back and a hole in the back of the head, court papers filed by Texas said. The incident raised worries at the time about occult rituals, which were stoked when prosecutors produced a taped confession in which Vasquez, then 21, admitted to the killing and said he drank his victim's blood after saying voices from the devil told him to do so. Cardenas, trying to fit in with a group of teenagers and Vasquez, was hanging out with the group near a mobile home, when he was attacked. Police later received tips of a murder and found the decaying and mutilated body of the 12-year-old, the court papers showed. Prosecutors said Vasquez hit the victim in the head with a pipe and cut his throat. They also said he stole some jewelry from the victim. Story continues "The body was also mutilated after death by some means that caused bones to shatter," the court papers said. It took the jury about an hour to find Vasquez guilty. A co-defendant, then 15, was sentenced to 35 years in prison on a murder conviction. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler and Alistair Bell) By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - A Kentucky lawyer, a retired administrative law judge and a psychologist have been charged with committing $600 million in disability fraud by submitting phony medical records to the government, according an indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The 18-count federal indictment accused Eric Christopher Conn, an attorney who advertised his services through the website MrSocialSecurity.com, of directing the fraud scheme over the course of eight years with two other named defendants - David Black Daugherty and Alfred Adkins. Prosecutors allege Conn filed more than 2,000 bogus claims with the Social Security Administration seeking disability benefits totaling more than $600 million, some of which was obtained by Conn's clients in the form of retroactive payments. Claims for his clients, residing primarily in four eastern Kentucky counties, were all routed to a regional office in Huntington, West Virginia, where Daugherty, an administrative law judge for 21 years, either assigned the cases to himself or had someone else assign them to him, the indictment said. Conn also is accused of destroying evidence once he came under investigation and of threatening an individual who provided accurate information to authorities. Atkins' alleged role in the scheme was providing contractual psychological services for Conn's clients, the indictment said. Neither Conn, 55, Daugherty, 81, Atkins, 44, or any of their legal representatives, could be reached for comment. Conn faces multiple counts of mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering. Daugherty was charged with three counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud, along with two counts of conspiracy. Adkins was charged with three counts each of mail and wire fraud, two counts of giving false statements and one count of conspiracy. David Habich, an FBI spokesman in Louisville, said the three men were arrested after the indictment. Conn and Adkins, both from Pikeville, Kentucky, were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday. Adkins was granted conditional release according to court documents, but Conn continued to be held pending another hearing Thursday, prosecutors said. Story continues It was not immediately clear when Daugherty, now a resident of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, would make his first court appearance. Three unindicted co-conspirators in the case were identified as two doctors and an office manager for Conn, according to court documents. (Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Editing by Steve Gorman, Ben Klayman and Kim Coghill) Texas Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a complete drubbing to frontrunner Donald J. Trump in the Republican primary election in Wisconsin last night. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Cruz beat Trump 48 to 35, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich taking just 14 percent. The result means that Cruz will come away with at least 36 delegates, and Trump with as few as three. (One Congressional districts three delegates are still in play.) Trump reacted to the loss like a preschooler unhappy about losing a game of Chutes and Ladders. Related: Heres the Problem with Trumps Plan to Pay for the Border Wall Rather than address his supporters, as candidates traditionally do after an election even a losing one Trump, through his campaign, issued a petulant statement accusing Cruz of violating election law, and serving as a puppet for the Republican establishment (despite the well-documented fact that Cruz is about the only person members of the Republican establishment actually dislike more than Donald Trump). The Trump statement was delivered in a single, long paragraph, complete with dubious grammar and punctuation, as though dictated by an angry billionaire anxious to board his private jet and finally escape the Midwest for the friendlier confines of the East Coast: Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-trump Super PACs spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PACs (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet--- he is a Trojan horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. Mr. Trump is the only candidate who can secure the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton or whomever is the Democratic nominee, in order to Make America Great Again. Story continues Related: Would Trump Put the Deep South in Play? A New Poll Suggests Yes To be clear, there is no evidence that Cruz violated the law in any way. But there is solid evidence to suggest that this will be Trumps modus operandi going forward whenever he hits a speed bump on the way to the Republican nominating convention in July. While the results in the Badger state dont change the fact that Trump remains the frontrunner and the most likely nominee, his failure in Wisconsin makes it very difficult for him to cement that status on the basis of primary voting alone. He will almost certainly come into the convention in Cleveland with the most votes of any of the three remaining candidates, but it now looks doubtful that he will secure the 1,237 he would need for a first-ballot nomination. Related: GOP Accused of Stealing Delegates to Dump Trump A contested convention is the nightmare scenario for Trump, where his small and loosely organized campaign will run up against a well-oiled Cruz operation that is already peeling delegates away from the billionaire in backroom wrangling. The Donald has spent the last eight months preparing his defense against Cruz in a convention battle by cultivating a sense of victimhood in his supporters, alleging the existence of a conspiracy of the Republican establishment to snatch the nomination away through trickery. With Trump himself predicting riots if he is not nominated in July, and a prominent Trump surrogate actively inciting them, his decision to amplify that message in his statement last night is a clear signal of where this contest is heading. Trump has long since decided that he is entitled to the GOP nomination and will go straight to scorched earth tactics if it looks as though hell be deprived of it. Baseless claims of election law violations are just the start. This article was updated on April 6, 2016 at 8:15 am. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz delivered a complete drubbing to frontrunner Donald J. Trump in the Republican primary election in Wisconsin last night. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Cruz beat Trump 48 to 35, with Ohio Gov. John Kasich taking just 14 percent. The result means that Cruz will come away with at least 36 delegates and Trump with as few as three. (One congressional districts three delegates are still in play.) Trump reacted to the loss like a preschooler unhappy about losing a game of Chutes and Ladders. Related: Heres the Problem with Trumps Plan to Pay for the Border Wall Rather than address his supporters, as candidates traditionally do after an election even a losing one Trump, through his campaign, issued a statement accusing Cruz of violating election law and serving as a puppet for the Republican establishment. (Despite the well-documented fact that Cruz is about the only person members of the Republican establishment actually dislike more than Donald Trump.) The Trump statement was delivered in a single, long paragraph, complete with dubious grammar and punctuation, as though dictated by an angry billionaire anxious to board his private jet and finally escape the Midwest for the friendlier confines of the East Coast: Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-trump Super PACs spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PACs (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet--- he is a Trojan horse being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. Mr. Trump is the only candidate who can secure the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton or whomever is the Democratic nominee, in order to Make America Great Again. Story continues Related: Would Trump Put the Deep South in Play? A New Poll Suggests Yes To be clear, there is no evidence that Cruz violated the law in any way. There is, however, solid evidence to suggest that this will be Trumps modus operandi going forward whenever he hits a speed bump on the way to the Republican nominating convention in July. While the results in the Badger state dont change the fact that Trump remains the frontrunner and the most likely nominee, his failure in Wisconsin makes it very difficult for him to cement that status on the basis of primary voting alone. He will almost certainly come into the convention in Cleveland with the most votes of any of the three remaining candidates, but it now looks doubtful that he will secure the 1,237 he would need for a first-ballot nomination. A contested convention is the nightmare scenario for Trump, where his small and loosely organized campaign will run up against a well-oiled Cruz operation that is already peeling delegates away from the billionaire in backroom wrangling. The Donald has spent the last eight months preparing his defense against Cruz in a convention battle by cultivating a sense of victimhood in his supporters, alleging the existence of a conspiracy of the Republican establishment to snatch the nomination away through trickery. Related: GOP Accused of Stealing Delegates to Dump Trump With Trump himself predicting riots if he doesnt get the nomination in July, and a prominent Trump surrogate actively inciting them, his decision to amplify that message in his statement last night is a clear signal of where this contest is heading. Trump has long since decided that he is entitled to the GOP nomination and will go straight to scorched earth tactics if it looks as though hell be deprived of it. Baseless claims of election law violations are just the start. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: By Alex Bregman Tina Brown, president and CEO of Tina Brown Live Media and founder of Women in the World, joined Yahoo News and Finance Anchor Bianna Golodryga ahead of the seventh annual Women in the World Conference this week. She also discussed various aspects of the 2016 election campaign: Donald Trumps rise, Hillary Clintons slog to the nomination and the role women have played in the campaign. Brown called Trumps campaign rhetoric, particularly about women, a rolling momentum of disgust. She said, I think at this point youre starting to see such a pattern of sort of galloping misogyny that is beginning to give people pause. Brown thinks people are beginning to wake up to the idea of a Trump presidency. She said, I think theres beginning to be a fear factor about Donald Trump, which is: What if he says this stuff when hes out there on behalf of America? Brown, however, who has known Trump for years, is not convinced that the real estate mogul believes the things hes been saying on the campaign trail. She told Golodryga: Ive known him for years. Ive always found him as sort of a great huckster, a showman, a Barnum & Bailey. I dont think he believes all this stuff for a minute. Thats whats so fascinating to me. She continued, I dont think hes particularly an antiwomens rights kind of a guy. I think hes kind of an unreconstructed kind of 1985 Playboy Mansion sort of a man of a certain generation. But I dont see him as a person who is a dark racist. Brown thinks hes just saying things that he thinks will win him the presidency. She said, I dont think those things are actually particularly true about him, which makes it almost worse because hes almost adopted this stuff because he thought hed win. Now its sort of taken root whether he actually believes it. I dont think he believes it. I think the reason hes making these gaffes is that hes sort of making it up as he goes along. Brown is more concerned about Sen. Ted Cruz than she is about Donald Trump. She said, I think that Ted Cruz does believe the stuff that he says, which is why I find him rather more alarming than Donald Trump, because hes a very plausible candidate. He might be very good in a debate with Hillary Clinton because hes not an uneducated or un-deft politician. Hes quite good, where I think she would eat Donald Trumps lunch at this point because he really can look like a fool I think. Story continues On the Democratic side, Brown thinks the nomination will ultimately go to Hillary Clinton despite her recent losses. Nobody expected Sanders to get this far, but, you know, everything about Hillary Clintons life has been a slog. This is not a woman who has ever done it on magic. Its about a slog. I think shell slog it out. She has this unbelievable stamina. She is concerned about Sanders genuine knowledge on policy issues. She told Golodryga: Its scary having someone in the White House who doesnt know anything, and Bernie Sanders, you know, I agree with a huge amount of what he says actually, but how is he going to get it done? She concluded, Bernie behaves like he can wave a wand and buy everybody a drink. Brown is fascinated by what she called a mismatch between Sanders supporters and the candidate himself. She said, Isnt it amazing that these young people are going with a 75-year-old guy with the unruly hair and the honky voice? She does think that Sanders supporters will come out for Clinton in the end because of who she might be facing: I cannot believe that even the young, euphoric kids who love Bernie Sanders are going to sit on their hands and let either a Donald Trump or a Ted Cruz win the White House. She continued, I think the way shell unite them is with who is going to be on the other side. Djibouti (AFP) - The tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, which votes Friday in presidential elections, is hitching its wagon to the star of neighbouring Ethiopia with a series of cross-border projects funded mainly by China, the new power-broker in the region. Djibouti's President Ismael Omar Guelleh, in power since 1999, is seeking a fourth term as head of the former French colony that sits at the entrance to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. The vote, which the opposition has already branded a sham, will test support for a series of infrastructure projects that aim to increase the already outsized influence of the country of around 800,000 people, home to America's biggest -- and only permanent -- military base in Africa. Djibouti has been in the lucrative position of offering landlocked Ethiopia its only access to the sea since Ethiopia went to war with Eritrea next door in 1998. During the two-year conflict, Addis Ababa relied on Djibouti's main port to import weapons. Since then Ethiopia's economy has grown exponentially, and with it the tide of imports flowing through Djibouti to the country of 97 million people, which accounts for 86 percent of all goods transiting through Djiboutian ports. Not content to rely on passing trade and playing host to the military bases of several world powers, Djibouti is now looking to play a bigger role in east Africa, in tandem with fast-growing Ethiopia. "Even if the country has a very good strategic location, small economies like ours need to be integrated into regional development efforts," Foreign Minister Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told AFP. - A 'model' for east Africa - In 2011, Djibouti was hooked up to Ethiopia's electricity grid. Two further interconnectors are planned, one of which could transport Ethiopian power across the Red Sea to Yemen. A 752-kilometre railway line linking the city of Djibouti to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa is scheduled to open soon, with another line for exporting potassium from the northern Ethiopian city of Mekele through the Djiboutian port of Tadjourah set to soon follow. Story continues In the past year the neighbours have also announced two major energy projects. A multi-billion-dollar pipeline will transport natural gas from Ethiopia to a liquefaction plant and export terminal at Damerjog in Djibouti, while in the other direction, a planned 550-kilometre pipeline will carry diesel, gasoline and jet fuel from Djibouti's ports to central Ethiopia. Completing the list of cross-border projects is a water pipeline to channel drinking water from Ethiopia to Djibouti, which like Ethiopia is prone to droughts. "Our relationship is gaining momentum", said Tewolde Mulugeta, spokesman for the Ethiopian foreign ministry, who sees the deepening ties between the two countries as "a model" for the region. It is a view shared in Djibouti. "The main thing is that the development benefits not only the two countries but also other countries in the region," Energy Minister Ali Yacoub Mahamoud told AFP. "That is why we must combine our resources, our efforts and our ideas". - Chinese money - The two countries see themselves as the engine of closer cooperation within the regional IGAD grouping, which also includes Kenya, Uganda, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan. Ethiopia and Djibouti's special relationship has been welcomed by China, a major investor in the region. Most of Djibouti's 14 major infrastructure projects, which have been valued at a total 14.4 billion dollars, are being funded by Chinese banks, including the railway line that will halve transit times from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. "These are very big investments," Djibouti's foreign minister said, explaining that China was "the only partner that accompanied us along this path." China is also funding the pipeline that will transport natural gas to the port in Djibouti for export to the Asian powerhouse, and recently signed an accord with the Red Sea state on the construction of a free trade zone around 50 kilometres from Djibouti city. Economists warn that Djibouti is becoming too reliant on Chinese credit. The country's public debt burden is forecast to rise from 60 per cent in 2015 to around 80 percent in 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund. "It's a dilemma," admits Youssouf, the foreign minister. "The more indebted we are, the more we depend on our creditor. But what alternative is there? Countries can only develop if they have infrastructure." European mapping, navigation and logistics company TomTom is the latest company to offer everyone free access to its live traffic data in the hopes of helping individuals and businesses alike plan safer, more sustainable and less congested trips. Launched on Tuesday, TomTom City is an online traffic portal accessible to all that shows live traffic events -- i.e., congestion, accidents and incidents --across a host of major cities around the world. Initial features will include being able to check the current average speed of traffic, a graphical depiction of congestion levels, road closures, delay hotspots and a forecast (think the weather) based on current and historical data regarding how quickly or slowly cars will be moving and where delays are most likely to occur. For businesses and local authorities, there is also the ability to add information regarding upcoming closures or to report new incidents or to announce upcoming road works, for example. At the end of March, INRIX another leading navigation and traffic management company made much of its live traffic data accessible to all via the launch of a new free traffic management app. One of its features is that it uses data from cars and infrastructure that already run its software to create real-time congestion maps. And with every new person using the app, the depth and detail of that data improves. TomTom's offering will help the company achieve a similar goal -- to make the information it offers as compressive and as immediate as possible, something that is going to become crucial as cars become more and more connected and as vehicles go from having active safety systems to semi-autonomous and finally fully autonomous systems. Ralf-Peter Schafer, Head of Traffic at TomTom, said: "TomTom City gives drivers and traffic managers essential insights into the real-time traffic situation and the historical bottlenecks in key cities. This is an important step in our mission to help reduce delays for all drivers. Using data from over 450 million devices globally we are creating services that will help cities and connected cars work together to optimize the road network." TomTom City is now available for users in 25 cities -- from London to Cape Town to San Francisco -- across 18 countries including much of Europe, Russia, Australia and Brazil. By Aditi Shah and Jake Spring NEW DELHI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China's top carmaker SAIC Motor Corp <600104.SS> and Great Wall Motor <601633.SS>, its biggest maker of SUVs, are spearheading the country's first major push into India, one of the world's fastest growing auto markets, as growth at home stagnates. The entry is late and risky - global carmakers like Volkswagen AG , Ford Motor and General Motors have struggled to push sales in the cost conscious Indian market despite being here for more than a decade. Chinese cars also suffer from perceptions of poor quality in India. While they plan to woo Indian buyers with their no-frills cars and cut-price SUVs, Chinese manufacturers will compete head on with established carmakers like Suzuki Motor <7269.T> and Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> that dominate many markets in Southeast Asia. Even so, India offers one of the last frontiers of growth - by 2020 the country is likely to become the world's third-largest car market, from fifth place, with annual sales nearly doubling to 5 million vehicles from 2.7 million in 2015. SAIC and Great Wall are in separate talks with the state government of Maharashtra in western India to set up a factory in the auto hub of Pune city, the state industries minister told Reuters. A source close to SAIC said the company is considering Pune city among other locations. The automaker plans to set up a factory in India within the next three years and is in the early stages of researching such a move, the person said. "The market potential of India is huge," said the source. For SAIC, the maker of marquee MG and Roewe cars, India is next on the agenda after entering Indonesia and would happen before they try to enter Russia, other European nations or the United States. SAIC is also in discussion to buy a plant currently operated by GM in western Gujarat state, according to people familiar with the matter. The Detroit automaker plans to stop production at the Halol plant in Gujarat by end-June as it consolidates operations at one location. Story continues "We are examining a number of options in relation to the Halol factory ... including the sale of the site," GM said in a statement. The company declined to elaborate on how it plans to sell the factory and said there was nothing further to announce about Halol at this point. In February, 12 executives from Great Wall attended the India Auto Expo car show to survey the market and understand government policy on diesel engines and emissions, an industry source in India said. Great Wall's board of directors on March 7 voted unanimously in favour of a motion to establish a subsidiary in India, according to a stock exchange filing. A spokeswoman said there were no further details on the automaker's plans there, including when it would set up a subsidiary. Chongqing Changan Automobile <000625.SZ>, China's fourth biggest automaker, launched a search in January for an advisor in India to help form an entry plan, according to an email from the company to a consultant that was seen by Reuters. Company president Zhu Huarong told reporters in November that Chongqing Changan saw India as one of its three strategic foreign markets for investment and planned to start making cars there by 2020. A spokeswoman for SAIC and a spokesman for Changan declined to comment. QUALITY PERCEPTION Global carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T> and Volkswagen have struggled to push sales in India in part due to the lack of a portfolio of feature-rich, compact cars priced at about $5,000-$7,000, a segment where demand is high. Equally essential in the Indian market is having a wide-spread service network and keeping car maintenance costs low. "If the Chinese carmakers are able to overcome the quality perception, they have a huge cost advantage," said Amit Kaushik, country head at consultant JATO Dynamics. SAIC is evaluating what models to launch in India and is considering vehicles less than four metres in length because of favourable policies - sub-compact cars attract lower taxes - the source close to the company said. It is also looking at modifying existing models to offer stripped down versions, as India is more price sensitive and regulatory requirements are lower, the person said. (Additional reporting by Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing and Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine senator said on Wednesday that Chinese hackers were likely to have pulled off one of the world's biggest cyber heists at the Bangladesh central bank, citing the network of Chinese people involved in the routing of the stolen funds through Manila. Unidentified hackers infiltrated the computers at Bangladesh Bank in early February and tried to transfer a total of $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. All but one of the 35 attempted transfers were to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), confirming the Philippines' centrality to the heist. Most transfers were blocked, but a total of $81 million went to four accounts at a single RCBC branch in Manila. The stolen money was swiftly transferred to a foreign exchange broker and distributed to casinos and gambling agents in Manila. "The hacking was done, chances are, by Chinese hackers," Senator Ralph Recto told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Then they saw that, in the Philippines, RCBC particularly was vulnerable and sent the money over here." Beijing was quick to denounce the comments by Recto, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and a former head of the Philippines' economic planning agency. The suggestion that Chinese hackers were possibly involved was "complete nonsense" and "really irresponsible," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters. Recto said he couldn't prove the hackers were Chinese, but was merely "connecting the dots" after a series of Senate hearings into the scandal. At one hearing, a Chinese casino boss and junket operator called Kim Wong named two high-rolling gamblers from Beijing and Macau who he said had brought the stolen money into the Philippines. He displayed purported copies of their passports, showing they were mainland Chinese and Macau administrative region nationals respectively. "BEST LEAD" Wong, a native of Hong Kong who holds a Chinese passport, received almost $35 million of the stolen funds through his company and a foreign exchange broker. The two Chinese named by Wong "are the best lead to determine who are the hackers," said Recto. "Chances are... they must be Chinese." The whereabouts of the two high-rollers were unknown, Recto added, saying the Senate inquiry "may" seek help from the Chinese government to find them. Recto also questioned the role of casino junket operators in the Philippines, saying many of them have links in Macau, the southern Chinese territory that is the world's biggest casino hub. "There are junket operators who are from Macau, so it (the money) may find its way back to Macau," he said. A senior executive at a top junket operator in Macau told Reuters there was "no reason" to bring funds from the Philippines to Macau. "This seems more like a political story in the Philippines," he said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The U.S. State Department said in a report last month that the gaming industry was "a weak link" in the Philippines' anti-money laundering regime. Philrem, the foreign exchange agent, said it distributed the stolen $81 million to Bloomberry Resorts Corp, which owns and operates the upmarket Solaire casino in Manila; to Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company, which is owned by Wong; and to an ethnic Chinese man believed to be a junket operator in Manila. Wong has returned $5.5 million to the Philippines' anti-money laundering agency and has promised to hand over another $9.7 million. A portion of the money he received, he said, has already been spent on gambling chips for clients. Solaire has told the Senate hearing that the $29 million that ended up with them was credited to an account of the Macau-based high-roller but it has managed to seize and confiscate $2.33 million in chips and cash. (Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Additional reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) By Susan Heavey WASHINGTON - Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday forcing Mexico to pay for his planned border wall by threatening to block remittances from illegal immigrants, which he said amounts to "welfare" for poor families in Mexico that their government does not provide. The Republican presidential candidate's campaign said in a memo that if elected in November, Trump would use a U.S. anti-terrorism law to cut off such money transfers unless Mexico made a one-time payment of $5 billion to $10 billion for the wall. Trump's pledge to build the wall has been a much-touted highlight of a platform targeting illegal immigration in the United States that has helped make him the front-runner to be the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election. It is unclear how much a wall along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico border would cost, and Mexico has been adamant it would not pay. The memo elaborated on an idea Trump floated in August, when he suggested seizing all remittances tied to "illegal wages." It said that upon taking office a Trump administration would propose a rule mandating companies such as Western Union Co WU.N to require customers to prove they were legally in the United States. If Mexico agreed to fund the wall, Trump would drop the proposed rule, it said. "Its an easy decision for Mexico," his campaign said, adding the country receives about $24 billion a year in remittances from Mexicans in the United States, most of them in the country illegally. "It (remittances) serves as de facto welfare for poor families in Mexico. There is no significant social safety net provided by the state in Mexico," it said. According to the World Bank Remittances project, flows from the U.S. to Mexico in 2014, the last full year for which it has data, were nearly $24 billion although it is unclear what portion comes from Mexicans living in the country illegally. 'GOOD LUCK WITH THAT' Democratic President Barack Obama called the remittance-blocking idea impractical and possibly self-defeating. "The notion that we're going to track every Western Union bit of money that's being sent to Mexico, you know, good luck with that," he told reporters. If Mexico's economy collapses, it would just drive more immigrants to the United States, Obama added. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto appeared to dismiss the proposal as campaign rhetoric. "The (Mexican) Presidency has no comment on any opinion made in the heat of the electoral process to choose candidates for the U.S. presidency," the president's office said in a text message to Reuters. Any move to target payments sent home by people living in the United States could have a crushing financial effect in Mexico, the leading recipient of U.S. remittances. Trump's proposal could also affect banks and companies that handle wire transfers, which also include MoneyGram International Inc and PayPal Holdings Inc's Xoom. The companies did not respond to requests for comment. In addition to his wall proposal, Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug runners to the United States. Democrats and many Republicans have repeatedly condemned his comments as inflammatory, but his remarks have been enthusiastically received by his supporters, especially by white working-class voters. In the memo, first reported by The Washington Post, Trump's campaign repeated its pledge to target visas. It also cited imposing trade tariffs or enforcing existing trade rules as a way of forcing Mexico to pay. Trump supporter Benjamin Proto, a Connecticut lawyer, acknowledged the remittance plan was unrealistic but praised the candidate for "looking at different ways to do things." The memo emerged as Republican candidate Ted Cruz appeared set to beat Trump in Wisconsin's primary contest on Tuesday, a win he would hope would mark him as the best alternative to the New York billionaire. (Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Jason Lange and David Chance in Washington; Alexandra Alper and Simon Gardner in Mexico City and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Frances Kerry) Ankara (AFP) - Turkey has arrested a female militant affiliated to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) suspected of planning to carry out a suicide attack, a report said Wednesday. The arrest of the woman in the capital Ankara -- identified as R.I., 21 -- comes after the city was this year rocked by two suicide car bombings claimed by Kurdish militants that left dozens dead. She was detained by police during a regular traffic inspection at one of the entrances to the city in the Golbasi district, the Dogan news agency reported. The woman had been the subject of a nationwide search after digitally-stored data was found on a Kurdish militant killed in the southeastern Mardin region that identified her as a potential suicide attacker, Dogan said. There was no suggestion she had explosives on her when detained. She was placed under arrest by a criminal court in Ankara ahead of a trial whose date has yet to be set. It said that the woman had been treated for one-and-a-half months for liver problems in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir before heading for Ankara. Over 40,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms in 1984 demanding a homeland for Turkey's biggest minority. Since then, the group has pared back its demands to focus on cultural rights and a measure of autonomy. Over 350 members of the Turkish security forces have been killed in bomb and gun attacks by the PKK since a ceasefire collapsed last summer last summer. A radical PKK splinter group, the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), claimed responsibility for two suicide car bombings in Ankara on February 17 and March 13. Meanwhile, Istanbul has also been rocked by two deadly attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists this year that targeted foreigners. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's top migration official said on Wednesday a deal with Ankara on refugees was beginning to have an effect and would eventually be scaled up, after the first irregular migrants were returned to Turkey this week. "We are still at the beginning, the numbers are very low," EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a news conference. "But it's better to start working slowly. I believe in the course of time we will scale up... It's a good start." Avramopoulos was in Ankara earlier this week to demand that Turkey introduces legal protection for asylum-seekers before the EU began sending them back. The Greek diplomat said that was still indispensable for larger-scale returns to start. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by John Stonestreet) By Can Sezer ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey is investigating how hackers have posted online the identity data of some 50 million Turks, including what they said were details about the president and prime minister, after what is believed to be the biggest data breach seen in the country. While no group has taken credit for uploading the data to a website called the Turkish Citizenship Database, the comments posted suggest Turkey may be a target of political hackers. The 1.5 gigabyte compressed file contains the national identity number, date of birth and full address for 49.6 million Turks, according to the website, or around two thirds of the population. The website said it included the ID information of President Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and former president Abdullah Gul and taunted the president. "Who would have imagined that backward ideologies, cronyism and rising religious extremism in Turkey would lead to a crumbling and vulnerable technical infrastructure?" the website says. "Do something about Erdogan! He is destroying your country beyond recognition." An official at Ankara's chief prosecutor's office said on Wednesday it was investigating the breach, but declined to give further details. The number of Turkish citizens affected was roughly the same size as the entire electorate, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters. "How and from where this was leaked needs to be looked into," he said. "I believe the necessary investigations - both administrative and judicial - have been launched and whatever is necessary will be done." OFFICIAL FILES Tuncay Besikci, a computer forensics expert at auditing and consultancy firm PwC, confirmed to Reuters the file contained ID numbers and personally identifiable information of at least 46 million citizens. Transport and Communication Minister Binali Yildirim said on Tuesday the breach appeared to date back to at least 2010. It is not clear when the file was first uploaded, although reports of it surfaced in local media this week. He said the data was from electoral records that the state shares with political parties before elections. However, Besikci, the computer expert, said he believed the data was taken from the government's official Population Governance Central Database in or around 2009 and later illegally sold on to firms that dealt in asset foreclosures. In December, Turkish Internet servers suffered one of the most intense cyberattacks seen in the country, raising fears Ankara may have been a target of political hackers. The December hacking involved a flood of disruptive traffic, known as a DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack, where computers target specific Internet sites, resulting in web speeds plummeting. Under Erdogan, Turkey has a taken a tough stance on social media sites. Turkey has blocked access to sites such as Twitter, often due to images or other content being shared. Last month an Ankara court ordered a ban on access to both Twitter and Facebook after images from a car bombing in the capital were shared. (Story refiled fixing typo in first paragraph) (Additional reporting and writing by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by David Dolan and Alison Williams) Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey's authorities launched a probe Wednesday into a leak of the personal data of some 50 million Turkish citizens, the latest breach to expose weaknesses in the country's information security. The massive database -- containing Turks' names, identity numbers and addresses -- was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country's leadership. Ankara federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the data spill which risks exposing most of Turkey's 78 million Turkish citizens to identity theft and fraud, Turkish media reports said. Transport and Communications Minister Binali Yildirim initially brushed off the leak as an "old story" but on Wednesday confirmed the security breach, saying "we now know who leaked it". "The data that was given to political parties for elections in 2009 and afterwards has been leaked," he said. Yildirim suggested the breach had been the work of "the parallel structure" - a phrase used to describe a network run by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch-foe, the US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen. Gulen is often accused of running a parallel state aimed at usurping Erdogan and his supporters are a favoured target of government. "In line with the law, additional measures are being taken as regards the access of personal information," Yildirim said, warning of "serious prison terms" for those who divulged confidential data. Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said the investigation would focus on "where this was leaked from, finding out how it was leaked." -'It is a trap'- Local media said the site where the data was posted appeared to be hosted by an Icelandic group that specialises in divulging leaks, using servers in Romania. An online statement was posted by the hackers under the headline "Turkish Citizenship Database", pointing out weaknesses in the country's protection of data in a section called "lessons to learn for Turkey". Story continues It offered a hint of what the database contains, providing the personal data of Erdogan, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and former president Abdullah Gul. "Putting a hardcoded password on the UI (User Interface) hardly does anything for security. Do something about Erdogan! He is destroying your country beyond recognition." "Who would have imagined that backwards ideologies, cronyism and rising religious extremism in Turkey would lead to a crumbling and vulnerable technical infrastructure?" said the statement. Several Turks on social media reported finding their details in the database, but the communications minister Yildirim advised citizens not to expose themselves further by digging around in the file. "Don't go there, it is a trap. They want to get more data that belongs to you," he said. Davutoglu, on a visit to Finland, said authorities would "take the necessary measures to protect personal data". "I read that my personal address appeared. If someone wanted my address they only needed to ask," he said. Turkey has been working on a new data protection law for over a decade, a step that is crucial as part of the process of accession to the European Union. The latest version of the draft law was presented to parliament in January and the communications minister said it would come into force imminently. "People who do things like this will have to give account for what they have done. Previously, there was no legal framework. With the president's approval it will come into force soon," Yildirim said. The US has also been exposed to massive data leaks, with hackers gaining access to some 20 million personnel records for US government employees and contractors last year. Turkey was also targeted by hacktivist group Anonymous in December with a massive cyber-attack and threats of continued attacks against a country it said was "supporting the Islamic State by buying their oil and tending to their injured fighters." Turkey has always vehemently denied accusations of giving Islamist rebels in Syria moral or material backing. ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey will work on a new rule to strip citizenship from Turks found to be supporting terrorism, the justice minister said on Wednesday, a day after President Tayyip Erdogan said he wanted such a measure. Erdogan first floated the idea on Tuesday in a speech to lawyers. Since becoming president, he has transformed the largely ceremonial role into a more executive one, advocating for legislative moves and for the judiciary to take action. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hours later said there were no such plans underway, but Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag on Wednesday contradicted him. "Erdogan envisages a new rule (for stripping citizenship)," Bozdag told reporters live on television. "Of course we will begin work on this." Erdogan did not specify who he was targeting with the comments. In the past he said that those Turkey accuses of supporting terrorism - whether they are journalists or aid workers - are no different from terrorists themselves. Turkey faces unprecedented security troubles in a renewed battle against the autonomy-seeking Kurdish Worker's Party (PKK). Two suicide bombings blamed on Islamic State in recent months killed dozens. Rights advocates fear that anti-terrorism laws, already used to detain academics and opposition journalists, will now be used in courts to further stifle discussion of issues such as the Kurdish conflict. The PKK abandoned a two-year ceasefire in July, reigniting a conflict that has claimed more than 40,000 lives, most of them Kurdish, since 1984. The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Davutoglu had said late on Tuesday that there was no work was underway on any rule to strip citizenship. "At the moment we don't have any advanced work on this nor is this a topic being debated," Davutoglu told reporters before leaving for an official visit to Finland. Erdogan, who founded the ruling AK Party and served as prime minister for more than a decade, has already stretched the powers of the post since becoming head of state, insisting that even without constitutional change, his election by the people automatically granted him extra authority. He has also made no secret of his ambition for an executive presidency, a political system that he champions for Turkey and one that will be included in the ruling AK Party's proposal for a new constitution. (Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley and Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Ashgabat (Turkmenistan) (AFP) - Turkmenistan has passed a law making HIV tests mandatory prior to marriage, state media reported on Wednesday, in a sign the reclusive Central Asian state fears the spread of a disease it has always downplayed. The law is the closest the highly secretive state of 5 million has come to acknowledging a public health threat from the disease which is prevalent throughout the former Soviet Union. The law, which aims to "create conditions for healthy families and prevent the birth of HIV-infected children" was published in the state newspaper on Wednesday and is effective immediately. An official from the country's national AIDS Center, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that the new law was "very necessary" given the "high risk" of the spread of the virus. The official cited use of intravenous drugs, mostly sourced from neighbouring Afghanistan, and prostitution as the main means of transmission. Other than "persons entering marriage", the legislation also enforces HIV tests for blood donors, "persons suspected of narcotics use", prisoners, citizens of foreign countries applying for work visas and stateless persons. According to the law signed by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, the government will guarantee anonymity and free treatment for sufferers of the disease. Turkmenistan, which remains largely closed to the outside world, has always downplayed the prevalence of HIV, a disease that attacks the human immune system and is transmitted from person to person via bodily fluids. In 2002, the health ministry, which does not publish data on infectious diseases, claimed the country had only two cases of HIV and that both patients had been infected outside Turkmenistan. UPDATE with Cruz and Sanders victory laps, Donald Trump statement: In this latest episode of Oh Boy, Donald Trump Is In Trouble Now, Only Maybe Not, Ted Cruz was projected to be GOP winner of todays key Wisconsin primary about a nano-second after polls closed. Ditto Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side, with Fox News Channel projecting his win the moment the polls closed at 6 PM PT. CNN, in a switch, took a more conservative approach, making its early exit-poll projections after counting to 10, and MSNBC waiting even longer by making its projections at around 6:20 PM. That was just a few minutes before CNN projected a Cruz win on the Republican side, and Fox reporting that Cruz had already pre-released some victory-lap cliches, calling his Wisconsin win a rallying cry and a turning point. And at 6:46 PM CNN confirmed its earlier exit-poll projections by declaring Sanders the Dem winner. Its like Christmas in the summer, emoted CNNs Jake Tapper of the prospect of two open conventions, which is to say two conventions at which things actually happen and news gets made, in contrast to the largely ceremonial orgies of speechifying they have become. Not everyone agreed. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump, said you-know-whos campaign. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. More where that came from: Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him, The GOP frontrunners campaign boasted, even as pundits noted that Trump had only picked up 3 delegates to Cruzs 33 (numbers were still coming in). Story continues Tonight is a turning point, it is a rallying cry, Cruz said, as promised, in taking his victory lap. It is a call from the hardworking men and women of Wisconsin to America: You have a choice a real choice. After describing Wisconsin as a bad night for Hillary Clinton, Cruz went on to quote President John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, at great length. You know We are not here to curse the darkness but to light the candle that can guide us to see through the darkness to a safe and sane future. Great stuff. After cribbing from Churchill If we open a quarrel between the present and the past, we shall be in danger of losing the future Cruz wrote his own big finale: Hillary, get ready! Here we come! While Cruz borrowed his best lines from a Democrat, Sanders naturally lift from a Republican. Insisting his campaign is unlike other campaigns funded by SuperPACS and billionaires, Sanders paraphrased Abrahams Lincolns Gettysburg Address: This is a campaign of the people, by the people and for the people. Earlier Tuesday morning, Cruz said the Wisconsin primary is going to have national repercussions not just for the 42 delegates at stake here in Wisconsin, but I believe it is going to powerfully impact the states to come. He had all the confidence of a guy whod made an early and aggressive push in the state and was the beneficiary of millions of dollars worth of Stop Trump SuperPACs TV ad buys. Later in the day, he began dropping the if in interviews. AIPAC Policy Conference, Washington, D.C, America - 21 Mar 2016 Trump woke up Tuesday morning with 737 delegates well short of the 1,237 needed to secure the GOP nomination heading to the partys July convention. Cruz started the day with 481 delegates and Kasich with 143, according to the AP. In Wisconsin, 43 GOP delegates were at stake for the candidates. CNN exit polling several hours before the polls closed showed 67% of GOP voters had made up their minds long before last week. That seemed good news for Trump, who in the meantime had suffered multiple self-inflicted wounds with his nasty retweet of a Heidi Cruz photo, a triple flip-flop on punishing women for abortions, and making light of campaign manager Corey Lewandowski being charged with simple battery for allegedly bruising a female reporter. Black Girls Rock, Show, New Jersey, America - 01 Apr 2016 Sanders was the Democratic It boy heading into todays primary, after beating Hillary Clinton in Alaska, Hawaii and Washington on Western Saturday, four days after Western Tuesday wins in Idaho and Utah. Clintons camp, meanwhile, spent the past few days managing expectations. The former Secretary of State held a big lead in delegate count heading into todays primary (1,712 to Sanders 1,011), making Wisconsins 86 delegates meaningful for the Vermont senator as he heads to the April 19 New York primary. A hefty 245 delegates are up for grabs there. RelatedCNN Lands Hillary Clinton-Bernie Sanders Debate In New York If there is a large voter turnout, Sanders said Monday, we will win here and if we win here, were going to have a bounce going into New York, where I think we can win. He added, Dont tell [Clinton] this, but if we win here and we win in New York, I think were on our way to the White House. Stay tuned.. Related stories CNN Wins Wisconsin Primary Ratings Demo Race, Fox News Tops Total Viewers Hillary Clinton Confesses To George Clooney Crush On 'The View' Hillary Clinton Scolds Donald Trump's "Conduct" On 'The View' As Wisconsin Primary Voting Underway By Shelby Sebens PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Two men accused of hunting a pair of protected bighorn sheep on private land and beheading them alongside an interstate highway in northern Oregon have been arrested on suspicion of poaching, police say. Cody Plagmann, 37, and Justin Samora, 32, were taken into custody on Sunday along Interstate 84, some 90 miles east of Portland, and were expected to face misdemeanor charges when they appear in court on Friday, the Oregon State Police said in a written statement. "Bighorn sheep are one of the rarest game mammals in Oregon today. Because of this, hunters can only draw the tag and get this hunting opportunity once in their lifetime and many never do despite years of applying," state wildlife department spokeswoman Michelle Dennehy said. The herd where the two sheep were killed, along the Hood River near Biggs Junction, Oregon, are not ever legal for hunting, Dennehy added. According to the state police, troopers responded to the scene in response to reports that a man was gutting a big game animal, possibly a bighorn sheep, and found Samora in his vehicle. While the troopers were questioning Samora, passing motorists advised them that a second man was hiding in the brush, police said. A search turned up Plagmann as well as two severed sheep heads. "Investigation revealed Plagmann and Samora had worked together to shoot and remove the heads of the bighorn sheep," the Oregon State Police said in the statement. Plagmann was arrested on suspicion of taking possession of bighorn sheep, wasting of a game animal and hunting on private land. Samora faces charges of aiding in a game violation. It was not clear if the men had retained attorneys as of Tuesday. Jeremy Thompson, district wildlife biologist in The Dalles, said in a statement that the protected herd of bighorn sheep has been a popular attraction along Interstate 84 for years. Oregon has about 5,000 bighorn sheep, which are hunted only under strict guidelines. Last year, some 22,000 hunters applied for a lottery of 96 tags that would allow them to kill one animal each. One tag in 2015 sold at auction for $160,000, Dennehy said.The penalty for killing a bighorn sheep is up to a year in jail and $6,250 in fines. The state could also seek up to $25,000 in civil damages.Bighorn sheep were considered extirpated from the state in the early 19th century due to hunting and disease. (Reporting by Shelby Sebens in Portland, Oregon; editing by Dan Whitcomb, G Crosse) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved a possible $386 million sale of precision-guided bombs to Australia, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said on Wednesday. The agency said the government of Australia had requested up to 2,950 GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bombs, up to 50 guided test vehicles plus support and test equipment as well as other support. The total estimated value of the potential deal would be $386 million, the agency said. Congress was notified of the possible sale on Monday, it said. The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb I was developed by Boeing Co and went into production a decade ago. The compact size and precision guidance allow warplanes to accurately strike more targets per sortie while minimizing collateral damage, Boeing says. (Reporting by David Alexander, editing by G Crosse) By David Ingram (Reuters) - U.S. tax rules are more difficult to sue over than other regulations that emanate from Washington, presenting a challenge to anyone considering a lawsuit over an Obama administration plan to discourage deals known as inversions, tax lawyers say. Business trade groups have frequently gone to court since President Barack Obama took office in 2009 to try to block rules about the environment, health or labor unions, but taxes are different because of a law that generally bars suits until a tax is assessed, the lawyers said in interviews this week. The U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a package of measures on Monday designed to counter a wave of tax-evading acquisitions in which U.S. corporations move offshore, largely for tax benefits. The measures have already felled the $160 billion merger of U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc and Ireland-based Allegan Plc . [nL3N17936X] It was not clear whether either company or anyone else would sue the Treasury Department. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment about a potential lawsuit. The head of the largest U.S. business lobbying group, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue, floated the possibility on Wednesday when he told CNBC that he had asked people, "What is the scope of their authority, and is it something you'd sue about?" Donohue said, though, that a potential lawsuit would take a long time and corporations would need to deal with the regulations "for a while." A Chamber spokeswoman, Blair Holmes, said later in an email that it was too early to decide about a possible lawsuit. Another trade group chief, Organization for International Investment President Nancy McLernon, also would not rule out a legal challenge. Treasury Department staff had taken steps to ensure their plan had a strong basis in law and believed that their authority to act was clear, a spokeswoman said. One huge advantage for the government is procedural. An 1867 law called the Anti-Injunction Act says that in general no legal challenge can be brought against a tax until it is assessed. In 2011 and 2012, the law threatened to derail lawsuits against Obama's healthcare overhaul. Story continues Under the act's bar, a company such as Pfizer would need to move forward with a merger, file a tax return, and then be assessed by the Internal Revenue Service before it could sue, lawyers said, and it is not clear whether shareholders could stomach the uncertainty for so long. "For better or worse, there really aren't timely ways of challenging a tax regulation like this," said Edward Kleinbard, a professor who specializes in tax law at the University of Southern California. Patrick Smith, a tax lawyer in Washington who is a partner at the law firm Ivins, Phillips & Barker, wrote in a tax journal last year that the courts could be open to a faster, more aggressive alternative. He said any business contemplating an inversion might be able to sue in federal district court under the Administrative Procedure Act, as someone would sue over other regulations. Such an approach is untested, however. "It's novel thinking that's basically unchartered territory," Smith said. Beyond procedural hurdles, a plaintiff would face a steep climb trying to argue that the Treasury Department exceeded its legal authority, tax lawyers said. For one set of proposed regulations aimed at a practice known as earnings stripping, the Treasury Department is relying on a section of the tax code enacted in 1969. Congress intended the section to give the department broad authority, according to research by Steven Rosenthal, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, although a plaintiff could try to argue the opposite. Another question would be whether temporary regulations issued on Monday addressing serial acquisitions by a non-U.S. company would - in the case of Allergan - be unlawfully retroactive. Tax lawyers said, though, that the government could reasonably argue that the rules apply only to a deal that has not closed, such as the Allergan-Pfizer merger. As with all regulations, federal agencies have some leeway to make reasonable interpretations of the law, lawyers said. "In the past, the courts have tended to give significant deference to Treasury on how to interpret and apply their code," said Adam Rosenzweig, a law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. (Reporting by David Ingram in New York; Additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington and Rama Venkat Raman in Bangalore; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Nick Zieminski) By Anjali Athavaley NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies took to social media on Wednesday to denounce new laws enacted by southern states that target the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Companies like International Business Machines Corp and Herbalife International Inc used Twitter to criticize a North Carolina measure targeting transgender bathrooms and a Mississippi 'religious freedom' law allowing people to deny wedding services to gay couples. The tweets illustrate how diversity-minded corporations are using their clout as major employers in Republican-controlled states to wield influence against measures they consider LGBT discrimination. Social media provides a way to communicate their views to the masses. Herbalife tweeted, "We are proud to join @equalitync, @HRC and a chorus of business voices opposed to #HB2," referring to the North Carolina law that requires people to use bathrooms or locker rooms in schools and other public facilities that match the gender on their birth certificate, rather than their gender identity. "Discrimination of any type should not be tolerated." Several technology executives also criticized a Mississippi bill allowing people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples after Governor Phil Bryant signed it into law on Tuesday. IBMPolicy (@IBMpolicy), the Twitter account for government affairs at IBM, tweeted, "Disappointing that Mississippi Gov @PhilBryantMS signed H.B. 1523. IBM strongly opposes this discriminatory bill." Brad Smith (@BradSmi), president and chief legal officer at Microsoft Corp, said, "Very disappointing to see the news from Mississippi. These laws are bad for people, bad for business, and bad for job growth. #HB1523" The tweets follow PayPal Holdings Inc's move on Tuesday to cancel plans to open a global operations center employing 400 workers in Charlotte, North Carolina. At least one other company said it would also reconsider expanding in North Carolina. Ric Elias, chief executive of Red Ventures, a sales and marketing company, posted a letter on Twitter that said he was reconsidering adding jobs in a state that tolerates discrimination. Similar disputes have broken out between business interests and social conservatives in other Republican-controlled states since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. In Georgia, companies have won the outcome they were seeking. In late March, after top executives at companies ranging from Salesforce.com Inc to Unilever PLC protested a bill allowing faith-based organizations to deny services to LGBT people, the governor there said he would veto it. Unilever Chief Executive Paul Polman tweeted on March 20, "Inclusive society critical to business. Many will reconsider investment if @governerdeal passes #hb757." (Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Editing by Andrew Hay) (Reuters) - The owner of three U.S. Volkswagen dealerships filed a lawsuit against the German automaker on Wednesday over its massive diesel emissions scandal, along with pricing and distribution practices. The suit filed in federal court in Illinois is the first brought by a VW franchise dealer over the automaker's admitted use of software that allowed nearly 600,000 vehicles to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution, a lawyer for owner of the dealerships said. A Volkswagen spokeswoman did not immediately comment on the suit filed by the owner of dealerships in Illinois and Florida. VW also faces lawsuits from the Justice Department, some U.S. states and complaints filed on behalf of hundreds of owners. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Tom Brown) By Diane Bartz and Terry Wade WASHINGTON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to stop Halliburton Co from buying Baker Hughes Inc , arguing the combination of the No. 2 and No. 3 oil services companies would lead to higher prices in the sector. The move, which comes after months of talks on divestitures of some overlapping businesses, significantly cuts the chances of the deal going through, although Halliburton said it would "vigorously contest" the lawsuit. The Justice Department said the merger, valued at $35 billion when it was first announced in November 2014, would leave only two dominant suppliers in 20 business lines in the global well drilling and oil construction services industry, with Schlumberger NV being one of the two. In 11 of those lines, ranging from offshore well cementing to onshore fracking plugs, a combined Halliburton-Baker Hughes would have more than 50 percent of the market and in two cases more than 80 percent of the market. "The proposed deal between Halliburton and Baker Hughes would eliminate vital competition, skew energy markets and harm American consumers," U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in a statement on Wednesday. "Our action makes clear that the Justice Department is committed to vigorously enforcing our antitrust laws." The Justice Department said that Halliburton had offered divestitures aimed at saving the deal but that these were inadequate. "I have seen a lot of problematic mergers in my time. But I have never seen one that poses so many antitrust problems in so many markets," said Bill Baer, head of the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, in a conference call with reporters. Halliburton disagreed. "The companies believe that the DOJ (Justice Department) has reached the wrong conclusion in its assessment of the transaction and that its action is counterproductive, especially in the context of the challenges the U.S. and global energy industry are currently experiencing," the company said in a statement. The companies also face difficulties with European antitrust regulators, which last month halted scrutiny of the deal for a second time, saying the companies had yet to provide an important piece of information. Halliburton shares were up 6.9 percent on Wednesday at $36.76 while Baker Hughes shares were up 8 percent at $42.65. Based on Halliburton's latest share price, the deal would be worth $26 billion. The company's shares have tumbled more than 35 percent over the past two years as a slumping oil price has hurt its customers. WALL STREET REACTS If the deal collapses due to antitrust concerns, Halliburton must pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee, according to regulatory filings. Despite that, Wall Street analysts generally agreed Halliburton would be in better shape than Baker Hughes if the deal fell through. "Halliburton would be just fine if the deal didn't go through, even with the breakup fee," said Rob Desai, an analyst with Edward Jones. Halliburton's profit margins would improve on a standalone basis because it had kept a relatively high cost structure and was holding off on deeper cutbacks until after the deal closed, analysts said. Without the distractions of integration work, it could also be more agile, they said. Evercore ISI's James West said Halliburton's stock price could improve to $42 a share, or $45 excluding the breakup fee, which is worth $2.65 a share. Baker Hughes, as the acquisition target, was seen as facing greater difficulties if the deal does not go ahead. "Given the employee turnover, the cannibalization of its equipment at the onset of the downturn, and the general disorder within the company, we believe standalone-Baker Hughes' revenue growth and margin improvement would lag its peers," West said in a note. (Reporting by Diane Bartz and Terry Wade; Editing by Soyoung Kim and Bill Rigby) By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - United Nations sanctions monitors confirmed in their latest report the recent presence of cluster munitions in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region in violation of a U.N. arms embargo while rebel groups earned cash from illicit gold mining. The U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on Darfur said it had evidence Sudan's air force recently had RBK-500 cluster bombs at the weapon loading area at the Nyala Forward Operation Base. "Although Sudan is not a signatory to the Cluster Munition Convention, it has previously denied either possessing or using cluster munitions," the panel said in its report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Cluster munitions explode in the air and scatter smaller "bomblets" over a huge area that detonate when stepped on or picked up. The panel's sighting of cluster munitions supports the findings of the U.N. Mine Action Service that the Sudanese Air Force has used RBK-500 cluster bombs. The panel also raised concerns about gold smuggling. Moscow, which has good relations with the Khartoum government, was unhappy with the panel's reporting. Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said Russia was opposed to publishing the report because "the experts are not behaving like they are required to." The U.N. Security Council sanctions committee has to agree by consensus to release the report. The experts said some 48,000 kg (105,822 pounds) of gold was potentially smuggled to United Arab Emirates from Darfur between 2010 and 2014 and "such an export level equates to an additional income of $123 million to the armed groups of Darfur over this period." The experts visited the Jebel Amir artisanal gold mines in June 2015 and said they were certain that the Abbala militia control at least 400 mines. They said the group earns some $54 million annually from levies on prospectors and support businesses, direct prospecting and the illegal exporting of mined gold. The panel said South Sudan violated the sanctions regime by failing to stop training of the Darfur rebel group known as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on South Sudanese territory, and by failing to prevent it from transferring weapons into Darfur. The experts said the Juba government clearly knew about JEM's presence and therefore violated the sanctions. The Darfur conflict began in 2003 when mainly non-Arab tribes took up arms against the Arab-led government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination. The U.N. says up to 300,000 people have been killed and millions displaced in Darfur. (Editing by Alan Crosby) RABAT (Reuters) - Dozens of United Nations international staffers pulled out of their Western Sahara mission on Sunday after Morocco demanded they leave because of remarks by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon about the disputed territory. This week Morocco ordered the United Nations to withdraw 84 international civilian personnel from its peacekeeping mission in Western Sahara, MINURSO. It said this was a response to Ban's "unacceptable" remarks. Rabat accused Ban earlier this month of no longer being neutral in the Western Sahara dispute when he used the word "occupation" to describe its annexation of the region in 1975, when Morocco took over from colonial power Spain. The United Nations said it had three days to remove the 84 civilian staff from Western Sahara. The controversy over Ban's comments is Morocco's worst dispute with the United Nations since 1991, when the U.N. brokered a ceasefire to end a war over the Western Sahara and established the mission. MAP state news agency said a "significant number" of U.N. staffers had left Laayoune airport on U.N. aircraft and commercial flights to Las Palmas in Spain. A Moroccan official source said 73 U.N. staffers had left, 10 would leave in the afternoon and one would remain for now. The source added the 84th staff member would stay for now because she is pregnant. The mission currently has 242 military personnel, 84 international civilian staff, 157 national staff and 12 volunteers. Morocco said it would also stop its voluntary contribution to the mission estimated at $3 million (out of $53 million), according to the UN. Neither military personnel, nor the ceasefire monitoring units, nor the head of the mission are affected by the cuts. Earlier this month, Ban visited refugee camps in southern Algeria for the Sahrawi people, who say Western Sahara belongs to them. They fought a war against Morocco until the 1991 ceasefire. Their Polisario Front wants a referendum on independence, but Rabat says it will only grant autonomy. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Patrick Markey and Stephen Powell) WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The sole Republican member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Michael Piwowar, expressed deep skepticism about a retirement advice rule that the Labor Department released on Wednesday, a sign of potential conflict over the long-awaited regulation. "I am disappointed that the rule announced today seems to ignore the chorus of voices that questioned whether it will restrict middle-class families' and minority communities' access to professional financial advice by making retirement advice unaffordable," Piwowar, an SEC commissioner, said in a statement. "I am fearful that those concerns, which were widely and bipartisanly held, will prove to be true once the rule becomes effective." The SEC, the country's chief securities regulator has been crafting its own rule on retirement advice for years. Some lawmakers and industry members had said that the Labor Department, which oversees retirement laws, should hold off until that rule was finalized. Under the Labor rule that takes full effect Jan. 1, 2018, brokers would have to follow a fiduciary standard, acting in clients' best interests when advising about retirement accounts. It aims to end potential conflicts of interest by brokers who advise on individual retirement accounts, and to protect consumers from buying unnecessary investment products. But after a draft was released last year, members of both political parties, along with financial services firms, expressed concern that the rule would drive up costs and put professional advice out of reach for middle and lower-income people. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Diane Craft) Mumbai (AFP) - India's Tata Group will begin the process of selling its British steel assets by Monday, a British minister said Wednesday after talks with the firm in Mumbai, adding that there was no set timeframe for its completion. British Business Secretary Sajid Javid said his government would do "all it can to help secure a serious buyer" for the Port Talbot plant in Wales and other assets, where 15,000 jobs have been put at risk by Tata's plans to sell. "They will start the formal sales process by Monday but they have also not set a formal timeframe," Javid said after his meeting with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry. "What they have said is that they will allow a reasonable amount of time for this process to be completed." Describing the meeting as "constructive and positive", he said: "I've made it clear that the UK government will do anything it can to support any serious buyer in every way we can to secure the long-term future of this industry." Javid said "a number" of people had expressed an interest in the steel business but added: "I think more will do so once the formal process begins." Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of steel and metals company Liberty House, is the only buyer who has publicly expressed an interest so far, and he said Wednesday that his plans are only in the very early stages. "It's a very daunting proposition, I'm not suggesting that it's easy... it's going to require a lot of analysis," he told the BBC. Tata Steel said it was selling off its loss-making British assets due to a global oversupply of steel, cheap imports into Europe from countries including China, high costs and currency volatility. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has been racing to find a buyer amid growing pressure from the opposition, trade unions and the press to safeguard the iconic British steel industry which dates back to the 19th century. It is also working on a plan to take on some pension liabilities and reduce energy costs to make a deal more attractive to a potential buyer. By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he had placed his assets in an offshore trust to separate his business and political interests after he took office and not to minimize tax, declaring the arrangements were transparent. He made the comments at a press conference in Tokyo where he was repeatedly questioned about the offshore trust, which featured in the "Panama Papers" cache of classified documents released over the weekend. The head of Ukraine's fiscal service on Tuesday said the agency would examine the documents relating to President Poroshenko's offshore assets. "There does not need to be an investigation," because the trust was set up transparently and has no trading operations or bank accounts, Poroshenko said, when asked about the fiscal service's planned investigation. However, he indicated he would co-operate with an investigation, if necessary, and that the transparent manner in which the trust was created marked "the main difference from the cases in Iceland ... Russia and the main difference from the cases in other parts of the world". Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson became the first casualty of the leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm, resigning on Tuesday. The documents have shone a spotlight on the offshore wealth of politicians and public figures worldwide. Poroshenko said he could not access the assets until the end of his presidency and that he had not sold them as promised when he assumed office because it was impossible to make a sale due to the war in the country's east with pro-Russian separatists. Governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of four decades' worth of documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specializes in setting up offshore companies. The more than 11.5 million documents have sparked public outrage and debate over how the world's rich and powerful park their wealth and avoid taxes. Among those named in the documents are friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin and relatives of the leaders of China, Britain and Pakistan. U.S. President Barack Obama said the Panama Papers showed tax avoidance was a major problem and urged the U.S. Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from taking advantage of loopholes that allow tax avoidance. (Reporting by Aaron Sheldrick; Editing by Sam Holmes) By Kylie MacLellan and William James LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron, his wife and their children will not benefit in future from any offshore funds or trusts, a spokesman said on Wednesday as the British leader faced more questions over family tax affairs. Cameron's late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca which showed how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes. After having at first described it as a private matter, Cameron's office said on Tuesday that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present. Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds. But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday. "There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future," a spokesman for Cameron said on Wednesday. Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion, particularly in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, but the opposition Labour Party has said the "Panama Papers" show the government has failed to tackle the issue. Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting, a member of parliament's Treasury Select Committee, told BBC Radio the latest statement from Cameron's office was welcome but there were still questions about whether he benefited from offshore funds in the past. "The question will be when our prime minister says he is serious about tackling it (tax evasion) ... are we absolutely certain he doesn't have a vested interest? And if he does have a vested interest, will he be up-front with us about it?" he said. The Telegraph reported that Ian Cameron's fund moved its operations to Ireland in 2010, the year Cameron became prime minister, as the directors believed it was about to "come under more scrutiny". Asked whether the prime minister considered Ireland an offshore jurisdiction, his office repeated that Cameron had made clear he had no shares in any company and no offshore funds. "STEAMING PILE OF CASH" The "Panama Papers" add to a difficult few weeks for Cameron in which one of his senior ministers resigned, his government was forced to drop a key element of its budget and he has faced accusations of failing to protect Britain's industrial sector after Tata Steel put its entire UK operations up for sale. Anthony Wells, a director at pollsters YouGov, said that while the Panama story may not be that damaging for Cameron, it has stopped his Conservatives focusing on their strengths ahead of local and regional elections next month. It has also diverted government attention away from a June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union. "People already think Cameron is very posh, very rich and very out of touch. I expect most of the public probably assume he's got some huge steaming pile of cash stored away somewhere," he said. "The Conservative Party could be talking about something where they are strong, like crime or the economy, where it would help them win votes. Instead they're not, they're talking about something that's really bad for them where Labour have something to say." The media interest has spread beyond Cameron, with finance minister and close ally George Osborne also asked on Wednesday whether he had any offshore funds. Osborne comes from a wealthy family, but was not named in any of the "Panama Papers". "All of our interests as ministers and MPs (members of parliament) are declared," he said. A source close to Osborne added: "George has no offshore interests, in shares or anything else." (Editing by Giles Elgood and Anna Willard) Tripoli (AFP) - UN envoy Martin Kobler said he was prevented from travelling Wednesday to the Libyan capital for his work on the installation of a new unity government. Tripoli is under the control of an unrecognised administration backed by a coalition of militias including Islamists that opposes the new government from starting work inside the country. "UN #Libya envoy supposed to arrive today to discuss moving UN-backed unity government to #Tripoli," the envoy wrote on Twitter. "Again had to cancel flight to Tripoli... UN must have the right to fly (to) Tripoli," he said, without specifying what had blocked the mission. In Tripoli, the head of Libya's unrecognised government, Khalifa Ghweil, said that the decision to "postpone" the envoy's visit had come from his administration. The cabinet had approved Kobler's visit but it was postponed as there had been no response to requests for "protocol" to be fulfilled, he said, without elaborating. Libya has had two rival administrations since mid-2014 when the recognised government was forced from Tripoli to the far east after the Fajr Libya militia coalition overran the capital. The United Nations is pushing Libya's rival politicians to accept a unity government created under a power-sharing deal announced in December. It has not been formally endorsed by either parliament but last Saturday the government announced it was taking office on the basis of a petition signed by Libya's elected lawmakers. Libya has descended into chaos since the 2011 ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi, allowing extremist organisations including the Islamic State group to gain ground. TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy to Libya said on Wednesday he had been forced to cancel a flight to Tripoli because he had not been granted landing rights by the self-declared government there. Martin Kobler said he had intended to visit the Libyan capital to "pave the way" for a U.N.-backed unity government to move there from Tunis. Fayez Seraj, prime minister of the unity government, said last week that such a move was imminent. Libya has two sets of rival parliaments and governments, one in Tripoli and one in the east. A unity government was formed under a plan to end Libya's simmering conflict, but has faced stiff opposition from hardliners on both sides of Libya's political divide. Earlier this month the unity government called for an immediate transfer of power. But the prime minister in Tripoli, Khalifa Ghwell, warned it not to move, and eastern government said it should first secure a long-delayed vote of approval from the internationally recognised parliament in the east. Ghwell's office in Tripoli said authorities there had asked Kobler for an agenda for his visit but had not received a reply and therefore had not granted permission for him to land. Previous requests from Kobler to visit had not been granted for the same reason, it said, adding that the visit had been postponed, not cancelled. In televised comments on Wednesday, Ghwell repeated his criticism of Kobler and the U.N., saying they risked creating "chaos". Seraj has said that his government would be able to move to Tripoli after a security plan was agreed with police and military forces, as well as armed groups. But the security situation in the Libyan capital remains fickle, and there have been repeated clashes between armed groups. Overnight, the commander of Tripoli's diplomatic police, Faraj Swaihili, escaped an assassination attempt by an armed group, according to accounts posted by residents on social media. No-one could be reached to confirm the reports. That followed clashes near a bank in the Bab Ben Ghashir district on Monday, and heavy gunfire between the Zawiyat Addahmani area and Bab Azizziya on Saturday. Tripoli is controlled by a number of semi-official armed groups which clash periodically, and it was not clear if any of the most recent incidents were linked to political developments. Some armed groups, including powerful factions from the Western city of Misrata, have said they will back the unity government, but other brigades remain opposed. (Reporting by Aidan Lewis in Tunis and Ahmed Elumami in Tripoli; Editing by Richard Balmforth) WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday that it dropped a lawsuit against United Continental Holdings Inc and Delta Air Lines Inc after they abandoned a deal over landing slots in the New York area, which the department had warned threatened consumers. United scrapped its plan to lease 24 takeoff and landing slots at Newark Liberty International Airport from Delta because of a recent decision by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ease limits on the airport's usage, according to a court filing. The Justice Department had said the deal would have raised United's share of slots at Newark to 75 percent from 73 percent, leading to higher prices and fewer choices for travelers in New York, New Jersey and parts of Pennsylvania. "The FAAs action opens up Newark to more robust competition and achieves the very outcome we sought in litigation: protecting consumers from Uniteds plan to enlarge its monopoly at Newark," Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said in a press release. In 2008, the FAA limited Newark to 81 takeoffs or arrivals per hour in order to stop congestion and a spillover effect from nearby John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). It said last week that it was lifting these controls, effective Oct. 30, because more flights from Newark were departing on time. United took a different point of view. In a statement on Wednesday, United said its deal with Delta was in the public interest and added, "We fear that the already strained New York air space will be further exacerbated" by the FAA's decision. Delta said its separate deal to lease slots from United at JFK remained in place. On Tuesday, United's legal counsel told the Justice Department that the FAA's action "prevents the parties from meeting various contractual requirements. As a result, the transaction ... is no longer viable," according to the court filing. Story continues Aviation industry consultant Robert Mann said the slots no longer had the financial value the airlines assigned them now that slot controls would be lifted. He added that United would have to vie for space for its flights during peak times nonetheless. "If there really is a demand for new activity at Newark, it will far outstrip the 7 or 8 percent reduction (in operations there) that has happened since 2008," he said. (Reporting by Timothy Ahmann in Washington and by Jeffrey Dastin in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Tom Brown) The Supreme Courts current term is now over, and its time to review the major decisions from the Justices from the past few months. On Monday, June 27, the Court announced its final decisions in three cases, two of which were considered major cases. The Justices will conclude some housekeeping business this week and head into a summer vacation period. Cases Announced On Monday Whole Womens Health v. Hellerstedt (Abortion) Status: Arguments on March 2, 2016; Decision: June 27, 2016 The petitioners in Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt claimed a Texas law enacted in 2013 would force about 75 percent of the states abortion services to close. Two provisions in the law required that doctors at clinics have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of the clinics, and that clinics have facilities equal to those of an outpatient surgical center. Texas officials believe the laws protect the health of the women seeking abortions by guaranteeing better care. A divided Supreme Court ruled against the Texas law that placed restrictions on how women can gain access to abortions at clinics. In a 5-3 decision, Justice Stephen Breyer said that both the admitting privileges and surgical center requirements place a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking a previability abortion, constitute an undue burden on abortion access, and thus violate the Constitution. United States v. McDonnell (Political Corruption) Status: Arguments on April 27, 2016; Decided: June 27, 2016 This case involves former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. In the public corruption verdict against McDonnell, the case pivoted on the definition of alleged official acts undertaken by McDonnell to benefit a businessman, and if those acts were actually bribes. McDonnell and his wife were convicted under a handful of laws that make it a crime to take money or other valuable things in return for the exercise of official acts in government, at the national, state or local level. Congress, in passing those laws, however, did not specify what official acts would be covered. McDonnells prison sentence was on hold while the Court considered the case, and his wifes separate case was on hold. Story continues A unanimous Supreme Court vacated McDonnells corruption conviction, disagreeing with how his alleged criminal acts were defined. Cases Previously Decided Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin (Affirmative Action) Status: Argued on Dec. 9, 2015; Decided on June 23, 2016 In December, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, a landmark challenge to affirmative action at Texas flagship public university. The University of Texas is required to admit all high school seniors who rank in the top 10 percent of their high school classes. Candidates for any remaining spots undergo a holistic evaluation process in which race is among the considered factors. The Court has heard this case before. In 2013, the Court indeed issued a decision, but it sent the case back to the lower courts to be reviewed under a tougher constitutional standard. On June 23, the Supreme Court affirmed, in a 4-3 decision from Justice Anthony Kennedy, a lower court ruling that allowed the University of Texas to use a race-conscious admissions policy under the Constitutions Equal Protection Clause. The Courts affirmance of the Universitys admissions policy today does not necessarily mean the University may rely on that same policy without refinement. It is the Universitys ongoing obligation to engage in constant deliberation and continued reflection regarding its admission policies, Kennedy said. United States v. Texas (Immigration) Status: Granted on January 19, 2016; Decided on June 23, 2016 The Supreme Court heard a dispute between President Barack Obama and 26 states over the Presidents ability to issue sweeping executive orders about immigration. The 26 states had hoped the Supreme Court would rule on several issues, including the ability of the states to sue the Obama administration; the alleged constitutional overreach of the executive branch in forming immigration policies conflicting with laws passed by Congress; and the alleged unwillingness of President Obama to honor the Constitutions Take Care Clause to execute laws passed by Congress. Instead, the Justices considered two of the three questions: on standing and the Take Care clause. Two lower courts that ruled on the case agreed that the state of Texas had standing to sue the Obama administration because it had been potentially injured by immigration enforcement decisions, which could defer the deportation of 5 million undocumented immigrants. In November 2015, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower courts injunction that blocked President Obamas executive orders on immigration from taking effect. The orders seek to expand the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), which gave prosecutorial discretion regarding the enforcement of immigration laws against certain young people. The orders would make millions more eligible for the program. A November 2014 executive action also established the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program (DAPA), which allows the parents of U.S. citizens to remain lawfully present in the United States. The District Court determined that at least 4.3 million individuals would be eligible for lawful presence under DAPA. On June 23, in a 4-4 tie, the divided Court said in a one-sentence per curium opinion that the judgment of the lower court in United States v. Texas, was confirmed, leaving in place an injunction against President Barack Obamas recent deferred immigration policies. Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association (Public Union Dues) Status: Arguments on Jan. 11, 2016; Decided on March 29, 2016 Friedrichs is a challenge to the practices of public unions. The Court was asked to determine whether requiring public school teachers to pay mandatory dues for union activities violates the First Amendment. California teacher Rebecca Friedrichs, supported by the Center for Individual Rights, argued that she should have no obligation to pay any union dues whatsoever, since any payment is still a violation of her First Amendment right to free speech. A defeat for the Teachers Association would have affected public-employee unions in about half the states that have fair share requirements. Instead, a divided Court affirmed by a tie vote the rights of public unions to ask teachers to pay union dues, in a one-sentence statement. That decision sends the case back to lower courts to consider again and leaves in place the precedent that teachers and other public workers, in about half on the nations unions, need to pay fees to support unions, even if they dont participate in them. Evenwel v. Abbott (One Person, One Vote) Status: Arguments on Dec. 8, 2015; Decided on April 4, 2016 In this case, the Court decided if eligible voting population numbers can be substituted for total population numbers when voting districts are determined. Back in 2013, the Texas legislature drafted new districts for electing the 31 members of the state senate. The lawmakers proceeded on a theory of equal representation by actual population, with just an 8.04 percent difference between the largest and the smallest districts. But the Texas legislature based its headcount on the total population of each district and not the numbers of people eligible to vote in each district. Due to an imbalance in the voting age population in the districts, the difference between the largest and the smallest districts rose to as much as 49 percent, when it came to who could actually cast votes. In a decision written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Supreme Court said that Texas can determine its voting districts based on total population numbers, and isnt required to use a system based on numbers related to registered voters. The decision, however, didnt preclude the ability of a state to establish a representation system based on registered voters, if it so desired. Spokeo v. Robins (The Right To Standing To Sue) Status: Arguments on November 5, 2015; Decided: May 16, 2016 The Spokeo case could set some important precedents about data privacy and the ability to sue Internet services that publish personal data about consumers. But for now, the Supreme Court sent in back to the lower court system in a 6-2 decision. Thomas Robins from Virginia claims that he has a right to sue Spokeo, an Internet data provider, under the Fair Credit Reporting Act after it publicly published incorrect data about Robins. Spokeo counters that Robins cant prove he was actually hurt by the false data that was published, and that the act passed by Congress doesnt allow standing to sue absent tangible proof of actual harm. The Justices said the Ninth Circuit needs to look at the case again. Justice Samuel Alito, writing for the majority, said the lower courts didnt fully consider an analysis to find an injury suffered was concrete in full legal terms. Because the Ninth Circuit failed to consider both aspects of the injury-in-fact requirement, its Article III standing analysis was incomplete, Alito said. Article III standing requires that concrete harm needs to be proven before a federal court will consider a case in full. Zubik vs. Burwell (Obamacare) Status: Arguments Heard March 23, 2016, Decided on May 16, 2016 The United States Supreme Court in November consolidated seven cases challenging Obamacares birth-control mandate into one: Zubik v. Burwell. The current legal challenge, the fourth to be accepted by the Court since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, involves religious-sponsored non-profit corporations. These institutions object on moral grounds to an Obamacare provision that allows their employees to obtain contraceptive coverage through their health insurance, even if those contraceptive products are provided by insurance companies and the government, instead of the institutions.The groups argue that even indirect participation in such a plan is offensive, and they want to be included in a broader Obamacare exception extended to churches, synagogues and worship-based employers. The federal government believes that religiously oriented non-profit institutions such as hospitals and universities have numerous employees who dont share the beliefs of religious groups that sponsor the non-profits, and these workers would be harmed by the exclusions. On May 16, the Court said it wont decide this dispute over Obamacares contraceptive mandate and religious rights, telling lower courts and the parties involved to find a compromise solution. In an unsigned five-page opinion in the Zubik v. Burwell case, the Court reached the conclusion that in light of the positions asserted by the parties in their supplemental briefs, the Court vacates the judgments below and remands to the respective United States Courts of Appeals for the Third, Fifth, Tenth, and D. C. Circuits. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Ex-Governor McDonnell gets big Supreme Court win Supreme Court rules against Texas abortion restrictions Court upholds federal domestic violence gun restriction statute Lyle Denniston joins National Constitution Center as Supreme Court correspondent New York (AFP) - US antitrust officials filed suit Wednesday to block Halliburton's proposed $34.6 billion takeover of rival Baker Hughes that would create a global oil services giant. The Justice Department said the proposed merger, agreed in response to plunging oil prices, would eliminate competition, raise prices and reduce innovation in the oil services business. Halliburton and Baker Hughes said they would "vigorously contest" the case. The deal, announced in November 2014, would join the world's number two and number three oil services companies, creating a powerful rival to global leader Schlumberger. Halliburton in 2015 had revenues of $23.6 billion, while Baker Hughes had revenues of $15.7 billion. Schlumberger's revenues were $35.5 billion. The Justice Department said the transaction would eliminate head-to-head competition in markets for 23 products or services, creating a virtual duopoly for key oil services such as offshore well completions and on- and offshore cementing. "This transaction is unprecedented in the breadth and scope of competitive overlaps and antitrust issues it presents," said assistant attorney general Bill Baer. Baer said the deal would remove the incentives for two industry leaders to improve technology and that low oil prices do not justify a bad deal for consumers. "We are certainly aware of what's happened to oil prices," Baer told reporters on a conference call. "It's not a justification for an anticompetitive merger to say 'we're not doing as much business as we used and therefore we should become a monopolist or a near-monopolist in market after market.'" Baer said the department made clear to Halliburton and Baker Hughes soon after the merger was announced 17 months ago that regulators were highly skeptical, but that it agreed to consider the remedies proposed by the companies. However, department officials over time concluded the deal could not be salvaged, in part because Halliburton said it planned to keep key assets and personnel associated with operations that were to be sold. Story continues Baer also said proposed remedy would have required Justice and US courts to devote "unprecedented" resources overseeing the antitrust remedies. Halliburton and Baker Hughes said they would fight the government's case, which they said was based on a fundamental misreading of the fragmented nature of oil services. The deal would provide customers with better access to top technology and lower the cost of producing oil, they said in a joint statement. "The companies intend to demonstrate that the DOJ has underestimated the highly competitive nature of the oilfield services industry, the many benefits of the proposed combination, and the sufficiency of the divestitures," Halliburton and Baker Hughes said. The companies said that they expect regulatory approvals of the deal by April 30 and that if the judicial review extends beyond that period, "the parties may continue to seek relevant regulatory approvals or either of the parties may terminate the merger agreement." If the merger fails because of antitrust concerns, Halliburton is required to pay Baker Hughes a $3.5 billion breakup fee. Baker Hughes shares rose 6.0 percent, while Halliburton climbed 5.9 percent. Vatican City (AFP) - The Vatican has set up a new office charged with promoting the use of the .Catholic domain name, in its latest move to upgrade its communications for the digital era. With a staff of eight IT experts, the new office will seek to expand the use of the domain name by all Church and Church-affiliated bodies with the aim of assuring Internet users they are dealing with officially sanctioned sites. The Vatican acquired .Catholic at the end of 2013 when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to approve thousands of new personalised domains to cope with increased demand for websites. In addition to .Catholic, the Vatican acquired the equivalent domain names in Arabic, Chinese and Russian scripts. The Vatican's communications department is undergoing a huge reorganisation on the orders of Pope Francis, who has a keen grasp of the importance of the online world. The 79-year-old pontiff is one of the most prominent global figures on Twitter with some 30 million followers in nine languages. He recently made his debut on Instagram and has acquired 2.2 million followers on the picture-sharing network in just over two weeks. He also regularly sends out video messages via YouTube. In his latest dispatch, a monthly prayer message for April, Francis pays tribute to small farmers around the world and offers them them his support in their struggle for survival in the face of myriad economic and environmental pressures. "Your work is indispensable for all of humanity," he says. "You deserve a life of dignity." In a move to push further into the digital video space, Verizon has agreed to purchase a 24.5 percent stake in AwesomenessTV, the teen- and tween-skewing online video producer owned by DreamWorks Animation and Hearst. The deal, which values ATV at $650 million, will also see Verizon team with the media company to create a short-form mobile video service featuring online talent. DWA, which acquired ATV in 2013, remains the company's largest shareholder with a 51 percent ownership stake. Hearst, which acquired a stake in the business in 2014, will continue to own a 24.5 percent share. DWA CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg called the deal "a transformational step" for the mobile video landscape. He added: "This agreement is clearly impactful for AwesomenessTV - with annual revenues expected to more than double in the first 12 months of content delivery - and even more exciting is the expansion of our relationship with Verizon, one of the world's most powerful marketers and content distributors, and their commitment to explore with us this incredible opportunity." ATV was founded by producer and director Brian Robbins as a channel on YouTube with youth-oriented shows and videos. The company, which also operates a network of YouTube stars, has grown to encompass digital production across platforms, including a recent push into feature-length films, as well as talent management through the acquisition of Big Frame. Read More: AwesomenessTV Launches in U.K., Germany, Spain, France and Brazil Now, ATV will add to its business with a new mobile video offering launched in partnership with Verizon. Robbins tells The Hollywood Reporter that the currently unnamed service will be an entirely new brand focused on creating short-form videos for the 18-34 demographic. "What's exciting about this is that we're going to be reaching out to the Hollywood community," adds Robbins. "There's going to be a lot of announcements of some really talented people that we're going to tell great stories with." Story continues The mobile video service will launch as a part of Verizon's go90 app, a mobile offering that Verizon has been spending heavily on since its roll out last year, and will be available exclusively on Verizon platforms in the U.S. ATV will retain the rights to sell the content internationally. Verizon will fund the project through a multiyear agreement with ATV. The service will feature some transactional video content, a departure from go90, which is free and ad-supported. Robbins says he expects Verizon to experiment with different models, including transactional videos as well as subscriptions. The deal furthers Verizon's relationship with ATV, which it had partnered with to bankroll a series of original, exclusive projects for go90. Read More: SXSW: Awesomeness Films Exec Talks Aging Up Teen Brand With Drama 'Shovel Buddies' Robbins, who will continue to run the company as CEO alongside president Brett Bouttier, says the expansion of the relationship signals the growing importance of mobile for his business. "When I started the company almost four years ago, 40 percent of our views were on mobile. Today over 80 percent of our views are on mobile," he explains. "We don't see that stopping. To be aligned with the biggest phone carrier in the world, that has a lot of audience at their fingertips, it's a perfect partner for what we're doing." Marni Walden, Verizon executive vp and president of product and new business innovation, added that ATV has "zeroed in" on programming for Gen Z and millennial audiences. "The content AwesomenessTV has produced for go90 has exceeded all our expectations with shows such as Guidance and Top Five Live," she added. "That's why we want to be in the AwesomenessTV business." LionTree Advisors advised Verizon during the transaction and J.P. Morgan advised DreamWorks Animation. The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 days. Read More: AwesomenessTV President Talks Film Strategy, "Landmark" Verizon Deal REUTERS - Verizon Communications Inc said it agreed to buy a 24.5 percent stake in AwesomenessTV, whose YouTube channels are among the most popular on the video site, for about $160 million. AwesomenessTV, which has more than 3.6 million subscribers on YouTube, offers videos on everything from beauty tips to life advice aimed at pre-teens and young adults. The deal values AwesomenessTV, in which DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc owns a 51 percent stake, at about $650 million. Privately held Hearst Corp, which owns magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Esquire as well as TV networks like A+E Networks, will own the remaining stake. The deal includes the creation of a new mobile video service, which will be funded by Verizon and will launch as a part of Verizon's go90 mobile video app. The service will be exclusive to Verizon customers in the United States and AwesomenessTV will retain the right to sell content in the rest of the world. Most Americans own a mobile phone and a saturated U.S. wireless market has Verizon and its rivals turning to new businesses. Verizon is making a big bet on mobile video aiming to unlock revenue from advertising and data usage. Verizon launched the go90 app in October and has announced content partners such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the Food Network and Vice Media. Verizon already has a programming deal with DreamWorks Animation and AwesomenessTV. (Reporting by Narottam Medhora and Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) (Reuters) - Verizon Communications Inc said it agreed to buy a 24.5 percent stake in AwesomenessTV, whose YouTube channels are among the most popular on the video site, for about $160 million. AwesomenessTV, which has more than 3.6 million subscribers on YouTube, offers videos on everything from beauty tips to life advice aimed at pre-teens and young adults. The deal values AwesomenessTV, in which DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc owns a 51 percent stake, at about $650 million. Privately held Hearst Corp, which owns magazines such as Harper's Bazaar and Esquire as well as TV networks like A+E Networks, will own the remaining stake. The deal includes the creation of a new mobile video service, which will be funded by Verizon and will launch as a part of Verizon's go90 mobile video app. The service will be exclusive to Verizon customers in the United States and AwesomenessTV will retain the right to sell content in the rest of the world. Most Americans own a mobile phone and a saturated U.S. wireless market has Verizon and its rivals turning to new businesses. Verizon is making a big bet on mobile video aiming to unlock revenue from advertising and data usage. Verizon launched the go90 app in October and has announced content partners such as the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, the Food Network and Vice Media. Verizon already has a programming deal with DreamWorks Animation and AwesomenessTV. (Reporting by Narottam Medhora and Kshitiz Goliya in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty) (Reuters) - Virginia's attorney general will seek to help exonerate a man imprisoned for a 1982 murder and rape after DNA evidence showed another man committed the crime. Keith Harward, 59, has been in prison since 1986, and Attorney General Mark Herring said on Wednesday he would ask the state Supreme Court to vacate Howard's convictions as quickly as possible. "In this case, the Commonwealth got it wrong, and the pursuit of justice requires me to join in support of Mr. Harward's petition" for exoneration before the high court, Herring said in a statement. Harward, 59, was convicted of killing Jesse Perron, who was beaten to death with a crowbar in Newport News, and for the sexual assault of his wife. He was convicted largely on the testimony of two forensic dentists who said Harward's teeth matched bite marks left on the woman's legs. Harward was sentenced to life in prison. DNA from the crime scene was checked through the national Combined DNA Index System and turned up a match with another man, Jerry Crotty, who died in an Ohio prison in 2006. Crotty and Harward were shipmates aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, the Innocence Project reported. The organization, which aids prisoners who could be proven not guilty through DNA testing, is helping Harward in his bid to be cleared. Harward filed his petition for exoneration last month. Herring said that if the DNA results had been available at the time of his trial, "no rational trier of fact would have found proof of Harward's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Herring said it could be weeks before the Supreme Court heard Harward's case. Harward could request a bail hearing in Newport News to get him out of prison, the attorney general said. Governor Terry McAuliffe's office also is working through the state Parole Board to weigh whether a pardon is appropriate, the statement said. (Fixes typographical error in 5th paragraph.) (Reporting by Ian Simpson) By Norihiko Shirouzu BEIJING (Reuters) - Volvo aims to launch an experiment involving self-driving cars in China in which up to 100 such cars could be deployed, executives at the Swedish automaker said. The planned experiment, expected to be announced on Thursday, will see local drivers test the cars on public roads in everyday conditions but in limited driving situations such as on express roads and highways, they said. Volvo, wholly owned by Chinas Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co [GEELY.UL], is currently scouting for a city that could provide the necessary permissions, regulations and infrastructure to allow the experiment to go ahead, the executives said. They did not say by when it hopes to conduct the tests. The move is part of the Swedish company's efforts to take advantage of the pledges central government policymakers in China, the world's biggest auto market, have made to embrace futuristic technologies such as self-driving cars. By calling on cities in China to sign up to participate in the program, Volvo wants to send a message to the Chinese government to step up to the plate to make good its often "strident" pledges of commitment to autonomous driving technology made in recent months, a Volvo executive familiar with the planned experiment said. The China experiment will be patterned after Volvos own similarly-set-up testing program in the Swedish city of Gothenburg that aims to start deploying self-drive test cars next year. What we're doing is giving these cars to people and using real people as our data set, so the information they generate will help us implement the technology," said the executive who declined to be named because he is not authorized to share details of the plans before they are officially announced. Besides Volvo, Tesla, Mercedes, Audi and Alphabet Inc's Google are among those developing self-driving vehicles. (Reporting By Norihiko Shirouzu in Beijing; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman) Warner Bros. has shifted the release dates for its upcoming films Wonder Woman and Jungle Book, and it has dated three more currently untitled films. Jungle Book, which will be directed by Andy Serkis, is moving back an entire year, from Oct. 6, 2017, to Oct. 19, 2018. Warner Bros.' Jungle Book movie is one of two competing films based on Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name. Disney's version, directed by Jon Favreau, comes out on April 15 in the U.S. "I've got to say that personally I'm absolutely thrilled that Warner Bros. has changed the delivery date of our movie," Serkis wrote Wednesday. "The ambition for this project is huge. What we are attempting is an unprecedented level of psychological and emotional nuance in morphing the phenomenal performances of our cast into the facial expressions of our animals." He also added: "So, every minute more that we have to evolve the technological pipeline will make all the difference. The evidence is there already and it's off the chain exciting, so hang on in there. This is truly next-generation storytelling, and it will be the real deal!" In DC cinematic universe news, Wonder Woman, which will star Gal Gadot (who made her debut in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice), is moving up from June 23, 2017, to June 2, 2017. Warner Bros. also set dates for two of its now-untitled DC films: Oct. 5, 2018, and Nov. 1, 2019. These new dates are set for yet-to-be announced films and are in addition to the already dated DC films, which include Suicide Squad (Aug. 5, 2016), The Flash (March 16, 2018), The Justice League Part One (Nov. 17, 2017), Aquaman (July 27, 2018), Shazam! (April 5, 2019), Justice League Part Two (June 14, 2019), Cyborg (April 3, 2020) and Green Lantern Corps (June 19, 2020). An untitled WB event film is slated for Oct. 6, 2017. The latest DC film, Zack Snyder's Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, plunged 69 percent in its second weekend, but easily stayed No. 1. It earned $51.3 million in its second weekend for a domestic total of $260.4 million. Read More: Warner Bros. Mulls Releasing Fewer Films as 'Batman v. Superman' Stalls Stars will gather Saturday at the MTV Movie Awards, where, after a very serious and long awards season, they'll let loose and celebrate whether Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan's steamy elevator encounter will win best kiss and if Adam Driver will win best villain for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Winners are decided online through fan voting. This year's taped broadcast will be co-hosted by comedian/actor Kevin Hart and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who are starring in the action film Central Intelligence, which comes out in June. The 25th annual ceremony will take place, for the first time in 21 years, at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank. The awards show is set to premiere exclusive clips from some of this year's most anticipated films, including Captain America: Civil War and J.K. Rowling's newest project, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The stars of those films, Chris Evans and Eddie Redmayne, will be on hand to present the clips from their respective movies. Read More: MTV Movie Awards: Will Smith to Receive Generation Award Halle Berry, Zac Efron, Charlize Theron, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Hemsworth are just some of the A-listers who will be presenting the golden popcorns on Saturday night. Other confirmed presenters include Common, Kendall Jenner, Gigi Hadid, Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Anna Kendrick, Emilia Clarke, Seth Rogen, Jesse Eisenberg, Lizzy Caplan, Woody Harrelson, Andy Samberg, Stephen Amell, Jessica Chastain, Alexander Skarsgard, Jonah Hill and Miles Teller. The ceremony will air Sunday at 8 p.m. ET/PT on MTV. The show will also be simulcast on sister networks BET, CMT, Comedy Central, Logo, MTV2, TV Land, VH1 and VH1 Classic. This year's MTV Generation Award will be presented to Will Smith, who also will be there to debut an exclusive clip from his upcoming comic book-based movie Suicide Squad, alongside co-stars Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne. Melissa McCarthy, who next hits the big screen on Friday in The Boss, will receive the Comedic Genius Award. Story continues In the midst of movie madness, the only two musical performances that have been confirmed so far are Ariana Grande, who will bow her single "Dangerous Woman" from her forthcoming album, and songstress Halsey will debut her single "Castle" from the upcoming Universal film The Huntsman: Winter's War. "This song is so important to me as a woman; it's about not letting anything get in your way," Halsey told MTV. "I'm so happy MTV and The Huntsman are giving me the opportunity to present that message on television. Plus, it'll look sick." The Force Awakens could go home with the most wins, given its 11 nominations including movie of the year. Trailing right behind the J.J. Abrams-helmed film in mentions is the unconventional superhero Deadpool with eight. The other pic that is nominated for both movie of the year and the true story award is Ice Cube and Dr. Dre's Straight Outta Compton, which was snubbed at both the Oscars and the Golden Globes. Incidentally, fellow Compton native Kendrick Lamar will be presenting an award. The Compton cast is expected to attend as are Amy Poehler, Chris Pratt, Ryan Reynolds, Rebel Wilson, Daisy Ridley and JJ Abrams. Read More: MTV Movie Awards: Charlize Theron, Chris Hemsworth, Zac Efron Among First Round of Presenters The Hollywood Reporter will be covering all the news at the awards show. Check THR.com on Sunday for the latest red-carpet photos, winners and videos. By Kara Van Pelt CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Reuters) - Former Massey Energy Chief Executive Don Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison and fined $250,000 on Wednesday for his role in a 2010 West Virginia coal mine explosion that killed 29 workers. Blankenship, known as West Virginia's "king of coal" for his rags-to-riches background and tough approach to business, was given the maximum sentence for the misdemeanor conviction by U.S. District Judge Irene Berger. He also was sentenced to a year of supervised probation after release. Blankenship, who headed Massey from 2000 to 2010, was convicted in December of conspiring to falsify dust samples at the Upper Big Branch mine, site of the blast. He was acquitted on felony charges related to the accident. "I want to express sorrow to the families for what happened and I hope that what I have to say can help them find peace," Blankenship, 66, said before sentencing. He thanked his supporters and called those who died "great coal miners." Blankenship's lawyers said they would appeal the sentence. Relatives of those killed and prosecutors have hailed the conviction as sending a message on mine safety in coal-rich West Virginia. The sentencing marks a dramatic turnaround for Blankenship, who for decades been one of West Virginia's most influential figures. As head of Massey Energy, the largest coal producer in Appalachia, he employed thousands of people and operated more than 40 mines. Berger said Blankenship would have a 10-day period before he must surrender. The blast that tore through the Upper Big Branch mine, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Charleston, took place about 1,000 feet (300 m) underground and about three miles (five km) inside. Federal investigators have said a fire caused by a methane or natural gas leak likely set off the coal dust explosion. Worn teeth on cutting equipment may have showered the area with sparks that set off the leak. Story continues U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat who was West Virginia governor when the disaster occurred, said it had caused the state to put the safety of workers first. "No sentence is severe enough and no amount of time in jail time will heal the hearts of the families who have been forever devastated," he said in a statement. The death toll was the highest in a U.S. mine accident since 91 workers died in a 1972 Idaho silver mine fire. Massey Energy was bought in 2011 by Alpha Natural Resources Inc for about $7 billion. (Reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Alistair Bell and Bill Trott) The popular messaging service WhatsApp said Tuesday it had implemented "full end-to-end encryption," a move which steps up privacy but may lead to conflicts with law enforcement agencies. The Facebook-owned mobile application with one billion users worldwide made the announcement following weeks of intense debate over efforts by US authorities to compel Apple to help break into an encrypted iPhone. "WhatsApp has always prioritized making your data and communication as secure as possible," a blog post announcing the change said. "And today, we're proud to announce that we've completed a technological development that makes WhatsApp a leader in protecting your private communication: full end-to-end encryption." This means that "when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to," the statement said. "No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us." Moves by technology firms to implement the kind of encryption where even the companies themselves don't have "keys" to unlock data have unleashed criticism in law enforcement circles claiming this creates "warrant-proof" spaces for criminals and others. The blog post by WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Action said encryption is an important tool for its users. "We live in a world where more of our data is digitized than ever before," they wrote. "Every day we see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen. And if nothing is done, more of people's digital information and communication will be vulnerable to attack in the years to come. Fortunately, end-to-end encryption protects us from these vulnerabilities." WhatsApp is reportedly involved in a court battle similar to the one involving Apple, which fought a federal effort to provide assistance in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the shooters in last year's San Bernardino killing spree. Story continues Other reports say WhatsApp and another application called Telegram were used by the perpetrators of the November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead. US Congress is expected to consider legislation which would require technology firms to retain "keys" that could retrieve data in a criminal investigation, with a court order. Similar measures are under consideration in Britain and France. A broad coalition of technology companies and activists have argued against any encryption rules that would allow "special access" for law enforcement, claiming these would be vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers or repressive governments, and threaten security of banking, electronic commerce, trade secrets and more. - 'Victory for human rights' - Tanya O'Carroll of Amnesty International welcomed the move, calling it "a major boost for people's ability to express themselves and communicate without fear." "This is a huge victory for human rights, especially for activists and journalists who depend on strong and trustworthy communications to carry out their work without putting their lives at greater risk," she said in a statement. Koum said in the blog post that the move was "personal," noting that "I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States." Facebook in 2014 announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for an eye-popping $19 billion in stock and cash. Analysts say WhatsApp is especially popular in some areas of Latin America, Asia and Africa, where it is used in place of official telecom networks. rl/acb APPLE INC. Facebook Hard As Nails. The scary-looking planks of wood (CEN) Dont park in the wrong place around here. Fed-up construction workers in China have resorted to drastic measures and place spiked planks of wood on the road to stop drivers parking illegally outside a new shopping mall. The scary-looking planks are covered in nails, and were put on the road after the workers, paving a new square outside the mall, ran out of patience with shoppers in Zhengzhou, central China. The planks are close to a Zhengzhou shopping centre (CEN) Their patience ran out after inconsiderate drivers parked close to the mall by driving over bricks or freshly-laid cement, meaning the labourers had to redo their handywork. Attempts to reason with the drivers failed, and so did signs warning people not to park in certain places, so the workers resorted to stronger tactics. A sign warning drivers (CEN) The thick planks covered with upturned nails now line the border of the shopping mall square in an attempt to prevent drivers from illegally parking. The dangerous traps are also accompanied by a sign that reads Park at your own risk. Dont park here (CEN) While the tactic has so far proved successful, not everyone is happy. Local residents and pedestrians who pass in front of the under construction mall have complained that the traps set for vehicles are far too dangerous for people. One resident, said the workers tactic was evil. Who would expect to step on a plank full of nails in broad daylight? I know its supposed to prevent illegal parking, but this method is far too evil. "Thankfully I have quick reactions, otherwise I wouldve ended up in hospital. After climbing a narrow set of stairs to the third floor of a dilapidated building in New Delhis posh Saket neighborhood, Prakhar Singh knocks on the door a couple of times and calls for auntie. After a few minutes, a frail-looking woman with gray hair and a wrinkled face opens the door. Without a word, Singh hands her a 100-rupee note (about $1.50). Soon, a dozen other young men have lined up all waiting for auntie, whos slipping small packets of ganja to each man. Scoring weed in India is like getting vegetables from the market, says Singh, a 24-year-old marketing exec. Everyone is smoking up. Years ago, cannabis or ganjha, as its widely known here was available from government-licensed shops. Although it was banned in the 1980s, due in part to pressure from the U.S. when the country declared a global war on drugs, cannabis has a long religious and cultural significance in India. A form of it known as bhang a mixture of leaves, seeds and milk is widely consumed during the Hindu festival of Holi, and its association with the god Shiva makes it sacred for some. Now, with the changing attitude in the West toward cannabis and the growing research around the world on medicinal uses, a spontaneous debate about the criminalization of cannabis has begun in India. Last year, Tathagata Satpathy, a member of Parliament from the South Indian state of Odisha, confessed on Reddits Ask Me Anything to having smoked weed in college. He also gave tips on how to legally obtain weed in his home state comments that made him an instant hit with the countrys youth on social media. Various events and seminars have been held in Bangalore, Mumbai, Odisha and other parts of the country by doctors and activists advocating the medicinal use of cannabis. Separately, Aditya Barthakur, a 34-year-old Pune-based lawyer, filed whats known as public interest litigation in the High Court of Bombay, challenging the criminalization of cannabis under current Indian law as unconstitutional. He also argued that the ban would attract people to more dangerous drugs and submitted evidence showing cannabis in treatments for cancer, Alzheimers, arthritis and other diseases. Story continues In their verdict last fall, judges dismissed Barthakurs PIL, noting the high court doesnt have the jurisdiction to direct Parliament to amend rules. But they did suggest that Barthakur could move a private members bill in Parliament an option hes trying to navigate, especially given that his petition to have Indias Supreme Court challenge the high courts decision was refused. In spite of the setbacks, Barthakur thinks the law will eventually be changed, that its just a matter of time. Some experts agree, albeit with caveats. Getting permission for medicinal cannabis use is a more achievable target at the moment, says Sourab Agarwal, founder of the Medicinal Cannabis Foundation of India. His Odisha-based nongovernmental organization has been lobbying the government to allow medicinal research of cannabis; Agarwal says that they could have been helping patients right now. This kind of ban is regressive. His efforts have received support from oncologists and medical institutes in the country, and various events and seminars have been held in Bangalore, Mumbai, Odisha and other parts of the country by doctors and activists advocating the medicinal use of cannabis. For now, Agarwals NGO is continuing to push written proposals to different levels of government, arguing that a policy change could greatly benefit people who suffer from different types of cancer and neurological conditions. And, for customers such as Singh, any progressive change in the current law might mean better-quality weed on the market. Until that happens, Singh says, he intends to keep buying his fix from auntie even though she sometimes sells shit in those packets. Related Articles By Roberta Rampton and Timothy Gardner WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Wednesday it will redirect $589 million in funds to prepare for the Zika virus before the mosquito that carries it begins to emerge in the continental United States, but urged Congress to act quickly on its request for more money. White House budget director Shaun Donovan said the use of money previously provided for fighting another health crisis, the Ebola virus, was only a temporary fix for Zika funding. Donovan said some measures to fight Zika would have to be delayed, curtailed or stopped unless the U.S. Congress approves more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds requested by the Obama administration in February. The Zika virus, linked to a growing number of cases of the birth defect microcephaly in Brazil, is spreading rapidly in Latin America and the Caribbean and heading north as the weather gets warmer. "We should not play with fire here," Donovan told reporters on a conference call. Without full Zika funding, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell said mosquito control and surveillance may have to be delayed or stopped, vaccine development could be jeopardized and development of faster diagnostic tests could be impaired. Most of the $589 million will come from $2.7 billion in funds set aside for public health projects aimed at the Ebola virus. West Africa was stricken by a two-year Ebola epidemic that killed more than 11,300 people starting in December 2013 and led to a small number of cases in the United States. The Republican-controlled Congress has said the White House should draw the money needed to fight Zika from the Ebola funds. Chairman Hal Rogers and other top Republicans on the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee said in a statement they would "monitor the changing needs resulting from this unpredictable crisis" to ensure that needed funds are available. "Republicans are going to look back on this time that they've had to act on the Zika virus and deeply regret it," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Burwell said a recent flare-up of Ebola in West Africa shows the United States cannot shortchange its work in the region. "We face two global health challenges, Ebola and Zika, and we don't have an option to set one aside in the name of the other," Burwell told reporters. Burwell said there were 672 confirmed cases of Zika infections in the United States, including 64 pregnant women. She said there was one confirmed case of Zika-related microcephaly in Hawaii. The World Health Organization has said there is a strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause microcephaly as well as Guillain-Barre syndrome, though proof may take months or years. Microcephaly is a condition defined by unusually small heads in babies that can result in developmental problems. Guillain-Barre syndrome is a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. Brazil said it has confirmed more than 940 cases of microcephaly, and considers most to be related to Zika infections in the mothers. Brazil is investigating nearly 4,300 additional suspected cases of microcephaly. (Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Will Dunham) A portrait of Justice Antonin Scalia is displayed near his casket on Feb. 19 in the Great Hall of the Supreme Court in Washington, where his body lay in repose. (Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP) It's the thought that counts, right? A week after George Mason University renamed its law school to honor the recently departed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the Virginia public institution is calling for a slight do-over. The Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, the Twitterverse quickly spotted, didnt make for a good acronym. #ASSLaw is trending. Lol. I don't think this is the PR they were expecting. Antonin Scalia School of Law. Roflmao I prefer #ASSoL myself. La Bella Esq. (@LaBellaEsq) March 31, 2016 And the hits kept coming. George Mason School of Law renamed Antonin Scalia School of Law, or ASSLaw...ASSOL. Did NOBODY proof those acronyms? pic.twitter.com/D1C6HncReT Brieahn J. DeMeo (@Brieeeeee) April 1, 2016 On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal first reported that the law school decided to punt the preposition in marketing materials and on its website. The Antonin Scalia School of Law has caused some acronym controversy on social media, law school Dean Henry N. Butler wrote in an email to students and alumni. The Antonin Scalia Law School is a logical substitute. George Mason law school's website reflects the name change. (Screen shot) Scalia, remembered as a tart-tongued champion of conservative interpretation of the Constitution, died on Feb. 13 at a West Texas ranch resort. Scalia, 79, was the courts longest-serving justice and its first Italian-American member. President Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, the chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to fill the vacancy on the court. George Mason unveiled the original name change on March 31 in conjunction with an announcement that it had received two school-record donations totaling $30 million. Story continues Slideshow: Justice Antonin Scalia A look back >>> The school said one gift, a $20 million pledge, came through an anonymous donor who approached Leonard A. Leo of the Federalist Society, a close friend of Scalia and his family. The anonymous donor requested that the university name the law school in honor of the justice. The tweaking of the name doesnt jeopardize the gift, the dean explained in his email. Under the terms of the anonymous gift, we are authorized to use a variety of different names, he wrote. Jason Sickles is a national reporter for Yahoo News. Follow him on Twitter (@jasonsickles). A big win from Ted Cruz on Tuesday night in Wisconsin has fueled even more talk of a contested Republican convention in July. Here is how the numbers break down for the rest of the GOP primaries and what could happen if no one is the nominee heading into Cleveland. (credit: Flickr) Before voting started in Wisconsin, the overseas betting markets apparently took a Cruz win into account. Information from Betfair, a predictive market, had Cruz with an 83% chance of taking Wisconsin as of early Tuesday. Those numbers factored into two important numbers from Betfair: It had Trump with a 47% chance of getting the nomination in any scenario, his lowest showing in about two months. And on Monday, Betfair believed there was an 80% chance of a contested convention in Cleveland. To be sure, there werent a lot delegates at stake in Wisconsin for the Republicans: a total of 42 delegates, or 5 percent, of the 811 delegates left in the race. But as Wednesday morning, estimates were that Cruz took 36 of the 42 delegates in Wisconsin. So far, Trump has 759 delegates, or 44.5 percent of the delegates selected. Ted Cruz has 514 delegates, while John Kasich has 144 delegates. As of yesterday, the Republicans have selected 71 percent of convention delegates; by the end of April, that share will be up to almost 80 percent. Although Trump is expected to do well in the remaining April primaries such as New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland, how well he does before June 7 will fuel or quite the contested convention talk. If three GOP candidates remain viable, the nomination could come down to the June 7th primaries, when California, New Jersey and two other states pick delegates in winner-take-all races. With Trump needing 1,237 delegates for the nomination, if he can take all of New Yorks delegates, and 50 percent of the other delegates in April, May and June, he would have roughly 1,212 delegates in July. He needs 1, 237 delegates for a first-ballot victory. Story continues The website FiveThirtyEight.com polled six delegate-counting experts for an interactive Trump Delegate Calculator project. The consensus was that Trump would have 1,201 delegates before the partys convention starts in July not counting 125 uncommitted delegates. However, these calculations were published back on March 21. (In their analysis, the experts expected Trump to get 25 delegates in Wisconsin, not the six he is expected to receive.) Another big factor is the group that makes the rules at the GOP convention in Cleveland. Under rules changes made after 2012, a candidate needs to have the majority of delegates in eight states to have her or his name placed in nomination for the first ballot. The rules committee might change that rule, known as Rule 40, to allow additional candidates such as Kasich. Bloomberg View columnist Jonathan Bernstein points out that Trump and Ted Cruz representatives on the rules committee could work together to block Kasich on the first ballot. But without a first-ballot winner, the GOP convention will bean open convention, for the first time since 1952, and other candidates could appear on subsequent ballots. Ultimately, a majority of the delegates backed by the convention chairman can do whatever they want, says Bernstein. The chairman of this years convention is Representative Paul Ryan, the 2012 Vice Presidential nominee and rumored dark-horse candidate. Recent Stories on Constitution Daily Constitution Check: What does one-person, one-vote mean now? Constitution Check: Is Ted Cruzs eligibility for the presidency a serious issue? What really killed the first President to die in office? Islamabad (AFP) - The total number of known executions worldwide rose by more than half last year to 1,634, the highest figure recorded since 1989, Amnesty International said Wednesday as Pakistan sent three more men to the gallows. The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the London-based human rights organisation said in its annual report on death sentences and executions worldwide. The 1,634 figure does not include China, which is thought to have killed thousands of its own citizens. Death penalty data is "treated as a state secret" by Beijing, Amnesty said, as it is by Vietnam and Belarus. Recorded executions were up by 54 percent on 2014's figure of 1,061. Just three countries -- Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- were responsible for 89 percent of the total of 1,634. "The rise in executions last year is profoundly disturbing," said Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty. "Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world. "Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials. This slaughter must end." - Majority of countries abolitionist - Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty following a school massacre by Taliban insurgents in December 2014. Initially it brought back hanging just for terrorist killings but later extended it to all capital crimes. It hanged three convicted murderers including a pair of brothers on Wednesday, a senior prisons official told AFP. "Over the past year, Pakistan has vaulted to the number three spot for recorded state executions in the world -- a shameful position no one should aspire to," Champa Patel, director of Amnesty's South Asia office, told AFP, adding the majority were not convicted of terror offences. Pakistan executed 326 people in 2015 while Saudi Arabia put 158 people to death. Iran's execution of at least 977 people is at odds with its opening up to the West after striking a deal with world powers last year on its nuclear ambitions, Amnesty said. Story continues "Western countries are starting to build commercial ties and trade missions," said James Lynch, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director. "However, human rights has been absolutely left in the margins," he told AFP. "That risks undermining all these efforts." For the first time ever, the majority of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Fiji, Madagascar, Republic of Congo and Suriname fully abolished the death penalty in 2015, taking the total number of countries to do so to 102. In China, Amnesty said there were signs that the number of executions had decreased in recent years but it could not verify this. In August nine crimes were removed from the list of offences punishable by death, bringing the total down to 43. "Executing several thousand people a year is really very serious and China knows it would be the black sheep of the international community if it was to release the numbers," Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty's East Asia regional director, told AFP. People were executed in 25 countries in 2015 by beheading, hanging, lethal injection or shooting. Amnesty said its reports indicated that four people in Iran and at least five in Pakistan were executed for crimes committed when they were aged under 18. Worldwide, people were sentenced to death or executed for murder, drug-related offences, corruption, armed robbery, adultery, aggravated rape, rape, apostasy, kidnapping and insulting the prophet of Islam. A total of 28 people were executed in the United States. Forms of treason, including "acts against national security", "collaboration" with a foreign entity, "espionage", "questioning the leader's policies", participation in "insurrectional movement" were among those offences worldwide punished with death sentences. Amnesty recorded a drop in the number of death sentences imposed in 2015 compared to 2014, but said this was partly due to difficulties in corroborating data. At least 1,998 people were sentenced to death in 61 countries. At least 20,292 people worldwide were under sentence of death at the end of 2015. This story first appeared in the April 22 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. 1. Keith Olbermann wants out - real bad. Actual Trump building residents are hard to find and even harder to get on the record. But the journalist and TV veteran, who recently penned a Washington Post essay about his decision to sell his pad in an Eastside Trump building, says he's willing to take a loss. "It was a nice view and a good price and all of this stuff that you try to rationalize. I plead temporary insanity," Olbermann tells THR of his 2007 purchase. "I'm just hoping to get rid of it and out from under the onus." 2. European tourists will stay at his hotels even if they think he's a wack job. "Crazy," "racist" and "crazy racist" were among the Trump descriptives offered when THR polled a number of foreigners staying at the Trump Soho, including a French woman, a gay German couple and a half-dozen Brits. 3. No one is boycotting Jean-Georges. It is possible to feel the Bern and indulge a hankering for foie gras brulee. Many self-identified liberals who were caught lunching at four-star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's flagship restaurant in the Trump International Hotel & Tower on Columbus Circle admitted they're not about to starve their finely tuned palates over differing politics. "We have our issues," confesses one Westchester doctor, "but not enough to keep us from eating here." Read More: Before Running for President, Donald Trump's First Gamble Was Building Trump Tower 4. Richard Belzer is not a fan. When THR spotted the actor and comedian sharing iPhone videos with Trump Soho doormen, Belzer, who was in New York for Jerry Lewis' 90th birthday and a Law & Order: SVU guest spot, made it clear he was not staying at the hotel. (He knew one of the doormen.) "Would I [stay at this hotel]?" says Belzer, out to walk his dogs Houdini and Bebe. "At gunpoint." Story continues 5. Don't confuse limousine liberals with limousine drivers. It can be hard to find a Trump supporter in liberal New York, but one cabbie fawned over his "businessman" prowess, and a chauffeur passing by the Trump International expressed unapologetic fervor for the GOP candidate. After saying he'd vote for Trump, the driver screamed, "Make America great again!" before gunning his limo up Central Park West. var el = document.getElementById('targetParams');if (el !== null && typeof(el) != 'undefined') {var srcParams = $('.advert iframe').attr('src');var addParams = srcParams.split(";");for (i=1;i<=addParams.length - 1;i++) {if (addParams[i] != '=null' && addParams[i] != 'dcopt=ist' && addParams[i] != '!c=iframe' && addParams[i] != 'pos=t' && addParams[i] != 'sz=728x90') {el.value += addParams[i]+";";}}}brightcove.createExperiences();>>>>>>> LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's government is talking to mining companies to try to resolve a dispute about higher electricity prices introduced at the start of the year, an industry official said on Wednesday. Zambia increased the price of electricity for miners by 26 percent on Jan. 1 as part of a bid by Africa's second biggest copper producer to attract more investment in power generation. But the increase has been disputed by miners in Zambia - which include Glencore, Canada's First Quantum Minerals, Vedanta Resources and Barrick Gold - as they are already grappling with a slump in commodity prices. The ministry of energy had told mining companies they would have to pay 10.35 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour from Jan. 1, up from 8.20 cents per kilowatt hour previously. Copperbelt Energy Corp. Managing Director Owen Silavwe told reporters the mining companies were still paying the old tariffs while talks with the government continued. Copperbelt Energy is the main power supplier to mines in Zambia and buys most of the electricity from state power firm Zesco Ltd. "The government is talking to the mining companies and all other stakeholders, including ourselves. Hopefully agreement will be reached soon," Silavwe said, without giving a timeframe. The World Bank has recommended Zambia charge mining companies higher electricity tariffs to attract investment in power generation. (Reporting by Chris Mfula; editing by Ed Stoddard and David Clarke) By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika. Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability - a clinical outlook that adds urgency to vaccine development efforts. Scientists are of two minds about why these new maladies have come into view. The first is that, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote and sparsely populated areas. The second is that the newly detected disorders are more evidence that the virus has evolved. "What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a typically rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, signaling a problem with brain development. Evidence linking Zika to microcephaly prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in February. The suspicion that Zika acts directly on nerve cells began with autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showing the virus replicating in brain tissues. In addition to microcephaly, researchers reported finding other abnormalities linked with Zika including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and injury to the central nervous system. Doctors also are worried that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects, such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, that are not apparent at birth. "If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand," said Dr. Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico. First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms. A 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, the largest at that time, led researchers to make the Guillain-Barre link. Other neurological effects were noted but scientists made little of them at the time. A rare and poorly understood condition, Guillain-Barre can weaken muscles and cause temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to need respirators to breathe. An estimated 32,000 people in the French Polynesia Zika outbreak were infected, and 42 patients were confirmed to have Guillain-Barre, a 20-fold increase in incidence over the previous four years, the WHO reported. Another 32 patients had other neurological disorders, including encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis. Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disorder, in which the body attacks itself in the aftermath of an infection. But the newly discovered brain and spinal cord infections are known to be caused by a different mechanism - a direct attack on nerve cells. That has prompted scientists to consider whether the Zika virus also may infect nerves directly in adults, as they already have suspected in fetuses. In medical journals published last month, doctors described neurological syndromes in two patients that they attributed to Zika. Doctors in Paris diagnosed meningoencephalitis, an infection of both the brain and spinal cord, in an 81-year-old man who was hospitalized after being exposed to Zika on a cruise. Another French team reported acute myelitis, a paralyzing infection of the spinal cord, in a 15-year-old girl who had been infected with Zika on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In its latest surveillance report, the WHO said the two cases "highlight the need to better understand the range of neurological disorders associated with Zika-virus infection." Other mosquito-borne viruses - including dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile - are known to directly infect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. But such viruses are seldom associated with Guillain-Barre, and never with microcephaly, said Baylor's Hotez. POSSIBLE EVOLUTION In a recent paper, WHO researcher Mary Kay Kindhauser wrote that Zika "appears to have changed in character," noting its transition from a mild infection to one causing "large outbreaks linked with neurological disorders." Scientists studying Zika in Brazil now are reporting the same neurological disorders seen in French Polynesia. From April through July 2015, doctors in Brazil identified a spike in Guillain-Barre cases. In Salvador, there were roughly 50 reported cases of Guillain-Barre in July alone, far more than would typically be expected, Dr. Albert Ko, a tropical disease expert from Yale University who is studying Zika in the coastal city of Salvador, recently told a research symposium. "Throughout Brazil, doctors have seen strange, atypical, neurological manifestations," Ko said told the symposium. Zika exposed patients have had other neurological problems as well, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which causes inflammation of the myelin, the protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Other patients experienced tingling, prickling or burning sensations, which are often markers of peripheral nerve damage. In addition to Brazil and French Polynesia, at least 11 more countries and territories have reported hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to Zika. In Brazil, Guillain-Barre cases jumped 19 percent to 1,708 last year. El Salvador, a country that has an annual average of 196 cases of Guillain-Barre, reported 118 cases in six weeks in December and January. Zika's arrival in Colombia in October 2015 was associated with another increase in Guillain-Barre cases. The country typically reports 242 cases of the syndrome a year, or about five a week. But in the five weeks starting in mid-December, Colombia reported 86 cases of Guillain-Barre, or about 17 a week. Dr. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is studying Zika complications with colleagues in five Colombian research centers. They have seen cases of encephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis associated with Zika and want to understand what is triggering these complications. They also want to study whether prior infection with dengue or chikungunya - two related viruses - are contributing to neurological disorders seen in patients with Zika. Scientists are turning their attention next to Puerto Rico, where Zika is expected to infect hundreds of thousands of residents by year-end. More cases hold the potential for "a better sense of the full spectrum of disease that Zika is capable of causing," said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Brazil; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion) By Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO, April 6 (Reuters) - Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika. Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability - a clinical outlook that adds urgency to vaccine development efforts. Scientists are of two minds about why these new maladies have come into view. The first is that, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote and sparsely populated areas. The second is that the newly detected disorders are more evidence that the virus has evolved. "What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain," said Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a typically rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, signaling a problem with brain development. Evidence linking Zika to microcephaly prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in February. The suspicion that Zika acts directly on nerve cells began with autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showing the virus replicating in brain tissues. In addition to microcephaly, researchers reported finding other abnormalities linked with Zika including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and injury to the central nervous system. Doctors also are worried that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects, such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, that are not apparent at birth. "If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand," said Dr. Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico. First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms. A 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, the largest at that time, led researchers to make the Guillain-Barre link. Other neurological effects were noted but scientists made little of them at the time. A rare and poorly understood condition, Guillain-Barre can weaken muscles and cause temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to need respirators to breathe. An estimated 32,000 people in the French Polynesia Zika outbreak were infected, and 42 patients were confirmed to have Guillain-Barre, a 20-fold increase in incidence over the previous four years, the WHO reported. Another 32 patients had other neurological disorders, including encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis. Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disorder, in which the body attacks itself in the aftermath of an infection. But the newly discovered brain and spinal cord infections are known to be caused by a different mechanism - a direct attack on nerve cells. That has prompted scientists to consider whether the Zika virus also may infect nerves directly in adults, as they already have suspected in fetuses. In medical journals published last month, doctors described neurological syndromes in two patients that they attributed to Zika. Doctors in Paris diagnosed meningoencephalitis, an infection of both the brain and spinal cord, in an 81-year-old man who was hospitalized after being exposed to Zika on a cruise. Another French team reported acute myelitis, a paralyzing infection of the spinal cord, in a 15-year-old girl who had been infected with Zika on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In its latest surveillance report, the WHO said the two cases "highlight the need to better understand the range of neurological disorders associated with Zika-virus infection." Other mosquito-borne viruses - including dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile - are known to directly infect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. But such viruses are seldom associated with Guillain-Barre, and never with microcephaly, said Baylor's Hotez. POSSIBLE EVOLUTION In a recent paper, WHO researcher Mary Kay Kindhauser wrote that Zika "appears to have changed in character," noting its transition from a mild infection to one causing "large outbreaks linked with neurological disorders." Scientists studying Zika in Brazil now are reporting the same neurological disorders seen in French Polynesia. From April through July 2015, doctors in Brazil identified a spike in Guillain-Barre cases. In Salvador, there were roughly 50 reported cases of Guillain-Barre in July alone, far more than would typically be expected, Dr. Albert Ko, a tropical disease expert from Yale University who is studying Zika in the coastal city of Salvador, recently told a research symposium. "Throughout Brazil, doctors have seen strange, atypical, neurological manifestations," Ko said told the symposium. Zika exposed patients have had other neurological problems as well, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which causes inflammation of the myelin, the protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Other patients experienced tingling, prickling or burning sensations, which are often markers of peripheral nerve damage. In addition to Brazil and French Polynesia, at least 11 more countries and territories have reported hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to Zika. In Brazil, Guillain-Barre cases jumped 19 percent to 1,708 last year. El Salvador, a country that has an annual average of 196 cases of Guillain-Barre, reported 118 cases in six weeks in December and January. Zika's arrival in Colombia in October 2015 was associated with another increase in Guillain-Barre cases. The country typically reports 242 cases of the syndrome a year, or about five a week. But in the five weeks starting in mid-December, Colombia reported 86 cases of Guillain-Barre, or about 17 a week. Dr. Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is studying Zika complications with colleagues in five Colombian research centers. They have seen cases of encephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis associated with Zika and want to understand what is triggering these complications. They also want to study whether prior infection with dengue or chikungunya - two related viruses - are contributing to neurological disorders seen in patients with Zika. Scientists are turning their attention next to Puerto Rico, where Zika is expected to infect hundreds of thousands of residents by year-end. More cases hold the potential for "a better sense of the full spectrum of disease that Zika is capable of causing," said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; additional reporting by Anthony Boadle in Brasilia, Brazil; Editing by Michele Gershberg and Lisa Girion) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African President Jacob Zuma's son said on Wednesday that there was an orchestrated plot to remove his father from the helm of Africa's most industrialised economy. "We know it's only not about the well being of the country ... its about merely personal vendettas that they have against the President of the country," Edward Zuma said in an interview with ENCA television station. "They are feeling the pressure, the pressure is simple: get Zuma out of power. They have tried many tricks in the book, they have failed." Zuma on Tuesday survived an impeachment vote in parliament launched after the constitutional court ruled he had ignored an order to repay state funds spent on his private home. (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by James Macharia) NBU bans some investors from buying stakes in several banks The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has decided against permitting some investors to acquire large stakes in banks Sofiysky, Investment-Trust, Smartbank, Unison, bank People's Capital (bank PC), the regulator has reported on its website. According to the report, the central bank on January 22 banned three individuals M.Tkachenko (70%), V.Tkachenko (30%) and O.Ruba (100%) from acquiring shares in bank Sofiysky and on February 29 V.Prodivus and O.Troinikov from acquiring shares via Boyarbudinvest LLC (30% and 12.37% respectively). The regulator on January 25 did not allow O.Stakhov to acquire 100% in Ukrinbank. The NBU said that on March 23 I.Dehtiar was not permitted to acquire 50.63% in Investment-Trust Bank and M.Hrezhdan to acquire 51% in Smartbank via Elis Distribution Ltd. The central bank on March 23 also did not permit three individuals (O.Chepyzhko, Y.Chumak and Y.Voitko) to acquire bank Unison (10.3% each directly) and seven individuals to jointly acquire 36.55% in bank PC. The NBU indentified real controllers of each bank. The central bank is finishing the main phase of work on making Ukrainian banks' ownership structure transparent. The regulator said that in Q1 2016 the bank made 24 decisions on the acquisition of large stakes and 12 decisions against the acquisitions. Ukraine cannot avoid patent protection and have a chance of buying medicines at lower prices, Head of AIDS Healthcare Foundation office in Ukraine Serhiy Fiodorov has told Interfax-Ukraine. Commenting on the address to the World Bank where AIDS Healthcare Foundation asks to make a public statement that the country classification should not apply to price formation on the pharmaceutical market and to determining the amount of assistance to foreign states, he said that a large number of medicines, particularly, on the HIV/AIDS medicine market, are under patent protection. Countries placed to the Middle Income Countries group cannot avoid it. "I can take Mexico as an example. This country buys original medicines to treat HIV/AIDS at the price of $2,321. There are generics that can be bought at the price of $143. Mexico is a country of the Middle Income Countries group. The country cannot avoid patent rules and buys the cheaper medicine," he said. Fiodorov said that this practice is regulated by the WTO rules protecting patent holders. "If any company produces a medicine, but not the holder of the patent, it cannot sell it to Middle Income Countries, as it is banned from evading patent laws in Middle Income Countries. Generics can be used in these countries if a pharmaceutical company, the holder of the patent, transfers the right to use this medicine," he said. He said that generics are effective, safe and of high-quality if they passed WHO prequalification. "There are many fake and low-quality medicines on the market, but we dont speak about it. We speak about effective, safe and high-quality generics," he said. Asked about problems with patent law in medicine public procurement, he said that Ukraine today buys medicines, in particular, to treat HIV/AIDS, via international organizations which get permits from patent holders as an exception. Tariffs for shipping cargos by rail to grow by 15% in Ukraine from May 1 Tariffs for shipping cargos by rail inside Ukraine will be increased by 15% from May 1, and average annual increase in the tariffs will be 10%. This is in line with the financial plan of public joint-stock company Ukrzaliznytsia approved by the government. "We had to change the financial plan in part of the tariff increase. Last year we started from 15% plus 15% and this year we will once increase [the tariffs] by 15%. We've reached average annual increase by 10%," acting Board Chairman Yevhen Kravtsov told reporters in Kyiv on Tuesday. He added that capital investment decreased to around UAH 11 billion in the final financial plan. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) will total UAH 26 billion. "We havent reduced social provisions. Salaries will be increased 5% twice a year. If the economic situation changes, I would suggest the deeper discussion of the issue," he said. Ukrzaliznytsia CFO Oleksandr Buzhor said that initially larger capital investment and larger expenses on repair were projected. He said that finally revenue will total UAH 78.4 billion, including UAH 4.139 from the increase of the tariffs. Expenses will amount to UAH 78.326 billion. Net profit is projected at UAH 96.8 million and taxes and duties will total UAH 11.6 billion. Capital investment will reach UAH 11.2 billion, including UAH 9.4 billion of own funds and around UAH 1.7 billion of borrowed funds. "The top priorities are renewal of rolling stock that could cost some UAH 5.6 billion, including UAH 2.61 billion to buy new rolling stock and over UAH 3 billion to modernize it. Modernization of fixed assets will cost slightly over UAH 500 million," Buzhor said. He said that Ukrzaliznytsia is mulling the attraction of a loan from Germany's KfW bank. Kravtsov said that potentially Ukrzaliznytsia could buy high-speed trains in 2016, but own funds are not foreseen in the financial plan for this purpose. Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers has approved new license conditions for construction of four-five tier facilities The decision is outlined in cabinet resolution No. 256 dated March 30, 2016 posted on its website. The government said that the new license conditions more than halve the list of works eligible for licensing compared to the previous license conditions approved by Regional Development, Construction, Housing and Utilities Economy Ministry order No. 47 of January 27, 2009. The new document removes design works, works to build one-three tier facilities and engineering works. "The new license conditions and the list of works facilitate doing business for designers, constructors who build uncomplicated facilities and for suppliers of engineering and consultation services. This will help create simple and clear conditions of work on the Ukrainian construction market," the government said. Constructors of four-five tier facilities are to confirm their previous experience in building less complicated facilities. The main purpose of the establishment of Prime Asset Partners Limited (BVI) in the British Virgin Islands was the creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for the transfer of the Roshen Group under the management of the Rothschild bank. It was not for minimizing the tax payments like in the cases of other participants of the 'Panama Papers', President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday, Poroshenko said that he authorized the creation of the offshore to minimize taxes and that this was done openly. The company has not received a single penny from Ukraine, he said. "There is a distinction from the cases in Russia, Iceland and the rest of the world: we had an absolutely transparent process and its purpose was to separate business from politics and establish a trust. There is no other way than to set up an independent company and transfer [the business] to a well-known bank," the Ukrainian president said. Poroshenko stressed that the new company registered in the British Virgin Islands has no authorized capital, no open accounts, as their principled position was not to conduct operations through it and its only purpose was to transfer the president's well-known assets into a 'blind trust' to a reputable bank, which also put forward certain conditions for creating such an SPV. In his words, the Roshen Corporation is one of the best in Ukraine and it has never included any offshore structure. Poroshenko recalled that once he became the president, he announced his readiness to sell his business, however buyers were hard to come by due to the war in Ukraine and the arrest of some of these assets in Russia. The head of state added that he was under no legal obligation to sell his assets, but he wanted to be the first politician in the country, who would absolutely transparently separate business from politics through a mechanism which was used by politicians all over the world. Asked about the investigation which has arisen as the result of the 'Panama Papers', Poroshenko expressed the opinion that there was no need for such inquiry against him, since there were no sales operations and all other operations and objectives were transparent. "But if you want to investigate, please do," the president said. According to Poroshenko, the agreement on the transfer of his stake in Roshen into the 'blind trust' of Rothschild has already been signed and cannot be terminated as long as remains Ukraine's president. As reported, after the inauguration as president of Ukraine, Poroshenko stated his intention to sell all assets and hired for this purpose Rothschild and ICU investment companies. However, due to the lack of potential buyers on January 14, 2016, the president said he signed contract under which he transferred his stake in Roshen Corporation to an independent 'blind trust'. "What does this trust foresee? First of all, during my tenure as the president, neither I nor someone else can terminate this trust. Secondly, under the contract, neither my signature nor my orders have legal force. A respectable foreign bank of the first category will manage the trust, it will own, control and manage the assets," he told reporters at a press conference in January 2016. According to an investigation as part of the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) based on the data from the so-called 'Panama Papers', which are the documents obtained from a Panama-based offshore services provider, Poroshenko established a company in the British Virgin Islands on August 21, 2014, and then failed to mention it in his income declaration. As of August 21, 2014, Prime Asset Partners Ltd.'s shares had a total value of $1,000 and Poroshenko was listed as the sole shareholder. In the fall of 2014, Prime Asset Partners Limited established CEE Confectionery Investments Limited in Cyprus, which in turn founded the Roshen Europe BV company in the Netherland. The published report says that these companies were set up as the preparation for the sales of the Roshen Group. Roshen Corporation includes confectionery factories in Kyiv, Kremenchuk and Vinnytsia, and the dairy producer Bershadmoloko. It also runs confectionary facilities in Klaipeda (Lithuania), Lipetsk ( Russia), and Bonbonetti Choco (Hungary). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) calls on Ukraine to resolutely combat corruption, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said in Berlin on Tuesday. Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that Lagarde said that eradicating corruption should be the key component of the new IMF program for Ukraine. DW quoted Lagarde as recalling how German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the international community to cooperate with the Ukrainian government and with people helping to removing corruption. She said that she does have enough clarity about the details. She said that the recent events reinforce determination to include the fight against corruption as one of the key components of the program. "We have been constantly reiterating that eradicating corruption, reforming Naftogaz, for example, in depth, are critical components of the program, and it will continue to be so," she said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has ordered that the Finance Ministry accelerate the selection of consulting companies to manage four Ukrainian customs offices. "Let's accelerate on these four customs offices," he said at a government meeting on Wednesday. Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said that the ministry is attracting two donors to finance the experiment to manage Ukrainian customs offices. One of the donors is from the United States. Jaresko said that the contracts with these companies will be signed in May. She hopes that the consultants will appear at the customs offices in a month or a month and a half. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan will raise the issue of the situation in Ukraine at the summit of the G7 leaders. "I'm going to initiate a discussion on Ukraine during the summit of the Group of Seven," he said during the talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Tokyo on Wednesday. The Japanese prime minister also said that he intends to continue his efforts aimed at the development of bilateral relations with Ukraine. Abe said that Japan continues its efforts to resolve the situation around Ukraine and fulfills its promises to provide financial support to Kyiv. For his part, Poroshenko thanked the leadership of Japan for its assistance and readiness to consolidate the efforts of its partners in restoring the integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine. The next G7 summit will take place in Japan on May 26-27. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insists that the West should lift its sanctions from Russia only after Crimea and Donbas are returned to Kyiv's jurisdiction. "I dream that all countries should support Ukraine and lift the sanctions only when Russia pulls out its troops, when peace and stability settle in my country, and when the Russian troops leave Crimea," Poroshenko said in taking questions from foreign journalists at the Japanese National Press Club in Tokyo on Wednesday. The sanctions are closely interrelated with the observance of the Minsk Agreements by Russia, he said. "I am absolutely sure that Ukraine will be among the key issues on the agenda of the meeting of the G7 leaders. We are discussing, and they will be discussing, efficient instruments to motivate Russia to implement the Minsk Agreements, withdraw its forces, and restore Ukraine's sovereignty over the occupied territory. The sanctions are a tool," Poroshenko said. 12:00 06.04.2016 Interfax-Ukraine to host press conference 'How Prosecutor General of Ukraine Provides Cover for Shadow Currencies Exchange Market' 1 min read On Wednesday, April 6, at 12.30, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency's press center will host a press conference entitled "How Prosecutor General of Ukraine Provides Cover for Shadow Currencies Exchange Market." The participants include lawyer Mykola Pavlenko, head of the Absolute Finance Ltd. financial company Eduard Didenko, and representative of the 'Association of Financial Companies Foreign Exchange Market Operators' public initiative Pavlo Kushnirenko (8/5-A Reitarska Street). Admission requires press accreditation. Poroshenko counts on strong signal from G7 in response to violation of Minsk agreements by Russia Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko expects a reaction from the G7 countries in response to the violations of the Minsk agreements by Russia. "We sincerely hope that Japan and other leaders of the G7 countries will confirm their joint position at the forthcoming summit in Japan and will send a very strong signal to the Kremlin. We are counting on you," the president said speaking at the National Press Club of Japan Tokyo Wednesday. According to him, Ukraine is observing the Minsk agreements, unlike Russia, which continues to violate the ceasefire regime, continues to supply weapons to Donbas, and prevents the access of the OSCE observers, as well as refuses to release the hostages. "And in addition to all this, Russia is currently making great efforts to portray Ukraine as the one, which violates the Minsk agreements," Poroshenko said. He also thanked the Japanese leadership for its consistent support of Ukraine. Poroshenko invites Japanese companies to take part in privatization of Ukrainian ports, energy facilities Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with leading Japanese companies in Tokyo invited them to take part in the privatization of ports and energy facilities in Ukraine, Poroshenko's spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning. "Poroshenko invited Japanese companies to take part in the privatization of Ukrainian ports and energy [facilities]," the statement reads. The Ukrainian president thanked the electrical equipment manufacturer Fujikura and other corporations for their investment in Ukraine. In turn, Fujikura encouraged other Japanese companies to go to the Ukrainian market. In addition, the president's press secretary said that Ukrainian exports grew by 12% to Japan last year. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have lost 31 servicemen in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh. "We have lost 31 servicemen, one helicopter and one tank in the hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh," Azerbaijani Defense Ministry press secretary Vagif Dargahli told Interfax. "Armenia's claims of 24 destroyed tanks and two downed helicopters are untrue," he said. Tensions in the Karabakh conflict zone abruptly escalated in the small hours of April 2. The hostilities engaging aircraft and artillery systems began. The sides traded accusations of ceasefire violations along the contact line. Baku and Stepanakert, the capital city of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, said on Tuesday they reached a ceasefire agreement in the Karabakh conflict zone at noon. The White House considers that it is too early to make conclusions from information in Panama Papers on the alleged participation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in offshore arrangements. "I cant comment on any of the specific allegations that have been raised by these documents. Given the large volume of documents that are included in here, I think its hard to jump to any conclusions right away," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said, asked about details on Poroshenko. "But whats also true is that President Poroshenko has demonstrated a commitment, along with the rest of the government of Ukraine, to implementing a whole bunch of anti-corruption reforms in Ukraine," he said. The papers of Mossack Fonseca law firm published on Sunday contain information on the alleged involvement of global leaders to tax evasion, money laundering and other frauds using offshore schemes. Poroshenko is among them. Earnest declined to comment on details on the alleged financial frauds described in Panama Papers, including those related to Russia. He called to continue to advocate for more transparency in the international financial system. "Obviously, weve seen the extensive reporting thats been done on these leaked documents. I dont have a comment on the specific allegations that are included in those documents," he said. "I can tell you that the United States continues to be a leading advocate for increased transparency in the international financial system, and in working against illicit financial transactions and in fighting corruption," he said. Some 5,000 Russian servicemen are staying in the occupied part of Donbas and about 50,000 in Crimea, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said. "If you publicly support the conduct of the elections, then what 5,000 of your military men are doing on my territory in the occupied Donbas and 50,000 of your servicemen in Crimea? It is illegal, it is the violation of international law?" the president said at the National Press Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday, answering a question of a Russian journalist about the elections in Donbas. Head of Odesa Regional Administration Mikheil Saakashvili has accused the Ukrainian Sea Port Authority of halting funding for Open Customs Space project. "Despite Kyiv's assertion that there is no sabotage of the Odesa customs office, Sea Port Authority has halted financing of the Open Customs Space for a far-fetched reason. If the financing is not resumed within a week, construction will not be finished before May 5, before the start of the cruise trips. This means that the new customs office will not be able to start functioning earlier than in autumn, as it would be impossible to carry out repair works when cruise ships are serviced," he wrote on his Facebook page. Saakashvili said that despite of the halt of financing, some contractors refused to stop construction works. Ukraine and Japan agree on cooperation in energy, ecology, infrastructure Ukraine and Japan have agreed to cooperate on various projects in infrastructure, energy and agrarian areas, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has said. He made the remarks at a media briefing in Tokyo following his negotiations with Japanese premier Shinzo Abe. Talks specifically focused on development of cooperation in the agrarian sector, Ukraine's leader said. "Expansion of trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Japan was among priorities on our agenda, as well as a boost of Japanese investments in Ukraine's economy. Today we were pleased to hear positive assessment of investment climate, which currently develops in Ukraine," Poroshenko said. A gradual dialog to ease visa regime between Ukraine and Japan will continue, he added. An expert from the officer of the Tax Administration of Germany, Steffen W. Scholze, has become an adviser to Finance Minister of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko within the technical assistance of the German government through GIZ company (Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit). Jaresko wrote on Facebook that Scholze, in particular, will deal with the reform of the office of large taxpayers. Scholze until recently worked in the federal audit department. In 2015 he was a delegate of Germany at the Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA) and in 2011-2014 he was a representative of Germany at the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration Center (JITSIC), created in the framework of the OECD. US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt has urged Ukraine to carry fair reforms towards reaching a success of the state in a long-term perspective. He wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that the US would urge Ukraine to carry the reforms fairly to guarantee success in a long-term perspective. The diplomat also added a link to the material in which White House determined to provide remaining assistance to president and government of Ukraine despite posted "Panama Papers." The papers of Mossack Fonseca law firm published on Sunday contain information on the alleged involvement of global leaders to tax evasion, money laundering and other frauds using offshore schemes. Poroshenko is among them. Japan is calling for full implementation of the Minsk agreements for the purposes of resolving the situation in Donbas and intensifying the reforms in Ukraine, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said. "President Poroshenko and I are calling for full implementation of the Minsk agreements as the only approach to the settlement of the situation with the country, and also for intensifying the reforms in Ukraine," the Japanese prime minister said, following negotiations with the Ukrainian president in Tokyo on Wednesday. "I have received from Mr. Poroshenko promises to speed up the implementation of reforms in Ukraine, and I value the President's decisive intention," Abe said. He added that Japan will continue fulfilling its obligation to provide assistance to Ukraine with the implementation of reforms in the amount of $1.85 billion. Ukrainian consuls have no access to Savchenko at Russia detention facility Ukrainian consuls were prevented from visiting Ukrainian servicewoman and parliamentarian Nadia Savchenko, who is detained in the Russian detention facility, Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feygin has said. "Ukrainian consuls Kovtun and Moskalenko aren't permitted to pre-trial detention facility No.3 to Nadia," he wrote on Twitter account. In view of this failure to provide an access of Ukrainian diplomats to his client, Feygin assumed that "merely theoretically" Savchenko might be convoyed to the colony. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has again stated that Russia must fulfill definite conditions for holding the elections on the occupied territory of Donbas. "The conditions for this should be set up," he told foreign journalists at the National Press Club of Japan in Tokyo on Wednesday. Poroshenko reiterated these conditions: full-scale ceasefire in the region, withdrawal of military machinery and troops and full access for the OSCE special mission. He said elections could be held only if they are in accordance with Ukrainian law and OSCE standards. "Foreign troops must get out and control over the border should be restored," the head of the Ukrainian state said. The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine met in Minsk on Wednesday to discuss Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's proposal to provide a police mission during the forthcoming elections in Donbas, OSCE Special Representative Martin Sajdik said. "Safety at the elections was not discussed. But unfortunately, neither the secretariat, nor the German chairmanship in the OSCE have yet given any real proposals on this issue," Sajdik told reporters on Wednesday. The political subgroup, which also met in Minsk on Wednesday, discussed amnesty and the modalities of the elections in the breakaway parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, he said. BEIJING, April 5 -- President Xi Jinpingsaid on Tuesday that he expects the British royal family to continue to play an active role in promoting mutual understanding and friendship between the Chinese and British people. Xi told visiting British Prince Andrew that he was looking forward to a more solid foundation of public support for China-UK relations during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The president recalled the successful state visit he paid to Britain in October, saying he was impressed by the friendly interactions he had with Queen Elizabeth II and the wider royal family. China appreciates the royal family's long-term contribution to the China-UK friendship, Xi said. China is willing to make joint efforts with Britain in enhancing friendly exchanges at all levels and enriching cooperation as this year marks the first year of the "golden era" of China-UK relations, said the president. The two sides should further increase high-level communications, run well the bilateral dialogue mechanisms, constantly deepen pragmatic cooperation in order to better benefit the two peoples, he said. China and Britain are cultural power nations with long histories, Xi said, calling on both countries to improve people-to-people exchanges and cultural cooperation. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, said that he was willing to work with the Chinese side to increase people-to-people contact and make the "golden era" truly shine. The photo taken on April 5, 2016, shows the Zhubi Lighthouse in South China Sea [Photo: Xinhua] A lighthouse on Zhubi Reef, in the South China Sea, has been put into operation. The 55-meter-high lighthouse was initiated in October 2015, with a lantern of 4.5 meters in diameter on top and rotating lights inside. It is monitored through a Beidou remote control terminal. Zheng Heping with the Ministry of Transport attended a completion ceremony for the lighthouse. "To improve its navigation management, the lighthouse is equipped with automatic identification system and very high frequency stations, which will provide efficient navigation services such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information to ships." The South China Sea is a critical maritime corridor linking the Pacific and Indian oceans, as well as a major fishing ground. However, high traffic density, complex navigation conditions, and a severe lack of emergency aid and response forces, have hindered economic and social development in the region. To improve maritime emergency responses in the area, China's Ministry of Transport started construction of large multi-functional lighthouses last year. Zhubi is the third to be completed and put into operation. The lighthouses will help in maritime search and rescue, in the prevention and elimination of natural disasters, as well as marine environmental protection and navigation safety. Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai has said that China has confidence and capability to overcome the "Middle Income Trap" and "Thucydides Trap." Cui made the remarks when delivering a keynote speech at the closing ceremony of the first Penn Wharton China summit held at the University of Pennsylvania on April 3. More than 1,300 people, including overseas Chinese students from the US, Britain and Canada, entrepreneurs, investors, scholars and artists from China and the U.S., participated in the summit. The confidence comes from a clear mind and a forward-thinking, from the Chinese people's hard work, from the solid foundation laid over the past 30 years and the pioneering spirit cultivated in reform and opening process, which represent the greatest wealth for China to realize its modernization, said Cui. China's development cannot be divorced from the reality and the future development must be made on the basis of the past. China needs to embrace the world, and it should also base the development on its own situation. China cannot copy the practices of other countries when solving its problems. China will be able to successfully go through the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream will be realized, added Cui. Overcoming the "Thucydides Trap" is a challenge facing the two countries. The purpose of China's development is to make the people live a better life, to constantly surpass itself, instead of overwhelming others and even challenging the U.S. China takes relations with the U.S. as a priority in its foreign policy. During the Fourth Nuclear Security Summit, President Xi Jinping met again with President Obama. Both sides reached positive and constructive results. As President Xi pointed out, Sino-US cooperation can benefit the two countries and the world. The two sides should strengthen exchange, focus on cooperation, enhance mutual trust and work together to build new relations between big powers and to better benefit the two peoples and the peoples of the world. A recent spate of violent attacks on Asian students in Auckland has raised concerns about public safety, particularly in minority communities. In light of the attacks, many people are now wondering: is Auckland still safe? Two female Chinese students who attend the University of Auckland and a male Chinese student at the New Zealand National Institute were attacked and robbed in Auckland on the evening of March 22 and the morning of March 24 respectively. In addition, two female Japanese students suffered similar misfortunes on the evenings of March 22 and March 28. Altogether six young people were left bloodied, battered and terrified after the assaults. Inspector Joe Tipene of the Auckland Police Department says the four violent attacks aren't necessarily related. There is no evidence showing that this series of crimes is targeting any particular ethnicity. Tipenes statement is somewhat reassuring to Aucklands Asian students and the larger Asian community, but there are still concerns. Dr. David Mayeda, a sociologist with Auckland University, says that international students are more likely to be targeted by criminals, perhaps because they are not as familiar with the environment around them. They tend to inadvertently put themselves at more risk. There is also a widespread complaint in the Chinese and international student communities that the current law enforcement and judicial system in New Zealand take "special care" of certain ethnic groups or specific populations, namely indigenous Maori and Pacific Islanders. CCTV image shows the alleged offenders involved in one of the brutal attacks which have sent shockwaves through the nation. (Photo/Daily Mail Online) Auckland police confirmed on April 1 that they have arrested 10 suspects and the investigation continues. However, the overall police response to the incidents has been disappointing to many. In addition to "sympathy," all the police have really offered is advice that people to walk only in well-lit areas, and preferably not alone. That statement has become the target of many critics online. Auckland mayoral candidate Phil Goff says that as New Zealand's only "super city," Auckland has been facing a shortage of police officers. In his opinion, a bigger police presence and more resources are the first steps toward solving the problem. According to the New Zealand Police Department, the country is divided into 12 police districts; the Auckland Police Department is one of the smallest, despite the fact that it has the largest number of residents. The Auckland department is then further divided into three administrative branches, which together are responsible for 42 million permanent residents and 40,000 international students. Meanwhile, there are fewer than 1,000 Auckland police officers. Goff also stated that he was shocked to learn that among the 10 suspects arrested by police so far, five were minors. The youngest suspect is 12. (Photo: xhpfm.mobile) A C28A class corvette conducted a test launch of anti-ship missiles recently. The ship with 3,000 tons displacement is Chinese-built new generation of warship exported to Algeria. It is part of a three-vessel order signed with China Shipbuilding Trading Co. in 2012 for corvettes, to be outfitted with Chinese and Western systems. The vessel began to be built by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai in March 2013. C28 stands for 2,800 tons of corvette and the letter A is the initial letter of Algeria. On Aug. 14, 2015, the first ship of the 3,000 ton corvette which was designed and built by China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation started sea trails, which represents the project achieved initial results. The vessels' weapons include eight C-802 anti-ship missiles, a FM-90N launcher for short-range HQ-7 surface-to-air missiles, an H/PJ-26 76-millimeter main gun, two sets of Type 730 CIWS and two triple-tube 324-millimeter torpedo launchers. On Sept. 22, 2015, the Algerian Navy commissioned first C28A corvette. (Photo:xhpfm.mobile) Chinese hotel group Homeinns has issued a formal statement online to apologize for inadequate management over an alleged assault against a young woman at one of their hotels. The hotel chain has also pledged to thoroughly investigate the case along with the police. The alleged incident happened at the Heyi Hotel in Beijing's Chaoyang district on Sunday night. The Homeinns Hotel Group is the parent company of the Heyi hotels. According to the victim, a male stranger approached her by the elevator as she was looking for her key card. The man then attacked her and tried to drag her violently into the corridor. The woman says a hotel staffer failed to stop the attacker, adding that some other guests eventually did so. The attacker then fled the scene. The woman has posted Weibo messages regarding the incident, along with security video footage showing the attack. Her messages have met an outpouring of concern over public safety and women's rights. According to the local police, the girl was unharmed physically, and nothing was stolen. The police suspect the attacker may have been drunk. Some have raised doubts about the authenticity of the story, however, as the Home-inns Hotel Group recently merged with another hotel chain. The accuser's Weibo account was newly opened, and her only posts are regarding the alleged incident. The case is currently under investigation. Related: Nation Outraged at Helpless Woman Almost Being Abducted in Beijing Hotel Hallway with No Immediate Help from either Hotel or Police Just imagine: A woman, alone in a hotel, stalked when the stalker eventually started using violence, passers-by look on indifferently, as if this had been just another brawl between lovers. Yes, the victim did cry for help, yet nobody took heed to the helpless cry. The chilling experience was shared by the victim whose account name on weibo is Wanwan (@_2016) . Her unnerving story soon triggered a nationwide rage online at the night of April 5. On April 3, 2016, Wanwan was travelling in Beijing and stayed alone in a Yitel, an economy hotel chain under Homeinns Co., Ltd. She booked the hotel on Ctrips website, a widely-used booking site in China. Read more BRATISLAVA, April 6 -- Salah Abdeslam, one of the suspected masterminds behind the Paris attacks last November, is thought to have visited Slovakia for three weeks in the summer of last year, local media reported on Wednesday. According to news website aktuality.sk reports on Wednesday citing two independent sources from the Slovak Interior Ministry, Abdeslam stayed at a guest house in Nitra in western Slovakia. His contact in Slovakia is said to have been an Iraqi relative from Mosul married to a Slovak woman, said the report. Slovak police officers purportedly searched for Abdeslam in Nitra, its vicinity and in other major cities during a big night raid in November of last year. Abdeslam, a French national of Moroccan origin, is reported to have provided vehicles and hotel rooms for the attackers in Paris. It's thought that he originally intended to take part in the carnage himself but later changed his mind. He's currently being held by the Belgian authorities and is set to be extradited to France in order to stand trial there. NAYPYIDAW, April 5 -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi Tuesday met with his Myanmar counterpart Aung San Suu Kyi here to discuss the development of bilateral relations shortly after the installation of Myanmar's new government. During their meeting, Wang said that his official visit to Myanmar at the invitation of Suu Kyi immediately after the Southeast Asian country's new government took office is a clear demonstration of the "paukphaw friendship" -- "brotherly friendship" in Burmese -- between the two countries. "Myanmar is standing at a new starting point in history. China hopes and believes that the new Myanmar government will unite all parties across its country and lead its people to create a new era of development and progress," Wang told Suu Kyi. The relationship between China and Myanmar is also "standing at a new starting point," the Chinese foreign minister said, adding that China stands ready to join hands with the new Myanmar government to carry forward the traditional China-Myanmar friendship, deepen political mutual trust and expand the mutually beneficial cooperation so as to "open up a new chapter" for bilateral relations. "The China-Myanmar 'paukphaw friendship' goes beyond differences in social institutions. And the changes in Myanmar's inner affairs will not alter China's Myanmar policy," Wang said. Wang said he hoped that the two sides could strengthen their high-level engagements as soon as possible in order to jointly map out the next step for the two countries' comprehensive cooperation. He also hoped that the two countries' ruling parties could strengthen their inter-party communication, exchange experience on managing state affairs, deepen reciprocal cooperation in various areas and properly handle the problems emerging from collaboration. "On the basis of respecting Myanmar's sovereignty and territorial integrity, China stands ready to play a conducive role in Myanmar's national reconciliation in accordance with Myanmar's needs and willingness," the Chinese diplomat said. Noting that Myanmar and China are neighbors with their interests closely connected, Suu Kyi said that she personally felt the profound friendship between the two peoples when she visited China in 2015, adding that "Myanmar won't forget China's support and help," especially the help that came at critical moments. "As the new Myanmar government aspires to promote national reconciliation and achieve stability and development, the substantial assistance from China in various aspects means a great deal for our country," Suu Kyi said. The new Myanmar government is ready to work with China to strengthen accomplishments in China-Myanmar relations and expand high-level exchanges and economic cooperation so as to lift bilateral ties to a new height. "I believe that China will continue to be Myanmar's good friend," she said. Shenzhen-based companies that get listed in the Fortune Global 500 for the first time will now be awarded with bonuses of 30 million yuan ($4.6 million), according to a new policy released by the citys government. The policy aims to provide an incentive to the citys enterprises, encouraging them to grow and expand. The government also hopes the bonuses will promote innovation and continuing development in the companies that receive them. According to the policys guidelines, enterprises that are listed in the Fortune Global 500 for the first time will be awarded 30 million yuan, while those in the top 500 for Chinese enterprises will be awarded 10 million yuan. Guo Limin, Director of the Economy, Trade and Information Commission of Shenzhen Municipality, explained from 2016 to 2020, Shenzhen plans to build itself into a global hub for technology and innovation. In order to realize that objective, the government wants to propel eight to 10 local companies to enter the Global 500 by 2020. There were 106 Chinese companies listed in the Fortune Global 500 list released last July, and four of them are headquartered in Shenzhen. Luo Xiaoyan studies hard for the examination. (Photo/Chongqing Evening News) Luo Xiaoyan, a 44-year-old Chinese teacher at a primary school in the Hechuan district of Chongqing, registered for this year's college entrance examination in order to inspire his son, who is currently in his second year of high school. Luo originally took the college entrance examination in 1988 and was admitted to Southwest China Normal University. After graduating from college, he became a primary school teacher in Chongqing, and has continued with that job ever since. Luo's son is an introvert, and easily frustrated by temporary difficulties. Observing his son's unstable academic performance, Luo decided to take part in the college entrance examination to set a good example. Staff at the examination center in Hechuan district had never seen a case like Luo's. However, after going through the rules for registration, they determined that Luo was allowed to sign up and permitted him to register. A reporter for Chongqing Evening News says that Luo is busy preparing for the exam. He works hard on exercise books and reference materials. Luo said that he sometimes wakes up early in the morning at 2 or 3 a.m., using the time for extra studying. "Will you truly go to college if you are admitted?" asked the reporter. Luo answered that it would be almost impossible for him to be admitted since he hasnt studied math or English in 28 years. He cant catch up in such a short period. The reporter also asked why he didnt opt to take the exam next year, when his son will take it. Luo said he doesnt want to exert too much pressure on his son. This way, regardless of whether he gets a good score or a bad one, it will be an impetus for his son to work hard next year. "I just want to set an example for my son and my students. I havent studied many of the subjects in 28 years, but I still have the courage to take the exam. So as a young man, my son should face the difficulties in his studies more courageously," said Luo. Luo told the reporter that his son is quite grateful and understands his father's good intentions. He hopes to reward his father with a good score on his own college entrance examination next year. "The job of a train stewardess is not that simple and you are held accountable per task," said Wang Zhaoyi, a train stewardess, on the K51 train which departs from Beijing at 11 p.m. and arrives at Rizhao in east China's Shandong province at 11 a.m. the next day. Wang was much impressed by her experience on a train which ran from Beijing to Hangzhou. At that time, she had not been a stewardess for long. A pregnant passenger was about to give birth and the railway made temporary adjustment immediately after a conductor reported the situation to his superiors. At last, this pregnant woman went off the train in time. "For the first time in my life, I felt that a person's life could be in my hand, " said Wang. Wang Zhaoyi graduated from college in 2013 and followed her family members' suggestions to become a train stewardess. According to Wang, she was a little bit frustrated because what she learned in college had nothing to do with her job when she first worked as a train stewardess. If you typed the URL yourself, please make sure that the spelling is correct. If you clicked on a link to get here, there may be a problem with the link. Try using your browser's "Back" button to choose a different link on that page. The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: A new mechanism needs to be found to deal with the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict that allows Azerbaijani sovereignty to be restored, Justin Amler, Australian writer and commentator on international issues, wrote in his article published on the website of Washington Times newspaper. "The Minsk Group, chaired by France, Russia and the United States and set up to lead a peaceful resolution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, has proven itself to be a failure," the author wrote. "More than 20 years later, Azerbaijani lands are still occupied and violent conflict is still rife." The article said that Azerbaijan, with its stable government, sound economy and ethnic tolerance, is a stabilizing force in the South Caucasus region. "Instead, Armenia's attacks on settlements near the front line of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops were designed to provoke a response from the Azerbaijani military forces, which they did," the article said. "It was meant to divert the positive attention Azerbaijanis had been receiving in the news, and instead paint them as aggressors." The article said that in this recent outbreak of violence, Azerbaijan has responsibly shown its commitment to a peaceful resolution by declaring a unilateral cease-fire. The author also wrote that the urgency in resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is clear. "A solution needs to be found soon, or the violence from the last few days could merely be the prelude to something worse," the author wrote. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: Azerbaijani foreign ministry organized a trip for some 30 journalists of the world media outlets to the contact line of the country's and Armenian troops April 6, says Hikmat Hajiyev, spokesman for the country's foreign ministry. "The trip was organized to review the consequences of the damage caused to the Azerbaijani population along the contact line following the Armenian armed forces' intensive shelling," Hajiyev told Trend April 6. Hajiyev added that the journalists will visit the areas in the direction of the Aghdam, Terter and Fuzuli districts along the contact line. "The purpose of the trip is to provide the world community with the true information about the current situation," Hajiyev said. Hajiyev said that among the journalists are the representatives of Channel One Russia, Russian Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, Interfax agency, Al Jazeera network's Moscow representative office, Iranian state TV channel, the Chinese CCTV TV channel, Reuters news agency, AFP news agency, Associated Press news agency and others. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: Responding to calls by the international community, Azerbaijan has announced unilateral ceasefire on the line of contact of the country's and Armenian troops, where a recent flare-up of violence left dozens of people dead, Pakistan Observer wrote. "The sagacious decision of Azerbaijan was reflective of the peaceful intentions and credentials of the country," the newspaper wrote. "But regrettably Azerbaijan's goodwill gesture is not being matched by the other side as Armenia, which is providing support to separatists, is threatening to send troops and possibility of full-scale war." "Azerbaijan has demonstrated maturity and displayed remarkable patience and restraint despite the fact that 20 percent of the country has been forcibly occupied by Armenian ethnic separatists with the full backing of Armenia and manipulations by some other countries," the newspaper wrote. The newspaper wrote that Nagorno-Karabakh has been occupied by Armenians despite several UN resolutions. "These resolutions have reaffirmed respect and support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Azerbaijan within its internationally recognized borders, demanded the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of all Armenian forces from all the occupied territories of Azerbaijan," the newspaper wrote. "But Armenia is not ready to relinquish the land," the newspaper wrote. "We hope that fair-minded members of the international community would express complete solidarity with Azerbaijan to help it regain what legitimately belongs to the country." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: To achieve progress in peace talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict it is important to change the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, which for more than 20 years hasn't contributed to its solution, says Aidos Sarym, Kazakh political analyst and director of the Altynbek Sarsenbayev Foundation. "Therefore, it is time to change the format, to bring in new negotiators, perhaps, such as Turkey and Kazakhstan," Sarym, who also previously served as an adviser to Kazakhstan's information minister, told Trend Apr. 6. He believes that a new format of the negotiators' group may help find new ways to solve the conflict. Today, international community stands for ceasing shootings in the zone of conflict, said Sarym. "The unresolved conflict hinders the entire region's development, bringing threat of deterioration of the situation at any time and it is necessary that the world powers and international organizations make great efforts to find a final solution," he added. Sarym noted that Armenia's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is unconstructive, since they simply say it is "their land", and they don't intend to make a compromise. "International community should put pressure on Armenian authorities, possibly up to the imposition of sanctions in order to force them to change their position and make progress in the peace talks," he added. Speaking about the recent escalation of situation along the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the expert said that during the past days Azerbaijan has showed the power of its army. Sarym said Azerbaijan is much stronger than Armenia both militarily and economically, and Armenia can't resist Azerbaijan without the external support, in particular, that of Russia - an ally of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the support of diasporas. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.6 Trend: Georgia's former president, governor of Ukraine's Odessa province Mikheil Saakashvili has expressed support to Azerbaijan. Saakashvili shared a video on Facebook of his speech in the parliament of Azerbaijan in 2012, adding the "The flag once raised will never fall!" phrase. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Moscow, Russia, Apr. 6 By Orkhan Yolchuyev - Trend: Russian leadership is making efforts to stabilize the situation around the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Mariya Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, Trend correspondent reported Apr. 6. She noted that Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the issue with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku. "We hope these intensive efforts by Russia will make it possible to ensure sustainable ceasefire and bring the parties back to the talks on the conflict's peaceful settlement," added Zakharova. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Samir Ali - Trend: Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has dismissed the reports spread by foreign media outlets, including the Armenian media, which say that allegedly the strategic positions taken by Azerbaijan during the latest military operations were recaptured by Armenia. Talking to Trend Apr. 6, spokesperson for Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry Vagif Dergahli said those reports are false. He said the Azerbaijani army is fully controlling all the retaken positions. "Currently, fortification work is underway on the liberated territories," added Dergahli. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the cooperation of the two countries by phone, TASS agency reported Apr.6 citing Kremlin's press service. The presidents exchanged views about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the search of ways for its peaceful settlement, according to the agency. Putin informed about the Russian side's ongoing mediation steps to facilitate the normalization of the situation, said the agency. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: Chief of the General Staff of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces, Colonel General Najmaddin Sadikov and Chief of the General Staff of Armenia's Armed Forces Colonel General Yuri Khachaturov met in Moscow Apr. 5, read a message posted on Azerbaijani Defense Ministry's website. During the meeting held with Russia's mediation, Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to cease military operations along the line of contact. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: As an OSCE chair, Germany is ready to assist in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She made the remarks during a joint press conference with Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan in Berlin Apr. 6. "Germany would like both sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to negotiate," Merkel said, adding there has been little progress so far. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The OSCE Minsk Group has brought a message to Baku and will bring to Yerevan about the need for immediate ceasefire in order to create an environment where progress can be made on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement, the Minsk Group's US Co-chair James Warlick told reporters in Baku Apr. 6. He said it is not possible to make progress on the negotiations unless there is respect to the ceasefire. "As you know, the US has been very supportive of the Minsk Group and the co chairs," said Warlick, adding the co-chairs had a very productive conversation with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, defense and foreign ministers. The Minsk Group expressed deepest condolences for losses among Azerbaijani military forces and also civilians that have been affected in recent days, he added. OSCE's Minsk Group wants to see real commitment and political will by the parties to move forward with the process of resolving the conflict, according to the American co-chair. He added that the Minsk Group is prepared to support the meeting of the parties, but the decision rests with Baku and Yerevan. Warlick said comprehensive settlement means withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories and the return of those territories to Azerbaijan, and also it means that the parties must deal with the issue of status for Nagorno-Karabakh. "I don't blame the people of Azerbaijan for being frustrated after more than 20 years of this conflict. A larger war only can result in more deaths and casualties. We need a political process," he added. Further talking about the possible monitoring on the line of contact, Warlick said monitoring the line of contact requires the permission of the sides and until the sides are confident that the security of the monitors can be protected, they are withholding permissions for the inspections. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Details added (first version posted on 17:16) Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Elena Kosolapova - Trend: The OSCE Minsk Group has brought a message to Baku and will bring to Yerevan about the need for immediate ceasefire in order to create an environment where progress can be made on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict's settlement, the Minsk Group's US Co-chair James Warlick told reporters in Baku Apr. 6. He said it is not possible to make progress on the negotiations unless there is respect to the ceasefire. "As you know, the US has been very supportive of the Minsk Group and the co chairs," said Warlick, adding the co-chairs had a very productive conversation with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, defense and foreign ministers. The Minsk Group expressed deepest condolences for losses among Azerbaijani military forces and also civilians that have been affected in recent days, he added. OSCE's Minsk Group wants to see real commitment and political will by the parties to move forward with the process of resolving the conflict, according to the American co-chair. He added that the Minsk Group is prepared to support the meeting of the parties, but the decision rests with Baku and Yerevan. Warlick said comprehensive settlement means withdrawal of Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories and the return of those territories to Azerbaijan, and also it means that the parties must deal with the issue of status for Nagorno-Karabakh. "I don't blame the people of Azerbaijan for being frustrated after more than 20 years of this conflict. A larger war only can result in more deaths and casualties. We need a political process," he added. Further talking about the possible monitoring on the line of contact, Warlick said monitoring the line of contact requires the permission of the sides and until the sides are confident that the security of the monitors can be protected, they are withholding permissions for the inspections. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: Azerbaijan calls on international community to condemn Armenia for the gross violation of the international humanitarian law, said Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry Apr. 6 in a statement on the aggravation of the military conflict between the two countries. Armenia has been using force against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan, read the statement. "Armenia occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territories and ethnically cleansed about one million Azerbaijanis from those areas, and committed numerous other war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide," says the Foreign Ministry. Armenia openly disregards the UN Security Council resolutions 822, 853, 874 and 884, which reaffirm the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demand immediate, full and unconditional withdrawal of occupying forces from Azerbaijani territories, according to the statement. "Starting from the early morning of April 2, 2016, Armenia has intensified its military activity in the conflict area, which has been accompanied with numerous acts of violation of international humanitarian law tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity," says the statement. Armenia has been conducting systematic, deliberate and targeted attacks on non-combatant civilian population encompassing inter alia women, children and elderly residing in the densely populated areas adjacent to the line of contact of the armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan, added the ministry. "As a result of the bombardment of 32 settlements, 6 civilians, among them 2 children below 16 years, were killed and 26 civilians were seriously wounded," says the statement. "Without timely use of effective civil defense measures, the number of causalities among population would be significantly higher." "Substantial damages were inflicted upon private and public property, including civilian critical infrastructure," says the statement. "232 private houses, 99 electricity poles, 3 electrical substations, kilometers of water and gas pipelines were destroyed." Guided missile attacks were directed on social facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship, according to the statement. "Instruction had to be suspended in 28 of the damaged schools," said the ministry. "One mosque was hit during prayer with high-caliber artillery shells." "Armenia's actions represent a grave violation of international humanitarian law, in particular the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols thereto, as well as 1954 Hague Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict," says the statement. "As a result of those deliberate attacks, a large number of civilians have been deprived of their basic rights to life, health, property, education, communication, and practicing their religion." "Azerbaijan has taken appropriate measures to counter Armenia's use of force against its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and to ensure the safety of civilian population and property within its internationally recognized borders," added the ministry. "Azerbaijan has repeatedly brought to the attention of the international community that the primary reason of the tension in the region is the unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the territories of Azerbaijan." "The recent actions of the military dictatorship of Armenia, which is led by a group of war criminals, represents a serious challenge to international peace and security, and the values that the civilized world stands for," according to the statement. "The Republic of Azerbaijan calls upon the international community to condemn Armenia on its blatant violation of international humanitarian law," read the statement. "Azerbaijan will spare no efforts to ensure peace and justice in the region." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: Today, Azerbaijan has more modern types of arms, said Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Apr. 6. "These three days of hostilities showed that these arms are effective," said Sargsyan, Interfax reported. "Russia is our strategic ally; we are in one security system [Collective Security Treaty Organization]," he noted, adding, "Naturally, we are sensitive that Russia and not only Russia, but also the countries of this structure are selling weapons to Azerbaijan." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: Information about the fact that supposedly Armenian units recaptured the heights around the village of Talish, passed under the control of Azerbaijani army, are groundless and false, Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan reported Apr.6. The ministry says that the dissemination of such information is the result of false and futile activity of the military and political leadership of Armenia, trying somehow to raise the spirit of the demoralized and not wishing to fight the soldiers of the Armenian army which lost its fighting capacity, as well as being in a panic Armenian people. "The Ministry of Defence reiterates that during the day the Armenian side has continued to violate ceasefire in different directions and response of Azerbaijan's Armed Forces, forced to stop this provocation, will be tough", the Defense Ministry said in a statement. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: Starting from 12:00 April 5, immediately after the parties reached an agreement on ceasing the military operations, Armenia has started firing Azerbaijani Armed Forces' positions along the Azerbaijani-Armenian state border in Ordubad, Shahbuz and Babek regions of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan, press-service of Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan said April 6. "From 12:10 April 5 till 12:56 April 6, our positions in these regions have been supressed with large calibre weapons and grenade launchers from Armenian Armed Forces' position in Megri, Sysyan and Jermuk regions of Armenia", the ministry said. The ministry also said that units of Independent Combined Arms army supressed the enemy positions in this direction with its accurate response fires. "As a result of taken response measures by Azerbaijan's units in Ordubad direction, enemy's firing position and engineering installation have been destroyed. Operational environment is under the full control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan", the ministry added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: Azerbaijan's position in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is absolutely justified, former Israeli foreign minister and leader of "Israel Our Home" party Avigdor Lieberman said in an exclusive interview with Trend. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Lieberman said Azerbaijan acts with all responsibility and within the generally accepted norms, therefore, everyone who looks at the map and who is familiar with the history of the region understands that the country's stance corresponds to the facts of history, geography and demography. He noted that the provocations taking place on the frontline are violation of all international laws, international agreements. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides. Lieberman expressed hope that Armenia will fully understand the seriousness of what is happening, and everyone will behave in a balanced and restraint manner within the framework of legal norms that were adopted Apr. 5. "First of all, I hope that the international community, which in this case implies all members of the OSCE Minsk Group, will be objective and based on facts, not just on some narrow, one-sided interests and political benefits," said Lieberman. He went on to add that an unambiguous, clear position of the international community can be a very significant factor in addressing this issue. The recent events have shown that delay in making a decision, an attempt to escape from the real facts and get away from the objective stance doesn't solve the problem in the end, but only makes it worse, he said. "We certainly support the people of Azerbaijan," said Lieberman. "Azerbaijani leadership behaves in a balanced manner." Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: The situation on the frontline of Azerbaijani and Armenian troops remains tense, Azerbaijani defense ministry said Apr. 6 Azerbaijani armed forces strictly adhere to the agreement on cessation of hostilities on the frontline reached since Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours), said the ministry. Azerbaijan's armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the re-taken areas, the ministry said. Azerbaijani defense ministry also stated that the information spread by the Armenian side regarding the violation of the ceasefire agreement by the Azerbaijani armed forces is groundless. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: Azerbaijani community of Hungary calls the international community to demand from Armenia to cease the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan's territories, Chairman of Azerbaijani-Hungarian Youth Union Ibrahim Safarli told Daily News Hungary newspaper. He went on to add that the Azerbaijani community also demands from Armenia to withdraw its troops from all seized lands and to engage constructively in the conflict settlement process in accordance with the requirements of relevant resolutions of the UN and the norms and principles of international law. Azerbaijani community in Hungary is worried about the worst violence for decades over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, he said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. There are currently hundreds of Azerbaijani youth who live, work and study in Hungary and they are deeply concerned that peace in Caucasus region is under danger, Safarli said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Samir Ali - Trend: Armenian armed units are again shelling Azerbaijan's Terter district, head of the executive power of the district Mustagim Mammadov told Trend Apr. 6. He said that after the agreement on the suspension of military operations reached Apr. 5, the situation on the contact line of the troops in the district was relatively quiet. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. "However, despite the full implementation of the agreement by the Azerbaijani side, the Armenians fired at the villages on the contact line in several directions using machine guns Apr. 6 at 3:00," Mammadov said. "The shelling continues. Azerbaijani armed forces give an adequate response to the enemy. We have no casualties." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Samir Ali - Trend: Three civilians were killed in Azerbaijan's Terter district in the result of sabotages committed by the Armenian armed units on the frontline Apr. 2-5, head of the executive power of the district Mustagim Mammadov told Trend Apr. 6. He said that those civilians died as a result of artillery shelling by the Armenians. "Two of the victims were residents of the Terter district, and one was a resident of Ganja city," said Mammadov. "Another six people were hospitalized with injuries of various degrees." On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Samir Ali - Trend: One civilian was killed in Azerbaijan's Aghdam district as a result of sabotages of the Armenian army along the frontline on Apr. 2-5, Ragub Mammadov, head of the district's executive power, told Trend Apr. 6. "An enemy shell hit a mosque in the Ahmadaghalilar village in the district. Resident Garash Dadashov, born 1954, who was in the mosque, was killed," he said. "Also, seven residents of the Aghdam district were taken to hospitals with injuries of varying degrees," added Mammadov. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 Trend: The US welcomes the confirmation of a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia and urges the sides to adhere to it, the US Embassy in Azerbaijan wrote in its Facebook page Apr. 6. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. "The Minsk Group Co-Chairs, with the support of the Minsk Group and the German OSCE Chairmanship, are traveling to the region to encourage the sides to enter into immediate negotiations on a comprehensive settlement under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group," the US Embassy said. As an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair country, the US is firmly committed to working with the sides to reach a lasting peace over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, according to the embassy. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Moscow, Russia, Apr. 6 By Orkhan Yolchuyev - Trend: Russia wants the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to be completely resolved and cannot afford to doubt that the sides of the conflict can sit at the negotiating table, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Trend at a briefing Apr. 6. "If we allow ourselves to doubt that we won't succeed in that, it can be very dangerous and may inspire those who don't want a peaceful settlement of the conflict," said Zakharova. "We want it and know that both sides want it, too." She said that Russia has tried for many years to carefully step by step completely resolve the situation and the sides were sometimes on the verge of clinching an agreement. "Then, unfortunately, the process has been dragging on," she said. "Russia's role as the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, considering the relations we built up with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, its role as a major international player with the countries involved in this situation, is constructive," said Zakharova. She added that all Russia's thoughts, intentions, aspirations, ideas and plans are related exclusively to the peaceful settlement of this situation, as well as, of course, prevention of any provocations. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Moscow, Russia, Apr. 6 By Orkhan Yolchuyev - Trend: Some Russian reporters were biased covering the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Trend Apr. 6. "I saw the unacceptable reports of Russian journalists who covered the conflict. Journalists must be objective and not take any sides. Often such reports incite hatred instead of reconciliation," Zakharova said, commenting on the employees of the Russian TV channel and website 'LifeNews' being deported from Azerbaijan. Russian TV channel 'LifeNews' showed a provocative anti-Azerbaijani program, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said earlier. The journalists of the TV channel were deported from Azerbaijan because of their improper activity, according to the ministry. Media outlets should give objective information when it comes to a protracted conflict, during which a large number of people were killed, Zakharova said. While being independent, media outlets must understand they cannot take any sides when it comes to the acute phase of the conflict, she said. "While the efforts of the international community are aimed at doing everything possible to stop the violence and people's deaths, prevent the conflict from growing, journalists prepare such unacceptable articles, which serve to the incitement of hatred," Zakharova said. "Journalists should understand their responsibility." On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr.6 Trend: President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by co-rapporteur for the monitoring of Azerbaijan by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Stefan Schennach. Schennach congratulated President Aliyev on his successful visit to the US. Schennach said he is visiting Azerbaijan at a very volatile time, and expressed his deep concern over the latest developments on the frontline. Touching upon the latest developments on the line of contact of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, the president noted that Armenia carried out such provocations every time a possibility emerged to move forward with conflict resolution. Hailing his trip to the US, President Aliyev said Azerbaijani-US relations are at the highest level. Saying Azerbaijan enjoys good ties with European institutions, the president said the country is interested in continuing these relations in a constructive spirit. President Aliyev noted that the visits of President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe Pedro Agramunt and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini to Azerbaijan contributed to the development of the bilateral relations. At the meeting, the sides discussed the current state and prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe. Details added (first version posted on 14:43) Moscow, Russia, Apr. 6 By Orkhan Yolchuyev - Trend: Some Russian reporters were biased covering the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Trend Apr. 6. "I saw the unacceptable reports of Russian journalists who covered the conflict. Journalists must be objective and not take any sides. Often such reports incite hatred instead of reconciliation," Zakharova said, commenting on the employees of the Russian TV channel and website 'LifeNews' being deported from Azerbaijan. Russian TV channel 'LifeNews' showed a provocative anti-Azerbaijani program, Azerbaijan's foreign ministry said earlier. The journalists of the TV channel were deported from Azerbaijan because of their improper activity, according to the ministry. Media outlets should give objective information when it comes to a protracted conflict, during which a large number of people were killed, Zakharova said. While being independent, media outlets must understand they cannot take any sides when it comes to the acute phase of the conflict, she said. "While the efforts of the international community are aimed at doing everything possible to stop the violence and people's deaths, prevent the conflict from growing, journalists prepare such unacceptable articles, which serve to the incitement of hatred," Zakharova said. "Journalists should understand their responsibility." On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani phoned President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on April 6. President Hassan Rouhani expressed his concern over the recent events on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, and welcomed the two sides` reaching ceasefire agreement. President Ilham Aliyev informed President Hassan Rouhani on the recent situation on the line of contact, and said Azerbaijan always supported peaceful resolution of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. President Ilham Aliyev said Armenia always had a non-constructive position and violated ceasefire agreement. The head of state described the recent events on the line of contact as another provocation of Armenia. During the conversation the presidents exchanged views on the prospects of Azerbaijani-Iranian bilateral ties in a variety of areas. President Ilham Aliyev recalled his visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran, saying the agreements reached during the trip were being successfully implemented. The head of state said the trilateral meeting of the Azerbaijani, Iranian and Russian foreign ministers to be held in Baku on April 7 would contribute to the strengthening of security and development of cooperation in the region. The presidents said they would try their best to expand the bilateral relations. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 Trend: BHOS students demonstrating the high morale organized the rally in order to support the valiant army of Azerbaijan which starting from April 1 had been hitting adverse positions at the frontline. Guided by the spirit of patriotism BHOS students sang Soldier's March and hoisted three colored national flag of Azerbaijan to give support to all Azerbaijani soldiers fighting in the name of liberation of Garabakh. BHOS rector Elmar Gasimov who joined the above said meeting congratulated Azerbaijani nation on the fact that Azerbaijani army crushingly hit Armenian military forces in response to the firing Azerbaijani villages, inhabited areas, military positions by the latter. The liberation of several summits from occupants by Azerbaijani army was stated with the feeling of pride. BHOS rector pointed out that as the result of the policy initially launched by the National Leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev and successfully continued by the President of Azerbaijan Republic, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev our strong army is heading Azerbaijan to the victory. Elmar Gasimov also stressed that Armenia neglecting repeated warnings of the international organizations resorted to provocations however these acts were prevented by Azerbaijani army. BHOS rector expressed the confidence that all the world knew about rightfulness of Azerbaijani position. He said he was convinced on Garabakh's liberation from occupants and the hoisting of Azerbaijani flag there. Mentioning the victims of the conflict Elmar Gasimov said that all nation should be united in the name of victims and under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev. BHOS vice rector on training, science and international relations Ramiz Humbatov emphasized the readiness of Azerbaijani nation to liberate all occupied territories of Azerbaijan and that it would be possible owing to the successful policy of President of Azerbaijan Republic, Supreme Commander-in-Chief Ilham Aliyev. The rally terminated by singing of the National anthem of Azerbaijan and shouting out slogans on readiness to liberate occupied Azerbaijani territories under the leadership of Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: Jahangir Asgarov, president of the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL), and Robert Cekuta, the US ambassador in Baku, signed the Open Skies Agreement on April 6 for the liberalization of air transport market between the two countries. The bilateral agreement will simplify the process of organizing flights between the US and Azerbaijan, and contribute to the increase in the number of commercial flights. The Open Skies Agreement stipulates the elimination of countries' interference in commercial decisions regarding the airlines' routes and pricing. This allows the operators to render more reasonable and efficient services for passenger and cargo transportation. The US Federal Aviation Administration assigned "A" category, the highest security level, to Azerbaijan after the improvement of regulatory framework of Azerbaijan's civil aviation. This allowed launching a direct flight between the two countries. AZAL has been operating the Baku-New York regular flights, using the Boeing-787-8 Dreamliner, twice a week since Sept. 23, 2014. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend: The Open Skies Agreement signed between Azerbaijan and the US will allow airlines of the both countries to work freely in the territory of each other, Arif Mammadov, vice president of Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) told reporters Apr.6. The work on this agreement has been conducted for more than four years, he said. "There were many obstacles and controversies, as well as demands of both sides," said Mammadov. "The fact is that the US has similar agreements with 127 countries, and they did not want to do any exceptions for us." "However, the will of aviation structures and governments of the two countries contributed to the fact that the document has been signed, and we have ensured that the interests of our central bodies were taken into account," he noted. "For example, AZAL will have the right to receive in the US territory the passengers traveling to any third country, as well as the goods addressed to any third country, the right to disembark passengers and unload cargo directed from any area in the US, while the US companies that will come to Azerbaijan will be able to offer their services and work here on a free basis," explained Mammadov. Therefore, this document lifts all possible restrictions that exist in civil aviation between the two countries, he added. Vice president expressed his hope that the agreement will be ratified in a short period of time. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @MaksimTsurkov The Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) will start exporting oil through Iran as part of an agreement due to be signed in a months time, a Kurdish official told Rudaw on April 5. "A delegation from the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources met with Iran's Ministry of Oil for talks on exporting Kurdistan's oil through Iran," said Abdullah Akreyi, head of Iran-KRG relations in Kurdish Department of Foreign Affairs. "There is a month left for final agreement between the two sides," Akreyi added."Talks about exporting Kurdistan's oil through Tabriz and Kermanshah provinces are progressing and in the final stage with only one month left for both sides to sign the agreement." Akreyi expects that the anticipated meeting will be held in the Kurdistan Region's capital Erbil. In late March representatives of the Kurdistan Region in Tehran said talks about exporting the Kurdish Region's oil through Iran will be resumed with the Islamic Republic of Iran after the Newroz holidays. Nazim Dabagh, the representative of the KRGs office in Tehran, said that talks with Tehran have yet to reach a consensus. After sanctions against Iran were lifted the Kurdish Region began to think about the prospect of exporting oil through Iran. Dabagh says the oil pipeline will be placed in Iran for exporting oil without revealing further details on the number of barrels that will be exported per day. By Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank The first quarter of 2016 provided a level of volatility and uncertainty that most traders and investors would like to forget as soon as possible. During January, oil markets took center stage and as crude continued its month-long descent into the abyss, global stocks and credit markets took fright and ran for cover. As a result of these developments, doves ascended to the heights of the US Federal Reserve almost before the dust from the first rate hike in years had settled. Where oddsmakers once expected four rate hikes this year, the chances of just one have now been put at a mere 54 percent. These developments have forced many investors to do a 180 on their outlook for the US dollar. Many now increasingly see the greenback's likely trajectory as heading lower and these developments helped support a recovery among emerging market currencies and bonds while also lending a helping hand to commodities. Since the lows, crude oil has rallied by more than 40 percent but most of the recovery has primarily been driven by short-covering. Despite showing signs of improving, fundamentals are not yet strong enough to support a sustained recovery and this should result in some sideways action during the second quarter. Out of this market turmoil, then, a golden phoenix rose from the ashes. Investors reconnected with the yellow metal en masse, with total holdings in exchange-traded funds jumping by 300 tonnes. After the initial strong rally into February, gold stabilized and despite a strong finish for stocks and credit markets, it nevertheless managed its best quarterly performance in three decades. As we enter the second quarter, the continued collapse in global bond yields combined with the increased risk of a fading dollar should provide gold with enough support to withstand any bouts of profit-taking. The industrial metal industry was cheered by the Chinese Congress in mid-March as it led the market to believe that additional major investment projects would help stabilize demand from the world's largest consumer. But after years of overinvestment in anticipation of a continued rise in global demand, the industry remains stuck with overcapacity. Despite being addressed, this probably needs to be reduced further before industrial metals can embark on a sustained recovery. Gold the big winner as investors seek alternatives Having seen its best quarterly performance in three decades, it would make sense for gold to take stock and consolidate during the coming quarter. We see a risk of the downside being tested but do not expect the key band of support between $1,165/oz and $1,195/oz to be broken. The main reason why this time is different than previous recovery attempts - apart from fading dollar strength - is the rising number of government and corporate bonds yielding less than 0 percent. This development, which has been supported by the introduction of negative central bank rates, will not go away any time soon. It forces money managers, large and small, to look at alternative investments, one of which is gold. After hitting a 12-year low back in January, crude oil managed to recover strongly on a combination of verbal intervention from squeezed oil producers and emerging signs that US production had resumed its downtrend. Global inventories remain at historical highs and in the US, a similar stockpile was last seen during the depression some 80 years ago. Oversupplied markets remain a challenge to investors looking to get long and benefit from the expected recovery over the coming years. The contango spread or discount between the near-month and subsequent futures have, during this past three months, been most elevated in WTI crude. As an investor in either futures or exchange-traded products, contango erodes the return on your investment. As a result of the difference in contango, WTI crude has been underperforming Brent by around 11 percent so far this year. Apart from the weaker dollar, the market has also been buoyed by expectations that major oil producers in and outside of OPEC would agree to freeze production at a meeting in Doha on April 17. Comments from Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday, however, soured the sentiment. In an interview, he reiterated Saudi Arabia's stance that it would only agree to a production freeze if all participants - including Iran - joined in. The insistence on Iran's inclusion means a deal could be hanging in the balance and the risk of the meeting being cancelled has risen. Having begun to price in a recovery, investors may once again find that they have jumped the gun to early. This is of particular note given the news from Libya that three export harbors may soon re-open, thereby potentially adding to OPEC's accumulative production (which rose in March). Crude oil will eventually have to move higher - and it will - but the path to recovery continues to be a bumpy one. As the second quarter kicks off, we conclude that a low in the oil price has been found but that recovery may still be months away. Baku, Azerbaijan, April 6 By Aygun Badalova - Trend: The prospects for a coordinated oil output freeze have become increasingly uncertain following the recent Saudi Arabia's statement that the kingdom will not freeze its output without the involvement of Iran, Emma Richards, an oil and gas analyst with BMI Research, which is a part of Fitch Group, believes. "Iran will not submit to a freeze at this stage, and without the involvement of Saudi Arabia it is unlikely that a full agreement could be reached," Richards told Trend on April 6. On April 17, major oil producers are expected to meet in Doha to discuss an agreement to freeze oil output at January 2016 levels. In February, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Venezuela, and Russia discussed possible measures to stabilize the current oil market, including the oil production freeze. Last week Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said that Saudi Arabia will only freeze its oil output if Iran and other major producers do so. Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh in its turn said that Tehran will not join the oil output freeze plan. He said Iran may participate in the talks with fellow OPEC members and Russia in Qatar April 17 without joining their proposal to freeze crude oil production. Richards believes that the failure to reach an agreement would be highly destabilising for the market, risking a relapse in prices. "As such, it is probable that the producers will look for some middle ground, to positively spin the outcome of the meeting and offer continued verbal support to the market," Richards said. She believes that if Saudi Arabia were to commit to the freeze without Iran, then the freeze would be effective in supporting prices. "After the comments from the Deputy Crown Prince though, this appears an unlikely outcome," Richards said. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend: Turkmenistan and Belarus discussed the organization of mutually beneficial cooperation in the areas of building electricity and gas networks, supply of equipment and training of specialists in the these fields. These issues were discussed during the Belarusian delegation's visit to Turkmenistan's capital, read a message issued Apr.6 by Belarusian embassy in Ashgabat. The delegation included the representatives of various Belarusian companies and enterprises such as Belenergo, Beltopgaz, Belnipienergoprom and others, according to the message. Meetings of the Belarusian delegation with the Turkmen Deputy Energy Minister Batyr Ashirov, representatives of Turkmenenergo corporation, Turkmengaz state concern and others were held in Ashgabat, said the message. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend: Purchasing the Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets by Iran is not in the defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution that endorsed last year's historic nuclear deal, an Iranian lawmaker said. Ramezan-Ali Sobhanifar has said that Iran's plan to purchase Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and the T-90 battle tanks is in the framework of the country's defense measures and other countries including the US have no right for meddling in the country's affairs, IRIB news agency reported. "As Russian side has also stated the purchase of fighters and battle tanks do not defy the UN 2231 Resolution. Therefore, Tehran and Moscow are authorized to make a deal on the purchase of the mentioned military equipment," the lawmaker added. Earlier, media outlets citing an official with the Russian Joint Stock Company Rosoboronexport (arm export agency) said that Moscow is planning to ink a deal on exporting the Sukhoi fighter jets to Iran. Western sources claim that UN 2231 Resolution forbids Iran from making conventional arms sales for the next five years. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Fatih Karimov - Trend: Iran's defense ministry has inaugurated a factory for the mass-production of new explosives, the state-run IRINN TV reported April 6. The factory of manufacturing HMX (octogen) was inaugurated at the Defense Industries Organization of the Defense Ministry in capital city of Tehran, during a ceremony attended by Brigadier General Hossein Dehghan, Iran's defense minister. The HMX is a powerful and relatively insensitive nitroamine high explosive which can be used in the manufacture of missiles and armor-piercing shaped charges. Iranian media say that the destructive power of Iranian missiles will be increased using HMX. The Islamic Republic says that has made great achievements in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems in recent years. Iran has manufactured its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles, radars, boats, submarines and fighter planes since 1992. Iran also unveiled its first domestically-manufactured long-range unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in 2010. Latin American oil producers Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela are to meet on Friday to discuss an output freeze or other methods to bolster crude prices, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa told journalists on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The gathering was originally expected at the start of March, but was delayed due to scheduling difficulties. Correa said Mexico was the toughest to co-ordinate with. "The meeting will take place on April 8," said Correa, who has been pushing for the meeting. "It's been most difficult to co-ordinate with Mexico." He added that they hoped to have a declaration of support for a forthcoming OPEC, non-OPEC meeting in Doha on April 17. This regional meeting is the first significant sign that non-OPEC producers Colombia and Mexico are involved in an effort to bolster prices, in a deep slump due to worries about global oversupply. Ecuador and Venezuela have pushed hard for the OPEC, non-OPEC meeting because they have suffered more during the recent price plunge than most producers because their economies rely heavily on oil. Oil prices rose on Tuesday after Kuwait insisted major producers will agree to freeze output later this month even as key player Iran continued to balk at the plan. Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov won't go to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) ministerial meeting planned for April 8 in Yerevan, a source in the cabinet of ministers of Kazakhstan told RIA Novosti. The reason for such a move is not disclosed, the source said. On Apr. 5, the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) reported that no changes to the session program of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council due to the recent developments in Azerbaijan's occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region were planned at that time. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 6 By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend: Russia is a party in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Anadolu Agency reported Apr. 6. "Russia is accusing Turkey that Ankara holds one-sided position, but Russia is pursuing a one-sided policy in Syrian and Karabakh conflicts, as well as in Ukraine," he added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. --- Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu China is set to enter the global nuclear industry as a major player and nuclear technology supplier for several countries. (Photo : REUTERS) China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) and CEZ Group have signed a Memorandum of Agreement on March 30, Wednesday, that will see a long-term collaboration between the two companies to develop nuclear energy. The MOU includes "information and experience exchange on the procurement, construction, operation and maintenance, training, overhaul and transformation of nuclear power plants, as well as exploring potential joint investment opportunities and collaboration in the field of renewable energies such as wind and solar." Advertisement China's aggressive venture into nuclear energy has been evident in its recent partnerships with global energy players. Its Westinghouse-based Generation-III CAP 1400 system, for example, is set to roll out in Turkey and South Africa this year. "Countries choose to cooperate with China because they see the opportunities to promote their economic development," the Global Times reported. There is also an apparent advantage in China against its foreign rivals. "From a global level, China's nuclear power units, supported by strong manufacturing capability, prove to be the most cost-effective industry compared with their counterparts in other countries," said the news site. The country's expertise in fuel cycle also adds to its lead. "Only a few countries have mastered the complete fuel cycle, and that accomplishment will give China an edge as a nuclear power exporter," said Liu Yongde, secretary-general of China Atomic Energy Authority, in a China Daily report. In an official statement, CGN chairman He Yu said that their company is "very keen to forge partnerships with leading businesses like CEZ in the Czech Republic to support the country's national new energy strategy." He added: We look forward to working with local players across the industry supply chain to promote the application of Hualong 1 Technology to achieve mutual success while contributing to the local economy." Aside from the CEZ Group agreement, CGN also inked an MOU with Skoda Praha, Czech Power Industry Alliance, and China Energy Company Limited. The deal aims to facilitate several energy-related initiatives and upgrades that will boost the involved parties' presence in other key markets. Artist model of the Dongfeng DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile. Reports said that the Chinese army is ready to deploy the missile anytime this year. (Photo : YouTube) China is reportedly set to deploy its latest long-range missile, raising concerns amid the rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific region. According to defense analyst and International Assessment and Strategy Center senior fellow Richard Fisher, China's People Liberation Army (PLA) could possibly deploy the Dongfeng DF-41 long-range intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to its Strategic Rocket Force bases anytime within this year, Business Insider reported. Advertisement The missile is classified as a hypervelocity missile, meaning it is capable of reaching speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. At this speed, analysts said, the DF-41 will be able to reach targets in the United States in just 30 minutes. Experts added that the missile has an estimated range of 14,500 kilometers, allowing it to strike targets at longer distances than other models. Unlike the country's earlier silo-based missile system, the DF-41 can be launched from mobile platforms, allowing it to be deployed to different areas more quickly. It is also believed that the missile can be fitted with multiple independent reentry vehicles (MiRVs), allowing it to deliver payloads to up to 10 different targets simultaneously. Fisher said that such capability could also give a glimpse at the extent of China's current nuclear arms power. Experts believe that the country currently maintains a stockpile of about 260 nuclear warheads. However, Fisher said that the development of the new missile could also trigger a rapid increase in the number of warheads. By comparison, the U.S. currently maintains a stockpile of 4,760 warheads. The development comes amid concerns about growing tensions in the region. According to South Korean officials, North Korea reportedly conducted a short-range missile test off the coast of the peninsula on Friday. The alleged test came on the heels of a long-range rocket test carried earlier this year and the supposed detonation of a hydrogen bomb in January. In response to the test, China's special representative for Korean affairs Wu Dawei is set to meet with Kimihiro Ishikane of the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau on Tuesday, the South China Morning Post reported. The two officials are expected to discuss the situation, as well as the larger issue of the North's continuing nuclear arms push during the meeting. China is considered by the international community as integral in the effort to exert pressure against the North's militaristic advances, as the former is the latter's biggest ally. Chinese President Xi Jinping has earlier stated that all parties involved in the matter should ensure that U.N. resolutions are carried out as strictly as possible. Thousands of Chinese Teenagers Flock to US for Education and Edge Most of the parachute kids are aged 14 to 19 and usually end up in Southern California. (Photo : Getty Images) The number of Chinese teens flying to America to finish their studies is increasing, according to an article by China Daily. For these crop of teenagers, an American education gives them an edge when it comes to finding a job back in China. Advertisement Zhou Haihun, a 17-year-old teen from Sichuan Province, is one of the Chinese teenagers who found themselves boarding a plane to the other side of the world. "That's what everybody does," Zhou said in an interview with China Daily. "My father's friends all sent their kids abroad, so that was the trend." Experts warn, however, that the pursuit of the American dream can turn into a nightmare in a snap of a finger. Called "parachute kids," these teenagers live in a country far away with minimal parental supervision and may end up in trouble. "It's a huge industry," said Joaquin Lim, who owns a company that aids Chinese students to get admitted in American schools. "The last figure I read put it at $25 billion." There are about one million international students enrolled in public and private schools in the United States between 2014 and 2015, approximately 304,000 of which were from China, according to Institute of International Education, an organization based in Washington. Most of the parachute kids are aged 14 to 19 and usually end up in Southern California. Since the U.S. government has imposed limits on the number of foreign exchange students in public schools, majority of the kids are enrolled in Catholic or Christian schools. Aside from the academic advantage, parachute kids like Zhou also enjoy the freedom not usually accustomed to them if they're studying back in China. "You have a lot of choices and much more freedom to study what you're interested in," shared 19-year-old Li Junheng, who is graduating from a Catholic school in Murietta, a small community roughly 130 kilometers from Los Angeles. Parachute kids, however, have to go through a confusing cultural transition phase before fully adopting to their new surroundings, fuelling parents' doubts of sending their kids via intermediaries. "You don't send your child 6,000 miles before verifying the school and who they are staying with," said Lim. "Too often, these kids are thrown into a completely foreign environment and are not prepared to fend for themselves." The Chinese government has started its first general survey on left-behind children in rural areas to help authorities create better policies to assists them. (Photo : Reuters) The first general survey on left-behind children in Chinas rural areas is being conducted by relevant local governments, which will complete the survey from the end of March to the end of July, the Global Times reported. Advertisement The report said that the general survey, the first of its kind in China, was conducted to help the government formulate the proper aid plan for the group. The survey will cull information, not only about the basic personal information of left-behind children, but also about their educational and health situation, the family's source of income, workplace of their parents, and information about their entrusted guardians. According to the report, there are more than 60 million left-behind children in rural China, which account for more than 20 percent of the total population of children in the country. In many respects, left-behind children are vulnerable, Professor Guan Xinping at Nankai University said. "In the process of urbanization, many rural residents migrate to cities for a job," Guan said. "Though they have made great contributions to economic development and people's well-being, their low-income and the lack of supporting public services hinder them from taking their children to the city and taking care of them. Without parents' care, left-behind children face many problems in education, safety and mental health." Statistics show that accidental injury has resulted in the death of nearly 50,000 children in China, most of them left-behind children, while 70 percent of under-age crimes in the country were committed against left-behind children. Last year, poor living conditions drove four left-behind siblings in Guizhou Province to commit suicide. The general survey on the number and distribution of left-behind children is urgently needed as it would help to improve public services and financial aid to the group and help them integrate into society, Guan stressed. Schools and local authorities were also asked to protect and take care of left-behind children. The Tesla Model 3. (Photo : Getty Images/John Leyba) Tesla Model 3 is the latest automotive sensation, with over 276,000 preorders; the automaker is facing an overflow of demand twice than expected. CEO Elon Musk revealed more car specs and details about the next generation all-electric automobile. Delivery date no sooner than late 2017. Advertisement Tesla Model 3 overshadowed the launch date of Apple iPhone SE, now Musk has revealed more car specifications, which were previously tightly-sacked in the company's factories. The standard models of m$35k future car are going to be RWD while a dual-motor AWD option will also be available, SlashGear reported. The automotive company started taking pre-orders at $1,000 a pop, refundable if customers wish to withdraw the purchase before the delivery date, which is not happening anytime soon as production of cars will begin in the last quarter of 2017. Tesla Model 3 sedan specifications have not been posted, but Musk did let out some details through his Tweets. According to Musk, the Tesla Model S successor will have a fast torque response, which interprets into good traction while according to the automotive news site; their experience of the test driving the demo car was very appreciative. The production car is expected to be faster than the demo versions. The website also described some features of the prototype Model 3 cars showcased during April's opening ceremony in Los Angeles. The center console features a large 15-inch touchscreen, oriented in landscape, displaying different driving-focused information including navigation and audio controls are located little towards passenger's side. All the digital settings are reconfigurable. The next generation electric car offers air suspension for dynamic height adjustment with an aerodynamic coefficient of 0.21. Musk further informed that the front facade of the car is undergoing some "tweaking" to improve its aesthetic appeal. He also clued that to increase headroom for rear passengers, the rear roof cross-car support beam had to be adjusted. Tesla Model 3 sedan is expected to have an electric mileage of 215 kilometers. There might be "interesting things" to see in the HVAC airflow, pumped through cleverly concealed slits located in the dash. The panoramic glass roof stretching all the way from middle to the rear spoiler outweighs any car design in the market for that price. The back seats of the car will be foldable to create more room for extra cargo. Customers will be able to optionally add tow-hitch as well. Moreover, a vegan interior could also be added to the customization, arguably suitable to those who are against leather and use of animal products. The only setback for now, as BGR pointed out, is the absence of an instrument panel, but that might only hold true for demo car as production Tesla Model 3 is yet to finalize many changes before the cars are delivered to the customers. Exploring other opportunities will help CTG keep up with the times, especially with new hydropower projects in decline, according to experts. (Photo : Getty Images) As hydropower opportunities decline in the country, China Three Gorges Corp. is mulling on branching out to other forms of new energy, particularly wind, nuclear and solar, according to an article by China Daily. Advertisement CTG, which operates the world's largest hydropower plant on the banks of the Yangtze River, is aiming to build its reputation as a clean-energy conglomerate, said Bi Yaxiong, vice general manager of the company. Aside from expanding operations, CTG has also laid out plans to develop more dams and pumped storage facilities in Wudongde and Baihetan in the Jinsha River, a Yangtze tributary. The structures will be built within the next five years, and will help solidify CTG's position as the world's largest hydropower company for years to come. "We will keep our advantage in hydropower, but we are also looking into domestic offshore wind power, aiming to build an 'offshore Three Gorges Dam,'" Bi stated at the Clean Energy Expo China held on Friday, April 1. Exploring other opportunities will help CTG keep up with the times, especially with new hydropower projects in decline, according to experts. "Only some small and medium-sized hydropower projects remain untapped in the southwestern part of China, leaving less room for growth, while other new-energy sectors like wind, solar and nuclear are expanding at a fast pace," said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economic Research at Xiamen University. "So it is clear that hydropower companies will shift to other businesses," Lin added in an interview with China Daily. CTG, aside from building new structures in China, is also building new hydropower projects in Russia, Malaysia, Laos, Brazil and Pakistan. These overseas projects are aimed at maintaining long-term profitability, not instant payback, said Lin. The state-owned company has also signed an agreement with China Nuclear Engineering Group Corp. (CNEC) to explore other new-energy projects. A sign indicates where the restroom is in Beihai Park, Beijing. A survey conducted in 2015 revealed that Beijing has good public restrooms. (Photo : Getty Images) Theres no turning back. As the country asserts the role of tourism to be a vital economic vehicle, it continues to upgrade public toilets at tourist destinations, with President Xi Jinping supporting the project, according to Financial Times. The China National Tourism Administration introduced a three-year toilet revolution campaign in 2015. Advertisement This year, 17,000 toilets will be built and 8,000 will be renovated and expanded nationwide, according to the administrations website. CNTA said that more than 12.5 billion yuan may likely be spent by the government to fund all that, reported Caixin Online. Across the country, 22,009 toilets were already built last year, according to a February post by the CNTA. That sounds good news because it exceeded the original goal. In Sept. 2015, CNTA said on its website that it would build 13,000 new toilets and renovate another 9,000. The campaign aims to build a total of 33,000 restrooms and renovating 24,000 by 2017. Beijing, Chongqing and Shanghai have the best toilets, according to a survey conducted by the China Tourism Academy in Sept. 2015, reported CNTA. CNTA said that after its meeting in Beijing with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Nov. 2015, the foundation will fund the researches to be conducted for the campaign. In Feb. 2003, the Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine released the national standards relating to the classification and quality of public toilets in and near tourist sites, according to Nanfang.gov. The standard set gives a public toilet a classification of one to five stars. For a five-star public toilet, it should be made of high-grade, environment-friendly and weatherproof, corrosion-resistant construction materials. It should have a floor area of 150 square meters; walls that are 3.7-meter-tall and made of porcelain tiles, granite or marble; non-slip floor tiles and a minimum of two washbasins with a faucet providing hot and cold water. In addition, there should be tissue paper of good quality available for free, a liquid soap dispenser, a waste basket with lid and an induction hand dryer. And, take note, flower beds or potted plants should adorn the surrounding area outside of the toilet. For local and foreign tourists alike, such restrooms may deserve some selfie moments. China Bans Import of Iron Ore, Jet Fuel from North Korea in Line with UN Sanctions China imposed a trade ban on North Korea in line with President Xi Jinping's pledge to keep the world safe from nukes. (Photo : Getty Images) China is taking action on North Koreas insistent efforts to test fire missiles by restricting imports of arms-related materials such as iron ore, jet fuel and other oil products. The move announced on Tuesday came in the wake of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington where Chinese President Xi Jinping made a joint commitment with U.S. President Barack Obama to keep the world safe from the threat of nuclear weapons. Advertisement As expected, North Korea was the focus of most of the discussions, particularly its series of missile testing in the past few months. Export Restrictions According to China Daily, the Ministry of Commerce posted on its official website a list of resources that would not be allowed to be imported from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The move was made in line with sanctions applied to the country by the United Nations. Citing Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences researcher Lyu Chao, the outlet also revealed that the trade ban is expected to have great effect in North Korea's economy considering that mineral exports to China account for 90 percent of its total export volume. Among the minerals banned from import are gold, rare earth elements as well as steel alloys such as titanium and vanadium. However, China will still be allowing imports of jet and rocket fuel, and coal limited only to those intended for "the people's well-being." This means individuals who will use the products for "basic humanitarian needs" such as civilian passenger planes set to fly outside North Korea will still be allowed to undergo trade. U.N. Sanctions Because North Korea has consistently been defiant of the United Nations, sanctions will only be effective if all U.N. members should team up to enforce them. This includes China, which is expected to play a crucial role in the process because of its close ties with the disobedient government. Fortunately, the Asian giant pledged its commitment to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during the recently concluded Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington. "China and the U.S. have a responsibility to work together," Xi said in a statement cited by The Independent. The U.N. sanctions agreed upon during the summit include both exports and imports of weapons and related materials to and from Pyongyang, per a report from Reuters. It also covers blacklisted ships owned by North Korean shipping firm Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMM) as well as the National Aerospace Development Agency (NADA), which was found to be responsible for test launching a missile in February. Food for the Mind: Bookworm Offers Reading Haven and More Authors from across the globe attended the bookstores 10th Bookworm Literary Festival in March, including North Korean defector and activist Hyeonseo Lee. (Photo : Beijing Bookworm) Anyone want a couple of classic English muffins? How about pan-fried rosemary potatoes? Anyone can also choose from coffee--Americano, cappuccino, espresso, latte, macchiato-- fresh fruit juice, or--for those of legal age--cocktails, whiskey or gin to go with their meal. And to top it off, how about a book? Advertisement The Bookworm feeds both the body and the mind seven days a week from 9 a.m. until midnight--extending one hour more on weekends for those bookworms who simply cant get enough. Irish Peter Goff and friend Alexandra Pearson, who went back to the U.K. in 2013, founded the bookstore cum cafe-bar restaurant in 2006 in Beijing. Lonely Planet listed it at number seven among its top 10 picks of the worlds greatest bookshops for its Lonely Planets Best in Travel 2011. The partners opened two more branches: one in Chengdu in 2006 and another one the following year in Suzhou. In an interview with Chengdu Living in 2013, recalling the early days of Bookworm, Goff called it a fun project, a home from home. Goff said that they generally bought the books in America, the U.K., Canada and Ireland. The Bookworm started with 2,000 books all owned by Pearson, according to Gadling. At the last count, the bookstores website said, we were able to boast 16,112 titles on our library shelves. Goff has been working as Bookworms general manager since May 2006, according to his LinkedIn profile. The Chengdu Bookworm is a refuge for expats that love books, camaraderie and epicures. It is my home away from home when Im there, said one patron on the LinkedIn page of Goff. Another testimony reads: Peter runs one of the most hospitable venues in China. The bookworm is warm, friendly . . . always busy, always [have] interesting activities with nice literary and musical undercurrent. The bookstore also organizes an annual gathering of lovers of the printed word. Coming from 30 countries, nearly 180 writers and intellectuals participated in the 10th Bookworm Literary Festival, a celebration of literature and ideas, held from March 11-27, according to its website. The Beijing Bookworm literary festival offers a chance to explore the limits to criticism in the People's Republic, said journalist and author Paul Anderson in an article at Little Atoms. Some 300 events highlighted this years celebration. The event involved, among others, a writing workshop, book talks and activities for children. I think the world would be a better place if people read more, said Goff, according to China Daily. The former journalist said to Chengdu Living that his favorite book related to the country is Paul Frenchs New York Times bestseller, Midnight in Peking, a true story about the 19-year-old British Pamela Werner murdered in Jan. 1937. Was the case ever solved? Perhaps a copy is tucked away on one of the shelves of the Bookworm. Visit and enjoy the books--and the food. A subway staff member keeps watch at the Zhichunlu Station on the Subway Line 10 in Beijing, China, July 21, 2008. (Photo : Getty Images) A Beijing subway station has established an intervention and counseling system for its employees in response to a recent string of people committing suicide on the tracks. The intervention system includes teaching how to spot would-be jumpers, persuading them not to do it, implementing immediate rescue procedures, and offering psychological counseling to traumatized staff, a subway employee from Line 2's Qianmen station told the Global Times on Monday. Advertisement In March, the station invited psychological experts from Beijing's Huilongguan Hospital to train staff members on how to effectively intervene, to understand why people commit suicide, and how to deal with the psychological damage from such incidents. Li Xianyun, a psychiatrist from Huilongguan Hospital, said the subway employees now have the ability to recognize suicidal passengers. "Station staff approach passengers who wander around for a long time in the station and look desperate or depressed," said Li, adding that employees who witness suicides firsthand are encouraged to seek psychological help immediately. The stations have assigned staff to monitor and manage foot traffic to ensure that people do not fall onto the tracks by accident, and have placed cameras at the entrance to the tunnels to monitor any suspicious behavior in real time, according to the Global Times. The new measures follow a recent string of people committing suicide or accidentally falling on Beijing's subway tracks. In June the previous year, a 30-year-old passenger was injured from falling onto the tracks after fainting from high blood pressure. Another passenger reportedly jumped and was killed by a train approaching the Wansholou subway station in March. According to an official government report, 39 incidents of passengers falling onto the rails in Beijing's subway system were reported from Jan. 2014 to March 2016. Of the 39 passengers, 26 were said to have jumped on purpose, while four people fell from the subway platforms by accident. 21 of the incidents occurred on stations in the Line 1 and Line 2 of the Beijing subway, mainly on peak hours, the report said. These lines, the oldest in the city's subway system, are the only ones with stations that do not have shield doors between the platforms and the tracks. Many of the Line 1 and Line 2 stations are over 20 years old and must be redesigned in order to accommodate the heavy shield doors, the Global Times said in its report. An insider told the newspaper under the condition of anonymity that work to install shield doors on the two subway lines is ongoing and is expected to be completed by June this year. During his two-day visit in Myanmar, which transpired just after the new government assumed office, Wang also met with Aung San Suu Kyi. (Photo : Getty Images) During a visit to Naypyitaw, Myanmar, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed hopes of renewed and strengthened ties with the Asian neighbor. On Tuesday, April 5, Wang said that China and Myanmar should "properly tackle issues facing their cooperation" and "reinforce high-level exchanges as soon as possible," according to an article by China Daily. Advertisement During his two-day visit in Myanmar, which transpired just after the new government assumed office, Wang also met with Aung San Suu Kyi. "China-Myanmar relations are now at a new historical starting point," said Wang, as China's visit highlighted the existing friendship between the two nations. Wang is the first top foreign diplomat to meet with Suu Kyi after the new Myanmar government assumed office on March 30. Suu Kyi, who represented the National League for Democracy, won by a landslide. Suu Kyi, at a news conference held after her meeting with Wang, said that relations between China and Myanmar are "important politically as well as socially and economically," Agence France-Presse reported. China is keen on improving relations with its neighbor, promising that the country will support Myanmar in its quest to reconcile the whole country. In addition, Myanmar plays a pivotal role as the country serves as China's largest trade partner and investment source. "China is a good neighbor to Myanmar. We want to improve the relationship between the two countries," Wang said. Under its new leadership, Myanmar will pursue policies that will lead to greater economic growth and improvement in its industries, which are greatly lacking. "Myanmar wants to update its water projects and infrastructure and develop its industrial parks, while China happens to have vast experience," said Xu Liping, a senior research fellow from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Chinese investment, according to Nyunt Maung Shein, chairman of the Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, "will always be welcome in Myanmar." China-Myanmar relations "have been tested over time," said Nyunt in an interview with China Daily. China's role as an investor will greatly help Myanmar with its development, effectively creating job opportunities and promoting corporate social responsibility and preservation of the environment. Look, Ma! No clothes: Nu couche, an oil on canvas by Modigliani, painted in 1917-1918. Chinese investor Liu Yiqian acquired it for $170,405,000 in 2015. (Photo : Christies) Someone in need of medical assistance would normally call the hospital or contact a personal physician. Communication nowadays is fast and easy, but a long time ago, it was an entirely different story. The Chinese had to wait for the sound of the bell. Wang Jinming said to CRIEnglish that doctors of yesteryears would roam the neighborhood using hucheng--a circular metal handbell--to announce their presence. Advertisement Wang keeps this interesting concrete piece of history, along with other valuables from the past, in his very own private museum, according to Fox News. He and two others put up the Beijing Old Items Exhibition to contain the hundreds of objects from the 1900s that they have been collecting since the 1980s. They record real history, said Wang. Displayed at Luo Wenyous private museum are his collection of vintage cars, more than 200 of them, including one that Mao refused to ride in until the brands Romanized name on the hood was replaced with Chinese characters, according to Fox News. Luo opened it in 2009. He said that it was his personal duty to preserve Chinas motoring history. The country hosts a number of private museums. Based from the statistics provided by China Museums Association, there were 277 privately owned museums in 2009. It more than tripled in 2014, numbering at 864, reported CNN. According to CNN, The construction of private art museums is booming in China. Money and education may play a role in it. A more affluent and educated population now has more time and interest to give to cultural pursuits, said Aric Chen, according to architecture and design magazine Dezeen. Chen serves as curator of M+, an art museum that will open in Hong Kongs West Kowloon Cultural District in 2019, according to its website. Those in China with jaw-dropping bank accounts, in particular, can erect a private museum in a breeze and fill it with as many items as their stacks of money will allow them to. Take the case of this well-heeled, art-loving couple who opened a second--a bigger one--museum in Shanghai. Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei, the former with a net worth of $3.3 billion as of April, according to Forbes, founded the Long Museum. The nearly 10,000-square-meter Long Museum in Pudong on Luoshan Road, designed by Chinese architect Zhong Song, welcomed the public on Dec. 18, 2012, according to its website. Opening in 2014, the 33,000-square-meter Long Museum West Bund in Binjiang, Xuhui District, designed by Chinese architect Liu Yichun, allocates 16,000 square meters of its space for exhibition. Liu bought a painting of a nude woman by Italian-Jewish painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920) for $170.4 million in Nov. 2015, reported The New York Times. Whats the reason behind the name of this museum? Because I want them to last a long time, said Wang to South China Morning Post. She added: They cost a lot and there is hardly any government subsidy. But its our way of paying back society. Liu presented his reason why they opened two museums. It will be an opportunity for Chinese art lovers to see good artworks without having to leave the country, said Liu, according to The New York Times. Its not only the public who benefits from these museums. Seng Kuan, an architectural historian at Washington University in St. Louis, told CNN that the existence of the private museums in the country has been a good thing that has given Chinas young architects lots of opportunities. A Mossack Fonseca law firm logo is pictured in Panama City, April 3, 2016. (Photo : Reuters) China appears to be censoring online discussions that link the country's top officials and their relatives to the Panama Papers, the biggest data leak in history that created an online ruckus Sunday night. China Digital Times has purportedly obtained censorship instructions ordering China-based news organizations to "find and delete reprinted reports on the Panama Papers." The directives added that "if material from foreign media attacking China is found on any website, it will be dealt with severely." Advertisement These come after reports naming Xi Jinping's relatives as alleged shareholders in offshore companies based in one of the so-called "tax havens." The University of California, Berkeley-affiliated website claimed that it rearranged the original wordings of the directives to protect its source. The Guardian was quick to pick up the information, observing that "Chinese news appeared to be closely following those orders." It also cited several China-based online publications, whose reports on the Panama Papers vanished in the abyss of the Internet, shortly after censorship rumors circulated. BBC News noted separately that "website Freeweibo.com, which actively tracks censorship on Weibo, listed 'Panama' as the second most censored term on the network." Meanwhile, NBC News said that "the blocking was not universal, with some searches resulting in stories about non-Chinese figures featured in the documents." The Panama Papers is a gigantic set of about 11.5 million confidential files leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca by an anonymous source. It exposes offshore transactions by the world's richest and most powerful people, among which are UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, actor Jackie Chan, FIFA superstar Lionel Messi and Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davio Gunnlaugsson, who has just stepped down in the wake of the controversy. Setting up an offshore company is not against the law. The practice is common in some countries such as the U.K. and Russia, enabling firms to dodge criminal raids and go around currency constraints, among other reasons. However, the system brings issues about the use of tax havens to the table. "The revelations are likely to provoke urgent calls for reforms of a system that critics say is arcane and open to abuse," said The Guardian. According to a 2015 panda census by the State Forestry Administration, there are currently 422 pandas kept in captivity worldwide. (Photo : Getty Images) Thousands of Chinese netizens tuned in on a live video feed of giant pandas at a research center in Sichuan Province in hopes of witnessing their mating rituals, according to an article by China Daily. Advertisement Twenty video cameras were installed at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda to allow netizens to take a peek of these endangered animals' everyday lives. This season is particularly exciting, as spring heralds the start of the giant panda's mating season. Netizens who weren't able to catch pandas mating can scroll through the center's panda-mating video clips uploaded on their official website. One such video shows 9-year-old Cui Cui and 16-year-old Wu Gang getting acquainted with each other at the center's Bifengxia base in Ya'an last Sunday, April 3. Research centers for giant pandas have long dealt with difficulties regarding the mating habits of giant pandas in captivity. According to researchers, mating in captivity is a challenge for the bears. In addition to the mating game, pregnancies and the care for newborn cubs also pose new sets of challenges. "Only 20 percent of the pandas could have sex naturally. To motivate male pandas' sex drive, researchers let them watch videos of other pandas mating," said Zhang Heming, the center's chief, in an interview with China Daily. Aside from making them watch videos, male pandas are also fed an aphrodisiac. Still, researchers are optimistic that things are about to change, as they are now equipped with over 20 years of research about giant pandas. Between 70 and 80 percent of giant pandas in captivity can now mate naturally. As for post-natal care, zoos around the world are constantly on the lookout for skilled workers who can assist with the birth and care of cubs. "Many zoos outside the Chinese mainland lack experience in the field and ask Chinese researchers to help them. This year, researchers from the Ya'an research center have visited Belgium and Taipei. Next they will go to Singapore, Thailand, Britain and Australia," said Tang Chunxiang, a senior researcher. According to a 2015 panda census by the State Forestry Administration, there are currently 422 pandas kept in captivity worldwide. Majority of the bears are kept in the Ya'an research center and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. "One Punch Man" is an ongoing Japanese webcomic created by an author using the pseudonym One, which began publication in early 2009. (Photo : One Punch Man Org) Saitama is set to throw more punches, as "One Punch Man" season 2 is rumored to be under development and slated for a 2017 release. Advertisement The series immediately rose to fame after airing few episodes because it has an interesting plot involving Saitama, who trained hard until he got bald. His training paid off by acquiring an overwhelming power, which made him capable of destroying an enemy with a single punch. "One Punch Man" season 2 has been reported to be a tough season for Saitama as he could face opponents that have the same strength or power as him, or these enemies might be even more powerful than Saitama. The stronger villains could be a twist in the plot to put some pressure on the lead character and further excite the fans. In addition, a report published by CrossMap reveals an entry of a significant villain that is said to be responsible in killing all the heroes of the Hero Association. It is rumored that the villain will be Garou, who is a former student of Silver Fang (Class S Hero) and a master of the 'Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist' technique. According to the report, Garou can match the capabilities of Saitama. Meaning, they may have the same strength or power, and that this villain may take Saitama's title of being the strongest man. A battle between Amai Mask (Class A Rank 1 Hero) of the Hero Association and Saitama is also possible, and this hero may have a hidden skill to defeat Saitama. There is a possibility as well that Genos, who is Saitama's apprentice, will fight him in the second season. Meanwhile, "One Punch Man" season 2 is also reported to be a battle between the Hero Association and the Hunter Association, HNGN reported. The Hunters will compete with Hero association in terms of grabbing people with Class S capabilities. "One Punch Man" season 2 is also said to reveal Saitama's humble beginnings, when he still has hair. Fans can expect Saitama on the small screen punching more villains in 2017. Watch "One Punch Man" official super serious trailer below: Samsung is set to release a foldable smartphone next year. (Photo : YouTube/Wicker) Samsung is set to release a foldable smartphone next year. According to recent rumors, the company started to develop this technology three years ago, and is said to be out in the market by 2017. This may be a move of Samsung to grab the lead in smartphone technology, and hopefully gain an overwhelming profit from it. Advertisement Samsung undoubtedly wants to knock-out Apple in the smartphone industry, as the industry has long been controlled by the latter with its impressive iPhones and iPads. However, this might change if Samsung can be able to pull-off its foldable smartphone tech. The report of ETNews reveals that the anticipated foldable phone will be both a 5-inch display smartphone and a 7-inch display tablet, a two-in-one concept that was made cooler. If folded, it would be a regular 5-inch capacitive screen smartphone that one can just insert in his pocket, and unfolding it makes it a 7-inch tablet that one can enjoy using, whenever the user wants to watch some videos or play some games. The report also exposed that Samsung Display and Samsung Electronics collaborated with domestic and foreign businesses in order to develop the said anticipated gadget. It is said that Samsung Electronics was the division responsible for developing the main functions of the 7-inch phablet, but it was Samsung Display who made the whole concept possible through an OLED screen, which is bendable, Hindustan Times reported. Samsung may have anticipated that the smartphone industry will slow down soon. It may be due to the lack of innovation, or could be because consumers just want a new concept. Perhaps, Samsung's awaited launch of its foldable smartphone might bring back the consumers' excitement for smartphones. The bendable gadget is said to set new standards in the industry, and it might become an iPhone for Samsung. On one hand, if things did go according to plan during the development, then it has been rumored that the said bendable device will be massively produced later this year, for it to be available in 2017. The Obama administration may order the movement of some US and international troops from a base in the northeastern part of Egypt's Sinai Peninsulainto the southern Sinai, and is discussing such a move with Egypt and Israel, CNN reported on Tuesday. Egypt and Israel signed a peace deal in 1979, agreeing that a Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission would monitor compliance. Some 700 US troops are part of that mission, CNN said. Most of the peacekeepers are stationed at El-Gorah camp, near the Gaza Strip. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis declined to confirm or deny the CNN report. "We remain fully committed to the objective of the MFO mission and the maintenance of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt," he told AFP. "We are in continuous contact with the MFO and adjust force protection capabilities as conditions warrant." Officials worry the threat of an ISIS group attack targeting US forces in the region is increasing. Egyptian security forces have been fighting a militant insurgency, which includes the Islamic State group-affiliated Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, in parts of North Sinai where the Multinational Forcers and Observers are located for several years. Hundreds of troops and militants have been killed in the violence. Search Keywords: Short link: The charges of libel and slander against leading press syndicate official Khaled El-Balshy must be dropped within 48 hours or the syndicate will take steps against the interior ministry, a syndicate board member said on Tuesday. "The syndicate's board has started a permanent session until the issue is resolved and if the interior ministry doesn't waive the case, we will take escalation procedures," board member Gamal Abdel-Reheem told the press, calling on the interior ministry to ask the prosecution to drop the charges. On Monday, the prosecution ordered the arrest of the prominent journalist, who is head of the freedoms' committee within the Journalists Syndicate, after a legal advisor to Interior Minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar filed a legal complaint against him. The complaint accused him of "libel and slander" against the ministry and of "insulting the police and calling for the disturbing of public order and the overthrow of the regime." The press syndicate said in a statement published on Tuesday that a board meeting will take place on Thursday to review the update of El-Balshy's case and decide the next step. El-Balshy, who is editor-in-chief of independent news website Al-Bedaiah, is known for advocating democracy and supporting freedom of speech and expression. According to the press syndicate, a total of 27 journalists remain behind bars in Egypt, with some sentenced to prison for publishing false news and belonging to the banned Muslim Brotherhood group. Search Keywords: Short link: Egyptian satellite company NileSat halted the broadcast of Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese channel Al-Manar on Wednesday, in a decision the channel said was politically motivated. Hamdy Monunir, the chief technical officer at NileSat, told Ahram Online Wednesday that the administration of NileSat had sent official notices to Al-Manar after it had breached its contract several times. "We followed all the legal procedures and yet they did not listen, and so we took an action," he said, adding that the violations were related to broadcasting sectarian material. The Egyptian-owned satellite NileSat is among the most-watched satellite television services in the Arab world. In December, the administration of Saudi Arabia-based ArabSat, another popular satellite operator, cut the broadcast of Al-Manar for violating its contract and broadcasting sectarian material. In March, the Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organisation. In statements to AFP, Al-Manar officials denied that the channel had violated its contract "This is a political decision, not an industry decision. Al-Manar has nothing to do with sectarian strife," the channel's general manager Ibrahim Farhat told AFP, calling the move "unjust and arbitrary. "This is part of the political problem in the region that they're taking out on the media," Farhat said. An anonymous senior NileSat official told AFP that channels "must abide by not airing any violent or racist content, or provoking sectarian strife. The NileSat official added that no other Lebanese television channel had violated their contracts. The television channel, which is owned by the Lebanese Communication Group, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, sent a series of tweets explaing how the channel could be viewed online, as well as via Russian satellite Express AM. The decision to cut the transmission of Al-Manar TV came hours ahead of the visit by Saudi Arabia's King Salman to Egypt on Thursday. In February, the Saudi kingdom halted a $3 billion programme of military aid to Lebanon in protest at what it said was "the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state." As a result of the decision, tensions have increased between Lebanon and the kingdom, as well as other Gulf states. Some Gulf states have urged their citizens to leave Lebanon and to avoid travelling there. Cutting controversial broadcasts In the past, NileSat has halted the broadcast of television channels in relation to the broadcast of controversial material. In July 2013, following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, the administration of NileSat stopped the transmission of 10 pro-Morsi Islamist channels, citing complaints about their violence incitement content. In June 2014, the Egyptian-owned satellite operator stopped the broadcast of three Iraqi television channels for broadcasting sectarian material. Search Keywords: Short link: Sudanese authorities have released 26 Egyptian high school students who had been detained in Khartoum on charges of leaking school exams, Egypt's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The released students were received by the Egyptian ambassador to Sudan and other members of the Egyptian diplomatic delegation to Khartoum, ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said. The Sudanese embassy in Cairo had confirmed on Tuesday that the students, who were among a group of students of mixed nationalities who were arrested on 28 March on suspicion of buying and selling copies of high school exam papers, would be released. The embassy said the decision to release them came in consideration of the "special and brotherly relations between Egypt and Sudan. Sudan will apply only an educational punishment, the embassy said, by depriving the students from participating in this year's high school exams. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt's former top auditor, Hisham Geneina, was found guilty of defaming former Minister of Justice Adel Abdel-Hamid Cairo Criminal Court has fined Egypt's former top auditor Hisham Geneina and a journalist and his editor-in-chief for defaming the former Minister of Justice Adel Abdel-Hamid in an interview which was published late last year. The court fined each of the former head of the Central Auditing Authority, Geneia, and Al-Wafd Daily journalist Tahany Ibrahim EGP 20,000 each, and also fined the editor-in-chief of Al-Wafd Magdy Sarhan EGP 10,000 - all for defaming Abdel-Hamid. In an interview with Al-Wafd newspaper in December, 2015 Geneia accused Abdel-Hamid of breaking the law and stealing state funds during his tenure as a board member of Egypt Telecom company. Abdel Abdel-Hamid breifly served as minister of justice twice: under the transitional periond following the 2011 revolution (from late 2011 until mid-2012) and again under another interim government following the ouster of Isalmist Mohamed Morsi (from mid-2013 until early 2014.) Wednesday's sentence can be appealed. The criminal court also ordered the three to pay EGP 101,000 as temporary compensation to the former minister who sued them for libel and slander. Geneina was dismissed from his post by presidential decree a week ago, hours after the State Security Prosecution found his claims about corruption in Egypts most powerful institutions, including the police, judiciary and intelligence agencies, to be "inaccurate." Search Keywords: Short link: Mothers in Egypt have taken to social media to call for major reform of the country's education system. Ahram Online looks at parents' grievances and officials' reactions Egyptian mothers have launched what they describe as a revolution against the country's government-mandated school curriculum, demanding that their input and concerns be included in determining the educational policy at a time when the education ministry is taking steps to reform the system. Several groups have been formed on Facebook in the past few months calling for reform in primary and high school education, including "Egyptian mothers' revolution on the school curriculum", "Mothers rebel against education," and "Your curriculums are void campaign," with thousands joining and participating in the discussions. We created [Facebook] groups almost four years ago to help each other understand parts of the curriculum in order to help our kids study, Sally Hamdy, a homemaker and mother of three school-age children, told Ahram Online. She says, however, that a "contagion" of dissatisfaction with the curriculum started spreading in these groups, so we created other groups to discuss these problems. Hamdy is an administrator for the Facebook group Your curriculums are void campaign, which hosts over 145,000 angry parents seeking change. The parents' main grievance is that their children do not have enough time to study the huge mandated school curriculums, whose contents will be included in the end-of-year exams scheduled for May. They demand the cancellation of some parts of the curriculum so their children have enough time to study the rest. There was a pattern these were not individual concerns. We had the same problems, Hamdy said, adding that parents were airing grievances that had been piling up for decades. Problems My children wake up at 5:30 am, go to school, come home at 4:30 pm, eat in a rush so they can study until 9 or 10 pm, and then repeat it again the next day, Hamdy said. Theres no time for anything else. No fun at all. She also echoed the concerns of other parents who say that the school curriculums are heavily based on memorisation. My daughter had an Arabic midterm the other day and I kept telling her 'go memorise, go memorise, go memorise'," she said. "I dont believe in just memorising, but that is the only way to pass an exam." But what really struck Hamdy is the effect this had on her relationship with her children. My relationship with my sixth-grader son became very bad, were fighting all day to make him study and memorise his lessons, she said. Education expert Kamal Mogith told Ahram Online that parents paying attention to the education system was a positive thing, saying that indifference by parents had contributed to Egypt ranking second-to-last in education worldwide in 2015-2016. According to CAPMAS Egypt had 9.3 million students in primary stage in governmental schools in the school year 2014-15 and another 948,400 in the primary stage in private schools supervised by the education ministry also in the same school year. Last March, Education minister El-Hilali El-Sherbini, appointed in September 2015, acknowledged many of the parents' concerns in an interview with Sada El-Balad TV channel. El-Sherbini conceded that the curriculums have unnecessary stuffing, that the classes are overcrowded, that there are not enough schools to accommodate all pupils, and that the teachers are under-trained and underpaid. The countrys primary-level education, which spans a period of six years, was ranked second-to-last worldwide standing at number 139 by the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Report for the year 2015-2016. Calls for reform President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi announced in January that the country's school curriculums would be reformed. In a visit to Japan late February, El-Sisi and his advisors visited a number of Japanese schools in order to cooperate with the Asian country on improving the education system in Egypt. El-Shirbini said that a number of curriculums have been revised and improved in the past four months and would be ready for print in May for the academic year 2016-2017, promising that parents would get the chance to view them once they are completed. However, many of the country's mothers do not simply want the education system to undergo internal reform; they want to be part of the drafting process, arguing that they are the ones who tutor their kids and therefore know what they are capable of comprehending. Hamdy says, however, that the ministry sees that it is their job [to develop the curriculums], and that no one has the right to interfere in their jobs. Mogith believes that simply redrafting the school curriculum would not be enough to fix the problems facing the education sector. The same people who devised the old curriculums are developing [the new ones]; there is no real development and no new horizons, he said. The education minister described those developing the school material as mere tokens and professors from the oldest universities in Egypt. We are directly calling on President El-Sisi to intervene. Egyptian mothers [represent a serious force]," said Hamdy. "[El-Sisi] previously complemented Egyptian mothers stand by the army and the nation, and now we need him to stand by us, she added. Search Keywords: Short link: Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz will visit Egypt's parliament on Sunday in his five-day visit to the country to start on Thursday, deputy head of the parliament Soliman Wahdan told reporters on Wednesday. Wahdan added that Salman may give a speech during his what he described as "historic visit" to parliament. Official sources told Ahram Online on Tuesday that Egypt will sign four funding accords with Saudi Arabia worth roughly $22 billion during the Saudi king's first official visit to Cairo since he rose to power in January 2015, Egypt is expected to finalise two framework agreements for soft loans signed in March, with the first worth around $20 billion to finance its five-year petroleum needs from the oil-rich kingdom. The second agreement is worth $1.5 billion for 12 development projects in Sinai, while the third is for a concessional loan worth $120 million to renovate Cairo's historical Kasr El-Aini Hospital. The fourth and final agreement is for a $100 million loan to finance the expansion of the West Cairo power station to generate an additional 650 megawatts. Saudi Arabia has supported Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, grants, oil products and cash deposits to help buoy the country's economy following the toppling of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013. Search Keywords: Short link: On Tuesday, prosecutors also dropped charges ElBalshy 'insulted police and advocated the overthrow of the regime' Egypt's interior ministry has dropped its accusations against Khaled Elbalshy, a leading member of the press syndicate, the syndicate has said. "The interior ministry sent a request to the general prosecutor on Wednesday to withdraw its legal complaint against [Elbalshy] following talks with the press syndicate," the syndicate said in a statement Wednesday. "The ministry stressed it respects the syndicate and the important role journalism plays in defending Egypt and freedoms at such an important period in Egypt's history," the statement added. The move came a day after the union's board warned it would take action if the ministry's complaint against ElBalshy were not withdrawn. On Tuesday, prosecutors rescinded an arrest warrant they issued a day earlier for Elbalshy based on the ministry's legal complaint. A legal advisor to Minister of Interior Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar had filed a complaint with the prosecution against Elbalshy, accusing him of "libel and slander" against the ministry and of "insulting the police, as well as calling for the disturbing of public order and the overthrow of the regime." Elbalshy, who is editor-in-chief of independent news website Al-Bedaiah, is a well known advocate of freedom of expression and journalists' rights. "Defending the freedom of all of us will remain the main battle the case is about each imprisoned journalist each one who has been unjustly detained or imprisoned in this country," Elbalshy said on his Facbook account following the interior ministry's decison. "The issue is about combating injustice, fabrication, torture, forced disappearance, violations of freedoms and tyranny," he added, in reference to violations blamed on Egyptian police. Search Keywords: Short link: A German delegation of top government officials paid a visit to the German University in Cairo (GUC) in Berlin on Tuesday where they viewed recent projects carried out at the university. Among the senior officials in the delegation were Berlin mayor Michael Muller, education and youth minister Sandra Scheres, and the mayor of the Reinickendorf district Frank Balzer. The officials discussed with the university's leaders cultural and scientific ties between Egypt and Germany. They also presented updates on the latest developments at the GUC campus in Berlin, inaugurated in 2013, as well as the GUC Solar City the first project of its kind in the region, due to be inaugurated in April. GUC founder Ashraf Masour stressed in a speech that Egyptian-German ties have "deepened since the inauguration of the GUC in 2003." He added that the university's branch in Berlin has facilitated the "movement of students from Egypt to Germany and vise versa." Search Keywords: Short link: Al Qaeda's Syrian offshoot Nusra Front confirmed on Wednesday that their spokesman and veteran militant fighter Abu Firas al-Suri was killed in a US air strike in Syria. In an online statement, Nusra Front said Abu Firas died in an attack on Sunday by an "Arab-crusader coalition" led by the United States, confirming an April 4 statement on his death by al Qaeda's North African wing. Abu Firas, a former Syrian army officer discharged in the late 1970s because of his Islamist leanings, fought in Afghanistan in the 1980s and worked with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to galvanize support for the fundamentalist Taliban movement, Islamist rebel sources said. Abu Firas became a spokesman for the Nusra Front and was also a member of the group's policy-making Shura Council. A Pentagon spokesman told Reuters on Monday that a US air strike on April 3 hit a meeting of high-level al Qaeda officials in northwest Syria at which Abu Firas was present. While the United States is part of a coalition of nations attacking Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, it has also launched separate strikes on the Nusra Front group, notably in the northwestern province of Idlib. Search Keywords: Short link: The Syrian army and its allies launched a major attack on insurgents south of Aleppo, described as the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February. Fighting south of Aleppo in recent days has put further strain on the already widely violated ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and Russia with the aim of launching a diplomatic process towards ending the five-year-long war. The indirect talks organised by the United Nations are struggling with no sign of compromise over the main issue dividing the sides: the future of President Bashar al-Assad. A second round of talks is due to begin on Monday in Geneva. Rebels described intense air strikes in the southern Aleppo area where the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front shot down a Syrian warplane on Tuesday and captured its pilot. Nusra Front, which along with IS is not part of the ceasefire, last week attacked and captured a town in the area, killing dozens of Syrian soldiers and their allies, among them 11 members of the Lebanese Shia group Hezbollah. A statement from the Syrian army and its allies said they were targeting armed groups in areas south of Aleppo, supported by "heavy and concentrated air strikes", the website of the Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar reported. The statement said the attack was a response to insurgent violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement. "This fire will continue until all the militants surrender", it said. Each side accuses the other of seeking to wreck the cessation of hostilities agreement that has slowed the war across many of the major frontlines of western Syria but not stopped it entirely. Though Nusra is not part of the deal, its fighters are deployed near rebel groups that are. Syria's crisis erupted five years ago with protests against Assad which were put down with force. It descended into a civil war which has killed more than 250,000, drawn in global military powers and helped IS establish its self-declared caliphate. Nearly five million refugees have been driven abroad. Russia's six-month-old intervention in Syria has helped to swing military momentum in Assad's favour, reversing last summer's gains by insurgents including Western-backed rebels and helping government forces to drive IS out of the ancient city of Palmyra. The recapture of Palmyra and its military airport, in the central Syrian desert, opened up the road further east to the IS bastions of Deir al-Zor province and Raqqa. Any offensive on Deir al-Zor or Raqqa, however, would probably need significantly more firepower than the Palmyra assault. INSURGENTS FIGHT BACK A rebel said the government attack south of Aleppo was the heaviest in that area since the truce agreement came into effect. Hany al-Khaled of the Sham Revolutionary Brigades group, an affiliate of the Levant Front, said his group had taken part in repelling the attack, and Shia militias fighting with the government had suffered heavy losses. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that tracks the war, said air strikes, artillery and rockets were being used in an attack aimed at recovering Telat al-Eis, the town seized in the Nusra Front-led assault. The statement reported by al-Manar accused insurgents of breaching the truce "in execution of foreign orders". Opposition official Asaad al-Zoubi, meanwhile, told Reuters the truce was "in danger of ending" due to government violations. In addition to the 11 Hezbollah fighters killed, 43 Syrian soldiers died in last week's Nusra attack, sources familiar with the details said. Hezbollah's support has been crucial to Assad in the conflict, together with backing from Shia militias mobilised from Iran and Iraq and Russian air power. Russia last month withdrew some of its warplanes from Syria, where it has been bombing in support of Assad since Sept. 30. Indicating an expansion of Iranian support, an Iranian military official said on Monday that Tehran has sent commandos from the regular Iranian army to Syria as advisers. So far, Iran's military support to Damascus has mostly been supplied by its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. ESCALATION OF MILITARY OPS "Overall there is an escalation of military operations across Syria," said Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director. With help from Hezbollah and the Russian air force, the Syrian military has turned some of its firepower towards the IS group since the cessation agreement took hold. In an apparent response to setbacks including the loss of Palmyra to government forces last month, IS launched attacks on government-held areas some 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Damascus overnight. The jihadist group said in a statement it had attacked the Tishrin power station 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital and a Syrian military source acknowledged the group had staged assaults, but said all those who took part had been killed. In the same area, IS attackers, using five bomb-laden cars, also struck military positions near the Dumeir military airport 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Damascus, killing 12 soldiers, the Observatory said. IS claimed the bombings in an online statement, saying it carried out a suicide attack on government forces. Syrian government forces have, meanwhile, advanced to within 20 km of the IS-held town of Sukhna to the northeast of Palmyra, the Observatory said, edging closer to the eastern province of Deir al-Zor nearly entirely controlled by the group. Rebel factions backed by Turkey have also gained ground against the group near the Turkish border - an area where the Syrian army is also trying to make gains, and the U.S.-allied Syria Democratic Forces alliance is also planning an attack. Search Keywords: Short link: Four decades after his brother was killed during a rescue operation in Uganda, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is embarking on an African mission of his own -- but with very different aims. Galvanised by a growing demand for Israeli security assistance and his government's search for new allies, Netanyahu has put a fresh focus on improving ties with African nations. Part of his push involves a planned visit to the continent around the 40th anniversary of the July 1976 hostage rescue operation that resulted in his brother's death. His itinerary has not yet been released, though Netanyahu said he has accepted an invitation to visit the continent from African leaders. Among them is the president of Kenya, with which Israel has strong ties, and a visit to that country seems likely. "Israel is coming back to Africa; Africa is coming back to Israel," Netanyahu recently told lawmakers and African ambassadors. He noted his visit would be around the anniversary of the rescue operation, which he called "a very dramatic national experience" and "for me, obviously, one of great personal consequence." African nations that have survived colonialism and, more recently, the not-always-altruistic aims of Western nations and China certainly have reasons to be sceptical. But economic progress in many African countries has begun to change the dynamics, while the threat of Islamic extremism in parts of the continent has left governments in search of advanced defence technology. Certain countries would be especially keen to benefit from Israeli agricultural and water technology, said Na'eem Jeenah, head of the South Africa-based Afro-Middle East Centre research institute. "The manner in which Israel has presented itself to these governments is in terms of huge opportunities," Jeenah said, adding that he believed "many countries" would be interested. Netanyahu's planned trip, the first by an Israeli premier to Africa since Yitzhak Rabin visited Casablanca in 1994, is a culmination of years of rapprochement. It is also an opportunity for Israel to further deepen business ties with the economically growing African states in fields in which it possesses expertise. Israel hopes as well to gain more diplomatic support from African nations at the various UN bodies, where it faces harsh criticism over its occupation of the West Bank and blockade of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli-Arab conflict drove a wedge between African countries and the Jewish state in the 1960s. Pressure from North African nations, accentuated by the 1967 and 1973 wars between Israel and its neighbours, led African states to drop their relations with Tel Aviv. Netanyahu's brother Yonatan was killed in a July 1976 commando raid in Entebbe, Uganda, to free passengers aboard an Air France plane hijacked by Palestinians. By the time the commandoes arrived, non-Israeli and non-Jewish passengers had been released by the hijackers, leaving about 100 hostages. The hostages were freed in the raid but 20 Ugandan soldiers and seven hijackers were killed, along with several Ugandan citizens. The lone casualty among the Israeli assault team was Netanyahu's brother, who headed the operation. Changes in diplomatic relations with parts of Africa began in the following decade, according to Aryeh Oded, who for years was an Israeli diplomat in African capitals and is now a researcher at the Hebrew University's Truman Institute. "Since 1982, the Africans realised they had made a mistake in cutting the ties," he said. Israel, however, still feeling the sting of the snub, "didn't have the desire to renew ties." But in recent years, Israel's lack of progress in reaching peace with the Palestinians forced it to renew its African interests. "Under Avigdor Lieberman, Israel renewed its interest in Africa, because there were difficulties with Europe and other places," Oded said of the ultra-nationalist who as Netanyahu's foreign minister between 2009-2015 visited Africa a number of times. At a recent conference on Africa-Israel ties, the foreign ministry's deputy director general for Africa, Yoram Elron, noted Israel's need for support from African nations in international forums. "Today relations with the African continent are high on our foreign policy agenda," he told dozens of African dignitaries and diplomats. Indeed in recent weeks Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ghana's foreign minister and a delegation of African Muslim religious leaders visited Israel. And Israeli foreign ministry director general and Netanyahu confidante Dore Gold recently paid a visit to his counterpart in South Africa. While Israel's trade with Africa constitutes only two percent of its foreign trade, the potential for growth exists. "Africa, which has today one of the highest growth rates in the world, presents many business opportunities in areas Israel has extensive expertise, such as agriculture, telecommunications, alternative energy and infrastructure," Elron said. He also noted Israel's intelligence and military expertise were valuable for African states dealing with groups such as Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and Al-Qaeda. But even with the warming ties, Israel is still dismayed to see African states not vote in its favour in international forums. "What I'd like to see is the closeness of our relationship reflected also in the voting pattern of the African Union," Netanyahu said at the parliament session. Search Keywords: Short link: Azerbaijani and Armenian forces on Wednesday said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. "The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline," the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh said in a statement. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its forces were "strictly abiding by the ceasefire agreement" that was hammered out on Tuesday by the Azerbaijani and Armenian army chiefs during a meeting in Moscow. Armenia's defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that sporadic shooting continued on Wednesday "including from tanks, but not as intensive" as during the last days. An AFP photographer in the village of Matagis in Karabakh, some 10 kilometres (six miles) from the frontline, confirmed that "the night was calm and without shooting." A Karabakh army officer told the photographer that "occasional shooting has been a normal thing on the frontline for years." "It doesn't mean that the ceasefire failed." The fragile truce comes after at least 75 people were reported killed as the festering dispute over the territory -- which was captured from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists in an early 1990s war -- escalated dramatically on Friday, sparking international concern. Azerbaijan's army claimed to have snatched control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since an inconclusive truce ended the war in 1994. "Azerbaijani troops are currently reinforcing the liberated territories," Baku's defence military said in its statement. Yerevan, however, insists that the Azeri side has been ousted from any positions it might have snatched inside the disputed territory. "Even if certain Armenian positions were at some point taken by Azeris, now they are all returned under Karabakh's control," Hovhannisyan, Armenia's defence ministry spokesman, told AFP on Tuesday. In a bid to cement the truce, mediators have set out to the region to shuttle between the two warring sides in a flurry of diplomacy. The US, French and Russian ambassadors to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- who co-chair the so-called "Minsk Group" which has long mediated Karabakh peace talks -- on Wednesday met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku. After the meeting, the diplomats called on Baku and Yerevan to step up efforts aimed at quick resolution of the conflict, AzerTag news agency reported. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian was headed to Germany Wednesday for a long-planned visit that will see him meet Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks that are sure to focus on the surge in fighting in Karabakh. Russian President Vladimir Putin -- the key regional power broker -- on Tuesday urged leaders in Azerbaijan and Armenia to "ensure" the truce holds, as it emerged the deal had been thrashed out by the arch-foes at talks in Moscow. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is set to travel to both Yerevan and Baku in the coming days. Both sides accused each other of starting the latest outbreak of violence and it has sparked concern of a wider conflict in the region that could drag in Russia and Turkey. Baku said 31 of its soldiers and four civilians died in the bloodshed, while Karabakh's separatist authorities reported the deaths of 35 military and five civilians during the fierce clashes that erupted on Friday night. While ex-Soviet master Moscow has sold arms to both sides and treads a careful line between the two, it has a military alliance with, and base in, Armenia and far closer ties to Yerevan. Turkey -- which is locked in a feud with Moscow after Ankara downed a Russian warplane in Syria in November -- has pledged its full support for traditional ally Azerbaijan. Separatists backed by Yerevan seized control of mountainous Nagorny Karabakh, a majority ethnic Armenian region lying inside Azerbaijan, in an early 1990s war that claimed some 30,000 lives. The sides have never signed a peace deal despite the 1994 ceasefire and sporadic violence on the line of contact regularly claims the lives of soldiers on both sides. Energy-rich Azerbaijan, whose military spending exceeds Armenia's entire state budget, has repeatedly threatened to take back the breakaway region by force. Search Keywords: Short link: The total number of known executions worldwide rose by more than half last year to 1,634, the highest figure recorded since 1989, Amnesty International said Wednesday as Pakistan sent three more men to the gallows. The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the London-based human rights organisation said in its annual report on death sentences and executions worldwide. The 1,634 figure does not include China, which is thought to have killed thousands of its own citizens. Death penalty data is "treated as a state secret" by Beijing, Amnesty said, as it is by Vietnam and Belarus. Recorded executions were up by 54 percent on 2014's figure of 1,061. Just three countries -- Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia -- were responsible for 89 percent of the total of 1,634. "The rise in executions last year is profoundly disturbing," said Amnesty secretary general Salil Shetty. "Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world. "Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials. This slaughter must end." Pakistan lifted a six-year moratorium on the death penalty following a school massacre by Taliban insurgents in December 2014. Initially it brought back hanging just for terrorist killings but later extended it to all capital crimes. It hanged three convicted murderers including a pair of brothers on Wednesday, a senior prisons official told AFP. "Over the past year, Pakistan has vaulted to the number three spot for recorded state executions in the world -- a shameful position no one should aspire to," Champa Patel, director of Amnesty's South Asia office, told AFP, adding the majority were not convicted of terror offences. Pakistan executed 326 people in 2015 while Saudi Arabia put 158 people to death. Iran's execution of at least 977 people is at odds with its opening up to the West after striking a deal with world powers last year on its nuclear ambitions, Amnesty said. "Western countries are starting to build commercial ties and trade missions," said James Lynch, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa deputy director. "However, human rights has been absolutely left in the margins," he told AFP. "That risks undermining all these efforts." For the first time ever, the majority of the world's countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes. Fiji, Madagascar, Republic of Congo and Suriname fully abolished the death penalty in 2015, taking the total number of countries to do so to 102. In China, Amnesty said there were signs that the number of executions had decreased in recent years but it could not verify this. In August nine crimes were removed from the list of offences punishable by death, bringing the total down to 43. "Executing several thousand people a year is really very serious and China knows it would be the black sheep of the international community if it was to release the numbers," Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty's East Asia regional director, told AFP. People were executed in 25 countries in 2015 by beheading, hanging, lethal injection or shooting. Amnesty said its reports indicated that four people in Iran and at least five in Pakistan were executed for crimes committed when they were aged under 18. Worldwide, people were sentenced to death or executed for murder, drug-related offences, corruption, armed robbery, adultery, aggravated rape, rape, apostasy, kidnapping and insulting the prophet of Islam. A total of 28 people were executed in the United States. Forms of treason, including "acts against national security", "collaboration" with a foreign entity, "espionage", "questioning the leader's policies", participation in "insurrectional movement" were among those offences worldwide punished with death sentences. Amnesty recorded a drop in the number of death sentences imposed in 2015 compared to 2014, but said this was partly due to difficulties in corroborating data. At least 1,998 people were sentenced to death in 61 countries. At least 20,292 people worldwide were under sentence of death at the end of 2015. Search Keywords: Short link: A divided European Union on Wednesday unveiled a fresh plan to shake up its failed asylum policy and force countries to share the burden of its unprecedented migrant crisis. Just days after Greece began expelling migrants to Turkey under a controversial swap deal, a top EU official admitted that the bloc's current system was "not working." "We need to reform our European asylum system," Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans told reporters in Brussels, as the bloc battles its worst migration crisis since World War II. The influx of more than one million migrants fleeing war and poverty has put the bloc's cherished border-free rules under severe strain and sparked sharp divisions among the 28 EU nations. Under the bloc's existing rules -- the so-called Dublin system -- migrants seeking asylum must apply in the country where they first arrive and are returned there if they move to somewhere else. But critics have slammed this as obsolete and unfair to Greece and Italy, where most of the 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants entered the bloc last year. The rules in any case fell apart in 2015 as Greece and Italy, overwhelmed by the crisis, simply waved migrants onwards to countries where they wanted asylum, like Germany. "This is neither fair, nor sustainable," Timmermans said as he outlined two possible new approaches. The first, dubbed "Dublin plus", would be to keep the existing system but add a "corrective fairness mechanism" to redistribute migrants from a member state grappling with a sudden influx of refugees. A majority of countries support this option, a European diplomat told AFP. A second, more radical, proposal would be to automatically distribute migrants across the EU based on member states' population, wealth and capacity to take in newcomers. This option had the support of Germany and Sweden, which have taken in the lion's share of migrants, the diplomat said. "Both options will provide much needed solidarity," Timmermans added. But EU states have already struggled to implement an emergency scheme agreed last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. Only 1,100 of these have been resettled so far. The delays have been blamed on a range of factors -- from governments trying to filter out jihadists from among the refugees following the terror attacks in Brussels and Paris to a lack of housing and education. But sceptics say political foot-dragging has also played a part. On the Greek islands, tensions are running high after the first 202 migrants were sent back to Turkey on Monday. Deportations have stalled since then as thousands of migrants filed last-minute requests for asylum. A Turkish official said the next transfer "has been postponed to Friday" at Greece's request. The EU and Turkey struck a deal last month under which all "irregular migrants" arriving in Greece after March 20 face being sent back. Under a "one-for-one" deal with Turkey, for every Syrian returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey in an EU country, with numbers capped at 72,000. Human rights watchdogs say the scheme is badly flawed, and on Tuesday the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was concerned for 13 people who may have been unable to register for asylum before they were deported. The EU-Turkey deal, as well as a series of border restrictions along the Balkans migrant route, appear to have sharply reduced the number of new arrivals in recent weeks, and Germany said it could lift its controls on the frontier with Austria if the trend continues. "We would not extend the border controls beyond May 12 if the numbers remain this low," Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Tuesday. Pope Francis will turn the spotlight on Europe's handling of the crisis with a visit next week to Lesbos -- part of the Greek island chain where hundreds of thousands of people arrived last year. The pope, accompanied by the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, will visit Lesbos on April 14 or 15, a government source in Athens said. Search Keywords: Short link: The first Syrian family to be resettled in the US under a speeded-up "surge operation" for refugees left Jordan on Wednesday for Kansas City, Missouri, to start a new life. Ahmad al-Abboud, who is being resettled with his wife and five children, said he is thankful to Jordan, where he has lived for three years after fleeing Syria's civil war. But the 45-year-old from Homs, Syria, said he was ready to build a better life in the US. "I'm happy. America is the country of freedom and democracy, there are jobs opportunities, there is good education, and we are looking forward to having a good life over there," al-Abboud said. They have been living in Mafraq, north of Amman. Al-Abboud was unable to find work, and the family was surviving on food coupons. "I am ready to integrate in the US and start a new life," he told The Associated Press in Amman's airport before the family boarded a flight to Kansas City. Al-Abboud said he wanted to learn English and find a job to support his family. Since October, 1,000 Syrian refugees have moved to the US from Jordan. President Barack Obama has set a target of resettling 10,000 Syrian refugees by Sept. 30. A resettlement center opened in Amman in February to help meet that goal, and about 600 people are interviewed every day at the center. The temporary processing center will run until April 28, said US Ambassador Alice Wells, who was at the airport to see the al-Abboud family depart. Gina Kassem, the regional refugee coordinator at the US Embassy in Amman, said that while the target of 10,000 applies to Syrian refugees living around the world, most will be resettled from Jordan. "The 10,000 (figure) is a floor and not a ceiling, and it is possible to increase the number," Kassem told reporters. While the resettlement process usually takes 18 to 24 months, the surge operation will reduce the time to three months, Kassem said. The UN Refugee Agency prioritizes the most vulnerable cases for resettlement, and refers them to the US to review, Kassem said. The priority is given to high-risk groups such as unaccompanied minors and victims of torture and gender-based violence, she said. "We do not have exclusions or look for families with certain education background, language skills or other socio-economic factors, and we do not cut family sizes," she said. Jordan hosts about 635,000 of the more than 4.7 million Syrians who have registered with the UN refugee agency after fleeing the war. The total number of Syrians in Jordan is more than 1.2 million, including those who arrived before the conflict began in 2011. Search Keywords: Short link: The European Union on Wednesday urged members states to make urgent work of a new, joint list of global tax havens in the wake of the so-called Panama Papers scandal. European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the bloc's 28 countries needed to agree on joint criteria for compiling such a list, seen as a key tool in the crackdown on tax cheats. "Member states need to show an unequivocal commitment to moving forward with a new EU listing process... to fight tax evasion," he told reporters in Brussels. "Swift progress on this was important before the Panama Papers," the former French economy minister said. "It's now absolutely essential". Moscovici said he hoped to see a new list drawn up "within six months". The EU already unveiled a roundup last year of the 30 top "non-cooperative jurisdictions" that featured on at least 10 members states' blacklists, but it was criticised for being incomplete and out of date. Panama was listed among the 30 countries, however. The Central American nation has found itself at the heart of a global scandal about the offshore financial dealings of the rich and the famous following a leak of millions of confidential documents, the so-called Panama Papers. Search Keywords: Short link: At least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes in an upsurge of fighting since January in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN's peacekeeping chief said Wednesday. "Clashes and aerial bombings are currently continuing" in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra, Herve Ladsous, the under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the Security Council. About 103,000 people have sought refuge at four camps set up by the joint UN-African Union UNAMID mission in Darfur, he said. Ladsous quoted humanitarian agencies as saying that at least 138,000 people had been on the run since mid-January. Restrictions imposed by the Sudanese government to aid agencies and to the UNAMID mission made it difficult to be precise in assessing the number of displaced in the recent fighting, he said. Jebel Marra sits at the heart of the Darfur region and is a stronghold of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army commanded by Abdulwahid Nur (SLA-AW). Sudan's Ambassador Omar Dahab Fadl disputed the reports of large-scale movements of civilians, saying "large numbers" of displaced people had managed to return to their villages in Darfur and were growing their crops. "Preparations are underway for the return of 100.000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) to their villages in the east and west of Darfur," the ambassador told the council. Khartoum's envoy insisted that the Sudanese army was responding to attacks from the SLA-AW and had managed to restore security to the region, with roads now open to civilians. "For the first time in 13 years, primary school students sat for general examinations. Levies ceased to be paid to hooligans," he said. "Show me in which way this can clash with UN objectives." The UN peacekeeping chief called on the government and the rebels to immediately halt fighting in Jebel Marra and begin peace talks to end the conflict. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft expressed concern over the continued violence in Jebel Marra and said humanitarian access to central Darfur had become "even harder" as a result. "We ask all parties to provide the cooperation that UNAMID needs to do its job," he said. Darfur descended into conflict in 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled, complaining the region was being economically and politically marginalized by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. More than 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict since 2003 and there are some 2.6 million displaced, according to the United Nations. Search Keywords: Short link: Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, is banning the trading of imported wheat in the domestic market without permission from the supply ministry during the three-month period when the government is procuring grain from local farmers, according to a ministry statement on Wednesday. Egypt's wheat harvest season begins by mid-April and lasts until July. The government said it would procure local supplies this year at the subsidised price of EGP 420 per ardeb (150 kg), reversing its decision to replace the crop subsidy by a land subsidy of EGP 1,300 per feddan (roughly one acre) of wheat grown. The ministry said those who violate the decision or fail to notify it of the amounts of imported wheat could face six months in prison and an EGP 1,000 fine. Egypt's state grain buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), aims to purchase 4 to 4.5 million tonnes of domestic wheat this year, Reuters reported in March. Search Keywords: Short link: Following in the steps of Britain's Burberry group, and in an effort to simplify the designer's business. Italian luxury brand Gucci announced on Tuesday it will unify its women's and men's collections starting from next year in an effort to simplify the designer's business. The first show combining womenswear and menswear will be at Gucci's new Milan headquarters, President and Chief Executive Marco Bizzarri said in a company statement. It did not specify when the show will be scheduled, but a source close to Gucci told Reuters it was likely to be during the women's Fashion Week, the one receiving most attention from both media and buyers. The decision comes amid a growing debate in the fashion industry over the need to combine collections, condense dates for shows as well as putting items on sale immediately after the catwalk presentations.. The Florence-based brand, part of the Kering group, is following in the steps of Britain's Burberry group, which said last November that it would bring its collections under a single brand. Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele, who was promoted to the job in January last year, said it was a "natural" step but "not necessarily an easy path and will certainly present some challenges". The company, however, said it will maintain the 'see now, buy later' schedule by which collections do not land in shops immediately after shows, "respecting the necessities of the creative and production process in luxury fashion." Bizzarri said that the separate dates for the two collections was "a result of tradition rather than practicality" and that the brand would work with the Italian Chamber of Fashion to define the new calendar of dates. Search Keywords: Short link: A panorama and museum relating Egypts military history is to be established within 12 months in Al-Qantara East, near Suez Egypt's Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany gave the go-ahead for a major project to retell the country's military history from the ancient Egyptian era to the present day through the opening of several historical sites to tourists as well as the setting up of new museum displays. The project involves the restoration of the ancient Horus Military Road in Sinai, which hosts the sites of ancient fortresses and military structures, El-Enany said. The project includes the opening of seven sites that will be refurbished to make them tourist-friendly, three of which are in Qantara East and four in Qantara West. This is a new tourist site with very distinguished monuments that relate to Egypts military history through different time periods, El-Enany told Ahram Online, adding that the development of the Horus Road as a tourist attraction had now gained momentum. The project also involves the establishment of a panorama and a museum displaying Egypts military history, he explained, saying the panorama is to be built in collaboration with Egypts Armed Forces in the area between the old Suez Canal and its newly dug extension. El-Enany said that work on the project to be completed in 12 months will start following a meeting with Armed Forces officials on Thursday to agree on the final plan. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, coordinator of archaeological sites around the New Suez Canal, told Ahram Online that a site management component was included in the development project, which aims to provide visitors with information panels and other facilities, along with a high-tech security and lighting system. A visitor centre, bookstore, souvenir shop and cafeteria are to be built. Two buildings displaying a panorama of ancient Egyptian fortresses, similar to the October War Panorama in Nasr City in Cairo, is also planned. El-Enany hopes that the panorama building will be similar to the newly inaugurated Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (MuCEM) in Marseille, France, with both MuCEM and the panorama buildings overlooking the sea. MuCEM is a cube on 15,000 square metres, built of stone and surrounded by a latticework shell of reinforced concrete. This kind of edifice is good because it gives an opportunity to vessels crossing the Suez Canal to admire the collection on display in the panorama at night, which encourages tourism, El-Enany said. Search Keywords: Short link: The government presented its program in parliament last Sunday, thus complying with Article 146 of the constitution, which for the first time makes the continuation of the government conditional on parliamentary approval of the program within 30 days of submissionin this case, before April 26. The House will likely approve the program to avoid a constitutional crisis that could end with its dissolution and new elections, but Id still like to offer some general observations on the program, in the hope of contributing to the debate. First, the government did not present a comprehensive program so much as a set of discrete economic projects. Although the program document promises to outline the governments vision on seven major issuesnational security, democracy, economic development, social justice, basic infrastructure, administrative reform, and international relationsvirtually the sole topic addressed was socioeconomic programs and megaprojects, which took up 150 of the documents 200 pages. National security and democracy were covered in the most abstract terms in just three pages each. This reflects the fact that this is exclusively an economic government. It also suggests that the state continues to view the economy from a purely technical perspective, unrelated to politics, even though the countrys economic crisis cannot be resolved in isolation from a sound political framework. Second, even from the economic perspective and despite the many graphs and statistics littering its pages, the program document doesnt actually offer a concrete articulation of the states future course. Instead, it is a detailed accounting of projects the government intends to carry out. On page 36, the program says that the government will work to make the Egyptian economy a disciplined market economy characterized by macroeconomic stability and able to achieve inclusive, sustainable growth. But such grand pronouncements raise more questions than they answer, about the states role in economic development, the future of the public sector and the role of the private sector, necessary institutional reforms, public spending priorities, and the development of state administration. Third, and more worryingly, are the inconsistencies, if not contradictions, between the social and economic dimensions of the program, which gives the impression that two different governments wrote these sections. The economy government seeks to restore fiscal balance and reduce the deficit in the coming two years to 9 percent, which requires raising taxes (VAT and property taxes), as well as cutting energy subsidies and freezing government wages. Meanwhile, the social government favors a broad expansionary policy, promising additional spending in housing, health, education, youth, culture, and local development, which requires resources far exceeding projected revenues. Add the proposed megaprojects to this spending, and I dont see how these contradictory targets can be achieved. The fourth observation relates to proposed megaprojects. Instead of explaining the logic behind the choice of these projects, dozens of pages are spent describing their engineering ins and outs. For several of the projects, no mention is made of cost, sources of financing, expected returns, nature of ownership, governance, or the role of the state and private sector in implementation. Fifth, the program unfortunately adheres to the same unsuccessful investment policy of the last two years, with talk of implementing the investment law issued last March, revolutionary new procedures, and an end to all obstacles. But ignoring the very real problems and impediments to investment is what brought us to current sluggish growth and an inability to unleash productive energies, create jobs, and increase exports. Still, I hope that the new investment minister, appointed just two days before the program was announced, has different ideas and a willingness to change this failed course. The sixth observation concerns social justice. The document presented to parliament promises increased spending on public services and proposes several social security programs. The clearest and most coherent are the Karama program for the protection of the elderly and disabled and the Takaful program to protect the poorest families. While welcome, these measures do not amount to social justice. Protection is one thing, justice another. The first means providing pensions and benefits to societys most vulnerable and attempting to lift them out of abject povertya necessary end. In contrast, justice means working to address the underlying causes of the growing gap between rich and poor. If giving the very poor additional support is a worthy project in the current economy, giving their children education and job opportunities is key to ending the cycle of poverty itself. This conceptual shift from protection to social justice is whats missing from the governments program. Finally, there is the issue of education. Although I didnt intend to look in detail at any public service given the lack of space, passing over education is impossible. Everyone agrees that reforming the education system in Egypt should be the governments number one priority, but the program offers virtually no new idea or serious initiative or even attempt to change the status quo. In fact, the eight pages devoted to education in the program nearly all start with the phrase continue to or complete, as if current policy is ideal and requires not even minor tweaks. This is unacceptable. The state cannot be preoccupied solely with building roads, bridges, and new cities without attempting to make any genuine improvements in education. Ultimately, the governments program is less a unified statement of purpose than an aggregation of each ministrys planned programs and projects. I fear this cant be chalked up to poor editing, but instead reflects a lack of coordination and agreement between ministries and various state bodiesthe exact thing we most need today. *The writer holds a PhD in financial law from the London School of Economics. He is former deputy prime minister, former chairman of the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority and former chairman of the General Authority for Investment. This article was published in Arabic in El-Shorouq newspaper on Monday, 4 April. Search Keywords: Short link: (Beijing) Top executives at China's Big Four banks took a pay cut of about half last year losing between 500,000 yuan and 600,000 yuan as part of government efforts to rein in the salaries for top figures at state-owned companies. Jiang Jianqing, president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), had his pay cut by 52 percent to 546,800 yuan last year, according to a financial report for last year that the bank released on March 31. Jiang, who has led the country's largest bank by assets since 2005, had already seen his pay fall from nearly 2 million yuan in 2013 to 1.14 million yuan the next year. The cuts are part of central government efforts to address growing public dissatisfaction over what many see as excessively high salaries for top executives at state-owned institutions, particularly large banks and powerful companies. The Politburo, the Communist Party's 25-member decision-making body, decided in September 2014 to overhaul the remuneration systems used by state-owned firms to better reflect the size of the companies and their performance. The party said that top executives at big state-owned companies, including banks such as ICBC and Agricultural Bank of China, should have their pay cut by about 60 percent and capped at below 900,000 yuan in 2015. Agricultural Bank said in its financial report released on April 1 that Liu Shiyu, who served as its president from December 2014 to January this year, earned 566,900 yuan last year 47 percent of what his predecessor received in 2014. The bank said that pay cuts involving top executives were implemented according to the central government's wishes. Liu became head of the securities regulator in February. The listed arms of two other big state banks, Bank of China and China Construction Bank also announced similar pay cuts for their top executives last year. Bank of China's president, Tian Liguo, had his salary cut by nearly half to 617,900 yuan. Wang Hongzhang, president of Construction Bank had a salary last year of 598,800 yuan, compared to 1.15 million yuan a year earlier. The drastic pay cuts have however raised concerns among some analysts, who say state banks could lose talent to private banks, where salaries can be higher. Shao Ping, president of the private Pingan Bank, earned 1 million yuan less last year than in 2014, but still pocketed 7.1 million yuan in 2015, the bank's financial report shows. China Merchants Bank held the pay for its president Tian Huiyu steady at 4.5 million yuan last year. (Rewritten by Li Rongde) North Korea is believed to have potential as an outsourcing hub for western companies, CNN reported on Wednesday. "A few western entrepreneurs with businesses in the capital city, Pyongyang, are betting the future of the 'Hermit Kingdom' will bring profit," it said. Just as many entrepreneurs who had opened business in China just before Beijing fully opened itself to the capitalist economy reaped huge windfalls, so these businessmen hope that having a business foothold in North Korea will give them an advantage when the North eventually opens up. European businesspeople especially believe that North Korea to be "one of the last frontiers." Because the United States bans business with North Korea, Europeans are more active in doing business in the reclusive country. "Foreigners running joint ventures with state-run businesses are staking a claim on the economic prospects for the country, equivalent to opening a shop in Beijing before economic reforms took root, or starting an enterprise in East Germany before the Berlin Wall fell," CNN said. Despite sanctions against North Korea by the UN Security Council, there are about 100 western businesspeople in Pyongyang, it said, citing a European entrepreneur there. What makes Pyongyang currently attractive is dirt-cheap but quality labor, which costs only half of China's, especially in making games for computer and mobile phones. Volker Eloesser, a German who set up a game manufacturing business in Pyongyang, told CNN that "it was fairly easy to find English-speaking, IT-trained workers" as many of his 45 employees had experience of working for foreign companies in China, and a partnership with North Korea's General Federation of Science and Technology helps secure recruitment. However there are increasing difficulties in taking North Korean employees overseas for training as visas are frequently denied amid sanctions imposed on the regime over its nuclear and missile developments, according to CNN. The U.S. last Thursday added two more North Korean financial institutions and two more individuals to a blacklist for their suspected involvement in nuclear weapons development and proliferation of ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control said it added Daedong Credit Bank and its front company DCB Finance, a firm registered in the Virgin Islands; and Kim Chol-sam (42), the branch manager of DCB Finance in Dalian, China, and Son Mun-san (62), the chief of external affairs for the General Bureau of Atomic Energy, who is believed to have overseen the North's nuclear development programs since 2010. Under the sanctions, U.S. citizens are barred from doing business with them and their assets in the U.S. will be frozen. The Treasury said the institutions and individuals are suspected of having been used as financial conduits for the North's overseas weapons transactions or having managed such funds. Over 154,000 Koreans living abroad will be able to vote in the general elections in April. That's nearly 8 percent of the estimated 1.98 million eligible voters living abroad. The figure is up 25 percent from the 2012 general elections. According to the National Election Commission, an overwhelming majority (37,000) of registered overseas voters are in the U.S., followed by Japan and China. Overseas voters will be able to head to embassies and legations offices in 198 areas worldwide to cast their ballots between Wednesday and April 4 ahead of the general elections on April 13. The United States says it has no plans to give Iran access to the U.S. financial system in any dollar-denominated transactions between Iran and businesses in other countries. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said certain sanctions would have to be lifted first. Under current sanctions, Iran is barred from any direct dealings with U.S. banks and investment houses. Toner referred to President Barack Obama's comments last week that businesses that do want to deal with Iran in dollars could do so through European banks. "Belgian-born French citizen Salah Abdeslam is an operative for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a U.S. Department of State designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," it said. The order, announced in a statement Tuesday, said," All property subject to U.S. jurisdiction in which Abdeslam has any interest is blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from engaging in any transactions with him. The U.S. State Department has officially designated Salah Abdeslam, the main suspect in the 2015 terror attacks in France, as a "Specially Designated Global Terrorist." Paris Terror Attacks Abdeslam is accused of helping plan the November 13 terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 people at multiple locations. He allegedly rented rooms for the suicide bombers and bought explosives. "Witnesses identified Abdeslam as the driver of a car full of gunmen that killed patrons at numerous restaurants in Paris," the State Department said. Authorities found his DNA both on a discarded suicide belt and on traces of explosives in a Brussels apartment, the statement said. Brussels Attacks Abdeslam was captured in Belgium on March 18 after more than four months on the run. Days after his arrest, the Belgian capital, Brussels, was hit by suicide bombings at the main airport and a subway station. The State Department release said a terrorism designation is "one of the ways the United States can expose and isolate organizations and individuals engaged in terrorism, impose serious sanctions on them, and enable coordinated action across the U.S. government and with our international partners" to disrupt activities. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark is running to succeed Ban Ki-moon as secretary-general of the United Nations. The New Zealand government formally submitted Clark's name to world body on Monday. Current prime minister John Key praised his predecessor as "a proven leader" with "the right mix of skills and experience for the job" during a press conference in Wellington announcing her nomination. "If you think about the role of the secretary-general of the United Nations, it is the most important diplomatic role in the world. This is the body that shows leadership on behalf of the globe, and I think if you look at Helen Clark, it isn't just the time that she spent in New Zealand as prime minister where she was very dedicated to foreign policy or her time actually at the UNDP (United Nations Development Program), it's actually her entire life has been dedicated to foreign policy. That's been her area of great passion and interest. She is immensely knowledgeable and incredibly talented and I think there'll be a lot of people on, you know who ultimately will have to make a call, who will look at her and say this is a person that has great intellect and a deep understanding of the issues," said Key. The 66-year-old Clark served as New Zealand prime minister for 1999 to 2008, when her Labor Party was defeated in parliamentary elections by Key's center-right National Party. She has headed the United Nations Development Program since April 2009. In a series of interviews, Clark has pledged to reform the 70-year-old UN so it can refocus its efforts on civil wars and violent extremists. Clark becomes the eighth candidate to seek the secretary-general's post. Three other women are also running -- Bulgaria's Irina Bokova, the head of the UN's cultural organization, former Croatian foreign minister Vesna Pusic and ex-Moldovan foreign minister Natalia Gherman. Many members in the world body are pushing for the first woman to become secretary-general, but Russia wants the next UN chief to come from Eastern Europe, which would be a first for the region. The UN General Assembly will hold public hearings for all the candidates next week. The winning candidate will formally take over the post next January. North Korea set up a paper company in the British Virgin Islands in 2006 to raise money for its nuclear weapons program, a massive leak of money-laundering papers from Panama reveals. The paper company was called DCB Finance and a British financier named Nigel Cowie played a key role in setting it up. The Guardian on Monday published the story based on files leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show that clients included individuals and companies blacklisted by the U.S. Department of Commerce, including DCB Finance. DCB Finance was managed by Mossack Fonseca from its establishment until September 2010. The U.S. Department of Commerce blacklisted DCB in 2013 for involvement in North Korea's nuclear development program and trade in illegal weapons. North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in October 2006, and the leak shows that it raised funds in international markets with impunity for another seven years through DCB Finance. Cowie first went to North Korea in 1995 and apparently still lives there. He is thought to be fluent in Korean and Mandarin. According to the Guardian, he graduated from Edinburgh University and worked with HSBC in Hong Kong. He then moved to the North and became a key figure in the isolated country's financial industry. Cowie began working for Daedong Credit Bank and went on to become its CEO. He started off with only three staff in a shabby office in a Pyongyang hotel, but soon formed a consortium and acquired a 70-percent stake in Daedong Credit Bank. In the summer of 2006, Cowie registered DCB Finance as a subsidiary of Daedong Credit Bank with Kim Chol-sam, a North Korean official, as the co-head. But once DCB Finance was exposed, Cowie sold off his stake in Daedong Credit Bank to a Chinese consortium and stepped down in 2011. The U.S. Treasury said that since 2006 or earlier, "Daedong Credit Bank had used its front company, DCB Finance Limited, to carry out international financial transactions as a means to avoid scrutiny by financial institutions avoiding business with North Korea." Cowie was interviewed several times by foreign media in Pyongyang and said businesses in the North were excessively undervalued, touting himself as a supporter of North Korean industries and claiming that working in the North was a lot more fun than doing business in New York or Hong Kong. A senior U.S. official on Monday dismissed a demand by North Korea for talks as international sanctions are starting to bite. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel said the North will have to give up its nuclear weapons programs first. "Were North Korea to engage... the way forward isn't hard to visualize. It starts with... freezing all of its nuclear activities like Iran did... and it starts with a credible declaration of its past activities and IAEA inspection of its nuclear site." Russel was speaking at a seminar organized by the Institute for Corean-American Studies after the North's National Defense Commission called for talks to find a "fundamental solution" to tensions on the Korean Peninsula. His comments echo Washington's previous responses to demands for talks. In February of 2012, the U.S. demanded North Korea delay a space rocket launch, allow IAEA inspectors to return and halt uranium enrichment activities in exchange for food aid. In February this year, there were news reports that U.S. and North Korean officials held a secret meeting in New York to discuss a possible peace treaty. And more recently, China has raised the peace treaty issue again, but the U.S. has given no clear response. Russel's comments suggest that any concessions are for the moment off the table. Washington is slightly more confident in its dealings with the North now that Pyongyang's main protector China is largely on board with international sanctions. In addition to the UN Security Council, South Korea, Japan, the U.S. and the European Union have also announced separate sanctions. "The goal of sanctions is not to destroy North Korea. It's to bring North Korea's leaders to their senses," Russel said. "The goal is to bring North Korea's leaders to the realization that at the end of the day, there is no viable alternative to authentic negotiations to the nuclear issue." It remains to be seen whether North Korea will respond. The latest LG and Samsung flagship smartphones are on track to take the market by storm. Samsung's Galaxy S7 sold over 400,000 units by the end of last month, in just 20 days since the release on March 11, which is 10 percent more than the previous model, according to industry sources on Tuesday. This has led the company to post an unexpected bumper operating profit of W6 trillion in the first quarter of the year. And LG's G5, which was released on Thursday last week, has sold over 50,000 units by Monday, more than double the sales of its previous model in the first week. Chinese vice president meets Thai princess 2016-04-06 09:25 BEIJING, April 5, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao (R) meets with visiting Thai crown princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn in Beijing, capital of China, April 5, 2016. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo) BEIJING, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao met with visiting Thai crown princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on Tuesday, calling for more cooperation in railways, trade and culture. Li said bilateral relations have made new progress since celebrations of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties in 2015, hailing the princess' and the Thai royal family's irreplaceable and important role in promoting China-Thailand friendship. "I hope the two countries work together to deepen cooperation in railways, trade and culture and boost their comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation," Li said. The princess said she will continue to support bilateral exchanges and cooperation in all fields and contribute to the friendly ties. Targeting Mars From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-04-06 09:22 Max von Zedtwitz was in Beijing recently to promote the book, Created in China: How China Is Becoming a Global Innovator. WANG ZHUANGFEI/CHINA DAILY A new book says a growing army of engineers is helping China advance in cutting-edge technologies. Andrew Moody reports. Max von Zedtwitz believes the Chinese may not only be the first to land a person on Mars but also the first to cure cancer. The managing director of the Center for Global R & D Management and Innovation (in short, Glorad), a research and development think tank, says the sheer number of science and engineering graduates being churned out by Chinese universities could dramatically speed up innovation. While it took 200 years to move from the steam engine to the Internet, there could be major breakthroughs in what are now considered frontiers of science in just a matter of decades, he says. "Innovation is to some extent a numbers game. If you just have one idea per 1,000 people, then a country that has a 1.4 billion population is going to have an advantage over anyone else." Von Zedtwitz was recently in Beijing to promote his new book, Created in China: How China Is Becoming a Global Innovator, which he has co-written with Georges Haour, a professor of technology and innovation management at the IMD Business School in Switzerland. The book was released in January. Although now based in San Francisco, the 46-year-old Swiss is no stranger to China. His think tank is partly based in Shanghai, and he has spent a large part of the past decade as associate professor of innovation management at Tsinghua University in the Chinese capital. "What we wanted to get across in the book was the impact of all the agents and actors involved in innovation in China, including the government, the education system and the companies," he says. A new book, co-written by Max von Zedtwitz and Georges Haour, says China is on its way to become a major power in innovation. Provided to China Daily "Outside of China, all the focus is on the big companies like Huawei and Alibaba that are global leaders, but what is not always seen is the role smaller companies are now playing in innovation." The book points out that China is to increase fivefold the proportion of GDP it devotes to innovation from 0.5 percent in 1995 to 2.5 percent by 2020. This will involve the need for 3.7 million scientists working in research and development. Currently, the figure is the same as Europe, 2 percentdespite the European Union setting a target of 3 percent in 2007. This has resulted in a 17 percent annual increase in patents in China since 2005 with applications reaching 2 million in 2014three times as many as that of the United States, although importantly, a smaller proportion is of higher-quality invention patents. Currently, 31 percent of undergraduate degrees in China are in engineering compared with 5 percent in the US, and by 2030 the country aims to have 200 million college graduates. "There is definitely a race going on, and I don't think the West has actually caught up with the severity of that race. China is opening up a new international front in the area of innovation. Because people matter so much in the race, the more people you have, the better you are at it." Von Zedtwitz believes one of the cutting-edge areas could be in finding a cure for cancer. "Cancer is a big issue in China because of fears of the impact of the environment on people's health. Because of the size of the country's population, many more people are going to be dying of cancer in China than anywhere else. "There are also going to be a lot of resources devoted in China to diseases that affect older people, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and cardiovascular illnesses, because China's population is aging fast. I think medical technology will be a cutting-edge area for China." Von Zedtwitz says it would be wrong to expect instant breakthroughs since the lead time for scientific development can often take decades. He cites Tu Youyou, the Chinese pharmacist who was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine last year for developing the anti-malarial drug artemisinin. She began to work in this area in the late 1960s, but the drug only became available in the middle of the last decade, eventually saving millions of lives. "A breakthrough discovery generally takes about 30 years, certainly in terms of bringing it to the market. So what we are doing now in terms of research and development might not have any impact until 2046," he says. Von Zedtwitz, whose parents were originally from Germany, was born in Switzerland. He studied computer science at ETH Zurich, a leading technological institution, before an early spell in Asia, working at a research institute in Kyoto, Japan in the mid-1990s. He returned to Switzerland for his doctorate from University of St. Gallen and then moved to Harvard as a postdoctoral fellow. At 29, he became one of the youngest professors at IMD, one of Europe's top business schools. In 2002, teaching opportunities came up both in California and Beijing, and he chose the latter. "There were not many people then who could say they had gone and worked in China," he says of his decision. After Tsinghua, he helped build a global innovation practice at a management consultancy before running Glorad, which has a base at Shanghai's Tongji University. One area where China arguably has not been as fast as the US is in space exploration. American Alan Shepard went into space in 1961 and it took just eight years for Neil Armstrong to be the first man to walk on the moon. China had its first man in space in 2003, but is not expected to land an astronaut on the moon until 2023. "I suppose it is like Christopher Columbus sailing to America. After he had done that, it was hard to replicate. "The purpose of going to the moon now is not the achievement itself but the commercial aspects of space exploration. It is not about planting a flag but about having permanently manned stations on the moon." Many believe that China is likely to be the first to land a person on Mars by, according to some estimates, 2060. The return journey may take at least 21 months. "I wouldn't be surprised if China gets there first," he says. Despite the massive investment in research and development in China, some argue that creativity here is stifled by hierarchical structures. Yet, he says, there's emphasis on education, which in turn can drive innovation. "And, that is where China's advantage currently lies." Contact the writer at andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn The blueprint for the anti-Governor agitation was drawn up at the LDF meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. 17 movies to be released in Vietnam this April VietNamNet Bridge - The blockbusters "The Huntsman: Winter's War", "The Jungle Book" and "Captain America: Civil War" will be released at Vietnamese cinemas in the first month of the summer movie season. 1. Midnight Special Release Date: 1/4 Director: Jeff Nichols Starring: Michael Shannon, Adam Driver, Sam Shepard, Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton Genre: Drama, Science Fiction Running Time: 112 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese subtitle In the sci-fi thriller Midnight Special, a father (Michael Shannon), goes on the run to protect his young son, Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), and uncover the truth behind the boy's special powers. What starts as a race from religious extremists and local law enforcement quickly escalates to a nationwide manhunt involving the highest levels of the Federal Government. Ultimately his father risks everything to protect Alton and help fulfill a destiny that could change the world forever. 2. Vong Eo 56 (56cm Waist) Release Date: 6/4 Director: Vu Ngoc Dang Starring: Ngoc Trinh, Luong Manh Hai Genre: Biographic, Romance Running Time: 100 minutes Language: Vietnamese with English Subtitles A story about Ngoc Trinh, a famous super model in Vietnam, and how she went from being a daughter in a poor family that hardly makes ends meet to becoming a central phenomenon in the modelbusiness. 3. The Huntsman: Winter's War Release Date: 8/4 Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Charlize Theron Genre: Action, Adventure Running Time: 114 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese subtitle Theron stars as evil Queen Ravenna, who betrays her good sister Freya (Blunt) with an unforgivable act, freezing Freyas heart to love and unleashing in her an icy power she never knew she possessed. Retreating to a kingdom far to the north, Freya raises an army of Huntsmen as her protectors, with the only rule that no two of them should ever fall in love. As a war for domination escalates between the two queens, the hero standing between them is Freyas most elite Huntsman, Eric (Hemsworth). Alongside fellow warrior Sara (Chastain)the only woman who has ever captured his heartEric must help Freya vanquish her sisteror Ravennas wickedness will rule for eternity. 4. The Bodyguard Release Date: 8/4 Director: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung Starring: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Andy Lau, Hark Tsui Genre: Action Running Time: 110 minutes Language: Chinese with Vietnamese & English subtitles 5. Nu Dai Gia (Female Boss) Release Date: 8/4 Director: Cedric Nicolas-Troyan Starring: Truong Quynh Anh, Quang Su, Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen, Huynh Anh Tuan Genre: Action, Comedy Running Time: 114 minutes Language: Vietnamese with English Subtitles Kim Anh is a successful business woman who came up from scratch. She had vast wealth and status in society, but behind it all, she is a single mother with a damaged teenage daughter. The trouble in business relationship threatens Kim Anh and her daughter's life. 6. Before I Wake Release Date: 8/4 Director: Mike Flanagan Starring: Jacob Tremblay, Thomas Jane, Kate Bosworth Genre: Horror, Thriller Language: English with Vietnamese subtitle In this intense and heart pounding supernatural thriller, Jessie (Kate Bosworth) and Mark (Thomas Jane) decide to take in a sweet and loving 8-year-old boy, Cody. Unbeknownst to them, Cody is terrified of falling asleep. At first, they assume his previous unstable homes caused his aversion to sleep, but soon discover why: Cody's dreams manifest in reality as he sleeps. In one moment they experience the incredible wonder of Cody's imagination, and in the next, the horrific nature of his night terrors. To save their new family, Jessie and Mark embark on a dangerous hunt to uncover the truth behind Cody's nightmares. 7. Criminal Release Date: 15/4 Director: Ariel Vromen Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Gal Gadot, Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman Genre: Action, Crime Running Time: 114 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese Subtitles Hoping to stop a diabolical plot, the government implants the memories and skills of a dead CIA operative (Ryan Reynolds) into the mind of a dangerous convict (Kevin Costner). 8. Benh Vien Ma (Horror Hospital) Release Date: 158/4 Director: Nhat Trung Starring: Hari Won, Tran Thanh, Thu Trang, Tien Luat, La Thanh, Hoang Phuc, Cat Phuong, Sam Genre: Comedy, Horror Language: Vietnamese with English Subtitles 9. The Jungle Book Release Date: 15/4 Director: Jon Favreau Starring: Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, Bill Murray Genre: Adventure, Fantasy Language: English with Vietnamese Subtitles Mowgli, a man-cub who's been raised by a family of wolves, finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan, who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he's ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery, guided by panther-turned-stern mentor Bagheera, and the free-spirited bear Baloo. Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don't exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa, a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie, who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire. 10. 10 Cloverfield Lane Release Date: 15/4 Director: Dan Trachtenberg Starring: John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr. Genre: Thriller Running Time: 113 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese Subtitles A young woman wakes up in a basement. It is owned by a man who claims he saved her life after pulling her from her overturned car which violently crashed along the highway. The man states that the world above them is no longer safe and is now a danger zone that threatens the rest of humanity. With no knowledge of what actually lies above and trust running thin between them, the woman questions what's true and what's not. Is the man a delusional psychotic that has a more sinister agenda for her? Or is it really hell on earth above ground like he swears? 11. The Route is Built Release Date: 15/4 Director: Oleg Asadulin Starring: Svetlana Ustinova, Paul Chinareva, Vitaly Kornienko, Christina Shapovalova. Genre: Horror Running Time: 113 minutes Language: Russian with Vietnamese Subtitles The film tells the story of a travelling family. Recently purchased, their new car has a long, bloody history. The film's first trailer has premiered at Twitch Films and the film will launch in Russia, in 2016. To develop the story further, a husband has recently purchased a used car, at a very cheap price. But, this car was used by its former owner to hide a body. Now, the spirit of that body will not rest, until its fate has been discovered. The trailer for The Route is Built is a good one. Mostly shot at night, the film hosts an assortment of dire scenarios and situations, in darkened locations. 12. Hardcore Henry Release Date: 22/4 Director: Ilya Naishuller Starring: Sharlto Copley, Tim Roth, Haley Bennett Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi Running Time: 96 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese Subtitles Hardcore Henry is an action film told from a first person perspective: You remember nothing. Mainly because you've just been brought back from the dead by your wife (Haley Bennett). She tells you that your name is Henry. Five minutes later, you are being shot at, your wife has been kidnapped, and you should probably go get her back. Who's got her? His name's Akan; he's a powerful warlord with an army of mercenaries, and a plan for world domination. You're also in an unfamiliar city of Moscow, and everyone wants you dead. Everyone except for a mysterious British fellow called Jimmy. He may be on your side, but you aren't sure. If you can survive the insanity, and solve the mystery, you might just discover your purpose and the truth behind your identity. Good luck, Henry. You're likely going to need it... 13. Truy Sat (Hunt) Release Date: 22/4 Director: Cuong Ngo Starring: Truong Ngoc Anh, Thien Nguyen, Lamou Vissay, Vinh Thuy Genre: Action, Thriller Running Time: 95 minutes Language: Vietnamese with English subtitle A female special force agent An, is assigned an undercover mission to monitor suspicious activities at a charity auction by her chief, Minh. There, An spots a larceny attempt of national treasures by Tai, and kills him by accident. Back in special force HQ, they discover that Wolf Gang was behind the heist, with its true goal yet to be investigated. In the meantime, Tais fiancee, Phuong and her brother and Wolf Gangs boss Loc vow revenge on An and her only family, Binh who has autism. The case escalates into an intense battle between the special force and Wolf Gang. For An, the only way to end the death threat is to hunt down the true mastermind behind Wolf Gang, before they get to her beloved brother. 14. Captain America: Civil War Release Date: 27/4 Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. Genre: Action, Adventure Running Time: 147 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese and Korean subtitles After the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Captain America and the Avengers' handling of an international incident results in collateral damage, politicians look to form a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to call in the Avengers, which results in the fracturing of the team while they attempt to protect the world from a new enemy. Captain America: Civil War picks up where Avengers: Age of Ultron left off, as Steve Rogers leads the new team of Avengers in their continued efforts to safeguard humanity. After another international incident involving the Avengers results in collateral damage, political pressure mounts to install a system of accountability and a governing body to determine when to enlist the services of the team. The new status quo fractures the Avengers while they try to protect the world from a new and nefarious villain. 15. Nang Release Date: 29/4 Director: Dong Dang Giao Starring: Hoai Linh, Tran Thanh, Thu Trang, Kieu Minh Tuaa, Tien Luat, Kim Thu Genre: Comedy, Romance Running Time: 147 minutes Language: Vietnamese The movie is about a cute five-year-old girl named Nang (Sunny) living with her mom, Mua (Rainy) who is mentally impaired, in a small abandoned house but full of happiness and sometimes great noodles from a kindhearted neighbor - Mr Ba, to save their stomachs from bad lottery ticket selling days. Despite all odds, will the simple life of these good people forever be happy with the love they have for each other? 16. Ratchet & Clank Release Date: 29/4 Director: Kevin Munroe, Jericca Cleland Starring: James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure Running Time: 94 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese subtitles Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they'll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one's own identity. 17. Holidays Release Date: 29/4 Director: Anthony Scott Burns, Matt Johnson Starring: Kevin Smith, Lorenza Izzo, Seth Green Genre: Comedy, Horror Running Time: 105 minutes Language: English with Vietnamese subtitles Holidays is an anthology feature film that puts a uniquely dark and original spin on some of the most iconic and beloved holidays of all time. The film challenges our folklore, traditions and assumptions, making HOLIDAYS a celebration of the horror on those same special days' year after year. A collaboration of some of Hollywood's most distinct voices, the directors include Kevin Smith (Tusk), Gary Shore (Dracula Unbound), Scott Stewart (Dark Skies), Kevin Kolsch and Dennis Widmyer (Starry Eyes), Sarah Adina Smith (The Midnight Swim), Nicholas McCarthy (The Pact), Adam Egypt Mortimer (Some Kind of Hate), and Anthony Scott Burns (Darknet). Thanh Van #COVID-19 New COVID-19 cases post sharp on-week rise amid resurgence woes South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 30,000 for the fifth consecutive day Sunday, but the daily count recorded a sharp hike from the previous week amid rising concerns ove... #illegal gambling China-based online gambling ring busted; 20 arrested Law-enforcement authorities here said Sunday they have busted an online gambling ring based in China for illicit operations in South Korea, worth a total of 5.7 trillion won (US$3.... Azealia Banks is one person who is certainly not afraid to speak her mind on Twitter, but it's gotten her into trouble on more than one occasion in the past. Now, the bigmouthed rapper has been threatened with legal action by none other than Sarah Palin. The argument stemmed from a series of graphic tweets that she posted earlier this week, which were in response to a (now proven as fake) news story that quoted Palin making derogatory comments about black people, such as "negroes loved being slaves". Pitchfork quotes Banks as tweeting "Let's find the biggest burliest blackest negroes and let them run a train on her. Film it and put it on Worldstar" in response. Palin in turn posted a statement on Facebook condemning the rapper's "bizarre, violent rants", leading to Banks issuing a lengthy open letter by way of apology/explanation. However, it doesn't seem to be enough for Palin, who has said in a statement via People magazine that she is in 'discussion with attorneys' to 'put the fear of God' into Banks by suing her. She wrote: "Azealia engages in a form of racism and hate that is celebrated by some in the perverted arm of pop culture, but is condemned by those who know it's tearing our country apart. Others may keep turning a blind eye to problems like Azealia's mouth; I choose to take a stand against it and the double standards that result in her actually being rewarded for her divisive tactics and aggressively inciting violence. ... Let's be honest here: if a white girl were to say what this black girl is saying, the screams for the entire white population's head would be louder than the nonsensical rap that Azealia spews all the way to the bank. The white girl would probably be locked up. ... I think this time I don't just sit back and swallow it, but put the fear of God in her by holding her accountable. As many of you have for years implored me to do, I'm finally going to sue." Judging by the rapper's response, this one could run and run... LOL, if Sarah Palin actually decides to sue me i'll only use the controversy to make myself an even larger American Cultural Figure. AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) April 5, 2016 The Sarah Palin page in history will be condensed to a footnote in the Azealia Banks chapter. Well behaved women seldom make history. AZEALIABANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) April 5, 2016 When you're a public figure who courts attention, you can't sue ppl for making jokes. Freedom of Speech girllllyyyyy Everyone can tell you're spreading them cheeks for Mr. Trump Sarah..... you ain't got to lie. In recent years, Jennifer Lopez has been more concerned with casting judgement over other peoples' careers than her own - quite literally, as she's been a judge on American Idol for the past few years. With that show coming to an end tomorrow, however, J. Lo's musical ambitions have taken the front seat again. Although she hasn't released an album since 2014's 'A.K.A', she took up a residency in Las Vegas earlier this year and now is releasing a new single, 'Ain't Your Mama', which she'll debut on the American Idol finale. Ahead of the full performance, however, she's tweeted a snippet of what the song sounds like, which you can hear below: It was reported last February that the BBC has secured the rights to broadcast TV3 soap Red Rock and now it's been revealed it will air on their popular daytime slot. The IFTA winning soap, set in a fictional seaside town just outside of Dublin, will begin broadcasting on the British broadcaster later in the year. Dan McGolpin, Controller of BBC Daytime, says: "Daytime viewers are in for a treat with Red Rock. It's a compelling new police drama set in Ireland, it has plenty of twists and turns, and it's coming to the BBC this year." Stephen Driscoll, EVP Media, All3Media International says: "We are very proud to see Red Rock secure a home on the BBC. Red Rock delivers an engaging cast of characters and storylines that will grip audiences with this original mix of family drama and police procedural." The news comes not long after it was announced that the soap has also been sold to streaming service Amazon Prime in the US. Pretty impressive, 'ey? G'wan the Red Rock. Today (6 April) the African Union Commission (AUC) and the European Commission hold their annual College-to-College meeting in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. College-to-College is the biggest political EU-Africa meeting of the year. Both parties formally cooperate through this forum, enshrined in the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES). The JAES was, for the first time, adopted in 2007 as the first and only intercontinental partnership strategy of the EU. The EU-Africa partnership is currently governed by Roadmap 2014-2017, which sets concrete steps within five areas peace and security, democracy and human rights, human development, sustainable development and growth as well as global and emerging market issues. On top of the roadmap, the mutual cooperation is governed also by a few agreements, such as the Cotonou Agreement with Sub-Saharan Africa, the Euro-Med Partnership with North Africa and the Joint Africa-EU Strategy. These frameworks include political, economic and development aspects. One of the most important elements of the mutual relations is Official Development Assistance (ODA). Africa is the biggest recipient of the collective EU development aid, with approximately 141 billion having been allocated between 2007 and 2013. In 2014-2020 total European Commissions ODA allocations for Africa will amount to more than 31 billion. Annually, 40 percent of all EUs humanitarian assistance goes for projects in Africa, saving millions of lives via the support for health care, shelter for the displaces and nutrition. The EU also provides significant sum to protect and promote universal human rights. In 2014-2020, the EU aims to provide more than 50 million to the effective implementation of the African human rights instruments and to the African Governance Architecture (a mechanism that contributes to harmonizing and implementing standards for democracy and human rights in the countries of Africa), as well as to civil society. The most important financial channel for the redistribution of ODA is the European Development Fund (EDF). Except for the ODA, the EU is also Africas biggest trade partner and its primary source of imports and exports. Around 20 percent of all foreign direct investment in Africa comes from EU firms. Half of Chinese listed developers see profit declines in 2015 Updated: 2016-04-06 07:42 (Xinhua) A residential complex developed by Evergrande Real Estate Group in Qidong, Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to China Daily] SHANGHAI - Half of China's listed property developers saw their net profits decline last year as the country's real estate market cooled. So far, 59 real estate firms have disclosed their annual results. Thirty reported declines in net profits and, of those, eight posted losses, the Centaline Property Agency said Tuesday. The 59 firms reported total revenues of 510 billion yuan ($78.8 billion), up 24.8 percent year on year. Their net income rose 9.4 percent on average, down from 10.5 percent a year ago, it said. Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property, said although many others have yet to disclose the results, they are expected to report profit declines, too. CIFI Holdings (Group) Co, one of the better performers, saw revenues up 43 percent to 30.2 billion yuan with core net profits rising 12.1 percent last year. Lin Feng, president of CIFI Holdings, said the strong performance was due to the company's strategy focusing on first- and second-tier cities. In 2016, the company will strive to boost sales to reduce inventory while reducing land purchases, Lin said. Meanwhile, many developers are trying to diversify their business to seek new growth drivers. Wanda, Greenland and Evergrande have launched financial services. Su Xuejing, an analyst with China Securities, said the transition is in line with the country's efforts to adjust its economic structure and transform its growth mode. Upgrades that will cook the Japanese goose Updated: 2016-04-06 10:14 By Fan Feifei(China Daily) Intelligent rice cookers made in China are expected to kick-start upgradation of the local manufacturing industry and end the dominance of, and Chinese consumers' fascination for, Japanese brands, experts said. Xiaomi Corp launched a smartphone-controlled, 999-yuan ($155) induction heating or IH pressure cooker for rice under a new brand called Mijia in late March. Last month, Guangdong-based Gree Electric Appliances Inc launched a new model of 1,199-yuan IH cooker. IH rice cookers of well-known foreign brands retail for upwards of 2,000 yuan. Chen Hengqing, an analyst at AVC, a consulting company that specializes in home appliances data, said: "I hope this round of rice cooker battle among Chinese manufacturers will weed out obsolete technology and backward companies in China, underline top quality, and deepen supply-side structural reforms that the government has been emphasizing." Agreed Liang Zhenpeng, an independent consumer electronics analyst. Chinese manufacturers, he said, need to improve the quality and performance of their products and make them intelligent. That could help solve the problem of overcapacity and promote upgrading of the traditional manufacturing industry as soon as possible. Chen said Chinese consumers now aspire for high-quality life. Finer things like tasty rice hold importance. "If I can buy a smart rice cooker made in China for 999 yuan whose quality is the same as that of foreign brands that cost several thousand yuan, why wouldn't I buy the local one?" AVC data show IH rice cookers account for only 26 percent of total sales value of all types of rice cookers in China. The average price of cookers made in China is 853 yuan while that of leading foreign brands is 2,678 yuan. "The new models show Chinese consumers want quality goods. Compared with low-end rice cookers priced between 100 yuan and 200 yuan, IH models are believed to cook rice to a nicety, preserving the grain's intrinsic taste and nutrition value," said Liang. He sees a big market developing for IH rice cookers in first- and second-tier cities in China. This could mean prices of made-in-China high-end cookers could eventually drop to 500 yuan to 600 yuan. Sour grapes + spirited e-commerce = sweet profit Updated: 2016-04-06 10:17 By Siva Sankar(China Daily) A customer chooses wine at a cross-border duty-free shop at the Zhengzhou airport, Henan province. ZHANG TAO / FOR CHINA DAILY The Anbang Insurance-led consortium has blamed "various market considerations" for its failed attempt to buy Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc for $14 billion. Sour grapes? But grapes could turn sweet for Anbang if it emulates other investors and invests in China's wines and spirits businesses. Alcohol appears capable of generating long-term returns on investment, a potential alternative to real estate that cash-flush, M&A-minded Chinese companies are snapping up worldwide. Not just overseas vineyards and wineries, even alcohol startups launched in the past 10 years, are attracting big-ticket investments. In terms of funding globally, the top 10 alcohol startups received $686.4 million so far, according to Tracxn.com. Of them, five are from China that accounted for $533.3 million or 78 percent of the funding. Beijing-based, NEEQ-listed Jiuxian.com, an AAA-rated B2C liquor e-tailer, alone received $310 million. Yijiupi, Jiubianli or Liquor Easy, Wine9.com (formerly Pinwine.cn) and YesMyWine.com are the other four. Yijiupi's valuation zoomed to about 3 billion yuan ($463 million) in March after a fresh round of funding. Online and online-to-offline B2B and B2C alcohol startups like these retail both imported and Chinese wines and spirits. Their colorful websites and apps offer cheap deals for shapely, bright porcelain or glass bottles, packed in leather cases, fancy wooden boxes or premium shopping bags. In 2015, wine sales in China were worth 78 billion yuan, with imported wines accounting for 26 billion yuan. According to government data, online sales of tobacco and liquor products generated 196 billion yuan in 2015, up 13 percent. An Analysys International report projects overall liquor sales in China at more than 1 trillion yuan this year. Alcohol e-commerce alone is expected to pull in nearly 60 billion yuan, or 5.6 percent of sales, next year. Alcohol e-commerce has not only arrived in China but is set to rival other popular online shopping categories like cosmetics and fashion. This can be attributed to the growing number of young, knowledgeable, app-happy and lifestyle-conscious consumers in China, where focus has shifted to domestic consumption from exports. Already, Shanghai-based YesMyWine.com claims it's the world's largest imported wine retail platform, with 1 million registered consumers and more than 5,000 wine products from 18 countries. It sold 7 million bottles of wines in 2014 despite China's austerity drive that hurt import and sales of alcoholic beverages. Its Singles Day (Nov 11) sales via Tmall.com, a small part of its overall online and offline platforms, doubled to 40.5 million yuan from the 2014 festival. Online marketplace JD.com expects to sell imported alcoholic beverages worth 10.5 billion yuan this year on its own, up from 400 million yuan last year. Sales of other alcohol merchants using its platform are expected to triple this year to 1.5 billion yuan. Flush with funds, alcohol startups are expanding, setting up warehouses, offline stores and O2O tie-ups, and upgrading their IT systems, logistics and packaging. For example, Liquor Easy claims its express service reaches consumers in 20 minutes. Competition could not only improve quality of both products and services but entail more ventures. China could see more startups focused on wine culture promotion, wine-related education, media and events, wine tourism, even innovative technology (like Kuwee's battery-operated, Wi-Fi smart-bottle that keeps wine fresh for 100 days). Fruit wines may become popular. China Guangzhou Shunchangyuan Wine & Spirit Co Ltd will publicize its plum wine and litchi wine next week in Singapore at the inaugural ProWine Asia expo. China has more vineyards than wine leader France, but grapes are mostly used as fruit. So, wine production in China may increase, potentially reducing the reliance on imports. According to the International Wine & Spirit Research, by 2020, about 60 percent of the world's post-1990 generation will live in Asia with an expected $200 billion in disposable income. A significant part of it will likely be spent on alcoholic beverages. Estimates suggest by the end of 2017, 4 billion bottles of wine, including 1.19 billion bottles of imported wine, will have been consumed in Asia, much of it in China, India and Southeast Asia. In volume terms, China tops country-wise consumption lists for both wines and spirits. Chinese, it seems, will drink, no matter whateither to drown austerity- and slowdown-related sorrows, or to celebrate recovery and life itself. So, if a failed realty acquisition bid produces sour grapes, try to make wine and sweet profits. Sparkling future beckons fashion jewelry Updated: 2016-04-06 14:26 By Emma Gonzalez(chinadaily.com.cn) A model presents Swarovski's jewelry in Hong Kong, Feb 8, 2012.[Photo/VCG] Kasey Zhang, a Beijing-based young professional in her late twenties, believes that women always need a piece of jewelry in their lives. It is an important element of their daily routines, helping them to dress up a working outfit or adding a special touch to a party ensemble. However, she does not believe that diamonds are a girl's best friend. She personally prefers crystal jewelry over fine jewelry because of its affordability and delicate designs. "I like buying crystal jewelry pieces because of their beautiful designs and because they are much cheaper than other jewelry creations," explained Zhang. "So if I lose them, I will be sad but it is not a tragedy." Traditionally, the purchase of jewelry in China has been driven by conservative reasons related to its perception as an economic asset. For this reason, the Chinese jewelry market continues to be dominated by fine jewelry, particularly by pieces with precious metals and stones. Total retail sales value of the jewelry market in China surpassed 500 billion yuan ($77 billion) in 2015, of which retail sales value of gold jewelry accounted for around 75 percent, according to research and consulting group Frost & Sullivan. Jewelry in the form of a colorful peacock is displayed in a store in East China's Zhejiang province, Oct 21, 2014.[Photo/VCG] "Chinese consumers consider fine jewelry an investment tool to maintain their wealth under the more challenging conditions of economic downturn," explained Olaya Huo, research analyst at Euromonitor International. However, young Chinese like Zhang are quickly developing an appetite for affordable fashion jewelry from foreign brands because of their innovative designs and good reputation. As the income level of the younger consumers is comparatively lower than that of the elder generation, affordable jewelry products with fashionable and stylish designs are gaining more favor among the younger generation, explained Neil Wang, global partner and greater China president of Frost and Sullivan. "As a result, affordable jewelry products are becoming more and more popular in China." Austrian crystal brand Swarovski entered the Chinese market in 1995 using a franchise model to distribute its products in the country. Nowadays, almost half of its stores are directly managed by Swarovski, with the company now gradually trying to take over some of the franchises to strengthen its control over distribution. Swarovski, which defines itself as a premium, yet affordable name for everyday use, expects to open around 30 more new stores this year to reach 300 commercial spaces across China. The crystal jewelry group plans to be present in 90 different cities across the country this year, covering 10 more locations than in 2015. A visitor's rapt attention is focused on a Hello Kitty figurine decorated by Swarovski in Guangzhou, April 28, 2015.[Photo/VCG] "Our main focus is to keep expanding into third- and fourth-tier cities because the retail landscape is becoming more mature in these locations," explained Francis Belin, Senior Vice-president of Asia Pacific at Swarovski. "We see more opportunities to open stores there." Swarovski believes that increasing distribution and accessibility of the brand are crucial elements to keep its expansion. For this reason, the company is drafting an online strategy to drive sales up. Last year, the company was one of the first foreign jewelry brands to open a storefront on Alibaba Group Holding's online marketplace Tmall.com. Department stores and specialized jewelry retailers remain the leading distribution channels for jewelry in China, explained Huo of Euromonitor. "However, Internet retailing continues to increase dynamically." Swarovski, which also sells products online through its own website, remains cautious over its online strategy because Chinese customers still prefer to visit their shops to check first-hand the volume, shape and characteristics of the pieces. "For online purchases, we see limited growth now. Currently, less than 10 percent of our sales in China come from online channels," said Belin. However, at some point this year or next year, we will start exploring other options to team up with other online players." With around a third of its total revenues coming from Chinese consumers, including purchases overseas done by Chinese travelers, China remains a crucial market for the brand. Customers queue for access to a Pandora A/S jewelry store in Prague, Czech Republic, Dec 29, 2015. [Photo/VCG] Although the company refuses to disclose annual revenues, it hints that the turnover generated in China amounts to a couple of billion yuan. This year, the company expects to grow in high single digits. Because Chinese consumers still have a preference for precious metals and stones, Swarovski decided to launch an exclusive line of fine jewelry in 2012 specifically designed for the Chinese market. The collection of fine jewelry combined the traditional designs of the brand with the use of precious stones, producing 18-karat gold diamond swans necklaces and amethyst hearts. "We thought that it would be a smart strategic move for us to enter that market," said Francis. "Both fashion jewelry and fine jewelry are growing at similar speeds here, which means that in the last years we have not seen fine jewelry losing ground to fashion jewelry." Danish silver jewelry manufacturer Pandora entered the Chinese market in 2010 by signing franchise agreements with three different local partners in Harbin, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It was only six months ago when the company changed its business strategy to be more directly involved in the stores and start investing in marketing campaigns. "We are struggling to get the business foundation to operate across China," said Kenneth Madsen, president of Pandora Asia. "We want to grow quite fast at the moment, but we need a controlled expansion strategy." A Swarovski store in Beijing draws shoppers, Oct 6, 2012.[Photo/VCG] The retailer, which had a retail network of 72 stores in 2015, plans to open 30 additional stores this year, concentrating on opening full-size commercial venues and further expanding into second-tier cities. This year, the company will open stores in smaller cities like Chengdu, Dalian, Chongqing, Nanjing and Tianjin. "We were very surprised by the strong demand from smaller cities and we realized we can be very successful in some of these second-tier cities," added Madsen. Pandora, which defines itself as an accessible luxury, produces hand-finished silver jewelry pieces at competitive prices, with a focus on beads and charms with different motives to personalize the pieces. Although Pandora does not disclose figures for individual markets, it notes that the Asia Pacific region accounted for 16 percent of the company's total revenue last year, a figure significantly higher than in 2014. "Asia Pacific, with China being the largest market in this region, is taking a bigger and bigger share of Pandora," said Madsen. "This region is an absolute priority for us." In 2015, Pandora recorded global annual revenues of 16.7 billion yuan. For this year, Pandora expects to reach revenues of 19 billion yuan, with the Asia Pacific region driving growth and taking a large share of the company's turnover. The company is now examining options to team up with online stores to increase its sales in the country. "We do not have an e-commerce platform at this point, but it is certainly a big, if not the largest, priority for us right now," added Madsen. iStock/Thinkstock(AMESBURY, Mass.) -- When Betty Vitale walked into her prom dress shop last Friday, she realized that two racks of dresses were gone. Someone had stolen approximately 15 dresses from her shop, Tammi's Closet, which is attached to the Rock Church of Amesbury in Massachusetts. I was heartbroken when I saw it, Vitale told ABC News. Tammi's Closet gives donated prom dresses to girls, who cannot afford prom expenses, for free. The shop also has shoes and prom accessories that are all free for the girls. Amesbury police said there are still no leads about the burglar and the investigation is ongoing. Vitale said the church has since changed the locks on its doors. I was so upset when I went home that day I jumped on Facebook and wrote about it, she said. The very next day Vitale said she received over 35 dresses from the community who saw her post. Its just unbelievable. They all came together for me, she said. I am just so overwhelmed over this whole thing. There are more than 150 dresses coming in this week from around the country, according to Vitale. I actually had a lady from Denver, Colorado, call me and is sending me 40 brand new designer dresses this week, she said. The shop usually has around 175 dresses a year, according to Vitale. One local store, Trendsetters Boutique, has donated over 70 dresses to Tammi's Closet since 2013 and has continued to help out since the burglary. "I still am in shock that this has happened," Jaylene Buonodono, owner of Trendsetters Boutique, told ABC News. "Im happy to help and this is a really good community and a lot of people have come forward to help her in the situation. It's just a great way to give back." There have been so many stories Ive gotten from people who cant afford dresses, and they can come down to Tammis Closet to get dresses, Vitale said. Tammis Closet first opened in 2013 as a way for Vitale to honor her late daughter, Tammi Morrissey, who died in a car crash in 1996 when she was 19. Unable to bear giving away Tammis belongings, Vitale had the opportunity in 2007 to donate Tammis old prom gown to a girl who would not be able to afford one. It was years later that Vitale decided to pursue this mission on a bigger scale and have her daughters memory live on. Vitale was able to give away 17 dresses in her first year and 54 dresses last year. This year I have no idea what the number will be, she said, adding that seeing the girls eyes light up knowing theyll be able to go to the prom is the best part of running her project. She uses the monetary donations she receives to help girls afford other prom expenses. Last year she was able to pay for a limo for one girl. This year she hopes to purchase a tuxedo for a boy if she gets enough donations. Theyll be able to remember their proms later in their lives, Vitale said. And even if they dont remember me, theyll remember they got their dresses at Tammis Closet, and Tammis name will live on. Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. Founded in 1937 and headquartered in Baltimore, T. Rowe Price is a global investment management organization that offers an array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans and financial intermediaries. The company operates worldwide from the U.S., England, Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore and has more than 5,000 employees. This renowned publicly owned investment management firm manages more than 100 mutual funds across a wide range of categories. Also, T. Rowe Price claims that more than 85% of its mutual funds carry a lower expense ratio than their respective categories. Below we share with you five top-rated T. Rowe Price mutual funds. Each has earned a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and is expected to outperform its peers in the future. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all T. Rowe Price mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of T. Rowe Price funds . T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth (PRDGX) seeks return through dividend income and long-term capital appreciation. PRDGX invests a minimum of 65% of its assets in stocks of companies that have an impressive history of paying dividend and are expected to provide growth in dividends in the future. T. Rowe Price Dividend Growth has a three-month return of 4.2%. As of Dec 2015, PRDGX held 108 issues with 2.79% of its assets invested in General Electric Co. T. Rowe Price Real Estate (TRREX) invests the major portion of its assets in equity securities of real estate companies. TRREX invests mostly in equity real estate investment trusts. The fund may invest a maximum 25% of its assets in foreign securities. T. Rowe Price Real Estate has a three-month return of 5.6%. David M. Lee is the fund manager of TRREX since 1997. T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value Advisor (PASVX) seeks capital appreciation over the long run. PASVX invests the lions share of its assets in securities of companies with market capitalization similar to those listed in the Russell 2000 Index. Also, PASVX may consider securities of non-U.S. companies for potential investment. T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Value Advisor has a three-month return of 3.3%. Story continues PASVX has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared with the category average of 1.24%. T. Rowe Price Capital Opportunity (PRCOX) invests a large chunk of its assets in companies that are listed in the S&P 500 Index. PRCOX is expected to maintain company weights similar to the index. The fund maintains a portfolio of 250325 stocks. Though PRCOX invests in companies throughout the globe irrespective of market capitalization, it primarily focuses on acquiring common stocks of domestic large-cap firms. T. Rowe Price Capital Opportunity has a three-month return of 2.3%. As of Dec 2015, PRCOX held 245 issues with 3.05% of its assets invested in Apple Inc. T. Rowe Price Georgia Tax-Free Bond (GTFBX) seeks tax-free high income. GTFBX invests the majority of its assets in bonds that provide return exempted from federal and Georgia state income taxes. T. Rowe Price Capital Opportunity is a non-diversified fund and has a three-month return of 1.4%. Hugh D. McGuirk is the fund manager of GTFBX since 1997. To view the Zacks Rank and past performance of all T. Rowe Price mutual funds, investors can click here to see the complete list of funds . About Zacks Mutual Fund Rank By applying the Zacks Rank to mutual funds, investors can find funds that not only outpaced the market in the past but are also expected to outperform going forward. Learn more about the Zacks Mutual Fund Rank at https://www.zacks.com/funds. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Get Your Free (PRDGX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (TRREX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (PASVX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (PRCOX): Fund Analysis Report Get Your Free (GTFBX): Fund Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas chairs a meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) in the West Bank city of Ramallah on April 4, 2016 (AFP Photo/Abbas Momani) (AFP/File) Ramallah (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas will meet France's Francois Hollande in Paris later this month to discuss a new French push for peace, a spokesman said on Wednesday. Abbas "will have an important meeting with President Francois Hollande to discuss convening an international peace conference in accordance with the French initiative," Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP. The Palestinian leader will travel to France on April 15, before heading to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and discuss "the evolution of the political situation in Palestine and the region", he said. Abu Rudeina said Abbas would also travel to Berlin for a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel before flying to New York to attend meetings at the United Nations, but he did not provide exact dates. France launched an effort earlier this year to host an international conference to revive peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. It initially vowed to recognise a Palestinian state if talks failed, but French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault later said the recognition would not be automatic. "France plays an important role in efforts to establish a fair, comprehensive and durable peace in accordance with international resolutions," Abu Rudeina said. The French initiative comes amid a wave of violence since October that has killed 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis. Most of the Palestinians were killed while carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to the Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air raids in the Gaza Strip. (Recasts, adds quotes, background) By Cyril Altmeyer and Tim Hepher PARIS, April 6 (Reuters) - The outgoing head of Air France-KLM said on Wednesday he was no longer worried about the airline's survival, but his departure leaves an elusive successor facing a challenging task to complete its turnaround, airline industry sources said. De Juniac, who announced his surprise departure to lead the International Air Transport Association on Tuesday, said he had achieved his goals of ending losses and reducing debt, despite having three years left of his mandate. "Air France is out of the danger zone ... but it has not returned to the group of the top three or four best in the world, and that's what's needed," he said in a radio interview. His departure sent shares in Air France-KLM down 3.2 percent, bucking a firmer market. "The share price reaction tells you he was well regarded by investors and that it will be a struggle to find somebody as good to replace him," said Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo. The Franco-Dutch group faces a six-week scramble to fill the post before its annual shareholder meeting on May 19. "Having an AGM without knowing who is going to lead the group would not look very good," Christian Magne, an employee shareholder representative on the Air France-KLM board, acknowledged. "Everything will be done to find someone of the right profile for the AGM in May," he told Reuters. Air France-KLM is prepared to look outside the airline world, sources familiar with the process said. External candidates include SNCF railways chief Guillaume Pepy, widely seen as seeking a new post. But Pepy said in a radio interview he was "only a candidate to do my work at SNCF". Aides to Nicolas Dufourcq, head of state bank BPIfrance, and Alexandre Bompard, head of French retailer FNAC, dismissed reports they could be candidates. Although cited by some French media, Airbus planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier is seen as unlikely to seek the job, having reportedly refused it last time it came up. Story continues Orange telecoms head Stephane Richard, like de Juniac a former chief of staff at the treasury, could not be reached for comment about reports linking him to the job. "The successor needs to be somebody who can work with the political world, plus handle the industrial relations. It needs to be someone with ultra-strong business skills and the ability to negotiate," said aviation analyst John Strickland. People close to him said de Juniac had been worn down by conflict with the company's powerful unions. "He wanted to leave ... and he can leave on a high," an industry source said. Others said de Juniac, who served at the treasury under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, enjoyed only lukewarm support from the Socialist government over job cuts, an issue that could become a worse headache for his successor. (Additional reporting by James Regan, Victoria Bryan, Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Andrew Callus and David Evans) By Cyril Altmeyer and Tim Hepher PARIS (Reuters) - The outgoing head of Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) said on Wednesday he was no longer worried about the airline's survival, but his departure leaves an elusive successor facing a challenging task to complete its turnaround, airline industry sources said. De Juniac, who announced his surprise departure to lead the International Air Transport Association on Tuesday, said he had achieved his goals of ending losses and reducing debt, despite having three years left of his mandate. "Air France is out of the danger zone ... but it has not returned to the group of the top three or four best in the world, and that's what's needed," he said in a radio interview. His departure sent shares in Air France-KLM down 3.2 percent, bucking a firmer market. "The share price reaction tells you he was well regarded by investors and that it will be a struggle to find somebody as good to replace him," said Liberum analyst Gerald Khoo. The Franco-Dutch group faces a six-week scramble to fill the post before its annual shareholder meeting on May 19. "Having an AGM without knowing who is going to lead the group would not look very good," Christian Magne, an employee shareholder representative on the Air France-KLM board, acknowledged. "Everything will be done to find someone of the right profile for the AGM in May," he told Reuters. Air France-KLM is prepared to look outside the airline world, sources familiar with the process said. External candidates include SNCF railways chief Guillaume Pepy, widely seen as seeking a new post. But Pepy said in a radio interview he was "only a candidate to do my work at SNCF". Aides to Nicolas Dufourcq, head of state bank BPIfrance, and Alexandre Bompard, head of French retailer FNAC, dismissed reports they could be candidates. Although cited by some French media, Airbus (AIR.PA) planemaking chief Fabrice Bregier is seen as unlikely to seek the job, having reportedly refused it last time it came up. Story continues Orange (ORAN.PA) telecoms head Stephane Richard, like de Juniac a former chief of staff at the treasury, could not be reached for comment about reports linking him to the job. "The successor needs to be somebody who can work with the political world, plus handle the industrial relations. It needs to be someone with ultra-strong business skills and the ability to negotiate," said aviation analyst John Strickland. People close to him said de Juniac had been worn down by conflict with the company's powerful unions. "He wanted to leave ... and he can leave on a high," an industry source said. Others said de Juniac, who served at the treasury under former conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, enjoyed only lukewarm support from the Socialist government over job cuts, an issue that could become a worse headache for his successor. (Additional reporting by James Regan, Victoria Bryan, Dominique Vidalon; Editing by Andrew Callus and David Evans) SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In a letter sent to shareholders on Tuesday, Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) founder and chief executive, Jeff Bezos, defended the online retailer's corporate culture, which was the subject of a critical report by The New York Times last year. Bezos noted the enduring nature of corporate cultures in his annual letter to shareholders. "The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select," he wrote. "Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another," he said, adding that Amazon has never declared that its approach is the "right one." Amazon was the subject of a months-long investigation by the Times, which depicted the company as having a bruising corporate culture that edged out workers who had been evaluated harshly by their peers and managers. The online retailer forcefully rebutted the paper's report after it was published last year, with the company's top spokesman, Jay Carney, taking the unprecedented step of writing a public letter to defend Amazon and revealing personnel information about a former employees quoted in the story. In his letter to shareholders, Bezos also trumpeted the success of big bets like the company's cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services, and its wildly popular membership programme, Prime. Amazon does not disclose membership data of its flagship Prime service, but analysts say it may have more than 40 million members in the United States. In highlighting the speed at which Amazon launched services like Prime Now, its one- and two-hour delivery service, Bezos signalled to shareholders that the company was not done making bold investments in new business areas. "Used well, our scale enables us to build services for customers that we could otherwise never even contemplate." (Reporting by Mari Saito; Editing by Leslie Adler) * Gorgon shut down earlier in April due to cooling problems * Gorgon's 1st export cargo delivered at destination in Japan * Chevron says development of Trains 2 and 3 unaffected (Updates to say that Gorgon's 1st LNG export arrived at destination on Wednesday) By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE, April 6 (Reuters) - Australia's Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is expected to resume production within 30 to 60 days after the facility halted output due to mechanical problems, operator Chevron said on Wednesday. Chevron's $54-billion project began producing LNG for export on March 7, but has since had trouble with a cooling unit, preventing the plant from turning natural gas into a superchilled liquid to be shipped on tankers. "A restart of the plant within 30-60 days is estimated at this time," the company said in a statement. "Train 1 ramp-up to full capacity is still expected to occur over 6 to 8 months from initial start-up (in March) of the facility. Meanwhile, construction activities continue to progress on LNG Trains 2 and 3 with timing not affected by the work on Train 1," the company said. Gorgon's first cargo, which was shipped in March, arrived at its destination with Japanese utility Chubu Electric on Wednesday, a Chevron spokesman said separately. The Gorgon Project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent), Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 percent). Gorgon will have the capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes of LNG per year once all three production trains are operating. Traders said the outage might temporarily support Asian spot LNG prices (LNG-AS), which have dropped by 80 percent from peaks hit in 2014 as soaring supplies clash with slowing demand from the world's top buyers Japan, South Korea and China. Gorgon was initially expected to cost $37 billion and start exports in 2014, but delays and soaring costs pushed the start-date back and the price tag up. (Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Tom Hogue) (Repeat story published on Wednesday) * Gorgon shut down earlier in April due to cooling problems * Gorgon's 1st export cargo delivered at destination in Japan * Chevron says development of Trains 2 and 3 unaffected By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE, April 6 (Reuters) - Australia's Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal is expected to resume production within 30 to 60 days after the facility halted output due to mechanical problems, operator Chevron said on Wednesday. Chevron's $54-billion project began producing LNG for export on March 7, but has since had trouble with a cooling unit, preventing the plant from turning natural gas into a superchilled liquid to be shipped on tankers. "A restart of the plant within 30-60 days is estimated at this time," the company said in a statement. "Train 1 ramp-up to full capacity is still expected to occur over 6 to 8 months from initial start-up (in March) of the facility. Meanwhile, construction activities continue to progress on LNG Trains 2 and 3 with timing not affected by the work on Train 1," the company said. Gorgon's first cargo, which was shipped in March, arrived at its destination with Japanese utility Chubu Electric on Wednesday, a Chevron spokesman said separately. The Gorgon Project on Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Western Australia is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (47.3 percent), ExxonMobil (25 percent), Shell (25 percent), Osaka Gas (1.25 percent), Tokyo Gas (1 percent) and Chubu Electric Power (0.417 percent). Gorgon will have the capacity to produce 15.6 million tonnes of LNG per year once all three production trains are operating. Traders said the outage might temporarily support Asian spot LNG prices (LNG-AS), which have dropped by 80 percent from peaks hit in 2014 as soaring supplies clash with slowing demand from the world's top buyers Japan, South Korea and China. Gorgon was initially expected to cost $37 billion and start exports in 2014, but delays and soaring costs pushed the start-date back and the price tag up. (Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Tom Hogue) Streets are flooded in Fiji's western division of Ba on April 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/Naziah Ali) Suva (Fiji) (AFP) - Authorities in Fiji ordered people to stay inside as a tropical cyclone bore down on the Pacific tourist destination Wednesday, taking no chances after a recent monster storm killed 44 people. Tropical Cyclone Zena rapidly developed from a low pressure trough to an intense category three storm that was approaching the main island Vita Levu, the Fiji Meteorological Service said. It was preceded by heavy rains that left one man confirmed dead and a teenage girl missing in flash flooding that also blocked major highways. The latest emergency comes with the nation of 900,000 still reeling from super cyclone Winston in February, which left 44 dead, 60,000 homeless and crippled infrastructure. "To preserve safety and public order prior to the arrival of Tropical Cyclone Zena, all members of the public are to remain indoors and secure their properties until further notice," the government said, adding police would enforce the curfew. Fiji Airways cancelled most international flights and schools were closed. The cyclone, packing gusts of 170 kilometres (105 miles) per hour, is expected to brush the south coast of Vita Levu early on Thursday. The path and intensity of such storms are hard to predict -- Winston appeared to be weakening offshore at one point before roaring back as a category five cyclone with 325 kilometres an hour winds. While Zena is not expected to match that ferocity, the UN children's organisation UNICEF said it "could not come at a worse time for children and families in Fiji". "These are the same families that were directly affected by Cyclone Winston just over a month ago," Suva-based spokeswoman Alice Clements said. "Far too many are sheltering under tarpaulins, pieces of salvaged corrugated iron, in tents or again in evacuation centres." The Red Cross said volunteers were ready to distribute water purification tablets, jerry cans, and tarpaulins but had to wait for the weather to clear. Story continues "As soon as the situation is safe, we will get out and assess the damage," said the charity's Viti Levu western division coordinator, Mohammed Hafiz. "But it could be Friday, or at worst, Saturday, before this will be possible." The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said strong winds could bring down temporary shelters and buildings weakened by Winston, while a further 200 millimetres of rain in 24 hours would aggravate the floods. The agency said almost 3,600 people were already sheltering in 79 evacuation centres. "(Cyclone) Zena and associated rainfall will add to the distress being experienced by thousands of people across Fiji who remain in transitional shelter since Winston hit in February," it said. (Adds background) BRASILIA/SAO PAULO, April 6 (Reuters) - Marfrig Global Foods SA has agreed to sell three meatpacking and a livestock confinement unit in Argentina to a subsidiary of China's Foresun Group for $75 million, in the latest asset sale by the debt-ridden Brazilian meatpacker. Under terms of the accord, Black Bamboo Enterprises SA, which Foresun controls, will take over three meatpacking units that Marfrig had in the towns of Hughes, Vivorata and Unquillo, the Sao Paulo-based company said in a securities filing on Wednesday. The confinement unit is based in the town of Monte Ralo. According to the filing, Foresun's Black Bamboo agreed to pay $34 million in cash on Wednesday, with the remaining amount due over the next 12 months. Marfrig will continue to operate a meatpacking unit in the Argentine province of San Luis, the filing added. Operations for beef exporters based in Argentina, and demand for related assets, have both improved since a business-friendly administration took office in December and rapidly lifted taxes and trade restrictions on the commodity. Some analysts expect incumbent producers and potential newcomers to enter the Argentine beef market, one of the world's most renowned but which, for years, lost global relevance due to the restrictions. Shares of Marfrig gained 1.6 percent to 6.44 reais on Wednesday. The stock is up 53 percent in the past 12 months as chairman and controlling shareholder Marcos Molina stepped up asset sales outside Brazil to reduce debt. Ciccra, as Argentina's meat industry and trade chamber is known, estimates beef exports to increase to 300,000 tonnes next year from 200,000 tonnes in 2015, while the Aacrea association of meat producers forecasts 350,000 tonnes. Agriculture consultancy group Tonelli & Associates put the figure at 400,000 tons. (Reporting by Silvio Cascione and Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Guillermo Parra-Bernal, Chizu Nomiyama and Phil Berlowitz) A Look at AT&T's Recent Performance and New Initiatives (Continued from Prior Part) AT&Ts new OTT services In the last part of the series, we learned about the unlimited data plan that AT&T (T) plans to initiate on May 23, 2016, for its U-verse Internet customers. We also learned that the company is expanding the data buckets of select U-verse Internet subscribers starting on the same date. According to a Wall Street Journal report, AT&T is raising data limits on its home broadband plans, and offering a new unlimited option to customers, as the carrier gears up to offer its DirecTV service over the Internet later this year. The same report also mentioned that AT&T plans to start offering a version of the satellite television service over the Internet, or over the top, later this year, eliminating the need for a satellite dish to access the service. Beginning in 4Q16, as per the company, AT&T plans to initiate three services: DIRECTV (DTV) Now, DIRECTV Mobile, and DIRECTV Preview. Opportunities for AT&Ts over-the-top service in US non-pay TV households The market that AT&T is targeting with DIRECTV Now, DIRECTV Mobile, and DIRECTV Preview is expected to grow in the medium term in the United States. According to a report by eMarketer and as you can observe in the above chart, non-pay TV households in the United States are expected to rise from ~20.8 million in 2015 to ~28.1 million in 2019. For diversified exposure to telecommunications companies in the United States, you may want to consider investing in the iShares Russell 1000 Value ETF (IWD). IWD held a total of ~2.7% in AT&T, Verizon (VZ), Level 3 Communications (LVLT), CenturyLink (CTL), and T-Mobile (TMUS) at the end of March 2016. Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: Credit Suisse logo is seen at the headquater downtown Milan, Italy, March 9, 2106. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini (Reuters) - Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) is laying off nine executives in its fixed-income business in Brazil amid an industry slump, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Sergio Machado, a managing director and head of the business, will leave the Zurich-based bank soon, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Credit Suisse declined to comment. In Brazil, the bank has also had to defend itself against what appears to be the nation's harshest recession ever, a condition that Brazilian unit's head Jose Olympio Pereira called "the worst" he's seen in 30 years of his career. In January Reuters reported that Marcelo Kayath was leaving Credit Suisse after almost two decades in senior positions at its investment banking and securities divisions in Brazil. (Reporting by Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shounak Dasgupta) Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte casts his vote in the referendum on the ratification of the association agreement between the EU and Ukraine held in the Netherlands, in The Hague, on April 6, 2016 (AFP Photo/Bart Maat) The Hague (AFP) - Dutch voters went to the polls Wednesday in a referendum over building closer European ties with Ukraine, but sluggish turnout raised doubts about whether the ballot, seen as a barometer of anti-EU feeling, would even be valid. Voters were being asked if they support the European Union's association agreement with Ukraine, which aims to foster better trade relations with the war-torn country and former Soviet satellite. But organisers have admitted the ballot is essentially about broader anti-EU sentiment, and it could be an important yardstick only months ahead of Britain's "Brexit" referendum in June. For the ballot to be valid there has to be at least a 30 percent turnout from the 12.5 million people eligible to vote. The civic-minded Dutch usually flock to the polls, with past turnouts hitting around 75 percent. But amid driving, cold rain, people appeared to be staying away, and by early evening only 13.7 percent of voters had cast their ballots in the capital, Amsterdam, 22.1 percent in the busy port of Rotterdam and 20.4 percent in The Hague. A Dutch "No" to the two-year-old treaty with Kiev could pose a headache for the European Union (EU) and is being closely watched by Moscow as well. - 'Stability for Europe' - Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who cast his ballot at a Hague primary school, urged citizens to vote in favour. "We have to help Ukraine build up a judicial state and its democracy. To support its minorities like Jews and its gay community. Therefore I call on the entire Netherlands: go vote and vote in favour," Rutte said. "Europe needs more stability at its edges." Opinion polls on the eve of the vote gave the "No" vote a slight edge, but many voters were undecided, saying they remained puzzled about what it was all about. "I think it's good to have a referendum, to be able to say what we think of Brussels. It's important," one voter, who identified himself only as Bert, 49, told AFP. Story continues It remains unclear what the results could mean for the Netherlands -- which currently holds the rotating EU presidency. The vote is non-binding and the government has been non-committal, saying only it would study the results after polls close at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT). The "No" camp has highlighted concerns about corruption in Ukraine, and continuing separatist unrest in the east, among reasons to refuse closer ties with Kiev. According to one Ipsos poll, some 37 percent said they would vote against. Around 33 percent were in favour and the rest were undecided. Ukraine, where a Moscow-backed president who rejected the cooperation deal was ousted in 2014, has actively campaigned for a "yes" vote. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko voiced confidence in Dutch support, but his inclusion in the so-called Panama Papers tax evasion scandal has turned off some Dutch voters. "I voted against because I don't think the accord is a good thing for the Netherlands," said Nik Tam, 65, adding there were already "too many" countries in the EU. Anti-immigrant far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders tweeted to supporters: "Everyone vote today. And vote against!" - What next? - The Netherlands is now the only member in the 28-nation EU still to ratify the accord and the deal has been given the thumbs up by both the upper and lower houses of the Dutch parliament. Aaron Matta, senior researcher at The Hague Institute for Global Justice think-tank, warned of wider repercussions of a "No" vote. "The Netherlands will perhaps have to find some way of opting out of specific provisions in the agreement," he told AFP. European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has warned a "no" vote "could open the doors to a continental crisis". A "No" win could also lend a boost to the "Brexit" campaign. "If the Dutch people vote no today, it will be a incentive for the British voters to say no," Wilders said. Visitors look at models of Boeing aircrafts at the Aviation Expo China 2015, in Beijing, China, September 16, 2015. REUTERS/Jason Lee By Alwyn Scott NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Monday it had picked a new aircraft seat supplier for its most popular jet, the 737, a move that industry experts said adds competition to leading seat makers Zodiac Aerospace (ZODC.PA) and B/E Aerospace (BEAV.O). In response to questions from Reuters, Boeing said it will buy seats directly from the new supplier, LIFT by EnCore of Huntington Beach, California - a break from the past practice of allowing airlines to purchase seats that led to some costly delays in finishing aircraft because seats did not always arrive on time. Boeing and LIFT planned to announce their agreement on Tuesday at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany. Boeing said it already has 11 approved economy seat suppliers, but LIFT will be the first and only supplier selling directly to Boeing for the current 737NG and successor 737 MAX aircraft. The other suppliers sell to airlines, a process that has for decades allowed carriers to customize their respective cabins. As plane production soared in recent years, suppliers had increasing problems delivering seats on time. The delays fouled production at Boeing and Airbus. Last year, both plane makers took the rare step of criticizing Zodiac after missed deadlines caused plane deliveries to be delayed. France-based Zodiac has issued several profit warnings as it failed to keep up with delivery schedules. Boeing's shift is most likely to affect Zodiac and B/E Aerospace, which together supply about two-thirds of the global seat market worth about $4.6 billion a year, according to consulting firm AlixPartners. "It appears Boeing is warning the two main incumbents that it isn't satisfied with their current performance," said Phil Toy, a managing director at AlixPartners. LIFT by EnCore is a new venture that has not yet delivered a seat. But founders Tom McFarland and Jim Downey are industry veterans who sold their previous seat and interior company, known as C&D Aerospace, to Zodiac in 2005. Story continues LIFT plans to begin delivering the new seats, known as "tourist class" in mid-2017. LIFT designed its seat in consultation with Boeing, allowing it to gear the seat's dimensions, structure and weight for the 737 and Boeing's new "Sky Interior" cabin design. The seat width of 17.9 inches (45.47 cm) is among the widest available. It uses lightweight composite materials and includes about two dozen options airlines can configure, such as headrests, cushions, power outlets and holders for tablets and personal electronics. Boeing said its strong supply chain and the LIFT seat would "provide customers the stability and reliability they have come to expect from the 737." (Reporting by Alwyn Scott, editing by G Crosse) Argentina's President Mauricio Macri (L) looks at Fiat brochure next to Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Fiat Chrysler, during a visit to a Fiat plant near Cordoba, Argentina, April 5, 2016. REUTERS/Argentine Presidency/Handout via Reuters MILAN (Reuters) - Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCHA.MI) will invest $500 million to revamp its Cordoba plant in Argentina where a new model will be produced next year. The new model will be launched in the second half of 2017 and, once fully operational, the plant will have a total production capacity of more than 100,000 vehicles per year. "We have decided to install a new modular platform for the production of a completely new model that will only be produced at this plant, with the majority of production destined for export," FCA Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said at a ceremony on Tuesday in Argentina that was also attended by Argentine President Mauricio Macri. More than 80 percent of the production will be destined for exports, primarily to markets in Latin America. (Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Crispian Balmer) PETALUMA, CA--(Marketwired - Apr 6, 2016) - GC Micro Corporation, a hardware and software integration and services company based in Petaluma, Calif., has been announced as a subcontractor to Boeing as part of the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency's sale of nine Boeing-made P-8A Poseidon aircraft to the United Kingdom. The sale of the aircraft, which is designed for maritime patrol and long-range anti-submarine warfare, has been approved by the U.S. State Department. It is expected to approve in Congress, and amounts to an estimated $3.2 billion. Boeing, the prime contractor, will work with GC Micro among other subcontractors, to deliver multiple high-performance aircraft with advanced intelligence and surveillance systems. "GC Micro is proud to be part of the Boeing team that builds American defense systems. Meeting Boeing's high performance standards and customer expectations -- and earning its Performance Excellence Award seven times -- is a testament to our commitment to excellence and outstanding customer focus," said Belinda Guadarrama, CEO of GC Micro. "We are excited to continue expanding our relationships by working with our customers to support these critical, high-value international contracts, including this contract in the UK." GC Micro continues to expand its value to customers and keeping with the aerospace industry's highest quality standards, the firm is AS9120 and ISO 9001 certified. GC Micro, which has been supporting IT procurement with Boeing for more than 20 years, has a team of specialists dedicated to delivering Boeing's IT needs at both the contract and program level. As a subcontractor to Boeing, this further exemplifies GC Micro's expertise and commitment to delivering quality services in IT hardware and software for the aerospace and defense industry. GC Micro provides computer hardware and software, such as integrated computer systems and servers, custom cable assemblies, tools/equipment for repair and overhaul, as well as facilitating and managing custom requirements for services and products such as test equipment, equipment services, maintenance and contracting services. About GC Micro GC Micro works with 1,500 top software and hardware manufacturers. The business offers more than 220,000 products with access to over $5 billion in product inventory across 14 national warehouses. In addition to fulfilling information technology hardware and software requirements, GC Micro provides hardware and software integration services and software management services to the Federal Government and Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.gcmicro.com. * Berlin sticks to original privatisation goals * Greek Economy Minister had signalled lower revenues * International lenders reviewing Greek bailout (Adds Greek economy ministry official) By Michael Nienaber BERLIN, April 6 (Reuters) - Germany has dismissed any suggestion that Greece could lower its target of 50 billion euros in privatisation revenues, part of its third bailout package, raising tensions as international lenders review Greek reform efforts. Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis said in Berlin on Tuesday the estimates had already been lowered and that Athens was looking at around 15 billion euros and may end up with just 6 or 7 billion euros from the privatisations. A German Finance Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday the Greek government had agreed last year with its lenders that the programme's Memorandum of Understanding included the 50 billion euros in privatisation revenue. "As far as we are concerned, this Memorandum of Understanding is still valid," Friederike von Thiesenhausen said at a government news conference. In Athens, when asked to clarify Stathakis' comments, an Economy Ministry official repeated the 15 billion euros figure "from privatisations that have been concluded and the ongoing ones". Since the recapitalisation of banks have cost Greece 5.5 billion euros and thus far less than the previously projected 25 billion euros, the 50 billion euro target "has changed de facto", the official said. Greece has raised a total of about 3.5 billion euros from state asset sales scheme since 2010 and aims to raise another 1.9 billion this year, according to the state budget. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin's stance on Greece's bailout programme remained unchanged after her meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Tuesday. "Our position is that a nominal debt cut for Greece is not possible, also for legal reasons," Steffen Seibert said, adding that Germany still wanted the IMF to be part of the current bailout programme for Greece. Story continues The IMF has fought shy of participating in the bailout without a firm promise of debt relief for Greece from its euro zone partners. Germany, while keen for the IMF to take part, has said relief cannot be discussed until Athens has demonstrated compliance with the terms of the bailout. Berlin has signalled that it could be open to some flexibility by extending the maturities of some loans. On Tuesday, Merkel reiterated Germany's position that a write-down was not possible as long as Greece remained in the euro zone. Lagarde insisted that what was needed in Greece was "long-term sustainability", and debt sustainability was important for private sector investors. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes a successful review, which will unlock an estimated 5 billion euros in bailout funds, will pave the way for talks on debt relief and convince austerity-weary Greeks that their sacrifices are paying off. The 5 billion euros are needed to repay loans from the IMF and maturing bonds to the European Central Bank, as well as unpaid domestic bills. Greece signed up to a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros in 2015, its third international financial lifeline since 2010, which hauled it back from the brink of leaving the euro zone. So far, it has received 21.4 billion of an initial 26 billion euro tranche. (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers, Gernot Heller in Berlin and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams) Protesters wave Greek and EU flags during a pro-Euro rally in front of the parliament building, in Athens, Greece, June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Yannis Behrakis By Michael Nienaber BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany has dismissed any suggestion that Greece could lower its target of 50 billion euros in privatisation revenues, part of its third bailout package, raising tensions as international lenders review Greek reform efforts. Greek Economy Minister George Stathakis said in Berlin on Tuesday the estimates had already been lowered and that Athens was looking at around 15 billion euros and may end up with just 6 or 7 billion euros (5-6 billion pounds) from the privatisations. A German Finance Ministry spokeswoman said on Wednesday the Greek government had agreed last year with its lenders that the programme's Memorandum of Understanding included the 50 billion euros in privatisation revenue. "As far as we are concerned, this Memorandum of Understanding is still valid," Friederike von Thiesenhausen said at a government news conference. In Athens, when asked to clarify Stathakis' comments, an Economy Ministry official repeated the 15 billion euros figure "from privatisations that have been concluded and the ongoing ones". Since the recapitalisation of banks have cost Greece 5.5 billion euros and thus far less than the previously projected 25 billion euros, the 50 billion euro target "has changed de facto", the official said. Greece has raised a total of about 3.5 billion euros from state asset sales scheme since 2010 and aims to raise another 1.9 billion this year, according to the state budget. A spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin's stance on Greece's bailout programme remained unchanged after her meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde on Tuesday. "Our position is that a nominal debt cut for Greece is not possible, also for legal reasons," Steffen Seibert said, adding that Germany still wanted the IMF to be part of the current bailout programme for Greece. The IMF has fought shy of participating in the bailout without a firm promise of debt relief for Greece from its euro zone partners. Germany, while keen for the IMF to take part, has said relief cannot be discussed until Athens has demonstrated compliance with the terms of the bailout. Story continues Berlin has signalled that it could be open to some flexibility by extending the maturities of some loans. On Tuesday, Merkel reiterated Germany's position that a write-down was not possible as long as Greece remained in the euro zone. Lagarde insisted that what was needed in Greece was "long-term sustainability", and debt sustainability was important for private sector investors. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hopes a successful review, which will unlock an estimated 5 billion euros in bailout funds, will pave the way for talks on debt relief and convince austerity-weary Greeks that their sacrifices are paying off. The 5 billion euros are needed to repay loans from the IMF and maturing bonds to the European Central Bank, as well as unpaid domestic bills. Greece signed up to a bailout worth up to 86 billion euros in 2015, its third international financial lifeline since 2010, which hauled it back from the brink of leaving the euro zone. So far, it has received 21.4 billion of an initial 26 billion euro tranche. (Additional reporting by Madeline Chambers, Gernot Heller in Berlin and Angeliki Koutantou in Athens; Writing by Michael Nienaber; Editing by Alison Williams) Brittany Stinson Fresh off an exciting weekend following the news she got into five Ivy League schools, Brittany Stinson arrived at her Delaware high school Monday to chatter about her accomplishments. Stinson shared her admissions essay with Business Insider last week, and the post went viral. She explained that she was initially taken back by all of the attention after she got into Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, and Cornell, as well as the incredibly competitive non-Ivy, Stanford. "I'm a shy person," she told Business Insider. In addition to the Ivies and Stanford, she was accepted to Johns Hopkins University, Northwestern University, New York University, and Boston University. Stinson's qualifications for those acceptances go far beyond an impressive admissions essay. She's the valedictorian of her Concord High School class, and has been first in her class every year in high school. Her weighted GPA is a 4.9, and un-weighted it's a 4.0. Stinson has been chasing dreams of the Ivy League as long as she can remember. "I've always thought about the Ivy route; I've had it in the back of my mind," she explained. She speaks Portuguese fluently, a trait she gained from her Brazilian-born mother. She also speaks Spanish proficiently. And she has taken eight Advanced Placement courses over the course of her high school career. She gravitates toward the field of science the most. Brittany Stinson This past summer she participated in a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Science, Technology Engineering, and Math (STEM) program where she took courses in astrophysics and science writing. She also presented her research at a symposium at the culmination of the conference. As for that admission essay she wrote, Stinson explained that she focused on staying true to herself. "I just did something that was me," she said. "I knew I was capable of weaving in humor into the essay, and I knew that with kids that have similar extracurriculars and scores you need to stand out when it comes to the essay." Story continues NOW WATCH: Ancient Romans had perfect teeth because their diets were low in one substance More From Business Insider (Adds details on program) By David Lawder WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that its staff have agreed to deepen the Fund's engagement with Somalia through a 12-month program to assist and monitor the country's reforms of government operations and fiscal management. "This is a significant milestone for Somalia, marking the move toward normalizing relations with international financial institutions," IMF mission chief Rogerio Zandamela said in a statement. "The program will focus on policies to improve governance and fiscal management, strengthen institutions, foster financial sector development and fill considerable data gaps. Technical assistance and capacity building will be an integral part of the program," Zandamela said. The so-called Staff-Monitored Program does not involve financial support to the war-torn African country, but is a necessary step toward a potential IMF loan program. It is expected to start in May pending IMF approval. It sends a positive signal to international donors about Somalia's commitment to improve its governance. A similar program for Afghanistan has helped to mobilize billions of dollars in donation pledges. Somalia is one of the least developed countries in the world and is in the process of building a fully functioning government. The program will aim to devise ways to increase government revenue and help its budgeting process. It will also initiate currency reform and strengthen licensing and regulation of commercial banks and money transfer businesses. (Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Fiona Ortiz) Indonesia's Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro speaks with Reuters during an interview at his office in Jakarta September 30, 2015. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside By Hidayat Setiaji JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's finance minister on Wednesday said the tax office will examine tax reports of the Indonesian offices of four Internet-based companies to check whether they have been paying correctly what they owe. Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro named the four as Yahoo, Twitter, Google and Facebook. While those companies have paid income taxes, they are still liable to value added tax applicable to revenue generated from advertising in Indonesia, he said. Southeast Asia's largest economy is facing a sizable revenue shortfall this year as the resource-rich country can no longer rely on commodity-related income. A decision to raise the threshold at which individuals start owing income tax in June, announced on Wednesday to boost economic growth, may aggravate the shortfall. Out of the four companies, Yahoo and Google have formed Indonesian limited liability companies. Twitter and Facebook operate branches of their Asia-Pacific offices in Indonesia. "Revenue from ads should be part of those taxable by us, we're doing a review," Brodjonegoro said, adding that Indonesia is demanding the same thing that Britain demands from those companies. "The point is we will be serious in straightening up taxes on digital economy," he said. The communications ministry has given an estimate of the value of digital advertising in Indonesia of about $800 million last year. But the ministry said all was untaxed. Twitter is widely used in Indonesia, which is also home to the world's fourth-largest number of Facebook users. Roy Simangunsong, Twitter's country business head for Indonesia, said he could not comment directly on the minister's statement, but said Twitter "will fulfill all obligations as a representative office in Indonesia". An official at Google declined to comment before seeing the minister's statement and later could not be reached for comment. Queries emailed to Yahoo and Facebook media officials were not answered. (Corrects paragraph 6 to say Google has formed an Indonesian limited liability company) (Reporting by Hidayat Setiaji; Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Eveline Danubrata; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk, Robert Birsel) (Corrects paragraph 6 to say Google has formed an Indonesian limited liability company) By Hidayat Setiaji JAKARTA, April 6 (Reuters) - Indonesia's finance minister on Wednesday said the tax office will examine tax reports of the Indonesian offices of four Internet-based companies to check whether they have been paying correctly what they owe. Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro named the four as Yahoo , Twitter, Google and Facebook . While those companies have paid income taxes, they are still liable to value added tax applicable to revenue generated from advertising in Indonesia, he said. Southeast Asia's largest economy is facing a sizable revenue shortfall this year as the resource-rich country can no longer rely on commodity-related income. A decision to raise the threshold at which individuals start owing income tax in June, announced on Wednesday to boost economic growth, may aggravate the shortfall. Out of the four companies, Yahoo and Google have formed Indonesian limited liability companies. Twitter and Facebook operate branches of their Asia-Pacific offices in Indonesia. "Revenue from ads should be part of those taxable by us, we're doing a review," Brodjonegoro said, adding that Indonesia is demanding the same thing that Britain demands from those companies. "The point is we will be serious in straightening up taxes on digital economy," he said. The communications ministry has given an estimate of the value of digital advertising in Indonesia of about $800 million last year. But the ministry said all was untaxed. Twitter is widely used in Indonesia, which is also home to the world's fourth-largest number of Facebook users. Roy Simangunsong, Twitter's country business head for Indonesia, said he could not comment directly on the minister's statement, but said Twitter "will fulfill all obligations as a representative office in Indonesia". An official at Google declined to comment before seeing the minister's statement and later could not be reached for comment. Queries emailed to Yahoo and Facebook media officials were not answered. (Reporting by Hidayat Setiaji; Additional reporting by Agustinus Beo Da Costa and Eveline Danubrata; Writing by Gayatri Suroyo; Editing by Richard Borsuk, Robert Birsel) Is It Time to Invest in High-Yield Bonds after the FOMC Meeting? (Continued from Prior Part) Investor flows into high-yield bond funds Investor flows into high-yield bond funds were positive for the fifth consecutive week. According to Lipper, net inflows into high-yield bond funds totaled $1.7 billion in the week ending March 16. This was lower than net inflows of $1.8 billion in the week ending March 9. With this inflow, high-yield bond funds witnessed YTD (year-to-date) inflows of $6.1 billion. Yields and spreads analysis Yields on high-yield debt and spreads between high-yield debt and Treasuries fell over the week ending March 18, 2016. High-yield debt yields, as represented by the BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II Effective Yield, fell sharply by 24 basis points from a week ago and ended at 8.1% on March 18, 2016. Like yields, the option-adjusted spread also fell in the week. The BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II Option-Adjusted Spread fell by 11 basis points from last week. It ended at 6.7% on March 18. Returns on high-yield debt indices, mutual funds, and ETFs Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. With yields falling, returns on high-yield debt rose in the week ending March 18. The BofA Merrill Lynch U.S. High Yield Master II Index rose 1.1% over the week. The returns in 2016 turned positive. The index rose by 3.9% YTD. Mutual funds such as the American Funds American High-Income Trust Class A (AHITX) and the Guggenheim High Yield Fund (SHYIX) provide exposure to high-yield debt. The weekly returns of AHITX and SHYIX rose by 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively. Popular ETFs providing exposure to high-yield debt also rose over the week. The prices of the iShares iBoxx $ High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG), the PowerShares Fundamental High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (PHB), and the SPDR Barclays Capital High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) rose by 0.3%, 0.7%, and 0.6%, respectively, over the week ending March 18. Story continues In the primary market, MDC Partners (MDCA), CNH Industrial Capitala wholly owned subsidiary of CNH Industrial N.V. (CNHI), Radian Group (RDN), and Avis Budget Car Rentala wholly owned subsidiary of Avis Budget Group (CAR) were the issuers of high-yield bonds. You can read more about the primary market activity in Part 3 of this series. In the next part, well analyze primary market activity in leveraged loans. Continue to Next Part Browse this series on Market Realist: (Recasts with government winning vote) ROME, April 6 (Reuters) - Italy's government won a confidence vote on Wednesday over a decree aimed at helping banks manage bad loans and uniting a sprawling network of small local lenders. The legislation passed in the upper house Senate with 171 votes in favour and 105 against. It will now become law, having been approved by the lower house. Parliamentary Relations Minister Maria Elena Boschi had called the vote to speed passage of the emergency decree, which would have expired this week without parliamentary approval. The decree sets up a guarantee scheme aimed at helping banks and other financial institutions to offload some of the 200 billion euros ($227 billion) in bad loans that piled up on their balance sheets during three years of recession. The plan, agreed after months of talks with the European Commission, will let banks bundle the loans into securities that can be sold. If the government loses a confidence vote it is obliged to resign, but defeat was extremely unlikely in this case. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who has only a narrow majority in the Senate, can normally rely on the support of defectors from the crumbling centre-right party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi to ensure passage of important legislation. The decree also contains measures to pull together under a holding company the 371 credit cooperatives that are fragments in an unwieldy and expensive system. Credit cooperatives with assets worth at least 200 million euros, or that choose to make partnerships with lenders of that size, will be able to opt out of the new structure. The planned holding company will have capital of at least a billion euros and the Treasury will be able to sell off some of its share if it needed to raise funds on the market. ($1 = 0.8813 euros) (Reporting by Steve Scherer and Isla Binnie; Editing by Janet Lawrence) * No new deals in LatAm primary since March 23 * Brazil govt makes its case against impeaching president * Argentine authorities detain associate of ex-president Kirchner * Probe risks dragging Fifa president deeper into Panama furore By Mike Gambale NEW YORK, April 6 (IFR) - No deals priced in the LatAm primary market on Wednesday. Here is a snapshot of LatAm sovereign credit spreads: SOVEREIGN 4/5 4/4 4/1 1D 10D YTD 2015/16 HIGH BARBADOS 660 654 653 6 20 56 659 (2/11/16) BRAZIL 407 384 381 23 42 -79 542 (2/11/16) CHILE 102 100 99 2 19 16 143 (2/11/16) COLOMBIA 288 273 272 15 31 -1 412 (2/11/16) COSTA RICA 487 479 494 8 1 -30 587 (2/11/16) DOMINICAN REP 415 407 415 8 12 0 542 (2/11/16) ECUADOR 1155 1123 1121 32 38 -160 1765 (2/11/16) EL SALVADOR 676 669 669 7 26 36 840 (2/11/16) GUATEMALA 300 297 296 3 4 -2 385 (2/11/16) JAMAICA 445 446 449 -1 -13 -4 519 (2/11/15) MEXICO 204 196 195 8 21 10 278 (2/11/16) PANAMA 204 195 195 9 19 -2 272 (2/11/16) PERU 229 218 217 11 25 -2 291 (2/10/16) TRINIDAD & TOBAGO 162 158 157 4 19 64 173 (1/15/15) URUGUAY 272 266 267 6 15 4 344 (2/11/16) VENEZUELA 3316 3250 3172 66 391 524 3713 (2/12/16) Source: Bank of America Merrill Lynch Master Index SPREAD TRENDS: One-day change shows 15 out of 16 LatAm credits wider Ten-day trend shows 15 out of 16 LatAm credits wider YTD: Ecuador tighter by 160bp, Venezuela wider by 524bp LATAM PIPELINE: Argentina named BBVA, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, Santander and UBS as joint bookrunners for a possible bond sale, a source familiar with the matter told IFR. Timing and currency not yet certain, but the deal could come in early April. The sovereign is likely to try to issue up to US$15bn of bonds to help pay litigant investors. Brazil could issue again this year if conditions allow, the treasury's interim debt coordinator Leandro Secunho said. "There is no need for new (global bond) sales, but if we see new windows of opportunity we will consider reentering the market." The sovereign sold a US$1.5bn 2026 dollar-denominated bond on March 10, tapping global markets for the first time since it lost its investment-grade rating. Story continues The Province of Mendoza is looking to raise US$300m in both the local and international markets to refinance debt, according to local reports. Neuquen province is contemplating a bond issue. Argentine E&P company Medanito has wrapped up roadshows ahead of a possible transaction through Itau and UBS. Expected rating is CCC+ by Fitch. Argentina utility Pampa Energia's shareholders have approved a US$500m debt program. Uruguay plans to raise up to US$1.5bn in bonds this year. (Reporting By Michael Gambale; editing by Shankar Ramakrishnan) File photo of British steel workers protesting outside of the Houses of Parliament in London British steel workers protest outside of the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain in this October 28, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files By Kate Holton and Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - The British government opened talks on Tuesday with potential buyers for Tata Steel's UK operations, including Sanjeev Gupta's commodities company Liberty Group, as it stepped up its battle to find a buyer for the loss-making business. Accused by opposition lawmakers of being "asleep at the wheel" when India's Tata Steel put its entire British operations up for sale last week, Prime Minister David Cameron also met ministers to discuss the options for a business which employs 15,000 people. Britain's business minister Sajid Javid met with Gupta in London to establish how firm his interest was in the business. He was later due to fly to Mumbai to meet Tata Chairman Cyrus Mistry to agree the process for a sale. Gupta, who has bought other distressed steel assets in Britain, said the meeting was "positive" and the government was "highly supportive" and "actively engaged" in finding a long-term solution. "The next step is for Tata to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers," he said in a statement after the meeting. The government has not said which other potential buyers it has met but Javid told Sky News "where the buyers are coming forward, we're ready to work with them." Gupta's Liberty Group is a metals company with assets in Asia, Africa and Britain, and production capacity in steel exceeding 3 million MT a year. He has not yet carried out due diligence on the business which includes the huge Port Talbot plant in south Wales but said that site could be saved if the giant blast furnaces were replaced with facilities to process imported slab steel into higher grade product or make steel from scrap metal rather than iron ore. Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, said the government appeared willing to discuss solutions for the firm's pension deficit, structural challenges and high energy costs that prompted Tata to walk away. Story continues Britain, the birthplace of the modern steel industry, has shed thousands of jobs from the sector in recent years due to high costs and historically low steel prices which have been dragged down by cheap Chinese imports. But the announcement from Tata, Britain's biggest steel producer, has exposed the government to accusations that it has failed the country's industrial sector. Steelmakers in Britain pay some of the highest energy costs and green taxes in the world as a result of policies that were designed to promote investment in low-carbon electricity generation such as wind farms or nuclear plants. With the costs passed on to consumers, those firms which use the most power, such as steelmakers, say they are struggling to cope. A domestic carbon tax for example is paid on top of a European carbon price. Documents released last month show British businesses would pay 340 million pounds more in carbon costs than their European counterparts in 2016-17, with the gap rising to 1.2 billion pounds by 2020-21. But the government said it has compensated industry for some of these costs and plans to do more in the future. It maintains the fundamental problem facing the industry is the collapse in the price of steel, caused by over capacity in China. Gupta said the industry's problems were down to a lack of investment and forward thinking, but he added that more could have been done to reduce the costs of energy and business taxes. "Energy prices have been improved but not enough; more should have been done and faster," he said in an interview with ITN. POLITICAL HEAT Jones said he had been heartened by the government's approach after he met with Cameron and Javid at Downing Street. "There was an acceptance that the issue of pensions will need to be looked at in order for a sale to take place, the issue of energy prices will have to be looked at, and the issue of tariffs to protect UK steel in the future," he told Sky News. "Discussions have taken place with buyers. They're early days yet but we do have something to build on." Gupta said the assets could be modernised with electric arc furnaces instead of the giant blast furnaces. About 70 percent of steel in the world is produced using blast furnaces which use raw material, mainly iron ore, while the rest is produced via electric arc furnace which uses recycled steel or scrap. Industry analysts have said the use of scrap will increase in coming years. Gupta said staff working on the blast furnaces could be retrained. "We have an alternative suggestion which is to still make hot metal but to make it from local raw material rather than imported raw material, so it's a change of technology rather than ending liquid steel making," he said. "If we get involved in Port Talbot we will only do so on the basis that we are confident there will not be any mass redundancies." One industry analyst who asked not to be named due to company policy said one option for steel companies in developed economies was buying cheap slab steel and re-rolling it to produce a higher quality product. However he noted that Britain's high energy costs and need to invest in the plant to catch up with rivals already pursuing this strategy meant the country was at a disadvantage. (Additional reporting by Paul Sandle and William James in London and Manolo Serapio in Manila; editing by Michael Holden and Anna Willard) * Feb exports +6.7 pct y/y vs Reuters poll f'cast +3.1 pct * Feb imports +1.6 pct y/y vs poll f'cast of -1.5 pct * Trade surplus 7.35 bln rgt vs f'cast 6.31 bln rgt surplus * Exports to China +12.0 pct y/y; U.S. +21.0 pct; EU +11.3 pct (Adds details, analyst comments) KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 (Reuters) - Malaysia's exports in February rose faster than forecast due to stronger palm oil demand and a jump in tech shipments to the United States. Exports in February grew 6.7 percent from a year earlier, government data showed on Wednesday, more than double economists' estimates of 3.1 percent growth. January exports had declined 2.8 percent, falling for the first time since May 2015, hit by the effects of weak global oil prices. Malaysia, the world's second-largest producer of palm oil, saw a 6.6 percent annual rise in palm oil exports in February, as prices for the commodity improved although weak energy prices continued to pose a drag. Economists said the rebound in exports in February was partly due to a low base of comparison last year. A recovery in commodity prices, however, would help sustain exports and the economy in the coming months although momentum had slowed. "The healthy trade balance and positive export growth paints an overall resilient picture for Malaysia," Jeff Ng, an economist for Standard Chartered, told Reuters. Exports to the United States in February grew 21 percent from a year earlier to 2.21 billion ringgit ($565.5 million), mainly on higher shipments of electrical and electronic products, particularly photo-sensitive semiconductors. Exports to China also expanded 12 percent. But exports of liquefied natural gas and crude oil remained weak, down 34 percent and 14 percent, respectively. The ringgit briefly extended gains to a session high of 3.8950 per dollar after the data. The currency was emerging Asia's worst performing last year. Imports in February rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier, slowing slightly from the previous month's pace of 3.3 percent, but surpassing economists' median forecast of a 1.5 percent decline. February's trade surplus widened to 7.35 billion ringgit ($1.9 billion) compared with 5.39 billion ringgit in January. ($1 = 3.9080 ringgit) (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - April 5, 2016) - Metals Creek Resources Corp. ("Metals Creek" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:MEK) announces that it intends to complete a private placement of flow-through and non flow-through units (the "Private Placement"). The Company intends to issue up to 2,800,000 flow-through units at a price of $0.125 per unit (the "FT Units") for aggregate proceeds of up to $350,000. Each FT Unit will consist of one flow-through common share (the "FT Shares") and one-half of one non flow-through common share purchase warrant (the "FT Warrants"). Each whole FT Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional non flow-through common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.18 per common share for a period of 24 months from the date of issue. The FT Shares will entitle the holder to receive the tax benefits applicable to flow-through shares, in accordance with provisions of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The Company also intends to issue up to 1,250,000 non flow-through units at a price of $0.12 per unit (the "NFT Units") for aggregate proceeds of up to $150,000. Each NFT Unit will consist of one non flow-through common share and one non flow-through common share purchase warrant (the "FT Warrants"). Each FT Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one additional non flow-through common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.18 per common share for a period of 24 months from the date of issue. In connection with the private placement, the company may pay finders' fees in cash or securities or a combination of both, as permitted by the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. All securities issued pursuant to the Private Placement will be subject to a four-month hold period. The Private Placement is subject to approval by the TSX Venture Exchange. The proceeds raised from the FT Units will be used to further exploration work on the Ogden Gold Project in Timmins Ontario and other Canadian Exploration Expenses (within the meaning of the Income Tax Act (Canada)), with the Company using its best efforts to ensure that such Canadian Exploration Expenses qualify as a "flow-through mining expenditure" for purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada), related to the exploration of the Company's exploration projects. Story continues About Metals Creek Resources Corp. Metals Creek Resources Corp. is a junior exploration company incorporated under the laws of the Province of Ontario, is a reporting issuer in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario, and has its common shares listed for trading on the Exchange under the symbol "MEK". Metals Creek has earned a 50% interest in the Ogden Gold Property, including the former Naybob Gold mine, located 6 km south of Timmins, Ontario and has a 8 km strike length of the prolific Porcupine-Destor Fault (P-DF) that stretches between Timmins, Ontario and Val d'Or, Quebec. The Company has also entered into a JV with Benton Resources on Metals Creeks Staghorn Gold Project in Newfoundland. Metals Creek has also recently made a new gold/silver discovery in the "White Gold District" on the Squid East project in the Yukon and is also engaged in the identification, acquisition, exploration and development of other mineral resource properties, and presently has mining interests in Ontario, Yukon and Newfoundland and Labrador. Additional information concerning the Company is contained in documents filed by the Company with securities regulators, available under its profile at www.sedar.com. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, such as costs of sales, general economic conditions, the success of marketing and competition from competing suppliers and businesses. Actual results and developments are likely to differ, and may differ materially, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Neither the 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. MIAMI, FL--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - On April 5, Miami International Airport was recognized by Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) -- the leading industry organization representing the governing bodies that own and operate commercial airports in the United States and Canada -- with its top award for exceptional achievement in promoting and sustaining diversity. MIA received the ACI-NA 2016 Inclusion Champion Award in the Large Hub Airport category, which commends the proactive and innovative steps taken by the Miami-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) to successfully achieve minority inclusion in its business contracts, workforce and employee development through a sustainable model. MIA received the award at ACI-NA's 2016 Business of Airports Conference in Orlando. In the area of business inclusion, the Aviation Department was praised for its extensive and innovative outreach programs for small businesses, including local minority- and female-owned companies, to make them aware of MIA contracting opportunities and initiatives such as: the Airport Concession Disadvantaged Business Enterprise program; the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) program for construction and design contractors; the Local Developing Business program for airline service contracts; the Small Local Car Rental program for car rental concessions; and the Department's Maintenance Contractor Program. As a result of MIA's efforts, small businesses accounted for $202.7 million, or 17.1 percent, of its $1.1 billion in contracts in fiscal year 2015. Additionally, small business concessions generated $158 million in gross sales in FY 2015, which accounted for 35.1 percent of MIA's $450.4 million in total gross sales. Additionally, MDAD's Maintenance Contractor Program has grown to 42 small and minority-owned contractors since it was launched as a pilot program in 2014, and is expected to increase to 60 companies within the next 18 months. Story continues "Our Aviation Department, under Director Gonzalez's leadership, has developed innovative, trailblazing programs for small business participation at MIA, and I applaud them for their efforts," said Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez. "MIA is the leading economic engine for our County and the state of Florida, generating $33.5 billion in revenue annually, and as this award acknowledges, local small businesses are significant contributors to MIA's economic impact." MDAD's inclusive and diverse workplace practices, including its initiatives to support the recruitment and professional development of minorities, were also commended. "We are extremely honored to receive this prestigious award for our commitment to business and workplace diversity," said Miami-Dade Aviation Director Emilio T. Gonzalez. "Specifically, ACI-NA commended us for the high level of participation by local minority-owned businesses in our concession contracts, which has been one of my top priorities since joining the Aviation Department in 2013. I'm proud to say that local small businesses continue to be a growing segment of our operations, and to be recognized as a leader in this area among all large hub airports within North America is deeply gratifying." ACI-NA is the third national organization recently to recognize MIA for promoting and sustaining diversity. In 2015, the airport was a nominee for the Airport Minority Advisory Council's Catalyst Award, in recognition of its DBE participation for architecture and engineering contracts. Additionally, an audit by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General ranked MIA third among all U.S. airports in 2014 for contracts with new small businesses. Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) member airports enplane more than 95 percent of the domestic and virtually all the international airline passenger and cargo traffic in North America. More than 340 aviation-related businesses are also members of the association, which is the largest of the five worldwide regions of Airports Council International. For more information, visit http://aci-na.org/newsroom/press-releases/aci-na-honors-business-diversity-2016-inclusion-champion-awards. Miami International Airport offers more flights to Latin America and the Caribbean than any other U.S. airport, is America's second-busiest airport for international passengers, boasts a lineup of 100 air carriers and is the top U.S. airport for international freight. MIA, along with its general aviation airports, is also the leading economic engine for Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida, generating business revenue of $33.7 billion annually and welcoming 70 percent of all international visitors to Florida. MIA's vision is to grow from a recognized hemispheric hub to a global airport of choice that offers customers a world-class experience and an expanded route network with direct passenger and cargo access to all world regions. MIA is committed to sustainable practices. Learn more at www.MIAefficiency.com. Follow us online: https://www.facebook.com/IflyMIA/ https://twitter.com/iflymia https://instagram.com/iflymia/ http://www.miami-airport.com/ Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/4/6/11G092173/Images/ACI_Inclusion-2610cfd28578abd5a4cb33486b670bbd.JPG Tesla Motors Chief Executive Elon Musk has warned investors against seeking to benefit from a sharp fall in his company's share price. Musk said it was "probably unwise" to short Tesla stock when quizzed on social media site Twitter Tuesday. This comes after new data last week that showed 25 percent of all Tesla shares are out on loan, which is used as an indication of short selling by research firm Markit. Markit highlighted last week that short interest is now at an all-time high for Tesla since its initial public offering in 2010. Short-selling is where a trader sells shares they don't own in the expectation that the price will fall and they'll be able to buy the cheaper shares and make a profit. Tesla's share price has surged in the last five years and it's currently trading with a price-to-earnings ratio an important metric analysts use to gauge a company's valuation of 149.63, according to Thomson Reuters. The company said Monday that it had delivered 14,820 vehicles in the first quarter shy of guided expectations of 16,000 deliveries. This came after Musk's new Model 3 was unveiled in Los Angeles last Thursday and will go into production in 2017. Shares were higher by 0.6 percent at the open on Wednesday. More From CNBC ted cruz wisconsin resize Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz just picked up a critical win in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary. Multiple outlets projected soon after polls closed that Cruz would defeat GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. Trump had repeatedly predicted that he would defeat Cruz in Wisconsin despite polls suggesting otherwise. Cruz's win is especially important because it makes it more difficult for Trump to secure their party's nomination outright. "Tonight is a turning point," Cruz said in a victory speech from his Wisconsin campaign headquarters, during which he also thanked Gov. Scott Walker for his support and endorsement. Before the primary season ends, Trump is hoping to get the 1,237 delegates necessary to avoid a contested convention in July. If the real-estate magnate falls short of that number, a contested convention would allow anti-Trump forces to potentially coalesce against him. Cruz told his supporters on Tuesday that he's going to get the needed 1,237 delegates "either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland." He proclaimed that he had defied the odds by defeating Trump in the state, but he was actually the clear favorite there. Trump had made a series of recent stumbles along the campaign trail, and Wisconsin's political dynamics favored Cruz. The Texas senator had led Trump by nearly five points in the RealClearPolitics average of recent Wisconsin polls. Trump is hoping to salvage a few of the 42 delegates at stake. Although winning the statewide vote guarantees Cruz a batch of delegates, Trump can gain three delegates for each congressional district he wins. The data-news site FiveThirtyEight had reported earlier that Trump initially appeared competitive in two of the state's eight districts. Leading up to the crucial primary, Trump barnstormed the state for days in hopes of catching up to Cruz after the senator started to pull ahead. He held six Wisconsin rallies between Saturday and Monday. Story continues The next Republican primary, in New York, is on April 19. NOW WATCH: Watch Jimmy Kimmel grill Ted Cruz on his plan to monitor Muslims in the US More From Business Insider (Adds details, background) By Felix Onuah and Ulf Laessing ABUJA/LAGOS, April 6 (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari will sign a loan deal with China during a visit next week, his spokesman said on Wednesday, helping to finance badly-needed infrastructure projects. "I can't tell you how much until the day the loan will be signed," spokesman Femi Adesina said. "Both countries will also be signing some bilateral agreements to strengthen their relationship, that is all I can say now." Nigeria, which has been hit hard by a slump in oil prices, has been in talks with China's state export import bank for a loan for months. A financial source said the loan would fund construction works of Chinese firms for infrastructure projects in Nigeria. In February, financial and government sources said the loan could be as high a $2 billion but officials have not provided an update since then. Nigeria has said it wants to raise about $5 billion abroad to cover part of its 2016 budget deficit which could be as high as 3 trillion naira ($15 billion). Buhari has not signed the 2016 budget bill yet as he still awaits details from parliament which passed it last month. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang had earlier said in Beijing that Buhari would visit China from April 11-15 to sign "cooperation agreements" and attend a business forum. He gave no details. Buhari, who was elected in March 2015 on a promise to fix mismanagement and corruption, wants to turn around the economy by investing in power plants, transport and infrastructure. Chinese construction firms have been upgrading Abuja airport and building several railway projects in Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy. In November, Nigeria's agriculture minister said he hoped China would to set up 40 rice mills as Buhari wanted to expand the farming sector. Nigeria has said it wanted to raise $1 billion from Eurobond investors but no deal has publicly emerged. Analysts say Nigeria's reluctance to devalue the naira currency, which has plunged on the black market, might discourage investors which expect such a move to happen eventually. (additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Angus MacSwan) By Jussi Rosendahl HELSINKI (Reuters) - Telecom network equipment maker Nokia is planning to cut thousands of jobs worldwide, including 1,400 in Germany and 1,300 in its native Finland, as part of a cost-cutting programme following its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. Finland's biggest company has cut thousands of Finnish jobs over the past decade as its once-dominant phone business was eclipsed by the rise of smartphone rivals. The phone business was eventually sold to Microsoft, which has continued cutting jobs in the recession-hit country. Now focused on telecoms network gear, Nokia is looking to reduce operational costs by 900 million euros ($1.03 billion) by 2018 after its recent 15.6 billion euro ($17.7 billion) all-share deal for Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent. The acquisition is intended to help Nokia to compete with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei in a market where limited growth and tough competition are pressuring prices. Shares in Nokia rose 0.9 percent following Wednesday's announcement, but the latest job cuts caused consternation in Finland after Nokia said it will cut only 400 jobs in France while creating 500 posts in research and development in the country, in line with a pledge to the French government during the Alcatel negotiations. Nokia declined to give a total figure for global job losses but said it was starting talks with employee representatives in about 30 countries. The company employs about 104,000 worldwide, with around 6,850 in Finland, 4,800 in Germany and 4,200 in France. "This (1,300) is a terrible figure; we have a rather difficult employment situation in the sector to begin with," said Pertti Porokari, chairman of the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland. "Seems that Finnish workers have lost this match (against the French)." Finland's economy minister Olli Rehn said: "The news on Nokia's new plans is very regrettable ... we expect Nokia to bear social responsibility and partly take care of training of those whose employment will be terminated." ($1 = 0.8757 euros) (Additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris and Frankfurt Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman) The only way to stop U.S. enterprises from fleeing abroad is for Washington to reform corporate tax laws to make American companies more competitive, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said Wednesday. The founder of Americans for Americans for Tax Reform said President Barrack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have blocked tax reform because Republicans have not been willing to agree to tax increases. "Good ideas that everybody agrees on in Washington, D.C., are not known as passed legislation. They're known as hostages," Norquist told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "He's been holding tax reform hostage," he said. On Wednesday, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Allergan (NYSE: AGN) announced they would abandon a $160 billion merger after the U.S. Treasury Department announced new rules to curb so-called inversions, or deals in which American companies buy a foreign firm in order to shift their business to a more attractive tax domicile. Fortune 500 companies keep a total of $2.1 trillion in profits overseas for tax purposes, according to a study by U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Citizens for Tax Justice released last year. The United States has the highest top marginal corporate tax rate about 39 percent among developed nations. The 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development average a 25 percent rate, according to the Tax Foundation. Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of AOL, told CNBC that inversions were a symptom of a wider problem. "The real issue is how do you take a fresh look at the tax code and create the right incentives for investment, particularly in young, high-growth start-ups, which would create the jobs and drive growth," he told "Squawk Box." Both Republicans and Democrats have taken "harsh" positions and have only been able to tweak taxes around the edges, Case said. The issue will only become more complicated during the next wave of innovation, which he said is becoming increasingly globalized. More From CNBC President Barack Obama on Tuesday delivered a speech in which he called on Congress to put an end to tax inversion deals. One of the most highlighted tax inversion deals includes Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE)'s merger with (NYSE: PFE) Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), while lesser known deals consist of Waste Connections, Inc. (NYSE: WCN) proposed acquisition of Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd (NYSE: BIN). Speaking to reporters, President Obama said these tax inversion deals "sticks the rest of us with the tab and it makes hard-working Americans feel like the deck is stacked against them." Related Link: Betting On The Pfizer-Allergan Merger? You Now Have A 35% Arbitrage Opportunity After New Treasury Fears According to CNBC, the Obama administration has taken "various steps" to deter tax inversion deals and "puts a three-year limit on foreign companies adding U.S. assets to avoid ownership requirements for a later inversions deal." President Obama also called on lawmakers to get rid of "wasteful" loopholes that favor the wealthy and large corporations. "Only Congress can close it for good. And only Congress can make sure that all the other loopholes that are being taken advantage of are closed," Obama said. Republican candidate and frontrunner Donald Trump has also spoken out against tax inversion deals, but offers a different plan on how to tackle the issue. Trump's tax reform plan calls for a 15 percent tax rate ceiling for every business of every size in the U.S. He noted, "this lower rate makes corporate inversions unnecessary by making America's tax rate one of the best in the world." "Too many companies from great American brands to innovative startups are leaving America, either directly or through corporate inversions," Trump added. "The Democrats want to outlaw inversions, but that will never work. Companies leaving is not the disease, it is the symptom. Politicians in Washington have let America fall from the best corporate tax rate in the industrialized world in the 1980's (thanks to Ronald Reagan) to the worst rate in the industrialized world. That is unacceptable. Under the Trump plan, America will compete with the world and win by cutting the corporate tax rate to 15%, taking our rate from one of the worst to one of the best." Story continues See more from Benzinga 2016 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. The Middle East is burning. In the aftermath of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) release of the so-called Panama Papersa massive leaked database of documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonsecaits become public knowledge how many powerful people, including world leaders, have kept, circulated, and hidden away huge sums of money using tax havens. The leak proves that the legacy of corrupt world leaders reaches far beyond the stereotypical cronyism of figures like Vladimir Putin. Consider Pakistan. If Pakistan really was a poor country, so many of her leaders wouldnt be on this list. But Pakistan isnt actually a poor countryits kept poor by gross structural imbalances, and the predatory actions of a shockingly corrupt political class. Not only is Pakistans elected prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, now under scrutiny, but numerous other prominent Pakistanis are named by the Panama Papers, too. While we can expect more leaks, we shouldnt lose sight of the connection between this corruption and extremism. People on the edge We spend a lot of time talking about the language by which violent extremism is framed, but not nearly enough time talking about the violence itself. By and large, all humans have an expectation of fair treatment. Likewise, we become upset when things do not work out that way. Some people turn their anger inward. Others turn their anger outwards, reacting violently against societies they perceive as rigged. That doesnt make the mode of their protest moral. But it should make it more comprehensible. The sad fact about the modern Muslim world is that its own leaders have held it back. Here in the United States, politicians seem content to push Americans into poverty, cutting important programs and denying funding for valuable causesall the while employing every available shortcut to shave a few more points off their own tax returns. Its no wonder we have so much populist fury. Its no wonder people turn to Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders. They sense that many of our leaders have not been honest with us. But what happens in societies where far more people live on the edge? Story continues The sad fact about the modern Muslim world is that its own leaders have held it back. Pakistan is one such example. How can a country that has developed nuclear weapons fail to offer energy and food security to its people? Sure, you could argue about colonial history, about Pakistans dangerous neighborhood, but I am not claiming that Pakistan can be or will be New Zealand. But North and South Korea are literally right next door to each other, broadly sharing the same culture, history and language, and yet theyre worlds apart. What makes the difference? The Panama Papers are, as Quartzs own Bobby Ghosh points out, are just the tip of the iceberg. Theyre one set of leaked documents; a huge set, no doubt. There are likely many more. After all, Mossack Fonseca is merely the fourth-largest tax haven law firm. We can speculate, cant we? Imagine, for a moment, how much money Middle Eastern royals, dictators, and various crony capitalists have stashed away, laundered, or simply shunted around. Consider the present condition of the Middle East, and how many billions, if not trillions, of dollars were flushed down the toilet in pursuit of pleasure, acts of hedonism, vanity projects, cults of personality and grudge matches. All money that could have been investing in the future of a region that was once one of the most dynamic in the world. Imagine, for a moment, how much money Middle Eastern royals, dictators, and various crony capitalists have stashed away. When Baghdad was the most powerful city in the world, it was still surrounded by desert. Her leaders were Arab and Muslim. They didnt have oil. But they were able to build societies remarkably dynamic and progressive for their time. The same pertained in many Muslim societies, no matter how geographically removed they were. Today, the contrast is stunning. I have driven past Saudi palaces that stretch forever. And yet, only a few miles later, I am in a decrepit neighborhood wholly unconnected to one of the worlds (theoretically) wealthiest societies. Ive walked down Cairo streets past people who have no bathrooms to use, and watched government limousines zip by, the windows tinted, the air conditioning blasting. I see those realities. But I dont live them. And if I did, I sometimes wonder how I would channel my anger. How would I react to a life full of overt injustices? Probably, I would turn to religion, seeing as my society is already deeply informed by religion. No god but Allah Islam is a religion that emphasizes monotheism absolutely. Its followers are instructed in a theology that insists on the immediate and unmediated connection between humanity and its Creator, and rejects those who hold themselves up as any kind of arbiters. Thats the core of Islamic theology. Today, many Muslim nations are deeply corrupt, lacking transparency and accountability. They suffer gross extremes of inequality and appear globally impotent. Many are also dominated by political cultures that stand in direct contradiction to the basic principles of Islamic theology. Keeping in mind how sensitive the idea of a Mohammed cartoon was, if theres not supposed to be images of sacred figures, what are we to make of the nearly ubiquitous imagery of political strongmen? In many Muslim countries, it is sad to say, the image of the leader, rarely elected, infrequently if ever accountable, and above all unchallengeable, is as common as a religious motif; the leader, and often his family, is often held inviolable in the way Islamic theology teaches that only God is supposed to be. Is it any wonder that the response to decades of corruption, malfeasance, bribery and personal and familial enrichment, at the expense of the masses, becomes so quickly extreme? How else do you change a system rigged entirely against you except to claim a still higher power? Its a tragedy, and yet there will be no change until and unless we understand that the roots of our extremism lie in indignity. And, probably, in dozens of offshore bank accounts. Follow Haroon on Twitter at @hsmoghul. We welcome your comments at ideas@qz.com. Sign up for the Quartz Daily Brief, our free daily newsletter with the worlds most important and interesting news. More stories from Quartz: How ISIS Is More Like the Mafia Now Two weeks ago Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Joseph Dunford held a news conference where they forcefully pushed back against critics of the administrations war strategy against ISIS. The momentum of this campaign is now clearly on our side," Carter declared. Related: The Nightmare Scenario Facing Iraq and the US Yet there are signs that while the extremist group is being squeezed in Iraq and Syria, it is expanding its presence elsewhere. Due in part to worries about potential attacks by the extremist group, the Defense Department may pull some of its 700 peacekeeping troops out of a base in the northern part of Egypts Sinai Peninsula, CNN reports. The White House is discussing the possibility with Egypt and Israel; the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979 that stipulated the Multinational Force and Observers mission would stay in the area to monitor adherence to the pact. Some U.S. troops could be moved to the southern part of the peninsula. The U.S. contends it can fulfill its mission in the north by relying on unmanned technology and cameras, but both Cairo and Jerusalem would have to approve the move. The news comes about a week after the Pentagon announced it would evacuate all military family members from Turkey primarily from Incirlik Air Base, which has served as a hub for allied forces in the air war against ISIS -- due to security concerns. As a result, 670 military dependents (and 287 personal pets) will be flown out of Turkey by U.S. military transports or charter flights. Related: US Says Momentum Has Shifted in the War Against ISIS Together, the developments show just how fluid the battle against ISIS remains. On Tuesday, Senate Armed Services Committee chair John McCain (R-AZ) warned that the anti-ISIS fight was becoming another Vietnam War. As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nations defeat in the Vietnam War I fear this administrations grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL) risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation, McCain, who was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for years, wrote in a letter to Carter. Story continues In addition to Egypt and Turkey, there is concern among administration officials about the Islamic States presence in Libya, where the network has an estimated 3,000 fighters or more. Its possible that the group could further metastasize on the African continent, opening a third front for the U.S. and its allies to deal with and attempt to roll back. Top Reads from The Fiscal Times: Pfizer CEO Ian Read Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Allergan will mutually terminate their proposed merger, multiple sources reported Tuesday night. The companies are expected to announce the dissolution of the merger as early as Wednesday morning, The Wall Street Journal reported. The $160 billion mega-deal was pitched as a way to help Pfizer cut its tax bill by moving to Ireland, where Allergan is based. The tax rate for corporations in Ireland is 12.5%, far less than the US rate. New York-based Pfizer was leaning toward walking away from the merger as new US regulations put more pressure on the deal, Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday. Its lawyers had presented ways to salvage the deal in light of the US Treasury Department's new measures, but the company did not seem inclined to pursue the merger, according to Reuters' source. Pfizer will pay Allergan a $400 million fee as part of their merger agreement, CNBC's David Faber reported. Because the move can be seen as fleeing the US, tax inversions are not particularly politically popular. When the deal was announced in November, presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Donald Trump were among many who took a stance against it. The government can discourage inversions by eliminating some of their economic benefits. One practice the Treasury on Monday said that it would target is called "earnings stripping," a way of jacking up interest payments to lower tax bills. On Tuesday, US President Barack Obama spoke out against tax inversions, and shares of Allergan dropped by more than 16%. The Treasury Department didn't specifically refer to Pfizer's deal in its statement. US Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said in a release: Treasury has taken action twice to make it harder for companies to invert. These actions took away some of the economic benefits of inverting and helped slow the pace of these transactions, but we know companies will continue to seek new and creative ways to relocate their tax residence to avoid paying taxes here at home. Story continues Here's the Treasury's plan, according to the release: Limit inversions by disregarding foreign parent stock attributable to recent inversions or acquisitions of U.S. companies . This will prevent a foreign company (including a recent inverter) that acquires multiple American companies in stock-based transactions from using the resulting increase in size to avoid the current inversion thresholds for a subsequent U.S. acquisition. Address earnings stripping by : Formalize Treasury's two previous actions in September 2014 and November 2015. Business Insider is awaiting confirmation from Pfizer and Allergan. NOW WATCH: EX-UNDERCOVER DEA AGENT: What I did when drug dealers asked me to try the product More From Business Insider indiewhip On Tuesday, March 29, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo shared her state's new tourism ad on her Twitter account. The tweet kicked off a tourism campaign budgeted at $5 million an ambitious sum for the country's smallest state. By the next day, the ad had become a full-blown international sensation because two seconds of the two-minute clip showed a skateboarder in front of the renowned Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik, Iceland. By the end of the week, the video had been widely lampooned by American, English, Australian, and Icelandic media as well as turned into an online meme. The state's chief marketing officer, Betsy Wall, resigned, and Raimondo announced that the campaign was going to be relaunched with a new video, slogan, and website. Business Insider spoke with the five-person, Providence-based ad agency, IndieWhip, responsible for the video. Though they take full ownership for their mistake, they believe that they've been cast as the scapegoat for a campaign that included plenty more mistakes than their own. Here's that ad, which IndieWhip estimates to have been viewed at least a quarter of a million times across multiple uploads the offending scene is at the 10-second mark: Help tell Rhode Island's story by sharing our new brand video #weareRI https://t.co/alIIcZ2DIghttps://t.co/qh3YtF0q0s Gina Raimondo (@GinaRaimondo) March 29, 2016 The IndieWhip team was shocked when they saw their ad on the governor's Twitter account, the company's cofounders Chandler Quintin, Paul Kettelle, and Brian Bruzzi told Business Insider. They knew the video contained a clip from Iceland, but they claim that they never intended for that particular draft to go live. According to IndieWhip, here's how it went down. Rhode Island commissioned New York-based Havas PR for the project, and in March the agency contracted IndieWhip to put together a two-minute commercial from the states' building blocks of B-roll and a rough draft of a script. Story continues Harpa concert hall in Reykjavik When the deadline to show the video at an event before the larger launch was cut short, the IndieWhip creative team still lacked a shot for "urban activity" in the edit and could not find one in the state-made B-roll. One of the four freelancers working with the IndieWhip team was given approval to insert footage he shot from a trip to Iceland, featuring a local skating. The clip was solely a placeholder for a first draft, which would show at Monday's event but go no further. When the governor put it on her Twitter page the next day, it didn't take long for Rhode Islanders to notice the Iceland clip. The state called the IndieWhip team at 2 p.m., Quintin said, and he was shocked to find out that the governor had released it to the public. IndieWhip sent a quick revision two hours later, but the governor did not delete her tweet or publish the new version. The press office for the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. didn't respond to a request for comment. To critics, the botched video was just one more mistake in the expensive disaster that was the tourism campaign. They said the "Cooler & Warmer" slogan that came out of the partnership with New York designer Milton Glaser of "I NY" fame was closer to a non sequitur than an encapsulation of their state, and the state's new website looked nice but contained glaring factual errors. rhode island That Friday, April 1, Raimondo announced that Rhode Island's chief marketing officer, Betsy Wall, resigned, that $120,000 would be recouped $100,000 from Havas and $20,000 from IndieWhip and that the small ad agency was drafting a new version of the commercial for free. Raimondo told reporters: As I dug into it a little bit and realized just how poor of a job was done, I got pretty mad myself. These were sloppy, just unacceptable mistakes ... It's unacceptable how many mistakes were made in this rollout and we need to hold people accountable, because Rhode Islanders deserve better taxpayers deserve better. That same day, IndieWhip tried some advertising judo in an attempt to make the most of the spotlight now on Rhode Island with an April Fools' Day joke. Mocking accusations that they had subversively inserted the skating clip to create a viral video, and that they even faked the clip, the IndieWhip cofounders released a video proclaiming that they were "all in on Iceland" and showed a skater in front of a green screen. Quintin said that the response to that was largely positive. And while they wish that they had never made the mistake in the first place, the IndieWhip team firmly believes that the adage that "bad press is better is than no press" can be best used in the digital age. In their case, they're grateful that it resulted in Rhode Island residents voicing their opinions about the tourism campaign, and in several filmmakers reaching out to IndieWhip to work with them. "Had that clip not been in there, the surge of creativity from everyone else seeing this wouldn't have happened," Quintin said. Raimondo is hoping for the same thing. Last week, she noted that she enjoyed the way many Rhode Islands voiced their opinions for the first time on the matter, and had some fun with a frustrating situation. The state is moving forward with planning the campaign's relaunch. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a member of the IndieWhip team is in the skateboard footage. It is a clip 0f an Icelandic skater, shot by a freelancer working on the ad with the IndieWhip team. IndieWhip released its first statement on March 29 to take ownership of the problem. The following is a second statement, for the purpose of clarifying what they deemed misperceptions, shared first with Business Insider: IW Statement More From Business Insider (Adds details and background) RABAT, April 6 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia and Morocco have signed an aid agreement worth $230 million, the Moroccan finance ministry said on Wednesday, part of a five-year package of financial assistance extended by wealthy Gulf states. Four Gulf states - Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates - agreed in 2012 to provide aid worth a total of $5 billion to Morocco in the period 2012-2017 to help it weather "Arab Spring" protests. Each of the four countries has committed $1.25 billion to Morocco for the whole five-year period, in an effort to build up its infrastructure, strengthen its economy and foster tourism. The agreement signed today is Saudi Arabia's 2016 part, Morocco's finance minister said. The $230 million agreement was signed in Bahrain by the Moroccan minister, Mohammed Boussaid, and Saudi Finance Minister Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz al-Assaf. It includes $100 million of support to small and medium-size enterprises), $80 million of aid to agriculture and $50 million for the health ministry. Morocco has budgeted to receive a total $1 billion in aid from the Gulf states for 2016. It hopes to cut its budget deficit to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product this year from an estimated 4.3 percent in 2015. Moroccan officials have said Morocco had received only 4 billion dirhams of the 13 billion ($1 billion) expected in last year. It was unclear which Gulf countries have not provided their 2015 aid. Rabat is anxious to avoid a drop in living standards and prevent a return of the street protests for political and economic reforms that King Mohammed managed to stifle in 2011 with constitutional reforms, social spending and harsh policing. The Gulf states have agreed a similar package of aid, also worth a total $5 billion over a five-year period, for Jordan. (Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by Larry King) By Ivana Sekularac and Aleksandar Vasovic BELGRADE (Reuters) - A Chinese firm's planned purchase of a loss-making Serbian steel plant would sharply raise the Balkan country's economic growth next year, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, voicing hope the deal will win EU approval. China's Hebei Iron & Steel Group bid 46 million euros (37 million pounds) for the state-owned Zelezara Smederevo steel mill and pledged to invest $300 million (213 million pounds) in expanding production, Serbia's Economy Ministry said on Tuesday. The European Commission will assess whether the deal complies with an agreement between the European Union and aspiring EU member Serbia which says Belgrade must halt state aid for restructuring its steel industry by February 2015. Vucic, campaigning for re-election on April 24, said he hoped the EU would back the deal. "If we complete that ... everything will be much easier for Serbia ... You can immediately up our (GDP) growth figure from 1.75 percent forecast for this year to significantly higher. Next year, it can be 3.5 to 4 percent," he told reporters. While Hebei's offer, saving 5,050 jobs, is a political boost for Vucic, who is committed to privatising or closing loss-making state companies, its plans to ramp up production, when Europe's steel industry is suffering from oversupply and competition from cheap Chinese imports, could annoy other European governments and steelmakers. Britain is battling to save its steel industry after India's Tata Steel (TISC.NS) put its loss-making British operations up for sale last week. In Finland Europe's biggest stainless steelmaker Outokumpu (OUT1V.HE) announced up to 600 job cuts on Tuesday. NO STATE AID Serbia's Zelezara Smederevo plant is one of the country's biggest exporters but has lost more than $100 million annually over the past two years. Sasa Djogovic, an analyst with the Belgrade-based Institute for Market Research, saw Hebei's expansion plans having only a small impact on Serbia's economic growth this year but a more tangible effect from next year. Story continues The Serbian firm's Chief Executive Bojan Bojkovic said he expected the deal to be signed within the next two weeks. Mills in Hebei's home province in China are struggling with surplus capacity and the province has urged its steel firms to shut capacity at home and replace it with projects overseas. Hebei plans to invest in a new galvanisation line and to raise the Serbian plant's production - 875,000 tonnes last year - to 1.76 million tonnes in one to two years and 2.1 million tonnes a year in three to four years, Bojkovic said. He said the plant had not received state aid since Feb. 1, 2015, in line with the EU agreement. From 2012, when Serbia bought the steel plant back from U.S. Steel (X.N) for $1 to avert its closure, until Feb. 1, 2015, the plant had received $470 million in subsidies, he told Reuters. A European Commission official said Serbia must show that past state aid complied with the EU agreement, which sets strict criteria. (Writing by Adrian Croft; Editing by Susan Fenton) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram said on Wednesday it sold its Indian unit for 336 million rand ($22 million) to a private equity firm, after the Bangalore-based business suffered two write downs since 2013. Adcock said in August it would sell the loss-making Indian unit Cosme Farma Laboratories to focus on its South African home market, saying significant additional investment was needed to compete in the pharmaceutical market in India. The cash sale to Samara Capital Partners Fund would include Adcock Healthcare, a manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceuticals in India, which runs Cosme Farma Laboratories, South Africa's Adcock said in a statement. "The Indian pharmaceutical marketing and selling business does not meet the company's current investment criteria and as a result the company has decided to exit this business," Adcock said in a statement. The Indian unit posted a net profit of 2.1 million rand in the six months to end-December and reported net assets worth 701.3 million rand during the period. The South African firm bought Cosme Farma Laboratories for 822 million rand in 2013 but had to write down its value by 278 million rand in 2014 and a further 74.4 million rand last year. South Africa's Adcock would retain Adcock Healthcare's division that handles back office support services, quality control and assurance, among others, the firm said. The sale is subject to approval by the India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board. ($1 = 15.2208 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia) MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's biggest bank Santander (SAN.MC) plans to lay off 1,200 staff as part of a country-wide restructuring plan, the Comisiones Obreras union said on Wednesday after talks with the lender. Early retirements will make up half of the job cuts while others would be offered incentives to leave, Spain's largest union said in a statement. It called on the bank to substantially reduce the number of layoffs. Santander declined to comment. The lender has around 24,000 staff in Spain. The bank plans to close around 450 small domestic branches as part of the overhaul which comes in response to rising regulatory costs and a push into digital services. Spanish banks have been trimming costs, including through branch closures, since a 2012 financial crisis which ate into earnings and pushed some into state bailouts. Their profits have since recovered, but Spain still has the highest number of branches per person of any country in the world, according to data from Citigroup and the World Bank. Spain had 70 branches per 100,000 adults at the end of 2014, the data showed, compared with 25 in the UK and 32 in the United States. (Reporting by Paul Day and Robert Hetz; editing by Jason Neely) Commuters pass by the front of the Bangladesh central bank building in Dhaka March 8, 2016. REUTERS/Ashikur Rahman By Karen Lema MANILA (Reuters) - A Philippine senator said on Wednesday that Chinese hackers were likely to have pulled off one of the world's biggest cyber heists at the Bangladesh central bank, citing the network of Chinese people involved in the routing of the stolen funds through Manila. Unidentified hackers infiltrated the computers at Bangladesh Bank in early February and tried to transfer a total of $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. All but one of the 35 attempted transfers were to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), confirming the Philippines' centrality to the heist. Most transfers were blocked, but a total of $81 million went to four accounts at a single RCBC branch in Manila. The stolen money was swiftly transferred to a foreign exchange broker and distributed to casinos and gambling agents in Manila. "The hacking was done, chances are, by Chinese hackers," Senator Ralph Recto told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Then they saw that, in the Philippines, RCBC particularly was vulnerable and sent the money over here." Beijing was quick to denounce the comments by Recto, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and a former head of the Philippines' economic planning agency. The suggestion that Chinese hackers were possibly involved was "complete nonsense" and "really irresponsible," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters. Recto said he couldn't prove the hackers were Chinese, but was merely "connecting the dots" after a series of Senate hearings into the scandal. At one hearing, a Chinese casino boss and junket operator called Kim Wong named two high-rolling gamblers from Beijing and Macau who he said had brought the stolen money into the Philippines. He displayed purported copies of their passports, showing they were mainland Chinese and Macau administrative region nationals respectively. "BEST LEAD" Wong, a native of Hong Kong who holds a Chinese passport, received almost $35 million of the stolen funds through his company and a foreign exchange broker. Story continues The two Chinese named by Wong "are the best lead to determine who are the hackers," said Recto. "Chances are... they must be Chinese." The whereabouts of the two high-rollers were unknown, Recto added, saying the Senate inquiry "may" seek help from the Chinese government to find them. Recto also questioned the role of casino junket operators in the Philippines, saying many of them have links in Macau, the southern Chinese territory that is the world's biggest casino hub. "There are junket operators who are from Macau, so it (the money) may find its way back to Macau," he said. A senior executive at a top junket operator in Macau told Reuters there was "no reason" to bring funds from the Philippines to Macau. "This seems more like a political story in the Philippines," he said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The U.S. State Department said in a report last month that the gaming industry was "a weak link" in the Philippines' anti-money laundering regime. Philrem, the foreign exchange agent, said it distributed the stolen $81 million to Bloomberry Resorts Corp, which owns and operates the upmarket Solaire casino in Manila; to Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company, which is owned by Wong; and to an ethnic Chinese man believed to be a junket operator in Manila. Wong has returned $5.5 million to the Philippines' anti-money laundering agency and has promised to hand over another $9.7 million. A portion of the money he received, he said, has already been spent on gambling chips for clients. Solaire has told the Senate hearing that the $29 million that ended up with them was credited to an account of the Macau-based high-roller but it has managed to seize and confiscate $2.33 million in chips and cash. (Writing by Andrew R.C. Marshall; Additional reporting by Farah Master in Hong Kong; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A free-trade accord between the United States and the European Union (TTIP) could expand Hungary's economy by up to 0.3 percent, mostly by boosting the car sector, central bank Deputy Governor Marton Nagy said. Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing for a deal known as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) to eliminate all tariff barriers between the United States and 28-member EU. Hungary's car sector, where the key players are German Daimler (DAIGn.DE) and Audi (NSUG.DE), GM's (GM.N) European division Opel and Japanese Suzuki , accounts for over a fifth of industrial output and more than a tenth of exports. The sector employs over 100,000 people and has been a key driver of economic growth and investment. "The assessment is positive overall. Hungary would be a clear beneficiary of the TTIP due to the car industry," Nagy told a panel discussion. He said Hungary's economy was increasingly reliant on the car sector and the German industry in particular, which could be a "clear winner" of the accord. "People would not be driving Hummer vehicles in the streets of the U.S. but more economical Opels and green BMWs," he said. Nagy said the central bank estimated that Hungary's gross domestic product could increase by 0.3 percent due to the agreement under an ambitious scenario, which also sees a 15-20 percent rise in exports and 22,000 news jobs. A conservative projection sees a 0.1-percent rise in GDP, a 5 percent increase in exports and 6,000-8,000 additional jobs, Nagy said, adding that a lot depended on whether Britain decides to leave the EU later this year. But he said some sectors, such as European smallholders and uncompetitive small businesses, could lose out. Advocates of TTIP say the accord would bring big benefits as it would unite half the world's economy and remove barriers for small companies to do business. After more than two years of talks, both sides say a deal could be clinched this year before Barack Obama's term as U.S. president ends. Waiting for a new president with different objectives risks severely delaying any deal. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said Hungary would not back any accord that impairs the jurisdiction of Hungarian courts in trade disputes. His government also wants to uphold a ban on genetically-modified crops in Hungary. (Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) Erdogan has championed a deal with the EU to stem the flow of refugees across the Aegean Sea but Davutoglu has shown little interest (AFP Photo/) (AFP/File) Dikili (Turkey) (AFP) - The next transfer of migrants to Turkey from Greece under a controversial deal with the EU has been postponed until later this week at Athens' request, a Turkish official said Tuesday. "It has been postponed to Friday" from Wednesday, the official told AFP, asking not to be named. "Greece could not send the people. Everything is ready here but we received a message from the Greek side," added the official. The official did not give further details but the Greek government had admitted earlier the procedure had been slowed by an increase in asylum requests by migrants on the islands of Chios and Lesbos. A local official in the Turkish region of Izmir had said earlier a new wave of around 200 migrants would be shipped from Lesbos into the Turkish harbour town of Dikili on the Aegean sea on Wednesday morning. The first transfer of over 200 migrants from Greece took place on Monday, under the deal agreed between the EU and Turkey aimed at quelling the bloc's worst migration crisis since World War II. But in Athens, a Greek government source denied that a date for the next transfer had ever been set. "We don't plan in advance the date or number of those being sent back," the source told AFP, emphasising that the Greek government had to assess asylum applications by migrants. "If by the end of the week, there is a satisfactory number of people who have not demanded asylum and which justifies a return, we will see if there will be a new transfer." Under the pact with the European Union, Turkey has agreed to take back migrants who arrived in Greece in illegal crossings of the Aegean Sea after March 20. Out of around 6,000 migrants who arrived on the islands after that deadline, more than 2,300 had applied for asylum, said Yiorgos Kyritsis, the spokesman for the Greek government panel coordinating the migration crisis The deal has caused huge controversy, with rights groups including Amnesty International claiming Turkey could not be considered a "safe country" for the return of refugees. KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine plans to ban imports of Russian oil products, and to remove import duties on second-hand cars except for Russian ones, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said in a televised cabinet meeting on Wednesday. The announcement is the latest move in an ongoing trade war between Russia and Ukraine that follows Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. "I am asking the Ministry of Economy to prepare a mechanism for banning the purchase of petroleum products from the country of the aggressor, which is the Russian Federation," the prime minister said. (Reporting by Natalia Zinets and Alexei Kalmykov; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey) University Virginia UVA Fraternity House Students Phi Kappa Psi A judge ordered the former University of Virginia (UVA) student known as "Jackie" on Thursday to give a deposition in a defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone magazine, The New York Times reported. The deposition will be the first time Jackie has given a sworn statement about the allegations she made in the now-retracted 2014 article that detailed a gang rape on the UVA campus. Last Thursday, Jackie's lawyers argued that "she would be 're-traumatized' if she is compelled to recount her ordeal in proceedings under oath," and asked the judge to cancel the deposition originally scheduled for April 5, according to The Washington Post. The lawsuit was brought by Nicole Eramo, UVA's associate dean of students, against Rolling Stone, as well as Wenner Media and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, the article's author. The story, "A Rape on Campus: A Brutal Assault and Struggle for Justice at UVA," depicts Eramo as indifferent to Jackie's alleged gang rape at a campus fraternity party. The article claims that Eramo did nothing in response to Jackie's allegations and told the student that UVA did not publish its sexual-assault data "because nobody wants to send their daughter to the rape school." Eramo is seeking nearly $8 million in damages $7.5 million in compensatory damages for reputational harm and $350,000 in punitive damages. Eramo's lawyers argue that this evidence against Jackie's previous statements should be reason for her to be deposed. But Jackie's lawyers fought the deposition, describing their client as "a sexual assault victim who has suffered repeated revictimizations, including by Dean Eramo in this very lawsuit," according to court documents cited by The Washington Post. "Forcing her to revisit her sexual assault, and then the re-victimization that took place after the Rolling Stone article came out, will inevitably lead to a worsening of her symptoms and current mental health," the documents read. Story continues Much if not all of the Rolling Stone story, which the magazine published in April 2015, has since been disproved by media reports, a police investigation, and a report by Columbia's journalism school. "There is no evidence whatsoever that the story that Jackie told her friends, or the very different story she told Rolling Stone, actually transpired," Eramo's lawyers write in court documents cited by The Washington Post. "Instead, it appears that Jackie fabricated her perpetrator and the details of the alleged assault." Tuesday's ruling, by Chief Judge Glen Conrad of the Western District of Virginia, orders that Jackie be available for questioning by Rolling Stone and Eramo's lawyers. Recordings and transcripts of the deposition will reportedly be confidential. NOW WATCH: This Christian college professor thinks she could be fired for wearing a hijab More From Business Insider A vendor places a Russian 100-rouble banknote taken from a customer into a cash register at a houseware shop in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, January 21, 2016. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin By Alexander Winning MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian poverty rates will return to 2007 levels this year as the economy continues to contract and inflation reduces people's purchasing power, the World Bank said on Wednesday. The international lender's comments add to the view that it is ordinary Russians who have borne the brunt of the country's economic crisis, as the blow for many firms has been cushioned by the weaker rouble and state aid. The number of poor people in Russia will rise to more than 20 million out of a population of over 140 million, the World Bank said, the largest increase in poverty since the 1998-99 crisis that included a sovereign debt default. Birgit Hansl, lead Russia economist for the World Bank, said the government would find it difficult to combat rising poverty because of a sharp fall in budget revenues stemming from the oil price collapse. Global prices for oil, Russia's main export, have fallen to under $40 per barrel from over $115 in June 2014, while the economy has also been hit by Western sanctions imposed over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. "It's clear the fiscal space is very small to continue with social expenditure increases," Hansl told a news conference. Among ways to help ease poverty, she said social expenditure could be better targeted, including by means testing. Mikhail Matytsin, a World Bank poverty economist, said the crisis had also driven a dramatic shift in consumption patterns. The World Bank sees private consumption falling by 3 percent in 2016 in Russia after a decline of over 9 percent in 2015, a far sharper slump than during the 2008-09 global financial crisis. "This is a new adjustment to the (economic) shock," Matytsin said, saying households had cut back most on durable goods such as cars and domestic appliances. The World Bank now sees private consumption recovering only very modestly and stabilising at growth levels of around 2 percent from 2018. Before the latest economic downturn, private consumption in Russia had been rising at around 6 percent each year, Hansl said. Story continues In its latest Russia economic report, the World Bank downgraded its growth forecasts to a contraction in gross domestic product of 1.9 percent this year and tepid growth of 1.1 percent in 2017. It previously saw a contraction of 0.7 percent in 2016 and growth of 1.3 percent in 2017. It said its weaker forecasts reflected its new assumption that the oil price would average $37 a barrel in 2016, rather than the $49 forecast previously. The World Bank said serious structural reforms, which it has long said are needed to ensure sustainable economic growth in Russia, were not likely before the 2018 presidential election. (Editing by Jason Bush and Catherine Evans) El Chapo Guzman Documents from global law firm Mossack Fonseca leaked to journalists have linked the firm to two alleged money launderers and drug traffickers tied to notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The two people in question Marllory Chacon Rossell and Jorge Milton Cifuentes have been linked to illegal activities led by Guzman, who escaped from a Mexican prison but was recaptured in January. Business Insider has not seen the leaked documents at issue, which were part of a massive trove of financial records revealing the offshore holdings of public officials, businesspeople, and other celebrities. Chacon, according to Univision, was accused of being the most active money launderer in Guatemala and of leading a cell of Guzman's Sinaloa cartel. The documents have revealed the involvement of Chacon in an offshore company set up by the law firm. From late 2009 to 2010, Chacon was the president of a company called Broadway Commerce Inc., which was created by Mossack Fonseca. Over that same period, she laundered $4 million in drug proceeds in Central America, according to US authorities. While allegations of her criminal activities were not public knowledge at the time, Univision notes that "a simple investigation" would have led the law firm to the questionable histories of two of her business partners. One of those partners confessed to drug trafficking and another was investigated for alleged financial misdeeds, according to Univision. Chacon was later accused of illegal activities by US authorities. A grand jury in Florida filed an indictment accusing her of trafficking in August 2011, according to Univision. The following year the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) put her on its "black list" of suspected narcotraffickers. Story continues She was "one of the most prolific narcotics traffickers in Central America," according to a Treasury statement cited by the BBC. Marllory Chacon Rossell drug trafficking Chacon turned herself in to US authorities in September 2014 and pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in December that year, according to InSight Crime. She was sentenced in May 2015, reportedly receiving leniency for cooperating with authorities, according to McClatchy. In addtion to Chacon, Jorge Milton Cifuentes, a Colombian trafficker with extensive ties to Guzman's Sinaloa cartel, also had dealings with the law firm, according to Mexican news site Aristegui Noticias and Mexico City-based magazine Proceso, both of which saw the leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca. In 2007, Mossack Fonseca created a company that it later dissolved after OFAC connected it with Cifuentes, according to the Spanish news agency EFE. Cifuentes, who was charged in the US, was the head of a Colombian family with deep ties to drug trafficking in that country. According to a US indictment, between 2003 and 2008 Guzman and the Cifuentes family made agreements to produce, transport, and distribute cocaine. Cifuentes Villa clan org chart USDOJ Between 2008 and 2011, Cifuentes "most likely has obtained and imported over 31,000 kilograms [68,343 pounds] of cocaine to the United States, and is purportedly the primary source of ... cocaine for the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico," according to the US State Department. NOW WATCH: This is how Mexican drug cartels make billions selling drugs More From Business Insider Is Individual 401(k) Profit Sharing a Pre-Tax Deduction? 401(k) profit-sharing plans allow employers and employees to contribute pre-tax money. When you are self-employed, you wear both hats, which means both you and your business can make tax-deductible contributions to an individual 401(k). You can also make after-tax contributions to an individual Roth 401(k) account. Individual 401(k) Plan An individual 401(k) plan lets you contribute up to $51,000 a year, as of 2013. The contributions can be in two parts. You can contribute 100 percent of your earned income up to $17,500, or $23,000 if youre age 50 or over. Your business can contribute an additional amount. To calculate this amount, you must deduct half of your self-employment tax and all of your own contributions. The Internal Revenue Service provides rate tables and worksheets in Publication 560 to step you through the calculation. Designated Roth Account You can set up a designated Roth account for your individual 401(k) plan and contribute after-tax earned income to the account as long as your total contributions to the traditional and Roth portions dont exceed the annual limits. Your business can contribute as well, but the money is tax-deductible and must go into the traditional account. You cant intermingle the two accounts, although you can perform a taxable in-plan rollover from the traditional account to the Roth account. Once you designate a Roth contribution, you cant change it to a pre-tax one. Distributions You must include distributions from the traditional account in your taxable income. If you remove money before age 59 1/2, the IRS will hit you with a 10 percent penalty tax. However, the IRS provides a number of exceptions to the penalty tax, including disability, a divorce settlement and medical costs. Designated Roth accounts tax and penalize earnings you withdraw before age 59 1/2 and earnings you withdraw before the fifth anniversary of the account's first contribution. Penalty exceptions only apply to underage withdrawals of Roth earnings, not to the five-year initial period. Money you have contributed to a Roth account has been taxed, so you can withdraw it at any time without penalty. ABC News(NEW YORK) Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders recent comments on lawsuits involving gun manufacturers have angered at least one of his Democratic Senate colleagues. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a vocal gun control advocate especially after the Newtown shooting in his home state, released a series of tweets expressing his disappointment with a view Sanders espoused during an editorial board meeting with the New York Daily News. Asked whether he believes the families of gun violence victims should be able to sue the gun manufacturer, Sanders responded, "No, I dont." That led Murphy, who endorsed Sanders' rival Hillary Clinton in June 2015, to blast Sanders on Twitter Tuesday. "Bernie is a friend, but this is really bad. Dems can't nominate a candidate who supports gun manufacturer immunity," Murphy wrote. "Let's be clear - supporting restoring liability for sellers is not the same thing as restoring liability for gun makers. For Sanders to say that the Sandy Hook families should be barred from court, even if the weapon was negligently made, is wrong." He continued: "Democrats cannot nominate a candidate who believes that toy gun makers should be held to a higher legal standard than real gun makers. And if this isn't Sanders' position if he supports full return of liability for sellers and makers, then he should clarify immediately." Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Sanders, responded to the criticism in a statement largely criticizing Clinton. "The senator has a well-deserved D- rating from the NRA while Secretary Clinton takes campaign cash from NRA lobbyists," he said. "Senator Sanders may well have lost his first campaign for Congress in 1988 because he supported a ban on assault weapons. He supports President Obama's efforts to end gun violence. He voted for the legislation considered by the Senate after Sandy Hook. He has a clear and consistent record on the issue. "Secretary Clinton, meanwhile, has shifted her espoused position on guns from campaign to campaign," he continued. "As a Senate candidate in New York, she favored strong limits on guns and gun ownership. As a presidential candidate in 2008, however, she posed as someone who was so gun friendly that then-Sen. Barack Obama compared her to Annie Oakley. It's hard to know where she stands today." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. 2000 - 2022 24 .- . focus-news.net, () . 24 . 24 . . 24 . We value your privacy. Focus Taiwan (CNA) uses tracking technologies to provide better reading experiences, but it also respects readers' privacy. Click here to find out more about Focus Taiwan's privacy policy. When you close this window, it means you agree with this policy. To activate the text-to-speech service, please first agree to the privacy policy below. Taipei, April 6 (CNA) The potential market for Taiwanese motorcycle and scooter brands is global, given that one out of every 10 scooters on the streets of Europe are from Taiwanese manufacturers and their growing popularity around the world, an industry expert said Wednesday. STORIES YOU MIGHT LIKE Come and enjoy Read more [...] Leaving the house was my first mistake.Thats an old running gag on my blog (along with Apartheid: Was it all bad? and Journalists: Your moral and intellectual superiors!). Its not just that Im a demi-agoraphobic introvert with palsied social skills. Its that when Igo out, the out I go into is Toronto.Although maybe your city is no different, especially if it has too many universities (that is, more than zero). Quiz: Are you outnumbered by spindly, bike-riding beta males sporting skinny pants, fake distressed vintage shirts, and giant purses? Do over half the women possess tattoos on their ill-advisedly visible upper arms, along with Manic Panic hair and what the Chateau calls problem glasses?The prospect of being trapped in a building with thousands of them curdled my stomach, but the reason for doing so was irresistible: Id been given a batch of VIP tickets to see welterweight right-wingers Mark Steyn and Nigel Farage at a glamorous-by-Toronto-standards downtown do. As I write this, 48 hours later, I have finally calmed down.Unfortunately, said event was a debate(?!) about the Muslim refugee crisis, and the cons (in both senses) pro-invasion opponents were two smug, speakers-circuit windbags: historian and apparently inoperable BBC tumor Simon Schamaimagine Dr. Pretorious fromimpersonating a gay epileptic rooster traversing hot asphaltand Louise Arbour, one of those dim, dumpy world-famous in Canada sorts who are especially unimpressive whenever they happen to be, as in her case, Kay-BECK-erz. This human chafing dish for received liberal wisdom has received so many honors and awards that one friend Id brought along said he half expected that, mid-debate, someone would walk out on stage and hand her a new one.Worse, the Toronto audiencethose beta males, above, and their problem glasses partnerswould overwhelmingly represent the Schama/Arbour side: modern Mrs. Jellybys, those refugee-loving, rape me first, kill me last types who reflexively favor foreigners over their own.Now, Im forever blasting such smug snobs for never exposing themselves to even the mildest of opposing ideas, or to individuals outside their class and cohort, except to mock them. Yet how, I asked myself, was I any better, unless I too occasionally dared to venture beyond my own ideological comfort zone?Well, hell.rest of this beauty column: Tuesday night at the Fremont City Council Study Session to receive public comments, regarding the Project Rawhide poultry operation, the story to report is that there is no story. After a short statement from Mayor Scott Getzschman, a motion was introduced, and the meeting adjourned at 7:02 pm, approximately two minutes after being called to order. No public comment was received. However, the mayor did offer some new information regarding where the project currently stands. The mayor informed community members that, particularly after the volatile meeting in the Village of Nickerson the previous night, the still unnamed company was listening to the concerns voiced by area residents. Getzschman echoed prior statements by others that addressed the valuable resources Fremont can offer to the establishment of such an economic opportunity. Some of those resources included work ethic, ample supply of corn and soybeans and the excitement of the growers network. At this time however, Project Rawhide has decided to step back and reevaluate all of their options, Getzschman said. The Greater Fremont Development Council will continue to communicate with the client, but because of these developments there will be nothing for this council to consider this evening or to propose and we will have no public comment, Getzschman announced to the audience which countered with a general reaction of dismayed irritation. Getzschman also informed attendees that the company acknowledged mistakes may have been made regarding the concealment of its identity. However, no new information was released about that identity. After the meeting Matt Bechtel, a Fremont resident running for Fremont City Councilman of Ward 4 offered the following statement to the Fremont Tribune: Fremont has always been looked at as kind of a retirement town, and were starting to grow a little bit. What youre seeing is that people are very concerned about the type of businesses that were bringing into this city. They are concerned about the type of dynamics that a plant like this will bring. You would think that a company would want to address these issues right away. Thats what leadership is, and were just not seeing that quite yet. But I do appreciate them taking the time to try to listen to people, tonight. When pressed for how he felt regarding the brevity of the meeting and the fact that no public discussion was received, Bechtel acknowledged, people are concerned about the appearance of secrecy. After the meeting Getzschman reiterated, This is an important issue for the entire community. This project, if it locates here, provides and impact of $1.2 billion a year. And so for Fremont, Dodge County and eastern Nebraska this project is important, and because it is so important, thats why you have a packed council chambers, Getzschman said referring to the larger-than-normal meeting attendance. Getzschman did agree with the companys self-criticism regarding its secrecy of identity. Truly, I think if theyre going to come forward, period, they have to tell the citizens of Fremont and Dodge County who they are and how they plan to move forward with the project, Getzschman said. And several of area residents agreed. Robert Limbach, who also attended the Nickerson meeting and who lives close to the proposed site expressed a sentiment that has been a running theme since news broke about Project Rawhide. Why is everything so secret? Limbach asked. Before and after the meeting the council chambers buzzed with many concerns that were echoes from Nickerson the night before. Jay Berry, who lives in the vicinity of proposed facility, and Brenda Ray of Fremont, both expressed concerns about health, environmental, strains on infrastructure and strains on the school system. For John Wiegert, the biggest concern continues to be illegal immigrants and the possible influx of Muslims and Somalis. Even if theres one, theres one too many, Wiegert said. He further clarified that he had fears about what was going on in the world with regards to terrorism and immigration. Michael Kuhns offered that some of what he has heard among the community should be discussed because it represents legitimate fears that people feel. Keep Cass County Beautiful has launched the 2016 Great American Cleanup with a litter cleanup scheduled in Cedar Creek on Saturday, April 9th. Volunteers are needed to help the Cedar Creek Tree and Park Board clean Highway Spur 13 H. Trash bags, safety vests and pickup tools will be provided. Volunteers should wear gloves and meet at the Cedar Creek fire hall at 8:00 A.M. In case of rain, the event will be rescheduled. The cleanup is a combined Great American Cleanup and Great Nebraska Trash Off event. Entering its 18th year, the Great American Cleanup is the countrys largest community improvement program that kicks off in more than 20,000 communities each spring. Each year, the Keep America Beautiful Great American Cleanup engages more than 4 million volunteers and participants across the country to take action in their local communities to create positive change and lasting impact. The Great American Cleanup kicks off each March with events occurring from spring through fall. This years Great American Cleanup theme is Clean Your Block Party. The theme encourages all volunteers and participants to take what they learn from a Great American Cleanup event and bring it home to organize an event on their own block. Keep America Beautiful is encouraging participants to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments with neighbors, family and friends. The objective of Clean Your Block Party is to spread the word on beautifying communities, educate and encourage volunteers to build a sense of community pride and stewardship and offer experiences that help change behaviors with the goal of making a lasting, positive initiative on communities nationwide, block by block. Jennifer M. Jehn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Keep America Beautiful states, It is humbling to see the millions of volunteers that turn out each year to our affiliates Great American Cleanup events. We look forward to a very rewarding 2016 with increased participant engagement, more impactful projects and to taking measurable steps to ensuring each community is a clean, green and beautiful place to live. Keep Cass County Beautiful (KCCB) will partner with local organizations to plan volunteer events and education programs that help to renew parks and recreation areas, remove litter and debris, reduce waste and improve recycling, plus plant trees and flowers. KCCB will provide trash bags, disposable gloves and loan banners, safety vests, gloves and pickup tools to Cass County communities and organizations that wish to participate in a Great American Cleanup. In 2015, KCCB provided supplies for 11 Great American Cleanups in the county with the help of 201 volunteers who spent a total of 346 hours planting flowers, trees and collecting over 9,000 pounds of litter. For more information about volunteering or planning a Great American Cleanup event, contact the director at KeepCassCountyBeautiful@Yahoo.com. According to Preferred Hotels & Resorts booking data, the UK, France, Turkey, USA and Spain were the top five preferred destinations for Middle East travelers in 2015. Preferred Hotels & Resorts has announced that room nights from outbound business originating from the Middle East region increased by 21% in 2015, when compared with 2014. Annual revenue generated for member hotels through the brands channels is up by 18.1% with an average room rate of US$237 and length of stay up from 3.03 nights per booking in 2014 to 3.14 nights per booking last year. Globally, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, generated more than US$ 1 billion in revenues for its member hotels, a 15% improvement over the same reporting period in 2014. The financial results from the Middle East are exceptional and played a significant role in our companys overall growth. The figures clearly demonstrate a positive response to our comprehensive rebranding last year, which has helped drive stronger brand clarity and create greater brand awareness of our unique portfolio. Subsequently investing in brand communication roadshows in 14 different countries paid dividends, with 91 new properties in 35 countries joining our portfolio in 2015, said Lindsey Ueberroth, President & CEO, Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Preferred Hotels & Resorts which now has 650 distinctive hotels, resorts, residences, and unique hotel groups across 85 countries, recently entered into a master partnership agreement with Katara Hospitality in Qatar, to represent its standalone hotel operating division, Murwab Hotel Group. So far the partnership has embraced four of Murwab Hotel Groups existing luxury hotels in Qatar and Switzerland with five additional properties in London and the Middle East, when they come on stream in 2018. In addition to the exciting ongoing partnership we have with Katara, our 2016 development campaign is gaining further momentum, with the recent signing of the Nassima Royal Hotel located opposite to the Dubai World Trade Centre, which was previously known as the Radisson Royal. That of course followed momentum gained in 2015 from securing the representation for the recently opened Palazzo Versace Hotel in Dubai, commented Saurabh Rai, Executive Vice President Preferred Hotels & Resorts. The company will also be participating once again at the 2016 Arabian Travel Market the regions largest ravel trade exhibition, which will be taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre on 25-28 April. Starwoods iconic luxury brand St. Regis opens its latest property in Langkawi, UNESCOs First World Geopark. Owned by Integrated Nautical Resort Sdn Bhd (INR), the St. Regis Langkawi marks the brands 37th address and the first ever St. Regis in Malaysia. Following the recent opening of The St. Regis Dubai, the brand is poised to continue its growth momentum this year with grand openings in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; the Maldives; Changsha, China and Cairo, Egypt. Located in the coveted Langkawi archipelago, the resort is a natural paradise, fringed by a pristine white sand beach overlooking the emerald green waters of a swimmable lagoon, which integrates seamlessly with the Andaman Sea. The hotel is conveniently located within a 30-minute drive from Langkawi International Airport. The St. Regis Langkawi is the first all-suite luxury resort in the archipelago, offering 4 private overwater villas and 85 luxuriously-appointed suites. Each suite is distinct in design with bold accent hues and imaginative paintings by esteemed local artists. All suites offer expansive, unobstructed views of the sea from spacious terraces. The St. Regis Langkawi will be the first luxury resort to open within the last decade in Langkawi and there is an opportunity to further strengthen a market of well-heeled travelers that will appreciate the renowned brands tailor-made services and programs. We look forward to a long-term collaboration with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, says Mr. Erhard Hotter, Senior Vice President Hotel Operations, Rajawali Group. DES MOINES The Iowa Senate voted 50-0 Wednesday to make it easier for authorities to prosecute Peeping Toms who knowingly spy on other Iowans or violate their privacy rights. Senate File 2185, which goes to Gov. Terry Branstad for his consideration, would make it an aggravated misdemeanor to invade a persons privacy by closing loopholes in current law for situations where a victim is being viewed contrary to a reasonable expectation of privacy or where someone has planted a camera or viewing device without the knowledge or consent of the person being viewed. The bill expands the definition of trespass to insure that unscrupulous persons who film you when you are in your home or apartment without your knowledge can be punished appropriately, said Sen. Kevin Kinney, D-Oxford. Under current law, to gain a conviction, it must be proved that the peeper or trespasser was aroused and that the victim was nude or partially nude. The bill amends current law to say that criminal trespass is committed if a person intentionally views, photographs, or films another person through the window or any other aperture of a dwelling, without legitimate purpose, while present on the real property upon which the dwelling is located. Another provision covers situations where a person is viewed, photographed or filmed in a situation where the victim had a reasonable expectation of privacy and did not or could not consent to being viewed, photographed or filmed. Its really important that we take a moment and make sure that were protecting the rights of people in their homes and the rights of, frankly, women and children, in our state, said Sen. Amy Sinclair, R-Allerton. I think this bill will go a long way in doing that. Former Mason City resident Ruth Lapointe, a victim of a Peeping Tom landlord in Iowa City, said the bill will help victims of this crime find justice. Im happy to see this vital bill move forward, she said Wednesday. Also Wednesday, senators voted 28-22 to allow licensed psychologists to prescribe up to 100 medications for mentally ill Iowans with additional specialized training, education and experience. Six GOP senators joined 22 Democrats in voting yes while four Democrats and 18 Republicans opposed the measure that now faces an uncertain future in the Iowa House. I think the legislation is going to definitely improve access to mental health services, especially in places that currently have work force shortages, said Sen. Joe Bolkcom, D-Iowa City, who noted the state has about 150 psychiatrists mostly in urban counties while there are nearly 500 psychologists in Iowa who currently cannot write prescriptions. In other action, senators voted 50-0 to amend a House bill that would establish a statewide right to assistance protect that would balance the rights of tenants and landlords to summon emergency assistance while allowing cities and counties the ability to deal with nuisance properties. House File 493 now goes back to the House. for further consideration. The Senate also approved legislation, 34-16, to establish an Enhance Iowa Board to assume and expand the powers and duties of the Vision Iowa Board, create a fund to distribute state investments in community and river attractions, and establish a $1 million sports tourism program. Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, said the program would receive $25 million in state appropriations in years when the general fund ending balance exceeded $100 million. The program would continue until 10 yearly appropriations had occurred totaling $250 million. Sen. Rita Hart, D-Wheatland, said Senate File 2308 represented a novel way of making Iowa a better, happier place to live, but Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, said that while he was supportive, the best thing the state could do to encourage economic development and quality of life would be to change the taxation system to keep money in Iowans pockets. The bill now moves to the House for further action. Senators also voted 36-14 to approve House changes to a bill that would require carbon monoxide alarms in any apartment building or home built in the state after July 1, 2018. Senate File 2219, which now goes to the governor, would require existing rental units in Iowa to have carbon monoxide detectors, but the alarms would be voluntary in existing single-family homes. MASON CITY | A Mason City man accused of choking his girlfriend faces criminal charges. Alexander Kew, 23, was charged with felony domestic abuse assault strangulation and misdemeanor carrying dangerous weapons. He strangled his live-in girlfriend around 3 p.m. Saturday in their home on the 100 block of Third Street Northwest, according to court documents. Police say Kew was later found with a stun gun in his back pocket while standing on a sidewalk around 4:45 p.m. Saturday at First Street and South Pennsylvania Avenue. A no-contact order has been issued. Kew's next hearing is Friday in Cerro Gordo County District Court. -- Molly Montag MASON CITY | A Mason City man has been ordered to serve up to two years in prison after having his probation revoked Monday on a 2015 conviction of assault while displaying a dangerous weapon. Kevin L. Jones, 33, was arrested on that charge, an aggravated misdemeanor, after he displayed a knife in a threatening manner and then chased the victim around the parking lot of the Kum & Go at 418 S. Federal Ave. at 11:15 a.m. on March 30, 2015, according to the criminal complaint from the Mason City Police Department. MASON CITY In a marathon meeting lasting more than five hours, the City Council voted late Tuesday to approve terms of a development agreement with Prestage Foods of Iowa to build a pork processing plant in Mason City. Nearly 200 people packed the chambers, many urging the council to not allow Prestage to build the facility. Fifty people spoke during a public hearing at the meeting which began at 7 p.m. and ended at 12:02 a.m. Opponents pressed issues of potential negative environmental impact, cultural clashes with workers coming into the community, the threat of plant- and hog-farm-related smells, and problems with traffic, housing, crime and drugs.(tncms-asset)48c4e5a6-fbf1-11e5-a2da-00163ec2aa77"}} Supporters of the plant pushed the potential for new jobs, population increases and a rising city economy. Members of the City Council in the end again and again thanked the people who spoke, for their input, their questions and their passion on the issue. But they said the likely benefits were too great to ignore, and they were optimistic that the potential dangers could be mitigated, or at least were insufficient to derail a project with so much potential.(tncms-asset)212359ba-fa84-11e5-a497-00163ec2aa77"}} The council voted 6-0 to accept the terms of the development agreement with Prestage. A majority of the speakers during the public hearing opposed the project, some saying they have lost sleep thinking about it. But many speakers were just as passionately in favor of it. Many of those speaking questioned whether the demand for hogs created by the plant would lead to more confinement operations in the area, and what those additional facilities might do to the area quality of life.(tncms-asset)375eba5e-f68c-11e5-97c1-00163ec2aa77"}} Other opponents broadened the attack, questioning the morality and humaneness of hog confinement operations in particular and the meat industry in general. David Okerlund of Clear Lake accused the council of perpetrating an economic Pearl Harbor on Mason City because of the devastating effects he thinks the plant will have and how quickly the council has moved on it. Jonathan Wilder of Mason City said Prestage was coming to Mason City because it couldnt continue to poison their own state. John Ressler of Mason City said he had many questions and wanted to know about turnover of employees at Prestage facilities. They know how many hogs go through. I would hope they know how many employees go through, he said, But Dorothy Hepperly of Mason City said, All we hear is that we need jobs and now we have jobs and we dont want them. Steve Weiss of Mason City said he wanted to commend city officials for their leadership and that he was excited about the future. These are noble professions. It bothers me that good people are being put down, he said. Charlie Norris of Mason City said, Any way you can work and support your family is an honorable profession. These are good, high-tech jobs. Its criminal that some people vilify them.(tncms-asset)fddcd4b6-fa99-11e5-b3b8-00163ec2aa77"}} Former City Councilman Max Weaver was among the objectors, criticizing the project and the mayor and council for moving quickly to approve it. Jodi Hardy of Mason City warned that decisions were being made too fast and by too few people. You cant undo it, she said. The damage will be done. Several speakers said they thought the issue should be put to a public vote. Ron Prestage, a company owner from Clinton, North Carolina, told the council and the audience, You have my word. We have no interest in doing anything to disrupt Mason City or Clear Lake. This will be the highest tech plant built in the country. It will not be environmentally detrimental to the community.(tncms-asset)0c2118a8-f828-11e5-81ae-00163ec2aa77"}} Prestage said with one shift the plant will slaughter about 50,000 hogs a week, or about 2.5 million hogs per year. He said his company already owns enough hog facilities to provide more than half that demand, and he was confident he could fill the rest of the demand today with existing facilities that would contract with his company. Later in the meeting during the council member discussion, Jere Null, Prestage chief operating officer, said one of the things that attracted the company to Mason City was the quality of life here. The company doesnt want to do anything to reduce that quality, and if anything wants to improve it, Null said. While all council members voted to move the process forward, all also said the public raised some valid concerns. Councilman Alex Kuhn said he was not happy with the incentive package being offered to Prestage, and said if there were no changes he might have to vote no when the development agreement comes up for a final vote on May 5. Harry Popejoy Baago CLEAR LAKE Harry Popejoy Baago, 101, of Clear Lake, died Monday, April 4, 2016, at his home surrounded by family. A Celebration of Life for Harry and Ann Baago will be held from 3-6 p.m. Friday, April 22, 2016, at the Clear Lake Arts Center, 17 S. Fourth St., Clear Lake. Harry was born June 28, 1914, two miles north of Thornton, Iowa, the son of John and Ethel Baago. He married Carroll Eastman in 1940. She preceded him in death in 1990. He then married Ann in 1992 and she passed away Feb. 11, 2016. In 1929, his family sold their farm and moved to Santa Ana, CA. He used to sell fruits and vegetables from a truck throughout Santa Ana. In 1933 the family moved back to Thornton where he used to shock oats for 50 cents per day. They later moved to Clear Lake and his dad built a new gas station/cafe and 20 cabins on North Shore. Through a family connection he went to work on an iron ore boat. He spent 1937-1945 serving in the Merchant Marines, from Michigan to Connecticut. In 1945 he moved back to Clear Lake and cut ice blocks from Clear Lake and worked for the city water department. He went on to work for Eastman Grain, the soybean plant in Mason City, raised broiler chickens for HyCross, and also worked at Nelson Standard Oil. Harry always kept himself busy, whether he was doing his beekeeping, fishing or working in his massive garden. He also thoroughly enjoyed bird watching. Harry and Ann were involved in the farmers market for many years. They also had an eBay business and enjoyed auction hopping. Many years were also enjoyed with the car club and being in parades with Harrys 1932 Chevy. They also enjoyed taking trips to Las Vegas together. Harry is survived by a daughter, Donna (Dale) Oudekerk; a son, Denny Baago; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren; two nephews, Wade (Mary Ann) Baago and Myron (Sue) Baago; step-family; and dear friends and neighbors, Vance, Kim, Nicole, Maddie and Sean Wendel. He was preceded in death by his parents; wives, Carroll and Ann; a brother, John; a sister-in-law, Margretta Baago; a stepson, David Traub; and two daughters-in-law, Julie Traub and Virginia Baago. Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake. 641-357-2193. ColonialChapels.com. LOS ANGELES, April 05, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iconic comedian, actor and impressionist Dana Carvey will entertain attendees and donors at CASA of Los Angeles 4th Annual Evening to Foster Dreams Gala, May 10th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. The fundraising dinner, hosted by actor and activist Dax Shepard, brings together volunteers and dedicated community members to honor Los Angeles leaders who have demonstrated extraordinary commitment to children, including children who have been abused or neglected in foster care. This years event will honor two celebrities. The first is a celebrity to many children in foster care and to organizations supporting childrens welfare in Los Angeles. Since 1995 Judge Michael Nash served as either Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court or Supervising Judge of the Juvenile Dependency Court, until his retirement in 2015. He currently serves as the director of the countys newly formed Office of Child Protection. The second honoree is a celebrity in a literal sense, as TV Host & Actor Mario Lopez will receive the Bob Frandzel Memorial Award for his continued work with childrens charities. Every year we strive to make this event more memorable than the last and having Mr. Carvey bring his infamous comedy to the stage puts us in a great position to do just that, said CASA of Los Angeles Executive Director Dilys Garcia. The work we do is serious and life changing for Los Angeles foster children. A night to laugh with our volunteers and donors is always welcome. Firm Chair and CEO of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLC, and CASA of Los Angeles Board Chair James M. Rishwain, Esq. will receive the Robert Morrison Community Service Award for his ongoing philanthropy and commitment to the organization. The Evening to Foster Dreams Gala includes a blind auction, and proceeds from the event benefit CASAs programs of advocacy and support for abused and neglected children in Los Angeles foster care system. Additional information, tickets and sponsorship packages for the Evening to Foster Dreams Gala are available through CASA/LAs website at casala.org. For media or talent submissions contact Brian McWilliams / brianmcwilliams@spellcom.com / 310-838-4010 ABOUT CASA/LA Founded in 1978, CASA of Los Angeles is a community-supported 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to mobilize community volunteers to advocate on behalf of abused and neglected children in the overburdened foster care system of Los Angeles County. Through committed, highly trained everyday citizen volunteers, CASA brings the voice of a concerned community into the child welfare system. Studies have shown that children with CASAs receive more assistance and support than children without, and are more likely to be adopted or returned to their families and less likely to reenter the child welfare system. For more information, please visit the CASA of Los Angeles website: www.casala.org LISLE, Ill., April 05, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Armour, the makers of great and convenient products including frozen meatballs, pepperoni and portable meal kits honored an unsung hero Tuesday. Armour hosted a school assembly to honor Great Mom Elizabeth Duncan in conjunction with the launch of their new campaign. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1f78f3ef-700a-40f3-8a65-93491a706762 Duncan, a mother of two, is an Educational Liaison at Chets Creek Elementary located in Jacksonville, Fla. She has spent over 25 years working as a Certified Special Education Teacher and was instrumental in creating two academic resource centers serving children and families. The learning centers offer a place where children and parents can receive help with school work, learn how to handle peer pressure and bullying, read books and use the latest technology that they may not have access to at home. The centers also offer police-sponsored safety classes, family counseling, financial planning and English classes. In addition to her work at Chets Creek Elementary school and the learning centers, Duncan has demonstrated time after time to be a great mom to her own daughter, Bailey, who is currently attending college. Duncan recently expanded her responsibilities when she became the legal guardian of Alysia, whom she met at the resource center in the community where she works. Alysia is two-and-a-half years old and a welcome addition to the Duncan family. Today, Duncan works full time at Chets Creek Elementary and is a liaison between the school and the McKenzie Noelle Wilson Foundation where she continues to council children in need. Duncan was celebrated during an assembly at Chets Creek Elementary in front of her family, friends, co-workers and children of the Portside community. Armour partnered with Winn-Dixie to host the assembly where they presented Duncan with $2,500 in free groceries at Winn-Dixie to reward and celebrate her for being a great mom both at home and in her community. Elizabeth Duncan exemplifies the spirit of the Armour Great Moms campaign, said Chuck Gitkin, Senior Vice President, Marketing, Smithfield Foods. Her work in the community to better the lives of children while raising two daughters reinforces our belief that there are many great moms who deserve to be recognized. We were honored today to celebrate the accomplishments and dedication of Elizabeth and reward her with $2,500 in free groceries at Winn-Dixie. It was a great day to kick off our national campaign. Armour was pleased to recognize and reward Duncan as part of their Great Moms campaign. The campaign is a national program designed to acknowledge, highlight and reward great moms across the country that go above and beyond each day and still take the time to provide their families with great meals. The campaign will include monthly events across the country from April through November to surprise and celebrate unexpected great moms for their extraordinary efforts in their communities and at home. Words cant describe how humbled I am, said Duncan. I didnt expect today to be about me. I thought it was for someone else, so its truly a shock. Im just thankful and blessed to be a mother and to work at this great school and in this community. I have to thank Armour and Winn-Dixie for everything they have done today. Its been an amazing day. My mom is great because of her unconditional love for others and by putting others first, every day," said Bailey Duncan. She would never want me to tell her secret, but she is an undercover Wonder Woman, and rarely lets her cape show. Her actions say it all. My Mom does her best to make every kids dream comes true to her best ability at all times, in addition to being the best mother any daughter could ask for regardless of the current milestone I am trying to reach in life. My beautiful wife, Liz, is a Great Mom to our awesome daughter Bailey and our angel Alysia, added Lizs husband, Brett. But, she is also the mother figure to hundreds of children including kids that she taught 24 years ago. They still call Liz periodically just to check in and catch up. She is one of the most loving people I know! For additional details about Armour, its products and the Armour Great Moms campaign visit www.armourmeats.com or visit them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ArmourMeats. Armour is a brand of Smithfield Foods. About Armour With America's favorite frozen meatballs, LunchMakers portable meal kits, and pepperoni products, Armour is proud to be a trusted brand that provides convenient, delicious and affordable meal options for smart, sensible families since 1867. About Smithfield Foods Smithfield Foods is a $14 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield, Eckrich, Farmland, Armour, Cook's, John Morrell, Gwaltney, Nathan's Famous, Kretschmar, Margherita, Curly's, Carando and Healthy Ones. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com. The shareholders in New Wave Group AB (publ) are hereby notified of Annual General Meeting Date and time: Monday, May 11, 2016 at 13:00 (CET) Place: Kosta Boda Art Hotel, Stora vagen 75, SE-360 52 Kosta, Sweden Right to participate and notice of participation: Shareholders, who wish to participate in the Meeting, shall be registered in the register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB (Euroclear) on May 4, 2016 and give notice of their intention to participate to the company in writing to: New Wave Group AB (publ), AGM Orrekulla Industrigata 61, SE-425 36 Hisings Karra, Sweden, or by e-mail to bolagsstamma@nwg.se no later than on May 4, 2016. When giving notice of participation, name, personal/corporate registration number, address and telephone number (daytime) shall be stated. If a shareholder intends to be accompanied by an assistant at the Meeting, the number of assistants (maximum two) and the name of the assistant must be notified to the company as specified above. If the shareholder intends to be represented by proxy, a written, dated, power of attorney shall be issued for the proxy. The power of attorney in the original should be sent to the company at the address provided above no later than on May 4, 2016. If the power of attorney is issued by a legal entity, a certified copy of the corporate registration certificate and other authorization documents should be sent to the company. Please note that shareholders who are represented by proxy must also give notice of participation as stipulated above. A proxy form is available on the companys website www.nwg.se. Shareholders who have trustee-registered shares should, in order to have a right to participate in the Meeting, have registered the shares in its own name at Euroclear. Such registration must be completed on May 4, 2016 and therefore must be requested at the trustee holding the shares in good time prior to this date. Proposed agenda: 1. Opening of the Meeting 2. Election of Chairman of the Meeting 3. Preparation and approval of the voting list 4. Approval of the agenda 5. Election of one or two minutes-checkers 6. Determination of whether the Meeting has been duly convened 7. Speech by the Managing Director 8. Presentation of the Annual Report and the Auditors Report, the Consolidated Financial Statements and the Auditors report on the Consolidated Financial Statements and presentation of Auditors Statement regarding compliance with the principles of determination of remuneration to senior executives which has been in force since the last Annual General Meeting. 9. Resolutions regarding a) Adoption of the Income Statement and Balance Sheet and the Consolidated Income Statement and Consolidated Balance Sheet b) Resolution in respect of allocation of the Companys profit in accordance with the adopted Balance Sheet and resolution on record day for dividend c) Resolution regarding discharge from liability for the Board Members and the Managing Director 10. Determination of the number of Board Members to be elected 11. Determination of the remuneration to be paid to the Board of Directors and the Auditors 12. Election of members of the Board and the Chairman of the Board 13. Election of Auditors 14. Resolution regarding the procedure for appointing members of the Nomination Committee 15. Adoption of principles for determination of remuneration payable to senior executives 16. Resolution regarding authorization of the Board of Directors to resolve about directed new issues of shares for the purpose of financing acquisitions of companies or businesses or part thereof 17. Resolution regarding authorization of the Board of Directors to take up certain financing 18. Closing of the Meeting Election of Chairman of the Meeting (item 2): The Nomination Committee, which constitutes of Johan Stahl (Chairman), Lannebo Fonder, Arne Loow, Fjarde AP-fonden and Torsten Jansson, Torsten Jansson Forvalning AB, proposes Anders Dahlvig as the Chairman of the Meeting. Dividend (item 9 b): A dividend of 1 SEK per share is proposed. The proposed record date for entitlement to receive a cash dividend is May 13, 2016. Provided that the Meeting resolves in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors, the dividend is expected to be paid through Euroclear on May 18, 2016. Number of Board members, remuneration of the Board of Directors and the Auditors and election of Board Members, Chairman of the Board and Auditor (item 10-13): The Nomination Committee, representing around 86 percent of the votes associated with all shares in the company, has presented the following proposals: The Board of Directors shall comprise six Members and no Deputies. The following Board Members are proposed for re-election: Torsten Jansson, Mats Arjes, Christina Bellander and M. Johan Widerberg. Proposed to be elected as new Board Members are Olof Persson and Elisabeth Dahlin. Anders Dahlvig and Helle Kruse Nielsen have declined re-election as Board Members. Olof Persson is proposed to be elected as new Chairman of the Board. Ernst & Young AB is proposed to be re-elected as Auditors. The fees to the Board of Directors is proposed to be paid with SEK 310 000 to the Chairman and SEK 150 000 to each of the other Board Members which are not employed by the Company. Provided that it is cost-neutral for the Company and in accordance with applicable tax regulation the directors fees may be paid to a directors company. Fee to the Auditor is proposed to be paid according to accepted invoice and agreement. Procedure for appointing members on the Nomination Committee (item 14): The Nomination Committee proposes that the Meeting resolves that a new Nomination Committee for the Annual General Meeting 2017 shall comprise representatives of three of the larger shareholders. The Nomination Committee shall fulfill the assignments stipulated in the Swedish Corporate Governance Code. The Chairman of the Board shall receive a mandate to contact the Companys largest shareholders in terms of the number of votes according to the share register on September 30, 2016 and offer participation in the Nomination Committee. If any of these shareholders waives its right to appoint a representative, the next largest shareholder shall be asked to appoint a representative. The Company shall publish the names of the members on the Nomination Committee on the Companys webpage no later than six months before the Annual General Meeting. The Nomination Committee shall elect one representative as Chairman, who may not be the Chairman of the Board or a Board Member. The Nomination Committees assignment is in force until a new Nomination Committee has been appointed. If there is a material change in the owner structure before the Nomination Committee has completed its assignment the Nomination Committee may, upon a decision by the Nomination Committee, change the composition of the Nomination Committee according to the principles stipulated above. Principles for determination of remuneration payable to senior executives (item 15): The Board of Directors proposes the following principles for determination of remuneration payable to senior executives: Remuneration to the President and other senior executives shall comprise a fixed salary corresponding to market practice. No remuneration shall be paid for board work carried out by senior executives in group companies. Variable salaries such as bonuses may exist when this is justified in order to be able to recruit and keep key employees and to stimulate sales- and performance improvements and the ambition to achieve certain ratios resolved by the Board of Directors. Variable remunerations shall be based on predetermined and measurable criterions such as performance of New Wave Group or return on equity compared with return on equity in relation to fixed objectives. The variable remuneration may amount to a maximum of 50 % of the fixed salary. The Board of Directors shall each financial year decide if a share- or share-based incentive program relating to that financial year shall be proposed to the Annual General Meeting or not. It is the General Meeting that decides on all such share-based incentive programs. Pension benefits shall be equivalent to the general ITP-plan or, for senior executives working outside Sweden, pension benefits that are customary in the relevant country. For all senior executives a mutual period of termination not exceeding six month and no severance pay shall apply. Authorization of the Board of Directors to resolve about new issues of shares (item16): The main content of the proposal is authorization of the Board of Directors, for a period up to the next Annual General Meeting, to resolve, whether on one or several occasions, about new issues of not more than 4 000 000 shares of series B. The authorization includes the right to adopt decisions on deviation from the shareholders pre-emption rights, however not if the decision on new issue stipulates payment for the shares in cash only. By resolutions according to the authorization the share capital can be increased with not more than SEK 12 000 000. The authorization shall include a right to adopt decisions on new issues in kind or new issues by way of set-off or otherwise on such terms and conditions as referred to in Chapter 13, Section 5, point 6, of the Swedish Companies Act. The reasons for deviation from the shareholders pre-emption rights are that the newly issued shares shall be utilized for financing acquisitions of companies or businesses or part thereof. The basis for the issue price shall be the shares market value. A resolution according to this proposal is valid only if supported by shareholders holding at least two-thirds of both the votes cast and the shares represented at the Meeting. Authorization of the Board of Directors to take up certain financing (item17): The main content of the proposal is authorization of the Board of Directors, for a period up to the next Annual General Meeting, to resolve about taking up financing of the kind regulated in Chapter 11, Section 11 of the Swedish Companies Act. The conditions for such financing shall be on market conditions. The reason for the authorization is that the company shall be able to take up financing, on attractive conditions, where inter alia the interest is related to the companys results or financial standing. Additional information Complete proposals concerning the decisions stated above, accounting documents, the Auditors report and other documents required according to the Swedish Companies Act, will be made available at the companys office on April 20, 2016 and will also be available on the companys website www.nwg.se. Information at the Annual General Meeting The Board of Directors and the President shall, if any shareholder so requests and the Board of Directors believes that it can be done without material harm to the company, provide information regarding circumstances that may affect the assessment of an item on the agenda, and circumstances that can affect the assessment of the Companys or its subsidiaries financial position and the companys relation to other companies within the Group. Number of shares and votes When this notice to attend the Annual General Meeting was issued, the total number of shares in the company was 66 343 543 distributed among 19 707 680 shares of series A and 46 635 863 shares of series B, constituting a total of 243 712 663 votes. Goteborg in April 2016 New Wave Group AB (publ) The Board of Directors BOSTON, Mass., April 6, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Onapsis, the global experts in SAP and Oracle business-critical application security, today announced that they have been recognized as an Excellence Award finalist in the Best Newcomer Security Company of the Year category for the 2016 SC Awards Europe. Finalists are recognized for outstanding leadership and for providing superior security products to the information security industry. Winners will be announced at the 2016 SC Awards Europe ceremony to be held June 7, 2016 in London. "SC Magazine's recognition of Onapsis validates an emerging information security solution category. Organizations in the G2000 have been underserved for too long and SAP cybersecurity threats are on the increase. Onapsis helps organizations running SAP to minimize the economic impact of attacks aimed at business-critical applications," said Mariano Nunez, CEO, Onapsis. "The Onapsis Research Labs has also found that thousands of the world's largest organizations are either vulnerable or already exposed to threats. These applications are the ultimate economic targets for cybercrime and have previously been a blind spot for many Chief Information Security Officers," continued Nunez. The SC Awards Europe are recognized throughout the security industry as the gold standard of excellence in cybersecurity. Winners in the Excellence category are determined by an expert panel of judges, handpicked by SC Magazine's editorial team, for their breadth of knowledge and experience in the information security industry. The Excellence Awards honor the professionals, products and services that have proven to be the best in the industry for protecting today's corporate world from cybercrime. The 2016 SC Awards Europe are divided into three main award areas of expertise, 'Excellence Awards: Threat Solutions', 'Excellence Awards: Industry Leadership' and 'Professional Categories'. 2016 sees the introduction of new categories 'Best Behaviour Analytics/ Enterprise Threat Detection' and also 'Best Cyber Security Education Programme'. Winners of the 2016 SC Awards will be announced at a gala dinner and cocktail party on June 7, 2016 in London. This event attracts top professionals in the IT security community and provides an invaluable opportunity for networking. To register for the 2016 SC Awards Gala please visit this link. For more information, please contact Robyn Carter at robyn(dot)carter(at)haymarket(dot)com. About SC Magazine SC Magazine provides IT security professionals with in-depth and unbiased information through timely news, comprehensive analysis, cutting-edge features, contributions from thought leaders and the best, most extensive collection of product reviews in the business. By offering a consolidated view of IT security through independent product tests and well-researched editorial content that provides the contextual backdrop for how these IT security tools will address larger demands put on businesses today, SC Magazine enables IT security pros to make the right security decisions for their companies. Besides the monthly print magazine, special Spotlight editions and daily website, the brand's portfolio includes SC Marketscope and SC Magazine Newswire, and face-to-face events, including the SC Congress series (New York, Chicago, Boston, Toronto, London, Amsterdam) and the SC Awards. About Onapsis Onapsis provides the most comprehensive solutions for securing SAP and Oracle business-critical applications. As the leading experts in SAP and Oracle cybersecurity, Onapsis enables security and audit teams to have visibility, confidence and control of advanced threats, cyber risks and compliance gaps affecting their enterprise applications. Headquartered in Boston, Onapsis serves over 200 customers including many of the Global 2000. Onapsis' solutions are also the de-facto standard for leading consulting and audit firms such as Accenture, IBM, Deloitte, E&Y, KPMG and PwC. Onapsis solutions include the Onapsis Security Platform (OSP), which is the most widely used SAP-certified cybersecurity solution in the market. Unlike generic security products, Onapsis' context-aware solutions deliver preventative vulnerability and compliance controls, as well as real-time detection and incident response capabilities to reduce risks affecting critical business processes and data. Through open interfaces, the platform can be integrated with leading SIEM, GRC and network security products, seamlessly incorporating enterprise applications into existing vulnerability, risk and incident response management programs. These solutions are powered by the Onapsis Research Labs, which continuously provide leading intelligence on security threats affecting SAP and Oracle enterprise applications. Experts of the Onapsis Research Labs were the first to lecture on SAP cyber attacks and have uncovered and helped fix hundreds of security vulnerabilities to date affecting SAP Business Suite, SAP HANA, SAP Cloud and SAP Mobile applications, as well as Oracle JD Edwards and Oracle E-Business Suite platforms. For more information, please visit http://www.onapsis.com, or connect with us on Twitter, Google+, or LinkedIn. Onapsis and Onapsis Research Labs are registered trademarks of Onapsis, Inc. All other company or product names may be the registered trademarks of their respective owners. This article was originally distributed on PRWeb. For the original version including any supplementary images or video, visit http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/04/prweb13319760.htm ATLANTA, April 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) (Company) today announced record second quarter results for net sales, net income, and diluted earnings per share (EPS). Fiscal 2016 second quarter net sales of $777.8 million increased $161.7 million, or 26 percent, compared with the year-ago period. Operating profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was $106.7 million, an increase of $28.1 million, or 36 percent, over the year-ago period. Net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was $65.5 million, an increase of 41 percent compared with the prior-year period. Fiscal 2016 second quarter diluted EPS of $1.49 increased 39 percent compared with $1.07 for the year-ago period. Adjusted diluted EPS for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 increased 53 percent to $1.80 compared with adjusted diluted EPS of $1.18 for the year-ago period. Adjusted operating profit for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 increased $41.6 million, or 49 percent, to $127.4 million, or 16.4 percent of net sales, compared with the year-ago period adjusted operating profit of $85.8 million, or 13.9 percent of net sales. Adjusted results for both periods exclude the impact of amortization expense for acquired intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, acquisition-related items (including profit in inventory, professional fees, and certain contract termination costs), and special charges for streamlining activities. Management believes these items impacted the comparability of the Company's results and that adjusted financial measures enhance the readers overall understanding of the Company's current financial performance by making results comparable between periods. A reconciliation of adjusted financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure is provided in the tables at the end of this release. Vernon J. Nagel, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Acuity Brands, commented, We were extremely pleased with our achievement of record second quarter results. These results are even more impressive when one considers that we continued to invest in our strong sales growth and areas with significant future growth potential, including the expansion of our solid state luminaire and controls portfolio as well as our building management, software, and Internet of Things solutions. Adjusted gross profit margin was 43.5 percent, a quarterly record, and represented an increase of 200 basis points over prior years second quarter, while adjusted operating profit margin of 16.4 percent increased 250 basis points over last years second quarter. The integration of recent acquisitions, which include Distech Controls, Juno Lighting and Geometri, continues to go well. We believe our record second quarter results reflect our ability to provide customers with truly differentiated value from our industry-leading portfolio of innovative lighting and building automation solutions along with superior service. Second Quarter Results The year-over-year growth in fiscal 2016 second quarter net sales was primarily due to a 17 percent increase in volume as well as an 11 percent increase from acquisitions, partially offset by 1 percent net unfavorable change in product prices and mix of products sold (price/mix) and 1 percent unfavorable impact from changes in foreign currency exchange rates. The increase in volume was broad-based across most product categories and key sales channels. Sales of LED-based products increased over 40 percent from the year-ago period and represented approximately 55 percent of fiscal 2016 second quarter total net sales. Net cash provided by operating activities totaled $119.5 million for the first six months of fiscal 2016 compared with $75.5 million for the year-ago period. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2016 totaled $224.3 million, a decrease of $532.5 million since the beginning of the fiscal year. The Company used cash of $613.7 million for acquisitions. Year-to-Date Results Net sales for the first six months of fiscal 2016 increased 20 percent to $1,514.4 million compared with $1,263.5 million for the prior-year period. Fiscal 2016 first-half reported results include operating profit of $219.1 million, net income of $133.9 million, and diluted EPS of $3.06. Adjusted operating profit for the first half of fiscal 2016 increased $63.8 million, or 34 percent, to $253.3 million, or 16.7 percent of net sales, compared with prior years adjusted operating profit of $189.5 million, or 15.0 percent of net sales. Adjusted net income for the first half of fiscal 2016 was $156.6 million compared with $113.2 million for the prior-year period, an increase of 38 percent. Adjusted diluted EPS for the first half of fiscal 2016 increased $0.98, or 38 percent, to $3.58 compared with adjusted diluted EPS of $2.60 for the year-ago period. Adjusted results for the first six months of fiscal 2016 and 2015 exclude amortization expense for acquired intangible assets, share-based compensation expense, acquisition-related items (including profit in inventory, professional fees, and certain contract termination costs), and special charges for streamlining activities. The total impact of these items on diluted EPS for the first six months of fiscal 2016 and 2015 was $0.52 and $0.36 respectively. A reconciliation of adjusted financial measures to the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure is provided in the tables at the end of this release. Outlook Mr. Nagel commented, We remain bullish about our prospects for continued future profitable growth. Third-party forecasts as well as key leading indicators suggest that the growth rate for the North American lighting market, which includes renovation and retrofit activity, will be in the mid-to-upper single digit range for fiscal 2016 with expectations that overall demand in our end markets will continue to experience solid growth over the next several years. Our order rates through the month of March reflect this favorable trend. We expect to continue to outperform the growth rates of the markets we serve by executing our strategies focused on growth opportunities for new construction and renovation projects, expansion into underpenetrated geographies and channels, and growth from the continued introduction of new products and lighting solutions as part of our integrated, tiered solutions strategy. Mr. Nagel concluded, We believe the lighting and lighting-related industry as well as building automation systems will experience solid growth over the next decade, particularly as energy and environmental concerns come to the forefront along with emerging opportunities for digital lighting to play a key role in the Internet of Things. We believe we are uniquely positioned to fully participate in this exciting industry. Non-GAAP Financial Measures This news release contains non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted gross profit, adjusted selling, distribution, and administrative expenses (adjusted SD&A expenses), adjusted operating profit, adjusted operating profit margin, adjusted net income, and adjusted diluted EPS. These measures are provided to enhance the reader's overall understanding of the Company's current financial performance and prospects for the future. However, the Companys non-GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures used by other companies, have limitations as an analytical tool and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of each measure to the most directly comparable GAAP measure is available in this news release. In addition, the Current Report on Form 8-K furnished to the SEC concurrent with the issuance of this press release includes a more detailed description of each of these non-GAAP financial measures, together with a discussion of the usefulness and purpose of such measures. Conference Call As previously announced, the Company will host a conference call to discuss second quarter results today, April 6, 2016, at 10:00 a.m. ET. Interested parties may listen to this call live today or hear a replay at the Company's Web site: www.acuitybrands.com. About Acuity Brands Acuity Brands, Inc., with fiscal year 2015 net sales of $2.7 billion, is a North American market leader and one of the worlds leading providers of indoor and outdoor lighting and energy management solutions. Acuity Brands, headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia has operations throughout North America, and in Europe and Asia, and employs approximately 9,000 associates. The Companys products and solutions are sold under various brands, including Lithonia Lighting, Holophane, Peerless, Gotham, Mark Architectural Lighting, Winona Lighting, Healthcare Lighting, Hydrel, American Electric Lighting, Carandini, Antique Street Lamps, Juno, Indy, AccuLite, Aculux, DanaLite, NaviLite, Sunoptics, RELOC Wiring Solutions, eldoLED, Distech Controls, and Acuity Controls. Forward Looking Information This release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements that may be considered forward-looking include statements incorporating terms such as "expects," "believes," "intends," estimates, forecasts, "anticipates," may, should, suggests, remain, and similar terms that relate to future events, performance, or results of the Company and specifically include statements made in this press release regarding: prospects for future profitable growth; third-party forecasts of a mid-to-upper single digit growth rate for the North American lighting market for fiscal 2016 and expectations that demand in the Companys end markets will continue to experience solid growth over the next several years; expectation that the Company will outperform the growth rates of the markets it serves and that the Company will execute strategies related to such growth opportunities; and expectation of solid growth over the next decade for the lighting and lighting-related industry as well as building automation systems and the Companys position to fully participate. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the historical experience of Acuity Brands and management's present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, customer and supplier relationships and prices; competition; ability to realize anticipated benefits from initiatives taken and timing of benefits; market demand; litigation and other contingent liabilities; and economic, political, governmental, and technological factors affecting the Company. Please see the other risk factors more fully described in the Companys SEC filings including risks discussed in Part I, Item 1a. Risk Factors in the Companys Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended August 31, 2015. The discussion of those risks is specifically incorporated herein by reference. Management believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable; however, undue reliance should not be placed on any forward-looking statements, which are based on current expectations. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and management undertakes no obligation to update publicly any of them in light of new information or future events. ACUITY BRANDS, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In millions, except share and per-share data) February 29, 2016 August 31, 2015 (Unaudited) ASSETS Current Assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 224.3 $ 756.8 Accounts receivable, less reserve for doubtful accounts of $1.9 and $1.3 as of February 29, 2016 and August 31, 2015, respectively 458.8 411.7 Inventories 277.5 224.8 Prepayments and other current assets 37.1 20.1 Total Current Assets 997.7 1,413.4 Property, Plant, and Equipment, at cost: Land 23.7 6.7 Buildings and leasehold improvements 178.5 128.4 Machinery and equipment 419.1 391.9 Total Property, Plant, and Equipment 621.3 527.0 Less - Accumulated depreciation and amortization 364.7 352.4 Property, Plant, and Equipment, net 256.6 174.6 Other Assets: Goodwill 883.7 565.0 Intangible assets, net 452.8 223.4 Deferred income taxes 3.4 3.5 Other long-term assets 25.6 27.1 Total Other Assets 1,365.5 819.0 Total Assets $ 2,619.8 $ 2,407.0 LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS EQUITY Current Liabilities: Accounts payable $ 317.8 $ 311.1 Current maturities of long-term debt 0.2 - Accrued compensation 50.4 78.2 Other accrued liabilities 145.0 131.6 Total Current Liabilities 513.4 520.9 Long-Term Debt 353.5 352.4 Accrued Pension Liabilities, less current portion 79.9 83.9 Deferred Income Taxes 114.2 31.7 Self-Insurance Reserves, less current portion 8.2 6.9 Other Long-Term Liabilities 57.2 51.2 Total Liabilities 1,126.4 1,047.0 Stockholders Equity: Preferred stock, $0.01 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized; none issued - - Common stock, $0.01 par value; 500,000,000 shares authorized; 53,236,095 issued and 43,516,840 outstanding at February 29, 2016; and 53,024,284 issued and 43,305,029 outstanding at August 31, 2015 0.5 0.5 Paid-in capital 818.7 797.1 Retained earnings 1,215.5 1,093.0 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (121.1 ) (110.4 ) Treasury stock, at cost, 9,719,255 shares at February 29, 2016 and August 31, 2015 (420.2 ) (420.2 ) Total Stockholders Equity 1,493.4 1,360.0 Total Liabilities and Stockholders Equity $ 2,619.8 $ 2,407.0 ACUITY BRANDS, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (Unaudited) (In millions, except per-share data) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended February 29, 2016 February 28, 2015 February 29, 2016 February 28, 2015 Net Sales $ 777.8 $ 616.1 $ 1,514.4 $ 1,263.5 Cost of Products Sold 440.9 360.4 858.1 734.8 Gross Profit 336.9 255.7 656.3 528.7 Selling, Distribution, and Administrative Expenses 230.1 177.7 436.7 354.0 Special Charge 0.1 (0.6 ) 0.5 9.4 Operating Profit 106.7 78.6 219.1 165.3 Other Expense (Income): Interest Expense, net 8.2 8.0 16.1 15.9 Miscellaneous Income, net (1.1 ) (0.1 ) (1.8 ) (1.0 ) Total Other Expense 7.1 7.9 14.3 14.9 Income before Provision for Income Taxes 99.6 70.7 204.8 150.4 Provision for Income Taxes 34.1 24.3 70.9 52.9 Net Income $ 65.5 $ 46.4 $ 133.9 $ 97.5 Earnings Per Share: Basic Earnings per Share $ 1.50 $ 1.07 $ 3.08 $ 2.25 Basic Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding 43.5 43.1 43.4 43.1 Diluted Earnings per Share $ 1.49 $ 1.07 $ 3.06 $ 2.24 Diluted Weighted Average Number of Shares Outstanding 43.8 43.4 43.7 43.3 Dividends Declared per Share $ 0.13 $ 0.13 $ 0.26 $ 0.26 Comprehensive Income: Net Income $ 65.5 $ 46.4 $ 133.9 $ 97.5 Other Comprehensive Income (Expense) Items: Foreign currency translation adjustments (9.2 ) (9.8 ) (13.4 ) (16.9 ) Defined benefit pension plans, net of tax 1.3 0.9 2.7 0.7 Other Comprehensive Expense, net of tax (7.9 ) (8.9 ) (10.7 ) (16.2 ) Comprehensive Income $ 57.6 $ 37.5 $ 123.2 $ 81.3 ACUITY BRANDS, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS (Unaudited) (In millions) Six Months Ended February 29, 2016 February 28, 2015 Cash Provided by/(Used for) Operating Activities: Net income $ 133.9 $ 97.5 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by (used for) operating activities: Depreciation and amortization 30.7 22.5 Stock-based compensation expense 13.0 8.4 Excess tax benefits from stock-based payments (14.3 ) (12.2 ) Gain on sale or disposal of property, plant, and equipment (1.1 ) - Deferred income taxes (0.3 ) 0.2 Change in assets and liabilities, net of effect of acquisitions, divestitures and effect of exchange rate changes: Accounts receivable 18.3 11.9 Inventories (3.5 ) (27.4 ) Prepayments and other current assets (11.4 ) (8.9 ) Accounts payable (16.2 ) (4.3 ) Other current liabilities (29.2 ) (11.1 ) Other (0.4 ) (1.1 ) Net Cash Provided by Operating Activities 119.5 75.5 Cash Provided by/(Used for) Investing Activities: Purchases of property, plant, and equipment (43.8 ) (27.0 ) Proceeds from sale of property, plant, and equipment 2.2 - Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired (613.7 ) - Net Cash Used for Investing Activities (655.3 ) (27.0 ) Cash Provided by/(Used for) Financing Activities: Issuance of long-term debt 1.1 - Proceeds from stock option exercises and other 6.2 7.4 Excess tax benefits from stock-based payments 14.3 12.2 Dividends paid (11.4 ) (11.3 ) Other financing activities - (3.2 ) Net Cash Provided by Financing Activities 10.2 5.1 Effect of Exchange Rate Changes on Cash (6.9 ) (5.0 ) Net Change in Cash and Cash Equivalents (532.5 ) 48.6 Cash and Cash Equivalents at Beginning of Period 756.8 552.5 Cash and Cash Equivalents at End of Period $ 224.3 $ 601.1 ACUITY BRANDS, INC. Reconciliation of Non-U.S. GAAP Measures The tables below reconcile certain GAAP financial measures to the corresponding non-GAAP measures: (In millions, except Diluted Earnings per Share) Three Months Ended Increase (Decrease) Percent Change Febuary 29, 2016 Febuary 28, 2015 Net Sales $ 777.8 $ 616.1 $ 161.7 26.2 % Gross Profit $ 336.9 $ 255.7 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 1.4 - Adjusted Gross Profit (Non-GAAP) $ 338.3 $ 255.7 $ 82.6 32.3 % Percent of Sales 43.5 % 41.5 % 200 bps Selling, Distribution, and Administrative (SD&A) Expenses $ 230.1 $ 177.7 Less: Amortization of acquired intangible assets (6.0 ) (2.8 ) Less: Share-based compensation expense (6.6 ) (4.3 ) Less: Acquisition-related items(1) (6.6 ) (0.7 ) Adjusted SD&A Expenses (Non-GAAP) $ 210.9 $ 169.9 $ 41.0 24.1 % Percent of Sales 27.1 % 27.6 % (50 ) bps Operating Profit $ 106.7 $ 78.6 Add-back: Amortization of acquired intangible assets 6.0 2.8 Add-back:Share-based compensation expense 6.6 4.3 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 8.0 0.7 Add-back: Special charge 0.1 (0.6 ) Adjusted Operating Profit (Non-GAAP) $ 127.4 $ 85.8 $ 41.6 48.5 % Percent of Sales 16.4 % 13.9 % 250 bps Net Income $ 65.5 $ 46.4 Add-back: Amortization of acquired intangible assets 6.0 2.8 Add-back:Share-based compensation expense 6.6 4.3 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 8.0 0.7 Add-back: Special charge 0.1 (0.6 ) Total pre-tax adjustments to Net Income $ 20.7 $ 7.2 Income tax effect (7.1 ) (2.3 ) Adjusted Net Income (Non-GAAP) $ 79.1 $ 51.3 $ 27.8 54.2 % Diluted Earnings per Share $ 1.49 $ 1.07 Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share (Non-GAAP) $ 1.80 $ 1.18 $ 0.62 52.5 % (1) Acquisiton-related items include acquired profit in inventory, professional fees, and certain contract termination costs. (In millions, except Diluted Earnings per Share) Six Months Ended Increase (Decrease) Percent Change Febuary 29, 2016 Febuary 28, 2015 Net Sales $ 1,514.4 $ 1,263.5 $ 250.9 19.9 % Gross Profit $ 656.3 $ 528.7 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 2.0 - Adjusted Gross Profit (Non-GAAP) $ 658.3 $ 528.7 $ 129.6 24.5 % Percent of Sales 43.5 % 41.8 % 170 bps Selling, Distribution, and Administrative (SD&A) Expenses $ 436.7 $ 354.0 Less: Amortization of acquired intangible assets (11.0 ) (5.7 ) Less: Share-based compensation expense (13.0 ) (8.4 ) Less: Acquisition-related items(1) (7.7 ) (0.7 ) Adjusted SD&A Expenses (Non-GAAP) $ 405.0 $ 339.2 $ 65.8 19.4 % Percent of Sales 26.7 % 26.8 % (10 ) bps Operating Profit $ 219.1 $ 165.3 Add-back: Amortization of acquired intangible assets 11.0 5.7 Add-back:Share-based compensation expense 13.0 8.4 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 9.7 0.7 Add-back: Special charge 0.5 9.4 Adjusted Operating Profit (Non-GAAP) $ 253.3 $ 189.5 $ 63.8 33.7 % Percent of Sales 16.7 % 15.0 % 170 bps Net Income $ 133.9 $ 97.5 Add-back: Amortization of acquired intangible assets 11.0 5.7 Add-back:Share-based compensation expense 13.0 8.4 Add-back: Acquisition-related items(1) 9.7 0.7 Add-back: Special charge 0.5 9.4 Total pre-tax adjustments to Net Income $ 34.2 $ 24.2 Income tax effect (11.5 ) (8.5 ) Adjusted Net Income (Non-GAAP) $ 156.6 $ 113.2 $ 43.4 38.3 % Diluted Earnings per Share $ 3.06 $ 2.24 Adjusted Diluted Earnings per Share (Non-GAAP) $ 3.58 $ 2.60 $ 0.98 37.7 % (1) Acquisiton-related items include acquired profit in inventory, professional fees, and certain contract termination costs. Houston, April 06, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Halcon Resources Corporation (NYSE: HK) (Halcon or the Company) today provided an update on the progress of its ongoing efforts to improve its balance sheet. As previously announced the Company is working with PJT Partners and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP to explore opportunities to materially reduce its indebtedness while preserving liquidity. The Company is currently in discussions with certain stakeholders and is negotiating terms of a potential transaction which could materially reduce the Companys indebtedness. There are no definitive agreements in place at this time and there is no assurance that such a transaction will be consummated, but the Company is encouraged by the progress made to date. Halcon will report additional information regarding its balance sheet initiatives as appropriate. Forward-Looking Statements This release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Statements that are not strictly historical statements constitute forward-looking statements and may often, but not always, be identified by the use of such words such as "expects", "believes", "intends", "anticipates", "plans", "estimates", "potential", "possible", or "probable" or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "will", "should", or "could" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and expectations and involve certain assumptions or estimates that involve various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the statements. These risks include, but are not limited to, those set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015 and other filings submitted by the Company to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), copies of which may be obtained from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or through the Company's website at www.halconresources.com. Readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which are made only as of the date hereof. The Company has no duty, and assumes no obligation, to update forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or changes in the Company's expectations. About Halcon Resources Halcon Resources Corporation is an independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, production, exploration and development of onshore oil and natural gas properties in the United States. Duke Fuqua VS Cambridge Judge($) [ #permalink Hey guys, Greetings from San Jose! I have been admitted in these two Schools and would appreciate your insights. My background: I received my bachelor's degree in China and master's degree from UMich. Now, I have been working as a Product Engineer in a semiconductor company in San Jose for 5 years. Post-MBA plan: Post MBA I would like to chase career opportunities in China for consulting or PE/VC. Ultimately I want to return to my family's business in China for investment. I know these two schools are similar regarding the ranking, but totally different for other factors, such as location. I am eager to know you guys' opinions and why. So far this is my pros/cons list on each School: Duke Pros: Good personal fit - good reputation in consulting and nice living environment; Strong Community and Team Fuqua - alum are very supportive and many resources in China; Cons: Brand less known in China compared to Cambridge, Expensive for two years Cambridge Pros: Reputation for the Cambridge. Small class. Nice trend. The ranking is improving every year. Give me some scholarship and low cost comparing to two year program. I am 31 right now and prefer to finish MBA ASAP. Cons: No summer internship. Young program and less reputation for business school. Few alumni network. I am afraid I cannot have many chances to party or travel with peers due to the intensity of 1 year program. Faulty's experiences may be not as good as Duke. The police are looking for a man accused of unlawful surveillanceas in taking photographs of a female subway rider. And the victim says that he was taking photos of her chest. The incident occurred last Friday, on an uptown 3 train, between 34th and 42nd Streets around 10:20 p.m.: The NYPD says that the suspect "took pictures of a seated 23-year-old female victim as he stood over her." The victim took photographs of the suspectwho appears to be reading the Wall Street Journal's opinion pageand shared them with the police. She told us, "I saw him, sitting right next to me, his cellphone taking pictures at my chest level, but I tried to brush it off as just a weird angle he was playing Candy Crush." Luckily, another straphanger spoke up. "The woman across the aisle let me know that he was taking photos down my shirt," she said. She recalled that she said, "Hey, would you mind deleting the photos you took of me?" but he didn't respond and turned away, so she repeated it, "I said it louder. I might have also said 'Please.'" She added, "When I confronted him, no one paid any attention, and no one stopped him or said anything when he got up, went to the other side of the train, and then got off." After the shock of the encounter, she reported the incident via the MTA's online form to report subway sexual misconduct. "The police were incredible - very responsive and informative, and make me feel way less anxious about the whole situation," she said. The experience has made her "more aware" of riding the subway, "if only because Im secretly hoping that I'l see the creep again and Ill be able to confront him with the conversation I've been practicing in my shower for the past week." Anyone with information in regards to this incident is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577. If you see or experience sexual misconduct in the subway (this includes seeing a masturbator, being groped, being grinded on, etc.), you can report it to the MTA and police on this website. There's also a place for you to upload photos and/or video. Don't let the perverts win. City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez joined members of the Times Square Alliance, a local business coalition, and a gaggle of reporters on the Times Square pedestrian plaza on Tuesday afternoon, to talk to costumed characters about legislation up for vote this week that would relegate their business to designated zones within the Times Square pedestrian plaza from 42nd to 47th streets. "For those hundreds of Disney character workers, the message is that we're here to work with them, and they will be able to do fine," Rodriguez told reporters. The legislation is scheduled for a vote before the Transportation Committeeof which Rodriguez is the chairtoday, and the full City Council as soon as Thursday. It calls on the DOT to exact control over the city's 69 pedestrian plazas by establishing NYPD-enforced "plaza-specific rules." The DOT has already suggested eight "activity zones" on the pedestrian plaza, each about the size of a city bus, where costumed characters, ticket sellers, and desnudas would be required to work. Designated "flow zones" would be reserved for walking. City Council Transportation Committee Chair Ydanis Rodriguez addresses costumed characters on Tuesday, on the Times Square pedestrian plaza (Emma Whitford/Gothamist). Rodriguez walked around the plaza for about 30 minutes on Tuesday, addressing costumed characters in Spanish and handing out his business card and a press release printed in Spanish and English. The release encouraged workers to contact the Alliance with further questions, and reiterated the Alliance's positionthat the "activity zones" will deter aggressive tip solicitation, and won't put anyone out of a job. The Alliance has recently publicized numerous tweets and testimonials about allegedly aggressive solicitation in Times Square, blaming a subset of "bad actors." Some costumed characters and ticket sellers have countered that the proposed legislation has been drafted without their input, impedes their right to freedom of speech, and could negatively impact their business. "It's a lie for the city to say they just want a little order," Abdel Amine Elkhezzani, a Times Square Spider-Man, told us at City Hall last week. "Do you want to see three Spider-Mans and a Hulk in a box? You want to limit... where I go, where I stand? That's not right. This is a public space." Rodriguez told reporters that the Alliance conducted outreach with Times Square workers in the lead-up to this week's vote. The Alliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what that outreach entailed, beyond yesterday's press event. A rendering of what Times Square activity zones might look like (via DOT). Most of the costumed characters on the plaza Tuesday only spoke Spanish, and Rodriguez translated his conversations for reporters. "I am describing to them... that [I have been] for immigrant rights for many decades," Rodriguez said after one exchange in Spanish. "We don't want to hurt anyone. At the end of this process, we want to be sure that all of the workers are not negatively impacted." Steven Clark, 43, has been dressing as Elvis in Times Square for about five years. He said on Tuesday that he learned about the legislation about a week ago. "I don't think anybody understands what's going on," he told us. "We were supposed to do a protest yesterday, but because of the rain it didn't go through. Nobody really showed up." Clark also accused the Naked Cowboy of siding with the Alliance in order to eradicate his competition. (The Naked Cowboy endorsed the legislation at a press conference last week, predicting that it would "increase the quality of the performers.") If the legislation passes, Clark said, "I'll leave, and go out to Hollywood, California." Lili Tolle, 19, commutes to the city from Passaic, New Jersey to pose for pictures in Times Square as Mini Mouse. Tolle said that some costumed characters demand $20 or $50 from tourists, and that the "better way" is to ask just for a tipoften $1 or $2. "No good, I don't like it," she said of the proposed legislation. "I like working in many spaces." Asked on Tuesday how the afternoon's walkthrough might alter the legislation as drafted, Rodriguez said that it would not. "It's all about letting them know that what we're going to be voting about tomorrow is something that I am confident will be the best for them," he said. UPDATE: The Alliance confirmed that its outreach to costumed characters and ticket sellers has consisted of distributing an informational flyerthe same one distributed Tuesdaystarting a week before the March 30th Council hearing on the bill. We rely on your support to make local news available to all Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2022. Donate today After a report in The New York Times accused Mayor de Blasio of postponing work on a vital water tunnel that the city desperately needs, the mayor announced that construction of the tunnel would begin a year earlier than planned. Just two main water tunnels currently serve the city, and the Times article explains that construction of Water Tunnel No. 3 "has been regarded as essential to the survival of the city if either of the two existing, and now aged, tunnels should fail." During his term, Mayor Bloomberg invested $2.7 billion of city money into the $4.7 billion project during his administration, and told reporters at the opening of the Manhattan leg of the tunnel in 2013 (photos above) that "the potential for public health and safety consequences" were significant if the two tunnels didn't have a backup. The Bloomberg administration projected that the "activation" date for the new tunnel would be 2021. The de Blasio administration says that date never changed, citing a 2013 Bloomberg budget that shows $300 million in construction work slated to begin in 2021 (PDF, page 1745 "SHAFT 17B, SHAFT 18B"). Yet as the Times points out, de Blasio was sensitive to the rising water and sewer rates under his predecessor, and moved money allocated for the tunnel's completion to other projects. "This work has been deferred because the funding was re-allocated to another, more critical priorityspecifically, the damn and dike strengthening of the Ashokan Reservoir," DEP Commissioner Emily Loyd testified at a budget hearing last year [PDF]. "Im disappointed to hear that theyve deferred it. It is symptomatic about planning for the future in America," Cooper Union architecture professor Kevin Bone told the Times. At a press conference today, Mayor de Blasio claimed this was all a matter of accounting, and placed most of the blame on his aides. "There are times when my team does not do a good job of explaining something, and I think it's as simple as that," he said. The mayor continued: We took the money that was scheduled for years up aheadwe put it on hold for a budgetary reason. We didn't think that the estimate was accurate so we pulled it back awaiting a more accurate estimate. I could say very comfortably that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do in terms of showing people the ongoing commitment. But what we did do in the preliminary budget was start to add the money back because we got very specific numbers. So if you look at the preliminary budget, $52 million was now added back to keep things on the 2021 schedule. To emphasize the point that his administration had done nothing wrong in the first place, de Blasio said he would "accelerate" the construction of the water tunnel by a year. "[The tunnel is] something weve been talking about for the last yearcould we find a way to speed it up and we now believe we can do that," he said. "So in the executive budget, the construction dateprojected to be 2021 by the Bloomberg administrationwill now be 2020. We will move it forward a year and we will add the money into the executive budget to reflect that change." In unrelated news, De Blasio's $2.5 billion waterfront streetcar system is scheduled to break ground in 2019. Turkeys may look dumb, but they know a society on the brink of collapse when they see one. There's no question that turkeys have slowly been seeking revenge for several centuries of Thanksgiving dinners and subpar bodega sandwiches, and it seems they've started with the East Coast's weakest linkNew Jersey. First, a postal worker in Hillsdale was trapped in his truck by a gang of local turkeys. Now, an entire township is under seigeresidents of Teaneck say wild turkeys are terrorizing them left and right, pecking at residents, cars, and meticulously seeded lawns. Indeed, one turkey was so dedicated to his mission, he crashed through a woman's kitchen window, leaving a calling card in the shape of a talon on the very table at which his brethren had likely been eaten. "It was so loud and so dramatic when the bird came in, glass was flying everywhere, we were covered in glass, the bird was freaking out, the turkey was throwing his wings," Courtney Lopchinsky told NBC New York. "I called 911, I said, 'there's a turkey in my house, I need your help!'" Turkeys, all jokes aside, can be quite scary, and the Lopchinsky family was lucky enough to suffer only mild cuts and bruises in the kitchen attack. Teaneck officials say they will attempt to ward off future fowl assaults using air horns, but since the turkeys are protected, no particularly aggressive action can be taken. "I think that everybody just wants a peaceful solution, and maybe the turkeys could just be taken somewhere," Lopchinsky told ABC 7, but in New Jersey, the turkeys take you. With Wisconsin safely ceded to an alleged Zodiac Killer, human bag of Cheeto dust Donald Trump is turning his full attention to New York, a state that recently gave him a $302 property tax break even though he's "really rich." Tonight, America's Favorite Toupee is holding a rally on Long Island and it seems like things might get...a little crazy. The rally, which will be held at 7 p.m. at Grumman Studios in Bethpage, is expected to draw at least 12,000 people. 18,000 have requested tickets, according to the Times, since New York, liberal as it seems within our carefully curated little metropolitan bubble of gentrification protests and sober raves, is still crawling with conservatives. And Nassau cops are doubling down"There will be no firearms permitted, all people going to the rally will be entering through metal detectors. That will be handled by the Secret Service. Additionally there will be no bags permitted into the facility," acting Nassau County Police Commissioner Thomas Krumpter said in a statement. It is unclear whether the no-gun rule is intended to protect Trump from the crowd or protect Trump supporters from themselves, but so it goes. One of Trump's most vocal local supporters is Carl Paladino, a man who previously held the title for New York's craziest bigot before Trump galloped in and punched him in the face. Carl, obviously, liked it. "I think its just awesome, man," he told the Times. "New Yorkers were ready. Hes our native son." Great. Meanwhile, with Trump ready to set Long Island aflame, Ted Cruz will be in the South Bronx today to attend lunch with State Senator Reverend Ruben Diaz, a Democrat and noted homophobe. Cruz, it should be noted, is not a fan of our New York Values, but he does like our New York Votes (and New York Money)! And John Kasich, who is still running for president, will host a Town Hall for veterans in Gowanus on Thursday. Tickets are free and available online for anyone looking for a quiet place to nap. News Russian strikes cause blackouts in much of Ukraine Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian attacks had struck on a "very wide" scale. He pledged his military would improve on an already good record of downing missiles with help from its partners. News, analysis, and archives on the grassroots in Haiti. Nouvel, analiz, ak achiv sou baz yo an AYITI. Noticias, analisis y archivos sobre el pueblo de Haiti. Montanans are proud of our contribution to the economic health of our region and the nation. The production and export of low-cost energy provides good-paying jobs for Montana workers. We are fortunate to have some of the nations largest coal reserves, highest-rated wind potential, and hydroelectric power. Producing energy is part of who we are as a state. Coal production in Montana has been higher under my administration than any previous administration in our states history, helping hard-working Montana families make a living in the Big Sky State. While Im proud of that fact, there are challenges on the horizon. The bankruptcy of Arch Coal sent tremors through the industry. Global coal markets are struggling, domestic energy demand is flat, cheap natural gas is reshaping our economy, and ratepayers across the Pacific Northwest are demanding renewable energy. And then there are the concerns related to climate change. We know it is happening because we see it. Moreover, the financial markets are reacting. We can sit around and try to score political points by assigning blame, or we can take the lead in preparing a responsible future for Montana one that sparks a new generation of clean technology businesses, drives economic growth and creates thousands of good-paying jobs in Montana by modernizing power plants, moving us to more renewable energy, and encouraging innovation and energy efficiency. You often hear a false choice -- that we can either address climate change or continue to produce power from coal -- but not both. I reject this choice. Some might dismiss the debate over our energy future as just more election year fodder. But heres why we cant do that: time. While people argue and point fingers, the world moves forward. The only constant here is a changing market, and as the saying goes, youre either driving the bus, or youre under it. Here are four very important realities: 1. In every challenge there is opportunity -- not just to keep the good jobs we have, but to create new jobs as well. For example: After touring a coal power plant in nearby Saskatchewan that generates electricity while using its carbon emissions to improve oil production at a nearby oil field, I ramped up my efforts to see something like this happen in Montana; My administration has been all in supporting a trailblazing project that will use hydropower to support the development of much more wind energy; Ive asked our state energy experts to analyze what we can do to support larger scale solar and geothermal installations in Montana. Solar energy also offers great promise for Indian Country, and I want to work with our tribal leaders to promote these opportunities. 2. We must not overlook the simple solutions. The easiest way to reduce the impacts of energy is to use less of it. Not only is energy efficiency usually cheaper than developing new energy sources, it puts people to work in our homes and businesses and our electricity bills go down. 3. States like Montana are the best laboratories for finding the path forward. What we need from Washington, D.C., is more incentives and less red tape. I asked Montanas top business leaders what they thought we should do to improve our energy future, and they made several suggestions, including creating an energy infrastructure authority that develops energy opportunities and working with stakeholders to improve permitting. These are two good ideas of many. The future of energy development is shifting beneath our feet, and we must all work together to create a Montana-based plan to tap our full potential to harness jobs and power. 4. Were all in this together. I respect the right of other states to decide their energy futures but also recognize that energy flows across state lines. Thats why I worked closely with legislators from both parties in Washington state and here at home to make sure Montana had a voice in legislation affecting our energy production. Because of our work, it no longer directs a closure process for part of Colstrip. But I still asked Washington Gov. Inslee to veto it because I think we can do better. Our energy future is full of tall challenges. To meet them, I'll continue working with energy leaders around the state to chart a path that doesnt turn our back on the need to protect jobs in Colstrip, yet that also embraces the real promise of thousands of jobs in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and developing technologies we can adopt in Montana to better produce energy from traditional resources. It may not be as simple as a sound bite, but developing meaningful public policy rarely is. When we do it right, well be able to say we found the right balance: we protected our outdoors (and the tens of thousands of Montana jobs that rely on clean water, clean air and agriculture); we provided wealth to our citizens in the form of good jobs. When we do it right, we will be proud to pass on a Montana that is still the envy of the nation for our quality of life and economic stability. My kids, your kids, and all children in every corner of this state deserve no less. A Bozeman lawmaker has filed a motion asking Montana's chief political regulator to recuse himself from investigating a campaign complaint filed with his office in February. The motion, submitted last week by attorney and Republican state Rep. Matthew Monforton, calls on Commissioner of Political Practices Jonathan Motl to bow out of his offices inquiry into a pair of Democrats accused of illegally using a state worker as a campaign staffer while they sought election to separate offices in 2012. That investigation, sparked by a complaint also authored by Monforton, alleges Montana Auditor Monica Lindeen and her chief legal counsel, Jesse Laslovich, unlawfully instructed an auditors office staffer to make deposits on behalf of Lindeens second re-election campaign. The complaint seeks both Democrats removal from upcoming primary and general election ballots. Last weeks motion -- the latest in a long-running paper fight between Motl and Monforton -- cites a $50 campaign contribution Motl made to Laslovichs 2012 campaign for attorney general, arguing the donation amounts to a general expression of support for Laslovich. It goes on to accuse Motl of dragging out his investigation into Laslovich and Lindeen in an effort to exhaust a four-year statute of limitations on campaign finance violations. The conflict arising from Motl investigating the handling of his own contributions to a fellow Democrat should be obvious, and his refusal to recuse himself taints any decision he makes in the case, Monforton added in an email on Tuesday. He said he didnt know about Motls donation to Laslovich when he first filed the complaint. Motl didn't deny a potential conflict of interest, nor did he say he would back away from issuing a decision on the matter. The first-term commissioner said its not against the law for him to stay on the case, before adding his office has, "for budget and policy reasons," declined to recuse itself from similar cases in the past. Motl is one of three defendants named in a March suit Monforton filed against the Disclose Act, a divisive campaign finance bill passed by the Montana Legislature in 2015. Monforton has derided the law as little more than an incumbent protection act -- one his clients do not plan to abide by ahead of Novembers general election. Reached for comment Tuesday, Motl said he's read Monfortons recusal motion and expects his office to issue a decision on it, along with a decision on the initial complaint, by the end of the week. ABC News (WASHINGTON) -- Republican front-runner Donald Trump knows how to plan election night events, but he isn't holding one Tuesday night. Neither is Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. Both of the respective front-runners are expected not to win Tuesday night's primary in Wisconsin, but are both hoping that it doesn't impact their path to the nomination. "It's funny that in the course of this, the dominant front-runners are not dominant going into the blue cheese state," ABC News political analyst Matt Dowd said on Good Morning America Tuesday. Comparing Candidates Numbers The latest poll, released by Marquette University on March 30, had Texas Sen. Ted Cruz leading Trump by 10 points, and Gov. John Kasich by 19 points. The margin is smaller for the Democrats, with the same poll showing Sen. Bernie Sanders only beating Clinton by 4 points. Clinton spent the fewest number of days in the state and made the fewest stops since declaring her candidacy -- only spending five days in the Badger state where she made nine stops. Sanders spent nine days total in the state and jammed 17 events in during that time. By comparison, Gov. John Kasich spent six days in the state, Trump spent seven days and Cruz spent 10 days. Why Trump May Be Lagging A series of controversial incidents last week that could impact turnout with female voters and an organized anti-Trump movement could be two of the biggest factors stopping Trump from raising his poll numbers. In the course of one week, Trump prompted criticism after retweeting an unflattering photo of Heidi Cruz next to a photo of his wife Melania, made roundly-condemned statements about the prospect of punishing women if they got banned abortions and defended his campaign manager after he was charged with simple battery of a female reporter. Coupled with those incidents, there were organized anti-Trump efforts in the states, including radio interviews with notable local political commentator and self-proclaimed member of the "Never Trump" movement Charlie Sykes. Cruz believes that Trump's rhetoric and tone did not fall on fond ears among Wisconsin residents. "I think one of the dynamics were seen more and more is, is Donald Trumps angry, screaming, cursing, yelling attacks. People are tuning it out," Cruz told ABC News on Monday. "I mean, theyve discovered thats the only thing he knows how to do." According to ABC News estimates, Trump has a total of 737 delegates and Cruz has 475 total delegates (including superdelegates), meaning that they would need 500 and 762 delegates respectively to secure the nomination. For Trump, that would mean that he needs to win 57 percent of the coming contests, while Cruz would need to win 87 percent. What a Loss Means for Clinton Clinton was last in Wisconsin on Saturday before turning her attention to her adopted home state of New York, where the next big primary is held in two weeks. That stands in contrast to Sanders, who is likely banking on using Wisconsin to build momentum. "On the Democratic side, it's important because if Bernie Sanders wins, he's won six out of the last seven," Dowd told ABC. Going into Tuesday night, Clinton has won a total of 20 contests and Sanders has won 15. There are 86 pledged delegates and 10 superdelegates up for grabs by the Democrats, and no matter who wins, it won't make-or-break the nomination for them from a mathematical standpoint. ABC News estimates that Clinton has a total of 1,712 delegates and Sanders has a total of 1,011 delegates, but 27 percent of Clintons delegates are super delegates while only 3 percent of Sanders are super delegates, who could still change their mind at any point until the convention in July. "I don't think Hillary loses the nomination because of a loss in Wisconsin but it complicates her life greatly," Dowd said, noting that it "forces her to rely on super delegates." Copyright 2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved. At a session of the Armenian parliament today, MP Khachatour Kokobelyan called on the Armenian government to demand from Russia that it annuls its armaments deal with Azerbaijan. Kokobelyan said that the past few days of fighting along the Karabakh Line of Contact, during which Azerbaijan used Russian-made offensive weaponry, proves that Russian arms supplies to Baku are more than just simple business deals. By doing so, Kokobelyan argues, Moscow was upsetting the regional balance of power and thus hindering the Karabakh peace process. The MP said that Russia, as a Minsk Group co-chair, is violating the principle of impartiality and, as a member of CSTO, is violating Article 1 of that organizations treaty. You have permission to edit this collection. Edit Close Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-04-06 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 63/16 06.04.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci: "We need a government that will uphold the interests of the Turkish Cypriots above everything else" [02] Akinci met with the four political parties in the "parliament" after the collapse of the "coalition government" [03] Independent "deputies" on the formation of a new "coalition government" [04] Akinci will address the 19th Eurasian Economic summit in Istanbul [05] The Turkish Cypriot press publishes the draft of the "economic protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime for 2016-18 [06] Contrary to his party, CTP's Akansoy defends the "economic protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime for 2016-18 [07] The Turkish Cypriot "jurists" oppose to the inclusion of the "judiciary" in the provisions of the "economic protocol" with Turkey for 2016-18 [08] DEV-IS: "The economic protocol will erase the Turkish Cypriots [09] General Akar confirmed the withdrawal of Turkish army from the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus [10] The regime is preparing to pass "laws" threatening the rights and freedoms [11] The Speaker of Jordan's House of Representatives visited the Turkish Cypriot companies at the Arabuild Exhibition 2016 [12] Low interest for the "white identity card" [13] Turkish and Israeli delegations will meet in Geneva to finalize normalization [14] Erdogan: PKK supporters could be stripped of citizenship [15] Columnist wonders whether Davutoglu fell from Erdogan's grace [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci: "We need a government that will uphold the interests of the Turkish Cypriots above everything else" Illegal Bayrak television (06.04.16) broadcast that the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has said that what they need is a "government" which will uphold the interests of the Turkish Cypriots above everything else. Speaking before departing for Istanbul this morning, he said that the Turkish Cypriots need a "government" which could pass reforms, which should focus on the solution of the Cyprus problem and find solutions on domestic issues. "None of the party leaders I met with yesterday claimed that they had the sufficient majority to receive a vote of confidence in parliament. They all requested a couple of days to hold contacts with each other so as to come to an agreement on a suitable government model. I'm hoping the picture will become clearer by Friday so that I may decide on whom to give the mandate to" he said. Responding to questions, he said that "the process to set up a new government was proceeding in a manner dictated by the constitution". He also expressed the view that the establishment of a "government" as soon as possible was for the benefit of everyone. In addition, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (06.04.16) reports that speaking after the meetings he held with the Turkish Cypriot parties that are represented in the "assembly", Akinci stated that the formation of a new "government" will be important for the solution procedure that is taking place now which is extremely important for the future of the Turkish Cypriots and for solving domestic issues. He also stated that it will be important for him to be in good terms and co-operate with the new "government". [02] Akinci met with the four political parties in the "parliament" after the collapse of the "coalition government" According to illegal Bayrak television (online, 05.04.16), self-styled prime minister Omer Kalyoncu handed to Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci his "government's resignation" on Tuesday morning following the withdrawal of the National Unity Party (UBP) from the CTP-UBP "coalition government". Speaking during the meeting, Akinci said that he will launch the necessary contacts for the establishment of a new "government". Following the meeting, Akinci met in turn with the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat, the leader of the National Unity Party (UBP) Huseyin Ozgurgun, the leader of the Democratic Party (DP) Serdar Denktas and the leader of the Social Democratic Party (TDP) Cemal Ozyigit. In a short statement after his meeting with Akinci, Talat said that they are prepared to take on responsibility and as the largest party in power they are prepared to serve the people, find solution to problems in the "country" and support the ongoing Cyprus negotiations process. "We are prepared to take on responsibility but the president (editor's note: the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci) will decide who will be appointed with establishing the new government", Talat added. After his meeting with Akinci, Ozgurgun said that Akinci had asked his views on the issue of setting up a new "government". He said that Akinci will continue his meetings with the political parties when he returns from Istanbul on Friday. Responding to a question as to whether or not the UBP has asked to be given the mandate to form a new "government", Ozgurgun said that "it is the president which has full authority and that they had made no such request". Following his meetings with the CTP and UBP leaders, Akinci met with the leader of the DP Serdar Denktas. Speaking to reporters afterwards, Denktas said that the possible scenarios for a new coalition government are clear as no political party has a clear majority in "parliament". He expressed the view that a coalition model will emerge by the weekend and that this should be done without too much delay. Denktas also said that "forming a new coalition will be easy once the president shows the way", adding that they are open to all offers. Akinci held his last meeting with the leader of the TDP Cemal Ozyigit. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, the TDP leader said that politics in the "country" have reached a deadlock and that the current makeup of the "parliament" does not represent the political will of the people. Ozyigit further said that the TDP is insistent on holding early elections which he added should be the priority of any coalition to be formed. Also touching upon the issue of the economic protocol, the TDP leader said that the details of the protocol have just emerged in the press today (yesterday) and that under no circumstances his party will join a partnership where it will be forced to put its signature under the protocol. "We shall not mortgage the future of the Turkish Cypriot people. Let our sensitivities on this issue be known", he added. Ozyigit also said that they will be discussing the issue both with the other parties as well as at the party assembly on Thursday. [03] Independent "deputies" on the formation of a new "coalition government" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (06.04.16) reports that some of the independent "deputies" made statements about the formation of a new "coalition government" and expressed their support to certain parties. Hasan Tacoy stated that the only scenario he sees to be realized it is a coalition between the National Unity Party (UBP) and the Democratic Party (DP) and stated that he would support such a co-operation. On his part, Onder Sennaroglu stated that he will support any "government: that will be established and stated that it is extremely important a new coalition to be formed the soonest possible. He also said that there is no time to lose and together with "motherland Turkey", should work aiming to overcome any difficulties. Finally, Faiz Sucuoglu, "deputy" with UBP said that the aim of the new "government" is to come along with Turkey. "Our aim is not to form a government despite Turkey but to establish a government that will get along with Turkey", he said. (CS) [04] Akinci will address the 19th Eurasian Economic summit in Istanbul Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris newspaper (06.04.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci flew this morning to Istanbul to attend the 19th Eurasian Economic Summit. Akinci, who attends the summit as guest of the Marmara Group Strategic and Social Research Foundation, will also deliver a speech. He will return to the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus on Friday morning. (DPs) [05] The Turkish Cypriot press publishes the draft of the "economic protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime for 2016-18 Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (06.04.16) reports that according to the provisions of the draft of the "economic protocol" to be signed between Turkey and the breakaway regime for the period 2016-18, the infrastructure of the occupied ports and the "telecommunication authority" will be transferred to a "private-public partnership", the retirement age will increase to 65, the percentages of the fees in the health sector will increase and the "state planning organization" will be abolished. The details of the "protocol" had been announced the day before yesterday by Kanal Sim television. The full text of the draft is published also in daily Yeni Duzen today (06.04.16) and in Detay newspaper's website. Under the title "What is included in the draft of the Turkey-TRNC protocol", Halkin Sesi publishes the main provisions of the draft "protocol", which are the following: - The retirement age will increase to 65 (the retirement age in the occupied area increased seven years ago). - The "electricity authority" will be divided in three enterprises and the distribution will be privatized in December 2017. - The contributions to the "social insurance" and "providence" funds will increase. - A new penalty under the name of "probation tax" will be imposed in the debts owed to the "state". - The professional "chambers" will not submit documents during the tender procedures. - The personnel expenses of the "municipalities" will not exceed 35% of their budget. - The funds will be totally and urgently abolished. - The ratio of the personnel expenses to the local income will decrease from 80% to 70%. - The contributions to the "providence fund" will be equalized. - The business tax will increase. - The bankruptcy and foreclosure system will be speeded up. - Turkey's judiciary system will be implemented in the occupied area of Cyprus. - A mediation institution will be established before disputes going to "court". - A public transportation company will be established with the participation of the "municipalities". - The fees in the health sector will increase and an additional "participation fee" will be taken. - The pensioners who will start working again will pay an insurance contribution but this money will not influence their pension. - Public land will more easily be given to foreign investors in the field of tourism. - The operation of the ports will be transferred to the private sector. - The infrastructure and the services in the telecommunications will be transferred to a public-private partnership. - The price supports on agriculture will be abolished. - The organizations for agricultural products and dairy products (TUK and SUTEK respectively) will be turned into "intervention institutions". - Private insurance will be implemented in agriculture. - The overtime work will be terminated in the "ports" and "customs" and the two-shifts system will be implemented. - Companies with foreign partners will be granted "permit" for transport/carrying vehicles. - The "state planning organization" will be abolished". (I/Ts.) [06] Contrary to his party, CTP's Akansoy defends the "economic protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime for 2016-18 Turkish Cypriot daily Diyalog newspaper (06.04.16) reports that Asim Akansoy, outgoing "minister" of interior and labor of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus who comes from the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), has defended the "economic protocol" to be signed between Turkey and the breakaway regime for the period 2016-18, contrary to the views expressed by some members of his party. In statements to Diyalog TV yesterday, Akansoy argued that except for the part concerning the "electricity authority" (KIB-TEK) everything which was included in the "protocol" are "texts suggested to us by experts of the World bank and the European Union". Akansoy criticized what he called as a "complex" of those who complain that this ["protocol"] has come from Turkey. Akansoy argued that the "public" sector and the "social insurance" have collapsed and measures should be taken. The paper writes that Akansoy seemed very annoyed by the "inconsistent and frail criticism" and noted that "the realities should be discussed now". "There is no incoherent situation in the economic protocol", he argued adding that he was surprised by the National Unity Party's (UBP) withdrawal from the "government", because there was absolutely no concrete reason for this. Akansoy claimed that the only problematic situation in the "protocol" concerns "KIB-TEK" and added that the discussions on this issue had come to a certain point ten days ago and the process was advancing. He noted that he had visited the Turkish "ambassador" in the occupied area of the island, who also told him the same thing. Arguing that technical issues remained on two points, Akansoy claimed that Turkey says that the issue of "KIB-TEK" is not urgent for them and expressed the view that the big "quarrels" on the "protocol" are wrong. (I/Ts.) [07] The Turkish Cypriot "jurists" oppose to the inclusion of the "judiciary" in the provisions of the "economic protocol" with Turkey for 2016-18 Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (06.04.16) reports that Narin Ferdi Sefik, "president" of the "supreme court" of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus has described as "unacceptable and contrary to the constitution" the inclusion of a provisions regarding the regime's "judiciary" in the "economic protocol" to be signed between Turkey and the breakaway regime for the period 2016-18. In statements yesterday during the oath ceremony of some "judges", Sefik described as "unacceptable", wrong and "contrary to the constitution" to discuss the independence, impartiality, accountability and transparency of the "judiciary" under a chapter titled "the way of action as regards the judiciary" in an environment where the "supreme court of justice" is not represented. Expressing her sorrow about the information that provisions for the regime's "judiciary" are included in the "economic protocol" with Turkey, Sefik said that asking to include the "judiciary" in an economic package is incomprehensible. She noted that the "supreme court of justice" is responsible for the general and orderly operation of the "judiciary". She finally said that she would issue a statement when she is "officially" informed and noted that she does not want to believe that such an issue is included in the "economic protocol". Moreover, according to the same paper, the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot "bar association", Unver Bedevi also reacted on the same issue saying that he could not understand the inclusion of the "judiciary" in the "economic protocol". Bedevi stressed on the importance of the "judiciary's independence" and the "rule of law". He said that they are extremely sensitive on this issue and they will struggle until the end for the "judiciary's independence". Bedevi said that the "judiciary" in the occupied area of the island faces many problems due to lack of financial resources, but transferring the negative practices from Turkey to the occupied area will not contribute to the solution of these problems. (I/Ts.) [08] DEV-IS: "The economic protocol will erase the Turkish Cypriots Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (06.04.16) reports that DEV-IS Trade Union criticized the "2016-18 economy protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime noting that it will erase the Turkish Cypriots. DEV-IS stated that the efforts that are taking place regarding the economic protocol are towards putting an end to the identity, existence and will of the Turkish Cypriots. Commenting on the collapse of the "government" and the efforts of forming a new coalition, DEV-IS stated that any "government" that will be formed is not as important as safeguarding the interests of the Turkish Cypriots. It went on and added that "the privatization of state departments like telecommunication or the rumors for closing down the state development organization, in the framework of the new protocol, shows that there is an intervention to the legal system". (CS) [09] General Akar confirmed the withdrawal of Turkish army from the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus Columnist Saygi Ozturk, writing in Turkish daily Sozcu newspaper (online, 05.04.16), under the title "Is the Turkish army withdrawing?", reported that while the Cyprus talks are continuing, a Turkish battalion from the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus was sent to Turkey with the aim of "fighting against terrorism". Ozturk wrote that when they talked with military authorities, they were told that the duty of "fighting against terrorism" does not belong to the army but to the Interior Ministry. The paper reported that the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government made a lot of amendments in the laws regarding the army, adding that soldiers are extracted from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) on the grounds that they are involved with "reactionary activities". It is reported that one important part of the Turkish army in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus was withdrawn, adding that one of the two battalions from Alevkaya area (Transl. note: as an area near occupied Chartzia village is named by the regime) has been sent to Sirnak's Beytussebap district in Turkey. Ozturk argued that the dispatching of this military unit to Turkey was an important step of reducing the Turkish army while the Cyprus talks are going on. Ozturk writes in his today commentary (06.04.16) that the Ertugrulgazi Ozkurkcu, the Head of the Turkish General Staff's information department, conveyed a message by General Hulusi Akar, Chief of the General Staff of the Turkish Armed Forces, confirming that a Turkish battalion from the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus consisting of very highly educated and trained non-commissioned officers was sent to Sirnak's Beytussebap district. Their duty is reportedly to protect the base. When their duty is completed, they will be sent back to the "TRNC", it is said. According to the announcement, this withdrawal has nothing to do with the Cyprus talks. (DPs) [10] The regime is preparing to pass "laws" threatening the rights and freedoms Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (06.04.16) reports that Baris Mamali, chairman of the "rule of law movement" in the occupied area of Cyprus, has criticized seven "draft-laws" regarding security which the "government" of the breakaway regime submitted to the "assembly" last week. Mamali said that these "draft-laws" do not include any mechanism to protect the individuals from being used from ill intentions. The "draft-laws" to which Mamali was referring provide for wiretapping of phone conversations, rewarding informers who help the "police" etc. Mamali described these "draft-laws" as problematic and added that these are seriously threatening the rights and freedoms. (I/Ts.) [11] The Speaker of Jordan's House of Representatives visited the Turkish Cypriot companies at the Arabuild Exhibition 2016 Turkish Cypriot daily Star Kibris (06.04.16) reports that the Speaker of Jordan's House of Representatives Atif Et-Taravine visited the stand of the "TRNC companies" at the Arabuild Exhibition 2016. According to a press release by the "Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry" (KTSO), Taravine, during the visit which was held the previous day, thanked the Turkish Cypriot companies for the interest they have showed in the fair for the reconstruction of Gazza. Taravine had also exchanged views with the representatives of the companies for their products. Meanwhile, the attending companies in the fair had a meeting with M. Muder Tirhi, an official of the "Palestinian contractors association", where they exchanged views on getting in contact with the companies in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus which are related to the construction sector. According to the press release, it was revealed that members of the contractors association will visit the manufacturing facilities and a part of the material that will be used for the reconstruction of Gazza will be supplied by the "TRNC". It is reported that the visit may be on September or October after the necessary initiatives. Furthermore, the responsible on foreign affairs and fairs of the "KTSO" Caglar Turk will visit the Amman Trade of Commerce, as well as the Associations of Arabic Businessmen and Jordanian Businessmen. (DPs) [12] Low interest for the "white identity card" Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (06.04.16) reports that the interest for obtaining the white identity card is low and adds that despite the fact that the "ministry of interior" was expecting 10,000 persons to show interest for the card, around 500 persons have applied for the white identity card so far. The paper writes that some representatives of civil society organizations stated that the card is just "empty promises" and argue that it erase the rights won by persons who lived in the breakaway regime for years having a working permit. They even stated that Turkey has called them on not to apply for the white identity card. Speaking to Havadis, various representatives of settlers associations stated that they are against the card. Mehmet Ipek, the chairman of the "solidarity and culture association" of the settlers coming from Alexandretta stated that the white identity card does not give any hope or any promise for the future. On his part, Bertan Zaroglu, chairman of the "Alexandretta Culture Association" said that "this is the worse, the most unjust and unnecessary law" and added that he calls from every platform to people not to apply for the white identity card. Mesut Ayar, chairman of the "Gaziantep Culture and solidarity association" said that the "government" has not informed the persons of interest about the new law and did not ask their opinion on the issue. (CS) [13] Turkish and Israeli delegations will meet in Geneva to finalize normalization According to Turkish daily Sabah (online, 06.04.16), delegations from Turkey and Israel will meet in Geneva today as both sides gear up for the normalization of ties nearly five years after these deteriorated due to an Israeli raid on a Turkish vessel delivering aid to the Gaza Strip. Turkey and Israel started talks to normalize diplomatic relations during a meeting in Switzerland in early February, and delegations from the two countries will continue the efforts to successfully finalize it on Tuesday. According to Israeli sources, there have been several draft statements regarding provisions of the normalization agreement exchanged between Turkish and Israeli officials since the latest meeting. Speaking to Daily Sabah on Tuesday, Dr Gallia Lindenstrauss from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Israel drew attention to the positive attitudes from both the Turkish and Israeli sides and Dr Fahrettin Altun, the Istanbul coordinator for the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), said that although it is an ongoing process, normalization between the two countries is necessary. Additionally, Salom newspaper columnist Karel Valansi similarly touched on the positive attitude in the meetings, saying: "A deal is possible with the good will of both sides." According to reports in the Israeli Haaretz daily, the Wednesday meeting is considered a first in diplomatic traffic due to a meeting being signalled by the President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rather than being announced through media outlets. Although the location of the meeting is expected to be in Geneva, like the previous meetings, it is still undecided. [14] Erdogan: PKK supporters could be stripped of citizenship According to Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 05.04.16), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said April 5 that Turkey must be resolute in using all measures against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), including stripping its supporters of the Turkish citizenship, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has also vowed not to negotiate with the group. "Perhaps we are dying one by one, but at least we are killing them in their tens, twenties and thirties. This is continuing like that. We have to be resolute in taking all measures to incapacitate supporters of the terror organization, including stripping them of their citizenship. They cannot even be our citizens", Erdogan said in an address to lawyers in Ankara for Lawyer's Day. Davutoglu also swiftly followed in the footsteps of Erdogan, saying nobody should expect their ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to take the PKK as an "interlocutor". "Nobody should expect from us to address the terror organization who have arms and blood on their hands as an interlocutor. From now on, we have a single interlocutor; that is our nation and each individual of our nation", Davutoglu said April 5. [15] Columnist wonders whether Davutoglu fell from Erdogan's grace Under the title "Did PM Davutoglu fall from President Erdogan's grace?", columnist Serkan Demirtas, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 06.04.16), writes that although the differences between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu were put aside in the aftermath of Nov. 1 elections, in order to form a powerful government, these differences have been resurfacing in the last few days from strong-worded statements of President Erdogan in the following commentary: "There are five main issues on which Erdogan does not hesitate to express his non-satisfaction with the performance Davutoglu's government has shown so far. One of them is the fight against terror. First thing President Erdogan did in his return from the United States was to convene a security meeting with the participation of senior military and civilian authorities to discuss the recent rise in the number of casualties given in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). This meeting came as some newspapers have quoted Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying that the government was thinking to de-freeze the peace process with the Kurds if the terrorists would drop their arms. President Erdogan openly challenged Davutoglu in his public statement on the same day his words appeared in the media, by saying that there were no any other options than fully defeating terrorists. The Prime Minister had to echo Erdogan's line on April 5, a complete backtrack on what he had said over the weekend. The second thing Erdogan is not very happy with is the government's delay in taking steps for the removal of specific lawmakers' immunities. In his statement on April 5, Erdogan openly expressed that he was failing to understand why the government was not taking an initiative on this issue. Third is on the new Constitution. President Erdogan has long been pushing the government to launch a campaign to promote the presidential system to ready the public opinion for a potential referendum. Erdogan's pressure on Davutoglu has yielded results as the Prime Minister announced that works by the AKP for the writing of the new Constitution have started with the objective of accomplishing the process before the end of June. Another contentious area in regards to the new Constitution will be how the draft will define the presidential system, duties and responsibilities of the President as well as checks and balances mechanisms. Speaking to reporters a week ago, Davutoglu described a presidential system to be strictly controlled by a strong check and balances mechanism. It's not yet sure whether this definition will suit what Erdogan has in mind. The fourth issue is the fight against the parallel structure. There are a number of indications showing Erdogan's uneasiness with the effectiveness of the fight against the parallel structure within the state. Prime Minister Davutoglu's decision to hold a separate meeting to discuss additional measures in this fight is surely an attempt to ease Erdogan's concerns. Fifth point in this scope has been voiced by Erdogan on April 5 in response to Davutoglu's statement that he was in principle against of pre-trial detentions, apparently referring to academics who have been arrested after they signed a petition on issues concerning the fight against terror. "Why shouldn't academics be detained?" Erdogan asked in his statement, openly challenging the Prime Minister after he said "Turkey should consider stripping supporters of terrorism of their citizenship"." TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (DPs/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-06 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] ND leader: Tsipras is incorrigible and must leave now [02] Sit-in protest at Piraeus port; migrants demand open borders [01] ND leader: Tsipras is incorrigible and must leave now Main opposition New Democracy leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a statement on Wednesday called Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras incorrigible and accused him of damaging the country and must leave now. "Today we all know the conclusion of Mr. Tsipras performance that started on Saturday," said Mitsotakis noting that the IMF remains in the programme and, as he claims, stronger than before along with its very often excessive demands. Mitsotakis said that unfortunately Greece's position and credibility were further weakened and that new very painful measures for all the citizens are on the way. He referred to a tax shock planned by the government which will strangle the economy and will dramatically worsen the crisis in parallel with the uncontrolled, as he said, condition in the refugees crisis that leads the country to suffocation. "At this crucial point, seriousness, truth, determination, credibility inside and outside the country is necessary. This government does not offer anything of those. Mr. Tsipras is incorrigible. He damages the country. Nobody expects nothing from him and that's why he must leave right now." [02] Sit-in protest at Piraeus port; migrants demand open borders Tension prevailed earlier at Piraeus port. Migrants and refugees are staging a sit-in protest after the end of their briefing by the involved ministries secretary generals. The refugees are very annoyed and ask for the borders to open. "We are also humans and the borders must open," said and underlined that the conditions in many hosting facilities are not good. Port authorities attempted to arrest one person which brought tension between migrants and authorities. One migrant threatened the officers that he will hit them with an infant. The condition has calmed down, however, the sit-in protest continues. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-06 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Meeting underway between government's economic team and institutions [02] EU Commission presents options for fairer and sustainable asylum system [03] Patrick the bear is freed into the wild after a year in human care [01] Meeting underway between government's economic team and institutions A meeting between Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Economy Minister George Stathakis and Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis with representatives of the institutions got underway in Athens on Wednesday. According to finance ministry's officials, the meeting will focus on the process through which the negotiations will reach a draft agreement in the next days. The Greek side has already submitted its proposals on 1.8 billion euro package of measures on the pension and the tax system, as well as on the non-performing loans and is now expecting the response of the institutions. [02] EU Commission presents options for fairer and sustainable asylum system BRUSSELS (ANA-MPA/ Ch. Vassilaki) - The European Commission on Wednesday started the discussion on the future revision of the Dublin Regulation, presenting options for a more "fair" and "sustainable" allocation system for asylum seekers among EU member states. The first option proposed concerns the maintenance of the existing Dublin criteria but with the addition of an "emergency relocation" mechanism to be activated in special cases, i.e. when a member state is "under disproportionate pressure." The second option concerns the transition to a new permanent asylum distribution system based on criteria such as "the size, wealth and the absorption capacity of each member state." "The responsibility is no longer connected to the place of first entry," the Commission stated on the second option, adding that different versions of this option are possible. Finally, the European Commission underlined that it will work on a series of measures to "support legal migration in Europe" and "integration policies". Among these measures are a more 'structured' resettlement programme and the revision of the European Directive on the Blue Card to more "flexible entrance requirements." [03] Patrick the bear is freed into the wild after a year in human care An orphaned young bear which was rescued in the mountains of Florina in northwestern Macedonia on March 2015 was released back into the wild on Wednesday after a year in the care of an environmental center. Patrick, the bear, who was just a few weeks old when he was found by the Arktouros Environmental Organization, lived under the close supervision of his carers who provided food and shelter but also training on how to survive in nature for when he would be released. When he was found a year ago, Patrick weighed just three kilos and was weak. A year later, he's a healthy young bear weighing 45 kilos that has learned to survive in nature. According to Arktouros, Patrick's care program was extended by almost two months because the unusually high temperatures in Greece didn't allow him to go into hibernation. Therefore, instead of releasing the bear during winter in a hibernation nest, he was kept until spring so that he would be freed directly in the forest. On Wednesday, Patrick was sedated and transported to a forest area, away from humans and inhabited regions, where he was freed. His carers left him food so that he wouldn't have a difficulty surviving in the first few days of his new life. The staff of Arktouros said they will continue to monitor his movements through an attached collar-transmitter that will provide information on his well-being. This is the third rehabilitation operation of an orphaned bear for the center and the most difficult, given the animal's very young age. Photo: AA Karamanlidis / Arcturos Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-06 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Government's economic team concludes meeting with institutions [02] PM Tsipras says EU proposals on revision of Dublin Treaty are a step forward [03] Financial prosecutors call former PM aide, businessman for questioning on off shore firm [04] Foreign investors net buyers in Greek stock market in March [01] Government's economic team concludes meeting with institutions A meeting between Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos, Economy Minister George Stathakis and Alternate Finance Minister Giorgos Chouliarakis with the representatives of the institutions concluded in Athens on Wednesday evening. According to finance ministry's officials, the meeting discussed the process through which the negotiations will reach a draft agreement in the next few days. Sources from the heads of the institutions' mission said efforts are focused on recording the progress made in a document which could take the form of an announcement, in which the two sides will be noting the significant progress made or the achievement of an interim agreement. [02] PM Tsipras says EU proposals on revision of Dublin Treaty are a step forward Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the proposals unveiled by the European Commission on Wednesday to overhaul the EU's asylum procedure and migration policy are a step in the right direction. "The European Commission's proposals for the revision of the Dublin treaty are a positive step forward," he tweeted. "The Refugee Crisis requires comprehensive management and solidarity between all European countries," he added. [03] Financial prosecutors call former PM aide, businessman for questioning on off shore firm Financial prosecutors have called a close adviser of former prime minister Antonis Samaras, the lawyer Stavros Papastavrou, for questioning next week on the ownership of an off shore company. Along with Papastavrou, the prosecutors also called businessman Sabby Mionis to appear before them, as he appears to be the owner of the off shore company in question, STABRI Ltd. The two business partners are suspected of having committed felony offenses following a batch of new evidence acquired by the prosecutors. The name of Papastavrou appeared in documents leaked by several international newspapers in the so-called "Panama papers" affair. [04] Foreign investors net buyers in Greek stock market in March Foreign investors raised their participation in the capitalization of the Greek stock market in March to 60 pct including the participation of Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, while excluding HFSF's participation their share rose to 63.3 pct in March from 62.3 pct in February. Foreign investors were net buyers in March with capital inflows of 5.93 million euros, while Greek investors were net sellers with capital outflows of 5.91 million. The value of transactions amounted to 1.602 billion euros in March, up 25.6 pct from February and up 14.6 pct from March 2015. Average daily value of transactions was 80.11 million euros in March, up from 60.74 million in February but down from 89.32 million euros in March last year. The number of active investor codes fell to 17,253 in March from 21,159 in February and 32,776 in March 2015. The market's capitalization was 34.68 billion euros at the end of March, up 11.4 pct from a month earlier but down 11.9 pct from March 2015. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article SPRINGFIELD - A bill sponsored by State Representative Peter Breen (R-Lombard) to strengthen the Illinois Open Meetings Act is advancing to the House floor, after receiving a unanimous favorable vote in the House Judiciary-Civil Committee on Tuesday. HB 5683 would amend the Open Meetings Act to extend the timeframe to seek a judicial remedy for citizens who file Open Meetings Act grievances with the Illinois Attorney Generals office. Today, those who believe a violation of the Open Meetings Act has occurred have just 60 days from the date of the violation to seek remedy from the courts, said Breen. But many citizens first contact the Attorney Generals office for an opinion by the Public Access Counsel (PAC). If the PAC investigation takes more than 60 days, the clock for filing a grievance with the courts will have expired. This bill will start the 60-day clock only after the decision by the Attorney Generals office. DePaul University College Republicans President Nicole Been CHICAGO - College Republicans at DePaul University are being accused of hate crime after the group chalked conservative comments on campus sidewalks. Despite "chalking" being acceptable to university policy, the group is being criticized for praising conservative values, the nation of Israel, candidates in the GOP primary, and the Blue Lives Matter movement, Hypeline reports. Nicole Been, president of DePaul's College Republicans and head of Students for Trump, said accusations being tossed around of "hate crimes" for supporting conservative values are symptomatic of other problems. With 48.3% of the GOP vote, Cruz won another 33 delegates over Trump's 35.1%, which won him only three delegates. Kasich, at 14.1%, won no additional delegates Tuesday. MILWAUKEE - Tuesday, Illinois' GOP neighbors just to the north heeded Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker 's advice and voted for Senator Ted Cruz over front-runner businessman Donald Trump and Ohio Governor John Kasich in the GOP presidential primary. Cruz thanked Governor Walker and the voters in Wisconsin for their support in an acceptance speech in Milwaukee, and said the win was a "turning point." It is a rallying cry, the Texas senator said. It is a call from the hard-working men and women from Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice. We have a real choice. Donald Trump's campaign sent out a bitter concession speech from New York, where the candidate was stationed to hear the results: Donald J. Trump withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again. Lyin' Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him. Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump super PAC's spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC's (which is illegal) who totally control him. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet --- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. Mr. Trump is the only candidate who can secure the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton, or whomever is the Democratic nominee, in order to Make America Great Again. New York state will hold its presidential primary in two weeks. Maruti Suzuki has added a new CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) variant to its NEXA offering Baleno. The Baleno has been a successful product for the Indian car manufacturer with it becoming the most exported car by the company in the month of February. By India Today Web Desk: Maruti Suzuki has announced that the Zeta trim of the Baleno will be offered with a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) option. The Delta trim of the Baleno was already available with the CVT option before. Maruti Suzuki offers the CVT option only on petrol models of the Baleno. ALSO READ: Maruti Suzuki Baleno continues to impress advertisement Introducing the new variant Maruti Suzuki India's Executive Director for Marketing & Sales RS Kalsi said, "Baleno has rapidly found success to become a popular premium hatchback owing to its design, technology and performance. We are thankful to customers for the support and continue our efforts to improve its availability. The automatic option - Continuous Variable Transmission - offered on the Delta variant has been much appreciated by the customers. We are now offering CVT on the Zeta variant as well, to popularise two pedal technologies." ALSO READ: Maruti Suzuki Baleno vs Honda Jazz vs Hyundai i20 vs Volkswagen PoloGT Diesel The new variant of the Baleno will cost Rs 747,701 (ex-showroom Delhi). ALSO READ: Maruti starts export of 'Make in India' Baleno to Europe The Baleno was launched in October 2015 and the company has sold more than 44,000 units till date. The number of total bookings of the Baleno amount to over 1 lakh. It is also the first car by Maruti Suzuki to be exported to Japan. --- ENDS --- In a bid to match the global benchmarks in skilling, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy on Tuesday, April 5, launched transnational skill standards, noting they would help in the "global mobility" of Indian workers By India Today Web Desk: Indian workers can now have greater "global mobility", thanks to the new skill standards launched by Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, which match the global benchmarks in skilling. According to IANS, Rudy said that the transnational skill standards, launched on Tuesday, April 5, would boost two major initiatives of the government, 'Make in India' and 'Skill India'. advertisement These standards in skill development are benchmarked to the skill standards in Britain across 82 identified job roles. Dominic Asquith, the British High Commissioner to India, was also present during the occasion. In his address, Rudy said that the standardisation of vocational education was crucial in bringing about an increase in the efficiency level of the skilled workforce. "Our endeavour is to benchmark the standards so as to support international mobility of Indian workforce and also prepare them to work in international companies having their operations in the country," he said. He further said that the British standards have been chosen to benchmark the Indian skills standards, since all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recognise British skill certification. The collaboration on skill development between India and Britain has been on for a long time now. Many employers from GCC countries, who had committed employment to Indian workforce certified on the new standards, were also present at the function. Check: Saurashtra University files case against 51 students for mass copying Click here to get more education news. Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here. --- ENDS --- A fresh case of US visa denial has come into light, where around 21 people have been arrested, including10 from Indian American have been arrested so far in visa fraud case. So far, the accused have been charged under the visa fraud for making false statements. By India Today Web Desk: A fresh case of US visa denial has come into light, where US law enforcement agencies have arrested around 21 people, including 10 Indian Americans. The students now face probable deportation. So far, arrests have been made in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Virginia. The persons involved in the visa fraud case allegedly contacted a fake university in New Jersey in order to provide certificates for students legally studying and working in the US. advertisement This fake university was indirectly initiated by a few agents of Homeland Security Investigations (a unit of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration) in order to catch the visa fraud accused. The accused, however, were not aware of the fact that the university they called was being investigated by federal agents working under a sting operation. According to the US authorities, around 1,000 foreign students were given accommodation in the US by the accused after completing all the legal formality from this fake University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ). According to an Associated Press report, federal prosecutors said that people who benefited from the scam were mostly from China and India. These students were already on student visas and further action regarding this would be dealt by immigration authorities -- meaning they would be directly deported. In addition to this, a sentence of five years and 10 years of imprisonment in H-1B visa fraud for illegally entering the US has also been issued. As per the official sources, the Indian Embassy is in constant contact with the US government for seeking fair decision for around 370 Indian students. The embassy has also appealed the US officials not to arrest and deport the Indian students. Last year, the US authorities cancelled the visa of students from India as many were seen enrolled in fake universities like Tri-Valley, and University of Northern Virginia, among others. A statement from the office of US attorney for New Jersey stated that the University of Northern New Jersey, which was established in 2013, had no professors, no curriculum, and conducted no classes. The statement also said that the university could issue I-20s certificate that "operated solely as a storefront location with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators." The arrested includes brokers, recruiters and employers, who have been charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud. The middlemen under arrest paid the undercover agents running the school thousands of dollars to produce paperwork that made it look as if the foreigners were enrolled at UNNJ, federal prosecutors said. This enabled the "students" to maintain their visa status without having to go to class. advertisement The fake UNNJ website guaranteed to deliver "a high quality American education to students from around the world." The site even had a seal in the university colors of bluish-purple and green. Moreover, the website contained links to academic programs, a message from the "President"-- a "Dr. Steven Brunetti, Ph.D.", and photos of attractive young people sitting around a library table or consulting with a faculty member. US Attorney Paul Fishman, in a statement said, "This was just another stop on the `pay-to-stay' tour." In recent years, immigration officials have investigated hundreds of suspected fake schools, or "visa mills." Watch here: Indian diplomat indicted by US court in visa fraud case in 2013 Check: Saurashtra University files case against 51 students for mass copying Click here to get more education news. Get latest updates on exam notifications and scholarships across India and abroad here. --- ENDS --- Here are some shocking facts late actor Pratyusha Banerjee's parents and friends revealed in a press conference on Tuesday night. By India Today Web Desk: TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee's parent finally broke their silence over her death and revealed shocking details about their daughter's last days and her relationship with actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh. "We never really agreed for the match happily, but it was Pratyusha, who insisted on continuing with the relationship. But the last time I had a word with her, she shared with me about her troubled relationship with Rahul. Pratyusha also mentioned about Saloni being the cause for it. I advised her to visit home and discuss the issues with her dad, so that we can sort it out," Pratyusha's father Shankar Banerjee told the media. advertisement Rahul, who is currently in hospital, was on Tuesday booked after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Pratyusha's mother, Soma Banerjee at Bangurnagar Police Station. A team of Mumbai Police will visit Rahul Raj Singh at Sai Hospital today. Also read: Pratyusha Banerjee's friends reveal shocking details Here are some shocking facts Pratyusha's parents and her friends revealed in a press conference on Tuesday night. Father: Shankar Banerjee Rahul used to torture Pratyusha physically and mentally. Rahul and his father were managing Pratyusha's finances. Why did Rahul take her to Kolikaben hospital and not to the hospital nearest to their house? Over the past few months, Rahul has distanced Pratyusha from everyone including us, her staff, her friends and his own family. The police are fully supporting us and we believe we will get justice. I last spoke to her on March 30...She was very interested in astrology and would ask me to read her horoscope. Her star sign was Leo...I was telling her that it was a good year for her. Then I heard her door bell rang and she hung up the phone saying she will talk later. 'Life is difficult, papa...I will tell you all one day,' she told me the same day. We have never met Rahul's parents. If Rahul's parents were so close to Pratyusha, they should have been the first ones to be at the hospital. She was very scared in her last days. She was told that Rahul and his kin are powerful people from Ranchi. Pratyusha always wanted to get married. A lavish wedding was her dream but she met the wrong guy. We didn't know that Pratyusha and Rahul had shifted from Kandivli to Goregaon. The maid told us that a girl named Saloni would torture her but Rahul never protected Pratyusha. In her efforts to correct her mistake, she lost her life. Mother: Soma Banerjee On March 31, Pratyusha called me and asked me, "did you or papa have a chat with Rahul?" I said yes your father talked to him about your future plans. advertisement Pratyusha had realized that she chose the wrong guy. Rahul should be hanged or given life sentence and made to suffer for his entire lifetime. I have heard he destroyed many girls life. He used to doubt her character and hurl all kinds of allegations on her. At the press conferernce, Pratyusha's friends Kamya Punjabi and Vikas Gupta revealed that Rahul had earlier cheated seven girls for money and that has a 9-year-old child from his previous marriage which Pratyusha didn't know about. See pics: TV celebs at Pratyusha Banerjee's prayer meet Also read: Police examining Pratyusha Banerjee's bank accounts Also read: Pratyusha and Rahul got married two months ago at a temple, claims her cousin Also read: Pratyusha Banerjee's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh booked for abetment to suicide --- ENDS --- Three armed militants may have crossed into India, according to intelligence inputs received by police. By India Today Web Desk: Three Pakistani terrorists with arms and ammunition, and a possible suicide belt, may have entered India through the border in Punjab to target Delhi, Mumbai and Goa, the Punjab Police said in an alert today. "Their target could be in Delhi, Goa and Mumbai," the alert issued by the Punjab Police said. "You are directed to take all the necessary steps in this regard and specially focus on strict checking of vehicles, security of all vital installation including police buildings and defence establishments, religious places, crowded places such as market areas, malls, railway stations, railway tracks, and educational institutions," the alert said. advertisement In March, Pakistan National Security Adviser Naseer Janjua had shared information with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval about the possibility of 10 terrorists infiltrating India from Pakistan. Security agencies launched a nationwide manhunt and the government claimed that 3 terrorists were killed. However, details about the operation were not made public. Somnath temple in Gujarat was a prime target during Shivratri on March 7. Following the inputs, Gujarat was put on high alert. Fearing strikes on important installations, public places and places of worship, intelligence agencies had alerted state authorities across the country. Punjab has also witnessed two major terror attacks in the past nine months. Suspected Pakistani terrorists attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base on January 2 and killed seven security personnel. On July 27 last year, three suspected Pakistani terrorists attacked Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district leaving seven people dead. Both attacks took place in areas of Punjab bordering Jammu and Kashmir. --- ENDS --- Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday accused the PM of surrendering to Pakistan and of a secret deal with Nawaz Sharif. Should Kejriwal and his party apologise to PM Narendra Modi over the remarks? Karan Thapar on his show To The Point debated the issue. By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal yesterday came down hard on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allowing a Pakistani probe team , which included an ISI official, to visit Pathankot. Kejriwal accused the PM of surrendering to Pakistan and of a secret deal with Nawaz Sharif. He demanded that the PM should apologise for the monumental foreign policy failure. advertisement Kejriwal's cabinet colleague Water Minister Kapil Mishra went one step further calling PM Modi an agent of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence. These comments were a response to a report in a Pakistani newspaper claiming India stage-managed the Pathankot attack. Should Kejriwal and his party apologise to PM Narendra Modi over the remarks? Karan Thapar on his show To The Point debated the issue with BJP spokesperson Shaina NC, India's Former High Commissioner to Pakistan Satish Chandra, Former Additional Secretary in R&AW Rana Banerji, well-known Pakistani military and political analyst Ayesha Siddiqa and AAP leader Ashutosh. Responding to a question, Ashutosh admitted that Kapil Mishra should have been more "disciplined" in the language that he should for the PM but said there is no question of him apologising. He recalled that it was PM Modi who had called Kejriwal with names like AK47 and a Naxalite in the past. "If Kapil Mishra owes an apology to the PM them PM Modi also owes an apology to Arvind Kejriwal for calling him a Pakistani agent and a Naxalite," Ashutosh said. "This raises a much bigger issue which must be debated. Why the PM of India called ISI and asked them to go to the Pathankot airbase and investigate the terror attack. The Big Questions: Does the Aam Aadmi Party owe PM Modi an apology? Is it guilty of taking seriously unverified leaks? How should we respond to those reports from Pakistan? Treat them as credible or with caution? Kejriwal's statements against the PM unfair? How will India react to Pak media reports? Was India's decision to allow Pak JIT right? Is Pak govt being pressurised by terror groups? Decision to allow ISI member in India wrong? Why is Nawaz Sharif govt silent on Pak media reports? Will NIA team be allowed to visit Pakistan? India's Former High Commissioner to Pakistan Satish Chandra was of the view that political parties should show restraint and be much more responsible while commenting on sensitive issues which are of vital national importance. BJP's Shaina NC responded to Ashutosh's charge saying," What kind of India's picture they are trying to paint infront of the international community? A party which has just established itself chooses to cast aspersions on the integrity on the prime minister." advertisement "If the Aam Aadmi Party had some suggestions, they could have done it in a constructive way. Abusing the PM of the country is only a part of their theatrics and low level politics," she added. Commenting on reports about Pak JIT's claims that the Pathankot terror attack was staged by India, Ayesha Siddiqa pointed out that prime ministers of both the nations are eager to improve the relationship. "The Pakistani military may not believe in that," she added. Also Read What is PM Modi's deal with Nawaz Sharif on Pathankot, asks Arvind Kejriwal --- ENDS --- By Sumiran Kashyap Sahni/Harper's Bazaar: Kareena and Arjun have a history of breaking with cliche. In her early twenties-at a time when an actress vying for a serious Bollywood career may have considered it professional suicide-Kareena essayed the titular role of a prostitute in Chameli (2003). I remember veteran film hacks saying her career was over. The ridiculous basis for this assumption was that this, coupled with news of her seeing someone (Shahid Kapoor), would diminish her appeal for male cinemagoers. Instead, Chameli was followed by a series of diverse, acclaimed, box-office pleasing portrayals, among them Dev (2004), Omkara (2006), Jab We Met (2007), Kurbaan (2009), 3 Idiots (2009), and Heroine (2012). advertisement Also read: Kareena Kapoor Khan twirling in her all-white outfit would make Snow White jealous Arjun got out of a rut he seemed to be settling into with Ishaqzaade (2012), Aurangzeb (2013), and Gunday (2014)-the good-but-bad muscle bound action protagonist-with 2 States (2014), where he lost a few kilos to play geeky Krish Malhotra. Then came a derelict Savio Da Gama in Finding Fanny (2014). A return to the action genre with Tevar (2014) is now being balanced with Ki & Ka, a rom-com where he plays a house husband. In life, he stepped into unfamiliar territory with the now notorious AIB Roast. Humour that pushed the envelope-but led to all hell breaking loose because Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, and Arjun Kapoor were involved. "I was thinking of rebelling against my family," says Kareena. We are sitting on plastic chairs outside the studio. Us and a swarm of mosquitoes. A spot boy places a mosquito coil on the ground. Kareena is explaining why, even though she "wanted to be an actor all my life," she bothered with enrolling in a summer course in microcomputers at Harvard, and then a law degree. Many '80s kids, to rebel, would try their hand at acting. But things were upside down for the Kapoors. "My whole family was into films, so I wanted to show them I was a lot more intelligent, and tried to do something different," she says. "But when you see the size of the law books? it was obviously not an option." She's nonchalant in admitting this many years later, and appears confident of what she wants to do and what she can do. Picture courtesy: Harper's Bazaar Arjun first met Kareena when she signed on to do Khushi (2003), produced by his father Boney Kapoor. They kept meeting after that at social occasions. Khushi had Fardeen Khan, an actor we hardly hear of nowadays. "There are tens of millions of people sitting around in Bombay trying to get the opportunity I've got," says Arjun. "I'll be a fool if I don't put in 200 percent." Here's what led to the opportunity. Arjun wanted to be a screenwriter and director, but a talk with friend and mentor Salman Khan changed things. "He may have seen some spark in me, because I never really liked being in front of the camera. He said, 'you can be a director anytime you want, but you can only be an actor up to a certain age'," Arjun remembers. "He said, 'what do you have to lose? If you fail, you can always direct'." Arjun exclaimed that he would have to lose 50 kilos."You'd better start tomorrow then," Arjun remembers Khan saying. Ki & Ka, Arjun's seventh film, and Kareena's 56th (according to IMDB), has a tagline: Striling Pu-ling samething (Sic; translation: Feminine and masculine are the same.) "But," says writer and director R Balki, "it's not about switching gender roles. It's the respect for any role you play in life-the equality of roles." He chose Arjun for the role of a house husband because he wanted someone all masculine so the character wouldn't be thought of as any less of a man. Conversely, Kareena was cast to portray an ambitious woman driven by her career without "losing her femininity". Picture courtesy: Harper's Bazaar Picture courtesy: Harper's Bazaar advertisement "With my physicality, even the way I'm talking to you, you won't think of me as a house husband," says Arjun. "So you have to let go of that-not the way you look, how you think and feel." Similarly, for Kareena, the biggest challenge was her being a 'feminine' person playing a woman in a man's world. "It's not a stereotype," she says. "Not someone who's obviously dominating." Also read: Kareena Kapoor Khan: I have always done things from the heart What have their own relationships taught them? "Your relationship has to be your priority," says Arjun. "So either you stay focused on your work till you feel you have achieved enough. Or you find a partner who understands that your time is not your time. She (Kareena) chose the correct time to be married, when she was at the prime of her career." Kareena has a different outlook. "There's always time for love. Without love, I wouldn't be able to survive. I've always been like this, given my relationships priority." advertisement Arjun doesn't see himself actually being a house husband."My wife wouldn't want me to run the house because I'd destroy it, basically," he says. "I can pay the bills, run errands. But it's more about valuing whoever is running the house." He turns to Kareena. "Can you imagine Saif running the house?" Kareena laughs. She can't, apparently. But she wouldn't mind such a partner. "The concept is fairly new, but I know a lot of couples who do that." We move on to a larger gender question. Why does the film industry not pay its actresses as much as its actors. "We are a hero driven nation," says Arjun. "Eventually, a film's [financial] recovery is a combination of various elements, including the audience." He thinks films like Tanu Weds Manu (2011)-a film that hinged on its female protagonist and made Rs 140 crores in three weeks-could be a turning point. "There are other revenue streams," he adds. "Actresses have more endorsements and public appearances than actors." advertisement As for roles, Kareena feels things are much better than a decade ago. "Creatively," says Arjun, "women are at par with men in terms of the roles they're being offered." But that doesn't hold for older actresses. Unlike an Amitabh Bachchan, we don't really have a Meryl Streep equivalent in Bollywood yet. "I think Sridevi in English Vinglish (2012) is a reference point," says Arjun."But change will have to be material [script] driven." And while on age, here's another stereotype the actors of Ki & Ka may shatter. The media continues to obsess about how Kareena is five years older than Arjun. "This should become irrelevant, and hopefully we'll start the ending of this conversation," says Arjun. He feels that otherwise, directors will run out of people to cast together and keep repeating the same people. The actors think this may be the first time we're seeing this kind of an age gap in an intimate movie. I point out that it isn't an issue when male stars are paired with actresses much younger to them. "Yes," says Kareena. "And you just can't be obsessed with that." This article originally appeared in the April issue of Harper's Bazaar. --- ENDS --- The Bengaluru police arrested a member of a gang that was involved in robbing ATMs in the city. V Santhosh Kumar Naik (26) was nabbed by the police with the help of the public when a gang had targeted an ATM in Kamakshipalya last week. By Aravind Gowda: The Bengaluru police arrested a member of a gang that was involved in robbing ATMs in the city. V Santhosh Kumar Naik (26) was nabbed by the police with the help of the public when a gang had targeted an ATM in Kamakshipalya last week. According to the police, Naik, who hails from Andhra Pradesh, is a member of a notorious gang that has looted money from ATMs in the past. On March 31st night, he attempted robbing an ATM after assaulting the security guard. However, he fled from the scene of crime after realizing that it will take him more time to break open the ATM. advertisement In the meantime, the injured security guard raised an alarm and it alerted the neighbours. When one of them, Vijaykumar, came near the ATM, he saw a fleeing Naik and he chased him. At the same time, Naik was confronted by the night patrol police. Naik failed to give a convincing answer. By then, Vijaykumar, who came to the spot, informed the police that Naik was trying to rob the ATM. The police immediately took him to custody and interrogation is on to trace the rest of the gang members. --- ENDS --- During initial investigation, family members told the police that they heard a gunshot at about 10.30 am. By India Today Web Desk: BSP Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Kashyap's daughter-in-law was found dead in the bathroom of her house in Ghaziabad today. Police said Himani Kashyap had a gunshot injury on her head. During initial investigation, family members told the police that they heard a gunshot at about 10.30 am. They found Himani in the bathroom with blood oozing from her head. She was rushed to a local hospital where doctors declared her dead. advertisement "The family did not inform the police about the incident. The police came to know about it from the hospital memo," Superintendent of Police Salman Taj Patil said. "Since the case is under investigation, it cannot be said whether it was a suicide or murder. The body has been sent for autopsy," he added. The police is trying to ascertain under whose name the revolver was registered. Initial investigation has revealed that the MP was present in the house when the incident took place. The MP's family reportedly has two licensed weapons. A revolver and a pistol. One of the weapons was is registered in the name Kashyap and the other in the name of his son. A ballistic examination will confirm which of the two weapon was used. --- ENDS --- A suspected Indian ISIS recruit was intercepted at the Pune airport as he was about to board a flight to Dubai on Tuesday. Under the watch of intelligence agencies for sometime, a lookout circular was issued for Ismail Abdul Rauf, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka to ensure he does not leave the country. According to intelligence reports, 37-year-old Ismail Abdul Rauf hails from Bhatkal in Karnataka and was on his way to Dubai to meet his ISIS handlers By Abhishek Bhalla : A suspected Indian ISIS recruit was intercepted at the Pune airport as he was about to board a flight to Dubai on Tuesday. Under the watch of intelligence agencies for sometime, a lookout circular was issued for Ismail Abdul Rauf, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka to ensure he does not leave the country. Sources said his activities were under scanner as he was suspected to be in touch with ISIS recruiters. Several recruits of indigenous terror group Indian Mujahideen belonged to Bhatkal and some of its earlier members have also been associated with ISIS, according to intelligence reports. The Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had been closely monitoring his suspicious movements, sources said. advertisement The 35-year-old was travelling to Dubai, where he could meet some handlers. Sources said he has been taken into custody by the state police but if the need be, he would be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that is probing similar ISIS related cases. In the past, Indians living in the UAE have been identified for having alleged ISIS links. On September 15, 2015, the UAE had deported four Indians suspected to have links with the ISIS. The UAE had also, last year, sent back a 37-year-old woman Afsha Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph who was allegedly recruiting youths in the name of ISIS, even though she was not in direct touch with any ISIS member. In January, three Indians who were based in Abu Dhabi were detained by authorities there on suspicion of being involved in activities linked to the terror group Islamic State or ISIS and were deported to India. The NIA registered a case to probe the ISIS Abu Dhabi module and arrested the three. The growing influence of ISIS on Indians living in the Gulf has alarmed the security establishment and the concern was flagged at a recent meeting chaired by union home minister Rajnath Singh to combat the ISIS threat. "Several Indians living in the Gulf are getting attracted to ISIS. These are Indian citizens and the threat of them coming back and carrying out strikes in the name of ISIS cannot be ignored," said a government official. Also Read ISIS threatens Paris-like attacks in London, Rome and Berlin --- ENDS --- By Reuters: If you've been wondering what is it like to die and be reborn, you can now give the death simulator a shot--a two-hour experience at a Chinese amusement park in Shanghai that gives people an idea of what it is like to be cremated. Players are given questions about a life-or-death scenario and then based on their answers, they must select who will die. The chosen one is transported on a slab into the crematory oven and then brought back to life through a latex womb chute. advertisement "At the moment when everything is completely black, the feeling was really realistic," Ji Ruoxing, 33, said about the experience that costs USD 68 (Rs 4,527 approx). Founder Ding Rui said he had been working on the experience called Xinglai, or awaken in English, with his business partner for four years. Here's a little glimpse of the 'death' experience: --- ENDS --- Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi joined jewellers protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against government's budgetary proposal to impose one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery. By India Today Web Desk: Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi today criticised the government for imposing excise duty on non-silver jewellery describing the move as an "assassination attempt" on small businessmen. Rahul Gandhi, who joined the protesting jewellers at Delhi's Jantar Mantar, said the Centre's decision will crush small businessmen in the country. "We would stand with you for your cause. I am not here to make speeches. I feel your pain, I stand with you. It's not your fight alone, it's ours too. Me and the Congress party stand with you," he said. advertisement Jewellers have been on nationwide protests for more than a month now against the government's budgetary proposal to impose one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery and making PAN cards mandatory for any transactions of Rs 2 lakh and above. The Congress leader also took pot-shots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Make In India scheme, saying it would benefit only "a few big industrialists" and not the aam aadmi. "The idea of Make In India is to throttle small businesses through excise. It is not excise duty, it is an attempt to crush small businesses. It will only benefit a few big businessmen," Rahul Gandhi said. Also read: Rahul Gandhi at Kolkata flyover collapse site: Do not want to give a political statement --- ENDS --- Lt Col Purohit, who has been in jail for nearly 8 years and facing trial without bail, has sought restoration of his rank, military honour, service and seniority. By India Today Web Desk: Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, one of the main accused in the Samjhauta and Malegaon blasts case, has written a letter to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar claiming innocence. Lt Col Purohit has asked Parrikar to restore his military honour, saying he has been wrongly framed in the case. Lt Col Purohit, who has been in jail for nearly 8 years and facing trial without bail, has sought restoration of his rank, military honour, service and seniority. advertisement In the letter, a copy of which has been accessed by India Today, Purohit claims that he has been framed in the Samjhauta blast case after a team of NIA rushed to the US to probe the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba in the case. In his letter, Purohit claimed that he had successfully planned and carried out several military operations against banned terror groups like the Indian Mujahideen and SIMI. "I have been robbed for honour, dignity and rank and punished for serving the nation," Purohit says in his letter. Purohit also claimed that he had shared with his seniors every detail about his operations against terror organisations. In 2014, Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, once a top military intelligence undercover operative, had shot off a nine-page letter to the then Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, saying no chargesheet was filed against him by the NIA in the Malegaon blast case. "Your ministry had come up with a policy not to keep the innocent implicated accused, who are victims of false and stage managed investigations, in jail. Unfortunately, the statement and the policy was qualified by incorporating a word indicating a particular religion. My question, as an outrightly innocent person implicated in this case by the ATS, here is shouldn't the same yardstick be applied to all and every single innocent implicated in such cases by agencies like the ATS?" his letter stated. --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) Any e-commerce player selling food products or dealing in food business will have to get registered with food regulator FSSAI, a top official said. The authority has directed online retailers that if they are dealing in food products or its business, then they have to register under the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 with the FSSAI, regulators Chairman Ashish Bahuguna told PTI. advertisement "These e-commerce players at their platforms are also selling food products or dealing in one or another form of food business. And food and food businesses come under the ambit of FSSAI so they have to just register," he said. The regulator said that without registration it would be "illegal" for these companies to deal in food products or food business and "an appropriate action as per the Food Safety and Standards law could also be explored" for violation. He also informed that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had invited these companies and held a meeting in this regard. In coming days, food specific startups Foodpanda India, Zomato, Swiggy and Peppertap and e-commerce giants like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon may have to register with the regulator. FSSAI CEO Pawan Agarwal said registering with the FSSAI will also be in the interest of ecommerce players. "By following the regulations of the food safety act, the e-commerce players can ensure the quality of food products or even services to their consumers. And which will help these companies also," Agarwal told PTI. Agarwal added that there transactions are electronic but if they are selling food products or dealing in food business, then that comes under the FSSAI ambit. FSSAI has been established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 that have hitherto handled food related issues. PTI JTR MR --- ENDS --- The university has been on the boil since the suicide of PhD student Rohith Vemula in January. A large group of protesting students faced police action as they broke through the campus gates. By India Today Web Desk: Protest returned at the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) today as a large group of students faced police batons and some taken into custody as they tried to open the gates of the campus while an important meeting chaired by the Vice-Chancellor was going on. The students' Joint Action Committee (JAC), an umbrella group of 14 student organisations which has been spearheading the protests since the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in January this year, had orgainsed a 'Chalo HCU' march today to oppose the Academic Council (AC) meeting. advertisement The JAC has been demanding that Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao, one of the accused in Vemula's suicide case, be kept out of the important meeting which is scheduled to make some key appointments for the university. "The AC meeting will discuss, among others, the setting up of an Ombudsman, the constitution of an Equal Opportunity Cell, and the appointment of an Anti-Discrimination Officer in line with relevant UGC Regulations of 2012," the V-C said in a statement. The statement also said the academic council meeting has been called "on the heels of the announcement of high national ranking achieved by the University". "In particular it is rated the best in meeting the requirement of Social Justice," it said. In a huge irony, both the Jawaharlal Nehru University and Hyderabad Central University, which had been in the crosshairs of the government recently, have figured in top four rankings released by the Ministry of Human Resource Development earlier this week. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Yoshita Singh New York, Apr 6 (PTI) Emerging economies like India, China and Brazil invested more in renewable technologies last year than the developed world, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Kerry said for the first time in history, despite the low price of coal, oil, and gas more of the worlds money was spent fostering renewable energy technologies than was spent on new fossil fuel plants. advertisement "Over the past decade, the global renewable energy market has expanded more than six fold. Last year, investment in renewable energy was at an all-time high ? nearly USD 330 billion," Kerry said in his remarks at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit here yesterday. "Thats a revolution. And make no mistake: This is not only happening in industrialised countries. In fact, emerging economies like China, India and Brazil invested even more in renewable technologies last year than the developed world," he said, adding that China alone invested more than USD 100 billion. Kerry also underscored the economic opportunities presented for American companies by Indias plans to get almost half of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030. India plans to get 40 per cent of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030, he said, adding that this will require bringing 200 gigawatts of additional renewable power online. "Let me just add that American companies are already bidding on those projects ? and frankly, winning large and lucrative deals," Kerry said. China too has set a target that will require the country to add between 800 and 1,000 gigawatts of non-fossil energy, he said. Kerry said that the cost of investing in clean energy was now far cheaper than paying for the consequences of climate change later and this is leading nations around the world to set their own ambitious emissions-target reductions. "Countries are now working to turn those pledges into real, on-the-ground action and concrete projects, and foster new directions for economic growth in a low-carbon future. And as we work together to achieve our targets, those betting on renewable energy are going to win big," Kerry said. Noting that the pledges being made by countries in renewable technologies is not "conjecture", Kerry said it was written right into the targets that even the worlds largest developing and fossil fuel-dependent economies have already announced. "We are seeing a global surge, and as a result, in many places, clean energy has already reached cost parity with fossil fuels. And more and more people are directly reaping the economic benefits of this boom," Kerry said. advertisement "7.7 million people around the world are currently employed by the renewable energy industry ? and more than a million of those jobs have been added since 2014," he added. A United Nations-backed report released last month had said that India and China led the developing nations in investments made in renewable energy last year. PTI YAS MRJ --- ENDS --- While the Rs 60,000 crore Rafale deal is stuck in a deadlock, India considers the possibility of buying American F/A- 18 "Super Hornet" fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. By India Today Web Desk: With the Rafale deal between India and France being stuck in a deadlock, it seems like India is considering the possibility of buying American F/A- 18 "Super Hornet" fighter jets for the Indian Air Force. The top officials of the defense ministry met rivals Boeing and Lockheed Martin (LM) to discuss the production of an American fighter jet in India. The two companies offered to produce locally the F16 'Super Viper' and a customised F/A 18 'Super Hornet' for Indian Air Force requirements under the Make in India program. advertisement There has not been any concrete outcome of the meeting as no formal offer letter with pricing and availability of the aircraft has been drafted. India is considering the proposal to manufacture the F 16 fighter jets only after LM offered to shift the production here and to meet both Indian requirements and for exports, reported The Economics Times. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had earlier announced that the ministry is interested in setting up production lines for 'one or two' fighters at the earliest. Law Ministry's advice to reconsider clauses in Rafale deal Moreover, the Law Ministry had earlier cautioned the government that certain clauses of the inter-governmental agreement signed for the purchase of 36 French Rafale fighter aircraft were not in the country's interest. The Law Ministry is of the opinion that the liability clause should be more stringent and in case of material breach by the French companies, India should be able to involve the French government while taking a legal recourse. It also said that in case of any commercial, the arbitration proceedings should take place in India and not in Switzerland as suggested in the draft. The Rs 60,000 crore deal to acquire 36 Rafale fighters from France's Dassault Aviation was inked on January 25, 2015 but was not finalised due to 'financial' issues. --- ENDS --- Suresh Raina, who will lead Gujarat Lions in IPL 2016, said it was not easy to move on from the Chennai Super Kings after spending eight years with the league's most successful team. By India Today Web Desk: After eight years with the Chennai Super Kings, Suresh Raina is out to seek Indian Premier League glory with a new side. The left-handed batsman from Uttar Pradesh has been named captain of the Gujarat Lions, one of two new sides which have replaced CSK and Rajasthan Royals for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Raina is excited about his new assignment with the Gujarat Lions but he conceded that it would be difficult to move on after spending nearly a decade with one of the most consistent sides in the IPL. But he does have with him the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith, men who had made CSK a mean fighting machine. (Also Read: Clash of the Captains: It's MS Dhoni vs Virat Kohli as IPL returns) advertisement That's a powerful combination and there's little wonder then that the Rajkot-based franchise are being considered favourites for the ninth edition. "I guess it's the Chennai Super Kings effect. There are so many from the CSK here. Yes, the team looks very good, it's a great mix. All of us are just about beginning to get together. Some have already reached Rajkot, the rest are on their way. "We will have two days of practise in Gujarat, then the opening ceremony in Mumbai, and then it all begins. McCullum, Faulkner, Bravo, Finch, Smith add to the batting might. In fact, in Faulkner, we have such a good all-rounder. There's Ravindra Jadeja who is around too," Raina told the Times of India. (Also Read: Fans to turn umpires in IPL 9. Here's how) Raina admitted it won't be easy to play for a new team after all the adulation and god-like status from their fans in Chennai. But the 29-year-old said that as professionals, they have no qualms about playing for the Gujarat Lions and promised to fire on all cylinders. "We were superstars in Chennai and to understand what I'm saying, one had to be there to see it. It was almost like a different cult, a different religion and we were treated like gods." Gujarat Lions will take on Pune Supergiants for the first time on April 14 in Rajkot and Raina said it would be a great contest to see former CSK colleagues battle each other. (Also Read: Match-winners make Gujarat Lions an exciting side, says Suresh Raina) "It's going to be a great contest. We've all been through tough situations, won handsomely, felt very disappointed after losses and built a great connect. We all understand each other well - strengths, weaknesses etc. So, it's going to be interesting and emotional." --- ENDS --- The Nagpur bench of the court asked the civic body "whether India is for Hindus only" and expressed anguish over the plan to recite Hindu mantras at an AIDS awareness event. By Press Trust of India: Expressing strong reservations over the move to recite 'Hanuman Chaalisa' at an AIDS awareness programme, the Bombay High Court today asked the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) if, according to it, "India is for Hindus only". The Nagpur bench of the court was hearing a PIL. It asked the civic body "whether India is for Hindus only" and expressed anguish over the plan to recite Hindu mantras at an AIDS awareness event. advertisement The event, in association with Poddareshwar Ram Mandir Trust, is planned at the city's Kasturchand Park ground on Thursday. "Why only recital of Hanuman Chaalisa and why not from Quran, the Bible or other religious literature? What is the relationship between AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chaalisa? Is it only Hindus who contract AIDS? Is chanting of Hanuman Chalisa the only remedy for eradication of this deadly disease?" the division bench of justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi said. "If people can come for this event, they will also come for recitation of the Quran and Bible," they observed. The judges disposed of the PIL filed by former corporator Janardan Moon, after both the NMC and programme convener Dayashankar Tiwari, who is the ruling party's leader in the civic body, agreed to disassociate with the two events (AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa event), and pay the cost of stage and ground to be used for the event on pro-rata basis. The judges asked the respondents (NMC and the temple trust) to keep at least an hour's gap between the AIDS awareness programme and the Hanuman Chaalisa recitation, which over 1.5 lakh people are expected to attend. The court further directed to ensure that separate banners are put up backstage during both the programmes, with individual names of the organisers. The NMC was also asked to give wide publicity to its AIDS awareness programme, without mentioning the Hanuman Chaalisa event. "We dispose the PIL after accepting statements of NMC and Tiwari, that they would totally disassociate with Hanuman Chalisa recital and only hold AIDS programme," the court said. The judges said that they were not against any religious programme, but only concerned with government agencies associating themselves with it. --- ENDS --- By PTI: From Harinder Mishra Jerusalem, Apr 6 (PTI) An Israeli parole board today rejected disgraced former President Moshe Katsavs plea for his early release after he was imprisoned for seven years on charges of rape and other sexual offences, saying he was not remorseful towards his victims. A parole board rejected 70-year-old Katsavs bid for an early release that came up for discussion last Sunday. advertisement "He expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes," the justice ministry said in a statement. The former Israeli Presidentslawyer said that his client intends to appeal the parole boards decision. Katsav who was President of Israel between 2000 and 2007, was convicted in 2010 on charges of rape, commission of an indecent act by force, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice. He was jailed for seven years. Last week, he appeared before the parole board at a hearing and pleaded to reduce his prison term by a third. Haaretz quoted sources in the prosecution as saying that the former President deemed two counts of rape a mere "misunderstanding on the womens part" during the hearing on Sunday. Katsav is said to have argued that he said he had a relationship with both the women, and because they were young and inexperienced they didnt understand the nature of a relationship and misinterpreted his acts. He also reportedly said that he was willing to apologise for a misunderstanding, not for rape. This is said to have strengthened the prosecution?s view that Katsav doesnt understand the "gravity" of what he did, and therefore doesnt deserve parole. Assailing the main complainant, his lawyer in his argument reportedly said that she was currently married with children and therefore clearly hadnt suffered by his clients acts. Katsavs continued imprisonment served nothing but vengeance, he is said to have emphasised. The lawyer also reportedly accused the complainant of intentionally humiliating Katsav in her statements to the media and, like his client, claimed the two counts of rape amounted to a "misinterpreted hug". The state has opposed Katsavs request on the grounds that he has never admitted to the offenses for which he was convicted and hadnt expressed remorse for his actions. Granting parole under such circumstances, the prosecution argued,would send the wrong message to victims of sexual offences and could damage publics faith in the judicial system. PTI HM UZM AKJ UZM --- ENDS --- As Bihar turns into a complete dry state, here is the history, economics and the sociology behind the liquor ban! By India Today Web Desk: While the women of Bihar welcomed the decision of making the state a dry one, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's announcement on the ban of Indian manufactured foreign liquor (IMFL) and all types of liquors in the state did not go well with many others. Since April 1, 2016, the country-made liquor was already banned in the state but considering the response of the people, Bihar government decided to implement the second phase before the scheduled time. Hence, the complete ban! advertisement "All type of liquor will be banned in the state from today. Sale of any type of alcohol in hotels, bars, clubs and any other place will be illegal from today on wards," said Nitish Kumar in a press conference. What led to the early ban? The state saw massive protests by women and social activists demanding ban of all type of alcohol. Nitish pointed out that alcohol addiction have often lead to family problems including domestic violence that also affect the children's education. "Women are suffering more than anyone else due to increasing liquor consumption," he said. De-addiction centres have already been opened in all 38 districts to reform all addicts. How much loss will the state incur? Although the production of liquor is not banned, the Bihar government would not 'encourage' the setting up of distilleries and liquor manufacturing plants. Even the existing beer plants and IMFL distilleries will need to send their supplies to other states with immediate effect. This ban will cost the state a heavy revenue loss as Bihar gets revenue of nearly Rs 2,000 crores from the sale of IMFL and revenue of around Rs 4,000 crores from country liquor sales in 2015-16. Prohibition would cause an annual revenue loss of around Rs 5,000 crore. Chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh has said the government would try to compensate this through better management of finances and resources. Why did it fail earlier? Bihar has had a experience of going completely 'dry' before as well. In March 1979, during the tenure of Karpoori Thakur the prohibition was announced but the ban was lifted by successor Ram Sundar Das in the wake of increased corruption and bootlegging. The success of ban in other states Bihar will be the fourth state to go dry after Gujarat, Nagaland and Mizoram. Gujarat has been a dry state since 5 decades now and Kerala too is implementing the ban in phases and has allowed only five-star establishments to have bars. Army canteens in the state will continue to sell alcohol as earlier in Bihar. Newsflicks And this is how social media reacted to #BiharGoesDry: As part of #BiharGoesDry, they will be destroying all bottles of liquor in the state. advertisement WORST Happy Hour ever. Sorabh Pant (@hankypanty) April 5, 2016 Chakhna industry to take drastic economical hit.?????? #BiharGoesDry shekhar pankaj (@shekhar_pankaj) April 5, 2016 Phases? Like ban beer today, whisky next month & rum even later? RT "@ndtv: Bihar liquor ban to be implemented in phases from April 1" Chirag Bhaiya (@chiragbhaiya) December 19, 2015 Full liquor ban in Bihar. One more reason for locals to migrate to other states! Angad Singh Ranyal (@PiratedSardar) April 5, 2016 Stupid of Bihar govt to impose total liquor ban in Bihar. Unless people are drunk, how will they be stupid enough to vote for Lalu? The Bad Doctor (@DOCTORATLARGE) April 5, 2016 --- ENDS --- By PTI: Colombo, Apr 6 (PTI) The LTTE cannot revive its separatist movement in Sri Lanka without its leader Velupillai Prabakaran, a senior Northern Province official today asserted, downplaying fears of re-emergence of militancy after the recent discovery of a cache of ammunitions from Jaffna. Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council C V K Sivgnanam was responding to opposition parties in the southern part of the country who expressed fears of a comeback by the LTTE following discovery of the ammunitions and LTTEs trademark suicide jackets from a house in Chavakachcheri, a battle site when Sri Lanka fought Tamil Tiger rebels for nearly 30 years before the war ended in 2009 in Jaffna. advertisement A suicide jacket, four side chargers, three parcels containing about 12 kilogrammes of TNT, two packets containing 100 rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition and two battery packs used to detonate side chargers were found in the house on March 30. The LTTE cannot revive its separatist armed movement in Sri Lanka in the absence of Prabakaran, Sivgnanam said. Prabakaran was was the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant organisation that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting with the Sri Lankan Army on May 18, 2009. "These were old weapons discovered after seven years after the end of the war. No one should try to do politics by using this incident," said Sivagnanam, who was the central governments main administrator in Jaffna during the time the LTTE ran parallel administration in parts of the north and eastern provinces. He is now a member of the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance and was elected to the northern council in 2013. Despite assurances from the security establishment that the discovery posed no threat to national security, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who crushed the LTTEs separatist campaign hinted that the government was hiding the truth. "They must tell the truth, people suspect these explosives to be new," Rajapaksas close aide and former foreign minister G L Peiris had said last week. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. PTI Corr UZM AKJ UZM --- ENDS --- Regarding the 'odd-even' scheme which is set to see its 2nd installment from April 15, Pradhan said: "If CM Arvind Kejriwal is so keen on reducing pollution, why doesn't he fully activate and functionalise the Bawana gas-based plant." By Mail Today: Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday hit out at the Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government, saying it had used the 'odd-even' scheme to gain cheap publicity. "I will not put out so many advertisements with my Prime Minister's photograph on it," Pradhan said when asked to comment on the anti-pollution step taken by the AAP government. He was speaking at the 2nd Mail Today Energy Conclave at the glittering Taj Vivanta-Ambassador Hotel. advertisement Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor held a press conference saying BJP had "back-stabbed Bharat Mata" by inviting ISI officials to investigate the Pathankot terror attack. Reacting to Kejriwal's comment, Pradhan said: "I got to know about it through the media this morning. It's sad. I think the debate over whether we should interact with Pakistan at all, should end right now. We are talking to them on a range of issues, including the Indo-Iran gas pipeline. When you talk to them, that's alright; but when I talk to them, that's wrong. How can that be?" Regarding the 'odd-even' scheme which is set to see its 2nd installment from April 15, Pradhan said: "If CM Arvind Kejriwal is so keen on reducing pollution, why doesn't he fully activate and functionalise the Bawana gas-based plant. It's a state-of-the-art plant and needs utilisation. It may have to sell electricity at a market-driven, slightly higher price but will reduce pollution. Not all decisions can be taken keeping an eye on your constituency. Oddeven is only symbolism." Pradhan said while the Petroleum Ministry was ready to ensure supply of cheap natural gas to run the Bawana power plant, the Kejriwal government was persisting with the purchase of power from coal-fired power plants which is cheaper but causes a lot of pollution. The shutting down of the environment-friendly Bawana power plant shows the lack of a broader commitment to controlling pollution, he added. The minister said that the Narendra Modi government, on the other hand, was working on a more broad-based strategy to control pollution without the high-voltage ad blitz of the Delhi government that sees posters of the chief minister splashed all over. The cost for cleaner air was worth paying for and a large segment of the population in Delhi can afford to pay the higher price, he added. Pradhan said that subsidies should be provided only to the poor while those earning higher incomes should pay the market price for what they consume. Pradhan said that he had asked Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) to supply fuel at a concessional price for those buying it at odd hours in order to reduce queues at filling stations so that more people can conveniently buy natural gas for running vehicles. advertisement The minister said that another 100 CNG stations would be set up in Delhi soon to increase the availability of the green fuel in the city. The proposal for setting up these filling stations had been held up earlier as clearances from various authorities had not come through, he added. Citing other steps that the government was taking to control pollution, the minister said that the public sector oil companies had been asked to jump directly from BS IV to the more stringent BS VI norms for petrol and diesel so that cleaner transport fuels become available sooner to bring down vehicular emissions. Pradhan said oil companies were now ready to meet the new deadline for introducing the BS VI norms nationwide by 2020. He also said that the days of free products are long over and even oil-rich Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, which believed in near-zero prices of fuel for their consumers, are shifting closer to a market-determined price system. "The pricing of petroleum products has become a hostage of political decisions," he lamented. "We have to give subsidy only to those who need it and not those who can afford to pay the market price," he added. advertisement He pointed out that the Modi government was targeting subsidies for the weaker sections and the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG had proved to be a huge success. Pradhan said that the DBT scheme, through which cash is transferred directly to the bank accounts of consumers, had succeeded in weeding out 3.34 crore fake LPG connections which had resulted in a saving of Rs 15,000 crore in the subsidy bill. The minister was all praise for the people who had voluntarily given up their subsidy in response to the initiative taken by the Prime Minister. "Close to 1 crore consumers have voluntarily given up their subsidy and these connections were being made available to the poor families as part of the new model of governance," he explained. Pradhan said that with the changes in the geopolitical situation, India is in a better position to source natural gas and LPG from Iran and oil and gas from Russia. A "post-sanction Iran" provides a huge opportunity for India for sourcing natural gas which would increase the availability of CNG and cooking gas in the country, he added. Also Read Mail Today Energy Conclave: All of India has power at Rs 4.40, says Piyush Goyal advertisement Mail today Energy Conclave: Reliability, availability and affordability are key challenges for India, say power experts Mail Today Energy Conclave: PSUs to take big steps to save electricity --- ENDS --- Attacking Modi for his foreign visits, Manmohan Singh said they are being presented by his party as significant achievements. "The truth is everybody knows all those visits have not really shown any results," he said. By India Today Web Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi should remember that action speaks louder than words, a dictum he has forgotten, his predecessor and senior Congress leader Manmohan Singh said in a rare attack today. "There is a saying: action is valued more than words. Modi ji seems to have forgotten this basic mantra of life," Singh said at a rally in Guwahati in poll-bound Assam. Singh is a Rajya Sabha member from the north-eastern state. advertisement During his ten-year rule as prime minister, Manmohan Singh was often mocked by the opposition BJP for being a mute leader. The difference in the personalities of the two leaders - Modi loves making public appearances and is considered a powerful speaker, unlike Singh - was presented by the BJP as one of its assets in the 2014 election. Attacking Modi for his foreign visits, Singh said they are being presented by his party as significant achievements. "The truth is everybody knows all those visits have not really shown any results," he said. "Even our policy towards Pakistan has failed," the veteran Congress leader said. The former prime minister raised the Rs 15-lakh-in-every-bank-account promise made by Modi in the run-up to the national elections in May. "Modi ji made a promise that he will bring back black money & Rs15 lakh each will be deposited in every citizen's account. But the BJP government miserably failed in fulfilling such a big promise made to people of India," he said. Assam voted in the first phase of Assembly election on April 4. The next phase of polling in the two-phase election will be held on April 11. Votes will be counted on May 19. --- ENDS --- Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria, who travels in a chauffeur-driven autorickshaw was not allowed to park her autorickshaw at the India Habitat Centre on Tuesday, where she had arrived to speak at an event on public transport. Mexican Ambassador to India Melba Pria travels in a chauffeur-driven autorickshaw and admits that her unusual ride often catches eye of the public on the street. By Sneha Agrawal: Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria, who travels in a chauffeur-driven autorickshaw was not allowed to park her autorickshaw at the India Habitat Centre on Tuesday, where she had arrived to speak at an event on public transport. Failing to recognise the blue diplomatic number plate and the fluttering Mexican flag on the vehicle, security personnel rushed to stop the autorickshaw as it entered the India Habitat Centre's premises. advertisement The Mexican Ambassador was at the IHC to speak at an event on public transport. As the envoy's official vehicle was denied parking space, the organizers of the event intervened but the management of the IHC refused to grant permission. General Manager (Projects and Facilities) at the IHC RK Aggarwal said he had no information about any such incident. Amit Bhatt from World Resource Institute (India), the event organisers, said there is a perception that people coming to such venues (like the IHC) use cars and therefore there is no designated parking space for non-motorised transport. Pria, who does not drive around in fancy sedans like her counterparts from other countries, often becomes the centre of attraction when she reaches her destination in her unusual official vehicle, now branded as the Mexico-India autorickshaw. The envoy admits that her autorickshaw catches the attention of most people on the streets and has created quite a stir on social media. "The first thing that catches people's eyes is the fun design, which is inspired by our tourism promotion campaign and the beautiful spectrum of colours you can find in Mexico. I think some rickshaw wallahs are confused initially but they always find it amusing. Even my driver enjoys being a part of the experience," Pria said in an official statement. While the envoy understands that the diplomatic number plate on the autorickshaw worries people about security, she says she did not want to be any different from the millions of Indians who use the mode of transport every day. "I think Delhiites have had positive reactions to this rickshaw, as it pays homage to Indian cultural tradition. They also appreciate the fact that it may be less polluting than a four-wheeler," the statement said. Pria considers the autorickshaw an efficient mode of transportation. "The attention it has received has made it a fun and creative way to promote Mexico and its artistry." Her auto was designed by Mexican artist Senkoe, who participated in the Delhi Street Art Festival this February. "In Delhi there are certain rules for three wheelers and incidents have happened before. I had tried to enter Parliament in the autorickshaw. I understand that people are used to seeing autorickshaws as transports for hire and not as a private vehicles but it has not been a real problem at all so far. I just hope that with time people will increasingly realise that there are some benefits about this type of vehicle as it is more compact and less polluting," her statement added. advertisement --- ENDS --- A Special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court sent Muzammil Ansari to jail for the rest of his lifetime. A Special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court sent Muzammil Ansari to jail for the rest of his lifetime. By India Today Web Desk: The main accused in the Mumbai triple blasts, which took place between 2002 and 2003, has been sentenced to life imprisonment. A Special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court sent Muzammil Ansari to jail for the rest of his lifetime. Other accused Farhan Malik Khot and Dr Wahid Abdul Ansari were also sentenced to life imprisonment. SIMI operative Saquib Nachan was pronounced 10 years imprisonment. advertisement The other accused are set to be free after they furnish bail bonds as per the procedure. Ten persons were convicted by the court on March 29, 2016. The prosecution stated that the masterminds, Nisar Ahmed Ansari and Janab Yousuf Shaikh, who is still absconding, planted the bomb at the McDonald's outlet on December 6, 2002, injuring 25 persons. The two also planted a bomb on a bicycle opposite the Jawahar book depot on Monghibai Road at Vile Parle, killing one woman and injuring 32 persons on January 27, 2003. The third blast was planned in the compartments of a Karjat-bound train on March 13, 2003, which exploded at Mulund station, killing 11 and injuring 82. Also read: 10 held guilty for Mumbai triple blasts --- ENDS --- By PTI: Jammu, Apr 6 (PTI) Opposition parties and VHP today slammed the police lathicharge on outstation students at NIT Srinagar and demanded a probe into it besides action against the erring police officials. Activists of Congress youth wing staged a protest in front of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singhs official residence at the Canal Road. They shouted anti-government slogans and demanded that Singh resign for allegedly giving a "misleading" statement over the incident. advertisement "The Deputy Chief Minister should resign for his statement that police resorted to minor lathicharge. But the students have sustained serious injuries," president of JK Youth Congress Pranav said. A probe should be initiated into the incident and action taken against "erring" police and administration officials, he said. Panthers Party members along with the parents of the students also staged a protest near the Press Club here, demanding security to about 500 non-Kashmiri students in NIT Srinagar. "We demand security to non-Kashmiri students on the campus. They feel threatened. They were cane-charged by police for raising tricolor and those who shouted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans along with Kanhaiya Kumar are roaming free," said the partys chairman Harsh Dev Singh. A probe should be ordered into "unprovoked use of brutal force" by police against students, he said. The parents of the non-resident NIT students demanded that para-military forces be deployed on the campus to ensure safety and security of their wards. VHP leader Leela Karan Sharma said police action on students raising "nationalist" slogans was unheard of and demanded action against the policemen involved, failing which he threatened a nationwide agitation. He demanded immediate withdrawal of local police from the campus and replacing it with paramilitary forces. "It is quite disturbing to learn that students from other states in NIT Srinagar are virtually kept as prisoners," he alleged. PTI AB GVS AKK AKK --- ENDS --- A decision to make Bihar a dry state was taken at the state cabinet meeting during the day. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the manufacturing, distribution and sale of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) would be banned across the state in keeping with the overwhelming sentiments of the people, especially women and children By Giridhar Jha: Only four days after enforcing partial liquor ban in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday implemented total prohibition in the state with immediate effect. A decision to make Bihar a dry state was taken at the state cabinet meeting during the day. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the manufacturing, distribution and sale of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) would be banned across the state in keeping with the overwhelming sentiments of the people, especially women and children. advertisement The government had earlier banned country and spiced liquor in the rural areas but had allowed the sale of IMFL through the outlets of the Bihar State Beverages Corporation Ltd (BSBCL), a state government undertaking. However, the opening of new outlets of BSBCL met with vociferous protests by local residents, mostly women, at many places forcing the government to have a rethink over the issue. "We wanted to enforce total prohibition in the second phase after creating strong public opinion against the consumption of liquor," Nitish said. "But we felt in the past four days that such an atmosphere already prevailed in the state." Nitish said that women, children and others protested against the opening of the new outlets in the urban centres and even prevented it at many places. "It has already taken the form of a social movement," he said. The chief minister said that he had not set any time-frame for enforcing total prohibition earlier. "I was only waiting for the right atmosphere," he said. "The tremendous response of the people in the last four days convinced me that it was the perfect time to enforce total prohibition." Asserting that Bihar would set an example, Nitish made it clear that no licence for sale of liquor would be given to the hotels and clubs and only Army cantonments, which had their own way of regulating its consumption, would be out of its purview. Nitish said that the companies manufacturing alcohol in Bihar would have to understand that their products would have no consumption in the state now. "They can manufacture their products here but they will all have to sell off their products outside Bihar from now," he said. "However, they will have to transport their products in vehicles equipped with digital lock and GPS monitoring system." He also said that the excise department would chalk out plans on how to dispose of the 36,000 litre of IMFL currently in stock with BSBCL. Nitish also sought to dispel the confusion on the sale of toddy. He said that his government had only enforced the guidelines set up way back in 1991 which allowed the sale of 'neera' (palm drink obtained from the trees before sunrise) only. "There is no permission for sale of toddy which is obtained from palm trees after sunrise and has alcoholic properties," he said. advertisement He, however, said that a high level committee headed by Development Commissioner would suggest ways on how to make palm trees beneficial for the people dependent on them as it was done in Tamil Nadu. He said that products such as mat and baskets could be made from the palm trees and one could earn up to Rs 6,000 every year from a single tree. "Besides, packaged neera could be manufactured and sold as a nutritious drink on the lines of dairy products," he said. Also ReadNitish Kumar's first shocker: Bihar to be dry state from April 1, 2016 --- ENDS --- Similar to the first phase of the scheme which ran from January 1 to 15, women drivers have been exempted from the plan this time too. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that the first phase of the odd even plan was a huge hit. By India Today Web Desk: The second phase of Delhi government's odd-even vehicle rationing scheme to check pollution is scheduled to begin on April 15 and the AAP government is likely to exempt parents carrying kids in school uniform. Delhi Transport Minister Gopal Rai said that his department is working to develop a mechanism to keep a check on such parents. advertisement Similar to the first phase of the scheme which ran from January 1 to 15, women drivers have been exempted from the plan this time too. Two wheelers have been kept out of the odd-even plan in phase 2 also. Referring to questions raised by some schools who use DTC buses to ferry children, Gopal Rai said the government buses will be available for the schools but they will have to ensure that the vehicles are back in service of general commuters by 8am. "DTC buses will be available for them as usual, but we have asked the school management to plan this service accordingly so that DTC buses come on road by 8am for general commuters," the minister said. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had on Tuesday hit out at the Arvind Kejriwal led Delhi government, saying it had used the odd-even scheme to gain cheap publicity. "I will not put out so many advertisements with my Prime Minister's photograph on it," Pradhan said when asked to comment on the anti-pollution step taken by the AAP government. "If CM Arvind Kejriwal is so keen on reducing pollution, why doesn't he fully activate and functionalise the Bawana gas-based plant. It's a state-of-the-art plant and needs utilisation," Pradhan said while speaking at the 2nd Mail Today Energy Conclave. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had claimed that the first phase of the odd even plan was a huge hit. Kejriwal has then said that he will bring an improved version of the scheme soon. Also Read: BJP's Dharmendra Pradhan hits out at AAP's odd-even plan Delhi: Private school buses pull out of odd-even 2.0 --- ENDS --- By PTI: New Delhi, Apr 6 (PTI) Cars driven by women and those carrying children in school uniform shall remain out of the ambit of the odd-even scheme the second phase of which is set to start here from April 15. A senior official said that government is considering to allow one co-male passenger with women driver during the road-rationing scheme. Government has already announced that two-wheelers will not come under the ambit of this scheme. advertisement The official further said that government will also continue with the imposition of Rs 2,000 as fine on those violating odd-even rules, the same fine during the first round of this scheme. The decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today which was attended by ministerial colleagues and members of the coordination committee formed for the scheme. "In view of women safety not being satisfactory in Delhi, CM has decided to give exemption to women during the second phase of odd-even scheme as we did during the first round of odd-even scheme," he said. The coordination committee has also decided that cars carrying school students will also be exempted. "Cars carrying student(s) in school uniform shall be exempted during #oddeven starting 15th April," Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted. Asked about confusion that may arise over parents going to pick up children after school hours, Rai said, they were still working on the modalities and the final notification regarding the scheme will be out in a day or two. "When first phase of odd-even scheme was introduced from January 1 to 15, all the citys schools were closed that time. During the second phase of the scheme, schools will remain open which is the biggest challenge for us to take decision keeping them in mind," Rai said. Sources said that government may ask the citys private schools to issue a pass or some document to parents including father, through which they can pick up their children from school in the afternoon. They further said that government is also contemplating to increase the age limit of children from 12 years to 18 years travelling in cars during the scheme. Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson Swati Maliwal yesterday also suggested that the Delhi Transport Minister to consider this. Rai said that Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) has asked all private schools that DTC buses will carry students during the scheme, but at 8 AM buses will have to be on roads so that they are in good numbers to cater to passengers. MORE PTI BUN SBR VMN --- ENDS --- advertisement India Today TV reported that lawyer Neeraj Gupta has given up his case saying that Rahul and his family concealed critical information from him. By India Today Web Desk: In an unexpected twist, Rahul Raj Singh's lawyer Neeraj Gupta has backed out of the case. India Today TV reported that lawyer Neeraj Gupta has given up Rahul's case saying that he and his family concealed critical information from him. "I withdrew from the case on humanitarian grounds. I felt that I shouldn't be fighting the case, and hence left it so that injustice is not done to anyone," Gupta told PTI. advertisement "A client should pass on all the information, right or wrong, good or bad, to the lawyer, but I was kept in the dark and got all the details (pertaining to the case) from outside (media)," he claimed. Replying to a query on whether he changed his mind after the FIR was filed against Rahul, he said, "The FIR has nothing to with the decision. A lawyer is always prepared for such things." According to reports, another lawyer has filed a request for anticipatory bail for Rahul in the court. Pratyusha's live-in partner Rahul, who is currently in hospital, was on Tuesday booked after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by Pratyusha's mother, Soma Banerjee at Bangurnagar Police Station. A team of Mumbai Police will visit Rahul at Sai Hospital today. On Tuesday night, Pratyusha's parents held a press conference and revealed shocking details about their daughter's last days. Also read: 18 things Pratyusha Banerjee's parents revealed about her relationship with Rahul Raj Singh "Rahul should be either hanged or kept in prison for the rest of his life. He has ruined my daughter's life, she should get justice," Pratyusha's father Shankar Banerjee said. Pratyusha Banerjee's prayer meet was held on Tuesday at a gurdwara in Mumbai which was attended by her mother, father and her close friends. See pics: TV celebs at Pratyusha Banerjee's prayer meet "We didn't come in front of the media all this while because we wanted all the rituals to be done. We have lost our daughter and we have filed an FIR... whatever problem she had, we have recorded our statement at the police station," Pratyusha's father said. Also read: Rahul Raj Singh should be hanged or imprisoned, says Pratyusha Banerjee's father --- ENDS --- If you thought government is there only to look after the country's administration work, hold on! We now have something called the 'sin tax'. And if the government wants, we might have to start paying tax for these 5 things soon! By Shreya Biswas, Sanjana Agnihotri: In February, Union health minister J P Nadda had asked the finance minister to consider levying a new 'sin tax' or 'health cess' on goods like tobacco and alcohol. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was kind enough to forgive the aam janta for they not know what consists sin in 2016. Who decides what all will come under this 'sinful realm'? advertisement A 'sin tax' is an excise tax that is applicable on products and services considered to be undesirable for health or society. The purpose is to discourage consumers from using such goods and services. Now you must be thinking who decides what goods and services do not go well with our country's apparent strong moral fibre? Well, the government! Now what are these products? Your happy hours, for one! yes, we mean alcohol. Gambling, tobacco and even aerated drinks. Planning Commission in 2012 made a suggestion to include this tax in the 12th Five year Plan so that the money received from this can be used on other welfare expenditure. It has also been proposed for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure. The feasibility of such a tax and whether the state should be given such a moral authority is a moot point. But considering the air of our country, here is a list of things which the government might consider putting in the tank of the sin tax! Tax on eating any sort of meat It's 'ban' for beef and 'tax' for any other meat. After all, chickens and mutton - sorry, we mean goats - are also the creation of the Almighty. If you have noticed non-vegetarian items on a menu are always more expensive then vegetarian choices, even if the country cries hoarse over how expensive veggies have become. Arhar may sell at Rs 200 per kg but the humble chicken korma will cost you twice. So, you see, we are already aligned to the thinking: Meat is sin. Tax on adult films Porn is, of course, out of the question (remember the magic word 'ban'?), so whatever 'adult' stuff is left, like the slapstick adult comedies, Enrique's sultry videos, Sunny Leone's item numbers, etc. will all have sin tax levied on them. If one paid a rupee for every time one Googled Sunny Leone, it can fix the fiscal deficit. Tax on anti-nationalism Thinking of giving a speech in your college campus? Imagine if you had to pay 'Sin tax' every time your monologue went the 'anti-national' way. JNU might become the biggest taxpayer. One could however evade this by chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai. advertisement Tax on Award Wapsi Have some national level award? Want to toss it at the government's lap to protest against something? Return award, return award amount with shawl and then 14.5% per annum on both for the time you have kept on the display shelf. What if your pouting costed you a big-fat amount of Sin tax? Act of disrespect and all that, you know... Tax on sex (outside socially permitted) What if the watchful eye (and the long, poking nose) of your landlord wasn't the worst thing interfering with your life as a bachelor? Imagine a life of paying 'Sin tax' for every time a friend from the opposite gender came over! --- ENDS --- By PTI: Dubai, Apr 6 (PTI) Marking the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with India, Oman has issued special postal stamps depicting the Taj Mahal and the Gulf countrys iconic Grand Mosque. Oman Post issued the stamps in a ceremony at the Indian Embassy in Muscat yesterday. Diplomatic relations between both the countries were established in 1955. advertisement This is the first time when Oman Post has issued a special commemorative stamp to mark an important milestone in Indias historical relations with Oman, an Indian Embassy press release said today. The ceremony also marked the culmination of the year-long celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of establishment of India-Oman diplomatic ties which began with the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Oman in February last year. The design of the Postage Stamp depicts the key historical monuments of the two countries such as Omans iconic Grand Mosque and Indias Taj Mahal in subtly fused colours. The First Day Cover of the Stamp depicts historical Muscat Gate and Mumbais Gateway of India. The Stamp was unveiled by Indian Ambassador to Oman Indra Mani Pandey, and Chief Executive Officer of Oman Posts Abdul Malik Abdul Karim Al Balushi. The Guest of Honour was Under Secretary for Diplomatic Affairs at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Ali bin Ahmed Al-Isaeei. Senior Officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman Post, Ambassadors and other members of diplomatic corps, prominent members of Indian community, Indian academicians from Sultan Qaboos University, philatelists attended the ceremony. PTI CPS AKJ CPS --- ENDS --- Health ministry has written to departments of revenue, commerce, external affairs, labour, civil aviation, tourism to ensure effective implementation of the new specified health warnings on cigarettes and other tobacco products. By Neetu Chandra Sharma: While the Centre has made 85 per cent pictorial health warnings mandatory on both sides of tobacco products from April 1, 2016, the Union Health Ministry has alerted all the government departments to strictly implement the rule. Officials said the tobacco packets not bearing the prescribed pictorial warnings would be seized by the concerned authorities before reaching the market. advertisement Health ministry has written to departments of revenue, commerce, external affairs, labour, civil aviation, tourism to ensure effective implementation of the new specified health warnings on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The new health warnings shall be depicted on both sides of the tobacco product packages covering 85 per cent of the principal display and will apply to all types of tobacco products produced, supplied or distributed in India. The Health Ministry has said the field formations of Customs and Excise should be duly informed and sensitised about the new warnings and it should be ensured that all the product packs which leave the factory after April 1 bear the new pictorial warnings. "The date of implementation of these rules has been notified vide G.S.R 739 (E) dated 24th September, 2015 to be with effect from April 1, 2016. Effective implementation of the rules depends on concerted efforts of all the concerned Ministries and Departments of the government of India as well as State Governments," stated the letter issued on Monday by KC Samria, Joint Secretary, Union Health Ministry. The Health Ministry has said airlines, shipping lines, freight forwarders and consolidators should be sensitised so that they also check that tobacco consignments(s) destined for India comply with this law. The sales affected through the duty free shops within India, would also need to comply with these rules. The ministry has asked for necessary instructions issued to them. "The new health warnings also apply to imported cigarettes and other tobacco products for sale in India. It is therefore necessary that the rules are brought to the notice of all Indian Missions abroad including Trade Associations and Federations of other countries, so that trade consignments destined for India are compliant with the rules," the letter stated. Also Read Centre defers notification on 85 per cent pictorial health warning on tobacco products --- ENDS --- India becomes the third country in the world to get Health Cards after the US and Brazil. By Sahil Mohan Gupta : Google on Wednesday announced Health Cards in India. This will work with Google Search on the desktop and also on the Android and iOS apps. Google collaborated with Apollo Hospitals in India for these cards. Also Read: Govt asks Google to choose partner for Project Loon These Health Cards have been integrated into the Google Knowledge graph which powers the search experience in India. The cards will be available on Google Search on the desktop and the iOS and Android mobile apps. advertisement India becomes the third country in the world to get Health Cards after the US and Brazil. That being said, Google launched the service in Brazil only two weeks ago. "Around the world, health conditions are amongst the most important things that people ask Google about. In fact, one in 20 searches are for health related information," said Prem Ramaswami, who is the senior product manager leading the charge of the health search endeavors at Google. Google's Health Cards will overall offer information about 431 diseases in India. The cards will be available both in English and Hindi and in the long run Google plans on offering them in indic languages. Also Read: Teach your kids animal sounds with Google Search Google consulted multiple hospitals including AIMS in addition to the Apollo group of hospitals. "The plans are to make health information universally available. We collaborated with AIMS, we collaborated with other hospital entities," said Ramaswami. Mostly Google worked with Apollo Hospitals and the Columbia Asia Hospitals to review the content. The content has been customised for India. Also Read: Google Chromecast 2 coming to India soon "You can't target India, if you don't target the neglected tropical diseases like Malaria and Dengue," said Anoopam Sibal of Apollo Hospitals. In the case of certain queries, high quality illustrations will available which users will be able to download as a PDF. For India, Google is also introducing 'Lite Cards' which deliver the information with minimal data usage and at a fast pace. Google plans on increasing the number of diseases that are covered in the health cards, but it has no specific timeline for that. While launching these cards, Google specifies that these cards are like indicators and guidelines and not the basis for specific treatment. --- ENDS --- According to rules issued by DoT in 2007, private parties in India cannot use encryption that is higher than 40-bits without explicit permission from the government. By Javed Anwer: Last night WhatsApp turned on encryption within the app. This means, by default, if you are using the latest version of WhatsApp all your communication through the app will be encrypted. This also - probably, and that is a big probably - makes WhatsApp illegal in India. The reason? Our IT laws and rules are so outdated that a case can be made against WhatsApp because now it is using 256-bit encryption by default. Also Read: Here are 5 new features on WhatsApp which you must know advertisement This is legally a grey area and given the fact that WhatsApp is popular in India, the government may not go after it, but in theory it can very well declare the chat app illegal. None of the Indian IT-related regulations permit 256-bit encryption in private services. Although, none of them also specifically outlaw it. But there are some guidelines issued by Department of Telecommunications, which the government can use to term WhatsApp illegal. According to rules issued by DoT in 2007, License Agreement for Provision of Internet Service (including Internet Telephony) mandates that private parties in India cannot use encryption that is higher than 40-bits without explicit permission from the government. Also Read: WhatsApp encryption: Everything you need to know in 10 points Also, the permission is granted only if the entity that intends to use encryption submits decryption keys to the government, which in the case of WhatsApp is going to be impossible because it has implemented the encryption in a way where even WhatsApp doesn't have the keys. Now, the interesting bit here is that WhatsApp is not an ISP and neither it needs any DoT licence to offer its services in India. So it is not clear if the encryption rules formulated by DoT apply on it or not. Although, due to the lack of clarity in this matter, if the government wants, it can clearly chase WhatsApp out of the country with its 40-bit stick. India is, however, in the process of formulating some sort of coherent encryption policy. Last year, the government floated a draft proposal for the use of encryption in India. It was a bad bad draft, which government pulled back because of criticism. One of the suggestions in the draft was that people using encrypted services will be asked to keep the decrypted data for at least 90 days. If something like that makes its way to whatever new policy the government comes up with, it will definitely make the WhatsApp illegal, especially after its decision to turn on strong encryption by default for all users across the world. Also Read: 5 things WhatsApp need to fix and fix them NOW --- ENDS --- advertisement By India Today Web Desk: Xiaomi has released a number of new devices in past few months and the Chinese brand has been very active in the Indian market. Since its launch in the Indian market, Xiaomi has launched a series of fan festivals which encourages consumers to take part in games as well as offers products at a discounted price. The company claims to have coupons worth Rs 7 crore up for grabs. The sixth version of the Mi fan festival is here, it is scheduled to launch on April 6. The festival includes offers on most of last year's products including the Mi4, which had a delayed launch in India. The Mi4, powered by Snapdragon 801, will be selling at a discounted price of Rs Rs 12,999 down from Rs 14,999. Redmi 2 Prime will also see a discount of Rs 500. Other than smartphones, the offers extend to a variety of accessories including the 20,000mAh power bank which will sell at Rs 1,699. The critically acclaimed Mi In-Ear Headphones Pro will start selling at Rs 1,399. The offers on accessories are certain to be a big hit with Mi fans. The USB enabled LED light will be offered at Rs 249 and USB Cables at Rs 149. The highlight of the entire fan festival will be the launch debut sale of the Mi5 which is only available in China so far. --- ENDS --- advertisement A comprehensive approach Guaranteeing the right to abortion isnt enough. We know that economic, cultural, religious, and systemic barriers prevent many people from accessing abortion care even where its legal and available. Our solution: We work across institutions and communities to build sustainable abortion ecosystems. In such an ecosystem, people have the information they need to make decisions about reproductive health, theres community and health-system support for human rights and abortion access, and laws and policies support full bodily autonomy. In his testimony, Shannon sought to downplay the criticisms and reassure senators that reports of pending Iranian access to the US dollar were inaccurate. Townhall quoted Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker as saying that he had received conflicting reports on the subject in recent days, with Treasury Department official Adam Szubin making a convincing case for continued non-access, which was undermined by subsequent comments from Secretary of State John Kerry. It was not immediately clear whether the committee regarded Shannon as a source of further reassurance or additional questions. But it is all but certain that his testimony will fail to address the full range of concerns among congressmen and especially members of the Republican Party, who have been highly critical of the Obama administrations approach to Iran since long before nuclear negotiations were concluded. Shannons testimony appears to have focused upon reiterating previous reports that the U-turn transactions being considered by the Treasury Department would involve American banks processing transactions originating in Iran, but without allowing any direct contact between Iranian and American financial entities. This clarification seems to leave open the criticism that the Obama administration is going above and beyond its requirements under the JCPOA, in order to improve Irans economic outcomes in the wake of relief from international sanctions on the Islamic Republics nuclear program. And indeed, other aspects of Shannons testimony highlight the oft-repeated criticism that the Obama administration appears willing to extend a variety of concessions to the Iranian regime in order to preserve the July 14 nuclear agreement. CNN reported on Tuesday that Shannon had used the hearing to attack Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruzs insistence that he would cancel that agreement on the first day of his presidency. Doing so, he argued, would reopen a Pandoras box in the region that would be hard to close again. This view presumably encompasses not just the possibility of the White House cancelling the deal outright, but also of the US government taking any steps that would be likely to lead to the deal being cancelled by either side. And the list of such steps appears to be rather long, on the basis of statements by Iranian officials, chiefly Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. By most accounts, Khamenei, the ultimate authority in all matters of Iranian policy, conceded to the nuclear agreement only begrudgingly as he balanced the need for sanctions relief against his regimes commitment to ideological antagonism against Western democracies. Starting from this understanding, IranWire published an article on Tuesday analyzing Khameneis commentary on the nuclear deal, especially over the past few weeks. On the occasion of the Iranian new years celebration of Nowruz in March, the supreme leader called for the return to a resistance economy focused on circumventing US-led sanctions and accused the American government of violating the JCPOA by standing in the way of Irans reentry to the international banking system. IranWire emphasized that this sort of commentary has entailed Khamenei taking an uncharacteristically business-like point of view, focusing on the relative shortage of immediate economic benefits, to the exclusion of all other potential, long-term consequences. In the articles estimation, this is a deliberate effort to avoid the JCPOA being perceived by Iranian citizens as a bridge to more general engagement with the international community. In fact, in the immediate aftermath of nuclear negotiations last summer, Khamenei ordered his subordinates to avoid any negotiations with Western powers over anything other than the nuclear agreement. In this context, it appears as though Khamenei and other Iranian hardliners can be expected to pursue the early cancellation of the unsigned and non-binding nuclear agreement if it does not yield economic benefits that they deem adequate. Khameneis previous comments indicate that the current benefits fall far short of that, and he has apparently made efforts to spread that perception throughout the country, blaming the US for the shortfall. On Tuesday, RT ran a brief interview with University of Tehran Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi in which he said that the US is trying to limit any potential benefit that Iran gets from the agreement as much as possible and that senior officials are traveling across the globe, speaking to banks and putting pressure on them not to do business with Iran. But of course, this is directly contrary to how congressional critics of the Obama administration have perceived the same situation. Western media reports last month indicated that the White House had dispatched diplomats to discuss the Iran nuclear deal with multinational businesses in order to emphasize that there would likely be no additional sanctions enforcement, thereby encouraging Irans re-admittance into the global banking system. In fact, the Obama administrations latest moves can be seen as a direct response to Khameneis criticism and his skepticism about the forthcoming benefits of sanctions relief. That is, by giving Iran greater access to the American financial system, the administration would be contradicting Khameneis rhetoric, which seeks to portray the deal as economically ineffectual as a result of American interference. But although this may successfully undercut Iranian rhetoric, Western critics of the nuclear deal see unacceptable consequences in such efforts to improve the economic outcomes for Iran. On one hand, Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon insists that the Middle East will become more unstable if Iran is no longer constrained by JCPOA. But on the other hand, critics have expressed serious concern that the region will become more unstable if Iran continues to acquire financial resources that it can apply to expanding its foreign influence. This was highlighted on Tuesday, with specific reference to Irans economic future, in a report at Al Arabiya. It pointed out that as Irans oil economy recovers, it is specifically focusing its new investment ventures on shared oil fields and production sources on the border with other countries. According to the article, this indicates that as Iran acquires more foreign investment and expands upon these projects it will deepen its foothold in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, thereby dominating and weakening them. Naturally, concerns about this effect are amplified by concerns over the potential for an enriched Iran to acquire other, non-economic means for growing that dominance. Since the conclusion of nuclear negotiations, Iran has pursued the purchase of new weapons from Russia, beginning with the pre-arranged sale of the S-300 missile defense system but proceeding with discussions over fighter jets, tanks, and more. The S-300 shipment has continued to be delayed in the midst of an uncertain political environment, with the Iranians repeatedly declaring that it was imminent, and then being contradicted. On Tuesday, however, Reuters reported that a Russian foreign ministry official had claimed that the weapons will be loaded for transport in the next few days. Mohammad-taqi Tabatabaei, the general secretary of Azad University, said of the recent deaths, Given this number of martyrs from Azad University, a commemoration for the martyrs will be held in May at this university. One day prior to the Mehr News report, Amir-ali Arasteh, deputy coordinator of the Iranian Army, spoke to the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim News Agency and referred to the presence of army advisors, especially the 65th Brigade, in Syria. He noted: The 65th Brigade is part of the Army and we dispatch forces from the 65th Brigade, as well as other units, to Syria as advisors, but this deployment is not particular to the 65th Commando Brigade. Also on April 4, Al Jazeera TV reported that at least 212 personnel of the Iranian regimes forces have been killed in Syria, including four officers killed on April 3. Iranian regime military forces that have been fighting in Syria in support of Bashar Assad since the initiation of the conflict continue to insist that they are there just as advisors. The Iranian regime also uses Pakistanis residing in Iran who are deployed as the Zainabiyoun Brigade, as well as Afghanis residing in that country who are deployed as the Fatemyoun Brigade, to fight the Syrian opposition forces. Burial ceremonies for a large number of Pakistani and Afghanis dispatched by Iran to Syria have been held in various cities in Iran in recent months. According to information obtained from inside the Iranian regime by the Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Tehran has dispatched more than 60,000 IRGC forces, including 8,000 Iranians to Syria to keep Bashar Assad in power. Asaad al-Zoubi, the head of the main Syrian opposition councils delegation to talks in Geneva said: The number of Iranian forces in Syria reaches 69,000. These include members of the IRGC [Revolutionary Guards] and military experts who work in the missiles, chemical and communications sections, and a number of them fight alongside Assad forces. Altogether they are 69,000. They have been deployed in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Latakia, Damascus and Daraa provinces. Currently, 8000 Iranian regime forces are undergoing training in Qadessiya University and Yarmouk in Daraa to be dispatched to Eastern Gota, he added. [April 05, 2016] Texarkana College Saves $1 Million with Jenzabar EX Jenzabar, Inc., a leading provider of software, services and strategies for higher education, announced today that Texarkana College was able to improve services while significantly reducing annual operating costs by one million dollars after switching to the Jenzabar EX enterprise resource planning system. The previous software Texarkana College used was built on a database technology that required specialized skills to work with and maintain, and proved to be costly. "Converting to the Jenzabar EX ERP led to two of our biggest spending cuts over the last few years," said Michael Dumdei, Vice President of Information Technology at Texarkana College. "Even with budget constraints, we are able to continue to improve our services and lower costs with Jenzabar EX. We found all components of the ERP easy to manage and more flexible than our previous system. Without question, the overall experience is a significant improvement, and the College realized a substantial savings with an annual reduction in costs approaching $1 million." The Microsoft (News - Alert) SQL-based Jenzabar EX system enabled Texarkana College T to bring the system management in-house. Jenzabar EX requires fewer resources to manage and is now easier for the College to recruit and retain top quality technical staff to support the system. With Jenzabar EX's highly intuitive user interface and mobile-first user experience, the IT team can now better focus on delivering high value services that directly support faculty, staff, and students. "It is hard to say enough good things about the Jenzabar product development team," said Dumdei. "We were the first public college in Texas to adopt Jenzabar EX and needed functionality added to the system to support our state's reporting requirements. The Jenzabar product development people put all that code in there for us. We are very happy with the Jenzabar people." "Texarkana College and Jenzabar have established a great collaborative relationship," said Sam Burgio, Jenzabar Vice President and General Manager. "In only ten months, Jenzabar EX was up and running at the College. We were also able to incorporate all of the coding needed for state reporting and we continue to work with them in helping increase their students' overall college experience." Another Texas-based College, Paris Junior College, also recently chose Jenzabar EX. Jenzabar EX is the most selected SQL Server ERP system in higher education. Over the past five years, more institutions chose Jenzabar EX than any other ERP to improve efficiencies and enhance operations. About Jenzabar Jenzabar student information systems have been chosen more often than any other SIS over the past five years. Exclusively serving higher education, Jenzabar software and services are designed to drive higher performance in every department at your institution. Jenzabar collaborates with clients to make higher education amazing. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160405006698/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] Fitch Rates Longview ISD, TX's ULTs 'AAA' TX PSF/'AA' Underlying; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings has assigned a 'AAA' rating to the following Longview Independent School District, Texas (the district) unlimited tax (ULT) bonds: --$57.5 million ULT bonds series 2016. The bonds are scheduled for negotiated sale the week of April 11. Proceeds will be used to refund a portion of the district's outstanding ULT debt for interest cost savings. Fitch has also assigned an 'AA' underlying rating to the bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are payable from an unlimited property tax levy of the district, and also carry the Texas PSF bond guarantee (for more information on the Texas PSF see 'Fitch Affirms Texas PSF Rating at 'AAA'; Outlook Stable', dated Sept. 5, 2015). KEY RATING DRIVERS STRONG FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT: Consistently positive operating margins have yielded significant general fund reserve levels and liquidity, providing the district with a high degree of financial flexibility. OIL & GAS DRIVEN ECONOMY: The district is located in a large industrial and retail regional economy along major transportation corridors. The tax base is resilient and stable, but local employment indicators have turned negative due to energy sector contraction which may also impact future tax base trends. SIZABLE DEBT LOAD: Debt levels are elevated and amortization is slow. The debt service tax rate is near the state's tax rate cap for new money debt issuance, but after completion of the 2008 bond program, the district does not remain with capital spending pressure that would necessitate additional leverage in the near term. RATING SENSITIVITIES STRONG FINANCIAL OPERATIONS: The rating is sensitive to the district's strong financial management practices, including conservative budgeting and high reserves, which mitigate concern over the elevated debt burden. CREDIT PROFILE The district is located roughly 120 miles east of Dallas and 60 miles west of Shreveport, LA and served by major transportation corridors. Enrollment in the district varies slightly from year to year but has not deviated significantly from the 10-year average of about 8,500 students. The district population of 61,331 has been mostly stable in recent years. ENERGY SECTOR DOMINATES ECONOMY The district is located in the Longview metropolitan statistical area, which is an industrial, retail, and distribution center in East Texas. The area economy has traditionally served as a center for oil and natural gas operations, but has become increasingly diversified with the growth of education, health care, manufacturing, transportation/distribution, government and retail trade as major employment sectors. Mining, logging, and construction (including oil and gas) are the MSA's largest employment sector at 16% of total non-farm employment. Contraction within this sector and the manufacturing sector (10% of employment) led to a 2.9% decline in employment over the 12 months ending Jan. 2016, leading to an increase in the MSA's unemployment rate to 5.3% in January 2016 from 4.3% the year prior. Income levels of district residents are below state and national averages. Taxable assessed value (TAV) showed resiliency post-recession, marking only one year of modest contraction (3.7%) in fiscal 2011. A trend of flat to modest growth has persisted since then and Fitch expects TAV trends to soften in the wake of energy sector contraction. POSITIVE FINANCIAL OPERATIONS; PLANNED USE OF RESERVES Several years of positive operating results have significantly increased reserves, with fiscal 2015 fund balance of $55.3 million representing a very high 82% of spending. The fiscal 2015 audit posted break-even results despite having adopted a $2.2 million deficit budget, a practice management typically employs. The fiscal 2016 budget was adopted with a $4 million operating deficit, a flat tax rate, a 4% increase in expenditures, and a modest decline in average daily attendance. The budget also includes a large $24 million draw down for pay-go capital outlays for its new Montessori campus. The 1,400 student facility, currently under construction, will consolidate the district's pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. The $34 million facility is being funded with a combination of remaining bond proceeds from construction cost savings ($10 million) and general fund reserves ($24 million), and is expected to be completed by summer 2017. Inclusive of this planned drawdown, Fitch expects the district's fiscal 2016 reserve position to remain robust at $30 million (47% of fiscal 2015 spnding). MIXED DEBT PROFILE Key debt ratios are elevated due to the issuance of all of the district's $267 million bond authorization, issued over four installments since 2008, to support comprehensive rebuilding, renovating, and repurposing of district facilities. Debt is 5.7% of market value (MV) and $4,357 per capita. Amortization is below average at 40% in 10 years. The district's debt service tax rate is also high at $0.47 per $100 of TAV, which is near the state's statutory cap of $0.50 for new money debt issuance. However, the district does not expect to issue debt in the near term citing a preference for using pay-go for capital projects. The district contributes to the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), a cost-sharing, multiple-employer defined benefit pension plan. Under GASB 67 and 68, TRS's assets cover 83.3% of liabilities as of fiscal 2015, a ratio that falls to 75% using Fitch's more conservative 7% rate of return assumption. Contributions are determined by state statute, rather than actuarially and historically have fallen short of the actuarial level. Recent reforms have lowered benefits and increased statutory contributions to improve plan sustainability over time. The state assumes the majority of TRS' employer contributions and net pension liability on behalf of school districts, except for small amounts which state statute requires districts to assume. Like all Texas school districts, the district is vulnerable to future policy changes that shift more of the contributions and liabilities onto districts - as evidenced by a relatively modest 1.5% of salary contribution requirement effective fiscal year 2015. The district's proportionate share of the system's net pension liability represents a very small less than 1% of fiscal 2016 market value and the district's contributions are limited to $1.3 million. Carrying costs for the district (debt service, pension, and OPEB costs, net of state pension support) totaled a moderate 18.4% of governmental fund spending in fiscal 2015. TEXAS SCHOOL FINANCE LITIGATION A Texas district judge ruled in August 2014 that the state's school finance system is unconstitutional. The ruling, which was in response to a consolidation of six lawsuits representing 75% of Texas school children, and was the second such ruling in the past two years, found the system inefficient, inequitable, and underfunded. The judge also ruled that local school property taxes are effectively a statewide property tax due to lack of local discretion and therefore are unconstitutional. Fitch would consider any changes that include additional funding for schools and more local discretion over tax rates to be a credit positive. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Fitch recently published exposure drafts of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015 and Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into U.S. Local Tax-Supported Ratings, dated Feb. 2, 2016). The drafts include a number of proposed revisions to existing criteria. If applied in the proposed form, Fitch estimates the revised criteria would result in changes to less than 10% of existing tax-supported ratings. Fitch expects that final criteria will be approved and published in the second quarter of 2016. Once approved, the criteria will be applied immediately to any new issue and surveillance rating review. Fitch anticipates the criteria to be applied to all ratings that fall under the criteria within a 12-month period from the final approval date. In addition to the sources of information identified in the applicable criteria specified below, this action was informed by information from CreditScope and Lumesis. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into US Local Tax-Supported Ratings (pub. 02 Feb 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=875108 Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 10 Sep 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869942 Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=686015 U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=685314 Additional Disclosures Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1002038 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160405006714/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] Fitch Rates Aledo ISD, TX ULT Refunding Bonds 'AAA' PSF/'AA' Underlying; Outlook Stable Fitch Ratings has assigned an 'AAA' rating to the following Aledo Independent School District, Texas unlimited tax (ULT) refunding bonds: --$53.5 million ULT refunding bonds, series 2016. The 'AAA' long-term rating for the bonds is based on a guaranty provided by the Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF), whose bond guaranty program is rated 'AAA' by Fitch. The bonds are scheduled for negotiated sale the week of April 11th. Proceeds will be used to redeem portions of the district's outstanding debt for interest savings. Fitch has also assigned an 'AA' underlying rating to the bonds. The Rating Outlook is Stable. SECURITY The bonds are payable from an unlimited property tax levy of the district, and also carry the Texas PSF bond guarantee (for more information on the Texas PSF see 'Fitch Affirms Texas PSF Rating at 'AAA'; Outlook Stable', dated Sept. 4, 2014). KEY RATING DRIVERS STRONG FINANCIAL POSITION: The district's general fund balance position remains healthy despite recent transfers to the debt service fund. TAX BASE IMPROVEMENT: The district's tax base has returned to growth after a period of contraction due to its exposure to the Barnett Shale natural gas formation. Oil and gas industry concentration remains with the top 10 largest taxpayers, but mineral values now make up a smaller portion of total taxable assessed valuation (TAV). WEALTHY SUBURB OF DALLAS-FORT WORTH: The primarily residential district benefits from its proximity to the broad Dallas-Fort Worth employment base and socioeconomic indicators are well in excess of state and national metrics. ELEVATED DEBT: Debt levels are elevated and amortization is slow, in part due to the use of capital appreciation bonds (CABs). Carrying costs are moderate given state support for the district's pension plan. RATING SENSITIVITIES MATERIAL DECLINE IN FISCAL CUSHION: Reserves remain strong but in decline due to management's decision to avoid a higher debt service tax rate. A decline in reserves beyond current plans could lead to negative rating action. CREDIT PROFILE Aledo Independent School District is located primarily in Parker County and includes the city of Aledo, a small, historically agricultural center. Aledo is located 19 miles west of Fort Worth (GOs rated 'AA+') near Interstate Highway 20. AFFLUENT DISTRICT Aledo has transitioned from an agriculture-based economy to an upscale suburb of Fort Worth. Numerous high-end residential developments have been completed in recent years. As a result, market value per capita is high at $175,000 in fiscal 2016. Residents are well-educated and affluent; the median household income in the district is twice that of the state and nation. The district benefits from its proximity to the broad Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex employment base, and area employment and wealth levels are a credit positive. County unemployment remains low and stable at 4.1% as of January 2016 despite labor force growth. RESIDENTIAL TAX BASE GROWTH Over half of the district's tax base is residential with some oil and gas exposure due to its location over parts of the Barnett Shale natural gas field. Recent declines in TAV were due to weakness in mineral values, which made up 19% of fiscal 2011 TAV but fell to 9% of fiscal 2016 certified values due to decreased drilling activity and lower natural gas prices. The tax base contraction was limited to fiscal years 2012 and 2013, with the cumulative decline a manageable 6.2%. Reappraisal gains and new construction have more than made up for the losses with TAV growth totaling 18% over the past three years. Several consecutive years of low gas prices have reduced the top taxpayers' share of the tax base, but industry concentration remains a concern. The top 10 taxpayers comprised 11.9% of fiscal 2016 TAV, and seven of the top 10 are directly engaged in the oil and gas industry. Offsetting this concern are the prospects for continuing residential development given the district's proximity to Fort Worth. Enrollment gains averaged just over 4% annually leading up to the recession and stagnated somewhat in the years after. Growth has regained momentum since 2013, mirroring tax base growth. Management projects enrollment growth to speed up in the next five years as a result of renewed homebuilding activity. The district has ample land for development. TAX RATE INCREASES In 2011 district voters approved an increase of $0.13 per $100 TAV in the operation and maintenance (O&M) tax rate, resulting in an O&M tax rate equal to the $1.17 state cap. In exchange, the district kept the debt service tax rate synthetically low at $0.255 per $100, using excess reserves in the general and debt service funds to cure shortfalls. In fiscal 2016, management increased the debt service tax rate to $0.4250, the first increase since 2009. The large increase served to preserve fund balances and begin paying debt service on the 2015 bond program. The higher debt ervice tax rate reduces the district's ability to address capital needs given the $0.50 statutory cap for new issuance approval. This concern is mitigated by the district's capital needs, which will be contingent upon enrollment growth that is generated by residential tax base expansion. STRONG FISCAL CUSHION DESPITE DRAWDOWNS Fiscal 2015 audited results were largely on budget, including the $2.6 million transfer out (6% of spending) to the debt service fund, marking the second and last year of excess reserves supplementing debt service payments. The unrestricted fund balance at year-end declined by $3.2 million to approximately $13.7 million, equal to a still robust 32.4% of spending. Management predicts year-end fiscal 2016 will likely be break-even. ELEVATED DEBT Debt levels are elevated at 6.5% of market value after the issuance of the 2015 bond program. The pace of amortization remains slow at 29% retired in 10 years, which reflects the district's use of CABs. Approximately 10% of the district's debt is variable rate, with no associated swaps. Liquidity support is provided by a standby bond purchase agreement with JP Morgan (News - Alert) renewed in May 2014 for a five-year period. The district does not have any immediate plans to seek additional bond authorization, and will monitor the timing and scope of residential developments to assess where capital needs lie. LIMITED PENSION/OPEB OBLIGATIONS The district participates in the Texas Teachers Retirement System (TRS), a cost-sharing multiple employer defined benefit plan. The state assumes the vast majority of Texas school districts' net pension liabilities and the corresponding employer contributions. However, like all Texas school districts, the district is vulnerable to future policy changes by the state as evidenced by a relatively modest new 1.5% of salary contribution requirement effective fiscal 2015. Legislative changes in 2013 increased the state's annual contributions, although it remains to be seen whether this improves TRS's ratio of assets to liabilities over time. Under GASB 68, the district reports its share of the TRS net pension liability (NPL) at $3.6 million, with fiduciary assets covering 83.25% of total pension liabilities at the plan's 8% investment rate assumption (approximately 75% based on a more conservative 7% investment rate assumption). The NPL represents less than 0.1% of the district's fiscal 2015 market value. Carrying costs for debt service, pension and OPEB are moderate at 17.9% of fiscal 2015 governmental spending, composed almost entirely of debt service. TEXAS SCHOOL FUNDING LITIGATION A Texas district judge ruled in August 2014 that the state's school finance system is unconstitutional. The ruling, which was in response to a consolidation of six lawsuits representing 75% of Texas school children and was the second such ruling in two years, found the system inefficient, inequitable, and underfunded. The judge also ruled that local school property taxes are effectively a statewide property tax due to lack of local discretion and therefore are unconstitutional. The Texas attorney general has appealed the judge's latest ruling to the state supreme court. If the state school finance system is ultimately found unconstitutional, the legislature would likely follow with changes intended to restore its constitutionality. Fitch would consider any changes that include additional funding for schools and more local discretion over tax rates to be a credit positive. Date of Relevant Rating Committee: July 27, 2015. Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'. Fitch recently published exposure drafts of state and local government tax-supported criteria (Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria, dated Sept. 10, 2015 and Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into U.S. Local Tax-Supported Ratings, dated Feb. 2, 2016). The drafts include a number of proposed revisions to existing criteria. If applied in the proposed form, Fitch estimates the revised criteria would result in changes to less than 10% of existing tax-supported ratings. Fitch expects that final criteria will be approved and published in the beginning of the second quarter of 2016. Once approved, the criteria will be applied immediately to any new issue and surveillance rating review. Fitch anticipates the criteria to be applied to all ratings that fall under the criteria within a 12-month period from the final approval date. In addition to the sources of information identified in Fitch's applicable criteria specified below, this action was informed by information from Lumesis and the Municipal Advisory Council of Texas. Applicable Criteria Exposure Draft: Incorporating Enhanced Recovery Prospects into US Local Tax-Supported Ratings (pub. 02 Feb 2016) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=875108 Exposure Draft: U.S. Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 10 Sep 2015) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=869942 Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=686015 U.S. Local Government Tax-Supported Rating Criteria (pub. 14 Aug 2012) https://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=685314 Additional Disclosures Solicitation Status https://www.fitchratings.com/gws/en/disclosure/solicitation?pr_id=1002046 Endorsement Policy https://www.fitchratings.com/jsp/creditdesk/PolicyRegulation.faces?context=2&detail=31 ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON (News - Alert) THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160405006769/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] Terra Verde to Sponsor ISSA and ISACA Security Conferences Terra Verde, a leading provider of cybersecurity and risk management solutions, will be sponsoring the ISSA and the ISACA conferences in Phoenix during the month of April. The company is planning to announce enhancements of its TruSOC managed security services platform at those local conferences. "Terra Verde's TruSOC managed security service includes 24/7/365 security monitoring, reporting and remediation services for customers across the U.S. We are adding a number of value added services and features to the offering such as Managed Phishing Services, to address new cyberattack methods and the demands of our customers," said Edward Vasko, Terra Verde CEO. TruSOC enhancements can be viewed by scheduling a private screening of the platform at the ISSA and ISACA Phoenix conferences. Please reach out to [email protected] to schedule a private screening of the TruSOC platform. ISSA and ISACA Conference Infomation The ISSA quarterly meeting will be held on April 12, 2016, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The event location is: Rio Salado Conference Center, 2323 W. 14th Street, Tempe, AZ 85251. The ISACA chapter meeting will be held April 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event location is: ASU West, 4701 W. Thunderbird Rd. UCB Rooms 265/266, Glendale, AZ 85306. About Terra Verde: With offices in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona, Terra Verde provides security and risk management solutions to clients in various industries, worldwide. The company has been trusted by government agencies, medium-sized businesses and publicly traded companies to deploy sustainable security and compliance programs and services. Terra Verde partners with the public, private and higher education organizations to recruit, develop and employ IT and security professionals that have an average of 18 years of hands-on security and compliance experience, are recognized experts in their field, and hold multiple security and professional certifications. Terra Verde has invested heavily in testing and developing methods, best practices and a portfolio of managed security services that are modified to support each customer's unique business, financial, and regulatory compliance goals and objectives. For more information, please visit TVRMS.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160405006807/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] Industrial Internet Market Report 2016-2021: Top Companies & Forecasts For The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Aerospace & Defence, Healthcare, Transportation, Energy, Agriculture, Manufacturing & Retail NEW YORK, April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Report Details Visiongain's brand new report offers comprehensive analysis of the ever expanding Industrial Internet technologies. Visiongain assesses that the Industrial Internet market will achieve revenues of $283bn in 2016. Visiongain's report will ensure that you keep informed, up to speed and ahead of your competitors. Gain that competitive advantage. The report will answer questions such as: - How is the Industrial Internet market evolving? - What is driving and restraining Industrial Internet market dynamics? - How will each Industrial Internet submarket segment grow over the forecast period and how much sales will these submarkets account for in 2021? - Which individual technologies will prevail and how will these shifts be responded to? - Which Industrial Internet submarket will be the main driver of the overall market from 2016-2021? - How will political and regulatory factors influence regional Industrial Internet markets and submarkets? - How will market shares of the national markets change by 2021 and which nation will lead the market in 2021? - Who are the leading industrial internet players and what are their prospects over the forecast period? - How will the sector evolve as alliances form during the period between 2016 and 2021? 5 Reasons why you must order and read this report today: 1) The report provides detailed profiles of 17 leading companies operating within the Industrial Internet market: - Alphabet - ARM - AT&T - Bosch - Cisco - Emerson - Freescale - General Electric - Hewlett-Packard - IBM - Intel Corporation - Microsoft - Omron - Rockwell Automation - SAP - Schneider Electric - Siemens 2) The report reveals 7 Industrial Internet submarket forecasts and analysis from 2016-2021 by application - Aerospace & Defence - Healthcare - Transportation - Energy - Agriculture - Manufacturing - Retail - Other 3) The study reveals where and how companies are investing in the Industrial nternet market. See the market prospects with forecasts from 2016-2021 for the following regions and nations: North America - Asia Pacific - Europe - Latin America - Middle East & Africa - US - China - Japan - South Korea - France - Germany - UK - Rest of the World 4) The analysis is also underpinned by our exclusive interviews with a leading expert - David Barnett , VP of Products and Markets at RTI 5) Our overview also analyses these technologies - Machine to Machine (M2M) - Sensors - Actuators - Software - Wireless - Big Data Competitive advantage This independent 288 page report guarantees you will remain better informed than your competitors. With 329 tables and figures examining the Industrial Internet market space, the report gives you an immediate, one-stop breakdown of your market, keeping your knowledge that one step ahead of your rivals. How will you benefit from this report? - This report you will keep your knowledge base up to speed. Don't get left behind - This report will allow you to reinforce strategic decision decision-making based upon definitive and reliable market data - You will learn how to exploit new technological trends - You will be able to realise your company's full potential within the market - You will better understand the competitive landscape and identify potential new business opportunities & partnerships Who should read this report? All Industries, Software companies, IT companies, Cyber security firms, IoT companies, telecommunication, internet and technology providers, Data Carriers, Application providers, System Integrators, CEOs, asset managers, grid security vendors, smart grid hardware and software vendors, heads of strategic development, marketing staff, market analysts, procurement staff, utility company managers, industry administrators, industry associations, utility company procurement departments, analysts and consultants, managers, utility security managers, governmental departments & agencies. Don't miss out This report is essential reading for you or anyone in the IoT sector with an interest in the Industrial Internet. Purchasing this report today will help you to recognise those important market opportunities and understand the possibilities there. Order the Industrial Internet Market Report 2016-2021: Top Companies & Forecasts For The Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) in Aerospace & Defence, Healthcare, Transportation, Energy, Agriculture, Manufacturing & Retail report now. We look forward to receiving your order. Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p03752037-summary/view-report.html About Reportlinker ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place. http://www.reportlinker.com __________________________ Contact Clare: [email protected] US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/industrial-internet-market-report-2016-2021-top-companies--forecasts-for-the-industrial-internet-of-things-iiot-in-aerospace--defence-healthcare-transportation-energy-agriculture-manufacturing--retail-300246738.html SOURCE Reportlinker [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] PLEXIS Healthcare Systems Achieves a Microsoft Gold Application Development Competency ASHLAND, Ore., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- PLEXIS Healthcare Systems, today announced it has achieved a Gold Application Development competency, demonstrating a "best-in-class" ability and commitment to meet Microsoft Corp. customers' evolving needs in today's dynamic business environment and distinguishing itself within the top 1 percent of Microsoft's partner ecosystem. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351874LOGO To earn a Microsoft gold competency, partners must successfully complete exams (resulting in Microsoft Certified Professionals) to prove their level of technology expertise, and then designate these certified professionals uniquely to one Microsoft competency, ensuring a certain level of staffing capacity. They also must submit customer references that demonstrate successful projects (along with implementing a yearly customer satisfaction study), meet a revenue commitment, and pass technology and/or sales assessments. PLEXIS' Deep Technological Experience "The Microsoft Gold Application Development competency reflects our long-term experience working with the world-class Microsoft solution-set," said Pete Escobar, PLEXIS' Vice President of Product Development. "It showcases our expertise in and commitment to today's technology market and demonstrates our deep knowledge of Microsoft and its products." The technological architecture of PLEXIS' leading platform approach to payer software is built upon the Microsoft solution-set. This system design ensurs nearly unlimited scalability to serve both small and large payer organizations world-wide. Healthcare payers utilize this solid technological foundation to maintain flexibility and optimize organizational growth over the lifetime of their business. Application Development Earning the Application Development competency helps partners differentiate themselves as a trusted expert to their customers through development and deployment of commercial or custom applications built using core Microsoft technologies like Windows Server and Windows 8 operating systems, the Windows Azure platform, Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 development system, Microsoft BizTalk Server and emerging cloud-based and web business models. By gaining access to a comprehensive set of benefits through the Application Development competency, partners can acquire new customers and help them be more productive and profitable through deployment of business applications, advanced web portals or rich client user interfaces that run on premises or in the cloud. The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners strengthen their capabilities to showcase leadership in the marketplace on the latest technology, to better serve customers and, with 640,000 Microsoft partners in their ecosystem, to easily connect with one of the most active, diverse networks in the world. "By achieving a gold competency, partners have demonstrated the highest, most consistent capability and commitment to the latest Microsoft technology," said Phil Sorgen, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. "These partners have a deep expertise that puts them in the top 1 percent of our partner ecosystem, and their proficiency will help customers drive innovative solutions on the latest Microsoft technology." PLEXIS Healthcare Systems In its 20th year of service to global healthcare payer and delivery systems, PLEXIS Healthcare Systems is a leading technology company that delivers trusted enterprise core administration and claims management solutions. PLEXIS empowers the business of healthcare, igniting growth, innovation, and efficiencies across business lines for diverse payer organizations. Based in Ashland, Oregon, PLEXIS currently serves organizations in 37 states (doing business in all 50), 15 countries, and over 70 million people worldwide. PLEXIS provides mission-critical solutions that catalyze efficiencies and connect evolving business ecosystems. This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/plexis-healthcare-systems-achieves-a-microsoft-gold-application-development-competency-300246861.html SOURCE PLEXIS Healthcare Systems [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Your digital subscription includes access to all content on our agricultural websites across the nation. Access unlimited content and the digital versions of our print editions - This Week's Paper. RACINE Union-backed candidates pulled off shocking victories and decisively took control of the Racine Unified School Board in Tuesdays election, spelling trouble for key initiatives from district administrators. Unofficial results showed tight races across the district Tuesday night, but candidates supported by the Racine Education Association beat their administration-aligned competitors in most races. The results could frustrate several key initiatives the administration of Superintendent Lolli Haws plans to implement, such as block scheduling, while giving renewed vigor to a teachers union weakened by Act 10. District 1 Newcomer Michelle Duchow, a social worker at a school in Milwaukee residing in Sturtevant, ran unopposed for the District 1 seat representing Unifieds southwest corner and was virtually guaranteed a win. On Tuesday night, she also won a seat on the Sturtevant Village Board. Unofficial results showed her with 2,748 votes with all 14 wards reporting. District 2 In a battle between incumbents for District 2s seat on the southeast corner of the district, Racinian Dennis Wiser, former School Board president who has sided often with the union, seems to have narrowly defeated fellow incumbent and recent appointee John Koetz, of Mount Pleasant, who has often sided with the school administration, according to unofficial results. Unofficial results showed Wiser garnering 2,247 votes to Koetzs 2,019 with all wards reporting. District 3 In another race between incumbents in the citys south-side District 3, retired principal Mike Frontier, who has often sided with the union, seems to have decisively defeated more-senior incumbent Pamala Handrow, director of Bethany Apartments and current vice president of the School Board, who has often sided with the district administration. He took 1,841 votes to Handrows 1,007 with all wards reporting, according to unofficial results. I think we stressed in my campaign that we need to work to build collaboration between administration and the unions, Frontier said Tuesday night. Its hard work, but its a goal we need to pursue. District 4 In the third contest of incumbents for District 4 at the center of Unified Racine's Julie McKenna, a union-aligned board member with nearly two decades of experience, appears to have narrowly beat out , former state legislator Kim Plache, of Mount Pleasant who has sided with the district. Unofficial results showed McKenna with 2,293 votes and Plache with 2,186 with all wards reporting. District 5 In the west-center District 5, incumbent and recent appointee Chuck Goodremote, a Modine Manufacturing Co. executive from Mount Pleasant who has often sided with district administrators, faced a challenge from union-backed newcomer Steve Hooper, a development technician for SC Johnson from Caledonia. Preliminary results showed Hooper winning 2,986 votes to Goodremotes 2,421 with all wards reporting. District 6 In District 6, representing the area around downtown Racine, newcomer John Heckenlively, a writer who has agreed with the teacher's union on many issues, bested Jim Venturini, an insurance sales executive who has expressed support for district administrators' views. Unofficial results showed Heckenlively with 920 votes to Venturinis 836, according to unofficial results. District 7 In the citys northwest side District 7, union-backed incumbent Don Nielsen, a retired school counselor, appeared on the verge of fending off a challenge from Brian F. OConnell, retired Racine development director. Unofficial results showed Nielsen with 1,816 votes, to OConnells 1,252 with all eight wards in. District 8 In the District 8 which includes the north side of Racine, part of Caledonia and all of North Bay School Board President Melvin Hargrove, a local pastor from Racine who has supported district administrators, lost to challenger Matthew Hanser, unified services director for the Illinois Education Association from Caledonia who has aligned himself with school unions. Hanser had 2,190 votes to Hargroves 2,177 with all wards in, according to unofficial results. Late Tuesday night, Hargrove ruled out a recount despite such a close vote, but he said he is confident in the decisions he has made in the last year. I have no regrets at all as to what Ive done, he said. I know I did what was right the voters thought otherwise, so theyll get what they voted for. District 9 In District 9, representing most of Caledonia and all of Wind Point, newcomer Bob Wittke Jr., a tax professional from Caledonia who has agreed with district administrators on many issues, appears to have decisively defeated fellow incumbent Kurt Squire, a retired UPS manager from Wind Point who has agreed with the teachers' union on many issues. Wittke had 3,230 votes to Squires 2,032 with all 14 wards reporting, unofficial results showed. MADISON Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley has defeated state appellate Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg to win a full 10-year term on the high court. Bradley had the advantage of incumbency and overcame a spate of negative headlines late in the campaign about her college-era writings that bashed gays and feminists. Her opponent had the support of liberals and labor and had built name recognition in a failed Supreme Court run five years ago. Kloppenburg tied Bradley to n Gov. Scott Walker, who appointed Bradley to three judgeships in recent years. That included last fall, when the Republican governor named Bradley to complete the Supreme Court term of the late Justice Patrick Crooks. Bradley had support from conservatives who spent heavily on attack ads that branded Kloppenburg as soft on crime. 10:20 p.m. JoAnne Kloppenburg is cutting into Rebecca Bradley's lead in the state Supreme Court race. Returns in Tuesday's election showed Bradley was still ahead but her lead was shrinking as more votes were counted in Dane County, the state's liberal stronghold. Bradley and Kloppenburg are vying for a 10-year term on the court. Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the court in October to fill the late Justice Patrick Crook's open seat. Crooks died in his chambers in September shortly after announcing he wouldn't seek re-election. Walker's appointment gave Bradley the advantage of incumbency going into Tuesday's election. The seat is officially nonpartisan, but conservatives are backing Bradley and liberals support Kloppenburg. 8:40 p.m. Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley has taken an early lead over state appellate Judge JoAnne Kloppenburg. That's according to early returns in Tuesday's elections, with many precincts still to be counted. Bradley and Kloppenburg are vying for a 10-year term on the court. Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to the court in October to fill the late Justice Patrick Crook's open seat. Crooks died in his chambers in September shortly after announcing he wouldn't seek re-election. Walker's appointment gave Bradley the advantage of incumbency going into Tuesday's election. The seat is officially nonpartisan, but conservatives are backing Bradley and liberals support Kloppenburg. 5:06 p.m. Justice Rebecca Bradley's ties to Gov. Scott Walker are driving some Wisconsin voters to cast their ballots for JoAnne Kloppenburg. The Republican governor has appointed Bradley to three judicial positions in three years, including her spot on the Supreme Court this past October. Tom Kleese of Verona says he voted for Kloppenburg because Walker gave Bradley all her judicial jobs and he was never been enamored with Walker. Tim Howell of Sun Prairie said he voted for Kloppenburg because he believes Bradley lacks experience since Walker has advanced her so quickly. Steve Hanrahan of Sun Prairie said he voted for Bradley. He said she's done a good job on the high court even though she hasn't been a justice for long. 1:39 a.m. Rebecca Bradley and JoAnne Kloppenburg will soon find out which of them will get a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Voters on Tuesday will pick which candidate should fill the seat of Justice Patrick Crooks, who died in his chambers in September. Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Bradley to fill the seat in December, giving her the advantage of incumbency going into the election. But liberal group One Wisconsin Now revealed writings by Bradley as a college student in 1992 in which she bashed gay people and feminism and likened abortion to the Holocaust. The writings dominated headlines for a week, but she still had a slight lead in the last statewide poll in the race. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. WATERFORD Waterford High School will have to do with its current gymnasium after district residents Tuesday rejected a request to spend $12.2 million to build a new field house. The referendum was voted down 3,590 votes to 2,786, according to unofficial results. The question failed in all six parts of the district: the Town of Dover, Town of Norway, Town of Raymond, Town of Waterford, Village of Rochester and Village of Waterford. District officials were hoping to build a 52,000 -square-foot field house with a six-lane, 200-meter track with four separate basketball and volleyball courts, and a 6,800-square-foot fitness center that would be used by the community. The voters have made their decision, Superintendent Keith Brandstetter said Tuesday night. We are appreciative of the support, and we still believe it is a good plan for our school and community. Brandstetter had said if the referendum had been approved, and all other funding sources stayed the same, residents would have seen a decrease in their property tax bills once the referendum went into effect. Tuesdays referendum was the first time in 15 years the district has asked voters for money. Other Waterford-area races On the Waterford Town Board, newcomer Teri Jendusa-Nicolai, a well-known victim rights activist, unofficially topped the field with 1,079 votes, while incumbent Tim Szeklinski retained his seat with 1,020 votes. Incumbent Jan Alvey was ousted, garnering 998 votes. In the Waterford Graded School District Board race, incumbents Dawn Bleimehl and Matt Kranich were unofficial winners. Kranich had 2,347 votes and Bleimehl 2,180. Former board president Douglas Schwartz, running to re-capture his old seat, had 1,851 votes, unofficial results show. Three incumbents on the Rochester Village Board were re-elected for two-year terms. Incumbents Chris Bennett had 818 votes, Chris Johnson 707 and Russ Kumbier 674. Challenger Douglas Webb finished with 563 votes. In the race for Waterford Village Board, challenger Andrew Ewert unofficially led the way with 845 votes, while incumbents Jim Schneider (841) and Don Hutson (777) won the two other seats. Incumbent Ronald Kluth, who had 682 votes, was unseated. In the North Cape Elementary School District, longtime School Board incumbents Keith Jacobson and Randall Jasperson were re-elected. Jacobson garnered 298 votes, while Jasperson tallied 397. They were challenged by Dawn Boyington, who received 266 votes, according to unofficial results. Jacobson has served on the School Board for 32 years, Jasperson for 28 years. Residents in the Muskego-Norway School District approved a request for $43.18 million to build a new middle school and renovate four other schools, including Lakeview Elementary School in Wind Lake. The vote was 6,772 in favor and 4,763 again. But voters in the Racine County portion of the District in the Wind Lake area the question narrowly failed 984 to 953, according to the unofficial tally. Disabled gun owners should not be disarmed By Gabriella Hoffman. March 2nd, 2016 Physical disability mustn't nullify the right to keep and bear arms Americans who wish to keep and bear arms have an inalienable right to do so regardless of their standing in life. There is a concerted effort by the government, particularly state governments, to disarm disabled Americans who wish to defend themselves with firearms. Why? Government bureaucrats believe disabled individuals are incapable of being self-sufficient without government assistance. To further complicate matters, housing complexes receiving government aid in the form of Section 8 housing believe firearms pose a safety risk to their tenants. The most recent target of this dangerous disarmament ploy is Harvey Lembo of Rockland, Maine, who is facing eviction from his apartment for merely owning a firearm. Mr. Lembo, 67, is a retired police officer and lobsterman who is bound to a wheelchair. ....... Another example of "any excuse" to deprive people of their rights. There are large numbers of wheelchair-bound people, many of whom are veterans, who have every right to have a means of self-defense - maybe more so it might well be said. Furthermore we have the housing associations also targeting legitimate gun owners, all in the absurd name of 'safety'. "You don't have to be Jewish to fight by our side." 2016 JPFO All rights reserved. jpfo@jpfo.org 1-800-869-1884 Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 12500 NE 10th Pl. Bellevue, WA 98005 USA Americas most aggressive civil rights organization We make the NRA look like moderates Join JPFO Back to Top Yes, you can transfer your domain to any registrar or hosting company once you have purchased it. Since domain transfers are a manual process, it can take up to 5 days to transfer the domain. Domains purchased with payment plans are not eligible to transfer until all payments have been made. Please remember that our 30-day money back guarantee is void once a domain has been transferred. For transfer instructions to GoDaddy, please click here. 17 injured in eatery collapse At least 17 people, including two children, were injured when a roadside eatery collapsed near Bhatkanda Bazaar in Dadeldhura on Tuesday. 3 Nepalis rescued from Kabul ordeal Three Nepali migrant workers, who were rescued from the Afghanistan-Pakistan border three months ago, will return home on Wednesday evening. Applications approved for 8,000 solar lights Alternative Energy Promotion Centre will oversee programmes technical aspect and assist municipalities in preparing design, specifications and cost estimates Brazil Vice-President Michel Temer could face impeachment A Supreme Court judge in Brazil has ordered the lower house of congress to create a commission to analyse whether impeachment proceedings against Vice-President Michel Temer should go ahead. EU stands by its position on Nepals new constitution European Union (EU) Ambassador to Nepal Rensje Teerink has said the EU stands by its position on Nepals new charter and that it has not reversed the position following the EU-India Summit in Brussels. India pledges Rs366 million grant to control river erosion The government of India has agreed to provide Rs 366 million grant to Nepal to control river erosion. Kenya's William Ruto's case dismissed by ICC The International Criminal Court has thrown out the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto. Prithvi Man Shrestha is a political reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering the governance-related issues including corruption and irregularities in the government machinery. Before joining The Kathmandu Post in 2009, he worked at nepalnews.com and Rising Nepal primarily covering the issues of political and economic affairs for three years. Sah linked to Singhaniya murder Suspended lawmaker Sanjaya Kumar Sah, who masterminded the Janakpur bomb incident, has also been linked to the murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya. Still pending Local elections can institutionalise democratic processes or they can be a political tool Suspended lawmaker Sah mastermind of Singhaniya's murder: Police Police have concluded that suspended lawmaker Sanjay Kumar Sah was the mastermind behind the murder of media entrepreneur Arun Singhaniya. Yes, its hard to to tell when one enters the city limits Yes, they will make the city more inviting Maybe ... does it really matter? No, the signs in place are fine No, it would be a waste of taxpayer dollars Vote View Results KPC News Service INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will visit Noble County on Thursday, Sept. 29, and make its way through LaGrange County a few days later, on Monday, Oct. 3. Indiana Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb and the Indiana Office of Tourism Development on Thursday unveiled the statewide route the torch relay will travel this fall. The torch relay will enter Noble County on U.S. 6 from the west, taking the handoff from Kosciusko County at about 1 p.m. Sept. 29. The relay will follow U.S. 6 through Ligonier, Wawaka and Brimfield to Kendallville, where it will turn south on Main Street and pass through downtown. The relay continues south on S.R. 3 to S.R. 8, turning west toward Albion. The relay will stop briefly at the Noble County Courthouse before going south on S.R. 9. The relay will go east on C.R. 75S to the entrance of Chain O Lakes State Park, then return to S.R. 9. The relay will follow S.R. 9 south to the Whitley County line for the handoff. The torch will enter LaGrange County at about 11 a.m., Oct. 3, on U.S. 20. In LaGrange, it will turn north on Detroit Street, then circle the LaGrange County Courthouse before heading south on Detroit Street and continuing west on U.S. 20. The torch then will turn north on Van Buren Street to enter Shipeshewana. Its route through the town is east on Main Street, south on Harris Street, east on Middlebury Street, north on Morton Street and west on Depot Street before heading south on Van Buren Street. The torch will proceed to Elkhart County on U.S. 20. Sheryl Prentice and David Ober of the Noble County Convention & Visitors Bureau are serving as bicentennial county coordinators. They work with a steering committee of mayors, town managers, tourism attraction managers and other community leaders on the route, torchbearer selection and local bicentennial celebrations. Prentice said the original route for Noble County called for the relay to backtrack on U.S. 6 from Kendallville to S.R. 9 to reach Albion. The steering committee applied for a route deviation through downtown Kendallville in May 2015. We are pleased that our route change was approved, Prentice said in a news release. The final plan gives Noble County a safe place for spectators to gather to watch the torch pass, takes the relay through the historic and beautiful downtown of our largest city, and highlights our state park in the park systems centennial year. Accompanying the torch will be an interactive museum that highlights important milestones during Indianas first 200 years and looks ahead to the future of the state. Indiana State Police personnel will provide logistical support and escort the torch caravan over the course of the relay. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will start in Corydon on Friday, Sept. 9, and travel more than 3,200 miles as nearly 2,000 torchbearers carry the torch through each of Indianas 92 counties. The route showcases locations of natural beauty, local interest and historic significance to the state. A map and schedule of the statewide torch relay are now available along with route maps for each of the 92 counties on the Bicentennial Torch Relay webpage. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay is not only the premier event of our states bicentennial celebration, but it is also an opportunity for Hoosiers from counties large and small to showcase all that makes Indiana unique, Holcomb said in a news release. The torch route was designed to highlight the states cultural fabric, our history and values, and the spirit of Hoosier ingenuity, igniting generations to come. The torch relay route was charted by a task force of representatives from multiple state agencies and the private sector. Local organizing committees in each county determined their county-specific routes. While the route is considered final, it is subject to alterations as conditions on the ground during the relay may warrant. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will end with a celebration Saturday, Oct. 15, on the grounds of the Statehouse in Indianapolis. The relay is patterned after the Olympic torch relay and is designed to connect Hoosiers across the state and nation with their home state during the bicentennial year. The torch itself was designed by engineering faculty and students at Purdue University. The torch will be transported primarily by people, passing the flame from torchbearer to torchbearer. The relay also will employ other modes of conveyance that are symbolic of the history and heritage of Indiana, including watercraft, farm equipment, a race car, horse and wagon, antique automobile and others. Torchbearers were nominated by the public, and nominations are currently being vetted at the local level by county torch relay coordinating committees. More than 4,000 torchbearer nominations were received. Torchbearers will be Hoosiers who demonstrate exceptional public service, excellence in their profession, acts of heroism or volunteer service to their neighborhood, community, region or state. To follow the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay on social media, visit INTorchRelay on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. A Gundersen Health System request to demolish nine houses on the city block adjacent to its campus will go before the La Crosse Common Council next week after a Tuesday vote by the citys Judiciary and Administrative Committee. The committee approved a conditional use permit to allow for the demolition, despite a recommendation from the Plan Commission to delay it a month to allow communication between the hospital and the Powell Poage Hamilton Neighborhood Association. Michael Richards, executive director of external affairs, said the 175 parking stalls would replace patient parking lost to the hotel development on South Avenue, as well as planned medical resident housing, which will cost the hospital about 215 stalls. Our biggest issue is that the last thing we want them to worry about when they come to us is to have to find a parking stall, Richards said. Council member David Krump was against granting Gundersen the permit, arguing that the city should follow its comprehensive plan to support neighborhood growth. This isnt really about taxes, because when you tear down houses in a neighborhood, they arent coming back, Krump said. Robbie Young, a member of the citys Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee, also spoke in opposition, saying the city should be discouraging the driving culture, not encouraging it by allowing more surface parking. Co-chair of the Powell Poage Hamilton Neighborhood Association Andrew Londre renewed his objections to additional parking, calling on Gundersen and the city to explore other options. Council member Phillip Ostrem, who represents that area, said he understood the opposition, but that the city should accommodate the regional medical center, which brings in patients from neighboring states, as well as La Crosse. (Londres) absolutely right that surface parking is not the best option, but there are special circumstances here, Ostrem said. The hospital has 3,631 parking stalls for 4,700 employees and 4,000 patient visits per day. The permit was improved on the conditions that the hospital commit to a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to offset the loss of tax base associated with the buildings and work with city planning staff to provide a redevelopment plan for the area and a traffic demand management plan. Gundersen is willing to provide a PILOT, but will have difficulty developing a five-year plan, according to Richards. Healthcare is rapidly evolving so were always trying to determine what our long-term strategy is going to be, Richards said. La Crosse Common Council will consider the permit at its regular meeting April 14. Wisconsin residents will be able to nominate and elect local representatives to the Wisconsin Conservation Congress (WCC) at the DNR Spring Hearings and Conservation Congress annual county meetings held Monday, April 11, starting at 7 p.m. in each county of the state. Individuals interested in natural resources management will also have the opportunity to provide their input by non-binding vote and testimony on proposed rule changes and advisory questions relating to conservation and fish and wildlife management in Wisconsin. Vernon County's meeting will be held at the Viroqua High School commons, 100 Blackhawk Dr., Viroqua. Monroe County's will be held at the Meadowview Middle School cafeteria, 1225 N. Water St., Sparta, La Crosse's will be held at the Onalaska High School performing arts center, 700 Hilltopper Place, Onalaska, Richland County's will be held at the Richland County Courthouse courtroom, 181 W. Seminary St., Richland Center, and Grant County's will be held at Lancaster High School's Hillary Auditorium, 806 E. Elm St., Lancaster. The Wisconsin Conservation Congress is officially recognized as the only advisory body in the state where citizens elect county delegates to represent their interests on natural resources issues on a local and statewide level to the Natural Resources Board (NRB) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). At the meetings, citizens will have the opportunity to comment and register their support, or non-support, for DNR proposed rule changes, as well as Congress proposals that could someday become the rules that regulate fishing, hunting, trapping and other outdoor recreation activities in Wisconsin. They may also submit ideas to address conservation needs or concerns they observe through the WCC resolution process. Results of the publics input on these proposals will be presented to the Natural Resources Board in May. If there is significant support for a proposal, the WCC advisory question could become a DNR rule change proposal in following years. This year in addition to 12 DNR and NRB questions, the Conservation Congress will seek public input on 33 advisory questions on a range of topics. The complete 2016 Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources spring rules hearings questionnaire is available for review online or at local DNR service centers. Individuals without Internet access may be able to view the online questionnaire by visiting their local library. People interested in attending the hearings are encouraged to review the questionnaire online prior to the April 11 hearings and should arrive at the hearing location early to register before the hearings begin at 7 p.m. For additional information on the Spring Hearings, visit www.dnr.wi.gov and search key words Spring Hearings. The Public Service Commission of Wisconsin (PSC) encourages utility customers to stay connected as the heating season comes to an end. The PSC advises consumers to contact their local utility company if they have fallen behind in their utility payments for the 2015-16 winter season. Utility service may be disconnected on or after April 16 if energy bills have not been paid or a payment plan has not been arranged with the utility. To provide health and safety protections during Wisconsins cold winter months, PSC rules prohibit utilities from disconnecting consumers between Nov. 1 and April 15 for nonpayment of utility bills. However, after April 15, utilities are not required to provide service to customers who are behind on their bills. To avoid disconnection, customers who have fallen behind in payments are encouraged to contact their local utility to set up a payment plan. Below is a list of contact numbers for the five largest investor-owned utilities: Xcel Energy 800-895-4999 Alliant Energy 800-255-4268 We Energies 800-842-4565 Wisconsin Public Service Corporation 800-450-7260 Madison Gas & Electric Company 608-252-7144 Consumers who have contacted their utility, but cannot reach a payment agreement, should contact Public Service Commission Consumer Affairs at 1-800-225-7729. If consumers fail to make payment or payment arrangements with the utility, the utility may disconnect service. Utility companies must inform customers before discontinuing service. For more information about utility disconnections and collections, see the PSCs fact sheets on residential customer rights at http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/general/consumer02.pdf (gas and electric customers) or http://psc.wi.gov/thelibrary/publications/general/consumer03.pdf (water customers). The Wisconsin Home Energy Assistance Program (WHEAP) manages low-income and public benefits programs, which provide financial assistance to pay energy bills for qualifying households. The amount of the assistance varies according to household size, income level, and heating costs. Consumers who need assistance in paying their utility bills can contact Home Energy Plus, which provides information on the states energy assistance programs. To find out if you qualify for WHEAP Assistance, call 1-866-HEATWIS (432-8947) or visit http://www.homeenergyplus.wi.gov/. WASHINGTON In Wisconsin, Democrats went with the candidate who excited them the most, and Republicans chose the candidate who wasn't Donald Trump. As Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the state's GOP primary, exit polls show his victory appeared to be driven more by fear of Trump than excitement about Cruz. In fact, a majority of Wisconsin Republican voters say they're either concerned or scared of a potential Trump presidency. On the Democratic side, voters chose Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who they saw as the more exciting, inspiring and honest candidate, according to early results of exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research. But even then, more voters view former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the candidate most likely to beat Trump, who has been the Republican front-runner throughout the primaries. Other highlights from the exit polls: Scared or concerned A majority of Republican voters say they're either concerned or scared of a potential Trump presidency, exit polls show. Nearly 4 in 10 say they're scared about what Trump would do as president, and about 2 in 10 say they're concerned. At the same time, though, about a quarter of Wisconsin GOP primary voters say they're excited about Trump, while less than 15 percent say that of either Cruz or Ohio Gov. John Kasich. But the exit poll shows Republicans could face a challenge in uniting their party whether Trump or Cruz emerges as the eventual nominee. A third of Wisconsin GOP voters say that if Trump and Clinton are the nominees they'd vote for a third party candidate, stay home or even vote for Clinton. Three in ten say that of a Cruz versus Clinton matchup. Excitement, realistic, honest About 7 in 10 Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin said they are excited or optimistic about what either candidate would do in office, but they're more likely to be excited about Sanders. About a third say they're excited about what he would do, while about half as many say that about Clinton. Nearly 60 percent say Sanders inspires them more about the future of the country. But more than half also say Clinton is the candidate best suited to beat Trump. Three-quarters say Clinton has realistic policies, more than the two-thirds who say that of Sanders. Democratic voters were more likely to describe Sanders than Clinton as honest. About nine in 10 say so of Sanders, while about 6 in 10 say so of Clinton. Contested convention When it comes to a contested Republican convention, nearly 6 in 10 Republicans say the party should nominate the candidate with the most support in the primaries, which so far would be Trump. About 4 in 10 say it should nominate the candidate the delegates think would make the best nominee. Even among voters who favored Cruz, 4 in 10 said the candidate with the most support going into the convention should be the party's nominee. Trade and jobs Democratic voters in Wisconsin are divided on the effect of trade on unemployment, but among those who think trade takes jobs, 6 in 10 supported Sanders. About 4 in 10 Democratic voters say trade with other countries takes away jobs in this country, while 4 in 10 see trade as beneficial, exit polls show. Only about 1 in 10 sees trade as having no effect on jobs in the United States. The polls indicate a mixed response on an issue that Sanders has put at the center of his television ads. In the ads, he's connected job losses with the North American Free Trade Agreement, which was signed into law by former President Bill Clinton, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Clinton initially supported but has since said she opposes. Demographics Young voters supported Sanders by an overwhelming margin. More than 6 in 10 men voted for Sanders, while women split about evenly between the two candidates. Six in 10 white voters went for Sanders, while 7 in 10 black voters voted for Clinton. Self-described Democrats split about evenly between the two candidates, while about 7 in 10 independents voted for Sanders. On the GOP side, Cruz won a majority of self-described Republicans, while independents were about evenly split between Trump and Cruz. Two-thirds of very conservative voters supported Cruz, as did about half of those describing themselves as somewhat conservative. Moderates were somewhat more likely to support Trump than either Cruz or Kasich. In his victory, Cruz swept all age and education levels and won with both men and women. The survey was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as primary voters left their polling places at 35 randomly selected sites in Wisconsin. The preliminary results include interviews with 1,774 Democratic primary voters and 1,532 Republican primary voters and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. The United States sent two Libyans from its detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to Senegal earlier this week. U.S. State Department officials called the move a humanitarian resettlement. The United States is grateful to the government of Senegal for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing U.S. efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, the Defense Department said. The Libyans were identified as Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby and Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker Mahjour Umar. They had been jailed at the detention center 14 years without facing charges. Both men were opponents of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Khalif was captured in Karachi in early 2002. Ghereby was detained in late 2001 along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. President Barack Obama is working to close the Guantanamo Bay prison before he leaves office next January. Republican members of Congress oppose the closing. The U.S. military has used the prison to hold terror suspects since the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington. The detainees started arriving in January 2002. In all, 779 prisoners have been held at Guantanamo Bay. More than 100 detainees have been resettled in 26 countries. One detainee has been freed. Another is serving a life sentence in prison after standing trial in the United States. Jim Dresbach adapted this VO news story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. Should the Gitmo prison be closed? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page. ________________________________________________________________ Words in This Story grateful adj. thankful; feeling or showing kindness gesture n. a movement, usually one to express an idea or meaning Myanmar's parliament has created a new position for the head of the newly elected ruling party, Aung San Suu Kyi. Lawmakers voted Tuesday to establish the position of State Counselor. The effort to make her the country's de facto top leader was launched last week. It was the first legislative act of the new parliament. Aung San Suu Kyi stated during the election campaign last year that she would hold a position above the president. She is also Myanmars Foreign Minister and Minister of the President's Office. However, the Nobel Peace Prize winner is barred by the constitution from being president because her children are foreign nationals. Military representatives hold 25 percent of the seats in parliament under the constitution set up by the former military government. They say the new position is unconstitutional. But the legislation passed easily because Aung San Suu Kyis party, the National League for Democracy, holds a majority in parliament after the November 2015 election. President Htin Kyaw is a close ally of Aung San Suu Kyi. He must now sign the legislation officially creating the position into law. Earlier this week, Aung San Suu Kyi met with Chinas Foreign Minister Wang Yi. He congratulated Myanmar on its newly established civilian government. He also promised that China would pursue projects that would help both countries. China is the largest foreign investor in Myanmar and an ally of the former military government. However, China has been criticized for pursuing large-scale projects, such as a huge dam in northern Myanmar and a gas pipeline through Rakhine state. Critics say the projects are bad for the environment and exploit Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. After their meeting Tuesday, neither foreign minister said whether they discussed these controversial issues. They said only that they had discussed issues to improve bilateral economic and trade relations. Im Mario Ritter. VOANews.com reported this story. The story was produced in collaboration with VOAs Burmese language service. It was adapted for Learning English by Mario Ritter. George Grow was the editor. What are your thoughts about Myanmars political developments? Let us know in the comments section. _____________________________________________________________ Words in This Story de facto n. existing, but not by official rule or law pursue v. to try to get something or reach a goal, to seek to get something done exploit v. to use, sometimes in a way that is unfair controversial adj. of or related to a public dispute or debate bilateral adj. between two sides A 9-year-old reporter is defending her work after people in her small Pennsylvania town criticized her for covering a murder. They said Hilde Kate Lysiak should be playing with dolls, or having tea parties, instead of covering a serious crime. Hilde runs the Orange Street News in her hometown of Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, 240 kilometers northwest of Philadelphia. The young reporter got a tip that something happened in her town on April 2. At the scene, she got details of the crime, and later that day, posted a story and a video clip on her website, OrangeStreetNews.com. In the video, she said a man was suspected of murdering his wife with a hammer. Standing near a police vehicle, Hilde said, Im working hard on this investigation. She beat the regular news media to the story. But soon after she posted her story, the negative comments started on her Facebook page and YouTube channel. People said she should play with dolls instead. And they questioned her parents judgment in letting her report the story. Hildes reaction? "It kind of gets me angry because just because I'm 9 doesn't mean I can't do a great story," she said to the Associated Press. "It doesn't mean I can't be a reporter." On her YouTube channel, Hilde reads some of the angry comments aimed at her. She wears a red bow in her hair, and a button that says, I (love) free speech. She smiles after she reads aloud this one, I am disgusted that this cute little girl thinks she is a journalist. What happened to tea parties? Another critic wrote nine-year-old girls should be playing with dolls, not trying to be reporters. In another video response, Hilde defends her work: I know this makes some of you uncomfortable, and I know some of you just want me to sit down and be quiet because Im nine," she says. But if you want me to stop covering news, then you get off your computer and do something about the news. There, is that cute enough for you?, she asks. She has run the Orange Street News since 2014. She gets some help from her father, Matthew Lysiak, a former reporter for the New York Daily News. Her 12-year-old sister Isabel handles videos and photos. At first, it was a newspaper for her family, written in crayon. But now it has become a community news provider, with short stories posted on a website and a Facebook page. Some of the other stories she has reported on have been, drug use by middle school-aged children in a park, and several acts of property damage. Hilde has also written about the many empty storefronts in downtown Selinsgrove. Matthew Lysiak said the comments on his daughter's stories are usually positive. Lysiak said when he worked for the Daily News, sometimes he would take her along on the job. "She found journalism really interesting, and my older daughter, too," he said. "They would ask lots of questions." He told the AP that she usually is not bothered by comments, and usually does not read them. But the tea party comment, he said, "really lit a fuse under her." Im Anne Ball. Anne Ball adapted this story based on an Associated Press report. Hai Do was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section and visit us on Facebook. ______________________________________________________________ Words in This Story tip n. information about a breaking story negative adj. harmful or bad disgusted n. (past) strong feeling of dislike, annoyed or angered journalist n. reporter crayon n. a stick of colored wax for drawing embraced v. to accept someone readily and gladly lit a fuse phrase. get someone to react strongly United States officials say 21 people were arrested for their reported involvement in a plot to help foreign nationals stay in the country illegally. The program enabled over 1,000 foreigners to remain in the US by claiming to work at or attend a university that does not exist. Officials say those arrested knew that the University of Northern New Jersey had no teachers, classes or programs. But the defendants did not know it was created by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to help fight visa fraud. Paul Fishman is the federal governments top attorney for New Jersey. He told reporters that individuals and companies that help foreigners request visas began contacting the fake university soon after its creation in 2013. The Associated Press news agency reported that some defendants paid the federal agents operating the university thousands of dollars. In return, they received documents that showed students were attending classes or working for the school. This enabled the foreigners to keep their visas without attending classes. The students paid the visa brokers thousands of dollars for their help. The plot affected foreign nationals from more than 20 countries. But most of them were from India and China. They had entered the United States legally using non-immigrant, student visas. But they wanted to stay in the U.S. longer, either by having their student visas extended or by being given work visas. U.S. Attorney Fishman said the government knows who these people are. He said they will be investigated by federal immigration officers, but not charged in the case. Most of them will be forced to leave the country. One law enforcement official told The New York Times newspaper that some of the students used the illegally-given work visas to get jobs at Facebook and Apple. ABC News reported that another student with an illegal visa entered the Army. Government officials told The New York Times that most of the 1.2 million foreigners who entered the U.S. using student visas are attending legitimate universities. But there have been reports of student visa fraud across the country. This has caused immigration officials to worry about the countrys security. They have been pressured to fully investigate those who seek visas to see if they have links to terrorism. Im Christopher Jones-Cruise. VOAs Esha Grover reported this story from Washington. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it for Learning English. George Grow 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 fraud - n. the crime of using dishonest methods to take something valuable from another person fake - adj. meant to look real or genuine but not real or genuine broker - n. a person who helps other people to reach agreements or to make deals legitimate - adj. real, accepted or official Three former North Platte area residents were among five people killed Monday when a sightseeing helicopter crashed in Tennessee. Peyton Rasmussen, 22, and Parker Rasmussen, 18, and their mother, Johna (Jochum) Morvant, 49, were among those killed when the Bell 206 helicopter crashed about 3:30 p.m. Monday near Sevierville, Tennessee. Peyton and Parker, formerly of North Platte, are the children of former Cedar Bowl owner Scott Rasmussen. Morvant was originally from Sutherland. Peyton's boyfriend, Michael Genn Mastalez, 21, of Prosper, Texas, and the helicopter's pilot, Jason Dahl, 38, of Sevierville, were also killed in the crash. Butch Rasmussen, grandfather of Peyton and Parker, said the family had been living in North Carolina. Rasmussen, of North Platte, said the children were visiting their mother in Tennessee when they decided to go on the sightseeing tour. "The helicopter was...flying over the Smoky Mountains, as I understand it," Butch Rasmussen said Tuesday afternoon. "It had a pretty hard crash and blew up." Officials say the helicopter burned after the crash. "There's not much left of the helicopter," Jack Baldwin, police chief in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, told the Associated Press. Investigators were at the crash site Tuesday, but had not determined what caused the crash. Luke Schiada, a senior investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said there was evidence that the Bell 206 helicopter struck the top of a ridge on the side of a mountain. "The fact that the wreckage was consumed by the fire does make things more complicated," Schiada said at a press conference. Representatives from Bell Helicopter, Textron, Rolls Royce and the FAA were also at the scene. Bell is a division of Textron, and Rolls Royce makes the engine on the Bell 206, according to Bell's website. "There's a little bit of the tail fin of the helicopter, and that's about all that's left," Baldwin said. "That and the console, that's about it." Schiada said the tour route for the helicopter indicated that it was a 12-minute flight, and it was the pilot's second flight of the day. The NTSB said it would review how the helicopter was loaded, the aircraft's maintenance records, the pilot's background and the wind conditions at the time of the crash, he said. The crash occurred less than a mile from a large outlet mall in Sevierville near a neighborhood off the main tourist drag. The site is about three miles from Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park. Tennessee Emergency Management Association spokesman Dean Flener said no homes were damaged and no one on the ground was injured. The NTSB will post a preliminary report on the crash on its website by the end of next week, Schiada said. Determining the probable cause of the crash could take a year or more, he said. Butch Rasmussen said he'd seen a television news report about the accident Monday night but had no idea it involved his grandchildren. Butch said his son called Tuesday morning to tell him. "The thought just keeps going through my mind," Butch Rasmussen said. "I saw that news report on the news [Monday] night and it showed the trees and the mountains where the crash occurred, and the smoke coming up from the trees. Like you do, when you hear those kinds of reports, I thought, 'Gosh, that's sad. Five people lost their lives,' and I went back to my business. It turned out it was my family. You don't ever think about that." Peyton graduated from North Platte High School in 2011 and Parker, a senior, was being homeschooled. Butch said Parker was quiet and preferred a small, tight-knit circle of friends, while Peyton was more outgoing. He said she took a lot of selfies and was "everybody's friend." "Peyton always had a posse," Butch said. "She didn't do anything without a gaggle of friends around." This report includes material from the Associated Press. Lori and Bill Munson had hoped that legalization of medical marijuana in Nebraska would allow them to find effective ways to control their daughter Ashleys seizures. Through four brain surgeries, doctors have removed the entire left hemisphere of Ashleys brain. Ashley, 18, still suffers seizures daily despite the surgeries and a vagal nerve stimulator, which sends pulses of electricity to the brains longest nerve. The Munson family and others like them had their hopes dashed Tuesday night, when the Nebraska Legislature struck down LB 643, which aimed to legalize cannabis products for medical purposes. But for community activists and others in North Platte, the vote relieved fears about the effect of medical marijuana use on the community. In their search for answers, the Munsons came across cannabidiol, also known as CBD oil. Derived from the cannabis plant, CBD oils contain minimal amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the main psychoactive compound in marijuana. At first, the Munsons were unable to bring CBD oil across state lines. Now, because CBD oil is a hemp extract that is grown agriculturally in Colorado, they can legally obtain it. But the Munsons had little information about appropriate dosage for CBD oil. Ultimately, the amount they gave Ashley was so small, the oil had little effect. Ashley now is on restrictive antibiotics and wont be able to use the oils again for months, but her family would like to try again. Many of Ashleys other medicines have dangerous side effects, including potential damage to her liver and other organs, her parents said. Even if it doesnt stop her seizures, it could help her brain function, Lori said. But some community activists say the risks of allowing legalized marijuana of any form outweigh the benefit. Because marijuana isnt regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, the lack of dosing information and frequency information are dangerous, said Sandee Kroon, co-chair of Community Connections Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Kroon referenced State Sen. Tommy Garrett, of Bellevue, who introduced the medical marijuana bill. Tommy Garrett thinks this is the be-all, end-all. Its not, Kroon said. There is going to be a much greater accessibility to youth. Kroon and others with Community Connections in North Platte voiced concerns that medical marijuana would lead to the state legalizing recreational marijuana. It isnt going to be [dispensed by] a pharmacist like at Bills U-Save [Pharmacy], she said. But a pharmacy-like atmosphere is exactly what Colin Fury, legislative aide for Garrett, and Ally Dering-Anderson, a pharmacist and clinical assistant professor at University of Nebraska Medical Center, foresee if medical marijuana were eventually legalized. Dering-Anderson said licensed professionals would be able to help families like the Munsons with dosages and regulations, while also keeping marijuana out of the wrong hands. If your community activists believe were going to let this [medical marijuana] loose, that offends me, she said. This isnt going to be a bait and tackle. This is going to be a pharmacy for pharmacists. But Dr. Dwight Larson, a family practitioner in North Platte, expressed concerns about government people making medical decisions. We dont know the side effects [of medical marijuana] and neither do they, he said. Larson has given presentations about the harms of drug use. Like those at Community Connections, he also fears that medical marijuana could be the first step to recreational marijuana laws. I think its a foot in the door, he said. Dering-Anderson acknowledged those who despite our best efforts take quality prescriptions and sell them illicitly. But for the most part, she claimed, those who seek medical marijuana would use it for its intended purposes alleviating seizures, pain and other ailments. WASHINGTON Nebraskas top law enforcement official said Tuesday that high schools in the state are feeling the influence of Colorados legalization of recreational marijuana. Ive learned from school administrators that students have taken a much more accepting and less guarded attitude toward marijuana, Attorney General Doug Peterson told a group of U.S. senators. School administrators frequently hear students say, If its legal in Colorado, it cant be that bad. Peterson called for action from Congress and the Department of Justice when he appeared at a Capitol Hill hearing convened by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate drug caucus. The hearing posed the question: Is the Department of Justice adequately protecting the public from the impact of state recreational marijuana legalization? Petersons short answer: Not on your life. He said the impact of Colorados pot legalization has been felt from Nebraskas westernmost counties to Omaha. According to Peterson: Before the legalization move, Omaha police mostly encountered relatively weak marijuana from Mexico that sold for about $1,000 a pound. But Colorados wide-open market has allowed for strains that are up to five times as powerful. Now marijuana in Omaha is more likely to be high-potency product from Colorado growers that commands prices around $3,500 to $4,200 a pound. The higher price means a higher profit margin, prompting more gangs to get into the pot business. From mid-January to the end of February, Lancaster County saw three significant marijuana stops totaling over 2,000 pounds and a value in the millions. The largest was believed to have come from Oregon, another from California and the last from Colorado. Young people in Nebraska have been known to pool their money and send an older sibling to Colorado to bring back the high-potency marijuana. Much of Tuesdays hearing focused on the Justice Departments scramble to respond to states that have jumped into legalization. A landmark moment was a 2013 Department of Justice memo that identified eight priority areas for federal enforcement efforts. Those targets included diversion of marijuana to states that continue to outlaw the drug, drugged driving and distribution of marijuana to minors. The message to the marijuana industry in legalization states like Colorado was that aside from those priority areas, federal agents wouldnt go around kicking in doors. Testifying on Tuesday, Peterson described that memo as a green light to the industry to take off. And take off it has. Peterson pointed to legal pot sales that have skyrocketed, reaching $5.4 billion last year. While that 2013 memo suggested that federal law enforcement would take a hands-off approach to state-level legalization, it also called on states to implement strong regulatory systems that would effectively prevent distribution to minors, drugged driving and other impacts on public health and safety. If state enforcement was insufficiently robust, the memo warned, the federal government could step in to enforce the law in individual cases and even challenge a states entire regulatory infrastructure. Grassley cited a recent Government Accountability Office report that found the Department of Justice to be falling short in monitoring the issue. The department has not developed clear rules on when it will step in to challenge a states regulatory system, according to the report. Grassley said the administration should stop burying its head in the sand about whats happening to its enforcement priorities on recreational marijuana and pointed to statistics showing increases in pot-related hospitalizations and traffic fatalities, as well as seizures of the drug bound for other states. Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said such data is alarming and that the department is keeping an eye on those issues. But he said the department must weigh factors beyond data in considering an enforcement action. For example, its possible that the federal government could wipe out a states regulatory framework without actually affecting the underlying decriminalization. Its possible that such an outcome would create even more chaos than the status quo, he said. Enforcement decisions are going to be informed by data, and more data is good, but theyre not going to be dictated by data, Wagner said. And he also pushed back on suggestions that the department should offer more clarity to state and local authorities as to just when the feds would step in. We dont expect the state troopers to tell you in advance how many miles over the speed limit you can go before theyre going to stop you, he said. Don Murphy of the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group, spoke with The World-Herald after the hearing. He noted that Peterson talked about the power of the free market in Colorado producing highly-potent pot. Would he rather his constituents in Nebraska use marijuana from Mexico that nobody understands what it is or what it isnt? Murphy asked. Peterson said in an interview that such comments are ridiculous spin. This industry is cute, this industry is smart, he said. Theyre trying to lower everyones concern about the product at the same time theyre amping up the potency and making it more dangerous than ever. Fintech in Africa has advanced in leaps and bounds, often outpacing the West in development. This report covers the potential markets and growth in the sector.... South Africa The country is focusing on unlocking private investment into dynamic sectors and encouraging small businesses with potential like those in technology and specifically fintech. There are a number of exemplary programmes to boost this sector such as the Cape IT Initiative (CiTi), JoziHub backed by Google and Omidyar, and Standard Banks Incubator programme. However, STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) graduates are in short supply. Maths pass rates (marks above 30%) are down to 53,5% in 2015, from 59,1% a year ago. Telkom Business also estimates the country lacks between 30,000 70,000 skilled IT practitioners. Nigeria The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced its intention to improve financial inclusion to 70% of the population focusing on areas such as remittances and pensions. It is doing this through a cash-lite initiative and has worked with MasterCard and Verifone to meet its aims. The countrys telecommunications sector contributes 8,34% to Nigerias total GDP. This is good news as the government aims to diversify away from oil revenue. E-commerce is also proving popular both Konga and Jumia received $40m and $150m respectively to build their operations in the country. However, Nigeria faces IT skills shortages, estimated to persist until 2018/2019. Its stressed banking system is coping with significant changes through heavy training demands and large-scale organisational changes. Ghana The government is taking its role to improve ICT (information and communication technology) within the country very seriously. Already 60,000 laptops have been distributed to school students and 50,000 teachers have received further ICT training as part of its Better Ghana ICT Agenda. The government also plans to have all registered employees inside the country paid electronically by 2020. This might be possible as mobile phone subscriptions outnumber the countrys population by 1:1.2. It also has a busy start-up scene in Accra with the world renowned Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST). Though strides have been made to improve its ICT skills base; through a network of training centre - community information centres (CICs) - a large percentage (44%) of these have no internet access. Kenya Though not the first African country with fintech, it has been the most successful at capitalising on the sectors potential through M-Pesa. The government is investing a lot into the countrys ICT, firstly through the Konza Technology City, a large tech hub hoping to create 17,000 jobs, and through its East African Marine System (TEAMS) cable. The government hopes to increase bank deposits from 40% to 80% and reduce financial exclusion from 85% to 70%. There is also a concentrated effort to invest heavily in ICT skills training, an area the countrys ICT Authority admits is lacking investment. Currently many secondary schools, particularly in the rural areas, lack access to computers. The current estimate stands at only 15%. Moreover, most of these are also unlikely to have internet access. But the ICT Authority has partnered with SAPS Skills for Africa and Microsoft (separately) to avoid the much needed training. Rising stars Also of major interest are those up and coming locations which should be on the radar as they have a number of factors working in their favour. Countries such as: Ethiopia - an entrepreneurial culture/ start-up ecosystem and huge population growth. Angola - advancing telecommunication expertise and budding financial sector. Egypt - an excellent start-up ecosystem and a perfect geographical and cultural location. M-Pesa is the most popular and as its maturing, users are able to pay for insurance, contribute to investments, setup funeral planning payment, and pay utility bills and school fees all via their non-smart phones. Official's photos an unusual attraction in Chinese village 2016-04-05 19:33 By (Xinhua) Ouyang Feng poses for a photo in the rape-seed fields in Cixi village, Jiangxi province. [Photo/Chinanews.com] NANCHANG -- A Chinese official has received a flurry of compliments from the online community after she starred in a series of photographs promoting the picturesque village where she lives and works. The photos, which feature Ouyang Feng, 27, in traditional Chinese dress, were all taken in rape-seed fields, as its yellow flowers begin to bloom this time of year. The photos quickly became one of the most shared posts on Chinese social media over the weekend. Ouyang can be seen dreamily wandering through the sea of flowers, resplendent in her flowing, white dress, floral hairpins and parasol. Her similarity to characters out of Chinese costume dramas was not lost on netizens. Not many of us know that Airlift star Akshay Kumar has been doing social work regularly without talking about it to the media. Recently, he shot a short film on the risks of hyper tension and high BP without charging a rupee. However, before it could see the light of day, the politics behind the film got in the way. A BMC health scheme was supposed to start operating from 7 April, which is also World Health Day, along with a screening of the film, but now its inauguration will happen only from May, sources have confirmed. Sources from BMC have additionally revealed that the health department has found increased symptoms of high BP and hyper tension in Mumbai. Youth between the age group of 25 to 40 years have the above stated symptoms due to a fast-paced lifestyle and preference of junk food. Almost 30 % of Mumbai's youth suffer from High BP and hyper tension. The short film helmed by Akshay Kumar highlights these issues. Not only has Kumar not charged a single rupee from BMC, well-known director Rajkumar Hirani did four minutes of the film free of cost. The short film will be telecast in all theaters and channels starting May, even though it was originally supposed to be revealed on April 4, at Taj Lands End in Mumbai. Sources close to Akshay confirmed the last minute changed the program, and it is also learnt that the actor will be flying abroad for his new film for three weeks. We attempted to reach Akshay Kumar but there was no response. It is reportedly the unavailability of time from CM Devendra Fadanvis and Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeary which is the main reason for the 'Jaan Bachao' health campaign being postponed. Earlier, both leaders were ready for the inaguration on Monday 4 April, but then later stated that it was not suitable for them. Insiders have further revealed that the tussle between Sena and BJP has been increasing day by day and this is the reason why both leaders have avoided the same platform. The spark between both the parties started after Sena chief Uddhav Thackerays remarks on Sunday, where he stated that the BJP is out to finish the Sena. The BJP, on the other hand, is convinced that the Sena does not want the alliance to continue for the Mumbai civic polls and is paving way for a split ahead of 2017, even at the cost of the government crumbling. In fact, on Monday both parties decided to fight the elections in the city separately. Talking to Firstpost, Additional Commissioner of BMC, Sanjay Deshmukh, who is in charge of the health department, said the the short film on youth lifestyle is postponed, but will be opened in due course of time. Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar is the latest celebrity to step forward and help the drought-struck farmers of Marathwada, after actor Nana Patekar established Naam Foundation. Kumar has pledged Rs 90 lakhs to the cause. Akshay has decided to contribute Rs 15 lakhs a month, for six consecutive months. However, the tussle between the CM and Uddhav has resulted in Akshay's short film for the BMC health campaign to be postponed by three weeks. Water War with Ali Fazal on The Firstpostin Show Live Posted by Firstpost on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 Today, we have the uber-talented Ali Fazal with us, live on the Firstpost Show! The actor, who made his debut in Bollywood with a much-appreciated role in Rajukumar Hiranis 3 Idiots, has moved from strength to strength in the film industry. Furious 7 marked his big Hollywood entry. In this live chat, Ali talks to us about his web series Bang, Baaja, Baaraat, venturing into theatre with Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpours White Rabbit, Red Rabbit and challenges us to an epic Water War! Ever since news of Balika Vadhu actress Pratyusha Banerjees death broke on Friday, 1 April, it has been the subject of intense speculation. With allegations flying fast and thick about everything from Pratyusha suffering violence and abuse at the hands of her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh, to being depressed due to financial troubles, and at loggerheads with her parents, that the 24-year-old actress was two months pregnant heres a look at what is known about the case: Sometime in the afternoon-early evening hours of Friday, 1 April, Pratyusha Banerjee died. Sunil Mukhya, who was employed as a cook at Pratyushas neighbours house saw Rahul Raj outside the flat with a keymaker; Rahul told Mukhya that Pratyusha wasnt opening the door. Mukhya then offered to enter the flat through the neighbouring balcony. He has told police that when he entered the flat, he saw the actress hanging from the ceiling fan. He then opened the door to the flat, letting Rahul in, and then helped the latter rush Pratyusha to the hospital. Over Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 April, the police questioned Rahul Raj Singh, although they said that it was too early to suspect any foul play in Pratyushas death. On Saturday evening, Pratyushas last rites were carried out at the Oshiwara crematorium. Reports state that she was dressed like a bride for her cremation. Colleagues from the TV industry attended the funeral. By Sunday evening, Rahul complained of chest pain, and was hospitalised. His lawyer Neeraj Gupta told the press that the actor-producer was in a very fragile condition and has been traumatised by Pratyushas death. In the meantime, police had carried out a search of the fat he shared with Pratyusha in Malad, and in which the actress body had been found. They reported finding a large quantity of medicines, alcohol and cigarette stubs, adding that doctors are helping determine what the medications were for, and whether or not they were prescribed to Pratyusha for depression. Over Monday, 4 April, several members of the TV industry came forward with claims that Rahul was physically violent with Pratyusha, that he had duped several women of their money on the pretext of producing films, that he had hidden his status as a divorcee from Pratyusha. Lawyer Falguni Brahmabhatt submitted a list of names of 10 of Pratyushas colleagues to the police, who wished to share information on the actress death with the authorities. On Tuesday, 5 April, a prayer meet was held for Pratyusha in Mumbai, after which her parents Soma and Shankar Banerjee spoke to the media. Soma said that until January of this year, she lived with her daughter, but moved back to their hometown Jamshedpur since Rahul and Pratyusha had decided to live together. Shankar Banerjee has said that they had some indications of trouble in their daughters relationship, but didnt guess the full extent of it. On the basis of a fresh statement given by Soma Banerjee, the police booked Rahul Raj for abetment of suicide, assault and intimidation under sections 306, 323 and 506 of the IPC. Wednesday, 6 April, Rahul applied for anticipatory bail. However, his lawyer Neeraj Gupta backed out of the case, citing humanitarian grounds. Gupta claims that he was kept in the dark by his client and his family. Meanwhile, a veritable circus has been taking place on the sidelines of the case with a cast of characters that includes: Rakhi Sawant and her plan to get ceiling fans banned to bring an end to suicides by hanging; Priyanka Chopras disgraced manager Prakash Jajus claims that the Quantico actress attempted suicide on three different occasions; Hema Malinis thoughts on suicide being for losers; and Dolly Bindra taking ambulance chasing to a whole other level. New Delhi: India has a great opportunity for job creation as rival China is slowing down, wages there remain abnormally high and labour is becoming increasingly scarce. Ideally, Chinese industry should be looking towards cost effective Indian manufacturing with abundant and cheap labour to get its mojo back. The Modi government has been showcasing the India growth story globally but we now know that this growth has largely ignored job creation since the NDA came to power in May 2014. But will the Chinese opportunity be seized by the Indians? Latest data released by the Labour Bureau for the July-September quarter of 2015 when the Modi government had been in power for well over a year show just 1.34 lakh jobs were added across eight labour-intensive sectors during the quarter. This is the lowest number of jobs created in the September quarter of last six years (barring 2012 for which quarter wise data is not available). Data also make it clear that in the first nine months of 2015, job creation was the slowest since 2009, with just 1.55 lakh new jobs being created. During the second term of the UPA government from 2010 through 2014, far more jobs were created in the first nine months each year, across the eight sectors this survey tracks. In the first nine months of 2010, 6.58 lakh jobs were added; in 2011 this number was 7.04 lakh, 2012 full year saw addition of 3.22 lakh and the nine months of 2013 nine witnessed 3.36 employment creation. In 2014, the nine month period saw 3.76 lakh jobs being created but a quarter wise breakdown shows the largest number of jobs were created between April-June at 1.82 lakh and then job creation kept declining to 1.58 in the July-September quarter before falling off to 1.17 lakh in the last quarter of the calendar year. It must be mentioned here that this is by no means a comprehensive or even widely representative sample of jobs being created across the country, even though the survey tracks some labour intensive industries like textile, jems and jewellery, IT/BPO and automobiles. And the government needs to map joblessness as well as creation of new jobs with a wider sample. But still, this is the only latest data available. Apart from slowdown in job creation, quality of jobs being created has also apparently worsened. The employment of contractual workers declined by 21,000 in the nine-month period of 2015 compared to an increase of 1.2 lakh in the corresponding period a year ago. Growth in employment of direct workers also slowed down, with only 1.76 lakh new hires against the 1.84 lakh increase in such jobs recorded in the same period in 2014. Niti Ayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya admitted at the CII Annual Session recently that job creation remains one of the biggest challenges for the government and then went on to paint a rosy picture of the possibilities the Chinese slowdown has created for the Indian job market. He said an average Chinese worker draws about Rs 5 lakh per annum in the manufacturing sector, which is obviously making Chinese manufacturing unviable. He also mentioned specific industries like clothing and footwear which are looking to set up manufacturing plants outside China because of labour issues. As per the NSSO data which is available till 2011-12, roughly half of Indias population (49%) is engaged in agriculture and Panagariya said he suspects there was a fair bit of underemployment in agriculture too. He went on to say that even when it comes to industry, firms with less than 20 workers in the unorganised sector employ almost three fourths (73%) of the total manufacturing sector workforce though these firms account for only 12% of the manufacturing output in India (as per the 2011-12 data). The slowdown and labour issues in China provide India with a golden opportunity for job creation and enhancing manufacturing activity. But is the government listening? Is the Ease of doing Business slogan being put into practice? Panagariya said India lacks large firms with global linkages and it would be ideal if Chinese firms with existing links to global markets come and set up shop here. These firms would, ideally, also bring with them global management best practices and global capital. This, he said, would create more medium and small firms in India. All this idealistic world of job creation and benefitting from the Chinese dilemma requires is creation of the right ecosystem for companies to establish themselves in India. And major reforms in labour laws. Labour Secretary Shankar Aggarwal said at the same CII event that there are 44 central labour laws and the Modi government plans to replace these with just four labour codes to make it easier for entrepreneurs to do business in India. He said two codes are already with the Union Cabinet for approval while the remaining two are close to being finalised. He also spoke of work being done on arriving at a national floor level for minimum wages, which can then be topped up by individual states. New Delhi: The Centre's green panel has given clearance to Tata Steel for diversion of about 199 hectare of forest land for expansion of its iron ore mining project in Keonjhar district, Odisha. "The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Union Environment Ministry examined Tata Steel's proposal during last month's meeting and recommended granting forest clearance," a senior government official said. The FAC has suggested that the ministry should give final clearance subject to some conditions, the official added. Normally, the ministry gives final nod to projects based on the recommendations of the FAC. As per the proposal, the company has sought permission for diversion of 199.1 hectare of forest land, including 2.2 hectare for safety zone, for iron ore mining and allied activities in Katamani mines in Deojhar and Thakurani Reserved Forest, Keonjhar district. Out of the total forest land proposed to be diverted, 57.55 hectare is reserved forest. As many as 49,600 trees are required to be felled in the virgin forest land. Total cost of expansion of Katamani iron ore mine project is estimated at Rs 45 crore up to production level of 5 million tonnes per annum. The iron ore produced from the Katamani mine will be supplied to steel plants of Tata Steel and its group companies. This mine is one of the major sources of supply of high grade iron ore to its largest plant in Jamshedpur. Tata Steel has manufacturing operations in 26 countries and employs around 80,500 people. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday said not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need to be illegitimate and that this will be primary the task of the probe team in which the central bank has also been co-opted. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is investigating the recently leaked Panama files of law firm Mossack Fonseca, where about 500 Indians, including business people and Bollywood actors were found to have accounts in offshore locations. "We are in the investigation team on 'Panama Papers'. We will have to see what is legitimate and what is not. That is a part of the investigation process," Rajan told a press conference here after presenting the monetary policy for this fiscal. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan in the post-policy conference on Tuesday said having foreign accounts was not an offence per se. Under the liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), any Indian can legally take out up to $250,000 per financial year for various purposes. "It's important to remember that there are legitimate reasons, too, to have accounts overseas." Deputy Governor H.R. Khan said the primary investigation into the matter will only determine if any violation has taken place. "A lot of things are permitted, a lot of things aren't. There are grey areas too," Khan said. "All of it will be known once the investigation is complete." The comments come a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose, conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers". "A multi-agency group is being formed to monitor the black money trail," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had told reporters after he met with the prime minister. The team will comprise officers from the Central Board of Direct Taxes' Financial Intelligence Unit, the board's Tax Research Unit, and also officials from the Reserve Bank of India, the finance ministry said in a statement. With Agencies Mumbai - The banking system moved a step closer to on-tap licensing with the Reserve Bank on Tuesday saying it will shortly announce guidelines for the same. "In the weeks to come, you will see a fulfilment of our past announcements, including the release of guidelines for on-tap licensing of universal banks," Governor Rajan told analysts during the post-policy concall. In the monetary policy document, the governor said in addition to the recently licensed differentiated banks such as payments banks and small finance banks, the Reserve Bank will also explore the option of licensing other differentiated banks such as custodian banks and banks for only whole-sale and long-term financing. The RBI said a paper in this regard will be put out for comments by September for public and the industry to debate. Whole-sale banking and custodian banks are not present in the country today, except for the representative offices of Western banks. Custodian banks, more popularly known as custodians, are specialised financial institutions responsible for safeguarding a company's or individual's financial assets and is not engaged in "traditional" commercial or consumer/ retail banking. Whole-sale banks provide services to organisations such as mortgage brokers, large corporate clients, mid-sized companies, real estate developers and investors, international trade finance and not to retail customers. Since Rajan took over the mantle of the Mint Road in September 2013, two universal banks - infra-lender turned IDFC Bank and the micro-lender turned Bandhan Bank in FY15 - have been given licences. They have already started operations. Again in 2015-16, he allowed as many as 11 payment banks and 10 small finance banks, in the first batch of differentiated banking licences, which are yet to get operational. Today's announcement makes the whole process of on-tap banking a step closer. Meanwhile, RBI said it will come out with guidelines on 'Large exposures framework for lenders which will also deal with enhancing credit supply through market mechanism'. The central bank said fresh discussion paper on this will be issued by April 30 on large borrowers meeting a part of their funding requirements from markets. Deputy governor R Gandhi said the exposure guidelines primarily will be based on the lendable capital of the bank, adding "a draft circular on the large exposures framework will be issued for public comments in June and will be implemented by January 1, 2019." PTI Mumbai: Actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh, against whom a case has been lodged for abetment of his girlfriend and TV star Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide, on Wednesday filed an anticipatory bail application at the Dindoshi sessions court. It will be considered on Thursday. After Rahul's new lawyer Ashok Sarogi moved the application, the matter was adjourned for the day and and has been posted for hearing on Thursday. The development came hours after Rahul's previous lawyer Neeraj Gupta withrew from the case, saying he was "kept in the dark" about the details pertaining to the case. "I withdrew from the case on humanitarian grounds. I felt that I shouldn't be fighting the case, and hence left it be so that injustice is not done to anyone," Gupta told PTI on Wednesday. "A client should pass on all the information, right or wrong, good or bad, to the lawyer, but I was kept in the dark and got all the details (pertaining to the case) from outside (media)," Gupta claimed. Asked if he changed his mind after the FIR was filed against Rahul, he said, "The FIR has nothing to do with the decision. A lawyer is always prepared for such things." Rahul, currently in hospital, was on Tuesday booked for the abetment of suicide after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the actress's mother Soma at Bangurnagar Police Station. A case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC has been registered against Rahul. Police has, however, declined to divulge details regarding the investigation that led to registration of the FIR. They suspect that Rahul was in relationship with another woman about which the deceased was depressed. Meanwhile, doctors attending on Rahul, who has been in hospital since Sunday morning, said that "he still has suicidal tendencies." "I cannot leave him now because he can do anything. He is still on medication and becomes violent when effect of medicine wanes," Dr Santosh Goel, said, adding that he is under depression and at times calls out to Pratyusha. On 1 April, the 24-year-old actress, who shot to fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregaon area of western suburbs. Police are also trying to ascertain whether Pratyusha was in financial trouble or had any dispute with Rahul. Some reports suggested that the actress, who hailed from Jamshedpur, was depressed over not getting roles in TV serials. On Sunday, Rahul was admitted in ICU ward of a hospital in Kandivali after he complained of chest pain and breathlessness, said police who were to question him for the second day. As part of their probe, police spoke to several people, including the common friends of Singh and Banerjee, their close relatives, friends, neighbours and domestic help. Police are awaiting the viscera report of the actress. Pratyusha's parents had alleged that their daughter took the extreme step as she was subjected to torture by Rahul. "He (Rahul) should not get out. My daughter should get justice and I would like to appeal to the entire nation to help me in seeking justice for my daughter. He tortured my daughter a lot and finished her," Pratyusha's mother Soma told reporters on Tuesday evening. Pratyusha's father Shankar Banerjee, said, "We could not come out in the open earlier as Pratyusha's last rites were not performed. We lodged an FIR against Rahul and told the police about her suffering." They alleged Rahul used to scare their daughter and alienated her from her friends. Besides family and friends, a host of television personalities like Kamya Punjabi, Vikas Gupta, Sara Khan, Shashank Vyas, Jay Bhanusali, Deepshikha Nagpal, Anuj Sachdeva, Sangram Singh and Rohit Verma attended a prayer meet held in memory of Pratyusha. New Delhi: The HRD Ministry is sending a two-member team to NIT Srinagar campus today which has been gripped by tension following clashes among students over the Indian cricket team's loss against West Indies in the T20 World Cup last week. "The Ministry has decided to send a two-member team comprising a Director and a Deputy Secretary rank officer, who will listen to the students there," a senior official said. Unrest was witnessed again yesterday at the campus, the scene of last week's clash, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathi-charge in which some were injured. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday condemned the police action against students. Alleging that students are being "targeted" across the country, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said when countries across the world are building their future in colleges, "we are probably the only country" where students are being lathicharged on "daily basis". AAP has questioned the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir saying it betrays "duplicity" on the part of the saffron party. "From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, students are being targeted in such a way that it seems they lie at the root of all the problems being faced the country," Sisodia, who holds the education portfolio in Delhi, tweeted. With the situation being tense, CRPF was last night deployed at campus and Jammu and Kashmir government assured full security to the students from other states studying here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called up Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed with her the situation at NIT. On Friday last, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and outstation students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament. After the clashes, the NIT authorities had shut down the institute which was reopened yesterday. "We take responsibility all the students of the country studying in NIT. We have put in place all the measures," the Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh had said yesterday. Administration has held meeting with the NIT students to resolve the issue, Singh said, adding SSP Srinagar is camping in the area to ensure peace. He said the outstation students are demanding security and postponement of exams. "Director of NIT has said that the demands have been accepted," he said. Appa Rao Podile, University of Hyderabad's Vice-Chancellor is once again in the line of fire. After facing heavy criticism from all quarters about the improper handling of protesting students, he admitted on Tuesday to plagiarism in three research papers, which he had co-authored in 2007 and 2014, reported The Times Of India. Questions about his academic credentials were raised as a report went viral online drawing attention to his offence. Reports suggested that the students demanded immediate action and the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (JAC) asked for his removal. Appa Rao was quoted in The Times Of India admitting to copying a few sentences and said that it was unintentionally done. The report added that he said that since there was no software, the plagiarised sentences went unnoticed. "Even we allow certain percentage of overlapping of sentences. In review of literature, such incidents do occur. In my opinion, plagiarism done by us is much below the allowed percentage, he said in the report. According to The Asian Age, most of the content was plagiarised in "the paper 'Root Colonisation and Quorum Sensing are the Driving Forces of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) for Growth Promotion,'published in the Indian National Science Academy journal in 2014." Protests once again erupted on the campus with students demanding the V-C's resignation. Security was stepped in the campus with the 'Chalo HCU' protest started by the JAC. They called for students and political activists to come to the University of Hyderabad campus and join their protest. The Hindustan Times reported that the students marched towards Appa Rao's lodge where the academic council was scheduled to meet. However, in view of the security concerns, the venue was changed, the report added. The university is set to face a huge financial loss because of the ongoing protests. As per the IBN Live, over Rs 3 crore was paid towards salary of teaching and non-teaching staff, even when there was no productive activity. However, Jawaharlal Nehru University and University of Hyderabad, which have been at the centre of massive rows recently, topped the list of central varsities. JNU came third, while University of Hyderabad came in the fourth place. With inputs from agencies Nagpur: Expressing anguish over the move to recite "Hanuman chalisa" at an AIDS awareness programme, the Bombay High Court has asked the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation if, according to it, "India is for Hindus only". The Nagpur bench of the court, while hearing a PIL on Tuesday, asked NMC "whether India is for Hindus only" and expressed strong reservations over the plan to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' at its AIDS awareness event, in association with Poddareshwar Ram Mandir Trust. The event is planned at Kasturchand Park ground here on Thursday. "Why only recital of Hanuman Chalisa and why not from Quran, the Bible or other religious literature? What is the nexus of AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa recital? Is it only Hindus who contract AIDS? Is chanting of Hanuman Chalisa the only remedy for eradication of this deadly disease? the division bench of justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi said. "If people can come for this event, they will also come for recitation of Quran and Bible," they observed. The judges disposed of the PIL filed by former corporator Janardan Moon, after both the NMC and programme convener Dayashankar Tiwari, who is the ruling party's leader in the civic body, agreed to disassociate with the two events (AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa event), and pay the cost of stage and ground (used for the event) on pro-rata basis. The judges asked the respondents (NMC and the temple trust) to keep at least an hour's gap between the AIDS awareness programme and the Hanuman Chalisa recitation, which over 1.5 lakh people are expected to attend. The court further directed to ensure that separate banners are put up backstage during both the programmes, with individual names of organisers. The NMC was also asked to give wide publicity to its AIDS awareness programme, without mentioning the Hanuman Chalisa event. "We dispose the PIL after accepting statements of NMC and Tiwari, that they would totally disassociate with Hanuman Chalisa recital and only hold AIDS programme," the court said. The judges said that they were not against any religious programme, but only concerned with government agencies associating with it. New Delhi: Cars driven by women and those carrying children in school uniform shall remain out of the ambit of the odd-even scheme the second phase of which is set to start in New Delhi from 15 April. The decisions were taken in a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal which was attended ministerial colleagues and members of the coordination committee formed for the scheme. "It has been decided that women will continue to remain exempted from the scheme due to security considerations. Government has also decided that cars carrying school students will also be exempted," Transport Minister Gopal Rai told reporters. "Cars carrying student(s) in school uniform shall be exempted during #oddeven starting 15th April," Deputy CM Manish Sisodia tweeted. Asked about confusion that may arise over parents going to pick up children after school hours, Rai said, they were still working on the modalities and the final notification in this regard will be out in a day or two. As announced earlier, CNG vehicles will also remain exempted from the vehicle-rationing restrictions arising out of the scheme's implementation. Cars with odd and even license plate numbers will ply on alternate days during its duration. The exemption categories involving women and CNG cars were also in place during the first phase of odd-even from 1 to 15 January. Pakistan media reports that the Pathankot terror attack was "stage-managed" by India are seen in New Delhi as "double-speak" by Pakistan's security establishment. "The report in a Pakistan pro-government daily only shows that ISI and Pakistan Army were doing double-speak. India has provided irrefutable evidence to Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during their visit here regarding the involvement of Pak-based terrorists," a government source said. The news report in daily Pakistan Today quoted an unnamed JIT member as saying that the attack was nothing but "vicious propaganda" against Pakistan as Indian authorities did not have any evidence to back their claims. Rebutting the report, another government source said the evidence provided to JIT can stand international scrutiny and expressed surprise over media reports emerging that the NIA had not provided enough evidence to the visiting team. "The JIT was handed over whatever they asked for which included certified copies of statements of witnesses, DNA reports of four terrorists, memos of articles seized from them," the source said. Pakistan had made a request under section 188 of Criminal procedure Code of Pakistan for collecting the evidence from the NIA. The call data records of the two phones snatched from Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh and his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma which were used by the terrorists to call a number in Pakistan were also shared with the JIT, the source said. India also shared the conversation recorded between Nasir Hussain, one of the four terrorists who carried out the attack on IAF base during the intervening night of 1 and 2 January, with his mother Khayyam Babber. The NIA has asked for a DNA sample from Nasir's family. The agency has also handed over call recordings of terrorists holed up inside the IAF base with their handlers including Kashif Jaan, who has since been missing. The Pakistani JIT had asked NIA to hand over swabs of four terrorists identified as Nasir Hussain (Punjab province), Abu Bakar, (Gujranwala), Umar Farooq and Abdul Qayum (both from Sindh). However, the NIA handed over to the visitors the DNA report of the terrorists and asked them to match those with their family members, the sources said. The Pakistani JIT headed by Additional Inspector General of Police, Counter Terrorism Department, Muhammad Tahir Rai and also including ISI's Lt Col Tanvir Ahmed, had recorded statements of 16 people. The list for recording the witnesses was submitted to the NIA by the Pakistani team. The 16 witnesses questioned in all included Singh, Verma and cook Madan Gopal. The three were kidnapped by the Pathankot attack perpetrators belonging to the banned Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed on the intervening night of 31 December, 2015 and 1 January, 2016. The terrorists had allegedly dumped Verma after slitting his throat and continued their journey with Singh and Gopal before jettisoning them a few kilometres away from the strategic air base at Pathankot. The terrorists entered the air base and mounted the brazen assault on the intervening night of 1 and 2 January. In the fierce encounter that ensued, seven security personnel besides four terrorists were killed. What the Pakistani JIT report said The JIT "says the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan," according to a report in Pakistan Today. It further said that the JIT report, which will be submitted to Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the next few days, has even concluded that Indian authorities had prior information about the terrorists. The report also quoted a member of the JIT as saying that the NIA officer's murder on Saturday night in Uttar Pradesh showed that "Indian establishment wants to keep the matter under wraps." The same source also told Pakistan Today that the JIT concluded that the standoff between the Indian army and "alleged" terrorists ended within hours after the attack, which apparently made it clear that the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan. "The Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign Pakistan," Pakistan Today quoted the JIT report as saying. The source also told Pakistan Today that no "major" damage was done to the base and that the perimeter lights at the airbase were not functional on the day of the attack, which apparently raises questions about whether India had prior information about the terrorists. This is not the first time, though, that the Pakistani media and the JIT have made allegations of hiding evidence against India. On 28 March, a report by Pakistani news channel Dunya News had said that Indian authorities showed "signs of reluctance" when the JIT asked them for information and evidence. "Sketches of the attackers, footage of the closed-circuit television, duty registers of the Border Security Force (BSF), details of the bank accounts, service records, post-mortem report of the driver who died in the car accident at the time of the incident and the FIR of that cars snatching have not been given to the Pakistani investigation team," a report in Pakistani newspaper Daily Times had said. The report had further said that post-mortem and DNA reports of the terrorists involved and phone records and information about the commander of Pathankot airbase had not been given to the JIT. The Dunya News report had further claimed that the stances of the Indian government and BSF regarding the terror attack were contradicting each other. Moreover, the report had said that while Indian authorities had said that terrorists had entered the Pathankot airbase after climbing ten-feet walls, no ropes were found as evidence. These claims by the Pakistani media had come just a day after it was found that Pakistan's electronic media regulatory body (PEMRA) on Sunday had released a statement for the Pakistani media, asking them to be "professional" and "responsible" when reporting on the Lahore attacks, unlike the Indian media. What is truly surprising about the Pakistani JIT report's claim is that it comes just days after the same JIT admitted that the terrorists were from Pakistan. Reports had, in fact, also suggested that Pakistan had enough evidence to link them to extremist group Jaish-e-Mohammad. Moreover, during the beginning of the investigation, Indian investigators had said that the visiting officials did not "contradict" any of the evidence submitted by the NIA. "The fact that they did not contradict or made any adverse comment or observation is a positive sign," sources had told IANS. (With inputs from agencies) On Wednesday, Punjab police issued an alert saying that three Pakistani terrorists could be planning an attack in Delhi, Mumbai and Goa. A grey Swift Dzire with license plate JK-01 AB-2654 which is expected to pass through the Banihal Tunnel in Jammu and Kashmir later on Wednesday, packed with explosives, is carrying three Pakistani terrorists and a local, reported NDTV. "You are directed to take all the necessary steps in this regard and specially focus on strict checking of vehicles, security of all vital installation including police buildings and defence establishments, religious places, crowded places such as market areas, malls, railway stations, railway tracks, and educational institutions, an alert issued by the police said. According to International Business Times, Punjab has witnessed two terror attacks in recent months. The Pathankot airbase attack happened in January and the attack on Gurdaspur police station happened in July last year. Seven security personnel and four attackers were killed in the Pathankot attacks and the Pakistani Joint Investigative Team (JIT), who probed the attack, claimed that the Indian authorities had staged the attack to malign Pakistan. According to the report by NDTV, last month, Pakistani National Security Advisor Naseer Khan Janjua warned India that 10 terrorists had crossed the border into India and planned to attack on the festival of Maha Shivratri. The Home Ministry claimed that the terrorists were neutralised but no evidence or details were ever provided. Veteran BJP leader L K Advani's wife Kamla Advani died on Wednesday following a heart attack, doctors said. A statement from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said, "Kamla Advani, wife of LK Advani, was brought to the main casualty, AIIMS at 5:10 pm in a very serious unconscious and unresponsive condition. Immediate evaluation revealed the patient to be in cardiopulmonary arrest." It further said that immediate resuscitation measures were provided by a team of doctors. "However, despite 60 mins of intensive efforts, she could not be revived and was declared dead at 6:10 pm," the statement said. Aiims director MC Mishra said, "She was pulseless, her blood pressure was not recordable and she was unresponsive. Resuscitative measures were put in place and after about an hour she was declared dead." Kamla Advani (83) leaves behind, besides her husband, a son and a daughter. She had been suffering from age-related problems for some time and was on wheelchair for the last few months. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed deep pain and sadness over the demise of Kamla Advani, saying she had always inspired and motivated party workers. Deeply pained & saddened by Kamla Advani ji's demise. She always inspired & motivated Karyakartas & was LK Advani ji's pillar of strength. Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 I recall my many interactions with Kamla Advani ji. My thoughts are with the Advani family in this hour of grief. May her soul rest in peace Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 6, 2016 President Pranab Mukherjee also expressed his condolences. I fondly recall many visits of Smt. Kamla Advani to Rashtrapati Bhavan accompanying Advanji and her endearing presence #PresidentMukherjee President of India (@RashtrapatiBhvn) April 6, 2016 Mukherjee also said that the veteran leader's wife was a soft and cultured woman who left a lasting impression on whomsoever she met. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav also expressed his sorrow over Kamla Advani's death. "I condole death of Kamla Advaniji. May God give strength to the bereaved family," Yadav said in his condolence message. Extending her condolences to the veteran leader and other family members, Congress President Sonia Gandhi said she shares the pain caused by their loss and prayed for the departed soul. Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also expressed profound grief. In his message, the governor said that whenever Advani was busy in elections, she would handle household responsibilities and also actively participate in poll campaign. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Ravi Shankar Prasad, DV Sadananda Gowda, JP Nadda and Prakash Javadekar, were among the many who expressed grief over her death. The Advanis were married 51 years ago, in February 1965. She was a social worker and had worked at the General Post Office. RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale tweeted, "Saddened by the demise of Kamla Advani. She lived an ideal life by Advaniji's side & an affectionate Mata to all of us thru her hospitality." Expressing his condolences, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, "My sincere condolences to Advaniji on the passing away of his wife Kamla Advani. My prayers are with him & his family in this time of grief." With inputs from agencies The brutal assassination of NIA deputy superintendent of police, Tanzil Ahmad on Saturday at his hometown of Bijnore is the most shocking case of the murder of a member of the establishment in recent times. The former BSF officer who was on deputation to the NIA was a daring hand and was responsible for coordinating the movements of the visiting Pakistani Joint Investigation Team team looking into the Pathankot terror attacks. Exterminating him in a gruesome manner using sophisticated weaponry and 24 bullets prove the determination and resolve of his assassins in their bid to eliminate Ahmad. It's been more than five days since the murder, and there don't seem to be any clues or leads to help investigators. The NIA is a premier investigative agency and its capabilities have been put to the test to solve this dastardly murder. The agency should use the best of its expertise and technical-plus-scientific know-how to find the murderers and ascertain their agenda. A Special Task Force (STF) from Uttar Pradesh that is believed to be collaborating with the NIA in the investigations also appears to be directionless. Although the probe teams claim that they are looking into all possible angles leading to the murder and not leaving anything to chance, the terror angle is perhaps a strong factor meriting attention. During a TV panel discussion on Tuesday, a noted security analyst didn't rule out the idea that some sleeper terror modules were activated by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to kill Ahmad. Any enmity in the victim's village or past hostility is also being looked examined. There are a very few determined officers in our investigative teams and even fewer who had the courage to be associated with the visiting Pakistani probe team facilitating investigations. It's not merely a protocol job. Professional acumen also goes along with the responsibilities. Ahmad delivered in copious measure while discharging his duties but his death right after the probe team left, raises many questions. Did the seniors account for or anticipate any harm that was in the offing? Was security cover provided? Did the NIA ask the Central and state intelligence agencies for feedback on Ahmad's movements to spot if he was being trailed by his assassins? What about his background checks? It is well-known having appeared in the media that Ahmad was also involved in exposing drug cartels. Hence, all these possibilities must be explored. The braveheart belonged to the BSF and there was a sizable presence of the BSF at his last rites. One wonders if any high-profile or important dignitaries were present on the occasion. So far the outpouring of grief at Ahmad's death has been rather muted. The country needs to keep up the morale of the force (in this case, both of the BSF and the NIA), so that their commitment remains high and officers are constantly prepared to lay down their lives for the motherland. The UP STF and NIA teams must be put under the purview of an experienced IPS officer with a past record of proven investigating capabilities who should monitor the progress of the case on a day-to-day basis and finish the investigation in a timely manner, rather than embark on an indefinite run-of-the-mill exercise. Pakistan has already accused India of staging the Pathankot attacks and if at all there is a terror angle to Ahmad's murder, Pakistan will again have the last laugh. This is a luxury that Islamabad should be denied for all times to come. The author is a retired IPS officer of the UP cadre. Views are personal Nabarangpur, Odisha: A Dalit woman allegedly poisoned her three children, set her house on fire and committed suicide apparently due to poverty at a village in Odisha's Nabarangpur district, a police officer said on Wednesday. The incident took place yesterday at Dongariguda village under Kosagumuda Block of the backward district, Nabarangpur Superintendent of Police, Jugal Kishore said. According to preliminary investigation, the woman Kumari Harijan (29) first gave poison to her three children daughters Parvati (7) and Reena (4) and one-and-a-half-year-old son Nilu and then consumed it herself after setting her belongings in the house afire, the SP said. The incident came to light when the villagers found smoke emanating from the thatched house yesterday afternoon and rushed to the spot, police said. They broke the door open as it was locked from inside and on entering the house, they found the children lying down, while Kumari was in a critical condition. They were rushed to the Community Health Centre at Kosagumuda, police added. The doctor declared the three children dead and after some time Kumari also died. Dhaniram Harijan, husband of Kumari was not present as he works as a daily labourer at Nagarnal in Bastar District of Chhattisgarh. Police are probing all aspects but said at the outset "financial problems" seemed to have played a role in the death. New Delhi: Search engine giant Google on Tuesday launched new health cards in Knowledge Graph with which anyone in India searching for health information can now access it quickly and easily. Now when people ask Google about common health conditions, they will see information cards with typical symptoms as well as details on how common the condition is whether it is critical, if it is contagious, what ages it affects and more. "Around the world, health conditions are among the most important things that people ask Google about. In fact, one in 20 searches are for health-related information," Prem Ramaswami, senior product manager at Google, explained. Google worked with Apollo Hospitals and Columbia Asia Hospitals to review the content, and the health information covers over 400 health conditions including those common to India like malaria and dengue fever. "During product development we also consulted the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and ASHAs who are community health workers to ensure the information on the cards is useful and accessible," Ramaswami said. The cards are available in Hindi and English and cover common local conditions. People will be able to see these new cards when they search for conditions with the Google app on Android or iOS phones and tablets as well as mobile and desktop browsers. These search results are not intended as medical advice but for informational purposes only, the company noted. Come Sunday and Nitish Kumar will write a fresh chapter in history for himself. The big announcement is expected to come in the proposed JD(U) national executive meeting, where he is expected to take over as the party's national president. This will be the first clear sign that the Bihar Chief Minister has set his eyes beyond the boundaries of Bihar, to be seen more prominently as a challenger to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019. In order to project himself as a 'popular development icon', Nitish will begin the process of renaming or rebranding his party- JD(U) will soon take a new avatar - as the 'Jan Vikas Party', where some smaller parties like Ajit Singh's RLD, Babulal Marandi's JVM and other such smaller outfits may merge with it. The idea is to make the Jan Vikas Party 'national', and have it recognized as a national political party by the Election Commission. If it succeeds in its plan by getting the required percentage of votes and a substantial presence is states, then it would get the recognition, which currently only the BJP and Congress have. Four other parties - CPI, CPM, NCP and BSP, which earlier had a national party aura, have all been divested and are now reduced to the status of regional parties. For the first time in his four decade long political career, Nitish Kumar is getting ready to hold a top organisational post. It has been rather ironical that the Bihar Chief Minister, who has been the de-facto boss and practically the founder of JD(U) and erstwhile Samata Party, has never held any post in either of the parties. The only time that Nitish Kumar has held any organisational post was in the 1980s, when he became president of Yuva Lok Dal in Bihar and general secretary of Janata Dal. JD(U) general secretary KC Tyagi, who has been tasked to organise the party's National Executive, told Firstpost that, "there is a tremendous demand from the grassroots - both of workers and leaders - that Nitishji should now take over as the party's president. The demand is in consonance with his popularity, organizational capabilities and proven track record of good governance," "If he agrees to abide by the wishes of the party's rank and file, our party will be immensely benefitted. It will make our task easier in propagating our cause and consolidating our support base. He advised that it would be better to wait till Sunday to see how things pan out," Tyagi said. He also said that the incumbent party chief, Sharad Yadav, has 'expressed his desire to relinquish the post which he has been holding for last three terms or nine years to be precise'. There are many in the party who think that Sharad Yadav's position in JD(U) was that of a 'king without a kingdom' and now he is about to be divested of that titular title that he has held for so long. In fact, there was a move to remove him from the top party post when organisational elections were due last time, but just ahead of the national executive and council meeting, Nitish favoured Yadav's continuance even as the party constitution bars any one to remain president beyond two full terms. An exception to its constitutional norm was made for Yadav. But in the bargain, Yadav may get a fresh six year term in Rajya Sabha. He was sent to Rajya Sabha by Nitish after he lost the 2014 Parliamentary elections. His term, along with four others - Ghulam Rasool Balyawi, Pawan Verma, KC Tyagi and Ramchandra Prasad Singh is coming to an end on July 7. The move to make Nitish as JD(U) president needs to be seen in context of three other developments - first, fulfilment of his poll promise of 'nashabandi' - ban on sale and consumption of liquor in Bihar; second, 35 percent reservation for women in all government jobs; and third, a move to unite JD(U) with Ajit Singh's RLD in UP, Babulal Marandi's JVM in Jharkhand and opening negotiations with some other smaller parties like the Peace Party, Apna Dal (faction led by Anupriya Patel's mother Krishna Patel), Mahan Dal etc and to fight UP elections in a big way. Total Prohibition was one big pre-poll promise by Nitish Kumar. The demand for it came from women and elderly persons from almost all corners of the state. In some areas women physically prevented the opening of a new liquor shop and forcing the closure of some old ones. Though his announcement on the issue on Tuesday, with stringent penal provisions where quantum of punishment against offenders is higher than robbery and rape, has upset many but by doing so he has created a huge social constituency for himself. His supporters say that the clampdown against the offenders would be far stronger than in Gujarat. This also means that he is detaching his governance agenda from the clutches of Lalu Yadav's RJD. The credit for prohibition and the consequent popular goodwill will go to Nitish and not to Lalu. RJD's brand of politics is generally known for the reverse. Recently Lalu had spoken to Nitish, telling him not to ban toddy called 'tadi' in Bihar. A senior JD(U) leader said "Nitish has turned into Ashoka. And just as Ashoka had turned into Dhamma and began propagating it in third century BC after conquering Kalinga, Nitish after remaining in power for over a decade and winning Bihar for the third time has seen enough," "Rampant proliferation of liquor vends and after hearing enough about the miseries of families where the bread winners were turning tippler, he has introduced a policy of total prohibition. Those addicted to liquor or even occasional drinkers or those in the business are bound to crib but there is widespread appreciation of this move. In one single stroke he has registered his name among the big and bold reformers." The JD(U) leader said. Like Ashoka, Nitish too rules from Patliputra (Patna), Magadh, he added. When Mamata Banerjee vowed she would bury the opposition on 19 May, the day results would be declared, she was prophesying the second coming of the Trinamool Congress with an absolute majority. It may come to pass that the Trinamool Congress wins a second term, but Mamata Banerjee will not be able to bury either her past or the opposition. Anti-incumbency is a weapon that the Trinamool Congress leader has learned to wield to bewildering effect in the past nearly 5 years by dumping responsibility for every problem on the 34 years that the Communist Party of India Marxist led Left Front ruled in West Bengal. From Sharadha chit fund scam in which her ministers are implicated to the collapse of the flyover in Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee has been indiscriminate in declaring that the root of all evil was to be found in the CPIM years in government. The habit of jettisoning responsibility, of refusing to be accountable is one that Mamata Banerjee acquired as a minister in various governments at the Centre. Since all her stints as a central minister were short lived, she always took credit for launching a scheme or two and then washing her hands off by resigning before being held accountable. From the Railways to Coal and even Youth Affais, the chief minister has worked as partner of Congress, NDA and UPA governments, but she had never made herself accountable. After nearly five years as chief minister, she still does not believe herself to be accountable. But this is a belief that has just become obsolete. And, Mamata Banerjee has not as yet caught on to that one definitive change in her circumstances. For one, there is nowhere she can bury the consequences of the flyover that crashed in Kolkata killing 27 people and causing injuries to some 90 others. Her efforts at directing public attention to the Communist Party of India Marxist led Left Front as the administration responsible for the terrifying construction tragedy have fallen flat. Except for her apologists, nobody is willing to believe that the syndicates she has defended as not all of them are bad are not involved in supplying sub-standard material to the construction crews working on the Ganesh Talkies-Posta flyover. Nobody, not even her partys MP from the area, Sudip Bandopadhyaya , is prepared to give benefit of doubt that the Trinamool Congress could not have renegotiated the contracts with IVRCL, the Hyderabad based company that was executing the work. For another, there is no pit so large and deep that it can cover up the consequences of the sting operation, popularly known as the Narada scandal and by extension, the slow crawl of the Sharadha chit fund scam. And, there is nowhere Mamata Banerjee can hide from the acts of omission and commission by her government, if she wins for the second time. Because there are too many uncomfortable coincidences and some answers will have to be given, sooner rather than later. It is a strange coincidence that the man caught on the Narada video accepting a cash handout and coyly tucking it into a towel is the same man who was implicated in the Sharadha chit fund scam for his closeness to the master mind, Sudipto Sen. It is this person, namely Kolkatas mayor, Sovan Chatterjee, who has found it difficult to answer questions about purchases of the strange Trident light posts, reportedly designed by none other than the chief minister, during his tenure. Anti-incumbency is therefore catching up on Mamata Banerjee. Her strategy of slamming the CPM led Left Front in order to show case her achievements that by her reckoning cant be matched in 400 years has worked so far. Blaming the past has been Mamata Banerjees best tool for certifying herself. Winning elections has been the confirmation she needed to snarl at the opposition: If you can fight, then fight. If you can develop, then do it. If you can accept the challenge then do it. But if you cant, then shut up and let us carry ahead with development. If, on Day One of the confusing six phase-seven days of voting, the Trinamool Congress had allowed the Election Commission to conduct truly free and fair elections in a state better known for its capabilities in rigging and violence than in tamely following the rules of voting, Mamata Banerjee would have been more convincing as an achiever. The one incident of violence by the Trinamool Congress in West Midnapore district, on the CPM candidate for the Salboni constituency, Shyam Pande in which the media suffered collateral damage effectively invalidates the chief ministers claims of extraordinary governance. It also defines the challenge for the Election Commission. The Election Commissions unprecedented arrangements are a confirmation that the Trinamool Congress is an almost uncontrollable force and extraordinary measures are needed to achieve a semblance of free and fair elections. It can choose to spend enormous amounts of public money to conduct a flawed election or it can find a method of securing to every voter in West Bengal the right to vote freely. If on Day One there were 537 complaints to the Election Commission about West Bengal police men who entered polling booths, polling agents who helped voters press the EVM buttons, windows through which the public could peek in while voting was in progress, violation of the 100 meters barrier around polling booths, there is every reason to speculate what will happen over the next six days of voting. The reckless disregard for the rules by which the Trinamool Congress has distinguished itself during all previous elections, from local municipal and panchayat elections to the Lok Sabha vote in 2014 reveals a contradiction. On the one hand, the ruling party believes that it enjoys almost divine impunity to use violence, physical and verbal, to achieve total domination of the political turf. Hence it has used threats and assaults, to win in every election after 2011. On the other hand, the use of violence implies the Trinamool Congress is uncertain about the levels of support it has among voters. With six more days of voting left, the Trinamool Congress will have the chance to either change its strategy or it can remain fixed in its routines of using every means, both fair and unfair, to achieve its ends. Either way, the Trinamool Congress will have to confront its own anti-incumbency ghost. With the first phase of polling in 65 assembly constituencies in Assam over, all eyes are now on the second and the final phase of polling in remaining 61 seats to be held on 11 April in which the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the principal opposition party in the stat, has high stakes. Of the 18 seats won by the AIUDF in 2011 assembly polls, 17 came from these 61 seats in the Brahmaputra valley. Speculations are rife whether the AIUDF would be able to thwart the Congress game plan of making inroads in its support base among Muslim voters of erstwhile East Bengal origin. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, who floated the AIUDF in 2005, has played the kingmaker card in a bid foil the Congress attempt and claimed that no party would be able to form the government without the support of his party. After missing the bus twice in 2006 and 2011, Maulana Ajmal desperately wants to be the kingmaker this time. His hope stems from his party performance in 2014 Lok Sabha polls when the AIUDF candidates polled the highest votes in 24 assembly segments- 17 in the Brahmaputra valley and five in the Barak valley. However, the Congress hopes to regain the support of the Muslim voters of erstwhile East Bengal origin who enrol themselves Assamese speakers in population Census and speak Assamese as well Bengali dialects. The percentage of Assamese speakers declined to 48.80 in 2001 from 57.81 per cent in 1991. The percentage of Bengali speakers in the state increased to 27.54 percent in 2001 from 21.67 per cent in 1991. The language break-up of 2011 Census has not yet been made public. The ruling party is under the impression that the Muslim voters of erstwhile East Bengal origin, who decide about 30 seats,are in search of a national party which will insulate them from an aggressive Hindutva politics of the saffron brigade and this election brings an opportunity for the Congress to present itself as an alternative to the AIUDF and to regain the lost support base. Maulana Ajmal floated the AIUDF in 2005 after the Supreme Court scrapped the erstwhile Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunal) Act 1983. The AIUDF won 10 seats in its debut electoral performance in 2006 assembly polls by causing huge erosion in Congress support base among the Muslim voters of erstwhile East Bengal origin. The AIUDF played upon the apprehension that gripped these voters that scrapping the of controversial piece of legislation would leave them vulnerable to harassment in the name of identification of foreigners and thus won their support on the campaign that the Congress failed to fight an effective legal battle to prevent scrapping of the erstwhile act and had used it only as a political weapon to woo the minority votes. In 2009 Lok Sabha polls, the AIUDF consolidated its gains by wresting the Dhubri Lok Sabha from the Congress and in 2011, it became of the principal opposition party with 18 seats pushing the states main regional party- the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which had won only ten seats, to the second position. However, incumbent Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and his party kept the AIUDF out of power and chose to the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF), as the coalition partner in 2006 and in 2011. A sharp polarisation of votes on the religious lines in 2014 helped the AIUDF to win three of the total Lok Sabha seats when it wrested two more seats Barpeta and Karimganj from the ruling Congress apart from retaining Dhubri seat and equaled its tally with the ruling party. The Congress, however, has used the ongoing process of the updating of the National Register of Citizens to showcase it as a permanent solution to vexed foreigners issue and as a key tool to protect genuine Indian citizens from undue harassment and claiming credit for it, to win back the support of the Muslim voters of erstwhile East Bengal origin. The ruling party hopes that the aggressive Hindutva line of the BJP and the announcement by the party in power at the Centre that the Hindu Bangladeshis would be given shelter and Indian citizenship but Muslim Bangladeshi migrants will be driven out, will further push the AIUDF supporters towards the Congress. Dissidence within the AIUDF has also emboldened the Congress. Five AIUDF legislators have quit the party after being denied party tickets and four of them joined the Congress. The Congress has given tickets to two of them. The BJP and its two alliesAGP and the BPF--are running the campaign the Congress and the AIUDF have reached tacit understanding and if the two parties succeed in coming to power it will pose grave threat to identity of indigenous Assamese people as both the parties are protectors of Bangladeshis migrants. The Congress, on the other hand, has accused the BJP of reaching a secret pact with the AIUDF to prevent the Congress from retaining power for the fourth consecutive term by fielding candidates in upper Assam areas to cut into votes of the ruling party. The AIUDF has forged an electoral alliance with the JD (U) and the RJD and invited the Congress and the AGP to joint it which is seen as a desperate attempt by Maulna Ajmal to showcase AIUDFs political importance to its supporters. Neither the RJD nor the JD (U) has any noticeable presence in the state. These political developments have triggered the speculation in the political circle if Maulana Ajmal would miss the bus this time too? The author is Editor, nezine.com. Views are personal. Patna: On Wednesday BJP questioned the Nitish Kumar government's decision allowing sale of liquor in army canteens in Bihar, saying it would make difficult for the government to enforce complete prohibition. "If complete prohibition has been enforced in the people's interest in the state, what is the basis of allowing sale of liquor in army canteens," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said. Modi, who was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's deputy during NDA regime, asked the government how it would ensure that the liquor sold in army canteens will not come to open market. "Will not the high and mighty be able to get liquor from Army canteen?... How the government would make prohibition a complete success in such a situation," he said. Four days after banning sale and consumption of country-made and spiced liquor in rural areas from 1 April, the state government followed it up with prohibiting India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) with immediate effect on Tuesday. The Chief Minister on Tuesday said army cantonment areas would be out of the liquor ban as they regulate sale and consumption of alochol in their own way. Modi on Tuesday welcomed the decision and said the state government has finally yielded to Opposition pressure for complete prohibition. Speaking for bar and restaurants owners and industries that make spirit from maize or rice or set up bottling plants for country-made liquor, Modi asked the government to compensate them adequately as these firms had come forward to built their units on government's assurance. The state government in April last year had banned the sale of country-made liquor in pouch and allowed the companies to set up bottling plants in the state, Modi said, adding that the government had not only given these firms licenses but also gave them subsidy. The government should immediately return license fees collected for 2016-17 from businessmen for running bars and restaurants in the state, the senior BJP leader said. The government should also give relief vis-a-vis export duty to those who set up beer factories, he said. With complete prohibition in vogue, these firms would require to export their products such as beer and spirit and hence the government should rationalise export duty, Modi added. Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday refuted reports that he had put pressure on Congress high command in the selection process of party candidates for the 16 May Assembly elections and said as a "loyal" partyman he never disobeyed the wishes of central leadership. "As a loyal Congressman, I have never disobeyed or went against the wishes of Central leadership. I am also confident that the high command would only take decision in the larger interests of the party and the people of the state," he told PTI. Chandy had locked horns with KPCC President V M Sudheeran, over the candidature of ministers K Babu and Adoor Prakash, who had faced corruption charges, besides NORKA Minister K C Joseph and two MLAs -Dominic Presentation and Benny Behanan - with the state party chief opposing tickets to them. Only Behanan was kept out of the list announced late Monday evening and it was interpreted that the high command fielded the tainted leaders because of Chandy's pressure tactics. The Chief Minister said he was saddened by such "wrong propaganda" and asserted that no Congress worker can challenge the authority of the party high command. "There is a propaganda that we had challenged the authority of Congress high command while determining party candidates. There are reports that the high command had to succumb to our pressure tactics. That is completely wrong," Chandy said. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala also endorsed Chandy's statement saying "we have never disobeyed party high command". Chandy said party high command's decisions cannot be disobeyed. "We will never do so. We are pained by such reports." He said the high command cleared the list of 83 Congress candidates after listening to everyone in the leadership of state Congress. "We are completely satisfied with the list. Some say that the list is delayed and it has affected the poll campaign. That is also wrong. It is only 6 April and we have enough time for us to reach out to the people," he said. Chennithala dismissed as "baseless" the reports that the high command had succumbed to the pressure from party leaders from Kerala while preparing list of Congress candidates. "There is absolutely no issues with the high command. Nobody has got the authority to challenge the high command. We discussed the issues, various views were expressed. High command listened to it and took a final decision. We all are satisfied with the decision taken by the high command," Chennithala told PTI. Sudheeran had reportedly insisted that those who faced corruption allegations and had contested more than four times should make way for fresh faces. However, this was not acceptable to Chandy. Admitting that there were issues with Sudheeran, Chandy said all such things are common in a democratic party like Congress. "Nothing serious in it. All such issues are resolved and we are now ready for the election battle," he said. Chandy, Sudheeran and Chennithala spent nearly a week in Delhi to iron out differences among them over the candidature of tainted leaders. Clashes erupted at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar on Wednesday as local and non-local students clashed with each other. The outstation students then expressed a sense of insecurity and attempted to leave the campus. At that time, they had a confrontation with the local police, who resorted to lathicharge to stop the students from leaving. With the situation growing tense, the government deployed the CRPF to the campus. The newly-formed Jammu and Kashmir government assured full security to students who have come to study at the institute from other states. Many eminent personalities and senior politicians expressed great concern over the issue, some even taking to microblogging site Twitter to express their opinion. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh: Singh said that he has spoken to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti about the tensions at the campus. He added that Mehbooba has taken all the necessary measures to protect the students and gave him an assurance in this regard. I have instructed the DGP Jammu & Kashmir to send a team of officers to NIT Srinagar to assure the students of their safety and security. Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) April 3, 2016 Spoke to Governor J&K & DGP regarding the situation in NIT Srinagar. I assure the students that they should not worry about their security. Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) April 3, 2016 Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani Referring to J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, Irani said, "Mufti ji has also told me that an inquiry has also been constituted to ascertain what happened". She added that she has asked students to approach her ministry with their problems. "Till the exams start, an HRD team will remain on the campus," Irani said and assured that there will be "no injustice" to the students, as reported by CNN-IBN. I spoke to J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti ji & she has assured me about the safety of the students: Smriti Irani #NITSrinagar pic.twitter.com/AOcsIPFzNn ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh "HRD ministry will look into NIT Srinagar matter; I spoke to CM Mehbooba Mufti as well, Jitendra Singh said, adding that force should not be used against students, reported Zee News. Students should maintain peace otherwise external elements will come in to gain political mileage, he said. Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh Meanwhile, Nirmal Singh, who is under fire for playing down the unrest at the NIT campus, told NDTV that he "was misinformed" about the incident. "Police officers who were involved in lathi charge will be punished. I was told it was a 'mild' lathi charge which is why I used that term earlier," he told NDTV. There was mild lathi charge when NIT students tried to move to the gate to meet media: Nirmal Singh, J&K Deputy CM pic.twitter.com/rsRvqgXmCr ANI (@ANI_news) April 5, 2016 National Conference leader Omar Abdullah Abdullah took to Twitter to express his grief over the events and take pot shots at the BJP and PDP government. Rushing in a team from HRD ministry coupled with the CRPF replacing J&K police speaks volumes about Delhi's confidence in Mehbooba Mufti. Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) April 6, 2016 Cool heads need to prevail, tactful handling is the order of the day. Let the state government handle #NIT issue without back seat drivers. Omar Abdullah (@abdullah_omar) April 6, 2016 Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Kejriwal condemned the event on microblogging site Twitter: Lathi charge on students in srinagar is highly condemnable. BJP-PDP must stop this immediately Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 6, 2016 Congress MP Ahmed Patel Patel tweeted how there is unrest at several campuses after the BJP came to power at the Centre: It started with FTII & now NIT.Ever since BJP took over,the brute force on students & unrest in campuses has become a major cause for worry Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) April 6, 2016 AAP MLA Kapil Mishra Mishra questioned the government's role in the lathi charge that took place at the NIT campus in Srinagar. Who ordered lathi charge on students in Srinagar NIT? Will BJP say anything? its BJP Govt. in J&K Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishraAAP) April 5, 2016 Actor Anupam Kher Kher, a vocal BJP supporter, saw the events at NIT as students expressing their patriotism: 'Courage is Infectious'. My salute to NIT students of Srinagar 4 raising d National Flag & Chanting Vande Mataram. Hope Govt. protects them. Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) April 2, 2016 Hurriyat Conference chief Syed Ali Shah Geelani Geelani vouched for safety and security of outstation students at the institute even as he asked the Centre to ensure protection to Kashmiri students in various institutes outside the state. "Our policy and our religion teaches us that we should not have any grudge or enmity against anybody on the basis of religion, race, caste or linguistics. If outside students are studying here, we should ensure that there is no harm done to them or any obstacle created in their pursuit for education... We will not tolerate such a situation which is against the teachings of our religion and culture." With inputs from agencies Guwahati: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday said the Narendra Modi government's Pakistan policy is "in shambles" and accused it of "failing miserably to honour its solemn promise to the people of the country." "The (Modi) government's policy towards Pakistan is in shambles. Terrorists from Pakistan continue to operate freely not only in Jammu and Kashmir but also in Punjab and other neighbouring states," Singh, who represented Assam in Rajya Sabha for 10 years, told a Congress poll rally. "The recent attack on Pathankot airbase is the most recent evidence of our vulnerability...On the economic front, agriculture in the last two years has been stagnant bringing large scale distress to Indian farmers", he said. Continuing to hit out at Modi, Singh said his foreign trips have been projected as great achievements "though everybody knows that these have yielded nothing yet." Raking up Modi's promise before the Lok Sabha polls to bring back black money kept by Indians in foreign banks, Singh said ironically the government "failed miserably to honour its solemn promise to the people of India." "This is what the dream merchant is selling all the time" and his (Modi's) list of promises is "endless", he said. "All he (Modi) achieved in these two years is that he has forced crores of people to open bank accounts. But people are asking what will they do with bank accounts when they have nothing to keep in the bank. "There is a saying in English that action speaks louder than words. However, it seems Modiji forgot this basic tenet of public life,". There is now a deliberate attempt to befool the people by bringing "non-issues as issues of great importance," he asserted. Referring to the country's economic scenario under the BJP government at the Centre, Singh said industrial production has been stagnant and as a result there is no sign of growth of employment, while exports have continued to decline month after month in the last 15 months. Urging people of Assam to give a "strong mandate" to Congress, he said this would take the development of the state to a new high. "Whenever the reins of the state was given to a non-Congress party, the state suffered enormously," he added. Singh said the incidents in Hyderabad Central University and Jawaharlal Nehru University are indicative of the central government's "attempt to curb freedom of expression and to polarize Indian polity along communal lines." "The imposition of President's Rule in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand exposes the Modi government's desire to hurt democracy and promote centralization of power in violation of constitutional norms," the former prime minister said. Alleging that the BJP has been trying to divide the society of Assam, he said, "I firmly believe that such a conspiracy would never be allowed to succeed by its people who nurture a long tradition of syncretism, unity, harmony and tolerance. This land of Assam has always stood united in times of crisis." Yavatmal (Maharashtra): Calling the issue of reservation a "delicate" one, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said on Wednesday that his party would never accept revision or scrapping of the reservation policy. "It is a delicate issue and my party would never accept any revision or scrapping of the reservation policies," Pawar told reporters while replying to a query on RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's call for a review of reservation policy which has sparked a row in political circles. The former Union Agriculture Minister also said that the idea of separate budget for agriculture sector was not plausible enough. "As agriculture is linked with many other sectors, isolating it for the sake of a separate budget is not convincing," he said. Pawar was addressing a press conference after visiting three villages Pimpri (Butti), Bham Raja and Bothbodan in Yavatmal Tehsil. He said farmers' demand for complete loan waiver and hike in minimum support price (MSP) for agriculture produce like cotton and soyabean was a justified one and the state and Union governments should act swiftly if they want to check further suicides by farmers. Pawar met several widows of farmers in these villages and heard their grievances. "I have come to Yavatmal to meet the farmer widows and establish a one-to-one dialogue with the farmers so that I would be able to know their issues, which I would raise with the governments," he said. There were, the NCP leader said, four major factors responsible for farmers committing suicide crop failure, crop loan burden, inadequate MSP and lack of irrigation facilities. Listing the "farmer-friendly" decisions taken by the previous UPA government, Pawar criticised the Narendra Modi-led NDA dispensation for declaring a hike of "mere" Rs 50 per quintal of cotton and demanded that the Centre should do a rethink on the issue. The closing line of Mamata Banerjees theme song for the ongoing assembly elections is: Trinamool means I am fine, you will be fine too. Zahiruddin Fakir, 34, a syndicate boss supplying men and materials to big-ticket construction projects in and around Kolkata could well be the poster boy for this lilting lyric. Fakir, posing proudly for The Telegraph newspaper in his Nike singlet and fat gold chain and a TMC flag in the background, is equally unabashed in the interview that accompanies this photograph. The owner of two syndicates and the driving force behind nine others held by cousins, nephews and other close relatives has no hesitation in admitting you have to flex muscle to browbeat companies to accept his terms and sub-standard materials. And sees nothing wrong in what he is doing. I am like Robin Hood, says Fakir. Robbing the rich by another means to provide a source of income to young men with nothing else to look forward to. A Robin Hood who however is not shy of advertising his proximity to the police I know the length of their moustaches, he smiles notwithstanding the charges of three murders, multiple cases of assault, extortion and forcible stoppage of work at construction sites lodged against him. Life is fine for him indeed. And will continue to be so in the days to come. The rot that the all-pervading syndicate raj symbolises has spread deep and wide in West Bengal and will not be easily uprooted whatever the top bosses may say. The system of forcing builders to buy their materials from local suppliers whatever the price and quality of the stuff has become so institutionalised that even the judiciary has not been able to avoid its fell hand. Ask your police to take strong measures against such syndicate raj, Justice Dipankar Dutta of the Kolkata High Court told the state governments lawyer this February. The situation is so alarming that members of syndicates are not even sparing the courts. Kolkata High Court has been facing similar problems while constructing court buildings at Salt Lake and Asansol. The situation will go beyond control if the state administration does not immediately intervene, he added. Nothing much has changed since. Ironically, it had all begun innocently enough when the Rajarhat New Town was conceived and the eastern part of Kolkata began to be developed. The ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) formed 47 land-losers cooperatives to allot work to the farmers who lost their land to these projects. However, it was not long before the cooperatives disappeared, 'syndicates', controlled by gangsters, took over and spread their tentacles across the entire city and now across the whole state. As long as the CPM, with its more rigid control over the party machinery, was around, there was some check on the syndicates, they could not become the law unto themselves that they are today. The 'syndicate raj' is very much a creation of the TMC, made worse with the constant internecine warfare of Trinamool leaders spilling over into the syndicate business or maybe its vice versa, whatever. Take the Cossipore-Belgachhia seat in north Kolkata which the Trinamool owns. It witnessed a one-sided battle in the 2015 civic polls with allegations of booth jamming and violence against TMC leaders who have powerful syndicates prospering from the construction boom along both sides of the BT road at their beck and call. But the area is also plagued by constant warfare between the supply syndicates there blessed by opposing TMC leaders, the sitting TMC MLA and the TMC councillor and has even cast a shadow over the partys prospects in the elections to be held here on 25 April. It has even led to the arrest of one syndicate member despite the support of his dada. Apparently, the order for the arrest came from the CM herself. It could be true. The chief minister is certainly aware of the malignancy and kicked off her election campaign with a warning to those who do syndicates. The party doesnt want them within its fold, she declared, an empty fulmination as she must well have known. It doesnt matter whether the syndicate bosses are themselves card-holding members of the TMC as long as the party bosses are with them. That they are very much with them has been laid bare by the Times Now sting on Sabyasachi Dutta, Trinamools candidate from the Rajarhat New Town constituency, who is also the mayor of the six-month old Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation formed by the merger of Bidhannagar aka Salt Lake and Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipalities, thereby expanding the operations of the syndicates in those areas manifold. Dutta had won the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation polls last October amid complaints of booth capturing by his syndicate army. To give the devil his due, Dutta has not denied having said what he did, that the syndicates bear the bulk of his electoral expenses and provide the manpower needed. The thousands who accompanied him to the election office when he filed his nomination papers a few days ago were his syndicate admirers who had provided the 200 plus buses too, he revealed. They do all this for him not out of love, as he frankly concedes, but because, they know that they have to pay for one day to be able to do business peacefully for the next four and a half years. Dutta later explained, I am not saying I have encouraged any syndicate but have only patronised youths who earn their livelihood by dealing in building materials. As do many of his fellow members in the TMC. In fact, it is a moot question who needs the other more, the syndicates or their political masters. The syndicates certainly wont bat an eyelid throwing the TMC party banners into the nearest landfill and changing colours if the political situation so demands. Mamata Banerjee knows this reality all too well and would have been content with pious homilies against the goons running these rackets if the flyover collapsed. The syndicate raj, with its catastrophic consequences, may well be an election issue, as part of the general atmosphere of lawlessness that has flourished under her guidance. But will she be able to do much more even if she wants to and gets another chance to do something about it? Unlikely. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday praised Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi for the upliftment of women in the state. Campaigning for the second and last phase of elections in Goalpara district, Rahul Gandhi said Gogoi has always worked for poor in the state. He added that he has asked Gogoi to provide free medical facilities to all the poor in all the hospitals of Assam. At the Goalpara rally and at rallies in Dhubri and Abhayapuri, Gandhi said if the BJP comes to power in Assam, the state will go back to those days when there was violence, bloodshed and tears everywhere 15 years back. "This election is a fight between thoughts and ideologies. On one side, there is an ideology that fought against the British, brought the Constitution of India, loves and respects the citizens of the country the name of which is Congress." "On the other hand, there is a thought which believes in breaking things, that wants people to fight against one another, wants to spread hatred the name for this thought is Narendra Modi, BJP, RSS," Gandhi said at a rally in Dhubri, located along the India-Bangladesh border. "India does not belong to any particular caste or community. It belongs to all Indian citizens who have been living here. The Congress is committed to secure the rights of all Indians and the party will not allow anyone to break the unity between the people of different castes, communities or religion," he added. Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his poll promise of bringing back black money from abroad, and said the central government was only interested in bringing the "Fair & Lovely" scheme through which "thieves and gundas (hooligans)" can convert their black money into white by paying a meagre tax. Referring to the election results in Bihar, Gandhi said the people of Assam were going to repeat what the people of Bihar did. "Modi ji went to Bihar to make some new promises. However, people asked him to go back to Delhi and fulfill the previous promises made during the Lok Sabha polls. The same is going to be repeated here," he said. With inputs from agencies Amman(Jordan):The first Syrian family to move to the US under its speeded-up "surge" resettlement operation has left Jordan for the United States. Ahmad al-Abboud, his wife and five children, are to leave on Wednesday for Kansas City in Missouri. Al-Abboud says that "America is the country of freedom and democracy ... We are looking forward to have a good life there." In February, a temporary "surge" center was built in the Jordanian capital, Amman, to speed up the resettlement process and help meet a target set by President Barack Obama to resettle some 10,000 Syrians to the United States by Sep. 30. Every day, some 600 Syrians are interviewed in the center. Jordan hosts around 635,000 Syrians registered with the UN Refugee Agency after fleeing Syria's civil war. Islamabad: Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the state's ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. A suicide bombing in a park in Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them Christians celebrating Easter Sunday, brought renewed international attention to Pakistan's extremism problem. In the aftermath, security forces arrested hundreds of suspected militants. At the same time, however, demonstrators calling for the implementation of Islamic law and expressing their support for the man who murdered an anti-blasphemy campaigner were allowed to congregate freely in the capital. On social media, pictures circulated showing senior members of Pakistan's elite police forces praying at the grave of Mumtaz Qadri, the policeman charged with killing the secular, left-leaning politician Salman Tanseer because he defended a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. When Qadri was hanged for the murder in February, tens of thousands of Pakistanis rallied in his support. The sincerity of authorities' efforts to tackle extremism was further called into question when Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for Punjab province - of which Lahore is the capital - issued statements denying that militant groups operated in the area. Yet outlawed and violent Sunni Muslim militant groups are widely known to be headquartered in Punjab province, though many hide behind different names, according to Zahid Hussein, an expert on militancy in Pakistan. Among them is Jaish-e-Mohammed, which operates under several banners according to Hussein, and has been implicated in a number of bombings. Its leader, Masood Azhar, was freed from an Indian jail - where he was being held for attacks in Jammu and Kashmir - in exchange for the release of passengers aboard the 1999 hijacked Indian Airlines plane. The US-declared terrorist group Lashkar e-Taiba also operates in the province, under the name Jamaat-ud Dawah. It was banned in Pakistan in 2015, but its leader Hafiz Saeed travels freely around the country and gives speeches inciting people to attack western and Indian interests. Punjab is also the headquarters of Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), whose military arm is responsible for scores of attacks on Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims, according to Hussein. Law Minister Sanaullah might be expected to know that SSP operates in Punjab. He openly campaigned with the SSP leader during provincial elections, although the group is officially outlawed. Pakistan is regularly witness to deadly militant attacks - on schools and universities, buses, parks, churches, temples and Imam Bargahs, Shiite places of worship. According to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 4,612 people were killed in bombings and other violence in the country in 2015. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, the group that claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing, has roots in the tribal region and has declared its sympathy with the Islamic State group. According to Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, it shares many views in common with the scores of other militant groups operating in Pakistan. "If there is one thing that can be said about all Pakistan-based terror groups, it is that they are all cut from the same cloth," Kugelman wrote in an email to AP. "They all share the same violent extremist views, and many of them retain strong links to al-Qaida. And though they focus on different targets - some target Pakistan, others India, others Afghanistan - there are many examples of operational collaborations across the board. In effect, the terrorist landscape in Punjab - and beyond - is essentially one large, overlapping network." Thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been killed or wounded in battles against militants in the tribal regions, which border Afghanistan in the northwest of the country. Yet the Pakistani military has historical links to militant groups - raising further doubts abroad about whether the security services are up to the job. It was the military that spawned the likes of Lashkar-e-Taiba, offering it financial, organizational and operational assistance. Others like Harakat-ul-Jihad, whose fighters attack Indian targets inside the Kashmir region, are known to have links with Pakistan's Intelligence agency ISI. Pakistan's military rulers have also often aligned themselves with the country's extremist groups. In the 70s and 80s, military autocrat Zia-ul Haq used extremist groups to push his agenda of restricted liberties and more Islamic laws. More recently, US-backed Gen. Pervez Musharraf positioned himself a bulwark against extremism while patronizing groups when it suited him, striking deals with them to keep him in power. "In reality, the fundamental cause of mayhem on Pakistani streets is not a malicious foreign power or inept civilians, but blowback from the military's own long history of using jihad as an instrument of national security," Aqil Shah wrote last month in the US-based Council on Foreign Relations publication, Foreign Affairs. The military's spokesman and three star general, Asim Bajwa, strongly refuted the suggestion. He did not acknowledge the military's past links to militant groups, but said in an interview that today the army has a "zero tolerance" policy toward extremists. "It is a different time," Bajwa said. Beijing: Amid reports that India is mulling tightening of security checks on Chinese firms, China's official media on Wednesday said such move will hurt India more. "India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms if it scrapped security clearance to Chinese companies," an article in the state-run Global Times said. The article came days after official sources in India said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN on India's bid in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase. "Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, India's development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the daily. Though Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to India in 2014 announced USD 20 billion Chinese investments in India in the next five years, Indian officials and business organisations say the flow of investments remained low despite India liberalising visa regime and removing security clearances for Chinese firms. A Chinese embassy official in India familiar with China's overseas investments acknowledged to the Global Times that India's security clearance of Chinese firms has been showing signs of relaxing in recent years, especially after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh's visit to China November last year. "Although India conducted a security review of Chinese firms, Chinese companies in India say the general business environment is improving, and the Chinese companies' feedback is positive," the official said. Media reports say that the Indian government has given around 25 Chinese companies security clearance in the past two years for projects mostly in power, telecoms, railways and infrastructure. But at the same time there seems to be a rethink in India over granting liberalised regime, specially after Beijing blocking its moves to get Pakistan militant groups carrying out terrorist attacks on its soil to be banned by UN. China which is permanent member of the UN Security Council has putting technical hold on India's move in the sanction committee formed under resolution 1267 to clamp down on global terrorist networks. Indian officials say the technical holds are put at the behest of Pakistan to ban Azhar after the Pathankot terrorist attack despite furnishing required evidence. Defending China's action, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "On April 1 that China always dealt with the listing issue under the UN Security Council committee "based on facts and relevant rules of procedures in objective and just manner". Sun Shihai, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Indian government is unlikely to tighten its policies toward all Chinese investments, but it may pick on some Chinese companies. Differences between China and India in other fields should not threaten the bilateral trade and commerce relation, Lan Jianxue, an associate research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies said. TRIPOLI Tripoli's self-declared government said on Tuesday it was stepping down, just less than a week after the arrival in the Libyan capital of a U.N.-backed national unity government tasked with rebuilding the chaotic country. It was not clear if the written statement had the full support of all ministers in the self-declared National Salvation government. But it appeared to mark a step forward for a U.N.-brokered unity government whose leaders are seeking to establish authority over Libya after years of factional power struggles following the 2011 fall of autocrat Muammar Gaddafi. Western powers are counting on U.N.-backed leaders to tackle the threat from Islamic State militants exploiting Libya's anarchy, stem migration across the Mediterranean, and rescue the country's finances by restoring oil production. Unity government leaders arrived by ship from Tunisia last Wednesday, after the National Salvation government closed Tripoli's air space to prevent them from flying in, and have been operating from a heavily guarded naval base in the capital. The National Salvation government statement came after a number of ministers met to prepare a peaceful handover of power, a Justice Ministry official said. It carried the stamp of the government, although it bore no names or signatures of ministers. "From our belief in giving priority to the homeland and saving the blood of Libyans ... we inform you that we are stopping our work as an executive power, as the presidency, deputies and ministers of the government," it said. The National Salvation government was installed after a coalition of armed groups supporting it won a battle for control of Tripoli in 2014 and reinstated a parliament known as the General National Congress (GNC). A rival parliament and government, backed by a competing coalition of armed factions, moved to eastern Libya. The new Government of National Accord (GNA) emerged from a U.N.-mediated deal signed in December by figures from both sides of Libya's political divide. The GNA has faced opposition from hardliners in both the east and west, and has yet to win formal approval from the internationally recognised parliament now based in the east. But it is being protected by some of the key armed brigades in the capital and has been working with the Tripoli-based National Oil Corporation and central bank to chart an economic recovery. Earlier on Tuesday, nearly 70 members of the GNC held a session in Tripoli where they voted to formally adopt the U.N.-backed deal. They said they were forming a body called the State Council, which the U.N.-backed agreement envisages as a higher chamber made up of former GNC members. It was not clear the move would have any legal impact, given the absence of many GNC members and the fact the eastern parliament has not formally endorsed the deal or the GNA. A minority of GNC members who oppose the U.N.-mediated deal also met, and declared the declaration of the rival GNC grouping to be "illegal". (Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Peter Cooney) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. New Delhi: Insisting that designation of any individual as terrorist by UN is a "serious issue", a senior Chinese official on Wednesday said there was a need for more evidence from India for better understanding to ban JeM chief and Pathankot strike mastermind Masood Azhar by the global body. Liu Jinsong, Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister at the Chinese Embassy, justified China's action on India's bid against the Pakistan-based terrorist and said his country can't be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong on the issue. "At the UN, this is a very serious issue. We need to discuss (on the issue), we need some kind of understanding from the related countries, concerned countries. "Pakistan is not your enemy right? It's your brothers, it's your neighbour. It is a nation (born) from one nation. You were one family before. You can't move neighbours. And you can have a new boyfriend or a girlfriend tomorrow, but you can't have your neighbours changed," Liu said when asked about the Chinese action. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. "Pakistan says India's position is not good for them, it is against Pakistan. But India says its position is in its national interest. China can't be the judge (to decide) who is right, who is wrong. With Pakistan, we are good friends. With India, we are also good friends," said Liu. The Chinese official further said "We can't be on any side. We can't stick to one side. We can't veto, we can't (remain) absent. Only thing we can do is (to put it on a) technical hold." Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent comment that there cannot be any distinction between good and bad terrorists, he said China endorses the view and complimented him for trying to improve ties with Pakistan. "Our view is Prime Minister Modi's view... There is no good or bad terrorists. So there should not be any kind of double standard. "At the UN this is a very serious issue. We need to discuss, we need some kind of understanding from the related countries, concerned countries," the official said, adding "we are very pleased to say that Prime Minister Modi tried to do his best to improve relations with Pakistan. We like our two neighbours, India and Pakistan." Liu said India and Pakistan must engage in talks. "We always tell our Indian friends (that) if you mention something related to Pakistan then why don't you have some bilateral talks. You can have some agreement, you can have some close door argument," he said. Ruan Zongze, Executive Vice President of China Institute of International Studies, said both India and China have responsibility to make contributions at the global level and both the countries are not "rivals", but "partners". Ruan, who was Minister Counsellor at the Chinese Embassy in the US, said although China has a good relationship with Pakistan, it does not endorse anything what Pakistan does. "We have a very good relationship with Pakistan. And a successful Pakistan is good for India and good for the region. A failed Pakistan is a major threat. So that is why China is investing heavily to have a better and a stronger relationship with Pakistan. But that does not mean China has endorsed anything and everything Pakistan has done. We are a responsible country," he said. Quoting Modi that the 21st century will be of India's, he said there was "convergence of interest of both the countries to work on economic growth". "China does not veto. It did not veto (the move). You need more clarification, more evidence. May be we collect more evidence," Ruan said. He added that there is a "trust deficit" between the two nations and the 1962 Indo-Sino war has a lot to contribute to it. "The border issues are there, but it is a part of the British legacy. China has 14 land neighbours. Of these, we have solved the problems with 12 of our neighbours. "But we have a choice of moving ahead on the bilateral issue and then incrementally build trust on the border issue," he said. He added that India looks at China not from its lenses, but from Islamabad's lenses. Washington: US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson will visit India on Wednesday during which he will meet top officials there and hold discussions on a range of key issues including India's role in promoting a more stable and prosperous region. During his two-day staying in New Delhi, the Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, will discuss on promotion of an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process, the State Department said. "The visit is also an opportunity for US officials to express appreciation for India's support for the people and government of Afghanistan, including trade ties, security and development assistance, as well as India's key role in promoting a more stable and prosperous region," the State Department said. Bangkok Minor Hotel Group (MHG), a hotel owner, operator and investor, currently with a portfolio of 145 hotels and resorts in 22 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, South America, Africa and the Indian Ocean, has announced the addition of two new properties to its pipeline in the United Arab Emirates. Anantara Jebel Dhanna and AVANI Jebel Dhanna in Abu Dhabi will soon begin development and both are scheduled to open in 2018. The Owner and Developer of these two new properties is Dhabi Contracting LLC and Aecom has been appointed as the lead architecture and interior design consultant for the project. Jebel Dhanna is located along the coastal area of the Al Gharbia region in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, close to the ferry departure point for Sir Bani Yas Island, 240 km from Abu Dhabi city, 360 km from Doha, and 125 km from the border of Saudi Arabia. The Jebel Dhanna peninsula is relatively under-developed, with a royal palace bordering the new hotel developments and an industrial area close by. To the south east is Ruwais Industrial Zone and a neighbouring residential area, which will provide substantial demand for the two new properties. Anantara Jebel Dhanna Villas will have a total of 60 keys across three villa types: 20 One-Bedroom Villas, 38 Two-Bedroom Villas and two impressive Three-Bedroom Villas. The new Anantara will offer two restaurants and a pool bar, a gym, a swimming pool and an Anantara Spa. The neighbouring AVANI Jebel Dhanna Hotel will have 230 keys across two different room types: 170 Deluxe Rooms and 60 Superior Rooms including a kitchenette. Facilities at the AVANI will include multiple dining options, a gym and a swimming pool. Shared facilities will include flexible meeting and banqueting space, a kid's club and outdoor recreation areas. Anantara is a luxury hospitality brand for modern travellers, connecting them to genuine places, people and stories through personal experiences, and providing heartfelt hospitality in some of the world's most exciting destinations. Currently with 35 hotels and resorts in 11 countries, Anantara has just celebrated its 15th birthday in March this year. Launched in 2011, AVANI is a vibrant upscale brand offering relaxed comfort and contemporary style in city and resort destinations to guests who value the details that matter. These new properties in Abu Dhabi will join the growing Anantara and AVANI portfolio in the UAE. There are currently six Anantara properties in operation in the country five in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and Anantara The Palm Dubai. In addition a new Anantara resort is under development in Ras Al Khaimah and a second Anantara resort will open in Dubai in 2018. The first AVANI announcement for the country was made in September last year for the development of a resort in Dubai to open in 2018. Dillip Rajakarier, CEO Minor Hotel Group, commented, "Minor Hotel Group is already well established in Abu Dhabi through our existing Anantara portfolio in the city, desert and on Sir Bani Yas Island and we are excited to today announce the first AVANI in Abu Dhabi, to be developed alongside what will be our sixth Anantara. We are looking forward to partnering with Dhabi Contracting in this exciting new project." About Minor International Minor International (MINT) is a global company focused on three core businesses: hospitality, restaurants and lifestyle brands distribution. MINT is a hotel owner, operator and investor with a portfolio of over 520 hotels under the Anantara, Avani, Oaks, Tivoli, NH Collection, NH, nhow, Elewana, Marriott, Four Seasons, St. Regis and Radisson Blu brands in 56 countries across Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, the Indian Ocean, Europe, South and North America. MINT is also one of Asia's largest restaurant companies with over 2,300 outlets system-wide in 24 countries under The Pizza Company, The Coffee Club, Riverside, Benihana, Thai Express, Bonchon, Swensen's, Sizzler, Dairy Queen, Burger King and Coffee Journey brands, in addition to over 1,000 outlets of MINT's strategic alliances (i.e. S&P and BreadTalk). MINT is one of Thailand's largest distributors of lifestyle brands and contract manufacturers. Its brands include Anello, BergHOFF, Bodum, Bossini, Charles & Keith, Esprit, Joseph Joseph, Radley, Zwilling J.A. Henckels and Minor Smart Kids. For more information, please visit www.minor.com. Natasha Rhymes Director of PR & Corporate Communications Minor WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, Engage Cuba, the leading coalition of private companies and organizations working to end the travel and trade embargo on Cuba, announced a partnership with the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), the only national association representing the full breadth of the U.S. lodging industry. "We are extremely pleased to welcome AH&LA to Engage Cuba. AH&LA is the industry leader in hospitality and a powerful voice calling for an end to the Cuban embargo and travel ban," said James Williams, President of Engage Cuba. "Regulatory changes can keep the Cuban embargo intact for only so long. Engage Cuba and its allies are working on the ground now to ensure that when the embargo and travel ban are lifted, there is a strong infrastructure on the Island to allow the American hospitality industry to enter a new market and thrive." "We are proud to join Engage Cuba during this period of dramatic change in U.S. policy towards Cuba, a country which represents an exciting new market for our industry. Significant progress has already been made toward allowing U.S. hotel companies to operate on the island, but there is much more work to be done," said Craig Kalkut, Vice President of Government Affairs of AH&LA. "AH&LA looks forward to working with Engage Cuba on their goal of ending the embargo and travel ban so that our industry can successfully compete in Cuba." About Engage Cuba Engage Cuba is the leading coalition of private companies and organizations working to end the travel and trade embargo on Cuba. As a 501(c)(4) bipartisan non-profit whose funds are entirely dedicated to advocacy efforts, Engage Cuba is the only organization whose focus is U.S.-Cuba legislative advocacy. Engage Cuba is also committed to supporting the Cuban people and helping organizations and businesses navigate Cuban and U.S. regulations. The organization has the largest bipartisan lobbying operation working on U.S.-Cuba policy. Together with the Engage Cuba Policy Council of renowned experts, Engage Cuba provides timely updates on opportunities for U.S. business in Cuba, regulations, and market analysis. To get involved with Engage Cuba's mission or learn more, visit: http://www.engagecuba.org. About the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) is the sole national association representing all segments of the U.S. lodging industry. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AHLA focuses on strategic advocacy, communications support, and workforce development programs to move the industry forward. Learn more at www.ahla.com. Katie Longo AH&LA Scott and Michelle Robertson in Wagga Wagga with their kids Lila, 1, and Charlie, 3. Credit:Les Smith They hope to be able to buy their own home later this year. "The first 12 months was really a trial to see if it was going to work," Scott says. "It is working for us so we want to try to be here on a more permanent basis. There is a chance that if it doesn't work, one day, with the business we might have to go back but we're hoping that doesn't happen and [that] we do have enough saved if we do go back." Feeling less under the pump financially makes for a happier home life, says Michelle. "We don't have that financial stress of, 'how are we going to enter the market in Sydney?'," she says. "We're happier here because we feel like we can, that's achievable you can get a beautiful home for around $400,000 here, which is just so unachievable in Sydney, it really is." Former Melburnians Cathy Parry and Chris Guest also managed to transplant their small businesses in their case, to the goldfields town of Castlemaine, 120 kilometres from the state capital, for similar reasons to the Robertsons. They moved seven years ago, with one young son in tow and a second on the way, after despairing of ever owning a home in a city where prices were hovering at the $500,000 mark. "Chris had friends in Castlemaine and we would visit regularly and after looking at a few other places we decided Castlemaine was the place that we wanted to be," Parry says. "Because my partner's an architect he wanted to build for himself and we found a little block of land and it was something like $76,000, right in town." Parry runs an industrial sewing business and while both she and Guest work locally, they travel to Melbourne about once a month. It's a 90-minute drive or a little longer on the train. The costs of country living are lower but so too are opportunities to climb the greasy pole or pull in the big bucks, says Parry. "We both set ourselves up so we would have a mix [of clients]," she says. "Especially in a regional area, you do need to have a lot of different irons on the fire because we can't ever assume that one's going to keep going. "If being financially well off is important to you then there's less opportunity for that here, I'd suggest." Promoting relocation Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson is the chairman of Evocities, a marketing campaign launched in 2010 to encourage city folk to move to the NSW regional cities of Albury, Armidale, Bathurst, Dubbo, Orange, Tamworth and Wagga Wagga. The median house price across the seven cities is $366,000, according to Dickerson. That buys a three-bedroom brick house on 800 square metres a snip compared with median prices of $718,000 in Melbourne and north of a million in Sydney. Most Evocities relocators are in their "early family" stage, and typically they'll find a job in the region before upping sticks. The unemployment rate across the Evocities sits at around 3.9 per cent and Dickerson believes comprehensive rollout of the NBN it's currently available in Armidale and Tamworth will make relocation even more attractive to young families: "It will make it an easier sell. It's another piece of the puzzle." Lower priced living may be a major draw but look before you leap, because the largest cost associated with regional relocation is change of mind, financial adviser James Gerrard warns. If you own a capital city property, keep it and rent in your new location, he advises. It's a safer approach than selling up, only to find yourself priced out of the capital a couple of years down the track, if the bucolic charm wears thin and city prices have risen faster than those in the country. "It can be a shock to the system when you move," Gerrard says. "[People think] country, fresh air, save lots of money but once you're there that lifestyle may not agree with everybody. People who've never lived in the country before need to be very careful when planning such a big move." Accommodating children in their university years if there are no study options close by can be an added cost of regional living and after they've graduated you'll be shelling out to visit them, Melbourne financial adviser Steve Enticott points out. "Move to a country town your kids' career options are going to be in the city, so you will lose them," he says. If you've decided smaller town life is for you, shift somewhere that's an easy journey back to the capital and organise things so you don't have to make it too often, Enticott adds. "If you're on a train line it's not so bad an hour and a half, three hours you catch up with your emails, have a nap, read the paper, do all those sorts of things but if you've got to get in your car and drive for three hours, that's a nightmare," he says. "I tell people to avoid it if they can. If you're working, you should be working where you move, not trying to commute to a big city. That's the whole idea, you move to the country, your income's less and your costs are less, especially from a housing point of view." Career change Job options are less plentiful and salaries often lower outside major cities so finding a regional role you're happy with can necessitate reinventing yourself, according to Albury real estate agent David O'Connell, 40. He traded inner-city lifestyle and a career as a recruitment consultant in Melbourne for his current gig five years ago. "There aren't the opportunities for the salaries in a regional area that you can get in a metropolitan area or capital city, but it does afford you a really good lifestyle," O'Connell says. Lower outgoings enabled his wife Jill to spend the past five years caring full-time for their daughters Lilah, 6, and Eden, 4. She recently returned to work part-time, as an events co-ordinator at a local restaurant. The family bought a house in central Albury for $300,000 shortly before the move and have found their other costs on par with those in Melbourne. "We haven't sacrificed anything," David says. "If anything, we probably live better than we do in the city." They make the three-hour journey to Melbourne regularly for a city hit "there might be a restaurant that we want to try or we'll take the kids to the zoo" but are planning to stay put. "I wouldn't move back to a city now at all," O'Connell says. When Alex Semaan shot a family friend in the head at point blank range, he and his sister and girlfriend hatched a plan to try to cover up the alleged murder, a court has heard. Crown prosecutor Michele Williams, QC, said they made up a story about how the family friend, Michael Bekhazi, had been shot by an unknown robber or intruder. Megan Beljulji and boyfriend Alex Semaan. In her opening address to the Supreme Court jury on Tuesday, Ms Williams said Mr Semaan had killed Mr Bekhazi for no reason at all. Mr Semaan has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder while his sister, Hannah Semaan, and girlfriend, Megan Beljulji, have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Azerbaijani and ethnic Armenian forces said Wednesday that they were observing a cease-fire following four days of fighting in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its forces were strictly observing the cease-fire around the disputed territory. The ministry accused Armenian forces of breaking the truce several times Wednesday by firing mortars at Azerbaijani positions, adding that Azerbaijani forces had not returned fire. A Nagorno-Karabakh military spokesman insisted the region's forces had strictly respected the cease-fire. Officials of both governments declared the cease-fire Tuesday in Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin had separate phone calls Tuesday with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging them to honor the cease-fire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Wednesday, offering to help ensure that the truce will last and to contribute to a political settlement. Lavrov is set to meet with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts in Baku on Thursday, while Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit the Armenian capital of Yerevan on the same day. Watch: Residents examine damage caused by fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but is dominated by ethnic Armenians; it has been under control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military for years. Conflict over the region broke out in 1988, when it claimed independence from Azerbaijan and said it would join Armenia. Clashes led to a cease-fire in 1994. There have been occasional skirmishes since then, and the recent fighting, in which 63 people were killed, was among the most heated. San Francisco has approved fully paid parental leave for its residents, making it the first city in the United States to do so. A bill passed Tuesday by the city's Board of Supervisors mandates San Francisco employers provide fully paid six-week leave to new mothers and fathers. Previously under California law, employers were only required to pay 55 percent of an employee's salary while on leave, which many advocates argued is not enough to cover the cost of living for families in San Francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the country. Though the cost of living continues to rise rapidly, San Francisco has been a pioneer in employee benefits. In 2006, it became the first U.S. city to require paid sick leave, and in 2014 approved a $15 minimum wage, an initiative since instated throughout the state of California. Parental leave has become a point of focus for many presidential candidates, internationally the United States is the only major industrialized nation that does not require paid leave. The benefits challenge smaller businesses who cannot compete with the size, and resources of Silicon Valley tech companies. But the new regulation will be phased in, giving companies with 20-34 workers until January 2018 to comply, and businesses with 35 to 49 workers until July 2017, while larger companies must offer the benefit by January 2017. Senior White House officials say the Obama administration will redirect nearly $600 million in funds, the majority from existing Ebola resources, to fight the spread of the Zika virus. These repurposed funds are not enough to support a comprehensive Zika response and can only temporarily address what is needed until the Congress acts on the administrations emergency supplemental request, Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan said Wednesday. The White House submitted that $1.9 billion request to Congress in February of this year. Funding shortfall On Wednesday, White House officials warned that without the funding, the U.S. risks not having the ability to properly respond to the Zika virus, including delays in mosquito control and surveillance, diagnostic testing, and vaccine development. These efforts need to continue, and they cant be stopped or short-changed. We face two real global health challenges, Ebola and Zika. And we dont have the option to set one aside in the name of another, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell told reporters. Burwell says there are now 672 confirmed cases of Zika in the United States, including 64 pregnant women. One Zika-related case of microcephaly confirmed in the state of Hawaii. Officials say local transmission is currently centered in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa. But they believe there will likely be local transmission in the continental United States in the coming months. 40 million travelers affected About 40 million people traveling between the continental U.S. and Zika-affected countries. The administration says as of last week, 33 countries and territories in the Americas reported active Zika transmission. The international outbreak of the Zika virus is sustained, severe and spreading internationally, and... it is in the U.S. national interest to respond to this public health emergency, Deputy Secretary of State Heather Higginbottom outlined the message to Congress in redirecting funds from Ebola to the Zika response. The administrations efforts are focused on Puerto Rico, with 31 personnel from the Center for Disease Control on the ground and a Dengue field office converted to handle the Zika response including mosquito control and surveillance and the education of pregnant women. Health and Human Services Secretary Burwell said the U.S. is working to increase the supply of diagnostic tests and public health laboratories and accelerate vaccine research, noting five to six vaccine candidates are lined up to start phase 1 trials in September. But White House officials say progress in the Zika diagnosis and prevention will be stymied without Congress immediate action on emergency funding. We cannot wait. There are activities that we cannot start now, there are activities in the coming months that we may need to stop doing. And particularly given the uncertainty and the risks, we should not play with fire here, Director Donovan said. The administration says it has identified $589 million including $510 million of existing Ebola resources within the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of State/USAID that can quickly be redirected and spent on immediate, time-critical activities. Officials are also urging Congress to replenish the redirected funds from the Ebola response, warning the virus remains a threat to global health with recent cases in Guinea and Liberia. These continued outbreaks demonstrate exactly why it is critical to continue to be vigilant in West Africa, Deputy Secretary of State Higginbottom noted. We need to continue to support West African nations as they recover from Ebola and ensure we avoid further widespread outbreaks of Ebola. China has banned most imports of North Korean coal and iron ore, the countrys main exports, in a significant increase in pressure on the North under U.N. sanctions against its nuclear and missile tests. China buys an estimated two-thirds of impoverished North Koreas exports, making Beijings cooperation essential for trade penalties approved by the U.N. Security Council last month to succeed. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has intensified nuclear activities in defiance of U.N. sanctions, conducting his countrys fourth nuclear test in January and test-firing missiles. In a sign of frustration with its ally, China signed onto Security Council sanctions last month that include mandatory inspections of cargo bound to and from North Korea. The council called on all countries to redouble their efforts to enforce the sanctions. The latest Chinese restrictions announced earlier this week ban most imports of North Korean coal, iron ore, gold, titanium, vanadium and rare earths a key revenue source for the mineral-rich North. The CIA estimated North Koreas 2013 exports at USD4.4 billion, with 65 percent of that going to China and the bulk of it made up of mineral sales. Some imports for civilian use will be allowed so long as they are not connected to nuclear or missile programs, the Ministry of Commerce said. It gave no indication how large such purchases might be. The announcement also banned sales of jet fuel to North Korea, but said civilian aircraft would be allowed to refuel during flights to China. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, promised to cooperate to promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during a nuclear security conference last week in Washington. In a statement yesterday, the U.S. government welcomed Beijings trade restrictions as part of efforts to enforce U.N. sanctions. We will continue to urge China to do more until we see concrete signs that Kim Jong Un has come to the realization that the only viable path forward for his country is denuclearization, said the statement released by the American Embassy in Beijing. Beijing balked at previous demands by Washington and other governments to use trade as leverage against North Korea. Chinese diplomats said the potential humanitarian impact of sanctions had to be considered. Beijing is North Koreas only major ally and aid donor but says its influence over Kims government is limited. Chinese leaders are reluctant to lean too hard on North Korea for fear the collapse of Kims government could set off a flood of refugees and possibly lead to U.S. and South Korean troops being stationed in the North near Chinas border. In February, a Chinese diplomat told reporters the United States should offer North Korea incentives to return to negotiations, such as progress on a peace agreement. The two countries are still technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. Despite such reservations, Beijing went along with the Security Council sanctions last month that also restrict operations of North Korean banks and ban trade in dual-use nuclear and missile-related items. China is one of five permanent Security Council members with power to veto U.N. action. Security Council resolutions prohibit nuclear weapons development by North Korea and all ballistic missile activity. A defiant North Korea carried out a nuclear bomb test in January and called it a H-bomb of justice. It launched a long- range rocket in February, and in March fired a missile that flew about 800 kilometers before crashing into the sea off the countrys east coast. Kim has ordered tests of a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying it. Last months missile launch came during annual South Korean-U.S. military drills which North Korea has criticized as a rehearsal for an invasion. Joe McDonald, Beijing , AP TWIN FALLS A Twin Falls man who led a January police pursuit that ended with a rollover crash in downtown was sentenced to five years in prison but could serve only a year if he successfully completes an educational and therapeutic prison program. Kugar Alan Parrott, 19, pleaded guilty in February to felony counts of eluding police and theft by possession of a stolen vehicle. He also pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor count of leaving the scene of an accident. District Judge Richard Bevan sentenced Parrott on Friday to two to three years in prison on the eluding count and one to two years on the theft count. But he was placed in a yearlong rider, or retained jurisdiction, the therapeutic and educational program directed by the Idaho Department of Correction. If Parrott behaves well during the program, he will be released on supervised probation; if not, hell go to prison for two to five years. These charges, these felonies they arent me, Parrott told the judge during his sentencing. I mean, I made a big mistake, but Im ready to make up for it. Bevan referenced Parrotts long juvenile record and said he was concerned by Parrotts poor performance in a court compliance program while he was released on bond. Bevan called the rider program a chance for Parrott to prepare himself for life more than a punishment. I hope to see you back here with a great probation plan, sir, Bevan told Parrott. Good luck. Parrott was arrested Jan. 13 after leading police and sheriffs deputies on a chase in a stolen Jeep. When officers tried stopping him, he accelerated away, turned off his headlights and ultimately swerved and rolled the Jeep, which came to a rest near Wills Toyota. Parrott and his passenger, 21-year-old Lawrence Ramon Johnson, fled police on foot and escaped for several minutes before they were arrested near Reds Trading Post on Fifth Avenue South. Parrott was arrested thanks in part to two witnesses who followed him after seeing him running. Court documents said both men were from Twin Falls, though the sheriffs office originally reported they were both from the Salt Lake City area. The Jeep was reported stolen from Midvale, Utah, about a week before the pursuit. Johnson pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony count of possession of a controlled substance. Police found a broken methamphetamine pipe in his jacket the night he was arrested. Hes scheduled for trial later this month on a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest. An effort to pursue a ballot measure that would have called for closing of the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center failed dismally this week when proponents obtained less than a quarter of the signatures needed to put the measure before voters. The measure wasnt just squashed, it was obliterated. Overwhelmingly rejected, vanquished and snuffed, resoundingly. Proponents had months to collect the 3,842 signatures that would have put the measure on the spring ballot, and in the end they convinced just 894 people to sign the petition in a county with nearly 80,000 residents. And it wasnt because of a lack of effort. If you did any shopping on Blue Lakes Boulevard in the past few months, you probably saw folks standing outside businesses seeking signatures. They were at other community events, too, including the Twin Falls County GOPs Lincoln Day Dinner. They held a march and rally, which drew a lot of Confederate flag-waving folks from outside the area, including the militant 3 Percent of Idaho, but didnt gather much attention or signatures. We couldnt be more pleased and proud. To us, the measures failure is an affirmation of the strength and character of our community. If it wasnt already crystal clear, it is now: Twin Falls is a welcoming place that supports and encourages new residents, and as a whole we believe the refugee resettlement program is worth keeping around, despite the rantings of a tiny minority. The people have spoken. Nevertheless, Rick Martin isnt getting the message. Martin, the head of the Committee to End the CSI Refugee Center and the main organizer of the initiative effort, said in no uncertain terms he isnt giving up. Ill fight on this issue till hell freezes over, and then Ill fight on the ice, to end refugee resettlement at (CSI), Martin said. Martin sees the measures failure as just one lost battle in a long war. His next plan of attack: to oust trustees from the college board in the next election. If he can put his puppets in control of CSI, he might just be able to close the refugee center. Co-opting the college by any special-interest group would be a travesty, in this case made much worse because the special interest is so morally despicable. Martin and his ilk are stoking fears about terrorism, Islam and the milking of the welfare system. Their premise is built on the misguided concept of the disenfranchised white, Christian blue-collar worker who believes his job and very identity are put in jeopardy by refugees posing a threat to traditional southern Idaho values and culture. The truth, of course, is that refugees are contributing positively to our economy because they find jobs and pay taxes. They make us a richer community, culturally. And theyre not forcing their religious beliefs on long-term residents. Southern Idaho Christians arent under attack in Twin Falls; if anything, its the refugees set in Martins sights. As the failed measure shows, Twin Falls County residents are seeing through Martins sham. But we must stay diligent and ensure his lackeys fail in their ploy to seize control of the CSI board. Were confident hell fail again, because we believe in this community. Shenzhen police have relaxed some measures they brought in recently to regulate the number of electric bikes and tricycles in the city. It is an attempt to ease the impact on the express delivery sector of a crackdown launched on March 21. Under the crackdown, anyone operating an electric bike or tricycle in the city - a private individual or delivery company-needs a license. The change announced on Tuesday provides 5,000 new licenses for delivery drivers, an increase from the 13,000 licenses that were previously available for them. The delivery industry will also benefit from a 15-day transition period, during which companies can buy replacements - such as new-energy freight cars that do not require a license. The delivery industry has been booming in Shenzhen. In 2015, the average person sent and received a total of 129 packages - an increase of more than 40 percent over 2014, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Postal Administration. Liu Xiaoding, head of the transport police command department, said the crackdown on electric bikes and tricycles was necessary because of a growing safety problem. Liu said city authorities received more than 1,500 complaints relating to electric vehicles last year-65 percent of transportation complaints. Accidents involving electric bikes and tricycles led to the deaths of 114 people - 26.4 percent of the total death toll in transportation incidents. He said the next step will be to target manufacturers, retailers and repair shops involved in supplying substandard electric bikes and tricycles. The Shenzhen police department said its crackdown on electric bikes and tricycles is not aimed at the delivery industry but mainly at substandard vehicles being used as illegal taxis. Between March 21 and April 5, police impounded 18,000 electric bikes and tricycles in Shenzhen because they were unlicensed or not roadworthy. grace@chinadailyhk.com (China Daily 04/06/2016 page4) US troops stationed at the North Camp military base in el Gorah could be pulled out of the area due to security concerns, according to US officials. The growing threats posed by militants of the Islamic State in the Sinai Peninsula prompted the US to consider relocating its troops further south. The American military are deployed in the Sinai part of a Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) mission monitoring the 1979 peace treaty signed between Egypt and Israel. Talks are reportedly ongoing between the US, Egypt and Israel because the move will require the approval of all the signatories to the treaty. The North Camp is the largest installation under the MFO but it is not expected to be shut down if the relocation is approved because there are Colombian troops at the base. However, the withdrawal of the US troops is expected to affect the functioning of more than 20 additional sites, including observation posts and checkpoints. Defense officials who spoke to CNN stressed that the US will nonetheless be able to fulfill its treaty obligations. The number of troops to be withdrawn from el Gorah is not yet known but US has around 700 men in the mission. Spokesman Christopher Sherwood of the Defense Department stated that the Pentagon supports the efforts of MFO in supporting the Treaty of Peace between Israel and Egypt and they will continue to collaborate with the mission and adjust force protection capabilities as conditions warrant. IS has launched several attacks in Sinai and Cairos fight against insurgency in the area has been fatal as the extremist group continues to resist. Egypts Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAMPAS) has revealed that the number of tourists in February fell by 45.9% compared to the same period last year, while the Italian Tourism Association announced that it was suspending flights to the North African country. A holiday is not possible in the current context of sorrow and indignation said the Italian Tourism Association in reference to the murder of Giulio Regini, an Italian PhD researcher, in Egypt. If the move goes ahead, Egypt could lose more than $200 million. The gloomy news raised authorities concerns because it is the fourth successive fall in the number of visitors since the Russian flight was downed over the Sinai Peninsula on October 31 killing all 224 people on board. The report from CAMPAS stated that the low number of Russian arrivals is a major contributor to the fall. Russia, United Kingdom and several other countries suspended their flights to the tourist resort of Sharm el-Sheikh after the October crash. Russia has promised to resume flights when security is improved at airports. Subsequent incidents such as the hijacking or emergency landing of Egyptair planes are not likely to speed up a return to normal. Egypt received 346,500 tourists in February, down 46% compared to the same month last year according to the CAMPAS report while Germany, Saudi Arabia and Ukraine topped the list of the highest arrivals from Western Europe, the Middle East and Eastern Europe respectively. Newly appointed Tourism Minister Yehia Rashed said there are plans to boost the tourism industry by targeting Gulf States and hoped that next weeks discussions with 12 low-cost airliners would help attract tourists worldwide and boost the sector. The US military announced on Monday that two detainees held for years without charge at the Guantanamo Bay prison will be transferred to Senegal for their resettlement. The two men, identified as Libyans Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker and Salem Abdu Salam Ghereby, had been held at the prison for 14 years. The United States is grateful to the government of Senegal for its humanitarian gesture and willingness to support ongoing US efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, a Pentagon statement said. Secretary of State John Kerry also thanked Senegal for taking the two ex-convicts. He reiterated the Obama administrations arguments that the prison should be closed because it is costly and fuels anti-American sentiments abroad. The United States appreciates the generous assistance of the government of Senegal as the United States continues its efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, Kerry said in a statement. This significant humanitarian gesture is consistent with Senegals leadership on the global stage. The two Libyans were captured in Pakistan and were turned over to the United States after the beginning of the American-led war in Afghanistan. According to their official profile, they were accused of having trained in Al-Qaeda camps and of fleeing into Pakistan after the bombing campaign began. The men were suspected of being long-time members of a Libyan Islamist group known as the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. Their release cuts the Guantanamo prison population to 89. The African Development Bank (AfDB) on Monday said it will disburse $1.7 billion to assist Mozambique, hard hit by the slump in commodity prices. The AfDB Group President, Akinwumi Adesina, who visited the resource-rich southern African nation on Monday said his institution is planning to increase its level of financial support to Mozambique to $1.7 billion from the year 2016-17. The current portfolio of the bank in the country consists of 19 projects totaling more than $600 million. On Monday the bank has also announced a $549m package to respond to severe drought across eastern and southern Africa. The money will support the 14 countries most severely affected by the worst drought the region has seen in decades, which has left almost 36 million people unable to feed themselves. Mozambique is also among the worst-affected. The bank said the package will consist of $5m in emergency relief and $361m in longer term support. An additional $183m will be made available in 2016 through a mechanism that will see faster disbursements of funds to ongoing projects that build resilience to drought. Lack of rain, induced by the cyclical weather pattern El-Nino, which has been wreaking havoc across the world in recent months, has disrupted crop and livestock production, sparking food crises throughout the two regions. The High Court of Johannesburg in South Africa on Monday, sentenced a 46-year-old man to 538 years behind bars for kidnapping, assaulting and raping children. Peter Dashboy Khoza was said to have raped over 20 children. According to the indictment, his victims were as young as 9. He committed the dastardly acts, which the Judge described as horrible and unacceptable, by luring the children into the bush and tying them up before raping them. Other times he kidnapped more than one child and would rape one while the other is forced to watch. Peter was convicted of 28 counts of rape and two of attempted rape 45 of kidnapping 17 of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm nine of common assault 18 of sexual assault 16 of compelling a child to witness a sexual offence and four of theft. Judge Eben Jordaan who found Khoza guilty of 139 charges ordered that Khozas name be included in the National Register for Sex Offenders. The accused is a serial rapist. Even if he is released in his sixties he will be a danger to society Jordaan said. Family members and friends of Khozas victims clapped their hands and ululated after Jordaan delivered his sentence. CNNMoney: Georgias big plans for 6% growth in 2017 despite oil, currency crisis Georgia is preparing for a huge boost in economic growth by setting goal a to achieve 3.5 percent economic growth in 2016 and hit six percent by 2017.In an interview with the worlds largest business website CNNMoney, Georgias Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili explained how he was going to push forward the Georgian economy while the country is suffering from low oil prices and facing a currency crisis.A new four-point recovery plan, that includes new tax benefits, infrastructure plans, governance reforms and an overhaul of the education system, was the Georgian PMs plan to increase economic development.This year we plan for a 3% to 3.5% growth, but [in] 2017 it will be 5.5% to six% growth," Kvirikashvili told CNNMoney.The national currency, the Georgian Lari (GEL), has depreciated by roughly 30 percent against the United States (US) dollar since the end of 2014. CNNMoney said the currency plunge was mainly caused by economic struggles in Georgias neighbouring major oil and gas producing countries Russia and Azerbaijan.But Kvirikashvili, who previously worked as Georgias Economics Minister, told the magazine the crisis could have been "much worse.The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Georgia still managed to experience two percent economic growth in 2015.The Lari staged a small recovery this month. Looking ahead, the IMF expected Georgia will post 3% and 5% growth this year and next, respectively.CNNMoney reported Georgia was looking to become a go-to trade and logistics hub by offering low corporate taxes to European and US companies that were willing to enter into the "sometimes-volatile region.CNNMoney also accented that Georgia was "ardently pro-European after years of border disputers and conflicts with Russia. Georgia signed a free trade agreement with the EU in 2014 and the country also maintains its aspirations to join the EU and NATO.Europe is a home for Georgia. We see Europe provides certain standards of democracy [and] human rights protection and this is what the Georgian people aim to achieve," Kvirikashvili told CNNMoney.Kvirikashvili stepped into the role of Prime Minister in December 2015 and immediately started to actively reforming the business climate in Georgia.A report by the International School of Economics (ISET) of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) in Georgia showed that confidence within Georgias business society had grown in the first few months of 2016. For this reason, ISET called the business confidence index increase the "Kvirikashvili Effect. The Republicans and the Georgian Dream coalition By Messenger Staff Local media speculates that very soon the Republican Party will quit the Georgian Dream (GD) coalition and participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections independently.The Republicans have not yet confirmed the information, as Parliament Chair (and the founder of the party) Davit Usupashvili said the party would reveal its election intentions shortly.Usupashvili also said the Republicans do not intend to quit the coalition created by billionaire and ex-Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili for the 2012 parliamentary race.The coalition - which was once composed of the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, the Republicans, the Free Democrats, the Conservatives, the Georgian Forum, the Industrials and several other political figures - managed to defeat the United National Movement (UNM) in the election and end the partys nine-year rule.However, it was initially claimed that the creation of the coalition was necessary at that time despite the fact that the union was composed of parties with different attitudes and views on many issues.In 2013, Koba Davitashvili, one of the opposition leaders when the UNM was in power, quit the coalition, as his views differed from the coalitions attitudes.In 2014 the Free Democrats left the coalition after a large-scale stir, when then-Defence Minister, head of the Free Democrats, Irakli Alasania, was dismissed by former Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili as Alasania said that Georgias European course was at risk.Alasania made the statement after several of his MoD employees were detained for misspending budgetary funds. Alasania said the people were innocent and victims of political persecution, as he claimed through the arrests Ivanishvili wished to hinder Alasanias attempts to bring Georgia into NATO faster.More controversy erupted when the Industrials accused Defence Minister Tinatin Khidasheli, a representative of the Republican party, that she sent an influx of soldiers to vote in by-elections in eastern Georgia.Khidasheli stated then that she would not succumb to the pressure; she would not make hasty decisions, and would not resign. An investigation revealed that no violations were committed in the process of the elections; however the situation affected the Republicans relations with the rest of the coalition. The PM made a special statement over the dispute and said the Minister should not have involved herself in the controversy, as she was first of all the Minister of Defence.A significant number of Georgias foreign partners believe the Free Democrats and the Republicans represented the most pro-western wing of the coalition.When the Free Democrats quit the coalition, questions arose concerning Georgias foreign course, but such talks ended soon after due to the ongoing reforms and the Republicans presence in the coalition.Several members of GD have stated that leaving of the coalition by any party would not be a tragedy.If Republicans quit the coalition, they will damage their own chances of coming to power again, as they do not enjoy high ratings.Currently, the Parliament chair and the Ministers of Defence and Environment are members of the party, and party representatives occupy other senior posts in the executive and legislative bodies.If the Republicans quit the coalition, questions will again arise concerning Georgias foreign orientation.On the other hand, the Republicans' quitting the coalition might be a chance for the Georgian Dream party to prove it is pro-Western without the Free Democrats or the Republicans. HUMANISTANBUL: World Humanitarian Summit Article by Mr. Mevlut Cavusoglu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Wednesday, March 30 @MichaelAuslen and @stevebousquet All Gov. Rick Scott wanted was a cup of coffee. Instead, he got yelled at by a liberal activist about the governor's refusal to expand Medicaid. He got called an "a------." (And it looks like he didn't even get his coffee before leaving the Gainesville Starbucks.) The whole exchange between Scott and a woman later identified as former Lake Worth city commissioner Cara Jennings was posted online by a YouTube user named Stephen Bender late Tuesday. It's worth watching. While the governor didn't stop to have a conversation with Jennings at the Starbucks, he did address some of her concerns with reporters after a bill signing Wednesday at the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County in Boca Raton. Primarily, Jennings' anger toward the governor in the video is about Medicaid expansion. "When poor people like us need health services, you cut them," she said. It's an issue Scott, along with House Republicans, blocked last year when a health care budget shortfall led to a standoff. "I've said all along that if the federal government wants to have its program, they should fund their program," Scott said Wednesday. "But don't come to the state of Florida and ask us to tax our taxpayers for a federal program. I don't believe in that. I don't go to the federal government and say 'fund my program.'" But Scott has also doubled down against Jennings, saying she wasn't willing to have a conversation. "I didn't see the video, but I was there," he said. "She was not somebody you could talk to." And a statement from Melissa Sellers, Scott's ex-chief of staff turned political consultant, goes further, alluding to details from a 2010 Palm Beach Post profile of Jennings: People with radical views tend to not like civil debate. A self-proclaimed anarchist rudely yelled and cursed at the governor," Sellers said in a statement. "She also refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. Its a free country, but its not at all surprising that an anarchist prefers shouting over conversation. via @adamsmithtimes Congressional investigators have found a litany of potential violations in the business and political dealings of U.S. Rep Alan Grayson, a leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. The Office of Congressional Ethics recommended the U.S. House Ethics Committee launch a full scale probe into Graysons management of a hedge fund and other business interests that may have improperly overlapped with his congressional duties. The Ethics Committee will further pursue the matter, which does not indicate violations necessarily occurred but ensures that a large ethics cloud hangs over Grayson as he campaigns to succeed Marco Rubio in the U.S. Senate. Among the likely or potential violations cited by the Office of Congressional Ethics: -- Grayson ran a hedge fund that improperly used the congressmans name, gave him a fidiciary responsibility to undisclosed investors and at least once appears to have been compensated -- "OCE found evidence that from January to June 2014, Representative Grayson managed a Virginia-based corporation that used the Grayson name and provided legal services involving a fiduciary relationship." -- "OCE found evidence that Representative Grayson agreed to receive contingent fees in cases in which the federal government had a direct and substantial interest, that were pending during his time in Congress." -- Investigators found numerous "significant" omissions from Grayson's financial disclosure forms, including many "related to other alleged violations highlighted in this report concerning the Grayson Hedge Fund and Representative Graysons interest in law firms and pending litigation." -- "The OCE found that Representative Grayson was a limited partner in three energy-sector limited partnerships, all of which had agreements with the federal government through their subsidiaries." -- A staffer in Grayson's congressional office, who also worked for his hedge fund, used "official time and resources to work for the hedge fund." -- Grayson "participated in multiple press interviews focused on his campaign for the U.S. Senate from his congressional office, and in some cases used campaign resources, including a campaign computer and campaign staff, to facilitate these interviews." Grayson's denies any wrongdoing, and his lawyer released a blistering response to the OCE report that accused investigators of leaking information to Grayson's Democratic U.S. Senate opponent, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy. "The referral itself verges on the demented, in all of its Captain Ahab attempts to spear the white whale by coming up with something - anything - with which to try to argue that some unethical conduct has occurred. Acting upon detailed legal advice at every tum, Rep. Grayson has gone all out, at great expense, to adhere to all of the rules. Not only were the rules never broken; they were never even bent. And this is precisely the kind of witch-hunt that the aCE should not be engaged in," wrote Brett G. Kappel, Grayson's attorney. Grayson's senate campaign noted that the Ethics Committee did not refer the matter to an investigative subcommittee and suggested that makes it less likely the committee will recommend expulsion, censure, or reprimand. "The larger picture here is that the Washington political establishment has decided who their favored candidate is, and its not Rep. Grayson," his campaign said in a statement. "This Murphy-instigated fishing expedition is just like the Benghazi Committee witch hunt, another taxpayer-funded political inquisition which Patrick Murphy voted with Republicans to set loose. Patrick Murphy and his DC Establishment allies are using this new political witch hunt to try to distract Florida voters." Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg and two other lawmakers are launching a new political committee to raise money for a solar energy proposal on Florida's statewide Aug. 30 primary ballot. Known as Amendment 4, the proposed constitutional amendment would give tax breaks to owners of commercial and industrial property that install solar or renewable energy devices. A similar tax abatement for residential property already exists in the Constitution. The proposal is not to be confused with a separate and controversial utility-backed initiative that will appear on the November general election ballot. Brandes announced Tuesday that he and Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, and Rep. Lori Berman, D-Lantana, will also help raise money for the as-yet unnamed political committee. "We want more solar and less taxes, and hopefully that has struck a chord with the people of Florida," said Brandes, who called taxes on such devices a "barrier" to solar development. "It's a good thing," said Susan Glickman of the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which supports Amendment 4. Glickman said that reaching the 60 percent support of voters requires polling, direct mail and other forms of messaging that costs a lot of money including reminding Florida's rapidly growing pool of unaffiliated voters that they can vote on constitutional amendments on a closed primary ballot. "It might be easier to communicate with those voters who vote regularly in primaries," Glickman said. Supporters include major pro-business groups such as the Florida Retail Federation, Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association and Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Julio Fuentes, president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber, said Tuesday: "Providing businesses the opportunity to take advantage of tax fairness for solar development is a good thing." The tax break proposal had universal bipartisan support in the Legislature in 2016, but some lawmakers opposed putting it on the primary ballot when voter turnout is much lower. One such critic, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said that was done at the request of utilities that don't want the solar tax break on the same ballot as the other utility-backed initiative that critics say sounds pro-solar, but isn't. It's unusual, but not unprecedented, for a proposed constitutional amendment to be put before voters on a primary ballot. It happened last in 2008 when then-Gov. Charlie Crist championed a property tax proposal known as Amendment 1 that received 64 percent of the vote on a presidential preference primary ballot. via @adamsmithtimes A day after details became public on an ongoing congressional investigation into U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, his rival for the Democratic U.S. Senate nomination called on Grayson to shut down his controversial hedge fund and declared Grayson unfit for public office. "I believe that, quite frankly, he's disqualified himself from being a public servant. You've got a member of Congress who's more concerned about making money for himself than solving ... very, very real problems in our country," U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Jupiter, said in a telephone press conference. "I believe he needs to disclose what he's invested in, who his investors are, and he needs to close his unethical and illegal hedge fund." Murphy also denied allegations from Grayson that anyone in Murphy's office had spoken with or colluded with the Office of Congressional Ethics, which recommended the House Ethics Committee continue investigating Grayson for what it said appeared to be multiple violations of federal law and House rules. "There is no conspiracy here against Alan Grayson," Murphy said. "This is a very clear example of being caught red-handed. And oftentimes the truth hurts." The independent, bipartisan Office of Congressional Ethics found that Grayson appeared to have improperly run a hedge fund while serving in Congress, kept financial ties to a law firm and other businesses either involved in ongoing litigation against the federal government or doing business with the federal government, and that Grayson improperly used his congressional office to do work on his Senate campaign and hedge fund. Grayson denies any wrongdoing and on Tuesday declared a victory of sorts in the matter, because the House Ethics Committee opted not to start a investigative subcommittee. It would be unprecedented for the committee to punish a House member without starting such a committee, Grayson said. That's not true, however. In 2011, the Ethics Committee ruled, without an investigative subcommittee, that former Ohio Rep. Jean Schmidt improperly accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal help and ordered her to repay $500,000. In other cases, the ethics committee has started further investigation the way it has with Grayson and later decided to convene an investigative subcommittee. @ByKristenMClark Six prominent Republicans in the Florida Senate have endorsed House Majority Leader Rep. Dana Young in her bid for the new District 18 Senate seat, representing South Tampa and Hillsborough County. The Republican leaders announced their support for Young, a Tampa Republican, through a joint statement sent out today by the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Her supporters include the next three likely Senate presidents: Sens. Joe Negron, R-Stuart, Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby. Assuming Republicans maintain control of the chamber, Negron is due to take over as president in November, Galvano (the current Senate majority leader) is set to succeed him in 2018 and Simpson is on track to be president in 2020. "Dana Young is a hard-working, principled leader who in the Florida House fought tirelessly against big government policies that hinder our small business and economy," Negron said in the statement. "She will be a great addition to the Florida Senate." Also endorsing Young today were: Sens. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, and Jack Latvala, a Clearwater Republican who's poised to be Appropriations chairman under Negron. Young was first elected to the House in 2010, and she was one of the first women to be named majority leader in the chamber. So far, she faces no opponents in the District 18 race. But the South Tampa district has the potential to be competitive. In 2012, it went 50.6 percent to 49.4 percent for Barack Obama. Photo credit: Florida House Majority Leader Rep. Dana Young, R-Tampa, right, talks with Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, during the 2015 session. Scott Keeler / Tampa Bay Times. As outfitters on the Smith River, we are privileged to make a good living helping others experience what many consider to be the greatest combination of floating, fly fishing and camping in the lower 48 states. Around 7,000 people take this 60-mile scenic journey annually with the hope of connecting to a part of Montana that is still wild. We have collectively employed hundreds of guides and other staff to help make that happen. Several of us have dedicated more than 20 years to the Smith River and had clients return again and again. Watching the seasons change on the river opens peoples eyes to how special and yet how fragile the watershed is. So along with the privilege of working on the Smith, there is a responsibility to leave the river healthier than we found it. Thats why we are concerned with the copper mine Tintina Resources is proposing on the upper part of Sheep Creek in the Smith River watershed. We appreciate the benefits of responsible mining, but this mine is unlikely to leave the river better off. All mineral extraction has environmental risks, but in this case, the ore deposits thread through sulfide-rich rock, which produces acid and dissolved metals that would be deadly for fish in Sheep Creek and the Smith River. We have not seen enough evidence to believe that this mine would avoid these problems. We understand risk as a part of our business. But floating the Smith River, where the towering canyon walls overwhelm the senses, we keep asking the same question: How can we risk putting all of this in jeopardy? The answer is, we can't. We are deeply worried that state regulatory agencies will be unable to catch problems before they turn into disasters. Usually, environmental disasters can be traced back to a government agency that has done too little too late. This has been the recent track record of both the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation when it comes to protecting our river resources. Does DEQ have the financial resources and the technological expertise to closely monitor and regulate this mine? How much manpower can they devote to this mine? And what would they do when the mine either pollutes or diminishes the groundwater in an area that is already water-limited? We believe the Smith River is the queen of Montana's spectacular river network. This river exhibits more of what Montana is about than any other stream in our state. It requires the confidence and self-reliance of every floater to negotiate 60 miles in any combination of wind, rain, snow and heat that Montana can produce. The Smith River is where Montanans bring their families to impart the values, virtues and ethics of conserving the natural world. This is still our last best place. Economists have determined that fishing on the Smith River alone contributes at least $7 million annually for Montanas economy, and that doesnt include other recreational, agricultural and tax benefits it generates. These are indefinitely sustainable dollars, and they benefit real people and real jobs that would be lost if the river is degraded. Add in the cost taxpayers might have to foot to clean up a big spill or keep wastes from leaking in the future, and it becomes a high price to pay. Unfortunately, the citizens of Montana will assume all the risk, while the corporate boardrooms of Tintinas owners Perth, Australia and New York City reap the rewards. We encourage other people concerned with this mine proposal to check out the litany of unanswered questions and concerns we raise at www.smithriverwatch.org. Starting on Monday night, lawyers at big firms have been camped out in conference rooms studying how the new rules would affect their clients. While experts were still weighing the overall impact, so far they have suggested that the hundreds of pages worth of regulations would have an incredibly expansive reach and would even affect foreign companies with huge American operations, including the parent of Mercedes-Benz and Nestle. These rules are going to apply much more broadly than people had expected, said Stephen L. Gordon, the head of the tax department at the law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Chief among the targets of the Obama administration, however, has been corporate inversions, in which American companies buy foreign competitors and move their corporate homes overseas in an effort to pay fewer taxes in the United States. Some 40 companies have struck inversions over the past five years, according to data from Dealogic. President Obama said on Tuesday that the new rules would help prevent one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there, fleeing the country just to get out of paying their taxes. Still, even the new rules will not completely eliminate ways that companies can technically invert one lawyer described tax avoidance as a game of Whac-a-Mole until Congress overhauls the overall tax code. But they signal the Obama administrations intent to hit on corporate taxes as the issue has gained steam on the presidential campaign trail. Perhaps the most obvious symbol of that fight has been Pfizer, the blue-chip drug maker that produced painkillers during the Civil War and penicillin during World War II. Executives at the pharmaceutical maker have made no secret of their belief that renouncing its corporate citizenship and lowering its overall tax bill were their duty as stewards to shareholders. After trying and failing to buy British rival AstraZeneca two years ago, Pfizer finally found its ticket to an overseas corporate passport in Allergan, a drug maker based in Dublin but built in large part through acquisitions of American companies. GENETICALLY modified mosquitoes are in the news for good reason: They may be our best hope for controlling the mosquito-borne Zika virus. The Food and Drug Administration has issued a preliminary finding of no significant environmental impact and is seeking public comment on a plan to test them in a field trial in the Florida Keys. So you might think this will resolve the Zika crisis, which has caught the worlds attention because of an unexpected spike in microcephaly in babies born to women infected during pregnancy and in the incidence of the paralytic Guillain-Barre syndrome in Zika-infected adults. Youd be wrong. People are apprehensive about the release of these mosquitoes simply because they are genetically modified. And the company that produces them must traverse a time-consuming federal regulatory process before they can be released in the United States. This is unfortunate, because biological insect control can eradicate pests over large areas. This is what these genetically modified mosquitoes are intended to do to Zika-virus-carrying mosquitoes. JABRAYIL, Azerbaijan Armenians and Azerbaijanis agreed on Tuesday to a cease-fire after four days of fighting along the border of a disputed region, putting to rest, at least for now, fears that the outbreak of ethnic strife might spiral into a wider war. With almost palpable relief, mediators, including the United States, France and Russia, issued statements commending the halt in clashes along the line of contact of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, an ethnic Armenian enclave in Azerbaijan. By Tuesday evening, the truce seemed to hold, though the Karabakh military reported isolated instances of mortar and tank fire from the Azerbaijani side. In a statement, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry said that on the basis of mutual agreement, the military actions on the contact line between Armenia and Azerbaijan are halted. CHARLESTON, W.Va. Donald L. Blankenship, whose leadership of the Massey Energy Company catapulted him from a working-class West Virginia childhood into a life as one of the wealthiest and most influential men in Appalachia, was sentenced on Wednesday to a year in prison for conspiring to violate federal mine safety standards. The prison term, the maximum allowed by law, came in Federal District Court here six years and one day after an explosion ripped through Masseys Upper Big Branch mine, killing 29 men. Although Mr. Blankenship was not accused of direct responsibility for the accident, the deadliest in American coal mining in about 40 years, the disaster prompted the inquiry that ultimately led to his conviction. Federal officials have said that last autumns guilty verdict was the first time such a high-ranking executive had been convicted of a workplace safety violation. You should be someone that we are able to tout as a West Virginia success story, Judge Irene C. Berger, herself the daughter of a coal miner, said before she described Mr. Blankenships career, in which he earned tens of millions of dollars and gained remarkable sway over this states politics and people. But, she said, Instead of being able to tout you as one of West Virginias success stories, however, we are here as a result of your part in a dangerous conspiracy. After failing to impeach the president, opposition leaders said they would use street protests and other means to keep the pressure on Mr. Zuma. On Wednesday, in a sign of widening popular discontent, an umbrella group of leaders from churches, unions, academia and other institutions said they would begin a campaign to press Mr. Zuma to step down. But within the A.N.C., there has been only a trickle of calls for Mr. Zumas resignation, coming from a few retired, though prominent, officials. In comments widely interpreted as being directed against Mr. Zuma, David Makhura, a party member and the premier of Gauteng, the province that includes Johannesburg and is the nations richest and most urban, said this week that loyalty to the country was more important than loyalty to the party. In November, Mr. Zuma said the A.N.C. was more important than South Africa, refusing to retract his statement after it elicited widespread criticism. When the A.N.C. was going to consider what next to do, we knew that the A.N.C. would act in the best interest of the people and the country, Mr. Makhura said at a memorial service for a party veteran. We should ask ourselves whether we can still say that today. The A.N.C. chapter in Gauteng Province has not backed Mr. Zuma as the partys presidential candidate in the past. Voters, especially in Johannesburg, the provincial capital and the countrys largest city, have gravitated to opposition parties in recent elections. For the first time since the end of apartheid in 1994, the A.N.C. is expected to face serious challenges in Johannesburg and some other cities in local elections scheduled for August. The split inside the A.N.C. reflects wider cleavages inside South Africa itself, said Steven Friedman, a political analyst at the University of Johannesburg. In urban pockets, a growing black middle class, participating in the formal economy, looks to politicians for good government, Mr. Friedman said. These include A.N.C. members who are opposed to Mr. Zuma and his politics. You cant go anywhere in Helmand now safely, said Maj. Gen. Esmatullah Dawlatzai, who was recently put in charge of all the police forces in Helmand. You cant step outside of Lashkar Gah safely, and thats a fact, he added, referring to the provincial capital city. Its not going to change until we do something about the political corruption, which is being carried out from Kabul, and involves everyone: elders, parliament members, politicians, all of them, General Dawlatzai continued. The police, especially, are not a national police. They are not fighting for the benefit of their country, but for their patrons. Mullah Majid Akhonzada, the deputy provincial chairman, said that all that Helmand got from Kabul was empty promises, as the Taliban gain more and more territory. The fact is, nothing has been done except filling their own pockets, he said. Thats all they do. Corruption does not just fatten up the skinny, it also undermines security. Hajji Ahmad is a provincial councilman from Gereshk District, the center of some of the fiercest fighting. This is how it works, he said. The police chief buys his post, then he has to make his money back by selling other positions to other commanders, in the districts and subdistricts, and then those guys are selling to each checkpoint. So Ill give you an example, a recent example of what happens, Hajji Ahmad said. In Margir area, at a police checkpost in Gereshk District, theres 24 hours of fighting going on and at night the commander runs out of ammo. So he goes to his district commander and says, We need ammo, and the commander says, Well, give me money so I can give you ammo. And he doesnt have any money, so the Taliban overrun the checkpost and nine policemen are killed. Thats what happens. He was referring to an attack that took place last month. The men appointed to reform the police and military in Helmand, General Dawlatzai and General Qahraman, are finding it hard going, and many of the obstacles are internal. HONG KONG Anyone who tries to scramble over Chinas Great Firewall knows the feeling of frustration when those attempts fail. So, too, does the man credited with developing the system, which blocks access to unapproved foreign websites. That man, Fang Binxing, the former president of the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and current head of a new national industry association for promoting online security, is often called the father of the Great Firewall for his role in developing the system of Internet controls in China. He has previously said that even he has to use virtual private networks, or VPNs, which allow users to gain access to the Internet as if they were in a different location. During a presentation on digital security on Sunday at his alma mater, the Harbin Institute of Technology, Mr. Fang was forced to employ a VPN when he could not reach websites in South Korea. But the VPN repeatedly dropped out, prompting him to ad-lib some of his presentation. The episode was relayed by a person who attended the talk and posted details on Weibo and was first reported by the newspapers Oriental Daily News and Ming Pao, both based in Hong Kong. As the story spread online, it prompted widespread mirth among Chinese Internet users who encounter such headaches on a regular basis. BEIJING When Cao Yanfang left her nursing job to become a full-time human organ donation coordinator, someone who asks families to donate their just-deceased relatives organs, she set herself the goal of persuading one in 100 families to give. That was in 2010, when China set up a nationwide voluntary donation system. I didnt realize how big a challenge that figure would pose, said Ms. Cao of the Zhejiang Province Human Organ Donation Management Center. She spoke at an event last Thursday in Beijing ahead of the Qingming festival, when Chinese remember their dead. Clear and Bright is how the name of the festival that fell on Monday translates, and there was hope as well as sorrow at the event in an auditorium of Beijing Hospital. On hand were about 300 medical workers, Red Cross Society of China and government officials, donor families and organ recipients. The gathering, organized by the Red Cross Society of China and Chinese Organ Donation, one of several groups promoting the switch to voluntary organ donation, was billed as an organ donation memorial and popularization event. On a wall outside the auditorium were photographs of stone memorials inscribed with the names of donors that are being set up around China to honor their contributions. BRUSSELS Days after a wave of deportations of migrants arriving in Europe from Turkey, the European Unions executive arm proposed a new quota system for members accepting asylum seekers to ease the burden on the nations confronted with an overwhelming influx. The quotas were part of a plan introduced Wednesday by the European Commission, the blocs executive arm, to address the continents ineffective asylum system while avoiding a backlash from member states reluctant to accept a larger number of migrants. The proposals would create a quota mechanism to deal with exceptional situations when a country is confronted with an unmanageable crisis. An alternative would allow for the establishment of a permanent system to redistribute asylum seekers. The second option would amount to a permanent program to shift asylum seekers around Europe, and it is likely to antagonize countries like Hungary and Slovakia, which bluntly oppose any measures to force them to take in migrants and which argue that quotas encourage migration to the Continent. LONDON Icelands already fragile coalition government was thrown into further uncertainty on Wednesday after the countrys prime minister said he had not formally resigned but had stepped aside for an unspecified period after leaked documents linked him to an offshore company. The revelation over the weekend about politicians and business people around the world hiding their wealth in secretive shell companies and offshore tax shelters has fanned a public backlash. The details were contained in millions of documents, known as the Panama Papers, from a law firm that were made public. On Tuesday, the scandal claimed its first political casualty when Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of Iceland asked his deputy to take over, after documents showed that the prime minister and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, had set up a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2007. Image Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, the minister of fisheries and agriculture of Iceland, in June. Credit... Birgir Thor Hardarson/European Pressphoto Agency Mr. Gunnlaugssons deputy, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, initially said the prime minister had offered to resign. In a reflection of the political turmoil and maneuvering that the Panama Papers have created, the prime ministers office issued a statement later Tuesday night saying that he had proposed stepping down in favor of his deputy for an unspecified amount of time a sort of indefinite leave of absence and not resigning. A terrorist hoping to buy an antiaircraft weapon in recent years needed to look no further than Facebook, which has been hosting sprawling online arms bazaars, offering weapons ranging from handguns and grenades to heavy machine guns and guided missiles. The Facebook posts suggest evidence of large-scale efforts to sell military weapons coveted by terrorists and militants. The weapons include many distributed by the United States to security forces and their proxies in the Middle East. These online bazaars, which violate Facebooks recent ban on the private sales of weapons, have been appearing in regions where the Islamic State has its strongest presence. This week, after The New York Times provided Facebook with seven examples of suspicious groups, the company shut down six of them. Muscatine Community School District will be accepting sealed bids for the Muscatine High School Roadway Replacement project that will commence on June 1, 2016 and be completed by July 15, 2016. The bid opening will be Friday, April 8, 2016 at 2 pm at the Administration Center at 2900 Mulberry Avenue. Please contact Jeff Miller at (563) 263-4740 to request bid documents or with any questions in regards to this project. ORIGINAL NOTICE FOR PUBLICATION U.S. ROF III Legal Title Trust 2015-1, by U.S. Bank National Association, as Legal Title Trustee Plaintiff, vs. Shawn Frye; Parties in Possession; Unknown spouse, if any, of Shawn Frye; Unifund CCR, LLC; Autovest, LLC; Iowa Department of Human Services; Iowa Department of Human Services; H & R Accounts, Inc. ; Jay Daniel Larue, et al. Defendants. You are notified that a petition has been filed in the office of this court naming you as a defendant in this action. The petition was filed on February 9, 2016, and prays for foreclosure of Plaintiffs mortgage in favor of the Plaintiff on the property described in this notice and judgment for the unpaid principal amount of $85,951.35, with 4.5% per annum interest thereon from May 1, 2014, together with late charges, advances and the costs of the action including (but not limited to) title costs and reasonable attorney's fees, as well as a request that said sums be declared a lien upon the following described premises from September 1, 2005, located in Muscatine county, Iowa: The Easterly 25 feet of Lot 9, in Block 126, in the City of Muscatine, Muscatine County, Iowa, commonly known as 510 West 7th Street, Muscatine, IA 52761 (the "Property") The petition further prays that the mortgage on the above described real estate be foreclosed, that a special execution issue for the sale of as much of the mortgaged premises as is necessary to satisfy the judgment and for other relief as the Court deems just and equitable. For further details, please review the petition on file in the clerk's office. The Plaintiffs attorney is Halley Ryherd, of SouthLaw, P.C.; whose address is 1401 50th Street, Suite 100, West Des Moines, IA 50266. NOTICE THE PLAINTIFF HAS ELECTED FORECLOSURE WITHOUT REDEMPTION. THIS MEANS THAT THE SALE OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY WILL OCCUR PROMPTLY AFTER ENTRY OF JUDGMENT UNLESS YOU FILE WITH THE COURT A WRITTEN DEMAND TO DELAY THE SALE. IF YOU FILE A WRITTEN DEMAND, THE SALE WILL BE DELAYED UNTIL TWELVE MONTHS (OR SIX MONTHS IF THE PETITION INCLUDES A WAIVER OF DEFICIENCY JUDGMENT) FROM THE ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS YOUR RESIDENCE AND IS A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING OR UNTIL TWO MONTHS FROM ENTRY OF JUDGMENT IF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY IS NOT YOUR RESIDENCE OR IS YOUR RESIDENCE BUT NOT A ONE-FAMILY OR TWO-FAMILY DWELLING. YOU WILL HAVE NO RIGHT OF REDEMPTION AFTER THE SALE. THE PURCHASER AT THE SALE WILL BE ENTITLED TO IMMEDIATE POSSESSION OF THE MORTGAGED PROPERTY. YOU MAY PURCHASE AT THE SALE. You must serve a motion or answer on or before 4th day of May, 2016, and within a reasonable time thereafter file your motion or answer with the Clerk of Court for Muscatine County, at the county courthouse in Muscatine, Iowa. If you do not, judgment by default may be rendered against you for the relief demanded in the petition. If you require the assistance of auxiliary aids or services to participate in a court action because of a disability, immediately call your District ADA Coordinator at 563-326-8783. If you are hearing impaired, call Relay Iowa TTY at 1-800-735-2942. By:Jeff Tollenaer CLERK OF THE ABOVE COURT Muscatine County Courthouse 401 East 3rd Street, Muscatine, IA 52761 IMPORTANT: YOU ARE ADVISED TO SEEK LEGAL ADVICE AT ONCE TO PROTECT YOUR INTERESTS. Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes [] Netflix is close to finalizing an agreement with the Film and Publication Board (FPB) which will see it pay a R795,000 licensing fee to operate in South Africa. This is according to Fin24, which quoted the FPBs COO Sipho Risiba. Risiba said previous reports that the FPB had given Netflix a 2-week ultimatum to comply with local regulations regarding classifications were accurate. This is contrary to what the FPB told MyBroadband. The FPB previously said it had not given Netflix an ultimatum of any kind, or threatened sanctions. It said it was in discussions with Netflix over the classification of its content, but said the dialogue has been amicable. Risiba has now stated, according to the report, that Netflix and the FPB are close to sealing an agreement. The FPBs classification system allows online distributors like Netflix to self-classify content using FPB guidelines. The FPB has also given Netflix the option to have its staff trained by South Africa on the countrys classifications standards, according to the report. More on Netflix How many Oscar-winning movies are on Netflix Best movies and series on Netflix South Africa The Film and Publication Board (FPB) has warned Netflix it will approach the courts for an interdict to block it from operating in South Africa if the streaming service does not comply with South African content classification laws. This is after the regulator gave Netflix 14 days to comply with the classification laws, said the FPB. The FPB told MyBroadband in March that it had not given an ultimatum or threatened sanctions of any kind against Netflix. It has since backtracked, stating that it sent Netflix a compliance notice around mid-March that gave it two weeks to comply with the Film and Publications Act. In the notice we also indicated that failure by Netflix will result in the FPB approaching a court of law for an interdict or to block Netflix from operating in the country until such time that it shall have complied, said the FPB. When Netflix did not comply within the 14-day period, the FPB gave a law firm instruction to institute legal proceedings. The matter in now being handled by our external attorneys and yesterday we received correspondence from our lawyers that Netflix has since indicated that they are willing to comply and request that we allow this process of contract negotiation to be finalised. Netflix has confirmed it is in discussions with the FPB. We are in communication with the FPB and comply with all applicable laws, said Netflix. FPBs R795,000 licence fee must be resisted: legal expert It is understood that the FPB wants Netflix to either: Register with the FPB as a distributor or exhibitor of films for R1,121 and display the FPBs ratings on the video content in its South African catalogue. It will have to pay to get content classified that isnt yet rated by the FPB. Pay the FPB a R795,000 licence fee for the freedom to classify its own content. Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions telecommunications lawyer and regulatory expert Dominic Cull previously said that any attempt by the FPB to levy the R795,000 fee must be resisted. Cull said the FPB was acting extra legally exceeding the powers conferred on it by the Film and Publications Act in asking for a licence fee to act as an online content distributor, as opposed to any other distributor. More on Netflix and the FPB Netflix close to paying R795,000 to the FPB Netflix dont pay R795,000 to the FPB We have not threatened Netflix with sanctions: FPB A court case questioning the legality of the Department of Energys (DoE) 9.6GW nuclear procurement programme has caused the department to delay gazetting the request for proposals (RFPs), the Democratic Alliance (DA) said. However, the DoE said it plans to gazette the RFPs early in this financial year, after missing a deadline it set to finalise the process by 31 March. There is a consultation process with key stakeholders that the DoE has undertaken before issuing the RFPs, the DoE told Fin24 in a statement on Tuesday. This consultation process has not yet been concluded and the DoE will issue the RFP as soon as the process is concluded early in this financial year. However, no new deadline had been issued on when the RFPs would be gazetted, Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson told Parliament on Wednesday, according to DA MP Gordon Mackay. Mackay said it appeared Joemat-Pettersson is now taking a cautious approach on the nuclear procurement programme, following court action by two environmental organisations questioning the legality of the process. In its legal proceedings against the DoE, Earthlife Africa (ELA) and the Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (Safcei) said on March 31 that they received documentation indicating that a binding deal had been signed between South Africa and Russias nuclear company Rosatom. They said the Russian agreement was entered into unlawfully, but makes (an) internationally binding commitment to buy a fleet of nuclear reactors from Russia. From the state law advisers explanatory memorandum that was prepared in November 2013 but only revealed recently to Safcei/ELA, it is evident that the Russian agreement is to build reactors and an enrichment plant, the group said. They said other subsequent agreements would cover the details of how it is to be financed, not if it would go ahead. Minister demonstrating caution DA Mackay said Joemat-Pettersson told the Portfolio Committee on Energy that she was waiting for advice from the IPP (independent power producer) Office before proceeding with the release of the RFPs.The minister is demonstrating caution, which should be welcomed, he told Fin24. She should not proceed until the court case is clear. If they release the RFPs, it will impact on work of the Portfolio Committee on Energy and Parliaments oversight role and it will impact on the legality of the procurement programme, leaving the DoE and her (the minister) open to legal challenge. Gordon, who heads up the DAs energy portfolio, said it was a victory for the opposition party and civil society, who he said caused the minister to be cautious. RFPs will be gazetted soon nuclear industry However, a senior member of the nuclear industry, who wished to remain anonymous, told Fin24 on Wednesday that there should be no major delays gazetting the RFPs and said the process should be concluded within four weeks. Additionally, Dr Kelvin Kemm, chairperson of the National Energy Corporation, told Fin24 on Wednesday that while the intention was to get the RFPs done by the end of March, some internal deadlines had been missed. I am still optimistic that it will be imminent, he said. There is no reason for it to be delayed. The RFP gazette will take the nuclear programme one step close to reaching fruition. Economists and rating agencies have warned that the programmes high up-front costs and liabilities will have a detrimental impact on the economic stability of the country. President Jacob Zuma and Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan made it clear this year that the programme will only progress at a scale and pace the country can afford. DA opposed to nuclear deal In a statement on Wednesday, Gordon said the DA has staunchly opposed the nuke deal since it was first revealed that the South African government, under the direct leadership of President Zuma, had signed an agreement with the Russian state-owned nuclear corporation, Rosatom. This agreement was entered into without the correct process being followed and raised serious questions relating to potential corruption given the personal involvement of the president. Further questions were raised after the purchase of Shiva Uranium by the Guptas, suggesting that the nuclear deal is a project of state capture for the personal benefit of a connected few and opens the door for corruption of the highest order. The procurement process is now in limbo, he said. Fin24 More energy news South Africas first hydrogen fuel cell forklift prototype Outa not done with Eskom over price hikes Shanghai police on Tuesday released a list of 36 citizens who have been banned from driving for life. This is the first time the local police have publicly shamed the drivers by publishing a list of those who have had their licenses revoked amid a crackdown on unruly driving. Details such as names and driving license numbers were made public, after the police consulted with Shanghai's local courts. The Police however, did not elaborate on the cases related to these drivers, but said only that some involved fatalities. It's understood the traffic violations also included drunk-driving and hit-and-run cases. Of the 36 drivers who were handed lifetime bans, 21 had been issued their driving licenses in Shanghai. The Police say that even if the banned drivers manage to get a driving license abroad, they would still not be allowed to drive in China again. No sooner had she tied the knot to the man of her dreams than a section of social media users labelled her a gold digger. But she is not going down without a fight! The newlywed wife of Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore, Wambui Kamiru has taken time off her honeymoon to address her critics in a lengthy letter addressed to her children. In the letter, she seeks to clarify what her children will read from the internet about their mother stating that her marriage to the man she loves and respects was widely discussed on social media. To my dear children, You will have stumbled on this page as a teenager. In your exploration of who your mother is, you have come across some things that are true and some things that are not. The internet does not forget and one day one of your classmates will say something about something they read on the internet. When you next see me, please dont be afraid to ask me about these things. Mrs Collymore wrote. She adds: Probably, a key moment you will read about, will be when your mother married a man that she loves and respects. There was celebration, lots of people who knew us wished us well. And some who didnt even know us, also wished us well. There were jokes and we laughed at them. My marriage to the man that I love and respect had some interesting effects on the conversations on Twitter and Facebook (these may be obsolete by the time you are reading this). However, for a few days there, lots of Kenyans talked about tribalism and some admitted their desire to leave and go to another country because of how unbearable it can sometimes be to live in a society where people first judge you by your tribal origin. A lot of people refused to be part of the conversation, arguing that it should no longer matter. These people are the reason why we will still have a country to call home. She went on to hope that by the time her children read her post, things will have changed in the country and that her son will not care to ask the tribe of a lady before asking her to marry him. I pray that by the time you read this, we Kenyans will have talked so much about this and done so much about it, that you wont have to first ask, What tribe is she? Because it wont matter anymore. Because by that time, we will see each other as Kenyans whether we are of European Origin, Somali Origin, Asian Origin, Kikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Taita, etc. And beyond that, we wont even be fighting each other on the basis of religious background, she wrote. She addressed the gold digging claims saying: In the conversations, people also talked about whether I was a gold-digger and if at all I had become more successful after I married this man that I love and respect. To you my daughters, your husband is not your value. If you make him your value, then you make yourself of less value. You should only add value not seek value from a man, but you can only add value if you are of value. The newlywed couple tied the knot in an invite-only affair held at a private residence in Kitisuru with only family and close friends in attendance. I am convinced that this country grows some of the most potent marijuana strains in the world because Kenyans just come up with some really crazy ideas. Less than a week ago, Nairobi National Park lions were the talk of the town. Unfortunately, we lost two lions and one that pained most Kenyans was the brutal killing of Mohawk. On a lighter note though, some Kenyan on social media has cracked peoples ribs with the latest sighting of an escaped lion. Apparently it was spotted in Ruai and has been tamed. Check this madness out: Just weeks after top Nigerian producer Sucksybeat set up base in Kileleshwa, Nairobi, he has already hit the ground running. Khaligraph Jones joins the list of artists set to work with him. The talented producer and song writer met the rapper and his team to finalize a few details about a collabo with a top Nigerian female artist, whose name remains secret for now. Suckysbeat however promises its going to huge and will trend in Africa and beyond. Here are some pictures from the meeting. Like I always ask, where did we go wrong as Kenyans to deserve some of the things our so called leaders put us through. Over the weekend, Bomet East Member of Parliament Benard Bett was making news in his constituency for opening a classroom. Yeah, one classroom! Worse still, the classroom is reported to have set back the constituency Ksh 1.4 million to put up. Worser still, the MP was accompanied by the MP of Buuri, Kinoti Gatobu, the youngest member of Kenyas 11th Parliament, who also took part in the ribbon cutting ceremony. From photos shared on social media showing the pompous occasion, questions have been raised about the actual cost of the classroom which already looks old. Here are the photos This comes days after Bomets Ksh 7 Million Fire Engines were discovered to be car wash pumps. Mungu atusaidie. A meme has also been trending showing the difference between Machakos County governor and Bomet County governor. Apparently, controversial University of Nairobi student leader Paul Ongili Owino commonly known as Babu Owino earns a meagre Ksh 6,000 per month. The controversial student revealed his salary in an interview with Standard Digital. He also spoke about his controversial re-election, alleged dirty dance in public and his relationship with Uhuru Kenyattas personal assistant Jomo Gecaga. I earn Sh6,000 per month some allowances here and there. I ran for this position purely because of my hunger to serve comrades. I ensure that Sonu money is used in bursaries for needy students and in our Secretariat and Parliament which is bigger than the National Assembly, He was quoted. On his relationship with Jomo Gecaga, he said: Jomo is my personal friend. I have known him for the last seven years. He is also my business partner and we attend the same church, besides doing many other things together. And since I dont ask people when they meet their friends, I wonder why someone should worry when I meet mine. He also confirmed that controversial businessman Paul Kobia contributed KSh 2 million towards his latest campaign that saw him win a controversial election which has resulted to riots in the university and indefinite closure. The leader has also said that he has his eye on a political seat beyond student politics. He will be vying for the Embakasi parliamentary seat in 2017, then governorship in 2022 and the presidency in 2027. I will be vying for a parliamentary seat in 2017, then governorship in 2022 and the presidency in 2027. I am based and have interests in Nairobi, so the first two seats I will contest will be in Nairobi. I am however a nationalist and thats why I believe that one day, I will be the president of Kenya. He said. Additional Reporting by Standard Digital The single-story brick building at 1209 North Orange St. in downtown Wilmington, Del., looks bland and innocuous. But the building, home to the Corporation Trust Company, has an intriguing claim to fame. In the last few years, it has served as the registered address for more than 250,000 businesses, giving companies around the world access to Delawares business-friendly laws. During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama criticized Caribbean tax havens. He mentioned one building in the Cayman Islands that is the registered home of more than 12,000 U.S.-based corporations, saying, Thats either the biggest building in the world or the biggest tax scam on record. But as the example of 1209 North Orange St. demonstrates, the same activity is going on in President Obamas backyard. A massive leak of confidential documents from Mossack Fonseca, a law firm in Panama that helped wealthy clients set up anonymous companies in tax havens, is highlighting how the global offshore industry secretly invests massive amounts of wealth around the globe. The 11 million leaked documents cover 40 years of the law firms operations and allegedly touch on the financial dealings of 12 current or former heads of state, as well as 60 more people linked to world leaders. The documents, allege connections among offshore accounts set up by Mossack Fonseca and money laundering, bribery and tax evasion, among other charges, according to The Guardian, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and other publications that accessed the documents. Mossack Fonseca largely helped its clients set up offshore accounts in the kind of tropical locations that people typically think of as tax havensthe British Virgin Islands, Panama, the Bahamas and the Seychellescountries that do play a big role in shuttling the wealth of the worlds richest people around the globe. But one of the least recognized facts about the global offshore industry is that much of it is not offshore. Indeed, some critics of the offshore industry say the U.S. is now becoming one of the worlds largest offshore financial destinations. We often say that the U.S. is one of the easiest places to set up so-called anonymous shell companies, says Mark Hays, a senior advisor with Global Witness, a non-governmental organization that advocates for financial transparency. Offshore isnt so much a destination anymore as a set of capabilities, which include ensuring secrecy, minimizing taxes, managing assets, and providing clients security and access to their wealth from anywhere in the world, James Henry, a senior adviser to the Tax Justice Network and former chief economist of McKinsey & Co, wrote in a 2012 report. The Tax Justice Network ranks the U.S. third in terms of the secrecy and scale of its offshore industry, behind Switzerland and Hong Kong but ahead of the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg. A 2012 study in which researchers sent more than 7,400 email solicitations to more than 3,700 corporate service providers the kind of companies that typically register shell companies, such as the Corporation Trust Company at 1209 North Orange St. found that the U.S. had the laxest regulations for setting up a shell company anywhere in the world outside of Kenya. The researchers impersonated both low- and high-risk customers, including potential money launderers, terrorist financiers and corrupt officials. Notorious tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Jersey and the Bahamas were far less permissive in offering the researchers shell companies than states such as Nevada, Delaware, Montana, South Dakota, Wyoming and New York, the researchers found. Part of the reason that the U.S. looks so attractive as a tax and secrecy haven is that the country has not signed on to new global disclosure standards that are forcing anonymous companies to reveal their real owners around the world. Compared with other developed countries, and even traditional offshore destinations such as Switzerland and the British Virgin Islands, the U.S. now appears to be among the most lenient and secure destinations for the fortunes of the global rich. Since the late 1990s, the onshore-offshore market in the U.S. has blossomed, as states have competed with each other to provide inexpensive limited liability corporations and asset protection trusts with levels of secrecy and tax advantages similar to those of traditional offshore havens, writes Henry of the Tax Justice Network. In many American states, people registering shell companies do not need to show a form of identification, like a drivers license or passport, and corporate service providers arent required to verify the identity of the person who owns the company, called the beneficial owner, or know what the company is for. The beneficial owner may be asked to give their name, address and phone number, but for an additional fee, the corporate service provider can provide a nominee to take their place as the public face of the company -- a person who controls the company in name but not in reality, disguising the beneficial owners identity. In some places [in the U.S.], its easier to incorporate a company than it is to get a library card, Joseph Spanjers of Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy organization that wants to curtail illicit financial flows, said in an interview earlier this year. Theres nothing inherently wrong with shell companies, which are inactive companies without assets or operations. Sometimes shell companies are used for legitimate purposes, such as when companies use them to temporarily conceal the development of a new product until its release, or make an investment in a new technology without alerting competitors. Anonymous companies also help protect the privacy of wealthy individuals, including hiding personal wealth to diminish the risk of kidnapping. Too often, however, shell companies are used as a vehicle for criminal activity -- disguising wealth from tax authorities, financing terrorism, concealing fraudulent schemes, or laundering funds from corruption or the trafficking in drugs, people and arms. A report published by Global Witness in 2014 detailed some of the nefarious purposes shell companies have been used for in the U.S., including setting up sham companies that tricked elderly people into investing in worthless business schemes, laundering millions of dollars from Mexican drug cartels, accepting political bribes, and circumventing U.S. sanctions against Iran. Critics of the industry say that those worried about these practices must be concerned about anonymous companies, which are instrumental in funding and concealing them from law enforcement investigations. In the secretive offshore industry, estimates for how much money is invested through shell companies registered in the U.S. are hard to come by. But anecdotes suggest that this laxity of regulation has led to the creation of many anonymous companies in the U.S. that could be used for nefarious purposes. U.S. firms are legally prohibited from knowingly helping customers to avoid taxes, but they can offer them privacy and secrecy, and ask very few questions. Reporting by Bloomberg detailed how lawyers, trust companies and financial firms including Rothschild are moving offshore accounts from locations such as Switzerland and Grand Cayman Islands into the U.S. to take advantage of the countrys relative lax regulations. Nearly half of residential properties purchases of over $5 million made in the U.S. in the last few years were carried out by anonymous shell companies, data analyzed by the New York Times has shown. These trends are in part the result of changing global regulations since the financial crisis, which are making the U.S. look even more appealing as a financial destination. Since the financial crisis, developed countries have led a crackdown on global tax havens, as a way to recover revenue and mitigate skyrocketing inequality. In 2010, the United States implemented legislation called the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, or FATCA, in hopes of catching American tax cheats. The law required financial firms around the world to report accounts held by U.S. citizens to the Internal Revenue Service - or else face being frozen out of the U.S. financial system. In response, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a group of 34 advanced countries, drew up its own tough tax disclosure requirements, called Common Reporting Standards, and asked roughly 100 countries and jurisdictions around the world to approve them. Only a handful of countries have refused, including Bahrain, Vanuatu and the United States. The United States argues that since its program is similar to Europes, it doesnt need to join it - instead, the United States plans to sign bilateral agreements with other countries. But in the interim, the United States is not providing European countries with the kind of data it is requesting from them -- creating an incentive for financial firms to move their business to the United States. The result is, basically, a disaster, says the Tax Justice Network, a research and advocacy group. Washingtons independent-minded approach risks tearing a giant hole in international efforts to crack down on tax evasion, money laundering and financial crime, the group says in a report on the U.S. European countries are passing other regulations to lift the veil on the kind of secrecy shell companies create. The U.K. has created a public registry for companies, which allows anyone to freely look up the beneficial owners of all British companies. Meanwhile, the EU has passed a sweeping anti-monetary directive, under which countries are setting up company registries that will be available to law enforcement, as well as the public and the media by special request. In the U.S., Global Witness and other groups are pushing for similar legislation. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Peter King, R-N.Y., and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., have introducing a bill calling for all shell companies registered in the U.S. to report their real owner, called a beneficial owner. But the bill has faced resistance from Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming and other states through an organization called the National Association of Secretaries of State, who worry about the loss of tax revenues and the burden of regulation. So far, the documents from Mossack Fonseca have not implicated American politicians or other wealthy people, according to Fusion, which reviewed the leaked material. Those names may yet emerge, though, in an interview with Fusion, Henry of the Tax Justice Network suggests that there is a reason for their absence. The U.S. has an onshore haven industry that is as secretive as anywhere, Henry said. [Americans] discovered that they really dont need to go to Panama. With Donald Trumps montage of misogyny, as detailed by the New York Times, getting messier and more misogynistic each moment, and with Bernie Sanders support among many progressive Democrats continuing to grow, there is one, and only one, perfect candidate for Hillary Clinton to select right now, as her running mate: Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The reasons for this truly revolutionary, all-female ticket for president and vice-president of the United States may not, at first look, be obvious. For weeks, as Ive been floating the idea among friends and colleagues inside and out of politics, the standard retort has been that this country would never elect two women to the two highest offices in the land; that a national ticket needs to be demographically balanced; and, in a year when the Latino vote has been highlighted, that Clintons running mate must be Latino. In fact, until the beginning of this year, I was a prisoner of that old way of thinking as well, favoring a ticket of Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Julian Castro of Texas. Three major developments over the past three months have changed that and pointed the way to the future. First, a seminal early January interview on Decider a media industry website with NBC Universals executive vice president of digital, Evan Shapiro, framed the issue in a way few, if any, politicians or pundits were looking at it. Heres what Shapiro, the smartest human being on the planet when it comes to understanding all media and its applicability, had to say: Television consumption defies demographics in ways that were the norm 25 years ago. I binge-watched Jessica Jones over Thanksgiving weekend with my wife and two daughters, ages 17 and 20. What is that demographic? Thats really a psychographic around a certain niche. Its more about psychology than demography. The thing to understand about Shapiro, who now heads NBCs comedy platform SeeSo and also guided the IFC network, Sundance and Participant TV before coming to NBC Universal, is that he just doesnt pull this stuff out of his very good brain, the way Donald Trump makes up foreign policy. Shapiro is to media research what Nate Silver is to political data: he is the guru. When he first arrived at NBC, Shapiro embarked upon a massive research project, interviewing 11,000 people about their on-line viewing habits. He currently has nine more media platforms in development for NBC, and every decision is based upon meticulous research and analysis. So when Shapiro says Its more about psychology than demography, everyone would be wise to listen. The implication for mediaand for societyis positively McCluhan-esque. Secondly, while Trump, trained in Reality TV, showed early signs of instinctively acting upon the Shapiro Shift away from demographics to psychographics, he has been acting like a contestant on Survivor over the past several weeks, eating his own skin especially regarding his life-long Achilles High-Heel: women. From his insults to Carly Fiorina, Megyn Kelly and Hillary Clinton, to his adolescent spitballing of Heidi Cruz, to his bare suggestion of some form of punishment for women having an abortion, Trump has single-handedly put womens rights and gender quality at the epicenter of the 2016 presidential campaign. Trumps terrible tactics clearly not the product of a very good brain, or heart, for that matter have worsened the already large advantage Democrats hold with female voters. In 2012, Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney 55-44 percent among women, sealing his re-election. As of this month, in separate polls conducted by both NBC and the New York Times, the GOP front-runner has a 70 percent negative rating among all women Republicans and Democrats. If the election were held today, Clinton clobbers Trump, 58 to 31 percent among ALL women, a towering 27-point advantage. In short, Trump has wiped out any political demographic concerning women, and created his own psychotic psychographic: the crazier he gets, and makes the GOP look, the better the Democrats do with all women, especially crucial suburban women. Finally, the more successful Sanders is, the more delegates he amasses and the more state primaries or caucuses he wins, the more likely it becomes that the Democratic Party will need to be reunited across ideologicalor psychographiclines, rather than along traditional demographic lines. There is only one person who can do that and double down on the tectonic gender chasm between both parties: Warren. Clintons selection of Warren would represent the triumph of psychographics as an astuteand research testedpolitical strategy. It would bring about the revolution Sanders and his surrogates have been advocating, since few things could be more revolutionary in the United States than the first all-female national ticket in history. And, Warren, whose Warren Wing of the Democratic Party made it possible for Sanders to find fertile ground in a party he wasnt a member of until last year, gives Sanders supportersincluding Susan Sarandona place their psyches and their votes can comfortably call home. No one knows more about taking on Wall Street than Warren. And, just for fun, think of how Trump, Cruz or any other representative of a misogynist movement masquerading as a political party for the last half-century, would flail and fail in the face of two of the most intelligent, articulate female public figures in history, Clinton and Warren. The Clinton/Warren revolution has arrived, and it will be televisedpsychographically, of course. Villano is a Napa-based blogger. He wrote this for his blog, Radical Correspondence. When Doug Barr found a textbook in the basement of the home he had just bought, little did he know it would turn his life around. In 1996 or 1997 Barr and his family moved to the Napa Valley in search of a good school system for their son. They bought a house on Spring Mountain Road from probate, and the book Barr found had been written by the homes former owner, UC Davis professor Maynard Amerine. He had dinners in our basement with Julia Child, he wrote a book with M.F.K. Fisher, Craig Claiborne was a friend. Unfortunately, I never got to meet him, but he was a great storyteller and a great chef, Barr said recently. Barrs second label, the 2013 Short Ends, a cabernet sauvignon blend made from Napa Valley fruit, was being poured at an informal gathering at the White Barn on Sulphur Springs Avenue. Barr and a college friend, Bruce Orosz, started Hollywood and Vine Cellars in 1998. But, thats getting ahead of the story. Amerine (1911-1998) was one of the pioneers in the wine industry and helped found the universitys Department of Viticulture and Enology when he joined in 1935, after the repeal of Prohibition. The book Barr found could easily have been Amerines Wine: An Introduction for Americans, published in 1965 with Vernon L. Singleton. Or, it could have been any of the other nearly 400 items that he published during his 86 years. Anyway, Barr read the book, became interested in making wine and began way back in 1998, as he says. We couldnt put his name (Amerine) on the bottle, but in homage to him, we put the address 2480 on the bottle, Barr said. The large red numbers are stacked vertically and take up the entire bottle. In those years, now nearly a decade later, Barr said he asked John Williams, owner of Napa Valleys Frogs Leap Winery, for advice. It was: Get the best grapes you can find, get the best oak barrels and get the best winemaker. Barr said finding the best oak barrels was easy, as was hiring the best winemaker Celia Welch whom he calls the best winemaker in the valley. I think shes fabulous, shes amazing. And he adds, she is still with us. As for obtaining the best grapes in the Napa Valley, Williams told Barr to go to the vineyards that are selling their grapes for the best wines that are being made. It seemed simple enough, but Barr wasnt convinced, until he was told to exploit his then 6-year-old son. Barr recalls the conversation: Youre going to meet every farmer in the valley because your son will be in the Little League, in Cub Scouts, and you and your wife will be in the PTA. And, when you meet the farmers, Williams told Barr, youll say, Im just making a couple hundred cases, would you spill off a little bit of fruit and let me get started? Barr adds, It was that easy and it was that fast. On the Hollywood and Vine website for sale is the current vintage, 2012 flagship cabernet sauvignon, library vintages from 2002 to 2011, his 2014 chardonnay, also called 2480, and the 2012 and 2013 vintages of Short Ends, made primarily of cabernet, merlot, petite verdot and cabernet franc from vineyards in Oakville, Rutherford and Carneros. The 2014 Short Ends will replace the 2013 vintage and will be on the market soon. The first vintage of the flagship cabernet sauvignon, 2840, was released in 1998. We do a little bit of chardonnay, we do a little bit of cabernet, were in 30 states, Barr said, but, we found in the economic downturn, wed have too much fruit. Its 100 percent cab and were looking for certain flavors (for the flagship wine, 2480). Inevitably, wed have a little too much and we used to sell it as bulk. Theres no profit in that, in fact, its a definite loss, so we put it in a bottle and called it Short Ends, he said. First, to know how the wine got its name, one has to know that Barr is an actor, screenwriter and director. In the 1980s, he was on hundreds of hours of shows made for television, including with Lee Majors on The Fall Guy for five years and on Designing Women for several years. He stopped acting in the early 1990s and starting writing screenplays and directing them. My niche is making movies that are made for television, he said. He said he has done lots of them for all the major networks, NBC, ABC and CBS. Second, when a director is shooting movies with 35mm film, the cameras magazine holds 15 minutes of film. Theres a little window on that magazine that shows you how many feet of film are left, Barr said, and the script supervisor translates that to minutes. And, if youve got a three-minute take and youve only got one minute of film, and you run out of film in the middle of a great take, the actors will kill you. The magazine with one minute of film left is taken off the camera and marked with red gaffers tape that says short ends. He adds, And its the short end of the reel and you sell it to film students who dont mind saying cut every two seconds because thats all they can afford. The wine, then, is leftover cabernet sauvignon from our big cab, Barr said. And its great stuff. The bottle also has big red stripes, as if it were marked with gaffers tape. In the end, Barr said he enjoys his life. The wine business is the fun business. The movie business pays for the wine business and thats what weve been doing for years. The wines are available at Sunshine, Dean & DeLuca and Acme Fine Wines, all in St. Helena, as well as at www.hollywoodandvinewine.com. WillieNelson.com/Photo By Lana Nelson When Washington and Colorado legalized marijuana I figured Willie Nelson would have been investing in property in both states. Turns out he hasn't even been to Colorado since the state legalized pot back in 2013. Willie recently did an interview with Celeb Stoner and told the website that he's been asked to do a PSA about marijuana by the state's governor, but hasn't actually been to the state since they legalized one of his favorite past times. He also reveals that his daughter Paula, who was arrested for possession of marijuana back in April in Texas, (you remember, the one where she took the best arrest picture ever), has been dismissed. (Photo by Kevin Lance) "They dismissed that. The judge threw that out and took it off the record. She's fine," he says. Willie also revealed that he's planning on releasing a new album called December Day in the next few months despite having just released "Band of Brothers." "It's just with my band and my sister Bobbie. It's mostly me and sister with a little harmonica and a little bass in there. We're doing nine songs that I wrote and a couple of Irving Berlin songs "Alexander's Ragtime Band" and "What'll I Do." It's coming out sometimes before the holidays, maybe October." That Willie will never slow down. Check out his full interview over on Celeb Stoner. Big Machine Label Group artist Steven Tyler has been out performing solo shows, promoting his new country music across North America. While watchful eyes are keeping close tabs on Tylers country career, it was what he did behind-the-scenes at a recent Niagara Falls stop that has people talking. Tyler fan, Anthony Yorfido of Welland, Ontario, Canada, is a twenty-three year-old with Downs Syndrome. While on a routine visit to a medical supply store with his mother, Diane, last week, Yorfido saw a limo pull up. Yorfido knew Tyler would be in town because he had wanted to see his show, but was unable to get a ticket, so he had no doubt that the man with the ponytail who emerged from the limo was the iconic artist. I saw a big, big limo, Yorfido told CTV News. When I walked in, I saw the ponytail and I said, Oh my god, thats Steven Tyler. I went crazy. I just (stood) there for a second and I said, Steven Tyler? He turned around, came to see me and gave me a big hug. Yorfido then let Tyler know he wanted to be at his show and he was upset about not getting a ticket. Tyler, without skipping a beat, let the young man know he would make it happen. Tyler didnt stop with a show ticket for his new friend. He also hooked him up with backstage passes and brought him on stage to play maracas for the Aerosmith song Sweet Emotion. The crowd went nuts the people went crazy for me, said Yorfido. Watch Anthony Yorfido on stage with Steven Tyler: Now What? is the debut album, following the successful EP released back in 2012, for Trio Manouche, the UKs most original and leading Gypsy swing band, and this debut will be launched, most suitably, at the UKs home of Gypsy swing and mecca to, Le QuecumBar in Battersea London, on Sunday 22nd May 2016.Simon Harris, band leader, said its a fitting choice to launch our debut album, Now What? at Le Q, as weve enjoyed a long standing relationship with the venue dedicated to Gypsy swing, and of course the Trios guitarist, Ducato Piotrowski is a Patron of the venue. Trio Manouche are looking forward to welcoming fans of the band, as well as industry VIPs to this event in May." On the album, Harris goes on to say Weve worked hard to produce an album which features lots of the bands original material, Django style, as well as a couple of classics from the masters era! Its an exciting piece of work, and isnt the title just about right, now what?!"Trio Manouche are probably the UKs best-loved Gypsy swing ensemble, playing music its impossible not to love with infectious energy, virtuosity and joy. Established back in 2006, their music brings together the core repertoire of Gypsy guitar legend Django Reinhardt with the bands own foot-tapping arrangements of traditional swing greats such as, and bandleader Simon Harriss highly acclaimed original material.They are residents at many of Londons top live music venues and have performed for some of the worlds most glamorous private parties and events. Celebrities, reviewers, industry press and private clients have lined up to shower them with praise, with Sting, Rory Bremner, KT Tunstall, Rosamund Pike, Guy Ritchie, and the late great Jack Massarik numbering among their fans and clients.Trio Manouche are: Londons cheeky chappy from the swing jazz and cabaret scene, SIMON HARRIS; hailing originally from Poland but now the UKs foremost sought-after Rom Gypsy guitarist, DUCATO PIOTROWSKI, and emerging as Europes most wanted bassist, MARK LEWANDOWSKI. On Sunday, April 24th, 2016, two eclectic ensembles influenced by music from around the world will perform together at DROM (NYC), taking their audience on a musical journey from the far east to the middle east. The J-MUSIC Ensemble will open the night's program (at 8:00 pm) with their acclaimed jazz arrangements of J-Pop, including generational favorites from legendary video games, Anime, Perfume, and many more. They will be followed (9:15) by world/fusion ensemble Klazz-Ma- Tazz and their jazz and klezmer inspired modern takes on traditional Balkan and Middle Eastern music, including selections from their debut album, Tangibility, as well as new original works. Doors open at 7:00pm.This concert is the second in a series of two shared performances by J-MUSIC Ensemble and Klazz-Ma-Tazz that will open Friday, April 15th, at Silvana (300 West 116th Street, NYC, from 8:00 to 10:00). These artists have come together to perform in the belief that people from around the world can grow in their understanding of one another by sharing in each others' cultural and artistic traditions. The confluence of the popular music of Japan and the folk traditions of the Balkans and the Middle East will offer the first of many opportunities for New York audiences to explore these varied and rich musical traditions in a city that is the epi-center of the contemporary confluence of world cultures.DROM is located at 85, Avenue A, 10009 in New York Citys East Village. Subway: F train to 2nd ave, 6 train to Astor Place and R train to 8th St-NYUFor reservations, call (212) 777-1157.Doors open: 7:00 pm. J-MUSIC: 8:00 pm. Klazz-Ma-Tazz: 9:15pm. $10.00 advance tickets, $15.00 at door.Formed by saxophonist Patrick Bartley while attending the Manhattan School of Music, the J-MUSIC Ensemble initially was spawned as a vehicle to express a mutual interest in anime and video game soundtracksmany of which never get a proper spotlight. This music is fused with the spontaneity and soulfulness of jazz improvisation to deliver a fresh and engaging listening experience, without distracting from the intent and message of the original songs. The band has since expanded its repertoire to include music from all facets of modern Japanese culture, and has done covers of artists such as Perfume, Utada Hikaru, Yoko Kanno, PUFFY, and School Food Punishment. For more information, visit J- MUSIC online Founded in 2014 by violinist and composer, Klazz-Ma-Tazz is a band with a vision to transcend boundaries of labels in music and people. Their music, rooted in the jazz idiom strives to include genuine influence from a multitude of folk music from around the world based on the various ethnic background of each band member including Klezmer and Balkan Folk music, Indian Classical Music, Native American Tribal Dances, English Folk Music and more, finding common musical and cultural identities from which these various forms are derived. Klazz-Ma-Tazz released their debut album, Tangibility, in September, 2015 on OneTrickDog* Records. The album has since received airplay on radio stations across the US and from Philadelphia to Hawaii, doubling the bands global fan base. Tangibility was launched with sold out sets at Greenwich Village's cultural haven, The Cornelia Street Cafe to rave reviews by Fred Stal of RG Magazine, who described the music: Wild, yet reserved, the music of Klazz-Ma-Tazz will surprise you, excite you and calm you, all in one sitting. For more information, visit Klazz-Ma-Tazz online OneTrickDog* is a small independent record label, specializing in jazz, jazz fusion, and occasional blues. The members are a loose collective of recording artists, graphic designers, sound engineers and composers. The label is affiliated with Avidon Audio Labs (which has tracked, mixed and mastered numerous jazz, classical and blues albums, and film sound tracks). Several of the members work as a production team, doing original screenplays, videography and sound work. In 2014, OneTrickDog* released three new albums (Crosstalk by Andres Boiarsky, Second Row Behind the Painter by Roy Assaf Trio, and Interloper by Jonathan Parker). In the summer of 2015, they released Tangibility by Klazz-Ma-Tazz, and recently released Loving Losing, by People vs. Larsen. They look forward to the release of When I Was A Child, by trumpeter Wayne Tucker. In 2016, they plan to release a series featuring established jazz artists with up and coming artists. Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson hold talks Biden slammed for 'scary' long pause during interview Elite US troops conducting exercises on Ukraine border Iran MP: Military exercises on Azerbaijan border are decisive response to Israel Xi Jinping elected Communist Party of China Central Committee general secretary Armenia envoy presents credentials to Bosnia and Herzegovina Presidency chair Hungary to approve by years end Sweden, Finland petitions to join NATO US researchers debunk main theory for origin of life Iranian MP: Iran will conduct military exercises wherever it deems necessary Finnish delegation to visit Ankara to discuss NATO membership Social media giants are likely to oppose Turkey's new law Pastor steals $900,000 to buy stocks and car in U.S. Lithuanian President Nauseda is named most popular politician in country Charles III will embark on longest tour of world in history of royal family Deputy Director of Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS: Baku's goal is that Karabakh has no Armenian population Hurricane Roslyn in Pacific Ocean intensifies to third category Italy's new prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, begins forming government U.S. Treasury Department records budget deficit of over $429 billion in September Why does Baku need aggravation on border with Armenia? Skakov assesses likelihood of new aggression Iranian Foreign Minister: I had important meeting with Pashinyan in Armenia Johnson spotted in economy class on flight from Dominican Republic to Britain Armenian PM and European Parliament Resident Rapporteur for Armenia discuss Karabakh situation Authorities in Kherson urge residents to immediately leave city Russian expert: Baku's attempts to open corridor by force will cause negative response not only from IRI or Russian Telegraph: Britain to send about 60 old tanks to NATO base in Germany for exercises Artak Beglaryan: You will see me in new position Netanyahu: Iran nuclear deal could bring Russia 'hundreds of billions' Russia and Turkey begin to develop gas hub project PM Pashinyan discusses agenda of bilateral relations with Iranian FM Anna Hakobyan meets Armenians in Paris Sargsyan: Recognition of Artsakh people's right for self-determination must be reflected in legal documents Italy's first female prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, sworn in Private jet goes missing off coast of Costa Rica Times of India: India tests nuclear-capable Agni Prime missile Spiegel: German Foreign Minister and Defense Minister ask to allocate 2.2 billion for military aid to Kiev Deputy PM of Armenia and Head of Sharjah Heritage Institute discuss strengthening of Armenian-Emirati relations Biden allows participation in U.S. presidential election in 2024 Secretary of Security Council of Armenia and representatives of AIISA discuss security issues Kakhovka reservoir increases water discharges in case of possible destruction of HPP Pashinian's spouse: Yesterday at Elysee Palace I was received by dear Brigitte Macron At least 15 people killed in bus-truck collision in India Explosion at Uzbek Defense Ministry depot injures 16 people Armenian NA Speaker receives Iranian FM: Tehran opposes obstacles on border with friendly Armenia President Harutyunyan receives group of members of Union of Artsakh Reserve Officers NGO Newspaper: Armenia restores diplomatic ties with Hungary? China hit by 5.5 magnitude earthquake Armenian Defense Ministry denies Azerbaijani report on shelling, calling it disinformation Blinken: Moscow is not interested in stopping aggression against Ukraine Japan and U.S. will hold joint military exercises France withdraws from Energy Charter Treaty CNN: White House is in talks with Elon Musk to create satellite Internet service Starlink in Iran Baku outraged by Iran's statements and frightened by IRGC military exercises Who are main beneficiaries of 'Zangezur' corridor?: Another anonymous article by 'Haykakan Zhamanak' newspaper Ankara decides to stand up for Riyadh amid deteriorating relations between Saudi Arabia and U.S. French Foreign Minister considers it vital to keep lines of communication with Russia open Pentagon refuses to give details of conversation between Austin and Shoigu Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin: Head of Caucasus Muslims Department again made slanderous and false statements Erdogan denies using chemical weapons against Kurds and threatens those who dare to talk about it Saudi Arabia and China will strengthen their ties in energy sector Governor of Gegharkunik province receives representatives of OSCE fact-finding mission Penny Mordaunt runs for Prime Minister of Great Britain Sweden expects ratification of NATO membership application by Hungary and Turkey to be completed soon European Union will allocate 1.5 billion euros per month to Kiev in 2023 An Israeli-built flight school opened in Greece Russian Railways is negotiating with Azerbaijan and Iran to launch the Rasht-Astara route Overchuk: Construction of road through Meghri, whose sovereignty is not in question, depends on Armenia's position Armenian Defense Minister's working visit to India is over Hungary will not agree to limit prices for imported gas Iranian Foreign Minister: Iran considers Armenia one of most important transit countries Naribekyan participates in meeting of secretaries general of PACE parliaments Delegation from United Arab Emirates visits Armenia at invitation of head of MONKS: Two agreements signed Dollar, euro drop in Armenia Iran consul general in Armenias Kapan: We do not accept any change of borders Baza: Mobile military registration and enlistment offices will be removed on Russian-Georgian border Iranian Consul: Countries of region do not need presence of foreign armed forces Armenia FM: Iran consulate general in Kapan will be important for regional security Iranian Consul General advises Kapan residents not to worry anymore: Iran is here for Armenian people FM reaffirms Armenia plan to open consulate general in Irans Tabriz Turkey to open consulate in occupied Armenian Shushi city of Artsakh Turkish Ministry of Finance: Ankara can buy Russian oil without Western funding Armenia Security Council chief briefs European Parliament rapporteur on recent Azerbaijan military aggression British bookmakers name favorite for post of prime minister Erdogan: Armenia-Azerbaijan relations progress will contribute to Armenia-Turkey relations normalization Iranian Consulate General opens in Kapan Erdogan: Turkey is looking for alternative to American F-16 fighters Iran consul general: We are here for Armenian people Turkey FM slams OSCE decision to send needs assessment mission to Armenia 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 The matter of conducting reforms within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will be discussed in the next session of the Council of CIS Foreign Ministers, Kommersant daily newspaper of Russia reported citing its sources. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan, which is the current CIS Chairmanship country, informed that the moment is ripe for a reform within the CIS, and noted that Bishkek does not plan on becoming the gravedigger of this organization. As per Kommersant, Kazakhstan is the initiator of these changes. A diplomatic source explained that Astana considers that the CIS should become a compact organization that will not duplicate the functions of more advanced integration organizations, such as the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security Treaty Organization, but rather it will use its member organizations as a platform to discuss critical regional problems, such as the Ukraine and the Karabakh issues. Armenia is a member country in the CIS. YEREVAN. As of April 5 the aggressive actions of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces have intensified. The clashes continue. It is reported growth of tensions on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, in particular, in Tavush region. Armenian News - NEWS.am presents chronology of events. Karabakh MOD: In the early morning hours on Tuesday, the adversary used Smerch whirlwind" heavy multiple rocket launcher system at the Line of Contact. No casualties were reported. MOD: The Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired in the direction of Berdavan and Koti villages in Tavush Province of Armenia . Armenian military serviceman Zori Ashrafyan (born in 1983) sustained shrapnel wound. The President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, urged the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to exert utmost efforts to pacifically settle the currently tense situation in Nagorno-Karabakh. US Congress member Jim Costa: I question Aliyevs sincerity in trying to reach a resolution. It is my hope the United States continues to work with the Minsk Group until the Azerbaijan government reverses its pattern of escalating violence against the peaceful people of Nagorno Karabakh. The Defence Ministry of Armenia publicized the names of six Armenian military servicemen . Karabakh army: Azerbaijan bombarded NKR Martakert town on April 4. Karabakh Defense Armys press office has posted a video of a regular Azerbaijani unmanned aerial vehicle destroyed on April 4. NKR President's press secretary David Babayan: The reaction of the international community is necessary to curb Azerbaijani terrorist actions. Chinese Foreign Ministry: Beijing hopes fot solving present situation through peaceful negotiations. Mayor of Martakert Misha Gyurdzhyan: As a result of yesterday's attack in Martakert there are new destructions. Women, children, old men are placed in safe places. People in their native land are ready to defend it. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif: Tehran can assist in solving the contradictions of the parties if they wish. Spokesperson for the Armenian Defense Ministry Artsrun Hovhannisyan: In the Mataghis sector, the Azerbaijanis are removing, from the surroundings and intermediates of their own military positions, the corpses of the soldiers destroyed by their barring troops, Hovhannisyan wrote. They shot twice from the rear at their own troops which, under the pressure of Armenian divisions, were leaving the positions. NKR President's press secretary David Babayan: There are grounds to state that mercenaries from ISIL group or other terrorist organizations participated in military operations against NKR. This is evidenced by the set of circumstances: they communicated in the Turkish and Arab languages, were dressed in a different form and acted as fighters. Also differed on age all were above 30. Members of the Armenian community in Sweden carried out a demonstration against Azerbaijan in front of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden. Press secretary of the Minister of Defense of Armenia: Azerbaijan is using the Israeli-made Harop unmanned combat air vehicles,in its current aggression. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal: Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - representatives of France, Russia and the US will visit Baku, Yerevan and Karabakh in the next few days. Spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Tigran Balayan: OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will arrive in Yerevan to meet with President Serzh Sargsyan on April 9. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, Edward Nalbandian informed the heads of international organizations regarding Azerbaijans most recent military aggression against Nagorno-Karabakh. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic , Bako Sahakyan chaired a working consultation with members of the rapid response team. http://news.am/eng/news/320691.html Lavrov: Everyone is making efforts to cease fire and that it does not resume. The Minister of Defense of Armenia, Seyran Ohanyan, paid a visit to the military servicemen. NKR presented photos of the Azerbaijani drone which was shot down on April 5. David Babayan: We can independently solve the problem with Azerbaijan as we did it in 1991-94, but we hope that all the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs will take steps to resolve the situation. President of the Nagorno-Karabakh Bako Sahakyan visited Martakert regional center. The Secretary-General of Collective Security Treaty Organization, Nikolay Bordyuzha: The escalation of situation in Nagorno-Karabakh can lead to a large conflict in the Caucasus. OSCE Minsk Group countries urge the sides to cease using force immediately. OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to visit Stepanakert on April 7.l The Vice President of the EU Commission Federica Mogherini spoke with the Azebrbaijani and Armenian FMs and called for an immediate de-escalation of violence in Karabakh. First Deputy Minister of Defence Davit Tonoyan has presented to the EU ambassadors the consequences of Baku's aggression. Spokesperson of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic Defense Army, Senor Hasratyan: Azerbaijani side started firing again in the north-eastern direction. Davit Tonoyan: No ceasefire has been established, but the sides have agreed to halt hostilities. President of Russia Vladimir Putin had phone conversations with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders. U.S. Ambassador to OSCE Daniel Baer at a special meeting of the Permanent Council: The United States remains firmly committed to working with the sides to reach a lasting and negotiated peace. The sides to the Karabakh conflict do not address to the ICRC concerning missing people. Head of operative department , Colonel Victor Arustamyan hold the press conference in the center of the operative department of NKR . The First Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Frants Klintsevich: Russia can stop selling weapons to Azerbaijan if the escalation and the armed conflict arent stopped. Karabakh army: The Karabakh side suffered 29 casualties,100 soldiers were wounded, 28 people were missing during the aggression. The number of victims and wounded in Azerbaijan has reached around 2,000. Colonel Victor Arustamyan: No Karabakh position is under Azerbaijani control. Secretary-General of the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Michaelle Jean: Use of force in the zone of Karabakh conflict is unacceptable. The Permanent Representative of Russia to OSCE, Alexander Lukashevich: Russia is against changing OSCE Minsk Group's the troika format. Russian MF: Karabakh's issue will be a key point at the meeting of Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan FMs in Baku. Relative calm has been established in the Karabakh conflict zone, as of Tuesday at noon, spokesperson for Karabakh Defense Army, Senor Hasratyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am. The aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan along the Line of Contact between the Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces continued also tonight. In the late night on Monday and early morning Tuesday, Azerbaijan used Smerch-type multiple reactive rocket system. In the same period, the adversary continued shelling peaceful Karabakh settlements and military bases, actively using unmanned aerial vehicles all along the Line of Contact, one of which was destroyed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army. On Monday, Azerbaijan bombed a bus in Martakert region of Karabakh killing seven people. Earlier in the day, they had targeted the cars of journalists. The shell fell 20-30 meters away from the cars, said Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent, who was in one of these vehicles. We managed to move forward only with the help of the Defense Army, she said. A growth of tension was recorded in the Armenia-Azerbaijan border, too. The Azerbaijani side fired at Armenian position-holders and settlements, and by way of rifle weaponry and mortars. An Armenian serviceman was wounded. The Defense Ministry of Nagorno-Karabakh, however, states that it will not target peaceful settlements. Armenian Defense Ministry spokesperson said the Azerbaijanis shot twice from the rear at their own troops which, under the pressure of Armenian divisions, were leaving their positions. Zakir Hasanov, the Defense Minister of Azerbaijan, threatened to bomb Stepanakert, the capital city of Nagorno-Karabakh. First Deputy Defense Minister of Armenia, Davit Tonoyan, has informed Andrzej Kasprzyk, the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, on Bakus such threat. The OSCE Minsk Group on Tuesday will meet in Vienna to discuss the ways of easing the tension and stopping the violence along the Line of Contact. Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk and the Minsk Group Co-Chairs from the United States and Russia briefed Minsk group states on the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, expressing grave concern about the unprecedented violence along the Line of Contact, U.S. Ambassador to OSCE Daniel Baer said during a special meeting of the Permanent Council. The statement reads as follows: The Co-Chairs reiterated that there is no alternative to a peaceful negotiated solution of the conflict, and that war is not an option. We are grateful to the German Chairmanship for calling this PC on this topic, and we appreciate the straightforward update from our speakers today on the situation. We have also seen the reports that a ceasefire has been re-established and hope that these are confirmed and that the ceasefire is sustained and respected. As a Co-Chair, the United States condemns in the strongest terms the large-scale ceasefire violations, which have resulted in dozens of casualties, including civilians. We extend our condolences to all affected families. We urge the sides to immediately cease hostilities definitively, to strictly adhere to the ceasefire, and refrain from actions that seek to take advantage of the current instability. The situation on the ground demonstrates why the sides must enter into an immediate negotiation under the auspices of the Minsk Group Co-Chairs on a comprehensive settlement of the conflict. We were pleased to join other Minsk Group countries in a joint statement earlier today, underscoring this point among others. The United States remains firmly committed to working with the sides to reach a lasting and negotiated peace. The order, stability and development in the region will be restored only in case of deciding on the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh, and France is going to accelerate this process in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group. French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Harlem Desir, who is also Member of the European Parliament, told the aforementioned at the French National Assembly today, responding to the question of the socialist MP Nathalie Nieson. He also noted that the solution to Karabakh status can be found on the basis of the right of nations to self-determination. In her inquiry, Ms Nieson noted that the clashed that have begun are the strongest in Nagorno-Karabakh since 1994, when the ceasefire was introduced. This regime was violated by Baku, this resulting in casualties among civilian population and soldiers on both sides, she said, adding that meanwhile the international community urges to peace and talks, Erdogan supports the actions of Azerbaijan. Caucasus is a tinder box and some of its regions serve as a base for jihadists after the war in Chechnya. The Karabakh conflict should be immediately solved before everything in the region grows into a war, the MP said, also reminding that France and Armenia are tied with close friendship. What measures will France take in this non-stable region, and what solution can it propose? Nathalie Nieson asked. Together with Russia and U.S., France is trying to find approaches to the peaceful settlement of the conflict in the framework of Minsk Group. On Saturday the President of France urged to cease fire. The Government representatives got in touch with both Armenian and Azerbaijani sides and stated about the necessity to cease fire. These measures yielded results: both sides ceased fire and haveny yet violated the ceasefire. Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed to receive the Minsk Group representatives, who will visit Yerevan, Stepanakert and Baku, Harlem Desir responded. Its necessary to finally find solution to this conflict, and not merely freeze it in the explosive region. The status quo is not in anyones interest. Its time to make decisions. The order, stability and development in the region will be restored only in case of deciding on the status of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the framework of the Minsk Group, France is going to accelerate this process on the basis of the following principles: no solution to conflict through force, respect to the integrity of the country and the right of nations to self-determination. And I insist on the last point! the French Minister said. WASHINGTON, D.C. Senior representatives of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) consulted at the State Department with Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, head of the Department's Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, to discuss urgent Armenian American calls for U.S. leadership in response to Azerbaijan's major offensive targeting civilians and soldiers in Nagorno Karabakh, the ANCA informed. We have, since April 2nd, actively engaged with senior Administration officials and leading legislators to press for a principled American response to Azerbaijan's reckless attack against Artsakh, said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. We will, in the hours and days to come, continue to make sure that the Armenian American voice is heard - and respected - in the halls of power here in our nation's capital. Among the high priority issues shared by the ANCA were the following: -- Vice President Biden's and Secretary Kerry's meetings with in Washington, DC with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev represented a missed opportunity to press for peace (such as ending Baku's obstruction of the Royce-Engel proposals) that, ultimately - through official U.S. silence on his regional aggression and domestic repression - served to embolden Aliyev, effectively serving as a green-light for him to continue and escalate his aggression. -- The Administration knows very well (via Aliyev's own words, the facts on the ground, his rejection of monitoring measures, and our own considerable U.S. intelligence capabilities) that Azerbaijan is initiating acts of aggression, yet persistently and counter-productively refuses to call Aliyev to account for reckless and fatal attacks that cause vast human suffering, destabilize the region, and raise the risk of a regional war. -- Armenian Americans, in the wake of the failure of the U.S. and the international community to challenge Aliyev's latest assault, will - parallel to pro-peace initiative such as the Royce-Engel proposals - increasingly focus on global recognition of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh as a viable path toward peace. The ANCA has activated Armenian Americans and other friends of Armenia in all 50 states, covering nearly every U.S. House district, in the days since Azerbaijan's April 2nd attacks - the largest and most fatal since the 1994 Nagorno Karabakh cease-fire. These ANCA activists have targeted well over 30,000 messages to the White House, Members of Congress, and to OSCE representatives. The ANCA has also strongly backed several Congressional letters backing the Royce-Engel peace initiative, the suspension of military aid to Baku, and the need for forceful U.S. condemnation of Azerbaijani aggression. These letters have been supported collectively by over 90 Members of Congress - representing over 53 million Americans. The Federal Member for Bennelong, John Alexander, has released a statement condemning Azerbaijans aggression towards the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh and the targeting of innocent civilian lives. I deplore the recent acts of aggression committed by the Azerbaijan military against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, with reports of civilians being targeted including the shelling of a school in the Martuni region that resulted in the death of a 12 year old boy and the serious injury of two other children, Alexander said. Alexander has spoken in Parliament on several occasions regarding the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, and reiterated in his statement that it is an Armenian-populated Republic with people who enjoy a democratic system of government, a commitment to human rights and a free press that lies in start contrast to their closest neighbour. In his statement, Alexander reminds us that this year would mark the 25th Anniversary of Independence for the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, the 28th Anniversary of the Sumgait Pogroms, and the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. While slamming Azerbaijans aggression, Alexander also condemned the Turkish governments recent seizure of Armenian, Assyrian and Chaldean Churches in the Diyarbakir region. In regards to Azerbaijans aggression and Turkeys expropriation, Alexander said: These historical events remain supremely relevant to Armenian people in Yerevan, Artsakh, Sur and across the globe. ANC Australia Executive Administrator Arin Markarian said: We thank Mr. Alexander for this highly commendable statement during these tough times. Again, his strong stance and voice has shown why he is a great advocate for human rights issues, and a great friend of the people of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is very important that other MPs and Senators join in a united effort to condemn the violent aggression that Azerbaijan has initiated against the Armenians of the Republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, and Mr. Alexander has done himself well to lead the way on bringing awareness to this issue in Australia. Azerbaijan once again has turned the region into a hot spot that threatens the security of Europe, President Serzh Sargsyan said at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin. The president, particularly, said in his speech: ''Its a great honor for me to once again conduct an official visit to the friendly Germany which is Armenias valuable friend at the European and international platforms, reliable partner, and a steadfast supporter. Thank you, Madam Chancellor, for the invitation and warm welcome. The agenda of the Armenian-German relations is pretty extensive. It comprises multifaceted bilateral relations, cooperation in the Armenia-European Union format, in the Armenia-NATO and peacekeeping missions format. Naturally, under the conditions created by the recent large-scale aggression of Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, part of our discussions has been dedicated to that topic. Ive informed Chancellor Merkel in detail about the developments of last few days. Armenia highly values assistance of the German Chairmanship at the OSCE to the NK peace process conducted under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group. At the beginning of this year, Germany reiterated the proposal of the OSCE Minsk Group on the creation of the mechanisms for the investigation of the ceasefire violations. Armenia has always spoken in favor of such step as well as to the proposal to withdraw snipers from the line of contact as a confidence building or stability measure. However, these proposals have never been called to life. Azerbaijan bluntly rejects all confidence building measures and is pursuing other goals. These goals were unambiguously revealed on the night of April 1-2. Ignoring more than twenty-year long efforts of the international community aimed at the establishment of peace, Azerbaijan launched large-scale military operations along the entire Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. In fact, it was an unprecedented since the ceasefire offensive, aimed against the peaceful population. Thus, Azerbaijan has once again turned our region into a hotbed which threatens security in Europe. The people of Karabakh want no war; they want a simple and understandable thing which all colonized people have always fought for: They want to master their own destiny and be free in creating their own future. They want their children to have a peaceful and happy childhood; they want to leave in a democratic state. They have no other aspirations. Its been almost thirty years since 1988, that the people of Karabakh are compelled to fight for their freedom every day, have to prove every day that they have similar rights with other nations. And they have managed to make right steps under the imposed war, illegal blockade and endless violations of the fragile ceasefire. From the international community they expect just one thing: to recognize their rights. I spoke about this with Madam Chancellor who is well aware of the details of the modern history of that struggling nation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to once again thank the Government of Germany and personally Madam Chancellor for the continuous support to the Armenia-EU dialogue. It is vital for us, for the nation which is a bearer and a follower of the European values.'' MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and observance of ceasefire as fightings tentatively stopped in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Kremlin said. The statement came after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday after deadly clashes between forces of both sides in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted overnight Saturday, and military operations on their contact line reportedly have been suspended. In his telephone talks with presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Putin called for resuming negotiation between Baku and Yerevan with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict, the Kremlin said in an online statement. Putin said that Russia would play an intermediary role in the normalization of the situation, and all sides agreed to keep contacts in different formats, the statement added. The conflicting parties suspended military operations on the contact line starting from Tuesday, and the Armenian and Azerbaijani defense ministries both confirmed that a cease-fire agreement was being prepared. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and declared to join Armenia. "Why are you here?" That's the question Catherine Koola got at age 16 when she joined a workshop in Houston, Texas, on laughter yoga. The question came from her puzzled fellow participants, a group of people decades older and suffering in a variety of ways from depression, divorce, cancer. For Koola now an MPH student at Rollins it was (and wasn't) a laughing matter. Crazy as the notion seemed, she wanted to test its serious side. Her attendance was an early sign that she would follow her deep curiosity almost anywhere. Koola, whose family emigrated from southern India when she was six, first heard of laughter yoga while watching a Bollywood movie. The protagonist was suffering from depression, and his doctor suggested a laughter club. Soon the character was standing in a Mumbai park with others, throwing his hands in the air and laughing. "I realized," she says, "that I wake up every morning happy. Other people don't. I was in a position to offer some measure of happiness to people who didn't have it." The best medicine Following certification, Koola headed back to her high school in College Station, Texas, and formed Club LOL. Founded to relieve stress for teachers and students, it achieved some success; however, as Koola acknowledges, "It was difficult to motivate people to stand around and laugh after school." She also took laughter yoga to an assisted-living facility in her area and was pleased to see the benefits for residents a population especially susceptible to depression. "Laughter," says Koola, "doesn't have language or cultural barriers. It is understood universally." A scholarship student at Texas A&M University, Koola majored in psychology and minored in neuroscience. When her grandfather experienced declining cognition, she and her mother attended an Alzheimer's lecture by a Texas A&M professor. Koola introduced herself to him afterward and ended up working in his lab the remainder of the year long enough to discover what balances her needs as a researcher. She can keep her head down for periods, absorbed in intellectually demanding but isolating tasks. Eventually, though, she welcomes the return of human interaction. An internship with the National Institute on Drug Abuse at age 19 was the perfect blend of factors. She describes being "dropped into the middle of Philadelphia, which was in some ways startling. Growing up in College Station, Texas, I had lived in a bubble." What she learned, following interactions with heroin-dependent patients, was that "people are not independently choosing to use. There are other underlying factors. "That is the foundation of public health, identifying and understanding the influences that can cause adverse health outcomes." Pitch perfect While at Texas A&M, Koola discovered her musical side, joining Swaram a cappella, a South Asian fusion group. "Singing with other people, especially when the blend is good there is nothing like it," she says. At Rollins, in the first lonely days as her class arrived, Koola posted on Facebook about starting an amateur music group. Rock n' Rollins soon formed with the mission of performing public health parodies. Koola wrote the lyrics for "Get Your Flu Shot," based on "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz; they also did a Soundcloud recording to "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" from the movie "Frozen" for "Do You Wanna Go Get Tested?" Koola plays the ukulele, swearing she knows only the four chords that came with the box. Of the group, she is less modest, vowing, "You will be taken with their talent." They performed at the recent Rollins anniversary celebration, made a video, and have their own Facebook page. Mastering public health Koola began on the behavioral sciences and health track, then switched to epidemiology last spring and says, "I have absolutely loved it. I feel fulfilled." In her first year, she worked at the Sleep Health Clinic, aiding a study of hypersomnia patients that was testing the effectiveness of the drug flumazenil. Koola's role was to help transition from paper to electronic data collection and identify trends in the process. The drug proved clinically effective, and Koola was included as a coauthor in a publication that is in press. Last summer's work experience led to her thesis. Koola is seeking a Mental Health Certificate as part of her MPH and completed her practicum at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. One of the projects she worked on involved marijuana use during pregnancy. Her thesis is on comorbid mental health conditions in pregnant women who use marijuana. Koola currently works as a research analyst with the Emory Healthcare Veterans Program, looking at drug effects in conjunction with virtual reality exposure therapy to determine reductions in distress symptoms for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Her time at Rollins has harmonized her youthful love for laughter with a holistic understanding of the public health field. As graduation nears, she is looking for a position that will combine her knowledge of epidemiology, substance abuse and mental health. Among other aspirations, Koola hopes one day to reestablish a laughter club. No kidding. 11:57 A day after the police booked Pratyusha Banerjee's boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh for assaulting and abetting her suicide, the latter's lawyer Neeraj Gupta today backed out of the case.Gupta told news channels that he had been forced to move away from the case after he realised he had been "kept in the dark" about certain facts by his client."My client and his family did not tell me all the facts about the case," Gupta said, adding that he had taken the decision to let go of the case on "humanitarian grounds"."I came across some facts and (that's when) I decided to leave the case," Gupta said.It was Gupta who had interacted with the media after Rahul was hospitalised, two days after Pratyusha's death. TV producer Rahul Raj Singh, currently in hospital, was booked after police registered a first information report based on a complaint filed by Banerjees mother Soma at Bangurnagar police station. He has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections related to abetment of suicide, voluntarily causing hurt and criminal intimidation, among others, a police official said. Police declined to divulge details regarding the investigation that led to registration of the FIR. They suspect Singh was in relationship with another woman about which the deceased was depressed. On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot into fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series Balika Vadhu, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs. Police is also trying to ascertain whether the deceased was in financial troubles or had any dispute with Singh. Some reports suggested the actress, who hailed from Jamshedpur, was depressed over not getting roles in TV serials. On Sunday, Singh was admitted in the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Kandivali after he complained of chest pain and breathlessness, said police. As part of their probe, police spoke to several people, including the common friends of Singh and Banerjee, their close relatives, friends, neighbours and domestic helps. Police are awaiting the viscera report of the actress. The requested page is currently unavailable on this server. Back to [RTHK News Homepage] TOKYO: Japanese carmaker Toyota on Tuesday announced it will collaborate with US tech giant Microsoft to improve services for cars connected to the internet in the future. The auto giant has set up a new company called Toyota Connected to create these services and develop products for drivers and distributors based on advanced cloud-based data analysis, EFE news reported. Among the products under consideration are policies adapted to each driver, based on a study of their driving patterns. The company, based in Texas and with an initial investment of around $5.5 million, is primarily owned by Toyota Media Service, a subsidiary of the Japanese group, and Microsoft, which has a 5 percent stake. The company, which was founded by Bill Gates, had first invested in Toyota Media Service in 2011. Toyota already sells internet-connected automobiles in Japan although they are limited to a few Lexus models and some other high-end models. The firm aims to expand the number of cars with data communications systems for sale in the US and Japan initially. Read Also: 3D Printing To Soon Tackle Pollution Telecom Min To Pitch For Reducing Spectrum Charges Three named winners in annual art competition by Andrea Hahn CARBONDALE, Ill. Caleb Clausing, Dallas LaCassa and Ileada Quezada are the winners of the 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award competition at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Clausing, an industrial design student from Crete, Ill. presented a Rainwater Planter, which utilizes downspout rainwater to water a barrel planter. Excess water filters through the system and runs out from a final gutter. He plans to put his project on the crowd-funding site KickStarter in order to be able to produce and sell his idea. Ultimately, hed like to be in business for himself, or with an industrial design business. People dont want to make the changes necessary to go green, he explained. My idea is to make green choices more accessible, to modify the design to what people do rather than asking them to change to it. LaCassa, a ceramics student from Lake in the Hills, Ill., presented a series of ceramic sculptures he called Walking through Texture. He talked about the natural origins of clay, the intimacy of working it by hand, and then the geometric and organic shapes he gave it, along with bright, sometimes glittery, not-found-in-nature colors, as leading to a sort of relationship between the artist and the material. Hes hoping to find support in artist residencies as he continues to hone his skills. I didnt have specific ideas about what I was going to do when I created these pieces, he said. I was playing around with it. Quezada, a sculpture and ceramics student from Firebaugh, Calif., created A Ciegas (Blindly), a multi-piece sculpture of ceramic and rebar that represents the toxicity violence brings to many Mexican villages. Her sculpture, which she noted is at heart-level, is a depiction of a village with water cisterns on the roofs cisterns labeled as toxic waste containers. Quezada said she feels a kinship and yet also disconnected with Mexico. Born in the United States, she finds Mexico, the home of not-distant ancestors, an unfamiliar and sometimes frightening place, and yet one that is part of her heritage. Aaron Scott, associate professor of design and chair of the Rickert-Ziebold committee, commended this years exhibition as one of the most diverse, and one representing some of the best work of the current seniors. This is set up like a professional-level exhibition, he said. For many students, this is the first time they have the opportunity to develop an exhibition in a gallery environment. The three winners will divide a cash prize worth about $15,000. The competition is open to senior art students. A faculty jury chooses the finalists based on a slide presentation of a body of the students work. Finalists have a limited time to set up an exhibition showcasing their work in the Surplus Gallery (Glove Factory, 432 W. Washington Ave.). Some create work specifically for the competition, others use work theyve created over time. The exhibit of all finalists work remains on display from now through April 8, when the exhibit closes with a reception and presentation of awards beginning at 5:30 p.m., awards at 6:30 p.m. The award commemorates Joseph Rickert, a prominent lawyer and former state senator from Waterloo, who loved the arts. His friendship with Delyte W. Morris and Henry W. Shryock led him to appreciate the vital role SIU plays in the artistic culture of Southern Illinois. His family established the award in 1974 in his memory. The amount of the award varies each year based on earnings from the trust, but it is a substantial award designed to help students transition to the next phase of their careers. Here is a complete list of finalists, by hometown, with area of specialization: ILLINOIS Albion Alexis Kimbrell, drawing. Bloomington Matthew Frey, communication design. Chicago Sharon Avila, metalsmithing. Crete Caleb Clausing, industrial design. Crystal Lake Anthony M. Bleecker, industrial design. Hoffman Estates Anjali Singh, glass. Lake in the Hills Dallas LaCassa, ceramics. Marion Clint Wilkie, glass. CALIFORNIA Firebaugh Ileana Quezada, sculpture and ceramics. Caleb Clausing, an industrial design student from Crete, Ill. presented a Rainwater Planter, that utilizes downspout rainwater to water a barrel planter. He was one of three winners of the 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award competition. (Photo by Steve Buhman) Caleb Clausing, an industrial design student from Crete, Ill. presented a Rainwater Planter, that utilizes downspout rainwater to water a barrel planter. He was one of three winners of the 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award competition. (Photo by Steve Buhman) Dallas LaCassa, a ceramics student from Lake in the Hills, Ill., presented a series of ceramic sculptures he called Walking through Texture. He was one of three winners of the 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award competition. (Photo by Andrea Hahn) Dallas LaCassa, a ceramics student from Lake in the Hills, Ill., presented a series of ceramic sculptures he called Walking through Texture. He was one of three winners of the 2016 Rickert-Ziebold Trust Award competition. (Photo by Andrea Hahn) SIU to host conference for regions art teachers by Andrea Hahn CARBONDALE, Ill. Art teachers in the area wont have far to travel to learn to Create Tomorrow Today. The Southern Illinois Art Education Conference, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale School of Art and Design event, will bring together art teachers from the region to learn new teaching techniques and classroom activities. The conference is Friday, April 8, with registration at the Student Center beginning at 8:15 a.m. and sessions beginning at 9 a.m. A highlight of the conference is the keynote address by Joanne Kluba, an artist specializing in book design and book binding. Kluba draws on her expertise in printmaking and calligraphy in her work creating art books, custom bindery, portfolios and customized boxes for holding family keepsakes and small heirlooms. Shes also offering a workshop introduction to handmade books. Other workshops for art teachers and future art teachers include sessions on advocating for the arts, new core art standards, teaching art to students with learning differences and building a self-assessment rubric. Art sessions include workshops on glass, ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, weaving and blacksmithing. Teachers participating in the conference may earn 5.0 Professional Development hours. Register online or on-site at the Student Center. MLA program celebrates 25 years at Stanford Stanford's master of liberal arts program, among the most rigorous nation-wide, has awarded 259 degrees in the past 25 years. Kate Chesley Linda Paulson leads Stanford's master of liberal arts program, which has awarded 259 degrees in 25 years. The red, bound theses outside Linda Paulson's office may look slim, but they speak volumes about the weighty scholarly work produced by students in Stanford's master of liberal art's (MLA) program. They bear such titles as "This Machine of Ours: The Role of Biomechanics and Ergonomics in Leonardo da Vinci's Machine Designs," "The Transitional Medieval Astronomies of William of Conches and Sacrobosco" and "The Fall and Rise of the Honu: Delisting the Threatened Hawaiian Green Sea Turtle." The program, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, has awarded 259 degrees based on such theses. Paulson, who has led the program for 24 of those years, displays each with pride outside her Littlefield office. "I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we're the most rigorous, as well as the most carefully husbanded, MLA program in the country," she said. "At regional and national conferences, our students' presentations are regularly among the very most interesting, smart and well-presented." Diverse student body Those students, who generally number about 100 annually, range in age from 24 to 70 and come from professions ranging from high school teachers to chief executive officers to software engineers. Their applications are reviewed by Paulson and a committee of faculty members. "What we look for is a sophisticated and flexible quality of mind, an intellectual curiosity, a willingness to contemplate complex, perhaps even unanswerable questions," Paulson said. The resulting students are a delight in the classroom, according to faculty members who teach in the MLA program, which is offered through Stanford Continuing Studies. "Traditional Stanford students are wonderful to teach, of course, but it's also very rewarding to teach returning students," said Caroline Winterer, director of the Humanities Center and professor of history. "These are the kind of people who put in a long day at the office, race home to feed dinner to their kids and greet the babysitter, then come to campus for an evening of work that doesn't end until 10 p.m. They're focused and serious, and they bring hard-earned wisdom to their classroom activities. They want to be there." Such comments are no surprise to Paulson, who teaches the program's second-year foundational writing course. "Faculty love teaching MLA students," she said. "They comment about the refreshing challenge of teaching those who are peers and who bring to the classroom serious life experience. They are regularly impressed by their methodical and thorough study and research skills." The admiration is mutual. Caroline Stasulat, masters and undergraduate programs officer in the Graduate School of Education, credits the program with giving her access to "world-class faculty and resources" and the opportunity to continue her education while working. Stasulat, who like all Stanford employees can take advantage of the university's substantial tuition remission program, said she also selected the MLA program because it is interdisciplinary. "I knew that I wanted to continue my education, but struggled deciding what to study at the graduate level," she said. "I didn't want to pursue one of my interests at the expense of others. When I learned of Stanford's MLA program, I was immediately drawn to it." Intellectual curiosity A recent survey of MLA students revealed that they enroll in search of unmet intellectual challenges, to fill gaps from their undergraduate educations and to balance day-to-day lives often defined by Silicon Valley's technology focus. They report gaining emotional and intellectual fulfillment, personal friendships and enhanced writing, research and critical thinking skills. "The best parts of the program have been developing the intellectual rigor required to formulate arguments and write well, the discussions had with professors and classmates and the ensuing warm friendships," said Los Altos software engineer Tony Martin. "Graduates regularly tell us that the program has been life-changing," Paulson said. "The habits of mind and the skills they have gained, along with the intellectual companionship they have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, have dramatically enriched their lives and expanded their understanding of their own potential." Despite its success, the MLA program's genesis was mired in controversy. During a 1991 Faculty Senate debate, members worried that the program would not be rigorous enough and would take faculty time away from full-time students. Marsh McCall, then the dean of Continuing Education, argued that participants in the Continuing Studies program deserved a chance for "intellectual final validation." At that time, most MLA programs were located on the East Coast, but a movement was afoot nationwide. Stanford's first 25 MLA students included four teachers, four physicians, engineers, a nurse, a social worker, an accountant and a lawyer. In the past 25 years, Paulson said, the program has become even more rigorous in its admission, given the academic challenges. Students complete a 50-unit interdisciplinary course of humanities, science and social science courses, capped off by a substantial thesis overseen by a faculty adviser. The first year consists of three foundations courses that look at the broad framework of history, literature, philosophy, political science, geography, economics, art and the sciences. Most students take one course per quarter and complete the program in four to five years. What the next 25 years holds for the program is uncertain, Paulson said, although she anticipates that it will become even more interdisciplinary and the students even more prevalent at regional, national and international symposia and conferences. Populations of early human settlers grew like an 'invasive species,' Stanford researchers find When humans colonized South America, their populations grew like a typical invasive species an initial explosive growth rapidly reached the environment's carrying capacity. Agriculture and settled societies allowed a second phase of exponential population growth. Amy Goldberg Stanford researchers studying populations of early humans in South America looked at how societies overcame the limits of their local environments. One example: Andean farmers adapted their mountainous environment for agriculture through terraced farming. Bustling cities, sprawling suburbs and blossoming agricultural regions might seem strong evidence that people have always dominated the environment. A Stanford study of South America's colonization shows that human populations did not always grow unchecked, but were at one time limited by local resources just like any other species. In fact, the study, published by the journal Nature, finds that for much of human history on the continent, human populations grew like an invasive species, which are regulated by their environment as they spread into new places. Populations grew exponentially when people first colonized South America. But then they crashed, recovered slightly and plateaued for thousands of years after over-consuming local natural resources and reaching continental carrying capacity, according to the analysis. "The question is: Have we overshot Earth's carrying capacity today?" said senior author Elizabeth Hadly, the Paul S. and Billie Achilles Professor in Environmental Biology and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "Because humans respond as any other invasive species, the implication is that we are headed for a crash before we stabilize our global population size." The paper, titled "Post-Invasion Demography of Prehistoric Humans in South America," is the first in a series on the interaction of local animal populations, humans and climate during the massive changes of the last 25,000 years in South America. The series will be featured at the Latin American Paleontology Congress this fall. The study lays a foundation for understanding how humans contributed to the Pleistocene era's largest extinction of big mammals, such as ground sloths, horses and elephant-like creatures called gomphotheres. It reconstructs the history of human population growth in South America using a newly assembled database of radiocarbon dates from more than 1,100 archaeological sites. Unlike many archaeological studies that look at environmental change in one particular site, the Stanford research's continental approach provides a picture of long-term change, such as climatic fluctuations, fundamental to human populations rather than a single culture or ecosystem. The researchers found strong evidence for two distinct phases of demographic growth in South America. The first phase, characterized by logistic growth, occurred between 14,000 and 5,500 years ago and began with a rapid spread of people and explosive population size throughout the continent. Then, consistent with other invasive species, humans appear to have undergone an early population decline consistent with over-exploitation of their resources. This coincided with the last pulses of an extinction of big animals. Subsequent to the loss of these big animals, humans experienced a long period of constant population size across the continent. The second phase, from about 5,500 to 2,000 years ago, saw exponential population growth. This pattern is distinct from those seen in North America, Europe and Australia. The seemingly obvious explanation for the second phase initial domestication of animals and crops had minimal impact on this shift, the researchers wrote. Instead, the rise of sedentary societies is the most likely reason for exponential population growth. Practices such as intensive agriculture and inter-regional trade led to sedentism, which allowed for faster and more sustained population growth. Profound environmental impacts followed. "Thinking about the relationship between humans and our environment, unchecked growth is not a universal hallmark of our history, but a very recent development," said co-lead author Amy Goldberg, a biology graduate student at Stanford. "In South America, it was settled societies, not just the stable food sources of agriculture, that profoundly changed how humans interact with and adapt their environment." Today, as the world's population continues to grow, we turn to technology and culture to reset nature's carrying capacity and harvest or even create new resources. "Technological advances, whether they are made of stone or computers, have been critical in helping to shape the world around us up until this point," said co-lead author Alexis Mychajliw a graduate student in biology. "That said, it's unclear if we can invent a way out of planetary carrying capacities." Media Contact Amy Goldberg, Biology: (650) 725-2655, agoldb@stanford.edu Elizabeth Hadly, Biology: (650) 245-1775, hadly@stanford.edu Alexis Mychajliw, Biology: (650) 725-2655, amychajl@stanford.edu Rob Jordan, Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment: (650) 721-1881, rjordan@stanford.edu Recording history before its lost Dating back to 1957, the University of Florida's Historic Preservation Program is one of the oldest in the country. But as more and more ancient sites throughout the world fall prey to destruction in the wake of war-torn conflict, the programs focus on historic documentation couldnt be more timely. And so the program launched Envision Heritage in 2012. Since then, Envision Heritage, housed at UFs College of Design, Construction and Planning, has documented areas from Miami to Iraq. Using a 3D laser scanner to quickly and accurately record the physical design and conditions of historic buildings and sites, UF researchers and students are preserving for future generations rich cultural detail that otherwise would be lost. At the request of the World Monuments Fund, a UF team took raw data of the Ishtar Gate in Iraq and created multiple 3D images and a video. The team forwarded the images to the World Monuments Fund and kept a copy for its archives. Not all of Envision Heritages efforts focus on areas at risk of destruction. Preservation Institute Nantucket, launched in 1972, gives students the opportunity to study and record more than 100 sites on Nantucket during a six-week, onsite immersion program. Participants get hands-on heritage management experience while they help document, research, conserve and interpret the islands remarkable history. Still, preserving the history of at-risk areas is crucial to Envision Heritages mission, said Morris Hylton III, the programs director. There is an increasing urgency, given the destruction of historic places due to development pressures, conflict, and sea level rise, Hylton said. Harnessing technology like 3D laser scanning is vital to the recording of heritage before it is lost. Unfortunately, he added, his team didnt have the opportunity to document the city of Palmyra prior to its destruction in 2015. Theres now no record of what was really there, he said. US President Barack Obama has called on Congress to reform the business tax system to close the loophole that allows for a financial practice known as corporate inversions. "While the treasury department actions will make it more difficult and less lucrative for companies to exploit this particular corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good," Xinhua quoted Obama as saying at the White House on Tuesday, one day after the department announced a series of steps to curb corporate inversions. Corporation inversions are transactions in which US-parented multinational companies change their tax residence to a low-tax country by acquiring foreign companies to reduce or avoid paying US taxes, according to the department. "When companies exploit loopholes like this, it makes it harder to invest in the things that are going to keep America's economy going strong for future generations," Obama said. These loopholes come at the expense of middle-class families because "that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere", he said. "Alternatively, it means that we're not investing as much as we should in schools, in making college more affordable, in putting people back to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our infrastructure, creating more opportunities for our children," said the president. Obama urged the Republican-controlled Congress to pass business tax reforms that would make the tax system more competitive for all US businesses. "I've often said the best way to end this kind of irresponsible behaviour is with tax reform that lowers the corporate tax rate, closes wasteful loopholes, simplifies the tax code for everybody," he said. "Instead of focusing on soundbites, Washington should do its job and comprehensively reform the tax code," US Chamber of Commerce's executive vice president for government affairs Bruce Josten said on Tuesday. "The real solution is comprehensive tax reform that lowers rates for all businesses and shifts to a competitive international system that both allows US companies to compete globally and attracts foreign investment to the country," he added. However, given the heated presidential campaign and wide differences between Republicans and Democrats on tax reform, it's unlikely for Congress to pass any important tax legislation this year. --Indo-Asian News Service py/ ( 372 Words) 2016-04-06-09:15:32 (IANS) Australia's special envoy for trade, Andrew Robb AO MP will meet the industry and education sector leaders in India, including the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajiv Pratap Rudy to progress education and training cooperation. Robb will be accompanied by Australia's Education Ambassador to India, Adam Gilchrist, to promote and strengthen Australia and India's collaboration on education and training. "This is a great opportunity to showcase Australian expertise in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and support countries like India to increase their skilled labour," said the Minister for Tourism and International Education, Senator Richard Colbeck. "Australia's partnership with India will help both countries meet the demand for a global, skilled workforce in the future." The Australian Government, represented by Robb, today announced the USD 5.4 million International Skills Training Courses initiative to extend Australia's role in international education and training. Senator Colbeck said, "The initiative will see the Australian Government collaborate with industry and the training sector to develop courses that address skill shortages within the global economy." "The International Skills Training Courses initiative underpins our strong track record of delivering quality education to Indian students. In 2015 we welcomed over 53,000 Indian students, up 15.7 per cent on the previous year - the second highest of any nationality." The initiative follows a six month pilot run by seven Australian training providers to up skill Trainers and Assessors in India. Large scale delivery of courses across India will commence with a consortium of three Australian training providers. The International Skills Training Courses initiative will support Australian Registered Training Organizations to increase their offshore delivery of innovative training that meets global demands. The skills relationship is underpinned by the Australia India Education Council Skills Working Group, who will conduct its 26th meeting in India to coincide with the visit and explore opportunities for further collaboration. Robb said "the strength of the relationship across all education sectors was demonstrated by a number of new Memorandum of Understandings between Australian and Indian institutions being signed during this visit." "The Indian Government's 'Skill India' initiative compliments Australia's skills policy agenda. Like us, India requires training that fits the needs of their industry and economy, while also bridging the gap between educational institutions and the labor market." "International education is one Australia's top two services exports and innovation, skills and training are key elements of the wider strategy for economic growth, not only here but in India as well," said Robb. (ANI) Political party Apna Dal of Uttar Pradesh has demanded 150 seats from BJP to contest in the 2017 State Assembly elections here.Part's chief Krishna Patel said here today that Apna Dal, which is in an alliance with the BJP in the state, is preparing to contest from 150 seats."The party will take a decision if the BJP did not agree to give 150 seats. We are in alliance with the BJP as of now," party chief said.Ms Patel confirmed her presence in the recent meeting called by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, however the party chief said she had not accepted Mr Kumar's proposal. Moreover, Ms Patel denied to illustrate on the proposal.She also clarified that she had not held any talks with election strategist Prashant Kishore, who is managing the Congress campaign in UP.Apna Dal has its base in eastern UP, especially among Kurmis one of the largest groups among OBCs in the state.Ms Patel, who is fighting a court case with her daughter Anupriya,MP from Mirzapur over Apna Dal's control, said the party has started accepting applications from prospective candidates for the elections. In 2014, Ms Patel claimed to have expelled Anupriya from the party, leading to creation of two factions.Ms Patel's elder daughter Pallavi Patel, vice-president of Apna Dal, said, "The party will hold a 'dharna' in Lucknow tomorrow. We will protest against the law and order condition in the state and issues adding farmers distress."UNI MB PS PR PR1037 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-670063.Xml Era Infra Engineering (EIEL) an integrated infrastructure company, JV with JS Grover Constructions has been awarded a contract valuing about Rs 3.56 billion. This contract is for development to four lanes with paved side shoulders of Jalandhar-Hoshiarpur section of NH-70 (New NH No. 3) from existing km 11/400 to km 49/200 including construction of Hoshiarpur bypass through engineering procurement & construction (EPC) basis contract under NHDP-IV in the state of Punjab byMinistry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, New Delhi.UNI JS SM PR1148 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-670171.Xml Congress today projected Karnataka--ruled by the party led government-,as the top job creator in the country. Lauding the good governance of its government in the state, the party said in a tweet the stateis "accounting for 24 per cent of jobs created in India". The twitter post also boosted the party as 'symbol of progress'. Quoting reports based on Assocham study done during the period of January-March this year, the party sources said Karnataka is followed closely by Maharashtra (23 per cent) and Tamil Nadu(10.5 per cent). Information technology (IT) sector created about 57 per cent of about nine lakh job openings recorded between January-March, 2016, followed by services (19 per cent) and manufacturing (11 per cent), theysaid.UNI SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0089-670222.Xml Private sector lender, Yes Bank today said it has signed an agreement for on-lending USD 50 million loan received from World Bank arm IFC to women entrepreneurs. It is part of the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), the first-of-its-kind global facility dedicated to expanding access to capital for approximately 100,000 women entrepreneurs. This project was launched by IFC, through its Banking on Women program, and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women in 2014. The agreement will be crucial in supporting growth in India as it will promote job creation and also in having a multiplier effect, International Finance Corporation (IFC) Global Director (Financial Institutions Group) Marcos Brujis said. Yes Bank loan aims to support women in all 29 states and 7 union territories in India. An estimated three million women-owned businesses in India employ over eight million people. ''This is a significant step towards strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem for women and will directly impact livelihoods. This facility demonstrates Yes Bank's ability to partner with global institutions like IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women to expand access to finance to the unbanked and underserved populations and achieve our vision of Responsible Banking. This facility will also complement various Government of India schemes for women entrepreneurs,'' said Rana Kapoor, managing director and CEO, Yes Bank in a statement.However, only about a quarter of them are able to get the finance they need to grow and create jobs. UNI RN PR NS1243 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-670220.Xml Reji Joseph (43), hailing from Koorachund near Perambra in this district has been abducted alongwith three Libyan Nationals by anti-government militants from Souk Al Jumaa near Libyan capital Tripoli on March 31, reports today said. His employer Al Diwan Company told his relatives that Reji, working as an infrastructure engineer, and three others had been abducted by rebels and there was no information about them. Reji has been working with the firm in Libya for the last three years and his wife Shinuja is a nurse in that country. Family sources said Reji was handling the Civilian Registration Authority project for creating a database to establish the nationality and citizenship of Libyans. Meanwhile, Senior Congress leader M K Raghavan has informed that he has taken up the matter with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to secure release of the professional.UNI PCH CS 1206 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0328-670188.Xml The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has extended Directions issued to the Brahmawart Commercial Co-operative Bank Ltd., Kanpur for a further period of three months from April 7, 2016 to July 6, 2016, subject to review. The bank has been under directions issued under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (AACS) since July 7, 2015. The aforesaid directive was modified and its validity extended upto April 6, 2016. The same has further been extended upto July 6, 2016 vide directive dated March 28, 2016. The other terms and conditions of the directive shall remain unchanged. A copy of the directive dated March 28, 2016 is displayed at the bank's premises for the perusal of public.The modification of the directive by the Reserve Bank should per se not be construed as improvement or deterioration in the financial position of the bank. The Reserve Bank may consider modifications of the directive depending upon circumstances.UNI JS SM1244 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-670227.Xml Tripura government has sought assistance from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for setting up of a 5 MW capacity solar plant to tap non-conventional sources of energy in backward most sub-division Gandacherra besides, enhancing generation capacity of two thermal and lone hydel projects in the state.Power minister Manik Dey said here today that Tripura government has submitted a proposal of Rs 2,000 crore to JICA for implementing the projects and now it is under evaluation of the central government.The project will turn both the thermal project into combine cycle."Central government has advised all the states to have a mechanism to utilise non-conventional energy sources for illumination and other power supply driven daily activities and for smart cities, it is mandatory. So, we are proceeding to supplement the demand of conventional sources of energy," Mr Dey stated.He, however, reiterated the claim that Tripura is one of states, which appeared to be shedding free despite tremendous financial burden. The situation will further improve with the improvement of generation, Dey said adding that Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd (TSECL) has been earning only Rs 58 crore revenue including selling of power against the expenditure of Rs 72 crore.He further stated that Ministry of Power has given loan from bailout scheme UDAY to Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir but in case of the demand of Rs 220 crore loan under the project to clear the dues to Northeast Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) and ONGC Power Corporation (OTPC).He also stated that Tripura owes Rs 180.33 crore to NEEPCO and Rs 110 crore to OTPC, for which NEEPCO had threatened to discontinue power supply from April 5 next. The state has already paid Rs 15 crore to NEEPCO and sought time to sanction loan under UDAY.Central government is also not helping for the genuine reason to Tripura. They sanctioned loan for two other states for the same reason. I wrote again to union Power minister to consider our case," he maintained.Expressing displeasure to NEEPCO, he said not only Tripura Assam has dues of Rs 260 crore, Arunachal Pradesh has Rs 23 crore, Mizoram has 31 crore, Manipur has Rs 78 crore and Meghalaya has Rs 513 crore. But the way NEEPCO tried to realise the dues, it shows Tripura is the only non-paying state."NEEPCO's contribution to Tripura under CSR is minimal and despite our repeated request to engage qualified people from our state to the project here, the management did not do much yet. Even then the state government has been helping them at the best," he added.UNI BB KK PR PR1217 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-670143.Xml Most of the State Congress leaders have rushed to New Delhi as dissidents have mounted pressure to effect a major reshuffle. Chief Minister, O Ibobi, newly appointed Congress Chief, TN Haokip, former Chief and Deputy Chief Minister, Gaikhangam and other Congress leaders were meeting party leaders to resolve the crisis. The dissidents had cited the possibility of joining other political parties in the next Assembly elections, which will be held next year, following which Congress High Command conceded to their demands and removed Mr Gaikhangam. Placating the dissidents by the Congress High Command has added zeal to the dissidents, according to a Congress source. They want to adopt 'one man, one post' principle and reshuffle the ministry by dropping all the ministers and giving chance to another set of Congress MLAs. As the size of the ministry can't be more than 12, it is not possible to please all the Congress MLAs. In the 60-member House, Congress commands 47 seats. The dissidents want a major reshuffle so that other MLAs not included in the ministry may have winning chances as the election is scheduled for 2017. The Congress party is divided into two major groups-one favouring reshuffle and the other demanding status quo. Those demanding status quo have reasoned that this is the third government under Mr Singh and there was no major reshuffle during the last two terms. Most of the present ministers did not hold any portfolio in the last ministry, while many dissidents were holding key ministerial posts during the last two governments without any break. A decision is likely to be taken within the next few days by the Congress High Command the sources said. New state Congress Chief, T N Haokip favours a reshuffle while the former Chief Gaikhangam has opposed the idea. Manipur Chief Minister, O Ibobi has not spelt out his opinion in the open so far. As there is political turmoil in the state most of the ministers and MLAs were unable to attend functions and fulfil other commitments. UNI NS KK PR NS1213 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-670154.Xml Rahul has now filed an anticipatory bail application in the Dindoshi Court of Mumbai. The Mumbai Police investigating the suicide of Pratyusha yesterday registered a case of abetment to suicide against Rahul. He continues to be in the hospital for alleged hypertension. The case has been registered at the Bangur Nagar police station under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC. In her statement to the police, the TV actor's mother Soma Banerjee said, "I used to live with Pratyusha at her Kandivali flat. When (she and Rahul) would have fights, they would live separately. I counseled them not to fight so much and concentrate on their careers. Rahul was earlier quizzed extensively by a team of the Mumbai Police. He was later hospitalised after he complained of chest pain and breathlessness. The 24-year-old former 'Balika Vadhu' actress was found dead at her home on April 1 in a suspected case of suicide due to stress in her relationship with boyfriend Rahul. (ANI) The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) would return to power in the May 16 Assembly Election in Kerala, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claimed today. Participating in the face-to-face programme of the press club here, Mr Balakrishnan said ''the result in the election would repeat the 2006 election as the LDF then had won 96 seats and this time the front would win more than that.'' The LDF would capture a historical victory in the 2016 election and its main slogan would be 'protection of secular credential' and it would try to make Kerala as a 'corruption-free' state. Since the BJP-led NDA government is at the centre, the election had relevance in the state, as the party was trying a futile attempt to bloom a lotus in this election. However, the people in the state would reject the challenges of the BJP and reject their candidates in the poll, he said adding that the responsibility of the LDF was to check all their efforts in this regard. Alleging that the five-year rule of the Congress-led UDF was a 'total failure and a curse to the society', Mr Balakrishnan alleged that the UDF government was involved in corruption with its 18 ministers, including the Chief Minister were part of it. Though the UDF government came to power with the announcement of the overall development of the state, it did nothing, except taking up the projects started by the previous LDF government he charged. The CPI(M) state secretary also claimed that if the LDF came to power, all steps should be taken to maintain law and order in the state and exhorted its party carders not to involve in any kind of clashes. He also said that the LDF had lodged a complaint with the Election Commission that there was wide-spread anomalies taking place with the connivance of the UDF government by adding names in the voters list. Stating the election manifesto of the LDF will be released before April 22 and present it before the public, he said the LDF would ascertain the public opinion and would incorporate their views in it.. Replying to a question, he said that the LDF government if voted to power, would peruse the Solar commission report and take appropriate action. Charging that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and BJP president Kummanam Rajasekharan had entered an 'unholy' alliance for the election, Mr Balakrishnan said as per the ''secret pact'' both parties will help each other in Thiruvananthapuram in favour of Congress candidate Sivakumar and BJP leader O Rajagopal in Nemom Assembly Constituency.UNI CGV cs 1345 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-670302.Xml Though CPI-M in Tripura did not officially react to the comment, yet a state leader of the party expressed displeasure over the Governor's comment and said it showed Mr Roy was not neutral in politics, adding "he is thus not fit for the post of Governor anymore". "A dead horse like Marxism can't be flogged back to life..,..It's not for no reason that the USSR folded up and China took Deng's free-enterprise route," Mr Roy had tweeted yesterday. However, he did not explain the statement. ''The tweet is absolutely my personal view and belief..,..One cannot read it between the lines, '' Mr Roy said. The Governor's latest tweet had embarrassed the CPM led Left Front government, although he had heaped praise on the government's activities in his budget speech. Earlier in July last year, the Governor had hit the headlines by tweeting on Mumbai blasts 1993 convict Yukub Memon. Soon after appointment of Mr Roy as the Governor of the state, CPM state secretary Bijan Dhar had made controversial comment,''The party will give befitting reply if he (Tathagata Roy) does anything unconstitutional.'' In his reply, the Governor had said, "My political ideology will no way come in the way of discharging constitutional duties."UNI BB KK PR SS -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0212-670138.Xml Expedia, one of the world's largest online travel company, announced the appointment of Simon Fiquet as General Manager for South East Asia and India.As a part of APAC management team, Fiquet will be responsible for expanding the brand's footprint, P&L and strategic business direction for Expedia brand across 7 point of sales. Based out of Singapore, he will manage operational execution, introduction of innovative products and the overall business results for Expedia. Hewill report to Jonathon Neal, CEO, AirAsiaExpedia.Fiquet brings with him a rich and versatile experience from travel industry, having headed the APAC team for Google Travel. His key responsibilities at Google included P&L, sales, team building and driving partnerships with largest travel companies across online travel agents, hotel chains, airlines, tourism boards & meta-searchengines. He has been an active speaker at various leading travel conferences including Asia Leaders EyeForTravel (2015), HICAP update (2015), Travel Distribution Summit (2014), Web In Travel (2014),WTTC Asia (2013) and UNWTO Asia (2013). Prior to this, he worked in various Sales positions in Europe for Google and as a strategy consultant for Mars&Co.Commenting on his new assignment, Simon said, ''I am very excited to be a part of Expedia, which is extremely well positioned to accelerate its development in this part of Asia. With their unique set of dynamic demographic shifts, technology disruption and passion for travel, South East Asia and India currently offer tremendousbusiness opportunities for the brand.'' Simon Fiquet holds an Electrical Engineering degree (Electrical & Aerospace Engineering) from the University de Montral - cole Polytechnique de Montral and a Masters of Applied Science from the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, the most prestigious educational institution in France.UNI JS SM1419 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-670400.Xml The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Wednesday issued notices to Civil Aviation Ministry secretary and Airports Authority of India chairman on a complaint that the Chennai Airport despite having been modernized in 2012 has witnessed 61 incidents of glass fall in recent times, endangering safety of travelers, without any substantive action taken by the concerned authorities. Justice D. Murugesan, a member of the NHRC, has observed that providing safety and security to the passengers is one of the cardinal duties of the Airline operators and also of the Airport Authorities. Further, the quality and standard of construction of the Airports should be as per the required safety standards. He said, "Despite 61 incidents of glass fall, the authorities appear to have not paid heed to the safety concerns of the people. If the allegations leveled are true, the matter needs to be inquired into." According to the complaint received by the Commission on April 4, , the Chennai Airport was fully modernized in 2012 and within six months of the renovation, the ceiling of the terminal had fallen down, which continued to happen. Due to this, there is a continuous fear amongst travelers, employees etc. The quality of construction at the Chennai Airport and its sustainability is questionable. (ANI) Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Brij Behari Lal Butil was today rushed to the Hospital soon-after he joined the House proceeding, as he was unable to conduct the house. As he began the proceeding he stood on his seat and urged the house that two more days of session remain and they be attended. Speaker repeated the same words many times and latter sat on his seat. Gulab Singh Thakur BJP member from Jogindernagar said Opposition would join the question hour from the day. Replying to the query of Mr Thakur Health Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said Speaker seems not feeling good should be hand over the chair to deputy speaker Jagat Singh Negi to conduct the proceeding and he should take rest. Later, the Speaker once again told member that they should join house proceeding and left for his chamber. Mr Butil was assisted by the Assembly Marshals,Vidhan Sabha Secretary Sunder Lal and others. Later he was rushed to Indra Gandhi Medical College hospital in the Vidhan Sabha vehicle. Proceeding of the Assembly continued, thereafter. State Assembly witnessed seven walkout by the opposition BJP after the session break since Mar 28. Member of BJP legislative party met the Speaker this morning however, it was not confirmed what have transacted inside his chamber. Talking to UNI, Senior Medical Officer of IGMC Ramesh Chand said condition of Speaker was out of danger and stable. UNI ML PR VN1425 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0059-670388.Xml Music maestro A R Rahman today announced that his live show at Colomboin Sri Lanka scheduled for April 23 has beenpostponed following protests. Posters were seen pasted near his residence by some tamil organisations objecting to hislive show. Following this, Rahman has postponed theevent. The music composer recently performed threeback-to-back shows in Chennai and for the first time in Madurai and Coimbatore. The grand show in Colombo was to witness Rahman and 19 of India's best male and female artists on one stage, for the first time in Sri Lanka. In the past few days, posters were put up outside the Chennai residence of Rahman, asking him how he could shake hands withthe government which was accused of killing Tamils. Sources close to Rahman said the show was only postponed due to local holidays, because of which there were administrative and logistical difficulties. Rahman has announced his next concert in Malaysia on May four.UNI XR-GV ADB1449 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-670442.Xml India has taken up with China, the issue of the country vetoing a move by UNSC to declare Pakistan-based Jaishe-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar as terrorist, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said here today.India considers Masood Azhar as the mastermind behind the Pathakot terror attack of January 2, which claimed the life of seven security personnel.''We have taken it up with China at a fairly high level, and we will pursue it in the UN context,'' Mr Jaishankar said here, while answering a question after his remarks at the launch of The India Centre of Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.The Foreign Secretary, however, said the issue would not affect the engagement between the two countries in other areas.India had approached the UN in February to include Azhar in the UN Security Council's 1267 sanctions list, but China, which has by rotation taken up the chairmanship of the UNSC, asked the Body to hold the move. It later justified its action, arguing that the JeM chief did not qualify the definition of a terrorist.New Delhi had earlier expressed great disappointment over the Chinese action.''We are disappointed that a technical hold has been put on India's application to designate terror leader Mohamad Masood Azhar in the UN Security Council,'' the Ministry of External Affairs had said in statement last week.The MEA said it found it incomprehensible that while the Pakistan-based JeM was listed in UN Security Council Committee established under UNSCR 1267/1989/2253 as far back as 2001 for its well known terror activities and links to the Al Qaeda, the designation of the group's main leader, financier and motivator has been put on a technical hold. ''The recent terror attack in Pathankot on January 2 has shown that India continues to bear the dangerous consequences of not listing Masood Azhar. Given the global networking of terrorist groups, this has implications for the entire international community,'' the statement had saidUNI NAZ RJ SW 1725 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-670753.Xml Police Superintendent Pankaj Kumar Raj said here that acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted at a hideout under Parsa police station area, leading to arrest of two hardcore maoists Mukesh Sahni and Vakil Sahni from there. "Both the Maoists had recently demanded Rs 25 lakhs as extortion from a businessman", Mr Raj said adding that their cellphone numbers were kept under surveillance following receipt of complaint against them. On the basis of the tracking of cellphone numbers, both the maoists were arrested, he said adding that they were being interrogated in this connection. UNI XC-KKS SW VN1735 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-670742.Xml "The fishermen were released, sans their fishing vessels after being formally produced in Judicial Magistrate Courts (JM) at Puttalam, Mannar, Mallakam and Kaytes," said U.Arulanandam, President of Alliance for Release of Innocent Fishermen (ARIF), here. The Indian High Commission officials in Colombo were making arrangements for the repatriation of all the 99 released fishermen to their native places in a couple of days, he said. Based on the release order issued by Sri Lankan government in a goodwill gesture, 49 fishermen from Ramanathapuram district, 20 fishermen from Tuticorin district, 19 fishermen from Pudukottai district, 8 fishermen from Nagapattinam district and 3 fishermen from Thanjavur district in Tamil Nadu were freed by the Lankan courts. The fishermen were detained by Sri Lankan Naval forces during the past three months. However, 94 Indian fishing vessels impounded by Srilankan authorities were not released. Four fishermen hailing from Rameswaram, who were arrested on Monday last were not released by Sri Lankan government as the quartet have been remanded in judicial custody till April 19. It may be noted that the fishermen associations have set a deadline to the Centre seeking the release of all the arrested fishermen along with impounded boats from Sri Lanka by April 15, failing which they threatened to stage massive protest and boycott the May 16 assembly election in the state.UNI GSM CS 1848 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-670942.Xml Police said the fire was first seen around 1145 hrs on the second floor of ERTL(E) building at DN Block area. As many as 16 fire engines along with hydraulic ladders and Disaster Management Group (DMG) personnels rushed to spot to douse the flames Police force from Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate also rushed to the spot. Firefighters doused the massive blaze in two hours. Two engines, however, are being involved now in cooling off process, which could take more few hours, a senior fire official said. Water foam is also being used to bring the fire under control, he said. However, no casualty was reported in the incident. According to fire officials, the fire might have started due to short circuit. West Bengal Fire and Emergency Services department has started investigation into the matter to know the exact reason behind the fire. Meanwhile, another minor fire broke out in a colour-factory in Patipukur area in North Kolkata. As many as five fire tender engines have rushed to the scene and firemen are fighting to bring the blaze under control. However no casualty has been reported so far in this incident.UNI BM CJ SW AN1823 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-670892.Xml The owner of the factory, suffered injury was admitted to a hospital where he was recovering. Police said some 20 to 22 workers, who were inside the tin-shade factory, managed to flee before the shade collapsed in the inferno. Eight firefighting engines had been pressed to douse the flames. The firemen used ladders and foam to combat the flames. The factory located at Canal South Road in east Kolkata under Beliaghata area where cluster of small-size factories situated. The fire brigade personnel said they were yet to ascertain the causes of fire, which sparked following stacked of plastic goods in the factory. The factory was primarily of ceiling fan unit.UNI PC BM SW AN1818 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-670903.Xml Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Rahul Sinha today dared West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ask the CBI to probe into the matter of two policemen trying to bribe him against helping them to smuggle out cattle heads to Bangladesh. After appearing to the Special Branch (SB) office, which is probing the case, Mr Sinha told reporters, "He has no faith with the Kolkata police investigation." "I know the police commissioner ( Rajiv Kumar) has no authority to come out with a real conclusion. Despite I went to SB office just to cooperate with the investigation." Mr Sinha, the former BJP state president and party candidate for Jorasanko assembly seat said. "I did not go to ask punishment for the two policemen," Mr Sinha reiterated. "I firmly believe that the police commissioner after getting an order from the Chief Minister sent two policemen to have sting operation against me after the Naradha News sting revelation that many Trinamool leaders and MPs are involved in bribery cases." Mr Sinha said, " If she ( Mamata Banerjee) has honesty and credibility then let her ask the CBI to probe the matter," Mr Sinha said. Two Kolkata policemen, ASI Subhasish Raychaudhuri and Constable Aminul Rahaman of SB, have been suspended for trying to bribe Mr Sinha at BJP headquarters on March 28. Mr Sinha with the help of party workers caught hold the two personnel and handed over to the Jorasanko police station. He said the botch sting operation was an effort to trap the BJP and him in a scandal to defame them. The BJP national secretary alleged the two policemen had tried to bribe him into helping them illegally transport cows across the India-Bangladesh border.UNI PC BM SW SB AN1913 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-671012.Xml Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah tonight expressed his condolences at the passing away of Kamla Advani, wife of senior BJP leader LK Advani, who breathed her last at AIIMS in National Capital this afternoon. In his condolence message, the Governor said, "I am deeply shocked and grieved to hear about the sudden demise of your beloved wife Kamla Advani.'' ''She was known for her simplicity and humility and had been a source of inspiration to many in the field of social service. May God give you strength to bear this irreparable loss.'' ''I convey my sincere condolences to you and to the bereaved members of the family and pray to God to rest her soul in peace." UNI CS 2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-671310.Xml Crime Branch sleuths in Chhattisgarh have busted a 16-member Tiruchirappalli gang of robbers allegedly involved in over 200 cases of bank and other robberies across the country. The gang members, including its kingpin S Shakti, were nabbed by a special team, led by Dhamtari Superintendent of Police Manish Sharma, at Bilaspur Railway Station yesterday while travelling in the Howrah-Mumbai Mail. According to Inspector General of Police (Raipur Range) GP Singh and Dhamtari Superintendent of Police Manish Sharma, police recovered Rs16 lakh in cash from then possession, and interrogation of the all-Tiruchirappalli gang was underway. During preliminary interrogation in the state capital, the gang admitted to have committed over 200 robberies -- mostly in nationalised banks and railway stations -- in major cities of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, the IGP said. A fortnight ago, the Chhattisgarh police constituted a special team led by SP Manish Sharma after the gang looted Rs 10 lakh from the cash counter at the Sihawa branch of Bank Baroda in Dhamtari district on March 14. After identifying a few members of the gang from the CCTV footage of the Sihawa bank robbery, police raided several places in Visakhapatnam, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengalbefore finally nabbing the gang in the Mumbai-bound mail at Bilaspur, the sources said, adding that the gang was returning to Mumbai after committing robberies in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and Siliguri in West Bengal. The 52-year-old mastermind Shakti, a resident of Ramji Nagar in Tiruchirappalli district, was found to be a 'crorepati' having three houses, huge jewellery and 30 acre of land worth Rs 16 crores. Investigations further revealed that the gang invested most of its earnings in buying property in the name of its members. Shakti, who has got criminal record since 2002, was absconding for the last nine years in connection with several pending cases in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West bengal, Andhra Pradesh and other states. Mr Singh announced a reward of Rs.30,000 for the special crime branch team for busting the Trichy-based gang.UNI SS BDG SW SB RAI2000 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-671145.Xml Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that 32,000 police personnel were recruited in the state during last five years and another 14,000 personnel would be recruited during the coming years. Addressing 69th passing out ceremony of new constables at Police Training College at Indore today the Chief Minister said that police stations are also being modernised in the state while efforts are underway to provide better facilities to police personnel, an official release said. The Chief Minister said that constant efforts are being made to maintain efficient law and order arrangements in Madhya Pradesh. Excellent work has been done in the state to eradicate dacoits. Naxalite and terrorist activities have also been effectively curbed. Congratulating new constables, he exhorted them to maintain glorious traditions of Madhya Pradesh police. He advised them to consider their service as mission. Special attention is being paid to women's security in Madhya Pradesh. He said that it has been decided to give 33 per cent reservation to women in police recruitment. A number of important decisions regarding police personnel's houses are also being implemented. He exhorted police personnel to pay special attention to Yoga and Dhyan for concentration and inner peace. These practices will also make them physically stronger.UNI BDG SB AS1952 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-671206.Xml The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has launched its services to provide fee payment facilities to foreign applicants seeking admissions in various engineering courses in the country. J&K Bank spokesperson Sajjad Bazaz said the bank entered into an agreement with National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar for providing fee payment facilities to foreign applicants seeking admissions in various engineering courses within the country under the Direct Admission of Students Abroad (DASA 2016) through its International Internet Payment Gateway besides SWIFT mode. "The agreement was signed by the bank's Vice President Tabassum Nazir and Registrar NIT Professor Fayaz Ahmad Mir at the institute's Srinagar campus," he said. He said for the year 2016-17, NIT Srinagar is the nodal institute responsible for all the admissions across India. "The bank continues to meet the growing needs of its clientele including students through its specific range of products besides secure and swift banking facilities. In this regard becoming an exclusive banker with NIT Srinagar, under prestigious central government program (DASA-2016), is a matter of privilege for us and we shall provide complete support for success of the program," Mr Nazir said. DASA is a programme of Union Ministry of Human Resources under which Non Resident Indian (NRI) and foreign students are admitted to various graduate and post graduate engineering courses offered by all the NITs across the country, various premier Institutes of Information Technologies (IITs), Schools of Planning and Architecture (SPAs), some Central Universities and various other leading institutes of the country.UNI BAS QAB SW SB VN1938 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-671111.Xml Addressing media here Mr Katheria said 23 yrs rule of left front government under Chief Minister Manik Sarkar the pace of development was very low compared to other states. "Central government headed by Narendra Modi has been given highest priority to bring Northeast at par with other states and region in the country. In last 21 months, northeast has given a best ever support in all aspects for development like connectivity, infrastructure and entrepreneurship development," he said. He however, alleged that law and order situation of left ruled Tripura has been deteriorating day by day and Mr Sarkar doesn't have any morale to remain in power. The status of women, tribal and schedule caste communities were appeared to be deplorable in Tripura. In a daylong visit, Mr Katheria went to National Institute of Technology, Agartala and Tripura University and addressed the teachers and students where he advised the respective administration to be prompt and pro-active for ensuring quality education.UNI BB BM AY SB PM1934 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-671078.Xml The daughter-in-law of BSP Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Kashyap was today found dead under mysterious circumstances in Ghaziabad, police said. According to police, 29-year-old Himani was found dead in a bathroom of their residence in Sanjay Nagar, Ghaziabad around 1030 hrs. Police said the family members rushed the victim, who was bleeding, to the hospital with gunshot injuries on her head, where the hospital authorities declared her brought dead. The police reached the hospital after getting information from other sources. Kashyap's elder son Sagar married Himani three years ago. She was the daughter of former Uttar Pradesh Minister Hira Lal Kashyap and had a year-old son. Police sources said Sagar told the police that she committed suicide using his licensed pistol. On the other side, the victim's father said, ''They used to demand dowry such as car and jewellery and killed her intentionally. My daughter wanted to come back home. We will file case against them." Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Narendra Kashyap said that all allegations levelled against him were baseless. "We did not demand any dowry during my son's wedding. If we had demanded any money, how come there has been no complaint during the past two years," he said. "My daughter comes from an honest family. What happened is unfortunate. If Hiralal ji has any doubts, I am ready to demand CBI probe," he added. Further investigation was on to find out whether it was a case of suicide or murder. Prima facie it was a case of suicide, police said, adding the body has been sent for post-mortem.UNI SM SB 2110 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0271-671396.Xml Senior Samajwadi Party leader and PWD Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav is all set to contest the next Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh from Etah district. Presently, the younger brother of Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, is an MLA from Jaswant Nagar seat of Etawah district, the traditional seat of the Yadav family, which was earlier held for several terms by the Samajwadi Party chief.Party sources said the move has been prompted by the concern over the intense factionalism in the district unit of the party. SP had won all four seats in the district in 2012. Etah is regarded as the core influence area of Samajwadi Party, besides Etawah, Aurriyya, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Ferozabad.SP sources said the party could retain all four seats in the districts, only if it can curb the internecine within the party. The only remedy for putting the house in order in the district is to field a heavyweight from the first family of the party in the district. Ramesh Yadav, who was recently elected as the chairman of the State Legislative council, is also from Etah district.A senior Samajwadi party leader said ''Etah district is like Azamgarh and Jaunpur for the party, where the senior party leaders from the Yadav community are not on the same page and all want to maintain their respective dominance in the districts. SP won the 2014 Parliament election from Azamgarh only because Mulayam Singh Yadav had contested and same will happen in Etah, if Shivpal Yadav takes the plunge in the district''.Party sources said the entry of Mr Shivpal in Etah district will, moreover, serve several purposes for the party. ''Shivpal Yadav is in search of a safe seat for 2017 elections as his son Aditya is likely to contest from the Jaswant Nagar seat. The other reason is that Etah district as pocket borough of the party will be protected as the warring factions will fall in line, if Shivpal Yadav contests from the district,'' said a senior party leader.Etah is also considered as the 'second home' for the first family of SP. Mr Mulayam had contested and won from the Nidhauli Kalan seat in 1993. Mr Ramesh, a confidant of Mr Mulayam and Legislative Council Chairman, had also contested from this seat in 1985 and won.Ram Naresh Yadav, present Governor of Madhya Pradesh and a former chief minister, had also contested from the Nidhauli Kalan seat in 1977 as Janata party candidate and won the election.SP today announced two more candidates for the next year's Assembly polls, while changing candidates in four seats. SP has already announced candidates for 145 seats out of the total 403 Assembly seats, so far.According to party sources, Umashanker Patwa will be the party candidate from Basti sadar seat, while Dr Roli Mishra will be the candidate from Agra south seat.The party leadership has also changed earlier announced candidates in four seats. The party has withdrawn ticket given to Samarjeet Singh from Bindki seat in Fatehpur district, but no new nominee has been announced so far.In Fatehpur district, Rita Prajapati will replace Daljit Nishad from Ayyahshah Assembly seat, while Vinod Paswan will be the new candidate from Khaga (reserved) seat in the same district, replacing Omprakash Gihar. SP sources said Kamal Singh Maurya will be the new candidate, replacing Devraj Gupta from Banda Sadar seat.UNI MB RJ 2011 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-671167.Xml Raising a point of propriety in the Assembly, NCP leader Jayant Patil asked, ''Why the state government has not arrested BJP youth leader Ganesh Pande as yet?'' He demanded that Speaker Haribhau Bagde should direct the government to take action as per Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' assurance to the House last week. Varsh Gaikwad of Congress reminded that the Chief Minister had said that police would take action against Pande, but he is roaming free. All the women members of opposition wanted to speak on the issue and rushed to the well of the House. Mr Patil said that Pande has a history of crime as he was allegedly involved in underworld. To which, the Speaker said that if government has given an assurance, then action would be taken against Pande.UNI XR SS SB AS2052 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-671294.Xml Leader of the opposition in the state assembly and former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren today accused Chief Minister Raghubar Das and his government of speaking lies and misleading the people over the issue of domicile. Addressing the media at his Khijuria residence here, he said the state government was deliberately delaying the announcement of the policy. "After coming into power, the Chief Minister has every time changed his statements on the issue of domicile," he said adding that the government was misleading the people and making false statements. Mr Soren said his government remained in power for another three-four months, the domicile policy would have been announced. His party was not against development but would not allow the acquisition of land of the farmers instead the government should take the land from lease, the leader added. "The JMM is ready to fight for the cause of farmers," he said adding that the government wants to make the farmers landless just by paying few rupees. He said that the people of the state are being even denied category fourth jobs. The outsiders are even bagging jobs in the fourth class categories which is very unfortunate, Mr Soren said adding that people sitting on higher positions in the state should stop praising other states. Over the upcoming by-polls to the Godda Assembly seat, he said the party would be fielding its candidate on the seat and hoped that the victory of JMM would take place. UNI XC-AK AKM SB AS2053 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-671313.Xml Bihar BJP today created a row by attacking the Nitish Kumar government for exempting Army canteens from the perview of complete prohibition which came into force yesterday. Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi asked the state government to explain how it would enforce complete prohibition in the state when it had not not imposed ban on sale of liquor through Army canteens. "The state government went into self-congratulatory mode for enforcing complete prohibition in the state but at the same time it exempted Army canteens from it," he added. "How the government would ensure that the liquor being sold through army canteens did not reach influential people who are otherwise not entitled to consume it. It is doubtful whether the government would be able to enforce the complete prohibition in the state successfully," he remarked.MORE UNI DH BM SB AS2142 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-671418.Xml President sends birthday message to British monarch as Prince Andrew visits China President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message on Tuesday to Britain's Queen Elizabeth, the country's longest-reigning monarch, who is due to celebrate her 90th birthday this month. The president gave his message to Prince Andrew, the queen's second son, who is visiting China. "I understand that ... the United Kingdom will soon be celebrating the 90th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and also the 95th... of his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh," Xi said when he met the prince at the Great Hall of the People. "So ... I'd like to send my birthday greetings. I'd like to wish them good health and longevity," Xi said. Prince Andrew said that Britain expects to push forward people-to-people exchanges and tangible cooperation with China to fully realize a golden era. The prince has close links with China. The Chinese embassy in the UK said on its website that he had dinner at the embassy on Feb 8, the first day of Spring Festival. Tian Dewen, a researcher of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "The visit of the prince reflects the closeness between Beijing and London, as royal family diplomacy is an important part of British diplomacy." Prince Andrew, who passed on good wishes from the queen to Xi, is the first British royal family member to visit China since Xi visited Britain in October. It was the first visit to Britain by a Chinese head of state for a decade. Xi and first lady Peng Liyuan were received by the royal family with an impressive show of hospitality. Prince Andrew accompanied Xi to six events during his visit. In describing the high-level reception that Xi received, UK media used terms such as "most grand" and "private and sincere". Signings of deals worth nearly 40 billion pounds ($62 billion) were witnessed during the trip, including an agreement to\build a nuclear power plant in southwestern England. The two nations also issued a joint declaration on building a "global comprehensive strategic partnership for the 21st century". The visit was seen by observers as having opened a golden era in the key relationship. Britain hopes to establish China as its second-biggest trading partner within 10 years. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn He made this appeal on occasion of 36th foundation day of BJP today, when he hoisted the party's flag at BJP office here. State Women's Commission chief Vijaya Rahatkar, Sangtahnmantri Bhaurao Deshmukh, city MLA Atul Save, deputy mayor Pramod Rathod, Standing Committee chairman Dilip Thorat along with the womenactivists and elected corporators as well as office-bearers were present on the occasion. A blood donation camp was held in party office at five different localities of the city, where more than 200 party activists and others donated blood.UNI VKB SS SB AS2213 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-671447.Xml Mr Kumar called on Mr Prasad at his residence and stated to have discussed ways to effectively execute the total prohibition with co-operation of parties in grand alliance. Mr Prashant Kishore, the advisor to chief minister on execution of seven resolves of the state government on mission mode, was also present during the meeting. There was, however, no formal briefing from any leader on the meeting but sources close to them said that both the leaders also discussed assembly elections to be held in some states including Uttar Pradesh and Assam.UNI KKS BM SB AS2212 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0214-671431.Xml Cameron in a phone call on Tuesday welcomed the start Greece had made to returning migrants to Turkey under the agreement, Xinhua cited a Downing Street spokesperson as saying. Cameron also reiterated the importance of "breaking the link between people making the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean and securing settlement in Europe." Tsipras said that the flow of migrants had reduced substantially, and expressed gratitude for the British contribution of personnel and expertise to help implement the agreement, according to Downing Street. Cameron confirmed that additional British personnel would be offered to Greece over the coming weeks as support. The two leaders also touched on the continuing negotiations between Greece, the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the review of Greece's programme. They agreed that "it was in the interests of all parties to bring this to a timely conclusion," said the Downing Street spokesperson. --Indo-Asian News Service py/ ( 190 Words) 2016-04-06-08:53:31 (IANS) Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a far-reaching law allowing people with religious objections to deny wedding services to same-sex couples and protecting other actions considered discriminatory by gay rights activists.The measure also clears the way for employers to cite religion in determining workplace policies on dress code, grooming and bathroom and locker access, drawing criticism from civil rights leaders.Bryant, a Republican, said in a statement yesterday he signed the law "to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government."Mississippi is the latest state drawing national protest for a law seen as anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). North Carolina recently barred transgender people from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.Tennessee is considering similar legislation related to school bathrooms, and civil rights groups are watching a Missouri measure seen as discriminatory. Last week, the governors of Georgia and Virginia vetoed "religious liberty" bills.The latest wave of measures, pushed by social conservatives, came after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that legalized same-sex marriage.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) criticized the Mississippi law, which is expected to take effect in July."This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousands of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licenses, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are," said Jennifer Riley-Collins, executive director of the ACLU of Mississippi, in a statement.New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responded by banning all non-essential state travel to Mississippi."We will continue to reject the politics of division and exclusion. This Mississippi law is a sad, hateful injustice," Cuomo said in a statement.The ACLU, which is involved in a federal lawsuit challenging the North Carolina law, said it was considering its next steps in Mississippi.Major U.S. companies have pushed back against such legislation, with the North Carolina law opposed by Apple Inc , Twitter Inc, Alphabet Inc and others.On Tuesday, PayPal Holdings Inc canceled plans to open a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina and invest 3.6 million dollar locally.In Mississippi, critics included large employers such as Nissan North America and MGM Resorts International.Still, nearly two-thirds of Mississippi voters supported the law, according to a poll highlighted on Tuesday by the Family Research Council, an influential Christian lobbying group.REUTERS KU 0440 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0348-669963.Xml Top Zika investigators now believe that the birth defect microcephaly and the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome may be just the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus.Fueling that suspicion are recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - including encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika.Evidence that Zika's damage may be more varied and widespread than initially believed adds pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive - and, in some cases, lifelong - care to more patients. The newly suspected disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability - a clinical outlook that adds urgency to vaccine development efforts.Scientists are of two minds about why these new maladies have come into view. The first is that, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote and sparsely populated areas. The second is that the newly detected disorders are more evidence that the virus has evolved."What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain," said Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.The Zika outbreak was first detected in Brazil last year and is spreading through the Americas. It has been linked to thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly, a typically rare birth defect marked by unusually small head size, signaling a problem with brain development. Evidence linking Zika to microcephaly prompted the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency in February.The suspicion that Zika acts directly on nerve cells began with autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showing the virus replicating in brain tissues. In addition to microcephaly, researchers reported finding other abnormalities linked with Zika including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and injury to the central nervous system.Doctors also are worried that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects, such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, that are not apparent at birth."If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand," said Dr Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico.First discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947, the virus circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and producing mild symptoms. A 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia, the largest at that time, led researchers to make the Guillain-Barre link. Other neurological effects were noted but scientists made little of them at the time.A rare and poorly understood condition, Guillain-Barre can weaken muscles and cause temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to need respirators to breathe.An estimated 32,000 people in the French Polynesia Zika outbreak were infected, and 42 patients were confirmed to have Guillain-Barre, a 20-fold increase in incidence over the previous four years, the WHO reported. Another 32 patients had other neurological disorders, including encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis.Guillain-Barre is an autoimmune disorder, in which the body attacks itself in the aftermath of an infection. But the newly discovered brain and spinal cord infections are known to be caused by a different mechanism - a direct attack on nerve cells. That has prompted scientists to consider whether the Zika virus also may infect nerves directly in adults, as they already have suspected in fetuses.In medical journals published last month, doctors described neurological syndromes in two patients that they attributed to Zika. Doctors in Paris diagnosed meningoencephalitis, an infection of both the brain and spinal cord, in an 81-year-old man who was hospitalized after being exposed to Zika on a cruise.Another French team reported acute myelitis, a paralyzing infection of the spinal cord, in a 15-year-old girl who had been infected with Zika on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe.In its latest surveillance report, the WHO said the two cases "highlight the need to better understand the range of neurological disorders associated with Zika-virus infection."Other mosquito-borne viruses - including dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile - are known to directly infect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. But such viruses are seldom associated with Guillain-Barre, and never with microcephaly, said Baylor's Hotez.POSSIBLE EVOLUTIONIn a recent paper, WHO researcher Mary Kay Kindhauser wrote that Zika "appears to have changed in character," noting its transition from a mild infection to one causing "large outbreaks linked with neurological disorders."Scientists studying Zika in Brazil now are reporting the same neurological disorders seen in French Polynesia. From April through July 2015, doctors in Brazil identified a spike in Guillain-Barre cases.In Salvador, there were roughly 50 reported cases of Guillain-Barre in July alone, far more than would typically be expected, Dr. Albert Ko, a tropical disease expert from Yale University who is studying Zika in the coastal city of Salvador, recently told a research symposium."Throughout Brazil, doctors have seen strange, atypical, neurological manifestations," Ko said told the symposium.Zika exposed patients have had other neurological problems as well, including acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which causes inflammation of the myelin, the protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Other patients experienced tingling, prickling or burning sensations, which are often markers of peripheral nerve damage.In addition to Brazil and French Polynesia, at least 11 more countries and territories have reported hundreds of cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome linked to Zika. In Brazil, Guillain-Barre cases jumped 19 percent to 1,708 last year.El Salvador, a country that has an annual average of 196 cases of Guillain-Barre, reported 118 cases in six weeks in December and January.Zika's arrival in Colombia in October 2015 was associated with another increase in Guillain-Barre cases. The country typically reports 242 cases of the syndrome a year, or about five a week. But in the five weeks starting in mid-December, Colombia reported 86 cases of Guillain-Barre, or about 17 a week.Dr Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is studying Zika complications with colleagues in five Colombian research centers. They have seen cases of encephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis associated with Zika and want to understand what is triggering these complications.They also want to study whether prior infection with dengue or chikungunya - two related viruses - are contributing to neurological disorders seen in patients with Zika.Scientists are turning their attention next to Puerto Rico, where Zika is expected to infect hundreds of thousands of residents by year-end.More cases hold the potential for "a better sense of the full spectrum of disease that Zika is capable of causing," said Dr Amesh Adalja of the Center for Health Security at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.REUTERS PS PR1055 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0421-670083.Xml The Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) in its first analysis report about the identity of suspected suicide bomber indicated that the Khorasani Group, an offshoot of the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was behind the Gulshan-i-Iqbal Park attack in Lahore last month. At least 70 people were killed and over 300 injured in a powerful bomb blast near the park for the Easter holiday. The Khorasani Group is said to be most notorious one, since it has leanings towards the Iraq and Syria-based Islamic State (IS) militant group. The PFSA was engaged by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) after a damaged head of the suspected suicide bomber was found at the blast site. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan had after the blast shared a photo of the alleged bomber, claiming responsibility of the attack. The Counter Terrorism Department had sent the photo to the PFSA for a detailed comparative analysis to reach a conclusion and the analysis was done using forensic image analysis tools and software. "After performing morphological analysis for forensic image comparison it was concluded that the "ear" seen in the questioned photo matches with the "ear" seen in the reference photo", the Dawn quoted the Punjab Forensic Science Agency report, as saying. The report added, "The forensic image comparison was inconclusive for other facial features due to extremely damaged condition of facial features in the questioned photograph". The analysis was conducted according to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the agency's audio visual analysis department. Meanwhile, a senior police official who was privy to the investigation said the image analysis by the agency helped the detectives to trace the terrorist's network, report Dawn. He, however ruled that police would not rule out other options till the completion of the investigations. (ANI) A Philippine senator said today that Chinese hackers were likely to have pulled off one of the world's biggest cyber heists at the Bangladesh central bank, citing the network of Chinese people involved in the routing of the stolen funds through Manila.Unidentified hackers infiltrated the computers at Bangladesh Bank in early February and tried to transfer a total of $951 million from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.All but one of the 35 attempted transfers were to the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), confirming the Philippines' centrality to the heist.Most transfers were blocked, but a total of $81 million went to four accounts at a single RCBC branch in Manila. The stolen money was swiftly transferred to a foreign exchange broker and distributed to casinos and gambling agents in Manila."The hacking was done, chances are, by Chinese hackers," Senator Ralph Recto told Reuters in a telephone interview. "Then they saw that, in the Philippines, RCBC particularly was vulnerable and sent the money over here."Beijing was quick to denounce the comments by Recto, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and a former head of the Philippines' economic planning agency.The suggestion that Chinese hackers were possibly involved was "complete nonsense" and "really irresponsible," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang told reporters.Recto said he couldn't prove the hackers were Chinese, but was merely "connecting the dots" after a series of Senate hearings into the scandal.At one hearing, a Chinese casino boss and junket operator called Kim Wong named two high-rolling gamblers from Beijing and Macau who he said had brought the stolen money into the Philippines. He displayed purported copies of their passports, showing they were mainland Chinese and Macau administrative region nationals respectively."BEST LEAD"Wong, a native of Hong Kong who holds a Chinese passport, received almost $35 million of the stolen funds through his company and a foreign exchange broker.The two Chinese named by Wong "are the best lead to determine who are the hackers," said Recto. "Chances are... they must be Chinese."The whereabouts of the two high-rollers were unknown, Recto added, saying the Senate inquiry "may" seek help from the Chinese government to find them.Recto also questioned the role of casino junket operators in the Philippines, saying many of them have links in Macau, the southern Chinese territory that is the world's biggest casino hub. "There are junket operators who are from Macau, so it (the money) may find its way back to Macau," he said.A senior executive at a top junket operator in Macau told Reuters there was "no reason" to bring funds from the Philippines to Macau."This seems more like a political story in the Philippines," he said, speaking anonymously because he was not authorised to talk to the media.The U.S. State Department said in a report last month that the gaming industry was "a weak link" in the Philippines' anti-money laundering regime.Philrem, the foreign exchange agent, said it distributed the stolen $81 million to Bloomberry Resorts Corp, which owns and operates the upmarket Solaire casino in Manila; to Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company, which is owned by Wong; and to an ethnic Chinese man believed to be a junket operator in Manila.Wong has returned $5.5 million to the Philippines' anti-money laundering agency and has promised to hand over another $9.7 million. A portion of the money he received, he said, has already been spent on gambling chips for clients.Solaire has told the Senate hearing that the $29 million that ended up with them was credited to an account of the Macau-based high-roller but it has managed to seize and confiscate $2.33 million in chips and cashREUTERS CJ PM1528 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-670525.Xml Prime Minister David Cameron, his wife and their children will not benefit in future from any offshore funds or trusts, a spokesman said today as the British leader faced more questions over family tax affairs.Cameron's late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in leaked documents from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca which showed how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes.After having at first described it as a private matter, Cameron's office said that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present. Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds.But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday."There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future," a spokesman for Cameron said on Wednesday.Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion, particularly in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, but the opposition Labour Party have said the "Panama Papers" show the government has failed to tackle the issue.Labour lawmaker Wes Streeting, a member of parliament's Treasury Select Committee, told BBC Radio the latest statement from Cameron's office was welcome but there were still questions about whether he benefited from offshore funds in the past."The question will be when our prime minister says he is serious about tackling it (tax evasion) ... are we absolutely certain he doesn't have a vested interest? And if he does have a vested interest, will he be up-front with us about it?" he said.The Telegraph reported that Ian Cameron's fund moved its operations to Ireland in 2010, the year Cameron became prime minister, as the directors believed it was about to "come under more scrutiny".Asked whether the prime minister considered Ireland an offshore jurisdiction, his office repeated that Cameron had made clear he had no shares in any company and no offshore funds."STEAMING PILE OF CASH"The "Panama Papers" add to a difficult few weeks for Cameron in which one of his senior ministers resigned, his government was forced to drop a key element of its budget and he has faced accusations of failing to protect Britain's industrial sector after Tata Steel put its entire UK operations up for sale.Anthony Wells, a director at pollsters YouGov, said that while the Panama story may not be that damaging for Cameron, it has stopped his Conservatives focussing on their strengths ahead of local and regional elections next month.It has also diverted government attention away from a June 23 referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union."People already think Cameron is very posh, very rich and very out of touch. I expect most of the public probably assume he's got some huge steaming pile of cash stored away somewhere," he said."The Conservative Party could be talking about something where they are strong, like crime or the economy, where it would help them win votes. Instead they're not, they're talking about something that's really bad for them where Labour have something to say."Finance minister George Osborne, who also comes from a wealthy family, was asked whether he had any offshore funds."This Conservative government has done more than any Labour government or any previous government to tackle tax evasion, to tackle tax avoidance, to get money into the exchequer that is owed to the public," he responded.REUTERS CJ RAI1654 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-670741.Xml The first few days of the implementation of a deal between the European Union and Turkey aimed at stemming the flow of refugees to western Europe indicates that things are going in the right direction, a German government spokesman said today"We have not achieved everything yet but the first few days have shown that developments are heading in the right direction," Steffen Seibert told reporters at a regular government news conference.REUTERS CJ RAI1727 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-670833.Xml The United States and its allies conducted 23 strikes against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq today, the coalition leading the operations said.In a statement released today, the Combined Joint Task Force said four strikes near four cities in Syria hit tactical units and destroyed a mortar system, a fighting position and two vehicles.In Iraq, 19 strikes near eight cities struck several tactical units, a financial storage center and a headquaters and destroyed boats, vehicles, supply caches and a tunnel system, among other targets, the statement said.REUTERS CJ VN1820 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-670970.Xml Iran plans to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss new arrangements for the haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Iran's Tasnim news agency said today, the first official visit by either side since ties were severed in January.The pilgrimage was marred last September by a deadly crush that killed hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, which drove up tensions between the two powers.It comes this year with Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran still locked in a row that has fuelled sectarian tensions in the Middle East.The head of Iran's haj organisation, Saeed Ohadi, said Saudi authorities had invited Tehran to send a delegation to Riyadh on April 14 to discuss preparations for haj, which is expected to fall again in September this year.Ohadi told state news agency IRNA that the Iranian delegation members were still waiting for their visas and were expecting to meet the Saudi haj minister."The fate of this year's haj will be decided in this meeting," Ohadi said, according Tasnim news agency.Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for a comment.Saudi Arabia has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the crush last year, in which up to 2,070 people were believed to have been killed according to a Reuters tally, making it one of the deadliest haj disasters in recent memory.Saudi officials have stood by their official counts of 769 dead and 934 injured, figures that have not been updated since two days after the crush.Saudi King Salman ordered an investigation into the causes of the crush, which occurred as two groups of pilgrims converged at a crossroads in a tent city outside Mecca. But more than six months after the disaster, no findings have been published.Iranian officials have accused Riyadh of mishandling the response and complained of delays in repatriating the bodies of the 461 Iranian nationals who died in Mecca.The disaster exacerbated tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, as many of the pilgrims killed were Iranian. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after demonstrators angry at the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric attacked Saudi diplomatic missions.Saudi Arabia has also led Gulf Arab states to declare the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group, an ally of Iran, a terrorist organisation.Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, who is also the interior minister and head of the Supreme Haj Committee, vowed at a recent haj committee meeting to "firmly deal" with any attempt to undermine security at the pilgrimage, according to Saudi mediaREUTERS CJ PM1905 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0400-671119.Xml Russia today expressed its serious concern about the reported use of missiles with mustard gas by militants of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria."Units of the Syrian army supported by the Russian Aerospace Forces continue their uncompromising struggle against IS terrorists and Jabhat al-Nusra. To build up from the obvious success connected with the liberation of Palmyra on March 27 where Russian sappers began mine clearance, more than 1,500 explosive objects have been destroyed," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told journalists."These victories pave the way for the Syrian military to launch further offensive in the direction of the IS 'capital city' in Syria - the city of Raqqa - and Deir ez-Zor governorate," Zakharova said, adding that "Against this backdrop, terrorist are trying to reverse the situation at any cost." "Reports of the shelling of a military airfield in Deir ez-Zor with missiles stuffed with mustard gas by Islamic State gunmen cause extreme concern. We are convinced that such actions by terrorists must be strongly condemned," Zakharova said.UNI XC SHS 2014 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-671287.Xml The Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which visited India from March 27 to April 1 for investigating the allegations regarding the attack on Pathankot Airbase, briefed the NIA on progress of investigations in Pakistan, said a statement issued by the office of spokesperson of the Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday. It said the visit of the JIT to India, which took place in the context of the cooperative approach being pursued by the Government of Pakistan as part of its commitment to effectively fight terrorism in all its forms, started with a presentation given by the Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) regarding its investigations so far. Thereafter, the JIT visited the crime scene and also recorded the statements of some witnesses. However, the witnesses belonging to the Indian security forces were not produced before it, it said. Further investigations are underway. However, earlier a report published in Pakistan Today claimed that the JIT had concluded that the Pathankot terror attack was staged by India to spread "vicious propaganda" against Pakistan, is a total concoction. The Pakistan JIT is set to give its report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sources told Pakistan Today that the JIT has slammed India over its claims of a Pakistani hand in the attack, saying that New Delhi continues to expand its propaganda "without having any solid evidence to back the claim". The report also claims that the Indian Government did not cooperate with the JIT, but instead made efforts to hinder the probe. The JIT had examined 13 witnesses, including former Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh. Pakistani terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station in January this year, in which four attackers and two security forces personnel were killed in the gun battle, with an additional security force member dying from injuries hours later. (ANI) The leaders of Ireland's two main parties will discuss later today how to break a political deadlock that has left the country without a government nearly six weeks after an election.The meeting follows a parliamentary vote on Wednesday in which Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny failed for a second time, and as all sides had expected, to be re-elected as prime minister.It was only the third time lawmakers had met since the Feb. 26 election that saw Kenny's coalition ousted by voters angry at not benefiting from an economic recovery but produced no obvious successor.He will meet Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin later today. The two centre-right parties have few policy differences but have been bitter rivals for decades."I can't say that this will bring a conclusion with a government at the end of a week or 10 days, but I hope that the discussions that I hope to initiate this evening with Deputy Martin will lead us in that direction," Kenny told parliament.A Fine Gael-led minority would need Fianna Fail's consent to govern but Martin, who was backed as prime minister by only the 43 members of his own party in Wednesday's vote, has also been trying to build a minority administration.Martin, who has not ruled out backing a minority Fine Gael government, reiterated after the vote that Fine Gael should be prepared to do likewise. Kenny has said his party would not do so.Needing 79 votes for election, Kenny was backed by 51 lawmakers, just one of whom was not from his own party, with the 15 independent members of parliament with whom he wants to form a minority government either abstaining or voting against him.The rivalry between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail dates back almost a century to Ireland's civil war and deep mistrust between them has led senior members on both sides to rule out entering an unprecedented formal coalition.Analysts believe a minority administration would be weak and short-lived, potentially paralysing policy needed to tackle bottlenecks in housing and infrastructure that threaten to choke a sharp economic recovery.Ireland's central bank has said the impasse has so far had little effect on Europe's fastest growing economy but warned it could have an adverse impact. Data on Wednesday showed consumer sentiment posted its sharpest fall in 17 months in March.Parliament will meet again on April 14 to attempt to elect a prime minister for the third time, marking the longest period the country has gone without a new government being sworn in.If the parties cannot come to some sort of arrangement, as they did in the 1980s when Fine Gael indirectly backed a Fianna Fail minority government, Ireland faces a second election."If we cannot elect a government, let's go back to the country," independent MP John Halligan told parliament. Reuters AY AS2217 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0352-671464.Xml The Panama Papers have been widely covered in India after naming top Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan among some 500 Indians with hidden overseas assets. The revelations were published by the Indian Express newspaper, the local partner of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which published the Panama Papers worldwide. Over 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm headquartered in the tax haven of Panama, were leaked naming top politicians, celebrities and other heavy hitters from various countries. The Express stated that, back in 1993, Bachchan was appointed director in at least four offshore shipping companies which were registered in tax havens. Three of these were registered in the Bahamas with another in the British Virgin Islands. According to the newspaper, "The authorized capital of these companies ranged between a modest $5,000-50,000 but they traded in ships worth millions of dollars." The newspaper also added that it had earlier attempted to solicit a response from the actor and his company AB Corporation, but did not get a response. Bachchan finally issued an official statement Tuesday denying any links with the offshore companies, stating that he was never a director in any of them and added, "It is possible my name has been misused." "I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas," the statement added. "Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through LRS (Liberalised Remittance Scheme) after paying Indian taxes. In any event, the news report in Indian Express does not even suggest any illegality on my part." With a career spanning over four decades, Bachchan is one of India's most revered film icons whose career also includes a long stint in television hosting the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. He made his Hollywood debut with an appearance in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby. Story continues The Express also reported that Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and members of her family were directors of an offshore firm registered in the British Virgin Islands in 2005 before the company was dissolved in 2008. The actress and former Miss World, who is married to Amitabh's actor son Abhishek, also issued a statement via her media advisor Archana Sadanand who was quoted stating: "What is this consortium (ICIJ) and what does it do? Is this an authorized entity and how do we know that the information they get is authentic? All information that you have is totally untrue and ." Read More: Pedro Almodovar Cancels Press for New Film After Panama Papers Mention By Alex Whiting LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first British university to adopt a policy aimed at cutting the use of conflict minerals in the products it buys, said on Tuesday it hopes to form a network of like-minded universities that together would combat the issue in their supply chains. With some 50,000 staff and students and an annual turnover of 850 million pounds ($1.2 billion), the University of Edinburgh is a major buyer of computers and other electronic goods. Campaigners have long raised concerns that such goods use minerals like tin, tungsten, tantalum and gold, which have in some cases been used to prolong conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere. Speaking on the day European legislators met to negotiate new regulations on the issue, a spokesman from the University of Edinburgh said he hoped its policy of questioning suppliers on the origins of their goods would set an example for others. "Many people would be horrified to know that they may be inadvertently supporting war lords," the director of social responsibility and sustainability, Dave Gorman, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "Part of the thinking behind having a policy rather than simply working away quietly, is to try and raise the level of awareness and hopefully bring more on board." The university hopes to eventually impact major British supply contracts by influencing those which are negotiated jointly with other British universities. "Our hope is ... that by starting to declare our colors and ask some questions, we can influence these much larger contracts of which we're just a part," Gorman said. "We're not naive, this isn't a magic solution, this is the start of a process we think that will have some influence over time," he added. The university's policy has been welcomed by campaigners on the issue. "It's really valuable to have that kind of leadership, and it's especially great that it's an academic institution," said Michael Gibb, campaign leader on conflict resources at Global Witness. But he added that such moves by institutions alone are not enough and European legislation was needed to force companies to carry out due diligence on their supply chains. "The longer it's the ... niche interest of a few, the harder it's going to be for them to do it, because they're not going to be able to count on ... cooperation from other parts of the chain," Gibb said. "The more transparent and open the whole supply chain is, the easier it is for every link in the chain to do this." European legislators are in the process of negotiating new regulations on the issue, but it is not yet clear whether they will be mandatory or voluntary, Gibb said. In the United States, companies by law have to try to establish the origin of four metals often used by rebel groups in the area to finance their activities. The legislation is having a big impact on both U.S. companies and on European companies supplying products to the United States, said Gibb. "This is about conflict financing and very serious human rights abuses, it's not the kind of thing that European companies or their investors or their consumers should want any part of," he said. "It's time (for Europe) to move on to something mandatory that will make this part of doing business as usual instead of the exception, or the niche interest of a few responsible companies," he added. ($1 = 0.7038 pounds) (Reporting by Alex Whiting, Editing by Katie Nguyen.; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org) Miami (AFP) - Green sea turtles of Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico are no longer considered "endangered," US officials said Tuesday, hailing decades of conservation work for saving the long-imperiled creatures. Breeding populations on the beaches of Florida and the west coast of Mexico are now described as "threatened" and still merit protection under the Endangered Species Act, but do not face an imminent risk of extinction, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said. In Florida alone, there are some 2,250 nesting females counted on beaches each year, up from only a handful in 1978 when the breeding populations were first listed as endangered, an FWS spokesman said. As part of the change, the US FWS and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries divided green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas)globally into 11 distinct population segments, "allowing for tailored conservation approaches for each population," the agencies said in a statement. That leaves three populations of green sea turtles worldwide that are considered endangered and at the highest risk of disappearing from the planet -- those that live in the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Central South Pacific and Central West Pacific Ocean. Most of the world's populations of green sea turtles are listed as "threatened." The changes were initially proposed last year and made final on Tuesday after officials reviewed the scientific data and an outpouring of more than 900 public comments. "Successful conservation and management efforts developed in Florida and along the Pacific coast of Mexico are a roadmap for further recovery strategies of green turtle populations around the world," said Eileen Sobeck, assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries. Sea turtles have long faced a host of threats, from beach development that destroyed their nesting habitat, to pollution, to fishing nets that entangled them. Story continues Successful measures have included protection of nesting beaches, reduction of bycatch in fisheries and prohibitions on the direct harvest of sea turtles, NOAA said. - By the numbers - Officials at NOAA estimate that there are currently 571,220 nesting female green sea turtles around the world. The largest population, including more than 167,000 females, lives in the North Atlantic. By contrast, among the endangered populations, between 404 and 992 are believed to live in the Mediterranean, and just over 9,000 in the Central West and Central South Pacific, a spokeswoman for NOAA said. Challenges remain, including climate change and sea level rise that may erode beach nesting habitat and raise the temperature of sand, which can "result in skewed sex ratios and lethal incubation conditions," the agencies noted in a 134-page document in the federal register. Some commenters raised concern about a herpes-related virus called fibropapillomatosis, or FP, which is common among young green sea turtles in warmer waters, and can cause fatal tumors. "We acknowledge the increasing distribution and incidence of FP, particularly in Florida. The threat is likely to increase" along with human-driven pollution of the shores, the agencies said. Dangerous fishing gear and boat strikes also kill significant numbers of turtles each year. "Sea turtles face a lot of threats, from plastic trash they swallow to sea-level rise to getting caught in fishing gear - even poaching, in some parts of the world," said Catherine Kilduff of the Center for Biological Diversity. "The undeniable recovery of most green sea turtle populations creates a hopeful spot in our changing oceans." By Camillus Eboh ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's third most powerful politician went on trial on Tuesday accused of falsely declaring assets when he was a state governor. Senate President Bukola Saraki, a member of the ruling party who heads the upper house of parliament, has pleaded not guilty to the charges relating to when he was governor of the central Nigerian state of Kwara from 2003 to 2011. Since being elected last year, President Muhammadu Buhari has launched a crackdown on graft which has held most Nigerians in poverty despite the country's energy wealth. Saraki's lawyers had sought to stop the trial by arguing that the attorney general had no power to mount a case against him. He said on Tuesday he was confident he would be exonerated if the trial was conducted fairly. The 13 charges he faces at the national Code of Conduct Tribunal, a special court that deals with asset declaration misdemeanors, mostly relate to the ownership of land held by his company Carlisle Properties Ltd during that period. Other allegations include transferring $3.4 million to an account outside Nigeria while he was governor, and sending 1.5 million pounds to a European account to cover a mortgage for a London property. "In the course of our investigation, we discovered that there were several companies which were linked to the defendant," said the first court witness, Michael Wetkas, an official at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. The trial was adjourned. If found guilty, Saraki would be removed as Senate president, barred from holding any public office for up to 10 years and could be jailed. The start of trial coincides with Saraki being cited in the huge Panama Papers data leak about the tax affairs of public figures around the world. Nigerian newspaper Premium Times, which was among more than 100 news organizations involved in the leak with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, said Saraki's family held at least four undeclared overseas offshore assets, among them one London property. Responding to those allegations, Saraki said in statement he had declared all assets in line with the law. (Writing by Ulf Laessing; Editing by Alison Williams) CHICAGO (Reuters) - Illinois would rip up its nearly 20-year-old school funding formula and replace it with one that would send more money to districts with high levels of poor students, including the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools (CPS), under a proposal unveiled by a state lawmaker on Tuesday. Democratic State Senator Andy Manar said he will file legislation on Wednesday to establish a more equitable school funding system that will drive resources to high-need, high-poverty districts. "Our (existing) formula is almost punitive to children who live in poverty today," Manar told reporters at the state capitol in Springfield. He said his plan would replace the formula adopted in 1997, while ensuring the state funds all districts at fiscal 2016 levels for four years. CPS, the nation's third-largest public school system, has been fighting for higher state funding, particularly for its teachers pension fund. The state covers pension payments for all districts in a state-wide teachers retirement system that excludes CPS. Manar said his bill includes pension parity for CPS, while eliminating the district's block grant. Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, has said the new formula could result in an additional $300 million for CPS, according to his spokesman. It was not immediately clear how the measure would fare in the Democratic-controlled legislature. House Speaker Michael Madigan launched hearings by an education funding task force earlier this year. Any hint of a state bailout for CPS, which has had to borrow to fund operations, will spark opposition from Republicans. Per-student funding in Illinois can range from $6,000 to $30,000, largely depending on a district's local property tax base. Manar called for quick action on his bill. "Two years from now the system will be less equitable than it is now," he said. He also said that much of his proposal matches ideas that Governor Bruce Rauner has floated in public. Story continues The Republican governor told reporters at an unrelated event earlier on Tuesday that he supports changing the funding formula. "We've got to come up with a way to increase significantly state support for education and focus that money on the lower income districts and the more rural districts that don't have the resources they deserve to put into the schools," he said. In his fiscal 2016 budget, Rauner proposed boosting per-student state funding for K-12 public schools to $6,119, the highest level in seven years. (Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Matthew Lewis) Tehran (AFP) - Iran's oil exports have surpassed two million barrels per day following the lifting of sanctions under its nuclear deal with world powers, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said on Sunday. "Iran's oil and gas condensate exports are now at more than 2 million barrels per day" after rising by 250,000 bpd since March 1, the ministry's Shana news service quoted Zanganeh as saying. Iran has doubled exports since its nuclear accord took effect on January 16. Iran, an OPEC member, has the world's fourth-largest oil reserves but its exports were long hampered by sanctions over its nuclear programme. It has moved ahead with an increase in exports despite global concerns over a supply glut that has pushed oil prices below $40 a barrel, from more than $100 a barrel in mid-2014. Top exporter Saudi Arabia has said it is willing to consider an output freeze to help shore up prices. But in an interview published Friday, Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reiterated Riyadh's position that other major producers, including Iran, would need to do the same. His remarks drove down oil prices, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May sliding $1.55 (4.0 percent) to $36.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Major oil producers led by Russia and Saudi Arabia are to meet in Doha on April 17 to discuss measures to stabilise prices, including a proposal not to pump out oil above a certain level. But Tehran rejects any output freeze -- first mooted by Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela in February -- until it regains its pre-sanctions market share. Zanganeh described the proposal in late February as a "very funny joke", as production levels vary widely among oil producers. Under more than a decade of sanctions, Iran witnessed crucial global ties cut from its economy, including its lifeblood oil markets. In January 2012, under hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, the European Union stopped buying oil from Iran and global banking networks blocked the Islamic republic from the SWIFT system. Story continues Hope only returned after president Hassan Rouhani's election in 2013 that culminated in ending the nuclear standoff after two years of negotiations. Since the nuclear deal's implementation, Tehran has resumed exporting to the European market. But Asian countries China, India, Japan and South Korea remain the main customers of Iranian oil. By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN (Reuters) - Acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has proposed entering an unprecedented coalition government with the country's second-largest party and historic rival Fianna Fail, his Fine Gael party said on Wednesday. Kenny made the proposal during his first meeting with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin since inconclusive February elections after both failed for the second time to be elected prime minister. The two center-right parties have few policy differences but have been bitter rivals for decades and senior members of both parties, particularly in Fianna Fail, had ruled out a formal coalition with their fierce rival before the meeting. "Taoiseach (prime minister) has formally offered Micheal Martin a full partnership govt with Independent TDs (lawmakers) - a historic change and good for Ireland," Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, one of Fine Gael's negotiators, said on Twitter. Fine Gael said in a statement that such a government would have the "potential to provide a stable and lasting government" and that the two party leaders had agreed to meet again on Thursday for further discussions. A Fianna Fail spokesman said Kenny told Martin a minority government led by either party reliant on the other for support from opposition would not work. Martin will discuss the offer and other options with his party before meeting Kenny again. The offer was a good first move on Kenny's behalf, according to Eoin O'Malley, politics lecturer at Dublin City University, as he knows Martin cannot really accept it but it allows the Fine Gael leader to appear magnanimous and constructive. One Fianna Fail lawmaker, Lisa Chambers, told national broadcaster RTE that she would not be prepared to go back on the party's election promise not to enter a coalition with Fine Gael. The rivalry between the parties dates back almost a century to Ireland's civil war and senior members admit they deeply mistrust each other. Since the election the parties had separately been vying to win the support of 15 independent members of parliament to form a minority government before asking the other to back it from the opposition benches on a vote-by-vote basis. Martin, who would have to win approval of reluctant grassroots members of the party to enter coalition with its rival, has not ruled out backing a minority Fine Gael government. However, analysts have said a minority administration would be weak and short-lived, potentially paralyzing policy needed to tackle bottlenecks in housing and infrastructure that threaten to choke a sharp economic recovery. Ireland's central bank has said the impasse has so far had little effect on Europe's fastest growing economy but warned it could have an adverse impact. Data on Wednesday showed consumer sentiment posted its sharpest fall in 17 months in March. If the parties cannot come to some sort of arrangement, as they did in the 1980s when Fine Gael indirectly backed a Fianna Fail minority government, Ireland faces a second election. (Additional reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Catherine Evans, Toni Reinhold) Japan's only two working nuclear reactors can remain online after a court rejected an appeal by residents who said safety rules following the 2011 Fukushima disaster were inadequate, the operator confirmed on Wednesday. The court ruling was a victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who plans to bring back atomic energy, five years after a series of meltdowns at the Fukushima plant. The catastrophe led to the closure of all nuclear reactors in the resource-poor country, forcing it to turn to expensive fossil fuels. The Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court on the southern island of Kyushu ruled Wednesday that the No 1 and No 2 reactors at the Sendai power plant should be allowed to stay online, Rei Fujimoto, spokesman for operator Kyushu Electric Power Co, confirmed. A court spokesman refused to comment. Residents argued that Kyushu Electric has underestimated the scale of potential earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that could hit the region and claimed government safety standards were inadequate. They plan to appeal the case in the Supreme Court, Japan's Jiji Press reported. The Fukushima meltdowns were sparked by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake-generated tsunami on March 11, 2011. The disaster triggered the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, bred distrust and fuelled widespread protests. Yoshihide Suga, the government's top spokesman, told a press conference on Wednesday that new safety standards are "the world's toughest" and the government had no intention of changing its stance on restarting reactors. But environmental group Greenpeace criticised the decision in a statement, saying the court "failed to order the shutdown" of the operating reactors "despite evidence of severe earthquake and volcano risks at the plant". Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, which approved the restarts under the new safety rules, "is failing to apply lessons of Fukushima and protect the people of Japan", Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace senior nuclear specialist, said in the statement. Story continues The latest legal decision comes after a Kyushu district court in April 2015 ruled that the two reactors should be allowed to restart under the post-Fukushima safety regulations. In August, the No 1 reactor became the first unit to come online under the new standards, followed by the No 2 reactor in October. The Sendai reactors are the only two operating in the country after a court in March ordered the shutdown of two nuclear reactors in central Japan. The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously turned back a legal effort to reinterpret the one person, one vote constitutional rule Monday, ruling that states may rely on total population when drawing their legislative districts. The case, Evenwel v. Abbott, was brought by two Texas voters, Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger, who challenged the apportionment of Texas Senate districts. With the exception of the U.S. Senate, every American legislative body is apportioned by total population under the one person, one vote rule first outlined by the Court in the 1960s. Evenwel and Pfenninger argued that counting non-voterschildren, the mentally disabled, disenfranchised prisoners, and non-citizensbroke that rule and diluted their political power in violation of the Fourteenth Amendments Equal Protection Cause. Many observers, including my colleague Garrett Epps, noted that Evenwels interpretation would redraw the American political map in favor of a whiter, older, and more conservative electorate. In agreement with Texas and the United States, we reject appellants attempt to locate a voter-equality mandate in the Equal Protection Clause, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority. As history, precedent, and practice demonstrate, it is plainly permissible for jurisdictions to measure equalization by the total population of state and local legislative districts. The Supreme Court first forced states to draw their legislative districts with roughly equal populations inside them in two landmark decisions: Baker v. Carr in 1962 and Reynolds v. Sims in 1964. The two decisions enshrined the one-person, one-vote rule in American constitutional law. Recommended: How a Challenge to Legislative Redistricting Backfired Transforming those precedents into a requirement that states use eligible voters instead of total population went too far, the Court ruled. Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 States and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries, Ginsburg wrote. Appellants have shown no reason for the Court to disturb this longstanding use of total population. Story continues But, she noted, Mondays decision did not address whether states could use voter-eligible apportionment when drawing legislative districts, only ruling that states were not required to do so. In his concurrence with the Courts judgment, Justice Samuel Alito seized on this distinction to hint that a future case could allow apportionment methods beyond the status quo. Whether a State is permitted to use some measure other than total population is an important and sensitive question that we can consider if and when we have before us a state districting plan that, unlike the current Texas plan, uses something other than total population as the basis for equalizing the size of districts, he wrote. Justice Clarence Thomas went even further in his own concurrence. In my view, the majority has failed to provide a sound basis for the one-person, one-vote principle because no such basis exists, he wrote. Instead of continuing the misguided search for one, Thomas instead urged his colleagues to leave the question of apportionment to the states themselves. There is no single correct method of apportioning state legislatures, he concluded. Recommended: The Strange Career of Free Exercise Evenwel was the latest brainchild of the Project on Fair Representation, a conservative legal nonprofit that specializes in mounting legal attacks on the legislative pillars of the American civil-rights movement. The groups highest-profile victory was in 2013 in Shelby County v. Holder, which gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It also filed an amicus brief in Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs v. Inclusive Communities Project last year, urging the justices to strike down a key part of the Fair Housing Act of 1968. (In the end, Justice Anthony Kennedy joined with the liberals to save it.) The group is also part of Fisher v. University of Texas this term, which targets affirmative-action policies in higher education. A ruling in that case is still pending. Read more from The Atlantic: This article was originally published on The Atlantic. By Angus McDowall and Lin Noueihed RIYADH/CAIRO (Reuters) - Despite years of mutual frustration and disappointment over diverging priorities, Saudi Arabia and Egypt remain fundamental to each other's security, a message King Salman's visit to Cairo this week is intended to reinforce. The rare foreign trip by the 80-year-old Saudi ruler will counter media commentary in both countries of discord between the richest Arab state and the most populous, to show Riyadh still backs Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Gulf monarchies have lavished aid on Egypt since 2013, but have grown increasingly disillusioned at what they see as Sisi's inability to address entrenched corruption and inefficiency in the economy, and at Cairo's reduced role on the regional stage. However, with Iraq, Syria and Yemen immersed in civil war, and Saudi Arabia preoccupied by its own region-wide tussle with Iran, Riyadh is determined to stop the Egyptian state from failing. It will maintain some aid despite its own tighter budgets from falling global oil prices, analysts say. That position contrasts with Riyadh's approach to Lebanon, from which Gulf states have pulled aid in response to the growing role there of Iran's ally Hezbollah, evidence of Saudi Arabia's with-us-or-against-us regional doctrine. "The Saudis are very keen not to allow Egypt to collapse, but at the same time the Saudis cannot pay forever. I think King Salman will try to explain these issues," said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with close ties to the kingdom's Interior Ministry. In recent months, groups of Egyptian ministers have flown to Riyadh almost weekly for meetings with their Saudi counterparts, a diplomat said, and officials are planning to unveil Saudi investments of $4 billion this week. [nL5N1781KB] Saudi Arabia is also expected to sign a $20 billion deal to finance Egypt's petroleum needs for the next five years and a $1.5 billion deal to develop its Sinai region, two Egyptian government sources told Reuters. [nL5N1781IO] Egyptian intelligence sources said Sisi wanted the visit to soothe the recent strains in the relationship, attract more Saudi investment, reassure Riyadh over Cairo's support for its stance towards Iran and discuss possible arms deals. Agreements to cooperate more closely on a range of issues, from the armed forces to the economy, will be announced, say people in Riyadh, but are seen as unlikely to make the relationship significantly deeper. "It is like a married couple who argue but decide to stay together for the sake of the children," said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist. DISAPPOINTMENT Once a central axis of Middle East politics, the relationship between Cairo and Riyadh has become increasingly peripheral since the 2011 Arab uprisings in a region now beset by civil wars and widespread unrest elsewhere. In Syria, where Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of rebels, it has worked most closely with Qatar and Turkey, political rivals of Egypt. In Yemen, Cairo has contributed naval forces to a Saudi-led military intervention, but Riyadh's main ally has been the United Arab Emirates. Riyadh was a strong supporter of Sisi's rise to power as army chief in 2013 and president the following year, after his military overthrew a Muslim Brotherhood-led government that emerged from the revolution. While Saudi Arabia views Iran as its most pressing regional adversary, it also sees Sunni Muslim Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood ultimately posing a greater threat to its dynastic system of rule and fears their rise in Arab allies. However, as Saudi Arabia has turned to confront what it sees as a threat of Iranian expansionism across the region, Egypt has grown ever more introverted, focusing on the turbulent aftermath of its uprising and counter revolution. Riyadh wanted Cairo to play a central role in its coalition confronting Yemen's Houthi group, which the kingdom says is allied to Iran. Egypt was reluctant to commit ground troops. Western diplomats in Cairo and the Gulf said this strained ties somewhat, but that Riyadh had ultimately accepted Egypt's reasoning and its public pronouncements that it would defend Saudi Arabia from any external threat. "The fact is that because of its revolution and its domestic economic situation, Egypt is not what it was, and more and more the Saudis are taking this prominent role," said a diplomat. "The Saudis have some differences with them, but it's between consenting adults." Still, Egypt's naval participation in the Yemen campaign is seen in Riyadh as important and despite Cairo's unwillingness to join Gulf states in declaring Hezbollah a terrorist group, its regional position has broadly aligned with that of the kingdom. LAVISH AID Both Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir dismiss any talk of recent strains, insisting there was no ill feeling over the Yemen campaign or other issues. "This is an historic visit," said Jubeir at a news conference on Tuesday. Shoukri, in an interview with the pro-government daily Al Youm Al Sabee last week, he and Jubeir were "amazed" at suggestions the relationship was difficult. Since Egypt's army deposed the Islamist government in 2013, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have given Cairo around $35 billion in aid in the form of oil shipments, cash grants and deposits into the central bank. [nL5N1724J7] Meanwhile, Riyadh and Cairo have spoken of the need to increase Gulf investments into Egypt, a goal that has faltered as prominent businessmen in Saudi Arabia and its neighbours have complained openly about red tape and corruption. For some in Riyadh's elite, the fault lies with Egypt's president, a man regarded when the army seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, and upon his election in 2014, as Saudi Arabia's newest best friend. "Sisi enjoyed the position of a hero at that time. He was the guy to fix Egypt and save it from chaos. Now in the same majlises (salons) in Riyadh, he's lost that appeal," said Khashoggi. (Additional reporting by Michael Georgy in Cairo and Sami Aboudi in Dubai; editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff) By Steve Bittenbender LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Reuters) - A Kentucky lawyer, a former administrative law judge and a psychologist were indicted for conspiring to commit more than $600 million in disability fraud by submitting phony medical papers, according to court documents unsealed on Tuesday. Eric Christopher Conn, a lawyer based in Stanville - about 130 miles east of Lexington - faces 18 counts, including three counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering after his indictment by a grand jury for the U.S. District Court in Lexington, Kentucky. Conn, whose website is mrsocialsecurity.com, could not be reached at his office number and no attorney was listed in court documents. The attorney for Conn in a previous federal lawsuit could not be reached for comment. David Black Daugherty, who according to court documents served as an administrative law judge for 21 years, was charged with three counts each of mail fraud and wire fraud, along with two counts of conspiracy. Alfred Adkins, of Pikeville, also was charged with three counts each of mail and wire fraud, two counts of giving false statements and a count of conspiracy. Adkins provided contractual psychological services for Conn, according to court documents. The three men, along with three unindicted co-conspirators sought to make money for themselves by submitting phony medical documentation to the Social Security Administration for disability benefits of more than $600 million, according to court documents. The false documents led to people getting retroactive disability benefits and Medicare and Medicaid benefits, according to court documents. Conn also received fees to represent his clients, who lived primarily in four eastern Kentucky counties, according to court documents. Daugherty and Adkins could not be reached for comment. Conn and Adkins were scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday afternoon. Federal officials could not be reached to determine their status, but Adkins was given his conditional release according to court documents. Story continues David Habich, a spokesman for the FBI in Louisville, said the three men had been taken into custody after the indictment, but he did not know if they remained in custody on Tuesday. Last year, a federal judge partly dismissed a fraud lawsuit against Conn after she ruled whistleblowers did not produce sufficient proof that the claims were fraudulent. The three unindicted co-conspirators were identified as two doctors and an office manager for Conn, according to court documents. (Reporting by Steve Bittenbender; Editing by Ben Klayman and Bernard Orr) By Julia Edwards WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Singapore man accused of illegally exporting U.S. parts found in explosives in Iraq, through Iran, has been extradited to the United States to face charges on Monday, the Justice Department said. Lim Yong Nam, 42, was indicted in 2010 for sending radio frequency modules from Minnesota to Iran between 2007 and 2008, violating a U.S. trade embargo. The parts were later found in unexploded improvised explosive devices (IED) in Iraq by U.S. coalition forces. The devices caused the majority of the casualties against Americans fighting in Iraq between 2003 and 2011, according to the U.S. indictment. Lim had been detained in Indonesia since October 2014, the Justice Department said. "After a long investigative process, Mr. Lim is back on U.S. soil to answer for his actions," Sarah Saldana, director of the Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement released by the Justice Department. The department said Lim and several co-conspirators had routed 6,000 radio frequency modules to Iran, 16 of which were discovered in Iraq. U.S. officials have blamed Iran for supplying Shiite militias with lethal explosives directed against U.S. service members in Iraq. Iran has said the claims are baseless. Lim will appear before a federal magistrate judge in Washington, D.C. at 1:30 Eastern (17:30 GMT) on Monday. (Reporting by Julia Edwards; Additional reporting by Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Richard Chang) The Hague (AFP) - The chief prosecutor of the UN's Yugoslav war crimes court said Wednesday he will appeal the surprise acquittal of radical Serb nationalist Vojislav Seselj, denouncing "far-reaching ... errors" in last week's verdict. "My office has decided to appeal the judgement," prosecutor Serge Brammertz said in a statement, adding the judges had made "unreasonable and conflicting factual findings in their ruling. In a majority ruling on March 31 that triggered outrage among victims, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) judges found Seselj not guilty on all nine charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the 1990s Balkans wars. Prosecutors had alleged that the 61-year-old firebrand leader of the Serbian Radical Party was behind the murders of many Croats, Muslims and other non-Serb civilians as well as the forced deportation of "tens of thousands" from large areas of the Balkans. But the judges said the prosecution had failed to prove "that there was a widespread and systematic attack against the non-Serb civilian population in large areas of Croatia and Bosnia Hercegovina." In his hard-hitting rebuttal, Brammertz said there had been "a fundamental failure by the majority (judges) to perform its judicial function." The judges had shown "a sweeping disregard" for the number of crimes which have already been proven to have taken place during the conflict, he said. Through their ruling, he argued, they had "unreasonably allowed for the possibility that:" -- "criminal conduct was simply a lawful contribution to the war effort" -- "that incendiary hate speech was simply morale boosting" for Serb forces -- "the deployment of ethnic cleansing forces was a measure to protect the Serb population." Brammertz said the notice of appeal would be officially filed shortly, adding that for the sake of the victims it was "of utmost priority for this office." Washington (AFP) - The US Supreme Court on Monday upheld the principle of setting legislative districts based on total population, unanimously rejecting a conservative challenge that would have disadvantaged urban areas with large Hispanic populations. The court ruled that the "one person, one vote" rule allows counting non-voters, including minors, prisoners, ex-convicts and immigrants -- a decision that traditionally helps Democrats. "We hold, based on constitutional history, this court's decisions, and longstanding practice, that a state may draw its legislative districts based on total population," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote in delivering the court's opinion. The plaintiffs -- Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger -- argued that Texas should count only eligible voters in drawing up legislative districts of roughly equal size. That would have favored rural areas with a high proportion of eligible voters in the allocation of legislative districts, over urban areas with larger absolute populations but a smaller proportion of eligible voters. Since urban areas tend to vote Democratic and rural areas lean Republican, how the population is counted has a direct political impact. If a state bases its electoral districting on the total population -- and all 50 states do -- people who are ineligible to vote are counted in the process. These ineligible populations, such as non-citizen Hispanic immigrants, are usually present in larger numbers in urban areas. As a result, each eligible voter in those areas proportionally has greater clout. "Even so, it remains beyond doubt that the principle of representational equality figured prominently in the decision to count people, whether or not they qualify as voters," the court said. "Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions have followed for decades, even centuries. Appellants have shown no reason for the court to disturb this longstanding use of total population," the court added. Story continues - Unanimous decision - The justices heard oral arguments in the case in December before the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, which has left the court evenly divided between liberals and conservatives. But even before Scalia's death, the justices had expressed skepticism about the challenge to the Texas law, which was borne out by the unanimous decision. Had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, legislative districts would have had to have been redrawn in states from New York to California. Civil rights leaders and minority groups backed the status quo, arguing a change would negatively impact Hispanics. "Our representatives represent people," said Nina Perales of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "Representatives don't represent land. They don't represent acres. They don't represent counties." The NAACP civil rights group said that 75 million children, 13 million of whom are black, "would have been counted out of the redistricting process" since children cannot vote. The case, it said, harked back "to nefarious periods in our democracy similar to when black people were counted as 3/5ths of a person for redistricting purposes." Meanwhile Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders chimed in from the campaign trail in support of the decision. "In our democracy, every one of our voices should count. Glad the Supreme Court affirmed this fundamental right," Clinton tweeted. - 'Significant leeway' - Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were part of the majority, but wrote separate concurring opinions. Alito, while agreeing with the majority, rejected the government's argument that there is a constitutional basis for requiring that legislative districts be equal in total population. In a similar vein, Thomas noted that the court's decision did not provide clear guidance on what exactly "the one person, one vote" principle protects. "The Constitution does not prescribe any one basis for apportionment within states. It instead leaves states significant leeway in apportioning their own districts to equalize total population, to equalize eligible voters, or to promote any other principle consistent with a republican form of government. "The majority should recognize the futility of choosing only one of these options. The Constitution leaves the choice to the people alone - not to this court," he wrote. Business Chambers call for industrial relations reform This was the call to action issued on Monday in a three-page joint statement by the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (Am- Cham), the Energy Chamber of TT (Ener- gy Chamber), the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce (TT Chamber), the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI ) and the Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers Association (TTMA). The joint Chambers said economic diversification requires competitive, export-driven companies who are able to sell goods and services beyond TTs borders. If we are going to be globally competitive, we need to reverse the current trend in declining productivity. One of the most important elements needed to increase productivity is a dynamic labour market and a supportive industrial relations environment. We need an industrial relations system that promotes flexibility and open dialogue between employers and employees, rather than a system that just protects entrenched interests. The reality is that the existing industrial relations system and climate will not lead to sustainable jobs, job security, or competitiveness for our people and our country. We therefore need a new industrial relations system, the Chambers argued. While acknowledging the essential role unions have played in TTs socio-economic history and their importance in improving the lives of citizens, the Chambers said it is time for new kinds of leadership and different stakeholder collaboration if we are to successfully adapt to changes in the global economy. Unions must become partners in improving the level of productivity in the workplace with a shared accountability with employers in improving the competency of the workforce. Unions must support employers in ensuring ethical work practices, aligned to global standards, in areas such as safety, occupational health and employee welfare. The Chambers also said that in accordance with our international commitments to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the new industrial relations system must provide effective protection for employees, whilst simultaneously creating space for employers to deliver the growth that will ultimately lead to more jobs and an expanded economy. Turning their attention to protection of employee rights, the group noted that under the current Industrial Relations Act, employees in TT lack the right to freedom of association; the right of individual access to the Industrial Court; and the right to determine their own individual terms and conditions of employment. TT needs IR legislation that is rightsbased, balancing employee rights with employee obligations The basic premise of our IR legislation must be that every employee must have unfettered access to the law and the freedom to associate as they see fit, including the right to represent themselves. The Chambers also said Government has made a positive start to this process through the consultative process established by the Minister of Labour and the establishment of the National Tripartite Advisory Council. The business community is fully committed to playing an active role in this process Police kill two bandits in Williamsville The two armed suspects, police said, had earlier held up and robbed a service station in Flanagin Town of $4,000. According to a police report, around 3.45 pm yesterday, four armed men went to Boodoosinghs Service Station and announced a hold-up. They pointed their guns at the female and male attendants and ordered them to hand over the cash before fleeing the scene in a white Wingroad wagon. According to reports the suspects became lost in Los Atajos Village in Flanagin Town and sought direction from villagers who unknowingly showed them the way out. Meanwhile, an All Points Bulletin had been issued, and with the assistance of officers from the Central and Southern Division Task Force, 500 Patrol Unit and CID of the Chaguanas Police Station, the suspects were cornered near the Guaracara Recreation Ground in Williamsville. The men are said to have begun shooting at the officers who returned fire hitting two of them. The other two men escaped. The wounded men were rushed to the San Fernando General Hospital where they succumbed to their injuries. Investigations are continuing. Walk and prayer against crime Rather than residents coming out to protest, we choose to walk the streets and pray. Moruga was never like this. Many people are being killed and that is not right. This has to stop, said Kizzy Emmanuel, the brainchild behind the event. Emmanuel, of Lumy Trace, Bois Jean Jean, Moruga, is calling on residents from the various villages in Moruga to support the event by participating. The walk and prayer begins from 4 pm at the Tompierre Trace, Basse Terre Village, (near the Moruga Secondary School) and continues along the Moruga Road. It ends at Gran Chemin. The theme for the event is Let us Love Again. She said she has already sent out invitations to various religious bodies to participate in the event. Emmanuel told Newsday that in a dream she had last April as well as in a vision this year, she asked Almighty God to give her a solution for the spate of crime. Seven is the number of completion and this is the genesis. We are asking participants to wear black and white. People are not taking heed. They are not listening. There is too much crime in Moruga and too many victims of crimes and tragic incidents are from Moruga, Emmanuel added. In the latest incident in Moruga, La Lune resident Kyle Neptune, 27, was shot on March 21 while digging for yam with two friends from the area. He succumbed to his injuries the following day at the San Fernando General Hospital. Police reports are Neptune, Shaquille Cummings, 19, and Calvin Isaac, 38, were digging for yam at about 12.15 pm when they heard several loud explosions. Cummings felt a burning sensation to his right leg, left cheek and left hand while Isaac said he felt a pain in his upper back and both arms. Cummings and Isaac ran out of the forests and alerted police. The wounded men were taken to hospital where Neptune died. Killed for his gold chain Shervon Lewis, 27, was eating doubles at Cane Farm Road, near Discomart Supermarket when, at about 7 pm on Monday, gunmen approached him from behind and shot him. The gunmen took the chain off Lewis neck, fired two shots in the air, then ran off. Lewis relatives yesterday spoke to reporters at the Forensic Science Centre (FSC) in St James, saying that they warned him several times about wearing the chain, especially since crime in the country has gotten worse. It was his father, Erwin, who told reporters the value of the chain. I used to say boy, what you going out with that chain for? Erwin said. His mother used to tell him about it too, but he always used to tell her not to jumbie him. When them fellahs hear you wearing a chain worth that much, especially in this time, they coming and they not asking any questions. Another relative told Newsday that Lewis was talking with his mother and sister at their home shortly before he was killed. The relative said they were talking about the recent killings in the La Horquetta area, and how much crime has escalated recently. He then went to get doubles, and moments after they heard gunshots. When his mother went outside to see what happened, she found her sons body lying on the side of the road. Erwin remembered that his son told him he intended to sell the chain to buy a new car since the one he had at the moment was not working well. Lewis was described as hard-working and quiet, and was not known by police. Lewis murder brings the toll for the year to 128, as homicide detectives continue investigations. Beaten mom dies 2 weeks after incident The court learnt that the mother, Deanne Ramanan, 36, died on Monday while at the Couva District Health Facility. An autopsy was expected to be performed yesterday to determine the cause of death. The outcome of the autopsy report, police investigators said, determines whether or not the charge against the accused will be upgraded or remained as is. Ramanan lived at Mantacool Road, George Village, Tableland, with the accused and their three children ages 16, 14 and eight. However she recently relocated to the Couva area. The charge against the common- law husband, a labourer, alleged that he assaulted Ramanan by beating her at the familys home at Tableland on March 23 (Holy Thursday). Constable Guerra of the Tableland Police Station laid the charge. The accused made his first court appearance in the Princes Town Magistrates Court last week Tuesday but the presiding magistrate denied bail and remanded him into police custody for tracing. The accused reappeared on the charge yesterday and was again denied bail to reappear today. Up to yesterday evening the autopsy was not yet done and investigations are continuing. Drunk driver fined $18,000, disqualified for life On Monday, when Mitchell appeared before Ramdass on his fourth charge under the Amendment to the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act which introduced the breathalyser, he pleaded guilty. Police prosecutor, Corporal Keri Morales, had told Ramdass that it was at about 11.45 pm on Friday last when police officers from the Traffic Branch, San Fernando responded to a vehicular accident at George Street, La Romaine. After Mitchell was tested for the alcohol content in his body, which revealed that his breath contained 93 micrograms of alcohol per 100 milliliters of breath, WPC Kimbery Mungal charged him. Ramdass sent Mitchell home to retrieve his drivers permit and yesterday, when he reappeared, the magistrate fined him $18,000 with an alternative of three years in jail. He was given two months to pay. The magistrate also ordered that Noels drivers permit be seized permanently. In the same court, a clerical assistant at Immigration Office, San Fernando, was fined by the magistrate in the sum of $8,000. Atiba Bobcombe, 36, of Indian Walk, Moruga, was charged by Corporal Jaipersad Barran, and granted one month to pay the fine or serve 18 months in jail. Surrender, hit-and-run driver urged I know the person is probably frightened but by making that illegal drive you took away someones life, someone who is very dear to us, said Coxs sister, Latisha, while at the Forensic Science Centre in St James, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Newsday understands that at about 10.30 am on Monday, Cox, of Third Street, Barataria, parked his vehicle at the overpass at the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway, near Grand Bazaar, to secure his load. While getting out of his vehicle, he was struck by a white Nissan AD Wagon. The vehicle then sped off. Cox died shortly after being rushed to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex in Mt Hope. Coxs relatives yesterday described him as a loving and family oriented person. They said although he did not have any children of his own, he treated his nieces and nephews like they were his children. They said Cox was the kind of person who enthusiastically helped the people in his community. Coast Guard seizes drugs, ammo Newsday understands that officers were on patrol when they intercepted a white pirogue with three people on board. The vessel and its occupants were escorted to Staubles Bay. A search was conducted and a bag containing ten parcels of marijuana, weighing about 5.4 kilograms, and 94 rounds of 9mm ammunition were discovered. The marijuana was estimated to be valued at more than $72,000. Coast Guard officers handed over the ammunition and narcotics to the Organised Crime Narcotics and Firearms Bureau while the occupants were taken into custody by another police team. The Customs and Excise Division and the Immigration Division is assisting with the investigation. SAD DAY FOR ARCELORMITTAL WORKERS This morning comrades, our worst fears have been realised, Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT) President, Christopher Henry said during an emergency meeting at the unions California village headquarters yesterday. The company by initiating the clause, the article of termination, has denied the workers any attempt, denied the workers the right to access pension. So what this means, we did not get a severance or a separation package, The development led Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus to describe yesterday as a sad day for the workers. Today is a very sad day because the workers of ArcelorMittal, who in some cases worked for 25 and 30 years, they dont have a job, no income, no benefits. They were not retrenched, the Minister noted. If they were retrenched, they would have been eligible for the payment of retrenchment and separation benefits, but they have been sent home with one months salary. Baptiste-Primus, speaking to reporters at an employment expo at the NESC compound, Rivulet road, Couva yesterday, vowed that a similar ArcelorMittal situation will not recur in Trinidad and Tobago. This government will ensure that another ArcelorMittal does not take place in this country, she said. We will have to strike the right balance because we do not want to develop laws that are so draconian that it does not provide an inviting scenario for foreign investors. But certainly, we have the responsibility to provide more protection for the workers of this country. Baptiste-Primus said consultations with the various stakeholders including employers, trade unions and the Law Association would begin over the next two weeks to look at various pieces of legislation such as the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act and the Company Act. At the end of the day we would want amendments to the legislation that provides the kind of protection, we may even wish to look at unemployment insurance, she said. The Union, which had occupied the companys Point Lisas Industrial Estate facility on Monday morning, in an attempt to get a meeting with companys executives to discuss the status of the pension plan, abandoned their occupation camp site late on Monday evening after the company agreed to meet at the Ministry of Labours Port of Spain offices. That meeting started at just after 6pm on Monday and, according to reports, became very emotional as both sides attempted to justify their positions. We did not get paid for the years of service in any way of separation by the company, Henry added. And the expectation of a pension and a lump sum to pay our mortgages and our bills has also been denied. So we are a workforce that has been denied the right to be employed because the company has decided to do a voluntary winding-up indicating that they are insolvent, a sombre Henry said. They have denied us the right to earn a living, denied us the right to severance benefits because the laws of this country have not been changed since the inception Give us a miracle His heart had also stopped as doctors battled in the Intensive Care Unit to keep him alive. They succeeded in resuscitating him, and now his relatives and friends are praying for another miracle: that he survives the grave injury inflicted by a gunman, as he and a partner officer responded to a call about a robbery at a Supermarket on the Naparima Mayaro Road that evening. As the constable, Anson Benjamin, 44, who up to press time last night continued to cling to dear life at the hospital, close relatives and friends gathered at home praying for God to grant them that one more miracle. Because miracles do happen, a sobbing Cherry Ann Foster, 33, the mother of three of the officers five children told Newsday yesterday. Benjamin has been placed in a medically induced coma. Foster added: At this point all we are doing is just hoping for the best and praying to God for a miracle. She told Newsday she saw Benjamin about an hour before he was shot and wounded as he was on mobile patrol and checked in on them to make sure they were safe. He was so happy, she said of her common-law husband who has been a police officer for the past 16 years. A man of Dan Kelly, Morvant, has been detained in connection with the shooting. Reports stated that around 2.30 pm yesterday, the suspect was nabbed by officers while on Besson Street in Port of Spain. Police are still searching for his accomplice who has been identified as a resident of Pritzgar Lands in Laventille. Newsday was told that when the injured police officer arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department a short while after he was injured, he had already stopped breathing causing many to believe he was dead. His heart had stopped, he was not breathing, there was no pulse, niece Kerese Benjamin-Yates, 22 said. The doctors resuscitated him and his heart got going again. The doctors really worked on him. At this point he is still not breathing on his own and is hooked up on the ventilator. According to reports, Benjamin, who is assigned to the Ste Madeleine Police Station, was attended to by an experienced medical team led by Dr Carvalho. A series of CT scans revealed that a single bullet is lodged in the base of the police officers neck. Doctors however are unable to perform surgery at this time because of the location of the bullet. According to police, Benjamin, did not have time to fire a single shot from his service issued pistol which he had already drawn when he and his female colleague responded to a report of a robbery at Chao Young Supermarket at Naparima Mayaro Road, St Clements, San Fernando. The report stated he was ambushed by one of the gunmen who lay in wait for him as he sought to gain access to the back of the building through a rear exit door. The gunman fired a single shot in Benjamins direction hitting him to the right side of his head causing him to collapse to the ground still holding his drawn service pistol. A second loaded pistol he had strapped to his leg was reported missing. It is believed the gunmen may have stolen it. The suspects then escaped through a bushy area at the rear of the building leaving behind a pair of sneakers and a black and red hat. Police have since obtained video footage from surveillance cameras installed on the premises to assist with their investigations. Cpl Ramdasss, PCs Legendre and Bridgemohan responded and Benjamin was rushed to the SFGH where he was treated and warded in a critical condition. An immediate search was mounted for the assailants by members of the Air Support Unit, Canine Unit, as well as the Central and South Western Division Task Force while Crime Scene Investigators processed the scene. Yesterday other close relatives expressed their disgust at the spiralling crime rate in the country pleading with young men to put down their guns., Benjamin-Yates yesterday said the family was still in mourning for Benjamins father who passed away in January. She added: Its faith and trust in God is all we have, and we are praying along for that miracle. God knows best, if it is his will let it be done. The young woman lashed out at the gunmen who she said were monsters operating in human form. She said: All my uncle was doing is what he was called to do, to protect and serve, and look how now he has to be fighting for his life. She asked: Where is the love? These monsters that we are breeding have no respect or regards for life. Yesterday, when Newsday visited Benjamins home in Pleasantville, his wife and children, Aaron, nine, Faith , eight and Anson, two, were being counselled by an officer from the Social Work Unit of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service On Monday night, head of the Southern Division, Snr Supt Irwin Hackshaw, visited the scene along with acting Supt Yousuff Gaffar, ASP Rawle Ramdeo and Inspector Don Gajadhar. Ag Cpl Burke is continuing investigations Imbert: I had nothing to do with OAS contract Imbert was reacting to related issues in Newsdays Editorial in yesterdays edition of the newspaper, among them that it was under him as Minister of Works in the then Peoples National Movement administration that the National Infrastructure Development Company (NIDCO) issued a letter to OAS informing the Company that it was the preferred contractor for the project. The letter was said to have been issued on May 25, 2010, the day after the general election in that year which the PNM lost. Imbert reminded that he demitted office as Minister of Works and Transport on May 24, 2010, ceasing to hold office on that day. I, therefore, could not possibly be the author or originator of a letter to OAS on May 25, 2010, which was the day after the general election of 2010, the Minister observed yesterday. This fact has been stated ad infinitum inside and outside of Parliament since January 2011, when I raised a matter on the motion for the adjournment in the House of Representatives about the improper manner in which the Peoples Partnership (PP) government was going about the award of the contract for the Pt. Fortin Highway, Imbert said. He added, It is a matter of public record that I had nothing to do with the contract for this highway or any letter of intent or any other correspondence to OAS, nor could I possibly have, considering the dates involved, he added. I, therefore, could not have given anyone, including OAS, any expectation. Imbert said, The fact is that the contract was awarded by the PP Government in January 2011, eight months after the 2010 election. Further, the formal agreement for the project was signed by the PP Government in July 2011. The Minister pointed out that independent reports, such as the Armstrong Report of March 2013, and even NIDCO itself, in its June 2012 Report on the Debe to Mon Desir Segment of the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway, have confirmed these facts. And so, the question as to who awarded the contract was never, and could never be, in dispute, he said. That issue is an obvious red herring, designed to distract from the real issues. Imbert said what is far more important are the reasons why the former PP Government mysteriously gave up its right to terminate the employment of the contractor on the eve of the September 2015 election, on the clear and indisputable grounds of bankruptcy, and why, at that eleventh hour, they renegotiated a new contract price with OAS that left OAS contract sum essentially unchanged at $5 billion, but removed over 25 percent of the work from OASs scope of works. Imbert said, These are the serious questions that have to be answered. ArcelorMittal workers storm meeting Led by President General of the Steel Workers Union of Trinidad and Tobago (SWUTT), Christopher Henry, workers who insisted they were creditors too, bypassed the Ovals security and two police officers, pushing their way through the front doors with such force that one of the glass doors shattered, injuring two persons. Suddenly, one man was heard saying, hands up, dont shoot and everyones hands went up. One man told Newsday after, that they saw a police officer draw his firearm and they placed their hands in the air. As they made their way to the back of the building, the men kicked open a steel gate and searched each floor for the ballroom where the meeting was being held. Once they found the ballroom, they were allowed into the meeting. Speaking to reporters after, Henry said a liquidator Christopher Kelshall was appointed and he explained to them the process which was to ensure the creditors were paid out of the money that will be collected from the sale of the plant. They learnt at the meeting that the total liability of the company was US$280 million while the plant was worth US$70 million. Right there you see a lot of creditors will not be paid. We as the workers are saying that we are creditors. Mother of murdered teen wants closure Darian Nedd, a Form One student of Siparia East Secondary School, is believed to have been chopped to death inside his Red Brick Trace, South Oropouche home which was then set on fire on March 19. Due to the state of the body when recovered from the ashes, an autopsy which was initially scheduled to take place at the Forensic Science Centre was not performed. At about 11.45 pm, on that fateful day, two men were seen throwing molotov cocktails (crude, home-made incendiary devices) at the wooden house which soon became engulfed in flames. When the fire was doused, hours later, Nedds charred remains were found. Blood samples were taken from the teenagers parents which would confirm, via DNA testing, the identity of the teenager. Speaking to Newsday yesterday, Nedd, 44, an oyster vendor, said that since the death of her son, she has not been able to sleep comfortably at nights. I cry every night, hoping that I am in a dream. It is really hard for me. I want to put my sons remains to rest. Even though I may never feel that peace in my heart again, putting him (Darian) to rest would give me some closure at least, the emotional woman said. Nedd said that she was told that results from the DNA testing could be finalised after a few months. All I can do is wait and hope that the day would come soon where I would put my sons remains to rest. She said, not only did she lose her son, but the memories they shared together were also destroyed in the blaze. Photographs of him all gone. His first baby clothing and things of all his milestones of 14 years and that of my other children destroyed. I feel like my life is gone. I feel so frustrated and hurt and I dont know if this pain will ever stop. Nedd said that since the killing, she has returned to the burnt out house in Oropouche where she lights a candle every night outside the premises. A 26- year old has since appeared in the Siparia Magistrates Court charged with the teens murder. TT politicians like Donald Trump One person went so far as to suggest we are now living in an age of politicians like US presidential hopeful Donald Trump and people are becoming accustomed to shocking statements. On Sunday, at a PNM convention held at St Johns Ambulance Brigade Headquarters, Portof- Spain, the Prime Minister sought to address critics of the timing of the acquisition, by the Office of the Prime Minister, of a new Mercedes Benz to be used to transport him. Dismissing allegations that the new car was bought at a cost of $2 million, Rowley said, The last time I bought a car, I paid $400,000. I still have it. The Government has bought a vehicle. It didnt cost $2 million. It cost $900,000 fantastic price. He said PCM 1 had to be replaced. PCM 1, that was supposed to be there, Rowley said, I am also being told that vomit is very difficult to wash out, cause even after you clean it, the smell is still there. Including other fluids, he said, it is very, very difficult. That might have been the reason, I dont know. Diana Mahabir- Wyatt, president of the Caribbean Centre for Human Rights, yesterday said the statement was clearly an innuendo done to attack the current Opposition Leader and former prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. Remember what Panday once said? Thats an innuendo, Mahabir-Wyatt said. It is an innuendo he is making against the Leader of the Opposition. It is a pity. He does not need to do that. He should be bigger than that. And obviously he forgets that when children are small they do get motion sickness in cars. Mahabi r-Wyat t suggested TT politicians seem to simply be following in the footsteps of politicians like Donald Trump, who has been criticised for offensive policy stances and politically incorrect statements during the ongoing US presidential election trial. The Prime Minister is a politician and thats what politicians do, Mahabir-Wyatt said. God knows that these days, given what we have heard from Trump, we are now completely trained and accustomed to hearing these things. This is not the first time Rowley has been criticised for making inappropriate remarks. He was accused of sexism in relation to remarks made about cassava and the role of women, was criticised for calling some children monsters, and, before becoming Prime Minister, was also accused of describing children as dunces. On Sunday, Princes Town MP Barry Padarath accused Rowley of engaging in lacaray, innuendos and bachanal and of issuing offensive, insulting and blatant lies in order to distract the population from Rowleys own fete and merriment since becoming Prime Minister. Financial matters in Parliament today According to a release issued yesterday by the Parliament, the PAEC will be meeting with officials of Evolving TecKnologies and Enterprise Development Company Ltd (e TecK) to discuss the companys annual audited financial statements. The PAEC is chaired by Opposition senator and former speaker of the House of Representatives Wade Mark. Other members include Works and Transport Minister Fitzgerald Hinds, Labour Minister Jennifer Baptiste-Primus and Independent Senator David Small. At 1.30 pm, the Standing Finance Committee of the House meets in the Parliament chamber at Tower D. This meeting is taking place two days before Finance Minister Colm Imbert presents the mid-year review in the House on Friday. The sitting on that day begins at 1.30 pm. Fridays sitting is the second for the month, which means that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley will field questions from the Opposition during Prime Ministers question time. What you need to know about the Octagon Art Festival on Sunday in Ames news The US Navy plans to build one of the two Virginia-class boats procured in FY2019, and all Virginia class boats procured in FY2020 and subsequent years, with an additional mid-body section, called the Virginia Payload Module (VPM). The VPM, reportedly about 70 feet in length (earlier design concepts for the VPM were reportedly about 94 feet in length), contains four large diameter, vertical launch tubes that would be used to store and fire additional Tomahawk cruise missiles or other payloads, such as large-diameter unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs). The four additional launch tubes in the VPM could carry a total of 28 additional Tomahawk cruise missiles (7 per tube), which would increase the total number of torpedo-sized weapons (such as Tomahawks) carried by the Virginia class design from about 37 to about 65an increase of about 76%. The Navy wants to start building Virginia-class boats with the VPM in FY2019. Building Virginia-class boats with the VPM would compensate for a sharp loss in submarine force weapon-carrying capacity that will occur with the retirement in FY2026-FY2028 of the Navys four Ohio-class cruise missile/special operations forces support submarines (SSGNs). Each SSGN is equipped with 24 large-diameter vertical launch tubes, of which 22 can be used to carry up to 7 Tomahawks each, for a maximum of 154 vertically launched Tomahawks per boat, or 616 vertically launched Tomahawks for the four boats. Twenty-two Virginia-class boats built with VPMs could carry 616 Tomahawks in their VPMs. SOURCES congressional research service If so, then there is a good chance that Barry will tell Earth-2 Laurel about her doppelganger's death and how she was trying to take down a villain named Damien Darhk. The crossover news was confirmed by Arrow executive producer Marc Guggenheim during a press screening on Monday. Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance will appear in The Flash season 2. New Chelsea boss Conte faces match-fixing sentence A prosecutor is seeking a suspended six-month sentence for Antonio Conte for his alleged involvement in a match-fixing case. Image via Warner Bros. If you're unfamiliar, Black Siren was a member of the Justice Society and sometimes portrayed as the mother of Dinah Laurel Lance/a Canary alter ego in the DC Comics canon. In that hour-which is now untitled, at least officially-Cassidy will play the Earth-2 version of Laurel Lance, a.k.a. Black Siren, the only female member of the Justice Guild of America. And as said in a report by Yibada, The Flash and the Black Siren may not be in good terms in the alternate universe. We'd expect that to be as her Earth-One character, though... But that's not all! FDA approves 1st cheaper version of J&J's top drug Remicade But the road to market for US biosimilars hasn't been smooth and may not generate the degree of cost savings that some expected. Unless the New York-based Pfizer chances an at-risk launch, it could be a while before Inflectra hits the USA market. Katie Cassidy, who plays Laurel Lance/Black Canary on Arrow, will be stopping by The Flash for the penultimate episode of Season 2. As viewers may recall, when Megalyn Echikunwoke brought Mari McCabe to life on "Arrow", the two heroines appeared to already know each other. There are no plot details available at present, but Vixen has teamed up with Black Canary and the team Birds of Prey on occasion in the comics, so perhaps they'll be bringing those stories to life. The Flash airs Tuesdays at 8pm ET while Arrow airs Wednesdays at 8pm ET on The CW. Not Found The requested URL was not found on this server. Apache Server Port 80 Norfolk has grown, but some of the needs and wants havent kept up with the growth. A proposed half-percent sales tax would get the city caught up with many of those needs and wants with safety, streets, sports and recreation. Tripoli-based and Islamist-backed government announced Tuesday it was ceding power in the high national interest in a move to avoid bloodshed, leaving Serraj-led unity government to fully expand its control in the Libyan capital. We inform you that we are ceasing the activities entrusted to us as an executive power, said a statement by the Tripoli government. The statement bearing the logo of the unrecognized government further indicated that the decision was made in light of the political developments in Tripoli and to prevent further divisions and bloodshed. The authors of the statement who have not been mentioned also pointed out they were no longer responsible for what could happen in the future. The move came one week after the UN-backed Libyan Presidency Council led by Prime Minister-designate Faiez Serraj boldly entered Tripoli with his close collaborators after being denied landing several times by Tripoli authorities who have been opposed to the Government of National Accord (GNA.) To embolden Serrajs authority, UNSMIL Head Martin Kobler also travelled to Tripoli on Tuesday in a bid to support the GNA. Speaking to reporters in the Libyan capital, Kobler praised the courage and the determination of the GNA and its chair, Faiez Serraj. He also pledged the full support of the UN to the unity government in its efforts to assert itself. In a separate and significant shift of power, some members of Tripoli-based government affiliate parliament known as the General National Congress (GNC) announced the dissolution of the parliament which now becomes State Council as proposed in the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) signed in Morocco, in December. The announcement was made by former GNC Deputy President, Saleh Makhzoum who led the group of splitters estimated at 94 by the organizers of the press conference which took place in the Mahary Radisson Blu Hotel. The GNC President and his aides did not take part in the event which also saw the GNC logo ripped off and replaced by that of State Council. The group also explained that it supports the LPA and endorses the GNA. Serrajs government is still officially unborn as the House of Representatives (HoR,) the countrys sole recognized parliament, has not yet endorsed it. The HoR on Sunday warned GNA that it remains the only Libyan legal authority. The HoR has failed five times to back the GNA and even it rejected in January the first cabinet line-up proposed by Serraj on the grounds that it was too large. The UN has been standing by the side of the GNA that it deems the sole Libyan authority that could restore the countrys integrity, unity, address insecurity and the grave humanitarian crisis which has displaced more than 2.4 million Libyans. Libya since 2011, following the death of Col. Gaddafi has become a cesspit fertile for power struggle between rival camps leaving a power vacuum filled by IS which has managed to expand before the nose of the opposed factions. IS militants could assault UK and Europe with lethal gas as the group is now able to make chemical and biological weapons, head of Moroccos counter-terrorism department told UK Sun magazine early this week. Speaking from his office at Moroccos Bureau Central dInvestigations Judiciares (BCIJ) also dubbed Moroccos FBI, Abdelhak Khiame told The Sun that IS fanatics have the capability to target UK and the entire Europe with chemical weapons. He spoke about the 10-man terror cell his team dismantled on February 18, saying the cell was plotting terror attacks in the kingdom and was in possession of dreadful weapon. The IS terror cell was believed to be in possession of mustard gas, he said. The ISIS cell was planning chemical and biological attacks on four Moroccan cities plus a strike by a 16-year-old suicide bomber against a government building or tourist area, the publication recalled. The 58 years old Moroccan officer also pointed out forces found traces of deadly Epsilon neurotoxin, which can cause brain tissue and nerve damage and can be used to contaminate food, water or even be sprayed into the air. The disrupted plot could have been used as dry run for similar attacks in UK and Europe, he argued. Its very possible that Daesh would use this process to target Britain and other EU countries, he said. It already has brigades of children and we know they train them in their camps looking to use them in terrorist attacks in Europe. As for chemical weapons, we have seen here how easy they are to prepare. Khiame also argued that it would be easy for IS militants to manufacture similar weapons in UK and Europe as the substances are easy to find everywhere. The substances used in the plot we dismantled in February in Morocco are available in shops all over Britain, all over Europe. They can use very simple substances in order to develop these weapons and it is very easy. One of the substances we found was so dangerous that if it was applied to the door handle of a car and you touched it, you would die, he added. The head of the Moroccan FBI regretted that France and Belgium are not doing enough to counter their home-grown IS menace, The Sun said. Belgium is becoming the Daesh of Europe. We dont see Belgians wanting to go to Syria. They are happy to attack their own country, he said. Khiame is reportedly the one who gave French authorities the lead on hideouts of Paris attack plotter Abdelhamid Abaaoud, shot dead in an apartment at Saint Denis, in Paris. Besides, the BCIJ is reportedly involved in the Belgian bombing investigation. The BCIJ has since its creation dismantled 25 terror cells. The European court has cancelled its former verdict on farm deal with Morocco in the appeal lodged by the European Union. This new ruling deals a hard blow to the Polisario separatists, backed by Algerian lobbyists who tirelessly seek to undermine Moroccan-European relations. During her latest trip to Morocco, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the EU will challenge the courts prior decision and promised to protect the global trade pact which lowered tariffs on Moroccan agricultural exports to the bloc. Morocco had decided to suspend relations with European institutions after the European court partly upheld a challenge to the bilateral 2012 farm trade deal over Western Sahara. But EU foreign policy chief Federica remained upbeat and assured the Moroccans, saying the European Unions international commitments will be respected and underlining the importance of the EUs ties with the North African country. Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar had also called on the European Union to move quickly to fix the problem to preserve partnership between Morocco and EU. This is a dangerous precedent. It is not useful to a relationship which has been built up step by step with determination for more than 20 years, he said. The 2012 trade deal lowered tariffs on dozens of Moroccan agricultural exports to the EU in exchange for scrapping of tariffs on some European exports to the North African country. The agreement was part of EU efforts to encourage democratic reforms in the region following the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.The EU has extensive ties with Morocco on trade, political and security matters. Many analysts were convinced that the EU will correct the European court ruling. Morocco plays a key role in the fight against terrorism and has helped France identify and locate the mastermind of the Paris terror attacks last month. The North African country also helps Spain, Belgium, Italy and other countries in the fight against terror cells and extremist groups threatening European security. I know I am, but what are you? Photo: Pacific Press/Getty Images Until about a year ago, Bernie Sanders was a lifelong independent, a self-described outsider who often criticized the constraints of the two-party system. During his run for the Democratic nomination this year, he has conceded that his primary reason for joining the party was to ensure that his message about income inequality would receive broad media attention. Asked recently about whether he intends to lend his funding prowess to down-ballot Democrats, Sanders said, Well see. So when Politicos Glenn Thrush asked Clinton whether Sanders is a Democrat on Tuesday, her uncertain reply was understandable. Well, I cant answer that, Clinton said. Hes a relatively new Democrat, and, in fact, Im not even sure he is one. Hes running as one. So I dont know quite how to characterize him. It makes sense that Clinton isnt sure if Sanders is a Democrat. But she needs to do everything in her power to make sure that he is one. Despite his independent label, Sanders has been a member of the Democratic caucus and a reliable vote for the Democrats throughout his time in Congress. He likens his political philosophy to that of Franklin Roosevelt. Ideologically, there is little distinguishing Sanders from Elizabeth Warren or Sherrod Brown: He should feel comfortable in todays Democratic Party. More critically for Clinton, his supporters should. In Wisconsin last night, Sanders once again notched a double-digit victory on the strength of his support among independents. Clinton needs to keep those left-leaning voters in the Democratic fold. The open primary mattered for Bernie --exits show he killed it among independents 71-28. But biggest states remaining are closed/semi-closed Charlie Mahtesian (@PoliticoCharlie) April 6, 2016 On MSNBCs Morning Joe Wednesday, Clinton may not have advanced that goal. Asked whether she believes Sanders is qualified for the presidency, Clinton declined to say that he is. The Vermont senator has been widely criticized this week for some clumsy answers in an interview he gave to the New York Daily News editorial board. Specifically, when asked to describe the mechanics of his plan to break up the big banks one of his campaigns signature issues Sanders appeared ignorant and/or uncertain in the eyes of many pundits. Daily News: Okay. Well, lets assume that youre correct on that point. How do you go about doing it? Sanders: How you go about doing it is having legislation passed, or giving the authority to the secretary of treasury to determine, under Dodd-Frank, that these banks are a danger to the economy over the problem of too-big-to-fail. Daily News: But do you think that the Fed, now, has that authority? Sanders: Well, I dont know if the Fed has it. But I think the administration can have it. Daily News: How? How does a President turn to JPMorgan Chase, or have the Treasury turn to any of those banks and say, Now you must do X, Y and Z? Sanders: Well, you do have authority under the Dodd-Frank legislation to do that, make that determination. Daily News: You do, just by Federal Reserve fiat, you do? Sanders: Yeah. Well, I believe you do. The core of his campaign has been break up the banks, Clinton told MSNBC Wednesday morning. And it didnt seem, in reading his answers, that he understood exactly how that would work under Dodd-Frank, exactly who would be responsible, what the criteria were. And so that means you cant really help people, if you dont really know how to do what you are campaigning, to say that you want to do. .@JoeNBC: Is Sanders qualified and ready to be President?... @HillaryClinton: He hadn't done his homework https://t.co/ZZWWko6hNy Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) April 6, 2016 Asked if Sanderss lack of understanding is disqualifying, Clinton said, Well, I think he hadnt done his homework. And hed been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadnt really studied or understood. Theres little question that Clinton has proven herself more eloquent on a broad range of policy areas than her rival. But the Roosevelt Institutes Mike Konczal, who has criticized Sanderss Wall Street reform plan for its inattention to shadow banking, argues that the senators answers in the Daily News interview were perfectly sound and in keeping with the detailed plan he articulated earlier in the campaign. Konczal says Sanders is basically correct in asserting that his administration would have the authority to declare that a given bank should be broken up. The Dodd-Frank reform gives the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a body of regulators chaired by the Treasury secretary, the power to declare large firms to be systemic risks in need of downsizing. And while Sanderss simultaneous references to breaking up the banks through legislation, through the order of the Treasury secretary, and through the Federal Reserve may sound contradictory, they reflect his three-pronged plan for financial reform, which Konczal summarizes as follows: 1. Pass a law putting some sort of cap on the size of the balance sheet of financial companies, usually non-deposit liabilities. Caps, such as Senator Browns SAFE Banking Act, are generally proposed around 2 or 3 percent of GDP. 2. Have the council of regulators known as the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), on which the Treasury Secretary serves as chair, declare the largest firms to be too risky and must be broken up (Section 121). 3. Have the Federal Reserve, along with the FDIC, determine that the living wills of the biggest banks, which are plans on how they can fail without bringing down the economy, are not credible, and thus must be broken up (Section 165d). Sanders hasnt shown much talent for reciting the details of policy extemporaneously. Thats certainly a weakness for a politician, and one that can inspire reasonable doubts about the precision of his policy thinking. (His remarks on drones and trade in the Daily News interview buoy such doubts.) But it isnt true that Sanders has failed to articulate a plan to do what he says he will to those big banks. Sanders campaign will maintain its momentum moving into the East Coast primaries. Photo: Jeff Swensen/2016 Getty Images Almost immediately after polls closed in Wisconsin at 9 p.m. EST, multiple outlets named Bernie Sanders the projected winner of that states Democratic primary. Exit polls showed Sanders ahead by a wide margin with all precincts reporting he led Hillary Clinton by 14 points, according to the New York Times. Results were just as rapid on the GOP side, with Ted Cruz pulling ahead of both Donald Trump and John Kasich early on and managing to maintain his lead. With all precincts reporting, Cruz held 48 percent while Trump had 35 percent and Kasich 14 percent. Both Sanders and Cruz had been heavily favored in Wisconsin polls all week. In Cruzs victory speech, he called the Wisconsin primary a turning point and humbly reassured the American people that they once again have hope for the future. As part of his ongoing appeal to women voters particularly in light of Trumps recent abortion gaffe Cruz also praised his mother for shattering glass ceilings and told the audience, strong women can accomplish anything in the United States of America. Cruz kept his remarks relatively short, but Sanders went on for almost 30 minutes, reiterating his stance on things like student-loan debt, climate change, and wealth inequality. As he brought his speech to a close, Sanders focused on the future, telling supporters: If you ignore what you hear in corporate media, the facts are pretty clear. We have a path toward victory. I believe weve got an excellent chance to win New York. Shortly after results were announced, Clinton tweeted her congratulations to Sanders. Trumps concession, however, never came. Instead, his campaign released a statement to Washington Post reporter Robert Costa calling Cruz worse than a puppet. Lyin Ted Cruz had the Governor of Wisconsin, many conservative talk radio show hosts, and the entire party apparatus behind him, the statement read. NEW: Trump campaign statement tonight pic.twitter.com/ycqP3IJYWn Robert Costa (@costareports) April 6, 2016 Donald Trump is many things, but a graceful loser is not one of them. This post has been updated throughout. Ramon Fonseca, a partner in Mossack Fonseca, says his firms hack is the real crime. Photo: STR The Panama Papers leak, which claimed its first political victim yesterday, stemmed from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, a leading creator of shell companies for the rich to hide money. The company hasnt been charged with a crime and has denied any wrongdoing, but on Tuesday it went a step further and declared itself the victim. Ramon Fonseca, one of the firms founding partners, told Reuters the company had been hacked and that a government institution is studying the issue. We rule out an inside job, Fonseca said. This is not a leak. This is a hack. We have a theory and we are following it, he said, but declined to elaborate. Fonseca also said that the 11.5 million documents, which include company emails and information on the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders, another 128 politicians, and public officials from more than 50 countries, have been taken out of context and called journalists investigation of their contents a witch-hunt. The only crime that has been proven is the hack, he said. No one is talking about that. That is the story. Although he denied Mossack Fonseca had done anything wrong, Fonseca also said the company was being judged unfairly. Fifteen years ago, due diligence didnt exist, he said, referring to the legal requirement that companies take certain steps to assure all business deals to which theyre connected are above-board. They are judging us by other standards. Of course, its perfectly possible that Mossack Fonsecas dealings were legal, but the dealings of its partners werent. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which confirmed the validity of the documents: [They] show that banks, law firms and other offshore players have often failed to follow legal requirements that they make sure their clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption. In some instances, the files show, offshore middlemen have protected themselves and their clients by concealing suspect transactions or manipulating official records. On Tuesday, Icelandic prime minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson became the first high-ranking official to resign in light of evidence revealed in the leak, and its possible there will be more political fallout, especially as more documents are released (this was just the first wave). Nevertheless, Fonseca thinks the whole thing will blow over. This is a tropical storm, like the ones we have here in Panama where once it passes the sun will come out, he said. I guarantee you that we will not be found guilty of anything. Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images African-American support for Hillary Clinton asserted itself again in Wisconsin and accounts for her firm command of the Democratic primary. It is likewise the source of befuddlement and consternation among Bernie Sanderss supporters. Sanders has energetically promoted racial justice and attracted numerous high-profile black surrogates, all of whom earnestly see his brand of left-wing politics as a natural fit for their community. And African-Americans form the bulwark of the Democratic base, just as white southern Evangelicals do the Republican base. But while white southern Evangelicals have relentlessly pushed their party rightward, by supporting the tea party and other conservative activist movements, African-Americans have played nearly the opposite role in the Democratic Party, helping its mainstream wing to crush its ideologically purist insurgency. From the perspective of a Sanders loyalist, the behavior is puzzling. Why would the partys most underprivileged community exhibit the least radical tendencies? Clintons dominance of the African-American vote has been explained as a residue of the long-standing ties she and her husband have built over decades on the national scene. Sanderss failure has likewise been attributed to his decades of confinement to the flamboyantly white state of Vermont. Both factors have surely played a role. But there is a larger and more durable force behind the African-American place in the Democratic Party mainstream: a long historical tradition of highly rational electoral pragmatism. The Democratic primary is a reprise of the classic purity-versus-pragmatism conflicts that periodically break out in both parties. Purists (on the left and the right) cast voting in morally absolute terms. They believe a hidden majority of the electorate shares their preferences, and a sufficiently committed, eloquent, or uncorrupted leader could activate that majority. Sanders is a classic proponent of this worldview. He has portrayed conservatism as simply a false consciousness constructed by big money and a biased news media, and something that would, in an uncorrupted system, be reduced to 10 percent of the public or less. Pragmatists read the electorate much more pessimistically. They recognize that the other side votes, too, and, having lowered expectations of what is possible in the face of a divided country, recognize that progress will be incremental and weighed down by compromise sometimes with truly odious forces. That is the history of even the most spectacular episodes of progress in American history. Abraham Lincoln, who was holding together a coalition of voters that included supporters of slavery, refused to support abolition until the very end. Franklin Roosevelt needed the votes of southern white supremacists, and had to design social programs to exclude southern black people in order to pass them through Congress. No community in the United States is more aware of the power of its enemies than African-Americans. For most of American history, the franchise itself was denied to black voters, who leveraged their precious vote for whatever they could. That did not mean holding out for politicians who would treat them as equal human beings, but merely supporting the less-bad party. In the first half of the 19th century, writes Daniel Walker Howe, wherever black men had the power to do so, they voted overwhelmingly against the Democrats despite lacking anything like a racially egalitarian party to support. The emergence of the Republican Party in the middle of the century provided a vehicle for African-Americans to exercise more leverage. When neither party offered any positive inducement, as they deemed to be the case in 1916, black civic leaders stayed neutral. New Deal progressivism allowed northern blacks to form an influential bloc within the Democratic Party. Initially, they were overwhelmed by the power of white Southerners who, under Roosevelt, even blocked such tepid measures as anti-lynching laws but eventually prevailed to turn the Democrats into a pro-civil-rights party. (African-Americans multiplied their voting power by engaging in social activism, which was itself calculated to divide their enemies from middle America.) That pragmatic tendency was on display in 2008, when black voters were slow to embrace Obamas candidacy, waiting until he had demonstrated the ability to win over white Iowans before committing to him. President Bill Clinton, far right, and New York senator Hillary Clinton link arms across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, 2008. Photo: Dana Mixer/Bloomberg via Getty And pragmatism inflects the African-American view of how politicians perform in office. Purists see compromise as a sign of moral failure or weakness, an inability to smash a corrupted system. Pragmatists expect political opposition as normal and enduring. A politician who has their best interests in mind and pushes policy in the proper direction is better than the all-too-common alternative. Sanderss campaign draws much of its strength from the left-wing critique of Barack Obamas presidency, which it dismisses as largely feeble half-measures. Sanders has attracted Democrats most discontented with Obamas progress, while Clinton wins those most satisfied, among whom African-Americans are disproportionately represented. Obviously, Obamas status as the first black president creates a unique bond with black supporters, but much more than racial affinity is at work here. As Brett Gadsden, a historian and professor of African-American studies at Emory, told me a few months ago over email, Black voters have always [been] faced with the difficult choice between candidates who have only offered incremental support for their concerns and have been perfectly willing to turn their backs, albeit to slightly different degrees, on black communities when it was politically expedient. The decision about how to exert leverage (which is necessarily limited within a racially polarized electorate) is difficult, even agonizing. Any political constituency must navigate the twin imperatives of supporting the better (or less bad) party without letting that party take its support completely for granted. But the critique of Clintons African-American supporters increasingly lies outside the realm of calculation altogether. Columnist Shaun King, a Sanders supporter, argues that Political progressives across this country, in supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, are completely rejecting the Democratic Party, and should take their actions a step farther and form our own political party. Similar logic animates online activists declaring themselves for Bernie or Bust. Any drawn-out primary will produce overheated declarations of refusal to support the opposing candidate. But it is not surprising that many of Sanderss most prominent supporters, like Susan Sarandon, Cornel West, and Michael Moore, not to mention Sanders himself, endorsed Ralph Nader in 2000. (Nader in 2000 drew the support of 3 percent of whites, but just one percent of African-Americans.) That refusal to accept the necessity of compromise in a winner-take-all two-party system (and an electorate where conservatives still outnumber liberals) is characteristic of a certain idealistic style of left-wing politics. Its conception of voting as an act of performative virtue has largely confined itself to white left-wing politics, because it is at odds with the political tradition of a community that has always viewed political compromise as a practical necessity. The expectation that a politician should agree with you on everything is the ultimate expression of privilege. Still goin. Photo: Darren Hauck/Getty Images; Spencer Platt/Getty Images Almost as soon as the polls closed, the networks started calling the Wisconsin Democratic primary for Bernie Sanders. Exit-poll estimates of the final results have varied from 55/44 (NBC) to 61/39 (Decision Desk HQ). The difference could be important: In FiveThirtyEights pre-primary analysis, Harry Enten suggested Sanders needed a win in the neighborhood of 16 points to avoid losing ground. He seems likely to come in under that margin. What Sanders does not seem to have done is to blaze any new paths in Wisconsin. According to CNNs exits, only 9 percent of primary voters were African-American; Clinton won them 74/26. A robust 18 percent of voters were under 30; Sanders won them 81/17. Clinton narrowly won self-identified Democrats, while Sanders won self-identified independents 71/28. A third of primary voters wanted policies more liberal than Obamas, and Sanders won 78 percent of them, while Clinton won a less-impressive 61 percent of the narrow majority of voters who like Obamas policies just fine. These are all pretty much the patterns weve been seeing for much of the primary season, and Sanders might end up doing about as well as anyone could have expected. After all, Wisconsin didnt offer a rich Latino voting population for him to do better in than before. While the delegate math from Wisconsin may not give Sanders much of a boost, theres no question that winning the state helps maintain perceptions that he has some momentum after six wins in the last seven contests (with the only loss being Arizona). Hes likely to win a seventh contest in Wyomings caucuses this weekend. But hell need all the help he can get to score what may be a must-win in Clintons adopted home state, New York, two weeks from tonight. As for Team Clinton, you can expect it to continue the drumbeat sounded by campaign manager Robby Mook yesterday in a very public memo to supporters: Shes too far ahead in pledged delegates and popular votes and too entrenched in the states just ahead for Sanders to make a move. Get ready for an awful lot of hype from both camps as they concentrate on New York. The Tennessee House of Representatives. Photo: Mark Humphrey/AP Tennessees House of Representatives just passed a bill that would allow therapists who believe homosexuality is the mark of Satan to refuse to treat gay clients. More precisely, the bill allows mental-health counselors to deny treatment to anyone who seeks help with goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with the sincerely held principles of the counselors or therapist. If the bill makes it into law, Tennessee would be the first state to allow therapists to pick what kind of clients theyre willing to serve. From a certain angle, the law may appear more significant on a symbolic level than a practical one: If youre a gay teenager looking for someone to counsel you through your first same-sex relationship, its probably in your interest to see someone who doesnt think that relationship will bring you eternal hellfire. But whats really at stake in the legislation is what the ethical code for licensed mental-health professionals in the United States will entail. The bill was drafted in reaction to the American Counseling Associations 2014 code of ethics, which warned counselors not to impose their personal values onto their clients. Tennessees bill would allow the states mental-health professionals to reject clients for failing to conform to their beliefs without losing their licenses. The bills opponents argue that allowing therapists such a prerogative would endanger the lives of vulnerable people. For people seeking counseling because they are faced with a critical dilemma in their lives and need objective guidance, allowing mental-health professionals to discriminate could cause grave damage, the ACLU of Tennessee warns. Many who need care already face significant barriers, including trauma, marginalization, and a historic distrust of mental-health providers. For some like a woman who wants to escape her abusive spouse or a gay teen being bullied, for example this bill could affect their very survival. The bill does stipulate that counselors would not be allowed to turn away anyone who is in imminent danger of harming themselves or others. Supporters of the legislation claim that the ACAs ethics code impinges on mental-health professionals right to freedom of religion. Representative Dan Howell told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the association had overstepped their authority and elevated their code above the First amendment and thats why were here today. An earlier version of the legislation already passed the state senate, but new amendments to the bill will force the upper chamber to take a second vote. Assuming the bill passes, it will go to the desk of Republican governor Bill Haslam. Like similar religious liberty laws designed to allow conservative Christian businesses the right to refuse service to homosexuals, Tennessees bill could ostensibly be used to deny service to virtually anyone. In an interview with ABC News, Art Terrazas, director of government affairs for the American Counseling Association, argued that a therapist who sincerely opposed U.S. military policy could use the law to refuse counsel to veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The bills passage comes one day after Mississippi enacted a law that allows businesses to deny services to gay couples out of religious principle. That law also declared that gender is determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth, and that business owners are thus within their rights to demand to see a birth certificate before allowing a transgender person to use their preferred restroom. The password for the Washington Cartels smoke-filled room is Reagan. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Donald Trump never claimed to be a gracious loser. So you cant really blame him for failing to congratulate Ted Cruz after the Texas senator trounced him in Wisconsin. But the GOP front-runners Tuesday night concession statement was unsportsmanlike, even by his own belligerent standard. NEW: Trump campaign statement tonight pic.twitter.com/ycqP3IJYWn Robert Costa (@costareports) April 6, 2016 As with most of Trumps works of prose, this statement offers much to ponder. But the stipulation that Lyin Ted is worse than a puppet, since he is, in truth, a Trojan horse, deserves special attention. At first this might appear to be a mere rhetorical flourish, but it actually highlights an important nuance in Team Trumps critique of Cruz: The problem is not that the Establishments least-favorite senator has sold out to the Washington Cartel. After all, Trump doesnt begrudge anyone the right to make a deal. Rather, he accuses his rival of having been artless in that deal-making of allowing himself to become a pawn in the party bigwigs sick game. Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson clarified this point in an interview with Fox News Wednesday. The Bush people are now running Sen. Cruzs campaign Neil Bush, whos spent millions of dollars invested with Common Core, and all of these other special interest groups like Goldman Sachs, like hedge fund managers, Pierson told the network, referring to the Bush brother on Cruzs finance team. This is going to be a very serious problem if Sen. Cruz continues to go down this path and then neither Trump or Cruz becomes the nominee. Pierson went on to explain the nature of that very serious problem. When you have the establishment backing you so reluctantly, to the point where you have people endorsing you that said that you would get murdered on the Senate floor and nobody would care and the difference between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz is being stabbed or shot, their loyalty is not with Sen. Cruz, she said, referring to past statements from Cruz supporter Lindsey Graham. However, Sen. Cruz has now made himself that Trojan horse to push this to a contested convention, where the GOP and the RNC have no intention of supporting either one of them. Pierson isnt arguing that Lyin Ted has revealed himself to be just another puppet of the Establishment. Rather, shes saying that he remains so far outside the Establishment, hes only setting himself up for betrayal on the convention floor. Lindsey Graham doesnt want Cruz to be his president; he just recognizes that Cruz is best positioned to deny Trump a majority of delegates. Once Cruz fulfills this purpose, the GOPs career politicians and party pooh-bahs will toss him aside and nominate Mitt Romney or some other hater/loser. Essentially, Pierson is saying to Cruz voters: A vote for Ted is a vote for the RINO squishes not because your favorite candidate is one of those, but because the RINOs have outsmarted him. As both analysis and a political appeal, the Trump campaign has produced much worse. As my colleague Ed Kilgore has written, there are multiple Republican Establishments. While Cruz is the darling of the conservative movements institutions and bigwigs, the partys political Establishment is deeply hostile to unruly ideologues. Theres no question that many GOP leaders hope Cruz will prevent Trump from achieving a majority so that they can then engineer Paul Ryans nomination from the convention floor. After all, just a few months ago, the party pooh-bahs were telling reporters that Trump may actually be preferable to the Texas senator. Thus, if a Cruz voters No. 1 priority is to ensure an outsider gets the nomination, pulling the lever for Trump is their best bet. However, theres good reason to think that Cruz knows exactly what hes doing. As Nate Silver notes, Cruz is much more likely to win a contested convention than Ryan, or any other Establishment wild card, as he appears to be really popular with the sort of folks who attend the local conventions where most delegates are nominated: Cruz won nine of the 12 delegates chosen at county conventions in Wyoming (Trump won one), and Cruz has gotten six of six picked so far at congressional district conventions in Colorado (more Colorado congressional districts will choose their delegates this week). In North Dakota, delegates are technically unbound, but Cruz got a highly favorable slate of delegates approved at the state convention on Sunday; only one or two delegates of the 25 chosen appear favorably disposed to Trump. Maybe the Establishment thinks that Cruz is their Trojan horse. If so, they should probably check that horses belly: It appears to be full of Cruz-loving delegates. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Yahoo, the home page for people who dont know what home pages are, is in trouble. Well, in more trouble than was previously thought: According to two separate reports this week, the companys media business is in disarray and its presentation to potential buyers is suspiciously complicated. Since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO four years ago, the company has spent most of its time trying to figure out what it is, exactly, besides the punch line to a joke. A search engine? A web portal? A very large publisher? Tumblrs slowly dying parent company? Its surviving, obviously, but mainly for the same reasons that it takes longer to hit the ground when youre falling from very high up. Our first sign that Yahoo is in even more trouble than previously thought comes from a Vanity Fair report concerning the companys media business, which tried to reinvent itself shortly after Mayers hire, by hiring and poaching numerous marquee media names, most notably Katie Couric. But what these big media personalities encountered when they arrived at Yahoo was a tech company that heavily favored data when making decisions. Crucially, Yahoos billion-person-a-month home page is run by an algorithm, with a spare editorial staff, that pulls in the best-performing content from across the site. Yahoo engineers generally believed that these big names should have been able to support themselves, garner their own large audiences, and shouldnt have relied on placement on the home page to achieve large audiences. As a result, they were expected to sink or swim on their own. This resulted in writers quite literally competing for attention with articles about Kim Kardashians butt a competition which, if youve spent any time online at all, you know youll lose. Now, the media department is scaling back its focus to four main sections news, sports, finance, and lifestyle and getting rid of employees in the process. Of global editor-in-chief Martha Nelson, one employee told Vanity Fair, she thought she was being invited to the party, and then she showed up and they handed her a broom. Another source told Vanity Fair the company was reverting to its beginnings as a crap home page for the Midwest. Rude, blunt, but, also not wrong. Meanwhile, Re/codes Kara Swisher got a hold of Yahoos sale book the prospectus being given to potential buyers. She describes it as straightforwardly showing a successful, growing business. No, kidding, obviously: Swisher calls it unusually confusing and perhaps purposefully so, and describes its contents as portraying a financial meltdown at a company in what has been a serious free fall[.] Many of the companys revenue streams are declining to a total of an estimated $3.5 billion in 2016, down from $4.1 billion the year prior. In fact, several possible buyers I spoke to both strategic and financial think the entire book is confounding, because Yahoo has shifted around everything so much that it is not easily clear what is making money and what is not. For example, some search staff costs seem to have been shoved into research, while regional units across the globe are not broken out as clearly as before and sometimes as in the case with the Asia-Pacific region have been put in the sales unit numbers (Asia head Rose Tsou now reports in there). No one knows where the newly higher food costs for employees have gone, even if they are in there somewhere. Detailed answers to prospective buyers wont be provided until the next round of bids. Initial bids are due next Monday. Most of the people Re/code spoke to are planning to make a bid, driven by the complex logic of Eh, why the hell not? Before Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, and OkCupid, mortals had to navigate the maddening nuances of everyday social rituals to find romance. Just kidding they had New York Magazine, which in the golden age of print was famous for its Strictly Personals section. Theres some comfort in knowing that even before Tinder was allegedly ruining dating, Richard Gere look-alikes and Bulgarian princesses were turning to outside help in their great search for love. Below, weve combed through the New York Magazine archive room, poring over issues from 1983 to 2001, to bring you 33 highlights from the personals. Photo: Brent N. Clarke/Getty Images Its not been a fun week for Gay Talese, which is probably the first time those words have ever been written. After the male journalist couldnt summon the name of even one female writer that he was inspired by at a conference at Boston University, he was forced to say he misunderstood the question in a note to the Boston Globe. I was not commenting on contemporary women who practiced journalism, he wrote, and then called to mind Katie Roiphe, the late Nora Ephron, and Larissa MacFarquhar, among others, as women whose work he admires. But the backstory to the original gaffe has now been expanded upon with insights from women who were actually in attendance at the Boston University Power of Narrative conference, and there is an even more unfortunate anectode about what happened offstage. Rewire has the story of what happened when Gay Talese met The New York Times Magazine staff writer Nikole Hannah-Jones after the keynote: He asked again if I was actually a staff writer. And I said yes, Hannah-Jones told me by phone on Monday. He asked her how she got hired for that job. I said they called and offered me a job, she recalled. He asked me who hired me, why was I hired? Hannah-Jones told Rewire that she was the only black person in the room at the private luncheon. I felt defensive, she said. I feel like Ive been explaining why Im in a room where apparently people think Im not supposed to be most of my life, so I know when someone is asking me that question. But then Talese somehow made things worse. The NYT Mag staff writer said she was speaking to another female journalist about what panel to attend next, when Talese came up and asked me if I was going to get my nails done. She told Rewire that she did not know what to say. Part of it was, I mean, I just come from a family where respect for your elders is very ingrained, but part of it is feeling like, honestly, as a Black woman, that it would be very hard for me to say something without coming off looking like all the stereotypes that women and Black women get, Hannah-Jones explained. It was a hard moment for me to realize that even at this point in my career I could still be silenced. Photo-Illustration: Getty Images Welcome to Its Complicated, a week of stories on the sometimes frustrating, sometimes confusing, always engrossing subject of modern relationships. Cody When my sister and Claudia started dating about 13 years ago, I could tell it was serious and they were thinking about kids. Shes 16 years older than me, and we share the same father but we have different moms. We had been developing a relationship as adults and were becoming very close. I threw it out there. I said, Hey if you guys ever want to have kids Id love to be the donor. I was in my early 20s. I thought: This is pretty cool. I can have a kid and I dont have to do any work or change my life. We talked over a couple of bottles of wine. A few years passed and I got a drunk phone message. They said, Hey, we need you to come down to Florida. We want to make a baby. They were shit-faced, demanding my sperm. It was hilarious. Wendy While we didnt grow up in the same house or share the same mother, I was always very protective of Cody. When Cody was born I was totally in love. I went to college in Arizona to get away from my family and I wanted to kidnap him. I have always had this half-sister, half-mother feeling about him. When I was in my late 20s, I wanted to have a kid. My stepmother, Codys mom, introduced me to two guys. We talked about it, and in the end I decided I didnt want to share custody. I didnt know them well enough to have them in my life like that, and I was single so it just didnt make any sense. About five years passed and in that time Claudia and I raised her nephew. He came from a very abusive background so there was a lot of damage to repair. We wanted to adopt him, but his mother was trying to get sober so that wasnt really an option. When he was 12, he went back to her. I think thats when we realized that we really wanted to have our own child. Claudia Hes Wendys brother, not mine. So because of that shes had more to worry about. She didnt want him to get hurt. But it was very important to me that we have a healthy baby and part of that is really knowing the background of the donor. What if years later we had health issues? It was much more likely that I would get pregnant because I was younger, and also Wendy has had some health problems. When we decided to use Cody, that decision was kind of made for us. Cody Social stigma wasnt a concern, and it made so much sense. The baby would be connected to them both and they knew who the donor was. We hadnt heard of anyone else doing this. They did IVF and it took the first time, which was a miracle. There were some homophobic restrictions, so in order to avoid all these ridiculous procedures my sisters wife and I had to pretend that we were lovers. It was really awkward: Im sitting there rubbing my sisters wifes back saying, It will be okay, baby while my sister the real alpha is arranging all the logistics, paying bills, signing forms, and booking appointments. Shes clearly the most invested in the whole process. Wendy When we mentioned that we were using my brothers sperm, doctors were all very negative. They said that its a terrible mistake and much harder emotionally. In retrospect, I might agree, but back then I didnt. I dont think we thought enough about the reality of the situation, and I do think Cody ended up feeling excluded and hurt. Claudia I never really felt like, Oh, I am carrying Wendys brothers baby. Wendy is my partner, and I carried a baby, thats how I think about it. When Logan was born, Cody looked at him and said, Oh, my gosh, its my son, and he was crying. That was a strange moment for me. It wasnt like he came and helped with the baby; Codys not that kind of person, but its great when hes around. Hes very playful, but hes not the sort who is going to come in and change the diapers. Cody For the first few years, things were very fraught. Conflicts started to arise when it came to parenting. I had to recognize Im the dad, but Im not the father. Things were really complicated by the fact that right after Logan was born, Wendy was diagnosed with lymphoma. We were navigating all of this, and then I had my own daughter and got married and moved to Belgium and my whole life was happening, too. I think the year we spent in Belgium heightened a lot of the concerns my sister had about how much of a father I should be. Would it be dangerous to identify me as his father if I was going to be disappearing for years at a time? I think she was confused about why I was having my own family so far away. Wendy I bonded with Logan right away. And then, boom, when he was 3 months old I was diagnosed with lymphoma. It was shattering. We all had different reactions and expectations for each other. Cody wanted to take more of a care-giving role. I ended up having major reactions to the treatments and the cancer came back very quickly. I had 19 bouts of meningitis in two years. Claudia When Wendy got sick, things were so tough, but I knew I had this little baby to take care of. I tried to take care of myself as well as Logan. It was good for me to be alone. I developed a new community with friends outside of the family. It helped with the fear that Wendy might die. I think Cody was very scared, too. Wendy Codys mother passed away while Cody was in his first year of college. I always had somewhat of a maternal role with him and here I was letting him down. I got sick just like his mother did. I felt guilty at times, and then there were times when I felt so angry because I needed help from people around me. Cody A few years ago, we really had to hash it out. I think I was acting like more of a father than my sister had anticipated. She thought Id be more like an uncle, or a donor. We had to set boundaries. I also think that when I had a child and graduated from law school it was easier for me to step back a bit. I was able to focus on my own family. They are the parents. They are the ones on the birth certificate. They are the ones who did and do all the work. To be honest, thats something that I had to really adjust to. Intellectually, I knew I had to just shut the fuck up but emotionally when you disagree with the way your kid is being raised, you have an instinctual response to stand up for him! In those moments I dont care what they say. I dont care about my relationship with my sister, my duty is to my son. Im a particularly opinionated guy: I am vegan, Im a lawyer, I am hella political, which is a good thing until you tell someone how they are supposed to raise their children. Kids need to be raised in a community; I think thats a huge thing we have lost from society and it would be nice to bring it back. That said, I know firsthand that it is very hard for three parents to agree on how to raise a child. Wendy Its very hard having three people involved in raising a child, especially when one is my brother whom I care about and dont want to upset. But at the same time, I didnt want him to come and live with us. I didnt want to marry my brother and I didnt want him to be more than my brother. Logan and Cody have a very unique relationship, it was major love right from the beginning, which I think is beautiful, but it does get complicated. When Cody has to discipline him, Logan comes home crushed. Its not the way hes used to be spoken to and then thats uncomfortable for Cody and we all have to have discussions that we dont want to have. We clash about ideological stuff. Codys vegan and we arent. Once Cody told Claudia off for giving Logan a hot dog. I was like, What the fuck, is it his business? Cody would freak out even if we were playing him educational stuff for little babies on an iPad or TV. Another thing we used to argue about was Logans health. He was diagnosed very low on the spectrum. Hes completely functional, you wouldnt notice, except if hes overstimulated, hell freak out. Cody would be like, Well, I just dont see this! And I was like, I dont give a shit, you havent seen him freak the fuck out when someone touches him during a train dance. Our father was old-school. You know, kids should be seen and not heard. Im different. I talk to Logan about emotions. We have conversations. I think that we were too loosey-goosey for Cody. Despite his veganism and all his political ideologies, he was like someone from the 1950s when it comes to fathering. It came to a head and we had it out through days and days of private Facebook messaging. Had I deceived him? I was very sensitive about that. Theres a big difference between being a parent and being a donor because you are not living with the kid all the time. But at the same time you cant deny that theres a very unique closeness and true love between them. I guess I was pushed enough, or pissed off enough, to say whatever I had to say. So I did. I told him I dont want you to be his parent, which I am sure stung like fucking hell. But at the same time maybe I gave him permission to go, Oh, I dont have to be responsible here. It was never that we didnt want him around, we absolutely love having him around. It was more a question of: Do we want him to be another parent? And the answer was no. Also, Claudia and I were having our own problems because of my illness. I was so sick and distant. I was worried about what would happen if we split up. I didnt want to lose Logan. At times I thought Cody and Claudia were a little closer than I was to either of them. I do think part of me was jealous. I didnt want to be his aunt. Claudia We told him, You are the donor, you are not a parent. You can have a part in his life, but we are making all the decisions. You cant say where he will go to school, you cant tell him what he can and cant do. We are there 24 hours and Logan knows we are his parents. Sometimes I feel bad, because I know hes Wendys brother and when they argue she gets very upset. I feel like it should be between them, I do not want to get in between family. I come from a very large Catholic family in Colombia. I am here alone. My father did not like that I was gay, he told me I would go to hell. I still havent told my father about Logan. The only person who knows is my mother. When Cody had his daughter, we were so happy. Ill admit there were some times where I felt like, Good, now you have your own baby, you can stop bothering us, but it did make him more understanding about what its like to raise a kid. Claudia We live in the Hamptons and he lives in Brooklyn. And now he shares custody of his daughter, so its weekend on, weekend off. I think we are all happy with the way things are, but it took a lot of work. We are always busy and Cody doesnt understand. He will call at 10 p.m. and say, I am coming to visit tomorrow, can I see Logan? I have to say, Cody you have to give us notice because Logan has auditions! Logan has classes. I am not going to stop my life because you are coming. We can be so open, though, which I think is good. Cody From my point of view, there was no sacrifice. I got to have this extra person in my life. No matter what happens, I know I have this little person who can look up to me as dad and someone who connects my family together in a really rich, weird, multifaceted way. I enjoy hanging out with him and then the diapers need to be changed and I pass him off! Logan is into Star Wars and superheros, but hes also into ballet. He wants to be on Broadway. Hes very free to explore his identity and do what he wants. I dont think hes at the age yet where he will be teased for having two moms, but then again, its 2016 so things are not like they were 20 years ago. But then I am not there day-to-day, so his moms certainly will know more about those kinds of issues. Claudia This week has been kind of rough. Someone teased Logan for having two mommies and thats the first time it has happened. Logan is trying so hard to fit into a community that can be so closed-minded. When he claims proudly, I dance! he gets called gay. I feel sorry for him because hes not accepted. Logan longs to be on Broadway. I try to tell him each day that these other boys are just jealous. You are talented and beautiful and when they get older they will have a boring life and you will be shining. Maybe you cant see it, but I am telling you this is true. Wendy If we had to do this again, I know we would make the same choice because its the only way we could have Logan. He is so special. You can see my family in him and you can see Claudia in him. There is so much love for him. Theres no question about it, yes we would do it again. Cody really did change when he had his daughter instantly. He grew up and completely got why we might, you know, pull out an iPad in a restaurant when we wanted to occupy an impatient child. And the tables were kind of turned on us, too. I often wanted to comment on his parenting decisions. But we just spent a week with him on vacation and hes doing such a great job as a dad, he really is. I dont feel motherly to Codys daughter but I certainly feel like her aunt, and do think its interesting that Cody has this dual relationship with Logan that I do not have with his daughter. I was not involved in creating her. I think I feel kinda like how my mom feels toward Cody. She has always had a very special feeling toward him. She has always loved him, felt respect for him, but at the same time shes not his mother. Before she died, Codys mother (my stepmother) told me, You know, Im gonna be your kids grandmother. She was saying that she loved me so much she felt like my kids would be her flesh and blood. What I realized later is that Cody and I fulfilled that prophecy! Logan is literally her first grandchild. I think thats so fucking trippy. Claudia Family is whatever you want it to be, and thats what I say to Logan. Family can be just one kid and a mommy. It can be a dad and a kid, thats family. You have to see it in different colors and different ways. I try to explain to him that the TV and the magazines show you the picture of a man and a woman and a kid, but thats not always reality. I was raised by my aunt and I called her my mother. I hate when people say, Oh my god, two women raising a kid? Thats disgusting! I say, Why dont you look around? Maybe you were raised by your grandmother and your mother. Family is exactly what you want it to be. Interview has been condensed and edited. You know the Photoshopping is serious when the person who was Photoshopped says they dont even recognize themselves. In a recent post to her Instagram, Scandal star Kerry Washington revealed that while she is excited to be featured on the cover of Adweek, she was taken aback by the cover: Look, Im no stranger to Photoshopping. It happens a lot. In a way, we have become a society of picture adjusterswho doesnt love a filter?!? And I dont always take these adjustments to task but I have had the opportunity to address the impact of my altered image in the past and I think its a valuable conversation. Yesterday, however, I just felt weary. It felt strange to look at a picture of myself that is so different from what I look like when I look in the mirror. Its an unfortunate feeling. Washington also elaborated on key points being left out in her interview: There are a few things we discussed in the interview that were left out. Things that are important to me (like: the importance of strong professional support and my awesome professional team) and Ive been thinking about how to discuss those things with anyone who is interested, in an alternate forum. Considering that Washington is the star of a network television show and has partnerships with Neutrogena, OPI, and Movado, and ads with Apple Music, she certainly has a lot of professional experience and advice to share, no matter the platform. Duncan Hunter. Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call Duncan Hunter was once a hot, vaping congressman, but since he endorsed Donald Trump, he is, alas, just vaping congressman. But never fear he has another list of descriptors: gamer. In 2015, Representative Hunter racked up $1,302 of his campaign funds via Steam Games, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune. These charges happened in the span of eight weeks October 13 through December 16. Hunters spokesperson, Joe Kasper, says these charges are actually a result of one credit-card purchase. He says Hunters son used his fathers card to buy one game, which resulted in unauthorized charges. On Hunters campaign-finance disclosure, he wrote this expense as personal expense to be paid back. But Kasper says none of that paying back will happen until a fraud investigation is complete. Hunter has until May 9 to respond to a letter from the election commission with an explanation for the money in question. Bet you can guess which website is now likely banned from the Hunter household. There are many things to admire about Kerry Washington, but what I love most is that sometimes people say I favor her. Its a silly, vain thing, but its true. Our lips, our eyes, and even our hairline draw comparisons. Every week on Scandal, I get to see someone who looks like me negotiating deals with heads of state, combating the abuse of power, and, sometimes, saving lives. But even if Kerry and I looked nothing alike, she would still mean something to me, as she does to many black women. As they say in the #BlackGirlMagic corners of the internet, representation matters. So it hurt, in 2013, when a poorly portrayed Washington landed on the cover of Lucky. She was practically unrecognizable. And then it happened again, in 2015, with Instyle, and most recently, with Adweek. It raises the question: At what step along the way did these magazines fail her? For shooting black skin, its all about tone, photographer Andre Wagner told me. The subjects of Wagners photography, mostly black people, often make their way onto his Instagram page. Tone and lighting are the most important parts in not trying to distort black skin. Sometimes photographers overexpose subjects to hide blemishes and skin imperfections, but with black people its not so successful because you cant just wash out black skin. But theres more to consider than the photographer, of course. Theres the art director, the makeup artists, the editors, the post-production re-touchers all of whom play a part in the final image. When it comes to Kerry Washington, sometimes this team gets it right. Her 2013 covers of Glamour and Vanity Fair are testaments to that. But when this team of artists and editors attempt to morph Washington into someone else, the images fall flat. In Washingtons case, bad lighting and Photoshop bear the brunt of the blame. Her Lucky cover might have benefited with a softer light source. With black skin, natural light does wonders, Wagner said. Andrew Dosunmu and Bradford Young [a director and cinematographer responsible for the films Restless City and Selma, respectively] are known for shooting in natural light, which is opposite the industry standard. Overzealous Photoshopping also appears to be an issue. On the cover of Self, Washington looks like a wax figure of herself, and on Lucky, a vigorous attempt to smooth over Washingtons under-eye circles went horribly awry. Little tweaks are one thing, but when you try to strip away what makes Kerry Washington Kerry Washington, those tweaks become a problem. So for the next team that photographs the incomparably beautiful actress: Dont erase the tiny shadows that fall under her eyes. Use a softer light that hugs her skin. Ease up on the Photoshop. And above all else, include people who celebrate, instead of muzzle, the beauty that is black skin. London Wine Fair has "most diverse content to date" This years London Wine Fair will have the largest and most diverse content to date, according to the organisers. The 2016 fair, which takes place 3-5 May at Kensington Olympia, will host more than 100 sessions across three days, spanning: industry briefings, Masterclass tastings, the new Pop-Up Tastings, The View Tastings; and Speakers Corner, as well as specific events taking place on exhibitor stands. Commenting on this years content, show director Ross Carter, said: Education has always been a key component of The Fair, alongside diversity and discovery. 2016s vast array of debates, tastings and seminars the most in the shows history will give visitors an exhibitors a platform of unrivalled content. This year, for the first time, visitors will be able to sign up to these sessions via the new Bottlebooks booking system, which also allows attendees to search and download details of specific wines and wineries exhibiting. The Industry Briefings will include the inaugural London Wine Fair Grapevine Debate, chaired by drinks journalist Richard Siddle. Tony Edwards, author of The good news about booze and University College London Pharmacologist, Professor David Colquhoun, will debate is drinking good for your health?. In addition, chief executive of the WSTA, Miles Beale, will update the industry on the growth of English Wine; its future and potential impact on the UK wine market. The Masterclass Theatre will showcase regional and producer-led tastings, including Vineyards of Hampshire, with Sunday Telegraph wine writer, Susy Atkins; and Tejo: Warm Days Cold Nights Cool Wines!, presented by wine writer, Dr Jamie Goode and winemaker Martta Reis Simoes from Quinta da Alorna, who will explore the diversity of wines from this upcoming Portuguese region. At the new Pop-Up Tastings, renowned Australian winemaker, Larry Cherubino, will present a tutored tasting: Great Southern at a glance; while Awin Barratt Siegel is hosting a Masters of Riesling and Pinot Noir Tasting from the top producers of Germany and Alsace. Speakers Corner will again host informal yet informative sessions, including a Challenge Joes Nose session by Joe Wadsack. Related articles: Well damn. I hope he has a speedy and issue free recovery. Reply Thread Link very scary. :( i wish him well again soon! Reply Thread Link wow, a head injury like that is serious business. :( Reply Thread Link shit :( Reply Thread Link It's sounds like he's going to need facial plastic surgery... Hope he recovers swiftly. Reply Thread Link Hopefully the damage wasn't too much and will be with minimal scarring. Those types of injuries suck. :/ Reply Thread Link sounds horrifying... poor guy, hope he recovers fast Reply Thread Link that is terrifying i hope he recovers quickly Reply Thread Link was he not wearing a helmet? :/ Reply Thread Link if it's for a stunt, it makes sense if the character wasn't wearing one Reply Parent Thread Link "after completing a stunt sequence" makes me think the part they were shooting was finished. I'm sorry he's hurt, but I think not wearing helmets in stunts AND out of stunts is pretty stupid. Reply Parent Thread Expand Link facial fracture? oh fuck no Reply Thread Link Dang. I hope he's ok. Reply Thread Link I hope that he is ok and recovers quickly. Reply Thread Link omg weren't his/the movie's people trying to float around that he had only hurt his arm or something at one point wtf also isn't this what stunt people are for yikes Edited at 2016-04-06 04:22 pm (UTC) Reply Thread Link it sounds like a horrible injury especially since he hasn't spoken out about it yet :/ Reply Thread Link The U.S. Justice Department is seeking to block the merger of Baker Hughes and Halliburton, preventing the tie-up of the second and third largest oilfield services companies. DOJ filed a lawsuit against the proposed merger, which presents a major roadblock to the $35 billion merger. The lawsuit hinges on antitrust grounds, as the combined company would control too much of the oilfield services market. Halliburton pursued the takeover because it would streamline their businesses, lowering costs for its clients, which are exploration and production companies. But antitrust regulators are concerned about too much market power. Related: How The Ocean Can Help Predict Electricity Prices The lawsuit could derail the tie-up. Halliburton and Baker Hughes could fight the Justice Department, hoping to win in court, or they could call off the merger. On Tuesday, Baker Hughes share price dropped 5.1 percent on the news, while Halliburtons stock rose 1.2 percent. Baker Hughes shareholders would still benefit if the deal falls apart Halliburton would be required to pay them a $3.5 billion breakup fee. The Justice Department hinted at its opposition to the deal in a separate court filing, in which it said that the merger threatens to substantially lessen completion in numerous markets. Related: Oil Sanctions Risk Pushing An Unstable North Korea Over The Edge Bloomberg reports that if the deal collapses, the two companies could turn their sights on other smaller players as takeover targets. "We view BHI as well positioned to make an acquisition and a fallout of the HAL merger could, in our opinion, spur industrywide consolidation," Matt Marietta, analyst at Stephens Inc., wrote in a recent research note. The Halliburton-Baker Hughes tie-up also faces regulatory scrutiny around the world. The European Commission halted its review of the purchase for the third time. Antitrust regulators in Australia have also raised concerns. Related: Why Oil Prices Will Rise And Many Pundits Will Be Caught By Surprise Oil producers are not happy with the merger either. Totals CEO said in March that the merger would not be beneficial to exploration companies. Chevrons unit in Brazil said that the merger would leave them with fewer oilfield service options, which could raise costs. The news that the Department of Justice is intervening to block the merger comes as the Obama administration published new rules on inversions, a type of acquisition that companies have used to lower their U.S. tax bills. That led to the end of Pfizers $150 billion takeover of Allergan. By Charles Kennedy of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: The OPEC meeting in Doha is less than two weeks away, and the markets are not sure what to make of it oil prices have seesawed back and forth following every comment from OPEC and Russian officials about the possibility of a production freeze. The summit originally generated a lot of buzz because Russia was finally convinced to come to the table with OPEC, raising the possibility that the two sides could cooperate on oil production limits. Since Russia and OPEC account for more than 40 percent of global oil production combined, their potential cooperation can move markets. They tentatively agreed to freeze their output levels, seemingly agreeing on collective sacrifice. Related: $120 Oil As Soon As 2018? For Russia, however, there does not appear to be much of a downside to agreeing to production limits. That is because Russia is at post-Soviet record highs for oil production. Even though Russian output rose to 10.91 million barrels per day in March, 2016 could mark a permanent peak in output as its aging fields enter decline. Much of the recent gains came from smaller companies. Russias largest companies, on the other hand, are struggling to keep production from falling. The state-owned oil company Rosneft saw production fall by 0.7 percent for the month. Moreover, Rosneft will have to step up its efforts if it is to avoid a more serious decline. Rosneft is expected to spend $15 billion on its Soviet-era oil fields over the next three years, a prodigious sum that is necessary just to keep output from falling. Rosnefts chief Igor Sechin recently told Russian President Vladimir Putin that drilling would increase by 30 percent in 2016, even though oil prices are so low. That comes after Rosneft drilled much more aggressively in 2015 while its production only rose by 1 percent. Related: Unfolding The Worlds Biggest Oil Bribery Scandal The problems will grow over the longer-term. The Russian energy ministry sees the very real possibility that Russian oil production enters long-term decline, possibly even falling by half by 2035. Russias major oil fields are decades old, so it will be increasingly difficult to prevent output from falling. At the same time, Russian oil companies are not discovering new sources of supply that could replace that lost output. The Arctic offers one area where very large reserves could be exploited, but western sanctions have blocked the participation of major international oil companies, which could help Russian companies pull off the expensive and tricky Arctic drilling operations. Meanwhile, Russias natural resources minister said in late March with an eye on the Doha meeting that Rosneft will likely lower its output this year. Rosneft actually did not comment on his remarks, but the ministers comments were likely meant to demonstrate Russias willingness to cooperate with OPEC in Doha. Saudi Arabia seemed to pour cold water on the Doha meeting when it said that it would only participate if Iran did as well. But the meeting is set to go ahead, and on April 5, Kuwaits OPEC governor said an agreement in Doha was likely, reassuring the markets, while also suggesting that the markets would balance later this year. Related: Can A Divided OPEC Agree On Anything In Doha? But, from Russias perspective, there is little sacrifice involved. Russian output is expected to decline by 20,000 barrels per day on average this year, according to OPECs latest assessment. With little room on the upside, that explains the willingness to work together with OPEC to put a cap on their output. Separately, Reuters reported that Russian sources thought oil prices at $45 to $50 per barrel was an appropriate price that would allow for enough global supply to go offline, allowing for markets to adjust. "The level of $45-50 (per barrel) is acceptable from the point of view of market balance: if prices go higher shale oil production could start to recover, the Russian source told Reuters. By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: I follow oil pretty closely given our exposure. As such, I get frustrated with many press and news show accounts of the commodity. It gets worse when the pundits and writers should know better. Frequently inexact terminology leads to misconceptions and sometimes I see outright falsehoods that completely distort the truth. As a former oil analyst and professional energy investor, I feel compelled to take those to task. As a realist, I see that all markets require a difference of opinion and all investors talk their book. For this reason, when Jeff Currie at Goldman Sachs Commodities Group gets on CNBC and opines about future price movements, I give little notice. Jeff is posturing for his customers' and GSs' positions. Jeff can spin the story either way and chooses his statistics accordingly...That's what he is paid very well to do. Last week (March 28, 2016), I heard Dennis Gartman of the Gartman Letter, a trader and investor that I respect and have learned much from, spout an outright falsehood on CNBC. Everyone can have a bad day, but Ive been hearing various versions of this for months. Dennis said in essence that oil prices could not rise very much because of "all the capped wells that could be brought on line very rapidly". He predicted no more than $42/bbl this year. He estimated that at current strip pricing, you could lock in $45/bbl in 12 months, making large numbers of these "capped" wells profitable. The implication being that at current prices, the market would be rapidly flooded with new oil. I'll take the over on price, the under on production and bet all my capital that I'm right. (Oh, I already did that...). Dennis should know better. For fun though, I thought I'd like to take apart his thesis. First, there are no capped wells in the U.S. To my knowledge not one well has been capped due to low prices, especially relatively young horizontal shale wells. Older wells are capped all the time when production is no longer sufficient to pay operating expenses for the well. Generally, onshore wells may cost something in the order of only $2,000 per month to operate. At $40 dollar oil, 3 barrels per day of production (gross) should cover operating costs. Related:$120 Oil As Soon As 2018? What Dennis is likely referring to is the Drilled Uncompleted or DUC well inventory in the various shale plays. Some estimates have shown as many as 4,000 of these DUCs exist and the numbers are rising. Many pundits cite these DUCs as an effective ceiling on oil prices. However, a DUC is very different from Gartmans implied capped well. There are many reasons why a producer would drill and not complete a well. They may have had a rig under contract, they may want to beat competitors, retain their or their service companies good employees, they may be able to hold expiring acreage, they may just want to see what the rocks look like in a particular area. However, the most likely reason is that the completion costs of these wells can amount to over 60 percent of well cost maybe $3 to $4 million per well. As such, this investment is very difficult to recoup if a wells flush initial production is sold at low prices. This is compounded when whole well pads are completed at the same time to increase efficiency. If you dont like the price one well gets, six wells coming on line at the same time is worse. This also flows into the other reasons why this production will not flood the market, namely the intersection of costs, timing and decline rates. Costs 4,000 wells at even $3 million per well is $12 billion dollars. Given the upheaval among producers, where does Dennis suppose the $12 billion will come from to instantly uncap these wells and increase production? Not from the banks, the high yield market is tight, equity investors have stepped up for some Permian and Eagle Ford producers, but $12 billion is a lot of money. Time Lets say that oil prices above $40/bbl equals a green light for energy producers to attack their DUCs. (There appears to be no factual basis for this, but lets pretend.) A quick look at C&J energy services, which controls the countrys third largest frac fleet as well as other completion services, tells part of the story. Today, just over 50 percent of the companies fleet is working and the rest is stacked or to be retired. The people were laid off months ago. Clearly, when they get the signal that their customers want more completion services, they will begin to reactivate some of this idle iron one frac fleet at a time. The problem is the C&Js stock price is $1.46 and they have close to $1.2 billion in debt. Where will the money come from to rehire people, and reactivate idle equipment? After that, will the people return? Yes, but slowly and at a high cost. What about Baker and Schlumberger? Both are in better financial shape but their fleets have been stacked also and at this time, investors are in no mood to hear a company talk about adding capacity. When these companies return fleets to active status, they will be competing to hire a smaller pool of laid off workers. Related: Unfolding The Worlds Biggest Oil Bribery Scandal Decline rates Wells producing from tight rock or shale (wells that must be fracked) exhibit steep decline curves on the order of 75 percent during the first year of production. The implication is that producers are on a never ending treadmill in order to maintain or grow production volumes. That is, they must complete new wells in order replace the natural declines from existing wells. There are two critical points associated with these steep decline curves that pundits like Gartman dont appear to grasp. The first is that based on current data, the four key liquids rich shale plays have declined by over 600,000 bopd since their peak of production in March, 2015. This production is gone. These wells have depleted. They cant be turned back on. The only way to increase production again is new completions and new wells in other words massive new reinvestment. This is very different from past cycles when OPEC dialed back production by idling a major field or two until demand rebounded. These OPEC giant and super giant fields are a totally different animal. Its all about the infrastructure, not the productivity of a single well. The entire complex can be shut down, reworked, maintenance performed, etc. then turned back onmore akin to a refinery than typical single or multiple well fields. But thats another story. Bottom line that 600,000 bopd is not magically coming back. It took the onshore industry something like 12 months running flat out to add those volumes. Given oil prices, it will be quite a while and it will take higher prices before the industry even gets back to a steady walk, much less a flat run. Another key thing to understand about decline curves is that they are continuous and right now declines are accelerating. However for example purposes, lets look at the Eagle Ford. There are some 10,000 wells in the Eagle Ford producing today, and they are all in decline. The EIA estimates the average Eagle Ford well adds 800 bopd in its first month of production. Last month, Eagle Ford production is estimated to have declined by 60,000 bopd. That implies that 75 new wells per month must be drilled and completed to just replace this 60,000 bopd. Assuming it takes 15 days to drill a well, that implies around 38 rigs drilling and around 25 frac fleets running above what is running today! Today, there are 42 rigs drilling for oil and we estimate 10 15 frac fleets running in the Eagle Fordso just to replace production, the industry would have to increase rigs running by nearly 100 percent and frac fleets by 150 200 percent. This would require a massive mobilization of capital and manpower. During this whole mobilization process, production from existing wells is declining, month after month. Dont get me wrong, I believe this will happen. However, I know this wont happen quickly and wont happen at $40/bbl oil, making Gartmans thesis and pricing argument completely false. Production data, or lack thereof, is a primary hindrance to clear and transparent oil fundamentals. The mechanics of the above discussion would be more obvious if we could measure field production in real time. In fact, production data in Texas takes some three months to even estimate, and these estimates are often revised. The same goes for well completion data. The EIA tries to model this through its Drilling Productivity Report. However, there are no similar efforts for the rest of the global oil industry, in fact, OPEC publications use third party reporting not internal or real data from the companies themselves. Related: Advantage U.S. In The Global Petroleum Showdown? In Saudi Arabia, production statistics are a state secret. Not surprisingly, many countries distort the data to suit their own needs. Thats why the IEAs look at G7 storage data is an important industry statistic. It is widely recognized that both global demand and supply data is inaccurate, but changes in storage inventories should reflect supply and demand changes. The only problem with this approach is they only get data for around 2/3 of the global storage capacity. This is what led to the recent headlines 800,000 bopd of oil is missing. Supply estimates exceeded demand estimates by 800,000 bopd during the quarter, yet storage didnt build, leaving the question of where did the oil go? The answer is that there never was this extra oilif it existed, it was burned. More than likely, both supply and demand estimates were off by that amount. Third parties like "Drilling Info", BTU Analytics, CERA, etc. provide their looks at the market for very high prices, and as such are much more granular than those from government data providers. As much as they try, they are still limited by the availability of international data and reporting time lags domestically, not to mention their own biases. Generally it takes 18 months before the world has a decent picture of supply and demand. This is little consolation to those trying to do real time analysis on the direction of prices. That is why I can say categorically the fix is in. In other words, fields are declining, meaning investment is far below levels required just to replace production. The only thing that will change the vector of these declines is more spending, lots more spending, and the only thing will spur lots more spending is higher prices. Significantly higher than $40/bbl. In conclusion, we have a typical commodity price cycle. Prices have dropped to levels destroying capital, bankrupting businesses, idling massive amounts of equipment and manpower. The cycle is reversing now. The weekly EIA numbers are showing steady declines in production (this is a balancing item not real production estimates) and also increasing demand In the United States. The IEA is showing the same thing in their monthly report that has a decent look at the G7 countries and attempts to look at the G20. Between these two, there is a large world with little accurate measurement. China for instance jailed a Platts reporter for espionage when he tried to put together a fundamental energy statistics database. Inevitably, we will have another price shock or at minimum an upside surprise. Its unavoidable at this point. Oil never transitions smoothly. Just like all the oil bulls had to be run out during the declining price stage, all the price bears, like Dennis Gartman, will be run out when fundamentals hit them over the head. Gartman, to his credit, will change his tune 180 degrees when he sees the actual data shaping up. Thats how he has survived so long and profitably as a trader. But by then it will be too late, the world will want incremental supplies immediately yet the industry cannot scale in real time. In order to motivate producers to get busy and provide incremental supplies, prices must increase sharply from current levels. My prediction - $80/bbl in 18 months, but it wont last very long. I think $60 - $70/bbl is a healthy range. By Brad Beago for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: UK-listed BP and Chinas CNPC arent exactly strangers, already jointly developing Iraqs Rumaila oilfield, but BPs new shale gas deal with CNPC is the British companys first foray into Chinaand its a major strategic move that gauges which way the winds are blowing in todays energy sector. Last week, BP announced it had signed a production sharing agreement with Chinas CNPC for the development of shale gas resources in the Neijiang-Dazu deposit in the Sichuan Basin. The agreement is the next step in a framework agreement reached by the two companies last year. But its much more than a simple agreement. Related: Did Italy And Malta Actually Agree To Swap Oil Rights For Refugees? China has been eager to exploit its shale oil and gas reserves for some time now. Unlike other hopefuls across the world, it has the territory to make shale oil and gas exploration and production viable. Fracking, which is how oil and gas are commonly extracted from shale rock, quickly exhausts the wells, so new ones need to be drilled on a frequent basis. Smaller countries simply dont have the land to afford this. China does. Despite the current downturn in commodities, both BP and CNPC know that this wont last forever. They also know that gas has a brighter future than crude. BP is especially aware of this; it just learned that its final bill from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster to the federal and state governments for damages stands at $20 billion. The total bill, including charges already paid for cleanup and settlements, is around $50 billion. Related: $120 Oil As Soon As 2018? Thats quite a bite to swallow, not to mention the damage to BPs reputation. Just a couple of days ago, a group of high-profile environmentalists urged the British Museum to get rid of BP as sponsor because of the companys business and strategy. According to the authors of the letter published by the Guardian, BP is not dedicated enough to remedying global climate change effects. This is hardly surprising given its line of work, but it does nothing for the companys reputation. Natural gas, however, is the best hydrocarbon alternative to both oil and coal, and BP and CNPC are well aware of it, as the framework agreement and this PSA show. For BP, the move could be beneficial both in practical terms, helping it stay on its feet in the long run, with gas getting increasingly attractive at the expense of oil, and in image terms, showing the companys readiness to place a greater emphasis on gas in the wake of the 2010 disaster. Related: Unfolding The Worlds Biggest Oil Bribery Scandal For China, gas is also the way forward. Beijings New Silk Road policy involves, among other things, reducing the countrys reliance on oil and heavy industries, which have turned it into not just an economic hothouse but into one of the dirtiest, environmentally speaking, economies. So, BP and CNPC have a win-win situation, despite cheap gas and the distant prospects of prices improving. For both companies, the PSA in Neijiang-Dazu represents not just a source of cash but also a demonstration of their interest in cleaner energy. It might not play out well in the immediate term, but it in the long term, its a strategic diamond. By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Since the possible double bottom at $26 formed on February 11th, the oil price has staged a rally to $40 (WTI). Traders lucky enough to buy at $26 and sell at $40 have pocketed a tidy 54 percent profit. Very few will have been this lucky. The trade was stimulated by news that Saudi Arabia and Russia had agreed to not increase production this year which is hollow news since neither country could significantly increase production no matter how hard they tried. Profit taking has now driven WTI back towards $37 as of 1 April. What next? There is precious little sign of significant production falls anywhere. U.S. and international rig counts continue to plunge. And there is little sign of global demand recovering as OECD economies buckle under the weight of misguided energy policy and debt. There is a risk of the plunge in oil price resuming. The following totals compare Feb 2016 with Jan 2016: - World Total Liquids down 180,000 bpd - USA down 60,000 bpd - North America down 100,000 bpd (includes USA) - OPEC up 100,000 bpd - Saudi Arabia up 20,000 bpd - Iran up 220,000 bpd - Russia + FSU down 10,000 bpd - Europe up 220,000 bpd (YOY) - Asia up 60,000 bpd This article first appeared on Energy Matters. EIA oil price and Baker Hughes rig count charts are updated to the end of March 2016, the remaining oil production charts are updated to February 2015 using the IEA OMR data. Figure 1 WTI tested the $26.68 low set on Jan 20 by returning to $26.19 on Feb 11. Since then a rally to $40 has been staged and the price has moved above the near term downwards trend line. Charts have limited value in prediction and must be used in conjunction with fundamentals. For now I dont believe this chart is providing clear direction. Fundamentals remain chronically weak and the next chart points to an on-going plunge in price. But only time will tell. Figure 2 At this scale, there is as yet little sign of an oil price recovery being staged. In fact, it looks like we may just have witnessed a cyclical rally in the on-going plunge. Should WTI return to $26 and that support level does not hold then we will see sub-$20 as forecast by Goldman Sachs. It is possible that we see a destruction of the oil price by traders as we saw with the gold price a few years ago. The lower dashed line shows the lows reached in 1998 (arrow). On a deflated basis that works out at around $15 in todays money. (Click to enlarge) Related: Can A Divided OPEC Agree On Anything In Doha? Figure 3 Volatility is high when the OPV is above 4 as it was last month. High volatility is normally correlated with lows in the oil price and market indecision. We can see that volatility has fallen dramatically since last month with the orderly but small recovery in price. Sharp eyes will see a tick up when the data for March 28 are included. The April 1 fall in WTI of 3.9% will reinforce this trend of rising volatility from a high baseline. See Oil Price Volatility for further explanation. Figure 4 The US oil and gas rig count continues its steep decline with 362 oil rigs (400 in last report) and 88 gas rigs (102 in last report) counted on Friday 1 April. And yet, U.S. oil and gas just keeps on gushing most likely from the substantial backlog of drilled but uncompleted wells. Figure 5 This month I include this stacked chart to hammer home how serious the rout in US drilling has become. During the last real price crisis of 1999 the oil and gas count fell from 1000 to 500 units. This time it has dropped from 2000 to 450 units (dashed line) and the direction is still clearly down. Figure 6 The near-term peak in U.S. production was 13.24 Mbpd in April 2015. The February 2016 figure was 12.60 Mbpd, down 640,000 bpd from that peak and down 60,000 bpd from last month. Related: Bankruptcy Rout Looms Despite Impressive Productivity Gains In U.S. Shale Figure 7 OPEC production has been rock steady for 12 months (dashed line) and currently stands at 31.90 Mbpd, down 100,000 bpd on January. New OPEC member Indonesia is included with Asia, since changing baselines distort the picture (Figure 15). Figure 8 With the exception of Saudi Arabia and Iran, OPEC spare capacity is now all but zero. Iran has been slowly ramping production and Iranian spare capacity is now in decline (Figure 10). Figure 9 In February, Saudi production stood at 10.23 Mbpd, up 20,000 bpd on Januray. NZ = neutral zone which is neutral territory that lies between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait where production from the Wafra heavy oil field is now effectively zero. Saudi Arabia is effectively pumping at capacity. The fabled 2 million bbls per day spare capacity is either a figment of imagination or heavy oil that has no refining market. Figure 10 Iran continues to increase production at cost of spare capacity that is in decline. In February, Iranian production stood at 3.22 Mbpd, up an impressive 220,000 bpd on January. Iranian spare capacity is now estimated to be 380,000 bpd and they are now about half way to resuming full production according to the IEA estimates. The IEA has not yet revised its view on the eventual production capacity of Iran which stands at 3.6 Mbpd. Related: Saudi Arabia Tries to Slow Iran Oil Exports, Without Much Success Figure 11 Unlike everywhere else, drilling activity in ME OPEC remains high, with over 150 rigs operating in these 4 countries. Iran and Iraq are not included since their drilling history is so scarred by wars and sanctions this distorts the picture. Figure 12 The international oil rig count continues its decline, down another 28 in February. While U.S. rigs are down at levels seen in the 1999 crash (Figure 5), international rigs, that include the robust Middle East, have a long way to go before they reach that level. The reasons for this would be a good topic for discussion in comments. Figure 13 Russia and other FSU produced 14.17 Mbpd in February, down 10,000 bpd effectively unchanged on last month and little changed for 3 years (dashed line). Close examination shows that Russian production has been rising slowly while other FSU has been falling slowly. Russia has now agreed to not raise production in 2016. Figure 14 The cycles in European production data are down to summer maintenance programs in the offshore North Sea province. We are now on the cycle high, and North Sea production may fall in the coming months as maintenance programs get under way. New data and data revisions now show that the North Sea has been turned around, with production rising slowly. Several years of $100 oil and record investment has paid off while at the same time contributing to the oil price crash. To get an idea of trend it is necessary to compare production with the same month a year ago. European production is up 220,000 bpd to 3.59 Mbpd compared with a year ago. - Norway Feb 2015 = 1.93 Mbpd; Feb 2016 = 2.01 Mbpd; up 80,000 bpd YOY - UK Feb 2015 = 0.88 Mbpd; Feb 2016 = 1.04 Mbpd; up 160,000 bpd YOY - Other Feb 2015 = 0.56 Mbpd; Feb 2016 = .54 Mbpd; down 20,000 bpd YOY Figure 15 This group of S and E Asian producers has been trending sideways since 2010. The group produced 7.72 Mbpd in February, up 60,000 bpd. Note that Indonesia (an oil importer) has rejoined OPEC. The OPEC production numbers are reported ex NGL by the IEA and this has meant a 170,000 bpd drop in reported Indonesian production that contributes to the blip down on this chart. Figure 16 N American production looks like it topped in April 2015 at 20.12 Mbpd. Group production now stands at 19.63 Mbpd down 100,000 bpd on last month and down 490,000 bpd from the April 2015 peak. This remains a trivial decline but at some point the collapse in U.S. drilling is going to bite hard (Figures 4 and 5). Figure 17 Total liquids = crude oil + condensate + natural gas liquids + refinery gains + biofuel. February production was 96.51 Mbpd down 180,000 bpd on the revised January figure and down 570,000 bpd from the July 2015 peak. Figure 18 Global stock changes reflect the imbalance between supply and demand. Surplus supply grew in 4Q 2015 at a rate of 1.8 mbpd. The over-supply situation is likely to persist throughout 2016. The IEA publishes this data quarterly so there are no revisions since the last report. By Euan Mearns via Euanmearns.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Czech Scholars Chart the Destruction of Mosul Heritage The shrine of Imam Yahya Abu al-Qasim in the city of Mosul before it was blown up by the Islamic State. ( Wikimedia Commons) A team of Czech scholars is working to document architectural sites in Mosul that have been destroyed by the Islamic State (ISIS) since the terrorist group overran the city in June of 2014. Supported by the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, the project--called "Monuments of Mosul in Danger"--seeks to preserve for posterity an accounting of the devastating loss of antiquities at the hands of radical militants, whose videos posted online show them smashing relics and statues from Mosul Museum and the city of Hatra. The team's interest in studying Mosul is a natural continuation of their other research in Medieval Urban Landscape in Northeastern Mesopotamia. But ISIS's seizure of the city and its barbaric attitude toward heritage accelerated their research in Mosul, says Miroslav Melcak, a historian from the Oriental Institute who specializes in the social and cultural medieval history of the Middle East. "The devastation of the city was so quick, and media reports were bringing terrible news about the scope of the destruction." The scholars began to use satellite imagery to document the destroyed monuments. Mosul has long been a crossroads of cultures. In the Islamic and Ottoman periods, it served as a meeting point for Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Assyrians, Armenians, Sunni and Shiite Muslims, Christians, Jews, Yazidis, and Shabaks. "All these peoples lived together peacefully most of the time," said Karel Novacek, an archaeologist and historian of architecture at Palack For all the talk about "time for a change" and "throw the bums out," Tuesday night's election results in Milwaukee and Wisconsin showed that the power of incumbency is difficult to overcome. In the three biggest races State Supreme Court, Milwaukee County Executive and Mayor of Milwaukee all the incumbents won, and fairly easily. Supreme Court Incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley beat Court of Appeals Judge Joanne Kloppenburg by a 53-47 percent margin. During the campaign, Bradley had to withstand withering attacks based on comments she had written about AIDS patients and homosexuals more than 20 years ago while a college student at Marquette. Kloppenburg and her supporters hammered away at the claims that Bradley was homophobic and racist and should be held accountable for her comments in college. Bradley fought off the accusations saying "that is not the person I am now," and apparently voters agreed with her. Bradley likely benefited from the hot Republican presidential primary. Over 70,000 more Republicans voted than did Democrats, and while the high court position is technically nonpartisan, Bradley was backed by Republican groups while Kloppenburg had the Democratic vote. Milwaukee County Executive Incumbent Chris Abele, who suffered a narrow loss in the three-way primary, easily beat challenger State Sen. Chris Larson, 55-45 percent. Abele was elected to his second full four-year term after spending nearly $4 million of his own money on his campaign. Abele pledged to serve out the full four years, putting a damper on speculation that he might challenge Gov. Scott Walker two years from now. Larson, who spent virtually nothing compared to Abele, said that he lost to "big money" but vowed to continue the grassroots movement he hoped would carry him to election. Larson has also been the subject of continued speculation that he wanted to use the county executive race as a springboard for a gubernatorial campaign. Abele laid out an ambitious agenda during his victory speech, pledging to attack homelessness, inequities in sentencing and other racial problems. He pledged to continue to work with both sides of the political aisle on behalf of "all the people of Milwaukee County." Milwaukee County Board There were eight seats up for election on the Milwaukee County Board, three that were open seats and five with an incumbent. All five incumbents won their races, while the new supervisors will be Marcella Nicholson, David Sartori and Dan Sebring. The board has undergone significant changes with the position being reduced to part time, as well as the power of the board drastically reduced. There has been an ongoing battle between the board and Abele, and none of the newly elected board members are likely to mitigate that hostility. Mayor of Milwaukee Tom Barrett won his fourth term as mayor by soundly beating his challenger, Ald. Bob Donovan, 70-30 percent. Donovan had made public safety and the Downtown streetcar his two big campaign issues and hammered away relentlessly at Barrett. He had trouble gaining traction with voters and in the media, where his spats over reporters and his own legal history too up much of his headlines and coverage. Barrett called himself "optimistic about the City of Milwaukee" and said that he thought voters wanted someone who felt good about the future. He acknowledged that there were problems in public safety and inequalities in the life of all citizens in the city, but said he had worked on those problems and that he thought the voters recognized that there were no easy answers to many of these problems. Milwaukee Common Council Thirteen of the aldermanic seats were up for election, and only one incumbent, Ald. Robert Puente, lost. He was ousted by newcomer Chantia Lewis, 54-46 percent. There were two open seats, with Khalif Rainey and Chevy Johnson elected to fill them Tuesday. Eight of the winners in aldermanic races had over 65 percent of the vote with the closest race coming in the eighth district, where Donovan kept his seat in a race against Justin Bielinski by just four percentage points. The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff. If you are a Wisconsin liberal, you must have been sitting in front of your TV on Tuesday night, mimicking Edvard Munchs "The Scream" (unless you were feeling the Bern). Scott Walker is baaaaaack. But then again, Wisconsin might have done Hillary Clinton a favor by making an exceptionally ugly GOP convention more likely. More on that in a minute ... Ted Cruz walloped Donald Trump and John Kasich so badly that Trump didnt even hold a Versailles-style press conference this time. Instead, he hunkered down with family in New York, whipping out written statements that accused Cruz of being a "Trojan horse" and a puppet for party elites who want to steal the nomination. Meanwhile, Cruz, the former outsider, was surrounded by aforementioned grinning Wisconsin GOP elites, from Walker on down. Cruz promised his win is the start of something pivotal. Time will tell. On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders walloped Hillary Clinton in a state that shouldnt have been so bad for her ... theoretically. Those are the results, but what did we really learn? Here are five takeaways from the Wisconsin presidential primaries: 1. Sorry in advance to those on the left, but Scott Walker is back Walker can obviously take some credit for the Cruz victory. Hes getting some good national press of the sort he hasnt had seen since he limped back home after being kneecapped by Trump. I had this sneaking suspicion that maybe Walker, standing on that Serb Hall stage next to Cruz Tuesday, was really thinking, "This is great! Now, maybe if I play my cards right, theyll pick ME if it goes to brokered convention. After all, the "establishment" basically IS Wisconsin: Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, etc." Ted Cruz meet bus wheels. Implausible? Not really, especially when there are news reports that Walkers kept the remnants of his national campaign apparatus active. Of course, the Cruz victory was a Republican primary. Clearly, Walker remains popular with Republicans, but we already knew that. His approval ratings are still well below 50 percent overall (although they ticked up slightly in that recent Marquette poll). Hes lost most independents. Thats the peril when he runs statewide by himself again. However, thats far away. On the statewide side, the win of the once Walker appointee and the much media-maligned Rebecca Bradley also points to a Walker resurgence. Sort of. Bradley also benefitted from a likely turnout differential between GOP and Democratic voters (the Trump-Cruz effect). She benefited from a lot of big money (bye-bye John Doe 2). Weirdly, thousands of Democrats voted for Bernie or Clinton, but not JoAnne Kloppenburg. Maybe some liberals were swayed by all those ads. Maybe they are more likely to prefer conservatives in judgeships than other positions. Maybe Kloppenburg was just an awful candidate. However, to boil it down, the Cruz and Bradley victories together show that Walker still has statewide coattails, and he can still rally his base. Plus, hes back in the national conversation. A good night for him. Meanwhile, Wisconsin sure does feel like the epicenter of the so-called "establishment universe right now at least on the right. 2. Hillary hasn't sealed the deal After losing a spate of primaries seven of the last eight states Hillary just can't quite put it away. In fact, if you subtract the super delegates (read: party elites) from her totals, its even closer delegate wise. Voters are upset with the "establishment" and big money, and theyre hurting in this economy (remember Cruz was perceived as an anti-establishment guy a couple weeks ago too until the establishment picked his horse). Bernie Sanders moves peoples hearts. Hillary plays to their minds. Still, the margin of his Wisconsin victory was pretty stunning. It appears that independents flocked to Bernie (and away from Trump?) Obviously, he dominated Millennials. However, the delegate rules in Wisconsin mean that Bernie could get fewer than 10 more delegates, the Journal Sentinel reported. Excuse me for saying that it seems like party elites are engineering a Hillary victory. Granted, unlike the GOP side, shes still winning in terms of votes. For now. Could some super delegates switch to Bernie? Depends if he keeps winning. Now all eyes move to New York. 3. Talk radio really can move votes in Wisconsin If you look at the county-by-county returns, its striking. There is a fault line in Wisconsin, and its literally conservative talk radios reach (when is some genius going to set up strong conservative talk radio in northwest?) Luckily for Cruz, the WOW counties ringing metro Milwaukee in the heart of Talk Radio Country are very populous. The Sykes-Belling-McKenna-ODonnell-Weber contingent railing on Trump literally every single day for hours (along with Jerry Bader in the Fox Valley) mattered. Talk radio can move its listeners. Its most powerful in GOP primaries. It creates a narrative, and it drives turnout. Talk radio is more powerful in concentrated Southeast Wisconsin than it is nationwide. Trump also suffered from Heidi Cruz and other self-inflicted wounds last week. Marco Rubio being out of the race also hurt him; its a narrowing field, so the vote against him is consolidating while Cruz showed some broadening of his base, doing well with somewhat conservatives as well as very conservatives, according to the New York Times. 4. Big money matters Trump has been trying to win a presidential election with free media (broadcast, largely). This worked in other states. However, The New York Times reported early on that big money interests, such as the Club for Growth and a Super PAC, were going to pour millions into Wisconsin in an effort to make it harder for Trump to get the nomination outright. Then the endorsements followed. I lost count how many anti-Trump ads I saw, on social media and television. I received a multi-page, slick anti-Trump direct mail piece. I saw almost nothing like this from the Trump side. And it mattered (some of the same big money interests spent heavily for Bradley). They killed him on the air and in the mail (if not the sea). Yes, Bernie seems to defy this statement, but he didnt weather quite that degree of relentless assault. Ironically, while the guy railing against big money and the rich ran away with it on the Democratic side, the people backed by serious big money also ran away with it on the right and statewide. Air time matters. Paid media does. On a nationwide scale, it might be a different story. At some point, Trump may need to open up his actual pocketbook. His strategy of "drive the news cycle with outrage statements to get free media" may have reached its shelf life. 5. This is going to get uglier ... if that's possible On the Democratic side, Bernie sees an opening so the gloves are coming off. On the Republican side, the big Walker-talk radio victory simply ensures an ugly battle for the nomination. Lets be clear. A Trump loss in Wisconsin does not mean Trump cant win the nomination outright. He still can. However, it does mean that it will be harder. A UPI story said Cruz needed 47 percent of the remaining delegates to stop Trump from winning outright before Wisconsin; now, he needs 45 percent. Still possible, but harder. Meanwhile, Cruz would need to win more than 80 percent of the remaining delegates to win the nomination outright himself. Thats not going to happen. Remember: Trump now moves into New York and other eastern states, where he is ahead in the polls. Its very likely that Trump still ends up with a large delegate lead heading into the convention, if he doesnt win the nomination outright (looking less likely but still possible). The primary will be uglier now. Clearly Trump has lost momentum. Theres a new narrative. A brokered convention will be uglier yet. If the GOP elites think they can hand it off to someone who has won fewer delegates, states and votes than Trump, they are, in my opinion, woefully underestimating the intensity of Trumps support among about 30-40 percent of their electorate. Hes got true believers. Exit polling in the Wisconsin primary showed most Republicans think the nomination should go to the person who wins the most delegates, even if not a majority (although lots of people are also scared of a Trump presidency). It boggles the mind that GOP elites think most of those people will vote for some nominee handpicked by the same insiders they are angry at. Instead of trying to get Trump in shape as their nominee, theyre trying to ensure a bloodletting. That might be a vote for ideological purity, but in a practical sense, I think thats probably good for Hillary. The calculations that so-and-so (Kasich, Cruz, Paul Ryan, etc.) are better than Trump against Hillary always leave out the fact that so many Trump voters might be so enraged they sit home and what does that do to Ron Johnson and the Senate and the House? Furthermore, Cruz is pretty hardline to appeal to general election moderates. In that way, despite the Bernie victory, Wisconsin arguably ended up potentially helping the still likely Democratic nominee: Clinton. Maybe she should send Scott Walker and Sykes a fruit basket. Reprinted from Reader Supported News A Washington DC woman was recently threatened with arrest by a DC Public Library police officer (yes, the DC library system has its own police force) because she was wearing a hijab, the head covering worn by millions of Muslim women around the world. An eyewitness and neighborhood activist told a local listserv, "All I heard was he started asking her to take off her hijab. The man next to her spoke up, but the officer continued to harass her. Ultimately, he came toward her in an intimidating way, pulled out his handcuffs, and said if she didn't take off the hijab, she had to leave." She left. DC Library officials apologized to the woman, who was never identified, and transferred the officer, pending an investigation. The officer later told the Huffington Post that he didn't know what a hijab was. He thought it was a hoodie. "It was not a religious hat that I know [of]. I asked her to take her hoodie off and told her, 'if you're not going to take it off, you have to leave.' So I pulled out my handcuffs and then she got up and she left." This untrained ignoramus has the power to arrest a person because she wouldn't take her "hat" off. The incident comes on the heels of yet another instance of a Muslim family being removed from a United Airlines flight for, well, being Muslim. That happened on Sunday. Three weeks ago, two other Muslim women were removed from a Jet Blue flight for speaking Arabic to each other. The flight attendant decided that she "wasn't comfortable" with that. Two months earlier, three Muslims and a Sikh -- all American citizens, and one of whom was sound asleep -- were forced off an American Airlines flight from Toronto to New York without explanation. After the flight departed, without them, they were finally told that the captain "felt uneasy and uncomfortable with their presence on the flight and as such, refused to fly unless they were removed from the flight." He just didn't like their "looks." These things seem to happen so routinely nowadays that they barely command the mainstream media's attention. And they almost never warrant much more than a few paragraphs. On one hand, the problem is obvious. The United States is a country in which anti-Muslim prejudice is rampant. On the other hand, it's a much deeper problem than meets the eye. Americans as a people are, by and large, inexcusably ignorant of other cultures. I thought in the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks, when a Sikh gas station owner, Balbir Singh Sodhi, was murdered by a Boeing mechanic who had told friends that he was going to "go out and shoot some towelheads," that the attack was an anomaly. It wasn't. There have been dozens of attacks on mosques, Muslims, and people confused for Muslims across the country since 2001. This is a failure of the U.S. education system. Americans, admittedly, are less worldly and less well-traveled than the citizens of many of our European allies. That may be a function of the fact that we're separated from much of the rest of the world by two oceans. But that's no excuse for being ignorant, for being stupid. We learn less about other cultures in our schools. We generally don't delve into other religions at all. I earned a degree in Middle Eastern Studies from a first-tier university and never had to take a single class on Islam. I did so on my own volition. If we're going to get past this bigoted ignorance of others, other Americans, it has to start in our schools. It has to start when our educations begin. It has to continue through our college years. It must be addressed in the mainstream media. And it should have started years ago. Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News. RT @SenSanders: I opposed the Panama Trade Agreement because, as the Panama Papers show, it helped the rich evade US taxes. https://t.co/6J at https://t.co/6J Alicia Wendling (@pseudoArcane) April 5, 2016 "We now know, as a result of the 'Panama Papers' released by an international consortium of investigative journalists, that more than 214,000 entities throughout the world have been using a law firm in Panama to avoid paying taxes. "At a time of massive income and wealth inequality in the United States and around the world, the wealthiest people and largest corporations must start paying their fair share of taxes. Children should not go hungry while billionaires use offshore tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes. "The Panama Free Trade Agreement put a stamp of approval on Panama, a world leader when it comes to allowing the wealthy and the powerful to avoid taxes. "My opponent, on the other hand, opposed this trade agreement when she was running against Barack Obama for president in 2008. But when it really mattered she quickly reversed course and helped push the Panama Free Trade Agreement through Congress as Secretary of State. The results have been a disaster. "The American people are sick and tired of establishment politicians who say one thing during a campaign and do the exact opposite the day after the election. "It is time for real change. As president, I will use my authority to terminate the Panama Free Trade Agreement within six months. My administration will conduct an immediate investigation into U.S. banks, corporations and wealthy individuals who have been stashing their cash in Panama to avoid taxes. If any of them have violated U.S. law, my administration will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law." Copyrighted Image? DMCA 4 4 4 Rate It | View Ratings Bernie Sanders Social Media Pages: Bernie Sanders is the independent U.S. Senator from Vermont. He is the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history. He is a member of the Senate's Budget, Veterans, Environment, Energy, and H.E.L.P. (Health, Education, (more...) The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors. OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help. If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership. The Panama Leaks are rocking the political world. The Icelandic Prime Minister has fallen after public protests following the exposure of his implication in tax dodging schemes. Several other international businesses leaders, political office holders and prior figures of influence are named and shamed by the whistle blower files as well. Prominent Downfalls ? David Cameron and Vladimir Putin among many political and business leaders under fire following the Panama Leaks. Both have been exposed as having indirect implication in the developing scandal following the investigation of the Panama Papers. Vladimir Putin is linked to billions of dollars stashed away via political allies and family members. David Camerons own father was actively using tax dodging schemes in Panama whilst several renowned donors to the Conservative party are also on the list. Neither of the two tarnished leaders are likely to fall as a direct consequence of the Panama Papers. Putin is basically incredibly hard to touch internally in Russia. David Cameron on the other hand could have been incredibly vulnerable due to his tax evasion connections, but given the political calendar ahead and his lame duck status he is an unlikely target. Read more at Electomatic - Panama Papers Downfalls David Cameron and Vladimir Putin (Image by Kremlin.ru) Details DMCA Tax dodging companies and wealth stashed away by political leaders around the world exposed by whistle blower releasing secret documents from law firm helping wealthy people move income to Panama. What will the electoral outcome be? Reprinted from Greanville Post Many of these women on the right have brains inversely proportional to their looks. It's a matter for sociologists and cultural historians to figure why Republicans and the Right, in general, attract (or generate?] so many of these Stepford wife specimens (Image by Flickr [CC BY-NC-ND by dmixo6]) Details DMCA Many observers, especially on the Left, think that the Republican Party is pretty dumb. After all, look at their programs: none designed to even approach fixing any of the country's major problems. Look at the role they play in the Congress. Since the accession of President Obama, they have made obstructionism into a malevolent art form. Then one looks at the quality of their political leadership (and since Trump is not a political leader, I am not including him in the assessment). Pretty low level, no? No demonstrated intellect (not even the one who went to Harvard College and Law School). A level of knowledge of say, world affairs, that is generally abysmal. A collection of folk that has included a neurosurgeon who claimed that he was qualified to deal with a national emergency because he had been awakened at night to deal with medical emergencies that required the mobilization of at least 15 different medical, nursing and technical personnel. And then there was the failed HP exec. And as for the Tea-Partiers? How about Steve King of Iowa who once described Mexican children as capable of hauling 70 lb. sacs of marijuana across the Arizona desert? And who can forget Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin? And so on and so forth. So, you might ask, how can I describe Republican Genius? Well (and I am not telling you something you don't already know) virtually every major problem our nation faces is either the outcome of Republican policy or has been made worse by it. Consider; the export of capital and with it millions of U.S. manufacturing jobs; the decline of trade-unionism and the concomitant decline of real wages; the breeding of the super-rich and ever-widening gap between the rich and everyone else; the increasing monetarization of the political system; the crumbling of major parts of the national infrastructure and the obsolescence of much of the rest; the gradual destruction of the educational system, at all levels; the further destruction of electoral democracy (never at a terribly high level because the proportion of eligibles voting has always been so low compared with that found in most other capitalist democracies) through gerrymandering and outright voter suppression; the steady decline of the proportion of the tax burden borne by the rich; the unevenness combined with very high cost of the health care delivery system; the dominance in the national economy of the military-industrial complex which then needs war(s) to justify its continued existence at a high level of public expenditure; and so on and so forth. New Jersey's guv'nor, Chris Christie: one of the feistiest thugs in the GOP, and like many of his ilk, a sociopathic opportunist. (Image by [CC BY by DonkeyHotey]) Details DMCA So what is the Republican Genius? It is that, particularly in the current Presidential election campaign, they are able to take those elements of the list above that they choose to emphasize (certainly all of them) and blame them on the Democrats, especially the Obama Administration. Three of the four (at the time of writing) remaining GOP candidates describe the country as being in a terrible place, while the fourth (Kasich) describes it as pretty bad. Trump's primary appeal is of course his racism and authoritarianism, but he does harp away on the "bad trade deals" and resulting massive loss of jobs. They describe a failing VA system. They (again especially Trump) describe the crumbling infrastructure. And so on and so forth. Then they point repeatedly to the "dysfunctional government in Washington" as a major cause of the problems on the list, if not The Cause. And too many U.S. persons, whether they are Trump supporters or just ordinary Republicans, actually believe them. In the face of a set of glaring contradictory facts. "Free trade" (really meaning the free export of capital; free, or relatively free, trade can exist without capital exportation) has been Republican [policy since the days of Nixon. The most recent GOP budget cut for the VA was 700 million dollars. Every attempt that President Obama has made to start a major-league infrastructure re-development program has been "dead on arrival." [Of course, Obama's idea of leadership is no better than to resist tanks with wet noodles, so the outcome was always inevitable.] The "dysfunctional government in Washington" has been created by purposeful Repub. policy that Mitch McConnell began to set up even before Barack Obama's first inauguration when in December, 2008 McConnell allowed that he would filibuster "any bill he didn't like." The health care system is a mess for many citizens, but not primarily because of Obamacare. It's because Repubs. have made it a major part of their agenda for decades to make sure that major elements of it could be major profit centers, rather than major factors in promoting and maintaining the health of the people, while the Democrats, again, for at least several administrations simply refused to fight for universal coverage. Obama, to his eternal damnation, simply took single payer off the table at the very start of the horse-trading with the GOP, a vast concession to the supposed enemy without a real fight. Obama simply let his picked representatives in this haggle fest, Reid, Pelosi and particularly venal and odious Max Baucus, Montana's scourge to the public interest, to massage the fine print in this astonishing betrayal of the public's aspirations. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that many people are convinced that the myriad problems they face are the fault either of "government" or the Democrats, or both -- which as far as the complicit Democrats is concerned may be largely correct, but as far as the "Government" -- a much broader and abstract entity -- is not. Governments are instrumentalities: like technologies, what makes them good or bad, better big or small, is their class ideology. In a nation long in the hands of the most cynical and wretched plutocracy seen in modern times, it's actually a miracle that not everything has already been broken and stolen in America. So, to reiterate: the masses' disgust with politicians and the "government" is well grounded. For surely, major elements of the problem-list have been the result of either positive Democratic programming, especially under Bill Clinton and the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), like "free trade," the agreement over time to major tax cuts for the wealthy, the major deregulation of the financial markets (with only partial restoration), the maintenance of the "drug war" and the accompanying mass incarceration problem, the acquiescence in the continued gradual destruction of the trade unions, or the failure of the Obama Administration to take Republican obstruction head on from the beginning. The Repubs. had handed it to Obama on a plate at the end of the Bush Administration: the crash, due to deregulation; 700,000 lost jobs per month; the failed war on Iraq which was still present in the minds of the public. But the line was "be nice," "let's get along," and (hidden, to be sure), "let's make sure that this particular President does not come across as 'uppity.' " It is only in the last year or two that Obama has begun to really fight the Repubs., at least to some extent, and at times he has been pretty good at it. But it will likely be looked back on as too little, too late. Bernie fights on certain issues, especially the wealth disparity and the economic/political dominance of Wall Street. HRC has been pulled along by Bernie to some extent, in public at least, but she is an opportunist (to be kind). There are reasons, perhaps 600,000 of them, why she won't release the texts of those Wall Street speeches. But the bottom-line of 35 years -- and if we want to be impolite many more decades -- of a basically "go along to get along" Democratic party strategy, combined with active promotion of certain policy elements like the free export of capital, has made it possible for the Republicans to pin all of the problems that basically Republicans initiated on "the government" and "the Democrats" (which Repubs. have for decades equated with "government"). Brilliant. Indeed, a work of genius. All weather Partnership between Pakistan and China: Sartaj Aziz ISLAMABAD: The Prime Ministers Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Tuesday said the all-weather strategic partnership between Pakistan and China was an anchor for regional peace and stability. He was talking to Zhang Chunxian, Member of the Politbureau of the Communist Party of China. Enhancement of cooperation between the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Pakistan, including at the provincial level, was discussed. Mr Zhang said the two countries were joined by land, mountains and rivers. He reiterated Chinas unflinching support to Pakistans sovereignty, national security and territorial integrity. The Chinese leader lauded Pakistans efforts in combating terrorism and acknowledged its sacrifices. Reiterating commitment to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it was a flagship project of President Xi Jinpings One Belt-One Road initiative to which the Chinese leadership attached great importance. Mr Zhang said the CPEC would be of mutual economic benefit to the people of both countries as well as the region. He emphasised the importance of realising the full objective of an agreement on road transportation among Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. He also highlighted the importance of setting up industrial and science and technology parks in Pakistan which could attract large investment from enterprises in Xinjiang. Mr Zhang also visited the GHQ and called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Raheel Sharif. Matters of mutual interest, regional stability and measures to enhance defence and security collaboration were discussed at the meeting, an ISPR news release stated. Mr Zhang acknowledged Pakistans efforts in fighting terrorism and praised the successes achieved in the ongoing operation Zarb-i-Azb. Underlining the importance of the CPEC, Mr Zhang said it would have high significance and long-term impact on the region and would be equally beneficial for the people of Pakistan and China. The COAS reiterated Pakistans commitment to ensuring a secure environment for timely completion and subsequent management of the CPEC in the best interest of the regions prosperity. India military spending is a threat for Pakistan: Nasir Khan Janjua ISLAMABAD: India's heavy military spending and acquisition of weapons threatens Pakistan and its efforts for regional peace, said National Security Adviser Lieutenant General (retd) Nasir Khan Janjua on Tuesday. Speaking at a seminar titled 'Pakistan's Role in Promoting Global Peace and Security' in the capital, Janjua said that Pakistan is a peace-loving country but its efforts to promote regional peace are hindered by Indian desire to acquire military and strategic weapons. The NSA said the world has never acknowledged Pakistans sacrifices in the war against terror, despite the trying circumstances the country has faced. "Did Pakistan ask the Soviet Union to invade Afghanistan? Pakistan paid a heavy price in the war against the Soviets, but its role has never been acknowledged." He was of the view that the two neighbouring countries are nuclear armed and cannot live in an environment of hostility towards each other, especially when both are fighting terror on their soil. "Western powers desire better relations with India due to a shared anti-China policy despite the fact that a peaceful region and world is in Chinese interest and China has no ill will towards any of these countries," said the former military man. Janjuas statement coincided with the release of an annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), which listed the 15 highest spending nations on military. India featured number six on the list, up a rank from its position of the previous year. Data revealed by Sipri puts Pakistans military expenditure in 2015 at $9.5 billion, higher than the previous years $8.7 billion. India's military spending in 2015 however, came in at $51.3 billion, an increase of 0.4 per cent over the previous year. Janjua went on to add that the increase in Indias weapons and nuclear arms poses a great danger to Pakistans security. "Those who look for solutions through might will have to sit on the seats of dialogue to talk about peace and find real solutions. World powers might be cooperating with India on defence and nuclear weapons, but their discriminatory attitude against Pakistan must stop." "Its about time that all countries stop pointing fingers at each other, and come together to work for peace." My family faced barrage of accusations: Nawaz Sharif ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in an address to the nation Tuesday evening said a high-level judicial commission will be formed to probe his family for wrongdoing, after the 'Panama Papers' leak revealed his sons and daughter owned offshore companies. The judicial commission will be led by a retired Supreme Court judge, said the premier. Responding to criticism by his opponents, the PM said that certain individuals are indulged in point scoring and are digging issues from decades ago."My family has faced a barrage of accusations," said a visibly displeased Nawaz. The prime minister also invited all politicians hurling allegations against him and his family to present evidence of any financial wrongdoing before the judicial commission. Nawaz, while explaining the start of his family business said, "My father started working in Lahore 25 years before the creation of Pakistan, and by the time of independence, Ittefaq foundries had already achieved success." He added that another industrial plant was also established in Dhaka, but was lost with the fall of East Pakistan in 1971. "On Jan 2, 1972, Bhutto took over the foundry in Lahore, and hence our assets were lost in mere moments." "My family was not involved in politics till much later, as such, even before I got into politics, we were an established industrial family." Explaining further, the prime minister stated that his father established another industrial plant in Makkah, following the military coup in 1999. The plant was "later sold, and my sons invested the funds into their businesses." Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan on Monday demanded that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) initiate a thorough investigation into the financial holdings of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following the massive leak of secret files from a Panamanian law firm. Probes have already been initiated in several countries including Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and France across the globe after their leaders and office bearers were implicated, said Imran. Imran said the data leak was a defining moment for Pakistan, adding that: How can those who launder money from Pakistan to offshore accounts ask others to invest in Pakistan? The data leak has revealed financial wheelings and dealings of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family, among dozens of others, including world leaders. The data from the Panama Papers, available on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists one of around 100 news organisations and 300 journalists that worked on mining the data simultaneously also reveals the offshore holdings of members of Prime Minister Sharifs family. According to documents available on the ICIJ website, the PMs children Mariam, Hasan and Hussain were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies. Mariam is described as the owner of British Virgin Islands-based firms Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, incorporated in 1994 and 1993. On one of the documents released by ICIJ, the address listed for Nielsen Enterprises is Saroor Palace in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The document, dated June 2012, describes Mariam Safdar as the beneficial owner. According to ICIJ, Hussain and Mariam signed a document dated June 2007 that was part of a series of transactions in which Deutsche Bank Geneva lent up to $13.8 million to Nescoll, Nielsen and another company, with their London properties as collateral. Hasan Nawaz Sharif is described as the sole director of Hangon Property Holdings Limited incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in February 2007, which acquired Liberia-based firm Cascon Holdings Establishment Limited for about $11.2 million in August 2007. Provincial govt will not leave rains affected people: Pervez Khattak PESHAWAR: Provincial government will not leave alone the rains and land sliding affected people in the hour of need, said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Pervez Khattak. He also directed the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to release additional funds to the severely affected districts of Upper Dir and Kohistan and provide relief goods to district administration for distribution in Malakand and Hazara rains hit regions. According to a statement issued, PDMA is providing every possible assistance and carrying out rescue and relief operations in the affected areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. PDMA spokesperson said that an additional amount of Rs 5.0 million released to Upper Dir while Rs 10 million released to Kohistan deputy commissioner for relief activities in the affected region. He said that PDMA has dispatched 500 large food packages including sufficient quantity of wheat flour, sugar, rice, ghee, tea pulses etc to Kohistan on Tuesday evening for rains and land sliding affected families. The spokesman said PDMA is in close contact with all DCs monitoring the situation proactively adding that 200 each relief items like tents, 400 blankets, mats and other required items dispatched from PDMA warehouse to district Swat, Shangla, Lower Dir and Upper Dir to DCs and distributed among the affected families. Meanwhile, the death toll in rain-related incidents across the province reached 61 and this number may increase. According to a spokesman of PDMA, 52 people were injured and total 375 houses damaged in the incidents caused by the ongoing rain and land-sliding. He said that most of the casualties occurred due to roof collapse and land-sliding and maximum incidents were reported from Shangla, Swat, Kohistan, Mardan and other parts of the province. In village Athror, district Kohistan, land-sliding damaged eight houses and roads while 30 people stuck under the debris of houses and mountain. Rescue operation has been started and till last night seven persons rescued in which two were dead and five were seriously injured while the search operation is in progress to rescue remaining 23 persons. Several countries launched investigations after Panama leaks PARIS: Several countries have launched tax evasion investigations after a massive leak of confidential documents lifted the lid on the murky offshore financial dealings of a slew of politicians and celebrities. The scandal erupted on Sunday when media groups began revealing the results of year-long investigations into a trove of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies. Among those named in the Panama Papers are close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Icelands Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, as well as Barcelona striker Lionel Messi. In Icelands capital Reykjavik, thousands took to the streets late on Monday to demand the premier resign over allegations that he and his wife used an offshore firm to hide millions of dollars of investments. Australia has already launched a probe into 800 wealthy Mossack Fonseca clients. France and the Netherlands also announced investigations, while a judicial source said Spain had opened a money-laundering investigation into the law firm. Panama also pledged to launch an investigation to identify if any crimes have been committed and any financial damages should be awarded. President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would cooperate with the international probes but also vowed to defend the image of our country, which has a reputation as a hub for under-the-table dealings. Messis family was swift to dismiss any suggestion he had been involved in shady dealings, saying accusations he created a... tax evasion plot, including a network of money-laundering, are false and insulting. Messi has been charged with tax fraud in a separate case that is due to go to trial in May. The trove of documents was anonymously leaked to German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). More information is expected over the coming weeks. The first revelations elicited a chorus of denials, including from the Kremlin, which suggested a US plot after the leaks put a close friend of Putins at the top of an offshore empire worth more than $2 billion. Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilise the situation, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, claiming the journalists were former officers from the US state department, the CIA and special services. Among other key findings of the probe, which named about 140 political figures, including 12 current or former heads of state: - The families of some of Chinas top brass including President Xi used offshore tax havens to conceal their fortunes, including at least eight current or former members of the ruling Communist Partys most powerful body. A member of FIFAs ethics committee, Juan Pedro Damiani, had business ties with three men indicted in a corruption scandal. Oscar-winning Spanish film director Pedro Almodovar and actor Jackie Chan were among celebrities named in the papers. The papers, from around 214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, also name the president of Ukraine and the king of Saudi Arabia, as well as sporting and movie stars. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied any wrongdoing, but he may face an attempt to impeach him. French newspaper Le Monde cited documents showing that Syria used Mossack Fonseca to create shell companies to help it break international sanctions and fund its war effort. Pascal Saint-Amans, head of tax policy at the OECD, said the leaks showed that Panama was among the worlds shadiest tax havens. One of the Panama law firms founders, Ramon Fonseca, said the leaks were a crime, a felony and an attack on Panama. More than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches have worked with Mossack Fonseca since the 1970s to help clients manage offshore companies. UBS set up more than 1,100 and HSBC and its affiliates created more than 2,300. The documents show banks, law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow legal requirements to make sure clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption, the ICIJ said. Guest Post by Leeron Morad & Andrew J. Bramhall of Quinn Emanuel[i] Introduction On December 1, 2015, as part of a sweeping set of amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 84 and its Appendix of Forms were abrogated. Patent litigators are no doubt well acquainted with Form 18, which set forth a generic complaint for patent infringement. Under the guise of notice pleading, the Form 18 complaint recited only the most basic factual allegations: it did not identify any asserted patent claims or any specific accused product models, nor provide an explanation of how those products allegedly infringe. Nevertheless, a direct infringement claim could survive a motion to dismiss simply by complying with Form 18.[ii] As the effective date for the new amendments approached, practitioners began to consider how Form 18s elimination might affect the pleading of direct infringement. In particular, they questioned whether newly filed claims would be analyzed under the plausibility standard established by the Supreme Court in Twombly and Iqbal[iii] and thus would require enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.[iv] The possibility of a heightened pleading standard caused a considerable spike in the filing of complaints in the days leading up to December 2015: more than 250 patent infringement complaints were filed on November 30 alone.[v] Early indications from the few issued district court decisions interpreting the amended Rules confirm that the pleading standard for direct infringement claims may indeed have changed. In this article, we look at two decisions applying the amended Rulesone from the District of Delaware and the other from the Central District of Californiathat provide an interesting glimpse of what may or may not suffice when pleading direct infringement today. Case 1: RainDance Techs. Inc. v. 10x Genomics, Inc., No. 15-cv-00152, Dkt. 28 (D. Del. Mar. 4, 2016). [RainDance Decision] In RainDance Techs., Inc. v. 10x Genomics, Inc., Judge Andrews of the District of Delaware granted 10x Genomics motion to dismiss RainDances and the University of Chicagos claims for direct infringement of seven patents, finding that Plaintiffs have not plausibly alleged any infringement.[vi] RainDance and the University of Chicago (collectively, the RainDance Plaintiffs) filed their original complaint against 10x Genomics in February 2015, and then filed an amended complaint in April 2015. 10x Genomics filed its motion to dismiss in May 2015, arguing (among other things) that the direct infringement claim fell short of the plausibility standard of Twombly and Iqbal.[vii] The level of detail in the RainDance Plaintiffs complaint, which clocked in at 35 pages, almost certainly would have passed muster under Form 18. For each of the seven asserted patents, the RainDance Plaintiffs identified a representative claim that they alleged had been directly infringed.[viii] They also identified 10x Genomics accused producta microfluidic DNA and RNA analysis platformas well as the specific platform components implicated by the alleged infringement. As support for their allegations, the RainDance Plaintiffs included figures from 10x Genomics conference presentations describing the accused platforms structure and its chemical workflow, as well as excerpts from 10x Genomics website.[ix] Judge Andrews, however, found the RainDance Plaintiffs amended complaint lacking. He first noted that, despite the complaints length, the essential factual allegations d[id] not take up much space.[x] He took issue in particular with the RainDance Plaintiffs reliance on 10x Genomics promotional materials, adding that it did not appear the plaintiffs had purchased one of [10x Genomics] products to see how it actually works.[xi] Judge Andrews also noted that the RainDance Plaintiffs filed the complaint less than a month after first learning about the 10x Genomics platform, suggesting they might have benefited from spending more time investigating the accused product before filing suit. In assessing the adequacy of the direct infringement allegations, Judge Andrews also performed his own analysis of the exemplary patent claims identified in the complaint. He appeared to be searching for express factual allegations tying each asserted claim limitation to the accused products in a way that bridged the gap between technical claim language and the accused features.[xii] For example, Judge Andrews concluded that the complaint failed to address the adjusting pressure limitation of one asserted method claim: [t]here is nothing in the complaint (at least so far as I can see) that hints at the role of pressure in Defendants products.[xiii] In reference to a different asserted claim, he likewise noted that [i]t is not obvious to me that what Plaintiffs described is an autocatalytic reaction.[xiv] He ultimately determined that the RainDance Plaintiffs ma[d]e no attempt to relate any of their factual assertions with any of the asserted claims and dismissed the direct infringement claim as not plausibly alleged.[xv] It is noteworthy that although the RainDance Plaintiffs filed their amended complaint in April 2015nearly eight months before the new amendments went into effectJudge Andrews chose to apply the post-December 1, 2015, direct infringement pleading standard to the amended complaint because it would be in the interest of justice to do so.[xvi] He did not, however, explain his reasoning for this conclusion or give an indication of whether he would come to the same conclusion in other already pending cases. Case 2: InCom Corp. v. The Walt Disney Co. , No. 15-cv-3011, Dkt. 26 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2016). [InCom Decision] In contrast to Judge Andrews decision in RainDance, Judge Gutierrezs decision in Incom Corp. v. The Walt Disney Co. provides an example of what at least one court considers to be sufficient to plead direct infringement under the amended Rules.[xvii] InCom filed its original complaint on April 22, 2015, and an amended complaint seven months later on Nov. 23, 2015, alleging infringement of three patents related to tracking systems using Radio Frequency Identification. Like the RainDance plaintiffs, InCom identified specific accused products in the complaintnamely, Disneys attendance tracking device, MagicBand, and the MyMagic+ attendance monitoring system. On December 10, 2015, not long after the new amended Rules went into effect, Disney moved to dismiss InComs amended complaint, arguing that it did not plausibly allege a claim for direct or indirect infringement. Judge Gutierrez denied Disneys motion to dismiss to the extent it sought to dismiss InComs direct infringement claims. As in RainDance, he first rejected InComs argument that the amended Rules should not apply because it filed the complaint before their effective date, December 1, 2015.[xviii] Citing the Supreme Courts order adopting the amended Rules, which stated that the amendments should apply insofar as just and practicable [in] all proceedings then pending, Judge Gutierrez held that it was appropriate to require InCom to meet the plausibility standard in its amended complaint.[xix] Even under the heightened pleading standard, however, Judge Gutierrez held that InComs amended complaint sufficiently pleaded a direct infringement claim. While acknowledging that merely naming a product and providing a conclusory statement that it infringes a patent is insufficient to meet the plausibility standard set forth in Twombly and Iqbal, he found that InCom had done enough by specifically identifying Defendants products and alleging that they perform the same unique function as Plaintiffs patented system.[xx] In particular, Judge Gutierrez emphasized that InCom describe[d] how its Attendance Tracking System uses RFID technology and ID badges to track human presence in large volumes, and name[d] specific products developed, manufactured and used by Defendants which, like Plaintiffs system, track human presence in large volumes.[xxi] Notably, in contrast with Judge Andrews, Judge Gutierrez did not require InCom to identify any exemplary asserted claims in its complaint, much less conduct any element-by-element analysis. Despite these missing details, he concluded that [a]t this stage, it is sufficient that Plaintiff has made plausible allegations that each Defendant is responsible for direct infringement.[xxii] In comparison with the RainDance decision, the InCom decision therefore appears to establish a lower threshold for plausibly alleging direct infringement under the amended Rules. Conclusion These two early decisions, while by no means definitive of the pleading standards under the amended Rules, suggest that patent plaintiffs were right to be concerned about a heightened requirement for pleading direct infringement. Because the amendments only went into effect fairly recently, however, only time will tell whether other district courts will apply the plausibility standard to direct infringement claims as well. It also remains possible that, despite the abrogation of Rule 84 and the Appendix of Forms, some courts may find that compliance with Form 18 is still enough to survive a motion to dismiss.[xxiii] Yet even under the heightened plausibility standard, we would not be surprised to see meaningful differences emerge in the ways different districtsand even individual judges within districtsapply that standard to direct infringement claims. The decisions discussed in this article suggest such a trend: one seems to demand allegations that directly tie the claim language to the accused product, whereas the other accepts general discussion of the patented invention without the identification of any asserted claims. Before filing suit, litigants should be mindful of these differences, lest they be faced with the prospect of having to amend and re-file their complaintor perhaps worse. Indeed, it would be prudent for would-be plaintiffs to closely follow this area of law in the year to come, as it appears Form 18s elimination is already changing how patents are litigated. Finally, existing plaintiffs should be aware that merely filing a complaint prior to December 1, 2015even many months before that datedoes not guarantee application of the Form 18 pleading standard. = = = = = [i] Leeron Morad is an associate and Andrew Bramhall is a partner in Quinn Emanuels Silicon Valley office. The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm or its clients. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice. [ii] In re Bill of Lading Transmission & Processing Sys. Patent Litig., 681 F.3d 1323, 1336 (Fed. Cir. 2012). [iii] Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007); Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009). [iv] Twombly, 550 U.S. at 554-55, 570. [v] Based on a Docket Navigator search of cases filed on November 30, 2015. By comparison, in the entirety of 2015, plaintiffs filed approximately 5,500 new patent cases. The filing of 250 cases represents almost 5% of the total for the year. http://www.law360.com/articles/755311/how-2015-s-crush-of-patent-lawsuits-kept-ip-attys-busy. [vi] Case No. 15-cv-00152, Dkt. 28, at 5 (D. Del. Mar. 4, 2016). [vii] According to 10x Genomics, the plausibility pleading standard should apply to the RainDance Plaintiffs direct infringement claim because pleading is governed by regional circuit law in the Third Circuit. Id., Dkt. 16, at 14-17. 10x Genomics also argued that the plausibility standard should apply because Form 18 was expected to be abrogated during the early stages of this case. Id. at 17. [viii] E.g., id., Dkt. 12 26. [ix] Id. 16-20. [x] Id., Dkt. 28, at 1. [xi] Id. at 3. [xii] See id. at 4 (The requirements of the next to last element might be met, but involves quite a bit of supposition. I think, but am not sure, that partitioning samples is the same as amplification. . . .). [xiii] Id. at 3. [xiv] Id. at 4. [xv] Id. Judge Andrews dismissed the complaint without prejudice, however, because Plaintiffs might very well be able to [plausibly allege infringement], and gave the RainDance Plaintiffs three weeks to re-file. Id. at 5. [xvi] Id. at 4-5. [xvii] Case No. 15-cv-3011, Dkt. 39 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2016). [xviii] Id. at 3. [xix] Id. at 3-4 (quoting Supreme Court of the United States, Order Regarding Amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Apr. 29, 2015)). [xx] Id. at 4. [xxi] Id. [xxii] Id. at 5. [xxiii] According to the Committee Notes to the amended Rules, [t]he abrogation of Rule 84 does not alter existing pleading standards or otherwise change the requirements of Civil Rule 8. It seems possible that a court could interpret this as intending to maintain the notice pleading standard for direct infringement claims. On Saturday 3 April, 50 sea turtles were released into the sunset waters of the Andaman Sea to begin their lifetime journey in the ocean at Laguna Phukets 22nd annual sea turtle release, at Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC). Hundreds of donors and animal philanthropists joined an afternoon of edutainment sea turtle conservation activities that includes conservation tour of PMBC (Nursery Ponds, Rescue Ponds, Endangered species exhibition and PMBC Museum) and the sea turtle release. The beach ceremony was part of Laguna Phukets on-going environmental partnership with Phuket Marine Biological Centre (PMBC) to help the plight of endangered sea turtles. Instructions were given to all donors by PMBC biologists who were in attendance to closely supervise the release. Laguna Phuket has funded a total of 609,726 Baht to construct two new nursery ponds for PMBCs ongoing sea turtle conservation programmes. These two new nursery ponds are dedicated to the rehabilitation and preservation of the juvenile, injured and disabled sea turtles before returning to sea, PMBCs nursery ponds are also permanent home and fighting chance to many turtles that lost their ability to survive in nature and must be raised in captivity. To date, 2,020 sea turtles have been released by Laguna Phuket and more than 6.8 million Baht raised since 1994, said Mr. Ravi Chandran, Managing Director of Laguna Phuket. It is also important that more than 4,000 people have participated in our initiative over the course of two decades as our goal is not only to raise funds but to also raise the awareness. We hope that this experience will encourage the young generations to be lifelong advocates of wildlife conservation and environmental preservation. he concluded. Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) can live for up to 60 years and spend their lives roaming the worlds oceans. Only the females ever come ashore again to nest. In a bid to encourage the quick spread of its payments platform, Amazon is enrolling companies that provide e-commerce services to merchants into a robust certification program. The Seattle tech giant offers the companies, developers and e-commerce agencies it certifies tools that would make it easier for their clients to adopt Amazon Payments, as well as technical and administrative support and training. Amazon says it will also offer joint-marketing opportunities to certain partners, increasing their visibility to potential clients. The certification program, dubbed Amazon Payments Global Partner Program, is free, and available in the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and Japan; but participation is by invitation only. Some get to be "Premier Partners," with special perks including instructor-led training and unlimited attendance to special events. Aspiring "partners" can register on a website. The move is a broadside in an increasingly crowded fight for manning the cash register of Internet commerce, pitting Amazon against the likes of Apple and PayPal. Amazon Payments allow merchants to charge customers through the information contained in their Amazon accounts. That saves customers the trouble of entering their credit card information over and over, which is not only convenient but also gives them peace of mind when shopping for the first time at a website they don't know. For the small and medium businesses that are so far Amazon Payments' main adopters, it takes away some of the friction in acquiring new clients. But big companies like Southwest Airlines are deploying the platform, too, encouraged by the fact that many people have Amazon accounts. Explore further Amazon adds subscriptions to its payment service 2016 The Seattle Times Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Vernadsky Research Base, an Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica Winter is coming, and like many scientists posted in Antarctica, Bogdan Gavrylyuk is looking forward to going home. It has been a year since the 43-year-old Ukrainian geophysicist started his latest posting, monitoring climatic phenomena on an island off western Antarctica. "Everybody misses home. Everybody has a family or a girlfriend and of course we miss them," he says. "But here, there is a job we have to do." He will ship out from Vernadsky Research Station in early April to make way for his replacement, before the sea freezes over. Scientists call Antarctica the Earth's last wilderness. For some, it is also a paradise of international cooperation. It is home to thousands of researchers and technicians from various countries who share the territory under the Antarctic Treaty. In Gavrylyuk's office, blinking computer screens show graphs of data from meteorological instruments deployed around the wind-swept base. "We share a lot of important, interesting information between different Antarctic countriesdata on the ozone layer, meteorological information, geophysical information. All the countries here are doing the same," he says. Gentoo penguins pictured on the shore of Vernadsky Research Base, a Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica He also shows off a pair of keyboards on which he plays rock music in his free time. "I have a guitar, a flute, harmonica, keyboards. It helps me relax when I'm working hard on my project," Gavrylyuk explains. Science and peace Diplomats cherish the Antarctic Treaty that has governed this continent since 1959. "It has lasted for over 50 years. It brings us all together for science and for peace," says Ray Arnaudo, who was formerly the US State Department's top official for Antarctica. Researchers at Palmer Station, the only US research station in Antarctica located north of the Antarctic Circle, pictured on Anvers Island, Antarctica "If you extended the boundaries of Antarctica by five degrees every couple of years, in 50 years you would have world peace," he says. "Some say I'm a dreamer." But when it comes to protecting the region, the Antarctic Treaty is prey to international politics beyond its icy shores. "Antarctica has traditionally been a place where people have been able to cooperate more than they would on other issues. However there is an outstanding list of to-dos," says Claire Christian, acting director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a grouping of environmental NGOs. Run by Britain until it was sold to Ukraine in 1996, Vernadsky Station was one of the research bases whose atmospheric readings revealed the hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s, Gavrylyuk says. Now the focus is on climate change. Antarctica's western peninsula has warmed by three percent on average over the past half-century, according to environmental groups. The barman who works at the Vernadsky Research Base, an Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica They hope the Antarctic Treaty's environmental commission, CCAMLR, can agree on measures to protect the continent. "There are a lot of political obstacles," says Christian. "It's been very difficult, for example, for countries in CCAMLR to agree to marine protected areas." Antarctic climate change At Argentina's Almirante Brown Station, biologist Rocio Fayo and her 10 colleagues lead an isolated life. "There is no Internet connection here, so the group has a very strong bond," says Fayo, 31, standing under the gray skies of Paradise Bay outside the red wooden hut where the team sleeps. Palmer Station, the only US research station in Antarctica located north of the Antarctic Circle "We've been up the peak over there a few times. We climb up and slide back down fast on our bottoms in the snow. It's good fun." Fayo has spent the summer studying micro-algae. Another researcher has set up a camera for monitoring penguins in the bay. Conservationists fear the penguins are threatened by climate change and fishing. Campaigners complain that some countries are resisting conservation efforts by fellow CCAMLR members. Andrea Kavanagh, head of the penguin campaign of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a US non-government organization, says Russia and China "want to be free to catch as much krill as possible near the Antarctic Peninsula, including right next to penguin colonies that have been in decline for the last three decades." An Ukranian biologist points at a sea spider at Vernadsky Research Base, an Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica Hiking the frozen sea Far away from their countries, on the bases, staff say Antarctic relations run smoothly, however. "There's this great international collaboration. Politics is set aside here more than in most places," says laboratory supervisor Carolyn Lipke, 35. She is getting ready for a break after spending her sixth year at Palmer Station, one of several US Antarctic bases. Among various research projects at her station, chemists are examining spongy invertebrates on the seabed that they think give off toxins with potentially cancer-fighting qualities. When they're not deep-sea diving for specimens or working in the lab, she says, the 40 or so staff here play cards, watch movies and hold open-mic talent shows. In winter, they can hike across the frozen sea to neighboring islands. A satellite Internet and phone link helps them keep in touch with loved ones. "That makes it easier to be here for long periods, and also for the scientists to communicate," Lipke says. "You can communicate with your family but you can also get a ton of work done." Explore further Antarctic sanctuary moves closer with China support: officials 2016 AFP Sand-laden jets shoot into the Martian polar sky in this artist's view. THEMIS images and data led scientists to discover these jets were the source of mysterious dark makings that appeared every spring on the south polar cap of Mars. Credit: Arizona State University/Ron Miller This week 15 years ago, NASA launched a spacecraft with the name 2001 Mars Odyssey, and onboard was the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), a multi-wavelength camera designed at Arizona State University. Odyssey arrived at Mars in October 2001, and spent three months using carefully controlled dips into the upper atmosphere of Mars to adjust the size and shape of its orbit in preparation for systematic mapping of the Red Planet. Both spacecraft and camera have been outstandingly successful. Not only has Odyssey been operating longer than any other spacecraft ever sent to Mars, but during Odyssey's lifespan so far, all six subsequent NASA missions sent to Mars have also succeeded. For its part, THEMIS has taken nearly half a million images of Mars in five visual and nine infrared (heat-sensitive) "colors." Researchers have mosaicked these into the best image-maps of Mars ever made both in daytime and nighttime infrared, as well as the most complete map of Martian surface properties. The data from THEMIS has also played a large role in introducing students to the excitement of scientific research. "In 15 years of imaging Mars, we've made major discoveries as we followed the Red Planet through all its seasons for more than six Mars years," says ASU professor Philip Christensen, the instrument's designer and principal investigator. He is Regents Professor of Geological Sciences and the Ed and Helen Korrick Professor in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration. Shortly after sunrise local time, light blue clouds fill Coprates Chasma on Mars, part of Valles Marineris, the vast "Grand Canyon of Mars." The clouds are mostly ice crystals and appear blue in color because they scatter blue light more strongly than other colors. In Coprates, the valley floor lies about 33,000 feet (10,000 meters) deeper than the flat canyon rim. This image was made November 25, 2015, by the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) using its visual-light and near-infrared filters, and it is approximately true in color. A shift in local time for the spacrcaft's orbit is letting THEMIS focus on transient atmospheric phenomena in addition to geological studies. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Arizona State University "In that time we've learned what Mars is made of, and how many of its processes work," he says. THEMIS images helped NASA select landing sites for the twin Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, and the non-roving Mars Phoenix lander. Its maps of rocks and dust are helping engineers find a safe and scientifically productive landing place for 2018's non-roving InSight lander and the Mars 2020 rover. Images and data from THEMIS positively identified long-suspected water ice in the south polar ice cap, and they also led to the discovery of powerful dust-laden jets of CO2 gas that erupt at the south polar cap every spring. THEMIS and Odyssey have also played an important role back on Earth, Christensen explains. "Over the course of the mission so far," he says, "we have trained dozens of graduate students who have taken their PhDs out into the world, where they are teaching others and making discoveries of their own. We have educated thousands of ASU undergraduates in the basics of a planet that's both like and unlike Earth. And literally tens of thousands of secondary school students around the country have been introduced to the excitement of scientific research using THEMIS images." The mission's longevity is no accident, says Odyssey project scientist Jeffrey Plaut of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "In addition to the quality of this spacecraft, the careful way it is operated has been crucial to how it has stayed so productive so long." He notes, "Odyssey was designed for a four year mission. We're in the 15th year, and it keeps doing everything we ask it to do." Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the Odyssey spacecraft and collaborates with JPL in mission operations. "THEMIS will continue its scientific work as long as Mars Odyssey continues," says Christensen. "THEMIS and Odyssey predate the creation of ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration. But they and other Mars-dedicated spacecraft have provided a wonderful data heritage for scientists, researchers, and students, now and into the future." Explore further THEMIS Mars camera celebrates a decade's discoveries Cambodia has unveiled a plan to reintroduce tigers from abroad into the dry forests of the country, where the big cat has become virtually extinct thanks to poaching, conservation officials said Wednesday. Between 20 and 50 tigers were believed to exist in Cambodia's forests, but years of illegal poachingof the tigers as well as their preyled to a dramatic decline in their population. The last tiger spotted in Cambodia was seen in 2007 by camera trapa hidden camera that is remotely triggered by the movement of animalsin the forests of eastern Mondulkiri province, the WWF conservation group said in a statement. "Today, there are no longer any breeding populations of tigers left in Cambodia, and they are therefore considered functionally extinct," it said. The statement was released at a joint news conference by representatives of the government, WWF and the Wildlife Alliance, another conservation group. Keo Omaliss, a government official in charge of wildlife, said Cambodia is considering negotiating with the governments of India, Malaysia and Thailand to bring at least seven to eight tigers to live in the protected forests of Mondulkiri so they can breed and repopulate the forests. "This would be the world's first transnational tiger reintroduction and will be based on best practices developed from successful tiger reintroductions within India," the WWF statement said. The plan was approved by Cambodia's government on March 23. The plan is to bring in the tigers after two years because Cambodia needs to resolve related issues such as poaching and rebuilding the population of tiger prey, which will be needed to sustain a tiger population, said Chhit Sam Ath, the director of WWF-Cambodia. He said the arrival of the tigers could be pushed back to 2018 if the preservation efforts are not completed by 2017. "Tigers are an iconic species and part of our natural heritage," he said. "To bring tigers back to Cambodia would be the biggest conversation feat of its kind and would support the conversation efforts of the whole landscape." The entire plan will cost $20-50 million, which will come from donor countries. After the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule in the 1970s left Cambodia devastated, poor rural dwellers scoured the forests for wildlife. Much of what was found was sold to traders connected to China, where many wild animals, including tigers, are believed to possess medical and sex-enhancing properties. Tigers have been classified as nearly extinct species worldwide. There are about 3,200 tigers in only 13 countries globally, according to WWF. Explore further Cambodia border crossing and road threaten one of Asia's last great wilderness areas 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. In unbound calyx[4]pyrrole, two pyrrole petals are flipped up and two, down. With the addition of a phenol, all four pyrrole petals flip up to form a cup, shown here, that traps radioactive cesium. Image credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Dept. of Energy; illustration by Andy Sproles Atomic charges in chemical solutions are like Switzerlandthey strive for neutrality. The tendency to balance charges drives dynamics when charged atoms or molecules, called ions, are present in solutions. Recently, researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found new ways to influence selectivity for specific positively charged ions (cations) with the addition of simple receptors, not for cations but rather for negatively charged ions (anions). This discovery, which provides a new twist on selectivity, proves that adding an anion receptor can affect the selectivity of extractants used to separate metals. Better selectivity via the addition of anion receptors to enhance discrimination between metals, such as sodium and cesium, could improve future environmental cleanup efforts. "This is the first instance of using an anion receptor to enhance selectivity for a cation," said Neil Williams of ORNL's Chemical Separations Group. He presented this work in Honolulu in December at Pacifichem 2015 (which convenes chemists from Pacific Rim nations including Japan, China and Australia who might not normally attend a scientific meeting in the United States). "The basic research shows that you can modify the selectivity of an extractant using an anion receptor. This proof of principle could have future broader implications in removal of contaminants like cesium from ocean water, groundwater or nuclear waste in storage tanks." The project takes a novel approach conceived by principal investigator Bruce Moyer of ORNL. Moyer pioneered the use of hostguest chemistry in separationsin which complexes of two or more molecules or ions are held together in structural relationships by forces other than those of full covalent bondsfor cleaning up legacy radioactive waste at DOE sites. His fundamental research into trapping cesium was applied in a process that was engineered and scaled up by partners at Argonne, Idaho, Pacific Northwest, Oak Ridge and Savannah River national laboratories. It was deployed in a nuclear-waste treatment plant that since 2008 has processed more than 5.5 million gallons of high-level radioactive waste at the Savannah River Site. Such research relies on the fact that receptor molecules attract metals with complementary properties. The strength of the binding varies based on sterics and/or electronics. Certain extractants will bind to a specific metal atom strongly, whereas many other extractants show no such preference. The ORNL researchers explored ways to increase the selectivity of extractants for elements in the first column of the periodic table, which carry a positive charge and include cesium, potassium, sodium and lithium. They started with simple extractants based on phenol, which is a hydroxyl group (-OH) attached to an aromatic ring, and added a long hydrocarbon chain to improve their solubility in organic solvents. Then they mixed an anion receptorcalix[4]pyrrole (C4P), a cyclic molecule consisting of four linked pyrrole subunits (rings of four carbons and a nitrogen bearing a hydrogen)with the phenol in the organic solutions. When bound to an extractant with a negative charge (in this case the long-chain phenol that has lost its positively charged hydrogen by reaction with hydroxide in the aqueous phase), C4P will change its shape. When C4P is unbound, two pyrroles opposite to each other point up and two point down. When C4P associates with anions, however, the pyrroles flip to all aim toward a central point, forming a "cup" that aligns "pi" electrons in the pyrrole subunits. A large positively charged metal is attracted to the center of the cup like a bee to the pollen-rich chalice of a flower. Whereas phenol on its own showed little selectivity toward singly charged metals (e.g., cesium), mixtures of phenol and C4P were significantly more selective. Changing the nature of chemical interactions Oil and water are examples of mutually insoluble organic and aqueous solutions, respectively. After being shaken, much like oil-and-vinegar salad dressing, the phases separate back into two layers. During an extraction, the organic solution containing the phenol and C4P and the aqueous solutions containing dissolved salts are mixed well. As the phases separate back into two layers, some ions preferring the organic phase will be extracted while others remain in the aqueous phase. If phenol and C4P are mixed in the organic solvent and then mixed with an alkaline aqueous solution, the phenol's OH group loses its hydrogen to the aqueous phase by reaction with hydroxide ions. When this occurs, the phenol is converted to its anionic form, which attracts a cation into the organic phase to maintain charge neutrality. "The nature of how C4P will bind to the cation changes greatly," said Williams, who with Campbell Reynolds, a summer intern from the University of TennesseeKnoxville, performed analytical radiochemistry experiments to assess the effectiveness of chemical separations. Lance Gill, a former ORNL employee, helped develop experimental protocols. ORNL's Radu Custelcean used X-ray diffraction to solve the crystal structures of the complex. "By combining phenol and C4P, where we had no selectivity, we now have selectivity," Williams said. "We've enhanced it or induced it." The extractant's new-found selectivity for, in this case, cesium is due to several factors, one of which is atomic charge density. In small cations like lithium and sodium, charge is densely confined, giving the cation a "harder" nature. In larger cations, like potassium and cesium, charge is more spread out; the diffuse nature of the charge gives these metals a "softer" nature. Cesium is positively charged and the receptor/phenol complex is negatively charged, so they are opposites in one sense. But in terms of electronic nature, they're alike, and similar charge densities want to come together. "Cesium likes interacting with the pi bonds of pyrroles," Williams said. "Pi bonds are similar to clouds or nebula where everything is spread out over a large area. In the pi bonds, the electron density of a molecule is spread out over the bonds or rings, giving them softer character similar to larger metal cations, so it is along the lines of like attracts like, where both the receptor and metal can interact with each other and spread the electron density out over an even greater area." The choice of solvent dramatically influences the effectiveness of the separation. Results from experiments that combined phenol with C4P in the organic solvent, and then mixed them with aqueous solutions containing both sodium and cesium, have shown marked enhancement in selectivity for cesium (40,000 times greater). These results hint at a basis for removing radioactive cesium from seawater at contaminated sites such as Fukushima. Williams and colleagues replaced phenol with organophosphate, an extractant that can lose its positively charged hydrogen at a pH close to that of seawater, and showed proof of the concept that organophosphate can work in place of phenols. "Next we plan to run more experiments to determine which environment the cesium cation is in in organic solutions, whether it's truly sitting in the cup like the solid-state crystal structure shows," said Williams. He would like to venture beyond simple, singly-charged cations to explore whether the phenol/C4P complex could also extract mercury and other environmental toxins. Explore further Scientists show charged salts can extract specific central lanthanide elements New research in north-central Mongolia illuminates the effects of global climate change on certain vulnerable species of salmon. Air temperature records demonstrate that in the last 40 years, Northern Mongolia's rate of warming has been 3-times greater than the northern hemisphere average. Streamside measurements indicate that salmon metabolism has increased exponentially with temperature, and the fish are now experiencing temperatures near their upper levels for growth during summer. "Because of the remote location of many Northern Mongolian rivers, the fish populations are generally in great shape. However, many of the salmonid species in Mongolia are already living near the limits of their ability to withstand warm water," said Dr. Kyle Hartman, co-author of the Ecology of Freshwater Fish study. "As the climate here continues to warm, these species could be pushed out of one of their last refuges in the world," added co-author Dr. Olaf Jensen. Explore further Drought pushes endangered California salmon to the brink More information: Kyle J. Hartman et al. Anticipating climate change impacts on Mongolian salmonids: bioenergetics models for lenok and Baikal grayling, Ecology of Freshwater Fish (2016). Kyle J. Hartman et al. Anticipating climate change impacts on Mongolian salmonids: bioenergetics models for lenok and Baikal grayling,(2016). DOI: 10.1111/eff.12282 For Immediate Release Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) denounced todays decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to declare a mistrial in the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Samoei Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang. The court citing weak evidence in the prosecutions case and a troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling vacated charges against Ruto and Sang for crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation or forcible transfer of populations, and persecution following Kenyas contested 2007 elections. It is the absolute responsibility of the court to provide testifying witnesses the full measure of protection required to shield them from threats and intimidation, said Karen Naimer, director of PHRs Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones. That is foundational to a fair trial. If the prosecutions case faltered, even in part, because of witness tampering, we must see it for what it is: a stinging indictment of the court itself. Ruto was charged with crimes related to an outburst of violence after the 2007 balloting that left 1,200 Kenyans dead and forced half a million people from their homes. In December 2014, the ICC withdrew charges against sitting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who served as deputy prime minister during the violence. This decision is incredibly frustrating to the thousands of victims and families in Kenya who have waited so long for a meaningful outcome, said Christine Alai, Kenya Coordinator for PHRs Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones. This was the only remaining criminal case addressing the post-election violence against high level or low level officials and this decision will send a chill to those victims and witnesses who would come forward to seek justice. PHR noted that the judgment does acknowledge the significant need to provide reparations and assistance to survivors of the violence. PHR hopes this development will drive momentum in Kenya to push for the adoption of Kenyas Truth, Justice, and Reconciliation Commissions recommendations on reparations. By no means should todays mistrial be seen as a statement about Ruto or Sangs guilt or innocence, said PHRs Alai. Rather it is an unfortunate testament to the significant political interference in the case that have resulted in the courts inability to consider the case on its actual merits. In the absence of any meaningful local accountability efforts, PHR has helped bring a civil suit against the Government of Kenya at the High Court in Nairobi on behalf of survivors over the governments failure to prevent the post-election violence, protect civilians, or provide meaningful investigations and reparations. PHR also recently published a study on the post-election violence in Kenya that found a rise in rape cases during the post-election period. Through the Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones, PHR trains medical, law enforcement, and judicial officials in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on collecting and preserving forensic medical evidence in sexual violence cases in order to improve local prosecutions. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a New York-based advocacy organization that uses science and medicine to prevent mass atrocities and severe human rights violations. Learn more here. We used to operate to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam from Mumbai, which we discontinued a few years ago, said Air India Chairman Ashwanai Lohani. With the capacity (aircraft) coming in, we should be able to connect these two cities in the region. The airline is also talking to South African authorities about possible operations to Durban, an airline official said. Indias airlines are suffering from overcapacity which has triggered fare wars, and few carriers are profitable, BangkokPost reported. The sheer size of the domestic market is keeping the industry aloft and the government hopes big investments intransport infrastructure, including civil aviation, will help the industry grow. Indias policy in the last few decades has been to protect Air India, but it actually had the reverse effect, harming Air India as a noncompetitive carrier, according to Peter Harbison, executive chairman of Australia-based Capa Centre for Aviation. This resulted in budget carriers and foreign players taking a larger piece of the pie, according to BangkokPost. The government-run airline plans to launch services to Washington, D.C. from New Delhi, and in addition to adding service to Africa, plans to connect to Scandinavian countries, BusinessStandard reported. Air India already operates out of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Newark with plans to expand further in the U.S. In the last four months alone, Air India added two international destinations San Francisco and Vienna. In Europe, the airline flies to seven cities including London, Paris, Milan, Vienna and Franfurt. In the next couple of years, we will be expanding our international network in a big way. We have Madrid, Barcelona, Copenhagen and Stockholm which we are looking at as well, said Air India Director Pankaj Srivastava. The airline currently operates to 35 international destinations in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Far East, South East Asia and the Gulf. According Kofi Asamoah that act, which also restricted his movement, was not only a breach of his fundamental right to movement but goes to the core of his basic right to humane and dignified treatment, as guaranteed by the Ghana Constitution. This indignity is an insult to all working people and Ghanaians as a whole, especially, given our not too distant history of slavery, a statement issued by the TUC on Wednesday and signed by its Secretary General, Kofi Asamoah lamented. The statement demanded that the offending officer, who has since absconded from the country, be brought back to face prosecution while the managing director of Gateway Logistics, William Moss should render a formal, public apology to Sanou, the working people of Ghana and Ghanaians as a whole. According to the TUC, for an employer to have the temerity in todays Ghana to chain a Ghanaian worker for any reason whatsoever is unconscionable and we totally and outrightly condemn it. We cannot countenance such dehumanizing conduct in the world of work. This egregious breach of the fundamental human right of Comrade Sanou and the sensibilities of the working people of Ghana is the direct responsibility of the Managing Director of the Gateway Logistics Limited Mr. William Moss. We understand that Mr. William Moss has created a work environment, a white supremacist environment at the workplace that encourages the intimidation and abuse of workers which has ultimately resulted in this evil. Worst of all, Mr. Moss has failed to publicly condemn the actions of Mr. Manlio Maggiorotto and has instead held him up as an example and has allowed him to abscond the country and evade the law. The Trade Union Congress (TUC), as a first step, demands a formal and public apology from Mr. Moss to Comrade Sanou, the working people of Ghana and Ghanaians as a whole. We demand that Mr. Moss produces Mr. Maggiorotto for prosecution. We additionally demand that Mr. Moss must, as a matter of urgency, commit to work with the union to change the culture of oppression and silence he has supervised in the work environment and respect the collective bargaining institutions and other social dialogue processes at the workplace to ensure that this or other abomination does not recur. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the General, Transport and Petroleum Workers Union of TUC will leave no stone unturned to ensure the proper redress of this matter. A credible source close to Vodafone Ghana revealed that it is currently taking steps to transfer assets including the Ghana Telecom University to government. Notwithstanding the fact that these are assets legally acquired and paid for under the Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited (GTCL) Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between Vodafone Group and the Government of Ghana, the source says that Vodafone Ghana considers them non core and surplus to its operations, hence, the decision to hand them over. It is believed that this decision that will be appreciated by most Ghanaians and viewed as a show of commitment by Vodafone to Ghana. To most industry experts, this is a generous offer on the part of the Telecommunications Company to the Ghana government, which is a 30% shareholder in Vodafone Ghana. Vodafone acquired a 70% stake in Ghana Telecom in 2008 for an amount of US$900million. In the process of the acquisition, the company also inherited some properties and assets from government including pieces of land across prime areas of the country and some landed properties including the Ghana Telecom University, located at Tesano in Accra. Having reviewed its assets situation, the Board and Management of the telecom company came to a conclusion to hand over assets which are not core to its operations back to government for the general benefit of the countrys developmental agenda. Although it was an independent decision taken by the telecom company, it has agreed to engage Government in a process of ensuring a smooth transition. Vodafones entry into the Ghana market has witnessed a significant transformation of the sector, having overseen key innovative and creative initiatives such as the award winning Vodafone X and RED products as well as a host of value-added services to its customers. Director for the Shai Hills, Gwendolyn Wellman applauded Gold Fields Ghana for the project, saying with projects like this as well as other infrastructural development, she does not see why Ghana cannot compete with Eastern or Southern African countries noted for their huge tourism activities. The earlier announcement by government to convert six out of the ten polytechnics did not go down well with authorities and Alumni of the Cape Coast and Tamale polytechnics, who could not meet the 16 point criteria for the conversion. The polytechnics had argued that their exclusion would affect enrolment at the school. But the president, at the ceremony to officially convert the Takoradi Polytechnic into a technical university said "the expert panel that carried out the reassessment will therefore conduct a reassessment exercise in these two polytechnics - Cape Coast and Tamale on the 5th and 8th of April 2016, and we shall await the results of the reassessment committee." Speaking on the development, Richmond Yeboah, Spokesperson of the Alumni of Cape Cast Poly said the move is in the right direction. "If the president says that the team is coming back to do reassessment, I think it is a refreshing news and we are waiting for the team to come and do the reassessment. After the reassessment we are hopeful that come what may Cape Coast Poly with the facilities that we have now over the two months, we are hopeful that we will be part," he told Radio Ghana. The convict, Kennedy Nana Yaw Abrokwah, who was a third year chemistry student was handed the sentence by the Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by Mrs. Mary Nsenkyire, last Thursday to a 10 year prison term in hard labour for robbing a fellow student. The group in a statement noted that the embattled student, who was overwhelmed with series of challenges ranging from financial constraints, family neglect, despair and depression, might have landed him in the unfortunate act. They are however pleading and asking for the intervention of the President of the Republic. We believe this jail term is a very hard one and pray the President intervenes for him, the statement read. According to the group the 10 year jail term lashed on Kennedy Abrokwah, with the aim of refining him, could adversely affect him psychologically and emotionally rather than recuperating him, hence their decision. They are therefore praying the President, John Dramani Mahama should consider their humble appeal and grant the level 300 student presidential pardon, as his action though unpardonable was engineered at the back of the series of challenges he was engulfed in. READ MORE:Two students from Unity and University halls attacked with machetes Kennedy Abrokwah pleaded guilty at a Kumasi Circuit to one count of robbery and was convicted on his own plea by the court. "We do do not expect any change in significant monetary policy direction of the central bank under Dr. Issahaku," Barclays Bank said in its fixed income market update. Barclays also noted that following the change in BOG leadership, the market has so far not been impacted with the cedi still trading on a strong foot at 3.8350/3.8475 on the back of local and offshore offers. READ MORE: Financial players urge new governor to be strong Quaicoe said he saw nothing wrong with inviting Major Ahmed Shaik Hazis to lecture DI on security issues, adding that no law was breached by the invitation. His background is security and if we invite him to come and talk about security what is wrong with that? He was our guest so he came to share his insight with us. What is wrong in inviting him [Hazis and his friends] to Ghana, if there is any law breached by inviting Hazis into the country then lets look at that law, he told Accra based Citi FM. He argued that Hazis has a security background and that security is a crucial component of Ghanas democracy therefore inviting him to lecture on security and democracy is not out of place. The BNI last month arrested three former South African Police Officers for allegedly training the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) private security men on weapon handling among others The three are; 54-year-old Major Ahmed Shaik Hazis (Rtd.), 39-yearold WO/ Denver Dwayhe Naidu (Rtd.) and 45-year-old Captain Mlungiseleli Jokani (Rtd.). The Offices of DI were raided after the arrest of three South Africans by security officials suspected to be BNI. Dr Joseph Addo Ampofo, Director od CSIR-Water Research Institute, expressed concern Monday in Accra during in house review seminars of CSIR Water Research Institute 2016. "We are facing challenges with our water bodies principally because there is climate change," Dr Addo Ampofo said. According to him, Ghana is experiencing dry periods than before, adding that Ghana's originally 70 percent water cover has seen 30 percent reduction over the last 30 years. He cautioned that most of the country's water bodies may dry up in the coming years. Dr. Barnabas Amisigo, also with CSIR, called for attitudinal change so as to safe Ghana's water bodies from drying. He also urged stakeholders to embark on educational campaigns often to sanitize people of the dangers of polluting water bodies. Nearly half of Africans went without enough clean water for home use during the past year, according according to new findings from Afrobarometer. The power in the auditorium went off whiles the president was addressing the gathering. The power outage delayed the program for some few minutes, after which the lights were restored. Reports however, say the dumsor brought some darkness to the auditorium and the president had to take his seat until the lights came back. President Mahama in his recent state of the nation address told Ghanaians, he had overcome the power crisis as he promised. Reporters were charged Ghc 8 for accreditation during the 2015 district level elections only to be given tags meant for election observers. According to him,accreditation cards are paid for, because the commission spend money to print it and so long as there is a cost to it the commission would have to pass the cost to the beneficiaries of the cards, he said. But Mr. Carbonu attributed the leakage of exam papers in the country to the broad geographical space within which the exams are conducted. He has however urged the West African Examination Council to employ competent persons to supervise examination in the country. According to reports, some students created WhatsApp group chats to circulate the leaked exams questions. The Daily Graphic also reported that the papers were in circulation through social media platforms. WAEC have for several years battled with leaked examination papers in Ghana. READ MORE:NAGRAT to cut ties with WAEC Last year, the council cancelled five subject papers in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) after questions leaked. The memo also sought to tell staff that, even during the requested maternity leave, original contract durations of 6 months shall be observed and be subject to renewal if they expire during the leave period. It read, "Kindly be informed that effective January 2016, an employee who wishes to go on maternity leave will have to apply for a break (leave without pay) and reapply for their position after the maternity break." "Also note that, contract duration is for six (6) months and renewable upon availability of the job and performance", it continued. Dated 5th April 2016, the now viral memo, was signed off by one Delia Ayisi-Okyere as the General Manager of the facility. Roshi Motman, CEO of Tigo Ghana, however reacted to the news. She commented on a post by Chris-Vincent on Facebook, saying, "This is the first time I am hearing of this. We would never approve such a policy. This is our outsourcing partner and we will take action. I am first and foremost a woman and mother, then a business leader." READ ALSO : Paternity leave bill to be laid before Parliament Section - 57 of Ghana's Labour Act651 states that "A woman worker on maternity leave is entitled to be paid her full remuneration and other benefits to which she is otherwise entitled" READ MORE:GNPC challenged to prove it has not become slush fund for government African Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP) last month said it fears GNPC has become a slush fund for government after the auditor general made financial irregularities against it. ACEP executive director, Dr. Mohammed Amin Adam, said it was "worried about such financial irregularities" and that it "bordered on our fear that GNPC has become a slush fund for the government." "The GNPC has greater responsibility to prove that it has not become a slush fund for the government as other transactions by the corporations point to that," he said. However, Mould told the Business and Financial Times Wednesday that the money owned the corporation were given for infrastructure projects related to gas delivery. On the Atuabo Gas processing plant, for example, we financed the construction of a pipeline and also spent additional funds in constructing access roads to enable the evacuation of LPG to serve Ghanaian consumers. The agreement is that we will be reimbursed, Mould said. The amount was therefore not advanced to government as a slush fund. Its specifically given to construct the roads and pipelines that were critical for supplying gas for electricity generation, and supplying LPG to Ghanaian consumers, he added. The 2014 audit report said GNPC advanced US$50 million to the Ministry of Finance in 2013, which was expected to be repaid in three months but it was not paid back. Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Akomea said the move by the NDC is to contest NPP support ahead of the November polls. Mr. Akomea further said the UPP party colours bears a close resemblance to that of the NPP. Why would a new political party chose its colours so closely to another political party?", Mr. Akomea asked, adding that the colours are to confuse supporters. The party colours have been the bone of contention between the two political parties. However, the founder of the UPP, Odike has denied the allegations, adding that the emblem of the NPP is very different from his party. According to Baba Kamara, it was wrong for Dr Ani to take pictures of vehicles parked in his (Kamaras) warehouse on the Spintex Road, circulate them on social media, and later accuse him (Kamara) of rebranding the vehicles meant for the NCCE. The NCCE has noted with concern a news item carried by various media houses from Saturday, 2nd April to Monday, 4th April, 2016. The news item states that the Managing Director of Marbles and Granites Limited, has been arrested for allegedly circulating pictures of 50 Mahindra vehicles belonging to the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) being rebranded to support NDC's campaign ahead of the November general elections.The NCCE wishes to state and inform the public that the said vehicles alleged to have been rebranded to support NDC's campaign ahead of the November elections do not belong to the NCCE. The Commission has no connection to the said vehicles. We urge the media and all political parties to desist from drawing the NCCE into any partisan brawling.We assure the good people of Ghana that the NCCE as a Constitutional Body remains independent in carrying out its mandate to the nation.Director, Communications and Corporate Affairs The demonstration dubbed "Baamu Yaddaa", a hausa phrase which means we wont agree, is being organised in collaboration with other opposition political parties and Let My Vote Count Alliance (LMVCA), Movement for Change (MFC) and Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG. Organizers have said the demonstration is to demand for free, fair, credible elections and a peaceful election. The protest march would be used to charge the EC to do the right thing by making sure that the validation exercise which virtually all the political parties in the country are in full support of is carried out to make sure that the voter register is thoroughly cleaned to ensure peaceful polls, Convener of LMVCA, David Asante said last week. Wearing red arm bands and attires, with placards with the inscription "Mahama must go", "Ghanaians are suffering", the protestors marched through the principal streets of Kumasi, demanding for a new voter register. "We are today demonstrating in protest on the fact that the EC is very adamant. The EC is not ready to listen to Ghanaians, especially with the voters register," one of the leaders of the demonstration said. Pro-NPP pressure group, 'Let My Vote Count Alliance' held a huge protest last year to drum home the need for a new voters' register. A five-member panel was later set up by the Electoral Commission to conduct public hearings over the demands for a new voter register. Coming Home is the rst major solo exhibition of Victor Ekpuks work in Nigeria in over a decade. After a four month residency with the Arthouse Foundation in 2015, this exhibition features his newest project using the city of Lagos as inspiration. In a departure from his normative practice, Ekpuks works in the exhibition experiment with three-dimensional forms, adopting the human head as a symbol for the physical and psychological experiences of daily life in Lagos. Victor Ekpuk obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria in 1989. He developed a minimalist approach of reducing form to constituent lines, a technique he explored while working as a cartoonist for Daily Times, a leading Nigerian newspaper, in the 1990s. His work has been exhibited in acclaimed international venues including the Krannert Art Museum (Illinois), the Fowler Museum (California), the Museum of Art and Design (New York), the Newark Museum (New Jersey), the Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC), the New Museum of Contemporary Art (New York), the Dakar Biennale (Senegal) and the Johannesburg Biennial (South Africa). Most recently, Ekpuk was featured in exhibitions at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth College and the 12th Havana Biennale in Cuba. During the day, the music served as a perfect backdrop to activities including beach soccer and volleyball tournaments, an Art Installation and food court. As the sun went down, the music took center stage. Gidi Fests main stage opened with comedian Ogbolor. With their dynamic energy, the hosts, Nigerias Sensei Uche and Skhanda Queen, Nomuzi kept the crowd entertained from opening to closing. By 7pm headliner Tiwa Savage was serving hits from both of her albums. Tiwas performance got the audience raving, a few minutes later both #GidiFest2016 and #TiwaSavage were trending on Twitter. This was just the beginning of the night. Other performances of the night included Phyno, IKON, Chopstix, GGB Dancers, 2 Star General and Godwin Strings. An incredible set from Yemi Alade, reminded everyone shes one of the continents best artists. South Africas finest, K.O and Riky Rick, graced the stage with the crowd dancing and rapping along to their hits. As midnight hit, fireworks painted the sky and Poe and Funbi performed some of the Collectiv3 LPs best tracks. Followed by Adekunle Gold, it was a triple header for the ladies. Rachel Kerr, a celebrated vocalist from London, gave an emotive performance to ring in the Easter holiday. The crowd cheered as Timaya hit the stage performing his greatest hits. Next came SmallDoctors memorable performance where he climbed the stage pillars to everybodys surprise. With the help of the #GidiSquad, Heineken presented the Take Over alongside DJ OBI. Gidi Fest 16 closed with global superstar Dbanj who has broken countless chart records. With one of the most enviable catalogues in music, Dbanjs set stretched from 20 minutes to 45 minutes as the Koko Master took the crowd through songs spanning his decade plus career. Bringing super fans on stage and hosting a dance competition, Dbanj closed out Gidi Fest 16 by bringing the festival vibes to a roaring high-point. On Saturday, Lagos came alive. For those who missed the festival and those who want to relive the experience, MTV BaseAfrica will be airing a one hour special from next week, while videos of performances will be shared along with the After Movie in the coming weeks. For a full list of performers, check out the Gidi Fest website. In just three years Eclipse Live Africa has created not just Africas biggest beach party, but Nigerias foremost music festival. The organisers look forward to bringing both Nigeria and Africa, world-class music and events for many years to come. #GidiFest2017 Loading If you attended this year, help improve Gidi Fest by taking our survey and WIN VIP tickets to #GIDIFEST2017 via www.GidiFest.com/survey Keep up with Gidi Fest on Social Media: Instagram and Twitter @gidiculturefest | Facebook.com/gidiculturefestival To view all Gidi Fest 2016 pictures click on our Facebook album HERE Gidi Fest 2016 was brought to you by Eclipse Live, Eko Atlantic, Lagos State and Heineken with support from Red Bull, Mikano, Eko Hotel, Hyperia, HRG and Skyy Vodka. Media Partners included Beat FM, Bella Naija, City FM, DSTV, Guardian Life, Cool FM, Linda Ikeji, MTV Base, NotJustOk, OkayAfrica, Pulse, Rhythm FM, Silverbird, Style Vitae and Top Radio. In the May 2016 Edition of GQ Magazine, she speaks speaks about her past, career and her future: On typecasting in Hollywood: Charlize was able to rebel against the stereotype in the industry. She says Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and thats the end of the story. How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, f***ing, gown-wearing eight-foot model? When meaty roles come through, Ive been in the room and pretty people get turned away first. On getting older: For a lady with a great physique, Charlize Theron explained; We live in a society where women wilt and men age like fine wine. And, for a long time, women accepted it. We were waiting for society to change, but now were taking leadership. It would be a lie to say there is less worry for women as they get older than there is for men It feels theres this unrealistic standard of what a woman is supposed to look like when shes over 40. About her birth country, South Africa: I love my country. And its very hard for South Africans to believe that, because I left and speak in an American accent. I have a very, very strong connection to my country and to its people. Its the mother that might have abandoned me, in a weird way, but not all the way. Im not having a pity party, but Im constantly trying to win its love back. Taiwo who was paraded at the State Command Headquarters at Eleyele, by the Commissioner of Police in the state, Leye Oyebade, disclosed that he abducted the girl because her mother who is his sister, refused to give him money nor assist him in his studies at the Polytechnic Ibadan, where he is studying Insurance. Oyebade said Taiwo kidnapped the toddler on March 30, 2016, at her residence at Adegbayi area of Egbeda, Ibadan, and took her to an unknown place from where he made calls to her parents demanding for a ransom. When the girl was abducted, the abductor called to demand for a ransom of N200,000 as condition for her release. When the report got to the police the anti-kidnapping squad of the command, they immediately commenced investigation. Soon, the location of the victim was discovered somewhere in Adegbayi Alakia area of the state. The discovery made the operatives to storm the criminal hideout where one of the suspects, Olayinka Taiwo, was arrested and the victim rescued unhurt at 1:30pm on March 31, 2016. The suspect confessed to the crime and narrated how he and other members of the gang currently at large, planned and carried out the evil act. The girl's mother, Kemi Abdulsalam, who confirmed that suspect was her blood brother, said she was contacted by someone on the phone, who called her in the evening that her daughter has been kidnapped and demanded for N200,000 for her release. I have been searching for my daughter all day before I was called by someone in the evening who said that my husband was owing them money. I reported at the village heads house and they told me to report at the police station, Kemi said Taiwo also confessed to the crime, begging his family members to forgive him. "I kidnapped my niece because my sisters husband does not give me money anytime I come back from school. So I reported to my friend and he was the one who planned all the kidnapping of Omolade. The suspects identified as Moses Ezekiel, 27, Odinakachi Uzowuru, 23, Uchenna Joseph, 27, were reportedly arrested following a tip-off given to the police by vigilant individuals. The suspects had been apprehended with deadly weapons on them, which included two jack knives, three rings (charms) and one Walkie-Talkie. Mr. Taiwo Lakanuwas, the state Commissioner of Police, who had reportedly paraded the suspects before news men at the police headquarters in the state, revealed that thugs in army uniforms have become a menace in the state in recent times. Buhari's coming is indeed God sent to Nigeria. As an indigene of the insurgency ravaged community in the North Eastern Nigeria, had it been President Buhari was not elected, I wonder where the entire Northern part of Nigeria would have been today, Duhu said. According to Duhu, President Buhari's approach with vigor to the fight against insurgency and corruption in particular is World Class. This is corroborated by the G-7 and other World Leaders at several fora, and indeed appreciated greatly by us the inhabitants of the insurgency ravaged communities and the international community. On the scale of one to ten, I will score President Buhari 8.5 so far, Duhu said. Speaking on a call by some members of the APC in the North East for him to return as their National Vice Chairman, Duhu said: Indeed, I lack an adjective to express my heartfelt appreciation for the groups and persons agitating for my return as the National Vice Chairman North East. I was the pioneer occupant of the office. The APC Family knows all the infractions that characterized the June 14, 2014 APC National Convention election, wherein a winner from Adamawa State emerged. Today by the special grace of God, the occupant of the office of the National Vice Chairman North East has been appointed to an exalted Office in the Land, by the President and Commander in Chief, hence, the vacancy. Let further add for the benefit of Nigerians; despite being out of office, I had enjoyed an excellent relationship with the former occupant of the Office, and it is my resolve when elected, I will not only sustain all the good will that flourish between us, but will remain his best ally. My quest to occupy the office of the National Vice Chairman North East is to exhaust the tenure of the former, and to continue all the goods wills associated to the Office. When the North East Zone graciously makes me its chairman, I will not administer the party in isolation but shall remain focused in close consultation with the Leaders of the Zone for an effective running of the affairs of the party, Duhu added. Like I have mentioned in several of my statements on both print and electronic media, President Buhari is God sent. Therefore, any Leader that is God Sent must not only be revered, but equally worshiped by the majority if not all, Duhu said.I have come to appreciate President Buhari since his days of military rule. I am an advocate of a though stance against corruption, and great consideration for the common person. President Buhari's ideology is identical to mine and I do cherish him greatly to the extent, it will be the greatest honour to work with President Buhari is any capacity if possible, Duhu added. Duhu said the purpose of a participatory democracy is to reward excellence at the end of a daunting electioneering exercise. I have sacrificed my all to not only ensure that, the APC get to different parts of this country and accepted while I held forth as the pioneer National Vice Chairman North East of the Ruling APC. I cannot quantify how much I spent during the APC mobilization days and campaigns, particularly when I contested for the National Assembly seat. In this regard therefore, my records are in the public domain to merit me any form of appointment by His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari.Duhu said the task before President Buhari to provide good governance is thought to the extent adding that all well meaning Nigerians must join hands with him to fix the foisted 16 years of PDP misrule on Nigeria. This was disclosed by Director of Army Public Relations, Colonel Sani Usman, via a statement released on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. It reads: In continuation of the clearance and mopping up operations of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists in various parts of the North East geo-political region, troops have rescued no fewer than 11,595 persons held hostage by the terrorists within the last one month. On 1st March 2016, troops of 155 Task Force Battalion received 10,000 refugees from the Republic of Cameroon at Banki and Bama axis. Two days later, Army Headquarters Special Forces (AHQ SF) Battalion also rescued 63 persons held captives by terrorists at Maleri. The same unit on 5th March 2016 rescued 779 persons at Fotokol general area, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon. Within the first week of March 2016, the 254 Task Force Battalion also rescued 45 persons at Kuaguru, while 143 Battalion similarly rescued 27 persons at Gadayamo,15 at Galadadani Dam in Madagali and 10 persons from Disa village. On 11th March 2016 troops of 231 Battalion and Armed Forces Strike Force (AFSF) also rescued 7 persons held captives by Boko Haram terrorists at Betso village; 5 of whom were elderly women and 2 young girls. Similarly 117 Task Force Battalion on 15th March 2016, received 14 refugees from Sahuda a border town with Cameroon. The Battalion equally rescued 59 at Bitta general area on 19th March 2016. In similar vein, troops of 22 Brigade in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group (AHQ SG) rescued 309 hostages from Kala Balge general area on 23rd of March 2016. While on 30th March 2016 troops of 25 Task Force Brigade rescued 45 men, 85 women and 137 children from the Boko Haram terrorists at, Zahdra and Weige villages. Thus the total number of persons rescued by the troops during the ongoing clearance operations is 11,595 from February 26th, 2016 to date. The gallant troops in the course of these clearance operations would continue to place high premium on respect for human right and dignity, hence the rescue operations. A statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Army Spokesman, Col. Sani Usman, said the hostages were rescued during clearance operations conducted by troops in different locations in the North-East. According to Usman, on March 1, troops of 155 Task Force Battalion received 10,000 hostages from the Republic of Cameroon at Banki and Bama axis. He added that 63 persons held captives by the terrorists at Maleri were also rescued two days later by Army Headquarters Special Forces (AHQ SF) Battalion. Usman said on March 5, the same unit rescued 779 persons at Fotokol general area, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon. He noted that 45 persons were released from Boko Haram captivity in Kuaguru by troops of 254 Task Force Battalion in the first week of March. Usman said troops of 143 Battalion also rescued 27 persons at Gadayamo; 15 at Galadadani Dam in Madagali and 10 persons from Disa Village. On March 11, Usman said troops of 231 Battalion and Armed Forces Strike Force (AFSF) rescued seven persons comprising five elderly women and two young girls at Betso Village. According to the statement, troops of 117 Task Force Battalion received 14 hostages from Sahuda, a border town with Cameroon on March 15. Usman said the same battalion rescued 59 Boko Haram hostages at Bitta general area on March 19. He said troops of 22 Brigade in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group (AHQ SG) also rescued 309 hostages from Kala Balge general area on March 23. On March 30, Usman said that troops of 25 Task Force Brigade rescued 45 men; 85 women and 137 children from Boko Haram insurgents at Zahdra and Weige villages. Mr. President, in a statement released by his media aide, Femi Adesina said Terrorist activities always have financial sponsorship and this can be seen in their acquisition of weapons, their movements and other logistics. Here in Nigeria, we saw that Boko Haram had strong material resources and they had a close link to ISIL. We need a whole cultural orientation in order to succeed against terrorism. He also explained that Nigerias present economic state is a result of the refusal of previous Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governments who refused to save for the rainy day. He said We had a security report that a new Islamic organization called GAUSIYYA is springing up in one of our local government areas, precisely Makarfi, the governor said. After studying the groups activities, we understand that it is not a sect that we should allow to stay in our state. They preach contrary to the teachings of Islam and are gradually recruiting youth in the name of religion. We have decided to stop the group and their activities before they grew and become a problem for the state. Negligence is what brought about the Maitatsine in the 80s and the Boko Haram insurgents we are now fighting. Speaking on the religious bill, the Governor said The state government will not be responsible for issuing any license to preaching bodies or a new preacher who just surfaces. A committee that will consist of clerics nominated by the Jamaatu Nasril Islam, JNI, and the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, will issue religious bodies permits depending on their faith. El Rufai has come under fire from religious leaders over the bill. The President of Omega Fire Ministries (OFM) Apostle Johnson Suleiman has placed a curse on Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state, because of the bill. Watch video of El Rufai talking about the controversial bill below. An excerpt of a letter written to the DSS by Falana reads: Even though our clients have not been told that they breached any law, they have been denied access to their lawyers, personal physicians, and family members for over three months, Mr. Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria, said in the letter dated April 5. Our clients were only permitted to meet with us last Friday after several requests made by us had been turned down without any legal basis. Premium Times reports that the Shiite leader and his wife have been detained since December 2015. Falana also commented on the atrocities meted out to the the sect members since the violent clash with the Nigerian Army in December 12, 2015. He said Although our clients were not at the scene of the attack, the rampaging troops invaded their residence at Wali Street, Zaria, on December 14. The troops set the building ablaze and killed three of our clients children in their presence and thereby subjected them to untold mental agony. Falana also said Thereafter, the armed soldiers shot our clients several times. As a result of the brutal attack, Sheikh Zakzaky lost his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one. To compound the physical pain and mental anguish that our clients were subjected to in the circumstance, the Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service have held them incommunicado for the past three and half months. The Nigerian Army alleged that members of the Shiite sect attempted to assassinate the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai. Falana has also written a letter to the the Department of State Services (DSS), calling for the unconditional release of El-Zakzaky. He said As a result of the brutal attack, Sheikh Zakzaky lost his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one. To compound the physical pain and mental anguish that our clients were subjected to in the circumstance, the Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service have held them incommunicado for the past three and half months. Three sons of the cleric were allegedly shot dead by the Army during the raid on El-Zakzaky residence. Falana made the revelation in a letter written to the State Security Service demanding El-Zakzakys immediate release, Premium Times reports. The letter reads: As a result of the brutal attack, Sheikh Zakzaky lost his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one. To compound the physical pain and mental anguish that our clients were subjected to in the circumstance, the Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service have held them incommunicado for the past three and half months. El-Zakzaky has not been seen since December 2015 when the Shiites were involved in a battle with the army. The soldiers claim that they were forced to attack because members of the sect attempted to assassinate Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai in Zaria, Kaduna State. The group has however denied the allegations and claimed that hundreds of its members were killed by soldiers. Earlier reports had it that El-Zakzaky was flown to France for treatment but has since been returned to Abuja. --------------------------------------------------- Justice Okon Abang gave the restraining order on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, saying Kuku should be left alone pending the determination of his appeal on an earlier ruling of the court. Pulse recalls that while ruling on a fundamental right enforcement suit, filed by kuku against the EFCC on February 17, Justice Abang had held that the commission can arrest, probe and prosecute Kuku over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure. In reaction to the ruling, Kuku approached the Court of Appeal in Lagos to nullify the verdict. He also filed a motion for stay of execution of the ruling before the high court, dated February 23, supported with 11 paragraphs affidavit, deposed to by one Chinedu Obata before the court. Justice Abang, who is currently sitting in Abuja Division of the Court, came to Lagos on the permission of the Chief Judge on Tuesday to deliver ruling on the application. The development which is unusual. Time can not run against the State in arresting or prosecuting the applicant if truly, is culpable of the alleged offence. The respondents have nothing to lose if status quo is maintained. So, therefore all action concerning arrest, detention and prosecution of the applicant should hold on for now, till final determination of the appeal on the matter, he ruled. The Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf made the order following the application by Dasukis lead counsel, Mr Joesph Daudu (SAN), that they had no access to him. Dasuki, Shuaibu Salisu, former Director of Finance, Office of the National Security Adviser and Aminu Baba-Kusa, former NNPC Executive Director, were arraigned for diversion of N13.6 billion meant for purchase arms. The others were Acacia Holding Limited and Reliance Referral Hospital Limited. At the resumed hearing on Wednesday, Mr Adebisi Adeniyi, who held the brief for Mr Rotimi Jacobs (SAN), inform the court that they were ready with their witnesses. Dasukis Counsel, Daudu objected and applied for long adjournment because the defence had no access to Dauski and had an application before the Court of Appeal. Daudu said that the application before the appellate court was for stay of proceedings. But Adeniyi opposed the application for longer adjournment and prayed the court not to grant Daudus application.Adeniyi reminded the court that Department of State Services (DSS) said they had never received any request for access from anybody. The prosecuting counsel said that there was no concrete evidence before the court on why such application should be granted. The convicts are Sani Bagudu, Kabir Abubabkar, Danjuma Bello, Lawal Rabiu, Abdulrahman Saidu, Yunusa Isa and Salisu Ibrahim all of Garki, Area 1. The presiding officer, Alhaji Umar Kagarko, who sentenced them after the pleaded guilty to the charge, gave them an option of N3000 fines each. Kagarko ordered that the 60 litres of fuel recovered from them be given to the police for official use. He also warned the convicts to desist from the sale of petroleum products without obtaining proper licence. "Your action is hazardous and could cause fire outbreak in public places, he said. "He also advised them to look for alternative and honest source of livelihood." Earlier, the Prosecutor, Mr Taiwo Malik, had told the court that the defendants were arrested by a team of police attached to the Durumi Police Station, FCT, on April 4. Sokoto Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, on Wednesday 6 March 2016 visited the home of the state chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Ibrahim Milgoma, to commiserate with his family over the recent fire incident which razed his house.The visit is interpreted in some circles as a deft move by Tambuwal considering the political differences between the PDP and the Governor's ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).Conducting the Governor round the burnt premises, Milgoma said the incidence has caused much damage to the building, but expressed gratitude to God that no life was lost.Tambuwal urged the chairman to take heart and consider what happened as act of destiny. He prayed to God to ensure such bad incidence does not occur again in the future. For today, April 6 2016: THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER Sarakis trial begins as CCT sets aside Appeal Court orderAs the trial of Senate President Bukola Saraki began yesterday, a witness disclosed how aides of the lawmaker deposited huge sums of money into the account of the senator. READ MORE Fuel queues end by weekend, says KachikwuHopefully by tomorrow (today) and Thursday, the fuel queues in Abuja should be over. Hopefully, the same thing will happen in Lagos, and thereafter by the weekend, we should see Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Port Harcourt and Warri get off the queue list. READ MORE SAfricas president, Zuma, survives impeachment voteSouth African President Jacob Zuma easily survived an impeachment vote yesterday after a stormy session of parliament over a court ruling that he had violated the countrys post-apartheid constitution. READ MORE______________________________________ VANGUARD NEWSPAPER How I returned to APC OsobaABEOKUTaFormer governor of Ogun State, Chief Olusegun Osoba yesterday in Abeokuta, the state capital disclosed that the Alake and Paramount ruler of Egbaland Oba Dr. Adedotun Gbadebo and the Awujale of Ijebuland, Oba Dr. Sikiru Adetona facilitated his return to the All Progressives Congress. READ MORE FG plans new prices for fuel, as scarcity lingersBy Sebastine Obasi, Mike Eboh, Joseph Erunke & Ediri Ejoh LAGOS Nigerians might have to pay more for petrol in the days ahead, as the Federal Government, yesterday, disclosed that it would review the price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol, next month. READ MORE CCT:Saraki may resign any moment as senators mount pressureABUJA AHEAD of the expected judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, following yesterdays commencement of his trial over false assets declaration when he held sway as governor of Kwara State, Senate President, Bukola Saraki may throw in the towel by resigning from his position any movement from now, Vanguard learnt. READ MORE______________________________________ THE NATION NEWSPAPER David Mark dragged into global secret assets stormFormer Senate President David Mark has been associated with running eight offshore companies registered on the British Virgin Island. READ MORE Aide paid N600,000 -N900,000 into Sarakis account 50 times one dayThe trial opened yesterday before the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) in the case against Senate President Bukola Saraki, after his last-minutes attempt to stay proceedings failed. READ MORE Fuel queues to end this week, says KachikwuMinister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, yesterday said fuel queue will be over in Abuja and Lagos this week. READ MORE______________________________________ BUSINESS DAY NEWSPAPER Nigeria losing billions of dollars to maritime sector mismanagementThe Federal Government needs to review all the leases granted by the Nigerian Ports Authority and Oil and Gas Exports Free Zones concessions from 1999 to date, if it is desirous of bringing sanity to the nations maritime sector and totally break the perennial cases of underhand deals in the sector. This position forms part READ MORE Investment in infrastructure and central oversight key to Nigerias successImproving Nigerias infrastructure through prioritised investments will help to secure its long-term success as Africas largest economy, according to a new report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report which was released yesterday, to coincide with the opening of BCGs new office in Lagos, identifies infrastructure, education, health, governance, and civil society as areas READ MORE Saraki is said to have been presented with the option by some of his colleagues in the Senate after the end of his trial on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, according to Vanguard. I can confirm to you that at a special meeting held yesterday, we asked the Senate President to consider the option of resignation, a senator, who chose to remain anonymous, said. We believe that doing so would preserve the institution of the Senatethis was just thrown at him this evening. We believe that he will do the right thing, he added. Sarakis trial commenced on Tuesday despite attempts by his lawyers to stall it with an adjournment. The plea for an adjournment was made by the Senate Presidents counsel, Paul Usoro, who urged the tribunal to postpone the trial till Sarakis application before the Abuja Court of Appeal is heard. Our prayer is for an adjournment not for stay of proceedings. We are asking for an adjournment based on our motion filed before the Court of Appeal for stay of proceedings of the trial before this tribunal, Usoro said. The request was however opposed by prosecution counsel, Rotimi Jacobs who said that the motion filed by Saraki asking for stay of proceedings was illegal. Nothing can be built on an illegal process. You cant build something on nothing. They will both crumble. This has become too much. My lord should refuse this application for adjournment, Jacobs said. Saraki had approached the Court of Appeal on Monday, April 4, to secure a stay of proceedings for the trial. -------------------------------------------------------------- Aluko said all he said to newsmen was out of fear for the safety of his wife and family, noting that his confession about Fayose rigging the 2014 governorship elections is still valid. He said: I need not recall the drama and face off that ensued between me and Fayose inside the meeting. It is worthy of note that it was at this point that my wife badged into the meeting to inform me of the presence of pressmen. At that point I became enraged and decided to leave the place but I noticed Governor Fayose rushing after me downstairs in a gestapo manner. "My wife was already fidgeting and almost crying and suddenly I could not find her around me. I immediately realized that I need to oblige Governor Fayoses instruction of the facing the press because of the safety of my family. "I have earlier said before Nigerians and the whole world about the manipulation that characterized the 2014 governorship election in Ekiti State and still stand by all I said. You will also notice the several counter allegations by Fayose and his media team that none of them has refuted all I have said, rather the attack has been on the messenger and not the message. I will like to apologise to all Nigerians that perhaps, accepting the invitation was a tactical error. "I will also like you to know that I am dealing with a master fraudster who is always full of mischief. You will all recollect how he announced the purported death of Hon. Afolabi Akanni; the purported arrest of four members of the Ekiti State House of Assembly that later resurfaced. "I need to emphasize that all that transpired at Eko Hotel on that faithful day was an organized propaganda/drama to stain my image and malign my personal integrity and I believe it would be a good script for Nollywood act. The supposed reconciliatory meeting was held in Lagos on Saturday, April 2. As seen in the press briefing video, which surfaced online yesterday, Aluko said he had put all that happened between him and Fayose behind him and ready to embrace peace. The Governor, who described Aluko as his said he has forgiven him and moving forward from their differences. ----------------------------------------------- The senators, represented by Senators Rafiu Ibrahim and Samuel Anyanwu, representing Kwara South and Imo East respectively told newsmen on the sidelines of the tribunal sitting that they consider Sarakis trial as an attempt by the leading All Progressives Congress (APC) to blacklist him before the Nigerians We have since discovered that the trial of the senate president is a mere attempt to blackmail him and make him look bad in the court of public opinion. No more, no less. A dispassionate analysis of the proceeding of the CCT yesterday has pointed to the fact that the APC-led executive is still embittered against Dr Saraki over the manner of his election as senate president, Ibrahim said. The senators, numbering 12, including his deputy, Senator Ike Ekeremadu, and about 90 lawyers attended Saraki's trial on Wednesday, April 6. For those calling for the impeachment of the senate president, we urge them to avail themselves of the provisions of the law relating to such a sensitive step. They will have to produce as many as 100 senators to achieve that aim. As long as they dont have the majority, the call is a tall dream that will remain a figment of the imagination of the groups and their sponsors, the senators said. Pulse recalls that during previous sitting Saraki was accompanied to the tribunal over 80 senators. The call was said to have been made by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state. The Lagos APCs comments were contained in a statement released by its Publicity Secretary, Joe Igbokwe on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. According to Igbokwe, the APC viewed the call as silly rants of frustrated losers desperately splashing mud to tar others when they are facing weighty corruption cases. Lagos PDP and indeed the entire PDP are suffering acute Tinubu-phobia borne out of the fact that Asiwaju Tinubu constitutes the greatest nightmare for PDP rank and file given his prosecution of the defeat of the PDP last year, the statement read. The call for the re-opening of the case is believed to be connected to the ongoing trial of Senate President, Bukola Saraki before the CCT. Sarakis lawyer, Kanu Agabi had recently described the Senate Presidents case as being similar to Tinubus. Tinubu was discharged by the CCT on November 30, 2011, after being accused of operating 10 foreign accounts while in office as Lagos State Governor between 1999 and 2007. The CCT, in a unanimous ruling of a 3-man panel led by Justice Danladi Yakubu Umar, discharged Tinubu after finding that the charge against him was legally defective. ------------------------------------------------------------- The raids ended with the capture of preacher Jose Kalupeteka, leader of a millenarian sect called "The Light of the World", and his followers a year ago. Thirteen sect members were also killed in clashes, police said. On Tuesday, provincial court judge Afonso Pinto sentenced Kalupeteka and nine sect members to between 16 and 28 years in jail after their trial on charges including murder, attempted murder, resistance to police detention, illegal possession of weapons and damage to property. Angola launched last year's raids to crack down on fringe Christian church groups deemed illegal under new rules requiring denominations to have 100,000 registered members spread across at least a third of the southern African country's 18 provinces. Kalupeteka's church has an estimated 3,000 members. "We will have to hold discussions with North African states on models similar to the one we have set up with Turkey," Thomas de Maiziere said at a news conference in Vienna, adding that the goal was to put an end to trafficking. Branson described the capital punishment as "inhumane and should have no place in any society. Those are non-negotiable beliefs." According to the report, which shows that the 2015 statistics is the highest recorded by Amnesty in the last 25 years, nearly 90 per cent of the executions carried out last year were just in three countries Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Al though it is believed that China execute more people more than the three countries, it is not included in Amnesty's number of recorded executions because the country does not release official figures on capital punishment. Giving a US case study and lamenting the erroneous conviction of innocent persons, Branson said over 150 death-row inmates in the US have been freed in the last decades. He said: "It doesnt take much to understand how fraught with problems the death penalty is. Last year, I wrote about the case of in the US state of , a man widely believed to be innocent of the crime he was sentenced to die for. Richard came within minutes of lethal injection, and is still facing an uphill battle proving his innocence against a criminal justice system that hates admitting error. "More than 150 death-row inmates in the US have been exonerated and freed in the last decades, but many only after decades on death row, fighting unethical prosecutors, incompetent lawyers and politicians who presume the public wants them to pull the trigger or flip the switch. "I hope a new generation of political leaders will take a clear-eyed view of this problem. "I cant say it often enough. Its time to abolish the death penalty for good, in the US and around the world." In what appears to be a glim of hope and progress, the report said four countries abolished death penalty for all crimes and expunged it from their law books in 2015. Along with 15 other counties in the state, Nye County Democrats on Saturday awarded delegates to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Horace Langford Jr / Pahrump Valley Times - Nye County Democratic convention Saturday, separating Sanders and Clinton deligates into groups for the count. Horace Langford Jr / Pahrump Valley Times - Lucy Flores chats with a Bernie Sanders deligate waiting to go into the Nye County Demacratic convention Saturday. Along with 15 other counties in the state, Nye County Democrats on Saturday awarded delegates to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Clinton got 30 delegates from Nye County against 23 delegates for Sanders. They will head to the Nevada Democratic Convention in Las Vegas on May 14. The number was whittled away from the original 95 to 64 delegates for Clinton and Sanders respectively. A total of 143 delegates attended the event, down from 160 delegates that were selected throughout Nye County at the Nevada Democratic Caucus on Feb. 20. The Nye County Democratic Convention was the second step for Nye County Democrats in the process of selecting candidates to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July. At the caucuses in February, each precinct in the state chose delegates for each countys Democratic convention. Delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia will be selected at the Nevada Democratic Convention. A Nevada congressional hopeful for District 4 and former Assemblywoman Lucy Flores worked the crowd prior to the event. Accompanied by her staff members, Flores shook hands and passed campaign flyers to the people in line. I do think its grown, Flores said about the number of Nye County Democrats. This line is really long and its a little longer than I expected. Flores is one of the few Nevada Democrats who endorsed Sanders for president. The states democratic establishment largely backed Clinton, giving her a competitive edge in the states caucus where she beat Sanders by 6 percentage points, 47 against 53. Flores meanwhile said that half of her supporters are for Sanders and half are for Clinton. While I will support whoever comes out of the primary, because I think its important we come together as Democrats and make sure theres a Democrat in White House in November, Im 1,000 percent behind Bernie up until he either wins or drops out, she said. Nye County delegates stood in a line that curved around the Pahrump Senior Center before the convention kick-off . Many showed support for their candidates by wearing T-shirts, buttons and holding campaign signs. Clinton supporter Ken Washington was at both Barack Obamas inaugurations. Washington said he wanted to see a woman in the White House. She is a strong individual, you wont push her around, but in the same sense, she is not a hothead, he said about Clinton. Sarah Cole-Burnett and Ryan Lewis, delegates for Sanders, were unanimous in voicing their opinion about high stakes in this years election. Cole-Burnett, who was wearing a Sanders T-shirt, said he was an ethical person. He is representing the interests of average Americans and people who dont have a voice and those are the people that he speaks for, she said. Something needs to happen, theres a lot of issues, a lot of divide in the country, Lewis added. Inside, Clinton and Sanders delegates mingled together at the tables before the count took place. Shannon Hadfield, who voted for Clinton, said she wanted to see both Sanders and the Clinton on the ticket. If you are with Hillary or Bernie, we are not fighting against each other, she said. Saturday reports from the Clark County Democratic Convention showed that Sanders pulled a victory in a delegate count thanks to a large number of supporters who turned up at the event that was held at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas. Clark County Democrats posted on Twitter that 2,386 delegates for Clinton showed up at the event, while 2,964 delegates came to support Sanders. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Sanders captured 1,613 delegates that will go to the state convention and Clinton secured 1,298 delegates. The Nevada delegation to the Democratic National Convention will consist of 43 delegates and 3 alternates. While Clark Countys data varied significantly between the initial count at the caucuses in February and the figures from the convention, Nye Countys final delegate count was closer to the caucus figures. I think that most people are pretty die-hard one direction or another, said Joanna Lien, first vice chair of the Nye County Democratic Central Committee. Nye County Democratic Central Committee Chair Cliff Arnold was one of the delegates selected to go to the Nevada Democratic Convention in May. Im happy with the results, I think it was carried out good, in a good manner, Arnold said. Clinton beat Sanders 59 percent to 41 percent in Nye County at the Democratic Caucus in February. She carried all of the Pahrump precincts, while Sanders won most of the northern precincts. Nye County Democratic delegate Robert Hanson enjoyed caucusing in February but still thought Nevada needs to go back to a primary. Nye County Democratic delegate Robert Hanson enjoyed caucusing in February but still thought Nevada needs to go back to a primary. At the Nye County Democratic Convention on Saturday, Hanson, a delegate for Bernie Sanders, brought forward the idea to get rid of the caucus, which he called exclusionary. The proposal received support from some delegates, while others spoke against it, pointing to the status that the caucus gave Nevada in general elections. Hanson, who had voted in primaries before, said the caucus wasnt fair to everyone, because people can only vote during certain hours, as opposed to the primary that has a broader voting window. Its unfair to people that have to work and cant attend, Hanson said about the caucus. In an impromptu vote, 68 Nye County delegates said Nevada should go back to the primary and 51 delegates said it should stick with the caucus. Along with other ideas on the Nye County Democratic Party platform, the suggestion will head to the Nevada Democratic Convention in May, but Nye County Democratic Central Committee Chair Cliff Arnold said it may take months to move forward. That takes time. Those things will be done over time, so its all done legally, and we can throw in more, he said. Other issues on the Nye County Democratic Party platform included strengthening Medicare and Social Security, continuing the Affordable Care Act, raising taxes on the wealthy, increasing the minimum wage in Nevada to $15 and keeping loan guarantees for renewable energy projects. The Nevada caucus was the third step in the 2016 presidential election after the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. Nevada became an early battleground state in 2008 at the urging of Nevada Sen. Harry Reid. In his letter to Democrats, Reid called Nevada the western voice of the Democratic party and said it reflects diversity that makes America strong and vibrant. The Nevada caucus has grown to prominence in recent years and has drawn national attention during Democratic and Republican caucuses on Feb. 20 and 23. This year, 84,000 Nevadans participated in the Democratic caucus, many of them for the first time. Some argued that abolishing the caucus could be more difficult on a county level. We, as county, have zero control over what the state does in terms of how we handle caucus versus primary, said Joanna Lien, first vice chair of the Nye County Democratic Central Committee. The caucus propelled Nevada to national politics and gave it better voice, others said. Bob Gang, another delegate who attended the county convention said he was against abolishing the caucus. He said it gives Nevada more voice in the general election. By June, its over. Ive voted in elections where the candidate was already decided. In February, at least in Nevada, our voice is heard, I feel, he said. Arnold said he was also initially against caucusing, but later was able to see its advantages. I think we should stay with the caucus, I think it proved out today, it proved out. Nevada would not be the first in the West, our opinion wouldnt have mattered anywhere, people would have said, wheres Nevada? and you wouldnt have a big show-off, it wouldnt happen, he said. Ken Washington, who had lived in Pennsylvania and California but moved to Pahrump 3 years ago, caucused for Clinton for the first time this year. Washington said he understands the caucus, but still likes the primary better as he is more accustomed to the process. But this is Nevada, he said. So, you have to deal with the cards that you dealt, its a gambling state. With their win, Pahrump Valley has clinched a playoff spot in the 3A southern regional tournament. The Trojans need just one more win or a tie by Equipo Academy to lock up the No. 1 seed in the Mountain League. On April 1, Fox Business Networks John Stossel hosted a debate featuring three candidates Gary Johnson, John McAfee and Austin Petersen for the Libertarian Partys 2016 presidential nomination (a fourth, more radical libertarian, Darryl W. Perry was unfortunately excluded). On April 1, Fox Business Networks John Stossel hosted a debate featuring three candidates Gary Johnson, John McAfee and Austin Petersen for the Libertarian Partys 2016 presidential nomination (a fourth, more radical libertarian, Darryl W. Perry was unfortunately excluded). Those seeking an alternative to Americas failed political system, in which one party masquerades as two and the range of respectable political opinion covers perhaps five degrees of a 360-degree circle, might do well to consider voting Libertarian this November. One common accusation leveled against libertarians those affiliated with the Libertarian Party and those who hang with other parties or eschew political activity altogether is that were isolationists because we oppose US intervention in foreign conflicts. The standard libertarian retort to that criticism is that we support, as Thomas Jefferson put it, friendship and commerce with all nations, entangling alliances with none, where real isolationists have historically opposed not just foreign wars but foreign commerce, calling for protectionist trade and immigration policies (which libertarians oppose) to protect American jobs. All three candidates had good responses to foreign policy questions, but I was particularly intrigued by John McAfees take on the i-word. I think isolationism, McAfee says, is taking on the role of world policeman, making us a separate entity from the rest of the world. Were the policemen and you guys are the people that we police. Dropping bombs on families where mothers and fathers are killed, or brothers and sisters. I would be angry too. You would be angry too. So it is not isolationism to say that we need to bring our troops home, or that we need to stop interfering in the affairs of foreign nations. It is reality and practicality. Kind of refreshing, isnt it? After 25 years of continuous war in the Middle East, the major parties continue to mainly offer up candidates who supported the US invasion of Iraq (Hillary Clinton), who want to know if sand glows in the dark (Ted Cruz), or who admit the Iraq war was a mistake but dont seem to have learned anything from that mistake (Donald Trump). Those candidates, with their Caligula-style approach to foreign policy let them hate us so long as they fear us are the real isolationists. Libertarians, on the other hand, want to make America once again a peaceful member of the community of nations a leader rather than a menace. Lets take them up on it. Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism . (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida. In 1968 after doing unexpectedly well in the New Hampshire primary, Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy bragged that his were the most intelligent volunteers in the history of American politics. In 1968 after doing unexpectedly well in the New Hampshire primary, Democratic presidential candidate Eugene McCarthy bragged that his were the most intelligent volunteers in the history of American politics. Later, during the Oregon primary, McCarthy said, I want you to remember, when you go to the polls, that the more educated, more intelligent people vote for me, and the less educated people vote for my opponent. This year, on the night of the Nevada caucuses, Donald Trump said, We won with young. We won with old. We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated. Those last five words have drawn a considerable amount of comment. James Taranto/Wall Street Journal: As the left, and some on the right, denounce him as a bigot, he has been winning by being inclusive. Nick Gillespie/Newsweek: Trump loves the poorly educated without qualification, just as he loves the rich and the poor, the naked and the clothed, the fat and the skinny. As long as you vote for him, its all good. He will look out for you and your interests. Nick Gillespie/Reason (a libertarian publication): No recent candidate has been more divisive than Trump, who couldnt get more than five minutes into announcing for president without going off on rapist Mexicans and building walls, beautiful walls. Yet hes also inclusive in a way that virtually no other candidate is (with the exception of Bernie Sanders). Scott Eric Kaufman/Esquire: The fact that speaking about the poorly educated prompted the notorious ad-libber to begin discussing Hispanic voters is surely a coincidence, as is the fact that he quickly segued from discussing Hispanic voters to all the bad dudes he will load up in Guantanamo Bay should he be elected. Jimmy Kimmel: He loves the poorly educated. Who says that? Hadley Freeman/London Guardian: I love the poorly educated! he crowed last month, and no wonder they have, at long last, slaked some lifelong need in this poor little rich boy. And now he watches them beat up his critics at his rallies, like an emperor grandly sending out peasants to battle his personal enemies. So many people have tried to figure out what Trump meant by his comment. It would be better to try to figure out what those less educated Nevadans meant by their votes. McCarthy equated education with intelligence the more educated, more intelligent people. Thats absurd, of course, as Sequoyah, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Gregor Mendel, Frederick Douglass, Jane Goodall, John Glenn and innumerable others have shown us. McCarthy was suggesting, and Trumps critics suggest, that the uneducated are attracted to certain candidates because they are ignorant or unintelligent. But thats not how intelligence works. People who are not educated do not, because of it, lack intelligence. They are not ignorant because they lack schooling. Indeed, they have an innate ability to recognize their own interests. In our society, people without college have difficulty getting by financially. As a result, they have turned to candidates who spoke for low income people Estes Kefauver, Robert Kennedy, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders. We can argue about whether those candidates truly speak for people who are hurting. But people who hurt have the perception to recognize those who disdain them, as McCarthy did. McCarthys opponent was Robert Kennedy. Kennedy was always bothered by the fact that, as he put it, McCarthy got the A students and he got the B students. But low income people recognized Kennedys empathy for them. Weve heard Democrats Howard Dean, John Edwards, and Barack Obama disparaging the culture of low income people. There is considerable doubt whether anything in a Trump program would help low income people. But a Democratic Party that is far too disdainful of the working poor it once represented could learn from the fact that he does not look down on them. Dennis Myers is an award-winning journalist who has reported on Nevadas capital, government and politics for several decades. He has also served as Nevadas chief deputy secretary of state. Susan Moniz is the youth pastor at New Hope Assembly of God in Tonopah. Susan Moniz is the youth pastor at New Hope Assembly of God in Tonopah. She is, however, trying to get the word out to adults, specifically parents, about an anti-bullying effort known as Rachels Challenge coming to Tonopah on April 5. Though the program is planned for Tonopah Middle School and Tonopah High School students that day, the effort includes an evening program that seeks to attract parents. That is crucial, Moniz said. I know the kids will respond at the school assemblies. But we need the buy-in from the whole town, from all the parents, for everybody to be on board with this. The evening community event is planned for 6:30 p.m., April 5 in the Tonopah High School Theater. Moniz calls Rachels Challenge a great program. It covers the whole gamut: bullying, student isolation, suicide prevention, she said. They have on record that at least 150 students (nationally) every year stop their suicide attempt because they heard a Rachels Challenge. Rachels Challenge is based on the life and writings of Rachel Joy Scott, the first victim of the Columbine school shootings in 1999 in Colorado, the anti-bullying program reports. Rachels Challenge exists to equip and inspire individuals to replace acts of violence, bullying and negativity with acts of respect, kindness and compassion, program organizers say in describing their efforts. Several groups came together to help bring Rachels Challenge to Tonopah, including the Rotary Club, NV Energy, Community Chest of the Virginia City area, the PTA, New Hope Assembly and Tonopah High Schools student council, Moniz said. The evening event aims to reinforce to parents what the students will hear earlier in the day. That way theyre on the same page as their kids so that we as a community can combat bullying and student isolation and teen suicide because it affects the whole community, Moniz said. We want the whole community to have a buy-in. An advertisement for the evening event says it is aimed for those 11 and older because its graphic. Actually, the nighttime event, they dont even recommend that you bring small children, Moniz said. Its really for seventh grade and up. But since our middle school includes the sixth grade, were going to say sixth grade is more than welcome to attend, parental discretion. As Rachels Challenge comes to Tonopah, Moniz is trying to get the word out about its importance. I dont even have kids in this school, she said. I am just a childrens pastor. But I see the need for the whole community to get on board and get behind the kids, help them change the atmosphere in their school, support the kids who are being bullied. Saying bullying is not just a student issue, Moniz aims to get the whole community involved and all on the same page as far as what is appropriate behavior in our children, one toward the other. If a student who is being bullied has just one person stick up for him, the effect of that bullying just drops exponentially, Moniz said. She said parents who cant attend the evening event can reach her at 775-482-6613 to try and arrange another time to attend during the Tonopah visit by Rachels Challenge. Contact reporter David Jacobs at djacobs@tonopahtimes.com Scott County Sheriffs investigators served a search warrant Wednesday at the home of Davenport 3rd Ward Alderman Bill Boom and arrested one person in connection with an ongoing methamphetamine conspiracy investigation. Boom, who lives in the 400 block of West 7th Street, was not in Davenport at the time of the search. He is representing the city council at a broadband conference in Austin, Texas. Gage Allen Wenthe, 25, whose address on the arrest affidavit is listed as Boom's address on West 7th Street, is charged with a Class C controlled substance felony after officers seized a quantity of high-grade methamphetamine, known as crystal meth or ICE, at the home. "I have been acting as a parental surrogate for a mentally challenged young person," Boom said in a telephone interview with the Quad-City Times. "I have been working with him, with his family, with doctors at Vera French. "While I was out of town, it looks like he spun out of control." An arrest affidavit was filed late Wednesday afternoon by Scott County Sheriffs detectives. It states officers found a quantity of marijuana for which Wenthe was charged with a Class D felony possession charge. Wenthe also is charged with Class D felony conspiracy and a charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, a simple misdemeanor. Officers also found an unknown white powder substance that has yet to be tested, and they seized a digital scale, packaging material and two rifles. We have an ongoing investigation, Sheriff Dennis Conard said, declining further comment. Boom said he knew nothing of the illegal narcotics found in his home, but said he was aware Wenthe took prescription medication, including a "methamphetamine-type of drug." Boom said the two rifles "probably" were his. "Those are my hunting weapons stored in the attic," he said. "I haven't hunted in a long time." Wenthe has lived with Boom for the past six years, and the 64-year-old alderman said he has been taking care of the young man's health care, including making sure he stays on a regimen of prescription drugs. He also helped Wenthe pass his GED exam and find health insurance. "This is not an easy thing to deal with," Boom said. "It's been a real struggle. I really empathize with parents who have children with these types of afflictions. I've learned it first hand." Boom was aware of Wenthe's drug conviction from earlier this year. Wenthe was given a deferred judgment after pleading guilty on Jan. 20 in Scott County District Court to possession of a controlled substance and criminal mischief. "He had some pot on him," Boom said. "I've known he has smoked it in the past. I was trying to work with him to get him off of that stuff because it counteracts with his meds." Boom said he and his partner chose on their own to take in Wenthe when he was a teenager. "You know, sometimes over the course of my life, my partner and I have taken in several individuals kicked to the curb for one reason or another," Boom said. "All those situations have been positive ones. This one has been a challenge. "Would I do it again? I'm not sure. It's been a great physical, financial cost to me. When I undertake a project, I see it through. That's been the case with this one." Wednesday's arrest affidavit states that Wenthes cellphone had several text message conversations conspiring with subjects in the sale, purchase and use of illegal controlled substances" in the Quad-City area. The affidavit also states that when Wenthe was read his Miranda rights, he told officers he acted as a middle man for the sale of methamphetamine and marijuana to several subjects in the Quad-Cities. Class C felonies carry prison sentences up to 10 years under Iowa law, while Class D felonies carry prison sentences of up to five years. Wenthe was being held Wednesday night in the Scott County Jail on $50,000 bond. Boom found out about the search of his home after a neighbor called him, he said. The alderman is supposed to return to Davenport on Thursday. "I'll just sort this all out when I get back," he said. Davenport Mayor Frank Klipsch said, Anything between Bill Boom and the county attorney is part of ongoing investigation. We dont know anything more than that. It is important that the whole process takes its course, and we will act appropriately based on the findings of the investigation. There was something about watching Nancy Reagans funeral that brought to mind the class and grace that the Reagans brought to the White House. While I often disagreed with President Reagans policies, it was clear that he was a compassionate person who loved his country and his countrymen. It also reminds me how far the GOP has gone from Reagan. Today's Republican presidential front runner is a bully who spews out vile remarks regarding race, religion, ethnicity and disability. Many Republicans worry about his neo-fascist approach. The Republican's current presidential runner-up is a conservative extremist who regards compromise as a sin. The recent spat between the campaigns regarding their wives has brought the GOP race to a new low, but Im sure they can and will sink further into the mud in the coming weeks. Ronald Reagan endorsed both compromise and civility its hard to believe that the party of Reagan is now the party of Trump and Cruz. There seems to be a mean spirited nature in the GOP today. Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad closed mental health facilities after his own legislative leaders agreed to keep them open. Now his Medicare privatization plan takes money from patient care to enrich corporations without concern for their competence or patient benefit. The Iowa House of Representatives went along with the governor and refused to debate a State Senate bill which had passed with bipartisan support. This bill would have fixed the Medicaid problems created by the Governor's poorly thought out privatization. For purely political motives U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley wont even convene the Senate Judiciary Committee to review the nomination of one of the most respected jurists in the country, a jurist who in the past had strong bipartisan support in previous confirmations. This handicaps the Supreme Court in performing its constitutional obligations. I cant imagine Ronald Reagan endorsing this behavior. The Democratic party has had civilized debates and presented issues and programs to the voters for their consideration. The Republican Party debates have resembled junior high playground brawls. They have degenerated into name calling and dog whistle phrases for the worst of the racist and misogynistic in this country. In Iowa our Democratic legislators have tried to restore money for mental health and to responsibly find ways to responsibly control Medicare costs while protecting patients; efforts blocked by the Republicans. The Democratic Party treats us like adults, offers real solutions to real problems like the wealth gap or climate change. The Democratic Party candidates deserve our votes. Henry Marquard, of Muscatine, is a member of the Muscatine County Democratic Party. IOWA CITY Newly discovered forensic evidence shows how a lottery insider rigged drawings across the country, Iowa investigators said Wednesday as they charged his brother in connection with jackpots claimed in Oklahoma and Colorado. Tommy Tipton, a former justice of the peace from Flatonia, Texas, turned himself in Wednesday morning to face a charge of ongoing criminal conduct. He is the brother of Eddie Tipton, the former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association based in Urbandale, Iowa. Eddie Tipton was convicted last year of fixing a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot in 2010, and is awaiting trial on charges linking him and his associates to five other lottery prizes. Prosecutors have alleged he tampered with random number generators used by state lotteries, but until now haven't had digital evidence because the computers he worked on had been erased or destroyed. But in what investigators called a significant break, court documents filed Wednesday show Wisconsin authorities were able to recover the random number generator used for a $2 million jackpot Megabucks jackpot claimed by Eddie Tipton's best friend in 2008. A forensic examination found that the generator had additional, unauthorized segments of code that were installed after it had been reviewed and verified as legitimate by a lottery security firm. That code directed the generator not to produce random numbers on three particular days of the year when they fell on certain days of the week. Instead, numbers on those days would be drawn by a "multi-variable algorithm" that Tipton could predict based on his knowledge of how it worked, the documents said. All of the six jackpots linked to Tipton were drawn on either the days of Nov. 23 or Dec. 29 over a span of several years. "Upon re-creating the draws according to the algorithm, forensic examiners produced the very same 'winning numbers' from the program that was supposed to produce random numbers," Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Don Smith wrote in an affidavit. Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand, who has overseen a lengthy investigation into Tipton, said Wisconsin investigators "are due credit for these welcome developments in electronic evidence." Tommy Tipton's attorney didn't immediately return a phone message. He was released from the Polk County Jail on bond. BILLINGS, MONT. | Wyman Dennis Babby was born May 3, 1935, in Pine Ridge, SD, the first of Dennis and Alvina Babbys four children. He passed away from cancer on April 4, 2016, at the age of 80 in Billings. An enrolled member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Wyman grew up on the Pine Ridge, Fort Peck, Umatilla, and Fort Hall Reservations. He was an accomplished high school athlete, participating in football, basketball, and track. In 1953, Wyman graduated from Blackfoot High School, married his first wife, Karen Gardiner, and joined the U.S. Air Force. He served in Japan during the Korean War, receiving four medals for his service. He and Karen had one daughter, Beth Ann. Wyman later attended the South Dakota School of Mines, the University of Wyoming, and Eastern Montana College. He met Donna Ulrich in Billings and they married in July 1961. The couple moved to the Colville Reservation in Oregon, where he began his civilian career in Indian affairs. He and Donna had three girls, Elaine, Angela and Lorna. His career advanced and the family moved frequently, from coast to coast and to numerous places in between. In 2011, Wyman and Donna celebrated their 50th anniversary in Fallon, MT, with family and friends. Wyman was deeply committed to his work a strong advocate of both tribal self-determination and the fulfillment of the federal governments treaty and statutory obligations to tribes and his career in Indian affairs spanned over 35 years. He was also dedicated to the support and professional development of the many promising young Native men and women he encountered throughout his career. The qualities that exemplified Wyman were respect and compassion for others, integrity, hard work, discipline, and humility. Wyman was proud of his origins, and spent many hours researching and documenting family history. He was a gifted writer, and his favorite pastimes were hunting, fishing, reading, and being with family. Most of all he loved the beauty and solitude of the wide open prairies of Montana and South Dakota. Wymans legacy will live on in Indian Country and with his family. Wyman was preceded in death by his much loved parents, Dennis and Alvina. He is survived by his wife, Donna; children, Beth Ann Gary (Scott), Elaine Babby (Blair), Angela Babby (Jon), and Lorna Babby (Marvin); siblings, Lloyd Babby (Pat), Lavonne Hoselton, and Joyce Peterson (Bruce); five grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. A special thank you to Dr. David Christianson, Miletta and the rest of the staff at St. Vincent Frontier Cancer Center. Memorial services will be at 10 a.m. Friday, April 8, at Dahl Funeral Chapel. Other services will be held at a later date in Martin, SD. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to Red Cloud Indian School. Memories and condolences may be shared with the family at the funeral home website. Members of Orekhovo gang charged with murder of prominent lawyer MOSCOW, April 6 (RAPSI) Investigators from the Moscow Region have charged members of notorious criminal syndicate, Orekhovo gang, with murder of prominent lawyer Tatyana Akimtseva and her driver, RIA Novosti reported on Wednesday. On September 12, 2014, star attorney Tatyana Akimtseva, who represented the interests of the victims in an Orekhovo gang trial, along with her driver, were shot and killed near her home. According to investigators, Sergei Frolov and Igor Sosnovsky performed the murder. Investigators allege that the motive behind this murder was Akimtsevas legal defense of Odintsovo Podvorye market co-owner Sergei Zhurbe. During her career Akimtseva represented interests of famous artists and athletes. She was also one of the lawyers for former security chief of Russian oil giant Yukos, Alexei Pichugin, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for murder and attempted murder. The Montana softball team gets a break from its conference slate with a mid-week doubleheader against Utah State, followed by a Big Sky road series against three-time defending champ Idaho State. Griz softball logo The Griz (4-2 Big Sky, 13-18 overall) are scheduled to start a doubleheader against Utah State at 1 p.m. Wednesday in Logan, Utah. After that, they will go from Logan to Pocatello, Idaho, for the series against Idaho State. The first pitch of Fridays doubleheader is scheduled for 2 p.m. with Saturdays game at 1 p.m. Another mid-week non-conference game awaits Montana next week, as it's scheduled to play a home doubleheader against Carroll College on Tuesday. UM will play a home series against Portland State that weekend. Montana is in the midst of one of the best runs in team history. The Grizzlies have won five of their last seven, the best seven game stretch this season. Utah State (16-13) sits 27 spots below the Grizzlies in the latest RPI rankings. Opponents average just over four runs a game against the Aggies. Idaho State (2-2 Big Sky, 14-17 overall) opened its conference season slowly, dropping a home series against Southern Utah. The Bengals bounced back with a win against North Dakota before the rest of the series was called off because of weather. Pitching has been a strength for the Bengals. They have two pitchers over 75 innings and under 4.00 ERA. Ashlyn Ames is the ace, possessing a 3.31 ERA in over 86 innings. Missoulian Staff 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. Dawn, April 5th, 2016 THE operation against militants in Punjab was long overdue. Both sceptics and believers of state policies had been watching out for it, locked in a awill it/wonat it/when will ita debate. Itas kind of like the monitoring of Voyager 1 to see whether a manmade device could exit the heliosphere, the boundary separating the solar system from the rest of the galaxy. That occurred in the same year as Pakistanas first democratic transition, which for some seemed equally improbable. But the Punjab operation is about mining underground structures, not flying off into outer space. Blasting our way to the coal seam will not work even if the mineas structure is kept secured. Toxic gases remain a hazard. Miners kept canaries in cages as an early warning system because poisonous fumes kill birds before people. Like canaries, religious minorities are vulnerable and have low immunity to toxicity in society. Christians, the largest religious minority in Punjab, face three tiers of persecution a terrorist attacks by militants, lynchings by common people, and abandonment by the state. Terrorists have targeted Muslims far more than they have non-Muslims. But the lynching of minorities taps into a vein that army operations cannot address. Mobs have attacked and destroyed Christian settlements in Lahore, Toba Tek Singh, Gujranwala and Nankana Sahib. In Kasur, a couple was burnt alive less than two years ago. All incidents were triggered by allegations of blasphemy, and all were in central Punjab and not south Punjab, the apparent hub of radicalism. Reams have been written on the stateas role. The radicalism cultivated during the 1980s; the Afghan jihad; patronage of sectarian groups and madressahs; re-promulgation of the blasphemy law during Ziaas regime; the Federal Shariat Court ordering compulsory execution for blasphemy, which triggered a deluge of allegations. But does the lawas existence sufficiently explain lynching and rioting? Is it a simple linear connection that the law spurs vigilantism? Or does the stateas inaction reflect a deeper problem? Christians, the largest religious minority in Punjab, face persecution at three levels. The first terrorist attack in Pakistan after 9/11 was on a Protestant church in Bahawalpur that left 16 dead. The following year, there were five terrorist attacks on Christians. But mob attacks predate that a in Shantinagar and Khanewal where almost 20 years ago, over 2,000 Christians were displaced by mobs who burned churches and destroyed homes. Blasphemy persecutions also predate 9/11. Bishop John Joseph of Faisalabad committed suicide in protest in 1998. The right-wing consensus seems to be that while blasphemy against the sacred doesnat affect the sacred, it hurts peopleas sentiments, and that emotional distress must be punished and equilibrium restored with blood. We know blasphemy allegations are often a way of settling material conflicts such as property or business, and that peopleas religious sentiments are exploited to create a frenzy. But what allows people to be provoked into barbarism? Fervent mobs declare Christians are agents or representatives of the Christian West. When did local Christians become such a proxy? Historically, they were not a conduit for revenge against the Christian colonisers of the Raj. In fact, accounts show that during the Partition violence, Christians marked their homes with crosses and were left alone by rioters. Even in the context of politically nurtured intolerance, what positioned them as athe othera? I donat claim to understand Punjab. But part of the problem could lie in the nature of Christian settlements. Initially, missionaries helped them establish segregated villages and settle as tenant farmers and labourers in new canal colonies. They got their own land in the model of the English parish and this kept them away from the stigma of the achuhraa past (where identity was turned into a slur), but it also distanced them from local politics and from connecting daily with the mainstream. This separatism plays out in other contexts of multiculturalism vs assimilation, or in conflicts amongst communities living on ethnic grids. Or maybe it has to do with Punjabas forceful centralisation of religion. To accept the logic of Pakistan, Punjab had to compromise its other identity anchors because religion was the only thing that marked a distinction from Hindu and Sikh Punjabis. Language, affinity, music, culture, rituals a all had to be secondary. For Partition to make sense, religion and the willingness to fight for it had to matter above everything else; a threat to faith was for many an existential threat. No other province had to rethink its ethnic heritage to accept Pakistan, and could maintain multiple identities. It could also be the transmitted memory of the violence of Partition. The burning of villages and sacred spaces, killing and maiming, atrocities against the unarmed, perpetrator lurking inside each stranger a each being both victim and aggressor. No other province experienced with such intensity the horrors of Partition. The impulse to victimise before one is victimised has subsequently been avalidateda by history textbooks and official narratives, by markers of nationalism, by foreign policy, by being goaded to militarise and by aDarul Harba interpretations of religion. Recent literature on Indigenous Australians establishes an intra-generational passing on of trauma, a ablood memorya that leads to destructive behaviour, anger and violence. The point is not to excuse perpetrators as victims. Instead, I am wondering what we should do with the ghosts of 1947. Psychologists tell us mob behaviour is shaped by the loss of individual responsibility and a sense of belonging heightened by group endorsement of such behaviour. But violent riots here dissipate within hours and donat go on for weeks as in India eg Meerut in the 1980s, Mumbai in the 1990s, Gujarat in the 2000s. The main reason is that unlike in India, political parties and groups here are apparently not involved. Associated individuals may belong to certain parties, but it has not been organised political action or discourse. So far. But after the events of last week, when religio-political groups banded together on blasphemy a the very issue that has triggered violent riots a and were able to shut down Islamabad, and get assurances from the government while defending vigilantism, political mobilisation during riots has become an alarming possibility. And not only in Punjab. The governmentas compensation to victims matters only when itas a part of reparations, a wider form of social repair. In this case that means arraying society-wide sensors for detecting and purifying the below-surface toxic fumes. Meanwhile, Voyager 1as power source is weakening, will soon stop transmitting power signals, and will have no other mission but to exist a perhaps in hopeful contrast to Pakistanas democratic government. The writer is a researcher and consultant in the social sector. nazishbrohi.nb[at]gmail.com Twitter: @Nazish_Brohi The New York Times, April 5, 2016 Dhaka, Bangladesh a In 1971, Bengali nationalists and the people of what was then called East Pakistan waged a war of independence against the Pakistani Army. The conflict culminated in the birth of a new nation, Bangladesh. The war, which lasted nine months, was a brutal one: Depending on the source, some 300,000 to three million people were killed, and millions were displaced. There is no question that there were many atrocities, including rape, deportation and massacres of civilians, carried out by the Pakistani Army, aided at times by pro-Pakistani militias. Some of these included members of the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamist party that remains a powerful force in Bangladesh today. There is an academic consensus that this campaign of violence, particularly against the Hindu population, was a genocide. In the decades since the war, there have been efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice. The most recent attempt started in 2010, when the current government established two International Crimes Tribunals that together have convicted 26 people on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. International human rights organizations have criticized the tribunals as falling far short of proper due process, but the trials appear popular within Bangladesh. So far, four men have been executed, including three leaders from Jamaat-e-Islami and one leader of the main opposition party, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. Most of the others are on death row, awaiting the outcome of appeals. To the government of the Awami League, the party that originally spearheaded the campaign for independence, the genocide of three million Bengalis is a foundational element of the struggle for national liberation. For many, particularly Awami League supporters, to allow any equivocation about the numbers of victims in the 1971 war is to open the door to the apologists for Pakistan and the enemies of Bangladeshi independence. The three million figure is totemic, which is one reason that, in February, the Bangladesh Law Commission opened consultation on a draft law called the Liberation War Denial Crimes Act. The proposed legislation uses the precedent of the Holocaust denial laws enacted in Europe after World War II. Some of the proposed offenses are so broad that they would significantly hinder free speech and stifle legitimate historical research. The proposal would outlaw the ainaccuratea representation of war history and amaliciousa statements in the press that aundermine any eventsa related to the war. Efforts to atrivializea information related to the killing of civilians during the war would also be forbidden; this would almost certainly be used to prosecute anyone who questioned the official death toll. Even before this legislative plan, there was a clear drift toward censorship here. In 2014, I was prosecuted for contempt of court in relation to a blog post written three years earlier looking at the research into war casualties. While the International Crimes Tribunal did not convict me for that offense (though it did for other articles), the court ruled that the number of three million dead ais now settleda and that athe issue of adeath figure in 1971a involves highest sacrosanct emotion of the nation.a More recently, a sedition case was filed by an Awami League activist against Khaleda Zia, the leader of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, because of a speech she gave in December. aThere is a debate about how many hundreds of thousands were martyred in the liberation war,a she said. aDifferent books give different accounts.a For this, Ms. Khaleda was strongly criticized. Mofidul Hoque, a trustee of the Liberation War Museum, said that her acomment shows utter disrespect to the millions who laid down their lives and perished in the black hole of genocide in 1971.a Although it is difficult to see how her comment could amount to sedition, the government has given a go-ahead to the legal action. Where does the truth about the numbers lie? The three million figure was popularized by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the leader of the Awami League in 1971, the countryas first president and the father of the current prime minister. Mujib, as he is popularly known, is a revered figure, particularly within the Awami League. But his biographer, Sayyid A. Karim, who was also Sheikh Rahmanas first foreign secretary, viewed the number as aa gross exaggeration.a In his book aSheikh Mujib: Triumph and Tragedy,a Mr. Karim reported that the prime ministeras office told him the figure was taken from Pravda, the Soviet newspaper. According to the American writer Lawrence Lifschultz, a survey by the Mujib government that was projecting a death toll of 250,000 was aabruptly shut down.a A 1976 study in the journal Population Studies estimated that the number of deaths caused by the war was about 500,000, many as a result of disease and malnutrition. A 2008 article in The British Medical Journal concluded that the number of violent deaths during the war was about 269,000 (allowing a possible range of 125,000 to 505,000). Many Bangladeshis sincerely believe in the three million figure, which symbolizes the huge sacrifices of the war. M. A. Hasan, convener of the War Crimes Fact Finding Committee, said, aThe figure of liberation war martyrs is one such issue which no one should question.a For others, however, questions are necessary on this and other aspects of the 1971 war, including the widespread killings of members of the Bihari ethnic group, who supported the Pakistanis during the conflict, by Bengali nationalists. We should question this because nationalist narratives about the past often serve contemporary political interests, and we should beware of an orthodoxy being used to silence dissent. Since the Awami League came to power again in 2009, it has tried to use the emotions surrounding the 1971 war to justify a move toward authoritarian one-party rule. In its version of history, only the Awami League is the party of liberation, and therefore of government, and opposition parties are branded as apro-Pakistan,a and therefore dangerous and disloyal. Freedom of speech in Bangladesh is already under threat both as a result of religious extremistsa murdering secular bloggers, and the governmentas pressure on the independent news media (including a campaign of harassment against one newspaper editor). The proposed genocide law might work to the political advantage of the Awami League in the short term. But in the long term, curtailing free expression for sectarian political purposes is dangerous for democracy. David Bergman is an investigative journalist based in Bangladesh. The Hindu - April 1, 2016 Who will heal our drug industry? by Dinesh S. Thakur There has been little done by either the influential pharmaceutical industry or the government to improve the quality of medicines sold in less-regulated markets like India On March 11, the Supreme Court dismissed two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) that I had filed praying for an urgent reform of Indiaas drug regulatory framework. Both PILs were part of an effort that I personally funded and led for the last two and a half years. The motivation for both PILs came directly from my experience as a whistleblower in the Ranbaxy case. The data fabrication and duplicity that I discovered at Ranbaxy led me to resign from the company and report the violation of law to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA). That case ended with penalties of $500 million on Ranbaxy and, more importantly, led to an increased scrutiny by the USFDA and other foreign regulators. This also resulted in a heightened focus on quality-related issues within the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Unfortunately, the entire focus on improving quality has been targeted at only those manufacturing facilities that make products for export to lucrative Western markets. There has been little done by either the industry or the government to improve the quality of medicines sold in less-regulated markets like India a and its poorer neighbours in Asia and in Africa. Negative health outcomes As an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI), it alarmed me that substandard medicines were causing negative health outcomes, an increasing antibiotic resistance and a waste of public money. I initially tried approaching the government to highlight the issues. In 2014, I managed to secure a meeting with the then Health Minister. He appeared to be uninterested. I then spent the next two years meeting or trying to meet retired and serving bureaucrats in the Ministry of Health to impress upon them the urgent need for reform. The uniformly consistent answer I received comprised an advice to approach the Supreme Court through a PIL. I was told that the pharmaceutical industry is politically very powerful and has used its influence in the past to block reforms initiated by the government. As a result, I re-focussed my energies on working with a team of lawyers to lay the ground work for the PILs that were heard earlier this month. This was a difficult, expensive and time-consuming process. There are no academic bodies or think tanks which have researched the issues with focus on Indiaas drug regulatory framework. In the last few months, we embarked on a massive research exercise, which involved trawling through numerous government reports, filing over 125 Right to Information (RTI) applications and extracting information from different state regulators on the manner of enforcement of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. What we discovered was alarming because the issue was worse than I had ever imagined. Successive reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had found an alarmingly high rate of substandard medicines being prescribed in publicly-funded programmes like the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and places like the Railway Hospitals and the Armed Forces Medical Stores Depots (AFMSD). The CAGas audit report of the AFMSD, which serves our Armed Forces Personnel and their families, showed the percentage of locally procured substandard drugs at a high 32 per cent in one year. A Parliamentary Standing Committee Report in 2012 had discovered that European companies were selling medicines in India that had not been approved in their home countries, or, for that matter, in any developed country. A subsequent report noted that the Ministry of Health had failed to investigate the officials who granted such aillegala approvals despite the Ministry giving a written commitment to Parliament. The story of ignored recommendations repeated itself in the case of the Expert Committee headed by Dr. V.M. Katoch in 2012 and another Expert Committee headed by Dr. Ranjit Roy Chaudhury in 2013. The latter had recommended making mandatory basic quality testing such as bioequivalence studies for all generic drugs. The Drug Consultative Committee (DCC) rejected the recommendation on the grounds that India apparently lacked the infrastructure. In the same breath, it encouraged such testing for exports because countries like the U.S. will not accept any drug formulation which is not proven bioequivalent. This consistent pattern of the government ignoring recommendations by its own experts is mirrored in the enforcement of Indiaas existing, already weak, drug regulations. We found that investigations conduced by drug inspectors in individual States were mostly a sham since they lacked the necessary resources to coordinate their activities across different States. Often, the manufacturer would be located in Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand and the substandard drug would be sold in States like Karnataka or Maharashtra. Only a minority of such cases resulted in a prosecution. Even in those cases, judges wilfully ignored the mandatory sentencing provisions of at least one year of imprisonment, preferring instead a asimple imprisonment till the rising of the courta . This allowed the convicted person to walk free as soon as the judge rose for the day. Monetary fines were in a lenient five-digit range for products worth lakhs or crores. After a comprehensive study, it was clear to us that the system was dysfunctional at every stage. What made matters worse was that even States like Tamil Nadu, where the drug inspectors are of a high calibre, could do little to stop the flooding in of substandard drugs from Himachal Pradesh or Uttarakhand. This is because only the governments in the respective States can cancel the licences of the erring drug manufacturers located there. We discovered that expert committees a beginning in the year 1955 a have repeatedly recommended that licensing be made centralised. Further, two legislative efforts in 2007 and 2013 to centralise such regulations failed because of sabotage by the Indian pharmaceutical industry. The PILs I filed offered the best chance to start with a clean slate. As we see from the arguments being proffered by the industry to challenge the ban on the Fixed Dose Combinations in the Delhi High Court, it is a daunting process to reform the system. And the matter before the court is only a small slice of the bigger problem. There is complicity in the creation of this dysfunctional system amongst all levels of the official machinery and the current regulatory framework is riddled with holes. The effects of substandard medicines and poor drug regulations that lead to their sale are similar to the effects of climate change. They are difficult to quantify and sometimes hard to prove but this is certainly not a mere academic issue. Apart from a failure to cure diseases, the effects of such substandard drugs include growing antibiotic resistance and the birth of deathly superbugs. The long-term effects will be devastating to public health, especially to the poor and vulnerable. Keeping in mind the catastrophe substandard medicines pose to the health of my family, my friends and my fellow citizens, I approached both the government and the Supreme Court of India for justice. Unfortunately, the Honourable Court declined to hear my plea. Where do I go now to seek reforms to this dysfunctional system? Dinesh S. Thakur is the Executive Chairman of Medassure Global Compliance Corporation. o o o Business Standard - April 5, 2016 Subir Roy: The shameful state of MCI The parliamentary standing committee for the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has produced a report on the Medical Council of India (MCI), which would shame all those at the helm if they were capable of such feeling. The transgressions of the regulatory body under the ministry, charged with overseeing medical education and doctors right to practice and ethical conduct, are well known. The report has validated a lot of the relevant media coverage and, through the committees own investigations, laid down solid fundamentals for bringing about systemic change. Two related episodes need highlighting. The committee had received a representation from V K Babu, a doctor from Kerala, and his spouse, M V Bindu, stating that they had complained to the MCI in 2008 and 2010 that the Indian Medical Association (IMA), the doctors body, was endorsing commercial products of private companies (PepsiCo, in one instance), which was in violation of the MCIs code of ethics. The result? He was issued show cause notices by the IMA for complaining to the press, the MCI and the ministry. For its part, the MCI, which was reconstituted in 2013, took no action against the IMA office bearers despite its earlier ethics committee holding them guilty of violating the MCI code of ethics and recommending removal of their names from the Indian Medical Register. Instead, it also issued notices to Dr Babu and his non-medico wife asking them to appear in person before it! When the parliamentary committee went into the matter the MCI president informed it that its ethics committee has closed the case against the whistle-blower couple. The parliamentary committee asked the MCI to complete all formalities for closing the case and report back to the committee within one month from the presentation of its report. What else did the MCI do? The committee was "astonished" to note that MCI early this year notified an amendment to its ethics regulations, deleting the words "and professional association of doctors", thus exempting the IMA, the professional association of doctors, from the ambit of the MCIs ethics code. The committee saw this as "nothing short of legitimising doctors associations indulging in unethical and corrupt practices by way of receiving gifts in cash or kind under any pretext from the pharma industry or allied health industry." The committee agreed with the viewpoint of public health activists that "an action that is ethically impermissible for an individual doctor cannot become permissible if a group of doctors carry out the same action in the name of an association." The committees conclusion: "It seems that the MCI has become captive to private commercial interests." Not just this. The parliamentary committee also found it "intriguing that instead of intervening to thwart attempt of MCI at subverting the system, the ministry has meekly surrendered to MCI." The committee said the ministry should take immediate action to ensure that the words "and professional association of doctors" are restored in the code. The committee is "shocked" to find that compromised individuals have been able to make it to MCI, but the ministry is not empowered to remove or sanction an MCI member even if he has been proved corrupt. Otherwise how could it happen that MCI could have at its very top a person (the then president, Ketan Desai) who was arrested on charges of corruption in 2010? The quality of medical education is "at its lowest ebb" and the current model of medical education is not producing the right type of health professionals needed. Medical graduates lack competence in performing basic tasks like conducting normal deliveries. The committee states that "currently the MCI is an exclusive club of medical doctors" but across the world, a perspective has gained ground that self-regulation alone does not work because medical associations have "fiercely protected their turf". In countries like the UK and Australia, regulators are drawn from diverse groups. The regulator should have diverse stakeholders "such as public health experts and social scientists, health economists, health NGOs with an established reputation, legal experts, quality assurance experts, patient advocacy groups." The oversight of professional conduct is the most important function of MCI "but it has been completely passive on the ethics dimension". Between 1963 and 2009 just 109 doctors have been blacklisted by the ethics committee of the MCI. The parliamentary committee did not want to "taint the entire medical community a but it is equally indisputable thata many unprincipled doctors and private sector hospitals have lost their moral compass and overcharge or subject their hapless patients to unnecessary surgeries and diagnostic procedures." Other than validating a lot of what the media has been saying, the parliamentary committee has made many suggestions for reinventing regulation of medical education and ethics of doctors and other medical stakeholders. But what is the political reality on the ground? Ghulam Nabi Azad, long-term health minister under United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-II, removed the then health secretary, Keshav Desiraju, because he tried to resist the re-induction of Ketan Desai into the MCI. The electorate gave a massive verdict against the UPA and a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government came in. Early in the day, party bigwig J P Nadda wrote to the then health minister, Harsh Vardhan, seeking removal of the chief vigilance officer of AIIMS. In a subsequent ministerial reshuffle, Mr Vardhan was removed, Mr Nadda was made health minister and at the end of the day the CVOs of both the AIIMS and the MCI were removed! Further comment is redundant. subirkroy[at]gmail.com via NAPM India Mumbai | 6th April, 2016: Slum residents from all over Mumbai threatened by illegal forcible eviction and annoyed by lack of basic amenities in slums, marched from Carnac Bunder to Azad Maidan, Mumbai on 5th April, 2016 in a huge rally demanding housing right to be ensured with all the basic amenities. Slum residents also demanded the scientific shutting down of the Deonar Dumping ground and a scientific waste-management system in the city. a Over 5000 people from Mankhurd to Malad- Deonar, Govandi, Cheeta Camp, Golibar, Andheri and Malad, took out a procession led by Ms. Medha Patkar. Winding through the narrow streets of the business district of the city, the rally brought traffic to a halt over a 2 km stretch. Children from many such threatened slums left school while men and women took leave from their work to walk in the blazing noonday sun to show solidarity raised slogans throughout the long march. A delegation comprising of activists Ms. Medha Patkar, Anil Hebbar, Bilal Khan and representatives from slums were Shriram Rajbhar, Punam Kannaujiya, Abha Tandel and Uday Mohite met the Chief Minister in the Vidhan Bhavan. Delegation discussed four major demands with the Chief Minister-ensuring of the housing rights, protection of slum dwellers living on lands recently constituted as areserved foresta, ensuring of the basic amenities in all slums and a scientific solution of waste management in the city. The Chief Minister had listen to all the demands in details and assured action on them. Organized by GBGBA and well attended by various rights groups anamely NAPM, YUVA, Committee for Housing Right, Pani Haq Samiti and veteran activist and CPI (M)as Prakash Reddy called upon the elected officials to uphold the law and ensure housing rights. Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan which has been fighting for the housing rights of the urban poor in Mumbai since 11 years has threatened of intense struggle if firm actions are not taken within a period of one month on the demands raised. Demands mentioned in the memorandum given to the Chief Minister are as follows: Mumbai is a city that functions because of the tireless labour of slum dwellers. The finance industry works on the labour of slum dwellers, from the construction workers who build new sky scrapers and office complexes, to the cleaners and municipal sweepers that maintain them. The lives of upper and middle class families also depend on the services of slum dwellers. The average upper or middle-class Mumbai family uses the labour of several slum dwellers in their home as domestic help, and benefits from taxi drivers, rickshaw drivers, dabbawallas, washermen/women, skilled and unskilled workers like carpenters, electricians, mechanics, painters, locksmiths, fruit and vegetable vendors, municipal sweepers, watchmen, security guards, private drivers, and countless other unregulated professions. Our demands mainly focuses on urban poor of the city and the recent outbreak of fire at Deonar Dumping Ground. Demands: 1. Right to Adequate Housing Life in the slums of Mumbai, which constitute more than 50% population of the city in the absence of ahousing righta has become pathetic. The only mechanism the Government of Maharashtra is using to give protection to slums is of a acut-off-datea. The acut-off-datea protects only limited number of slum dwellers from getting evicted without rehabilitation. The concept of rehabilitation of slum dwellers through Slum Rehabilitation Authority of Maharashtra Government is entirely pro-privatization and least pro-people. A large chunk of public land gets privatized when it is handed over to the private builders to be exploited by them while rehabilitating the slum dwellers after demolishing their self-built structures to house themselves. This process of rehabilitation will surely make Government loose all public lands which was earlier in the possession of poor people to few private builders. The perpetual practice eviction of slums deprive people of their housing right which comes under Right to Life guaranteed by the Constitution of India. The eviction causes a lot of instability in the society, affect the evicted slum dwellers emotionally, physically and psychologically. Evictions also severely affect the livelihood of the slum dwellers. We request you to immediately pass a no eviction order for slums and consider the legalization of self-built housing in the slums of Mumbai. This could be achieved by creating aSpecial Housing Zones (SHZ)a in areas currently occupied by slums. Peopleas organization, NGOs and Government will work together with the inhabitants of each SHZ to improve basic infrastructure and social services. Legal, regulated SHZs enable the provision of adequate, affordable housing to every citizen of Mumbai, and to eliminate the anti-social elements that currently take advantage of the land occupied by slums. SHZs will allow active and honest intervention by local authorities to check the unjust encroachments of land by mafias and selling huts built on them. 2. Housing Rights on the Forest Lands The brutal and forced evictions being carried out by Mangrove Cell of Maharashtra Forest Department has put lives of thousands of poor children, aged persons and women in jeopardy whose houses have been demolished by the Cell in Mumbai. The Mangrove Cell is taking action on the lands which the Government of Maharashtra has decided to constitute them as areserved forestsa. However, there is a full long procedure of law to be completed first before the Mangrove Cell takes any action. The details of which are given in next paragraphs. The Hon. Bombay High Court passed an order dated October 6, 2005 directing the Government of Maharashtra to declare all mangrove areas and the areas within 50 meters of the mangrove areas as aprotected foresta (For Government Lands) and aForesta (For private lands), as per law. This exercise was to be carried out on the basis of satellite maps made by the Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Center (MRSAC) of the mangrove areas in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. The maps prepared by MRSAC demarcated the areas, are all post year 2005 (after the passing of the order by the Hon. Court). Hence, no question of identifying the areas in the maps which are before the year 2005. But the Mangrove Cell is not even sparing the slums which are protected by cut-off-date of 1.1.2000 set by Housing Department of the Maharashtra Government dated 16th May, 2015. The Maharashtra Government, apparently in order to implement the order of the Hon. Court efficiently, decided to declare all mangrove areas as areserved foresta. This was decided vide Government Resolution number S-10/2013/P.K. 64/ F-3dated 26/June/2013. But it has been found that the Mangrove Cell is violating the Indian Forest Act, 1927 by not allowing the Forest Settlement Officer to exercise his powers. In Chapter II of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, there is a full procedure specified to be followed before constituting any land as areserved foresta. This procedure also includes the settlements of the existing rights of people over a land which the Government decides to constitute as areserved foresta. The Forest Settlement Officers of both the suburban regions-Eastern and Western that they are not recognizing housing rights of the slum dwellers who are protected by the cut-off-date. They have also not mentioned anything about recognizing housing right in the proclamation made under section 4 in chapter II of the Indian Forest Act, 1927. 3. Basic Amenities Generally, the basic services are denied by the government because of the wrong perception about the slums that providing of the basic services will cause the exploitation of the resources. However, it has been found that in the absence of basic service from the municipal corporation, slum dwellers are forced to depend on local mafias who sell them these services at higher rates illegally. Hence, this proves that the government refusal to provide service to the slum, indirectly supporting the mafias and costing the exchequer of the state. It is necessary that the government must regularize and provide all the basic amenities and leave no room for the mafias to breed in slums. 3.1 Water: The problem of supplying water to slums has still not resolved till date even after clear order from the Hon. Bombay High Courtas order dated 15th December, 2014. The Court had ordered to provide water in each slum in Mumbai irrespective of cut-off-date. The Court had also directed the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai to formulate a policy till February 2015 specifying the mechanism of supplying water to slums. But more than one year has passed neither the MCGM formulated any policy nor has it provided water supply to slums. The MCGM is not at all prioritising the need of supplying this basic service in slums. In the absence of water supply from the municipal corporation gives water mafias an opportunity to exploit slum dwellers by charging water on higher rates. The water mafias are also responsible for making leakages in the water supply line and sell the same water in slums. If this illegal practice is stopped then surely enough of water supply can easily be supplied to slums as well as to other residents of the city. 3.2 Toilets: The Central and the Government of Maharashtra have very clearly specified in the guidelines under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan that whether the slum is authorized or unauthorized, toilets must be built by the urban local bodies. But the MCGM in Mumbai have made a list of exclusions for constructing toilets. This list of exclusion will ensure toilets to very less number of slums and hence the objective of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan will not be met. This will again force people to defecate in open. There are around Rs.8000 cr. lying unused in the last MCGM budget. This year only Rs. 1 cr. has been allocated by the MCGM in the name of Swachch Bharat Abhiyan and that too for publicity of the mission. This is a strange finding. A recent finding at the Dumping ground site was not less than a shock. We found that a public toilet was left dysfunctional. Before it was shut down, it had provided service to several slum dwellers in its proximity but shutting down the only toilet block in that locality has forced people to defecate in open. The MCGM can easily help slums with the public toilets if it allows the slum dwellers to construct it on their own. The MCGM only need to give them permission to construct it and facilitate them in connecting the toilet with the sewer line. 3.3 Electricity: Number of slums are not given No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for setting up a electric substation in slums, which again force slum dwellers to get illegal connections from the mafias. It becomes difficult for the school going children to study in dark; hence, the need of electricity connection is very important. Apart from this, there are small scale-scale industries in slum which are dependent on electricity connections, so, the denial of the electricity connection affect this small economic unit which support lives of many. 4. Waste Management: The smoke coming from the Deonar dumping ground has turned the surrounding areas into a gas chamber. More than two months have passed and the fire is still not under control. The callous attitude of the government towards addressing the real problem of waste management is worsening the situation. People are suffering from various breathe disease and developing allergies as well as becoming vulnerable to diseases like tuberculosis because of the continuous smoke from the Deonar Dumping Ground. This health hazard has made life pathetic. The residents need a scientific shutting down of the dumping ground and a scientific plan for waste management in the city. At the same time, the question of livelihood for the number of rag-pickers who have become dependent on the dumping ground for their work also needs to be addressed. These workers need to be integrated into any future solution for Mumbaias waste management. Barring the entry of the rag-pickers into the dumping ground will only render a large number of people unemployed and further hinder stability for thousands of the cityas marginalized service providers. While if we include the labour of the rag-pickers in the working scientific waste management plan, it will certainly generate more employment and improve the living standard of rag-pickers. Santosh Thorat, Anwari Shaikh, Shefali, Jaimati, Uday Mohite, Jainuddin Ansari Contact: +91 9958660556 If you are currently a print subscriber but don't have an online account, select this option. You will need to use your 7 digit subscriber account number (with leading zeros) and your last name (in UPPERCASE). "How Drug Warriors Helped to Fuel the Opioid Epidemic" | Main | Former coal exec gets maximum misdemeanor sentence for conspiracy to evade mine safety regulations April 6, 2016 Examining how Michigan, thanks to Montgomery, is struggling through Miller retroactivity A couple of month ago I flagged here a press report on the legal and practical challenges unfolding in Pennsylvania after the Supreme Court's ruling in Montgomery v. Louisana forced the state to start dealing with all its now-unconstitutional mandatory juve LWOP sentences. Now I see this similar story from Michigan headlined " Hundreds of Mich. juvenile lifer cases to be reviewed." The lengthy and details article gets started this way: Hundreds of killers sentenced to mandatory life without parole while in their teens could be resentenced this year, but a debate over how to process the cases has left prosecutors and lawyers in limbo. The Michigan Court of Appeals has been asked to decide whether a judge or jury should consider whether to give offenders new sentences. A hearing is anticipated, but a date to make arguments hasnt been set. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that sentencing a person under 18 to life in prison without parole constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The decision potentially affects 363 cases in Michigan dating to 1962. Prosecutors have been required to provide a list to the chief judge in every county of the cases that may require resentencing. Wayne County has the most, at 152. Oakland is second with 49, followed by Genesee with 26 and Kent with 24. Macomb has 12 cases to be reconsidered for sentencing. Prosecutors will have to make legal motions to resentence those they feel still deserve life without parole. Other defendants will get a minimum of 25-40 years and a maximum of 60 years to serve before automatically being considered for parole. Critics, including families of victims, argue mandatory resentencing may be unjust and open old wounds for victims who thought their cases were settled. Local law enforcement officials and prosecutors predict the process will be lengthy, costly and could further traumatize families. Gov. Rick Snyder has recommended adding $1.1 million to the state budget to fund 11 full-time employees at the State Appellate Defenders Office for compliance with the Supreme Court ruling. But prosecutors, struggling with smaller staffs and tighter budgets, say they need more money too. Defense and appellate attorneys agree itll cost money to process the cases, but they argue its the right thing to do. Many young offenders are immature, act impulsively and often are under the direction of older defendants, advocates say. Some juvenile lifers already have served beyond the minimum sentences that would have otherwise taken effect under resentencing, but for the pending hearing in the Michigan Court of Appeals. The bottom line is were not opening the doors and letting them all out there will be a process and a hearing and some will be determined unfit for release, said Valerie Newman, an assistant defender in the State Appellate Defenders Office. And there will still be parole hearings. County prosecutors in Michigan say the process will take time, money and care to ensure that people who should be in prison stay there. St. Clair County Prosecutor Michael Wendling, who recently testified before a state Senate subcommittee on potential problems with resentencing, said: It will tie up my staff and also challenge our resources and I have only four cases; some counties have more than a hundred. Wendling said after it is determined a case will be resentenced, it will mean locating victims, witnesses and experts and diverting assistant prosecutors from new cases. Among Wendlings old cases is one from 2010 in which Tia Skinner, then 17, plotted with a boyfriend to kill her parents after they took away her cellphone. Skinner has been resentenced twice, Wendling said. Another involves James Porter, then 17, of Yale who on one morning in 1982, balanced a .22 rifle on the handlebars of his bicycle, pedaled to the house of a friend with whom he had a dispute and fatally shot the teen and four family members. I suspect we will be seeking the same sentences on all four of our juvenile lifers these arent shoplifting cases, Wendling said. April 6, 2016 at 11:21 AM | Permalink Comments God, Montgomery was such a joke. I mean really, a substantive element that the juvenile's crime wasn't the result of impulse associated with youth? To call this hooey is to insult real hooey. That such a thing could be the result of judicial is just sad. That law professors cheer this drivel is an indictment of the academy. And no, there shouldn't be any extra money going to public defenders. Montgomery should be resisted as much as possible--by everyone involved. Posted by: federalist | Apr 6, 2016 1:01:05 PM Denying money to indigent defense doesn't resist it, it just creates more reversals for ineffective assistance of counsel. Same result after even more costly litigation. Posted by: Erik M | Apr 6, 2016 4:17:00 PM "Denying money to indigent defense doesn't resist it, it just creates more reversals for ineffective assistance of counsel. Same result after even more costly litigation." As they sit in prison. And it forces the left to pony up the resources since IAC requires investigation and a proffer. The fact is that the SCOTUS decision basically, on its terms, eviscerates the ability to do LWOP for these creatures. How does one prove BRD that something wasn't the result of youthful impetuosity? Take a look at the quintuple murderer described here--he got mad and killed five people. That's impetuous, almost by definition, so what's the case for LWOP--other than the sheer awfulness of the crime? Best to let the defense bar work these cases on their own dime. This is an illegitimate decision, and states have every right (and in my view, the obligation) to do what they can to obstruct its reach. If that means not funding defense counsel, so be it. If that means fighting release tooth and nail, so be it. If that means forcing these cases to habeas (where not-unreasonable decisions should be respected) so be it. Tooth and nail, with every legal means at the state's disposal. Posted by: federalist | Apr 6, 2016 4:27:18 PM Part of the problem with Montgomery is its simplistic view of the differences between the state law in the various states. While it sounds easy to say that states should just schedule parole hearings for these killers, state courts have to work through -- as a matter of state law -- what it means to hold that a punishment statute is unconstitutional as applied. A state court might not have the power under state law to simply order a parole hearing. In my state, the initial prospective response to Miller was to hold that (because our state has jury sentencing) that a jury had to decide (not necessarily beyond a reasonable doubt) whether a life without sentence was appropriate. If it was not, then there was no valid punishment for the offense of conviction, and the jury had to decide the appropriate punishment for the lesser-included offense. The post-Montgomery response for the retroactive cases was simply to order that those people would be eligible for parole after twenty-five years. Almost every one of the petitioners is seeking rehearing on that decision, claiming that they should get the same type of sentencing trial that applies in the prospective cases. Meanwhile, our legislature continues to struggle to reach a consensus on the appropriate penalty for juvenile killers (struggling over the appropriate period of time that a juvenile should serve on a life sentence before getting a parole hearing0. Posted by: tmm | Apr 7, 2016 10:59:53 AM "Part of the problem with Montgomery is its simplistic view of the differences between the state law in the various states." No. The majority in Montgomery understood that--it just didn't care--after all, all those sentences were just "wrong." That our judiciary can upset the applecart like that (in cases involving heinous crimes) and then sneer that everyone had gotten it wrong is surpassing arrogance. It's the same sort of arrogance that can take a bedrock guarantee (i.e., that political speech is untouchable by the government), apply some balancing test and, after a Doug-approved Justice is confirmed, allow some political speech to be criminalized. Posted by: federalist | Apr 7, 2016 11:15:03 AM Post a comment Tired of your current drug/booze regimen? It might be time to turn to kava, and now there's a home for it in San Francisco at Kava Lounge, San Francisco's only location at which you can enjoy the 3,000 year old ceremonial drink from the Polynesian Islands. So, what's kava? The beverage, a milky, herbal root tea, is known to relax the muscles, tingle the mouth, loosen the tongue, and yes, kinda irritate the palate (tastes like bark). Open for some weeks on a word-of-mouth basis, Kava Lounge will now hold its official grand opening on April 16th. The vision of Alva Caple, a former Toledo, Ohio tavern owner who is growing his reputation as Alva "Kava," the lounge occupies an astoundingly large space on Divisadero 'twixt McAllister and Golden Gate. After several years under construction, Kava Lounge feels like a hybrid between a bar, a cafe, and a dispensary. Inside, a friendly staff led by Caple will explain the beverage, which is legal and non-alcoholic, meaning it can be served to those under 21, and set you up with a coconut shell full of the stuff (and some pineapple to cleanse those tastebuds after). At the opening, "expect traditional kava ceremonies, tarot card readings, wonderful DJs and live music," says Caple, who hopes it will be a "great introduction to somethign the city has never seen before." Kava can be found nearby in Berkeley, however, at MeloMelo. So far the product has been a hit, and if I may say so, I enjoyed it a great deal myself. As Caple explains it, "this is a beautiful medicine that we're providing that some say eases peoples nerves and helps their muscles relax." Since Caple sells the stuff, he can't legally make claims about its effects, instead attributing them to others, but hey, it's the national beverage of Fiji, so there's that. One woman who came in recently was in the midst of a huge company merger, Caple told me, and couldn't sleep. She turned to Kava, and has been pushing it on her coworkers. "This city could use a little kava," he says. Kava Lounge, 901 Divisadero Street, between Golden Gate Avenue and McAllister Street The number of US states to which San Francisco will pay for travel shrank again today, after Mayor Ed Lee banned all city-funded travel to the state of Mississippi after their governor OKed a law allowing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Mississippi's so-called Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act" "allows government employees to refuse to issue marriage licenses or perform marriage ceremonies and permits businesses and faith-based groups to deny housing, jobs and adoption and foster-care services to people based on their sexual orientation" and also allow doctors to "'decline to participate in the provision' of sex reassignment procedures, psychological counseling or fertility services."the LA Times reports. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed off on the law Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee had condemned the legislation, saying in a statement that "The action taken today by the Mississippi Governor undermines all of our civil liberties, and we must stand up, once again, and call out discrimination when we see it." "Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of Mississippi that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety, adding to our current ban of City-funded travel to the State of North Carolina," which Lee announced on March 25. "San Francisco taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned hate and bigotry against any person or group, especially our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Mississippi or any other state," Lee said in his statement. "I am already in discussions with other mayors around the country to consider how our cities can work together to apply even greater economic and political pressure to repeal or stop discriminatory laws in states like North Carolina and Mississippi." Here's the full statement: Enough is enough. I believe strongly that we should add more protections to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the United States, not diminish them and deny people their constitutional rights. The action taken today by the Mississippi Governor undermines all of our civil liberties, and we must stand up, once again, and call out discrimination when we see it. Again, San Francisco taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned hate and bigotry against any person or group, especially our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Mississippi or any other state. Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of Mississippi that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety, adding to our current ban of City-funded travel to the State of North Carolina. I am already in discussions with other mayors around the country to consider how our cities can work together to apply even greater economic and political pressure to repeal or stop discriminatory laws in states like North Carolina and Mississippi. Previously: In Wake Of Anti-LGBT Law Passage, Mayor Ed Lee Bans City-Funded Travel To North Carolina SERGEANT BLUFF | For the second time in six months, voters in the Sergeant Bluff-Luton School District on Tuesday defeated a measure to finance new construction to deal with crowded classrooms and an aging primary school. By a margin of 973 to 813, voters on Tuesday rejected a $39 million initiative. The issue won 45 percent of the vote, far short of the 60 percent super majority that Iowa law requires for funding measures backed by property taxes. The outcome was nearly identical to a similar $45 million proposal that lost in September with 55 percent of voters opposed. To try to gain more support this time around, school leaders eliminated a proposed $6 million athletic facility. Both proposals called for construction of a new high school and remodeling of the existing middle school. Middle school students would have moved to the existing high school, and primary school students would have moved into a renovated middle school. After the second defeat in six months, Superintendent Rod Earleywine said the board will need to reconsider its options. However, he said without some sort of project in the near future, the space issues and aging facilities will not go away. The primary building still needs $8 million to $10 million in renovations and I cant imagine putting that much money into that building just to get it to standards and not expand capacity, he said after seeing Tuesday's results. Earleywine said now the board will meet and consider the possibilities, but the results showed a new plan may have to be discussed. There wasnt much change in the vote, so obviously, its not what the voters of Sergeant Bluff-Luton want, he said. Information provided by the district shows the tax levy's 20-year average at an estimated $2.11 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. The bond issue would have increased property taxes for a home assessed at $200,000 by $293 per year. The cost to renovate the primary school would be between $8 million and $10 million and building a new primary facility would be $20 million, which would not address capacity issues at the other schools. While a plan to address the issues wasnt immediately clear following the election, Earleywine said the students, staff and community members in the district still have a lot to be proud of. We still have a great school district and a great community, he said. But we do need to resolve the issues soon. Payrolls are expected to expand this year, making it more challenging for employers to find good workers. The strong job market likely will pressure employers to offer higher wages and more benefits than in the recent past in order to attract and retain talented employees. This all adds to the cost of hiring. Fortunately, there is some tax help to ameliorate the cost, here are five new employee tax breaks. New Employee Tax Breaks Work Opportunity Credit If you hire workers from certain targeted groups, you can claim a tax credit for a portion of their wages. The amount of the credit varies with the group to which a new employee belongs. In effect, claiming the credit reduces your out-of-pocket costs for these workers. Targeted groups include: Certain veterans Ex-felons Food stamp recipients Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients Designated community residents Vocational rehabilitation referred individuals Supplemental Security Income recipients Summer youth employees Long-term unemployed (those unemployed for at least 27 weeks) To claim the credit, you must submit IRS Form 8850 (PDF) to your state workforce agency within 28 days of the first day of the new workers employment. The agency will certify whether the worker is a member of a targeted group. Theres helpful information about this tax credit from the Department of Labor. Note: Because the credit was reinstated for 2015 late in the year, the IRS has provided transition relief (PDF) for submitting Form 8850 to the state workforce agency. If you hired any worker between January 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, from a targeted group other than a long-term unemployment recipient (or a long-term unemployment recipient between January 1, 2016, and May 31, 2016), you can submit the form through June 29, 2016, to claim the credit on your 2015 tax return for 2015 hires (2016 for long-term unemployment recipients). Empowerment Zone Credit If you do business within an area that has a special designation as an empowerment zone, you can claim a tax credit of 20 percent of the wages paid to the new employee up to $15,000 (top credit of $3,000). There are urban and rural empowerment zones, which are distressed economic areas designated by the government. A qualified employee for purposes of the credit is someone who works full-time or part-time for a business located within an empowerment zone and who also lives within the empowerment zone. You can see a list of designated areas for this credit from the IRS (PDF). Indian Employment Credit For purposes of this employment-related credit, the tax law uses the term Indian and does not use the term Native American. If you do business on an Indian reservation and you hire a worker who is a member of a tribe and lives on or near the reservation, you can take a tax credit. The credit is 20 percent of the excess of the current qualified wages and qualified employee health insurance costs (not to exceed $20,000) over the sum of the corresponding amounts that were paid or incurred during the calendar year of 1993 (yes, this date is correct). Payroll Tax Reduction for R&D Expenses Small businesses engaged in research activities usually qualify for a research credit. However, until now a credit was beneficial only if companies were profitable. Start-ups and young businesses engaged in research activities may have little or no revenue and cant benefit from the usual research credit. Starting in 2016, they can apply the credit against the employers Social Security taxes up to $250,000, rather than against income taxes. In other words, your payroll costs can be reduced by this credit offset. Small businesses for purposes of the payroll offset are corporations (C and S) or partnerships with gross receipts of less than $5 million for the current year and no gross receipts for any of the preceding tax years. Sole proprietors can also qualify for the credit. Caution: Excessive or bogus research credits is on the IRSs 2016 Dirty Dozen Tax Scams, so expect the IRS to look carefully at claims for the research credit. State Income Tax Credits Dont overlook tax breaks available on the state level. For example, California also has a work opportunity credit and an empowerment zone credit. New York offers an Empire Zone credit, an employee training incentive program credit, an employment of persons with disabilities credit, and qualified emerging technology employment credit. Conclusion As the cliche goes, take credit where credit is due by exploring your employment-related options. While you likely wont hire a worker solely because it entitles you to a tax credit, if you have a choice between workers, the credit may be the tipping point in your decision. Veterans account for a significant percentage of small business owners in the United States. While there are many programs, and resources available to help veteran-owned businesses, securing a loan can be difficult. In this article, well look at ten business loans thatll help veteran-owned businesses secure the funding they need to grow. What Is a Small Business Loan for Veterans? A veteran business loan is a type of loan specifically designed for veterans who are starting or running a small business. These loans can be used for a variety of purposes, including financing working capital, buying equipment or inventory, or refinancing debt. They are typically offered by banks and other financial institutions and can be used to finance a wide range of small businesses. READ MORE: SBA Continues Boots to Business Entrepreneur Training for Military Veterans How Can a Veteran Qualify for a Business Loan? There are multiple qualifications a veteran or active duty service member participating in the militarys Transition Assistance Program must meet to be qualified for a loan, such as: A good credit score. Your personal credit score will be one of the first things a lender looks at when considering you for a loan. A high credit score indicates to lenders that youre a low-risk borrower and are more likely to repay your loan on time. Collateral. Many lenders will require you to put up some form of collateral, such as your home or another piece of property, to secure a loan. This gives the lender a way to recoup their losses if you default on your loan. A solid business plan. Before you apply for a loan, its important to have a clear and well-defined business plan. This will show lenders that youre serious about your business and have a good understanding of what it will take to be successful. Veteran status. There are several veteran-specific business loans available, so its important to let lenders know that youre a veteran when youre applying for financing. Doing so will give you access to loans with better terms that you may not otherwise be eligible for. READ MORE: 30 Best Franchises for Veterans Top Small Business Loans for Veterans The Small Business Administration (SBA) not only offers training programs but several veteran business loans. There are also numerous private lenders that offer veteran-friendly loans. Here are some of the top small business loans for veterans: 1. Small Business Administration Loans The SBA offers several loan programs to help businesses grow and expand. The SBA Veterans Advantage Program is designed specifically for veterans, service-disabled Vets, and military spouses. The SBA7(a) and SBA Express loans are available to businesses with a minimum credit score of 650. The Military Reservist Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (MREIDL) is available to service-disabled Veterans who have suffered economic injury as a result of being called to active duty. The SBA also has the Office of Veterans Business Development which promotes Veteran entrepreneurship. 2. Navy Federal Credit Union Navy Federal Credit Union offers a business line of credit, vehicle loans, equipment loans, and term loans for working capital. The minimum credit score requirement is 650, and the maximum loan amount is $100,000. The estimated APR range is 11% to 18%. 3. LoanBuilder LoanBuilder is a lending platform owned by PayPal. The platform offers loans up to $500,000 with a maximum term of 12 months. The minimum credit score required is 620, and borrowers are required to make weekly repayments. 4. PNC Bank PNC Bank is a great option for a line of credit. The minimum credit score required is 720, and the maximum loan amount is $100,000. The APR range is 12.99% to 14.99%, which is competitive compared to other lenders. 5. Fundbox Fundbox is a line of credit designed for small businesses. The minimum credit score required is 600, and the maximum loan amount is $150,000. The APR ranges from 10.10% to 79.80%. FundBox is an option for Veterans with a low credit score. 6. Bluevine Bluevine is a company that provides lines of credit to small businesses. The maximum loan amount is $250,000 and the minimum credit score is 625. The APR ranges from 15.00% to 78.00%. This too is a decent option for Veterans with low credit. 7. Kabbage Kabbage is a well-known company that provides small businesses with the capital they need to grow and succeed. Kabbage offers loans up to $250,000 and requires a minimum credit score of 640. The company also requires that businesses generate at least $3,000 in monthly revenue and at least one year in business. 8. Credibility Capital Credibility Capital is a credible online term loan provider. Their minimum credit score requirement is 650, and their estimated APR ranges from 6.99% to 24.99%. This makes them a reliable option for Veteran borrowers with good credit scores. Additionally, their maximum loan amount is $500,000, making them a good choice for those looking for a larger loan. 9. SmartBiz SmartBiz offers online SBA loans with low-interest rates to established Vet-owned businesses. The maximum loan amount is $5 million and the minimum credit score is 650. These loans can be used for a variety of purposes, such as working capital, equipment purchases, or business expansion. 10. OnDeck OnDeck offers online term loans up to $250,000 for businesses with a credit score of at least 600. The APR on these loans ranges from 29.90% to 97.30%. OnDeck is one of the leading providers of online term loans, and its loans are designed to help businesses grow and expand. However, the high APR makes these loans a less attractive option for many borrowers. How Hard Is It For Veteran Business Owners to Get a Business Loan? Veteran-owned small businesses can have a harder time getting business loans than other small businesses. This is because the lenders might see them as a higher risk, since they may not have as much experience in running a business. However, there are some programs available specifically for veteran-owned businesses, so it is worth checking into those if you are a veteran looking to start a small business. How Much Can You Get with a VA Business Loan? A VA loan offers veterans and active-duty servicemembers the opportunity to borrow up to $350,0000 for their business with one to five-year terms. The loan can be used for a variety of purposes, such as starting or expanding a business, purchasing equipment or inventory, or refinancing debt. At this point, every business under the sun seems to have harnessed peer power in some shape or form. By taking advantage of the skills and knowledge of its consumers, a business need only provide users with a vehicle of growth. Peer-2-peer (P2P) commerce is a proverbial win-win. Income floods in without a lot of investment whilst consumers are effectively free to buy, sell and engage with one another in any way they see fit. That being said, the model has generated plenty of criticism in recent years. P2P unicorns like Uber have come under heavy fire for their lack of accountability in relying on freelancers. Workers argue the model strips them of their rights, whilst consumers have no way of knowing the reliability of a service theyre about to purchase. In response to these valid criticisms, businesses are already leveraging the collective power of their users in order to create a far more dynamic and democratic beast: the peer army. Peer armies are essentially an external network of superfans that are willing to contribute their own skills or resources in order to supercharge the offerings of a brand. Yet unlike your typical, run-of-the-mill P2P model, companies that rely upon a peer army have got to focus on maintaining a reciprocal relationship with consumers. Users want to receive tangible and meaningful benefits for volunteering their time and effort. It seems companies are finally starting to realize that. How are Peer Armies Being Used? The P2P revolution enabled users to become active participants rather than passive consumers. Yet a vast number of peer-driven companies have gone on to disappoint those active participants by maintaining a skewed relationship. Users want to see a new type of positive consumerism they can actually feel good about and that starts with the construction of a genuinely symbiotic relationship between brand and consumer. In many cases, brands are utilizing these relationships on specific campaigns or initiatives. Companies that may not necessarily be well-known for engaging loyal customers are leveraging the knowledge or skills of their superfans in order to generate innovative new services or programs. Peers are then rewarded through the provision of money, an opportunity to do good or a simple platform with which to show off their skills. The rewards on offer will inherently differ based upon industry or circumstance. All that matters is that each individual foot soldier is treated with equal importance, and can rest assured knowing they are receiving adequate benefits or rewards for devoting time and resources to a company. Who is Using Them? One of the biggest peer army success stories to date has got to be P2P master Airbnb. In October 2015, the startup giant launched a program called Journeys designed to offer bespoke trips around San Francisco. As part of the deal, customers were able to snag accommodation and a range of excursions around the city. There was just one catch: the entire concept relied upon Airbnb users signing up as volunteer tour guides. Thanks to a stellar response from the companys well-established peer army, everybody won. The move generated sales, customers unlocked an authentic local experience and users were offered the chance to show off their knowledge of a city they adore. The peer army model isnt only used by trendy, new-age startups, though. In February 2016, Dutch airline giant KLM launched a similar initiative attempting to transform itself into a hospitality company by harnessing the collective power of brand superfans. Dubbed Layover with a Local, the project seeks to match travelers who are experiencing a layover in Amsterdam with city locals via a special app. KLM connects the potential friends, pays for public transport into the city and the first round of drinks. Everybody wins. Finally, nobody knows how to leverage peer power like Amazon. Last year, the worlds top online retailer decided to drastically expand a special delivery service that relies exclusively on brand superfans. Amazon Flex allows individuals to become independent delivery drivers even if theyve got no connection to the company theyre delivering for. Amazon provides a platform with which users can sign up, manage and schedule deliveries. In turn, customers receive faster deliveries, whilst peers receive cash for taking on spare work. Its the proverbial triple-win. How can a Small Business Create a Peer Army or Tap into an Existing One? From the outside looking in, it may seem nigh impossible for a small business to create the same sort of peer armies that companies like Amazon or Airbnb enjoy. The truth is, this model can be applied to any company operating in any industry. It just takes some time, patience and creative thinking. The first question any small business should bear in mind when attempting to marshal a peer army is simple: who should be included? Even before youve dreamed up a potential peer-powered business model or side project, youve got to have a firm idea of who it is youre targeting. After taking some time to identify your companys superfans, you may be shocked to find youve already got the makings of a peer army in place. You simply arent utilizing it properly. To change that, youve got to brainstorm how your superfans can start to engage with your brand in a more meaningful way. Think about what those individuals can offer your company. In turn, what can you offer them as a reward? It could be as simple as providing a platform to help users show off their skills, regular financial compensation or discounts on existing products. But dont get ahead of yourself. Before encouraging superfans to enlist in your new peer army, youve got to ensure there are adequate resources in place so that this army can be effectively mobilized. Platforms central to engagement must be properly developed before instigating a call to action, and must be constantly maintained and monitored. Support services must be in place to address queries or discrepancies, too. That could mean hiring new community staff, developing an app or producing a dynamic landing page that will serve to marshal and manage your new peer army. Once youve got all your bases covered, its time to join the peer army revolution. Yet its worth pointing out that peer armies may not be for everyone. Although the model can certainly be adapted to any business or industry, it takes a lot of time, leadership and dedication in order to get a peer army up and running. An effective peer army is guided by authenticity and innovation that some brands simply arent ready to embrace. Yet in the long run, tapping into this new form of consumerism will drastically improve the long-term sustainability of your brand. 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 Community Job Fair Calvert County Public Schools will host a Community Job Fair on Monday, May 2, 2016 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room at the Brooks Administration Building. The community is invited to stop by anytime during the event; preregistration is not necessary. Information about job opportunities and the application process will be available for many departments in the school system, including Instruction, Special Education, Student Services, School Facilities, Transportation, Child Nutrition, and Finance/Procurement. Applications will be available for full- and part-time positions, plus substitute teachers, bus drivers, building service workers, and child nutrition staff. Staff will be available to assist with online applications in a computer lab. For more information, contact the Human Resources Department at 410-535-7293. The Brooks Administration Building is located at 1305 Dares Beach Road, Prince Frederick, MD 20678. Teacher Recruitment Fair Calvert County Public Schools invites prospective employees to attend a Teacher Recruitment Fair on Tuesday, April 26, 2016. The event will take place from 8:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at the Brooks Administration Building, located at 1305 Dares Beach Road in Prince Frederick. Dr. Victoria Karol, Director of Human Resources, said, "The Teacher Recruitment Fair is an opportunity for us to get to know candidates and for candidates to see all that Calvert County Public Schools has to offer both new and experienced teachers. We are looking for highly effective and diverse teachers to complement our excellent existing staff." Candidates will have an opportunity to interview with school principals and central office supervisors. Prior registration is required, and all interviews will take place at a scheduled time. Please register by April 17, 2016 by contacting the Department of Human Resources by phone at 410-535-7223 or by email at hutchinsl@calvertnet.k12.md.us. With starting salaries of $45,496 for new teachers with Bachelor's degrees and $48,557 for those with Master's degrees, Calvert County Public Schools offers competitive pay in high-achieving and safe schools. The school system provides high-quality professional development and a supportive new teacher mentoring program. K-12 Science Textbook Adoption: Public Review of Textbooks at Local Libraries St. Mary's County Public Schools is in the process of adopting new science textbooks for use in K-12 science classes to support the new Maryland State Science Standards. All of the textbooks are now available for public review from April 4-22, 2016 in the Charlotte Hall, Leonardtown, and Lexington Park Libraries. For more information, please contact Mr. Jason Hayes, Supervisor of K-12 Science, at 301-475-5511, extension 32105. Vicki Marckel. LA PLATA, Md. (April 6, 2016)On Saturday, April 30 at 2 p.m., the public is invited to a "paint-in" event featuring renowned local artist, Vicki Marckel. The event will take place on the pier at Captain Billy's Crab House restaurant ( 11495 Popes Creek Road, Newburg ). Marckel, a local teacher whose artwork has been commissioned for Pope Francis, will begin working onsite to create a painting of a notable Charles County landmarkthe Governor Harry W. Nice Memorial Bridge in Newburg.Commissioner Ken Robinson (District 1) said, "I think everyone is agreement that the Harry Nice Bridge belongs in a museum. Charles County artist and teacher Vicki Marckel is doing her share by putting the bridge on canvas. Her efforts will memorialize the bridge for years to come.""I travel over the bridge often for art exhibitions and workshops in Virginia. I know first-hand how badly the bridge needs to be replaced. I asked Commissioner Robinson how I could help and he suggested the "paint-in" which I thought was a fabulous and appropriate idea," Marckel said.The oil with mixed medium painting will be on stretched canvas and use grisaille technique, a type of painting executed entirely in shades of grey or neutral colors. Several layers of glaze will be applied with vivid and intense color to increase viscosity and transparency, and to capture the sun's colors over the picturesque and historic Nice Bridge. The final painting will be initially displayed at the Crain Memorial Welcome Center (12480 Crain Highway, Newburg).Marckel, who will be assisted at the "paint-in" by several current and former Henry E. Lackey high school students said, "Teaching and painting are the most challenging and inspiring endeavors. Both challenge you to push yourself beyond what you thought possible. The rewards from teaching are truly more than I could hope forThe energy I receive from my students is truly infectious and keeps me motivated to continue painting and inspiring others to be creative."A fine arts teacher at Lackey High School for more than 10 years, Marckel's work is in private and public collections, has won several awards, and is on permanent display at the Jarrett Thor Art Gallery. In 2015, she was commissioned by the Catholic Coalition of the Arch Bishops to paint "Saints of God, Come to Our Aid." This painting, which featured the saints of the Americas, was gifted to Pope Francis during his visit to the United States, and is hanging in the Vatican. Another of Marckel's projects will be featured at the American Embassy in Rome during the exhibition, "Transcending Boundaries," which will be on display in May and features 20 artists. Overlooking the new elementary school site. (Photo courtesy SMCPS) LEONARDTOWN, Md. (April 6, 2016)St. Mary's County Public Schools (SMCPS) has completed the acquisition of 65.49 acres for the next future elementary school. The property is located on Maryland Route 5, south of Great Mills and is located within the Lexington Park Development District and a Priority Funding Area.SMCPS has been in negotiations on the land for the past 2.9 years, including obtaining approval from the State of Maryland to acquire the parcel.With the close of escrow, SMCPS will now embark on the planning and design for the future school. The Public School Construction Program is recommending planning approval for the next elementary school as part of the FY 2017 State Capital Improvements Program. Actual construction of the new school will not occur for the next two to three years.Funding for the purchase was provided by the Commissioners of St. Mary's County as part of the local capital improvements program."We believe this new property is a valuable community asset which will serve our community well in the future as an elementary school site to relieve overcrowding in the central portion of the county," said J. Scott Smith, Superintendent of Schools. How does comedian Paula Poundstone spend her time? Shes always boning up on the news of the weird for NPRs popular Wait, Wait. Dont Tell Me weekly radio quiz. You win or lose in the lightning round, Poundstone explained. I always try to keep two answers in my pocket. For years, it was Iraq, Iraq, Iraq or the ferrets down his pants. Poundstone became a news junkie as a young adult one summer when she lived with Dr. Timothy Leary, the psychologist and writer who advocated for the therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs such as LSD. I was working all night at the clubs and then would sleep half the day. I didnt have a lot of purpose, Poundstone recalled. Hed come in at five or six oclock and tell me the news was on. Now, she relies on the PBS NewsHour and a little bit of BBC and Morning Edition on NPR, when Im up, to get her information. Shes also working on a book and dreams of writing a screenplay, something in the vein of the hit ensemble comedy, Bridesmaids, that is, if you ask me what a bucket list is. But, then she let her secret passion slip. My quixotic quest to get rid of computers will usurp my time, the mother of three said. After I get my work with my book up and running, I plan to really invest myself into a campaign to get computers out of our schools, particularly our elementary schools. And even our middle schools. Poundstone feels our growing reliance on technology is having a detrimental effect on society. It wont be fastwere a reactive society, not proactiveand were throwing away a generation of kids. Its not their fault, its our fault, she said. Kids sit side by side and text each other and we act like its funny and were not doing anything about it. The advent of virtual reality technology alarms Poundstone further. It causes brain damage. I hope to use what little fame I have to bring it into everyones consciousness, she warned. In the meantime, she focuses on raising a house full of kids (25, 22 and 17) and animals (14 cats, 2 German shepherd mixes and an ant farm) while paying enough attention to politics to cast a halfway decent vote. My ability to pay attention to the news is indirectly proportional to the amount of drama I have in my life, she said in a telephone interview. Poundstone has plenty of praise for President Obama: We all know the president doesnt make laws. I always think its funny when people get mad about gas prices and blame Obama. She is adamantly opposed to a Donald Trump presidency: Trump is a nasty adversary. If you call a spade a spade, hes the kind of guy who will go after your family. And shes finally made up her mind in the Democratic primary: I feel the Bern, I really do. First of all, the banking crisis is poised to happen again and Id like to see someone in office who keeps that at the top of their agenda. Poundstone will talk about the latest headlines, politics and more on her upcoming Florida tour (I dont know how that happened!), including a stop at Fort Lauderdales Parker Playhouse, 707 NE 8th St., at 8 p.m. on April 10. For tickets and more information, go to ParkerPlayhouse.com. At first glance, Florida Grand Operas season appeared to be safeMozarts The Barber of Seville, Bellinis Norma and Donizettis Don Pasqualewith just one exception, a little known work by Mieczyslaw Weinberg, The Passenger. In fact, the addition of Weinbergs opera was a daring act of faith that astounded Arsht Center audiences both musically and dramatically on Saturday night. Composed decades ago, the opera received its first fully staged performance just six years ago in Austria. Walter (David Danholt) is a German diplomat traveling on a steamship to a new post in Brazil. He is accompanied by his wife, Liese (Daveda Karanas). While milling about on the deck, Liese catches a glimpse of a mysterious passenger who brings back painful memories of her past as a warden at Auschwitz during the war. Liese is forced to confront her demons as she recalls the relationship she forged with a spirited young Jew, Marta (Adrienn Miksch). Much of the story is told through a series of flashbacks to those dark days in the camp and the plight of its residents who realize they will never return to their homes beyond the fences. Regardless whether the mysterious passenger is indeed Marta, Liese and Walter eventually reconcile the deeds of her past. The performancesMiksch, in particular, with her powerful voiceare mesmerizing, but the real star of the production is the set by Johan Engels. The steel deck of the ocean liner transforms in a second into the dire camp via a series of curved sets that resemble train cars and actually roll across the stage on tracks, not subtly evoking images of the cattle cars that transported the Jews to their deaths in the camps. Above one sat the men of the opera chorus, serving as both spectators to the atrocities and, eventually, judge and jury. The other section served as Liese and Walters cabin, but when wheeled behind the ship mast reveals the doors to the crematorium chambers. Dramatic lighting was largely provided by spots atop two towers on either side of the stage, both manned by guards in Nazi uniforms, keeping watch over the camp below. Marie-Jeanne Lecas costumes also evoke the conflict of past and present. The camp inmates are dressed in shabby striped smocks emblazoned with Stars of David and the guards wear authentic Nazi military uniforms. But, the passengers on the ship are all dressed in white, drawing a stark, ghostly contrast of people who had put the horrors of the past behind them. Conductor Steven Mercurio summoned a massive orchestra in the pit to tackle Weinbergs score, including saxophones, winds, marimbas and a full battery of percussion. Unlike many of his classical contemporaries, Weinbergs score is relatively tuneful, sung in Russian, German, Polish, French, Yiddish, Czech and English. At times, Weinbergs musical vocabulary evokes the works of Leonard Bernstein, especially the opening notes on the timpani (On the Waterfront) and the jazz riffs of the dance band onboard the ship (West Side Story), and Dmitri Shostakovich, who called the opera one of the most important works of the 20th century. Two performances remain on April 8 and 9 and should not be missed. For tickets and more information, go to FGO.org. Written by- Gary Resnick, Mayor of the City of Wilton Manors For some reason, conservative policymakers who disfavor government regulation, love regulating the bathrooms people can use. Recently, the North Carolina Legislature called a Special Session, not to address the budget, a court mandate, or an emergency. No, they needed to deal with a local ordinance passed by the City of Charlotte prohibiting discrimination against LGBT persons and allowing people to use the bathroom for the gender with which they identify. Apparently, conservative lawmakers thought this was outrageous. They used this as an opportunity not only to pass a wide-ranging bill barring people from bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates, but also to preempt any local government law that prohibits discrimination against LGBT persons or raises the minimum wage above the States. While Democrats in the North Carolina Senate walked out in protest, the bill passed and the Governor signed it into law. Part of the problem with the NC law is that it directly preempts municipalities from adopting policies in the best interests of their citizens, which as a Mayor, I oppose for obvious reasons. The more important issue with this law is that it institutionalizes discrimination against members of the LGBT community. We have seen other states pass similar laws institutionalizing discrimination against the LGBT community: Two states, Tennessee and Arkansas, adopted laws that preempt local non-discrimination provisions. In February, South Dakota considered a bill mandating that persons use bathrooms tied to the sex on their birth certificates, but the Republican Governor vetoed it saying local lawmakers were better equipped to handle such issues. The so-called Religious Liberty bills considered by Indiana, Arizona and passed recently by the Georgia Legislature are really just forms of legalized discrimination. On March 28, Georgias Governor announced he was vetoing HB 757, stating that Georgia is a welcoming State. I am glad Governor Deal vetoed the bill. Obviously, the pressure by companies like Walt Disney Co., Marvel and the AMC Networks, which threatened to stop film production in GA (with a potential impact of $1.7 billion in GA) helped convince the Governor to veto the controversial bill. Time Warner, Apple, Dell, IBM, Facebook, Google, and Wells Fargo, among others, publicly spoke out against the bill. Florida considered such a law this session, and while the watered down version that passed was not as objectionable, our legislators got bogged down debating what bathrooms people would use to stop a statewide nondiscrimination bill from passing. Discrimination could be written into law again in Florida. All the measures supporting equality that Wilton Manors, Miami Beach, West Palm Beach, school boards, and local governments throughout the State have adopted to make lives better for everyone, could be overturned by a quick vote in our Legislature and signature by our Governor. Legislators do not need to dictate what bathrooms people use! We need to show that laws that discriminate will have adverse impacts. Economic impact influences legislation. We should demonstrate that NCs law will not be without consequences. Lets join San Francisco, NYC, and West Palm Beach and ban government paid travel to NC. With a well-respected School of Government at UNC, North Carolina hosts numerous seminars and conferences for government employees. We should also support the lawsuits against the State of North Carolina that are already planned by several organizations that fight discrimination. Also, friends and members of the LGBT community should avoid patronizing NC. Instead of Asheville, GAs Blue Ridge mountains are great in summer and Fall! For nearly two decades, Wilton Manors has been in the forefront of fighting for civil rights for the LGBT community, locally, throughout Florida and across the US. As Mayor, I will continue to support efforts to repeal or overturn North Carolinas institutionalized discrimination and to end discrimination against the LGBT community. SAVE, South Florida's oldest organization protecting LGBT people against discrimination, recently held its kickoff event for the year for political advocacy, working to promote local and state policy change through building community consensus. The event, which was held at the home of SAVE board member Joe Falk near downtown Miami, allowed community philanthropists, young professionals and politicians to interact and engage in an informal setting on issues focused on equality, social justice, advocacy and charitable giving. This is the first of a series of four fundraising events throughout the year that directly support the budgetary needs of the organization. The other events include the Champions of Equality gala in June, the Luminary Awards in September and Halloween Ball in October, said Tony Lima, executive director of SAVE. "People, with their support, fuel the work that SAVE us," Lima said, explaining the event on March 17 was the "'creme de la creme' of LGBT supporters in Miami-Dade County." In 2015, SAVE worked with other human rights organizations on a number of initiatives to secure equal treatment for those within the LGBT community, including: Expanding the human rights ordinance in Miami-Dade County to include gender identity and expression. Working to get several LGBT-friendly government officials elected, such as businessman Ken Russell, now a commissioner in the City of Miami. Collaborating with the ACLU of Florida to bring marriage equality to the state. With regard to this year, SAVE is continuing to work to get a statewide ban on LGBT discrimination in work settings and public accommodations, which includes hotel stays or purchasing goods or services from businesses. Currently, LGBT people can be refused hotel accommodations or service, because they are LGBT. While some municipalities and counties, such as Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County, have local ordinances banning LGBT discrimination of this type, statewide there are no protections in place. This year is going to be "huge for Florida with state senate and congressional re-districting, said Justin Klecha, director of campaigns for SAVE. The Florida Supreme Court struck down re-districting that occurred in 2010, he said. "This year, every senator for the state is up for election opposed to alternating four-year elections. That's really gives us the opportunity to elect 6-8 pro-equality leaders statewide that were previously held by folks who were anti-LGBT. It's going to really change the landscape for us next year, Klecha said. With 2015 changes on the federal level with regard to LGBT discrimination and marriage equality, the tide seems to be changing. More politicians are active and steadfast in their support of the LGBT community and more openly gay politicians are seeking and being elected to office. Carlos A. Gimenez is the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, the largest county in Florida. Gimenez, who is not gay, supports a workplace and public accommodation ban on LGBT discrimination, and was in attendance at the March 17 event. The gay community is very important here in Miami-Dade, and we've been very inclusive, Gimenez told SFGN. They are important members of our society. They are like everyone else, like any other group. It's important to show my support, just like for the African-American community, the Cuban community and every other community that's here in Miami-Dade. Gimenez said that there is a shift in public and political attitudes toward the LGBT community because of education. I think its education, and a lot of that old fear of the unknown. It's taken awhile for people to be educated. At the end, we are all just people, he said. Organizations, such as SAVE, have done a great job in educating the masses about the issues. We shouldn't be discriminating against anybody. It's flat out wrong. Openly gay democratic state Rep. David Richardson, who represents the 113th District (this includes parts of downtown Miami, Miami Beach and North Bay Village), echoed the education message. In his role, Richardson said he focuses on relationship-building among his legislative colleagues, too. Richardson is actively working to pass legislation in Florida that prohibits LGBT discrimination in work and public settings. More than half of U.S. states have such bans in place, according to a 2015 Newsweek article. Florida is not among this group of states. Weve been working on that here in Florida for a number of years and have not been successful. That initiative will be ongoing, where we try to demonstrate to the legislature and the governor that its important that the LGBT community have protections in employment and public accommodation, Richardson said. Many of his fellow lawmakers, Richardson said, when hes spoken to them about this issue dont believe that people can be fired for being gay. They dont understand that its not a protected class, and many people dont believe that people are also denied employment opportunities based on their sexual orientation, he said. The Mayor of West Palm Beach has issued a directive to all city staff: No more business trips to North Carolina. In response to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrorys decision to remove municipal ordinances that protect the human rights of all people, West Palm Beach Mayor Jeri Muoio issued the following statement: "For more than two decades, West Palm Beach has been in the forefront, protecting the civil rights and ensuring equality for the LGBT community. Until North Carolina's discriminatory law is amended or repealed, West Palm Beach taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned discrimination against LGBT people." McCrory, with the North Carolina legislatures backing, stripped away anti-discrimination local ordinances. The Republican Governor took particular exception with the City of Charlottes recent passing of a transgender inclusive human rights ordinance. McCrory, like so many cultural conservatives before him, used public restrooms as a reason why the ordinance is bad policy. The basic expectation of privacy in the most personal of settings, a restroom or locker room, for each gender was violated by government overreach and intrusion by the mayor and city council of Charlotte, McCrory told the Associated Press. This radical breach of trust and security under the false argument of equal access not only impacts the citizens of Charlotte but people who come to Charlotte to work, visit or play. This new government regulation defies common sense and basic community norms by allowing, for example, a man to use a womans bathroom, shower or locker room. Several Fortune 500 companies, including tech giants Apple, IBM, Google and Facebook have called on the Governor to reconsider his actions. For West Palm Beach city employees, Muoios travel ban means no official visits to the Research Triangle, Outer Banks or the Great Smoky Mountains. "We commend Mayor Muoio for putting her strong beliefs against bigotry into action by prohibiting taxpayer dollars being used in North Carolina," said Palm Beach County Human Rights Council Founder Rand Hoch. Wilton Manors-based Island City Stage took home the Carbonell Award on Monday night at the Broward Center for the best production of a play, Michael McKeevers powerful Daniels Husband. The four-year-old company, which focuses on works with LGBT themes, presented the world premiere just weeks before the Supreme Court handed down the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, affirming the fundamental right for same-sex couples to marry nationwide. Daniels Husband was really a gift to the theater and we are so excited to be recognized for best production, said an ecstatic Andy Rogow, artistic director. Its so rewarding to do work that truly affects peoples lives. We were told of so many people who saw the play and then were inspired to get married. In 2014, Island City Stage swept the awards with Dan Clancys The Timekeepers, a moving play about two prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp who form an unlikely bond. McKeever, who is gay, also won the Carbonell for best new workhis seventhand one of the plays stars, Antonio Amadeo, was named best actor in a play. Maltz Jupiter Theatre in Palm Beach County racked up four wins for its production of the musical, Les Miserables, including best production, best director, best actor and best sound design. Following is the complete list of winners at the 2016 Carbonell Awards: Best New Work (play or musical) "Daniel's Husband," Michael McKeever, Island City Stage Best Production of a Play "Daniel's Husband," Island City Stage Best Director - Play Barry Lewis, "Buried Child," Palm Beach Dramaworks Best Actor - Play Antonio Amadeo, "Daniel's Husband," Island City Stage Best Actress - Play Lindsey Corey, "Stripped," Zoetic Stage Best Supporting Actor - Play Paul Tei, "Buried Child," Palm Beach Dramaworks Best Supporting Actress - Play Margery Lowe, "Picnic," Palm Beach Dramaworks Best Production of a Musical "Les Miserables," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Best Director - Musical Mark Martino, "Les Miserables," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Best Actor - Musical Aloysius Gigl, "Les Miserables," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Best Actress - Musical Melissa Minyard, "Ragtime," Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre Best Supporting Actor - Musical Shane Tanner, "Oklahoma!," The Wick Best Supporting Actress - Musical Elizabeth Dimon, "Billy Elliot," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Musical Direction - Musical David Nagy, "Ragtime," Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre Choreography - Musical Greg Graham, "Billy Elliot," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Best Scenic Design Victor Becker, "The History Boys," Palm Beach Dramaworks Best Lighting Design Jeff Quinn, "Constellations," GableStage Best Costume Design Brian O'Keefe, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," Palm Beach Dramaworks Best Sound Design Marty Mets, "Les Miserables," Maltz Jupiter Theatre Best Ensemble Production "Glengarry Glen Ross," Maltz Jupiter Theatre The SpaceX Dragon, on its CRS-5 mission, was captured January 12, 2015, during Expedition 42. Credit: NASA. NASA The SpaceX Dragon CRS-8 mission will deliver 6,900 pounds/3,130 kilograms of science, crew supplies and hardware to the International Space Station. Payloads aboard Dragon will include rodents for a medical study and an expandable module that will be installed after Dragon completes its two-day trip to the station. Dragon is scheduled for launch Friday at 4:43 p.m. EDT/8:43 p.m. UTC. It is scheduled to be captured with the Canadarm2 robotic arm Sunday at 7 a.m. and will be installed to the Harmony module about two-and-a-half hours later. The Expedition 47 crew is getting the Rodent Research hardware ready in the orbital lab so scientists can learn how to offset bone and muscle diseases on Earth. Researchers will be exploring how living in space affects bones and muscles by observing mice soon after Dragon arrives. The largest payload in Dragon is the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM). The BEAM will be attached to the Tranquility module a week after its arrival for a series of habitability tests over two years. Astronaut Tim Peake continued more muscle research today using specialized exercise gear and attached electrodes to his right leg and ankle. Commander Tim Kopra is collected hardware for a combustion experiment that is studying more efficient ways to burn fuel on Earth and in space. Flight Engineer Jeff Williams is training for the new Meteor imaging experiment delivered aboard the Orbital ATK resupply ship. On-Orbit Status Report Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System (MARES): Peake completed partial checkout activities for the MARES investigation by placing Percutaneous Electrical Muscle Stimulator (PEMS) electrodes on the designated area of the right leg and successfully executing ankle exercise sessions. Software issues were discovered which prevented the remaining activities from being completed. These will be rescheduled for a future date. MARES is a European Space Agency (ESA) system that will be used for research on musculoskeletal, biomechanical, and neuromuscular human physiology to better understand the effects of microgravity on the muscular system. MARES is a Joint USOS Experiment (JUE) performed with both USOS and Russian crew members. Rodent Research-3 (RR-3) EXpedite the PRocessing of Experiments to Space Station EXPRESS Rack and Habitat Familiarization: Kopra and Skripochka reviewed training material for the EXPRESS Rack and Habitats in preparation for upcoming RR-3 operations. RR-3 is a Joint USOS Experiment (JUE) performed with both USOS and Russian crew members. RR-3 studies molecular and physical changes in the musculoskeletal system that happens in space. Results expand scientists understanding of muscle atrophy and bone loss in space while testing an antibody that has been known to prevent muscle wasting in mice on Earth. Multi-user Droplet Combustion Apparatus (MDCA) Hardware Gather, Session Review, and Maintenance Work Area (MWA) Preparation: Kopra gathered hardware and reviewed details for configuring the MDCA and CIA (Chamber Insert Assembly) for the Flame Extinguishment 2 (FLEX-2) test points. The FLEX-2 experiment is the second experiment to fly on the ISS which uses small droplets of fuel to study the special spherical characteristics of burning fuel droplets in space. The experiment studies how quickly fuel burns, the conditions required for soot to form, and how mixtures of fuels evaporate before burning. Understanding these processes could lead to the production of a safer spacecraft as well as increased fuel efficiency for engines using liquid fuel on Earth. Meteor Onboard Training and Review: Williams completed required onboard training for the Meteor installation. He verified that the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) settings are correct for payload application and created the Software Image load of the Meteor payload software onto the T61p hard drive. The laptop and hard drive will be dedicated for Meteor use in the Window Observation Research Facility (WORF). The Meteor investigation takes high-resolution video and images of the atmosphere and uses a software program to search for bright spots which can later be analyzed on the ground. NanoRacks Platform-1 Remove and Replace (R&R): Williams successfully removed & replaced the NanoRacks Platform-1 locker that has had data connectivity issues since SpX-4 unberth. The ground teams reported successful initial communications and will continue communications testing for 48 hours. The NanoRack Platform is a multipurpose research facility that supports NanoRacks Modules in the CubeSat form factor by providing power and data transfer capabilities to operate investigations in microgravity. NanoRacks Platform-1 is one of three Platforms and is used for modules not needing power. Dose Tracker: Williams, and Kopra completed entries for medication tracking. This investigation documents the medication usage of crew members before and during their missions by capturing data regarding medication use during spaceflight, including side effect qualities, frequencies and severities. The data is expected to either support or counter anecdotal evidence of medication ineffectiveness during flight and unusual side effects experienced during flight. It is also expected that specific, near-real-time questioning about symptom relief and side effects will provide the data required to establish whether spaceflight-associated alterations in pharmacokinetics (PK) or pharmacodynamics (PD) is occurring during missions. Habitability Human Factors Directed Observations: Kopra completed a session of the Habitability experiment when he recorded and submitted a walk-through video documenting observations of an area or activity providing insight related to human factors and habitability. The Habitability investigation collects observations about the relationship between crew members and their environment on the ISS. Observations can help spacecraft designers understand how much habitable volume is required and whether a missions duration impacts how much space crew members need. Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Quarterly Maintenance: Williams completed this regularly scheduled maintenance today. He inspected X-Rotation Dashpots, cycled the Main Arm through full range of motion, and greased the ARED Vibration Isolation and Stabilization (VIS) rails and rollers and upper stop. Todays Planned Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. On MCC GO Regeneration of ??? ?2 Micropurification Cartridge (start) MAR Setup Ops Soyuz 720 Samsung Tablet Recharge initiate / Video & Audio Video Footage of Greetings / r/g 1861 DOSETRK Questionnaire WRS Water Sample Analysis MAR Hardware Installation and Configuration DAN. Experiment Operator Assistance / r/g 0119 DAN. Experiment Ops. r/g 0119 SM Ventilation Subsystem Preventive Maintenance. Group ? Dragon Prepack MARES. Battery discharge initiate SM Ventilation Subsystem Preventive Maintenance. Group ? / Ventilation and Air Conditioning System [??? On-orbit Hearing Assessment using EARQ Filling EDV [KOB] for Elektron and EDV-SV r/g 1858 CALCIUM. Experiment Session 5 / r/g 1856 WRS Maintenance Relocation of Intravehicular Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counter (IV-TEPC) HABIT Preparing for the experiment Soyuz 720 Samsung tablet charge end DOSETRK Questionnaire SEISMOPROGNOZ. Downlink data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) HDD (start) r/g 1595 WRS Maintenance Soyuz 719 Samsung Tablet Recharge Initiate METEOR Installation OBT MAR configuration deinstallation Battery Stowage Assembly (BSA) Operation Termination METEOR Procedure Review TOCA Data Recording Separation of EDV-SV Separate EDV-SV cover No.1207 CMS Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) Quarterly Maintenance Soyuz 719 Samsung Tablet Recharge terminate EXPRESS Rack and Habitat Module Overview MARES. Battery Discharge Status Monitoring EPO [Deferred] RS Gas-masks inventory / r/g 1859 ??? Maintenance SEISMOPROGNOZ. Download data from Control and Data Acquisition Module (????) HDD (end) and start backup r/g 1595 Installation of Habitat module for rodent research MAR Copy Files MAR Laptop SW Update MDCA Procedure Review IFM WRS Hardware Gathering CIR Hardware Setup MARES. PEMS and EMG Stowage MDCA Preparation of MWA Surface Area Cleaning Nikon still camera Digital Image Sensor / r/g 1857 MAR Laptop Reconnection MARES. Hardware Power Down and Stowage NANO Platform Remove and Replace Dragon Prepack MAR Equipment Stowage Dragon Prepack MARES Work Area Reconfig For Nominal Ops IMS Delta File Prep MAR EPM Rack Hard Drive Installation Daily Planning Conference (S-band) On MCC GO ??? ?2 Absorption Cartridge Regeneration (end) Completed Task List Items Dragon pre-pack [Active] Ground Activities All activities were completed unless otherwise noted. JEMAL ops support Nominal ground commanding Three-Day Look Ahead: Wednesday, 04/06: MDCA hardware replace, METEOR software image load, OBT ISS emergency sim Thursday, 04/07: Rodent Research hardware setup, METEOR setup/install Friday, 04/08: SpX-8 launch, crew off duty QUICK ISS Status Environmental Control Group: Component Status Elektron On Vozdukh Manual [???] 1 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV1) On [???] 2 SM Air Conditioner System (SKV2) Off Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab Override Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 Operate Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab Idle Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 Manual Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) Process Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) Norm Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab Off Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 Full Up Space weather NASA The New Horizons spacecraft sent back over three years worth of measurements of the solar wind the constant flow of solar particles that the sun flings out into space from a region that has been visited by only a few spacecraft. This unprecedented set of observations give us a peek into an almost entirely unexplored part of our space environment filling a crucial gap between what other missions see closer to the sun and what the Voyager spacecraft see further out. A new study to appear in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement lays out New Horizons observations of the solar wind ions that it encountered on its journey. Not only does the New Horizons data provide new glimpses of the space environment of the outer solar system, but this information helps round out our growing picture of the suns influence on space, from near-Earth effects to the boundary where the solar wind meets interstellar space. The new data shows particles in the solar wind that have picked up an initial burst of energy, an acceleration boost that kicks them up just past their original speed. These particles may be the seeds of extremely energetic particles called anomalous cosmic rays. When these super-fast, energetic rays travel closer to Earth, they can pose a radiation hazard to astronauts. Further away, at lower energies, the rays are thought to play a role at shaping the boundary where the solar wind hits interstellar space the region of our solar system that Voyager 2 is currently navigating and observing. Studying the Solar Wind Though space is about a thousand times emptier than even the best laboratory vacuums on Earth, its not completely devoid of matter the suns constant outflow of solar wind fills space with a thin and tenuous wash of particles, fields, and ionized gas known as plasma. This solar wind, along with other solar events like giant explosions called coronal mass ejections, influences the very nature of space and can interact with the magnetic systems of Earth and other worlds. Such effects also change the radiation environment through which our spacecraft and, one day, our astronauts headed to Mars travel. New Horizons measured this space environment for over a billion miles of its journey, from just beyond the orbit of Uranus to its encounter with Pluto. The instrument was only scheduled to power on for annual checkouts after the Jupiter flyby in 2007, said Heather Elliott, a space scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and lead author on the study. We came up with a plan to keep the particle instruments on during the cruise phase while the rest of the spacecraft was hibernating and started observing in 2012. This plan yielded three years of near-continuous observations of the space environment in a region of space where only a handful of spacecraft have ever flown, much less captured detailed measurements. This region is billions of cubic miles, and we have a handful of spacecraft that have passed through every decade or so, said Eric Christian, a space scientist at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who studies whats called the heliosphere the region of our solar system dominated by the solar wind but was not involved with this study. We learn more from every one. Since the sun is the source of the solar wind, events on the sun are the primary force that shapes the space environment. Shocks in the solar wind which can create space weather, such as auroras, on worlds with magnetic fields are created either by fast, dense clouds of material called coronal mass ejections, or CMEs, or by the collision of two different-speed solar wind streams. These individual features are discernible in the inner solar system but New Horizons didnt see the same level of detail. The New Horizons data show that the space environment in the outer solar system has less detailed structure than space closer to Earth, since smaller structures tend to be worn down or clump together as they travel outwards, creating fewer but bigger features. At this distance, the scale size of discernible structures increases, since smaller structures are worn down or merge together, said Elliott. It s hard to predict if the interaction between smaller structures will create a bigger structure, or if they will flatten out completely. Subtler signs of the sun S influence are also harder to spot in the outer solar system. Characteristics of the solar wind including speed, density, and temperature are shaped by the region of the sun it flows from. As the sun and its different wind-producing regions rotate, patterns form. New Horizons didnt see patterns as defined as they are when closer to the sun, but nevertheless it did spot some structure. Speed and density average together as the solar wind moves out said Elliott.But the wind is still being heated by compression as it travels, so you can see evidence of the sun s rotation pattern in the temperature even in the outer solar system. Finding the Origins of Space Radiation Hazards The New Horizons observations also show what may be the starting seeds of the extremely energetic particles that make up anomalous cosmic rays. Anomalous cosmic rays are observed near Earth and can contribute to radiation hazard for astronauts, so scientists want to better understand what causes them. The seeds for these energetic, super-fast particles may also help shape the boundary where the solar wind meets interstellar space. Anomalous cosmic rays have been observed by the two Voyager spacecraft out near these boundaries, but only in their final stages, leaving questions as to the exact location and mechanism of their origins. The Voyagers cant measure these seed particles, only the outcome, said Christian. So with New Horizons going into that region, this blank patch in the observations is being filled in with data. Filling in such a blank patch will help scientists better understand the way such particles move and affect the space environment around them, helping to interpret what Voyager is seeing on its journey. Comparing New Horizons to Observations and Models Since New Horizons is one of the very few spacecraft that has explored the space environment in the outer solar system, lack of corroborating data meant that a key part of Elliotts work was simply calibrating the data. Her work was supported by the Heliophysics Research and Analysis program. She calibrated the observations with pointing information from New Horizons, the results of extensive tests on the laboratory version of the instrument, and comparison with data from the inner solar system. NASAs Advanced Composition Explorer, or ACE, and NASAs Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory, or STEREO, for example, observe the space environment near Earths orbit, allowing scientists to capture a snapshot of solar events as they head towards the edges of the solar system. But because the space environment in the outer solar system is relatively unexplored, it wasnt clear how those events would develop. The only previous information on space in this region was from Voyager 2, which traveled through roughly the same region of space as New Horizons, although about a quarter of a century earlier. There are similar characteristics between what was seen by New Horizons and Voyager 2, but the number of events is different, said Elliott. Solar activity was much more intense when Voyager 2 traveled through this region. Now, with two data sets from this region, scientists have even more information about this distant area of space. Not only does this help us characterize the space environment better, but it will be key for scientists testing models of how the solar wind propagates throughout the solar system. In the absence of a constant sentinel measuring the particles and magnetic fields in space near Pluto, we rely on simulations not unlike terrestrial weather simulations to model space weather throughout the solar system. Before New Horizons passed Pluto, such models were used to simulate the structure of the solar wind in the outer solar system. With a calibrated data set in hand, scientists can compare the reality to the simulations and improve future models. The IT Association has prepared a road show for owners and managers of firms. Font size: A - | A + The digital era is coming, promising to bring many benefits to European businesses and consumers, but Slovak companies are only little prepared for it. And while they rather see the digital single market as an opportunity, experts warn that this is rather optimism stemming from ignorance of the whole matter. To help businesses get acquainted with better opportunities and challenges the digital single market would bring them, the IT Association (ITAS) has prepared a road show of conferences intended to show them how to prepare for emerging trends. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement A fully functional digital single market would simplify online trading within countries of the European Union, remove geo-blocking, simplify the VAT system, among others. Yet while all these may bring new customers and business opportunities for those prepared, others may end up pushed out of the market. Threats can be labelled without exaggeration as existential, said Mario Lelovsky, president of ITAS. We are standing on a threshold of a new wave of globalisation, in which large players are more intensively swallowing the small ones and use their power to take control over other markets. At stake is a lot fates of companies and in a significant extent also the future of the whole Slovak economy. Lelovsky based his concerns on results of a recent survey ITAS conducted in cooperation with GfK and the Trend economic weekly. Based on them almost two fifths of managers of Slovak companies have not heard about the digital single market that should become a reality in the European Union already in 2020. As much as 58 percent of managers and owners of companies have heard or read something about this strategy, but they do not know details. Only 4 percent know the strategy in details. What is even worse is none of the 134 companies that participated in the survey has conducted any concrete measures to implement the strategy into its processes, said Lelovsky. This has to change radically because companies abroad take measures and prepare for these changes. Lelovsky sees the catastrophic conditions of the business environment in Slovakia behind the low knowledge of Slovak companies regarding the strategy of the digital single market. Entrepreneurs are buried under a huge amount of administrative and other burdens, they fight with law enforceability, they fight in order somebody settles with them an invoice, said Lelovsky, adding that German businesspersons do not face any of these problems. If the business environment does not improve, companies will have only little time left to innovate. Digital single market The European Commission adopted an ambitious strategy to complete the digital single market (DSM) last May. The basic idea is that people and companies have to have freedom to fully use opportunities fast internet and modern digital technologies offer them, said Dusan Chrenek, head of the European Commission Representation in Slovakia, adding that for now the current market is a complicated network of 28 national markets and regulatory frameworks. A fully functional DSM would bring many benefits to European businesses and consumers. It would promote innovation, contribute 415 billion to the EU economy each year and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs. As it relies on the cooperation of national public administrations, coordinated EU action is required. The European Commission plans to introduce 16 key measures on which the DMS would stand by the end of 2016. Chrenek specified that this should include making online shopping in other EU member countries as simple as within a given country. To achieve this, it is necessary to address issues of intellectual property rights, data protection, the system of tax collection or geo-blocking, i.e. practices used by online sellers that result in denial of access to websites based in other EU countries. High costs of cross-border delivery of parcels ordered online is another hamper for a bigger volume of online trades. Chrenek hopes that also the cancellation of roaming fees planned for June 2017 would contribute to a proper operation of the digital single market. Conference road show To help companies to prepare for the digital single market, ITAS in cooperation with ministries and other organisations has prepared a series of free conferences to be held in six tows Bratislava, Nitra, Banska Bystrica, Kosice, Poprad and Zilina starting on April 4. The first part of each conference will be dedicated to the strategy of the European digital single market and the second half to concrete solutions and examples of Slovak companies that have successfully gone through digital transformation. We have squeezed the content of the conference into three hours in order managers or owners of companies have enough time to arrive in one of the regional capitals to attend the conference and get complex information, said Lelovsky, adding that during the conference they will explain what the planned strategies mean, when they will be implemented, what opportunities companies have for drawing EU funds for innovations and digitalisation and what help companies can receive. A survey by foreign industrial chambers indicates finds concerns about the lack of a qualified labour force. Font size: A - | A + Foreign investors in Slovakia are optimistic planning to invest and increase their labour force, but results of elections and coalition talks have left them concerned. These are the main outcomes of a regular survey conducted by foreign chambers in Slovakia. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Most companies still perceived the general economic development of Slovakia with some doubts, but many companies also want to invest intensively and increase their labour force, Vladimir Slezak, president of the Slovak-German Trade and Industry Chamber (SNOPK) said when presenting results of the annual survey. The last time surveys gave such results was before the financial crisis in 2009. Three out of 10 surveyed companies evaluate the current economic developments as positive, which is the best result since 2009. Another 60 percent see them as satisfactory. Forty percent of companies would like to increase investments as well as the number of their employees while one-third of companies expect an improvement of the Slovakias economic situation later during this year; 57 percent expect stagnation. What concerns the companies is the political constellation after the March 5 parliamentary election. As much as 42 percent of the surveyed companies see political risk in the creation of an unstable coalition of several political parties and in the strengthened influence of right wing extremists. Martin Reguli, analyst from the F. A. Hayek Foundation, explained that the coalition that resulted from the election is actually Slovak-Hungarian and conservative-social. One can be afraid that these streams will go against themselves and will weaken the stability of the government in those key questions on which they were not able to agree before the election, said Reguli during a discussion at the TA3 news channel, adding that the consequence is concerns that this government might fall and be replaced by a one formed from more populist parties. Such parties have proposed, for example, special taxes for banks or wealthy companies but also by economic nationalism what is in the end harmful for companies as well as consumers. Some 46 percent of the respondents expect that the political development will reflect negatively in their economic situation. The new government will have to work to gain trust in the economic sphere, said Slezak. Large industrial companies with more than 250 employees are the most hungry for investment and hiring when as much as 70 percent of them want to expend their production or recruit new workers. The interest focuses on the automotive industry and the planned arrival of British Jaguar Land Rover is drawing new subcontractors to Slovakia. Industrial companies employ about one-quarter of all the employed, Vladimir Vano, head of CEE research at Sberbank Europe, recalled for the Hospodarske Noviny daily. Industry is and will remain during the near future the biggest employer in Slovakia, said Vano, adding that this is why there is also space for the creation of new jobs. Labour force is a problem Slovakia remains to be an attractive locality for investments in central and eastern Europe in surveys, while only the Czech Republic places better. Poland and Estonia remain the third and fourth most attractive countries. Investors list as the main advantages of Slovakia as EU membership, productive labour force for relatively favourable costs and accessibility and quality of local suppliers. Due to geographical closeness and a generally attractive locality many Austrian companies, especially from neighbouring federal states, perceive Slovakia as an extended domestic market, said Stephan Gebeshuber, commercial counsellor at the Austrian Embassy in Bratislava and the head of Advantage Austria Bratislava. Compared to previous years companies evaluate the qualification and availability of employees as much worse. It shows that Slovakia is used to living from its past advantages, said Slezak. Urgent problems with the education system are bringing to boil the problems of many companies with finding qualified young people. Based on the survey, the availability of qualified staff has reached a critical level while the companies praise the launch of the dual education. The survey clearly shows that the new education minister has further support development of this scheme, said Slezak. SNOPK, the trade department of the Austrian Embassy in Bratislava, the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce in the Slovak Republic, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia, the Slovak-Austrian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian-Slovak Chamber of Commerce surveyed 166 local companies of which 84 percent have owners in other European countries in February. Most of the surveyed companies (49.7 percent) operate in industry followed by trade (21 percent) and services (29.3 percent). Changes made by former government proxy for Roma communities Peter Pollak are now before Constitutional Court. Font size: A - | A + He was presented as the first truly reform-oriented government proxy for Roma communities, but Peter Pollak lost support of human rights professionals only few days after he took office in October 2012. Three years later even his boss, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak, has criticised him for being too slow. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Communication with ministers of former government was very bad during my last year in the office; some of them were ignoring me, Pollak told the press. This work needs political support. Based on the new coalition agreement, Most-Hid installed a new person into the office on April 6, political analyst Abel Ravasz of the Matej Bell Institute. Read also: Read also: Most-Hids Ravasz becomes new government proxy for Roma Read more However, the main question is not who will take the post after Pollak, according to Laco Oravec, programme director of the Milan Simecka Foundation. The question is if the way or architecture of how government deals with the human rights agenda will change, Oravec told The Slovak Spectator. Big plans Pollak, the first Roma ever to sit in the Slovak parliament, has taken over the job of government proxy for Roma communities at a time when two big anti-Roma rallies made the issue urgent. Pollak, part of the candidate list of the opposition group Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO), was geared to pursue what he calls the Roma reform, built around the philosophy that state assistance for individuals should depend on their approach to society, the state and their family. If we fail to seriously address the problems within communities, then the dissatisfaction of citizens might grow into more radical expressions and people will express more open sympathies towards extremist movements, Pollak told the Slovak Spectator in October 2012. Read also: Read also: Kotleba agitates even among children Read more Three years later experts say there has been no visible improvement in segregated Roma settlements. Moreover, extremist Peoples Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) made it to the parliament in March general elections. The Roma reform package was meant to have some 100 provisions which would have been presented gradually in phases. At first, Pollak introduced 10 pillars of the Roma reform package which immediately received criticism from NGOs working with Roma for their restrictive approach towards welfare. The reform included a proposal to cut welfare benefits for those unwilling to work and parents unable to keep children from acting out in school. They were politically motivated and designed to mollify the emotional state of mind of the public, according to Iveta Bihariova of People Against Racism. These themes do not aspire to draw the marginalised communities out from a social miasma, but rather to placate public demand, Bihariova said at the time, as quoted by the TASR newswire. I even dare to say that this attitude will be doomed to failure right from the beginning. Cutting welfare Most of Roma reform remained on the paper but some of its measures have been introduced in legislation. One of the most criticised changes was the cut in welfare benefits for those unwilling to work. Since 2014, basic material-need welfare benefits varied from 61.60 to 216.10 per month depending on number and age of household members. Stricter legislation sees it decrease by 61.60 per month for every adult household member able to work who declines to participate in minor works or community service projects organised by the municipality or alternatively volunteer for at least 32 hours per month. It seems like some politicians imagine Roma like people who have dozens of job invites but they refuse them on a daily basis, Jarmila Lajcakova of the Centre for Ethnic and Culture Research (CVEK) told The Slovak Spectator. Ombudswoman Jana Dubovcova filled motion against the changes however Constitutional Court rejected it in mid 2015. Launching new projects Pollak also focused on building of schools, community centres, pre-school education and whole-day education system. He also increased numbers of special pedagogues in schools working with Roma pupils. Read also: Read also: ETP: State could learn from our work with Roma Read more Pollak also launched project of legalising lands where Roma settlements are often illegally placed. This problem is 200 years old because in past even state supported creating of settlements in such places. However, only four of 504 problematic localities applied for the program. One of his biggest successes is that Slovakia succeeded to persuade European Commission to again include Marginalised Roma Communities item into its funding programming period 2014-2020, according to Pollak and NGOs. NGOs appraised Pollak also for supporting long-term projects which have proved successful. For example, the Healthy Communities project that is built and implemented based on the long-term initiative of the Association of Culture, Education and Communication (ACEC) which started in 2003. The project is aimed at health care field workers who can increase awareness about health issues in marginalized Roma communities. The problem is that many of government measures targeting Roma were rather marketing-oriented activities often using trial and error methods that were not based on a complex vision or policy, according to Oravec. It was more politics doing than reforming, Oravec said. We were promised much greater results three years ago. Hard times Several observers pointed out that Pollak was in complicated situation because Prime Minister Robet Fico choose opposition politician to deal with this complicated issue. Moreover, Pollak had to cooperate with Interior Minister Robet Kalinak which oversees the proxy office. On one side you are trying to recall the prime minister and on the other side you have to cooperate with him, Pollak said in an interview with Sme daily in February 2016. At the end of 2015 Pollak and Kalinak started to blame each other for the delayed introduction of legislation concerning lands with illegal Roma buildings and obligatory pre-school education for socially excluded children. In this case we gave the opposition possibility to show whether it can be constructive, Kalinak told public service RTVS. From this point of view it has its shortcomings and could be better. Later, Pollak openly criticised the new government for lack of solutions to Roma issues in its programme priorities. New proxy, new system The new government should deal with the question how to manage human rights agenda which is currently divided in several offices, according to Oravec. He pointed out that Parliament cancelled the post of deputy prime minister for human rights and national minorities in 2012. Moreover, the government proxy for minorities has weak powers and the post has not been occupied for several years. Read also: Read also: New government ignores Roma and refugees Read more There is a legitimate question whether human rights agenda should not be returned to deputy prime minister or if there shouldnt be ministry or at least office primarily focusing on ethnic minorities, Oravec said. Most-Hid has the right for the post of proxy for Roma communities, but the government is now dealing with the question of whether posts of government proxy for Roma communities and proxy for minorities should be merged, according to Kalinaks spokesman Ivan Netik. When approached by daily Sme, Bugar refused to speak about the issue. We are not deciding where this person will be but whether such person will have competencies for this function, Bugar told the Sme. Three protests to support the demands of teachers took place on April 5. Font size: A - | A + About 300 teachers gathered in front of the Education Ministry in Bratislava, where they handed in three banners with their demands to the minister. The protest march was also to express that they are still in strike alert. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Teachers and their supporters also met in Kosice and Ruzomberok, the Sme daily reported. The Slovak Chamber of Teachers and the Initiative of Slovak Teachers insist that the government should increase the tariff salaries in the education system and also the budget of the Education and Interior Ministries in order to have enough funds to equip schools. They also want the ministry to change the system of credits, thanks to which they can increase their qualifications and also salaries. Education Minister Peter Plavcan meanwhile said that the teachers salaries should increase regularly throughout the entire term of the current government. He, however, did not specify the exact figures for the planned hikes. We discussed the salary increases for teachers as well, and I can say that were poised, for the first time in history, to introduce regular hikes throughout the entire electoral term, said Plavcan after talks lasting almost two hours, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Specific sums still need to be discussed at coalition meetings, but the minister said that he harbours significant optimism. pharmacists and also distributors say there is a shortage of vaccines for new-borns, but the ministry does not know about any problem. Font size: A - | A + Some pharmacists from Bratislava and eastern Slovakia say they lack some vaccines, especially Infanrix hexa. It is used for new-borns younger than one year of age, to protect them against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, hepatitis B, and invasive Haemophilus influenzae infections. Several paediatricians warned against the lack of vaccines already last year, the Sme daily reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement After the daily pointed to the problem, the former management of the Health Ministry summoned several meetings at which they agreed on measures to secure enough vaccines. This, however, seems not to work. It has not been solved, Ondrej Sukel, head of the Slovak Chamber of Pharmacists, told Sme. Read also: Read also: Doctors lack vaccines Read more The pharmacists say that the lack of vaccines might have been caused by their re-export abroad. While GSK Slovensko company, producer of the vaccines, says they do not have information about the problems with distribution of the vaccines, distribution company Unipharma told Sme that they reported the lack of vaccines. Neither the State Institute for Drug Control (SUKL) nor the Health Ministry have official information about the lack of vaccines as the orders from pharmacies are higher than the vaccines delivered by the producers. According to our information, Infarix hexa vaccine is imported to Slovakia in a sufficient amount, which satisfies the consumption of patients in Slovakia, said Diana Madaraszova, spokesperson for SUKL, as quoted by Sme. In total 15,036 packages of the vaccines have been imported, of which only 13,896 have been used. Madaraszova admitted they received information about some local shortages of vaccines. About 115 names linked to Slovakia have appeared in the documents indicating tax evasions and money laundering. Font size: A - | A + One of the Slovak names mentioned in the documents which leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca is Marek Rosa. His company Keen Software House develops successful games and programmes artificial intelligence. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement This stems from the documents published by the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism, which obtained the Panama Papers containing 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca. Read also: Read also: Will the Panama Papers affect Slovak politics? Read more The fact that Rosa is mentioned in the documents does not automatically mean that he tried to legalise the illegally obtained income. Entrepreneurs establish their firms in tax havens also to simplify investments or reduce taxes, which is unethical, but not illegal, the Sme daily reported. Rosa has, according to the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism, links to company AI Assets Ltd. based in Seychelles, together with Ivana Rosova. The companys shareholder is Slovak businessman and investor Milan Hosek, who often writes blogs about share markets and defends minority shareholders. He told Sme that he gave Rosa money for his business activities. In return, he obtained shares in Keen Software House company. I am a co-investor, Hosek added. In the beginning I gave him 4,000 and bought shares of the company. He also does not think that Keen Software House was established to launder money. He has never communicated with lawyers from Mossack Fonseca, Hosek added. Except for Hosek and Rosa, also other Slovaks are mentioned in Panama Papers. For now, there are some 115 names. Most of them are linked to company Green Carbon Renewables, situated in the British Virgin Islands. Read also: Read also: Slovaks allegedly involved in Panama Papers Read more Green Carbon Renewables resides in Sladkovicovo. Its head is reportedly John Novak from Vancouver, Canada. Novak served as president of the Chamber of Slovak-Canadian Business Cooperation, situated on Cajakova Street in Bratislava. Though the name is similar to the Canadian-Slovak Chamber of Commerce (KSOK), the two institutions are different. Moreover, the KSOK has officially disassociated itself from Novak and his activities, the TASR newswire reported. The Dennik N daily reported about another company, Afragola whose authorised representative is Martin Benedikovic from Nitra. According to financial analysts from FinStat, he owns altogether 12 Slovak firms with Panama-based owners. He is also the owner of the third most profitable company in Slovakia, Territorio, which resides at the same address as Afragola. Dennik N wrote earlier this year that Territorio reported a very high profit of 300 million, though it did not have any revenues. Meanwhile, the Slovak Financial Administration (FA) has contacted its German partners and asked them for respective documents. The whole case will be investigated by the criminal office of the FA in cooperation with the National Criminal Agency, FA spokesperson Patricia Macikova told the public-service broadcaster RTVS. Slovakia has not signed any agreement with Panama enabling the exchange of tax information, she added. The ministry will now try to find ways to open the Brestovska Cave to the public. Font size: A - | A + Environment Minister Laszlo Solymos (Most-Hid) abolished the rental contract regarding the Brestovska Cave, situated in the Tatra National Park. Independent MP Zsolt Simon accused on March 31 former minister Peter Ziga (Smer) of renting the cave to Civic Association (OZ) Pegas Slovakia in a non-transparent manner for 1,200 including VAT annually. The agreement was to be signed only four days after the parliamentary elections. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Simon called the contract a disgusting racket of the nth degree and urged the Environment Minister to abolish the contract at once, the TASR newswire wrote. The State Protection of Nature (SOP) will now draft the budget to determine what it will cost to prepare the cave for public access. This includes the construction of a parking lot, changing room, and others. Based on the drafted figures, SOP will either carry out the investment and run the cave on its own or announce a public tender to find a new administrator, said Juraj Rybansky of the Environment Ministrys press department, as quoted by TASR. Nonetheless, the Environment Ministry finds Simons statements, according to which the state prepared a profitable business for a private company at its own expense, to be unsubstantiated. The MP failed to mention one important fact that further investments worth approximately 80,000 are needed in order to open the cave to the public and these costs fall to the tenant, Rybansky added, as quoted by TASR. Furthermore, he also omitted the fact that in order to protect the cave from damage, the number of visitors must be contractually limited to 17 persons at any one time. Meanwhile, also OZ Pegas Slovakia decided to back out of the agreement, the public-service RTVS reported. The Old Town borough introduced plans to reconstruct the square and nearby embankment, but not everybody approves. Font size: A - | A + Bratislavas Old Town borough has introduced the future shape of Safarikovo Square and Fajnorovo Nabrezie embankment, which were demolished during the construction of the new Old Bridge. The spaces should transform into multi-functional spaces with more green vegetation which should host various cultural and musical events in the future, the TASR newswire wrote. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The Old Town picked two designs submitted to the competition announced in January 2016, one for Safarikovo Square and one for Fajnorovo Nabrezie. Its representatives will sign the agreement with winners in upcoming weeks, the SITA newswire reported. The competition to revitalise Safarikovo Square was won by 2021 Architekti + Labak, composed of architects Peter Lenyi, Ondrej Marko, Marian Lucky, Michal Marcinov, Dominika Cerepkaiova, Monika Bockova and Lenka Borecka. The architects now have to prepare project documentation. The borough may obtain a building permit in August or September, and then launch a competition for building works. After its completion, the reconstruction of the square may begin in spring 2017, said Lubomir Bohac, deputy mayor of the Old Town borough, as reported by SITA. The competition over the new design of Fajnorovo Nabrezie was won by a team of architects from Boris Hrban a f&b cc, which includes French architects Hans-Michael Foldeak, Malia Bennaceur and Juliette Guichard. The works will, however, last longer as the space is currently owned by state-run company Verejne Pristavy. The Old Town has already launched negotiations over its rental, Bohac added. Not everybody, however, was satisfied with the results of the competition. Miriam Spanikova, head of the Camera Obskura non-governmental organisation, considers them a step backwards. They return us to the era when there was a plan to build a bank or Labour Inspectorate at the place of the former Landerer Palace, Spanikova wrote in a statement, as quoted by the TASR newswire, adding that Landerer Palace has even disappeared from the master plan. The winning design also does not contain the project of Camera Obskura containing a gallery and a museum, which on the other hand is part of the master plan. The organisation will continue in pursuing its plans, Spanikova added. Salah Abdeslam, one of the people responsible for the terrorist attacks in Paris last November, spent three weeks in Slovakia in summer 2015. Font size: A - | A + Comments disabled Abdeslam, a French citizen with Moroccan origin, came to Slovakia in summer, i.e. before the Paris attacks which resulted in 130 casualties. He was to be accommodated in one of the guest houses in Nitra, two independent sources confirmed to the Aktuality.sk website. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Abdeslam, who belonged among the most-wanted people after the Paris attacks, has been meanwhile detained by the Belgian police. He was living in the Molenbeek quarter in Brussels, known as Europes jihadi central. The information that he was in Slovakia originally came from foreign intelligence services. Abdeslams contact in Slovakia was reportedly one of his relatives, who married a Slovak woman. Abdeslam allegedly came based on his invitation, the foreign intelligence services claimed. video //www.sme.sk/vp/33635/ It was Abdeslam for whom the Slovak police officers were searching during a night raid last November. They carried out several home searches in Nitra and its surrounding, with no results, Aktuality.sk reported. The Interior Ministry has not officially commented on the information. Its spokesperson Ivan Netik told the website that the Slovak police cooperated with their foreign partners after both attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the city. They also checked all traces which could have helped to reveal more information about the attackers, Netik added. The police also checked all information about potential links they received from intelligence services, the spokesperson said. What was projected as a first outlet centre in Slovakia will turn into offices and showrooms. Font size: A - | A + The developer of the D1 Outlet City project, company Ipec Group, has changed the original function of the buildings, which will be now used by Chinese firms. Also the name will change to D1 Expo Business Centre, the Hospodarske Noviny daily reported. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The object will not be used for sales to end consumers, but it will serve as a wholesale and promotion centre for companies, said Ivan Carnogursky, head of Ipec Group, as quoted by Hospodarske Noviny. The company has already introduced the investor of the project, Chinese industrial group Jiangsu Weitian Chemical Group, which has put 10 million into the new business centre. The D1 Expo Business Centre should open in late June. The new business centre currently occupies 10,000 square metres, but the plan is to expand the area to 100,000 square metres in the future. Though it is empty now, Carnogursky says they have already signed agreement with 30 firms. Among the first tenants will be wholesalers with construction technologies, bulbs, in-line skates, and water pumps and cleaners. Most of them will use the nearby warehouses, according to the press release. We are preparing 80 administrative units for our partners in D1 Expo Business Centre, Carnogursky said, adding that they can establish here their central European or European administrative headquarters. The new strategy is based on the fact that Chinese companies that enter the European market do not want to rely only on distributors. They want to be present in the country, rent new spaces and deal with distribution. They want to do business under their own name, Jan Janek of Eusahub company, which cooperates in the project, told Hospodarske Noviny. Jiangsu Weitian Chemical Group chose Senec mostly due to Slovakias membership in the European Union and the eurozone, as well as its connection to crucial western and central European markets. The D1 Expo Business Centre is interesting for its effort to bring non-European companies under one roof, where they can share their experiences and knowledge from the European market, said Lin Shengqin, CEO and co-owner of Jiangsu Weitian Chemical Group, as quoted in the press release. She added that the D1 Park has possibilities for further growth. The developer originally introduced the project under the name D1 Outlet City seven years ago. Since then it has changed the date of opening several times, and even lost its fight with another outlet centre near Voderady (close to Trnava) which opened in 2013. It has also faced financial problems and struggled to attract some tenants. Thus analysts perceive the change from outlet centre to administrative and logistics base for Asian investors as logical. It is possible that another outlet close to Bratislava would not be successful as also the outlet centre in Voderady has problems with visitors, Hospodarske Noviny wrote. The documents leaked from the law firm Mossack Fonseca also point to Slovakia. Font size: A - | A + Among the close network of firms which systemically laundered money for global clients of Mossack Fonseca is a Bratislava based LtD company, according to the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The revelations stem from the 2.6 terra-Byte of documents about clients of the Panama company Mossack Fonseca published on April 3 by journalists from several countries. According to the scrutinised documents, Slovak company Latem Trading offered these special, legalisation services to European clients, the centre claims. It failed to explain, so far, how specifically this legalisation should have been going on. The case is being investigated by both police and financial administration. The Latem Trading company has had, according to accounting statements insignificant revenues since 2009; but last year it made 26,000. The company is dead, last year it had some commission from the Netherlands, the person who put together accounting statements told the Sme daily. The newspaper did not publish her name, as she is accountant for several companies and so far, no information published point to her actively participating in legalising the money, as described in the Panama Papers. She said she has known nothing about the transactions. Latem Trading could have laundered the money for example also though a parallel accounting and fictitious deals with other companies involved in the Panama network. The owner of the firm is a Dutch citizen, aged 53, Gustaaf David Poelen, who owns it through his Dutch firm Poelen Holding. He did not answer initial questions from Sme. In a statement for the news website Atkuality.sk, he denied money laundering. He admitted that Mossack Fonseca is his former business partner. Residence under the Castle Latem Trading resides in Sulekova Street, close to the Bratislava Castle. It is based in an apartment house in which former justice minister Tomas Borec also owns a flat; as well as co-owner of one of biggest law firms, Jaroslav Ruzicka and the former CEO of Tatra-banka, Igor Vida. Poelen bought a flat in Bratislava in 2006, together with his wife Joanette, probably paying in cash. Only two years later, he offered it as collateral for Privat-banka which specialises in private banking. This means that Poelen took a loan from Privat-banka and he secured its repayment with this flat. He comes here once in a while, two times a year, he comes with his family, maybe for holiday, the administrator of the house said about Poelen. Were banks also involved? Latem Trading might have systemically laundered the money also thanks to the indifference of banks, Pavla Holcova of the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism said. They cooperated with banks in a way unseen around the world, she told the Dennik N daily in an interview. Banks didnt give a damn about who the real owner was, they didnt ask. The rules of fight against money laundering require banks to have information on who are real owners of companies, not just straw men. They face fine or even cancelling of their bank license if they violate this rule. When a company cannot credibly explain its owners, bank is obliged to refuse a loan or accepting its money. Read also: Read also: Slovak programmer mentioned in Panama Papers Read more Part of the Panama Papers is also a list of cooperating banks, which includes the Czech E-banka that allowed people between 2000 and 2006 to open an anonymous account. At the time, an entrepreneur did not have to file documents proving owners at all. The list of collaborating banks includes does not single out any Slovak banks, according to information available so far, but there are also traditional big banks like Credit Suisse, UBS, Societe Generale or Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) which owns Tatra banka in Slovakia, as well as the internet bank Zuno. Investigation launched Investigations into dubious transfers began already in several of the countries involved. The Austrian office for overseeing financial market has announced that it started investigating the RBI group. The Panama Papers scandal got also the Slovak National Criminal Agency (NAKA) interested: it analyses the information published by media. The financial administration checks the case, too. We started checking on the situation, FA spokeswoman Patricia Macikova said for Sme. Neither Latem Trading, nor Gustaaf D. Poelen are on the list of suspicious people and companies, the so-called white horses or straw men list which leaked from tax administration back in 2013. Then, Poelen had been doing business in Slovakia for more than five years, and the firm had already been included in the Panama scheme, according to the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism. Details from Panama Papers about Slovaks have not been published yet. An anonymous person handed over 11.5 million documents from the Mossack Fonseca office to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung which analysed them in cooperation with reporters of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ). None of them has published unprocessed data so far. The website WikiLeaks.org has started publishing then gradually. According to summary statistics, one company, eight real owners and 109 shareholders, probably white horses, are connected with Slovakia. "Straw men" enterprising in Slovakia In the Panama Papers case, the name of Jana Lutken is also mentioned as a white horse, according to the Czech Centre for Investigative Journalism. She was the legal representative of a company involved in emission-quotas scandal of the first government of Robert Fico Interblue Group; one of the biggest scandals which goes back to 2008. However, the name of another Slovak, Zuzana Herichova, is mention in Panama Papers, too. She was mentioned in connection with Interblue Group; but also with the toll company Ibertax. In the same garage as Interblue Group, also the Marrat Electronics resides, for example. Its legal representative was British Brenda Patricia Cocksedge with permanent residence in Dubai, who is closely connected with the Czech Republic and Slovakia. According to the Czech Trade Register, she was legal representative in two companies in 2009; in both, also Herichova was involved: e.g. the Nordic Victory company which was close to lawyers of Jana Lutken. Slovak connection abroad? Also the names of white horses collaborating with Mossack Fonseca in the Czech Republic and Hungary can be important for Slovakia, as they can be related to Slovak cases too, according to experts.The Centre pointed to Czech billionaires who allegedly used the services of the Panama-based law agency. For example Daniel Kretinsky, who has a big impact on the Slovak energy industry and owns a company in British Virgin Islands. He admitted the ownership of the company, explained that he owns a catamaran in the Caribbean through it. Such an ownership is common among millionaires, as it is advantageous to have yachts sailing mostly in international waters in countries with developed maritime law. The richest Czech, Petr Kellner, who owns the rights of O2 mobile operator in Slovakia, explained that firms in the Virgin Islands which he owns there with his wife, are remnants of the era when they used to live on the islands. Most-Hid nominee Abel Ravasz will become the new Government Proxy for Roma Communities, replacing Ordinary Peoples (OLaNOs) Peter Pollak. Font size: A - | A + Pollak was recalled by the cabinet on April 6, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak told journalists. Pollak, himself a Roma, announced earlier this week that he wanted to resign from April 30 due to what he described as lack of support from the previous government and lack of communication by the new governing coalition (Smer, Slovak National Party-SNS, Most-Hid and Siet/Network). Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement The Young Roma Association and the committee for preserving the Office of Government Proxy for Roma Communities on April 4 expressed their displeasure that ethnic Hungarian politicians should decide on the fate of the second largest minority in the country (after Hungarians themselves). The Party of the Roma Union in Slovakia (SRUS) on April 6 expressed its discontent with the appointment of Ravasz. SRUS also called on Smer to engage Smers own Roma representative, Alexander Dasko, in the offices structures. Dasko also ran on its slate in the March 5 general election in 147th place. Nobody knows this gentleman [Ravasz] ... we dont know of his work with the Roma, either, SRUS chairman Frantisek Tanko said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. Former proxy Pollak was at least a Roma. Not everything was as it should have been, but he was a Roma. Im disappointed that a Most-Hid nominee will take on the post of proxy. Read also: Read also: Pollak out as Roma proxy, leaves mixed record Read more Pollaks dismissal as well as Ravasz appointment from April 7 were announced by Kalinak after the government session earlier on April 6. [Ravasz] is a young man whos devoted practically his entire professional career to these activities, said the minister. There are many projects that need to be concluded. I believe that hell have the necessary drive and that many issues will move forward rapidly. Ravasz himself deemed the current situation at the office for Roma communities troublesome, as the outgoing proxy had lost the trust of government, as well as his own ministry, and there are bigger flaws also in the concept and implementation of huge European projects. These are crucial resources, though, which will have to be used as effectively as possible in the next period, Ravasz said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. Therefore, my very first task will be to re-build the trust between the ministry, the office and the community, he said, confirming that the office would remain in the current position and shape, with the same powers, and supervised by the Interior Ministry. He stated that he would like to make the post apolitical and impersonal, ruled by professional expertise rather than by political calculation. New ministers have given their drafts of programme priorities to Prime Minister Robert Fico, to be discussed by the government, on April 6. Font size: A - | A + However they did not want to present them more in detail for the moment. These are just drafts, and comments and criticism are still to be collected, Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak said, as quoted by the SITA newsire. We still need to put them into a form that can find general support in coalition and in parliament, Kalinak explained. Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Skryt Remove ad Article continues after video advertisement Fico will present the finalised document for approval at a government session on April 13. At that time, the government will bring the programme statement before parliament and win the trust of MPs. Kalinak, on behalf of his ministry, said that they will face challenges in the fight against organised crime and illegal migration; and in cooperation with the Justice Ministry, issues concerning the fight against corruption and diminishing the space for corruption will be solved. Some ministries have not yet concluded negotiations with their social partners, e.g. the Health Ministry, as the new minister Tomas Drucker informed the TASR newswire. Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak said his ministrys programme priorities were about fine-tuning rather than about setting anew. He also specified that for him, increasing the volume of resources heading for Slovakias development aid in the next years is crucial; to reflect the fact that structure of the Slovak expat community has changed, that there are many young people with families and children, eager to preserve their language. Thus, the traditional expat policy is not adequate to what is needed, he summed up. Justice Minister Lucia Zitnanska stated that increasing the trustworthiness and effectiveness of judiciary is a priority; while Defence Minister Peter Gajdos deems the improvment of Slovakias security defence as crucial. The main task for the Environment Ministry is development of a low-carbon economy, minister Laszlo Solymos told TASR UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) A fresh outbreak of fighting in the Darfur area of in Western Sudan has sent tens of thousands fleeing to refugee sites, with an unknown number of civilian casualties, UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous told the Security Council on Wednesday. "The escalation of fighting in Jebel Marra has led to large scale displacement," Ladsous said. "Humanitarian organizations estimate that as of 31 March, at least 138,000 people from Jebel Marra have been newly displaced in North, Central and South Darfur. Ladsous noted that because of Sudan government's access restrictions, "the exact number of civilian casualties from the recent wave of belligerence cannot yet be ascertained." India is turning away from a decades-old practice of filling gaps within its health system with professionals hired by global agencies and nongovernmental organizations. This step was taken by the Cabinet Secretariat of India to avoid foreign influence on its policies and data leaks in various ministries. The finance ministry was asked to make a list of such experts, who are mostly funded by the World Bank, UK's Department for International Development, USAID, WWF, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UN agencies such as the WHO. Under the new rules, consultants who have been around for three years or more, a total of about 100 people, will be terminated, said Manoj Jhalani, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health. The roughly 100 who remain will need to be approved by a new screening committee. The consultants should be employed for a limited period and for specific purposes, involving only presentations and the analysis of possible development options. However, according to information provided by the Danish police, the law has not been used a single time in two months, which supports the idea that its goal was actually to frighten off potential refugees. The Danish government has taken efforts to dissuade potential asylum seekers from arriving in the country. Last year Denmark's Ministry of Immigration, Integration and Housing posted ads in a number of Lebanese newspapers telling them not to come. Denmark, like the UK, has an exemption from EU-wide asylum regulations that aim to redistribute refugees. Claus Oxfeldt, chairman of the Danish Police Union (Politiforbundet), told Danish Radio he was not surprised that officers had never used their authority to seize valuables from the latest arrivals. MOSCOW (Sputnik)The states which are interested in developing economic ties with Russia and the European Union are dissatisfied with the sanctions imposed by the bloc against Moscow, Austrian President Heinz Fischer said Wednesday. "The ones, who are interested in the development of good economic relations between Europe and Russia they are not excited about the existence of these sanctions But I should say that Austria is a loyal EU member and it must adhere to the decisions that have been made in regard to Russia," Fischer said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He added that the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements was closely tied to the thaw in the relations between Moscow and Brussels. Dutch voters took to the polls Wednesday to voice their view on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, a treaty on Ukraine's political and economic association with the European Union; for some , the referendum has turned into an opportunity to vent their frustration over the EU's lack of democracy. Ahead of the vote, some European media sources have alleged that the Kremlin has been secretly involved in preparations for the referendum. In an interview for the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, American political scientist Robert Kaplan went so far as to suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin had prepared and organized the vote. Looking to see whether there was any truth to the (admittedly outlandish) allegations, Sputnik caught up with Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders outside the polling station where he voted on Wednesday. Was it the case, Sputnik asked, that Amsterdam was coordinating with Moscow on this issue, and was the Kremlin responsible for organizing it? Merkel told reporters following a meeting with IMF chief Christine Lagarde in a meeting Tuesday: "It is not a demand of the German government to have no haircut but rather in our opinion this is legally not possible in the Eurozone. The German position is that the IMF takes part in an agreement We want a quick conclusion of these talks." German Hypocrisy Greek Prime Minister is still holding out for debt relief to be included in the bailout package and has previously reminded Germany of its hypocrisy in not allowing Greece to take a haircut. Tsipras is arguing that Greece should be given debt relief effectively writing off part of what it owes its creditors and allowed to repay the remainder over a period of many years, in the same way Germany was allowed to after World War II. He pointed out the irony of the situation, with Germany today pushing for more austerity measures and refusing to consider debt relief for the beleaguered Greeks. The London Agreement on German External Debts was a debt relief treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and creditor nations, signed in 1953. At the time, Germany had a broken economy and still owed its foreign creditors money from after World War I, under the Treaty of Versailles. At the end of the First World War, Germany was forced to pay the victors huge amounts of money by way of repatriation. Being a broken nation at the time, it found it increasingly difficult to pay off its debts and this was exacerbated by the Wall Street crash of 1929, which plunged the world into recession not unlike the crash of 2007-8 which triggered the current Greek woes. China's own internal demand for steel has dropped as the economy slowed, prompting the country which tops the list of world steel production to increase its exports particularly to Europe, bringing calls for anti-dumping tariffs to be put in place on Chinese steel. However, UK Prime Minister Cameron's government has continually blocked a provision in the EU known as the "lesser duty rule" that would allow Brussels to impose anti-dumping tariffs on imported Chinese steel. Rebalancing Peter Brennan, metals editor at the commodity news and price reporting agency Platts, told the BBC: "There is global overcapacity, there is overcapacity in China, but 50% of the world's demand for steel is also in China. If we're going to get into a rebalancing situation, capacity has to be taken off line and Tata UK's steel division seems to be one of the units that will suffer." Tata has said it will keep the plants open for a period of weeks, but not months, so UK Business Secretary Javid has little time to find a solution that protects the UK steel industry, which supplies less than one percent of global steel production. Met with Tata Steel in India today. I'm determined to do all I can to secure a long-term viable future for UK #steel & workers 1/3 Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) April 6, 2016 One possible buyer is Sanjeev Gupta, who runs the metals group Liberty House. He has said there is a long-term future for UK steel, but that the blast furnace at the main plant in Port Talbot, Wales, need replacing and that productivity improvements need to be made. No set time frame. Tata Steel will allow a reasonable period to find a buyer 3/3 Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) April 6, 2016 Javid's other headache is that no buyer would buy the Tata assets in the UK unless the British Government took on the burden of the company's pension fund, which has liabilities of more than US$21 billion. "This raises concerns, and I am pretty sure this will play a role in this debate," Sefcovic stressed. Nord Stream 2 is a joint venture of Russias Gazprom and Austrias energy group OMV aiming to deliver 55 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas a year to Europe across the Baltic Sea. The project plans to use the original Nord Stream pipeline for 86 percent of the route before branching off. Gazprom has a 50-percent share in the gas pipeline project. OMVs share is 10 percent, with the rest belonging to Germanys BASF, Frances Engie, Denmarks Shell, and Uniper, a spin-off of the German energy supplier E.ON. Sefcovic has expressed numerous reservations with the project, opposed by eight eastern EU member states, most recently in February when he drew attention to political-level issues relating to Nord Stream 2. WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The United States has deployed a dozen F-15C Eagle tactical fighter jets in Europe to support NATO missions in the region, the US European Command (EUCOM) announced in a release on Wednesday. "Twelve US Air Force F-15Cs arrived in Europe as part of the next Theater Security Package (TSP) in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve," the release said. "Approximately 250 airmen and support equipment deployed from the 131st Fighter Squadron, Barnes Air National Guard Base, Mass[achusetts] and the 194th Fighter Squadron, Fresno Air National Guard Base, Calif[ornia]." EUCOM explained the aircraft will take part in training activities that include support for the NATO air surveillance mission in Iceland, according to the release. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Preliminary data on the Dutch turnout in Wednesdays referendum on EU-Ukraine partnership showed that it could nearly miss the 30-percent threshold needed for the vote to be valid. An exit poll by Dutch national broadcaster NOS found that 29 percent of the Dutch voted in the referendum on whether the European Union should have closer political and economic ties with Ukraine. The same exit poll indicated that 64 percent of the Dutch voted against the EU-Ukraine arrangement, while 36 percent supported the motion, according to the Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant. "As soon as I graduated, I immediately joined the army. I wanted to pursue a masters degree, and then to enroll in doctoral studies. But my nation is more important to me. Our circumstances have forced us to set priorities in life," Hamza explained. The young man sees his future as a husband and a father to a large family; he wants to work in a private bank, and to continue to live in Syria. The soldier vows that he will complete his studies no matter the cost, and will get the degrees he set his sights on before the war. In the meantime, the war demands his full attention. War Did Not Allow Me to Bury My Father Tammam Maala, an engineer by profession came to know the smell of the earth in the trenches, and the feel of dust thrown up by exploding shells from the first days of the war. In 2010, he received his degree in civil engineering; a year later, armed conflict broke out across his country. Since then, his weapon became his inseparable companion on the battlefield. Tammam was severely wounded several times. The army's command advised him to leave the front lines for health reasons, but he refused. "I returned to the front again and again. While I have been here, at war, so much has happened with my family. The worst thing was my father's death; I was not able to come for his funeral. For me it is a great wound that I was not able to say goodbye to my father. The words he told me the last time we met, when he squeezed my hand in his, console me; 'I'm proud that my son is among our country's heroes', he said." Like the rest of his squad, Tammam dreams of peace falling over Syria, which would allow him to find internal peace and start thinking about a family. "I dream of naming my son after my father, to extinguish the fire in my heart," the soldier said. Dreaming of Peace and Family 28-year-old Mohammed Ammar, from Tartus, is an accountant by profession, but now also a veteran of the army, who volunteered to fight to protect his home country as soon as conflict broke out. President Barack Obamas recent interview in The Atlantic doesnt help matters. During a series of unusually candid conversations, the President said that the Saudi government was a "free rider," and that he had no interest in supporting Riyadh at the expense of the broader Middle East. "An approach that said to our friends 'You are right, Iran is the source of all problems, and we will support you in dealing with Iran' would essentially mean that, as these sectarian conflicts continue to rage and our Gulf partners, our traditional friends, do not have the ability to put out the flames on their own, and would mean that we have to start coming in and using our military power to settle scores," he said. In response to this article, Turki al-Faisal, a senior Saudi prince, wrote an open letter to the President, published in the Arab News. "No, Mr. Obama. We are not the 'free rider'to whom you refer," al-Faisal wrote. "We lead from the front and we accept our mistakes and rectify them." "Obamas comments on sharing the neighborhood are interpreted very clearly in Saudi Arabia as Iranian power has to increase and Saudi power has to diminish," said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at CSIS, according to Bloomberg. According to American political analyst and researcher Phil Butler, the US -backed Saudi Arabian war against Yemen is neither about the longstanding sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites, nor about the much-discussed military campaign aimed against al-Qaeda in the region. While Western media outlets usually refer to Yemen as a "small" energy producer, the truth of the matter is the country is sitting on substantial oil and gas reserves, which Saudi Arabia and its allies want to control, Butler notes. In addition, Yemen lies at the Bab el-Mandab, a key checkpoint for maritime transit of oil, with 3.4 million barrels of oil passing through it each day. Furthermore, Trump has not joined the chorus of those who brand China and Russia as "existential" threat to the US security. Quite the contrary, he asks: "Wouldn't it be nice to get along with Russia and China for a change?" The proposed policies threaten the ruling elite and its money interests, which depend on "the superpower public purse." "The electoral dynamite of all the Americans who have lost all their good blue-collar jobs, social benefits and public infrastructures is recognized only in class condescension. But the facts cannot be denied of a corporate globalization effectively stripping the lower middle classes and the public realm itself with no-one in Washington establishment saying a word against the greatest transfer of wealth to the 1% in history," the Canadian academic underscores. McMurtry's vision echoes the stance of CIA veteran Philip Giraldi, who wrote in his March article for The Unz Review: "Now we all know that many of those, who are hating on Donald Trump, are doing so because he is threatening the cozy-crony-politico-predatory-capitalist system that has made so many of them fat and rich," the CIA veteran emphasized. In his turn, Patrick J. Buchanan, the US conservative commentator, notes in his recent Op-Ed for The American Conservative that transnationalism and globalism are "moribund." Buchanan calls attention to the fact that Trump has become a real game-changer. "Whatever happens to Trump, the country has spoken," he stresses. "And if the establishment refuses to heed its voice, and returns to the policies the people have repudiated, it should take heed of John F. Kennedy's warning: 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, make violent revolution inevitable'," Buchanan warns. According to McMurtry, Trump is a "pure capitalist" and by no means a "working-class hero," but he is the only presidential candidate who turned the spotlight on the rotten system which is undermining the US economy and social stability. As to whether Sanders supporters will rally behind Clinton if the former loses, Puryear said, "We have a huge 60, 70, 80 percent of young people at least looking positively at socialism. Even Hillary Clinton has moved unbelievably to the left. I think what you see is the young people, the so-called millennials in this country are very far to the left. At the end of the day what we'll have to see is that these people will not be following blindly to Hillary Clinton, because the younger generation is not only moving to the left, but also acting to the left." He mentioned the Black Arts Movement, the Occupy movement, the Immigrant Rights movement and others, as examples. "It's not the people voting," he said, "it's people acting." Discussing whether candidate Clinton has actually "moved to the left," Akin recalled the Democratic front runner's time as a member of Walmart's board of directors. According to Akin, during this time, Clinton "said not one single critical word" regarding Walmart policies. "She sure as hell wasn't for raising minimum wage, in fact she wasn't doing anything for workers." Akin recalled a public speech by Clinton in 2004, in which she praised Walmart's business model. "I think this shows her true feelings and beliefs," said Akin. "This is not good for the working class." On the other hand, discussing the victory of Ted Cruz, who is the Republican favorite in the party's campaign to stop Donald Trump, Puryear noted that Cruz is a "far right candidate, supporting the 1%,'" the richest of the rich. Puryear stated that Cruz's tax reforms indicate that poor people would pay less in taxes, but the cost of living would increase significantly. According to the author, under Cruz's tax reforms, "the rich will become very rich and everyone else will have to fight each other for the tiny scraps that are given to them." Asked whether the Republican Party might be fractured by Trump if he is denied the nomination, Puryear, said "absolutely," adding that, "it's technically possible." According to Puryear, "a handful of billionaires can fund a campaign," and this has changed the political landscape. "Instead of getting to everyone you can to get the resources you need, only a handful of people can do it, so you don't have so much incentive to unite [people]." The new National Guard's tasks, the president noted, will include those previously assigned to OMON and SOBR, tactical special rapid response forces whose functions include the maintenance of public order, assisting police (in a manner similar to SWAT in America), and maintaining order in the event of a state of emergency. At the same time, the decree published on the president's website explains, the National Guard will also be charged with assuring territorial defense, preventing and dealing with internal armed conflicts, and guarding important facilities, such as nuclear power plants, and cargoes, as well as the protection of other property. The federal body, according to the decree, will also work with the Federal Security Service (Russia's main intelligence agency) in the protection of state borders. The reorganization, Russian analysts have noted, is significant precisely due to the new body's potential size and strength; the Internal Troops currently number about 200,000 men, and in addition to their other functions, they play an important role in maintaining law and order in the North Caucasus. The troops are fully motorized, have access to armored vehicles (though in smaller quantities than the army), and have their own aviation, engineering, marine and other formations as well. In addition to the Internal Troops, the National Guard will ostensibly include territorial SWAT and riot police, as well as federal security guard services, totaling 230,000 people; all told, therefore, the new federal service will have up to 430,000 people under its command. The company added that many hackers are now providing customers with the ability to work through so-called "guarantors." "A guarantor for a legitimate transaction typically ensures that the exchange of data and payment takes place fairly by holding money and the product before distributing it to both parties involved in the transaction," the report explained. The services offered by hackers include accessing Gmail and Yahoo accounts, and hacking into popular Russian and Ukrainian email providers such as Mail.Ru, Yandex, Rambler and Ukr.net. An email hack costs anywhere from $65 to $129, according to the report. The hackers also offer to access US and Russian socials media accounts, corporate emails and sell credit card credentials from around the world. Providing DDoS, or distributed denial-of-service attacks, is another popular service hackers offer. In addition, Russian hackers are ready to provide full business dossiers on Russian companies. "The hackers are selling information and documents from Russian organizations, including all of the credentials associated with a companys various bank accounts (account numbers, logins, passwords, tokens)," the report pointed out. Yet another hackers' service includes selling identities, passports, social security cards and other documents. "The price for an actual US passport ranges from $3,000 to as high as $10,000," the report said. "Templates for US passports sell anywhere from $100 to $300, and the buyer must find their own printer." Dell SecureWorks urged individuals and companies to implement protective measures to address the threat of potential cyberattack. The company advised building strong technology defenses, using encrypted email and employing vulnerability scanning, among other measures to guard against hacks. The postings are generally anonymous, says Oskar Deutsch, the president of the Jewish Communities of Austria (IKG), declaring, "The whole picture is terrifying." It is not only the general population that is affected by the migrant crisis. The Jewish community is threatened as well, as an increasing amount of Muslims is claimed to cause problems for the 15,000 Jews living in Austria. "There is an increasing concern in our community that if the proportion of Muslims in Austria continues to rise due to immigration, due to the refugees this could become problematic for us," said Raimund Fastenbauer, the IKG's Secretary General. The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in January urged the European Union and its member states to increase efforts to counter expressions of online anti-Semitism. "DOD officials stated that the department had not yet determined the approach it would take to support a civil authority in a cyberincident and, as of January 2016, DOD had not begun efforts to issue or update guidance and did not have an estimate on when the guidance will be finalized," said Joseph W. Kirschbaum, Government Accountability Office director for defense capabilities and management, according to Defense One. Kirschbaum stated that until the Pentagon, "clarifies the roles and responsibilities of its components," the US defense apparatus "may not be positioned to effectively employ its forces and capabilities to support civil authorities in a cyberincident." NORTHCOM has a pre-approved concept plan allowing it to operate civilian cyber missions with other DOD components supporting in conducting missions, Kirschbaum said. CYBERCOM, by comparison, does not yet have a formal guideline in place. US law requires the Pentagon to develop a plan for Cyber Command by next month. WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not specifically target Muslim-American communities, but it does respond to terrorist efforts to engage those communities, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said on Wednesday. "Our CVE [countering violent extremism] mission is a generic one, we are not targeting a religion or even a specific group," Johnson stated in a speech at the CVE Symposium in Washington, DC. Johnson qualified his statement by noting that the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, is targeting US-Muslim communities, "so we must respond in counter to that effort as a matter of homeland security." Another, he claims, is the Wall Street lobby, which seeks to destroy all commercial barriers hindering the flow of American capital and the activity of businesses at the international level. "Finally, there is an Israeli-American lobby exerting an influence on Washington's Middle East policy and seeking to prompt the United States to lend unconditional support to Israel," Pinatel said. He added that the primary goal of US foreign policy is to prevent the creation of Eurasia, namely, the establishment of a union or a strategic partnership between Europe and Russia, a purpose that he said is in line with the interests of all the lobbies. To fulfil this goal, the United States and NATO are playing on the Eastern European countries' distrust toward Russia, according to Pinatel. "It is regrettable that Angela Merkel and Francois Hollande knelt down to US demands. Although any independent analyst can use the facts and come to the conclusion that it was US action that led a coup in Ukraine on February 20, 2014, which in turn finally resulted in the atmosphere of the Cold War, [which has been] used by Washington to deploy a tank brigade in Eastern Europe," he said. Washington's confrontation with Russia is in sync with the demands of the US military-industrial lobby, which is poised to constantly increase the defense budget, according to Pinatel. MOSCOW (Sputnik)On Tuesday, the minister said his country would reclassify Panama as a tax haven after taking it off the list in 2012. Frances List of Non-Cooperative States and Territories (NCST) imposes a 75-percent withholding tax on French businesses and individuals with investments in blacklisted jurisdictions. "I also wish that the OECD was convened so that the same decision would be taken by all the countries concerned. At that point, Panama will not scare anyone," Sapin said in an interview with Frances Europe 1 radio. His call came after German media exposed on Sunday the alleged involvement of multiple former and current world leaders in offshore schemes by publishing materials it claims came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama firm that specializes in selling offshore companies. MOSCOW (Sputnik)NATO should put more effort into supporting countries that are running counter-radicalization programs, UK top envoy to the alliance Gen. Adrian Bradshaw said. "There is a lot more, I think, that can be done to support nations that are running their own counter-radicalization programs," Bradshaw told the BBC broadcaster. According to Bradshaw, the alliance should promote successful national strategies on countering radicalization of individuals, such as training Islamic imams to preach tolerant traditional and not radical Islam. Such programs, according to the UK military official, are successfully implemented in Jordan. MOSCOW (Sputnik)On March 30, head of Russias space agency Roscosmos Igor Komarov suggested that reports of the launch services sale by Russian corporation Energia Overseas were "close to the truth" and that paperwork was being processed. "If Energia succeeds in selling these assets and moving all of the proceeds thereof to Russia, without paying the hundreds of millions of dollars that it owes, it would unquestionably complicate Boeings collection efforts," the SpaceNews publication reported Tuesday quoting the court filing. Citing a motion for a preliminary injunction filed on April 2 with the United States District Court for the Central District of California, the outlet said Boeing argued that the sale could hinder its ability to collect on a summary judgment issued against Energia last fall of at least $300 million. "The purpose of our call for national dialogue is the cessation of public conflicts, political strife and armed confrontations so that all state elements contribute to the countrys return to the path of recovery and revival. So far all or most of the social elements have not realized the necessity of public interests dominating those of the party or tribe," Bashir stressed. According to the United Nations, fighting this year has forced 73,000 people to flee their homes in the arid region where little grows and temperatures frequently top 40 degrees Celsius. Thousands more are trapped in the conflict zone of Jebel Marra without access to aid. Conflict between different communities in Darfur, a region in western Sudan, began in the 1980s and escalated dramatically in 2003, when rebel groups launched a campaign to topple Bashirs government. The main issue is ethnic as opposed to religious, as fighters on both sides are Muslim. The United Nations estimates that as many as 300,000 people have been killed in the conflict and another 2.5 million are displaced. MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana AlexandrovaOn Tuesday, Russias permanent representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said that Russias proposal to include Kurds in Geneva Syrian talks was vetoed by the UN Security Councils Western members as well as by non-permanent Council member Ukraine. All countries who oppose joining Kurds have their interests with Turkey and are under its pressure. Kurds are not enemies to Turkish people, Saleh Muslim said adding that the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "should give up Kurdophobia for the good of nations. Muslim welcomed the Russian initiative to invite Kurds to the Geneva talks stressing that negotiations will not be fruitful if Kurds excluded. He added that at the moment there was no such invitation. MOSCOW (Sputnik)Intra-Syrian negotiations in Geneva will resume on April 13 instead of April 11 as previously announced, a source in the Syrian opposition taking part in the talks told Sputnik on Wednesday. "Today, we received a notice from [UN's Syria envoy] de Mistura's office that the next round of negotiations would begin in Geneva on April 13 instead of 11," the source said. The previous round of Syrian talks wrapped up on March 24 after 10 days of intense discussions. "Since this time it is usual in the West to regard Moscow's politics through a moral prism and evaluate them on that basis. In principle there is nothing wrong with doing this, so long as you apply the same standards to yourself." "But that rarely happens, which is why the moralizing attitude of the West suffers under a crude double standard. Those who were happy to take the USSR's help against Nazi Germany could not or would not understand, after the war ended, why Moscow was not willing to return to the borders of 1939." Osthold holds the behavior of the Soviet leadership in the same regard as the US government, which during the same era sought its own influence in Western Europe. This took the form of "strengthening" democratic structures and a free market economy within the American sphere of influence that induced a period of prosperity. "In truth the US hardly did this from altruism, but was above all pursuing geopolitical interests, as great powers do. Since the USSR, in contrast, was building a socialist system, it was clear: Moscow is an enemy of the free world and a threat to world peace," Osthold wrote, reminding readers of Ronald Reagan's 1983 speech in which he described the USSR as the "Evil Empire." Since the 1990's, when the West refused to treat Russia as a great power and rather enjoyed focusing on the public appearances of President Yeltsin, Russia's resurgence has against been treated as a threat and its foreign policy is "continually morally criticized." WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Tucson is visiting the South Korean coastal city of Chinhae as part of an Indo-Pacific deployment that showcases US military capabilities in the region, the US Navy said in a press release on Wednesday. "Measuring more than 360-feet long, Tucson is one of the stealthiest and most advanced submarines in the world," the release stated. "This submarine is capable of supporting a multitude of missions, including anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface ship warfare, strike, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance." The release explained that the Tucson is equipped with 12 twelve vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles and four torpedo tubes, giving the vessel "great offensive capabilities and strategic value." Use Your Noodle and Delle Donne came through with impressive victories in their respective $20,000 divisions of the Delaware Standardbred Breeders Fund for three-year-old filly pacers Tuesday at Dover Downs. Jim Morand made good use of a two-hole trip with Use Your Noodle to overtake race-favourite Apple Bottom Jeans (Montrell Teague) in deep stretch to score a 1:52.3 lifetime mark in the first $20,000 prelim. The win was the second straight for the Artzina-Lo Gophobia sophomore beating the DSBF freshman champion. Eternal Ring (Jonathan Roberts) has been racing well but had to accept a third-place finish. Use Your Noodle is trained by Les Givens for owners Feeney, Johnson, Faragalli III and Nanticoke Racing. Delle Donne and Corey Callahan made up for a disappointing second last week by chalking up a 1:54.3 victory, also a new personal mark, coming from post 8 and on the mid-backstretch went four-wide to get the lead and pull off to a convincing victory. Fiftyshadesofrusty (George Dennis) cut out all the fraction until Della Donne flew by in the stretch to victory. Rowdy Patti (Tony Morgan) picked up third money. The Dylan Davis-trainee won for the fourth time this year in five starts for Brit Evans, Tina Clark and Foulk Stables who own the Art Director-Chloes Silver Star filly. The top eight point-getters return next Tuesday for one of a weeklong cavalcade of $100,000 DSBF finals. Fashion Showdown, who finished February and began March with powerful Mare Open wins, returned to the winners circle after Corey Callahan raced behind leader Empress Deo (Allan Davis) collared the leader nearing the finish line and scored a 1:52 victory for Chris White, her fifth success of the year. Paradise Lost (Vic Kirby) finished third with Sage N (Tim Tetrick) and Sassa Hanover (Morand) out-of-the money. Craig McInnis conditions the Village Jolt-Catch The Show six-year-old who now has banked $63,480 this year and $218,885 lifetime on 19 wins. (With files from Dover Downs) Post Time with Mike and Mike has sent out a preview of its upcoming episode. The episode will take place in its regular Thursday (April 7) timeslot of 7 p.m. Larry Rheinheimer will join the show to talk about Freaky Feet Pete, who recently qualified at Hoosier Park. New England Hall of Fame horseman Jim Winske will discuss his career in the industry, as well as his current endeavour, Embroidery Unlimited. Mohegan Sun Pocono's Jennifer Starr will be on to preview the 2016 meet at the Wilkes-Barre oval. New Vocation's very own Winnie Morgan Nemeth will also join the broadcast to talk about her partnership with the USTA and the OHHA to promote the Standardbred at Equine Affaire at the Ohio Expo Center this weekend. (With files from Post Time) 06 April 2016 Cuba Bans Cluster Munitions This important event was witnessed by CMC Director Megan Burke who congratulated Cuba representatives Cuba is the 99th State Party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The instrument of accession was submitted to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the UN Headquarters in New York, on 6 April 2016. With Cubas accession, 119 states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions: 99 states parties and 20 signatories. We are very pleased to hear this news. Cuba was the country with perhaps some of the greatest political constraints towards joining the Convention on Cluster Munitions and it has done it. Once again it shows that banning cluster munitions just requires an awareness of their humanitarian impact, and political will, said Camilo Serna of the Colombian Campaign to Ban Landmines and a representative of the Cluster Munition Coalition governance board. The Cluster Munition Coalition congratulates Cuba on its accession and encourages it to actively promote the universalization of the Convention by inviting all states not party to join the Convention, in particular Latin American and Caribbean countries that have not yet renounced cluster munitions. Cuba is a country whose decisions have an important regional influence, especially in the Caribbean. Acceding to the Convention on Cluster Munitions sends a strong message to the few Latin American and Caribbean countries that remain outside the Convention. We are close to being the first region free of cluster munitions. There is no excuse, not political or technical, to prevent a universal ban on these weapons from becoming a reality, said Serna. Cuba is not known to have used, produced, or exported cluster munitions. According to the Cluster Munition Monitor Cuba has a stockpile of cluster munitions, although Cuba has never confirmed it. The CMC hopes that Cuba will report on its stockpile in its initial transparency report due in 2017, and subsequently undertake the destruction of any remaining stocks. Twenty-four of the thirty-five countries in the Americas have ratified or acceded to the Convention. Haiti and Jamaica have signed the Convention. Nine countries in the Americas (Argentina, Bahamas, Barbados, Brazil, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Suriname, U.S. and Venezuela) have not joined the Convention yet. The Convention will enter into force for Cuba on 1 October 2016. CMC Director Megan Burke congratulates Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes of Cuba. 6 April 2016 at UN in New York. tech2 News Staff Technology major Apple may get its new spaceship-lookalike campus in California completed much before its planned completion date that was originally set for end of 2016 or early 2017, a media report said. "A new drone video shows Apple's massive campus coming together. Yes, it looks like a UFO. And, yes, it is estimated to cost close to $5 billion dollars," a report in The Verge said. A few months ago, the buildings appeared to be in their primary stages. However, the latest aerial drone video of the Cupertino-based campus shows that glass and solar panels are being put in place. There is even a new peek at the auditorium where the company may hold its events in future. Recently, Apple's plan to sell refurbished or used iPhones is facing stiff opposition from local players such as Samsung, Micromax, Intex and Karbonn. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple had applied to become the first company to import and sell used iPhones in 2015 but, environment ministry had rejected its request. Why even consider allowing import of used phones when import of other used goods such as cars are precluded by 300 percent duty levies? asked Ravinder Zutshi, chairman of the newly formed Mobile and Communications Council, which issued the letter. With inputs from IANS hidden Chinese hackers were possibly behind one of the world's biggest cyber heists, the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, a senator in the Philippines said on Tuesday, while a Manila bank manager involved in the case said she was a pawn of senior bankers and unnamed tycoons. Unidentified hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February and funneled it through a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) to casinos and gambling agents in the Philippines. "It would appear they are not Filipino hackers (but) possibly Chinese hackers," said Ralph Recto during a Senate inquiry in the capital Manila. "They saw the vulnerability in the (Philippines) banking system or one bank." Recto did not give any details on why he thought the hackers were Chinese. But the Senate was told in a previous session that the money was brought into the Philippines by two Chinese high-rollers, one from Macau and one from Beijing. The hackers who infiltrated the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank tried to steal $951 million from its account at the New York Fed although most transactions were blocked. But $81 million was transferred into four RCBC accounts at a single Manila branch, which had each been opened with a $500 deposit and remained inactive for almost a year. All of the funds were then transferred to a foreign exchange broker and further distributed. "I am but a pawn in a high-stakes chess game played by giants in international banking and high finance," Maia Santos Deguito, the branch manager, told the senate committee. "If this committee is looking for the 'grandmaster,' it is not me," she said. Without naming names, Deguito blamed the crime on senior RCBC officials "in cahoots with extremely wealthy businessmen whose far-reaching powers and influence span several countries." In a previous hearing, RCBC's president and lawyer had pointed the finger at Deguito, saying that even transactions totaling hundreds of millions of dollars could be handled by branch managers without prior approval from head office. The inquiry has led to the recovery of about $5.5 million from a Chinese casino boss and junket operator called Kim Wong, who received a total of almost $35 million through his casino company and Philrem, the foreign exchange broker. Wong, who denied any involvement in the heist, promised to pay back another 450 million pesos ($9.7 million) of the stolen money, but said a portion of what he had received had already been spent on gambling chips for clients. Wong said a further $17 million remained with Philrem, whose husband-and-wife representatives came under fire at Tuesday's inquiry. Philrem distributed the stolen $81 million to Bloomberry Resorts Corp, which owns and operates the upmarket Solaire casino in Manila; to Eastern Hawaii Leisure Company, which is owned by Wong; and to an ethnic Chinese man believed to be a junket operator in Manila. Philrem president Salud Bautista said the suspected Chinese junket operator was paid more than $30 million in six tranches. But Wong, who said he witnessed four of the transactions, has disputed the sum, saying in a previous Senate session that only about $14 million changed hands. This led senators to believe Philrem still holds a portion of the unaccounted stolen funds, which its treasurer Michael Bautista denied. "But we are not keeping money. There is no money with us," he told the inquiry. Senator Recto, who led the questioning, appeared exasperated by the conflicting testimony. "There seems to be double dealing here. That is how it appears," he said. The inquiry continues on April 12. Reuters Pranjal Kshirsagar CBREX, a startup founded by serial entrepreneur Gautam Sinha along with Sanjeev Punwani and Karunjay Anand in 2015 positions itself as 'an anonymous B2B peer-to-peer communication and online transaction platform'. What it essentially means is that its proprietary messaging platform 'C Talk' helps companies transact with each other even when they don't know each other, irrespective of what part of the world they are located in. As co-founder Sinha puts it, "Historically service firms have acquired business through either direct contacts or references and CBREX will be a third source of business opportunity for them. Access to a global marketplace ensure that the member firms on the platform are able to execute businesses across borders making them global players from the day they sign on the platform. The anonymity ensures that the model is scalable at a global level." Unraveling the story behind this exchange platform, which is currently functional for recruitment service providers, Sinha explains that if a recruting firm wants to scale its business beyond face to face meetings and references from previous users, the firm should be willing to open an office or travel to foreign cities or participate in trade shows or conferences. Both of which entail heavy investments. So, even if a recruiting firm is really good at what they do, they get restricted to the market in which they are physically located. "CBREX will change this. Anonymity ensures that the "rating" rather than the "name" of the firms drives the business to it. In effect CBREX will productise the offering of a service firm by giving it a universal rating that is based on hard data and not on perceptions. This will create one big marketplace where the top 10,000 firms will see an increase of their revenues without the need to make any investments." The CBREX team is currently at eight full-time employees but the number should double in the near future. Talking about the business model, Sinha says they earn around 20 percent for each successful placement that goes through the exchange. "The average commission value on the exchange is between $5000 to $10,000 so we earn between $1000 to $2000 for each transaction," he shares. The team is working on a mobile app to make communication faster and make it easier for recruitment firm employees talk to each other across geographies and time zones. They are also working on an analytics engine to sit on top of their database that they can use to rate recruiting firms. "As at the heart of the exchange, we have a messaging platform through which firms communicate (talk) and transact (send CVs) , This is what makes it easy for firms to do business with each other. Messaging ensures constant communication and exchange of CVs through the platform ensures that all data is one place and easily accessible. The CV feedback is also through the exchange and so the work flow for the recruiter is complete," explains Sinha. He adds that they have kept the job posting process hassle-free. "Post the release of our app, we expect the ease of use to increase even further as now the recruiters will be constantly connected to the exchange and can send and receive messages on each CV on a real time basis. This will shorten the cycle time for closure of a job on the exchange," he believes. The company raised a seed of around $200,000 at its inception and aims to raise another $6 million to $8 million during the course of this year. CBREX also has its growth plan charted out and hopes to reach 3000 firms on the platform by end of the year and close 40 transactions each month. "Each of these transactions would be worth an aggregate commission of $5000-$10,000 so the GTV or gross trade value per month on CBREX would be close to $300,000 per month which would make us in GTV terms a $3.6 million company on a revenue run rate," adds Sinha. He says that their footprint should expand to a 100 countries from the 70 they are at currently. The company is actively engaged in improving their visibility on recruiting-specific global platforms and is also running content based marketing campaigns globally to increase sign ups of firms on CBREX. "We have been successful in taking the number of sign ups close to 10 per day, from our earlier average of three or four per day," says Sinha. A serial entrepreneur since 1996, Gautam Sinha has launched and funded several companies. TVA Infotech, an IT recruitment company that he started in 2001 was acquired by Allegis Group Inc, in March 2008. He started My First Cheque in early 2011, a seed fund which committed to writing the "first cheque" for startup companies in India, besides mentoring the first generation entrepreneurs. He authored his first book, Flying Business Class in 2013. An alumnus of XLRI Jamshedpur, Sinha had a two-year stint with Wipro before he embarked on his entrepreneurial journey. tech2 News Staff Google has updated the icon designs for all of its 'Play' branded apps. The new icons show off the play symbol (often used in media controls) and mixes them with the currently available line up of icons from its Play services. The news comes from the official Google Android blog and the changes will begin to show up on Android devices in the coming weeks. The current list of changes come to the Google Play icon, the Google Play Store icon and these are followed by some heavily modified versions of the current Play services like Play Movies and TV, Play Music, Play Games, Play Books and the Play Newstand. Looking at the new changes from the image above, we can tell that users will have a hard time finding the 'Play Music' icon as it gets a complete revamp and moves past the old headset icon. "Youll start to see the new Google Play icons across devices and online in the coming weeks. We hope youll continue enjoying the Play family of productsnow with a new look" says Jonathan Chung, Visual Design Lead, Google Play. Certainly, the new Play button-oriented design adds a bit of uniformity and consistency when it comes to Google's Play services so they can now be instantly recognizable no matter where you come across them. Indeed these could be the shape of things to come in Google's Android N update, the Preview of which was out a bit too early this year. We could expect similar iconography on Nexus devices for Google's default apps like Messenger, the Contacts and Dialer apps, etc. Moreover, this could move on to other services like Gmail as well as this will help them give all of them a uniform look. hidden India is the fourth country that has most number of attacks by the Downadup malware family, a report by Finland-based online security and privacy company F-Secure, said. It added that besides India, this threat was most frequently detected in Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Norway. F-Secure Threat Round up Report 2015 details the trends and events in global cyber threats that hit consumers and companies last year. In 2015, Downadup was the most frequently detected type of malware in computers in Finland, France and Germany. India is the fourth on the list while Italy and Norway follow the suit. According to the report, the computer worm, which was first discovered in 2008, is now recognised as one of today's most widepread malware infections. Downadup is a computer worm that infects unpatched Windows machines (including various versions of Windows Server) and then invades exposed networks attached to infected devices. Downadup's combination of different tactics gave it a sophistication beyond other computer worms known to researchers at the time, making it one of history's most invasive families of malware. At one point, Microsoft had offered a $250,000 (roughly Rs. 1.7 crores) reward for information regarding the worm's authors, the report said. While many antivirus products can detect and remove the infection for individual consumers, it is still quite challenging to purge the worm once it infects large networks, such as those run by telecommunication companies or global enterprises. IANS hidden Finland's Nokia launched a job cutting programme on Wednesday following its acquisition of France's Alcatel-Lucent, but did not say how many positions it was planning to axe. The company said it was sticking to its target for 900 million euros ($1.02 billion) of operating cost synergies from the deal by 2018. "Reductions will come largely in areas where there are overlaps, such as research and development, regional and sales organizations as well as corporate functions," Nokia said in a statement, adding it planned to report on the details alongside its quarterly earnings. Nokia had said it has gained control of French counterpart Alcatel-Lucent following its 15.6-billion-euro ($17 billion) all-share offer and the two telecom equipment makers started to combine their operations early this year. The Alcatel acquisition will put Nokia into a stronger position to compete with Swedens Ericsson and Chinas Huawei in a market for telecom network gear where limited growth and tough competition are pressuring prices. The French stock market authority said interim results from the offer showed Nokia would hold around 79 percent of Alcatel shares. The deal, set to become the biggest transaction in Finlands corporate history, follows a string of M&A moves that have restructured former mobile phone giant Nokia in recent years. In 2013, it took control of its network business by buying out Siemens from a joint venture, and in 2014 it sold the ailing mobile phone business to Microsoft. Last year it also sold navigation business HERE. Reuters tech2 News Staff At a launch event in Mumbai, Vivo unveiled the Vivo V3 at a price of Rs 17, 980 while the Vivo V3 Max is priced at Rs 23,980. The smartphone are said to launch "soon" in India. No details regarding availability were shared. Vivo also announced actor Ranveer Singh as its brand ambassador. In terms of specifications, the Vivo V3 features a 5-inch display along with an Snapdragon 616 processor, paired with 3GB RAM. It includes an internal storage of 32GB and can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with dual LED flash and PDAF along with an 8MP front facing camera. https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717285498910334976?lang=en https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717284519649390593?lang=en Running Android 5.1 Lollipop based FunTouch OS 2.5, the device includes connectivity features such as 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. A 2,550mAh battery completes the package. On the other hand, the V3 Max features a 5.5-inch full HD display. It is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 octa-core processor paired with 4GB RAM. The smartphone includes an internal storage of 32GB which can be further expanded up to 128GB via microSD card. The smartphone comes equipped with a 13MP rear camera with dual LED flash and PDAF along with an 8MP front facing camera. It runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop with FunTouch OS 2.5 on top and connectivity features include 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS. A 3,000mAh battery completes the package. Both devices also feature a fingerprint sensor. https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717279282402357248?lang=en https://twitter.com/tech2eets/status/717288282602749953?lang=en Commenting on the launch, Alex Feng, CEO of Vivo India said, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce the launch of our innovation, the V3 and V3 Max for the Indian market. The V series designed with creativity and equipped with state of art technology will be a landmark for Vivo India. India remains our prime focus and the launch of these models is a testimony of our commitment to cater to the ever growing demand of meticulous customers in India and worldwide. The V3 and V3 Max offer an unbeatable proposition of cutting edge technology, impressive looks and Hi-Fi music quality in the industry." tech2 News Staff Xiaomi has now collaborated with Hasbro's Transformers to crowdfund a robot model called Soundwave in China. Soundwave basically looks like a Mi Pad 2, that turns into a Transformer-like robot that can be detached from the tablet's assembly. It is priced at CNY 169 (approximately Rs 1,700), and will begin shipping in China starting May 13. As of now, no details have been shared regarding availability in other international markets. https://twitter.com/xiaomi/status/717284472425746432 The Transformers Special Edition Mi Pad 2 is a toy made by the company in partnership with Hasbro to mark its sixth birthday on April 6. It is a crowd sourced project and is meant for Xiaomi fans. However, it is not a working device. Hugo Barra shared details on Facebook and said, "R&D worked really hard to ensure that the color, details and feel are exactly the same as Mi Pad 2. They were challenged at turning such a slim 7mm tablet into a 3D robot, but they managed to do so with a 30-step folding assembly." The Mi Pad 2 retains the same 7.9-inch display with 2048 x 1536 resolution that take the pixel density all the way up to 324ppi. Xiaomi has powered the device with quad-core Intel Atom X5-Z8500 processor. The processor is coupled with 2GB of LPDDR3 RAM to handle all those apps. It also includes Intel HD graphics for the GPU. In terms of camera, Xiaomi has opted for an 8-megapixel rear snapper and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, just like its predecessor. When it comes to connectivity, the Mi Pad 2 supports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and also the ac draft. There is no 4G LTE or GPS. It does support Bluetooth v4.1. It also deploys the latest Type-C 1.0 reversible connector. The device will be available in 16GB and 64GB variants, with expandable memory slots up to 128GB. The device is fuelled by a 6190mAh battery that promises a battery life with 649 hours of standby time, up to 12.5 hours of multimedia and up to 100 hours of music. 27 illegal BD migrants deported from US Twenty-seven illegal Bangladeshi migrants, deported by the USA, reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport early Wednesday. Airport sources said a special flight, USA BSK7000 (Miami air), carrying the Bangladeshi nationals landed at the airport around 1:35 am along with US security personnel. Earlier, on April 1, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said the US would send back some Bangladeshi migrants from there in phases as the US court declared them illegal following legal procedures. The Home Minister came up with the announcement after separate meetings with the US delegations on deportation of illegal Bangladeshi immigrants at his ministry. The US will also deport illegal migrants from several other countries.-- Dhaka, Apr 6 (UNB) UP Chairman Liakat misguides villagers, bid to foil largest project in power sector Chittagong Bureau :A vested quarter is trying to foil the present Government 's master plans towards multi-dimentional development of Chittagong through jeopardizing the proposed mega power plant of Banskhali upazila in Gandamara Union which is being implemented by the reputed business house S Alam Group . Mentionable that present govt has undertaken a number of development plans for Chittagong viz. Banskhali coal- based power plant, Moheskhali LNG terminal and mega power plant , Sonadia Deep Seaport and Karnaphuli tunnel and railway track upto Ukia via Cox'sbazar. Meanwhile vested quarters are trying to foil all the proposed plans unterruptedly, different sources opined. Mentionable that Banskhali coal fired power plant was the largest proposed power project on private sector and about 3000 people of the area gathered at power plant side on Monday afternoon duly instigated by local anti-govt alliances to protests the construction of coal based plant as undertaken by S Alam Group of Chittagong.Reliable sources said that the local UP Chairman Liakat was allegedly demanding undue benefit from the S Alam Group and failing to get that he misguided the local innocent villagers and a situation was created to foil the plant to implement the power plant in that area.It is mentionable that S Alam Group purchased the land with fair price and the project is being executed following all rules and regulations and land is under the occupation of S Alam Group.Local UNO sources said section 144 was imposed in Gandamara Union on Monday following the assembly of two groups over the power plant. A sources said in this proposed power plant about 1320 MW power will be generated which will help to facilitate the industrial uplift of Chittagong industrial zones. S Alam is a leading industrial group of Chittagong. In connection of the bloody clash ,a case has been filed against 3000 people mentioning 57 names over a utter bloody clash in Banshkhali that killed four on Monday. Banskhali thana police sources said police Sub Inspector Bahar Miah filed a case, relatives of two siblings Bashir Ahmed filed one and wife of victim Zakir Monoara Begum filed third one case before the police. In the case of Bashir Ahmed alleges that BNP leader Liaquat Hossain and 5 others for organizing the rally against the power plant and names of 1800 unidentified persons were mentioned in Monara's case.Police and families of the deceased persons filed the case, ASP Habibur Rahman confirmed the matter on Tuesday to medias .Four persons were killed and 30 others injured on Monday afternoon in a clash between law enforcers and locals in Banshkhali upazila over installation of a coal-based power plant of S Alam Group. S Alam group will investment Tk.2000 cr with joint venture of Chinese Sebes HTG company over 600 acres of land in Gandamara union under Banshkhali upazila in south Chittagong. This proposed plant will generate 1320 MW power , sources said. Local sources said two rival groups called rally in Hajipara school ground on Monday and created panic by the anti power plant group through miking. Sensing the news of clash, local authority imposed 144 under cr. Pc .Police fired to the mob to control the situation and self defenses as the local anti- govt clicks led by local UP chairman Liaquat Ali inspired the local to attack the law enforcers with lethal weapons, eyewitnesses sources said. A district administration probe committee is formed on Tuesday to investigate the Banskhali tragedy. District administration sources said one member probe committee headed by Additional district magistrates Md. Mominur Rashid and the committee is supposed to submit the report by next seven days. Monalisa returning to acting Sheikh Arif Bulbon : Popular TV actress and model Mozeza Ashraf Monalisa has returned to Bangladesh from USA three days ago. After returning she on Wednesday told this correspondent that she will again start acting here. She will return to acting under the direction of that director by whoms direction Monalisa last worked before leaving Bangladesh, she added. Under the direction of Sagor Jahan in a special play which will be made for coming Eid-ul-Fitr Monalisa will return to showbiz. As usual Mosharraf Karim will work against her in the play. She will take part in shooting of the play after Pahela Baishakh, on April 16. While sharing her feelings to stand in front of camera again always smiling face Monalisa told this correspondent, Obviously a good thing is being played in my mind to be regular again in acting. I really missed acting, media people, colleagues, modeling arena and my motherland when I was outside the country. I cannot express my feelings which I am enjoying right now with my mother and in my country. Everybody pray for me as I can successfully work in media now. Monalisa also informed that she wants to perform as a model in TV commercials of good products. In case of TV play, she will work selectively. She has no interest work at a time in different plays. Till Eid-ul-Fitr she has planned to stay in Bangladesh, Monalisa said. Will the Panama leaks hinder development Molly Anders : The largest leak in the history of the offshore finance industry offers a glimpse into the damage done to developing economies and their resources due to exploitative tax practices. Civil society organizations are seizing on the leak as an occasion to renew calls for the world's donors to protect developing countries' domestic resources from exploitative tax havens and shell companies, such as the more than 210,000 entities created by Panama-based wealth management firm Mossack Fonseca, according to documents released Saturday detailing transactions of its more than 200 wealthy clientele. Many in the aid community are looking to the government of the United Kingdom for action to curb tax avoidance. More than half of the shell companies listed in the leaked documents are based in British territories. ActionAid reports that tax avoidance costs developing countries more than $200 billion annually in lost tax revenue. "The U.K. has been seen by many as a global leader on anti-corruption," Stephen Twigg, member of Parliament and head of U.K. Parliament's International Development Committee, told Devex. "As we have heard during our current inquiry [on corruption] and in today's news, there is much left to do to ensure the U.K.'s own house is in order," Twigg said. He called specifically for the extension of public registers of beneficial ownership to the overseas territories and crown dependencies such as the British Virgin Islands, the Isle of Man and Jersey, all implicated as tax havens in the Panama leaks, among others. Mandating public registers of beneficial ownership would see the names of owners of shell entities be made at least partially public. For example, government bodies investigating companies that avoid tax would have some access to these records. As it stands, clients of firms such as Mossack Fonseca are permitted to shield identities through third-party intermediaries and wealth management firms in so-called tax havens, such as the Bahamas, the Seychelles, Mauritius and others. ANCIR, a coalition of African investigative journalism organizations is compiling evidence of exploitation of African countries revealed in the Panama leaks. Many of the cases - which focus overwhelmingly on the continent's extractive industries - trace lost tax revenue from the national government, through Mossack Fonseca to Western-based companies and individuals. For example, the leaks have sparked allegations that family members of former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan avoided tax payments on a mortgage for a $500,000 London apartment in 2014 through Mossack Fonseca, among other transactions. Oli Pearce, head of tax policy at Oxfam International, echoed calls for commitments to reporting beneficial ownership as a crucial first step in increasing tax accountability. He said that Oxfam and others are in the process of tracing lost revenue flows documented in the leaks. Pearce and others emphasized that even though not all the offshore financial transactions documented in the leaks are illegal, many are potentially destructive to the economies of developing nations and serve to benefit the world's ultrarich. "The fact that a number of world leaders, and other very rich and very influential individuals are implicated in the leaks underscores the links between money and power, and that the two are able to reinforce each other in corrupt ways when secrecy facilitates this," Pearce told Devex. "Hence, we won't be able to tackle growing economic inequality unless we tackle the secrecy of tax havens," he said. The U.K. also tops the list for the number of tax treaties it has negotiated to provide lower-than-average tax rates for U.K. businesses working in developing countries, an ActionAid report shows. "The reality of this is that Britain is the biggest contributor to tax injustice in the world, which means it has the largest role in fueling tax avoidance, crime and inequality," member of Parliament and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Diane Abbott told Devex. "The biggest victims of this are the world's poor," she said. In May, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron - whose family trust also appears to have been shielded from tax payments by a Bahamian-based shell company set up by Mossack Fonseca - will host a global forum on anti-corruption in London. Twigg said he and others at the IDC hope the forum "provides a perfect opportunity for the U.K. to tackle these issues head on," adding that "fighting corruption should be at the very heart of the U.K.'s approach to international development." Asked about global efforts to curb exploitative tax practices, Pascal Saint-Aman, director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development told Devex that while 132 countries have agreed to adhere to the standard of exchange of information "on request," the challenge now is effective implementation and "eliminating secrecy through effective reporting." "The pushback we are getting now is coming from the multinational companies," he told Devex. "We've really had a good cooperation between countries to move these forward," he added, pointing to the recently amended Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, endorsed by more than 100 tax jurisdictions, and the Group of 20 finance ministers' meeting in Chengdu, China, in July to bring more light to the issue of increasing offshore financial transparency. (Molly is a global development reporter for Devex. Based in London, she covers U.K. foreign aid and trends in international development). We have to take responsibility for our jobless workers suffering abroad AMID the European Union's offer to cooperate with Bangladesh in sending back illegal migrants, Bangladesh has called for a "return and reintegration package" for its "irregular" migrants living in European countries. The EU called on Bangladesh to bring back some 80,000 irregular Bangladeshis living in Europe and offered to design a special programme for the reintegration of returnees, at the first-ever Bangladesh-EU Dialogue on Migration Management in Dhaka. Diplomatic sources said the package might include training, skill development and small business for the returnees with the help of the EU so that the returnees could smoothly reintegrate into societies and carry forward their lives in a "dignified" manner, as per a report of a local daily.Illegal immigration is a serious issue for all countries concerned. It occurs mostly due to extreme social or economic reasons which force individuals to desperately seek livelihoods in other countries at any cost. They are mostly portrayed in the press as people who will do anything to make money and derided by their countrymen and outsiders alike - but the reality is far different. People do not easily go to other countries unless they are unable to make a decent living in their own. This is the harsh reality.The EU only shelters around 1.9-3.8 million illegal migrants at any given time compared to the US which shelters almost 12 million - although worldwide there are almost 50 million refugees as per recent data. Most developing nations -including Bangladesh give shelter to a far greater number of such migrants than developed nations - we currently provide shelter to around 500000 Rohingyas.It is upto the government to ultimately stop illegal immigration by providing quality education and training and helping develop social infrastructure so that jobs can be created more easily. To attract FDI we can give generous tax holidays and one stop services to ensure that illegal immigration is stopped as high levels of investment are the greatest guarantee of job security in any economy. Ultimately it is not the fault of our poor citizens - who desperately try to feed their families by any means possible - but the structure of governance which fails to adequately look after their wants. Instead of blaming the illegal immigrants to other countries our own government has to take seriously the responsibility of finding jobs and stopping human trafficking. We cannot make our helpless people suffer indignity and humiliation in other countries. We have to accept their suffering and humiliation as all of ours. Ahead of monsoon, digging of city roads geared up Why the authorities choose rainy season for renovation projects? Road digging by government agencies, including the WASA, with the advent of monsoon creates commuters\' sufferings. This photo was taken from in front of the Tara Mosque in old Dhaka\'s Becharam Deuri where it was seen that the road is unfit for vehicular Ehsanul Haque Jasim : With the stalk of the monsoon, Dhaka City Corporations (DCCs), WASA and other utility service providers have geared up the road-digging process in the capital city, creating untold sufferings to the commuters. Visiting different areas on Tuesday and Wednesday, it was seen that digging up of roads, lanes and by-lanes began recently. City residents are annoyed with beginning of the excavation work ahead of the advent of the monsoon. Many said, it is a perpetual process with monsoon nearing. Like past, the government this year also undertook several projects ahead of the monsoon, some say, for 'embezzling money'. Sources said, the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) have prepared about 300 roads for renovation works. The DSCC and the DNCC this year allocated Tk. 431 crore for road repairs, while the amount was Tk. 350 crore last year. Besides, Tk. 250 crore was also allocated for the Development Project Proposed (DPP) under the DSCC. The government also allocated a special fund of Tk. 150 crore for different roads in the DSCC area. Many said that the huge budget was allocated for the road repair works especially during the rainy season for 'embezzling the government fund'. The two city corporations have already started the renovation work of many roads, and will start in many other places in the coming days. The WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) and some other utility service providers are also carrying out the excavation work on different roads, lanes and by-lanes in the city. For this, the condition of many roads in many areas, including Gulshan, Banani, Kalyanpur, Lalmatia, Gulishtan, Rampura, Malibagh, Moghbazar, Khilgoan, Bashabo, Banasree, Gulistan and Old Dhaka, has led to severe road blocks due to the projects. The digging affects the vehicular movement in the city, while people are also facing immense sufferings. The pedestrians faced sufferings a lot during the recent showers, as the roads and the lanes have become unfit for the movement in many areas. "The government has taken the projects of road digging ahead of the monsoon, but who will see our sufferings?" said Anisur Rahman Talukder, a resident of Kalyanpur area. Dr Shahdeen Malik, a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court, said, "We, the city dwellers, are irritated for digging up the roads by WASA and other authorities. It seems that we have to seek Prime Minister's direct intervention to get ourselves freed from the sufferings in the name of development." The roads in Kalyanpur area are in a dilapidated condition, as the WASA has dug up every lane and by-lane to set up new water pipeline. Anisur Rahman Talukder said that the commuters have suffered a lot during showers, as rainwater makes the roads unfit for the movement. "The road is stopped. Development work is going on. We are sorry for temporary inconvenience," the words are inscribed on a signboard seen in Gulshan-1 intersection. DNCC dug up a part of Gulshan-1 intersection for repair work a month ago, but the part has not been renovated till now. Like Gulshan-1, the commuters face sufferings in Gulshan-2, Banani and adjacent areas, as numerous streets are dug open for renovations. Vehicles cannot ply the areas because of the numerous holes dug out for repair work. "Road is stopped. Use the alternative road", such signboards were seen at Banani and some other parts. A pedestrian of Banani 18 No Road said, the WASA had dug up the road to set up water pipelines. Although the WASA finished its work, the road is still unfit for the movement. Contractor Nasir Uddin said, "A heap of soil was created due to the excavation work. So, the commuters face sufferings. We will clear the heap as soon as possible." The road in Gulistan's Fulbaria area was dug up recently for renovation and setting up drainage. The whole road has turned into a heap of cobblestone. For this reason, the area can't come out from huge traffic congestion. The road in front of Tara Mosque at Becharam Deuri in Old Dhaka is now stopped for vehicular movement due to the excavation work. The pedestrians are also facing untold sufferings, as the most part of the road was filled up by earth. The WASA dug up the roads to set up storm sewerage lines. "The road was dug before a month but the work of setting up the storm sewerage line has not been till now," said a pedestrian of the area. The road excavation work continues from Malibagh to Rampura Bazar. Nilufar Yeasmin Koly, a teacher of Motijheel Ideal School & College who resides in Rampura area, said, "I live in this area and face untold sufferings. I may have to face more sufferings in the coming days, as the excavation works in many roads have just begun. Why they choose the rainy season for renovation work or the development projects?" The Road No 8 at Goran has been stopped for setting up pipelines for more than a month. The residents of Goran and South Banasree areas can't also use rickshaws, as the alternative roads are not good for the use. "It is nothing but punishment for us. The roads in our area are dug up almost every year in the name of development. Why the authorities choose the rainy season for the projects. It is nothing but embezzling government fund. The ruling party men contract firms to garner booths," said Nazmul Haque, a resident of Goran area. According to officials of the DSCC and the DNCC, the contracting firms and other agencies are given 28 days time for completing the renovation work, but they can't complete in the timeframe. Some other rules and guidelines have also to be maintained during work on city roads. The contracting firms and the utility service providers, however, ignore all these guidelines, posing danger to the road users of the city. Chief Engineer of the DSCC Md Nurullah said, they have taken the projects of renovations work for development. As per rules, the contracting firms will have to complete a project within 28 days, he said. Experts and urban planners blamed the absence of proper coordination for the unplanned road digging by different utility providers in the city. The authorities can start digging any time and finish the work whenever they want. "There is no coordination between the city corporations and different other utility service providers of the government. So, the city roads are dug up without anytime anywhere," said Maruf Rahman, an urban expert. Rights activists criticises Hasina for being silent A rights activist, demanding justice for college student Sohagi Jahan Tonu, has criticised Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for being 'silent' about her murder following possible rape. The Awami League chief had taken to the streets after Yasmin Akhter, a teenager from Dinajpur, was raped by policemen in 1995, said Prof Dilara Chowdhury of Dhaka's North South University. She was addressing a seminar under the banner of 'Women for Good Governance' at the National Press Club on Wednesday. "Now that you (Hasina) have more power, why don't you make sure Tonu gets justice? Why are you quiet? Why is there so much drama in every step of the investigation?" The physicians who performed the first autopsy for the Victoria Government College student could not prove to be professionals, according to Prof Chowdhury. "First they ruled out any signs of injury, then after 10 days they said there was no evidence of rape. What kind of doctors are you if you can't even say how Tonu died?" "Leave your jobs if you can't find her cause of death." Protests are continuing in Dhaka and other places with fears of police cover-up in the investigation into the young theatre activist's murder. Police had said she was possibly raped after finding her dead body within several yards of her house at Comilla Cantonment on Mar 20. The report of her first autopsy released on Tuesday said her body did not bear signs of rape while it was inconclusive about the cause of death. But another report was due from a second autopsy performed after the court ordered her body to be exhumed. Nor`wester lashes Jessore, 4 killed, over 100 hurt Nor\'wester that lashes over Khulna, Jessore and other adjacent areas leaving four people dead and injures about 100. Photo shows several houses damages and trees uprooted on Tuesday night. This photo was taken from Khulna on Wednesday. Jessore Correspondent :At least four persons were killed and over 100 wounded in a devastating nor' wester that lashed Jessore on Tuesday night, Jessore District Relief and Rehabilitation Department and local sources said. The dead were identified as : Abdul Hamid Morol, 80, Halsha under Jessore sadar upazila, Laxmi Kanto, 40, Dhulgram under Abhaynagar upazila, Parvina, 35, Chormara Dighi in Jessore town and Jamela Begum, 70, resident of New Town under Kotwali police station. HMA Salam, official of Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Jessore confirmed the death of the first two, while locals said the other two died of heart attacks during nor'wester. Road and rail links between Jessore and other parts of the country remained suspended for several hours. In many places across the district, including the district town, electric lines were cut off during the storm. Several thousand thatched houses were damaged in the devastating storm that lashed several upazilas across Jessore district uprooting big trees. ACC sues Kazi Firoz MP UNB, Dhaka : The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) on Wednesday filed a case against Jatiya Party presidium member Kazi Firoz Rashid, MP for allegedly grabbing a government land. ACC deputy director Zulfikar Ali filed the case against him with Tejgaon Police Station in the capital, Commission's public relations officer Pranab Kumar Bhattacharya told UNB. According to the first information report (FIR), a government house on a one-bigha land in Dhanmondi residential area was allocated to then Canadian High Commissioner Mohammad Ali on November 3, 1951. Later, in 1970, the authorities concerned gave approval to hand over the land to inheritors of Mohammad Ali-his second wife, son and daughter-and mutation of the land was made to their names. On May 22, 1970, the ministry concerned also gave approval to hand over the land to them. But, Firoz Rashid grabbed the land (Road No 2, House No-65) preparing fake documents in August 1979, the FIR said. In August 2015, the ACC initiated a probe against Kazi Firoz Rashid for allegedly grabbing land in the capital. The national anti-graft body interrogated him on August 13, 2015. Rotten wheat brought again Syndicate trying to clear illegal import from Russia Sagar Biswas :A powerful syndicate has reportedly been trying to unload around one lakh metric tons of rotten wheat at Chittagong Port. The wheat has been imported from Russia under a 'faulty deal' signed by the Directorate of Food.The importer MS Phonix Commodities MCC in connivance with some dishonest officials of Food Ministry and Chittagong Port Authority [CPA] is now allegedly trying to handover the rotten wheat to some private buyers, when Food Directorate formally refused to receive the consignment fearing legal action in future.Sources close to the CPA told The New Nation on Wednesday that the syndicate become very active to unload the consignment after the Food Directorate issued a letter to the importer to take back the wheat terming it 'sub-standard' and 'inconsumable'.Significantly, the rotten wheat-laden two ships - MV Spar Libra and MV Equinox Dawn -- are still waiting at the Chittagong Port, whereas, they were asked to go back to the country of origin along with their consignment, the sources said. "A total of 99, 300 metric tons of wheat have been imported. Of them, the ship Spar Libra arrived at the Chittagong Port in the last week of March loading 51,000 metric tons of wheat from Russia. Besides, carrying 48,300 metric tons of wheat, another ship Equinox Dawn arrived here on Thursday last," an official of the CPA said. "We have issued an official letter to the supplier companies on Monday, as the imported wheat from Russia was sub-standard. After conducting laboratory test, we have found that the wheat has almost been damaged, rotten and inconsumable," Sheikh Roka Mia, Additional Director of Food Directorate said."After collecting sample from MV Spar Libra, we have conducted laboratory test in nine specific sections to ensure standard of the wheat. It was found that the quantity of bran [bhusi] is 1.8 percent, which is much higher than expected level [0.7 per cent]. So, we refused to receive the consignment of wheat," he said. When contacted, Managing Director of shipping agent Uniship, Abul Hossain, said, "Yes, we have received the copy of the letter issued by the Food Directorate through e-mail. In the letter, the Food Directorate has registered objection about 51,000 metric tons of wheat terming it as sub-standard."Admitting the fact, he further said, "Now, we are trying to unload the wheat and give it to any private company. However, we will take final decision after getting green signal from Food Directorate."Another ship loading 50, 000 metric tons of wheat from Russia is now heading towards Bangladesh, which is expected to anchor in Chittagong Port on April 20.It is learnt that, the importers tried to unload about 30, 600 metric tons of wheat of MV Spar Libra at Chittagong Port and 20, 400 metric tons at Mongla Port. Besides, 28,980 metric tons of wheat from MV Equinox Dawn was scheduled to be unloaded at Chittagong Port and rest 19, 320 metric tons at Mongla Port. Not only that, another ship which is now heading towards Bangladesh, is scheduled to unload 40 percent of its consignment at Mongla Port. Last year, the Food Directorate under a 'faulty deal' imported two lakh metric tons of wheat at a cost of Tk 400 crore from Brazil. It also imported one lakh metric tons of sub-standard wheat from France spending huge amount of public money.And the wheat was distributed to different districts for use in Test Relief, Food for Work and Vulnerable Group Development [VGD] Programmes under the auspices of the ministry. Though unbelievable, the rotten and substandard wheat have also been crashed to atta and distributed to different government agencies, including Police, BGB, Ansar and Department of Prison, according to sources. Both JSD factions adamant on 'torch' symbol UNB, Dhaka :Both belligerent factions of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (Jasod), seeking 'torch' as their symbol, have hoped that theCommission would take the right decision to determine 'actual leadership' of the left-leaning party.Leaders of the two factions expressed the hope after joining the Commission's hearing separately at the EC Secretariat on Wednesday. A seven-member delegation of the afaction, led by its president Hasanul Haq Inu, joined the hearing from 11am to 12:40pm, while a nine-member team of the other faction, led by its president Sharif Nurul Ambia, took part in the hearing from 3pm to 4:10pm.The hearings were held at the EC Conference Room with Chief Election Commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad in the chair. Three election commissioners-Mohammad Abdul Mobarak, Zabed Ali and Md Shah Nawaz -- were present. The Jasod got split in its last national council on March 12 when a faction stood against Inu's bid to make Shirin Akhter party general secretary.The rebel faction named Sharif Nurul Ambia and Nazmul Haque Prodhan, MP, as its president and general secretary respectively. It also made Moinuddin Khan Badal its executive president.Both the groups now claim themselves as the 'main' party and have fielded chairman contenders for the UP polls seeking Jasod's 'torch' as its symbol. After hearing, Inu hoped that the Election Commission will take the 'right' decision about the actual leadership of Jasod."I've the full faith in the EC, and I hope it'll do justice," said Inu while talking to reporters at EC Secretariat."We've submitted our papers and documents of our council to the EC on Tuesday and we've replied to EC's every question during the hearing," he said. Shirin Akhter, MP, and Zikrul Ahmed were, among others, in the Inu-led delegation. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) Though Louisiana continues to struggle through deep budget gaps, House and Senate leaders aren't proposing that they slash their own spending. A $98 million financing proposal for legislative agencies in the upcoming budget year, introduced Tuesday, would not make any cuts to the House, Senate, legislative auditor and other offices that work for lawmakers. Meanwhile, other state programs and services face steep reductions in the financial year that begins July 1 because Louisiana faces a $750 million shortfall. The Legislative Budgetary Control Council, a panel of legislative leaders, backed the funding recommendations without objection. After the meeting, Senate President John Alario and House Speaker Taylor Barras said the proposal was a starting point that could change as it winds its way through House and Senate approval. "We'll be reviewing it as we go through the process," said Alario, R-Westwego. Barras, R-New Iberia, said the Legislature must adhere to constitutional mandates that many other departments don't have. He said it is tough to make cuts and meet those requirements. In a special session that ended last month, lawmakers agreed to trim $2 million in spending from their budget before June 30. But the legislative budget proposal would not continue that reduction next year, instead bringing spending back to the pre-cut level. The proposal advanced by House and Senate leaders is at odds with Gov. John Bel Edwards' recommendation that the legislative budget take a 10 percent cut next year. The legislative budget has grown from $86 million in the 2008-09 fiscal year, despite reductions across other agencies and continued cuts to public colleges during that time. Under the recommendations approved Tuesday, the House budget would remain at $29 million and the Senate budget at $21.8 million. The Legislative Auditor's Office, which audits government agencies, would continue to receive $35 million. The Legislative Fiscal Office, which analyzes the costs of bills and other financial issues, would maintain its $2.9 million funding. The Legislative Budgetary Control Council, which covers expenses shared by the House and Senate, would keep getting $8.6 million. And the budget for the Louisiana State Law Institute, which studies legal issues, would stay at $1.1 million. During Tuesday's council meeting, Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans, called for a review of the Senate policy that allows full-time salaried employees to earn up to 250 hours in overtime pay for their work on a legislative session. She questioned why people who earn more than $100,000 a year receive overtime on top of their salaries, and she said the pay system is being abused by some workers. "I do not think that overtime is managed well," she said. Alario defended the overtime, saying if the Senate didn't offer the add-on pay, he'd likely have to pay higher salaries to keep employees with years of knowledge. He told Peterson if she knew of any abuse, she should report it to the employee's supervisor. "I have no inclination of anything that's not proper there," Alario said. Pre-purchase property inspection is a relatively new thing in the United Kingdom. Its not something that most people have heard about, but it has become increasingly popular over the last few years with the rise in property prices and increased demand for high quality homes. What are the benefits of pre-purchase building inspection? What can you expect to find out when you pay someone else to inspect your home before you buy it? And what should you look for during an inspection? Many people want to know if theyre buying a house thats been well maintained or if its had any serious problems. If youve found a place on the market that seems attractive, but then discover some issues after moving in, you may not be as excited about buying it as you thought you were. Its important to do your due diligence when looking at properties. A lot goes into making a property appealing to potential buyers, from the landscaping to the flooring to the kitchen appliances. The same applies when inspecting a property there are many things that need checking over to make sure everything is running smoothly. Here are some of the benefits of performing a pre-purchase inspection: You get to see exactly what will happen to your money When you go shopping for a new car, youll probably be shown several different models. You might even be shown one that looks like a great value, but doesnt fit around all of the extra features that you want. When it comes time to actually buy the vehicle, however, you wont have seen how your money will be spent on it once you drive it off the showroom floor. Likewise, when you shop for a new home, you dont really know what youre getting yourself into until you move in. In order to get a feel for whether the home youre considering is what you want, you normally have to spend quite a bit of time inside it. This allows you to learn more about everything that youre going to be spending your hard-earned cash on. A pre-purchase building inspection gives you much the same kind of experience without having to spend thousands of dollars. Since youre paying for the service, you can expect to see exactly what youre paying for, instead of just seeing a vague idea of what you might end up with. You find out about potential major repairs Some buildings are very expensive to maintain, which means that owners often neglect them for the sake of saving money. While youre paying for a building inspection, youre also paying for a professional who knows how to spot signs of trouble and repair work that needs doing. If you notice that a particular area of your new home needs fixing right away, you can call in an expert to take care of it quickly. If you find that theres something wrong with your boiler, you wont have to wait weeks for a plumber to come over and fix it. Instead, youll have access to a solution immediately. You can save hundreds of pounds by finding out about potential problems early on One of the biggest expenses when you first buy a home is the cost of moving in. Many people dont realize this until its too late. Buying a home involves not only paying for the actual house, but also for moving costs, furniture, and other items that have to be moved along with the home. Having a good idea ahead of time of what youre likely to encounter can help you avoid these kinds of costs. If you know youll need to replace the plumbing system, for example, youll be able to put together a budget for the expense and plan accordingly. You can protect your investment by finding out if the homes been well cared for While there are plenty of people who think that houses always look better when theyre newly built, youd be surprised at how well maintained older residences can still look nice. Sometimes, though, those homes need some additional maintenance to keep them looking their best. This could involve repairs that arent so noticeable or small improvements that you wouldnt consider otherwise. Even worse, some houses have fallen into disrepair without anyone noticing. This is why having a professional perform a building inspection prior to purchasing a home is such a big benefit. Not only will it give you insight into the state of the property, but it will also give you peace of mind knowing youre not getting taken advantage of. As long as youre aware of the potential pitfalls, youll have less reason to worry about the state of your new home. You can use information gathered during a building inspection to negotiate a lower price If youre worried about buying a home because you suspect that it may need extensive renovation work, you may already have a rough idea of how much work youll need to do to bring it up to scratch. That knowledge can come in handy if you decide to buy the home. You can use all of the details that you gather during a building inspection to present a realistic picture of what the home is worth to prospective buyers. If a potential buyer thinks that the home is worth more than what you paid for it, you can try negotiating a lower price. You can sell your home faster and for more money If you decide to list your home on the market soon after buying it, youll need to price it accurately in order to attract buyers. But if youve already done a thorough building inspection, youll know exactly what work is needed and what the current market conditions are. In other words, youll be able to make a more accurate estimate of the amount of money youve invested in the home and how much its worth. If you find that youre selling your house for close to its full market value, you can use this information to convince the potential buyer that your home is worth the asking price. Even if youre planning to stay in the home for a while before you decide to sell, the fact that you did a thorough building inspection will give you more confidence when listing it. Prospective buyers will know exactly what theyre paying for. Your home will hold its value longer As mentioned earlier, the value of a home depends heavily upon the condition of the building itself. If your home is in bad shape, potential buyers wont be interested in buying it. On the other hand, if youve performed a thorough building inspection and know what sort of repairs are necessary, you can offer your prospective buyer a compelling reason to invest in your property. When you buy a home, youre essentially agreeing to have it inspected periodically to ensure that it stays in top shape. Not only does this allow you to avoid expensive repairs down the road, but it can also increase the value of your home. You can make smart decisions about property investments Buying real estate isnt as simple as just driving a couple of minutes to pick up a house. There are lots of considerations involved, ranging from location to cost. The same is true when youre investing in property. If you find a house that meets all of your requirements, youll want to make sure that you have a solid understanding of where it stands with regards to the rest of the market. If you havent spent enough time researching the area, you could inadvertently end up with a bad deal. There are lots of resources available online that can help you determine the overall level of competition in your area. They can also help you figure out if there are any properties that meet your requirements that you didnt know about. If you own rental property, you can use the information to identify tenants who might cause damage If you own rental property and youve noticed that certain tenants consistently cause damage, you can use the results of a building inspection to identify them. You can then contact them directly to let them know that youre watching them closely and that you dont appreciate the problem theyre causing. They might start taking better care of their homes, which would be good news for everyone. It could also be the case that youll find out that theyre responsible for previous damages that werent caught during a previous visit. You can make smarter decisions about hiring contractors If youve hired contractors to build or repair your home, you might want to ask them for references. However, unless you perform a thorough building inspection, you might not know exactly what to look for. For instance, maybe you only checked the roof for leaks or the walls for cracks. You might not have looked underneath the foundation for anything that could cause a future issue. By performing a building inspection, you can ensure that you hire reputable contractors who will be trustworthy with your money. You can avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition Of course, the main benefit of structural inspections perth is that it helps you avoid purchasing a home thats in poor condition. Before you make the decision to buy a home, you should do whatever you can to find out about the state of the building. You can also ask your realtor about what sorts of inspections are typically recommended. Some agents say that its standard practice to check the heating system, the roof, the electrical wiring, and the floors. Others will tell you that they recommend that you check the entire structure. Either way, if you choose to hire an inspector, youll find out exactly what needs to be fixed and how much it will cost to do so. As a result, it can be concluded that a pre-purchase building inspection is highly important for the buyers because it provides transparency regarding the current conditions of the structure. Additionally, the building owner is made aware of any upgrades or repairs that are required, which could lead to a fair deal throughout the purchasing and selling process. Home >Camera Enforcement > Speed Cameras > Arizona Cities Look To Redflex For Photo Radar Direction 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. Since the beginning of March youve likely noticed a barrage of stories having to do with compensation of public employees. Its not an accident. With the backdrop of state budget-less-ness and a recent study showing that 41 percent of all income in Southern Illinois comes from public sources, now seemed to be the time to share the information. Some local public school administrators salaries rival those at SIU Teachers in Southern Illinois public schools take home $49,626 per year on average or abou We now have searchable databases on thesouthern.com for Southern Illinois University, John A. Logan College and all K-12 school districts within the region, and web traffic to those databases has been high and stayed high. Again, this shouldnt come as a huge surprise. We seem to have this almost innate desire to know what our co-workers are making and in moments of frustration what our supervisors are making as well. With public funding at all levels in question, and with no end to the proliferation of Illinois taxing districts in sight, we should want to know how those funds are being spent and how much each public employee is making. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, and the legal necessity for taxing bodies to make their payroll information available to the public, we can present this information to you. And early indications indicate that your interest is rabid. In early March we compared salaries in cities that hire city administrators with those that use the strong mayor system, in which that mayor acts as the city executive. Herrin and Marion employ the strong mayor system and compensate their mayors five to six times more highly than the first-among-equals mayors in Mount Vernon and Carbondale. As it should be. But Carbondale and Mount Vernon hire professional city managers at more than double the price of the full-time mayors, so professional administration comes with a price. Most curious is the hierarchy and pay structure in the City of Marion. Few would dispute that 14-term Mayor Bob Butler runs the city and manages its affairs. And yet they also employ an $80,000 per year city administrator who is apparently responsible to the mayor for the proper administration of all the affairs of the city. So the $80k city administrator who reports to the $50k/year mayor is tasked with the very things that many cities hire a city manager to accomplish. So why have both? Pay for city elected officials varies based on form of government MARION -- Theres a reason why Marion elected officials or city council members in some town On top of his, Marion pays each of its commissioners nearly $20,000 per year, a salary five to eight times greater than what council members (or aldermen) are making in either Mount Vernon, Herrin or Carbondale. Marion Commissioner Angelo Hightower justified the higher salary by saying if the only thing we did were go to meetings, then I could see how someone would raise their eyebrows. And yet lower-paid council members in other communities routinely invest time beyond mere meeting attendance and do so for far less. This is but one anomaly that has presented itself in month one of our series of public salary stories. Others will follow. On our website, individual databases by institution will gradually give way to a single all-inclusive one that incorporates salaries from federal and state prisons, cities and towns, counties and housing authorities, park districts, library districts, water districts and mosquito abatement districts. And a host of others. In any year you have a right to this information. In an election year you have a responsibility to act upon it. PRINT | EMAIL | PERMALINK BOB: Services Best Barbershop Ace Barber Shop Illo by Brie MacQuarrie Nestled in the heart of Downtown, Ace Barber Shop always has a full house of talented kings to give you that sweet, sweet style. Customers can show up for a reasonably priced cut, buzz, shave or beard trim, and Ace will ante up some killer local art and a can-do attitude with their motto of All styles welcome. If youre tired of playing Go Fish with your hair, be assured that at Ace, its no game of chance whether or not youll get the best do in town. 2) Barber's Knock 3) Fade Station/Justin Tyme Barber Shop Best Hair Salon CNM Cosmetology School "A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life," said Coco Chanel. Looking to spice things up? Craft Hair Studio is the best first step, so sayeth Alibi voters. 2) Mark Pardo 3) Swank Best Cheap Haircut Great Clips Remember when you were in first grade and picture day was coming up so your mom would drag you to Great Clips so you could show up all those other loser kids with your model-esque hair? Well, all those hipsters running around today with effortlessly perfect coiffures and delicately curled moustaches had the same experience. Dont let anyone make you feel bad for getting a cheap trim. Everyones done it. 2) Supercuts 3) Style America Best Hotel Hotel Andaluz Staycations are a thing now right? So if youre going to do it, youd better do it right and stay at the best damn hotel in Burque: Hotel Andaluz. Whether its the impeccable service, the divine tapas at Mas, the unique cocktails featured at Ibiza, or the sleek atmosphere, our voters agree that this is the place to be. Pro tip: Everyone always forgets about their library. We recommend lounging next to the fire with a good book and a glass of amontillado sherry. 2) Hotel Parq Central 3) Hotel Albuquerque Best Funeral Home French Funerals & Cremations No doubt about it: Contemplating ones own end or the death of a loved one is no fun. But French takes a special view on the matter, shining a warm light on that cold specter and inviting people to face their mortality with bravery and even a sense of humor by inspir[ing] them to write a final chapter that is as beautiful as the ones that came before it. With tact, honesty and empathy, French can guide bereaved family members and forward-thinking mortals alike in how to do a proper send off. 2) Riverside Funeral Home/Daniels Family Funeral Services Best Grocery Store Sprouts Cheese curds for some homemade poutine, a bottle of Ghost Pines, salty seaweed snacks, natural cold remedies, salt water taffy, vividly verdant house plants: all can be found at Sprouts, and you dont have to deal with the aggressive health snobs at Whole Foods. Plus weve heard the guys in the deli are pretty delicious themselves. 2) La Montanita Co-Op 3) Smiths Best Solar Energy Company Affordable Solar Wake up people! Theres plastic strangling baby turtles in the ocean, a hole in the ozone layer, and pollution so thick in certain cities that you can stare directly at the sun and just see a slight glow behind the sooty, emphysema-inducing haze. Not only will solar panels get rid of your gas and electric bills, but youll also be doing your part to reduce emissions and create a better world. This is one bandwagon you should definitely get on. Best Real Estate Company Keller Williams Realty If youre adulting hard enough that you have the means and desire to buy a home, Keller Williams is the company that can help you fulfill that white picket fence dream. Sure, theyre a big company, but they must be doing something right to be that successful. Let your agent do the hard work so you can do the fun stuff like snooping through another persons home and eating all the cookies at the open houses. 2) Maddox & Co/Rick Walsh Realty Best Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. Mayberry Hunter S. Thompson believed that Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out. But if youd prefer the Kim Kardashian route, Mayberry Cosmetic Surgery will be more than happy to help you recapture your natural beauty. Think its just breast implants and facelifts? Think againyou could be the proud recipient of a labiaplasty, a tummy tuck or some nice laser hair removal. Best Ethnic/Specialty Store Talin Market Ta-Lin, Talinn, Talyn, Ta that place with everything. Even though only half of our readers were able to correctly spell the name right, we knew what they meant. You may not remember the spelling, but you will remember the experience. Talin is a magical place where every aisle holds new and exciting treasures. You can spend all day there staring at freaky sea creatures, trying to guess whats in the bizarre Japanese candies, and selecting strange fruit to try at home. Ever tasted an African horned melon? 2) Cafe Istanbul 3) Bombay Spice Best Liquor Store Jubilation Wine & Spirits This place is hands-down the best, and our readers know it. The staff is so friendly and knowledgeable, you could even say the Jubilation staff have acted as our spirit guides in our varied quests for everything from anisette to the perfect bottle of ambrosia er, we mean sherry to which bottles of wine will bring out the oak and cherry flavors of a lonely Tuesday night or a well-seasoned leg of lamb. 2) Total Wine & Spirits 3) Kelly Liquors Best Medical Cannabis Dispensary The Verdes Foundation In the immortal words of Ludacris, Tell me whos your weed man, how do you smoke so good? Well, according to our readers with a medical marijuana card, your weed man should be The Verdes Foundation. With strains running the gamut from Peaches and Cream (17.5% THC) to G13 Haze (24% THC) to Pineapple Express (19.3% THC), customers can get their medicine just about any way they like it. Plus they have a full array of edibles, CBD tictures, e-cig juice, salves and gum. 2) Medzen Services 3) Minerva Canna Group Best Plumbing Company TLC Plumbing & Utility Did you know that TLC doesnt actually stand for Tender Loving Care? In the case of this local plumbing company, it was actually the initials of the founders: the Turbov Lowrey Company. But we digress. When it comes to getting that cold air on before the sweltering flames of summer descend or getting that porcelain throne unclogged after Thanksgiving, these plumbers can certainly give your pipes a little TLC. 2) Albuquerque Plumbing, Heating & Cooling Best Dentist Dr. Douglas Gibbons, D.D.S., P.C. Starlet Margot Robbie (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Suicide Squad) recently made an ignorant ass of herself on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert by laughing that the only thing she noticed while filming in New Mexico was lots of missing teeth. Missing teeth can be caused by an array of issues from poverty and malnutrition to insufficient health care and incompetent dentists. Thankfully, the Duke City has Dr. Doug to thank for saving our pearly whites from gingivitis, tartar build up and the insults of rude actresses. 2) John Salazar/Byron Wall/Daniel Martinez Best Chiropractor Nick Speegle (Speegle Sport & Spine) Dr. Speegle played two seasons for the Cleveland Browns before being on the receiving end of a career-ending back injury; so the man knows a thing or two about an achy back. But hes no dumb jock. The good doctor has a true passion for helping others recover and is certified in Active Release Technique, Integrative Dry Needling, acupuncture and more. If youre hunched over right now as you read this, well, now you know where to go. 2) The Joint Best Doctor of Oriental Medicine Lisabeth Detwiler, D.O.M. Operating out of Zentral Wellness, Dr. Detwiler knows her craft. She studied at Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine in Harbin, China. She specializes in facial rejuvenation acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. So if your mug is looking like laundry left in the dryer for six days or you have under-eye bags that you could carry groceries in, now might be a good time to call this rad acupuncturist and herbalist. Best Bowling Alley Silva Lanes Silva Lanes is playing the perfect game, according to local bowling aficionados. With perfectly waxed lanes, balanced balls, delicious grub and nightly karaoke at the bar, Silvas got a four-bagger and then some. Whether youre a master of the granny toss or have that perfect form, this Northeast Heights hotspot is the place to be. 2) Skidmores Holiday Bowl 3) Lucky 66 Bowl Best Church Calvary Albuquerque/Sagebrush Community Church Pastor Skip at Calvary was once a wild youth, into drugs and the occult until one hazy afternoon when a gospel message by Billy Graham penetrated his soul. Yep, you read that right: It penetrated his freaking soul. So if youre looking for real talk, this is the dude whos been through the wringer. Sagebrush, on the other hand, offers up biblically sound messages delivered with a healthy dose of humor and creativity. Best Bed & Breakfast Red Horse Vineyard, B&B and Winery Anyone who tells you the South Valley is just farmers and cholos doesnt know crap. Its a beautiful areajust try walking along one of the ditches. Youll hear the gentle tinkling of water flowing out to the verdant fields dotted with cranes or horses; youll strike up a conversation with a friendly viejita out for a walk. Red Horse understands this welcoming feeling and is noted as being a relaxing oasis in the desert. Show up for the wedding or business retreat but stay for the homey rooms and the horseback riding along the Rio Grande. 2) Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm 3) Casa de Suenos Old Town Historic Inn Best Yoga Center Bhava Yoga Studio Here at the Alibi, we like to enjoy a nice 20-minute session of supine yoga after lunch at the office. Oh, finewere just napping but if youre up for something a tad more technical than snoring on the floor, Bhava Yoga offers all levels of yoga instruction. They have highly skilled teachers so rest assured that you wont get yourself twisted into a pretzel with no way out. Maybe if we skipped the burrito and went for the noon yoga hour we wouldnt need the nap in the first place. 2) Blissful Spirits Hot Yoga 3) High Desert Yoga Best Pharmacy Walgreens What do you call a booger on the wall? Wallgreens! Just kiddingwe love Walgreens. Where else can you pick up mascara, chips, coconut water, a romance novel and a bottle of Jack at 11:45 at night? They seriously have all the things. Plus their pharmacy techs are super nice and helpful. Lazy person tip: Get your meds via the drive-thru. If youre gonna wait, you might as well do it in the comfort of your own car where no one can witness you Facebook stalking your ex. 2) Duran Central Pharmacy 3) Highland Pharmacy Best Movie Theater Guild Cinema Some sassafras wrote on their Best of Burque ballot, Guild. Please let them win even though you probably fix the results no matter what people vote. First of all, we are very hurt that someone would dare impugn our honor. Second, Guild won fair and square. How can you be sure? Its quite obvious really: People are tired of beefy dudes in tights and the unending stream of Nicholas Sparks romances. Try something that engages your brain, like Cents. Or how about a piece of cinematic art, like Of Mind and Music? 2) Icon Cinemas 3) Regal Winrock Stadium 16 Best Martial Arts Studio Jacksons Martial Arts and Fitness Academy Bro, do you even lift? Because if you do, heres a newsflash: Thats so 1980s. Aim more for Holly Holm badass and less Schwarzenegger roid droid. Before you go talking smack about Rousey, youd better get a solid foundation in mixed martial arts, and our readers say this is the place to do it. Just make sure you always touch gloves. Or if youre just hoping to open the can of whoop ass on anyone who tries to assault you in a dark alley, they also have self defense classes. Best Gym Defined Fitness If the above descriptions use of the words can of whoop ass and assault are a tad too intense, we totally understand. No need for aggression, you just want to work off that Christmas gut thats still hanging around. Damn biscochitos. No worries, amigos. Our readers know that Defined Fitness can get you, well, defined and fit. Try out their personal trainers or group classes to get that summer bod, or go solo in the pool or on the trusty ol Stairmaster. We can feel the burn already. 2) New Mexico Sports and Wellness 3) Planet Fitness Best Personal Trainer Caleb Kinney (Defined Fitness) Its a few months into 2016 and youve been avoiding your New Years resolution of going to the gym. Youve been siting around with daydreams about the day you get ripped. But getting ripped doesnt happen with daydreams. You just need a little motivation from Albuquerques best personal fitness trainer. Get active and make your dreams a sweaty reality. (Desiree Garcia) 2) Ben Marshall Best Dance Studio Keshet Dance Company A non-profit from the get-go, Keshet Dance Company continues to serve the underserved as well as those simply passionate about dance. With an award-winning repertory company, classes from ballet to hip-hop for all ages with scholarships available to accommodate all income levels, Keshet has no peer in the Albuquerque area. Founded and managed by women, Keshet couldn't provide a more inspiring example to young women, and through their work with those with special needs and at-risk youth, Keshet leads by example. (Geoffrey Plant) 2) Maple Street 3) Form Studio Best Bank That Doesnt Feel Like Youre Dealing with Bankers Bank of Albuquerque Bank of Albuquerque wins readers' hearts in this difficult to achieve aspect of banking. There's something to be said for just the right amount of customer service. (Geoffrey Plant) 2) NUSENDA 3) New Mexico Bank and Trust Best Credit Union NUSENDA Members can't help call NUSENDA by its former name, New Mexico Educator's Federal Credit Union, all the while scratching their heads as to the esoteric meaning of their credit union's mysterious new moniker. Nonetheless, fast, friendly service and low fees make NUSENDA a clear standout among the credit unions in Albuquerque. Want to set up a new bank account? Odds are you'll be in and outcheck card and allwithin 15 minutes. Hot damn. (Geoffrey Plant) 2) Sandia Laboratories Federal Credit Union 3) US Eagle Federal Credit Union Best Bank to Steal a Pen From NUSENDA Why NUSENDA? Because they don't chain their pens to the desk. Obviously. Also, the new face of the old New Mexico Educators Federal Credit Union means there's a hole in everyone's stolen pen collection that needs to be filled. 2) Wells Fargo 3) Bank of Albuquerque Best Costumes Off Broadway Off Broadway was the overwhelming winner of Best Costumes, with more votes than almost all the other contenders in the category combined. Whether you need to look like Louis XIV or a terrifying, giant rabbit-man that hands out eggs, Off Broadway should be your first stop. 2) Albuquerque Assistance League Thrift Store 3) Disco Display House Best Dry Cleaner The Cleanery With more than twice as many votes as anyone else in the category, The Cleanery is the clear winner. And they're not only the best dry cleaner in town: As the only Green Business Bureau certified dry cleaner in the state, they are also the greenest. 2) Master Cleaners Best Tailor Izzys Tailor Shop/Final Stitch Alterations and Clothing We can personally vouch for Izzy's. They did such a great job tailoring a suit our editor picked up second hand, he got married in it. Which is especially good because he bought that suit to get married in. Tied for first place, Final Stitch is just as rad with the bonus that they have a machine that can sew through leather. So get ready to add a new patch to your badass biker jacket. 2) Kims Alterations Best Moving Company Two Men and a Truck Everyone knows that moving is less fun than your mom on a Tuesday night in her Snuggie. Why not let Two Men and a Truck do it for you? Word is they're the best in town. Or you could just throw all your stuff right in the trash. 2) Joes Moving/Delancy Street Moving Best Motorcyle Repair Bobby Js Yamaha Our readers have spoken, Bobby J's Yamaha is the place to get your bike serviced. Tons of in and out of state testimonials on their website and Facebook page laud them for their knowledge, reliable service and family-like atmosphere. 2) Moto Authority/PJs Triumph/R&S Honda Best Mani-Pedi New York Nails and Hair/Style Me Sweet Beauty Lounge In a highly contested category, New York Nails and Hair and Style Me Sweet tied for the win. Whether youre going on a date and need to getcha hair did or are dragging in your husband so they can take a Dewalt orbital sander to the calluses on his feet, now you know where to go. Ties for second and third are far too numerous to well, enumerate. Best Law Firm Kennedy, Kennedy & Ives If your rights have been trampled and you're in need of some big, fancy litigators to hit the offenders where it countsthe pocket bookKennedy, Kennedy & Ives were voted the best to have in your corner. Or maybe they were voted the best for their good looks. Seriously. Even if they can't win the case, they'll at least look good not doin' it. 2) Parnall Law Firm/Wolf and Fox, P.C. Best Spa Bettys Bath & Day Spa Feeling 'bout half past dead? Take a load off, Annie, and soak your cares away at Betty's Bath and Day Spa. It won't be free, but it will be worth it. 2) Albuquerque Baths 3) Pure Radiance Advanced Skin Care Best Computer/Electronics Repair and Tech Help Sandia Computers If you're ever feeling too smart or tech savvy, reach out to the brilliant minds of Sandia Computers to bring you down a peg! They'll assume you've already tried turning it on and off again. 2) Computer Corner 3) Dr. Dan's Computers/PC Place Best Electricians DRB Electric Well, if DRB Electric is good enough for the archdiocese of Santa Fe, they're good enough for you, too. But in case you're agnostic or, *gasp,* atheist, they were voted the best. 2) Eisenberg Electric Best Roofers BAC Roofing Few things in life are more satisfying than standing in the sun, drinking a beer, and watching someone else do the hard labor. Apparently BAC roofers are the best guys and gals for the job, with AAA Roofing coming in for a close second. 2) AAA Roofing 3) Alvarado/ Goodrich/ Lone Mountain Best Auto Repair Shop Independent Vehicle Service Incorporated Often the best and always a contender, Independent Vehicle Service, the only clear winner in another highly contested category, once again took the title of "Best Auto Repair Shop." The next time something on your car breaks, put away the duct tape and take it to someone who knows what they're doing, like the guys at IVS. Best Psychic Mendy Lou Mendy Lou is Burque's Best Psychic this year, but she probably knew that before the votes were even in. Best Laundromat Harolds Laundry Febreze just not taking those smells out of your threads anymore? Mosey on down to Harold's to freshen up your clothing and your mysteriously waning social life. 2) Rainbow Laundry 3) Washington Speedwash Best Tattoo Shop Tinta Cantina One of our staff went in asking for a Tweety Bird on her shoulder. Bless them, they told her to sober up and come back later. No wonder Burquenos voted Tinta Cantina the best tattoo shop in town. They won't stick it to you, except to stick something way cooler than a Tweety Bird in your dermis. 2) All is One Tattoo + Design 3) Archetype Dermigraphic Studio/Star Tattoo Best Tattoo Artist Johnny Mac Howell (Tinta Cantina) Want a little more color in your life? Go see Johnny Mac Howell, Albuquerque's resident watercolor tattoo expert. And this ain't his first rodeohe also won Best of Burque 2013. 2) John Henderson 3) Chris Partain Best Piercing Parlor Evolution Body Piercing When there's nothing you need more than another hole in the head, ears, crotch region, or anywhere, really, Alibi readers know the people at Evolution Body Piercing are the emperors of impalement. Ascension Body Modification came in at a sloppy second. 2) Ascension Body Modification 3) Sachs We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. /By Azernews/ By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan is ready to boost cooperation with neighboring Iran in the agriculture sector. Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov has voiced the will at a meeting with Iran's envoy to Baku, Mohsen Pak Ayeen, the Iranian embassy told Trend on April 5. Asadov, referring to an agricultural cooperation agreement signed between the two countries during President Ilham Aliyev's Tehran visit in February, said that Baku is ready to cooperate with Tehran in various fields of agrarian sector, including in research and training, soil and water, seed exchange and trade of agricultural products, as well as boosting the cooperatives. The minister believes that Azerbaijan and Iran can widely cooperate in import and export of agrarian goods. He also invited his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati to pay an official visit to Baku in the near future. Pak Ayeen, in turn, said that the two parties are determined to boost cooperation in the fields of veterinary and agriculture. He believes that Tehran and Baku enjoy good potential in agriculture sector, and can exchange their capacities through mutual cooperation. Last December, Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to set up joint ventures in the production and processing of agricultural products. The enterprises are expected to be established on the territories of both countries. It is assumed that agricultural products at these enterprises will go to Russia by transit through the territory of Azerbaijan, as well as in the western direction, to the Black Sea, through the territory of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The agricultural sector is of significant importance for Azerbaijan, which is keen to diminish its dependence on the oil sector. Azerbaijan, being engaged in increasing its export potential and boosting and protecting the population's food security, sees the agricultural sector as a central direction in a bid to diversify the national economy. Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has all possibilities to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand in neighboring countries. Experts believe that with the further development of production of high quality agricultural goods, Azerbaijan will be able not only increase the supply to neighboring countries, but also enter markets in Eastern Europe. In Iran, agriculture is also one of the most important sectors of the national economy, accounting over 10 percent of GDP. Agricultural and animal husbandry products have always provided the major part of the non-oil products, exported to foreign markets. The main export regions include the Middle East, Central Asia and other CIS nations, Europe, and South America. The country is also increasingly importing food technology, including processing and packaging equipment. /By Azernews/ By Nazrin Gadimova The situation on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops remains tense as Armenian armed forces shattered ceasefire a total of 115 times throughout the day, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported on April 6. Despite that the military operations were suspended on April 5 with the consent of the two parties, Armenian armed forces shelled the Azerbaijani positions using heavy machine guns and artillery weapons. The Defense Ministry reported that the enemy fired on the Azerbaijani positions situated in the nameless heights in the Gizilhajili village (Gazakh region), Kohnagyshlag village (Agstafa region), villages of Agdam, Alibayli village (Tovuz region), as well as positions in the nameless heights in the Gadabay region. Moreover, Armenian armed units shelled Azerbaijans positions near the Gulustan village (Goranboy region), Goyarkh, Yarymdzha, Chilaburt villages (Terter region), Shikhlar, Bash Garvand, Javahirli, Sarijali, Kangarli, Novruzlu, Shuraabad, Marzili, Yusifjanli, Garagashli, Namirli villages (Aghdam region), Kuropatkino village (Khojavand region), Horadiz, Garakhanbayli, Gorgan, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages (Fuzuli region), as well as Mehdi village (Jabrayil region) and nameless heights in Goygol, Goranboy, Khojavend, Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions. Given the situation, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired 120 fire strikes on enemys positions, according to the Defense Ministry. The ministry further added that the Azerbaijani armed units are carrying out strengthening works in the liberated lands. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry further announced said Armenian media have been spreading false information on violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijani armed forces after calling on truce. "The dissemination of this kind of information serves to create ground for following Armenian provocations by violating ceasefire and to accuse Azerbaijani side for the possible incidents in advance," teh statement reads. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. More than 370 Armenian soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces have been destroyed from April 2 until today. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The House of Representatives of the State of Minnesota has adopted a resolution recognizing February 26, 2016 as the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre. The resolution says that on February 25 and 26 1992 the Armenian armed forces supported and accompanied by armored vehicles of the Soviet 366th motorized riffle regiment attacked and occupied the besieged town of Khojaly as part of the armed aggression and ethnic cleansing that had been taking place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan since 1988. It says that when the residents of the town attempted to flew the area they were ambushed and fired on, which resulted in the largest civilian massacre and war crime in all of Europe at the time. The resolution says that as the result of the genocidal act of the approximately 6000 inhabitants of the town 613 civilians were killed (including 106 women, 83 children and 70 elderly) 150 missing, 487 were wounded including 76 children, and 1270 civilians were taken hostage. This tragic event, which was later called by experts and became known as Azerbaijani Srebrenica is a sobering reminder of the carnage terrible that can be inflicted in wartime and the enduring need for greater understanding communication and tolerance among people the world over, the resolution says. Azerbaijani community of Hungary calls the international community to demand from Armenia to cease the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan's territories, Chairman of Azerbaijani-Hungarian Youth Union Ibrahim Safarli told Daily News Hungary newspaper. He went on to add that the Azerbaijani community also demands from Armenia to withdraw its troops from all seized lands and to engage constructively in the conflict settlement process in accordance with the requirements of relevant resolutions of the UN and the norms and principles of international law. Azerbaijani community in Hungary is worried about the worst violence for decades over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, he said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. There are currently hundreds of Azerbaijani youth who live, work and study in Hungary and they are deeply concerned that peace in Caucasus region is under danger, Safarli said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. /By Azernews/ By Nazrin Gadimova Azerbaijans strong response to the provocation of Armenian militaries on the contact line of the troops has caused panic among those living in the occupied territories of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region. Over 3,000 residents of the occupied territories have left their homes following the deterioration of the situation on the front line, according to Armenian media. Moreover, local hospitals are in need of medicines. The ICRC reports that the organizations representatives handed over medical kits, drugs and bandages for those wounded. To prevent the mass flee from the occupied lands, the unrecognized regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has set up several posts at the outskirts of the towns. To prevent growing of the panic, Armenian Armed Forces and the armed units of the separatist regime try to hide from the public the recent losses and spread misinformation about the losses of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. Georgia's former president, governor of Ukraine's Odessa province Mikheil Saakashvili has expressed support to Azerbaijan. Saakashvili shared a video on Facebook of his speech in the parliament of Azerbaijan in 2012, adding the "The flag once raised will never fall!" phrase. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. /By Azernews/ By Nazrin Gadimova The ceasefire regime is still being violated by the units of the Armenian Armed Forces despite the achieved agreement on April between the Chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia through Russias mediation. Currently, the enemy is intensively shelling Azerbaijans position near the Tapgaragoyunlu settlement of Goranboy region using 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars, according to Azerbaijans Defense Ministry. However, the Azerbaijani side still observes the agreement and does not return a response fire, the ministry added. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5, as a meeting between the Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijan Armed Forces Colonel General Najmaddin Sadikov and the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces Colonel General Yuri Khachaturyan took place by the mediation of the Russian side. To achieve progress in peace talks on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict it is important to change the format of the OSCE Minsk Group, which for more than 20 years hasn't contributed to its solution, says Aidos Sarym, Kazakh political analyst and director of the Altynbek Sarsenbayev Foundation. "Therefore, it is time to change the format, to bring in new negotiators, perhaps, such as Turkey and Kazakhstan," Sarym, who also previously served as an adviser to Kazakhstan's information minister, told Trend Apr. 6. He believes that a new format of the negotiators' group may help find new ways to solve the conflict. Today, international community stands for ceasing shootings in the zone of conflict, said Sarym. "The unresolved conflict hinders the entire region's development, bringing threat of deterioration of the situation at any time and it is necessary that the world powers and international organizations make great efforts to find a final solution," he added. Sarym noted that Armenia's position on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue is unconstructive, since they simply say it is "their land", and they don't intend to make a compromise. "International community should put pressure on Armenian authorities, possibly up to the imposition of sanctions in order to force them to change their position and make progress in the peace talks," he added. Speaking about the recent escalation of situation along the line of contact between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone, the expert said that during the past days Azerbaijan has showed the power of its army. Sarym said Azerbaijan is much stronger than Armenia both militarily and economically, and Armenia can't resist Azerbaijan without the external support, in particular, that of Russia - an ally of Armenia in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the support of diasporas. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Oman-based Dhofar Steel has announced plans to establish a steel rolling mill in Sohar Industrial Estate with raw material sourced from Iran, said a report. The multi-million rial investment will see an existing billet manufacturing plant at Sohar upgraded and expanded into a major rolling mill with its output of reinforced steel bars (rebars) targeted primarily at regional markets, Salim Al Mashekhi, group chairman, was quoted as saying in an Oman Daily Observer report. Al Mashekhi said that the launch of a rolling mill will help position the growth of a strong and well-respected Omani brand in the domestic and regional markets. He added that the Dhofar Steel was launched around two years previously with the acquisition of a small steel billet manufacturing plant in Sohar. During this period, the company has been testing the waters, and is now ready to upgrade into a modern rolling mill. Al Mashekhi noted that the company is in discussion with its strategic partners in Iran for raw materials, and Turkey for equipment, to achieve its objectives. He further added that the company envisages a rebar manufacturing capacity of 10,000-15,000 metric tonnes per month, slated for commissioning and launch within the next six to eight months. The launch of a new rolling mill will also be seen to help strengthen domestic production capacity of a commodity that is billed as strategically vital to the nations ongoing modernisation and economic development, added the report. Omans Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) organised yesterday (April 5) a meeting with Yemini investors aimed to highlight business opportunities available in the sultanates Al Mazunah Free Zone. The event was held in the presence of Hilal bin Hamad Al Hasani, chief executive officer of PEIE, and Yemeni investors. He welcomed the investors to the sultanate, emphasising on the cultural and social bonds between the Yemenis and Omanis, said a statement from PEIE. Al Hasani stressed on the strategic location of Oman that allows it to attract significant investments noting that the country has been playing a dynamic role in advancing the various sectors and has realised significant achievements in the economic sector, it added. The PEIE chief briefed the Yemeni delegation on the vision and mission of PEIE, its industrial estates, and the incentives and facilities offered to local and foreign investors. The vision of PEIE is to enhance the sultanates position as a leading regional centre of manufacturing, ICT, innovation and entrepreneurship excellence, and its mission is to attract industrial investments and provide continued support, through regionally and globally competitive strategies, good infrastructure, value adding services, and easy governmental processes, it said. He also highlighted the objectives of PEIE which include attracting foreign investments to the sultanate and localising the national capital; contributing to stimulating the private sector to achieve sustainable economic and social development; strengthening relations with the concerned authorities to ensure the overflow of investment process and overcome any obstacles faced by investors; reinforcing cooperation with related international and regional organisations to boost the exchange of experience, knowledge and techniques used; developing employees skills and performance through a set of training programmes; contributing to creating new job opportunities; encouraging exports and the establishment of export industries, and increase the market share of locally manufactured products; stimulating the economic sectors in the sultanate including transport, tourism, banking, among others, said the statement. On his part, Rezq Olemat, free zone expert at PEIE, briefed the Yemeni investors on Al Mazunah Free Zone, stating that Al Mazunah Free Zone was established under Royal Decree no. 103/2005 to be under the management of PEIE, it added. The zone is currently completing necessary infrastructure work in line with the international standards of the free zones. Olemat said: "The strategic location of Al Mazunah Free Zone on the border of Oman and Yemen makes it the Gulf gateway for transit trade to Yemen and Eastern Africa. The free zone aims to attract local and international investments to increase the volume of trade exchange, attract advanced technologies, and create job opportunities. Major services have been completed in the recent period at the free zone including the road network linking the free zone with neighbouring cities and markets, in addition to communication, electricity, water and sewage services, he said. Olemat added that general incentives are offered to the investors as per the Free Zones Law promulgated by Royal Decree 56/2002 including 30 years of tax free operations, customs exemption, 100 per cent foreign ownership, no minimum capital requirement; Omanisation ratio in the free zone is only 10 per cent, in addition to facilitation of procedures for non-GCC investors to obtain visa and residency permits. "Additionally, the free zone offers several incentives including easy access of individuals and investors to the free zone without entry visa required for Yemenis, and they can work in the free zone without a working visa; in addition to its strategic location close to the Yemeni border, among other incentives of benefit for the investors," Olemat added. The investors enquired about laws, regulations and mechanisms to commence investment in the industrial estates in general and the free zone in particular. The Yemeni business owners expressed their admiration of the offered incentives and their willingness to have field visits to the free zone, while some of them said that they have already submitted investment applications in the various investment areas offered by Al Mazunah Free Zone, it added. TradeArabia News Service Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), a leading aluminium smelter in the world, has demonstrated its support for corporate citizenship by backing the ongoing Bahrain International Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Award 2016. The awards event, organised by Bahrain CSR Society, kicked off today (April 6) and will conclude tomorrow (April 7) at the Regency Hotel. The opening ceremony, held under the patronage of Bahrains Energy Minister Dr Abdul Hussain Ali Mirza, was attended by Alba chief financial officer Ali Al Baqali, and chief marketing officer Khalid A Latif along with other company officials, said a statement from the company. Al Baqali said: Our company believes in its responsibility towards the community in which its operates and as an active corporate citizen, we believe that it is imperative for us to emphasise our strategic focus on the development of the Bahrain community and the society that made Alba one of Bahrains flagship assets. Additionally, we hope that such conferences will help in bridging the gap between corporations and the society, while providing excellent opportunities to exchange the knowledge-base and expertise in the field of CSR and sustainable growth, he added. TradeArabia News Service Kuwait is aiming to step up production of electricity on house roofs through model pilot projects in 150 homes, a report said. This will be increased to 1,500 after 2018, Adnan Shihab-Eldin, director general of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) was quoted as saying in the Kuwait Times report. The cost of a kilowatt of electricity produced through solar energy is 20 fils ($0.65), while the same produced via fossil fuels is up to 40 fils, he said. Shihab-Eldin highlighted the various renewable energy projects launched by the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) such as the 70 MW Shagaya complexes. The government directs part of power subsidy to renewable energy, to raise its share of Kuwaits production of electricity to 15 per cent, a target set for 2030, he said. Jumeirah Group, a Dubai-based luxury hotel company, has appointed a new managing director at The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management (EAHM). Judy Hou takes over from Ron Hilvert, who left at the end of 2015 after 18 years at the helm of EAHM. Hou has over 20 years experience at some of the finest brands in international hospitality and higher education organisations in the US, Asia and Europe. On the hotel side she worked with Swissotel, Park Hyatt and Mandarin Oriental; and on the education side with Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne in Switzerland, the School of Hotel & Tourism Management at the Hotel Polytechnic University in Hong Kong and Les Roches Jin Jiang International Hotel Management College in Shanghai, part of Laureate International Universities network. Her most recent position was the CEO of the Glion Institute of Higher Education in Switzerland. Fluent in English and Mandarin, Judy graduated from Columbia University in New York, has a masters degree in Business Hospitality Administration from Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne and is currently working towards a doctorate in Business Administration from Walden University. - TradeArabia News Service The UAE has the strongest passport in the GCC region, according to a new global index on powerful passports, with the country's global ranking moving up to 27 from 47 last year. According to a the Passport Index by Arton Capital, the global leader in residency and citizenship solutions, the UAE passport now offers visa-free travel to 120 countries compared to 72 countries last year, taking its individual ranking to 60th place; mainly boosted from its Schengen visa waiver obtained in 2015. Germany ranked the most powerful passport in the world, with a visa-free score of 157, followed by Sweden, Finland, Italy and Switzerland. The highest ranked European country with an available Citizenship by Investment programme is that of Malta, ranked seventh, followed by Cyprus (11th) and Bulgaria (14th). The highest ranked non-European passport is that of South Korea, which ranked third with a visa-free score of 155; followed by Singapore, Japan and Malaysia. Although the worlds top 10 passports this year are all European, it is relatively difficult to obtain visa-free mobility to its member states. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation, on average 76 per cent of the worlds population are required to obtain a visa prior to departure to Europe. The highest ranked non-European passports are South Korea, ranked 12th, with a visa-free score of 155, followed by Singapore, ranked 14th. Armand Arton, president of Arton Capital, said: Many people around the world consider their passports a barrier to their opportunities in life and choose to empower their identity and global footprint by obtaining a second citizenship through investment. In an age of increasing mobility, becoming a global citizen has never been more desirable. Investing in a second residency or citizenship is a liberating and empowering privilege, which comes with a responsibility to the world. The new generation of the Passport Index, a ranking system that reveals the benefits of each passport from around the world, compares passports from 199 countries including the 193 United Nations member countries as well as the Republic of China, Kosovo, Palestine, and The Vatican. Passport Index positions countries based on the power of each passport, determined by Arton Capitals three-tier method which combines a ranking for Visa-free travel, together with Visa on arrival ratio, with the countrys score as attributed by United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index to take account of the jurisdictions international perception. Essentially, the index serves to understand and visualise the power of each passport on the holders identity, opportunity, mobility and overall quality of life. - TradeArabia News Service Thursdays Highlights <&underline>Fun stuff happening Thursday. Thursday support meetings Alcoholics Anonymous: 6:30 a.m., 917 N. Beech; 8:30 a.m., 500 S. Wolcott; 10 a.m., 328 E. A St.; noon, 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 5:30 p.m., 456 S. Walnut; 6 p.m., Douglas, Congregational United Church of Christ, 405 N. 6th St.; 7 p.m., Shepherd of the Valley, public welcome; 7 p.m., Edgerton, 763 Center St.; 7:30 p.m., Douglas, 628 E. Richards; 8 p.m., 917 N. Beech St.; 8 p.m., 328 E. A St. Unless otherwise noted, all meetings are open. Casper info: 266-9578; Douglas info: 307-351-1688. Al-Anon: 7 p.m., 500 S. Wolcott, Ste. 200; 7:30 p.m., 328 1/2 E. A (upstairs). Narcotics Anonymous: Noon, 500 S. Wolcott, 12-24 Club; 8 p.m., 4700 S. Poplar (church basement), closed. Web site: http://www.urmrna.org. Free tax help offered The Wyoming Free Tax Service runs through April 13. Our hours will be from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. Our location is the Aspen Creek Building, 800 Werner Court, Suite 180. This service is offered on a first-come, first-served basis, so no appointments will be scheduled. Please bring your Social Security card, photo identification and appropriate paperwork. If you have questions, please feel free to call 307-315-1830 during our hours of operation or visit www.wyomingfreetaxservice.org. Tim Stubson at Five Trails Thursday The Five Trails Rotary Club will hear from Tim Stubson at noon at the Casper Petroleum Club. Community members are welcome to attend this presentation as guests of the Five Trails Rotary Club. Stubson is an attorney in Casper,supporting small businesses. He wanted government to facilitate progress in federal regulations for small businesses rather than impede it so, in 2008, he ran for a seat in the Wyoming State Legislature. He is running for Congress because he wants to fight for Wyomings people, Wyoming jobs and for Wyoming values. He pledges to fight for Wyomings energy industry and help Wyoming businesses by closing tax loop holes that benefit a few and lower tax rates for all. Stubson grew up across Wyoming oilfields, he was educated here and raises his family here. He is one of us and does things the Wyoming way with hard work and honesty. He wants to go to Washington to preserve our way of life and make sure Wyoming continues to be the nations best place to work and raise a family. If you or someone you know of would like to present at a future Five Trails Rotary Club meeting, please contact Brian McCash at 259-3444. Learn Instagram The Natrona County Library will offer an Instagram class at 2 p.m. in the Crawford Room. Topics to be discussed include how to take photos and film videos on your mobile device using the Instagram app, how to share photos and videos with family and friends, and how to use hashtags, add filters, and edit images. Call 577-READ ext. 2 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Parent-teacher conferences at KW Parent-Teacher Conferences will be held in the Cafeteria from 4 to 7 p.m. Report cards will be distributed then. Click arts comes to Casper Casper and ART 321 are very fortunate to have been chosen to host the 2016 Click Arts Conference, which will attract artists from a very wide area to Casper. The conference will be held through Saturday and begins during the First Thursday Art Walk, from 4 to 8 p.m., at ART 321, which is located at 321 West Midwest Avenue. Please check the Wyoming Arts Council Website: http://wyoarts.state.wy.us for all information, registration questions, and a schedule of events to choose what events you would like to attend. Registered participants will have an opportunity to tour Zak Pulllens studio, just one of many educational opportunities that will be available during the conference. First Art Walk ART 321 invites you to the first Art Walk of the season from 5 to 8 p.m. downtown, including the Old Yellowstone District. There will be 27 downtown businesses participating this year with local art, music, performance, food, drinks and more. To get a map, see Facebook.com/CasperArtWalk or email CasperArtWalk@gmail.com Casper Art Walk at library Stop by the Natrona County Librarys magazine area during the Casper Art Walk between 5 and 8 p.m. to learn different watercolor techniques while creating beautiful personalized bookmarks to take home. All supplies provided. Call 577-READ ext. 122 or email reference@natronacountylibrary.org for more information. Community impact at Pizza Ranch Pizza Ranch, 5011 E. Second St., hosts Community Impact nights from 5 to 9 p.m. normally on Mondays and Wednesdays. Members of nonprofit groups bus tables for tips, and 20 percent of meal tickets from diners who mention the group are donated as well. Dine-in, delivery or pickup orders qualify. Thursdays nonprofit is the Cornerstone E Free Church. Chadron State group at CC Chadron State College students comprising the Wind Symphony will perform at Casper Colleges Wheeler Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. The concert is free and open to the public. The group includes Forrest Holso of Sundance on the saxophone. Faculty member and director Dr. Sidney Shuler said the music department features a tour by instrumental and vocal groups in alternating years. The program will include: Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein, arranged by Walter Beeler; Serenity by Ola Gjeilo; Ghost Train by Eric Whitacre, second movement, At the Station, and third movement, The Motive Revolution; selections from Kiss Me Kate by Cole Porter, arranged by John Moss; Amazing Grace by Frank Ticheli and The Klaxon by Henry Fillmore. A student cultural group at the University of Wyoming spoke out Monday about a developing situation involving a racist middle school project in Johnson County. MEChA, a group celebrating Chicano culture and language, was contacted by a substitute teacher in the Johnson County School District, John Egan, who said he was disturbed by a project he saw tucked behind a teachers desk in a seventh-grade social studies class he was subbing for Feb. 2. The project depicted a man wearing a sombrero and clothes associated with Mexican culture on the front of a cereal box. Under the headline, Can you pin the knife in the Mexican, two students had cut an opening from the figures neck to groin, and inserted a cardboard knife, according to a facsimile provided by the substitute teacher. The knife could be pulled in and out. Egan brought the incident to the attention of the Johnson County School District Board of Trustees on Monday. Superintendent Gerry Chase praised Egan for speaking out, apologized for the lack of communication and expressed hope that Egan would be a resource in the district to handle these types of issues in the future, Egan said in an email after the meeting. Egan said he pushed the discussion forward because he was dissatisfied with the schools initial handling of the project, after multiple discussions with school officials. Egan said he, and his pastor, met with the superintendent on Feb. 18, and again with both the superintendent and Principal Darren Schmidt on Feb. 19. Schmidt, however, said he was aware of the project before Egan brought it to his attention, and had spoken with the teacher about it. The project was a chance for kids to show what they had learned about the Mexican-American War, the principal said. Though the students were wrong, the situation was dealt with immediately and appropriately, Schmidt said. We are talking middle school kids here, he said. They are going to make mistakes. The school used the project as a teachable moment for the kids involved, he added, but declined to comment on the specifics of how the incident was handled. Schmidt did not say if the students were disciplined. [Egan] is not in the building every single day, Schmidt said. It was addressed prior to him being in the building. There is disagreement between Egan and the Johnson County school officials as to how long the project was visible. The principal said it was never displayed because of its content. Egan said it was clearly noticeable behind the teachers desk and should have been stored where other children could not see it. Twenty-three students enrolled at the Clear Creek Middle School in Buffalo identify as Latino, according to a Wyoming Department of Education survey done in October. Latinos account for about 10 percent of the student population in Johnson County public schools. Egans account of his experience was published in a press release Monday by the MEChA chapter in Laramie. Norma Lira-Perez, the local chapters co-chairwoman, said she hoped such an incident would be dealt with institutionally, with classes that teach about cultural awareness and inclusivity. The way these issues are being handled, or not handledare really telling of the state as a whole, she said. [There are] people sitting at these tables and pretending that these experiences dont matter and dont exist. Lira-Perez identifies as Mexican-American and grew up in Jackson. She said she was disheartened by Egans story. But the incident is a reflection of the need for UW to set a standard in Wyoming by making diversity classes mandatory at the university, Lira-Perez said. UW is very powerful, she said. We are getting these kids from small rural areas in Wyoming, most of them are being channeled to the university. These students are going into school or work and thinking these things are okay to do. UWs president Dick McGinity recently created a position to guide cultural awareness policy at the university in response to student unrest about the lack of diversity at the school. The Johnson County School District, which operates in both Buffalo and Kaycee, came under scrutiny in 2011, when a football coach at Buffalo High School gave his players a handout called the Hurt Feelings Report, with homophobic and sexist language. The handout was soon brought to the attention of parents and school officials and was reported on by multiple national media outlets. The teacher is currently a guidance counselor at the high school. RENO, Nev. Conservationists are suing the Bureau of Land Management to block the construction of fences in northern Nevada they say are intended to appease livestock ranchers at the risk of harming sage grouse and the drought-stricken federal rangeland. The Western Watersheds Project filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Reno last week on the heels of a broader one it filed last month challenging the Obama administrations overall protection plan for the greater sage grouse across 10 western states. Leaders of the Idaho-based group say the 3 miles of new fence planned near key grouse habitat flies in the face of BLMs own research showing the low-flying, hen-sized birds often die when they strike fences. Fence posts also provide perches for ravens that prey on grouse nests. The suit says BLM rejected a similar proposal to build fences along the grazing allotment near Battle Mountain 200 miles northeast of Reno in 2014. Pitched as an alternative to orders to remove cattle from the range, the ranchers said the fencing would keep the animals out of streams and key riparian areas. But BLM said at the time it was too costly and counterproductive to range health because fences promote growth of invasive weeds. Ken Cole, the groups Idaho director, said BLMs reversal shows the sage-grouse planning process is just a pile of paper written to avoid an Endangered Species Act listing. Nothing has changed on the ground, and most of the new protections from grazing wont be implemented for years to come, he said. The BLM approved the fencing under a settlement agreement with ranchers last June to govern the land until the agency completes a formal assessment of range conditions next year. The six permittees include Henry Filippini Jr., whose family has ranched in Nevada since the 1870s. Several ranchers rode across the country by horseback in 2014 to deliver a petition to the Obama administration in a protest they called the Grass March. The ranchers have paid their grazing fees for years so their situation differs from that of Cliven Bundy, a southern Nevada rancher who owes the government as much as a $1 million for trespassing. Bundy staged an armed standoff at his ranch two years ago and now faces federal charges. But in both cases, the BLM has been criticized for backing down and at least initially declining to enforce laws to avoid confrontation. Paul Ruprecht, an Oregon-based lawyer for Western Watersheds, said the ranchers have resisted the BLMs drought closures and instead bullied the BLM into considering a slew of proposals for new livestock infrastructure to justify more grazing on the badly degraded public lands. Rather than insist upon needed rest periods, the BLM has caved to rancher demands to allow their herds back onto the parched landscapes and enabled that use by approving the contested fencing, he said. Nevada Cattlemens Association President David Stix Jr. and Nevada Association of Counties Director Jeff Fontaine praised BLM for working cooperatively with the ranchers. Once again, Western Watersheds has proven through their obstructionist tactics that their only goal is to kill an industry at any cost, Stix said. Interior Department spokeswoman Jessica Kershaw defended the administration policy that allows for continued land use and development where it makes sense and doesnt conflict with high-priority areas of the birds habitat. We continue to believe the plans are both balanced and effective protecting key sage-grouse habitat and providing for sustainable development, she said. Editor: I am tired of Hillary Clinton's constant refrain of "gun control." This candidate can't even control her own emails, much less a gun. When will she ever address the problem of controlling gangbangers, druggies and criminals who misuse firearms and maim and kill the innocent? Where is her endorsement of the NRA's Project Exile which would sentence a criminal to ten years of hard time for any crime while using a firearm? She constantly panders to the anti-gun crowd but with no real solutions other than to make life harder for those who responsibly own firearms. And, make no mistake about it, the national democratic party wants a total gun ban and confiscation. The president and Hillary have already made favorable remarks about looking at the Australian and English model, which took all guns away from law abiding citizens, using the previously enacted registration lists to intimidate it's citizens. Hitler, Stalin and Mao TseTung all heartily endorsed gun control and registration for a very realistic reason-total government power. If you want gun confiscation and an end to second amendment rights then you know who your candidate is. Bernie, I may not agree with most of your socialistic policies, but you are looking better and better by contrast. As an aside, I thank the CST for spending the time, money and resources to help bring sunshine and openness to our own state and local government. Please vehemently publicize those who would stifle openness in our governmental agencies so that I and mine can vote the bums out and put in candidates that believe that the taxpayers should see what they are paying for. If they feel the public should be excluded, then they need to find a non taxpayer supported job where they can practice their desires for secrecy. Thanks again for your continuing contributions toward better government. Vote freedom first. PHOENIX Unable to block local living wage laws, state senators voted Tuesday to stop local governments from telling employers they have to provide everything from paid sick leave to pensions. The voice vote came over objections of Democrat lawmakers who said its none of the states business whether city councils and county boards of supervisors decide that private firms need to provide certain fringe benefits. But Republicans said its inappropriate for any level of government to impose any conditions on businesses. That drew a sharp retort from Sen. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, who said if the GOP had its way there would not even be a minimum wage. HB 2579, which already has been approved by the House, most immediately stems from efforts by Tempe to require employers to offer paid sick leave. The Tempe council has since backed off. But the Arizona Restaurant and Hospitality Association continues to push the measure to short-circuit similar moves elsewhere. That group actually would like to pre-empt local efforts, like the one just launched in Flagstaff, to impose minimum wages higher than the current $8.05 an hour. But Attorney General Mark Brnovich ruled last year that the 2006 initiative that created the state minimum wage specifically permits local options. And that, he said, bars lawmakers from approving anything to the contrary. That, then, leaves what proponents call non-wage compensation. Sen. Andrew Sherwood, D-Tempe, chided proponents for interfering. Ive always been told the GOP is the party of small government, he said. Sherwood said he believes that should mean butting out of these local decisions. This is a bill that is entirely consistent with the Republican philosophy of limited government, responded Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills. We like to take the yoke of unnecessary regulation off of private individuals and private companies, regardless of whether it comes from the state, federal governments or local governments. And Rep. Sylvia Allen, R-Snowflake, said its necessary for lawmakers to intercede to help those who have put everything on the line to open a business. Theyve mortgaged their home, theyve taken their savings, they stay up at night worrying about how to make their payroll and get things done, she said. And Allen, in her own way, confirmed what Farley had said about the GOP views of minimum wages. This is not the role of government to tell businesses what they should be paying their employees, she said. Farley acknowledged that allowing cities to decide things like paid sick leave could result in unequal rules around the state. But he said he does not see that as a problem. If businesses decide that the cost of business is too much in that municipality or that county, they can feel free not to do business in that municipality or county, he said. The Screamery ice cream shop opened its second location on Speedway April 7 and a 3rd downtown in early June. Owner Kenny Sarnoski opened up shop in the former Headquarters Hookah at 2545 E. Speedway next door to Alibaba Mediterranean Restaurant, and in the old Buffalo Exchange at 250 E. Congress. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Sarnoski said he anticipates opening four or five Screamery shops in the Tucson area with wife/business partner, Linda Sarnoski. Everybody loves it, he said of Screamerys handcrafted ice creams that start with custom, in-house pasteurized cream. Just being so far east is a bummer for most of Tucson and we want to be able to service as many people with our product as we can. Merle Haggard lent his rough-hewn baritone to then country newcomer Eric Churchs ode to the Bakersfield legend in 2006. Pledge Allegiance to the Hag was a cut on Churchs 2006 debut album Sinners Like Me. He came in and sang on the last verse. What was ironic about that was that I didnt get a chance to meet him until after we did that, Church said Wednesday, not long after news broke of Haggards death in California. He died Wednesday on his 79th birthday. Church said he met Haggard a number of times after that collaboration, including appearing with him last July 4 at Willie Nelsons Fourth of July picnic in Austin, Texas. I remember he walked out that night and he had the shades on and he just had that swagger, Church said during a phone call from Las Vegas. Church, who will headline this weekends Country Thunder festival in Florence, was spending a few days in Vegas after Sundays Academy of Country Music Awards; he won best video for Mr. Misunderstood. One of the best shows I saw Merle do, he did Poncho and Lefty with Willie and I had never seen them do it live and it was fantastic. It sounded great. Thats a memory I will always have. Church added. Some country music observers have called Church the modern-day Haggard or Nelson for his independent streak. Its a comparison that Church doesnt really embrace. The reverence I have for those two guys is true reverence. Willie and Merle and all those guys are one of a kind. They are truly unique. I think thats what made them special, he explained. They are not like anybody else and I dont think theres anybody like them. Thats what made them who they were., that made them icons. I have always been inspired by their work and I have always been inspired because they always did things their way. That is something weve tried to emulate. Sticking to your guns and making your music and not compromising on that. When you see guys like that it certainly inspires you to do the same. So just how does a songwriter come up with a song? We posed this question to Old Dominions Matthew Ramsey during a phone call from Nashville last week to talk about the band's show at Country Thunder on Thursday, April 7. He walked us through the process for two of his bands singles Break Up With Him and Snapback which he cowrote. A little background on the songwriting bonafides for Ramsey and his bandmates: The Virginia natives, who take their name from their beloved home state, came to Nashville a decade ago to write songs. We just wanted to come here and learn to write the best songs that we can and thats what we focused on for a really long time, he said. Ramsey has songwriting credits on hit songs by Kenny Chesney (Save It For A Rainy Day), Sam Hunt (Ex To See, Make You Miss Me), Pat Green (Day One), Craig Morgan (Wake Up Lovin You), Luke Bryan (Goodbye Girl) and The Band Perry (Chainsaw). It is a great feeling to have another artist record your song and see it go up the charts, he said. But when you are the one thats on that stage night after night, seeing those crowds show up and you can hear them singing your songs and feel their energy, you kind of cut out the middle man. You are the one thats connecting and you feel that direct connection and you are no longer behind the curtains any more. Its amazing to feel that. Heres how he and his bandmates came up with their first two singles: Break Up With Her That was us just trying to make each other laugh, he said. The band came up with the melody during a jam session at soundcheck. Not long afterward, as they were traveling by van to a gig in South Carolina, Ramsey toyed around with the idea of having a one-sided phone call to tell a love interest to ditch her boyfriend. Trevor (Rosen) was awake in the back so I went of the back of the van and I said, What about this? and he started playing it. I was whispering in my phone, quiet so I wouldnt wake the guys up. I was like, Hey girl, whats up? I know its late but I knew youd pick it up. Just because I was whispering it set this tone to the song. We have a recording of it and you can hear the seatbelts rattling in the van. SHARP, Eldon passed away March 20, 2016. He was born in Scottsdale, AZ; December 22, 1923. He graduated from Scottsdale High School and attended Arizona State Teachers College for a year. He worked for his father, farming; until the Army drafted him in 1944. He served in the aftermath of the Battle of the Bulge, was wounded, a POW and MIA in Germany; until liberated by the Allies. Eldon was involved in many business ventures, one of which was part owner with his brother Mervin; of Sharp's Markets in Tucson. One of his most memorable ventures was a bus driver for Tanque Verde School. He loved children! He enjoyed traveling with his wife, Charlotte; and developed friendships worldwide. Eldon was a faithful man and believed in showing by example. He was a charter member of Valley Christian Church and served for many years. He is survived by his sweetheart of 70 years, Charlotte; children, Ralph (Judy), Carol Lee and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents Clyde and Flossy Sharp; brothers, Mervin, Lynn, Olen; sisters, Mabel, Bernice and son-in-law Ken O'Dell. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the University of Arizona Cancer Center, Our Dailey Bread or your charity of choice. A Memorial Service will be held Saturday, April 9 at 11:00 a.m. at EAST LAWN PALMS MORTUARY. Chilies Crossroads (Anaheim peppers stuffed with shrimp and wrapped in bacon) Makes: 2 chili peppers 2 Anaheim peppers Oil for frying 15 diced medium shrimps cup of diced tomatoes cup diced onions cup of diced cilantro Salt and pepper to taste 6 strips of bacon Clean peppers and cut out the tops. Fry in oil on medium high heat for about 3 minutes. Set aside. Combine all other ingredients in a pan with cooking oil on medium heat, for about 6 minutes. Stuff the pepper with the mixture. Wrap bacon around peppers, using toothpicks to hold the bacon in place. Fry the peppers in oil until the bacon is completely cooked. Serve with rice and salad. --Aracely Gonzalez Davis-Monthan Air Force Base marked its 70th anniversary in Tucson on Monday, welcoming back former employees for a special ceremony. The AMARG better known as the Boneyard was established in 1946 as the 4105th Army Air Force Base Unit to house B-29 bombers and C-47 transport aircraft in a low-corrosion environment. In 1948, after the Air Forces creation as a separate service, the unit was renamed the 3040th Aircraft Storage Depot. In 1965, the depot was renamed the Military Aircraft Storage and Disposition Center and given the mission of processing aircraft for all the U.S. armed forces. In the 1980s, the center processed intercontinental ballistic missiles for dismantling or reuse in satellite launches, and the facility was renamed the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center. In the 1990s, under the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the center began scrapping 365 B-52 bombers. In May 2007, command of AMARG was transferred to the 309th Maintenance Wing, and the center was renamed the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group. Today, the AMARG stores more than 4,000 aircraft with an original value of more than $35 billion. Besides its scrap and storage work, the AMARG has an extensive parts operation and performs various special maintenance and refitting work, including refitting new wings on A-10 Thunderbolt II ground-attack jets and conversion of F-16 fighter jets into remotely piloted target drones. For the AMARGs current inventory, tours and other information, go to amarcexperience.com Pima Countys deal with a local near-space balloon company is inspirational. It inspires hopes for a better economic future. It inspires ridicule from skeptics. And before long, it will likely inspire a lawsuit or two. For months, Ive questioned the process by which the county came to the January deal with World View Enterprises. The public process was too fast and not transparent enough, Ive argued. For example, it took my filing a public-records request after the contract was approved to find out exactly how many jobs the company must create to fulfill its side of the deal. This week, though, weve become engaged in a different type of questioning whether the agreement to keep World View in Tucson and help it expand is constitutional. The Goldwater Institute brought up these questions last week in a cease-and-desist letter that was surprisingly political in its tone. And on Monday, county Administrator Chuck Huckelberry rebutted the claims in kind going beyond the facts to speculate about Goldwaters motives. Considering the tenor of the exchanges, this will end up in court soon. In the background lurks Pima Countys most polarizing politician, Supervisor Ally Miller. She denied to my colleague Curt Prendergast that she contacted Goldwaters lawyers. But her fingerprints are all over a conflict that could end up costing county taxpayers. But lets start with the legal question: Is the deal a violation of the Arizona Constitutions restrictive Gift Clause? This deal is different from most Arizona economic-development contracts in that it involves the county building a facility for a company, rather than forgiving taxes or paying the company back for job-training and similar activities. The county is to spend $14.5 million on a headquarters and manufacturing facility for World View, as well as $500,000 for a spaceport pad where the balloons can be launched. With interest, the cost to taxpayers is to be about $20 million. World View will be making lease payments on the building, and by the 18th year, those payments are scheduled to give Pima County a profit. By the end of the 20-year deal, if all goes well, taxpayers get around a $3 million profit, and World View gets the building. Goldwater lawyer James Manley alleges in his letter that the deal serves no public purpose and the county does not receive adequate financial consideration in return. Having gone through the ruling in Turken vs. Gordon, the 2010 case filed by Goldwater that decided what the Gift Clause allows, I cant see how this deal violates the adequate financial consideration factor. Basically, we either make a profit on the deal, or if World View doesnt fulfill its requirements, we keep the building, then sell it or lease it. I asked Grady Gammage Jr., an attorney who often represents businesses in government-incentive deals, how its determined whether taxpayers are getting fair consideration. He listed these questions: Is the thing theyre going to wind up owning worth what they spent? Are they going to get a return on investment? There is no evidence that we are subsidizing someone by overpaying for the building, which is what the Supreme Court ruling prohibits. Im surprised Goldwater is even trying to make that sort of claim. Public purpose seems to be a stickier subject for this particular project, since it mostly benefits a private company, but it may actually be an easier test to meet under the language of the Arizona Supreme Courts Turken ruling. The primary determination of whether a specific purpose constitutes a public purpose is assigned to the political branches of government, which are directly accountable to the public, the court ruled. We find a public purpose absent only in those rare cases in which the governmental bodys discretion has been unquestionably abused. You could try to make an argument that the Pima supervisors were abusing their discretion in making this deal. I certainly didnt like the process. But I have a hard time believing that a court will find they unquestionably abused their authority. Thats for voters to decide. What was strange in Goldwaters letter to the county was that it ventured into political territory when it said local people would likely be unable to afford rides on World Views balloons ignoring the fact that the companys principal business is research contracts and that these factors are doubtless why the countys voters overwhelmingly rejected public subsidies for economic development and tourism promotion in November. When it brought up last years failed bond election, I smelled local politics wafting from the Goldwater letter. So I was surprised that Miller denied to our reporter that she had any contact with Goldwaters attorneys. Clearly she did: Miller made social media posts March 15 about attending an event at the Goldwater Institute and even posted a picture of herself with its general counsel. I spent the day at Goldwater Institute yesterday, she wrote. We are so lucky to have this organization protecting our liberties! Stay tuned!! Now, Goldwater and Miller arent the only ones apparently playing politics. I was also surprised that Huckelberry accused the Goldwater Institute of getting involved with the case to try to influence Novembers county-supervisor election. I see no evidence of that. He also accused Goldwater of timing the letter to interfere with the countys sale of bonds to finance the World View deal. The letter did have that effect, but theres no evidence that was the intention. What were left with is a politically risky conflict. Miller has long argued she knows what policies are best for business, but has opposed almost all of the countys economic-development initiatives, preferring to damage the brand of the county to seek control of the board. Her risk is mitigated, though, by the fact that any economic benefits from the World View deal will occur over years, not before the next election. The other supervisors and Huckelberry are taking a risk with the publics money, and they wont be able to show it was worthwhile for a long time, if ever. Theyre banking, though, on this project sparking the economic engine of the Sonoran Corridor. As much as I disliked the process, Im tempted by the promise of World View and this aerospace corridor. But its not just columnists who get to register our opinions on this done deal. We all get to, not in court but on our ballots in August and November. Pick two instead of seven. Under a proposal to change the city election system, youd get a say in who represents your one ward at the city council and in whos mayor. Thats a change from the current system, in which you get a say in all six city council races plus the mayoral race. The Tucson City Council will hold hearings at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 3 on a draft ballot question to change the city election system. Youll see some variation of these proposed changes on the November ballot. Voters would choose among candidates for city council in their ward for the primary election and for the general election. The current system has voters choosing candidates in the ward in the primary and then in all six wards in the general. The mayor would continue to be elected by a citywide vote. Eliminate staggered terms. Currently the mayor and wards 1, 2 and 5 are elected in one cycle and then wards 3, 4 and 6 are elected in another cycle two years later. The change would mean one election every four years. To make the terms even, there would need to be a one-time change in term limits. This could be accomplished by electing 2017 council members to a 2-year term or extending the terms of those elected in 2015 to six years. A new system should be in place in January, when candidates will start campaigning for the 2017 city council election, said Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. WHY A NEW SYSTEM The city has to make a change because a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found Tucsons current system to be unconstitutional. The split decision in November 2015 said the election system violates the 14th Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause, known as the one man, one vote protection, by excluding some voters from the primary election based on which ward they live in. The city is asking the court to reconsider, but theres no way to know when, or even if, the court will agree to a hearing with an 11-judge panel. Putting the ward-only election question on the ballot was one reason Republican National Committeeman Bruce Ash brought the legal action against the city in the first place. If ward-only elections were in place today, the council likely would look different. In 2015, Republican candidates in wards 2 and 4 won the majority of votes in their respective ward but lost citywide. With the proposed system in place, they would have won. Instead, Democrats won. Council Member Karin Uhlich said she thinks its time for voters to weigh in on whether they want the changes. It troubles me that there are people in the community, regardless of their stripes, who feel they are not getting proportionate representation, she said at the council meeting Tuesday. Council Member Regina Romero put it more bluntly. She said the city should let voters decide instead of being sued by an individual who seems to be throwing a tantrum. But the ward-only election system hasnt been popular with Tucson voters. City voters rejected ward-only elections in 1975, 1991 and 1993, while more recent initiative campaigns in 1998, 2001 and 2003 failed to even make it onto the ballot. A February poll commissioned by the mayor and paid for by the Southern Arizona Leadership Council found 26 percent of voters want the ward-only election system. Among those who regularly vote in city elections, the number rises to 31 percent. BETWEEN THE LINES Rules for the city election system are spelled out in the city charter, which is like the citys constitution. To change the charter, the ballot question would have to receive more than 50 percent of the votes cast. Putting the ward-only election question on the ballot is really like asking voters about three different scenarios, Rothschild said. If the ballot proposition passes, the new ward-only city election system would take effect next year. If it fails, and if the appeals court reverses its decision, the current system would remain in place. If it fails, and if the court decision stands, the city election system would change to make all city council and mayor races citywide. It would likely happen under the guidance of a district court judge, and there would be no charter change, said City Attorney Mike Rankin. Under that scenario, there would still be wards for candidates to meet federal election rules. Otherwise the city could see six midtown residents elected, for example. Rothschild acknowledges this isnt simple, but it will be important for voters to understand the consequences of a yes vote or a no vote, he said. The February poll found wide confusion about how to change the city election system, with 23 percent of voters saying they were unsure how theyd vote given a variety of options. The mayor said hed like to see the nuances explained on the ballot itself, or if it cant be written there it would at least be detailed in the voter information pamphlet. Robert Medler, vice president of the Tucson Metro Chamber, said hes pleased to see the discussion focusing on ward-only elections, which is easier to explain to voters than some other options. With the appeals court decision pending, he said, its better for Tucsonans to choose their election system than for the court to mandate it. The county Board of Supervisors approved $1.55 million in neighborhood reinvestment projects at the boards regular meeting Tuesday. But one of the 10 projects prompted a heated discussion among residents and the supervisors before its approval. The Santa Cruz Southwest Neighborhood Association asked for $293,000 to install six speed bumps, three sets of chicanes with water harvesting and native plants, seven solar street lights, and a 5-foot wide path made of concrete and asphalt along a 1,200-foot stretch of South Cottonwood Lane. Drivers regularly speed on Cottonwood Lane, one of the main arteries in a neighborhood with many school-age children, residents told the supervisors. In addition, the lane lacks street lights. The neighborhood, located in District 5 along the Santa Cruz River Park about 2 miles southwest of downtown, contains about 4,100 residents and about 1,200 homes, Francisca Cruz, president of the neighborhood association, wrote in the proposal. Our neighborhood is predominantly low-income and working class Mexican-American, with many school aged children. There are also a handful of older, long-established residents with large acre lots, Cruz wrote. The majority of the associations members voted to approve the proposal, with three dissenting, Cruz told the supervisors. At Tuesdays meeting, neighborhood resident Susan Randolph pointed to a list of 53 signatures of people who opposed the project. Neighborhood resident and environmental activist Beryl Baker said the association railroaded dissenting voices in meetings and did not give due attention to residents who wanted to protect the cottonwoods. Residents have worked since 1987 to maintain the rural character and wildlife habitat, but the proposal would cut the cottonwoods off from their water supply, Baker said. Supervisor Sharon Bronson made a motion to table the Santa Cruz Southwest proposal until a consensus is reached among the neighbors. She said she has not seen the lack of consensus that I see with the Santa Cruz Southwest project since the board became involved in neighborhood reinvestment. Bronsons motion died for lack of a second. Supervisor Richard Elias, whose district includes the area, said the proposal went through the countys vetting process and has been the subject of years of dialogue. There are some points in life where you cannot reach consensus, Elias said, noting the neighborhood is changing in character and we have to recognize that. Elias said he supported all of the projects, but made a motion out of respect for Bronson to table the Santa Cruz Southwest proposal until the boards next meeting. However, the association members integrity was impugned and the boards failure to approve the proposal was a travesty, Elias said. Supervisor Ally Miller voted against Elias motion, saying the association did a thorough job and the discussion amounted to grandstanding. Elias joined Miller in voting against his own motion and proposed the board approve all of the projects. The supervisors voted 4-0 to approve using 1997 and 2004 Neighborhood Reinvestment Bonds to fund all of the projects. Supervisor Ray Carroll did not attend the meeting. The FBI is warning Arizona businesses of a sophisticated scam designed to trick them into wiring tens of thousands of dollars to a fake business partner. Mark Cwynar, assistant special agent in charge at the FBIs Phoenix office, said the scammers monitor social media posts, hack into email systems and set-up websites that are designed to resemble the targeted company, usually off by a single letter in the Web address. Then, posing as the chief executive officer or the chief financial officer, they direct accountants or financial staff to immediately wire money to a new, unheard-of business partner. It is a very plain-vanilla, innocuous email, but it is highly successful, Cwynar said. Scammers attempt to match the tone and language of the person they are pretending to be. They send the same language that the CEO would use, he said. The FBI says the number of reported cases has nearly tripled in the last year. Year over year, we saw a 270 percent increase in cyber crimes, Cwynar said. The average take is $133,000, he said, although the figure for Arizona businesses is closer to $50,000 to $75,000 per incident. He urged companies who have been tricked to immediately call bank officials and the FBI, saying time is vital to reversing charges. It is virtually impossible to get the money back after a few days, he said. FBI Special Agent Paul Schaaf said companies should have complex procedures in place for wire transfers, saying verifying by email in this scam wouldnt work. He suggests staffers should call the person authorizing the wire transfer or requiring two executives to sign off on any similar request. Going a step further, Schaaf suggested code words that are changed on a daily basis. For more tips on business email compromises or to report an incident, go to http://www.ic3.gov OPINION: "While it is important to take on cutting edge programs for an institution, Best Practices would dictate a thorough analysis of the costs of a new program versus the proven effectiveness of that new program. After all, these are taxpayer funds we are dealing with," writes Nick Pierson, candidate for the Pima Community College Governing Board. Arizona and California are arguing over Colorado River water again this time over whether it should be inscribed in law that California cant take Arizonas share of river water thats left in Lake Mead to prop up lake levels. The dispute is over whether it would benefit the troubled river system to guarantee in writing that one state cant take another states water thats left behind in the lake or whether such an effort could disrupt already delicate negotiations over the rivers future. Arizona water officials and U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake are interested in seeing such language go into a Western drought bill thats being negotiated in the U.S. Senate under the direction of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. My No. 1 priority is that if we have a voluntary agreement to leave water behind the dam, that the water stays with the user who put it there, Flake told a meeting of Arizona and Tucson-area water officials last week. Speaking at a water conference in Phoenix, he said, We want to make sure it doesnt disappear behind a California canal. He said later that it stands to reason that water users who voluntarily leave some of their share in the lake should have firm assurance that it will stay there. Arizona and California are arguing over Colorado River water again this time over whether it should be inscribed in law that California cant take Arizonas share of river water thats left in Lake Mead to prop up lake levels. The dispute is over whether it would benefit the troubled river system to guarantee in writing that one state cant take another states water thats left behind in the lake or whether such an effort could disrupt already delicate negotiations over the rivers future. Arizona water officials and U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake are interested in seeing such language go into a Western drought bill thats being negotiated in the U.S. Senate under the direction of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat. My No. 1 priority is that if we have a voluntary agreement to leave water behind the dam, that the water stays with the user who put it there, Flake told a meeting of Arizona and Tucson-area water officials last week. Speaking at a water conference in Phoenix, he said, We want to make sure it doesnt disappear behind a California canal. He said later that it stands to reason that water users who voluntarily leave some of their share in the lake should have firm assurance that it will stay there. California water officials say such language would be unnecessary and counterproductive, leading to future conflicts at a time when all seven river basin states are trying to manage the ailing river collaboratively. We dont see the need for legislation. If he moves forward with something that we object to, that would be problematic, countered Tanya Trujillo, executive director of the Colorado River Board of California, which represents that states interests in Colorado River matters. The traditional way weve done things in the basin is that we work among the states in trying to reach agreement. If we do need legislation, we let our representatives know what were looking for and move forward in a collaborative fashion, said Trujillo, adding that she is working with Arizona and Nevada to come up with language in an agreement on this matter that no side would object to. I dont think Arizona is wrong in seeking legal language to protect itself, said UA Law professor Robert Glennon, a water expert who has written two books on water. The 1922 Colorado River Compact that divided river water rights among states is one of many poorly drafted elements in the legal framework known as the Law of the River, he said. But Arizonas effort poses a political risk, he said, since once you get one issue tucked into law, another state could bring up another issue. There was a lot of contention over the river from the 1930s to 2000, but in the last 15 years theres been remarkable conciliation and cooperation, Glennon said. It would be a shame if anyone is perceived as going it alone. Today, the river basin states are trying to negotiate an agreement to conserve additional water to store at Mead. The goal is to prevent lake levels from dropping below 1,020 to 1,025 feet, which could trigger severe shortages that could reduce Central Arizona Project water deliveries to Arizona cities and tribes. Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation predicts that Mead will drop to 1,077 feet at the end of 2016. That level is 2 feet above what would trigger a milder cutback of deliveries to Central Arizona farms and groundwater recharge facilities. At stake in the Arizona-California dispute is water that states agree through interstate negotiations and other agreements to leave in the river. So far since the drought intensified in recent years, Arizona has left about 380,000 acre-feet in the river in two programs. Those supplies are protected from transfer to another state due to language written into the agreements. But as more water is saved in future agreements, Arizona wants to make absolutely sure that none of it could ever be transferred. This dispute is surfacing about nine months after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey warned in a speech that this state must be vigilant against efforts by California to take Arizonas river water. California officials denied any such ambitions, and several outside experts said they thought it was very unlikely. Arizona also has long felt vulnerable because this state has a lower priority than California for use of river water during shortages. But there is a legal way California or any state could get another states river water without legislation. Its outlined in a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decree, carrying out its landmark Arizona v. California decision of a year earlier. The decision was a legal victory for Arizona because it for the first time guaranteed this state access to 2.8 million acre-feet of river water or almost two Central Arizona Projects worth. But the 1964 decree said that if a state doesnt use its allocation in a given year, the Interior Secretary can transfer the water to another state. That language allowed California to take more than 5 million acre-feet of river water for many years until 2002, even though its allocation is for 4.4 million, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Like California officials, Arizona officials would rather have these issues resolved in negotiations rather than turning to legislation, said CAP general manager Ted Cooke . But so far, some parties in California havent been willing to agree on this point, added Cooke, who declined to be more specific. Its a backstop, Cooke said of the use of legislation. If we fail to reach agreement on the water left behind, we have to have this other approach to be absolutely certain. While the states are having some success with the collaborative approach now, there are some folks who would like to convince us that this is proceeding so swimmingly, so why dont we abandon this language and everything would be fine, Cooke said. We really cant do that. But putting guarantees into law takes away the Interior Secretarys flexibility, and thats needed in unanticipated circumstances, countered Bill Hasencamp, Colorado River resources manager for the six-county Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. The state has been willing to commit every year in writing to not seeking other states water thats been stored in Mead, but doesnt want to make a permanent commitment, he said. If there is an emergency in California, we might argue to the secretary that You should allow some water to go to California, Hasencamp said. The secretary would consult with Arizona and Nevada and come up with a plan. We dont know what contingencies would arise in the future, so tying up the secretarys hands doesnt seem like a good idea to us. It could be an emergency in Arizona or Nevada that we dont know about. Interior officials have sought to assure Arizona that their unused water stored in Mead isnt going to be transferred. Terry Fulp, the Bureau of Reclamations Lower Colorado Regional Director, made that promise nearly a year ago in a letter to then-CAP General Manager David Modeer involving 40,000 acre-feet that CAP agreed to leave in Mead. Last fall, Deputy Interior Secretary Michael Connor made a similar promise in an exchange with Flake in a Senate hearing. He noted that since 2007, the secretary had never used the departments legal right to reallocate unused river water. PHOENIX Arizona cannot legally deny dreamers the right to drive, a federal appeals court ruled late Tuesday. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Arizona cannot decide for itself who is legally entitled to be in this country. The judges said that power rests solely with Congress. The policy of denying licenses to those in the Obama administrations Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ran afoul of the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the judges also said. Thats because the state was still issuing licenses to others in different deferred-action programs. But the court did more than slap down the Arizona practice as illegal. Judge Harry Pregerson, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, said the 2012 policy instituted by then-Gov. Jan Brewer, was motivated to a dogged animus against dreamers. The Supreme Court has made very clear that such animus cannot constitute a legitimate state interest and has cautioned against sowing the seeds of prejudice, Pregerson wrote. The Constitutions guarantee of equality must at the very least mean that a bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot justify disparate treatment of that group. Our clients are very ecstatic, said Nora Preciado of the National Immigration Law Center, one of the attorneys who sued the state on behalf of DACA recipients. She said the dreamers, whom the state has been licensing under a temporary restraining order, can now be assured their ability to get a license is not going to go away any time soon. A spokeswoman for Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he was studying the ruling and had no immediate comment. She said any decision on whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court will have to wait. Hanging in the balance is the right of the state to deny licenses to those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It allows those who arrived in this country illegally as children to remain if they meet certain other qualifications. They also are entitled to federal Employment Authorization Documents entitling them to work legally. At last count, more than 29,000 Arizonans had qualified. But just days before the Department of Homeland Security began taking applications, Brewer issued an executive order directing the Department of Transportation not to issue licenses to DACA recipients. She cited a 1996 state law, which says licenses are available only to those whose presence in this country is authorized by federal law. Brewer argued that the federal agency really had no legal authority to permit DACA recipients to remain or work. And what that meant, she said, is they were not authorized to be here. But Pregerson pointed out that Arizona continued to issue licenses to others in different deferred-action programs who also had employment documents even as it was denying the right to drive to DACA recipients. Pregerson also rebuffed arguments that ADOT was entitled to make that distinction. The federal government, not the states, holds exclusive authority concerning direct matters of immigration law, he wrote. The states therefore may not make immigration decisions that the federal government, itself, has not made. Pregerson said theres an even bigger problem with the Arizona policy: pre-emption. States may not directly regulate immigration, he wrote. Yet the Arizona policy that Brewer and now Gov. Doug Ducey as her successor has been trying to enforce is based entirely on a conclusion by the state that DACA recipients are not authorized to be in this country. And there is no such category under the federal Immigration and Naturalization Act. Because Arizona created a new immigration classification when it adopted its policy regarding drivers license eligibility, it impermissibly strayed into the exclusive domain of the INA, Pregerson wrote. Tuesdays ruling was not entirely a surprise. The appellate judges had previously directed a trial judge to issue a temporary injunction blocking the state policy. ADOT officials said late Tuesday that as of mid-December, the most recent figures they had, more than 17,000 dreamers had been issued licenses while the state went to court to try to take them away. And in a precursor of his animus comments in the ruling, Pregerson was on the offensive during a hearing last year as Assistant Attorney General Dominic Draye tried to persuade the judges to uphold the state policy and take away the licenses. Does it come down to racism? Pregerson asked. Does it come down to discrimination against these people? What else does it come down to? The questions left Draye confounded. Judge, I wish you wouldnt say things like that, he responded. But Pregerson would not back down. Arizona laws prohibiting discrimination do not extend to gender or sexual orientation. And Arizona laws allow businesses to ignore government rules and laws against discrimination if they can show they would interfere with the owners ability to practice a sincerely held religious belief. In 2014 the Legislature voted to extend that to situations where a civil suit is brought against a business owner by someone denied service, including LGBT customers. But Jan Brewer, who was governor at the time, vetoed the measure under pressure from the business community. She said then that the change could divide Arizona in ways you cannot even imagine, and no one would ever want. Brewer went on to say she understood the concerns of businesses that feared they would be forced to violate their religious beliefs. And she said those concerns are not unfounded. She took a slap at the Obama administration and courts, which she said had increased governments encroachment upon our religious freedoms. But Brewer called the measure flawed. While proponents of the measure argued they were seeking to protect businesses, Brewer said then, The business community overwhelmingly opposes the proposed law. Brewer called the legislation a solution in search of a problem. SB 1062 does not address a specific and present concern related to religious liberties in Arizona, she said in prepared comments at the time. I have not heard one example in Arizona where business owners religious liberty has been violated. Help India! By TCN News, Aligarh: Sunni Theological Society Department of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) organized a national level on the theme Human values in world religions which was attended by more than 120 research scholars from 12 different universities. Support TwoCircles This was the first time that a global issue was selected for the seminar by the Theological Department of AMU. The seminar was organized on Saturday and the topic was chosen considering the global challenges against the issues which are detrimental to the overall growth of the human values across the globe and the present challenges against the nefarious designs of selected few to tarnish the image of particular one religion. Other sub themes of the different papers were Issues from Jihad to Present Political Dynamics and challenging times for Muslims in the world. The Sunni Theological Society Department organizes such seminar to promote the vision and mission of Sir Syed, the founder of AMU. Interesting part of the seminar turned out to be the equal participation of Muslim women research scholars who not only participated but also presented their papers in English. Mualana Abdul Hameed Nomani, spokeperson Of Jamiatul Ulema-E-Hind, who was the chief guest on the occasion said the brotherhood and secular values should be promoted for the welfare of the society to give a vibrant world. Dr. Aurangzeb Azmi from Jamia Millia Islamia said every religion preaches peace and justice and has no room for divisive forces. Addressing the assembly Father Yusuf, a functionary of Christianity thought said certain sector of the society has been captivated by elements to tarnish image of particular community to promote hate in them for divide and rule. Pandit Kapil Sharma, a scholar of Hindu ideology raised question during his talk, How can human values prevail when our mother and sister are not given a save environment to live and move? Prof. Syed Ali Mohd Naqvi, Dean faculty of theology emphasized upon the virtues of all the religions and said it was call of hour to get religious teaching in to practice to promote human values in the composite culture and society we live in. Prof. Saud Alam Qasmi, the patron and the chairman appealed the young research scholars to be proactive to promote human values through their extensive research work to establish and promote vibrant civilized society. Omar Peerzada, convener of Aligarh Movement Foundation appealed researchers to create the human chain of likeminded to dismantle the nefarious designs of the present world which he said was against the world peace and justice. He specially urged girl students to promote their research work and formulate various articles in print media and electronic media. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz picked up a big at the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, putting even more pressure on the current Republican front runner Donald Trump. Wisconsin results Cruz was expected to walk out the winner in the Badger State, but his victory Tuesday night was by an even larger margin than many predicted. With the projections in, Cruz won with a double digit lead, 50.7 percent, to Trump's 32.8 percent. After the Texas senator gave a victory speech in Wisconsin, the Trump campaign released a statement and the billionaire real estate mogul was not a happy camper, as reported by Business Insider on April 5. 'He is a Trojan horse': Donald Trump rages after getting crushed in Wisconsin https://t.co/nF0Vz9pjmn pic.twitter.com/zrxzmHlOGS Business Insider (@businessinsider) April 6, 2016 "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet, he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination," Trump said in a statement released following the release of the Wisconsin primary results. "Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PACs spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating `with his own Super PACs (which is illegal) who totally control him," the statement continued. Ted Cruz trips up Donald Trump in #WisconsinPrimary, Bernie Sanders sinks Hillary Clinton. https://t.co/r6EQK8DSan pic.twitter.com/ESB94xhC5h MarketWatch (@MarketWatch) April 6, 2016 The campaign stressed recent polls that show Trump in better shape in hypothetical matchups against Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders, despite evidence contradicting their claims. In closing, the Trump campaign predicted that he is the only candidate that could "Make America Great Again." Trump vs Cruz Over the last month, the feud between the former host of "The Apprentice" and the Tea Party favorite from the Lone Star State has reached a new low, even for American politics. Trump responded to an ad put out by an anti-Trump super PAC that used a nude photo of his wife, Melania, from a cover shoot she did with G.Q. Magazine. Despite Cruz denying any knowledge of the ad, Trump threatened to "spill the beans" to Cruz's wife Heidi. Since then, Cruz has had to deal with allegations of an affair with at least five women, as originally reported by the National Enquirer. With the Republican National Convention less than four months away, Trump is still considered the favorite to become the GOP nominee. Throughout the late 80s and early 90s, standup comedian Andrew Dice Clay was riding high on a wave of explosive popularity. The controversial comic was playing to huge stadium crowds and became an icon of the MTV generationeven though he was banned for life from the music network for reciting his trademark adult nursery rhymes on the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards. But just as fast as he ascended, he seemed to vanish from the pop cultural radar, popping up occasionally in such unglamorous places as Celebrity Apprentice. Now the Diceman is mounting his umpteenth comeback bid, a self-mocking sitcom on Showtime that strikes a surprisingly balanced tone between brutally honest confessional and raunchy comedy. Clays absence from the spotlight and his recent turn toward the more serious (he offered an unexpectedly solid acting turn in Woody Allens 2013 film Blue Jasmine) have put him in a good position for Dice. The show is the creation of Scot Armstrong, who wrote such big screen comedies as Road Trip, Old School, Starsky & Hutch and The Hangover, Part II. Semi- autobiographical in nature, the show casts Clay as an exaggerated version of himselfwhich isnt too shocking, since hes almost always been an exaggerated version of himself. This Andrew Dice Clay is a washed-up former comic who had his shot at superstardom and has now moved to Las Vegas in hopes of securing a regular comedy gig. Hes failed at that and is supporting himself and his live-in girlfriend Carmen (fellow comic Natasha Leggero), mostly by gambling the dregs of his fortune. In the pilot episode Dice and his best pal/enabler Milkshake (Kevin Corrigan from Goodfellas, Kicked in the Head and Grounded for Life) try to make it to Carmens brothers wedding, only to lose themselves in a pyrrhic battle against a $5 ATM fee and an increasingly awful beatdown at the blackjack table. Its a comedy of discomfort and bad decisions, and Clay proves adept at it. To his credit, the comedian/actor seems happy to mock his public persona. This Andrew Dice Clay is a happily self-deluded has-been trying to impress people with his long-gone fame. In the opening sequence, for example, he recites his life story for the edification of the audienceand also for the window replacement salesman hes trying to talk out of jacked-up celebrity prices. The guy, of course, has no clue who Andrew Dice Clay is. Occasionally, the cast looks like its still trying to nail down the right rhythm with one another, and the tone isnt always perfect. (Is this funny-sad or sad-funny?) But the cast is solid and the dialogue-heavy scripts feature some clever back-and-forth patter. (Carmen: Are you listening to a word Im saying? Dice: Yes, but not in the way you think.) In addition to charting the decline of its title character, the show also serves as an elegy for the sort of Old School Las Vegas in which the Diceman would surely have thrived. Observing the roller coasters and oxygen bars of today's Sin City, Milkshake points out that, Sinatra, back in the day, wasnt doing oxygen shots. Funny, self-deprecating, occasionally cringe-inducing and still a bit rude (if slightly apologetic about it now), this Dice has got potential as a vehicle for Dice. 'Red Eagle' documentary reveals Soviet aid to China in WWII Updated: 2015-04-14 13:49 (iqilu.com) Some pilots of Soviet Air Force Aided to China.[Photo/iqilu.com] To commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the victory of the Chinese people's Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War, there will be a three-series documentary called "The Red Eagle In The Anti-Japanese War", which tells how Soviet volunteer air force supported Chinese Anti-Japanese War, shown in satellite channel of Shandong TV at 21.30 every night from September 2 to September 4. Meanwhile, official Wechat of Iqilu Network and Shandong TV would also give live broadcast. Welcome to watch! In the early time of Chinese people's War Against Japan, the former Soviet Union was the first to support China war and sent the air force to China to fight against the Japanese. In the late timewhile The Second World War started, Soviet union recalled the air force aided to China in order to fight against German Fascists. American Flying Tigers charged by Chennault gradually undertook the international air support to China. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, there was a big gap between China's air force and Japan's. It became the consensus of united front between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to get support from Soviet Union. At that time, the complex international situation forced the Soviet Union carry out military aid secretly, even though they would like to give hands. The secret operation, which was named by the Soviet government as the "Z plan". As a result, the Soviet Union also sent about 2000 air force volunteers to help China in addition to arms support. During the period of November of 1937 to May of 1940, air force volunteers aided to China from the Soviet Union, remarked as "Red Eagle", fought together with Chinese air force and participated in Battle of Nanjing, Raid on Songshan Airport, Taiwan, Battle of Wuhan and so on, with a loss of 236 Soviet pilots. Some advisors of Soviet Air Force Aided to China.[Photo/iqilu.com] The support from Soviet volunteer air force in the early days delayed the Japanese invaders and weakened their attempted invasion on Soviet Union. This is a cooperation with friendship and justice and also benefit and calculation for resistance against Japan. It also has to be remembered in the history of China's anti-Japanese. For the filming of " The Red Eagle in Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japan ", Shandong Radio and TV station sent reporters to the domestic and foreign related places, including Russia, Japan and other countries, to search for meaningful information. This period of history is revealed by telling stories through the fog of history. The plot and many precious images are the first time to show in domestic. This documentary film is a considerable difficult creation. But intertwined mysterious war history and exotic culture also make it expected. Shenzhen bike crackdown nets 18,000 Updated: 2016-04-05 18:53 By Chai Hua in Shenzhen(chinadaily.com.cn) Nearly 18,000 unlicensed or illegal electric bikes and freight tricycles were confiscated in Shenzhen during a crackdown on the vehicles that ended on Tuesday. Only 60 belonged to delivery workers, police said at a news conference. The vehicles impounded in the two-week operation were either breaking transportation laws or had been illegally modified, police said. The action mainly targeted illegal electric bikes that ferried passengers, rather than the courier industry, and was needed to address the growing problem of illegal electronic trunks, said Liu Xiaoding, head of transport police command center. The campaign identified registration problems for the courier industry. Shenzhen police said they will add 5,000 vehicles to the existing quota of 13,000 registered electric bikes and freight tricycles for courier industry. The next step is to crack down on manufacturers, retailers and maintenance stores that deal in substandard electric bikes and freight tricycles, Shenzhen police said. Authorities are also planning to promote new-energy freight vehicles for package delivery. Ex-military leader to be prosecuted on corruption charge Updated: 2016-04-06 02:26 By Cao Yin(China Daily) Guo Boxiong, a former senior military leader, will be charged with corruption, China announced on Tuesday while pressing ahead with its anti-graft campaign. Investigations by military prosecutors found that Guo, who was vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission before retiring in 2012, collected bribes for arranging promotions for others, Xinhua News Agency said. Guo's case is being handed over for prosecution now that the investigation is completed, Xinhua said. The military procuratorate said that the amount of bribes Guo is charged with taking was "huge", although it didn't release the amount, and it said the 74-year-old had confessed during the investigation. A commentary on the Chinese Ministry of Defense website said on Tuesday that the military must take the necessary steps to build discipline and remove internal malaise. The practice of military law and discipline should be "merciless", it said. Guo was expelled from the Communist Party of China in July. Under the Chinese Criminal Procedure Law, military prosecutors will hand over the case to the country's military court. Authorities will deal with Guo's family members and others implicated in the case without tolerance, said a statement from the military procuratorate. Guo's son, Guo Zhenggang, who was a major general, was put under investigation for corruption in February last year. Since March last year, dozens of military officials have been exposed for allegedly violating discipline and laws, as part of the country's drive in recent years to root out corruption in the military. Xu Caihou, another senior military official who served with Guo as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, was probed in March 2014 for allegedly taking "massive" bribes. Xu died of bladder cancer in March last year. President Xi Jinping has made it a key goal to weed out corruption in the military. A number of high-level corruption cases have since been exposed. In August, after Guo was put under investigation, Defense Minister Chang Wanquan pledged intensified efforts to run the army with "strict discipline and in line with the law". caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn Top Chinese leaders attend voluntary tree-planting in Beijing Updated: 2016-04-06 07:07 (Xinhua) President Xi Jinping (C) walks with pupils after a tree-planting event in Xihongmen Township of Daxing District in Beijing, April 5, 2016. Top leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli attended a voluntary tree-planting activity in Beijing on Tuesday. [Photo/Xinhua] Related: President Xi plants trees, urges forestry development President Xi Jinping urged development of the country's forestry while attending a voluntary tree planting in Beijing on Tuesday. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, visited an afforestation site in Beijing's Daxing District and planted six saplings of different varieties at the site. Noting that the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) marks an important stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in China's ecological protection drive, the president stressed forestry development as a significant measure to fulfill these goals. He called on officials at all levels to take the lead in voluntary tree planting campaigns to promote new development concepts with their own practices. [Full story] When will Chinese TV dramas play their part? Updated: 2016-04-05 10:29 By Bi Yantao(chinadaily.com.cn) A poster of "Descendants of the Sun". [Photo/ baike.baidu.com] While Chinese people have started recognizing the value of soft power in expanding national interests, our neighbor to east, South Korea, has been using its TV plays to further its image for quite some time now. With the Descendants of the Sun, a new South Korean series on KBS2, being a big hit with TV viewers on the Chinese mainland, people cannot but ask: Why cannot China, a country with a much larger audience, make such popular TV dramas? What's wrong with China's film and television plays and directors? Some people attribute the popularity of South Korean TV series to their love-oriented stories, overflowing aestheticism, and romantic, sympathetic and suspenseful scenarios that seem to fit in with young women's fantasies. The pleasing personalities of the male and female protagonists, their vivaciousness, as well as the zigzagging plots and marvelous music, which meet young viewers' psychological demands, are also believed to be strong points of South Korean TV dramas. But all these seem superficial factors if we believe some scholars who say the success of South Korean plays essentially stems from the success of the country's cultural policy and its cultural business model which consider the success of the performing arts sector only as a subordinate factor. In my view, South Korean TV dramas have been successful because they benefit from the positive image of the country and its eagerness to integrate itself with the outside world. After all, a country's film and TV productions should be analyzed in the context of its broader national image. According to Simon Anholt, a national brand expert, a country's reputation can be neither forged nor changed through communication. He says the national image can be lifted 80 percent by creative work, 15 percent with systematic coordination, and only 5 percent through communication. Putin calls on Armenia, Azerbaijan to observe ceasefire Updated: 2016-04-06 07:42 (Xinhua) MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to ensure a complete cessation of hostilities and observance of ceasefire as fightings tentatively stopped in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Kremlin said. The statement came after Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday after deadly clashes between forces of both sides in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region erupted overnight Saturday, and military operations on their contact line reportedly have been suspended. In his telephone talks with presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan, Putin called for resuming negotiation between Baku and Yerevan with the assistance of the OSCE Minsk Group to seek a peaceful settlement of the conflict, the Kremlin said in an online statement. Putin said that Russia would play an intermediary role in the normalization of the situation, and all sides agreed to keep contacts in different formats, the statement added. The conflicting parties suspended military operations on the contact line starting from Tuesday, and the Armenian and Azerbaijani defense ministries both confirmed that a cease-fire agreement was being prepared. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh first broke out in 1988, when the enclave dominated by ethnic Armenians claimed independence from Azerbaijan and declared to join Armenia. Two men in Kenya surrender illegal possessions to authorities Updated: 2016-04-06 21:50 By HOU LIQIANG in Nairobi, Kenya(chinadaily.com.cn) Two men are facing fines of 63 million Kenya Shillings ($620,000) in total for illegal possession of ivory after the Kenyan government announced a 21-day amnesty for the surrender of any wildlife trophies. Wilson Kiyayooni and a minor, whose name is not disclosed, were arrested in Narok county for illegally possessing elephant tusks weighing over 3 kg, read a statement from Kenya Wildlife service. While Kiyayooni is facing fines of 40 million Kenya Shillings or life imprisonment, his minor partner was released by the court, the statement said. In another case in Laikipia county, James Aoi Lokigen also showed up in the court for illegal possession of 3 kg of ivory. The man is facing fines of 3 million Kenya Shillings or two years imprisonment for illegal possession of a government trophy. Meanwhile, he was also convicted of dealing with a government trophy without authorization and is facing fines of 20 million Kenya Shillings or life imprisonment. The two cases were released after Judi Wakhungu, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Authorities, announced on March 30 that Kenya is going to burn 105 metric tons (231,485 pounds) of seized ivory and 1.3 tons of rhino horn on April 30. Wakhungu also announced the start of a 21- day amnesty as of March 30 for the surrender of any wildlife trophies that are held without a permit issued by the Kenya Wildlife Service. She said those who turn in jewelry or trinkets made from ivory or rhino horn will not be punished. Merkel calls for peaceful solution to conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh Updated: 2016-04-07 01:36 (Xinhua) BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Wednesday for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Speaking at a press conference after meeting visiting Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Berlin, Merkel said the recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, gave cause for concerns. Efforts towards an "acceptable and permanent ceasefire" in the region, the chancellor stressed, are "of the utmost urgency". Merkel said that Germany advocated resolving the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan peacefully and wanted to "help constructively". Recent hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries blaming each other for triggering the escalation. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces have killed 70 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 20 armored vehicles on Monday and Tuesday, while at least 16 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during heavy fighting in the region. Please turn JavaScript on and reload the page. Loading... Checking your browser before accessing the website. This process is automatic. Your browser will redirect to your requested content shortly. Please wait a few seconds. Together show restraint and control of the East Sea issue Within the framework of his visit to Vietnam, Chinese Defence Minister Senior Lieutenant General Chang Wanquan held talks with Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh, met with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and General Ngo Xuan Lich, Chief of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam Peoples Army. At the talks, the two ministers discussed the relationship between the two countries and agreed that in general the relationship has seen active development and defence cooperation has also been maintained and obtained practical results. Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh receives his Chinese counterpart Sen. Lieut. Gen. Chang Wanquan during his official friendship visit to Vietnam. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh and his Chinese counterpart Sen. Lieut. Gen. Chang Wanquan review the honor guard at the welcoming ceremony at the Defence Ministrys Headquarters. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Chinese Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Chang Wanquan and generals of the Vietnam Peoples Army. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA The talks between the two ministers. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA The two ministers witness the singing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in UN peace-keeping missions between the two defence ministries. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Regarding the East Sea issue, the two ministers candidly discussed the sea dispute that has affected the relationship between Vietnam and China. They stressed that the two sides would continue to handle the issue through peaceful and friendly dialogues and on the basis of regulations and mechanisms defined by international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982 UNCLOS); exert all-out efforts to seek fundamental and long-term solutions acceptable by both sides, seriously abide by common agreements and perceptions reached by the two countries high-ranking leaders, strictly observe the principles and spirit of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and work towards a Code of Conduct in the East Sea (COC). The ministers also said that Vietnam and China would work to turn the East Sea into a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation, contributing to developing the bilateral comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership and maintaining regional peace and stability. The two sides reached a consensus on the view that the two armies should keep calm, restrain themselves, control the situation, avoid conflicts and not threaten to use force in order to protect peace, stability, collaboration and the interests of the two countries, the region and the world; boost cooperation in practice, effectiveness, stability and sustainability to affirm that defence cooperation is among the major pillars of the traditional solidarity and friendship between the two countries. On the occasion, the two ministers witnessed the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between the two defence ministries in the field of UN peace-keeping missions. Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan meets with Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. Photo: Tri Dung/VNA General Ngo Xuan Lich, Chief of the General Department of Politics under the Vietnam Peoples Army receives Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Jointly build a border of peace and friendship Implementing the memorandum of understanding between the two defense ministries, right after his visit to Vietnam, on March 28-30, 2016, Chinese Defence Minister Sen. Lieut. Gen. Chang Wanquan and Vietnamese Defence Minister Gen. Phung Quang Thanh co-chaired the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange between the northern province of Lang Son and the Chinese southern province of Guangxi. The seminar of the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange held in Lang Son Province (Vietnam). Photo: Trong Duc/VNA The defence ministers of Vietnam and China and delegates attend the seminar. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Bo truong Phung Quang Thanh va Bo truong Thuong Van Toan cung cac ai bieu du buoi Toa am. Anh: Trong uc/TTXVN The two defence ministers review a joint patrol of the two countries border guard at the Chi Ma Border Gate in Lang Son Province (Vietnam). Photo: Trong Duc/VNA The defence ministers of Vietnam and China implement the saluting ceremony of border marker No.1223 at the Chi Ma Border Gate, Lang Son Province (Vietnam). Photo: Trong Duc/VNA Vietnamese Defence Minister General Phung Quang Thanh visits and presents gifts to the Chinese Border Guard. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA The two countries border guard conducts a joint patrol. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA During the friendship exchange, the two defence ministries organised many important, meaningful and exciting activities, including the seminar of the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange in Lang Son Province (Vietnam); witnessing a joint patrol between the two countries border guard; attending the inauguration ceremony of a Vietnam-China Border Friendship Culture House in Chi Ma Hamlet, Yen Khoai Commue, Loc Binh District, Lang Son Province and visiting several border guards units of the two sides. On the afternoon of March 30, 2016, the third Vietnam-China Border Defence Friendship Exchange successfully concluded with the closing ceremony held in Pingxiang Town, Guangxi Province (China). The fruitful outcomes of the friendship exchange created a high trust of politics; step by step deepened the practical cooperation of the two armies, contributed to building a join border of peace, friendship and development; met the peoples aspirations in the border area of the two countries, strengthened mutual benefit cooperation in any field and put the Vietnam China Comprehensive Strategic Cooperation Partnership into practical, fair, stable and sustainable. By VNA/VNP With historical tourist attractions and beautiful landscapes, the province also has much tourism potential, according to the Lao official. Photo dulichvietnam HCM CITY (VNS) Laoss newly established province of Xaysomboun wants to bolster trade and investment co-operation with Viet Nam, especially HCM City, a deputy secretary of its Party Committee told a conference in HCM City yesterday. Phoikham Houngbounyuang told the conference held to seek investment in his province, said 80 per cent of Xaysombouns area of 8,500sq.km is covered by plateaus and mountains. Its climate and geography are suitable for agriculture and forestry, mining, and processing, and it has many rivers, which offer great potential for hydropower development, he said. With historical tourist attractions and beautiful landscapes, the province also has much tourism potential, according to the Lao official. The Lao Government and provincial administration are greatly focused on its socio-economic development, but a lack of resources domestically has held it back. Thus, the province wants to seek investment from Viet Nam, especially HCM City. Chanhthanom Vongsomchit, director of the Xaysomboun Province Department of Planning and Investment, said, The province is seeking private investment locally and from abroad. He furnished a list of projects in which the province is seeking investment, including growing green vegetables and daisies, the 15MW Nam Pheng hydropower plant, tourism and services, housing, a cement factory and a supermarket. The province would offer graded incentives from levels one to three -- to investors, he said. Businesses listed as level 1 would get tax exemption for 10 years, while those in levels two and three would get it for six and four years, he said. Those investing in difficult areas like mountains would be entitled to the highest level of incentives, he said. Investors building hospitals, kindergartens, schools, vocational colleges, universities, research centres and some other public facilities would get free use of land for 15 years and tax waiver for an extra five years, he said. Le Van Khoa, deputy chairman of the HCM City Peoples Committee, said the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community had opened up investment opportunities in the region, including between the two countries. He urged city agencies to work with their counterparts in Xaysomboun for investment and developing long-term co-operation for mutual benefit. More than 30 city-based companies have invested more than US$250 million in Laos, while trade between the two sides topped $6 million last year, he said. - VNS HCM CITY (VNS) The rice output of the winter-spring rice crop fell significantly because of drought and salination, but with an additional 200,000ha to be planted in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta region, there will be enough rice for exports, according to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute. As many as 180,000 hectares of the winter-spring rice crop in the Cuu Long Delta region have been damaged by drought and saltwater. The region is expected to yield 10.94 million tonnes of paddy from the crop, down by 186,144 tonnes over the same period last year. Professor Nguyen Hong Son, director of the rice research institute, said that rice output from the winter-spring crop fell by 10-15 per cent, but localities plan to increase the cultivation area for the autumn-winter crop by 200,000ha. Thus, there will be no shortage of rice exports. With drought and saltwater intrusion expected to continue, Kien Giang Province in collaboration with agencies has taken urgent measures, including building dams made of Larsen steel to prevent saltwater intrusion into fields and to save thousands of hectares of rice to be harvested soon. This will also help protect upcoming rice crops. Nguyen Van Tam, director of Kien Giang Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said the provincial authority set a target of 4.7 million tonnes of rice this year. Due to drought and saltwater, its rice output had fallen by over 200,000 tonnes compared to its plan. To compensate for the fallen output, the provincial agricultural sector would increase the cultivation area for the autumn-winter rice crop by 30,000ha to 120,000ha, he said. At a recent meeting to review the winter-spring rice crop and set tasks for the next crop organised by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, delegates agreed that with localities increasing rice cultivation areas, the damage level of the winter-spring crop would not have a great impact on rice supply sources for export. Rice prices up A fall in output has increased rice prices in the region. In Can Tho City, for example, farmers have harvested all cultivation areas of the winter-spring crop of 87,000ha. Currently, a kilo of dried IR50404 paddy costs VN5,800-5,900 (26.3-26.8 US cents) , while jasmine rice is priced VN6,700-6,800, up VN500-VN700 compared to the beginning of the crop. Despite higher rice prices, most farmers do not have rice to sell since they harvested and sold their fresh paddy right at the field. Many of them had even received deposits from traders to sell their rice at the beginning of the crop at much lower prices. Nguyen Thanh Son, a farmer in Hau Giang Provinces Phung Hiep District, said rice prices were unstable in previous years, with farmers even unable to sell their rice. At the beginning of this winter-spring crop, Son and other farmers received deposits from traders to sell rice. Because the price increased strongly at the end of the crop, now the farmers have regrets. With current price of VN5,400 per kilo of fresh paddy in the field, VN1,000 higher than in the beginning of the crop, Sons family lost VN5 million ($227) of profit from one-ha rice field. Le Cong Ly, a rice trader in ong Thap Provinces Cao Lanh District, said rice prices in Can Tho and Vinh Long had also increased. Many traders came to newly cultivated paddy fields for the summer-autumn crop in Hau Giang, ong Thap and An Giang provinces to place orders to buy rice, he said. Professor Vo Tong Xuan said the agricultural sector should quickly apply measures to cut production costs to benefit farmers and improve the competitiveness of Vietnamese rice in the world market The Government had set the average production cost for a kilo of rice at VN3,800, but farmers had been spending VN3,500-4,000 to produce each kilo of rice, he said. VNS HA NOI Vietnamese shares bounced back on both local exchanges yesterday, led by the food and beverage sector. The benchmark VN Index on the HCM Stock Exchange rose 0.8 per cent to close at 560.32 points, ending a three-day loss of 2.5 per cent. The HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange added 0.5 per cent to finish at 78.89 points. The northern index has increased by 0.5 per cent in the last two trading days. The markets were lifted by the food and beverage sector, led by dairy firm Vinamilk and food producer Masan Group, on positive news about their businesses. Investor confidence in fairy firm Vinamilk rose after the company announced it will sell seven of its businesses, including a real-estate brokerage, in order to raise foreign capital for the company. At the end of yesterdays trading session, Vinamilk (VNM) gained 2.2 per cent in value. On Monday, Food and beverage producer Masan Group (MSN) announced a net profit of VN2.5 trillion (US$112.3 million) in 2015, an increase of 25 per cent from the previous year. MSN increased by 0.7 per cent yesterday. Truck dealer Hoang Huy Investment Services JSC (HHS) and financial firm FIT Investment JSC (FIT) also made gains, after the two companies planned to buy back shares from stockholders. Both companies stocks surged 6.4 per cent and 5.9 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, Sai Gon Securities Incorporation (SSI), HCM City Securities Corporation (HCM) and VNDirect Securities Corporation (VND) drove up the brokerage sector, after these three companies ranked among the top four leading brokerage companies in Viet Nam. SSI was up 1.9 per cent yesterday. HCM increased by 2.1 per cent, and VN jumped 4.5 per cent. Other brokers also made good gains, including MB Securities Corporation (MBS), Kim Long Securities Corporation (KLS) and Sai Gon-Ha Noi Securities Corporation (SHS). In addition, markets advanced as investors tried to buy stocks that have declined to more attractive price levels recently. Among those stocks, seafood company Hung Vuong JSC (HVG) jumped 3.1 per cent after slumping 22 per cent in eight previous sessions. Binh Minh Plastic JSC (BMP) gained 2.8 per cent after falling 5.9 per cent during five previous sessions. And software producer FPT Corporation (FPT) edged up 0.4 per cent, from a five-day decline of 2.5 per cent. On the other hand, PetroVietnam Coating Corporation (PVB) weighed on the energy sector, slipping 5.9 per cent, after the company said it will propose that shareholders approve a targeted net profit of only VN5 billion for this year - which equals just four per cent of last years performance. Both local markets traded more than 190 million shares worth VN2.77 trillion ($123.2 million), an increase of 28.6 per cent from Mondays trading value. VNS The ASEAN Finance Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation and launch integration initiatives with a view to maintaining ASEANs stable development amid potential external shocks and financial uncertainties. VNA/VNS Photos Pham Kien VIENTIANE (VNS) The ASEAN Finance Ministers have committed to adopting cautious monetary and fiscal policies to sustain economic growth and stabilise the macro-economy, in which, economic restructuring remains a priority in the region. They made the commitment at the 20th ASEAN Finance Ministers Meeting, the 12th ASEAN Central Governors Meeting, and the second Finance Ministers and ASEAN Central Governors Meeting that took place in Vientiane, Laos on April 3-4. Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung and Deputy Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Thi Hong attended the event. Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation and launch integration initiatives with a view to maintaining ASEANs stable development amid potential external shocks and financial uncertainties. Reviewing tasks in the ASEANs financial-monetary integration roadmap in terms of liberalisation of financial services and capital, as well as capital market development, they said regional countries concluded negotiations on the seventh package of financial services liberalisation and are set to launch the eighth round of negotiations this year to further open the financial services market, with a focus on further liberalising insurance services in the region. Ministers and central governors pledged to continue removing existing obstacles to trade and direct investment. Indirect investment and other sources of capital will continue to be liberated depending on each countrys conditions and appropriate trade defence measures. They vowed to promote regional capital market connectivity via creating a regional integration environment and building infrastructure while supporting financial cooperation initiatives for increased connectivity and internal trade development. At the meetings, participants reaffirmed the commitment to developing inclusive finance as a policy priority and a pillar in the ASEAN financial co-operation within the framework of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint. They also discussed an action plan on ASEAN financial integration strategy with a vision to 2025, which will serve as a reference to orient regional integration and financial coordination for the next decade. On the occasion, they also agreed to hold the ASEAN Finance Ministers Investors Seminar this year. On the sidelines of the event, ministers held meetings with the ASEAN Finance Ministers and the EU ASEAN Business Council. VNS The amended Law on Press was adopted by National Assembly (NA) deputies at the 11th session yesterday. Photo VNA HA NOI (VNS) The amended Law on Press was adopted by National Assembly (NA) deputies at the 11th session yesterday with approximately 89.5 per cent of votes in favour. The revised 6-chapter, 61-article law is designed to replace the 1989 Press Law and its 1999 amendments. It will take effect on January 1, 2017. It stipulates the right to freedom of the press; citizens right to freedom of speech in the press; press organisations and activities; rights and duties of agencies, organisations and individuals involving press activities; and State management of the press. Before passing the draft law, the NA heard a report on opinions about the bill. Accordingly, the NA Standing Committee agreed on proposed amendments to Article 27 of the bill, which stipulates that eligible press card holders who work for a religious organisations press agency will not be required to have a three-year college diploma or higher degree. People with two years of experience working in a press agency will be qualified to apply for the first granting of press cards, instead of three years as stipulated by the current law. However, the committee rejected the proposals on revised Article 28, which suggested eliminating the process requiring press card holders to re-apply for a new card every five years. It suggested keeping the regulation unchanged in order to prevent the cards being misused by those who have left press agencies. The proposed prohibition of journalists and correspondents from using social media was also rejected to ensure citizens right to freedom of speech as stipulated in the Constitution. Law maintains child age at 16 The NA passed the Child Law yesterday with an 89.88 per cent approval rate, maintaining legal age of children at 16. The new law has seven chapters and 106 articles, stipulating childrens rights and duties, principles and measures to ensure the enforcement of childrens rights, the responsibilities of State agencies, organisations, educational establishments, families and individuals to exercise childrens rights and duties. Before voting on the draft law, the NA Standing Committee presented its report on the acquisition of NA deputies opinions on the draft. The report said the majority of opinions agreed to change the name of the law to the Child Law. Regarding the difference in opinions about the legal age of children, a poll conducted in the NA showed 340 out of 397 respondents, or 85.64 per cent of the respondents and 69.25 per cent of NA deputies, supported putting the age at 16, while just 50 out of 397 respondents thought the age should be 18. Therefore, the NA Standing Committee retained the stipulation defining a child as one under the age of 16 in the Child Law. Meanwhile, the scope of children with special backgrounds stipulated in Clause 1 of Article 10 has been expanded to cover children from poor or near-poor families suffering from fatal diseases or diseases requiring long-term treatment (Point n Clause 1) and migrant children, refugee children whose parents are not known or who have no one to take care of them (Point o Clause 1). The new Child Law will take effect on June 1, 2017, replacing the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education No 25/2004/QH11. VNS HA NOI (VNS) The health ministry announced the detection of Viet Nam s first two Zika cases in the central Khanh Hoa Province and HCM City at a press conference yesterday. The two patients are in a stable condition, Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said at the event. Tests have showed that none of the relatives or neighbouring families of the two patients has the Zika infection, Long said. The first patient is a 64-year-old woman in Phuoc Hoa Ward in Khanh Hoas Nha Trang City . She fell sick and had symptoms such as slight fever, headache, hives on feet and conjunctivitis. She was admitted to the Khanh Hoa Tropical Diseases Hospital on March 23, where she tested positive for the Zika virus on March 31. The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and the HCM City Pasteur Institute yesterday also confirmed the result. The second patient is a 33-year-old woman, who is in the second month of her pregnancy, in Thach My Loi Ward, District 2, HCM City . She fell sick with symptoms such as hives and conjunctivitis on March 29, and was admitted to District 2 General Hospital on the same day for a check-up. Test conducted at the HCM City Pasteur Institute on March 31 and April 1, the NIHE on April 2 and the Nagasaki University laboratory located in the NIHE yesterday also confirmed she had the Zika virus. Long said people should not worry too much about Zika, even though the disease could spread to more localities in the future. The health ministry asked Khanh Hoa Province and HCM City to intensify measures to localise and eliminate Zika outbreaks. The ministry also said Khanh Hoa and HCM City should disseminate information about the Zika virus at commune and ward levels, as per legal regulations. The health sector said as of April 4, it had conducted 1,215 tests on samples collected from suspected Zika patients in 32 provinces and cities nation-wide. Long said the health ministry did not recommend people to limit travel between regions and provinces in the country. We only warned pregnant women to consider carefully before entering a Zika-affected area, because the virus might cause brain damage or microcephaly in babies if the mothers had the Zika infection during their first three months of pregnancy, Long said. Zika is mainly transmitted through mosquito bites. The best way to prevent the Zika infection is to kill mosquitoes and their larvae. Each person and household should take measures to prevent mosquito bites. Hospitals and medical units had prepared enough facilities, medicines and tests in response to the Zika threat, added Long. The health ministry recently raised the warning level for the Zika virus nationwide. Provinces and cities were requested to take urgent measures against the spread of the virus in the country. HCM City unveils emergency measures HCM City Peoples Committee yesterday met with a delegation led by Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien to discuss prevention of possible Zika outbreaks in the city. Le Thanh Liem, deputy chairman of the city Peoples Committee, instructed the Department of Health to work closely with health authorities in the 24 wards to improve screening for outbreaks. The department yesterday announced emergency plans to contain the disease by killing mosquitoes and carrying out communication campaigns to raise public awareness. Nguyen Tan Binh, the department director, said passengers arriving at Tan Son Nhat International Airport were screened for fever, especially if they are coming from areas where there have been Zika outbreaks. City hospitals were obtaining samples from high-risk patients who have lived in or returned from infected areas and have Zika symptoms, and sending them to the HCM City Pasteur Institute, he said. District-level preventive medicine centres and hospitals had been instructed to report to the citys Preventive Medicine Centre about any suspected cases for timely treatment, he said. Tien said obstetrics hospitals in the city should keep a close eye on pregnant women in their first trimester for symptoms such as fever, rash, headache, muscle ache and conjunctivitis, which could indicate Zika infection. The health ministry delegation yesterday inspected the PetroVietnam Tower in District 1 where the citys first Zika patient, a 33-year-old pregnant woman, works. It also visited her house in Thanh My Loi Ward in District 2. The Preventive Medicine Centre has identified 10 areas in District 2, including Thanh My Loi, as facing a high risk of dengue fever. Last year the number of dengue fever cases in the district had risen three-fold, the centre said. On the same day, after a Zika case was announced in Khanh Hoa Province, the provincial Peoples Committee issued an urgent decision to announce the epidemic within wards. According to the decision, the director of the provincial health department and chairpersons of peoples committees at all levels in Khanh Hoa Province have been called on to take preventive measures. At a meeting to announce the decision yesterday afternoon, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Thanh Long said that the Zika infection in the province was transmitted through mosquito bites, however, it is not yet clear where the patient was infected. He asked Nha Trang Pasteur Institute to take blood samples from six members in the patients family for testing. He also warned that the possibility of the virus spreading to the whole province and other localities was very large. He asked the province to spray chemicals to kill mosquitoes on large-scale areas. Le uc Vinh, chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee said that the province had warned the patient not to leave her house for 14 days. The peoples committees at all levels must launch campaigns to kill mosquito larva while the provincial Peoples Committee would order relevant sectors to cooperate with each other to conduct treatment and identify outbreaks, he said. VNS HCM CITY Local and international experts at a four-day workshop brainstormed solutions on creating a secure water supply in HCM City and the Mekong Delta region amid the impact of climate change and rising sea levels. The current severe drought and rise in sea level has caused saline intrusion in the Sai Gon and ong Nai Rivers. The two rivers supply raw water to more than 10 million residents and to businesses. The high saline rate along with household and industrial pollutants in the river water has threatened the citys water supply. Water treatment plants in HCM City have had to shut down numerous times because raw water taken from the Sai Gon and ong Nai was below standard. The salinity rate in the rivers is at the highest level of the last five years, affecting operations of some of the pumping stations that supply water to the city. Water pollution has become more serious in the ong Nai River, which supplies 4,000 cu.m water per person in HCM City each year. According to Bach Vu Hai, deputy general director the Sai Gon Water Corporation (Sawaco), the saline rate rises three or four times a day depending on the tides, and lasts several hours each time. This has forced several water treatment plants to shut down. Hai called on experts to propose various solutions to secure the water supply for the city. A raw water reservoir could hold at least a days supply of river water when the salinity rate is high. Treatment plants do not have to draw water directly from the river and can continue normal operations. With this solution, HCM City could have a secure water supply for an estimated two decades, or even more, experts said. Rik Dierx, resident project manager of the Dutch-funded project "Climate Change and Water Supply in the Mekong Delta and HCM City", said that most of the main water treatment plants were located on the two rivers. However, the saline rate at various times over the last year exceeded 350mg per litre. Last week, the saline rate in the Sai Gon River was 400mg per litre, interrupting operation of several water treatment plants. When raw water was withdrawn for half a day, the water supply in the city will be endangered, said Rik, who emphasised the need for a water reservoir. The maximum permitted salinity rate is 250mg per litre. Besides dealing with extreme high chloride concentrations during high tides in the dry season, raw water storage reservoirs could also be used during industrial or agricultural spills, Rik said. This year Sawacos water treatment plants had to stop taking water at least four times. The Netherlands faced similar incidents in the 1960s and water storage reservoirs were built to deal with the problem. Dau Tieng was built to serve an irrigation system while the Tri An was built for hydro-power generation. The two reservoirs were not built for water supply, and during the dry season they face water shortfall, said Associate Professor Le Anh Tuan of Can Tho University. Tuan suggested construction of a water storage reservoir near Vam Co River, located near the ong Nai and Sai Gon rivers. The Vam Co ong and Vam Co Tay Rivers are domestic rivers while 85 per cent of the water in other rivers of the Mekong Delta was dominated by external factors that cannot be controlled. Building a reservoir near the Vam Co ong and Vam Co Tay Rivers in Long An would be much easier than building in HCM City as land prices and land clearance expenses are much cheaper, according to Tuan. The water quality in the river is much better in ong Nai and Sai Gon since there is no saline intrusion in the rivers or industrial parks near there. The distance between the reservoir and Sawacos water treatment plants is not far compared with those built in other areas in Tay Ninh or Binh Duong provinces. At the workshop, stakeholders and independent experts were encouraged to develop an integral design for a multi-functional water storage reservoir, within a limited time and in a cooperative and creative spirit. The intended outcome is a proposal that has the support of all parties involved. Outcomes of the brainstorming sessions will be announced to the decision makers and senior officials of the city government on Friday. Mekong Delta Experts from the Viet Nam Association of Hydrogeology have warned that the Mekong Delta is facing a great challenge for water supply security, partly due to over-exploitation of ground water. Associate Professor Dr. oan Van Canh, of the association, said that only three per cent of the earths water is fresh water. And only 12 per cent of fresh water on earth can be accessed, but one per cent is surface water in rivers, adding to the decline of water in rivers and lakes in the Mekong Delta. A recent survey conducted by the association shows that as of 2015, ground water level fell by 15 metres in the Mekong Delta. In the past years, ground water can be extracted 100 metres below the ground surface. Now, people have to dig 200 metres to access the water. Furthermore, a huge amount of ground water is saline. During the dry season, when surface fresh water becomes rare, ground water is over-exploited for daily use and aquaculture production. In response to the Mekong River Delta water shortage, Tuan said that the delta did not face as serious water shortfall as HCM City. The issue was that water in the delta had not been used effectively. The Mekong Deltas population is nearly double compared to HCM Citys. However the area is much bigger and the area where water is contained is huge, Tuan said, adding that the use of more land for agriculture have shrunk the natural space for water storage in the delta. VNS Indian benchmark indices could see a mildly positive opening tracking mixed cues from the global peers. At 8:30 am IST, the early indicator- SGX Nifty is trading 0.3% higher. S&P BSE Sensex and Nifty50 witnessed the biggest one day fall in nearly two months with Sensex dropping 516 points to end at 24,884 while Nifty50 plunging 156 points to finish at 7,603. On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India Governor Rajan expectedly cut the repo rate by 25 bps while keeping the CRR unchanged. Overseas, Asian are trading with modest gains as soft economic data from the United States and Europe cast a shadow on the global economic outlook. Overnight, Wall Street ended lower as investors took profits on recent gains ahead of a quarterly reporting season that is expected to reveal sharply lower earnings. In the commodity space, crude oil prices rebounded after Kuwait insisted major producers will agree to freeze output later this month even as key player Iran continued to thwart at the plan. STOCKS IN FOCUS Tata Steel: Sanjeev Gupta, a potential buyer of Tata Steels British assets, is meeting Britains business secretary on Tuesday to discuss his plan to turn around the struggling operations without the loss of thousands of jobs Aviation stocks: The civil aviation ministry is likely to abolish the 5/20 rule that restricts companies from flying abroad unless they have flown in India for five years and have a fleet size of 20 aircraft, according to sources. Pfizer: The US Treasury Department took new steps on Monday to curb tax-avoiding corporate "inversions," with the pending $160 billion merger of Pfizer Inc and Allergan Plc seen as a potential casualty. Telecom stocks: The government will soon meet officials of the telecom ministry and the telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) to discuss compensation for dropped calls. Nestle India: The arguments over whether Maggi noodles is safe for consumption are to be heard on July 19, the Supreme Court said on Tuesday M&M: Mahindra and Mahindra has launched a new range of tractors in the 30-45 HP category under brand name Mahindra YUVO on Tuesday. Apollo Hospitals: Apollo Hospitals has partnered with Google to provide additional healthcare information to Google's Knowledge in India. Chinas former leader mysteriously removed A rare public spectacle has drawn attention at the closing ceremony of China's Communist Party's National Congress, as President Xi Jinping prepares to be handed a third term in office. Zelenskys diplomacy masterclass outpacing dour, grey Putin in battle for hearts and minds When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 this year, there was no room for jokes or play acting, and Zelensky needed to step up. He did. Megyn Kelly fires up at Meghan Markle over her deceptive nature Sky News Australia contributor Megyn Kelly has slammed Meghan Markle over her "abject dishonesty" after the Duchess of Sussex took a swipe at Deal or No Deal in her latest podcast episode which featured Paris Hilton. HUDSON Black Hawk County sheriffs deputies Tuesday identified the man who died in a crash south of Hudson on Monday as Phat Tai Tran, 68, of Waterloo. Authorities said they had received complaints about a minivans driving moments before it crashed into a semi. Deputies said they had a report at a minivan was traveling north on U.S. Highway 63 using excessive speeds and weaving in and out of traffic. The accident was reported a short time later, after Tran reportedly crossed the centerline and struck a southbound semi. Tran was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital, according to the Black Hawk County Sheriffs Office. Man arrested in bar burglary WATERLOO A Waterloo man has been charged with breaking into video poker machines at a bar after closing time in January. Charles Howard Stocks, 28, of 1927 Lafayette St., was arrested Sunday for second-degree criminal mischief and third-degree burglary. He was later released from jail. Stocks didnt make any money when he allegedly broke open three machines at Vics Lounge, 1106 LaPorte Road on Jan. 18 because the machines had been emptied the day before, according to court records. Even so, damage to the devices totaled $2,700. Police said Stocks entered Vics around 2:34 a.m. by smashing through two glass doors, and surveillance videos show he spent less than 70 seconds in the bar before leaving. Minutes later, police were called to a similar after-hours break-in at the Park Road Inn, 306 Park Road. In that case, officers responding to the alarm found Stocks running from the business, and he was detained a short distance away with a hammer and cash. Investigators found the video poker machines inside Park Road had been damaged, and Stocks was arrested for that burglary. He is currently awaiting trial in that case. Boy hurt after being struck by van CHARLES CITY A 7-year-old boy was injured after being struck by a van near the intersection of South Main and Seventh Street in Charles City on Tuesday morning. The boy was taken to the Floyd County Medical Center and then transferred to another facility, according to Charles City Police Chief Hugh Anderson. The accident took place shortly before 7:45 a.m. The boys mother dropped him off at The Bridge Church, 913 S. Main Ave., so he could catch the school bus, according to Anderson. The boy ran out into traffic and was struck by a van driven by Teri Snyder, 47, of Charles City, Anderson said. The investigating officer indicated no charges are being filled at this time. Gunfire hit home WATERLOO A Waterloo home was hit by gunfire Monday night. No injuries were reported, and details werent immediately available. Neighbors on Summit Avenue called 911 after hearing a gunshot about 11:45 p.m. Monday, and a short time later, a resident at 208 Summit phoned to say her home had been shot. Across the street, officers found a live round in the grass between two homes. Police called to disturbance WATERLOO Police were called to possible gunfire at a Waterloo apartment building, but they were unable to find evidence of a shooting. Two people at University Avenue Studios East, 3350 University Ave., called authorities about 9:45 p.m. Monday after hearing what sounded like a gunshot in another part of the building. Officers found a few live rounds in the building but nothing to indicate gunfire. No injuries were reported. Sentence suspended for former teacher CHARLES CITY A former Pella band teacher was given a suspended 10-year prison sentence Monday in a 2011 sexual abuse case involving a then-15-year-old girl from Charles City. Benjamin James Thompson, 32, of Ankeny, was put on probation for five years. He will be on lifetime parole after that. He also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. Thompson, who was an assistant band director at Pella Community High School for three years, pleaded guilty in January in Floyd County District Court to one count of third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony. He is no longer employed by the school district. Authorities say Thompson had been talking on the phone, texting and Skyping images of a sexual nature with the girl and eventually drove to Charles City to meet her, picking her up in his vehicle on three different occasions in and driving to remote areas of Floyd County to have sex with her. During Thompsons sentencing hearing, the victim described her experience with him, which started with innocent messaging on Facebook and then turned sexual. She said she still wakes up from nightmares of seeing Thompson in public or finding him in her room. She said she initially did not consider coming forward as a victim, but that changed when an investigator looking into allegations against Thompson in Marion County contacted her. In that county Thompson is facing one count of sexual exploitation by a school employee (pattern and practice/scheme of conduct), a Class D felony, and two counts of sexual exploitation by a school employee, an aggravated misdemeanor. Those charges stem from alleged events that occurred in Pella during the summer of 2014 involving Thompson and a now-graduated high school student. He taught and tutored the alleged victim, who graduated in May 2014. Thompson has pleaded not guilty in the Marion County case. A trial was set for August 2015 but was continued. He has a status hearing scheduled for April 15. Man reports robbery at bar WATERLOO A Waterloo man told police he was robbed at gunpoint at a bar Monday night. Jose Emilio Galindo, 37, told police he was a customer at Js R&B Bar, 501 Independence Ave., about 7:45 p.m. when he man threatened him with a firearm and demanded money. When Galindo refused to hand over cash, the gunman took his coat and fled. Email To : Multiple e-mail addresses must be separated with a comma character(maximum 200 characters) Email To is required. 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PERMALINK Reel World Short Shortz Taos Shortz Film Festival hits our neighbors to the north April 7 through 10. This annual celebration of all things cinematic and short will feature more than 150 short film from 33 countries around the world. Screenings run Thursday through Sunday from morning (as early as 9am) to night (as late as 11pm). Thursdays collection of Global Shortz ends with an Opening Nite Pint at Eskes Brew Pub (106 Des Georges Place) at 10pm. Things close out on Sunday at 6:22pm with the awards ceremony and a screening of this years winning films. In between you get concerts, mixers, a Drones in Cinema workshop and even a special programming block concentrating on Persian film. An all-access pass will run you $133. Individual tickets are available for between $5 and $10 per block and can be purchased through brownpapertickets. com. Screenings will take place at the Taos Center for the Arts (133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte). For a complete schedule of films, events and times, go to taosshortz.com. View in Alibi calendar Troop movement Celebrating 10 years of military filmmaking, the Alexandria, Va.-based GI Film Fest is hitting the road with its Cinematic Salute to the Troops. This special cinematic event will give viewers access to two short films honoring the warrior spirit. The filmsClimb and The Real Inglorious Bastardswill be screened alongside special appearances from First Lady Michelle Obama, Dr. Jill Biden, Gary Sinise, Danny Trejo, Adam Driver and World War II veteran Fred Mayer. Locally, this event will take place Thursday, April 7, at 7pm at Cottonwood Stadium 16 (10000 NW Coors). Tickets are $17.43 general admission or $15.40 for AARP members and are available now through fathomevents.com. Submit! This Friday, April 8, is the official deadline for submitting to the Roswell Film Festival. The event takes place May 19-21 at the Galaxy 8 theater in Roswell. 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Fakat tercih edilen ve oran olarak cok daha fazla frsatlar sunan kacar iddaasiteleri bulunmaktadr. Bu siteler kanunlara aykr sekilde yaplmakta olup, yasal bir dayanag yoktur. Elbette bu sitelerin kurulus merkezi Turkiye olmayp, ds ulkelerdedir ve faaliyetler belirlenen siteler uzerinden yaplmaktadr. Kacak Iddaa oldukca riskli olup, cok dikkatli olunmas gerekir. Kacak Bahis Kanunlar cercevesinde istediginiz gibi bahis yapamayabilirsiniz. Bahis yapabilmek icin ya kanuni olarak sorun olmayan ulke dsnda ki kumarhanelere gitmeniz veya kacak bahis sitelerinden islem yapabilirsiniz. Zira bu durum tehlikeli olsa da cok sayda site guvenli sekilde bu alanda hizmet vermektedir. Kacak bahiste oldukca fazla secenek bulunurken yuksek oranda kazanc sunuyor olmas da ragbeti arttryor. Illegal Bahis Bahisin bircok alanda yasak oldugu Turkiyede bu alanda cok sayda yabanc merkezli siteler hizmet vermektedir. Illegal bahis sektorunde faaliyet gosteren siteler guvenli hizmet anlays ile kullanclarna frsatlar sunmaktadr. Yurt ds merkezli bu siteler sorunsuz sekilde hizmetlerini surdururken bulunduklar ulkelerde kanunlara uygun sekildedir. Elbette faaliyet noktasnda bulunduklar ulkelerde sorun teskil etmese de Turkiyede faaliyet gostermeleri kanunin yasaklanmstr. Yasads Bahis Gerek olusturulan etkenler gerekse de ortaya konulan riskler yasads bahis de oldukca tehlikelidir. Kanunlarn mudahil olduklar bu alanlar da hem kullanclar hem de populer bahis yaptranlar tum riskleri goze almaktadrlar. Fakat yasaklardan uzak sekilde guvenli hizmet sunan siteler de bulunmaktadr. Takipler neticesinde kapatlan sitelerin muhakkak alternatifleri kurularak yollarna devam etmektedirler. Canl Iddaa Siteleri Nelerdir? Dunya genelinde kabul gormus cok sayda guvenli hizmet veren populer bahis siteleri bulunmaktadr. Elbette bu siteler dunyann bircok ulkesinde faaliyet gosterse de Turkiyede yasaktr. Sektorde yer alan cok sayda legal iddaa siteleri bulunmaktadr. Herhangi bir kanunsuzlugun olmadg bu sitelerden hzl ve guvenli islem yaplabilmektedir. Tabi bu sitelerde uygulanan oranlar yasal olmayan sitelere gore daha dusuktur. Illegal sitelerin tercih edilme sebeplerinin en onemli etkeni de olusturulan oranlardr. Peki, Iddaa siteleri nelerdir? Faaliyetleri ve uygulama esaslar nelerdir? Turkiyede faaliyet gosteren yasal iddaa siteleri listesi su sekildedir; Iddaa Bilyoner Tuttur Birebin Oley Nesine Misli Iddaa 2004 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslayan Iddaa Spor toto tarafndan kurulmus olup, ilk etapta bayilik seklinde calsmaya baslamstr. Elbette zamanla gelisen teknolojiye ayak uydurarak internet uzerinde de populer bahis severlerin hizmetine sunulmustur. Kuruldugu donemde devletin resmi kurumu olarak faaliyet gosterirken gelinen yeni donemde ozellestirilmistir. Bilyoner Turkiyede faaliyetine 2006 ylnda baslayan Bilyoner ilk ozel yasal bahis sitesi olma ozelligine sahiptir. Guvenilir bahis siteleri Turkiyede bunlardr. Ksa surede populer olan site halen faaliyetlerini sorunsuz sekilde surdurmektedir. Tuttur Ksa surede adndan bahsettirmeyi basaran Tuttur 2009 ylnda faaliyetlere baslamstr. Guvenilir bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almstr. Gunumuze dek bircok alanda populer bahis yapanlara frsatlar sunarken avantajlar ile de begeni toplamstr. Birebin Kullanc odakl calsmalar surdurse de 2011 ylnda sektore giren Birebindiger sitelere gore daha az ragbet gormektedir. Bahis oynamak ise bu sitede oldukca kolaydr. Elbette farkl yaklasmlara sahip olmasndan dolay ilerleyen sureclerde adndan sklkla bahsettirecek gibi gorunuyor. Oley 2009 ylnda Dogus yayn gruplarnn istiraki olarak kurulmus olup yasal olarak herhangi bir sorunu olmayan sitelerdendir. Bahis siteleri arasnda hzl cks yapms bir sitedir. Oley yapms oldugu yenilikler ile kullanclarn da dikkatini ksa surede cekmeyi basarmstr. Nesine Birbirini takip eden surecte Nesine de yine 2006 ylnda hizmet vermeye baslamstr. Yasal bahis siteleri arasnda yerini almay basaran firma ksa surede sevilen ve ragbet goren bir site olmustur. Misli 2009 ylnda sektore cok hzl giris yapan Misli cok sayda reklam filmi ile on plana ckmay basarmstr. Internet uzerinden hem yasal hem de sorunsuz hizmet veren bahis sitelerinden bir tanesi olmustur. Canl Bahis Siteleri Kayt ve Uyelik Islemleri Her zaman populerligini koruyan ve surekli gelisim gosteren canl bahis gun gectikce daha da gucleniyor. Bahis oynamak icin ise sitelere uye olunmas gerekir. Yuksek getirisi ve begeni toplayan faaliyetleri ile cok sayda site bu alanda faaliyet gostermektedir. Elbette sorunsuz sekilde uye olmanz ve faaliyetler gostermeniz de oldukca kolaydr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri dakikalar icerisinde gerceklestirilecek yapya sahiptir. Uye olacagnz siteyi belirledikten sonra siteye girmeniz gerekmektedir. Girdiginiz sitenin ana sayfasnda uye ol ya da kayt ol bolumu bulunacaktr. Siteler arasnda degiskenlik gosteren bu alanda temel unsurlar bulunmaktadr. Elbette farkllklar olsa da temelinde benzer bilgiler uye olmak isteyen kisilerden talep edilmektedir. Uye ol bolumune tkladktan sonra karsnza uyelik bilgi formu ckacaktr. Bu formda sizin kim oldugunuzu ogrenmek ve sitenin guvenligini saglamak adna islemler yaplmaktadr. Uyelik formunda yer alan ad soyad bolumunu eksiksiz ve dogru sekilde doldurmalsnz. Sizden bu formda istenen bilgilerin tamamn girmeniz istenecektir. Istenen bilgiler mutlaka dogru ve eksiksiz sekilde olmaldr. Eksik veya hatal bilgi uyelik islemlerinde sorun teskil edebilir. Yine de yanls bilgi girisine ragmen uyelik islemleri tamamlanabilir. Fakat boyle bir yol izleyenler sonrasnda buyuk skntlarla karslasabilirler. Bu skntlarn basnda da para cekme islemlerinde yasanan sorunlardr. Uyelik islemleri dikkatli ve ozenle doldurulmas gereken yapdadr. Canl bahis siteleri kayt ve uyelik islemleri gerceklestirilirken verilen bilgiler site yonetimi tarafndan muhafaza edilmektedir. Herhangi bir sekilde 3. Sahslarla paylaslmas gibi bir durum soz konusu degildir. Bu faaliyetleri surduren sitelerin guven unsurlar arasnda bu nokta onceliklidir. Bahis sitelerine uye olurken hatal bilgi paylasmnda bulunmak size faydadan cok zarar verecektir. Diyelim ki bilgileri hatal girdiniz ve uyelik onayland. Uyelik tamamlandktan sonra siteye para yatrdnz ve kazanc elde ettiniz. Kazancnz sonrasnda hesabnza almak istediginizde karsnza banka bilgileri bolumu gelecektir. Para cekme talebi gerceklestikten sonra site uyelik bilgileri ile banka hesap bilgileri ortusmez ise paranz alamazsnz. Boyle bir durumla karslasmamak adna bu hususa ayrca dikkat etmelisiniz. Apr 6, 2016 | By Tess For our readers who have been anxiously awaiting the launch of BonaDrones 3D printed, modular Mosquito Drone since we last wrote about it, now is the chance to get involved, as their crowdfunding campaign has just launched on Indiegogo. Barcelona based startup, BonaDrone, was founded by childhood friends Pep Marti Saumell, Josep Tomas Verges, Daniel Lopez Hidalgo, Alex Cazorla Sola, and Jordi Grau Boladeras, who as a team were determined to create a new brand of drone that would allow its users agency in terms of design, and function. For over a year, the team at BonaDrone worked to develop a viable UAV product, and now with the launch of their 3D printed, customizable, and modular drone the Mosquito, they have almost succeeded. With their Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign, which has a fixed goal of 45,000, the makers at BonaDrone are hoping to introduce their drone design onto the market and further promote the potentials of using 3D printing in drone design. As the team at BonaDrone expressed, We hope that our project will get a great reception, and see this campaign as a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about drones and 3D-printing, both inside and outside of the technology community. The aim is to give our users the tools and the knowledge to self-meet their drone expectations. We are also keen to receive feedback on our Mosquito drone, develop new products and accessories, and inspire creativity within the community we hope to create. The 3D printed quadcopter, which can be purchased unassembled for the early bird cost of 599 through the crowdfunding campaign, can be customized in many ways, including changing the color of its frame, the logo on the top cover, the accessories that are attached to it, and even upgrading what material is used in 3D printing the drone's various parts. So far, the team at BonaDrone have developed and tested two accessories for the Mospquito drone, a camera gimbal, which allows for stable video recording, and a hook which can not only transport objects, but release them on command. Additionally, the company has now made it possible to even upgrade your 4 propeller quadcopter into an 8 propeller octocopter! BonaDrones Mosquito drone is also equipped with a number of autonomous flight features, including a Follow-Me function, flight panning, and a Return-to-Launch safety feature. The drone can be controlled via smartphone using an app developed by 3DRobotics. Most exciting about the new 3D printed drone is the philosophy behind it: that of each maker and user being a part of the creation of their own drone. As the company explains, though they are happy to send out fully assembled drones, they encourage their customers to assemble the drone themselves, and to customize as much as possible. Additionally, the team at BonaDrone is calling out to the maker community to not only support their project but to help innovative with ideas for new features and accessories. The perks for the Indiegogo campaign start off small, from 3D printed drone keychains for 15, to an additional t-shirt for 35. For 90 you can receive the Mosquito drones 3D printed frame in a number of colors, along with an assembly manual and a list of compatible mechanical components. As mentioned, the cost for an early bird disassembled drone is 599, and it will retail regularly for 675. The highest perk, for 1449 includes a fully customized already assembled Mosquito drone, including either both accessories or a carbon fiber pack. The crowdfunding campaign, launched in partnership with 3DHubs, will be running for another two months, so if you want to back BonaDrones 3D printed project, check out their page. Posted in 3D Printing Application Maybe you also like: shaun lamont wrote at 4/6/2016 7:41:31 PM:ooooohhhhhhh..cant wait to fund indiegogo on another massive failure..... Apr 6, 2016 | By Benedict GE has opened a new additive manufacturing facility near Pittsburgh, PA. The Center for Additive Technology Advancement (CATA) will create 50 new jobs, and will offer both training and development in 3D design and applications. GE will invest $39M in the facility over a 3 year period. The opening of its new Center for Additive Technology Advancement sees GE devoting significant resources to the development of potential 3D printing technologiesa move that will be taken as a positive sign for the industry as a whole, given the reputation and commercial clout of the multinational corporation. The expansive new facility, located at Findlay Township near Pittsburgh, will be used to develop and implement industrial applications for a number of GE businesses at one centralized location, allowing the parent company to implement exciting new technologies into several of its subsidiaries whenever opportunities arise. While the ultimate goal of CATA is to place GE at the forefront of additive manufacturing developments and benefit its many industrial businesses, the opening of the center is also being welcomed by those outside of the company, due to its potential contribution to the economy and employment. In conjunction with the opening of CATA, GE published a white paper entitled The Future Workforce: Advanced Manufacturings Impact on the Economy, which details how 3D printing is making a positive impact on jobs and the future of work. CATA, the company claims, will further contribute to this growth. Todays opening is strong evidence that GE is leading the digital transformation of industry, starting with a hub for the advancement of additive manufacturing techniques, said GE Chief Productivity Officer Philippe Cochet. The application of insights from digital connectivity in collaboration with intelligent devices will elevate the skills of our workforce, streamline productivity and enhance product development overall. This represents a new era of manufacturing. Research at the 125,000-square-foot facility will involve developing both hardware and software, and successfully marrying the two to create optimal additive manufacturing systems and products. To successfully meet these goals, GE will create 50 jobs for high-tech workers within the facility, to add to the 22 presently employed engineers. These highly skilled employees will have a strong focus on advancing materials sciences and inspection technologies. Pittsburgh, home to eight Fortune 500 companies, including U.S. Steel and PPG Industries, represented the ideal location for GEs ambitious project, for both GE and the Steel City itself. 3D printers made by local North Huntingdon-based ExOne (above) have already been installed in the facility. With Pittsburghs developing tech sector, Pennsylvania is the perfect home for GEs Additive Manufacturing Center, said Governor Tom Wolf. We welcome GE's investment in the state with opening this new manufacturing facility and the promise of new jobs to the greater Pittsburgh region. The multimodal facility, GEs first, will contribute 3D printing advances to a number of GE industrial businesses, including Aviation, Transportation, Power, and Oil & Gas. Posted in 3D Printer Company Maybe you also like: Apr 6, 2016 | By Alec Surely the most anticipated 3D printing application is that of the 3D bioprinting of human organ tissue, though this technology will doubtlessly be confined to laboratories for a few more years. As we revealed two months ago, however, that research field is about to receive a significant hardware boost in the form of Edison Invivo 3D bioprinter, by South Korean 3D printer manufacturers ROKIT. While quite little was revealed about that machine at the time, its developers have just shed more light on that upcoming 3D bioprinter, and have simultaneously unveiled another very interesting, non-medical 3D printer. Called the Stealth 300, this 3D printer can 3D print up to three different materials simultaneously using a single nozzle, including soft and hard polymers. ROKIT, as you might know, is one of the foremost 3D printer manufacturers in South Korea. One of the fastest growers in the South Korean market, they have a wide range of consumer and professional machines in their catalogue already. The only thing that was missing was a 3D bioprinter, they have been working on one since the summer of 2015, when they received a $3 million USD government grant to develop one in in collaboration with a variety of renowned South Korean medicine research organizations. The Edison Invivo 3D printer is their first result, with In Vivo meaning within the living. Expected to be significantly cheaper than existing 3D bioprinters, this South Korean creation features a reimagined mechanical setup that lowers costs while still providing users with the ability to 3D print bio inks and a far wider range of materials than its competitors. Featuring both an extrusion and a liquid dispensing tool, it can 3D print PLGA, PCL, PLLA, collagen, Alginate, Silk fibroin, and more. It is further equipped with a XYZ resolution of 1.5 micron, a 0.15-0.8 bio ink needle, and heats bio inks to 80 degrees Celsius. The company expects that this broad field of materials will alter the landscape of 3D bioprinting, providing researchers with a lot more options. The idea, of course, is that the Edison Invivo 3D printer can grow cells in 3D structures that become transplantable tissues, and the company has reiterated its goals during a showcase meeting with a group of experts from the The Korean Society of Biomaterials in late March. While existing 3D bio printers can only extrude either solid form or liquid form, INVIVO is the worlds first hybrid 3D bio printer, which can print both solid scaffold for hard-tissues and liquid bio inks for soft-tissues at the same time, they reveal. A three-dimensional structure of cell, fabricated by INVIVO, is designed to be used for the purpose of research on transplantation of artificial organs, skins, cranium and so on. The Edison Invivo will hit the market in April of this year. Furthermore, ROKIT revealed to be working on a new pharmaceutical version as well. Called 3Dison Pharma, it is expected to be released in July of this year, and has been specifically adapted for the development of pharmaceutical drugs. The reason why customized medicine is needed is that existing medicines have been mass-produced for the general population, not for the unique individual patient, they say. With this machine, customized 3D printed medicine will give researchers and patients exact control of their dosage. ROKIT is currently in talks with South Korean pharmaceutical companies to set up a supply line. But the core of ROKITs 3D printing activities can be found outside the medical world, and thats exactly here the Stealth 300 can be found. While several multi-material 3D printers already exist in various shapes and sizes, the Stealth 300 can actually simultaneously use up to three different materials and colors with a single extruder. While most 3D printers struggle with material residue when working with different materials, ROKIT says this doesnt trouble their special 3 in 1 nozzle. [It] has made it able to print out with multi-materials and colors through the nozzle, while other existing FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) 3D printers still uses a nozzle that can extrude only one material at a time, they say. This new model is designed to better serve users needs, especially in manufacturing industry and for educational purposes, and it makes it easier to print supporting materials such as HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene), PVA (Polyvinyl Alcohol). Whats more, it can easily combine soft and hard polymers in a single object. While that feature alone should justify purchasing this stylish 3D printer, ROKIT has gone even further and made this a completely stand-alone desktop 3D printer. An embedded 1GHz CPU, LCD touch screen (Android OS) and a print bed camera enables users to open 3D files, slice G-Code, 3D print and monitor progress without the need for an additional computer. While everyone will have a PC standing nearby anyway, this does save you quite a bit of hassle. Also, compared to existing 3D printers that function only as printers, this new model has equipped aspects of smart devices; to apply ICT (Information and Communications Technologies) it has installed Android OS, which builds up IoT (Internet of Things) functions of 3DISON series and improves connectivity with various smart devices, they add. Together with the excellent multi-material 3D printing options, this makes the Stealth 300 a very tantalizing option indeed. Together with a print speed of more than 400mm per second, a 290 x 180 x 200 mm build platform and a 25 micron layer thickness, and list of available materials that includes PLA, ABS, PC, Skinflex, Marble and Cool PLA, theres little to complain about. ROKITs CEO Yoo Seok-hwan went as far as saying this is a well-optimized machine that is perfectly in tune with the demands of the time, and we cant disagree. The company will keep the lead of the movement of popularization of 3D printing with a constant stream of new innovative products that meet customer needs, he promised. As you can see in the image below, multiple sizes of the Stealth 3D printer are also expected. So when can you get your hands on it? The Stealth 300 will be officially launched at the Inside 3D Printing conference in New York, which will be held from 10 to 12 April. However, you might have taken a glimpse at it already at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in February, where it garnered a lot of attention and already received significant numbers of pre-orders. 2016, it seems, is set to be a very successful year for ROKIT. Posted in 3D Printing Applications Maybe you also like: Alvaro wrote at 4/6/2016 2:58:45 PM:Amazing! I think this device can boost the research of professor Saso Ivanovisk . Henri Cole at The New Yorker: Berryman is a lyric poet, which means that his poems express intense personal emotion, and probably I am drawn to this because I am a lyric poet, too. To the ancient Greeks, anything lyrikos was considered appropriate for the lyre, the elegant stringed instrument that was highly regarded by them and played as an accompaniment to unarmored or personal poetry. I admire the private intensity of Berrymans work, which records not only the depths of his own degradation but also love and ecstasy. When asked to define the most important elements of poetry, Berryman replied, Imagination, love, intellectand pain. Yes, youve got to know pain. Of course, it is in part the pain of human voices (comical, sad, troubled, vulnerable, vehement, libidinous) that makes the dream songs still edgy and strange fifty years after they first appeared. Some readers have wondered if these uncomfortable poems were the result of alcoholism, or of double doses of chlorpromazine (an antipsychotic) or Dilantin (an anticonvulsant), which had both been prescribed to Berryman. But I do not really care, since beneath the gruff surface and the high jinks of these poems we hear, deeper down, a vibrant, loving man with a vast spirit. Exacerbated and enormously learned, Berryman was a master of the poem written with manic energy from the edges of human experience. Now, a half-century later, the dream songs remain a delicious, horrible, grotesque, ridiculous, fragmentary, tortured, diary-like transcription of a life in which a man worked hard, got up early each day to work at his desk and assemble language into art, strived to love his young wife and children, taught his classes, lectured, wrote letters of recommendation, mentored his students, and fulfilled the obligations that come with being a lonely man of letters living in the Midwest. more here. C P W Gammell at Literary Review: The IranIraq War ostensibly concerned sovereignty of the Shatt al-Arab, a stretch of water dividing the two nations. The Algiers Accord of 6 March 1975 allowed Saddam and the Shah of Iran to announce that they had put an end to their disagreements. The demarcation of terrestrial and fluvial borders resulted in the border running through the middle of the Shatt al-Arab, rather than along the Persian bank, which had served as the previous demarcation. For Saddam, the accord had been a humiliation and on 17 September 1980, after months of tension, he renounced it. On 22 September Iraq launched an air offensive, striking inside Iranian territory. The conflict continued, through phases of operations and different styles of warfare, only ending on 20 August 1988, after Iran accepted the UN Security Councils Resolution 598. And yet, as Razoux shows, this conflict concerned more than a stretch of water separating Iran and Iraq. It covered everything from the Cold War to ancient Persian-Arab tensions to Islamic sectarianism and ethnic separatism. One of the most fascinating insights this book offers is its illustration of the impact the conflict had on the Islamic Republic of Iran and how that nation moved from fledgling revolutionary state to an established Islamic theocracy. Razoux is right to argue that Irans real revolution occurred during the IranIraq War; it was these years of bitter fighting against internal and external enemies that shaped the Iran we see today. The Revolutionary Guards, the Quds Force, the Basij and the clerical hierarchy all these were created, strengthened or became ascendant during the conflict. more here. Darren Hauck/Getty Images Older voters in the April 5 Wisconsin primary backed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton but by smaller margins compared previous contests, clearing a path to victory for Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In the Republican primary, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas led among all age groups, drawing his biggest support from voters 45 to 64, to defeat billionaire Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Sanders continued to benefit from a surge of support from younger voters, according to news media exit polls. Clinton led Sanders 62 percent to 37 percent among voters 65 and older, but by only 54 percent to 46 percent among those 45 to 64. Sanders took 82 percent of the vote among those 18 to 29 and 66 percent from voters 30 to 44. In the unofficial total results, Sanders led Clinton 57 percent to 43 percent. Older voters support for Clinton dipped from the results on March 15, when she won all five Democratic primaries including more than two-thirds of the vote from those 65 and older and at least 58 percent from those 45 to 64. Significant JORC Reserve Increase for Isaac Plains Complex Brisbane, April 6, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Stanmore Coal Limited ( ASX:SMR ) is pleased to announce a significant maiden JORC Reserve for the Isaac Plains East Project (Isaac Plains East) (together with Isaac Plains Coal Mine, the Isaac Plains Complex). As a result, total JORC Reserves for the Isaac Plains Complex have increased by more than 3 times since the assets were acquired in late 2015. Highlights: - Total JORC Reserve tripled from 5.0Mt to 15.3Mt - Open-cut mine life expanded from 3 years to over 10 years with the maiden Isaac Plains East JORC Reserves - Strip ratio at Isaac Plains East is significantly lower than current open-cut operations at Isaac Plains - Indicative coal quality demonstrates improved coal rank and yield for coking product at Isaac Plains East relative to Isaac Plains - The combination of the Isaac Plains mine and infrastructure with the neighbouring Isaac Plains East mine extension has created a low cost mining complex with significant life The JORC Reserve upgrade follows the work carried out on the total JORC Resources for the Isaac Plains Complex, also announced today. A summary of the JORC Reserves by area is displayed in Table 1 and Table 2, see link below. Open Cut Mine Life Extension for Isaac Plains Complex The updated JORC Reserve for the Isaac Plains Complex increases the total open cut mining life from 3 years to 10 years based on a steady state production rate of 1.5Mtpa run of mine (ROM) coal (at least 1.1Mtpa of product coal). The mining conditions at Isaac Plains East are similar to those experienced at Isaac Plains and therefore amenable to a dragline operation. In utilising the existing Company-owned dragline currently deployed at Isaac Plains, the overall mining cost is minimised given the significant cost advantage over pure truck & shovel waste operations. Attractive Mining Strip Ratio JORC Reserves modelling at Isaac Plains East indicates a 7 year average prime strip ratio (bcm/ROM tonnes) of 11:1, with the first 2 years at 8:1 and first 4 years at sub 10:1. This compares favourably to the three year average strip ratio of approximately 13:1 for the current 3 year mining operation within Isaac Plains. Significant Synergies with Existing Isaac Plains Mine The Isaac Plains East extension will utilise the dragline currently operating at the Isaac Plains mine as well as the fixed infrastructure including the Coal Processing and Prep Plant, train load out, rail loop, offices and workshops. The replacement cost of this infrastructure is estimated at A$350m. Due to the proximity of the two deposits, minimal additional infrastructure will be required to develop Isaac Plains East. A three kilometre haul road will be built to connect to the existing Isaac Plains road system. A Low Cost Mine Extension Based on current contracted overburden removal and mining costs, the improved strip ratio at Isaac Plains East is estimated to result in an average free on board total cost reduction of around A$15-20 per product tonne in the first 4 years when compared to the existing Isaac Plains open cut. The cost curve information presented in Diagram 1and 2 below indicates that this level of cost reduction results in a shift from the second quartile to the first quartile for the Isaac Plains Complex. Proposed Mining Method It is planned to mine the coal using predominately the same open-cut method used at Isaac Plains. This method is based on nominal 55m wide strips. Topsoil is removed and stockpiled for later spoil rehabilitation. The overburden is drilled and blasted in one or two passes depending upon total depth. Overburden is then removed using a combination of cast blasting, dozing, dragline and truck / shovel methods followed by coal extraction. In order to minimise waste removal costs, the emphasis will be on maximising the proportion of waste allocated to the dragline system (dragline, dozing and cast blasting). Waste exceeding the dragline horizon will be removed by excavator and trucked to the appropriate waste dump. Coal will be loaded onto side tippers at top of ramp stockpiles for haulage to the Isaac Plains ROM hopper (or stockpile) where it will be crushed and conveyed to the coal preparation plant for processing. Product coal will be stockpiled separately by product type then loaded onto trains at the coal loadout and railed to Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal. Progressive rehabilitation of the spoil dumps would be undertaken when they reach planned height and final landform profile. Isaac Plains East - Pathway for Approvals The process for obtaining the required Mining Lease is underway with a top tier environmental consultant engaged by the Company to manage the various field activities and coordinate the ongoing baseline studies. The approval pathway requires the Company to submit a major amendment to the environmental authority for Isaac Plains once all requisite data is collated. The Company anticipates lodging the amendment documentation and application for Mining Lease in the December quarter of 2016, with the target for grant of the Mining Lease within the second half of 2017. Coal Quality Coal washability and product laboratory analysis was carried out on the cored-holes drilled recently within the Isaac Plains East area. The indicative coal quality results and processing yield analysis are displayed in Table 2 (see link below) along with the current Isaac Plains specifications. The initial analysis was focused on maximising overall yield and the coking fraction. The increase in rank at Isaac Plains East illustrates the potential to further enhance coking properties by mining the seam in two passes and optimising the washing yield. Nick Jorss, Managing Director of Stanmore, said "This is a major upgrade to the scale of Isaac Plains as it increases open-cut mine life from three years to more than ten years. Combining two neighbouring Bowen Basin assets, stripping out significant costs and undertaking a comprehensive exploration program has created a low cost coking coal complex at Isaac Plains with significant mine life. Upon grant of the mining lease at Isaac Plains East we will be a first quartile producer located in the world's premier export quality coking coal basin. We are currently evaluating the potential to increase production further via underground mining within the Isaac Plains Complex. We have identified substantial JORC Measured and Indicated Resources which may be economic to extract by bord and pillar or highwall mining methods. These opportunities would require very little in the way of capital expenditure as they utilise access from the existing highwall and surplus capacity within our wash plant and rail loadout infrastructure. This important milestone for the Company reaffirms our commitment to building a larger mining enterprise based around the strategic infrastructure position at Isaac Plains as we supply some of the world's top steel mills with our high quality coking coal. Our confidence in the outlook for coking coal is underpinned by the fact it remains a relatively scarce resource. The world's best deposits are depleted by over a billion tonnes every year as coking coal is extracted to create the steel required for housing, transport, infrastructure, consumables and household goods. We are also encouraged by the recent June quarter settlement for Japanese benchmark coking coal prices at a US$ 3-4 increase over the previous quarter. To view tables and figures, please visit: http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/6GDB7890 About Stanmore Coal Limited Stanmore Coal (ASX:SMR) is an operating coal mining company with a number of additional prospective coal projects and mining assets within Queensland's Bowen and Surat Basins. Stanmore Coal owns 100% of the Isaac Plains Coal Mine and the adjoining Isaac Plains East Project and is focused on the creation of shareholder value via the efficient operation of Isaac Plains and identification of further local development opportunities. Stanmore continues to progress its prospective high quality thermal coal assets in the Northern Surat Basin which will prove to be valuable as the demand for high quality, low impurity thermal coal grows at a global level. Stanmores focus is on the prime coal bearing regions of the east coast of Australia. ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost. The Labor Department finalized an amended version of its fiduciary rule, providing wealth management firms a lengthier timeline for implementation as well as more relaxed requirements for the best interest contract exemption. The changes suggest that Obama administration officials want to assuage industry concerns about the workability of the rule and potentially avert court fights, while still enacting a higher standard of duty to clients. "With the finalization of this rule, we are putting in place a fundamental principle of consumer protection, that a consumer's best interest must come before a financial advisors' best interest," Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez said. The timeline to implement the rule was extended to one year from eight months in the amended version. Firms will need to be in full compliance by Jan. 1, 2018. Industry trade groups such as SIFMA had been arguing that the original eight month timeline for implementation was unreasonable because complying with the rule would be a "massive undertaking." The best interest contract exemption has been changed significantly. The Labor Department now says clients will have to sign such a contract when they open accounts, not when they first meet a broker or advisor. The exemption was the subject of intense industry scrutiny, with CEOs and industry trade groups sharply criticizing it, saying it would be unworkable in practice. Perez said the department made these and other changes after receiving feedback from industry groups and consumer groups. "We listened, we learned and we adjusted," he said. The final version of the rule also does not penalize proprietary products, such as complex annuities. "Proprietary products are certainly permissible products that have an important place in the market. The key is you have an obligation to put your clients' best interests first," Perez said. Also of core importance to wealth management firms: They'll be able to notify existing clients of the changes in the firm's obligations via email, Perez says. 'It's Now the Law' The amended version is scheduled to be published today, ending several years of contentious debate that included intense industry lobbying and several failed attempts by Republicans in Congress to derail the effort to craft a new standard governing retirement advice. The fierce back-and-forth between opponents and advocates was due in no small part to the dramatic effects the rule could have on those whose income depends on advising Americans on their retirement assets more than $22 trillion, according to Cerulli Associates. Privately, executives have said the complexity of the rule will make it difficult to develop new compliance policies and procedures, particularly for larger firms that have more than 10,000 advisors. And while changes made by the Labor Department may go a long way to easing the industry's acceptance of the rule, all wealth managers, financial advisors and financial planners will now be held to a new, higher standard when providing retirement advice. This article originally appeared on Financial Planning. IMGCAP(1)]When it comes to getting a resolution considered during an Internal Revenue Service collection case in which the IRS doesnt have criminal prosecution aspirations, there is only one piece of advice that fits every case. The most basic and sound advice that a representative should give a taxpayer is: get caught up with unfiled returns and start paying current taxes. Such seemingly basic advice is not consistently offered to taxpayers, however. When I speak with other practitioners around the country and share stories of collection cases (all varying in levels of complexity), there is a general theme that these conversations typically circle back to. More often than not, the taxpayers in these narratives either decided on their own or were told to start paying off their old liabilities, with the risk of running up a new tax debt. When it comes down to it, the requirement to be in compliance with filings and tax deposits is the cornerstone of the voluntary, pay-as-you-go tax system. By definition, compliance means having all tax returns filed, including valid extensions, and making tax deposits toward any applicable deposit requirement, most commonly a business's federal tax deposit for employment taxes or an individual's estimated income taxes. As one might imagine, the task of managing compliance for the nations individuals and businesses is an extraordinary endeavor for the IRS. This task became even tougher back in 2010 when the IRS budget was cut severely. Budget cuts have continued in every fiscal year since 2010 (with the exception of this year), making the mission of addressing non-compliance that much more difficult for the agency. In fact, the IRS is now owed more money than ever while having fewer resources. As a result, taxpayers often need to deal with a stretched agency and an inconsistent, frustrating system. They need to spend an extraordinary amount of time resolving their tax problems, exacerbating the stresses on our voluntary system. On the other hand, some taxpayers will not comply with paying taxes voluntarily for various reasons, whether intentional or not. Most cases involving non-compliance result in a balance due account. When a balance due exists, the situation immediately becomes more complicated, as are the important decisions about what to do next. While every resolution plan requires the taxpayer first return to filing and paying current taxes voluntarily, the IRS has a host of rules and regulations that guide how to evaluate each taxpayers situation in order to arrive at a resolution that it deems suitable. Although it is important for the IRS to recover unpaid taxes, the agency makes a point of qualifying every resolution plan with compliance. In 2012, the IRS introduced a new set of collection initiatives designed to bring non-compliant taxpayers back into the system. Then-IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman called it the Fresh Start Initiative. The core of the initiative was promoted as creating more favorable taxpayer outcomes in collection cases, perhaps in anticipation of the IRSs strained budget eroding certain aspects of the system that encourage voluntary compliance, such as customer service and timely responses to taxpayer inquiries. The program shook things up, with a public relations push emphasizing new opportunities for taxpayer resolutions. What did not change with the Fresh Start Initiative was the core underlying principle to every resolution: compliance. The program also did not consider business employment tax as a qualifying condition. Therefore, the IRSwhile promoting its taxpayer-friendly collection policy changescontinued to emphasize its message of bringing non-compliant taxpayers back into the system while discouraging employment tax non-compliance. Considering its declining budget, the IRS formulated a fairly robust and adept shift towards doing more with less. The years since the Fresh Start Initiative was first put into action have seemingly focused largely on implementing the program changes and measuring its overall success. Over the last four years, IRS Collections has generated $5 billion more in revenue, with 20 percent fewer revenue officers and an overall IRS budget decrease of almost $1 billion. With success on individual liabilities coming from the Fresh Start Initiative, the IRS continues to fight when it comes to combating employment tax issues. To aid in the battle against employment tax deficiencies, in late 2015, the IRS scored an uncommon win from congressional Republicans when it was granted an addition $290 million in funding. This increase in funding has allowed the IRS to move forward with increased taxpayer contact, including its Early Action Initiative. With the purpose of identifying and addressing potential tax problems much sooner, this program is intended to have IRS Field Collection personnel appear in-person at companies that appear to have stopped making federal employment tax deposits. From firsthand experience, there has already been a noticeable increase in the number of unannounced visits by field collection personnel in 2016. This increase in field visits should impact the previous methodology of addressing taxpayer compliance. In the past, compliance could be addressed over a longer period of time. Now, practitioners must effect a compliance change right away. Undoubtedly, the IRSs ability to properly fund its mission will play a role in the collection representation landscape for years to come. Policies will likely develop around the level of funding it receives in the future. Despite the uncertainty of how the IRS will move forward, the very basics of collection representation remain the same, and a practitioners adviceemphasizing compliance with current taxesshould follow suit. Ultimately, taxpayers should be encouraged to return to the voluntary system by filing and paying on a timely basis. David F. Miles, E.A., is a vice president at 20/20 Tax Resolution, Inc. with over 18 years of tax resolution experience. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Vermont. Miles is an active educator of other tax professionals on a national level and served as an instructor at the 20112015 National Tax Practice Institute conferences. He has been interviewed about a range of tax topics for various news articles as well as television, was a panelist on Tax Talk Today in November of 2012, and is a regular contributor to the EA Journal. The Internal Revenue Service warned taxpayers Wednesday about a new phishing scam targeting Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia residents. This time, the email scammers are citing tax fraud and trying to trick victims into verifying the last four digits of their social security number by clicking on a link provided. The criminals specifically state 7this is for tax filers in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia. As a further attempt to trick residents of the Capital region, the email scam even suggests that information from recent data breaches across the nation may be involved. As we approach the final days of this filing season, we continue to see these tax scams evolve. said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a statement. We dont send emails like this, and theres no special effort underway for people in the District, Virginia and Maryland. As these criminals shift their tactics, the IRS remains committed to quickly warning the taxpayers who may be targeted. Taxpayers should be on the lookout for these scams. Last February, the IRS announced a 400 percent increase of these scams being reported when compared to the same period last year. As the email scams increase, the IRS said it is continuing its efforts to protect taxpayers, and has teamed up with state revenue departments and the tax industry to make sure taxpayers understand the dangers to their personal and financial data as part of the Taxes. Security. Together campaign. Tax Freedom Day, the day when the nation as a whole has earned enough to pay the federal, state, and local tax bill for year, will arrive 114 days into the year on April 24, according to an annual report from the Tax Foundation. Collectively, Americans will spend more on taxes in 2016 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined, according to the report. Americans will pay $3.3 trillion in federal taxes and $1.6 trillion in state and local taxes, for a total bill of almost $5.0 trillion, or 31 percent of the nations income. Tax Freedom Day is one day earlier than last year, due mainly to the Protecting America from Tax Hikes Act of 2015, which made several business and individual tax cuts permanent. If annual federal borrowing is included in the calculation, which represents future taxes owed, Tax Freedom Day would occur 16 days later on May 10. Historically, the date for Tax Freedom Day has fluctuated significantly. The latest-ever Tax Freedom Day was May 1, 2000, meaning that Americans paid 33 percent of their collective incomes toward taxes. A century earlier, in 1900, only 5.9 percent of national income was required to pay the tax bill, and Tax Freedom Day fell January 22. While the national date arrives nine days after the tax filing deadline, each states total federal, state and local tax burden varies greatly, according to the Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan think tank. Tax Freedom Day arrives earliest in Mississippi (April 5), Tennessee (April 6), and Louisiana (April 7). On May 21, Connecticut will be the last state to reach Tax Freedom Day this year, while New Jersey (May 12) and New York (May 11) trail closely behind. Tax Freedom Day gives us a vivid representation of how much federal, state, and local tax revenue is collected each year to pay for government goods and services, said Tax Foundation analyst Scott Greenberg in a statement. Arguments can be made that the tax bill is too high or too low, but in order to have an honest discussion, its important for taxpayers to understand the cost of government. Tax Freedom Day helps people relate to that cost. Abhimanyu Singh's Contiloe Pictures is all set to raise a toast for winning the Best VFX award. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's FICCI Frames 2016 hosted Best Animated Frames (BAF) Awards yesterday at the Hotel Renaissance, Powai, Mumbai. Contiloe Pictures has won the Best VFX in a TV Episode [Indian] Award for Chakravartin Ashoka Samrat. The show has been entertaining viewers with its interesting story-telling and extra-ordinary performances. A 12 member team has executed the VFX for Ashoka that mainly consists of set extensions, crowd multiplication, animation and 3D modeling. For them, making the shows visuals close to Hollywood standard was an uphill task. Computer graphics have contributed heavily to the making of the series. The team has been successful in creating larger impact and matched the Hollywood vision in terms of the look and feel of the show. This is an incredibly proud moment for all of us at Contiloe. Ashoka has gone techno-creative with the usage of high-end VFX. Matching Hollywood quality in India means skillfully combining emotions with technology. We are now in a position to make our shows even more visually stunning and delightful. said, Abhimanyu Singh, Founder & CEO Contiloe Pictures Pvt Ltd. The Indian Red Cross Society announced the launch of Blood Banking App to address the issue of blood shortage in the country. The app is part of a larger digital blood banking initiative that the Indian Red Cross Society has rolled out along with J Walter Thompson, one of Indias leading creative agencies. Today, India has a recorded shortage of 3 million units of blood, and every two seconds, someone needs blood. Moreover, blood banks rely heavily on replacement donors due to the lack of required numbers of voluntary donors to maintain stock. The app caters to billions of people who face difficulties looking out for blood donors during an emergency medical situation. The app will enable people to deposit their blood on a regular basis by opening a Blood Banking Account at any Red Cross affiliated Blood Bank. A unique account number will be assigned to each individual to help monitor the account, through the app. The app will record all the required information, track the account and provide timely reminders on when the next savings is due. The blood can also be transferred to others and the app will let users or the account holders know how much blood is available in the account. Additionally, it will allow blood bank account holders to keep a track on the entire blood deposit cycle on the digital platform efficiently. Speaking about the app, Senthil Kumar, Chief Creative Officer, J Walter Thompson stated, With an ever-increasing demand for blood supplies worldwide, there is an immense need to ensure a safe and sufficient supply of blood. A growing number of studies highlight the role of psychological factors and negative perceptions among people towards blood donation. It is human tendency to withdraw oneself from supporting a gallant cause such as blood donation. One of the biggest barricades to Blood Donation is the word "Donation". Most human beings give second thought when it comes to blood donation and in this case 90 % of the human race has never donated blood, as only 10 % of us ever donate blood in our lifetimes. So we decided to change the language and build in very primal self-interest into this cause. We replaced the word "Donation" with "Saving" and "Banking" and created & developed the world's first Blood Banking app that helps you save your blood into your own unique Blood Banking Account. The Indian Red Cross Society has already established blood banks across the country. With the digital blood banking concept and the launch of the app, the entire process of blood deposit, withdrawal and transfer will be extremely useful to todays digital savvy public. We have come up with this public service initiative to offer a solution to the most pressing matter of finding blood donors at the time of emergency, said Mr. S. Ashok Kumar Shetty, General Secretary, Indian Red Cross Society, Karnataka State Branch. The app will initially be tested in Bangalore and subsequently to other parts of the country and rest of the world. The Indian Red Cross Society & The Bengalee Association organized Blood Banking Drive on Sunday, April 3, 2016 at The Bengalee Association, No. 1A, Assaye Road, Bangalore as a part of the launch. For more details please visit the website https://www.bloodbanking.org and download the Blood Banking app and you can schedule an appointment 24 x 7 to open your individual account. Odds & Ends Dateline: Sweden A man is accused of revenge farting after a would-be lover refused his sexual advances. Police in Laholm, Halland County, located in southwest Sweden, say a local woman reported the man, claiming his stinky response disturbed her peace of mind, The woman claims the man came over to her house wanting sex, but she spurned his advancesat which point he allegedly released the revenge fart and left. It smelled very bad in my flat, the woman told police. The woman said she was not in a relationship with the man, but did admit the two had discussed having sex previously. A police spokesperson told the Hallandsposten newspaper the department was obliged to look into all crimes reports and will not be pursuing the matter any further. Dateline: Georgia In a story whose outcome will come as a shock to no oneother than the person to which it happeneda Georgia gun enthusiast had his leg blown off after shooting at a lawn mower packed with explosives. Authorities in Walton Country say 32-year-old David Pressley stuffed three pounds of Tanneritea binary explosive composed of ammonium nitrate and aluminum powderinto a lawn mower and began pumping bullets into it with a semiautomatic rifle while standing 75 feet away. Two other friends were with him, one of them filming the incident with a camera. The Walton County Sheriffs Office posted about the incident on its Facebook page, saying, Pressley was dangerously close to the object containing the Tannerite when the final gun shot round caused it to explode sending a piece of shrapnel through his leg severing it below the knee. Yes, completely taking his leg. Tannerite is a patented product legal in 48 states. The product is billed as non-incendiary, but when its two ingredients are mixed and struck with bullets from a high-powered rifle, they explode. According to the manufacturers website, the purpose of Tannerite is to let long-distance shooters know when they have hit their target. Needless to say, a lot of people have been misusing the productand posting videos of it on YouTube, of course. Yes, it is legal, noted the Walton County Sheriffs Department. And no, we cant make people stop doing it. But why, folks, just why? Pressley was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. According to WXIAs 11Alive News, doctors were unable to save the leg. The Sheriffs Department suggested people, adhere to the warnings and use this dangerous material with caution or maybe consider other less dangerous hobbies. Its just not worth it for a loud boom! Dateline: Vermont Vermont State Police arrested a motorist after it was learned he was hiding more than 1,400 bags of heroin in his rectum. Investigators say 41-year-old Fernando Estrella, of New York, was pulled over at about 1am on Tuesday, March 29, in St. Albans City for speeding through a stop sign. A drug-sniffing dog alerted to the seat in Estrellas gray Chevy minivan, but police were only able to locate a needle and a cooking cap. Estrella was detained and taken to a nearby hospital where a body cavity search uncovered three condoms containing 1,428 bags of heroine. Estrella faces charges of felony heroin possession, heroin trafficking and heroin importation. He is also charged with violating his conditions of release, after a November 2015 arrest for cocaine possession. Dateline: New Hampshire Police in the small, Northern New Hampshire town of Epping are puzzling over the dozens of packages of mystery meat which appeared alongside several roadways overnight. Police Capt. Jason Newman told the Union Leader about 30 to 40 packages of frozen meat were thrown from a moving vehicle about 200 feet apart from one another on Red Oak Hill, Rocky Lane, Old Nottingham Road and Route 87. This is an unusual circumstance, but were certainly going to investigate it so we can prevent it from happening in the future, Newman assured residents in the town of around 6,000. The packages found on Sunday, March 17, included a variety of meats including chicken, sausage and venisonall professionally packaged and frozen. There was a pack of Angus beef, real expensive stuff, Sgt. Richard Cote told WMUR. A 20-pound pack of chops, you know, some real expensive, high-end meats. Police could not tell if the meat was expired, as most of the product labels had been removed. Police are currently operating under the assumption that it came from a local store. Were still investigating what the motive would be in doing this, Capt. Newman said. The person or persons responsible could face misdemeanor charges of illegal dumping. Panasonic Corporation today re-iterated its focus on India as a driver for global growth by announcing two strategic management promotions. Daizo Ito, previously President of Panasonic India, has been elevated to the role of Managing Executive Officer, Panasonic Corporation and Chairman of the Panasonic India & Regional Head of ISAMEA region. Taking the charge from Daizo Ito, Manish Sharma, who has been appointed at the position of Executive Officer of Panasonic Corporation and President & CEO of Panasonic India & South Asia, from his most recent role as Managing Director, India. He is the first Indian and the youngest ever to become an executive officer of the corporation and this re-affirms the focus on India as a growth hub for the corporation. The elevations, effective immediately, are part of the companys global organizational shift in preparation for new business initiatives and future growth. The new appointments recognize the strong performance of Daizo Ito and Manish. Sharma, who have both played pivotal roles in shaping Panasonics growth trajectory. Manish Sharma as the President& CEO of Panasonic India & South Asia, will preside over operations of Panasonic in India including group and sister companies and the group support operations. The group companies include Panasonic Appliances, Panasonic AVC India, Panasonic Energy India, Panasonic Carbon India, Anchor Electricals, Firepro Systems Pvt. Ltd. He will be responsible for driving profitable growth along with strategy planning and sustainable business development across businesses. Daizo Ito has played a key role in establishing the Panasonic brand in the Indian market, and in elevating India as a key strategic market for Panasonic globally. As the Regional Head of ISAMEA region Daizo Ito will work with the leaders of each of these markets and plan the strategic growth of Panasonic across the region. Manish Sharma will continue to report to Daizo Ito. Commenting on the new appointments, Kazuhiro Tsuga, President, Panasonic Corporation, said India is at the heart of the Pansaonic global growth strategy and both Ito and Sharma have been pivotal in driving growth for Panasonic India. I am confident they will continue to propel our business forward. I would like to congratulate them both on their new roles and wish them continued success Central to these management transitions is Panasonics strategy of blending its deep-rooted Japanese expertise with the localization of products and technologies to match domestic requirements through a global alignment of top level executive evaluation system, effective April 1st. Panasonic is focused on expanding business and promoting organic, geographically diverse growth in the ISAMEA region. Ito joined Panasonic Corporation (then Matsushita Electric Industrial Company) in the year 1977 and has been with the company for the last 4 decades. Led by his philosophy to drive the companys growth by Indians and for Indians the company has achieved several milestones in its journey in India. Sharma, joined Panasonic in 2008 and has been instrumental in spearheading the growth and transformation of Panasonic India from a consumer-electronics company to a technology solutions company. In his previous roles, he led a multi-channel branding, sales and marketing strategy to create a stronger consumer connect and drive increased market share and credibility. He is also credited with transforming Panasonics smartphone business in India. He is the first Indian and the youngest to be appointed to the post of Executive Officer in the 98 year history of Panasonic Corporation. The Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has welcomed Kuwait to the Eurofighter Typhoon family after the State became the eighth country to invest in the multi-role combat aircraft, noting that the purchase will further strengthen the enduring bilateral defence relationship between Kuwait and the UK. Above: RAF Typhoons. Crown copyright The Typhoon programme currently sustains around 5,500 jobs at BAE Systems in the north-west, where key elements of the Typhoon are manufactured and assembled, as well as many thousands of jobs across the wider supply chain, reaffirming the UK as a leading aerospace manufacturer. The contract between the State of Kuwait, Finmeccannica and the Italian government will further boost UK exports. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "This is very positive news. The UK and Kuwait enjoy a long, historic and close relationship. Kuwaits decision to select Typhoon represents a vote of confidence in this world class aircraft and will further strengthen our defence and security cooperation over the years ahead. "This is also very positive for jobs across the British aerospace and defence industry. Typhoon aircraft have already been purchased by seven nations around the globe and play a vital role for the RAF in defending UK interests across the world: striking against Daesh, securing British skies, protecting the Falkland Islands and helping to guard Baltic air space." Kuwaits choice is recognition of the wide range of capabilities of this multi-role combat aircraft on the whole range of air operations, as well as its potential to stay at the forefront of military capability for many years. Currently in service with 22 operational units across six nations, the Typhoon has proven its worth from air policing and peace support, all the way to through to high intensity conflict. The UK government is committed to broadening and deepening the family of Typhoon nations among our allies and partners, and will continue to build on such international success. AF talks diversity of opportunities at annual engineers conference What do measuring earthquakes, creating lightning and applying space-like pressure to marshmallows all have in common? They each were demonstrations of science and technology used to intrigue the next generation of engineers on the Air Forces capabilities and opportunities during the National Society of Black Engineers annual convention March 26 in Boston. During the convention, keynote speaker Maj. Gen. Stayce D. Harris, the 22nd Air Force commander, explained the Air Forces pursuit of individual talent within the science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. Harris joined Air Force director of diversity and inclusion, Chevalier P. Cleaves, and representatives from top defense contractors, technology leaders, car manufacturers, and pharmaceutical companies, in providing professional and leadership development, technical training, and networking and job opportunities to the more than 11,000 in attendance at the convention. If youre looking for opportunities, look to the Air Force, Harris said. The challenges we face (in the Air Force) are great, but the rewards are even greater. Theres so much you can do coming from an engineering or technology background. By recruiting cutting-edge talent like yourselves and providing a range of options for you to serve, we seek to enable our Air Force to adapt ever more quickly to dynamic threats to our nations security. Cleaves used this platform to explain how the 21st century world requires leaders with broader and deeper skill sets. By ensuring we have the most talented, culturally competent, and operationally relevant force possible, we will be much more agile, and will be able to meet nascent requirements quickly and decisively, Cleaves said. By having a diverse Air Force presence at events such as the annual NSBE convention, we are helping to communicate the vast opportunities available to an audience that doesnt necessarily know what we are all about, but have the talent we need to be competing for to ensure the Air Force stays at the cutting edge of STEM disciplines. Harris speech tied the Air Force engagement with the convention attendees throughout the convention through career mentoring and integrated recruiting efforts involving active duty, civilian, Air National Guard, Reserve, Air Force Research Laboratory and scholarship opportunities available through the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Defense Departments Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) program. (Editors note: The 22nd Air Force Public Affairs and Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs Command Information contributed to this article.) Air Force, Army build partnership for energy assurance The militarys ability to accomplish its missions -- whether executing todays fight or training for future ones -- is dependent on electricity that powers installations. The Army and Air Force have identified energy resilience as a critical objective, advancing the capability for their systems, installations, and personnel to respond to and recover from unexpected disruptions. The Air Force recently established its Office of Energy Assurance, which will develop an integrated facility energy portfolio. The Armys Energy Initiatives Task Force was established in September 2011, and became an enduring organization, the Office of Energy Initiatives, in October 2014. The OEI serves as the central management office for implementing large-scale renewable and alternative energy projects, while leveraging private sector financing. Now, both offices will share support staff, business processes and best practices. The services formalized this partnership April 6 during a ceremony at the Pentagon. The memorandum of agreement, signed by Katherine Hammack, the assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy and environment; and Miranda Ballentine, the assistant secretary of the Air Force for installations, environment, and energy, shows the importance both services place on clean, reliable and affordable energy. Hammack stressed this partnership was vital for the Defense Department and would continue to push the Armys energy goals. The Departments of the Army and the Air Force share a common commitment to securing our installations with energy that is clean, reliable and affordable, Hammack said. I am pleased that through this agreement, we can share lessons learned and leverage the relationships we have developed with government, industry and utilities for the benefit of both our services. While the establishment of the Air Force OEA cemented the Air Forces focus on energy resiliency and strategic energy agility, Ballentine said this partnership would advance that capability. This Army-Air Force partnership will accelerate our goal of providing mission assurance through energy assurance," Ballentine said. "The Air Force, Army and Navy fight the fight together; we are one joint force, and our jointness is what makes us formidable around the world. Installation energy projects are another area where a joint-approach and strong collaboration can help us do more, faster. Lt. Gen. John Cooper, the Air Force deputy chief of staff for logistics, engineering and force protection, also signed the memo and said the Air Force is a globally networked force with critical missions and operations that are reliant on access to energy to accomplish the mission. We execute almost all our missions from our air bases, so building partnerships like this will ensure our resources and approaches are focused on mission assurance and resiliency, he said. Lt. Gen. David Halverson, the Army assistant chief of staff for installation management, also signed the memo on behalf of the Army. "This agreement is a framework for collaboration between the Army and the Air Force on policies, procedures and partnerships that support our energy missions," Halverson said. "We are excited to work with the Air Force in this effort. This partnership will identify and expand potential renewable energy opportunities across Army and Air Force installations." According to the memo, the partnership provides a framework for cooperation and support in the development of renewable energy projects, establishes the expectations and requirements of each service, and demonstrates both services focus on achieving energy assurance. Intel Warehouse Major Marcus Laird knows first-hand the benefits that can come with applying skills and knowledge from a civilian career into challenges encountered while performing his reserve military mission. Laird is an intelligence officer at the Air Forces Distributed Common Ground Systems site in Beale Air Force Base, California. The site receives, processes, exploits, distributes data from Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance sensors and delivers direct support to the Joint Forces Commander via a network of distributed operations. This site is recognized as the Air Forces primary ISR planning and direction, collection, processing and exploitation, analysis and dissemination weapon system. He leveraged his extensive supply chain management and human factors an alysis background from his civilian career in order to evaluate the imagery process during a critical deployment. Laird was part of a team tasked with monitoring polling stations during the Afghanistan elections. A delay in imagery processing and analysis created a significant backlog of decision-quality imagery to the Joint Warfighter customers. He identified multiple human-in-the-loop process inefficiencies which led to overwhelming hours spent in product rework. In less than 48 hours he was able to cut exploitation times from twenty-seven hours after time-over-target down to one and a half hours. C-5 Phantom Smoke Through innovation and creativity, Air Force Reservist Master Sergeant Jason Smith was able to solve a large problem for less than $1,000 when he created a cost-effective filtration system for the C-5 Phantom Smoke issue. In 2014, every C-5 Galaxy that went in to isochronal maintenance (ISO) dock at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, would have issues of smoke and a smell of burning petroleum. Efforts to pin-point the source of the smoke were intense to find where and how the petroleum was burning. Each time a post-maintenance test flight reported smoke in the flight deck, maintenance troops would spend more than 700 man-hours troubleshooting the problem and would, inevitably, come up empty handed. Smith and his team identified potential solutions using parts and supplies available and then produced a prototype for testing. That prototype was a filtration system. The filtration system was created using a repurposed wheeled cart and has a set of two filters through which the air from the MC-7 cart passes. From there the now contaminant free air flows to the pressure gauge and finally to the aircraft. Smith filed paperwork to obtain official approval to use it on an aircraft in June 2015. After approval was received from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, the system was validated and resulted in no smoke in the cockpit after the aircraft was released from ISO dock. Early Pioneer Charles A. Lindberg On March 19, 1924, Charles Augustus Lindbergh reported to Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas, to begin his military flying career. One year later, Lindbergh graduated top in his class and received his commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Service Reserve Corps. However, Lindbergh did not enter active-duty after commissioning because the Air Service simply had too many pilots and not enough aircraft for them to fly. As a result, Lindbergh turned to the civil aviation sector. On May 20, 1927, Lindbergh climbed in his aircraft, dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis, and embarked on an arduous and dangerous solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. After 33.5 hours in the air, Lindbergh landed at the Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France. Lindberghs solo flight earned him tremendous accolades, including the Congressional Medal of Honor and the French Ordre national de la Legion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honor). Most importantly, Lindberghs achievement dramatically increased enthusiasm and interest in aviation throughout the world, especially in the United States. Strategic Aviator Jimmy Doolittle Jimmy Doolittle received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Signal Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army on March 11, 1918. He resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a Major in the Air Reserve Corps. One month later, he became the manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company. Doolittle convinced Shell to produce 100 octane aviation gasoline. On January 2, 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Air Forces promoted Doolittle to lieutenant colonel and assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan a retaliatory strike on Japan. On April 18, 1942, Doolittle and the 16 B-25B Mitchell bomber aircraft under his command took off from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet. While the raid did not cause great damage to Japan, it had a significant psychological impact on both Americans and the Japanese. Building the Total Force Lee Linglebach In 1954, Lee Lingelbach served as the Continental Air Commands director of civilian personnel. He championed a strategic personnel plan that called for employment of Air Reserve Technicians to fill the critical need for continuity at flying centers and wings across the United States. Lingelbach envisioned ARTs as members of their assigned units who served in uniform during their military training while simultaneously serving in a civil service capacity during the week. After several years of work, Ligelbach achieved his goal during a swearing-in ceremony at Headquarters ConAC on January 10, 1958. On that day, Lieutenant General William Hall (ConAC commander) enlisted Master Sgt Samuel McCormack and Tech Sgt James Clark as the first two Air Force Reserve ARTs. Associate Unit Program A number of factors contributed to the initial success of the 944th Tactical Airlift Group (944 TAG)the first Air Force Reserve unit to associate with an active-duty unit. General Howell Estes, Military Airlift Command commander, had previously visited Norton AFB with several key members of his staff. To forestall any possible active force opposition to the impending influx of Reservists, General Estes warned that he would tolerate no resistance to the new program. Brigadier General Gilbert Curtis, 63rd Military Airlift Wing commander, enthusiastically endorsed the program at his level. The MAC officials matched their words with deeds as General Estes gave the 944 TAG top priority for aircrew training positions at the C-141 Starlifter school at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, and General Curtis assured that his unit gave Reserve crews priority access to aircraft for their training flights whenever possible. Headquarters Air Force Reserve played a critical role in the success of the associate program. The new associate units lacked an official statement of mission until November 4, 1968, when AFRES published a regulation defining the mission of the associate groups and the responsibilities of their commanders. The directive gave the groups the responsibility of providing necessary augmentation to active military airlift wings in the form of aircrews, maintenance personnel, and aerial port personnel for the purpose of achieving full use of the aircraft under various conditions of heightened tension up to and including full mobilization. Jimmy Doolittle received his Reserve Military Aviator rating and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Signal Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army on March 11, 1918. He resigned his regular commission on February 15, 1930, and was commissioned a Major in the Air Reserve Corps.One month later, he became the manager of the Aviation Department of Shell Oil Company. Doolittle convinced Shell to produce 100 octane aviation gasoline. On January 2, 1942, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army Air Forces promoted Doolittle to lieutenant colonel and assigned to Army Air Forces Headquarters to plan a retaliatory strike on Japan.On April 18, 1942, Doolittle and the 16 B-25B Mitchell bomber aircraft under his command took off from the deck of the U.S.S. Hornet. See the historic footage While the raid did not cause great damage to Japan, it had a significant psychological impact on both Americans and the Japanese. See the co-pilot's experience . The U.S. Congress awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to Doolittle following the raid.In 1954, Lee Lingelbach served as the Continental Air Commands director of civilian personnel. He championed a strategic personnel plan that called for employment of Air Reserve Technicians to fill the critical need for continuity at flying centers and wings across the United States. Lingelbach envisioned ARTs as members of their assigned units who served in uniform during their military training while simultaneously serving in a civil service capacity during the week.After several years of work, Ligelbach achieved his goal during a swearing-in ceremony at Headquarters ConAC on January 10, 1958. On that day, Lieutenant General William Hall (ConAC commander) enlisted Master Sgt Samuel McCormack and Tech Sgt James Clark as the first two Air Force Reserve ARTs.A number of factors contributed to the initial success of the 944th Tactical Airlift Group (944 TAG)the first Air Force Reserve unit to associate with an active-duty unit. General Howell Estes, Military Airlift Command commander, had previously visited Norton AFB with several key members of his staff. To forestall any possible active force opposition to the impending influx of Reservists, General Estes warned that he would tolerate no resistance to the new program.Brigadier General Gilbert Curtis, 63rd Military Airlift Wing commander, enthusiastically endorsed the program at his level. The MAC officials matched their words with deeds as General Estes gave the 944 TAG top priority for aircrew training positions at the C-141 Starlifter school at Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, and General Curtis assured that his unit gave Reserve crews priority access to aircraft for their training flights whenever possible. Headquarters Air Force Reserve played a critical role in the success of the associate program.The new associate units lacked an official statement of mission until November 4, 1968, when AFRES published a regulation defining the mission of the associate groups and the responsibilities of their commanders. The directive gave the groups the responsibility of providing necessary augmentation to active military airlift wings in the form of aircrews, maintenance personnel, and aerial port personnel for the purpose of achieving full use of the aircraft under various conditions of heightened tension up to and including full mobilization. Flares keep birds in the sky They are hot, bright and a visual spectacle. But they are not your run-of-the-mill fireworks being shot off in celebration. Flares used by pilots are life-saving emergency countermeasures that keep Dover Air Force Base aircraft in the skies delivering airlift cargo to the warfighter. Flares play a pivotal role keeping Dover's C-5M Super Galaxies and C-17A Globemaster IIIs from being shot down while conducting combat operations downrange. Flares protect aircraft by forcing infrared threats, such as heat-seeking, surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles, to lock onto their heat signatures rather than the aircraft's engine. Each aircraft is loaded with various types of flares depending on mission, location and requirements. Flares are either punched out automatically by the aircraft's electronic countermeasure systems or they can be manually jettisoned by aircraft pilots. But flares go through various stages before meeting their blistering end. Staff Sgt. John Judy, a 436th Maintenance Squadron munitions inspector, oversees flare operations within the ammo section at Dover AFB. Judy, along with other ammo Airmen, build flare sets specific to each aircraft and mission. "Part of our mission is to keep the C-5 and C-17 aircraft replenished with good flares," Judy said. "That way when they fly into combat, they have something to defend themselves with." After the flare sets are assembled, strict protocols are taken to deliver the flares to the flightline where they are uploaded onto the aircraft by trained Airmen from the 436th and 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadrons. It takes at least three qualified personnel to conduct flare uploading or downloading operations, two personnel handling the flares and one safety observer. Staff Sgt. Matthew Calvo, a 736th AMXS communication, countermeasure and navigation system craftsman, ensures that flares are properly and safely loaded onto C-17s. Calvo also ensures that the aircraft's countermeasure dispensing system is functioning properly so flares are guaranteed to dispense from the aircraft when needed. "The purpose of the countermeasure dispensing system is to defeat infrared threats," Calvo said. "The threats are defeated by manually punching out flares or if the system is interfaced with an active electronic countermeasure system, such as the missile warning system or infrared countermeasure system, that system would then punch out flares automatically according to the threat." Both C-17 and C-5 onboard computers are uploaded with specific mission data that tell the computer what kind of threats the aircraft is likely to face based on the location of the mission. If the aircraft comes under fire, the computer registers the threat and based off of factors such as the threat's temperature and speed, the aircraft will automatically dispense the appropriate flares that have the best chance of defeating that specific threat. Most flares that are dispensed from aircraft at Dover AFB are from controlled training missions. Aircrews from the 9th and 3rd Airlift Squadrons routinely fly over the Bollen Live-Fire Range Complex on Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, where simulated surface-to-air missiles, or smokey SAMs, are fired at the aircraft to test the aircraft's countermeasure systems. First Lt. Taylor Warren, a 3rd AS pilot, recently flew her first training mission over Bollen Range. Warren and other aircrew members made eight passes through the range, encountering smokey SAM threats with each pass. "They were shooting different things at us from different sides of the aircraft," Warren said. "We had some front aspect shots, we had some shots from the three-to-nine line and even some rear aspect shots. So we got to see the different ways the jet's defensive systems reacted to those threats." As the smokey SAMs were shot at the Dover C-17, the countermeasure system responded by punching out the most likely flare to defeat the threat, allowing the pilots to focus on threat and escape maneuvers. Warren said the training has increased her confidence in her abilities to recognize and respond to threats in an efficient, timely manner. "The most important thing I've learned as a new co-pilot is what the flares actually sound like when they go off," Warren said. "Now I will know if I heard them and I don't need to hit the button or I didn't hear them and we are getting a missile launch warning that I need to punch the button myself." Some Dover pilots have had flares punch out from their aircraft while in a combat theater. Last year, 1st Lt. Tristin Everett, a 9th AS pilot, was the acting co-pilot of a C-5M taking off from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, when flares suddenly shot out from the aircraft. The takeoff seemed pretty normal, Everett said. After about 1,000 or 1,500 feet or so, we started making our turn and then we heard this loud thud. It was just like a kick in the pants and the flares started dispensing." Although there was never a clear confirmation that the aircraft actually came under fire, Everett said he was thankful the flares did their job at neutralizing any potential threat. "It was one of those moments you can't forget and it makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck," Everett said. "I am definitely thankful for the maintenance and everything that goes into keeping the aircraft and defense systems working like it should." For the maintainers at Dover AFB, Airmen know why their job of uploading flares is crucial in saving lives. "Everything we do out here on the flightline we take pride in," Calvo said. "It definitely feels good when you work with flares because you know the aircraft, aircrew and everything onboard is safe. We are helping these aircraft be safer when they are down range performing the mission and that's something we take a lot of pride in." Coming as a latest development in 2002 hit and run case, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has now filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that he is being falsely implicated. Khan stated that the police is falsely trying to implicate him in this case. He wasnt driving the car &wasnt drunk at the time of accident. His driver Ashok Singh was at the wheel, the affidavit said. It further added, His driver called the police control room after accident & went to police station to record his statement. Police refused to record his drivers statement saying they were under pressure to arrest the actor. The actor is accused of driving a car under the influence of alcohol and killing one and injuring four others in Bandra, Mumbai, in 2002. Salman Khan was acquitted of all the charges in this case by the Bombay High Court. The Maharashtra Government had on January 22 filed a petition in the apex court against the Bombay High Courts judgement. US President Barack Obama has said that destroying the Islamic State (ISIS) group remains his top priority at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure, Obama said at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House. We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them. As weve seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks, he added, using another term for the ISIS group. Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said. We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul, he said of cities in Syria and Iraq. Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority. Obama spoke next to Defense Secretary Ash Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders. Carter yesterday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current top heavy structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated. The fight against the Islamic State group has shown that the militarys various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said. We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans, he said. Washington has led an international coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syrias central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the ISIS groups last strongholds in the region. Front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on Wednesday suffered a setback as their rivals Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders snatched victories in the crucial Wisconsin primary, marking a turning point in the intense battle for securing their partys presidential nomination. Cruz, 45, won the Wisconsin Republican primary, boosting his efforts to blunt the 69-year-old real estate tycoon and moving the party closer to a historic contested convention. Cruz received 48.3 per cent of the votes to 35.1 per cent for Trump. John Kasich of Ohio was a distant third with 14 per cent. Sanders, 74, won the Democratic primary by receiving 56.5 per cent votes, posting a decisive victory over Clinton who got 43.1 per cent of the votes. It is the Vermont Senators sixth straight win over Clinton in recent weeks. For the 68-year-old former Secretary of State, who has a lead of nearly 500 delegates, it is a still a comparatively easy pathway to nomination as compared to Trump, who has a lead of a little over 200 delegates. Cruzs Wisconsin victory will hand him at least 33 delegates compared to three that will go to Trump. Trump continues to dominate the delegate race, with 740 pledged delegates to 514 for Cruz and 143 for Kasich. Tonight is the turning point, a confident Cruz said at his victory rally asserting that it has turned the tide against Trump, who is also facing opposition from top Republican leaders. My campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed, either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland. Together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November, Cruz said. Tonight was a bad night for Trump, Cruz said. After last nights Wisconsin primary results, it would be a bit difficult for Trump to reach the magical figure of 1,237 delegates. However, Trump campaign exuded confidence that with the primary season entering states like New York that are favourable for him, he was on his way to get the 1,237 delegates. But Cruz hoped to get the necessary momentum for the rest part of the primary season. Just so we can't say the New York Times isn't doing their job, they did report on the early showing of "Vaxxed " on April 1st at the Angelika theatre, sort of. Reporters, after more than two decades of unfailing endorsement of the governments studies on vaccine safety are now faced with the possibility of a cover-up in the official research. For years many experts and parents have challenged the governments constant use of population studies as proof that vaccines dont cause autism. Researchers universally know that this is the weakest kind of science since the results are easily manipulated or just plain wrong. No matter, the media unfailingly reports the latest study showing vaccines are safe, although despite years of study after study, they have never settled anything. This of course is serious. We are constantly told by the press that studies show no link between the governments ever-increasing vaccine schedule and autism. This begs the questions, What if the studies are fraudulent? What if findings are falsified to make it look like vaccines are safe, when instead there are known risks? By Anne Dachel Imagine a controversial story everywhere for days on social media, covered by many mainstream news outlets, and this story being the source of heated reactions from both sides of the issue. That was what happened when first, the Tribeca Film Festival announced that they would show the controversial film Vaxxed, about a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. William Thompson, who revealed that his agency had covered up data that linked vaccines to the development of autism, and then after enormous pressure , Tribeca cancelled the film. They gave the reaction of someone who called it 'one-sided propaganda, but nothing significant about what the film actually said. Nothing Dr. Thompson said in the film was quoted by the Times. Instead, reporter Melena Ryzik wrote, "[Thompson] questioned the 2004 studys presentation of some data, he would never advise people not to get vaccinated." Rather than actually reporting on what was in the film, Ryzik told readers about ANOTHER FILM called "Loving Lampposts" which argues there that is no connections between vaccines and autism. It's hard to understand why the Times even sent Ryzik to Angelika since she couldn't tell us anything that was in the movie. I wonder if she bothered to watch it. The producer, Del Bigtree, is shown in a photo on the story, but the single quote from him was about another film that he hadn't seen. It should be noted that Ryzik has been covering this story over the last few days, calling it "anti-vaccine" and quoting Dr. William Schaffner--with no mention of his vast litany of pharma connections. March 26, 2016 March 31, 2016 (Dr. Schaffner and pharma: He serves as a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, Merck & Co., Novartis, Sanofi Pasteur Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals; and is a member of a data safety evaluation committee for experimental vaccines for Merck & Co.) The same kind of poor coverage was published by the UK Guardian with reporter Jessica Glenza, who interviewed Dr. Philip LaRussa, describing him only as connected to Columbia University and nothing about his financial ties to Sanofi Pasteur Canada (See below). Clearly the fix is in. Glenza and Ryzik's sole purpose is pretend journalism while covering up the real message of "Vaxxed." So what is IN THE FILM? Why aren't reporters willing to tell us? Why aren't they interviewing people actually connected with the film, instead of experts who have money ties to the vaccine makers? (BTW...my comment on the Guardian story, asking why Glenza never mentioned LaRussa's pharma ties, STILL isn't posted.) April 1, 2016, New York Times: Anti-Vaccine Film, Pulled From Tribeca Film Festival, Draws Crowd at Showing, By Melena Ryzik A roiling controversy over the truthfulness and intent of a documentary about the widely debunked link between vaccines and autism did not keep theatergoers away from its premiere on Friday. Several dozen people (and more than a handful of reporters) arrived for the first showing of Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe at the Angelika Film Center in Manhattan, along with a producer and co-writer of the film, and some of its distributors. . . . The films distributor, Cinema Libre, has presented the film as an outlet for claims by Dr. William Thompson, a scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and an author of a 2004 study on vaccinations. But Dr. Thompson does not appear in person in the film, nor has he seen it, said Del Bigtree, a producer and co-writer of the film. Dr. Thompsons voice is in the film, in conversations recorded without his knowledge (as the film notes). He is still employed by the C.D.C. and would not comment. In 2014, he released a statement saying that while he questioned the 2004 studys presentation of some data, he would never advise people not to get vaccinated.... A spokeswoman for Reading International, which owns a chain of theaters, including the Angelika, did not respond to requests for comment about how the film came to be shown there. Cinema Libre, based in Burbank, Calif., has been on both sides of this issue: In 2011, it released Loving Lampposts: Living Autistic, a documentary by Todd Drezner, whose son has autism. Mr. Drezners film argued against a connection between autism and vaccines, and for autism-spectrum acceptance. Mr. Drezner said he was profoundly disappointed, as he wrote in an open letter, in the companys support for Vaxxed. (Cinema Libre did not respond to his open letter or a private email, he said.) ... For many theatergoers, the controversy over Vaxxed was a selling point. It makes me want to see it all the more, if the scientific community is that scared, said Olivia Wolf, 48, a stay-at-home mother from New Jersey who brought her 9-year-old daughter to an afternoon screening. Subsequent screenings that included talks with Mr. Wakefield were sold out. Vaxxed itself vacillates between vilifying vaccines and saying that they save lives. Sowing this kind of confusion, Mr. Drezner said in an email, may harm the very people it aims to save. All the energy we spend fighting over a debunked vaccine conspiracy theory, he wrote, is energy were not spending on working with autistic people to help them better thrive in the world today. April 2, 2016, UK Guardian: Vaxxed: an expert view on controversial film about vaccines and autism, By Jessica Glenza There were really three parts to this film. Theres the story of Andrew Wakefields research, theres the really compelling story of parents with children with autism, and then the third story is the whole issue of whats going on with Bill Thompson [an alleged Centers for Disease Control whistleblower whom the film relies on heavily] and the CDC. The first story is that Wakefield really conducted fraudulent research, and he did nothing in the film to address any of the concerns about all the discrepancies in his research. Its as if that didnt exist. He didnt mention the fact that he lost his license in Great Britain, he didnt mention the fact that [11] of his co-authors withdrew their names from his paper. He didnt mention the fact that there was a series of investigative articles by [Sunday Times journalist] Brian Deer. None of that existed in this fi In her piece, reporter Glenza gave us an interview of Dr. LaRussa, a professor of pediatric medicine at Columbia and a government advisor on vaccines. (It looks like this doctor has served on every vaccine advisory board the FDA, WHO, CDC, or NIH has ever had. He's clearly biased. Incredibly, nothing is said about what he does outside of Columbia.) He also has his own financial ties to pharma. Something else were not told by the Guardian reporter. I acknowledge that contingent upon public disclosure of the following financial interest listed below related to the review of the safety and immunogenicity of a Diphtheria and Tetanus Toxoids and Acellular Pertussis adsorbed, Inactived Poliovirus and Haemophilus b Conjugate (Tetanus Toxoid Conjugate) vaccine combined (DTap-IPV-Hib), Pentacle, manufactured by Sanofi Pasteur Canada, I am eligible to receive a waiver under 21 U.S.C. 355(n)(4). My interests are exempt by the Office of Government Ethics de minimis 2640.202(a) and therefore a waiver under 1 8 U.S.C. $208(b)(3) is not required. Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism. WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 The 46 million people living in rural America have access to a long list of USDA programs to help them and their businesses thrive, but are they enough? Witnesses at a Senate Agriculture subcommittee hearing on Wednesday tried to provide some answers. Lisa Mensah, USDA under secretary for rural development, testified that the departments largest rural development (RD) program by budget is the Rural Housing Service (RHS), which helps low-income rural families purchase, refinance or repair their homes, or rent affordable housing from USDA-financed, multifamily complexes. Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., who says affordable and available housing is absolutely critical to rural America and lacking isnt convinced RHS is doing enough. Weve done all this wonderful work in creating primary sector (agriculture and other natural resource-based) jobs (in rural America) but we cant fill them, because people cant find affordable housing where they live, she said. We need to take a look at how (USDA) measures qualifications (for rural housing assistance), because the way were doing it right now, is not meeting the needs. Democrat Amy Klobuchar said mayors in her state of Minnesota have been looking for ways to build more senior rental housing near healthcare providers in their towns, but are struggling to finance new housing projects. Theyre also in need of funding to rehab the rural housing stock those seniors are leaving behind so young families can move in, because in many areas its not financially possible for municipalities to build sewer lines and other infrastructure to support new homes. Mensah said that the tools were in place for RD programs to help with both rental housing and rehab of existing homes and suggested more funding for new hires was necessary to deal with RDs loan portfolio, which has grown to $212 billion. Since 2009, she said, more than 1.1 million rural families have taken out RD loans or have been granted assistance totaling $137.5 billion in USDA investments to buy, refinance or maintain homes. In 2015 alone, RD housing programs helped 141,300 rural homeowners and nearly 11,000 rural families who rent housing. Craig Hill, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau, testified to the value of USDA start-up assistance programs in rural areas, like the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Hill said that SBIR funding, coupled with funding from the Iowa Farm Bureaus Renew Rural Iowa initiative which mentors rural business start-ups and helps them secure financing and USDA grants is what allowed Harrisvaccines Inc. based in Ames, Iowa, to commercialize their synthetic vaccine platforms for swine flu and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv). Hill said USDA could do more to simplify the grant application process for these programs, but generally, the department has been a great partner for our rural businesses. Unrelated to his opinions on USDA, Hill used a question from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, about burdensome regulations that affect rural residents to criticize the EPAs WOTUS rule. The rule has been something that has just stymied and crippled our farmers, he said. They dont understand the rules of what is permissible or what land is under the EPAs jurisdiction, and theres not an office in Iowa that can answer those questions. To implement and execute on those new rules definitions that have never been created before by the EPA, that dont stand up to court decisions and what Congress has set out in the Clean Water Act is just a very, very difficult thing for agriculture to accept, he added. Also testifying was Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Iowa ethanol producers strongly support the Energy Title in the 2014 farm bill, which was designed to advance biofuels, biomass energy and other renewable energies produced in rural areas. The Energy Title programs provide a massive return on investment, because USDA dollars are matched with private investments, he said. Read about other USDA news such as this. Sign up for a four-week free trial Agri-Pulse subscription for the latest ag and rural policy news. However, he said, the bill cut many of these programs from previous levels and almost every appropriations cycle or omnibus spending bill makes further cuts. I can say with certainty that rural America knows that Congress needs to get its fiscal house in order. Cris Somerville, president of Dakota Turbines, a distributed wind manufacturer based in Cooperstown, North Dakota, praised one Energy Title program in particular USDAs Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). As a past recipient of REAP grants, Somerville said he was a big proponent of the program and said two issues one related to application scoring and another to environmental review were going to be corrected by USDA this year. I cant think of a more responsible use of the taxpayers dollars and I strongly urge continued federal support for REAP, he said. Dakota Turbines literally would not be in existence if it were not for a USDA zero-interest loan that our mother company, Posi Lock Puller, received 20 years ago, Somerville added. Today, Dakota Turbines has a staff of 12 and plans for dramatic growth within the next few years producing turbines to power hog farms. #30 For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com April 6, 2016 RAMALLAH, West Bank A group promoting understanding between the Palestinian and Israeli communities is under fire again by those who say it's doing more harm than good. The Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society has been criticized since its creation in December 2012. That criticism recently intensified after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sent an official delegation to offer his condolences on the the death of Brig. Gen. Munir Amar. Amar, who headed the Israel Defense Forces' civil administration in the West Bank, after his small airplane crashed March 25 in northern Palestine. Leading the delegation was the committee's chief, Muhammad al-Madani, who is also a member of Fatah's Central Committee. News of the visit, reported March 29 by IBA News, has raised ire in the Palestinian street. Also, the delegations visit to Amars birthplace, the village of Julis in northern Palestine, came just one day after Abbas met with a delegation of Mizrahi Jews at his presidential headquarters in Ramallah. The meeting has placed a spotlight on the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society, whose mission is to mobilize Israelis to support the two-state solution. The committee aims to influence members of the Israeli public supporting peace and enlist their help in urging Israeli decision-makers to take serious action to reach an agreement with the Palestinian leadership. The committee developed many approaches, such as lectures before Israeli citizens and contacting Israeli media outlets to broadcast political statements and interviews, to deliver the message that there is Palestinian interest in the peace process. For instance, Abbas was interviewed March 31 on Israeli Channel 2 and hosted a delegation of Israeli women on Jan. 21 at the presidential headquarters. There have also been tours for Israeli individuals and groups in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas. The committee hopes to make progress with a wide variety of Israelis, including school and university students, activists within political parties, businesspeople, media outlets and other associations. Elias Zananiri, deputy chairman of the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society, told Al-Monitor, Israeli societys inclination toward the far right has required that all means be used from within this society to try influencing it or halting this trend, which is far from the two-state solution and tries to impose unilateral solutions. He sees political dialogue as the committee's most important means of confronting the occupation and communicating with the Israeli community. The committees objective is to push Israeli society to place pressure on its government to implement the two-state solution, after overcoming the idea that its governments stance is correct. Yet a long time is required before these results are reached, Zananiri explained. The committee plans to follow these efforts by studying the changes that occur in Israel, but its effectiveness has always been an issue, especially in light of growing support for Israeli right-wing religious parties, as documented in a 2016 report by the Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies. The committees contacts have not achieved a significant breakthrough in Israeli society, in light of the major hostility against the Palestinians," Antoine Shalhat, director of forum's Israeli Scene Unit, told Al-Monitor. Omar Shehadeh, a member of the PLO's Central Council, told Al-Monitor that the interaction committee's involvement in sending condolences for the general's death shows that the committee is ignoring decisions the PLO has made regarding Israel and is making its own decisions "randomly." The PLO Central Council decided March 5 to halt security coordination with Israel and said it would determine all future political, economic and security relations with it. The council tasked the PLO Executive Committee with implementing the decision. Yet, no changes has have been made, and the meetings of the Committee for Interaction continue in parallel with the Israeli security meetings. Shehadeh added, There is no supervision over the activities of the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society to hold it accountable for its actions, which has harmed the Palestinian cause and served the occupation and Israeli policies. It has also consolidated normalization [of relations with Israel]. The Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) National Committee demanded in October that the Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society be dissolved, calling it part of the normalization process with Israel. The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel made the same demand March 21. Omar Assaf, a member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, told Al-Monitor that Israel's persistent campaign against the BDS movement has been successful and has expanded globally. The committee's actions are not helping, he said. The Committee for Interaction with Israeli Society is providing the occupation with net gains through its meetings. Those in charge must review this and meet the people's demands to boycott Israel. However, as Abbas said in the March 31 interview that he is committed to security coordination, the PLO Executive Committee is not expected to dissolve the interaction committee as long as it has his support. April 6, 2016 Since the Palestinian split in mid-2007, the Fatah and Hamas movements have held several rounds of negotiations for reconciliation. A number of agreements have been signed in the capitals of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Qatar without being implemented on the ground. A new round of talks kicked off in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on March 26-27 between a Hamas delegation led by Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas political bureau, and Fatah, whose delegation was chaired by Azzam al-Ahmad, a member of Fatahs Central Committee. The talks centered on how to implement the reconciliation agreement signed in the Beach refugee camp in Gaza in April 2014. Salah Bardawil, a Hamas leader, spokesman and member of its Legislative Council, told Al-Monitor, The meeting between Fatah and Hamas delegations went well, in a positive atmosphere. The issue of Gazas state employees and their full integration into the Palestinian Authority's staff got the largest share of discussion. Hamas mainly demanded that the issuance of a presidential decree to form a new government coincide with another decree calling for the convening of a new session of the Palestinian Legislative Council, six weeks following the signing of the reconciliation agreement. The current round of talks between Fatah and Hamas took place after a Hamas delegation visited Egypt March 12-18 to discuss Hamas-Egyptian ties and the latest developments on the reconciliation with Fatah. It seems obvious that Cairo is determined to see reconciliation be achieved through Egyptian mediation and not that of any other country, although there is no Egyptian veto on the Hamas-Fatah talks in Doha. Al-Monitor has learned that sources within the Fatah and Hamas delegations agreed that Egypt serves as the main gateway to a Palestinian reconciliation, and that any reconciliation agreement should be signed in Cairo and not another capital. Amin Makboul, secretary-general of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, told Al-Monitor, During the rounds of talks, Fatah and Hamas agreed in Doha to form a national unity government and that unresolved issues would be transferred to the national unity government for implementation, such as Gazas security, the employees issue and the Rafah crossing. Moreover, the details of the national unity governments portfolios have not been discussed so far. A meeting is supposed to be held soon between President Mahmoud Abbas and the chief of Hamas political bureau, Khaled Meshaal. Al-Monitor received a copy of the draft document on the Fatah-Hamas agreement during the latest talks in Qatar. The draft, of which Al-Monitor has produced an unofficial English translation, was based on previous agreements signed by both parties to end the split and included six items addressing the most contentious issues, except for the Hamas-appointed staff. The draft stipulates the formation of a national unity government that assumes civil and security responsibilities and takes office in front of the president after the government formation decree is issued. There will also be presidential and legislative elections and the election of a national council, and the president will determine their schedule in a decree to be issued six months following the formation of the government. The draft specifies the activation of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) under Abbas' direction. It also calls for the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) development committee to meet and for the effects of the split be addressed. The draft increases Abbas powers at the expense of those of the PLC, a move Hamas had previously rejected. In loose terms, the document also calls for social reconciliation and public freedoms. In conjunction with the talks in Doha, Abbas issued a decree to re-establish the Central Election Commission on March 30. On the same day, commission head Hanna Nasser arrived in Gaza, where he met with the deputy chairman of Hamas' political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, and briefed him on the online voter registration opened in early February for the first time in Palestine. The director-general of the Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies, Hani al-Masri, told Al-Monitor that he does not expect the Qatari-sponsored current talks to be of great success, because Qatar does not hold the reconciliation keys, which are exclusively held by Egypt. Cairo would not be pleased if Doha reaped the fruits of reconciliation. Moreover, there is a camp within Fatah that wants the movement to continue to lead the Palestinian Authority (PA) and PLO and to regain control over Gaza. Meanwhile, there is a camp within Hamas that wants to preserve control over Gaza and to take part in leading the PLO, as a prelude to assuming the PA and PLO leadership. In such a situation, the talks are just a waste of time. It is no secret that the political developments on the Palestinian and regional arenas may accelerate reconciliation efforts this time, unlike the previous attempts. Fatah feels that its political program is precarious, as it calls for a two-state solution with Israel even though it seems to have reached a stalemate in the negotiations with the Israelis. This is particularly true since the current right-wing Israeli government rejects all political initiatives with the Palestinians. Perhaps Fatah is willing to go for reconciliation in order to pressure Israel to engage in political negotiations, using the Hamas card. Hamas has narrow regional options, as there have been no real breakthroughs in its relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the movement may be pressured to buy time through the reconciliation with Fatah. On April 2, Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas political bureau and a participant in the Doha meetings, reassured the nearly 40,000 Hamas-appointed employees that there will be no agreement with Fatah unless their issue is properly resolved and their salaries are paid. Despite the prevailing optimism among the Fatah and Hamas leaders that the reconciliation will succeed, doubts persist, given the failure of previous negotiations. The devil is in the details, observers fear. Therefore, even though a national unity government was agreed upon, the process of forming one will take a long time, especially considering discussions over ministerial portfolios, most notably the Finance, Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministries. Based on these complications, there is fear that the next government would face the same fate as the current consensus government announced in April 2014 and left unable to perform its duties in the Palestinian territories in a way that would satisfy all Palestinians. April 6, 2016 The office for Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani denied that the chairman of the Expediency Council would be suspending all of his social media activities after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly criticized his tweet on Irans missile program. Unfortunately, in the last few days untrue articles and news was published quoting an anonymous advisor to Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani in the media, read the statement from Rafsanjanis office April 6. The statement continued that any comments attributed to an adviser to Rafsanjani anonymously and without a full name is unreliable, and if any advisor does make a comment to the media, it is their own personal opinion and not related to Rafsanjani. The statement also stressed that any official position or news of Rafsanjani is either published through his office or through the public relations department of the Expediency Council, and it criticized the media for writing news about one of the highest-ranking officials in the country without first verifying it. Quoting an anonymous adviser, Iranian media outlets reported April 5 that all of Rafsanjanis social media accounts would be suspended until there is proper review process for publication. The reports said that the Instagram, Twitter and Telegram accounts for Rafsanjani were run by the editor of his website and were not coordinated with him. The public fallout over Rafsanjanis social media accounts stems from a March 23 tweet by Rafsanjanis office, which read, The world of tomorrow is a world of discourse, not missiles. Many viewed it as criticism of the test firing of ballistic missiles by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earlier in March. On March 30, Khamenei, without mentioning Rafsanjani by name, said during a speech that if anyone knowingly undermines the countrys missile program in such a manner, it is treasonous. After Khameneis speech, Rafsanjanis office revised the original tweet, saying that it was an incomplete version of his statement. On April 4, Rafsanjani then personally addressed the controversy. Rafsanjani said that after he inquired about the tweet, his office determined that it was based on a comment he made in November 2008 to filmmakers from the Netherlands about the use of chemical weapons against Iran. In response to specific groups or officials taking advantage of the tweet to attack him, Rafsanjani said, If the public does not know, officials especially the military officials know well that the missile industry started from zero during the [Iran-Iraq] war when I was in command. He continued, It was reinforced later under my presidency, and I have always emphasized the necessity for strengthening Irans missile project as a defensive and deterrent power. According to Rafsanjani, the first missiles were made by the post-revolutionary organization Jihad of Construction and the Revolutionary Guard. Perhaps alluding to people attempting to use the controversy to cause friction between himself and Khamenei, Rafsanjani said, Ive said this many times, both as a principle of velayat-e faqih we must support the supreme leader, and as the person of the [supreme leader] we did not and do not have anyone better than Ayatollah Khamenei. Despite Rafsanjanis attempt to clear up the confusion over the tweet, some Iranian officials have continued to indirectly criticize him. Former Intelligence Minister Hayder Moslehi said April 6 that questioning Irans defensive programs is not new. Moslehi compared them to Abolhassan Banisadr, who was Irans first president after the revolution but was quickly impeached and later fled into exile where he continues to criticize and speak out against the Islamic Republic. April 6, 2016 The current sectarian-based political system in Iraq is made up of three major alliances, namely Shiite, Sunni Arab and Kurdish. These alliances have, however, taken apart the Iraqi society, due to their political differences, and have failed to save themselves from internal divisions. Although the Shiite alliance is the strongest, representing 60-65% of Iraqis, it suffers from internal divisions and disagreements. Shiite political parties and currents organized themselves in parliament under the Iraqi National Alliance. This alliance would not have been able to survive if the fear from the other sects, specifically the Sunnis, did not exist among the Shiites. Its unity, however, has started to lose vigor following the economic crisis and demands to bring about reforms. These demands began with a series of popular demonstrations in July 2015, which were initiated by the civil movements and witnessed extensive participation from the Sadrists. The dispute reached other Shiite forces, namely the highest religious authority in Najaf, which objected against the government performance, Shiite parties political conduct and rampant corruption. In fact, the Shiite parties role in the post-2003 governments has been substantial. Therefore, they are largely responsible for the failure and corruption, and have been subjected to growing criticism by the community. As a result, leaders of major Shiite currents and parties met in Karbala on March 7 to resolve the differences. The pressures continued growing to include Muqtada al-Sadrs demand that Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi be replaced or else public protests would increase. This warning came as Sadr objected against the Islamic Dawa Party, which has the largest number of parliament and government seats. Then, differences reached a point where Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani failed to resolve, and he even abandoned its advisory role. Sistani has assumed the biggest role in converging views between Shiite parties since the start of the political process in Iraq after 2003, and has been the counterbalance in the establishment of a Shiite alliance prior to the 2005 elections. His blessing has resulted in a unified Shiite voice to the advantage of this political alliance. A decade later, Sistani sharply criticized the Shiite parties within the alliance. In his Friday sermon on Jan. 22, the spokesman for Iraqs top Shiite cleric Sistani said that the successive (Shiite majority) Iraqi governments have wasted public funds, in a way that would cause the state to collapse and have turned a deaf ear to Sistani. On Feb. 5, Sistani decided to remain silent in regard to the general political situation in the country, which he described as alarming, and said that there is no need to reiterate its directives that the Shiite parties have not taken seriously. Political differences among Shiite parties and currents themselves have moved from disputes among politicians to the street diplomatic language has changed to direct threats. Sadr called for massive sit-ins in front of the Green Zone, to protest against corruption and government performance. He even embarrassed his Shiite rivals within the alliance. These sit-ins started on March 18 and have expanded. Remarkably, Sadr threatened to break into the Green Zone in case the government did not fulfill its demand to replace the current government with a technocrat government. In contrast, the State of Law Coalition, which represents a majority within the Shiite alliance, issued a strongly worded statement March 16, saying Sadrs call for protests is illegal and unconstitutional. The statement ended with a warning, or even a threat, that weapons will be faced with weapons, and men will be faced with men. The people, the country, particularly areas that Islamic State [IS] gangs failed to destroy, would be the biggest loser. Resorting to the street is a mistake that will end up destroying the country and community. On March 26, State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki said in Najaf that the sit-in in front of the Green Zone is unconstitutional. He compared the Sadrist protests to the previous ones in Sunni areas in December 2012, which led to IS entering Sunni areas. Maliki continued, With the support of the tribes and the [Shiite] higher authority [Sistani], we managed to counter those who wanted to bring down Baghdad and Najaf [the protests] were a trick. Maliki warned against a scenario that would result in Iraqs partition and civil wars in the post-IS era, in reference to the Sadrist protests. He said, The challenge that was initiated in the past few days was flagrant in undermining the foundations of national security and political process, and in causing everyone to hold their breath, out of fear that the security situation would go out of control. In this regard, Iran which had assumed a prominent role in preserving the unity of the Shiite alliance and preventing divisions on several occasions failed this time to converge views and reduce the dispute between Shiite parties. The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper published an article on Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani's visit to Sadr in Najaf, after the latter refused to go to Baghdad to meet with him. Al-Monitor learnt from an adviser to Sadr in Najaf, who declined to be named, that the meeting did actually happen in the third week of the Sadrists' demonstrations, which began on March 4. The source added that the meeting did not bear fruit, as Sadr left after he rejected Soleimanis request that an understanding with the other leaders of the Shiite parties within the alliance be reached. The source said that he had insisted on his stance to form a technocrat government that would replace most of the current figures in the government. Interestingly, Sadr is now taking part in the protests himself with a group of supporters in a tent inside the Green Zone. On March 30, the State of Law Coalitions political committee met in Baghdad and voted for the inclusive change in the government, which includes Abadi as well. Abadi did not attend the meeting, but he was preparing for another scenario that surprised all of his rivals within the Shiite alliance. Abadi presented on March 31 a new Cabinet to the parliament, which included 14 new technocrat ministers out of a total of 16. The only ministers that stayed on are Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi and Interior Minister Mohammed al-Ghabban. Abadi thanked Sadr for his insistence and pressure for reform. Sadr, in response, called on demonstrators to end their sit-in. Yet, the new Cabinet did not receive the parliaments vote of confidence, which means the disagreements and protests might resurge any minute. All this reveals that the Shiite alliance has lost its political dynamics to resolve differences. The Shiite forces have moved their internal dispute outside the Shiite circles. Besides, traditional forces such as the highest Shiite authority and Iran have failed to mediate and limit the dispute based on common sectarian foundations. April 6, 2016 For decades, the reputation of Israels legal system has been a beacon of light for Israels democracy. The countrys Supreme Court has earned itself considerable international prestige, even in places where Israel itself is disparaged and maligned on a daily basis. The independence of the Israeli legal system has been maintained meticulously since the founding of the state in 1948, and the ultimate authority of the law is a supreme value, even if the country has been ripped asunder over the past few years in a clash of cultures and values, which threatens all of the above. Though the Israeli right has long called for placing a limit on the power of the Supreme Court and allowing the countrys elected officials to rule, never before have these calls been so vociferous and so dangerous. This was evident in an impassioned clash that erupted during the opening session of the Israeli Bar Associations annual conference in Eilat on April 4. Raising the banner of revolt was Israels young Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked, Naftali Bennetts partner in the leadership of HaBayit HaYehudi. In her inaugural speech to the conference, Shaked focused on the Supreme Court decision March 27 that led to the delay of the deal that Israel signed with the firms operating Israels offshore gas fields, including the large US corporation Noble Energy (for distribution of resources and benefits). A judicial body that has no responsibility for filling the [countrys] coffers is the one that allows itself to empty them, she said. This is yet another example of [the court] exerting its authority, but bearing no responsibility for it. The court has once again become a place for adjudication of purely political and macroeconomic questions. Surprisingly, Shakeds speech received thunderous applause from the hundreds of lawyers and top Israeli legal figures who were present in the hall. Issues surrounding the reserves of natural gas, which has been found in abundance off the Israeli coast, are tearing the Israeli public apart and dividing them into two hawkish camps. As a result, the government has so far been unable to reach a deal with the gas field operators. Netanyahu has no Knesset majority for that, and the Supreme Courts decision put a serious hold on his most recent decision. Also hanging in the balance are the gas field operators themselves, who include Israeli tycoons and an American company facing financial difficulties. I hope that we wont turn in the eyes of the world into a country that eats its investors, Shaked said to the audiences applause. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Miriam Naor delivered her remarks immediately after Shaked. One would expect the Bar Association and its members to oppose any attempt to impugn the democratic structure of the state, its independent judiciary, the authority of the Supreme Court or of the Committee to Select Judges, she said. This public duel between the minister of justice, representing the elected leadership, and the chief justice, representing the legal system, was not the first time these two women clashed. It did, however, take the struggle over the very nature of the State of Israel which was originally founded as a liberal, humanistic, tolerant state of law to a whole new level. The right, which has ruled Israel for a generation, is becoming more extreme in its positions, and dragging the entire system with it. Laws to limit the power of the Supreme Court have been stacking up in the Knesset, while many other attempts to limit its power have been made by politicians of various stripes in an effort to win more votes. The left regards this phenomenon as a real danger to Israeli democracy as we know it. If a law eventually allows the Knesset to circumvent Supreme Court rulings as advocated by some right-wing politicians the original Israel that we once knew would cease to exist. Later at the Eilat conference, Tzipi Livni, the previous minister of justice, delivered her address. It is worth noting that Livni is considered the foremost defender of the Supreme Courts status and independence. She said, [Minister of Justice] Shaked drew a sword and plunged it into the court. Another public media skirmish between Livni and Shaked erupted that evening, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister Bennett rushing to Shakeds defense. Netanyahu even declared, No institution is immune to criticism. The left regards these statements as more gnawing away at the stature and independence of the Israeli Supreme Court, which is bunkering down in its vast marble edifice in Jerusalem as it gradually becomes the last holdout of the old Israel. It is a desperate battle, being fought practically in vain. The Israeli masses vote right. They are fed up with the old order in a way reminiscent of the Donald Trump phenomenon in the United States. The most recent victims of these battles include people who were once part of the consensus, like Minister of Defense Moshe Ya'alon or Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot. They have come under attack because of the publics emotional support for the soldier who allegedly executed a wounded Palestinian terrorist. There is no such thing as politically correct anymore. The rule of law receives no more lip service. This is a new era: violent, impassioned and unknown. As if it couldnt get even more chaotic, on April 5, the most right-wing member of Knesset, a settler named Bezalel Smotrich (HaBayit HaYehudi), popped up with the assertion that he understands Jewish women giving birth who refuse to be in the same hospital room as Arab mothers. Smotrich wasnt referring to Palestinian women either. He was talking about Israeli Arab women who are citizens with equal rights in the Jewish state. Smotrichs wife, Revital, who was interviewed immediately after him by the Army Radio, said that during each of her five births, she refused to be treated by Arab obstetricians, because the moment that the infant enters the world is sacred and pure. It is a Jewish moment, and I would be very happy if Jewish hands were the first to touch my child. A veritable world war erupted in the media following those remarks. Once again, liberal Israelis found themselves confronted with a new wave of despicable racism and xenophobia of the worst kind. There has been a 100-year war here between Arabs and Jews, Smotrich tweeted. I think it is natural that my wife would not want to lie [in the hospital] next to another woman who just gave birth to a baby that in 20 years might want to murder my wife's baby. Many think that Smotrich is the very personification of the kind of Jewish extremism that thrives and flourishes on the hills of Judea and Samaria. He is the fulfillment of what philosopher and professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz raged about prophetically in 1982, when he warned against the rise of a new race of Judeo-Nazis. The problem is that in the past, people like Smotrich had to hide and keep their opinions to themselves. Now, however, they feel confident enough to express their opinions loud and proud. They can even serve as legislators in the Israeli Knesset. April 6, 2016 The leaders of Hamas never imagined that they would be pushed up against the wall like this. With Egypt holding a gun to their heads, they know that if they want to keep the movement alive, they must accept Egypt's ultimatum and sever ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. It could be the toughest decision that Hamas has been forced to make since it was first founded in December 1987. It is well-known that the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was inspired by the Muslim Brotherhood while he was a student at Ain Shams University in Egypt. He adopted and adapted that groups teachings to meet his own ideology and turned Hamas into a mass movement of the poor and disenfranchised members of Palestinian society. Was it all in vain? Was it all a mistake? What happened to the movements self-respect? What happened to the sense of national Palestinian pride and to the movement's own sense of solidarity that it preached for three decades? In March, a senior Hamas delegation traveled to Egypt. Led by Mahmoud al-Zahar, the group also included Mousa Abu Marzouk, Imad al-Alami and Khalil al-Hayya. The background for the visit was the assassination of Egyptian Prosecutor General Hisham Barakat, a crime attributed to Hamas. Among other things, Egypt demanded that Hamas sever all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood. The Hamas delegation seems likely to accept Egypts demands, because they have already shown that they want Hamas to survive as a movement. Throughout its existence, Hamas has been forced to compromise, round its sharp corners and blur its ideological boundaries when they become serious obstacles. That is what Hamas did, for example, after Israel assassinated the movements top leaders Yassin and Abdel-Aziz al-Rantissi in 2004. To survive, the movement decided to stop its campaign of suicide bombings in Israel and adopted a new course. Hamas became a political movement, while its militia, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, became an army. After each of three Israeli military operations (Cast Lead, Pillar of Defense and Protective Edge), which rained destruction on Gaza and threatened the hegemony of Hamas throughout the Gaza Strip, Hamas was forced to accept a cease-fire, even though it ran counter to the ideology it had advocated for many years of an uncompromising jihad against Israel. The bitter reality facing Hamas has always been much stronger than the uncompromising ideology that Yassin advocated. It always seemed to obligate his successors to adopt a more moderate course of action. On each occasion, the movements new leaders were forced to seek out ideological justifications to explain their decisions, which ran counter to everything they had advocated in the past. To their credit, it is worth noting that they have always been able to get out of their binds in rather sophisticated ways. They would frequently espouse slogans like The Palestinian interest demands compromise. During the second intifada, when Yassin agreed to a cease-fire with Israel, he explained that when the enemy is too strong to defeat, it is necessary to take a break to recover and build up strength. Hamas is now weak, while its enemies are stronger and more numerous. With Israel and Egypt closing in on Gaza from every side, there is no way for even the most ardent religious believers to insist that the crisis Hamas is facing will soon pass. This time, however, Hamas will find it hard to explain to its supporters why it is folding up its central ideological banner after waving it proudly for almost three decades, and why the way of the Muslim Brotherhood is no longer the way of Hamas. How will Hamas explain that it is turning its back on the movements founders? When the Hamas delegation arrived in Egypt, Zahar attempted to counter Egyptian claims that Hamas members were connected to the wave of terrorism in Sinai. He was even interviewed on Egyptian television in his effort to win Egyptian public support by asserting that Hamas was facing false accusations. It looks like the interview had little impact. Al-Monitor contributor Ali Hashem listed the operational demands that Egypt made to Zahar and the other members of the Hamas delegation as a precondition for enabling the Hamas leaders to continue governing in Gaza. They included reconciliation with Fatah and the restoration of affairs in Gaza to the way they were before the June 2007 coup. According to one senior Palestinian source, the Egyptians made it quite clear that there would be progress and no easing of restrictions on the Egyptian side if Hamas refuses to accept one major condition: It would have to cut all ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and publicly announce that it had done so. The logic behind the Egyptian ultimatum is obvious. With the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi waging an all-out war against the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, there is no way that it could allow the Muslim Brotherhood a back door into Egypt via Hamas. After all, the Hamas charter defines itself as the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Hamas is now facing its moment of truth. It is no exaggeration to say that its leaders are being forced to choose between life and death. While the only body authorized to make such a decision is the movements worldwide Shura Council, it stands to reason that it will acquiesce and even find justifications for the decision by saying, for instance, that the decision is in the Palestinians best interests. One thing that could make it easier for Hamas to swallow this bitter pill is the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan was forced to make the same decision. Pressured by the Jordanian monarchy, the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan announced in February that it was severing ties with the parent organization and reconstituting itself as an independent Jordanian group with no ties to the Brotherhood in Egypt. At this point, it remains unclear how such a decision would impact Hamas and how the movement would go about explaining it to the Palestinian people. After all, modern Palestinian history has always revolved around the Hamas-Fatah-Muslim Brotherhood axis. Hamas is caught between the proverbial rock (Israel) and hard place (Egypt). It looks like it is being drained of the very ideological and operative assets that made it what it is today. Hamas once declared a war to the death against Israel, but the movement has transformed considerably since then. It has been forced to lower its weapons and the banner of jihad and commit to maintaining its cease-fire with Israel. And it is now being forced to part with the ideological basis of its charter. This is no longer a question of compromise. It is, undoubtedly, a complete surrender. April 6, 2016 Two incidents in March have heightened tensions between Jordans Muslim Brotherhood Group (MBG) and the government to the point of raising speculation about the future of the 70-year-old Islamist movement. In the first incident, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the MBG's political arm, received notice March 13 from the governor of Aqaba ordering the closure of its office in that port city to comply with a court order. The closure was based on a complaint by the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS), an offshoot founded last year by disaffected MBG members, regarding a legal dispute over ownership of the property. It is the first time the IAF has been involved in a dispute between the MBG and the MBS. Following the MBS' registration in March 2015, the government asserted that the MBG lacked legal registration. It was therefore prevented from holding public rallies and other events. The MBG insisted that it has had a known legal presence since its establishment in the 1940s. In the second incident, on March 31, the governor of Amman informed MBG officials that because their group was not officially registered, they were prohibited from holding internal elections to select Shura Council members and a general overseer. It remains unclear whether the government is moving closer to banning the MBG or whether it is forcing it to limit its activities to the IAF, which has been officially registered as a political party since 1992. The government's actions follow parliaments adoption in March of a new election law, which all Islamist parties in the kingdom had welcomed. The IAF boycotted the 2013 local elections to protest the one-person, one-vote electoral system, which had been in place for decades and has been removed in the new law. Under the old law, voters could only cast their ballot for a single candidate, even if there were multiple parliamentary seats available in their district. Now a voter can cast a number of votes equal to the number of available seats in his district. Khaled al-Kalaldeh, Jordan's minister of political development, denies that the government is considering banning the MBG. He told Al-Monitor, The government is dealing with this issue with restraint knowing the weight of the group and its party on the popular political scene. Kalaldeh admitted, however, that there might be pressure from certain political centers inside the government that want a confrontation in light of recent divisions within the Islamist movement. He also emphasized that forbidding the MBG to hold internal elections is based on the legal complaint made by the registered MBS, which has claimed that the MBG is illegally using its name. The fact is that the [MBG] is not a legal entity, and this has nothing to do with any government position, Kalaldeh asserted. The MBG has been struggling with internal divisions for years. In 2013, a group of moderate members calling for bold reforms launched what became the Zamzam Initiative. They opposed the movements decision to boycott elections and wanted the MBG to sever its historical ties to the main group in Egypt. In addition, they called on the MBG to focus on national issues and to act as an opposition in the political system. Having been repeatedly rebuffed by the hawkish leadership of the MBG, the members behind Zamzam, who were later expelled from the MBG, decided to form their own movement. On March 26, the Zamzam leadership unveiled plans to establish their own political party to contest legislative elections expected to be held later this year. Irhail al-Gharaibeh, general coordinator for the Zamzam Initiative, told Al-Monitor that he expects the government to dissolve the MBG, because it is not registered in Jordan, and defended the decision to prevent the group from holding internal elections. It has no legal structure, and if the group insists on holding elections, then the authorities must intervene and take action, Gharaibeh said. According to Gharaibeh, the divisions within the MBG are long-standing, but they resurfaced following the events of the Arab Spring. We wanted to have flexibility in political action and to avoid the mistakes of the past, he said. But the conservatives rejected our efforts, and we as reformers had to take action through what we call conciliatory democracy. Gharaibeh warned that the Islamist movement in Jordan could collapse if it fails to adapt and that it should break from its ideological trenches and accept competition based on merit rather than tribe. He reiterated the decision by the Zamzam Initiative to contest future elections as a moderate Islamist party. Ali Abu al-Sukkar, former chairman of the MBGs Shura Council, dismissed speculation that the government's recent decisions might eventually lead to banning the group. Practically and historically, we had a good working relationship with governments, and we were never extreme in our policies, he told Al-Monitor. Abu al-Sukkar described the present relationship as tepid, but said it would never result in a total break. The rise of the Islamist movement in the region has raised fears here, and the presence of Daesh [the Islamic State] has created a fear of Islamist parties, he said. Abu al-Sukkar also said the MBG will hold its internal elections before the end of this month, regardless of the government's position. Meanwhile, the MBS has announced its intention to participate in this year's parliamentary elections, but has not yet filed for a political party license. On April 3, its Shura Council adopted a unanimous decision to end years of political boycott, which began with the 2013 IAF election boycott. The fragmentation of the Islamist movement is already having an effect on society. On March 30, the Teachers Association, the largest professional union in Jordan, held general elections and the results clearly revealed the MBGs waning popularity. The group's candidates lost ground to independents, who won 56% of the seats on the union's central committee. These results will be used by MBG critics to point to its exaggerated influence on the Jordanian electorate. The real test, however, will be how the IAF performs in legislative elections in competition against the two new planned Islamist parties. Meanwhile, as the governments legal siege against the MBG continues, the group's big showdown, its internal elections, awaits the end of this month. April 5, 2016 Turkeys international reputation as a democratic country continues to take a battering as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tries to protect his image at home. The Turkish leader's draconian measures aimed at curbing the independent media are turning into the bane of his existence in his dealings with Western leaders and overshadowing his attempts to build an image as a respectable regional leader. Such was the case during Erdogans visit to Washington last week for the Nuclear Security Summit. His advisers were more focused on securing a meeting with President Barack Obama than the summit itself following US press reports that the White House was expected to snub Erdogan because of his undemocratic steps in Turkey. After what appears to have been much bargaining behind the scenes, Ankara eventually got a meeting with Obama, and Erdogans advisers hoped to use it as a photo op against critics at home. But a public rebuke by Obama regarding the state of the media in Turkey caused the plan to backfire. Erdogan's trip to Washington came only days after he gave diplomats from Western countries, including the United States, a dressing down for attending the trial of Can Dundar and Erdem Gul, two prominent journalists who are facing espionage charges for reporting illegal arms transfers to anti-regime forces in northern Syria. Erdogan has vowed to make Dundar, the editor of Cumhuriyet, pay dearly and is using his influence over the judiciary to ensure both journalists receive long prison sentences. The case has turned into a litmus test for press freedom in Turkey. Responding to Erdogans attack on Western diplomats, State Department spokesman John Kirby underscored last week that US representatives would not hold back from following such cases in the future. Last week, Erdogans security guards further incensed Washington by physically abusing anti-Erdogan demonstrators and Turkish journalists from opposition papers outside the Brookings Institution, where Erdogan delivered an address. The incident, covered by the US media, elicited a protest from National Press Club President Thomas Burr, who said in a statement, We have increasingly seen disrespect for basic human rights and press freedom in Turkey. Erdogan doesnt get to export such abuse. The White Houses displeasure over the incident was evident in the uncharacteristically harsh public rebuke Erdogan received from Obama. Speaking to reporters at the conclusion of the Nuclear Security Summit, Obama responded to a question by underlining his concerns about press freedom in Turkey, and said he had pressed Erdogan not to curb democratic debate. "[Erdogan] came into office with a promise of democracy, and Turkey has historically been a country in which deep Islamic faith has lived side by side with modernity and an increasing openness. And that's the legacy that he should pursue, rather than a strategy that involves repression of information and shutting down democratic debate," Obama added. Erdogan quickly responded to Obama by expressing offense at his comments. "I am saddened that these kinds of comments have been made in my absence," Erdogan told Turkish reporters in Washington at the end of his trip to the United States. "These issues did not come onto the agenda in our talks with Mr. Obama." Erdogans supporters in the Turkish media were quick to accuse Obama of lying and did not hesitate to denigrate him. The surprise is not in Obamas words but in his emphasis that he had expressed his concern to Erdogans face, Kurtulus Tayiz wrote in his column for the pro-government Aksam. Obamas tarnished reputation due to his incompetent foreign policy will be damaged further because of this. Claiming behind Erdogans back to have said something to his face, which he did not, shows how weak Obamas character is, Tayiz added. He claimed that the West was using the press freedom issue as a Sword of Damocles over Turkeys head to get from Ankara what it could not secure by other means. The attacks on Obama in the pro-Erdogan media were mainly directed at a domestic audience and failed to cover the blow Erdogan took to his efforts at international image-building. In addition to what some are referring to as the debacle in Washington, Erdogans image in Europe took another hit when Ankara attempted to have a video lampooning Erdogan taken off the German airwaves. Ankaras attempt to get a video removed from Germanys NDR and ARD stations for lampooning Erdogan as a dictator who locks up journalists and builds huge palaces for himself also backfired. Germanys ambassador to Turkey, Martin Erdmann, was summoned last week to the Foreign Ministry over the video, which he was asked to explain and to ensure that it was taken off the air. Erdmann was already on Erdogans bad side for following Dundar and Guls trial. Germany, however, rejected Ankaras demand. Markus Ederer, the state secretary for the German Foreign Ministry, reportedly called his Turkish counterpart to say that freedom of speech was nonnegotiable. European Parliament President Martin Schulz, also German, was more direct. "We must make clear to Erdogan: We have democracy in our country. That's the end of it. Politicians must live with satire, even the Turkish president," Schulz said. Erdogan was also reprimanded by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. Mina Andreeva, his spokesperson, said Turkeys attempt to have a video banned on German TV doesn't seem to be in line with upholding the freedom of the press and freedom of expression, which are values the EU cherishes a lot." She added that "[Juncker] believes this moves Turkey further from the EU rather than closer to us. Erdogan, however, was quick to show he has no intention of changing. "Those who attempt to give us lessons in democracy and human rights must first contemplate their own shame," Erdogan told a meeting of the Turkish Red Crescent in Ankara. He also accused the opposition media of working to spoil his US visit and suggested such activity constitutes treachery against the nation. His defiance is well received by his supporters, but does little to reduce the pressure from the West over his approach to the basic principles of democracy. Although the West needs Turkeys support to cope with Islamic terrorism and the refugee crisis, it is also coming under increasing public pressure not to turn a blind eye toward Erdogans anti-democratic transgressions. April 6, 2016 President Barack Obama was on a historic visit to Cuba when the Islamic State launched terror attacks against Brussels on March 22. He decided not to change his schedule, thus coming under fire from the Republicans competing to succeed him. Nevertheless, in several public appearances in Havana, Obama emphasized two policy points: the Islamic State must be defeated in battle, and life must go on without giving in to fear or hysteria. Obama is consistent in his view of Americas role in the world. He refuses to let the United States become the world's policeman. He will not engage American ground troops in a war in Syria and Iraq, and he continues to believe in dialogue with (past and present) foes such as Cuba and Iran, as well as in collective international diplomacy. The Israeli government dared to publicly criticize the European and Belgian leaderships for their (supposed) intelligence failures and passivity toward Islamic terrorist activities in Brussels, but refrained from doing so in the case of the American president. Yet, beneath the surface, there was some criticism of Obamas low-profile reaction. A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official dealing with US relations told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that the government was disappointed with the Obama administration. IS will not be defeated without a ground war led by the US, he argued. He consoled himself by believing that there is probably a better understanding in Washington of Israels political predicament facing daily Palestinian terror. This perception, however, is misguided. The Obama administration sees IS terror as related to the situations in Syria and Iraq and Palestinian terror as related to the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There is a major conceptual policy gap between Washington and Jerusalem on the issue of international terror. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that Islamic terror is the root of all Middle Eastern instability, including in relation to the Palestinian situation. He holds that IS must be confronted on the ground by the West, similarly to Israel's approach in Lebanon and Gaza. He considers today's terrorism an expression of a war of civilizations between the West and the Muslim world, between good and evil. In his view, Israel belongs to the club of the good guys and the Palestinians are part of an axis of evil. This is not Washingtons view. Obama has made every effort not to position the United States as an enemy of Islam and not to equate IS with the Islamic world. His administration views IS as a defamation of Islam, a force composed of tens of thousands of fundamentalists who mostly target those Muslims who do not adhere to their radical interpretation of Islam. Obama believes that IS can be defeated only with the help of Arab countries and armies. As the concept of a war of civilizations is embraced by IS, the idea is the very last angle to be considered by the American president. These opposing worldviews on the struggle against international terror deepen the schism between the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government. An American diplomatic official in Tel Aviv told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the administration impresses upon the Israeli government the importance of refraining from viewing all Western relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds through the prism of IS terror. This approach, according to the official, also applies to the Palestinian issue. We do not equate in any way the situation in the West Bank and Gaza to the war in Iraq and Syria, said the official. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry believe that there is a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and that the pragmatic Arab world can be involved in the two-state solution process also, based on the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002. It is clear why the Netanyahu government is rushing to depict the clash with IS terror as a clash of civilizations, or as Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon called it, the beginning of World War III. Such a perspective places Israel in the right camp without requiring it to resolve the conflict with the Palestinians. This worldview, however, is dangerous for Israel. There are 8 million Israelis in a region of almost 300 million Arabs and mostly Islamic countries with more than a billion Muslim citizens. Israel has a supreme interest in creating regional coalitions with pragmatic Arab countries, but this goal requires a serious two-state solution process, which is precisely what the Netanyahu government wants to prevent. Cowboy Chicken is celebrating its first Birmingham restaurant with a five-day grand opening event. The Dallas-based wood-fired rotisserie chicken franchise opened its first restaurant in Alabama on Dec. 10 at 830 Inverness Corners. Cowboy Chicken first announced plans to move into Alabama in 2014, with plans to open in Birmingham, Huntsville and Tuscaloosa. Birmingham restaurateur Dia Zuaiter is the franchise owner and has plans to open an additional five locations in Alabama The grand opening events include: Monday, May 2: free kids' meal with purchase of adult entree. Tuesday, May 3: 15 percent of all proceeds go to the Exceptional Foundation of Birmingham. Wednesday, May 4: Students and teachers with ID get a free additional side with purchase of an adult meal. Thursday, May 5: anyone dressed like a cowboy gets a meal at half price. Friday, May 6: All members of law enforcement, fire fighters, nurses, doctors, military members and veterans with ID will get free cobbler. There will also be a drawing for free chicken for a year. Cowboy Chicken cooks poultry over a wood-burning fire, sells platters and family-style portions, enchiladas, sandwiches, tacos, salads, western sides, desserts and more. "We are excited to introduce ourselves and our signature wood fired chicken to families and new friends in Birmingham," Zuaiter said in a statement. "The week of grand opening events allows us to celebrate that by giving back to the community and inviting everyone to come try Cowboy Chicken." Tuscaloosa, Ala. - Alabama's metro area population continued to grow, increasing by 14,754 people or 0.4 percent from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015, according to the population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. Population in non-metro areas of the state continued declining by 0.2 percent or by 2,186 people. Most metropolitan statistical areas saw an increase in their population, but some areas saw a decline. The largest increase of 4,028 people (0.9 percent) occurred in Huntsville while Daphne-Fairhope-Foley saw the largest percentage increase of 2.0 percent or 3,996 people in 2015. Birmingham-Hoover, Auburn-Opelika, and Tuscaloosa metro areas saw population increase of 2,824, 2,567, and 1,919 people, respectively. During the last year, population also increased in Dothan by 178 people, in Mobile by 469, and in Montgomery by 536 people. Meanwhile, the Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, Decatur, Florence-Muscle Shoals and Gadsden population declined. Looking closer at the components of population change gives a better understanding of underlying trends in metro area population. Six out of the 12 metro areas experienced both positive natural increase (births minus deaths) and positive net migration (in-migrants minus out-migrants) in 2015. Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville, Florence-Muscle Shoals and Gadsden had both negative natural increase and net migration that year. For Florence-Muscle Shoals metro, 2015 represented a reverse trend in net migration--the number of in-migrants exceeded the number of out-migrants before, causing positive population growth during previous years. Dothan, Mobile, and Montgomery had births exceeding deaths, but the number of people moving out of the area was higher than the number of people moving into the area. A recent positive trend in employment may have some effect on future metro population. Only Anniston-Oxford-Jacksonville and Mobile saw a decline in annual employment during the period ending in February 2016, according to the preliminary data release by the Alabama Department of Labor. The declines represent 0.2 and 0.3 percent decrease in total employment or loss of 92 jobs and 493 jobs for these two areas, respectively. Other metro areas with population decline in 2015 saw an increase in the number of jobs: Decatur total employment increased by 74 people, Florence-Muscle Shoals by 576, and Gadsden by 1,012 people from February 2015 to February 2016. DATA: Population estimates are available at CBER website: http://cber.cba.ua.edu/edata/est_prj.html. MEDIA CONTACT: Viktoria Riiman, Socioeconomic Analyst, 205-348-3757, vriiman@cba.ua.edu The Center for Business and Economic Research in the Culverhouse College of Commerce at The University of Alabama was created in 1930, and since that time has engaged in research programs to promote economic development in the state and provide economic and demographic forecasting, data, and analysis. Bills expanding the rights of wineries and distilleries passed the Alabama House of Representatives Tuesday and are headed to the governor's office. If Gov. Robert Bentley signs them, it'll be a lot easier for consumers to buy alcohol directly from suppliers. SB132/HB46 would allow distillers to directly sell consumers up to one 750 milliliter bottle of their spirits per person per day, only for off-premises consumption. The original version of the bill allowed only one bottle per person per year. SB166/HB83 would allow Alabama wineries that produce less than 50,000 gallons of wine per year to have one satellite tasting room at an ABC-Board approved location. Wineries could sell one case, or up to 12 750-milliliter bottles of wine, per customer per day. It also would allow them to donate and deliver up to two cases of wines at a time to charity events. The legislation mirrors recommendations the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Study Commission in January introduced in January. Those same recommendations advised allowing brewers to sell beer to-go, and Bentley signed the so-called "Growler bill" in March. It goes into effect in June. Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com 19 movies we can't wait to see in 2016 With hits like "Deadpool" and "Batman v Superman" and critical darlings like "Hail, Caesar!" already under our belt, we look ahead to all that is left in the 2016 film year we absolutely cannot wait to see in theaters. We get new movies from Steven Spielberg, Richard Linklater, Clint Eastwood, Pixar, DC, Marvel and much more. We promise not to focus too heavily on the blockbusters, but the ones we pick have us pretty antsy. (Warner Bros.) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com The BFG (July 1) Steven Spielberg and Roald Dahl seem like a match made in heaven for film and literature lovers, so we're thrilled and thankful the "E.T." and "Jurassic Park" director landed on "The BFG," a children's fantasy tale that seems right up his alley. What should excite fans is that Hollywood has handled Dahl with great care, as most adaptations turn out quite good. You have the more prominent and beloved features like "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" along with underrated gems like "Matilda" and "The Witches." So the fact that a director of Spielberg's caliber will adapt Dahl's 1982 novel should reassure any skeptics out there. "The BFG" (which stands for "Big Friendly Giant") tells the story of Sophie (Ruby Barnhill), the Queen of England (Penelope Wilton) and The BFG (Mark Rylance) who set out on an adventure to capture the evil, man-eating giants who have been invading the human world. Watch the trailer. (Disney) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Captain America: Civil War (May 6) Jam-packed as it is, the latest Marvel adventure sees just about every Avenger pop up for what should prove quite the superhero throwdown. The film maintains the Marvel Cinematic Universe continuity and all but serves as a direct sequel to 2014's "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." An incident leads to the Avengers developing a schism over how to deal with situations, which escalates into an open fight between allies Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Captain America (Chris Evans). Brothers Anthony and Joe Russo return after directing the much-beloved "Winter Soldier," throwing in everything but the kitchen sink from the MCU, including our first looks at Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and even Peter Parker himself, Spider-Man (Tom Holland). (Disney) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Demolition (April 8) Perhaps a low-key pick few fans or critics have talked about, this drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a grieving widower has us pumped because of the talented director Jean-Marc Vallee, who follows up his terrific "Dallas Buyers Club" and 2014's triumphant "Wild." Naomi Watts and Chris Cooper co-star in this story about an investment banker who struggles after losing his wife in a tragic car crash, as his increasingly confessional series of letters to a vending machine company catch the attention of a customer service rep with whom he forms an unlikely connection. Even if it doesn't connect like his previous efforts did, we'll make take for a legit talent like Vallee. (Fox Searchlight) Don't Edit Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Everybody Wants Some!! (in select cities) Strong word of mouth should bring Richard Linklater's "spiritual sequel" to "Dazed & Confused" to theaters near you soon enough. So far, critics insist the writer/director re-captured that spirit from his 1993 cult classic and then some, this time focusing on college kids in the 1980s. Few filmmakers deliver as consistently and satisfyingly as Linklater does seemingly every time he puts something out there, each film showing a much wiser presence behind the camera. The mostly unknown ensemble cast includes stars Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Blake Jenner, Glen Powell and Wyatt Russell. (Paramount) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Finding Dory (June 17) Ardent Pixar fans grew pessimistic when the studio announced sequels and prequels on the horizon, fearing they'd succumbed to the Hollywood system of churning out what sells instead of the heartfelt original storytelling that birthed its sterling reputation. But they saw that films like "Toy Story 3" and "Monsters University" did nothing to sully that reputation but instead preserved it as they also delivered new masterpieces like "Inside Out." It also doesn't hurt when masters like writer/director Andrew Stanton ("Finding Nemo") return to make those sequels. This time, we go under the sea to follow the amnesiac character Dory (Ellen Degeneres) and explore the idea of her being reunited with her family, taking place six months after the events of the previous film. (Disney) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Green Room (April 15) A punk rock band witnesses a murder in a venue run by white supremacists and are forced to fight for survival against the supremacists, who are intent on covering up their crime. Yeah, so that sounds a little intense. But if you saw his equally haunting and thrilling debut "Blue Ruin," you know director Jeremy Saulnier has special talent as a visualist and a straight-up storyteller, so we can't wait for his sophomore effort, which critics already insist delivers big time. Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin and Imogen Poots co-star. (A24) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24) Call us curious, OK? We have a soft spot for Roland Emmerich's 1996 alien invasion adventure we still can't help but watch when it airs on cable. Even if Will Smith skipped it and even if they failed to cast the talented Mae Whitman in the role she originated and even if Liam Hemsworth stars, it does have Jeff Goldblum. And Jeff Goldblum goes a long way, as do what once again look like amazing special effects from Emmerich and his team, who never fail to deliver on spectacle. (20th Century Fox) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Jason Bourne (July 29) Several years after his disappearance at the conclusion of "The Bourne Ultimatum," Jason Bourne unexpectedly resurfaces at a time when the world is faced with unprecedented instability. After that fun but inferior "Bourne Legacy" experiment, Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass return to make things right in this franchise, one of the most reliable action series on which critics and fans can firmly agree. (Universal) Don't Edit Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Keanu (April 29) We all shed a tear when Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele called it quits on their hilarious Comedy Central sketch comedy show, but if it means we get movies about rescuing kidnapped kittens named Keanu, we can live with it. When a man's beloved pet kitten Keanu is taken from his home, he and his friend seek out those responsible to recover the cat, and find themselves in over their heads by dealing with violent gang members. It also stars Method Man, Nia Long, Will Forte, Gabrielle Union, Rob Huebel and Luis Guzman. (Warner Bros.) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Midnight Special (in select cities) We really hope Arkansas-born filmmaker Jeff Nichols' fourth film wanders its way to Alabama in the very near future because we think he's not only one of the better new directors working today, but more specifically, a guy who seems to get the South like few do in the business. After "Shotgun Stories," "Take Shelter" and "Mud," we see a South on screen too rarely depicted these days. His latest film revolves around a Texas man and his biological son escaping federal and local officers after discovering that the boy has special powers and is not "normal." (Warner Bros.) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com La La Land (Dec. 16) We loved "Whiplash," so we can't wait for the follow-up from the talented director Damien Chazelle. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, his new film portrays a romantic relationship between Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz pianist, and Mia (Emma Stone), an actress. The leads should have great chemistry after already sharing the screen twice before, but we mainly want to see what Chazelle has up his sleeve. It co-stars J. K. Simmons, Finn Wittrock, Callie Hernandez, Rosemarie DeWitt and Meagen Fay. (Sony Pictures Classics) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (May 20) Instead of battling a next door fraternity, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne take on a rowdy sorority in their otherwise quiet suburban neighborhood in this follow-up to the hilarious 2014 comedy "Neighbors." Zac Efron, Dave Franco and Ike Barinholtz return to help the couple take on Chloe Grace Moretz and Selena Gomez. (Universal) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (June 3) Andy Samberg stars as a rapper whose album bombs, leaving him with little career choice other than to re-form his old boy band. The second Lonely Island feature film after the hilarious and sorely underrated "Hot Rod" gives the trio an R-rating and a slew of A-list cameos in this send-up of the entertainment business. It also stars Bill Hader, Sarah Silverman, Tim Meadows, Will Arnett, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte and many more. (Universal) Don't Edit Don't Edit Jonathan Olley & Leah Evans Rogue One (Dec. 16) Oh right. We get another "Star Wars" movie this year as we bide our time until "Episode VIII" releases in December 2017. More importantly, we see how this whole "Star Wars" standalone thing works now that we know we're getting more movies about beloved characters like Han Solo, Boba Fett and others exploring the universe. Following the foundation of the Galactic Empire, this film follows a wayward band of Rebel fighters who come together to carry out a desperate mission: To steal the plans for the Death Star before it can be used to enforce the Emperor's rule. It stars, Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Jiang Wen, Forest Whitaker and Mads Mikkelsen. (Disney) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Sausage Party (Aug. 12) Seth Rogen fans wondered if his super-profane 3-D animated passion project called "Sausage Party" would ever see the light of day, and boy, has it ever. After a few years of promising an "R-rated Pixar-like" movie, it looks like Rogen and his writing buddy Evan Goldberg really delivered. The film tells the story of one sausage setting out on a quest to discover the truth about his existence. After falling out of a shopping cart, he and his new friends embark on a perilous journey through the supermarket to get back to their aisles before the Fourth of July sale. It stars Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, James Franco, David Krumholtz, Nick Kroll, Edward Norton and others. (Columbia Pictures) Don't Edit undefined Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Snowden (Sept. 16) Based on the books "The Snowden Files" by Luke Harding and "Time of the Octopus" by Anatoly Kucherena, Oliver Stone's biographical film follows Edward Snowden, an American computer professional who leaked classified information from the National Security Agency to The Guardian in June 2013. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Snowden. It also stars Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Rhys Ifans and Nicolas Cage. (Open Road Films) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Star Trek Beyond (July 22) No J.J. Abrams? No problem? We hope so. Abrams obviously left the "Trek" franchise to resurrect "Star Wars," leaving it to the more-than-capable Justin Lin, whose work on the "Fast & Furious" movies show a clear knack for big blockbuster action. This time, the USS Enterprise crew, led by Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine), has been attacked by a powerful, unstoppable wave of unknown aliens, leaving the crew stranded on a new planet where they find themselves in conflict with a new ruthless enemy. Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban and other regulars return with newcomers like Idris Elba joining the fray. (Paramount) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Suicide Squad (Aug. 5) Two outstanding trailers staved off months of snark aimed at what fans merely knew on paper about DC and Warner Bros.' second 2016 outing, which looks even more promising than "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." Director David Ayer leads an impressive cast including Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, Scott Eastwood, Jay Hernandez, Karen Fukuhara and Cara Delevingne. Aside from seeing Leto's take on The Joker and Robbie's Harley Quinn, the visual design really stands out, with Roman Vasyanov's textural and dark photography setting a great tone of some nasty things to come. We didn't anticipate being this excited, but the trailers quickly convinced us. (Warner Bros.) Don't Edit Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com Sully (Sept. 9) Clint Eastwood directs this film telling the true story of American pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, who heroically landed the troubled US Airways Flight 1549 full of passengers on the Hudson River. Tom Hanks plays the pilot, so you can imagine moviegoers' interest in a Hanks-Eastwood collaboration when it takes off this fall. It also stars Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Holt McCallany, Jamey Sheridan and Jerry Ferrara. (Warner Bros.) Don't Edit Ben Flanagan | bflanagan@al.com What about you? Those are our picks for 2016, for now. What films are you most excited about seeing this year? Please your thoughts in the comments below. (Disney) Haley Laurence | hlaurence@al.com Don't Edit AP file photo In sad news ... Country music legend Merle Haggard passed away today, on his 79th birthday. He was scheduled to perform at Iron City in Birmingham in March, but canceled the show due to health complications. Many artists took to social media today to express their gratitude to the country legend, including Alabama native Jason Isbell, who tweeted "Merle Haggard was the greatest country songwriter there ever was." We tried our best to make a list of 10 of the best Merle songs, but trust us: It's hard to do. There are far too many to choose from. So let us know your favorite -- and what we missed -- in the comments. And if you have any Merle memories, share those too. We'd love to hear them. Don't Edit 'I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink' Released: 1980 Nothing gets more country than this alcohol-tinged song. Don't Edit 'Mama Tried' Released: 1969 In this semi-autobiographical tale, Merle apologizes to his mom before he goes off to jail. "Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied. / That leaves only me to blame 'cause Mama tried," he sings. Don't Edit 'Okie from Muskogee' Released: 1969 Merle's most classic song riffs on Vietnam War protesters, but later on in life, his politics got much more liberal -- he went on the record in 2008 saying he supported Hillary Clinton. The song has been covered by everyone from the Grateful Dead to the String Cheese Incident. Don't Edit Don't Edit 'Workin' Man Blues' Released: 1969 Listen to bro country superstars singing about their trucks. Then listen to this song, with lyrics like "I been a workin' man dang near all my life./ I'll be working long as my two hands are fit to use." We much prefer this. Don't Edit 'Are the Good Times Really Over?' Released: 1982 'Are the Good Times Really Over?" -- which won Best Song at the 1982 ACMs -- reflects on the good times before Nixon. And, according to Merle, "When Ford and Chevy would last more than 10 years." Don't Edit 'Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down' Released: 1965 Another classic country anthem about drinking to get over heartbreak. Very few people sang these songs better than Merle. Don't Edit 'If We Make It Through December' Released: 1974 A song about getting laid off and being unable to buy Christmas presents for the kids, it's definitely a song that many people can relate to. Don't Edit 'Today I Started Loving You Again' Released: 1968 Not everyone knows this is a Merle-penned song, because covers by artists such as Kenny Rogers and Emmylou Harris are more popular. Which is why the song deserves a spot on the list -- everyone knows it, even if they don't know Merle's version. Don't Edit Don't Edit 'Pancho and Lefty' Released: 1983 Merle and Willie Nelson dueting together is basically the Dream Team of country music, and the title track, penned by Townes Van Zant, is great fun. Definitely two legends at their finest. Willie and Merle played the Tuscaloosa Amphitheatre in 2013. Read about the raucous show here. Don't Edit 'The Fightin' Side of Me' Released: 1970 OK, so "The Fightin' Side of Me" doesn't differ that much from "Okie from Muskogee." The short song -- it clocks in at less than three minutes -- shows off Merle's right-wing political views. Lou Gathany for AL.com Creating or finding a shelter to call "home" has been a necessity for humans since the beginning of time. Protecting ourselves from the elements, dangerous animals and enemies has always been a top priority for personal survival. Marcus Sisk of Gallatin, Tenn., became interested in the techniques of building an Earthship because an Earthship is about as close to creating "free" shelter as one can get. With exterior walls built primarily of used steel-belted tires filled with rammed earth and topped with glass bottles, interior walls built with stacked aluminum cans and plastic bottles, an Earthship is economical, environmentally friendly, sustainable and energy-efficient. This kind of shelter is also resistant to calamities such as earthquakes, fires or tornadoes. The thermal mass of such a structure is designed to maintain a comfortable temperature. By building into a slight hillside and inserting tubes that extend from outside to inside with filters and operable doors on each end, outside air is cooled by passing through the earth. "Sustainable" building means that the shelter must make use of locally available materials that already exist, materials that require no further manufacturing energy to be put into use. Used tires are plentiful, glass bottles and aluminum cans are easily obtainable. The clay soil of the South makes a very good slurry for rammed earth and horse manure adds strength to the mixture as well. The techniques of incorporating these unusual materials into a "home" can be learned on-line with the Earthship App or in person, as Marcus did, by attending Earthship Academy- a four week adventure in Taos, New Mexico. Sessions are split between "classroom lectures" and "hands-on"building training experience. Attendees receive the skills and knowledge necessary to put such materials and techniques into practice. The Earthship Marcus building in Gallatin is built into a slight hillside with the front South-facing wall of glass providing the natural energy to support the interior green house designed to house a recirculating hydroponics watering system. This will satisfy his nutritional needs-growing his own food. In addition to working on his Earthship, Marcus builds very tiny houses. They are so small that a better description might be "gypsy wagons." Built on a 6-foot-by-12-foot trailer, these tiny abodes are one-room dwellings that can be parked in someone's backyard. In areas such as Nashville where housing is often difficult to afford, some people are willing to "rent" a space in their backyard to park the tiny trailer for $50/month and allow the renter reasonable use of their own bath and kitchen. Often, the tiny house occupant is asked to provide services such as yard work as part of the arrangement. If one wants to create shelter with sustainable, recycled and inexpensive materials options such as an Earthship or a tiny gypsy wagon on a movable trailer could become your definition of a "cool space." An Attalla man and a Boaz man have been arrested in connection with a weekend fire in Sardis City. Sheriff Todd Entrekin said Christopher David Cantrell, 36, of Attalla, has been charged with one count of first degree arson. State Fire Marshal Ray Cumby said investigators believe Cantrell started a fire in his room at the Budget Inn hotel off U.S. 431 April 2. Sardis City Police Chief James Harp said Suresh Desai, 55, of Boaz, has been charged with 26 counts of reckless endangerment and one count of duty of hotel owners to maintain conditions and smoke detectors. All of these are misdemeanor counts. Suresh Desai Desai was charged as the hotel fire alarm and fire extinguishers had not been serviced in more than a year, authorities said. During the course of the investigation it was discovered many rooms did not have smoke detectors and those that did were not working. "He knew of the items that were not up to par and did not repair them," Harp said. Cumby said three police officers from Sardis and Boaz departments prevented deaths among the guests by getting them out of their rooms. "This horrible incident could have been worse," he said. "That hotel was a death trap." Entrekin said the incident should show "fly-by-night hotel owners" that authorities will be looking at them closely. Cantrell is being detained in the Etowah County Detention Center on $25,000 cash bond. Desai turned himself in to Sardis City and was released on $14,500 bond. Ahmad Johnson Charleston Wells Ahmad Johnson, 17, and Charleston Wells, 16, are charged with murder in the Jan. 5, 2016 death of Mike Gilotti outside his Hoover home in the Lake Cyrus neighborhood. A judge on Wednesday denied requests by two of the four teens, arrested in the January slaying of Mike Gilotti, to dismiss murder charges against them. Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Court Judge David Hobdy denied the motions by attorneys for Charleston Wells,16, and 17-year-old Ahmad Johnson, according to court records. Johnson's attorney had argued prosecutors could not prove its case against Johnson. Wells' attorney noted that his client had not been given a chance for a preliminary hearing because the case had been brought through a grand jury indictment instead of the normal charging process through district court. Assistant Jefferson County District Attorney Lane Tolbert said after the hearing that prosecutors laid out all of their case to the judge. He said one of the co-defendants, Darrian Bryant, pointed to Wells as the shooter. Wells and Johnson were the first two suspects arrested in connection with the shooting death of Gilotti, a husband, father and Iraq war veteran, in the early morning hours of Jan. 5 outside Gilloti's home in the Lake Cyrus neighborhood of Hoover. In March authorities also charged Bryant, 16, of Bessemer, and 19-year-old De'Ron Lucas, of McCalla, in the slaying. A preliminary hearing has been set for Bryant on April 13. Wells and Johnson are also charged with crimes in Fultondale and Pelham. Investigators have said all of the suspects are members of a Bessemer-area gang called M-tre, which stands for Money Making Mafia. Though they claim to be aspiring rappers, police say they are street criminals who break into cars and commit other crimes to get money. They often post pictures of themselves on Facebook and other social media sites holding guns and money. Updated at 4:10 p.m. April 6, 2016 with comment from prosecutor Kimberly Ann Wilson and Steven Ian Wright.jpg Kimberly Ann Wilson, left, and Steven Ian Wright were recently arrested separately on drug charges. (Madison County jail) Two people have been booked on drug charges following investigations into the trafficking of meth and marijuana in the Huntsville area. Kimberly Ann Wilson, 46, of Tallapoosa, Georgia, and Steven Ian Wright, 32, of Huntsville are charged with drug trafficking, according to the Huntsville Police Department. Wright was arrested April 1 by agents with the Madison-Morgan County HIDTA Drug Task Force (STAC), the department said in a news release. He was arrested in the 2200 block of Sparkman Drive with more than two pounds of marijuana. The marijuana would have been worth about $20,000 on the streeet, police say. Aside from the trafficking charge, Wright was also charged with distribution. Wilson was arrested Sunday in the 2400 block of Washington Street, where she was found to have about six ounces of meth on her. The meth had a street value of $17,000. Wilson remains in the Madison County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond. Wright was released from jail the day after his arrest on $5,000 bond. There has been another arrest involving East Limestone High School, this time of a student who allegedly mocked up a fake news report accusing a faculty member of having sex with a student. Tyler Marquis Harris, 18, of Athens was booked on a defamation charge Monday at the Limestone County jail. He has since been released on $500 bond. Stephen Young, a Limestone County Sheriff's Office spokesman, said that Harris allegedly pasted a photo of the victim onto a news story of one of two other school employees recently arrested on charges of having sex with a student. Harris then sent the faked news story in a group message to most of the senior class, court records show. According to Harris' own statement, which is included in the court records, he admitted sending the message on March 16. The victimized teacher, whose name AL.com is withholding, learned of the incident the next morning, he said in his deposition. He contacted the school principal and SRO, a Limestone County deputy. Young said that the teacher has not been the subject of a criminal investigation. Two teacher's aides at the school, Trey Alton Stinson and Devin Rumal Robinson, were arrested last month amid accusations they had sex with female students. They were placed on administrative leave with pay, but Stinson subsequently resigned his post. Robinson was fired Tuesday night at a school board meeting. Both men still face criminal charges. Defamation is a misdemeanor in Alabama. The state law regarding it states the following: "Any person who writes, prints or speaks of and concerning any woman, falsely imputing to her a want of chastity; and any person who speaks, writes, or prints of and concerning another any accusation falsely and maliciously importing the commission by such person of a felony or any other indictable offense involving moral turpitude shall, on conviction, be punished by fine not exceeding $500.00 and imprisonment in the county jail, or sentenced to hard labor for the county, not exceeding six months, one or both, at the discretion of the jury." The second part of the statute applies in this case, Young said. Updated at 12:10 p.m. with additional details from court records. Bryan Robinson. (AL.com file photo) The north Alabama businessman touted last year as one of the top investors in a proposed multi-billion theme park in the Muscle Shoals area is facing more legal issues. A lawsuit was filed against Robinson on Monday regarding failing to fulfill a financial obligation - the third such lawsuit filed against Robinson in less than a month. The latest lawsuit against Robinson and his company, Robinson Capital Investments LLC, was brought by Greater Alabama Building LLC and filed in Lauderdale County circuit court. The lawsuit alleges that Robinson failed to pay rent for February at his business address: 412 South Court Street in Florence. Robinson defaulted on a monthly payment of $3,866.67, according to the lawsuit. The lease went into effect May 1, 2015 and expires April 30, 2020, according to the lease agreement, which was included in the court file. Two lawsuits filed last month against Robinson named another of his companies, Provident Global Capital LLC, as a defendant. Provident Global Capital is Robinson's company that was part of the proposed DreamVision Soundscape to be built in Muscle Shoals. One of the lawsuits last month emerged from a case that's under investigation by the Alabama Securities Commission. The commission sent Robinson a "cease-and-desist" order in December for receiving $600,000 from three investors for residences in Madison County for which a company owned by Robinson did not own. Robinson has not yet responded to the lawsuits. There are all sorts of private schools in Alabama - big, small, urban and rural. The majority of those schools are religiously affiliated, particularly with the Christian faith. The website Niche recently took a look at those schools and ranked the best Christian high schools in each state. The rankings are determined by SAT/ACT scores, the quality of colleges that students consider, student-teacher ratio, student and parent reviews, and more. You can see the full methodology here. Just a note: Niche includes Catholic high schools in a separate listing. You can see Alabama's best Catholic schools here. Alabama's top 20 Christian high schools St. Paul's Episcopal School -Mobile Trinity Presbyterian School - Montgomery Westminster Christian Academy - Huntsville Briarwood Christian School - Hoover Westminster School at Oak Mountain - Shelby County Whitesburg Christian Academy - Huntsville Evangel Classical Christian School - Alabaster Shades Mountain Christian School - Hoover Covenant Christian School - Muscle Shoals Prattville Christian Academy - Prattville Eastwood Christian School - Montgomery Providence Christian School - Dothan Madison Academy - Madison Mars Hill Bible School - Florence Alabama Christian Academy - Montgomery Northside Methodist Church and Academy - Dothan Sumiton Christian School - Sumiton Westbrook Christian School - Rainbow City Tabernacle Christian School - Gardendale Faith Christian School - Anniston What landed St. Paul's at number one? How about composite SAT scores of 1940 and ACT scores of 29 and a survey ranking of 4.2 out of 5 from parents and students? Another major plus is an eight to one student/teacher ratio. You can see all the rankings for Christian high schools here. For the complete private school rankings go here. Welcome to Wednesday's Wake Up Call. Let's get going: Germans asked not to wave at President Obama German officials have warned residents in Hannover to avoid waving at President Obama during his visit to the town later this month. Obama will be in Germany for the opening of Hannover Messe, a technology trade show. Due to security concerns, residents near the show have been asked not to wave from their home windows as Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel enter and leave the venue. Local residents will also have to undergo vehicle checks and must carry a passport with them during the president's visit. Hawaiian schools pushing for a cooldown Hawaii lawmakers want to help the island state's schools cool down. Most of Hawaii's public schools don't have air conditioning and students and teachers have complained they can't concentrate because of the heat. The state's House Committee on Finance is considering a proposal that would fund air conditioning for public schools. The effort is expected to cost about $130 million. Bible may become Tennessee's state book Tennessee lawmakers have approved a measure to make the Bible the official state book. The bill, approved by the state Senate on a 19-8 vote, now heads to Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's desk. Haslam has not indicated whether he plans on signing the measure. The bill has plenty of detractors - most of whom say that it is unnecessary - though supporters point to the book's historical significance as reason for the official designation. And the world's busiest airport is... Atlanta is the world's busiest airport - again. More than 100 million passengers have gone through Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International in 2015, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2014. That's enough to edge out Beijing. The Georgia airport has held the title of world's busiest airport for 18 years. Until tomorrow. Alabama Power Company CEO Mark Crosswhite recalling the storms of April 27, 2011 When the president and chief executive officer of Alabama Power comes to speak before a large and influential civic group, the anticipation is that the focus will be on the future, especially on economic development. Mark Crosswhite, president and CEO of Alabama Power acknowledged that anticipation, but quickly disabused the large audience that gathered Tuesday to hear his remarks before the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham. "This isn't going to be a talk about economic development. In fact, it's probably going to be the opposite," said Crosswhite. He then began a somber accounting of one of the most devastating days and nights in Alabama history and the most economically devastating event in the one-hundred-plus-year history of Alabama Power. That day was April 27, 2011 when a series of killer tornadoes fell from gray clouds across Alabama sweeping away homes, businesses and most importantly lives. In just 22 days the state will observe the fifth anniversary of those storms and Crosswhite used his remarks Tuesday to recount that day, its history and its lessons. What happened that day? Devastation. It began just after 8 a.m., when the first wave of storms hit, knocking down homes and leaving 270,000 Alabama Power customers without power. Crosswhite said by midday Alabama Power had restored power to 100,000 customers. Then came ominous words from the National Weather Service warning of an "Armageddon weather event for that afternoon." "Those were words we had never heard from our friends at the National Weather Service," said Crosswhite. "It was clear we were facing the possibility of a storm we had never seen." Crosswhite said his company immediately sought help from sister utilities in nearby states and by that afternoon over 1,700 utility workers from other states were on their way to Alabama, a number that by week's end would grow to 6,000 workers from over 50 utility companies across the nation. By late afternoon that day Alabama Power employees at corporate headquarters in downtown Birmingham had to seek shelter as a tornado with winds clocked at 190 miles per hour ripped through sections of north Birmingham just two miles away. On a large screen behind him TV coverage of that stormed played as Crosswhite spoke. "Some of you probably remember watching it on television. It was horrifying to see those storms unfold live in front of us on our TV screens," said Crosswhite. Crosswhite recounted the record of damage that included 62 tornados that day in Alabama where in a normal year 22 touch down. The path of the storms extended 692 miles and tornados varied from 50 yards wide to one and a half miles wide. At peak, over 400,000 Alabama Power customers lost power. More than four million feet of power lines were knocked down, enough to go from Birmingham to Washington, D.C. The 2011 storms did more damage to the Alabama Power electric system than any other storm in the company history, said Crosswhite, damaging or destroying more than 3,000 transformers and power poles. Transmission towers were knocked over. Substations were wiped completely off the map. Yet despite those challenges, Crosswhite said utility teams restored power in 7 days. Crosswhite said the storm created an all-hands on deck response by power company workers, many of whom left their own damaged homes and families without power to come to work. "It's one of the expectations we all live with when you come to work at Alabama Power," said Crosswhite. Crosswhite said technology, including the use of drones and social media and improvements in equipment will allow the company in the future to respond faster and more efficiently when storms hit. But Crosswhite said technology can only do so much. He said it is Alabama Power's people who really make the difference. "It's our expert assessors and engineers, our experienced linesmen, our logistics specialists, our well- trained customer service and support personnel. They are the ones who make the difference and get the power back on." Crosswhite said the 2011 storms have resulted in improved procedures, improved training, a larger inventory of supplies and equipment that stands ready to be used to replace damaged or destroyed items. In addition, upgraded wireless communications and GPS capabilities among many other overhauls are aimed to improve response. Another lesson Crosswhite said the 2011 storms recall is that to overcome such events it takes more than just a power company responding. "It wasn't just people from Alabama Power," said Crosswhite. "All across the state people were helping each other. Churches, nonprofit organizations and thousands of people devoted their time and resources to help people across this state. They gathered to distribute food, water ... they cleared debris and they donated their money. The caring and concern we saw was incredible. So now five years after the 2011 tornados let's remember the victims. But let's also remember how the whole state came together to help each other in those days." Rep Connie Rowe at April 6 2016 press conference.jpg Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper, speaks about her bill to raise the penalty for assaulting a police officer. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com) ( ) An Alabama House committee this morning approved a bill that would raise the penalty for assaults against police and first-responders, as well as a bill to raise the penalty for menacing police. A bill by Rep. Connie Rowe, R-Jasper, would increase the penalty for second degree assault against a police officer, firefighter, emergency medical worker or utility worker. The crime would go from a Class C felony to a Class B. Class C carries a penalty of 1 to 10 years, while Class B carries a penalty of 2 to 20. The Class B penalty would apply if a person intentionally causes physical harm and tries to interfere with the police or emergency workers doing their jobs. Rowe is a retired police chief from the city of Jasper. A bill by Rep. Kyle South, R-Fayette, would amend the law on the crime of menacing, which is a misdemeanor. A person commits the crime of menacing by using physical action to place another person in fear of imminent serious injury. South's bill would make menacing a law enforcement officer a Class C felony if it is done with a gun or other deadly weapon. South said his bill "will protect those that are there every day to protect us." The House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee approved the bills today, putting them in position for a vote in the House as early as next week. Rep. Randy Wood, R-Anniston, the committee chairman, said the tougher penalties are needed because respect for law enforcement has declined. "When they put that uniform on, it's like putting a target on your back," Wood said. Police and firefighters joined Rowe, South and Wood at a State House news conference today. Gov. Robert Bentley's plan to bill four state prisons with an $800 million bond issue passed the Alabama Senate tonight. The plan, initiated by Bentley and Department of Corrections Commissioner Jeff Dunn, includes closing most of the existing prisons. Bentley and Dunn say it is the best way to resolve the overcrowded and understaffed conditions that have plagued state prisons for decades. They say the state can pay off the debt with the money it can save by replacing aging prisons with new ones with modern, uniform designs. They also say the new prisons will allow more vocational training and other programs to reduce recidivism, efforts that they say take a backseat to security concerns now. The governor issued a statement tonight praising the Senate for clearing a "critical hurdle" in efforts to fix the state's prisons. "The passage of this bill will help reduce overcrowding and will provide safer conditions for corrections officers as well as inmates within the facilities. New facilities will also create greater opportunities to reduce the risk of recidivism," Bentley said. Some senators objected strongly to tonight's decision by the Senate's Republican super majority to cut off debate on the bill. "What is the rush in terms of getting this bond issue out there without having a thorough discussion and a thorough understanding?" said Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery. Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, also said the bill was wrongly rushed through. Sanford said there were questions he would not have a chance to ask. Senate Majority Leader Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said there were plenty of discussions on the bill. "We have been working on the process for months. ... There was plenty of debate, plenty of information," Reed said. Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said he was confident in the plan to pay off the debt through cost savings after discussions today with Dunn and the state Finance Department. "The last thing we want to do is put any additional pressure on the General Fund," Marsh said. "But if we can have these efficiencies that they show and have a new prison system that focuses on rehabilitation and vocational training and have less people coming back to prison, that's a win for the people of this state." The plan calls for closing 13 of the 15 men's prisons and Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women. The state would build three new men's prisons and a new one for women. Alabama prisons have about 24,000 inmates in facilities originally designed for about 13,000. The plan to replace the old prisons would add about 3,000 beds to the design capacity. Coupled with sentencing reforms passed last year, that would reduce the occupancy rate to 125 percent in five years, officials say. handguns.JPG Photo from Steyr Arms factory direct public sale. (Joe Songer / jsonger@al.com). ( ) The Alabama Senate passed a bill tonight that would allow people to carry loaded handguns in their vehicles without a concealed carry permit. The bill, by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, moves to the House. Allen said people should be able to have a gun in their car for protection, just as they do in their homes. "Your vehicle is an extension of your home," Allen said. Current law requires handguns in vehicles to be unloaded and locked away out of reach unless the owner has a concealed carry permit. The bill passed by a vote of 27-7. Sens. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro and Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, spoke in opposition to the bill. The Senate voted to cut off debate on the measure before the final vote. Similar bills have been proposed for several years and have passed the Senate before. The legislation has drawn opposition from some in law enforcement who have said it could make traffic stops for police more dangerous. Many county sheriffs also rely on money raised from issuing concealed carry permits. Gov. Robert Bentley was hit with a wave of criticism after audio tapes revealed he made salacious comments to then-chief political advisor Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Much of that criticism found its way to social media, including on Gov. Bentley's official state-run Facebook page. But if you want to read those comments, you're out of luck. In the past, users could see their own comments as well as those of others on the page. Now, the governor's Facebook page will accept comments but they don't show up underneath the stories. The only thing you can see is how many comments were made. The governor's office didn't respond to questions about the change, which appears to have taken place last weekend. The change occurred about the same time as the Alabama Council for Excellent Government, the Bentley-inspired nonprofit for which Mason was a contractor, deactivated its Twitter account and website. Mason also deleted her personal Twitter account. A spokesperson for Facebook said page administrators have an option of blocking comments from view and confirmed the figures like those seen on Bentley's page reflect the total number of comments. Bentley's gubernatorial Facebook page is routinely used to make announcement and links back to the governor.alabama.gov website. His personal Robert Bentley Facebook page is still showing comments though it has not been updated since November 2015. Gov. Bentley's staff includes a five-person communications department, including a digital media coordinator. While effectively silencing critics, the change raises questions on the public's right to have access to an elected officials social media channels. Dennis Bailey, attorney for the Alabama Press Association, said Facebook and other social media channels used by public officials to communicate with constituents are subject to the Open Records Act. "Therefore, regardless of whether comments are displayed on the Facebook page, comments by citizens would be public records subject to disclosure under the Open Records Act," he said. That doesn't mean officials have to allow or display comments on social media channels, however. Bailey said it does mean that emails, messages or posts on a public Facebook page are open records that should be retained and produced when requested by a citizen. "They should be treated no differently than emails received on official email servers," he added. While untested in most areas, the question over social media comments and the public's right to know has emerged in recent years. Earlier this year, officials in Pima County, Arizona faced questions after it was found they were blocking users, deleting comments and not maintaining adequate records on comments. The county's Board of Supervisors later passed a policy governing official social media accounts that included retention of all messages. Another case in New Jersey led to a police department in that state unblocking comments made regarding the death of a suspect while in custody. A Florida toddler who went missing last summer and was later found dead has been laid to rest. The Florida Times-Union reports that 21-month-old Lonzie Barton was buried in a private ceremony Tuesday in Glen Saint Mary. Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson confirmed the boy's parents, Christopher and Lonna Barton, were allowed to attend before heading to prison. Both were recently sentenced on multiple drug counts. Lonzie Barton was reported missing in July. Authorities searched unsuccessfully for him for months before Lonna Barton's ex-boyfriend led them to the child's remains in January. William Ruben Ebron Jr. pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and received 20 years. Ebron said the child drowned in a bathtub while Ebron and Lonna Barton had sex. Lonna Barton pleaded guilty to a neglect charge. marijuana plants Marijuana plants confiscated last year by Athens police. (AL.com file photo) The Drug Enforcement Agency said it will consider re-classifying marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug within the first half of 2016, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. Dropping marijuana from a Schedule 1 drug - the highest rating reserved for the most dangerous drugs - could loosen restrictions on research, The Post reported. The University of Alabama at Birmingham received DEA approval to start the Carly's Law study for medical marijuana. And a bill is before the Alabama Legislature in the current session seeking to expand access to cannabidiol - or CBD oil - that UAB researchers said has produced positive results in reducing the number of seizures by epileptics. The Post cited a memo written by the DEA, which stated that it hoped to decide on re-scheduling marijuana "in the first half of 2016." By the DEA's definition, "Schedule 1 drugs, substances, or chemicals are defined as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse. Schedule I drugs are the most dangerous drugs of all the drug schedules with potentially severe psychological or physical dependence." Along with marijuana, other drugs classified as Schedule 1 include heroin, LSD and ecstasy. Examples of Schedule 2 drugs are cocaine, methamphetamine and oxycodone. Click here to read the full report from The Washington Post. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has banned all state-funded non-essential travel to Mississippi after the Southern state passed a religious freedom bill that has been called discriminatory against gays and lesbians. "Discrimination is not a New York value. We believe our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will continue to reject the politics of division and exclusion," Cuomo said in a statement. "This Mississippi law is a sad, hateful injustice against the LGBT community, and I will not allow any non-essential official travel to that state until it is repealed." Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed the bill Tuesday in an effort to "protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organizations and private associations from discriminatory action by state government." Under HB 1523, religious organizations will be able to deny LGBT people marriage, adoption or foster care services; deny employment protections; or refuse to sell or rent them property. It would also allow a host of wedding providers, including photographers and caterers, to deny their services. The legislation, which has been criticized by an array of business and civil rights groups, goes into effect July 1. New York is the first state to ban any unnecessary travel to Mississippi in response to the legislation. Cuomo's order mandates that all New York state "agencies, departments, boards and commissions...immediately review all requests for state funded or state sponsored travel to the state of Mississippi, and bar any such publicly funded travel that is not essential to the enforcement of state law or public health and safety." Cuomo has previously signed orders limiting state-funded travel to North Carolina and Indiana after the passage of similar religious freedoms legislation. Vetoes handed out by Governor Susana Martinez at the end of the 2016 session of the New Mexico Legislature were fewer than in years past, but they singled out the most vulnerable in our state for harsher treatment than ever before. In previous years there might have been dozens of bills that fell under the Governors veto ax. This year, however, Native Americans in the poorest communities, small farmers in rural communities, the developmentally disabled, non-English speakers and students from low and middle-income families were targeted. Lets look at her vetoes. In Spanish we say, Dime con quien andas, y te dire quien eres. Or Tell me who you walk with, and Ill tell you who you are. The reverse of the phrase is instructive as well, Tell me who you do not walk with, and I can tell you who you are. What kind of legislation drew her ire, and with whom will Governor Martinez not walk? First and foremost are the residents of Indian Country, especially those on the Navajo Reservation and Zuni Pueblo. Governor line-item vetoes in the capital outlay bill eliminated millions of dollars for projects slated for McKinley and Cibola Counties. Vetoed Native American projects, approved unanimously by the legislature, included much needed items such as a backup generator for Zuni Pueblos main well and studies to repair several old and damaged bridges. There was $75,000 to build a senior center for the remote Red Rock Navajo Chapter; $30,000 to build a water well in the Baahaali Chapter, and $50,000 for improvements to utility lines in the Red Lake Chapter. The list goes on. Governor Martinez vetoed more than 20 Native American projects. The individual sums involved were not great, and none of the projects were luxuries. They were part of her package of capital outlay vetoes totaling $8.2 million, or 5% of all the infrastructure projects contained in HB 219. The Governor explained her actions in a critical, nine-page letter deriding the projects for these impoverished communities as local pork, a squandering [of] funds and irresponsible. Small and family farmers in rural northern New Mexico were the next group to feel the veto pen. Martinez eliminated 90% of the critical funding approved by the Legislature for repairs and improvements to 25 acequias, almost $1 million in total. These projects too were relatively small in cost, but they deliver significant benefits for large numbers of families in proud, but struggling communities. Imagine, the first acequias in New Mexico were constructed in the mid-sixteenth century by the newly arrived Spaniards together with Native residents. Many of them are still in use today. They are still economically important for many agricultural villages, because they are key to irrigation and water storage for agriculture. It seems at times like the things we take the most pride inour acequias, for example, and our traditions and historyare under constant attack by this governor. Students who are the children of families of modest means, yet who dream and strive to reach the middle class themselves, were another target of the veto. Bipartisan legislation to shore up declining revenues of the Lottery Scholarship fund was too much for the governor. That fund enables thousands of students to attend college. SB 79 would have required unclaimed lottery prizes to be transferred to the scholarship fund, adding up to $3 million more each year for student scholarships. The decline of state lottery sales has reduced funds available for student tuition scholarships, and this measure would have alleviated the shortfall. Now our students and their families will have to pay more in tuition costs in the next school year. Some may not be able to attend college at all as a result. The developmentally disabled and their families were another target of Governor Martinez when she vetoed modest legislation that would have required the state to publish a brief report at the end of each year. It simply would have identified how many New Mexicans are on a waiting list for crucial services, some for 10 years or more. SB 36 was passed in both the Senate and the House without a single dissenting vote, and incurred no cost to the state. The Legislature needed the bill in order to get a full view of the scope of a serious problem and to find budget opportunities to get solutions. For the second time in as many years, the governor vetoed an uncontroversial measure to improve court interpreter services in New Mexico. That veto put into focus her past efforts as a district attorney to keep Spanish-speakers from serving on juries. SB 210 would have set up a new fund to be administered by the courts for paying court translators and related expenses, but had no fiscal impact on the state. It drew the governors veto despite passing without any opposition whatsoever. Unique among all states, the Constitution of New Mexico protects people who speak and read either English or Spanish. Now we know. No anda con nosotros. Ted Cruz, Heidi Cruz Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at a campaign stop as wife Heidi listens Thursday, March 24, 2016, in Dane, Wis. (AP Photo/Andy Manis) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump lost an decisive state last night to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, according to NBC News. Cruz earned a win in Wisconsin, earning 33 of the state's 42 delegates. Trump took home three delegates, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich did not win any. (At the time of NBC's count, two districts had not been allocated.) "Tonight is a turning point...It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hard-working men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America: We have a choice," Cruz said in his victory speech. The state is an important win for the senator, because Trump has the closest number of delegates needed to win the GOP nomination before the July convention. The number needed is 1,237 delegates. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," a Trump campaign spokesperson said to the news station yesterday. The next state to vote in the primaries is New York, Trump's home state, on April 19. Early polling by NBC shows Trump in the lead. More than half of yesterday's voters said that they felt "betrayed" by Republican politicians. 19 percent of WI voters said they would vote for a third party candidate if Trump won the nomination, and 18 percent said the same thing about Cruz, NBC reported. Sen. Bernie Sanders defeated frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary in the state. Because of party rules, according to The Atlantic, he split the delegates with Clinton, meaning the win was more of a momentum booster than a delegate booster. Sanders has won six of the last seven primaries and caucuses. The Democrats will debate on April 14, days before the New York primary. Polls show that Clinton is ahead in her home state by more than 10 points. Both Cruz and Sander's win was predicted in earlier polls, The Atlantic reported. Alabama anglers could be faced with the most restrictive red snapper quota ever in the Gulf of Mexico, possibly just six days, U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne said Wednesday. Byrne, R-Fairhope, is a frequent critic of the federal government's handling of regulations for the annual snapper season for commercial and recreational fishing. Deep-sea fishing is a multimillion-dollar tourism draw in Alabama, and the coastal region touts itself as the top snapper spot in the world. This year's limits are set to be revealed in coming weeks. Byrne, however, warned that they may be even lower than those prompting public protest in 2014 and 2015. Based on estimates from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service, this year's season for recreational fishing will be capped at "six to nine days," Byrne said. The 2015 season was 10 days, up one day from 2014's record low of nine. The commercial charter/for-hire season will be from 30-56 days, Byrne added. The 2015 season was 44 days. "It's very disappointing," Byrne said. "It's very much like what we had last summer. ... This derby season is not good for anybody and it could be dangerous." He pointed out that no one knows what the weather will be like on those relative handful of days. And even if a day turns out to be perfect, people can't be expected to simply drop everything and head out in their boats. Red snapper season is set to begin June 1. Byrne, meanwhile, is praising one change with this year's red snapper season: Alabama's state waters will be extended out nine miles into the Gulf of Mexico for the purpose of reef fish management. The waters previously stretched three miles. The extended territory allows more oversight of the fishery by state regulators. The expanded miles were included in last year's federal appropriations bill. The change applies to the coastlines of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. "This is the first time for Alabama to control its own water," Bryne said. "The state has shown a reasonableness about their regulation of the fishery ... All of us involved in this believe the state strikes the right balance out there." Chris Blankenship, director of Alabama's Marine Resources Division at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, said the extended mileage gives anglers a sense of ease. "The extension of the state waters to nine miles will be good for citizens," he said. "The people who fished out there were uneasy about (the federal regulated waters)." Byrne said changes to red snapper fishing limits are included in a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the federal law enacted in 1970s regulating marine fisheries management in the U.S. The U.S. House approved a resolution last June to reauthorize the law, but the Senate has yet to take it up and President Barack Obama has previously threatened veto. One aspect of the House version that Byrne pushed would stop the federal government from overseeing data/stock assessments that have been instrumental in restricting recreational snapper catches. NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service has conducted 10 assessments of the red snapper since the late 1980s, with the most recent completed in May 2013. In the late '80s, federal officials concluded that red snapper were being overfished, and similar conclusions have been reached in subsequent assessments up until 2005. Years ago, the typical summer season for recreational snapper fishing ran from April to October. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will hopefully be governor when the time is needed for him to weigh in on economic development activities affecting Mobile, Mayor Sandy Stimpson said this week. Stimpson, the city's mayor since 2013, said he will not speculate on whether a sex and ethics scandal involving the governor slows down the city's efforts to lure aerospace suppliers to Mobile. City leaders are involved in continued recruitment efforts to bolster Airbus' new $600 million manufacturing plant that opened last year. Sandy Stimpson Stimpson said on Tuesday that if the governor's services are required, he anticipates Bentley to be available. "We have so many champions pushing things whether it's the Mobile Airport Authority or the Chamber of Commerce," Stimpson said Tuesday. "We will continue on doing what we are doing and there will come a time when the governor will need to weigh in. My hope is he will be there and I believe he will be there when he has to." Added Stimpson: "I'm not going to speculate on whether this slows anything down. Every time that conversation comes up, you can bet the people who we are competing against are talking about it. We just need to keep our eye focused on the ball of economic development and do what we need to do." Stimpson's comments come after Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle last week made similar remarks about the effect of the Bentley scandal on local and statewide economic development activities. Battle, on Tuesday, wrote a "Guest Voices" piece on AL.com praising Mobile and Huntsville's roles in luring aerospace jobs to Alabama. Mobile is home to Airbus' only North American manufacturing operation, while Boeing employs more than 2,700 in the Huntsville area. Bentley has assisted in helping close deals and craft economic incentive packages to lure companies like Airbus to Mobile and Remington firearms and Polaris recreational vehicles to Huntsville. Bentley has also been on numerous international trips to sell Alabama to the aerospace industry. The governor is currently facing the prospect of impeachment after audio tapes of the governor were released that included sexually suggestive comments to former senior political adviser Rebekah Caldwell Mason. Mason resigned last week. The governor said he has no plans to resign. He has said he has done nothing to warrant removal from office. Wiley Blankenship, president/CEO of the Coastal Alabama Partnership, said he doesn't think Bentley's scandal derails development efforts. "It's always good when your governor is not portrayed in a negative light. That goes without saying," Blankenship said. "But does it stand in the way of hampering economic activity? I don't think so. Is it distracting? Yes. It's downright distracting and a little embarrassing, but it won't derail a project." Sam Fisher, political science professor at the University of South Alabama, said if Bentley's scandal was more financial than sexual, it might have more of an impact. "It's a black eye and it's embarrassing, but I don't think it will be a major deterrent," Fisher said. "If it's an issue of the governor involving taking kickbacks and stuff like that, it could be an issue. But (the current scandal) is not a deterrent for companies wanting to set up shops in Alabama from doing so. There are others out there like the mayors or economic development commissions who are working to get companies to come in." William Stewart, professor emeritus of political sciences at the University of Alabama, said the Bentley scandal could encourage mayors like Stimpson and Battle to avoid the governor's office. "Bentley's industrial recruitment skills have been significantly diminished because of the scandal in which he has been caught up," said Stewart, who believes the current impeachment efforts in the Alabama House will be unsuccessful. "I think that the ... metro areas would be inclined to say to the governor, 'Thanks, but no thanks.' (They) would rather go it alone at the present time." Blankenship, who was in Montgomery earlier this week, said the scuttlebutt among economic development officials is that a religious liberty law passed in Mississippi has a bigger impact. Gov. Phil Bryant signed legislation allowing religious institutions and private businesses to decline services to people if doing so violates their religious beliefs on marriage and gender. New York and Vermont, on Wednesday, announced bans on non-essential state-funded travel to Mississippi. Georgia's governor vetoed similar legislation in his state last week amid growing criticism from corporations. And in North Carolina, after state lawmakers approved a new law requiring transgender people to use bathrooms matching the sex on their birth certificates, PayPal canceled an expansion plan that would have added 400 skilled jobs in Charlotte. "It's sure getting a lot of press you don't want to get when you are trying to be a pro-business state and offer opportunities to everyone," Blankenship said. "(The Bentley scandal) doesn't compare. It's a potential infidelity situation and doesn't have anything to do with affecting the citizens and taking away their rights." 300Water.JPG The following is a picture of 300 Water St., which would be demolished for a new 264-unit apartment complex in downtown Mobile. City officials say it's the largest private residential investment for downtown Mobile in decades. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com). On the surface, the location for Mobile's largest downtown residential development in decades is an odd one surrounded by industrial business abutting the Port of Mobile. But for the developers and city officials, the $46.5 million Meridian at the Port is in a prime future location that could spur a renaissance on a street that Mayor Sandy Stimpson describes as Mobile's "gateway." "There has been progress made over the last 20 years to improve the downtown area, but this is a huge shot-in-the arm," Stimpson said Tuesday after the City Council approved a $4.5 million tax credit to support the high-end apartment development at an abandoned warehouse at 300 Water St. Added Mike Rogers, a partner in the project with Leaf River Group of Jackson, Miss.: "It's a game changer." The 264-unit project, which will be under construction this summer, will be the first large-scale apartment dwelling in downtown since the 148-unit Tower on Ryan Park was built in 1950. It's anticipated to draw up to 400 residents to studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments with rents that range from $1,000 to $1,800 a month. "This will be transformative in our downtown in bringing in more high-quality residential stock," said Councilman Levon Manzie, who represents downtown. "We'll double the number of residences in downtown with this one project." 'Do it right' The city's tax-increment incentive allows for $2.1 million in new property taxes from Meridian at the Port to be diverted back to Leaf River Group. The property tax credit applies once a certificate of occupancy is issued and is based on a fair market value of $45 million. If the value of the project decreases, so will the developer's incentive. Also in the incentive package: $1.4 million in public and utility improvements, $1 million in facade upgrades and $432,315 in demolition costs. The Mobile County Commission is expected to add $500,000 toward the project. Stewart Speed of Leaf River Group said the incentives were a key. "It's a credit against the overall project costs and makes the finances of the project feasible," Speed said. "It allows us to deliver the high-quality product for this location and to do it right." Water Street was also a key. Stimpson said, "If it were not for redoing Water Street, they would not be doing this project." The City Council, in February, approved a $283,459 contract with Thompson Engineering to draft a specific plan that the city will implement along Water Street to make it more inviting and appealing, opening space for cyclists and pedestrians, and tamping down on its busy nature. An artist's rendering for a reworked Water Street corridor shows a view southward, with with RSA Battle House Tower on the right. (Courtesy of Mayor Sandy Stimpson's office) The changes are expected to greatly alter Water Street, which presently serves as a six-lane thoroughfare connecting Interstate 10 with Interstate 165. The Thompson Engineering plan is expected back later this year and Stimpson said work could begin soon thereafter. Since Stimpson took office in 2013, he's argued that the street blocks "connectivity" between the city's industrialized waterfront and its downtown core area. Stimpson said the announcement of the new apartment complex is "validation that we are on the right pathway." "You start the process of redesigning Water Street with the hope of instead of it being the back door of the city, it becomes a gateway," he said. "You have to also have people living downtown. With one project having up to 400 people living in it, that's hugely significant." 'Cool things' Rogers acknowledges that the project location seems peculiar since it's on industrial property surrounded by Turner Supply Co., Handyman's Railroad Salvage and the Alabama International Trade Center. Immediately to the east are loading facilities for barges and ocean-going ships docked on the Mobile River. Rogers said he anticipates perceptions will change as the project gets closer toward its late 2017 completion. "As far back as 2009, urban planners had identified that site as a future residential development," Rogers said. "Once the people see it and see the cool things around the site, it will be neat. It hosts one of the best views of downtown. You'll get to see the new (I-10) bridge, the lighted up view of the city's downtown. It will be a one-of-a-kind place." Along with the apartment complex, the property will feature at least one retail project "inside a ship container structure," Speed said. Added Rogers: "A lot of people are choosing to rent versus own. A lot of that is with the convenience and affordability of not wanting to maintain a home and the insurance costs and all of those things." He said that Leaf River's studies showed a demand for more apartment dwellings in Mobile. The company is pursuing a similar high-end apartment development in Fairhope, although it met with resistance late last year. Hundreds of Fairhope residents showed up to a planning meeting to object. The Fairhope Planning Commission endorsed the project in February, despite persistent concerns. That project would be located behind the Publix off of U.S. 98. The company is planning to wrap up its first apartment complex in its hometown of Jackson sometime this summer. Similar to the Fairhope and Mobile projects, the Mississippi venture includes rents ranging from $900 for studios to $1,600 for three-bedroom apartments. A Dothan man was arrested on Wednesday after he allegedly flashed his headlights to pull a motorist over and then identified himself as law enforcement, police say. John David Green, 52, is charged with impersonating a police officer, according to Dothan police. His bond was $15,000. Police say Green drove a red Toyota Celica and flashed his headlights to get another vehicle to stop. He then walked to the vehicle and identified himself as police. When the motorist questioned him further, Green got back in his vehicle and sped off, according to Dothan police. Dothan police didn't release where the incident occurred, or if there are other possible victims. Dothan police advise motorists being pulled over by an unmarked police vehicle to slow down and proceed to a well-lit public place. If you are unsure if the vehicle is a police officer, call 911 or your local police department to confirm. A 46-year-old woman is accused of stabbing another woman multiple times during a dispute over a man they are both dating, Selma police say. The incident occurred on Tuesday in the 100 block of Broad Street in Selma. Officers responded to the scene and located a woman, later identified as Hiawatha Ford, 46, who said she had gotten into a fight with another woman over a man they were both dating. The other woman, age 41, whose name wasn't released had been transported to Vaughan Regional Medical Center for treatment of several stab wounds, according to Selma police. Her condition wasn't released. Ford was arrested and charged with second-degree assault. Her bond was set at $15,000. BSC Bell Tower.jpg (BSC photo) An open letter from Birmingham-Southern students and alumni. Upon reading the announcement that this year's keynote speaker in Birmingham-Southern College's William M. Acker Jr. Visiting Scholar Lecture series would be Dinesh D'Souza, students responded almost immediately by calling for the college to repudiate him. It's disappointing to see Birmingham-Southern has provided such a prominent platform for Mr. D'Souza, and the briefest of glances through his digital track record indicates what should be obvious - the college should never have invited him in the first place. If Dinesh D'Souza's claims had to be verified by the BSC Honor Council, he'd never graduate from the institution he will soon address. Far too often, D'Souza has propagated falsehoods about nearly every marginalized group in the United States - including African-Americans, immigrants, refugees, and the LGBT community. He has even defended torture, which former BSC President Gen. Charles Krulak consistently condemned in a series of editorials and joint letters that the college circulated on its social media accounts. Why would BSC want to prominently feature someone so vehemently opposed to the human rights issues it champions? Even more troubling - particularly for a city with a history like Birmingham's - is D'Souza's stance on race. In his 1996 book, "The End of Racism," he argues that racism cannot be blamed for "black failure," even calling for the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be repealed. Let us be perfectly clear: any person espousing these views is fundamentally at odds with Birmingham-Southern College's mission of service, leadership, tolerance, and fostering desire for mutual understanding. Dinesh D'Souza does not deserve to address a student body that marched to downtown Birmingham - hand-in-hand with its President - in commemoration of the Civil Rights Movement. So while we fully support Mr. D'Souza's right to hold and express his inflammatory beliefs, we strongly encourage Birmingham-Southern to publicly distance itself from them - immediately. The nearly 200 students, alumni, and supporters of Birmingham-Southern who signed the petition do, too. Many Birmingham-Southern students, educators and alumni of all orientations, ethnicities and backgrounds have been progressive voices in a conservative community, and rather than boycotting the speech, we hope they will be present to confront bigotry with compassion, tolerance, and - most importantly of all - facts. Sincerely, Birmingham-Southern College Alumni: Kindred Motes '12, New York, NY Webster Slater '12, New Brunswick, NJ Ana Lejava '14, New York, NY Lindsay Sheets '15, Birmingham, AL Chelsea Vance '13, Atlanta, GA Nneka Walker '14, Birmingham, AL Kelly Lansden '12, Birmingham, AL Angee Stevens '11, Lubbock, TX Laura Foster '13, Birmingham, AL BSC Student Leadership: Erik Hancock, President, BSC Debate Society Anna Eggers, President of Allies, BSC's LGBT Alliance Jake O'Leary, Copy Editor, Bagheera Student Magazine Kayla J. Smith, Chairperson for African-American Cultural Events Committee Madison Bryant, Editor-in-Chief, The Compass Andrea Vancil, Political Advocacy Liaison YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. The founder of American Reddit social network, famost specialist in information technologies, Armenian Alexis Ohanian spoke about Artsakh events. As Armenpressreports, he posted a photo in his Instagram page and wrote that he thinks of all his Armenian brothers and sisters and wishes that peace comes soon. I snapped this photo--a view of what was once Armenia and is now Turkey--on my last trip in April '15 for the 100th anniversary of the #ArmenianGenocide, -he wrote. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. The Defense Army undertook counteroffensive measures and dominated the strategic position in the direction of Talish, which was earlier occupied by Azerbaijani forces. Adversarys losses by April 4: 29 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 military/engineering hardware, 2 helicopters, 6 UAVs, 1 MM-21 artillery system, more than 300 casualties. Number of wounded has yet to be clarified. Nagorno Karabakh losses: 7 tanks, 20 casualties, 6 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers, 72 wounded, 8 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers. 4 casualties among civilians, 1 of them a child. 5 more people who were on their way to Martakert on a bus, were killed as a result of bombardment on April 4. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. IT security expert Samvel Martirosyan informs that Azerbaijani hackers have cracked the Facebook profiles of Kashatagh region (NKR) users, known also as Kalbajar, and disseminate chaotic information. Armenpress reports the expert wrote about this on his Facebook page, urging not to believe everything instantly. On April 4 the expert had informed that the Monte Melkonyan Cyber Army had managed to obtain data of 25 thousand Azerbaijani servicemen. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. The Defense Army undertook counteroffensive measures and dominated the strategic position in the direction of Talish, which was earlier occupied by Azerbaijani forces. Adversarys losses by April 4: 29 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 military/engineering hardware, 2 helicopters, 6 UAVs, 1 MM-21 artillery system, more than 300 casualties. Number of wounded has yet to be clarified. Nagorno Karabakh losses: 7 tanks, 20 casualties, 6 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers, 72 wounded, 8 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers. 4 casualties among civilians, 1 of them a child. 5 more people who were on their way to Martakert were killed as a result of bombing the bus on April 4. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. Vice President of the National Assembly of Armenia cannot guess what will be the result of the expected meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs, but he believes the message addressed by the Armenian President to them the was clear. Mr. President mentioned very clearly that, first, Azerbaijan is the violator of the ceasefire regime and the initiator of terrorist acts. Secondly, Azerbaijan is obliged to hold negotiations with Nagorno Karabakh Republic irrespective of their desire, as Karabakh is a party of the ceasefire agreement signed on May 12, 1994 and there are states that must stand as guarantees of that ceasefire. And finally, we see unaddressed assessments, which not only do not foster, but to our conviction, impede the settlement of the conflict and give new momentum to the terrorist, Armenpress reports Sharmazanov told the journalists at the National Assembly. Sharmazanov added that everybody know who the civilized Europe, and why not, the Soviet Union flirted with Adolf Hitler in 1930s until Hitler unleashed the World War II. Now there are countries that flirt with Turkey and Azerbaijan, and we witness that both Turkey and Azerbaijan have grown into a serious regional threat, Sharmazanov said. He highlights the message of President Sargsyan to OSCE member states referring that Turkey, which has links with terrorist organizations and approves Azerbaijans terroristic behavior, has nothing to do with Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. The European Union works for the establishment of peace in the region. The head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski said about this on April 5 in an interview with journalists. We conduct all possible steps. I think that we should start an effective peace process. This is a priority for the European Union as well, Armenpress reports, he mentions. Ambassador did not answer to other questions. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. The Defense Army undertook counteroffensive measures and dominated the strategic position in the direction of Talish, which was earlier occupied by Azerbaijani forces. Adversarys losses by April 4: 29 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 military/engineering hardware, 2 helicopters, 6 UAVs, 1 MM-21 artillery system, more than 300 casualties. Number of wounded has yet to be clarified. Nagorno Karabakh losses: 7 tanks, 20 casualties, 6 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers, 72 wounded, 8 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers. 4 causalities among civilians, 1 of them a child. 5 more people were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan attended on April 5 the funeral of scout-machine gunner, contractual soldier Sasun Mkrtchyan, who was killed during the combat operations on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. The funeral was held at Yerablur Military Pantheon. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Office, the president delivered a speech of condolence and solidarity at the funeral. Dear compatriots, respectful parents of Sasun Mkrtchyan, relatives and friends, Today we send our soldier to immortality. A soldier who glorified his name, a soldier who glorified his parents. We are here to bow in front of the feats of Sasun Mkrtchyan and the other our martyred heroes. All those who dispute or question how it happened that the Armenian nation managed to reach the 21st century in such a complex region, must understand that the answer to their question is here, in the conscience of the martyrs buried here. Conscious death is immortality. We have fought to protect our homes, our families, and our identity. And our existence in this region is the best proof of how we well we fight. The ethnic and religious composition of this region has changed several times in front of the eyes of the Armenian people. Many came and many went, they will come and go again, but we were, are and will remain here, because we know the key to eternality. What happens in Artsakh right now is another challenge for our people, this time initiated by Azerbaijani leadership. I have no doubt we will overcome this challenge with honor as well. Went blind by anti-Armenianism, intoxicated by oil smell, the Azerbaijani leadership does not understand that tanks are not power, but the power is in the light beaming from the new generation of Artsakh and Armenia, and that light has consolidated all of us today into unified fist which will punch at the head of our enemies. Our thoughts are with the soldiers and officers standing on our border. Our souls ache for every case of immortality, but we are encouraged by the acts of our heroes, we become more confident. Today we all have become one person, and that unity will feed our future generation. I have to announce that we live without mirages, we have no powerful patronages, but we have the sympathy of just people, we have everything to defend our home, our Motherland. Dear Sasun, be sure, we will continue the sacred task of yours and your friends. Requiescat in pace, Soldier of Motherland. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan attended on April 5 the funeral of scout-machine gunner, contractual soldier Sasun Mkrtchyan, who was killed during the combat operations on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. The funeral was held at Yerablur Military Pantheon. What happens in Artsakh right now is another challenge for our people, this time initiated by Azerbaijani leadership. I have no doubt we will overcome this challenge with honor as well. Went blind by anti-Armenianism, intoxicated by oil smell, the Azerbaijani leadership does not understand that tanks are not power, but the power is in the light beaming from the new generation of Artsakh and Armenia, and that light has consolidated all of us today into unified fist which will punch at the head of our enemies., the President said. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. The Defense Army undertook counteroffensive measures and dominated the strategic position in the direction of Talish, which was earlier occupied by Azerbaijani forces. Adversarys losses by April 4: 29 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 military/engineering hardware, 2 helicopters, 6 UAVs, 1 MM-21 artillery system, more than 300 casualties. Number of wounded has yet to be clarified. Nagorno Karabakh losses: 7 tanks, 20 casualties, 6 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers, 72 wounded, 8 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers. 4 casualties among civilians, 1 of them a child. 5 more people who were on their way to Martakert were killed as a result of bombing the bus on April 4. Police raids in poor areas during anti-crime initiative lead to allegations of serious abuses, rights groups say. Caracas, Venezuela On July 13, 2015, the Jimenez family was woken up by furious banging on their door. Outside their cinder block and zinc home, precariously perched on a hillside slum in western Caracas, dozens of troops were searching through homes and taking men away. It was 3am, but the raids would go on until a little after 2pm. As two of Luis Jimenezs sons were taken away, Venezuela was waking up to Operation Free the People (OLP), the latest attempt by President Nicolas Maduro to solve the countrys soaring crime rates. On that day, about 200 men were arrested and 15 people were killed. They accused my boys of being thugs and took them. They also took my sons laptops and mobile phones. Who are the thugs? says Jimenez, whose sons were released later that night. READ MORE: Rival protests in Venezuela amid economic crisis When we visited the community days after the OLP had taken place, people described scenes of terror where whole homes were upturned, personal belongings destroyed or stolen, and men beaten and detained arbitrarily by security forces. Amid smashed TV sets and upturned cupboards, residents of the Cota 905, the shanty town where that first raid took place, complained of having no one to turn to for news about their loved ones the idea of having stolen property returned wasnt even something they deemed possible. Serious abuses On Monday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and a local human rights organisation, Provea, presented a report detailing some of the same accounts we heard that day. The two groups said the actions by the states security forces constituted serious abuse of power by the very same institutions that should serve as guarantors of peace. READ MORE: Venezuela, the worlds worst-performing economy The report, presented at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights meeting in Washington, also claimed that there were at least 20 extrajudicial killings during the past year. Venezuelans urgently need protection from violent crime but in multiple raids throughout the country, the security forces themselves have allegedly committed serious abuses including unlawful killings in the very communities that need their protection, said Jose Miguel Vivanco, HRWs Americas director. The government has said 245 people, including three policemen, have been killed in the dozens of OLP raids that have taken place across the country since that morning in July. It says the deaths took place during armed clashes between criminals and security forces. But HRW and Provea countered this claim, arguing that the disparity in deaths between criminals and security forces pointed instead to killings that occurred with no confrontation. Its been almost a year For Dellanirys Villadiego, a resident at the Cota 905 slum, the worst aspect of the OLP raids is their arbitrary nature. Dellanirys two brothers were taken from their home in the July raid. She has yet to know why, and what will ultimately happen to them. Unlike the Jimenez brothers, these young men are still behind bars and still awaiting trial. Their hearing was expected for March 29, but because of Easter week the judge said everything was delayed. Its been almost a year, Villadiego says. Venezuela is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, with one of the highest murder rates globally, according to the UN. Its exact homicide rate is unknown because the government stopped publishing figures more than three years ago. According to local watchdog groups, however, it can be as high as 82 per 100,000 people. But crime is fast evolving and civilians are no longer the sole target. Reports of hand-grenades being thrown at police quarters are more frequent, as are carefully orchestrated assaults by large armed groups that take over and impose curfews on whole communities. The government has said that crime is the result of capitalism, or, in their words, of people wanting more things. Lately, Maduro has said that crime has soared because of paramilitary groups with links to the Colombian far-right who have infiltrated the country and are seeking to overthrow his government. In September, in another case reported by HRW and Provea, the Venezuelan government expelled almost 1,200 undocumented Colombian immigrants after closing the border. Their homes were bulldozed overnight. According to the two human rights groups, many of those people were in Venezuela on refugee status. Back in Cota 905, Jimenez is trying to piece his life and his home back together. Yet, his hope in a government that was once widely supported by communities such as his seems harder to recover. Crime in this area is even worse now than it was before, he says. There is no government here, so I dont know who can ever stop this madness. As camps in northern France take on an air of permanence, locals and aid workers shoulder responsibility for burials. Calais, France The mourners gathered at Gomaa Makeens funeral may have recognised the names engraved on the grave markers besides his. The newest graves at the Muslim section of the Calais cemetery belong to former residents of the Jungle a refugee camp on the outskirts of the city. They serve as a reminder for some of those present that their dreams of reaching England might never materialise. Around 70 people a mix of local Muslims, aid workers, and refugees gathered on the bright but bitterly cold spring afternoon to bury Makeen, a Sudanese refugee, who had fled war in his native South Kordofan. Makeen had left Sudan last year, making his way to Libya before successfully crossing the Mediterranean Sea into Europe. Spurred on by the success stories of other Sudanese men who had reached England, Makeen continued onwards through Europes border-free Schengen zone to the northern French city of Calais where only a 23mile stretch of sea separated him from his intended destination. It was in Calais, however, that the 53-year-old would spend his final six months, separated from the elements by a thinly sheathed tent he shared with dozens of other Sudanese men. With complaints of low blood pressure and other ailments, Makeens journey ended in the camp. REFUGEE CRISIS: Calais eviction sprouts new jungles I went to wake him up but he wouldnt move I thought he wanted to sleep longer so I left him alone, his friend Moussa said, describing the day he found Makeens lifeless body. It was on his second attempt an hour later that Moussa, a fellow Sudanese refugee, realised his friend would not be getting up. He visited the camp doctors and they told him about his low blood pressure but he didnt do anything else about it, he said ruefully. Duty of Muslims For Moussa and the other men who shared Makeens tent, mourning quickly gave way to concern about how they would bury their neighbour in accordance with Islamic tradition. The costs of leasing a burial plot, coffin, transportation and other fees quickly mount up money Moussa and his fellow refugees either do not have or can ill afford to spend. Their first port of call was aid worker and Calais native Lahcen Tourabi. The 28-year-old, who is a member of the small Muslim community in Calais, has taken it upon himself to negotiate the bureaucratic and financial hurdles involved in burying refugees who die in Calais. Tourabi, who works for the Mercy Mission organisation, told Al Jazeera he decided to take a more active role after noticing the increasing number of deaths among refugees. There was a Syrian woman who got hit trying to get on to a truck on the motorway and another boy, a teenager from Sudan, died in the same way, Tourabi said, recounting how some had lost their lives. They died in a lot of ways some drowned trying to swim to the ferries at (Calais) port, others from electrocution because of the poor safety standards at the camp, Tourabi recalled. We have a duty as Muslims to make sure their [refugees] needs are taken care of and they have a dignified burial. Most of the 14 refugees buried in Calais in the past year were Muslims, according to the local council. Christian groups similarly take on responsibility for burials in cases where the dead are known to be Christians. IN PICTURES: Inside the Calais Jungle Tourabi has the support of Islamic funeral home director Brahim Fares based in nearby Dunkirk who only charges for the actual cost he incurs for these funerals. Fares has helped arrange 20 refugee funerals in the wider Nord-Pas-de-Calais area and like Tourabi, he told Al Jazeera he felt duty-bound to help. We want to contribute. Its in our culture and religion, thats how weve been raised. When we see someone who needs help, we help him, Fares said. A funeral costs in general between 2,400 euros ($2,700) and 3,000 euros ($3,360) and we know that they cant afford it, so for the migrants we charge 1,600 euros ($1,800) we dont make a profit. The sum is collected from donation drives at mosques in the area or paid for entirely by organisations such as Mercy Mission. Funeral Fares described Makeens funeral as one of the simpler ones he had arranged and the only one resulting from natural causes. The refugees body was released within two weeks of his death when a coroner ruled he died naturally of heart failure. But authorities can take up to two months as they confirm identity, determine the cause of death and contact relevant consulates. Back at the funeral, mourners took turns to carry his body from the entrance to the Muslim section of the burial ground, eventually placing his coffin near what was to be his grave, facing the Islamic holy city of Mecca. Those present then formed three rows and performed the funeral prayer, which was led by a local imam. Makeens body was quickly placed into his grave and buried within minutes, after which the imam turned to the crowd to lead them in a final speech. Every soul will taste death, he said, quoting a verse from the Quran, finishing: What is this life but the enjoyment of delusion? Tourabi spent his time consoling Mousaa and Makeens friends with promises that he would come and see them in the camp shortly. Who knows whats written? Anyone could be here next, he said. Follow Shafik Mandhai on Twitter: @ShafikFM Hiding in Afghanistan, a former translator for the US military describes what life is like for those left behind. Wahdat worked as an interpreter for the US military in Afghanistan from 2010 to 2014, beginning the job when he was 17. Now unemployed, he lives in hiding in Kabul, fearful of the Taliban, who have threatened his life multiple times because he worked with American forces. He applied for a special visa for Afghan citizens who had worked with the US government during its occupation of the country. According to law, Wahdats application should have been processed within nine months, but nearly three years later, hes still waiting to find out his fate. Fault Lines visited Wahdat in a room he rents at an undisclosed location in Afghanistan. This is his story in his own words. Working as a translator for the Americans was the right thing to do. Im the only breadwinner for my family. The pay was not that good, but still I was running a family. Ive witnessed the Taliban killing people. Over time, something grew inside me hate. I hate them. Im not sorry that I worked with the American forces. But Im sorry for what the US government is doing to me. The Taliban sent a letter by a seven-year-old, telling me that I should stop working [for the US military]. Its in Pashtu and says: We know you have been working with the US special forces, and you must stop working and helping these infidels. You must know we have spared and have forgiven those ones who did surrender and obeyed us. So like others, you must also obey and surrender yourself to us. But if you reject and do not obey our directions and rules, your death will be eligible to us according to Islamic Sharia, and we will never let you live in peace in any part of Afghanistan. It was not a good feeling, honestly, but I was thinking, Well, as long as I work here Im good, and then I can go to the United States. The interpreter's job was not just about talking and translating, he was an active soldier. by Wahdat, a former Afghan translator But that didnt happen and things got worse. When my granddad went to see our land and my house back where I used to live, he was caught by them [the Taliban] and they threatened him. They gave him another letter for me that said, Were going to kill your granddad next time, and youre added to our blacklist. Im under pressure, honestly. Because when youre in this kind of situation, youre away from society. Its been like seven or eight years since I have been [back] to my home. My land is just like no ones land. My house is collapsing, and theres no one to take care of it. I started smoking, so I could be awake during the nights. When I start shaking, I smoke. Sometimes its like a nightmare, and sometimes its normal. But still, sometimes you will have to take the risk and sleep. So, normally I sleep during the day, since Im jobless, and then I stay awake during the nights. During the day, I sleep from 5am until 11 or 12, and then wake up. If I really have to, I go to the city just to get goods for my family and then I come back right away. Thats all I do now. During the night I have some sort of routine. If I hear something strange, I go up and down and check whats going on, with my gun ready. Once, when I was living in another house, someone was in my house during the night, and I had to pull my gun out and try to find out what was going on. It was like in a terrible movie: Someone is trying to hurt you. Someones trying to hurt your family. And then youve got no choice, even if youre not a brave person, you have to act brave so the others wont hurt you. But they escaped. The Taliban know what they are doing. Thats how they turned this country into hell. They know how to track you, because they are everywhere. No matter how long you hide, how long you sneak around, or how many times you change houses; even if you fly from one province to another to avoid getting killed finally you will do something wrong. And theyre everywhere. They could be in the street, they could be in the shop, they could be your friend without you knowing. Thats why its very hard for the interpreters to trust someone. Ears and eyes for the military The Taliban believe that interpreters are ears and eyes for the military, and the first target during every ambush was the interpreter. Interpreters were not only translating, face-to-face to locals. They also tracked radios, they tracked their abbreviations and then warned the military teams that if they went, like, a kilometre from this place, the Taliban had planted IEDs (improvised explosive devices) for them. Interpreters would tell them they have an ambush waiting for you. In every country they have their own rules, they have their own culture. So if an interpreter didnt advise a US military guy, he could have made a lot of mistakes when contacting people, during the missions. And that could have increased the casualties a lot. The interpreters job was not just about talking and translating, he was an active soldier. The only difference was he was not trained back in the US for the military, he was just a guy who started working for the military. Im still not sorry for what I did. I did what I had to do, for what was right. But then, when you come back to this kind of situation I feel sorry for my family because they were stressed because of me, because of what Ive done. Interpreter-killing processing My case was denied because the US government said that they couldnt find my contract. We cant find your contract, so you didnt work [for the US]. Even having the emails and a recommendation letter from the US supervisor, they said no. So my case was denied. After that, a law came out that I can appeal, and I did appeal. I sent the same documents, but the only thing which helped me was the duty letters, letter of authorisation, saying I could carry guns and weapons. Normally when you apply, you will have to do a brief statement of how youre facing threats, and this is what I did. Then I had my interview in February 2015. I am now in administrative processing, which is normally an FBI background check, Homeland Security these agencies are involved in checking my background. But they have given me a specific case number to put on the US website. Normally when a case is being checked, the status is updated. My case had not been checked for one year, and then on January 28 this year, it was finally updated. I check the website like five times a day, 10 times a day. It says, Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing, and the processing can take several weeks. Several years, it should say. Its like someone is dying, and you tell them, I dont know when but Ill help you one year, two years, three years, something like that. I spent seven years working for the US government four years with the military and after that still with the US government. And this is what I get now administrative processing. All this doesnt let you live the life that you want. Also it doesnt give you what you need and what you keep waiting for, for years. Youre just someone who is stuck in a process which they call administrative processing, but really its interpreter-killing processing. Because the Taliban dont wait to kill you. Watch Left Behind: Americas Afghan Translators here. It does not take a leap from reality to see how this conflict could spill over into a bigger war in the South Caucasus. Luke Coffey is a research fellow specialising in transatlantic and Eurasian security at a Washington DC based think tank. He previously served as a special adviser to the British defence secretary and was a commissioned officer in the United States army. Far from being just a localised conflict watched by many with curiosity on our television screens, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh is actually a tangled web of competing geopolitical interests from across the region. The risk of the war spilling over is real. While the immediate consequences and causes of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are local, you can bet that outside actors will be taking advantage of the situation to advance their national interests. Top of the list is Russia. For Russia the various frozen conflicts in the South Caucasus are seen as a way to maximise influence in the region. Moscows mischief In particular, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict serves as a useful excuse to keep thousands of troops in Armenia and an easy way to poke Turkey in the eye. Russia maintains a sizable military presence in Armenia. Late last year, Russia and Armenia signed a Combined Regional Air Defense System agreement which threatens the whole region. The bulk of the Russian force, consisting of approximately 5,000 soldiers and dozens of fighter planes and attack helicopters, is based just miles from the Turkish border. READ MORE: Nagorno-Karabakh contested narratives Although Russia is one of three co-chairs of the Minsk Group (the others are the US and France) tasked with mediating a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it is well known that Moscow is not an impartial broker in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Although Russia is one of three co-chairs of the Minsk Group ... tasked with mediating a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it is well known that Moscow is not an impartial broker in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. by Senior Russian leaders have made their views quite open regarding whose side Moscow would support in the event of a major outbreak of war. In the past, senior Russian commanders have affirmed Russias preparedness and intention to join the armed conflict against Azerbaijan if it decides to restore jurisdiction over Nagorno-Karabakh by force. The role of the West For the US, events in the South Caucasus can affect regional security, and by extension, the US and Europes security. For Europe, stability and security in the South Caucasus matters for energy reasons and for the bigger dream of creating a continent that is whole, free and at peace. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline and the South Caucasus Pipeline both crucial for Europes energy needs run within several miles of the frontlines of Nagorno-Karabakh. Any major outbreak of warfare would immediately threaten them. At a time when Europe is trying to move away from Russian supplied energy, the stability and operation of these pipelines is vital. In a few years, the Southern Gas Corridor will be operating through the same region. When it begins transporting gas from the Caspian to Europe, it will change the energy map of the region for ever. Russia knows this and Russia does not like this. In the eyes of the Kremlin, the more instability near these pipelines, the better. Regional actors It does not take a leap from reality to see how this conflict could spill over into a bigger war. The South Caucasus is a tinderbox almost perpetually on the brink of igniting. Often it is Russias hand that is shaping and influencing events in the South Caucasus by taking advantage of ethnic divisions to advance policies that are often at odds with or, even worse, threaten the interests of the locals. It is not just Russia playing a role. On the back of the nuclear deal Iran will feel emboldened to play a more active role in the region probably for the worst. Tehrans long-standing support for Armenia (It backed Armenia during the initial war in the 1990s) makes many in Baku nervous especially considering the fraught relations and historical tensions existing between Iran and Azerbaijan. Since international economic sanctions were lifted, Iran and Armenia have agreed a number of major energy and construction projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Economically, Iran has a lot at stake in Armenia. READ MORE: Nagorno-Karabakh the death of diplomacy Turkey is increasingly involved too. For cultural, historic, linguistic and ethnic reasons Turkey and Azerbaijan have close ties. Crucially for Baku, the 15km border that Azerbaijans Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic shares with Turkey is literally a lifeline to an exclave that is geographically surrounded by Armenia and Iran. Turkey was quick to offer its unconditional support to its Turkic cousins in Azerbaijan when the recent fighting broke out. For many in Turkey, support for Azerbaijan against Armenia is seen as a moral obligation. Turkeys involvement in the region, rather direct or indirect, brings a NATO member directly into contact with the conflict. This could have ramifications for the Alliance at a time when it is focused on eastern Europe. A boiling pot Although a ceasefire has been agreed, it remains to be seen if it will stick. The best thing that Russia, Turkey, Iran, the US and Europe can do for the region is resist the temptation to advance national interests by taking advantage of the conflict. Instead they should convince the warring parties that a real ceasefire is the best way forward. However, a quick glance at the regions history and the actors competing for influence show this is unlikely. The South Caucasus is already boiling. The question now is: will resurgence of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh make it boil over? Luke Coffey is a research fellow specialising in transatlantic and Eurasian security at a Washington DC-based think-tank. He previously served as a special adviser to the British defence secretary and was a commissioned officer in the United States Army. The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. French Hauts-de-Seine Senator Philippe Kaltenbach expressed his support and solidarity to the people of Nagorno Karabakh and all Armenians, and is concerned about the situation. As Armenpress reports, Senator mentioned that previous events showed all risks of military situation tension. It is already more than a year that ceasefire violations are frequently taking place which led to losses of nearly 30 lives throughout 2015, Kaltenbach said. According to him, France as a Minsk group co-chair country together with Russia and the U.S is largely involved in the peace process. Besides, I demand to create a UN mechanism to investigate ceasefire violations, French Senator said. Member of National Assembly of France Henri Gebrayel also expressed his support for Nagorno Karabakh people urging Azerbaijan to cease shooting. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. The Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. The Defense Army undertook counteroffensive measures and dominated the strategic position in the direction of Talish, which was earlier occupied by Azerbaijani forces. Adversarys losses by April 4: 29 tanks, 3 battle vehicles, 1 military/engineering hardware, 2 helicopters, 6 UAVs, 1 MM-21 artillery system, more than 300 casualties. Number of wounded has yet to be clarified. Nagorno Karabakh losses: 7 tanks, 20 casualties, 6 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers, 72 wounded, 8 of whom officers and non-commissioned officers. 4 casualties among civilians, 1 of them a child. 5 more people were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Government promised to clean up the water supply but a rights group says poor governance has hampered those efforts. Nearly 20 million people in Bangladesh are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, even though the toxin was discovered in it nearly two decades ago, according to a report. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) launched a report on Wednesday which revealed that the government failed to take the basic steps needed to tackle the problem which kills an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every year. Bangladesh isnt taking basic and obvious steps to get arsenic out of the drinking water of millions of its rural poor, HRW researcher Richard Pearshouse told the AFP news agency. The reasons why this huge tragedy has remained so pervasive are due to poor governance. Salma Begum is one of the victims who fell sick and could not work out what was wrong. My parents and husband took me to many doctors and all of them said I had a skin condition, Salma told Al Jazeera. It wasnt until someone from an arsenic outreach programme came to my village that they figured out what was wrong. Government assurance According to the HRW report, thousands like Salma suffer from arsenic-related problems that are not detected. Chronic exposure to arsenic is linked to cancers of the liver, kidney, bladder, and skin as well as miscarriages, low-birth weights and poor cognitive development in children. The government says it has installed around 210,000 deep tube wells over the past 12 years to mitigate the crisis and is testing the water from millions of shallow wells for contamination. Arsenic is a naturally occurring and toxic element found in the soil and groundwater in parts of the world, including vast delta regions such as eastern India and Bangladesh where rivers empty into the Bay of Bengal. The report warned that millions more Bangladeshis would die unless the government and international donors acted to solve the issue. Survival of Brazilian president hangs in a balance as Congressional committee votes on her impeachment on Monday. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff moved closer to impeachment when the rapporteur of a Congressional committee said there were grounds for the Senate to put her on trial for manipulating budget accounts in 2014 to boost her reelection prospects. Congressman Jovair Arantes told the 65-member lower house committee on Wednesday that there were minimal indications that Rousseff had committed an impeachable crime, but that it was up to the Senate to judge the president. The committee will vote on Arantes report on Monday and submit the result to the full house for a final vote, expected by the end of next week. If two-thirds of the chamber approve the motion, Rousseff will be sent for trial in the Senate. In a boost for Rousseffs chances of surviving impeachment, the centrist Progressive Party (PP) said on Wednesday it will remain in her governing coalition until the lower house votes on whether to impeach the embattled leftist leader or not. Rousseff, whose hold on power is threatened by a massive corruption scandal and Brazils worst economic recession in decades, has been negotiating government jobs to retain the backing of allies such as the PP after her main coalition partner, the PMDB, broke away last week to back her impeachment. It is clear a majority (of the PP) does not want to break with Rousseff, party leader Senator Ciro Nogueira told reporters. They will tend to vote for the president over impeachment. Uncertainty over Rousseffs impeachment fueled volatility on Brazilian markets, with the Sao Paulo stock market Bovespa retreating 1.59 percent on Wednesday. Bets that Rousseff will be replaced by a more business-friendly administration have rekindled appetite for Brazilian assets, with the real jumping more than 10 percent last month and the Bovespa among the worlds best performing stock indexes this year. Rousseffs predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had condemned the impeachment effort as politically motivated. As EU plans to intensify deportations, refugees still making desperate attempt to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece. The European Unions top migration official says deportations will intensify after the first group of refugees were returned to Turkey from Greece this week. EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told a news conference on Wednesday the expulsions were just beginning and the numbers were still very low. But its better to start working slowly. I believe in the course of time we will scale up Its a good start, he said. READ MORE: Turkish town puts EU-Turkey refugee deal to the test Avramopoulos was in Turkeys capital Ankara earlier this week to demand the country introduce legal protections for asylum-seekers before the EU began sending them back. The Greek diplomat said that was still indispensable for larger-scale returns to start. Reports recently surfaced that Turkey had been rounding up and expelling Syrian refugees back to their war-torn country, allegations that Ankara has denied. Three days after the deportation order came into force, new arrivals on the Greek islands from Turkey dropped to 68 in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning from 225 the previous day, data from the Greek migration ministry showed. Visiting the Finnish capital Helsinki on Wednesday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the agreement is functioning and the [number of] illegal migrants is in decline. Crossing the Aegean Al Jazeeras Harry Fawcett, reporting from the coast of Badem in Turkey, said refugees were still making attempts to cross the Aegean Sea. According to reports, large-scale deportations from Greece could restart as early as Friday. But Nikos Xydakis, junior foreign minister for European affairs, hinted there could be a two-week lag because of a last-minute flurry of asylum applications by refugees who are trying to avoid expulsion. We knew there would be a lag, an intermediate period before the programme takes off, of at least two weeks to get through the first batch of applications, Xydakis told reporters. He nevertheless said the next set of expulsions would likely take place from Friday onwards, without going into further detail. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Leo Dobbs of the UN refugee agency, said mechanisms were not in place for Greece to deal with the refugee influx. Last Monday, at least 202 refugees were sent back to Turkey from Greece. Under the terms of the EU-Turkey deal, all irregular migrants arriving on the Greek islands from Turkey since March 20 face being sent back, although the accord calls for each case to be examined individually. And for every Syrian refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU, with numbers capped at 72,000. On Wednesday, the European Unions executive put forward options to spread refugees more evenly across member states, but Central European member states have resisted such efforts. Le Pen convicted of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that Nazi gas chambers are a detail of World War II. Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of Frances far-right National Front (FN) party, was convicted on Wednesday of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that the Nazi gas chambers are a detail of World War II. The 87-year-old, who was succeeded by his daughter, Marine, as FN head in 2011, was ordered to pay a 30,000 euros ($34,000) fine plus damages to three charities which brought the case. The judges also ordered that verdict be published in three newspapers. READ MORE: Marine Le Pen on trial over Muslim comments The FN founder was convicted of the same offence in 2012 for claiming that the Nazi occupation of France was not particularly inhumane. Decades ago, Le Pen was convicted for saying the gas chambers were a detail of the history of the Second World War. He repeated the remark in April last year, telling Frances BFMTV news channel: Gas chambers were a detail of the war, unless we accept that the war is a detail of the gas chambers. Le Pen was expelled from FN last year in a bid to shed the partys anti-Semitic reputation and bolster Marines prospects in a presidential election bid. After stampede that killed hundreds last year, Tehran invited to kingdom in first official trip since ties were severed. Iran plans to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss new arrangements for the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, the first official visit by either side since ties were severed in January after attacks on diplomatic missions. The pilgrimage was marred last September by a deadly crush that killed hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, which drove up tensions between the two Middle Eastern powers. The head of Irans hajj organisation, Saeed Ohadi, said Saudi authorities had invited Tehran to send a delegation to Riyadh on April 14 to discuss preparations for hajj, which is expected to fall again in September this year. Saudi Arabia orders probe into deadly Hajj stampede Ohadi told state news agency IRNA the Iranian delegation members were still waiting for their visas and were expecting to meet the Saudi hajj minister. The fate of this years hajj will be decided in this meeting, Ohadi said, according to Irans Tasnim news agency. Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for a comment. Deadly disaster Saudi Arabia has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the crush last year, in which up to 2,070 people were believed to have been killed according to a Reuters news agency tally, making it one of the deadliest hajj disasters in recent memory. Saudi officials have stood by their official counts of 769 dead and 934 injured. READ MORE: Saudi Mufti says hajj stampede was beyond human control Saudi King Salman ordered an investigation into the causes of the crush, which occurred as two groups of pilgrims converged at a crossroads in a tent city outside Mecca. But more than six months after the disaster, no findings have been published. Iranian officials have accused Riyadh of mishandling the response and complained of delays in repatriating the bodies of the 461 Iranian nationals who died in Mecca. The disaster exacerbated tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, as many of the pilgrims killed were Iranian. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after demonstrators angry at the execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr alNimr, attacked Saudi diplomatic missions. Saudi Arabia has also led Gulf Arab states to declare the Lebanese Shia Hezbollah group, an ally of Iran, a terrorist organisation. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, who is also the interior minister and head of the Supreme Hajj Committee, vowed at a recent hajj committee meeting to firmly deal with any attempt to undermine security at the pilgrimage, according to Saudi media. An Iraqi army offensive touted as the first phase of a campaign to recapture the northern city of Mosul from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has been paused until more forces arrive to hold ground, the commander in charge said on Wednesday. Almost three weeks into the operation, Iraqi forces have retaken just three villages from ISIL, also known as ISIS, in the Makhmour area, which is set to be a key staging ground for a future assault on Mosul, about 60km further north. The faltering start has cast renewed doubt on the capabilities of the Iraqi army, which partially collapsed when ISIL took about one-third of the country in 2014. The news came as eight Iraqi forces were killed in an attack launched by ISIL on a military barracks in al-Maamel village, east of Fallujah, sources told Al Jazeera. Major General Najm Abdullah al-Jubbouri, who is in charge of the Makhmour offensive, said Iraqi forces were now waiting for the arrival of federal police units and additional local tribal fighters to hold territory after it is retaken. Fallujah siege leaves thousands of Iraqis without food That would free up his forces to go on the offensive against the rebels, Jubbouri said in a statement, dismissing what he described as efforts to disparage the army. We do not want to use all our units to hold territory, he said. The initial target of the latest offensive was Qayara an ISIL hub on the western bank of the Tigris river but Iraqi forces have so far failed to recapture the hilltop village of Nasr on the eastern side. In the statement, Jubbouri said fighters had dug a network of tunnels beneath Nasr and prepared suicide bombers and a fleet of vehicles rigged with explosives, some of which contain weaponised chlorine, a chemical weapon ISIL has used before in northern Iraq. US Army Major Jon-Paul Depreo, operations officer for the international coalition fighting ISIL in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, said at the weekend the insurgents were determined not to lose Nasr because of its strategic position on high ground. Depreo also said difficult terrain meant it was not possible to deploy a large number of forces there against fighters, who are more familiar with the area. These [Iraqi army] forces arent from that area necessarily, so theyre learning the area, Depreo told reporters in Baghdad. READ MORE: Wave of ISIL attacks kills 60 in Iraq The coalition, led by the United States, has trained thousands of Iraqi police and soldiers in preparation for the operation to retake Mosul by far the largest city in ISILs self-proclaimed caliphate. Depreo said the fighting was only one part of the challenge. Theres going to be a lot of fighting but theres also going to be a lot of logistical infrastructure that needs to follow and be established. Shia militias and Kurdish Peshmerga have played a major role in the fight, but with Mosul the plan is for the army to take the lead to avoid inflaming ethnic and sectarian sensitivities in the mainly Sunni Arab city. The army won its first major victory over the fighters last December in Ramadi and aims to retake Mosul this year, but Iraqi officials privately question whether that is possible. Its a tough fight, Depreo said of the offensive in Makhmour, describing it as a shaping operation for the bigger battle ahead. We have a lot of work to do before we take control of Mosul again. For years, Canadian-Kurdish artist Hivron Turanli watched from afar as her mothers native Syria was torn apart by civil war. The Syrian regime wasnt particularly friendly to the Kurds, but I had fond memories of visiting my grandparents in Damascus every other summer, she recalls. At the outset, it was heartbreaking to see how mainstream media downplayed what was going on in the country, while we heard horrible reports from family and friends in Syria. While the media debated whether the events in Syria constituted a civil war or genocide, Turanli, 42, kept hearing from relatives about the destruction of towns and villages and people fleeing for their lives. It was ISILs takeover of the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar in August 2014 that finally prompted her to take action. The siege of Sinjar hit many Kurds around the world to the core, she says. Once again, we were caught in the middle of a conflict in our ancestral lands that we had neither started, nor had anything to do with. The siege of Sinjar hit many Kurds around the world to the core. Once again, we were caught in the middle of a conflict in our ancestral lands that we had neither started, nor had anything to do with. by Hivron Turanli, Founder, Paint Away the Trauma Turanli says she contacted some of the leading NGOs operating in the region to ask how she could help. I speak six languages fluently, including Kurdish and Arabic, and I taught Bosnian immigrants Swedish when Sweden received their first wave of Bosnian refugees in the mid-1990s, she says. I knew there was something I could do. But I never heard back from any organisation. Undeterred, in February 2015, Turanli booked a flight to Erbil to scope out for herself what the actual needs were on the ground, and how she could make a difference. There, she met a group of expatriate doctors and nurses who were running their own organisation, called Joint Help for Kurdistan. They had set up a medical clinic at the Bagid Kandala II Camp, one of the more remote camps in the middle of nowhere between the cities of Duhok and Zakho, she says. I was struck by their dedication to the 7,000 mostly Yazidi Kurdish IDPs [internally displaced persons] there. Seeing them work made me realise that when you want to help, the best way you can do it is with what you do best. She adds: The IDPs there are facing serious psychological and emotional trauma, health problems, and the loss of family members while others are still in captivity. On returning to Canada after her nine-week trip, Turanli says her mind and emotions were all over the place because of what she had seen. I had some canvas and paint lying around in my basement so I started fiddling a bit with that and found a tremendous relief. READ MORE: Analysis Is Sinjar the new Kobane? The idea came to her with the overwhelming feedback she received after posting photographs of her artwork on social media.People wanted to know how they could purchase my artwork, she says. Without giving it much thought, I realised I could simply ask people to make donations to the causes I support and I would give them the painting they wanted. This was until I set up my own charity organisation Paint Away the Trauma. If artistic expression had helped her to cope with her emotions, Turanli wondered whether it might also help the children in the camps to process their own trauma. On March 4, Turanli flew back to Erbil to meet her friends from Joint Help for Kurdistan. She held two full-day Paint Away The Trauma workshops, with the participation of nine children aged between 10 and 11. On the first day, I held a class for nine children, teaching them basic letters in English and finished the class with painting with yarn, she says. Then I had a class with girls who had escaped sex slavery; one of them had just arrived five days prior and her two sisters who had experienced the same thing were also present. The results exceeded Turanlis expectations both in terms of painting as well as therapeutic benefits. My approach was not to speak of what they had experienced but merely to find a way to express their emotions through painting, but at the end of one class I was cornered by one of the girls who insisted on sharing with me what she had experienced, she says. I hugged her and told her she was now safe and that was all that mattered. READ MORE: Hero Ibrahim Ahmad the original female Peshmerga Turanli funded the first round of the project on her own, but she hopes to receive support from NGOs to increase the size and scope of future workshops, and perhaps even sponsor visits from a child psychologist. My goal is to make it a running project with access to more campgrounds as well as the needed medical professionals to cooperate on the follow-up necessary, she says, noting that art alone would not be enough to address the psychological damage suffered by these children. For Turanli, such activism is nothing new. She is the granddaughter of Osman Sabri (1905-1993), an Ottoman Kurdish poet, writer and politician who was one of the founders of the Kurdish Democratic Party. Sabri was involved in numerous Kurdish revolts from 1928 onwards, and imprisoned for his political activities in both Syria and Iraq. In 1973, Sabris daughter and husband sought political asylum in Sweden with the help of Amnesty International. Their daughter, Turanli, was born in Stockholm. I was born in Rinkeby, a suburb of Stockholm that was built 1968, as a part of a million-dollar programme to house the huge influx of immigrants coming to Sweden during times of workforce shortage. It was the modern-day wave of what is referred to in Sweden as the first generation of immigrants, she says. Growing up in a neighbourhood like that, surrounded by mostly other immigrant families, you are exposed to the daily struggles and problems of parents recovering from the trauma of escaping injustices in their past, as well as trying to integrate into a foreign society. Follow Tanya Goudsouzian on Twitter: @tgoudsouzian Man threatens to hang himself as scores of people locked up in a detention centre protest against deportation to Turkey. A Pakistani man threatened to hang himself on the Greek island of Lesbos on Wednesday, as scores of people locked up in a detention centre continued to protest against their deportation to Turkey. The young man, held at the overcrowded Moria registration centre, climbed a utility pole and forced himself into a makeshift noose made of a scarf. Chanting freedom, freedom, the 18-year-old threatened to end his life before being convinced by his compatriots and police officers to come down, Greek media reported. The threat came as more than 100 people from Pakistan and Bangladesh staged a sit-in at the closed camp, asking not to be sent back to Turkey as part of a deal the EU brokered with Ankara to stem the flow of refugees to Europe. Under the controversial agreement, all irregular migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey since March 20 face being sent back across the Mediterranean. IN PICTURES: Greece sends refugees back to Turkey In the first wave of deportations on Monday, about 200 people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan were sent back to Turkey aboard chartered Turkish ferries sailing from Lesbos and the nearby island of Chios. Al Jazeeras Zeina Khodr, reporting from Lesbos, said the protesters at Moria, who chanted slogans such as Freedom and We are not illegal, are increasingly worried they will be deported from Greece. There is a likelihood that that will happen, she said. They are now applying for asylum but if those asylum claims are rejected they will be sent back. Wednesdays suicide threat was not the first act of desperation by Pakistani men in Greece in recent months. In late February, two men believed to be brothers were rushed to a hospital after hanging themselves from a tree in Athens Victoria square, a gathering point for refugees arriving in the Greek capital. The young men, who were later released from hospital in good condition, were protesting against border measures that blocked them from continuing their journey towards northern Europe. Speaking to Al Jazeera at the time, Yiannis Chatzidakis, a psychiatrist with Klimaka, a suicide prevention NGO that runs a helpline in Greece, said the refugee crisis in the country was deteriorating. I am not surprised by the fact that people who are under such psychological pressure can commit such desperate acts, Chatzidakis said. The situation is increasingly becoming worse so I dont find it strange that hopeless people with no home are willing to attempt to cut razor-wire fences or even commit acts irregardless if they have mental health issues or not. READ MORE: UNHCR, MSF withdraw from Greeces refugee hot spots The deal to send people back across the Aegean Sea has been fiercely criticised by rights groups on ethical grounds, with the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), Doctors Without Borders (MSF), and other aid organisations all pulling out staff from facilities on Lesbos and other Greek islands. We made the extremely difficult decision to end our activities in Moria because continuing to work inside would make us complicit in a system we consider to be both unfair and inhumane, Marie Elisabeth Ingres, MSF head of mission in Greece, said in late March. We will not allow our assistance to be instrumentalised for a mass expulsion operation, and we refuse to be part of a system that has no regard for the humanitarian or protection needs of asylum seekers and migrants. Co-founder of Mossack Fonseca firm denies leak was an inside job, saying his company was victim of hackers from abroad. One of the founders of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers revelations on offshore holdings, said his company was hacked. Ramon Fonseca said the leak was not caused by an insider but that the company was hacked by servers abroad. The leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca showed how the worlds rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes. The law firm is based in Panama and has more than 40 offices worldwide. READ MORE: Icelands PM resigns over Panama Papers scandal We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack, Fonseca, 63, told Reuters news agency at the companys headquarters in Panama Citys business district. We have a theory and we are following it. Fonseca said that the firm had lodged a criminal complaint with Panamanian prosecutors on Monday over the alleged server breach. Fonseca also said that in all the reporting on the Panama Papers so far nobody is talking of the hack, and that is the only crime that has been committed. Camerons defence In a telephone message responding to questions from AFP news agency, Fonseca said: We have lodged a complaint. We have a technical report that we were hacked by servers abroad. He also rued the fact that reporting on the 11.5 million documents taken from Mossack Fonsecas computer system focused on the high-profile clients who had used the law firm to set up offshore companies to hold their wealth. PANAMA PAPERS: Why some of this is perfectly legal We dont understand. The world is already accepting that privacy is not a human right, he said. Fonsecas comments came as a spokesperson for David Cameron said the British prime minister, his wife and their children would not benefit in future from any offshore funds or trusts. Camerons late father, Ian, was among the tens of thousands of people named in the leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca. After having at first described it as a private matter, Camerons office said on Tuesday that he and his family did not benefit from any such funds at present. Cameron also said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds. But his failure to say whether he or his family would benefit in future only intensified media speculation, with the story splashed across many newspaper front pages on Wednesday. There are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future, the spokesperson said on Wednesday. READ MORE: Privilege and the Panama Papers Cameron has cast himself as a champion in the fight against tax evasion, particularly in British-linked territories such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands. However, the opposition Labour Party have said the Panama Papers show the government has failed to tackle the issue. The Telegraph newspaper reported that Ian Camerons fund moved its operations to Ireland in 2010, the year his son became prime minister, as the directors believed it was about to come under more scrutiny. Efforts ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped from a desert hunting party near the Saudi border last December. A member of the Qatari royal family was released by kidnappers in Iraq nearly four months after being taken captive while on a hunting trip. Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped, said a brief statement published on the Qatar News Agency website on Wednesday. A Pakistani national was also released, the Qatari foreign ministry said. The pair, who were not named, were among more than 20 people abducted from a desert hunting party close to the Saudi border last December. It is not known if any ransom was paid for the two men. The hunters were abducted when gunmen attacked their camp in a Shia-majority area of southern Iraq. Nine members of the party managed to escape and cross into nearby Kuwait. Qatar had said earlier its nationals crossed into Iraqi territory with an official permit from Iraqs interior ministry. Faleh al-Zayadi, the governor of Muthanna province, where the hunters were seized, told AFP at the time that a number of members of the Qatari ruling family were among those taken. He said the kidnappers were heavily armed and travelled in dozens of vehicles. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that negotiations were continuing with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the remaining abductees. Earlier this year, Doha said Baghdad had a responsibility to free all those who had been kidnapped. YEREVAN, APRIL 5, ARMENPRESS. President of the Republic of Nagorno Karabakh Bako Sahakyan visited Martakert on April 5 and held a working consultation with the regional administration. As Armenpress was informed by the Central Information Department of the Presidential Administration of Nagorno Karabakh, current situation of the region and a range of tasks to be carried out were discussed during the meeting. President Sahakyan gave precise instructions to the regional administration towards proper solution of the discussed issues. Government-commissioned report says media houses played a role in the deadly 2015 xenophobic attacks in KwaZulu-Natal. Johannesburg, South Africa A series of sensational newspaper headlines and the dissemination of false information on social media contributed to the deadly outbreak of xenophobia-related violence last year, a new report says. The failure of media houses to contextualise the violent occurrences sent shockwaves across the country and around the world, said the government-commissioned report released on Tuesday that investigated the causes and consequences of the xenophobic attacks in KwaZulu-Natal province. Seven people were killed and about 5,000 others displaced in a wave of violence against foreign nationals between March and May 2015. The spreading of misinformation on social media platforms contributed to widespread panic at the height of the attacks in April 2015, it said. Fear of xenophobic attacks persists in S Africa A probe headed by Judge Navi Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, took place over seven months and also found shortcomings by law enforcement agencies contributed to tensions between locals and foreigners. Preventive action missing China Ngubane, a Durban-based activist and researcher who worked closely with victims of the xenophobic violence last year, said effective preventive action by officials and law enforcement agencies is still missing. Even up to now there is a lot of fear among African immigrants, given that on the streets there are continuous messages flowing indicating that xenophobia is still something that is alive, Ngubane said. The report found many of the underlying tensions between foreigners and locals had roots in the xenophobia violence of 2008, when 62 people including South Africans were killed. Because these tensions had not been resolved, the report concluded, there is strong possibility of recurrence. The underlying socioeconomic challenges laid the foundation for increased competition for employment, basic social services, and business opportunities within and between various communities. The trigger for the attacks was blamed in part on comments made by King Goodwill Zwelithini. Speaking at a rally in Pongola, northern Kwazulu-Natal, in late March, the monarch is reported to have said that foreigners were changing the nature of South African society. Zwelithini was quoted as saying: We urge all foreigners to pack their bags and leave. Between March and May, the violence spread to other parts of the province and to Johannesburg. Businesses were looted, homes wrecked, and thousands of foreigners were forced to flee and seek refuge in makeshift camps. Most of those affected were from Malawi, Zimbabwe, Somalia and the DR Congo. Ndabezinhle Sibiya, a spokesman for KZN premiers office, told Al Jazeera it was clear from the report that nothing whatsoever links his majesty to the xenophobic attacks. You guys in the media manufactured stories. Social media and some of the mainstream media houses manufactured stories. Intimidation and violence There have been a series of reports of sporadic attacks against foreign nationals across the country in 2016. In Kwazulu-Natal, unconfirmed reports of violence continue to circulate as several foreign nationals told Al Jazeera about daily travails of intimidation and violence in the townships. Sibiya, however, dismissed the allegations. Sporadic reports? Youre going to create another panic. Thats exactly what Judge Pillay was saying, that you guys in the media, you just write up something, you create panic, you create anxiety. Theres just nothing like that, said Sibiya. Ngubane said social media was particularly culpable for exacerbating tensions through the circulation of false reports and fabricated images at the height of the violence last year. So somehow social media had contributed to the perpetuation of xenophobic sentiment and the flaring of xenophobic violence, he said. Additional reporting by Aaisha Dadi Patel and Dana da Silva Children and pregnant woman among those killed in Kurdish area while ISIL fighters raid power station near Damascus. A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian fighters shelled a Kurdish neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo, according to a monitoring group. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 70 people, including 30 children, were also wounded in Tuesdays attack, adding that the shelling was a violation of a ceasefire agreement. The shelling targeted Sheikh Maqsud area, where up to 50,000 residents are caught in the crossfire of government-held districts and those controlled by oppposition fighters. In a separate incident on Tuesday, fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) launched attacks on government-held areas near Damascus in an apparent response to the groups loss of ground elsewhere in Syria. An ISIL statement said the group attacked the Tishrin power station 50km northeast of the capital and a Syrian military source acknowledged confirmed the assault but said all those who took part had been killed. The source said the attack appeared to be ISILs response to reverses suffered by ISIL around Palmyra. Syrian and allied forces, backed by Russian air strikes, have forced ISIL fighters out of the town of al-Qaryatain, 100km west of the ancient city of Palymrya, itself recaptured by the government last week. OPINION: Palmyra is a major turning point in Syrias Civil War Russian forces have helped remove more than 1,500 mines in Palmyra since it was taken over, Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Wednesday. Elsewhere on Tuesday, SOHR said ISIL fighters, using five bomb-laden cars, struck military positions near the airport, southeast of Damascus, killing 12 soldiers. Government forces responded with shelling and air strikes in that area, and jets also struck the town of Dumeir, 40km northeast of Damascus, which is held by a group sympathetic to ISIL. Moscows arms exports hit a record $14.5bn in 2015 with orders surging to $56bn, according to President Putin. It seemed like a Cold War episode. A T-90, one of Russias most advanced battle tanks, was hit by a US-made tank killer a tube-launched, wire-guided BGM-71 TOW missile. The tank withstood a lightning-like explosion without igniting, and one of the crewmembers hastily got out of the turret. The episode may have pitted weapons produced by Cold-War rivals, but the scene took place in Aleppo in February. The tank was operated by Syrian government forces, and the TOW was launched by Hawks Mountain Brigade, an opposition group that got the TOW via Saudi Arabia or directly from the CIA, a military analyst said. The whole episode was a chance to see what happens when state-of-the-art hardware from two major world powers violently collide in the Middle East, Robert Beckhusen wrote for the National Interest magazine. It was also a perfect commercial for Russian arms producers. READ MORE: Did Putin trump Obama in Syria? The Kremlin said it spent almost $500m on its military operation in Syria that started on September 30 and goes on despite a widely advertised partial withdrawal last month. But Moscow could earn a lot more after the world saw Russia-made weapons, old and new, battle-tested by the Russian air force and Syrian President Bashar al-Assads military on the ground. This is colossal advertising and Russia expects new purchases worth tens of billions of dollars, Alexander Markov, political analyst and member of Russias Council on Foreign and Defense Politics, told Al Jazeera. Hundreds of experts from arms producing [companies] have been there, and they tested their systems in battle conditions. Show off the goods Head to Head Russia: Old foe or new ally? The Syrian war has helped Moscow boost its status as a major arms producer and exporter, already the worlds second-largest after the United States. And thats good news for President Vladimir Putin amid a deepening economic crisis caused by low oil prices, the falling rouble, and Western sanctions imposed over Russias actions in Ukraine. The Syrian operation provided an excellent opportunity to show off the goods, Ruslan Pukhov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, told Al Jazeera. The operation provided a chance to battle-test all the last-generation military systems that Russia could not test in military condition high-precision weaponry, missiles, helicopters, planes and cruise missiles, he said. The Kommersant daily said last week, quoting Kremlin insiders and military analysts, that the marketing effect of the Syrian conflict will boost Russias arms sales by up to $7bn. Algeria has bought a dozen Sukhoi Su-32 fighter bombers, an export version of the Su-34 that proved lethally effective in Syria. The new aircraft will replace Algiers aging fleet of Russian-made MiG-25s. Shift in preferences Pakistan, Vietnam, Indonesia and a string of Latin American nations are also eager to buy more bombers and helicopters, but they also want more than just aircraft, a backbone of Russias arms exports since the 1991 Soviet Union collapse. Their focus shifted to Russian jamming communication stations, S-400 missiles, tanks, air-defence systems, small arms, and even submarines that have been battle-tested in Syria. The system of preferences has changed, defense analyst Anatoly Tsiganok told Al Jazeera. Even NATO member states such as Greece show cautious interest in Russian arms, he said. READ MORE: Analysis: A reluctant Russia in the Middle East? The sales figures already reflect the change. In 2015, Russian arms exports hit a record $14.5bn because of their reliability and high effectiveness, President Putin said in late March. The figure was higher than expected, and foreign orders for Russian weapons exceeded $56bn, Putin added, addressing a meeting of defence officials. In an apparent attempt to impress the West and the rest of the world and appease Putin Russias defence ministry showed off some sophisticated weapons that are not for sale, and whose use in Syria did not seem necessary. Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold On October 7, 2015, on Putins 63rd birthday, four Russian warships launched long-range cruise missiles that hit 11 targets in Syria a distance of more than 1,500km. In December, a Russian submarine submerged in the Mediterranean Sea launched similar cruise missiles against targets in Syrias Raqqa province. Of course, the deployment of these weapons as well as Moscows strikingly effective coordination of its military intervention were impossible without a series of sweeping military reforms in Putins Russia. In 2008, Russia waged and won a five-day war with ex-Soviet Georgia over the breakaway province of South Ossetia. Despite the seemingly triumphant declaration of South Ossetias independence, the Kremlin realised that its ground and air forces did not perform well. The reforms were led by Russias first civilian defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov, who once owned a furniture workshop and happened to be a former prime ministers son-in-law. READ MORE: Russia vs the West: The information war over Palmyra Despite fierce resistance from aged generals, Serdyukov sacked several defence and intelligence officials, and got rid of hundreds of thousands of officers and troops, although he fell short of ending the conscription system that has terrified young Russian men for decades because of widespread hazing. Serdyukov also eliminated dozens of military installations, especially in western Russia, where they have been rooted for decades since the Cold War. Serdyukov was fired in 2012 amid a corruption scandal and, reportedly, an extramarital affair with his subordinate. But the results of his reforms were seen during Russias rapid and almost bloodless takeover of Crimea and, of course, the Syrian campaign. The West was shocked, analyst Tsyganok said. Ted Cruz has easily won the Wisconsin Republican presidential primary, dealing a blow to frontrunner Donald Trumps hopes of accumulating enough delegates for the partys nomination. Cruzs double-digit win over Trump on Tuesday was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block Trump, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nomination fight that could last to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Bernie Sanders, Democratic presidential contender, also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against frontrunner Hillary Clinton and shrinking her commanding lead in delegates. Trump entered the night with 737 convention delegates to Cruzs 481, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the partys nominee in the November 8 election. But Cruz said the party was beginning to rally to his campaign and he was cutting Trumps lead, although he acknowledged the growing possibility that the fight could go all the way to the convention. Either before Cleveland, or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates and together we will beat Clinton in November, Cruz told supporters in Milwaukee. Were winning because were uniting the Republican Party. Extraordinary voter turnout In the Democratic race, the win for Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, is his sixth in the last seven nominating contests. Sanders said his message of breaking up the big banks, reining in Wall Street and reducing income inequality was bringing new and young voters into the process. What we have been seeing throughout this campaign is extraordinary voter turnout in state after state, Sanders said at a rally in Laramie, Wyoming. Congrats to @BernieSanders on winning Wisconsin. To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! -H Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 6, 2016 Heading into Tuesday, Clinton led Sanders by 263 pledged delegates in the race for the 2,383 needed to be nominated at the partys July convention in Philadelphia. She also has a big lead in superdelegates, who are party leaders free to back any candidate. Sanders needs to win up to two-thirds of the remaining delegates to catch up with Clinton, who will keep accumulating delegates even when she loses under a Democratic Party system that awards them proportionally in all states. Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Wisconsin, said that despite the losses, the delegation mass still favoured the frontrunners Trump and Clinton. But at the same time, what weve seen is that their momentum has been blunted and the pathway to those nominations just got a lot more messy, she said. Meanwhile, Cruz told his supporters he was the one who can unify the Republican Party. He was speaking indirectly at the fact that Trump has gathered an awful lot of negative press recently which couldve contributed to the significant loss in this state. Turkey will investigate a massive data breach that reportedly revealed sensitive identity data of about 50 million Turkish citizens, which is roughly two-thirds of the countrys population. Bekir Bozdag, the justice minister, announced on Wednesday a legal investigation had been launched, becoming the first Turkish official confirming the leak. I do not know from where and how this was leaked, but the [size of the data] is close to the number of the electorates in Turkey. We should look into how this breach happened, he said. He also said that a new bill would be adopted to introduce an increased protection of personal data. Hackers posted the purported database online in what is one of the largest public leaks of its kind. Various random identity numbers and names of Turkish citizens entered in the database revealed authentic information confirmed by Al Jazeera. Identity number is used to access a wide range of state services in Turkey such as voting, social security, military recruitment, medical care and banking. The hackers highlighted information concerning Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his predecessor Abdullah Gul and Ahmet Davutoglu, the prime minister. Turkey faces security troubles in a renewed battle against the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK). Two suicide bombings blamed on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in recent months killed dozens. Citizenship proposal Separately, Bozdag said Turkey will work on a new rule to strip citizenship from Turks found to be supporting terrorism, a day after Erdogan said he wanted such a measure. Erdogan first floated the idea on Tuesday in a speech to politicians. Since becoming president, he has transformed the largely ceremonial role into a more executive one, advocating for legislative moves and for the judiciary to take action. Hours later, Ahmet Davutoglu, Turkeys prime minister, said there were no such plans under way, but Bozdag contradicted him on Wednesday. Erdogan envisages a new rule [for stripping citizenship], Bozdag said live on television. Of course we will begin work on this. Erdogan did not specify who he was targeting with the comments. In the past he said that those Turkey accuses of supporting terrorism whether they are journalists or aid workers are no different from terrorists themselves. Rights advocates fear that anti-terrorism laws, already used to detain academics and opposition journalists, will now be used in courts to further stifle discussion of issues such as the Kurdish conflict. Nguyen Tan Dung was credited for standing up to China but blamed for failed state enterprises. Vietnams prime minister has stepped down after 10 years in office, leaving behind a mixed legacy of promoting failed state enterprises, but at the same time attracting foreign investment and daring to challenge China. In a formal vote on Wednesday, 418 members representing 84 percent of the rubber-stamp National Assembly agreed to dismiss Nguyen Tan Dung from his duties, three months before the end of his term, the government said on its website. The National Assembly is scheduled to elect Dungs deputy, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, as prime minister on Thursday. Dungs departure was a mere formality after he lost a leadership battle during the ruling Communist Partys congress in January. During that vote, Dung lost to Nguyen Phu Trong, who was re-elected party general secretary for a second five-year term. In Vietnam, the Communist Party general secretary, the prime minister, and the president form the triumvirate of power. Dung was easily the most high-profile prime minister Vietnam ever had. He was charismatic, a good orator, and mixed easily with foreign leaders, which raised the countrys profile. But within the party he was blamed for the failures of huge state-owned enterprises, including the monumental collapse of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group and Vietnam Shipping Lines. Many of the state-owned enterprises ended up with mountains of public debt. Dungs policy initiatives drew criticisms from both conservative and reform elements within the party, Jonathan London, a Vietnam analyst at the City University of Hong Kong, said in an email interview. Also, Dungs closeness with numerous newly and unusually wealthy Vietnamese raised suspicions among many. Dung took office in 2006 as the global financial crises set in, followed by a global economic slowdown that severely affected Vietnam. Dung won accolades from the Vietnamese people for standing up to China in territorial disputes in the South China Sea. A look at the funding crisis in Egypts health service, from cost of medication to organ sales and patients for hire. Filmmaker: Alaa Mosbah Medical students in an Egyptian university are packed into a small lecture room. A grainy presentation is projected on to the wall. The lesson, taught in English, is entirely theoretical much like most of the medical-related courses and demonstration equipment is also faulty. Dr Rami Said is a product of Egypts tertiary education system. If they need a specific medical case, I provide it. Heart, liver, glands whatever they ask for. All ages are needed, young and old. We want this, we want that. But nothing's for free. by Mahfuz, Professional patient agent Saids view is shared by many others. Dr Nadia al-Ansari works in the Faculty of Medicine at Ain Shams University in Cairo. She says that today, professors dont have the time to teach the way they used to. University teachers are not dedicated or keen to teach any more. Medical students take private lessons, as in the humanities, engineering or business faculties. No one is dedicated the way they used to be. A lack of government funding is not only undermining health provision and affecting the quality of doctor training, its also spawned a black market in the sales of human organs and a bizarre trade in patients for hire. In the Qasr al-Aini Hospital, a familiar face walks the corridors, seen most frequently during exam season. Ahmad al-Saed Ahmad is a professional patient, more commonly known as a consultation subject. In return for treating his chronic chest complaint, Ahmad who is on the books of an agent organising similar cases for this kind of work is paid by students at the hospital, to allow them to examine him in preparation for their final medical exams. He uses his cut of the money to pay his own medical bills. The rest is pocketed by the agent and universities taking part in the back-door process. But Ahmads role and that of other consultation subjects like himself doesnt end there. I started memorising the medical terms until I knew the cases by heart, he says, We learned them so we could teach them [the medical students]. Sometimes the student doesnt know anything at all, so we explain everything, like how to measure blood pressure, take a pulse. The things they should have learned in medical school, we teach them. Some trainee doctors choose to leave Egypt, to take advantage of greater opportunities and better education abroad, in Germany, for example, but most have to make do with the situation at home. The number of medication companies has grown recently. They distribute medicines but need doctors to prescribe them to be sold, so doctors get money from these companies to prescribe a medication for their patients, says GP Reda Harbi. Dr Nihal Majdi works in general medicine and is calling on the Egyptian government for more rights and better support, claiming that doctors conditions verge on the inhumane. She says this is the heart of the problem and is threatening patient care. They [doctors] are asked to work extra shifts without getting paid or working in a humane place and without the proper resources. Without a lot of things. A big part of our job is humanitarian. How can you expect a doctor whos been dehumanised to be humane with patients? asks Majdi. If multinationals will do anything to control the public debate, how can indigenous peoples ever assert their rights? With global demand for natural resources increasing year on year, some of the worlds poorest communities are having to fight hard to protect their environment and way of life. When protests and direct action do not work, many will try and get redress through the courts. But when multinational companies decide that the costs of settling such cases are far less than the huge profits on offer, is justice being undermined? High up in the Andes of northern Peru, among cloud forests, high moors and fertile lands, lies the town of Huancabamba and the nearby farming community of Segunda y Cajas. Untouched by modern industry, the local population lives almost exclusively through farming, tapping into the rich soils and fresh water sources to put food on the table and sell produce to the lowland cities. In 2002, this communitys way of life, more or less unchanged for hundreds of years, was turned upside down by the arrival of British mining company Monterrico Metals. A mining company based in London, Monterrico had obtained concessions from the Peruvian government to start exploration and development work for the huge open cast copper mine called Rio Blanco a project meant to run for 20 or more years. In 2005, local communities marched on the mine site in protest against the companys plans. According to those who were there, the rally had been envisaged as a peaceful affair but a confrontation with the police took place in which a number of people were injured. Twenty-eight protesters were detained at the site for three days and, according to activists, were humiliated and tortured by the security forces. Unlikely to get any redress in Peru, the victims sued Monterrico in the UK, with the help of British law firm Leigh Day and Co, alleging that the company had been complicit in the affair. But though their prospects looked good, the case was settled by Monterrico last year just before it came to trial. It meant the victims did get some compensation but the wider problems they were fighting to reveal were never aired in open court. The case is an interesting example of a growing trend. Multinational companies are increasingly likely to respond to legal challenges in this way. The settlement costs can be high but usually they are far less than they would be after a negative verdict. And more importantly it gives the companies and their lawyers control of the public debate. But it begs a disturbing question: If corporations will do anything to avoid going near a court how can indigenous peoples ever assert their rights? Filmmaker Michael Watts has been to Peru for People & Power to find out. Students discussed how racism has set the tone for the next presidential election Tuesday. UFs Hispanic-Latino Affairs held Race to the Bottom, an impartial discussion on racism and stereotypes. The student organization invited a member from both the UF College Democrats and UF College Republicans to talk about the roles racism and stereotypes play in the 2016 presidential election. With about a dozen students present, they took questions from HLA and audience members about the candidates, campaign methods and their campaign platforms. Amy Mendez, who helped organize the event, said it aimed to help the UF community tune into the elections on an impartial platform. As a minority community at UF, we just felt like it was important, the 20-year-old UF finance sophomore said. During the talk, HLA showed videos of Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz. After the videos, the audience and the panelists engaged in a Q&A discussion. Richard El-Rassy, the president of UF College Republicans, acknowledged the racial tension in politics, but he said the issue comes from both parties. Its not the political party itself that is using racial stereotypes, its members of the political party, he said. Natalia Perez Santos, the director of outreach for UF College Democrats, said she hopes to see political parties meet the needs of citizens. As we continue to move forward, we have to push our parties to do better, the 20-year-old UF political science and history junior said. Fahad Khan said he decided to attend the event after seeing it on Facebook. He said the panelists collected demeanors set the tone for a civil atmosphere. I think that we got to see different perspectives on the issues, the 20-year-old UF political science and history senior said. Having these discussions, I think, is crucial to any democracy. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now @MelissaGomez004 mgomez@alligator.org Many want to write off Donald Trump as an aberration, a joke what America isnt. But I think The Donalds success thus far within our "free market" and absurd election process,is a testimony to Americas values: deep-seated racism and misogyny. His popular support and misplaced recognition by erstwhile serious media outlets also evidences there are, indeed, many Americans who are little Donalds themselves. I would also venture to guess the resurgence of widespread racism and misogyny we are witnessing is, in some part, a consequence of Obamas presidency. One needs only observe the type of criticism received by Obama and his family to realize that for racist white males in the U.S., Obamas authority was an affront to their egos and a harbinger of their doom. Admittedly, I think Obama, while charismatic and successful, still upheld the "free market" and the status quo and is somewhat selective in pulling the black card. Despite this, he is still accused of being a Muslim radical who will declare martial law and confiscate all the guns and oh, yeah: The U.N. is involved somehow. Americas greatness has been shattered, they assert with trembling pointed fingers. Beliefs this deluded stem from mentalities under attack, whether legitimate or just perceived. I am convinced the progress of the struggles for greater civil and human rights for ethnic minorities, women and non-hetero people has been nothing short of near-fatal blows for those who have historically benefitted from the oppression and marginalization of the aforementioned groups. We also cannot forget that the struggle for rights and recognition never ceases, as the structures of white male privilege die hard. Last semester, I wrote a column titled, "On a scale from one to frat" in which I performed a discourse analysis of a sign on a frat house and asserted Greek life, with its glorification of white masculinity and the objectification of women, is inherently misogynistic and does not belong in a center of higher learning. Unsurprisingly, I was criticized for my beliefs and, much to my amusement, accused of using a thesaurus! Commenters asserted I couldnt interpret popular culture, was putting words in womens mouths and was "butthurt" because I didnt get a bid. (Ask anyone who knows me: The image of me in a frat is painfully comic.) I am thus taking this opportunity to consider those types of criticisms and hopefully reignite the crucial debate we need to be having about the role of Greek life at UF. As our university is not an island but rather a microcosm of the whole country, we can assume it is a training ground for the world, our future careers and social interactions. I wont make generalizations; rather, Ill ask: What degree of accountability do the members of Greek life have? What privileges are they afforded that average students are not? I ask further how UF should address countless studies such as one from The Guardian that shows frat men rape at disproportionate rates compared to non-Greek-affiliated students and sorority women are much more prone to rape than other college women. Yes, the tendency to write off any pattern of behavior as a single series of aberrations or an isolated incident is the typical modus operandi of society, of which universities are a crucial part. But I believe this comes up short in a disastrous way, and in an effort to curb the scourge of white male privilege in the U.S., it is necessary to get as close to the source as possible. My hope is that our Student Body, as well as administration, may take a sobering look at the reality of Greek life within UF and how it serves as a continuation of an unfortunate and oppressive status quo. Yes, boys will be boys. But that doesnt mean we shouldnt hold them accountable or that they shouldnt suffer the consequences of their bad behavior. Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox Subscribe Now Jordan MacKenzie is a second-year UF linguistics masters student. His column appears on Wednesdays. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg considered the cessation of clashes in Nagorno Karabakh reassuring and urged the two sides to respect the ceasefire and prevent the escalation of tension. As Armenpress reports, the statement of Stoltenberg says. I am encouraged by the reports of the cessation of hostilities along the Nagorno Karabakh line of contact. I urge the sides to respect the ceasefire, show restraint and prevent any new escalation, Stoltenberg said. He mentioned that NATO supports the efforts of the OSCE Minsk Group. The parties need to go back to the negotiating table and find a comprehensive settlement, under the auspices of the Co-chairs. There is no military solution to the conflict, the statement of Secretary General says. AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold In Heels, Silk and a Girdle by Elizabeth Andrews Sen. Nelson Calls For New Fla. Primary; Gov Crist Backs 'Do-Over' Who'll Win? Ask Spock Spock.com Engine Predicts Winners By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him But I Think He's a Non-Believer by Constance Daley Death of a Thug The Life and Horrors of Suharto by Andreas Harsono ___________________________ This Just In Sierra Club: McCain Ducked All 15 Key Votes On Green Laws (AR) A Work By AR's T.S. Kerrigan Is Chosen As 'Best Poem' By Wordpress Site Murder At Mile 63 The Deadly Assault and Bush Administration Cover-Up by S. Eben Kirkesby and Andreas Harsono 5427 14th St. West, Bradenton, FL 34207 $6.99 Fish Fridays! Manatee Co.'s Only 24-Hr. FREE Wi-Fi Paid Advertisement On Native Ground AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008 HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies: WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008 AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008 CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE] The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center faces a congressional investigation by the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives for their alleged use of fetal tissues in their research. More, specifically, members of the committee were interested in knowing if fetal tissue was bought or sold. The investigation, which is now in its second round, includes depositions from two UNM faculty members and some documents related to their research. The Health Sciences Center (HSC) will not release the names of the faculty members, stating, Such disclosure would expose our employees and students to serious risk of harm. UNM HSC denied any involvement in buying or selling fetal tissue . Officials there claim the fetal tissue was donated by women who gave their consent. Lieutenant Governorr John Sanchez posted his opinions on the matter to his Facebook page on Saturday, April 2. He condemned the HSC and the University of New Mexico for any involvement in the harvesting or testing of infant body parts. Sanchez claims Southwestern Women's Options, an abortion clinic, partnered with HSC in the research. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican , the HSC terminated any involvement with the clinic back in December. Agave Out of New Mexico Agave Health Inc., a behavioral health company that serves more than 10 cities and counties in northern New Mexico, announced on Friday, April 1, that they will be closing their doors at the end of June. The company was created in 2013 by Southwest Behavioral Health Services, Inc., an Arizona-based company. Agave was one of five out-of-state companies New Mexico officials contracted to replace 15 mental health companies accused of Medicaid fraud in 2013. They are the third of five such contracted companies that have shut down or left since being brought into the New Mexico healthcare system. Agave cited lower rates being paid through Medicaidas well as other hardshipsas reasons for the closing. The Attorney General's Office recently cleared all of those 15 companies of any impropriety. Consequently, 10 of the 15 cleared companies are now suing the state Human Services Department for due process and contract violations, reports the Santa Fe New Mexican. The New Mexico HSD denies the allegations and is filing countersuits in return. Interestingly, HSD and Agave are already planning to help patients make a smooth transition to new state-approved providers. Kyler Nerison, spokesman for HSD said, Our top priority in any transition is maintaining uninterrupted care for those who need it and protecting access to behavioral health services for consumers. The reason for Agave's closure has much to do with Medicaid services and payments. Many New Mexicans rely on Medicaid and this year Medicaid went through a huge funding shortfall. According to published reports, Medicaid funding fell about $86 million short; but the number is actually closer to $417 million when missing federal matching funds are added to the equation. This shortfall is one of the reasons healthcare providers are being paid less to treat patients who have Medicaid. New Mexico's growing enrollment in Medicaid and rising drug costs are some of the reasons why the funding for Medicaid has been unable to keep up with patient needs. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. 1094th special session of the OSCE Permanent Council, which took place on April 5, was devoted to the issue of military confrontation along the line of contact between Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan. Head of Armenian Mission to the OSCE, Ambassador Arman Kirakosyan expressed his gratitude to German Presidency of the OSCE for holding the Minsk Group special session and the OSCE participating states that have expressed their condolences to the families of those killed during military confrontation. Arman Kirakosyan expressed confidence that large scale military operations cannot bring any benefit to the people of the region. Armenpress was informed about this by the Department of Press, Information and Public Relations of the Foreign Ministry of Armenia. The Armenian Ambassador presented the recent Azerbaijani unleashed aggression, noting that the numerous threats of use of force by Azerbaijan became real. He stated that Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army positions and peaceful civilian settlements became targets of the Azerbaijani artillery, tanks and air force bombardment. Azerbaijani fired Grad and Smerch multiple rocket launchers, TOS-1 heavy artillery system, 152mm artillery cannons and different caliber mortars. He said that Azerbaijani attempt to gain a military victory has failed due to the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Armys actions, and Azerbaijan lost significant number of tanks, armored vehicles, UAVs, 2 attack helicopters, and hundreds of soldiers, paying a heavy price for its military adventurism. Ambassador Kirakosyan also informed about the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army losses 20 casualties, 26 missing in action, and 72 wounded. He noted that a number of civilians have been killed, including a 12 year old child and 3 elderly members of the Khalapyan family. Arman Kirakosyan stressed, that the aim of Azerbaijans military aggression was to distract the international communitys attention from Azerbaijans human rights violations, to suppress its populations dissatisfaction regarding the oil prices, social-economic problems, and ruin the Nagorno Karabakh peaceful settlement process by trying to gain advantage with the use of force. The Ambassador said that the latest confrontation differs from the previous escalations by the attempts to capture territories and large-scale bombardments of civilian settlements, which is aimed at terrorizing the population of Nagorno Karabakh. The bombardment of a school in Nagorno Karabakh, which resulted in the death and injures of children and the brutal executions of elderly people in Talish village by Azerbaijani special forces are war crimes. Arman Kirakosyan said that the massacres of the elderly remind the massacres of Armenians by Azerbaijan in Sumgait, Baku, Kirovabad and other cities during the initial phase of the conflict. The Armenian side stated that Azerbaijan has adopted the signature of the Islamic State terrorist organization, and is violently killing innocent civilians to raise their fighting spirit. Azerbaijan is not even trying to hide the fact that it bombarded civilian settlements, in particular the bombardment of Martaker and even threatens to target Nagorno Karabakh capital Stepanakert. Ambassador Kirakosyan stressed what the abovementioned war crimes make it obvious to realize what could have happened to the Nagorno Karabakh population if the Azerbaijani armed forces had achieved victory. "Under these circumstances, the right to self-determination of the people of Nagorno Karabakh cannot be questioned, because it refers to the physical survival and existence of the people. The Republic of Armenia, as a side of the 1994 trilateral ceasefire agreement, will take necessary steps. The people of Nagorno Karabakh have the right to self-defense, and Armenia, as a guarantor of its physical security, will support Nagorno Karabakh. The Armenian President has instructed the Foreign Ministry to prepare a military assistance agreement draft between the Republic of Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh", the Armenian representative said. Ambassador Kirakosyan positively assessed the international communitys condemnation of the ceasefire violations, however noted that general and unaddressed condemnation is not enough to suppress the responsible side of the large scale military attacks. He stressed the importance of bringing Azerbaijan to responsibility for breaching the ceasefire regime and endangering the stability and security of the region. The Armenian side stated that it has numerously voiced about the Azerbaijani ceasefire violations in the OSCE. Armenia has agreed to the OSCE Minsk Group CO-Chairs proposal to create a mechanism for ceasefire violation investigations, whereas Azerbaijan has declined all proposals of the international mediators aimed at strengthening the ceasefire regime. When Armenia was urging to strengthen the abilities of the Office of Personal Representative of the Chairman-In-Office of the OSCE, Azerbaijan was trying to limit his presence in the contact line. The reason of this is more than obvious. Azerbaijans efforts were aimed at limiting the international community, and creating conditions for starting new military aggression against the people of Nagorno Karabakh. Arman Kirakosyan said that by the same logic, Azerbaijan has refused all political proposals to settle the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which were made by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs. Azerbaijan tried to discredit the negotiating process on the highest level, and refused to receive the Co-chairs in the beginning of this year. The Ambassador spoke about Turkeys negative role, stating that this country, which is famous for its animosity towards Armenians, is supporting Azerbaijan. The supportive statements of high ranking Turkish officials to Azerbaijani armed forces are an obvious display of encouragement of crimes against Armenians. In the end of his speech, the Ambassador presented the statement of the President of Armenia regarding the Armenian position on the settlement, which was made during a meeting with OSCE member country Ambassadors in Yerevan. First, the ceasefire signed by Armenia, Nagorno Karabakh and Azerbaijan in 1994 shall be strictly maintained, all military operations shall be ceased and the Armenian and Azerbaijani units shall return to their position which were prior to April 1, 2016. Second, it is necessary to immediately create a mechanism for ceasefire violation investigations and the abilities and powers of the OSCE Personal Representative of the Chairman-In-Office shall significantly be expanded, including the increase in number of field assistants. Third, Nagorno Karabakh is a signing party of the 1994 ceasefire agreement, thus all conflicting parties shall resume direct contact with Nagorno Karabakh. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Michaelle Jean is highly concerned over the restoration of military operations in Nagorno Karabakh which is the heaviest in the last 20 years. As Armenpress reports citing the official webpage of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, she expressed regret for the losses of human life caused by military operations. I urge all sides to stop the struggle, respect the ceasefire regime and conduct the necessary measures to avoid from further escalation of violence which is harmful for peace and people, she said. Secretary General urged to restore negotiations with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (the OSCE) Minsk Group Co-Chairs for reaching a peaceful, balanced and long-term settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict in accordance with the resolution adopted by the states and governments in the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Summit in Dakar in November 2014. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS.The leader of Azerbaijani Popular Front party Ali Karimli has made a critical statement to the countrys political and military authorities about the failed military operations of the Azerbaijani army in recent days in Karabakh. As Armenpress reports citing azadliq.info, Karimli in his Facebook page reminded the statement of the Azerbaijani authorities If needed, we will take Karabakh which was repeated every day by senior Azerbaijani officials, and asked them a question: So why couldnt you take it? If you are talking about the high-readiness of the army, regardless of religious, ethnic differences, the national unity, about the world, the neighbors, especially about the high level of support of Turkey, a difficult and panic situation of the adversary, so why couldnt you do your if necessary. Please, no longer use the if necessary expression, it will not be taken seriously, Ali Karimli stated in his speech to Azerbaijani political and military authorities. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The ceasefire agreement has been reached in Moscow on April 5, during the meeting of the Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Armenia and Chief of General Staff of Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. This was announced by Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan at the Cabinet meeting. The Chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan met yesterday in Moscow and reached a ceasefire agreement. The Azerbaijani actions were unprecedented not only after the 1994 ceasefire, but also in general comparing with the Nagorno Karabakh war. This was connected primarily with the military point of view, the density of fire along the contact line, the number of forces and means involved, the approach of their forces to the frontline, and the great number of their casualties. Primarily due to the unprecedented military point of view, the density of the fire along the Line of Contact, used military equipment, the number of forces and means involved, the first line of approach in their armed forces, as well as a comparison of the great number of their casualties. The number of enemy losses compared with losses of the Defense Army is very large, more than ten times, "Armenpress reports Ohanyan saying. According to him, the level of Azerbaijans preparedness was also unprecedented, the presence of merceneries and terrorists among the Azerbaijani armed forces. Although they are stating as if they were responding to our actions, the nature of the aggression is clear, this was a premeditated and not proportionate step. The number of Azerbaijani casualties and equipment losses on the territory of Nagorno Karabakh is also unprecedented. From a humanitarian point of view the presence of war crimes is also obvious decapitations, vandalizing of corpses, mutilations done by Azerbaijan, Ohanyan said. The defense minister said that during these days the social mobilization of the country became obvious, revival of voluntary movement, and there is a high moral and psychological atmosphere in the two Armenian states. The Minister stressed the heroism of soldiers and volunteers, as a result of which Azerbaijan has not achieved anything, even in strategic terms. "The information that several areas are under the control of the enemy, is false, the minister said, adding that the whole nation should bow to the heroism of our soldiers, officers and the volunteers. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan said that this aggression by Azerbaijan once again proved the unification of Armenia, Artsakh and the Diaspora. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The issue of making Nagorno Karabakh a negotiating party has always been on the agenda of Armenia, and the recent developments once more stressed its importance. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia Shavarsh Kocharyan talked about this with journalists after the Cabinet meeting. He referred to the question stating that in fact, if the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Moscow, it means that Karabakh has been out of negotiation process. He also added that they are going to continue to work with that issue. The issue of involvement of Nagorno Karabakh into the negotiation process, I repeat, is the number one issue in our agenda, and the recent events once more emphasized that the involvement of Karabakh has no alternative both in the sense to prevent similar future provocations, and to achieve progress in the negotiation process, Kocharyan said. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later.On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Marz,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will pay an official visit to Yerevan on April 21-22 to meet with the Armenian authorities. As Armenpress reports, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova informed about this. The visit will focus on bilateral relations, regional and international issues will be discussed as well, and there will also be an exchange of views about the Eurasian agenda. Concerning the recent developments related to Nagorno Karabakh issue a special attention will be paid to undertake immediate measures for stability in the conflict zone. Russian authorities make great efforts to stabilize the situation in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had phone conversations with the authorities of Armenia and Azerbaijan. We hope that the intense efforts of Russia will contribute to the strong maintenance of ceasefire regime and the restoration of negotiation process for the peaceful settlement of the conflict, Zakharova said. She reminded that Lavrov will visit Baku on April 6 based on the arrangement reached in advance, but the visit will have a special importance with regard to the recent developments. During the visit meetings will be held in a bilateral format. Lavrov will discuss the recent developments over the Nagorno Karabakh conflict with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson stated that within the framework of situation normalization efforts, the meeting of Lavrov with the Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian is planned to be held at the meeting of CIS Foreign Ministers on April 5 in Moscow. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide Armenia with $21 million for the modernization of the public sector. Armenpress reports the National Assembly of Armenia discusses the credit agreement signed on November 15, 2015 between the Republic of Armenia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is the third credit agreement for the modernization of the public sector. Deputy Chairman of the State Revenue Committee Vakhtang Mirumyan submitted the credit agreement for the discussion of the National Assembly. The program of modernization of the public sector is the logical continuation of the two previous programs. We enter the final phase of the program. During the first two phases we mainly implemented institutional reforms, elaborated the main directions of our policy, relevant functional analysis was done, and we already have business procedures, so this third program is the logical continuation of the works conducted during the first two programs and comes to ensure the function ability of the program, Armenpress reports Mirumyan stating. He added that the first component of the program is about Financial Management Information Systems. Here we speak about the investment of GFMIS systems widely applied in international practice, which means a strict supervision over the state expenses and overall accountability, Mirumyan clarified. The second component of the program is improvement of e-governance services. According to Mirumyan, this is about consolidation of e-governance systems of the state structures and creating one unified platform, which will create extra conveniences for our citizens and entrepreneurs. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Two servicemen were killed in Karvachar. As Armenpress reports, the Press Secretary of Ministry of Defense of Armenia Artsrun Hovhannisyan shared this in his Facebook page. Two servicemen were killed in Karvacher: we will inform about the details later, he writes. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later.On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Marz,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Serzh Sargsyan has arrived in Berlin on an official visit, during which meetings with Germanys top leadership are scheduled. Serzh Sargsyan met Bundestags President Norbert Lammert on April 6. As Armenpress was informed by the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of the Presidential Administration, the sides stressed the importance of inter-parliamentary cooperation within strengthening Armenian-German inter-governmental relations, for the development of which Serzh Sargsyan stressed the importance of Norbert Lammerts contribution. Not only are you encouraging relations between the two parliaments, which form a platform for mutual interests, but also keep under your attention issues related to Armenians, Serzh Sargsyan told Norbert Lammert. As evidence to this, Serzh Sargsyan noted Norbert Lammerts participation in the events dedicated to the Armenian Genocide in Germany, as well as his speech during Bundestags special session dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. Norbert Lammert expressed his confidence that Serzh Sargsyans official visit and the meetings in this framework with Germanys top leadership will elevate Armenian-German political dialogue to a new level and will expand the cooperation. Issues related to the further development of Armenia-European Union relations were discussed, and hope was expressed that the Armenia-EU relations coordinating agreement will be signed in the nearest future. Answering Norbert Lammerts question about the Constitutional reforms in Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan informed about developments linked to the reforms and expressed gratitude to the German side for providing consultative assistance on this. Latest developments of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict were also discussed during the meeting. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian community of the Netherlands will hold a protest against the continued Azerbaijani aggression towards the Nagorno Karabakh on April 8 in Dam Square, Amsterdam. The protest will start at 18:00 local time. Armenpress was informed about this by the Armenian-Netherlands Cooperating organizations. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later.On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Marz,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Following the meeting with Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, Serzh Sargsyan announced during a briefing that the past 3 days of military operation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone showed that power is not about modern weapons or number of tanks. Azerbaijan may have more modern weapons, and the military operations during the last 3 days showed that indeed those weapons do function. But power isnt about modern weapons, its not about it at all, power is not about number of tanks, its about the faith that is present among the people of Karabakh and overall among Armenians, that will protect their homeland at any price. Yes, we mainly fight with weapons of the 1980s, but the recent conflict showed who is fighting how, showed how many casualties the Azerbaijanis have and how many we have, showed how we treat every single loss, by informing our society every second about casualties, wounded, loss of equipment. Try to find similar information in Azerbaijan: You cant. You know, war is a very bad thing, this is not news. But the war of the past 3 days showed that it is easier to fight in an open society, as the peoples support is the biggest thing. This is real power, Armenpress reports the President saying. Speaking on the fact that Russia is selling arms to Azerbaijan, Serzh Sargsyan said: Russia is our strategic partner, and we are in the same security system the CSTO. Naturally, we feel sorry when Russia, and not only Russia but also other CSTO countries sell arms to Azerbaijan. But we understand that our abilities are very limited to influence this process. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later.On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Marz,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. STEPANAKERT, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. On April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2 Azerbaijani armed forces violated the most important right, the right to life. As Armenpress reports, Human Rights Defender of Nagorno Karabakh Yuri Hayrapetyan announced about this and stressed that the requirements set out in the Geneva Conventions on international humanitarian law were also violated. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan, who is in Artsakh at the invitation of Human Rights Defender of Artsakh, mentioned that the data on criminal harassments by Azerbaijani armed forces against the rights of Nagorno Karabakh peaceful people was presented to several international organizations, including the European Council, the United Nations and non-governmental human rights organizations. Arman Tatoyan also highlighted that he will continue his activity as a Human Rights Defender for making facts more thorough and presenting well-grounded suggestions. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later.On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Marz,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry denies the information of Azerbaijans Defense Ministry regarding ceasefire violations from the Armenian side; Armenpress was informed by the Press Service of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Ministry. The statement released by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry today, which says that the Armenian side is firing different caliber weapons in the line of contact, is a disinformation. Defense Army Forces strictly adhere to the ceasefire agreement, the NKR Defense Armys statement reads. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. President Serzh Sargsyan, who is in Germany on an official visit, met today with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Armenpress was informed from the Department of Public Relations and Mass Media of Republic of Armenia Presidents Office. Noting that his visit to Germany is taking place in the period when Azerbaijan has seriously challenged security of Nagorno Karabakh as well as of Armenia, the President of Armenia spoke in detail about the existing tense situation, which resulted from the violation by Azerbaijan of the ceasefire and unprecedented escalation of the situation, and the latest developments. The very fact that at this difficult moment I am here is more than just a testimony to the importance which Armenia attaches to the bilateral relations as well as to Germanys role as the country presiding in the OSCE, said the President of Armenia. He underscored that since the OSCE Co-Chairs are entrusted with the resolution of the NK problem, expectations from the OSCE are great. The President said that steps aimed at the establishment of peace are anticipated, and after the re-establishment of the ceasefire regime of 1994 it will be necessary to implement mechanisms which are aimed at the strict adherence to its terms. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany reiterated his appeal to the parties of the conflict regarding the situation and underscored once again that the NK conflict has no military solution; the parties must manifest political will and return to the negotiations conducted in the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. Minister Steinmeier stressed the importance of the implementation in the area of the conflict of the confidence building measures as well as the resumption of the monitoring in the Line of Contact by the Office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairmanin-Office. At the meeting, the parties stressed also the importance of the establishment of the mechanisms for the investigation of the ceasefire violations. With this regard, President Sargsyan viewed as important the extension of the mandate of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairmanin-Office and amplification of the capacities of his Office. The President of Armenia and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany discussed the dynamically developing agenda of the interstate bilateral relations, and preset opportunities for developing cooperation in a number of areas. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Germany is Armenias second trading partner, and first trading partner among EU countries. As Armenpress reports, this stated by President Serzh Sargsyan during a joint briefing with Angela Merkel. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the German Government, personally Mrs. Chancellor for continuous support of Armenia EU dialogue. This is vital for us as a bearer of European values. Germany is the second trading partner of Armenia, and first among EU countries. In a few days the opening of the German Economic Unions representation will take place in Yerevan, which speaks to a promising economic potential. We are ready to host German entrepreneurs in Armenia. I would like to take this opportunity and stress the German governments assistance to Armenia, as evidence by the continuous support of the German government in the Constitutional reform process in Armenia, the President said. Serzh Sargsyan noted that Armenia will do everything for strengthening the friendly relations of the two peoples. He expressed hope that the next meeting with the German leadership will take place in Yerevan. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian Government discusses and develops step to bring Azerbaijan in international responsibility for atrocities implemented by Azerbaijani armed forces in Artsakh. Minister of Justice of the Republic of Armenia said about this answering the question of Heritage Faction MP Zaruhi Postanjyan during the question and answer session at the National Assembly. In fact, everything that happened in these days was a violation of various conventions. The convention on International humanitarian law was violated about which we have said many times. The Geneva Convention was violated, especially, the 1949 Convention related to the Protection of Civilian Persons in time of war. I would like to mention that Armenia and Azerbaijan joined these conventions, and the Nagorno Karabakh republic unilaterally joined and implements that functions. In this case crimes were carried out towards peaceful and civilian people. You all saw these barbarisms that happened and we do not need any special description of it, Armenpress reports the Minister mentioning. Arpine Hovhannisyan stressed that the Government investigates its activities in several directions. Naturally, there are some issues related to International Criminal Court from the standpoint of international humanitarian law, but I would like to say here that the Government of Armenia, although it has signed, however, has not ratified the Rome Convention, Minister said adding that there are some mechanisms provided for by that convention the effectiveness and appropriateness of which must be subject to discussions. The next Convention which was violated and steps can be taken in that direction is Hague Convention of eliminating all types of racial discriminations. In this context Minister Hovhannisyan referred to the Talish incidents assuring that the Armenian side can file a complaint to the ECHR and also the issue can be discussed in the sidelines of the UN. She assured that all necessary steps will be taken. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. President Serzh Sargsyan, who is on an official visit to the Federal Republic of Germany, met with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 6. Serzh Sargsyan and Angela Merkel discussed a wide range of issues pertinent to the bilateral and multilateral Armenian-German relations and spoke about further mutual steps aimed at the strengthening of the bilateral ties. The President of Armenia and German Chancellor discussed also issues related to the situation in the region, and spoke in detail about the situation on the Line of Contact of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Mass Media and Public Relations of the Republic of Armenia Presidents Office, President Sargsyan and Chancellor Merkel recapped the results of the negotiations at the joint press conference. Armenpress introduces the speech of President Sargsyan delivered during the press conference. Ladies and Gentlemen: Its a great honor for me to once again pay an official visit to the friendly Germany which is Armenias valuable friend at the European and international platforms, reliable partner, and a steadfast supporter. Thank you, Madam Chancellor, for the invitation and warm welcome. The agenda of the Armenian-German relations is pretty extensive. It comprises multifaceted bilateral relations, cooperation in the Armenia-European Union format, in the Armenia-NATO and peacekeeping missions format. Naturally, under the conditions created by the recent large-scale aggression of Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh, part of our discussions has been dedicated to that topic. Ive informed Chancellor Merkel in detail about the developments of last few days. Armenia highly values assistance of the German Chairmanship at the OSCE to the NK peace process conducted under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group. At the beginning of this year, Germany reiterated the proposal of the OSCE Minsk Group on the creation of the mechanisms for the investigation of the ceasefire violations. Armenia has always spoken in favor of such step as well as to the proposal to withdraw snipers from the line of contact as a confidence building or stability measure. However, these proposals have never been called to life. Azerbaijan bluntly rejects all confidence building measures and is pursuing other goals. These goals were unambiguously revealed on the night of April 1-2. Ignoring more than twenty-year long efforts of the international community aimed at the establishment of peace, Azerbaijan launched large-scale military operations along the entire Karabakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. In fact, it was an unprecedented since the ceasefire offensive, aimed against the peaceful population. Thus, Azerbaijan has once again turned our region into a hotbed which threatens security in Europe. The people of Karabakh want no war; they want a simple and understandable thing which all colonized people have always fought for: They want to master their own destiny and be free in creating their own future. They want their children to have a peaceful and happy childhood; they want to leave in a democratic state. They have no other aspirations. Its been almost thirty years since 1988, that the people of Karabakh are compelled to fight for their freedom every day, have to prove every day that they have similar rights with other nations. And they have managed to make right steps under the imposed war, illegal blockade and endless violations of the fragile ceasefire. From the international community they expect just one thing: to recognize their rights. I spoke about this with Madam Chancellor who is well aware of the details of the modern history of that struggling nation. Taking this opportunity, I would like to once again thank the Government of Germany and personally Madam Chancellor for the continuous support to the Armenia-EU dialogue. It is vital for us, for the nation which is a bearer and a follower of the European values. Ladies and Gentlemen: Germany is Armenias second and among the EU member states the first trade partner. In few days, in Yerevan there will take place the inauguration of the Office of Germanys Economic Union which testifies to the promising economic potential. Ive told Mrs. Merkel that we are ready to host German businessmen in Armenia. Taking this opportunity, I would also like to mention assistance provided by the Government of Germany to Armenia. The most recent example of it is the continuous assistance provided by the German Government to the process of constitutional changes initiated in Armenia with the implementation of international experience. In conclusion, I would like to state that the Armenian side will do its best to further strengthen our friendly relations for the benefit of our two nations. I also hope that my next meeting with the leadership of Germany will take place in Yerevan. Thank you. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, Richard M. Mills, and the Minister of Health of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Muradyan, attended the opening ceremony for the Ministry of Healths Tavush regional laboratory for the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr. Lance Brooks from the U.S. Department of Defenses (DoD) Defense Threat Reduction Agencys (DTRA) also attended the ceremony. Armenpress was informed about this from the U.S. Embassy, which adds that the laboratory, located in Ijevan, was renovated as part of DTRAs Cooperative Biological Engagement Program (CBEP) with Armenia. CBEPs mission is to track and secure especially dangerous pathogens in Armenia and to strengthen the Republics human and animal disease surveillance systems in order to reduce the risk of outbreaks of dangerous diseases, whether human or animal. The renovation of this laboratory is an important milestone for Armenia, as it marks the opening of the first in a series of regional and central laboratories that CBEP has been upgrading for the past few years said Ambassador Richard Mills. CBEP mentored and trained the staff and experts working in the Ijevan facility so they can effectively employ and use the critical skills and laboratory equipment necessary to operate and sustain the laboratory well into the future. CBEP is also completing the renovation of a similar laboratory in Gyumri and will complete the construction of three more facilities in Lori, Gegharqunik and Syunik marzes in 2017. All these regional laboratories will be linked to the new national Central Facility located in Yerevan, the opening of which is planned for July 2016. In addition to lab renovations and upgrades, CBEP has provided valuable resources, training and equipment in support of the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Emergency Situations. CBEP and its Armenian counterparts have focused on improving the countrys capabilities to detect, diagnose and respond to biological disease outbreaks and events, whether natural or man-made. CBEP has also provided the opportunity for the Ministries to collaborate with the U.S. and to partner with international scientific institutions and experts. This partnership has greatly improved Armenias ability to comply with international human and animal health regulations, such as the World Health Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health. Together, Armenia and the U.S. have jointly advanced Armenias scientific and research expertise in regards to especially dangerous pathogens. In his remarks, Ambassador Mills emphasized that This program is one of the largest currently being implemented by the U.S. Government in Armenia, in partnership with the Government of Armenias Ministry of Health. Given the challenges of the 21st century, where new and emerging biological threats pose a significant risk to global health security, this program is of critical importance to both our countries. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. AT the initiative of the Iranian side a phone conversation took place between the President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan and President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani. As Armenpress was informed from the Department of Mass Media and Public Relations of the Republic of Armenia Presidents Office, the President discussed the situation of the recent days on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. President Sargsyan introduced details of the aggression unleashed by Azerbaijan against Nagorno Karabakh and the adequate response of the Defense Army. The President of Armenia made a special reference to the violence against the civilians, drawing parallels with the behavior of well-known terrorist organizations operating in the region. The President of the Islamic Republic of Iran stated that igniting new hot spots under the light of terrorist organizations in the region and other regional challenges does not stem from anyones interests and it is necessary to make all efforts to resume the peaceful negotiation process. President Rouhani mentioned that the Nagorno Karabakh issue can have no military solution. The Presidents of Armenia and Iran also discussed issues of bilateral agenda, sharing the opinion that it is necessary to constantly deepen the friendly relations between the two countries and mutually beneficial partnership. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The arrangement of military positions on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line remains the same as they were by April 1, Defense Minister of Armenia Seyran Ohanyan told the reporters at the National Assembly. There are no lost positions. The Defense Army keeps control of the situation. There were some violations of the agreement of the ceasefire, but everything is under control, Armenpress reports the Minister saying. Referring to the issue of missing in action, Seyran Ohanyan said that he bows in front of the killed servicemen and their families, and are focused on the issues of missing in action, injured and victims. Speedy recovery of the injured is our priority goal as for now. We have visited many medical centers, where the soldiers, till injured, say that they want to recover as soon as possible and go and stand with our soldiers to protect our country. Of course, the issue of missing in action is our responsibility as well. You know that I am the chairman of the commission on missing in action and captives and we conduct relevant works. Here we mainly collaborate with the International Committee of the Red Cross, but I believe in this reality, when the Azerbaijani side has much more losses, it will be easier for us to hold talks with their leadership on a state level in terms of exchange of captives. We will do everything to exchange, Seyran Ohanyan said. The Minister also mentioned that they always raise the issue of Russian weapons being sold to Azerbaijan and express their concern. Our soldiers are ready to fight against any type of weapons, giving adequate retaliation, particularly, considering the fact that today we possess the high-precision long-range weapons, Ohanyan said. Referring to the threats of the Azerbaijani leadership that they may keep Stepanakert under fire, Minister Ohanyan reminded the announcement of NKR Defense Ministry, Let them try. The Defense Minister once again highlighted the importance of addressed calls, expressing conviction that our military-political leadership today vigorously works in that direction. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. France hails the ceasefire agreement in the conflict zone of Nagorno Karabakh. Armenpress reports the statement issued by the Foreign Ministry of France mentions about this. The French MFA called on the conflicting sides to strictly abide and respect the agreement. We highlight the resumption of talks under the auspices of Minsk Group Co-chairs, to reached a lasting, firm and negotiated settlement within the limits of international law, reads the statement issued by the French Foreign Ministry. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 29 causalities,28 soldiers missing in action, 101 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Province,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities, nearly 2000 wounded. On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. STEPANAKERT, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno Karabakh Republic is also the advocate of the agreement of ceasefire on Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. NKR Presidents Spokesperson David Babayan announced about that during a press conference in Stepanakert, referring to the ceasefire agreement reached in Moscow between the Chiefs of Staff of Armenian and Azerbaijani armed forces. There are two conflicting sides, NKR and Azerbaijan, Armenia has been plunged into this conflict. NKR is not a full party because of the unconstructiveness of Azerbaijan, but the Co-chairs visit Artsakh and hold talks with NKR leadership. Artsakh is an advocate of ceasefire, Armenpress reports Babayan mentioning. If we look at the formal and legal content, we see that the agreement is reached between Armenia and Azerbaijan, but we are the one who implements that agreement and are a party of the agreement, he said. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs met with the President, Foreign and Defense Ministers of Azerbaijan in Baku. We have expressed condolences over the death of soldiers and civilians in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. We came to Baku with the message that in order to achieve progress in the negotiations, to avoid more casualties, the fire must be ceased immediately, Armenpress reports the American Co-chair James Warlick said. The diplomat said that the meeting emphasized the importance of the resumption of negotiations and consistent settlement of the conflict. "All that we will repeat in Armenia, he stated. Warlick also said that he hails the statements of the Presidents of Azerbaijan and Armenia about their readiness for a ceasefire. "We hope that this will reduce tensions along the frontline. While the parties do not respect and do not observe the ceasefire, there can be no talks about political progress. The US has always supported the OSCE Minsk Group and wishes the negotiations to be successful for establishing peace. High ranking U.S. officials have also joint that process, urging to cease the fire. The tension showed that it is high time for continuation of talks to reach a lasting peace. The political will of both sides is necessary for that, Warlick said. According to Azerbaijani report.az, Warlick also added that the Co-chairs are ready to organize a meeting between the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, but the decision remains after the ministers. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. According to data released on April 6, the loss of the Defense Army of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic are: 32 victims, 121 wounded and 25 missing in action. Armenpress reports head of NKR Defense Army operative department Viktor Arustamyan informed about this during a press conference in Stepanakert. He also informed that on April 5-6 Azerbaijan continues to periodically violate the armistice, using tanks, grenade launchers, mortars and other weapons. Arustamyan noted that NKR Armed Forces fully control the situation on the front line. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Nagorno Karabakh Republic has given its consent to the monitoring on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijani armed forces, Press secretary of the NKR MFA Ani Sargsyan told Armenpress. Today, we conveyed our consent for the monitoring on the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan armed forces through the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ani Sargsyan mentioned. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 32 causalities,25 soldiers missing in action, 121 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Province,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities,(according to some sources the number of injured and killed reaches nearly 2000). On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. Azerbaijani side sporadically violates the armistice. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijani groups comprised of up to 15 soldiers tried to attack and occupy two Armenian positions in the northern section of Nagorno Karabakh-Azerbaijan contact line. Armenpress reports that NKR Defense Army Colonel Viktor Arustamyan informed at the press conference in Stepanakert that both attempts of Azerbaijan were a failure. The adversary has been repelled. According to the Colonel, those activities of the adversary are infiltration attempts but they cannot be assessed as subversive acts. He also added that information about the losses of the adversary is still being collected. The colonel added that Karabakh has remained faithful to armistice agreement. Referring to the issue of reordering in the reserve of Azerbaijan, Colonel Arustamyan mentioned that they are deployed not very far from the front line, in the circle of operations, but it is still very early to assess if there will be any offensive measures or no. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 32 causalities,25 soldiers missing in action, 121 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Province,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities,(according to some sources the number of injured and killed reaches nearly 2000). On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. Azerbaijani side sporadically violates the armistice. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. Armenpress news agency applied to Gohar Poghosyan, the press secretary of the Prime Minister of Armenia for clarifications over the issue of rearranging the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting in Moscow. Question. Is there a decision to rearrange the meeting of Eurasian Intergovernmental Council from Yerevan to Moscow? Answer. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan had a phone conversation with the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, presiding country in bodies of the Eurasian Economic Union, Karim Massimov at the initiative of the latter. The Head of the Government of Kazakhstan suggested PM Abrahamyan rearranging the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council meeting, planned to be held in Yerevan on April 8, to Moscow, in relation to which the Head of the Government of the Republic of Armenia mentioned that there are no serious reasons for the rearrangement. Mr. Abrahamyan also mentioned that if other Prime Ministers decide to hold the meeting in Moscow, he will give extra information about his participation. To the question if the Armenian PM will attend the upcoming meeting, the press secretary of the PM mentioned that Hovik Abrahamyan has not taken a decision as for now. YEREVAN, APRIL 6, ARMENPRESS. The situation in the conflict zone of Nagorno Karabakh was discussed in Baku by the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. Armenpress reports, citing TASS, Lavrov stated at the meeting that Russia will continue supporting the effectiveness of armistice in Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone. We took all necessary measures on the level of the President, Prime Minister, MFA, Defense Ministry, and General Staff so that the sides manage to reach an agreement over the ceasefire. We are ready to support that these agreements are not breached, normalization of the situation is of key importance for now, the Russian Foreign Minister said. Along the entire length of the contact line of Nagorno Karabakh- Azerbaijani opposing forces, on April 1 and throughout the morning of April 2, the adversary undertook large-scale offensive military actions, during which the adversary shelled with missile-artillery units not only Armenian defense positions, but also civilian settlements. According to the data of the Defense Army, the Azerbaijani armed forces fired MM-21 (Grad) multiple rocket launcher on April 2, at 08: 30 in the direction of Martuni (NKR), killing 12 year old Vaghinak Grigoryan and wounding two other children. 4 other civilians were wounded later. On April 3 the subversive group of Azerbaijan brutally killed 3 elderly and vandalized their corpses in Talish village. The Armenian side has 32 causalities,25 soldiers missing in action, 121 wounded. 5 more people including the heads of two rural communities of Syunik Province,were killed on their way to Martakert on April 4. Due to the timely and professional actions of the Nagorno Karabakh Defense Army, it was possible to take the situation under control, and make the enemy suffer considerable losses. On April 1-5 as a result of the crushing counterattacks by the Armenian side against the military aggressions towards the Nagorno Karabakh Azerbaijan lost 2 helicopters, 24 tanks, 3 infantry fighting vehicles, 7 UAVs, 1 21-MM multiple rocket launcher system. During military operations the Azerbaijani armed forces had more than 300 causalities,(according to some sources the number of injured and killed reaches nearly 2000). On April 5 at 12:00, the fire was ceased in the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani opposing forces. The agreement of ceasing the fire was reached at the meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Moscow on April 5. Azerbaijani side sporadically violates the armistice. After some months of exhausting research in the depths of the United States National Archives and Records Administration, I am in a position to at last reveal the truth. The facts are that this doomed sailing ship was washed up on the shores of Papua New Guinea, not West Africa, and that this sad event took place a good nine months after the mythical story which Doyle perpetuates. And this is so with the case of the mystery of the Mary Celeste - not the Marie Celeste as it is sometimes attributed, more as in "Mary, Mary, quite contrary". ARTHUR Conan Doyle is sometimes too imaginative with the facts, as Sherlock Holmes often expostulated. The good ship Mary Celeste met her demise at the hands of a diabolic prehistoric creature from the remote and undiscovered mountain caves of Papua New Guinea. You may be unfamiliar with the outlines of this mystery, so let me recapitulate. The barquentine Mary Celeste, carrying a cargo of spirits of wine and bound for Africa, was found drifting and abandoned at sea. She was still seaworthy but not a soul was to be found aboard. Few clues remained as to what had happened to crew and passengers. There were no living souls found on board, even the ship's rats had deserted. One lifeboat was missing, there were half-eaten meals upon the cabin table and there were no signs of violence apart from a gash in the timber of her bows. Oh, and the ship's chronometer was found turned upside down. Mary Celeste - truly one of the great mysteries of the sea. And now Im going to tell you what really happened. Mary Celeste was caught in a fierce gale in mid-Atlantic and was forced to fly under bare poles with the smallest jib set, was driven remorsefully to the south and west. Down and south they flew, with the barometer plunging ever lower. It was the worst gale any aboard had experienced. Terrifying in its intensity. Even the old sailors on board started praying; some suggested throwing the Captain's wife overboard. They knew a woman on board ship is a Jonah. (Or perhaps a Jennah.) But old mens mutterings amounted to nothing more than idle threats, and the saner heads of the Captain and his wife prevailed. Then, one icy-cold dawn after the most hellish night they had experienced, they saw the rocks of Cape Horn off their starboard bow and knew that, with luck, they could make their northing and turn into the Pacific Ocean. Well, Pacific by name, but not by nature. Now they were thrown north-west and the same gale seemed to be following them into this quarter and forcing them the direction of its desire. The winds were fierce and the storms howled about them. After many days they observed a slight calming and managed to set a reefed mainsail. By this, they were running desperately short of food, but the heavy rain provided copious gallons of water which they caught in in sails slung horizontally across the deck. Then they had the good luck, so they thought, of being able to shoot some of the mighty albatross birds that had taken to following in their wake. But was this good luck? To kill an albatross? Those giant sea-going omens of good fortune? The old sailors muttered darkly behind the scuttle, but the Captain's young daughter came on deck and danced to the sailors hornpipes and this cheered up everyone. Mary Celeste was eventually blown into tropical latitudes and, even though the heat became overwhelming, they crew spotted an island. Going ashore, they found it was uninhabited and there they found wildlife for their protein and sea-cabbages for their greens. And so they sailed onwards to the north-west in increasing despondency, for they were now lost beyond any map, and with a Captain and mate having no great navigational knowledge in these strange waters. The chronometer and sextant had been damaged beyond repair in the gales. One fine sunny morning the lookout hailed, "Land ho!" "Where away?" "Port bow ten degrees sir." And all stared in wonder as a mountainous presence loomed before them. They drifted into a wide bay surrounded by precipitous peaks and dropped anchor after measuring 10 fathoms depth and shoaling. Then they paused to survey their surroundings. "It canna be sir!" cried one old foretopman. "What do you mean?" spake the Captain. "Well my brother was a whaler in the south Pacific and he told me stories of a place just like this. They say it's called New Britain and there are fierce creatures ashore, neither man nor Christian beast." No matter, the first day was spent peacefully, gathering coconuts which grew in abundance, fishing and watering, for this was a fertile place. There was no sign of living creatures on the strand. But towards dusk, when they were gathered on deck for evening prayer (for the Captain was a religious man and tolerated no drink or profanity and insisted on the correct observances), they heard a strange wailing sound coming from one of the mountain peaks. "Whatever can that be?" as none had heard anything like it, except for the Scotsman who dared to suggest that it sounded rather like a ruptured bagpipe or perhaps a banshee, the evil Celtic spirits which presage death. "Nonsense man, just continue with Onward Christian Soldiers and let that be an end to your superstitious speculation." But as if to defy their hymn the infernal screeching grew louder and louder and a grim shadow appeared in the sky high above them. "My God! If that is an eagle he is the greatest one on earth!" cried the Captain, as the darkness drew ever on and the shadow grew larger and larger. "Quick, get below!" he screamed in terror as a strange aerial shape flew over the waves at mast height and glided ever closer towards the ship. They heard a ripping tearing sound as the devilish creature flew into their bow and snapped off a fathom of timber as if it were matchwood. "It's a flying monster! Quick, everyone into the boat while we can still escape!" And so all boarded a single boat as rapidly as possible and lowered themselves into the sea as the dread unknown creature circled menacingly around the ship. And that's the last that was heard or seen of the crew and passengers of the Mary Celeste, for no written record remains. Of their disappearance, the local people have a legend. It is said to be a Roken - a giant flying lizard as big as a crocodile. They are known to attack canoes, devour people and live in hidden caves high up in the mountains. Who knows what terrible fate befell the poor sailors of the Mary Celeste? And what was the origin of that unearthly screech and the ominous flying creature that circled their ship? The Mary Celeste was found some years later beached on the shores of New Britain, deserted and as described by Doyle. What became of her people has never been discovered, but this short video might hold a clue. Shakespeare knew about the healing power of reading too. In his Titus Andonicus the lead character advises Lavinia to Come, and take choice of all my library/And so beguile thy sorrow. Youre not alone, regular readers have known about this effect for centuries. The entrance to the library in Thebes, in ancient Greece, had an inscription above its door saying inside was a healing place for the soul. Do you find you are sleeping better, your stress levels seem to have relaxed and you feel good about the world and yourself? HAVE you ever finished reading a really good book and then happily floated around on a big white fluffy cloud of contentment for the next few days? The scientists tell us that reading has the same effect as meditation. Sigmund Freund used literature in his psychoanalysis. After the First World Ware librarians in America were trained to prescribe books to traumatised soldiers. Reading makes the neurons in our brains fire up in the same way they would if we were actually undergoing or watching the event described in the text. An active mind is thought to delay or eliminate the onset of dementia and Alzheimers disease, especially in older people. People who read a lot of good quality fiction tend to develop more empathy for others. They also become more socially perceptible. If you are about to become a new father, for instance, you cant go past Harper Lees To Kill a Mockingbird. Scouts father, Atticus Finch, is a perfect role model. The Americans, of course, have capitalised on the healing powers of fiction and poetry. They have consultants, called bibliotherapists, who prescribe specific books to suit their patients condition. It can also work the other way, of course, so you have to be choosy about what you read. If you are worried about the state of the world with its internecine warfare and terrorism its not a good idea to read war literature, it will only make you feel worse. Then again, some people are only happy when they are miserable. The other thing to avoid are self-help books. They invariably promote the most impossible standards achievable and are guaranteed to make you feel inadequate and depressed when you fail to measure up. Stick to good fiction and poetry, its much better for you. And dont get tricked into thinking you can get the same fix of therapeutic fiction from watching movies and television. While spending hours watching television might be great multitasking - screwing up your brain and body at the same time - it is a visceral medium and not soothing like reading. You might have noticed that the few good politicians we have are avid readers, people like Gary Juffa and Charles Abel, while the dopey majority probably havent read a book in their lives. They are too busy, they say, but what they really mean is they think literature and reading are a waste of time. I guess when youve got your snout in the public trough its hard to hold a book. If you are interested in bibliotherapy a good place to start is by reading an article by the Australian author, Ceridwen Dovey in The New Yorker last year called Can Reading Make You Happier? She seems to think it works but Im sure it does as does every other dedicated reader. For the second time, Republican presidential candidate John Kasich has moved Friday's central New York town hall meeting to accommodate a larger crowd. Kasich's campaign initially announced that the event would be held at Le Moyne College's Grewen Hall, which can hold approximately 280 people. Due to a high number of RSVPs, the forum was moved to the Campus Center's Curtin Special Events Room. Now, Kasich will hold the town hall meeting at 6 p.m. at Henninger Athletic Center, 500 Springfield Road in DeWitt. Doors open at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. To RSVP, visit kasich-syracuse.eventbrite.com. Kasich's swing through the Syracuse area will be one of several New York stops he'll make in the coming days. On Thursday, he held a veterans town hall meeting at VFW Post 9485 in Brooklyn. On Saturday, Kasich will hold a Rochester-area town hall meeting at 11 a.m. at the Greece Community and Senior Center, 3 Vince Tofany Blvd. in Greece. Later in the day, he'll hold a town hall meeting at 4 p.m. at Iona College's Hynes Center, 715 North Ave. in New Rochelle, and he'll attend the Rockland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Victory Ball. Kasich is looking to make up ground in New York, where he trails Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump a Manhattan businessman by more than 30 points. Trump, who has a rally Wednesday night on Long Island, is planning to hold more events in New York before the state's April 19 primary. His campaign is reportedly eyeing upstate sites, including Buffalo and Syracuse, for upcoming visits. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who won the Wisconsin Republican primary Tuesday night, also plans to have a presence in New York. He held a rally Thursday in the Albany area. On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited central New York last week for a manufacturing roundtable and a rally. Her husband, former President Bill Clinton, headlined rallies Tuesday in Buffalo and Rochester. U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is hoping for a big showing against Clinton in New York, held a rally last week in the Bronx. So far, his campaign hasn't announced any events in upstate. LONDON The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claimed its first high-profile political casualty Tuesday as Iceland's prime minister stepped aside amid outrage over revelations he had used such a shell company to shelter large sums while Iceland's economy was in crisis. Icelandic leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is the first major figure brought down by the publication of the names of rich and powerful people linked to the leaks, dubbed the Panama Papers. China and Russia, meanwhile, took the opposite approach, suppressing the news and rejecting any allegations of impropriety by government officials named in the leak of more than 11 million financial documents from a Panamanian law firm. Officials in Ukraine, Argentina and other countries are also facing questions about possibly dubious offshore tax-avoidance schemes. The reports are from a global group of news organizations working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. They have been processing records from the Mossack Fonseca law firm that were first leaked to Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. The announcement that Gunnlaugsson was stepping down as leader of Iceland's coalition government came from his deputy, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, who is also the country's agriculture minister. It followed the refusal by Iceland's president to dissolve parliament and call a new election, and after thousands of Icelanders protested outside the parliament building in Reykjavik. No replacement has yet been named, and President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson did not immediately confirm that he had accepted the resignation. Late Tuesday, a government statement said Gunnlaugsson had suggested Johannsson take over as prime minister for "an unspecified amount of time," while Gunnlauggson would stay on as leader of his center-right Progressive Party. Gunnlaugson has denied any wrongdoing and said he and his wife have paid all their taxes. He also said his financial holdings didn't affect his negotiations with Iceland's creditors during the country's acute financial crisis. The leaked documents allege that Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of the Panamanian law firm. Gunnlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Iceland, a volcanic North Atlantic island nation with a population of 330,000, was rocked by a prolonged financial crisis when its main commercial banks collapsed within a week of one another in 2008. Since then Icelanders have weathered a deep recession and been subjected to tough capital controls another reason the prime minister's offshore holdings rankle many. I was appalled that The Citizen in general, and the national networks in particular were negligent in publishing the death of an internationally famous religious nun Mother Mary Angelica, who passed away on Easter Sunday, March 27, at the age of 92. She was a Franciscan nun who was best known as a television personality and the founder of both the internationally-broadcast cable television network Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) and the radio network WEWN. Born as Rita Antoinette Rizzo on April 20, 1923, in Canton, Ohio, in 1981 she started broadcasting religious programs from a converted garage in Birmingham, Alabama. In her on-camera program she assisted many who responded to her as she gave them direction with their everyday spiritual as well as their temporal ones in dealing with the difficulties that they had in their every day lives. She hosted these shows until she suffered a stroke in 2001. She has spent the last 15 years at her community in Hanceville, Alabama. If she was raised in Ohio, how was she directed to Alabama? She lived her early life in Ohio until 1939 when she experienced severe abdominal pain. Despite receiving extensive medical treatment, she claimed that she woke up with no pain on Jan. 18, 1943. She believed that the cessation of pain occurred through a Miracle of God. She traced her lifelong commitment to God to this event. Since her stroke, her network has continued with reruns of her shows all the way back to 1986. In 1946 as a young nun, Sister Angelica had an accident with an industrial waxing machine that knocked her over and injured her spine, causing her ongoing pain and requiring her to wear leg braces for most of her life. In 2009, Mother Angelica was a recipient of the Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice award granted by then Pope Benedict XVI for services to the Catholic Church. In 1999, Mother Angelica visited Columbia where she claimed to have had a vision which told her to build a temple in honor of the Child Jesus. She opened that Shrine to the Blessed Sacrament from private donations of $48.6 million that same year. I'm sure that many in our community are grieving at her passing and that some day she'll be considered a person worthy of canonization as a saint. Michael Ricci Auburn CHOICE finds fraudulent oregano products on supermarket shelves Australian consumer advocacy group CHOICE has discovered that only five out of 12 supermarket dried oregano products contained 100 per cent oregano when tested by the group. One brand, Master of Spices, consisted of less than 10 per cent oregano. CHOICEs investigation found that this product and the other not 100 per cent oregano products used olive and sumac leaves alongside the oregano herb. There is clearly a major problem in the oregano supply chain in Australia, which also raises the question about other herbs and spices entering the Australian market, said CHOICE spokesperson Tom Godfrey. The consumer advocacy group decided to investigate dried oregano products in Australian supermarkets after a similar UK study in 2015 discovered 25 per cent of oregano samples were not 100 per cent oregano. With consumers spending AUD$115m on herbs and spices last year, we were concerned that Australian consumers might also be affected by the same issue, so we decided to carry out a spot check on the authenticity of oregano being sold here, said Godfrey. We purchased a selection of dried oregano products from supermarkets, grocers and delis in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth 12 different brands in total and had a single sample of each product analysed, he said. Oregano product that passed the test: Masterfoods Woolworths Select Coles McCormick Herbies Spices Oregano product that did not contain 100 per cent oregano: Master of Spices (less than 10 per cent) Hoyts (11 per cent) Aldis Stonemill (26 per cent). Spice and Co (35 per cent) Menora (36 per cent) Spencers (40 per cent) G Fresh (50 per cent) CHOICE says it has referred its findings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). Aldi has now removed its Stonemill Oregano and is offering consumers a full refund on the product if it is returned to stores by 31 May 2016. The supermarket said it only recently became aware that its Stonemill product was not 100 per cent oregano between January 2015 and March 2016 and that it was working to ensure the product returns with 100 per cent oregano only. Masters of Spice responded to the CHOICE investigation by saying it has since cut all ties with its original supplier and it is now confident the oregano it is selling on supermarket shelves are 100 per cent oregano only. It said it was shocked to find out its supplied oregano was not pure oregano and have passed on this information to the relevant authorities. Spice and Co said it was also horrified by the news that its supplier had not being providing 100 per cent oregano and that it is taking steps to secure a new supplier. Spencers said it was in talks with its supplier over the matter and that that it may have unknowingly on sold a product that was not to specification. It apologised to its customers and will be replacing oregano products with best before dates of 12 August 2017. It has withheld any further sales of Spencers Oregano pending further testing and certification to guarantee its promise of authenticity. Hoyts said it was co-operating with ACCC investigations in regards to batch number 19615, date of packaging 17 July 2015 for its Hoyts Oregano 25g sachet. It said there was nothing to lead them to believe that their supplier was providing them with anything but 100 per cent oregano. It said it was now in talks with its supplier over the matter. Since being informed of the matter it has acted to ensure it is providing 100 per cent oregano. G Fresh said it in no way deliberately intended to mislead its customers. It said that the oregano tested was not from its usual supplier and it was unaware it was not pure oregano. G Fresh will be conducting independent testing to avoid the same issue occurring again and it is also offering a full refund on the impact product, batch number 270515. Menora did not respond to Australian Food News request for comment before the publication of this article. Birthday wishes Call 281-422-8302 or email sunnews@baytownsun.com to wish someone a happy birthday. We will print your birthday wish on Page 2 of The Sun. Happy Birthday Wishes A Uwamanzu-Nna, class valedictorian at Elmont Memorial High School in New York, just learned she has been accepted into all eight Ivy League colleges and universities Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Dartmouth and Brown for the incoming class of 2020. Oh, and in addition to those schools, shes gotten in to four others, her schools websitenotes: Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. With a GPA of 101.6, one could think Uwamanzu-Nna simply sailed through high school, but they would be mistaken. ABC 7's N.J. Burkett writes credited "tenacity and persistence" to her accomplishments. Born to Nigerian immigrants, Uwamanzu-Nna was taught from a very young age to have a respect for education. "Though I was born here in America, I visited Nigeria many times and I've seen that my cousins don't have the same opportunities that I have," Uwamanzu-Nna told Burkett. "Whatever I do, I want to make sure that it has an impact on Nigeria." Uwamanzu-Nna is already making headway into her altruistic endeavors; the passionate science buff was among the 40 finalists for Intel's Science Talent Search, where students are selected to compete in "the nation's most prestigious precollege science competition." Uwamanzu-Nna's project was titled "Rheological Characterization of Attapulgite Nanoclay Modified Cement Slurries for Oil Well Cementing Applications." Michelle Flannory, her research adviser, told Burkett that Uwamanzu-Nna was indeed "naturally talented," but also actively "pursues excellence" and uses constructive criticism to her benefit. Though Uwamanzu-Nna's more-than-perfect GPA is impressive, there have been less than perfect grades in the past; when Burkett asked her about the lowest grade she ever received, Uwamanzu-Nna remained reticent. "I've struggled with numerous classes in the past but I guess what allowed me to be successful, ultimately, in those classes, at the end, is my persistence and my tenacity," Uwamanzu-Nna said, remaining humble despite her accomplishments, even though she could easily be all like... Computer please run the "Gut Check Routine --- Does this make any sense"? It must have been a Hanging Chad on this game I intended to become an engineer or electronics technician. I guess I forgot about the road to hell construction project. After graduating in 1963, I enrolled in a Dekalb Technical College which had recently opened near my home. I always had an interest in radio and electronics and this seemed like a natural path. The tuition was cheap, I could live at home, I could commute just a few miles and I could stay in touch with my friends. My plan worked fairly well when I took drafting, Electronic Schematics, and then technical writing. However, it fell apart when we got into the "angle of the dangle" and the "sign of the co-sign". Do you mean that all this is based on some sort of math and formulas? Having failed Algebra twice in high school, I should have known that this was not a career path for me, but with the ambivalence that I approached everything else at eighteen, I plowed on.As soon as I realized that my math skills would not allow me to continue with that plan, I switched my enrollment to Georgia State College in Atlanta. It offered the same benefits listed above with the exception of a twelve-mile drive. I was still somewhat enamored with the electronics so I decided to major in computer science. In 1964, there were no desktop computers, there were only the large room sized computers that were for the most part manufactured and supported by large companies like IBM. Below is a picture of the Georgia State computer from 1968 era, which may be the same computer we used in 1965-67. Notice the card reader on the right of the picture. Stack-em, smack-em. Photo courtesy of Georgia State University Library I had visions of becoming a programmer. My horizons and goals were not to become rich, but to get in on the ground floor of a burgeoning business that was sure to provide some job security for many years to come. The answer to your question of course is that I did realize that math was involved but it would be a much simpler math; as in ones and zeroes (1 and 0).In 1965, programming required punch cards. Programming in binary (or machine language) was done using the punch cards, which would be stacked and fed into the IBM computer. First, you would write a text summary of what you wanted to accomplish and then you would create a text procedure using the logic. After you had proofed you logic all you had to do was sit at the terminal and create your punch cards. It all seemed so simple only two choices, yes or no - 1 or 0. The card were fed into the reader and the result was strung together in series. Cards read at the amazing speed of a computer meant that almost anything could be simplified by a computer running one of my programs. Cobol was a very complicated English object oriented language but is was simpler than the O's and 1's strung together that were the main stay of binary programming. Most of this is a blur in my gray matter now, but the cards remain embedded in my memory.It only took one bad punch, lost or mutilated card would to crash the program; Just like the 2000 election in Florida. It was early computer technology at its worse. Today most computers are programmed in a variety of languages. Most are just translators that eventually convert to binary which the computer still needs to operate; but it does so at a humongous speed. Maybe the 2000 election should reinforce the fact that our government is a bit behind the times when it comes to technology. Punch cards in a national election;My first clue that this would not be as simple as I thought was a phrase that I kept seeing:It had something to do with gates: NOT, AND, OR, NOR. Naturally, I merely skimmed the textbook chapter on gates. What is so hard about a gate? It is either open or closed.Cutting to the chase with a lot left out in between is my strong suit in learning (unfortunately, the same does not hold true in writing). It got me through high school with barely passing grades, but passing none the less.One of the practical jokes at GSC was jumbling up a fellow student's punch cards or just taking one out of the stack. Upon reflection this where my first symptoms of OCPD started. ( Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Without everything in perfect order the computer would just crash or get lost. No matter how smart we may think a computer is today, it is merely following a series of directions. We may be on the brink of computers thinking for themselves, but they would just be creating their own coded programs. GIGO (Garbage in Garbage Out)I have long advocated that computers should be built with a "Gut Check" function that humans have. Every so often, the computer should just stop and run the "Gut Check" routine. I also advocate that most humans do the same from time to time.Well I never completed my quest to become a programmer. I think it had something to do with beer and girls. Eventually, I flunked out and...(Thanks Ted Mcdonald for showing me how to improve my writing using the Ellipsis...)I gave up programming but lately I have resorted to a similar form of binary programming. The motivation is the constant search for that pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow. It occurs every Wednesday and Saturday. The beauty of it is that you don't need to know any more math than choosing five (5) numbers from 1 to 69 and only one number from 1 to 26. If done correctly you stand to win an enormous amount of money that you can use to hire people to do your thinking and planning for you.Did I mention that I also flunked Statistics at GSC. It had something to do with odds and probability but I skipped that chapter as well...(Thanks again TMAC)Here is my one and only punch card now and I guard it better than I did my stack of punch cards at GSC. After all it is a list of my lucky numbers and everyone know that in gambling you must play your lucky numbers. Well that is not totally true. You see there are numerous games today that use the punch type cards. Everyday a game is played. Some games are played every four minutes. It is called KENO and I have written about that before. Here is my previous post on KENO I might add that the tuition for this state run school is extremely high. But you can get a certificate. It says "NOT A WINNER". Obviously the programmer did not have a sense of humor or it would say. "LOSER". I have hope that Bernie will make this tuition free as well, so I can continue to attend the classes from time to time.Below is the Georgia Powerball play card. It is five games at $2.00 per game or $10.00 total play. Submitted by Bobby Tony, the roving FLUFF REPORTER Attorney Gene Boyce alleges professional misconduct by AG; hearing scheduled for May 6 Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce, who is alleging professional misconduct by Attorney General Roy Cooper, has funded an eponymous center for advocacy at Campbell University Law School. (CJ photo by Don Carrington) RALEIGH The North Carolina State Bar, the state agency that regulates attorneys, has asked a judge to dismiss Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce's complaint asking the State Bar to address allegations of professional misconduct by Attorney General Roy Cooper. Wake County Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens, who is handling the case, has scheduled a hearing for May 6 to consider the complaint.Boyce's complaint said that as an attorney he has an obligation to report the professional misconduct of other attorneys to the State Bar. According to the complaint - filed in January in Wake County Superior Court - Boyce has notified the State Bar on multiple occasions about Cooper's alleged misconduct, but the State Bar has not responded. Boyce also argued that the State Bar has a conflict of interest in the matter because Cooper serves as the attorney for the State Bar.On March 14, the State Bar filed a motion to dismiss Boyce's complaint. Boyce subsequently filed a response outlining reasons his complaint should be heard in court.Boyce has asked the court for a declaratory judgment forcing the State Bar to acknowledge Boyce's claims of Cooper's misconduct; declaring that the State Bar has a conflict of interest in the matter; and referring the dispute to an alternative agency for investigation, findings of fact, and discipline if appropriate.The dispute began in 2000, when Cooper was the Democratic Party's nominee for attorney general and his main opponent was Republican Dan Boyce, Gene's son.Cooper won that race and has been attorney general since 2001. Cooper won the March Democratic primary for governor and will face Gov. Pat McCrory in November.Boyce claims that during the 2000 campaign, Cooper knowingly made false statements in political ads that harmed the reputation of Boyce and his law partners. A trial court judge dismissed the lawsuit, but appellate courts ruled in Boyce's favor on several occasions, and in 2014 the matter was scheduled to go to trial.The dispute appeared to be over in April 2014 when Cooper issued a written apology to Boyce for statements Cooper's political campaign made in the political ads. The parties signed an agreement ending the civil action, but Boyce's complaint says that Cooper's conduct is a separate issue that the State Bar must address.Boyce has been practicing law since 1956. He served as assistant chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee, working with U.S. Sen. Sam Ervin, D-N.C. on the investigation of President Nixon's 1972 presidential campaign.The State Bar claimed Boyce doesn't have "a legally cognizable interest in the controversy and lacks standing to pursue his alleged claim as a matter of law."In addition, even if Boyce had standing, the declaratory judgment he seeks was not an appropriate vehicle to compel action from a state agency.Finally, the State Bar claimed that Boyce's lawsuit against Cooper "was fully resolved and is final. Accordingly, all questions of civil law liability related to his alleged private injury are moot."Boyce's response, submitted March 28, said his complaint concerns the ethical duties of the State Bar and the statutory principles of "conflict of interest." He said a declaratory judgment is appropriate in this situation.He said, as a dues-paying member of the State Bar, he has a sincere interest in seeing the agency perform its duties, and that the State Bar encourages attorneys to report evidence of misconduct by other attorneys.Boyce also noted, as he did in his initial complaint, that the State Bar has set a precedent in dealing with the alleged misconduct of an attorney who posed a conflict of interest for the State Bar. Faison Hicks, who is a special deputy attorney general in Cooper's office and has served as a counsel for the State Bar, signed documents claiming he had attended continuing legal education programs sponsored by the State Bar but in fact did not attend all the classes.The State Bar lodged a grievance, claiming that Hicks engaged in dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation. Normally, the State Bar would handle an investigation and discipline if necessary. But because of Hicks' relationship with the State Bar, it asked the staff of the Georgia State Bar to investigate the matter, and Stephens agreed to handle any discipline. Stephens ruled that Hicks engaged in professional misconduct and issued a public reprimand.Boyce argued that with this precedent in place, the State Bar should consider choosing independent entities to decide this dispute involving Cooper. 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. Bancorp of New Jersey in Fort Lee has hired a former state regulator as its new chief executive. The $802 million-asset company said in a press release Tuesday that it also named Nancy Graves as its president. Graves, who also joined the company's board, once served as assistant division director at the state's Department of Banking and Insurance. Graves succeeded Gerald Calabrese, the company's chairman, who became interim president and CEO in March after Michael Lesler stepped down. Graves was also president and CEO of Pascack Bancorp in Waldwick, N.J., from 2013 to January 2016. Pascack was sold to Lakeland Bancorp in Oak Ridge, N.J., last month. For the past few decades, British authorities have been caught up in the pervasive meme of multiculturalism -- the falsehood that all cultures are equal and that to believe otherwise is to commit the worst modern day offense -- to be racist. Under this fallacy, the British government in 2001 introduced a series of restrictive speech codes that criminalized criticism of Islam, followed by a Racial and Religious Hatred Bill imposing fines and even imprisonment for speech that incited hatred against a person for their religious or racial background. These laws have victimized a number of Britons. Hoteliers Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang were prosecuted for insulting a Muslim guest. Liberty Great Britain party chairman Paul Weston was arrested on suspicion of racial harassment after publicly reading a passage critical of Muslims from Winston Churchills The River War. Dr. Vladislav Rogozov, a Czech-born, UK cardiac anesthesiologist, is being investigated by Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital for giving an online interview about his 2013 confrontation with a Muslim surgeon who refused to replace her blood-specked hijab with the prescribed, operating-theater headgear. In this context and political climate, with racism conflated with religion one specific religion it is easy to see how government and public service employees would fear professional and legal repercussions (up to seven years in prison) merely for speaking up about criminal behavior by Muslims who justify their actions citing the Koran. In this way, teachers, police, child care workers, government officials and others have been silent about the growing menace of Muslim gangs who sexually groom and exploit children in the UK. In his riveting book, Easy Meat: Inside Britains Grooming Gang Scandal (World Encounter Institute/New English Review Press, 2016. 328 pp., $17.20) author Peter McLoughlin explains how multiculturalism-inspired political correctness along with its companion, willful blindness concerning Islamic doctrine, has jeopardized the safety and well-being of children. McLoughlin posits that, since 1988, this nationwide sexploitation has resulted in the shattering of lives of between 100,000 to 1 million girls. The author documents how the fear of being deemed racist and facing criminal charges, dismissal or even threats of violence, has led to suppression of information and a stunning lack of intervention on behalf of young victims. In essence, an extensive, insidious operation that targets children for sexual grooming and enslavement has been covered up because of political correctness and fear of Muslim retribution. The books title comes from former UK Home Secretary, Jack Straw, who saw Muslim perpetrators viewing non-Muslim British victims as easy meat. Indeed, some Muslim sex-gang groomers actually blame the girls, some as young as 11 years old, for being purposely alluring and sexually advanced to corrupt Muslims In his research on Muslim groomers, McLoughlin uncovered an unusual distinction between them and non-Muslim pedophiles. Non-Muslim pedophiles are typically lone adults who groom children for sex in reclusive secrecy, worry about being prosecuted by law enforcement, meet accusations with defensive denial and worry about being discovered, shamed, and criticized by friends or relatives. Muslim perpetrators, however, work in gangs, see nothing wrong with their shariah-sanctioned activities, receive collusive support from their communities and feel they are above the law. During his investigations, McLoughlin found not one case of non-Muslim men grooming Muslim girls, although 95% of men in Britain are non-Muslims. News coverage of the crimes has been mostly obfuscated by a complicit media that characterizes the overwhelmingly Muslim perpetrators as generic Asians. According to McLoughlins research, limited press coverage by mainly self-censoring journalists and lenient, if any, criminal charges have enabled the gangs to act with relative impunity since 1988. The author describes how Muslim flesh-peddlers operate as part of a well-organized extensive network of taxi drivers, shop and restaurant owners, and security guards. Girls, mainly between the ages of 11 and 14, the majority from state-run childrens homes, are ensnared while traveling from school to home, at shopping malls, restaurants, bus stations and similar public venues. They are enticed with flattery, feigned friendship, gifts, alcohol and drugs. Alarmingly, a footnote in the book references a quotation from a city outreach worker with the Childrens Society who states, every girl living in a childrens home in the city of Birmingham is being sexually exploited. McLoughlin makes reference to the staggering profitability of the sex grooming enterprise for the Muslim community. He cites a 2007 expose, Mothers of Prevention by Julie Bindel, a feminist writer and founder of the legal reform group, Justice for Women. Bindel estimated that a pimp can make $325,000 to $550,000 annually with one 16-year-old girl. From that, Bindel extrapolated that over the average 15-year-per-girl pimping period, the annual value of this criminal activity could amount to approximately 300 million or $425 million. McLoughlin does a good job of portraying the frustration and desperation of victims families who have sought help to no avail for well over a decade from local councils, law enforcement, child care professionals and journalists. Remarkably, for the most part, UK authorities have failed to warn parents that young girls are at risk or to recommend extra supervision and vigilance. No organized programs to educate girls and parents exist and authorities have largely refused interviews with the media on the topic. Teachers and school administrators have failed to secure the school perimeter to stop sex grooming gangs from lying in wait for girls outside of school premises. The author reports that police routinely dismiss parents concerns and have failed to set up surveillance operations at strategically significant locations. Police have even arrested parents for trying to save their children. In one such case, fathers, who were able to track down their daughters and tried to rescue them were arrested by police. In fact, McLoughlin discloses that law enforcement officers have actually returned wayward girls to their pimps. McLoughlin reveals that local authorities social workers, teachers unions, educational organizations and childcare agencies have made no effort to intervene or draw public attention to the pervasive threat. He submits that feared charges of racism preclude their mandated responsibility for the protection of children. In fact, the author reports how major teachers' unions are behind an organization Unite Against Fascism that blocks the publicizing of the sex grooming gang phenomenon and its Muslim community participation. In 2008, a taxpayer-funded national education film, My Dangerous Loverboy, commissioned by the United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre, was produced ostensibly to warn and educate girls about generic sex grooming gangs. But no mention was made of Muslim involvement or the victims young ages. According to McLoughlin, the film has been difficult to obtain and has not been shown to the intended audience: girls, parents, social workers, police officers, school nurses, doctors, teachers, youth workers, sexual health practitioners. My own extensive, month-long efforts to locate a copy were unproductive and met with denials of the crimes Muslim connection. In Easy Meat, McLoughlin laments the very limited prosecution of Muslim sex grooming and pimping crimes. In the rare instances of successful criminal litigation, typical sentences are minimal and usually partially served, if at all, despite existing sentencing guidelines. Gang members have been known to assert Muslim supremacy, make accusations of Muslim victimhood and racism, and threaten retaliation against the girls and their families. Some have clearly cited religious motivations for their crimes in court. Astonishingly, few victims receive any special protection during the trials. Protection of defendants rights supersedes that of victims, even with child victims. The 1989 Childrens Act, a statute requiring the childs welfare be the courts paramount consideration, doesnt seem to make the slightest difference in the proceedings and outcome. More distressing is the fact that the greater the Muslim population density in an area, the lower the conviction rate. The backdrop for sexual grooming and enslavement of children lies in Islamic doctrines outlined by McLoughlin. He reviews the pervasive slave-taking history of Islam from the 7th century, as well as Islamic doctrine from the Koran citing Islam's view of non-Muslims, its treatment of women and sexual slaves, and the permissibility of sex with children by Mohammeds example with his nine-year-old third wife, Aisha. McLoughlin explains how sex as rape has historically been used as a weapon of war to assert Islamic supremacy. Islamic doctrine encourages the rape and enslavement of non-Muslims, even with married infidel women as a legal and moral enterprise. Further, the required first and foremost allegiance to the Umma, or Muslim community, and the inbred obligation of enmity toward non-Muslims facilitates the pimping of non-Muslim girls and hinders any attempts at exposing its criminality and eventual prosecution. Sexual slavery has historically been used as a religious weapon to advance the domination of Islam. In Easy Meat, McLoughlin details how the sexploitation and enslavement of girls, once viewed as a great evil in Western society, has become a pervasive, routine, and almost pedestrian part of everyday life in the UK. On this issue, the courageous author effectively deals with the contention that Western civilization is fighting for its very existence in a clash between civilization and barbarism. His book serves as a grave warning for other countries as they consider increased levels of Muslim immigration. Following revelations that Richard Nixon used the IRS to target his enemies for tax audits, Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code to restrict access by federal and state government officials to federal tax return information. The post-Watergate reforms include civil and criminal penalties for inspection and disclosure of federal tax returns not expressly authorized for legitimate and expressly identified law enforcement purposes. The tax code requires that an annual tax return be filed by charities and other nonprofit organizations -- IRS Form 990. Under Section 6104 of the tax code, those returns of charities and other nonprofits must be made available for public inspection. Now, many Forms 990 are even made available on public websites such as Guidestar.org. The tax code, however, treats the names and addresses of donors listed on those Form 990 Schedule Bs quite differently than any of the other information on that form. Information about donors remain subject to the Codes strict confidentially provisions. California attorney general Kamala Harris is the states top charity regulator, overseeing Californias Registry of Charitable Trusts. Ms. Harris has decided to bypass federal law expressly requiring her to obtain Schedule B information directly from the IRS on a case-by-case basis if she has a legitimate need for donor information to enforce her states charitable solicitation laws. Instead of abiding by federal law, shes employing a dragnet method, demanding that all charities registering with her office submit their Schedule B donor lists to the Registry in order to solicit contributions from Californians. Charities even outside the state that wish to communicate with potential supporters in California are first required to register with Harris office before they may ask Californians for contributions, giving Ms. Harris tremendous power over national nonprofit organizations. By demanding the d33waonor lists of not only California-based charities, but all charities seeking support from Californians, she has extended her reach to violate the right of private association of donors and charities throughout the entire country. People may wonder why federal confidentiality laws should apply to names and addresses of donors filed with the IRS on Schedule B of charities tax returns. In the 1950s, the Alabama attorney general wanted to disrupt the civil rights movement in his state by obtaining the names of financial supporters of the NAACP. The Supreme Court shut down his demands in the landmark case NAACP v. Alabama. The court said that forced disclosure to government officials of the NAACPs financial backers and members would seriously harm the right of private association protected by the First Amendment. These principles were the law of the land when Congress enacted the donor confidentiality provisions, and are reflected in the federal confidentiality laws helping to protect charities and their donors from abuse and intimidation by government officials. Lois Lerners IRS was caught violating the tax code confidentiality laws when it disclosed donor names and addresses of the National Organization for Marriage to opponents of that nonprofit organization. In addition, IRS emails obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show Lerners IRS gave the Federal Election Commission detailed, confidential information concerning the tax exempt application status and returns of conservative groups in violation of the tax codes confidentiality laws. The tax codes penalties applicable to acquisition, inspection, and disclosure of charities confidential federal tax return information applies to state officials. The confidentiality rules, however, are applicable to more than leaks to third parties. For nonprofit organizations, Congress legislated one method -- and only one method -- under which state officials such as Kamala Harris may acquire confidential Schedule B information for inspection or intra-office disclosure in the administration of state charitable solicitation laws. State AGs and other charity regulators are required to request it on a case-by-case basis from the IRS before they may acquire, inspect, and further disclose it to employees in their offices. The IRS may deny those requests, and has authority to create protocols and supervisory review of how that information is maintained when state officials are granted access to it. Indeed, the IRS has created agreements that state authorities must sign assuring they will abide by the federal confidentiality laws and protocols. Comments recently filed with Ms. Harris office explain those exclusive and rigid rules, how the IRS has interpreted them, and even how a former top official for Ms. Harris interpreted them before Harris decided to break bad by end-running them. Ms. Harris decision to unilaterally bypass the exclusive and rigid regime for inspection and disclosure of donor names on Schedule B created by Congress looks to be a pretty clear violation of federal law. Another set of comments filed with her office explain the applicable criminal penalties for unauthorized inspection and intra-office disclosure. These penalties apply to not only top state officials, but lower level employees, too. By her actions, Ms. Harris has put not just herself, but also employees in her office in legal jeopardy. The California Registry of Charitable Trusts has threatened denial of permits to solicit contributions and even fines for failure to comply with the Ms. Harris dragnet demands for Schedule B information. California-based charities even face loss of their statewide tax-exempt status. This is not only extortionate, it flagrantly contravenes the U.S. Supreme Courts long-accepted unconstitutional conditions doctrine, which bars the use of quid pro quo as a method for government officials to restrict the exercise of First Amendment and other rights (i.e., government may not condition the issuance permit or license -- here a permit to solicit contributions -- on the surrender of a constitutional right -- here the right to private association.) A hyperpartisan who routinely opposes the public policy positions of conservative organizations on significant issues -- marriage, abortion, Second Amendment rights, and more -- Ms. Harris gives conservatives good reason to fear that she will abuse this confidential tax return information for nefarious purposes. Compounding her ideological threat to conservatives, she is a trained prosecutor who has a strongly imperious bent. As was widely reported, she is investigating the speech of Exxon, which disagrees with her position on climate change. Ms. Harris actions make a statement that she believes she is above the rule of law, and shes willing to use the heavy hand of her office to abuse Americans right to private association. The Obama Justice Department has given many passes to lawbreaking by government officials who are political allies, and the ambitious candidate for U.S. Senate Kamala Harris could also escape investigation by this administration for violating federal law. However, Congress and the next administration do appear to have grounds to question Ms. Harris about these matters, and take a hard look into whether she and her office are engaged in criminal violations of the federal tax code. Mr. Boos is an attorney in private practice in Virginia who for over twenty years has assisted nonprofit organizations and fundraising professionals with state charitable solicitation compliance matters. Mark Fitzgibbons is a regular contributor to American Thinker. Governor Andrew Cuomo of NY recently banned most travel by state employees to North Carolina. Was this bizarre action a result of a resurgence of the KKK? No -- rather, Cuomo has decided to impose his religious beliefs on the residents of North Carolina. Those dastardly North Carolinians dared to say that men shouldnt be allowed to use womens restrooms. Clearly no right thinking progressive could live with that, so Cuomo, and thousands of other liberal bigots, immediately began applying pressure to assure that men could use womens restrooms. From a scientific perspective, its clear that men who claim to think theyre women need our help and support, but the right answer is not to enable their delusion. But even more importantly, both men and women have, according to liberals, a constitutionally ensured right to privacy. Yet what greater invasion of privacy could there be than to be forced to share a bathroom with a stranger of the opposite sex? Cuomo is appalled that parents dont want their 10-year-old daughters exposed to any man who simply declares that hes a woman. Apparently, liberals have no interest in protecting children from pedophile voyeurs. But even adult women dont want to be forced to share a bathroom with a person with a male reproductive organ. It seems that to liberals like Cuomo that the only citizens who have rights are those who deny their biological identity -- a rather bizarre faith-based belief. Cuomo and his ilk reject the settled science that says that merely thinking one is of the opposite sex does not in fact make one a member of the opposite sex in order to advance their purely faith-based belief that people are infinitely malleable. Could you imagine Cuomo ever saying that a white man could declare himself to be black because he felt he was a black man and as a result get perks reserved for minorities, such as preferential treatment for jobs and government contracts? (Cuomo's opinion concerning Rachel Dolezal, who did exactly that, is not on record.) No sane and honest person thinks that a persons sex is any less determined by their DNA than is a persons race yet liberals wish to impose their belief in magic on the rest of society. Such a rejection of settled science is proof positive that Cuomo is engaged in a discriminatory religious crusade against people who believe in scientific truths. The internal inconsistency of Cuomos position is highlighted by his plan to travel to China. China continues to treat members of the LGBT community very poorly -- as understood by liberals -- and certainly men are not allowed to use womens bathrooms. Perhaps the reason that Cuomo has no problem with this apparent bit of hypocrisy is that his real motivation is hatred for Christianity, or more precisely Christian morals, rather than a deeply held love of the transgendered. After all Cuomo, like all hard-core liberals, believes in the unlimited right of the government to control Americans lives. Cuomo believes that he and his minions, the very well paid government bureaucrats, are the anointed elite who have the right and the responsibility to tell everyone else how they should live their lives. But in America, religion, generally Christianity, argues that the rights of men flow from God, not the State and that the States power in fact flows from the people. Christianity teaches that the people run the government; a concept that directly conflicts with the liberal ideal of the government controlling the people. Cuomo is not the only elected official to espouse, through his actions, this liberal perspective. After all, Obama has often bemoaned having to work with the peoples representatives and has, whenever he thought he could get away with it, violated the constitutional restrictions on presidential powers. Interestingly, both Obama and Cuomo have visited Cuba, a country that has a far worse record on LGBT issues than North Carolina. Apparently concern for LGBTs is limited to places where Christianity is a key cultural force. Atheistic persecution of LGBTs by China and Cuba dont seem to bother either Cuomo or Obama. And then of course Obamas continual praise for Iran, a country that persecutes LGBTs, shows that hes not motivated by a real compassion for the transgendered. There is an old saying that those the gods would destroy they first make mad. It alludes to the fact that hubris, pride, and the belief that men can change their own nature lead to actions that are mad when viewed in the context of reality. Yet what can be more insane than claiming that, merely by saying so, Bruce Jenner can become a woman? What a sexist affront to women! Its unclear whether people like Cuomo actually believe in the insanity they endorse, or if they are simply cynically using the LGBT community as a battering ram to destroy the last remaining obstacle religion -- to their grab for complete power over the American people. When confronting liberals spouting this sort of nonsense, make it clear that a man can no more declare himself to be a woman than a white man can declare himself to be black; science has taught us that both of those identities are written in our DNA. Then point out that people have the right to privacy and hence should not be forced to share a bathroom with a person of the opposite sex. While we can change how we act, we cant change our biological identity; and public policy that ignores that truth can only lead to disaster and oppression. You can read more of toms rants at his blog, Conversations about the obvious and feel free to follow him on Twitter William Shakespeare died 400 years ago in Stratford-on-Avon. This month, in commemoration of the anniversary of his death on April 23, 1616, scholars, theater companies, playgoers, and readers are paying tribute with all manner of special events and publications. Yet there is still a question as to whose death the world is commemorating. Last month, there was a flurry of articles published about the immigration crisis in Europe, and no less an authority than William Shakespeare was invoked to plead for tolerance of refugees. The "Shakespearean" lines quoted in all these article are from the play Sir Thomas More. Most people probably have never heard of it before. The play is collaborative, it survives in manuscript, and Shakespeare allegedly contributed three pages of revisions referred to by scholars as "Hand D" (to distinguish the handwriting from other contributors). Most readers will be well aware of the European refugee crisis, but some readers were perhaps surprised to learn that there is, apparently, a surviving manuscript in Shakespeare's handwriting. None of the stories qualified the authenticity of the Hand D manuscript with words such as "allegedly" or "supposedly" or even "probably." Yet some in the academic community have pointed out paleographic and other problems with the case for Shakespeare's handwritten script, and one might suggest that the identification of the handwriting as Shakespeare's has been fueled, in part, by wishful thinking. But in light of last month's media attention to the Sir Thomas More manuscript, a trusting reader might assume that the identification of Hand D as Shakespeare's is "settled science." These articles (titled, e.g., "Shakespeare's handwriting to be digitised by British Library for first time and his words defend refugees") appeared in media such as Newsweek, The Guardian, The Independent, The Telegraph, the Washington Post, Politico, NPR's website, and Slate, to name a few. All of the stories were based on a press release, accompanied by artwork, and the evident source was the British Library. All of the articles announced the British Library's digitization project, they all ran the same photograph of the manuscript, they all made reference to that manuscript as the only surviving dramatic composition in Shakespeare's handwriting, and they all hinged the story on the refugee crisis in Europe. The British Library is a respected institution, and the result of the widespread press coverage is that Shakespeare's handwriting in the Sir Thomas More manuscript is well on its way to being fixed in the public perception. I wrote a book about Shakespeare's documented life (first published in 2001 in a peer-reviewed series by Greenwood Press and released in paperback in 2013), and in it, I made the case that Shakespeare is the only alleged writer from the time period who left behind no evidence of his literary activities. It is a unique deficiency. To look at the anomaly another way, Shakespeare is the only alleged writer from the time period for whom one must rely on posthumous evidence to support one simple statement: he was a writer. A few years ago, Professor Stanley Wells read my book and posted his criticism on Blogging Shakespeare, the official blog of the Stratford Birthplace Trust in England. Professor Wells was highly critical of my work, but he conceded that my claim about the absence of what I call "literary paper trails" for Shakespeare is true. He went on to dismiss the claim as irrelevant, since he would give posthumous evidence the same weight and value as evidence left behind during Shakespeare's life. However, since Prof. Wells agreed that Shakespeare left behind no evidence of his literary activities during his lifetime, what might he have to say about the Hand D pages of Sir Thomas More? The academic consensus on Hand D as Shakespeare's is not unanimous, and Prof. Wells's would not be the only voice of dissent. And here is where the Hand D portions of Sir Thomas More impact the traditional Shakespearean biography. If Hand D is Shakespeare's, it's the first piece of contemporaneous evidence (i.e., a personal literary paper trail) ever discovered that documents Shakespeare's career as a playwright. Yet if true, that discovery would be, or should be, headline news on its own, not piggy-backed onto the digitization project. Is Hand D really Shakespeare's? There are two insurmountable problems with the claim for Hand D. First, there is no reliable control sample of Shakespeare's handwriting with which to make a valid comparison. Second, there are features in the Hand D pages that are consistent with scribal transcription. In other words, with respect to the second point, there can be no certainty that D's handwriting is that of an author in the act of composition; the handwriting could be that of an unidentified theatrical scribe. The claim that Hand D is a dramatic composition in Shakespeare's handwriting therefore remains unproven. Without Hand D's manuscript, Shakespeare's life as a writer is unsupported by any evidence he left behind during his lifetime. If Shakespeare of Stratford was not the writer we all thought he was, then whose death are we commemorating, anyway? Diana Price is the author of Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography. Her article on Hand D was published last month in the Journal of Early Modern Studies. BCCC Briefs: April 1, 2017 News Release: So you think you want to start a business This seminar was created for those individuals who are thinking about starting and operating their own business; however, they do not know if they have the personality, drive, creativity, adaptability, and a host of other talents and attributes that comprise a successful entrepreneur. During this seminar, attendees will honestly assess themselves to discover their strengths and weaknesses; wherefrom, they can make an informed decision on whether to move forward. The seminar will also incorporate various exercises and role playing where the attendee will be faced with realistic challenges encountered by entrepreneurs. Attendees will have to determine or design a solution. Attendees will also be given the opportunity to present their business "ideas" and will be shown various ways they can determine if the idea is feasible and viable. After attending this seminar, if an attendee makes the decision to move forward, they will be strongly encouraged to register for the core seminars at their local Small Business Center starting with, "How to Start a Business." Bob Moore is a graduate of Fayetteville State University and attended North Carolina State University. He has been the owner of several small businesses and has been employed in numerous strategic management roles with multi-national corporations. Bob is currently the Director of the Small Business Center at Robeson Community College. His seminar is on Tuesday April 5, 2016 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in Building 8, Room 828. Market your business by networking in your local area If you're spending lots of time on internet marketing and social media, you may be missing the customers, benefits, connections and potential sales within your local community. Successful small business owners must devote time to both to be profitable. Come find out how you can reach potential customers in your local community and gain their trust. This seminar includes tips on face-to-face networking, a powerful and virtually free form of marketing. Emily Ballance, MEd, LPC entertains, educates and inspires audiences with her humor, honesty and lively stories. Her presentations to associations, healthcare organizations, corporations, state and national conferences have been described as "highly entertaining, uplifting and thought-provoking." She frequently presents on humor, stress management and communication, and is a member of the National Speakers Association. Also a Licensed Professional Counselor, Emily is committed to helping people use positive, affirming humor to enhance their health, happiness, work and well-being. When she's not traveling or speaking, Emily volunteers her time with older adults and the Autism Society of North Carolina. Her seminar is on Tuesday April 5, 2016 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. in Building 8, Room 828. These seminars are put on by the Small Business Center at Beaufort County Community College. Seminars are free unless otherwise noted. Interested participants should pre-register by calling (252) 940-6375 or emailing EvaP@beaufortccc.edu. Contact: Attila Nemecz Public Relations Coordinator Beaufort County Community College 5337 US Hwy 264 East Washington, NC 27889 252.940.6387 attila.nemecz@beaufortccc.edu You knew something like this was coming. The Clinton family openly lusts to emulate the Kennedys, Bushes, and Cuomos in establishing a political dynasty, no matter how thin the blood has gotten in one generation. In her 36 years, Chelsea Clinton has put together a resume with important-sounding entry headings yet void of any actual accomplishments of note. Like mother, like daughter: the titles look good, but what did Hillary Clnton accomplish as a senator or secretary of state (beyond pushing Libya to failed state status, home to the latest branch of ISIS)? Similarly, Chelsea was indeed an NBC News correspondent and has a doctorate from Oxford. But what did she accomplish? At least she has one child and another on the way. Renaming the Clinton Foundation as The Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation was the first tangible evidence that Great Things were planned for the spawn of the ultimate political marriage. Now, in an interview with the Deep Thinkers of Access Hollywood, Chelsea drops an unsubtle hint. Via Shoshana Weissman of The Weekly Standard: Now that U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier has approved the $20.8-billion settlement in the BP oil spill case, we can look at tying up the loose ends. The biggest remaining injustice is that the man who was the project leader for the successful effort to stop the leak, Kurt Mix, has been dragged through the courts for years by malicious prosecutors from the Department of Justice, rather than being awarded the acclaim he deserves. Given his natural reluctance to testify while under criminal prosecution, being granted the protection of Congress would allow him to provide a more accurate account of the whole well-control process to complete the public record. Clearly, the government did not want him to testify while the case was still at trial. Why were they so desperate to go to such extremes? Whatever he has to add is worth hearing. The DOJ has earned a reputation for being highly politicized. We, the people need to fix that problem. Politically, right now the biggest problem for the Republicans in Congress has been a well-deserved reputation for political impotence. "We can pass the bills, but Obama will veto them, boo hoo!" They need some treatment for their erectile dysfunction. My proposal is simple. Take the lesson of David and Goliath to heart. Take down Obamas reputation a few notches. It sounds hard, but it is easy. All they have to do is have Congress pass a bill awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Kurt Mix. Then include a clause in the legislation directing that the president that would be Obama present the award personally on behalf of a grateful nation. Kurt Mix did what Obama and the world wanted done: he "plugged the hole" during the BP oil spill. "July 15, 2010 Kurt helps successfully execute the "capping stack" procedure, which stops the ow of oil 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 oor" Didn't Obama ask for ideas? Didn't Mix's ideas work? Doesn't he deserve the Congressional Gold Medal? "A Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress; the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom are the highest civilian awards in the United States. It is awarded to persons "who have performed an achievement that has an impact on American history and culture that is likely to be recognized as a major achievement in the recipient's field long after the achievement."[1] However, "There are no permanent statutory provisions specifically relating to the creation of Congressional Gold Medals. When a Congressional Gold Medal has been deemed appropriate, Congress has, by legislative action, provided for the creation of a medal on an ad hoc basis." (emphasis added) Obama does not have any say in what Congress does only members of Congress do. Stick it to him. Prove to the whole world that Obama is impotent. "Have you plugged the hole yet, Daddy?" Questions are being asked about why Americans dont seem very prominent among those exposed in the massive Panama Papers leak. And dark suspicions exist that the leaker is Soros-funded and has deliberately shielded certain parties, in an effort aimed at discrediting Russia in particular. As Tyler Durden of Zerohedge noted: ... in an interview conducted between Wired magazine and the director of the organization that released the Panama Papers, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ, Gerard Rylesaid: Ryle says that the media organizations have no plans to release the full dataset , WikiLeaks-style, which he argues would expose the sensitive information of innocent private individuals along with the public figures on which the groups reporting has focused. Were not WikiLeaks. Were trying to show that journalism can be done responsibly , Ryle says. He says he advised the reporters from all the participating media outlets to go crazy, but tell us whats in the public interest for your country. Question aside about who it is that gets to decide which "innocent private individuals" are to be left alone[.] And in another dispatch, Durden notes that Wikileaks is criticizing the failure to release all the data. But the first prominent American name to be associated with the leak belongs to someone close to the Clinton political machine. Lachlan Markay of the Free Beacon reports: A firm with ties to senior members of the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign registered to lobby on behalf of a major Russian bank just weeks before a massive leak exposed the banks role in a web of secret financial dealings that have enriched members of Russian president Vladimir Putins inner circle. (snip) Among those companies is the Russian Sberbank, whose U.S. investment banking branch recently enlisted the services of the Podesta Group. According to its lobbying registration form, the firm will work on banking, trade, and foreign relations issues. One of the three lobbyists working on the account is Tony Podesta, a bundler for the Clinton campaign and the brother of campaign chairman John Podesta, who co-founded the firm. Politico reported last month that Podesta and two of the firms other lobbyists would be working to affect the scope of U.S. sanctions against Russia for its role in the Ukraine conflict and whether relief is possible. In addition to the companys Russian parent, the lobbying registration form lists three other directly-affiliated foreign entities: Cayman Islands-based Troika Dialog Group Limited, Cyprus-based SBGB Cyprus Limited, and Luxembourg-based SB International. According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a consortium of journalists exploring the Panama Papers leak, Sberbank and Troika Dialog have ties to companies used by members of Putins inner circle to funnel state resources into lucrative private investments. Some of these companies were initially connected to the Troika Dialog investment fund, which was controlled and run by Sberbank after the bank bought the Troika Dialog investment bank. Troika and Sberbank declined to comment, the project reported on Monday. The Mossack Fonseca documents show that Troika Dialog secretly signed away much of its interest in a Russian truck manufacturer to an unknown offshore called Avto Holdings. That company was partially owned by Sergei Roldugin, a close Putin friend and the godfather of the Russian presidents daughter. Now in fairness, being a lobbyist does not necessarily implicate someone in possible crimes of the client. But it does implicate one in influence-peddling. Dont you wonder about who might be being protected by the Soros-funded group that is stage managing the leaks? I certainly do. When I think of difficult-to-trace massive offshore investments, the first name that comes to mind is George Soros, the very definition of lack of transparency. The FBI is on a winning streak. They havent looked this good since the heyday of Efrem Zimabalist, Jr. Apparently, they just cracked open the unbreakable Apple iPhone. In my own neck of the woods, they recently indicted a top Democrat, who may now be spilling the beans on our outgoing governor and our current attorney general, to name a few. You may say big deal, Kentucky Democrats in hot water is nothing new, but the sheer secrecy of the recent FBI investigation was tremendous. Frankfort, Ky. is your stereotypical little Southern town, where everybody knows everyone elses business. This is like the FBI coming into the fictional Hazzard County for over a year and getting Rosco to turn state's evidence, with Boss Hogg being none the wiser. If they can keep their investigations so quiet in a place where there are no secrets, I think there is also a good chance we have seen only the tip of the iceberg as relates to the ongoing investigation of Washington, D.C.s real Boss Hogg and his Missus. Recently, the Clinton camp even put out some hot air about Hillary not being indicted, but thats just wishful thinking. The agents doing the investigation are not talking, and, one suspects, just given the size of the investigation 147 agents they have found something good. And dont forget, James Comey is the hard case who insisted on not just prosecuting Martha Stewart, but sending her to prison. If some of the people around the Clintons really are talking, no telling where it might lead. Hillary in prison-orange pantsuits may be the biggest fashion news in Hazzard County since Daisy Dukes. Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, Ky. Not long ago, I jokingly pointed out that Obama's secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, who in his holy quest to give his liege lord, Barack, the rainbow-hued, unicorn-mounted force the narcissist-in-chief so desires, has, in naval jargon, run aground. The problem according to Mabus and his chief enlisted naval adviser is that, try as they might, their naval social justice retitling team can't seem to come up with a satisfactory gender-neutral replacement for the Navy's traditional title for a clerk, which, as it has been since the birth of the United States Navy, is yeoman. I kid you not, folks: with all the problems our military faces in this very dangerous world, our secretary of the Navy has his top chief petty officer, Master Chief of the Navy Michael D. Stevens, busy changing the titles of the countless combat specialty ratings in that force, which includes the United States Marine Corps. This quixotic quest is necessitated by the relentless insistence of the Obama administration that women be allowed to serve in all combat units and positions regardless of continuing demonstrations that this is a clearly foolish program with coming deadly consequences. While my recent piece drew many humorous suggestions for a replacement title for yeoman, one commenter soberly noted that this is no laughing matter when it comes to the Navy's real budget needs. Barack Obama and the Democratic Party have taken an accounting axe to our military forces, demanding drastic reductions everywhere, across every fleet and every force. In the Navy, that means not only fewer ships, but also fewer sailors to man and support those ships remaining. Because of Obama's budgets, naval aviators aren't allowed to fly sufficient training missions to retain their flying proficiency. Even special naval helicopter units that fly SEAL missions are being shut down, with their mission being shifted onto the Army. Point is, money's tight, and the budget constraints are affecting mission training and performance. And yet Ray Mabus wants to spend scarce funds to rewrite hundreds if not thousands of Navy and Marine Corps manuals governing training, maintenance, and operations of those forces while reprinting virtually every form with application to the combat arms of both those forces. I can guarantee you there is absolutely no one in the office of Ray Mabus who has a clue as to the needless and unaffordable costs of these changes they are pushing at a time when every penny of the budget should be earmarked for combat operations and not such administrative idiocy. I'm particularly interested in how Rainbow Ray and his Unicornians are going to rewrite MCRP 3-02B, Marine Corps Martial Arts Program, so that it instructs 130-pound female infantrypersons in how to engage and overpower 180-pound male jihadists in the bloody, vicious, unrestrained fury of hand-to-hand combat. Bernie Sanders blew by Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary, winning 56% of the vote to Clinton's 43%. The increasingly bitter contest now moves to Wyoming on Saturday, where Democrats will caucus to chose a nominee. It was Sanders's seventh win out of the last eight primaries and caucuses most of the wins by double digits. His run has Clinton scrambling to retarget her campaign, choosing to make a stand in New York. Where once she bragged about wrapping up the primary contest by March, Clinton will be fortunate to gain the majority of delegates by late April or early May. But the chances of Sanders catching up in the delegate count are virtually zero. All Democratic primary and caucus delegates are awarded proportionally no "winner take all" contests. So even though Sanders had a smashing win in Wisconsin, he won only six more delegates than Clinton did. Clinton still holds a nearly 700-delegate lead on Sanders thanks to her almost total dominance in gaining the support of superdelegates. Given the math facing the Vermont senator, whatever momentum he has picked up in Wisconsin will be psychological only. Politico: Fresh off a string of blowout wins across the West, Wisconsin was largely seen as tailor-made for Sanders. After Saturdays Wyoming caucuses, the race shifts to New York, a delegate-rich state where both campaigns are playing to win. The triumph in Wisconsin is likely to give the Brooklyn-born candidate another burst of momentum heading into the April 19 primary in New York, where he has a chance to reset the race if he can upset Clinton in the state she represented for eight years in the Senate. Don't tell Clinton, Sanders joked, but "I believe we have a chance to win New York and a lot of delegates in that state." Clinton's campaign had been aggressively lowering expectations in Wisconsin. Allies of the Democratic front-runner insisted a defeat would not materially damage Clinton given her strong lead on Sanders (she's ahead by roughly 230 delegates, or 600 including superdelegates). Wisconsin awards its 86 pledged delegates on a proportional basis, which ensures neither candidate will net a large delegate haul. Wisconsin is a state that favors him. It is much less diverse than most of the states we compete in in Democratic primaries. Its got a lower population of African-Americans, a very small population of Latinos, Clintons chief pollster and strategist Joel Benenson told MSNBC on Monday, setting the bar for expectations Tuesday night. Clintons campaign, Benenson remarked, has done very well in building a diverse coalition, which is why weve won far more primary elections than Sen. Sanders has and compiled a bigger net delegate lead in those primaries by a lot, than he has. For Sanders to have a breath of life in his campaign, the superdelegates are going to have to switch almost en masse from Clinton to him. Given Clinton's stranglehold on the national party apparatus, this is not going to happen. Superdelegates are chosen precisely for their loyalty to Hillary. There would have to be a total collapse by Clinton for Sanders to pick up many superdelegates. Sanders raised $44 million last month, so he has plenty of cash to make life miserable for Clinton. His supporters seem perfectly content for him to continue bashing Clinton, the rich, the Republicans, and America with equal fervor. In short, Sanders will be a thorn in Clinton's side but that's about it. He is not really a threat to steal the nomination from her. The Italian town of Gangi, built atop a small bump-like hill in an wooded valley in central Sicily, about 80 kilometers southeast of Palermo, looks like a giant tortoise shell. Less than two years ago, few people outside Italy had heard about it. Now people from all over Europe and as far away as Australia are vying each other for a piece of the town. Regarded by many as one of the most beautiful in Italy, this 12th century town had a population of 16,000 in the 1950s. Today, there are just 7,000 left. People have been moving away from Gangi for more than a hundred years, lured by the American dream, thanks to some brilliant sales agent of trans-Atlantic ocean liners selling the prospects of a better life in America. Photo credit: Michele Ursino/Flickr Thousands of residents abandoned their homes, locally known as pagglialore, typical of this town. The tower-like structures were occupied by donkeys on the ground floor along with the paglia, or straw, chickens and goats on the middle floor, while the farmers family lived on top. Over the decades, many of these houses had became derelict. In an effort to revitalize the town, without the associated expense, in 2014, the mayor decided to sell off these houses at the price of just one Euro. Many were given away for free. But there was a catch, of course. The buyer was required to draw up plans for renovation within a year of purchasing the house, and implement those within three years. The buyer also had to bear the expenses for the transfer of ownership, and pay all necessary fees and permits. As one hopeful Australian woman found out, this would cost her over $17,000 even before she started renovating her home. Nevertheless, the houses were sold-off pretty quickly. As of June 2015, there was a lengthy waiting list, and the town was screening applicants based on what prospective buyers wished to do with the property. We dont want people just because they have money, Mr. Ferrarello, the mayor said. We want to know what youre going to do with the houses. One Florence-based firm, for instance, received two free houses and bought seven more, because they plan to create a 22-suite hotel out of them. The scheme has worked well. There is a lot of interest in Gangi now and tourism is booming. We did this for our children, because we love our territory, the mayor said. And we want our children to stay here and not leave. Photo credit: The Sun Photo credit: The Sun Photo credit: gotravelaz.com Photo credit: gotravelaz.com Photo credit: The Sun Photo credit: The Sun Photo credit: The Sun Photo credit: Trolvag/Panoramio Photo credit: Trolvag/Panoramio Photo credit: Trolvag/Panoramio Photo credit: Magnus Nilsson/Flickr Photo credit: kapa123/Flickr Photo credit: SandroG9/Panoramio Sources: NY Times / Business Insider / Esplora In July 1917, after an armed demonstration by the Bolsheviks in St. Petersburg against the Russian Provincial Government turned violent, the Provisional Government issued an order for the arrest of more than forty prominent leaders of the Bolshevik Party, including Vladimir Lenin. To evade arrest and prosecution, Lenin and a fellow senior Bolshevik, Grigory Zinoviev, escaped St. Petersburg in disguise, but they didnt went very far. Lenin decided to shelter just outside the city, in a small village called Razliv, so that could be in constant touch with party workers and keep abreast of the situation in the capital. He took refugee at the home of another Bolshevik worker, Nikolai Yemelyanov, who worked at the nearby Sestroretsk arms factory. A replica of the hut where Lenin hid out during his stay in Razliv. Photo credit: Anna Pronenko/Panoramio Lenin spent a few days in the hayloft of Yemelyanovs barn, but when rumors reached St. Petersburg that Lenin was working as a fitter in the arms factory, it became obvious that couldn't stay there for long because Yemelyanovs residence could be searched at any moment. So Yemelyanov transferred Lenin and Zinoviev in the guise of Finnish mowers to the deserted south-eastern shore of a lake. There, by the lakeside, in a small clearing surrounded by dense bushes, Yemelyanov helped Lenin and Zinoviev build a small hut from branches and covered with hay. A haystack was erected next to the hut, because Lenin and his friend would be living as Finnish peasant making hay. Lenin tried to make the best he could of things. Two tree stumps served as table and chair. A large stack recess held papers and manuscripts brought to him by various members of Yemelyanovs family, who also provided food for the fugitives. Near the hut, a pot hung from stakes where tea was made. For relaxation, Lenin and Zinoviev helped Yemelyanov mow the hay. They even went swimming. But at night mosquitoes made life miserable. It didn't matter how you hid from them, they would always get to where they wanted and they would frequently eat you. But there was nothing that could be done about it; you simply had to submit, remembered Yemelyanov. Only rain provided them relief, but it also made everything wet as the hay roof leaked like a sieve. It was under these terrible condition that Lenin started working on the book "State and Revolution", an exposition on how he believed the socialist state would develop following the proletariat revolution, and how from that point on the state would gradually wither away leaving a pure Communist society. Yemelyanovs barn, now fully enclosed over. Photo credit: www.razlivmuseum.spb.ru Many leading Bolsheviks also came to visit Lenin in his hut under the cover of darkness. Yemelyanovs son would stand guard, and at the sight of strangers would begin to whistle, imitating the call of a bird. Once on a rainy day, Lenin was sitting inside the hut when a Cossack barged in to take shelter. When Lenin asked him what he was doing, the Cossack said that he was hunting for someone named Lenin. When questioned about the crime Lenin had committed, he couldnt answer. All he knew, he said, was that the fugitive was muddled and very dangerous and that he was somewhere in the neighborhood. Following this incident, and the sufferings from rain and mosquitoes finally lead Lenin and Zinoviev to abandon their hut. They remained by the lake until 8 August 1917 and then moved to Finland. After Lenins death, Yemelyanovs barn was declared a historic monument and a museum was opened in 1925. Later in 1970 on the occasion of the 100th birth centenary of Lenin it was fully encased in glass. Lenin's Hut didn't survive for long, so in 1928 a memorial in the form of a granite hut was built at the location of his hay hut. Later an exact replica of the actual hut was also created. In 1969, not far from the hut, a museum was opened. Photo credit: www.svetaphoto.com Photo credit: www.razlivmuseum.spb.ru The granite hut monument. Photo credit: Peter Ivanov/Wikimedia Photo credit: Dimitriy Rusanov/Panoramio Photo credit: www.razlivmuseum.spb.ru Photo credit: kurort.spb.ru Exhibits inside the museum. Photo credit: Peter Ivanov/Wikimedia Exhibits inside the museum. Photo credit: Peter Ivanov/Wikimedia Exhibits inside the museum. Photo credit: www.razlivmuseum.spb.ru Photo credit: Peter Ivanov/Wikimedia Sources: Lenin: A Biography by Robert Service / Vladimir and Nadya: The Lenin Story by Mary Hamilton-Dann / www.razlivmuseum.spb.ru / Wikipedia / BBC / Google Earth Community The Montreal Biosphere, located on Saint Helen's Island in Montreal, Canada, is a museum dedicated to the environment. It was designed and created by visionary architect Richard Buckminster Fuller originally as the pavilion of the United States for the 1967 World Fair. The Biosphere was the culmination of over twenty years of Fullers obsession with geodesic domes, a structure that emerged from his interests in material efficiency, structural integrity, and modularity. Fuller wished to demonstrate that it was possible to create a livable space using only one fifth of the materials normally used in conventional architecture. Photo credit: leo gonzales/Flickr The enormous hemispherical structure soars sixty-three meters high and is so spacious that it comfortably housed the seven-story exhibition building including a forty-meter long escalator, the longest ever built at that time. The steel-framed sphere was covered with transparent acrylic panels. To control the indoor ambient temperature, Fuller designed an apparatus composed of mobile triangular panels that would move over the inner surface of the dome following the sun. Unfortunately the system never worked properly. Instead valves were installed in the center of the acrylic panels for the pavilion to ventilate. The United States pavilion became the most popular at the fair, and was visited by 11 million visitors in six months. The pavilion was originally designed to be dismantled. However, to cut cost, the metal tubes were welded and not bolted as proposed by Fuller. This made the structure impossible to dismantle. So after the fair ended, the US government donated its pavilion to the City of Montreal. For several years, the Biosphere was used for recreational activities and as a public attraction. For some time it became an oasis of plants and birds. In 1976, during repair works, the structure's acrylic sheet caught fire and was completely destroyed. The sheet was never replaced. After the fire, the dome was abandoned for fifteen years until the city decided to repurpose it as an environmental exhibition space dedicated to the water ecosystems of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River regions. The museum was opened in 1995. Photo credit: MMarsolais/Flickr Photo credit: stephengg/Flickr Photo credit: abdallahh/Flickr Photo credit: AILAFM/Flickr Photo credit: Alvaro Blanes/Flickr Photo credit: Garrett Ziegler/Flickr Photo credit: Garrett Ziegler/Flickr The Biosphere during the Expo in 1967. Photo credit: www.worldsfaircommunity.org The Biosphere during the Expo in 1967. Photo credit: www.worldsfaircommunity.org The fire of 1976. Photo credit: Archives Canada/spacing.ca Photo credit: Hamidreza/Wikimedia Sources: www.ec.gc.ca / www.montrealenvironment.ca Amazon Prime comes with a large number of perks, including free two-day shipping on most orders. Recently, Amazon has expanded on that two-day shipping option and made free same-day shipping a reality for Prime subscribers in select areas. Buyers can order their items in the morning and will receive them before bedtime on the same day, even on Sundays. As Amazon continues to focus on making Prime subscriptions more appealing, they announced on Wednesday that theyll be expanding the free same-day shipping for Prime subscribers to a few new metro areas. Throughout the United States, there are eleven new areas, to be exact. With Wednesdays expansion, Amazon Prime customers will be able to take advantage of free same-day shipping in the areas of Charlotte, Cincinnati, Fresno, Louisville, Milwaukee, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond, Sacramento, Stockton, and Tucson, in addition to areas already serviced, like Los Angeles and Tampa Bay. In total, this brings the stable of cities and towns nationwide that are serviced by Primes free same-day shipping up past the 1,000 mark. Along with the existing option for Prime subscribers to get free two-day shipping, this new rollout makes it more viable than ever for everyday essentials, trip supplies and spur-of-the-moment purchases to be done through Amazon rather than normal retail channels. Advertisement The new free same-day shipping option is still limited in location as Amazon works on the rollout, currently up to 27 metro areas, and is limited by the type of item being bought, in some cases. Eligible items number well over a million and include most of the bigger names and household essentials. Otherwise, the criteria is the same as any Prime free two-day shipping order; the total must be over $35 and it has to be ordered in a certain timeframe. According to Amazons press release, an order made in the morning will hit before 9 PM that same day, whereas orders made in the afternoon or later in the evening will be delivered first thing the next morning. The extra shipping considerations for Prime customers have been said to present the possibility of deprioritization and shipping delays for non-Prime customers, but Amazon is holding fast to the strategy of enhancing Prime, holding out hope that most, if not all Amazon customers will get on board. Although Samsung has been keeping quiet in regards to the sales figures registered by the new flagship phone series the Samsung Galaxy S7 -, several analyst reports so far have suggested that the smartphone exceeded expectations, which led to raising the shipping estimates for the first quarter of the year to nearly 10 million units. Clearly, the Samsung Galaxy S7 lineup is already very successful, and now analysts have begun discussing the various reasons which may have led to this positive outcome. Undeniably, one of the main reasons for the Samsung Galaxy S7 lineups success is the fact that both the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge feature some of the best hardware components available on the mobile market today. With an excellent DSLR-grade Dual Pixel autofocus camera, waterproof capabilities, expandable storage, and a powerful chipset all wrapped in a sleek metal-glass body its difficult to argue with the fact that the new Samsung flagship lineup is very well equipped. However, specifications aside, analysts are of the opinion that there are other factors contributing to the smartphones success. One of them is the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S7 series was released roughly one month earlier in March, compared to last years Samsung Galaxy S6 which was launched in April 2015. This allowed the new series to enjoy market exposure without being threatened by upcoming flagships from China, whose price tags are very difficult to compete with. In addition, it further departed the launch of the new series from the upcoming release of the iPhone 7. Advertisement Another factor which analysts believe may have weighed in to the series success is the fact that the Samsung Galaxy S7 lineup was released at slightly lower prices (by an average of 8%) compared to its predecessor. Moreover, last year Samsung didnt expect the Galaxy S6 Edge to be as sought-after as it was. Demand was too high to keep up with, and Samsung was simply unable to manufacture enough curved panels for the Galaxy S6 Edge. However, this year, knowing that the Edge series has become more popular than the usual Galaxy S variant, Samsung was apparently able to keep up with the high demand, which inevitably led to higher shipping figures compared to last year. With all of the above being said, some analysts believe that Samsung will adopt a similar strategy for its future flagship phones, and have begun rethinking their expectations for the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 6 too. Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics expects Samsung to release the [Samsung Galaxy] Note 6 a month or two ahead of the iPhone 7s debut, which might give the Korean tech giant a large enough window of opportunity to boost the sales figures of its H2 flagship series as well. Samsungs mid-range smartphone segment went through an overhaul last year, and this resulted in the creation of the Samsung Galaxy J series which earned a lot of praise, on the most part, for good reasons. However, today is all about the Galaxy J 2016 lineup consisting in the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) and Galaxy J7 (2016), which recently debuted in China following countless leaks and rumors. Although there is no official word on when the new series will hit the market worldwide, new evidence suggests that the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016), at least, might be heading for an imminent market release in both Ukraine and Egypt. All the previous leaks surrounding the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) model aimed for the Chinese market suggested that the terminal is powered by Android 5.1 Lollipop, and when the smartphone was released, Samsung wasnt in a rush to confirm or deny this detail either. But more to the topic at hand, it looks like new firmware based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow for the Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) model number SM-J510H was recently spotted online. The firmware is destined for a couple of regions including Ukraine and Egypt, which is rather odd considering the fact that the new Samsung Galaxy J5 is not available in the aforementioned areas. Well, at least not yet. Judging by the firmwares existence, its safe to assume that Samsung might be planning on releasing the new Galaxy J5 (2016) outside of China relatively soon. The firmware based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow could be prepared for the smartphones debut outside of China, or it might be planned for an OTA (over the air) release soon after the handset hits the shelves. Either way, SamMobile reports that the smartphone should eventually become available in a handful of regions, including Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Advertisement We expect the International Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) variant to sport roughly the same hardware specifications as the model launched in China. The list includes a 5.2-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 and a pixel density of 282 pixels per inch, a Snapdragon 410 quad-core SoC featuring four Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.2 GHz each, an Adreno 306 graphics chip, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal storage expandable via microSD by up to an additional 128 GB, and a 13-megapixel main camera complemented by a 5 MP front-facing sensor. All the components draw energy from a generous 3,100 mAh battery. If you had access to all of the information about you in every database around the world, it would likely add up to a shocking amount of information. Almost all internet users have a digital identity of sorts, formed from their presence on the internet, as well as the things they watch, buy and search for. This kind of information, however, doesnt always paint a complete picture of somebody. Sometimes, information is gleaned from polls. In Googles case, a special tool called Google Consumer Surveys is used on some websites to give more accurate marketing or polling data, as well as allowing more individualized content on a visitor by visitor basis. Google Consumer Surveys has been taking off lately and may even play a part in the 2016 United States Presidential Election. With use cases ranging from political news sites polling their readers to businesses figuring out which potential new product would end up giving them the highest potential for profit, Google Consumer Surveys price tag, in the thousands of dollars for most customers, is almost always justified. The data gathering can come in the form of a survey or poll that you have to fill out before viewing content on a website, or via Googles own app in the Play Store, Google Opinion Rewards, that gives users Play Store credits in return for filling out surveys. The data is typically gathered much faster and more efficiently than other methods, with one customer noting the turnaround time for a normal survey through Google Consumer Surveys as obscene. Advertisement As for the obvious applications in politics, Google has already been on the ground promoting the product at debates and has fallen in with many a well-known customer, including the likes of The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Although the campaign manager would not name which candidate used the system, one of the 2016 Presidential Election candidates has used Google Consumer Surveys as a field polling tool before. Political news site Independent Journal Review has also hopped on board with a long-term contract. Although its highly unlikely that Google Consumer Surveys will power the actual vote any time soon, theres no denying that the service has already played a small part in the 2016 Election. Getting the update to the latest version of Android can sometimes feel like a guessing game for smartphone owners. This is due to the way in which updates pass down the chain to devices and it is widely understand how the carrier and manufacturer of a smartphone can determine the speed at which an updates arrives. If you are the owner a OnePlus device, then there is a good chance that you were expecting the Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) update to take its time in arriving. Although these are carrier-free devices, they are ones which have a much smaller development team than some of the other manufacturer smartphones. As a result, it was not too surprising that in spite of OnePlus announcing they will roll out Marshmallow before the end of Q1, it has yet to roll out. Although, the company did release a community build which lets owners test run the latest version of OxygenOS, version 3.0. However, this is a feature which is only available to OnePlus 2 owners, with no availability for those who own the newer OnePlus X. That said, if you do own a OnePlus X then you should know that an update is on its way to your device. While it is not an update to Marshmallow, it is still an update and one which will bring your device up to OxygenOS version 2.2.1. As to be expected with this being an OTA update, it will be one which will be rolling out in phases. So while it is announced as on its way, it still could be a couple of days or even a week before you see the update arrive. Advertisement In terms of the actual update, there is not a whole lot to talk about as the changelog largely details a number of fixes and improvements to the software. Fixes include one for data leaking while roaming, a microphone mute fix when using Google Hangouts and a fix for when the Google Search bar is hidden and the app drawer fails to open or launch. Besides these fixes, there is an upgrade to GMS 3.0, an upgrade to APN for Tigo support and the usual generic bug fixes, as well as an undefined security patch update. Those interested in reading more about the update can head over to the OnePlus blog through the source link below. Even though a recent study showed that consumer complaints were on the decline although Bell was the worst with customer complaints a class action suit was filed against Bell by Celia Sankar in 2012. However, it ended up being supported by a million Bell, Virgin Mobile and Solo prepaid customers, all who lost their remaining balance on their prepaid card because they did not top up before the end of its active period. Bells practice was to claim the unused funds the day after the end of the active period for example, if the active period ended on June 30, then on July 1, the funds would be claimed by Bell. The case was based on the customers believing that Bells prepaid card system was unlawful and a way for Bell to get extra money from their customers, but the Ontario Court of Appeals dismissed the $200 million class action suit on April 4. The case went before the Ontarios Superior Court of Justice in January 2015 when she claimed the contract provided that Bell had to wait two days after the active period to reclaim the funds, not the first day. She also alleged that Bell claimed the funds improperly because Ontario legislation forbids expiry dates on prepaid phone cards. The judge argued that Bell did not breach its contract and that the gift card regulations she referred too, did not apply to prepaid phone cards. He ruled in Bells favor and dismissed the class action, and an appeal was filed in March 2015. Advertisement The court was very sympathetic with the plaintiffs stating that consumers may find themselves in situations where they cannot add money to their cards before the expiration date or use the credit before it expires. The courts documents state, They may also find themselves on a merry-go-round they cannot get off, because they must constantly top up an account with a credit balance, because they have not used up all their credits from the previous active period. Depending on ones perspective, that may be unfair or it may be part of the price paid for the flexibility of a prepaid phone card. They decided that it was unfair to expect service providers to carry unused minutes for an indefinite period. In November 2013, Bell amended its top-up agreements to reflect a seven-day grace period due to the CRTCs decision the watchdog for the Canadian consumer. On the class action suits website, it says it is reviewing the decision to determine whether to seek leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. Rogers had two announcements one concerning their updated MyRogers app and the other involves some bug fixes for their Netflix competitor, Shomi. Ever since Guy Laurence took over as CEO of Rogers and implemented his Rogers 3.0 plan, their focus has been on customer satisfaction and a recent independent survey has shown a remarkable decrease in subscriber complaints. Updates to MyRogers app should help customer satisfaction go even higher as one of the new features allows the user to setup notifications for their data usage it will now warn you if you are nearing your data cap. Users will also be able to complete a forgot password/username request from within the app as well as change your account password or voicemail password. You can even setup pre-authorized payments and even see the details of your plan this is very much like the My Verizon Mobile app that we enjoy in the US. If you are a Business customer with Rogers you can view the total balance on your account directly from within the app a flaw in the previous version was causing a lot of frustration within their business customer base. The Shomi update focused mostly on fixing bugs in the system you could be watching something, and a glitch could show up and ruin your viewing experience. The Android navigation bar is now hidden during playback, as well as fixing an error that would stop the video playback if an ad blocker was installed. It also plays nicer with Chromecast devices and the discovery is much better. They promise that the app will recover more gracefully when the internet connection is lost, and you will no longer be stuck in the landscape mode. Rogers add more features for using Shomi on an Android tablet. Advertisement Shomi (Show Me) can be accessed via a tablet, smartphone, online, an Xbox 360 and set top boxes. It is very much like Netflix, but they claim you will get more content, and it will come to Shomi faster than you would receive it with Netflix. Shomi does have the most popular shows on TV, but also carries old series from the past including cult classics and films. Thirty percent of the content is Canadian TV shows and classic movies. BlackBerry was once at the very top of the food chain the mobile industry. The companys devices were quite expensive, but were also in high-demand due to branding and their sheer quality. Well, things have changed over the years, as BlackBerry failed to adapt to the ever-growing mobile industry. The company is not doing all that great at the moment, they havent been able to sell many smartphones over the last couple of years, and their BB10 OS didnt help the cause. BlackBerry has actually opted to release their first Android-powered smartphone, the Priv, last October, and even though this smartphone was selling really well in the beginning, it seems like things are not looking all that great for the company. According to Seeking Alphas last post, BlackBerry is pretty much doomed, well, at least their smartphones are. Robert Lehar decided to elaborate on his thought in a column, and as a part of it, he shared some BlackBerry sales numbers. The company was actually able to sell around 2 million handsets in the middle of 2014, and their sales fell to just 600,000 last quarter, which is certainly not a good sign. Mr. Lehar was quite harsh in his column, and has referred to the BlackBerry Priv as an overpriced hybrid, even though there are quite a few people out there that enjoy using this phone. The device might be more expensive than most people think it should, but this is a BlackBerry after all, were used to such pricing from the Canada-based company. Advertisement That being said, the column youll find by clicking on the source link might be harsh, but there are some good points in there, especially considering BlackBerry sales and general financial situation. The lack of revenues certainly affects research and development, and it will be interesting to see how long will BlackBerry keep their hardware business going. The company is actually expected to release two Android-powered devices in the coming months, and one of them is expected to launch in September (a mid-range one). Either way, well see what happens, stay tuned, well report back soon. The argument that Google is giving its own results in some of its search products special treatment, as well as bundling services in Android in an anticompetitive manner, has sparked mass debate worldwide, with some countries even opening up antitrust cases to formally investigate Googles practices and determine if punitive action should be taken. The European Union, in particular, is putting Google through the ringer over local search, comparison shopping and Android, with the charge led by Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. As if the EU nightmare werent enough for Google to worry about, Senator Richard Blumenthal has come forward in the United States, aided by former Federal Trade Commission adviser Tim Wu, to ask for the antitrust case against Google on its home soil, closed on paper but not in spirit since 2013, to be renewed. The argument is that the outcome of the last case was satisfactory, but things have changed a bit since then. Wu argued that its indisputable at this point that Google is manipulating results in their own favor in some areas and that the evidence of actual harm to consumers as a result is much stronger and easier to spot now than it once was. Tim Wus stance on Google apparently changed after having the opportunity to work on a research paper funded and helped with by Yelp that showed some of Googles anticompetitive practices in action and how they harmed competition. Advertisement These fresh allegations on United States soil happen to come as EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, who is currently investigating Google on multiple fronts, is set to visit the United States and talk things out in the nations capital, raising suspicions that the timing may show an ulterior motive for choosing now to ask for a new case. A similar accusation was meted out last month by Senator Orrin Hatch, but his concerns were ultimately dismissed. While that doesnt point to anything definitive, it does show that the embattled search giant has a chance to turn things around and avoid being attacked in the U.S. while trying to navigate their massive EU antitrust case and some international tax avoidance accusations. Unlimited data has been a talking point for quite some time. However, in spite of Verizon ending smartphone unlimited data plans back in 2011, they have found themselves back in the headlines recently with the topic. Albeit, mainly as they have been making it clear they are not interested in bringing back unlimited data. Although, it would be more accurate to say they are not interested in bringing it back at the consumer level, as a new report out of Fierce Wireless states that they are considering unlimited data for a select cause and for a select group of customers. The cause in question is the commonly referred catchall of Internet of Things (IoT). Verizon has been talking about IoT today due to the annual release of their State of the Market: Internet of Things 2016 report. Following which, Verizons Vice President of IoT Connected Solutions, Mark Bartolomeo, has been explaining that when it comes to IoT, unlimited data could very well make a return, at least for their corporate customers. The reason being is that these customers will not be interested in making use of any MB or GB data plans and instead will likely require a flat fee. Something that according to Bartolomeo, Verizon is unlikely to have an issue with. As these technologies are very low-powered items and do not require the fast speeds that other devices prefer, there is little logic in charging on a pay-per-usage level. In particular, Bartolomeo is referring to devices which make use of LTE Cat M, Cat 0 and Cat 1 networks, which by their very nature are slower connection networks and largely designed for the use of IoT-related devices. According to Bartolomeo, due to their communicating at a very minimum level, these devices would be better suited to annual fixed prices. Advertisement Interestingly, Bartolomeo does also make the point that these particular devices and their unlimited data plans would unlikely result in competition or customer issues, as the plans are designed for IoT devices that are not actually IoT connected. So for instance, the use of annual fees could allow cities to employ low-level communicating features to items would not have it otherwise, due to the associated expense of connecting them to begin with. Of course, all of these is still sometime away from being finalized or implemented as Cat 0 and Cat M are not quite market-ready yet. Bartolomeo does expect them to become ready soon enough though, as they are currently in testing and could be ready for use by manufacturers as early as 2017. Likely when more details about any agreed pricing, unlimited or otherwise, would start to come to light. Xiaomi is the number one smartphone manufacturer in China, but as you all know, Xiaomi tends to release all sorts of smart gadgets, not only smartphones. This company has released smart TVs, smart scales, fitness trackers, tablets and theyve even rolled out a Mi Pad Transformer toy yesterday in partnership Hasbro. That being said, Xiaomi did release the Mi Band and Mi Band 1S fitness trackers in the past, but those devices were not manufactured by the company. A company called Huami usually takes care of that for Xiaomi, and Huamis CEO shared some rather juicy info with the public regarding Xiaomis upcoming products, read on. Huamis CEO flat out confirmed that the first Xiaomi smartwatch, and the next-gen Xiaomi Mi Band will be introduced in the next two months, which means that they will be released in Q2 this year. He has also confirmed that the new Mi Band version will ditch the Mi branding, which is quite interesting, is it possible the device will be called Xiaomi Band 2? Well, it makes sense, but well see. Anyhow, this fitness tracker is expected to be slightly more expensive, and it will probably sport a small display, at least according to Huamis CEO. Now, in addition to all this, he also had something to say regarding the first ever Xiaomi-branded smartwatch, which has been a long time coming. He confirmed that this watch will sport a bigger display than the Band 2, and that it will focus mostly on a particular function, and were guessing it will be health oriented. It is highly unlikely Xiaomi will introduce an Android Wear-powered smartwatch for more than one reason, and even though Huamis CEO did not elaborate on the OS, we guess it will be equipped with Xiaomis very own software. Now, Huamis CEO has also confirmed that the second-gen Amazfit smart wearable will be launching this year as well, in the second half of the year. Advertisement As you can see, Huamis CEO did share quite a few details with the public, and the most important one is quite probably a confirmation of the Xiaomi-branded smartwatch. Either way, Xiaomis next-gen fitness tracker and the first ever smartwatch will be introduced soon, stay tuned for more details. Chinas ZTE Corporation has been in quite a lot of trouble in recent times, having been accused of violating the US trade embargo put on Iran for reportedly going ahead with its nuclear enrichment program in spite of international warnings. While the U.S. had initially imposed trade restrictions on ZTE, the Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment company got a temporary reprieve late last month when the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) decided to lift the export ban it had imposed on the firm earlier in the year for its alleged business links with Irans state-owned telecommunications company, TCI (Telecommunications Company of Iran). Whats even more worrisome is that the Chinese company has also been accused in the past of carrying on trade with several other countries under US sanctions, including Cuba, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. However, even though this year hasnt exactly started on a great note for ZTE, last year seemed to have gone just fine for the telecom equipment giant from Shenzhen, especially on the economic front. According to an announcement from ZTE earlier today, the company earned overall operating revenues of 100.19 billion Yuan ($15.45 billion) last year, which represents a topline growth of 23% over 2014. This translates to a net profit of 3.21 billion Yuan ($490 million), with an EPS (Earning per Share) of 0.78 Yuan (12). The company has also proposed a dividend payout of 2.5 Yuan (39) for every 10 shares held by investors. Advertisement Much like its country-mate Huawei Technologies, ZTE, says that it has benefited from the continuing adoption of fourth-generation LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology both within China and beyond. The company points at the issuance of FDD-LTE permits, optical fiber upgrades by major telecom companies and expansion of its own cloud computing services as some of the important reasons that helped it grow at a healthy pace. The company also mentions in its press release that High-end routers and handset products in the international market and family terminals in the domestic and international markets also saw significant growth. The company also claims that it was able to streamline and optimize its cost structure last year, resulting in its overall expenses decreasing substantially on a YoY basis. As can be seen from the infographic below, it wasnt just ZTEs telecom equipment division that did well last year. The companys consumer devices unit too did pretty well for itself with open market shipments increasing by as much as 260% globally. Overall, the company claims to have shipped 56 million smartphones last year, making it one of the top 7 handset vendors worldwide, alongside the likes of Apple, Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi. While overall shipments rose by a healthy-looking 16%, ZTE says that its overseas shipments rose a stunning 70% over and above the companys 2014 figures. The company also claims to hold over 12,000 mobile-related patents and is apparently one of the top four handset vendors in the United States overall. Nassau, Bahamas. Bahamas Faith Ministries International (BFMI) is pleased to announce the official launch of the INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF KINGDOM CHURCHES AND MINISTRIES or IAKCM. This international organization which was the brain child of the late Dr. Myles Munroe and the late Dr.Richard Pinder who was tapped to lead the new initiative will be officially unveiled during the return of the International Believers Conference scheduled to be held April 11th-14th 2016 at the Myles E.Munroe Diplomat Center, Carmichael Road in Nassau, Bahamas. The Board of Governors of BFMI is also pleased to announce that Dr.Peter Morgan from Jamaica will serve as President of the IAKCM Presbytery and Dr. David Burrows will serve as Vice President. IAKCM will serve as an umbrella organization and covering for churches and ministries locally, regionally and internationally. IAKCM will be governed by a Council of Church Elders and Fathers and as a Presbytery they will be responsible for the Spiritual Oversight and Administration of the Association. The four (4) day International Believers Summit will be held under the theme Preparing Kingdom Churches for Global Impact and will bring together Pastors, Leaders, Churches and Believers who share the common perspective of the Kingdom Message popularized by Dr.Myles Munroe. Delegates will be informed, refreshed, energized and inspired by a cadre of international speakers including Dr. Jerry Horner, Dr. Pepe Ramnath, Dr. Stacy Lemay, Dr. Joseph Ripley, Dr. Darrell Wilson, Dr.Raphael Messiah and Dr. John Smith. There is also an exciting list of local speakers including Pastor Eugene Clare, Dr. Jay Simms, Pastor Rick Dean, Bishop Trevor Williams, Pastor Dwight Grant, Pastor Duerre Thomas (Exuma), Pastor Sheena Pinder, Pastor Angie Burrows and as Pastor Kevin Minister K Harris. Dr. Peter Morgan and Dr. David Burrows will serve as Conference Hosts. There will be a number of day and evening sessions as well several dynamic panel sessions. Delegates will learn how to Build and Maintain a Kingdom Based Church, Establish A Kingdom Embassy, Share the Kingdom Perspective and the Five Fold Ministry, Communicate the Keys of the Kingdom, Advance the Kingdom in the Market Place, Kingdom in the Digital Age and Engage in Kingdom Economics. Also scheduled are a number of workshop sessions designed to address several important areas of ministry including Kingdom Worship, Youth Ministry, Children Ministry, Financial Planning, Media and Public Relations, Kingdom Family & Parenting and Kingdom Leadership. There is a non-refundable registration fee of $100 for daytime workshop sessions but all evening sessions are FREE of charge. As the first ever IAKCM and the International Believers Summit approaches, there is great anticipation and excitement within the local and international community. According to IAKCM President Dr.Peter Morgan We are expecting great things as we collaborate to bring focus to the Kingdom Message of Jesus Christ. In this great gathering, we will seek the wisdom of God and the anointing of the Holy Spirit so that we might represent Him as Ambassadors and Diplomats across the globe. For additional information interested persons can contact 242-461-6445 or 242-461-6471, send an email to iakcminfo@gmail.com or visit the ministry website at www.bfmmm.com Voting Labour is less morally right than voting UKIP The headline is depressing: Jewish Labour MP facing intimidation and hostility from party members. Nick Cohen reasons: Not long now before voting Labour becomes the moral equivalent of voting Ukip. Anti-semitism is not forbidden upon within the Labour ranks. Its tolerated. Soon it will be pretty much assumed. Kevin Schofield writes: A prominent Jewish Labour MP is being targeted by party activists hell-bent on attacking her, it has been claimed. Louise Ellman has faced an orchestrated campaign by members in her Liverpool Riverside constituency, according to the citys assistant mayor, Nick Small. The allegations come just days after Ms Ellman, chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, said Jeremy Corbyn must do more to tackle anti-Semitism in the party... some hard-left activists said the global rise in anti-Semitism was down to the existence of Israel. If in doubt, blame the Jews. Mr Small tells the Jewish Chronicle: I found these comments offensive and believe that they have no place within the broad church of the Labour party [pun intended?]. There are a tiny but vocal group within our CLP who seem hell-bent on attacking our MP in an orchestrated, horrible, personalised way. They are trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation and hostility that is making many members, particularly Jewish members, feel deeply uncomfortable. Says Ms Ellman: Most members of the Labour party are not anti-Semitic but some are and some are being allowed to get away with posting anti-Semitic comments in tweets and on their websites. The leader has spoken out clearly, he says he is against anti-Semitism. But its not just about words there has got to be some action and we havent seen enough of that. Over to Twitter, where Jeremy Corbyns brother, Piers, offers a loaded retort: #Zionists cant cope with anyone supporting rights for #Palestine. Zionists. Corbyn spits it out like a toxin; a shorthand for all the worlds ills. Naming someone a Zionist is the worst of all insults. It wasnt always this way. Tony Benn once wrote for the Labour Zionist magazine, Jewish Vanguard. But then the Left changed the terminology. To be a Zionist, a person who believes in Zionism, the Jews return to an ancient Jewish homeland, is to be a threat to everything good and decent. To be an anti-Zionist is not necessarily to be anti-Semitic. Of course not. You dont have to be a Jew to be hated by the Left, but it makes things a whole lot easier if you are. The Zionist plan for Israel a place promised to Jews in a Covenant with God (discuss) is now apart from all other peoples rights to their own place on the planet. Last month the University of New South Wales guidelines, which are not mandatory, says Australia was invaded, occupied and colonised. It was not discovered. The Zionists would argue their lands were invaded, occupied and colonised. Palestinians would argue the same. Its complicated. Israel is no romantic idyll flowing with milk and honey. But why should it attract so much more ire when many other places are settled and colonised? Why does Israel always top the BBCs news cycle? Why does Israel get the Left so outraged when other countries at war and divided by sectarianism do not? Answer: because you can pour all the worlds ills into it. Cure Israel and make the world a better place. Israel is not all about Jews, just as anti-Semitism isnt. Israel, like the Jews, fits a bill and fills a vacuum. When youre devoid of ideas, have no direction of travel for your weak projects, you need to find something to bind, define and epitomise what you stand for. We dont know what Labour is any more but they can show us what it is not: Israel. And then things soon get ugly. Just as anti-Semites say Jews are behind all the worlds ills, puppet-masters in a shadowy cabal, anti-Zionists say all problems in the Middle East are down to Israel. Defeat the Jews / Israel and all things in your life will be made better. Swedens foreign minister, Margaret Wallstrom, said Islamists blow people up because of yep Israel: To counteract the radicalization, we must go back to the situation, such as the one in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that there is not future. We must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence. Hamas can be Jeremy Cornyns friends (his word) because as Zionist haters they are on the side of the good and the decent. But Corbyns friends dont believe in sexual equality, womens rights, gay rights, democracy, freedom of expression, a free press and human rights. To overlook all that anti-freedom to blame all those Islamist and anti-progressive policies on Israel is to side with the anti-Semites. Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism become indistinguishable Having heard what Piers thinks of Zionistssssss, Jeremy Corbyn tells the Sun: My brother isnt wrong My brother has his point of view, I have mine and we actually fundamentally agree. We are a family that were brought up fighting racism from the day we were born. Smell that? Its in the wind. Its acidic, infectious and seductive to a Left wing shorn of ideas and progress. And its back Anorak Posted: 6th, April 2016 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink (ANSA) - Naples, April 6 - One policeman was taken to hospital and 10 others were reported to have suffered bruising in clashes with stone-throwing demonstrators against Premier Matteo Renzi's visit to Naples Wednesday. The premier is set to visit the former steel works at Bagnoli which are set to be cleaned up and revamped. Some 100 protesters demonstrating against a visit by center-left Premier Matteo Renzi blocked off the Naples seafront Wednesday in clashes with police. The protesters threw stones and glass bottles and police responded with tear gas and water cannon. Four officers were slightly injured in the melee, sources at the police HQ in the southern Italian city said. Some tourist vehicles were engulfed in smoke from police tear gas canisters in the melee. The vehicle occupants were unharmed. Renzi is set to chair a steering committee on the environmental clean-up and revamp of a huge former steel plant site at Bagnoli later in the day in the southern city, where authorities have launched a massive security operation and sealed sewers and garbage bins. The premier kicked off his official visit to Naples by paying a surprise visit to a juvenile correctional facility on the island of Nisida with Justice Minister Andrea Orlando. Nisida gives a commanding view of the former steel works at Bagnoli. Earlier on Wednesday Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris slammed Renzi for allegedly dodging a meeting with him when he comes to town Wednesday evening. "I find it surprising that a premier doesn't want to meet a mayor who has been asking to see him for the last year and a half," de Magistris said. Asked if he would attend the meeting of the Bagnoli steering committee, de Magistris said he would never set foot in "a place where the murky links between public and private interests are so evident". Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday the restoration and revamp of the former steel site at Bagnoli outside Naples would be the biggest in history. "Don't listen to false reconstructions: there'll be no cementification at Bagnoli. We'll clean up the land, we'll clean up the sea: we're going to do the biggest work of environmental recovery in Italian history". He said it would be worth "10 demolitions" of so-called eco-monsters. "'Pace' the polemics of people who didn't lift a finger for years. We are not scared to face up to our responsibilities. We have promised to unblock Italy. And we will do so, with humility and courage". (ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - Anonymous emails on Italian student Giulio Regeni's Cairo torture and murder sent to La Repubblica daily have "no relevance" to a probe into his death, Italian judicial sources said Wednesday. The emails, which accuse Egyptian police chief General Khaled Shalabi of ordering Regeni's abduction, are also "full of inaccuracies" and therefore will not be taken into consideration, they said. An Egyptian delegation will begin two days of meetings with Italian counterparts on the case in Rome at 10:00 Thursday, sources said Wednesday. (ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - Premier Matteo Renzi said Wednesday Italy owes the truth to the family of student Giulio Regeni, who was tortured and slain in Egypt in February. "We think reaching the real truth is a duty for our country and that this is also in the interests of the Egyptian government," Renzi said during a visit to Naples as a delegation of two Egyptian magistrates and four security officials bearing a 2,000-page case report traveled to Rome. The report includes interviews with 200 people with alleged connections to the victim. The delegation was set to arrive in Rome late Wednesday for meetings Thursday and Friday with Rome prosecutors investigating the Cairo torture and death of Italian student Giulio Regeni. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has vowed "immediate and proportional action" unless there is a "change of pace" by Egyptian authorities, whose several versions of Regeni's death have so far sparked incredulity in Rome amid widespread rumours Egyptian security forces may have been involved. Egyptian President Mohamed Fatah el-Sisi has vowed to provide full cooperation from now on. Meanwhile an anonymous source claiming to be part of the Egyptian secret police has written to Rome daily La Repubblica accusing Egyptian authorities, including Sisi, of ordering Regeni's abduction and revealing details of his torture, such as beatings on the soles of his feet, that have never before been made public but were known to Italian prosecutors, the Rome daily said Wednesday. And Cairo sources of Turin daily La Stampa said that the person Egypt is willing to "sacrifice" to put an end to the controversy over its perceived stonewalling is Generale Khaled Shalabi, the high-ranking national-security official entrusted with the Regeni case. Shalabi, condemned by an Alexandria court in 2003 for having tortured to death an Egyptian man and falsified police reports, was restored to his position after the sentence was suspended. (ANSA) - Reggio Emilia, April 6 - Facebook said Wednesday it has executed a court order to take down two pages called Muslims of Italy - one a community page and the other an invitation-only group page. A Reggio Emilia judge ordered the pages shut down on March 8, following a February 25 post with threatening and defamatory content targeting 31-year-old journalist Benedetta Salsi, a court reporter at Il Resto del Carlino regional daily. "We will ask the judge to reconsider the appropriateness of a measure targeting an entire group or page rather than single defamatory comments," a Facebook spokesperson told the daily. The post that appeared on February 25 contained allegations about Salsi's private and professional life, and called her "an Islamophobe". "Under the Islamic juridical statute, such acts can be severely punished," the Muslims of Italy page reportedly said. Salsi reported the incident to the local division of the Digos anti-terror squad, while Reggio Emilia police beefed up security at the paper's newsroom in the heart of the city's historic district. The online threats appeared the day Salsi reported on restrictive court measures issued against an unemployed Reggio man who converted to Islam a decade ago and who was one of the administrators of the Muslims of Italy page. Salsi reported he was being considered "dangerous" by the court due to his comments on Facebook, for which he was investigated for terrorism by Bologna prosecutors. (ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - The government commissioner for missing persons said Wednesday operations to salvage a shipwrecked migrant boat that sank with an estimated 800 asylum seekers on board will begin April 18, exactly one year after what was one of the worst maritime disasters in the Mediterranean. "The operation will be coordinated by the Navy and will last a couple of days," Commissioner Vittorio Piscitelli told reporters at an interior ministry press conference. "So far we recovered 169 bodies and we estimate no less than 400 remain in the boat," he added. "However we expect some surprises - there could be more, although we hope there will be fewer". Four teams of coroners will be deployed to try to complete the process of identifying the victims in under a month, the commissioner added. This will take place at a NATO base near the Sicilian port of Augusta, where the wreck will be taken once it's recovered from the seabed in the Strait of Sicily. Italian investigators said at the time of the disaster that they estimated 850 people were on board the migrant boat when it sank after a people smuggler at the helm rammed it into a cargo ship. Rescuers saved 28 people from the wreck. "It has not yet been possible to establish the death toll," investigators were quoted as saying by ANSA sources, adding that survivors gave numbers ranging from 400 to 950 passengers. But they added the survivors' testimony and a report from a Portuguese merchant ship sent to rescue the boat led them to estimate that "there were around 850 migrants aboard". (ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - An Egyptian delegation of prosecutors and police officials is set to arrive in Rome late Wednesday for meetings Thursday and Friday with Rome prosecutors investigating the Cairo torture and death of Italian student Giulio Regeni. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has vowed "immediate and proportional action" unless there is a "change of pace" by Egyptian authorities, whose several versions of Regeni's death have so far sparked incredulity in Rome amid widespread rumours Egyptian security forces may have been involved. Egyptian President Mohamed Fatah el-Sisi has vowed to provide full cooperation from now on. Meanwhile an anonymous source claiming to be part of the Egyptian secret police has written to Rome daily La Repubblica accusing Egyptian authorities, including Sisi, of ordering Regeni's abduction and revealing details of his torture, such as beatings on the soles of his feet, that have never before been made public but were known to Italian prosecutors, the Rome daily said Wednesday. And Cairo sources of Turin daily La Stampa said that the person Egypt is willing to "sacrifice" to put an end to the controversy over its perceived stonewalling is Generale Khaled Shalabi, the high-ranking national-security official entrusted with the Regeni case. Shalabi, condemned by an Alexandria court in 2003 for having tortured to death an Egyptian man and falsified police reports, was restored to his position after the sentence was suspended. (by Cristiana Missori) FLORENCE - "It isn't easy to talk about what's happening in Turkey in these months, much less to speak freely of art, cinema and freedom of expression in general". Bringing her own views to Middle East Now in Florence - the film festival dedicated entirely to the Middle East, on which the curtain rose yesterday - is Turkish director Yesim Ustaoglu. Considered one of her country's most important contemporary writers, the film festival wanted to honour her by screening three of her most important full-length films as well as a short film. Today Yesim doesn't feel like commenting on what's happening in her country or pushing the button of politics, despite the fact that's she's always given a political reading to her work. "It isn't easy to talk about what's happening in Turkey," she told ANSAmed. "It's all very complicated. Freely expressing your own ideas, seems impossible by now. There's a very strong pressure on all of us at this time". This pressure, she said, "isn't just in my country, but in all of Europe. The intellectual world, not just journalists or artists, has difficulty expressing itself". Her wish "is that soon my country manages to find internal peace again and that violence finishes once and for all". Starting with her first films, Yesim set herself apart for having created a new way to make movies, one that was socially aware and observant of political themes, which continues to this day to inspire young directors. Such as with Journey to the Sun (1999) - the story of a courageous friendship between a Turkish man and a Kurdish man, that will be shown in Florence - the first film in Turkey to face the Kurdish question. "In each of my films, I talk about stories that had a direct impact on me or issues that I care for a lot," such as the role of memory and its function as an escape mechanism (in Pandora's Box from 2008), and in the latest of her films, Araf (2012), in which she reflects on the condition of young people in Turkey, suspended between tradition and the desire for change. In addition to Ustaoglu, the festival will also present Me Gay Syria by Ayse Toprak, the story of Mahmoud, a gay rights activist and political refugee in Berlin whose greatest goal is that of finding a Syrian to participate in the Mr. Gay World beauty contest; and Baglar by Berke Bas and Melis Birder, also dedicated to the Kurdish question. (ANSAmed). Energy: MEDREG contribution to the EgyptianGas market reform (ANSAmed) - ROME, 6 APR - On April 4, 2016 MEDREG (Mediterranean Energy Regulators) participated to a workshop in Cairo (Egypt) organized by the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS). Egypt's gas market has been facing great challenges: long term solutions for the reform of the gas sector have to be implemented. They include the restructuring of the gas market and the adoption of a new regulatory framework. In line with its strategy 2020-2030, MEDREG is committed to support the development of competitive and transparent gas markets in Member countries. The workshop (Lessons Learned from Market Reform: Key Roles of Regulators in Leading this Reform) has been the occasion for MEDREG and EGAS to identify a set of actions in support of gas regulatory reforms including the kick-off for an independent regulator. MEDREG President, Eng. HatemWaheed, chaired the workshop confirming the commitment to assist the new Egyptian gas regulator through trainings, capacity building activities and in the initial drafting of Egyptian secondary legislation for the gas sector. MEDREG President officially invited EGAS to attend the next MEDREG General Assembly in Malta on 18th May. The workshop was attended by EGAS officers as well as several national and international stakeholders. (ANSAmed). GEDDA - First Ladies from Muslim world countries will convene in Istanbul to explore ways of enhancing access to cancer treatment in the Islamic world. The Special Session will take place during the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) 13th Islamic Summit Conference to be hosted by the Government of Turkey between April 10-15th and will end with a formal OIC declaration on the issue. The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is the largest Muslim body in the world and the world's second largest inter-governmental body after the U.N. with 57 member states. The OIC Islamic Summit is the supreme authority of the OIC, composed of Kings, Presidents and other Heads of State from across the OIC's 57 member states. It convenes every three years to jointly review how to advance political, economic and social progress across the Islamic world. It will next convene on April 10-15th in Istanbul, hosted by the Government of Turkey. In a first act of its kind in the Islamic Summit Conferences, the First Ladies of OIC Member States will hold a special session during the 13th Islamic Summit Conference titled: "First Ladies' Leadership on Cancer Control in the OIC Member States" at the upcoming Islamic Summit in Istanbul. Participants will include First Ladies representing countries with high incidents of deaths caused by cancer in the Islamic world (according to World Health Organisation statistics) including Turkey, Afganistan, Malaysia, and Lebanon amongst others. The special session will enable First Ladies of OIC Member States to discuss their individual involvement in the fight against cancer, as well as the potential for enhanced cross-national collaboration, advocacy and exchange of experiences in mobilizing a broad range of partners to increase cancer awareness and expand access to effective diagnosis and treatment services across the Islamic world. The OIC Secretary General said "The Islamic summit, as a gathering of Heads of State from across the Muslim world is designed to address some of the pressing challenges facing the Muslim world. It is only right that a major transnational health challenge like cancer which deserves an international response forms part of those discussions". He added "having First Ladies from OIC Countries address this important issue also serves as a powerful visible display of Muslim women making important contributions to public life." "First Ladies, as leaders, women, mothers, and daughters bring a unique passion, perspective, and position to resolving the pressing issues affecting their fellow citizens. They can effectively use their unique platform to bring about transformational changes to societal challenges, including the fight against cancer." The special session is expected to adopt a "Declaration of OIC First Ladies Leadership on Cancer Control". (ANSAmed). (by Gaetana D'Amico) PODGORICA - "I was born and raised here. And here I want to remain. My parents will probably go back to Kosovo, but I don't know any other place outside of this. Even if the world has forgotten us." Dijamant is 20 years old, has a smartphone and eyeglasses of the latest fashion, and a resigned look. Like others his age, who also make up part of the "grand family" of Roma people who escaped from Kosovo. We are in Konik, one of the largest Roma refugee camps in the Balkans, situated on the outskirts of Podgorica, which no one outside of Montenegro knows exists. Nearly 1,800 people live here, who took refuge in the country during anti-Serb NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo in spring 1999. They are the "forgotten" refugees that are still fighting today to find an identity for themselves that would allow them to go back to their home country or get citizenship to stay in Montenegro. More than a thousand Roma people, of whom at least 567 are children, are housed in the shacks, which are little more than 160 shipping containers made of sheet metal and wood, cold in the winter and sweltering in the summer. The is high for fires, like the one that broke out in 2012 and destroyed 29 shacks, leaving 800 people without shelter. They share public bathrooms along with the discomfort that comes from it, and very often in one shack there are more than 10 people. They live in extreme conditions with a 120-euro subsidy from the Montenegrin government. Other refugees live in 48 apartments in the camp that were finished being built last November. Other units are under construction and should be finished by the end of the year, but people are already asking who, in the refugee camp, will be the "lucky ones" to inhabit them. "For many of them there still aren't the conditions to return to their home country. The process is very long," said Jovi Zaric of UNHCR in Montenegro. "Many ask for 'foreigner resident' or 'permanent resident' status, but they are also given the possibility to ask for Montenegrin citizenship. In any case, the Roma need to get documents that show their origins because without they have no rights, they aren't legally recognised, they can't work, and this process requires long waiting times. It's right here in Konik that in 2011 the EU, with a contribution of 2.5 million euros and the support of other partners, among whom the Montenegrin Red Cross, the UNHCR and other foreign NGOs, intervened to try to speed up the process. The funds finance the project that has the goal of supplying adequate living conditions and improving access to legal status, education and jobs and to all the full integration of the Roma people in Montenegro. At the same time, the EU has financed social initiatives to improve access to healthcare and schools. As a result, the number of children from Konik who attend the six different institutions in Podgorica has increase; courses were created to improve literacy among adults; there's a higher awareness among women on how to prevent illnesses; many residents are employed as assistants and healthcare mediators. The objective is the gradual closure of the Konik camp by 2017, one of the key priorities for Montenegro to join the European Union". (ANSAmed) - Brussels, April 6 - European Union border agency Frontex said in a report on Wednesday that there was a record number of illegal entries in 2015. "Last year, an estimated one million migrants arrived in Europe, accounting for the record number of 1.82 million detections of illegal border crossings reported by EU Member States," Frontex said in its risk analysis report for 2016. "The number of detections was more than six times the previous record set in 2014". Frontex said in the report that there is a threat of terrorists mingling among asylum seekers to enter Europe. "The Paris attacks in November 2015 clearly demonstrated that irregular migratory flows could be used by terrorists to enter the EU," Frontex said in its risk analysis report for 2016. "Two of the terrorists involved in the attacks had previously irregularly entered through Leros and had been registered by the Greek authorities. They presented fraudulent Syrian documents to speed up their registration process". Frontex said an estimated one million migrants arrived in Europe last year, accounting for the record number of 1.82 million detections of illegal border crossings reported by EU Member States. It said that was was more than six times the previous record set in 2014". The report highlighted that Italy and Greece have been hit particularly hard by the crisis, while noting that it is no longer just an problem for those countries. (ANSAmed). (By Denis Greenan) ROME - A high-level Egyptian judicial and security delegation arrived in Rome Wednesday evening to take part in meetings with Rome prosecutors Thursday and Friday on the Cairo death of Italian student Giulio Regeni. The delegation flew in amid mystery over anonymous emails to Rome daily La Repubblica that were said to have implicated a range of high-ranking Egyptian officials - and amid other reports that a high-ranking Egyptian general might be the necessary 'sacrifice' Egypt would make to settle the affair. Rome prosecutors said the emails had no juridical relevance. The Egyptian delegation of prosecutors and police officials will kick off its talks with Italian counterparts at 10:00 a.m. Thursday, judicial sources said. Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has vowed "immediate and proportional action" unless there is a "change of pace" by Egyptian authorities, whose several versions of Regeni's death have so far sparked incredulity in Rome amid widespread rumours Egyptian security forces may have been involved. Sisi has vowed to provide full cooperation from now on. In the emails to La Repubblica, an anonymous source claiming to be part of the Egyptian secret police accused Egyptian authorities, including Sisi, of ordering Regeni's abduction and revealing details of his torture, such as beatings on the soles of his feet, that have never before been made public but were known to Italian prosecutors, the Rome daily said Wednesday. But the anonymous emails have "no relevance" to the probe into Regeni's torture and murder, Italian judicial sources said Wednesday. The emails, which accuse Egyptian police chief General Khaled Shalabi of ordering Regeni's abduction, are also "full of inaccuracies" and therefore will not be taken into consideration, they said. And Cairo sources of Turin daily La Stampa said that the person Egypt is willing to "sacrifice" to put an end to the controversy over its perceived stonewalling is Generale Khaled Shalabi, the high-ranking national-security official entrusted with the Regeni case. Shalabi, condemned by an Alexandria court in 2003 for having tortured to death an Egyptian man and falsified police reports, was restored to his position after the sentence was suspended. Gentiloni told the Senate Tuesday that Italy is ready to take immediate and proportional action if Egypt does not step up to the plate. "For reasons of State we will not let Italy's dignity be trampled on," he added. Gentiloni said that "the dossier sent to Italy at the beginning of March by the Egyptian investigators was wanting, it lacked at least two of the five chapters requested by Italian prosecutors: the data on Regeni's phone traffic and those on the Cairo metro video". "We will only stop when we find the truth, the real one and not a convenient one". "We have to understand if the firmness of all of Italy's reaction will be able to reopen a channel of full collaboration (by Egypt) and we will understand that starting with the Thursday and Friday meetings", Gentiloni said. But Egypt said his warnings "complicate matters" on the eve of this week's meetings. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah el-Sisi, meanwhile, voiced "the determination of Egypt to continue its full cooperation with the Italian side with absolute transparency to clear up the circumstances of the slaying of Giulio Regeni and to put the criminals on trial". A 2,000-page dossier has been prepared in view of the Egyptian delegation's visit to Rome, daily newspaper 'Al Shourouk reported Monday, citing security sources. Two magistrates and four police officials will take part in the Egyptian delegation. Rome has complained of a lack of cooperation over the case after a series of possible Egyptian versions of how Regeni, 28, might have died met incredulity in Italy. The Cambridge doctoral student went missing in the Egyptian capital on January 25, the heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni Mubarak, and his mutilated body was found on February 3 in a ditch on the outskirts of the city. Egypt has denied speculation its security forces, who are frequently accused of brutally repressing opposition, were involved in the death. Rome prosecutors are asking for the phone and cellphone records of Regeni's friends and acquaintances to help reconstruct his last days. Egyptian daily Al-Akhbar said the Egyptians' dossier will include evidence from Regeni's friends and "many documents and important information" including photos and "all the investigations on Regeni from his arrival in Cairo to his disappearance". Egyptian government critics and human rights organisations have suggested the Friuli-born student was tortured and killed by a security-forces cell because of his research work with the trade union movement and the opposition, like many others. Regeni's body had signs of torture all over it, including cigarette burns, multiple fractures, cuts under the soles of the feet, clipped ears, a torn fingernail and a torn toenail. Rome - Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Wednesday welcomed the news that a Tripoli-based administration, one of two rival governments in Libya, announced that it was stepping down, while the General National Congress (GNC) has decided to support the UN-backed national unity government of Fayez Sarraj. "The recent developments in Libya are encouraging," Gentiloni said. The announcement that Tripoli's self-declared government was stepping down was made less a week after the arrival in the Libyan capital of Sarraj's executive. Libya has been in chaos since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011 and it had had two rival governments since 2014, one based in Tripoli and another based in the eastern city of Tobruk. "The developments go in the direction of recomposing the institutional framework within the scope of the political agreement signed at Skhirat, putting the aim of a united Libya before the differences," Gentiloni said. (ANSA) - Rome, April 5 - Pope Francis may soon go to the Greek island of Lesbos, perhaps on April 14, to express his sympathy and support for the refugees and migrants there, Greek media said Tuesday citing local Church sources. Vatican Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, quizzed by ANSA, said "it is a topic that is being spoken of, there are ongoing contacts. I won't deny the rumours but at the moment I cannot say anything because there are no decisions, dates or definite programmes". Blow after blow for Camelia Bogdan. The judiciary inspection is verifying eight notifications filed on her name UPDATE 13.06 Judicial Inspection is working on no less than eight notifications concerning complaints about the activity of the judge Camelia Bogdan. From 2012 up to now, a number of 18 complaints have been settled or rejected. Regarding how Camelia Bogdan was paid by the Ministry of Agriculture while holding the bench in the ICA file, ministry represented as injured party in the trial, the notification was joined by another, which concerned the same issues. ----------------------- Initial news 11.48 Judge Camelia Bogdan ins under disciplinary investigation by the Judicial Inspection of the Superior Counsel of Magistracy . The decision was taken because there are indications that she had violated the law when she attended a seminar paid by the Ministry of Agriculture, during the time she served as judge in the Telepathy case file, the institution being represented as the injured party. Judicial Inspection took on an ex officio investigation, in early February, ]n the case of judge Camelia Bogdan from the Bucharest Court of Appeal following information appeared in the media. While serving as judge in the ICA case file, Camelia Bogdan received 10,000 lei from the Ministry of Agriculture, the injured party in the file and spent a two weeks stay at Poiana Brasov in the period 21 July to 2 August 2014, under a program funded by the same ministry. A few days after returning from the stay, Judge Bogdan gave a final judgment in favor of the Ministry of Agriculture. Subsequently, the judge Camelia Bogdan was heard in the SCM plenary after filing a professional reputation defense request in the scandal of the money received from the Ministry of Agriculture. The SCM Plenum dismissed the professional reputation defense request filed by Camelia Bogdan. She had notified the SCM arguing that she had been subjected to a real "media lynching" by Antena 3 and World of Justice portal. President Klaus Iohannis believes that a "more serious" approach is needed in the public administration, regardless whether it is about procurement, European funds or human resources, Agerpres informs. "I think we're all aware that we need a more serious approach in public administration, be it public procurement , European funds or human resources," the head of state told the participants to the General Assembly of the Association of Municipalities of Romania, through a message presented by presidential adviser Dan Mihalache. Romania is at the forefront of countries that observe their full commitments on nuclear safety, having a clear nuclear program and a responsible conduct, said President Klaus Iohannis Wednesday, at Cotroceni Palace before leaving for the US where he will attend the nuclear security summit, to be held in Washington. "Unfortunately, we have all seen lately how present the terrorist threat is in Europe and around the world. The attacks that have recently rocked cities and European capitals endanger not only the physical security of our citizens, but are an attack on the values and principles we represent. In the face of this terrorist threat, which can take on different forms, we need solidarity, responsibility and joint action. The Washington summit is dedicated to preventing nuclear terrorism by strengthening global nuclear security architecture. I want that Romanias message be firmly heard in Washington. Romania is at the forefront of countries that fully meet their commitments on nuclear safety, having a clear nuclear program and a responsible conduct ", Klaus Iohannis stressed quoted by Agerpres . The head of state added that representation at the highest level of Romania in the Washington Summit is "essential and in line with the role that our country assumed in security matters and with our participation in international efforts and joint action in this area ". Iohannis said that the event in Washington is the fourth in a broader process, launched in 2010 by President Barack Obama "Now, in 2016, along with 52 other states and leaders of relevant international organizations, we analyze what has been achieved in the past six years and decide on ways forward for advancing international agenda on nuclear safety," he noted. The head of state stressed that Romanias attending the Washington summit is "a matter of prestige, consistency and influence." "First, Romania re- confirms that it is an active member and in charge of the small group of countries with relevant nuclear capabilities possessing the whole nuclear fuel cycle and firmly committed to promoting global architecture of nuclear security and combating nuclear terrorism. The participation in the Washington summit is a matter of consistency of action and national policy on nuclear safety and consistency in honoring our commitments in the wider context Last. But not least, the influence capacity will be enhanced by the fact that Romania will be at the forefront of efforts to set up an international framework for addressing the issue of nuclear terrorism and strengthen the policy framework on nuclear safety, "said Iohannis. The President stressed that "Romania will continue to apply in its nuclear program the highest standards of nuclear safety and will help improve international cooperation in the field". President Klaus Iohannis will be Wednesday to Saturday in the United States, where he will attend the nuclear security summit to be held in Washington. The announcement by president Iohannis, after the Summit: Romania has taken new commitments on nuclear safety President Klaus Iohannis said on Friday in Washington that Romania has taken four new commitments on nuclear safety, including the implementation of a pilot system for detecting the movement of radioactive materials and a new contribution to the nuclear security fund of IAEA, Agerpres .ro informs. "I have announced a number of new commitments that Romania has taken on this occasion, namely one - strengthening national capacities for criminal investigations in the nuclear field, two - improving transport of nuclear and radioactive materials by implementing a pilot screening system for the movement and transport of radioactive substances, three - developing and implementing a national training course on nuclear safety, four - new voluntary contributions to the nuclear security fund of the International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA), "the president said, after nuclear security summit. He stated that during the summit he referred to the security challenges that the Black Sea regions is facing, pointing out that they are relevant in the framework discussions about strengthening nuclear safety an preventing nuclear terrorism. "I think that the Black Sea region is crucial not only to regional security but also for the Euro-Atlantic area as a whole. For this reason, I advocated for the region to receive special attention in the security architecture and an intensification of strategic cooperation in this pillar, " Iohannis said. He stressed that it is very important that Romania has a clear program and it is part of the limited group of states with relevant nuclear capabilities possessing the whole nuclear fuel cycle. "With the development of the complete cycle, a country can learn to create ongoing expertise necessary for each stage, from simple stages such as mining - to the complicated issues such as transport, use, disposal after use. Romania is one of the countries, not very many, who has this expertise "added Klaus Iohannis. The Head of State indicated that following the summit, he agreed to a statement which focuses on the later stages of maintaining political momentum on nuclear safety. He pointed out that this statement has five action plans and initiatives enclosed dedicated to the active role of national organizations in the field of nuclear safety. "The participating States confirmed at the highest level political their will to continue efforts in nuclear security and prevent nuclear terrorism. I believe that the messages and actions that our country expressed or reaffirmed in Washington will help maintain the international profile of the Romanian state with a responsible nuclear policy and recognized as such internationally, "said Iohannis. Former president Traian Basescu states that Romanias union to the Republic of Moldova can represent "a country policy" for "for restoring the Eastern border on the Nistru, not the Prut", the Mediafax correspondent informs "There is an interesting thing that president Iohannis said, that our country objective is to enter the Eurozone, another saying from a one like de Ponta, who said that our countrys objective is to enter the Schengen Area, these people have not red Romanias accession treaty to the European. I signed the treaty in 2005, in Luxemburg, and entering the Eurozone and the Schengen area are obligations provided in the treaty, they cannot serve as country objectives", stated Sunday Traian Basescu, before around 100 people attending the launching of the PMP candidate in Arad. According to him, Romania has the obligation to assume the objective of restoring the country's territorial integrity "restore the eastern border on the Nistru, not the Prut." A recent survey disclosed that over 20% of Moldovans were in favor of union with Romania. Although a major new airport is being developed close to Istanbul, operator TAV is continuing to develop Ataturk to meet the demands of its major customer, Turkish Airlines. Istanbul Ataturk showed as the 11th busiest airport worldwide by providing service to 61.8 million passengers in 2015 according to the ACI report, having surpassed Jakarta and Frankfurt airports and increased its passenger number by 9.2 percent. As well as becoming a Middle East/Europe hub Ataturk is now Europes third busiest airport. General Manager Kemal Unlu said: Maintaining its rapid growth, Istanbul Ataturk Airport provided service to 61.8 million passengers in 2015 and improved its position as one of the world's most significant transfer hubs. Today, 129 airline companies launch flights to 276 domestic and international destinations from Ataturk Airport. As soon as the expansion project of Ataturk Airport's international terminal is completed, the airport will be ready to serve 75-80 million passengers annually. Together with all stakeholders, particularly DHMI (General Directorate of State Airports Authority), SHGM (Civil Aviation General Directorate) and Turkish Airlines, TAV will continue to provide safe, rapid and comfortable travel to all our passengers." According to ACI data covering 1,144 airports worldwide, Atlanta and Beijing airports maintained their positions in the top two in 2015. Dubai increased its number of passengers by 10.7 percent and improved its position to the third rank. New ballets are risky endeavours, requiring significant investment in talent, time and money. Yet do classical companies give them the best chance to shine? Performance Monkey asks companies around the world about previews, rehearsals and revivals. How do you create a ballet with legs? One that will appeal to audiences, satisfy dancers and find a lasting toehold in the repertoire? The question has nagged at me since I saw Christopher Wheeldons tantalisingly flawed Strapless at the Royal Ballet (as I wrote here). When I interviewed Kevin OHare, the Royal Ballets artistic director, for the Sunday Times I asked him about this. OHare has placed new work at the centre of his artistic programme, scoring successes with full-length ballets (Wheeldons The Winters Tale and Wayne McGregors Woolf Works), but narrative one-act premieres often look underdone, with plot and character points frustratingly unclear. OHare admitted that studio time was tight just six weeks for a one-act piece and described his role as watching, being the ear, being the eye, and offering advice that isnt always taken. The transfer from studio to stage is, he said, a tiny window, a week. One way to get a work in the best possible shape would be preview performances a chance to test a piece before a paying audience, an auditorium of eyes and ears. Major theatre productions (Spiderman on Broadway, the Cumberbatch Hamlet) can programme weeks of previews, but even fringe shows will typically have two or more before opening to the press. Some dance productions may have an out of town opening before their official premiere, but, as in opera, this is rarely the case. We dont have the benefit of previews, OHare confirmed, which is just the way an opera house works, it would be impossible to do that. His solution to unfinished business is bringing work back and having a look at it again. Often, he said, there will be changes on first revival small or large, choreographic or musical something maybe needs to be recalibrated, so its worth spending the time and looking at that. Thats why I think its important to bring work back and give it at least one more good go and see if it can really work. Its a risky strategy if reviews or word of mouth are tepid first time round, will audiences rush to a revival? Last autumn, I wanted to see if McGregors Raven Girl would fly better, but couldnt subject myself to another dose of Alistair Marriotts Connectome. Carlos Acostas lurid dud of a Carmen, though popular with audiences, isnt scheduled to return but could more have been done to save it from itself? Banking on a first revival to iron out problems seems a laborious and wasteful strategy, unfair to artists and audiences alike. Why not have previews? If ballet previews arent the British way, how about elsewhere? I contacted prominent classical companies across the world to discover a broader picture. Six European companies responded to my questions, along with seven in the US and Canada, and one each from Australia and New Zealand. But of these 15 companies, only one schedules preview performances on the theatrical model. Who and why? Well get to that Why not have a preview? Ballets typically have short runs, so any extra performance represents a considerable outlay: four companies specifically mentioned that previews would be a prohibitive expense. Preview performances are never done in the ballet world, said Patricia Gelinas, Artistic Coordinator at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. I have only seen this in the theatre, for plays and for Broadway shows for example. Ballet performances are very costly and doing preview shows would incur a lot of expenses, costly time in the theatre, technicians, etc. Companies without their own theatre have additional headaches. Ballet BC (British Columbia) mentioned this, as did Queensland Ballet, whose spokesperson explained, there are only two theatres big enough in Brisbane for us to perform in and were often competing for performance time, so the likelihood of being able to schedule in more performances for audiences is slim. I get that. Of course I do. But I also wonder if companies are allowing new work to be seen to its best possible advantage? Few dance companies aim for one-off happenings or pop-up wonders. The ideal is a work that will be revivable, and may enter the repertoire for seasons to come. In which case, why not create an environment in which you get it right first time? The Mariinsky Ballet told me that some choreographers request closed rehearsals, and Dutch National Ballets spokesperson recalled closing rehearsals on just two occasions in recent years (both technically complex productions). Still, Id hazard that for most dancers and creatives, there must be huge amounts of information gleaned from performing a work with an audience. Moments that land or fall short; fluctuations in rhythm and structure. Outreach and tweet meets As with the Royal Ballet, most rely on rehearsals for final tinkering. Although not open to the general public, many dress rehearsals take place before an invited audience. In some cases, this becomes an extension of outreach work. Schoolchildren, students or young people can attend rehearsals at La Scala, Dutch National and Finnish National Ballets. The first two companies also offer seats to staff: when tickets are expensive, this must be a boon. Rehearsals can also enable fundraising, or offer a benefit to supporters and sponsors. Queensland Ballet and La Scala have both recently introduced a benefit rehearsal (Queensland reminds visitors that these are working rehearsals, and that artistic director Li Cunxin may interrupt it if necessary); at Royal New Zealand Ballet (RNZB), the Friends of the Ballet group use it as a fundraiser. Such is the lustre of St Petersburgs Mariinsky Ballet that on tour their rehearsals can benefit the host theatre: on a recent visit, the Kennedy Center in Washington sold tickets for the morning dress rehearsal, and similar events have taken place on tours to the UK, China and Brazil. Theatre previews can let public word of mouth build up steam before critics pour their cold water over the official opening. Ballets dont have that opportunity, but RNZB have started using dress rehearsals for a Tweet Meet (Cullberg Ballet also sometimes stages a social media event). The RNZB press representative explained that the company will invite up to 10 people with a strong following on social media to come to the dress rehearsal and tweet live during the performance. This helps build momentum and excitement ahead of the opening. The tweeters are not allowed to take photos, just tweet their thoughts on the show ideally in a witty, enthusiastic way. They invite different tweeters each time: often its people who havent come before and sometimes its people who are new to the ballet. No meat in the schedule To some extent, a premiere run can function like a series of previews, and the first revival of a piece is where that information can be fed back into the work. I asked each company if it allowed extra rehearsal time for first revivals, and some do: especially if the choreographer is involved, as at Staatsballett Berlin. Cullberg Ballet allows extra time for a first revival, though the choreographer may not return; some choreographers, Pennsylvania Ballet told me, will build provisions for a return visit into their contract. Dutch National Ballet always try to involve the choreographer on revivals, adding that Peter Wright has returned for every revival of his Sleeping Beauty since it opened in 1981. The National Ballet of Canadas spokesperson said that for a company or world premiere there are often two dress rehearsals and for a works first revival, while case by case depending on the choreographer and schedules, extra rehearsal time is given. Patricia Gelinas from Montreal notes extra time may be scheduled if the casting has changed or if new dancers must learn the ballet, or if it hasnt been remounted in years. The choreographer does not always return to stage a revival, she says: Jiri Kylian will send an expert ballet master to oversee rehearsals, and the companys in-house ballet masters can remount frequently-performed pieces. Sometimes choreographers insist on revisiting their work: such as Mats Ek who must always see and rehearse the piece himself before allowing it to be performed. As this suggests, extra rehearsal time isnt consistent: rehearsals are just as tightly scheduled and budgeted as performances. A spokesperson for San Francisco Ballet explained, We dont budget for additional time above and beyond as here at least, pieces remain the same once theyve been performed. The exception might be someone like [William] Forsythe who tweaked Pas/Parts for SF Ballet quite a bit from the original Paris production. We have a very tight schedule and a relatively small company, said the Queensland Ballets spokesperson; although a choreographer or their approved colleague will be invited to work on a revival, we dont have any meat in the schedule to add in extra rehearsals. With all these factors in play, the first revival strategy for perfecting a work seems as compromised and uncertain as any other. A brutal business When Roslyn Sulcas saw the premiere of Anne Teresa de Keersmaekers contemporary dance work Golden Hours last year, she wrote in the New York Times that it was something of a mess. But its a mess by an important and deeply thoughtful choreographer trying to carve out new terrain. She identified the way in which dance works are prepared as a decisive factor in their evolution. Think about theatre, where works old and new often get several tryout weeks to iron out the kinks. Dance is a far more brutal business. New dance pieces are usually evaluated the very first time a paying audience sees the show, and they rarely run for long enough to allow choreographers to work on problematic elements. Often, dance pieces arent really ready by opening night. Even so, only one company I spoke to regularly schedules previews. Drumroll its Washington Ballet. Their spokesperson told me that the company holds a preview performance on the Wednesday night that directly precedes Thursdays opening night performance. This is true for all company productions. When I mentioned that this was the only example of theatre-style previews that Id encountered, I was told that the Washington Ballet stole the idea of preview performances from the theatre world roughly 15 years ago! The artistic team then realised that performers learn so much by performing on stage and are able to grow significantly in their roles by doing so that it would be beneficial to hold preview performances in order to refine certain elements of the show before presenting to critics, donors, etc. on opening night. The artistic team gives extensive notes to the dancers after the preview performance and in some cases, makes modest changes to the choreography. A single public preview hardly seems revolutionary, yet it could mark a decisive sea change in giving new work the chance it deserves. After I raised this question on Performance Monkey, I had an exchange with a leading ballerina. Would she appreciate previews for a new piece? Yes, yes and more yes, was her unequivocal response. I think everyone involved would benefit from a preview or six. It is, she added, a bonkers attitude to think that because they have never happened in ballet before, they just dont need to. With thanks to Ballet BC (British Columbia), Berlin Staatsballett, Cullberg Ballet (Stockholm), Dutch National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal, Mariinsky Ballet (St Petersburg), Miami City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Pennsylvania Ballet, Queensland Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, La Scala (Milan), Washington Ballet. Photo shows Daniel Roberge in Washington Ballets Bowie & Queen (photo: Dean Alexander). Follow David on Twitter at @mrdavidjays The structure is 55 meters high. According to Beijing it will improve navigation in the area and facilitate relief and emergency response. Construction of two other lighthouses in as many atolls being planned. The commercial value of products in transit in the area is around 5 trillion dollars. Beijing (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A lighthouse built by Beijing in one of the disputed islands in the South China Sea has begun operations. At 55 meters high it has been placed on Subi Reef to facilitate navigation of vessels [Chinese]. Last year there was a near miss between Beijing and Washington, when a US warship passed through the area to challenge the territorial claims of Beijing, provoking the wrath of the government. According to reports from Xinhua the official State news agency, late in the afternoon yesterday, the Chinese Ministry of Transport held a "ceremony of completion of work", to celebrate the launch of the lighthouse; the laying of the foundation stone dates back to last October. In late October, the United States sent the USS Lassen to the area. It sailed within the 12 nautical miles that separate the Subi Reef from the coast. Beijing immediately responded calling the gesture "extremely irresponsible". Subi Reef is an artificial island recently built by China, in the context of expansion to the detriment of Vietnam and the Philippines. It led to the creation of other artificial atolls on Mischief Reef and Fiery Cross Reef. In fact, according to the UN International Convention the 12 nautical mile limit on the seas can not be applied to artificial man-made atolls or islands now covered by water. However, Beijing claims the legitimacy of their work underlining that the islands are there to ensure marine safety, scientific research and rescue of vehicles in distress. Again according to Xinhua, the lighthouse was built to make "navigation more efficient" and "enhance emergency response." China also plans to build other lighthouses in two of the atolls, the Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef. The Chinese government claims most of the sea (almost 85 per cent), including sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel islands, in opposition to Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei and Malaysia. The Philippines which is seeking a non-binding international ruling at the UN court together with Vietnam, is increasingly worried about Beijing's imperialism in the South China and East China seas. For the United States, which backs the claims of Southeast Asia nations, Beijing's so-called 'cow tongue' line which covers 80% of the 3.5 km2 - is both "illegal" and "irrational". Msgr. Hinder reports that so far there has been no official communication on the fate of the Salesian kidnapped in Yemen. The prelate thanks all for the demonstrations of solidarity from many parts of the world. April 4 in Bangalore a vigil marking one month since his capture was held. Salesian Vicar: a "testing time" to help us overcome "fears and divisions". Sanaa (AsiaNews) There is no new news on fate of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, the Salesian priest kidnapped by an extremist commando in early March. So far, there has been "no official communication" and in this context we must continue to "hope and pray, says Msgr. Paul Hinder, Apostolic Vicar of Southern Arabia (United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen). He was speaking to AsiaNews exactly one month on from the assault of a commando of the Islamic State (IS) on the compound of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, southern Yemen. Msgr. Hinder renews his call for caution and prayer, expressing appreciation for the many signs of affection and solidarity not only from India, but all over the world. "Yesterday I heard of an Indian parish - says the prelate - where children gather and pray for Fr. Tom". And there have been prayer vigils "in various dioceses in the world" that help keep hope alive. Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil has been in the hands of the jihadist group, in all likelihood linked to the Islamic State (IS), since 4 March, whem they stormed a home for the sick and elderly of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, in southern Yemen. In the attack four sisters of Mother Teresa and 12 other people present in the building were massacred. So far there has been no official word on the fate of the 56 year old priest born in Ramapuram, near Pala (Kottayam, Kerala), into a deeply Catholic family. His uncle Mathew, who died last year, also a Salesian, was the founder of the mission in Yemen. Fr. Tom had been in Yemen for four years. During Holy Week in India rumors - unsubstantiated began to circulate in India of a plan drawn up by the kidnappers that included torture, murder and crucifixion of the priest on March 25, to coincide with Good Friday, the memorial of Christs passion and death. These rumors were never confirmed, instead they were denied on several occasions by the Salesians and the Vicariate of Arabia, but have helped fuel fears about the fate of the Indian priest. In response, the Salesian Family asked people to pray for Fr. Tom on the occasion of Holy Thursday and the main celebrations dedicated to Easter. In this context a prayer vigil was organized 4 April, one month after the attack, by the Archdiocese of Bangalore (India) and led by Msgr. Bernard Moras. It was attended by a large number of priests, religious and faithful. Expressing solidarity with the family of Fr. Tom and Salesian fraternity, the prelate asked for prayers for the "conversion" of those who "are involved in these inhuman acts perpetrated in the name of religion". He also renewed his condolences for the killing of four sisters and the 12 employees of the structure. Fr. Francesco Cereda, Vicar to the Rector Major of the Salesians, appreciates the many prayer initiatives scheduled these days for Fr. Tom. "In Bangalore - he tells AsiaNews there is an important Salesian center where Fr. Tom worked extensively before leaving for Yemen. Fr Cereda stressed "the commitment of the Indian government, at the federal level, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chief Minister of Kerala" which has opened "several" channels to try to obtain release of the priest. He finally recalled "the many prayers and letters of support" received by the Salesian Congregation for Fr. Tom, who is going through "a testing time". The hope, said the priest, is that "this moment will help us overcome the divisions and fears around the world". The extinct human species dubbed the "Hobbit" vanished from its home on the Indonesian island of Flores far earlier than previously thought, according to scientists who suspect our species may have had a hand in these diminutive people's demise. Researchers said they recalculated the age of bones of the species, named Homo floresiensis, found inside a Flores cave, and determined it disappeared about 50,000 years ago rather than 12,000 years ago as previously estimated. The Hobbit's discovery in 2003 created a scientific sensation. Homo floresiensis stood 3-1/2 feet tall (106 cm), possessed a small, chimpanzee-sized brain, used stone tools and may have hunted pygmy elephants. The researchers said there is not yet direct evidence the Hobbit people encountered Homo sapiens but noted that our species was already on other islands in the region at around that time and had reached Australia by about 50,000 years ago. Geochronologist Bert Roberts of Australia's University of Wollongong said it was possible Homo sapiens played a role in the Hobbit's extinction and the issue would be a major focus of further research. "To me, the question is, 'Would the Hobbits have become extinct if humans had never made landfall on Flores?' And the answer is 'no.' We were likely the decisive factor in their demise, but we still need to find hard evidence to back up this hunch," Roberts said. Numerous animals disappeared on Flores at the same time, said paleoanthropologist Matt Tocheri of Canada's Lakehead University and the Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program. These included small elephants, giant marabou storks, vultures and large Komodo dragon lizards. After fresh excavations from 2007 to 2014 improved the understanding of the cave site, the scientists re-evaluated the ages of sediment containing Homo floresiensis remains and the actual bones. The Hobbits' skeletal remains were 60,000 to 100,000 years old while their stone tools were 50,000 to 190,000 years old, said archaeologist Thomas Sutikna of the University of Wollongong and Indonesia's National Research Centre for Archaeology. Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa about 200,000 years ago and later trekked to other parts of the world, encountering other human species like Neanderthals who went extinct not long afterward. The previous assessment that the Hobbits had lived as recently as 12,000 years ago indicated they had survived for perhaps 40,000 years after our species reached the region. The new results show this was not the case. The research appears in the journal Nature. About 5,000 Asian millionaires left their homeland for Canada last year with Vancouver alone receiving some 2,000 of the global ultra-rich says a new report. San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver all experienced large millionaire inflows from China and South East Asia, said the report. According to the report by New World Wealth, some 4,000 wealthy Indians changed their domicile in 2015, while France saw the maximum outflow of millionaires with as many as 10,000 leaving. France was followed by China, with 9,000 leaving the country while Italy stood at third with 6,000 exits. The report said France is being heavily impacted by rising religious tension, especially in urban areas. "We expect that millionaire migration away from France will accelerate as these tensions escalate," it said. In terms of millionaire inflows, Australia topped the chart with 8,000 shifting base there, followed by the US (7,000) and Canada (5,000) in the second and third place respectively. "The outflows from India and China are not particularly concerning as these countries are still producing far more new millionaires than they are losing," the report said. This causes a massive wealth drain in India, media in India reported. In 2014, it was counted that Mumbai has more billionaires than Tokyo; but going by the rate of wealth drain, very soon we will lose this pride. Interestingly, this new report on exodus of the rich perfectly matches with our earlier report on the rich leaving India and choosing another country. Wall Street Journals reported that 43,400 Indian millionaires have left India in the last 10 years; whereas New World Wealth said that in the last 14 years, 61,000 Indian millionaires have ditched their motherland in the last 14 years. Why PM Modis Make in India and Digital India campaigns are failing to retain their best talent? Should the Government do something else to stop this wealth drain, a commentator asked. Significant highlights from the Report Sydney is the city which received maximum number of new millionaires in 2015. 4000 or 4% new millionaires arrived in Sydney in 2015; Another Australian city Melbourne is ranked #2 as it received 3000 new millionaires. Tel Aviv was ranked #3; Dubai #4 (2000 new millionaires); San Francisco #5 and Vancouver was ranked #6. Australian cities received maximum inflow of millionaires from China, Europe, UK, USA and South Africa Tel Aviv received maximum millionaires from France USA received maximum inflow from Asia and China Dubai is attracting the millionaires from North Africa, notably Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Turkey In London, 3000 new millionaires were formed, while 2500 left the city. Interestingly, those who left the city were UK citizens, while those who entered were Non-European citizens Paris lost 6% of their millionaires in 2015; while Rome lost 7%; Chicago lost 2% and Athens in Greece lost massive 9% Overall, top 5 countries where maximum millionaires moved in are: Australia (8000 new millionaires); USA (7000); Canada (5000); Israel (4000); UAE (3000) Top 5 countries which lost maximum millionaires are: France (10,000 millionaires); China (9000); Italy (6000); India (4000); Greece (3000) Why do millionaires leaving a country matter? Bad sign - millionaires are often the first people to leave. They have the means to leave unlike middle class citizens. Money outflow when millionaires leave a country, they take large amounts of money with them which impacts negatively on the local currency, local stock market and local property market. Lost jobs - millionaires employ large numbers of people. Around 30% to 40% of millionaires are business owners. Lost revenue and tax millionaires spend a lot of money on local goods and services and pay a large amount of income tax. Pensions & benefits - millionaires are not reliant on state pensions and benefits, which makes them a relatively easy and cheap group to please. Resilient millionaires are resilient to economic downturns and can keep an economy going during tough times. Brain drain millionaires are normally highly skilled and highly educated. Many are also innovators. GUEST COMMENTARY BY STEWART BECK By 2030, Asia will account for 53 per cent of the worlds population, 50 per cent of the worlds GDP, 64 per cent of the global middle class, and over 40 per cent of global middle-class consumption. That is, in a nutshell, the world in which we live turned on its head. The growing significance of Asia underscores the need for Canada to strategically deepen and diversify its existing partnerships in the region, and to successfully navigate a fast-changing, complex and increasingly competitive environment in which our international partners are already eating our lunch amid the emerging and established economies of the region. Canada has made some important strides over the past few years to broaden its engagement with Asia, including ratifying a free-trade agreement with South Korea and negotiating foreign investment promotion and protection agreements with Thailand, the Philippines and China. But more can and needs to be done to bolster Canadas position and influence in rising Asia. Canada is a collaborative, trade-oriented, resource-rich, and highly urbanized nation with strong fundamentals in place for doing business. We are ideally placed to not only benefit from the Asian transformation, but also to serve as a bridge linking this dynamic region to the rest of the world. And yet, Canadas market share in Asia remains low and static, our tally of Asian trade deals is lacklustre (four alongside Australias 19), and our national brand remains largely indistinct from that of our neighbours to the immediate south. It is for these reasons that the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, in partnership with the governments of British Columbia and Export Development Canada, has convened a council of business leaders (ABLAC 2016 ) from across Asia and Canada to share strategic policy advice and foster open and candid dialogue on how Canada can realize the full potential of its engagement and partnerships with Asia. The new Government of Canada with its youthful energy and enthusiasm for a pivot to Asia at a time when Asian leaders have taken a renewed interest in Canada has a unique opportunity to articulate a more targeted and strategic approach to Asia that both advances Canadian national interests and contributes to the sustainable development of the region. ABLAC 2016 is intended to contribute to that process, and follows the Asia Pacific Foundations Building Blocks for a Canada-Asia Strategy, an advisory document released last month that proposes a series of recommendations for the governments elaboration of a Canada-Asia strategy. ABLAC 2016, modelled on similar international councils in Shanghai, Beijing, Singapore and Seoul, brings together top-level business leaders from China, Japan, India, South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Canada. Its first meeting in Vancouver will focus on three key topics: building Canadas brand in Asia; defining Canadas competitive opportunities; and, deepening Canadas Canada-Asia commercial networks. Clearly, a strong Canada Brand abroad will encourage investment, attract tourists, promote exports, demand premium pricing for national brands, and attract the brightest minds to our country. Unravelling Canadas competitive opportunities in Asia and exploring the expansion of our commercial networks will open a more intriguing line of dialogue among the new Council. Canada is home to superior products, services and investment opportunities that have the potential to meet the growing demands of the diverse economies of the Asia Pacific region. Ultimately, how Canada responds and positions itself to take advantage of this global transformation will shape its future. Canadas position is in no way guaranteed; sharing our natural beauty with visitors to our shores is an excellent entry point, but we need to be proactively promoting our ideas, goods, and talents in Asia, where the future is rapidly unfolding. Extract from an article written by Stewart Beck, president and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and former Canadian high commissioner to India. He has also served abroad in the U.S., Taiwan, and China. Free newsletter Subscribe to our FREE newsletter service and well keep you up-to-date with the latest breaking news, cutting edge opinion, and expert analysis affecting both your business and the industry as whole. Please enter your email address below and click on Sign Up for daily newsletters from Australasian Lawyer. Mercedes-Benz India and Jaguar Land Rover India register record growth in the first three months of 2016. The Supreme Court's decision to ban the registration of diesel vehicles having engine capacity over 2,000cc in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) has undoubtedly put automakers in a state of flux, with luxury carmakers in the country among the ones being affected significantly. Nevertheless, Mercedes-Benz India and Jaguar Land Rover India have still managed to end the year on the high note, as both the carmakers today announced record sales figures for the Jan-Mar 2016 quarter. For Mercedes-Benz, sales during the first three months of the year totaled 3,622 units, up 1.6 percent over last year, and JLR India said its volumes crossed 1,000 units, up 45 percent, without revealing precise sales figures. In fact, Mercedes-Benz also posted its highest ever sales for the year ending March 2016 at 13,558 units, up 21 percent over 11,213 units sold during the same period last year. The E-class emerged as the highest selling car model in the first quarter of 2016. It was closely followed by the C-class which remained a significant volume contributor. The luxury segment in India saw a great deal of action last year and the German luxury marquee was quite aggressive with its launches as it introduced 15 models as a part of its 15-in-15 strategy for the year. It has already launched three new models so far this year as a part of its plan to launch 12 products in 2016. JLR India saw volumes gaining on the back of high demand for its recently launched Jaguar XE as well as the Discovery Sport. Both the carmakers were seriously affected by the ban since all their diesel vehicles in India have engines above 2,000cc. We have been able to compensate the negative sales impact in the Delhi and NCR market with a strong double-digit growth achieved in most other markets across the country," according to Roland Folger, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India. In an attempt to reduce air pollution levels in Delhi and NCR, the Supreme Court, on December 15, 2015, first banned registration of diesel cars and SUVs with engine capacities of above 2,000cc in both the regions till March 31, 2016. The apex court then extended the ban until the next hearing which is likely to take place in April. Quarterly Sales(In units) Carmaker Jan-Mar 2016 Jan-March 2015 Sales Growth % growth Mercedes Benz India 3,622 3,566 56 1.6 Jaguar Land Rover India Over 1,000 NA NA 45.0 Adaptive Cruise Control MMI HP kW kWh Before we get into particulars, lets take a look at how the facelifted A3 looks. The compact model from Audi has borrowed the appearance of the A4, its big brother, which received a new generation last year.Thanks to the change, the A3 has a sharper look, but it also does follow the criticized Matrioska trend of the German carmaker which causes some models to look too much alike and appear as if they are just different sized versions of one another. While criticized, this tendency is applied by most carmakers because it brings brand recognition and awareness.The rear of the car also comes with a design change, and the color palette has been enhanced and improved. Twelve paint options are available, five of which are new.The S Line exterior package can be ordered with a pearl effect paintwork called Daytona gray.For the first time, A3 customers will be able to buy an optional S line sport package, or a design selection equipment line for every version except the basic models. The other significant change to the A3 applied with the facelift concerns the technological side of the car, now available with modular designed equipment lines, offering a broad freedom of choice.The German automaker has enhanced the range of driver assistance systems featured on the A3, raising the bar for its rivals.They are now offering elements that used to be reserved for the upper-class models, like active lane assist, predictive pedestrian protection, and the Audi pre sense front assist system.Another novelty in the compact segment is the traffic jam assist function, which operates with the help of the radars from theand the Stop&Go feature. Thanks to this optional feature, the driver can set the car to maintain a safe distance from the vehicle in front of it, and S-Tronic models can even stop and start again without operator intervention.The absolute segment novelty is the systems ability to control the steering at speeds of up to 65 km/h (40 MPH). The latter only works on well-paved roads, and still requires the driver to pay attention to the traffic. Still, this feature is impressive in this class.Another technological feature borrowed by the A3 facelift from the upper-class models is the Emergency Assist system, which is capable of braking to a full stop if it does not detect any precautionary action from the driver in the case of an imminent collision. The latter is an optional system, and so is the rear cross-traffic assist, which can warn the driver when reversing onto oncoming traffic.Audi also allows A3 facelift customers to purchase the optionally available Virtual Cockpit, also known as the 12.3-inch TFT digital gauge cluster. Just like on the TT and the A4, the system features an excellent resolution and ditches analog gauges altogether to provide a customizable driver interface.Also in the infotainment department, thesystem has been redesigned and has a new interface. Naturally, it supports the Android Auto and Apple Car Play functions, and comes with a seven-inch electrically retractable monitor as the standard for the multimedia display.Optional features include navigation with Google Earth and Google Street View, traffic information in real time, 4G LTE connection (Audi connect SIM card included with the option for the European market), and other services. The interior of the A3 also comes with an optional heated steering wheel, and a massage function for the drivers seat.Audi claims that the A3 comes with the first Matrix LED headlights in the segment, but this applies only to the premium compact segment. The 2016 Opel Astra was the first C-Segment car to be offered with this optional feature since last fall, but the two models are positioned in different areas of the compact segment.However, Audis A3 facelift does come with the lowest weight in the class, as it dropped some pounds with the restyling. The 1.0 TFSI engined A3 only weighs 1,150 kilograms (2,535 lbs), making it the lightest compact car on the market. Yes, you read that correctly, the A3 has a new 1.0-liter TFSI engine. Audi says they have enhanced the crash protection of the A3 to a great extent, and the windshield now comes with noise insulation as standard equipment.Audi has lowered the weight of the A3 with the facelift, but the German automaker has not specified the average weight saved in the range. However, we do know that the A3 facelift comes with improved powertrains, such as the 1.0-liter TFSI and the 2.0-liter TFSI gasoline units.The plug-in hybrid in Audis facelifted compact range, the A3 Sportback e-tron, has a 1.4-liter TFSI engine that delivers 150and 250 Nm (184 lb-ft), mated to an electric motor that provides 75and 330 Nm (243 lb-ft). Combined, the hybrid system provides a maximum output of 204 HP, and the 8.8battery can be fully charged from a 380-Volt three-phase plug in just two hours.Audi did not forget about the g-tron variant of the A3, which uses the companys e-gas as fuel. This version has a 1.4-liter TFSI engine which delivers 110 HP, and can work with natural gas as well.For the performance enthusiasts, the Audi S3 comes with an extra 10 HP and 20 Nm (14 lb-Ft), but the latter only comes with the S Tronic versions. Furthermore, Audi has improved the Electronic Stability Control of the S3, and the multi-plate clutch of its S Tronic transmission.Audi will open order books for the new A3 facelift in May, and the first customers will get their cars this summer. The cheapest Audi A3 with the 1.0-liter TFSI engine will cost 23,300 euros in Germany. The car only fell about one-quarter of the whole 800-foot drop, but looking at the scenery and the very steep incline, it's still a miracle how it managed to stop where it did and how the driver survived. The young woman was found 60 feet further away from the car, but it's yet unclear whether she jumped out of the vehicle or was projected out as it came to a sudden stop. The deployed airbag isn't very conclusive as its pyrotechnic charge could have gone off following any of the impacts suffered by the car on its way down.The police were called at about 7:45 am on Monday morning concerning a car that was driving suspiciously close to the Cabot Tower. Nobody knows what drove the woman to take the plunge, but all signs make the accident theory highly unlikely. The fact that she was alone there so early in the morning and that she had to drive through a closed barrier to reach the cliff's edge point towards a suicide attempt. However, in the absence of any official statement, these are only speculations.Police refused to reveal the driver's identity and, CBC News reports, they've also clearly stated they won't be providing updates concerning the victim's state for now. She was taken to a hospital in a "serious condition" by the first emergency crews that showed up on the scene. Later on, the car was also recovered with help from the police, a towing company and a high-angle rescue crew with the St. John's Regional Fire Department.The car itself posed a significant danger as the cliff is host to many hiking trails, and the high winds of the Atlantic coast could have caused it to lose its frail balance and start rolling down the cliff at any minute. Case in point, the Fezza in the video below - while this comes with a limited amount of custom work, the end result is a screaming contraption one simply can't ignore.We're dealing with a V12 Fezza that has been gifted with a Chameleon wrap and, as if that weren't enough, the Italian flag is also present on the car. The final touch is brought by the white badging on the tires and it's hard to decide which of these moves is an overkill and which is not.The owner of this Ferrari also wanted to make sure everybody knows how powerful his car is, so he turned to a custom exhaust. Supplied by iPE and installed by California-based Amazing Auto Factory, the aftermarket hardware allows the naturally aspirated v12 to fully express its feelings and emotions.The look-at-me machine was caught on camera by car spotter BrianZuk, with the Fezza having showed up at a Cars and Coffee event in San Francisco. Fortunately for those who find this customization job less than tasteful, we're dealing with a wrap, a change that can be undone without requiring tons of service attention.In fact, we previously brought you a clip that shows what happens when a supercar owner decides to remove the vehicle's wrap , and in case you missed it, you can find it at the link. Spolier alert - on this occasion, we're dealing with an Italian exotic coming from Sant'Agata Bolognese, but the idea behind the shenanigan still stands. KW Guess what? TheSuspensions girls were also present this year at the Essen Motor Show, and we're kind of glad for that.They greeted us yesterday by a Lamborghini Aventador and were only too happy to show off for the camera. Once more today, the leggy models showed KW is hot stuff. We hear the girls are from the Czech Republic, which would explain the jaw-dropping looks. The name of the model is Honda UR-V, and in terms of size, youre in the presence of a mid-size crossover. It looks far better than the Honda Pilot, doesnt it? However, it doesnt appear to be as roomy as a Pilot, which is a mid-size crossover with seating for up to eight and cargo space of up to 109.2 cuFT (3,092 liters).Courtesy of the peeps from AutoHome , we now know how the Honda UR-V looks without any sort of camouflage whatsoever. During the metamorphosis from Concept D to UR-V, some styling cues have been lost on the way. The end result is a top-shelf design effort, a crossover that will win more beauty contests than the mid-size Pilot or the compact CR-V . The chromed nose, the LED headlights, the burly front bumper, the underbody protection plate, every aesthetic aspect regarding the front fascia works.The 2016 Honda UR-V looks best from the side thanks to the svelte roofline and the contrast created by the aluminum roof rails and the black paint job. According to the Chinese publication that snapped the all-new Honda UR-V in camo-free form, a five-seater layout will have to suffice.Speaking of the interior, the UR-V is expected to employ an automatic transmission with a similar push-button shifter like the one found in the Honda Pilot. Albeit this sort of feature is rather gratuitous in a high-riding vehicle with a plebeian powertrain, the Japanese manufacturer will garnish the UR-V with selectable driving modes, as in normal, comfort, and sport.A force-fed four-cylinder displacing 2 liters will be the sole engine option in China for the mid-sized model. If the UR-V reaches U.S. soil, chances are the base model will make use of a 2.4-liter naturally aspirated mill. Not everybody needs a stiff ride for keen driving. That's why some automakers offer warm hatchbacks like this one. The 1.6-liter turbo is available with roughly the same output in several other models, including the 5008 minivan-crossover thingie.There aren't that many cosmetic disadvantages for the GT compared to the GTi either. It comes with sportier bumpers, contrasting mirrors and 17-inch alloy wheels with Michelin Pilot Sport tires. The new engine is connected to the wheels via a 6-speed manual, but there's no limited diff like in the GTi.Performance? It's not too bad, as the 208 GT has a top speed of 218 km/h and will pass the first 100 in 8 seconds flat. It should also sound good, thanks to a twin exhaust system around the back.Along with this model, Peugeot introduced a mid-life facelift for the entire 208 family, as well as several updated powertrains. The standard mill is now a 3-cylinder 1.5-liter with 90 horsepower. In the middle of the range, the 1.6-liter 16-valve unit offers 115 horsepower, while a new 1.2-liter turbo will arrive in the coming months.Cosmetic changes include a new front bumper, rear bumper, updated lights with LED daytime runners, fresh colors and wheel designs. Brazil and Argentina are getting these updates over one year after they were made available in Europe (at the start of February 2015). Inside, the 208 GT offers black seats done with two types of leather and contrasting red stitching.Beyond these developments, Peugeot Argentina has confirmed that it will start importing the 208 GTi with 200 horsepower from Europe. All the other units are locally produced at the PSA factory in Mercosur. The time has come for the legal action to come to a conclusion, with a US District Court judge having found the German automaker not guilty for the deadly accident.According to the Associated Press (via NBC News ), US District Judge Philip S Gutierrez ruled that the "Plaintiff has provided no competent evidence that Rodas' death occurred as a result of any wrongdoing on the part of defendant."As expected, Mark Geragos, Rodas' lawyer, has already stated he will appeal the decision. The lawsuit stated the Carrera GT's rear suspension (right side hardware) had failed just before the impact, while also mentioning the lack of a cage and a crash-resistant fuel cell.While the judge couldn't find any evidence to back up the suspension failure claim, Porsche's defense pointed out that the factors contributing to the accident had to do with the supercar having been altered and kept in less-than-ideal conditions.Even so, there are two other cases the Walker family has filed against the German automaker, with the actor's daughter and father having sued Porsche independently - both cases are pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court.All three cases against Porsche state the V10 Porsche was traveling between 63 and 71 mph (101 and 114 km/h) when Rodas lost control of the vehicle , spinning into a street light.Nevertheless, an investigation conducted by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and California Highway Patrol came to the conclusion that the Carrera GT was being driven at up to 94 mph (151 km/h) when it crashed. Porsche has relied on this investigation when denying being at fault.As for the effect of Walker's death on the Fast and Furious series, while both filmed and CGI scenes have been used to introduce Walker into the 7th installment of the franchise, Vin Diesel has already confirmed the 8th, 9th and 10th incarnations of the series. The organization has benchmarked four models currently available on the market, and the results show that these vehicles have barely improved from the models of 2014, following the same test criteria.EuroNCAP published the crash test results of the Aixam Crossover GTR, Bajaj Qute, Chatenet CH30, and Microcar M.GO Family.These heavy quadricycles were assessed according to the independent organizations criteria, established in 2014 with the propose of helping customers compare the safety levels of this category of vehicles.None of the mentioned models exceeded the overall score of two stars, a disappointing result for the organization.For easy comprehension of their protection estimates, EuroNCAP has been using the same safety rating display system for quadricycles as they have for cars, but the two vehicle categories are tested in different conditions and following separate metrics.As in the case of vehicles tested by EuroNCAP in different types or even in different years (benchmarks have become more and more strict over the years), quadricycles are only comparable to each other, and not with conventional automobiles.The organization explains in a press release that the level of safety provided by this category of vehicles is concerning, as testing results show little improvement since the last tests performed in 2014.As usual, some models perform better than others, but the standard of protection provided for the driver is generally very low and it leads to serious risks in collisions with other vehicles or obstacles. A clarified translation of the terms above would be that these quadricycles are hazardous in the case of an accident, and there is a risk of severe injury or death for those who suffer a crash in one of these vehicles, also sold as microcars.Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, EuroNCAPs Secretary General, stated that legislators continue to give a false impression to customers that these vehicles are fit for purpose by not challenging the manufacturers to do more. He also says he is disappointed to notice that quadricycles are still lacking basic safety features that are common in small cars.Even EuroNCAPs press release mentioned that the inferior performance in crash tests of quadricycles is far below a similarly-sized passenger car which can be acquired second-hand for a lower price. These are the words of EuroNCAP representatives, who recommend interested microcar customers to buy second-hand vehicles (of recent manufacture and comparable size) instead, all because the latter were developed to comply with stricter crash safety standards.EuroNCAP officials claim that simple design changes could lead to significant improvements in the safety of quadricycles, and that these come with little-added weight or cost. However, the manufacturers of these vehicles are not motivated to pursue this direction as the European legislators do not require them to build microcars as safe as automobiles. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NHTSA The campaign affects 18,200 units of the 2015-2016 WRX and Forester 2.0XT, with the first having been produced between April 10, 2015, and October 21, 2015, while the Foresters have rolled out the factory gate between April 1, 2015 and October 20, 2015.The turbo itself has no issue, but its intake duct might crack, which could cause the engine to stall. Now, if your engine dies mid-traffic, the risk of a crash is obviously increased. Fortunately, though, the automaker isn't aware of any accidents or injuries related to this problem.Subaru explains the origin of the issue sits with one of its suppliers, which used a below-standards material for a number of parts.As a remedy, Subaru dealers will inspect the turbo air intake duct. Checking the number of the part will reveal if this is included in the affected lot. Where necessary, dealers will replace the part, an operation that will obviously be done free of charge.When it comes to the time frame, Subaru hasn't announced a schedule for the recall yet, as the) explains in a statement.Nevertheless, if you own one of the vehicles affected by the campaign mentioned here, you can contact the Subaru customer service at 1-800-782-2783. You should know that the company has assigned number WTA-62 for this recall.You can also contact the NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline by calling 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), as well as online, by heading over to www.safercar.gov. Photo courtesy of CleanFUEL USA. CleanFUEL USA, a manufacturer of alternative fuel equipment for propane autogas, announced that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to seek the restructure of its debts. CleanFuel USA also expects to obtain debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing for an orderly reorganization. Subject to court approval, the DIP financing, along with the companys cash from operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity to allow continued operations during the Chapter 11 process. We are taking this action so we can continue to strengthen and adapt our business to meet the changing dynamics in the alternative fuel industry, said Curtis Donaldson, the founder and president of CleanFUEL USA. We intend to use the Chapter 11 process to reorganize our financial and operational structure, and position the company for the future. During the restructuring process, the company plans to operate its business as usual, fulfilling customer orders, paying vendors, and offering the same services. Photo courtesy of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. As part of Distracted Driving Awareness Month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is encouraging employers to enact a company policy on distracted driving. Employers can download a sample policy and customize it to meet their own needs. The agency is also recommending that companies distribute pledge forms to employees and urge them to share the form with friends and family. In 2014, 3,179 people were killed and an additional 431,000 were injured in collisions involving distracted drivers in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. That same year, inattention collisions resulted in the death of 104 people and the injury of 11,436 others in California, according to NHTSA. NHTSA is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Behind every distracted driving death is a story of loss. In the blink of an eye, lives can be transformed forever, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. Scrolling through song lists on a cell phone or texting while driving is not just irresponsible, it can have tragic consequences. Were calling on drivers to put down their devices and help keep the roadways safe for all Americans. Federal, state and local law enforcement will be out raising awareness about the dangers of distracted driving. Distracted Driving Awareness Month includes a national advertising campaign and law enforcement crackdown called U Drive. U Text. U Pay. The campaign, which runs April 8-13, is aimed at combating distracted driving nationwide. The effort includes television, radio and digital advertisements. Drivers caught texting or using their mobile devices when behind the wheel will be issued citations in states with distracted driving bans. Lives are at stake on our highways. NHTSA wants to drive behavior change, stop bad habits, and encourage safe driving, said NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind. People need to understand the potential price of distracted driving. The cost of a ticket is nothing, compared to the irrevocable cost of taking someones life. In California, the states Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) will conduct a social media campaign urging drivers to silence the distraction. According to data from the California Highway Patrols Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System, 22,306 people were involved in distracted driving collisions in 2013. Distracted driving victims in California increased slightly in 2014 to 22,652. Representatives from NHTSA, the California Highway Patrol, the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and Impact Teen Drivers joined together in Inglewood, Calif., on April 5 to officially launch Distracted Driving Awareness Month. As we rely on our cell phones more and more in our everyday lives, we seem to be kidding ourselves in thinking that they dont affect our driving, said OTS Director Rhonda Craft. Crashes are up. The scientific evidence is solid. The dangers are real, and they apply to all of us. We need to silence the distractions. A 2014 study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, based on actual behavior rather than law enforcement reports, found that distraction arising from cell phone use is much more prevalent than official government statistics indicate. Our investigators can determine if speed, alcohol, or drugs were a factor in a collision, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow said. However, it is difficult to determine when distracted driving is the cause. Most people do not declare that they were distracted before they crashed. Therefore, we know distracted driving statistics are underreported. SambaSafety has entered into a definitive agreement with ABRY Partners, a private equity firm based in Boston, Mass., that will lead to a reorganization of the company. This agreement will accelerate the company's growth strategy and the ongoing development and sales of the SambaSafety driver risk management platform. SambaSafetys Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions provide driver risk technology and information to employers, insurance, background screeners and fleet management companies.This enables companies with commercial and non-commercial fleets to easily identify and address unsafe driving behavior and take the appropriate actions necessary to maintain the safety of drivers, passengers and the communities in which they live and work. ABRYs strong technology experience aligns with SambaSafetys objectives and enables us to confidently enter our next phase of growthbenefiting our customers, partners and employees, said Richard Crawford, CEO of SambaSafety. Terms of agreement have not been disclosed, the transaction is anticipated to close within 30 days. SambaSafety will maintain its headquarters in Albuquerque, NM. A Massachusetts man has been arrested after state police in New Hampshire found about $35,000 worth of marijuana in his rental car, according to a report by the Bangor Daily News. Michael Donovan of Westminster, Mass., was pulled over in North Hampton, N.H., on Interstate 95. When police spoke to him, they say they detected a strong odor of marijuana, says the report. A K-9 unit was called. Inside the car, police found 17 jars containing approximately two pounds of marijuana and 10 marijuana plants, according to the report. Click here for the full Bangor Daily News report. Ford Motor targets to build a new auto assembly plant in Mexico which is worth $1.6 billion of investments. But the project which will be offering 2,800 jobs in favor of the Mexicans has alarmed the authorities who are aware of the possible consequences of the move, ABC News reports. Large international companies that are moving away from the United States to a location promising cheaper production cost resulting to southward movement of jobs has been a major issue in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. Donald Trump is one of the individuals who are upset with the behavior of huge companies like Ford. The business mogul seeking to be elected as the next president of the country slams the car maker for taking advantage of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement. In a statement, Trump called the action as an "absolute disgrace," the publication reports. Ford is said to use the plant in San Luis Potosi state to produce Focus compact and C-Max small gas-electric hybrid cars for lower cost making it more profitable compared in Detroit. But Trump thinks that the car maker will be the only one to benefit from the lower production cost. "Cheap goods are not cheap when you consider the cost of lower wages and higher unemployment," the business mogul said as per the news portal. He also warns the large companies that he will rewrite the trade agreement in order to limit them from exploiting the lopsided trade deal. "These ridiculous, job-crushing transactions will not happen when I am president. NAFTA has incentivized plants to move to Mexico, closing factories across the United States. When I am president, we will strongly enforce trade rules against unfair foreign subsidies, and impose countervailing duties to prevent egregious instances of outsourcing," Trump said in a statement as per Detroit Free Press. Ford released a statement to defend its name saying it has invested over $10 billion in the U.S. giving 25,000 jobs. Ford's president of the Americas Joe Hinrichs also noted that the move is part of their plan to improve their small-car profitability. 6 April 2016 10:46 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova The power and fighting spirit of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces and their strong response to the provocation of Armenian military have caused panic among the Armenian military and civilians living in the occupied territories. Armenians flee from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan. While some of them decided to stay at homes of their relatives, others were accommodated in the hotels in Khankendi. The Armenian government, in an effort to prevent population, mostly young people, leaving their homes, has set up posts at the outskirts of the occupied Askeran town. A number of pictures and videos proving these have been disseminated in social networks. When leaving Askeran, there were clashes between the police and civilians, leading to injury of a large number of civilians. The social network users say Armenians living in the occupied Askeran town tried to leave the region and move to Khankendi. However, the police tried to prevent their move and as a result, a violent clash occurred between police and residents. Komsomolskaya Pravda earlier informed that Armenians are leaving the settlements in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region. Shusha is almost deserted, correspondent Shagen Nazarian told the Russian media, adding that people are afraid and are hiding at home. Armenians residing in the Armenian-occupied Aghdere region of Azerbaijan also leave their homes, the Armenian bureau of the Radio Liberty reports. Not only civilians, but also the so-called officials of the unrecognized regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh leave the occupied territories. Armenians report in their social network accounts that the "leader" of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan also escaped from Khankendi. He is currently in Armenia. "Sahakyan escaped to Armenia. He again asks for help. Those who were amusing up to now should have such an end. This is not enough for him. They have created a clan for themselves in Karabakh, and ordinary Armenians are now suffering because of this," the user said. Since April 2, when tensions on the contact line of the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops aggravated, Azerbaijani troops have destroyed more than 370 enemy soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces. The representatives of the separatist regime of Nagorno-Karabakh have recognized that as a result of strikes of the Azerbaijani army, 20 people were killed, 72 were injured, while 26 remain missing. The Azerbaijani troops' firm response to the provocation of Armenian militaries has led not only to massive losses in the army, but also to diffidence and suicide cases among the Armenian soldiers. Local media reports that the commanders of the Armenian Armed Forces shot 17 people, who refused to take part in military actions in Nagorno-Karabakh and tried to flee. The users of the Armenian social networks spread information that two soldiers in the Hadrud region of the occupied Azerbaijani territory have committed suicide on April 5. The dead bodies were found near the monastery "Spitak Khach" in the village of Vang. The miserable situation of the Armenian army has forced Armenians to start a new campaign in the social networks - to beg money for the soldiers' food, first aid kits, water containers, clothes, sweets, dried fruit, biscuits, tea and others. It is obvious that the Armenian soldiers have nothing to eat, to wear and even to sleep on. Armenians are the guests in this land. They are not connected with roots to this land and therefore, do not want to die for it. Parents of the Armenian soldiers are tired of getting the coffins of their sons from Karabakh, and soldiers do not want to serve for the corrupt regime of Yerevan and commanders anymore. So they give up, so they run. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz : 6 April 2016 10:54 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova The situation on the contact line between the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops remains tense as Armenian armed forces shattered ceasefire a total of 115 times throughout the day, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported on April 6. Despite that the military operations were suspended on April 5 with the consent of the two parties, Armenian armed forces shelled the Azerbaijani positions using heavy machine guns and artillery weapons. The Defense Ministry reported that the enemy fired on the Azerbaijani positions situated in the nameless heights in the Gizilhajili village (Gazakh region), Kohnagyshlag village (Agstafa region), villages of Agdam, Alibayli village (Tovuz region), as well as positions in the nameless heights in the Gadabay region. Moreover, Armenian armed units shelled Azerbaijans positions near the Gulustan village (Goranboy region), Goyarkh, Yarymdzha, Chilaburt villages (Terter region), Shikhlar, Bash Garvand, Javahirli, Sarijali, Kangarli, Novruzlu, Shuraabad, Marzili, Yusifjanli, Garagashli, Namirli villages (Aghdam region), Kuropatkino village (Khojavand region), Horadiz, Garakhanbayli, Gorgan, Ashagi Seyidahmadli villages (Fuzuli region), as well as Mehdi village (Jabrayil region) and nameless heights in Goygol, Goranboy, Khojavend, Fuzuli and Jabrayil regions. Given the situation, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces fired 120 fire strikes on enemys positions, according to the Defense Ministry. The ministry further added that the Azerbaijani armed units are carrying out strengthening works in the liberated lands. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry further announced said Armenian media have been spreading false information on violation of the ceasefire by Azerbaijani armed forces after calling on truce. "The dissemination of this kind of information serves to create ground for following Armenian provocations by violating ceasefire and to accuse Azerbaijani side for the possible incidents in advance," teh statement reads. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. More than 370 Armenian soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces have been destroyed from April 2 until today. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 13:20 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Azerbaijans strong response to the provocation of Armenian militaries on the contact line of the troops has caused panic among those living in the occupied territories of Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh region. Over 3,000 residents of the occupied territories have left their homes following the deterioration of the situation on the front line, according to Armenian media. Moreover, local hospitals are in need of medicines. The ICRC reports that the organizations representatives handed over medical kits, drugs and bandages for those wounded. To prevent the mass flee from the occupied lands, the unrecognized regime in the Nagorno-Karabakh region has set up several posts at the outskirts of the towns. To prevent growing of the panic, Armenian Armed Forces and the armed units of the separatist regime try to hide from the public the recent losses and spread misinformation about the losses of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 14:44 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova Armenian militaries have once again showed their unwillingness to peace with renewing escalation in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. Dozens of Azerbaijani civilians living along the frontline suffered from the enemys aggressive activities that flared up on April 2. The intense firing on Azerbaijani positions and settlements along the contact line of troops has caused causalities among Azerbaijani civilians living in Terter, Agdam and Fuzuli regions. Three civilians were killed in Terter region as a result of sabotage committed by the Armenian armed units from April 2 through April 5, said Mustagim Mammadov, head of the regions executive authority. "Two of those killed were residents of Terter region, one was the resident of Ganja, Mammadov stressed. Another six people were hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees. Armenian armed units still shell the Terter region. The Armenians attacks on the Tartar region have damaged 160 houses. Many of the damaged houses became completely unusable. Several journalists have made photo reportage as they visited the front line in Garadaghli, Gapanli, Duyarli villages in the Tartar region. The reporters took photos of the ruins after the area was shelled by the Armenians. Photos provide a description of the Armenians provocation, their targeting civilians and houses. Moreover, one civilian was killed in Azerbaijan's Aghdam district as a result of sabotages of the Armenian army along the frontline on April 2-5, Ragub Mammadov, head of the district's executive power, told Trend. "An enemy shell hit a mosque in the Ahmadaghalilar village in the district. Resident Garash Dadashov, born 1954, who was in the mosque, was killed," he said. "Also, seven residents of the Aghdam district were taken to hospitals with injuries of varying degrees," added Mammadov. Eight houses in Agdam were completely destroyed as a result of the enemys attack, according to Mammadov. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 15:58 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova The ceasefire regime is still being violated by the units of the Armenian Armed Forces despite the achieved agreement on April between the Chiefs of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan and Armenia through Russias mediation. Currently, the enemy is intensively shelling Azerbaijans position near the Tapgaragoyunlu settlement of Goranboy region using 60, 82 and 120 mm mortars, according to Azerbaijans Defense Ministry. However, the Azerbaijani side still observes the agreement and does not return a response fire, the ministry added. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5, as a meeting between the Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijan Armed Forces Colonel General Najmaddin Sadikov and the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces Colonel General Yuri Khachaturyan took place by the mediation of the Russian side. -- Nazrin Gadimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @NazrinGadimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 22:18 (UTC+04:00) Today, Azerbaijan has more modern types of arms, said Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan at a joint press conference with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 6. "These three days of hostilities showed that these arms are effective," said Sargsyan, Interfax reported. "Russia is our strategic ally; we are in one security system [Collective Security Treaty Organization]," he noted, adding, "Naturally, we are sensitive that Russia and not only Russia, but also the countries of this structure are selling weapons to Azerbaijan." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. 6 April 2016 22:32 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans Defense Ministry announced that the Armenian militaries fired Azerbaijan Armed Forces' positions along Azerbaijan-Armenia state border in Ordubad, Shahbuz and Babek regions of the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan. The hostile forces began to violate ceasefire starting from 5 April 12.00 hrs, immediately after the parties reached an agreement on ceasing the military operations along Azerbaijan-Armenian line of contact. From 5 April 12.10 till 6 April 12.56 hrs., our positions in these regions have been fired with large caliber weapons and grenade launchers from Armenian Armed Forces' position in Megri, Sysyan and Jermuk regions of Armenia, the ministry reported. The units of Independent Combined Arms Army suppressed the enemy positions on this direction with its accurate response fires. As a result of taken response measures by the Azerbaijani units on Ordubad direction, the enemy's firing position and engineering installation have been destroyed. The operational environment is under full control of the Armed Forces of Azerbaijan. 6 April 2016 09:48 (UTC+04:00) The United States applauded a ceasefire between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Deputy Speaker of the US State Department Mark Toner said during the daily briefing. "The United States does welcome both sides' confirmation of a ceasefire," Mark Toner said. "It's a very nascent ceasefire but we are encouraged that it does seem to have taken hold. And we're actively engaging with both sides to urge them to strictly adhere to the ceasefire." The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. 6 April 2016 11:15 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli The Azerbaijani side has urged the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to show resolute position on solving the Armenia-Azerbaijan, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Vice-Speaker of the Azerbaijani Parliament Bahar Muradova, expressed this appeal in her letter to President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Ilkka Kanerva and organization`s special representative for the South Caucasus Christian Vigen on the recent tension in the frontline. Azerbaijani nation became the victim of the ethnic cleansing and genocide policy of the Armenian nationalists. The illegal existence of the Armenian Armed Forces in the Azerbaijan`s occupied territories continues to be serious threat to escalation of the situation and regional peace and stability. Armenian armed forces perpetrated the provocation and the ceasefire roughly breached. The Armed Forces attacked the positions of Azerbaijan and the settlements with the heavy weapons, artillery. As the result of that dozens of civilians were injured, died, the building, private houses were destroyed. The appeal also says that the resolutions of the UN Security Council reaffirmed that Nagorno-Karabakh region is an integral part of Azerbaijan and demands unconditional, complete, immediate withdrawal of the Armenian occupying troops from Azerbaijan`s lands. Unacceptability of maintaining the status-quo was also emphasized by the Co-chair countries of the OSCE Presidents of the U.S., Russia and France. But, Armenia refuses to honor to this call. This case reaffirms that the Yerevan is not interested in political solving of the conflict. The Vice speaker urges the officials of the OSCE PA to pressure on Armenian side by using all opportunities. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. The Azerbaijani armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the retaken areas, Defense Ministry reported --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 10:05 (UTC+04:00) Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Affairs Ebrahim Rahimpour has called for resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through negotiations. In an exclusive interview with Trend on Apr. 5, Rahimpour emphasized the need for a peaceful settlement of the crisis. The deputy foreign minister further expressed his regret over the recent developments in Karabakh which has been a scene of fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the past couple of days. Calling for a truce in Nagorno-Karabakh, Rahimpour said that Iran backs restoring calm to the region within international law. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. More than 370 Armenian soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces have been destroyed from April 2 until today. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 10:15 (UTC+04:00) The clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan have reached serious levels after Armenian artillery attacks on the night of April 1, Turkey's parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee has said, Anadolu reported. The committee, which comprises of members from Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party and opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), condemned Armenian attacks in a joint statement Tuesday. "The aggressive and unlawful manner of Armenia, which has been occupying one fifth of Azerbaijan's lands for quarter of a century, has been reiterated in the latest attacks in Karabakh. "In this context, we strongly condemn Armenia for its recent attacks targeting civilians and its occupation of Azerbaijan's territories for a long time, which has displaced a million Azeri people," the statement said. "We wish Allah's mercy and grace for the martyred Azeri people, offer our sympathy to the families of those killed in the attacks and wish a speedy recovery to the injured," it added. Reiterating the call for Armenia to retreat from the occupied lands of Azerbaijan, the statement expressed solidarity with Azerbaijan. "As Grand National Assembly's Foreign Affairs Committee, we call on Armenia to halt its offensive acts which threaten the peace of the region and the world, and to stop its aggressive attitude towards Azerbaijan [that has been ongoing] for quarter of a century," it said. The statement also urged the international community to prevent such aggressive acts. "As member of the Minsk Group, Turkey will continue supporting all kinds of efforts to find a fair and permanent solution respecting Azerbaijan's integrity and unity," it added. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 per cent of Azerbaijan since 1992, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently holding peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council's four resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 10:43 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's position in the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is absolutely justified, former Israeli foreign minister and leader of "Israel Our Home" party Avigdor Lieberman said in an exclusive interview with Trend. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. Lieberman said Azerbaijan acts with all responsibility and within the generally accepted norms, therefore, everyone who looks at the map and who is familiar with the history of the region understands that the country's stance corresponds to the facts of history, geography and demography. He noted that the provocations taking place on the frontline are violation of all international laws, international agreements. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides. Lieberman expressed hope that Armenia will fully understand the seriousness of what is happening, and everyone will behave in a balanced and restraint manner within the framework of legal norms that were adopted Apr. 5. "First of all, I hope that the international community, which in this case implies all members of the OSCE Minsk Group, will be objective and based on facts, not just on some narrow, one-sided interests and political benefits," said Lieberman. He went on to add that an unambiguous, clear position of the international community can be a very significant factor in addressing this issue. The recent events have shown that delay in making a decision, an attempt to escape from the real facts and get away from the objective stance doesn't solve the problem in the end, but only makes it worse, he said. "We certainly support the people of Azerbaijan," said Lieberman. "Azerbaijani leadership behaves in a balanced manner." --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 11:46 (UTC+04:00) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko phoned President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev on April 5, Azertac state news agency reports. President Poroshenko expressed his concern over the recent events on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops. The heads of states stressed the importance of peacefully solving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict within international organizations based on the norms and principles of international law. The President of Ukraine said his country's position on settlement of the conflict within sovereignty, territorial integrity and internationally recognized borders of Azerbaijan remained unchanged. During the conversation, the presidents of Azerbaijan and Ukraine exchanged views over the prospects of bilateral relations. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 12:36 (UTC+04:00) The Board of Directors of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Youth Forum held an extraordinary meeting on the recent provocation of Armenian armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, as they adopted Declaration. OIC Youth Forum strongly condemns Armenia's provocative, aggressive actions against Azerbaijan in Nagorno-Karabakh region, to keep the fire of settlements and military positions and regards it as an act violating peace and increasing tension in the region, the statement says. The reply actions of Azerbaijan Republic aimed at protecting the security of its territory and population rated commendable. The Forum also highly appreciates the efforts towards releasing strategic points occupied by Armenian forces and used as a springboard to the Azerbaijani positions, as well as supports the position and action of the Azerbaijani President in direction of protecting the territorial integrity and considers the natural right of Azerbaijan to liberate the occupied territories. Considering the stated position of Azerbaijan to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict peacefully, the Forum calls international organizations to support this position, to achieve the implementation of international resolutions and withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijan's occupied lands. The OIC Youth Forum expressed gratitude to Pakistan, Turkey and other OIC member countries for their support to Azerbaijan. The Forum notes that these issues also will be discussed at the events to be held within the framework of Organization of Islamic Cooperation Summit. Representatives of the OIC member countries will take steps in the direction of its position. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict, although the interested parties had pinned great hopes on it. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. The Azerbaijani armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the retaken areas, Defense Ministry reported. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 12:47 (UTC+04:00) The House of Representatives of the State of Minnesota has adopted a resolution recognizing February 26, 2016 as the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre, Azertac state news agency reports. The resolution says that on February 25 and 26 1992 the Armenian armed forces supported and accompanied by armored vehicles of the Soviet 366th motorized riffle regiment attacked and occupied the besieged town of Khojaly as part of the armed aggression and ethnic cleansing that had been taking place in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan since 1988. When the residents of the town attempted to flew the area they were ambushed and fired on, which resulted in the largest civilian massacre and war crime in all of Europe at the time, it reads. The resolution says that as the result of the genocidal act of the approximately 6,000 inhabitants of the town 613 civilians were killed (including 106 women, 83 children and 70 elderly) 150 missing, 487 were wounded including 76 children, and 1270 civilians were taken hostage. This tragic event, which was later called by experts and became known as Azerbaijani Srebrenica is a sobering reminder of the carnage terrible that can be inflicted in wartime and the enduring need for greater understanding communication and tolerance among people the world over, the resolution says. Khojaly, the second largest town in the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, came under intense fire from the towns of Khankendi and Askeran already occupied by the Armenian armed forces in 1992. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 12:32 (UTC+04:00) The Azerbaijani community of Hungary urges the international community to demand from Armenia to cease the illegal occupation of Azerbaijan's territories, Chairman of Azerbaijani-Hungarian Youth Union Ibrahim Safarli told Daily News Hungary newspaper. He went on to add that the Azerbaijani community also demands from Armenia to withdraw its troops from all seized lands and to engage constructively in the conflict settlement process in accordance with the requirements of relevant resolutions of the UN and the norms and principles of international law. Azerbaijani community in Hungary is worried about the worst violence for decades over the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, he said. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. There are currently hundreds of Azerbaijani youth who live, work and study in Hungary and they are deeply concerned that peace in Caucasus region is under danger, Safarli said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 13:29 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev has today received the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, James Warlick (US), Igor Popov (Russia), Pierre Andrieu (France) and OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Personal Representative Andrzej Kasprzyk. During the meeting, the parties discussed the latest developments on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies. The co-chairs welcomed the agreement on ceasefire on the frontline. They noted that the current negotiations on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict should become more intensive and the conflict should be resolved shortly as a result of these talks. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 14:12 (UTC+04:00) Russian leadership is making efforts to stabilize the situation around the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, said Mariya Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson, Trend correspondent reported Apr. 6. She noted that Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will discuss the issue with his Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku. "We hope these intensive efforts by Russia will make it possible to ensure sustainable ceasefire and bring the parties back to the talks on the conflict's peaceful settlement," added Zakharova. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on Apr. 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry earlier said. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 14:31 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry has dismissed the information spread by foreign media outlets, including the Armenian media, that allegedly the strategic positions taken by Azerbaijan during the latest military operations have been returned to Armenia. Talking to Trend on April 6, spokesperson for Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry Vagif Dergahli said that this information is false. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan flared up again on April 2 when Yerevan, which has pursued an aggressive and occupation policy against Baku, tried to tarnish Azerbaijans image by provoking war and repeatedly violating the ceasefire and firing on civilians. During the counter attack, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. Military operations were stopped on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian armies on April 5 at 12:00 (UTC/GMT + 4 hours) with the consent of the sides, Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry reported. Azerbaijan's armed units are now carrying out fortification work in the retaken areas, the ministry added. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 16:06 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Stefan Schennach, a co-rapporteur at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Azerbaijan on April 6, Azertac state news agency reported. Schennach congratulated President Aliyev on his successful visit to the U.S.. The co-rapporteur further said he was visiting Azerbaijan at a very volatile time, and expressed his deep concern over the latest developments on the frontline. Touching upon the latest developments on the line of contact of Armenian and Azerbaijani troops, President Aliyev noted that Armenia carried out such provocations every time a possibility emerged to move forward with conflict resolution. Hailing his trip to the U.S., President Aliyev said Azerbaijani-U.S. relations were at the highest level. Saying Azerbaijan enjoyed good ties with European institutions, the head of state said the country was interested in continuing these relations in a constructive spirit. The president noted that the visits of PACE President Pedro Agramunt and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini to Azerbaijan contributed to the development of the bilateral relations. The sides further discussed the current state and prospects of cooperation between Azerbaijan and the Council of Europe. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 17:08 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan's response to the occupation of its legal territories was fair and expected, says Thomas Goltz, journalist, professor at the University of Montana. "My position on Nagorno-Karabakh issue is well known," Goltz told Trend April 6. "I support the concept of territorial integrity of existing states. I have been waiting for an Azerbaijani response to the Armenian occupation." Goltz said that it is not important who triggered the most recent incidents along the line of contact, the main point is that Nagorno-Karabakh has been under occupation for more than 20 years, and at a certain point push is going to come to shove. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. On the night of April 2, 2016, all the frontier positions of Azerbaijan were subjected to heavy fire from the Armenian side, which used large-caliber weapons, mortars and grenade launchers. The armed clashes resulted in deaths and injuries among the Azerbaijani population. Azerbaijan responded with a counter-attack, which led to liberation of several strategic heights and settlements. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 20:20 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Escalation along the line of contact flared up on April 2, as Armenian troops once again resorted to provocation against the Azerbaijani side. A powerful strike from the Azerbaijani troops confused the Armenian militaries forcing them to retreat and run leaving their weapons on the ground. The Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The sides agreed on truce on April 5, however Azerbaijan's leadership has voiced its firm position that if Armenia again violates ceasefire, it will be given a fitting rebuff. The Azerbaijani army has again shown the enemy where it belongs, President Ilham Aliyev said while talking to the families of the martyred and wounded Azerbaijani servicemen on April 5. "We have given it a fitting rebuff. We have full advantage today, too. Despite this, we have stated that we are ready to unilaterally restore the ceasefire on the condition that the other party will also observe the ceasefire. We do not want war. We want a peaceful solution to the issue, President Aliyev stated. Azerbaijan has taken appropriate measures to counter Armenias use of force against its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and to ensure the safety of civilian population and property within its internationally recognized borders. During the counter attack from April 2 through April 5, more than 370 Armenian soldiers, 12 tanks, 12 armored vehicles and 15 artillery pieces have been destroyed. President Aliyev further emphasized that Azerbaijan is ready for peace talks with Armenia. "Although the negotiations remain fruitless, we are still ready for talks," he said. "The Armenian side has resorted to this provocation because the pressure on it from the international community and the mediators dealing with this issue is mounting." However, Azerbaijan's territorial integrity has never been and never will be the subject of negotiations, the president emphasized. "If the Armenian leadership realizes its mistakes and acts honestly at the negotiating table, I am sure there are possibilities for a peaceful solution of the problem. In any case, we want it," President Aliyev stated. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5, as a meeting between the Chief of General Staff of Azerbaijan Armed Forces Colonel General Najmaddin Sadikhov and the Chief of General Staff of Armenian Armed Forces Colonel General Yuri Khachaturyan took place by the mediation of Russian. Azerbaijan declared that it ceases all military operations, but on the condition that the other party does not take advantage of that. "We are on our own land. We do not claim the land of another country. We did not occupy the land of another country, but we will not allow anyone to rule on our land," President Aliyev noted. President Aliyev once again stressed Azerbaijan's position on the achieved ceasefire during his phone talk with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on April 5. President Aliyev reminded that the ceasefire was restored today, on April 5 afternoon, and the responsibility for its violation lies on the Armenian side. Azerbaijan has repeatedly brought to the attention of the international community that the primary reason of the tension in the region is the unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the territories of Azerbaijan. Armenia and Azerbaijan fought a lengthy war that ended with the signing of a fragile ceasefire in 1994. More than 20,000 Azerbaijanis were killed and over 1 million were displaced as a result of the large-scale hostilities. Since the war, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions despite the four UN Security Council resolutions calling for immediate and unconditional withdrawal. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 17:42 (UTC+04:00) As an OSCE chair, Germany is ready to assist in the settlement of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, says German Chancellor Angela Merkel. She made the remarks during a joint press conference with Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan in Berlin Apr. 6. "Germany would like both sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to negotiate," Merkel said, adding there has been little progress so far. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict. The situation on the frontline aggravated on April 2 after the Armenian military units in the occupied lands started shelling Azerbaijans positions. To protect civilian population, the Azerbaijani Armed Forces launched counter attacks and as a result, the Azerbaijani troops retook hills around the village of Talish, as well as Seysulan settlement, and also took over Lele Tepe hill located in the direction of Fizuli region. The hostilities renewed in the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan on April 4, as the Armenian side continued to shell the Azerbaijani positions although the Azerbaijani side announced unilateral ceasefire on April 3. The Azerbaijani Army destroyed about 370 enemy soldiers since the start of the hostilities, according to the defense ministry. Azerbaijan and Armenia have agreed to cease operations on the line of contact starting from 12.00, April 5. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 18:31 (UTC+04:00) By Nazrin Gadimova The recent actions of the military dictatorship of Armenia, which is led by a group of war criminals, represents a serious challenge to international peace and security, and the values that the civilized world stands for. Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry announced about this in its statement, further calling on the international community to condemn Armenia for the gross violation of the international humanitarian law. The statement issued on April 6 reminds that for more than two decades, Armenia has been using force against the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan. The aggressor country occupied twenty percent of Azerbaijans territories and ethnically cleansed about one million Azerbaijanis from those areas, and committed numerous other war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Starting from the early morning of April 2, 2016, Armenia has intensified its military activity in the conflict area, which has been accompanied with numerous acts of violation of international humanitarian law tantamount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Armenia has been conducting systematic, deliberate and targeted attacks on non-combatant civilian population encompassing inter alia women, children and elderly residing in the densely populated areas adjacent to the line of contact of armed forces of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As a result of the bombardment of 32 settlements, 6 civilians, among them 2 children below 16 years, were killed and 26 civilians were seriously wounded, the stamen reads. The Foreign Ministry emphasized that without timely use of effective civil defense measures, the number of causalities among population would be significantly higher. Substantial damages were inflicted upon private and public property, including civilian critical infrastructure. 232 private houses, 99 electricity poles, 3 electrical substations, kilometers of water and gas pipelines were destroyed. Guided missile attacks were directed on social facilities, including schools, hospitals, and places of worship. Instruction had to be suspended in 28 of the damaged schools. One mosque was hit during prayer with high-caliber artillery shells, the document says. The Foreign Ministry pointed out that Armenias actions represent a grave violation of international humanitarian law, in particular the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols thereto, as well as 1954 Hague Convention on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. As a result of those deliberate attacks, a large number of civilians have been deprived of their basic rights to life, health, property, education, communication, and practicing their religion, according to the Ministry. Azerbaijan has taken appropriate measures to counter Armenias use of force against its territorial integrity and sovereignty, and to ensure the safety of civilian population and property within its internationally recognized borders. Azerbaijan has repeatedly brought to the attention of the international community that the primary reason of the tension in the region is the unlawful presence of the armed forces of Armenia in the territories of Azerbaijan. The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts. The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts. -- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 20:41 (UTC+04:00) Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev phoned Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on April 6, Azertac state news agency reported. They discussed the recent events on the line of contact of the Armenian and Azerbaijani troops and situation after cease-fire was reached on the frontline. The importance of peacefully solving the conflict through the OSCE Minsk Group based on international law was emphasized during the phone conversation. The sides also exchanged views over the bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields. Earlier, President Nazarbayev and Russia's President Vladimir Putin discussed the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the cooperation of the two countries by phone. The presidents exchanged views about the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh and the search of ways for its peaceful settlement. Putin informed about the Russian side's ongoing mediation steps to facilitate the normalization of the situation, said the agency. For over two decades, Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked in conflict which emerged over Armenia's territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor. Since a war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan's territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions. Over the entire period of its existence, the OSCE Minsk Group, which acted as the only mediator in resolution of the conflict, failed to move forward in resolving the long lasting conflict. 6 April 2016 15:20 (UTC+04:00) By Fatma Babayeva Azersu OJSC, a company that provides potable water supply and sanitation services across Azerbaijan, signed a contracting agreement with South Korean company Hansol EME Co LTD on April 5 on installation of the waste-water treatment equipment in Pirshagi settlement of Baku. The installation of the equipment will enhance protection of the ecology of the Caspian Sea. Installation and construction works will start in the third quarter of 2016 and be completed in 2018. The modern wastewater treatment facility with the capacity of 40,000 cubic meters per day will be installed within the framework of the Pirshagi wastewater treatment project, Azersu reported. The installation of this equipment will contribute to the ecological security of the Caspian Sea. The discharge of untreated sewage water produced in a north-eastern part of the Absheron Peninsula into the Caspian Sea will be prevented after the commissioning of the mentioned equipment and establishment of sewer infrastructure in these areas. The wastewater discharged from the settlements like Pirshagi, Kurdakhani, Magammadi, Nardaran, Digah, Mashtaga and others will be treated with the help of this installation. The new facility will also contribute to the development of the sewerage infrastructure in the Absheron Peninsula. The Government of Azerbaijan funds the project together with the Export-Import Bank of South Korea. The loan agreement worth $43.5 million was signed with the Korean bank in 2014. The loan has been allocated for 40 years with the initial 10 years at a discounted rate of 0.2 percent per annum. Addressing the signing ceremony, Chairman of Azersu Gorkmaz Huseynov said the issues of providing the countrys population with uninterrupted high-quality water is always on the focus of President Ilham Aliyev. Some projects are being implemented in cooperation with international financial organizations, Huseynov said, adding that the cooperation with the financial institutions and companies in South Korea are noteworthy in this area. Vice-president of Hansol EME Co LTD, Hee-Jung Cho expressed his satisfaction about the participation in the projects implemented in Azerbaijan adding that all possible means will be involved for achieving the quality in the project in the short term. --- Fatma Babayeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Fatma_Babayeva Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 13:06 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Azerbaijan is ready to boost cooperation with neighboring Iran in the agriculture sector. Agriculture Minister Heydar Asadov has voiced the will at a meeting with Iran's envoy to Baku, Mohsen Pak Ayeen, the Iranian embassy told Trend on April 5. Asadov, referring to an agricultural cooperation agreement signed between the two countries during President Ilham Aliyev's Tehran visit in February, said that Baku is ready to cooperate with Tehran in various fields of agrarian sector, including in research and training, soil and water, seed exchange and trade of agricultural products, as well as boosting the cooperatives. The minister believes that Azerbaijan and Iran can widely cooperate in import and export of agrarian goods. He also invited his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Hojjati to pay an official visit to Baku in the near future. Pak Ayeen, in turn, said that the two parties are determined to boost cooperation in the fields of veterinary and agriculture. He believes that Tehran and Baku enjoy good potential in agriculture sector, and can exchange their capacities through mutual cooperation. Last December, Azerbaijan and Iran agreed to set up joint ventures in the production and processing of agricultural products. The enterprises are expected to be established on the territories of both countries. It is assumed that agricultural products at these enterprises will go to Russia by transit through the territory of Azerbaijan, as well as in the western direction, to the Black Sea, through the territory of Azerbaijan and Georgia. The agricultural sector is of significant importance for Azerbaijan, which is keen to diminish its dependence on the oil sector. Azerbaijan, being engaged in increasing its export potential and boosting and protecting the population's food security, sees the agricultural sector as a central direction in a bid to diversify the national economy. Enjoying advantageous geographic location, Azerbaijan has all possibilities to increase export of high quality agro products, which are in great demand in neighboring countries. Experts believe that with the further development of production of high quality agricultural goods, Azerbaijan will be able not only increase the supply to neighboring countries, but also enter markets in Eastern Europe. In Iran, agriculture is also one of the most important sectors of the national economy, accounting over 10 percent of GDP. Agricultural and animal husbandry products have always provided the major part of the non-oil products, exported to foreign markets. The main export regions include the Middle East, Central Asia and other CIS nations, Europe, and South America. The country is also increasingly importing food technology, including processing and packaging equipment. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 15:54 (UTC+04:00) By Amina Nazarli Azerbaijan and the U.S. intend to liberalize the air transport market with a view to simplify the process of organizing flights between the two countries. President of Azerbaijan Airlines Jahangir Asgarov and U.S. Ambassador to Baku Robert Cekuta signed an Open Skies Agreement for liberalization of air transport, which will also contribute to increasing the number of commercial flights between the two states. Open Skies Agreement envisages elimination of state interference in commercial decisions about the airlines routes and pricing, which enables operators to provide more accessible and efficient services for passenger and cargo services. AZALs Vice -President Arif Mammadov told local media that the agreement will allow airlines of both countries to work freely in the territory of each other, adding that it lifts all possible restrictions that exist in civil aviation between the two countries. "AZAL, for example, will have the right to receive in the U.S. the passengers traveling to any third country, as well as the goods addressed to any third country, the right to disembark passengers and unload cargo directed from any area in the U.S., while the U.S. companies that will come to Azerbaijan will be able to offer their services and work here on a free basis," Mammadov explained. He further added that the work on this agreement has been conducted for more than four years. "There were many obstacles and controversies, as well as demands of both sides," said Mammadov. "The fact is that the U.S. has similar agreements with 127 countries, and they did not want to do any exceptions for us." The will of aviation structures and governments of the two countries contributed to the signing of the document, and we have ensured that the interests of our central bodies were taken into account, he said. Earlier, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ranked the country the highest level of security - "A" category due to the improvement of the regulatory framework of Azerbaijan civil aviation. This enabled the launch of direct flights between the two countries. Regular AZAL flights from Baku to New York have run since September 23, 2014 twice a week by Boeing-787-8 Dreamliner modern aircraft. Direct flights to New York have become the first flight from South Caucasus to North America, which strengthened the status of AZAL as a regional leader in the air passenger transportation. Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of CIS countries. AZAL with the newest airplane fleets, consisting of 25 airplanes, does not have a single old plane. The total route network of AZAL, one of the aviation community leaders in the CIS area, includes 40 destinations in 19 countries. Being an important member of the International Civil Aviation Organization Council, for its services AZAL received a prestigious "4 Stars" from the leader in air transport research, the world-famous British consulting company Skytrax last June. -- Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 16:03 (UTC+04:00) By Laman Ismayilova The 18th annual international theater festival, "Meetings in Russia runs in St. Petersburg from April 4 to 8. The ceremony, held in the Baltic House, brings together all of the Russian-speaking theaters from the ex-Soviet republics. This year, the Festival marks the 55th anniversary of the USSR's first manned mission to space. The event will feature performances from several countries including Estonia, Kyrgyz, Russian, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbek and Belarusian. Azerbaijan is presented by the State Russian Drama Theatre and actors under the leadership of theater's directors Aleksandr Sharovski and Adalat Hajiyev will stage the play "You shall not joke with love " by A. Potapova.. The festival will also hold roundtables and a photo exhibition. The Azerbaijan Academic Drama Theatre was established in 1873 when famous oil magnate and philanthropist Zeynalabdin Tagiyev built the theatre building, in the European style, with beautiful architecture and a spacious hall. Elements of theatricality were contained in many kinds of national creativity accompanying national festivities, traditional holidays and other occasions. After some time, theatre appeared in such Azerbaijani cities like Shusha, Nakhchivan, Ganja and others. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 16:24 (UTC+04:00) The Romanian embassy in Azerbaijan invites Azerbaijani public to join the presentation of the Romanian film Love Building in Baku at 19.00 hours on April 6. The presentation will be organized by the embassy and French Institute in the framework of Francophonie Week at the premises of Landmark Cinema in Baku (90A Nizami Street). The film is directed by Romanian director Iulia Rugina and won the Audience Award and the Special Mention of the Jury at the Bucharest International Film Festival. The film is in Romanian language and has subtitles in French. Presentation of this film in Baku is part of the embassys campaign dedicated to promote Romanian culture in Azerbaijan. Furthermore, its a sign of the importance that Romania attaches to the Francophone values and initiatives. Romania and Azerbaijan are strategic partners and have an excellent cooperation in all fields. Romania has been the second country in the world which recognized independence of Azerbaijan. Besides solid political dialogue and dynamic economic cooperation (according to Azerbaijani statistical data, Romanian exports in Azerbaijan rose for four years in a row to reach in 2015 the highest level in the history of the trade relations between the two countries since Azerbaijan became an independent state), cultural links are increasing in the last period of time. Events organized by the Romanian Embassy in Baku in the framework of Romanias National Culture Day in 2015 and 2016 showed that Romanian culture is highly appreciated in Azerbaijan. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 16:20 (UTC+04:00) Argentine shale gas leaders, government ministers and industry stakeholders will gather in Buenos Aires on May 9th & 10th to discuss the future of shale gas exploration at the Argentina Shale Gas and Oil Summit 2016. The second annual Argentina Shale Gas & Oil Summit is a two-day conference and networking event for the shale gas industry in Argentina. The event will explore current and future possibilities for the shale gas industry, bringing together the unconventional resource supply chain from across Argentina. The conference will address next steps for the shale industry in Argentina. Discussion will consider repositioning Argentina as a major global player, political advances & economic developments, securing increased investment, stakeholder engagement and addressing the skills gap, amongst other themes. The conference will incorporate numerous case studies covering existing experience within the Argentine shale sector, with particular attention paid to operational results thus far. Technical workshops, hosted by Atlas Copco and Packers Plus, will also take place on day one of the summit. KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE: Ingeniero Jose Luis Sureda, Secretary for Hydrocarbon Resources, Ministry of Energy and Mining. Ruy Riavitz, Argentina Country Manager, Madalena Energy. Maximiliano Hardie, Argentina Venture Manager, Shell. Alejandro Jotayan, Chief Executive Officer, Andes Energia. Arturo Vilas, Vice President Business Development, Miramar Hydrocarbons. Mitch Hindman, Global Licensing Manager, ExxonMobil. Siva Ariyapadi, Director, Technology Sales & Licensing - Americas, Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions. Tyler A. Langford, President Drilling Engineering and Operations, Radius Energy Solutions. Ruben Etcheverry, Assessor, Municipalidad de Neuquen. Scott Stevens, Senior Vice President, Advanced Resources International Inc. Juan Cruz Diaz, Managing Director, Cefeidas Group. Martin W. Pepper, President Completion Engineering and Operations, Radius Energy Solutions. Registration for the summit closes on April 20th Limited tickets remaining. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 11:30 (UTC+04:00) The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) will start exporting oil through Iran as part of an agreement due to be signed in a months time, a Kurdish official told Rudaw on April 5. "A delegation from the KRG Ministry of Natural Resources met with Iran's Ministry of Oil for talks on exporting Kurdistan's oil through Iran," said Abdullah Akreyi, head of Iran-KRG relations in Kurdistan's Department of Foreign Affairs. "There is a month left for final agreement between the two sides," Akreyi added."Talks about exporting Kurdistan's oil through Tabriz and Kermanshah provinces are progressing and in the final stage with only one month left for both sides to sign the agreement." Akreyi expects that the anticipated meeting will be held in the Kurdistan Region's capital Erbil. In late March representatives of the Kurdistan Region in Tehran said talks about exporting the Kurdistan Region's oil through Iran will be resumed with the Islamic Republic of Iran after the Newroz holidays. Nazim Dabagh, the representative of the KRGs office in Tehran, said that talks with Tehran have yet to reach a consensus. After sanctions against Iran were lifted the Kurdistan Region began to think about the prospect of exporting oil through Iran. Dabagh says the oil pipeline will be placed in Iran for exporting oil without revealing further details on the number of barrels that will be exported per day. --- Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 6 April 2016 16:33 (UTC+04:00) By Aynur Karimova Turkey, which has been suffering from terrorism for many years and recently witnessed serial terrorist attacks in its major cities, can take a decisive measure in fight against terrorism. Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus announced on April 5 that Ankara can adopt a law, which involves deprivation of citizenship for supporting terrorism, Turkish media reported. He said that currently, this issue is not on the agenda, but if a necessity appears, the country will adopt such a law. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier assured that Turkey will continue taking all necessary measures to combat terrorism supporters, up to the deprivation of citizenship. Fight against terrorism is one of the priorities of the Turkish government's policy. Turkey is part of the U.S.-led coalition against IS and allows coalition planes to use its air base at Incirlik for raids on Iraq and Syria. It has also been carrying out a campaign of bombardment against Syrian Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG), which it regards as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Ankara has recently accused Western countries of leaving Turkey alone in the fight against terror. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour in Washington, President Erdogan added that those countries had not met Ankara's expectations for intelligence-sharing. "We were left alone by Western countries. Our intelligence-sharing expectations were never met," Erdogan said. "Turkey has been calling for a common stance against terrorism, and many of the EU member states seem to have failed to realize the significance that this call for action deserves." Since last July, over 5,359 PKK members have been eliminated as a result of the operations against this terrorist group. Some 355 Turkish servicemen were killed during these operations, which, according to President Erdogan, will continue until the complete destruction of the PKK. The conflict between Turkey and the PKK, which demands the establishment of an independent Kurdish state, has continued for over 25 years and has claimed more than 40,000 lives. The UN and the European Union listed the PKK as a terrorist organization. Kurdish rebels have carried out a series of attacks in the territory of Turkey in recent months, and security forces have raided Kurdish areas, after a ceasefire ended last year. Last month, a car bomb that exploded in Ankara near a crowded bus stop killed as many as 37 people, 125 more got injured. Istanbul was also targeted by a suicide attack on March 19 leaving five people dead. In February, a bomb attack on a military convoy in Ankara killed 28 people and wounded dozens more. Also, last October, more than 100 people were killed in a double-suicide bombing at a Kurdish peace rally in Ankara. Meanwhile, Turkey's National Intelligence Organization has warned of the threat of new terrorist attacks by PKK in the country. The country's intelligence has information that the militants of the PKK terrorist organization plan terror attacks using suicide bombers in several major cities. Taking the significance of terror threat in Turkey, the country's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Head Devlet Bahceli has called on the government for more decisive fight against PKK. The opposition leader believes that within two days, Turkish government should evacuate the civilians from the cities where the PKK is active and carry out crushing strikes on these cities. -- Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz 3.0 ( - - ): editor [at] bahrainmirror.com A six-and-a-half-ton steel girder from the World Trade Center made its way into downtown Bakersfield Wednesday and is scheduled to be part of One of the worlds largest producers of French patisserie and bakery products, Brioche Pasquier, has started production at its new site in Milton Keynes. The first Milk Brioche Rolls to be produced at the 160,000 sq ft Buckinghamshire plant have now been sent to distributors for sale in the UK market. Eric Jouet, industrial director at Brioche Pasquier UK, said the new bakery would allow the company to continue its UK development. Jouet said: We have envisaged this happening since the day we first started distributing in the UK in 2001, and are proud that its finally a reality. Brioche Pasquier, a French family bakery founded in 1936, is planning to open a second-phase development within the next five years at the Milton Keynes site. AHDB is staging an International Baking Workshop, taking place from 12-14 April, to showcase the export potential of British milling wheat to international buyers. Hosted by AHDBs Cereals & Oilseeds Exports team, the inaugural event will build on the success of biscuit-making and bread-making workshops run by AHDB. International delegates have been specially selected to present the course from key markets Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Algeria and Morocco which, so far this season, have imported a combined total of 800,000 tonnes of wheat, worth 99 million, to the UK cereals industry. The four-day programme includes practical baking sessions, to provide the opportunity to bake with ukp and uks flour and assess the potential for its use in overseas biscuit and bread manufacturing. (Ukp is a hard wheat classification used in the making of bread, and uks is a soft wheat classification used for making biscuits). Launched in 2004, ukp and uks are the UKs wheat export classifications, developed by AHDB Cereals & Oilseeds to make it easier for overseas buyers to understand the potential of milling wheat. The practical sessions will be combined with a series of technical presentations on ukp and uks wheat, and technical experts will be on-hand to provide training and advice. The workshop will also highlight the value of UK farm and trade assurance. Crucially, the final day includes a visit to a local farm and grain store, which is accredited by the Trade Assurance Scheme for Combinable Crops (TASCC). TASCC provides independent verification that the trade meets food safety laws, and delegates will be able to compare UK production standards to their own countries standards. Really informative Rachid Chetoui, a previous delegate from Morocco, said: This workshop is really informative. It combines practical and theoretical sessions, which are both equally important for potential buyers. What is most important is that the lessons we learn can help reassure our clients that ukp and uks wheat can meet their requirements. We know that our clients are happy to pay a premium, if the product is right. The Baking Workshop will be held at Campden BRI, at its Chipping Campden site in Gloucestershire. Veda (an Irish version of malt loaf) is big business on the Emerald Isle, and now Sunblest, owned by Allied Bakeries, has been voted Northern Irelands tastiest. Allied Bakeries Sunblest was voted Northern Irelands tastiest veda brand in a blind taste test. The survey of the most popular veda breads on the market was conducted in Belfast city centre from 20-22 January 2016, and there were 150 respondents. Other veda-based questions in the survey revealed that 55% prefer their veda toasted, and 55% prefer to slice their own, as opposed to buying a pre-sliced loaf. The preference for Sunblest over other brands was most marked in the 45- to 64-year-old age bracket almost three quarters (74%) of those surveyed in that category preferred Sunblest. Elva OConnor, senior brand manager at Allied Bakeries, said: We started baking veda in the 1950s and, back then, we could never have imagined that it would become the cult NI product it is today, and that we would be producing one million loaves per year and be voted the tastiest. The victory coincides with newly designed packaging for Sunblest veda bread, which says Its magic on the pack. The war on sugar is starting to have an impact, with people turning their backs on sweet baked goods and pastry products because of health concerns, according to new figures. The number of adults snacking on sweet baked goods has fallen 12 percentage points and those snacking on pastry products by 11 percentage points, claimed market analyst Mintel. It said that only 39% of people snacked on cakes and sweet baked goods for the month to December 2015, compared to 51% the previous year. Meanwhile, there was an 11% drop in the number of consumers snacking on pies, pastries and sausage rolls to 25%. Amy Price, senior food and drink analyst at Mintel, said: Snacking in the UK is almost universal. However, health considerations continue to play a significant role in the market. Health remains an ongoing issue for consumers, with calorie and sugar content of high relevance and, as swathes of the population try to address this, it appears to have had a knock-on effect on consumer snacking. Mintel added that 48% of adults said they tried to eat healthily most of the time, with 70% saying cutting down on snacks was an easy way to reduce calorie intake. Some 54% said they would be interested in healthier versions of their favourite snacks, and 70% agreed that manufacturers should be doing more to reduce sugar in snacks, with 55% also saying they would be interested in snacks flavoured with sugar alternatives such as honey or agave syrup. wider drop The fall in consumption of baked snacks is part of a wider drop in snacking levels, which includes healthy snacks such as fruit (down 7%) and vegetables (down 11%). Ninety-five per cent of people said they had eaten snacks in the month to December 2015, down from 97% the previous year. Price added: New product development is currently failing to cater to this demand for healthier products, with low/no/reduced-calorie, fat or sugar claims accounting for a small share of product launches in 2015. This suggests that exploring healthier formats in these areas could be a way to appeal to snackers without fear of a backlash. Industry experts recently warned that the governments new tax on sugar in drinks was a slippery slope and baked goods could be next. Police/Bomberos Casita Opens on Vallarta's South Side Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico - Last month, Mayor Arturo Davalos cut the ceremonial orange ribbon, officially opening La Casita for service to the South Side as a dozen high-ranking City officials, members of the Amapas Neighborhood Association Board, and ANA member-contributors looked on. La Casita will act as a substation for 24/7 police, fire and ambulance services, substantially reducing response-time for emergencies on the South side of Puerto Vallarta - from Amapas, south to Boca de Tomatlan. Long in the planning, the City had the white-washed, red tile-roofed bungalow on Highway 200 and the manpower to staff it... but not the money for furniture and equipment to support round-the-clock services. So the ANA, its members, friends and neighbors, including Conchas Chinas, got together and raised over $8,000 USD to buy office furniture, a Pullman kitchen (complete with refrigerator & coffee maker), bunk beds, mattresses and sheets, tables and chairs. We even stocked the fridge! A well-attended fund raising party at ANA Board member Gene Mendoza's Fusion Restaurant - with 50% of all food and beverage sales, and 100% of everything else, going to the cause - included the 'adoption' of various items by good-hearted donors. A good time was had by all, including a number of Bomberos, but ANA also opened a website so people who couldn't attend the party were still able to make online donations. Mayor Davalos was generous in his thanks and praise for the ANA's efforts, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with City Hall on other projects that benefit Amapas. ANA plans to continue supporting our police and Bomberos with needed equipment, so it's not too late to make a contribution. You can go online to GoFundMe.com/PVCasita, contact Viviana at admin(at)amapaspv.com, or call the ANA office at 322-244-0185. The Amapas Neighborhood Association is the official association of residents and business owners in the Colonia Amapas of Puerto Vallarta. A volunteer and not-for-profit association with about 350 members, the ANA was founded in 2002 to improve the quality of life in Amapas. We work to keep our neighborhood safe, beautiful, desirable and welcoming to tourists and residents from all countries and walks of life. We are also the official "Junta Vecinal" or neighborhood council for Amapas, the legal representative of the neighborhood to the city government. Learn more at AmapasPV.com. 6 top reasons to save your money Most people know they should be saving a portion of their income, but they might not grasp all of the benefits of doing so. Saving is an important habit to get into for a number of reasons it helps [...] Here are steps you can take to establish your independence after financial abuse and help ensure long-term financial health. 9 min read Apr 09, 2020 Advertiser Disclosure We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence. Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover. How We Make Money The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you. Pinellas County school officials have released new details on part of its plan to get failing schools back on track. Part of the plan includes pay raises and a new position. This all comes during a tumultuous time for the district. On Monday, the Department of Education opened a civil rights investigation into whether the school district discriminated against black children. This took place as the district works on a plan to turn around five failing elementary schools with predominantly minority students: Campbell Park, Fairmount Park, Lakewood, Maximo and Melrose. The newly hired Director of School Leadership said the plan includes hiring new teachers and paying them up to $25,000 more per year to work in failing schools and, possibly, extending the school day. Now, according to the Tampa Bay Times, the district has added additional parameters, including the hiring of a minority achievement officer to track student progress in real time. Officials also want to open a new success center for students who receive out of school suspension so they won't lose class time. School officials said this indicates they are aggressively attacking any achievement gap that exists. "Weve identified more African Americans for gifted services, our African American graduation rate has increased 17.5 percent in the last five years," said Lisa Wolf, with Pinellas schools. "And we're seeing more African Americans participate in advanced placement courses as well as pass those AP exams, so these are just some indicators that were moving in the right direction. Clearly, we have more work to do and we take that very seriously." It will likely take several months for the review to be completed by the Department of Education. But the plan to turn around the five failing elementary schools is expected to be implemented with the start of the 2016-17 school year. Pinellas Superintendent Michael Grego is expected to talk to school board members about the proposals next week. Three people in an SUV were injured Wednesday morning when their vehicle slammed into the back of a Hillsborough County school bus in Plant City. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash happened just after 8 a.m. on State Road 60 between Turkey Creek Road and Dover Road. Troopers said a 2003 Buick Rendezvous SUV hit the back of a school bus that was stopped to pick up students. Five students were on the bus at the time of the crash. The bus was transporting students to Turkey Creek Middle School. Troopers said Luis Nieves Resto was driving westbound on SR60 behind the bus when he failed to stop. According to a witness going eastbound on SR 60 at the time of the crash, the school bus was stopped with its flashing lights on. The witness said she saw Resto slam on his brakes, which resulted in approximately 115 feet of skid marks on the roadway before the collision. Resto, 45, and his passenger, Omyra Freciano, 43, and a 7-year-old girl in the backseat were flown to Tampa General Hospital. Their conditions have not been released. Troopers listed careless driving as the cause of the crash. Officials did not report any injuries on the bus. Lanes of SR 60 were closed for several hours. The roadway was completely reopened just before noon. At least one resident in the area said the bus stop is at a dangerous location. "People fly," said Ashlee Wheeler. "People fly constantly to where they slam on their brakes because they don't see the bus or they fly past when the stops are up. It's constant." The crash is under investigation. What began as a one-day meeting in Gasson Hall four years ago is now a three-day event at the Westin Copley Place Hotel, where the delegates serve on various committees. EagleMUNC was named the Most Innovative conference by Best Delegate, a website that ranks MUN teams across the country. The March 2016 conference, which had Liberty and Security as its theme, included a keynote speech from astronaut Bill Shepherd, a Navy SEAL and the commander of the first mission to the International Space Station. EagleMUNC was created with the idea that MUN could be a more innovative experience for the delegates, says Billy Fitzsimmons 16 who, as secretary-general, is in charge of the club [eaglemunc.org]. We believed that most Model United Nations conferences at other universities offered the same types of committees, but we dared to be different. Among the innovations was a 40-hour simulation in which the delegates are suddenly confronted with intense geopolitical situations that put them in the shoes of high-level decision-makers, Fitzsimmons explains. Many of the MUNC committees held Midnight Crises Events, such as the possibility of a war involving three members, the discovery of a spy (secretly a BC student posing as a delegate), and last-minute complications in the opening of a Disney theme park in Shanghai. We inform the advisors of Midnight Crises Events before the conference, says Fitzsimmons, but like to keep it a surprise for the delegates. Suzanne Larson, library media specialist at Seekonk High School in Massachusetts, says her students relish the chance to meet peers from around the world while they seek to solve real-world problems, grapple with issues that face our world, and work together to accomplish more than any one individual could achieve alone. Model UN provides a training ground to teach students to think flexibly, collaborate and find solutions. The Midnight Crises Events are a particular favorite, Larson adds, because they provide fun, sometimes silly twists on the politics that [the students] are working on in the committee. Seekonk juniors Brittney Keeley and AudreyRose Wooden speak glowingly of MUNC. EagleMUNC gives us an opportunity to have serious conversations with people and partake in an educated and factual debate and still have fun, says Keeley. Adds Wooden, You truly have a completely immersive experience, all thanks to the amazing EagleMUNC team that cares about every single delegate no matter how many of us there are. It lets us know that, despite how the media portrays our generation, were in good hands. The Seekonk delegates praise underscores EagleMUNCs mission to promote education, leadership and innovative thinking. In this day and age, it is important for everyone, especially high school students, to develop an awareness and appreciation of the greater world, says Amelie Trieu 18, head of the EagleMUNC External Affairs Department. Model United Nations teaches students about important issues, and by extension, encourages them to become global citizens. By Siobhan Sullivan | News and Public Affairs Restaurants, bars and workplaces in Port Arthur will soon be smoke-free following a unanimous vote by city council on Tuesday night to enact a smoking ban ordinance. Christopher Bates, chair of the Smoke-Free Port Arthur coalition, said Wednesday that his group was "grateful to the city council for taking this step to protect workers and residents of Port Arthur from the health effects of being exposed to secondhand smoke." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN Authorities here opened a homicide investigation after a woman was found dead Tuesday morning in a wooded stretch of Waller Creek in the heart of the University of Texas at Austin campus. The body was discovered before 11 a.m. by the creek behind the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center, 2110 San Jacinto Blvd, which is just across San Jacinto Boulevard from Darrell K Royal Stadium, said University of Texas Police Department spokeswoman Cindy Posey. By late afternoon, officials had not determined her identity or the cause of death, UTPD Captain Don Verett said at a press conference. Student speculation on social media described a female theater and dance student who had been missing since the weekend. And at about 2 p.m., the university sent emails to at least some students to tell them the College of Fine Arts had canceled theater and dance classes for the remainder of the day and would make counselors available. RELATED: Google tips off Austin police to elementary teacher who allegedly uploaded child porn to account Officials declined to take questions at the press conference, which was attended by UT President Gregory Fenves. The campus will stay open, and classes and events will continue, Fenves said. He said police, Department of Public Safety troopers and Texas Rangers will increase patrols. "This is a tragic day for any student who walks across our beautiful campus and expects to be safe," Fenves said. "When they learn of a tragedy like this they have concerns about their personal safety on campus." Austin police detectives were assisting in the investigation. SEE ALSO: Police: Texas woman drove drunk with 4 children in the car, almost got in wrong-way crash A gathering held by the College of Fine Arts at the Brockett Theatre Atrium Tuesday evening where the dean of the college Douglas Dempster addressed students provided no more answers in the case. Cassie Gholston, director of marketing for the college, said his remarks echoed those of the earlier press conference. "We are all just in a place of waiting," Gholston said. Additional details were not immediately available, but will be added to this story as they become available. Express-News staff writer Eleanor Dearman contributed to this report. mdwilson@express-news.net Twitter: @MDWilsonSA Sheridan, the physician services division of AmSurg, has acquired North Florida Anesthesia Consultants in Jacksonville. Here are three key notes: 1. North Florida Anesthesia Consultants is comprised of more than 70 physicians, certified registered nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants. 2. The group delivers both inpatient and outpatient anesthesia services. 3. The group provides services to 18 facilities in Florida, including Ascension Health's St. Vincent's hospitals and Hospital Corporation of America's surgery centers in Jacksonville. "Sheridan's acquisition of North Florida Anesthesia Consultants represents our first significant expansion into the greater Jacksonville market. We are proud that this outstanding group of clinicians has chosen Sheridan as its partner in delivering excellent patient care and outstanding service to client hospitals and ASCs," said AmSurg's Robert J. Coward, president of physician services. New York City-based Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company, is questioning whether it should move forward with its Dublin, Ireland-based Allergan merger after the Obama administration implemented new rules on tax inversion, according to The Hill. Here are three insights: 1. The merger between the two drug companies is valued at $160 billion and is the largest of its kind to date. 2. The Treasury Department implemented strict new rules on tax inversions, which many view as a way to block the Pfizer-Allergan merger. 3. Pfizer opted to move its tax addresses to Dublin to save billions in tax revenues, resulting in political scrutiny from candidates including Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. More articles on quality & infection control: Consumers don't link prices with quality 4 key points Should medical professionals use body cameras? 4 notes Quality problems surround Theranos' medical testing 5 observations Cincinnati, Ohio-based The Christ Hospital Health Network is planning to build an outpatient center in Fort Mitchell, Ky., according to Cincinatti.com. Here are five points: 1. To build the center, Christ Hospital bought 15 acres of land from Brandicorp for $8.7 million. 2. The facility will be between 100,000 square feet and 150,000 square feet. 3. Christ Hospital's outpatient center will include an emergency department, women's health services as well as primary and specialty care. 4. The state still needs to approve the outpatient center, as Kentucky is one of 36 states requiring a certificate-of-need. 5. The state will make a decision on Christ Hospital's center in August. "We believe we meet the criteria and hope that everything goes smoothly. We're excited to build and hope to start as soon as possible," said Vic DiPilla, vice president and chief business development officer, Christ Hospital. "We believe that competition is important for a number of reasons. It gives patients options. Competing on patient care and experience is important for raising the level of care. It's a win-win for everyone involved." More articles on surgery centers: VA opens new $104M Charlotte outpatient center 4 takeaways SCA shares dropped 0.03% 5 points 9 outpatient surgery centers in March 2016 The North Central region of the United States offers, on average, the highest pay for physicians per year, according to the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2016. Here are the five top-earning states for physicians: North Dakota $348,000 New Hampshire $322,000 Nebraska $317,000 Alaska $314,000 Montana $304,000 Here are the five lowest-earning states for physicians: Rhode Island $224,000 District of Columbia $226,000 Maryland $231,000 Massachusetts $257,000 Michigan $262,000 Note: The report includes responses from 19,200 physicians in more than 26 specialties. The Chicago-based shuttered 102-year-old CookCountyHospital building has been vacant for 13 years. A popular target for graffiti vandalism and metal theft, the aging building could be next in line for redevelopment, according to the Chicago Tribune. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle will announce Wednesday a development agreement that would transform the hospital which was once the site of important medical innovations into a hotel, apartments and stores, according to the report. The rehabilitation of the old hospital estimated to cost at least $550 million would mark the first phase of a privately funded plan to upgrade facilities spanning 16 acres of county-owned land in the Illinois Medical District. Other facilities in the district include StrogerHospital, RushUniversityMedicalCenter and the University of Illinois' medical campus. Three phases, which would be completed over the next 10 to 15 years, would include the creation of a technology and research center, medical office buildings, another hotel, more apartments and parking lots, according to the report. Rehabilitation of CookCountyHospital would start next year and be complete in 2018, according to the report. At the same time, the county plans to build a nine-story building to replace outdated administrative offices and clinics at nearby StrogerHospital. The county selected The Civic Health Development Group led by MB Real Estate Services to restore the hospital building. A longstanding battle over the financial health of Connecticut hospitals has shifted focus to building plans proposed by Bristol (Conn.) Hospital, according to a report from The Connecticut Mirror. The hospital plans to build a new medical office building and recruit staff. But Benjamin Barnes, Connecticut's budget director, questioned the plans, noting hospital partisans have warned state funding was necessary to keep from compromising the community's health and access to care, according to the report. In a letter to Bristol Hospital President and CEO Kurt A. Barwis that was copied to state legislative leaders, Mr. Barnes wrote, "The obvious conclusion is that Bristol Hospital is using state government money in the form of Medicaid supplemental payments to finance construction of new facility expansions." Mr. Barnes also questioned the need for another outpatient facility in the Bristol area, and asked Mr. Barwis to provide details in regard to the use of public funds in the development of the hospital's proposed new facility. He concluded the letter by asking for assurances that, "your earlier pleas for those dollars were based on the full fiscal reality that your organization was facing and not just part of a public relations campaign to obtain more taxpayer funded expansions of your hospital." Bristol Hospital called Mr. Barnes' letter inaccurate and said it "presents unfounded allegations and innuendo about the connection between state Medicaid funding and the project," which it said would be fully paid for by a private developer, according to the report. Mr. Barwis also pointed out that the building project represents an effort to consolidate multiple physician offices into one location, rather than an expansion, according to the report. According to the report, Mr. Barwis also said hospitals are in effect subsidizing the state's Medicaid program, since it pays them less than the cost of care. Additionally, Mr. Barwis noted progress of the hospital's proposed building project was in question because the state has paid the hospital only about $800,000 of nearly $5.2 million in Medicaid supplemental funding it is supposed to receive under the current state budget. "To keep providing services, if [the state doesn't] make these payments, we're going to have to reallocate any of the initial costs that will ultimately be taken care of by the developer into subsidizing the state Medicaid program," Mr. Barwis said, according to The Connecticut Mirror. Mr. Barnes' letter comes about a month after Connecticut officials delayed approximately $140 million in payments to the state's acute care hospitals. The state suspended the payments after recent projections showed declining income tax receipts. Anticipated income tax revenues have been lowered by nearly $200 million for this fiscal year, according to Connecticut's Office of Fiscal Analysis. Hospitals are increasingly making efforts to adapt to consumers' needs when it comes to billing. One of these hospitals is St. Peter's Hospital in Helena, Mont. The hospital has experienced some issues with its billing in the last year after outsourcing the statement processing to a new vendor, St. Peter's Hospital Vice President of Finance John Green told KTVH. However, the organization is now looking at new options to combat this issue. Mr. Green told KTVH these options include "a different statement vendor that will have an easier statement to read for the patient." He also noted the hospital is putting a new loan program in place to help patients pay off their debt. "It'll be a program that will allow for low or no interest on extended payment periods," Mr. Green told KTVH. "We're still working out the details of that." The new changes to the billing department are expected to be fully implemented within the next four months. More articles on finance and revenue cycle management: Battle between Connecticut hospitals, state turns to Bristol Hospital Career Step, Peak Health Solutions to host webinar on link between DRG shifts and case mix index Yukon invests in DuvaSawko: 5 things to know A recent Reuters analysis of proprietary data revealed that major drug companies significantly increased prices for widely used medications over the last five years. For the analysis, Reuters looked at the nation's top 10 drugs, according to 2014 sales figures from IMS Health, and at proprietary pricing data provided by Truven Health Analytics. Here are 10 findings from the analysis. 1. In some cases, major drug companies more than doubled listed charges for widely used medications. 2. Since 2011, prices for four of the nation's top 10 drugs increased more than 100 percent, Reuters found. Six others increased more than 50 percent. 3. Overall, Reuters said, price increases on drugs for arthritis, high cholesterol, asthma and other common problems added billions in costs for consumers, employers and government health programs. 4. Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant Pharmaceuticals International are two companies that implemented extraordinary price hikes. Turing, for instance, anticipated bringing in $200 million by raising the price of Daraprim, an antiparasitic used for a rare infection, by 5,000 percent, according to Reuters, which cites company documents released by Congressional investigators. 5. AbbVie was also on the list of companies that implemented significant price hikes. Reuters found the company raised the price of arthritis drug Humira more than 126 percent since 2011. 6. Reuters found Amgen and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries raised prices for arthritis treatment Enbrel and multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone by 118 percent since 2011. 7. Based on IMS Health data, overall sales for the top 10 drugs went up 44 percent from 2011 to $54 billion in 2014, even though prescriptions for the medications decreased 22 percent, Reuters said. 8. None of the eight companies that sell the top 10 drugs disputed Reuters findings. 9. In general, drug companies told Reuters their prices are put in place to get back investments in failed drugs, support new research and development efforts and fund clinical trials to broaden the use of approved drugs. 10. Additionally, some of the drug companies pointed out to Reuters that its analysis of list prices failed to take into account all negotiated discounts and rebates information they closely guard. More articles on finance and revenue cycle management: Battle between Connecticut hospitals, state turns to Bristol Hospital Career Step, Peak Health Solutions to host webinar on link between DRG shifts and case mix index Yukon invests in DuvaSawko: 5 things to know San Francisco is now the first city in the U.S. to mandate six weeks of fully paid parental leave for private-sector employees, according to Reuters. Under the law, which was unanimously approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, companies with 20 or more employees are required to grant mothers and fathers six weeks of fully paid leave, nearly doubling the pay they are now eligible to receive under California law. "Our country's parental leave policies are woefully behind the rest of the world, and today San Francisco has taken the lead in pushing for better family leave policies for our workers," Supervisor Scott Wiener said in a statement. The new policy, effective in 2017, requires employers to pay 45 percent of wages for as long as six weeks. The remaining 55 percent of weekly wages will be supplied by a worker-funded state disability program, according to the report. Payments are calculated as a percentage of annual wages up to a ceiling of $106,740. The city of San Francisco already offers 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave to its roughly 30,000 city employees, according to the report. Other cities around the nation are taking steps to improve parental leave policies for employees. On Monday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed a bill granting 12-week paid family leave for workers in the private sector that will phase in by 2021. Over the last decade, costs of treating cancer patients has not increased any faster than overall costs for Medicare and commercially insured populations,according to a new Milliman study commissioned by the Community Oncology Alliance. Despite a commonly held misbelief that cancer care costs have rapidly outpaced other healthcare spending trends, the study found that total costs of treating cancer patients have increased at essentially the same rate as all healthcare spending since 2004. The study analyzed claims data for the Medicare and commercially insured patient populations from 2004-2014. The study has released April 5 in conjunction with a briefing to U.S. congressional healthcare staff as well as a meeting with CMS. Here are seven findings from the study. 1. From 2004-2014, the study found increases in costs were essentially the same in actively treated cancer patients people with one or more claims for chemotherapy, radiation therapy or cancer surgery in a given year and those without a cancer diagnosis. 2. In the Medicare population, the increases in costs over the study period were 35.2 percent per patient per year for the total population, 36.4 percent for the actively treated cancer population and 34.8 percent for the non-cancer population. For the commercially insured, the cost increases were 62.9 percent for the total population, 62.5 percent for the actively treated cancer population, and 60.8 percent for the non-cancer population. 3. Researchers also found large increases in drug spending, which made up one-fifth of the total costs in actively treated cancer patients in 2014. 4. The portion of drug spending associated with all chemotherapy (including biologic, cytotoxic and other chemotherapy and cancer drugs) in the actively treated cancer population increased over the study period from 15 percent to 18 percent in the Medicare population and from 15 percent to 20 percent in the commercially insured population. 5. The study also analyzed cost trends in the site of service for chemotherapy infusion. It found that the site of service for chemotherapy infusion in the U.S. has dramatically shifted away from the physician office to the generally higher-cost hospital outpatient settings. 6. According to the study, the proportion of chemotherapy infusions delivered in hospital outpatient departments nearly tripled in the Medicare population during the study period, increasing from 15.8 percent to 45.9 percent. For the commercially insured population the increase was much more dramatic, rising from 5.8 percent to 45.9 percent. 7. The study found patients who received chemotherapy in the hospital outpatient setting incurred a significantly higher cost than patients whose chemotherapy was delivered entirely in a physician office. For Medicare patients, the difference was $13,167 (37 percent) higher in 2004 and $16,208 (34 percent) higher in 2014. For commercially insured patients the cost was $19,475 (25 percent) higher in 2004, and $46,272 (42 percent) higher in 2014. More articles on finance and revenue cycle management: Battle between Connecticut hospitals, state turns to Bristol Hospital Career Step, Peak Health Solutions to host webinar on link between DRG shifts and case mix index Yukon invests in DuvaSawko: 5 things to know Alan Hughes, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina COO, has abruptly resigned, according to The News & Observer. His resignation, which was announced by the health insurer April 5, was likely triggered by the systematic and technological difficulties BCBS of North Carolina has been facing since January, though the insurer didn't provide further comment on Mr. Hughes' reasoning, according to the report. In February, the problems caused North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to launch an investigation, and in March, he said he plans on financially penalizing BCBS of North Carolina. Mr. Hughes, who became COO four years ago, will leave his position immediately and will be replaced by Gerald Petkau, BCBSNC's current CFO. From 2014 to 2015, Mr. Hughes received a pay increase of 48.7 percent, up from $1.19 million to $1.77 million. During a March meeting, Mr. Hughes voiced concerns about the system failure. "What we've experience this year cannot happen again absolutely cannot happen again," he told employees, according to the report. "What's keeping me up at night right now is we're already looking ahead to the next open enrollment. And really it's only about eight months away." BCBSNC is currently working to improve its billing and enrollment software in time for open enrollment in November. Brigham and Women's Health Care in Boston has named Christopher Dunleavy senior vice president of finance and CFO, effective May 2. Here are five things to know about Mr. Dunleavy. 1. He has more than 25 years of experience in financial management and strategic planning for healthcare, public accounting and service industries. 2. He currently serves as group senior vice president and CFO of Vizient, a member-owned healthcare company. 3. Prior to joining Vizient, Mr. Dunleavy was executive vice president and CFO of USMD Holdings, which includes the USMD Health System, a physician-led integrated healthcare system in Irving, Texas. 4. He was also previously CFO of Baylor Heart and Vascular Hospital in Dallas. 5. In his new role, Mr. Dunleavy, a certified public accountant, succeeds BWHC's former CFO, Michael Reney, who left to serve as senior vice president and CFO of Boston-based Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. More articles on executive moves: SSM Health names Kevin L. Lewis president of physicians' organization and ambulatory services in Oklahoma NYC Health + Hospitals appoints 4 executives: 14 things to know Gundersen names Dara Bartels new CFO: 5 things to know Dave Morlock, CEO of University of Toledo (Ohio) Medical Center, will leave his job June 1. Here are five things to know about Mr. Morlock. 1. Mr. Morlock plans to pursue a new career in investment banking in New York, University of Toledo President Sharon L. Gaber said, according to The Blade. He is joining the firm Cain Brothers. 2. Officials said Mr. Morlock decided to exercise a provision in his contract where he is able to terminate his employment agreement "for good reason" and be paid $250,000, according to The Blade. 3. Under Mr. Morlock's leadership, UTMC's patient care quality, patient satisfaction, market share and finances have all seen significant improvement, Ms. Gaber said. Additionally, Mr. Morlock helped the University of Toledo College of Medicine reach an affiliation deal with Toledo-based ProMedica. 4. Dan Barbee, vice president for clinical services, has been named UTMC's interim CEO and will take over for Mr. Morlock. 5. A national search will be conducted for a permanent CEO. More articles on executive moves: SSM Health names Kevin L. Lewis president of physicians' organization and ambulatory services in Oklahoma NYC Health + Hospitals appoints 4 executives: 14 things to know Gundersen names Dara Bartels new CFO: 5 things to know The U.S. faces a shortage of physicians ranging between 61,700 and 94,700 over the next decade, according to a new report from the American Association of Medical Colleges. This report updates a 2015 projection that estimated the nation would need between 46,100 and 90,400 physicians by 2025, though it is still below a 2010 estimate that projected a shortage of 130,600 physicians by 2025. This year's report uses the same microsimulation model and scenarios as used for last year's projections, but it includes updates to supply and demand data and refined medical school graduate data, and it more fully integrates the effects of the growing ranks of physician assistants. Perhaps most striking is the addition of an analysis on the needs of underserved Americans that shows how many more physicians the country would need if these patients were able to fully utilize healthcare. These numbers are not included in the overall projections because they only provide estimates for 2014 levels of care. "These updated projections confirm that the physician shortage is real, it's significant, and the nation must begin to train more doctors now if patients are going to be able to receive the care they need when they need it in the near future," AAMC President and CEO Darrell Kirch, MD, said in a statement. Here are eight things to know about AAMC's updated findings. 1. The overall physician shortage of 61,700 to 94,700 physicians by 2025, no matter the scenario, is in line with 2015 estimates, according to the AAMC. The differences between this and last year's estimate are merely due to updated data and improvements to the estimation process. 2. Primary care shortages are expected to range 14,900 to 35,600 by 2025. This is "directionally consistent" with the 2015 projected shortfall of 12,500 to 31,100 physicians, according to AAMC. Note that the updated projection also took adult primary care-trained hospitalists out of the primary care physician category because it may have skewed the projections for primary care physicians. 3. Non-primary care specialties are expected to need between 37,400 and 60,300 additional providers by 2025. This projection is also in line with projections from 2015. 4. Surgical specialists comprise the only category of physicians among primary care physicians, medical specialists and other specialists that is expected to decline by 2025. In all other categories, the number of physicians is growing, but demand is outpacing supply. Surgical specialties that will be affected include ophthalmology and urology. AAMC estimates the shortfall for these physicians to range 25,200 to 33,200 by 2025. 5. Due to the large numbers of aging physicians, retirement decisions are expected to have the single greatest impact on supply. More than one-third of physicians will be 65 or older in the next decade, according to AAMC. 6. Increasing demand can be traced to population growth and aging. From 2014 to 2025, the U.S. population is expected to increase by about 8.6 percent. Within that, many Americans will be aging up the population aged 65 and over is expected to grow 41 percent in that time, according to the report. It follows that the demand for healthcare services that seniors need will be higher than the demand for pediatric services. 7. The effects of the Affordable Care Act on physician demand are small. The AAMC expects this will only increase demand by about 10,000 to 11,000 physicians, or 1.2 percent. This projection reflects a reduction from last year's prediction that effects of the ACA would increase demand by 16,000 to 17,000 physicians. 8. If barriers to care were removed for currently underserved populations and these populations had similar patterns of use to the rest of the population, the AAMC found the nation would have needed as many as 96,200 additional physicians in 2014. The AAMC considered two scenarios to make this projection. The first projected the physician shortfall to be 40,100 if uninsured people and those who live in non-metropolitan areas used healthcare at similar rates to their insured peers in metro areas. The second scenario produced the 96,200-physician shortfall by projecting utilization if everyone used care at the same rates as white, insured populations who live in metropolitan areas. "When you consider all the people who do not utilize healthcare despite their need because of financial, cultural, social or geographic barriers, the physician shortage is actually much bigger. We are very concerned about equity in patient utilization of care and how we can address it going forward," Dr. Kirch said in a statement. The AAMC notes in its report that estimates are not definitive, but are intended to spark conversation on how to address these issues. More articles on integration and physician issues: Why are Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Yale's medical schools 'orphan schools'? AmSurg's physician division buys North Florida Anesthesia Consultants UNLV School of Medicine receives $3M from United Health Foundation U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer scrapped its proposed $150 billion takeover of Ireland-based Allergan Wednesday after the federal administration took aim at deals that would move companies overseas to save on taxes, reports Washington Post. Below are three things to know about the decision not to merge. 1. Late Monday the U.S. Treasury Department issued some 300-pages of new regulations that would make tax inversions less lucrative for companies. Tax inversions occur when U.S.-based companies buy or merge with smaller foreign firms and move their headquarters overseas to lower their tax bill. 2. By moving its headquarters to Ireland, the planned merger would have allowed Pfizer to slash nearly $1 billion annually from its tax bill. In Ireland, New York-based Pfizer would have reduced its tax rate from 24 percent to 17 percent. 3. The two companies said they mutually agreed to kill the transaction, as it no longer made financial sense to move forward. Pfizer said it has agreed to pay Allergan a $150 million breakup fee, reports Washington Post. Physicians Realty Trust, a self-managed healthcare properties REIT, is looking to boost its portfolio with the addition of 52 medical office facilities owned by Englewood, Colo.-based based Catholic Health Initiatives. Here are six things to know about the transaction. 1. Physicians Realty Trust has executed purchase and sale agreements for 47 medical offices and signed a letter of intent for three medical facilities owned by CHI. Physicians Realty Trust is also negotiating to purchase two additional CHI facilities. 2. The facilities are located across 10 states. 3. The total purchase price for the 52 medical offices is approximately $724.9 million, which includes $32.9 million of future capital improvements. 4. Physicians Realty Trust expects the first tranche to close this month, for a total purchase price of about $202 million. The second tranche is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of 2016, for a total purchase price of approximately $490 million. 5. "In the last few years, many large organizations including health systems have taken advantage of favorable market conditions and the strong demand for healthcare real estate," Dean Swindle, president of enterprise business lines and CFO of CHI told Becker's. "This transaction allows us to rebalance our owned and leased real-estate portfolio and strengthen our balance sheet. We have sharpened our operational and financial focus through a more-strategic management of these properties." 6. Regarding the transaction, Physicians Realty Trust President and CEO John Thomas said, "We are honored and humbled to be selected to monetize these facilities and enhance CHI's healthcare real estate service delivery platform through this partnership." More articles on healthcare industry transactions: CHS acquires majority stake in Arkansas hospital HCA completes purchase of bankrupt Texas hospital Alpena Regional joins MidMichigan Health As one part of Anthem's proposed acquisition of Cigna, the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation has approved Anthem's request to purchase Cigna's Florida-based affiliates, according to the Insurance Journal. The affiliates included in the deal are HealthSpring of Florida, Cigna Dental Health of Florida and Cigna Healthcare of Florida. The Florida OIR held a public hearing on the topic last December, and after conducting an analysis, found the acquisition would not harm competition in the state of Florida. "The economic analysis found that both companies, either individually or in combination, are not a dominant factor in the Florida market and would not [decrease] market competition on a statewide basis," the Florida OIR said in a consent order, according to the Miami Herald. "It also revealed that Anthem and Cigna compete only in the Medicare Advantage product market and 'the combined entity would have a nonmaterial impact on competition.'" However, the OIR did express concerns regarding how "Anthem's license agreement with the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association would reduce competition in Florida," according to the Insurance Journal. If less than two-thirds of Anthem's business is branded as "BCBSA," Cigna's growth in Florida could be limited. This winter, Chicago-based Land of Lincoln Health a health insurance co-op planned to make University of Chicago Medicine out-of-network for its enrollees effective March 1. But now the two organizations have repaired their relationship, according to Crain's Chicago Business. Land of Lincoln spokesman Dennis O'Sullivan said negotiations between the two "took a positive spin," according to the report. "It has always been Land of Lincoln Health's full intention to continue offering coverage for the University of Chicago," Mr. O'Sullivan added. The organizations' tense relationship caused numerous problems among Land of Lincoln enrollees. In February, the insurer faced a class-action lawsuit from two University of Chicago Medicine patients. However, University of Chicago Medicine is now "individually notifying all our current and former Land of Lincoln patients" about the change, U of C spokeswoman Ashley Heher said in a statement, according to the report. To continue following the latest news and information for Bedfordshire and surrounding areas, simply enter your full postcode below Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Facility, said a Brexit would be "costly" for Ireland Ireland would be hurt more than any other eurozone country by a UK exit from the EU, the head of the bloc's bailout fund has said. Klaus Regling, head of the European Financial Stability Facility, said a Brexit would be "costly" for Ireland. "For certain euro area countries, it would certainly be costly - particularly for Ireland," added Mr Regling. "Half of their exports go to the UK, so for them it would be particularly difficult." Mr Regling, who also heads up the eurozone's permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), claimed a British exit would mainly impact the UK but would be "politically very unfortunate" for the wider EU. "I very much hope there will be no Brexit," Mr Regling said in Luxembourg yesterday. "It would mainly have a negative impact on the UK. It would certainly also weaken, politically, the EU as a whole." He also told how negotiating the UK's exit from the EU would be time-consuming and could cause investor flight to continental Europe. "It would take several years and during this several years there would be uncertainty," he added. "Investors might not want to go to the UK any more - they might go to the continent." Mr Regling was one of the authors of a 2011 report on the causes of Ireland's banking crisis. He described Ireland as one of the ESM's success stories, along with Portugal, Spain and Cyprus, which became the latest country to exit its bailout programme last week. "If the ESM was not created in 2010, it's very likely that countries like Greece, Ireland and Portugal would have been forced to leave the euro area," he said. Greece, the only eurozone country still under a bailout programme, is currently in talks with creditors from the IMF and EU to receive a further tranche of aid in exchange for a series of pension, tax and spending reforms. Mr Regling said he hoped to conclude talks by the end of April, a deadline he admitted was "possible but not guaranteed". The possibility of Greece defaulting on its debt was raised again over the weekend after Wikileaks published what it said was a transcript of a phone call between IMF officials discussing Greek progress on reforms. IMF chief Christine Lagarde wrote to Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras afterwards saying that she was "concerned as to whether we can indeed achieve progress in a climate of extreme sensitivity to statements of either side". The IMF wants EU institutions to agree to take losses on the loans they made to Greece over the course of three bailout schemes. It also disagrees with the 3.5% of GDP primary surplus target Greece has to meet this year, suggesting it should be lowered. EU institutions, however, are against further debt write-downs, but are discussing a possible further lengthening of maturities or deferral of interest. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said the EU guaranteed workers' rights that generations of trade unionists had fought for Workers could lose many "hard-won" rights and face years of uncertainty if the UK votes to leave the European Union, according to a new report. A legal study for the TUC found that paid holidays, protections for agency workers, health and safety measures and compensation rates would be at risk from Brexit. Workers would also no longer be able to take cases to the European Court of Justice, a legal opinion by Michael Ford QC said. A vote to leave could lead to a lengthy transition in which the government could pick and chose which EU rights to dilute or scrap, it was claimed. TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Voting to leave the EU is a big risk for everyone who works for a living. "Brexit would mean working people are haunted by years of uncertainty, as rights like paid holiday, parental leave and equal treatment for part-timers and contract workers could be stripped away over time. "The EU guarantees these rights, but generations of trade unionists fought for them. "If we lose them because of Brexit, it could take generations to get them back again. "The biggest cheerleaders for Brexit think that your protections at work are just red tape to be binned. "Bad bosses will be rubbing their hands with glee if Brexit gives them the chance to cut workers' hard-won protections." Northern Ireland consumers are feeling the effects of increasing oil prices in both home heating oil and fuel. Motorists are being warned that the period of lower fuel prices is over, after the cost of petrol rose last month for the first time since July 2015. Experts said the 3.4p per litre (ppl) rise in average pump prices to 105p was a result of oil reaching 40 US dollars a barrel for the first time since early December. The report by the RAC found that around 1.84 was added to the cost of filling up an average 55-litre car with unleaded. Diesel forecourt prices increased by 3.7ppl to 105p, despite the wholesale price only rising by 1.5p, according to the motoring organisation's analysis. The RAC claimed this indicates that retailers are either using the lower diesel wholesale cost to subsidise the price of petrol, or using it as a means of increasing their profit margin. Seamus Leheny, head of the Freight Transport Association in Northern Ireland, said the level of diesel prices at the pumps was evidence that motorists were being "exploited". He added: "The wholesale price of petrol is now 4p per litre more than diesel. "However, both are priced similarly at the pumps, therefore motorists filling up with diesel are subsidising those motorists buying petrol. "This is an opportunistic move by the retailers to ensure they continue to attract motorists searching for better deals when buying petrol. "This has a major effect on the transport industry, as all lorries and nearly all vans use diesel." And he said the gradual climb in prices would increase overheads for haulage firms and ultimately affect the prices of goods for consumers. But he added: "Many operators don't benefit financially from lower fuel costs, because due to the competitive nature of the transport industry, any savings must be passed on to customers in order to keep their business." But he said the era of high fuel costs would not necessarily return. "Iran is continuing to increase production, against the wishes of Saudi Arabia and Russia, who wish to freeze world oil production and increase the value of oil. "Until Iran gets back to pre-sanction oil production, then hopefully we will see oil prices not increase too much. Simon Williams, fuel spokesman at the RAC, said: "The good times for motorists enjoying lower fuel prices had to come to an end at some point, but unfortunately it's happened with a bit more of a bump than motorists were probably expecting." He warned that there could be further bad news for motorists, when oil producers meet later this month to discuss limiting their output, although he does not believe prices will reach 60 US dollars a barrel in the short-term. "It looks as though we are heading towards a new norm of the oil price fluctuating between lower and upper limits of 35 US dollars and 55 US dollars a barrel," he said. Meanwhile, Aodhan O'Donnell of price comparison website Powertoswitch.co.uk said home heating oil prices were also increasing, in line with crude. "While the price of home heating oil remains low and competitive, it has been creeping upwards over the last few weeks. "The average cost to fill a 500 litre tank has increased by almost 3p per litre (11%) since the end of February," he said. That left the cost of 500 litres at around 145 - up from 130. And he said we can expect continued price increases in home heating oil. "This trend is set to continue over the short term as changes in global markets are reflected more quickly in the price of oil and take time to filter through to other fuels - which explains why over the last few weeks we have actually seen a reduction in electricity and natural gas prices." Outgoing Enterprise Minister Jonathan Bell has been accused of "falling asleep at the wheel" after failing to respond to a report his own department commissioned as his time in office draws to a close. Mr Bell set up his manufacturing crisis group, following a spate of major job losses - including at tyre giant Michelin, JTI Gallagher and Bombardier - across Northern Ireland. The report points the finger at huge energy costs which are facing industry here, which it says are "some of the highest in Europe". It says large firms face costs 60% higher than the EU average. It's understood Mr Bell's department has had the report into the challenges facing manufacturing since March 24. The report was drafted by a group led by Dale Farm boss David Dobbin. But despite Mr Bell's department's regular release of statements and job announcements, he has not responded or issued any comment on the major study. The Minister set the challenging March 1 deadline for his Energy and Manufacturing Advisory Group. The report was published on the department's website yesterday, following a query from this paper about its delay. A spokeswoman for DETI said Mr Bell had not issued a response and was "taking time to consider" the "comprehensive" 10-page report rather than "hastily" issue a response. "The recommendations of the Energy and Manufacturing Group report are wide-reaching and will greatly assist DETI and the Department of the Economy in due course," it said. "Given the report was received in late March, it was not possible to give the report the consideration it deserved before the pre-election period began." Mr Bell and his department have been "asleep at the wheel," according to the former chairman of the enterprise committee, Patsy McGlone. "I think this widely reflects that in the department under Jonathan Bell's charge, there has been a remarkable change in the efficiency of the department, which has declined remarkably under his watch," he said. "He is away to wash his hands of it completely. "We had calls from trade unions after JTI Gallagher and the Michelin issue. "He doesn't seem to have attached much priority to drive it on, during the twilight period in his time as Minister." Technically, Mr Bell remains Minister until the election. His department said "Ministers are free to comment" but "arrangements during this period are normally provided through the political party and not the civil service". In the two weeks before the dissolution of the Assembly, the department issued 16 separate press releases. In the report, David Dobbin says it is "essential that Government creates a business friendly environment, with modern infrastructure and competitive operating costs". It calls on the next Executive to ensure prices are at an EU average, and to clarify its position on subsidies for renewable power. It also wants the Executive to "do everything it can" to ensure planning gets the go-ahead for the North-South inter-connector. More than a third of people retiring this year say the new pension freedoms have boosted their confidence More than a third of people retiring this year say the new pension freedoms have boosted their confidence, according to research. The findings from Prudential were released to mark the first anniversary of the reforms, which give people aged 55 and over more choice over what to do with their pension pot, rather than being required to take an annuity retirement income. The changes to pension rules, which were introduced on April 6, 2015, have boosted the retirement confidence of 34% of this year's retirees, Prudential found. When asked what the positive aspects of the rule changes are, more than two-fifths (44%) mentioned the greater degree of flexibility they now have over access to their pension savings, and 41% are happy that they can now take more responsibility for their retirement finances. With this in mind, 31% said that they are now more likely to take professional financial advice. More than one third (36%) of those with pensions planning to retire in 2016 plan to take some or all of their pension savings as a cash lump sum. Of those who will take cash from their pension, more than four in 10 (43%) plan to take out more than their 25% tax-free amount, potentially exposing themselves to a tax bill. Generally, the first 25% of a retiree's pot can be taken tax-free and the remainder is subject to tax. Separate research from Aegon among more than 3,800 people found the pension freedoms are also having a knock-on effect of encouraging the younger generations to save more into a pension. Aegon found that 15% of the working population are saving more into their pension as a direct result of pension freedoms - equating to 6.2 million people across the UK contributing more to their pension than they were in April 2015. Prudential also found evidence that many people are approaching the new freedoms with caution. Nearly three-fifths (59%) of people said the changes have not yet led them to alter their plans for taking an income from their pension savings, while nearly half (49%) said the pension freedoms have not had an impact on their attitude to retirement, as they are not sure the rule changes will last. However, many people who said they have not changed their plans stand to benefit from a final salary pension, which guarantees people a set retirement income. Final salary pensions, which are not subject to the freedoms, are becoming more thin on the ground as firms have found them increasingly expensive to run as people live for longer. The pension freedoms apply to defined contribution (DC) pensions, where how much money you end up with at retirement depends on factors such as the performance of investments. Vince Smith-Hughes, a retirement income expert at Prudential, said: "We are in the midst of some of the biggest changes to pensions in a generation, so it is pleasing to see that people broadly welcome the new rules. "It is also understandable that, in the face of such change, this year's retirees who have done most of their retirement planning under the old set of rules are cautious about making big changes to their plans." More than 1,000 people planning to retire in 2016 took part in Prudential's research. The combined business would have been named Pfizer US drugmaker Pfizer has confirmed the biggest pharmaceutical deal in history has been pulled after the US unveiled new measures to stop tax avoidance. Pfizer abandoned the 160 billion US dollar (113 billion) deal to merge with Irish rival Allergan, the maker of Botox, following a clampdown by the US Treasury on so-called inversion deals. In a statement to the stock exchange, the New York-based company said the deal was pulled by mutual consent. It will pay Allergan 150 million dollars (106 million) to cover expenses run up during negotiations on the deal. Ian Read, Pfizer chairman and chief executive, said: "Pfizer approached this transaction from a position of strength and viewed the potential combination as an accelerator of existing strategies. "We remain focused on continuing to enhance the value of our innovative and established businesses." Pfizer said the two companies regarded the clampdown on inversions by President Barack Obama as "adverse tax law change". The tie-up would have been the largest inversion deal in corporate history, a tax-saving manoeuvre in which a US company reorganises in another country with a lower corporate tax rate. The US corporate tax rate of 35% is one of the highest in the world, and compares with Ireland's rate of 12.5%. Allergan - which has its headquarters in Dublin but with much of its operations managed out of New Jersey in the US - said the US Treasury's reforms will not have any material impact on the tax rates it pays. Brent Saunders, chief executive and president, said: "While we are disappointed that the Pfizer transaction will no longer move forward, Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes." Allergan has about 30,000 employees and operations in about 100 countries. The companies said in November that the merger would create an industry leader with more than 100 treatments in mid- to late-stage development. The plan was for the combined business to carry the Pfizer name and be legally domiciled in Ireland while retaining a global operational headquarters in New York. It would have seen Pfizer shareholders hold 56% of the enlarged group, with the rest owned by Allergan investors. The US Treasury reforms were not taking a shot at Pfizer and Allergan specifically but aimed to limit internal corporate borrowing that shifts profits out of the United States. President Obama on Tuesday called on the US Congress to close "one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there", saying a corporate financial practice that shifts profits out of the US short-changes the country. He said less tax revenue meant the government could not spend fully on schools and transportation networks, while it also hurts middle-class Americans because "that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere". He added: "When companies exploit loopholes like this it makes it harder to invest in the things that are going to keep America's economy going strong for future generations." Anglo-Swiss drugs giant AstraZeneca fought off a 69 billion takeover bid from Pfizer in 2014, saying its bid undervalued the business. The deal had come in for criticism in Dublin with the Sinn Fein spokesman on jobs and enterprise, Peadar Toibin, claiming it had exposed the Irish Government's "bargain basement corporation tax strategy". "Nations across the globe are becoming increasingly intolerant of the tax avoidance strategies used by multinationals," he said. "With the revelations this week contained in the Panama Papers, this feeling will only be enhanced." The process for selling Tata Steel's UK plants will start by Monday but there is no set timeframe for it to be completed. Business Secretary Sajid Javid revealed the details after a two-hour meeting with Tata officials in Mumbai, just over a week after the Indian conglomerate took the shock decision to sell its loss-making UK assets. Mr Javid said Tata will allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the process to be completed. The minister stressed that the Government wanted to work with any prospective buyer, saying "a number" of people had already started coming forward. "I would like to see many more come forward when the formal process begins," he said. Mr Javid met Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the Indian conglomerate, and other company officials to discuss the planned sale. He said afterwards that he understood there would be some "issues" to deal with, such as power, which the Government "might be able to help further with". The minister had been urged by unions to stress the need for Tata to act responsibly as a search for a buyer continues, and to allow enough time for the process to be completed. Sanjeev Gupta, the head of the Liberty Group, held talks with Mr Javid on Tuesday and has raised hopes that jobs could be saved, especially at the huge plant in Port Talbot, South Wales. Mr Gupta said: "UK Government appears highly supportive and is proactively engaged in finding a long-term solution. We have also actively engaged with Welsh Government and again we are encouraged by their approach. "The next step is for Tata to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers. We await further details on this and then will assess our own next step. "Liberty has already proven its ability to build value from UK steel assets with our acquisition of our Newport Steel plant, Midlands engineering operations and most recently in Scotland where we acquired mills from Tata. Everyone is very motivated to find a solution." Meanwhile, workers are voting on temporary changes to terms and conditions as part of an impending sale of Tata's giant steel plant in Scunthorpe. Union members are being balloted on a 3% cut in pay and a reduction in pensions, part of a "transformation plan" ahead of the expected sale to investment firm Greybull Capital. Negotiations over the sale of the plant, which employs around 4,000 workers, have been taking place for several months, well before Tata's announcement last week. Steve McCool, national officer of the Community union, said terms and conditions at Scunthorpe would be restored after a year. "We are hopeful that the deal between Tata Steel and Greybull can be completed soon. Our own independent experts, Syndex, have found the transformation plan to be robust with a high probability of success. Our experts have also advised us that Greybull has the necessary capabilities to deliver the plan and secure a sustainable future for the business. "Having given all the proposals and the context full consideration, myself and the national officers from the other unions are recommending that our members vote for the temporary changes to terms and conditions on the basis that this will give the transformation plan with Greybull a greater chance of success," he said. Members of Unite and the GMB are also being balloted, with the result due on April 19. Community said negotiations with managers at Tata's Long Products division over the transformation plan had been difficult. Labour said its MPs have raised the issues facing the steel industry 203 times in Parliament since the general election and secured eight debates. Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle said: "The perfect storm threatening the future of the steel industry in the UK didn't appear out of nowhere, it's been brewing for many months. "Labour has raised the serious issues facing the steel industry time and again, yet the Tory Government have failed to take the necessary action to avert the crisis. "As the crisis escalated, trade union representatives and the local Labour member of Parliament were in Mumbai fighting for the future of the industry, but the Government was missing in action. The Prime Minister was on holiday, the Chancellor was keeping his head down after his disastrous budget, and the Business Secretary was at a black tie dinner in Australia extolling the virtues of the free market. "The steel industry is hanging by the thinnest of threads, the time for action from the Government to save our steel is now." Mr Gupta said buying Tata's UK steel business was a "daunting" prospect, especially as the sale announcement was so unexpected. He told the Press Association he expected other companies to show an interest now that the sale process was about to formally start. "We have had very good interaction with the government and unions but we now need a proper analysis, and work out many details." Mr Gupta said any buyer would have to "turn around" Tata's loss-making business and would not want to take on the huge pension liabilities. Tata would probably want to make progress on any sale within weeks, but Mr Gupta said he believed the process would take months. "We are interested and we now need to work out a business plan." Mr Gupta said Tata workers would have to be retrained and he still believed jobs could be saved, although he added it was time to "take a breather" to consider details of the sale. Speaking after a conversation this evening with Sajid Javid, Roy Rickhuss, general secretary of the Community union said: " I welcome the fact that the secretary of state informed me of the constructive conversation he had with Tata. I am pleased that he raised those issues I had raised with him before he flew to India. "I am encouraged to learn that Tata have committed to be a responsible seller and to allow the time we need to secure a new commercial operator. "This is a credit to the campaign our members have run over the past week. Now is the time to get to work. Community has already begun working with independent experts to map out a plan for our steel industry. We look forward to continuing to work with government to build a sustainable future for steelmaking in the UK." Harish Patel, Unite national officer for manufacturing, said: "This is an agonising time for these workers and their communities so we look forward to a fuller debrief on the next stages from the minister on his return. Our members are sure to have questions on the details and the next steps. "Tata has made it clear that they want to make this process as swift as possible, and while we welcome their commitment to be a responsible seller, we now need to focus on how this industry is safeguarded for the future. "We are extremely concerned that this uncertainty will have wider ramifications. We also want to discuss the supply chain implications, where Unite has thousands of members who also face an uncertain future, so we will be seeking further urgent discussions with the minister on his return." Communities around the UK will be crushed if steel plants shut down, warned the Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan Communities will be crushed if steel plants shut, the Archbishop of Wales warned Communities across the UK will be "crushed" if steel plants close, the Archbishop of Wales has warned. Dr Barry Morgan said the survival of the steel industry affected thousands of people and companies, adding that if banking was worth saving, so was steel. Speaking to the governing body of the Church in Wales in Llandudno, Dr Morgan said the crisis affected many areas of the UK. He added: "It raises the question of an industrial strategy for the UK, since steel is the foundation of the manufacturing base of this country and affects many other industries. Dr Morgan, who is also Bishop of the Diocese of Llandaff, which includes Port Talbot, said: "I am not an economist but it is a fact that business rates in the steel industry in the UK are much higher than in other parts of the EU and energy costs per ton of steel made in the UK are more than double those of Germany. "Other countries have imposed tariffs on imports and massively subsidised steel production. "The danger is that if all steel-making plants are closed, once they are gone, the price of steel will increase and that will have far reaching repercussions on our economy and industry. "It will be too late by then and people in places like Port Talbot, whose lives and communities have been shaped by the steel industry, will have been crushed. "If the banking industry, which still does not fully appreciate the extent of its rescue, judging by the behaviour of some of its members, was deemed worth saving, surely it is worth securing a sustainable future for the steel industry in Wales and the UK." Over 1,000 companies in the UK list one of their main areas of business as the manufacturing or casting of steel, said Dr Morgan. He said a group of 16 people from Port Talbot's churches and chapels have formed a ministry team to help Tata's chaplain support people struggling with stress. A debt advice centre has been set up in one of the churches and more food banks opened for the expected extra demand. Judge Hilliard (pictured) said he and Common Serjeant Richard Marks QC would be taking part in the recently announced pilot scheme to film judges' sentencing remarks at Crown Courts A senior Old Bailey judge joked that the Strictly Come Dancing panel had "set the bar high" as he prepared to feature in a pilot scheme to televise the courts. In a light-hearted speech, the Recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard QC, cited the likes of Craig Revel-Horwood and Len Goodman as well as judges Judy and Rinder as TV trailblazers. Judge Hilliard was speaking at the formal opening of the court session in Court One of the historic Old Bailey in the heart of the City of London. He told the assembled judges and dignitaries that he and Common Serjeant Richard Marks QC would be taking part in the recently announced pilot scheme to film judges' sentencing remarks at Crown Courts. He said: "This will not be easy and we recognise the challenge we face." "Significant judicial figures will have led the way in televising proceedings", he said, including Goodman, Revel-Horwood, Judy and Rinder, who had "set the bar high". He confirmed the product would not as yet be broadcast but advised against being quick to criticise "our efforts" if anyone was to see them. Lawyers chuckled in court as he added: "Follow the advice: when tempted to criticise you f irst walk a few miles in the other person's shoes. "I f you make a criticism, you will be a few miles away and you will have of course the other person's shoes." A 42-year-old American accused of endangering the safety of an aircraft last June, claims that the whole thing is a "fabrication". Antrim Crown Court also heard that Jeremiah Mathis Thede even questioned the decision of the United Airlines' captain to abort flight 971 from Rome to Chicago and divert to Belfast International. Thede, originally from The Alameda, Berkeley in California, denies acting in a reckless and negligent way to endanger the Boeing 777 aircraft, or any person on the flight, on June 20 last year. Prosecutor Gerorge Chisney said it was the Crown case that Capt Jands Latura aborted the flight over concerns that Thede's actions were distracting his crew, and which could also allow someone else to do "something in his aircraft". Trial Judge Desmond Marrinan and the jury of seven men and five women heard that an aggressive acting Thede, one of over 200 passengers on the transatlantic flight, demanded nuts and crackers from crew members. In addition, of the next few hours, Thede allegedly continually left his 39C isle seat in the rear economy section of the plane. He would go to the bathroom, said Mr Chisney, and changed his clothes on a number of occasions, in what he described as "very unusual behaviour". This drew concerns from the flight attendants, who had to reassure other passengers, and the matter was reported to Capt Lature, who asked his first officer Joseph Oka to investigate. Mr Chisney said following his report, and the fact the flight was about to leave the European landmass and continue on over the Atlantic, the Capt sought permission to change his flight plan and land in Belfast. Landing shortly after 7pm that Saturday evening, airport police came onboard and arrested Thede. During interview the following day Thede denied the allegations made against him, claiming "they were being fabricated" and went on to question the actions of Capt Jands in diverting to Belfast. The trial, expected to last until next Tuesday, continues. Cambridge Avenue in Ballymena is closed due to 'suspicious object' A firework was the cause of a security alert in Ballymena. A suspicious object was found in the Cambridge Avenue area of the Co Antrim town on Wednesday evening and the road closed. Army bomb experts attended the scene and declared the object to be a firework. It has been taken away for examination. This is the second time within a month a firework has caused disruption in the area. Homes were evacuated on March 21 after discovery of a suspicious object close to Cambridge House school. That device was examined by Army Technical Officers and declared to be "an improvised firework". It was removed for further examination. The men, from Ballybough, were found in the front seat of a burning car close to Ravensdale Forest, Co Louth, in March 2012. A man has been arrested in Alicante in Spain over a double murder in Co Louth four years ago after he arrived in the Spanish city on a flight from Belfast. The 32-year-old was detained on a European arrest warrant at around 9.30pm on Tuesday night after arriving on the EasyJet flight. Civil Guard officers had been tipped off and were waiting for him at the Costa Blanca airport. He is now due to appear at a hearing in Madrid where he will be asked if he consents to extradition or not. The man is understood to have been arrested in connection with the murders of Dublin gangland figures Anthony Burnett, 32, and Joseph Redmond, 25. The pair, from Ballybough, were found in the front seat of a burning car close to Ravensdale Forest, Co Louth, in March 2012. It is believed the men were tortured and shot in the head before the vehicle was set alight. A 41-year-old from Rathmines, south Dublin city, was arrested over the crime in April 2014. A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante said: I can confirm we have arrested a 32-year-man on foot of an extradition warrant in connection with a double murder. He was held as he arrived at Alicante Airport on a flight from Belfast. The bullet-riddled van in which the workers were travelling A coroner has urged suspects linked to the murder of 10 Protestant workmen by the IRA more than 40 years ago to come forward. In a highly unusual step, Brian Sherrard issued a public appeal for information about the Kingsmills massacre. He specifically referred to people arrested at the time or who were under suspicion. The 10 victims, who were textile factory workers, were shot dead when gunmen ambushed their minibus in January 1976. A fresh inquest into the murders was ordered in 2013 by Attorney General John Larkin. It is scheduled to open on May 23 in Belfast. The sole survivor of the massacre said yesterday he hoped those involved in the killings will come forward before the case begins. Alan Black said: "It has gone past the point of calling for anyone to be punished. This is about getting to the truth. "It has been like a raw wound for 40 years and this is about bringing some form of comfort to the families." Mr Black, now 72, added: "The gunmen were probably around the same age as myself, so we are now looking at our own mortality. "You would want to ease your own conscience before passing on." The Coroners Service issued an appeal for information yesterday ahead of the inquest. A statement said: "The coroner, His Honour Judge Sherrard, requests that if anyone can assist this inquest in examining these deaths, they should make contact with the Coroners Service. "There may, for example, be persons with relevant information concerning the deaths but who have not yet brought that information to the attention of the authorities. "There may be persons who were arrested in connection with the deaths and who wish formally to renounce any connection with the matter. "Or there may be persons who have been mentioned in connection with these deaths or who have regarded themselves as under suspicion in relation to the deaths, who wish formally to renounce any suggestion of their involvement or who have information that may assist the coronial inquiry." This year marked the 40th anniversary of the massacre. The men were murdered as they travelled home from work together along the Whitecross to Bessbrook road in rural south Armagh. As their minibus cleared the rise of a hill, there was a man standing in the road flashing a torch. The van stopped and 11 other men, all of them armed, emerged from hedges around the road. After checking their religion, the gang ordered one Catholic worker, Richard Hughes, to leave. The gunmen then opened fire. The 10 who died were John Bryans, Robert Chambers, Reginald Chapman, Walter Chapman, Robert Freeburn, Joseph Lemmon, John McConville, James McWhirter, Robert Samuel Walker and Kenneth Worton. Mr Black survived the bloodshed, despite being shot 18 times and left for dead. The IRA never admitted involvement and was supposed to be on ceasefire at the time. The name South Armagh Republican Action Force was used to claim the murders. No one has ever been convicted. The original inquest in 1978 lasted just 30 minutes and recorded an open verdict. In June 2011, an investigation by the Historical Enquiries Team found that the IRA was responsible for the attack and that the victims were targeted because of their religion. Anyone with information in relation to the deaths can write to the Coroners Service before May 23, or email legacy@courtsni.gsi.gov.uk Six convicted dissident republicans were granted home leave to attend Easter Rising commemorations, including masked "show of strength" parades in Lurgan and Coalisland, according to an Assembly candidate. Ulster Unionist candidate Adrian Cochrane-Watson, who was a South Antrim MLA in the last Assembly, said the prisoners boasted about their participation in demonstrations in Lurgan and Coalisland when they returned to prison. He said: I was shocked to learn that six convicted terrorists were allowed out over Easter and I have no doubt that they enjoyed the Easter rising celebrations. I have met with Prison Service staff who left me in no doubt about their revulsion that these six individuals were allowed out of Roe House and Foyle House. "On their return to Maghaberry these terrorist thugs boasted about their participation in the illegal demonstrations in Lurgan and Coalisland." Masked men paraded through the streets of Lurgan, Coalisland and Londonderry during the Easter weekend as commemorations to remember the centenary of the Easter Rising took place across the island of Ireland. In one of the most sinister displays a threat from the Continuity IRA against members of the security forces was read out by masked men in Lurgan. Following the parades, unionists, including the First Minister, criticised police for not taking any preventative measures to stop the paramilitary displays. Arlene Foster said: "I want to see these people behind bars. No place for masked men in Northern Ireland." Read More Mr Cochrane-Watson said: These are the same convicted terrorists who laughed and joked in the face of prison officers at the recent murder of their colleague in East Belfast. They are not conforming to the prison regime and therefore benefits such as weekend home leave - particularly to celebrate dissident republican events - should have been removed. It is simply an insult to the entire community. A number of questions arise. Who authorised this leave? What limitations were placed on activities which prisoners could or could not involve themselves in? What punishments are available to prison authorities and what lessons have been learned to prevent a repetition? I will be contacting the Justice Minister David Ford and the prison authorities seeking answers as a matter of urgency. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said: Prisoners coming to the end of their sentences can apply for periods of pre-release home leave. With the exception of the pre-planned Christmas scheme, these periods of home leave can take place at any time throughout the year. Michael Stone has got married behind bars, according to a prison source Michael Stone got married behind bars, according to a source at Maghaberry Prison. Around a dozen guests were understood to be present for the notorious loyalist assassin's nuptials at the prison's multi-faith building on Monday evening. The Maghaberry source claimed that it was a typical religious ceremony, the bride - who is believed to be of a similar age to Stone - wore a white dress and that there was a small buffet celebration afterwards. Stone, who turned 61 last week, has never been short of admirers despite his murderous past. He was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of murdering three people and injuring more than 60 in a 1988 Milltown Cemetery attack on mourners at the funeral of three IRA members shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar. The UDA man was released from prison on licence under the Belfast Agreement and subsequently worked as an artist and writer. But in November 2006, he was charged with several offences including the attempted murder of Sinn Fein leaders Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams, having been arrested attempting to enter Parliament Buildings at Stormont while armed. The veteran loyalist claimed that his appearance that day was 'performance art', but he was subsequently convicted and sentenced to a further 16 years' imprisonment. In 2013, he was told he would have to serve the remainder of a minimum 30-year term for the Milltown massacre as well as three other sectarian killings. In 1984, he shot Catholic milkman Patrick Brady dead in south Belfast and a year later did the same to joiner Kevin McPolin in Lisburn. He also murdered bread man Dermot Hackett in 1987. The Maghaberry source claimed security at the prison was intensified in order to prevent dissident republicans gatecrashing the proceedings. Loyalists protest outside Musgrave Police Station ahead of a meeting with the PSNI about the clashes at Ormeau last week Loyalists protest outside Musgrave Police Station ahead of a meeting with the PSNI about the clashes at Ormeau last week Loyalists protest outside Musgrave Police Station ahead of a meeting with the PSNI about the clashes at Ormeau last week Loyalists held a "constructive discussion" with senior PSNI officers last night to complain about so-called "two-tier policing". Around 50 loyalists protested outside Musgrave Police Station in the centre of Belfast. They were there to highlight what they claim is the political policing of loyalist parades. Some held placards that read: "PSNI pepper spray: only to be used on Protestant, unionist, loyalist people (especially children)." It follows a recent incident at a Junior Orange parade on the Ormeau Road in south Belfast in which an officer used CS spray. During the trouble, two PSNI officers were injured and young children were affected by the CS spray. Police later charged a 26-year-old man with two counts of assault on police and disorderly behaviour. The PSNI has said the matter could have been avoided had bandsmen "followed police directions" to keep clear of parked cars. The Police Ombudsman is investigating. A loyalist delegation, including Protestant Coalition chairman Robert McKee, met Superintendent Darrin Jones and Chief Inspector Robert Murdie last night. They handed in a letter of concern to one of the senior officers. In a statement afterwards, Superintendent Jonathan Roberts said there had been "a constructive discussion around a number of issues relating to the parade on the Ormeau Road on Tuesday, 29 March." It is understood the officer has not been suspended from duty. The protesters claim that loyalist parades are subject to major restrictions that are enforced by police, but breaches at republican marches have been treated with leniency. Beforehand, the Coalition said the protest was in response to "abuse carried out by officers towards South Belfast Young Conquerors Flute Band on their parade home on Easter Tuesday," adding: "Children as young as six years old were pepper sprayed and batoned. This is a two-tiered, politically-motivated policing system aimed at demonising those within the PUL community." A Belfast rug trader has been jailed along with 13 other members of an organised crime gang for the theft of artefacts worth 57m from museums and an auction house in England. Long-standing city centre trader Terence McNamara (46) of Marquis Street in Belfast was sentenced to four years yesterday at Birmingham Crown Court for conspiracy to steal. The 13 other gang members from across England received sentences on Monday and yesterday ranging from 15 months to six years and eight months. Chinese jade and rhino horn were among the precious objects targeted in two thefts and an attempted theft at Durham University Oriental Museum between November 2011 and April 2012. There were further incidents at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, Norwich Castle Museum and Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Judge Murray Creed heard that although the stolen objects were valued at 17m, they could have been sold for up to 57m on the booming Chinese auction market. The latest jail sentences follow a four year police operation and months of phone monitoring. Many of the stolen objects have not been recovered and the lead investigator admitted the gang's "top person" is still on the run. The gang were dubbed the Rathkeale Rovers because of their links to the town in the Republic. Addressing 43-year-old Michael Hegarty, of Orchard Drive in Cottenham, and Rathkeale in the Republic, the judge said: "I believe you were controlling him (McNamara) in relation to events at Durham Museum in the first instance." Hegarty was jailed for six-and-a-half years. Gang members also masterminded a bungled attempted theft at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex, and organised the disposal of stolen artefacts in what the judge said was "an extremely sophisticated conspiracy". The judge said the operation to "plunder" rhino horn, carved horn and jade items began "small-scale" in January 2012, but after initial failures - in one case the burglars forgot where they had hidden their haul - "planning paid off". In their biggest raid, 18 pieces of Chinese jade were stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum and although experts provided valuations up to almost 18m, the judge described them as "priceless". The judge said the conspiracy was centred on the O'Brien home in Rathkeale. He said: "Of 14 original conspirators, seven were connected with that home, seven were associates, like Terence McNamara, while others were recruited to find thieves prepared to carry out burglaries." Undated handout photo issued by Durham Police of a 18th century Chinese jade bowl with a Chinese poem inscribed on it, on its wood carved stand, one of two items stolen from Durham University's Oriental Museum on April 5, 2012. A Chinese Dehua porcelain figurine of seven fairies in a boat, one of two items stolen from Durham University's Oriental Museum (Durham Police) Members of a skilled organised criminal gang at the heart of a 57 million conspiracy to "plunder" British museums of rhino horn and other priceless Chinese artefacts have been jailed for up to six-and-a-half years. The group, dubbed the Rathkeale Rovers because of their links to the Irish town, targeted high-value objects in a string of break-ins, including Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and twice at Durham's Oriental Museum in 2012. Judge Murray Creed heard that although the items stolen in Durham and Cambridge were valued at up to 18 million, detectives believe they might have fetched more than three times that figure on the booming Chinese auction market. Members of the same gang also masterminded a bungled attempted theft at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex, and organised the disposal of stolen artefacts in what the judge said was "an extremely sophisticated conspiracy". Sentencing members of the 14-strong gang, Judge Creed said on Monday: "It is a conspiracy both sophisticated, skilled and persistent, and involved significant cultural loss to the UK of museum quality artefacts and items from international collections." In all, 13 men have been sentenced over two days, after three trials which concluded with the gang and its associates convicted of wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to steal, with connections to Ireland, Europe and China. John "Kerry" O'Brien, aged 26, of Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire - but also of Rathkeale in Ireland - was said by the judge to have had a central role in the conspiracy. He was jailed for six-and-a-half years. Terrence McNamara, of Marquis Street in Belfast, was told he would be jailed for four years. Addressing 43-year-old Michael Hegarty, also of Orchard Drive in Cottenham, and Rathkeale in Ireland, he said: "I believe you were controlling him (McNamara) in relation to events at Durham Museum in the first instance." Hegarty was jailed for six-and-a-half years. He sentenced 47-year-old Richard Sheridan, of Water Lane in Smithy Fen, and Patrick Clarke, aged 34, of Melbourne Road, Newham, London, to five-and-a-half years apiece for their part. Ashley Dad, aged 35, of Crowther Road in Wolverhampton, who did not appear at court, was jailed for five years and three months. On Monday the judge sentenced seven other men to between four years and six years and eight months behind bars, including "fence" Donald Wong, while another man had already been jailed for his part. Sheridan is a former spokesman for the Dale Farm travellers site in Essex and was seen in Wong's company, shortly before 50,000 in cash was found in Chinese businessman's car. The judge said the operation to "plunder" rhino horn, carved horn and jade items started off "small-scale" in January 2012, but that after initial failures and botched thefts - in one case the burglars forgot where they had hidden their haul - "planning paid off". "It was serious organised crime," he added. In their most successful theft 18 pieces of Chinese jade were stolen from the Fitzwilliam Museum and although experts provided various valuations up to almost 18 million the judge described them as "priceless". He added: "They were part of a national collection split between the museum in Cambridge and the British Museum in London." Afterwards, that haul was stored in a safe-house before being taken by taxi to Purfleet in Essex where the goods were spirited away. The judge continued: "The conspiracy spanned England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, references were made to France - the Cherbourg visit, Hong Kong and also the United States and Germany, also featured in the evidence the court heard over the three trials." He said the gang had either stolen or tried to steal "highly prized museum-quality" items, often with historic Imperial Chinese dynastic connections, with the exception of an attempted theft on an auction house in March 2012 in which the bungling thieves took the wrong item. On two occasions the Oriental Museum in Durham was targeted, but also the Castle Museum in Norwich, Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex, and the Fitzwilliam Museum. The men carried out reconnaissance of these and other sites, including three museums in Glasgow, and another auction house in Yorkshire. The judge said the conspiracy had been centred on the family seat in Rathkeale, telling the defendants: "At the heart of this enterprise was a family - a number of you are members of the O'Brien family." He added: "Of 14 original conspirators, seven were connected with that home, seven were associates, like Terrence McNamara, while others were recruited in to find thieves prepared to carry out burglaries, particularly in carrying out the second attack on Durham museum. "No doubt others were involved too." Robert Gilbert Smith, formerly of Hockenden Lane in Kent was jailed for his part in the crime last year. Around 200 jobs are at risk in Sainsbury's stores around Northern Ireland, it has been claimed Around 200 jobs are at risk in Sainsbury's stores around Northern Ireland, it has been claimed. The trade union Unite said the jobs were under threat as a result of plans by the supermarket giant to change its management structures and cut night shift roles. Sean Smyth of Unite the Union said: "We are deeply disappointed by proposals published by Sainsbury's which threaten to reduce its employment cohort by 2,500 across the UK, including a net reduction of 600 store trainers and 1,900 night shift positions. "We estimate the potential impact in Northern Ireland to be more than 200 positions, affecting approximately 120 members of Unite." The company employs around 3,900 people in 13 stores across Northern Ireland. A spokeswoman said the company was creating 280 new roles to provide training across "a number of stores". Those management posts would replace the existing store trainers, she said. There are 870 people currently working as store trainers - one at every Sainsbury's supermarket. An SAS soldier involved in the lethal ambush of two IRA men was also present when his military colleagues shot dead a Protestant taxi driver, a court heard. Lawyers claimed the disclosure should have come earlier, to allow questioning at the inquest into the double killing of republicans Martin McCaughey and Dessie Grew. McCaughey's sister, Sally Gribben, is continuing to challenge a conclusion that the shootings near Loughgall, Co Armagh in October 1990 were justified. Her appeal against a previous failed legal bid to have the inquest verdicts quashed is to be heard later this month. In court yesterday it emerged that a member of the SAS unit who opened fire on the IRA men - Soldier D - was involved in an earlier operation in which civilian Kenneth Stronge was fatally wounded. Mr Stronge (46), was shot as he drove his taxi past an RUC base at North Queen Street in Belfast in July 1988. Four members of an SAS team opened fire on IRA men as they launched a rocket at the barracks from a nearby car. With more than 80 high velocity bullets fired at the attackers, Mr Stronge was critically wounded. He died three days later. Counsel for Ms Gribben revealed the link between the two incidents based on new disclosure from the Ministry of Defence. Karen Quinlivan QC told the Court of Appeal: "Soldier D was involved in the incident of the shooting of Kenneth Stronge. Although he did not deploy his weapon, he was one of six officers (present)." The development came amid final preparations for the bid to overturn a previous judgment on the McCaughey and Grew inquest. They died after being ambushed at farm buildings. Although armed, neither fired any shots, provoking claims that soldiers could have made arrests. But in May 2012 a jury held that the soldiers used reasonable force. Ms Gribben's legal team say the inquest did not comply with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with two main grounds advanced: l Failure to disclose to next of kin SAS unit members' roles in other lethal force incidents, and the consequent inability to deploy that information at the inquest. l Failure to secure the re-attendance of Soldier A to answer questions about his suspected link to the fatal shooting of Francis Bradley by special forces near Toomebridge in February 1986. Last year a High Court judge dismissed her application for judicial review. He denied the tribunal was rendered ineffective by the non-disclosure of soldiers' links to other lethal force incidents. Ms Gribben's legal team are appealing the verdict in a further attempt to secure a fresh inquest. They argue that disclosing details of SAS members' links to other lethal force incidents was central to establishing if an alleged shoot-to-kill policy was in operation. Had details been known at the inquest, an application would have been made to cross-examine the soldiers. With the appeal listed for April 26, the McCaughey family's lawyer stressed the potential significance of the new disclosure. Fearghal Shiels of Madden & Finucane Solicitors said outside court: "We contend that the involvement of Soldier D in the fatal shooting of Kenneth Stronge, in which soldiers in the unit of which he was a member fired in excess of 80 rounds in a densely populated urban area, is indicative of the propensity of undercover soldiers to deploy excessive and unjustified force. "His involvement in this incident is a matter about which the families should have been informed and should have been permitted to question him about at the hearing of this inquest in 2012." The housemates of a teenager who self-terminated her pregnancy with drugs bought online have spoken out about why they reported her to police. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the two women revealed details about the tragic case that has reignited furious debate over Northern Ireland's abortion laws. They said they have been vilified for contacting the PSNI about their former housemate, who this week received a suspended prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to procuring her own abortion by using a poison. The 21-year-old, who was 19 at the time, had been sharing a house in south Belfast with the two women. She told them she was pregnant and that she could not afford to travel to England for an abortion. Instead, the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, purchased pills online and induced a miscarriage in July 2014. The male foetus was left in a plastic bag in a household bin for eight days before police were contacted. Read more Read More One of the housemates, who asked to remain anonymous after a backlash on social media over her decision to contact police, told the Belfast Telegraph she was so badly affected by the events that she had to receive counselling. The 38-year-old claimed she offered to be legal guardian to the teenager's child if she still did not want the baby after giving birth. "She called the baby 'the pest' and kept saying she just wanted rid of it. She said: 'I don't want this inside me.' I offered a number of times to become legal guardian to the child. I myself had just had a miscarriage. "I really tried to help her. I talked through a number of options but she just didn't want to know," said the Belfast woman. "She said she was going to order these pills online. I tried to talk her out of it. She didn't tell us they had arrived. The first I knew that she had taken them was on the Friday night when she said she was getting awful cramps." She continued: "The next day I was downstairs on my own and she phoned me from her bedroom and asked me if I could bring her a pair of scissors. I wasn't thinking straight. I went upstairs with them. She was lying in bed and I asked what she wanted them for. She said 'this is hanging out of me on a piece of string'." Read more Read More She said she told the young woman not to cut the cord and advised her to get medical treatment, but she refused. "A couple of hours later she came down carrying a plastic bag. I couldn't bring myself to ask what she had done with the baby. After my own miscarriage my mind wasn't in a good place," said the woman. She added: "A bit later I was going to put rubbish out in the bin and there was the bag. When my other housemate came home on the Sunday we went and looked in the bag in the bin. There was the baby on a towel. "I didn't expect the baby to be so fully formed. The court was told she was 10 to 12 weeks pregnant when she obtained the tablets, but he seemed older. He had fingers, little toes. Even now I just have a picture in my mind of it. Its wee foot was perfect. "Even now I feel sick. It has done so much damage to me mentally. "It is something I can't get out of my head. On bin collection day I couldn't bring myself to put the bin out for collection. I didn't want to throw a baby away. I didn't know what to do." Read more Read More She said she was upset by the woman's attitude towards the termination. "This isn't anything to do with the rights and wrongs of abortion. I'm not anti-abortion. I believe there are circumstances, like rape, where it should be a woman's choice. "This is about her attitude. It was as if she was getting rid of a piece of clothing," she stated. "There was absolutely no remorse. Even the way she was up and away out and doing her own thing a day after the abortion, while me and our other house-mate just walked around in shock. "She wasn't forced into anything. "We tried to help her. She was given lots of different options. We even tried to talk to her family to get them to help her, but we didn't know them and she wouldn't give us their contact details. People are saying we contacted police out of malice. That's not true," she added. The second housemate, who has also been targeted by online trolls, said the pair decided to contact police after confiding in a friend. "We tried so hard to support her when she told us about the pregnancy but it made me so angry when she kept calling it 'the pest'. Then, after the abortion, she showed no remorse. It was so weird the way she reacted to what had happened," said the woman. She added: "I tried to be nice to her. But really there was no sign of remorse at all, her attitude really got to me. "I asked her why she wouldn't give the baby a proper burial and she said 'do you want me to put it in a bag and throw it up the street?' I was so angry at her attitude. I eventually cracked up and told a friend. I was a frantic mess. He was shocked and told me I had to contact the police." The 22-year-old from the north coast said she has not been able to put the events behind her and has been hounded by internet trolls since Monday's court hearing. "It is just insane the way we are being portrayed as being the bad ones in this. The abuse we are getting is just awful. People are accusing us of having no compassion for not getting her help. But she begged and pleaded with us not to tell anyone. "This isn't a debate about the rights and wrongs of abortion. The way this was done was wrong. The baby had hands, feet, all its facial features, its little nose. I can't stop thinking that it might have been alive when it was born. It is awful," she said. The criminalisation of the woman has been criticised by human rights organisation Amnesty International. "A woman who needs an abortion is not a criminal - the law should not treat her as such," Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland director, said. Director of public prosecutions Barra McGrory has received a request from Precious Life to examine the case A woman who reported her housemate to police in Northern Ireland for buying drugs online to abort an unborn child has defended the move. The woman who aborted her child was prosecuted under the region's strict abortion laws and was handed a three-month jail sentence, suspended for 12 months. The defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed she was unable to raise enough money to travel to England to access a lawful termination. The pregnant woman miscarried a male foetus, aged between 10 and 12 weeks, after taking two types of abortion pills she purchased on the internet in 2014. She placed the aborted foetus in the bin, where her two housemates discovered it. The case has sparked a fresh row about abortion laws in Northern Ireland. Both sides of the ever-divisive debate have criticised the outcome, though for very different reasons. While pro-choice campaigners have denounced the prosecution, pro-life advocates have insisted the sentence was too lenient. The housemate who reported the woman to police insisted people had to live by the law in Northern Ireland, whether they agreed with it or not. "I know people may say it's stupid (the law) and things like that, but it's still the law, you have to abide by the law that's here until that changes," said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous. "If this (case) even makes it change then fair enough, but if you break the law you have to be punished. "At the minute it's the law and if you break the law you have to be punished." In an interview with BBC Radio Ulster, the woman said she felt bad about what had happened to her housemate and had regrets, but said she could not have lived with herself if she did not take action about the foetus in her bin. "A week went by and the guilt of a baby in the bin was eating us up," she said. The woman added: "I did want justice for the baby because obviously it wasn't the wee baby's fault." She said she had been subjected to online abuse since the case became public. The sentencing judge told the court in Belfast on Monday that Northern Ireland's abortion legislation was 150 years old. Abortion drugs can be accessed in the rest of the UK, but should be taken under medical supervision. The maximum penalty for the crime of administering a drug to induce miscarriage under the relevant law in Northern Ireland, namely the Offences Against The Person Act 1861, is life imprisonment. Across the border in the Irish Republic, the offence of procuring an abortion carries a potential 14-year jail term. The Northern Ireland Public Prosecution Service (PPS) said the case met the evidential threshold and its pursuance was in the public interest. Amnesty International has described the prosecution as "appalling". But pro-life campaign group Precious Life has called for an appeal against the sentence, alleging it was unduly lenient. Director of public prosecutions Barra McGrory has received a request from Precious Life to examine the case. A PPS spokesman said: "The PPS can confirm that we have received a letter from a legal representative of Precious Life which outlines that organisation's concerns over the sentence passed in this case. The matters raised in the correspondence will be examined carefully in line with our protocols around unduly lenient sentences in the Crown Court." David Cameron is linked to Panama Papers by his late father Ian Cameron who is said to have 'ran offshore fund that paid zero UK tax for 30 years' David Camerons father, senior Tory peers and former Conservative MPs are among the hundreds of individuals named in the the so-called Panama Papers leak of confidential documents showing how the worlds richest people shield their wealth offshore. Though he is not named in the reports himself, the British Prime Minister is linked to Panama Papers by his late father Ian Cameron, who died in 2010. According to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which coordinated the research into the 11 million secret files handed over by an anonymous source, Mr Cameron used Mossack Fonsecas services to shield his investment fund, Blairmore Holdings Inc. A 2006 prospectus for Blairmore Holdings Inc described Mr Cameron, a stockbroker and multi-millionaire, as instrumental in [its] formation. It said the fund should be managed and conducted so that it does not become resident in the United Kingdom for UK taxation purposes. The ICIJ said there was no suggestion that the individuals named in the Panama Papers had done anything illegal. Asked whether the Prime Ministers family was still holding money in offshore arrangements on Monday, his spokesperson replied: That is a private matter, I am focused on what the Government is doing. She noted that the elder Mr Camerons investment funds were previously revealed in British media reports in 2012. Critics reacted angrily to the response on Twitter, arguing that the Prime Ministers position demands transparency on the issue. It is NOT a private matter for the flipping Prime Minister, one person wrote. Another accused Downing Street of showing complete contempt for the British public. So can we say it's a private matter if HMRC came knocking on our door, wanting to do an audit? a man wondered. Three senior Tory figures were also named in the papers, including the former party donor and MP Lord Ashcroft. Belize Corporate Services (BCS), a subsidiary of Ashcroft's company BCB Holdings, began using Mossack Fonseca to provide shell corporations for its clients in 2006 when Ashcroft was in the House of Lords, it was reported. Read more Read More Lord Ashcrofts spokesman Alan Kilkenny said allegations he had partnered or done business with Mossack Fonseca in any way were entirely false, and suggested records had been falsified. The long-serving former MP Michael Mates, who was Northern Ireland minister under John Major in 1992/3, was also named as a client. The ICIJ said a company Mr Mates chaired, Haylandale Limited, was created in the Bahamas and registered with Mossack Fonseca. And the Baroness and life peer Pamela Sharples was named as a shareholder and one-time director of Nunswell Investments Limited, a Bahamas-based company she used to make investments. Read more Read More In response, the law firm which handled Sharples affairs, reportedly in conjunction with Mossack Fonseca, said she became a director of Nunswell in 2000 and that the company was registered in the UK at that point. Mr Mates said he was asked to chair Haylandale Limited by a friend and that his shares were not of any real value. David Cameron is due to host a major summit to discuss the issue of offshore tax havens in May. More than half of the 300,000 firms listed as Mossack Fonseca clients were registered in British-administered tax havens. Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell told the Mirror: The Panama papers revelations are extremely serious. Cameron promised and has failed to end tax secrecy and crack down on morally unacceptable offshore schemes, real action is now needed. Independent President Francois Hollande promised Monday that French tax authorities will investigate the disclosures of the Panama Papers and that legal proceedings will follow. AFP/Getty Images. [File photo] View of a sign outside the building where Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm offices are placed in Panama City on April 3, 2016. AFP/Getty Images A populist Ukrainian party leader said on April 4, 2016 he would launch impeachment proceedings against President Petro Poroshenko over his use of offshore accounts revealed by the "Panama Papers" leak. AFP/Getty Images [File photo] While fighting between pro-government forces and rebels for a small Ukrainian town raged on in 2014, representatives of Petro Poroshenko were preoccupied hunting around for a utility bill, it has emerged. The representatives of the Ukrainian president were trying to find the bill to allow Mr Poroshenko to create a holding company, Prime Asset Partners Limited, in the British Virgin Islands. The revelation is one of many remarkable details to emerge from the Panama Papers, more than 11 million documents reportedly showing how Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca helped a number of current and former world leader to use offshore tax havens. The information was sent by an anonymous source to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and then, in coordination with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), given to over 100 media organisations. Although there is no indication that named individuals in the papers have done anything illegal, the head of Ukraines populist Radical party said an impeachment investigation needed to be launched into allegations that the President used an offshore account to avoid tax. Referring to the company being set up at the peak of violence in Ukraine in 2014, Oleh Lyashko said: It is the height of cynicism to open offshore companies at a time when hundreds of our soldiers are dying. In a statement, Mr Poroshenko denied any wrongdoing. The company, Prime Asset Partners, is believed to have been registered on 21 August 2014, according to a share register published by the ICIJ. At the time, Mr Poroshenkos troops were being killed in the battle against insurgents. Both sides were trying to claim control of Ilovaisk, a small town in the Donetsk region of Donbass. Read more Read More When he ran to be President in 2014, Mr Poroshenko pledged to his voters that he would sell his confectionery manufacturer Roshen. But according to the ICIJ, a Cyprus law firm representing Prime Asset Partners said it was set up as a holding company for the Cyprus and Ukrainian companies of Roshen. The firm said the company had nothing to do with the political activities of the person who set it up. A memorandum of the sole director, published by the ICIJ, shows Mr Poroshenko is the only shareholder. According to the ICIJ, a spokesperson for Mr Poroshenko said the creation of the company had nothing to do with any political and military events in Ukraine. In a response given to the ICIJ, financial advisors to the President said Prime Asset Partners had been set up to help him sell Roshen. Following the information leaked in the Panama Papers, a senior official in the General Prosecutor's office said the documents did not show that Mr Poroshenko had committed a crime. In a statement published on Facebook, the President said: "I believe I might be the first top office official in Ukraine who treats declaring of assets, paying taxes and conflict of interest issues profoundly and seriously, in full compliance with the Ukrainian and international private law." "Having become a President, I am not participating in management of my assets, having delegated this responsibility to the respective consulting and law firms. I expect that they will provide all necessary details to the Ukrainian and international media." On Monday, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine said it had no power to investigate the President. In a statement posted on Facebook, according to the Interfax news agency, the bureau said: In accordance with the Ukrainian law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Code of Criminal Procedure, Bureau jurisdiction applies to top officials [authorised] to [fulfil] the functions of the state or local self-government, in particular, the president of Ukraine whose powers have ended. Independent Edward Snowden has drawn attention to David Camerons apparently new interest in privacy, in the wake of questions about his familys tax affairs. The Prime Minister avoided questions about his tax situation, following mentions of his father Ian Cameron in the Panama papers. Mr Cameron has looked to argue that his tax affairs are not public and so shouldnt be discussed. Sharing a tweet about Mr Camerons spokespersons comment that his tax affairs are a private matter, Mr Snowden suggested that the focus on privacy was a new interest. Oh, now hes interested in privacy, the whistleblower wrote in a tweet that was shared over 18,000 times. David Camerons government has received sustained criticism from privacy campaigners, including those within his own party. One of its most high-profile pieces of legislation has been the Investigatory Powers Bill, or Snoopers Charter an attempt to revive an earlier version of a similar law that was stopped when the Liberal Democrats were in government. Read more Oh, now he's interested in privacy. https://t.co/jfCSYgensb Edward Snowden (@Snowden) April 4, 2016 Read More That law gives spies, police forces and a range of other authorities the apparent power to break into phones and force their manufacturers to help them do it. It also appears to weaken much of the security powers that are already in phones and computers, including encryption the technology that powers WhatsApp and iMessage. David Cameron introduced that effort to weaken security in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shootings at the beginning of 2014. In our country, do we want to allow a means of communication between people which [] we cannot read? he asked in the wake of those attacks, in remarks that were the beginning of a fight between the Government and privacy campaigners that is still going on. Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is the first major political figure to step down amid the Panama Papers furore (AP) Iceland's right-wing coalition government has named Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johanssonn as new prime minister, a day after his predecessor was forced to step down following the Panama Papers scandal. The Progressive Party and the Independence Party agreed during talks on Wednesday to hand the prime minister post to 53-year-old Mr Johannssonn, replacing Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Progressive Party MP Hoskuldur Thorhallsson told reporters. The appointment comes after Mr Gunnlaugsson said he has not resigned but simply stepped aside for a period of time after the leak of the Panama Papers, according to a press release from his office. The so-called Panama Papers from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, reportedly show that Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir had an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands to allegedly shield investments worth millions, sparking wide-spread protests in the country. The shell company, Wintris, was set up in 2007, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which published the papers. But it was not declared when Mr Gunnlaugsson entered parliament two years later. The statement from Mr Gunnlaugsson had suggested that the vice-chairman of the Progressive Party should take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time. The Prime Minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Progressive Party, it said. The moment Icelands prime minister walked out of an interview because of a tax haven question #panamapapershttps://t.co/FfWj8jiQec The Guardian (@guardian) April 4, 2016 Panama Papers: Thousands of Icelanders protest, call on PM to resign https://t.co/IFSl6Cczje FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 5, 2016 Independent Icelandic investigative journalist and WikiLeaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson has called for the Panama Papers to be published in full online. Governments around the world are scrambling to contain the fallout from the publication of thousands of names of rich and powerful people who conducted offshore financial activity through Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Mr Hrafnsson, who worked on the Cablegate leak of diplomatic documents in 2010, suggested the withholding of documents is understandable to maximise the impact, but said that in the end the papers should be published in full for the public to access. He told RT's Afshin Rattansi on Going Underground: "When they are saying this is responsible journalism, I totally disagree with the overall tone of that. "I do have a sympathy to stalled releases, we certainly did that in WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011 with the Diplomatic Cables but in the end the entire cache was put online in a searchable database. "That is what Id want to see with these Panama Papers, they should be available to the general public in such a manner so everybody, not just the group of journalists working on the data, can search it." The reports are from a global group of news organisations working with the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Expand Close Panama papers: Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson Going Underground talked to RT's Afshin Rattansi on Going Underground / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Panama papers: Wikileaks spokesperson Kristinn Hrafnsson Going Underground talked to RT's Afshin Rattansi on Going Underground The consortium have been processing the legal records from the Mossack Fonseca law firm that were first leaked to the German Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper. Update Read More Shell companies are not necessarily illegal. People or companies might use them to reduce their tax bill legally, by benefiting from low tax rates in countries like Panama, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda. But the practice is frowned upon, particularly when used by politicians, who then face criticism for not contributing to their own countries' economies. Because offshore accounts and companies also hide the names of the ultimate owners of investments, they are often used to illegally evade taxes or launder money. Presenter Rattansi mentions that the ICIJ is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Endowment think tank, the Rockefellers and George Soros. Asked if he is surprised that there has been "no big American names released - so far" Mr Hrafnsson said: "It seems to be skewed away from American interests. American companies are only a third of British companies there. Expand Close Panama leaks: A massive leak coming from Mossack Fonseca of 11.5 million tax documents exposed secret offshore dealings GRAPHIC NEWS / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Panama leaks: A massive leak coming from Mossack Fonseca of 11.5 million tax documents exposed secret offshore dealings "You have to keep in mind this one law firm in Panama servicing, providing tax haven companies mostly out of the British Virgin Islands - so it doesn't give the entire picture." The full interview airs Wednesday at 11:30am on Going Underground on RT and can be viewed later on the RT website. The moment Icelands prime minister walked out of an interview because of a tax haven question #panamapapershttps://t.co/FfWj8jiQec The Guardian (@guardian) April 4, 2016 Panama Papers: Thousands of Icelanders protest, call on PM to resign https://t.co/IFSl6Cczje FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) April 5, 2016 Read More Panama Papers fallout UK In the UK David Cameron has sought to distance himself from the row over the Panama Papers data leak, with Downing Street insisting the Prime Minister's family "do not benefit from any offshore funds". The Prime Minister himself declared he had "no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds" after his late father Ian's tax affairs were highlighted in the document disclosure. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn dismissed suggestions by Downing Street that the family's tax arrangements were a "private" matter and called for an independent investigation into those implicated by the records. But Mr Cameron sidestepped calls for a probe and declined to say if his family had reaped the rewards of an offshore arrangement in the past or were likely to in the future. Read More The Prime Minister was asked to confirm that "you and your family have not derived any benefit in the past and will not in the future" from the offshore fund set up by Ian Cameron, referred to in the papers leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. During a visit to Birmingham Mr Cameron said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from, and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street, and that's all I have. "I own no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And so that, I think, is a very clear description." Iceland Meanwhile Iceland's embattled prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has resigned amid controversy over his offshore holdings as outrage over the accounts angered the North Atlantic island nation. Mr Gunnlaugsson is stepping down as leader of the country's coalition government, Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Icelandic broadcaster RUV. No replacement has yet been named, and Iceland's president has not yet confirmed that he has accepted the resignation. China China dismissed as "groundless" reports that relatives of current and retired politicians, including President Xi Jinping, own offshore companies. The state media are ignoring the reports, and search results for the words "Panama documents" have been blocked on websites and social media. China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said he would not discuss the reports further and declined to say whether the individuals named would be investigated. "For these groundless accusations, I have no comment," Hong told reporters at a regularly scheduled news conference. Ukraine Ukraine's president was accused of abusing his office and of tax evasion by moving his candy business offshore, possibly depriving the country of millions of dollars in taxes. Pakistan Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced he would set up an independent judicial commission to probe whether his family was involved in illegal overseas investments. Algeria In Algeria, a company that manages the finances of the industry minister says he is linked to an offshore firm created in Panama, but says its activities are frozen while he is serving in the government. French newspaper Le Monde reported that Abdessalam Bouchouareb runs a Panamanian company called Royal Arrival Corp., prompting accusations that he is hiding assets abroad and evading taxes. Contacted by The Associated Press, Bouchouareb declined to comment, referring to a statement released by his Luxembourg-based financial management company CEC. The statement says CEC created Royal Arrival Corp. to manage Bouchouareb's assets, but when the minister learned about the new company, he ordered its activities frozen as long as he is in the government. Royal Arrival Corp. "has never been active in any country," the statement says. Russia A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is the "main target" of the media investigation into offshore accounts, but that he is not implicated in any wrongdoing. Mr Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov says "it's obvious that the main target of such attacks is our president", and claimed that the publication was aimed at influencing Russia's stability and parliamentary elections scheduled for September. Mr Peskov said international media had wrongly focused on Mr Putin instead of other world politicians, even though he was not implicated in any wrongdoing, and suggested the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a key player in the publication, had ties to the US government. A call from Derry City and Strabane District Council for Secretary of State Theresa Villiers to release a Londonderry republican from prison has been slammed by DUP Foyle candidate Gary Middleton. A majority of councillors voted to support a motion from Independent councillor Gary Donnelly calling for Tony Taylor, who was arrested at his home in Creggan last month, to be freed. Taylor was sentenced to 18 years' jail in 1994 for planting a bomb in Derry but was released on licence under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. He was jailed for another three years in 2011 after being found guilty of possessing a rifle. Mr Donnelly was supported by Sinn Fein and SDLP councillors, with opposition from the unionist bloc. Mr Middleton said the matter should never have been allowed to come before the council. "This is an individual who was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 1998 before being released under the Belfast Agreement," the DUP candidate added. "In 2011, he was then sentenced to three years for possession of a rifle. "There is little doubt that Mr Taylor is a dangerous individual. "DUP colleagues made it absolutely clear that this issue should never have been brought to the council in the first place. "People may have thought that parties who have made comments about crossing wires with the justice system would have supported our position, but they instead chose to back this latest motion in favour of a dissident republican terrorist. "There is a disturbing pattern to these council motions. In Dungannon, some time ago, councillors voted in support of releasing Gerry McGeough while one of his victims, and my party colleague, Sammy Brush was sitting across the chamber from them. "Fermanagh District Council also voted in favour of the release of Marian Price. "While lecturing others, it is clear that republicans and nationalists are happy to indulge in an a la carte approach to justice." SDLP Councillor Brian Tierney, who supported the motion, said the only person taking an a la carte attitude to justice was the Secretary of State. He explained: "I had actually proposed an amendment to Gary Donnelly's motion which called on the Secretary of State to explain her reasons for Tony Taylor's arrest because we did not want to let her off the hook. "This motion is about human rights and it is not about Tony Taylor personally. "It is about the ability to arrest a person without providing evidence of why that person was arrested or an explanation of how he has broken the terms of his release under the Good Friday Agreement. "Theresa Villiers has not provided one shred of evidence that Tony Taylor has broken the terms of his release under the Good Friday Agreement. "I and everyone else in the SDLP believe in the police system, but we have the right to call into question that system when we see cases of human rights being violated, and Tony Taylor's human rights are being violated." George Osborne interview: Treasury sources say the interviewer simply asked more questions than had initially been agreed [File photo] George Osborne has repeatedly evaded questions on whether he has personally benefited from offshore funds then appeared to terminate the live interview. The Chancellor, who was being interviewed by ITV News during his visit to the Ocado Customer Fulfillment centre in Hatfield, was asked: "Do you now or will you in the future benefit from any offshore funds?" Mr Osborne responded saying that members of the Commons register all their interest in the register of members' interests. He added: "But I thought it was very striking you had a Labour member of Parliament this morning praising the Prime Ministers leadership home and abroad on this issue of tax evasion where frankly this British government has done more any previous British government to make sure they pay the taxes that are owed. Tax evasion is not just illegal it's immoral.People evading tax should be treated same as common thieves.This agreement helps us tackle them George Osborne (@George_Osborne) October 29, 2014 He was then asked a second time are you going to benefit at all? and again referred to the governments record on issues of tax avoidance. As Ive said all of our interests as ministers and MPs are declared in the register of members interests and weve made our position very clear, he said. As I said this Conservative government has done more that any Labour government or any previous government to tackle tax evasion, to tackle tax avoidance, to get money into the exchequer that is owed to the public, When the reporter went on to ask another question, Mr Osborne said thank you and terminated the interview. Treasury sources told the Telegraph the interviewer simply asked more questions than had initially been agreed and the interview ended. Prime Minister David Cameron also came under pressure this week to give a clear explanation of how he, or his immediate family, stood to benefit from Blairmore - the company set by his late father, Ian, in Panama and the Bahamas, and which has avoided ever paying tax in Britain. Downing Street had issued three partial answers about the fund on Tuesday before clearing up today whether his family would gain in the future from the investment fund. Independent Artur Niewolik, 37, was cleared at the Old Bailey of molesting an air stewardess A passenger has been cleared of molesting an air stewardess while drunk on a London-bound flight. Artur Niewolik , 37, was accused of touching the attendant's waist from behind and then whispering "nice legs" as she served drinks from her trolley on the Dublin to London Gatwick flight. The incident happened when he got up to use the toilet at the start of the hour-long flight, before the fasten seat belt lights had been switched off, the court heard. The arresting officer, former police constable Jonathan Cruise, told jurors at the Old Bailey that the defendant was "clearly drunk". Polish national Niewolik denied sexual assault, an alternative charge of assault by beating, and being drunk on the low-cost airline flight, during the afternoon of March 30 last year. In his defence, he told jurors he was a married family man with a good character and had only touched the air stewardess because he wanted to get past her in the aisle. The Old Bailey jury deliberated for half a day to find Niewolik, of Weavers Close, Isleworth, west London, not guilty of all charges. David Cameron will urge young people to vote at the formal launch of the Brighter Future IN campaign Ministers could be hauled to Parliament to defend spending taxpayers' cash on a pro-EU leaflet after a petition opposing it passed the 100,000 threshold. The decision to send a Government-produced leaflet to every household in the country setting out the case for voting to remain in the EU in June's referendum - at a cost of more than 9 million - provoked a blistering row between the in and out camps. Justice Secretary Michael Gove attacked the idea of taxpayers funding "one-sided propaganda" rather than the NHS after David Cameron insisted it was "money well spent". Downing Street said the move was a response to polling which showed 85% of the public wanted more information from the Government to help them make an informed choice on June 23. But a petition calling for the leaflet campaign to be halted soared past the 100,000 mark, meaning it has to be considered for debate in Parliament as anger from Leave supporters continued. The petition text, submitted by Get Britain Out director Jayne Adye, says: "We, the petitioners, demand the Government STOPS spending our money on biased campaigning to keep Britain inside the European Union. "The Great British Public have waited since 1975 for a vote on our relationship with Brussels. No taxpayers' money should be spent on campaign literature to keep Britain inside the EU." Prime Minister Mr Cameron earlier said he would "make no apologies" for throwing the full weight of the Government behind one side of the argument, declaring: "It is not, in my view, just legal - I think is it necessary and right. "I don't want anyone to go to the polls not knowing what the Government thinks, and I think that is money well spent." But Mr Gove - one of four Cabinet ministers campaigning for the "leave" vote on June 23 - said it was "wrong" and called for a fair campaign in which both sides are heard. He told the BBC: "I just think it is wrong that at a time of austerity, 9 million of taxpayers' money is being spent on a one-sided piece of propaganda. "That money should be being spent on the NHS and the people's priorities, not on propaganda." The cost of the promotional push is greater than the 7 million each the formal Leave and Remain camps will be allowed to spend by law in total during the last 10 weeks of the campaign, Vote Leave said. Ukip leader Nigel Farage questioned whether the referendum was now still "free and fair". The Electoral Commission watchdog had campaigned for a ban on such Government activity during the formal "regulated period" of the campaign, which begins on April 15. The leaflet is due to start hitting doormats in England next week, but not until after May 5 elections in the rest of the UK. Although ministers backed down from a significant lifting of the pre-vote "purdah" period during which government activity is restricted, legal restrictions still apply only for the final 28 days. The pro-Brexit Grassroots Out (GO) group has written to the Commission, questioning whether the leaflet was legitimate "given that the Government has not registered as a campaigner". GO suggested the cost should be included within the spending limit of the Remain camp during the formal campaign period. A Commission spokeswoman said: "After the referendum on Scottish independence, the Electoral Commission recommended that governments should conduct no taxpayer-funded advertising activity during the regulated period. "However, Parliament decided not to put any legal restrictions on Government activity until 28 days before the poll, May 27. These are the same rules that were in place for other recent referendums." She said: "The Electoral Commission is responsible for regulating the rules on spending in the run-up to the EU referendum. "The rules on spending apply during the regulated period which starts on April 15 and ends on polling day, June 23. "The rules exclude spending that is met out of public funds, which includes spending by the Government on the Government information booklet." Surgeries are increasingly relying on support from locum doctors as the gap in the family doctor workforce widens. Stark increases in GP workloads are "unsustainable", researchers have said after a new study showed that family doctors are dealing with more consultations than ever before. Workloads in general practice have increased by 16% over the last seven years, according to the largest ever analysis of GP and nurse consultations. Doctors' leaders said general practice was in "crisis" after the study showed that family doctors in England are dealing with more frequent and longer consultations at the same time as the rate of GPs has decreased. The authors of the study, published in The Lancet, warned that general practice is nearing "saturation point". "For many years, doctors and nurses have reported increasing workloads but, for the first time, we are able to provide objective data that this is indeed the case," said Professor Richard Hobbs, lead author from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care and Health Sciences at the University of Oxford. "The demands on general practice have increased substantially over the past seven years. Recruitment of new GPs and nurses remains low while the population in England steadily increases. "As currently delivered, the system seems to be approaching saturation point." The study, based on analysis of more than 100 million GP and nurse consultations at 398 general practices in England between 2007 and 2014, found the average number of annual consultations per patient rose by 13.67% for doctors, with the average patient now seeking almost four GP visits each year. The number of nurse consultations rose by 2.76%. The number of face-to-face GP consultations rose by 6.38% and the number of telephone consultations nearly doubled. Average consultation time has also increased, with most appointments lasting almost nine minutes. The authors warned that, as the time spent with a patient nears the 10-minute allocated slot, doctors and nurses have little time to perform other duties before seeing other patients. Although the total number of GPs increased over the study period, the authors said that this actually represents a 1% decrease in the number of GPs per patient - from 60.9 GPs per 100,000 patients in 2007 compared with 60.6 in 2014. Professor Hobbs added: "Current trends in population growth, low levels of recruitment and the demands of an ageing population with more complex needs will mean consultation rates will continue to rise. "In 2015, GPs in England reported having the lowest job satisfaction rates since records began in 2001. NHS plans to recruit an additional 5,000 GPs will take some time and crucially depend on an improved appeal of general practice as a career choice. "There are few short-term solutions, but reducing the time doctors need to spend on non-clinical duties may help ease the workload temporarily. More research is urgently needed to fully estimate the knock-on effects of increased workloads in general practice on other sectors of the health system." Commenting on the study, Dr Maureen Baker, chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said: "This report should ring alarm bells for the Government and spur ministers into action to address the crisis in general practice before it's too late. "For too long GPs have been expected to do more and more for less and less and this perfect storm of rising demand, plummeting resources and not enough GPs can no longer be no longer be ignored. "GPs and our teams are making more consultations than ever before, and our patients are living longer and with multiple long-term conditions, meaning that our workload is growing in complexity as well as volume. "GPs are responding to demand by offering different types of appointments, such as phone consultations, but, despite our efforts, demand is rising so acutely that this is having little effect in terms of our workload. And the increasing complexity of our work means that the standard 10-minute appointment is increasingly unfit for purpose. "But there is a limit to how much more GPs and our teams can do, safely, with the resources available. This pressure is not only bad for GPs, as job satisfaction for general practice plummets, but for our patients, who might be finding it consistently difficult to make a GP appointment. There is also a very real link between rising levels of GP fatigue, and our patients' safety. "The Government must take note of the College's calls for general practice to receive 11% of the overall NHS budget and urgently implement all aspects of the 10-point plan to build the GP workforce." Dr Richard Vautrey, deputy chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, said: "This study provides clear evidence which supports what every GP and patient knows: GP practices are working harder than ever before, but are struggling to provide even basic levels of care as they are overwhelmed by unsustainable workload. "In many cases this is beginning to put patients at risk as services become overstretched, while an understaffed GP workforce is being further depleted as staff leave owing to burnout and stress. "A BMA survey shows that nine out of 10 GP practices are reliant on temporary staff to provide enough appointments to patients, with shortages even being reported amongst these GP locums. "The Government has to reverse a disastrous approach that has seen the proportion of NHS funding devoted to general practice dropping from 10.5% to 7.5%. This is starving GP practices of resources and exacerbating shortages in appointments. We need an urgent, sustained package of support for general practice that prevents GP services collapsing completely." A separate study looking into the work of ambulance dispatch staff found that many feel "overloaded and undervalued" and have a high rate of sickness as a result. The paper, published in the Emergency Medicine Journal, found the average sickness rate for workers in the sector was 6.78% between January and March 2014, compared to a national average sickness rate of 1.6% for men and 2.6% for women in 2013. Researchers compiled feedback from Emergency Medical Services dispatch staff, who receive information from call handlers, assess the emergency situation and resources available and send help accordingly. Professor Patricia Schofield, from Anglia Ruskin University, said: " It is a role that requires a split-second decision based on changing factors, with the knowledge that it could be a life-or-death situation. They really are some of the unsung heroes of the NHS. "The staff interviewed said they enjoy their work and take great pride in the job that they do but admitted that, despite an increasing workload, they felt overlooked and marginalised by other people within their organisation and perceived as 'faceless'. "With sickness levels among healthcare staff currently the highest in the public sector, it is important to understand the difficulties that these workers face and find ways of reducing the stress they find themselves under." The "profoundly disturbing" surge in executions was largely fuelled by big increases in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International reported The Government has been accused of "soft-pedalling" over the death penalty and seeming to make trade more important than human rights. The charge by Amnesty International UK's director Kate Allen comes as the human rights organisation released figures showing that at least 1,634 people were executed in 2015, a rise of 54% on the year before. Despite being the highest number Amnesty has recorded since 1989, this total does not include China, where thousands were likely to have been executed but where the death penalty is a state secret. The figures - contained in the report Death Sentences and Executions in 2015 - show that the top five executioners in the world in 2015 were China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA. This "profoundly disturbing" surge in executions was largely fuelled by big increases in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International reported. Amnesty International's fears have been raised just hours after MPs on the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said there is "plainly a perception" the Government is prioritising trade and security with China, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain above human rights. Ms Allen said: "Like the Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, we're worried that the Government has started soft-pedalling over foreign countries' use of the death penalty, preferring to prioritise trade with countries like China, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. "Until recently the UK's policy of seeking global abolition of capital punishment had a clear focus and strategy. Now the death penalty's been thrown into the pot with other concerns and it's much harder to tell whether the Government is prioritising this life-and-death matter. "If governments in Beijing, Tehran, Islamabad and Riyadh aren't hearing about our outrage at executions after torture and unfair trials, then the executioners are going to think they've got a green light to carry on killing. "We want to see the Foreign Office publishing a clear strategy for its anti-death penalty work at the earliest opportunity." Amnesty International's secretary general Salil Shetty said: "Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials." Last year, the Foreign and Commonweatth Office's most senior civil servant made a frank admission to MPs that human rights "is not one of our top priorities" and that the "prosperity agenda is further up the list". Ministers deny the issue has been downgraded but a string of trade-focused, red carpet visits to the UK by the leaders of countries with some of the worst records of rights abuses has reinforced the perception of a shift of diplomatic emphasis. At least 977 people were executed - mostly for drug-related crimes - in Iran in 2015, according to the report. This increase, from approximately 743 in 2014, included at least four people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were convicted, as Iran persists in its stance as one of the world's last executioners of child offenders, Amnesty International said. At least 326 people were sent to the gallows in Pakistan in 2015 while executions rose by 76 per cent on the previous year in Saudi Arabia, where at least 158 people were killed. Most were beheaded, but firing squads were also used and executed bodies were sometimes displayed in public, it was noted. The world's death row population stands at a minimum of 20,292 people, according to Amnesty International figures. Saudi Arabia is the only country to use beheadings and two women - one in the Maldives and one in Saudi Arabia - were sentenced to death by stoning for "adultery". The Maldives conviction and death sentence were later overturned while the Saudi Arabian death sentence was later commuted. Chad, which had not executed anyone for more than a decade, resumed executions and put ten people to death. The USA executed 28 people - its lowest number of executions for 25 years, while The Republic of Congo, Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname all abolished the death penalty last year. Human rights minister Baroness Anelay said: "I am deeply troubled by the increase in the number of reported executions in 2015, which was driven by concerning increases in Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. "The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we make our opposition well known at the highest levels to countries which continue to apply it. Our message to them is clear, the death penalty is unjust, outdated and ineffective. It also risks fuelling extremism. "Despite these concerning figures there has been progress in many countries. It is welcome that in 2015 Fiji, the Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Suriname all abolished the death penalty. "The Foreign Office will continue to use its diplomatic network to push for progress towards the global abolition of the death penalty." Maya Foa, of Reprieve, described the rise in executions as "extremely troubling" adding: "It is all the more disturbing, therefore, to see what the Foreign Affairs Select Committee this week described as an 'apparent deprioritisation' of human rights by the UK government. "Now more than ever, Britain needs to be speaking out against the grave abuses - including mass trials, torture and death sentences handed down to juveniles and political protesters - being committed by its allies." Soaring numbers of migrants are using fraudulent documents as they attempt to reach Britain, a report from the EU's border agency has revealed. The number of people aiming to get to the UK with false papers jumped by 70% last year, the Frontex study indicates. The disclosure came in a risk analysis which also warned terrorists are exploiting the migrant crisis to travel unchecked through the continent. It said: "The number of persons aiming to get to the UK with fraudulent documents significantly increased (+70%) compared to 2014. "This trend is mostly attributable to the increasing number of Albanian nationals often misusing Italian and Greek ID cards followed by Ukrainian nationals abusing authentic Polish ID cards. "Other nationalities aiming to reach the UK with fraudulent documents were Syrian, Iranian and Chinese nationals." Overall there had been a "marked increase" in the number of document fraud incidents recorded on movements within the EU's Schengen area. The report said: "For the second year in a row, there were more fraudulent documents detected on intra-EU/Schengen movements than during border checks on passengers arriving from third countries. "This is partly due to the large number of migrants undertaking secondary movements within the EU, often with fraudulent documents obtained in the country of entry to the EU." Britain is not part of the Schengen zone, which allows passport-free movement around the bloc. Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said: "The extent of the fraud revealed in this report poses real dangers for our security and undermines our immigration system. "When a British immigration officer is presented with an Italian or Greek ID they are clearly unaware of the history or misuse of that document." He called for specialist equipment which can immediately check identity documents to be rolled out across the EU. The Labour MP added: "Countries which are a source of these fraudulent documents, especially those who aspire to EU membership, must tackle this growing problem, and co-operate closely with Europol and other border agencies across the EU. This is simply not happening at present." Security risks associated with the abuse of Syrian passports were also highlighted. Criminal organisations have access to a large number of stolen blank Syrian passports and printers used for their personalisation, the report said. It added: "This allows them to produce genuine-looking passports, which may be difficult to identify even by experienced document experts." Concerns have repeatedly been raised that Islamic State has the ability to create fake Syrian passports. Two of the terrorists involved in the Paris attacks in November had previously presented fraudulent Syrian documents to speed up their registration process, the report said. The agency said there is no EU-wide system of document inspection performance, while increasingly sophisticated physical and security features of travel documents present "significant challenges for border-control officers". An exercise showed that the performance of technical equipment shows "a degree of variability, indecision and inconsistency", resulting in a number of false documents being incorrectly accepted as genuine. Concerns were also raised about compliance with a requirement to take and log the fingerprints of third-party nationals. Under EU regulations countries are supposed to transmit fingerprints to a central system within 72 hours. The measure is a crucial plank of the so-called Dublin regulations, which state that asylum applications should be considered in the first country a claimant reaches. However, the Frontex analysis, published on Tuesday, said: "The reality is that fingerprinting of all persons detected crossing illegally the border is not possible or of poor quality, and in any case, is often not transmitted promptly to the Eurodac central database." Justice minister and Vote Leave supporter Dominic Raab said: " This important report by the EU accepts that fraudulent applications into the EU are rife and systematically being missed. "With the number of people trying to enter the UK fraudulently from Europe surging by 70% in the last year alone, EU law ties our hands by forcing us to rely on travel documents issued by other EU countries, and prevents us from issuing our own." A spokesman for Britain Stronger in Europe said: "Britain has full control over our borders because we are not part of the EU's Schengen area. "Britain's deal with the EU gives us the best of both worlds - opting in to things that help keep us safe, like co-operation on security issues, but opting out of things that do not work for us, like the borderless Schengen area." The Home Office said the passports of all passengers entering the UK are inspected by Border Force officers to ensure the owners of fraudulent documents are prevented from entering the country. Sajid Javid is returning to the UK after meeting Tata officials in India Steelworkers have been "encouraged" about efforts to save their jobs after hearing from the Business Secretary that Indian conglomerate Tata is planning to act responsibly over the sale of its UK assets. Sajid Javid visited the giant Port Talbot steelworks just hours after flying back to the UK from meeting Tata officials to press for time over the sale of its steel plants. He arrived at the site in a black chauffeur-driven Jaguar just before midday before he was locked in talks with workers and union officials for three-and-a-half hours. The minister was driven away without making any comment. Community union president Alan Coombs said he was encouraged by what the minister told managers and union representatives. "At the end of the meeting, the million-dollar question was 'what guarantees have we had from Mumbai?' I was very encouraged by what he said - that Tata are not going to forget about their values and they are going to be responsible sellers. They are going to give the appropriate time to get a buyer in. "There's no line in the sand when it has to be sold by. To me, that's a big plus. I don't want to work to a deadline to get someone in, although I know it can't be open-ended either. "I appreciate what Tata have done for us in Port Talbot over the years, but everybody understands that Tata is not a bottomless pit and they are not continuing with it. "It has been a very frustrating process, but there is some hope. A week or so ago it was the worst-case scenario. That seems like a million miles away now. There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel - even though there is nothing concrete at the moment. "However, there is no doubt that the UK Government and Welsh Government are going to have to be part of any deal." Mr Javid visited Port Talbot last Friday after cutting short a business trip to Australia because of the crisis gripping the steel industry. He said before leaving Mumbai that Tata's sale process will start by Monday, although there was no set timeframe for it to be completed. Sanjeev Gupta, the head of Liberty House, the only company to publicly express an interest in Tata's plants, told the Press Association the process would take months. Mr Javid said Tata will allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the process to be completed. The minister stressed that the Government wanted to work with any prospective buyer, saying "a number" of people had already started coming forward. "I would like to see many more come forward when the formal process begins," he said. Mr Gupta said buying Tata's UK steel business was a "daunting" prospect, especially as the sale announcement was so unexpected. He told the Press Association he expected other companies to show an interest now that the sale process was about to formally start. "We have had very good interaction with the Government and unions but we now need a proper analysis, and work out many details." Mr Gupta said any buyer would have to "turn around" Tata's loss-making business and would not want to take on the huge pension liabilities. Tata would probably want to make progress on any sale within weeks, but Mr Gupta said he believed the process would take months. "We are interested and we now need to work out a business plan." Mr Gupta said Tata workers would have to be retrained and he still believed jobs could be saved, although he added it was time to "take a breather" to consider details of the sale. A Welsh Government spokesman said: "The First Minister of Wales met with Sanjeev Gupta of Liberty House Group this afternoon to discuss ways in which government could support any future purchaser of Tata's steelmaking operations in Wales. "It was a useful meeting and the First Minister reiterated his commitment to work closely with Mr Gupta and his team. They will keep in regular contact as discussions progress." :: A ceremony will be held at the Dalzell steelworks in Motherwell on Friday to mark the handover of the plant and its sister works at Clydebridge, Cambuslang, to Liberty House following its purchase from Tata. Two teenage girls have been found guilty of murdering a 39-year-old woman who was battered in her own home with weapons including a shovel, a TV, a coffee table and a stick laced with screws. Angela Wrightson had more than 100 injuries to her body following her five-hour long ordeal at the hands of the girls, who were 13 and 14 at the time. During the attack the pair took selfies of themselves and even posted a picture on social media, taken in the police van after the incident. The girls, who are now both 15, were in tears in the dock after they were convicted at Leeds Crown Court. Prosecutors said afterwards: "In our society it is hard to imagine that two girls of such a young age could be capable of such violence." Miss Wrightson was found dead in her blood-spattered living room in Hartlepool, County Durham, in December 2014. Police said that of her 100 injuries, 25 were made by weapons which included a coffee table, a computer printer, a wooden stick laced with screws, a television set, a shovel, ornaments, a picture frame and a kettle. The girls' accounts of what happened differed, but the jury heard that Miss Wrightson, who was 5ft 4ins and weighed six-and-a-half stone, was assaulted in 12 separate locations around the room. While at the house the younger girl made a phone call over Facebook to a friend who heard her say: "Go on (older girl). Smash her head in. Bray her. F****** kill her," as another laughed in the background. The court heard that the defendants left the house for "time out" at around 11pm, during which, covered in blood, they went to see a friend. The pair returned to the scene at around 2am and stayed for a further two hours, before calling the police to take them home. The court heard they left Miss Wrightson in an "undignified manner", naked from the waist down on her sofa. Officers who collected the girls described them as laughing and joking and in "high spirits". An earlier selfie posted to Snapchat showed the defendants smiling with Miss Wrightson pictured in the background shortly before her death, with further selfies showing the girls drinking cider from a bottle. The picture taken in the police vehicle was posted to the social media site Snapchat with the message: "Me and (older girl) in the back, on the bizzie van again." The jury was told that shards of glass and small pieces of gravel or grit were strewn over and around Miss Wrightson's genitals and ash from burnt paper had been put into her ear. Her living room was described as "akin to a bomb site". The trial heard that the girls had visited Miss Wrightson, an alcoholic known as "Alco Ange", on a number of occasions as she would buy them alcohol and cigarettes. On the evening of the murder they let themselves into her home and asked Miss Wrightson to go to the shop for them. Both had been drinking before they arrived and the older girl told the court she had taken prescription drugs earlier in the day. The jury of eight women and four men deliberated for just over three hours before returning the guilty verdicts. The girls were in tears straight after the verdict and the judge, Mr Justice Globe, asked for them to leave the court. They later returned to court to be told they will be sentenced on Thursday. Gerry Wareham of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "In our society it is hard to imagine that two girls of such a young age could be capable of such violence. "The attack that the girls committed against Angela Wrightson was brutal and sustained. One can only imagine the fear and distress that she must have felt in the final hours of her life." A Serious Case Review into the case has been commissioned. Victims of paedophile teacher Simon Harris have received a payout from their former school Four pupils abused by a paedophile Latin teacher who went on to prey on desperately poor Kenyan street children have received a payout from their former boarding school. The victims claimed Simon Harris molested them at Shebbear College in Devon where he was a teacher and deputy housemaster in the 1980s. Harris, of Pudleston near Leominster in Herefordshire, was jailed for 17 years and four months in February 2015 for a string of sex offences including abuse of three of the pupils from the school in the late 1980s, and five Kenyan boys between 2002 and 2013. He set up a charity in Kenya in the 1990s, which prosecutors said he used to project an acceptable face to the community. But he was secretly taking advantage of children living in poverty by luring them into his luxury home with food, money and the promise of education. The Methodist Independent Schools Trust, which is responsible for Shebbear College, has now settled claims by the four former pupils. Lawyers for the men would not reveal the scale of the settlement. Solicitor Rebekah Read, of Leigh Day, said: "We are pleased to have obtained compensation for these individuals." One of the Kenyan victims who gave evidence during the trial committed suicide during proceedings. Investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA) who travelled to Kenya in a bid to trace victims described him as "one of the most prolific child sex offenders" they had ever encountered. The legal action claimed that the Trust was vicariously liable for the actions of Harris, and that it had a duty to protect pupils. Harris left the school in 1989 as a result of abuse allegations, and set up his charity in the Kenyan town of Gilgil in the 1990s. He spent 15 months in a British jail for possession of indecent images of children following a 2009 conviction. US actress Rosario Dawson greets Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders's supporters during a campaign rally at the Saint Mary's Park in Bronx, New York, on March 31, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMADJEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Attendees wait in line prior to a rally for Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders at St. Mary's Park on March 31, 2016 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images) A supporter of US democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders displays a placard during a rally at the Saint Mary's Park in Bronx, New York,on March 31, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMADJEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 31: Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a rally at St. Mary's Park in the Bronx borough March 31, 2016 in New York City. Sanders and opponent Hillary Clinton are campaigning ahead of the April 5 primary in New York. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images) A supporter of US democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders arrives to attend a rally at the Saint Mary's Park in Bronx, New York,on March 31, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMADJEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Supporters of US democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders arrive to attend a campaign rally at the Saint Mary's Park in the Bronx, New York,on March 31, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / Jewel SAMADJEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Democratic Presidential Candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at an overflow of a rally at St. Mary's Park in the Bronx borough of New York City on March 3, 2016. (Photo by Andrew Renneisen/Getty Images) MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - APRIL 04: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) arrives at a campaign rally at the Wisconsin Convention Center on April 4, 2016 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Voters in Wisconsin go to the polls tomorrow for the state's primary. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - APRIL 04: Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) arrives at a campaign rally at the Wisconsin Convention Center on April 4, 2016 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Voters in Wisconsin go to the polls tomorrow for the state's primary. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) A woman holds banners before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a event named as a "victory rally for $15 minimum wage and paid family leave" at the Javitz Center in New York on April 4,2016. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support an increase, differing only on the scale and timing of such a move. / AFP PHOTO / KENA BETANCURKENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images A woman holds a banner before Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a event named as 'victory rally for $15 minimum wage and paid family leave' at the Javitz Center in New York on April 4,2016. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support an increase, differing only on the scale and timing of such a move. / AFP PHOTO / KENA BETANCURKENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during an event named as a "victory rally for $15 minimum wage and paid family leave" at the Javitz Center in New York on April 4,2016. Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support an increase, differing only on the scale and timing of such a move. / AFP PHOTO / KENA BETANCURKENA BETANCUR/AFP/Getty Images Marlow Mittelstaedt holds a sign and cheers while waiting for the arrival of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., before a campaign rally in Laramie, Wyo., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., waves to the crowd with his wife, Jane Sanders, by his side during a campaign rally Tuesday evening in the Arts and Sciences Auditorium at the University of Wyoming campus on April 5, 2016, in Laramie, Wyo. Sanders won the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin Tuesday. (Blaine McCartney/The Wyoming Tribune Eagle via AP) Bernie Sanders continued his presidential primary hot streak and won the Democratic contest in Wisconsin, the sixth race the Vermont senator has won in the last seven. While all the votes are still being counted, multiple sources projected Mr Sanders as the winner in Wisconsin. Polls ahead of the primary had shown him to be slightly ahead of Hillary Clinton. "Momentum is starting this campaign 60 to 70 points behind Secretary Clinton," Mr Sanders said in his victory speech on Tuesday from Wyoming. "Momentum is in the last two or three weeks that national polls have us either one point up or one point down." Mr Sanders continues to win primaries, but he also has been beating Ms Clinton in fundraising, gaining momentum that has some pundits asking if he will be able to catch his opponent in the coming months. The Sanders campaign raised $44 million in March, compared to $29.5 million raised by Ms Clinton, the Washington Post reported. That was a new record for Mr Sanders, topping the $43.3 million raised in February. What this campaign is doing is bringing together millions of people contributing an average of just $27 each to take on a billionaire class which is so used to buying elections, Mr Sanders said in a statement last week. Working people standing together are going to propel this campaign to the Democratic nomination and then the White House. Read more Read More But as the momentum builds for Mr Sanders and the pressure mounts for Ms Clinton, the Sanders campaign must start winning big if the Vermont senator is to catch up to the former secretary of state. CNN reported that if Mr Sanders were to win the 21 remaining presidential primaries on the calendar with 55 percent of the vote, he still wouldn't be able to match Ms Clinton for delegates. "What momentum is about is my belief is that if we wake up the American people...there is nothing that we cannot accomplish," Mr Sanders said Tuesday night. Ms Clinton has 1,271 delegates to 1,024 for Mr Sanders. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic presidential nomination and all Democratic contests award delegates proportionally, based on number of votes. Still, with Wisconsin in the books, 50 per cent of Democratic delegates remain. If Mr Sanders can continue to win and start winning bigger, his campaign will increasingly consider the possibility that their candidate could go to the Democratic National Convention in July with a chance to grab the nomination. Read more Read More Weve mapped out a path to victory in our campaign in terms of delegates pledged delegates and we dont have to win everywhere, but we do have to win most of the states coming up, the Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told MSNBC on Tuesday. So theres no one state thats a must-win, and as we look forward were going to be able to accumulate the delegates we need to get the pledged delegate lead by the end of this primary and caucus process. Independent Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid may have been part of a 10-person smuggling ring, Peru's former anti-narcotics chief has claimed. "From our experience, we know that traffickers will usually try and use up to 10 people on a single flight," said ex-drugs czar Ricardo Soberon. "Some will carry the cocaine in their suitcases, others will swallow it. They are almost always Europeans and put in pairs. "They will come for a two-week holiday. Everything will be paid for by the traffickers and they will have a nice time in Peru. "Then they will collect the drugs or they will be brought to them, usually the night before the flight. "As is well documented, we have certain rogue members of security services here. Corruption continues to be a big problem. "The deal usually is two or three people will be stopped with the drugs by the police in the airport and the others will get through. "In the media the next day, it looks fantastic. They say, 'Look we have found the drugs', but in truth more is slipping through." Mr Soberon also claimed the Dungannon woman should have served her time at a UK prison and said the numbers of tourists involved in drug-smuggling from Peru was at "epidemic levels". "It is harder to send Peruvians and South Americans to Europe," he said. "We don't have as many tourists going there. "It is easier to offer young people a free holiday and in some cases 20,000 to move the goods. "But I don't think they should go to prison here if they are caught. I was involved in Michaella's case before, and I said then she should have been sent home. "We should not waste our tax money on these people. They should be extradited and banned from Peru. We have more than 200 Spaniards and 50 English people in jail here for smuggling. It is out of control." Read More Mr Soberon added that McCollum (23), from Tyrone, would probably be home by the end of the year. "She will be home very soon," he said. "Most likely by the end of the year. It would be easy for her to cross the border to Ecuador and fly home from there also before her parole is finished." McCollum and Reid were arrested at Lima airport in 2013 while trying to board a flight. Initially, both claimed they had been recruited as "mules" by an armed gang while working in bars in Spain and that they were forced to travel to South America. Later, they accepted the charges and pleaded guilty before a court in the Peruvian capital, Lima, to concealing 11kg of cocaine, worth 1.4m. They were sentenced to six years and eight months in prison but could have faced 15 years. Under legislation which came into force in 2015, McCollum was released on parole on Thursday. Meanwhile, veteran broadcaster Gay Byrne criticised the interview with McCollum shown on RTE, saying she should have been pushed harder. RTE has defended the glossy segment - watched by 550,000 people - amid claims that McCollum was not challenged enough about her crime. Read More "I think it would have been very easy to push her a bit harder insofar as she wasn't pushed at all," Mr Byrne (81) said last night. "I don't know whether that was by agreement. "There were a whole host of questions which were not even put to her. I thought it was a typical 'getting to know you' interview. "I thought she looked very well and spoke very well. It was a bit of a PR campaign, and what did you expect? "But it was a bit of a coup to have her on so quickly. I suppose that has some value and there was a curiosity in her." But RTE staunchly defended the interview. A spokesman for the Irish state broadcaster said McCollum made "frank admissions about the damage her actions may have caused". Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is the first major political figure to step down amid the Panama Papers furore (AP) Iceland's embattled prime minister has resigned after facing accusations of a conflict of interest due to offshore accounts. Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson has become be the first major figure brought down by a leak of more than 11 million financial documents from a Panamanian law firm showing the tax-avoidance arrangements of the rich and famous around the world. Mr Gunnlaugsson has suggested that Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, his Progressive Party's vice-chairman, should take over as prime minister for "an unspecified amount of time". Iceland's president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has not yet confirmed any changes to the leadership and the situation remained muddled as hundreds of protesters gathered outside parliament to demand Mr Gunnlaugsson's removal. There were contradictions throughout the afternoon and evening as officials first said Mr Gunnlaugsson had resigned as prime minister, statements that were later contradicted by a statement from his press secretary which indicated he was only stepping down for a period of time. The statement also suggested that Mr Gunnlaugsson would remain as party chairman. It is not clear if new elections would be held or if the governing coalition will be able to weather the crisis that developed several days ago with the release of the Panama Papers. The lack of a clear resolution angered some protesters who blew whistles and banged on pots and pans in front of parliament. "I'm here because the government still hasn't resigned," said store manager Elfar Petursson. "The finance minister and the interior minister are still sitting in parliament, they refuse to resign, they both have offshore accounts." Revelations in the Panama Papers about offshore accounts held by Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife have infuriated many residents who suffered during the financial collapse of 2008 and 2009. Mr Gunnlaugsson has denied wrongdoing, saying he has paid taxes and did nothing illegal regarding his offshore holdings. Opposition politicians say the holdings amount to a major conflict of interest with his job. Mr Gunnlaugsson said his financial holdings did not affect his negotiations with Iceland's creditors during the country's acute financial crisis, although those assertions did little to quell the controversy. The prime minister sought at first to dissolve parliament and call an early election, but president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson said he wanted to consult with other party leaders before agreeing to end the coalition government between Mr Gunnlaugsson's centre-right Progressive Party and the Independence Party. Mr Grimsson said: "I need to determine if there is support for dissolving (parliament) within the ruling coalition and others. The prime minister could not confirm this for me, and therefore I am not prepared at this time to dissolve parliament." The president met with Independence Party members to discuss the governmental crisis. Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, chairman of the Independence Party, criticised the prime minister for unilaterally seeking to dissolve parliament. He said: "It was a total surprise for us to see that. I don't think it was the rational thing to do. I've never seen it done before in Icelandic politics and I hope that I will not see it again." The impact in Iceland from the leaks has been the most dramatic, but leading officials in Russia, Ukraine, China, Argentina and other countries are also facing questions about possibly dubious offshore schemes used by the global elite. The leaked documents allege that Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the story. Mr Gunnlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Arni Pall Arnason, leader of the opposition Social Democratic Alliance, said Mr Gunnlaugsson's position was not tenable. "I think it's obvious that we cannot tolerate a leadership that is linked to offshore holdings," he said. "Iceland cannot be the only western European democratic country with a political leadership in that position." Iceland, a volcanic island nation with a population of 330,000, was rocked by a prolonged financial crisis when its main commercial banks collapsed within a week of one another in 2008. Since then, Icelanders have weathered a recession and been subjected to tough capital controls - another reason the prime minister's offshore holdings rankle many people. Car maker Porsche was not responsible for the car crash that killed The Fast And The Furious star Paul Walker, a judge in Los Angeles has ruled. Walker was a passenger in a Porsche Carrera GT driven by his friend Roger Rodas when it crashed and burst into flames in Santa Clarita in November 2013. Mr Rodas's widow Kristine claimed that her husband died because the Porsche he was driving lacked several safety features. But US District Judge Philip Gutierrez ruled on Monday that there was not enough evidence to support the claims the car maker was responsible for the accident. Judge Gutierrez also ruled there was no evidence the Porsche's suspension failed, as the lawsuit claimed. Mrs Rodas's attorney said the ruling will be appealed. A report released by traffic collision experts determined that the crash that killed the 40-year-old actor was the result of "unsafe speed". It is estimated the Porsche was doing 90mph when it hit a tree. Security officers surround a vessel transporting migrants from the Greek island Chios as it docks in Dikili port in Turkey (AP) The European Union has taken its first steps towards a fundamental reform of its migration policy, which has heaped huge pressure on some nations such as Greece as more than a million migrants and refugees surged into the continent over the past year. Yet almost immediately, the East-West fissure within the EU over migration was laid bare. Nations such as Germany and Greece welcomed the plan by the EU's executive commission that seeks to amend the current principle under which the first nation where a migrant arrives is forced to process their asylum request and temporarily shelter them. The Czech Republic, which chairs the Visegrad group of four eastern EU nations, voiced opposition to any plan that would mean each EU nation has to take a set number of asylum-seekers. The commission is proposing a reform in which a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU would be a key element, either as part of a whole new system or as an addition to the current one. But efforts to distribute the recent influx of refugees already caused serious friction with many EU nations. Migratory pressures over the past year drove a stream of hundreds of thousands of people up from the Mediterranean toward northern nations such as Germany and Sweden in chaotic circumstances. "The current crisis has shown the present system is not working," EU vice president Frans Timmermans said, adding small nations such as Greece could never have dealt with such a task to process so many asylum claims. "This is neither fair nor sustainable." The commission said in a document to EU institutions that "significant structural weaknesses and shortcomings" in the current system were rife, which placed "a disproportionate responsibility" on some nations, while others, mostly eastern European members, sought to shield their countries from having to carry much of the refugee burden. In the face of such shortcomings, nations such as Greece and Germany quickly welcomed the commission's proposals. Showing the sensitivity of the issue though, the commission said its proposals offered only "options" on which the member states and the EU parliamentary groups should build further. And Mr Timmermans insisted that a logical extension of common EU policies, such as a central European system to deal with asylum claims, was still too controversial. "In political terms, it is not realistic to talk about this today," he said. The bloc's inefficient rules on how to handle migration along with its slow decision-making once the refugee crisis hit last year have been fodder for critics of the EU. Even French president Francois Hollande, a staunch defender of the EU, was forced to admit that the bloc's biggest problem is its slow decision-making process - whether in the financial crisis, the fight against terrorism or a common response to the refugee crisis. In an interview in the German daily Bild, Mr Hollande said "in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution... but we have to pay a high price for the lost time." More than 53,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since Austria and the Balkan nations north of Greece - Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia - closed their land borders last month. Prior to that, hundreds of thousands fleeing war and poverty at home crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, then went overland to wealthy European nations. To stem that flow and break the Turkish smuggling rings ferrying migrants to Greece, the EU reached a deal with Turkey last month. Now those arriving on Greek islands from March 20 onwards who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose application is rejected will be deported back to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country. The deportations began on Monday with 202 people being sent back from Greece to Turkey. But an increase in the number of asylum applications by those earmarked for potential deportation have led to a pause in the returns, with no more deportations planned until Friday. Ted Cruz is looking to narrow the gap on Republican front-runner Donald Trump (AP) Republican Donald Trump has emerged from the Wisconsin primaries as a damaged front-runner following a crushing primary loss to rival Ted Cruz, deepening questions about the billionaire businessman's presidential qualifications and pushing the Republican Party toward a rare contested convention nomination fight. Democrat Bernie Sanders also scored a sweeping victory on Tuesday giving him fresh incentive to keep challenging Hillary Clinton. But Mr Sanders still lags behind Mrs Clinton in the all-important delegate count. Both parties now turn their sights toward New York, which offers a massive delegate prize in its April 19 contests. It marks a homecoming of sorts for several candidates, with Mr Trump, Mrs Clinton and Mr Sanders all boasting roots in the state. In the Republican primary system, candidates vie in each state to win delegates, who then vote for the nominee at party conventions over the summer. If no candidate wins an outright majority in the first vote of the convention, most delegates are free to change their allegiance, so candidates would have to compete to win their support. Mr Cruz has stepped forward as the candidate best positioned to block Mr Trump in the Republican race, though it would likely take a convention battle to accomplish that goal. A Texas senator with a complicated relationship with Republican leaders, Mr Cruz cast his Wisconsin victory as a "turning point" in the race and urged the party to rally around his candidacy. Even if Mr Cruz's gains do force the Republican race into a contested convention in July, it is unclear whether he would emerge as the nominee, or whether the party would try to put forward someone else. In the Republican race, Mr Cruz was poised to collect most of Wisconsin's 42 Republican delegates. In the Democratic race, Mr Sanders still trails Mrs Clinton in the pledged delegate count and has so far been unable to persuade super-delegates - the party officials who can back any candidate - to drop their allegiance to the former secretary of state and back his campaign. At a raucous rally in Wyoming, Mr Sanders cast his victory as a sign of mounting momentum for his campaign. "With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries," he declared. Sanders is favoured to win Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, but it offers a small delegate prize. Because Democrats award delegates proportionally, Mr Sanders's victory in Wisconsin did not cut significantly into Mrs Clinton's lead in the pledged delegate count. Mr Sanders's win will net him at least 47 delegates and Mrs Clinton will gain at least 36. That means Mr Sanders must still win an unlikely 67% of the remaining delegates and uncommitted super-delegates in order to win the Democratic presidential nomination. The state-by-state nominating contests are choosing delegates who will select the presidential nominees at the parties' national conventions in July. For all the amazing makeover, her apparently penitent attitude and the gentle cooing of interviewers, we shouldn't feel too much sympathy for newly-released Peruvian drug mule Michaella McCollum. She did what she did. She knew what she was doing. She wasn't coerced. Despite attempts to portray the Dungannon woman as naive and hapless, a victim caught between sinister drug cartels and a heartless foreign legal system, hers is one of the less convincing sob-stories of recent times. Getting drunk on the Costas is certainly the act of a silly, easily-led Irish girl whose head had been turned by the allure of foreign climes. But getting involved with an international drug-smuggling cartel? Vanishing off the map for days as a worldwide missing persons hunt gets under way? Attempting to leave Peru with cocaine worth a staggering 1.5m in her luggage? And we shouldn't forget that - until her conviction - she repeatedly lied about having been "kidnapped" by drug lords and how she did what she did because "they" were threatening her family. The Lima court saw through her lies, evasions and half-truths and sentenced the model to six years. Many will think that she got off lightly to begin with - drug mules in Peru face up to 15 years in prison. Another stroke of good fortune has seen McCollum out on parole from Lima's Ancon 2 prison last Thursday after serving only two years and three months, on the basis of early release legislation introduced last year. True, Michaella faces living for four years in Lima before she can come home. But that is hardly a punishment: she has already landed voluntary positions with two Catholic charities who will provide food and lodgings for the Tyrone woman. Indeed, Bishop Sean Walsh, Lima-based priest and head of one of the Catholic charities, said: "She opted for getting out on parole in Peru. The fact is she is blending in better in this culture than the majority of foreign prisoners, so she will fit in comfortably to life in the city." Given the cartoon version of Peruvian justice we in Europe were treated to at the time of her arrest, in fact her treatment has been exemplary. Certainly not the cockroach-infested, shackled to a wall, Midnight Express-style incarceration we had been led to believe was in store. Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Michaella McCollum Connolly in one of the Ibiza clubs where she worked as a dancer PARTY SCENE: Michaella in Ibiza Michaella McCollum Connolly in one of her club hostess outfits Michaella McCollum after her arrest AP Photo/Martin Mejia CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Michaella and Melissa caught on CCTV loading bags into a car in Peru Michaella McCollum's mother Norah McCollum and sister Samantha McCollum vist the Peru prison Melissa Reid Michaella McCollum and ex-boyfriend Dwayne Mullan Dungannon drugs mule Michaella McCollum Michaella McCollum Connolly, handcuffed, arrives for a court hearing in Lima, Peru, clutching the book 'Secrets About Life Every Woman Should Know: Ten principles for spiritual and emotional fulfillment' (AP Photo/Karel Navarro) AP Michaella McCollum Connolly arrives to court for her sentencing in Callao, Peru (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) AP Police escort Michaella McCollum Connolly (right) and Melissa Reid (front) in handcuffs as they are moved from the National Police anti-drug headquarters to a court to be formally charged for drug trafficking in Lima, Peru, Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 AP Michaella McCollum Connolly with reality TV star Mark Wright at a promotional night hosted by Belfast's M Club Michaella McCollum Connolly with Brad Houston from England Michaella McCollum Connolly Michaella McCollum Connolly with rugby star Tommy Bowe while doing promotional work at an official Ulster Rugby event / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Many will also have been a bit shocked by her being interviewed by RTE immediately upon her release. Sporting a soft new blonde hairdo, fashionably-ripped jeans and rather fetching white jacket, Michaella made all the right noises during an interrogation that was less Panorama and more This Morning. We had the seemingly full and frank confession. Speaking of what might have happened if she had been successful in smuggling the cocaine to Europe, she observed: "I probably would have had a lot of blood on my hands. I potentially could have filled Europe full of a lot of drugs. I could have potentially killed a lot of people, not directly, but I could have caused a lot of harm to people." Talking about her punishment, she waxes lyrical, but avoids an aggrieved tone: "I've forgotten the things that everybody takes for granted in life. Seeing the sun, seeing the darkness, seeing the moon and the stars, things I haven't seen in almost three years." McCollum has a bottom line: "I made a decision in a moment of madness. I'm not a bad person. I want to demonstrate that I'm a good person." But that surely is the nub of the issue which has cynics - like me - finding McCollum's protestations lacking in weight. Still, she has done her time. We may sneer that she got off lightly, but there seems to have been no special treatment for the Dungannon woman. And it would be more surprising if her experiences in Vigen de Fatima and Ancon 2 hadn't profoundly affected her. Twenty-seven months in a foreign prison must have done something to McCollum - even if only to make her think, "I'm never going to let myself ever be put in prison again". It would also be surprising if the invective - most justified, some not - shown by her "ain folk" back in Northern Ireland didn't give her pause for thought. It must be hard to be the punchline to a million jokes - and not just about your hair. Her crimes and her lies made her look like a hard-bitten lowlife. But it would be wrong to deny her the chance of being changed. We put people in prison because - as well as public safety and punishment - we believe it affords a chance of rehabilitation. By all accounts, she was a model prisoner. She has made an effort to learn Spanish and has volunteered to work for two charities, one working with people with HIV. Slick PR, or a demonstration of intent? We must judge Michaella by her own words: "I'm not a bad person. I want to demonstrate that I'm a good person." Slightly galling it might be, but decency calls for us to give McCollum the benefit of the doubt. The onus is, however, very firmly on her not to prove herself a liar - again. What now for poor Michaella McCollum Connolly, newly released from her "foreign prison hellhole" (which is how any overseas incarceration facility tends to be described these days)? The poor girl is but a shadow of her former self. In her first public appearance since her release on parole, we can see all too clearly the awful toll this hellhole foreign prison has taken on Michaella. Her lustrous brunette locks have faded to straw. Even her teeth appear to have whitened a notch or two. Her once-natural lips are now garish blood red. Her jeans are torn at the knees. Let this be a lesson to you, young people. This is what happens when you are caught smuggling drugs from some foreign hellhole back to Europe. A cosy interview on prime-time telly, where you can regurgitate all those deep and meaningful cliches which you could have hoovered straight from the pages of the likes of Closer magazine had you been allowed access to such publications in your grim prison cell. Which we must assume the Peru Two didn't. As the backlash against the Peru Parole One has vividly illustrated, however, the TV interview turns out not to have been the brightest move on the part of Team Michaella if it was aimed at securing public sympathy for her plight. Whoever thought this would be a good idea? To use that hackneyed oul line the girl resorted to herself, it was another moment of madness. I am not a Michaella-hater. From the word go, I described her with much the same words she now uses to excuse herself. Naive. Foolish. Above all, she was young. But she did do wrong. She did wrong in her attempt to smuggle drugs to Europe with all the malign consequences (which she now acknowledges) had they reached their destination. But she also did wrong - and this doesn't get quite the same amount of attention - in attempting to break the law in a country valiantly fighting against an illicit drugs industry that has wreaked misery and havoc within its own borders. On this side of the world, there's a tendency to glibly shrug off the environmental damage and the destruction of local culture and communities which are inevitable fallout from the drug-production process. Over here, it's all about us. And, to some extent, all about them, too - the Peru Two. The photogenic faces of a particularly ugly crime. Michaella has had her 15 minutes of infamy. But already it's being suggested that this could be stretched by, ludicrously, an appearance on, say, Celebrity Big Brother. They are making that up, aren't they? Yet the very fact that it's even been floated as an outside possibility is damning. Never mind what it says about Michaella the mule. What sort of asinine society would even countenance such a prospect? On the one hand - or the one TV screen - we're running public service ads featuring a woman dressed like Shirley from EastEnders with a warning about how drugs destroy lives. And there, on another screen, is simpering Michaella, the convicted drugs courier, looking like a girl-band escapee with a new album to flog. Bit of a mixed message there for the kids. McCollum Connolly has been treated exceptionally leniently by the Peruvian justice system. She could, perhaps, now show some gratitude - and remorse - by keeping her bleach blonde head down and her gob shut. This witless airhead girl makes herself look ludicrous with her televisual whingeing. But much more ludicrous - and dangerous - is society's ambivalence about crime and notoriety, which is regarded all too often these days as potentially bankable celebrity. It's not just Michaella who needs to take a long hard look at herself. We all do. Behind every good political hopeful... Having offended American womanhood with various obnoxious pronouncements - not least his most recent musing on abortion - Donald Trump now seeks to reverse some of the damage by playing that oldest of political trump cards: bring on the fawning, supportive wifey. Missus Trump is now joining the campaign trail. Whatever you think of Trump himself, it has to be accepted that he did shake up US political campaigning. That he is now resorting to a standard old trick might suggest the circus that is The Donald may finally be running out of steam. Posh spy who was loved by Russia Shocking, newly unearthed footage of spy Kim Philby, who passed secrets to Russia back during the Cold War era, reveals that he believed he got away with it because he was a toff. "Because I had been born into the British governing class, because I knew a lot of people of an influential standing, I knew that they would never get too tough with me," he said in an interview. How the world has changed. Or has it? The class system that Philby depended upon still dominates. It's the posh boys who still call the shots. It's a simple enough request, but it is routinely ignored. The Ulster Aviation Society, which is legally renting a hangar at the site of the former Maze Prison, wants to hold an open day to display its collection of planes. It needs the permission of the Office of the First and Deputy First Ministers - and it doesn't reply to applications. This is the third year in a row that the men who play with planes have sought permission to hold an open day and, as in the past two, they are not getting a refusal; they are getting no answer at all. Why OFMDFM doesn't reply is something that can only be guessed at. One theory being batted around is that Sinn Fein is sniffy about the Ulster Aviation Society because its work of cherishing a Spitfire replica and other warplanes suggests a celebration of what republicans used to call the "British war machine". By this - possibly paranoid - reading of the problem, the Ulster Aviation Society is viewed as pro-British and jingoistic and is, perhaps, imagined by closeted republicans as a coterie of chauvinistic blowhards hankering back to the days when the Empire ruled the skies. But if that is the fear that is getting in the way, it would be easy to assuage it by visiting the men, watching them at work and talking to them among the reconditioned rescue helicopters and ambulance planes. All they care about is whether the chunk of scrap in front of them once flew - that is sufficient challenge to make it at least look as if it might fly again. These guys are not military fantasists; they are geeks obsessed with flying machines. But why shouldn't they polish up a Spitfire? Without the Spitfire we might all be speaking German now and putting applications for open days before a Nazi government. Though, come to think of it, republicans did more than anyone else to try and get German invaders into Ireland. But the geeks with the grounded planes know that they are not perceived as cheerleaders for a return of the Empire because they know better than anyone who is coming to the hangar at Long Kesh to admire their hardware, and it includes children from Catholic schools. And there is no evidence, in fact, that the thought has even crossed Martin McGuinness's mind that the Ulster Aviation Society has any political orientation at all. He might secretly fancy climbing into a Spitfire himself, as hundreds of schoolchildren do every year. There is no way of knowing why letters from the society asking permission to hold a day, or suggesting remedies for the deadlock, don't get answered, perhaps don't even get read. McGuinness has never been more inscrutable than on this. This dereliction of responsibility to show ordinary civility in dealings with the society borders on plain bloody-mindedness. It is suggestive of the kind of huff that only children and the childish have. It reeks not of the considered procrastination of the politically cautious - for there is nothing to be cautious about - but of malice. Of course, there are issues around the Maze site, and these may play in his calculations. Again, we can't know if he won't say. The DUP under Peter Robinson's leadership broke faith with a promise to Sinn Fein over an undertaking to develop the old prison camp as a peace centre. He torpedoed the idea in a letter from his holiday retreat, having held out for a time against other unionist critics of the plan who feared that Sinn Fein would develop the Maze into a shrine to the hunger strikers. And it has to be said that Long Kesh, as republicans prefer to call it, is virtually holy ground to them. That is where revered martyrs like Bobby Sands died. So, we can theorise a little further and suppose that the two top ministers in the Executive cannot agree to even discuss the Ulster Aviation Society's proposals because they are deadlocked on larger plans for the whole site. But it is a big site. The hangars used by the Ulster Aviation Society are 100 yards from the old prison wall around the H-Blocks in wide open space. If there was goodwill and the least intention of responding to the request for an open day, it could be easily done without any trespass on buildings that must be preserved for their historic value, too. It would not involve profane violation of ground that to some is sacred. Besides, school groups are routinely going into the hangar to see the planes and the old radios and ejector seats. There are at least four school trips booked in for this week alone. Maybe it is best to keep quiet about that unless some minister, who declines to explain the silence, has an apoplectic fit. If you don't know why someone has completely shut down in the face of pleading, then, of course, you don't know how to avoid offending them. And that, too, factors in the thinking of some in the Ulster Aviation Society. They don't want to annoy and they are not sure that the least quibble or complaint would have that effect and bring further restrictions. How can they know when their letters aren't answered? But ministers should know the value of the project they are rebuffing. This hangar in Long Kesh could be an Ulster Museum of the Air. Its collection has been put together and maintained by volunteers. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the country and nothing comparable could be recreated without enormous expense. Why do we have an Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and not an Ulster Flight Museum? Why do we have a monumental home for an exhibition relating to the Titanic, which is actually under the sea, and a mere shed on a deserted prison camp site for tangible planes that still smell of the history they have been through? Here are planes that people can sit in and smell the oil and old leather about them and see the erosion of the seats and handles by the grips of real people who flew them and risked their lives in them. The Ulster Aviation Society actually provides a richer experience for the visitor than the magnificent Titanic building does, and an Executive that prioritised tourism as much as it says it does would be eager to support it. But no one is asking for the millions that could make it a premier attraction; just the permission and grant to hold an open day; just for OFMDFM to restore the routine it broke two years ago without explanation or apology. Anuwara Begum cries while remembering her son-in-law, a farmer who died from arsenic-related illnesses, during an interview with Human Rights Watch in the village of Iruaian, Laksam Upazila, in Bangladeshs Comilla district, March 5, 2016. Updated at 3:43 p.m. ET on 2016-04-06 Twenty million Bangladeshis drink arsenic-tainted water, but the government is failing to protect their supply from the chemical that can cause cancer and other illnesses, a new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) says. An estimated 43,000 people in the South Asian country die annually from sickness related to drinking water laced with naturally occurring arsenic, according to a study cited in HRWs report, which came out Wednesday. The figure of 20 million equals about 8 percent of Bangladeshs population of 150 million. Bangladesh isnt taking basic, obvious steps to get arsenic out of the drinking water of millions of its rural poor, said Richard Pearshouse, a senior researcher at HRW and author of the 73-page report titled Nepotism and Neglect: The Failing Response to Arsenic in the Drinking Water of Bangladeshs Rural Poor. The government acts as though the problem has been mostly solved, but unless the government and Bangladeshs international donors do more, millions of Bangladeshis will die from preventable arsenic-related diseases, Pearshouse said in a statement prepared ahead of the reports release. However, the director general of Bangladeshs Health Department questioned the accuracy of the 20 million figure contained in HRWs report, which was released at a news conference in Dhaka. It is not very clear to us from where and how HRW got this number. They didnt communicate with us, Dr. Deen Mohammad Nurul Haque told BenarNews. Traces of the chemical can be found in water pumped by hand from mostly shallow tube wells scattered across rural Bangladesh, HRW said in a news release that accompanied the reports official release in Dhaka. In preparing its report, HRW said it interviewed 134 people, including residents of several villages that suffer from arsenic-linked health problems, government officials and caretakers of government wells installed in five villages. The five villages are scattered in different regions of the country. They include Balia, a village in Barisal district, in the south; Iruain, in the southeastern district of Comilla; Ruppur in Pabna district, in the northwest; and Bilmamudpur and Tilchandi, in the central districts of Faridpur and Narayanganj. HRW also studied data related to some 125,000 government water points that were installed between 2006 and 2012. Yet nearly 20 years after the problem of contamination of groundwater across much of rural Bangladesh by naturally occurring arsenic drew international attention, 5 percent of wells reviewed by HRW in its analysis of data were contaminated above the national standard. Following an international conference in Kolkata, the capital of the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal, Bangladesh along with international donors and NGOs began a concerted in the late 1990s to combat the problem of groundwater contamination, but the urgency of such efforts has dissipated since 2006, HRW said. All about politics Complicating the problem is a lack of quality control in arsenic-mitigation projects, compounded by a pattern of some politicians at the local and national levels diverting projects for new wells to their supporters and allies, according to HRW. Site selection of new tube wells is essentially all about politics, the report quoted an anonymous government official as saying. They give them to their political allies, their supporters, those close to them or those who work for them. It is very frustrating, they dont consider the real needs of the people. Khaddro, a farmer in Ruppur village, told HRW that many government tube wells were installed in private homes. [T]he owners bribe government people or use their political connections, Khaddro said. We dont even know where some of them are, theyre so secretive. It makes me very angry to think about this. Responding to the HRW report, Shirin Akhter, chairman of the Union Parishad in the Fakirpur sub-district of Baghabari district, said a high demand for well tubes had made it difficult to provide people with enough wells. The fact is there are too many applicants for one deep tube well. The supply is not enough for our needs. So it is quite impossible to make everybody happy, Akhter told BenarNews. Shahriar Sharif in Dhaka contributed to this report. An NGO in Bangladesh that represents migrant workers is criticizing as "unfair" diplomatic overtures by the European Union to send home countless Bangladeshis who live in the EU without proper papers. A visiting delegation from the EU met with Bangladeshi government officials in Dhaka this week to talk about Bangladeshis in [the] irregular situation in the EU and facilitation of their possible return and reintegration, according to a joint statement issued by both sides after the first-ever Bangladesh-EU Dialogue on Migration Management. The statement did not give a timeline for possible deportations or say how many people might be deported, or if this would happen in phases. The statement said both sides had agreed to carry on with their dialogue over the issue. A move by the EU to go ahead with deporting Bangladeshi migrants would be a violation of human rights, said Saiful Haque, who heads the Warbe Development Foundation, a local NGO working to uphold the rights of expatriate Bangladeshis. This is because most of the so called irregular Bangladeshis have submitted papers for legal status. But the authorities have allowed them to live in oscillating status for years without giving any decision, Haque told BenarNews, referring to Bangladeshis living in Europe. He said the authorities should have rejected the applications earlier or granted them legal status, adding that many of these workers have at least five dependents back home. The number of undocumented Bangladeshis in Western Europe is believed to be in the thousands, and Bangladeshis have been part of a wave of migrants and refugees trying to pour into Europe, according to news reports. The influx dominated by an exodus of refugees fleeing the war in Syria is Europes biggest irregular migration crisis since World War II. But the EU has started turning away foreign migrants and refugees, and this week began expelling them from Greece, a Mediterranean gateway to Western Europe. Many Bangladeshis who are a source of cheap labor in Europe have lived for as many as 15 years in some EU member-states, Haque said. The deportation of an irregular worker living [in an EU state] for 15 years is sure to be in trouble, if deported to Bangladesh. He has served that particular country with cheap labor; so deporting him after 15 years is not fair, Haque added. For its part, the EU said it had offered Bangladesh cooperation in the field of awareness-raising on the danger of irregular migration as well as a special program for reintegration of returnees, while the Bangladeshi side highlighted the governments policy of bringing all the people in [the] irregular situation back as well as the need for widening the scope of safe, orderly and regular migration, according to the joint statement. At Tuesdays meeting, the 10-member EU delegation was led by Christian Leffler, the EUs deputy secretary general for Global and Economic Issues, and the Bangladeshi side was led by Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque. Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews that he asked officials from the European side to deal with the Bangladeshi cases humanely. On Tuesday, Foreign Secretary Haque told reporters that bringing back undocumented Bangladeshis was a moral responsibility of the government. Expired visas According to experts, some of the Bangladeshis who live in Europe without proper papers are people who stay on after their student visas expired. There are even some Bangladeshis who enter Europe on student visas, but who quit their programs of study in order to take odd jobs to support their families back home, experts say. Nazneen Ahmed, a senior research fellow at the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS), said the EU could not be blamed from a legal perspective for wanting to send home undocumented Bangladeshis. Such a move would hugely affect families solely depending on remittances from their expatriate family members, Ahmed told BenarNews. Raghavendran Ganesan, 30, whose death in the Brussels terror attacks was confirmed Monday, appears in an undated photograph. Updated at 2:37 p.m. ET on 2016-03-29 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday will attend a memorial service in Brussels for victims of last weeks terror attacks, including a software engineer from Mumbai whose death was confirmed by officials on Monday. The body of 30-year-old Indian citizen Raghavendran Ganesan, 30, was flown home to India via Amsterdam on Tuesday. It is a very hard time for us [we] lost a great son, a great brother [and] a great human being, Ganesans brother, Chandrasekhar, told BenarNews by phone before he and his parents accompanied Raghavendrans remains back home. Ganesan had been working in Brussels for Indian IT firm Infosys for the past four years. Relatives lost contact with him following the March 22 attacks in the Brussels area that killed 35 people and injured more than 300. His death was confirmed through a DNA test. For our embassy, its a very sad day. We were always hoping there could be a miracle. That was not to be, Manjeev Singh Puri, Indias ambassador to Belgium and the European Union, told reporters. Ganesan, whose wife and 1-month-old baby live in the south Indian city of Chennai, was killed in a bomb explosion last Tuesday at the Maalbeek metro station in central Brussels, said Vikas Swarup, spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs. The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for coordinated suicide attacks at the station and at Brussels International Airport, in nearby Zaventem. Two crewmembers of Jet Airways, an Indian carrier, were injured in one of two explosions at the airport. Prior to his departure for Brussels on Tuesday night for the 13th India-European Union Summit, Modi tweeted of Ganesans death: A young life, full of hope & promise cut short by mindless violence condolences to family of Raghavendran, who lost his life in Brussels. No words are enough to salute the resilience and spirit of the people of Belgium. We stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the wake of the horrific attacks in Brussels and share the grief of those who lost their loved ones, Modi said in a pre-departure statement. The one-day summit on Wednesday will focus on counterterrorism along with areas of mutual interest, including trade and investment, energy, climate, water and migration. A familys desperate search Chandrasekhar Ganesan, a student in Germany, and his parents joined the search in Brussels soon after the family lost contact with Ganesan. Ganesans mother, Annapoorni, was quoted by the Times of India as saying that her son spoke to her via Skype barely an hour before news of the blast at Maalbeek metro station flashed on her TV screen. He said he is heading to work. He takes the same metro route to reach his office, she said. The newspaper also quoted an unnamed friend as claiming that Ganesan had posted a message on Facebook saying he was safe after the two blasts at the Zaventem airport. Ganesan could not be reached after the third blast at the Maalbeek metro station, which occurred about an hour later. Ganesans telephone records placed him at the Montgomery metro station just before 9 a.m., according to officials quoted by The Hindu. The Maalbeek station blast, four stops away, occurred at 9:11 a.m. An Indian embassy official said identification was delayed because of the stringent medical process in Belgium. The identity of the deceased was established by authorities in Belgium only on Monday after DNA tests, the official told BenarNews. U.S. congressman Joseph Crowley (D-New York) did not succeed in his attempt to slow the deportation of 27 Bangladeshis. He is pictured speaking after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus in Washington, July 9, 2014. A group of 27 asylum seekers from Bangladesh who had been detained in the United States returned to Dhaka on Wednesday, despite calls from U.S. lawmakers to delay their deportations. Bangladeshs home minister and the officer-in-charge of Hajrat Shahjalal International Airport confirmed the arrivals of the 27 deportees to BenarNews. Earlier this week, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that the two countries had worked together to set up the transfer of U.S. asylum seekers from Bangladesh. They [the U.S. government] sent us the list of the Bangladeshis facing deportation, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews on Monday. He said claims by the asylum seekers that they had left their country to escape from government repression were not correct. The people seeking political asylum very often make such false claims; they are doing that to get political asylum, he said. The repatriation to Bangladesh occurred just days after at least four U.S. congress members asked the U.S. State Department and Department of Homeland Security to delay by two months the return of nearly 100 Bangladeshi men who were seeking asylum in the United States. Joseph Crowley, a Democratic congressman from New York City, sent a letter to the two departments on March 28 asking them to stop the deportations until thorough assessments of asylum claims were completed. Apart from the 27 Bangladeshis who returned home on Wednesday, the status of the other asylum seekers remained unknown. He said members of the Bangladeshi-American community raised a series of questions, including: would those scheduled for deportation or their families face danger; were they part of a common group based on political affiliation, religion or other characteristics; and had any Bangladesh nationals who were recently deported faced persecution upon their return? I have long believed that no one should be sent into a situation where they face danger or persecution, Crowley wrote. Others in congress who expressed concern for the Bangladeshis are representatives Mike Honda and Judy Chu, Democrats who represent districts in California. Given concerns surrounding their asylum proceedings, we strongly request that the deportations of these individuals be delayed by two months to allow for their cases to be reevaluated and allow their lawyers time to file motions to reopen and emergency stays of removal, Honda and Chu said in their letter to Homeland Security. Honda and Chu stated that the asylum seekers were members of the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) who claimed they were being persecuted by the Bangladeshi government, which is led by the Awami League party. Honda and Chu said the detainees had not had full access to due process and that information about them has been provided to the media in Bangladesh, resulting in threats to their families. On Monday, Bangladesh State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shahriar Alam told BenarNews that the detainees were not telling the truth in their asylum application in order to stay in the U.S. I tell you officially that the asylum seekers always lie to stay in a developed country, Alam said. Their applications were turned down and we have nothing to do with the case. Hunger strike In December, a group of Bangladeshi men voluntarily ended a 19-day hunger strike at a federal detention center in Florida after being denied asylum in the U.S. The inmates at the Krome Service Processing Center in Miami ended their strike the same day that a federal judge apparently authorized their force-feeding, if necessary. It brought to a close the last of a series of hunger strikes carried out in the last quarter of 2015 by about 100 people from Bangladesh and other countries at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detentions centers in six states. Kamran Reza Chowdhury in Dhaka contributed to this report. Indian Muslims hold up placards condemning terror acts by the Islamic State also known as ISIS during a peaceful protest in Ahmedabad, India, Nov. 18, 2015. Updated at 10:41 a.m. ET on 2016-04-07 Indian security forces said Wednesday they were grilling a suspected Islamic State (IS) recruit who was arrested while trying to begin a voyage to Syria. The individual had been on the radar of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) since the arrest of 14 suspected members of an IS module in India in January, an official with the bureau told BenarNews on condition of anonymity. We cant say much, right now. The NIA is interrogating him. But on the face of it, it seems he was part of the same module, the official said. Ismail Musab Abdul Rawoof, 34, a native of south Indias Karnataka state, was arrested Tuesday at the airport in Pune, Maharashtra state, before boarding a flight for Dubai. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is handling all cases related to IS arrests in India, had prior information of Rawoofs travel plan, Pune Joint Commissioner of Police Sunil Ramanand told BenarNews. He (Rawoof) is not in Pune anymore, Ramanand said, adding the suspect had been handed over to the NIA, whose detectives were questioning him at an undisclosed site. Rawoof comes from Karnataka states Bhatkal town, where at least eight suspected IS sympathizers in Indian police custody hail from, the official said. Mohammad Shafi Armar, alias Yusuf al-Hindi, who is believed to be heading the India faction of the Middle East-based extremist outfit, is also from Bhatkal. Rawoof, according to intelligence officials, was involved in raising and transferring funds for the IS module in India. Investigators said Rawoof was planning to meet a handler in Dubai before being taken to Syria to join the militant organization. Rawoof is the latest to join the ranks of at least 25 Indian Muslims arrested in the country for showing leanings toward the IS since 2014. According to an intelligence report released late last year, about 23 Indians are believed to have already left for Iraq and Syria to fight for the IS. Of them, six have died in battle. More than 30 potential recruits have been prevented from leaving India, while over 150 are being closely monitored for showing sympathy toward the organization online, officials said. A good case on merit: Suspects lawyer One of those facing trial in India is Areeb Majeed, the sole Indian in custody on suspicion of having fought for IS. The Maharashtra state native returned to India in November 2014 after spending six months in Iraq and Syria, the IS strongholds. The 23-year-olds bail plea, which has been pending since his arrest, was rejected by the Bombay High Court on Monday. We find no merits in the appeal and application seeking bail, the court said. Majeed had sought bail citing a matter of right under the Criminal Procedure Code, saying he had been in custody since November 2014 and the investigating agency had already filed a chargesheet. In his plea, Majeed said his custody was erroneous and illegal as his case was being handled by the NIA, and as per law, all proceedings, including orders for extension of custody, must be passed only by a special NIA court. Majeed has been charged under various sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), for being a member of a banned foreign terror group and for waging war against any Asiatic country that has friendly ties with India. Majeeds father, Ejaz Majeed, submitted in court: If my son had committed any offence against India or any other offence anywhere, he would not have returned to India on his own. Mubin Solkar, Majeeds lawyer, said he was confident of procuring bail for his client from the Supreme Court, the countrys highest court. Were pretty confident of getting bail soon. We know that we have a good case on merit, Solkar told BenarNews. Rohit Wadhwaney in Jaipur, India, contributed to the report. A police officer examines guns and ammunition that belonged to Santoso and are displayed at the Central Sulawesi Police headquarters in Palu, May 20, 2015. A militant group in the Southern Philippines supplied Indonesias most wanted militant, Santoso, and his Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) with weapons, police in Central Sulawesi province announced Wednesday. Central Sulawesi is where Santoso and his militant group operate, and the information about a connection to the Philippine group Anshorut Khilafah was extracted from two suspected members of Santosos group who are in custody, police said. One was captured in May 2015 and the other was captured during the ongoing Operation Tinombala, a joint effort by Indonesias national police and armed forces to capture or eliminate MIT, a group that has pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State. Last month, the U.S. State Department placed Santosos name on its list of Specifically Designated Global Terrorists a move that exposes the militant commander and his MIT band to possible American sanctions and actions by American law enforcement agencies, U.S. officials said. We got all of this information from Santosos man with the initial W (alias I). Moreover when we arrested him, he was about to supply more weapons from the Philippines to MIT in Poso, Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi told a news conference in Palu on Wednesday. The suspect identified as W was arrested by the national polices counterterrorism squad Densus 88 on May 28, 2015. He claimed he picked up of weapons valued at Rp130 million (U.S. $9,832) and consisting of an M-16 rifle and magazines, ammunition, a grenade and a grenade launcher, which were ordered by Santoso at the end of 2014. The weapons were handed over to W in the waters near Mindanao, Southern Philippines, by members of the Anshorut Khilafah, a hardline Islamic group. All those purchased guns had been turned over to Santoso. But in the ambush and several shootouts in Poso Pesisir, all those weapons were found and are now secured as evidence, Rudy said. Rudy said W was arrested as he tried to get more weapons ordered by Santoso. Based on Ws confession, Santoso sent Rp 220 million ($16,643) to Abu Syarifah [the leader of Anshorut Khilafah ]. However when W arrived in Manado Port and was about to cross to Mindanao, he was captured by Densus 88, Rudy said, referring to the Indonesian polices elite anti-terror squad. W was also involved in several MIT-linked crimes, including planning an attack that killed a police officer in Gowa, in South Sulawesi province, and distributing ammunition to an armed militant group in the West Nusa Tenggara town of Bima, Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Hari Suprapto said. The most striking feature of W is that he was trusted by Santoso, Hari said. Most wanted list During the press conference, Central Sulawesi Police Chief Deputy Leo Bona Lubis, who heads Operation Tinombala, released an updated list of 29 MIT members and associates considered as the nations most wanted fugitives. Besides three MIT leaders Santoso, Basri (alias Bagong), and Ali Kalora the list includes three women from Bima and two Uyghurs. We know the names and faces of these 29 people based on the information given by the MIT members captured during Operation Tinombala, Leo said. The ongoing operation started in January to capture or kill Santoso. While that goal has not been met, 10 MIT members have been killed, several have been arrested and weapons have been seized. One police officer was killed on Feb. 9. Cornered? Police believe the group has been cornered in the jungle and faces chronic food shortages. Last week, a taskforce released pictures and videos from mobile phones and cameras, which were seized from MIT and show Santoso and his men eating the flesh of endangered species, including a maleo, a native bird of Sulawesi. In one soundless video (below), Santoso can be seen eating a midget buffalo, known locally as anoa, also an endangered species. MIT is accustomed to having supplies delivered by couriers from nearby villages, but those deliveries are limited because police have isolated the group. Right activists contested the claim that Santoso has been cornered. If the conditions are like that, they [Santoso and his men] should have been captured [by now]. It is true that some had been arrested and killed, but they were only the followers, not the groups main leaders, said Mohamad Afandi, the director of a local human rights advocacy organization. Afandi said the new videos were proof that MIT has not been cornered. In fact, they are still hunting and practicing shooting with ease. This is the sign that they are still doing their activities even though they are hunted by thousands of officers, he said. We attempted to send a notification to your email address but we were unable to verify that you provided a valid email address. Please click here to update your email address if you wish to receive notifications. Otherwise, you may click here to disable notifications and hide this message. For Immediate Release, April 6, 2016 Contact: Tierra Curry, (928) 522-3681, tcurry@biologicaldiversity.org Two Appalachian Crayfishes Protected Under Endangered Species Act in Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia CHARLESTON, W.Va. In response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service today protected two species of crayfish from Appalachia under the Endangered Species Act. The crayfishes have been lost from more than half of their ranges because of water pollution, primarily from coal mining. The Big Sandy crayfish is known only from the Big Sandy River basin in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia; the Guyandotte River crayfish is known only from the Guyandotte River basin in southern West Virginia. Big Sandy crayfish photo by Guenter Schuster. This photo is available for media use. Protecting these two crayfishes under the Endangered Species Act will not only ensure their survival but will also protect streams and water quality that are important for people, said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center and a native of southeastern Kentucky. The Center and regional allies petitioned to protect the Big Sandy crayfish as an endangered species in 2010. The Guyandotte River crayfish, which was recently discovered to be a separate species from the Big Sandy crayfish, is now one of the most endangered crayfish in America, surviving only in a single county in West Virginia. Both crayfishes are sensitive to water pollution. The Big Sandy crayfish was first identified as being in need of federal protection in 1991. The Big Sandy crayfish is known from Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise counties in Virginia, and from McDowell and Mingo counties in West Virginia. In Kentucky it is known from Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, Pike and Martin counties. The Guyandotte River crayfish was known from Logan, Mingo and Wyoming counties in West Virginia, but survives only in Wyoming County. The crayfish are threatened by construction of the King Coal Highway and Coalfields Expressway, in addition to coal mining. Todays listing means that federal agencies will have to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service before funding or permitting any activity that could harm the animals, and it is now illegal for any person or corporation to harm the crayfishes or their habitat. Crayfish are also known as crawdads, crawfish, mudbugs and freshwater lobsters. Theyre considered a keystone animal because the holes they dig create habitat used by many other species, including fish. Crayfish keep streams cleaner by eating decaying plants and animals and are eaten, in turn, by fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, making them an important link in the food web. Because the Big Sandy and Guyandotte River crayfishes are sensitive to water pollution, they are indicator species of water quality. In 2011 the Center for Biological Diversity entered into a landmark settlement agreement with the Fish and Wildlife Service to expedite protection decisions for 757 imperiled species around the country. To date 146 species have gained protection under the agreement and another 34 have been proposed for protection. One of the primary threats to the crayfish is mountaintop-removal coal mining. Recent scientific studies have concluded that pollution from mountaintop removal is harmful to fish, crayfish, mussels, amphibians and stream insects in Appalachia. Pollution from mountaintop removal is also associated with increased risk of cancer and birth defects in humans. More than 2,000 miles of streams in Appalachia have been degraded by this mechanized form of mining, which employs far fewer people than other forms and perpetuates poverty by causing permanent and irreversible damage to the landscape. Coal-field residents and allies are currently promoting the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act, a federal bill that would place a moratorium on new mountaintop-removal permits until the federal government has completed and evaluated studies into health disparities in the region. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 990,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places. For Immediate Release, April 6, 2016 Contact: John Weisheit, Living Rivers and Colorado Riverkeeper, john@livingrivers.org Lauren Wood, Green Riverkeeper, (801) 647-1540 lwood1988@gmail.com Dr. Brian Moench, Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment, (801) 243-9089 Anne Mariah Tapp, Grand Canyon Trust (928) 774-7488, atapp@grandcanyontrust.org Rob Dubuc, Staff Attorney Western Resource Advocates (801) 487-9911, rob.dubuc@westernresources.org Steve Bloch, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, (801) 428-3981, steve@suwa.org Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, (801) 300-2414, tmckinnon@biologicaldiversity.org Jake Thompson, Natural Resources Defense Council, (202) 289-2387, jthompson@nrdc.org Ted Zukoski, EarthJustice, (303) 996-9622, tzukoski@earthjustice.org Obama's Interior Department Pushes Oil Shale Plan Threatening Massive Climate Pollution, Water Use SALT LAKE CITY The Bureau of Land Management announced this week that it is moving toward allowing dirty oil shale development that could be a double whammy for the environment, unleashing nearly a half a billion tons of greenhouse gases and consuming vast amounts Colorado River basin water. It would be the first commercial oil shale production facility in the United States. White River, Utah, near proposed oil shale mining. Photo by Ray Bloxham, Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. The Bureau said that on April 8 it will release a draft environmental impact statement for the Enefit American Oil Utility Corridor Project. It would allow Enefit, an Estonian company, to build water, oil, gas and electric transmission across federal public land in Utah to enable oil shale mining on state on private land. Enefit hopes to process up to 1.2 billion barrels of kerogen oil one of worlds most carbon-polluting fuels with estimated lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions of up to 450 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, about the same as 100 coal-fired power plants emit in a year. President Obama was right when he said in his State of the Union that weve got to accelerate the transition away from old, dirtier energy sources, said Ted Zukoski, an attorney at Earthjustice. Its time BLM got the memo and stopped wasting taxpayer money subsidizing companies that would foul our atmosphere and endanger our planet, and our future. The Interior Department is working against President Obamas climate goals here, said Taylor McKinnon with the Center for Biological Diversity. Enabling the development of one of the worlds dirtiest fossil fuels is the opposite of climate leadership. The administration should abandon this project now. We dont need to take on this environmental disaster that comes with developing the dirtiest fuel on the planet oil shale, said Rob Dubuc, senior staff attorney at Western Resource Advocates. Renewable energy innovations and improvements in energy efficiency make this fuel unnecessary to develop. BLM should not advance this project. The draft environmental impact study comes only months after the United States and countries around the world committed, at the Paris climate negotiations, to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Reaching that goal will require dramatic reductions in carbon pollution the key driver of climate change and leaving the vast majority of fossil fuel reserves in the ground. Enefits mining facility would expand development and use of one of the worlds highest carbon fuels. There is more energy in a similarly sized baked potato than in a chunk of oil shale, said Steve Bloch, legal director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. We know that burning oil shale in a giant oven can produce shale oil; the question that needs to be asked is whether proceeding with this type of project makes any sense in a carbon constrained 21st century. The unequivocal answer is no. The time has come to turn our backs on the carnival barkers promise that oil shale will be answer to our nations energy needs. It is true that Enefit has made the mining and production of oil shale work for the energy needs of Estonia. However, Estonia also produces more greenhouse gas emissions per capita than other European countries, including Russia, said John Weisheit with Living Rivers and Colorado Riverkeeper. What Estonia has, that Utah does not, is ample water supplies to process that oil shale. Ironically, the similarity between the governments of Utah and Estonia is their subsidy of dirty energy projects with public money. The proposed facility will be located in the Uinta Basin, approximately 12 miles southeast of Bonanza in Uintah County, Utah, near the Green and White Rivers. The project is designed to develop oil shale mining and a shale oil production complex, at full build-out producing about 28 million tons of raw oil shale ore rock per day and 50,000 barrels per day of refinery-ready shale oil from the Green River Formation. Oil shale is a thirsty industry, said Anne Mariah Tapp with the Grand Canyon Trust. The Colorado River Basin is already looking at up to a 27 percent decrease in April to July flows due to climate impacts. At a rate of up to four barrels of water per barrel of oil, Enefits project poses an unacceptable threat to limited Colorado River Basin water supplies. Both in terms of carbon footprint and water demands, the Wests water future would be drastically compromised by this oil shale program. "The legacy of the Green River will live or die on the decisions we as a country make here and now, said Lauren Wood with Green Riverkeeper. The Green River watershed cannot survive as a vibrant source of life in a desert if the BLM continues to view the landscape it runs through as a source of death and climate devastation. It's time to close this chapter of our shared history where we strayed into such extreme and dangerous forms of energy; that isn't our legacy, it's our nightmare." This oil shale project would be another significant source of pollution in an area that just can't take any more, said Dr. Brian Moench with Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. During the drilling boom of 2013 the air pollution in the Uinta Basin was literally off the charts, as much as would be expected from 100 million cars, eight times more cars than in all of Los Angeles. It would be unconscionable to allow anything that would make that even worse." A centurys worth of failed efforts has demonstrated that trying to turn rocks into oil is a fools errand, but somehow Enefit expects a different result this time, said Bobby McEnaney, a senior analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council. The last thing this administration should be considering is a proposal that amount to fossil fuel alchemy, particularly when cleaner energy sources are readily available. The Bureau of Land Managements webpage for the project is here. Joe Public United's latest campaign for McCain pays homage to the one person in all our lives that means everything - mom. We all love our dear moms and although we are grateful for all that they do, we don't always get the chance to show our full appreciation. Client McCain in partnership with Joe Public United for their recently launched brand campaign, showcases how McCain helped three truly authentic South Africans set up a surprise dinner for their moms. Hidden cameras captured this very special evening, with each surprise dinner culminating in a personalised printed thank you message on moms plate at the end of her meal, for the whole of South Africa to see. This idea connects emotionally and drives authentic stories, family time and joyful moments that are at the heart of the McCain brand, said Roanna Williams, Creative Director Joe Public United. Using our integrated offering to grow an idea is how we continue to strive toward bringing the very best 360 solution to our clients. A beautifully integrated effort from the agencies, this campaign incorporated talents from Joe Public (ATL), Shift Joe Public (Brand Design) and Connect Joe Public (Digital) along with Sabio Communications (PR) allowing the idea to reach its full creative potential. Shift Joe Public, created a typographical guide as well as a unique look and feel for the overall campaign from colour to illustration style. Digital specialist, Connect Joe Public, gave the beautiful TV ads a life online, through a complementary digital campaign that allowed people the opportunity to pay homage to their moms by creating a memento like no other. Customers can purchase their very own individually crafted plates or sets of plates through a responsive e-commerce site http://www.mccainjoys.co.za. The team created the space for a unique personalised memory, which can be shared through social media with the following hashtags #JoysOfMcCain & #MakeAPlate. In line with the strategic communications the digital component will see conversations structured around the plate, customers stories and finally their shared meal. All helping to seamlessly bridge the gap between offline and online through e-mailers, digital and social media advertising, branded social media pages and finally an SMS competition. Taking an idea across mediums and adding value to it, is always at the heart of what we do at Connect Joe Public. The McCains TV ads are so real, it was easy to expand them into an online space. Its all about finding ways to bring more life to the idea that its little things that mean everything, said Dylan McLean, Creative Director, Connect Joe Public. We want to build true brand co-creators and create brand connection and loyalty that will last for McCain. Credits: Title Its The Little Things That Mean Everything Agency Joe Public United (Integrated) Creative Director Roanna Williams Agency Art Director Stephanie Hunter Agency Copywriters Kate Glover Marina Andreoli Chief Creative Officer Pepe Marais Agency Producer Ananda Swanepoel Account Management Kate Turner and Kelly Bardon Typographers Shift Joe Public Digital Connect Joe Public Brand McCain Brand Representative (Client) Deolinda da Costa Production House Velocity Afrika Director Zwelethu Radebe Less than 10 years ago, King Pie was one of the more popular fast food outlets in SA... Photographer: Jeremy GlynImage source: BDlive Established in 1993, it had a presence in every major shopping centre, both in the low and top ends of the market. But now, the Bidvest-owned company is no longer the main player as other competitors such as supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores have taken slices of the market. By 2008, the company had reached the pinnacle of popularity, with 330 outlets including in countries such as Malaysia, Canada, Swaziland, Namibia, and Mozambique. "The pie sector is very competitive," said Vunani Securities food producers and agriculture analyst Anthony Clark. "A couple of years ago, this category of fast food blew up. It can be low-cost and high volume. Most of the pies that are sold now are frozen. "Consumers also see it as an affordable piece of nutrition. It is easily accessible, and as such, everybody sells them. No longer can King Pie hold a monopoly. The mass market has taken over," Mr Clark said. King Pie marketing manager Natalie Ruwers said the firm had begun to take competition from other fast food outlets seriously about three years ago. "I wouldnt say we are competing with other pie producers. We are competing in the quick service market, so our competitors are the likes of KFC ... we all want the same market, which is mainly the lower-income bracket." Although King Pie considers itself a major player in the quick service market, in 2013, it was no longer lucrative to operate only in this space. Since then, the company has moved into the retail market, selling its product in bulk to supermarkets. The 280-odd outlets that remain are now situated mainly in lower-income areas. Top-end retailers, such as Woolworths, have also recognised the appeal of pies, with the pastry being stocked in all outlets. Woolworths is tight-lipped about where it sources its pies, but said it takes "responsibility" for the products it sells. "As a private label retailer, Woolworths procures products from a number of suppliers who manufacture products on our behalf. Woolworths has sold pies for many years. "In response to consumer demand, we offer our customers a very wide range and variety of pies, such as individual serving and family serving; ready to eat from hot food counters; ready to heat refrigerated pies; and ready to bake from the freezer," the group said. Clark said that although pies were consumed by high-end consumers, they had always been popular with people with limited means. A King Pie original pie cost R2.50 in 1993. An original pie now costs R14.90. "With the consumer currently squeezed, I wouldnt be surprised to see that pie sales are doing very well right now. "With the price of food going up, taxi fares rising ... something has got to give; and if a consumer is used to going to KFC, perhaps now they will reconsider for a pie still under R20. "How much has the price of pie changed over the last five years? Probably very little," Clark said. DURBAN - Shipping companies will in future have to adhere to strict international weight verification regulations for containers in an effort to prevent accidents. As of 1 July, cargo container forwarders will be subjected to stringent gross mass verification, which will be administered by the South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa), after noncompliance by some shippers. The industry was notified of the requirement in June last year. Samsa said those who flouted the regulation would be liable for fines and face criminal conviction, which comes with imprisonment. "Samsa has no resources to authorise or approve every ship in the country. We have opted to delegate some of our authority to a third party who would then act on our behalf to authorise shippers," said Kirsty Goodwin, an occupational health and safety executive at the authority. Samsa has appointed General Marine Surveyors to oversee the verification process. Goodwin told export industry members that there would be no extension on the regulation. Shipping experts met in Durban on Tuesday to air concerns arising from the requirement, which is in line with International Maritime Organisation regulations. The industry has been riddled with container weight misdeclarations that resulted in vessels tipping and getting damaged, posing a threat to lives. Zeph Ndlovu, president of the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Transnet GM of operations in KwaZulu-Natal, said SAs contribution to saving lives at sea was important. SA is a member nation and signatory to the Maritime International Organisation. Ndlovu said there had been a number of accidents on international waters. "We want to lend a hand in making sure that the global trade ... is beyond reproach as far as safety is concerned. "We had to have this discussion and make sure that members are sensitised about readiness before the actual implementation date of 1 July 2016," said Ndlovu. The regulation will apply to all export containers and cargo manufactured in SA and destined for the export market. Packing houses, shippers and road transporters have to comply, as do ports, which have to align their systems with the new requirements on container weight. Ndlovu said the majority of shippers had been adhering to the weight laws, but 5%-10% in the industry were not complying. Sash Naidoo of Durban South Cold Storage, who packs citrus for export, said the new requirement would have cost implications. In order to comply, companies had no choice but to include a weighbridge in their facilities, he said. It takes a team to mastermind - and execute - a unique TV commercial. Visual solutions provider, Greatstock, recently joined forces with Publicis Machine to create a commercial for financial services group, PSG. The ad, 'The Power of Bigger Picture Thinkers', weaves together the incredible story of legendary race car driver Sir Stirling Moss, to highlight the importance of planning ahead. Scene setting The commercial is set at the Mille Miglia motor race in Brescia, Italy, in 1955. Mosss navigator, Dennis Jenkinson, used a novel Roller-Map to communicate clearly with Moss and expertly lead the pair to victory by tracking and predicting every twist and turn of the narrow road. The commercial required rare historical footage, so Publicis Machine turned to Greatstock to source and license it. Chief Researcher for Greatstock, Nikki Griffiths, spent months working on the project. The sourced motion footage was used for the final moments of the ad, showing Moss crossing the finish line. The original footage also provided the most accurate reference material to inform the crafting and shooting of the ad by Fresh Eye Films. Research and reality Our search included many important international sources, but we searched far beyond these, says Griffiths. We uncovered several interesting and obscure resources, which yielded some rare footage. The black-and-white film of the 1950s wasnt the ideal resolution for modern HD screens, explains Griffiths. We rescanned the footage to HD format, while still retaining its vintage appeal and authenticity. The finely crafted commercial recreates the unmistakable events of the race, down to the finest detail scenery, fashion and characters. Fresh Eyes Jonathan Parkinson and Nicole Ackerman provided expert direction for the shoot, with creative direction from Gareth McPherson, Brenda Hoffman and production assistance from Caz Friedman. The result is an authentic and powerful commercial that speaks to PSGs dedication to innovative thinking and collaboration towards successful, profitable partnerships. As the leading provider of visual solutions in South Africa, Greatstocks services include in-depth film research and expert rights and clearances services. Greatstock also has an extensive collection of creative and editorial stills and motion clips. In 2015, Greatstock assisted King James in securing the rights to footage of Muhammad Ali and George Foreman for Sanlams Rumble in the Jungle TV commercial just one of the many projects theyve made possible. To view the commercial online, click here. For more information on Greatstocks extensive motion footage services, click here. For an opportunity to speak to Greatstock Managing Director Margi Sheard about the power of motion footage in storytelling, email moc.nallugdnanallug@edyaj. STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN: Sweden's highest court on Monday, 4 April 2016, found Wikimedia Sweden guilty of violating copyright laws by providing free access to its database of artwork photographs without the artists' consent. Wikimedia, part of the not-for-profit foundation which oversees Wikipedia among other online resources, has a database of royalty-free photographs that can be used by the public, for educational purposes or the tourism industry. The Visual Copyright Society in Sweden (BUS), which represents painters, photographers, illustrators and designers among others, had sued Wikimedia Sweden for making photographs of their artwork displayed in public places available in its database, without their consent. The Supreme Court found in favour of BUS, arguing that while individuals were permitted to photograph artwork on display in public spaces, it was "an entirely different matter" to make the photographs available in a database for free and unlimited use. "Such a database can be assumed to have a commercial value that is not insignificant. The court finds that the artists are entitled to that value," it wrote in a statement. The amount of damages Wikimedia was to pay to BUS was to be determined by a Stockholm district court at a later date. Wikimedia Sweden expressed disappointment at the ruling. "The Supreme Court's decision shows that we have a copyright law that is behind the times and insufficient faced with the digital reality we all live in," it said in a statement. It noted that tourists who take selfies of themselves at famous landmarks and spread them on the Internet could be deemed in violation of copyright laws. BUS meanwhile recalled that Wikimedia had refused to sign a licensing agreement that "would have cost several thousand kronor per year" (several hundred euros/dollars) and had instead "chosen to spend hundreds of thousands of kronor on lawyers' fees." Source: AFP via I-Net Bridge Amanda Cuba has been appointed as chief operating officer of RE/MAX of Southern Africa with immediate effect. Amanda Cuba Co-owner of Z-Capital Properties, a prominent black-empowered company, which purchased a 45% share of RE/MAX of Southern Africa early in 2015, Cuba will be taking a more hands-on role in managing the companys day-to-day operations and will focus on growing the brands marketshare in both currently tapped and uncharted territory. Regional director and CEO of RE/MAX of Southern Africa, Adrian Goslett, says that when Z-Capital and RE/MAX entered into their partnership last year, the end goal was for Cuba to play a pivotal role in the brands future endeavours by breaking into areas of the market that RE/MAX had previously not had market share in. Amandas addition to the leadership team will add impetus to the fulfilment of the companys goals and vision. We want to be remembered as a company and a brand that helps others achieve their hopes, dreams and desires, says Goslett. Open more franchises He notes that it is a priority for RE/MAX of Southern Africa to continue to grow its agent base and brand reach. We currently have over 2400 agents working throughout the Southern Africa region and we have plans to increase that number to 3000 agents by 2018. In order to accommodate the growth, we will need to open more franchises throughout the region and expand our market share within the real estate industry. This requires having the right people in place to ensure the success of the brands vision moving forward. Our goal has been to assemble the finest, most experienced team for RE/MAX of Southern Africa, says Goslett. Cuba brings a wealth of experience and business knowledge to the table having successfully built and run several companies. Not only will the focus be on growing the number of offices within the brand, but also assisting the existing franchises to operate at an optimum level, producing outstanding results. This will be done by fine tuning strategy, enhancing business practices where necessary and ensuring that each office has the resources, information and support they need to increase productivity and outsell their competitors. We want to continue to be the brand that offers the best services and benefits in the industry to its agents and franchisees, says Cuba. Affordable housing sector She says that one area that she wants to see growth in particular is the affordable housing sector. Currently there are offices and agents within the brand that do sell homes that fall within the affordable housing band; however it is an area that can grow immensely. Considering the vast amount of South Africans who fall into this segment of the market, we are merely scratching the surface in this sector of the market could do a lot in growing our brand presence in this area, says Cuba. Following the launch of the Schools Online Presence Project by ZADNA (.ZA Domain Name Authority) on 1 March 2016, 10 Gauteng schools are now online. Learners from Maxeke Secondary School Selected by ZADNA, with the guidance of the Gauteng Department of Education, the schools have been provided with websites built by web designers located in their own communities. This means that teachers and support staff in these schools are now efficiently communicating, using their new email addresses associated with the websites. ZADNA is responsible for the costs of designing and hosting the websites and of providing email addresses to each schools staff members. The Authority plans to continue the sponsorship for at least two years per school. The 10 schools are: Beverly Hills Secondary School in Sebokeng (beverlyhigh.co.za) Evaton Primary School in Evaton (evatonprimary.co.za) Impala Crescent Primary School in Lenasia (impalacrescent.co.za) Lakeview Primary School in Soweto (lakeviewps.co.za) Lefika Primary School in Sebokeng (lefikaprimary.co.za) Maxeke Secondary School in Evaton (maxekesecondary.co.za) Phafogang Secondary School in Soweto (phafogang.co.za) Rutasetjhaba Secondary School in Evaton North (rutasechaba.co.za) Sivuse Primary School In Sebokeng (sivuseprimary.co.za) Tharabollo Secondary School in Palm Springs (tharabolo.co.za) While reliable local statistics are hard to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests that one would be hard-pressed to find an independent or private school without a website, whereas the converse is true for public schools. Having a dedicated school website and email address is no luxury. Building an excellent education system for the majority of South Africans means not compromising on the best available technology. ZADNA is pleased to be able to direct the funds generated from .ZA domain name registrations to a project that uplifts needy schools through a .ZA Internet presence, said Vika Mpisane, CEO of ZADNA. Websites are important marketing and online visibility tools for schools, they serve as a central point for disseminating information to learners, educators, parents and other stakeholders. The websites will also enable the schools to centralise their social media presence by having their social media channels (such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter) redirecting from the websites. The schools may also expand the websites into administrative interfaces by linking databases with student profiles and providing Intranets for educators. The Department of Basic Education pointed out that as far back as 2012, 30% of South African schools have ineffective governing bodies with many parents not involved in their children's education. Parents can now use their computers, tablets and mobile phones to easily keep abreast of school activities through the websites, Mpisane said. The project results from an analysis by ZADNA into some of the school ICT initiatives by the public and private sectors. The analysis showed that most of these included computer laboratories, teacher computer training and the distribution of tablets to learners. It also showed that a substantial number of schools still did not have dedicated websites and email addresses. The Schools Online Presence Project will continue to identify schools requiring website support, while collaborating with community-based web developers that can help make the government's vision of connected schools a positive South African reality. Our selection of Gauteng schools is based on the fact that we felt that, in the short term, it would be easy to manage communication with schools that are geographically close to the organisations operational base. The goal is to work with more provinces and other public and private entities to encourage schools' online presence within the .ZA namespace, concluded Mpisane. The second annual national startup survey has been launched by Seed Academy . It aims to attract over 3,000 respondents to be the largest startup survey in South Africa with a view to providing a national snapshot of startup entrepreneurs and what they need for greater success. Francesco Dibartolo via 123RF This year, we want to build on the benchmarks established last year by determining the success rates of entrepreneurs in different environments such as urban, township and rural environments. We will also establish the sectors in which entrepreneurs operate, as well the markets in which they are building their businesses business to business (B2B), business to consumer (B2C) or business to government (B2G). Finally, we will consider the success rates of local compared to foreign entrepreneurs participating in the SA ecosystem, comments Donna Rachelson, CEO of Seed Academy. The survey will take about five minutes to complete and is available here. It is aimed at startup entrepreneurs who have been in business for less than five years. Those that participate could win one of three business support packages valued at R30,000 each, one of two seats on an accelerator programme valued at R15,000 each and one of five places on an entrepreneur bootcamp valued at R5,000 each. Support lacking Rachelson says that there is not enough support for entrepreneurs in South Africa. The National Development Plan (NDP) places a huge expectation on small business given that the plan expects small and expanding companies to deliver 90% of jobs by 2030. The results of the survey will provide valuable data for government to enhance the startup ecosystem in South Africa by outlining exactly what the status quo is and where the most urgent interventions are required, she says. Seed Academy is a training, incubation and funding ecosystem for entrepreneurs which initiated SAs first startup survey. Its focus is on dramatically growing and scaling high growth potential businesses. Complete the survey here or on Seed Academy's website. TomTom has released the results from the TomTom Traffic Index 2016 , detailing the cities around the world with the most traffic congestion - and it's bad news for drivers in Cape Town as it was revealed to be the most congested city in SA. Sergiy Serdyuk via 123RF Drivers in Cape Town can expect to spend 30% extra travel time stuck in traffic anytime of the day, and up to 64%, on a Friday between 4pm and 5pm peak periods versus a free flow, or uncongested, situation - adding up to 152 hours of extra travel time per year. However, it's positive news in Pretoria and Durban where traffic congestion is easing. Next in the rankings are Johannesburg (27%), East London (25%) and Bloemfontein (16%) making up the top five most congested cities in South Africa. Using data from 2015, the TomTom Traffic Index looks at the traffic congestion situation in 295 cities in 38 countries on six continents from Rome to Rio, Singapore to San Francisco. TomTom works with 14 trillion data points that have been accumulated over eight years. This is the fifth year of the TomTom Traffic Index. This year we have done something different with the TomTom Traffic Index, by giving cities the right to reply. This is very exciting for us here in South Africa, since Cape Town and Johannesburg have both been selected as profile cities. What has been noted, albeit that Cape Towns traffic congestion remains on a decline, cities such as Pretoria and Bloemfontein are showing eased traffic congestion levels. (Important to Note, traffic congestion levels are measure against travel times on the same rout during a non-congested period e.g. 12pm 1am). Congestion up, globally Looking at TomToms historical data, its clear that traffic congestion is up by 13% globally since 2008. But, interestingly, there are shocking differences between continents. While North Americas traffic congestion has increased by 17%, Europe as has only increased by 2%. It could be suggested that this points to economic growth in North America, and Economic depression in the rest of Europe. This European figure could be heavily influenced by Southern European countries such as Italy (-7%) and Spain (-13%) where there has been a marked drop in traffic congestion in the past eight years. Ralf-Peter Schaefer, VP TomTom Traffic, said: The TomTom Traffic Index is released every year to help drivers, cities and transport planners to understand traffic congestion trends but, most importantly, how to improve congestion globally. We really want everybody to think about how they can lower the amount of time they waste in traffic every day and to realise that we all need to play a part. If even just five per cent of us changed our travel plans, wed improve travel times on our major highways by up to thirty per cent. Collectively, we can all work together to beat traffic congestion. People can find out more and discover where their home city ranks on the TomTom Traffic Index. Theres also helpful advice on beating traffic congestion, as well as independent analysis. And, for the first time, a selection of Profile Cities provide insight into what they are doing to improve mobility. Overall ranking of most congested cities in South Africa in 2015 (Overall daily congestion level extra travel time): The Parklife Festival, comprising music, culture, food, and family events, will kick off on Saturday, 16 April, 2016, at the Marks Park Sports Club, Emmarentia, Joburg, with a line-up that includes: Jasmine Thompson, Mi Casa, James Hersey, Flicflac, Jeremy Loops, Goodluck, Just Jinjer, Desmond & The Tutus, Al Bairre, Majozi, Josh Wantie, Kyle Watson, Pop Art Live, Mac G, Vin Deysel, Austin Cassim, Kyle Deutsch and Shekhinah. In addition to various music to suit all appetites, festival-goers can also enjoy the art of eating with a gourmet food village. This festival has fast gained a foodie reputation, bringing together independent chefs and food makers to create a unique, outdoor eating experience with communal tables. Ten new traders promise to tantalise taste buds with endless culinary options from vegetarian food stalls, Greek food, pizza specialists, Portuguese desserts, as well as gourmet flavoured popcorn and coffee stalls. The smaller details Festival director Damon Forbes said that he and his team are looking forward to bringing South Africans another stellar event. "We were really happy about the way the festival turned out last year and the success of the recent Cape Town event, so to be honest there was not a lot that needed to change. What we have focussed on for the Jozi event is the smaller details behind the scenes, for example, people flow and movement around the venue, as well as things like restroom locations," he said. "Parklife has become known for not only constantly providing a wide variety of bands and food options, but for being an awesome day out and a huge social gathering for people. The festival's popularity is fast growing because word of mouth has been so solid. What makes this festival particularly appealing is the fact that it is totally family friendly." All you need to do is bring along good vibes, a picnic blankets, maybe a chair or two and a brollie for good luck, and enjoy a great day out under the African sun. Gates open at 10am, ticket price (excluding ticketing fee) starts from R295 to R395. Tickets are on sale now from breakout.nutickets.co.za parklifefestival.co.za Volkswagen Group South Africa (VWSA) has invested R120 million in a new 21,000 kN (kilo Newton) try-out press to improve the manufacturing capability of its Uitenhage Plant. The new try-out press arrived in the Uitenhage factory recently after travelling 13,140km by ship from Spain. The press bed, weighing 120 tons, was lifted 8m over the existing press line. The new press will be used to ensure that the tools are pressing the vehicle sheet metal parts according to the required quality standards prior to going into production. This ensures that the currently installed presses are used solely for production thus improving the productivity of the press plant. It will also be used in tool maintenance and implementing engineering changes on the current series production press tools. The press design and kinematics of this new press are comparable to that of the equivalent production draw press. It will therefore be able to accurately reproduce the line conditions and deliver the same quality of parts off-line, said Thomas Schaefer VWSA chairman and managing director. Once fully assembled, the new press will weigh approximately 600 tons and will deliver a maximum force of 2,100 tons, equivalent in weight to 306 male African elephants. The heaviest single lift in the initial stages of the project was the press bed at 120 tons, however, this was eclipsed later by the press crown which weighed in at 220 tons and was lifted 8 metres above floor level and mounted on top of the press columns. Our Uitenhage plant has one of the newest press plants in South Africa and in the Volkswagen Group. The Press Plant was commissioned in 2013 and is capable of producing close to 10,000 parts per day for the Polo, Cross Polo and local Polo Vivo models, concluded Schaefer. VW has said that the try-out press is expected to be fully operational by mid-2016. On the next Biz Takeouts Marketing & Media radio show on Thursday, 7 April 2016, from 9-10am, show host Warren Harding looks at e-commerce. Bizcommunity is running a special section all through the month of April and Biz Takeouts will be highlighting and showcasing some of SAs biggest names and companies in the e-commerce space. This week on the show, we host Wendy van Schalkwyk, CEO of MI-Ashanti International. She's is an entrepreneur, business consultant and international masters in business studies with Business School Netherlands. Her dissertation IMBA thesis topic looks at how to reduce the failure rate of start-up entrepreneurship in the 21st century. She is determined to find a way to solve this global phenomena given her passion for people and business. We chat to Wendy to find out why e-commerce is a business imperative in today's market and how businesses can approach e-commerce. What are the current trends and solutions regarding e-commerce taking place today and we also look at advice for companies just starting out. Tune into Biz Takeouts every Thursday from 9am-10am live from the 2oceansVibe Radio studio in Cape Town as we discuss the topics that matter in Marketing & Media. How to listen Comments or questions Podcast A podcast of the show will be available in the Biz Takeouts special section on Biz later during the week. Comedian and creative director of Goliath & Goliath is Loeries Creative Voice for 2016 Have you ever heard this one before? A young art director with the advertising world at his feet decides to chuck it all in and start a brand-new career. As a stand-up comedian. Yeah, right. No, were not joking. And now he wants to stand up (see what we did there?) and talk about the value that creativity adds... to life, love, business, making risky moves and the universe. Donovan Goliath, former advertising art director and one part of the hugely successful and funny Goliath & Goliath franchise will be presenting a weekly segment on YFMs drive-time show, The Best Drive, from April 2016. Titled Loeries Creative Voice with Donovan Goliath, the show will be broadcast every Wednesday afternoon from 3.33pm 3.47pm. This collaboration with the Loeries, Africa and Middle Easts largest creative showcase, will feature interviews with the most creative voices from the brand communications industry along with up-to-date creative news. Donovan will be talking creativity and how as a currency it is being harnessed to provide solutions to all areas of our lives. And of course bringing it back home and talking about how he used it to change his career and to empower others. On his role as Loeries Creative Voice, Donovan says, Im incredibly excited to be a part of this campaign. I feel its a very bold and necessary move that the Loeries have undertaken. As we know, creativity and the arts in this country are not as respected as they should be, so this is definitely going to give me an opportunity to teach and inspire, and encourage industry leaders to do the same. This is really a cool platform for me to share my story and to make people understand how I use creativity to do what I do. Added Chief Creative Officer of Net#work BBDO, Mike Schalit, "From his days at Net#work, Donovan has grown from a young talented whippersnapper to someone who knows how to use creativity as a business tool, and how the creative industries can be a valuable career choice. Speaking for YFM, Tshepo Pule says, "They were never ready for GPs hottest frequency to join forces with the powerhouse that is Donovan Goliath for Loeries 2016. Both brands speak to the dynamism of the young creative, and are constantly in motion to influence and grow the brand communication space. Expect fireworks!" The one quality that the Loeries and Donovan have in common is the passion for grooming and inspiring the youth. This partnership has opened up new opportunities including a MasterClass, which Donovan will host during Loeries Creative Week Durban for students and young professionals on how to use your creative genius to build your own brand much like he did for Goliath & Goliath. Loeries Creative Week takes place in Durban from Monday, 15 August, to Sunday, 21 August. To book your tickets visit www.loeries.com. More about Donovan Goliath Many know Donovan as a celebrated South African comedian who, together with Jason, Nicholas and Kate Goliath, built the company Goliath & Goliath into a household name. Many would ask, Where does Donovan fit into advertising, let alone the Loeries?, but what many dont know is that before getting into the business of comedy, Donovan was actually in the brand communications industry for six years. His decision to take up a career in advertising stemmed from his keen interest in graphics and visual communication as well as the passion for artistic expression. From designing Wu Tang Clan-influenced posters for his rap group as a teenager in Umtata to making massive oil paintings for his parishs church in Marion, Durban, and ultimately landing his first job in Johannesburg with Net#work BBDO just after completing his studies at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Donovan Is a holistic creative person who understands the power of creativity and the importance of communicating its successes. Major Partners of the Loeries 2016 Tourism KwaZulu-Natal (TKZN), the Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, KwaZulu-Natal Province (EDTEA), EThekwini Municipality Durban Tourism, DStv Media Sales, and Gearhouse South Africa. Category Partners Adams & Adams, ADreach, Channel O, Film & Publication Board, Google, Independent Media, JCDecaux (formerly Continental Outdoor Media), PRISA, The Times, Unilever South Africa, Woolworths, and YFM. Additional Partners and Official Suppliers AAA School of Advertising, Antalis South Africa, Aon South Africa, Arcade Content, Backsberg, BEE Online, Brand Council SA, Clive Stewart Photography, Egg Films, First Source, Funk Productions, Gallo Images, Graphica, Grid Worldwide, Hetzner, Media Film Service, Multiprint Litho, Native VML, Newsclip, Paygate, Rocketseed, Red Hot Ops, Scan Display, South African Airways, Telkom SA SOC Ltd, Tiekie Barnard Consultancy, Tsogo Sun, Vega School of Brand Leadership. Official Media Partners Adlip.com, Between 10 & 5, Bizcommunity.com, Brandwork Nigeria, Coloribus Advertising Archive, Design Times, Film & Event Media, iDidTht.com, Music in Africa, Nex Media, The Redzone. WASHINGTON: The popular messaging service WhatsApp said on Tuesday it had implemented "full end-to-end encryption," a move which steps up privacy but may lead to conflicts with law enforcement agencies. The Facebook-owned mobile application with one billion users worldwide made the announcement following weeks of intense debate over efforts by US authorities to compel Apple to help break into an encrypted iPhone. "WhatsApp has always prioritized making your data and communication as secure as possible," a blog post announcing the change said. "And today, we're proud to announce that we've completed a technological development that makes WhatsApp a leader in protecting your private communication: full end-to-end encryption." This means that "when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to," the statement said. "No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us." Moves by technology firms to implement the kind of encryption where even the companies themselves don't have "keys" to unlock data have unleashed criticism in law enforcement circles claiming this creates "warrant-proof" spaces for criminals and others. The blog post by WhatsApp co-founders Jan Koum and Brian Acton said encryption is an important tool for its users. "We live in a world where more of our data is digitized than ever before," they wrote. "Every day we see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen. "And if nothing is done, more of people's digital information and communication will be vulnerable to attack in the years to come. Fortunately, end-to-end encryption protects us from these vulnerabilities." WhatsApp is reportedly involved in a court battle similar to the one involving Apple, which fought a federal effort to provide assistance in unlocking an iPhone used by one of the shooters in last year's San Bernardino killing spree. Other reports say WhatsApp and another application called Telegram were used by the perpetrators of the November 13 Paris attacks that left 130 people dead. US Congress is expected to consider legislation which would require technology firms to retain "keys" that could retrieve data in a criminal investigation, with a court order. Similar measures are under consideration in Britain and France. A broad coalition of technology companies and activists have argued against any encryption rules that would allow "special access" for law enforcement, claiming these would be vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers or repressive governments, and threaten security of banking, electronic commerce, trade secrets and more. Tanya O'Carroll of Amnesty International welcomed the move, calling it "a major boost for people's ability to express themselves and communicate without fear." "This is a huge victory for human rights, especially for activists and journalists who depend on strong and trustworthy communications to carry out their work without putting their lives at greater risk," she said. Koum said in the blog post that the move was "personal," noting that "I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States." Facebook in 2014 announced it was acquiring WhatsApp for an eye-popping $19 billion in stock and cash. Analysts say WhatsApp is especially popular in some areas of Latin America, Asia and Africa, where it is used in place of official telecom networks. Source: AFP TUNIS: Inkyfada, an electronic magazine investigating any Tunisian involvement in the so-called Panama Papers, came under attack by hackers on Tuesday just hours after its first postings on the scandal. "Our site has come under a serious IT attack. The hackers have managed to post false information under our name," it said on Twitter, adding that it was being temporarily taken offline. Monia Ben Hamadi, editorial chief of Inkyfada, told AFP that the false reports had been identified but not the hackers. Several countries have vowed to open tax evasion investigations following the leak of 11.5 million confidential documents in the Panama Papers scandal. The vast stash from Panamanian legal firm Mossack Fonseca was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which published their first findings on Sunday. Source: AFP The Africa in Motion (AiM) Film Festival 2016 for short films and documentaries, is now open for entries. The aim of the Africa in Motion short film and documentary competitions is to nurture and support young and new filmmakers from all over the African continent, in the knowledge that making films can be a real challenge and with hope that the cash prize will be invested in future projects by the filmmaker. A high profile jury of local and international film specialists and established African filmmakers will choose the competition winners, which will be announced during this years festival, set to take place between 28 October - 6 November, in Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland. Filmmakers of African nationality are invited to submit short films of no longer than 30 minutes and/or documentary films of 30 minutes or more. The deadline for entries is 1 July 2016 for the short film competition and the documentary competition. A substantial cash prize will be awarded to the winner of each competition strand. Filmmakers who enter must not have made a feature-length film previously. All short films must have been completed in 2014 or after. All genres are welcome (including fiction, documentary, animation and experimental work). Following the success of its annual short film competition, Africa in Motion launched the documentary film competition in 2015. Documentaries submitted must also have been completed in 2014 or after and all themes within the genre are welcome too. Shortlisted short films and documentaries will be announced in August and screened during the festival. Each competition has its own high-profile jury of local and international film specialists and African filmmakers, to be announced shortly. In addition to the overall winner chosen by the jury, an Audience Choice Award will be given for each competition strand and announced at the closing of the festival. Both competitions are free to enter and aim to support young and new film talent from the African continent, with the hope that the prize will be invested in future projects by the filmmaker. Africa in Motion was founded in 2006 by African film scholar Dr Lizelle Bisschoff, and is now preparing for its 11th set in Edinburgh and Glasgow. It aims to bring African cinema to Scottish audiences, and overcome the under-representation of African films in British film-going culture. The festivals programme will be announced in September 2016. Entry details: submit a film; full guidelines. Germany "will deport Iraqi refugees back to the Czech Republic" 6. 4. 2016 cas cteni < 1 minuta Germany "is intending" to deport a group of 25 Christian Iraqi refugees who have refused asylum in the Czech Republic and went to Germany to apply for asylum there. The German authorities are currently registering and identifying the Iraqi refugees and will then request the Czech Republic to take them back, said Czech Television using information from the German Federal Interior Ministry. Earlier, it was indicated that the group had applied for asylum in Germany and will stay there. The Czech Home Secretary Chovanec earlier said that the group of Iraqi refugees have abused the good will of the Czech Republic and they will be deported to Iraq. Source in Czech HERE 0 Czech government emphatically rejects the new European Commission proposals to redistribute migrants 6. 4. 2016 cas cteni < 1 minuta Czech oligarch and Finance Secretary Babis wants to sue the European Commission re the refugee quotas Czech politicians have rejected the European Commission proposal to re-distribute applicants for asylum according to a unified methodology. According to the Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka, immigration policy must remain under the control of individual EU member states. Czech president Milos Zeman has rejected the European Commission proposal as "refugee quotas in disguise", Czech oligarch, Finance Secretary and Deputy PM Andrej Babis wants to sue the European Commission. According to PM Sobotka, the Brussels proposal is "absolutely unacceptable" for the Czech government. "It is counterproductive for the European Commission to table again the dead proposal of permanent quotas. The Commission must know that the member states will not approve this proposal," said Sobotka, adding that the Czech government will not agree with any system of compulsory refugee quotas. The Brussels proposal has also been rejected by the Czech President Zeman and the Czech Interior Minister Chovanec. Source in Czech HERE 0 It looks like you have reached this page in error ... The content you are looking for has either moved, or if you typed in the address there might have been a mistake. If you believe there has been a technical error please let us know. Most Popular Destinations Alabama state Representative Ed Henry (R) has followed through on this threat to impeach Governor Robert Bentley (R) and formally began the process yesterday. While Rep. Henry spearheads the impeachment, the Alabama Republican party has also called on the governor to resign from office. "Were looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama through actions and lies that have caused us to have some doubt in his leadership," Henry said in a news conference. "If he truly loves the people of this state, he'll step down." Those hoping Bentley would simply resign and save them the trouble are out of luck. Bentley briefly spoke while on a tour of a local correctional facility where he said God has forgiven him. "I've asked God to forgive me because that's the most important thing," Bentley said while on a tour of the Limestone Correction Facility in Harvest, Ala. "I want back in His fellowship. And so I asked God to forgive me." [...] "I have humbly opened myself up to the people of this state and I have asked them to forgive me," Bentley said. If we all had a dime for every time a "family values" conservative was forced to ask God for forgiveness, we could buy Governor Bentley more burner phones. LOS ANGELES San Bernardino, Calif. reached a settlement agreement that gives bondholders a major haircut that is substantially better for them than the city originally proposed in its Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The deal with bondholders and insurers calls for San Bernardino to give them a 40% recovery. It's significantly more than the 1% the city first proposed, but continues a trend of bonds faring worse than pensions in Chapter 9 cases. Under the settlement, COMMERZBANK Finance & Covered Bond S.A., formerly Erste Europaische Pfandbrief-Und Kommunalkreditbank AG, and municipal bond insurer Ambac Assurance Corporation, would drop their opposition to the city's bankruptcy plan. The holders of $50 million in pension obligation bonds will receive payments equal to 40% of their debt on a present value basis, discounted using the existing coupon rate, according to city officials. San Bernardino would join Stockton, Calif. and Detroit in the ranks of recent Chapter 9 cases in which bondholders have taken a substantial haircuts, while pension benefits are touched lightly or not at all. The settlement reduces the city's payments to the pension bondholders by roughly $45 million. The payments will be made over a 30-year period starting a year after the city's Chapter 9 bankruptcy exit plan is confirmed. "The settlement will end the costly legal battles between the City and the settling creditors over confirmation of the City's Chapter 9 Plan of Adjustment, as well as how much the creditors are to be paid," City Attorney Gary Saenz said in a statement Tuesday. The 30-year term will give the city the cash flow needed to implement a five-year police plan, infrastructure maintenance, beautification projects, and reinvestment in parks and community services, according to city officials. On the second anniversary of its bankruptcy exit, the city would make a $1 million single installment payment to bondholders, according to court documents. On the third year, the city would distribute $1.3 million, payable in two equal semi-annual installments. The agreement calls for payments to increase to semi-annual payments of $1.37 million in the fourth year with payments increasing every several years to reach $2.5 million in the 26th year through the 30th year. The bondholders and insurers objected when the city filed its plan to exit bankruptcy and its disclosure statement on May 29, 2015, after nearly three years in bankruptcy,. They had filed an appeal opposing the plan. Under the terms of last year's exit plan, holders of the $50 million of unsecured POB claims would have received payments of $655,000 plus interest over time, and holders of general unsecured claims between $130 million and $150 million would receive a pro rata share of $1.3 million after the plan became effective. The $50 million in 2005 POBs are split between a $36 million Series A-1 and $14.3 million Series A-2 of capital appreciation bonds. Ambac insures only the CABs. Neither Vince Marriott III, who represents COMMERZBANK, nor Paul Aronzon, who represents Ambac, could be immediately reached for comment. T he 9th edition of the biannual Africa Aerospace and Defence "AAD 2016" will be held from 14 to 18 September at the Waterkloof Air Force Base in the City of Tshwane, South Africa. The premier exhibition of air, land and sea on the African continent will have daily air shows besides the military exhibition and trade shows. The mega event will offer national and international companies the opportunity to showcase their cutting-edge military products and technology. In its previous edition held in 2014, the show recorded a significant increase in the number of exhibitors. It had attracted exhibitors from 30 countries, trade visitors from 86 countries and official delegations from 37 countries. AAD 2016 once again promises to bring together various industries from the world to showcase their latest military-technological innovations. A Kora class missile corvette. Indian Navy photo KOLKATA (PTI): The Andaman and Nicobar islands has received their first missile Corvette ship "INS Karmuk" which arrived at Port Blair on Tuesday after being re-based from the Eastern Naval Command in Visakhapatnam. "This is the first time in the history of Andaman & Nicobar islands that a missile corvette is being based. This is a concrete step towards realising the Indian Navy's perspective plans of transforming Port Blair into a strategic maritime naval base," a Defence official said. INS Karmuk, a guided missile Corvette of the Kora class, would not only significantly enhance the off-shore surveillance and maritime patrolling around the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, but its long-range surface-to-surface missiles would tremendously enhance the defence of A&N islands. Commissioned in 2004, INS Karmuk is commanded by Cdr Akash Chaturvedi. The ship has a complement of 14 officers and 130 sailors. It is equipped with state-of-the-art navigation, communication and radar systems and boasts of contemporary surface-to-surface missiles, a main gun and secondary armament. With the ability to carry a helicopter, INS Karmuk has the capability to operate well beyond the traditional maritime boundaries of the Andaman and Nicobar Command. The ship has undertaken various operations in the past, which include deployments in the South China Sea, maiden bilateral exercise with Japanese Naval forces, deployments with other foreign navies and participation in the recently concluded International Fleet Review. The state-of-the-art ship would now add teeth to protecting India's strategic interests and assets in the Andaman and Nicobar region. Further, besides ocean surveillance and surface warfare operations to prevent infiltration and protect maritime sovereignty, the ship will also monitor the busy sea lanes of communication passing through the A&N Islands and other vital assets. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. KELOWNA, B.C. A stretch of unseasonably mild weather has some apple growers anxious about trees that are growing too fast. The apple blossom may come as soon as the third week of April, about three weeks ahead of normal. When the pink and white flowers are visible throughout orchards, thats when the trees are most vulnerable to frost. Im a little bit nervous about the weather, because its not at all uncommon for us in the Central Okanagan to get quite severe frosts in early May, Fred Steele, president of the BC Fruit Growers Association, said Tuesday. A late frost during or immediately after blossom can result in fruit thats stunted and misshapen, considerably reducing its market value. In Ontario in 2012, 85 per cent of the provinces apple crop was seriously damaged or lost to frost in May. The temperature in Kelowna this week is forecast to be about 10 degrees above normal for early April. The 14-day forecast calls for temperatures to fall back to the mid-teens next week, but then rise toward 20 C again on the weekend after. The sustained days of above-normal temperatures really pushes us quickly toward blossom, Steele said. Were about three weeks ahead of where wed ideally want to be in early April. Local apple farmers may even be looking enviously this week toward the apple-growing regions of Ontario, where winter-like conditions persist. Theyre lucky, in a way, because its been staying cold for a while down there, said Steele, who has been talking with some of his Ontario counterparts. The trees havent been moving at all, so this bad weather for them will put their season behind, but it wont affect the orchards. But while apple growers are anxious, South Okanagan cherry farmers are cheery, as cherry blossom and those of other soft fruits is already well underway. Temperatures of 20 to 25 C are perfect for us, said Pinder Dhaliwal, an Oliver grower and vice-president of the BCFGA. The overnights of 5 and 6 C are awesome, too, he said. Fingers crossed, things are good so far. (Kelowna Courier) Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The president of Brandon University admitted on Tuesday it was a mistake for the school use behavioural contracts that seek to stop a student from speaking about sexual assault allegations to anyone but a counsellor, but it wasnt enough to curb criticism of BUs approach to the incident. A day after an alleged sexual assault victim and first-year BU student made national headlines when she shared photos of such a contract, Gervan Fearon sat at a table in the corner of a sweaty room, packed with several dozen students, faculty and media. Fearon spoke slowly and carefully for almost an hour, often repeating himself while answering questions from both the heavy contingent of media and the rowdy group of students, several of whom held signs and jeered the president at times. Tim Smith / Brandon Sun Brandon University president Gervan Fearon, left, Brandon University Student's Union president Aaron Thompson and Stefon Irvine, a student and organizer behind We Believe Survivors at an announcement at BU on Tuesday. Fearon repeated several times during a press conference on Tuesday that use of a behavioural contract was "not appropriate" and was "a mistake". When prompted, Fearon apologized on behalf of the university to the alleged victim and told reporters about a task force that had been struck about a month after the incident, which happened in September 2015. Flanked by BUs acting vice-president of academic services, Steve Robinson, chief human resources officer Sharon Hooper and Brandon University Students Union president Aaron Thompson, Fearon said the task force was struck in response to the specific allegations stemming from the incident. We looked at everything weve done, who touched the situation, what process did we follow and we made a series of recommendations for our way forward on how we make improvements to our policies on sexual violence, harassment and assault, Hooper said. She, the dean of Health Studies Dean Care and education Prof. Chris Brown made up the task force. The task force absolutely took the opportunity to speak with all individuals involved in the situation, Fearon added. The woman at the centre of the controversy, who The Brandon Sun is not identifying, said after the press conference she was never contacted by the task force during its six-month investigation. Im highly disappointed that they still havent contacted me, they still perpetuated lies. They have made a lot of mistakes, the alleged victim said. That is not true, there is no task force that has contacted me at any point. Fearon told the room that BU would release the task forces recommendations later in the day, The Brandon Sun received the document, which outlines nine recommendations, late Tuesday evening. The presidents regret also wasnt enough for Corinne Mason, a BU gender and womens studies professor, who initially spoke out against the contract on Monday. The survivor found out that the contract is null and void TODAY alongside the media, she tweeted on Tuesday evening. Students and faculty connected the student survivor with supports. (BU) did not thoroughly investigate the incident. They only moved when we pressured them to do so. The survivor was never interviewed or given an advocate. Her supports are not on the task force or policy team, she wrote. Mason was at the presidents announcement and asked several questions. She said Fearons answers to the questions indicate the issue hasnt been resolved. The president said such contracts will absolutely not be used in future cases of sexual violence, assault and harassment allegations at BU. The student wont face punishment for breaching the contract, he confirmed. Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun Brandon University student Gabrielle Fouillard holds a placard while waiting with other students to hear BU president Gervan Fearon address students and members of the media on Tuesday, following complaints about how the university treats victims in sexual assault cases. Fearon announced that the university will no longer use behavioral contracts in cases of sexual assault and sexual violence. It was not appropriate and is not appropriate in this case or in cases of sexual assault, sexual violence and sexual harassment and we acknowledge (the contract) was not helpful to the survivor. Fearon didnt rule out using such contracts for cases not involving sexual assault allegations. The president was not specific about potential ramifications for BU staff involved in the incident. This was an action of Brandon University, regardless of who did it at the university. We learn from errors and we go forward with improvements, he said. On Monday, Tom Brophy, BUs registrar and associate vice-president of student services and enrolment management, spoke publicly to defend BUs use of the contracts. Fearon also announced on Tuesday that a separate committee is being established to create a new, formal policy on sexual violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment. It will work through the summer, creating a draft policy that will be available to the university community next September and will be finalized after that, Fearon said. The nine recommendations from the task force will also be considered. Fearon said that policy will take into account Bill 3, which made it to first reading in the Manitoba legislature last year, but wasnt proceeded with. The provincial NDP released a statement on Tuesday, blaming Progressive Conservative delay tactics for not passing the bill, which the party says would require universities to establish comprehensive policies to address and combat sexual assault on campus. Currently, the schools response to sexual violence falls under the Respectful Environment Policy, a 23-page document last updated in August 2011. Can we do more? Absolutely. Are we attempting to do more? Absolutely. Do we want to work with students, faculty and staff? Absolutely, Fearon said. tbateman@brandonsun.com Twitter: @tombatemann Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO Canadas largest pension fund is investing US$2.5 billion for an influential ownership stake in Glencore Agri, a global agricultural business that includes major gain-handling activities in the Prairie provinces and Australia. The deal represents a big step forward for the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which is buying 40 per cent of Glencore Agri at a time when low global commodity prices have taken down the valuations of resource companies. The jewel in Glencore Agris crown from CPPIBs point of view is the Viterra grainhandling business, which expanded globally from its base in Western Canada particularly into Australia before Glencore bought it for $6.1 billion in late 2012. We have assets in other regions as well but I would say that the vast preponderance of the value is around those two, says Mark Jenkins, who heads CPPIBs global private investments. Glencore Agri currently has operations in Canada, Australia, South America and Europe that employs more than 12,000 people as well as transportation assets for moving a variety of agricultural commodities from growers to markets. We think the ag space is something that, through cycles, will provide a lot of value to the fund and our beneficiaries and contributors, Jenkins says. CPPIB invests funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan to pay current benefits. As of Dec. 31, 2015, it had C$282.6 billion of assets under management. Three years ago, CPPIB set itself a target of investing C$5 billion or more over time into agricultural businesses but, until the Glencore deal, had made slow progress with a total of only about C$800 million invested. We focused initially just on land, Jenkins says. We own roughly 120,000 acres in the U.S. (48,000 hectares) and a comparable amount in Canada. In return for the equivalent of about C$3.27 billion cash, the deal gives CPPIB representation on Glencore Agris board of directors, influence over how the business operates and provisions to either buy more of Glencores stake or trigger a public offering. We do have the right to force an IPO after eight years, Jenkins says. But obviously, the intent is for us to be in this for the long term. Meanwhile, the deal provides a way for Glencore to reap some cash in the short term while it rides out a slow global economy. This is an important day in the evolution of Glencore Agri, and we look forward to working with CPPIB to continue to build the Glencore Agri business over the long term, Glencore Agri CEO Chris Mahoney said Wednesday in a statement. Follow @DavidPaddon on Twitter. Already have an account? Log in here Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange: We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO A financial crimes expert says the federal anti-money-laundering agency breached its own standards by not identifying the Canadian bank it has fined $1.1 million for not reporting suspicious transactions an assertion the watchdog denies. On its website, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, known as Fintrac, says it may name a person or entity that has been penalized if the violation is very serious, the penalty is at least $250,000 or it is a repeat occurrence. It breaches the directors own standards on when a penalty should be published, said Matthew McGuire, a financial crimes risk management expert at Toronto-based Securefact, said of Fintracs decision to withhold the banks identity. He published a statement on Fintracs website that explains when they would and wouldnt publish, and this certainly meets the criteria for being published. But Fintrac spokesman Darren Gibb said the policy also specifies that the agency has the authority to exercise discretion when it comes to naming companies. Fintracs public website makes it very clear that entities subject to an administrative monetary policy may be named, said Gibb. In this particular case, we are exercising our discretion to withhold the name. Experts say that withholding the banks name may have been part of an agreement struck between Fintrac and the institution. In exchange for anonymity, the institution may have agreed to forgo a lengthy appeal process in the courts and pay the $1,154,670 fine, they say. I think that (Fintrac) probably wanted to have this information go out to send a message, and that that was considered more important than publicly naming this bank, said Koker Christensen, a Toronto-based partner with Fasken Martineau who heads the law firms anti-money laundering counsel. Naming an institution obviously is a way of sanctioning or punishing that institution and also has some deterrence effect. But I think that having a fine of this magnitude imposed on a bank and having that fact made public also has a deterrence effect. Gibb would not comment on whether such an agreement took place. However, he did say that the federal agency wanted to send a clear message of deterrence as soon as possible by avoiding a drawn-out appeal process in the Federal Court of Canada. From our experience in other cases, the review and appeal period can take some time, said Gibb. With files from Jim Bronskill in Ottawa. Follow @alexposadzki on Twitter. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. The CEO of RBC, the only Canadian financial institution linked to the so-called Panama Papers scandal, said Wednesday the bank is combing through four decades worth of files to determine whether any wrongdoing took place. David McKay said he is unhappy the banks name has been dragged into the controversy involving offshore tax evasion allegations, especially considering that there is no evidence to suggest the company has done anything illicit. As a CEO, I have to be concerned about our brand and reputation, particularly in a situation where theres absolutely no allegation of wrongdoing, McKay said. Royal Bank of Canada President and CEO David McKay addresses shareholders during the bank's annual general meeting in Montreal, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes McKays comments came following the banks annual general meeting in Montreal, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was also asked about the data leak that has pulled a curtain on the use of offshore tax havens. Trudeau called on the international community to work together to make global finance more transparent so that rich investors cant simply hop around to favourable jurisdictions to avoid paying tax. The level of awareness that citizens of the world are beginning to take in regards to tax avoidance and evasion is a good thing, Trudeau said in his first public comments on the matter. But its certainly something that we will be working on together as a community of nations. The federal government knew tax avoidance was a problem long before the scandal put offshore havens in the headlines, he added. The Toronto Star and CBC, which worked with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, have reported that RBC and its subsidiaries used Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm at the centre of the data leak, to set up more than 370 shell companies. McKay emphasized that there are many legitimate reasons for setting up such companies and said its important not to conflate tax evasion, which is illegal, with tax planning. We just happen to have a couple hundred files, going back 40 years, that are attached to this legal firm, he said. Thats all thats been reported. RBC has assembled a team of people to review the companys files and try to determine what relationship the bank may have had with Mossack Fonseca and whether that relationship still exists, McKay said. He added that he doesnt know how long the process could take, given that the information cited in the leaks spans four decades. You can imagine how difficult it is to go back in your files 40 years, McKay said. Banks have had to shoulder growing responsibility for policing and monitoring the global financial system in recent years, he said. He expects that trend to continue. We accept that responsibility, and weve adapted to that responsibility as an industry for over a decade now. Bill Downe, the CEO of the Bank of Montreal, offered a similar take during that banks annual general meeting earlier this week. Downe said Canadian banks have dramatically beefed up their anti-money laundering controls over the past decade at the request of various governments around the world. He said if any violations do emerge from the leaked files, he suspects they will likely be in relation to business that was conducted a long time ago, before the banks had invested in improving their practices. Follow @alexposadzki on Twitter. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. EDMONTON Albertas health minister says the former head of Alberta Health Services was trying to set policy rather than simply implement it. It felt like that could have been the case from time to time, Sarah Hoffman said at the legislature Wednesday. Hoffman made the comments after the CBC revealed the contents of Vickie Kaminskis resignation letter from November. The CBC says Kaminski wrote that Hoffmans department was straying too far into her area of responsibility, which made it difficult to do her job and put her professional reputation at risk. In particular, Kaminski wrote, the department overruled an Alberta Health Services decision to take over ambulance services in Calgary. AHS is an arms-length agency responsible for the day-to-day operations of medical care, but under policy direction from the Health Department. Hoffman noted that Kaminski was hired by the former Progressive Conservative government with a mandate to expand privatized services under the public health umbrella. Hoffman said that was not the direction given by the NDP government when it took power last May. Certainly we ran on a platform of ending experiments in privatization, she said. Public health care is public business. Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi took issue with Kaminskis version of events. Nenshi said in a written statement that he was forced to go to Hoffman directly after Kaminski unilaterally proceeded with the ambulance takeover, despite directions from the health minister to hear out Calgarys concerns that the new system was expensive, unworkable and unsafe. This is not how AHS should be run and not what the citizens who pay the bills expect from our public servants, wrote Nenshi. Minister Hoffmans putting a stop to these games is not political interference. Its proper governance of Albertas largest expense. Kaminski, in her letter, also said deputy health minister Carl Amrhein, the departments top civil servant, would order specific changes without committing anything to paper in what Amrhein referred to as voice mode. Kaminski said she believed that was done to avoid a paper trail and to duck accountability in the event of freedom-of-information searches. Hoffman said thats not the case, that she doesnt believe Amrhein was trying to avoid a paper trail and that she has never given such direction to her senior staff. She said that while she doesnt personally use the term voice mode, conversations are a common means of getting work done. Id say most of us communicate in voice mode for most of the day. Kaminski now works in Australia and couldnt immediately be reached for comment. Opposition Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said Kaminskis concerns are valid. It obviously shows that this NDP government is interfering politically. Progressive Conservative interim leader Ric McIver said Amrheins voice mode references suggest the government is trying to hide its actions. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX Canadas legal community is keeping a close watch on a Halifax courtroom, where a Christian university is under scrutiny for its policy on intimate relations among students, the head of Nova Scotias law society says. Jill Perry, president of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society, said outside court Wednesday the case is the first of three involving Trinity Western University in British Columbia to reach the provincial appeal court level. Everybodys watching Nova Scotia to see what happens, Perry said on the first day of what is expected to be a three-day hearing before the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. Lawyers arrive at the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in Halifax on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. The Nova Scotia Barristers' Society is appealing the judicial review of the society's attempt to deny accreditation to graduates of Trinity Western University. Fourteen groups have intervenor status at this hearing representing social, legal and religious interests. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan The universitys plans to open a law school in Langley, B.C., have drawn criticism because students will be required to sign a so-called community covenant that forbids sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman. In April 2104, the Nova Scotia law society amended its regulations to say the requirement represents unlawful discrimination against gays and lesbians. As a result, graduates of the law school would not be allowed to article or practice law in Nova Scotia. In January, a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge decided the law society exceeded its jurisdiction. Judge Jamie Campbell said the move also amounted to an infringement on religious freedom. Law societies in Ontario and B.C. have also opposed granting accreditation to Trinity law school graduates. Both of those cases will be dealt with by each provinces appeal court in June. Inside the packed Halifax courtroom Wednesday, 20 lawyers shuffled through legal briefs before a five-judge panel. Law society lawyer Marjorie Hickey told the panel that the lower court ruling failed to properly consider the broad nature of the Legal Profession Act, which says the purpose of the law society is to uphold and protect the public interest in the practice of law. She said the self-governing body had far-reaching obligations beyond overseeing the qualifications and conduct of its members. As the gatekeeper of the legal profession, the law society must also seek to improve the administration of justice, while keeping up with broader societal trends, Hickey said. Theres much more than bald words in this statute, she said, adding that the law society has a long history of focusing on equality of opportunity. Hickey cited a landmark report in 1991 that followed the wrongful conviction of Donald Marshall Jr., which led to sweeping changes aimed at eliminating discrimination in the justice system. After a series of meetings and broad consultations, the law society decided in 2014 that the universitys covenant was discriminatory because it violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act, Hickey said. Justice Duncan Beveridge suggested the law society may have moved too quickly, considering the university has yet to set up its law school. Is this just window dressing? he asked Hickey. She said the group felt it had to take a stand because the covenant limits opportunity to access to the legal profession. Justice Joel Fichaud then asked whether it made sense for the law society to cite a potential violation of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. Can the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act render unlawful something that happened entirely outside the province? he asked. Outside the court, university lawyer Brian Casey had an answer for that. For Trinity Western, we say the answer is, You cant. Youre stuck with the B.C. law. Casey stressed that the covenant is considered lawful under that provinces human rights act. He also said the law society may have broad powers, but they do not extend to regulating law schools. Once they decide that graduates are qualified and wont discriminate, they cant ask the other question, Well what does your school do? Theyre evaluating the applicant. Theyre not evaluating a law school in a different province. However, the law society doesnt accept that view. This is not about penalizing TWU graduates, said Perry, whose group represents about 2,000 lawyers across the province. Its about sending a message to the university that we as a law society have a problem with your admissions policies. Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly reported the hearing was underway in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. The hearing is being held in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. A Neepawa nurse will fulfil a dream in May when she boards the worlds largest floating hospital. Paula Lofamia is preparing for her month-long volunteer adventure in the surgery suites of the Africa Mercy, a 16,500-ton vessel operated by international medical charity Mercy Ships. Im looking forward to meeting new people and working in the (operating room) in an unusual hospital setting, Lofamia said. Also, working in a place that people are there to volunteer I think thats a good working environment. Provided Volunteer plastic surgeons work in surgical suite aboard the Africa Mercy. During its 10 month stay in Tamatave, Madagascar volunteers will provide over 2,200 surgeries for adult and child patients onboard. Founded in 1978, Mercy Ships provides free health care to developing countries around the world. The organizations fleet of three ships drops anchor in a port for 10 months at a time, while doctors provide treatments and surgeries to thousands of adults and children. Volunteer doctors also provide training opportunities for local health-care providers. We choose the locations that we go to through invitation (from the governments), said JoJo Beattie, Mercy Ships Canada communication co-ordinator. More than 400 volunteers live aboard the Africa Mercy while it is docked. Its essentially like a small town, theres a place for everybody you dont have to be in the medical field, Beattie said, adding that housekeepers, teachers, cooks and engineers are among the other volunteer positions available. While the natural ebb and flow of the ocean may not seem like an ideal addition to delicate surgery procedures, Beattie says the tide isnt a problem. Its a slight sway the hospital is on one of the lower decks and its never noticeable and it never gets in the way, she said. Lofamia leaves home on May 1 to board the Africa Mercy, which is currently at port in Tamatave, a city on the east coast of Madagascar. Born and raised in the Philippines, Lofamia started nursing in 2011 before moving to Canada. She works part-time in the Neepawa Health Centre and occasionally picks up shifts in the OR at the Brandon Regional Health Centre. Provided The Africa Mercy is a full-scale floating hospital that docks for 10 months at a time and offers free health care services to local residents. The ship can accommodate 450 volunteers at a time. The 32-year-old nurse first applied to volunteer with Mercy Ships in 2013, but scheduling conflicts and the outbreak of Ebola halted her application. She applied again at the suggestion of her fiance. I met a wonderful guy who asked me if I had something in my mind I needed to do before we settled down, Lofamia said, adding that she hopes to become an advocate for international volunteerism when she returns home. My main goal is to get people curious and interested so that they will have the heart for volunteering and going out for missions. Lofamia is fundraising to cover her travel costs to Madagascar. To donate, visit mercyships.donorpages.com/MERCYGIFTS/PaulaLyn Lofamia/. ewasney@brandonsun.com Twitter: @evawasney Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 22/03/2016 (2406 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. OTTAWA The marquee Liberal commitment to Syrian refugee resettlement could end up costing taxpayers close to $1 billion. Tuesdays federal budget provided an additional $245 million over five years to bring in the remaining 10,000 people needed to meet the Liberal promise to resettle 25,000 government assisted Syrian refugees by the end of 2016. Thats on top of $678 million over six years set aside by the Liberals in November when they rolled out a plan to resettle 25,000 Syrians in total by the end of last month. Minister of Finance Bill Morneau is given a standing ovation as he arrives to deliver the federal budget in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 22, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld The actual current estimate for the program is higher. Recently tabled government documents peg it at $698 million, which the Immigration Department says takes into account the full $100 million the Liberals have committed to the UN for its role in getting Syrians safe haven in Canada, and elsewhere. The original budget only accounted for $10 million of that contribution. As of March 20, 26,202 Syrians have arrived in Canada since the Liberals took power in November. The new money for Syrians is on top of other new funding for immigration, including $56 million over three years to support the governments commitment to increased immigration levels overall. The money will support settlement programs, included language training, which is in high demand among Syrian refugees and other new arrivals. Wait times in some areas are over a year. The Liberals are aiming to welcome around 300,000 new permanent residents this year, including 80,000 people in the so-called family class stream, up from last years target of 68,000. The family class program is designed to reunite families in Canada. Spending on the program was just over $30 million in 2014-2015; the Liberals are adding a further $25 million this year, following up a campaign commitment to nearly double the program budget. We believe families belong together, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said in his budget speech. Family reunification contributes to the well-being of all Canadians by contributing to our collective wealth, in both sociocultural and economic terms. The money the government has already committed to the UN for Syrian refugee resettlement is in addition to $1.2 billion in development and humanitarian support to countries in that region, part of the Liberals recently refocused mission to combat Islamic militants. Tuesdays budget also sees $256 million added over two years to whats known as the international assistance envelope to increase Canadas ability to respond to emerging international assistance priorities, the budget says. A further $585.5 million over three years will be allocated to programs promoting peace and security around the world, but the money would come from unallocated funds in the assistance envelope. Follow @StephanieLevitz on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO More than 1,000 people detained during the chaotic G20 summit almost six years ago won the right Wednesday to go the class-action route in lawsuits against police and others. In approving the class-action process, Ontarios top court said various reports on the events to date had made only non-binding recommendations. The remedies sought by the plaintiffs, which include a declaration that class members charter rights have been violated and an award of damages, would be stronger instruments of behaviour modification, the Court of Appeal said in its decision. Police encircle and detain a crowd of protesters in Toronto on June 27, 2010. More than 1,000 people detained during the chaotic G20 summit almost six years ago won the right Wednesday to go the class-action route in lawsuits against police and others. In approving the class-action process, Ontario's top court said various reports on the events to date had made only non-binding recommendations. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young The G20 summit over a weekend in June 2010 marred by vandalism from several dozen protesters saw more than 1,000 people arrested or detained in what was later described as one of the worst violations of civil liberties in Canadian history. Many were kept in appalling conditions at a makeshift detention centre. Almost all were released without charge within 24 hours. In response to the court decision, lawyer Eric Gillespie said a class action could help protect the basic freedoms of all Canadians while co-counsel Kent Elson said it could lead to the disclosure of confidential police documents and tapes about what really happened as well as positive reforms about policing. It was not immediately clear when the class-action suits might be heard on their merits but a trial is likely months away. Police authorities in Toronto had wanted the Appeal Court to quash the class proceedings, which had already been subject to two lower court rulings. The courts had originally ruled against certifying a class action, but Divisional Court overturned the ruling on initial appeal and instead split the action in two. It is important to remember that the police cannot sweep up scores of people just in the hope that one of the persons captured is a person who they believe is engaged in criminal activity, the Appeal Court noted. There was some basis in fact for finding that the individual officer or officers who are alleged to have given orders for mass detentions and arrests did so without regard to whether all of the individuals detained, or detained and then arrested, were implicated in the criminal activity with which the police were concerned. The lead plaintiffs in the actions are Sherry Good, who was among scores of people police kettled in torrential rain at a downtown intersection, and Thomas Taylor, who represents those sent to the east-end detention centre. Both want damages for false arrest or imprisonment, and violations of their constitutional rights. They maintain a senior officer gave orders for the indiscriminate roundup of anyone present at various downtown locations including peaceful protesters, bystanders and journalists. We were illegally arrested, thrown into overcrowded wire cages, and treated worse than animals in a zoo, Taylor said after the ruling. We want justice to be served. We dont want this to happen to any other Canadian, ever again. Good said she was delighted with the decision. Now, the police need to make changes and prove to us that this will never happen again, Good said. In a statement late Wednesday, Andy Pringle, chairman of the Toronto Police Services Board, said they were reviewing the decision. Among other things, the board had argued Divisional Court overstepped its boundaries in stating the mass arrests could be seen as one of the hallmarks of a police state and therefore needed a thorough airing as class actions. The board also argued the different behaviour of various summit protesters precluded their being considered a class. The Appeal Court rejected that argument, noting only 16 individuals had brought claims for their detentions. It remains apparent that most of the affected individuals are unwilling to devote the time and expense necessary to seek individual relief, the Appeal Court found. A class proceeding is the preferable procedure for the resolution of the common issues. In addition, the court awarded the plaintiffs $315,000 in costs for the certification motion and another $65,000 for the appeal. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. Five stories in the news today from The Canadian Press: KELLIE LEITCH TO MAKE TORY BID OFFICIAL TODAY Labour Minister and Minister for the Status of Women Kellie Leitch responds to a question during Question Period in the House of Commons in Ottawa, Wednesday, May 13, 2015. The starting gun sounded on the Conservative leadership race last month, but the coming party convention is really getting candidates moving.Popular Quebec MP Maxime Bernier is expected to be the first to formally register for the contest and Ontario's Leitch may not be far behind .THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick Ontario MP Kellie Leitch is set to officially launch her bid for the Conservative leadership. The Canadian Press has learned Leitch will submit her application to the party today. Quebec MP Maxime Bernier is expected to jump into the race on Thursday. MULCAIR HINTS THAT 70 PER CENT SUPPORT MIGHT BE ENOUGH NDP Leader Tom Mulcair is suggesting a 70 per cent result at his leadership review would enable him to stay on. The partys constitution calls for a secret ballot at a leadership convention, which begins Friday in Edmonton. If more than 50 per cent of the ballots call for new leadership, a vote must be held within a year. Mulcair told The Canadian Press in an interview that he will continue to work tirelessly to get the best possible result. SNOWDEN: WHISTLEBLOWERS KEY TO CHANGE A trove of leaked data about offshore tax havens in Panama highlights more than ever the vital role of the whistleblower in a free society, says Edward Snowden. The former U.S. intelligence contractor said Tuesday in a video conference from Moscow that the so-called Panama Papers, which were given to journalists by an anonymous source, demonstrate that change doesnt happen by itself. Snowden was speaking from exile on a panel organized by Simon Fraser University examining online data gathering. COMMISSION WORKS TO BREAK DOWN WALL ON CARBON The chairman of Canadas Ecofiscal Commission has a message for Brad Wall as the Saskatchewan premier and high-profile carbon-tax opponent embarks on his third straight majority mandate. If you have a stated goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and Saskatchewan does the most cost-effective way to do it is carbon pricing. Period, says Chris Ragan, the McGill University economist who acts as the non-partisan commissions chief spokesman. ONTARIO FIRM TO DEVELOP SPACE-MINING TOOL A northern Ontario company is being awarded a Canadian Space Agency contract to work on a multi-purpose device thats designed for future mining on the moon and Mars. Deltion Innovations Ltd. of Capreol will develop the combination drill and rotary multi-use tool, which it describes as a space-age Swiss Army knife. ALSO IN THE NEWS TODAY A public celebration will be held at Rexall Place in Edmonton ahead of the Oilers final game at the arena. The Parliamentary Budget Officer will post a new report entitled Budget 2016: Key Issues for Parliamentarians. The Canadian Wind Energy Association hosts a forum in Gatineau, Que., to discuss the future of wind energy. Federal Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr will speak at the inaugural Ontario Natural Resources Forum in Toronto. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. WINNIPEG The Manitoba Liberal Party showed no sign Wednesday of backing down from its ongoing battle with the media in advance of the April 19 provincial election. Leader Rana Bokhari defended an email criticizing one media outlet that had been sent the previous day to party members and reporters. She said more missives will be issued if the party feels its being treated unfairly. Its OK for us to be open and transparent when we feel that there is an issue that is not maybe as unbiased? I dont know what the word is, but whatever it is, Bokhari said. Tuesdays email from party communications director Mike Brown asked Liberal members to stay away from media requests for negative comments about Bokhari and accused the media of having frustrations with her. Bokhari said Wednesday the party acted because the media was asking specifically for something. When asked whether she thought it was unfair for reporters to ask other Liberals if they support her, Bokhari stopped taking questions. If theres a policy issue, I will be more than happy to address it. The Liberals, who held one legislature seat when the election was called, have already butted heads with reporters on the campaign trail. Bokhari said at one point that the agenda of media outlets is influenced by government advertising dollars. She temporarily suspended one-on-one interviews after one in which she was questioned about her previous career as a lawyer. The 38-year-old has said the media has a hard time adapting to her style, which she describes as different from a career politician. A political analyst said Wednesday that politicians can gain public support by taking on the media, but it can be risky. There has to be a convincing narrative there that the media is being unfair to the politician, and Im not sure thats totally the case here, said Royce Koop, who teaches political science at the University of Manitoba. A lot of the answers that Ms. Bokhari gives (on policies) kind of gives the indication that she hasnt been well-briefed on some of these things shes talking about. Already have an account? Log in here WINNIPEG - Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives are promising to spend more money to promote tourism if they form the next provincial government. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. TORONTO Liberal MP Karen McCrimmon says shes heartened to see condemnation from female politicians of all political stripes about a vulgar joke an Ontario politician made about her at a recent fundraiser. Jack MacLaren, a Progressive Conservative member of the Ontario legislature, told a joke at a recent mens night cancer fundraising event about a married couple, inserting the names of McCrimmon and her husband, with a punchline about oral sex. Nobody laughed, McCrimmon said. Liberal party leadership candidate Karen McCrimmon takes part in the Liberal Party of Canada Leadership debate in Winnipeg, Saturday, February 2, 2013. McCrimmon says she is heartened to see condemnation from female politicians of all political stripes about a vulgar joke an Ontario politician made about her at a fundraiser. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods When he told that joke, you could see it on their faces, she said in an interview. They were mortified and after that little piece of the evening was over I had 30 or 40 people come up and apologize. MacLaren sent McCrimmon a heartfelt apology in an email Wednesday, she said. But that was only after a newspaper article about it spurred controversy. The event in Carp, Ont., took place on March 24. Conservative MP Michelle Rempel, Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne and Andrea Horwath, the provinces NDP leader, are among those who denounced MacLarens comments and expressed support for McCrimmon. This is how Id like to see it go, McCrimmon said. We can have differences of opinion between political parties, but there are some principles and the principles of behaviour and how we treat each other that should be the same regardless of what political party youre from. McCrimmon, who was a longtime member of the Canadian Forces and the first woman to command a flying squadron, said its not the first time she has been in such a situation. Ive learned how to deal with things like this, but I think he needs to apologize to those people (in Carp), she said. I think thats even more important than apologizing to meThe last thing I would want is any of this to reflect on them. Although MacLaren was in the Ontario legislature for question period Wednesday, he left before it ended, avoiding reporters who gather outside the house every day to ask questions of politicians as they emerge. Staff in his office directed questions to the partys media representative. Patrick Brown, leader of Ontarios Conservatives, said he has zero tolerance for misogynist comments, but now that MacLaren has apologized he wont face any caucus sanctions. Lisa MacLeod, another member of Browns caucus, sent McCrimmon a message on Twitter, saying she was sorry McCrimmon was subjected to the so-called joke. I wanted to make sure that Karen knew that was not the view of the Progressive Conservative Party or caucus and that I wanted her to know I felt very badly that it had happened and she was placed in that situation, MacLeod said later. Many Conservatives have contacted her, particularly those from MacLarens riding, to say they are frustrated and upset, MacLeod said. Wynne said the incident was not as shocking as it should be in 2016 as we all know that those attitudes are still among us. That kind of comment is part of the culture that allows for the abuse and mistreatment of women, she said. Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 05/04/2016 (2392 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. VANCOUVER A trove of leaked data about offshore tax havens in Panama highlights more than ever the vital role of the whistleblower in a free society, says one of the tech eras most prominent figures to expose state secrets, Edward Snowden. The former U.S. intelligence contractor said Tuesday that the so-called Panama Papers, which were given to journalists by an anonymous source, demonstrate that change doesnt happen by itself. The media cannot operate in a vacuum and the participation of the public is absolutely necessary to achieving change, the ex-National Security Agency analyst said during a video conference from Moscow. Edward Snowden appears on a live video feed broadcast from Moscow on a panel organized by Simon Fraser University examining the opportunities and dangers of online data gathering at an event in Vancouver on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Tamsyn Burgmann Snowden was speaking from exile on a panel organized by Simon Fraser University examining the opportunities and dangers of online data gathering. The 32-year-old remains wanted by the U.S. government on charges of espionage after leaking classified documents in 2013 as evidence that government spy agencies were monitoring citizens telecommunication. The 11.5 million documents taken from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca reportedly reveal the offshore dealings of more than 100 politicians and public figures from multiple countries. Snowden told more than 2,700 people at the Vancouver event that the 2.6 terabytes of data contained in the papers demonstrate the most privileged and powerful people in the world are operating by a different set of rules. It happens without our knowledge, without our awareness, without our consent, he said. They dont even pay the same taxes as we do. Reporters for a German newspaper obtained the volumes of data after they were approached by an unnamed individual about one year ago. The team sought help from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington, D.C., which assembled 400 reporters in 80 countries to decipher the contents. The first reports were published on Sunday. The moderator of the event asked Snowden whether the confidential source had reached out to him asking for advice on how to conduct the leak. If they had, I could not say one way or another, because that would be inappropriate, he replied, before adding with a laugh: But, for they record, no, they have not. Snowden joked throughout the one-and-a-half hour session, speaking in an animated style and often adjusting his glasses. He told the crowd it was 5 a.m. for him and he hadnt actually slept. Within days of the Panama Papers publication, Icelands Prime Minister resigned. Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stepped down earlier Tuesday following mass protests over revelations he had owned an offshore company with his wife. Snowden lauded the fruits of the investigation but emphasized that global reform wont come in one night or as a result of a single protest. By developing a culture of transparency and accountability where we not only know what government is doing, but recognize that we have not just the right but the responsibility to actually act in changing the nature of government directly holds these individuals to account, he said. We can achieve change. And ultimately whether we do or not is a decision that falls to us. Snowden has been livestreamed into Canada before. He made a surprise appearance at the 2014 TED Conference in Vancouver and spoke to high school students at Upper Canada College in Toronto in February 2015. Follow @TamsynBurgmann on Twitter Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 06/04/2016 (2391 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current. HALIFAX Two teenage boys were remanded Wednesday on 20 weapons-related charges each in connection with the discovery of a bag of weapons and ammunition in woods near a local high school. The charges included two counts of weapons trafficking, theft, possession of stolen property, four counts of carrying a concealed weapon, and four counts of possession for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, among others. Following a four-minute court hearing Wednesday, Crown prosecutor John Nisbet said that the weapons seized included a shotgun, a rifle, a pellet rifle and a pellet pistol. We are worried about them maybe selling these weapons, said Nisbet. Nisbet said he opposed the release of the 15- and 17-year-olds because he simply needs to find out more information about the case. They have been remanded until a show cause hearing on Friday. They are not charged with threats, they are not charged with actually assaulting anybody, he said. Part of what we need to find out is what was going on, what was in their heads, whats the risk to the public, whats the danger, and what are they likely to do in the future. Nisbet said it needs to be determined whether they pose a risk if released and whether a good release plan can be worked out in the interest of public safety. Both teens stared ahead intently wearing black hoodies as they appeared before Judge Barbara Beach. One was stocky with close cropped dark hair, wearing jeans. The other was taller and more slightly built with lighter coloured hair. He wore camouflage pants. The parents for both teens were in court, but neither they nor defence lawyer Kai Glasgow would comment following the hearing. Earlier, RCMP acknowledged the weapons discovery had prompted public concerns about a shooting plot, but a police spokeswoman added that police didnt know what the threat was. Cpl. Jennifer Clarke said the police presence had been increased at Millwood High School after the arrests Tuesday following a request by school officials. She wouldnt say how many officers were on site Wednesday. Police said they received a tip from a member of the public Tuesday that there were people with firearms in the area of the school and Millwood Elementary school in Middle Sackville. The high school was locked down and Clarke said police later found a duffel bag containing the weapons and some ammunition. Clarke said she understands that parents and students might be concerned about a possible attack at the school, but said police are investigating and do not yet know if there was a threat. We knew we had people going in the direction of the school with guns and obviously our concern was the safety of the students, but any further than that I cant speculate, she said about suggestions that the teenagers were planning to take the guns to the school. She said two suspects were later arrested one at the scene and one nearby. An 18-year-old man was also arrested Tuesday evening in connection with the incident, RCMP said Wednesday. He faces a charge of uttering threats. Also Wednesday, police in Cape Breton said they were called to Sydney Academy just before 9 a.m. after a threat was received. A statement from Cape Breton Regional Police said the school was put on lockdown because of a potential weapons complaint. The lockdown ended just before 1 p.m. Although police took one person into custody, they said in a release that it wasnt connected to the weapons investigation. No further details were provided. Already have an account? Log in here MONTREAL - Several Quebec police officers violated United Nations regulations by engaging in sexual activities with Haitian women and at least two had children, the CBC's French-language network reported Wednesday. We need your support! Local journalism needs your support! As we navigate through unprecedented times, our journalists are working harder than ever to bring you the latest local updates to keep you safe and informed. Now, more than ever, we need your support. Starting at $4.99/month you can access your Brandon Sun online and full access to all content as it appears on our website. or call circulation directly at (204) 727-0527. Your pledge helps to ensure we provide the news that matters most to your community! Uncertainty surrounding the next Government may be contributing to a decline in consumer sentiment. It has seen the largest drop in seventeen months, according to the latest index published today by the ESRI and KBC Bank. The IFA has written to the acting Taoiseach expressing concerns about the impact of Mercosur on the Irish beef sector. The IFA has urged Enda Kenny to contact the EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker asking that the latest agricultural negotiations do not proceed any further. The Irish Aviation Authority has apologised after a data breach on its drone register. Registered owners were allowed to access the names and contact details of all other drone pilots as a result of an error. The Authority has said no financial or personal information was available and the system was fixed within two hours. They are calling on drone owners who unintentionally accessed the information, to destroy any material they may have downloaded. By Irish Examiner Reporter Cormac OKeeffe Ten top-level Irish gangs dominate the trafficking of drugs from Spain and the Netherlands into Ireland. Up to five of these syndicates have direct connections with South and Central America and sometimes orchestrate an entire shipment of cocaine into Ireland, sometimes via Europe. They include the Spanish-based Christy Kinahan cartel currently involved in a feud with the Hutch gang and a trafficking network controlled by a veteran criminal based in Holland and Germany. Irish gangs direct line with cocaine exporters in South and Central America was referenced in a massive report, EU Drug Markets, published yesterday by the EUs police and drug agencies. Direct connections from Central America into Ireland and the United Kingdom indicate connections between Irish and British OCGs [organised crime groups] with drug cartels in South and Central America, said the report. In March 2015, 25kg of cocaine was seized in Cork Port after being imported directly from Central America. In December 2014, 300kg of cocaine, originating in Colombia, was seized in Portsmouth, England, in a smuggling operation by Irish and British networks. The EU report referenced the September 2014 seizure of 1.1 tonnes of cocaine on the yacht, Makayabella, originating from Venezuela, off Mizen Head, Co Cork. In June 2012, 429kg of cocaine was shipped from South America into Rotterdam port and onto Dublin Port, before being seized. However, the bulk of cocaine, cannabis, and heroin coming here is sourced by an estimated 10 Irish gangs in Spain and the Netherlands. In Spain, they negotiate with British and Spanish cartels for cocaine and cannabis and, in the Netherlands, with Dutch gangs for cocaine, heroin, and cannabis. They are thought to pay around 25,000 for a kilo of cocaine, which, when shipped to Ireland, is diluted four to five times, with each diluted kilo selling for 25,000. The Irish gangs in Spain and Holland often join a conglomerate of networks in the importation of multi-tonne shipments from South America. The EU report said Irish and British gangs also operate in South Africa and use it as a transhipment point. This story first appeared in the Read More: Irish Examiner Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder and former head of France's far-right National Front party, has been convicted of denying crimes against humanity for repeating that the Nazi gas chambers are a "detail" of Second World War history. A Paris court convicted then sentenced Le Pen on Wednesday to a 30,000 fine plus paying damages to three associations in the case. Dozens of migrants have been apprehended by the Turkish coast guard on the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. About 60 people, including some Syrians, were taken to a coast guard station in the western province of Izmir on Wednesday. Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko has started another hunger strike while in Russian custody, according to her lawyer. Lawyer Mark Feygin said in a Twitter post that Savchenko began a dry hunger strike on Wednesday, refusing both water and food. The number of people put to death last year was the highest in 25 years, according to Amnesty International. New figures show that the top five executioners in the world in 2015 were China, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and the US. Don't Miss the Latest News Subscribing is the best way to get our best stories immediately. TOKYO: Japan intervened in the foreign exchange market on Friday to buy yen for the second time in a month after the... BRUSSELS: EU leaders on Friday reached agreement on a roadmap aimed at putting in place measures within weeks to... ANCA Gallery: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral. A solo exhibition by local artist Rosalind Lemoh exploring the transformative interchange between humans, animals, plants and minerals. Until April 24. Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon-5pm. 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson. See: anca.net.au . Belconnen Arts Centre: Beauty and Belonging. An exploration of blue and white decorative ceramics from Turkey and Morocco. Uncertain Journeys. Euan Graham examines forced migration and the journey of many to Australia by boat. Strathnairn artBAC. Members of Strathnairn Arts present works in a diverse range of media. All until April 25. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-4pm. 118 Emu Bank, Belconnen. See: belconnenartscentre.com.au. Bungendore Fine Art: Australia, its Beauty. Realistic and abstract depictions of Australian scenery. Also on display, more than 150 paintings by the eight artists who operate the gallery. Until April 28. Open daily, 10am-4.30pm. 42b Ellendon Street, Bungendore. See: bungendorefineart.com.au. CCAS Gorman Arts Centre: Over & Over. A series of pencil drawings by artist Clare Thackway mimicking the craft of knitting, a metaphor for the complex threads that weave human relationships. Until Saturday. Thoroughly Modern. An exhibition examining the effect of rising house prices and urban planning on the 'Great Australian Dream'. Until May 7. Open Tuesday to Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday 10am-4pm. Gorman Arts Centre, 55 Ainslie Avenue, Braddon. See: ccas.com.au. Form Studio and Gallery: Friends and Acquaintances. A colourful solo exhibition by artist Steve Roper. Until Sunday. Open Monday to Friday 9.30am-2.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am-4pm. 1/30 Aurora Avenue, Queanbeyan. See: formstudioandgallery.com.au. Gallery@bcs: The Youth of Tomorrow. A multimedia exhibition focusing on the future. Presented by participants of the BCS Bungee Youth Resilience program. Until April 15. Open Monday to Friday, 9am-4.30pm. Belconnen Community Centre, Swanson Court, Belconnen. Ph: 6264 0200. Tiger Dustin Martin's father was leaving the country on Wednesday after his visa was cancelled, according to reports. Shane Martin was spotted at Sydney airport ready to board an Auckland-bound flight, News Limited is reporting. Dustin Martin makes things happen as a matter of course. Credit:AFL Media/Getty Images It has been reported he was locked up early in March after officials decided he did not meet the minimum character requirements of a residency visa. The Panamanian lawyer at the centre of a data leak scandal that has embarrassed a clutch of world leaders said on Tuesday his firm was a victim of a hack from outside the company, and has filed a complaint with state prosecutors. Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm, Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. Nor had it ever destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money, he added in an interview with Reuters. Company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung and the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, were "taken out of context" and misinterpreted, he added. "We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack," Fonseca, 63, said at the company's headquarters in Panama City's business district. "We have a theory and we are following it," he added, without elaborating. The fight for Chinese tourism dollars is at the centre of a billion-dollar resort investment on the Gold Coast. Work had already begun on the site where Jewel, the first beachfront resort development to be built on the Gold Coast in about 30 years, will tower over surf and sand, when acting Premier Jackie Trad and Tourism Minister Kate Jones joined a Chinese consortium delegation and their chosen developer to formalise the construction agreement. And artist's impression of the Jewel project at Broadbeach on the Gold Coast. Wanda Ridong Group, a joint venture between the Dalian Wanda Group, owned by China's richest man, Wang Jianlin, and Ridong, chose Brookfield Multiplex to construct the three-tower resort, which will see 512 residential apartments, a five-star hotel with 169 suites and a "high end" retail and dining precinct, spring forth from 130 metres of Surfers Paradise beachfront. The project was fast-tracked by the state government in 2012, with work beginning mid last year. And decoupling by just 21 countries is not enough to save the planet as we know it. Over the 15 years that Aden studied, the decoupled countries lowered emissions about 1 billion tons, but overall global emissions grew about 10 billion tons. The question is whether what happened in the 21 countries can be a model for the rest of the world. Almost all of them are European, but not all are advanced Group of 20 economies. Bulgaria, Romania and Uzbekistan are among them. The Paris Agreement, the landmark climate change accord reached in December, commits nearly every country on the planet to taking actions to tackle climate change - and to continuously increase the intensity of those actions in the coming decades. But absent major breakthroughs in decoupling, governments are likely to be hesitant to take aggressive steps to curb emissions if they mean economic loss. In the United States, the world's biggest economy, the decoupling of emissions and economic growth was driven chiefly by the boom in domestic natural gas, which when burned produces about half the carbon pollution of coal. The glut of cheap natural gas drove electric utilities away from coal, while still lighting and powering ever more homes and factories. The decoupling was also driven by improvements in energy-efficiency technology. The decoupling trend held even in the country's industrial sector. Between 2000 and 2014, Aden found that energy-related carbon dioxide emissions dropped 16 per cent in the sector, while economic activity increased 9 per cent. But decoupling can hurt. Even as the industrial sector grew overall in those years, a push by factories to use more energy-efficient technology contributed to a 21 per cent loss of industrial jobs, Aden says. Thorny questions In smaller economies, decoupling hurts less. Sweden experienced economic growth of 31 per cent as its emissions fell 8 per cent, continuing a long-standing trend driven by its tax on carbon emissions, instituted in 1991. Today Sweden gets nearly half of its electricity from nuclear power, which produces no emissions, and 35 per cent from renewable sources, particularly hydroelectric. But in large, industrial economies that are trying to decouple, the change raises thorny questions. For example, will the pollution just move elsewhere? In Britain, emissions fell 20 per cent between 2000 and 2014, while GDP grew 27 per cent. That was largely the result of a push to de-industrialise in the country that gave birth to the Industrial Revolution. As Britain's financial and service sectors grew and its coal mines, mills and steel factories closed, some of those industries went to China, which became the world's largest polluter. According to Aden's study, China's GDP has increased 270 per cent since 2000 and its carbon emissions rose 178 per cent. But there are very tentative signs that even China may be decoupling. In a paper published last month by the journal Climate Policy, two British researchers made the case that China's emissions may have peaked in 2014 and have now begun a modest decline. It is hard to know for sure because China's self-reported emissions data can be faulty. But if it is true, and China's economy continues on even a modest growth path, it could have profound implications for the future of climate change. "The question with China is if they really have turned the corner and if it can stick," Aden said. Decoupling presents another problem. "The countries that have achieved decoupling have de-industrialised - and that has increased income inequality," US Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, said in an interview. "One of the things that has not been analysed is the job prospects for those families. There's going to be unintended consequences of their livelihoods being curtailed." Just a dream? Meanwhile, some left-wing economists still say that the dream of decoupling is just that - and that the only way to truly lower emissions will be to bite the bullet and accept a hit to the economy. Norwegian lawmakers are pushing for the country's $US850 billion ($1.1 trillion) sovereign wealth fund to drop all investments in companies that use tax havens as indignation over the practice swells following the Panama Papers revelations. "Norway will have a serious problem in explaining how we can continue using the world's biggest fund to legitimise robber states that are hiding corrupt money," said Snorre Valen, a lawmaker for the Socialist Left, who urged other parties in parliament to back the initiative. The fund has an estimated 200 billion kroner ($31 billion) in assets parked in tax havens, according to Valen. Revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that politicians, banks, celebrities and criminals across the globe used Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to hide wealth have caused widespread embarrassment and forced a spotlight on the culture that allowed such practices. ICIJ cited a leak covering documents spanning 1977 to 2015. Part of the Norwegian wealth fund's real estate unit, which was granted permission on Tuesday to add $US17 billion to its portfolio, is based in Luxembourg. While the use of low-tax bases can be perfectly legal, the Panama documents have ignited a global debate on the seemliness of continuing such practices. Question. When is libertarianism not liberating? Answer: When it's really a feudalistic patriarchy, a trompe l'oeil of birds and flowers hiding a hardhead pile-driving agenda. In particular, when it's the low-profile but remarkably influential Institute of Public Affairs. The IPA is usually described as a "radical libertarian think tank" but it's not libertarian, since its freedoms for the few spell oppression for the many. It's also not-thoughtful and so not-public it's almost clandestine. This is no semantic thing. We're used to weasel words. Australian politics is like one of those World War II towns with its street signs turned awry to confuse the dreaded Hun. We all know that the Liberals are not liberal, the Nationals are not national, and the IPA is not some august public-interest watchdog stamped with official gravitas. No, this is about who and what is driving the national political agenda. Fairfax Media sought comment from Dr Marshall, via CSIRO's media unit. A CSIRO spokesman said the organisation is "aware of the complaint which has been referred to the CSIRO chairman for consideration in accordance with CSIRO procedures". "In relation to staffing levels, the number of staff affected by the changes remain as stated in Dr Marshall's all-staff email of February 4 of in the order of 350," he said. "We know this change is very difficult for the people who are directly affected and we're working hard to give them certainty as soon as possible." A spokesman for Mr Pyne said CSIRO was "an independent statutory agency governed by a board of directors". "Advice from the CSIRO is that there will be no net job losses overall across the agency," the spokesman said, adding that the agency will still have more than 300 scientists working on climate mitigation and adaptation research even after the loss to monitoring and modelling efforts goes through. Labor's shadow industry minister Kim Carr said the prospect of a 100 additional staff to be cut was "deeply disturbing". "This whole proposed restructure is a botched response to the Abbott-Turnbull government's anti-climate science, anti-public good research agenda," Senator Carr said. Labor called on Mr Pyne "to act immediately to prevent further damage to CSIRO's reputation and the morale of its hard-working scientists", he said. Separately, 21 scientists lodged a formal complaint against Dr Marshall for his behaviour during a staff meeting with the Land & Water division at Black Mountain in Canberra on March 22. Fairfax Media understands the scientists, who sent the complaint to CSIRO chairman David Thodey, claim Dr Marshall breached CSIRO's code of conduct, "which must not bully, victimise or discriminate against any other staff", one of the signatories said. Dr Marshall was "dismissive, intimidatory and confrontational" in his approach during a question and answer session, a transcript of which has been sent to Fairfax Media. When asked why CSIRO was making the cuts, including about 100 to the Land & Water division, Dr Marshall replied: "So, when you say I'm cutting them, what do you mean? Who is cutting them? Me, personally? So, your customers haven't cut you at all? Your customers haven't cut you. it is not them, it is me. Is that right? Let me ask a question? How big is the hole in this group's revenue pipeline? What is the funding gap from your customers? How big is it?" Dr Marshall later sent out an email to all staff in the unit involved at 8.12am on Easter Saturday to acknowledge "that this is really hard on everyone and I know many of us our having sleepless nights". "I am truly sorry for the pain that this is causing our people," the email said. "I know our meeting at Black Mountain was difficult for everyone and, on reflection, doing an open mic Q&A format with me standing in front of 200 people led to an adversarial style debate." It's hard being beautiful according to someone who should know, Charlize Theron. The South African-born actress, 40, said it's particularly so for gorgeous actresses looking for the best film roles because the "pretty people get turned away first". Lucky for the unattractive ones then. It's hard being beautiful according to someone who should know, Charlize Theron. Credit:Getty "Jobs with real gravitas go to people that are physically right for them and that's the end of the story. How many roles are out there for the gorgeous, f..king, gown-wearing eight-foot model?" the Mad Max: Fury Road star told the latest issue of British GQ. "When meaty roles come through, I've been in the room and pretty people get turned away first." Fashion blogger Rozalia Russian has been forced to rethink the security of her social media platforms after a hacker staged a "takeover" of her Instagram account and extorted about $5000 for its return. Mrs Russian a leading Melbourne blogger, "social ambassador" and "influencer" whose livelihood is based on her 167,000 followers on her @rozalia_russian account and another 14,700 for her online store @rozalia.com.au is not only attractive to the brands and companies with which she works. Hackers are now apparently targeting those with an affluent profile and Instagram celebrity. Blogger Rozalia Russian had her instagram account hacked for a ransom. Credit:Penny Stephens Cyber security expert Ty Miller, of Threat Intelligence, said hackers were "very opportunistic" when it came to extortion. "Social media account hacking, including Instagram, is big business these days, since hackers can make a lot of money through compromised accounts," Mr Miller said. Alas, it seems we are now even more certain that dying from a broken heart is more than just a poetic metaphor. Using extensive nationwide data, Danish researchers have found that the severely stressful life event of losing a partner is followed by an increased risk of atrial fibrillation, lasting for 12 months. The Heart Foundation is leading a campaign to increase funding for a rehabilitation program. Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm connected with increased risk of stroke and heart attack. The study, led by Simon Graff at Aarhus University, found that the overall risk of developing atrial fibrillation within 30 days of a bereavement was 41 per cent higher than the control group. Former De La Salle College Revesby Heights student Adrian Coorie is suing his old school over his alleged sexual abuse Credit:ABC 7.30 Mr Coorie alleges the school knew, or ought to have known, that a former teacher, Errol Swayne, was a habitual sexual abuser of boys and failed to ensure Mr Coorie's safety as a student. Mr Coorie was encouraged to make the claim after telling the royal commission of the assaults he allegedly suffered at the hands of Mr Swayne, who lived on a caravan on the school grounds. "Sometimes you can think that you are the only person that something has happened to but that's not the case," Mr Coorie told 7.30. "And that's where that was confirmed that other people had already been there and spoken to the royal commission about the same person, so that was a bit of an eye-opener too," he said. Mr Swayne, who has since killed himself, allegedly showed Mr Coorie pornographic films in the caravan on weekends, and molested him in his office during school hours. Mr Koffel told Fairfax Media his clients were seeking damages ranging from hundreds of thousands of dollars to claims in the millions. "That in each case varies but it is made up of past medical expenses, past economic loss, future economic loss - it's a complicated formula," he said. "There's obviously a systemic problem amongst all of these schools and one hopes that taking these actions, our clients who are the victims not only will be compensated but will get apologies from various institutions and recognition that the school has done the wrong thing by them," he said. "The outcome hopefully is that each school will have better procedures in the future so it will never happen again." Mr Koffel said three of the cases were against Scots, in relation to the school's former maths department head John Joseph Beckett, who has already been convicted of the assaults. The claim against the school is that it did not protect students from teachers. "They had a responsibility to look after their teachers and we say that the school is liable for the actions of their teachers," Mr Koffel said. In a statement to the ABC, the Presbyterian Church of Australia on behalf of Scots College said it did not want to make any statement that may impinge on the court process. "We support those who have come forward to tell their story of what happened to them and we respect their courage in doing so," the statement said. A Knox Grammar spokesman told the ABC he was unable to comment while the claims were before the court. A spokeswoman for Waverley College said the school was aware of a claim in the Supreme Court regarding an accusation of abuse. "This claim has been filed against the Trustees of the Christian Brothers, the previous administrators of the school, as distinct from the school's current administration," the spokesman said. "The Christian Brothers ceased administration of the College in 2007 and as such we have no records of the alleged events. Waverley College has zero tolerance for abuse of any kind," she said. The action against De La Salle College, Revesby Heights, is against De La Salle Brothers, which had governance of the school at the time. Opponents of a proposed Gold Coast mosque have had a major victory after a court rejected the Muslim place of worship because it's simply "too big". Queensland's Planning and Environment Court dismissed an appeal from the mosque's proponents on Wednesday, 18 months after the proposal was knocked back by the Gold Coast City Council. The Gold Coast City Council meeting was packed as an application to build a mosque was considered. Credit:Tony Moore The plan to convert a Currumbin Waters warehouse into a mosque had sparked massive outcry in the community, with thousands submitting objections to the development. It would have been the second mosque on the Gold Coast, with the region's Muslims already served by the Arundel mosque in the city's north. Queensland's peak medical body has poured cold water on the state health minister's call for an independent review into vaccine availability just minutes after it was made. Health Minister Cameron Dick on Wednesday morning called for the federal government to conduct the review in response to the delayed rollout of the flu vaccine for the second year in a row. Health Minister Cameron Dick is encouraging men to sign up for the Queensland government's PrEP trial. Credit:Jorge Branco But Australian Medical Association Queensland president Chris Zappala said the vaccine was available now and government bureaucracy was likely to blame. More than 2000 influenza cases have already been confirmed in Queensland this year, twice as many as the average across the past five years. A Gold Coast circus acrobat sentenced to more than nine years in jail for intentionally infecting his girlfriend with HIV has won a High Court appeal against his conviction. Godfrey Zaburoni, 37, had been ordered to serve a nine-and-a-half year jail term in April 2013 after he became the second person in Queensland to be convicted of intentionally transmitting a serious infectious disease. But, in its judgement on Wednesday morning, the High Court upheld his appeal against the conviction and ordered the sentence be set aside. He will now be be re-sentenced on a lesser charge of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm, to which he has already pleaded guilty. Queensland and federal police have united to tackle paedophiles online, with the state's police minister admitting he is astounded by just how big a market there is in child exploitation. Australian Federal Police and the Queensland Police Service on Wednesday formalised an agreement to work together to find and prosecute online predators by officially launching the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET). Queensland and federal police have joined forces to target child sex predators. The joint team will see nine AFP agents work alongside specialist state-based Taskforce Argos detectives to track down sexual predators within the state, in Australia and overseas. Queensland Police Minister Bill Byrne said before he took on his current role, he thought only a small part of society was interested in and shared child exploitation material. "Thirdly, he should immediately advise Queenslanders what discussions took place with criminal gang members with respect to his giving his support to the Palaszczuk Government and if part of that support was to get rid of criminal gang legislation in this state, fourthly, Peter Wellington should come out today... Peter Wellington must sustain from the vote, because of his conflict of interest in getting advice from drug traffickers and criminal gang members. "If Mr Wellington doesn't today, acknowledge all those questions and answer all those questions, then Mr Wellington, because of the high respect I have for the office of Speaker, should consider whether he is a fit and proper person to serve in any of the roles that he currently is in Queensland and that includes being a member of the Legislative Assembly in Queensland." Mr Bleijie said the issue came down to integrity. "Whether he resigns or not is a matter for Mr Wellington, but there are huge integrity and accountability issues over Mr Wellington's head at the moment, with respect to what he knew, what he did and what he promised criminal gang drug traffickers. "Remember the Michael Smith who was convicted of drug trafficking was convicted because he was helping traffic $166,000 worth of meth across Queensland. "This meth kills people, this meth kills kids, Mr Wellington has not said anything, has not condemned it, other than a bizarre rant on his Facebook page and just saying accept this as my excuse for any of this." Mr Wellington became a vocal critic of the Newman laws, after a group of men, nicknamed the Yandina 5 by the media, were arrested while having a drink at a Sunshine Coast pub, under the anti-association laws which banned designated gang members and their associates from gathering in groups of three or more. While Mike Smith and his son Steven had been charged with drug trafficking charges they were recently convicted of the case made headlines for the civil liberties aspect, given the men had not been convicted at the time. Mr Wellington campaigned against the aspects of the law which allowed for suspected gang members to be automatically denied bail, sent to solitary confinement, wear pink jumpsuits and be arrested for associating without convictions. The Yandina 5 and their supporters supported Mr Wellington's re-election campaign, handing out how-to-vote cards at the 2015 poll and wearing anti-LNP t-shirts. But the conviction of the Smiths, and the Palaszczuk Government's announcement it will repeal the bulk of the Newman Government gang laws in the wake of the Wilson review, has opened up an avenue for the Opposition to attack Mr Wellington's position. The Nicklin MP has not responded beyond posting a message on his Facebook page defending his campaign against the "draconian VLAD laws" which he said "attacked basic civil rights". "Criminals whether bikies, murderers, fraudsters or corrupt politicians should face the full force of the law and all be equal before the law," Mr Wellington said on Facebook. "And, Queensland already had existing laws to deal with all of these crimes. "The VLAD laws were shown to be an overreaction by the LNP who with their huge majority sacked thousands and picked fights with anyone who dared to question their decisions. "They were so arrogant they brought in laws that took away our civil liberties, we were no longer innocent until proven guilty and the right to a fair trial was removed. No longer could a person have their charges tested in a Court of Law before being sent to jail. "It was madness by a Government drunk with power. "I am pleased that my involvement in highlighting this abuse of power caused by these laws has resulted in this review." Mr Wellington declined to comment on Wednesday. But Health Minister Cameron Dick defended Mr Wellington as a man of 'great integrity' who was respected by his electorate for his independence. Still unable to say how its changes to the Newman government bikie laws would work - and whether the new legislation would still stop members of criminal gangs meeting in groups if they didn't have convictions - the Palaszczuk government has changed tact. After days of questioning and conflicting answers over the scrapping of anti-association laws, in favour of New South Wales's anti-consorting laws, acting Premier Jackie Trad made sure to add a caveat to every statement she made over gang members gathering. They won't be able to do it - in their colours. "As the Premier has said and as the Attorney-General has said, we will get the implementation and the translations of the recommendations into laws, right," Ms Trad said from the Gold Coast. A Queensland man has faced court over the alleged murder of a woman in a caravan park on Brisbane's southside. Nathan Rodney O'Malley, 37, appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday after police charged him with the murder of a 41-year-old woman who died after being found with internal injuries at the Eight Mile Plains caravan park on March 16. A woman was found with internal injuries at an Eight Mile Plains caravan park. Credit:Michele Mossop The two were not married but are believed to have been in a relationship. Magistrate Judith Daley adjourned the case until May 3 after O'Malley's lawyer, Lyall Parker, indicated his client didn't wish to apply for bail but was aware he would need to have the matter heard in a higher court. At least now the farmers will be able to track these rare and welcome showers more efficiently on the new radar station Andrews announced for the Wimmera wheat belt. When he stopped to declare Ararat's renovated outdoor pool re-opened, the temperature hovered at a frigid 14 degrees. Premier Daniel Andrews speaks with fifth generation sheep farmer Jason Pymer on his farm in Wonwondah during the Premier's drought tour of Victoria. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer For too long farmers had been calling for "real time weather data", Mr Andrews declared, announcing Victoria would help fund a new radar for the Wimmera. Under dark clouds, Victorian Farmers Federation's Charlie de Fegely stood out the front of the Ararat RSL telling reporters the grim conditions farmers, and indeed the whole community, were facing. "You've bought the rain with you," Mr De Fegely said as he greeted Mr Andrews. As the Premier walked past the dozen locals already playing the pokies, the Guns 'n' Roses classic November Rain blared through the pub's speakers. And while the rain was welcome, it was not enough. All day, the Premier stressed that drought was a serious issue that many in Melbourne do not fully comprehend. Fogwell pleaded guilty to murder, and faced judgment on Wednesday morning. Pamela wasn't in the Supreme Court although she remains in a relationship with Fogwell, and visits him regularly in jail. One of the men, Adam Moody, died under Gavin Fogwell's car in October last year, dragged through two properties and run over repeatedly in a brutal slaying. Pamela Fogwell and Adam Moody. Mr Moody thought he was the father of Pamela's child. Credit:Seven News The two met in 1998, and were married 10 months later. They had several children together, and in 2014 she was pregnant again. But the marriage was failing. Pamela had taken out an intervention order against Fogwell. Worse, she had moved herself and the children out of the family home and had gone to live with Mr Moody, a primary school friend who she had stayed in touch with for 20 years. Both he and Fogwell came to believe the child was theirs. Pamela did not have much luck with relationships. Her new on-again-off-again relationship with Mr Moody broke down too. She took the kids and moved back into the family home with Fogwell. She told Fogwell that Mr Moody wanted him dead, and he believed her. But Pamela couldn't end it. Her feelings confused her. On the night of Mr Moody's death she spoke with him on the phone, and they arranged to meet. She told Fogwell she was going to spend the night with a girlfriend. Residents in Victoria's north-west have been evacuated from their homes after a petrol tanker rolled on the Calder Highway. Emergency services were called to the highway in Inglewood, near the intersection of Sullivan Street, at 7.45pm on Wednesday. A CFA spokeswoman said power lines were down and fuel was leaking onto the road, which leads into the small town near Bendigo. An emergency warning issued just before 10pm said residents should not go near the crash site and anyone near Heales Street should leave immediately and go to the Inglewood Senior Citizens club. A second horse has been euthanised after a mass rescue of horses from a Melbourne property. Police discovered 22 dead horses on a Bulla property on Sunday, with others severely malnourished and one that needed to be euthanised. The RSPCA took 23 live horses from the property on Monday, but a severely emaciated elderly horse has since had to be euthanised, becoming the second horse to be put down. Jakarta: An Australian man facing drug charges in Perth has been arrested in Bali for allegedly impersonating another Australian and using multiple fake identities. Shaun Edward Davidson, 31, was due in Perth Magistrates Court on January 28, charged with four offences including possessing methamphetamine and cannabis to sell or supply. Shaun Edward Davidson, 31, waiting to be transferred to Kerobokan jail in Bali after being charged with possessing another person's identity and overstaying his visa. Credit:Amilia Rosa He failed to show up to court in Perth but on Tuesday he emerged in Bali where he was named a suspect for possessing another person's identity and overstaying his visa. Brussels: One of the suicide bombers who attacked Brussels airport on March 22 had worked as a cleaner in the offices of the European Parliament. The man "held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament" in 2009 and again in 2010, a EU statement quoted by Agence France-Presse said. While it did not name the man, AFP learnt it was Najim Laachraoui who is also suspected of being the maker of bombs used in the November 13 attacks in Paris. Photographs of Najim Laachraoui released by authorities. Credit:AP The revelation comes two weeks after Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks which killed 32 people at the airport and at a train station in Brussels, and a week after it was revealed a file with the floor plan and photographs of the office of the Belgian prime minister was found on a laptop discarded by one of the terrorists linked to the attacks. Beijing: China has begun operating a lighthouse on one of its artificial islands in the South China Sea near the route a US warship sailed last year to challenge China's territorial claims. China claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, through which about $US5 trillion ($6.6 trillion) in ship-borne trade passes every year. But neighbours Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims. Dredgers working at the northernmost reclamation site of Mischief Reef, part of the Spratly Islands, in the South China Sea last year. China's transport ministry held a "completion ceremony", marking the start of operations at the 55-metre high lighthouse on Subi Reef, where construction began in October, state news agency Xinhua said on Tuesday. 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 Both the global banking regulator and Australias banking regulator have warned another financial crisis is imminent.Speaking at the Australian Financial Review (AFR) Banking and Wealth Summit in Sydney yesterday, Bill Coen, the secretary-general of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the global banking regulator, said another global financial crisis is statistically certain.As regulators, our focus is invariably on the downside risks rather than the upside. I'm an optimist by nature but maybe a pessimist by fact and experience. We know with statistical certainty there will be another financial crisis, Coen said.Echoing Coens warning, Wayne Byres , the chairman of Australian banking regulator APRA, said it is not a matter of if but when.When adversity arrives and it will, it is not if, it will to the extent possible we want the banking system to help alleviate rather than exacerbate problems. Ideally act as a shock absorber not an amplifier.Byres said this is why it is important to build strength and resilience now.The main message I want to talk about today is that it is better we continue to invest in building resilience now when it can be done in an orderly manner from a position of relative strength than try to do so in more difficult times.Last year, the regulator announced an increase in the amount of capital required to be held by lenders against residential mortgages. This resulted in the big four banks raising more than $18 billion combined in new equity from shareholders.APRA also enforced a limit on investment lending and warned it would be keeping a close watch on credit asessments.Byres said capital requirements were likely to continue to move higher in 2016, amongst other regulatory work, to ensure our Australian banks are unquestionably strong, as recommended by the Murray Financial System Inquiry (FSI).Achieving this objective will involve work in four broad areas, and take the next several years to fully implement, Byres told the summit.The four areas I have highlighted are: reinforcing capital strength; improving the stability of liquidity and funding profiles; enhancing both the public and private sectors readiness for adversity; and strengthening the risk culture within the financial system.According to Coen, increasing bank resilience in good times is the most efficient and effective way of dealing with periods of stress.The message here is caution against complacency, Coen said. 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 Facebook has said it does not have intentions to be a financial services organisation, however, the social media giant wants to partner with Australian banks to assist their transition to mobile.Speaking at the Australian Financial Review (AFR) Banking and Wealth Summit in Sydney yesterday, Facebooks head of financial services Australia, Paul McCrory said banks can leverage Facebooks vast scale to innovate mobile banking.He says the social media giant has built these huge mobile platforms that Australian banks should use to build a better mobile experience in financial services.Banks are mobile businesses as well, except that they have this legacy that sits behind them. So where were operating now is how do we help partner with this vast scale weve got to help a bank, for example, drive digital adoption, McCrory said.How do we help the banks actually drive more and more people to use mobile services of some description, rather than having to go to a branch and then over time create the best possible mobile branch experienceMcCrory says bank branches in their current form are inefficient for todays consumers.Were not going to build a financial services organisation. What were here trying to do is help these organisations pivot to these more modern mobile type services.Whilst McCrory says Facebook has no intention to compete with the banks, the tech platform has dabbled in providing a financial service itself. Last year, Facebook announced a new payments feature for Facebook Messenger users in the United States, allowing users to make person-to-person payments by adding their debit card details on the Messenger service. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton addressed more than 300 boisterous Brooklynites at a Women For Hillary Town Hall at Medgar Evers College in Crown Heights on April 5. Clinton shared the stage at the historically black college with several prominent local women of color, positioning herself as an ally to women and minorities groups her primary opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders has ignored, critics have charged. But when it came to talking points, the former Secretary of State largely looked past the primary and directed criticism at potential Republican opponents. I am thrilled to have a chance to be here in Brooklyn, and here at Medgar Evers College and the values of New York are the values of America, Clinton said, rebutting Republican Ted Cruzs suggestion that New Yorkers are morally inferior. Rep. Yvette Clark (DFlatbush), Public Advocate Letitia James, and First Lady of New York Chirlane McCray all of whom are black flanked the former secretary of state as she hammered Republicans for marginalizing women and minorities. Clinton called for workplaces to report employees wages as a means of high-lighting the gender pay gap, raising the federal minimum wage which advocates say would help close that gap and bolstering minority- and women-owned small businesses all positions her Republican opponents refuse to take, she said. Now everything I just said, the Republicans disagree with, Clinton said. My goal is to knock down every barrier preventing every American from fulfilling his or her potential especially women. But she managed one swipe at Sanders who is gaining on her in polls for his call to make college free. I have a plan for more young people to go to college but not free college, Clinton said. Clinton will debate Sanders in the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 14 five days ahead of the New York primary. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams Its a slice of real Brooklyn in hipster Williamsburg. A red-sauce Bensonhurst restaurant expanded into the boroughs so-called epicenter of cool this weekend with a menu that eschews arcane antipasta, primi, and secundi in favor of the do-it-yourself ethos that so many work-from-home types profess to adore by letting customers build their own pizza from a smattering of traditional and not-so-traditional (hotdog anyone?) toppings, an owner said. We changed the concept up a bit with the assembly line style, but its still the same great recipe the pizza is legit, said Carlo Alaimo, who owns 20th Avenues Europa and opened Pie Smith on Grand Street in Williamsburg on April 1. And the beard-brunch-and-bicycle set is eating it up, he said. We ran out of food on Friday [opening day], which is a good sign, I think, Alaimo said. We sold out and put up a sign on the door said wed be back around 7:30, and when we opened, we ran out again by 9. Alaimo, his brothers Marco and Alex, and a friend spent about a year hunting for a new location that was far enough from Europas home in Italian enclave Bensonhurst. They looked in Park Slope and Downtown where real estate is hotter than a coal-fired oven but settled on the relatively low-key section of Grand Street between Williamsburgs sickeningly hip waterfront and too-hot-to-handle East Williamsburg. The pizzaiolos will have some heated competition gastro-media darling Robertas is a 15-minute stroll away and free-beer-with-your-PBR bar Alligator Lounge is practically around the corner but the pie smiths are confident their old-school recipe will top the other pizza slingers pies. We think the pizza is some of the best in New York, so we wanted to get it out there some more, Alaimo said. Pie Smith [679 Grand St. between Manhattan and Graham avenues in Williamsburg, (929) 2950472]. Sun.Wed., 11 am10 pm; Thurs.Sat., 11 am11 pm. Sign up for our amNY Sports email newsletter to get insights and game coverage for your favorite teams 68th Precinct Bay RidgeDyker Heights Crossing boroughs Detectives arrested a pair of suspects from Queens who they say came broke into an 87th Street home on March 29. They took pricey jewelry from the home between Narrows Avenue and Colonial Road in a quick hit just after noon, police said. But detectives nabbed them on the way back to Queens and found them with the jewelry, a police scanner, and tools in their vehicle. Diamond heist An intruder stole cash and jewelry out of a womans 86th Street home on March 29, police said. The woman left her home near Gatling Place around 8 am and returned around 5:30 pm to find a rear window wide open. Police later found pry marks on the window sill. A wallet with $8,000 inside and diamond rings were missing. Register raid Looters broke into a Third Avenue restaurant in the early morning hours of March 28, police said. Surveillance video at the restaurant near 92nd Street shows the thieves cutting the locks and breaking in through a side door just after 2 am. They broke open the registers and grabbed a total of $5,000 before dashing, according to police. Cash grab A home invader broke through a Seventh Avenue homes kitchen window on April 1 to steal cash, according to a police report. The homeowner was gone from around 6 am on April 1 until around 4 pm the next day, and when he came back to his house between 70th and 71st streets he found someone had removed metal bars on the window and ransacked the entire house. The looter found a series of envelopes containing cash that were hid around the house and got away with roughly $2,000, police said. Dennis Lynch Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint , from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.) Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives . You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast. Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category. "How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop. For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form . His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parrys Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews. Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades. Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com , Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest. Brazilian Corruption Crisis or Attempted Coup d'etat? Posted April 6, 2016 Interview with Ted Snider, journalist, conducted by Scott Harris For months now, Brazil has been embroiled in a swirling corruption scandal, known as "Lava Jato" (or "car wash") involving the state oil company Petrobras, construction contractors, the ruling Workers' Party and opposition politicians. As the nation prepares for this summer's Olympic games, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has been dogged by a slumping economy and an impeachment drive by conservative opponents who charge that she had "cooked the books" in the run-up to the 2014 presidential election. Prosecutors have attempted to implicate popular two-term President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as "Lula." In mid-March, prosecutors questioned Lula on allegations of money laundering involving a vacation home and a construction company, which the former president denied. When his successor President Rousseff sought to appoint Lula as her chief of staff, the move was seen by opponents as a way to shield Lula from possible future prosecution. A justice on Brazil's Supreme Court responded by blocking the appointment, which Lula has appealed. Amid large anti-government and pro-government street protests, President Rousseff has charged that the allegations against her are false, and part of a coup attempt to remove her from office orchestrated by her political enemies. Between The Line's Scott Harris spoke with Canadian journalist Ted Snider who discusses his recent article, "A 'Silent Coup' for Brazil?", which examines the current crisis in Brazil against the backdrop of the U.S. exercise of "soft power" in the post-Cold War era to destabilize and topple governments it viewed as adversaries in Eastern Europe and Latin America. [Rush transcript.] TED SNIDER: So what's going on in Brazil right now has the appearance of democracy in action, has the appearance of massive street protests against Dilma Rousseff's (Worker's Party) PT government. And it has the appearance of a noble judicial effort to bring members of the government up on corruption charges. So the way it's being presented in the North American media and most of Brazil's media is sort of this model of mass democracy expressing itself in a really noble way. So you're getting impeachment attempts against Dilma Rouseff. You're getting former President Lula Da Silva being held for questioning. You're getting people arrested for kickbacks and bribery. But what's scary about it is that it fits a pattern that's been occurring in Latin America, but elsewhere in the world since the beginning of the Obama administration since 2009, where things that look like democratic moves to improve government are actually coups that look like democracy. These are very different from the first stage of Latin American coups that involved the (U.S.) Marines and guns, and the second state of coups that began in 1954 with the CIA covert coup in Guatemala. And the pattern that strikes me in the last few years is that these coups have gone even deeper into the shadows where they don't look like coups at all, they actually look democracy. I raise the question in my article of whether this appearance of democracy isn't just in fact part of this pattern of what I perceive to be a new style of coup. BETWEEN THE LINES: I think to the casual reader of the U.S. corporate press, they would look at the stories written and the TV coverage of what's going on in Brazil and believe that there is a lot of evidence that would suggest the Workers' Party leadership has been corrupted and deserved to be held to account. How do you counter the notion that this is some kind of mass democratic rejection of the Workers' Party for this apparent corruption and not somethng more nefarious, like an opposition party-led coup d'etat? TED SNIDER: So Scott, I think there's two or three things to be said to that. And the first is this thing called "Lava Jato" or "car wash" or "corruption cleaning." I think it did start as a sort of noble judiciary and police action against real corruption in the government. So I don't want to pretend that there's no corruption in Brazilian government or in the Workers' Party (PT). There certainly is corruption. But I think that two things need to be said about that. The first is the specific charges brought up against the current president and the former president. Actually, they have nothing to do with "lava jato" and they have nothing to do with corruption. The impeachment charge against Dilma Rousseff is that she used borrowed money to make it look like Brazil's budget was still on track. This is not an impeachable offense, it's not even an illegal offense, it's a common practice. So they found no corruption charges against Dilma herself. So the attempt to impeach the president was actually outside of "Lava Jato", it's outside of the corruption charges. Similarly with Lula da Silva, the charges that have been brought against Lula are that he owns some beachside property that he claims not to own and that he accepted money from corporations for giving speeches. Now, the two things we said about that is that neither one is illegal, neither is an impeachable offense, and more importantly, they both occurred after he was president. So although there is certainly corruption in the PT, the charges against the current and former presidents have nothing to do with the corruption. More importantly, the corruption was present in both parties. It was present in the PT and probably to a greater extent in the right-wing opposition, the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party). So it started off as finding dirt in both parties. But what happened is that the "car wash" got car-jacked and it got transformed from finding corruption in both parties to shielding the PSDB and only really only going after corruption in the PT. BETWEEN THE LINES: So what is the role of Washington here in supporting what you contend is really a coup d'etat that is in part supported by external forces? TED SNIDER: Scott, I think that's the ultimate question. I think there are indications that there could be U.S. involvement. But I don't think that those indications have been proven yet. The reason that I raise the question the article I am suspicious of is that the other countries that fit this pattern have been shown to have U.S. involvement. The two coups that happened first in South America this way were Honduras, when President Manuel Zelaya was taken out in a coup in what looked like a constitutional move and you had a constitutional coup. Shortly after that in Paraguay, the same thing happened, also in Latin America where the right-wing opposition seized power in the legislature, where they took advantage of a skirmish over a disputed land that left about a dozen people dead. They unfairly blamed it on the left-wing President Fernando Lugo. We know that the Americans knew about both of these coups, because leaked documents, WikiLeak documents show it. The pattern in Brazil is similar, so one wonders if it's backed by the States and certainly, there's that suspicion. So I don't think there's proof yet, but I think the pattern demands that we ask the question. Read Snider's recent article "A 'Silent Coup' for Brazil?" at consortiumnews.com/2016/03/30/a-silent-coup-for-brazil/. Related Links: Tonys identity is stolen multiple times in NCIS season 13 episode 20, Charade, and the imposters are blackmailing Senators. Not only does Tony find himself accused of impersonating himself at one point, but it also turns out that the person behind stealing his identity is a woman he dated once, Leah (from After Hours). Here are the best quotes from Charade. NCIS Recap: Who Steals Tonys Identity?>>> Why deprive the politicians? Most of them have not had a drink since this morning. Tony: Would you like a glass of bubbly, Director? Vance: No drinking on the clock, Agent DiNozzo. Tony: Of course not, sir. And why deprive the politicians? Most of them have not had a drink since this morning. Hes not really a people person. Hes more of a basement person. Lisa: Name? Tony: Im Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo, NCIS. Lisa: We were expecting a Special Agent Gibbs. Tony: Well, consider yourself lucky. Hes not really a people person. Hes more of a basement person. I usually only have that effect on women. Tony, after two Senators excuse themselves after meeting him Cant say I know a lot about her music, but shes Katy Perry. Shes got the fiery hair. Roar! Tony Hows that investigation going now, Hicks? Gibbs to the deputy who thinks the deceased was drunk or fell asleep and then McGee and Bishop find signs there was another vehicle involved Investigators dont guess, Deputy. They study. They analyze. They make inference based on evidence and facts. Ducky schooling the deputy I made a joke. McGee: So much for getting those contacts. Ducky: I think its safe to say that his last contact was with the pole. I made a joke. After McGee realizes he cant get any information off the victims phone Sure, Gibbs. Ill just push my identify a stranger based solely on the back of their head button. Abby, after Gibbs asks her if she can ID someone even though they dont have any images of her face She told me that Id get to play a government agent. You know, like Jason Bourne. Instead, of course, I get Jason Boring. Tiny Tony, explaining why he took the job to impersonate Tony NCIS Casts Sarah Clarke as Tess Monroe Can She Be Trusted?>>> Nothing changes with you. Tony: How long have I been working for NCIS? Tiny Tony: Long enough that you should be making better money. Wait for it, wait for it. Yep, youre pathetic. Tall Tony: Im not even that good at memorizing lines. You were easy! You have no life. Tiny Tony: Thats true. Yeah, no wife, no kids, no hobbies. Same job, same apartment. I mean, nothing changes with you. Tony: What a fun conversation. Did you happen to catch her name, DiNozzo, or is that not the way that dates work anymore? Gibbs when Tony says he doesnt know who Leah is Yes, and not the way I like. Abby: Do you feel violated? Tony: Yes, and not the way I like. You dont need to put on a show. You are Very Special Agent Anthony freakin DiNozzo, and you are a catch. Abby: Tony, you dont have a cat. Or a dog. Tony: Its a long story. Abby: Yeah. You pretend to have a pet to impress women. Tony: So its a short story. Abby: I just dont get it. You dont need to put on a show. You are Very Special Agent Anthony freakin DiNozzo, and you are a catch. Tony: Maybe I just havent met the right one yet. Abby: Or maybe youre afraid of who youre gonna find. SECNAVs never gonna call a ship The Hannibal, unless its christened with fava beans and a bottle of chianti. Tony about McGee wanting to enter Hannibal Hamlin into SECNAVs contest to name an aircraft carrier I believe you could just as easily be the thief in all this. You got beady little rat eyes like one. An officer before he arrests Tony for impersonating a federal officer NCIS Casts Duane Henry as New Agent Michael Weatherlys Replacement?>>> You are Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. You survived the pneumonic plague. You saved Gibbs from drowning. But you know what? More than anything, youre one of my best friends. Tony: Feel like my life is a charade. Youd tell me, right, if I was losing my edge? The DiNozzo edge? Cause I feel like it. I mean, I get swindled by a bimbo. I got Laurel and Hardy impersonating me. What about the third guy? Is he a buffoon? Is that who I am? McGee: You havent lost your edge. You momentarily misplaced it, okay? Youre getting it back. Tony: Did a lot of thinking in the big house. Time passed real slow. Honestly, sometimes, I feel like I dont know who I am. And its strange, because she stole my identity, right? But I feel like Ive already lost my identity. I mean, what is this? Seriously, is this some kind of weird metaphor for my current psychological state? McGee: Look, I dont understand half of what youre talking about right now, okay? And we dont have time for an existential crisis. Listen to me. You are Very Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. You survived the pneumonic plague. You saved Gibbs from drowning. But you know what? More than anything, youre one of my best friends. NCIS season 13 airs Tuesdays at 8pm on CBS. (Images courtesy of CBS) Campus News Islam will be the focus of scholarly events at UB By ELLEN DUSSOURD AND CHARLOTTE HSU Our goal is to educate the community about the meaning of Islam as practiced by the majority of Muslims. A series of public events on Islam will be hosted by UB scholars, students and other groups this April, with the goal of educating the community about the religion and engaging in scholarly dialogue on issues facing Islam today. Titled Redefining the Narrative: Islam in Focus, the event series is being held in response to some of the anti-Muslim rhetoric in the media and U.S. presidential campaign, organizers say. Our goal is to educate the community about the meaning of Islam as practiced by the majority of Muslims, said Samina Raja, associate professor of urban and regional planning and a co-organizer of the events. The hope is to spark thoughtful consideration of and scholarly discussion on this important issue. The series will include four events between April 7 and April 28, including a panel discussion in which Muslim students will discuss their faith and their experiences living in the U.S. and elsewhere. The other three events are a lecture titled An Introduction to Islam; a Muslim Student Association banquet featuring a keynote speech on The True Message of Islam: A Religion of Peace"; and a keynote speech on Islam in the time of ISIS and Islamophobia delivered by the director of the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University. All sessions are open to the public, and all are free with the exception of the banquet, which is a ticketed event (see details below). Attendees are encouraged to bring monetary donations to Food for All, a Western New York organization that strives to reduce hunger. The charitable effort reflects the importance that Islam places on giving and supporting ones community, Raja says. The series is organized by the UB Office of International Education, School of Architecture and Planning, the UB Muslim Student Association, UB Intercultural and Diversity Center and UB Asian Studies Program, with support from those entities, UB and donations from Western New York residents. Event details: Thursday, April 7: An Introduction to Islam 5-6:30 p.m. in 120 Clemens Hall, UB North Campus Presented by Jeannette Ludwig, associate professor in the UB Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and an affiliate of the UB Asian Studies Program, this free, public lecture will focus on Islams role in shaping world history theologically, politically, commercially and artistically. Ludwig will examine the foundations of the religion (Muhammed and the Quran), its central practices and how Islam affects the daily life of both men and women. Friday, April 15: Muslim Student Association banquet 6-9 p.m. at the Buffalo Marriott Niagara, 1340 Millersport Hwy., Amherst Tickets are $15 for UB faculty, staff and students, and $20 for the general public. The keynote speech, The True Message of Islam: A Religion of Peace," will be presented by Shabir Ally, imam and president of the Islamic Information and Dawah Centre International in Toronto. According to a description of the lecture, the talk will discuss the religion of Islam, which found its origins at a period in time when blood feuds, slavery and prejudiced class systems were widespread. Then, the Prophet of Islam came during this turbulent time as a messenger of mercy and changed the course of history. Thursday, April 21: Muslim Students Experiences in the U.S. 5-6:30 p.m. in 210 Student Union, UB North Campus In this panel discussion, Muslim students at UB will discuss their upbringing, faith and experiences as Muslims in the U.S. and other countries. Thursday, April 28: Islam and Muslims in an age of ISIS and Islamophobia 7 p.m. in 104 Knox Hall, UB North Campus This keynote speech will be delivered by professor Omid Safi, director of the Islamic Studies Center at Duke University. This lecture will explore the state of the American Muslim community and the American democratic experiment 15 years after the horrific attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Asserting that few American communities are viewed with more hostility, negativity and suspicion, Safi will explore the challenges faced by the Muslim community as Muslims consistently condemn the attacks of groups like ISIS while at the same time perpetually defending themselves against Islamophobia. At a time when some leading presidential candidates talk seriously about increasing the surveillance of Muslim communities, turning away Muslim refugees and shutting down mosques, Safi will explore questions of importance to American democracy in an age of fear and fear-mongering: Where do we go from here? and How do we rebuild the bonds of the Beloved Community? (The Beloved Community is a term popularized by Martin Luther King Jr. that refers to an inclusive world defined by virtues such as justice, love, compassion and nonviolence.) The Timber Trade Federation (TTF) has announced new guidance for its members on the sales of marine plywood in the UK. Following a meeting of the TTF's governing board on 16 March, it was confirmed that, as of 1 June this year, "all sales in the UK by TTF Members of non-independent third-party QQuality Assured Marine Plywood will cease." The decision has been ratified by the governing board and will form part of the TTF's Code of Conduct for panel product traders. This means that only those products supported by independent third-party quality assurance can be sold as 'Marine Plywood'. The TTF will be issuing guidance via merchants and other professional bodies, as well as to its own members. David Hopkins, managing director of the TTF, said: "It is essential that our members maintain the highest standards across all product ranges. We need to provide the market with the assurance and evidence it requires, that products sold by TTF members are fit for purpose and appropriate for the buyers needs." Since its development in 2003, the NPPD Code of Practice has always contained a requirement on TTF members that the Marine Plywood they supplied must meet the production requirements of BS.1088. Within this standard, the use of independent third-party Quality Assurance schemes are highlighted as useful, but not compulsory. In February 2015, National Panel Products Division (NPPD) members voted to extend this Code of Practice clause, with an additional requirement for compulsory independent third-party Quality Assurance to be included on all contracts placed for Marine Plywood after 1 September, 2015. At an NPPD meeting in December, however, concern was expressed that no new third-party QA Marine Plywood schemes had commenced, but volumes of Marine Plywood were still arriving in the UK from contracts placed before the 1 September deadline. The principle reason cited for the lack of new QA schemes was difficultly on the part of plywood mills to demonstrate, in terms of European Norm EN.350, the durability of species being used in production of Marine Plywood. At the NPPD AGM on 17 February, 2016, further concern was expressed that six months after implementation of the new requirement, the reputation of members, the NPPD and the TTF could be at risk from on-going sales of Marine Plywood without this supporting independent third-party Quality Assurance. Furthermore, plywood mills still appeared to be struggling to demonstrate, in terms of European Norm EN.350, the durability of species being used in production of Marine Plywood. As a result, it was decided that further imports of non-quality-assured Marine Plywod should cease as of 1 June, 2016. This year Baxi is celebrating its 150th year anniversary, and to mark the occasion, heating engineers, consumers, employees, merchants, suppliers and partners from across the UK are being asked to share their special memories of the company. Baxi was launched by iron moulder Richard Baxendale in 1866, and a controllable underfloor draught system for solid fuel heating, launched in 1935, was the first product to bear the Baxi name. Throughout the 1950s, the company became increasingly focused on the domestic heating sector, and Baxi became a familiar household name. Employing nearly 1,600 people, Baxi has a factory in Preston, close to where the company began 150 years ago, and makes over seven million components each year. With its own foundry, Baxi also has a paint shop that has been benchmarked by Mitsubishi. As part of Baxis 150th anniversary celebrations, people are being invited to share happy memories of the company by emailing a message and photograph of themselves to mybaxistory@baxi.co.uk. Each story will be entered into a commemorative online book, to be hosted on the Baxi website, and each photograph will become part of a 150-shaped montage of images, to be completed by the end of 2016. David Pinder, chief executive officer of Baxi, said: Our business has reached an incredibly important milestone; very few businesses have been around for as long as we have, and its a remarkable achievement. We are proud to be celebrating 150 years of Baxi especially as in 2016 we are stronger and more successful than ever. We will be marking the companys anniversary and future with a variety of events and activities throughout the year, and are kicking off the celebrations by launching My Baxi Story. Being around for such a long time means there are millions of people who have had experiences and have built relationships with us. My Baxi Story is about giving anyone with happy memories of Baxi whether they are a heating engineer, consumer, former or current employee, merchant, supplier or partner an opportunity to share their story. Everyone that gets involved will become part of a special commemorative online book and image. Anyone with a Baxi story to tell should email mybaxistory@baxi.co.uk with a message and a photograph. Alternatively, they can write to Jocelynne Rowan, PR manager, Baxi, Brooks House, Coventry Road, Warwick CV34 4LL. 5 changes to you, your seafood and the Shore from warming Atlantic Burnham-On-Seas youth centre is set to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its building next month. The Burnham Area Youth (BAY) Centre Annual General Meeting will mark the special milestone on Wednesday 11th May, starting at 7.30pm, in the centres main hall. To mark the occasion there will be a display of BAY Centre memorabilia in the training room with photos and documents on show. The centre will also be open to visitors during the day, and there will be an opportunity to browse and look back at the buildings history. If anyone has any memorabilia and photos that they could lend or give us, we would greatly appreciate the chance to display them. There will also be a memories book for visitors to record their thoughts, the centres Chairman Mike Lang told Burnham-On-Sea.com. At the AGM, we have requested past youth worker Ken Hindle to chair the meeting since Ken was the youth worker who started the building in the first place. We are hopeful also that our Honorary President Neville Jones will be able to open the meeting and introduce Ken. Those attending the AGM will hear how the BAY Centre is managing to survive during these tough financial times, supporting all the community groups and clubs using the building, and also hear the proposed initiatives and improvements. Additionally, there will be reports from the various BAY centres clubs. The conclusion of the meeting will be marked by wine, cheese and nibbles in the BAY Centre cafe, along with the opportunity to inspect the building. To pass over documents, photos or memorabilia contact BAY Centre Chair Mike Lang on 07889 815860 or drop items into the centre at one of the regular Friday computer classes in the training wing. Ministers cannot keep blindly carrying on with expensive plans for a new reactor at Hinkley Point, a group of MEPs has said this week following the release of a new report suggesting that renewables could supply the same energy for 40billion less. The study by the Intergenerational Foundation think tank states that once long-term subsidies for the project near Burnham-On-Sea are taken into account, solar and wind alternatives would offer significant savings. It has added that these green energy sources do not come with the added burden of nuclear waste, and would allow the UK to live within its economic and environmental means. The figures are based around the expected cost of building the new Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which is currently 24bn, plus the Government subsidy of 92.50 per megawatt hour generated in its first 35 years. Compared with the projected costs of renewable technologies over this period, the group claims that onshore windfarms would cost 31.2bn less than Hinkley, and solar photovoltaic power 39.9bn less, while generating the same amount of energy. Report author Andrew Simms said in a statement this week that the Governments current plans for new nuclear power will break spending records, and pass both high costs and large, unknown economic risks onto every UK child for generations to come. Without a rethink we risk passing on a huge intergenerational economic burden in which known costs are high, and risks exist heavily on the downside, he said. Readily available, cheaper, safer and quicker renewable energy options would help Britain live both within its economic and environmental means, while also protecting and providing for future generations. Green MEP for the South West Dr Molly Scott Cato said the report is similar to the findings of a similar study she commissioned last year which concludes that renewables can produce electricity quicker and more cheaply, and can create a far greater boost to the regional economy and generate many more jobs than nuclear ever can, she said. Yet the government continue to ignore the evidence and blindly carry on supporting this disastrous white elephant, driven on by their anti-renewables, pro-nuclear ideological obsession. There really isnt any more space for nails in the coffin for Hinkley. Responding to the comments, a Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesman said the Government does not recognise Intergenerational Foundations figures. Hinkley Point C is a good deal for consumers and, once operational will provide 60 years of secure, reliable and low-carbon electricity for the cost of 35, he said. This will help us to keep the lights on while meeting our emissions targets in the most cost-effective way. Picured: Offshore wind farms like this one could save the UK billions of pounds compared to nuclear, claim campaigners (photo Kim Hansen) The governments housing minister spoke out about local infrastructure concerns during a visit to Highbridge this week where he saw several of the towns multi-million pound housing developments. Brandon Lewis, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, met Burnham and Highbridges MP James Heappey and local councillors last Thursday (March 31st). Responding to local concerns about inadequate infrastructure roads, schools and medical facilities to support new homes, he said: Its an important issue and we are working across government on this. I am working with colleagues at the Department of Transport and with MPs like James Heappey to lobby the Chancellor to ensure we get the right infrastructure coming in, and ensure the Department of Education has money to build schools and local authorities have 106 agreements in place to ensure infrastructure is built into housing plans. He added: Planning decisions have to be made in line with national policies and theres a national policy framework which makes it very clear to local authorities when developing their plans that they have to be sustainable. That includes infrastructure whether thats roads, schools, doctors surgeries or whatever is needed locally. The local authorities have to plan that. Bob Filmer, Sedgemoors planning committee Chairman, said: We need to reflect the needs and desires of the local community, which nationally is very difficult to do. If we get that responsibility we will try to deliver the local needs. The Minister was also asked about a lack of affordable homes in the Burnham area. He responded: We have the biggest building programme since the 1970s underway and 20billion of spending is going into shared ownership across the UK which gets people into homes at a much lower deposit, sometimes as low as 1,400. We are promoting rent to buy and new products for starters and first time buyers. We need to build more homes the greater supply we have, the geater affordability there will be. He was shown the site of the former Highbridge Hotel, which is currently being redeveloped by the YMCA with the assistance of central government funding. And he also visited the Knightstone development at the former Highbridge Cattle Market site, saying that he was impressed at the work underway to deliver new homes in the town. Pictured: Brandon Lewis, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, in Highbridge for his special visit this week (photos Mike Lang) Avon and Somersets Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has this week been urged to suspend the closures of Burnham-On-Sea police station. It comes as a new Freedom of Information request has revealed that 12 stations across the police force area are in the process of being vacated, closed or sold and a further 13 are under review to save money. Conservative PCC candidate Mark Weston, pictured with Burnhams MP James Heappey and supporters outside the towns police station this week, says he wants the closures suspended. He told Burnham-On-Sea.com: Following the Governments protection for overall police budgets, we have more money in the pot and can look again at these closures. Ive been campaigning hard to keep our stations open so officers arent just a glorified taxi service taking offenders to the nearest custody suite in Bridgwater. The public and the police need a proper presence in our towns, not just a desk in a library and they want officers with time to do the job they are trained for. If elected, Mr Weston says he will prioritise community policing and maintaining a visible presence in the area. MP James Heappey says: Burnham and Highbridge needs a police station of its own to make residents feel secure and to provide a base for policing in the town and nearby during the summer when the population increases with all our visitors. I support Conservative Police & Crime Commissioner candidate Mark Weston in calling for the decision to be suspended. The current Police & Crime Commissioner, Sue Mountsevens, said this week that Burnham-On-Sea Police Station is three times bigger than needed and thats one of the reasons why its due to close down. Read more here. The following police stations are in the process of being vacated, closed or sold: Avonmouth, Bath, Bishopsworth, Bower Ashton, Bournville, Burnham, Cheddar, Southmead, Frome, Keynsham, Minehead and Nailsea. Sites under review to reduce space and cost include Chard, Ilminster, Radstock, Shepton Mallet, Somerton, Glastonbury, Taunton, Trinity Road, Wellington, Weston-super-Mare, Williton, Wincanton and Yeovil. Also see: Burnham Police Station is three times bigger than needed says PCC Police to open library office when Burnhams Police Station shuts Burnham-On-Sea Police Station to close as move to fire station nears Burnham voters set to go the polls to choose police commissioner The Delhi government is all set to launch the second phase of the odd-even formula for cars from April 15 for a fortnight. Women drivers and parents taking their children in uniforms to school in their cars are exempt from the rule. Delhis transport minister Gopal Rai announced the launch of the second phase on Wednesday. CNG vehicles would be exempt from the restrictions during the second phase. The Delhi government announced curbs on cars on January 1, when the odd-even scheme was in force for a fortnight. Cars with odd numbered registrations were allowed on odd days and those with even numbered registrations on other days. The move was part of a drastic move by the government to curb atmospheric pollution in the national capital, especially during the winter months when heavy smog envelopes the region. Similar schemes have been tried in other cities elsewhere in the world, but with limited impact. According to Rai, Delhi Transport Corporation buses will be available for schools, but the vehicles will have to return to the depots by 8 am for catering to the needs of general commuters. Delhi Metro had increased its services when the scheme was in force in January. It is expected to do so this time as well Source : BS Motoring Honda has launched a digital teaser campaign on Twitter - #WhereNextWithBRV relating to the launch of its new SUV, the BR-V. The drive with Honda BR-V has begun, said a tweet on the Honda account. Stay tuned to discover where does the BR-V go next. The Japanese automaker unveiled the BR-V at the Auto Expo in Delhi earlier in the year. The new generation crossover utility vehicle features the combination of bold, sporty appearance and handling of an SUV together with great utility and spacious cabin with seven seats for the whole family. Developed exclusively for the Asian market by Honda R&D Asia Pacific Co. Ltd, the much-awaited Honda BR-V is scheduled to be launched in India this year. The model, which is based on the extended Brio platform and shared by Mobilio MPV and the Amaze compact sedan was unveiled last August at the Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto show. The BR-V faces competition from the likes of the Hyundai Creta, the Renault Duster, the Nissan Terrano and Maruti Suzuki S-Cross. Source : BS Motoring Taxi hailing app Ola has introduced electric-rickshaws (E-rickshaws) on its mobile app, enabling mobility in smaller towns and cities. The E-rickshaws were launched under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Stand-Up India initiative, which is focussed on promoting entrepreneurship. The rickshaws will be deployed across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad in collaboration with the NGO Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC), which aids financial needs of e-rickshaw drivers. "The e-rickshaws will be given to SC/ST and women entrepreneurs," the Prime Minister said in his address, after flagging of the E-rickshaws. The scheme was launched after the government made it mandatory for e-rickshaws to follow certain regulations, including being confined to certain roads in the capital. A total of 5,100 e-rickshaws were flagged off at an event held in Noida. This will be further scaled up in the coming months to more small towns and Tier 3 cities across the country. Ola will make the service available to existing cycle rickshaw pullers and run skill development centres with BMC to train these rickshaw pullers on using the Ola app. Ola will be earning 10% commission on e-rickshaw rides booked through its mobile app. To foster digital payments for e-rickshaw, FreeCharge has partnered with BMC, which will help the customer to pay for the ride digitally. Anand Subramanian, senior director of marketing communication at Ola said that about 65% of the countrys population resides in small towns and the launch of e-rickshaw will help them address the same opportunity in the market. E-rickshaws will service the short distance mobility needs of Tier II and Tier III markets. In September 2015, Ola had achieved over 1 million booking requests daily. Source : BS Motoring Tata Motors launched its new hatchback, the Tiago, on Wednesday. The new model is available for sale across its 597 sales outlets in India. The Tiago is priced at Rs3.2 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) for the Revotron 1.2L (petrol) variant and Rs3.94 lakh (ex-showroom, New Delhi) for the Revotorq 1.05 L (diesel) variant. The Tiago reflects our passion and commitment to bring exciting, technology driven cars into the market, said Guenter Butschek, CEO and managing director, Tata Motors. Class leading features, advanced driving dynamics and outstanding fuel efficiency, offer great value for a contemporary, young car. According to Mayank Pareek, president, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit, Tata Motors, the Tiago is the first car to be launched under its Made Of Great campaign and the first to embody its new Impact design language. This globally benchmarked car represents the next big leap in our transformation journey, said Pareek. We are confident that Tiagos strong and distinct character will make it stand out in this highly popular but immensely competitive segment. With inputs from the Pune, UK and Italy design studios, the Tiagos appealing exterior design has a dynamic silhouette to emphasise the compact look and sharp design. The new 3-dimensional T Logo is placed in a semi vertical position on the signature hexagon grill, giving it a bold, expressive face with a confident, agile stance. Tiagos interiors have been crafted with utmost precision for a premium feel. The geometric texture accented with chrome handles, knitted fabrics, colour harmony, layered design theme with a dual tone interior, customisable air vents, premium graphics on the fabric and body hugging seat bolsters all give it an upmarket, inviting feel. The stylish design is complemented by enhanced performance and driving dynamics. The Tiago will be available in petrol and diesel variants with two new engines Revotron 1.2L (petrol engine) and Revotorq 1.05L (diesel engine). These have been indigenously developed by the company and globally benchmarked for a refined road performance. Both these engines have been designed and programmed to deliver superior fuel economy and a peppy driving experience with a segment-first feature, the Multi-drive mode City and Eco making it equivalent to offering two engines in one. The two drive modes are supported by an advanced Engine Management System (EMS). Tiagos many safety features include dual front airbags, advance ninth generation ABS with EBD and corner stability control, rear parking sensors with display on infotainment screen and energy absorbing body structure for superior safety. Tiago comes with fuel efficiency of 23.84 km/l on Revotron 1.2L petrol and 27.28 km/l on Revotorq 1.05L diesel (as per Automotive Research Association of India certification) under test conditions. Significantly, under high-stress conditions at the recent Geared For Great Challenge, Tiago ran through the ultimate endurance test to do 50,000 km something that would take years for an average car consumer in real life. Tiago comes equipped with an infotainment system designed exclusively by Harman. The car comes with new segment-first applications like the Turn-by-Turn Navi app and the Juke-Car app. Available in five variants XB, XE, XM, XT and XZ with optional variants in XE, XM and XT, Tiago will come in six colour options Striker Blue, Berry Red, Sunburst Orange, Espresso Brown, Pearlescent White and Platinum Silver. The car will come with a warranty of 2 Years / 75,000 KM (whichever is earlier) with an extended warranty option of 2 years + 1 year (3rd year extended warranty up to 75,000km) or 2 years + 2 years (3rd and 4th year extended warranty up to 1,00,000 kms). Tata Motors will also take its customer service engagements to the next level with the launch of Tata Motors | Service Connect, a new customer application for Tiago customers, to make the post-purchase experience easy and stay connected with them at all times for a hassle-free service experience. Besides providing free pick-up and drop service, Tata Motors Service will also offer loaner cars for repair services if it requires the car to be at workshop overnight. Source : BS Motoring Euro NCAP, a Belgium-based automobile crash test agency, has given a single-star safety rating to the Bajaj Qute, a four-seater quadricycle exported by Pune-based Bajaj Auto to Europe. The Qute scored poorly in the tests due to absence of driver or passenger airbags. Further, the structure was judged unstable in the frontal test, as even a side impact detached the door from the A-pillar. Many spot welds had got released and deformation of the structure indicated it could not have withstood a higher degree of loading, stated the test result. Euro NCAP secretary-general Michiel van Ratingen said: It is disappointing to see that quadricycles are still lacking basic safety features that are common in small cars. By not challenging the manufacturers to do more, legislators continue to give a false impression to consumers that these vehicles are fit. Said a Bajaj spokesperson: In our maiden effort, we have created in the Qute a quadricycle that is in the same league as European benchmarks. Also one that fares better than many international cars, in their category. We believe thats why Qute has had a good reception in about 20 markets. Last year, when Bajaj announced its intention of launching the Qute in various countries, including in Europe, it had said the vehicle would meet the stringent European quadricycle norms and that it had also acquired a European WVTA (Whole Vehicle Type Approval) certification awarded by RDW Netherlands. Quadricycles are not allowed to be sold in India, despite a go-ahead from the government. Public interest litigation has prevented Bajaj from launching here. Bajaj had said the Qute was to be run as a commercial passenger carrier for intra-city transport. Quadricycles are still not subject to the same legislation as passenger cars. Nevertheless, these vehicles look like small city cars and are likely to compete for sales. However, their performance in Euro NCAPs tests is far below a similarly-sized passenger car which can be bought second-hand more cheaply,: added the Euro NCAP report. The Qute was one among four quadricycles (Aixam Crossover GTR, Chatenet CH30 and Microcar M.GO Family) tested by the agency. Only the Chatenet CH30 secured a two-star rating. The other three got only one star, even as the Microcar is fitted with a driver airbag. "The standard of protection offered to the driver is still generally very low, leading to serious risks in collisions with other vehicles or obstacles," the agency observed after the tests. David Ward, the director general of Global NCAP, said: "Euro NCAP and Global NCAP are working in partnership to help draw policymaker and consumer attention to this category of badly performing and poorly regulated vehicles. Quadricycles have significant potential for sales in markets across the world and it is essential that minimum safety standards are put in place and that consumers are made aware of their safety shortcomings, especially when compared with similarly sized passenger cars." Marking its first buyout of an internet store, Kishore Biyani-led Future Group is set to buy online furniture store, FabFurnish.com, Mint reported on Wednesday. The Group may pay anywhere between Rs 15 and Rs 20 crore in cash and will be largely doing so for the brand FabFurnish, the report adds, citing two people aware of the development. "FabFurnish's business is not profit-making, but we are buying it for the front-end," Kishore Biyani, Chief Executive Officer, Future Group told CNBC-TV18 in an interview on Wednesday. However, the net valuation would be much lower as the online furnishing firm has close to Rs 10-15 crore in the bank. Future Group will retain FabFurnishs brand name and will be using this platform to sell products from its home and furnishing business brand HomeTown. FabFurnishs management team and about 100 employees are likely to join the Future Group, the people cited above said. We will leverage FabFurnishs online platform and delivery model to grow our presence in markets where we do not have offline stores or have minimal reach, Kishore Biyani, chief executive officer (CEO) of Future Group, told the newspaper. Meanwhile, the move will also help the Group to build a wall ahead of retail giant IKEA foray into India in 2017, a report in The Economic Times said. We are creating the largest home furnishings company in the country. IKEA is coming in, and it will take them at least two to three years to become an Rs 1,000 crore company, and we are already there, he told the publication. Gurgaon-based firm FabFurnish was founded in 2012 by Mehul Agrawal, Vikram Chopra and Vaibhav Aggrawal. The company has, so far, raised over $30 million from Rocket Internet and Kinnevik. Last July, its founders Agrawal and Chopra put in their papers to start their own venture. As a result, FabFurnish appointed senior directors Ashish Garg and Ankita Dabas to take over the management role, the report in Mint added. The deal will see Berlin-based Rocket Internets making its first exit in India. The company has a portfolio of online which include FabFurnish, Foodpanda and Jabong. Increasing activity by Chinese telecom handset makers and new entrants from that country are putting pressure on the market share of homegrown . In 2015, as many as 15 major Chinese smartphone brands stepped into India. No new Indian smartphone brand had captured the eyeballs. During the period, Chinese smartphone majors such as Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Huawei and LeEco, among others, have not only strengthened their operations and increased sales in the local market but managed to establish their brands, analysts observed. Chinese are now focusing on providing user experience in terms of dedicated video and audio content, and utility applications, deviating from their conventional focus on superior hardware features. The efforts paid off for these and have resulted in a shrink in market share of their Indian peers, put together. During 2015, Chinese smartphone vendors increased their market share in India to 22 per cent, compared to 15 per cent at the end of 2014. And, the market share held by homegrown brands was down to 38 per cent in December 2015 from 43 per cent a year before, shows data from International Data Corporation. According to Faisal Kawoosa, general manager, telecom and semitronics, CyberMedia Research, says Chinese companies also benefitted as they successfully managed to get rid of the cheap tag that was earlier associated with products made there. New Chinese brands entering India have positive impact on the growing market share as well, he said. Apart from pro-active steps that the Chinese companies are taking to raise share in the Indian market as the pace of economic growth slows in their homeland, the inabilities of various Indian companies have cost the latter. Major Indian smartphone makers, however, say they are more inclined to a steady profit growth and margins, rather than running after market share. Shashin Devsare, executive director, Karbonn Mobiles, which focuses on the below-Rs 7,000 price segment, feels Indian consumers have become less loyal to brands. Market shares which are solely based on shipment numbers are not a true representation of growth and business financials, he added. Lava smartphone sales grew 55 per cent by volume in 2015. We registered more than 100 per cent growth in 2014-15 over 2013-14 and have achieved revenues of Rs 7,000 crore in 2014-15, becoming one of the leading players in the mobile handset industry, said Navin Chawla, chief operating officer, Lava International. Kawoosa says the shrinking market share of Micromax, largest among Indian handset firms, had a negative impact on the total market share. The share of Micromax between December 2014 and December 2015 went from 18 per cent to 14.1 per cent. Micromax and Intex declined to comment for the story. Indian brands which mostly targeted the value and mass segments (Rs 10,000 and below) are under pressure from Chinese peers like Lenovo. Initially, in 2011, when smartphones entered in India, homegrown players gained from their better offline distribution and lower pricing. As Chinese firms are now getting into offline distribution, too, pressure is building, Pathak said. What local brands did to global brands a couple of years ago, the Chinese brands are doing to local Indian players. Karnataka on Wednesday became the first state to frame rules mandating taxi aggregators such as Uber and Ola to end surge pricing, stick to state-prescribed fares, fix digital meters with printers, and register their services with local transport authorities. The move by the state government comes as a blow to both Uber and its local rival Ola, which have built their services around the on-demand model that calls for prices to surge as demand rises. Neighbouring Maharashtra has issued a consultation note on similar lines, but has not yet officially announced the rules. India's taxi-hailing market is estimated at $1-1.2 billion (Rs 6,600-7,900 crore) in annualised gross booking value as of February 2016, according to RedSeer Management Consulting, a research and advisory firm that tracks online businesses in India. This is completely against the business model of Ola and Uber. These cannot survive in Karnataka as the model looks using smart algorithms to predict demand and supply of taxis for consumers, said Anil Kumar, CEO of RedSeer Management. They may have to fight it in the courts. Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka, is the hub of taxi-hailing app . Uber piloted its India service in the tech capital by offering luxury cars for customers who hailed the cars through its app. Ola, which primarily offered a similar service for customers through call centre and website, moved its headquarters to the city and migrated its offerings on the app. Bengaluru is also among the largest markets for these given an abundance of IT workers and clogged roads that deter people from driving their own cars. Uber has an estimated 30,000 cabs on the citys roads. The company had earlier said it would grow its presence in Karnataka to 100,000 cabs in the next few years. Ola has 60-65 per cent market share with Uber holding the rest, according to a February data from RedSeer Consulting. Both the companies have pledged to invest a combined $2.25 billion (Rs 15,000 crore) to grow the on-demand cab market in India over the next few years. Uber, which is valued at $62 billion, and Ola, which is backed by SoftBank, have adopted an open-cheque policy to win in India, splurging money on discounts for riders and incentives for drivers. The fees for obtaining an aggregator licence in Karnataka has been set at Rs 1 lakh for up to 1,000 taxis; Rs 2.5 lakh for up to 10,000 taxis, and Rs 5 lakh for higher number of taxis. The state government has, however, relaxed the norm for selecting drivers with the minimum tenure of residence in the state being dropped from six to two years. Apart from that, Karnataka has asked for driver partners to have a working knowledge of Kannada and preferably know English. Drivers will be allowed to work for multiple aggregators simultaneously. However, they will not be allowed to do business independently. Dominating the Indian luxury car market, German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz today reported its best ever sales in a fiscal in India at 13,558 units, up 20.91% from the previous year. For the January to March 2016 period, the company said it posted its best ever quarterly sales at 3,622 units, as against 3,566 units in the year-ago period, up 1.6%. Also, the company had posted sales of 11,213 units in 2014-15, which was the previous best, Mercedes-Benz said in a statement. Commenting on the sales achievements, Roland Folger, managing director and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, said: It is a significant achievement for us, as we have maintained our growth momentum in Q1 2016, despite facing multiple market challenges. We have been able to compensate the negative sales impact in the Delhi and NCR market, with a strong double digit growth achieved in most other markets across the country." In the total sales portfolio, growth in the January-March 2016 quarter was led by the E-Class, which is celebrating 20 years in India, along with C-Class as a significant volume contributor. Its SUV portfolio comprising the GLA, GLE and the GL also grew in Q1 2016. Its new-generation cars remained steady contributors. Company's de-growth in the Delhi-NCR market has been compensated by the strong demand from other regions in the country. The Q1 sales has gained momentum against the the backdrop of the diesel ban in the key Delhi and NCR market, successive price hikes and a lack of incentives for the automotive sector in the FY2016-17 Union Budget. Folger added: "Our product drive across the spectrum, the tailor made finance programmes, the unique service initiatives have all been well appreciated, resulting in our historic sales success. Pursuing our go to customer strategy we presented world-class retail facilities to our patrons in both new and existing markets. We also remained the luxury car brand with the most comprehensive retail network. This network drive enhanced our growth story even further with new customers opting for a Mercedes-Benz. Its rival Jaguar Land Rover India also posted sales growth of 45% for the January-March 2016 quarter, crossing 1,000 units. Its growth comes on the back of high demand for its recently launched new models such as the new small sedan Jaguar XE and the Discovery Sport. The Air Passengers Association of India (APAI) has asked the ministry to remove the controversial and attacked the Federation of Indian Airlines, which is lobbying against the removal of the rule. In a letter addressed to Civil Aviation Secretary Rajiv Nayan Choubey, the association said: "It must be completely scrapped and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) must be empowered to consider giving licences to all those airlines that have financial muscle." Business Standard has seen a copy of the letter. The controversial makes it mandatory for an airline to have five years of domestic operations and 20 aircraft to become eligible for flying abroad. With a civil aviation policy on the cards, airlines are divided over the proposed removal of the rule. IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir have opposed doing away with the rule. But new airlines such as Vistara and AirAsia want the rule is removed. The letter also said the FIA, which represents the older airlines, acts as a cartel and takes joint decisions that harm the interests of passengers. "It is pertinent to note that FIA is nothing but an organisation established for self-serving causes and does not care to address any other issue, including those of the passengers and their grievances," the letter said. " It is also pertinent to note that all airlines registered with DGCA are not allowed to become members of this body which goes on to show that this is nothing but an entity to lobby when required for self-serving their own cause." National president of APAI D Sudhakar Reddy said the FIA was no different from a cartel of some in other sectors. "They don't allow any other airline to become a member. They, as a lobby, write (to the government) for decreasing fuel charges but themselves increase ticket charges, which harms customer interest," he said. Air Passengers Association of India lobbies for the rights of air passengers. It takes up complaints of passengers who are members of the organisation and represents their cases in front of various nodal bodies. Indus OS, which is looking to become the de-facto mobile operating system for India, is eyeing a user base of 100 million by 2018. With support for regional languages baked right into the OS, the firm is targeting the country's next 300 million Internet users whose first language is not English. A big part of this strategy to capture regional language users is providing a native text-to-speech engine, which Indus OS is co-developing with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY). This will allow users to operate smartphones through voice commands in their mother tongue, essential for first-time users. "We're at an inflection point where consumers that know English are already on the Internet. You can continue built technology for them, but there are tons of players there, the biggest being Android. However, the next 900 million people need something in their native language and that's where the real opportunity is," said Rakesh Deshmukh, co-founder and CEO at Indus OS. Historically, it is seen that as hardware gets commoditised the industry's focus shifts to software differentiation. Apple has famously remained ahead of its competition in the US because of this and Xiaomi is now proving the same in China. While this wave hasn't hit India just yet, the entry of Chinese manufacturers has left no room to innovate with hardware, forcing the change. Deshmukh says there's a need for a native experience for regional language users. He adds that even the simple process of installing a native language keyboard on an Android phone is far too complicated for a first-time user who has no understanding of the English language, and he's right. A user has to open the Google PlayStore, which requires them to sign in using an email id. They then have to search for the keyboard app in English, download and install it, and then jump through no less than three settings menus in order to make the native language keyboard the default keyboard on their device. All this is assuming they have a working data connection. This is where Indus OS steps in, and with a claimed 100,000 activations a month, its regional language solution seems to be working. In the January to March quarter of 2016, out of the 27 million smartphone activations in the country, 1.6 million devices were running on Indus OS. So far the firm's software runs on 35 odd smartphone models from Micromax, but it is exploring partnerships with other Indian as well as global manufacturers that sell devices in India. Deshmukh says that two to three more smartphone brands could opt to use Indus OS on their devices by June. "If in India we want consumers to adopt technology, then this technology has to work for them in their native language and more importantly has to be the default. For example, if I pick Marathi has my default language, then my phone language, my keyboard, the app store and to a larger extent my Internet browsing experience has got to be in Marathi," said Deshmukh. Despite building a native experience for users, apps, which are the cornerstone of smartphone use either don't support regional languages or users aren't aware that they do. To fix the issue of discovery, Indus OS has its own app store, dubbed App Bazaar, which customises the apps shown to users based on their default language selection. In order to help more add developers localise their apps, the company is also working on a tool that will be launched in the coming months. Moreover, the text-to-speech functions which Indus has built along with DeitY will be available in the next three months in seven languages and will function even when the device isn't connected to the Internet. The government has spent seven years building the technology, but the firm has addressed optimisation issues. Migrating the text-to-speech engine from the cloud to the device itself, Indus has dropped the size of the engine from 2.2GB to 6MB. Going forward, Indus OS plans to partner with more original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to run its software on their hardware and also with app developers, to help them localise their apps and be discovered by regional language users. The company has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the government to further develop technologies that will help deliver the internet to users in regional languages. There is no company in India that is building a native experience for regional language users. There are some that have built native language keyboards, but if you look at the process of even switching from the inbuilt English keyboard to this keyboard, all the steps (and there are many) are in English. Delhi-based e-commerce marketplace, ShopClues, announced that it had signed an MoU with National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC), to support its e-Karobar initiative. The initiative tries to increase the market for artisans and craftsmen belonging to the minority community. will turn training and technology partner for NMDFC. The e-commerce company will train artisans on merchandising, quality management and packaging through classrooms that will be conducted either on the phone or through video conferencing. In addition, the products made by NMDFC beneficiaries will get a separate page "E-Karobar" on the marketplace. "ShopClues' vision and philosophy is to empower small and medium businesses, local manufacturers, traders and craftsmen to participate in India's e-commerce revolution. With this MoU we inch many steps closer to this overall objective," said Raunak Raheja, director (categories), . This move expands Shopclues' seller base, which currently stands at 4,00,000. The company currently does list handicrafts and claims that it has almost 2 million SKU listings. The company, however, will charge them commission the way it does for all other sellers but, a spokesperson said that the other services will be given free of cost. After the UK business minister Sajid Javid met Tata Steel chairman Cyrus Mistry here in Mumbai, the minister has now scheduled a meeting with representatives of trade union on Thursday at 12 pm GMT, where the status of the British pension scheme for Tata Steel workers will be discussed in detail. As per the legislation, should the sale of the UK business take place, pensions will not get transferred to the new owner. In such a scenario it is important to get clarity on the fate of the scheme holders as Tata Steel's entire idea to sell the plant is to stop the cash drain. "We need to know the implications of this sale on the British Pension Scheme as the liability is huge with fate of 140,000 workers (retired and active) at stake," said Harish Patel, national officer (metals and foundary) at Unite told Business Standard. ALSO READ: Tata Steel UK biz sale begins on Monday As on March 31, 2016, Tata Steel has already fallen short of paying 4.7 million pounds to its pensioners, said sources close to the development. "Going ahead we need to protect this scheme and our aim is to not allow the scheme to go under pension protection fund run by the UK government as it yields very little for the pensioners. Pensioners will get a minimum amount under that fund," explained Patel. Apart from meeting with the minister on Thursday, trade unions have asked for an urgent meeting with Koushik Chatterjee, executive director (corporate and finance) in order to know the stance of the company on the pension issue. "Sajid has also claimed that he has managed to get an extension from Tata Steel in terms of the sale process," said another trade union source. "But it remains to be seen what this extension period is, if it is six months or so, that is not enough," he said. While the action plan to sell the 10 million tonne capacity in the UK is catching pace, speculation that Thyssenkrup, Greybulls and Liberty House have shown interest in buying the asset. "We do not know how many have actually placed the expression of interest if they have. But what we are keen on knowing at the moment is the clarity on the implications on the British Pension Scheme," said Patel. Tata Steel, the country's largest steel producer, has been struggling to turn around its European operations for quite some time now. Going ahead, how the company manages to get this burden off its balance sheet remains to be seen. The extension of Supreme Courts ban on powerful vehicles, reduced price gaps between petrol and and a consequent declining consumer interest in vehicles is creating uncertainties for car makers. Those directly affected are re-looking at their future strategy and expansion plans for the Indian market. You are showing two levels of insecurity: at one level to our headquarters which is questioning why India is doing this and that makes our investments more difficult. Secondly, at the level of customers, there is insecurity and confusion on whether he should buy petrol or a diesel car as further direction is not known. All these factors do not make for a progressive development in any country. Have a proper direction for us and we will follow. Dont push us into this or that extreme, Roland Folger, managing director and chief executive officer at Mercedes-Benz India told Business Standard recently. The German car maker has invested about Rs 1,000 crore over last two decades and looks to invest an equal amount to expand capacities at its Maharashtra unit. The Supreme Court last week decided to extend the ban it had imposed in December last year on sales and registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2,000cc and above in the National Capital Region. The decision impacts players like Toyota, Mercedes and Jaguar Land Rover. Though it does not impact top players like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, it creates an uncertainty and affects consumer purchase behaviour as far as diesel vehicles are concerned. Most car makers had invested heavily in recent years to expand diesel capacity when a controlled fuel pricing made diesel highly attractive vis a vis petrol. Toyota has seen an overall sales impact of 3% due to the ban as its two popular models- Innova and Fortuner cannot be sold in the NCR. The company plans to introduce a petrol variant of Innova in the near future. It has stated that it will not invest any money in the Indian operations until clarity is restored with regard to future of diesel cars. The ban impacts Toyota severely since it is already operating at a low capacity due to declining sales. Against an annual capacity of 310,000 vehicles, the Japanese car maker sold just about 134,000 units in April-February period of last financial year. So, the company does not need to invest in capacity as of now but there will be investments in models and introduction of new brands like Daihatsu and Lexus. Mahindra and Mahindra, which thrives on diesel utility vehicles, could have been the worst hit from the ban. The company, however, came up with a 1,990-cc diesel engine for vehicles in the NCR. The new engine launched in January has taken care of its NCR dealers who are able to sell models like Scorpio and XUV500. It is working on bringing petrol variants of popular models. It is a complex situation. Customers calculate payback period while buying diesel cars. Since price gap between diesel and petrol has narrowed, about 4% of buyers shifted to petrol last year, said R S Kalsi, executive director (sales and marketing) at Maruti Suzuki. In mid-2015, petrol was about Rs 16 a litre more expensive than diesel. Today, the gap is down to about Rs 12 a litre. As many as two persons are reported to have been died when a portion of an illegal shallow in Badkuhi (265 km from Bhopal westward) of Chhindwara district caved in. At the time of accident as many as ten people were reportedly working in the mine which was closed. One person Ravi Yadav died while excavating coal from a closed mine in Badkuhi of Parasia tehsil this afternoon, range inspector general of police RP Singh told BS telephonically, a criminal case has been registered against those who were involved in the illegal activity. Enraged over the incident local people staged a chakkajam by placing dead body of the labour but later removed it when local administrative staff assured them to compensate in accordance with the rules. There were few more people who were working in the closed mine. An investigation has been launched in the incident," the police official said. The Mumbai police has invoked the provisions of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code to ban remote-controlled drones, paragliders and remote-controlled micro-light planes from Mumbai's airspace for a period of 30 days ending May 4. A notification signed by Dy Police Commissioner and Executive Magistrate, Greater Mumbai, Sanjay Barkund, a copy of which is available with Business Standard, cites potential threat to the city in the form of aerial terror attacks as the reason for the ban. However, the law enforcement machinery has allowed aerial surveillance through micro-light aircraft drones. The notification further states that contravention of the order, , which will be effective between April 5 and May 4, will attract prosecution under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code. Punishment under this section entails a jail sentence of up to six months or a fine of Rs 1,000, or both. Section 144 of the CrPC empowers a magistrate to direct any person to abstain from a certain act or to take certain order with respect to certain property in his possession or under his management. The section, which also debars the assembly of more than five persons, was used in March as a preventive measure to tackle the possible violence over water around the Latur civic body-run tanks (Click here to read the story). The move to invoke Section 144 of the CrPC stems from concerns over reports of infiltration into Indian territory on Wednesday, by three terrorists from Pakistan, who are believed to be on the move in Punjab. The possibility of their iniitiating an aerial terror attack on Delhi, Goa and Mumbai has not been ruled out. The infiltrators and a local resident, who are said to be making their way through Jammu and Kashmir in a grey Maruti Swift Dzire, are likely to cross the Banihal tunnel later tonight. The Punjab police have also factored the possibility of suicide attacks as they believe the three terrorists are heavily armed and may also be carrying suicide belts. Central government ministers will remain exempt from the odd-even road rationing scheme, while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues will come under the ambit of the second phase of the plan starting from April 15, Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai said on Wednesday. Rai said the Delhi government does not want any "unnecessary controversy" by bringing Union ministers under the scheme's ambit. Read more from our special coverage on "ODD-EVEN SCHEME" Subir Roy: Buses good, Cars bad, Buses good... He further said in a survey conducted after the first round of the scheme from January 1 to 15, people asked government not to provide such exemptions. "As we had kept central government ministers out of the first phase, we will continue with exemption during the second phase," Rai said. A senior official said that government may consider exempting senior citizens from the second phase, following demands in this regard. Cars driven by women and those carrying children in school uniform shall remain out of the ambit of the scheme. A senior official said the government is considering to allow one co-male passenger with women drivers. The government announced that two-wheelers would not come under the ambit of this scheme. The official further said that government will also continue with the imposition of Rs 2,000 as fine on those violating the rules. The decisions were taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday. Steel imports rose 18 per cent in March, snapping four straight months of falls, provisional government data showed, on the back of deals struck before the government imposed a floor price in February to curb cheap imports. Last week, the government extended safeguard taxes on some products until March 2018, and in February imposed a floor price on import to deter countries such as China from undercutting local mills, the first such move in 15 years. India, third-largest steel producer in the world, imported 994,000 tonnes last month, 18 per cent higher than the corresponding month a year earlier, data from the Joint Plant Committee of the steel ministry showed. "Some steel could have been booked in January and February. This is probably what has arrived in March, imports are likely to decline again in April and May said Goutam Chakraborty, analyst at Emkay Global Financial Services. Imports rose 20.2 per cent in the financial year ended March, compared with the same period a year before, the data showed. Imports were up 9.1 per cent compared with February. Domestic steel makers, including JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Kalyani Steels have lobbied the government for more protectionist measures as their margins have taken a hit due to overseas purchases from China, Russia, Japan and South Korea. Consumption of steel, in the only major market where steel demand is growing, rose 4.3 per cent between April 2015 and March 2016, largely driven by imports. Steel exports by fell 32.4 per cent at a time when the US has named India among countries that violated anti-dumping law on cold rolled flat products and slapped a tax. An investigative report by The Sydney Morning Herald has found that Australian mining major Thiess paid bribe to National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the ministry of power to secure a coal mining contract in India in 2008. The report titled 'How one 'fixer' earned $2.2 billion over 20 years from Australian company Thiess' has named Syam Reddy, a Hyderabad-based mining contractor who "offered as much as $16 million in bribes to officials in order to have the contract awarded to Thiess". Incidentally, Reddy was recently charged with land and money-laundering cases by the Enforcement Directorate. The coal block in question is Pakri Barwadih in Jharkhand, which was secured by NTPC through government allocation for sourcing coal for its power plants in 2008. When contacted by Business Standard, an official spokesperson of NTPC said no such contract was awarded. NTPC is India's largest coal-based power generating company. Towards the end of 2010, Thiess was awarded a $6-billion contract to mine for coal, the Australian newspaper reported. "Under the deal, Reddy would use his influence to help Thiess secure the coal contract. In return, Thiess would give a Reddy company work at the mine, which would earn him $2.2 billion over 20 years." Adding: "Twelve days after signing the Thiess deal, Reddy reported that he had the first of what would be numerous meetings with officials from the Ministry of Power and senior officials from India's NTPC." According to the report, in 2012, Thiess' auditors were worried about the "murky arrangements that had led to the company winning large contracts in Indonesia and India". It added: "Thiess asked law firm Ashurst to advise if the company or any of its executives or agents had breached the law or the company's code of ethics. Ashurst engaged Deloitte investigators to examine a trove of emails and question Thiess executives." The report quotes a Thiess manager to have told investigators that Reddy claimed he had paid Rs 1 crore to win the contract. Deloitte report has exposed a series of dealings between Reddy and Bruce Munro, the then managing director of Thiess. "In an astonishing series of statements, Munro told the Deloitte investigators that he did not do any due diligence on Reddy when he signed the MoU (memorandum of understanding) in 2008 because things were done in a 'mad rush' and "there was something to be gained from working with this guy," the report noted. Part of Reddy's attraction, Munro told investigators, was his 'government contacts'. "Mr Reddy sold to us that he would be able to steer us along the route of how government worked ... he was able to access the power minister just to put our case," the Deloitte report quotes Munro as saying, according to the newspaper. "By 2014, two years after the Deloitte report was submitted, Thiess was stripped of its coal contract by the Indian government amid growing corruption concerns," the newspaper report says. After Thiess cancelled its 'arrangement' with Reddy, the report said Reddy used his influence in the local police force to have Thiess India chief executive Raman Srikanth arrested. "Srikanth had been annoying Reddy by ensuring Thiess management in Australia knew the true nature of the company's partner." It added: "Reddy also had arrest warrants issued for Munro and launched legal action against Thiess for breach of contract. He would later lose this case in arbitration." According to the report, Thiess did nothing to act on the Deloitte report and "Munro remained in his highly paid job until May last year". "Despite the bitter end to its relationship with Reddy and knowing full well his likely involvement in corruption, Thiess last month decided to give the property developer $1.3 million in order to get him to withdraw a criminal complaint to Indian police, Indian court documents show," it added. This came just a month after India's anti-corruption agency seized Reddy's assets worth about $30 million in an unrelated bribery and money-laundering case. National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Wednesday announced the appointment of CP Gurnani as its chairman for 2016-17. He will take the new role as chairman of effective from Wednesday. He will succeeds B V R Mohan Reddy, who served as chairman of for the previous finacial year. Gurnani is part of Nasscom's Executive Council and is the managing director and chief executive officer of Tech Mahindra. As chairman of the Executive Council he will lead and assist in catalysing the growth of the Indian technology and services industry and enabling the fulfillment of its future goals and aspirations, the industry body said in a statement.The Executive Council, which met here on Wednesday, also announced the appointment of Raman Roy, chairman and managing director of Quatrro Global Services as vice-chairman of Nasscom for 2016-17.Speaking on the occasion, C P Gurnani said: "I feel very humbled to be given this opportunity, at a time when the industry is on the threshold of an exciting new journey, innovative startups and disruptive technology have together created exciting times for the industry. Being at the helm of Nasscom, I will continue to drive greater engagement with our stake holders and members to address the prevalent industry issues of inclusion, education, infrastructure security and corporate governance. B V R Mohan Reddy, former chairman, Nasscom, said that he felt very proud of the progress the industry has witnessed in the past one year. "2015 was a defining year for the industry as we outlined our vision for the decade ahead and witnessed innovative entrepreneurs rise to achieve tremendous success, making India one of the key startup hubs across the globe. It has been a great opportunity leading Nasscom during the last one year and I am confident that Nasscom will grow from strength to strength", he added. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the environment ministry to release biosafety data regarding all genetically modified (GM) crops in the pipeline before April 30. The CIC, on April 1, instructed the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC), the apex regulatory body for GM crops to release the data arguing it constituted voluntary disclosure under Section 4 of the Right to Information Act. This will involve the GEAC handing over the biosafety dossier of the GM mustard crop as had been submitted by the crop developer in 2014 and 2015. The regulators and the ministry had declined RTI requests seeking a copy of the dossier. The applicant, Kavitha Kuruganti, co-convener of the Coalition for a GM-Free India argued that administrative precedents exist within the regulatory regime. "The decision-making process should be told, along with information about whether such process is adopted, minutes of the meetings, results of clinical trial, and entire information about GM mustard etc.", the CIC said in its order. Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has initiated production from its Deen Dayal West (DDW) block located in the Krishna-Godavari basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh. While the experimental well is undergoing clean-up through hydro-fracturing, by first week of May, DDW will produce an estimated 40 million cubic feet of gas per day. For the first time, GSPC would be using the hydro-fracturing (HF) technology for gas production at a ultra deep high pressure high temperature (HPHT) block. Developed by GSPC at a depth of 5,000 metres below the sea bed, wells drilled in DDW fall in the high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) category with temperature of 400 degree Fahrenheit and pressure of 12,000 PSI. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as Hydrofracturing or Hydrofracking, is a well-stimulation technique in which the well-rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid. The process involves high-pressure injection of Fracking Fluid (primarily water, containing sand or other proppants carried with the aid of viscous fluid) into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations, through which natural gas, petroleum, and brine will flow more freely. When the hydraulic pressure is removed from the well, small grains of hydraulic fracturing proppants (either sand or aluminium oxide) hold the fractures open. According to GSPC officials, with a reserve of 1.6 trillion cubic feet (tcf), production at the high pressure high temperature (HPHT) DDW could go upto 200 million cubic feet per day with more wells being built going forward. We began the clean up on Wednesday which should take four-five days. By first week of May we would be commencing production of gas from the well. While we have modified a sub-optimal well which was not conventionally designed for hydro-fracturing, we will look at building more wells as soon as the production commences, a GSPC official said. As part of the clean up, the state-run E&P player carried out multiple stages of HF successfully in the sub-optimal well and could pump almost a million pounds of proppants in over 10 HF zones. We exceeded our expectation during the clean up from a planned 600,000 pounds of proppants in six zones to injecting nearly a million pounds in around 10-12 zones, the official added. According to the government guidelines, GSPC would be supplying the gas hence produced to Nagarjuna Fertilizers even as it looks to close the bidding process for further agreements. GSPC has hired services of international HF firms like Haliburton, Barry & Associates, E-Frac and Xodus for the process. in Odisha saw a spike of 42 per cent in 2015-16 to reach Rs 11,948 crore, fuelled by contributions from corporates, a pointer to improving industrial sentiment in the state. Actual collection surpassed the target of Rs 11,420 crore set for FY16. In 2014-15, stood at Rs 8,405 crore. Central excise collection touched Rs 6,936 crore against the target of Rs 6,800 crore fixed for the last financial year for the Bhubaneswar zone. The collection has surpassed the 2014-15 figure by Rs 2,276 crore, posting a growth of 49 per cent. "Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL) is the leader in the central excise collection bracket. The hike in coal cess to Rs 400 per tonne has led to surge in realization. MCL has paid Rs 3,466.18 crore in the last financial year as central excise duty", said an official. Steel major Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), a unit of Steel Authority of India Ltd (Rs 446.49 crore), Bhushan Steel ( Rs 536.05 crore) and JSPL (Rs 180.98 crore) are the leading contributors to the indirect tax kitty. Similarly, the customs duty collection is also up by 45 per cent to Rs 2,727 crore in 2015-16 compared to the previous financial year. The revenue realization is Rs 851 crore more than that of 2014-15. "Steel industries importing more iron ore and met coke has boosted collection. During the period under review, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, which commissioned its refinery at Paradip, imported crude oil, contributing to the surge in realization of customs duty", added the official. Service tax collection has also soared in the last financial year. The collection was Rs 2,285 crore against the target of Rs 2,320 crore fixed for the current financial year. It is up by 22 per cent from Rs 1,869 crore realized up to March 2015. Defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has paid Rs 127.47 crore in the last financial year followed by Paradip Port Trust (PPT), country's second major port in cargo handling, contributing Rs 108.65 crore to the service tax bracket. A multi-agency team is probing misuse of legal routes by which resident Indians can send money abroad. One legal route is the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), which allows up to $250,000 (Rs 1.66 crore according to Wednesday's exchange rate) to be sent abroad in a financial year. The same team is also probing possible tax evasion by resident Indians who were named in Panama Papers, an unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the database of the world's fourth-biggest offshore law firm, Panama-based Mossack Fonseca. The documents show the many ways the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. The multi-agency team comprises members of CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes), RBI (Reserve Bank of India), and Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU). The move comes after the showed that hundreds of Indians as shareholders and/or directors in companies incorporated by Mossack Fonseca. A revenue official said, "There were violations such as money being transferred from foreign bank account A (disclosed to the Indian tax department) to foreign bank B (not declared to the tax authorities). On first impression, we also found irregularities in disclosure requirements on sending money abroad, which indicates misuse of LRS." Advait M Sethna, corporate and tax law expert, said, "As the LRS is being misused, there is potential for tax evasion as opposed to tax planning and tax avoidance, permissible. The government should tighten the noose to ensure round-tripping does not lead to tax evasion in India." Till 2004, sending money abroad required approval of the central bank. In 2004, LRS allowed resident Indians to send up to $25,000 (Rs 16.6 lakh) abroad a year. This limit is now $250,000 a year. Experts said there may be misuse of the bilateral agreements between India and other countries by offshore entities that invest back in India to avoid taxes. The most common use is for avoidance of capital gains taxes by routing investments through offshore entities located in tax havens such as Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, etc. "Some countries are following the disclosure norms reluctantly, while in some jurisdictions, the KYC norms are more liberal than others," said a legal expert on the condition of anonymity. LRS allowed individuals, and even minors, to remit funds for studies, medical treatment, buying property overseas or holding shares in an overseas company. In 2015, RBI extended permission to several capital account transactions under LRS. It included opening of foreign currency accounts overseas, purchase of property, opening of wholly owned subsidiaries and joint ventures abroad and extending loans to relatives who are non-resident Indians. Black money is back in focus with the expose by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that shows hundreds of Indians were shareholders and/or directors in companies incorporated in distant islands by Panama-based firm Mossack Fonseca in a bid to avoid tax. Soon after the revelation, the government declared that action will be taken against said accounts held abroad by Indians and constituted a multi-agency group to continuously monitor information. have named 500 people, including film actors and industrialists who have allegedly stashed money in offshore entities. The assurances given by the BJP-led government to bring back black money in India has largely being ineffective. Possible reasons would be polices that have been established to curb accrual of black money have not been enforced by the agencies or existing legal and administrative framework which has its own limitations. Is it so easy to float a company abroad? Would they able to get evidences against the said entities named in What are the limitations, Business Standard explores. Is it so easy to float a company abroad? Some countries are following the disclosure norms reluctantly, while in some jurisdictions, the KYC norms are more liberal than others. According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms, liberalized remittances scheme (LRS) allowed individuals even minors to remit amount up to $250,000 ( Rs 1.65 crore as on date) each year abroad under self declaration. This is for studies, medical treatment, buying property overseas or holding shares in an overseas company or a combination of both. Will they get evidences against entities named in Getting information from other countries is a cumbersome task. There are limited options before Indian authorities which includes Letter Rogatory (LR), a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies sought by LR are service of process and taking of evidence. What are the limitations? The areas where the government has serious lacunae is lack of skills of investigating agencies on the subject matter, dearth of manpower and limited reach of the agencies. These apart, the agencies are unable to deal with the possible misuse of the bilateral agreements between India and other countries by offshore entities that invest back in India to avoid taxes. The most common use is for avoidance of capital gains taxes by routing investments through offshore entities located in tax heavens such as Mauritius, British Virgin Islands, etc. As the part of measures to curb illicit funds, In 2015, the government came up with a new law -- Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015. Under this, it had opened three months compliance window to disclose the quantum of assets parked overseas. The scheme was only able to get declarations of Rs 4,147 cr, yielding tax to the tune of Rs 2,488 crore, within the deadline. After the compliance window, any undisclosed foreign income that is detected will henceforth attract tax at the rate of 30 per cent, a penalty of 90 per cent and a 10-year prison term. Mainly, three revenue departments are responsible for detecting the flow of black money and curbing it namely the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and Enforcement Directorate (ED), who have so far not been able to conclude the probe in the Swiss HSBC Bank list, the very first list, French government had handed over to India in 2011. After a gap of almost five years, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of black money has been constituted under two former Supreme Court judges. The five-year delay in investigations into the HSBC's leaked list of account holders have given enough room to the foreign bank and most of the tax evaders to escape the income-tax scrutiny. Since then, the SIT is monitoring the probe into the black money case who quarterly informs the Supreme Court on the status of probe and recovery. However, no major breakthrough has been seen so far on the black money front. The income tax department is already investing the old list cases and has launched prosecution against 140 individuals. So far, undisclosed income of over Rs 3,000 crore has been brought under the tax net deposited in foreign bank accounts. According to official data, 628 Indians appeared in the HSBC list, where 200 were either non-residents or non-traceable, leaving 428 cases of residents which were found actionable. The net amount of peak balance for these 428 cases was about Rs 4,500 crore, government data said. Apart from this, a second list was released in early 2015. It featured names of 1,668 Indians while the number of actionable cases stood at 1,195 after taking into account duplication and other factors. Collectively, these accounts had a balance of Rs 25,420 crore till 2007. However the government now claims that it was the part of the old data which the tax department already had. Full deregulation of diesel prices by the Narendra Modi government in October 2014 and direct benefit transfer in cooking gas might have been the continuation of the policies put in place by the United Progressive Alliance government. However, the new policy package for the upstream oil and gas sector that the National Democratic Alliance government has announced are reforms it can take sole credit for if they click. Stagnating domestic production and lack of investor interest had turned the Indian hydrocarbon story sour. So much so, that the industry was looking for not just a helping hand from the government, but also reforms that would tackle issues of pricing of natural gas, ensure sanctity of contractual commitments, assure extension of tenures and sort out matters relating to clearances. Besides, it puts pressure India's trade balance. According to International Energy Agency, crude oil production will fall 3.5 per cent annually to 0.3 million barrels a day (mbd) in 2040 from 0.7 mbd in 2013 turning India into the second largest oil importer, behind China. With issues of retail pricing for petrol and diesel resolved, the next logical step for the government was to turn its attention to the upstream sector. In its endeavour to get back "Make in India" into the upstream sector, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced a host of initiatives on March 10, which Mayank Ashar, managing director and chief executive officer of Cairn India, describes as "continuum of reforms". Broadly, Pradhan made three announcements, including a comprehensive overhaul of the future contractual arrangement between the government and the companies mining oil. For one, the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP) will replace the New Exploration and Licensing Policy (NELP), which was notified back in 1999. Several contracts under NELP had led to disputes. ICRA, in its report, has stated that some of NELP's - like profit sharing, which led to close scrutiny of costs, as well as the time-consuming procedure for approval and disputes/arbitration - had affected the sentiment in the Indian upstream oil and gas sector. "The government, by replacing NELP with HELP, has tried to address these issues while providing greater flexibility through certain key features," the ICRA report stated. Under NELP, large discoveries have been claimed in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) Basin by three major companies - Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL). However, none of these three is as yet making a mark in domestic production volumes. ROAD AHEAD HELP TO REPLACE NELP Bidders will identify areas under HELP and propose a bid Single licence for all hydrocarbon oil, gas, shale oil and coal bed methane Revenue share to replace the system of government getting a share in production after deduction of costs Royalty rates for offshore fields reduced MORE FREEDOM FOR DIFFICULT GAS Gas produced from high temperature, high pressure, deepwater and ultra deepwater from discoveries already made but yet to begin production can be priced anywhere below the ceiling price Producers from such fields have marketing freedom A NEW LEASE FOR 28 FIELDS Additional production of 15.7 million tonne (mt) crude oil and 20.6 mt of oil equivalent gas estimated to be produced after $3-4 billion capital expenditure and with revenue potential of around $7-8 billion Nonetheless, in about two weeks of Pradhan's announcements, government-promoted ONGC announced a Rs 34,012-crore investment, the largest in its history, for the KG basin. "The investment will be made over a period of three to four years to bring Cluster 2A and 2B into production," ONGC Chairman and Managing Director D K Sarraf said after a board meeting on March 28. "At its peak production in 2023, the field will contribute 3.5 million tonne of oil, around 15 per cent of the total oil production of 22 MT envisaged by then. Also, gas production at peak would be 5 billion cubic metre or 25 per cent of the total output," he added. The investment plan was prompted by the different pricing mechanism and marketing freedom being notified for difficult fields. This was Pradhan's second key on March 10. There is no fixed premium for gas produced out of the difficult fields, but the producers can now sell at a price anywhere below a cap linked to alternative fuels. At the current price, the cap has been notified at $6.61 per million British thermal units, which is more than double of the new notified price for natural gas produced from other fields (which has been set at $3.06 till September 2016). This cap makes it possible for ONGC to develop one of its three clusters in the KG basin. The investment through a field development plan has been delayed even as RIL has been producing gas from an adjoining block for seven years. The question, however, is: will this reform package nudge the private sector to follow in ONGC's footsteps? So far, there is no public feedback from any of the major players, except Cairn India. "ONGC will be the biggest beneficiary of this. It has already announced a capital expenditure plan for its field. Other stakeholders, including RIL, are also happy. BP has also welcomed the move," Pradhan told Business Standard in a recent interview. The BSE-listed RIL refused to comment, saying that it is still studying the announcements. RIL's wait and watch approach is understandable, considering that the government has laid the condition that it should first withdraw current arbitrations before reaping any benefit for future production from difficult areas where it has already made a discovery. Both Cairn and RIL have been in a rough patch with the government for some time, though both want a solution within the contracts signed by the government. Cairn India's production sharing contract precedes the NELP regime. It is looking for an extension of its production sharing contract for its flagship block in the Barmer district of Rajasthan that expires in 2020. This is important since the company, along with ONGC (its 30 per cent partner in the block), has to plan for further investment. Cairn has also taken the government to court on the issue. Post March 10, the company is hopeful because of the third announcement: extension of production sharing contracts. "The licence extension policy for 28 discovered fields brings in predictability and clarity for existing investors who can now take informed decisions on the future of their producing blocks," Ashar said in a statement soon after the government announcement. "The industry will get more clarity. We are now hopeful for an early resolution of PSC [production sharing contract] extension of Rajasthan block and realisation of fair price for our crude. This will also help India take a step closer to energy security." The extension for the 28 fields has, however, come with a clause: a 10 per cent increase in the government share in petroleum from these fields with which Cairn might not be comfortable. In the complex upstream world of petroleum, all these announcements are a positive development. However, with conditions like the withdrawal of arbitration and pricing control for gas production still in government hands, are these reforms tempting enough to draw sizeable fresh investment in these challenging times? That one cannot say with certainty yet. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said her ministry would recommend to the finance ministry according priority status to export credit, improving special economic zones and focussing on small and medium enterprises to stem the slide in exports. Exports have fallen for 15 months in a row, mainly due to contraction in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods. Cumulative exports declined by 16.73 per cent to $238.41 billion in April-February 2015-16 from $286.3 billion in the same period of 2014-15. The commerce ministry has sought removal of the minimum alternate tax and dividend distribution tax in SEZs to boost exports. This comes a month after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley shot down the proposal in the Budget. The decisions emerged from the first meeting of the Board of Trade, an advisory body headed by Sitharaman and made up of officials and industry representatives. Sitharaman said the issue of according priority status to export credit would be taken up with the finance ministry soon. She also called for an interest subsidy on pre-shipment credit. On SEZs, Sitharaman said the ministry would work on improving their export potential. "MAT and DDT being where they are, I would want to work on SEZs so that these are better utilised," she said. "Banks need to finance SMEs uniquely, rather than within the larger structure of corporate financing," the minister said. Earlier, an official pointed out branch managers took up to nine months to process applications of small enterprises. Sitharaman said her ministry would discuss with the Reserve Bank of India and the finance ministry amending the regulatory structure of EXIM Bank and the Export Credit Guarantee Corporation to allow them more flexibility. She also touched upon the issue of bulk drug manufacturers facing difficulty in exporting to the US, which has been restricting the import of drugs with active pharmaceutical ingredients not manufactured in the country. Sitharaman said India was dependent on China for APIs and the government had mooted plans for three pharmaceuticals manufacturing zones. After the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) announcement on Tuesday of liquidity support to banks and with the new marginal cost-based lending rate (MCLR), lenders will have to cut their rates. "The transmission of (reduced) policy rates will entirely depend on how fast banks can adjust their deposit rates (DRs), which will subsequently lead to change in MCLR," wrote State Bank of India chief economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh. ICICI Bank's managing director, Chanda Kochhar, said RBI's liquidity stance will help in transmission, though she wouldn't commit to how much.Bankers and economists agree that rates will soften. "It could soften by another 20 basis points but will really depend on their asset-liability profile. Of course, if a large bank announces some rate cuts, the element of competition will kick in and other banks will have to follow," said Manoranjan Sharma, chief economist of Canara Bank. "It is likely banks will pass on the benefit of the rate cut within this quarter. However, this will have to be preceded with a cut in DRs. Though RBI's stance on liquidity will help in transmission, right now they have only laid out the steps they will take. It will take four to six weeks for them to take the required steps. So, transmission might also come with a lag," said the chief financial officer of a private bank. Some banks had already started reducing their DRs. These will be in a better position to reduce lending rates faster than others. A senior executive with a large public sector bank, however, ruled out an immediate cut. The pace of growth in liabilities was low in March, a crucial month for business. Banks need resources, he pointed out. The year-on-year growth in deposits dropped to 9.7 per cent till March 18, from 10.7 per cent a year before, according to RBI data. Some tweaking in DRs for a few maturity buckets might happen over the next few months but not by much, the official said. Also noting that small savings deposits are still offering a higher rate than bank deposits, even after a steep cut in March. "If banks lower their DRs further, it would be a challenge to mobilise deposits," said the executive. The central bank, though, has done its own calculation. "Our first estimate from the 26 largest banks in the system, accounting for 83 per cent of the activity, has been that since the last week of March, the median overnight MCLR is down by 50 bps from the base rate and by 25 bps across all tenures," said RBI governor Raghuram Rajan at the start of his policy statement. "This is important because it means an actual rate cut to the borrower of at least 25-50 bps even before today's rate cut." RBI on Tuesday cut its policy rate by 25 bps to 6.5 per cent. The base rate pass-through of the previous 125 bps in rate cuts was only 60-70 bps. The governor had earlier chastised banks for not passing on rate cuts. Banks had said the liquidity provided by RBI was too short-term and small savings rates were much higher than those for bank deposits. While the former were cut sharply in March, RBI on Tuesday promised to provide more 'durable liquidity', eliminating banks' chances of complaint. "We have now given them (banks) more liquidity, so transmission should take place," Rajan said, adding "there will be no uncertainty about liquidity now." After a steady increase in bad loans, Indias largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has decided to tighten its corporate lending growth and apply breaks on growing its corporate books. According to a presentation made to investors in March, the bank has decided to limit the growth in corporate loans (including international) to about 10 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). This comes at a time when after several quarters of single-digit growth in corporate book, the bank had finally begun to see an uptick in corporate loans. Among private-sector lenders, ICICI Bank has the largest corporate loan book, which at the end of the quarter ended December 2015 was at 28.8 per cent out of the Rs 4,34,800-crore loan book. At the end of the December 2015 quarter, growth in domestic corporate portfolio had inched up to 14.9 per cent on a y-o-y basis compared to 7.5 per cent as on September 30, 2015. On the other hand, in the same period, the net advances of the overseas branches had increased 2.6 per cent on a y-o-y basis. At the end of the December quarter, the management had said they would grow the corporate book. However, that expectation seems to have been revised considerably. On the retail side, we are hopeful of a 25 per cent growth on a y-o-y basis. The corporate book has just started growing. We had said earlier that we would soon like to grow in the teens; the expectation continues, said N S Kannan, executive director, ICICI Bank, in a conference call with analysts. This comes at a time when bad loans in its subsidiaries also remain at an elevated level. As of the December quarter, the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio for its Canadian subsidiary ICICI Bank Canada was 3.7 per cent, while that for the UK subsidiary ICICI Bank UK Plc was 5.5 per cent. According to analysts, the trigger for this was possibly the asset quality review undertaken by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by banks in the October-December 2015 quarter. This was done at RBIs behest, to ensure banks were being pro-active to correctly classify their loan portfolios, with the aim of making full provisions to clean up, with a 2017 deadline. As a result, the lenders have seen a spike in bad loans. In the presentation, the bank had also stated that going ahead, it would apply selective approach to incremental business in its corporate book. With this, the lender will put a limit on single borrower/group exposures for lower-rated companies, which would be significantly lower than what has been prescribed by RBI. According to the central bank, exposure to a single borrower or a group should not exceed 25 per cent of its tier-1 and tier-2 capital. ICICI Bank has also decided to increase the proportion of higher-rated exposures in portfolio and put limits on project finance exposure. It will also be forming a separate credit administration team that will help in recovery of bad loans. This comes at a time when the asset quality pressure in the bank has intensified after RBI has directed banks to reclassify certain assets by the December or March quarter. As a result, in the December quarter, gross NPA soared 33.3 per cent to Rs 21,149 crore, compared with Rs 15,858 crore in the September 2015 quarter. In the same period, gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans also increased to 4.72 per cent in the December quarter, compared with 3.77 per cent in the quarter ended September 2015. On a sequential basis, even the net NPA increased to 2.28 per cent from 1.65 per cent in the December 2015 quarter. The management has guided that NPA levels will remain elevated in the March 2016 quarter. TIGHTENING LENDING The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) features in the Thomson Reuters top 50 Indian Innovator companies and research organizations for the year 2015. The Top 50 Indian Innovators lead the country in innovation output. They are a group of businesses and research institutions that develop, recognize and protect great ideas and use it to their full potential. . . Thomson Reuters India Innovation Awards honors the most innovative academic institutions and commercial enterprises headquartered in India for their spirit of innovation in R&D as it relates to Indian patent publications. Thomson Reuters 2015 India Innovation Awards is based on research and analysis done using the Derwent World Patents Index, the worlds most trusted and authoritative value-added patent database. Data from 2010-2014 was used for the analysis. The metrics used are patent volume, grant success rate, globalization, and citation influence. This analysis is done using proprietary Thomson Reuters data and tools. The threshold for inclusion in the Top 50 Indian innovators is at least 25 patents published during the period 2010-2014. . . Six innovators from the top 50 list have also been selected as the recipients of the Thomson Reuters India Innovation Awards 2015 across three different industrial sectors: Corporate-Pharmaceuticals, Corporate-Hi Tech., and Academic & Research Institutions. . . CSIR was also the recipient of the Thomson Reuters India Innovation Awards 2013 in the category of Hi-Tech Academic & Government. . . CSIR, constituted in 1942 by a resolution of the then Central Legislative assembly, is an autonomous body registered under the Registration of Societies Act XXI of 1860. Known for its cutting-edge R&D knowledgebase in diverse S&T areas, CSIR is a contemporary R&D organization, having pan-India presence, with a dynamic network of 38 national laboratories, 39 outreach centers, 3 Innovation Complexes and 5 units. . . CSIR covers a wide spectrum of science and technology from radio and space physics, oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology. It provides significant technological intervention in many areas with regard to societal efforts, which include environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farm sectors. Further, CSIRs role in S&T human resource development is noteworthy. . . Pioneer of Indias intellectual property movement, CSIR today is strengthening its patent portfolio to carve out global niches for the country in select technology domains. CSIR is granted 90% of US patents granted to any Indian publicly funded R&D organization. On an average CSIR files about 200 Indian patents and 250 foreign patents per year. About 9% of CSIR patents are licensed - a number which is above the global average. Amongst its peers in publicly funded research organizations in the world, CSIR is a leader in terms of filing and securing patents worldwide. . . The next challenge that the Institution places before itself is to convert this wealth of innovation for societal and industrial outcomes much beyond the present. . . The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for development of the four laning of the Hospet-Bellary-Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh Border section of National Highway 63 in Karnataka. . . This work will be under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP) Phase-IV. The approval is on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) basis. . . The cost is estimated to be Rs.1621.96 crore including cost of land acquisition, resettlement and rehabilitation and other pre-construction activities. The total length of the road will be approximately 95.37 kms. It is estimated that 4,076 mandays are required for construction of one kilometre of highways. As such, employment potential of 3,88,728 (approx.) mandays will be generated locally during the construction period. . . The main object of the project is to expedite the improvement of infrastructure in Karnataka and also in reducing the time and cost of travel for traffic, particularly heavy traffic, plying on the Hospet-Bellary-Karnataka/Andhra Pradesh Border sector of NH-63. The development of this stretch will also help in uplifting the socio-economic condition of the concerned regions of the State and would also increase employment potential for local labourers for project activities. . . NHAI moves Police Chiefs of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to ensure protection for Eastern Peripheral Works as directed by Supreme Court . Honble Supreme Court of India had fixed the deadline for completion of Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) by July, 2018. However, following obstructions from vested interests in Districts Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh and Sonepat in Haryana, construction work in these Districts was obstructed and could not commence, even though land had formally been acquired and contractors appointed from amongst the best companies of the country. . . In order to expedite the construction work and to apprise the Honble Supreme Court of the difficulties, NHAI had moved the Honble Supreme Court of India with an interlocutory application seeking police protection from unwarranted obstruction from miscreants and vested interests. . . The Solicitor General of India had represented NHAI before the Supreme Court. Honble Supreme Court vide order dated 31.3.2016 has directed the Director Generals of Police of States of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to ensure all requisite protection to NHAI officials and contractors, etc. to carry out their duty to construct the EPE. . . In pursuance to the order dated 31.03.2016 of Honble Supreme Court, NHAI has now addressed the Police Chiefs of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to necessarily provide security to NHAI officials and contractors in the districts of Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar in Uttar Pradesh and Sonepat in Haryana to remove possible obstruction in construction. . . NHAI has also provided a list of specific points where the obstruction has been most perceptible. . . This directive of the Honble Supreme Court is expected to facilitate speeding up of the construction work in view of the huge mobilization of resources undertaken by contractors for all the 6 packages into which the project is divided. . . The Government is committed to the safety, health and welfare of the working class and recognize occupational safety and health as a fundamental right. This was stated by Shri Bandaru Dattatreya, the MoS(IC) Labour and Employment here today while presenting NSCI Safety Awards at the concluding function of National Security Councils(NSC) Golden Jubilee Celebrations. As a founder member of the ILO, India has contributed immensely in formulation and implementation of labour standards. India is one of the signatories to the Seoul Declaration signed by about 50 high level decision makers of the world on the occasion of 18th World Congress on Occupational Safety and Health held in 2008. Congratulating the award winners, the Minister said that the country is in an unique and advantageous position and is striving to achieve growth with social development. . . The Minister presented awards to the winners for manufacturing sector, MSME sector and construction sector. The assessment period for manufacturing sector was three years (2012-14); for MSME sector two years (2013-14) and one year(2014|) for construction sector. In total eighty-three awards have been given to 285 awardees. To commemorate the Golden Jubilee year of the Council, design of the trophies has been changed this year. Of the five groups in manufacturing sector only three groups won the highest award- Sarvashreshtha Suraksha Puruskar (Golden Trophy). These are IOCL, Assam Oil Division, Digboi Refinery; National Fertilizer Limited , Panipat and NPCIL, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station 3&4.The Golden Trophy for MSME sector went to Elin Appliances Pvt. Ltd, Belikhol, Baddi, Solan, Himachal Pradesh while for construction sector Golden Trophy was won by Larsen and Toubro Ltd,Chennai. . . If Halliburton Co's bid to buy Baker Hughes fails, it may spark a scramble for deals among beaten-down oil services firms. US antitrust officials have prepared a lawsuit to stop the merger of the world's second and third-largest oilfield companies, according to a person familiar with the matter. The lawsuit, which may be filed as early as this week, claims the deal violates antitrust laws by eliminating competition between the firms, said the person, who asked not to be named because the investigation is confidential. An offer by Halliburton and Baker Hughes to sell assets to ... Senior Republican lawmaker John McCain warned today the US-led coalition is headed for "slow, grinding failure" unless it scales up the fight against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. "I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nation's defeat in the Vietnam War," Senator McCain, a Navy veteran who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee and ran against Barack Obama in 2008, wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter. "This administration's grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation."McCain said military commanders had told him they have been hamstrung in their pursuit of the group. "They have been reduced from considering what it will take to win to what they will be allowed to do by this administration.... This is unacceptable," McCain said. Following the drawn-out US-led war in Iraq, President Obama has been reluctant to commit large numbers of ground troops to anti-IS efforts in Syria and Iraq, preferring to partner with local forces he argues should lead the fight for their homelands. The US military also has procedures to minimize civilian deaths, prompting critics to say restrictions are too tight. McCain called on Carter to provide detailed information on US troop numbers in Iraq and Syria, and whether the Pentagon envisions sending more troops to Africa to deal with the IS group as it "metastasizes" across the continent. The defense secretary was to meet with Obama in the White House later today along with a slew of the Pentagon's top brass to discuss defense strategies and priorities. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and Studies, a Washington think tank, Carter said the Pentagon is doing all it can to quicken the anti-IS fight, which began in August 2014. The campaign has dealt some important defeats to the group, but the jihadists still control huge areas, including the key Syrian city of Raqa and Mosul in Iraq. "We've got to get these guys beaten, and as soon as possible," Carter said. "We are looking for every opportunity we can take to do that.... We are doing more every day and we are looking for opportunities to do yet more because we need to get this over with. I am confident we will defeat ISIL, I have no question in my mind about it," he added. In his first reaction to the leaked 'Panama Papers' that revealed names of thousands of world leaders and celebrities who have stashed money in tax havens, President Barack Obama today said that global tax avoidance may be running into trillions of dollars worldwide. "There is no doubt that the problem of global tax avoidance, generally, is a huge problem," Obama said adding the issue has been brought up in G7 and G20 meetings. "There has been some progress made in coordinating between tax authorities of different countries so that we can make sure that we're catching some of the most egregious examples," he said. "But as I said before, one of the big problems that we have is that a lot of this stuff is not illegal. Unless the United States and other countries lead by example in closing some of these loopholes and provisions, then in many cases you can trace what's taking place, but you can't stop it. There is always going to be some illicit movement of funds around the world. But we shouldn't make it easy. We shouldn't make it legal to engage in transactions just to avoid taxes," he asserted. "That's why I think it is important that the Treasury acted on something that's different from what happened in Panama. The corporate inversions issue is a financial transaction that is brokered among major Fortune 500 companies to avoid paying taxes," he said. "But the basic principle is making sure that everybody is paying their fair share, and that they don't just have a few people who are able to take advantage of tax provisions, that's something that they really have to pay attention to. "This is all net outflows of money that could be spent on the pressing needs here in the United States. The volume that you start seeing when you combine legal tax avoidance with illicit tax avoidance, or some of the activities that we're seeing, this is not just billions of dollars. "It's not even just hundreds of billions of dollars. Estimates are this may be trillions of dollars worldwide, and it could make a big difference in terms of what we can do here," Obama said. Obama urged the Republican-controlled Congress to close legal loopholes so as to prevent American companies from evading taxes and shipping jobs overseas. "We should keep building an economy where everybody has a fair shot, and everybody plays by the same rules," Obama said a day after the US Treasury Department issued new set of rules making it more difficult for US companies to save taxes by shipping jobs abroad. Americans, he stressed, should be able to know that big corporations aren't playing by a different set of rules. Obama praised the Treasury Department for its new set of rules that would reduce the tax benefits for "serial inverters"as he lashed out at such US companies. "They effectively renounce their citizenship. They declare that they're based somewhere else," Obama said. "It sticks the rest of us with the tab, and it makes hardworking Americans feel like the deck is stacked against them," he added. "In the news over the last couple of days, we've had another reminder in this big dump of data coming out of Panama that tax avoidance is a big, global problem. Its not unique to other countries because, frankly, there are folks here in America who are taking advantage of the same stuff. A lot of it is legal, but that's exactly the problem," Obama said. "Its not that they're breaking the laws, it's that the laws are so poorly designed that they allow people, if they've got enough lawyers and enough accountants, to wiggle out of responsibilities that ordinary citizens are having to abide by," he said. In the US there are loopholes that only wealthy individuals and powerful corporations have access to. They have access to offshore accounts, and they are gaming the system, he noted, adding that middle-class families are not in the same position to do this. "In fact, a lot of these loopholes come at the expense of middle-class families, because that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere. Alternatively, it means that we're not investing as much as we should in schools, in making college more affordable, in putting people back to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our infrastructure, creating more opportunities for our children," he said. The Panamanian lawyer at the centre of a data leak scandal that has embarrassed a clutch of world leaders said his firm was a victim of a hack from outside the company, and has filed a complaint with state prosecutors. Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm, Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. Nor had it ever destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money, he added in an interview with Reuters. Company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the US-based Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and other media organisations, were "taken out of context" and misinterpreted, he added. "We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack," Fonseca, 63, said at the company's headquarters in Panama City's business district. "We have a theory and we are following it," he added, without elaborating. "We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney General's office, and there is a government institution studying the issue," he added, flanked by two press advisers. Governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of more than 11.5 million documents, dubbed the "Panama Papers," from the law firm that span four decades. The papers have revealed financial arrangements of prominent figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Iceland's prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned, becoming the first casualty of the leak. "The (emails) were taken out of context," Fonseca said, denouncing what he called a "witch-hunt". He lamented what he called journalistic activism and sensationalism, extolling his own investigative research credentials as a published novelist in Panama. He said he feared that his rivals could muscle in on their business following the leak. "The only crime that has been proven is the hack," Fonseca said. "No one is talking about that. That is the story." He said his company had a staff of around 500, 300 of which work in Panama, but declined to comment on his law firm's structure or franchises in other parts of the world. Setting up a company might cost between about $700 and $1,000, he said, with a significant part of that fee going to the government. Mossack Fonseca has set up around 250,000 businesses over the past 40 years. He added that it is cheaper to do business in Nevada. He said business rules have tightened and that his company has adhered to them. "Fifteen years ago, due diligence didn't exist and they are judging us by other standards," Fonseca said. France announced on Tuesday it would put the Central American nation back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. "This is a tropical storm, like the ones we have here in Panama where once it passes the sun will come out," Fonseca said. "I guarantee you that we will not be found guilty of anything." A spate of new home-grown brands are carving a neat niche in the Rs 65,000-crore market in India, setting off the alarm bells among many of the large cola makers in the country. Backed by institutional investors, most of these start-ups like Paper Boat Beverages, RAW Pressery and Milk Mantra have come out with innovative products, interestingly packaged and inventively marketed to woo the urban health-conscious consumer. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE The juice market in India is now close Rs 10,000 crore, nearly the same as the carbonated drinks segment Home-grown makers are using innovative ways to stimulate demand, launching limited edition drinks around Indian festivals Many are tapping into traditional recipes for their products, using medicinal herbs to flavour their beverages Anuj Rakyan, founder and managing director, Rakyan Beverages which owns the cold-pressed juice brand RAW Pressery believes Indians are drinking less soda. "The carbonated soft drink (CSD) industry has shown a 5 per cent decline in growth globally. Giants like Pepsi and Coke are fast losing shelf-space to healthier, functional options as discerning consumers are opting for not-from-concentrate products with no added sugar." Raw Pressery products come at a huge premium however; a 250 ml bottle of its juice retails for around Rs 150 while a 300 ml can of Coca Cola costs around Rs 30. "The 100 per cent natural category has grown by over 40 per cent in the past three years and online and offline retailers are seeing a surge in footfall by stocking clean-label innovations," Rakyan claims. In fact, the carbonated beverages category was among the top five categories to show a significant production decline in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in April and May 2015. And last summer, according to a report published in this paper, the category saw a 3.16 per cent drop in IIP during May. Also according to research firm, Euromonitor, the soft drinks category grew 19 per cent last calendar year helped by the juice segment that crossed Rs 10,000 crore in sales and is now almost the same size as carbonated beverages. Neeraj Kakkar, chief executive officer and co-founder of Hector Beverages which owns the Paper Boat brand agrees that there has been a shift in consumer preferences towards healthier drinks (without too much added sugar, preservatives or carbonates). Kakkar's Paper Boat, which was founded in 2009-10 and has so far raised around Rs 250 crore in several rounds of funding from Sequoia Capital, Sofina and Hillhouse Capital and Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy's Catamaran Ventures, is planning to do something unique starting this summer. Kakkar says, "We are launching Panakam (jaggery-based drink) for the Southern market that will coincide with the Ram Navami festival. This would be on the shelves for just about a fortnight." After that he plans to launch limited edition Kacchi Lassi (around Baisakhi) and Rose Sherbet (around Ramzan). The idea is to have 10-12 traditional Indian drinks for the major festivals around the year. While he does not get into whether it is a supply chain nightmare, Kakkar is confident about pulling it off. Hector Beverages had doubled capacity during 2015, and has again doubled it this year, taking the current capacity to 460 bottles per minute. Just like Kakkar who spotted an opportunity in traditional Indian beverages that cater to the Indian palate, former Tata executive Srikumar Misra, saw an opportunity in India's fascination with milk. Misra, the founder, managing director, of Odisha-based Milk Mantra whose products include milk, buttermilk, curd and milkshakes under the Milky Moo brand, is backed by Fidelity Growth Partners. Misra feels that the flavoured milk or milkshake market is still nascent in India, about Rs 1,500-1,600 crore at the moment. It is still a very small portion of the overall dairy industry in the country which is estimated to be around $50 billion (out of which only $10 billion is organised), says Misra. However, it has the potential to grow into a one billion category over the next five to seven years, at the current growth rate of 25-30 per cent. In fact, cola major Coca Cola has recently launched its flavoured milk brand Vio in India. Milk Mantra milkshakes (MooShake) use the active ingredient in turmeric, curcumin, which is anti-inflammatory, an immunity booster and also believed to be a natural preventive for cancer. The company has two plants with a combined capacity of processing three lakh litres a day of fresh milk which is for its Milky Moo fresh dairy product portfolio. For MooShake the initial capacity is five lakh litres per month, which will be increased as the company enters newer markets. The company says that it will double the Rs 120 crore turnover in FY16 to Rs 230 crore in FY17. There is room for growth outside dairy as well. Rakyan says that the non-carbonated, non-dairy and non-alcoholic segment has been clocking a 50-55 per cent compounded growth over the last three years. Rakyan Beverages plans to be in top 12 Indian cities by FY17, and has hired the national sales head for modern trade of a cola giant to ramp up its operations. From a turnover of Rs 7.5 crore in FY16, it is targeting Rs 30-35 crore in FY17. These projections are sure to attract many more brands and investors, but many will wait to see if the long summer ahead delivers the numbers that the companies are expecting it to. Shares of companies are on a roll with most of the mid-and-small sized shares rallying by up to 20% on the BSE in intra-day trade. Camphor & Allied Products (20% at Rs 617), Sudarshan Chemical Industries (17% at Rs 109), AksharChem India (16% at Rs 227), Sunshield (13% at Rs 370), Camex (13% at Rs 26), Vidhi Dyestuffs Manufacturing (13% at Rs 74), Thirumalai (11% at Rs 210) and Kiri Industries (10% at Rs 167) are few stocks surging more than 10% each on the BSE during intra-day trade. Kiri Industries has hit the upper circuit for the second straight day, after the company said that there has been a sudden dramatic change in the market situation of Dyes Intermediate especially H-acid and vinyl sulphone due to closure of a leading manufacturing plant in China. The stock currently trading to its 52-week high of Rs 167, has been more than doubled in past six trading sessions from Rs 88 on March 29, 2016. The company also said that it has executed agreements for settlement of all its debt. This has resulted in significant reduction of borrowing of the company by the end of financial year 2015-16 and the total borrowings of the company have been reduced from Rs 853 crore to Rs 411 crore, which is about 51.87% reduction compared to the previous financial year. The average price of H-acid during the previous financial year which has been ranging from Rs 300 to Rs 360 per Kg. was now shot up to about of Rs 900 to Rs 1,000 per kg and average price of vinyl sulphone during the previous financial year which stood at Rs 160 to Rs 180 per Kg. was now shot up to about of Rs 240 to Rs 275 per kg globally. Clariant Chemicals (India), Bodal Chemicals, Nitta Gelatin India, Deepak Nitrite, Excel Industries and Kanoria Chemicals & Industries were up between 5%-10% on the BSE. Oilmeals export dropped 52 per cent to 1.18 million tonnes (mt) in 2015-16, against 2.46 mt the previous year, due to a sharp fall in soyabean shipments, the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said on Wednesday. In value terms, export fell 65 per cent to Rs 1,510 crore, compared to Rs 4,298 crore in 2014-15. "Lower production of soyabean, coupled with high price in the domestic market resulted in to drastic fall in crushing, leading to disparity in export of soyabean meal," SEA said. Exports to South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Iran, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia drastically reduced in 2015-16 due to price disparity, owing to severe competition from other origins, including China and Argentina. India lost the Vietnam market for soyabean meal due to stiff competition and increased availability from domestic crushing of imported soyabean, the SEA statement said.Iran has shifted soyabean meal buying from India to other countries, while Bangladesh has moved to import of soyabean for domestic crushing. According to the SEA data, soyabean meal exports has dropped to 70,820 tonnes in 2015-16, from 6,59,593 tonnes last year. Exports to other destinations like Thailand and Taiwan also dropped during the 2015-16. RPG Life Sciences has rallied 11% to Rs 260 on the BSE in early morning trade after the pharmaceutical company announced that it has received GMP Certificate from Bavarian Authority, a competent authority in Germany. The company has received GMP Certificate from Bavarian Authority, a competent authority in Germany, as per EUGMP standards for its formulation manufacturing facility at 3102/A, G.l.D.C. Industrial Estate, Ankleshwar, District Bharuch, Gujarat, RPG Life Sciences said in a press release. Bavarian Authority had conducted audit of the manufacturing facility in early March 2016. This is a major milestone for us. The certification will help in boosting sales by expanding the company's geographical presence in the European . It also reinforces the quality systems established by the company in line with the current stringent good manufacturing practices, commented CT. Renganathan, Managing Director, RPG Life Sciences. At 09:23 AM, the stock was up 6% at Rs 248 on the BSE. A combined 115,764 shares changed hands on the counter on the BSE and NSE so far. The stock price of Ashoka Buildcon fell 20 per cent and was locked in the lower circuit limit in Wednesday's trade, after media reports on joint searches by the enforcement directorate (ED) and income tax (I-T) department on the company. The company, in a statement to the BSE exchange, said it was in the process of collating and responding to all the queries raised by the I-T authorities. Analysts are not in a hurry to review their recommendation on the stock. Given the promoters reputation and track record, only if no clarity emerges in the next two-three months would we review our call, said an analysts from a domestic brokerage, on condition of anonymity. On Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, there was only one new recommendation on the stock, from Ambit Capital. It gave a buy report, with a target price of Rs 225. Litigation over the fate of 189 Pakistani prisoners reportedly languishing in Indian penitentiaries took a new turn when a human rights activist submitted in the Sindh High Court a list of 17 prisoners waiting for their repatriation. The Sindh High Court has asked the federal government to explain its position on 189 Pakistanis 'missing in India', reports Dawn. A bench headed by Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to submit its comments on the list by the next date of hearing on April 26. During the previous hearing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had disputed the claims of the chairman of Ansar Barney Trust International regarding 189 Pakistani prisoners having gone missing from the Indian jails. The petitioner placed on record a letter of the Foreign Ministry to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi containing the list of 17 Pakistani prisoners with the dates of confirmation of their national status by the Interior Ministry. According to the letter, Pakistan's mission at New Delhi was requested to take up the matter with the Indian Government for an early release of the Pakistani prisoners as well as all those who had completed their sentences. Stating that he was shocked to see the Pakistan Government and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's silence and ignorance on painful reports relating to 189 Pakistani prisoners having gone missing from the Indian prisons, the activist said so he decided to file this constitutional petition in the High Court. The Foreign Ministry had in its reply denied the claims of the petitioner and stated that whenever an arrest was brought to the ministry's notice, a request to the Indian authorities was made for consular access to collect information about the detainees and establish his or her Pakistani citizenship. At least 29 Daesh insurgents were killed and 15 others injured in an ongoing military operation in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. A spokesman for the Provincial Police Chief, Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal said the operation was launched in Kot district of the province yesterday and is ongoing to clear all Daesh insurgents, reports the Tolo news. He, however did not give further details about the operation or on the number of casualties However, he did not provide further details about the operation or about casualties among the security forces. Both Kot and Achin districts are sensitive areas where Daesh insurgents have been active and frequently attacked the security forces. ABB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) to enter a technical cooperation to build micro-grids as well as joint research and development in the field of rural electrification, utilization of natural non-fossil resources, battery energy storage and their connection to loads and main grid. The agreement also includes internship opportunities to post graduate students of IITM for the next three years. Indian scenario related to micro-grids is expected to evolve rapidly in the coming years. With thousands of Indian villages still un-electrified, the decentralized micro-grids are a viable solution to power these villages. A low-maintenance micro-grid has the potential to eliminate dependence on expensive diesel fuel and the grid. IITM has been doing pioneering work over the last few years developing and demonstrating solar based energy-efficient DC homes. ABB, a global power and automation major has a strong portfolio of products for the renewable energy integration, distribution and automation of interconnected renewable energy sources that form local micro-grids. IITM and ABB will jointly work to design, build and supply equipment for up to two such micro-grids in rural areas. Along with ABB equipment, the micro-grid will enable homes to be fitted with energy efficient DC devices like LED bulbs, TV, Cell phone charges, Brushless DC motor based fans, specially designed by IITM. The project shall be managed by IITM till the transfer of the installations to the local distribution utility (DISCOM). "This is a great opportunity to combine our expertise with bright young minds from this renowned institute to devise and deploy solutions tailored for India," said ABB CEO Ulrich Spiesshofer. "Microgrids technology is an important part of our next level strategy and well poised to make the Indian government's vision of power to all a reality by providing access to energy and ensuing economic empowerment to the people." At the end of last year, ABB set up India's first multi-source urban micro-grid in the heart of Delhi to power its flagship event, Automation and Power World. "IIT is committed to implementing an affordable solution for supplying electric power to Indian homes, whether they are off-grid, or homes with several hours of power cuts. At the same time our solution helps reducing the home's monthly power bills even when there are no power-cuts, a must for most middle and lower-income homes. Simultaneously IITM is committed to a vision of India moving completely to Electric Vehicles by 2030. Towards this it is ready to commit the best-in class technology. The research and development cooperation with ABB will help them get to these goals faster," said Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras. As a precursor to this agreement, an interface between industry-academia and regulatory bodies was organized jointly by IITM and ABB last month to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by micro-grids in India. Around 100 participants from utilities, industry and academia had engaged in deliberations. ABB's Access to electricity initiative in India has already demonstrated significant impact in the country. It has brought solar power to 1,200 households in the Rajasthan desert and to over 100 villages in the world's largest delta region of Sunderbans. The program has led to increased productivity of weavers and tailors by 50 percent and 40 percent respectively, improved healthcare, education and reduced strife with wildlife in the villagers' search for firewood. IITM has used its solar-DC technology to power 4000 off-grid homes in Rajasthan during the last few months. These homes are located at places where vehicles cannot travel and material including solar-panels and batteries are transported on camels or tractors. Today these homes have lights and fans and cell-phone chargers. ABB will also support research at IITM's Battery Engineering Center to improve the life and discharge cycles of Lead-Acid to Lithium-Ion batteries for the next five years. Immediate applications range from telecom tower backups to grid ancillary services and renewable integration. In addition, the research has the scope of including storage solutions for electric vehicles (EVs), important in light of the recent push for EVs to act as virtual power plants to store surplus energy and support the grid in times of deficit. The government outlined this in the recently launched National Mission on Electric Mobility program, which targets six million electric vehicles (4mn two-wheelers and 2mn four-wheelers) by 2020. An agent working for the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Afghanistan's premier spy agency, was arrested from Chaman district in Balochistan today. A Frontier Corps (FC) spokesman said the personnel conducted a raid on a compound in Boghra, a residential and commercial area in Chaman, and picked up an agent working for the NDS, reports Dawn. The spokesman said the 'spy' was supplying weapons and explosive materials for terrorist activities inside Balochistan. Explosive materials, primacords, detonators, bombs and fuses were also recovered from the agent's possession. Intelligence agencies are interrogating the agent, he added. The arrest comes just weeks after the forces arrested Kulbushan Jadhav, an Indian agent from Balochistan, who Pakistan said was involved in "terror activities" in the province. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday laid the foundation stone of the 'Sheikh Hasina National Institute of Burn and Plastic Surgery', aimed to provide better treatment to burn victims at Chankharpool in the capital. The institute will be the largest of its kind not only in South Asia, but also in the world, reports the Daily Star. Prime Minister Hasina laid the foundation stone by unveiling the plaque. She was later, apprised about the overall plan of the project. The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) had approved Tk 522 crore project to be implemented with government funds in November last year. The main aim of the institute will be to produce burn specialists and plastic surgeons of international repute. Other objectives include training nurses, paramedics, physiotherapists and staff who will specialise in dressings. In the initial phase, the institute will be producing 10 to 12 doctors every year, who would attain the Master of Science in Plastic Surgery and be sent to different burn units, expected to be set up at every district under the institute. Bangladesh currently churns out just two expert plastic surgeons a year. The institute will have 500 beds, including 50 for the intensive care unit, 12 operating theatres (four each for the burn, emergency and plastic surgery units), and equipment such as burn tanks. Initially, the approved money will be spent on building a 10-storey building in two years and subsequently will have five more floors. The building will have three wings meant for burn and plastic surgery, administrative and academic and outdoor activities. Former Uttarakhand chief minister Harish Rawat on Wednesday dubbed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as desperate and said that the saffron party wanted to form the government since March 18. Rawat held the BJP responsible for the ongoing political crisis in the nation. "The BJP is desperate to form the government in Uttarakhand ever since 18th of March and which is why they just want to siphon support of the MLAs. All this political crisis has been brewed by the BJP," said Rawat. Responding to a poser about the Congress' future course of action, Rawat said he expects that the High Court would do justice as the matter is pending before the same. The Nainital High Court on Wednesday declined the Centre's plea seeking more time to argue Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's plea against the President's rule in the state. However, the court assured the Centre that no orders would be passed today without hearing the Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi. The Centre also sought an adjournment in this affidavit so that they can study it and formulate their response. The Congress Party had on Friday filed a petition before the Uttarakhand High Court challenging the Centre's appropriation ordinance for the state. The Uttar Pradesh Police on Wednesday said the investigations and analysis of evidences are pointing at some personal angle behind the murder of Investigation Agency (NIA) Deputy Superintendent of Police Mohammad Tanzil Ahmed. Additional Director General (Law and Order) Daljeet Chowdhary told the media that the slain officer had some personal as well as professional matters, adding separate teams of ATS, STF and U.P Police have been constituted to inquire into the same. "We are gradually zeroing-in on some personal matters. Analysis of evidences collected by the forensic science and questioning of people are leading us to a personal matter of the slain officer that can be a reason behind his murder. We hope soon we will work out the case and arrest the accused," he added. When asked about the two people earlier traced by the police in connection with this case, Chowdhary said the investigation found them not to be involved in the NIA officer's murder case in any way. Responding to a poser if the investigators had dropped the terrorism angle in the murder, Chowdhary said, "We are looking into terrorism issue as well. An ATS team is working on it with the help of other agencies, but as of now the probe point at some personal matter and we will soon unveil it." Talking about the killers, he said there were two motorcycle-borne masked assailants - one was riding the motorcycle while another fired the shots. The DG (Law and Oder), however, refused to answer whether the police had identified the assailants or their gang. Speaking about the health of the slain officer's wife, he said she is still critical. Tanzil was on his way back from the marriage ceremony of his niece, along with his wife and two children, when two armed bike-borne assailants shot at him and his wife in a village under Syohra Police Station area late in the night of April 2. The NIA officer died on the spot, while his wife was rushed to Fortis Hospital in Noida. The police are trying to identify the assailants against whom a case has been registered at the Syohra Police Station and find out the motive behind the killing. New Delhi, Apr.6 (ANI): After actor Kalki Koechlin extended her support to IICE Vodka's Holding Hands Campaign to end intolerance towards the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, actor Keith Sequeira of Bigg Boss fame has joined the campaign as well. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Keith said the reason behind all these differences that we come across amongst ourselves is fear, and people should overcome it and focus more on love. "I think hate comes from fear, it depicts a human's dark side. When you fear people for being different than you, you tend to judge them without understanding and I think that's a worst thing a human can do. And that's the reason why people are opening up about their preferences because earlier their families won't accept for what they are. We people also need to get rid of anger and focus on love," the 35-year-old told ANI. He added, "The very thought behind the campaign of free love is choosing who you are, which is very individualistic. No matter what you are gay, lesbian or transgender you shouldn't be labeled because categorisation is dividing people more and more. We all need each other. This campaign is depicts freedom to express and to celebrate of who you are." This campaign triggered as a result of parliament's failure in amending Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. The campaign also staunchly supports freedom of speech and thought, privacy and same sex love. Parliament recently defeated a move to amend Section 377, which criminalizes people for "voluntarily having carnal intercourse against the order of nature" with imprisonment of up to ten years and which can even be extended to imprisonment for life. Extremely upset over reports circulating in the Pakistan media that the NIA did not have a solid case linking Jaish-e-Mohammed or its chief Masood Azhar to the Pathankot terror attack, the Congress Party on Wednesday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to seek an apology from Islamabad for dubbing the entire episode as a drama. "If a report can come that the Pathankot terror attack was a drama enacted by the Indian Government then the Government of India should demand an apology from Pakistan. It is high time India should demand an apology from the Pakistan Government," Congress leader P.C. Chacko told ANI. "Even if the MEA is waiting for the official version.Going by the track record of Pakistan in the past, I don't think we can expect anything positive. The report cannot come out without submitting the official version," he added. Trashing Pakistan media reports describing the attack as a 'drama' following a five-day visit by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT), the Indian authorities said that it pointed to the double-speak of the Pakistani military establishment and government. Sources in the NIA described the media reports as a total concoction and the said there is an element in Pakistan which wants to create confusion but India will not fall into such a trap. The NIA also dismissed the Pakistan JIT's reported claim that it did not get cooperation from the Indian authorities. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Wednesday expressed grief over the demise of Kamla Advani, wife of veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former deputy prime minister L.K. Advani. She was admitted to All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) in New Delhi, where she breathed her last after suffering a cardiac arrest. "I convey my heart-felt condolences to L.K. Advani Ji over the passing away of his life's companion and pray that Almighty gives him courage to bear this irreparable loss," the Chief Minister said in her message. She also expressed solidarity with the bereaved family members and prayed for peace to the departed soul. Kamala Advani, who was in her eighties, is said to have been suffering from age-related problems. The Investigating Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against four NDFB(S) cadres in connection with the killing of 12 villagers in Assam's Kokrajhar district. Four active members of the NDFB(S) have been named in the chargesheet for commission of offences under Section 120B, 121,121A, 302, 307, 436, 34 IPC r/w Sections 16, 18, 20 of UA(P) Act, 1967 as amended and Section 27 of the Arms Act. The four NDFB (S) cadres charged are Swmkwr Basumatary, Rabi Basumatary, Lawithw Brahma and Willbe Rabha. The case was registered after the terrorist attack by indiscriminate firing with sophisticated weapons on December 23, 2014, by NDFB(S) militants, upon innocent civilians of Adivasi community at No. 3 Shantipur village under Kokrajhar Police Station, resulting in death of 12 villagers and injuring three others. In the chargesheet, evidence collected from painstaking field investigation as well as technical and forensic evidences, has been cited to establish the crime. The NIA has submitted to the court for continuing further investigation of the case under Section 173(8) CrPC, as some more co accused in crime are yet to be apprehended. The Youth Congress workers staged a protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu on Wednesday over the ongoing unrest at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar. The agitators raised slogans against the BJP and also denounced Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh. They were also seen jostling with the police personnel deployed on duty. "Today, the Youth Congress is protesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party. The BJP calls itself patriot and the patriotic students were beaten up within 48 hours of formation of the government. They should be ashamed," said one of the angry protestors. The National Panthers Party (NPP) had earlier in the day staged a protest in Srinagar over the issue. "Strict action must be taken against the offenders, who have indulged in anti-national activities, under the law. We demand protection for the students," said NPP chairman Harsdev Singh. Meanwhile, a two member central team from the Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry reached the in Srinagar today to take stock of the situation after tension gripped the campus. The team comprising Director Technical Education of the HRD Ministry and an Under Secretary-level HRD officer interacted with the students at the varsity. The team will assess the situation and hold deliberations with the divisional administration, senior police officials and authorities. The entire incident has sent the political temperature in the nation soaring with politicos criricising the Centre as well as the newly-formed state government. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Government in Jammu and Kashmir and asked them to put an end to the tensed state of affairs at the campus. Echoing similar sentiments, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah described the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployment in the institution as 'abnormal', asserting that the situation called for tact not force. The CRPF was deployed last night on the campus even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh discussed the issue with Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti. Unrest was witnessed again at the NIT campus yesterday after the scene of clash which took place last week, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with the police in which some were injured. Tension simmered in the NIT campus last week after India lost the World T20 semi-final to the West Indies. Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after India's defeat. The students of Srinagar's Institute of Technology (NIT) on Wednesday accused the college administration and police of harassing them. The students complained that when they were trying to walk out of the college premises the administration ordered the police to take charge after which the cops ruthlessly baton-charged them. "The director called on a meeting with students, there he threatened us and said that if you rake this issue more we will fail you and delay your degrees. At this time, we students got to know about the media presence at the gate of the institution. So, we went to interact with them but were stopped at the gate of the college and then the police baton-charged us. No one was speared, Girls, handicapped all were beaten by the police," said one of the students. "No one is questioning those who raised anti- slogans instead we are facing atrocities of the local police and collage administration," said another student. Unrest was witnessed again at NIT campus yesterday after the scene of clash which took place last week, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with the police in which some were injured. Tension simmered in the NIT campus last week after India lost the World T20 semi-final to the West Indies. Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after India's defeat. Pakistan has strongly criticized the double standards practiced by some states, which preach nuclear disarmament but fail to take necessary steps themselves. Speaking at a session of the UN Disarmament Commission, a subsidiary of the General Assembly, Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi said that a handful of nuclear weapon states advocate abstinence for others but are unwilling to give up their large inventories of nuclear weapons or their modernisation. "This doublespeak has only aggravated the sense of insecurity among other states," she told the 35-member commission. "Instead of fulfilling their legal disarmament obligations, these states have almost exclusively pursued non-proliferation" the Pakistani envoy added. The Ambassador stressed that double standards were not only evident on nuclear issues but also in the areas of conventional arms. "While professing strict adherence to responsible arms transfers, some powerful states continue to supply increasing number of conventional weapons in our region, thereby aggravating instability in South Asia", the Pakistani envoy said. Lodhi also explained that as a responsible nuclear state, Pakistan's nuclear policy is shaped by the evolving security dynamics in South Asia. "Our nuclear capability is geared towards assuring our security and self-defence, based on credible minimum deterrence," Dawn quoted her as saying. Hinting towards the US-India nuclear pacts, Lodhi said some nuclear weapon states have also concluded discriminatory nuclear cooperation agreements. She said the progress towards nuclear disarmament is being delayed and hindered by some who wish to divert the Conference on Disarmament's focus to partial non-proliferation measures such as a Fissile Materials Cut Off Treaty (FMCT). The Pakistani envoy said it was a grim irony that weapons, which propel and sustain conflicts, come from areas or regions that enjoy peace. If you can't keep your hands off cigarettes while pregnant, then you may be altering the DNA of your developing foetus as a new study suggests that maternal smoking during pregnancy leaves its lasting mark on the child's genetic make-up. "For the first time, we can now demonstrate that exposure to tobacco smoke also causes epigenetic changes in enhancers of gene expression," said Irina Lehmann of the UFZ. These deregulated enhancers are distributed throughout the child's entire genome. Researchers from Leipzig and Heidelberg revealed that epigenetic changes related to tobacco smoke increase the risk of children developing lung diseases. In this study, researchers asked which environmental factors could have a negative influence on children's during pregnancy. In collaboration with the Municipal Hospital "St. Georg" in Leipzig, UFZ researchers have been monitoring 622 mothers and their children since 2006. The mothers underwent in-depth examinations for possible exposure to environmental factors during their pregnancy. Lehmann explained that: "If an enhancer region is affected by the effects of smoking, this may lead to deregulation of several genes at the same time." The researchers give an example of the consequences of a deregulated enhancer in their work: the enzyme JNK2 (c-Jun N-terminal protein kinase 2) plays a role in inflammatory responses. If the enhancer that activates JNK2 is now affected, this may increase the risk of lung diseases in the children's later life. The researchers also determined that the epigenetic effects observed in the umbilical cord blood at birth can still be seen several years after the child is born. "The better our understanding of deregulation caused by environmental factors, the better we will be able to respond to this. Nevertheless in the case of tobacco smoke, avoiding exposure is still the best alternative," said Lehmann in summary. The study appears in journal Molecular Systems Biology. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi will join the jewellers' protest at the Jantar Mantar here on Wednesday against the Centre's excise duty proposal. The jewellers' are demanding the withdrawal of excise duty on jewellery. The representatives of jewellers' associations from across the country have been holding a protest at the Jantar Mantar against the excise duty imposed in the Union Budget 2016-17. Gandhi had earlier met with the jewellers' on March 11. Jewellers' in several parts of the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata have kept down shutters for over a month now. The Centre has constituted a panel to look into the jewellers' demands. The panel, which has been asked to submit its report in 60 days, will look into issues related to the compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms to be filled, operating procedures and other relevant aspects. The government, in the Budget for 2016-17, had proposed one per cent excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on jewellery excluding silver other than those studded with diamonds and precious stones. A two member central team from the Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Ministry reached the Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar today to take stock of the situation after tension gripped the campus where unrest flared again yesterday after a group of students clashed with the police, which resorted to baton-charge in which some were injured. The team comprising Director Technical Education of the HRD Ministry and an Under Secretary-level HRD officer interacted with the students at the varsity. The team will assess the situation and hold deliberations with the divisional administration, senior police officials and NIT authorities. Meanwhile, the Centre has asserted that steps must be taken to ensure that no force is used on the students, adding their studies must not be affected. "The people from the HRD Ministry are on their way there to take stock of the situation and will also speak to the students. We are taking this entire issue into consideration with great severity. Since day one, Home Minister Rajnath Singh has been taking feedback from the campus. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is also talking to the Chief Minister and the DG Police," Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh told ANI. Unrest was witnessed at the NIT campus, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, which led to a confrontation with the police. The protesters were outstation students who said they wanted to go back home in light of the violent clashes that broke out with local students on Friday after India lost the World Twenty20 semifinals. With the situation being tense, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed last night at the campus. The situation escalated to the point that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh wrote to newly sworn-in Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who assured him that action would be taken. The NIT authorities shut down the institute for five days after the clashes broke out when a group of Kashmiri students allegedly celebrated West Indies' victory over India. The institute resumed normal functioning on Monday after divisional administration amicably resolved the issues arising out of the undesired situation. New Delhi, Apr. 6 (ANI): Actor Gaurav Arora is making his debut with erotic thriller 'Love Games', a film which talks about the people involved in partner swapping and other such sexual fantasies. But what shook Gaurav was the fact that a lot of people in India actually indulge in swinger communities to fulfill their sexual desires. "When I was researching for the film, I found a lot of swinger community pages on various social media platforms. In fact, even small cities have websites where you can post pictures with your sexual fantasies and the people who are interested in it will send you a message back," Gaurav told ANI. "So, nothing is an imagination but a fact and it is happening majorly across the country that's why we are the fifth largest global subscriber of apps like Tinder, Kindle etc.," he added. The model-turned actor, along with his co-actors Patralekha and Tara Alisha Berry, became a part of such an app on being insisted by their director Vikram Bhatt. The 25-year-old actor said that he enjoyed dating the girls he met through that mating app. Gaurav plays the character of a guy, who is a party animal and has friends over Facebook but so lonely in real life that he commits self harm to get rid of his frustrations. And it is his frustration that drags him to the world of swingers. The film, produced by Mahesh Bhatt, is slated to release on April 8. Tripura State Rifles (TSR) troopers and officers donated blood during a mega blood donation camp at the Badharghat technical headquarters of the force. The camp was organised by 10th battalion TSR in association with Tripura State Blood Transfusion Board and Society and inaugurated by DIG Tripura Police Rajesh Sharma. Blood donation is organised by paramilitary forces under the civic action programme and one of the prime cause behind such programme to improve relation between force and local public and gain their confidence. "As part of providing service to common people we go beyond our regimental activities sometimes and this type of blood donation camp we organise after every two or three months. Around 80 persons are donating blood voluntarily," said Commandant Ray. Such initiative is to help common people and to gain their confidence by developing relations with them and since the armed forces are directly related with the security related issues hence it is very important to gain the confidence of the civilians. Normally blood donation camps are organised quarterly in a battalion and during the financial year some 254 units of blood were be collected from the battalion. He added that though the TSR is basically a counter insurgency force but is also dedicated in service of the people. The blood donated here will be used to save the lives of needy patients at civil hospital. Rajiv Yadav, a TSR soldier who voluntarily donated blood expressed that he is considering lucky being a part of the blood donation camp. "I have donated blood today, it will save someone's life and a great help for the mankind. I have donated blood seven to eight times and in this our 10 battalion's Commandant also takes part and inspires us. I shall consider myself very lucky," said Rajiv. While another trooper Tapan Ray who also took part in the blood donation camp said: "For the eighth time I am donating blood today. Our main role is maintain law and order in the country and help my countrymen. Keeping this in mind I feel very happy as I donate blood." Moreover, the camp was being organised to spread awareness about the killer disease HIV-AIDS among TSR soldiers and award the TSR troopers and their family members. The programme is scheduled to continue in throughout the month in different TSR battalions as the state during this time of the year passes through crisis of blood. TSR is the biggest state paramilitary force of Tripura with 12 battalions at present. TSR after successful counter insurgency operation in Tripura has been engaged in election duties in West Bengal and Bihar and was also called for security duties during the Common Wealth Games in Delhi. The Nainital High Court on Wednesday declined the Centre's plea seeking more time to argue Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat's plea against the President's rule in the state. However, the court assured the Centre that no orders would be passed today without hearing the Attorney General of India Mukul Rohatgi. The Centre also sought an adjournment in this affidavit so that they can study it and formulate their response. The Congress Party had on Friday filed a petition before the Uttarakhand High Court challenging the Centre's appropriation ordinance for the state. A two-judge of the Nainital bench of the High Court had on Wednesday stayed the floor test for the Harish Rawat Government in the Uttarakhand Assembly, which was scheduled for March 31 and decided to take up the matter on April 6. The crisis in the hill state erupted on March 18 when nine Congress MLAs rebelled against the Rawat government, resulting in a flip-flop in the passage of the Appropriation Bill. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) met Governor K.K. Paul on the same day and staked claim to form the government. However, the Centre imposed President's Rule last Sunday, a day before Rawat was supposed to take the floor test in the assembly. ABB India rose 1% to Rs 1,294.60 at 12:30 IST on BSE after the company announced that ABB signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. The announcement was made during market hours today, 6 April 2016. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 39.98 points, or 0.16%, to 24,923.57. On BSE, so far 1,844 shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 18,527 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,299.90 and a low of Rs 1,283.40 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 1,444.40 on 17 July 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 963.05 on 21 January 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 5 April 2016, gaining 12.58% compared with 0.96% gains in the Sensex. The scrip had also outperformed the market in past one quarter, rising 17.2% as against Sensex's 2.72% fall. The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 42.38 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. ABB India said that the partnership is for a technical cooperation to build microgrids as well as joint research & development (R&D) in the field of rural electrification, utilization of natural non-fossil resources, battery energy storage and their connection to loads and main grid. The agreement also includes internship opportunities to post graduate students of The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) for the next three years. IITM and ABB will jointly work to design, build and supply equipment for up to two such microgrids in rural areas.Along with ABB equipment, the microgrid will enable homes to be fitted with energy efficient DC devices like LED bulbs, TV, Cell phone charges, Brushless DC motor based fans, specially designed by IITM.The project shall be managed by IITM till the transfer of the installations to the local distribution utility (DISCOM). IITM has been doing pioneering work over the last few years developing and demonstrating solar based energy efficient DC homes. ABB, a global power and automation major has a strong portfolio of products for the renewable energy integration, distribution and automation of interconnected renewable energy sources that form local microgrids. ABB will also support research at IITM's Battery Engineering Center to improve the life and discharge cycles of Lead-Acid to Lithium-Ion batteries for the next five years. Immediate applications range from telecomtower backups to grid ancillaryservices and renewable integration.In addition, the research has the scope of including storage solutions for electric vehicles (EVs), important in light of the recent push for EVs to act as virtual power plants to store surplus energy and support the grid in times of deficit. The government outlined this in the recently launched National Mission on Electric Mobility program which targets six million electric vehicles (40 lakh two-wheelers and 20 lakh four-wheelers) by 2020. ABB India's net profit rose 53.8% to Rs 129.40 crore on 8.1% rise in net sales to Rs 2384 crore in Q4 December 2015 over Q4 December 2014. ABB's business is into power and automation technologies that enable utility and industry customers to improve their performance while lowering environmental impact. Powered by Capital Market - Live News For R&D cooperation in microgrids, energy storage solutions and green energy projects ABB India signed a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) to enter a technical cooperation to build microgrids as well as joint R&D in the field of rural electrification, utilization of natural non-fossil resources, battery energy storage and their connection to loads and main grid. The agreement also includes internship opportunities to post graduate students of IITM for the next three years. IITM and ABB will jointly work to design, build and supply equipment for up to two such microgrids in rural areas. Along with ABB equipment, the microgrid will enable homes to be fitted with energy efficient DC devices like LED bulbs, TV, Cell phone charges, Brushless DC motor based fans, specially designed by IITM. The project shall be managed by IITM till the transfer of the installations to the local distribution utility (DISCOM). Powered by Capital Market - Live News Shares of three aviation firms rose by 0.29% to 2.09% at 11:30 IST on BSE after reports civil aviation ministry is likely to abolish the 5/20 rule. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 71.33 points or 0.29% at 24,954.92. InterGlobe Aviation (up 0.29%), Jet Airways (India) (up 2.09%), and SpiceJet (up 1.75%) gained. An existing 5/20 rule restricts airline companies from flying abroad unless they have flown in India for five years and have a fleet size of 20 aircraft. According to reports, the ministry is considering as many as 15 options to replace the controversial rule. To ensure that the older airlines do not complain a level playing field will be provided and some form of restrictions will be there, report added. The incumbent airlines complain that any relaxation in the 5/20 rule will benefit unlisted newer airlines Vistara and AirAsia India. The policy is in its final stage and the draft Union Cabinet note has already been prepared. The ministry is likely to send the draft note for the Cabinet's nod this week. This will allow the Cabinet to clear it by this month, report added. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Bharat Forge lost 4.18% to Rs 794.75 at 11:44 IST on BSE on reports that the company's North American class 8 truck orders declined 37% from a year ago to 15,800 units. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 77.22 points, or 0.31%, to 24,960.81 On BSE, so far 1.08 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 70,454 shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 803.90 and a low of Rs 790 so far during the day. The stock hit a record high of Rs 1,362.90 on 6 April 2015. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 720.65 on 12 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 5 April 2016, rising 1.53% compared with Sensex's 0.96% rise. The scrip, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, sliding 3.33% as against Sensex's 2.72% fall. The large-cap company has an equity capital of Rs 46.56 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Bharat Forge has been facing significant pressure in terms of order inflows from North America over the last few months, as per reports. The company derives 20% of its revenue from North America trucks segment, reports indicated. Bharat Forge's net profit fell 15.4% to Rs 166.16 crore on 9.9% decline in net sales to Rs 1029.35 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. Bharat Forge is the flagship company of the $3 billion Kalyani Group and a global provider of high performance, innovative, safety & critical components and solutions to various industrial sectors including automotive, oil & gas, power, construction & mining, aerospace and rail & marine. Powered by Capital Market - Live News A divergent trend was witnessed between the two key benchmark indices as the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, traded with minuscule losses and the Nifty 50 index traded with tiny gains. At 10:19 IST, the Sensex was down 6.79 points or 0.03% at 24,876.80. The Nifty 50 index was currently up 4.90 points or 0.06% at 7,608.10. The Sensex failed to retain the psychologically important 25,000 level which it had crossed at the onset of trading session. The Sensex rose 117.06 points or 0.47% at the day's high of 25,000.65 at the onset of the trading session. The barometer index lost 25.54 points or 0.1% at the day's low of 24,858.05 in early trade. The Nifty rose 35.45 points or 0.46% at the day's high of 7,638.65 at the onset of the trading session. The index lost 9 points or 0.11% at the day's low of 7,594.20 in early trade. In overseas stock markets, Asian stocks witnessed a mixed trend. US stocks closed lower yesterday, 5 April 2016, on concerns about corporate results and slowdown in global growth. Closer home, the market breadth indicating the overall health of the market was strong. On BSE, 1,116 shares rose and 592 shares fell. A total of 70 shares were unchanged. The BSE Mid-Cap index was currently off 0.09%. The decline in this index was higher than Sensex's decline in percentage terms. The BSE Small-Cap index was currently up 0.29%, outperforming the Sensex. Cement stocks edged higher. UltraTech Cement (up 2.22%), Shree Cement (up 2.66%), ACC (up 2.2%) and Ambuja Cements (up 1.7%) rose. Grasim Industries was up 0.83%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement. Shares of public sector oil marketing companies (PSU OMCs) edged lower on rebound in crude oil prices. BPCL (down 0.91%), HPCL (down 0.61%) and Indian Oil Corporation (down 0.39%) declined. Higher crude oil prices could increase under-recoveries of PSU OMCs on domestic sale of LPG and kerosene at controlled prices. The government has already freed pricing of petrol and diesel. Shares of oil exploration and production (E&P) companies were mixed. Cairn India (up 0.82%) and ONGC (up 0.27%) edged higher. Oil India (down 0.6%) edged lower. Index heavyweight Reliance Industries was off 0.04% at Rs 1,027.70. The stock hit a high of Rs 1,032.70 and a low of Rs 1,022.20 so far during the day. In the global commodities markets, crude oil futures edged higher after Kuwait reportedly said an oil output freeze proposal by major oil producers would proceed without Iran's support. Brent for June settlement was currently up 68 cents at $38.55 a barrel. The contract had risen 18 cents or 0.47% to settle at $37.87 a barrel during the previous trading session. The world's major crude oil producers led by Russia and Saudi Arabia have convened a meeting on 17 April 2016 in Doha, Qatar to discuss measures to stabilise prices, including a proposal to freeze output. Saudi Arabia on 1 April 2016 said that it would freeze oil production only if Iran follows suit. Iran has ruled out freezing output until its production recovers to pre-sanction levels. Hindustan Zinc dropped 13.12% at Rs 162.50 on turning ex-dividend for special dividend of Rs 24 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016. Before turning ex-dividend, the stock offered a dividend yield of 12.83% based on the stock's closing price of Rs 187.05 on the BSE yesterday, 5 April 2016. It may be recalled that the board of directors of the company at a meeting held on 30 March 2016, had declared a special golden jubilee dividend of Rs 24 per share for the financial year ended 31 March 2016. Powered by Capital Market - Live News For US$ 87,674,300 The consortium of Era Infra Engineering (26.79%) and SRS Real Infrastructure (73.21%) has been awarded a contract valuing about US$ 87,674,300 by the Ministry of Economy, Finance, Planning, Public Portfolio and Integration, Brazzaville, Government of the Republic of Congo. Era Infra Engineering scope of work includes - 1. Construction and development of two bus depots and equipment and 2. Construction and development of one bus terminal and fifteen bus stations valuing about USD 23,487, 944. Powered by Capital Market - Live News The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for increasing the framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and a consortium of Iranian banks lead by Central Bank of Iran for financing the purchase of goods and services from India to Rs.3000 crore from Rs. 900 crore. This will be done by utilising the Export Development Fund (EDF). The proposal provides for domiciling two contracts of export of steel rails by STC and for the Chabahar Port Development project previously approved by the Cabinet under EDF. The proposal will promote the country's exports with Iran. It will also deepen India's relationship with Iran as a strategic partner. Background The Exim Bank of India and seven Iranian Banks led by Central Bank of Iran had negotiated a framework agreement in November, 2014 for financing the purchase of goods and services from India by Iranian entities to the tune of Rs.900 crore under EDF. The increase to Rs. 3000 crore will enable the Exim bank to provide Buyer's credit facility to Iran, secured via sovereign guarantee from Iran, for the export of goods and services. This will provide opportunity to Indian Companies to penetrate and enhance their footprint in Iran along with facilitating the growing trade and investment with Iran. This will also help in employment generation and development of ancillary activities in India. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Hindustan Zinc lost 13.37% to Rs 162.40 at 09:25 IST on BSE after turning ex-dividend today, 6 April 2016 for special dividend of Rs 24 per share for the year ended 31 March 2016. Before turning ex-dividend, the stock offered a dividend yield of 12.83% based on the stock's closing price of Rs 187.05 on the BSE yesterday, 5 April 2016. It may be recalled that the board of directors of the company at a meeting held on 30 March 2016, had declared a special golden jubilee dividend of Rs 24 per share for the financial year ended 31 March 2016. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 33.77 points or 0.14% at 24,917.36 On BSE, so far 1.31 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 1.74 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 165 and a low of Rs 161 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 199.80 on 31 March 2016. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 117.20 on 25 August 2015. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 845.06 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. Hindustan Zinc's net profit fell 23.9% to Rs 1811.39 crore on 11% decline in net sales to Rs 3385.19 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. Hindustan Zinc is a subsidiary of Vedanta (formerly known as Sesa Sterlite), a part of London listed Vedanta Resources plc, a global diversified natural resources company. The company is one of the largest integrated producers of zinc-lead and a leading producer of silver. As per the shareholding pattern, Vedanta holds 64.92% stake and the Government of India holds 29.54% stake in Hindustan Zinc as at 31 December 2015. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Solar Power will reach 20 GW by 2017 The Government is focusing on a multipronged strategy to ensure increased electricity access and demand, said Mr Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy. The overall strategy includes a focus on enhancing energy efficiency, thrust on renewable energy and ensuring sustainable growth, added the Minister. Our first priority is reaching power to the poorest of the poor in the country and I am fairly confident of bringing electricity to all villages by next year. We intend to reach every home in the country by 2019, he stressed. On lowering industrial tariffs, the Minister said that the effort is to address inefficiencies. UDAY, the power sector reform, is expected to result in savings of Rs 180,000 crores annually from 2019. These savings would provide headroom to bring down tariffs. Regarding international cooperation for global competiveness and technology, Mr Goyal stated that dialogue with several countries including the US, Japan and Australia have moved from a Government to Government dialogue to a Government to business interface. The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is a key initiative launched by India to seek cooperation at a global level. Quoting data regarding achievements of the sector, the Minister said, We will focus on increasing electricity demand, developing hydro power and intrastate transmission. Also there is a need to build enough redundancy in the system to address breakdowns. Mr Goyal stressed that public-private partnerships are central to the power sector. He expressed confidence that India would meet the target of 20,000 MW of solar power by 2017 and the 100 gigawatts target of renewable energy by 2022. Mr Sumant Sinha, Deputy Chairman, CII Northern Region and Chairman and Founder, Renew Power Ventures Pvt Ltd, said, It is important to look at partnerships for attracting capital both equity and debt. The second area where we can look at partnerships is in the area of technology. Mr Anil Sardana, Chairman, CII National Committee on Power, and CEO and Managing Director of Tata Power Ltd, called for lowering industrial tariffs. There is also a need to reshape industrial tariffs and explore how these tariffs can be reduced making the industry more competitive, he added. Reiterating the importance of competitive and reliable power, Mr Ratul Puri, Chairman, Hindustan Power Projects Ltd, said, We need to ensure that as we build clean power, the cost of power remains competitive. We also need to look at restarting investment cycle on the thermal side while meeting our obligations on climate change. He added that strategies to garner $750 billion of debt will be required. Powered by Capital Market - Live News The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for conversion of Working Capital Term Loan (WCTL) amounting to Rs.29.91 crore from Bank of Baroda (BoB) into equity by issuing requisite number of equity shares of Andrew Yule & Co. (AYCL) as preferential issues to BoB as Qualified Institutional Buyer. The price will be based on market price determined as per Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Guidelines on the date of acquiring of shares by BoB with face value of Rs.2/- per share. Conversion of WCTL into equity will: (i) Bring down the cost of debt servicing by AYCL by Rs.2.86 crore per annum, resulting in improved profitability and liquidity of AYCL in coming years and thereby providing an opportunity to finance working capital needs of existing and new businesses. (ii) Result in improved Debt Equity ratio for AYCL. This along with substantial amount of Securities Premium will form part of net worth of Company and will enhance the strength of its balance sheet. This is expected to increase growth and profitability of AYCL and in turn is likely to translate into better share price of AYCL at the time of further disinvestment of GoI shares of AYCL as per SEBI Guidelines. This will be implemented within a period of three months. Background: AYCL, established in 1863, became a Public Sector Enterprise in 1979 and is presently engaged in manufacturing of Industrial Fans, Ventilation Equipment, Air Pollution Control Equipment & Systems, Effluent Treatment Plants, Power & Distribution Transformers, High Tension and Low Tension, Switchgears and Circuit Breakers, Auto Voltage Regulators and allied equipment and production of Bulk Tea. Paid up capital of the Company is Rs.66.73 crore in which GoI holding is 87.98%. AYCL shares (Face value of Rs.2/- each) are listed in Mumbai Stock Exchange. AYCL was referred to Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in September, 2004. Subsequently, the Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) recommended a Restructuring Scheme for AYCL which was approved by Cabinet in February, 2007 and by BIFR in October, 2007. With implementation of Restructuring Scheme, AYCL has been continuously earning from 2007-08 onwards. AYCL has come out of purview of BIFR on 8.7.2015. As a part of implementation of Financial Restructuring Scheme, Bank of Baroda extended a loan of Rs.52.49 crore to AYCL in 2009, out of which Rs.29.91 crore was Working Capital Term Loan. With the approval of its Board of Company, AYCL has proposed for conversion of WCTL of Rs.29.91 crore it has taken from BoB into Equity. The conversion should take place at the price determined by SEBI guidelines on the date of acquiring of shares by BoB. This proposition has been agreed to by BoB. Powered by Capital Market - Live News Tata Motors rose 2.58% to Rs 380.05 at 14:15 IST on BSE, after the company announced the commercial launch of its hatchback Tiago. Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 22.10 points or 0.09% at 24,861.49 On BSE, so far 3.83 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 8.87 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 382.50 and a low of Rs 372 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 573.15 on 6 April 2015. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 266 on 11 February 2016. The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 5 April 2016, rising 7.84% compared with Sensex's 0.96% rise. The scrip also outperformed the market in past one quarter, falling 1.11% as against Sensex's 2.72% fall. The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 577.44 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2. The price for the petrol variant of Tiago starts at Rs 3.20 lakh ex-showroom,New Delhi, Tata Motors said in a press release today, 6 April 2016. The diesel variant starts at Rs 3.94 lakh ex-showroom, New Delhi. Tiago will be available for sale, across the country in over 597 Tata Motors sales outlets from today, 6 April 2016, the company said. On 1 April 2016, Tata Motors announced that its total commercial and passenger vehicles sales rose 1% to 53,057 units in March 2016 over March 2015. On consolidated basis, Tata Motors' net profit fell 2% to Rs 3507.54 crore on 3.7% growth in net sales to Rs 71686.12 crore in Q3 December 2015 over Q3 December 2014. Tata Motors is a market leader in commercial vehicles in India. The company's British unit Jaguar Land Rover sells premium luxury cars. Powered by Capital Market - Live News The Bangladesh government is failing to adequately respond to naturally occurring arsenic in drinking water across large areas of rural Bangladesh, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday. Some 20 million people still drink contaminated water. A 111-page report documents how Bangladesh's health system largely ignores the impact of exposure to arsenic on people's health. An estimated 43,000 people die each year from arsenic-related illness in Bangladesh, according to one study. The government identifies people with arsenic-related illnesses primarily via skin lesions, although the vast majority of those with arsenic-related illnesses don't develop them, Human Rights Watch said. Those exposed are at significant risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and lung disease but many receive no health care at all, it said. "Bangladesh isn't taking basic, obvious steps to get arsenic out of the drinking water of millions of its rural poor," said Richard Pearshouse of Human Rights Watch and author of the report. "Unless the government and Bangladesh's international donors do more, millions of Bangladeshis will die from preventable arsenic-related diseases," he said. Arsenic is found in water from hand-pumped, mostly shallow, tube wells across huge swaths of rural Bangladesh. Although deep wells can often reach groundwater of better quality, government programmes to install new wells don't make it a priority to install them in areas where the risk of arsenic contamination is relatively high. Human Rights Watch also found a serious lack of monitoring and quality control in arsenic mitigation projects. At least 70 people died of swine flu in Brazil till March 26, almost twice as many as in the whole of 2015, the health ministry said. The southeastern state of Sao Paulo was the hardest-hit area, where 55 people were killed by the H1N1 flu, Xinhua cited the ministry as saying on Tuesday. To stem the epidemic, Sao Paulo state started its flu vaccination campaign in late March, a month earlier than originally planned for the April 30-May 20 period. Over the weekend, the state quickly ran out of vaccines as people rushed to hospitals to get inoculated. "In previous years, you would buy the vaccine and have it administered the next day. Nowadays you buy it and you don't know how much of or when you will receive the vaccine. Today it is quiet here because we don't have any vaccines left," said Katia Goncalves, director of a private clinic in Sao Paulo's industrial suburb of Sao Caetano do Sul. The ministry confirmed that it started distributing the doses to all the states on Friday and will deliver more. Swine flu outbreak could not have come at a more inappropriate time, as Brazil prepares to host the Olympic Games in August, while struggling with its worst recession in decades and a sprawling corruption investigation into a state-owned oil company. Nationwide outbreaks of Zika, dengue and chikungunya have also hit hard the Latin America's largest state. Senator Ted Cruz has won the Republican presidential primary in Wisconsin, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump, while Democratic contender Senator Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in a close contest. The loss is more damaging to Trump, because he is in greater danger of failing to lock up the party's nomination ahead of the July convention. In the Republican race, the first results showed a massive lead for Cruz: With more than 20 percent of votes in, he led Trump by more than 20 percentage points. Trump may still get some delegates from Wisconsin, however, the state awards some delegates by congressional districts, and Trump was leading in rural districts in Wisconsin's northwest, according to Washington Post. Cruz savoured the victory, casting it as proof that the GOP race had turned. The party's anti-Trump forces had coalesced behind an unlikely champion: a Texas senator who seemed like the worst possible choice for the GOP establishment, right up until they met candidate Trump. "Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry," Cruz told supporters in Milwaukee. "We have a choice. A real choice. The national political terrain began to change two weeks ago," he said, meaning when he won by a large margin in Utah. Cruz said his campaign had raised $2 million on Tuesday alone. In the Democratic race, Sanders was leading Clinton by about seven percentage points, 53 percent to 46 percent, with 30 percent of precincts reporting A victory on that scale may not allow him to make up significant ground on Clinton in the race for Democratic convention delegates. But it will allow Sanders to cite growing momentum going into a crucial contest in New York, where Sanders was born - and where Clinton served as senator - on April 19. A win in Wisconsin also allows Sanders to make the case to "super-delegates", who can make up their minds about whom to support. British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras discussed over phone the implementation of the recent European Union (EU)-Turkey agreement on migrants, the Downing Street said. Cameron in a phone call on Tuesday welcomed the start Greece had made to returning migrants to Turkey under the agreement, Xinhua cited a Downing Street spokesperson as saying. Cameron also reiterated the importance of "breaking the link between people making the dangerous crossing of the Mediterranean and securing settlement in Europe." Tsipras said that the flow of migrants had reduced substantially, and expressed gratitude for the British contribution of personnel and expertise to help implement the agreement, according to Downing Street. Cameron confirmed that additional British personnel would be offered to Greece over the coming weeks as support. The two leaders also touched on the continuing negotiations between Greece, the eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the review of Greece's programme. They agreed that "it was in the interests of all parties to bring this to a timely conclusion," said the Downing Street spokesperson. British Business Secretary Sajid Javid will meet with Tata Sons chairman Cyrus Mistry here later on Wednesday to avert over 40,000 job losses in Britain following Tata Steel's announcing its intent to sell its British steel business. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper, Sajid Javid flew to Mumbai on Tuesday night for talks with the Tata chairman. The British daily said the British minister's visit here followed his talks with the country's labour unions, who called for Javid to ensure that Tatas do all it can to find a buyer for its British sites. Earlier, British Prime Minister David Cameron held emergency talks in London with ministers to tackle the crisis engulfing Tata Steel's British operations, amid warnings that the firm has just weeks for a rescue deal on which up to 40,000 jobs could depend, the paper reported. The Labour Party has termed it a national crisis, wanting the steel industry to be nationalised. Having suffered nearly $3 billion in losses on the British operations, Tata Steel last week said it will explore options to put its entire portfolio there up for sale, some 10 years after it forayed into Europe by acquiring the Anglo-Dutch Corus for over $8.1 billion. The government on Wednesday approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between India and Sweden on technical cooperation in the railway sector. The MoU was approved by the Union Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to MoU signed on 15th February, 2016 between India and Sweden on technical cooperation in the railway sector," the Union Cabinet said in a statement. According to the statement, the MoU will enable technical cooperation in railways policy development, regulations and exchange of knowledge. In addition, the MoU entails cooperation in areas such as, freight operations in cold regions, capacity allocation and optimisation of maintenance. Besides, the MoU will facilitate training and education program in reliability and maintenance of rail transport system for engineers and managers. Coconut and straws featured in the opening speech by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang which largely revolved around the economic travails of his country at the Boao Forum here. Li, who did not mince words about the difficult times ahead for the world's second largest economy, said how a small piercing tool had made drinking coconut water with straws more hygienic for tourists in Hainan, an island province in southern China. The reference to coconut water and tourists in Hainan was aptly made to underline China's plan to develop this island into a world-class tourist hub, which hosted the four-day economic summit in Boao city in March. Having seen its economy slow down to a 25-year low of 6.9 percent in 2015, China seems to be making a transition from industry to service sector, which grew by 8.3 percent as compared 6 percent manufacturing growth last year. Described as Oriental Hawaii by the Chinese media, Hainan, located in the South China Sea, is blessed with pristine beaches, volcanic mountains and tropical rain forests. The place is a heaven for those who have a fondness for seafood. The island, which until 2010 was more known for producing tropical fruits, is vying to catch up with established international tourist destinations in neighbouring Thailand and Malaysia. It was only in 2010 that the Chinese government decided to turn the laid-back island into a global tourist spot. Over the years, Beijing seems to be fiercely promoting tourism in Hainan but it is yet to become popular with international tourists. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, 97 percent of the tourists who thronged Hainan in 2014 were Chinese. "After agriculture, tourism is the next big thing in Hainan. The goal is to make this island as an international tourist spot by 2020," Zhao Hong, division director of Hainan Tourism Commission, told IANS. Hainan generated over 57 billion yuan as revenue from tourism in 2015, an increase of 13 percent from the previous year. In February, the provincial government doubled the cap for buying duty free products from 8,000 yuan to 16,000 per trip for domestic tourists. The resort town of Sanya has one of the world's largest duty-free shops. Hainan has 82 five-star hotels, some located on a 7.5-kilometre long Yalong Bay in Sanya. A total of 23 international hotel groups are operating in Hainan. Besides scenic beauty, Sanya's infrastructure is developing rapidly. The tree-lined roads and magnificent high-rises give a sense of infrastructure and environment going in hand in hand. Zhao says that heavy industries are not allowed in Hainan. The sail-shaped skyscrapers on the man-made Phoenix Island in Sanya look magnificent. The government is planning to expand the Sanya Phoenix International Airport. The Hainan Airlines is already in the list of Fortune 500 companies. The island also boasts of a 650-km high-speed rail network which connects all the major airports. China claims it to be the world's first circular high-speed railway line. The train, which runs at a speed of 250 km per hour, takes a little over three hours for a trip of the entire island. Travelling on this train, which has a cafeteria and other modern facilities, is a real treat since it passes through tropical forests and man-made tunnels. Sanya also has tourist police - a first of its kind. It was launched in December last year to protect tourists. It was set up after a tourist complained that he was charged 1,520 yuan for a dish of prawns. The tourist was in for a shock when he was told that the price per prawn was 38 yuan. "The number of tourists is increasing from Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Russia," Li Yongquan, a tour guide in Hainan, told IANS. Locals say more and more "white-skinned" people can be seen smashing volleyball on Sanya's beach over the years. But the Chinese outnumber the foreigners. (Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.s@ians.in) Croatia will take in less than 500 refugees from Turkey as part of an agreement between the European Union and Turkey, Croatian Foreign Minister Miro Kovac has said. Croatia has agreed to receive the refugees from Turkey and it would fulfil its commitment, he said on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. The country was expected to receive 1,600 refugees in total according to two plans -- relocation from one EU country to another and resettlement from third countries to the EU, he added. There were less than 200 refugees currently at the Slavonski Brod refugee center, eastern Croatia, due to the closure of the Balkan route, according to Kovac. Eight militants were killed in two intelligence-based operations in Pakistan's Lahore province and southern port city of Karachi on Wednesday, the media reported. Six militants associated with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan were killed during a search operation by the investigation department in Lahore, Xinhua reported. The police launched the operation on an intelligence tip-off regarding presence of the militants in the area. The operation against the militants was kicked off on the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, following a deadly attack at a public park in Lahore which claimed 75 lives killed and left over 300 others injured last month. In a separate operation, the CID killed two IS-related militants and arrested four others in Gulshan-e-Maymar area of Karachi, the capital city of the country's Sindh province. Police said a huge cache of arms and ammunition was also recovered from the arrested militants. Actor Emraan Hashmi, who is gearing up for the release of his book "The Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer", has shared a photograph of his son Ayaan on social media in which he can be seen donning the costume of fictional American superhero "Iron Man". Emraan, who has penned his struggle around Ayaan's cancer treatment in the book, shared the image on Twitter on Wednesday. "Guess who? Yes! Ayaan-Man! 'The Kiss Of Life One day to go," Emraan captioned the image. The photograph shows Ayaan in a similar costume, which Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. is seen wearing in popular "Iron Man" and "Avengers" franchise. "The Kiss of Life: How A Superhero and My Son Defeated Cancer", which is co-authored by Bilal Siddiqi, is slated to release on Thursday. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday supported the jewellers protesting against the imposition of excise duty on non-silver jewellery, saying the government proposal will crush small businessmen. "We stand with you for your cause. I am not here to make speeches. I feel your pain, I stand with you. It's not your fight alone, it's ours too. I and the Congress stand with you," Gandhi said at a rally of the All India Bullion Jeweller and Swarnakar Federation at Jantar Mantar here. "This is not an excise duty on you. This is an attempt to crush you. You are being killed. But why are you being killed? Who will benefit from this?" "Our target is to free you of your pain and fear. We will try to convince (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi ji, make him understand your problems. We will try to convince the leaders of his party (BJP) also. We will put in all our might in this exercise," the Congress leader said. Taking a dig at the prime minister, he said: "Modi ji says his 'mann ki baat' but doesn't want to understand the 'mann ki baat' of others." He said Modi's 'Make In India' scheme would benefit only a few big industrialists and not the common man. "The idea of 'Make in India' is to throttle small businesses through excise. Big industrialists will be benefitted and those people who extract money from your profit through pressure and blackmail," Gandhi said. He also invoked Mahatma Gandhi, comparing the 'charkha' associated with the Father of the Nation with 'Make in India's 'lion' symbol, saying that while the former was powered by the strength of small businesses, farmers and labourers, the latter symbolised a handful of five to ten big industrialists. "When Modi ji talks about Make in India, he actually refers to five to ten big industrialists. Traders associated with jewellery don't have factories of Rs.10,000 crore. They have small units," he said. Jewellers have been holding nationwide protests for more than a month against the government's budgetary proposal to impose one percent excise duty on non-silver jewellery and making PAN cards mandatory for transactions of Rs.2 lakh and above. Expanding the economy is the key to India becoming a leading global power, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday. "India's quest for becoming a leading power depends on expanding our economy," Jaishankar said while delivering the keynote speech at the launch of Carnegie India, the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. In this context, he said hand-holding investors was part of the government's daily foreign policy activities. New Delhi is the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment after Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Beirut and Brussels. Jaishankar said "neighbourhood first" was the phrase most heard in India's foreign policy. "With our neighbours, we have to sharply raise the levels of connectivity," he said. He further observed that the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) mechanism has become more important after the last summit of the regional bloc in Kathmandu in 2014. The foreign secretary said India was ready to deal with the incoming government in Myanmar. According to Jaishankar, India's neighbourhood policy now extended to the Gulf to the west and the Malacca Straits to the east. Highlighting the thrust that the new government at the Centre was giving to foreign policy, he said there have been ministerial visits from India to around 130 countries. With the US, he said, relations have deepened across the board while energy cooperation was one of the cornerstones of the ties with Russia. With Japan, India's ties have reached new vistas, the foreign secretary said. "We have reached out to Africa and Latin America at the highest levels," he said. A fire broke out at the premises of Electronics Regional Test Laboratory (EAST) here on Wednesday, but no casualty or injury was reported, an official said. "At least 11 fire tenders have been engaged. The fire will be controlled soon," said a fire department official. Located in Salt Lake city, the satellite township of Kolkata, the building was evacuated after the fire broke out in the morning. One more person has been arrested in connection with the Kolkata flyover collapse that left 26 people dead, police said on Wednesday. The Tuesday night arrest of Ranjit Bhattacharya, assistant vice president (Kolkata) of the company IVRCL which built the flyover, has taken the total number of people taken into custody to nine. "So far nine company officials have been arrested," said a police official. Being constructed by Hyderabad-based IVRCL, the Vivekananda Road flyover collapsed in the busy Posta area of the city on March 31, killing 26 people and injuring nearly 90. The police have slapped various charges, including those of murder, against the company and sealed its Kolkata offices. German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out a debt relief for Greece after meeting International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde and leaders of other global economic organisations. "In our opinion, it is not legally possible in the euro zone," Merkel said in a joint press conference with the leaders on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency reported. A debt relief for Greece had been repeatedly rejected by German officials. Merkel's remarks on Tuesday followed a recent leak of a transcript suggested the IMF may threaten to pull out of Greece's bailout as a tactic to force European lenders to write down Greek debts. The Washington-based IMF has not decided to join the third bailout worth up to 86 billion euros (about $97.9 billion) to Greece. It is waiting for review results of Greece's reform progress. On Tuesday, a new round of talks on the review started in Athens. In Berlin, Lagarde said that "debt sustainability" was needed in Greece, urging the country to continue reforms. Merkel told reporters that Germany wanted the IMF to take part in the bailout plan with the European Commission and the European Central Bank. The fund's participation was a condition for German lawmakers to approve the third Greek bailout last year. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and his wife to join the investigation in a disproportionate assets case registered against him by the CBI. Justice Pratibha Rani also directed the agency that it cannot arrest or his wife Pratibha Singh in connection with the disproportionate assets case without the court's permission. The court's order came after Singh and his wife said they were willing to join investigation if they can be assured that they will not be arrested during the investigation process. "They will not be arrested without permission of the court," the court said even as the CBI sought to remove the protection against their arrest given by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, contending that the order was hampering investigation. Additional Solicitor General PS Patwalia told the court: "We should be allowed to have free hand in the investigation. We are not going to behave unreasonably." "There can't be any informal drawing room investigation. I want him to join the investigation which is meaningful and not to be dictated by them," the ASG added. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Ram Jethmalani, appearing for Singh and his wife respectively, told the court that their clients were willing to cooperate in the investigation but they must be protected from arrest. Sibal on behalf of Singh told the court: "I have been an MLA for 55 years, never lost any election. I have three palaces with me. I have 2,000 acres of forest land and I have been prosecuted for just six crore rupees. If we ( and his wife) are protected from arrest, we are ready to join the investigation." Ram Jethmalani told the court that Virbhadhra Singh is sitting chief minister and his "dignity should be preserved". The Himachal Pradesh High Court had, through an interim order on October 1, 2015, restrained the CBI from arresting or interrogating Virbhadra Singh or filing a charge sheet against him in the Rs 6 crore disproportionate assets case. The Himachal High Court was hearing Virbhadra's plea seeking quashing of an FIR lodged against him by the CBI. The Supreme Court in November last year transferred the disproportionate assets case against Virbhadra from the Himachal High Court to the Delhi High Court, saying the transfer was necessary "to protect the judiciary from embarrassment". The apex court, however, did not pass any order to modify the Himachal High Court order which restrained the CBI from arresting Singh in the case. Virbhadra Singh had moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court following CBI searches at his residences in Delhi and Shimla on September 26 last year which, he contended, were mala fide and out of political vendetta. The case was registered on September 23 last year under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the chief minister, his wife Pratibha Singh, Life Insurance Corporation agent Anand Chauhan and associate Chunni Lal. The case was registered after a preliminary inquiry that allegedly found that Virbhadra Singh, as union minister during 2009-2012, accumulated assets worth Rs 6.03 crore in his name and in the name of his family members, which were disproportionate to his known sources of income. Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh on Wednesday said India will utilise Israel's water conservation and agriculture technology to bring down production cost and help the nation manage its water resources well. "Israel's agriculture technology is known to the entire world. Israel, where water scarcity looms large, has emerged as one of the major producers of fruit and vegetables," he said while addressing a function at the Centre for Sub-Tropical Fruit, run here jointly by India and Israel. Speaking on the occasion, his Israeli counterpart Uri Ariel said both countries will show to the world how to utilise water and get more produce. "We are committed to our understandings with India (in the fields of agriculture and water management)," he said, adding that he was happy to see how both countries were coming closer to develop better agricultural practices. Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and state Agriculture Minister O.P. Dhankar praised Israel for its agricultural technology. Khattar said it was a matter of pride that a number of projects were being run in Haryana with Israel's cooperation. He said new technology would help the entire state. Israel's Ambassador to India Daniel Carmon and other officials were present on the occasion. INLD activists in Haryana on Wednesday paid rich tributes to former deputy prime minister Devi Lal on his 15th death anniversary, a party spokesperson said. Workers of the Indian National Lok Dal, the main opposition party in the state, held prayer meetings to salute the former chief minister. In Gurgaon district, several party members gathered at the Tau Devi Lal park in Sector 23, Manesar and Sohna and held prayer meetings. Devi Lal twice served as chief minister of Haryana -- first in 1977-79 and in 1987-89. He was the deputy prime minister of India in 1989-90 when V.P. Singh was the prime minister. Born on September 25, 1914 in Sirsa in Haryana, Devi Lal died on April 6, 2001 in New Delhi. The Islamic State terror group located in Afghanistan is growing and wants to use the country "as a springboard to expand further", a Russian official said on Wednesday. The situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated recently, as the Taliban movement launched offensives in major cities and the influence of the IS has also increased, Xinhua quoted the Russian official as saying. The terror group is thriving in Afghanistan but it behaves quietly and accumulates strength so as to act decisively, he said. Tt does not waste its resources to fight Afghan and American troops because it wants to use Afghanistan as a springboard for broader expansion, the official said. He also said Taliban has taken no real step to negotiate. "Taliban is not configured to negotiate, they are determined to fight," Kabulov added. A Japanese high court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal from local plaintiffs filed last year and opted aggainst granting an injunction to suspend the operation of two nuclear reactors restarted at Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s Sendai nuclear power plant. Fukuoka High Court adjudicated on the case to shut down the reactors in Japan's southwest after a district court initially turned down the local residents' petition in April 2015, Xinhua reported. The residents were seeking the shutdown of the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors due to fears that the utility was unprepared to deal with a sizable earthquake hitting near the plant and had underestimated the size of a possible temblor potentially damaging the facility, and had made insufficient evacuation plans were such a catastrophe to occur. The residents' subsequent appeal, rejected on Wednesday, was also based on increasing volcanic activity that could also threaten the Sendai nuclear facility and necessitate enhanced evacuation measures. The court, however, had maintained that new safety standards implemented by Japan's nuclear watchdog were found to be sufficient, the media reported. It also said that the plant, having passed the new guidelines set in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, was deemed operationally safe. During the time in which the case was passed to the Fukuoka High Court, the plant's No. 1 reactor was brought back online last August and the No. 2 reactor in October last year. The Japanese government was looking to bring all of the nation's 48 reactors idled for safety checks and in the wake of the Fukushima multiple meltdowns back online, and aims to be producing 20 percent of the country's electricity from nuclear power by 2030, despite mounting public opposition. Such opposition saw the Otsu district court last month order Kansai Electric Power Co. to halt the operation of two restarted reactors at its Takahama nuclear plant, in Fukui prefecture on Honshu island on the coast of the Sea of Japan. The restart had initially been a boon for the government, marking the second complex since the 2011 Fukushima disaster to be brought back online, and the first of the fast-breeder type of reactors that run on uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel to become operational. But while Kansai Electric Power Co. is contesting the ruling, the No.3 and No.4 Takahama reactors must legally remain shuttered until such time that the injunction is overturned. Concerns from local residents, antinuclear campaigners and renown international scientists, are that an earthquake as large as the magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki quake that struck Japan on March 2011, causing a devastating tsunami that knocked out the key cooling functions at the Daiichi plant in Fukushima, leading to the worst commercial nuclear disaster in history, could occur again. A consortium of international scientists after drilling for miles beneath the Pacific Ocean and into the active earthquake fault after the March 11 mega-quake, have found that the epicentre of the 2011 quake was just 130 km east of Sendai, with activity in the subduction zone suggesting another strong quake, or sizable volcanic incident, could be highly likely. Kyushu Electric Power Co. officials, however, to the contrary of the scientific findings, have stated that they believe a mega-quake or eruption will not happen during the lifespan of its nuclear facility. Jordan has submitted a letter of protest to Israeli embassy in Amman, condemning repeated raids into al-Aqsa Mosque. Jordan's Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani on Tuesday said Jordan condemned the Israeli violations against the holy site, Xinhua reported. The government urged Israel to stop its provocations and cease such violations. Jordan condemned all Israeli attempt seeking to change the status quo in Jerusalem, the minister said. He said Jordan will continue to defend the holy Islamic and Christian sites in Jerusalem, adding that the country will continue to exert efforts at the international level to put an end to Israeli violations. A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled that automaker Porsche was not responsible for the November 2013 car crash that left actor Paul Walker and a friend killed, the media reported. A district judge thus resolved the lawsuit filed in May 2014 against Porsche by the widow of Walker's friend, who was driving the car in which the two men died while street racing, Efe news agency reported. Kristine Rodas, the widow of Roger Rodas, said there had been manufacturing and safety defects in the Porsche Carrera GT, but that argument was rejected by the judge as the cause of the crash that led to the men's deaths. The plaintiff argued that the passenger compartment was not sufficiently strong and that the vehicle was not designed to protect its occupants from a side impact, and there were also defects in the gas tank and the vehicle's suspension. The judge rejected all those claims saying that there was no evidence to support them. In her complaint, the plaintiff said that the vehicle in which her husband and the film star were riding was travelling at 88 km (55 miles) per hour at the time of the crash, while the police report on the accident said that it was travelling between 128 kph and 150 kph (79 mph to 93 mph). The Carrera GT, authorities said, was travelling at more than twice the legal speed limit and burst into flames after hitting a public light pole and a tree. Walker, who achieved fame for his key role in the "Fast & Furious" action racing films, died on June 30, 2013, at age 40 from "trauma and burns," according to the autopsy report published by the Los Angeles Coroner's Office. The actor's daughter, Meadow Walker, also filed a lawsuit against Porsche in September 2015 contending that design defects caused the crash. That suit is still pending. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday condemned the police action on students of the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, saying the government "must stop this immediately". "Lathicharge on students in Srinagar is highly condemnable. BJP-PDP must stop this immediately," the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief said in a tweet. "In Kashmir, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is beating those saying 'Bharat Mata ki Jai', and in the rest of the country those who don't say it," Kejriwal added. Tension gripped the NIT-Srinagar campus late on Tuesday after a group of non-Kashmiri students clashed with police. An official said police then resorted to a baton charge to disperse the students, in which seven of them sustained minor injuries. The campus atmosphere has been surcharged ever since Kashmiri students celebrated India's defeat to West Indies in the World T20 semi-final on March 31. The non-Kashmiri students objected to this, leading to a clash and subsequent tensions. Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli has said the agitation by Madhesis became futile after India changed its policy. Presenting a 12-page political document during the ongoing CPN-UML party politburo meeting, Oli -- who is also chairman of CPN-UML, the second largest party in parliament -- claimed that India resiled from supporting the Madhesi movement following increasing international criticism during the unofficial blockade of supplies to Nepal. The international community was critical of India's approach to Nepal and put pressure on it, Oli said in his document. "Then India changed its policy. It could not sustain backing the Madhesis further," he said. Expressing displeasure over the content of the new Constitution, which was promulgated in September 2015, Madhesi political parties launched an agitation in which at least 59 people were killed and a large number injured. The violent protests in the southern plains and along the Nepal-India border hit supplies of fuel, essential commodities and other items from India. However, without any political agreement, the blockade ended in February. But the political situation has not improved and there has not been any discussion between the agitating Madhesis and the government. The Madhesis have warned that they will launch a fresh agitation from May. Meanwhile, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Nepal was likely to witness fresh turmoil if the dissatisfaction over the Constitution is not addressed. Oli, who is known for his ultra-nationalist stand, criticised India's remarks on the discontent over the new Constitution. India has been saying that there should be negotiations between the agitating parties and the government to resolve the political standoff. The border blockade has badly affected Nepal's economy and it will take years to recover, Oli said. The blockade was sudden, altogether inappropriate and against the century-old bilateral ties which was also against the UN and Saarc charters, he said. "We can consider suggestions from friendly nations but we will not accept intervention and unnecessary concern in our internal matter," Oli said. Criticising the Madhesi political parties, he said: "They are still hatching a conspiracy to split the plains and hilly areas, which is altogether inappropriate and not acceptable at any cost." Oli said the government will launch several developmental programmes in the Terai-Madhes region to uplift the economic and social status of the people. One key project is the installation of tube-wells in 22 districts. The government has allocated over NRs.25 billion (Indian Rs.15 billion) for the tube-well project, the east-west railway, construction of postal highway and two international airports in the Terai. (Anil Giri can be contacted at girianil@gmail.com) A man in his late 20s committed suicide by jumping on a Metro track here on Wednesday morning, police said. The incident took place at Rohini West Metro station at 9.16 a.m. "The man has not been identified yet as we could not recover any identity proof from him. The reason behind the extreme step is yet to be ascertained as he had no suicide note," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Delhi Metro) Jitendra Mani told IANS. Mani said that the man died at the spot as he was hit by the Metro moving towards Rithala. A 34-year-old man was killed when he jumped before a Metro train at the Rajiv Chowk station here on Thursday, police said. Amit Talwar, a resident of Saket in south Delhi, jumped on the track from platform number 2 around 8.50 a.m. just when the train headed to Jahangiripuri entered the station. "CCTV footage showed the man was standing at the edge of the platform for some time. He suddenly jumped. He sustained serious head injuries which led to his death on the spot," a police officer said. No suicide note was recovered from his possession. Metro services were disrupted briefly due to the incident, a Metro official said. --IANS rak/mr (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.) He has emerged as the man to watch out for when Tata Steel initiates the formal process to sell its UK assets. Meet Sanjiv Kumar Gupta, founder of the UK-based Liberty House. Gupta is the key man British Business Secretary Sajid Javid met in London on Tuesday, just before flying to Mumbai for a meeting with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry. Gupta, in fact, has already indicated his intention to stop widespread job losses in Tata Steel UK. "I am pleased to report we had a positive meeting today. UK government appears highly supportive and is proactively engaged in finding a long-term solution," Gupta is quoted as saying after his meeting with Javid. "The next step is for Tata (Group) to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers. We await further details on this and then will assess our own next step." For the record, Liberty Group has revenues approaching $5 billion, covering steel, raw materials and non-ferrous metals, while employing more than 2,000 people globally. It also produces about 5 million tonnes per annum of steel and steel products. Gupta is also not new to takeovers. Ten days ago, Tata Steel UK announced it has reached an accord to sell its Clydebridge and Dalzell steel facilities in Scotland. The deal involved the sale of the two plants to the Government of Scotland, which was to, in turn, sell them on to Liberty House. Prior to that, Gupta's group had acquired a 1.5 million tonnes per annum steel plant in Wales that was set up as an integrated producer of steel based on electric arc furnace route with downstream hot rolling mill. This complex was shut for over two years, before Liberty's takeover. Now the mill's operations have commenced and plans are on the anvil to eventually revamp the steel melting shop and grow the rated capacities of the mill -- a testimony to Gupta's turnaround skills. Liberty's other investments include medium-sized mills and service centres in markets such as India and Ghana to strategic stakes in large producers, like a 2.5 million tonne per annum mill for steel and value added products. As per the group's website, it operates from four financial hubs in London, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong with a network of offices spread across 30 countries around the world. And "SKG", as Gupta is called by his peers, comes from a successful business family of Punjab. The 44-year-old left for Britain when he was 12 years old as a resident student at St. Edmunds College, Canterbury, in Kent. He graduated from the Cambridge in 1995 and was subsequently awarded his Master's from Trinity College. Since then, he has been trading in Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. "From 2000 onward, SKG's focus has been on growing the trade in steel, metals and raw materials while developing the industrial asset base of the group," the Liberty website said. A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday awarded life sentence to three of the accused for the 2002-03 triple bombings here that claimed 12 lives. The three are the prime accused Muzammil Ansari and his associates Farhan Khot and Wahid Ansari. Four others were given 10 years jail term including Saquib Nachan, the general secretary of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Ateef Nasir Mulla, Ghulam Kotla and Hasib Zubeir Mulla. Three convicts were given two years jail term by Special POTA Judge P.R. Deshmukh. They are Mohammed Anwar Ali, Mohammed Kamil and Noor Mohammed. All the 10 accused were found guilty and and convicted by the Special Court on March 29, followed by arguments between special public prosecutor Rohini Salian and defence lawyers on the quantum of sentencing which ended on Tuesday. That day, Special Judge Deshmukh acquitted three people - Haroon Lohar, Nadeem Paloba and Adnan Mulla - for lack of sufficient evidence against them. Another five accused named by the investigators continue to be absconders in the case. Linked by a common conspiracy, the three blasts occurred near McDonald's eatery in Mumbai Central Terminus on December 6, 2002, in a Vile Parle market on January 27, 2003 and in a crowded ladies First Class compartment of a suburban train near Mulund on March 13, 2003, killing a total of 12 people and injuring 139 others. In the first blast (December 6, two people died and over 50 were injured. In the second (January 27) one person was killed and 30 others were injured, while in the third blast (March 13) nine were killed and over 70 injured. During the trial, the prosecution contended that Nachan, along with a Pakistani, Faisal Khan - linked to terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba - carried out the blasts along with others. Of the 25 accused listed by police, a majority were nabbed in 2003, five died during the trial and five are still absconding. Nachan has been sentenced for his role of arranging the required manpower, arms and ammunition while Wahid Ansari and some absconders have been punished for manufacturing the bombs. Muzammil Ansari and another absconder-accused have been convicted and sentenced for executing the terror plot by planting bombs at the targeted locations. The three cases - though far between and in different parts of Mumbai - were clubbed together by the court as they were linked by a common conspiracy angle. The police had charged all the accused with murder, attempt to murder, causing grievous hurt, waging war against the nation, criminal conspiracy besides several charges under the Indian Penal Code, Railways Act, Arms Act, Explosive Substances Act and POTA. Meanwhile, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUeM) Maharashtra, which provided legal aid to the accused, expressed happiness that the capital punishment was spared but said it would challenge the verdict in the Bombay High Court. A JUeM spokesperson also urged the government to set up fast-track courts to dispose off terror-related cases within two years so that the accused, who are finally acquitted, do not spend prolonged periods in jail. A Mumbai Special Court on Wednesday awarded life sentence to three of the accused for the 2002-03 triple bombings here. The three include the prime accused Muzammil Ansari. Four others were given 10 years jail term, including Saquib Nachan, the general secretary of the outlawed Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Three other convicts were given two years jail term by Special POTA Judge P. R. Deshmukh. All the 10 were found guilty and convicted by the court on March 29, after which there were arguments between special public prosecutor Rohini Salian and defence lawyers on the quantum of sentencing, which concluded on Tuesday. Linked by a common conspiracy, the blasts occurred near McDonald's eatery in Mumbai Central Terminus on December 6, 2002, another in a Vile Parle market on January 27, 2003 and the third in a crowded ladies first class compartment of a suburban train near Mulund on March 13, 2003, killing a total of 12 and injuring over 139 others. India's neighbourhood is a strong priority for New Delhi's foreign policy initiatives, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said on Wednesday. "In the last many months, you would have all become familiar with our broad approaches to foreign policy," Jaishankar said while delivering the keynote speech at the launch of Carnegie India, the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Pease. "Probably, the phrase heard most in that connection is 'neighbourhood first'," he said. New Delhi is the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment after Washington, Moscow, Beijing, Beirut and Brussels. Jaishankar said that "neighbourhood first" was "meant to convey a strong sense of priority, not suggest a problem-free future". He said this was what infused a new energy into the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) after the last summit of the regional bloc in Kathmandu in 2014. According to the foreign secretary, the "neighbourhood first" policy has already started yielding results. "With Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, it is hard to dispute that the overall atmosphere of our ties is far more cordial," he said. "With Myanmar, we have navigated the transition with delicacy and are well poised to engage the incoming government. Admittedly, in Nepal and Maldives, there have been challenges that arose from their domestic politics." Jaishankar said that in Afghanistan, which was going through a difficult period, India's reputation for reliability has only been strengthened by the broadening ambit of bilateral cooperation. Stating that Pakistan was a category by itself, he said: "But given the challenges of that relationship, we have fared well in keeping the focus firmly on the central issue of terrorism, in maintaining an engagement that factors in the complexity of that polity, and in enhancing global understanding of our approach. That said, we also look beyond to a more normal relationship featuring economic cooperation and people to people ties." According to Jaishankar, India's neighbourhood policy now extended to the Gulf to the west and the Malacca Straits to the east. For India to become a leading global power, he said, the key was to expanding the economy. "As far as India's prospects are concerned, the quest towards becoming a leading power rests first and foremost on our success in expanding the economy," Jaishankar said. "In that pursuit, the role of in attracting foreign capital, technology and best practices is significant," he stated. In this context, he said hand-holding investors, disseminating best practices and facilitating business partnerships were all today part of the government's daily activity at home. Highlighting the thrust that the new government at the Centre was giving to foreign policy, he said there have been ministerial visits from India to around 130 countries. He said India's relations with major global powers have also improved during this time. While cooperation with the US has deepened across the board, with Russia, significant energy and economic initiatives have imparted new momentum to the strategic partnership. "With the European Union nations, both individually and collectively, changes at home have created fresh opportunities for greater collaboration," the foreign secretary said. "With China, the considerable potential of economic cooperation is beginning to get unlocked. Where Japan is concerned, new vistas have opened up that could have a major impact even in the short term." Jaishankar also said that longstanding ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have been further consolidated while all the West Asian countries have been productively engaged. According to Jaishankar, a nation that seeks to stand out must have its distinct branding. "That is usually built on its culture and traditions," he said. "Whether we are conscious of it or not, the world sees us espousing pluralistic values, often as an exemplar," he added. Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Communications whose taped telephone chats with some prominent people in India around eight years ago, including ministers, journalists and business tycoons became the matter of a probe, has now surfaced in the "Panama Papers" expose. Her name (appearing as Nira Radia, in the documents investigated, minus the extra 'i') is allegedly linked to a company in British Virgin Islands, which her office has denied, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. In the article, as Part 3 of the expose on Indians having alleged offshore links, Radia is said to have figured prominently as a director in the 232 documents pertaining to the company listed in the tax haven, Crownmart International Group. The list published by the newspaper on Wednesday also has the names of a top business tycoon in Bellary, a prominent industrialist and a chartered accountant -- each of whom, which The Indian Express says were contacted for their responses, with many also sharing their versions. Another article seeks to shows how the world's largest currency note maker De La Rue had contracted a New Delhi businessman to help bag tenders in India, in return for a 15-percent commission. The paper identifies the company as Aphra Consultants, linked to Somendra Khosla of New Delhi. Amid these allegations, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team in which the central bank has been co-opted. On Radia, the paper said: "An investigation of these papers shows the existence of one offshore entity owned by Radia, an International Business Company registered in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseka in 1994 named Crownmart International Group Limited." In response, her office said the said entity was set up by her late father Iqbal Narain Menon and that she was not a beneficiary. Also that Radia had disclosed her assets to the authorities in UK and India and that such information was personal and confidential for third parties. In another article published on Wednesday, the newspaper said the Indian diamond merchants, who were probed earlier for having overseas accounts in Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands and HSCB, have also surfaced in "Panama Papers". Prominent among them are Rosy Blue, one of the largest diamond traders in the world, and Chetan Mehta of the Belgium-based Gembel family. The paper also reported that Harshad Ramniklal Mehta of Rosy Blue did not respond to its calls or queries, while Chetan Mehta said he has been a non-resident Indian living in Belgium and that the companies were shut longtime ago. A part of the list, Hyderabad-based Moturi Srinivas Prasad said the off-shore entities were started as one dollar companies with the hope of doing business, but were closed. Satish Modi of Modi Global was away from India, but an e-mail reply from his office said he is an NRI and laws were followed. Others: - Hyderabad-based businessman Bhavanasi Jaya Kumar who maintained he had nothing to do with offshore companies. - UK-based Bhaskar Rao, whose son said the companies were not exactly active and that due procedures were followed. - Civil construction business people Preetam Bothra and Sweta Gupta, with the latter when contacted, posing the query, as to why she should share any information with the newspaper. - Ahmedabad-based Bhandari Ashok Ramdayalchand, with a response from someone at his residence that he was not interested in talking. - Kolkata-based Ashok Malhotra who, the paper says, admitted to knowing about the off-shore accounts but kept changing his stories. - Dehradun-based Sanjay Pokhriyal, who said the $10,000 endowment for a Panamanian fund allegedly linked to him was not his own money. - Belary iron exporters Prasanna V. Ghotage and Vaman Kumar who the paper could not contact. - Vadodara-based Pradeep Kaushikray Buch, who denied he had any such overseas company linked to him. - Rahul Arunprasad Patel of Sintex Industries, who reportedly said he has several overseas companies but was not sure if the one named in the expose belonged to him. - Thiruvananthapuram native and chartered accountant George Mathew, who said the linked companies belonged to clients and that Indian agencies had nothing to do with them. The global expose has been conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers", based on millions of documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca that helped in setting up off-shore entities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose. The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined an interim stay on the Enforcement Directorate's order to provisionally attach the properties of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's son and daughter in a money laundering case. A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to file its response by April 18, the next date of hearing, after which the bench will take a decision on stay of ED's provisional attachment order. "Let the response by filed (by ED) by April 18. At this stage we can't stay the order," the bench said. The ED's action is "pre-emptive, presumptuous and arbitrary" and hence has "no authority to initiate attachment proceeding against the petitioners", the chief minister's daughter Aparajita Kumari and son Vikramaditya Singh said in their petition. They sought the quashing and stay of the ED's order of March 23 issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The petitioners said the ED had attached Aparajita's movable assets worth over Rs.15.85 lakh and Vikramaditya's assets worth Rs.62.8 lakh. Appearing for them, senior advocate Amit Sibal told the bench that Virbhadra's children's properties were attached even though they were not named in the first information report in the case and no chargesheet against them and their father. "It's a stigma to me that the day-to-day attachment of my properties continue," Sibal said, seeking stay of the attachment proceedings. The plea said the ED decision was based on the Income Tax department's inquiries and investigation, which were themselves under challenge. The petitioners said there were no allegations against them, though there was an alleged Income tax violation case against their father Virbhadra Singh. That too is pending adjudication before the Income Tax authorities, they pointed out. The duo said they were also not summoned before the ED passed the attachment order. "No property of the petitioners could have been attached without giving them an opportunity to explain the sources of the property under attachment," the petitioners said. "The allegations in the Enforcement Case Information Report do not disclose any offence of money laundering and thus the proceedings under the PMLA is bad in law. "The duo have also challenged the recently amended second proviso of section 5(1) of the PMLA which provides that any property of any person may be attached if ED officer concerned has reasons to believe, on the basis of material in his possession, that if such property allegedly involved in money-laundering is not attached immediately, it is likely to frustrate any proceeding under the Act. The petition sought that this proviso of the PMLA be declared unconstitutional, claiming it was contradictory to the scheme of the Act and violated the Constitution. In November 2015, the ED registered a case under the PMLA at its New Delhi office against Virbhadra Singh and his family members, including his wife Pratibha Singh. Normal life was hit as heat wave continued to prevail across Odisha with state capital Bhubaneswar recording a maximum temperature of 43.2 degrees Celsius on Wednesday. A Met official here said the state capital's recorded temperature was the highest for April in the last six years. Bhubaneswar recorded a maximum of 43.6 degrees on April 9, 2010. According to an India Meteorological Department regional office release here, apart from Bhubaneswar, 15 other places in the state registered temperatures over 40 degrees on Wednesday. These are Balasore (41 degrees), Chandbali (41.3), Cuttack (40.6), Angul (40.7), Baripada (40.8), Jharsuguda (41), Sambalpur (40.8), Sundergarh (42), Talcher (41.6), Bhawanipatna (40.5), Balangir (41), Titlagarh (40.5), Malkangiri (42), Sonepur (41.2) and Dhenkanal (40.6). The Met department forecast that temperatures would continue to rise in several parts of the state. IMD regional director Sarat Chandra Sahu said the heat wave will continue in central Odisha and temperatures in most parts of Odisha's coastal region, which came down in the last two weeks, will increase again due to clear sky. Sahu said the state capital usually records around 42 degrees from the third and fourth week of April. Women motorists and cars ferrying school students in uniform will be exempt during the second phase of the odd-even traffic scheme starting on April 15, it was announced on Wednesday. Delhi's Transport Minister Gopal Rai said security concerns were the main reason behind the government's decision to exempt women from the fortnight-long scheme. "As per people's wishes, the chief minister has decided that women will remain exempt in the second phase of the odd-even scheme. Security is the main reason behind this decision," Rai told the media. Vehicles carrying school children in uniform will also be exempt. "During the first phase of the odd-even scheme (January 1-15), schools were closed. This time they are open. We don't want children to suffer at all. So the vehicles carrying school children in uniform will also be exempt from the odd-even restrictions," Rai said. According to the odd-even formula, vehicles with odd registration numbers will be allowed to ply on odd dates and those with even registration numbers on even dates. The aim is to cut drastically the number of vehicles on Delhi's otherwise normally choked roads in a bid to curb air pollution. The traffic curbs won't be applicable on Sundays. The minister said those who were exempt in the first phase will enjoy the benefit now too -- central government ministers and VVIPs besides CNG vehicles. Bikers are also likely to be allowed to ply during the upcoming odd-even phase. The final notification detailing all the exemptions will be issued on Friday. The first phase of the odd-even scheme turned out to be hugely popular in the capital. Pakistan's opposition parties have criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's decision to form a judicial commission to probe his family in 'Panama Papers' revelations. The Pakistan Peoples Party termed Sharif's address to the nation on Tuesday "most unfortunate", because he "blamed his woes on the policies of Zulfikar and Benazir Bhutto to deflect the storm brewing as a result of the Panama Papers". "Instead of answering questions raised in the leaked documents, Sharif resorted to a blame-game against PPP leaders," Dawn online quoted Farhatullah Babar, the party's spokesperson, as saying in a statement. Responding to Sharif's claims regarding the detention of the cargo ship 'Jonathan', Babar said: "He conveniently forgot that the cargo ship was held up by customs authorities after it was found to be carrying a sugar plant instead of the intended steel scrap cargo." The prime minister, Babar said, would do well to answer questions raised by the leaked documents, rather than playing a blame-game. Talking to a private television channel, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader Asad Umar claimed that the whole nation was disappointed over the "one-member judicial commission" formed to probe the matter. "Sharif said whoever has a complaint against him or his family shall go to the commission and prove it, which is a joke since it is the PM who needs to prove his innocence," said Umar. PTI spokesman Naeemul Haq said Sharif had not specified who would choose the judge to head the proposed judicial commission, or whether it will be empowered to examine Sharif family's assets abroad as well. Jamaat-e-Islami emir Sirajul Haq said if Sharif sincerely desires a probe, he should immediately hand over the matter to the National Accountability Bureau. He said given the nature of the allegations, inquiry into the matter is not the job of a retired judge. Rather a full-fledged investigation agency should do the task. Or else the matter should be entrusted to the Chief Justice of Pakistan who should appoint a judicial commission comprising three senior most judges of the apex court for the purpose, he suggested. The Election Commission on Wednesday said over 84 percent voters turned out to cast their ballots in 18 constituencies in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls on April 4. Among the 18 seats -- nine in Purulia, three in Bankura and six in West Medinipur -- across three districts, Salboni constituency topped the list with the maximum voter turnout of 90.18 percent. Purulia constituency had the lowest voter turnout of 79.76 percent. According to the Election Commission report, voter turnout in the nine constituencies in Purulia was comparatively less than in Bankura and Paschim Medinipur. Regarding the next date of polls in 31 constituencies to be conducted in April 11, the Election Commission on Wednesday said more than 69 lakh (69,90,900) voters across 8,465 polling stations would decide the fate of 163 candidates. In the third phase, among 62 constituencies spread across Murshidabad, Nadia and Kolkata-North, 421 nominations have been filed till Tuesday, and two of them were rejected, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Dibyendu Sarkar said. He said 138 nominations as on Tuesday were filed in 49 constituencies in 24 Parganas (North) and Howrah districts for the fourth phase, and 37 nominations were filed for 53 seats in 24 Parganas (South), Hooghly and Kolkata-South for the fifth phase. Asked about Trinamool Congress candidate and Saradha scam accused Madan Mitra's plea before the Election Commission for parole to campaign in the polls, he said: "The question of parole does not arise. Parole is considered for a convicted, he is not. He is an accused... this does not apply to him." Sarkar also said complaints were received against Trinamool candidate Sabyasachi Dutta about his alleged links with the syndicate mafia. The complaints have been forwarded to the Election Commission of India. Pakistan carried out 326 executions in 2015, the highest ever recorded in the country, Amnesty International reported. Amnesty International organisation said at least 1,634 people were executed globally last year -- up from 1,061 in 2014 (54 percent), and Pakistan ranked third in executions, Dawn online reported. The figure does not include executions in China where data on the death penalty is considered a state secret. Pakistan followed Saudi Arabia and Iran in global executions, and together the three countries were responsible for nearly 90 percent of total executions, the report said. According to the report, the number of executions recorded in Saudi Arabia increased by 76 percent to 158, while those in Iran rose 31 percent to 977. Amnesty said it received information that both Iran and Pakistan in 2015 executed people who were under the age of 18 when the crimes were committed, and it said juveniles face the death sentence in several other countries. Champa Patel, Amnesty International's director of South Asia Regional Office, said: "Over the past year, Pakistan has vaulted to the number three spot for recorded state executions in the world -- a shameful position no one should aspire to. Only to be beaten by Iran and Saudi Arabia." Patel said Pakistan executed 326 people last year. Most of those executed were not convicted of terror-related offences, and there is evidence that at least two and possibly more of them were juveniles when they committed their alleged crimes. "The death penalty is always a rights violation, but its use in Pakistan is all the more troubling, given the serious fair trial concerns -- including insufficient access to lawyers and endemic police torture to extract confessions," said Patel. In the US, 28 people were executed in 2015, nearly half in Texas, the most active death penalty state, which put 13 people to death, the report said. Pakistani Christians and their supporters demonstrated outside the United Nations headquarters here Tuesday asking for the protection of minorities in Pakistan and help for hundreds of Christian asylum-seekers from that country detained in Thailand. At the protest that comes in the wake of the Easter bombing by the Pakistani Taliban directed against Christians in Lahore, an organiser, Tariq Javed, said that the community was under constant threat in Pakistan, both from the government through measures like the anti-blasphemy laws and from terrorist organisations and extremist politicians. The Lahore bombing was only the latest in a series of attacks on Christians and their places of worship, he said. Javed, who is the president of the International Community Care Foundation, said the UN and the United States should work to end the persecution of Christians in Pakistan. Islamabad should be made to "take measures to provide security and protection to Christians in the light of recent terrorist attacks and continual religious persecution," he said. He said that of about 4,000 Pakistani Christians who fled to Thailand, about 500 have been put in detention centers with illegal immigrants under harrowing conditions and not treated as asylum-seekers. Eleven of them have died so far in detention, he added. Pakistani Christians are unable to get asylum in Thailand because that nation has not signed the Refugee Convention and has no formal framework for asylum. Javed appealed to the UN and its High Commissioner for Refugees to intervene to have those in detention released and arrange for their resettlement elsewhere. Wilson Chowdhury, the chairperson of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said that if Thailand returned the asylum-seekers to Pakistan they would face persecution from the government and violent retribution from extremists. The anti-blasphemy were being used as a legal guise to attack Christians and to even settle private scores. A problem the Pakistani Christians fleeing persecution in their homeland faced was that Britain defined their status as facing "severe discrimination" rather than "persecution" and this made it difficult for them to get asylum, Chowdhury said. Many European countries deferred to Britain on this and his organisation was working to change this, he added. About 50 people, including non-Pakistani Americans, were at the protest. Hubert George, the chairman of Hope for Persecuted Christians, said that they were also appealing to Washington to provide asylum to the Pakistani Christians stranded in Thailand. The Panamanian government said that it would not accept the country being used as a "scapegoat" for the apparent financial misdeeds detailed in the Panama Papers. "We are not going to allow Panama to be used as a scapegoat by third parties. Each country (implicated) is responsible," presidential chief of staff Alvaro Aleman said on Tuesday. Panama "rejects and regrets" that anyone should want to "trample" its good name, "conveniently forgetting the participation in offshore operations of institutions and individuals of other nations", Efe news agency quoted Aleman as saying. Aleman demanded that media take the time to "understand the situation in depth and avoid repeating commonplaces and old prejudices about our country. Panama has changed and we are promoting dramatic reforms that can in no way be ignored," Aleman said. The minister also criticised that the name of Panama Papers has been used for the roughly 11.5 million confidential documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in wealth management. Panama, Aleman said, is not the only country involved but that "21 different jurisdictions have been mentioned" as offshore tax havens where companies have been created. As a result of the leak, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin announced on Tuesday that Panama would again be included on its blacklist of tax havens, from which it was eliminated in late 2011. Aleman recalled that "in Panama, there is a law that sets out retaliation measures against countries that include Panama in 'gray lists'." Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie regretted the "irresponsible statement" by the head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Angel Gurria, who urged on Monday that Panama "immediately" apply the international standards of fiscal transparency, criticising the central American country for having long resisted appeals to take that step. Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra was named the brand ambassador of Vadilal ice-cream at an event here on Wednesday. Parineeti's entry on the stage was with the foot tapping number "Jigar da tukda" from her debut film "Ladies vs Ricky Bahl" playing at the background. She even struck a pose for the shutterbugs near an ice-cream cart parked on the stage. The 27-year-old says she is "excited" with the association. "I am genuinely excited about today because Vadilal has been part of my childhood and now it is part of my adulthood. I am genuinely so proud that they chose me," Parineeti told media here. Vadilal managing director Devanshu Gandhi and sales and marketing president Vishal Surti also unveiled their latest ad campaign for three of their new ice-creams. The three variants of their drool worthy ice creams are called Badabite select (Belgian chocolate based bar), 20 variants of Flingo (centre filled cones) and Gourmet (cups). The variants range from Rs.50 to Rs.150 in price. Asked why did Vadilal choose Parineeti as their brand ambassador, Gandhi told IANS: "Well, she is bubbly, cheerful and really very cooperative. We were able to complete all our ads in one day. Her nature is very similar to when we sell Vadilal to a person and they get. Her feeling for the ice-cream comes out." The "Ishaqzaade" actress, who has lost weight, says she loves ice-creams and that the trick to have ice-creams without any guilt is to have it before a work-out session. The "Daawat-e-Ishq" star also added that people should not "deprive" themselves of anything that they crave for. "The trick is to have it (ice-creams) before the work out and not after it. I think I am a firm believer on not stopping anything. Whatever I crave or want to eat, I have it. Even if it is an ice-cream, I know there is a lot of sugar but one ice-cream and a tough work out, its all going to balance out." "People should not deprive themselves of anything they like," Parineeti, who looked ravishing in a peach skater dress teamed up with a bright red jacket by designer Nishka Lulla and a pink stilettos, told IANS. In a surprise development, lawyer Neeraj Gupta representing actor-director Rahul Raj Singh, who is accused of abetment to suicide of television star Pratyusha Banerjee, exited from the case here on Wednesday. Gupta has claimed Singh concealed certain crucial details of the case, and this prompted him to listen to his conscience and leave the case. Singh has contended that he had no role to play in Pratyusha's suicide. He filed an application for an anticipatory bail before the Dindoshi court On Wednesday, a day after Bangur Nagar police slapped him with abetment to suicide and other counts. The police action followed a complaint and a fresh statement by Pratyusha's mother Soma Banerjee that Singh used to assault her daughter. Pratyusha committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her Goregaon residence last Friday (April 1). A high-level probe has been initiated in Varanasi prison riot that left many injured on Saturday and Monday, an official said on Wednesday. The probe is being conducted by S.K.Srivastava, deputy inspector general (Prisons). The state government has asked Srivastava to complete the inquiry and submit the report within a fortnight. The government has also asked the officer to identify the culprits, both from prison inmates and jail officials. Besides, he has been asked to specify the reason behind such a violence that left over a dozen people injured. A senior jail official was brutally attacked and another was held hostage in the violence. Two senior district jail officials have since been transferred out of Varanasi and the 18 prisoners identified for being involved in the prison riot, have been shifted to other jails in eastern Uttar Pradesh. Prisons Minister Balwant Singh Ramoowalia had earlier, during his on-spot inspection of the Varanasi jail, pointed out that prima facie the rioting seemed to be result of "wide spread corruption". Protests both on and outside the campus rocked Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on Wednesday, demanding immediate removal of Vice Chancellor P. Appa Rao. Police arrested scores of activists of various students groups at the main gate as they tried to barge in to protest the continued ban on entry of activists, media and others in the campus. Raising slogans against the vice chancellor and central ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya, the protestors climbed on to the gate. Holding banners and placards, the activists of SFI, PDSU and AIDSO sat in front of the main gate. Policemen were seen dragging protestors to waiting vans and taking them away. One of the placards read 'recall Appa Rao' and 'sack Dattatreya sack Smriti Irani from cabinet'. The protest was in response to the 'chalo HCU' called by Joint Action Committee for Social Justice, an umbrella group of various students' organisations to condemn police excesses on students and continued lockdown of the campus since Appa Rao's return as vice chancellor. Protest also broke out on the campus as protesting students marched towards VC Lodge, where Appa Rao was presiding over the meeting of Academic Council. Stating that Rao has no right to continue as VC and preside over the council, the students took out the march but we're stopped by university security and police. The protestors squatted on the ground and raised slogans against VC. The JAC has given a call for voluntary boycott of classes on Wednesday. Police beefed security around VC Lodge, the scene of violent protest on March 22, the day when Appa Rao resumed charge as VC after nearly two month long leave. The JAC has been protesting his return on the ground that he has been booked under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. He was named in the FIR registered after the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula in January. The JAC blames Rao for Vemula's suicide. As many as 25 students and two faculty members were arrested on March 22 during the police crackdown on protestors. They were in jail for a week before being released on bail. Pulin Kumar, group senior legal and compliance director of adidas India, has made it to the country's Top 50 General Counsels Power List compiled by the renowned Legal Era Magazine. "It is a privilege to be nominated among top general counsels and share the space with my esteemed contemporaries in the power list. Our work culture has changed significantly and as corporate citizens, we go beyond our traditional mandate to ensure legal and ethical compliance," Kumar said in a statement. Other top legal luminaries making it to the Legal Era's power list include ITC's K.S. Suresh, HCL Technologies' Vineet Vij, Adani Group's Badrinath Durvasula and Glenmark's Meera Vanjari. "He has been part of many significant best practices and improvements in internal governance in the corporate sector and co-hosts a knowledge sharing platform 'Sadgamaya', founded by a few like-minded general counsel and lawyers," Legal Era said about Kumar. In November 2015, Kumar was conferred with the Indian National Bar Association's General Counsel of the Year 2015-Retail Award for his contribution to the legal field in and outside the country for more than 24 years. Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor has strongly condemned the ban on liquor in Bihar by the Nitish Kumar government. He says now he might skip travelling to the state. The Bihar government on Tuesday imposed a complete ban on sale of any kind of liquor in Bihar, making it the fourth dry state of the country after after Gujarat, Manipur and Nagaland. Rishi took to Twitter on Wednesday to share his feelings about the ban. "Bihar you will encourage bootlegging and illicit liquor. Prohibition has failed worldwide. Wake up!You will also lose Rs.3000 cr revenue loss," Rishi tweeted. "10 years imprisonment for alcohol - Five years for illegal possession of arms? Wah Nitish! Me no coming to Bihar! How myopic can you get in 2016?" he added. The "Kapoor & Sons" actor also shared a photograph of himself from the 1983 film "Coolie". "Practising drinking since 'Coolie' days. But smoking and drinking is hazardous. People please abstain from it," he captioned the image. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday attached Rs.9.43 crore of Associated Mining Company (AMC), owned by Karnataka's former BJP minister G. Janarahdan Reddy and his wife G. Lakshmi Aruna, as the balance amount from illegal sale of iron ore to JSW Steels at Ballari. "This (Rs.9.43 crore) is the balance amount of the Rs.33.80 crore AMC generated from illegal sale of iron ore to JSW and kept with the steel firm," ED said in a statement here. ED's Bengaluru office had also attached the major amount (Rs.24.37 crore) in March 2015 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after investigations through this amount was also kept with JSW. "AMC and its former partners (Reddy & Aruna) projected the ill-gotten money as untainted," the statement noted. The value of total proceeds of the crime attached in this case is Rs.71.54 crore, including Rs.37.74 crore recovered from other illegal proceeds of AMC. Reddy, who was a cabinet minister in the first BJP government from May 2008 to July 2011, is on bail after languishing in Hyderabad and Bengaluru central jails till January 23, 2015 following his arrest by the CBI on September 5, 2011 in multi-crore mining scams in both the neighbouring states. The Supreme Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to probe Reddy's illegal mining activities, including exports through his mining firms in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. The CBI also raided Reddy's palatial bungalow at Ballari, about 300km from here, and in Bengaluru in October 2011 and recovered several incriminating documents in connection with the mining scams. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and his Armenian counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan have expressed concern over the outbreak of hostilities in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, the Russian government website said on Wednesday. The two prime ministers over phone on Tuesday discussed the situation in the disputed region, with Medvedev stressing the need to ensure a strict implementation of the ceasefire and the resumption of efforts to seek a political settlement, Xinhua reported. The two also discussed Medvedev's upcoming visit to Armenia on April 7-8, during which he will attend a meeting of the Intergovernmental Council of the Eurasian Economic Union, the statement on the website said. The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, erupted on Friday night. The Azerbaijani Defence Ministry on Tuesday said Azerbaijani forces killed 70 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 20 armoured vehicles on Monday and Tuesday, while at least 16 Azerbaijani troops were killed. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities and conflicts. Following the three days of fighting, the conflicting sides agreed on a ceasefire that came into force at noon on Tuesday. Actor Sonu Sood has unveiled the wax figure of martial arts actor Jackie Chan in Jaipur. The "Dabangg" actor says he feels honoured to reveal the wax figure of his "friend". "Revealed the wax statue of my friend, the legend Jackie Chan at Jaipur. Nahargarh Fort. Honoured," he tweeted on Tuesday night. The "Happy New Year" star also shared a photograph with the legendary actor's wax statue. Jackie and Sonu were shooting a schedule for the film in Jodhpur for their upcoming Indo-Chinese film upcoming film "Kung Fu Yoga". Directed by Stanley Tong, "Kung Fu Yoga", which also stars actress Amyra Dastur, is a part of the three-film agreement signed between the two countries during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to India. The European Union's border agency has said it cannot fully track the flood of refugees pouring through its borders, as a "staggering number" of Europeans join terror groups, and many try to return to the continent as asylum seekers. Europe reported a record 1.82 million illegal border crossings last year, according to Frontex, but the group conceded that the true number of illegal crossings is probably higher because so many refugees have entered Europe undetected. "The Paris attacks in November 2015 clearly demonstrated that irregular migratory flows could be used by terrorists to enter the EU," the Fox News quoted the report as saying. "With no thorough check or penalties in place for those making such false declarations, there is a risk that some persons representing a security threat to the EU may be taking advantage of this situation." Two extremists involved in the Paris attacks entered through the Greek island of Leros and registered with Greek authorities using fraudulent Syrian documents, The Telegraph reported. The route through the Greek islands accounted for the largest number of detections - more than 885,000. "There is no EU system capable of tracing people's movements following an illegal border-crossing. Therefore it is not possible to establish the precise number of persons who have illegally crossed two sections of the external borders of the EU," the report stated. Austria's Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Tuesday the EU must link efforts to control migration and improve security by establishing functioning outer borders and improving information exchange channels among its member nations over terror threats, Fox News reported. "A Europe without internal borders can exist only when a European outer border" functions to control those entering the EU, Mikl-Leitner said. Citing figures of 5,000 radicals in Europe, she said the EU needed "systematic border controls ... where EU citizens first and foremost are the ones controlled." De Maiziere also focused on the need for all EU nations to work together to reduce the threat of new terror attacks. The European Union began sending back refugees Monday under an agreement with Turkey. Reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's warning that the world body is at risk of becoming "irrelevant" because of its failure to deal with terrorism, a spokesperson for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon mounted a defence asserting that the world body was taking a "responsible attitude" to deal with it. Ban's Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said Tuesday, "The UN encourages international solidarity against in all its aspects, whether it is terrorist bombings or terrorist financing." Replying at the daily briefing to a reporter's question about Modi's criticsm last week in Brussels about UN ineffectual response to the problem, he said, "We certainly are trying to take a responsible attitude in terms of dealing with and the spectre of worldwide." In a speech to the Indian diaspora in Brussels last Wednesday, Modi ridiculed the UN's inablity to even define terrorism and said, "I don't know when this will happen but the way situations are changing, it won't be too late when this organisation will become irrelevant." Haq referred to the Geneva Conference on Preventing Violent Extremism that the UN is holding on Thursday and Friday in cooperation with the Swiss government and said, "The Secretary-General will be speaking at that - in terms of the specific measures that we've been talking about, in terms of handling violent extremism and its spread throughout the world." He did not address the failure to define terrorism, which was the core of Modi's criticism, or the inability to deal with terrorist masterminds. The UN has not been able to take action against terrorists because of a virtual veto power by China, a permanent member of the Security Council. Just last week, Beijing came to the aid of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohamed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar who masterminded the attack on the Pathankot air force base and prevented a sanctions committee from taking action against him. This was despite all the other committee members backing sanctions against him. Last June, China prevented action against Pakistan for for setting free Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the Lashkar-e-Taiba mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attack in which 166 people were killed. "The United Nations knows everything about a war and how to stop it. But if you ask about terrorism, even the UN doesn't know. The world body of such a grand stature has failed to perform its responsibility," Modi said in Brussels. The UN is unable to respond to India's repeated requests to define "who a terrorist is and which country is a terrorist nation," he added. Modi was referring to the 20-year deadlock over the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism because of differences over defining terrorism. Some countries want exemption made for groups they consider to be "national liberation movements" instead of terrorist organisations, and terrorists they consider to be "freedom fighters." "Terrorism is terrorism" and there should be no such things as "good terrorism and bad terrorism," Modi said more directly about the issue in San Jose last September. (Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in) Actor Arjun Kapoor, who is currently riding high on the success of his latest release "Ki & Ka", says he will like to be part of a biopic only if he relates to the character he gets to portray. The 30-year-old actor says an actor should do a biopic only if the character connects and not just because everyone is doing it. "You should do a biopic when it connects with you. It should not be done because everyone is doing it," Arjun told IANS. The "Gunday" star says he would only be interested to be part of a biopic if he gets a "genuine script" and if he could relate to the person he will be seen playing on-screen. "If a genuine script comes to me and if I feel I can play that character and it connects with me, then of course I will consider it (biopic)," he added. Arjun is currently prepping for his next "Half Girlfriend", an adaptation of the eponymous novel of the same name written by author Chetan Bhagat, directed by Mohit Suri. He says he is not just "looking for a biopic specifically" "I am looking to (do) all kind of films," he added. The Wisconsin results appear to have thrown a spanner in the White House run of Republican Donald Trump, affecting the future count of votes required to win the party nomination. The billionaire businessman lost to close rival Texas Senator Ted Cruz by a wider than expected margin. On the Democratic Party side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lost to her close rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Clinton, who has surged ahead in delegate counts, however, does not appear unduly worried with the Wisconsin set-back. Both Trump and Clinton did not make an appearance in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, probably anticipating the defeat widely predicted by exit polls. Both have already started focusing on the next big fight -- the April 19 New York primary. Clinton spent Tuesday night at a fundraiser with top donors in New York City. Cruz beat Trump by about 13 percentage points, 48 per cent to 35 per cent, giving a boost to the "Never Trump" movement. For the Republicans, 42 delegates were up for grabs in Wisconsin. With some results still coming in, Cruz looks set to win either 36 or 39, according to reports. Democrat Sanders won by about 13 points, 56 per cent to 43 per cent, earning his sixth victory in the last seven contests. Of the 86 delegates at stake, Sanders has won 45 so far to 31 bagged by Clinton, according to reports. Cruz's double-digit win over Trump raises the prospect of a prolonged Republican nomination fight leading to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Sanders' win in Wisconsin has given momentum to his fight against Clinton, trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Manhattan billionaire Trump, known for making controversial comments, did not face the television cameras after the results came in on Tuesday night, offering only a statement from his campaign -- loaded with vitriol toward Cruz and the party establishment. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet -- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump," his campaign said in the statement. Cruz said the Wisconsin win showed the party was beginning to rally behind him. Addressing cheering supporters in Milwaukee, Cruz, 45, said: "We're winning because we're uniting the Republican Party." Presidential hopefuls need to win just over 50 percent of their party's available delegates to secure the nomination. For Democrats, the total delegates are 2,383, and for Republicans, 1,237. Pledged delegates are based on state primary results. Speaking ahead of the Wisconsin primary, Sanders said he believed he had "an excellent chance" of winning the New York primary next Tuesday, and of picking up a lot more delegates. From then on, he added, he would have a great chance of winning in Oregon and California. The high stakes contests will continue through June, leading to the party conventions in July - when the nominations are to be announced. The number of delegates in each state -- the US has 50 states -- is based on the size of its population. Most delegates are "pledged", which means they are mandated to support a particular candidate at their party's national convention in July. Each party also has a certain number of "super delegates" who can technically support whoever they please. Trump, 69, despite the numerous controversial statements he has made during his campaign -- including for deportation of around 11 million illegal immigrants in the US, construction of a wall on the Mexico-US border, a temporary ban on Muslims coming to the US and proposing that women who have had abortions should be punished -- has managed to attract the maximum votes, and attention, so far. After the New York primary, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania vote on April 26. Many of those states are expected to be favourable territory for Trump. Trump's fate will remain undecided until June 7, when California goes to the polls, and puts its 172 delegates up for grabs. Also at stake are Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey, and South Dakota. In the Democrat camp, disputes between Clinton, 68, and Sanders, 74, have been markedly on the rise since the beginning of the campaigns on February 1. Until now, the disputes were behind closed doors, especially on where and when to host a debate before the New York primary. However, on April 2, the fight went public. In the past, the two opponents have sparred over other major issues, including an extended confrontation over immigration reform where Clinton rebuked Sanders for opposing a comprehensive immigration reform effort during former president George W. Bush's administration. The primaries and caucuses will continue until June 7 for Republicans, and for Democrats until June 14. After that, the Republicans and Democrats will begin their conventions where a president and a vice-president candidate is chosen, on July 18 and July 25 respectively. On September 26, the first presidential debate will take place at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. There will be three debates between the presidential candidates and one for the vice-presidential candidates. The presidential elections of the United States will take place on November 8, 2016. (Karishma Saurabh Kalita can be contacted at karishma.k@ians.in) Better logistics is a prime requirement of a modern economy with a complex supply chain. Logistics covers all that takes place between producers of various components and producer of the final product and between the latter and the final consumer. It is more than just transportation, but road transportation is perhaps the most important component of the logistics sector in India. Thus, improving the efficiency of transportation would go a long way in improving the efficiency of the logistics sector. For a mostly frozen country that still has capital controls almost eight years after the financial crisis, hasn't been doing so badly. Consumer confidence and private-consumption growth are at their highest since 2007. In terms of corruption, is the 13th cleanest in the world - ranked alongside Australia by Transparency International. Yet it is also the country hit first and hardest by the so-called Panama Papers leaks, which showed that Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson once owned half of an offshore company that held bonds issued by Iceland's bust banks. He resigned on April 5. Why is the first domino to fall? It's not a coincidence. Support for Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party is low, and has more than halved since he was elected in 2013, amid promises of greater transparency. Iceland has recovered from its crisis, but trust remains low. And while the country remains relatively free from graft, the trend in terms of perceptions has been going the wrong way, according to the Heritage Foundation. That Gunnlaugsson's downfall involved assets stashed overseas, while Icelanders are still subject to restrictions on moving money abroad, adds an extra frisson. What makes Iceland vulnerable, though, is what makes the Panama leaks so ultimately unhelpful. The state has a strong rule of law, and is a responsive democracy. Its parliament is one of the world's oldest. Voters expect better, and if they don't get it, they can make their views known. Now consider China, where eight former and current leaders' families were also alleged to have held offshore vehicles by the papers. Access to news on the leaks has been restricted. Even were it not, it's hard to see what Chinese citizens would do about it. Corruption runs deep and remains engrained - as even President Xi Jinping admits. More salacious details are sure to emerge. Relatives of the leaders of Britain, Ukraine and Pakistan were also mentioned by the recipients of the Panamanian data. But Iceland's early misfortune is likely to set the tone for the whole saga: however well intentioned, leaks tend to thwack the mostly good, and leave the genuinely corrupt largely untroubled. Trading derivatives entails taking a calculated risk and hoping for the best. So does overseeing the banks that do it. That helps make sense of the Basel Committee's latest consultation on how these weapons of financial mass destruction should be regulated. The global was partly caused by traders and clients using derivatives to take leveraged bets without a safety net. Since then the Group of Twenty nations has mandated that instruments like swaps should be cleared through central clearing houses, where buyer and seller set aside extra funds to deal with any losses that might then occur. In order to do so, they need to use so-called clearing members - predominantly banks - to act as intermediaries between client and clearing house. Herein lies a problem. The banking bit of the was partly down to dodgy models that miscalculated the level of capital banks had to hold. To avoid this, regulators now insist on "leverage ratios" that more bluntly divide equity by a bank's total on and off-balance sheet exposures. Basel's initial take was that clients' clearing margins should be included in this leverage ratio denominator - thus pushing up the capital that lenders have to hold. Reversing this - as is now being consulted on - would help ensure that the client members don't whack up the fees they charge. That would tally with the G20's underlying objective. Such a move would not be just good for the banks. Timothy Massad, the chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is worried about the effect on clearing if there isn't a rethink. But if Basel bends, that is risky too. Thomas Hoenig, who sits a few blocks away from Massad in Washington DC at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has repeatedly warned of watering down derivatives regulation. He has a point: if clients' funds held to back trades prove insufficient, clearing members have to reach into their pockets to help sort the problem out. Softening the rules is sometimes defensible, but it's not without consequences. It is a known fact that one of the main reasons why the Indian IT sector has flourished, apart from the fact that we have English speaking engineers, is the cost arbitrage. Low wages of Indian engineers as compared to others in the developed world resulted in orders flowing Indias way. IT industry to a large extent owes its existence and proliferation to the age old concept of jobs moving from high cost base to low cost base. Now that the issue is convulsing the headlines on almost a daily basis, this is a good time to do an "anti-national" check of Indian business, the constituency that collectively expressed so much hope in Narendra Modi's economic agenda. The little-noticed announcement in the Finance Bill to retrospectively amend a clause in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) does little to enhance the government's reputation for ethical governance. The amendment, to apply from 2010, will mean that donations to political parties by Indian companies with foreign direct investment within mandated sectoral limits will no longer be considered "foreign contributions". The FCRA bans political parties from receiving funds from a foreign entity, which is defined as one where 50 per cent or more equity is owned by a foreign enterprise. Nirupam Haldar in his letter to the editor, "Downfall of the CPI" (April 6), says, "In the early 1950s, P C Mahalanobis, a Cambridge-educated statistician, drafted the first Five-Year Plan in consultation with Stalin's advisers." This is untrue. The First Five-Year Plan (1951-56) was mainly a compilation of several existing investment programmes, including some suggested in the previous decade by a group of Indian industrialists (now known as the Bombay Plan). Its main theoretical underpinning was provided by K N Raj, then with the Planning Commission. He was basically a Keynesian left-leaning liberal but miles away from any Stalinist inclination. Mahalanobis joined the Planning Commission in 1955 and was instrumental in formulating the Second Plan (1956-61). This Plan - and the subsequent ones as well - showed the great influence of the Leontief Input-Output Model. Leontief, though of Russian origin, was imprisoned during the Stalin regime. He produced his seminal work at Harvard University. The Soviet planning model was in vogue in the 1950s, but without its Stalinist overtones. Several foreign scholars were associated with early planning exercises in India, notably Nicholas Kaldor, Ragnar Nurske, P N Rosenstein-Rodan, Gunnar Myrdal and even Milton Friedman. None of them could be called remotely Stalinist. In the process of demonising the Communist movement, we must not tar our own planning process, despite its many weaknesses and failures, with the same brush. Shreekant Sambrani, Baroda Letters 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 With reference to the editorial, "Prompt response" (April 6), I agree that the government has swiftly initiated corrective steps following the leak of some documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that reveal how the rich and influential park their money in offshore havens. That said, all the offshore accounts in the British Virgin Islands may not be illegal, hence a thorough multi-agency investigation would be the right step to arrive at the correct conclusion. Even though public outcry forced Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson (pictured) to resign in the wake of his name figuring on the list of people with offshore accounts, at least he did not remain in his post or resort to a long-drawn-out legal battle. I wish some of the Indian bigwigs on the same list would act in a similar way. But of course, I don't expect such a reaction from them. First, they will deny any wrongdoing; then they will hire lawyers to prove their contention; then the appeals and cases will continue for decades. Eventually, everyone will forget the episode and it will be "business as usual". However, the multi-agency probe, if carried out speedily and honestly, should be able to uncover the truth and separate the legitimate accounts from the ones belonging to tax evaders. As the editorial says that while "strict enforcement of tax laws to prevent misuse of the existing system" is important, the government must also act quickly to set up "a simple taxation regime enforced by a revenue department that has a non-adversarial approach to taxpayers". Herein lies the crux of the issue. I hope that the steps already taken to "simplify and rationalise tax administration" will be carried forward with the same speed as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's announcement about probing into the Panama Papers scandal. Krishan Kalra, Gurgaon Letters 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 Damascus and Aleppo, Syria's two largest cities, both claim to be the oldest continuously inhabited cities in recorded history. Few countries, and surely none as small as Syria, have that sort of civilisational continuity to disagree about. Perhaps that provides an additional tragic resonance to the descent of Syria into a brutal and dangerous civil war; but none, perhaps, would have been needed, given that one of the participants in that war, ISIS, has justifiably become the focus of the world's fear. On the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) 36th foundation day on Wednesday, party chief Amit Shah addressed a function organised by its Delhi unit. But hundreds of BJP workers had arrived in Delhi from around the country to also congratulate out-of-favour party leader Sanjay Joshi. In fact, there appeared to be more party workers queued up outside Joshi's North Avenue flat to wish him on his 54th birthday than at any of the other events to mark the party's foundation day. Joshi, a one-time rival of Narendra Modi in Gujarat, continues to be popular among the BJP rank and file. Some of those who had come from outside Delhi to wish Joshi took the opportunity to visit the party's national headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road. However, they returned disappointed as there were no signs of celebration at the party headquarters. Neither was any senior leader present there. Several BJP members were heard saying that Joshi's was the only door among those of party leaders always open for workers. Today, if youre planning a holiday, you can check out the details of restaurants and hotels online. You can get ratings based on the type of rooms, services, prices and user reviews. But, what do you do if you have to get admitted to a hospital? You first ask your family doctor, then your friends and family, and then check if your provider has a tie-up with that hospital for easier claim settlement. Wouldnt a rating system for hospitals help you in your search for a hospital suitable for your requirements? ICICI Lombard General recently launched a platform called Health Advisor, which offers a rating mechanism for around 1,000 hospitals across 10 cities. It provides information on hospitals location, services offered, cost of procedures and quality of care. To determine treatment quality, ICICI Lombard worked jointly with Tata Institute of Social Sciences. A list of 20 parameters was finalised for the rating scale, based on inputs given by the hospitals. These include the number of doctors/nurses per bed, discharge process, length of stay, percentage of patients discharged against medical advice, and patients who acquired a surgical site infection. The portal gives information about 30 common procedures based on claim experience. These include total knee replacement, cataract, hip replacement, appendectomy, tonsillectomy, etc. For the sake of comparison, the rates for a twin-sharing room have been used, because majority of the claims were in this category. The rates are disclosed by the hospitals, but these could vary from patient-to-patient. For instance, if you are a corporate client, you might get a different rate under your employer-provided scheme. Or, if you opt for a different kind of room, the rates will be different, says Sanjay Dutta, head of underwriting and claims at ICICI Lombard General Insurance. Not all hospitals that are listed on the platform have mentioned rates because disclosure is voluntary. It was difficult to get rates from hospitals in Mumbai and Kolkata because most doctors are consultants, who work with different hospitals charging different rates. Against this, Delhi and South India have are more hospital chains, which tend to have fixed rates. These hospitals decide doctors rates and hence were more willing to disclose rates, says Bhargav Dasgupta, managing director and CEO at ICICI Lombard. Rates might differ even at the same hospital depending on whether its a senior doctor who is performing the procedure / surgery or a junior doctor. The portal also has a mechanism to include patients feedback, which is posted only after verifying the patients discharge dates, etc with the hospital. The feedback is also sent to the hospital. Even if a hospital gets a poor rating on the portal based on the parameters or customer feedback, we do not blacklist it. We blacklist a hospital only if there is conclusive evidence of fraud, says Dasgupta. ALSO READ: Health insurance TPA to begin operations from next fiscal While the portal is a good beginning for comparing costs and services offered by hospitals, rating of hospitals is tricky, says Vivek Desai, managing director of HOSMAC, a hospital consultancy firm. Rating a hospital depends on factors like mortality rates, how many years of experience the doctors have, etc. Such information is difficult to get. Instead, a grading of hospitals can be done, based on the infrastructure and facilities. For instance, a fully air-conditioned hospital or one with round-the-clock critical care can be graded higher. It can be similar to grading of hotels such as five star, four star, etc. Just like there are standards for grading of hotels, for hospitals, too, there should be conditions. For instance, a critical care unit cannot be managed by an ayurvedic or homoeopathy doctor. Until then, patients will continue to choose hospitals based on word-of-mouth, their family doctors advice of one that is recognised by their insurance company, says Desai. Hitting out at the Aam Aadmi Party for its stand the issue in the Supreme Court, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the party has back stabbed the people of Punjab especially farmers. "The AAP has miserably failed and stands fully exposed in its very first test of loyalty to the state, especially to our toiling farmers. This is the height of political opportunism and broad daylight falsehood," Badal said. "I am sad this has come at the expense of the beleaguered farming peasantry of my state," the Chief Minister said, adding, "I do not know how Kejriwal will now face the people of Punjab after this fraud." The Kejriwal government yesterday supported the stand of Haryana on SYL issue by filling an affidavit in the apex court, said Harcharan Bains, Advisor, National Affairs and Media to Punjab Chief minister. "Delhi's stand on SYL issue is clearly opposite to what Kejriwal had said in Punjab," he said. During the hearing, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi supported the stand of Haryana on Presidential Reference over canal. Badal said, "The saga of outsiders coming to Punjab to offer fake sympathies and then going back to betray the state within hours and leave its people bleeding continues. Does it behove a Chief Minister to indulge in such an act of deceit against the poor, innocent and trusting farmers?" People have been talking about Kejriwal's of "falsehood" and "opportunism". But he should have spared the brave and patriotic farmers who are already facing such hardships, Badal said. "How shocking that Kejriwal and his party had been befooling the farmers of Punjab by visiting and offering crocodile tears to the tragedy-stricken families here only to take a brazenly treacherous stand against the same farmers in the Supreme Court," he added. "In Punjab, Kejriwal said the state alone had an exclusive right over the Ravi-Beas waters and that he and his party were opposed to the construction of the SYL. But no sooner did he leave the sate than he went back on his word and declared that Ravi Beas waters belonged to Haryana, Himachal, J&K and Delhi and that Punjab did not have any exclusive right over these waters," Badal said. The Chief Minister said he had not reacted to Kejriwal's earlier flip-flop because he thought that the Delhi Chief Minister might have been misquoted by the media. "But what happened in the Supreme Court yesterday shocked me and everyone else, especially the farmers." "I do not know how will the AAP leadership in Punjab face the Punjabis now, having betrayed the state and its farmers on the most critical issue on the very first opportunity they got to stand by them," Badal added. Ten Indian-Americans are among 21 people arrested as part of a sting operation in which a fake university was created by US authorities to expose a visa scam that allowed more than 1,000 foreigners to maintain student and work visas. In a nationwide sweep federal authorities arrested 21 people in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Virginia. "These defendants arranged to obtain visas by having individuals enroll in a fake university. Unfortunately for them, that fake university was run by undercover agents of the Department of Homeland Security," Paul J Fishman, US Attorney for New Jersey, told reporters. The arrested people were brokers, recruiters and employers who unlawfully and fraudulently obtained or attempted to obtain student visas and foreign worker visas for approximately 1,000 foreign nationals from 26 countries. It is learnt that a large number of students who received necessary visa and permits to work in the US as a result of the sting operation for which they reportedly paid huge sums of money are from India. Officials, however, did not give the number of Indian students who were trapped by this year-long sting operation done by immigration and law enforcement authorities. While the US government did not reveal the nationality of the arrested people, names released by authorities indicate that 10 of them are either Indians or of Indian-origin. Those name include: Tajesh Kodali, Jyoti Patel, Shahjadi M Parvin, Narendra Singh Plaha, Sanjeev Sukhija, Harpreet Sachdeva, Avinash Shankar, Karthik Nimmala, Govardhan Dyavarashetty and Syed Qasim Abbas. These people arrested for their involvement in an alleged scheme to enroll foreign nationals as students in the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ), a purported for-profit college located in Cranford, New Jersey. Unbeknownst to the defendants and the foreign nationals they conspired with, the UNNJ was created in September 2013 by special agents of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). "Pay-to-Stay schemes not only damage our perception of legitimate student and foreign worker visa programmes, they also pose a very real threat to security," Fishman said. The HIS sting investigation was carried out to unearth the unauthorised networks and educational institutions that are "nothing more than sham visa mills", he said, adding that these educational institutions have no curriculum, no classes, no instructors and no real students. "These purported schools and their corrupt administrators simply give out I-20 forms in exchange for payment," he said. "This illegal practice is known as 'pay to stay' because foreign nationals pay money to brokers and recruiters, like the defendants, to be enrolled in a school for the sole purpose of obtaining immigration status as a student-but with no intention of or interest in going to class or making any progress toward an academic degree," Fishman said. To catch these recruiters, HIS developed an undercover investigative strategy that involved the creation of a school called the UNNJ. Although UNNJ was physically located in New Jersey, in a real building in Cranford, the university was not a real school. Its only employees were undercover HIS agents posing as corrupt administrators. The school had no instructors or educators; it had no curriculum; and no actual classes or educational activities ever occurred there. Once word got out, brokers descended on the school, clamouring to enroll their foreign student clients. But as the complaints also allege, the defendants did so while fully aware that those clients wouldn't be attending any classes at the university, wouldn't be furthering their educational goals, and wouldn't be getting a degree. Instead, UNNJ was just another stop on the "pay to stay" tour. The undercover agents specifically told each defendant - in conversations that were secretly recorded - that the university was a sham devised to get immigration status for foreign nationals, Fishman said. In exchange for their illegal services, the defendants made money in several different ways. Some defendants had their foreign clients make payments to the university - disguised as tuition - and then the defendants received kickbacks or "commissions" from the university. Other defendants charged their clients thousands of dollars and then the defendants made sham tuition payments directly to the university. In one case, a defendant gave an undercover agent a $7,000 watch as "tuition fees" for seven purported student, Fishman said. He told reporters that to further complete the illusion, the complaints allege that virtually every defendant knowingly purchased fake documents from the undercover university, including fraudulent transcripts with made up classes and grades, diplomas, attendance sheets, student ID cards, sham receipts and even phony parking passes. In the majority of instances, the undercover agents e-mailed blank templates to the defendants, who then - with their clients - filled in the phony information (such as classes and grades for transcripts) and e-mailed these false documents back to the agents. Egyptian forces have killed two terrorists in a gunfight in troubled central Sinai, a top military official has said. Military spokesman Brigadier Mohamed Samir said the forces also seized four hand-made bombs, two mortars and 45 electric detonators. Forces managed to kill two of the terrorists, he said in a statement. Egypt's Sinai has witnessed several violent attacks by militants since the January, 2011 revolution that toppled the longtime president Hosni Mubarak. The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then. Delhi Police arrested three persons and recovered a truck full of marijuana weighing more than a tonne and estimated to be worth around Rs 1 crore in international market and claimed to have busted an inter-state marijuana racket. The accused used to procure marijuana from Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and sell them across the country. In late March, members of the racket arrived in Delhi to sell marijuana weighing 1060 Kg, under the garb of coconut transportation, confident that the entire consignment of the contraband would be disposed off in 15-30 minutes, a senior police official said. Based on a tip-off, the police laid a trap at Naraina Industrial area and arrested two persons identified as Rohit and Sunny. However, a key member of the racket, identified as Dharambir, fled the spot. The value of the seized marijuana, smuggled here especially for Holi, was estimated to be worth around Rs 1 crore in the international market, the senior official said. On being interrogated, the duo said their Andhra Pradesh-based source Rohit was taken there on transit remand. The police conducted raids there and nabbed Naga Venkata Kumar, a wanted man in Vijaywada. Efforts are on to arrest the other members of the racket, the official added. As many as 40 tribal activists, including 30 women, were today arrested after they stopped trucks carrying iron ore at Cauvrem village in Sanguem taluka, 70 kms away from here. The tribals have been demanding that they should be allowed to run the mining lease on cooperative basis rather than giving it in the hands of "capitalists". The village, which has been witnessing sporadic protests against the transport of iron ore from the mining lease adjacent to it, witnessed fresh protests this morning as the group of tribals blocked the roads. "Total 40 people, including 30 women, were arrested as they continued blocking the road," police spokesman said. All the protesters were released in the evening. Cauvrem, a village nestled along the Western Ghats, have been witnessing agitation since 2010. The protesters, who were released in the evening, alleged that they were beaten up by police. "We were beaten up by police before being forced into the van. We were protesting peacefully, but police resorted to violence against us," Ramchandra Velip, a village elderly said. In the recent past, police had arrested eight protesters for disrupting the transport. Ravindra Velip, one of the protesters, who was arrested and sent to judicial custody, was attacked inside the lock-up. The state government has already initiated an inquiry into the incident headed by senior officer Swapnil Naik. Meanwhile, a delegation led by Goa state convener, Rajeshree Nagarsekar, sought to know why the villagers were arrested despite "peaceful" protests. The delegation further submitted a memorandum to Quepem police demanding that the arrested villagers be taken for medical examination as a few of the protesters were injured, including an elderly lady, who had a severe injury on her leg. Anti-Corruption Bureau today seized unaccounted cash worth nearly Rs 6 lakh from two engineers of CPWD in a surprise inspection as they arrived here from Jodhpur. Following a tip-off, an ACB team tailed Executive Engineer R B Singh from Jodhpur to Ajmer where he met the second accused R S Meena, an Assistant Engineer, and travelled with him in a different vehicle to Jaipur. The team stopped the duo in Bhankrota area near here and checked the car in which a briefcase containing Rs 5.70 lakh was found. Rs 23,000 was also recovered from Singh's personal possesion. "The officials are being questioned by the ACB team to ascertain the source of the money," an ACB spokesperson said. The Green Tribunal today asked Delhi government and other authorities to create awareness about caused by vehicular emissions and burning of municipal solid waste and issue advertisements on the lines of the odd-even scheme. The green panel said the city government should keep a tab on ambient air quality (AAQ) standards in the capital and directed it to maintain AAQ within permissible limits. "Why don't you maintain ambient air quality standards in the city? We appreciate the odd-even formula introduced by the government. But what is your stand on vehicular pollution and burning of municipal solid waste? Why don't you advertise it in the same way as odd-even scheme," a bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar observed. It also suggested introduction of destination buses in order to decongest the Delhi roads. "Why don't you introduce destination buses? Say for example a bus which originates from Dwarka and terminates directly at Connaught Place. This will help reduce emissions," the bench said. The NGT also asked advocate Tarunvir Singh Khehar, appearing for Delhi government, to implement it order banning vehicles more than 15 years old from plying in Delhi. With the odd-even scheme set to return in the capital from April 15, the tribunal has set up a committee of officials and asked it to collect samples of ambient air quality from different locations in the city. During the proceedings today, advocate Balendu Shekhar, appearing for East Delhi Municipal Corporation, sought directions to the Transport Department of Delhi government to allow registration of new municipal vehicles beyond 2000 cc. Advocate Shekhar told the bench that EDMC was facing "massive" difficulty in handling transportation of municipal waste due to acute shortage of municipal waste handling vehicles and that it needed 45 new vehicles for the purpose. When NGT sought Delhi government's response, advocate Khehar told the bench that Supreme Court recently passed an order that no trucks will be registered in the city. Noting the submissions, the bench posted the matter for next hearing on April 8 and asked the counsel appearing for various parties to seek clear instructions on the issue. As many as 110 passengers onboard an Air India aircraft were forced to sit in the plane for two and half hours today after its commander insisted for a "particular woman" co-pilot to operate the flight. The incident happened at Air India's flight to Male from Chennai via Thirunanthapuram, sources said. In between, the commander also complained of high blood pressure and was treated for the same, they said. Interestingly, the Commander quit Air India last week and is serving a six-month notice period, the sources said. According to the sources, the commander insisted roster section yesterday to schedule the woman flight officer along with him on flight AI 263/264 for today. "Roster section, however, informed him that his demand can't be met as she was already scheduled for a Delhi flight," a source said. Later the commander called up roster section and threatened to report sick, if the particular woman pilot was not assigned the duty with him. "When the roster section did not oblige, he reported sick yesterday. But this morning when he turned up to operate the flight he again insisted for the same co-pilot, forcing the airline to arrange his favourite co-pilot," one of the sources alleged. But in the process, the flight was delayed as it departed at 9.13 am against its schedule time of 7 am, the sources said. Airline spokesperson was not available for comments. Flag carrier Air India today said it has scaled up frequencies on its two international networks and added services on a few existing domestic routes as part of the summer schedule. As part of the new schedule that came into effect from March 27 and will run up to late October, Air India has increased its flight services on the Delhi-Milan route to four-times-a-week as compared to three times earlier, while it has added one more flight to the Russian capital from New Delhi, which will now see three services per week, the airline said in a statement. Passengers travelling on the Mumbai-Delhi-Hong Kong-Seoul/ Osaka route and back will now have the comfort of the Dreamliner B787 aircraft, it said, adding, the same aircraft will operate on the Mumbai-Delhi and Delhi-Mumbai leg of two AI flights. As part of the summer schedule, Air India will also offer a daily return flight from Bengaluru to Trivandrum with an Airbus A321 plane, the airline said. On its international routes, Air India has also started flight services from Delhi to Vienna operating thrice a week, starting today. The airline said it is also increasing its frequency on the domestic sectors by adding a daily return flight on the Mumbai-Bhopal sector, which will offer day-return facility to its passengers with a flight from Mumbai. The frequency on the Delhi-Pune sector is also being enhanced with number of flights added to and from Pune, it said. According to Air India, passengers looking for more options to Punjab will also be able to enjoy the fourth frequency with return flights on Delhi-Amritsar route. Seeking to continue to expand its 'Connect India' programme, Air India will now offer new routes to Vijaywada from Bengaluru with five return flights a week, which are operated by the airline's regional arm Allaince Air. Kolkata will also be connected to Agartala by an ATR 42 with five return flights per week while tourists to Himachal Pradesh have now a daily frequency from Delhi to Kullu, the airlien said. Alliance Air also plans to commence operations to Hubli and Nasik from Mumbai shortly, Air India said. Alexandre de Juniac is to resign as chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM to take charge of aviation industry group IATA in a surprise move announced. Juniac helped Europe's second biggest airline group return to profit last year for the first time since 2008, but his four-year spell at the helm was also marked by acrimonious relations with pilots. The Franco-Dutch company said it was hoping to appoint Juniac's replacement from August 1 at the latest. "Alexandre de Juniac will be the first person coming from a French airline to lead IATA," Air France-KLM said in a statement yesterday, paying tribute to his role in "achieving the group's economic and financial recovery, enhancing its range of services and winning back customers." Juniac took charge at Air France in 2011, becoming chairman of Air France-KLM a year later. He leaves the company on the track to recovery but still in a fragile position, facing tough competition from Gulf-based competitors for long-haul business and from low-cost rivals for short-haul market share. The return to profits, announced in February, came after a major restructuring to boost productivity and a 2014 strike by Air France pilots that was one of the longest in the company's history. The results marked a boost in fortunes for Air France after images of two of its executives, their shirts ripped by staff in an angry protest over redundancies, made world headlines last October. Management in January unveiled a new 2017-2020 growth plan that will include 1,600 voluntary departures by the end of next year, according to union sources. Non-banking financial company Altico Capital India today said it has invested Rs 575 crore in three real estate developers in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. Altico entered into a multi-project financing arrangement with Marvel Developers, Pune. Additionally, it concluded its second transaction with Midcity group, a developer having brownfield projects focused on society redevelopments in prominent locations in Mumbai. The third was in Bengaluru financing Unishire against a portfolio of five projects, a company release said. The company expects similar amount of disbursements of around Rs 600 crore in the next three months. "Altico continues to focus on its core strategy and looks to build a stable business deploying Rs 2,500 crore in Tier 1 cities each year. We expect to close out similar amounts of disbursements of around Rs 600 crore in this upcoming quarter," Altico Capital CEO Sanjay Grewal said. Going forward, Altico plans to gradually expand within its areas of expertise. "This year we expanded our footprint from Mumbai, NCR and Chennai to Bengaluru and Pune. Next year we may add another city to our target markets. Outside of the core strategy, we will look to deploy incremental capital in the commercial real estate and infrastructure sectors should the right opportunities present themselves," Grewal said. Meanwhile, the Altico Capital Board has approved raising of funds up to Rs 2,000 crore through a mix of instruments and funding sources including bank lines, commercial paper and NCDs in order to support the asset growth plans. Altico Capital India is a non-banking financial company (NBFC) backed by Clearwater Capital Partners, Varde Partners and Abu Dhabi Investment Council. It has completed 11 transactions in the past nine months. Altico Capital recently roped in banking veteran Naina Lal Kidwai as an independent non-executive director on its board. A far-right Israeli lawmaker sparked anger today after he said he would not want his wife to give birth in a hospital next to Arab mothers -- comments widely condemned as racist. Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the nationalist right-wing Jewish Home party, made the comments on Twitter yesterday. "My wife is totally not racist but after giving birth she wants to rest and doesn't want the massive celebrations that are customary for the families of the Arab women who give birth," he said. Referring to the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, he also tweeted that "it's natural that my wife would not like to lie next to someone who just gave birth to a baby who might want to murder her baby in another 20 years." He later deleted both tweets. Smotrich, who lives in a settlement in the occupied West Bank, has long been known for his harsh rhetoric. His comments were in response to reports that some Israeli hospitals were improperly segregating Jewish and Arab mothers in maternity wards. Palestinian and Arab Israeli mothers give birth in Israeli hospitals. His party leader, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, condemned Smotrich's comments, while others went as far as comparing them to Nazism. "Knesset (parliament) members are making disgraceful racist statements which were common in Germany in the 1930s," Yair Lapid, head of the centrist Yesh Atid party, said in a statement. "It's dangerous. Israel has enough external enemies and we cannot afford a political leadership which fans the flames instead of acting responsibility to calm the situation," said Lapid, whose party is part of the opposition. Smotrich's Jewish Home party forms part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition, which holds only a one-seat majority in parliament. The Hadassah hospitals in Jerusalem, which treat Palestinians from east Jerusalem and were mentioned in the report as practising maternity ward segregation, said it took "pride in being medical centres that are symbols of coexistence in every ward and unit." A statement said they received all patients "with a hug and empathy" but stressed their facilities were attentive to the needs of women who gave birth. Miffed over a dispute between parties for purchase of power from the Bawana waste-to-energy plant here, the National Green Tribunal has directed Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) to fix the rates at which electricity is to be purchased by discoms. The tribunal expressed concern over the fact that there was only one functional waste-to-energy plant at Sukhdev Vihar while three others, which are almost ready to be operationalised, have not started due to inter-departmental clearance on fixation of tariff. A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar directed North Delhi Municipal Corporation and the project proponent of Bawana plant to file petition before DERC within a week and asked the Commission to dispose it within 7 days. "North Municipal Corporation submits that discoms have to purchase electricity at the rate of Rs 7.90, fixed by Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, and therefore that should be the basis for payment. However, according to project proponent, the rates have to be different as it is only guiding factor. "According to project proponent, he had agreed to supply the electricity on sharing basis between corporation as well as the power generating plant. In the circumstance, we direct DERC to determine the rate at which power is to be purchased by the electricity company, Delhi and make an observation in regard to the sharing of the revenue," the green panel said. The tribunal said that municipal solid waste (MSW) is a matter of serious concern as the national capital generates nearly 8,000 metric tonnes of MSW every day. "It would not be appropriate for the Tribunal to get into the rate, as for that purpose Regulatory Authority exists...If these plants do not become operational and are not kept under the strict vigilance there are bound be environmental hazard as there is hardly any land available for MSW dumping and sites are already over-filled and more often dust and fire generating dangerous gases which are bound to affect human life," the bench said. The matter is fixed for next hearing on May 4. NGT had earlier pulled up the Delhi government and North Delhi Municipal Corporation for inordinate delay in operationalising Bawana waste-to-energy plant. The project proponent of Bawana plant had told the bench that it was ready to operationalise the plant but it has not got the no objection certificate for water and authorisation letter from NDMC. West Bengal Minister for Tourism and theatre actor-director Bratya Basu, fighting assembly polls from Dum Dum seat in north Kolkata, has declared himself to be a 'crorepati'. Bratyabrata, better known as Bratya, owns movable assets worth over Rs 32 lakh and a flat worth over Rs 80 lakh, according to his affidavit filed before the Election Commission. Besides a good bank balance and other investments, he owns a jeep estimated to be worth Rs 89,000 and jewellery worth over Rs 2.8 lakh. He owns an 1800 square feet flat in Dum Dum area valued Rs 80 lakh. Basu's income during 2014-15 was Rs 2.45 lakh. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today informed the state Legislative Council that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will be asked to implement the biometric attendance system for conservancy staff, who are working on a contractual basis. During the Question Hour, Janardhan Chandurkar (Congress) asked the government if it was planning to implement mechanical sweeping and biometric system to keep a check on conservancy workers. "If the government is indeed planning to implement mechanical sweeping in place of conservancy workers, what about the jobs of people already doing the work. The government needs to come out with an alternate scheme to safeguard their jobs," he said. Responding to the query, Fadnavis said there is no proposal to implement mechanical sweeping instead of manual labour. "As far as biometric attendance system is concerned, we have already introduced it in one zone and will introduce it in other areas as well," he said. On the issue of conservancy workers losing their jobs, Fadnavis said, "There will be no layoffs. But thinking about the future and increasing population, we have to think of ways in which we can use new technology to enhance the quality of manual work." He added that it has been noticed that since conservancy workers get a good salary, they tend to give 25 per cent of it to a dummy worker and 10 per cent to a senior officer to let the dummy work in place of the actual person. Ashok Jagtap (Congress) then said that this nexus of fake workers has to be stopped and asked if the government will implement the biometric system for contractual employees as well. In response, Fadnavis said, "The BMC will be directed to use the biometric attendance system for contractual workers as well." While replying to a supplementary query of Hemant Takle (NCP), Fadnavis said these conservancy workers will be included in the state government's Skill Development Programme so that their efficiency can be increased. BJP today questioned the Nitish Kumar government's decision allowing sale of liquor in army canteens in Bihar, saying it would make difficult for the government to enforce complete prohibition. "If complete prohibition has been enforced in the people's interest in the state, what is the basis of allowing sale of liquor in army canteens," senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said. Modi, who was Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's deputy during NDA regime, asked the government how it would ensure that the liquor sold in army canteens will not come to open market. "Will not the high and mighty be able to get liquor from Army canteen?... How the government would make prohibition a complete success in such a situation," he said. Four days after banning sale and consumption of country- made and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1, the state government followed it up with prohibiting India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) with immediate effect yesterday. The Chief Minister yesterday said army cantonment areas would be out of the liquor ban as they regulate sale and consumption of alochol in their own way. Modi yesterday welcomed the decision and said the state government has finally yielded to Opposition pressure for complete prohibition. Speaking for bar and restaurants owners and industries that make spirit from maize or rice or set up bottling plants for country-made liquor, Modi asked the government to compensate them adequately as these firms had come forward to built their units on government's assurance. The state government in April last year had banned the sale of country-made liquor in pouch and allowed the companies to set up bottling plants in the state, Modi said, adding that the government had not only given these firms licenses but also gave them subsidy. The government should immediately return license fees collected for 2016-17 from businessmen for running bars and restaurants in the state, the senior BJP leader said. The government should also give relief vis-a-vis export duty to those who set up beer factories, he said. With complete prohibition in vogue, these firms would require to export their products such as beer and spirit and hence the government should rationalise export duty, Modi added. The Government today cleared conversion of Bank of Baroda's Rs 29.91 crore loan to Andrew Yule & Co into equity shares, paving the way for disinvestment of the Kolkata-based PSU in the next three months. The conversion of loan to equity would help bring down the cost of servicing of debt, resulting in improved profitability and liquidity of Andrew Yule in coming years, an official statement said. "The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has given its approval for conversion of Working Capital Term Loan amounting to Rs 29.91 crore from Bank of Baroda (BoB) into equity by issuing requisite number of equity shares of Andrew Yule & Co (AYCL)," it said. This is expected to increase growth and profitability of AYCL and in turn is likely to translate into better share price of AYCL at the time of further disinvestment of government shares of AYCL. Government holds 87.98 per cent in the company. "This will be implemented within a period of three months," said the statement issued after the meeting of CCEA, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Shares of AYCL closed at Rs 24.50, up 12.90 per cent over previous close on the BSE. The conversion of debt to equity will help provide an opportunity to finance working capital needs of existing and new businesses. "This along with substantial amount of Securities Premium will form part of net worth of Company and will enhance the strength of its balance sheet," it added. AYCL, which was incorporated as a PSU in 1979, is presently engaged in manufacturing industrial ventilation equipment, switchgears and circuit breakers, besides production of bulk tea. The paid up capital of the company is Rs 66.73 crore. AYCL was referred to Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in September, 2004 and subsequently, Cabinet approved a restructuring scheme in 2007. Following this, AYCL has been earning from 2007-08 onwards and it came out of purview of BIFR in July 2015. As a part of implementation of financial restructuring scheme, Bank of Baroda extended a loan of Rs 52.49 crore to AYCL in 2009, out of which Rs 29.91 crore was Working Capital Term Loan. Ravi Patel, who has directed and acted in comedy documentary "Meet the Patels" along with his sibling Geeta, said he would love to star in a Bollywood film and experience the whole song-dance routine. "Bollywood really excites me. It is the biggest form of cinema in the world and certainly it would be great to be in something that my parents would love and watch. As an actor it would be fun to do something so different like dancing and singing. I would like to do it sometime," Ravi told PTI here. "Meet the Patels" is being screened in different places in Egypt like Zawya Art house in Cairo and its branch in Alexandria besides the US Embassy in Cairo. Ravi and Geeta's visit came as part of the American Film Showcase (AFS), which partners with US Department of State's Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs and USC School of Cinematic Arts and aims at building a people to people engagement through film in 40 countries around the world. The AFS inspires individuals and communities to tell their own stories. "It's been an incredible journey so far. We are honoured to be selected as part of this programme. It's been fulfilling to be able to share our film with such a new, wider audience here in Egypt and it also great to learn about Egyptian culture and films," Ravi said. Ravi and Geeta have been here for three days during which they visited many Egyptian filmmakers and learned about the film movement here. Talking about the film, Geeta said, "Our film is a comedy and it's about family. I think it has been great to see how the Egyptian culture is so similar to India. It seems that the culture is full of humour and families are very close. "It has been fun to be able to share that similar culture through the film," Geeta said, whose film is available for Egyptian audiences via Netflix. "Meet the Patels" shows first generation Indian-American Ravi Patel, almost 30, in his search for love as he struggles to find the balance between his Indian heritage and American upbringing. The comedy film also reveals how love is a family affair through a film that started as a family vacation video. "I think these relationships will allow us to tell better stories and hopefully we can continue this relationship forward. It's been great to meet Egyptian people who are very warm and nice. Here we got a sense of family which reminded me of our Indian culture," Ravi said. The film, which is not a traditional documentary and more like a Hollywood film, discusses how some people refuse to cope with the changes in the world. "When you are from a culture, you have to marry from the same culture. But what happens when you are interested in someone from a different background, a different religion. I think that is something which people face," Geeta said. "It is time for such conversions of cultures and we wanted to make a film that creates a dialogue about that," she explained. Ravi is known for his work on "Scrubs", "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia", "Transformers", "Powder Blue" and "The New Normal". Being an actor in the US with a recognisable Indian-looking face, Ravi said he didn't see that as problem. "I started acting eleven years ago and being an Indian helped me at the beginning because I was one of the few Indians that was playing India specific roles... I was fortunate to book those roles and I was able to actually build a career. "Now, people around the town know me for my work and trust me as an actor and not just an Indian actor and as a result now I play a diverse of roles," he said. "Meet the Patels" will be released in India on Netflix probably in four or five months, according to director Geeta, who has written and directed her upcoming feature "Mouse". The March 22 Islamic State attacks in Brussels represented a security "failure", Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel admitted today, but he rejected the notion his country was a "failed state". Belgian authorities have faced strong criticism at home and abroad for not doing more to prevent the carnage, as links emerged between the Brussels attackers and the jihadists behind the Paris terror assaults in November. "When there is an attack like that of course that's a failure and nobody can deny this," Michel told reporters in Brussels. But "I cannot accept the idea that we're a failed state." A total of 32 people died in the suicide blasts at Brussels airport and a metro station. The carnage came four days after the sole surviving suspect in the Paris attacks, Salah Abdeslam, was arrested in Brussels, just around the corner from his family home, after four months on the run as Europe's most wanted man. "It took 10 years to stop Bin Laden," Michel countered, referring to former Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden. Abdeslam is currently awaiting extradition from Belgium to France and has denied any prior knowledge of the Brussels bombings. Belgium, a notoriously complex country divided along linguistic and political lines, has been accused of failing to keep better track of suspected extremists, as the Paris attacks were largely planned in Brussels. "We're a small country at the heart of Europe... A hub from where one can easily organise attacks in other European countries," Michel said, calling for better cross-border intelligence cooperation. "That's where we have a lot of work to do. One of the jihadists who blew themselves up in Islamic State attacks in Brussels on March 22 briefly worked as a cleaner at the European Parliament several years ago, the EU body said today. "He held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament for one month in 2009 and one month in 2010. Those were the only instances he worked at the Parliament," it said in a statement. It did not name the individual, but a source close to the inquiry told AFP it was Najim Laachraoui. Laachraoui and fellow suicide bomber Ibrahim El Bakraoui blew themselves up at Brussels airport in coordinated attacks two weeks ago that also struck a Brussels metro station and killed a total of 32 people. Laachraoui is also suspected of being the bomb-maker for the Paris terror assaults last November after his DNA was found on some the explosives used in the attacks, which killed 130. The European Parliament said the suspect did not have a criminal record when he worked for the cleaning firm it had contracted at the time. "As required by the contract, the cleaning firm submitted proof of the absence of a criminal record to the European Parliament," the statement said. Laachraoui, 24, is understood to have travelled to Syria in 2013. He resurfaced last September, two months before the Paris attacks, when he was stopped by police on the Austria-Hungary border. He was using the false identity of Soufiane Kayal and was travelling with the Salah Abdeslam, the sole surviving Paris attacks suspect. are "functionally extinct" in Cambodia, conservationists conceded for the first time today, as they launched a bold action plan to reintroduce the big cats to the kingdom's forests. Cambodia's dry forests used to be home to scores of Indochinese but the WWF said intensive poaching of both and their prey had devastated the numbers of the big cats. The last tiger was seen on camera trap in the eastern Mondulkiri province in 2007, it said. "Today, there are no longer any breeding populations of tigers left in Cambodia, and they are therefore considered functionally extinct," the conservation group said in a statement. In an effort to revive the population, the Cambodian government last month approved a plan to reintroduce the creatures into the Mondulkiri protected forest in the far of east the country. The plan will see a chunk of suitable habitat carved out and protected against poachers by strong law enforcement, officials said, and action to protect the tigers' prey. "We want two male tigers and five to six females tigers for the start," Keo Omaliss, director of the department of wildlife and biodiversity at the Forestry Administration, told reporters. "This is a huge task." The government needs $20 to $50 million for the project, he said, adding talks had begun with countries including India, Thailand and Malaysia providing a small number of wild tigers to be introduced. Conservation groups applauded the plan. "It's (the tiger) been hunted to extinction because of weak law enforcement and the government is now reacting," said Suwanna Gauntlett, of the Wildlife Alliance. Deforestation and poaching have devastated tiger numbers across Asia, with recent estimates from the Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) putting the global population at just 2,154. Countries with tiger populations -- Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam -- in 2010 launched a plan to double their numbers by 2022. Officials from the 13 countries are set to meet from 12-14 April in Delhi to discuss the goals. A Canadian boy who robbed a convenience store for money for a plane ticket to Syria was sentenced today to two years detention plus 12 months probation for terrorism offenses. The 16-year-old is already incarcerated for another related crime and will serve the sentence consecutively, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada said. He had become radicalized and stole USD 1,680 at knife-point from a Quebec store in order to pay for travel to Syria where he hoped to join the Islamic State group and take part in the conflict there. His father alerted police and the boy, who was 15 years old at the time, was arrested before he could leave the country. Under Canadian law, youths convicted of crimes cannot be publicly identified. Local media citing expert court testimony said he has started to renounce radicalism. A Mexican-born Canadian construction worker said he hung Mexico's flag atop Vancouver's Trump International Hotel and Tower over the weekend to remind the billionaire who built the tower. Diego Reyna walked up 40 flights of stairs and recorded a 43-second video that said the building wouldn't exist without immigrants. "It was a symbolic act," Reyna said yesterday in a telephone interview. "When you say everyone in my family, my teachers, my children yet to be born are criminals and rapists, it is time to take a proactive effort." In the video he said Mexicans performed everything from drywall to concrete finishing on the project. During his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, Trump has been criticized after Trump for saying Mexican immigrants are bringing crime and drugs to the US and are "rapists." "This building is standing here today thanks to us, to our work," he says. "There's a little present for Mr Trump, so every time you judge us you can think who is building your towers." Reyna, 30, said in a separate Facebook post that Mexicans didn't steal or rape but just did the best work they possibly could. "Your tower here in Vancouver is premium quality, and we were a crucial part of it, not just Mexicans but immigrants as a whole, like your ancestors were," he said. "The insults you have said about us have not changed our work ethics." Reyna, who arrived in Canada in 2011 and is now a Canadian citizen, arrived at the building in his construction gear with friend Alfonso Ramos, 37, early April 2. They took an elevator 28 floors and climbed the remaining 40 floors by stairs. Reyna said Trump's comments condemned all Mexicans. "I would like him not to generalize against Mexico," Reyna said. The Holborn Group of Companies, the Vancouver developer behind the project, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment yesterday. This isn't the first time the building has been at the center of a Trump backlash. In December, Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson sent a letter urging the developer to drop Trump's name from the tower, citing a petition signed by more than 50,000 people asking that the US businessman's name be removed from the tower following the Republican hopeful's call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Reyna said there are also Muslims working on the site. Trump visited the city in 2013 to help announce the project. The Trump Organization said it was lending its brand power and operating the tower, but that the family would not be investing in the development. CBI today arrested a retired police officer in the case related to the 2009 murder of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty for shielding the culprits. Bhausaheb Andhalkar, the accused, was then a police inspector attached to crime branch of Pune rural police, and was a part of the murder investigation which had led to the arrest of some suspects. But the police failed to make any further progress and it was later transferred to the central agency by the Maharashtra Government. "During the investigation, it has emerged that then police inspector (Andhalkar)...Had allegedly conspired with others and fabricated and manipulated evidence to shield the real conspirators and killers," a CBI release here stated. After filing a closure report in local court in August 2014 saying that it could not find any prosecutable evidence against the suspects, CBI in early 2015 reopened the probe in view of new evidence recovered in searches at the premises of IRB Infrastructure in Pune and Mumbai. It had carried out the searches at 21 locations to probe allegations of land grabbing along the Mumbai-Pune Highway on the directions of the Bombay High Court. Following the searches, Shetty case was reopened. Shetty, who had unearthed many land-related scams in Pune district using the Right To Information Act, was stabbed to death by unidentified persons while on a morning walk near his house in Talegaon-Dabhade in the district on January 13, 2010. Central government ministers will remain exempt from odd-even scheme while Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his cabinet colleagues will come under the ambit of the second phase of the road-rationing plan starting from April 15, Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai said today. Rai said that the city government does not want any "unnecessary controversy" by bringing union ministers under ambit of the 15-day scheme. He further said that in a survey conducted after the first round of odd-even scheme from January 1 to 15, people asked government not to give exemption to Union Ministers. "As we had kept Central government ministers out of the first phase of odd-even scheme, we will also continue with exemption to these ministers during the second phase of this scheme," Rai said. The transport minister, however, said Delhi Chief Minister and his cabinet ministers will come under ambit of the scheme. A senior official said that government may consider to exempt senior citizens from the second phase of odd-even scheme following their demands in this regard. Before implementation of the first round of odd-even scheme, senior citizens had approached the government to keep them out of the ambit of the scheme. The chief executive of Malaysia Airlines said today that the carrier recorded a profit in February, its first positive monthly result in years, and is on track to return to the black by 2018. In an interview with The Associated Press, CEO Christoph Mueller described the airline as a "ship that has many leaks," but said the monthly profit was a sign that things are on the right track. He said revenue has improved and costs are down, underpinned by low jet fuel prices. Twin disasters in 2014, including the disappearance of Flight 370 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, hurt the airline's reputation. But Mueller said its main problems were an unsustainable network of routes, high operating costs and archaic information technology systems, among others. "Our target is to break even by 2018," said Mueller, a turnaround veteran hired a year ago under a USD 1.5 billion overhaul that included cutting 6,000 jobs and axing unprofitable routes. "For a company that lost 2 billion ringgit (USD 511 million) just last year, if you are able to break even for a month or so, it means the financial gap between revenue and cost has significantly closed, and that is good that tells us that we are on the right trajectory," he said. Even before the disasters, the national carrier was ailing from mismanagement that saddled it with at least USD 1.7 billion in losses since 2011. It reeled further after Flight 370 vanished in March 2014 with 239 people on board and a second Boeing 777 carrying 298 people was shot down over Ukraine a few months later. The company was removed from Malaysia's stock exchange the same year, with the government pumping in 6 billion ringgit (USD 1.5 billion) under a radical restructuring. In December, Malaysia Airlines unveiled an alliance with Emirates that allows it to piggyback on at least 70 of the Gulf carrier's global routes so it can focus on Asia. The only long-haul route it has kept is to London. Mueller called the alliance a "win-win" situation. He said Malaysia Airlines isn't shrinking, but instead has added many new destinations to its network through the Emirates partnership. He said the company is focusing on Asia, the strongest market for international air travel, so that it can leave "strong footprints" in the region. China will achieve its action target set at the Paris climate agreement summit by 2030, a top Chinese official spearheading the Climate Change Affairs said here today. Xia Zenhua, Chinese Special Representatives on Climate Change Affairs, said "Its difficult to implement the Paris agreement and China has made determined contributions. By 2030, we reduce our carbon emissions by 60-65 per cent and increase the forest cover by 22 per cent." In order to meet the target of low level of carbon emissions, China is looking at policy changes and adopting a "low cost carbon emission model", he said during a seminar on 'China's Economic Situation, Climate Change Policy and Foreign Policy' organised by the Chinese Embassy and the Delhi University. He also said China and India are "great partners" in combating climate change and the two countries succeeded in negotiations at the Paris Cop 21 agreement. The Paris agreement is now open for signing. The exercise would take place this month at the UN. "The requirement is that 50 parties/ countries sign the agreement and the total emissions of these countries should also account overall 55 per cent of total global emissions," Xia said. China has agreed to establish South collaboration fund on Climate Change and provide assistance to combat climate change, he said, adding the country has provided training to more than 2,000 experts from over 100 countries. Highlighting the vulnerabilities of unprotected heritage buildings in the city, INTACH and members of civil society, including eminent historians, architects and former judges have urged Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to spare the demolition of centuries-old historic Patna Collectorate. Parts of the nearly 200-year-old buildings are remnants of Dutch structure and Bihar government's recent decision to dismantle and replace them with a high-rise modern complex has sent a wave of resentment among scholars, historians and commoners alike. Patna Chapter of the New Delhi-based Indian National Trust for Art and Culture (INTACH) today sent a strongly-worded petition to Kumar to immediately scrap the impending demolition plan saying it would set a "very bad precedent and further jeopardise the fate of other heritage buildings in the city and eventually in the state". The petition supported by noted historians Narayani Gupta, Surendra Gopal, justice (retd) Uday Singh, former bureaucrats, and several academicians, journalists, advocates, doctors and other professionals, has also recommended to instead restore the Collectorate to its original glory and "save it for posterity". "We have sent an appeal letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar urging him to reconsider the government's decision. The place is steeped in history and one of the last remains of Dutch history of Patna. In fact, the place should ideally be kept as a tourist site, given its choice location on the bank of the Ganga," INTACH Patna Chapter Convener, J K Lall, told PTI. "As one of the custodians of our city's heritage, we appeal to our Chief Minister to reconsider this decision of the government taken in haste with scant regard for history of the city and without much prudence, and not run a bulldozer over a city landmark but preserve it proudly as our collective heritage," the letter says. Soon after reports of dismantling made headlines, INTACH Patna Chapter held a meeting of the Executive Committee and passed a resolution to approach the Bihar government to persuade them to reconsider the decision. "The committee also decided that in case the authorities do not respond to the appeal, suitable legal step would be explored for preventing the dismantling," it said. Besides, eminent people endorsing the restoration proposal directly through INTACH, several hundreds of people, from Patna to California have shown their support via an online campaign -- 'Save Historic Patna Collectorate' -- led by the civic society. "The building should be preserved as a signature of history and kept as a museum to attract tourists. The proposed new collectorate building could be moved to an open space where land is available. Why sacrifice history," a supporter asked. INTACH has also sent copies of the appeal letter to Bihar Chief Secretary, Minister and Principal Secretary of Art, Culture & Youth Department, Minister and Principal Secretary of Building Construction Department in the state government, Commissioner, Patna Division and District Magistrate, Patna. With high ceilings and hanging skylights, the Patna Collectorate buildings, spread over nearly 12 acres, are a unique specimen of architecture carrying a history of over 200 years within its walls. And, alongside Patna College's main administration building and the remains of the opium godown in Gulzarbagh, the three comprise the last surviving signatures of Dutch history of the capital city. "Historical buildings around the world are being preserved and by restoring the Collectorate and other heritage buildings and declaring them officially as a city heritage, Bihar could also take a lead in the country itself, given the status of old buildings in various cities of India," the letter further says. A similar move was made by the Bihar government in 2011, which had also faced resistance from several quarters including the District Board Patna. INTACH said the decision to save and restore it for posterity would also "send a positive message among general people as much as scholars and historians, about the government's seriousness in preserving the city's and ultimately Bihar's multi-faceted history". Historian Gupta, who has supported the campaign, says, "complementary structures can always be built around existing ones. The situation in Patna is of course, reflective of the scenario throughout the country. And, government and people, both must accept blame for their pitiable condition." The petition also appeals to the government to carry out a "systematic listing of heritage buildings in Patna and bring out a state legislation for preserving unprotected heritage buildings, both public and private, which do not fall under the ambit of either Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) or the state archeology department, most of which are facing threat of demolition". Last year, a similar attempt by Telangana government to dismantle Hyderabad's Esmaria General Hospital was countered by INTACH, which had suggested taking "legal recourse" if there were any attempts to raze the over 90-year-old historic structure. INTACH Chairman Maj Gen (retd) L K Gupta says PILs have saved a few heritage structures from the wrecking ball. "The red-coloured Attara Kacheri built in the late 1860s by the British as a Mysore government office was ordered to be demolished in the early 1980s by the Karnataka High Court, which had moved into it after independence. "But, it was peoples love for a city heritage and their perseverance that ultimately saved the building and the High Court later even praised the petitioners," Gupta said. This was a landmark judgement in 1980s, because not only it was the first PIL in the Court, but also because the case was heard in the very same building that was proposed to be demolished. A Delhi court today took cognisance of a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly "insulting" the national flag last year on the international yoga day and during his visit to United States. "I take cognisance of the complaint. Fix the matter for May 9," Metropolitan Magistrate Snigdha Sarvaria said while ordering recording of pre-summoning evidence on that day. The complainant Ashish Sharma, who has sought direction to the police to file an FIR against Modi, has claimed that he had committed an offence under the provisions of Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 and has also violated the Flag Code of India. He claimed that Modi had insulted the national flag not once but several times. He alleged that the PM had "disrespected" national flag at the event of Yoga Day at the India Gate on the international yoga day by using it as a handkerchief. "He (Modi) was again careless at the time of handing over the national flag to Barack Obama, President, USA, when he signed over the national flag which is against National Flag Code, 2002," the complaint said. Incredible though it may seem, the late Biju Patnaik had plans to print fake currency notes and circulate them across the Indian subcontinent as a means of bringing about the downfall of the British Raj. This was revealed by the legendary leader and former Odisha Chief Minister's daughter Gita Mehta in an article 'Mo Bapa (My Father)', published in 'Utkal Prasanga', the Odisha government mouthpiece. The state government, which is headed by her younger brother Naveen Patnaik, is celebrating the birth centenary of Biju Patnaik, who had founded the UNESCO Kalinga Prize for Popularisation of Science. Mehta, a prominent writer whose works include 'Karma Cola', 'A River Sutra', 'Snake and Ladder', 'Glimpses of Modern India', revealed several little known facts about her illustrious father. "While in jail, my father was thinking of ways to oust the British from India. Then he decided to become owner of a textile mill, because these units required the same colour and chemicals as are used to make currency notes. My father was determined that within six months of his release from jail, he will print fake notes and circulate them in the sub-continent to ensure the fall of British Rule," Mehta said. Gita said her parents, during their stay in Delhi, were busy giving asylum to freedom fighters and trying to evade arrest by the British police. "A foreign freedom fighter who was aware of this had named our house 'Absconders' Paradise'," she said, adding that while her father was arrested by British police, the Viceroy's wife had honoured the same Biju Patnaik. "My father was honoured by British rulers for his act of releasing some British families who were imprisoned by Japanese during the Second World War," Mehta recalled. As to the reason for Biju Patnaik's arrest, Mehta said, "The reason was that my father had some pistols. Soon after British police handcuffed my father, he came to my mother and on the pretext of bidding goodbye to her, hinted that she should throw away the pistols. After my father was taken away, my mother put the pistols inside a pillow cover and took them in a Sunbeam-Talbot car and threw them at a secluded place. Mehta said that while her father was in prison, her mother Gyan Patnaik would visit the jail with her brother and herself to meet him and pass on secret messages. "This continued for four years and my mother managed to give secret letters to my father inside the jail by putting them inside the shoes of my younger brother," she said. However, jails could not confine Biju Patnaik, she said, adding, "My father managed to escape from jail by jumping the boundary wall but fractured his hand in the process. To get cured, my father had to hold his hand up for months. My mother was afraid that police would catch my father as he was tall (and thus easily recognisable), and would extradite him," Mehta said. She said her mother was not different from other north Indian girls of the time. "She was not aware of modernity. My father after marriage made her learn ballroom dancing and how to play bridge. My father also taught her how to ride a bicycle. He also trained her to run our 4-seater Sunbeam-Talbot," Mehta said. The death of a partner triggers an irregular heartbeat - a risk factor for stroke and heart failure - for up to a year afterwards, a new study has found. The results indicate that the risk seems to be greatest among the under 60s and when the loss of the partner was least expected, researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark said. Highly stressful life events boost the risk of a heart attack or stroke, but it is not clear whether this might also be true of irregular heartbeat also known as atrial fibrillation, they said. Researchers collected information on 88,612 people newly diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and 886,120 healthy people, matched for age and sex, between 1995 and 2014. They looked at several factors that might influence atrial fibrillation risk. These included time since the bereavement; age and sex; underlying conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes; the health of the partner a month before death; and whether they were single. Some 17,478 of those diagnosed with atrial fibrillation had lost their partner as had 168,940 of the comparison group. Underlying illnesses, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and associated treatment for these conditions, were more common among those who had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, researchers said. But the risk of developing an irregular heartbeat for the first time was 41 per cent higher among those who had been bereaved than it was among those who had not experienced such a loss, the findings indicated. This heightened risk was apparent, irrespective of gender and other underlying conditions. The risk seemed to be greatest 8 to 14 days following a death, after which it gradually subsided until after a year the risk was similar to that of someone who had not been bereaved, researchers said. The highest risk was seen among people under the age of 60: they were more than twice as likely to develop atrial fibrillation if they had been bereaved, they said. The risk also seemed to be greater where the partner's death had been unexpected, as defined by a validated score to assess likelihood of death in the short term according to health status. Those whose partners were relatively healthy in the month before death were 57 per cent more likely to develop atrial fibrillation. No such increased risk was seen among those whose partners were not healthy and who were expected to die soon, researchers said. They suggest that acute stress may directly disrupt normal heart rhythms and prompt the production of chemicals involved in inflammation. The findings were published in the journal Open Heart. Hinting that the party's manifesto for the May 16 Tamil Nadu assembly polls may include lifting the toddy tapping ban, BJP today alleged there was a deep nexus between distilleries and successive governments in the state. "There is a deep nexus between distilleries, state-run TASMAC liquor shops and politics for the last few years in Tamil Nadu," BJP General Secretary Muralidhar Rao told reporters here. "Considering this, the party will caution the Election Commission to be vary with the kind of money which is coming from distilleries," Rao said. Asked whether BJP, which is for prohibition, would lift the two decade ban on toddy, he said the party did not equate toddy with TASMAC liquor, Indian Made Foreign Liquor, beer or any other drinks. When pressed for an answer, he said "I have given you enough hints that the manifesto, to be released in another 10 days, will have important issues." Stating that the assembly election was going to be an important one not only for the state, but also for the nation, he said corruption was going to be a very big issue. BJP was the only party qualified to say it would give a corruption free government in Tamil Nadu, based on the performance of the central government and other BJP-ruled states, he said. BJP, which has released the first list of 54 candidates, would focus more on Western Region, which has the potential to be the engine of growth and development in the State, he said. However, corruption was hurting the development of industries, he alleged. Asked about BJP's prospects in Tamil Nadu, Rao said "the prospects are great and the future is bright. The state is passing through a transition, where old is giving way to new." "About 1.7 crore first time voters want participatory politics and to oust both DMK and AIADMK," he said. On what the Modi government has done for Tamil Nadu, he claimed its biggest achievement was the stopping of killing of fishermen from the state by Sri Lankan Navy. He recalled that when External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had met the Sri Lankan President last year, the number of fishermen's casualties had touched 500. Now there was no killing of fisherman and those arrested were released in the shortest possible time, he said. "The process of finding a comprehensive solution to the problem has already started and will be completed. There is a marked improvement in the situation and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited Jaffna," Rao said. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu today expressed displeasure over the Centre not yet granting special category status to the state following its bifurcation in 2014. He also expressed unhappiness over the inadequate central support for the construction of the state's new Capital city Amaravati. The CM conveyed his displeasure to Union Secretary (Department of Personnel and Training) Sanjay Kothari who visited the Secretariat in Hyderabad to take stock of the Government employees' distribution between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and also the implementation of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014. Naidu discussed the issues with Kothari through video-conferencing from Vijayawada and wanted the latter to convey his feelings to the Centre. Special category states get significant central grants and a slew of sops for various sectors. An official release later said the Chief Minister lamented the inadequate assistance from the Centre for the capital construction. "People (of AP) didn't want the division but the Congress indiscriminately split the State. It paid a heavy political price for it. Justice has not yet been done to AP in many respects," the Chief Minister told Kothari. He wanted the Centre to complete distribution of employees between the two states in a proper manner. "The attitude that we will do something only when asked for is not right. Explain the current situation in AP and the agony of the people to the Prime Minister," he told the Union Secretary. The Chief Minister also pointed out that at least Rs 5 lakh crore would be required to build Amaravati and also establish institutes of higher learning (like IIT, IIM). "I have been repeatedly telling this but there is not adequate assistance from the Centre," the Chief Minister regretted. State Chief Secretary Satya Prakash Tucker and other senior officials also took part in the video-conference. There is a shortage of around 4,000 public toilets in the national capital and measures were being taken to bridge this gap under 'Swachh Bharat' mission, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today said. "There is a shortfall of about 4,000 public toilets in the three MCD areas and measures are being taken to bridge the gap under Swachh Bharat Mission. "The shortfall, includes 5,318 in South Delhi, 3,311 in the North and 2,508 in the East MCD areas, after constructing a total of 7,061 public toilet seats since the launch of Swachh Bharat Mission in October 2014," the minister said while launching 'Swachh Sauchalay' (Namma eco-friendly toilet) at a East Delhi market here. Naidu said Namma eco-friendly toilet, which is equipped with solar lighting, was developed in Tamil Nadu and are popular in that state. It was launched at 20 locations in the national capital today. He said about 6.5 per cent of urban people use public toilets and thus need required infrastructure in urban areas. Stressing that Delhi should lead by example in ensuring cleanliness, Naidu urged the people, municipal bodies and Delhi Government to rise to the occasion. These toilets have been installed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), a Public Sector Undertaking of the Ministry of Urban Development, under Corporate Social Responsibility. Such toilets will be made available at 10 more locations by NBCC. Features of such toilets include fittings resistant to vandalism and tampering, special paintings used to prevent bacterial growth and smell, ease of access to all including physically challenged and adoption of solar energy for power needs. Referring to the need of water supply and sewer connections for use of toilets and treatment of human waste, Naidu said that his ministry has recently sanctioned Rs 223 crore to Delhi under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). Under this, Rs 113 crore will be spent for providing water supply connections and Rs 104 crore on improving sewerage networks. A drive against encroachments in the Chandni Chowk area today sparked a protest among locals with BJP leaders too joining in after a drinking water kiosk near a religious place was allegedly dismantled. The eviction drive undertaken by the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC) was carried out with the help of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) and Delhi Police personnel. The drive began at around 6 AM with the removal of encroachments along the main road in the Chandni Chowk area. But as the demolition squad reached the area near a gurdwara and started dismantling the water kiosk, devotees and locals objected to it. "The drive, however, continued and all types of encroachments were removed," said a senior municipal officer. Delhi BJP president Satish Upadhyay alleged that the drive was a "conspiracy" of the Arvind Kejriwal government and he should "apologise" after the action in the vicinity of Gurdwara Sheeshganj Sahib and Gauri Shankar Mandir. Senior BJP leader Sardar RP Singh alleged that directions for the demolition of the 'Chhabil' of the gurdwara was given under "pressure" from local AAP MLA Alka Lamba, who is also the director of SRDC. Lamba could not be reached for her comments on the issue. The action plan for the demolition drive was discussed at a meeting of SRDC yesterday in which officials of PWD, Jal Board, police and the BJP-led NDMC had taken part. As per the minutes of the meeting, high court has ordered the removal of encroachments, including religious structures like a Hanuman temple and the Bhai Mati Das Chowk Pyau as they stood in a public space owned by the NDMC. BJP claimed the demolition drive was a "conspiracy" by AAP to create a "vicious atmosphere" for BJP in Punjab ahead of Assembly elections in the state next year. The Central Information Commission has directed the environment ministry to share a copy of the bio-safety document related to genetically-modified mustard and the raw data of studies with the caveat that provisions of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety as well as confidentiality should be kept in mind. The transparency panel also directed that the entire bio- safety data pertaining to all other genetically modified crops in the pipeline be put in the public domain as that is part of voluntary disclosures under Section IV of the RTI Act. The ministry had objected to the disclosure of the data, saying the information is exempted under the RTI clause related to commercial confidence of the third party -- the Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants. They also claimed that the trial is premature and thus information cannot be given. (REOPENS DEL63) Information Commissioner Sridhar Acharyulu said people should know how and why GM mustard is being permitted or denied because they have to consume the item. "All documents relating to GEAC recommendation, sub- committee report, revised dossier as recommended and to prepare RARM need to be furnished to the public in general in public interest. Its denial to appellant is not legal," Acharyulu said. He directed that the environment ministry furnish the certified copy of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) report and the joint affidavit filed by it and the agriculture ministry in response to the report. The commissioner said even if the ministry claims exception under Section 8(1)(d), they have to justify the same by substantiating as to how it will breach the commercial confidence of the third party. It added that if so, they can separate the same and give the rest of the information to the appellant. Terming it information of "public interest", Acharyulu said the ministry should understand that the information sought is supposed to be disclosed on their own as per the mandate under Section 4 of the RTI Act. "It is a policy decision by the public authority which needs to be revealed to the public in general as mandated by Section 4 because they are going to be affected if GM mustard is marked," he said. The Information Commissioner said it is quite clear that genetically engineered organisms or cells are recognised by the government as an item potentially hazardous to public health. It automatically follows that full compliance with these rules is a matter of public interest. "The decision-making process should be told along with information about whether such process is adopted, minutes of the meetings, results of clinical trial, and entire information about GM mustard etc. This is in public interest," Acharyulu said. The order came on an RTI plea by Kavitha Kuruganthi, who had sought a copy of the bio-safety document of GM Mustard that is being experimented in fields for trial in India along with raw data of studies conducted. Thousands of dog owners in the UK who have not had their pets microchipped could face a fine of up to 500 pounds, as a new law came into force today to tackle the growing problem of strays roaming the streets. All dogs in England, Scotland and Wales are now legally required to have been chipped by the time they are eight weeks old. The government says one million dogs - about one in eight of the estimated UK dog population - are not yet chipped. Animal welfare minister George Eustice said: "We are a nation of dog lovers and we want to make sure they stay safe. Under the new measures all owners must ensure their dog is microchipped and their details are kept up to date. "Not only will this mean the UK's 8.5 million dogs can be returned to their owners more quickly if they wander too far from home, but it will also make it easier to track down the owners of dogs that carry out attacks on people," Eustice said. "Microchipping our dogs will not only reunite people with their lost or stolen pets, but also help to tackle the growing problem of strays roaming the streets and relieve the burden placed on animal charities and local authorities." If local authorities come across a dog without a microchip, owners will have up to 21 days to comply with the law or be fined. When a dog is microchipped, a tiny chip about the size of a grain of rice is inserted under the loose skin on the back of its neck, giving it a unique 15-digit code. If a dog is lost or gets stolen and is picked up by a council or a dog shelter, the microchip can be scanned and matched to contact details stored on a database. Charities such as the Dogs Trust, some local authorities and some vets will microchip dogs without charging. Countries such as Northern Ireland that already have compulsory microchipping have seen a decrease in the number of stray, lost and abandoned dogs, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said. The new law will not replace current requirements for dogs to wear a collar and tag with their owner's name and address when in a public place, Defra said. Figures from the Dogs Trust indicate that the number of stray dogs in the UK has been in decline since 2011. An estimated 102,363 stray dogs were handled by local authorities in the year from April 2014, compared with 126,000 in 2011-12, it said. The charity said about half of last year's strays had been reunited with their owners. The rest were re-homed or put down. Four Delhi University colleges run by the Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) are likely to have independent admissions from the upcoming academic session and will cease to be a part of the centralised DU admission process. The colleges -- Mata Sundari College for Women, Sri Guru Nanak Dev (SGND) Khalsa College, Sri Guru Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa (SGTB) College and Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce -- were granted minority status by the Delhi High Court last year when the admission process was underway. DSGMC has now approached Delhi University officials seeking persmission for an autonomous admission process like other minority colleges, including St Stephen's and Jesus and Mary College. The four colleges were established for the children of refugees who crossed over from Pakistan after the partition and have a combined student strength of around 16,000. "By the time the High Court cleared the air last year, the admission process was already underway and two cutoff lists were out. So, it was not practically feasible to have a separate admission policy in place then," DSGMC President Manjit Singh GK told PTI. "We are hoping to get a clearance from DU this year. We have asked the university to allow us benefits given to minority institutions and let us follow their norms," he added. Officials in the university said no final decision has been taken in this regard. The National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI) had granted minority tag to the four DU colleges in 2012, following which the varsity had approached the Delhi High court challenging the decision. The HC had last year upheld the minority status. As per the government's reservation policy, these institutions are expected to have a quota for the minority they were set up to cater to (Sikhs in this case) to the extent of 50 per cent. They need not implement the mandatory reservation, which other affiliates of DU are supposed to do - be it 27 per cent OBC quota, 15 per cent SC quota or 7.5 per cent ST quota. Being a Christian minority institution, St Stephen's and Jesus and Mary College are allowed to follow an independent schedule and procedure for admission to undergraduate courses. Unlike other colleges, Stephen's holds personal interviews for candidates whose scores meet the cut-off list. DU has constituted a 24-member committee, comprising deans from faculties of science, commerce and arts, nine college principals and members of the executive and academic councils, to formulate an admission policy which will be notified by the next month. A high-level probe would be launched to identify people behind alleged "dubious land deals" done by the Congress-led UDF government in Kerala, if Left Democratic Front is voted to power in the May 16 Assembly polls, CPI (M) said today. Hitting out at the UDF government for allegedly selling off ecologically sensitive government land to some private persons, Party State Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan pointing out that the Chief Secretary had publicly stated that government officials had no role in the "illegal land deals". "This is an unusual situation. If LDF government comes to power, a high-level probe will be launched to identify those who worked behind numerous dubious land deals done by the Chandy government," Balakrishnan, flanked by CPI(M) district secretary P Rajeeve, told reporters here. The Chandy government had recently cancelled a decision to hand over about 127 acres of "surplus" land spread over Ernakulam and Thrissur districts by according concession under the Land Ceiling Act to a private company allegedly having links with a "controversial godman". The government had also been forced to backtrack on granting permission to an eco-tourism project in 420 acres at Methran Kayal backwater paddy fields at Kumarakom village in Kottayam district and a super speciality medicity project in 47 acres of paddy land at Kadamakkudy in Kochi. Balakrishan said eminent poetess and environmentalists like Sugathakumari had voiced concern over the government's land policy. "They are asking whether wetlands and forests will remain in Kerala if the Chandy government continues. All such illegal things were done at a time when over three lakh landless poor wait for small pieces of land to build houses for them," he said. The European Union launched a drive today to overhaul the EU's asylum rules to more fairly share responsibility for an unprecedented influx of migrants despite resistance within the 28-nation bloc. The European Commission, the EU executive, unveiled options to reform the rules two days after Greece began to expel migrants to Turkey under a controversial deal between Brussels and Ankara. The returns have since stalled. "We need to reform our European asylum system," the commission's First Vice President Frans Timmermans told a press conference in Brussels. "The present system is not working." The existing so-called Dublin rules have been criticised as obsolete and unfair to countries like Greece, where most of the 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants entered the bloc last year. At present, under those rules, migrants seeking asylum must lodge their application in the country where they first arrived, and should be returned there if they move on to somewhere else. But -- as 2015 showed -- the rules fell apart when countries like Italy and Greece, one of the poorest EU members, were overwhelmed by migrants who wanted asylum in Germany and other wealthy northern EU countries. "This is neither fair, nor sustainable," Timmermans said, adding it was a "huge burden" to frontline countries. Under one reform option, if a member state faces "disproportionate pressure" from migrant arrivals in the future, a "corrective fairness mechanism" can be introduced to redistribute migrants within the bloc. A majority of countries support it, one EU diplomat told AFP. However, EU states have already struggled to implement an emergency scheme agreed last September to relocate 160,000 asylum seekers out of Greece and Italy. Only 1,100 of these have been resettled so far. The delays have been pinned on a range of factors, from governments trying to filter out jihadists from among the refugees following the terror attacks in Brussels and Paris, to a lack of housing and education -- but, say sceptics, political foot-dragging has also played a part. Under a second, more drastic option, a "permanent distribution key" would be introduced based on the population and wealth of each member state. "Responsibility would no longer be linked to the first point of entry," the commission said. The diplomat said the second option is less popular, supported mainly by Germany and Sweden, which have already admitted the lion's share of migrants who did not want to stay in Greece and Italy. Asserting that BJP will not compromise on the issue of nationalism, Union Minister J P Nadda today said even some Congress leaders secretly admit that BJP's stand on the issue is right, but they can't say it openly as it would go against their leadership. "When India is surging ahead under the leadership of Narendra Modi, opposition parties are conspiring to change the track, as they fear that they will be completely wiped out in the next elections. But we have to stay focused in this situation," Nadda told party workers in his address at a function organised here as part of BJP foundation day celebrations. "I want to make it clear that we will not do any compromise on the issue of nationalism. Even our opposition knows that when it comes to nationalism, there is no one bigger than BJP," he added. "Some Congress leaders secretly admitted that the stand taken by BJP about nationalism is right. However, these leaders told me that they cannot say it in the public, because it will go against the leadership," the minister said. Stating that the debate on intolerance was a conspiracy by the Opposition, the Minister said the same Congress had imposed the Emergency in the country. "Congress blames that India has become intolerant. It was Congress, which imposed Emergency in India and now they are preaching us about intolerance. India and Indians were never and will never be intolerant," he said. (Reopens BOM 32) As part of BJP foundation day celebrations, party workers took out a march -'Bharat Mata Gaurav Kooch' from Naranpura to RTO circle area of the city. Similar marches were organised at 18 different places in the state today. Before the march culminated at the RTO circle, party workers walked for almost 3 KM, chanting 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' and 'Vande Matram' along the route. While addressing party workers at the RTO circle, party's national general secretary Purshottam Rupala slammed Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi for his stand on the JNU issue. "Instead of coming together to fight against anti-national elements, Rahul Gandhi supported those, who raised anti-India slogans in JNU. How can you extend your support to those who have gathered in JNU to commemorate the death of (Parliament attack mastermind) Afzal Guru?" Rupala said. Ex-serviceman and national shooter Kahan Singh Thakur today filed a complaint against JNU Student Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar in a district court here for his alleged derogatory remarks against the Army at an event in Delhi. The complaint was filed in the Kangra District and Sessions Court under Section 124-A (sedition), 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 505 and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the IPC. "I have registered a complaint in the court against the JNU student leader Kanhaiya Kumar today for not apologising for his remarks on Indian soldiers," Thakur said. The complaint was filed as the dead line for Kanhaiya to reply to his notice ended on March 27. Kahan's counsel Vishav Chakshusaid Kanhaiya, on the occasion of Women's Day in Delhi, had said we will raise our voice against Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA), while we have a lot of respect for our soldiers, we will still talk aboutthe fact that in Kashmir women are raped by security personnel. Kanhaiya also made similar remarks about security forces in Rwanda, Africa and Gujarat, where the women were not just killed but were raped first. Terming as "highly obnoxious and irresponsible" an attempt to "attempt to vilify the forces" Kanhaiya's remark, a legal notice was sent to him on March 14 seeking a public apology within 15 days, Chakshusaid. Kanhaiya neither replied to the notice, nor apologised for his derogatory remarks against the Army, he said, adding that the case will come up for hearing on April 12. Marine police today rescued fifteen fishermen off Vasai coast in Palghar district of Maharashtra after their boat crashed into a rock. Vasai tehesildar Gajendra Patole said that the fishermen sailed out early today onboard 'Devdoot' boat from Arnala. It ran into a rock and broke up mid-sea. One of the fishermen alerted the Marine Police. A team led by sub-inspector Abhijit Koyande rushed on a rescue boat and brought them ashore. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has constituted a three-member panel, headed by former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) B B Tandon, to see that guidelines set for government advertisements by the Supreme Court are followed. Senior TV journalist Rajat Sharma and ad-man Piyush Pandey will be the other members of the committee. In an order delivered in May 2015, the Supreme Court had laid down norms for government advertisements. The apex court had also directed the central government to constitute a three-member committee "consisting of persons with unimpeachable neutrality and impartiality" to regulate the issue of public advertisements. Following the order, the I&B Ministry had constituted a three-member selection committee comprising Press Council Chairman Justice (retd) C K Prasad, I&B Secretary Sunil Arora and advertising professional Prasoon Joshi which chose the three names. In its May 2015 order, the Supreme Court had criticised "personality cult" terming it as an anti-thesis of democracy and barred publication of photos of leaders in government advertisements except those of the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India. The court, however, in March this year modified its earlier order and allowed photographs of Chief Ministers, Governors and ministers to be carried in public advertisments. Four Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) planted allegedly by Maoists to target security personnel were recovered on Wednesday by security forces in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit district of Kanker. A joint team of Border Security Force (BSF) and district force recovered the explosives during a search operation in the forests of Bande police station area, a Maoist hotbed, Pakhanjore Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Jai Prakash Badhai told PTI. While the security forces were cordoning-off Korenar village forests, they spottedan electric wire connection and subsequently found the IEDs, kept in different objects under the ground, Badhai said. "Two IEDs were kept in a pressure cooker and as many others were in form of pipe bombs.Of them, a pressure cooker bomb weighed 5 kg and others were of low intensity," he said. According to a BSF official, the pipe bombs were connected to a wireless 'walkie-talkie' in a manner that if the wireless set receives a call, the bomb detonator catches the signal too and the IED explodes. Earlier also, such kind of connection with IED was found in Badgaon area of Kanker, the official added. The explosives were immediately destroyed by the bomb disposal squad of BSF and Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare (CTJW) college, Kanker. Azerbaijani and Armenian forces today said they were largely observing a truce that halted four days of clashes which claimed scores of lives in the worst outbreak of violence in decades over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region. "The ceasefire was largely observed overnight along the Karabakh frontline," the Armenia-backed separatist defence ministry in Karabakh said in a statement. Azerbaijan's defence ministry said its forces were "strictly abiding by the ceasefire agreement" that was hammered out yesterday by the Azerbaijani and Armenian army chiefs during a meeting in Moscow. Armenia's defence ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that sporadic shooting continued today "including from tanks, but not as intensive" as during the last days. An AFP photographer in the village of Matagis in Karabakh, some 10 kilometres from the frontline, confirmed that "the night was calm and without shooting." A Karabakh army officer told the photographer that "occasional shooting has been a normal thing on the frontline for years." "It doesn't mean that the ceasefire failed." The fragile truce comes after at least 75 people were reported killed as the festering dispute over the territory -- which was captured from Azerbaijan by Armenian separatists in an early 1990s war -- escalated dramatically on Friday, sparking international concern. Azerbaijan's army claimed to have snatched control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, effectively changing the frontline for the first time since an inconclusive truce ended the war in 1994. "Azerbaijani troops are currently reinforcing the liberated territories," Baku's defence military said in its statement. Yerevan, however, insists that the Azeri side has been ousted from any positions it might have snatched inside the disputed territory. "Even if certain Armenian positions were at some point taken by Azeris, now they are all returned under Karabakh's control," Hovhannisyan, Armenia's defence ministry spokesman, told AFP yesterday. In a bid to cement the truce, mediators have set out to the region to shuttle between the two warring sides in a flurry of diplomacy. The US, French and Russian ambassadors to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- who co-chair the so-called "Minsk Group" which has long mediated Karabakh peace talks -- today met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku. After the meeting, the diplomats called on Baku and Yerevan to step up efforts aimed at quick resolution of the conflict, AzerTag agency reported. Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian was headed to Germany Wednesday for a long-planned visit that will see him meet Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks that are sure to focus on the surge in fighting in Karabakh. Iceland's coalition parties held talks today on the government's future, a day after the prime minister's resignation over the Panama Papers scandal that propelled the Pirate Party to the top of polls ahead of a possible snap election. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down yesterday, the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities. The documents revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and had placed millions of dollars of her inheritance there. The prime minister sold his 50-per cent share of the company to his wife for a symbolic sum of USD 1 at the end of 2009, but he had neglected to declare the stake as required when he was elected to parliament six months earlier. Gunnlaugsson, of the centre-right Progressive Party, has said he regretted not having done so, but insisted he and his wife had followed Icelandic law and paid all their taxes in Iceland. It has not been proven the couple stood to gain financially from the offshore holding, and the ICIJ noted only that Gunnlaugsson had "violated Iceland's ethics rules." But the issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to conceal their dealings in risky financial products and which ultimately led to the 2008 collapse of the nation's three main banks. Thousands of protesters demonstrated on Monday, calling for Gunnlaugsson to step down. He finally did so on Tuesday. But several hours later he denied having formally resigned, saying he had only stepped down temporarily and proposed his deputy party leader, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, as acting prime minister. Political observers noted that ultimately Iceland's president would have to approve any change of premier. The left-wing opposition, which presented a vote of no-confidence to parliament on Monday, wants early elections to be held ahead of the scheduled April 2017 vote. Two other sitting cabinet ministers - for finance and the interior, both of the junior coalition member Independence Party - have also been named in the Panama Papers. Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, the Independence Party leader, was to meet today with the acting prime minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson. Riding high on Icelanders' anger over the affair, the four-year-old Pirate Party has seen its support soar. A libertarian movement campaigning for more transparency in politics, Internet freedoms and copyright reform, the Pirate Party garnered 43 per cent of voter support in a Gallup poll conducted Monday and Tuesday and published by daily Frettabladid and Channel 2 television. Sherpas from G20 nations have gathered in China to hold deliberations on setting the agenda for the G20 meeting to be held in September. Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Pangariya is India's Sherpa for the forum and he is attending the three-day long meeting at Guanghzou in China, a source said. The meet will see discussions on a host of issues related to trade and commerce including crucial aspects of the global economy such as the 2030 agenda for sustainable development as well as support for industralisation in Africa and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), the source added. Also issues like the growth of digital economy and the new industrial revolution will be taken up at the meeting. China is the Chair of the G20, which is a grouping of the developed and developing nations, and deliberates on important issues concerning the world. The Hangzhou Summit in 2016 will be held on 4-5 September with a theme on 'Towards an Innovative, Invigorated, Interconnected and Inclusive World Economy'. In January, Pangariya in an interview to PTI had said that India will push for poverty alleviation and sustainable development besides trade and investment at the G20 forum. India is pushing for sustainable development as well as countries uniting for the elimination of poverty by 2030. Another issue that is expected to be intensely debated at the agenda-setting meeting is that of clean energy. The US has been arguing that India should commit to a specific date by which it will end fossil fuel subsidies, but India has so far not committed to a deadline. Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands have accused Spain and Argentina of "bullying" after the two countries called for talks with Britain to end the "colonial situations" of the two territories. In a rare joint statement issued late on yesterday, the disputed territories accused the two nations of "ganging up" on them and ignoring the wish of the people of Gibraltar and the Falklands Islands to remain British. The statement was issued a day after Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said Argentina and Spain were "committed to ending the two colonial situations" of the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar "through bilateral negotiations with the United Kingdom". The minister was speaking during a joint conference with his Argentine counterpart Susana Malcorra in Buenos Aires. "It also does not say much for the democratic credentials of two large countries that they should seek to gang up in this way in order to bully two very small territories and in the process completely ignore the right of their people to choose what they want to be," the joint statement said. "Referenda held in both Gibraltar and in the Falkland Islands have made those wishes abundantly clear," it added. Britain and Argentina fought a war in 1982 over the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish, which claimed the lives of 649 Argentine soldiers, 255 British soldiers and three islanders. The people of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a British Overseas Territory in a referendum held in 2013 in the sparsely-populated territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean. In Gibraltar, a rocky outcrop on Spain's southern shore, nearly 99 per cent of the population rejected sharing sovereignty with Spain in a November 2002 referendum. Seeking a five-year exemption from drug price control, Biocon CMD Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw today asked the government to refrain from 'ad hoc' measures so as to enable the pharma sector to build scale to be globally competitive. Mazumdar-Shaw, who was here to attend the meeting of Board of Trade, said: "When we are trying to invest in expansions, scale up and creating global scale, we need exemption from price control at least for a period of five years." Explaining the rationale for such a demand, she said: "This will incentivise investments in our sector because I really believe that this sector is trying to build global scales." Criticising the manner in which the government has tried to bring more medicines under price control, she said: "The moment you introduce price control on products that we are investing in a very ad hoc way, I think this also disincentivises investment." Later on speaking to reporters after the meeting, she said: "How do you incentivise the pharma sector if you are going to bring in drug price control (in an ad hoc manner)?" She further said: "If you are making a huge investment, you need a certain returns on investment (RoI), you need be to be assured of that RoI but suddenly mid-term you cannot impose a price control." During the Board of Trade meeting, which met after a gap of three years, she said it was discussed "how do we bring in policies that give you some stability and predictability in what your investments and return of investments can be." In 2014, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had brought prices of over 100 non-scheduled drugs under price control invoking paragraph 19 of Drug Price Control Order. Several industry bodies, including Indian Pharma Alliance (IPA), had criticised the NPPA's move to cap prices of medicines not under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM). Currently, the government has increased the number of drugs under price control to over 800 formulations, from 628 earlier, bringing medicines used for treatment of diseases such as cancer, HIV/AIDS, analgesics and cardiovascular diseases under its purview. Stressing on exports, which is a main area of focus, she said it was discussed on how to make "our SEZs more competitive and how do we really focus on the pharma sector, which has already got a global stature and really built greater scale, to make us very very strong and competitive. Mazumdar-Shaw said the industry also drew attention on the "pain points" that it faces "in terms of harmonisation that needs to take place between what DGFT is doing and what actually happens at customs, ports and others". "Pharma sector grew 10 per cent. We realised that there are some sectors, which have grown and some are impacted severely but on an average we need to focus to be more globally competitive," she added. She, however, acknowledged that the Commerce Ministry and DGFT are trying to focus on these pain points and doing away with unnecessary regulations, transaction costs and that kind of things. When asked if Indian pharma firms have been targeted by the USFDA with many domestic drug makers being red flagged, she replied in the negative. "I don't think so, there are enough companies which are US companies also that get warning letters. So we should not think like that. The number of companies here in India are so many and the frequency of auditing is becoming so frequent," she said. "Many companies continue to have a very good record and I think some have been unfortunate," she added. Mazumdar-Shaw reiterated that companies must focus on compliance with all the regulatory agencies. Hitting back at BJP's accusations that Assam's Congress government has been protecting infiltrators, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi today wondered why the NDA government at the Centre did not issue showcause notice to him. Gogoi asked why the BJP government at the Centre, in the last two years, had not discussed the infiltration issue with him and showcause him for allowing trans-border illegal migration and giving protection to infiltrators. "When the matter is so serious, why bring it out only before elections? It was the responsibility of your Himanta Biswas Sarma who was Assam Accord Implementation Minister in my government to deport illegal migrants. If there are so many foreigners in Assam, why Himanta as minister gave protection to them?" he said. "I have not given shelter any Bangladeshi. I don't need their votes. It is my constitutional duty to give protection to Indian citizens. It is I who has gone for updation of the National Register of Citizens for identifying illegal migrants," he pointed out. Gogoi claimed that it was only during his 15-year tenure and not by then Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani that the Indo-Bangladesh border fencing was done, the boundary sealed and riverine police introduced to stop infiltration. Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gogoi said the PM has stopped uttering his 'Achhe din' slogan as he failed to do anything that could bring 'good days'. "Now (Narendra) Modi has stopped uttering his 'Achhe din' slogan. In the last two years, he has failed to bring prices down, provide employment, deport illegal Bangladeshi migrants," Gogoi said. "Rather, he gave away Assam's land to Bangladesh, and prices of medicines have gone up," he told reporters. "BJP wants to bring change only through false propaganda and slogans. In the last Lok Sabha elections, Modi gave the slogan of 'achhe din' and enticed voters through false promises to win. This time (for Assam election) too, their tactics is the same," he said. The Chief Minister said BJP is giving the same slogan of infiltration in Assam, migrants snatching away land and jobs. Accusing BJP of being a party of slogans, he said "Sometimes it is 'India Shining', and sometimes it is 'Achhe din', 'Start up', and 'Stand up'. Its alliance partner AGP's slogan is 'Golden Assam'. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today cleared the proposal of American Tower Corporation (ATC) to acquire 51 per cent stake in Viom Networks for Rs 5,856.51 crore as the firm pledged an investment of USD 2 billion in India. "Singapore-based mobile tower company ATC Asia Pacific has decided to make an investment of Rs 5,856.51 crore to buy 51 per cent stake in Indian company Viom Networks. ATC Asia Pacific is a wholly-owned subsidiary of American Tower Corp. This is another important decision taken today by CCEA," Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad today said. The company is keen to participate in a big way in initiatives like Digital India as it considers India as a big market in terms of communications. ATC President and CEO James D Taiclet Jr met Prasad yesterday and conveyed the intention to invest more in India. "Chief of ATC James Taiclet... Has assured me that they will invest USD 2 billion more because India in terms of communications is a very big emerging market," Prasad said. ATC in October 2015 announced to buy 51 per cent stake in Viom, which owns and operates about 42,200 towers and has another 1,000 mobile phone masts under construction, from Tata Teleservices and SREI Infrastructure Finance. Under the agreement, ATC may also acquire or be required to acquire all or a portion of the remaining 49 per cent ownership stake in Viom. Also, as a pre-condition for the deal, ATC's existing 14,000 telecom mobile masts will be merged with Viom. This will result "in certain ownership adjustments", the statement said without elaborating. Tata Teleservices Ltd owns 54 per cent of Viom while the Kolkata-based SREI Group of Kanoria family holds 18.5 per cent with management control. Singapore state investor GIC, Macquarie SBI Infrastructure Fund, Oman Investment Fund and India's IDFC Private Equity are other investors in the company. ATC will buy all of SREI's 18.50 per cent stake and will also acquire stake from other shareholders. "Tata Teleservices stake will come down to about 34 per cent from the current 54 per cent now and further it would reduce to 26 per cent after ATC merges its Indian business with Viom," said Sunil Kanoria, Vice-Chairman of SREI Infrastructure Finance. IDFC's private equity division will bring down its holding to 3.2 per cent while PE fund SBI-Macquarie will retain its 11 per cent stake. Viom was formed in 2009 as a result of merger of mobile towers of Tata Teleservices and Quippo Telecom -- a unit under the SREI Group. Government is "dilly-dallying" for over a year in deciding whether the CMD of SPMCIL, which produces bank notes, coins, postage stamps, non-judicial stamps and other government documents, should continue in the post. "Who is stopping you (government) from taking a decision? You have been dilly-dallying for over a year now. You all seem to be hand-in-glove," a bench of justices Badar Durrez Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said after the Centre sought six more weeks to come back with a decision. "We gave you four weeks on last date (March 2) after you said a decision will be taken in that time. Yet you have not done anything. Now you ask for six more weeks," the bench said and "we thought government would take a decision by now". It refused to grant the time sought by the government and listed the matter for arguments on April 27. The court was hearing a PIL challenging the appointment and extension of tenure of M S Rana, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL). During the brief hearing, advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Ramakant Dixit, alleged before the court that Rana was "completely ineligible" for the post and he managed to get appointed by falsely claiming eligibility. Bhushan said Rana has been heading the SPMCIL, a sensitive organisation, despite several enquiries pending against him. The lawyer also said that in 2014, government had sent a proposal saying Rana's tenure be not extended. However, no steps were taken thereafter and the official was continuing on extension even now. Rana's lawyer refuted the allegations and said he had been cleared by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC). The lawyer argued that if the government has not yet taken a decision it cannot be held against him, to which the court said,"You completed your tenure. So you could have left on your own." To this, Rana's lawyer said his client was eligible for extension as per government rules. Rana's lawyer also said that the PIL was filed by a competitor who was "eyeing" the post of CMD of SPMCIL. The court had earlier asked the government why a person with even a "slight taint" be heading the SPMCIL. It had also asked the government on what grounds Rana's tenure which had ended in March 2014 was being extended and that the Finance Ministry had refused to extend it. The government had told the court that Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by the Prime Minister was looking into the matter of the CMD's extension and it is yet to decide. However, till date no decision has been communicated to the court by the government. Dixit in his PIL has contended that Rana had sought appointment as a government servant and according to the rules prevalent at that time, he was not eligible for an extension. Dixit has also argued that at the time of Rana's appointment in 2009, he was not eligible for the post. The petition has also claimed that Rana was appointed without the requisite clearance from the CVC and sought an order removing him from office as well as a declaration that his appointment was void ab-initio. The Cabinet today more than tripled the funding for exports to Iran to Rs 3,000 crore through the Export Development Fund (EDF) of the Exim Bank with a view to improving bilateral trade and strategic ties. The proposal will step up the country's exports to Iran and deepen India's relationship as a strategic partner, said an official statement after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The approval is for increasing the framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and a consortium of Iranian banks led by Central Bank of Iran for financing the purchase of goods and services from India to Rs 3,000 crore, from Rs 900 crore. This will be done by utilising EDF. "The proposal provides for domiciling two contracts of export of steel rails by STC and for the Chabahar Port Development project previously approved by the Cabinet under EDF," said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Exim Bank and seven Iranian Banks led by Central Bank of Iran had negotiated a framework agreement in November 2014 for financing the purchase of goods and services from India by Iranian entities to the tune of Rs 900 crore under the EDF. The increase in quantum to Rs 3,000 crore will enable the Exim bank to provide buyer's credit facility to Iran secured via sovereign guarantee from Iran for the exports. "This will provide an opportunity to Indian companies to penetrate and enhance their footprint in Iran, along with facilitating the growing trade and investment with Iran. This will also help in employment generation and development of ancillary activity in India," the statement said. Sounding a note of caution on free trade pacts, ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar today said there should be "greater thinking" while signing FTAs as they have yielded more benefits to India's partner countries. At the Board of Trade meeting here, she said India has made good progress around FTAs but "greater thinking" is required around those pacts. "If we just look at the performance. We were analysing that between 2005-12, the FTAs that we have signed with various countries, while our exports have grown but our imports from those countries have grown more. So, actually our partner countries have benefited more from us. So when we sign the FTAs we should see what are our competitive sectors like services and we can give them more weightage," she said. India has so far implemented FTAs with countries like Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Asean. It is negotiating several such pacts with nations like the EU, Australia and New Zealand. Kochhar, who is member of the Board of Trade, also said that India needs to make up its mind about the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), a mega trade deal among 12 countries, including the US. "We need to protect our interests," she said. Industry has raised concerns about the possible impact of TPP on India's trade. Talking about overall exports, she said the entire world is slowing down both for exports and imports. India needs to make its exports more competitive amid slowing global demand and depreciating currencies, she said, adding, "I think we have to pick up some sectors where we can make India the global hub in the entire value chain and the most important sector to pick up should be electronics". "Being the second largest imported good in India, if we can just take one of this sector as champion sector...We will actually produce in the country for consumption in India to start with later of course exports and create huge amount of employment," she added. Suggesting steps on financing for exports, Kochhar said the entire export credit line in India are still much smaller in terms of scale compared to many other exporting countries. "Today even the pre-shipment credit has entire obligations of SLR and CRR which add to cost of that credit. So if we can even have pre-shipment credit qualify for non-application of CRR and SLR, I think that cost of funding for the exporters could be much lower," she said. She also called for making the entire export credit part of priority sector lending as it can incentivise banks to provide more export credit. "Today all the export credit that foreign banks do, it qualifies for priority sector classification but the funding of export credit that Indian banks do does not qualify for it," she said. She also said that there is a need to make the entire exercise, right from invoice to duty drawback, done digitally. An advertisement by Italian couture house, Gucci, has been banned in the UK for allegedly showing an 'unhealthily thin' model. A video was run on the Times website in December 2015, along with still images, featuring models waving their arms about at a dance party. Apart from the 'party' looking a bit odd, the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) took issue with one of the women in particular, who they said looked 'gaunt', reported Metro. The model in question was photographed leaning against the wall in a long printed dress. Someone filed a formal complaint against the ad, saying it was irresponsible to feature such a thin model - and the ASA agreed. "We considered that her torso and arms were quite slender and appeared to be out of proportion with her head and lower body," the regulator said. "Further, her pose elongated her torso and accentuated her waist so that it appeared to be very small. We also considered that her sombre facial expression and dark make up, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. For those reasons, we considered that the model leaning against the wall appeared to be unhealthily thin in the image, and therefore concluded that the ad was irresponsible." Gucci said it "didn't show any models' bones." But the couture house told the ASA the model was not too thin, but instead "toned and slim". It argued that "nowhere in the ads were any models' bones visible, [and] their make up was natural rather than heavy." Despite Gucci apparently taking care not to show any models' bones, the fashion brand was told that the ad must not appear again in its current form. Three years after the introduction of the National Food Security Act, the Gujarat government today implemented it across the state re-christening it as "Maa Annapurna Yojna", drawing the ire of Congress which accused the BJP of hijacking their pet programme. "Maa Annapurna Yojna", was simultaneously launched from all the districts of the state on the BJP Foundation Day today, with Chief Minister Anandiben Patel seeking to give credit for the scheme to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and urging people to retain the government which brings such pro-poor schemes, keeping in mind the 2017 state elections. Opposition Congress accused the BJP of "hijacking their pet programme", saying that only the party of Modi and Patel can do such a thing blatantly. They said that it was only after Supreme Court reprimand that the state is implementing the Food Security Act. "When Congress was ruling this state, only 1.88 crore people were given food-grains at subsidised rates prior to 1995. Now, under this Maa Annapurna Yojna, 3.82 crore people of Gujarat will be benefited. Each of them will get rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg," said Patel in her address without mentioning once that it was a previous UPA act which she was implementing. She even slammed past Congress governments in Gujarat for "not understanding the pain of poor citizens". "Out of 35 kg given at subsidised rates during Congress rule, only 16 kg of food-grain was given at those rates, while for the remaining 19 kg, government used to charge Rs 7.70. Now, PM Modi removed this condition and has announced to give the entire 35 kg of food-grain at subsidised rates," she said. Patel claimed that Modi is the first PM of India who took care of poor citizens. "Due to efforts of Modiji, many poor citizens, including widows and those farmers who lost their crops, are now covered under this scheme and they no longer have to worry about feeding their families. No other PM has thought about poor people in the past," claimed Patel. Though the implementation of the Act started in Gujarat from April 1, it was officially launched by the CM on the foundation day of BJP today. Other ministers simultaneously launched the scheme from different parts of state today. As 2017 Assembly elections are approaching, Patel indirectly made an appeal to the people to vote for BJP, as she claimed that such pro-poor government should be retained for years to come. "I believe that people should make sure that such pro-poor government remains in power for many years to come, so that we can serve the needy citizens," she said. Reacting strongly about the renaming of the Act by the BJP-led state government, senior Congress leader and MLA Shaktisinh Gohil said that it is an old habit of BJP to change names of schemes launched by Congress-led government at the Centre and claim credit for it. He even slammed Patel for indicating that the food scheme for poor citizens was envisioned by Modi. "Only a BJP leader can utter such a blatant lie while sitting on such a high position. It is an indisputable fact that Food Security Act was brought by the Congress-led UPA government, not by BJP," said Gohil. "Changing name of Central schemes and taking undue credit is an old practice of the Gujarat Government. Earlier, they even tried to take credit for 108-ambulance scheme, which was actually initiated and funded by the Central government," said Gohil. "The Gujarat government failed to implement this Act in time and even faced the wrath of Supreme Court, which asked the state whether it was part of India or not. This practice of changing name of the scheme and telling lie is an highly condemnable act," added Gohil. Gujarat Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said the issue would be explained to the electorate ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections. "BJP should look into the past, as Modi, as the CM of Gujarat, once wrote a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the implementation of Food Security Act, as Modi was against it. Now, as elections are approaching here, they are taking credit and renaming it to misguide people," said Doshi. "We will take up this issue among the masses and tell them about how hard Congress worked for the implementation of this Act. Our workers will also see that no eligible citizens are left behind," added Doshi. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel on Wednesday officially launched the state-wide implementation of National Food Security Act, which has been renamed as 'Maa Annapurna Yojna (Scheme)' by the state government. Though the Food Security Act was passed during the UPA regime at the Centre, Patel, in her speech at a grand launching function at Sanathal village near here, did not mention anything about the Act and sought to give all credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who according to Patel, envisioned the scheme. "When Congress was ruling this state, only 1.88 crore people were given food-grains at subsidised rates prior to 1995. Now, under this Maa Annapurna Yojna, 3.82 crore people of will be benefited. Each of them will get rice at Rs 3 per Kg and wheat at Rs 2 per Kg," said Patel. She even slammed past Congress governments in for "not understanding the pain of poor citizens". "Out of 35 kg given at subsidised rates during Congress rule, only 16 kg of food-grain was given at those rates, while for the remaining 19 kg, government used to charge Rs 7.70. Now, PM Modi removed this condition and has announced to give the entire 35 kg of food-grain at subsidised rates," she said. Patel claimed that Modi is the first PM of India who took care of poor citizens. "Due to efforts of Modiji, many poor citizens, including widows and those farmers who lost their crops, are now covered under this scheme and they no longer have to worry about feeding their families. No other PM has thought about poor people in the past," said Patel. Though the implementation of the Act started in Gujarat from April 1, it was officially launched by the CM on the foundation day of BJP on Wednesday. Other ministers have simultaneously launched the scheme from different parts of state on Wednesday. In her speech, Patel appealed to the citizens to come forward in withdrawing their names from the list of beneficiaries if they are well-off and do not need the food-grain at subsidised rates. The humble chair JK Rowling sat on while writing the first two books of the Harry Potter series was auctioned in New York City today for USD 394,000. An anonymous private collector made the winning bid, Heritage Auctions said. The chair is one of four mismatched chairs given to the then little-known writer for her flat in Edinburgh, Scotland, and which she used while writing "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." The seller, Gerald Gray, of Worsley, England, said the winning bid far exceeded his expectations. The unassuming 1930s-era oak chair with a replacement burlap seat decorated with a red thistle sat in front of Rowling's typewriter when she was "writing two of the most important books of the modern era," said James Gannon, director of rare books at Heritage Auctions. The chair was auctioned before - once by Rowling herself to benefit a charity in 2002 where it fetched USD 21,000, and on eBay in 2009 where it brought USD 29,000. "I plan to donate 10 per cent to JK Rowling's charity, Lumos, because that's what she did in the first place," said Gray, a businessman who runs an automobile speed control equipment company in Manchester, England, and in Sarasota, Florida, called AutoKontrol. He said he would like to see the new buyer display it somewhere where children could see it, perhaps in a museum or theme park. He bought the chair in 2009 after his daughter, a Harry Potter fan, saw it on eBay. Before Rowling donated the chair to the "Chair-rish a Child" auction in support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in 2002, she painted the words "You may not/find me pretty/but don't judge/on what you see" on the stiles and splats. She also signed the backrest in gold and rose colours and wrote "I wrote/Harry Potter/while sitting/on this chair" on the seat. The word "Gryffindor," the Hogwarts house of Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, is spelled out on a cross stretcher. The chair is accompanied by an original typed and signed letter Rowling wrote prior to the first auction. It reads: "Dear new-owner-of-my-chair. I was given four mismatched dining room chairs in 1995 and this was the comfiest one, which is why it ended up stationed permanently in front of my typewriter, supporting me while I typed out 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone' and 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets'. My nostalgic side is quite sad to see it go, but my back isn't. JK Rowling. India has taken up at a "very high level" with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar as designated terrorist by the UN, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said today. Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a "backing and forthing" on the issue with the Chinese. "My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of very high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese," Jaishankar said. He was replying to a question during an interaction on India's position on China blocking for the second time country's bid at the UN to get Azhar banned. At the same time, he indicated that the issue was not going affect India's relationship with China in other areas. "This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context. I would not like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We have had a backing and forthing with them on this issue. We have to wait and see where this goes," he said. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India's efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, that has veto powers, did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again. Last July, China had similarly halted India's move in the UN to take action against Pakistan for its release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying its stand was "based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness" with Beijing again claiming at the time that it was in touch with New Delhi. Asked about the border issue with China, the Foreign Secretary said if capabilities are more "one sided", there is a greater temptation to disturb the status quo. "So to the extent capabilities are better balanced, the status quo is better preserved. "Balancing capabilities on our end, certainly requires better infra, better equipment, better preparation... So I think that is very much the focus of what is today the policy within the government," he said. China, which claims Arunachal Pradesh is part of Southern Tibet, says that the border dispute is confined to 2,000 km mostly in the northeastern state. However, India asserts that the dispute covers the western side of the border, spanning to about 4,000 km including Aksai Chin area in Ladakh occupied by China in the 1962 war. About overall ties with China, the Foreign Secretary said the considerable potential of economic cooperation between the two countries is beginning to get unlocked. The Allahabad High Court today asked the state government to file its reply by tomorrow on the petitions, filed separately by suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and advocate M N Rai, challenging the appointment of the Information Commissioners for the UP Information Commission. A division bench of Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi also directed the petitioners to file their reply to the said affidavit within three days. Earlier, the court had asked the state government to clarify about the procedure adopted by the three-member committee for screening of suitable persons to be choosen as information commissioners. The government was also asked to respond how 644 applications could be scrutinised by the committee within a short period of a meeting which started at 11 AM, and the recommendations sent on the same date. The state counsel submitted that the affidavit, that was directed to file, shall be served on the petitioners by Thursday. "Let the said affidavit be served by tomorrow, to which a reply will be filed with in three days. List in the next cause list," the court ordered. The Allahabad High Court, acting on separate petitions filed by suspended IPS officer Amitabh Thakur and advocate M N Rai challenging the appointment of the Information Commissioners for the UP Information Commission, today asked the state government to serve the reply by tomorrow. A division bench of Justice Amreshwar Pratap Sahi and Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi also directed the petitioners to file their replies to the government's response within three days. Earlier, the court had asked the state government to clarify about the procedure adopted by the three-member committee for screening the suitable persons to be choosen as Information Commissioners. The government was also asked to respond on how 644 applications could be scrutinized by the committee within a short period of a meeting which started at 11 am and the recommendations sent on the same date. The state counsel submitted that the affidavit, that was directed to be filed, shall be served on the petitioners by Thursday. "Let the said affidavit be served by tomorrow, to which a reply will be filed with in three days," the court ordered. The Gujarat High Court today asked the state government to file a reply by April 27 as to why the post of the chairman of the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) has remained vacant. Based on a PIL questioning the state government's delay in appointing the SHRC chief, the court had on January 15 served a notice to the government and asked it to file the reply by February 9. However, the government had failed to submit its reply on time. In its fresh order, the division bench of Chief Justice S Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi today asked the government to strictly adhere to the April 27 deadline. Government lawyers today orally submitted before the court that government had approached retired chief justices for the post but none of them expressed interest in it, which is why it could not be filled. The post has been lying vacant since October 16 last year. It was earlier held by Justice J N Bhatt who retired after turning 70. Only a retired chief justice can become the chairman of SHRC. Petitioner Chandravadan Dhruv had questioned the government's intention to keep the post of chairman of SHRC vacant and asked the respondents, including the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Home Minister and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to make the appointment to the post "on an urgent basis in larger public interest." "It is the moral responsibility of the honourable Governor to appoint a chairperson in the state and also to keep in view that the post of SHRC chairperson should not be vacant and also to keep in view that the main purpose of appointment of the chairperson may also be served," the PIL stated. Dhruv also said in his plea that retired judicial officer M H Shah, a member of SHRC, should have been given the charge instead of retired IPS officer Sudhir Sinha who is a non-judicial member of the Commission. Himachal Pradesh Government would write to the Centre to include the state in all Central Tourism schemes on priority basis, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said today. Replying to a discussion on a private member's resolution moved by Varinder Kanwar of BJP in the Assembly, Singh said the contribution of tourism to the State Gross Domestic Product (SGDP) was 9.5 per cent. "The government had formulated a policy in 2005 to encourage tourism and again in 2013 a policy was put in place for sustainable development of tourism," he said. "The new policy envisages restoration of build heritage in tourist destinations, providing basic infrastructure like parking, accommodation, tourist information centres and otherfacilities," the Chief Minister said, adding 35 places are being developed on these lines. A Rs 570 crore project, aided by Asian Development Bank, is being implemented to for taking up tourism development schemes at key places like Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala, Mandi, Chamba, Kangra, Sri Naina Devi, Brajeshwari Devi, Chamunda Devi, Maharana Pratap Sagar, Pong Dam, Singh said. Also a Rs 100 crore project has been submitted to the Centre for approval, he added. Earlier during question hour, Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmauri informed that House that the government has asked the Centre to authorise the Divisional Forest Officers (DFO) to give permit use of up to five hectares of forest land for non-forest purposes. To a question byRam Kumar of Congress, he said presently the DFOs are authorised to divert up to one hectare of land for public works subject to the condition that number of standing trees on the land is less than 75. Replying to a question, Revenue Minister Kaul Singh said the state government had sent report to the Centre informing it about loss of Rs 747.77 crore to the state due to excessive rains and floods but the release of relief amounting Rs 81.22 crore was awaited. With tension prevailing at NIT in Srinagar, a two-member team from the Union HRD ministry today held consultation with officials of the engineering institute even as outstation students put forth five demands including action against staff involved in "anti-national" activities. "The two-member team from the HRD ministry has arrived and is holding consultations with NIT officials," an official of the NIT said. A senior official said the HRD team which included Sanjeev Sharma, Director (Technical Education) in the HRD ministry and Deputy Director Finance Fazal Mehmood will also interact with the students of the institute to take stock of the situation. "The mandate is to build confidence amongst students and assure them about their safety," the official said. As the HRD team arrived here, Conference leader Omar Abdullah said the matter needs "tactful handling" and the state government should look into it "without back seat drivers". "Rushing in a team from HRD ministry coupled with the CRPF replacing J&K police speaks volumes about Delhi's confidence in Mehbooba Mufti," Omar wrote on Twitter On Friday last, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and outstation students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament. After the clashes, the NIT authorities had shut down the institute which was reopened yesterday. Unrest was witnessed again yesterday at the campus, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. In a letter to the management of dated April 4, the outstation students have listed five demands that, they feel, would enable them to peacefully reside at the campus and concentrate on their studies. "Due to the anti- activities rising in campus premises, students not local to Srinagar have faced serious problems as well as life threats. Due to the cold situation here, students are eager to reach their homes," the letter said. " Flag should be hoisted at main gate/fountain (The state flag may be hoisted as well)," the students demanded. The students alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir Police has not been able to provide security to them. "(It) rather has lathicharged the students and shot tear gas shells at them. Therefore, central forces should be engaged for the security of the students of NIT Srinagar," the students demanded. They also demanded "equality and transparency" during all examinations, events and activities held at the institute. and said "There should be no academic harassment by the faculty". The students said action should be taken "against faculty and administration members who are involved in anti-national activities and violence". A police official had said the students had heated arguments with the police personnel yesterday and they also allegedly shoved an officer, leading to lathicharge by the cops. Several students were injured in police action, prompting deployment of two columns of CRPF at the campus to prevent the situation from deteriorating. The state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation today said it has been "successful in carrying out multiple hydro-fracturing (HF) process" in its Deen Dayal West field in Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, which could yield around 50 MMSCFD gas initially. "GSPC has carried out four stages of HF successfully in one of the wells....After clean-up, the well is likely to be put under production in the first week of May 2016," the company said in a press release. In hydraulic fracturing, cracks are created in the deep-rock formations using high-pressure injection of 'fracking fluid' to extract natural gas, petroleum and brine. GSPC has to use a pressure of 13000 PSI (approximately 900 times more than the atmospheric pressure) and 300,000 pounds of proppant for each zone to be fractured. "Multiple HF ...At a depth of 5000 metres below sea bed is first of its kind in India and may be in global scenario," the company said. "This successful completion of the HF process is expected to stimulate replication by the other prominent gas players in the country in the similar environment," it said. A CAG report recently tabled in the Gujarat Assembly had called into question the company's investment of Rs 19,576 crore in its KG block project, stating that commercial production in the block was yet to start. The CAG also painted a gloomy picture of GSPC's finances, as its borrowing stood at Rs 19,716 crore as of March 2015, a jump of 177 percent since 2011. The company, CAG report said, borrowed heavily for KG block activities which did not yield due returns. The global scandal over hidden offshore accounts that brought down Iceland's prime minister has propelled the Pirate Party into position to seize power if a snap election is called, a poll showed today. Founded in 2012, the Pirate Party, a libertarian movement campaigning for more transparency in politics, Internet freedoms and copyright reform, garnered 43 per cent of voter support in a Gallup poll conducted Monday and Tuesday and published by daily Frettabladid and Channel 2 television. In the weeks prior to the leak of the so-called Panama Papers on public figures' offshore financial dealings, the Pirate Party had been credited with between 25 and 35 per cent. The poll suggested Iceland's junior coalition member, the rightwing Independence Party, would come in second place with 21.6 per cent, and the opposition Left Green Movement in third with 11.2 per cent. The centre-right Progressive Party of outgoing prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson garnered just 7.9 per cent, behind the opposition Social Democrats' 10.2 percent. "We owe a lot to our prime minister. This kind of scandal was unexpected," Pirate Party spokeswoman Sunna Arvarsdottir told AFP. Gunnlaugsson announced yesterday that he was stepping down from his post, becoming the first major political casualty to emerge from the Panama Papers scandal. His deputy, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, was to take over as acting prime minister for an "unspecified amount of time" -- either until the next scheduled general election in April 2017 or until a snap election is called. The leftwing opposition has insisted on an early election, noting that the finance and interior ministers, both of the Independence Party, have also been named in the Panama Papers. The documents revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and had placed millions of dollars of her inheritance there. The prime minister sold his 50-percent share of the company to his wife for a symbolic sum of $1 at the end of 2009, but he had neglected to declare the stake as required when he was elected to parliament six months earlier. Gunnlaugsson has said he regretted not having done so, but insisted he and his wife had followed Icelandic law and paid all their taxes in Iceland. The ICIJ noted only that he had "violated Iceland's ethics rules. People who are prone to seeking excitement and acting impulsively may have differences in the structure of their brains, which may also predispose them to substance abuse, a new study has found. Scientists found that increased impulsivity and sensation-seeking in healthy young adults was linked to distinct differences in their brain structures - the areas involved in decision-making and self-control had a thinner cortex, the brain's wrinkled outer layer or gray matter. Researchers from Yale University, Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital examined the variability in brain structure among 1,234 males and females aged 18 to 35 with no history of psychiatric disorders or substance dependence. Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they measured the size of particular regions of the brain for each participant. The participants also completed questionnaires assessing traits associated with sensation-seeking and impulsivity such as their need for novel and intense experiences, willingness to take risks, and a tendency to make rapid decisions. They also reported alcohol, tobacco and caffeine usage. Researchers found that people who reported seeking high levels of stimulation or excitement had reduced cortical thickness, or gray matter, in brain regions associated with decision making and self-control. The strongest links occurred in brain areas related to the ability to regulate emotions and behaviour, the anterior cingulate and middle frontal gyrus. Changes in those brain structures also correlated with participants' self-reported tendency to act on impulse and with heightened use of alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine. "The findings allow us to have a better understanding of how normal variation in brain anatomy in the general population might bias both temperamental characteristics and health behaviours, including substance abuse," said Avram Holmes from Yale University. The findings were published in The Journal of Neuroscience. Emerging economies like India, China and Brazil invested more in technologies last year than the developed world, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Kerry said for the first time in history, despite the low price of coal, oil, and gas more of the world's money was spent fostering energy technologies than was spent on new fossil fuel plants. "Over the past decade, the global energy market has expanded more than six fold. Last year, investment in renewable energy was at an all-time high - nearly $330 billion," Kerry said in his remarks at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit here yesterday. "That's a revolution. And make no mistake: This is not only happening in industrialised countries. In fact, emerging economies like China, India and Brazil invested even more in renewable technologies last year than the developed world," he said, adding that China alone invested more than $100 billion. Kerry also underscored the economic opportunities presented for American companies by India's plans to get almost half of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030. India plans to get 40 per cent of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030, he said, adding that this will require bringing 200 gigawatts of additional renewable power online. "Let me just add that American companies are already bidding on those projects - and frankly, winning large and lucrative deals," Kerry said. China too has set a target that will require the country to add between 800 and 1,000 gigawatts of non-fossil energy, he said. Kerry said that the cost of investing in clean energy was now far cheaper than paying for the consequences of climate change later and this is leading nations around the world to set their own ambitious emissions-target reductions. "Countries are now working to turn those pledges into real, on-the-ground action and concrete projects, and foster new directions for economic growth in a low-carbon future. And as we work together to achieve our targets, those betting on renewable energy are going to win big," Kerry said. Noting that the pledges being made by countries in renewable technologies is not "conjecture", Kerry said it was written right into the targets that even the world's largest developing and fossil fuel-dependent economies have already announced. "We are seeing a global surge, and as a result, in many places, clean energy has already reached cost parity with fossil fuels. And more and more people are directly reaping the economic benefits of this boom," Kerry said. "7.7 million people around the world are currently employed by the renewable energy industry - and more than a million of those jobs have been added since 2014," he added. A United Nations-backed report released last month had said that India and China led the developing nations in investments made in renewable energy last year. India is on the verge of "astounding" itself and the world as it is passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship and is experiencing a "growing vibrancy", a top American diplomat has said. "India is on the verge of astounding itself and the world. And the United States is ready to be a stakeholder and partner in that future," Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Charles H Rivkin said here yesterday. Rivkin had recently led a high-powered US delegation that included representations from corporate sector to India on the American Innovation Roadshow to promote economic growth. The road show was on four Indian cities - New Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. "I was so impressed by what I saw," Rivkin said in his remarks to Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank. "In every incubator we visited, members of our delegation, especially the solar companies, identified tangible commercial and investment opportunities," Rivkin said. Special US Representative for Commercial and Business Affairs at the State Department Ziad Haider was also part of the delegation. "In every meeting, I experienced in a very refreshing way exactly what binds our two countries together: a shared passion for innovation and entrepreneurship. In fact, Americans and Indian entrepreneurs have become part of a shared culture that reveres innovation," Rivkin said. "It's critical that we continue to support these people-to-people ties between our countries, and this growing vibrancy, not only in the clean energy space but across all sectors," Rivkin said adding that the Modi government has set a target to reach 175-gigawatts of renewable energy by 2022. With 80 per cent of the required infrastructure yet to be built, this is a significant opportunity for American companies and research institutions to showcase innovative technological solutions to environmental challenges, Rivkin said. Sharing his experience of meetings with the Chief Ministers of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Telangana Minister for Information Technology, Rivkin said that they were all eager for private investment. Referring to the recent decisions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increasingly devolve federal funding to the States and encouraging them to actively compete with one another in a "race to the top" for foreign investment, Rivkin said this new dynamic was evident in their conversations with State leaders. "They stressed their commitment to protecting intellectual property rights for investors and entrepreneurs. And they made it clear that they were eager to help steer India away from carbon fuels to a cleaner, sustainable future," he said, adding that the stakes for these States were enormous. Many of these States have populations that outnumber major countries - and the large scale needs that go with that. They not only have the motivation, they have the autonomy to do something about it, Rivkin said. Country's oilmeals exports dropped by 52 per cent to 11.84 lakh tonnes in financial year 2015-16 as against 24.65 lakh tonnes in the previous year, due to sharp fall in soyabean shipments, industry body SEA said today. In value terms, the exports fell by 65 per cent to Rs 1,510 crore as compared to Rs 4,298 crore in the 2014-15 period. "Lower production of soyabean coupled with high price in domestic market resulted in to drastic fall in crushing, leading to disparity in export of soyabean meal," the Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) said in a statement. Exports to South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Iran, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia drastically reduced in 2015-16 due to price disparity owing to severe competition from other origins including China and Argentina. India lost Vietnam market for soyabean meal due to stiff competition from other origins and increased availability from domestic crushing of imported soyabean, it said. The country has totally lost the European market. Even Iran has shifted soyabean meal buying from India to other countries, while Bangladesh -- which largely imported soyabean meal and rapeseed meal from India -- has now moved to import of soyabean for domestic crushing. Similarly, Pakistan has also started importing soyabean apart from rapeseed for domestic crushing, SEA added. As per the SEA data, soyabean meal exports has dropped to 70,820 tonnes in 2015-16 fiscal from 6,59,593 tonnes, while rapeseed meal shipments fell to 3,31,201 tonnes from 10,67,159 tonnes in the said period. Export of castorseed meal has fallen slightly to 4,56,319 tonnes in 2015-16 from 4,58,406 tonnes in the year-ago. Even groundnut meal exports fell to 1,102 tonnes from 3013 tonnes in the said period. However, the shipment of rice bran extraction increased to 3,24,999 tonnes in 2015-16 from 2,77,492 tonnes in the previous year, the data showed. Oilmeals export to South Koren fell by 24.29 per cent to 7,08,276 tonnes in 2015-16 as against 9,35,508 tonnes in the previous year. The shipments to Vietnam fell by 23 per cent to 2,85,165 tonnes from 3,27,128 tonnes in the said period. Exports to other destinations like Thailand and Taiwan also dropped during the 2015-16. The leading Indian banks have the capacity to launch a South Asian Shariah Fund to capitalize the region's untapped market for Islamic finance which requires multi-billion dollars of financing annually. "The whole South Asian market is really untapped for the Islamic finance. In these markets, Indian stocks would be the top fifty (for investments)," said Ariff Sultan, regional director for Asia Pacific at the US-based global Shariah compliance product screening group, IdealRatings. Indian banks are in a position to lead the Shariah fund for the region, given their global network which includes facilitating Islamic banking and financing in one way or another, observed Sultan after addressing the 'Islamic Banking & Investment Asia/Middle East Congress 2016' being held in Singapore 5-6 April. Sultan noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's wide range of business and investment discussions during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia. The kingdom has announced USD2 trillion Public Investment Fund, which adds to similarly huge funds available in Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Dubai among other global investors that are seeking business opportunities in India, he pointed out. Sultan said IdealRatings has been approached by a number of Islamic Banking-linked investors to screen opportunities for placing their funds in the Indian market. But there are regulatory restrictions. He hoped that Prime Minister Modi would consider amending these restrictions and allow Islamic funds into India, which along with China, leads as growth engines for Asian economies. "The Islamic funds are going into China via Hong Kong but are not able to reach India," said Sultan of the estimated USD2 trillion investment funds under the Islamic Banking network now seeking cross-border investment opportunities both in muslim and non-muslim markets. Islamic banking system is just another model of interest free but fee-based funding that are going global, said Sultan, a Singaporean of Indian origin and a 25-year veteran of the financial institutions. "With pro-growth, pro-poor, and financial stability characteristics, an internationalisation of Islamic finance may unleash true economic growth potential in jurisdictions where it is either established or finding its way," said Ijlal Alvi, chief executive of the International Islamic Financial Market. Riding on the global success of sukuk, issuance of which has reached USD767 billion end of last year, Islamic Banks are working on new products including Shariah compliant FX forward, Islamic cross currency swap, market risk participation agreement in addressing market needs and risk management tools, he said. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today said PSU major Indian Oil Corporation was going to spend Rs 20,000 crore for brownfield expansion of its refinery near here. "IOC's Gujarat Refinery here has been asked to jump directly from BS IV to the more stringent BS VI norms for petrol and diesel, so that cleaner transport fuels become available sooner to bring down vehicular emissions," the Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas said after visiting the refinery. He told PTI that the Gujarat Refinery was expanding capacity to 18 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) from the existing 13.7 MTPA. The expansion is expected to be commissioned in 2020. "After the expansion, it will become the refinery with largest capacity for the company," the Union Minister said. Pradhan also said he would be visiting Iran on April 9, and was looking to expand energy ties with that country. The agenda of the visit includes ONGC's participation in developing the Farzad-b gas field, buying additional crude oil and settling pending payments for earlier oil purchased from Iran, he said. "I will also discuss projects including petrochemicals and fertiliser plants in the special economic zone at Chabahar port in Iran," he said. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit Iran later this month, he said. With changes in the geopolitical situation, India is in a better position to source natural gas and LPG from Iran and oil and gas from Russia, he said. "Post-sanctions Iran provides a huge opportunity for India for sourcing natural gas which would increase the availability of CNG and cooking gas in the country," he added. The Minister also said that "as part of India's drive towards self-sufficiency, the Centre is considering to incentivise gas production from deep-water, ultra deep-water and high pressure-high temperature areas, which are presently not exploited on account of higher cost and higher risks. "It is the desire of the PM to reduce import of crude oil by 10 per cent by 2022 when country will be celebrating its 75th independence day on August 15 2022," he added. A bronze bust of ancient Indian mathematician and astronomer Aryabhatta has been unveiled at the UNESCO Headquarters here. The bust, sculpted by renowned Indian sculptor Ram Sutar, was unveiled yesterday by HRD Minister Smriti Irani. She was in the French capital to attend the high-level segment of the 'International Conference on Zero' held from April 4-5. Sutar was recently awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian awards in India, for his contribution to the world of art. The two-day conference, organised by the Permanent Delegation of India to UNESCO, was held to share the rich and remarkable history of mathematics through participation of some of the brilliant minds, resonating with the UNESCO's mandate to advance, transfer and share knowledge for the greater global good. Expressing anguish over the move to recite "Hanuman chalisa" at an AIDS awareness programme, the Bombay High Court has asked the BJP-ruled Nagpur Municipal Corporation if, according to it, "India is for Hindus only". The Nagpur bench of the court, while hearing a PIL yesterday, asked NMC "whether India is for Hindus only" and expressed strong reservations over the plan to recite 'Hanuman Chalisa' at its AIDS awareness event, in association with Poddareshwar Ram Mandir Trust. The event is planned at Kasturchand Park ground here tomorrow. "Why only recital of Hanuman Chalisa and why not from Quran, the Bible or other religious literature? What is the nexus of AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa recital? Is it only Hindus who contract AIDS? Is chanting of Hanuman Chalisa the only remedy for eradication of this deadly disease? the division bench of justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi said. "If people can come for this event, they will also come for recitation of Quran and Bible," they observed. The judges disposed of the PIL filed by former corporator Janardan Moon, after both the NMC and programme convener Dayashankar Tiwari, who is the ruling party's leader in the civic body, agreed to disassociate with the two events (AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa event), and pay the cost of stage and ground (used for the event) on pro-rata basis. The judges asked the respondents (NMC and the temple trust) to keep at least an hour's gap between the AIDS awareness programme and the Hanuman Chalisa recitation, which over 1.5 lakh people are expected to attend. The court further directed to ensure that separate banners are put up backstage during both the programmes, with individual names of organisers. The NMC was also asked to give wide publicity to its AIDS awareness programme, without mentioning the Hanuman Chalisa event. "We dispose the PIL after accepting statements of NMC and Tiwari, that they would totally disassociate with Hanuman Chalisa recital and only hold AIDS programme," the court said. The judges said that they were not against any religious programme, but only concerned with government agencies associating with it. An Israeli parole board today rejected disgraced former President Moshe Katsav's plea for his early release after he was imprisoned for seven years on charges of rape and other sexual offences, saying he was not remorseful towards his victims. A parole board rejected 70-year-old Katsav's bid for an early release that came up for discussion last Sunday. "He expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes," the justice ministry said in a statement. The former Israeli President'slawyer said that his client intends to appeal the parole board's decision. Katsav who was President of Israel between 2000 and 2007, was convicted in 2010 on charges of rape, commission of an indecent act by force, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice. He was jailed for seven years. Last week, he appeared before the parole board at a hearing and pleaded to reduce his prison term by a third. Ha'aretz quoted sources in the prosecution as saying that the former President deemed two counts of rape a mere "misunderstanding on the women's part" during the hearing on Sunday. Katsav is said to have argued that he said he had a relationship with both the women, and because they were young and inexperienced they didn't understand the nature of a relationship and misinterpreted his acts. He also reportedly said that he was willing to apologise for a misunderstanding, not for rape. This is said to have strengthened the prosecution's view that Katsav doesn't understand the "gravity" of what he did, and therefore doesn't deserve parole. Assailing the main complainant, his lawyer in his argument reportedly said that she was currently married with children and therefore clearly hadn't suffered by his client's acts. Katsav's continued imprisonment served nothing but vengeance, he is said to have emphasised. The lawyer also reportedly accused the complainant of intentionally humiliating Katsav in her statements to the media and, like his client, claimed the two counts of rape amounted to a "misinterpreted hug". The state has opposed Katsav's request on the grounds that he has never admitted to the offenses for which he was convicted and hadn't expressed remorse for his actions. Granting parole under such circumstances, the prosecution argued,would send the wrong message to victims of sexual offences and could damage public's faith in the judicial system. A Japanese air force plane with six people aboard went missing today, the defence ministry announced, and a search was under way in mountainous terrain. The U-125 aircraft left a base in Kagoshima prefecture on Kyushu island in southwestern Japan in the early afternoon, said Yoshiyuki Sugiyama, head of the Air Self-Defence Force. The small jet "disappeared from the radar", Sugiyama told a press briefing. Public broadcaster NHK showed footage of helicopters searching forest-covered mountains for the aircraft, while military and emergency vehicles rushed towards the area. Japan's only two working nuclear reactors can remain online after a court rejected an appeal by residents who said safety rules following the 2011 Fukushima disaster were inadequate, the operator confirmed today. The court ruling was a victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who plans to bring back atomic energy, five years after a series of meltdowns at the Fukushima plant. The catastrophe led to the closure of all nuclear reactors in the resource-poor country, forcing it to turn to expensive fossil fuels. The Miyazaki branch of the Fukuoka High Court on the southern island of Kyushu ruled today that the No 1 and No 2 reactors at the Sendai power plant should be allowed to stay online, Rei Fujimoto, spokesman for operator Kyushu Electric Power Co, confirmed. A court spokesman refused to comment. Residents argued that Kyushu Electric has underestimated the scale of potential earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that could hit the region and claimed government safety standards were inadequate. They plan to appeal the case in the Supreme Court, Japan's Jiji Press reported. The Fukushima meltdowns were sparked by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake-generated tsunami on March 11, 2011. The disaster triggered the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, bred distrust and fuelled widespread protests. Yoshihide Suga, the government's top spokesman, told a press conference on Wednesday that new safety standards are "the world's toughest" and the government had no intention of changing its stance on restarting reactors. But environmental group Greenpeace criticised the decision in a statement, saying the court "failed to order the shutdown" of the operating reactors "despite evidence of severe earthquake and volcano risks at the plant". Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority, which approved the restarts under the new safety rules, "is failing to apply lessons of Fukushima and protect the people of Japan", Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace senior nuclear specialist, said in the statement. The latest legal decision comes after a Kyushu district court in April 2015 ruled that the two reactors should be allowed to restart under the post-Fukushima safety regulations. In August, the No 1 reactor became the first unit to come online under the new standards, followed by the No 2 reactor in October. The Sendai reactors are the only two operating in the country after a court in March ordered the shutdown of two nuclear reactors in central Japan. Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today requested the Centre to increase the quota of Haj pilgrims from the state, saying at least 4,500 should be allowed as more than 17,000 have applied. He has written a letter to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj with the request, a release from his office said. Noting that there are 44.74 lakh Muslims in Telangana, Rao said only a quota comprising 2,532 has been allocated though more than 17,000 have applied. At least 4,500 should be allowed for Haj pilgrimage from Telangana, it added. Last year, about 1.5 lakh Indians took part in the annual Haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. John Kerry is now the most traveled secretary of state in US history, breaking the record as he arrived in the Middle East kingdom of Bahrain today. The trip pushed Kerry past 1.06 million miles as America's top diplomat, narrowly beating Condoleezza Rice by about 1,000 miles. Rice, who was secretary of state under President George W. Bush, held the previous mark with 1.059 million miles. Kerry eclipsed Hillary Clinton's mileage tally in December. With 10 months left before a new president takes office, Kerry is showing no signs of tempering his hectic travel schedule. He flew to the Mideast yesterday from New York after attending an energy conference, stopping in Ireland to refuel. He plans to visit Japan later in the week. With no immediate plans to leave the State Department, Kerry could easily pad his new record by hundreds of thousands of miles before departing government. The former Massachusetts senator and former Democratic presidential nominee has spent more than 2,300 hours - or 96 days - in the air since becoming secretary of state in February 2013. He has spent parts of 467 different days on his well-worn government plane. One record eludes Kerry still: Clinton's 112 countries visited on the job. Having shuttled regularly between several favorite destinations - including Paris, London and Jerusalem - Kerry had only been to 80 countries. Bahrain makes 81. Kerry's visit to the capital of Manama is the first by an American secretary of state since demonstrations by the kingdom's Shiite majority in 2011. Saudi and Emirati troops helped put down the protests, though discontent continues to this day. Human rights groups chastise Bahrain's Sunni rulers for repression and discrimination. Kerry will raise human rights concerns when he meets top officials from Bahrain and the Persian Gulf region's other Sunni monarchies countries tomorrow. But the focus will be on battling the Islamic State and shared concerns over Iran. Hitting out at the PDP-BJP government for the police lathicharge on outstation students in NIT Kashmir, a body representing Kashmiri Pandits today said it's an "eye-opener" for the Centre and demanded assurance from the Prime Minister on safety of the students in the Valley. All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) will send a delegation to Srinagar to support and instill confidence among the non-Kashmiri NIT students, APMCC Chairman, Vinod Pandit told reporters here. "We demand intervention and reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the safety and security of the non-Kashmiri students studying in NIT Srinagar following use of the brute force by the police," he said. The PM needs to assure the nation and parents of the students about their safety when protectors have become "tormentors" in Kashmir for them, he said. He hit out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her Deputy Nirmal Singh for the use of force by the police. "The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister should also explain why action have not been taken against the police," he asked and demanded the officers responsible should be suspended. "Is waving national flag a crime in Jammu and Kashmir to be punished by police cane-charge? BJP and the Modi government should explain it and clarify their stand," Pandit said. He said that besides the APMCC leadership, top leaders representing the community including Swami Kumar Ji of Geeta Satsang, M K Yogi, President of Martand Tirath Trust, Ravinder Raina of All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) will go to Kashmir to meet the students. APMCC will hold a protest including, in Jammu and New Delhi, tomorrow in support of the NIT students and in protests against the police, he said. Unrest was witnessed on the campus when Kashmiri and outstation students had a confrontation after India lost WT20 semifinal match to West Indies on March 31. Yesterday again unruly scenes were witnessed with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with the police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. Huge quantity of liquor, country made as well Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), was seized during stepped up raids across Bihar today, hours after total ban on alochol was clamped. The total ban on alcohol sale and consumption announced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar yesterday has resulted in drastic decline in footfalls in hotels, club and bar and restaurants in different parts of the state. Om Prakash Gupta, Assistant Excise Commissioner, told PTI that 17,000 litres of country made liquor were seized in Chapra in raid. In Malsalami of Patna, police recovered 90 cartons of country liquor hidden in a bush, Station House Officer Rajendra Prasad said. A report from Kisanganj said 150 cartons of foreign liquor, headed for neighbouring Malda district of West Bengal was seized at Faring Gola check post. The liquor coming from Silliguri bore stamp of West Bengal but there was no signature of any official and hence the Excise officials seized the liquor. In Nalanda, the home district of the Chief Minister, 1,115 bottles of foreign liquor was seized from a hotel in Biharsharif and its owner arrested. The control room, set up in the state police headquarters, said that altogether 25 complaints of illegal sale, stocking and consumption of liquor was received today and concerned officials were alerted for action against them. The Nitish Kumar government had yesterday declared Bihar a dry state with imposition of a total ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol including India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) with immediate effect. The Bihar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of IMFL in towns and cities. But, as the Chief Minister asserted, the overwhelming response of people, particularly women and children against liquor in Patna and other towns in a short span of four days, prompted the government move for a total ban on liquor. (Reopens CAL10) Meanwhile, the decision of total ban has adversely effected business at hotels, bars and clubs across the state. Vijay Sinha, owner of fancy Masala Junction bar cum restaurant in capital Patna said the clientele has fallen to 20 per cent since announcement of complete prohibition. He rued sudden announcement of total ban without giving time to deal with stocks and considering future of people employed in liquor trade. B D Singh, Manager of Maurya Hotel said there has been disappointment among visitors to the hotel over closure of bar. Manager of New Patna Club, Shakeel Ahmad said that number of visitors have dropped drastically. "Normally 250 people used to visit the club daily, but after the announcement of total prohibition yesterday, only 50-60 people visited us yesterday mainly to play cards," Ahmad said and expressed apprehension as what would happen to people employed in the club. Reports from districts also painted a gloomy picture in places associated with liquor trade. A report from Muzaffarpur said that the Muzaffarpur club is witnessing almost a shut down after the total prohibition decision. "Only 5-6 persons visited the club last evening as against attendance of 50-60 on an average earlier," Ritesh Anupam, a life member of Muzaffarpur club said. Striking a different note, Pradeep Kumar, owner of Sagar Beer bar in Darbhanga said though trade has been affected but he supported total ban on liquor which had adverse impact on health. Reports from various parts of the state suggested habitual tipplers arriving in de-addiction centre opened in every district after imposition of total ban on liquor. Libya's UN-backed unity government moved to cement control over the country's finances and institutions today after the rival administration in Tripoli ceded power in a boost to efforts to end years of chaos. The concession late yesterday by the militia-backed administration that had controlled Tripoli since 2014 was a major about-turn for a body that had made every effort to block the arrival of prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj. It came after UN envoy Martin Kobler held talks with Sarraj at the naval base where he has established his headquarters since his arrival under escort by sea last Wednesday. The international community has pleaded with Libya's warring sides to stand behind the unity government, which it sees as vital to tackling a jihadist expansion and rampant people smuggling in the North African state. The Government of National Accord has yet to secure a similar concession from another rival administration based in the far eastern town of Tobruk, which has long claimed international legitimacy because it was appointed by the parliament elected in the last polls in 2014. In a directive published on its official Facebook page today, the GNA ordered all government "ministries and institutions and committees" to respect its authority and use its logo. It also ordered the Central Bank and the Audit Bureau to freeze all state accounts immediately, except for salary payments to government employees. The Tripoli-based administration had said it was stepping aside in the national interest. "We inform you that we are ceasing the activities entrusted to us as an executive power," it said in a statement. The statement, bearing the logo of the so-called National Salvation Government headed by Khalifa Ghweil, said the unrecognised Tripoli prime minister, his deputy premiers and cabinet ministers were all stepping aside. It said the Tripoli authorities took the decision to quit because they were determined to "preserve the higher interests of the country and prevent bloodshed and divisions." Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said recent developments were "encouraging" in moving towards a "united, stable and secure Libya". "I hope that the spirit of compromise prevails on all parties involved," he said in a statement, offering the full support of Italy, the former colonial power in Libya, to the new government. The UN Libya envoy, in Tripoli on his first visit since Sarraj's arrival, hailed the announcement as "good news" but added that "deeds must follow words". Kobler praised the "courage and determination" of the unity government, whose growing authority has raised hopes it will be able to restore some stability in Libya, which has been plagued by chaos since Moamer Kadhafi's 2011 overthrow. Three out of five doctors say that 'unruly lifestyle' is the major cause of India becoming the diabetic capital of the world, a survey has found. A total of 1,617 doctors responded to questions pertaining to the causes of rise in diabetic cases in India and patients reaction to the treatment modalities during a survey conducted by an app for the doctors community. 58.8 per cent doctors have attributed this to the lifestyle prevalent in modern and competitive India. Interestingly, family history was considered as a contributing factor by only 7.2 per cent of the doctors, said Mudit Vijayvergiya, co-founder of an app. The findings of the survey were released on the eve of the World Health Day 2016, theme for which is "Beat Diabetes". "Anything processed has added sugar, added salt, and added maida for that matter even Ramdev's biscuits are processed and not up to the mark. Diabetes is a lifestyle problem, I would strongly recommend 150 minutes per week walking and eating from the farm as much as possible fresh fruits and vegetables should top the chart," said Dr Sujeet Jha Director Endocrinology, Diabetes and Obesity, Max Healthcare. The survey also tried to cover adherence which is perhaps the most important reason for prolongment of any disease. 41.5 per cent of the doctors said only 40-60 per cent of the patients adhere to the prescribed drug which is a cause for real concern for a large population like ours. According to the survey, 33.2 per cent of the doctors feel that 40-60 per cent of their patients check their vitals regularly and whereas 32.6 per cent of the doctors feel that only 20-40 per cent of their patients track their blood sugar regularly. Monitoring blood sugar regularly can have far reaching effects in terms of keeping this menace in check. "Screening for the pre-diabetic phase is the earliest way to diagnose this condition. Patients who are obese or have a family history of diabetes or suffer from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), should start getting preventive blood tests done from 35 years of age," said Dr Radhika Jindal, Consultant Endocrinologist at Apollo Hospital. "If you start with aggressive treatment later on like 10-15 years down the line, then its very hard to prevent complications," said Dr Ambrish Mittal, Chairman, Division of Endocrinology and Diabetes, Medanta. The Indian Council of Medical Research India Diabetes Study (ICMR-INDIAB study) showed that India had 62.4 million people with diabetes in 2011. These numbers are projected to increase to 101.2 million by 2030. Paris-based Louvre Hotels Group is planning to open six properties during the current year as part of its expansion plans in the country. The group will add the hotels in three brands -- Royal Tulip, Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn -- under which it already has 24 operational properties across India. "We will be opening six hotels in India during this year as part of our expansion plans here. This will take the total number of our hotels to 30 by the end of 2016," Louvre Hotels Group Managing Director South Asia Vimal Singh told PTI. The new hotels will be in Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Ahmedabad, Surat, Jodhpur and Goa, he added. "The six hotels will be mostly in Golden Tulip and Tulip Inn brands," Singh said. Louvre Hotels Group follows management contract model for its business here. The company is also planning to open a second hotel in Dhaka during the year, he added. It has hotels in destinations such as Amritsar, Bhiwadi, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Goa, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Lucknow, Manali, New Delhi, Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mussoorie and Mumbai. Louvre Hotels Group has over 1,100 hotels in 51 countries under its six brands ranging from one to five stars -- Premiere Classe, Campanile, Kyriad, Tulip Inn, Golden Tulip and Royal Tulip. In 2015, Louvre Hotels Group was purchased by Chinese group, Jin Jiang International Holding Co Ltd. The LTTE cannot revive its separatist movement in Sri Lanka without its leader Velupillai Prabakaran, a senior Northern Province official today asserted, downplaying fears of re-emergence of militancy after the recent discovery of a cache of ammunitions from Jaffna. Chairman of the Northern Provincial Council C V K Sivgnanam was responding to opposition parties in the southern part of the country who expressed fears of a comeback by the LTTE following discovery of the ammunitions and LTTE's trademark suicide jackets from a house in Chavakachcheri, a battle site when Sri Lanka fought Tamil Tiger rebels for nearly 30 years before the war ended in 2009 in Jaffna. A suicide jacket, four side chargers, three parcels containing about 12 kilogrammes of TNT, two packets containing 100 rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition and two battery packs used to detonate side chargers were found in the house on March 30. The LTTE cannot revive its separatist armed movement in Sri Lanka in the absence of Prabakaran, Sivgnanam said. Prabakaran was was the founder and leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant organisation that sought to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran was killed in the fighting with the Sri Lankan Army on May 18, 2009. "These were old weapons discovered after seven years after the end of the war. No one should try to do politics by using this incident," said Sivagnanam, who was the central government's main administrator in Jaffna during the time the LTTE ran parallel administration in parts of the north and eastern provinces. He is now a member of the main Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance and was elected to the northern council in 2013. Despite assurances from the security establishment that the discovery posed no threat to national security, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who crushed the LTTE's separatist campaign hinted that the government was hiding the truth. "They must tell the truth, people suspect these explosives to be new," Rajapaksa's close aide and former foreign minister G L Peiris had said last week. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) battled Sri Lankan forces for a separate Tamil homeland. Rights groups claim government forces killed nearly 40,000 civilians in the final months of the brutal ethnic conflict. India was forced to change its policy towards Nepal under international criticism of a crippling blockade led by Madhesis due to which their months- long violent agitation fizzled out and lost relevance, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli has said. Presenting a 12-page political document during the ongoing CPN-UML party politburo meeting, party chairman Oli said that India changed its policy of supporting the Madhesi movement following international criticism during the 'unofficial' blockade imposed by it on Nepal resulting in disruption of supplies of essential goods. The international community was critical of India's approach to Nepal and exerted pressure on it, Oli said in his document. "India, then, changed its policy as it could not sustain backing the Madhesis further," he said. The Madhesis, largely of Indian-origin, launched a violent agitation in September last year when the new Constitution was announced, saying the statute failed to address their concerns. The Madhesi parties had led the six months-long agitation, mainly to protest against the seven-province federal model enshrined in the Constitution. Nearly 60 people lost their lives during the agitation that also disrupted the supplies of petroleum products and cooking gas among other essentials to Nepal, leading to severe hardships to the people. The major political parties had amended some provisions of the Constitution to address the demands of the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front, which rejected the move of the parties. However in an unexpected development just before Oli's maiden visit to India, the blockade ended in February without any political agreement. But the political crisis has not ended yet and there has not been any discussion between the agitating Madhesis and the government. The Madhesis have lately warned of a fresh agitation from the Nepalese New Year that begins in mid-April. "We will decide about the date and programmes of the future movement after we sit for a meeting in mid-April," said Laxman Lal Karna, Vice president of Sadbhawana Party, a key member of the UDMF. "The relevance of the movement will not end until and unless our demands regarding the rights and representation of the Madhesi people are properly addressed," he told PTI. To a question whether the relevance of the Madhesi movement has ended as India changed its policy, he said in sarcastic remarks: "Prime Minister Oli cannot change the policy of New Delhi." "Is it government of India or Prime Minister Oli who will change New Delhi's policy?" he questioned. Meanwhile, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has warned that Nepal is likely to witness fresh turmoil if the dissatisfaction over the Constitution is not addressed soon. Jail authorities in Maharashtra are considering to shift inmates from drought-hit Beed and Latur districts in view of the acute water scarcity in the areas. "We have prepared a contingency plan for shifting the jail inmates in these districts. So far, no inmate has been shifted, but we will do so if the situation warrants," a top official told PTI. If the situation demands, the prisoners will be shifted to places like Nasik and Dhule, the official said. The move comes amid decision by officials in drought-hit Parbhani town, which is experiencing an unprecedented water scarcity this summer, imposing prohibitory orders near water supply spots in the town. "Orders under section 144 of CrPC have been imposed in the vicinity of the water supply spots in Parbhani," Parbhani district collector Rahul Mahiwal had said yesterday. The orders will be in force from April 4 to May 3. The development came after police in Latur decided to deploy police at water supply spots in that town if the situation demands. "The municipal corporation has already deployed home guards at the water tanks. If needed, we will deploy police there to prevent law and order issue over water supply," Latur Superintendent of Police Dnyaneshwar Chavan had said. "There are six main water tanks in Latur. There is already a police chowki next to one of the tanks. We have increased patrolling in these areas," Chavan had said. Amid an unprecedented scarcity of water, district collector Pandurang Pol last month clamped section 144 of CrPC in drought-stricken Latur to bar assembly of more than five people around the wells and water filling points to prevent possible violence. Maharashtra government will probe alleged irregularities in Wakf land transactions during the previous Congress-NCP regime, the state Assembly was informed today. "We will probe alleged irregularities (in Wakf land transactions) during the 15 years (of Congress-NCP rule)," Minister of State for Minorities Development Dilip Kamble said. The report of the state government-appointed ATAK Shaikh Commission on the status of Wakf properties was completed in 2011 and tabled in the state assembly in April last year, he said. The report contained details of many properties from the region, which were encroached upon, were occupied without authority, illegally sold out, transferred or even leased. "Names of former minister Rajendra Shingne and NCP leader Tariq Anwar are there in the report and if needed, their police inquiry will be conducted," he said, while speaking during a discussion on budgetary demands of his department. Revenue Minister Eknath Khadse said Wakf land transaction won't be allowed in the state. Kamble said a request will be made to the Centre for giving subsidy to Christians for Jerusalem pilgrimage, on the lines of subsidy given to Muslims for Haj pilgrimage. AIMIM MLA Imtiaz Jaleel said the government should, instead of giving subsidy for Haj, use that money for educational development of Muslim children. The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has seized cigarettes worth Rs 273 crore from several parts of the state for alleged violation of the Centre's new rule on the size of health warnings on packets. FDA joint commissioner Harish Baijal said the seizures happened on Monday in a series of coordinated raids across Maharashtra. As per directives issued by the Union Health Ministry, 85 per cent display area of the cigarette packet should be covered with health warning consisting of picture and text. On the seized cigarette packs, FDA found the pictorial warnings covered only 45 per cent of the surface area. "There was information about the old packets still in circulation in various parts of the state," Baijal said. A man accused of murdering a Muslim shopkeeper in Scotland's largest city Glasgow issued a statement today saying he killed him because he disrespected the Prophet Mohammed. Asad Shah, 40, was found with serious injuries outside his store last month and was pronounced dead at hospital. Police described the killing as "religiously prejudiced". Shah, an Ahmadi Muslim who moved to Glasgow from Pakistan in 1998, had recently posted a message on Facebook wishing people a happy Easter, "especially to my beloved Christian nation". Tanveer Ahmed, 32, from Bradford in northern England, appeared at a preliminary court hearing in Glasgow today and afterwards issued a statement through his lawyer admitting his guilt. "Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet," the statement said. "If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world. "I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs -- even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ." The legal process against Ahmed, who is also a Muslim and is being held in custody, will continue. The date for his next court hearing has not yet been set. India has taken up at a "fairly high level" with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief Masood Azhar designated as terrorist by the UN but the issue will not "overflow" into other areas of bilateral ties, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said today. Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a "backing and forthing" on the issue with the Chinese. However, China's action to block Pathankot terror attack mastermind Azhar at the UN was strongly justified by a top Chinese official that his government has asked for more "evidence" and "arguments" by India as China can't be the judge to decide who is right and who is wrong. During an interaction, Jaishankar, when asked about India's position on the Chinese action at the UN, said, "My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese." He added "This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context. I would not like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We have had a backing and forthing with them on this issue. We have to wait and see where this goes." Later at a separate event, Liu Jinsong, Deputy Chief of Mission and Minister at the Chinese Embassy here also asserted that listing of anyone as a terrorist by the UN is a "very serious issue". "Pakistan says India's position is not good for them, it is against Pakistan. But India (says its) position is its national interest. (Then) do that. "China can't be the judge (to decide) who is right, who is wrong. With Pakistan, we are good friends. With India, we are also good friends. We asked for some more evidence, we asked for some argument...We can't stick to one side. We can't veto, we can't (remain) absent. Only thing we can do is (to put it on a) technical hold," Liu said when asked about the issue. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India's efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, that has veto powers, did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again. Last July, China had similarly halted India's move in the UN to take action against Pakistan for its release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying its stand was "based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness" with Beijing again claiming at the time that it was in touch with New Delhi. Meadow Walker will continue with her September lawsuit despite Porsche's court victory that dismissed the car manufacturer of all four vehicle defect claims that took the lives of her father Paul Walker and driver Roger Rodas. US District Judge Philip S Gutierrez ruled that there was not enough evidence to support widow Kristine Rodas' claim that the Carrera GT in which Walker, 40, and Rodas, 38, were riding lacked basic safety features that would have saved both men's lives in the crash. Roger was driving the Porsche that ultimately crashed and exploded in Santa Clarita, California, on November 20, 2013. The "Fast and Furious" actor was in the passenger seat of the car at the time, and both men were pronounced dead at the scene, reported People magazine. A statement issued by Meadow's attorney Jeff Milam said, "The issues in the cases are very different. Meadow's father, Paul Walker, was a passenger in the car. He survived the crash but was trapped and burned to death because of the vehicle's defects. "A significant portion of the judge's decision was based on the rejection of evidence because of missed deadlines and also a failure to sue Porsche AG, the manufacturer," Milam continued in his statement on behalf of his client. "Meadow will continue to fight to hold Porsche accountable for selling a defective product that kills." In her lawsuit, Rodas claimed the Carrera GT had a faulty suspension, lacked a racing fuel cell, and did not have a racing cage that could not withstand an impact from the side. Similarly, Walker, 17, and her legal team claim Porsche "failed to install its electronic stability control system," which they say is "specifically designed to protect against the swerving actions inherent in hyper-sensitive vehicles of this type." Rodas' attorney Mark Geragos has stated the ruling will be appealed. Rodas' children and Walker's father have also filed respective wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche. MEP Infrastructure has won three contracts worth Rs 1,763 crore in Maharashtra and Rajasthan from NHAI and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). "MEP Infrastructure Developers Ltd in a joint venture (JV) with its Spanish partner has received letters of award (LOAs) for Rs 1,762.98 crore from NHAI and MORTH," the company said in a statement today. The LOAs bagged by MEP are as per the new hybrid annuity mode, which is a mix of engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and build operate transfer (BOT) system under which government provides 40 per cent grant-in aid while the rest has to be arranged by the developer. "...We will not only handle these projects and complete them well within the stipulated time but also look forward to playing a significant role in the country's infrastructure development," said Jayant D Mhaiskar, Vice-Chairman and MD, MEP Infrastructure. The hybrid annuity mode will help reduce financial load during the development and execution stage and will definitely aid in reviving the highway projects in the country, the company said. MEP Infrastructure holds 74 per cent in the JV, while Sanjose India Infrastructure and Construction Pvt Ltd has 26 per cent stake. "MEP JV has received an LOA from MORTH for rehabilitation and up-gradation of NH-66 (Erstwhile NH-17) from km 241/300 to km 281/300 (Total Length - 40 km) on Arawali - Kante section in Maharashtra to four lane with paved shoulder under NHDP IV on hybrid annuity mode. The bid project cost is Rs 592.98 crore and O&M bid is for Rs 5.67 crore for the first year," it said. MEP JV has also received LOA from NHAI for 4-lane standalone ring road/bypasses for Nagpur City package I on BOT hybrid annuity basis. The bid project cost is Rs 531 crore and O&M bid is for Rs 6.30 crore for the first year. In a third LOA from NHAI, MEP JV has been mandated for 4-lane standalone ring road/bypasses for Nagpur City, Package-II with bid project cost of Rs 639 crore. The Ministry of Home Affairs is holding a meeting with senior civil and police officials of Bihar and Jharkhand here today to discuss an action plan and strategy to counter the activities of Left Wing Extremist organisation in the two states. "The meeting is chaired by Union Home Ministry's Additional Secretary Jaideep Govind to discuss nine points in detail in order to curb Left Wing Extremist organisations in the neighbouring districts of Bihar and Jharkhand," IG (Operations), Bihar, Sushil M Khopde said. Senior officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Bihar and Jharkhand are meeting to chalk out strategy to deal with Maoists in Gaya. Prominent officials attending the meeting include MHA Director Dipak Kumar Kedia, Bihar's Special Secretary in Home department, Jharkhand ADG (Operations) S M Pradhan, Magadh Division Commissioner, DIG, SSB DIG, DIGs of Rohtas, Hazaribagh, DMs and SPs of Gaya, Rohtas, Nawada, Arwal, Aurangabad, Jehanabad and SPs of Jharkhand's Chatra, Koderma, Hazaribagh, Commandants of CRPF, COBRA, SSB and others. The meeting would also discuss implementing an action plan for operations in the most affected Bihar districts over next three months including inter-state operations, he said. Khopde said it would review various development schemes, initiatives pertaining to infrastructure development in the most affected districts of Bihar. The meeting would also discuss how to carry out drive against proscribed naxal outfits in effective manner in coordination with the state police and central para military forces, official sources said. Defending IPL champions Mumbai Indians today commenced preparations for defending their crown in serious vein with almost their entire team present at the Wankhede Stadium. New Zealand's left arm pacer Mitchell McClenaghan had just joined the camp and will start practising tomorrow, it was learnt. But there's no information as yet of when their key paceman Lasith Malinga will be joining the team. Malinga pulled out of the Lanka campaign in the ICC World T20 tournament as he was yet to recover from the knee injury he had sustained in the run-up to the mega event. MI start their campaign in the T20league with a home game against new IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiants on April 9. West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Kumar Mitra, contesting Assembly poll from Khardaha seat in the adjoining North 24-Parganas district, has declared assets worth over Rs 7.5 crore. According to the affidavit filed by him before the Election Commission, the Trinamool leader's income for the year 2014-15 was Rs 14.82 lakh while his author wife earned more than him - almost Rs 17 lakh. Mitra's movable assets include cash in hand, bank balance, investments, car and silver, totalling close to Rs 5 crore while his wife has assets worth over Rs 1.3 crore. Immovable assets in his name include land and flat worth over Rs 2.76 crore while another Rs 2.67 crore worth properties are in the name of his wife. Mitra, a PhD in Economics from Duke University, had served as the secretary-general of industry chamber FICCI for a long time before joining politics during the last Assembly polls. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Saudi Arabia could unnerve Pakistan as economic and strategic opportunities are bringing India closer to the oil-rich gulf nation, a top USexpert has said. "After years of considering Saudi Arabia as a major ally and economic benefactor, Pakistan may be on the verge of losing its erstwhile patron to archrival India. Modi arrived in Riyadh last week for an official visit full of diplomatic significance," said Aparna Pande, director India Initiative of the Hudson Institute, a top American think-tank. She said Modi's visit and the warm reception he received were the latest reminders to the Pakistani leaders that international relations are based on national interest and not on vague religion-based ideology. "Economic and strategic issues are bringing India and Saudi Arabia closer, just as they are working to the advantage of India with other countries," Pande said. For Pakistanis who see the world in binary terms as an eternal conflict between India and Pakistan, this was clearly a win for India, Pande said. During the visit, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz conferred the Kingdom's highest civilian award, The King Abdul Aziz Order, on Modi. Pande said that despite giving billions of dollars in aid and employing millions of Pakistanis, the Saudis have never bestowed their highest civilian honor on a Pakistani leader. India and Saudi Arabia have become economically more significant for one another with USD 39.4 billion in bilateral trade in 2014-15. Pakistan-Saudi trade by contrast stood at a meager USD 6.1 billion, she said. For India, Saudi Arabia is the main source of its oil imports, supplying one-fifth of India's annual demand. For the Saudis, India is their fifth biggest customer after China, Japan, the US and South Korea, Pande said, adding that Pakistan could stick to its guns and see these developments as a threat. "Or it could change its own approach to India and seek rapprochement to take advantage of economic and strategic opportunities that are making India a desirable partner for Pakistan's erstwhile friends," she said. Modi arrived on his maiden two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Saturday. He became the fourth Indian Prime Minister to visit Saudi Arabia after Manmohan Singh in 2010, Indira Gandhi in 1982 and Jawaharlal Nehru in 1956. The Madras High Court today warned the Tamil Nadu government to either modify the State Universities Act and rules in line with the UGC regulations or face the consequences as it disposed two public interest litigations. A bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana delivered the judgment on PILs filed by NGO Change India and another by M Anandakrishnan, former Vice Chancellor of Anna University. The PILs challenged a notification of Madurai Kamaraj University to fill up the post of Vice Chancellor by framing rules contrary to the UGC guidelines. "Modify the State Universities Act in line with the regulations prescribed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) or face the consequences," the bench said while disposing the PILs which raised the broader question of whether State universities should mandatorily adopt UGC rules in appointments for the post of Vice Chancellor. The PILs challenged a notification issued by Madurai Kamaraj University to fill up the post of Vice Chancellor by framing new rules contrary to the UGC guidelines. The petitioners charge was that there was large-scale corruption in the appointment of VCs and to avoid it, UGC guidelines should be implemented. The State government in its counter said under provisions of the Madurai Kamaraj University Act,1965, UGC regulations are mandatory only for central universities and not for other educational institutions under the purview of State legislation. UGC stand was that the Search Committee appointed by the State government has no powers to fix new qualification lower than UGC norms and so the committee's action was without jurisdiction. The Bench observed it was obvious that selection of Vice Chancellor does not only depend upon the norms laid down in the State and Universities Act and the UGC guidelines, but also other contextual factors like regional, State and communal pressures. It referred to the UGC's submission that it would be entitled to take necessary steps as per the act if the State government does not amend the Universities act as per the UGC regulations. "Government should now be quite aware of the consequences which will flow to them on their inaction or refusal to amend the provisions of the Statutes in line with the UGC regulations and should be ready to face them. "This may entail difficulty in functioning of State Universities on account of the lack of support and fund flow from the UGC," it said and closed the PILs. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today condoled death of Kamla Advani, wife of senior BJP leader L K Advani. "I condole death of Kamla Advaniji. May God give strength to the bereaved family," Yadav said in his condolence message issued here. L K Advani's wife Kamla Advani died due to heart failure. (REOPEN DES35) Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik also expressed profound grief over death of Advani's wife Kamla. In his message, the Governor said that whenever Advani was busy in elections, she, while handling household responsibilities, also actively participated in poll campaign. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has also expressed profound grief over the demise. Expressing his deep sympathies towards bereaved family, he has prayed for the peace of departed soul. (REOPEN DES 40) Meanwhile, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Virbhadra Singh and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav condoled the passing away of Kamla Advani. In his condolence message issued in Patna, Kumar prayed the almighty to provide strength to her relatives and well-wishers in hour of sorrow. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi also expressed his condolence at the demise of Kamla Advani. Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy also expressed grief over the death Kamla Advani. Recalling that Kamla Advani stood alongside her husband in his political life, Reddy conveyed his deep sympathy and condolence to the family of the senior BJP leader. Naxals allegedly held a 'kangaroo court' in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh where a sarpanch was asked to ensure payment of wage arrears under the MNREGA. This is after a long time that Naxal activity has come to light in Balaghat district, which is close to Rajandgaon district of Chhattisgarh and Gondia of Maharashtra, both of which have rebel presence. "Twenty Naxals including six women held an unofficial court in Pandripani jungle near Rashimetta in south Baiher on the night of April 4," said former Lanji MLA Kishore Samrite. The villagers complained to the Naxals that they had not received wages for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for several months. The Naxals told the woman sarpanch's husband to make sure that payments were made within 15 days. Otherwise the sarpanch should resign, they said. "We have got inputs that rebels held a meeting, not a kangaroo court, on April 4," district superintendent of police Gaurav Tiwari told PTI today. Naxals now a days hold such meetings for 10-15 minutes before fleeing the area, he added, while denying a report in a Hindi daily that Naxals abducted some 15 sarpanchs from south Baiher and held a kangaroo court. As per the police's information, Naxals asked Kuwar Singh Dhurve, husband of Navhi village sarpanch Munni Bai, to ensure payment of wages for MNREGA works within 15 days, he said. Dhurve hadn't lodged a complaint with police, the SP said, adding the police had taken a serious note of incident. A person who accompanied Dhurve to Pathri market on April 4 told PTI that the sarpanch's husband was indeed asked by Naxals to expedite payment to labourers in 15 days or resign. Balaghat collector Bharat Yadav also said a sarpanch had informed him about Naxals asking to ensure payment of MNREGA dues. "Problem of delay of payments under MNREGA is being faced by some other districts of MP and others states too. There is a shortage of fund. We are making efforts to clear the dues as soon as possible," Yadav said. Congress today accused the NDA government of having "different yardsticks" on the issue of nationalism and questioned the alleged "silence" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over police action on students at NIT Srinagar. "Self-proclaimed nationalist BJP is a mute spectator while the sons of India are being lathicharged. Why Modi ji is silent now," AICC communication department chief Randeep Surjewala said on Twitter. Addressing a press conference, party spokesperson Manish Tewari said that while on the one hand Modi government arrests students of JNU in Delhi on the basis of "fake" videos, "on the other hand in Jammu and Kashmir they rough up students who raise pro-India slogans." "BJP and Modiji have one standard in Delhi and different in Jammu and Kashmir where they are in government with PDP," he said. There was unrest again yesterday at NIT Srinagar, the scene of last week's clash, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. Last Friday, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and non-local students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament. Replying to questions, he said that all those people, who are trying to "polarise" the society either in the name of saffron and or green will be given a befitting reply. To a question on whether Congress will greet BJP today on its foundation day, Tewari said sarcastically, "BJP has morphed, mutated and evolved into many shapes. God knows how many death anniversary and birth anniversary that party will have. We will not like to go into that. With automobile exports from India on a decline, TVS Company Chairman and Managing Director Venu Srinivasan today asked for government support saying the auto industry has suffered after a substantial reduction of duty drawbacks scheme. "In the past we used to have better incentive of duty drawbacks which have been substantially reduced when all the schemes were homologated into one scheme. The automotive industry is really suffered from this," Srinivasan said at the Board of Trade meeting here. He said important markets like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been excluded from the incentive. "I think those are really big markets for us, Africa is a big market and they are all suffering from lack of forex because of the commodity crash. Therefore we do need help," Srinivasan said. Commenting on the India-EU FTA, he said: "When we are negotiating trade agreements there should be ease of access through investments rather than through trade, particularly with EU on the automotive industry." "We would give them all the freedom they want to invest and compete here but we should be careful on reducing the rates which will mean that there will be non-value added exports to us," he said. Last year, the government had raised duty refund rates on a host of items, including iron, steel, garments and marine products with a view to promoting exports which are on a decline for the past 11 months. Commenting on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, Srinivasan said: "The final issue would be on RCEP with ASEAN that we are looking at. China is a major part of it. It includes China and that is the biggest threat that we see to the domestic manufacturers both in components and in vehicles." The 16-member bloc RCEP comprises 10 ASEAN members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six free trade agreement partners -- India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Reliance Industries' ED and Member of Board Nikhil Meswani too suggested steps to boost exports. "I would request if we can encourage higher amount of domestic value addition. Keep that in mind in goods of origin when we talk about RCEP so that we dont have to revist FTAs.." On textiles, he said the government needs to give special focus to this sector as small countries like Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are exporting more than India. "The reason is that our several lopsided policy structures that need to be focused and put into perspective in order to encourage value addition. If these are corrected textile industry can alone export over USD 100 billion worth of goods from India creating more than 20 lakh jobs and this can be done virtually by no revenue loss to the government," he said. The 70-member BOT includes senior officials from various ministries, industry chambers and corporates including ICICI Bank Ltd MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar, Biocon MD Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, Dr Reddy's MD Satish Reddy, Some top industrialists did not make it to the meeting including Apollo Tyres CMD Onkar Kanwar, Hero MotoCorp MD Pawan Munjal, HCL Technologies Chairman Shiv Nadar, Mahindra Group MD Anand Mahindra, ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar and Ashok Leyland MD R Seshasayee. Opposition parties and VHP today slammed the police lathicharge on outstation students at NIT Srinagar and demanded a probe into it besides action against the erring police officials. Activists of Congress' youth wing staged a protest in front of Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh's official residence at the Canal Road. They shouted anti-government slogans and demanded that Singh resign for allegedly giving a "misleading" statement over the incident. "The Deputy Chief Minister should resign for his statement that police resorted to minor lathicharge. But the students have sustained serious injuries," president of JK Youth Congress Pranav said. A probe should be initiated into the incident and action taken against "erring" police and administration officials, he said. Panthers Party members along with the parents of the students also staged a protest near the Press Club here, demanding security to about 500 non-Kashmiri students in NIT Srinagar. "We demand security to non-Kashmiri students on the campus. They feel threatened. They were cane-charged by police for raising tricolor and those who shouted anti-India and pro-freedom slogans along with Kanhaiya Kumar are roaming free," said the party's chairman Harsh Dev Singh. A probe should be ordered into "unprovoked use of brutal force" by police against students, he said. The parents of the non-resident NIT students demanded that para-military forces be deployed on the campus to ensure safety and security of their wards. VHP leader Leela Karan Sharma said police action on students raising "nationalist" slogans was unheard of and demanded action against the policemen involved, failing which he threatened a nationwide agitation. He demanded immediate withdrawal of local police from the campus and replacing it with paramilitary forces. "It is quite disturbing to learn that students from other states in NIT Srinagar are virtually kept as prisoners," he alleged. US President Barack Obama has said that destroying the Islamic State (IS) group remains his "top priority" at a time when the jihadist group continues to lose ground in Iraq and Syria. "We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure," Obama said yesterday at a meeting with senior military officials in the White House. "We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them.""As we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks," he added, using another term for the IS group. Coalition forces must maintain pressure on the insurgents using diplomacy and intelligence as well as military operations, coordinating operations between various branches of government, he said. "We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul," he said of cities in Syria and Iraq. "Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority." Obama spoke next to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and combatant commanders. Carter yesterday proposed changes to the military that would streamline its various forces of some 1.3 million soldiers and boost their ability to respond quickly by reviewing the current "top heavy" structure set out in the 30-year-old Goldwater-Nichols Act, which critics say is outdated. The fight against the Islamic State group has shown that the military's various commands and special forces should better coordinate their efforts, he said. "We intend to be more efficient by integrating functions like logistics, intelligence and plans," he said. Washington has led an coalition staging airstrikes against the IS group in Syria and Iraq since September 2014, parallel to operations by the Syrian government and its ally Russia. The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria's central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the IS group's last strongholds in the region. The operation 75 miles (120 kilometers) southwest of Palmyra helped secure the government's retaking of that ancient city last week after the Islamic State group held it for 10 months, destroying important archaeological sites and executing 280 people. Oil prices climbed in Asia today after Kuwait said an agreement to freeze output during a producers' meeting this month could still be reached despite conflicting statements by participants. But analysts said the rebound would not likely last owing to a painful supply glut and weak demand caused by the slowing world economy. At around 0430 GMT today, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in May was up 97 cents, or 2.70 per cent, at USD 36.86 and Brent crude for June was 68 cents, or 1.80 per cent, higher at USD 38.55. Both contracts eked out an increase yesterday, but prices are still well below the USD 40 level reached last month following a rally driven by hopes of an agreement during the April 17 producers' meeting in Doha. Prices dived after Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman said last week his country will only agree to limit output if rival producers such as Iran followed suit. But Iran, which has been raising production since the West lifted nuclear-linked sanctions in January, has insisted it should not be the one to cut back. Key OPEC member Kuwait, however, said a freeze deal can still be reached without Tehran, Bloomberg reported. It quoted Kuwait's OPEC governor Nawal al-Fezaia as saying that major producers have no option but to reach an agreement and that a freeze could set a floor price. Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney, said traders are likely to wait for the results of the meeting before making big bets. "Given the welter of statements... People are probably just going to ignore (the comments) until they get the results of the meeting," Spooner told AFP by telephone. Comments by International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde that global economic recovery is still "too slow" and "too fragile" further added to the gloom in the saturated oil market as it is bad for demand, analysts said. Keeping up pressure on the Siddaramaiah government, Opposition parties in Karnataka continued their protest today against its decision to create a separate Anti-Corruption Bureau. Opposition parties have accused the government oftrying to "destabilise" Lokayukta body in the state bycreating ACB. While BJP led by its national vice president Yeddyurappa today started a signature campaign against ACB, Aam Admi Party, which is protesting since last eight days, staged a march towards the Chief Minister's residence. AAP workers, who were marching, raising slogansagainst Siddaramaih and demanding withdrawal of ACB, werestopped by the police on the way. The party has accused the police of using "force" against itsworkers, including those who had been fasting during the lasteight days protest. JD(S), led by its supremo and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda had in the last two days staged protest in the city against ACB. Siddaramaiah, rejecting the demand for withdrawal, had earlier maintained that there was no "mala fide" intention to shield the corrupt or to weaken the Lokayukta through the constitution of ACB. Stating that with the creation of the ACB, no powers of Lokayukta or Upa-Lokayukta will be curtailed, government had said that police officials working in Lokayukta were given powers to investigate under Prevention of Corruption Act by issuing a notification in 1991. It has now been withdrawn andgiven to ACB. In a first, American Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will board India's Russian made aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, as both India and US look at deepening bilateral ties in the critical sector during his upcoming visit next week. Carter, who will be here on a three-day visit from April 10, will be holding detailed discussions with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on a range of issues including a tweaked Logistics Support Agreement, cooperation in aircraft carrier technology besides other issues including Scan Eagle drones for the Indian Navy. It is expected that India will also express its strong displeasure over US' sale of F16 fighter jets to Pakistan. Defence sources said that both countries have almost closed the gap in discussions on the logistics support agreement but underlined that it was not a done deal yet. Carter will first travel to Goa where he will spend two days and hold talks with Parrikar. During his stay in Goa, he is likley to go on board aircraft carrier Vikramaditya, bought by India from the Russians. Carter and Parrikar will also board USS Blue Ridge, one of the oldest ship in US 7th Fleet, off Goa. He is expected to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. During Carter's visit to India in June last year, he had signed the 2015 Framework for India-US Defence Relationship, which builds upon the previous framework and successes to guide bilateral defence and strategic partnership for the next 10 years. The new framework agreement provides avenues for high- level strategic discussions, continued exchanges between armed forces of both countries and strengthening of defence capabilities. Another area of focus would be the Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI). Both India and the US have finalised two project agreements for joint development of mobile electric hybrid power sources and next-generation protective ensembles. After days of confusion over action against militants in Pakistan's heartland of Punjab, the army today launched a coordinated security operation following the recent Lahore bombing which killed over 72 people. The army operation looked imminent soon after the Easter Sunday bombing in Lahore that killed mostly minority Christians, but was delayed as the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not comfortable with solely army-led action, according to sources. "Now all concerns of the government have been addressed in the successive meetings between the army and civilian leaders," sources said referring to high-profile security meetings chaired by Sharif, in which army chief General Raheel Sharif and other senior army official were also present. It was agreed in the meetings that instead of just army, the operation will be jointly carried out by civil and military law enforcement agencies, including Rangers, police and Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). The army confirmed that the coordinated operation was launched in South Punjab which shares borders with rest of the three provinces, including Balochistan, Sindh and Khyber- Pakhtunkhwa. "Coordinated operations are underway against terrorists and hardened criminals by law enforcement agencies including Rangers, Punjab police and CTD, assisted by Pakistan army. These terrorists fled from different parts of the country as a result of successful Operation Zarb-e-Azb and took refuge in remote areas of south Punjab," the army said in a statement. The deadlock over the operation in Punjab eased earlier this week when Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan met Raheel. Punjab with its huge population comprises half of Pakistan and is the political stronghold of the ruling PML-N. But it also is the mainstay of the military which gets its maximum recruitment from the province. Pakistan today said it has arrested an Afghan intelligence officer allegedly plotting terrorist attacks in different parts of Balochistan. The man, who was not identified by Pakistani officials, was nabbed during a search operation in Bogra area of Chaman, a town close to border with Afghanistan. Paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) conducted the search operation in a compound on the outskirts of the city where they recovered 21 kilogrammes of explosives and bomb-making instruments, Geo TV reported. The intelligence officer has been shifted to an undisclosed location for further investigation, the report said. Balochistan government spokesman Anwarul Haq Kakar said that the arrested foreign intelligence officer is currently under investigation. Security forces are on high alert and monitoring Pakistan's borders with neighbouring Iran and Afghanistan, the spokesman said. Kakar claimed that the arrest of the Afghan intelligence officer is a "link in the chain of events" that started with the arrest of Kulbhushan Yadav, also from Chaman last month. Pakistan has claimed Yadav is an officer of Indian spy agency RAW - a charge denied by India. Pakistan's top civilian and military leadership today expressed concern over the apparent role of "hostile agencies" in creating instability in the country at a high-level meeting. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired the 5th meeting of the National Security Committee of the Cabinet at his house this morning which was attended by key cabinet ministers, the three services chiefs and heads of intelligence agencies. According to an official statement, the meeting was briefed on the steps being taken for national security in the country and expressed satisfaction over counter terrorism efforts of the security institutions. "The meeting also expressed concern over the apparent role of hostile agencies in Pakistan," the statement said. The "hostile agencies" were not named but often Pakistan uses such characterisation for India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan National Directorate of Security (NDS). The meeting comes after Pakistan claimed that it has arrested a RAW official who was involved in "subversive activities" in Balochistan. India has dismissed Pakistan's claim. The meeting also discussed at length, the deliberations at the recently held Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. The Armed Forces Development Programme including the procurement of F-16 fighter jets from US was also discussed at the meeting. Mohammad Ramzan, a 15-year-old Pakistani boy who ended up in India after migrating to Bangladesh, would be reunited with his father soon. "Ramzan left for Kolkata this evening, where he will be helped by the NGO Sanlaap to fly to Bangladesh where his father lives," said Archana Sahay, who runs Umeed, a shelter home where Ramzan was living for the last over two years. "We tried hard to send him to his mother in Pakistan, but could not. So we had no choice but to reunite him with his father as it is easy to travel to Pakistan from Bangladesh than from India," she told PTI. Ramzan got separated from his mother Begum Razia in 2010-11 when his father, Mohammad Kazol, took him to Bangladesh and remarried, said Hamza Basit, the youth's friend here. According to Basit, his step-mother allegedly ill-treated Ramzan, so one day he walked into India by crossing the border as someone advised him to return to Pakistan that way. He first went to Ranchi, then to Mumbai and Delhi before landing here and getting caught by the police at the railway station in October 2013. Panama mounted a fierce defense of its crucial financial services sector today, trying to head off a feared international clampdown on its offshore business in the wake of the "Panama Papers" leak. Diplomats accredited to the small Central American nation were called to the foreign ministry to hear officials argue that it was unfair to single out Panama in the scandal. They heard "what is the truth about Panama," the state secretary for communication, Manuel Dominguez, told AFP. The government has also written a harshly worded letter to the head of the OECD, Angel Gurria, attacking a statement he made describing Panama as "the last major holdout that continues to allow funds to be hidden offshore from tax and law enforcement authorities." Those accusations were false, "unfair and discriminatory," Deputy Foreign Minister Luis Miguel Hincapie wrote in the letter, which was obtained by AFP. Gurria and others relying on reports from the Panama Papers were seeking to "distort the facts and tarnish the reputation of the country," Hincapie wrote. Panama also has warned it could retaliate against France if it makes good on a promise to put the country back on France's blacklist of "tax havens" -- a status that would cause transactions in Panama to be viewed as likely tax-dodging gambits. The aim of the pushback is to protect Panama's discreet nexus of law firms and banks from a concerted international move to curtail business with it. The financial sector accounts for seven per cent of Panama's gross domestic product, and attracts big multinationals to the small country. But the hack obtaining 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the scandal, has exposed the workings of offshore companies and the deliberately obscured lines of ownership that hide who really benefits from them. Exposure of the secret Mossack Fonseca files has dealt a blow to Panama's efforts to shed a reputation as a hub for shady deals. Early this year, the nation managed to get off a "gray list" of countries not deemed to be doing enough to fight money laundering after introducing a number of reforms putting some curbs on anonymous ownership of companies. But the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) insists Panama falls well short in implementing international standards for the automatic sharing of tax information. France today urged the OECD to follow its lead by putting it on a global list of "uncooperative countries. As-well as shining a spotlight on the secret financial arrangements of the rich and powerful, the so-called Panama Papers have laid bare London's role as a vital organ of the world's tax-haven network. The files leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca exposed Britain's link to thousands of firms based in tax havens and how secret money is invested in British assets, particularly London property. Critics accuse British authorities of turning a blind eye to the inflow of suspect money and of being too close to the financial sector to clamp down on the use of its overseas territories as havens, with the British Virgin Islands alone hosting 110,000 of the Mossack Fonseca's clients. "London is the epicentre of so much of the sleaze that happens in the world," Nicholas Shaxson, author of the book "Treasure Islands", which examines the role of offshore banks and tax havens, told AFP. The political analyst said that Britain itself was relatively transparent and clean, but that companies used the country's territories abroad -- relics of the days of empire -- to "farm out the seedier stuff", often under the guise of shell companies with anonymous owners. "Tax evasion and stuff like that will be done in the external parts of the network. Usually there will be links to the City of London, UK law firms, UK accountancy firms and to UK banks," he said, calling London the centre of a "spider's web". "They're all agents of the City of London -- that is where the whole exercise is controlled from," Richard Murphy, professor at London's City University, said of the offshore havens. The files showed that Britain had the third highest number of Mossack Fonseca's middlemen operating within its borders, with 32,682 advisers. Although not illegal in themselves, shell companies can be used for illegal activities such as laundering the proceeds of criminal activities or to conceal misappropriated or politically-inconvenient wealth. Around 310,000 tax haven companies own an estimated USD 240 billion of British real estate, 10 per cent of which were linked to Mossack Fonseca. The files appeared to show that the United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan owned London properties worth more than 1.2 billion pounds and that Mariam Safdar, daughter of Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, was the beneficial owner of two offshore companies that owned flats on the exclusive Park Lane. The revelations undermined promises by British Prime Minister David Cameron to clear up the murky world of offshore finance and its proceeds. Panama has hit back at accusations that it is a secretive offshore hub, spurred by a huge data hack, sending a letter to the head of the OECD saying such allegations were "unfair and discriminatory." The country's deputy foreign minister, Luis Miguel Hincapie, said in the harsh letter yesterday addressed to the OECD's Angel Gurria that, in the wake of the so-called revelations, he had made "allegations and insinuations whose falsity is easily demonstrated." The letter, obtained by AFP, said that Panama rejects the "regrettable" characterisation made by Gurria in a statement on Monday, in which he said, "The 'Panama Papers' revelations have shone the light on Panama's culture and practice of secrecy. Panama is the last major holdout that continues to allow funds to be hidden offshore from tax and law enforcement authorities." The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has led the charge to try to make Panama's financial transactions more transparent. The Central American country has introduced recent reforms, but the OECD says it still falls short on the issue of automatic financial information exchange. Hincapie wrote that Panama's company laws "are not fundamentally different from any other relevant financial jurisdiction" and noted that half of offshore companies are registered in the British Virgin Islands - "a jurisdiction that operates under British legislation." He also stressed that all of the 10 banks named in the 'Panama Papers' as doing business with the law firm hit by the hack were based in Europe, not Panama. And he noted, too, that the US state of Delaware allowed great anonymity for company owners. "The tactic to ignore other jurisdictions and focus solely on Panama is unfair and discriminatory," he wrote. Hincapie said the reports on the 'Panama Papers' were being used to "distort the facts and tarnish the reputation of the country." Panama is mounting a fierce defense of its laws and practices in an effort to protect its vital financial services sector. Earlier yesterday, it warned it could retaliate against France if Paris went ahead with a declaration that it would put Panama back on its blacklist of tax havens. Today, the foreign ministry will also call a meeting of foreign diplomats in the country to press its argument that it is being unfairly treated in the wake of the hack on the law firm Mossack Fonseca. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today wrote to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, thanking his country's Parliament for organising Baisakhi celebrations in the House of Commons later this month. Badal told Trudeau that this was the first time in the history of Canadian Parliament that the celebrations of the birth of the 'Khalsa' would be observed at such an impressive scale and magnitude. He expressed gratitude to the Canadian Parliament for organising 'Akhand Path' of 'Guru Granth Sahib' and 'Kirtan Darbar' in the House of Commons on April 11 as part of Baisakhi celebrations. "I am happy to learn too that the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) is sending Chandoa/Chandani and a set of Rumalas which have been placed on Guru Granth Sahib in Harmandar Sahib. "It is indeed a matter of great satisfaction that these sacred articles would be preserved in the archives of the Canadian Parliament for future occasions also", he said in the letter. The Punjab Chief Minister said he was greatly moved by the devotion and dedication displayed in this regard by the Sikh Members of the Canadian Parliament for making the "historic event" a reality. "It was indeed a proud moment for the entire Sikh community and our brethren in Canada, who deserved our special thanks and felicitations for this," he said. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has outlined several broad changes he envisions to make the Pentagon more efficient in combating global threats such as the Islamic State group. Speaking at the Center for Strategic and Studies, a Washington think tank, Carter suggested yesterday updates to parts of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, a sweeping 1986 Pentagon reform law that restructured America's vast military. Borne from lessons learned during the Vietnam War and the botched 1980 Iranian hostage rescue mission, the act sought to soothe rivalries and fix a lack of cooperation between the services. Observers say the historic reforms need updates to reflect the changed nature of 21st century threats and warfare. For instance, Carter said he wants to clarify the role of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the Pentagon's top officer who serves as the defense secretary's principal adviser. "More steps (are needed) to strengthen the capability of the chairman and the joint chiefs to support force management, planning, and execution across the combatant commands, particularly in the face of threats that cut across regional and functional combatant command areas of responsibility," Carter said. Despite the extra influence of the chairman, a position currently held by General Joe Dunford, Carter said the role would remain outside of the Pentagon's direct chain of command, which currently flows from the president to the defense secretary to the relevant commanders. Carter also called for simpler military acquisition processes and a greater coordination between various combatant commands, such as Africa Command and European Command, to deal with trans-regional threats such as the IS group. He suggested each command could become more efficient if fewer four-star generals worked at the head of each organisation. "Billets currently filled by four-star generals and admirals will be filled by three-stars in the future," he said. The Pentagon can execute some of its proposals under its own authority, and will do so in the "coming weeks," Carter said. Other decisions will need congressional approval. Viagra maker Pfizer Inc and Botox manufacturer Allergan today said they have terminated their proposed record USD 160 billion merger following crackdown by the US government over tax avoidance deals. In separate statements, Pfizer and Allergan said they have terminated their merger agreement by "mutual agreement of the companies". The development comes after the US Treasury on Monday made 'tax inversion deals' financially less appealing. Under the 'tax inversion deals' companies could relocate their headquarters to countries with a lower tax rate. "The decision was driven by the actions announced by the US Department of Treasury on April 4, 2016, which the companies concluded qualified as an 'Adverse Tax Law Change' under the merger agreement," Pfizer said in a statement. Under the deal announced in November last year, New York-based Pfizer would have been allowed to shift base to Ireland for tax purposes. Upon closing of the transaction the combined company was expected to maintain Allergan's Irish legal domicile, although its shares were to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Commenting on the development, Allergan CEO and President Brent Saunders said: "While we are disappointed that the Pfizer transaction will no longer move forward, Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes." Pfizer Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ian Read said: "We plan to make a decision about whether to pursue a potential separation of our innovative and established businesses by no later than the end of 2016, consistent with our original timeframe for the decision prior to the announcement of the potential Allergan transaction." In connection with the termination of the merger agreement, Pfizer has agreed to pay Allergan USD 150 million for reimbursement of expenses associated with the transaction. When it was announced last year, the deal was dubbed as the biggest buyout in the healthcare sector. As per the agreement then, Allergan shareholders were to receive 11.3 shares of the combined company for each of their Allergan shares, and Pfizer stockholders were to get one share of the combined company for each of their Pfizer shares. A public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed today in the Patna High Court challenging the Bihar government's decision to clamp total ban on sale and consumption of alcohol in the state. An ex-serviceman A N Singh filed the PIL in the Patna High Court, a day after the Nitish Kumar ministry declared Bihar a total dry state. The petition contended that the state government's decision violated human rights of a citizen about what to eat and drink. The writ described the penal provision in the Amended Exise Act of Bihar, which was passed in the state Legislative Assembly on March 31 last, as "draconian, arbitrary and malafide" as it violated Article 14, 19, 21 and 22 of the Constitution. Date for hearing the petition has not yet been fixed. The petition came a day after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the state cabinet's decision to impose total ban on sale and consumption of liquor including Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in the state with immediate effect. The Bihar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of IMFL in towns and cities. "But, the tremendous response of people, particularly women and children against liquor in Patna and other towns in a short period of four days, only convinced us that a conducive environment against alcohol has been created in the state and that's why we decided to go for a total ban on liquor after four days only," Kumar had said yesterday. The Army cantonment areas have been kept out of the ban order. On 'toddy', the state cabinet decided to strictly impose the 1991 guidelines which prohibit sale of toddy within 50 metre of places like hospital, education institutions, religious places among others in towns and 100 metres radius in rural areas. The 1991 guidelines also prohibit opening of toddy shops at bazar haat, entrance point of such haat and densely populated areas in villages among others. Maharashtra Legislative Council today witnessed an uproar over the appointment of Rohit Dev as the acting Advocate General of the state as the Opposition claimed his post has no constitutional basis. Congress also questioned if there is no "competent" advocate who could do justice to the post. Raising an adjournment motion, Congress legislator Sanjay Dutt said, "Shreehari Aney resigned on March 22 and Dev was appointed acting Advocate General the very next day. Is there no competent lawyer who could become the Advocate General? "This post has no constitutional basis. Then, how can a person holding this post carry out his duty as mandated by the Constitution?" After Deputy Chairman Vasant Davkhare rejected the motion, a strident war of words ensued between the Opposition and treasury benches, leading to the House being adjourned four times. When the House reassembled, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said there is nothing in the law that prevents the state government from appointing an acting AG. "We have appointed the acting AG as per the constitutional provisions. It is the Governor who makes this appointment and there is no law that bars him from doing so," he said. Fadnavis further informed the House that 24 such acting AGs had been appointed by previous governments and NP Amin had served as the acting AG from 1948 to 1957. "There is no point discussing this issue as appointing the AG is the prerogative of the government," Fadnavis said. Despite Davkhare ruling that the motion has been rejected and the matter settled, Dutt continued to argue that there was no constitutional provision for appointment of an acting AG. Supporting his contention, NCP's Rahul Narvekar sought to know what the government would do in case the proposed law banning dance bars was challenged in court. He added that in such an event, the acting AG would not be able to argue cases in courts. Aney had resigned from the post after he was chided by the state government for suggesting that the drought-hit Marathwada region should become a separate state. Aney had advocated separate statehood saying the region had faced grave injustice and its people should fight for their rights. Coming down heavily on the 'ISI' remarks of an AAP minister against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad today sought a public apology from Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Prasad also said while on one hand the Delhi government "expects cooperation" from the Centre, "their ministers use such a condemnable, shameful language" against the Prime Minister. Responding to a question on a tweet by Delhi minister Kapil Mishra yesterday on decision to allow a Pakistani investigation team to visit Pathankot where terrorists had struck in January, Prasad said, "We condemn it very strongly and demand a public apology from Arvind Kejriwal for the completely irresponsible, malicious and shameful comment of his minister." "Do we have a ISI agent as PM now?? Its very serious the way PM is surrendering to anti India forces?" Mishra had tweeted yesterday. Prasad said the remarks of Mishra are "limit of shamelessness. No minister of any government since Independence has used such a term for any Prime Minister." The Union minister was briefing reporters on the decisions taken by the Union Cabinet today. Asked whether he was seeking a public apology from Kejriwal as a Union minister or a BJP leader, Prasad said "I speak for my Prime Minister. The lawyer of TV producer Rahul Raj Singh, who has been booked for abetment of his girlfriend actress Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide, has withdrawn from the case. "I withdrew from the case on humanitarian grounds. I felt that I shouldn't be fighting the case, and hence left it so that injustice is not done to anyone," Rahul's lawyer Neeraj Gupta told PTI here today. "A client should pass on all the information, right or wrong, good or bad, to the lawyer, but I was kept in the dark and got all the details (pertaining to the case) from outside (media)," Gupta claimed. Replying to a query on whether he changed his mind after the FIR was filed against Rahul, he said, "The FIR has nothing to with the decision. A lawyer is always prepared for such things." Rahul, currently in hospital, was yesterday booked for the abetment of suicide after police registered an FIR based on a complaint filed by the actress's mother Soma at Bangurnagar Police Station. Police had declined to divulge details regarding the investigation that led to registration of the FIR. They suspect Singh was in relationship with another woman about which the deceased was depressed. A case under IPC sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 504, 506 (criminal intimidation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of IPC has been registered against Rahul. On April 1, the 24-year-old actress, who shot to fame for her role of Anandi in hit TV series "Balika Vadhu", allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself inside her flat at Goregoan area of western suburbs. Police are also trying to ascertain whether the deceased was in financial troubles or had any dispute with Singh. Some reports suggested the actress, who hailed from Jamshedpur, was depressed over not getting roles in TV serials. On Sunday, Singh was admitted in ICU ward of a hospital in Kandivali after he complained of chest pain and breathlessness, said police. As part of their probe, police spoke to several people, including the common friends of Singh and Banerjee, their close relatives, friends, neighbours and domestic help. Police are awaiting the viscera report of the actress. Fresh protests rocked the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) today as members of the Left-affiliated student unions tried to force their way into the university campus demanding Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile's removal over the suicide of Rohith Vemula, even as police took into preventive custody 83 of the protesters. In a new development, Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna walked out of the Academic Council Meeting in the Varsity to express his solidarity with the agitators as protests by scores of students as part of 'Chalo HCU' were held at the gate of campus. The 'Chalo HCU' call was given by Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice of HCU to intensify their ongoing agitation demanding removal and arrest of Podile, who resumed as VC on March 22 after being on leave for two months. Some of the protesters, who claimed that Podile has no right to chair the AC meeting, climbed the main entrance gate even as police deployed in large numbers, immediately intervened and prevented them from entering the campus and took them into preventive custody. Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhujanga Rao said there was no permission for outsiders to enter the HCU campus. "They tried to barge into the campus...In view of the law and order issue, police stopped them and took 83 of them into preventive arrest," he said. Prashant, a JAC member said, "We will seek cooperation from different political parties and students and civil organisations to build pressure on BJP government for sacking Appa Rao." The protesting students raised slogans against Podile and held banners asking him to leave the campus. They said Podile has been booked on charge of abetting suicide of Vemula, and questioned how can he chair the AC meeting. One of the some two dozen Qatari hunters kidnapped in Iraq this December has been freed along with an Asian who had accompanied the trip, the peninsular nation's Foreign Ministry said today. Authorities offered no details regarding their release, and did not give any clue as to which group was behind the mass abduction in Iraq's Muthana province, some 370 kilometres southeast of the capital, Baghdad. "Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped," the Foreign Ministry statement said, adding that it expressed "Qatar's hope that these efforts will be crowned with success." Qatari government officials declined to elaborate. Iraq's Interior Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gunmen stormed the desert camp near the Saudi border used by the falconry hunters at dawn on December 16, kidnapping those there. Their identities remain unclear, though a December statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the kidnapped included children. Hunters from Gulf states, mainly Qatar, visit Iraq's vast western and southern desert areas for hunting and purchasing falcons. Iraqi authorities approve the expeditions and offer local police officers as guards, though the Iraqi Interior Ministry previously accused the hunters of not following their instructions and going into unsecured areas. While Iraq and a US-led coalition battle the Islamic State group in other parts of the country, the predominantly Shiite province of Muthana remains under the control of the nation's central government. Qatar is seen by Iraqis as a main supporter of Sunni militants, such as the Islamic State group. Qatar strongly denies supporting extremist groups, including Islamic State militants, and is part of the US-led coalition battling its fighters. Kidnappings for ransom also plague Iraq and the hunters may have proven a tempting target because they come from oil-and-gas-rich Qatar. A member of the Qatari royal family has been released by kidnappers in Iraq nearly four months after being taken captive while on a hunting trip, Qatar said today. A Pakistani national was also released, the Qatari foreign ministry said. The pair, who have not been named, were among more than 20 people abducted from a desert hunting party close to the Saudi border last December. "Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped," a brief statement published on Qatar's official QNA agency said. It was unclear if any other Qatari royals were still being held. Faleh al-Zayadi, the governor of Muthanna province where the hunters were seized, told AFP at the time that "a number of members" of the Qatari ruling family were among those abducted. He said the kidnappers were heavily armed and travelled in dozens of vehicles. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that negotiations were continuing with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the remaining abductees. It is not known if any ransom was paid for the two men who were freed. The hunters were abducted when gunmen attacked their camp in a Shiite-majority area of southern Iraq. Nine members of the party managed to escape and cross into nearby Kuwait. Earlier this year, the Doha government said Baghdad had a "responsibility" to free all those who had been kidnapped. Pressure has also been placed on Iraq by the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Qatar is a member. In a joint statement immediately after the kidnapping, the GCC said Iraq should take "decisive and immediate measures" to secure the release of the hunters. There is widespread enmity towards the Gulf Arab states in Shiite areas of southern and central Iraq because of their support for Sunni rebels in the conflict raging in neighbouring Syria. Iran-backed Shiite militias, which have a major presence in the region, have sent fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The hunting party was in Iraq on an officially licensed expedition and Doha has put pressure on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad to help secure the hostages' release. Wealthy Gulf Arabs often brave the risks of travel to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Iraq to hunt with falcons without the bag limits and conservation measures they face at home. Their favoured prey is the houbara bustard, a large game bird once nearly hunted to extinction in the Middle East. TERI's Executive Vice Chairman R K Pachauri, accused in a sexual harassment case, today withdrew his plea seeking to restrain a media house from publishing reports on the proceedings and outcome of inquiry against him. Pachauri, who has denied all allegations levelled against him, through his counsel told a bench of justices Gita Mittal and I S Mehta that damage has already been done and the publication is still going on, so there is no point in keeping the appeal pending before it. Advocate Ashish Dixit, appearing for him, submitted that a civil defamation suit is pending before a trial court for consideration against the accused media house, which will be decided on merit. Taking note of the submissions, the court allowed him to withdraw the appeal against a single bench order of February 18, 2015, which had refused his request for complete restraint on media from reporting on the outcome of the inquiry against him under the Sexual Harassment at Workplace Act. "The appeal and all the applications stand withdrawn. Interim order shall stand discharged," the bench said. In its interim order, the high court had said, "any steps taken by the respondents (media house and a journalist) shall comply with Section 16 (prohibition of publication or making known contents of complaint and inquiry proceedings) of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act...". Pachauri had challenged the single bench order allowing the publication and airing of reports regarding action taken by police, the proceedings of complaint filed by complainant before the committee, and connected court proceedings. On February 13 last an FIR was registered against Pachauri on charges of sexual harassment under sections 354, 354(a), 354(d) (molestation) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC at Lodhi Colony Police Station, on a complaint filed against him by a former woman research analyst. Currently, Pachauri is on anticipatory bail granted by the trial court on March 21, 2015. Recently, police had filed a charge sheet in the case against Pachauri before a trial court for the alleged offences under several sections including 354 (outraging woman's modesty), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman). Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will today meet the protesting jewellers who are demanding withdrawal of excise duty on jewellery. The representatives of jewellers associations from across the country have been holding a protest at Jantar Mantar against the excise duty imposed in the Union Budget 2016-17. Rahul had earlier met with the jewellers on March 11. Jewellers and bullion traders in several parts of the country, including Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, have kept down shutters for over a month now. The Congress Vice President will meet the protesting jewellers at Jantar Mantar here today, party leaders said. Vice-president of the All India Sarafa Association Surinder Kumar Jain said the industry has been losing business due to ongoing indefinite strike, and workers including artisans involved in the trade have the "crisis of bread and butter now". Jewellery manufacturers are likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand rollback of the budgetary proposal. "We have a meeting with the Prime Minister on Wednesday. The time is yet to be finalised," said Rahul Gupta, CEO of PP Jewellers. Gupta is also the Vice-Chairman of Export Promotion Council for EoUs and SEZs. The Centre has already constituted a panel under former chief economic advisor Ashok Lahiri to look into the demands of jewellers. The sub-committee, which has been asked to submit its report in 60 days, will look into issues related to the compliance procedure for the excise duty, including records to be maintained, forms to be filled, operating procedures and other relevant aspects. The government, in the Budget for 2016-17, had proposed one per cent excise duty on jewellery without input credit or 12.5 per cent with input tax credit on jewellery excluding silver other than those studded with diamonds and precious stones. "They dislodged elected governments in Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. They broke law and they keep on breaking it. "This is a democratic country. It belongs to everyone and not to a single person. And we will fight for democracy, for the poor, farmers, labourers, youth and women," Rahul said. Attacking the 'Make in India' programme, the Congress leader said that Modi promised to give jobs to over two crore youths every year, but the pet initiative of the Prime Minister has been able to give jobs to only 1.3 lakh people. "Modiji had said he would give employment to the youth. We saw the Make in India programme on television and internet. It was widely discussed and there was a mega show in Mumbai. "How many people got employment last year? Modiji said he will give employment to two crore youth every year. Only 1.3 lakh people got employment in India last year, which means, the Make in India has given jobs to only 350 youth every day," Rahul said. He also attacked the BJP over the law in some states that prohibits those who have not passed Class X exams from contesting local bodies polls and said, by this action, doors of democracy are being closed for dalits and women. "In different areas of the country they say if anyone is not a Class X pass they he cannot contest panchayati elections. What is the outcome? Lakhs of Dalits and women are not getting a chance to contest polls. Doors of democracy are being closed on them. But Modiji does not want to speak a single word," Rahul said. Reliance Capital Asset Management Company (RCAM) has filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching a Korea-focused fund in Indian markets. RCAM, part of Anil Ambani-led business conglomerate Reliance Groups financial services arm, Reliance Capital, had in 2014 launched two India funds in Japan -- one for equity and the other for debt markets. Reliance Korea Equity Fund is an open ended diversified equity scheme, according to papers filed with Sebi. The new scheme is aimed at providing long-term capital appreciation to investors by identifying and investing in a portfolio constituted of equity and equity-related securities, predominantly in mid-cap and small-cap companies listed on the recognised stock exchanges of Korea. Another objective of the scheme is to generate consistent returns by investing in debt and money market securities of India. In addition, RCAM has filed papers to launch a Reliance Nivesh Lakshya Fund with the markets regulator. "The primary investment objective of the scheme is to generate optimal credit risk-free returns by investing in a portfolio of securities issued and guaranteed by the Central and State Government having maturity less than or equal to the tenor specified in the scheme," as per the Scheme Information Document. The impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff should go ahead, the representative for a congressional commission said today, bringing the country's political crisis a step closer to a showdown. Jovair Arantes, rapporteur for a special impeachment commission in the lower house of Congress, said he had concluded the "legal admissibility" of the case against the leftist president. The decision was given in a lengthy report that Arantes read aloud, live on national television, to the 65-member impeachment commission, sometimes interrupted by deputies shouting and arguing. Although Arantes' decision was non-binding and mostly of symbolic value, it meant the opposition drew first blood in a lengthy and increasingly bitter battle to remove Brazil's first woman president from office. On Monday, the full commission will vote. That will also be non-binding but will set the tone ahead of April 18, when the lower house of Congress holds its decisive vote on whether Rousseff should go. She is accused of presiding over large-scale fiddling of government accounts to mask the depth of budgetary shortfalls during her reelection in 2014. Rousseff -- highly unpopular because of a severe recession and a giant corruption scandal enveloping Brazil's political elite -- says she has committed no impeachment-worthy crime and claims she is the victim of a coup attempt. Intrigue is rife over which way Congress will lean on the 18th. The lower chamber's mood swings almost daily, with Rousseff sometimes appearing to have run out of allies before winning an unexpected boost. Yesterday, the murky political landscape entered extraordinary new territory when a Supreme Court judge ruled in favour of a bid to also impeach the vice president, Michel Temer, who has become a leading opponent of Rousseff -- and would replace her if she had to step down. In the impeachment request, Temer is accused of participating in the same fiscal juggling as Rousseff. Although proceedings against Temer are highly unlikely to get underway soon and could still be thrown out by the full Supreme Court, the judge's ruling weakened the opposition camp. Rousseff's ruling coalition collapsed last week when the PMDB party, headed by Temer, went into opposition. Her Workers' Party is now scrambling with the help of smaller allies to build a new coalition. Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu today said the controvery on 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' has been created to divert the government from its agenda of development and good governance. "Development is our main agenda. Nothing else only development and good governance. Fast development and overall development. Some people are trying to divert us from the agenda...Some people are making controvery over all the issues. Some people have objections with 'Bharat Mata Ki Jai' also. I am surprised," he said while inaugurating 'Swachh Sauchalay' in an east Delhi market. "Bharat Mata does not means the land. It means all the people living in this country irrespective of their caste, creed, sex and religion...Bharat maa does not mean the mother of Hindu, Muslim Christian, forward and backward people. Bharat Mata ki jai means jai of all the people of the country. There should not be any objection to this," he added. Speaking on the JNU issue, he said some people went to the varsity to show their "sympathy" with the students who were shouting slogans against India. "Even without knowing what the issue was, some people went to the campus...And abused the Prime Minster," he said. "There was slogan for want of freedom from corruption. The country is free from corruption for the first time after so many years. There has been no scam since the last one year. Earlier, you had heard of scams like coal, spectrum and CWG scams," he said. "They want freedom from hunger. They are raising slogan and went to those who have ruled for 50 years. They are raising slogans against those who are trying to bring down the hunger," he said. He said the Modi-government is working for the upliftment of the poor and does not believe in only announcement of the schemes. Russia and China present the greatest cyber security threat to the US, but Iran is trying to increase and spend more on its capabilities, the Navy admiral in charge of the military's Cyber Command has told Congress. Adm Michael Rogers told the Senate Armed Services Committee that while the US has more overall military power than the three countries, the gaps are narrower when it comes to cyber warfare. He said US Cyber Command is making progress building cyber mission teams, and will have 133 fully operational by September 2018. He said that nearly 100 teams are already conducting cyberspace operations. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has beefed up the use of offensive cyber warfare in Iraq and Syria and made increasing the department's cyber capabilities a key goal. As part of that, he is considering elevating Cyber Command to a full, independent military command. Currently US Cyber Command is a sub-unit of the military's Strategic Command. During testimony yesterday, Rogers told senators that being designated a full command would allow his units to "be faster, which would generate better mission outcomes." He added that it also would give him more input into the budget process and how to prioritise spending. A senior US official said yesterday that Carter believes that making Cyber Command a full command would be worthwhile. The official said that while discussions with the White House are ongoing, Carter has not yet sent his final recommendation to the president. Congress would also need to approve such a change. The official was not authorised to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. During the hearing, Rogers said that his major cybersecurity concerns include attacks against critical infrastructure in the US and the possibility that cyber hackers may begin breaching networks and changing data, rather than just reading it or stealing it. As a result, he said, officials would no longer be able to "believe what we're seeing," including in data that the military needs for critical operations. In addition, he said that there are increasing worries that extremist groups and others may begin to view cyber as a weapons system and "want to use it as a vehicle to inflict pain against the United States and others. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may visit Russia in May for a long-awaited meeting with President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin said today. "Such a possibility is being considered," Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. Abe has sought to make progress in a dispute over Russian-held islands that are called the southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. The dispute has kept the two countries from signing a peace treaty ending their World War II hostilities. Japanese and Russian media have reported a possible visit and there was renewed diplomatic activity today to prepare for one, but there has been no confirmation from either side. The Kremlin-loyal Izvestia newspaper, citing diplomatic sources, reported today that Abe may meet Putin in Sochi on May 6. Tomomi Inada, a senior lawmaker of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party who is visiting Moscow, held talks today with Trade and Industry Minister Denis Manturov and handed him a letter from Abe to Putin, according to Kyodo . Inada told Manturov that this year will be an important one for Japan-Russia relations, Kyodo quoted her as saying. Also today, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was headed to Tokyo, where he would meet with his Japanese counterpart on April 15 to discuss preparations for a meeting between the two leaders. Separatist-turned-politician Sajjad Gani Lone has resigned from the newly formed PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir, just a day after he was sworn-in. A decision on his resignation is yet to be taken as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was awaiting final word from BJP since he was made a minister from the quota of saffron party. 48-year-old Lone, son of former separatist leader Abdul Gani Lone, had tendered his resignation to Mehbooba yesterday apparently unhappy over the portfolio of Social Welfare and Administrative Reforms Training that was given to him after being sworn-in on April 4. In the previous Mufti Mohammed Sayeed government, Lone was allocated Animal Husbandry portfolio over which he had resigned but was persuaded not to press for it. Lone did not meet any of the BJP leaders and instead left Jammu for New Delhi. Sources close to him said that he had gone to the national capital for his eye treatment but did not rule out a possibility of meeting senior BJP leaders and register his unhappiness with them. An Egyptian regional satellite provider cut the broadcast of Hezbollah's TV station in the Shiite group's native Lebanon today, the latest in escalating tensions between the Iranian-backed organization and Sunni Arab countries in the region. Al-Manar, the official station of the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah, briefly went off air after its carrier, Egypt's NileSat, dropped the channel. Technicians scrambled to reprogram satellite receivers after the station switched its broadcast to Russia's Express satellite provider in Lebanon. Hezbollah's influence over Lebanese politics has prompted Saudi Arabia and its allies to retaliate through media and political sanctions. The party is seen as a proxy to Saudi's regional rival, Iran, and has sent thousands of soldiers to fight against Saudi-backed Islamist rebels in neighboring Syria's civil war. Hezbollah has also aligned itself with the Saudi-opposed Houthi rebels in Yemen's civil war. The party maintains a dominant militia force in Lebanon. Lebanon's state agency reported that the Egyptian satellite company NileSat informed the country's Information Ministry yesterday of its intention to drop Al-Manar's broadcasts, saying they "provoke sectarian strife." Al-Manar is popular among Hezbollah supporters but is widely watched by others, particularly for regional and updates on the Syria conflict. Its political reports openly favour pro-Iranian perspectives over pro-Saudi ones. It also broadcasts cooking and exercise shows, educational programs and documentaries. Hezbollah strongly denounced the "unjust decision" to take it off the air, calling the move "a blatant violation of freedom of opinion and expression and an attempt to silence the voice of resistance and righteousness." Its statement also accused Egypt of total submission to Saudi Arabia in its attack on the group. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states have pumped billions of dollars into Egypt to keep the economy afloat. The developments underline the steep price of Hezbollah's very public and bloody foray into Syria's civil war. Once lauded in Lebanon and the Arab world as a heroic resistance movement that stood up to Israel, Hezbollah has seen its popularity plummet, even among its Lebanese base, because of its staunch support for President Bashar Assad. The Arab League designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization in March. A month earlier, Saudi Arabia cut USD 4 billion in aid to Lebanese security forces after Lebanon's Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil declined to join Arab and Islamic league resolutions critical of Iran and Hezbollah. Amid reports that India is considering tightening of security checks on Chinese firms, China's official media today said such move will hurt India more. "India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms if it scrapped security clearance to Chinese companies," an article in the state-run Global Times said. The article came days after official sources in India said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN on India's bid in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase. "Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, India's development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the daily. Though Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to India in 2014 announced $20 billion Chinese investments in India in the next five years, Indian officials and business organisations say the flow of investments remained low despite India liberalising visa regime and removing security clearances for Chinese firms. A Chinese embassy official in India familiar with China's overseas investments acknowledged to the Global Times that India's security clearance of Chinese firms has been showing signs of relaxing in recent years, especially after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh's visit to China November last year. "Although India conducted a security review of Chinese firms, Chinese companies in India say the general business environment is improving, and the Chinese companies' feedback is positive," the official said. Media reports say that the Indian government has given around 25 Chinese companies security clearance in the past two years for projects mostly in power, telecoms, railways and infrastructure. But at the same time there seems to be a rethink in India over granting liberalised regime, specially after Beijing blocking its moves to get Pakistan militant groups carrying out terrorist attacks on its soil to be banned by UN. China which is permanent member of the UN Security Council has putting technical hold on India's move in the sanction committee formed under resolution 1267 to clamp down on global terrorist networks. Indian officials say the technical holds are put at the behest of Pakistan to ban Azhar after the Pathankot terrorist attack despite furnishing required evidence. Defending China's action, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, "On April 1 that China always dealt with the listing issue under the UN Security Council committee based on facts and relevant rules of procedures in objective and just manner". Sun Shihai, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the Indian government is unlikely to tighten its policies toward all Chinese investments, but it may pick on some Chinese companies. China's official media today cautioned India that it will "lose more than gain" if it went ahead with its reported move to tighten security checks on Chinese firms in the country after Beiijng scuttled India's bid at the UN to ban JeM chief Masood Azhar. "India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms or if it scrapped security clearance to Chinese companies," an article in the state-run Global Times said. The article came days after official sources in India said the view in the security establishment is that security clearances given to Chinese companies should be reviewed after China's action in the UN in the wake of terror strike at the Pathankot airbase. "Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, India's development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered," Hu Zhiyong, a research fellow with the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences told the daily. Though Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to India in 2014 announced USD 20 billion Chinese investments in India in the next five years, Indian officials and business organisations say the flow of investments remained low despite India liberalising visa regime and removing security clearances for Chinese firms. A Chinese embassy official in India familiar with China's overseas investments acknowledged to the Global Times that India's security clearance of Chinese firms has been showing signs of relaxing in recent years, especially after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014 and Minister of Home Affairs Rajnath Singh's visit to China November last year. "Although India conducted a security review of Chinese firms, Chinese companies in India say the general business environment is improving, and the Chinese companies' feedback is positive," the official said. Media reports say that the Indian government has given around 25 Chinese companies security clearance in the past two years for projects mostly in power, telecoms, railways and infrastructure. Attacking the Centre over Pakistani media reports suggesting that the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had found the Pathankot terror attack "stage-managed by India", Shiv Sena today said this was the consequence of the government rolling out a red carpet to the neighbouring country. "All warnings given by the Sena to the government about Pakistan have unfortunately proved correct. All the evidences given by the Indian government have been rejected by the Pakistani JIT. Not only did they reject it, but also in a mindless conclusion, termed it as India's drama," the Sena said in an editorial in its mouthpiece 'Saamana'. It said the "father of all terror organisations Hafiz Saeed" had congratulated the terrorists who carried out the Pathankot attack and in a way admitted that the attack was his handiwork. "The bogus report was leaked even before it was submitted to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif," it said. Also, in a shameless manner, "the JIT concluded that India itself staged the attack to defame Pakistan", it said. The Sena further said the government ignored every warning and allowed the Pakistani team investigate the attack on the Pathankot airbase. "This (report) is the effect of rolling out a red carpet for Pakistan and ignoring the advice of friends while trusting the enemy nation. Even when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Lahore and met Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, we had warned that there would be betrayal. In the end they betrayed us with a terror attack on Pathankot air base," it said. The party stated that the biggest joke of the episode was the presence of a senior ISI officer in the JIT. "ISI has planned and executed terror attacks in India. Our government has repeatedly stated that Pakistani terrorists, in a planned manner, sneak into India and carry out terror attacks. "Even then Lt Col Tanveer Ahmed of the ISI stands at Pathankot air base and conducts a probe...This itself is a sham. Why this was done the government will have to answer. To carry out terror attacks in India has been integral part of Pakistan's foreign policy," it said. The Sena questioned the need to extend an olive branch to Pakistan even when it was "crystal clear" that the terror attack on Pathankot air base was as per plans of Pakistani Army and ISI. "Satisfied now? This is our question to the government on behalf of nationalists," the Sena asked. The Uttar Pradesh-based urban co-operative lender Shivalik Mercantile Co-operative Bank is eyeing a business turnover of Rs 5,000 crore by 2020, the chief of the bank said today. "In the current fiscal, we are eyeing a business turnover of Rs 1,700 crore as against Rs 1,400 crore in the previous fiscal. We are looking at growing it further to Rs 5,000 crore by 2020," MD and CEO Suveer Kumar Gupta told reporters during an interaction here. Shivalik Bank is also planning to get licensed as a scheduled co-operative bank by the next financial year. "We have another strategic target of becoming a scheduled co-operative bank. We have qualified the criterion of Rs 750 crore in deposits. We will now apply to RBI for the scheduled status," Gupta said. The bank is focused on lending to small and medium enterprises (SME). At present, the company has operations mostly in Uttar Pradesh and at some select locations in Madhya Pradesh and is looking to expand in north-west India. "This is the time we are looking for expansion in major parts of north-west India. Now, we are looking forward to expansion in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and the whole of Madhya Pradesh. We have applied to RBI for expansion," he said. The bank is already operating with 21 branches across Uttar Pradesh (19) and Madhya Pradesh (2) and has sought RBI nod to open 5 more branches in UP and 2 in MP. Besides, the bank plans to acquire other urban co-operative banks to further its strategic growth initiatives to achieve a larger reach in terms of its portfolio and regional presence. Shivalik Bank has implemented direct RTGS/NEFT platform and soon looks to launch full mobile banking with a mobile app as well as Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) to send and receive money via mobile phones. Gupta said the bank has recently launched micro ATM services and plans to launch e-KYC facility for customers. The bank offers personal, professional, business and micro-finance loan facilities, savings, current and fixed deposit accounts as well as remittances, lockers, ATM cards, insurance and forex services. The new academic session has already begun in schools but the supply of NCERT text books for Mathematics and History for secondary classes is short in the market in the national capital, leaving parents in limbo. While book shop owners say they have either not received any supply from distributors or have got only limited stocks, parents are hopping from one place to another to find the books but with little success. NCERT officials, however, maintained there is no shortage of printing or supply of books at their end. "The session has already started and I could not find mathematics book for my daughter who is in Class VI. The school bookstore also did not have it neither the 4-5 stores that we went to in different areas of Delhi. "Maths is one of the mainstream subjects, the students will suffer if the books aren't available on time as classes have already begun," said a parent residing in South-West Delhi. Another parent said, "I had to get the book photocopied for my child from one of his friends who had managed to buy it. It is not possible to manually check out each and every store in Delhi to find out if a particular book is available or not". The book-store owners in some of the prominent schools said they have been informed that enough books haven't been printed and they will be available after April 15. Some book stores in Connaught place and Patel Nagar area said they are short of mathematics books from Class 6 to 8 and History book of class 9. "There is no shortage at NCERT's end and adequate copies have been printed. This type of logistical problem arises sometimes but is beyond NCERT's control. At times the retailers develop a nexus with private publishers to hold supply of these books to encourage sale of their books," an NCERT official said. "The supply at our end is upto the mark and those who are facing problems can also contact our distribution centres. Also all the books are available for download on NCERT website," the official added. In yet another case of violence against Sikhs in California's Fresno city, a 70-year- old Sikh man was left bloodied and bruised after armed robbers attacked him while he was taking a walk along with his wife. However, police said it was not a case of hate crime but seemed like robbers picking on older people. The robbers struck on Monday night on the northwest side of the Fresno town. The victims, the man and his 69-year-old wife who have not been named, were taking their nightly walk when they noticed three young men walking towards them. Two of those guys caught up and one of them was armed. "He pulled out a folding knife and told the male victim he wanted money and his cell phone. He repeated that three times," Fresno police Lt Joe Gomez was quoted as saying by KFSN-TV. The man did not have any money, but he gave up his phone. As soon as he did, the guy without a knife launched an attack. "He just rushes and kind of cold cocks the victim in the face, really for no reason," Gomez said. The elderly fell to the ground as blood spilled all over his clothes. The robbers then patted down his wife to make sure she had nothing of value and then they took off. "It looks like young robbers picking on older people. That's what the motivation is here," Gomez said while stating that it was not a hate crime. Just a couple blocks from the scene of the attack is a new Gurdwara and members there have been on high alert in light of recent assaults classified as hate crimes against Sikhs. A 68-year-old Sikh man was stabbed to death in Fresno city on January 1 this year. Alexis Mendoza and Daniel Wilson are charged with a hate crime for attacking Amrik Singh Bal, including by running him down in a car -- an act caught on surveillance video from a home in the area in December. Last September, Gilbert Garcia was convicted of attacking 82-year-old Piara Singh because of his cultural appearance. After a two year gap, the swearing in of six new judges will take place in Madras High court tomorrow. The ceremony will take place at 3.15 PM as the warrant of appointment of the six new Judges arrived very late today, High court sources said. The present Registrar General Kalaiyarasan and another District Judge Gokuldas (since retired) from the Judiciary and Bharathidasan, S Sunder, M V Muralidharan and D Krishnakumar from the Bar will take oath as Judges. Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul will administer the oath to them. The previous appointment was in December 2013, when Justice V M Velumani was sworn in. After this, no new appointments were made. The stir by lawyers seeking caste-wise appointments had stalled the procedure for some time followed by litigation pending in the Supreme Court with regard to constitution of the National Judicial Appointment Commission. Only after December 2013 were the names recommended by the collegiums headed by the present Chief Justice Sanajy Kishan Kaul cleared. Of the nine names recommended, six had been confirmed by the Supreme Court Collegiums. Of these, two are from the Judiciary and four from the Bar. Transportation app Ola today said it has expanded its affordable service Micro to six more cities, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar, as it looks to overtake rival Uber in terms of number of rides. Micro, which is Ola's most affordable, offering economy AC cab ride for Rs 6 per km, is now available in 13 cities across India, Ola said in a statement. "Ola Micro is now available in 13 cities across India, viz. Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Pune, including Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Guwahati, which were launched today, after a phenomenal response from customers in other cities," it added. Ola Micro fleet will comprise cars like Datsun Go, Maruti Alto and Hyundai Eon, among other compact cars. "By bringing Micro to fast growing tier-II markets, Ola is making an AC cab ride affordable for millions of Indians who will potentially take their first cab ride with this category. "In cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore and Guwahati, which are popular tourist and economic centres, affordable yet reliable mobility options are limited," said Raghuvesh Sarup, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Categories, Ola. Ola said Micro alone, in its first three weeks since the launch, crossed the daily bookings that Ola as a platform did in three years and is estimated to be well over 50 per cent the size of competition in such a short span of time. Ola also wants a review of the rule that makes it mandatory for an operator/aggregator to have 50 per cent fleet with above 1,400-cc engines. "Fleet composition should be best left to the choice of drivers which is done according to the demand from consumers," Jivrajka said, adding Mumbai does not need so many premium taxis. Ola is present in 102 cities and claims over 4,50,000 drivers on its platform with cabs, auto-rickshaws, taxis and bike taxis (in Gurugram). Uber too had sought review of these norms while welcoming the rest of policy proposals. According to Uber, the proposed stipulation that more that 50 percent of the vehicles on ride-sharing platforms should be over 1,400cc would result in disappearance of economical and fuel efficient vehicles from the platform. "It also takes away the freedom and flexibility of drivers to have the vehicle of their choice, forcing them to buy more expensive cars which will in turn increase fares," Uber had said, adding that capping pricing prevents market forces from determining lower fares when possible. Nagaland's Parliamentary Secretary Planning & Coordination, Evaluation and Taxes, Neiba Kronu today said that space technology application has become a necessity. Accuracy of all forms of data collected for planning and governance, services of Geospatial Information System (GIS) centre is highly required, he said during Nagaland State Level Meet on "Promoting use of Space Technology and Application in Governance and Development" at Capital Convention Centre here. Kronu commented that in the past due to the unresolved Naga political issue, development activities in the state have been slightly hampered, but the present younger Naga generations have learnt to utilise the modern technologies and move forward to compete with the rest of the world. Expressing that besides providing better health and education in the remote areas, space services can be used for checking crime, he said efforts must begin by increasing the awareness of the benefits of space technology towards the benefit of the people. He also maintained that the state government has been trying to bring in investors for various development activities but they have a second thought after receiving the manually provided data. Dr. M Paul from the Department of Space, ISRO, Government of India, said that State level meet in Nagaland is the fifth in the country and second for North East region. Delivering the keynote address, Project Director of Nagaland GIS and Remote Sensing Centre, Mhathung Kithan said appropriate technology investments and capacity building are pre-requisite for growth and progress of any state or nation. The state level meet is being organised by Nagaland GIS & Remote Sensing Centre in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organisation and North East Space Application Centre. With the death of another BSF personnel and two persons in Vishala village today, the toll due to consumption of spurious liquor has touched nine even as five persons have been arrested and seven government employees suspended in connection with the hooch tragedy. "Mukhtiyar Singh, who was admitted to MDM Hospital in Jodhpur and was in a critical condition, died today," District Magistrate Sudhir Kumar Sharma said. With this death, three BSF personnel have died in the hooch tragedy. The District Magistrate did not rule out the possibility of the toll going up. "We are trying to gather as much information as possible about other deaths. Our teams are doing door-to-door survey in the affected villages, especially Vishala, where maximum number of deaths have been reported," Sharma said. Around 36 persons have been admitted to hospitals in Barmer and Jodhpur and all of them are out of danger, said Vikas Rajpurohit, in-charge of Trauma Centre in MDM Hospital. While five persons have been arrested in connection with the tragedy, one Mohan Singh was arrested for running a distillery at his home in Jhinjhinyali village, Jaisalmer police said. Seven government employees including two officials of Gadra Road Police Station, have been suspended for dereliction of their duty and 11 joint teams of police and Excise Departments formed to seize stock of spurious liquor, Barmer SP Rajiv Pachaar said. Marking the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with India, Oman has issued special postal stamps depicting the Taj Mahal and the Gulf country's iconic Grand Mosque. Oman Post issued the stamps in a ceremony at the Indian Embassy in Muscat yesterday. Diplomatic relations between both the countries were established in 1955. This is the first time when Oman Post has issued a special commemorative stamp to mark an important milestone in India's historical relations with Oman, an Indian Embassy press release said today. The ceremony also marked the culmination of the year-long celebrations to commemorate the 60th anniversary of establishment of India-Oman diplomatic ties which began with the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to Oman in February last year. The design of the Postage Stamp depicts the key historical monuments of the two countries such as Oman's iconic Grand Mosque and India's Taj Mahal in subtly fused colours. The First Day Cover of the Stamp depicts historical Muscat Gate and Mumbai's Gateway of India. The Stamp was unveiled by Indian Ambassador to Oman Indra Mani Pandey, and Chief Executive Officer of Oman Posts Abdul Malik Abdul Karim Al Balushi. The Guest of Honour was Under Secretary for Diplomatic Affairs at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Ali bin Ahmed Al-Isa'eei. Senior Officers of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oman Post, Ambassadors and other members of diplomatic corps, prominent members of Indian community, Indian academicians from Sultan Qaboos University, philatelists attended the ceremony. Norwegian police today announced the recovery of a valuable lithograph by Edvard Munch which was stolen in 2009, with two men arrested. The artwork, named 'Historien' or 'History' in Norwegian, was retrieved undamaged, a statement said. It shows an elderly bearded man speaking to a young boy and was valued at the time of its theft at USD 2,44,000, but art experts said it was too well-known to be put on the market. Police said two men had been arrested at the start of the week on suspicion of handling stolen goods but not for the theft itself. The lithograph was stolen after one of the windows of Nyborg Kunst, a leading Oslo gallery, was smashed with a rock. "My client denies the charge," Oystein Storrvik, the lawyer of one of the arrested men, told Norway's NTB agency. The works of Munch (1863-1944) have long been targeted by thieves. In 2004, two of his masterpieces -- "The Scream" and "Madonna", with a combined value of USD 100 million -- were stolen in a brazen afternoon raid on Oslo's Munch museum. Ten years before that, another version of "The Scream" was stolen from Oslo's national art gallery. All the works were later recovered. The UN has said it is the responsibility of member states to ensure they impose the "strongest disciplinary and criminal sanctions" against any of their peacekeepers found guilty of sexual exploitation. "We count on all member states to live up to their responsibilities to expeditiously bring to justice those who have committed crimes while serving with the UN and to impose the strongest of disciplinary and criminal sanctions warranted under their national laws," Atul Khare, a senior Indian diplomat who is Undersecretary-General for Field Support said in his briefing to the General Assembly here yesterday on recent allegations of sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers. Khare's comments come in the backdrop of reports of alleged sexual exploitation and abuse in the Central African Republic by UN and French troops and local armed groups. The Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General has said that the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic announced on March 25 that it had received new allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse. Most of the allegations relate to Burundian and Gabonese contingents present in the Kemo region between 2013 and 2015, as well as to the separate French Sangaris force stationed in the same region in the same period. Allegations of abuse in other parts of the country are also being investigated. No Indian peacekeeper was found guilty of any wrongdoing in a new report last month that for the first time identified nationalities of UN peacekeeping personnel involved in sexual abuse against citizens. As many as 69 allegations ofsexual exploitation were received by the UN against its peacekeepers last year, according to the report. Khare said the "new profoundly disturbing" reports from the peacekeeping missions in Congo and Central African Republic must be swiftly and professionally investigated. He added that the immediate concern of the department is to provide protection and support to the victims most of whom are "sadly" children, stressing that a victim-centric approach is absolutely essential. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Chef de Cabinet Edmond Mulet reaffirmed the UN's determination to tackle the issue head on and indicated that such violations, if verified, would trigger a decision by Ban to repatriate the units in question. Mulet said that since last June, reports of sexual exploitation and abuse have continued to come to light in the Central African Republic and in other countries. "Tragically, the vast majority of the victims are children," he said, adding, however, that "at this stage, these remain reports," which must be verified and investigated swiftly and professionally. "The Member States have been advised that if there is credible evidence to support the reports, their number would constitute widespread or systemic sexual exploitation and abuse," he said. A Syrian fighter who appeared in a gruesome video cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it has been shot dead by rival rebels, a monitoring group said. Known by his nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, the rebel reportedly joined the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front about a year ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rival rebels "assassinated Khaled al-Hamad, who was known as Abu Sakkar and who was a military commander in Al-Nusra, by gunning him down" in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said late yesterday. In May 2013, Abu Sakkar appeared in a video showing him eating the heart of a dead regime soldier, sparking an international outcry and condemnation from the mainstream Syrian opposition. At the time, he was fighting in a rebel brigade in central Homs province. "He was likely killed in a settling of accounts" between Al-Nusra, which dominates much of Idlib province, and other Islamist rebels in the area, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. The Syrian conflict began as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 but swiftly escalated into an armed rebellion after his regime unleashed a brutal crackdown. Many Syrians became radicalised, and human rights groups have accused all sides in the fighting of committing atrocities. The country's largest automobile company Tata Motors, which has been badly hit by the Supreme Court ban on selling high-end diesel vehicles in the NCR, is planning to down-size its diesel engines to skirt the issue. "We are re-engineering our existing engines to bring them below 2-litres," Tata Motors senior vice president for programme planning and project management, at the passenger vehicle unit, Girish Wagh, told reporters here on sidelines of the launch of its much-awaited hatchback Tiago. Though Wagh did not offer details on the cost and timing or a time-line, he said, "a completely new engine takes almost or more than a year to come, but since this is something more innovative ... This will be done much faster." He, however said the plan is only for Tata Motors vehicles and not for its luxury brands Jaguar Land Rover. Last December, the apex court had banned sale of 2000-cc and above engine diesel vehicles in Delhi and the NRC region till March 31 which was then extended to April 30 till the court hears all the petitions. Almost all the models from Tata Motor's British arm JLR had been impacted by the ban, apart from Safari Strom and Arai from the Tata Motors domestic stable. The ban had diesel-only player Mahindra even entering the petrol segment and lowering its engine capacity and planning to downsize even its top-end models like Scorpio and Bolero. In January the company had launched a 1.99 litre diesel engine. The ban has hurt other like Mercedes-Benz, Toyota and to some models of BMW. Though Tata Motors is the largest auto company in the country in terms of revenue, its space in the passenger vehicle segment is negligible and its sales just grew a paltry 2 per cent in 2015-16, compared to 11 per cent growth that market leader Maruti notched up. For nearly the past six years the company has been struggling in the market due to absence of products and supplier issues. Though it launched two new models last fiscal-the Zest and the Bolt and an AMT version of its wonder called the Nano, the company could not meet demand due to supplier issues and troubles at dealerships. Tata Motors share closed 1.7 per cent up on the BSE. The Centre's green panel has given clearance to Tata Steel for diversion of about 199 hectare of forest land for expansion of its iron ore mining project in Keonjhar district, Odisha. "The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) under the Union Environment Ministry examined Tata Steel's proposal during last month's meeting and recommended granting forest clearance," a senior government official said. The FAC has suggested that the ministry should give final clearance subject to some conditions, the official added. Normally, the ministry gives final nod to projects based on the recommendations of the FAC. As per the proposal, the company has sought permission for diversion of 199.1 hectare of forest land, including 2.2 hectare for safety zone, for iron ore mining and allied activities in Katamani mines in Deojhar and Thakurani Reserved Forest, Keonjhar district. Out of the total forest land proposed to be diverted, 57.55 hectare is reserved forest. As many as 49,600 trees are required to be felled in the virgin forest land. Total cost of expansion of Katamani iron ore mine project is estimated at Rs 45 crore up to production level of 5 million tonnes per annum. The iron ore produced from the Katamani mine will be supplied to steel plants of Tata Steel and its group companies. This mine is one of the major sources of supply of high grade iron ore to its largest plant in Jamshedpur. Tata Steel has manufacturing operations in 26 countries and employs around 80,500 people. Republican Ted Cruz and Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders have snatched victories in the crucial Wisconsin presidential primary, sending a message to frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton that their march to the nominations are not foregone conclusions. US networks including Fox News and NBC called the race for the two underdogs within half an hour of polls closing in the Midwestern state that borders Canada yesterday. With 7% of precincts reporting, Cruz, a conservative senator from Texas, was ahead with 49% of the vote compared to 35% for billionaire Trump. Ohio Governor John Kasich was a distant third at 14%. Cruz's win in the Badger State is a serious blow to Trump and could alter the trajectory of the Republican race. The New York real estate mogul predicted a surprise win yesterday in Wisconsin, but now faces a narrower path to victory and the 1,237 delegates needed to sew up the Republican nomination. Yesterday also cements Cruz's status as the leading anti-Trump candidate, with Kasich far back in the nomination battle. On the Democratic side, Vermont Senator Sanders led with 57% versus 43% for Clinton. But the former secretary of state can look forward with some confidence to the upcoming races. She leads Sanders by double digits in New York, her adopted home state which votes April 19, and Pennsylvania, which casts ballots a week later. Trump also leads handily in his home state of New York and in Pennsylvania. Tension prevailed at NIT here with outstation students today making a slew of demands, including shifting the institute out of Kashmir and action against the policemen involved in lathicharge yesterday, as an HRD team rushed here from Delhi to resolve the crisis being witnessed since last six days. The developments at the prestigious engineering institute also triggered politicking even as the state government assured that safety will be ensured for the students hailing from other states at the campus where CRPF has been deployed to instill a sense of security. A day after lathicharge by local police on the agitating non-local students at the campus, the Union HRD Ministry rushed a three-member team -- Sanjeev Sharma, Director (Technical Education) in the ministry, Deputy Director Finance Fazal Mehmood and Chairman of Board of Governors of NIT M J Zarabi -- here this morning. The team interacted with the outstation students who have been expressing a sense of insecurity at the campus. "Our first demand is that the NIT be shifted from here. We want to go home first and we will go wherever you shift us," the students told the HRD Ministry team at the campus. The students said the police had taken away national flag from them during a clash on Friday last and demanded that it be returned to them. The students, who had assembled in a hall inside the NIT campus, also demanded strict action against police personnel including Deputy Superintendent of Police who resorted to lathicharge on them yesterday. "What J&K police has done, you have seen the videos. We want strict action be taken against them including the DySP Sajad. We also demand the DySP change his statement in which he has said that students hurled stones at police," said a student, who was speaking on behalf of the rest. They said some of the staff members of NIT should resign so that "they do not play with anyone student's career." "We are not going to take any names here but we will provide a list in writing. They have to resign," the student leader said. He also sought directions from the HRD ministry to allow the media inside the campus for interaction with the students. In Surat, HRD Minister Smriti Irani said she had spoken to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti who assured her that safety of all students will be ensured. "My officers are in touch with the agitating students and their family members. One or two students said they wanted to go back home for which my ministry is making arrangements," she said. "HRD officers are present in the campus. We have interacted with around 800 students. We have asked that all students who are worried should tell us, so that we can assist them," Irani said. In view of severe water shortage in Mumbai's adjoining Thane, the district administration here has set up a round-the-clock control room and launched a toll free number to receive complaints against misuse or commercialisation of water. The toll free number 1077 has been launched in order to keep a check on commercialisation of the water being supplied, an official release by district administration said. There have been complaints regarding misuse of the tanker water, it stated. To plan an effective use of the available water to meet the situation till June when monsoon is expected to commence in the state, the administration, under District Collector Dr Ashwini Joshi, will closely monitor the supply and use, besides the availability and distribution of water, it further said. A local corporator said they are contemplating usage of natural springs water in the district for drinking and other purposes. A meeting of Maharashtra BJP unit was recently held in Nashik where a host of issues, including the drought situation in the state, were discussed. Maharashtra is reeling under severe water shortage this summer owing to deficient monsoon last year. Notably, amid an unprecedented scarcity of water, the administrations in parched Latur and Parbhani districts have clamped section 144 of CrPC to bar assembly of more than five people around the wells and water filling points to prevent possible violence. An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan today sentenced three men to 28 years' imprisonment for possessing explosives in Khyber Pakthunkhwa province. During the hearing of the case, the ATC in Kohat district of the province awarded 28-years imprisonment to three accused identified Noor Muhammad, Amanullah and Imdad Qasim. They were accused of possessing explosives. Trinamool Congress minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, fighting from the Dum Dum North seat in Assembly elections, owns total assets worth over Rs 24 lakh, she declared in her poll affidavit. The Minister of State for Health, and Law and Judicial Affairs, has a cash in hand of Rs 4.8 lakh, bank balance of Rs 5.2 lakh and a Travera car worth over Rs 7.5 lakh. Her jewellery include gold chain, gold ring, bangle, and a pair of diamond rings valued at a total of Rs 2.4 lakh. A lawyer by qualification, Bhattacharya's total movable assets is Rs 24.2 lakh while she doesn't own any property, she has declared. During the year 2014-15, her income was Rs 5.58 lakh. In a shocking incident, an 18-year -old boy on scooter was crushed to death by a speeding truck which dragged him for around eight kilometers, while two of the victim's friends, who clung to the dumper making desperate pleas to the driver to stop, were attacked with rod by his helper. The incident occurred in the wee hours yesterday in southeast Delhi's Lajpat Nagar area and the errant dumper was flagged down at a picket near Aurobindo College after a chase following which the body of the victim, identified as Fawad Ahamd, was pulled out, police said today. Ahmad, a waiter by profession, was on his scooter with two of his friends riding pillion driving past Lajpat Nagar in the wee hours yesterday when the speeding truck hit them from behind, a police official said. However, the driver did not stop after the collision and accelerated the vehicle, with Ahmad's body and the broken scooter stuck in the vehicle's suspension. Meanwhile, Ahmad's friend Gaurav and Shivam managed to grab railings on two different sides of the vehicle and clung on to the speeding truck, pleading the driver to stop, the official said. While the driver, identified as Abdul Gaffur, refused to do so, his helper, Saikulliya, allegedly kept hitting the hanging duo with a rod until they managed to get rid of them at a spot in August Kranti Marg. It was a passerby, a 34-year-old electrician who was heading back home, who witnessed the episode and called up the police, the official said. The PCR call was received around 2.20 AM, following which a team from Lajpat Nagar police station chased the truck. When they did not succeed, the message was passed on to a PCR team deployed in August Kranti Marg and the chase continued. The truck was finally flagged down at a police picket near Aurobindo College in south Delhi's Malviya Nagar area, around 8 km away from the spot of the accident. Ahmad's body was spotted and soon pulled out. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him brought dead, the official added. "We have arrested four persons under relevant sections of law in connection with the incident," DCP (Southeast) M S Randhawa said. The arrested persons include the errant driver and helper of the truck which hit Ahmad's scooter and also the driver and helper of the truck following the vehicle. They worked for the same construction enterprise and tried to evade arrest. A police team had signalled the other truck to stop, but they disobeyed. Both trucks have been impounded, an official said. He said both the trucks also allegedly tried to obstruct the electrician who chased the accused for around 2 kms and also informed the police. Turkey's prime minister today said his government is taking protective measures after a database that appears to contain personal information on nearly 50 million Turkish citizens was leaked on the Internet. The leak features information such as names, addresses and citizenship ID numbers for some 49.6 million people. The Associated Press was able to partially verify the authenticity of the leak by running 10 Turkish ID numbers against names contained in the leaked data. Eight of them matched. There are fears that the leak could put people at risk of fraud. Speaking during a visit to Finland, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "Our citizens must be reassured that measures are being taken." He didn't elaborate. Meanwhile, Ankara prosecutors launched an investigation into the leak, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. A United Airlines flight attendant has been removed from flight duties after she is said to have "purposefully" deployed a plane's emergency slide, a spokesman said. The purported breach of protocol happened shortly after Flight 1246 landed at Bush Intercontinental Airport here on Monday, and pulled up to a gate, CNN reported. There were 159 passengers and six crew members on board the flight that came in from Sacramento, California, the network quoted United Airlines (UA) spokesman Charlie Hobart. He did not identify the flight attendant. No one was injured during the incident, which recalled another -- much more famous -- time a flight attendant pulled an emergency slide. Steven Slater, who worked for JetBlue, unleashed a profanity-laced tirade before grabbing beer and sliding down the chute at New York's John F Kennedy International Airport in 2010. Allaying concerns of Indians over the new visa rules change, the UK government on Wednesday said a new 35,000 pounds salary threshold requirement for Tier-2 work visas which has come into effect will not impact a "vast majority" of Indian professionals. Thousands of Indians and other nationals from outside the European Union (EU) living and working in Britain on a Tier-2 visa may have to leave or be deported if they earn less than 35,000 pounds a year once the terms of the visa expire. "This rules change will not impact the vast majority of Indian professionals who work or are looking to work in the UK as last year 89 per cent of all work visas issued to Indian nationals were for routes which are not impacted by the 35k pounds (35,000 pounds) income threshold," UK immigration minister James Brokenshire said. ALSO READ: Apply for a UK visa from home "The UK government's reforms to Tier-2 work visas are intended to ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled people they need, but also see that they get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first," he said. Under the changes to the Tier-2 norms effective from today, non-EU workers will need to earn at least 35,000 pounds to remain in the UK for longer than six years unless they are working in a PhD-level occupation or a job which is on the UK's Shortage Occupation List, including nurses. The new rules mean professionals who wish to apply for "Indefinite Leave to Remain" (ILR) or settlement in the UK at the end of a five-year period of living and working in the UK must now prove they earn over 35,000 pounds per annum. The threshold was raised from the salary requirement of around 21,000 pounds per annum on advice from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC). According to the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS), of the 55,589 Tier -2 sponsored visa applications cleared in 2014-2015, nearly 78 per cent were for Indians (31,058). However, UK officials indicate that a majority of Indian nationals coming to the UK to work do so via the Tier 2 Intra Company Transfer (ICT) route, which does not lead to ILR any way and therefore remains unaffected by the changes enforced from today. The UK government has also highlighted that employers have been aware of these changes since 2011 when they were announced and affect those who entered on Tier 2 from April 2011. These non-EU professionals can extend their stay for a sixth year, until April 2017, which means it is unlikely there will be any deportations as a result of the changes this year. Concerned over the move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised the issue with British counterpart David Cameron during a meeting on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in the US last week, saying skilled IT professionals from India should not find it difficult to come to work in the UK. The exact figure of non-EU nationals affected by the changes remains uncertain as some who do not meet the minimum salary threshold may be able to apply under an alternate visa category. Professionssuch as teaching, IT and marketing professionals are likely to be the hardest hit. More than 110,000 people had signed a petition against the changes, which have been branded as "discriminatory" by the 'Stop35K' campaign group. The group marked the visa changes with a "De Party for Skilled Workers" event today opposite Downing Street as a protest-cum-celebration. "This is a campaign aiming for a reconsideration of this rule, encouraging research into industry-specific thresholds," said a Stop 35K statement. Junior doctors in the UK went on a 48-hour strike today withdrawing from all but emergency services that resulted in 5,000 operations being postponed, the fourth such walk-out amid their bitter dispute with the government over working conditions. The strike started this morning as the doctors prepare legal challenges to the UK government's decision to impose changes to their pay and conditions from later this year. As was the case during their previous strike actions earlier this year, doctors were providing emergency cover, but 5,000 operations and procedures have been postponed. "Responsibility for industrial action now lies entirely with the government. They must start listening and resume negotiations on a properly funded junior doctors' contract to protect the future of patient care and the NHS (National Health Service)," said British Medical Association's (BMA) junior doctors' leader Johann Malawana. But the UK government's Department of Health (DoH) has described the action as "irresponsible and disproportionate". "This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate, and with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering. If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through ACAS in November, we'd have a negotiated agreement by now," a spokesperson said. The new wave of strikes, with another 48-hour walkout planned on April 26, involves juniordoctorswithdrawing all but emergency care from hospitals across the UK. The main sticking point remains payments for working on weekends, referred to as anti-social hours, but the government argues that the current arrangements are outdated and changes are needed to improve standards of medical care at the weekend. Juniordoctors,aterm covering nearly 50,000 medical professionals in the UK who are fresh out of medical school as well as those with more experience behind them, have warned that the new contract will affect patient safety by encouraging unsafe shift patterns and also financially hitdoctorswho work the longest hours. The BMA wants all day Saturday to be paid at 50 per cent above the basic rate but the government is willing to offer extra pay only from 5 PM onwards. A petition of more than 120,000 signatures backing the junior doctors in the dispute was delivered to the DoH today. It was accompanied by a rally of junior doctors, other health professionals, members of the fire brigades' union, and other activists on UK government headquarters on Whitehall in London as well as a protest outside the DoH. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk today said he intended to introduce a ban on oil product imports from petro-giant Russia as part of Kiev's festering trade war with Moscow. The former Soviet republic has put up stiff barriers against goods from Russia in reprisal for its March 2014 annexation of Crimea and alleged support for pro-Moscow separatists who have been waging a two-year war in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has its own wide-ranging trade restrictions against Ukraine that mirror those it imposed on the West in response to punitive measures the United States and EU nations slapped on Russian individuals and state-held firms. Yatsenyuk told a government meeting that "we have introduced a number of sanctions against Russia. But for some reason, one of the key elements -- the purchase of Russian oil products -- did not make this list." He asked the economy minister to "develop a mechanism for banning the purchase of oil products from the aggressor, which Russia is." Kiev and its Western allies accuses Russian forces of fighting alongside the insurgents in a conflict that has claimed nearly 9,200 lives -- a charge Moscow denies. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that Ukraine consumed around 260,000 barrels of oil per day while producing just 66,000 in 2014. "The remainder was imported mostly from Russia, with smaller volumes originating in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan," the EIA report says. Yatsenyuk added that he wanted to exclude Russia from proposed legislation eliminating import tariffs on used automobiles. Relations between the two neighbours have been effectively frozen since Ukraine ousted its pro-Russian leadership in a February 2014 pro-EU revolt. Kiev has since signed an Association Agreement with the European Union that is meant to pull Kiev further out of Moscow's orbit through various trade benefits. Ukraine more than halved its natural gas purchases from Russia while doubling those from EU nations between 2014 and 2015. But the oil import ban planned by Yatsenyuk will likely have a far less dramatic effect. Energy analyst Gennadiy Ryabtsev noted that Russia in 2015 had already restricted the direct delivery of oil products to Ukraine out of a self-professed fear of them being used by the pro-Western government's army in its war against the rebels. "There are Russian companies that bypass this rule by supplying oil product through Belarus," Ryabtsev told AFP. Russia's privately-held Lukoil energy company received a separate Moscow permit last week to supply diesel to Ukraine "for civilian purposes". Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said he intended to introduce a ban on oil imports from petro-giant Russia as part of Kiev's trade war with Moscow. The former Soviet republic has put up stiff barriers against products from Russia in reprisal for its March 2014 annexation of Crimea and alleged support for pro-Moscow separatists who have been waging a two-year war in eastern Ukraine. Moscow has its own wide-ranging trade restrictions against Ukraine that mirror those it imposed on the West in response to punitive measures the United States and EU nations slapped on Russian individuals and state-held firms. Yatsenyuk told a government meeting yesterday that "we have introduced a number of sanctions against Russia. But for some reason, one of the key elements - the purchase of Russian oil products - did not make to this list." He asked the economy minister to "develop a mechanism for banning the purchase of oil products from the aggressor, which Russia is." Kiev accuses Russian forces of fighting alongside the eastern insurgents - a charge Moscow denies. The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that Ukraine consumed around 260,000 barrels of oil per day while producing just 66,000 in 2014. "The remainder was imported mostly from Russia, with smaller volumes originating in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan," the EIA report says. Yatsenyuk added that he wanted to exclude Russia from proposed legislation eliminating import tariffs on used automobiles. Relations between the two neighbours have been effectively frozen since Ukraine ousted its pro-Russian leadership in a February 2014 pro-EU revolt. The UN has defended its stance against terrorism saying it is "certainly" trying to take a responsible attitude in dealing with the menace, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the world body over the issue. "We certainly are trying to take a responsible attitude in terms of dealing with terrorism and the spectre of terrorism worldwide...The UN encourages international solidarity against terrorism in all its aspects, whether it is terrorist bombings or terrorist financing," Deputy Spokesman for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq told PTI. Haq was asked about the UN Chief's response to Modi's sharp criticism in Brussels last week when the Indian leader had said the world body does not know what terrorism is and how to deal with it. Haq said in the next few days, the UN will hold a meeting in Geneva on the need to prevent and to counter violent extremism. "And the Secretary-General will be speaking at that - in terms of the specific measures that we've been talking about, in terms of handling violent extremism and its spread throughout the world, and the Secretary-General will speak at that in just a few days from now," he said. Modi's visit to Brussels came just days after terror group ISIS carried out attacks that ripped through the departure area of the international airport and a subway station in the busy morning hours in the Belgian capital. The attack left over 30 people dead and many more injured. Addressing a gathering of Indian diaspora in Brussels, Modi had said that the UN has all means and mechanism to deal with war but does not know what the definition of terrorism is and how to address it. He also warned that the UN will become irrelevant if it does not come up with appropriate response to deal with the scourge. He pointed out that India has been pleading with the UN for years to define terrorism, a terrorist and who helps terrorists. "I don't know when the UN will do so and how it will do so but given the emerging situation, if solutions are not found to this (problem), then it does not take time for an institution to become irrelevant," he had said. The United States accused the Syrian government yesterday of preventing humanitarian aid deliveries to all besieged and hard-to-reach areas of the country as required in UN resolutions, even as a cease-fire that was meant to allow such deliveries continues. US Ambassador Samantha Power yesterday told reporters after a closed-door emergency briefing to the Security Council by the UN humanitarian chief that less food aid reached millions of people in besieged and hard-to-reach areas in March than in February, when the cease-fire began. She gave no figures. Power said the situation in Daraya, which is close to Syria's capital, Damascus, and hasn't received "one crumb of UN food" since 2012, has generated "a lot of outrage and heartbreak." Humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien told the council last week that Syria's government hasn't approved aid for three besieged areas "mere minutes' drive away from UN warehouses in Damascus" Duma, East Harasta and Daraya. He said the UN has received reports that severe food shortages are forcing some people in Daraya to eat grass. Power also held up a photo of a skeletal boy in Madaya, which recently received several aid deliveries. She said O'Brien described yesterday how the UN tried to evacuate him for medical treatment but the Syrian government refused and the boy, who was around 14 years old, died on Monday. O'Brien said on March 30 that desperately needed aid has reached only 30 per cent of Syrians living in besieged areas and less than 10 per cent in hard-to-reach areas this year, even with the cease-fire. He said many of the 4.6 million Syrians in need in these areas can't be reached because of insecurity and obstruction by combatants. Power said the United States and other Security Council members are appealing to those with influence on the Syrian government to ensure that every area is reached. She said the government has proven "susceptible to influence when the pressure is intense enough ... And it's going to take a very, very, very large push to change the trajectory for people who are this malnourished." Her appeal was clearly aimed at Russia, Syria's closest ally. Russia's deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov told reporters that under the cessation of hostilities agreement a humanitarian working group was created in Geneva, "and this is where we are working" on implementation of UN resolutions adopted in December and February calling for humanitarian access to all besieged and hard-to-reach areas. "It's a better way to work together," Safronkov said. Special US Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson will embark on a two-day visit to India today to hold talks with top officials on a range of key issues, including India's role in promoting stability and prosperity in the region. Olson will hold discussions on promoting Afghan-led, Afghan-owned peace and reconciliation process, the State Department said. "The visit is also an opportunity for US officials to express appreciation for India's support for the people and government of Afghanistan, including trade ties, security and development assistance, as well as India's key role in promoting a more stable and prosperous region," the State Department said. The US is poised to sell state of the art thermal weapon sights and spares to Pakistan, in the wake of Obama administration's decision to provide eight F-16 fighter jets and nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters worth USD 170 million to the country. The Pentagon yesterday awarded a USD17 million contract to Raytheon for supply of state of the art thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities by enabling soldiers to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, fog and other obscurants. Raytheon is known as a pioneer in thermal weapons sights. The Pentagon yesterday said Raytheon has been awarded a USD17,877,938 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Pakistan) for thermal weapon sights and spares, training, and contract data requirements lists. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; and Pakistan, with an estimated completion date of October 30, 2017. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of USD17,877,938 were obligated at the time of the award, the statement said. The Vatican has set up a new office charged with promoting the use of the .Catholic domain name, in its latest move to upgrade its communications for the digital era. With a staff of eight IT experts, the new office will seek to expand the use of the domain name by all Church and Church-affiliated bodies with the aim of assuring Internet users they are dealing with officially sanctioned sites. The Vatican acquired .Catholic at the end of 2013 when the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to approve thousands of new personalised domains to cope with increased demand for websites. In addition to .Catholic, the Vatican acquired the equivalent domain names in Arabic, Chinese and Russian scripts. The Vatican's communications department is undergoing a huge reorganisation on the orders of Pope Francis, who has a keen grasp of the importance of the online world. The 79-year-old pontiff is one of the most prominent global figures on Twitter with some 30 million followers in nine languages. He recently made his debut on Instagram and has acquired 2.2 million followers on the picture-sharing network in just over two weeks. He also regularly sends out video messages via YouTube. In his latest dispatch, a monthly prayer message for April, Francis pays tribute to small farmers around the world and offers them them his support in their struggle for survival in the face of myriad economic and environmental pressures. "Your work is indispensable for all of humanity," he says. "You deserve a life of dignity. BJP national Secretary Muralidhar Rao today alleged terrorists were behind the killing of several party leaders in Tamil Nadu and accused the state government of not taking enough steps against such activities. "Many of our leaders including a state Secretary in Salem were killed and targeted. However, the government failed to take adequate action against the terrorist activities," he charged at a press conference here. "The (western) region is a sleeping corridor for jehadi terrorism, through Kerala and and neighbouring Karnataka and these forces are working actively," he claimed. Unless the people felt secured from terrorists, development cannot be ensured in the state, he said. On the controversy about chanting 'Bharat Mata KI Jai', Rao, incharge of party affairs in Tamil Nadu, said the freedom fighters and even Congressmen have chanted it and slogans like 'Vande Mataram' and those who opposed it 'had left India long back.' To a question on AIADMK rejecting the charge that Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was inaccessible to central ministers, Rao shot back saying that will ruling party come out with statistics on how many times she met the general public. Amid a furore over huge loan defaults by beleaguered businessman Vijay Mallya, industry body CII today said wilful defaulters "need to be brought to the book" and unpaid loans must be recovered. Asked about the approach government needs to adopt to tackle wilful defaulters like Mallya, new CII President Naushad Forbes said: "Wilful defaulters need to be brought to the book using the laws of the land and we need to use our legal process as a way of recovering what can be recovered". Mallya, promoter of long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines, had left India on March 2, presumably for London, days before the Supreme Court heard a plea of clutch of state-owned banks seeking recovery from his group firms. Mallya and Kingfisher Airlines owed Rs 7,800 crore to a consortium of 17 lenders led by State Bank, which had an exposure of over Rs 1,600 crore to the now defunct airline. "Going bust is not a crime. But there are aspects to going bust that might be a crime and that is what the legal process is supposed to answer". The comment by the industry body comes against the backdrop of government's stern warning to 'wilful defaulters' like Mallya to settle their dues honourably with the banks or else be ready to face "coercive action" by lenders and investigative agencies. The new CII President suggested formation of a National Asset Management Company to deal with the issue of rising non-performing assets (NPAs). Asked whether corporates need to make disclosures in a better manner in the wake of the Panama Papers, Forbes said: "First of all you need to look at the list that has appeared in a newspaper, how much of that is legal and how much is illegal, no one knows. I think once one has gone through that process then we will be clear what needs to be done. ' "If the remittances were illegal then regardless of what norms you have nothing will happen... Should there be greater transparency in disclosures, I think that already exists". Panama Papers have disclosed a list of nearly 500 Indians including celebrities and industrialists who have allegedly stashed money in offshore entities in Panama, considered to be a tax haven. On Government's move to impose a minimum import price on steel, the CII President said: "If you look at the measures on steel, if we see them as short-term measures to prevent a flood of imports as a result of a global supply glut, then it is okay. But if you see it as something that is going to be around in the long term it is improper for the economy because it is feeding higher costs for all the using sectors". Government in February imposed a minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products ranging between USD 341 to USD 752 per tonne. The minimum price will remain in place for six months only. However, it will not apply on imports under the advance authorisation scheme and high-grade pipes used in the petroleum and natural gas industry. On whether the reimposition of 1 per cent excise duty on gold and diamond jewellery which has met with opposition will help curb black money generation, Forbes said: "All sectors have to be brought into the net. Now the moment you start doing this for any sector which was previously untaxed it is going to be objected to because all of a sudden you need to comply with taxation regime. "The opportunities for will it curb black money .. I think the more we can move towards an economy that relies less on cash or surrogates to cash like gold the more productive the economy is". 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 Central Board of Excise and Customs had said the jewellery sector contributes to generation of black money and needs to be brought under the tax ambit. US presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton today suffered a setback as their party rivals Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders snatched victories in the crucial Wisconsin primary, setting the stage for an intense fight for the nomination to the White House. Cruz, 45, won the Wisconsin Republican primary, boosting his efforts to blunt the 69-year-old real estate tycoon and moving the party closer to a historic contested convention. Read more from our special coverage on "US PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARIES" US presidential primaries: Clinton unlikely to deliver a knockout blow, as 3 western states vote today Cruz received 48% of the votes to 34% for Trump. John Kasich of Ohio was a distant third with 14%. Sanders, 74, won the Democratic primary by receiving 56% votes, inflicting a tough loss on Clinton who got 43% of the votes. It is the Vermont Senator's sixth straight win over Clinton in recent weeks. For the 68-year-old former Secretary of State, who has a lead of nearly 500 delegates, it is a still a comparatively easy pathway to nomination as compared to Trump, who has a lead of a little over 200 delegates. Cruz's Wisconsin victory will hand him at least 33 delegates compared to three that will go to Trump. Trump continues to dominate the delegate race, with 740 pledged delegates to 514 for Cruz and 143 for Kasich. "Tonight is the turning point," a confident Cruz said at his victory rally asserting that it has turned the tide against Trump. "My campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed, either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland. Together we will beat Hillary Clinton on November," Cruz said. "Tonight was a bad night for Trump," Cruz said. After last night's Wisconsin primary results, it would be a bit difficult for Trump to reach the magical figure of 1,237 delegates. However, Trump campaign exuded confidence that with the primary season entering States like New York favourable for him, he was on his way to get the 1,237 delegates. But Cruz hoped to get the necessary momentum for the rest part of the primary season. Similarly, Sanders asserted that with having five of the last six primaries, the momentum is on his side. Clinton and Sanders are chasing their magic number of 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. Clinton currently has 1,742 total delegates while Sanders has 1,051 delegates. "With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries. We have won almost all of them with overwhelming, landslide numbers," Sanders told his supporters. Front-runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton today suffered a setback as their rivals Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders snatched victories in the crucial Wisconsin primary, marking a "turning point" in the intense battle for securing their party's presidential nomination. Cruz, 45, won the Wisconsin Republican primary, boosting his efforts to blunt the 69-year-old real estate tycoon and moving the party closer to a historic contested convention. Cruz received 48.3 per cent of the votes to 35.1 per cent for Trump. John Kasich of Ohio was a distant third with 14 per cent. Sanders, 74, won the Democratic primary by receiving 56.5 per cent votes, posting a decisive victory over Clinton who got 43.1 per cent of the votes. It is the Vermont Senator's sixth straight win over Clinton in recent weeks. For the 68-year-old former Secretary of State, who has a lead of nearly 500 delegates, it is a still a comparatively easy pathway to nomination as compared to Trump, who has a lead of a little over 200 delegates. Cruz's Wisconsin victory will hand him at least 33 delegates compared to three that will go to Trump. Trump continues to dominate the delegate race, with 740 pledged delegates to 514 for Cruz and 143 for Kasich. "Tonight is the turning point," a confident Cruz said at his victory rally asserting that it has turned the tide against Trump, who is also facing opposition from top Republican leaders. "My campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed, either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland. Together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November," Cruz said. "Tonight was a bad night for Trump," Cruz said. After last night's Wisconsin primary results, it would be a bit difficult for Trump to reach the magical figure of 1,237 delegates. However, Trump campaign exuded confidence that with the primary season entering states like New York that are favourable for him, he was on his way to get the 1,237 delegates. But Cruz hoped to get the necessary momentum for the rest part of the primary season. Similarly, Sanders asserted that with having five of the last six primaries, the momentum is on his side. Clinton and Sanders are chasing their magic number of 2,383 delegates to win the nomination. Clinton currently has 1,743 total delegates while Sanders has 1,056 delegates. "With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries. We have won almost all of them with overwhelming, landslide numbers," Sanders told his supporters. NEW DELHI (Reuters) - American Tower Corp has committed to invest $2 billion in India, in addition to the 58.57 billion rupees ($879 million) it will spend to acquire a controlling stake in Viom Networks Ltd, the country's telecom minister said on Wednesday. American Tower CEO James D. Taiclet Jr made the commitment to invest more in India during their meeting on Tuesday, minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, without specifying what the amount would be spent on. India's cabinet on Wednesday cleared American Tower's proposal to buy a 51 percent stake in Indian mobile mast operator Viom Networks to expand in the world's second-biggest telecommunications market by number of users. ($1 = 66.6550 rupees) (Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh and Aditi Shah; Editing by Savio D'Souza) The sale values the agricultural unit as a whole at close to the initially expected $10 billion, including $0.6 billion in debt and $2.5 billion in inventories, and comes after Glencore said last month it was stepping up its debt reduction plan by unloading more assets. The group said it aimed to cut net debt to between $17 billion and $18 billion by the end of 2016, $1 billion more than previously planned and down from a peak of $30 billion last year. The purchase is by the pension fund's investment unit, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), which seeks long-term low-risk investments. "Glencore Agri complements our existing portfolio of agriculture assets, bringing global exposure, scale and diversification," CPPIB's global head of private investments, Mark Jenkins, said in a statement Glencore's stock had collapsed to below 70 pence at the end of last year, a fraction of its peak of 556 pence following its 2011 flotation, due to investor worries over its heavy debts coupled with slumping copper and coal prices. INVESTMENT GRADE The stock has, however, doubled in value since then, after the company took steps to cut debt and protect its investment- grade credit rating, by raising money via a share issue, reducing inventories, suspending dividends and selling assets. "Management continue to be proactive and delivering on the stated objective of reducing debt," said Charl Malan, portfolio manager at investor and Glencore shareholder Van Eck Associates. Malan said that he expects Glencore to continue to drive debt lower via asset sales, metal streaming deals and improved operating efficiencies. Glencore expects the agriculture deal to complete in the second half of 2016. The business comprises more than 200 storage facilities globally, 31 processing facilities and 23 ports, allowing Glencore to trade grains, oilseeds, rice, sugar and cotton. It generated core earnings of $524 million in 2015 and had gross assets of more than $10 billion. Under the agreement, Glencore has the right to sell up to a further 20 percent stake. Glencore and CPPIB may also call for an initial public offering of Glencore Agri after eight years from the date of completion, the companies said. Glencore Agri would be run by current chief Chris Mahoney and a board to which CPPIB and Glencore would each appoint two directors. Shares of Glencore rose as much as 2.2 percent on the announcement of the disposal, before retreating to close down about 1.2 percent. The FTSE was up about 1.2 percent. "The more assets Glencore disposes of, the more shareholders will begin to weigh up the benefits to the balance sheet versus the negatives of lost future revenue," said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets. Barclays, Citi and Credit Suisse were Glencore's joint financial advisers and Linklaters LLP provided legal advice. Deutsche Bank was sole financial advisor to CPPIB. (Additional reporting by Sarah McFarlane and Alistair Smout in London, Noor Zainab Hussain and Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by David Holmes and David Evans) The sale values the agricultural unit as a whole at close to the initially expected $10 billion, including $0.6 billion in debt and $2.5 billion in inventories, and comes after Glencore said last month it was stepping up its debt reduction plan by unloading more assets. The group said it aimed to cut net debt to between $17 billion and $18 billion by the end of 2016, $1 billion more than previously planned and down from a peak of $30 billion last year. The purchase is by the pension fund's investment unit, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), which seeks long-term low-risk investments to fund the retirement of some 18 million Canadians. "Glencore Agri complements our existing portfolio of agriculture assets, bringing global exposure, scale and diversification," CPPIB's global head of private investments, Mark Jenkins, said in a statement Glencore's stock had collapsed to below 70 pence at the end of last year, a fraction of its peak 556p following its 2011 flotation, due to investor worries over its heavy debts coupled with slumping copper and coal prices. INVESTMENT GRADE The stock has, however, doubled in value since then, after the company took steps to cut debt and protect its investment- grade credit rating, by raising money via a share issue, reducing inventories, suspending dividends and selling assets. Glencore expects the deal to complete in the second half of 2016. The business comprises more than 200 storage facilities globally, 31 processing facilities and 23 ports, allowing Glencore to trade grains, oilseeds, rice, sugar and cotton. It generated core earnings of $524 million in 2015 and had gross assets of more than $10 billion. Under the agreement, Glencore has the right to sell up to a further 20 percent stake. Glencore and CPPIB may also call for an initial public offering of Glencore Agri after eight years from the date of completion, the companies said. Glencore Agri would be run by current chief Chris Mahoney and a board to which CPPIB and Glencore would each appoint two directors. Shares of Glencore rose as much as 2.2 percent on the announcement of the disposal to rank among the biggest gainers in the blue chip FTSE 100 index, before retreating to trade 1.7 percent down by 1005 GMT. The FTSE was up 0.4 percent. Barclays, Citi and Credit Suisse were Glencore's joint financial advisers and Linklaters LLP provided legal advice. Deutsche Bank was sole financial advisor to CPPIB. (Additional reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain and Vidya L Nathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and David Holmes) By Nidhi Verma NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's cabinet on Wednesday agreed to let state-owned oil refiners devise their own crude import policies so they can secure cheaper oil cargoes in an oversupplied market and improve profitability. The new policy puts state-owned refiners on a par with private firms such as Reliance Industries and Essar Oil that are not bound by government rules and can earn hefty refining margins. The previous policy limited purchases by state refiners to a handful of companies and refiners were also missing out on the chance to grab cheap, distressed cargoes as they were required to launch spot tenders two months before receiving the oil. State refiners Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd control 60 percent of India's 4.6 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity. "Now, with this flexibility, state refiners can encash the opportunity to buy distress cargoes and negotiate prices with sellers," Hindustan Petroleum's (HPCL) refineries head B. K. Namdeo said. State refiners, on an average, buy 70-80 percent of their oil through annual supply deals, also called term contracts, with the remainder coming through spot purchases. India has decided to replace its decades old import policy at a time when major oil producers are focused more on protecting their market share than boosting prices, which has led to a global supply glut and a collapse in prices. [O/R] The decision will give state refiners a high degree of autonomy in operational, financial and investment matters and reduce government interference, Telecoms Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad told a conference after a cabinet meeting. "With the whole market becoming flexible world over, at times we have to make on the spot decisions," Prasad said. Under the new policy, state refiners will need board approval for oil purchases and must comply with anti-corruption guidelines. "As the government has delegated more power to the companies, we now have to be more responsible to ensure that we get optimum value from the purchases and ensure that we are buying legal barrels," HPCL's Namdeo said. (Editing by David Clarke) BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday that a debt haircut for Greece was not possible so long it remains in the euro zone, adding that Germany wanted a quick conclusion of a bailout review. "It is not a demand of the federal government to have no debt haircut but rather in our opinion this is legally not possible in the euro zone," Merkel told reporters in Berlin after meeting International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde and other global economic leaders. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel) By Jussi Rosendahl HELSINKI (Reuters) - Telecom network equipment maker Nokia is planning to cut thousands of jobs worldwide, including 1,400 in Germany and 1,300 in its native Finland, as part of a cost-cutting programme following its acquisition of Alcatel-Lucent. Finland's biggest company has cut thousands of Finnish jobs over the past decade as its once-dominant phone business was eclipsed by the rise of smartphone rivals. The phone business was eventually sold to Microsoft, which has continued cutting jobs in the recession-hit country. Now focused on telecoms network gear, Nokia is looking to reduce operational costs by 900 million euros ($1.03 billion) by 2018 after its recent 15.6 billion euro ($17.7 billion) all-share deal for Franco-American rival Alcatel-Lucent. The acquisition is intended to help Nokia to compete with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei in a market where limited growth and tough competition are pressuring prices. Shares in Nokia rose 0.9 percent following Wednesday's announcement, but the latest job cuts caused consternation in Finland after Nokia said it will cut only 400 jobs in France while creating 500 posts in research and development in the country, in line with a pledge to the French government during the Alcatel negotiations. Nokia declined to give a total figure for global job losses but said it was starting talks with employee representatives in about 30 countries. The company employs about 104,000 worldwide, with around 6,850 in Finland, 4,800 in Germany and 4,200 in France. "This (1,300) is a terrible figure; we have a rather difficult employment situation in the sector to begin with," said Pertti Porokari, chairman of the Union of Professional Engineers in Finland. "Seems that Finnish workers have lost this match (against the French)." Finland's economy minister Olli Rehn said: "The on Nokia's new plans is very regrettable ... we expect Nokia to bear social responsibility and partly take care of training of those whose employment will be terminated." ($1 = 0.8757 euros) (Additional reporting by Gwenaelle Barzic in Paris and Frankfurt Newsroom; Editing by Mark Potter and David Goodman) By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude futures jumped on Wednesday as hopes for an agreement among exporters to freeze output underpinned the market, although persistent global oversupply and Iran's plans to boost production pressured physical oil prices. Oil futures recovered from one-month lows to end the previous session up after the Kuwaiti governor for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nawal Al-Fuzaia, said there were "positive indications an agreement will be reached" on output during a producer meeting scheduled for April 17 in Qatar. U.S. crude futures jumped over a dollar, or almost 3 percent, to a high of $36.92 per barrel before easing to $36.76 per barrel at 0646 GMT. International Brent futures rose as high as $38.64 before easing to $38.41 a barrel, still up 54 cents from their last settlement. "Oil (futures) gained some momentum. The comment by the Kuwait OPEC governor provided some support to prices," ANZ bank said, but warned that investors would likely remain cautious ahead of the April 17 meeting. An expectation that China's economy might be stabilizing after over a year of slowing also supported prices, traders said. An initial output freeze agreed in February has helped oil prices rise to almost $38 a barrel from a 12-year low close to $27 plumbed earlier this year. However, prices have fallen in recent days on doubts that a wider deal will be reached, largely because Iran has so far said it has no intention of slowing its production after crippling sanctions against it were lifted in January. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country's crude output would reach 4 million barrels per day (bpd) by March 2017, state television reported on Wednesday, with plans to export 2.25 million bpd of those supplies. That would be up from a little over 1 million bpd under the sanctions and only slightly below pre-sanctions peaks of 2.5 million bpd. With Iran's exports rising and other producers pledging to freeze production near record-high levels, an agreement would do little to address a global supply overhang that sees at least a million barrels of crude produced every day in excess of demand. The ample supplies were reflected in physical markets, with Abu Dhabi cutting its March retroactive official selling price (OSP) premium over benchmark Dubai crudes by 64 cents to $3.06 per barrel. This followed top exporter Saudi Arabia lowering its May Arab Light crude OSP by 10 cents per barrel to a discount of $0.85 per barrel to the Dubai average. "We do not rule out additional (oil price) weakness in Q216 before renewed gains later in the year, as a rapid shift in bullish speculative sentiment has outpaced fundamental tightening of the physical market," BMI Research said. (Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Himani Sarkrar and Joseph Radford) By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices surged by 4 percent or more on Wednesday after the U.S. government reported a surprise draw in domestic crude stockpiles last week, versus market expectations for a new record high. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stocks unexpectedly fell by 4.9 million barrels in the last week as refineries continued to hike output and imports fell. Analysts polled by had expected inventories to hit record highs for an eight straight week with a build of 3.2 million barrels. U.S. crude futures were up $1.60, or 4.4 percent, at $37.49 a barrel by 11:20 a.m. EDT (1520 GMT). Brent futures rose by $1.45 to $39.32. "I think the market is more about the total change in inventories, rather than individual components," said Scott Shelton, energy broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina. "It's the first week of the second quarter and we have a net draw. That will force the bears to rethink their bearish balances for Q2." Refinery crude runs, which have remained at record seasonal levels for most of this year thanks to unusually strong gasoline margins, rose by 199,000 barrels per day, EIA data showed. Refinery utilization rates rose by 1 percentage point, although usage could ebb with more maintenance expected this month. "For refiners, they see a market with strong demand for gasoline and decent profit margins. I expect they will begin ramping up in order to capture the sweet spot of high volume and high margins for as long as it lasts," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at energy-specialized commodities broker Powerhouse in Washington. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON; Editing by Dale Hudson and Diane Craft) By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude oil futures jumped on Wednesday, lifted by growing expectations that exporters will agree to freeze their output amid global oversupply, although Iran's plans to boost production are seen as capping bigger price gains. The Kuwaiti governor for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Nawal Al-Fuzaia, said on Tuesday that there were "positive indications an agreement will be reached" during a producer meeting scheduled for April 17 in Qatar. Front month U.S. crude futures jumped a dollar, or 2.8 percent, to $36.89 per barrel at 0240 GMT. International Brent futures rose 1.8 percent at $38.55 a barrel. "Oil gained some momentum. The comment by the Kuwait OPEC governor provided some support to prices," ANZ bank said, but warned that investors would likely remain cautious ahead of the April 17 meeting. An initial output freeze agreed in February has helped oil prices rise to almost $38 a barrel from a 12-year low close to $27 plumbed earlier this year. However, prices have fallen in recent days on doubts that a wider deal will be reached, largely because Iran has so far said it has no intention of slowing its production after crippling sanctions against it were lifted in January. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh said the country's crude output would reach 4 million barrels per day (bpd) by March 2017, state television reported on Wednesday, with plans to export 2.25 million bpd of those supplies. That would be up from a little over 1 million bpd under the sanctions and only slightly below pre-sanctions peaks of 2.5 million bpd. With Iran's exports rising and other producers pledging to freeze production near record-high levels, an agreement would do little to address a global supply overhang that sees at least a million barrels of crude produced every day in excess of demand. Dutch bank ING said that technical market indicators implied that oil prices had developed a bottom near recent lows but that the "short-term upside is limited". In physical markets, sentiment was also less bullish, with Abu Dhabi cutting its March retroactive official selling price (OSP) crude premium over benchmark Dubai prices by 64 cents to $3.06 per barrel on ample supplies. This followed top exporter Saudi Arabia cutting its May Arab Light crude OSP by 10 cents per barrel to a discount of $0.85 per barrel to the Dubai average. (Reporting by Henning Gloystein; Editing by Richard Pullin and Himani Sarkrar) Pfizer said the decision was driven by new U.S. Treasury rules aimed at such deals, called inversions. The merger would have allowed New York-based Pfizer to cut its tax bill by an estimated $1 billion annually by domiciling in Ireland, where tax rates are lower. While the new Treasury rules did not name Pfizer and Allergan, one of the provisions targeted a specific feature of their merger - Allergan's history as a major acquirer of other companies. Allergan Chief Executive Brent Saunders said on CNBC television that the new Treasury rule would not stop the company from doing other stock-based acquisitions as soon as this fall. The new Treasury rule takes into account the past three years of a company's deals. "It really looked like they did a very fine job at constructing a temporary rule to stop this deal and obviously it was successful," Saunders said. Saunders said that he would stay to run the standalone company with a focus on both deals and research and development. Allergan will also move ahead with plans for its $40.5 billion sale of its generic drug business to Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries . It expects the transaction to close by June. With the deal behind it, Pfizer said it would decide this year about whether to split off its hundreds of generic medicines into a separate business. It had put off making that decision until 2019 after announcing its deal with Allergan last November. Pfizer will pay Allergan $150 million to reimburse expenses from its deal. Shares of Allergan, which fell 15 percent on Tuesday, were up 3.3 percent at $244.38 at mid-afternoon. Pfizer rose 4.7 percent to $32.84. Pfizer has new products coming and plenty of money that it could put to work with acquisitions, though not on the scale of Allergan, said Les Funtleyder, healthcare portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management in New York, which holds Pfizer shares. It is not clear that Pfizer should definitely split into two, he said. "It is true that these larger companies are a little unwieldy to manage," Funtleyder said, "but there are plenty of strategies to keep them together and increase shareholder value." The decision to call off the deal came in part because Pfizer was concerned that any tweaks to salvage its deal with Allergan might have provoked new rules by the Treasury, a source familiar with the situation told on Tuesday. Obama on Tuesday called global tax avoidance a "huge problem" and urged Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from deals that allow it. U.S. inversion rules have unravelled other mergers. U.S. drugmaker AbbVie Inc abandoned its $55 billion takeover of Ireland-domiciled peer Shire Plc in 2014 after the Obama administration cracked down on inversions. AbbVie had to pay Shire a $1.6 billion break-up fee. (Reporting by Caroline Humer in New York and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Nick Zieminski) NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Reserve Bank of India sold treasury bills at their lowest yields in more than five years at a weekly auction on Wednesday after its pledge to infuse cash into the banking system sparked a rally in short-term rates. The RBI set a cut-off of 6.85 percent for the 91-day t-bills, the lowest since November 2010, and 6.93 percent for the 182-day t-bills, the lowest since October 2010. The sale comes a day after the central bank cut its key repo rate by 25 basis points, while also pledging to inject liquidity through purchases of bonds via open market operations or by buying dollars and selling rupees every month. The liquidity injection measures are meant to pump enough cash into the banking system, allowing the sector to cut the lending rates and pass on the lower borrowing costs to the broader economy. Analysts said short-term rates would likely rally as a result: the overnight cash rate dropped to as low as 6.05 percent on Wednesday, after touching a one-year high of 11.95 percent just last week. Such a rally could spur the government to pay lower yields while leaving demand still healthy. "In the next few auctions they could slide a bit more and by next month, they should trend 10-12 bps lower than current levels," said Vijay Sharma, senior executive vice-president at primary dealer PNB Gilts Ltd. On Thursday, the RBI will buy up to 150 billion rupees ($2.25 billion) of bonds through OMOs, taking the total amount of purchases since December 2015 to 870 billion rupees, more than in the two previous years combined. ($1 = 66.6350 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Neha Dasgupta, Editing by Subhranshu Sahu) JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African drugmaker Adcock Ingram said on Wednesday it sold its Indian unit for 336 million rand ($22 million) to a private equity firm, after the Bangalore-based business suffered two write downs since 2013. Adcock said in August it would sell the loss-making Indian unit Cosme Farma Laboratories to focus on its South African home market, saying significant additional investment was needed to compete in the pharmaceutical market in India. The cash sale to Samara Capital Partners Fund would include Adcock Healthcare, a manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceuticals in India, which runs Cosme Farma Laboratories, South Africa's Adcock said in a statement. "The Indian pharmaceutical marketing and selling business does not meet the company's current investment criteria and as a result the company has decided to exit this business," Adcock said in a statement. The Indian unit posted a net profit of 2.1 million rand in the six months to end-December and reported net assets worth 701.3 million rand during the period. The South African firm bought Cosme Farma Laboratories for 822 million rand in 2013 but had to write down its value by 278 million rand in 2014 and a further 74.4 million rand last year. South Africa's Adcock would retain Adcock Healthcare's division that handles back office support services, quality control and assurance, among others, the firm said. The sale is subject to approval by the India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board. ($1 = 15.2208 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by James Macharia) will launch the formal sale process for its British assets by Monday and give a "reasonable" timeframe to find a buyer, Britain's business minister said after meeting the company's chairman in Mumbai. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has sought to broker a deal with potential buyers after put its British operations up for sale last week, threatening thousands of jobs. Tata had said it wanted to exit the country as soon as possible, raising fears that the government would not have enough time to find a buyer for a business that has been hit by high costs and cheap Chinese imports. But Sajid Javid, Britain's business minister, told broadcasters after the meeting that Tata had not set a time frame and would allow a reasonable period to find a buyer. "Formal sales process will begin by Monday - govt will do all it can to help secure a serious buyer," he said on Twitter. LONDON (Reuters) - Tata Steel will launch the formal sale process for its British assets by Monday and give a "reasonable" timeframe to find a buyer, Britain's business minister said after meeting the company's chairman in Mumbai. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has sought to broker a deal with potential buyers after Tata Steel put its British operations up for sale last week, threatening thousands of jobs. Tata had said it wanted to exit the country as soon as possible, raising fears that the government would not have enough time to find a buyer for a business that has been hit by high costs and cheap Chinese imports. But Sajid Javid, Britain's business minister, told broadcasters after the meeting that Tata had not set a time frame and would allow a reasonable period to find a buyer. "Formal sales process will begin by Monday - govt will do all it can to help secure a serious buyer," he said on Twitter. (Reporting by Kate Holton and William James; editing by Stephen Addison) China's top carmaker SAIC Motor Corp and Great Wall Motor, its biggest maker of SUVs, are spearheading the country's first major push into India, one of the world's fastest-growing auto markets, as growth at home stagnates. The entry is late and risky global carmakers like Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor and General Motors have struggled to push sales in the cost conscious Indian market despite being here for more than a decade. Chinese cars also suffer from perceptions of poor quality in India. While they plan to woo Indian buyers with their no-frills cars and cut-price SUVs, Chinese manufacturers will compete head on with established carmakers like Suzuki Motor and Hyundai Motor that dominate many markets in Southeast Asia. Even so, India offers one of the last frontiers of growth by 2020 the country is likely to become the world's third-largest car market, from fifth place, with annual sales nearly doubling to 5 million vehicles from 2.7 million in 2015. SAIC and Great Wall are in separate talks with the state government of Maharashtra to set up a factory in the auto hub of Pune, the state industries minister told Reuters. A source close to SAIC said the company is considering Pune city among other locations. The automaker plans to set up a factory in India within the next three years and is in the early stages of researching such a move, the person said. "The market potential of India is huge," said the source. For SAIC, the maker of marquee MG and Roewe cars, India is next on the agenda after entering Indonesia and would happen before they try to enter Russia, other European nations or the United States. SAIC is also in discussion to buy a plant currently operated by GM in Gujarat, according to people familiar with the matter. The Detroit automaker plans to stop production at the Halol plant in Gujarat by end-June as it consolidates operations at one location. "We are examining a number of options in relation to the Halol factory ... including the sale of the site," GM said in a statement. The company declined to elaborate on how it plans to sell the factory and said there was nothing further to announce about Halol at this point. In February, 12 executives from Great Wall attended the India Auto Expo car show to survey the market and understand government policy on diesel engines and emissions, an industry source in India said. Great Wall's board of directors on March 7 voted unanimously in favour of a motion to establish a subsidiary in India, according to a stock exchange filing. A spokeswoman said there were no further details on the automaker's plans there, including when it would set up a subsidiary. Chongqing Changan Automobile, China's fourth biggest automaker, launched a search in January for an advisor in India to help form an entry plan, according to an email from the company to a consultant that was seen by Reuters. Company president Zhu Huarong told reporters in November that Chongqing Changan saw India as one of its three strategic foreign markets for investment and planned to start making cars there by 2020. A spokeswoman for SAIC and a spokesman for Changan declined to comment. Quality Perception Global carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen have struggled to push sales in India in part due to the lack of a portfolio of feature-rich, compact cars priced at about $5,000-$7,000, a segment where demand is high. Equally essential in the Indian market is having a wide-spread service network and keeping car maintenance costs low. "If the Chinese carmakers are able to overcome the quality perception, they have a huge cost advantage," said Amit Kaushik, country head at consultant JATO Dynamics. SAIC is evaluating what models to launch in India and is considering vehicles less than four metres in length because of favourable policies - sub-compact cars attract lower taxes - the source close to the company said. It is also looking at modifying existing models to offer stripped down versions, as India is more price sensitive and regulatory requirements are lower, the person said. The Cabinet on Wednesday more than tripled the funding for exports to Iran to Rs 3,000 crore through the Export Development Fund (EDF) of the Exim Bank with a view to improving bilateral trade and strategic ties. The proposal will step up the country's exports to Iran and deepen India's relationship as a strategic partner, said an official statement after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The approval is for increasing the framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and a consortium of Iranian banks led by Central Bank of Iran for financing the purchase of goods and services from India to Rs 3,000 crore, from Rs 900 crore. This will be done by utilising EDF. "The proposal provides for domiciling two contracts of export of steel rails by STC and for the Chabahar Port Development project previously approved by the Cabinet under EDF," said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The Exim Bank and seven Iranian Banks led by Central Bank of Iran had negotiated a framework agreement in November 2014 for financing the purchase of goods and services from India by Iranian entities to the tune of Rs 900 crore under the EDF. The increase in quantum to Rs 3,000 crore will enable the Exim bank to provide buyer's credit facility to Iran secured via sovereign guarantee from Iran for the exports. "This will provide an opportunity to Indian companies to penetrate and enhance their footprint in Iran, along with facilitating the growing trade and investment with Iran. This will also help in employment generation and development of ancillary activity in India," the statement said. The process of accessing information should be transparent, timely and trouble-free. Delayed information does not help solve problems but compounds them. Timely information can halt wrong decisions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, addressing a two-day national convention to mark 10 years of RTI in October last year Between June 2014 and August 2015, Noida-based Lokesh Batra, retired Navy Commodore and a veteran of RTI applications, having filed over 600 of them so far, filed a series of over 30 applications with the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of External Affairs and various Indian missions abroad, enquiring about the expenses incurred on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's foreign trips since he assumed office in May 2014. The response to a large majority of the applications was a terse : "The bills are still being processed and have not been collated yet." There has been no further response. Contrast this with the reply to a similar RTI query Batra had filed regarding Manmohan Singh's foreign visits over the 10 years he was prime minister. He got a precise figure: Rs 699 crore. What about Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tours abroad while he was the prime minister for six years? Again there was no equivocation: the chartered flights cost Rs 144 crore, he was informed. "It speaks poorly of the PMO that it cannot provide this information," says Batra. "At one point they said the information is exempted under the RTI, when they should be declaring the same suo motu (automatically) as per the rules under RTI Act." To be sure, the Prime Minister Office's website today lists details of five of Modi's 19 foreign sojourns till date. A sum of almost Rs 78 crore has been spent so far in those trips but details of some of his trips over a year ago, like to Nepal, France, Germany and Canada, are still not available. This is only one instance of the uncooperative attitude of the current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to RTI queries. The same approach is reflected in the rise in the rejection rate of applications in 2014/15 to 8.4 per cent, the highest in eight years. So, while the number of queries has been piling up and the time taken to respond to them increasing, the number of fresh applications filed in 2014/15 showed a decline for the first time in five years. "This could well be a pointer to the frustration of applicants at not getting the information they seek through RTI," says Rakesh Reddy Dubbudu, RTI campaigner, and founder of Factly, a data journalism portal. Anecdotal evidence further suggests that even information on mundane matters, which by no means can be called 'sensitive', is often now withheld. (See table on number of rejections.) What could be remotely sensitive about revealing the names of MPs and MLAs who had not yet surrendered the subsidy being provided for LPG cylinders, despite Prime Minister Modi's repeated appeals to the well-to-do to do so? Or the names of members of the panel that decided which 20 Indian cities should be included in the Smart City programme? Or the manner in which companies have been conducting their mandatory CSR programmes? Yet all these queries have been stonewalled. "The law was never intended to be used as a weapon against the government. Unfortunately, the perception is that, which has unnecessarily put the government on the defensive. Even the previous government was on the defensive" The situation has deteriorated in other ways as well. Central and state Information Commissions overseeing the RTI response process by different government entities have been understaffed and overworked, even as the number of queries have risen. Many of the 28 state-level information commissions do not even report RTI-related statistics proactively. The number of 'first appeals' filed by those dissatisfied with - or denied - replies to their RTI queries is also rising. "The rise reflects people's dissatisfaction with the answers being furnished," says Venkatesh Nayak, Programme Coordinator of the human rights body, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI). Among Central ministries, the PMO, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance get the bulk of RTI queries. All of them have had high application rejection rates - 22 per cent, 16 per cent and 20.2 per cent, respectively - in 2014/15. Curiously, the Ministry of Defence - whose rejection of queries is understandable if national security is involved - had a much lower rejection rate than these three: 15 per cent. In comparison, the PMO's rejection rate during the entire second term of the UPA from 2009 to 2014 was 14 per cent. In 2010/11, the finance ministry's rejection rate was just 10 per cent! The record of the states varies widely, according to the CHRI. While states like Maharashtra and Karnataka are reasonably meticulous, those such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana perform poorly. "Some states like UP have never even filed an annual report on RTI compliance," says Nayak. As for Modi's foreign tours, history seems to be repeating itself. In October 2012, when he was Gujarat Chief Minister, RTI activists Rohit Prajapati and Amrish Brambhatt had sought to know how much was spent on Modi's travels to various job fairs within the state. Separately, another RTI activist, Bharatsinh Zala of the NGO, Cranti, had asked for the details of Modi's expenses on his four-day trip to Japan in July 2012. Neither query was answered. UPA Not Much Better Following a long campaign by civil liberties' groups, the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government promulgated the RTI Act in 2005. But it soon became uncomfortable with some of its ramifications. "RTI makes every government nervous," says Dubbudu. "The UPA government that introduced it did not really know what it was getting into. The current government wants to clip its wings." Less than a year after the Act was passed, for instance, it sought to exclude file notings from the Act's purview, except when they related to social or developmental matters. However, in the face of strong opposition from social activists, the Bill prepared to this effect was never introduced in Parliament. Again, in June 2013, the Central Information Commission (CIC) passed an order maintaining that the six national parties - the Congress, BJP, CPI, CPI (M), NCP and BSP - came under the ambit of the Act. Once more the government sought to amend the Act to specifically keep political parties out of its ambit, and once more the public outcry against the move forced it to hold back. Significantly, on the second issue, the NDA government, for all its differences with its predecessor, has struck exactly the same note, arguing in the Supreme Court - in response to a public interest litigation demanding the CIC's order be implemented - that political parties were not 'public bodies', to which alone the RTI Act was applicable. "It's a case of you scratch my back and I scratch yours," says Dubbudu. "When there is a risk of skeletons tumbling out of the closet, political parties develop a remarkable consensus about keeping them stuffed inside." The matter is still to be decided by the court. Instant Hit The RTI Act was a radical departure from the Indian bureaucratic tradition of opacity and arbitrariness, and the man in the street soon began using it enthusiastically. Between 2007/08 and 2013/14, the number of RTI queries at the Central level quadrupled to touch nearly one million. In 2014/15, it came down to 755,247. Data on state level RTI applications is scattered across the respective states and hard to collate, but a CHRI study found that in the two years 2012 to 2014, around 2.5 million applications were filed with the Centre and 12 states. It estimated the total number filed in the states in these two years at 4.5-5 million. Alongside, the number of rejections has also risen, with the CIC turning down 60,127 of them in 2013/14. But the number of first appeals was higher, at 94,945 in the same year. First appeals in Maharashtra and Karnataka were 77,678 and 28,614 respectively. The CHRI estimates the total number of first appeals in the country for 2013/14 at 225,000 - revealing that it is taking a long time for a large number of applicants to get the information they seek. "RTI is most efficient when the information sought is quickly delivered," says Anugrah Narain Tiwari, former CIC. "If the information comes too late, it often does not serve the purpose of seeking it. The appellate mechanism of first and second appeals has become weak. The first appeal was always weak but the second appeal used to be effective. Now it is struggling because it is over burdened," "Most authorities have begun to realise the power placed in the hands of citizens and have devised techniques and methods to block this. There is no process for selection of commissioners either. It is an excercise in arbitrariness and patronage. The same holds for many commissions, Lokayuktas and governors" As the appeals have increased, so has the delay in responding to them. Despite the RTI Act specifying deadlines within which responses should be provided, the number of pending appeals with the CIC alone has more than doubled to over 35,000. At the state level, the figure is estimated at over 75,000. Some of the cases date back to 2008. "I adjudicate 20-22 cases daily," says Sridhar Acharyulu, one of the information commissioners at the CIC. "How many more can I do? Recent applications also have to be tackled. So I end up hearing 10 cases that were pending and 10 that have just been filed." Appeals have risen precisely because information sought is not furnished in the first instance. "Many queries are not answered immediately, but the information is furnished following the first or second appeal," says RTI activist Subhash Agarwal. "It is true that the authorities are becoming increasingly anti-transparent." Range of Excuses On what grounds are queries rejected? The most common reasons are confidentiality clauses, copyright clauses, breach of Parliamentary privilege, contempt of court or privacy of individuals. These are applied as broadly as possible to withhold information. Applications are also turned down if they are in the incorrect format or filed before the wrong government department - a practice that has often come in for criticism. "The soul of RTI is informality," says Satyendra Misra, CIC from 2010 to 2013. "An applicant should be able to file his query on a plain piece of paper and get the information he seeks. Getting the format right should not matter. Rejecting applications because they have not been drafted properly gives the impression that the commission is not sympathetic to the applicant." He noted that the RTI Act itself was shorn of legal jargon, worded differently from most other Acts. "That is because it was drafted outside the government." (The Act was the initiative of activists.) "File missing" is another frequently cited reason for not answering RTI queries. The inability of a civil servant to produce a relevant file renders him liable for action under the Public Records Act 1993, but the excuse is still regularly used. "There is a CIC ruling saying this cannot be a valid ruling and yet it is often an alibi," says a CIC commissioner who prefers anonymity. "Record keeping is indeed poor in India, so sometimes this reason may be genuine, but it is still inexcusable." Anecdotal evidence suggests that the profile of the RTI applicant is sometimes a factor as well. Lawyers, journalists and social activists are more likely to be denied information. "As an ex-journalist and an RTI activist, I'm almost a marked man," says Bangalore-based Sandeep Pai. "It takes me longer to get replies than others. Many times, the same query as mine, filed by another person, has elicited a prompt and satisfactory response, while I have been denied a proper response." Anti-government perception The use of RTI has exposed a number of scams over the years. The 2G spectrum scam that rocked the UPA government, the Adarsh Building Society scam in Mumbai that forced the resignation of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, the Commonwealth Games scam in Delhi, were all initially brought to light through RTI interventions. Politicians have felt its heat, leading to the perception that it is a weapon wielded against the government. "Every government is inclined towards secrecy," says Tiwari. "Even bureaucrats prefer it, but a permanent civil service is still willing to share information. It is the political executive that is really reluctant. It has become wiser and less ideologically driven than before. Today's politician is brazen about his willingness to destroy the system if it comes in the way of fulfilling his desires." Former CIC Wajahat Habibullah acknowledges the perception and believes the government is to be blamed. "RTI was never intended as a weapon against the government," he says. "But the government does not see it as an instrument for strengthening governance. It sees RTI queries as akin to extortion, squeezing information out of the government." RTI has also created its share of controversies. In early March, for instance, the purported reply to an RTI query by journalist Pushp Sharma about recruitment of yoga instructors in government sponsored yoga councils over the last 10 years raised a storm, as it claimed it was official policy to exclude Muslims. The ministry concerned, AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy), claimed the response was fake and that it had yet to reply to Sharma, having merely forwarded his query to the departments and institutes concerned. Overall, the popularity of RTI queries is a pointer to the enormous general dissatisfaction of the people with the government's functioning. Another damning feature is the high percentage - around 80 per cent - of queries and appeals related to personal grievances, rather than disinterested information seeking. "In countries like New Zealand and Sweden, the number of RTI applications is relatively small," says Tiwari. "It shows the people there are already happy with the level of transparency in government and do not need to ask many more questions. In countries like India and Mexico, on the contrary, RTI applications are very high. If you make the system transparent at the structural level, applications will automatically come down and problem of pending cases will resolve itself." "The government always wanted to throttle the RTI and various attempts were meant to amend it. Thankfully, those did not go through. The bureaucrats have also become smarter and exploit loopholes in the system. Greater transparency does not benefit anybody in the government" A transparent system of choosing information commissioners would also help. Currently, most of them are retired civil servants, whose basic orientation towards sharing information is the same as that of serving officers. "Currently, shortlisting of people for selection as information commissioners is generally based on political and bureaucratic patronage," says former CIC as well as RTI activist, Shailesh Gandhi. "Commissioners are selected by a committee consisting of the Prime Minister, the leader of the Opposition and one other minister. Such a committee has no time to understand or evaluate the applicants. Instead, a transparent process for selection would lead to a better environment for RTI Act implementation." Reasons for Cheer Still, there is much to cheer about RTI as well. Its scope has been gradually expanding beyond government to sections of the private sector as well. The CIC has ruled, for example, that the privately-owned Batra Hospital in Delhi was answerable to RTI queries, since it enjoyed indirect government subsidy in the form of cheaply leased land. Similarly, a private educational institution like Amity University has been brought within its ambit. "There are sections in the Act that if interpreted properly expand its reach manifold," says Acharyulu, who gave the landmark ruling in the Batra Hospital case. "We are just waiting for people to file applications....it may be a public or a private body. There are exemptions but at the same time there are many provisions that need to be applied properly. Why should you not know what is the exact break-up of tuition fee you pay a private school or the details of the bill a hospital presents you with?" What is probably needed is greater autonomy for both Central and state commissions and a more cooperative attitude from the executive. The road to becoming one of the top 50 transparent countries is a long one and the continued success of RTI will have a big role in it. The declining efficacy of responses notwithstanding, the rising popularity and increasing awareness of RTI shows it is here to stay. Experts believe the act is strong enough to withstand any attempts to throttle it, but information commissioners need to be firm. It's a tough task ahead for Pashupathy Gopalan, the President of US-based SunEdison Asia Pacific. Most of his peers have already pronounced the demise of his pet project, the 500-MW solar park in Andhra Pradesh, long before it has even taken off. In November, Gopalan had stunned everyone by quoting an all-time low tariff of Rs 4.63 per KWh - trouncing the previous low of Rs 5.05 per KWh by a fair margin and a long haul from the Rs 17.91 per unit in 2010. After signing the letter of intent (LOI), he is now busy stitching together a financial closure for the project before the July 2016 deadline. However, even before he has formally approached the financial institutions, they have already indicated their discomfort in financing such projects. What makes Gopalan's job even more difficult is the fiscal health of the parent company, which has been in the news, globally, for all the wrong reasons. It has not only found it difficult to manage cash, but there's every chance that the company will face a $1.4-billion technical default for failing to file its long-expected annual report. Further, SunEdison had to call off its acquisition of Continuum Wind Energy, a Sin-gapore-based company with assets in India, soon after a June 2015 announcement, followed by the termination of yet another acquisition bid for renewable energy company Latin American Power having assets in Chile and Peru, in October. SunEdison's rivals in India as well as in the US believe that the company had tried its hands at too many things for its own good, and the aggressive bids were part of the same strategy. However, though his failure to attract financers might sound like music to his rivals, it could also potentially derail India's aggressive solar power roll out for 100 GW capacity additions by 2022 -arguably the world's most aggressive target. But, in spite of the odds, Gopalan is confident of achieving financial closure. "The bankers will get to know of my business plan once I reach them. I have several options in my hand. We will be heading for the financial closure by May this year." "It would be unfair to expect them (state governments) to buy (solar) electricity at a higher cost" At present India has just over 10 GW of solar projects under development, with cumulative solar installations of 5,632 MW and about 8.4 GW expected to be auctioned off over the next few months. Solar market observer, Bridge to India, estimates that India may add 4.8 GW in 2016 and over 9 GW in 2017, excluding the rooftop solar installations and open-access solar markets. If this happens, India could jump to become the fourth largest solar market in the world, after China, the US and Japan this year, and overtake Japan in 2017. In fact, the solar power segment has changed dramatically in the past five months. SunEdison's bid was followed by the Rajasthan leg of NTPC's bid for 420 MW in six blocks of 70 MW each, where Finnish company Fortum took the tariff to Rs 4.34 per unit. The other winners included Rising Sun Energy (two blocks for Rs 4.35 a unit), Solairedirect (two blocks for Rs 4.35 a unit) and Yarrow Infrastructure (one block for Rs 4.36). Subsequently, a sub-Rs 5 tariff became the new normal. The survival of the projects, however, will be linked to SunEdison's capability to convince lenders and investors. "The PPA (power purchase agreement) allows me to look for equity partners, and we are considering offloading 49 per cent of the equity as well," says Gopalan, adding that he would convince lenders to believe in his business model. To maintain the high spirits and sub-Rs 5 tariff, the developers would have to limit their construction costs to below Rs 5 crore per megawatt capacity. At today's prices, this is secularly considered as 'risky and difficult' to finance by lenders - unless it is backed by the government's viability gap funding. State-owned NTPC is rolling out 15 GW of projects in different parts of the country, including Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, and that is expected to take care of a large part of construction risks. But still, it is difficult to build projects for less than Rs 5 crore a megawatt. "Currently, most domestic banks are unwilling to fund projects below Rs 5 per kWh because they fear that failed projects could end up on their books as non-performing assets. Some companies that have bid below Rs 5 per kWh are now in trouble and there could be more such cases in the future unless developers pull back and some sanity is restored," says Raj Prabhu, CEO and co-founder, Mercom Capital Group, a global cleantech communications and research firm. To smoothen out things a bit, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission also believes that the cost of solar projects in India can come down to Rs 5.01 crore per MW. But there is a rider. The calculations were done considering the US dollar at Rs 64.58. The continuous deprecation of the Indian currency will, however, put a spanner in the works, more so, as most developers plan to import panels from China. To put things in context, panels will account for 62 per cent of the total cost of a solar park. And Sumant Sinha, CEO of ReNew Power, one of the country's biggest players in renewable energy, is a worried man. "Ideally we should have gone for a scenario where the two aspects (crashing tariff and 100 GW target) could complement each other." ReNew Power had chased SunEdison's aggressive bid till Rs 4.85 per unit, but came up with a higher bid of Rs 5.17 in the next round of auctions. Sinha is of the view that the current low tariffs do not augur well for the government's target of achieving 100 GW in the next seven years. "We need many more players and many more investors to be entering the sector rather than shying away from it on account of low returns," he adds. But if Gopalan manages to meet the June target, we could see a turnaround. Cascading Effect In February, a group of farmers in Punjab protested the state government's decision to scrap bids under the famers' solar policy. The policy was formulated in July prompting farmers to install capacities of between 1 MW and 2.5 MW. The Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) had announced a tariff of Rs 7.4 per Kwh and by January-end, 381 farmers had submitted their proposals. During the reverse bidding process, however, one of the farmers quoted the lowest tariff at Rs 6.25 per Kwh. But till then the country had seen the freefall of tariff. Soon, Punjab developed cold feet and decided not to declare the results. "There was little we could do. The state government is rationalising the bids and looking for ways to cut down the price to as low as possible," says a senior official of the Punjab government. The reason for scrapping the project could be political, as the state is heading for the assembly polls early next year. The states are critical in India's plans for the installation of 100 GW solar power capacity. Out of the current solar photovoltaic (PV) pipeline of 23 GW, tender bids for 15 GW have already been submitted, while tenders for 8 GW are still pending. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) believes that India would add 12 GW of solar capacity in 2016/17, most of which would be executed by states. But there is something that makes experts sceptical about these developments - in the past nearly 40 per cent of state projects were either significantly delayed or scrapped. The reasons include delays in signing of PPAs, land acquisition, transmission and financing. "In the present context, however, the biggest hurdle is determining an acceptable tariff," says a senior official in the know who refused to be identified. And, it is not out of context. Out of the total 1,485 MW capacity allotted under state tenders between October 2011 and September 2014 nearly 50 per cent, or 680 MW, were delayed or partially lost. Out of this, almost 10 per cent of projects are stalled. "Stalled projects are making most state governments wary about the crashing tariffs," the officer adds. For instance, Telegana delayed signing the letters of approval with many players after SunEdison's bid. When the state offered 2 GW solar projects in a staggered manner in November 2015, Canada-based developer Skypower won four bids, including a 50 MW project with the lowest bid of Rs 5.17. But, it took Chief Minister K.C. Rao and MNRE Minister Piyush Goyal's intervention for the state government to finally sign the LoA with minor alterations in the contracts in the first week of March. "The states must realise that in solar power projects, no two projects can get you a similar price. There is a tendency among bureaucrats of developing cold feet for fear of getting flak or inquiries. There has to be a transparent mechanism to achieve it and let the market decide the real tariff," says a CEO of a big solar power company, on the condition of anonymity. Sinha of ReNew Power also wants the government to move away from reverse auctions. "It does not make sense to set up manufacturing units in India when the world can offer you cheaper modules" However, Goyal backs the reverse auctioning method and says crashing tariffs is good for states. "Most of the states are taking a fiscal recovery route for their distribution companies with the UDAY scheme. It would be unfair to expect them to buy electricity at a higher cost," he says, adding that more transparency would ensure further price fall. All said and done, Goyal needs to take cue from the failures and ensure states do not force the projects to shut shop. Imports Squeeze Tariffs The current cost of domestic modules to set up plants is not helping the cause of solar power projects in India because they are attracting 70-75 paise more tariff than projects based on imported modules, especially Chinese. "In today's context when the competition is focusing on cutting corners and reducing tariff by every possible paisa, the Chinese modules make more sense," says Gopalan. For example, on March 16 2016, the 100 MW NTPC tender in Rajasthan saw three winning bids that were very close - between Rs 5.06 and Rs 5.07 per kWh. And, three months ago Inderpreet Wadhwa-promoted Azure Power had won two projects in Andhra Pradesh with a combined capacity of 100 MW for Rs 5.12 per KWh, followed by Adani Group's Prayatna Developers with a bid of Rs 5.13 per kWh for a 50 MW plant. Both offers show a huge price differentiation compared to SunEdison Asia's bid of Rs 4.63 per KWh. However, in spite of a rap on the knuckles from the World Trade Organization, Power Minister Goyal indicated that India will appeal against the decision and continue to support domestic players. "The major impact of squeezing of tariff is severe on the domestic manufacturers," says Gyanesh Choudhury, Director, Vikram Solar, adding: "There is a direct 17 per cent export benefit for Chinese players. Else, we are competent to compete with them." In fact, Wadhwa believes that once solar parks are set up, power should, at some point in time, come down to Rs 0. Recently, a think-tank, Bharat SolarPower Develop-ment Forum (BSDF), had taken a stand on helping domestic manufactures, as they were not happy with the fall in tariff. "We are fine with the 100 GW target, but the recent dip in tariff is also creating a situation where domestic players are going out of business. This would mean more flow of foreign capital and no employment generation in India. This is not acceptable to us," says B.P. Sharma, Convenor, BSDF. He insists that pushing solar manufacturing is necessary to generate more employment, along with strengthening the Make in India programme. Make in India: The Answer India is also in the process of finalising the draft policy that former DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant had prepared just before leaving office, to promote large-scale solar equipment manufacturing. Kant had suggested setting up of GW-scale manufacturing setups like those in China. India does not have presence in manufacturing polysilicon, ingot or wafer creation. Domestic manufacturers, including MoserBaer, Indosolar, Vikram Solar and Waree Technologies, are not capable of taking on global majors. In fact, companies with deep pockets, such as Tata Solar, Adani Group and SBG Cleantech (a joint venture between Japanese Telecom, SoftBank Corp, Sunil Mittal's Bharti Enterprise and Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology), could be India's answer to them. Chinese company Trina Solar is also looking at setting up a manufacturing unit in India. The policy has provisions for value-gap funding (VGF) and central financial assistance (CFA). However, the big drawback of the draft policy reviewed by BT is the scale of investment required. The draft expects players to manufacture polysilicon, and create ingots and wafers out of them, besides fabricating cells before assembling the modules. "Globally there is no player who does all the work. Polysilicon is a chemical process, whereas wafers are semi-conductors and modules are just assembly of parts. There is no synergy in this," says Sharma. Now, the RSS-backed BSDF is pushing Goyal to go for segregated approach and help production according to the expertise of the players. "We need more players and more investors to be entering the sector rather than shying away from it on account of low returns" "It does not make sense to set up manufacturing units in India when the world can offer you cheaper modules," says Rahul Munjal, Founder and MD, Hero Future Energies. Raj Prabhu of Mercom Capital Group agrees: "The government should reconsider venturing into the manufacturing business and instead focus on removing hurdles, such as high duties, provide world class infrastructure and let the free markets work." In fact, the US initiative to support manufacturing by funding solar technology companies ended disastrously, with most going bankrupt because they could not compete with low-cost panels from China. Things have not been any better in Europe. "Successful manufacturers around the world have achieved massive scale and rapid efficiency improvements that have brought down costs. Achieving similar economies of scale in India will require massive investments without guaranteed success," says a CEO, requesting anonymity. The only solution Indian manufacturers are offering is anti-dumping duties against Chinese imports. It is not there on the agenda of Goyal as yet, but RSS is trying to bring it back on his table. This churn will continue, but Goyal needs to keep most of his blocks together to prevent derailing of the 100-GW dream. Let's hope at the end India emerges victorious. New data released today by JLL shows that 600 million of investment transactions have traded in the last three months across the country. Eighty per cent of transactions were in the 1 million to 10 million category. There were only two transactions greater than 50 million. The figures show that Whitewater Shopping Centre in Kildare was the largest sale this quarter which was purchased by DEKA for 180 million. The second largest was the Central Quay office building in Dublin 2 which was sold for 51.3 million to a confidential purchaser. The report also shows an increase in non-Dublin transactions with 44% of total volumes for deals outside of the capital. This has been focused on regional retail opportunities. The largest non-Dublin sales include Whitewater Shopping Centre in Kildare (180 million), Golden Island Shopping Centre in Athlone (43.5 million) and Cashel Town Centre in Tipperary (6.25 million). In terms of sectors, 43% of volumes this quarter were for retail followed by 34% for offices and 12% mixed-use. Commenting on the research, Associate Director and Head of Research at JLL, Hannah Dwyer said, "As expected, Q1 was a steady start to the year. A few large transactions that were on the market in Q4 have closed in the last 3 months and have boosted total volumes. There was also a large concentration of activity (80%) in the 1 million to 10 million category. Demand has remained steady with a mix of international and domestic investors active in the quarter." She added, "With a number of large-scale assets such as Blanchardstown Centre (approx. 1 bilion) and Glas Collection (approx. 170 million) currently on the market, Q2 is expected to see an increase in investment volumes. With a strong Q2 forecast, at this point in the year, we are predicting that volumes for the year-end could achieve similar levels to 2015, with approximately 3.0 billion transacting." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Taoiseach Enda Kenny has offered to boost a state house construction programme and build more infrastructure to coax independent parliamentarians to support a new government, a draft document seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday. The Governing coalition was ousted in an election on Feb. 26 and he has been negotiating with independent members of parliament to form a minority government. Fianna Fail has ruled out joining a formal coalition but if it agreed to abstain, the backing of a group of independents could give Kenny's Fine Gael a minority government with enough votes to pass legislation. Shane Ross, the head of a group of six independent deputies, said the document indicated the government had "got the message from the electorate" but that the parties were nowhere near a final solution. Several politicians involved in the talks in recent days have forecast that a deal remains weeks away. The 123-page document said the government would ask the National Asset Management Agency, responsible for disposing of distressed property loans after the 2008 property crash, if it "can be more ambitious in housing delivery" before it is wound down in 2020. The agency has currently committed to build 20,000 housing units. The collapse in house building since the crash has left the country with a massive shortage, pushing rents back up to their pre-crash peaks and sparking a homelessness crisis. Kenny, who remains in power in an acting capacity until a new government is sworn in, said in the document that the government would work with the central bank as part of a review of its mortgage lending limits introduced early last year, which have curbed lending. The government would develop what it described as a new "Help to Buy" scheme to ensure availability of "adequate, affordable mortgage finance or mortgage insurance for first-time buyers". The document proposes an additional 4 billion euros in capital spending to 2021, an increase of around 10% the government says is possible due to a change in how the European Commission calculates the Irish deficit. The document also reaffirmed the state's plan to dispose of its investments in the banking sector "when conditions are right". It did not specify when the government plans to sell its stake in AIB. Before the election, Finance Minister Michael Noonan said he expected a sale of 25% in the autumn, subject to market conditions. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie Specsavers Ireland yesterday announced that it will be extending its commitment to Our Ladys Childrens Hospital, Crumlin by pledging to raise an additional 100,000 for the ophthalmology unit. The announcement was made as Specsavers presented the hospital with a cheque for 120,000 following extensive fundraising by its employees. Specsavers have now launched their next initiative the Climb for Crumlin. This will see Specsavers staff member Tony Power embark an epic journey to climb Mount Everest base camp. Specsavers staff across the country will also be stepping up to the challenge with their own in-store fundraising activities on Saturday 16 April as they climb the distance on stair climber machines. Customers are invited to drop in to their local store on the day and show their support by taking part in the climb or making a donation to the worthy cause. Chairperson of Specsavers Ireland, Sinead Clohessy said, "I would like to thank staff who worked tirelessly last year to surpass our initial 100,000 target and everyone who got behind us to ensure that we reached our goal. We were blown away by the level of enthusiasm and we look forward to a new challenge again this year. I would also like to wish Tony the best of luck before he embarks on his expedition to Mount Everest." CEO at CMRF Crumlin, Joe Quinsey added, "Fundraising is essential to ensure that we can deliver on our objective of giving every sick child every chance every time and Specsavers is enabling us to make a tremendous difference to the lives of children and their families across the country." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us It was announced today that Savills is to bring The SV4 Supermarket Collection to the market with an overall guide price in excess of 80 million. The Property Consultants claim it will be one of the most significant retail investment sales in 2016. The collection is being sold on behalf of Starwood Capital, Catalyst Capital and Key Capital who acquired the loans associated with the four supermarket assets as part of Project Aspen which was the first major non-performing loan (NPL) portfolio sale undertaken by Nama in Ireland. Since acquiring the supermarket collection, the vendors have successfully secured the Musgrave Group Plc as guarantor on all of the SuperValu stores being offered for sale. The development offers investors an opportunity to acquire three supermarket and shopping centre assets in Dublin and one shopping centre asset in Waterford, thus obtaining a significant foothold in the Irish supermarket and retail investment market. The collection is being offered for sale by private treaty in individual or collective lots, to allow maximum flexibility in the sale process. The centrepiece of the collection is Lucan Shopping Centre, which is an established neighbourhood centre completed in 1991 extending to 12,008 sq. m. (129,252 sq. ft.). This scheme is situated in a vast catchment area and is anchored by SuperValu while Dunnes Stores hold a long leasehold interest over their store and pay a nominal rent. The annual passing rent is 2,695,934 per annum, SuperValu underpin 59% of the overall rent and the scheme has a WAULT of 11.8 years. At a quoting price of 40 million the property is expected to attract significant levels of interest from domestic and international investors given the success of the scheme and value add potential. Also part of the collection are the SuperValu schemes in Ranelagh and Rathgar which are being offered to the market at a guide price in excess of 12 million (per asset). SuperValu Ranelagh reflects a NIY of 5.89% and Supervalu Rathgar provides a return of 5.97% based on the guide price. The collection also incorporates Kilbarry Shopping Centre in Waterford, where SuperValu have their main presence within the city. This is being offered at a guide price of 16,000,000 representing a NIY of 7.18%. The collection provides substantial scale with 22,950 sq. m. (247,031 sq. ft.) of predominantly retail accommodation across the four assets, with a current passing rent of 5.38 million and a WAULT of 13.2 years. Dessie Kilkenny of Savills says, "This is one of the best supermarket and retail collections I have seen for sale in this cycle of the Irish investment market. We are continuing to witness good interest from both international and domestic investors who believe in the Irish retail story." He added, "Considering the covenant strength, unexpired lease term and proportion of income associated with he anchor tenant SuperValu, we are anticipating a good level of interest. Although offered as a collection, our clients are certainly open to offers for individual assets, in line with our structured sale process." Source: www.businessworld.ie Savills have today claimed they hope to appoint a main contractor for development of Bolands Quay by the end of July with a view to being on-site at the beginning of September. Planning for the development of Bolands Quay, which is situated at the iconic Bolands Mill site in Dublins docklands, was approved last July just 6 months after the initial planning application was lodged. Bolands Quay will provide 3 new landmark buildings comprising approximately 36,851 sq. m (approx. 397,000 sq ft) of office, residential, retail and cultural space. The development will also involve the development of a new civic plaza looking onto the waterfront at Grand Canal Dock. When complete, Bolands Quay will accommodate up to 2,500 workers. Demolition works to remove the existing silos are well underway and due for completion in June 2016. In addition, a specialist conservation contractor will be appointed by the end April to restore the existing protected mill buildings on site which will be converted for commercial and residential use. Michael Cleary from the Bolands Quay Development Group commented, "The SDZ fast-track planning scheme introduced by Dublin City Council has enabled us to advance this project in a very short period of time and the project delivery team are progressing full steam ahead with the development." He added, "On completion in 2018 this significant construction project will become a landmark office development in the resurgent Dublin Docklands area." Source: www.businessworld.ie About us The British government opened talks on Tuesday with potential buyers for Tata Steel's UK operations, including Sanjeev Gupta's commodities company Liberty Group, as it stepped up its battle to find a buyer for the loss-making business. Accused by opposition lawmakers of being "asleep at the wheel" when India's Tata Steel put its entire British operations up for sale last week, Prime Minister David Cameron also met ministers to discuss the options for a business which employs 15,000 people. Britain's business minister Sajid Javid met with Gupta in London to establish how firm his interest was in the business. He was later due to fly to Mumbai to meet Tata Chairman Cyrus Mistry to agree the process for a sale. Gupta, who has bought other distressed steel assets in Britain, said the meeting was "positive" and the government was "highly supportive" and "actively engaged" in finding a long-term solution. "The next step is for Tata to define the formal sales process and request indications of interest from potential buyers," he said in a statement after the meeting. The government has not said which other potential buyers it has met but Javid told Sky News "where the buyers are coming forward, we're ready to work with them." Gupta's Liberty Group is a metals company with assets in Asia, Africa and Britain, and production capacity in steel exceeding 3 million MT a year. He has not yet carried out due diligence on the business which includes the huge Port Talbot plant in south Wales but said that site could be saved if the giant blast furnaces were replaced with facilities to process imported slab steel into higher grade product or make steel from scrap metal rather than iron ore. Carwyn Jones, the first minister of Wales, said the government appeared willing to discuss solutions for the firm's pension deficit, structural challenges and high energy costs that prompted Tata to walk away. Britain, the birthplace of the modern steel industry, has shed thousands of jobs from the sector in recent years due to high costs and historically low steel prices which have been dragged down by cheap Chinese imports. But the announcement from Tata, Britain's biggest steel producer, has exposed the government to accusations that it has failed the country's industrial sector. Steelmakers in Britain pay some of the highest energy costs and green taxes in the world as a result of policies that were designed to promote investment in low-carbon electricity generation such as wind farms or nuclear plants. With the costs passed on to consumers, those firms which use the most power, such as steelmakers, say they are struggling to cope. A domestic carbon tax for example is paid on top of a European carbon price. Documents released last month show British businesses would pay 340 million pounds ($483 million) more in carbon costs than their European counterparts in 2016-17, with the gap rising to 1.2 billion pounds by 2020-21. But the government said it has compensated industry for some of these costs and plans to do more in the future. It maintains the fundamental problem facing the industry is the collapse in the price of steel, caused by over capacity in China. Gupta said the industry's problems were down to a lack of investment and forward thinking, but he added that more could have been done to reduce the costs of energy and business taxes. "Energy prices have been improved but not enough; more should have been done and faster," he said in an interview with ITN. Jones said he had been heartened by the government's approach after he met with Cameron and Javid at Downing Street. "There was an acceptance that the issue of pensions will need to be looked at in order for a sale to take place, the issue of energy prices will have to be looked at, and the issue of tariffs to protect UK steel in the future," he told Sky News. "Discussions have taken place with buyers. They're early days yet but we do have something to build on." Gupta said the assets could be modernized with electric arc furnaces instead of the giant blast furnaces. About 70 percent of steel in the world is produced using blast furnaces which use raw material, mainly iron ore, while the rest is produced via electric arc furnace which uses recycled steel or scrap. Industry analysts have said the use of scrap will increase in coming years. Gupta said staff working on the blast furnaces could be retrained. "We have an alternative suggestion which is to still make hot metal but to make it from local raw material rather than imported raw material, so it's a change of technology rather than ending liquid steel making," he said. "If we get involved in Port Talbot we will only do so on the basis that we are confident there will not be any mass redundancies." One industry analyst who asked not to be named due to company policy said one option for steel companies in developed economies was buying cheap slab steel and re-rolling it to produce a higher quality product. However he noted that Britain's high energy costs and need to invest in the plant to catch up with rivals already pursuing this strategy meant the country was at a disadvantage. (Reuters) Source: www.businessworld.ie About us Arriving in Athens: Out of the frying pan and into the fire Published on April 6, 2016 en de pl es it fr The collapse of the Greek economy has left a visible impact on the countrys capital. In spite of bailout packages, the situation hasnt improved. Severe cutbacks seem only to deepen these cracks. The proportion of struggling Greeks is significant; almost every second young person is out of work. Increasing numbers face the prospect of life on the street. Is hope on the horizon? Seemingly not. As if the economic fate of the Greek people wasnt enough, the city now faces a further challenge the arrival of thousands of desperate refugees escaping war and poverty, now stranded in Greece following border closures along their route through the Balkans. Athens is a current hotspot for these issues across the continent, where European and global problems converge. We journey through a troubled city. "Our old values have been lost" "Shedia! The new issue of Shedia!" I hear the voice of Maria from a long way off, as she stands at the entrance of the Metaxourgio metro station barely two kilometres from the Acropolis. Dressed in a bright red vest and cap, the young vendor hopes to sell copies of Shedia Greeces only newspaper on the topic on homelessness to the passing crowd. However, as is the case for others selling lottery tickets, SIM cards, or bus trips to Albania, hardly anyone stops to buy a copy. In times of crisis, its difficult to sell anything. English subtitles available by choosing the option in the bottom right. Two years ago, the 30-year-old Greek native would never have foreseen that she would end up in this position. Her future looked promising. She studied graphic design graduating with honours attaining her degree in the middle of the financial crisis. "No matter how hard I tried, employers just told me they were having to make more and more people redundant. No one wanted to hire me. Its frustrating to not be able to afford basic necessities, but the worst thing is that your brain shuts down when you dont have a job." Alongside her mother and brother, she lives with her aunt in Nikaia, in the poorer dockland area of the city. Only her mother is working her salary is barely enough to provide for the family. Debt is mounting up; a life on the breadline. Yet stories like Marias are no longer the exception. According to Eurostat, 36% of Greeks currently live below the poverty line. Selling copies of the street paper brings a modest income to those most in need. At least now Maria has the means to make a little money. For two years, she has stood at one of the many newspaper kiosks in the city from 8am to 4pm. She keeps half of her revenue. At first she was ashamed of her job; on seeing a former classmate, they both acted as though they didn't know each other. Today, Maria has found a way to allay her anguish. "The crisis has robbed people of their dreams," she explains, "I am 30 years old; Im supposed to have started a family by now. I should have my own house. But our old values have been lost. These are things I no longer dare to think about. I look forward to being able to save some money so that I can support my mother." In any case, she has until the end of the day to sell 12 more papers. So far she's made 18 euros by no means bad earnings. When one of the ticket vendors comes over to give her a banana at the end of their shift, she's clearly delighted. "That is the one good thing," she continues, "If one thing is more common during this crisis, its solidarity." The reality of the crisis hits you hard I experience this solidarity first hand, as I sit in a car with workers from the NGO "EMFASIS". I am accompanying them on one of their night tours. Armed with food, sleeping bags and other essentials, they are looking for volunteers to help the city's most needy people. Theyre on the go, night and day. "This is our principle," explains Efremia, a young psychology student, who helps the city's homeless several times a week, "We bring assistance to those in need. We're there for them, to listen and help them recover their dignity." The efforts of on-the-ground personnel are urgently required. As soon as night falls, the extent of the economic crisis becomes visible in Athens side streets. Doorways and ventilation shafts become makeshift sleeping spots. The UN Human Rights Council reports that over 20,000 people are homeless in Greece. Around 15,000 of these are in the greater Athens area alone. It is not just vagrants or drug addicts who end up on the streets. The "New Homeless" are increasingly middle class Greek nationals, who, due to the economic crisis, lost their jobs before they lost their homes. Social welfare is non-existent; unemployment benefit is limited to a maximum of two years. Few Greeks are immune to the risks of homelessness. "I see so many young people on the streets, whose family networks have been severed," said Efremia as we drive toward Athens' Piraeus Harbour, "I even met my old neighbour." English subtitles available by choosing the option in the bottom right. Alongside the huge ferries that are harboured in the dock, homeless people have makeshift shelters on the pavements and benches. They are already waiting for the volunteers to arrive. This evening we are distributing hot food, tea, and books to comfort stranded intellectuals. "We can only offer short-term emergency aid," explains Tzoanna, the team leader, "The city needs a long-term solution, but that hasnt happened. Out in the streets, you see the reality of the crisis and it hits you hard." One sight pains the workers more than others: two young children from a family who were not awarded a place in their shelter. "There is too much that needs to be done," Tzoanna continues, "Our efforts are slowly being exhausted, and there is no end in sight. Whats more, there are also refugees who need help." Soon after, the true extent of Greece's difficulties are revealed when a huge ferry pulls up to the dock, disturbing the silence of the harbour. Hundreds of refugees pour out of the hold and into the Athenian night. Men and women, young and old; some ill, some with children the flow of people seems never to end. Seagulls squawk overhead. Confusion reigns. Women ask for water for their children, but all we have are a few little pastries and a dribble of milk. The rations are shared among the refugees in minutes. Empty-handed, we survey the grotesque scene. In and amongst the citys sleeping homeless those who have lost everything settle new arrivals that have had to leave everything behind. They are looking for a new life. Their future cannot be foreseen. The fact that the borders to Macedonia are closed is common knowledge. Detention centres are completely full. Tens of thousands of refugees are stranded in the country. The government calculated that the numbers had reached roughly 100,000 in March. Those who dont have the money to pay for accommodation are threatened with the same fate as their new Greek neighbours. A father from Afghanistan, arriving with his nine children, doesnt yet know where they will spend the night. The only thing he is sure of is that their journey must continue. "We cannot stay here," he explains, "There s no future for in Greece." "This is not the way we had imagined Europe" For many, Athens is an unintended pit stop. This becomes apparent the next day, in Victoria Place in the centre of the city. Hundreds of refugees are also stranded here, their possessions packed into small bags. They set up camp on the lawns and benches. There is a complete lack of amenities: no toilets and only a few water fountains. Aid volunteers hand out warm meals from a small van. There is not enough for everyone. Its here that I meet Sami, Namgo and Gewed: three young Afghans who arrived here on the 20th of March after more than two months of travelling. They hope to get to Germany, but their journey came abruptly to a halt when the border with Macedonia closed. Theres no way through for Afghans; only a few hundred Syrians and Iranians are allowed past each day. These young men were sent back to Athens. They've been sleeping outside for four days. English subtitles available by choosing the option in the bottom right. "This is not the way we had imagined Europe," Sami explains, "We spent all of our money on travelling. All we have is a sleeping bag and at night, were freezing. Wed be in a better position if we were in Afghanistan, but its extremely dangerous for us there." Fearing that no one would believe him, Sami shows us a photo of his two brothers, killed in a bomb attack. His expression is one of desperate hopefulness that the borders may yet open. They wont tire of asking when this will occur. For now, however, they get no answers. You can see that their strength has diminished over the past few days. A glance around the park is enough to confirm that Greece is on the verge of a humanitarian disaster. In parting, the boys have one last request. They dont want their photos to be published. "If our mother saw us like this, shed have a heart attack," they say, "We cant tell people back home about what has happened to us in Europe." Whilst staying in Athens, it became clear to me that many homeless Greeks and stranded refugees share the same feelings of despair. The city has proven itself to be the sad epicentre of a failed Europe. The worst thing about this is that theres no end in sight. Greece is unable to handle the double burden of the financial and refugee crises. --- Article by Janina Heckmann. --- This feature report is a part of our EUtoo 'on the ground' project in Athens, seeking to give a voice to disenchanted youth. It is funded by the European Commission. Story by Janina Heckmann Translated from Ankunft in Athen: Vom Regen in die Traufe Contributed photo The Nixon Building (left) and Plaza Hotel are lit up for Christmas, about 1930. On the right, the White Plaza stood in the shadow of the new Driscoll Hotel, still under construction in 1942. Robert Driscoll was instrumental in building the Plaza and his sister Clara built the grander Driscoll. After Robert Driscoll Sr. died in 1914 Clara and her husband "Hal" Sevier moved to Austin where he started the Austin American newspaper and she became active in Democratic Party politics. During World War I, Clara was a bandage-roller and canteen hostess for the Red Cross. Her brother Robert, a confirmed bachelor, became the sole manager of the Driscoll ranches. In 1923, he was named president of the Corpus Christi National Bank and moved to Corpus Christi, where he was one of the leaders in the drive to establish the Port of Corpus Christi. He was the first chairman of the Nueces County Navigation District. In Austin, Clara was elected national committeewoman at the Texas State Democratic Convention. Corpus Christi entered a building boom after the port opened in 1926. Robert Driscoll started the Corpus Christi Trust Company in 1928, which became a full-fledged bank. After the Nixon Building was erected on the bluff, it was Robert Driscoll's brainchild to build a major hotel across the street. He created a company made up of Corpus Christi investors to build a hotel and San Antonio investors to run it. The result was the city's largest hotel, the Plaza, which opened in May 1929. The 14-story hotel towered over the bluff at Leopard and Broadway. Both Robert and Clara had penthouse apartments in the Plaza. That summer Robert got a leg infection which resulted in two amputations. He died on July 7, 1929. He was buried in San Antonio alongside his mother and father. Family lawyers advised Clara to sell the cattle and family land. "No," she said, "I'll keep the cattle and the land, every foot of it." As the only surviving member of her family, she felt her responsibility keenly. "We were a small family and very close," she said. "The work they started means everything to me." Clara managed the ranches in five counties, became president of the bank her brother established, the Corpus Christi Bank and Trust, and was a director of the Corpus Christi National Bank. Her husband Hal Sevier was appointed ambassador to Chile by President Roosevelt. A banquet honoring the Seviers was held at the Plaza Hotel on Oct. 17, 1932. The Plaza fell on hard times during the Depression and the Corpus Christi investors, who owned 67 percent of the hotel, sold out to Jack White, the main man behind the San Antonio interests. But Clara refused to sell. This led to a lawsuit which she lost. White gained control and changed the name to the White Plaza Hotel. A story perhaps apocryphal said Clara threatened to build a hotel next door from where she could spit down on the White Plaza. (Careful writers, or editors, used "spit" but she probably said something else.) Another story said the falling out stemmed from a loud party in Clara's penthouse. When the hotel manager complained Clara called him a stuffy old owl. She was known as a sharp observer, with a sharp tongue, who could give as good as she got. When the Seviers returned from Chile in 1937, Clara was granted a divorce, though she kept her husband's name until his death. The land her father acquired was rich in oil and gas deposits and it made Clara immensely wealthy. She still had a taste for the ranch life. People who live in town, she said, forget how sweet the grass smells. "I like to go out there and get away from things. I can always find plenty to do. The ranch hands come in and keep me informed about what is going on." She went to a cattle auction at the Steiner Valley Ranch near Whitney, she said, "and got started bidding on the cattle and just couldn't stop." She was instrumental along with Roy Miller and Congressman Lyndon Johnson in Corpus Christi gaining a new naval air station. She was also involved in national politics and was one of the leaders in the John Nance Garner-for-President campaign, before Roosevelt opted for a third term and sent Garner into retirement. Clara built the Robert Driscoll Hotel on Upper Broadway in 1942, named after her brother. The Driscoll opened on May 25, 1942. With 18 floors, it towered over the 14-story White Plaza next door; it was far grander in every respect a matter of bragging rights. Clara occupied a penthouse apartment, with 12 bathrooms, and if she had a loud party no one would complain. She died at age 64 on July 17, 1945. They put her body in the chapel of the Alamo where thousands of Texans paid their last respects. She was buried in San Antonio with the rest of the Driscoll family. Among her papers were found notes and drawings of her travels, with a large collection of souvenirs and picture-postcard views from around the world and the accumulated bric-a-brac of a lifetime. There was a list of flowers to be planted at her Long Island estate and recipes written for "Meta's cornbread, biscuits, and lemon pie" and a wardrobe inventory which included dresses for different occasions described as "old, fixed-over, and new." A rare violin from 1625 was found among her effects. There was also broken glass from a champagne bottle from when she christened the USS Corpus Christi, a World War II transport ship. After Clara's death the big question was what would happen to the vast Driscoll fortune. The question was soon answered when her will was revealed. It said the money would be used to create a foundation to build and operate "a free clinic and hospital for crippled, maimed, and diseased children." The Driscoll Foundation Children's Hospital opened in February 1953. The consensus was that the Driscoll wealth could not have gone to a better cause. The great fortune her family amassed from the land would be returned to fill a great need in South Texas. A footnote: The Robert Driscoll Hotel was closed in 1970, the building stripped to its frame and given a new facade of black granite. It still stands as an office and banking complex. The White Plaza was torn down in 1962 and the 600 Building erected on that site. As for the Driscolls, their story is our history, and that is especially true of the woman who saved the Alamo. The story of Clara Driscoll has often been told. But not too often. (This is the second of two columns on Clara Driscoll and family.) CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Artist Sandra Gonzalez stands among several assembled panels for the Caller-Times' mural "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City" at her workspace in Laredo. SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Artist Sandra Gonzalez works in her temporary studio in Corpus Christi last month. After the community paints on the panels, she paints an additional one or two coats and touches up mistakes. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Artist Sandra Gonzalez said her dream is that communities continue painting murals. She is the muralist for the Caller-Times' mural "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City." COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Community members helps paint artist Sandra Gonzalez's "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City" mural during a painting event on March 12 at the Art Center of Corpus Christi. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Caller-Times Publisher Libby Averyt (left), artist Sandra Gonzalez and Mayra Zamora paint a portion of the "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City" mural on March 09 at the Art Center of Corpus Christi. By Rachel Denny Clow of the Caller-Times Some people stayed just long enough to make just a few brush strokes, others have come day after day. But they all have something in common, they are all leaving their mark on a mural that will make history in Corpus Christi, said artist Sandra Gonzalez. As the community painting days wind down, nearly all of the 65 5 foot square panels making up the Caller-Times' mural "Endless Sunset: The Colors of Our City" have been painted. "They (the community) were wanting to participating," Gonzalez said. "This was something new for them. They had never seen this process so they were asking questions and they were also painting. Some of them painted for a little bit, but they wanted to be a part, they wanted to leave their mark on this mural. Other people I met that very first day of community painting, they keep coming back. It's very nice to create different relationships." Gonzalez, who graduated from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, has worked on nearly 30 murals throughout the country. While working in Philadelphia, she had the opportunity to take mural panels to schools, prisons and hospitals and saw the power it had in bringing together community. "That's what I wanted to do here in Corpus Christi," she said. "That was my dream." When Caller-Times Publisher Libby Averyt announced Gonzalez as the mural contest winner in January she had similar sentiments. "We're investing not only in the community but in the building and our presence downtown," Averyt said. The work isn't over. Gonzalez, a Laredo art teacher, has to place a second and third coat of paint over each of the panels and touch up mistakes as she goes along. She has been working in a temporary studio while in Corpus Christi, but much of the work is being finished in Laredo. Even after the mural has been placed on the Caller-Times building on the wall facing Taylor Street and dedicated, there is still work to be done. "(Murals) are very important because they create a sense of community, belonging and respect amongst everyone here in the community," Gonzalez said. "My dream is that we continue painting murals. I think it's something we need to do as a community." Twitter: @CallerClow IF YOU GO What: Community Painting Day When: 5-7 p.m. April 20 Where: Art Center of Corpus Christi, 100 N. Shoreline Blvd. SHARE Clarryssa Silguero By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times Clarryssa Silguero was seven months shy of graduation from Solomon Coles High School. Her mother, Sylvia Gonzalez, was excitedly organizing a dance celebration for her only child. Gonzalez planned to hire her daughter's favorite conjunto group, Albert Flores y La Juventud. But on Sept. 30, 2009, Silguero was shot in what police have said was a gang retaliation drive by. Silguero had been standing outside with a group in the 1100 block of Sabinas Street when witnesses say shots were fired from a red Ford F-150 pickup. She died the next day. Now, her family struggles to grapple with a court's decision to overturn Heriberto Saenz's convictions. Why does he get a second chance, Gonzalez asked through sobs when reached by phone Wednesday. "It's not fair he gets second chance at life when my daughter doesn't get a second chance at graduating and ..." Gonzalez said and wept. The state's highest court overturned Saenz's convictions of murder and aggravated assault for other people injured in the drive by. The Court of Criminal Appeals decided Saenz's trial attorney failed to challenge evidence used to identify Saenz as the shooter, according to the 25-page decision handed down Wednesday. Saenz, 24, had been sentenced to 70 years in prison for the murder and 20 years for each aggravated assault. He will be transported from a North Texas prison to the Nueces County Jail, where he will wait for prosecutors to decide whether to retry the case. District Attorney Mark Skurka didn't return calls seeking comment Wednesday. Central to the decision was whether Saenz's defense lawyer, Fred Jimenez, used the key witness' inconsistent statements to police to impeach him. "In that interview, (the witness) stated, among other things, that if he saw the shooter again, he would not recognize him," the decision states. Jimenez declined to comment about the court's decision. Gonzalez said she does not doubt Saenz's guilt and fears he'll get away with the crime. Saenz's family declined to comment. Twitter: @CallerKMT Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Blake Miller won a Snapchat contest with Whataburger for free meals for a decade. No one location is his favorite, he visited the Ingleside restaurant Wednesday but has several he visits. SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Blake Miller won a Snapchat contest with Whataburger for free meals for a decade. He holds up his favorite meal, the Chop House Burger, during a visit to the Ingleside location Wednesday. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Blake Miller won a Snapchat contest with Whataburger for free meals for a decade. He holds up his favorite meal, the Chop House Burger, during a visit to the Ingleside location Wednesday. Contributed Blake Miller's tattoo of a Whataburger order number won him a decade of free meals from the restaurant. By Esther Hackleman, Esther.M.Hackleman@caller.com Whataburger and Blake Miller share a lifelong connection. Both were born in Corpus Christi, and for all of Miller's 22 years, the burger chain has been part of his life, which he immortalized with a tattoo featuring the chain's familiar orange stripes and Corpus Christi's area code. The day before the 24-hour restaurant launched a Snapchat photo contest, Miller was under the needle getting orange ink injected under his skin. When he saw the contest, Miller knew it was destiny. He snapped the photo of his tattoo depicting the signature plastic order numbers. His number? What else: 361. The photo won him a decade of meals from the chain. "I got it because the first Whataburger was in Corpus, and I figured since I lived around here in this area code I would put it on there," Miller said. "It's home." Miller's tattoo was born out of an impulse decision to check out Platinum Tattoos while visiting San Antonio with friends. "Immediately when he told me the design, I took him into my room where I had a number 7 and a number 13," tattoo artist Gilbert Gonzales said. "They were excited. ... When I started the shading, they were whooping and hollering." The free meal winner said his tattoo did not come without a price. "I never felt that much pain in my life," Miller said. "It was worth it." Miller's ink represents a lifetime of memories and relationships the 22-year-old has shared with his girlfriend, family and friends. Even before he had a job, Miller would not let his cravings pass. When he was younger, Miller said he would ask for money with obvious intentions. "It's for Whataburger, isn't it?" his grandmother would quiz while handing over some cash. Miller ordered his favorite Whata-meal after learning he'd won the contest the Chop House Cheddar Burger, large fries and a blue Powerade. Whataburger will grant Miller his decade of meals with $3,000 in gift cards, but the dedicated fan is skeptical it will stretch 10 years. Miller says Whataburger is best enjoyed with friends and he plans on sharing the win. Twitter: @Caller_Esther When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas ETATS-UNIS :: USA- CAMEROON: PRESS CONFERENCE "Why Paul Biya should have already left office in Cameroon?" :: UNITED STATES Dear Cameroonians from DC area,You are invited to share your thoughts on the cruel demise of Mrs. BOUMATEKE MONIQUE. What happened to her should never occur again in Cameroon under a well managed Country. Her senseless death was preventable. In a normal country she would still be alive and lovingly caring for her twins. To prevent such cruel deaths we must work ever harder and diligently to remove the main root cause of such tragedies ASAP. As Benjamin Franklin said " failing to prepare, is preparing to fail". It is our responsibility as people of Cameroon to change our Country by taking its back from the hands of these warmakers. We have scheduled this press conference as a call for togertherness to trash out a much needed plan to confront biya's government and his oldest, rusty, rotten system . This malevolent despot must be stopped! PRESS CONFERENCE THEME: "Why Paul Biya should have already left office in Cameroon?" Place: Hilton Washington DC North 620 Perry Parkway Gaithersburg, MD Date: April 09th, 2016 Time: 04pm Speakers: 1-Mr. Napi Tagnidoung, president of CODE-USA and member of SDF Party. 2-Rev. Kenedy Ejacha, Civil Rights Activist. 3- Ms. Pulcherie Fomo, Womens rights advocate and member of UDC Party. 4-Many American scholar figures and opinion leaders Moderator: Mr. Honore Foimoukom, journalist Media: camerTV Dear fellow Cameroonians from WDC, if you are willing to come please reserve your seat. Seat availability is limited. Please call Sandra Odette Waffo 301-401-9723 today. Sincerely Headquartered in Hong Kong, Five Seconds Worldwide has two operational centres in Shanghai (led by Winston Wang ) and Amsterdam (led by Friso Schoone), with another to be set up on the east coast of the US within the next three months. The agency's plan is to eventually build a global network of offices in the main cities on each continent. In Europe, Five Seconds Worldwide has created content to a length of five seconds for clients including P&G, Arla, Audi, RTL, KPN, AH, and Monster for the past year. The premise is to produce work that deals with the short attention span of digital audiences, as scientific studies from Microsoft researchers in Canada suggest that humans now generally lose concentration after eight secondsless than the notoriously ill-focused goldfish. Evident of the effects of an increasingly digitalised lifestyle on the brain, Microsoft found that since the year 2000 (about when the mobile revolution began), the average attention span dropped from 12 to eight seconds in 2015, according to the study. The agency's five-second content extends to TV, OOH, in-store formats such as pre-rolls or break-bumpers on YouTube, GIF films or online banners on Facebook, television programme sponsorships, as well as digital screens at airports, train stations, and shop windows. "Today, consumers cant wait to skip commercials. With our content we reach consumers within five seconds and make an impact," said Wilbert Kragten, commercial partner at Five Seconds Worldwide. Within five seconds, a piece of content can "touch emotions, create branding and even share a smart idea", added creative partner Paul Falla. A five-second creative execution can be realised within 48 hours from concept to realisation, with an edit within 24 hours, claimed the agency. | BY Ricki Green | Outstanding achievers in television will be celebrated by the 2016 ASTRA Industry Awards, which open for nominations today. The annual awards, which recognise excellence in marketing, advertising and promotion across Australias subscription television industry, are open to TV channels, operators, production houses, media, advertising agencies and other creatives. Entries in the ASTRA Industry Awards can be submitted until 4pm on Tuesday, May 10. The awards will be presented on Thursday, July 28 in Sydney. Says Andrew Maiden, CEO, ASTRA: These awards recognise behind-the-scenes professionals whose talent drives the success of subscription television. They mastermind the bold and imaginative campaigns that set us apart as the most creative screen sector in Australia. Although they might not be household names, our winners are just as much responsible for the industrys success as the famous faces with whom they work. Subscription TV was once an infant industry that mainly employed young people at the start of their careers. Twenty years on, many of them have stayed in the industry and are now reaching positions of leadership and responsibility. These are the people we encourage to nominate for our new categories for individual accomplishment. This year the awards in 10 categories for outstanding individual and team achievement will be determined by leaders from a wide range of creative industries joining subscription television executives on judging panels to decide finalists and winners. The categories are: Individual Awards: Creative Professional of the Year (in a marketing or communications function) Television Professional of the Year (in a role other than creative, marketing or communications) Rising Star (outstanding individual aged under 30) Team Awards: Most Outstanding Advertising Campaign Most Outstanding On-Air Promotion Most Outstanding Off-Air Promotion Most Outstanding Social Media Campaign Most Outstanding Public Relations Campaign Most Outstanding Marketing Campaign under $50,000 | BY Ricki Green | Designer bathroom and kitchen company Dorf has teamed with strategic design agency Designworks Australia to launch a stunning Creative Collaboration, partnering with some of the countrys most outstanding artists, makers, and creative influencers. The Dorf+ Creative Collaboration conceptualised and managed by Designworks, part of STW has resulted in a range of artistic results, including a jewellery range and home styling all inspired by Dorf tapware. Says Pip Ireland, Designworks: We are extremely fortunate to be working with a client that shared our strategic and creative vision and was prepared to really push the boundaries in the sector. To ensure the overall success of the campaign, we brought in still productions producer Chris Hemmings who helped handpick the artists involved including Phillippa Carnemolla (industrial and jewellery designer) and Natalie Walton (stylist). To support and promote the Dorf+ Collaboration, Designworks undertook concepts and ideas, creative direction, management of the photo shoots, video and other content plus negotiation of the commercial contracts of all the artistic talent. Designworks also supported the campaign with the development of several print ads, product brochure creative and in-store support. Says Ireland: Dorf is a proudly Australian and style-orientated company, and so we identified an opportunity for Dorf to collaborate with local artists to produce a range of other style-focused products that use the companys unique tapware as creative inspiration. Throughout its 60-year history, the company has aimed to excite with tapware, to enable people to express their personal style. Says Jennifer Krenich, marketing manager, Dorf: In turn, Dorf has always been influenced and inspired by the creativity of individuals across a diverse range of industries when developing and refining tapware designs. We are proud to be part of this creative exchange which not only reflects our design values but elevates the brand beyond its tapware. Dorf sees tapware as jewellery and fashion in the bathroom; a way for people to showcase their individual taste and style, just as fashion and jewellery can. The bathroom can be a place for people to express themselves creatively through form, shape and materials, just as designers and artists do through their materials. In that sense, this collaboration showcases a perfect partnership. The latest collaborator involved in the Dorf+ Collaboration series is Dr Phillippa Carnemolla, an Australian industrial designer and jeweller who develops innovative and accessible built environments. Says Krenich: She expresses her distillation of natural geometries through sculpture, jewellery and accessible arts. Sharing with Dorf her core design values with the use of materials, colour and simplicity the collaboration was a perfect fit. Says Carnemolla: The Dorf plus collaboration has been a wonderful way for me to reflect upon and interpret the processes and approaches to design across seemingly disparate product types tapware and jewellery. Jewellery is a personal statement, a way to express your personal style. The Dorf range also allows expression of style. I was inspired by the Dorf Epic Bloc range as a fashion piece, a statement in the bathroom. Carnemolla produced signature pieces inspired by the Dorf Epic Bloc tapware consisting of a series of intricate rose-gold rings and a statement necklace. Dorf also teamed with Natalie Walton, one of Sydneys leading stylists and influential writers whose work has appeared in premier interior and lifestyle magazines such as Country Style, Frankie, Harpers Bazaar and Marie Claire. With both Dorf and Walton sharing several core design values including timeless simplicity and intuitive design the collaboration resulted in two substantially different works. Says Walton of the approach she took during her time working with Dorf: Its always important to me to create spaces where people want to be. I was instantly drawn to the shape of the Dorf Myriad tapware. When I was creating these spaces for Dorf, I wanted to keep at the back of my mind their values about simplicity and timelessness. While its fun to play with certain elements, timeless tapware goes a long way. The Dorf+ Creative Collaboration series is set to run throughout 2016 and beyond as part of an ongoing program. Dorf+ Collaboration Natalie Walton creative: pip ireland, Designworks photographer: chris warnes producer: chris hemmings c/o still representation agency producer: david evans, Designworks videographer: james ballard Dorf Brand manager: Kate Downing Dorf+ Collaboration Phillippa Carnemolla creative: pip Ireland, Designworks agency management: ellie johnson, Designworks photographer: max doyle producer: chris hemmings c/o still representation stylist: adam powell videographer: kit baker hair & makeup: sam patrikopoulos | BY Ricki Green | BWM Dentsu is encouraging people to donate an important asset that everyone can give generously to The Salvation Armys Red Shield Appeal this year themselves. The Red Shield volunteers campaign reminds people that their time is just as valuable as their money when it comes to helping The Salvation Army provide aid to the neediest members of society. Garry Tanner, territorial marketing director, The Salvation Army, said people had great intentions of donating to charity but often got too caught up in their busy lives to act on their charitable impulses. Says Tanner: Each week, the Salvos provides 100,000 meals, 2,000 beds, and 8,000 food vouchers to those in need. Every single one of those meals, beds and food vouchers that improves someones life is made possible by the individual efforts of the community. Without the funds raised by volunteers, The Salvation Army wouldnt be able to provide essential services to those in need and they wouldnt have anyone to turn to. We hope this campaign will inspire people from across the country to band together for this years Red Shield Appeal and donate their time to help end homelessness now. The campaign, which focuses on driving volunteering, will run in conjunction with The Salvation Armys usual appeal for financial aid and help ending homelessness. Brent Liebenberg, creative director at BWM Dentsu Melbourne, said the campaign served to remind people that there was more to giving than money. Says Liebenberg: Its difficult to offer up your time, as everyones so busy. But we think that people forget that the Salvos is a volunteer organisation. Theyre called The Salvation Army, but you and I were the army. Australians are generous people, and this campaign is a reminder that there are other really valuable ways to give. The campaign will run across posters, digital and social media. This years Red Shield Appeal doorknock will take place over the weekend of 28-29 May. Client: The Salvation Army Garry Tanner Territorial Marketing Director Creative Agency: BWM Dentsu Rob Belgiovane Group Chief Creative Officer Mark Watson Managing Director Belinda Murray Client Services Director Brent Liebenberg Creative Director Ryan Purcell Associate Creative Director Phil Van Bruchem Associate Creative Director Danielle Etzin Group Account Director Taylor Sivell Account Manager Bridget Lane Account Executive Pat Vietta Head of Creative Services Mac Wright Planner "The government's rating is currently 14 points better off than it was at this time last year, placing it in a good position with small and medium businesses as we possibly head to an early election," he said. Australia has also just posted its hottest March in more than a century of reliable data after a scorching heatwave to start the month that the Bureau of Meteorology said in some areas approached "record levels for any time of the year". "There are statistics saying that as a country we are big drinkers, and we are, but people need to be educated about drinking responsibly and individuals need to be held more accountable, rather than punishing just two elements of the industry," he said. In the letter to Mr Barr he noted traders were "extremely disappointed to read in [The] Canberra Times of the attitude of GWS towards opposition to the proposed development. It singled out the Kingston & Barton residents group for particular unwarranted criticism, and then went on to say that their consultation process was ' the longest and most comprehensive Canberra had seen in years'." [Your Business Name] Contact Info Phone: Fax: Email: Web: CAPITOLHILLCUBANS.COM Business Overview Geographic Area Line of Business Brands We Carry Products and Services Discounts Offered Additional Information Business Hours Timezone We Accept Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned [] Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact. Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here. Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing. You are our people. You Care. We Care2. Runners & walkers dash around Delphi The Do It In Delphi Dash was Saturday morning with the 5K walk/run beginning downtown on the Courthouse Square. The... Special prosecutor issues report on Liggett campaign The Comet sponsored a sheriffs candidate debate on Sept. 29. After the debate, Sheriff candidate and deputy Tony Liggett provided... Delphi Council member Conner resigns post It has been an upward struggle for Delphi City Council member Gayle Conner to represent her constituents as witnessed at... We dont know if being the President of Russia is an easy job, but its one that Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin is more than happy to do, as the former KGB officer has served President from 2000 to 2008, as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2000 and again from 2008 to 2012, while he was also re-elected President again in May of 2012. What can we say; the man loves being a head of state The job comes with many benefits, including the ability to choose the kind of wheels you roll around in. However, Putin wasnt satisfied with simply picking out an existing car to base a presidential limousine; no, he wanted one created from scratch from a Russian company, so he asked local automakers to present their proposals. A less luxurious version of the same car will be used by government officials to run red lights and scare Russians replace upscale German cars, such as Mercedes and BMW. ZiL, which used to produce luxury vehicles for leaders of the Soviet Union was the first to present its proposal for a presentational limousine with a prototype named ZIL-4112P powered by a 7.7-liter engine coupled to a six-speed automatic transmission, in September of 2012. Citing a Kremlin source, Russias , Izvestia reported that Putin was unhappy with the result, though, ZiLs acting CEO, Sergei Sokolov, denied the report, saying the president has not seen the car yet. Russian officials neither denied or confirmed the report. The other two Russian carmakers vying for the prestigious contract are Marussia Motors and GAZ. According to the Moscow Times , GAZ is developing a luxury model based on the Volkswagen Phaeton and Audi A8, with the car to be ready in 2014. Marussia has just completed a competition in cooperation with our creative Russian friends over at Cardesign, who notified us about the concepts that made it to the final round, with the winner (or winners), to be announced on May 1. You can check them out for yourself in the gallery below and tell us which one you like the best. Marussia Concept Photos via Cardesign Thanks to for the heads up Mikhail! ZIL-4112P MARUSSIA CONCEPT LIMOUSINES Regardless of how fantastico the re-branded Tata Tiago is or isnt, having Lionel Messis star power attached to your car can move mountains when it comes to marketing. This is the Tiagos first on-screen appearance in a commercial ever since it was given this name, as Tata decided to stop calling it the Zica because of the mosquito-born Zika virus. As for Messi, he is his usual self in this video, smiling and having a good time, pretty much just like with every other commercial weve seen him in, though as brand ambassador his responsibilities are greater than those of an athlete who is simply endorsing the product. After the name-change, the Tiago even made an appearance at this years Geneva Motor Show where it was wearing a light shade of blue, roof rails and sportier wheels compared to the orange model they used to film this commercial. The Tiago is currently available in India with a choice of two engines a 1.2-liter petrol unit with 84 PS and 114 Nm (84 lb-ft) of torque, and a three-cylinder diesel unit, good for 69 PS and 140 Nm (103 lb-ft) of torque. Among its best features we can count the Harman infotainment system, the cooled glovebox, the Corner Stability Control system and the multi-function steering wheel. VIDEO Toyota announced their collaboration with Microsoft to expand the carmakers capabilities in data management and accelerate the development of their connected services platform. The Japanese company will launch Toyota Connected as a separate company based in Texas and will work with Microsofts engineers to accelerate the R&D process and deliver new connected car solutions and elevated customer experiences. Toyota is taking a bold step creating a company dedicated to bringing cloud intelligence into the driving experience, said Kurt DelBene, executive vice president, Corporate Strategy and Planning at Microsoft. We look forward to working with Toyota Connected to harness the power of data to make driving more personal, intuitive and safe. More specifically Toyota Connected will work on the areas of in-car services and telematics, including real-time traffic information and connecting a driver with security services in their homes. Finally, Toyota Connected will adopt Microsofts Azure cloud computing platform, employing a hybrid solution on a global scale. The two companies have been working together since 2011 and their new collaboration represents the industrys turn to the use of new technologies as we move towards the realization of fully-autonomous vehicles. VIDEO Vladimir Putin is getting ready to take delivery of a brand new limousine, named Kortezh (Cortege). The Cortege project, which was allocated 3.7 billion rubles ($54 million) this year, will provide Russian-made vehicles for transportation of top local government officials, as MoscowTimes reports, quoting RIANovosti. It will be offered in four different body styles, limo, sedan, SUV and minivan and unlike President Obamas Cadillac, nicknamed the Beast, it will be available to all Russians who can afford it, as the manufacturer plans to produce 4,000-5,000 units of each version. Production will kick off in 2017, at the Central Scientific Research Automobile and Automotive Engines Institute (NAMI) in Moscow, and in the first year, 200 examples will be built, while the rest will roll off by the end of the decade. Porsche was in charge of helping developing the Kortezhs powertrain, as Commerce and Industry Minister, Denis Manturov, confirmed, according to SputnikNews, but the exact engine found under the hood of the car remains a mystery. Nevertheless, we may be looking at a V12 turbo with approximately 800 HP, as a previous report writes. Deliveries of the first lot of Kortezh cars will commence around the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2018, as Manturov said, and President Putin is expected to receive a model from the initial batch. H/T to Autoblog PHOTO GALLERY Warner Bros. has been anything but speedy when it comes to making a feature film centered around their iconic Looney Tunes star Speedy Gonzales, the fastest mouse in all Mexico. For good reason perhaps because hes not an easy character to adapt. In his first starring role, Speedy crossed the United States border to steal cheese from a gringo cat, which he then redistributed to his mice friends back in Mexico. A new animated feature currently in development at Warner Bros. attempts to put Speedys behavior in the context of contemporary America, where U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump has suggested building a wall to separate the United States from its southern neighbor, Mexico. We see this as an origin story of the great master, like a Robin Hood character, who ultimately ends up taking from the rich and giving to the poor, producer Dylan Sellers told Deadline. In a time when Donald Trump is gaining momentum, the world needs Speedy more than ever. Photo: Contributed An East Kelowna resident is frustrated with the quality of water at his home after mud, dirt and silt ran from the taps over the weekend. The South East Kelowna Irrigation District posted a boil-water advisory on Friday following increased turbidity in the water from Hydraulic Creek. Boil water advisories are issued based on Interior Health recommendations for acceptable levels of turbidity. The resident, who did not wish to be named, said he had experienced dirty water in the past, but nothing like the water that flowed through his home in the last few days. Saturday morning when I had a shower, the shower floor was covered in muddy water when I was done. There was sand, dirt and grit in the tub, he explained. He said in the past he had called the SEKID after the hose in his yard wouldnt work and he discovered clumps of grass built up in his outside tap. It happens every once in a while, but nothing like what happened on Saturday. When I finished wiping out the tub, the paper towel was so dirty it looked like I had showered after a mud bath, said the man who lives in a residential area of McCulloch Road. The resident said he called the irrigation district at the start of last week before the advisory was in place and when his water first appeared to be discoloured but as the week went on, the quality of the water deteriorated. I just feel like a boil-water advisory isnt enough. The water is actually dirty and full of silt. How would boiling it make it safe? Toby Pike, general manager of SEKID, said its widely known the area has fairly turbid water and has it been that way for many years. We are certainly working on a water quality improvement program. We are trying to get government funding for it, he explained. Residents who experience poor quality water that may contain sediment can call the irrigation district and ask for their lines to be cleared out, said Pike. Its an infrequent, but not uncommon, occurrence for people to get a slug of debris for whatever reason. Pike explained there is a high demand for agricultural water use in the south east district during the summer, and to deliver the water to the orchard, it takes what he called "large diameter pipes." In the fall, we ... slow down those farmers' pipes because they dont need water during that time of year. Over the winter in any suspended part of the pipes the velocity (of the water) slows right down and then you get settlement in the pipes. So to combat that we have a flushing program," said Pike. "We warn people about it, and we put up signs and tell them we are flushing the lines. However, every so often there will be a slug of sediment that gets lodged in the pipe and deposits may get pushed into a domestic service pipe, he said. That sounds like what happened in this mans case, but its not like the entire district is getting water like that, said Pike. The McCulloch Road resident he still wonders what that means for the quality of his water. He said he doesnt trust giving it to his dog at the moment, so he wouldnt be drinking it. Pike said they tell residents with murky water to run cold water until the water runs clear. "We will then go to the area and test the chlorine residual level, post notices that flushing will be taking place and then flush the main," he said. "People will not normally drink water like that, but, believe it or not, assuming the chlorine residual is adequate there is not an overriding health concern if they did." Photo: Maxim Zarya The world stage today is a source of anxiety and apprehension for many, especially when it comes to international travel. People are delaying, rerouting, or full out cancelling pre-arranged travel plans in reaction to recent events in Europe. In my role as a luxury travel advisor, I have had many discussions with hesitant travellers, and over the course of the last few months, this is what Ive shared: The world as we knew it has changed, and its not likely to change back anytime soon. Unless youre prepared to forgo all travel for the foreseeable future, its time we took the fear out of the decision-making process. Its time to deal with the realities. Let me throw some numbers at you. I realize this only addresses the intellectual side of fear, but these are the realities: The number of Americans killed overseas by incidents of terrorism from 2001 to 2013 was 350. During the same time period, over 3000 were killed by attacks within the US. Compare that to the annual death toll on American highways 19,000. The annual death toll from falls 6,000. The annual death toll from excessive use of alcohol 80,000. Note that I havent even mentioned guns or domestic violence. The global mortality rate of death by terrorism is 1 in 12.5 million. The single biggest cause of death for Canadians while travelling abroad? Motor vehicle accidents. Would you allow the chance of an earthquake, volcano eruption, flood, or firestorm to dictate if and where you would travel? Likely not. We placate ourselves with the understanding that these are natural occurrences, and things over which we have no control or predictability. However, it may surprise you to know that in 2013 alone, over 20,000 people lost their lives in such a way. The emotional side of fear is based on the unknown. We are more afraid of risks that are new and unfamiliar, and of risks that kill or maim in gruesome ways. We are also more afraid of man-made threats than natural ones. The media creates a mass hysteria when sensationalizing spectacular events, and at times will deliberately mislead people. There is a big difference between fear and actual risk. Its as impossible to rationalize where and when the next terrorist attack is going to take place as it is to predict where the next lightning strike will be. It makes no sense to avoid huge swaths of the globe out of a misperception that your risk of injury is greater in certain areas. Your actual risk of injury has not increased, it is your fear that has increased. Accept that there will be more terrorist attacks (just as there will be more car crashes) but know that your chance of being involved in one is so incredibly slim that its not worth worrying about. Accept that we are never truly in control of everything in our lives. Our lives as we know it can change or end at any point in time. Embrace life and its opportunities with an open mind and optimistic perspective. Irrational fears have no place in dictating how you choose to live your life. Far better to live life learning about and exploring this beautiful world in which we live. This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet. Photo: Mission Creek Restoration Initiative The Mission Creek area is home to 82 species of birds alone. This information comes from a year-long Baseline Biophysical Inventory from the Mission Creek Restoration Initiative to determine what the ecosystem currently looks like. The initiatives goals are to restore fish and wildlife stock, expand biodiversity and create habitat for species at risk in the area. To help accomplish this, they needed to figure out what the area looks like today, and what improvements are needed. The survey also found 11 species of mammal, three amphibian species and three reptile species. Eighteen per cent of the area was given an environmental sensitivity rating of high or very high. The BBI report represents a big piece of the planning puzzle, as it helps us understand how to best meet our goals, said Tara White, provincial biologist. In a few years time we can conduct the same study and measure the impact the project has had. The study is currently being used to help inform planning and development decisions, including new dike construction that will help provide habitat for species at risk. Photo: Contributed While BC Transit workers hailed bus riders asking for feedback on the transit system, Castanet decided to do its own survey. We wanted to find out what BC Transit customers think about the service they receive and what could be done better. BC Transit is conducting a survey Tuesday and Wednesday to find out how it could better suit the needs of its users. Needs are changing in the Central Okanagan and comments and suggestions from the survey will be taken into consideration as the transit future plan is refreshed. Following the customer survey, an additional public consultation period is planned for this summer. Watch below to find out what transit users said. Open Letter to Senator Daniel Lang and Honourable Ralph Goodale: I recently came upon a transcript dated March 9, 2016 of the Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs and the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence. In that transcript the value the Auxiliary Constables to the community was expressed. I am happy to see this issue had reached this level of government. I have served as an Auxiliary RCMP Constable in Kelowna, BC since 2001. We are a well-trained force, well integrated into the RCMP operations, and have the largest number of Auxiliaries in the country. What happened to Const. Wynn and Auxiliary Const. Bond was tragic by any measure, but its important to note a couple things with respect to this event. Firstly, no amount of training or weaponry can stop a police officer from being shot at. Most violent interactions are a surprise event during what seems to be a routine activity. It would be unreasonable and unacceptable for police to treat every interaction as high risk and approach in that manner. The public would not accept this, and the citizens who interact with the police would not accept this. Police have to approach every situation with caution, but not to the extent it creates fear or intimidation during the interaction. This expectation in itself exposes all officers to a higher level of risk. Police are expected to walk into an unknown situation, giving each individual the benefit of the doubt, and reacting only when warranted. This put officers at a disadvantage against those who wish to do harm to police. Policing by nature is difficult and dangerous work, and people who have not served are challenged to understand it. However, police gain safety in numbers, and the more officers that are present, the less chance someone will try to act in a manner to harm police. The RCMP model of one member per car puts the RCMP at great risk. Auxiliaries will never eliminate the risk, but they are a key tool towards mitigating it. The nature of policing is risky, and regardless of what preventative measures are taken, things will go wrong, eventually. No funeral is ever the last, and everyone knows that. One could argue that Auxiliary and Reserve programs across the country are "unofficially" a cost effective way to increase presence and provide the "second member" optics to people who may have a reason to do harm. Its hard to measure how much violence has been prevented due to the presence of an Auxiliary. However, common sense dictates more is always better than less. One can easily conclude that having Auxiliaries working with RCMP members may and probably have prevented violence towards police numerous times. We have programs all across this country where volunteers are put at risk. For example, most municipalities continue to operate their own reserve constable programs, and volunteer firefighters are spread out all across the country facing similar risks to their safety. It would be ludicrous to entertain the suggestion to disband volunteer firefighters. The armed forces are filled with ordinary citizens, who join the reserves, train, and face risk of death or serious bodily harm if called upon to serve their country in a theatre. We as a nation accept the reality that people willingly take risks to provide needed services to the country. It baffles me how the thinking around police volunteers within the RCMP is so much different. This country is filled with people who love their communities, and want to play a role keeping them safe. Auxiliary constables are not ordinary people; they are extraordinary people, ultimate volunteers, who want to contribute in a positive and meaningful way. Auxiliary constables come from many walks of life. They are farmers, computer techs, doctors, nurses, business owners, pastors, etc. We are high quality, intelligent and community minded people, providing a valuable resource to our police. We know the dangers, and accept the risks freely. The answer is not to disband and de-police, the answer is to embrace the program and those who participate by supporting, strengthening and expanding it. Give us the best training and tools so we can bring the utmost value to our police services. Most auxiliaries I have met over the years all ask for the same thing. Comprehensive training, the proper intervention tools to assist the RCMP as well as protect ourselves and the public, and in the event we fall during duty, we ask our families are taken care of. Yes, we are volunteers, but we are peace officers and we wear our uniform proud. We see and experience things that most people cant imagine. We are aware of the risks of our role and accept everything that comes with it. We never hesitate and always step up when needed, no questions asked. Yes, we do it all for free. I dont think there is anything more Canadian than that. Kim Dobranski Photo: Nicholas Johansen Dana Larsen speaks to a packed house Tuesday night in Kelowna. For Dana Larsen, legalizing pot is no giggling matter. Over 250 people packed into a conference room on the second floor of the Prestige Hotel in Kelowna Tuesday night to hear why, while another hundred were turned away due to the limited capacity of the room. Larsen, a longtimecannabis activist, stopped by Kelowna for the first leg of his Overgrow Canada tour. He plans on giving away one million cannabis seeds on the cross-Canada tour, while educating people on the history of cannabis prohibition in Canada. Larsen sees his tour as a political statement. The strain of seeds he is giving away has a low THC content, the main pyschoactive ingredient in the plant, and resembles a hemp strain. Larsen urged the crowd to plant the seeds throughout their community, on their front lawns, in parks and on public land, as an act of civil disobedience. We're making a lot of progress, but you can't really openly grow cannabis yet, Larsen said. We're going to change that this summer with the Overgrow Canada campaign. While some people have questioned why he is so passionate about fighting for the legalization of cannabis, Larsen says it's about being on the right side of history. This to me, and I think to many people, is a very important historical event, he said. Future generations will look back upon this prohibition as a terrible mistake. The large crowd, from the very young to the somewhat older, were extremely receptive to Larsen's talk, breaking out into cheers and applause on several occasions. Larsen said he wasflabbergasted at the turnout in Kelowna. If this continues on the rest of my tour I'm going to need to mail some more supplies to myself because I'm not going to have enough things for everybody, he said. The event faced some mild controversy a few days prior, when the Holiday Inn, where it was originally supposed to take place, backed out of hosting. There's a woman in Vancouver called Pamela McColl (with Smart Approaches to Marijuana) who's kind of my nemesis and she started calling all the venues, saying 'Dana's going to be breaking the law giving away marijuana seeds,' said Larsen. They freaked out and cancelled us, so we booked here and it's good ... I don't want to be somewhere I'm not wanted. What Larsen was doing Tuesday night was technically illegal, but he said there are risks that need to be taken for change to take place. No police were present as the cannabis seeds were handed out to the crowd. If you plant these plants in your front yard, you're the one being brave, he said. There's a risk involved, but the risks aren't that big in Canada for doing these things. If you believe in what you're doing, you take those risks and you find that things actually work out really good in the end. Larsen said he'd be "very surprised if anyone was charged for openly growing his seeds, but told the crowd to call him if anyone did run into problems and he would do what he could to help them. The people who attended the talk didn't seem too concerned about the illegality of Larsen's idea. I think we're going to have to be pushing against the grain a little bit and obviously people have before us, said Susanne McCaughey, a medical marijuana patient for the past eight years. McCaughey suffers from complex regional pain syndrome, a condition where the body interprets all stimuli as pain. So even our clothes hurt, we're out right now because this matters that much, McCaughey said. Just getting dressed is a challenge. The legalization of cannabis is extremely important to her, as the unregulated medical marijuana currently available to her is inconsistent. A strain that helps her pain one day, may be less effective the next time she buys it. There's no reason why we can't figure out chemically every strain that's needed for every condition, she said. Larsen takes his tour to Calgary Wednesday night, reaching Halifax by April 17. He will close the tour out in his home city of Vancouver on April 20. For more information on the trip, check out his website. One of the major benefits associated with having a combined municipal, provincial, and national police force, like the RCMP, is the simple fact that no matter what the issue or location, the RCMP has jurisdiction. In the case of the operation of motor vehicles with exhaust systems that do not meet established noise level standards, all we have to do is file the complaint, and the problem should be resolved. The on-going dog and pony show associated with an increasing number of motorcycles and pick-up trucks on our streets and highways, with exhaust systems designed purposely to produce noise levels that borders the obnoxious, has to stop now. The Okanagan is no longer a place to relax. Every day the air is filled with a constant roar, produced by bikes and motor vehicles with radically inadequate muffler systems. Visitors are telling us the Okanagan valley has become the most obnoxious place to visit - anywhere. A number of Canadian municipalities have committed to addressing this development, and the good news is - the laws are in place, and they are as valid and enforceable as the day they were written. The bad news is - our politicians will use every excuse they can think of, to not enforce them, like they did last year, and the year before. Andy Thomsen I just wanted to answer all the detrimental remarks made about me and the letter I actually sent to the Ministry of the Environment, both in the federal government of Canada and the provincial government of BC. I've heard 100s of comments about me misunderstanding who was responsible for the closure of the site, and knew that to get to the parties who could change this, we had to go through the Regional District of the Okanagan. The original letter was sent to the Ministry of the Environment of Canada and the Ministry of the Environment of BC. Before the Regional District and Terry Hall start degrading me for sending letters to the wrong parties, I sent copies of all letters to the newspapers and the Regional District. So maybe the Regional District and Terry Hall should get their facts right before they start spewing lies. Kelaine Kerry Kozak If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,... Dangote: a paradigm shift ICR Research By Published 06 April 2016 ICR took the opportunity to meet with Dangote Cements new CEO, Onne van der Weijde, during the recent Cemtech Middle East & Africa conference in Dubai. The former area manager for Holcim with responsibility for the companys Indian operations, Mr van der Weijde is now at the helm of Dangote Cement alongside DVG Edwin who remains in charge of new projects. Here he gives an optimistic account of Dangotes ambitious strategy for Africa, where the company is now targeting a total capacity of 75Mta by 2019. Once a neglected backwater, served primarily by imports and plagued by supply shortages and sky-high prices, sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing a dramatic transformation. New capacity is being added in almost every country, and more often than not, Dangote Cement is leading the charge. The company has established 43Mta of capacity in just 10 years, all in sub-Saharan Africa, and is targeting 75Mta by 2019. If anyone doubts the companys ambitions, they need only look back at the scale of Dangote Cements achievements in just a decade. It has almost single-handedly turned Nigeria from a net importer to a net exporter having built up a formidable base in its home market. Today Dangote operates 29.25Mta of capacity in Nigeria and a further 9Mta is planned for 2019. Elsewhere on the continent, it is now fully operational in seven countries and is planning to add a further 31Mta by 2019. To continue reading this story and get access to all News, Articles and Video sections of the CemNet.com website, please Register for a subscription to International Cement Review or Login Nigeria: cement standards may need revision ICR Newsroom By 06 April 2016 Nigeria's government is expected to revisit the review of cement standards to address restrictions placed on the use of certain classes of the commodity. Nigeria has witnessed at rise in building collapses around the country in recent months. The local Guardian newspaper learnt that stakeholders are awaiting the composition of the board of the governing council of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) by the government to drive the review agenda. The Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment had in 2014 unveiled the Commodity Composition and Conformity Criteria for Common Cements and Specification of Mandatory Industrial Standard NIS 444-1, prescribing requirements for packaging and labeling cement bags, as well as the use of certain classes of cement grades. Specifically, the decision by the government had led to the institution of different suits against the SON by three cement manufacturing companies Lafarge Cement WAPCO, Ashaka Cement and Unicem on the planned implementation of the new Mandatory Industrial Standard Order for cement manufacturing, distribution and usage in the country. Through the suits, the cement manufacturers are seeking the court to establish whether or not the respondents (SON) complied with the mandatory provisions of the law for establishing new industrial standard in the introduction of the Commodity Composition and NIS 444-1 2014. Published under Ireland: dawn raid on CRH breached CCPC's warrant 06 April 2016 A "dawn raid" last year at CRH's Irish Cement plant in Drogheda, by state investigators investigating alleged breaches of competition law, breached the terms of the warrant by seizing the contents of a senior manager's email account. The Irish Times reported that personal correspondence of Seamus Lynch, the head of CRH's businesses in Ireland and Spain, was taken by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC), but the High Court has ruled that this should not have been part of investigations on that centred on Irish Cement. The court made this ruling as the emails were also likely to have contained private information and information about CRH's businesses rather than Irish Cement. The CCPC was also told that that it would be in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution if it were to review the disputed contents of Mr Lynch's account. Mr Lynch, who was formerly managing director of Irish Cement and is its current chairman, is involved in several other parts of CRH's operations. In a judgment delivered yesterday, Mr Justice Max Barrett also granted CRH, Mr Lynch and Irish Cement an injunction restraining CCPC from accessing some of the documents and files it seized. He said it is not entitled to 'trawl' the material. The injunction is pending an independently-managed process to 'sift' the material to exclude information that does not specifically refer to the operations of Irish Cement. CRH did not make any comment following the judgment. The CCPC, meanwhile, is understood to be considering whether to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Published under This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact The Chanute Tribune office at 620-431-4100 if you have any questions State Treasurer David H. Lillard, Jr. announced on Tuesday a $15 million investment in Israel bonds. This brings all holdings of the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System portfolio of Israel securities to more than $60 million. Our internal investments team strives to make the best possible investments for the members of TC RS and our investments in Israeli-based assets are part of our strong, diversified portfolio, said Treasurer Lillard. This announcement was lauded by state leadership, including Governor Bill Haslam, Speaker Beth Harwell, and Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey. Tennessee is pro-Israel, and I am pleased that we have an opportunity to make a sound investment that confirms our support. Lt. Governor Ramsey said. Tennessee will join more than 80 public investors in Israel bonds from 22 states, including the state of Georgia, and the South Carolina State Treasury. Senator Bill Ketron, who has sponsored several pro-Israeli resolutions during his tenure, applauded the move. Throughout my service to Tennessee I have brought legislation to solidify the relationship between our citizens and the people of Israel, Senator Ketron said. I am proud to see this financial commitment by the states retirement portfolio. The 12-piece brass-anchored psych rockers Kansas Bible Company are currently touring in anticipation of their forthcoming LP, Paper Moon, and will be playing Chattanooga on Wednesday at JJ's Bohemia. Review for Kansas Bible Company: Kansas Bible Company has been featured at Billboard and American Songwriter, have played festivals such as Austin City Limits and Bonnaroo, and have played shows with Guided by Voices, Cold War Kids, Diarrhea Planet and more. Their forthcoming LP, Paper Moon, was produced by Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle, Andrew Combs), and will be self-released on the band's new label Hotel Records June 3. Kansas Bible Company will make you a believer. A believer in the power of psychedelic rock. A believer in the soulful punch of a three-piece horn section. A believer in musicin this case, music made by seven bandmates and three songwriters, all of whom attended the same Indiana college before moving their operations to Nashville. With their third album, Paper Moon, the band tightens its approach, adding pop hooks and sharply focused songwriting to a sound that was once wildly experimental. Kansas Bible Company haven't lost the unpredictable edge that pushed albums like Hotel Chicamauga into Frank Zappa territory, but Paper Moon shines a light on the melodic core that occupies the center of their music. "We were listening to pop music by bands like The Beatles and Wilco," says bassist Nathan Morrow. "We wanted to focus on good pop writing, then make those songs a little bit weird and interesting by adding different textures. Whereas before, we'd start with the textures and then figure out the song, we decided to do the opposite here. We wanted to make sure we could play the song on an acoustic guitar first." Recorded and produced by Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle, Andrew Combs) during the band's fourth year in Nashville, Paper Moon finds Kansas Bible Company dealing with a rapidly growing hometown and a revised band lineup. It's an album about change about looking back on the past; taking stock of the present and making decisions that will affect your future. The group's three songwriters all approach those themes from different angles, resulting in an album that remains focused while still covering a wide range of ground. "It deals with a changing landscape," says trumpet player Charlie Frederick. "We had 11 guys in the band when we came to Nashville, and we all of us moved into the same house. Over the process of writing Paper Moon, some people left the band. I think changes like that are happening not only with our band, but with our audience and our city. Paper Moon captures a band on the move. Kansas Bible Company are growing up, retaining the spirit and swagger of their partying days while adding sharper hooks to songs like "Adios Amigo" and "Back in the Day." "We wrote songs about growing older," adds Morrow. "This album is us becoming more than just a party all the time. It delves deeper." For the third straight year there are two bills simmering in Washington against sadistic horse abuse that insiders believe dont stand a chance. The reason the United States cannot stop the rampant abuses of Tennessee Walking Horses is because of the elected Senators and members of Congress who represent the Republican Party in Tennessee, the very state where the cruelty is the worst in the nation. Oh, people like Senator Lamar Alexander and Rep. Chuck Fleischmann will tell you they dont abide intentionally hurting animals. Yet the truth is every Republican in Washington from Tennessee is awash in money from the Big Lick, which is what the nauseating side of the horse industry is called. If you think our state representatives in Congress represent you and me, you are sorely mistaken. This is the third year the P.A.S.T. Act (Prevent All Soring Tactics) has been introduced for legislation. This year the bill in Congress (HR 3268) has 255 co-sponsors out of 535 who can vote. Of those 255, the only one from Tennessee is Steve Cohen, a Democrat from Memphis. Scott DesJarlais, known widely for his heavy criticism of USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) horse inspectors, sponsored an alternate bill that is about a lukewarm as spit where he and the other Tennessee members of Congress can shirk the publics wrath. The Senate bill, although sponsored by Republican Kelly Ayote of New Hampshire, has 49 of a possible 100 who can vote. Of the 49 co-sponsors, it is somewhat disheartening that 40 are Democrats and two are independents, leaving only seven from the GOP. Thats because the majority of the Big Lick cash goes to Senator Alexander and his Lick-loving partner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky (where they also sore a lot of Walkers.) Get this right not one Republican from Tennessee is a co-sponsor of the P.A.S.T. Act. Dont that make you pop your blue jean buttons? McConnell has openly battled the USDA over its attempts to rein in the sicko owners and trainers who slather acid on horses forelegs (wrapping the mess in heavy Saran wrap so it will cook), who use electric shock and nails in the hooves, as well as any other method to make the horses legs hurt. There is actually a letter McConnell once signed threatening the USDA on behalf of the Big Lick. Of course, the quest of the hideous and lengthy torture is to make the horses front legs flail high, which results in a grotesque and unnatural dance the cheaters in Shelbyville call The Big Lick. That way the cheater gets a flimsy ribbon, forgetting the fact many veterinarians and horsemen believe soring leads to a premature death. (The Lickers call such poisoning the colic.) But perhaps not all is lost. It has been learned that last week the USDA sent some proposed rule changes on behalf of the Obama Administration that would alter the Horse Protection Act (HPA) of 1970. The changes were sent to the Office of Management and Budget, which is required before the changes become public. Anti-soring proponents, including the Humane Society of the United States and every group of veterinarians in all 50 states, have pleaded with the USDA to update the HPA that would forbid stacks, chains, pressure devices and other means of sadistic training methods. All sane horse people, from the American Horse Council to the American Veterinary Medical Association, have urged the USDA to please update and regulate the nasty Big Lick crowd, all to no avail until now. At the 2015 Walking Horse Celebration, it quickly turned into the Sore-abration when 87.5 percent of horses randomly selected for USDA inspection had signs of being sored. Trainers are on record as saying soring is the only method of achieving the Big Lick and, while public scorn is still high, many owners and riders have already adapted the flat-shod approach that is gaining in popularity. Then there is one other juicy morsel and, when applied, gives the USDA petition an even-better chance of success. This is priceless Senators Alexander, McConnell and Tennessees Bob Corker are loyal to the Big Lick but not so much to Mr. President. With Obama getting ready to turn over the front door keys to the White House, what a dandy twirl to the Potomac goose-step would it be to craftily cut some campaign funds from the heartless statesmen and gutless women in the Tennessee GOP. If Obama took a swing-blade to the Big Lickers it would most nobly serve a three-fold purpose. First, it would be the single most popular moment that Obama would have ever had in the South. Two, it would be a definitive pop to those who chose dirty money over animal abuse, and three, it would go a long way toward the ethical and humane treatment of animals. In short, it would simply be a most delicious masterstroke. * * * This is an election year for many politicians. Tennessee is controlled by Republicans and, if you are faced with a tough decision between two friends running against one another, or candidates you equally admire on Election Day, remember what the Republican Party has done to foster the illicit and contemptible abuse of horses in Tennessee. Never vote for a political party; instead go with decent and ethical people. If a candidate on the state, county or city level is Republican and vows he had nothing to do with the shameful scourge in D.C., simply point toward Fleischmann or DesJarlais and tell the GOP whiner very succinctly, You did nothing to stop it, either and you are in the same club as these jerks. Dont dare throw good money where it will spend just like the Licks dirty money. When the politicians come around for campaign cash, send em directly to Shelbyville. Animal abuse in any shape or form must be once and forever stopped. royexum@aol.com After months of intensive research and successes at local and district level competitions, 250 students from all parts of Tennessee will present their projects at the annual Tennessee History Day competition, which will be held in downtown Nashville on Saturday, April 9 at the War Memorial Auditorium, Tennessee Tower, Legislative Plaza, and Nashville Public Library. In the competition, middle and high school students create projects related to historical themes. The projects may be exhibits, documentaries, websites, performances or research papers. The students whose projects are judged best in Saturday's competition will be eligible to participate in National History Day, which will be held in College Park, Maryland from June 12 through June 16. There, they can compete for national awards and scholarships. This stellar group of students advanced from more than 7,000 sixth- through 12th-graders who participated in History Day this year, said Ann Toplovich, executive director of the Tennessee Historical Society. The students, along with their teachers and families, can already take pride. Their thorough research, critical thinking skills and high quality projects will make judging tough for the next round of winners at the state contest. Nationwide, the program annually engages more than a half million students in grades six through 12 from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa and Department of Defense Schools. Each fall, students and teachers nationwide begin work on the year-long curriculum, which starts with competitions held in individual schools. The winners advance to district competitions. In Tennessee, those district competitions take place in Knoxville (sponsored by the East Tennessee Historical Society), Greeneville (sponsored by Tusculum College), Clarksville (sponsored by Austin Peay State University), Murfreesboro (sponsored by Middle Tennessee State University) and Memphis (sponsored by the University of Memphis). The district winners qualified for Saturday's event, which will be held at several buildings in downtown Nashville. Tennessee History Day is sponsored by the nonprofit Tennessee Historical Society, thanks to grant support from the Tennessee Secretary of States Office and Humanities Tennessee. "History Day presents wonderful opportunities for students to develop important skills that will serve them well not only in school, but throughout their lives," Secretary of State Tre Hargett said. "I've had the pleasure of meeting a number of History Day participants through the years and I've come away inspired by the hope they represent for our future. They may be documenting history now, but it won't be long before some of them will be making history." Tennessee History Day allows participating students to learn by researching their own topics using primary source documents. Each year's topics must be based on a specific theme. This years theme is Exploration, Encounter and Exchange. While all projects must relate to the theme, students are encouraged to use their creativity. Dr. Robert Gnann (51) has taken over as president of WACKER SILICONES effective April 1, 2016. He succeeds Dr. Christian Hartel, who was appointed to the WACKER Groups Executive Board in early November 2015. Gnann comes to WACKER from Momentive Performance Materials, where he headed the chemical companys elastomer and European activities. After studying inorganic and polymer chemistry at the University of Cologne and earning his doctorate, Robert Gnann began his career at GE Silicones in the USA in 1996. He then moved on to Bayer and Lanxess in Canada and Germany, where he held managerial positions in such areas as production and technology. From 2008, Gnann was responsible for the elastomers business unit at Momentive Performance Materials and, in 2010, additionally took charge of the companys European activities. Originally close-to-spherical iron nanoparticle nuclei grow in magnetron sputter chambers either cubic or spheres. The research revealed a specific regime of temperature and deposition rates leading to thermodynamically unexpected cubic shapes of final nanoparticles. The efficiency of many applications deriving from natural sciences depends dramatically on a finite-size property of nanoparticles, so-called surface-to-volume ratio. The larger the surface of nanoparticles for the same volume is achieved, the more efficiently nanoparticles can interact with the surrounding substance. However, thermodynamic equilibrium forces nanostructures to minimize open surface driven by energy minimization principle. This basic principle predicts that the only shape of nanoparticles can be spherical or close-to-spherical ones. Nature, however, does not always follow the simple principles. An intensive collaboration between University of Helsinki, Finland, and Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Japan, showed that in some condition iron nanoparticles can grow in cubic shape. The scientists also succeeded in disclosing the mechanisms behind this. "Now we have a recipe how to synthesize cubic shapes with high surface-to-volume ratio which opens the door for practical applications", says Dr. Flyura Djurabekova from the University of Helsinki. In the researcher's work, experiment and theory were brought together via a new mathematical model, which gives a recipe on how to select macroscopic experimental conditions to achieve the formation of nanoparticles of desired shape. The computational work carried out in the group of Djurabekova showed the importance of kinetical processes in this surprising phenomenon, namely the competition between surface diffusion and deposition rate of atoms. The simulations showed how an originally spherical nucleus transforms into a perfect cube. Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a natural process they describe as reverse photosynthesis. In the process, the energy in solar rays breaks down, rather than builds plant material, as is the case with photosynthesis. The sunlight is collected by chlorophyll, the same molecule as used in photosynthesis. Combined with a specific enzyme the energy of sunlight now breaks down plant biomass, with possible uses as chemicals, biofuels or other products, that might otherwise take a long time to produce. By increasing production speed while reducing pollution, the discovery has the potential to revolutionize industrial production. The research results have now been published in Nature Communications. The petrochemical industry is indispensible for the functioning of society. However, it remains problematic for both environment and climate. Danish researchers based at the University of Copenhagen have now made a breakthrough with the potential to transform the way we use our Earth's natural resources: "This is a game changer, one that could transform the industrial production of fuels and chemicals, thus serving to reduce pollution significantly," says University of Copenhagen Professor Claus Felby, who heads the research. Faster production, decreased energy consumption and less pollution "It has always been right beneath our noses, and yet no one has ever taken note: photosynthesis by way of the sun doesn't just allow things to grow, the same principles can be applied to break plant matter down, allowing the release of chemical substances. In other words, direct sunlight drives chemical processes. The immense energy in solar light can be used so that processes can take place without additional energy inputs," says Professor Claus Felby. Postdoc David Cannella, a fellow researcher and discoverer, explains that, "the discovery means that by using the Sun, we can produce biofuels and biochemicals for things like plastics - faster, at lower temperatures and with enhanced energy-efficiency. Some of the reactions, which currently take 24 hours, can be achieved in just 10 minutes by using the Sun." What reverse photosynthesis is all about Researchers have discovered that monooxygenases, a natural enzymes also used in industrial biofuel production, multiply their effectiveness when exposed to sunlight: "We use the term "reverse photosynthesis" because the enzymes use atmospheric oxygen and the Sun's rays to break down and transform carbon bonds, in plants among other things, instead of building plants and producing oxygen as is typically understood with photosynthesis", says Postdoc Klaus Benedikt Mllers Researchers do not yet know how widespread "reverse photosynthesis", using light, chlorophyll and monooxygenases, is in nature, but there are many indications that fungi and bacteria use reverse photosynthesis as a "Thor's hammer" to access sugars and nutrients in plants. The breakthrough is the result of collaborative, multidisciplinary research at the Copenhagen Plant Science Centre that spans the disciplines of plant science, biotechnology and chemistry. The future "Reverse photosynthesis" has the potential to break down chemical bonds between carbon and hydrogen, a quality that may be developed to convert biogas-plant sourced methane into methanol, a liquid fuel, under ambient conditions. As a raw material, methanol is very attractive, because it can be used by the petrochemicals industry and processed into fuels, materials and chemicals. Additional research and development is required before the discovery can directly benefit society, but its potential is, "one of the greatest we have seen in years," according to Professor Claus Felby. David Weekley Homes is celebrating its 40th anniversary by hosting the World's Largest Parade of Homes in cities across the country. From now through April 30, the community is invited to visit any model or showcase home in Chicago to see current innovations in design and decor trends. In honor of this milestone, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America will receive a $5 donation for each visitor who registers with a sales consultant during this event. In addition, each registered visitor will also be entered for a chance to win one of three prizes: a smart watch, $1,500 appliance package or $2,000 electronics package. Advertisement This donation is an initiative of the company's CARE program, which is a charitable and volunteer program that joins team members with homeowners, homebuyers, community partners and local nonprofit organizations to live out its purpose "Building Dreams, Enhancing Lives" in all the communities in which it builds. This is accomplished by team members volunteering countless hours to different organizations in their communities and by The David Weekley Family Foundation donating more than $100 million to a variety of organizations throughout the U.S. and abroad over the past 20 years. For more information about the David Weekley Homes World's Largest Parade of Homes, or to find a community in Chicago, visit davidweekleyhomes.com. Advertisement About Big Brothers Big Sisters of America For more than 100 years, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America has provided children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better. The organization works to develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people. About David Weekley Homes David Weekley Homes, the nation's largest privately-held homebuilder, is celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2016. Headquartered in Houston, the company operates in 22 cities and 12 states across the United States. David Weekley Homes was the first builder in the United States to be awarded the Triple Crown of American Home Building, an honor which includes "America's Best Builder," "National Housing Quality Award" and "National Builder of the Year." For more information, visit davidweekleyhomes.com. Ahren Alexander, founder of Audiovert, pitches his product during the Sino-U.S. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition. (Audiovert photo) Chinese investors have their eye on the Chicago startup scene, and the Chicago Innovation Exchange is working to turn that interest into relationships. The University of Chicago-based startup and innovation hub formed a partnership last summer with Shandong University with help from World Business Chicago. The aim was partly to give pointers to the Qingdao, China-based school on plans for its own innovation hub. Advertisement But the relationship also exposes Chicago entrepreneurs to Chinese investors, said John Flavin , executive director of the Chicago Innovation Exchange. "You have these entrepreneurs hungry for capital. ... It's not always available in traditional seed capital sources, so foreign investors can be an ideal source of that type of investment," he said. Advertisement The Chicago Innovation Exchange brought Chinese investors to town in February for a regional pitch competition. Representatives from the four winning teams NETenergy, Reliefwatch, Tovala and Audiovert will now head to Qingdao to compete against 75 other teams from throughout the world for a share of $130,000 in prizes. The Sino-U.S. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition is co-hosted by the Qingdao Municipal Government and Shandong University. It's meant to introduce entrepreneurs to the startup climate in China and give them a chance to expand their business there. Up to 2,000 square feet of office space in Qingdao's Sino-U.S. Technology and Innovation Park is up for grabs as well. The local teams leave for China on Wednesday. The investors are very interested in innovative ideas coming out of the U.S. and "are hungry for talent and tech that they can either invest in or play a part in the development of in their own market," Flavin said. China's manufacturing economy is slowing down, and some are looking to the tech world to pick up the slack. The government has been encouraging tech investments with subsidies, and university-affiliated and independent incubators are on the rise. Chinese investors often are willing to take more risks than U.S. investors, Flavin said. They tend to focus on technologies that could take more time or money to develop, such as those in energy or biotech. Flavin said money is coming from government-subsidized investment funds, wealthy individuals and corporate venture capital groups. Ahren Alexander, founder of pitch competition finalist Audiovert, hopes to make connections when he travels to China that will aid in hardware production. Audiovert lets customers design their own speaker systems, then manufactures them. Advertisement Alexander, a student at Northwestern University, founded Audiovert last August. The company has raised more than $13,000 through crowdfunding and investments from Northwestern's accelerator, The Garage. Other Chicago-area startups are drawing attention from China as well. Chinese social media company Renren led a $22 million round of funding for on-demand staffing startup Shiftgig in November. Petronics, a home robotics startup based at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign's Research Park, went through an accelerator program in China in 2014. And on a larger scale, Alibaba Holding Group bought a 5.6 percent stake in Chicago-based Groupon in February. amarotti@tribpub.com Twitter @allymarotti Top U.S. drugmaker Pfizer and Irish rival Allergan are charting independent futures after scrapping a record $160 billion deal torpedoed by new Treasury Department rules meant to block American companies from moving their corporate addresses overseas on paper to avoid U.S. taxes. The rules issued Monday, aimed at stopping the companies' "tax inversion" deal, wiped out its financial incentives and rationale for Pfizer Inc., though they had no impact on Allergan PLC. Advertisement That led Pfizer and Allergan to walk away "by mutual agreement" on Wednesday. Pfizer, which is based in New York, will pay Allergan $150 million as reimbursement for its deal-related expenses. It was Pfizer's third, and most expensive, failed attempt at an inversion, leaving analysts to speculate Pfizer will drop the strategy for good. The merger would have moved Pfizer's address, but not its operations or headquarters, to Ireland, where it would have paid hundreds of millions of dollars less in annual U.S. corporate taxes. Advertisement Tax inversions, in which a big U.S. company buys a smaller one in another country with a lower tax rate, and then moves the combined company's address there on paper, are a hot issue in the presidential race. President Obama on Tuesday called them "one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there," adding that Treasury's new rules are meant to make wealthy corporations shoulder their tax responsibility like working-class Americans. Pfizer and Allergan regrouped Wednesday and began touting their prospects as solo companies. They are far from being in dire straits as they contemplate their next moves: Both are highly profitable, have multiple lucrative medicine franchises and strong pipelines of experimental drugs, and each have enough cash to quickly do another deal. Shares of Pfizer rose 4.8 percent to $32.87, while Allergan shares jumped 7.7 percent to $244.20 Wednesday afternoon. "We can pivot very quickly from combination planning to independent planning," Allergan CEO Brent Saunders told The Associated Press, adding that both companies were prepared for a Treasury move to block their deal but considered it a small risk. Saunders already is focused on closing Allergan's $40.5 billion deal to sell its generic drug business to Israel's Teva Pharmacueticals Industries Ltd., the world's top generic drugmaker. He expects that to close by the end of June, bringing Allergan about $36 billion after taxes to invest in "opportunities." Those include mergers and acquisitions, buying rights to experimental drugs, share repurchases and paying down part of Allergan's $40 billion in debt, Saunders told The AP. Best known for its Botox anti-wrinkle injections and Restasis drops for dry eye disease, Allergan had a profit of $3.7 billion on revenue of $15 billion last year. The company is the result of multiple inversions, and despite its Dublin address operates from offices in Parsippany, New Jersey. "Allergan will continue to invest in the United States," Saunders said, with a focus on jobs creation, expanding factories and research facilities, and doing research on cures for diseases with huge unmet need. Advertisement Nomura analyst Shibani Malhotra wrote that Allergan's share price underestimates its stand-alone value, adding that "Allergan offers some of the best, most durable assets in the sector." It is currently launching several new drugs: Vraylar for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, Viberzi for irritable bowel syndrome and Kybella for reducing double chins. It's also in the final stage of patient testing of Rapastinel, a new type of depression drug. Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, pain treatment Lyrica and pneumonia vaccine Prevnar-13, said in a statement that its "late-stage pipeline has several attractive commercial opportunities" in multiple disease areas. "We also maintain the financial strength and flexibility to pursue attractive business development," CEO Ian Read said in a statement. He declined interview requests. Pfizer's statement said it will decide by year's end whether to separate its established products business, which sells older, mostly off-patent drugs and accounted for nearly half of Pfizer's sales and profit last year. That could indicate Pfizer has given up on inversions and is "back to usual business once again," Bernstein analyst Dr. Timothy Anderson wrote to investors Wednesday. He kept his "Buy" recommendation on Pfizer, adding, "We need a clearer vision of what 'Plan B' might be." Advertisement Pfizer has endured years of relentless pressure from Anderson and other analysts to break up the company so growth and profits could accelerate. That's easier said than done, given Pfizer's huge scale, increasing pressure from insurers for bigger medicine discounts and revenue that's been declining for several years as multiple blockbusters such as cholesterol drug Lipitor have lost billions in annual sales to much-cheaper generic copycats. Pfizer had $23.3 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments available at the end of 2015, when it posted a profit of $9.1 billion on revenue of $49.6 billion. It's made several mega-acquisitions over the past two decades that allowed it to cut costs and increase sales to boost profits quickly. Deals like last year's purchase of injected drug maker Hospira have kept Pfizer among the top global drugmakers but haven't pleased investors enough, ultimately triggering the 2010 ouster of Read's predecessor. The Allergan deal's demise could deter other tax inversions in the works exactly the impact the Obama administration is seeking. Other health care companies have recently done or are planning inversions, including fellow drugmakers Baxalta Inc. of Bannockburn, Illinois, and Shire PLC of Ireland, which are planning a $32 billion inversion deal. Meanwhile, Medtronic PLC, which relocated from Minnesota to Dublin in January 2015 after buying fellow medical device maker Covidien for $42.9 billion, said in a statement that it had done a preliminary review of the new Treasury rules and concluded they wouldn't have a material effect on the company. Read has said the deal was needed because U.S.-based drugmakers are at a major disadvantage to their multinational rivals based in Europe and elsewhere, who face lower corporate tax rates. Other U.S. companies likewise have complained about the top U.S. tax rate of 35 percent which few ever pay and the U.S. taxing them on profits made overseas. As a result, Pfizer and other companies are keeping billions in overseas profits outside the U.S. to avoid a big tax bill if they "repatriate" those profits. Advertisement Associated Press At home, we venture beyond the standard canned corned beef hash especially when there is leftover meat in the house. Hash comes from the French verb hacher, literally to chop, which is the only requirement for hash that it be chopped. Hash on the menu provides an opportunity to rekindle your food processor romance. It makes quick work of chopping the vegetables. However, I prefer a super-sharp knife and a cutting board to dice any meats, so I have pretty, little chunks to add to the hash. Leighton McGowan, 4, looks at books in the Resource Room, decorated with sun, cloud and rain pillows, at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's new Weather and Climate exhibit. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) Count the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum as one entity that is doing something about the weather, rather than, like most of us, just complaining about it. It is also doing something about the climate in its new exhibition "Weather to Climate: Our Changing World." Advertisement Perhaps the biggest thing it is doing is demonstrating the difference between weather and climate, two things so often confused by those who would bring a snowball indoors into Congress, for example and ask how the planet can possibly be warming. Weather is your outfit, in the Lincoln Park museum's neat analogy what you put on for a specific day. Climate is your wardrobe, the gear that suits conditions in your region over time. Advertisement "For 160 years, we've been trying to dive into topics relevant to our time," said Deborah Lahey, president of the Notebaert, the public face of the Chicago Academy of Sciences. "Climate change is the defining issue of our time," added Steve Sullivan, the museum's senior curator of urban ecology. An endangered Blanding's Turtle -- whose gender is determined by the temperature that the eggs are incubated and therefore at risk if temperatures rise -- is on display at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's new "Weather to Climate" exhibit Monday, April 4, 2016. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) The exhibition, one of three in a row related to global warming that the museum will present in the next few years, does a good job making its information accessible without preaching. Photographs showing vanishing glaciers are part of a substantial art component in the show. A green screen in front of a video camera aimed low lets kids play weather person for some long-term forecasting. Squirrel specimens from the academy's stores illustrate which species might thrive in a warmer America (gray squirrels) and which likely won't (flying, red squirrels). Video interactives abound, including one tied to a giant carnival wheel showing how different things, from lobsters to buildings, will handle different climate conditions. Another touch screen lets you create a Frankencreature, an animal with whatever characteristics you choose to assign it, and then see how that thing will do as weather systems grow more extreme and the overall temperature rises. RELATED: MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR "They've done a great job of making it kid-friendly," said Taryn Pryor, an Uptown nanny and graduate education student whose almost 2-year-old charge was wandering back to the green screen area. Advertisement Yet there was plenty to read and think about for a 26-year-old like herself. "This is really, really cool," Pryor said before settling an argument the toddler and her 4-year-old sister were having over the weather person coat. Among the things to ponder: Rising temperatures in the Great Lakes are likely to result in "a decline in big, tasty fish" and an increase in toxic bacteria leading to "more frequent beach closures," a display says. Visitors can learn about the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere, the thermosphere and, way up at the edge of space, the exosphere, all surrounding Earth and less impenetrable by the sun's warmth than in decades past. And Thomas Chrowder Chamberlin, president of the Chicago Academy of Sciences from 1897 to 1915, gets his due for studying glaciers and being one of the first to highlight carbon dioxide's role in regulating temperature on the planet. Although the subject is not exactly uplifting, the manner of presentation, including a number of free-standing information displays, keeps the tone bright. "We wanted the exhibit to feel like air. We wanted it to feel like the weather," said Alvaro Ramos, chief curator and vice president of museum experience. Advertisement The exhibit, developed by the Notebaert and slated to travel to a Boston museum after it closes in October, does not engage climate change deniers directly. But the entirety of the presentation is a rebuke to the notion that the science is not yet decided, especially the placard that begins, "Today's Climate Change Brought to You by Humans." A sculpture of 94 blue exercise balls represents either how many pounds of carbon dioxide each person puts into the atmosphere daily, according to the text, or how many more days you should have gone to the gym last year, according to your conscience. Balls represent carbon dioxide created by one person in one day at an exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum's new "Weather to Climate" exhibit Monday, April 4, 2016. (Michael Tercha / Chicago Tribune) The blue balls are in the concluding section, which suggests what people might do about climate change, beginning with Sullivan's firm belief that individual steps make a difference. "This can be a heavy, depressing topic, so we want to leave people with hope," Sullivan said. To that end, there's a photo of the infamous Bubbly Creek section of the South Branch of the Chicago River when it was a dumping ground for the stockyards, followed by a more recent picture showing canoeists in that same area who don't look mortally terrified of falling in. Everybody talked about Bubbly Creek, to adapt the maxim misattributed to Mark Twain; environmentalists, acting in the belief that individual actions add up, did something about it. Advertisement sajohnson@tribpub.com Twitter @StevenKJohnson When: Through Oct. 23 Where: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, 2430 N. Cannon Drive Tickets: Included with general admission; 773-755-5100 or www.naturemuseum.org RELATED STORIES: Advertisement No starry night, but a comfy double bed in Van Gogh's bedroom in Chicago Tully monster, Illinois' great fossil mystery, solved MSI Lego exhibit: It's a brick house -- and bridge, and castle, and roller coaster Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Northwestern University senior Sabrina Fritz opened an early lead in Wednesday's "Jeopardy" episode when she correctly answered the first question, which was about the Cubs. But the biomedical engineering student experienced heartbreak at the end of the game. Though she correctly answered the Final Jeopardy question about astronomy, she lost by a few dollars because returning champion Jeff Crosby also had the right answer and more money to wager. Advertisement Fritz, 23, told the Tribune it was her lifelong dream to compete on "Jeopardy." She got an invitation to audition for the quiz show on her second try. She taped Wednesday's episode Feb. 23 in Los Angeles. RELATED: MOST READ ENTERTAINMENT NEWS THIS HOUR Advertisement Fritz, who hails from St. Charles, Mo., led the first round but was more than $3,000 behind Crosby, a New York youth ministry consultant, going into Final Jeopardy. Paul Belin, a Maryland business development manager, also answered the Final Jeopardy question right. Crosby finished the day with $21,801 to Fritz's $21,799. Belin placed third with $12,400. Crosby, who won $8,400 in Tuesday's episode, continues on in "Jeopardy," which airs 3:30 p.m. weekdays on WLS-Ch. 7. RELATED STORIES: Louis C.K., Matthew Weiner, Al Franken and Jonathan Franzen to appear on 'Jeopardy!' Janet Jackson delays tour; planning family, ordered to rest Why are stand-up comedians so afraid of reviews? Watch the latest movie trailers. Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 126 Woody introduces the gang to a homemade spork toy with self-esteem issues in "Toy Story 4." Read the review. (Pixar / AP) Reporting from Milwaukee Sen. Bernie Sanders showed once again he remains a powerful force in the Democratic presidential race with a decisive win in Wisconsin on Tuesday, setting the stage for a lively political brawl in the coming days, during which he hopes to reshape the race with a defiant surge in New York. Speaking to supporters in Laramie, Wyo., Sanders said the win would give him momentum to carry on toward larger contests later this month. Wyoming holds its caucuses Saturday. Advertisement "With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries," Sanders said. "And we have won almost all of them with overwhelming landslide numbers." Sanders, however, will find significantly more resistance in the Eastern states coming up than he did in Wisconsin, a state from which Hillary Clinton largely retreated as polls showed her trailing. Wisconsin's Democratic primary electorate was more than 80% white and included large numbers of independent voters, who heavily favored the Vermont senator, as they have elsewhere during the primary season. Advertisement Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 9 Ted Cruz, joined by his wife, Heidi, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, celebrates his win in the Wisconsin Republican primary. (Paul Sancya / Associated Press) Clinton spent much of the week in New York, Sanders' native state and the one she represented in the Senate, shoring up her operation and preparing for a fight her campaign hopes will put to rest lingering concerns about her candidacy. But a tough battle lies ahead for the front-runner, even though she maintains such a large lead in delegates to the party's nominating convention that nothing short of landslide wins from here out would put Sanders ahead of her. The Wisconsin results were a reminder that many Democrats disagree with her call to, as she says, vote not just with their hearts but with their heads. A majority of voters in the Wisconsin primary said Clinton had a better chance of beating potential Republican nominee Donald Trump than Sanders does, according to an exit poll conducted for the Associated Press and the major television networks. But about a quarter of voters who took that position went for Sanders anyway. Almost none of the voters who thought Sanders would be the stronger candidate in November voted for Clinton. Clinton's weak showing with independents in Wisconsin also raised fresh questions about her vulnerabilities in November. But Sanders' strength among independents cuts both ways: In New York, only registered Democrats can participate in the primary on April 19. Independents are also locked out of Democratic primary voting in four of the five states that vote the week after New York, including delegate-rich Pennsylvania. In most states that have voted so far, Clinton has won heavily among Democrats. The states coming up are also considerably more diverse than Wisconsin, which again is an advantage for Clinton. Blacks and Latinos have propelled the front-runner to her lead nationally, and the exit poll indicated that she carried non-white voters in Wisconsin as well. The Wisconsin results are likely to increase the tension between the Democratic campaigns at a time when the race already had been growing more combative. Clinton, who has wavered throughout the campaign between engaging Sanders and looking past him toward the general election, has taken a particularly confrontational approach lately. In recent days, she has accused the Sanders campaign of lying about her support from fossil-fuel interests and scolded Sanders protesters who disrupted a rally near her hometown of Chappaqua, N.Y. Advertisement She also accused Sanders of being cavalier about Trump's suggestion that women should be punished if they undergo an abortion. Sanders, who supports abortion rights, had complained in a television interview that the news media was paying too much attention to Trump's comments on the subject. Her sharpened tone reflects annoyance within the Clinton campaign at the Sanders operation. Clinton's advisors resent attacks the Vermont senator continues to make on the front-runner's ties to Wall Street and other industries. They argue that the attacks are misleading and that Sanders is so far behind in the race that his criticisms serve only to help the eventual Republican nominee. Yet Sanders continues to run as if the nomination were in striking distance. Some Sanders voters said Tuesday that whether or not he could win the nomination was irrelevant to them: They would be voting for him anyway. "It's a message to Hillary," said Sue Peterson of Milwaukee, a 64-year-old retired factory worker. "Instead of her being angry with Bernie supporters, she needs to listen to what we're saying." Other Sanders supporters expressed optimism that Sanders would perform an electoral miracle. Advertisement "I know they keep saying he doesn't have a chance, but I think he still has a chance," said Kate Mau, 38, the owner of a yarn store interviewed outside a polling station in a middle-class neighborhood south of downtown Milwaukee. Like several other voters, Mau expressed skepticism about Clinton. "With Clinton, you're never quite sure if she's being forthright," she said. Plenty of Sanders supporters in Wisconsin also said they would be just fine voting for Clinton if she wins the nomination a sentiment that polls indicate is shared by a large majority of Sanders backers nationally. Some even saw good in the Clinton "establishment" roots that Sanders constantly rails against. "She knows how to pull all the levers in Washington, and that's useful," said Adam Cohen, a 34-year-old engineer who voted for Sanders. Because the Democrats award delegates in proportion to each candidate's vote, Sanders' victory in Wisconsin might net him a dozen more delegates than Clinton. That would eat only a little bit into her large delegate lead currently more than 260. Advertisement The advantage he gained Tuesday could easily be washed away if Clinton wins in New York and Pennsylvania, where many more delegates are at stake. Sanders, though, will be a force to contend with in each of those states as well as the others that vote on April 26: Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and Rhode Island. He had a huge fundraising month in March. His $44-million haul, which far exceeded that of the Clinton campaign and came from almost entirely small donors, provides him with the money needed to be a constant presence in the costly New York media market. "I know a little bit about New York because I spent the first 18 years of my life in Brooklyn," Sanders said Tuesday night. "Now, please keep this a secret. Do not tell Secretary Clinton. She is getting a little nervous, and I don't want her to get more nervous. But I believe we have an excellent chance to win New York." In both the Tuesday night speech and one the day before in Milwaukee, Sanders largely avoided mention of Clinton, suggesting he may be looking to move his campaign away from a constant volley of barbs between him and the front-runner. That sort of restraint, however, could prove difficult to maintain in New York, where Sanders will be under constant attack from Clinton, her surrogates and even the state's famously feisty news media. Even as Sanders was basking in his Wisconsin victory, he was receiving a taste of how rough a New York campaign can be. He was pummeled by the New York Daily News for comments he made in an interview with the paper's editorial board. A transcript of the interview showed Sanders struggling to explain how he could realistically implement his policy vision once in the White House. More damaging, perhaps, was his unfamiliarity with the New York subway system, which the senator did not seem to realize had stopped accepting tokens many years ago. Advertisement Sanders also had difficulty with questions about whether gun manufacturers should have immunity from lawsuits, which led to outraged statements from supporters of a lawsuit filed by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Those responses led to Sanders being skewered on the cover of the tabloid. The Clinton campaign happily sent reporters a full transcript of the Sanders meeting with the paper. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook also sought to put Wisconsin's results in a broader context, offering supporters a "facts on where the race stands" posting on Medium. It noted that to catch Clinton, Sanders would have to win primaries by a landslide 20-percentage-point victories in New York, California, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, all places where he trails. "We know the misleading spin will continue," Mook wrote. "But we want you to know the facts about the real state of the Democratic primary." evan.halper@latimes.com chris.megerian@latimes.com Advertisement Halper reported from Washington and Megerian from Milwaukee. Times staff writer Michael Finnegan contributed to this report from Milwaukee. ALSO 'Bernie blackout': Behind the numbers that have Sanders supporters protesting Latinos and women blunting Sanders and Trump in California Trump refuses to rule out third-party bid if he loses nomination Women with uterine fibroids saw improvements in their sex lives and significant symptom relief after undergoing uterine fibroid embolization, a procedure some doctors say isn't offered enough as an option. (Jose Luis Pelaez Inc. / Blend Images) Women with bothersome uterine fibroids saw improvements in their sex lives and significant symptom relief a year after undergoing a type of nonsurgical treatment called uterine fibroid embolization, a French study finds. Nearly eight in 10 women who completed surveys a year after treatment reported improved sexual function, a measure that reflects pain, desire, arousal and satisfaction. Advertisement RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR About nine in 10 had better overall quality of life, researchers said. Advertisement "UFE (uterine fibroid embolization) is not a new intervention," said Dr. Marc Sapoval, one of the study co-authors. Sapoval is a professor of clinical radiology at Hopital Europeen Georges Pompidou in Paris. "What's new in this data is the fact that we focused on sexual function," he said. The study results were scheduled to be presented Sunday at the Society of Interventional Radiology's annual scientific meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Findings presented at meetings are generally viewed as preliminary until they've been published in a peer-reviewed journal. Uterine fibroids are a type of solid tumor. They are usually noncancerous. Fibroids can form in and around the uterus and within the uterine walls, according to the U.S. Office on Women's Health. Women with fibroids often experience significant symptoms and discomfort, Sapoval said. These symptoms may include heavy menstrual bleeding, pain during sexual intercourse, and pelvic, back and leg pain. Hysterectomy removal of the uterus is the only treatment that can guarantee fibroids won't return. But it's not the only treatment option available, the Office on Women's Health says. UFE, also known as uterine artery embolization, is one alternative to surgery. For the procedure, an interventional radiologist makes a tiny snip in the skin of the groin or wrist. A thin tube is inserted in the femoral or radial artery. Using real-time imaging, the tube is snaked into the uterine artery, which supplies blood to the uterus, the researchers explained. Advertisement Then, sand-sized particles are released, blocking blood flow to the tiny arteries that feed the fibroid. With the blood supply choked off, the tumor shrinks and dies, the study authors said. The study included more than 260 women from 25 centers throughout France who had the embolization procedure. The women completed assessments on their sexual function and quality of life before and one year after the procedure. Initially, 189 women reported abnormally heavy menstrual bleeding. Just over 170 experienced pain because of fibroids, the study revealed. But a year after treatment, only 39 patients reported abnormal bleeding. And, only 42 still had pelvic pain, the study found. After a year, the procedure was associated with significant improvement in all aspects of sexual function, the investigators found. "Not only is UFE an effective treatment for uterine fibroids, but it allows women to return to a more normal life, increase their sexual desire, and enjoy an overall improved quality of life," Sapoval said. One caveat: It's not recommended for women who want to get pregnant because there are still some unknowns about fertility after the procedure, he said. Advertisement Despite the positives, UFE is not widely used in the United States, noted Dr. Robert Vogelzang. He's chief of vascular and interventional radiology at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and a past president of the Society of Interventional Radiology. "Sadly, the patients who have fibroids are often not being told about embolization," Vogelzang said. Asked why doctors aren't talking about it, Vogelzang said he believes "it's largely an economic issue," implying that obstetrician/gynecologists have no financial incentive to recommend a treatment they don't perform. Not everyone agrees, however. Dr. Scott Chudnoff said most obstetricians and gynecologists are forthright in discussing all of the surgical and medical options for treating fibroids, including embolization. He's director of gynecology at the Montefiore Health System Moses Campus in the Bronx in New York. If surgery would be risky for a woman, Chudnoff said, he often highly recommends embolization. But there are a lot of factors that go into the final decision, he said. One is the tumor's location. Another is a woman's personal history with fibroids and whether she wants to get pregnant, he noted. Better answers about which uterine fibroid treatments work best are likely on the horizon. The U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is building a nationwide registry of women undergoing fibroid treatment at centers across the country through 2019. This data will allow researchers to compare the effectiveness of various approaches. Advertisement RELATED STORIES: Satisfy your hunger for love with these foods, drinks Endometriosis linked to heart disease in study Caffeine intake even dad's linked to miscarriage Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 6 Plank (Washington Post illustration by Amanda Soto) Expand Autoplay Image 1 of 5 Whether you choose your name or some motivational verbiage, we love the idea of personalizing your sneakers with words emblazoned across them. Not to mention, NikeiD kicks let you play around with colors too, so pick a shoe style and get artsy. Prices vary. Nike Free TR 5 iD, pictured, available for $145 at store.nike.com. (Nike) Indonesia: A Russian tourist was killed late last month by a crocodile in the Raja Ampat islands of West Papua after he ventured out on a solo snorkeling trip. According to officials, the remote area of Minyaifun island where his body was recovered four days later is known for its dangers, including jagged rocks, strong currents and saltwater crocodiles. Tourists are advised to use caution while snorkeling and always to go with a companion or a guide. Fiji: Health officials said locally transmitted cases of Zika virus have been reported in the South Pacific country, meaning that Zika-carrying Aedes mosquitoes are present on the islands. Because there currently is no vaccine to protect against Zika, which can cause muscle pain and headaches and in some cases, severe birth defects if a pregnant woman is infected travelers should be diligent about protecting themselves against mosquito bites. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that "sexual transmission of Zika virus from a male partner is also possible," so travelers are encouraged to practice safe sex. Advertisement RELATED: TRENDING LIFE & STYLE NEWS THIS HOUR Laos: A shooting incident in late March prompted U.S. State Department officials to issue a travel alert for all routes between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng. A charter bus and pickup truck were hit by automatic weapons fire on this heavily traveled route between two of Laos' most popular tourist destinations. One person was killed, and six were wounded. Advertisement Philippines: Authorities are taking steps to ensure peaceful national elections May 9, but tourists should be aware of the possibility of political unrest leading up to and immediately following the elections. Security checkpoints have been put in place near polling locations, and a temporary ban against carrying firearms in public runs through June 8. Any tourist caught with a gun may be deported after serving a possible prison sentence. New Zealand: An increase in driving by foreign tourists and tourist-related auto accidents has led the government and some private organizations to launch a safe driving initiative for travelers. Some common issues for drivers are understanding traffic signs and remembering to drive on the left side of the road. To help tourists prepare for driving in the country, Tourism New Zealand has sponsored an online instructional video that informs visitors about driving rules before their trips. Compiled from news services and travel sources. For updates, check with the State Department at 888-407-4747, www.travel.state.gov. Larry Habegger and Dani Burlison are freelance reporters. RELATED STORIES: Fliers beware: new airfare rule could lead to costly mistake O'Hare to open TSA PreCheck center as registration lags, security lines grow State Department gets Internet thrashing for tweet aimed at 'ugly' Americans It is revered, above all, as a place where society took care of those who could not otherwise afford medical care. So many impoverished immigrants were treated there that the hospital has been called "Chicago's Ellis Island," a reference to the island in New York Harbor where more than 12 million immigrants entered the U.S. from 1892 to 1954. The jury that will decide the case of William Ross accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend, entombing her body inside his McHenry home and skipping town will hear details of charges that he previously battered her. Against the wishes of Ross' attorneys, McHenry County Circuit Judge Sharon Prather ruled this week that jurors will be allowed to hear about two incidents in 2007 when Ross was accused of misdemeanor domestic battery, both allegations involving Jacqueline Schaefer. Advertisement Schaefer's decaying remains were found wrapped in plastic bags and covered by a blue tarp inside a sealed-off room at Ross' home in November 2013. Authorities said the maggot-infested bags had been there at least two years. Ross was soon arrested in Las Vegas, where he'd been staying at a motel, and later charged with killing Schaefer. Authorities said Ross, 64, has denied knowing how his ex-girlfriend's remains ended up in his house along the Fox River, saying he last saw her in 2011 when she told him she was moving to Missouri. He's being held in McHenry County Jail in lieu of $5 million bond and is due to stand trial June 6 on murder charges. Advertisement Ross' attorney Henry Sugden argued evidence about the domestic disturbances would prejudice the jury against his client. But Prather agreed with Assistant State's Attorney Michael Combs that the calls are relevant and establish motive. Prather noted the incidents involved the same alleged victim, occurred at the same home where Schaefer was found dead and involved allegations of violence or abuse. Court records show Ross was charged with domestic battery after a police call to his home in August 2007, but that charge was later dropped. About six weeks after the initial call, Ross was again charged with domestic battery and that time pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, records show. He received six months conditional discharge and was ordered to attend alcohol counseling. Sugden acknowledged that Ross and Schaefer had a volatile relationship fueled, he said, by alcohol and that police often were called to the house. Outside court, Sugden said there had been at least 15 domestic disturbance calls made to police from Ross' home over a 10-year period, sometimes by Ross and sometimes by Schaefer. Prather did grant Sugden's request to keep from jurors information related to the suicide of Ross' former girlfriend. The judge has not yet ruled on whether evidence from overheard conversations will be permitted at Ross' trial. Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter. The White Sox showed off their new centerfield scoreboard during a media preview on April 5, 2016. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) Welcome to Clout Street: Morning Spin, our weekday feature to catch you up with what's going on in government and politics from Chicago to Springfield. Topspin Supporters of the state's charter schools plan to rally at U.S. Cellular Field and in Springfield on Wednesday in the latest public demonstrations aimed at pushing state lawmakers into passing a budget. Advertisement Led by the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, what's billed as 750 charter parents and advocates will "demand equitable treatment" for the publicly funded but privately operated schools. The crowd is also expected to travel to the state capital to "call on elected officials to work in a bipartisan manner to pass a budget," a spokeswoman for the pro-charter organization said. As far as optics are concerned, the rally likely won't generate the amount of publicity and traffic jams that accompanied last week's mammoth protest led by striking members of the Chicago Teachers Union. Also, the union is not a fan of charter schools: CTU leaders negotiated a local freeze on the number of charter schools that could operate in the city and their enrollment, as part of a prospective contract agreement with Chicago Public Schools. Advertisement Charter schools largely depend on public money to operate and stand to feel some pain amid the fiscal troubles facing CPS. Wednesday's planned rallies still look to be aimed at serving charter supporters' interests in promoting their brand. On Thursday, meanwhile, community members aligned with the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council and several CPS schools plan to launch what they call the "Southwest Public School Coalition to Fight for Education Equity." Joined by Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia and state House candidate Theresa Mah, the group says it'll hold a public meeting at Curie High School to "demand that the city and the state ensure every family's right to a high-quality neighborhood school that serves every student regardless of income, race, gender, ability or language." The Brighton Park group has allied with the teachers union and helped organize work to oppose the construction of a new charter school campus operated by the influential Noble Network of Charter Schools from opening on Chicago's Southwest Side. The group also plans to promote the work of traditional district-operated schools in the area, as well as "highlighting the challenges they face given the years of systemic disinvestment from public education in Chicago" and school district budget cuts. (Juan Perez Jr.) What's on tap *Mayor Rahm Emanuel will join Skills for Chicagoland's Future to make an announcement about jobs. *Gov. Bruce Rauner has no public schedule. What we're writing *Old Cook County Hospital to become hotel, apartments, shops in Preckwinkle plan Advertisement *Nearly 500 kids mistakenly told they got in to coveted CPS magnet school *Aldermen try again for alcohol sales in topless bars What we're reading *Building inspector charged with trying to extort building owner *Cubs fans savor Rockwellian memories about razed hamburger franchise near Wrigley *Southwest suburban Minooka's community calendar gets the Colbert-Offerman treatment From the notebook *Worse and worse: An audit of state finances found Illinois government has the highest debt in the nation, with a bill backlog reaching more than $125 billion. Advertisement To make matters worse, the study was based on the budget year ending last July, meaning that pile has only grown worse in the 10 months since as Illinois continues to operate without a complete spending plan. The majority of that debt is unfunded pension liabilities for the state's employee retirement program. But delays in paying vendors also left Illinois on the hook for $126 million in interest payments on late bills. Meanwhile, Auditor General Frank Mautino warned the state's financial reporting system is out of date and does not allow for a prompt analysis of spending. "The lack of timely financial reporting limits effective oversight of state finances and may adversely affect the state's bond rating," the audit found. (Celeste Bott) *Durbin meets with Garland: In advance of President Barack Obama's visit to Chicago on Thursday to discuss his Supreme Court nominee, Illinois' senior senator, Democrat Dick Durbin, will meet with Judge Merrick Garland in Washington on Wednesday morning. Garland was born in Chicago, raised in the nearby suburb of Lincolnwood and attended Niles West High School in Skokie. He is the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Obama is scheduled to come to the University of Chicago, where he taught constitutional law, and make his pitch for Garland's confirmation in speaking with law school students. The Senate's Republican leadership has rejected calling Garland for a vote, saying the next president should decide on a nominee to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. (Rick Pearson) Follow the money *Track campaign contribution reports in real time with this Tribune Twitter account. Advertisement Beyond Chicago *Presidential race, Republican side: Cruz calls Wisconsin win 'turning point' *Presidential race, Democratic side: Sanders says Wisconsin win gives him momentum against Clinton *Iceland's PM to step down over Panama Papers controversy Betty Gregorio, 21, a graduate nurse, reads one of the charts at the end of a patient's bed March 18, 1947, at Cook County Hospital. Gregorio and another nurse cared for 87 beds in their ward. (Steve Marino / Chicago Tribune) After sitting empty for more than 13 years and becoming a prominent target for graffiti taggers and metal thieves, the 102-year-old Cook County Hospital building could be in line for redevelopment that would restore some of its original Beaux Arts grandeur. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle plans to announce Wednesday a development agreement that would transform the hospital building, for decades the site of important medical innovations, into a hotel, apartments and shops. Advertisement The building's rehabilitation would be the first phase of a privately funded plan for 16 acres of county-owned land in the Illinois Medical District that also includes Stroger Hospital, which replaced the old county facility, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois' medical campus. Three further phases, to be completed over the next 10 to 15 years, would bring a technology and research center, medical office building, additional apartments, another hotel and parking decks. Advertisement The rehabilitation of the old hospital, which Preckwinkle and developers hope to start next year and complete in 2018, would be done at the same time as work on the nearby Stroger Hospital campus, where the county plans to erect a nine-story building to replace outmoded administrative offices and clinic space. All of that is in keeping with famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham's admonition to "make no little plans." But given the old hospital's state of disrepair, the need to secure at least $550 million in funding and the sheer size of the project, it remains to be seen whether Preckwinkle's vision for the building and surrounding area will become reality. Nevertheless, one historic preservation leader who has seen earlier proposals for the site go nowhere believes the latest plan will come to fruition. "I am confident that this is the best approach that has ever been forwarded and we will see a completed building at the end of the process," said Bonnie McDonald, president of Landmarks Illinois. The Civic Health Development Group led by MB Real Estate Services was chosen by the county for the project from among three finalists because it planned to first restore the historic facade of a building, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, and has a track record of completing historic renovations, Preckwinkle said. In addition, the group isn't asking the county for a subsidy, she said. "They had the strongest proposal," Preckwinkle said in an interview with the Tribune before she formally proposed the project to the County Board, which will have to approve the agreement. "It was an extensive due-diligence process on our part, and they were kind of head and shoulders above the competition. (Chicago Tribune Graphics) "First of all, they didn't ask for any subsidy from the county," Preckwinkle said. "They agreed to start with the rehabilitation of the old Cook County Hospital, which has been an albatross for us and for the Illinois Medical District. We have a derelict building right there in the center of things." An artist's rendering shows a redevelopment plan for the long-shuttered Cook County Hospital, center, and surrounding area. Image provided by the Office of the President, Cook County. (Cook County) The only potential cost to the county would come if environmental remediation to the ground is necessary, Preckwinkle said. So far, there's no sign of ground contamination, but if any were later found, the county would match costs, with a cap of $2.5 million. The shuttered old Cook County Hospital building is seen April 5, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) The county also has spent about $3.2 million over the past two years on the planning process for both the old hospital and Stroger Hospital sites. Advertisement The county would lease the land and buildings to the development team, which would pay $2 million a year initially and more in future years, Preckwinkle said. The lease would be for 99 years, with two 25-year options. In addition to paying rent, the development team would have to come up with its own funding for all of the work. The cost for the entire development is estimated to be at least $550 million and up to $700 million. Costs could be reduced by tens of millions of dollars, however, through federal income and local property tax breaks given to firms that preserve historic properties. Along with MB Real Estate, the team includes Walsh Investors, an arm of The Walsh Group general contracting firm that has done extensive work on government-funded projects in Chicago; Plenary Group USA, a firm that finances public-private partnerships; and Granite Companies, an African-American-owned development and construction company. The world-renowned Chicago architecture firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill also is taking part in the project. MB, Walsh, Granite and related companies and owners have donated more than $50,000 to Preckwinkle campaign funds over the years, but Preckwinkle said she did not choose the team instead, review committees put together by arms of county government. "I didn't have anything to do with the selection process, and I had contributors among all of the contending teams," Preckwinkle said. Plans call for restoring the hospital's outer layer and parts of its interior, likely including the grand, two-story lobby that was the entry point to free health care for generations of Chicago's poor. That area could include shops. There also would be a hotel, largely to serve visiting Medical District doctors and professors, and an extended-stay hotel, each with as many as 125 rooms. Advertisement There also would be as many as 150 apartments, with 20 percent of them rented out at affordable rates as determined by city guidelines, said Preckwinkle, who has long been a champion of affordable housing. "You want to revitalize the housing market, but you don't want ordinary working people to be priced out of the neighborhoods as a result," Preckwinkle said. As that hospital rehab is being done, the Cook County Health and Hospitals System would build a new administrative and clinic building at the southwest corner of the site that includes Stroger Hospital, southwest of the old hospital building. The new building is expected to cost $108.5 million. The county plans to issue $118.5 million in bonds with $10 million for consultants, lawyers, financial analysts and the like borrowing that was anticipated in the county's long-range construction plans. Medical offices now at the Fantus Health Center, named after the doctor who in 1937 established the nation's first blood bank at Cook County Hospital, and administrative offices housed in the Polk Building, built as a nursing school and dormitory in the 1920s, would be moved into the new building. So would laboratories in the Hektoen Institute. Fantus and Hektoen would be torn down, and the Polk Building would be mothballed but kept standing, Preckwinkle said. Advertisement Once those projects are done, the developers would build a research and technology building to the east of the old hospital and then additional residential, retail and parking to the south. Finally, in the last phase, multiple-use buildings would be erected at the east and west ends of Pasteur Park, which fronts the Eisenhower Expressway. Open space would remain at the center, with the idea of maintaining "unimpeded views" of the restored old hospital from the expressway and area north of the Eisenhower, Preckwinkle said. "We hope it's a catalytic development for the medical center campus," Preckwinkle said of the proposed project. "Clearly, it is an underutilized resource for the city and the county and the state, and so we're trying to do our part to rev things up a little bit." Like McDonald, the preservation group leader, Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele, D-Chicago, expressed confidence that the project would succeed. He also lauded what he said were plans to hire construction workers from the immediate area. "I'm totally excited about it," said Steele, who was born at the old hospital and represents the area today. "I think it's the right thing for us to be doing. ... This one is going to work." hdardick@tribpub.com Twitter @ReporterHal As she read through bill HEA 1337, which places new restrictions on abortion in Indiana, the woman who would later create the Facebook page, "Periods for Pence," found it hard to understand, and she became concerned about the potential impact. The 39-year-old wife and mother told her husband, "If they are that worried about what is going on with our bodies, they might as well know everything." The page was launched, and it is soaring, with more than 21,000 "likes" as of Wednesday morning. "Periods for Pence" encourages people to "let Gov. Mike Pence know what you think about his intrusive HEA 1337 bill. Women should have the right to make their own medical decisions!" As its name suggests, women are calling the governor's office and providing detailed information about their reproductive cycles. Some of them are sharing details of those phone calls on the Facebook page. While the governor's office said it received about 100 calls last week related to the Facebook page, the page's creator believes the number is much higher, based on the response she has received, much of it through private messaging. An Indianapolis-area resident, she is asking to remain anonymous, for personal safety reasons and because she is concerned her employer might not be happy with the effort. The mother of one child, she said she and her husband "struggled with infertility for a long time." The new law, which Gov. Pence signed March 24, bans abortions sought because the fetus has a disability such as Down syndrome. It also restricts a woman from terminating her pregnancy solely because of the gender or race of the fetus. The bill's author is Rep. Casey Cox, a Republican representing District 85. Other aspects of the new law, which takes effect in July, provides "that a miscarried or aborted fetus must be interred or cremated by a facility having possession of the remains." HEA 1337 also "requires physicians to provide information about perinatal hospice care to a pregnant woman who is considering an abortion because the unborn child has been diagnosed with a lethal fetal anomaly." Perinatal hospice care provides support for parents who find out during pregnancy that their baby has a life-limiting condition and who choose to continue their pregnancies, a Advertisement ccording to www.perinatalhospice.org. Indiana currently prohibits most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The "Periods for Pence" creator said that after she established the Facebook page, she also contacted a few local organizations, including women's rights groups, Democrats and other "progressives." "It just took off," she said. "We probably can't get this bill overturned. ... But we want to have a voice and we want him to know we are paying attention; we have a voice and we will vote. We hope this makes him more empathetic to women in his future decisions." Women concerned about the new law "want the governor to understand that just because our menstrual cycles and pregnancies and miscarriages and our heartbreaks are not something we talk about every day, they are individual human experiences." The woman said she is receiving many private messages, including those who don't want their calls posted. Some have questions about the new law they want answered. "Women are sharing their stories with me," she told the Tribune-Star. Some of them are sharing "horrible things that have happened to them and why they had to have an abortion. In some cases, it was sexual assault," she said. Others talked about miscarriages and the heartbreak it caused them. "They are very personal stories. It's become a safe place for women to talk about how our bodies don't always cooperate with what we want them to do," she said. The law, based on what she has read, is very vague and it discusses miscarriages a lot, she said. "Whether you agree or disagree with abortion, and I have a complex view of that, when you are talking about miscarriages, it is something your body does to you. A lot of people who have miscarriages want children desperately. Now they have to go to a doctor and pay for cremation or burial? That adds more stress on an already traumatizing situation." She also has concerns about the law and its ban on abortions sought because the fetus has a disability such as Down syndrome. "That's a very hard decision," she said. If families are not going to be given a choice, and more women give birth to children with severe disabilities, then she hopes Pence and legislators are willing to provide -- and fund -- the education services, support programs and advocacy these children and their families will need. For families already struggling financially, having a child with severe disabilities "can be a gift, but it can also be an extreme financial burden," she said. Advertisement Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. Playground politics: You have two front-runners going at it on the Republican side. If anyone approves of the way they are making the United States look with their playground stunts, you are a nut job also. I don't think any American thinks what these guys are saying back and forth is good for our country. Turn off the AC: I see Gates school is putting in a new playground. How sad to see the tiny little one in the picture, but they failed to show this wheelchair-friendly one they already have, not to mention the giant swing set with two additional handicap swings. Meanwhile, the paint is peeling off the building. I also wonder how much it costs to run the central air all summer in the one half and the 11 or so window units in the other. Who is this being run for? The school is empty. I wish I could afford to run my air all summer, but I'm paying taxes to run the empty school's air. Advertisement Stay connected with Cuba: This is about Cuba. Everyone, especially Ted Cruz, thinks talking to Cuba is a big mistake. I think talking to Cuba is a good thing. I think good things will eventually come out of it. While on this subject, will somebody tell me why we are paying the Cubans to keep Guantanamo Bay open but we don't want to talk to them? That seems unproductive to me. If we don't want anything to do with Cuba, then let's shut down the prison there. The United States has one of the best prison systems. They are very secure. Contrary to what the Republicans say, we have one of the mightiest military programs in the world. But the Republicans are always good when it comes to scare tactics on the American people. Miffed about loud music: Hi, Speak Out. Well, I'm speaking out. This is spring. It's not really warm out yet, but you can tell spring is in the air because there is loud music in the air. We had to call the police two times last week. Don't these people know about the noise ordinances in Aurora? Someone has to take control of this problem. The police have too many other important things to do. The mayor and City Council should step forward so regular citizens don't have to bother the police department. They need to start giving them a ticket the very first time and tell them to turn it down. Advertisement Turn down the volume: I'm calling about landlords in the city of Aurora who are required to attend a class in order to be a landlord. They need to tell the tenants, whether it's an apartment or a house, about the noise ordinance. The police also need to ticket the landlords as well as the tenants. Clear up all the cars: My comment is about the restricted parking that is supposed to be on Stewart Avenue. Where is it? Why hasn't it been started? We need it right now. There are four houses near my parents' house that have 11 cars belonging to them that sit in the street all day and all night. It's not safe there. No fire truck could travel there at night. Church should help refugees: Pope Francis' Easter message included his dismay that people fleeing war or poverty are being denied as European countries squabble over the refugee crisis. Hey, Pope, how about instead of having dismay, why don't you stop criticizing and chastising others and take all the refugees into the Vatican? You are the richest organization in the world, have acres of unused property, and claim to be in favor of Christian charity. Step up and do something useful rather than show disdain for others while you are doing nothing about the crisis. Mystified about mutual funds activity: Could somebody help me? I'm looking for an answer. Could someone explain to me that while stocks have returned to price levels prior to the December stock market collapse, why haven't mutual funds returned equally to the pre-December levels? I thought that because of their diversity, mutual funds were supposed to be safer than stocks, but the returns on the financial page are still a minus or a very low plus. I don't understand why mutual funds haven't risen with the stock market. Stumping for Trump: This is about the election. If everyone is happy with the last eight years, vote for Hillary Clinton. Remember that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, lied on television about having sex with Monica Lewinsky. I wouldn't trust Hillary as far as I can throw her. Donald Trump says it like it is, and people can't stand that. You know what? I hope he wins. He will make America great again and probably also make Mexico better than it is. Rating Republican candidates: Anyone who votes for Donald Trump, or Ted Cruz for that matter, are insane. They are the two biggest idiots ever running for president of the United States in my lifetime. Trump sounds like a little kid on the playground saying: He hit me first. Cruz was on the floor talking about Green Eggs and Ham. Anyone voting for them is crazy or just need someone to follow because they don't have a mind of their own. Editor's note Speak Out is a reader-generated column of opinions. If you see something you disagree with or think is incorrect, please tell us. Call us at 312-222-2460 or email couriernews@tribpub.com. Please include "speak out" in the subject line. Jesus Larosa, 47, of Chicago, was captured Wednesday in Dallas by the U.S. Marshals Service and faces extradition to Will County. (Will County Sheriff's Office) A Chicago man on parole for murder is being extradited to Will County to face new murder charges after fleeing to Texas, the Will County Sheriff's Office said. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Jesus Larosa, 47, in Dallas Wednesday after Will County sheriff's detectives received a tip identifying Larosa as a suspect in the 2014 murder of Alfred Hilton. Larosa was on parole after serving 20 years in an Illinois prison for a prior murder conviction. Advertisement Hilton was 85 when he was discovered, "on his kitchen floor ... severely beaten and strangled to death," according to a Will County Sheriff's Office statement. Hilton had been expected at a church event on May 14, 2014, when police found him in his home in the 3200 block of Bemes Road in Crete Township. Last month, Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley and Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow met to approve new charges related to the case. A warrant was issued on March 28 for Larosa's arrest. Advertisement "The warrant was sealed until detectives secured Larosa in custody. However, while law enforcement was looking for him in the Chicago area, an acquaintance notified Larosa, who immediately fled to Alabama," according to the statement. "A manhunt began with multiple law enforcement agencies in Alabama, Georgia and Texas," it said. Larosa was captured at a Walmart parking lot in Texas. He faces three charges of first-degree murder, police said. Bail was set at $3 million. Erin Gallagher is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. Chicago Teachers Union members and supporters attend a rally at the Thompson Center before marching during a one-day strike by teachers April 1, 2016, in Chicago. (John J. Kim / Chicago Tribune) I don't know about you, but I thought the Chicago Teachers Union's "Day of Action" walkout on Friday was a big waste of time and effort. Estimates place participation in the one-day strike at about 5,000 teachers and supporters. They marched through the streets of Chicago, rallied outside the energy-wasting "terrarium" we call the Thompson Center and gave speeches in front of TV cameras. Classes were canceled for some 300,000 students. Advertisement Gov. Bruce Rauner said Chicago's schoolchildren were victims of a "raw display of political power." The union's "height of arrogance" showed disregard for kids, he said. "I don't think the kids should pay a price for a political message," Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel told reporters. Advertisement But after politicians said their harrumphs, the teachers all went home, slept in their beds that night and were back at work on Monday. The Day of Action brought us no closer to getting a budget, reducing deficit spending, curtailing unsustainable retirement benefits for public employees or fixing any of Illinois' many other problems. Protests don't matter. The other day a group of about 50 advocates for homeless youth and service providers pretending to be on a tour briefly occupied the Governor's Mansion, according to WUIS-FM 91.9, a National Public Radio-affiliated station in Springfield. Groups charter buses, travel to Springfield from Chicago, make their points and then go home. Nothing changes because protests are relatively small and short-lived. Elected leaders know they can weather the political pressure of any demonstration, no matter how big. They're unafraid of protesters. The mayor, governor and legislative leaders act like they're not even uncomfortable about protests. Nor should they be. This isn't Iceland, where people took the streets in great numbers this week and forced the resignation of their prime minister. Not even a really big, sustained protest would make a difference. No Occupy Springfield movement or Illinois Spring uprising would matter, though conditions are ripe for one. It could start with Chicago State University students and faculty, since their semester is cut short. The school can't make payroll after this month because state funds to public universities and grants for college students dried up more than nine months ago. CSU students who can't find jobs will have time on their hands once classes end, and so will their professors. A few dozen of them could go to Springfield with food and tents and form the core of a sustained Occupy movement. They could be joined by out-of-work employees of social service agencies laid off due to the lack of state funding. When the semester ends, students and professors from other state universities could join the cause. They could come from all over the state. Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, Western Illinois University in Macomb, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and others are all directly affected by the budget impasse. They're hurt the most by state leaders' inability to approve a budget. What have they got to lose? When the K-12 school year ends, teachers from Chicago and throughout the state could peacefully gather in Springfield and refuse to leave until the governor signs a balanced state budget passed by the legislature. Their numbers could swell to the tens of thousands. Imagine them all camped out in Springfield for weeks on end. Advertisement It won't happen, and it shouldn't, because public protests are ineffective. That's the view of Occupy Wall Street co-founder Micah White, author of the new book, "The End of Protest: A New Playbook for Revolution." White says the 2003 anti-Iraq War movement was the largest synchronized protest in human history, yet the millions of demonstrators worldwide failed to sway President George W. Bush from halting the war in Iraq. He says Bush ignored the protesters and went ahead with the invasion of Iraq because he could. Here in Illinois, the likes of Rauner, Emanuel and House Speaker Michael Madigan know they have more power than any number of protesters. If they're faced with a protest, they just have to keep their cool, say something that sounds like they're sincerely trying to fix the problem and the uproar will quiet down. It always does. White says the alternative to protesting is to actually seize power from corrupt and ineffective politicians through elections. His website features a video and transcript of an interview he gave to Susan Cole, a Canadian activist and author. "We just think that our role somehow is to protest and make noise, but we don't think about the second part which is we could actually protest as a means to becoming the government and gaining control of the government in order to actually carry out our desires," White says. Advertisement Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday > He goes on to define revolution as "a change in legal regime." "The goal of activism is to become the power that sets the laws, that creates the laws," he says. White's reasoning is sound, but I can't figure out how to apply his rationale to get us from point A to point B here in Illinois. We thought we were electing a reformer in Rauner, but the gridlock, deficit spending and excessive benefits for public workers are worse than ever. During last month's primary, Madigan survived the most recent challenge to his stronghold on power. Illinois needs to stem the loss of manufacturing jobs to other states, create good-paying jobs for middle-class workers, reduce violence in our communities, limit tax increases and ensure the quality of education and other services while maintaining fair compensation for public employees. Voters need to elect into office representatives who can make all of that happen. Any ideas how to do that? tslowik@tribpub.com Advertisement Twitter @tedslowik A corgi gatheirng on March 5, 2016, in West Dundee. A similar event in Deerfield was canceled after a Facebook event went viral. (Erin Sauder / Pioneer Press) Imagine an idyllic spring day at a suburban park with newly green grass and flowers just beginning bloom. Insert into this scene a herd of photogenic corgis playfully frolicking as their owners capture the pups in action. It's a scene poised to go viral on social media, and that ultimately led to its downfall. Advertisement A Grayslake resident created a Facebook event inviting corgi owners to meet on April 23 at the Jaycee Dog Park in Deerfield. The event quickly spread on Facebook with thousands of respondents apparently planning to attend. Rick Julison, executive director of the Deerfield Park District, said his organization first heard of the gathering after it surpassed 2,400 planned attendees. Advertisement "She had to cancel it," Julison said. "She did not go through the proper procedures and so forth in asking for use of that park, but that wasn't the major issue. The major issue was she had so much of an interest." Kendall Seale, listed as the event's organizer on Facebook, did not respond to requests for comment. She announced the cancellation of the "Corgi Huddle" on its Facebook page eliciting dozens of saddened comments before ultimately deleting it. Seale hosted a similar event in West Dundee in March. "I've seen pictures and videos about the meet-ups in California and thought, 'Why not have one?,'" Seale said at the March 5 event, as reported by the Elgin Courier-News. About 30 corgis and their owners attended that event, which was also organized on Facebook. "The park district informed me of the safety hazard," she wrote on the now-deleted page for the planned Deerfield gathering. When corgi breeder Kathy Brandt, of Lake Villa, heard about the failed meet-up, she envisioned a scene a bit less friendly than what would-be participants might have imagined. "We're looking at one massive dogfight," Brandt said. Advertisement "Corgis are, quite honestly, German shepherds with no legs," she said. "They are just as intense, they are smarter. If you think you're going to get a bunch of them together, it's not going to be a happy time." When Brandt heard about the idea, she was eager to explain the safety hazard. She is one of the directors of the Lakeshore Pembroke Welsh Corgi Club and owns Ruaraigh, a kennel based in Lake Villa. She never lets more than three corgis play together at once. "Because they fight," Brandt said. "They're snotty little things." The breed has taken on a whole new set of admirers after photos and videos of the short and fluffy dogs have become an Internet genre all their own. "People go crazy over them on the Internet because of the funny little things that they do, and their little butts, and their smiles," Brandt added. "But then they get into the hands of these people who only see the cuteness." Advertisement Julison said the dog park at 1026 Wilmot Road was only built to handle an average number of dogs for that neighborhood, not a large event. Social events for corgis don't appear to be commonplace in the area. Meetup.com lists no corgi-specific groups anywhere in Chicago. On Facebook, the Chicago Area Corgi Owners Group contains 623 members. Courier-News freelance reporter Erin Sauder contributed. Twitter: @RonnieAtPioneer Melodie Gliniewicz, 51, of Antioch, with her attorney, turns herself in to the Lake County sheriff's office Jan. 27, 2016. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune) Melodie Gliniewicz, 51, was indicted in January on felony money laundering and misuse of charitable funds charges after prosecutors alleged more than $10,000 was misspent from accounts that were supposed to support the now-defunct Fox Lake Police Explorers chapter run by Lt. Gliniewicz. In March, a grand jury indicted Melodie Gliniewicz on three counts of conspiracy and another count of misuse of charitable funds for personal or business use. The new charges would not add to the maximum sentence she already faced on the original indictments. Officials have said she could receive probation or up to seven years in prison if convicted. Advertisement Her attorney, Donald Morrison, has filed a motion to dismiss all charges. Melodie Gliniewicz pleaded not guilty to new charges of conspiracy and misuse of charitable funds. (Lake County Sheriff's Office / Handout) On Wednesday, Morrison said if the charges are not dismissed he will file another motion that challenges the state law that led to the charges. Morrison declined to elaborate on the proposed challenge. Advertisement A May 17 hearing date has been set on the motion to dismiss. Authorities have said the couple used money intended for the Explorers program designed to give youths police experience in the field to pay for a vacation in Hawaii and trips to Fox Lake Theatre, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. Explorer funds were also used for more than 400 restaurant charges, according to officials. Among the 11,000 pages of new discovery submitted Wednesday were records connected to Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Hawaii and Nationwide Insurance. The Fox Lake village administrator had requested an audit of the program days before Lt. Gliniewicz was found fatally shot after calling dispatchers to report he was following three men, authorities said. His Sept. 1 death was initially investigated as a homicide in the line of duty but later ruled a suicide. Authorities said Lt. Gliniewicz staged his death to look like a murder amid fears his alleged thefts would be discovered. Also appearing in court Wednesday was Kristin Kiefer, who is charged with filing a fake police report, obstruction of justice and making a false report to a public safety agency for allegedly falsely claiming to have spotted two suspects in Gliniewicz's death. During her brief appearance, a new pretrial date of May 20 was scheduled. Kiefer's claim prompted law enforcement personnel to launch a massive search through Lake County cornfields the day after Gliniewicz was found dead. She later admitted to lying, authorities said. Advertisement Kiefer, of Vernon Hills, remains free after posting 10 percent of the $100,000 bail set after her Sept. 3 arrest. News-Sun's Jim Newton contributed. emcoleman@tribpub.com Twitter @mekcoleman Local social services supported by Naperville Township have been cut by $20,000 after the township highway commissioner rescinded a long-standing agreement to take more than half of his pay about $57,000 from the road district budget. Township Supervisor Rachel Ossyra said she had to find the money needed to pay Highway Commissioner Stan Wojtasiak full annual salary of $81,300 plus benefits. Advertisement While state law says township officials' salaries will be paid from the township budget, it also allows 50 percent of the highway commissioner's salary to be funded by the road district budget an arrangement that until this year was accepted practice in Naperville Township. The road district is funded through a property tax separate from that of the township. "I'm going to need the money this year," Wojtasiak said. Advertisement Several big road projects are coming up that need additional funding, he said. The road plan comes as the city of Naperville is proposing to take over maintenance of the township's 16 to 20 miles of roads in order to save the taxpayers money. Upcoming township projects include $1 million to repave Longwood subdivision off Route 59, including the installation of new curbs and gutters; about $75,000 for a new truck cab and chassis; and about $500,000 to begin widening less than one mile of North Aurora Road from two lanes to five, Wojtasiak said. Wojtasiak said he did not know how many miles in Longwood subdivision will be repaved. City maps estimate the subdivision has less than seven miles. The North Aurora Road project stretches from Pennsbury Lane in Aurora to Weston Ridge Drive in Naperville, Wojtasiak said. It includes rebuilding a railroad bridge and ultimately will cost the township about $32 million, with work likely finishing in 2018. The $500,000 is to start acquiring land for road expansion. Even with the projects, Wojtasiak said his new budget calls for a reduction in the amount of property taxes collected for his district. The township's new budget year began April 1. The township's budget is $2.2 million and the road district budget is $2.6 million. The township social services cuts include a $5,000 reduction in the $80,000 earmarked for Youth 360 Services, which provides counseling, housing and substance abuse prevention education programs for youth and young adults; elimination of $5,000 increases for Loaves and Fishes Community Services and Samaritan Interfaith, which currently receive $10,000 each; and a funding reduction from $6,000 to $5,000 for Senior Home Sharing, which provides affordable housing options to seniors. Samaritan Interfaith provides counseling, education and consulting to individuals, families and faith-based organizations. Loaves and Fishes provides food to residents in need. Advertisement The township also will have to postpone planned office renovations and other efforts, Ossyra said. "That's just how it has to go," she said. Naperville officials have proposed taking over maintenance of the township's 16 to 20 miles of unincorporated roads, which they say will reduce the cost to taxpayers by about 43 percent less over 10 years. They estimate the annual cost would decrease from about $1.86 million to about $1.07 million, according to city documents. Naperville already maintains about 500 miles of road, officials said, so adding another 20 or so would not be difficult. Fewer than 900 homes are in the township, with the rest being primarily in the city of Naperville. Owners of all 34,000 residential properties pay an average of $56 per parcel to maintain the 16 to 20 miles of unincorporated road on which those 900 homes sit. None of that money goes toward maintaining Naperville city streets. The deal to contract with the city for road services cannot be enacted without Wojtasiak's approval. He has not said when will announce his decision. Advertisement gbookwalter@tribpub.com Twitter:@GenevieveBook Out of this world experiences await at local rocket launch, planetarium and star gazing events. These destinations offer some stellar opportunities for educational family fun. Countdown to launch Advertisement Michiana Rocketry is hosting its inaugural Midwestblast from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Three Oaks, Michigan, with model rocket enthusiasts launching their newest projects and opportunities for kids to launch a rocket. "If the weather's nice we'll have 50 or 60 fliers at least. We've got a lot of people coming in from Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin, and I know there will be some large motors. We have a (FAA) waiver to 12,000 feet. I know of one project that will go close to that and will probably break the sound barrier," said Dave Brunsting, a Michiana Rocketry board member. Advertisement The organization made a splash in 2014 when a group of members successfully launched a portable toilet, but mostly this group of model rocketry enthusiasts launches an interesting, even impressive, variety of more conventional rockets. Their monthly launches are from a farm field in most months through the winter and early spring. "Last month we also had Notre Dame University's Student Launch Initiative Team out. They're part of a program put on by NASA where students have to design rockets, do a bunch of test flights, carry payload and meet other criteria. And we had some teams from the Team America Rocket Challenge, which is for high school students. Every year they have to carry an egg or two up, and bring it down." That's even more impressive when Brunsting clarified that the eggs are raw, and that a successful flight brings them back to the ground unbroken. He said model rocket enthusiasts enjoy exchanging information about their projects, and sharing their interest in the hobby with visitors. "We love to have students come out and launch a rocket, in fact we provide rockets for kids to have an opportunity to launch one." Brunsting said that interested families should look for a black trailer with tables, where the club has a "rocket bin" where youths can pick a free rocket to launch. A parent will need to sign a waiver. An engine may need to be purchased. The small size engines typically cost a few dollars, and area hobby shops will have vendor tables on site with a variety of engines and other rockets supplies. "Before each launch, every rocket is inspected by the field safety officer before it's put on the pad. When we have a few out there, they launch one at a time. Before each one the launch control officer announces information of note about each project, we do a countdown, they hit the big red button, and hopefully it flies successfully," Brunsting said. "There's a real Wow-factor here, especially the first time you come to a launch. The sound is hard to describe. It almost sounds like a jet engine, but one pointing straight up. It's a lot of fun." Advertisement He suggested those attending dress for the weather and for being in the open with nothing to block sun or wind, and be prepared to get mud on your shoes and pants. He recommended bringing water and a chair.. There will be a pig roast on Saturday, and there may also be a food vendor on Sunday. A (grounded) portable toilet will be at the site. Admission is free. Go online to www.michianarocketry.org before leaving home to check the event status as it is subject to local weather. The website also has directions to the field, which is on Avery Road southeast of Three Oaks. All the skies staged The Merrillville Community Planetarium is a unique area gem that offers a variety of public shows throughout the year followed by outdoor stargazing, if the weather is right. Friday is the first presentation of the planetarium's spring public show, More Than Meets the Eye. "This program bridges the gap of what's out there and what you can see with the eye and with amateur equipment. It's intended for people who recently got a telescope, or have binoculars, or an old telescope they maybe haven't used in a while, and want to learn more about what they can see in the night sky with the equipment they have at home," explained planetarium Director Gregg Williams. More Than Meets the Eye will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Friday, and again on April 15, 16, 22 and 23. Seats can be reserved in advance by calling 219-650-5486, or may be available at the door. Admission is $4 for adults and $2 for children. Advertisement The Merrillville Community Planetarium also makes a unique venue for group and private events. "We have a lot of Scout groups who come here, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Brownies, a lot of times looking to fulfill the requirements for a badge. We also do a lot of birthday parties, and have the waiting room outside of the planetarium where you can serve food, open gifts and visit." "We also had someone come here and propose during a show, and other people contacted us about having a wedding here. They wanted to do their vows under the stars. We'll try to accommodate any reasonable request," Williams said. The Merrillville Community Planetarium is in Pierce Middle School, 199 E. 70th Avenue, west of Interstate 65 and two blocks east of Broadway. More information is at www.mcpstars.org. More stargazing opportunities The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore hosts stargazing just after sunset on the first Saturday of every month, except July and December in 2016, from the Kemil Beach parking lot. Local astronomy club members bring telescopes and expertise for a show and tell about highlights of the current night sky. Advertisement The Kemil Beach parking lot was chosen as it is one of the darkest sites in the park. Attendance has been good, even through the winter, according to Bruce Rowe, public information officer at the IDNL. More information is at 219-395-1882 or www.nps.gov/indu. The Valparaiso University Observatory will host two more free public open house events this spring from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. April 15 and 29. If the skies are clear, visitors look at select objects through the facility's telescope as faculty members and students from the university's Physics and Astronomy Department offer information and answer questions. On cloudy nights, planetarium programs are offered. To confirm the program status, call 219-464-5202 or go online to www.valpo.edu/physics/astronomy/obsOpenHouse.php after 5 p.m. on the program day. The Calumet Astronomical Society has its next public observing date from 8 to 10:30 p.m. Saturday at the Conway Observatory at Buckley Homestead, 19100 Chase St., Lowell. Visitors can look through the facility's big telescope or a number of smaller telescopes as volunteers offer information on the use of telescopes, astronomical binoculars and the night sky. Call the CAS hotline at 1-773-639-5491 for cloud cover and viewing status updates, then, if conditions are right, dress for the weather. Joan Dittmann is a freelance columnist for the Post-Tribune. J4dittmann@yahoo.com Here are five things to do in Northwest Indiana from April 8-14. Lakeshore PAWS hosts a birthday party and grand opening adoption event from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 9. Admission is free. At 4611 Evans Ave., Valparaiso. Call 219-476-7297 or go to lakeshorepaws.org/ Advertisement The Spring Gigantic Indoor Garage Sale will held from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.., with early-bird admission from 7:30-8:30 a.m., at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso. Tickets are $2; $5 for early admission. At 215 E. Division Road. Call 219-464-0133 or go to porterco.org. Sacred Spaces and Objects is a new exhibit at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University. The exhibit runs from April 13-May 8. Admission is free. At 1709 Chapel Drive. Call 219-464-5365 or go to valpo.edu/brauer-museum-of-art/ Advertisement The Weekly Wednesday Spring Bird Hike Series at Gibson Woods will be held from 9:30-11 a.m. April 13, April 20, April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18, May 25, & June 1. The walks are free. At 6201 Parrish Avenue in Hammond. Call to sign up at 219-844-3188. The 1970s rock band Foreigner will perform at 9 p.m. (EST) April 8 at the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo. Tickets are $55. At 1111 Wilson Road. Call 866-494-6370 or go to fourwindscasino.com. Do you have something going on we could include in Five Things to Do? Email your item, with time, date, place, price and contact information to wweber@tribpub.com at least two weeks before the event. Dunes Native Plant Sale is Saturday The Friends of Indiana Dunes 20th annual Native Plant Sale will be from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, 1215 N. Ind. 49 in Porter. Admission is free to the event, which features more than 100 native plant species for sale, as well as free advice from gardening consultants and printed literature. More information is at 219-926-3833 or www.friendofindianadunes.org. Advertisement Caregiver support group returns from hiatus After a three month hiatus a support group for those taking care of people with Alzheimer's disease, dementia, cancer, stroke or other adult care responsibilities will again meet regularly every fourth Sunday, starting at 2 p.m. April 24 in the Blessed Mother Conference Room of Franciscan St. Margaret Hospital in Dyer. Meetings last about an hour and a half. The April meeting will have a guest presentation by Monika Basile, home care coordinator from We Are Family Home Care. Information is with facilitators Jim and Pat Koeling at 219-365-3898. Advertisement Gary neighborhood meeting to outline growth The University Park East Choice Neighborhoods Planning Team will host a community meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. April 14 at Ivy Tech Community College's multipurpose room. During the meeting, the group will discuss plans for neighborhood investments including new restaurants, shops, and housing. More information is with Rachelle Morgan Ceaser, project manager, at 219-802-3138 or upeastprojectmanager@gmail.com. Photography exhibition focuses on Dunes Indiana Dunes photographer David Larson will share stories of dunes history and open his photo exhibition: 50 Years of Photographing the Indiana Dunes starting at 5:30 p.m. April 16. The program and exhibition will be held at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center, 1215 N. State Road 49 just south of the intersection of 49 and U.S. 20 in Porter. More information is at 219-395-1882 or www.nps.gov/indu. Shirley Heinze Land Trust sets series of hikes Shirley Heinze Land Trust invites the public to explore the natural beauty of the Calumet Region and beyond by attending its annual series of educational hikes. Five hikes, led by a variety of experts, have been scheduled at outstanding nature preserves in Northwest Indiana, Northeast Illinois and Southwest Michigan. Botanist Scott Namestnik will lead the first hike on from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time April 23 at Dowagiac Woods Nature Sanctuary, in Cass County, Michigan. Group size is limited to 15, and advance registration is required. There is a $25 fee per person for each hike. Details and registration are at www.heinzetrust.org/hike-program.html or 219-242-8558, or email Jim Erdelac at jerdelac@heinzetrust.org. Empty Bowls project to aid food pantry The Empty Bowls project, a dual effort of the Portage High School Art Department and members of Holy Cross and St. Peter Lutheran churches, returns this spring to support the Portage Township Food Pantry. The event will be from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 26 in the Portage High School West cafeteria. A bowl of soup and a soft drink is $5. An extra $5 buys one of a large selection of ceramic bowls created by Portage High School art students. Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance. Information is at 219-762-1896, 219-762-0418 or with the PHS Art Department at 219-762-1675, ext. 303. Advertisement Staff report A group of demonstrators protest the GEO Group plan to bring a detention facility to the city Tuesday on the stairs inside of City Hall. (Jim Karczewski / Post-Tribune) Concetta Smart is a Crete, Ill., resident who absolutely hated the idea of federal immigration officials calling for a detention center to be built near her hometown. Even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have backed away from that location in Will County, Ill., she said she still can't stand the plan. She has followed protests against the detention center to be built in Joliet and in Gary. Advertisement Smart was among about 45 people who gathered Tuesday at City Hall in Gary to protest a center planned for land adjacent to the Gary/Chicago International Airport. "This is a bad idea that will hurt whatever community gets stuck with it," Smart said. "I'm going to follow this around to make sure people know it's a bad idea." Advertisement The detention center is part of a federal plan to have private companies build five such facilities across the United States with a Gary-based center servicing the Midwest. It would be used to hold people who are facing violations of federal immigration law while their cases are pending. Currently, the federal government has to contract out to county jails across the country to hold such people, and that has activists concerned that people who aren't facing criminal charges are being held in jail. The same activists are upset that any jail-like facility would be built, particularly one run by a private company. "Nobody gets rich except for the companies that build these places," said Cheryl Rivera, executive director of the Northwest Indiana Federation of Interfaith Organizations. David Venturella, a senior vice president for GEO, said his company is lobbying local officials. "We're trying to clear up the misconceptions about the facility," he said. "There is a lot of bad information being spread around." The Common Council did not act on the issue Tuesday, although Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she remains opposed to the proposal a stance Venturella said he respects. Although Councilwoman LaVetta Sparks-Wade, D-6th, said she hasn't made up her mind yet about the project, she will sponsor a forum at 5:30 p.m. April 29 at the Glen Theater, 20 W. Ridge Road. Gary, where GEO officials will be on hand to explain the project. Advertisement Gregory Tejeda is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. About 30 people gathered Wednesday for the Donor Awareness Day ceremony, which included a proclamation by Porter chief executive officer Steve Lunn and the raising of a flag in front of Porter Regional Hospital. Kathy Lewis celebrated her ninth anniversary as the recipient of a new kidney last month. Advertisement "I'm here today because someone signed their drivers license to be an organ donor," she said, fighting back tears Wednesday during a program recognizing Donor Awareness Day at Porter Regional Hospital. She said she thinks about her donor every morning when she wakes up. "We're all very emotional about being a donor recipient. It's a wonderful thing." About 30 people gathered for the ceremony, which included a proclamation by Porter chief executive officer Steve Lunn and the raising of a flag in front of the hospital. Advertisement "Each and every one of you here today has the power to save lives by becoming a registered organ donor," said Lewis, of Michigan City, who was on a waiting list for almost two years. "More than 1,300 Indiana residents and 121,000 Americans are now on the transplant waiting list. Every 10 minutes another person is added to that list, and sadly, 22 people die each day because an organ wasn't available for transplant," Lunn said in his proclamation. "These individuals in need are for our family members, friends, neighbors and coworkers. I encourage all in our community to consider helping others by registering as a donor." Jessica Gnoth, professional services coordinator for the Indiana Donor Network, thanked the hospital for supporting the network's lifesaving mission, and said that since 2003, April has been a time to honor organ donors. Anyone who wants to become an organ donor can do so at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, at DonateLifeIndiana.org, or by texting "DONOR" to 95577, she said. According to statistics from the network, one donor can save eight lives and enhance the lives of more than 50 people. More than 3 million Hoosiers are registered to donate organs, tissue or corneas, according to the network. Mike Smothers, a retired family physician from Elkhart, received a kidney from his daughter's fiance in a living donor transplant. "I know both sides of the fence now. I'm used to being a doctor and used to being a patient," he said, adding receiving a new kidney has provided spring breaks, summers and a Disney vacation with his young grandson that he otherwise wouldn't have been able to enjoy. Advertisement Smothers practiced medicine for 33 years, until he had to go on dialysis while he awaited a transplant. "It was a lot of boredom, a lot of routine and a lot of confinement," he said, adding dialysis makes patients prone to heart disease. "I'm happy now. I don't have much confinement. I can go where I want. I'm very grateful for the opportunity that young man gave me." Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune. By Dezan Shira & Associates Editor: Rainy Yao For the first time in its history, the Chinese government released a circular (Cai Guan Shui [2016] No.18) to specifically clarify import tax policies for goods imported under the cross border e-Commerce model, regaining control of its loosely regulated cross border e-Commerce market. The Circular, which will come into force as of April 8, 2016, stipulates that consumers purchasing goods imported under both the direct shipping model and the bonded warehouse model need to pay import taxes including tariffs, import value-added tax (VAT), and consumer tax (if applicable). Meanwhile, the new policies set a limit of RMB 2,000 for a single transaction and RMB 20,000 for yearly transactions. Transactions within the limit enjoy a temporary zero percent tariff rate, but are still subject to import VAT and consumer tax, which are charged at 70 percent of the taxable amount under the general trade model. Ordinary custom duties apply for transactions exceeding the abovementioned limit, as well as for purchased goods whose duty paying value (DPV) is over RMB 2,000. The Ministry of Finance and relevant departments are still working on a separate Cross border e-Commerce Retail Imported Commodities List, which will include the detailed scope of goods that can be imported under the cross border e-commerce model and is expected to be released soon. Previously, purchased goods imported via cross border e-commerce zones were subject to a special parcel tax, which was much lower than ordinary custom duties. This offered an obvious price advantage and created an unfair tax burden for goods imported under the general trade model. Aiming to reduce the pressure on local manufacturers and customs, the new policy will inevitably increase costs and tax burdens for foreign exporters engaging in the cross border e-commerce industry. This is particularly true for companies selling luxury goods to Chinese consumers, given that the consumer tax on these goods can be extremely high and the zero tariff policy does not apply to transactions of over RMB 2,000. RELATED: Business Advisory Services from Dezan Shira & Associates Nevertheless, compared to general customs duties levied on imported goods, enterprises who sell general consumer goods to China can still enjoy substantial tax benefits. For example, exporting UHT/fresh milk priced at RMB 100 to China under the general trade model is subject to an import tariff of 15 percent and a VAT of 17 percent: Tax payable= RMB 10015% + RMB 10017% = RMB 32 On the other hand, customers will only pay 70 percent of the 17 percent VAT on the imported milk under the cross border e-commerce model: Tax payable= RMB 10070%17% = RMB 11.9 As seen from the comparison, the cross border e-commerce model often enables foreign merchants to sell imported goods at a lower price, and thus makes their products more competitive on the open market. Additionally, along with the release of the import tax policies, Chinas Customs also raised its parcel tax rates from the previous 10-50 percent to 15-60 percent. Detailed information on cross border e-Commerce model and the parcel tax rates levels can be found in our previous article here. About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. China Investment Roadmap: the e-Commerce Industry In this edition of China Briefing magazine, we present a roadmap for investing in Chinas e-commerce industry. We provide a consumer analysis of the Chinese market, take a look at the main industry players, and examine the various investment models that are available to foreign companies. Finally, we discuss one of the most crucial due diligence issues that underpins e-commerce in China: ensuring brand protection. 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. Importing and Exporting in China: a Guide for Trading Companies In this issue of China Briefing, we discuss the latest import and export trends in China, and analyze the ways in which a foreign company in China can properly prepare for the import/export process. With import taxes and duties adding a significant cost burden, we explain how this system works in China, and highlight some of the tax incentives that the Chinese government has put in place to help stimulate trade. Shi Lirong (left) and Zhao Xianming. ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker, has reshuffled its top executive team, just weeks after the United States sanctioned the company for alleged export violations. Shi Lirong, who has led ZTE's overseas expansion as president and chairman since 2010, is stepping down, to be replaced by Zhao Xianming, its chief technology officer, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement. The company has also appointed seven new executive vice-presidents, including Zeng Xuezhong, head of handset businesses. The changing of the guard comes after the US Commerce Department announced it was blocking US companies from selling components to ZTE, claiming the Chinese company sold prohibited items to Iran. The US government has since said it would ease the restrictions until the end of June and could further ease them if ZTE cooperated in "resolving the matter". "The new management team will continue work on innovation and global expansion, and will follow the highest-level international business principles," said the statement. Shares in ZTE, traded in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, have been suspended since early March. The company is due to announce full-year results on Wednesday. Analysts suggested the US sanctions triggered Shi's departure, although the company insisted the matters are not related. James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said replacing Shi was a right call for ZTE because the company cannot afford to miss out on the US as a key growth opportunity. "The core management team in the US is intact, which is a good thing for ZTE because they still have the know-how to handle everyday operations," Yan said. Milly Xiang, a telecom analyst with research firm International Data Corp, also said the management changes will have limited impact on ZTE's strategies, most of which were drawn up as early as in 2014. "I don't think (the reshuffle) will slow down ZTE's global expansion, especially when the company is seeking to outshine its competitors by migrating to post-4G telecom technology and the Internet of Things market," said Xiang. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. A Long March 2-D rocket carrying the SJ-10 Satellite blasts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu Province, April 6, 2016. China put into space a retrievable scientific research satellite in the early hours of Wednesday in a fresh bid to aid scientists back on Earth in studying microgravity and space life science. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) China put into space a retrievable scientific research satellite in the early hours of Wednesday in a fresh bid to aid scientists back on Earth in studying microgravity and space life science. In a cloud of brown smoke, the satellite, SJ-10, roared into the air on the back of a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's gobi desert. While in space, the bullet-shaped probe will house 19 experiments involving microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, space material, space radiation effect, microgravity biological effect and space bio-technology, before coming back to Earth with results. On-board experiments were selected from a pool of over 200 applicants. They include one that will study early-stage development of mouse embryos in microgravity to shed light on human reproduction in space, and another studying space radiation effects on genetic stability of fruit flies and rat cells. A "Soret Coefficient in Crude Oil" experiment in partnership between the National Space Science Center under CAS and the European Space Agency (ESA) is also onboard together with an investigation of coal combustion and pollutant formation under microgravity. The former test is aimed to improve scientists' understanding of oil reservoirs buried kilometers underground, while the latter is expected to help enhance energy efficiency and cut emissions. "All experiments conducted on SJ-10 are completely new ones that have never been done before either at home or abroad," said Hu Wenrui, chief scientist of the SJ-10 mission. "They could lead to key breakthroughs in our academic research," Hu said. SJ-10 is the second of four scientific satellites under a CAS space program. Unlike the other three, SJ-10 is returnable. It is the 25th such retrievable satellite launched by China in the past decades. Overall, eight of the experiments on fluid physics and microgravity combustion will be carried out in the orbital module and the others in the re-entry capsule which is expected to land at Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia, the designated landing spot for China's Shenzhou manned space missions and a 2014 test lunar orbiter. You are here: Home President Xi Jinping urged development of the countrys forestry while attending a voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing yesterday. Xi visited an afforestation site in Beijings Daxing District and planted six saplings of different varieties at the site. Other top leaders, including Premier Li Keqiang, also attended the event. Noting that the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) marks an important stage in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in Chinas ecological protection drive, the president stressed forestry development as a significant measure to fulfill these goals. He called on officials at all levels to take the lead in voluntary tree planting campaigns to promote new development concepts with their own practices. He also called for proper management of planted trees to make the environment greener and more beautiful. Xi called for an altruistic and down-to-earth spirit for such activities, citing the Chinese proverb people plant trees so their offspring can enjoy the shade. Situated in Xihongmen township in Beijings southern Daxing District, the area where the leaders planted trees were once industrial sites. Thanks to the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei which requires the capital city to diversify its non-capital functions, the area has been reshaped into a park following economic restructuring. Xi told officials, volunteers and children present that Chairman Mao Zedong had issued a call for greening the country 60 years ago, and the National Peoples Congress began the tree planting campaign 35 years ago at the behest of then-leader Deng Xiaoping. Over the years, Chinas forests have continued to grow at the fastest pace in the world this century, Xi said. Xi also stressed the environmental protection drive. He said all tasks under the initiative, not limited to tree planting, need to be carried out well with widespread public participation. File photo of two giant pandas. [Photo/iPanda.com] Some netizens checking the 24/7 live video feed at a research center for giant pandas in Sichuan province are hoping to catch a glimpse of the bears in action. Since spring is mating season at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya'an, Sichuan province, 20 video cameras have been installed at the center by iPanda.com to offer a continuous view of the pandas' lives. Those disappointed by the live feed can turn to panda-mating video clips on the site. One clip shows an encounter between a 16-year-old panda, Wu Gang, and 9-year-old Cui Cui, who were introduced by keepers of the center's Bifengxia base in Ya'an on Sunday. Mating in captivity had long been a challenge for the pandas, followed by equally difficult pregnancies and challenges in the care of newborn cubs, researchers said. That has changed over the past 20 years, as researchers have learned more about the bears. In the early years, "only 20 percent of the pandas could have sex naturally. To motivate male pandas' sex drive, researchers let them watch videos of other pandas mating" and fed them an aphrodisiac, said Zhang Heming, the panda center's chief. Now, between 70 and 80 percent of the pandas can have sex naturally, he said. A 2015 panda census by the State Forestry Administration tallied 422 captive pandas worldwide. Most are in the Ya'an research center and the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Launched by China Network Television in 2013, iPanda.com aired a live broadcast of two pairs of mating pandas for the first time in April last year. During a live broadcast earlier this month, Luo Bo, deputy chief of the animal management department of the Ya'an base, said Cui Cui was most likely pregnant. Nearly all pandas mate only in spring, so zoos around the world are eagerly looking for assistance and preparing for the birth of cubs. "Many zoos outside the Chinese mainland lack experience in the field and ask Chinese researchers to help them. This year, researchers from the (Ya'an research center) have visited Belgium and Taipei. Next they will go to Singapore, Thailand, Britain and Australia," said Tang Chunxiang, a senior researcher. Even before iPanda.com was launched, the center was posting video clips. It started on June 24, 2013, as a test and attracted nearly 15,000 viewers in one month. "Now each year, tens of millions of people visit the website, where they can have a 24-hour view of pandas' lives," Zhang said. Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation. You are here: Home Flash A Saudi police officer was shot dead in western the capital city of Riyadh in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group, Al Arabiya News reported on Tuesday. The police colonel was working as head of the criminal investigation department in a district in western Riyadh and was shot on the highway, the Saudi Interior Ministry's spokesperson was quoted as saying. No arrest has been made yet, the spokesperson added. On Saturday night, a foreigner was killed in a bomb blast in southern Riyadh. Saturday's blast targeted a police vehicle in Al Kharj region. It left two other patrol vehicles damaged. The latest shooting and Saturday's blast are the latest in a string of bombings the kingdom has been witnessing since last year. All the previous blasts were planned by IS through its sleeping cells in the country. Flash As part of the migration deal between the European Union (EU) and Turkey three weeks ago, the first 31 Syrian refugees arrived in The Netherlands on Tuesday morning by plane. After their arrival the Syrians were transferred to a refugee center. For privacy reasons the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice did not reveal where they landed and to what reception center the refugees were moved. Contrary to an earlier statement by the ministry, not 34, but 31 Syrians came to the Netherlands on Tuesday. "For practical reasons the others could not come today," spokeswoman Janet Takens told Xinhua. "However, those other three will come as soon as possible." The migration deal involves Syrians who have shown in Turkey that they have the right to request a residence permit in The Netherlands. Turkey takes back refugees from European countries that can't stay there, while in return Europe takes Syrian refugees from Turkish camps. The Netherlands, Germany and Finland are among the countries that have agreed to take refugees from Turkish camps, with several Syrians already arriving in Germany and Finland on Monday. The Syrian refugees were selected in various refugee camps in Turkey by the UN refugee agency UNHCR, in cooperation with the Turkish authorities. The spokeswomen of the Dutch Ministry said when the next Syrian refugees will fly from Turkey to the Netherlands is not yet known. Flash Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Tuesday that Russia will create a National Guard to fight terrorism, organized crime and drug trafficking. The force will be set up on the basis of interior troops and be in close contact with the Interior Ministry, Putin said during a meeting on reforms of the country's law enforcement agencies. He said the new body will be used as paramilitary and riot police. Russia has been making great efforts to ensure security on its territory and in neighboring areas in the face of growing threats of terrorism and extremism. The Islamic State has threatened to conduct attacks on Russia after Moscow launched air campaigns against terrorist targets in Syria in late 2015. Flash A recent spate of violent attacks on Asian students in Auckland has raised concerns about public safety, particularly in minority communities. In light of the attacks, many people are now wondering: is Auckland still safe? Victims from a spate of attacks on Asian students living in New Zealand have been left covered in blood after being slashed with knives and screwdrivers. [Screenshot/Photo] Two female Chinese students who attend the University of Auckland and a male Chinese student at the New Zealand National Institute were attacked and robbed in Auckland on the evening of March 22 and the morning of March 24 respectively. In addition, two female Japanese students suffered similar misfortunes on the evenings of March 22 and March 28. Altogether six young people were left bloodied, battered and terrified after the assaults. Inspector Joe Tipene of the Auckland Police Department says the four violent attacks aren't necessarily related. There is no evidence showing that this series of crimes is targeting any particular ethnicity. Tipenes statement is somewhat reassuring to Aucklands Asian students and the larger Asian community, but there are still concerns. Dr. David Mayeda, a sociologist with Auckland University, says that international students are more likely to be targeted by criminals, perhaps because they are not as familiar with the environment around them. They tend to inadvertently put themselves at more risk. There is also a widespread complaint in the Chinese and international student communities that the current law enforcement and judicial system in New Zealand take "special care" of certain ethnic groups or specific populations, namely indigenous Maori and Pacific Islanders. Auckland police confirmed on April 1 that they have arrested 10 suspects and the investigation continues. However, the overall police response to the incidents has been disappointing to many. In addition to "sympathy," all the police have really offered is advice that people to walk only in well-lit areas, and preferably not alone. That statement has become the target of many critics online. Auckland mayoral candidate Phil Goff says that as New Zealand's only "super city," Auckland has been facing a shortage of police officers. In his opinion, a bigger police presence and more resources are the first steps toward solving the problem. According to the New Zealand Police Department, the country is divided into 12 police districts; the Auckland Police Department is one of the smallest, despite the fact that it has the largest number of residents. The Auckland department is then further divided into three administrative branches, which together are responsible for 42 million permanent residents and 40,000 international students. Meanwhile, there are fewer than 1,000 Auckland police officers. Goff also stated that he was shocked to learn that among the 10 suspects arrested by police so far, five were minors. The youngest suspect is 12. Flash The Palestinians insist that they will not accept the resumption of unconditioned peace talks with Israel, a senior official stated on Tuesday. Israeli soldiers clash with Palestinians as they disperse protesters from a main road during a protest marking Land Day, near Burka village, northern the West Bank city of Nablus, on March 30, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator and Secretary General of Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), told "Voice of Palestine" Radio that the Palestinians reject the notion of restarting the peace talks with Israel unconditionally. Erekat was responding to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's earlier remarks that he invites Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas for a meeting to study ending incitement between the two sides. "In case the meeting is held, Netanyahu should first announce an end of settlement, release prisoners arrested before signing Oslo peace accords in 1993 and recognize all the signed peace treaties between the two sides," said Erekat. He insisted that "If Netanyahu doesn't do this, there will be no resumption of negotiations," adding that "in relation to incitement, we know how to respond to it." Erekat accused Israel of waging a comprehensive war against the Palestinians, which includes a demolition of homes, lands confiscations, holding bodies of Palestinians and breaking into Palestinians' holy places. Flash U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday called on Congress to reform the business tax system to close the loophole that allows for a financial practice known as corporate inversions. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the economy and corporate tax inversions in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington D.C., United States, on April 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] "While the Treasury Department actions will make it more difficult and less lucrative for companies to exploit this particular corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good," Obama said at the White House, one day after the Treasury Department announced a series steps to curb corporate inversions. Corporation inversions are transactions in which U.S.-parented multinational companies change their tax residence to a low-tax country by acquiring foreign companies to reduce or avoid paying U.S. taxes, according to the Treasury Department. "When companies exploit loopholes like this, it makes it harder to invest in the things that are going to keep America's economy going strong for future generations," Obama told reporters, adding that these loopholes come at the expense of middle-class families because "that lost revenue has to be made up somewhere.". "Alternatively, it means that we're not investing as much as we should in schools, in making college more affordable, in putting people back to work rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our infrastructure, creating more opportunities for our children," said the president. Obama urged the Republican-controlled Congress to pass business tax reforms that would make the tax system more competitive for all U.S. businesses. "I've often said the best way to end this kind of irresponsible behavior is with tax reform that lowers the corporate tax rate, closes wasteful loopholes, simplifies the tax code for everybody," he said. "Instead of focusing on soundbites, Washington should do its job and comprehensively reform the tax code," U.S. Chamber of Commerce's executive vice president for government affairs Bruce Josten said Tuesday in a statement. "The real solution is comprehensive tax reform that lowers rates for all businesses and shifts to a competitive international system that both allows Americans companies to compete globally and attracts foreign investment to the United States," he added. However, given the heated presidential campaign and wide differences between Republicans and Democrats on tax reform, it's unlikely for Congress to pass any important tax legislation this year. An employee adjusts a thread on his mechanical lace-making machine called Leavers loom at the Desseilles Laces factory in Calais, northern France. [Photo/Agencies] Chinese leading textile company Yong Sheng, a Hangzhou-based privately owned enterprise, has acquired French lace producer Desseilles Laces SAS, one of the oldest lace producers in the country, for 300,000 euros ($341,300). Founded in 1993, Hong Kong-listed Yong Sheng sells its products to more than 60 countries and regions, and last year, it posted revenue growth of more than 20 percent over 2014. With the acquisition, it is the first time that the company will have a production base in Europe. Last year, Desseilles saw its sales revenue reach 5.4 million euros, declining 35 percent from 2014. The acquisition will enable Desseilles to survive on the verge of bankruptcy. Currently, 70 percent of Desseilles' products are exported to Asia. After the deal, the French lace producer is expected to rapidly expand its market share in China, and encounter more growth opportunities worldwide. Michel Berrier, general director of Desseilles, said: "After the purchase, we plan to become the No 1 lace producer in France. Now we provide products to many well-known lingerie brands, such as Victoria's Secret. "Cooperating with Yong Sheng will bring us financial benefits, as well as access to new markets. Meanwhile, we will bring Yong Sheng creative designs and products that were unavailable in China." As one of a few lace producers to master world-leading techniques and traditional production methods, Desseilles has become a famous brand in France thanks to its sophisticated craftsmanship. Desseilles encountered legal problems before the acquisition. Some former employees sued the company for violating the French labor law, and the court fined Desseilles 1 million euros. Unable to pay the fine, Desseilles started the liquidation process. After it signed the acquisition agreement with Yong Sheng, the court withdrew the fine. Under the agreement, the French company plans to reduce its workforce from 74 to 60. Among the bids for the company, the Chinese plan provided the best solution for its local employment issues. Yong Sheng promised to keep the 60 positions, and keep the manufacturing in Calais, the original production area for Desseilles in northern France, for at least five years. Zhang Qi, assistant to the chairman at Yong Sheng, said: "For a long time, chemical fiber brand has been a rather weak sector in Yong Sheng's industry chain. We hope to raise the brand value through the acquisition. "Yong Sheng plans to research and develop new products by using lace and chemical fibers together. The production and dyeing by Yong Sheng will help Desseilles to significantly cut its costs, and help it turn around within a year. "In the long term, we hope to promote the whole industry by transferring the lace industry layout, and establishing a new R&D center, design center and lace production training school in France." Lu Jinyong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said: "China's textile industry is seeing declining international competitiveness, due to increasing labor costs. A critical way for China to raise its competence and upgrade its industrial structure is through acquiring premiere overseas brands." China's Anbang Insurance Group has signed an agreement to buy South Korea's life insurance and investment unit Allianz SE's for more than $3 million, the two companies announced on Wednesday. The transaction follows an extensive review by Anbang to secure long-term growth for Allianz Life Insurance Korea and Allianz Global Investors Korea, said the statement. The addition of Allianz Life Insurance Korea and Allianz Global Investors Korea to Anbang's global portfolio is expected to bring further opportunities for Anbang as well as its affiliates in Asia. The expanded group will be able to offer clients more competitive, innovative products and services through its extensive global network and the considerable capital strength of Anbang. "We are very excited to make another investment in Korea through Allianz Life Insurance Korea and Allianz Global Investors Korea. The acquisition is consistent with Anbang's investment strategy which is focused on globalization and we are committed to being a strong partner and long-term contributor to the growth of the financial industry in Korea," said Yao Dafeng, Asia head of Anbang Insurance Group. Maximilian Zimmerer, member of the board of management of Allianz SE responsible for Investments and Insurance Asia Pacific said, "I am convinced that Anbang Insurance Group is in a very good position to nurture the company into an even stronger organization with a successful future." Established in 1954, Allianz Life Insurance Korea serves 1.1 million clients. Its 2015 year-end assets totaled $15 billion. The high-profile companies that Anbang has bought include: the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, US life insurance provider Fidelity and Guaranty Life, Belgium's Fidea Assurances and Delta Lloyd Bank, and Dutch insurance company VIVAT. Anbang has also taken a controlling stake in South Korea's Tong Yang Life. A sales woman introduces a property program to visitors at a spring real estate exhibition held in Beijing, April 17, 2015. [Photo/IC] Most of China's land sale revenue last year went to compensation and related spending, leaving only a marginal sum to be used for other expenditures, according to the Finance Ministry. A total of 2.68 trillion yuan ($414 billion), or 79.6 percent of last year's land sale fund spending, went to compensation and preliminary land development. This left 688 billion yuan, or 20.4 percent of total expenditure, as disposable revenue for local governments to build urban infrastructure, social housing and rural development, according to an annual statement on China's land sales released on Tuesday. This is in contrast to the widespread perception that governments raked in a gigantic amount in land sale revenue last year to finance unspecified projects, with little transparency. A recent Chinese media report said that in the past 17 years, land worth 27.3 trillion yuan had been sold, but there had been little information available on how the money was spent. In order to retrieve a piece of land, local governments must negotiate with residents who have properties built on the land and pay an agreed amount of money-generally known as compensation for land requisition. Compensation-related fees have surged in recent years and have eaten away a chunk of the money local governments earned through land sales. In 2009, for example, rigid expenditure only accounted for 52.7 percent of total expenditure, compared with 79.6 percent in 2015, leaving much higher room for flexible uses. Surging compensation costs and dwindling land sales income, due to the property market downturn, have squeezed local governments' ability to build public utilities, social housing and repay debt. Rating agency Moody's cited this reason in concluding that local governments' ability to serve debt and support government-owned entities could be tested. So-called wiggle room for local governments has been eroded further by the central government requirement that at least 10 percent of net income must be used for social housing construction. Another 10 percent must fund arable land and water conservation efforts, and 10 percent must be used for education. Asa result, only 353 billion yuan, or 51 percent of net income last year, was used for urban construction. National land sale revenue last year was 3.37 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decline of 21.6 percent, according to the ministry. Half of China's listed property developers saw their net profits decline last year. So far, 59 real estate firms have disclosed their annual results. Thirty reported declines in net profits and eight of those posted losses, Centaline Property Agency said on Tuesday. Governments in Dalian in Liaoning province, Ningbo in Zhejiang province and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region were particularly hard hitseeing plunges of more than 50 percent. The ministry also reported some misconduct in using the income. For example, it said most "illegal land sale" revenue had not gone to the fund, although it did not define "illegal" and no specific figure was reported. Some localities exempted due land revenue to attract investment, or inflated the revenue to boost performance. A residential complex developed by Evergrande Real Estate Group in Qidong, Jiangsu province. [Photo provided to China Daily] SHANGHAI - Half of China's listed property developers saw their net profits decline last year as the country's real estate market cooled. So far, 59 real estate firms have disclosed their annual results. Thirty reported declines in net profits and, of those, eight posted losses, the Centaline Property Agency said Tuesday. The 59 firms reported total revenues of 510 billion yuan ($78.8 billion), up 24.8 percent year on year. Their net income rose 9.4 percent on average, down from 10.5 percent a year ago, it said. Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property, said although many others have yet to disclose the results, they are expected to report profit declines, too. CIFI Holdings (Group) Co, one of the better performers, saw revenues up 43 percent to 30.2 billion yuan with core net profits rising 12.1 percent last year. Lin Feng, president of CIFI Holdings, said the strong performance was due to the company's strategy focusing on first- and second-tier cities. In 2016, the company will strive to boost sales to reduce inventory while reducing land purchases, Lin said. Meanwhile, many developers are trying to diversify their business to seek new growth drivers. Wanda, Greenland and Evergrande have launched financial services. Su Xuejing, an analyst with China Securities, said the transition is in line with the country's efforts to adjust its economic structure and transform its growth mode. BP Plc is joining hands with China National Petroleum Corp to unlock the potential of China's vast reserves of shale gas in the hope that it can generate a lucrative profit amid expectations of a rising oil price in the long term, an expert said on Tuesday. The London-based energy giant signed its first shale-gas production deal with CNPC, the country's biggest oil company, to jointly develop the Neijiang-Dazu shale-gas block covering an area of about 1,500 square kilometers in the Sichuan Basin. CNPC will be the operator of the project, while BP will use its technology in shale-gas exploitation. Calling it a win-win situation, Bob Dudley, BP Group's chief executive, said that the contract provides "fair and reasonable returns" for both companies. "The timing is good, and it fits China's national agenda," he said. "There are a lot of known shale-gas resources in Sichuan. It has had some development and a good market for natural gas, and has infrastructure pipelines in place. These are key ingredients for success." Dudley said geologists have identified places with good prospects in Sichuan, where the country's two biggest shale-gas developments are located, including CNPC's Changning-Weiyuan national shale-gas demonstration area and the Fuling shale-gas project of China Petrochemical Corp, known as Sinopec. The deal comes at a time when the production of shale gas has declined amid plummeting crude prices, which have led to falling sales of shale gas. Earlier reports said CNPC and Sinopec produced about 5.1 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2015, lower than the target of 6.5 billion cu m set in 2012. "The decision on shale-gas development came unexpectedly, especially when crude oil prices show no sign of bouncing back at least for the next two years," said Li Li, research director of energy consultancy ICIS China. The contract also follows a pullback of international oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and the US-based ConocoPhillips due to the country's challenging geology and mixed drilling results, according to Bloomberg. But Li said despite China still being in the early stage of a shale fracking revolution, shale gas is a strategic industry for the country to combat air pollution and reduce the reliance on imported oil. "Shale-gas exploration posts challenges but is of strategic importance. It will generate huge business potential in the long term," she said. The deal is part of a framework agreement signed in October during President Xi Jinping's visit to the United Kingdom. In addition to unconventional resources, the framework agreement covers possible fuel retailing ventures in China, exploration of oil and LNG trading opportunities globally and carbon emissions trading as well as sharing of knowledge around low-carbon energy and management practices. BP's 2016 Energy Outlook forecasts that shale gas will make up a quarter of the total gas produced in the world by 2035 and China will contribute most to the sector's growth in that time. Sinopec plans to boost shale-gas output capacity at its Fuling project to 10 billion cu m by 2017. The company said earlier the first phase of the Fuling shale-gas project in the Sichuan Basin has commenced production with an annual capacity of 5 billion cu m. BEIJING - Chinese listed firms in traditional and emerging industries posted diverging results for 2015 as the country shifts its economic gears in the face of continued slowdown. As of Monday, 104 out of 1,303 companies had reported losses for last year, with over 70 percent of them in manufacturing and the remainder mainly in property and extractive industries, according to data from eastmoney.com, a financial data website. Twelve of them, including industrial giants in steel smelting and coal mining, witnessed huge losses exceeding 1 billion yuan ($154.65 million). Chongqing Iron & Steel Company suffered the most, swallowing a loss of nearly 6 billion. The lackluster performance by publicly traded companies shows the struggle traditional heavy industries face amid sagging global economic recovery and domestic industrial overhaul. Squeezed by excess production and shrinking demand, factories are still confronted with major challenges. Shen Meng, executive director of Chanson Capital, a boutique investment bank, said companies with losses will have a hard time reversing the situation in the short term as demand remains weak and more time is needed to explore new markets. "Given an ongoing shift in economic engines and flagging domestic and overseas demand, companies in traditional sectors have to step up their transformation and improve the added value of their products to survive," Shen said. While the sluggish growth bit into the profits of heavy industries, firms in emerging and high-tech sectors told a different story. China's largest new energy vehicle (NEV) maker BYD raked in 2.83 billion yuan in net profits in 2015, up more than 550 percent year on year. Helped by government support ranging from subsidies to tax breaks, the NEV sector boomed last year as annual production quadrupled to 379,000. A majority of growth and high-tech companies have also reported stellar growth for 2015, including those in new energy, medicine and information technology. The China Enterprise Management Science Foundation said in an early report that sectors including robotics and intelligent equipment will continue to outpace traditional industries. To arrest the economic slowdown, China is restructuring its industries to sustain growth, encouraging new sectors and reforming the old. Emerging industries, such as robotics, intelligent equipment, drones and high-speed railways, are becoming China's new economic engines, analysts said. "Burgeoning new industries will revitalize the Chinese economy in the long run," said Song Kun, fund manager of E Fund Management Co. The output of emerging industries is expected to account for 15 percent of GDP by 2020, up from the current 8 percent. More than 1,300 companies traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses have released their annual reports, nearly two-thirds of which saw profits increase. Capital market build-up requires myriad players Editor's Note: China is pushing supply-side reform to boost growth to cope with the economic downturn and further release the country's growth potential. In this Policy Review page, Paul Sheard, chief global economist of rating agency Standard & Poor's, talked to China Daily about how China can build up its financial institutions to help revitalize the economy and handle the challenges facing the world's second-largest economy. The argument that demand-side management, like monetary easing and fiscal stimulus, cannot pull economies out of their woes has been commonly heard in the United States and Europe, and also here in China, where it has given rise to the government's push for supply-side reform. But what exactly are supply-side reforms? While the central government has listed tasks such as destocking and reducing overcapacity, these seem more like prescriptions to deal with the acute symptoms of the economy, rather than a long-term strategy for its sustainable health. The policy taxonomy offered by Paul Sheard, chief global economist of Standard & Poor's, could help understand what the Chinese economy needs. According to Sheard, demand management, supply side, regulatory, crisis management and institution building are the five types of policies that governments around the world use to promote economic growth. They may look abstract at the first glance, but when applied to specific economies, they explain a lot. For example, Sheard has argued that in the US, as demand management policies have helped the economy recover, a more pressing issue now is to deploy supply-side policies to increase potential growth and improve the resiliency of the economy. Paul Sheard, chief global economist of Standard & Poor's When it comes to China, Sheard argues that all five types of policy are important, but building the right "institutions" is the core challenge, and the one that policymakers should focus on. Financial and monetary system architectures; public administration, including the ownership of productive assets, and the fiscal and welfare systems; the legal system and a property rights system; limited liability corporation and accounting standards; and the rules governing corporate governance and a corporate control market, are, among other things, the "institutions" that are needed. These are important for China, because, unlike the US and Europe, China is still at a relatively early stage of its economic development and remains a transitional economy, with its economic, social, political fabrics still evolving. For example, despite its rapid growth, Sheard said, the country has yet to develop a "sophisticated" financial system to effectively convert Chinese household savings, which are among the highest in the world, into diversified financial portfolios and offshore investment. A "multi-layer" capital market requires myriad players in the marketplace, such as asset managers and mutual funds, which are active in the primary and secondary markets. What's the difference between institution building and supply-side reform? Sheard said supply-side reform is about making the existing institutions more flexible to generate more output with a given capacity. Institution building, on the other hand, is about creating new organizations and markets; refining, strengthening and enforcing the economic rules rather than establishing them. For example, he said that in the US the merger and acquisition market is very active, with different groups such as asset managers, private equities and hedge funds bidding for control of corporate assets. In China, the "market for corporate control" is still nascent. "The ownership and management of productive assets is a key influence on how an economy performs. China still has large State ownership. How fast and how far China goes in reforming the State-owned enterprises, not necessarily privatizing them, but changing the governance system and making the sector more subject to market forces, really matters," Sheard said. Commenting on the possible bankruptcies of China's loss-making SOEs and local governments' tendency to offer them life support, Sheard said worries over short-term pains is not a legitimate argument. "From a more dynamic perspective, it doesn't make sense to have inefficient enterprises leading to latent losses and efficiency in the system. The cost of not reforming SOEs outweighs those accounting losses (of bankruptcies)," he said. China might raise the local governments' share of value-added tax to boost their fiscal capacity, a newspaper reported. The central and local government's share of VAT, China's largest tax, will be adjusted to 50:50 from 75:25, Xinhua-affiliated Economic Information Daily reported on Wednesday, citing a document of the Finance Ministry that is soliciting opinions internally. Starting in 2012, China's reform to replace business tax with VAT, in order to avoid repeated taxation and ease tax burden, has expanded to all service sectors except for four remaining bulwarks: property, construction, finance, and consumer services. Premier Li Keqiang last month promised to expand the reform to the remaining sectors, effective from May 1. If implemented, the business tax, once the largest tax source for local governments, will vanish, and that has raised concern for local governments' revenue. Local officials have argued for months that its share of the VAT should be raised to make up the shortfall. VAT revenue last year totaled 3.11 trillion yuan ($480 billion). If this is the figure for this year and local government's share was raised to 50 percent from 25 percent, it would bring 777.5 billion yuan additional revenue for local government. An expert close with the ministry, who declined to be identified, told China Daily that the report is very likely to be true. China's e-commerce giant JD.com Inc said on Wednesday that it is going to upgrade its service to help eight 3C brands achieve annual sales of more than 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion) on its platform in 2016. The US-listed JD.com, which builds its business empire from selling 3C product stands for computers, telecommunication and consumer electronics, said that it wants to transform from a retailer for brands into a service provider to brands. "3C business unit represents the cornerstone for JD's business. JD will leverage its resources to support the further development of 3C sector," said Shen Haoyu, chief executive officer of JD Mall, China's largest business-to-customer site. According to Beijing-based JD.com, the company will upgrade its services marketing, distribution, and financial services to provide all front value added services in order to help 3C brands make better sales online. Through its partnership with Tencent Holdings Ltd, JD.com is able to tap into the huge social networking data of WeChat and QQ thus helping brands reach the exact group of potential buyers they want, said the Beijing-based JD.com. The United States is expected to take over China and become the most competitive manufacturing nation over the next five years, according to a report from international accounting firm Deloitte. According to the 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI) report from Deloitte and the US Council on Competitiveness, "Made in the USA" will make a big comeback in the next 5 years, and China, now the current leader, will slip into second position. "The US is currently among the top nations in unlocking advanced manufacturing technologies including smart connected products and factories, predictive analytics, and advanced materials that are core to future competitiveness," said Tim Hanley, Deloitte Global Leader for Consumer & Industrial Products Industry group. "The US excels at creating connections and synergy between people, technology, capital, and organizations to form a cohesive ecosystem of innovation, generating tremendous value from investments in research and development." Contrary to the view that manufacturing is falling behind the times, the study points to a manufacturing future characterized by advanced technologies and growth through innovation. Manufacturing is sustainable, smart, safe, and surging and America is expected to be among the leaders in this industry transformation. The Deloitte report said that China is still the leader on manufacturing competitiveness for now, but will need to overcome some development challenges, such as an aging population, local economic slowdown, and higher labor costs. The prediction of the report is based on an in-depth analysis of survey responses from more than 500 chief executive officers and senior leaders at manufacturing companies throughout the world. CEOs say that advanced manufacturing technologies are a key to unlocking future competitiveness. Predictive analytics, the network connectivity of common objects known as the "Internet of Things", smart products, and smart factories that help define "Industry 4.0", and advanced materials are viewed by executives as crucial to global manufacturing competitiveness. "In China, the State Council is also aware of the challenges for manufacturing industry and has put forward measures dedicated to the Made in China 2025' and 'Internet Plus' initiatives, which seek to help China move up the value chain," said Ricky Tung, Deloitte China Industrial Products and Services Managing Partner. "Current policies focus on providing capital for technology development, sustainability and infrastructure development, pivotal for support Chinese companies to develop their own competitive edges." For Zhang Tianbing, Deloitte China Industrial Products and Services Consulting Partner, China has put priorities in 'High Performance Computing', which is one of the most promising advanced manufacturing technologies along with predictive analytics and Smart Factories. In some areas, China surpasses the United States, for example the development of the world's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2 (Milky Way 210). "Research and development spending along with the supply of science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates will determine China's success in developing its own innovation ecosystem. It will also depend on how well China can focus on technology commercialization and how effective it can help manufacturing companies attract venture capital investments," said Zhang. Shi Lirong (left) and Zhao Xianming. Smartphone maker moves swiftly to shore up vital market ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker, has reshuffled its top executive team, just weeks after the United States sanctioned the company for alleged export violations. Shi Lirong, who has led ZTE's overseas expansion as president and chairman since 2010, is stepping down, to be replaced by Zhao Xianming, its chief technology officer, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement. The company has also appointed seven new executive vice-presidents, including Zeng Xuezhong, head of handset businesses. The changing of the guard comes after the US Commerce Department announced it was blocking US companies from selling components to ZTE, claiming the Chinese company sold prohibited items to Iran. The US government has since said it would ease the restrictions until the end of June and could further ease them if ZTE cooperated in "resolving the matter". "The new management team will continue work on innovation and global expansion, and will follow the highest-level international business principles," said the statement. Shares in ZTE, traded in the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, have been suspended since early March. The company is due to announce full-year results on Wednesday. Analysts suggested the US sanctions triggered Shi's departure, although the company insisted the matters are not related. James Yan, research director at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, said replacing Shi was a right call for ZTE because the company cannot afford to miss out on the US as a key growth opportunity. "The core management team in the US is intact, which is a good thing for ZTE because they still have the know-how to handle everyday operations," Yan said. Milly Xiang, a telecom analyst with research firm International Data Corp, also said the management changes will have limited impact on ZTE's strategies, most of which were drawn up as early as in 2014. "I don't think (the reshuffle) will slow down ZTE's global expansion, especially when the company is seeking to outshine its competitors by migrating to post-4G telecom technology and the Internet of Things market," said Xiang. Yin Jing (left), president of Tmall 3C & Home Appliance Business Unit of Alibaba Group and Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of Consumer Technology Association, speak to the press on April 5, 2016 during a press conference held in Beijing. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Consumer Technology Association (CTA), owner and producer of the International Consumer Electronics Show (International CES) will work with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba to hold the second CES Asia in Shanghai next month, CTA announced on Tuesday. While the International CES, held in the United States since 1967, is open to all types of technology companies, the CES Asia "is limited to two types of companies: the company should have a well known brand name or they must have innovative technologies", said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the CTA. This year's event will be held May 11-13 in Shanghai. The inaugural Asian version of the US-based CES was held last May at the Shanghai New International Expo Center. This year's event will be double the scale of last year's, Shapiro said. "Spanning up to 40,000 gross square meters (20,000 net square meters) of exhibit space, CES Asia 2016 will feature more than 300 exhibiting companies highlighting breakthrough technologies across 15 product categories -- from 3D printing and smart home technology to robotics, wearables, vehicle technology and more," CTA officials said in a press release. Liu De, co-founder and vice-president of Xiaomi Corp, speaks at the launch of its small home appliances brand Mijia in Beijing. Xiaomi in Chinese means small rice or millet. [Provided to China Daily] Hurt for long by superior Japanese small appliances, domestic manufacturers are unleashing improved products Makers of home appliances in China are improving their products to win back quality-conscious Chinese consumers who go overseas on shopping sprees. The campaign to make new, improved made-in-China products started with the electric rice cooker. Big players such as Midea Group, Gree Electric Appliances Inc and consumer electronics major Xiaomi Corp launched high-end induction heating or IH rice cookers recently. They claimed their products are on a par with those of their Japanese counterparts. Yet, Chinese tourists flew several thousand kilometers to buy made-in-Japan electric toilet seats and rice cookers. This made headlines during the Spring Festival holiday in February. Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi, is not surprised. The quality of many products made in China fails to meet the elevated expectations of Chinese consumers who now have greater spending power, he said. "At first, I thought Chinese people had blind faith in the quality of foreign products. But later I discovered, after research, that Japanese makers did have a technological edge," Lei said in a speech during the annual sessions of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held in Beijing in early March. "While Chinese models could cook rice thoroughly, Japanese models could cook rice beautifully, making the rice dance." According to the Ministry of Commerce, Chinese tourists spent about 1.2 trillion yuan ($185 billion) overseas last year. Chinese consumer demands have increased from functional products to products with great user experience, Lei said. "To keep consumers home (in China), Chinese manufacturers need to refine the design and quality of their products to perfection with the spirit of craftsmanship and at the same time increase efficiency with Internet technologies to offer great buys," he told China Daily. "And such products are what I call 'new made-in-China products'." The Beijing-based Xiaomi, best known for its affordable, feature-rich smartphones, has been exploring the smart home-appliances sector for the past two years. It launched a new brand, Mijia, for the sector on March 29. The first product to enter the market under this brand is a smartphone-controlled IH pressure cooker for rice. Sales of the Mijia rice cooker begin today. Priced 999 yuan, it aims to beat most Japanese IH rice cookers that are sold for 3,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan each. Lei said rice cooked in a Mijia cooker tastes as good as that cooked in Japanese cookers. The Mijia R&D team spent two years in developing the product. They drafted Naito Takeshi, the Japanese inventor of IH pressure cooker technology, into their team. The design of the pressure valve and cooker coating are better, according to Lei. It is also a "smart" device that can cook rice according to the grain's brand, type and origin. All users need to do is scan the barcode on their rice bags with an app. Dong Mingzhu, president of Gree Electric Appliances Inc, a leading air conditioner manufacturer based in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, is also confident her company's newly released IH rice cooker can rival or even excel Japanese high-end products. Gree conducted a blind taste test at its rice cooker's launch on March 8, inviting about 100 guests to compare rice made in its cooker with that cooked using foreign appliances. Gree's cooker won the most votes. "With so many manufacturers in China, there's no excuse for not making a good rice cooker," Dong said. "We want to rebuild Chinese consumers' confidence in made-in-China products with the rice cooker as the catalyst." While sales growth of televisions, refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners are sluggish, small appliances, especially those used for cleaning and cooking, are booming in China, thanks to domestic consumers' growing demand for quality life, as shown by surveys by China Market Monitor Co Ltd. The market size for small appliances reached 95 billion yuan last year, up 6 percent year-on-year, the market research agency estimated. The shipment volume of rice cookers was about 50 million units. This year, the rice cooker segment will see its output value rise by more than 15 percent. IH rice cookers are expected to contribute more than half of the sales, according to Midea. The home appliances giant exported more than 2 million rice cookers to Japan in 2015. It launched a high-end IH rice cooker in Japan in April last year, challenging Japanese competitors on their home turf. "Chinese manufacturers have accumulated strong manufacturing capacity and technological ability by cooperating with multinational giants in the past several decades," said Yuan Liqun, vice-president of Midea. "While we realize the gap with developed countries, we should have faith in our potential and actively transform and upgrade China's manufacturing industry." Zong Qinghou, chairman of Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co Ltd. China's largest beverage producer Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co Ltd is planning to set up a new factory to expand the production of industrial robots as part of a business transformation. The value of the investment was not revealed, but Chairman Zong Qinghou told China Daily the figure could be significant. "Besides sticking to our main business of beverages, we will largely develop intelligent manufacturing to promote our company's business transformation and upgrading," said Zong, who ranked fourth in the mainland on the 2015 Hurun Rich List, with a personal wealth of 120 billion yuan ($18.57 billion). Zong said the company is seeking robot technologies from Israel for its new factory to be built in Lin'an in East China's Zhejiang province. "We are also talking with Israel's Tel Aviv University and Peking University to set up a technology transfer center in Hangzhou, which will help Israel's intelligent technologies find a Chinese market," said Zong. Wahaha has been involved in robotic research and development since 2011. It has developed industrial robots, which are used for packaging, palletizing and production material delivery. At the end of 2015, Wahaha had 30 industrial robots in its own factories. In 2016, another 100 will be put into operation. Zong added that the competition in the Chinese robot market is fierce and the company is also developing key parts of robots, such as servo motors and servo drives. "We look favorably on the prospects for the industry," said Zong. The world's second-largest economy is already the leading market for industrial robots, accounting for a quarter of global sales, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Between 2010 and 2014, the total supply of industrial robots in China increased by about 40 percent per year on average. But still, for every 10,000 employees, there were only 36 robots in China, compared with 478 in South Korea, 292 in Germany and 164 in the United States in 2014. Ma Si contributed to this story. One of Lulu's posts from Sina Weibo. "Mom, I dreamed about you all night. I dreamt that you had come back to me, but I know you are gone..." says a post-80s girl named Lulu in a Sina Weibo post. Lulu has been "talking" to her deceased mother via her microblog for the past four years. Her act has moved millions of Chinese netizens, Xinhua reported on Tuesday. The girl from Shenyang posted the first message to her mother on June, 2012, just over a week after her mother passed away. "I will keep talking to you until I leave the world", Lulu wrote. Since then, she keeps updating her post almost every day, expressing how she misses her mother and also shares tidbits of her daily life. Lulu said it's her way to "keep in touch" with her mother, as she used to talk with her three to four times a day when she was alive. In her latest Weibo post written on Tomb Sweeping Day, Lulu, who is a mother now, said "Mom, today is a beautiful day, with no rain. I took hanghang (her child) to the playground and he was happy..." During the past four years, she has posted over 1,200 messages and got 86,583 followers so far. One internet user said:" Every tweet moves me to tears, and thank you for reminding more people to cherish each day we have with our mother." Another said this is the most touching microblog ever. Lulu said she was pleased that her microblog had made more people aware of their filial duties and she hopes young people could take more time to be with their parents. "Sometimes it's not that your parents don't know you, but you never give them a chance to let them get to know you," she said, adding put aside your mobile phone, talk with your parents more about your life, it's something they really want to know. Photo provided by Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on March 24, 2016 shows the top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong-un guiding a ground test for heavy-lift, solid-fuel rocket engine and its separation. [Photo/Xinhua] PYONGYANG - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has test-fired "new-type anti-air guided rockets" under the observation of its top leader Kim Jong-un, the country's official KCNA news agency reported Saturday. The rockets accurately hit the aerial targets of the simulated enemy, the KCNA said without specifying when and where the test was carried out. Kim was satisfied with the test, saying it demonstrated the DPRK's rapidly growing defense capability. The DPRK on Friday fired a ground-to-air missile into its eastern waters, according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The launch came just three days after Pyongyang fired a rocket in northeastern direction. Pyongyang's frequent projectile launches in recent weeks are said to protest the ongoing US-South Korea joint military exercises and newly-adopted international sanctions on the DPRK. In early March, UN Security Council adopted tougher-than-ever sanctions on Pyongyang over its fourth nuclear test on Jan 6. On March 7, South Korea and the United States kicked off their joint annual war games "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle." The "Key Resolve" exercise ended last month, but the "Foal Eagle" field training exercise is scheduled to last till April 30. The newborn twin cubs are seen in the picture. A seven-year-old panda gave birth to twin cubs at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province in June 2015. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn] Around the world, zoos try to make baby pandas a reality By Zhang Chunyan and Su Zhou With 33 pandas on loan from China as of 2014, zookeepers around the world have focused on breeding babies a notoriously difficult task as members of the public hold their breath. In Britain, panda lovers have kept their fingers crossed that a baby cub could be conceived ever since two adults Tian Tian and Yang Guang settled in to the Edinburgh Zoo in December 2011. Female giant panda Tian Tian at Edinburgh Zoo in Edinburgh, Scotland Monday, Dec 16, 2013. [Photo/IC] Visitor numbers at the zoo rocketed after the arrival of the pair, and many people have continued to follow their story. Zoo officials believe that if Tian Tian, the female, becomes pregnant, excitement will intensify and images of the zoo will be seen around the world. Besides generating a buzz, the zoo also hopes to make important discoveries about panda pregnancy that will add to the scientific understanding of the endangered species. Every year, a special team at Edinburgh Zoo devotes itself to ensuring a successful breeding season for Tian Tian. The team includes panda experts from China. To prevent noise from disrupting amorous urges, pilots flying over the Edinburgh area have been asked by the Civil Aviation Authority to steer well clear of the zoo to protect Tian Tian. Low-flying planes and helicopters could be a problem during breeding season. After attempts failed to set Tian Tian up with her male counterpart, Yang Guang, she was artificially inseminated. It was the third time last year and she was thought to have conceived. Despite her showing signs of pregnancy, she has failed to produce a cub so far, to the disappointment of the zoo and other panda lovers. It is common for giant panda females to re-absorb a fetus into the womb in the late stages of pregnancy, and experts suspect that may have been the case with Tian Tian. Australia also hoped pandas in that country would get pregnant. In 2013, the Adelaide Zoo's giant pandas Wang Wang and Funi failed for the third straight year to achieve pregnancy both naturally and through artificial insemination. The zoo had to resort to importing panda sperm from overseas in time for next year's breeding season. Since the first panda was loaned to the San Diego Zoo in the US in 1996, China has loaned dozens to other countries and regions. Under an agreement for the species' preservation, any giant panda cubs born overseas belong to China and must be returned to the country after they turn 2 years old. Hebei will invest around 240 billion yuan ($37 billion) to improve its water quality by 2030, according to the province's environmental protection authority. Yang Zhiming, deputy director of Hebei Environmental Protection Bureau, said the money will be used to control domestic sewage, limit industrial and agricultural water pollution and protect the province's lakes and rivers. "Hebei is one of the provinces with the most serious water pollution problems and a shortage of water resources," Yang said, adding that it's urgent to implement a whole package of measures to improve the situation. Based on a national plan announced by the State Council last April, Hebei released a specific province-level plan in February on how to prevent and control water pollution. Measures to be implemented include forcing highly polluting factories to transform or close, and upgrading sewage treatment facilities. By 2030, 55 percent of river water will be of a good quality and all black or odorous water will have been eliminated, according to the plan. The province also aims to balance out the exploitation and supplementation of underground water aquifers within the next five years and greatly reduce the amount of water used for industry and agriculture. As for drinking water, Hebei will implement a whole-process monitor system to ensure it is clean and healthy from source to outlet. Shenzhen police have relaxed some measures they brought in recently to regulate the number of electric bikes and tricycles in the city. It is an attempt to ease the impact on the express delivery sector of a crackdown launched on March 21. Under the crackdown, anyone operating an electric bike or tricycle in the city - a private individual or delivery company-needs a license. The change announced on Tuesday provides 5,000 new licenses for delivery drivers, an increase from the 13,000 licenses that were previously available for them. The delivery industry will also benefit from a 15-day transition period, during which companies can buy replacements - such as new-energy freight cars that do not require a license. The delivery industry has been booming in Shenzhen. In 2015, the average person sent and received a total of 129 packages - an increase of more than 40 percent over 2014, according to the Shenzhen Municipal Postal Administration. Liu Xiaoding, head of the transport police command department, said the crackdown on electric bikes and tricycles was necessary because of a growing safety problem. Liu said city authorities received more than 1,500 complaints relating to electric vehicles last year-65 percent of transportation complaints. Accidents involving electric bikes and tricycles led to the deaths of 114 people - 26.4 percent of the total death toll in transportation incidents. He said the next step will be to target manufacturers, retailers and repair shops involved in supplying substandard electric bikes and tricycles. The Shenzhen police department said its crackdown on electric bikes and tricycles is not aimed at the delivery industry but mainly at substandard vehicles being used as illegal taxis. Between March 21 and April 5, police impounded 18,000 electric bikes and tricycles in Shenzhen because they were unlicensed or not roadworthy. Universities will no longer be able to select their own students for Executive Master of Business Administration programs under a new regulation issued by the Ministry of Education. The China National MBA Education Supervisory Committee announced over the weekend that, from next year, a nationwide exam will be the only way to apply for an EMBA course. EMBA programs in China have been described as richmen's clubs, and some institutions offering them have been criticized for alleged corrupt practices. In 2014, senior officials were banned from taking part in expensive training courses such as EMBA programs. The committee did not give details about the new exam. However, a report on ThePaper.cn said it was likely to include languages, math and logic, in line with the national exam for China's MBA programs. China Daily contacted the EMBA programs at Tsinghua University, Peking University and Renmin University of China for comment on Tuesday but did not receive a response. Zang Jiajie, 34, who works at an automobile company in Shanghai and is taking an MBA program, said: "For an employee like myself, a business degree will be helpful in securing a promotion to a managerial position. But the executives attending the EMBA courses no longer need a degree to prove their ability." In March, the Ministry of Education disqualified 50 degree programs at 42 colleges in China, including five MBA programs. Wang Yong, president of Beijing-based consultancy Top Brand Union, said: "It is reasonable for the ministry to strengthen regulations on EMBA programs, but I don't think a national exam is a good solution." The new regulation will only cover programs that grant graduate-level business degrees recognized by the ministry. "Like me, many students attend different programs for different reasons. You can receive systemic academic training at Peking University, learn practical management tips at the China Europe International Business School and develop your social network at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. It does not make any sense to pass a unified exam at these different institutes," Wang said. Arfanjan Osmanjan troubleshoots a car's air conditioning unit at Anhui Automobile Industry School. Zhu Lixin / China Daily Arfanjan Osmanjan eyed the car's air conditioning system. As part of his training at Anhui Automobile Industry School, Arfanjan's instructor had introduced an error that would trigger a technical breakdown. How quickly could the 18-year-old identify the problem and fix it? Pretty fast, as it turns out. A Uygur student from Changji Hui autonomous prefecture in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Arfanjan recently won first prize in an Anhui provincial vocational students skills competition. He is busy preparing for the April tryouts for the national contest. His natural aptitude and training in diagnostics at the vocational school in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, means Arfanjan seldom fails to detect and resolve the problems presented to him, even when he must repeat the entire process three times in an hour. "I cherish the opportunity to study very much and dream of being the best automotive air conditioning maintenance technician through three years of study here," he said. Arfanjan enrolled in the school in 2014 through an educational program that offers students in Xinjiang opportunities to study in inland provinces. His father had also been a vehicle maintenance technician in Urumqi for some years, but went on to run a beef and mutton shop in Changji before Arfanjan's birth. The son had dreamed of becoming a dancer, but his father urged him to study vehicle maintenance, which he saw as a more practical career choice. "Though the Uygur people are good at dancing, to a certain extent, my father just wouldn't allow me to take up dancing as a future career," Arfanjan said. He continued school and pursued dance courses until 2013, when the high school entrance exam loomed. He had devoted more time to dance than academics, so worried about whether he could pass the exams. "My performance at school was really bad," he said. "At that time, I learned from my school in Changji that I could participate in the program to attend a technical secondary school in an inland province." Arfanjan's uncle recommended Anhui as a good place to live and his father persuaded him to study vehicle air conditioning maintenance. He quickly became interested. "Solving problems and fixing cars is amazing," Arfanjan said. "My father was only able to repair the Volkswagen Santanas, while I want to be good with as many car brands as possible." Authorities at the school of 4,000 students said Arfanjan is one of the best, and not just among the 300 Xinjiang students studying there. The school started to recruit Xinjiang students in 2011, and the educational authorities cover the cost. Mawjut Ablat, a 19-year-old student from Xinjiang's Artux city, is majoring in welding at the school. He said he plans to go back to his hometown for work after his graduation. "With the skills learned here, to find a job in my hometown will not be hard," he said. But Arfanjan is determined to stay in Hefei for some years. In the first three years, the Xinjiang students studied together, but the school found that method was not conducive to improving their mandarin abilities. By 2014, when Arfanjan arrived, all the Xinjiang students attended regular classes, which has proved effective, as local students quickly helped them adapt, said Shou Peicong, the school's vice-president. "One of the best advantages is my improved language ability," said Arfanjan, who began studying mandarin in primary school. "Anhui province is much more developed than my hometown, and I want to learn more here so that I can get a better career in Xinjiang in the future." City rule designed for safety and smooth traffic; violators will pay penalties starting on Monday People ride electric bikes on Chang'an Avenue in Beijing on Tuesday. The avenue is one of 10 roads where the bicycles will be banned starting on Monday. Kuang Linhua / China Daily Riders of two-wheeled electric bicycles in Beijing risk having to fork out 20 yuan ($3) if they ride on one of the 10 streets prohibited by a new traffic rule, which takes effect on Monday. Beijing's Traffic Management Bureau, the capital's traffic authority, issued a regulation recently banning certain classes of "nonmotorized" vehicles from 10 specific streets, including the city's main thoroughfare, Chang'an Avenue, and others around Tian'anmen Square in the heart of Beijing. The rule is intended to ensure safety and smooth traffic flow, according to an official at the bureau who asked not to be named. The 10-street ban does not apply to human-powered two-wheeled bicycles. Electric bicycles with a design speed of less than 20 kilometers perhour and a maximum load capacity of 40 kilograms, are a major type of nonmotorized vehicle in China that has gained increasing popularity among commuters and couriers in recent years. However, many electric bikes can match the speed of motorcycles or even buses in the city and can pose dangers to passengers or pedestrians. On March 24, three people died and one was injured in two separate crashes involving electric bicycles in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. One of the electric bicycles was substandard. Traffic accidents caused by electric bicycles have become a major concern of traffic regulators. Last year, electric two-wheelers were involved in 31,404 accidents in Beijing, with 113 fatalities and 21,423 injuries. The number of injured accounted for 36.7 percent of all road accident injuries. So far this year, police have received more than 6,000 complaints about electric two wheelers, the bureau said. "Regulating the design and quality of nonmotorized vehicles, as well as making rules for riding these vehicles - including electric bicycles and tricycles - should be rolled out as soon as possible," said Wei Jie, a lawyer specializing in traffic compensation cases at Jieqiang Law Firm in Beijing. "Currently, riders of these vehicles often exceed the speed limit and there is a high risk of a severe traffic accident. Due to a lack of compulsory insurance on these vehicles, victims can get hardly any compensation." Restricted roads Except for Puhuangyu Road (near the Puhuangyu subway station on Line 5), all the prohibited roads are along Chang'an Avenue, which runs east and west past Tian'anmen Square: Chang'an Avenue (Jianguomen to Fuxingmen) Square East Road SquareWest Road Fuyou Road Zhengyi Road Fuxingmen Outer Avenue (Fuxingmen Bridge toMuxidi Bridge) Jianguomen Outer Avenue (Guomao Bridge to Jianguomen Bridge) Fuxing Road (Muxidi Bridge to Xinxing Bridge) Shijingshan Road (Yuquan Road to north of Lugu East Street) Puhuangyu Road (Yuting Bridge to Liujiayao Bridge) Technicians screen samples of genes that may cause deafness at a medical testing lab in Zhengzhou, Henan province, on Feb 20, 2016. [Photo by Sha Lang/China Daily] Although genomic testing is making ground in China, many experts are warning that the procedures are flawed, and that patients are failing to act on the results. When Lily (not her real name) received the results of a genomic test she had taken, she was relieved and delighted to discover that it had ruled out the possibility of a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer. The 30-year-old real estate agent in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, had feared she would develop the disease as a result of her fast-paced working life and hyperplasia, a precancerous condition that was discovered in her breast last year. In early March, after her aunt was diagnosed with the disease, Lily signed up for a genomic test that was advertised as "predicting" breast cancer. She ordered a testing kit online, and when it arrived she carefully followed the instructions. She wiped the inside of her mouth with the oral swab sticks provided before mailing the samples to a consumer genetics lab in Guangzhou. The Chinese literature major, who has a 2-year-old son, had never heard of genomic, or DNA, testing until 2013. She only became aware of it when news broke that the actress Angelina Jolie had undergone a double mastectomy and later had both ovaries removed because doctors had detected the presence of a "mutated" BRCA (breast cancer) gene. The faulty gene, which gave her an 80 percent chance of developing breast cancer and a 40 percent chance of ovarian cancer, had been detected via a genomic test, which identifies changes to chromosomes, proteins and genes. Public interest The news prompted widespread public interest in predictive genomic testing in China, and also provided opportunities for businesses that provide test kits to hype their products. A click on any large e-commerce platform results in lists of home genetic-testing services that operate through the mail, with the cost ranging from several hundred to tens of thousands of yuan. The companies claim that the tests can predict heart disease, most forms of cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease and even obesity. They say the results can help to determine and deliver targeted prevention that, coupled with lifestyle changes, can save lives. Predictive services test an individual's DNA for genetic variations that may raise the risk of developing certain diseases. They are intended to influence patients and prompt them to adjust their lifestyles to reduce the risks, according to the test companies. However, those claims rarely stand up to scrutiny, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK, the results of which were published in the British Medical Journal last month. The researchers concluded that although the tests can suggest a higher level of risk, they fail to prompt changes that could reduce those risks. Immature technology Zhong Nanshan, a respiratory expert and academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said predictive genomic testing is an immature technology and not yet ready for wide promotion and application. "For individuals, it's not worth doing, and it shouldn't be used so often to 'predict' diseases," he said. However, he admitted that genomic testing is a good tool for early forecasting of certain inherited conditions such as Thalassemia - a disorder that can affect the amount of oxygen carried in the blood - and congenital deafness. Chen Wanqing, director of the Chinese National Central Cancer Registry at the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said given that most illnesses involve the interaction of dozens, or even hundreds, of genes, coupled with an individual's environment and lifestyle, "this type of predictive genetic testing is mainly about business hype in most cases". According to Chen, genomic testing, which is recognized by China's health authorities, is mainly used for the diagnosis and treatment of cancers, but accurately predicting the risk of cancer is difficult. The procedure also requires more research because little is known about the pathogenic genes of most cancers. Ying Jianming, deputy director of the pathology department of the Cancer Institute and Hospital at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, said doctors can gain better insight into potential illnesses by looking into the makeup of inherited genes that are faulty and therefore susceptible to mutation. He cited Jolie as an example; her mother died from ovarian cancer, and the actress later discovered that she had inherited a faulty BRCA1 gene from her mother. The presence of the gene - which regulates cell growth, but can increase the chances of cancer developing if it mutates - raised Jolie's risk of breast and ovarian cancer to 10 times higher than the average for women. Excision or removal of potentially affected organs or limbs can reduce the risk by 80 percent. "So, she made her own medical choice (to have surgery), but it's one that can't be used widely because of the high cost," Ying said. He added that the risk of legal action further down the line means few doctors in China would be willing to perform surgeries such as those Jolie underwent without the presence of reliable symptoms or other evidence of disease: "A tense doctor-patient relationship undermines such preemptive, and therefore risky, medical procedures." The well-defined genetic link to inherited disease demonstrated by Jolie is uncommon, but, in addition to breast and ovarian cancers, colorectal and medullary thyroid cancer can also be detected this way. "However, the risk for those two is not as high as for breast and ovarian cancers," he added. He suggested that women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer should be screened for inherited BRCA genes because a positive result could warn other family members that they may also be at risk. Abnormal genes The majority of inherited breast cancers are associated with two abnormal genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women who inherit a mutated version of either, irrespective of whether they came from their mother or father, have a much higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. Most people who develop breast cancer have no family history of the disease, but if there is a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, or both, genetics may have played a role in the development of the illness, experts said. According to the United States National Cancer Institute, women with an abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene have an approximately 60 percent risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer, and the chances of developing ovarian cancer also rise. Generally for women, the risk is 12 to 13 percent. Abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes are found in 5 to 10 percent of breast cancer cases in the US, the institute said. Ying said most public hospitals in China don't provide testing for BRCA genes because of a lack of effective and feasible interventions later on. Zhao Ping, director-general of the Cancer Foundation of China, said genomic tests are useful because they can demonstrate a person's risk of developing certain types of cancer, but at present the knowledge is of little medical use. "In the majority of cases, no further medical procedures can be undertaken, based merely on predictive genetic testing," he said. Zhao added that cancer is known to be caused by genetic mutation, but detection of "faulty" genes related to certain types of cancer doesn't necessarily mean that the patient will develop the disease. He urged the health authorities to strengthen the regulations covering genomic testing, which is almost entirely unregulated by law or government guidelines. Despite the doubts about the effectiveness of DNA testing, some researchers believe that it can still play a role in improving people's health. Allied to other disease risk assessments, DNA tests may help physicians identify the individuals at greatest risk, which allows targeted interventions, such as surgery, drug treatment and screening tests, said Wei Yingjie, a senior cardiologist in Heilongjiang province. According to the World Health Organization, one-third of cancers are preventable, so changes to lifestyle and behavior are the keys to avoiding illness. Furthermore, raising a person's awareness of their genetic predisposition could prompt changes to their lifestyles, such as eating more healthily or stopping smoking. Wei cautioned the public about using the genomic tests currently on the market for cardiovascular diseases. He said most heart conditions are caused by multi-gene-mutations and environmental factors, which can't be predicted. "Certain variant genes could be just a tiny part of all the risk factors," he said. That means the vast majority of illnesses cannot be predicted with genomics, he said. There are only a few exceptions, including neural tube defects, which affect the brain, spine and spinal cord, and Marfan's syndrome, a condition that can affect cardiovascular and optical functions. Wei said the results of genetic tests can be difficult to interpret, so specialists such as geneticists and genetics counselors must be brought in explain what the results could mean to an individual and their family members, but "China currently lacks genomics specialists of this type". Rather than genomic tests, many doctors are urging the greater implementation of precision medicine - a new approach to treatment and prevention that takes individual variations of genes, environment and lifestyle into consideration - to improve the nation's health. Yu Jun, a leading researcher in genomics and bioinformatics at the Beijing Genomics Institute at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said a nationwide precision-medicine initiative is being planned to provide training in the relevant procedures. Qin Huaijin, of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, said precision medicine is a huge and complex system that combines big data and personalized medicine: "It is definitely the future trend of medicine." The incident where a woman was reportedly attacked by a man in the hallway of a four-star hotel has shocked the public and raised safety concerns. An internet user who is a professional working in sexual harassment field offered these tips on an online forum Zhihu.com to help fight off assault. 1. Scream for help immediately when faced with serious provocation or harassment as that would draw public attention. 2. Call police as soon as you get the chance. The victim grabbed the chance to call police when the suspect was distracted by the hotel staff. Calling police is a good way to deter assailant and your resolve will most likely force the perpetrator to flee. 3. Never give up, even at the last minute. The woman did not stop fighting the attacker even when he was dragging her to the stairway. 4. Report the crime to police after escaping the attack and share the experience with as many people as possible to let more people to know and be on the alert. More importantly, if you ever witness such harassment or assault, make sure to call police or intervene yourself to stop the violence irrespective of whether the parties involved are couple or not. But don't intervene at the risk of your own life. A monthly allowance for seniors above the age of 65 will be introduced for the first time in Shanghai this May, in a bid to better protect the rights and interests of the elderly. The seniors will receive different amounts of money according to their age. As an example, those aged 65 to 69 will receive 75 yuan ($12) per month, while those aged above 100 will receive 600 yuan per month, Zhu Qinhao, director of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau, told a media briefing on Wednesday. "These allowances mainly cover the costs of travel and nutrition. It is estimated that the city needs to pour 4.5 billion yuan from fiscal funds to support the allowances," Zhu said. This money will be transferred to a debit card that can be used for shopping and withdrawing cash. Official statistics show that the number of registered permanent residents above 60 years old in Shanghai hit 4.36 million last year, accounting for more than 30 percent of the city's total population. China's agricultural ministry will further step up its oversight of genetically modified technology research institutes and biotechnology companies to prevent commercial cultivation of unauthorized varieties. The Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement after a work conference on March 31 that it will further increase oversight of GM crops in the research and experiment, varietal registration and seed production phases. It came after a report by environmental nonprofit organization Greenpeace in January that claimed that farmers were illegally growing genetically modified corn in China's Northeast. The organization claimed that 93 percent of samples taken last year from corn fields in five counties in Liaoning province tested positive for GM contamination. The agricultural ministry said it will try to ensure all science and research activities involving GM technology are in line with laws and regulations, and ensure that the production of seeds are traceable. China's agricultural authorities have to approve the marketing of GM grains, with only domestic GM papaya and cotton being approved for commercial cultivation. Han Jun, deputy director of the Office of the Central Rural Work Leading Group, China's top rural affairs decision-making agency, said in a news conference in January that the country has investigated and treated cases of farmers illegally growing GM rice, and the cases indicated that there should be stronger efforts to prevent such illegal activities. BEIJING -- China and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in polar science research on Wednesday, the State Oceanic Administration of China said. The MOU was signed between Polar Research Institute of China and Thailand National Science and Technology Development Agency, Chulalongkorn University, Purapha University, National Institute of Development Administration, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand. According to the MOU, the two countries will strengthen long-term cooperation in polar marine biology, oceanography, atmosphere and astronomy, geophysics, geochemistry, and other fields. The MOU was a result of cooperation between the two countries under the framework of Asian Forum for Polar Science. Five Thai scientists have joined China's Zhongshan Station and Great Wall Station in Antarctica to conduct scientific research. Former airline officials stand trial for graft (Xinhua) Updated: 2016-04-07 00:23 SHENZHEN -- Two former officials with China Southern Airlines stood trial for suspected bribery in the intermediate people's court of Shenzhen City on Wednesday. The local procuratorate accused Xu Jiebo, former general accountant and member of the board, of allegedly accepting bribes amounting to 6.9 million yuan (about $1.1 million dollars) and seeking gains for others in construction and airplane renting projects. Zhou Yuehai, former vice general manager, was also charged with accepting bribes of about 600,000 yuan and seeking gains for others in adding air routes, personnel arrangement and the supply of airline food. Xu and Zhou both pleaded guilty in court. Country is 'committed to providing more public products and services' to ensure safe navigation The lighthouse on Zhubi Reef in the South China Sea is now in use. XING GUANGLI / XINHUA Beijing rebuffed suspicion on Wednesday over the operation of a lighthouse on an island in the South China Sea, saying it is a public service that China is providing to the region. "China has been committed to providing more public products and services to navigation in the South China Sea. It is beneficial to the trade of coastal countries in the region and even some countries outside the region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing. The Ministry of Transport held a completion ceremony on Tuesday for construction of the lighthouse on Zhubi Reef, marking the start of the lighthouse's operation. Construction of the 55-meter-high lighthouse, which has a lantern of 4.5 meters in diameter on top and rotating lights inside, began in October. The lighthouse is monitored via a remote control terminal. The lighthouse emits white light in the nighttime, with a range of 22 nautical miles and a glow cycle of five seconds. Zheng Heping, deputy head of the Maritime Safety Administration, said the automatic identification system and other equipment inside the lighthouse can provide efficient navigation services to ships, such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information. To improve maritime emergency responses in the area, the Ministry of Transport started construction of large, multifunctional lighthouses on Huayang Reef, Chigua Reef and Zhubi Reef last year. The two other lighthouses are already in use. "The Zhubi lighthouse will further enhance the capability to ensure maritime security in the South China Sea," Zheng said. "The lighthouse is a very advanced one with multiple functions," said Zhang Xuegang, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. He said the lighthouse will provide information about hydrology and weather, including typhoon warnings, to passing vessels. "It can also provide waterway information, such as which channels are busy," he added. He suggested having rescue personnel live on the island. Li Jinming, a professor of maritime policy and law at Xiamen University, said the lighthouses that China has built in the South China Sea are a testimony to its efforts to safeguard navigation freedom and security. "The US, Japan and the Philippines have challenged China on that. And the glowing lighthouse is a silent answer." Lighthouses are part of China's efforts to perform its responsibilities in maritime search and rescue, response to natural disasters and marine environmental protection, the Transport Ministry has said. Xinhua contributed to this story. lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn An online post in which a woman claimed she was assaulted at a four-star Beijing hotel while staff turned a blind eye has triggered public anger and calls for more protection of women. Beijing police said on Wednesday that they are conducting a "thorough investigation" into the case. The hotel has apologized and promised to tighten management and improve service. The woman, known only by her Sina Weibo account name "wanwan_2016", related her description online on Tuesday night. She said that she was followed and attacked by a stranger in Yitel Hotel in Beijing's Chaoyang district at about 11 pm on Sunday, and that several passers-by and a hotel employee did nothing. The woman also posted video clips recorded by the hotel surveillance camera. The woman had recorded the video clips from a computer monitor while watching the surveillance video with police. Beijing newspaper The Mirror quoted police as saying that the videos the woman posted were real. The clips show a man taking the same elevator as the woman and exiting on the same floor. While she pauses to look for her door key in the hallway, the man suddenly drags her and appears to choke her and cover her mouth to keep her from screaming. Several people, including a hotel staff member, are then seen passing by in the clips without offering help. The hotel staff member asks the man and woman not to fight in the corridor. Finally, some guests realize that it is an attack and come to the woman's aid. While they are calling the police, the man runs away. The entire incident, which the woman said was a rape attempt, lasted about six minutes. The woman said police also paid little attention when she reported the attack, so she went online to complain about the hotel and the police. China Daily called the woman's mobile phone several times on Wednesday, but the calls were not answered, and the woman did not reply to text messages. Although some facts were awaiting clarification, the issue became one of the hottest topics on Sina Weibo on Wednesday, and the woman's micro-blog postings were forwarded millions of times. The majority of netizens expressed sympathy for the woman and anger at the hotel and called for more protection of women. The hotel issued an apology on Wednesday afternoon. At a news conference at the hotel, manager Liu Hongni said: "We had mistakes or flaws in security measures and services. We will make corrections to avoid similar incidents." Liu said the hotel would cooperate with the police investigation. She did not take any questions. The hotel's parent company, Homeinns Hotel Group, a popular budget hotel chain in China, also apologized in a statement and said it will improve security checks and patrols in all of its hotels. China is seeking assistance from the international community to ensure a safe G20 meeting in September, as the country faces what one official called the "grim task" of fighting terrorism. Such assistance would include evaluations of the risk of attacks against world leaders who will come to China to attend the summit, and lists of possible terrorists and terrorist organizations that might be involved, according to the Ministry of Public Security. "We're facing a grim task in fighting terrorism, and we hope participating countries will work together with Chinese police to ensure the safety of such large-scale meetings," Hou Le, a senior official from the ministry's Counterterrorism Bureau, said on Wednesday. Hou made the remark on the sidelines of a two-day meeting of foreign law enforcement liaison officers in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. Hangzhou will be the host city for this year's G20 summit. Leaders and delegations from more than 20 countries and international organizations, such as the United States, Canada, Germany, France and Japan, will take part. China hopes that police liaison officers from participating countries will offer a list of the names of international terrorist organizations and terrorists who might pose security threats to the G20 meeting or target their leaders or delegates. Risk assessments for possible attacks are also welcomed. At the same time, China is willing to enhance intelligence exchanges and investigation of individual cases with the international community, according to the ministry. "Grasping international intelligence, making national assessments and close personal protection of important leaders are considered the priority for the prevention of terror attacks for large-scale international conferences such as the G20 summit," said Thorsten Boelts, a liaison officer from Germany who is based in Beijing and attended the Hangzhou meeting. Hou from the Counterterrorism Bureau said that although China has made progress in combating terrorism in recent years, the country is faced with real terrorist threats. Hundreds of members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an organization labeled as a terrorist group by the United Nations in 2002, are receiving military training in Syria and Afghanistan. They might come or return to China to launch attacks, according to the ministry. The Islamic State group is another threat to China, and Southeast Asia has become a key area in which IS publicizes information, recruits members and launders money, posing serious risks to regional safety and stability, according to the ministry. Police intelligence shows that some Syrian and Iraqi passports have been stolen, and terrorists might use them to illegally cross China's borders, it added. Contact the writers at zhangyan1@chinadaily.com.cn In this year's "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercises between the United States and the Philippines, Australia is sending 80 soldiers to participate, and Japan has sent two frigates and one submarine, showing its eager desire for larger involvement. The increasingly open intervention of external forces in the South China Sea and the emergence of signs that an alliance is being formed add even more uncertainties to the situation. Due to China's self-restraint, up to now territorial disputes and frictions over maritime rights in the South China Sea have been generally under control. The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and relevant Southeast Asian nations and talks on the making of a code of conduct had made the easing of tensions a general trend. Cao Wenxuan (M), children's literature writer [Photo provided to China Daily] The Hans Christian Andersen Award, regarded as the 'Nobel Prize for children's literature', has been bestowed upon to Cao Wenxuan, the first Chinese to win. Mei Jia reports. Children's literature writer Cao Wenxuan, 62, has won the Hans Christian Andersen Award for his work, the International Board on Books for Young People announced at the Bologna International Children's Book Fair in Italy on Tuesday. With this award, Cao becomes the first Chinese to claim the world-renowned "Nobel Prize for children's literature". The win has sparked a wave of excitement among the country's publishing professionals. "The unanimous choice of the jury, Cao writes beautifully about the complex lives of children facing great challenges," the IBBY jury says in a news release. "Cao is a great example of how writing wonderful prose and telling stories about brave children facing tremendous difficulties and challenges can attract a very wide and committed child readership as well as helping to shape a literary tradition in China that honors the realities of children's worlds," it adds. The award is the highest international recognition given to living authors and illustrators of children's books for their whole body of work since 1956. Every year it honors one author and one illustrator. Out of a short list of five in each category, Cao has won with German illustrator Rotraut Susanne Berner this year. A tale of two cities in their pursuit to become art hubs Updated: 2016-04-06 08:16 By Vera Lim(HK Edition) Around the start of the new millennium, two of Asia's international financial centers decided that in order to become a global city, they needed to turn their attention to the arts. In 1998, then chief executive Tung Chee-hwa proposed the establishment of the West Kowloon Cultural District in a bid to turn Hong Kong into one of the world's largest cultural quarters for art. Meanwhile, in 2000, Singapore launched the Renaissance City Plan with the aim of turning Singapore into a global city for the arts. Fast forward 15 years, and the status of both cities' proposed art and cultural centers could not be more different. On one hand, you have Singapore, which opened the Esplanade in 2002, the School of the Arts in 2008, the Art Science Museum in 2011, and most recently, the National Gallery in 2015. As part of the nation's 50th anniversary celebrations, the National Gallery opened with much fanfare. This included a three-day-long Art Carnival, complete with a projection show on the National Gallery's facade showing Singapore's development through the ages in art. On the other hand, Hong Kong has a bustling art gallery scene, and Art Basel Hong Kong is a fixture of the city's Art Week. But all this enthusiasm is dampened by the never-ending series of delays holding back the West Kowloon Cultural District. Even after using up the initial grant of HK$21.6 billion, the construction of the iconic M+ museum has barely begun. As of now, the West Kowloon Cultural District functions more as a public space than an arts hub, its proposed museum and performing art venues are still a work in progress. So how did the two cities' similar visions of creating an art hub turn out so different? The Singapore government outlined the importance of the arts in its 2008 report "Renaissance City Plan III": "Without arts and culture, a nation would have no soul, a community with no shared ties of understanding and belonging, and our youth no conception of our history, values, and ambitions for the future." In a bid to prevent this from happening, the government turned their efforts into making their vision of Singapore as a "global city of the arts" a reality. To create a global city of the arts, Singapore needed more world class art museums and a dedicated team to run them. In the past, the art museums fell under the management of the National Heritage Board. But in 2013, the Singapore Art Museum, the National Gallery, and Singapore Tyler Print Institute became independent companies. And while the final approval for exhibitions still lies in the hands of the Singapore government, allowing art museums more autonomy seems to be paying off - especially since the Singapore Art Museum enjoyed an increase of 87,000 visitors between 2012 and 2014. Perhaps this was the reason behind one city's success and the other's failure. In a news article, Lars Nittve, who recently left his position as M+'s museum director, mentioned his surprise at having to explain the project three times in a year to lawmakers in the Legislative Council who were unfamiliar with art and cultural endeavors. The legislators' lack of faith is strange, because Nittve's experience speaks for itself - after all, he was the founding director for the Tate Modern in London and a former director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm. While Nittve proved that Hong Kong could attract world-class talent, his departure (on top of the resignation of two chief executives) showed that retention of that talent is a major issue for Hong Kong. The irony of the situation lies in the fact that these men were chosen to lead the development of the arts hub because of their abilities, but they were given little chance to do so since they were mired in the endless bureaucracy of board and committee meetings. Again, while the West Kowloon Cultural District is plagued by construction delays, the art galleries of Hong Kong seem to be doing fine, offering the public and collectors the opportunity to view and purchase masterpieces from around the world. So it seems that the government should adopt the laissez-faire attitude with which they approach the Hong Kong gallery scene instead of breathing down the necks of their art directors. (HK Edition 04/06/2016 page10) Tang Tiansheng.[photo/xinhuanews.com] TANG TIANSHENG, director of the food and drug administration of Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, committed suicide by jumping from the eighth floor of a local hospital building on Monday, one day after he went there to receive neurology treatment. The Beijing News commented on Tuesday: Depression is usually the official explanation when an official commits suicide. But the local government has not yet offered an explanation for Tang's suicide, even though the usual explanation would have been very convenient for it this time as Tang ended his life while receiving neurology treatment in hospital. However, Tang's bumpy career suggests the local political ecology is problematic. Back in 2011, four people were detained after they hung posters in the county in memory of the Party chief, as if he had passed away overnight. When questioned, the detainees said it was Tang who paid them to put up the posters. However, further investigation showed Tang was innocent, although the case ended with no definite conclusion as to who was responsible. Then in July 2013, when Tang was Party chief of Longsheng county, he received disciplinary punishment from the Party because he organized a feast with government money. There was a lot of public support for Tang as it was the result of a local muckraking reporter taking photos of Tang treating a local official, who was being transferred elsewhere, to a not very expensive meal. It turned out the reporter found out Tang was at the restaurant from one of Tang's colleagues, and waited outside the restaurant until he knew Tang would have had a few drinks, then recorded Tang's comment"Just report it. I know you come to blackmail me again"when asked who was paying for the meal. The reporter uploaded the recording online with a short report when the Party's anti-corruption campaign focused its attention on officials entertaining with public money. Tang was removed from his post and was transferred to the Guilin food and drug administration in March 2014. While Tang's suicide was probably due to depression, there should be a thorough examination and improvement of the local political environment. A formation of the Nanhai Fleet of China's Navy on Saturday finished a three-day patrol of the Nansha islands in the South China Sea. [Photo/Xinhua] In this year's "shoulder-to-shoulder" military exercises between the United States and the Philippines, Australia is sending 80 soldiers to participate, and Japan has sent two frigates and one submarine, showing its eager desire for larger involvement. The increasingly open intervention of external forces in the South China Sea and the emergence of signs that an alliance is being formed add even more uncertainties to the situation. Due to China's self-restraint, up to now territorial disputes and frictions over maritime rights in the South China Sea have been generally under control. The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed between China and relevant Southeast Asian nations and talks on the making of a code of conduct had made the easing of tensions a general trend. Yet the forcible intervention of the US and the involvement of Japan and Australia are transforming the South China Sea into an arena for the power games and accumulating military risks for the broader Asia-Pacific. This is because the US seems to be taking the South China Sea as a key area where it can contain China's rise and build a China-targeted Asia-Pacific alliance or quasi-alliance. Compared with Australia, whose participation in the US-led military activities in this region is to a certain extent due to its military alliance with Washington, Japan has shown much more interest in the South China Sea. In Tokyo's eyes, its involvement can not only contain China but also offer a good starting point for its Self-Defense Forces to conduct a larger range of military operations overseas. It is foreseeable that Japan will have more overt and semi-overt military intervention in the South China Sea. The deeper involvement of external forces such as the US and Japan is turning the South China Sea into a wrestling ring for power and reducing the possibility of peaceful settlement. Foreign Minister Wang Yi greets Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmars new foreign minister and leader of the National League for Democracy party, in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Tuesday. [Photo/Agencies] With China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Myanmar on an official visit at the invitation of Aung San Suu Kyi in her new role as Myanmar's foreign minister, the guesswork over who would top her to-be-invited list has been put to rest. Given the new, emerging political landscapes inside Myanmar and on China's periphery, this may be nutritious fodder for geopolitical interpretations and imaginings. But the diplomatic rationalism at work is a reassuring sign that Beijing and post-election Naypyitaw will not get lost in redefining their ties as some had anticipated. Sharing a border of 2,200 kilometers, China and Myanmar are close neighbors not merely in a geographical sense. Since the 1960s, a special rapport known as the "Pauk-Phaw" friendship, or brotherly feelings, has by and large defined bilateral ties. However, there have been less-than-pleasant episodes in recent years, prompting speculation that the "Pauk-Phaw" rhetoric was starting to ring hollow. There have even been claims that Naypyitaw is drifting away from, if not turning against, Beijing in a new round of geopolitical wrangling. But Beijing did not buy that. In congratulatory messages to their newly elected counterparts in Myanmar, both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Wang Yi reiterated a commitment to the "Pauk-Phaw" closeness. Responding to media inquiries regarding bilateral ties in March, Wang said the troubles were just "growing pains" in the ties between neighbors. Nor did Naypyitaw. Suu Kyi said in a recent interview that it is more important to deal with a neighbor than getting along with countries far away. Hosting China's top diplomat as her first official guest testifies to that. That is logical considering there is a new, closer economic bond at stake. China is Myanmar's No 1 source of overseas investments as well as its largest trading partner, with Chinese capital accounting for one-third of all foreign investments, and trade with China one-third of Myanmar's overall foreign trade. So the Chinese and Myanmar foreign ministers have a lot of real business to attend to. But Suu Kyi was correct in stating earlier that as long as there is the willingness to befriend, there is no reason the two countries cannot be friends. The ongoing visit shows Beijing and Naypyitaw share that willingness. The cool-headedness they have displayed so far justifies confidence that bilateral ties will not get stuck in calculations of immediate gains or losses. With that, and mutual respect, as Suu Kyi suggested, there is no problem that cannot be overcome. Traffic police officers in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, seize unlicensed electric bikes and freight tricycles in March. XUAN HUI/CHINA DAILY The crackdown on electric tricycles in Shenzhen, South Chinas Guangdong province, launched late last month, according to some observers, seems controversial. At a press conference on Tuesday, Shenzhen police tried to appease the public by saying the crackdown was targeted at illegal vehicles rather than express delivery services, and many media reports had exaggerated the number of tricycles seized. But the trend in big cities is worrying despite Shenzhen officials explanation. In the latest development, the Beijing municipal government has decided to ban electronic motorcycles and tricycles on some of the citys roads, including Changan Avenue. Given the exemplary role the capital has played in policymaking, it is possible that more cities will follow its example to target these popular modes of transport which are used by couriers and many low-income people. According to officials, the e-bikes and tricycles plying the roads are of substandard quality, with most of them having a top speed of more than 20 kilometers an hour the limit set by the authorities for safety reasons and thus posing a threat to the safety of pedestrians. Yet official figures show casualties in traffic accidents caused by e-bikes in Shenzhen and Beijing account for 10 to 20 percent of the total, even though their proportion compared with private cars and other four-wheel vehicles is much higher. This means private cars and other vehicles are still responsible for most of the traffic accidents. For example, 113 people were killed and 21,000 injured in accidents involving e-bikes in Beijing last year, accounting for 12.3 percent and 36.7 percent of the total number of deaths and injuries in road accidents. Given that more than 4 million e-bikes ply the citys streets compared with about 5 million cars and other vehicles, the safety record of e-bikes is not that bad. This should also make e-bikes safer than four-wheelers. E-bikes are being used by Chinese people for decades. Their production, sales and use form an industrial chain that offers jobs to millions of people. Since they are relatively inexpensive and easier to use, they have become quite popular among people who cannot afford a car and courier companies that prioritize quick delivery. Also, e-bikes cause less pollution, with their carbon emissions accounting for less than 10 percent of that from private cars. There is no denying, though, that many e-bike riders often violate traffic rules; they are guilty of speeding, overloading and even driving in the wrong lanes. That is where law enforcement should be strengthened. What the Shenzhen officials are doing, however, is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. The crackdown on e-bikes in Shenzhen has taken a heavy toll on courier companies and their employees. According to media reports, the delivery volume of some companies has dropped by more than 90 percent, with many employees now considering quitting their jobs. This has greatly increased the number of complaints from customers over delivery delays, as well as made life more difficult for those who rely on e-bikes to make a living. This obviously runs against the governments goal of building a harmonious society characterized by people-oriented policies. China could not have achieved unprecedented economic development over the past decades without the hard work of tens of millions of migrant workers, who make the life of urban residents easier by selling groceries, delivering milk and bottled water, and doing household chores. Therefore, their interests should be included in the policies to promote urban development. Demolitions of schools for migrant workers children because of their poor conditions, or relocation of small commodity markets from downtown areas have occasionally made headlines but rarely drawn enough public attention. The media uproar over the Shenzhen incident and the public concern for the disadvantaged group, however, show that ignoring the needs of weak and poor is not the hallmark of our society. Hopefully, urban planning officials will likewise change their mindset. The author is a senior editor with China Daily huangxiangyang@chinadaily.com.cn The Shanghai Disney Resort is Disney's sixth resort worldwide.[Photo/Xinhua] Asia is beginning to pull head of North America in the global theme park business. In East Asia, the focus is on Disney parks in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 2014, the worldwide attendance growth in the top 10 theme park groups exceeded 5 percent. These conglomerates including Disney, Merlin, and Universal received more than 392 million visitors. In the postwar era, the theme park industry was mainly American. Since the 1980s, it has expanded in the advanced economies. Last year, Disneys revenue grew by $4.4 billion, topping $50 billion for the first time. In Hong Kong Disneyland, visitors from the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong each still account for about 40 percent of the total visitors. While Hong Kong Disneyland is only a decade old, its daily capacity is barely 34,000 visitors; the lowest among the Disney parks. With the dwindling number of visitors from the mainland, Hong Kong Disneyland suffered a loss of $20 million in 2015, after barely three years in the black. Fewer people from the mainland are visiting, revenue is decreasing, profits are off and hotel rooms are emptier. The next two years will be challenging, possibly critical. As Hong Kong Disneyland is likely to continue to lose visitors from the mainland, it is looking harder at Southeast Asian markets, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. Surveys suggest that two-thirds of middle-class families on the mainland want to visit Shanghai Disney Resort and 17 percent plan to go this year. With a majority stake in the park, Hong Kongs government is boosting its expansion. It is in a double bind. If it does not invest in expansion, Disneyland could suffer even more. Conversely, if the expansion fails, it risks losing more money over time. Launched near Tokyo in 1983, Disney Park was the first to be built outside the United States. Last year, the number of visitors dropped by more than 1.1 million to 30.2 million. Though the drop was attributed to the extreme heat last summer and recent anniversary celebrations, the stream of visitors is expected to continue. Ticket prices have been raised for the third consecutive year to secure money for investing in the park and Tokyo DisneySea. With debt taking and low rates, Abenomics has been good to Tokyo Disneyland. Visitors have been sustained by efforts to prop up consumption domestically and the yens depreciation internationally. But as currency wars are reducing depreciation benefits, Prime Minister Abe is pushing for a consumption tax hike next year. At the Shanghai Disney Resort, all eyes are on mainland visitors. In the early 2010s, two Chinese theme park chains, OCT Group and Haichang Group, entered the top 10 list of operators. Thats when Disney and Shanghai Shendi, a State-owned company with a 57 percent stake in the resort, began to build the Disney Resort in Pudong. To Disney, Shanghai will be its first major park in a large emerging economy. Today, theme parks and resorts are its most critical segment, accounting for some 30 percent of its valuation, of which international parks and resorts account for only about 5 percent. With the opening of the Shanghai Disney Resort in June, Disneys international theme park revenues could double from $2 billion in 2016 to some $4 billion by the early 2020s. However, in Shanghai, Disneylands value will be determined by jobs, capital and spillover effects. The success can be measured in fiscal 2017, when the first full-year results will become available. Yet initial responses are encouraging. Initially, some 10 to 20 million people are expected to visit the Shanghai Disney Resort annually. In sheer size, twice as big as its counterpart in Tokyo and three times bigger than Hong Kong Disneyland, respectively; it will require new infrastructure and logistics. It will be vital for local travel agencies that thrive on short tours. It may boost the number of foreign visitors in Shanghai. In the property markets, it is generating a lot of interest among other developers and investors. Today, the Shanghai Disney Resort is the most important influence in Asian theme park development, even globally. It is expected to have a major impact on raising the bar for quality, guest experience and setting a price premium in the market. The author is research director of international business at the India China and America Institute (US) and a visiting fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (China) and the EU Centre (Singapore). Screen capture of the video. [Photo/IC] A young woman complained on social media that a man assaulted her on Sunday night while she was staying at a Home Inn in Beijing. Video from the hotel's security cameras, which the woman filmed with her phone and then posted online, shows a male hotel staff asked the man to stop, but did not try to restrain him and it was a female guest who finally stopped the man. Worse than the attack itself is that both the hotel and the local police have tried to pass the buck. On Tuesday night, Home Inn said in a statement that they had been "wasting no time trying to contact the victim". Do they have any understanding of the phrase "wasting no time"? The woman went to the police station accompanied by a hotel staff member that night; she went back to the hotel to collect her bags the next morning, during which time the Home Inn had plenty of time to contact her. Yet they didnt. The local police did not perform well at first, either. After the woman arrived at the police station, they did not try to trace and detain the suspect. In a later interview, a police officer responded that the woman "did not suffer any personal injury". Yet the video clearly shows she was knocked to the ground and the man grabbed her hair and dragged her for several meters. We do not expect the crime rate in our society to be zero. But we expect that those who have the duty to protect us will help when we are in need. Both the police and the hotel said they are conducting investigations. But had the womans video not attracted so many eyeballs, would they have taken the incident as seriously? The next time an assault happens, we hope they will do their duty before public opinion forces them to act. China Daily website is inviting you to share Chengdu Story with us! and here are some points that we hope will help contributors: Yin Seng comes from Cambodian. He is now studying Computer Science in Chengdu. My first living abroad experience is in China, Sichuan Chengdu. I got the scholarship from China Scholarship Court to study Master Degree of Computer Science. The main purpose for me coming to China is to study, but it has been much more than that by the time I took my first step in Chengdu. Living in Chengdu is a tempting opportunity for me that could lead to gain a lot of useful experiences and valuable knowledge. This country was new for me and the weather was new for me. I came from the tropical area which has the sunny day and hot weather all over the year. I was a thrill for my first winter season. I loved my winter fluffy big coat and my other winter accessory. Because it was my first time get into the winter fashion. For the spring season, I can say it is my travel season. I love the flower along the road and everywhere have the flower. Spring is the most beautiful time here. In autumn, Gingko tree is my favorite. UESTC, my university has so many Gingko trees all the long the road inside the university. The beautiful leave fell all over the grass and I could see the yellowish golden ground. It is really amazing. Chengdu is a big city. I always see crowd almost everywhere. In here, people seem to be individual. I started learning the traditions and new rules about how people live here. In order to be able to live surrounding with the Chinese people, I have had to move forward and be accustomed to their way of life. I have few Chinese friends. After getting close to them, I can say that they are really great. They are very helpful and friendly. In terms of the language barrier, my Chinese friends help me to improve my Chinese language that has allowed me to create a bond with the Chinese people in China. Also, I can use Chinese language and Chinese maps application to travel without any problem. I enjoyed traveling. I did it with my Chinese friends, teachers, Cambodian friends, and travel agency. Chengdu has so many historical places to visit. Ive been to Jinli, Wenshu Yan, Panda research center, Hunglongxi, People Park, Tofu Cottage, Chunxi Road, Global Center Plaza and Tianfu Square. Chunxi Road is my most favorite place here. I go there almost every week because I really love shopping and I love the food over there. I also travel to Guangzhou, Kunming, Chongqing, Qingcheng Mountain,Bamboo sea, and Jiuzhaigou. The views of the mountains are breathtaking, and the colorful lakes in Jiuzhaigou are the best. I never see any lake that is clear and fresh as Jiuzhaigou. I have 7 months for my school year here, and I will travel more before my graduation. There are more places here I have visited such as Chengdu Aquarium, Dujiangyan and Emey Mountain. I can eat almost all Chinese food. At the first month here it was really hard with spicy and oily food, but in few months, I get used to it. Some of the Chinese dishes has already become my favorite such as Gungpao Chicken, Wuntun, Charsiu, Jiaozi, Chowmian and Peking roast duck. I lost few kilos of my weight. It doesnt because of the food that I cant eat much but due to my study pressure, travel and exercise. I changed my lifestyle and being more active. I think I am much healthier in here than living in Cambodia. In conclusion, living Chengdu is one of the most valuable experiences to me. I am right now very enjoying and get used to with everything in here. Being an independent and adapted to the new living environment is so important to me. I am happy that I can spend enough time to become comfortable with a culture much different from my own. I am sure that I will miss Chengdu because Chengdu has left its mark on me. If I have a chance, I will come to Chengdu again. The opinions expressed do not represent the views of the China Daily website. [Please click here to read more My Chengdu Story. You are welcome to share your Chengdu stories with China Daily website readers. Please send your story to chengdu2016@chinadaily.com.cn] A mother and her girl walk in a field of flowering peach trees in Yuncheng, Shanxi province. JIA GENSHENG/CHINA DAILY Flowers aren't the only sign of life after winter's thaw. Warmer weather also lets tourism bloom. Su Zhou and Sun Ruisheng explore Shanxi province's peach, pear and cherry flowers. Spring paints the world after a white winter. The tradition of travel outings with relatives and friends to enjoy blooms blasting among willows and waterwaysespecially around the Tomb Sweeping Dayis thousands of years older than the concept of tourism as an industry. It was called taqing. Today's Chinese have simply replaced hiking and horseback with high-speed trains. And taqing has become a component of tourism. Many remote Chinese towns have gained international acclaim for picturesque spring landscapes. Visitors are lured by yellow rapeseed blossoms to Jiangxi province's Wuyuan; to pink cherry blooms outside Hubei province's Wuhan; and to Henan province's Luoyang for popping peonies. That's why northern China's Yuncheng in Shanxi province has invested seed money to make it a blossoming destination for flora fanatics in three to five years. The city abounds in heritage as a cradle of Chinese civilization. And it's celebrated for its agriculture. (Shanxi is among the first batch of three provinces that won approval to export apples to the United States.) A newlywed couple has their picture taken in a rapeseed field in Zhaotong city, Yunnan province.Zhang Guangyu / For China Daily Warm weather and bountiful blossoms coaxed droves of tourists to use the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday as a chance to grab springtime's tail as the country dashes away from frigid winter and toward sweltering summer. China's biggest online travel agency, Ctrip, saw more than double year-on-year growth in the number of weekend tourists during the holiday over April 2-4. Paid vacations, increasing disposable incomes and easier availability of visas encouraged more Chinese to travel, says Ctrip's publicity manager, Yan Xin. Residents of Beijing and Shanghai remained the most enthusiastic travelers during the holiday. But the expansion of direct flights also lured more tourists from second- and third-tier cities. At least twice as many residents compared with last year traveled from Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu; Jiangsu's provincial capital, Nanjing; and Zhejiang's provincial capital, Hangzhou, Ctrip says. Roughly 53 percent of tourists from the Chinese mainland took trips spanning four to six days, and 10 percent went on trips lasting seven to 10 days. "Many took a day or two off before or after the holiday to make a five-day journey," Yan says. Tacking time on either end of the festival enables trips across, or outside, the country. Thailand, South Korea and Japan were the top outbound destinations. Blossom and island trips abroad were also popular. An alleged attack on a woman in a four-star hotel in Beijing caused public outrage on social media on Wednesday. The woman, whose Sina Weibo account is @wanwan_2016, posted her story in which she claimed she was followed and attacked by a stranger in a hotel while several passersby, including an employee of the property, did not help. The incident spread quickly online. The hashtag #Woman has been attacked in Heyi hotel# became the most heated topic by far and has 600 million reads and counting. About one million internet users had already joined the discussion until 9:30 am on Wednesday. Her Weibo account @Wanwan_2016 also jumped as the third popular topic on the real-time list. According to the victim, she was attacked by a male stranger at about 10:50 pm on April 3 when she returned to the hotel. Screen capture of the video. [Photo / IC] She said the surveillance camera shows the man was standing in front of the hotel door and started following her. They took the same elevator and got off on the same floor. While the woman was looking for her door key in the hallway, the man reportedly approached her and started dragging and choking her throat and mouth to stop her from yelling, said her post. A hotel staff member who was passing by tried to persuade the man to let her go, although she claims he did not intervene physically to stop the man. She said the employee may have thought it was just a fight between a couple so did not try to help her forcibly. Screen capture of the video. [Photo / IC] The man allegedly tried to drag her to stairway as it is quieter and chances of anybody walking in were slim. But then some guests heard the commotion and began calling for help. When one of them grabbed the woman's arm and tried to drag her away from the man, the suspect ran away. The whole incident lasted about six minutes. The woman posted her dreadful experience on Weibo on Tuesday morning and attached a surveillance video in the hallway which shows the whole incident. Screen capture of the video. [Photo/IC] She claimed her complaints to the hotel and police have been ignored and no one seems willing to help her and take responsibility. In just a day, the story swept social media sites, such as Weibo, WeChat and other platforms. Millions of Internet users vented their anger over the incident and some women voiced concerns about safety at public places. A comment, which drew more than 200,000 likes, pointed fingers at the police, criticizing them for not taking action after the woman sought their help. @ said: "Is it OK for Chinese to beat their wife or children? It is not the first time that a suspect pretending to be a couple or parent has commited a crime, so that onlookers will not intervene." Some netizens even gave tips on what women could do to protect themselves from similar situations. Late on Tuesday, the victim said police had recorded her story. She said after her story spread online, the hotel called her and termed the incident "harassment". But she thinks it's much worse than just harassment. She claimed the hotel also tried to persuade her to "delete" the Weibo post and "offered her money" with "no apologies and care." The hotel where the woman was attacked. [Photo/VCG] The Homeinns Hotel Group, a popular budget hotel chain in China and the parent company of the hotel where the alleged incident took place, said the group is cooperating with police in the investigation. The group also said it hopes to contact the victim. Meanwhile, some have questioned the whole incident. Some said the timing of the claim raises doubts as Homeinns Hotel Group has just delisted from the stock market and joined BTG Hotels, whose big stock holder is Ctrip, China's largest online travel agent. Ctrip is the online booking platform the victim had reportedly used to book the hotel. The Weibo accounts have raised red flags too since the victim's account and the account which released the surveillance video are newly opened and the only posts are about the incident. Ctrip announced on its official Weibo account on Wednesday that they are treating the incident as high priority and the company is ready to help the victim. They also asked the hotel to report to police and added that they will cooperate fully with the investigation. Beijing has banned imports of iron ore from Pyongyang as well as exports of jet fuel and other oil products used to make rocket fuel, outlining China's restriction on trade with the country on Tuesday. The Ministry of Commerce published a list on its website, saying it also would ban imports of gold and rare-earth elements from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in line with new UN sanctions. The majority of the DPRK's exports to China are minerals, and its exports to China account for about 90 percent of the country's total export volume, according to Lyu Chao, a researcher at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences. However, China exempted imports of coal intended for "the people's well-being" and not connected to nuclear or missile programs. Export bans on jet and rocket fuel included exceptions for "basic humanitarian needs", including civilian passenger planes flying outside the DPRK. Other restricted minerals include vanadium and titanium, both used in steel alloys. A new type of anti-air guided weapon system is fired in this undated photo released by DPRK's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] The UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution in early March expanding UN sanctions following the DPRK's nuclear test on Jan 6 and subsequent rocket launch. China's embargo statement, an implementation of the harshest sanction the international community has adopted against the DPRK, shows that Beijing is strictly honoring the resolution of the UN Security Council, said Shi Yongming, a researcher of the China Institute of International Studies. However, the international community must seek a way for peaceful resolution of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, Shi said. The way to truly resolve the issue is through political dialogue, he said. "The sanctions are intended to urge the DPRK to come back to the negotiating table. The sanctions themselves cannot be deemed as a purpose," he said, adding that without political dialogue, the sanctions "will surely fail". Wang Junsheng, a researcher of the National Institute of International Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is not the first time China has issued such a statement in implementing UN sanctions against Pyongyang. In 2013, several governmental departments, including the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Transport, issued notices to implement a UN Security Council resolution in response to a DPRK nuclear test in February that year. Wang said this year's embargo list, in which the exceptions are listed, shows that China is fully implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2270 while considering the DPRK's humanitarian concerns. Liu Ce in Shenyang and Reuters contributed to this story. Contact the writer at wangqingyun@chinadaily.com.cn Zhou Hailun, 17-year-old studying in California Growing up on the Chinese mainland, Zhou Hailun always knew that she would finish her high school education in the United States, whatever the cost. "That's what everybody does," said the 17-year-old from Sichuan province, who has spent the past two years studying in California and will graduate this spring. "My father's friends all sent their kids abroad, so that was the trend." Zhou is among a growing number of Chinese teens who are flocking to US high schools, looking for a Western education and a competitive edge in gaining admission to US universities and then finding a job back home. But the pursuit of the American dream can quickly turn into a nightmare, experts warn, as many of these so-called parachute kid live in the US with little parental supervision and can end up in trouble and even in prison. "It's a huge industry," said Joaquin Lim, who runs a company that helps place Chinese students in US schools. "The last figure I read put it at $25 billion." Of nearly 1 million international students enrolled in public and private institutions in the United States in 2014 and 2015, about 304,000 or 31.2 percent were from China, according to the Washington-based Institute of International Education. About 30,000 of those students attended secondary schools, compared with fewer than 1,000 a decade ago. The majority of these "parachute kids" ages 14 to 19 end up in Southern California. For the most part, they attend Catholic or Christian schools because of restrictions by the US government on the number of foreign-exchange students enrolled in public schools. The Chinese suspect Zhou (C) is under the control of Vietnamese policemen at the Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 5, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua] HANOI - The Vietnamese police transferred a Chinese suspect to their Chinese counterpart on Tuesday at the Noi Bai International Airport. This is the first important achievement of the Joint Operation Two on Capturing Escaped Suspects between China and Vietnam's public security ministries. The male suspect whose surname is Zhou was born in December 1969 in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province of China. Zhou is wanted by the Chinese police for suspicion of opening casino. In 2011, Zhou, together with other people, set up an online gambling site, involving capital of 400 billion Chinese yuan (nearly $61.8 billion), with profit of 580 million Chinese yuan ($89.6 million). Zhou later fled abroad. in 2014, the International Criminal Police Organization issued red notice against Zhou. In 2015, Chinese Ministry of Public Security sent request to the Vietnamese side over the arrest of Zhou. Under the coordination between Vietnamese police and the liaison office of Chinese police in Vietnam, Hanoi Police Department successfully arrested Zhou at a restaurant in Hanoi in March 2016. During the Joint Operation One on Capturing Escaped Suspects between China and Vietnam from November 2014 to July 2015, the two sides arrested 47 escaped suspects. Expert confident over Suu Kyi's approach By Zhang Yunbi (China Daily) Updated: 2016-04-06 09:09 Optimism over the pragmatic approach taken by Myanmar political heavyweight Aung San Suu Kyi has been voiced by a Chinese expert. Suu Kyi has promised to rejuvenate her nation's economy and transportation, with China playing an important role. The Southeast Asian nation has prioritized good relations with China, with the new administration that was sworn in on March 30 facing a number of challenges. Jia Duqiang, a researcher of Southeast Asian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Beijing has been in contact with Suu Kyi and her ruling party, the National League for Democracy. The basis of the relationship between the two countries is well founded, particularly regarding trade and infrastructure, Jia said. Cooperation with China will be further advanced as Suu Kyi's party prioritizes the economy and enjoys considerable public support, Jia added. Jia predicted that Suu Kyi will adopt a balanced approach to the foreign policies of the new administration, with the government reinforcing ties with China, Japan and the United States. Suu Kyi was invited to Beijing last year for the first time, in her capacity as Myanmar's main opposition leader ahead of last year's elections. During her trip, she met with President Xi Jinping. She also visited the Great Wall, tried her hand at calligraphy and also toured Beijing, Shanghai and Yunnan province, which shares a border with Myanmar. Nine days after Suu Kyi's party won a landslide election victory, she told Xinhua News Agency that her memories of China date to her childhood. Her mother took her to the Chinese embassy on social occasions, where she received a Chinese qipao as a gift. She said she cherishes the memory to this day. Suu Kyi has welcomed foreign investment from all countries and has stressed that it is vital to gain the trust of Myanmar people to invest in the country. She has also praised China's Belt and Road Initiative - proposed by Xi in 2013 - for reviving the ancient trade routes that span Asia, Africa and Europe. Wang Xu contributed to this story. zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 04/06/2016 page3) Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson delivers a speech during the opening session of the World Climate Change Conference 2015 (COP21) at Le Bourget, near Paris, France, in this November 30, 2015 file photo. [Photo/Agencies] REYKJAVIK - Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson announced Tuesday he would resign during his party's parliamentary members meeting, local media reported. After a meeting of Progressive Party parliamentary members, the current minister for fisheries and agriculture Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson told Iceland's national broadcaster RUV Gunnlaugsson would step down as prime minister, but remain as chairman of the party. Johannsson will serve as the new prime minister, according to reports. Gunnlaugsson's proposal was agreed by his party's parliamentary members during the meeting and will be submitted to the leaders of the Independence party, its political partner in this coalition government, later on Tuesday. Thousands of angry Icelanders protested in front of the parliament building last night calling for the dismissal of the current government. Local residents use a horse drawn cart to pass through floodwaters in Sarband area on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, April 5, 2016. [Photo/Agencies] ISLAMABAD - At least 212 people were killed, 188 injured and 1,428 houses collapsed in separate rain-triggered accidents in parts of Pakistan over the last month, authorities said Saturday. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that the country's northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the worst hit where 104 people were killed, 78 others injured and 359 houses collapsed in separate accidents of roof collapse and landsliding caused by torrential rains. The northwest tribal area was also badly affected by the rains where 31 people were killed, 38 others injured and 61 houses collapsed in the rain-related accidents. In a separate incident in Orakzai Agency of the tribal belt, seven laborers were killed and 10 others injured when a coal mine caved in due to landsliding caused by heavy rains. The northeast Pakistan administered Kashmir area was also badly affected by the rains where 21 people were killed, 17 others injured and 771 houses collapsed, said the report. The country's south Balochistan province also received heavy rains which affected the lives of many people. It was an alleged "pay-to-stay" student and worker visa scheme that could result in a stay behind bars. Twenty-one brokers, recruiters and employers from across the United States, who allegedly conspired with more than 1,000 foreign nationals - mostly from China and India - to fraudulently maintain student visas and in some cases worker visas were arrested on Tuesday by federal agents, the US attorney for New Jersey announced. The defendants were apprehended in New Jersey and Washington state by agents with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Charges included conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit. " 'Pay to Stay' schemes not only damage our perception of legitimate student and foreign worker visa programs, they also pose a very real threat to national security," said Paul Fishman, US attorney for New Jersey. Of the 21 defendants, seven are from New York (three from Flushing, Queens, and two from Manhattan), seven from New Jersey, five from California, one from Illinois and one from Georgia. "Individuals engaged in schemes that would undermine the remarkable educational opportunities afforded to international students represent an affront to those who play by the rules. These unscrupulous individuals undermine the integrity of the immigration system," said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent in Charge Terence S. Opiola. The defendants, many of whom operate recruiting companies for international students, were arrested in attempts to enroll foreign nationals as students in the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ), a purported for-profit college ostensibly located in Cranford, New Jersey. However, "unbeknownst to the defendants and the foreign nationals they conspired with the UNNJ was created in September 2013 by HSI federal agents", the statement said. The UNNJ had no instructors or curriculum and held no classes. It "operated solely as a storefront location with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators". The so-called university claimed it was authorized to issue a "Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status - for Academic and Language Students," also known as Form I-20. The form certifies that a foreign national has been accepted to a school and would be a full-time student; the I-20 usually allows legitimate foreign students to get an F-1 student visa. HSI agents identified hundreds of foreign nationals, mostly from China and India, who had previously entered the US on F-1 non-immigrant student visas to attend other Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-accredited schools. Through various recruiting companies and businesses in New Jersey, California, Illinois, New York and Virginia, the defendants enabled 1,076 of the foreigners - all willing participants - to fraudulently maintain their nonimmigrant status in the US on the pretense that they continued full-time studies at UNNJ, the US attorneys statement said. The defendants solicited UNNJ administrators to participate, and during dealings with undercover agents, they acknowledged that none of their foreign national clients would attend courses, earn credits or make academic progress toward a degree. The defendants sought to enroll their clients in UNNJ to fraudulently maintain student visa status in exchange for kickbacks or "commissions", the statement said. They also created false records, including transcripts, attendance records and diplomas purchased by their clients to deceive immigration authorities, the statement said. In addition, the defendants used UNNJ to fraudulently obtain work authorization and work visas for clients. As a result, numerous defendants were able to outsource their foreign national clients as full-time employees with various US-based corporations, the statement said. Other defendants devised phony IT projects at the school. They then created false contracts, employment verification letters and transcripts. The defendants then paid the undercover agents thousands of dollars to put the schools letterhead on the phony documents, to sign them as school administrators and to go along with the scheme, the statement said. The defendants then used the documents to fraudulently obtain labor certifications issued by the US secretary of labor and then to petition the US government for H1-B visas for non-immigrants. The documents were then submitted to the US Customs and Immigration Services (USCIS). In most of the cases, the foreign worker visas were not issued because USCIS was informed of the undercover operation. The charges of conspiracy to commit visa fraud and making a false statement each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit and H1-B visa fraud each carry a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. An emphasis on developing nuclear energy can be crucial to addressing air pollution and climate change in China as the country's economy shifts from heavily industrial to more service-oriented, according to experts. "In the years after 2020, China could overtake the United States and France as the largest nuclear-powered country. That is highly possible," Xiaojie Xu, chief fellow at the Institute of World Economics and Politics, said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Tuesday. Like many experts, Xu believes the solution to climate change and air pollution is a decreased dependence on fossil fuels. But given China's current status, that will be no small task, Xu said. "China is a big coal-user, and (is also) one of the biggest sources of a solution. That is the reality. We have to transform the energy-development patterns from heavy-industry dominant to a service-dominated one. This transition is a must." Alternative sources of energy are needed as the country looks to limit carbon emissions. Hui Zhang, senior research associate at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, said: "Nuclear power will play an important role, but it is only one piece of a huge puzzle, which means China also needs to develop other renewable energy, including hydropower and non-hydro renewable resources (wind, solar and other renewable energy)." "As of January 2016, China has 30 power reactors (27 GWe (gigawatt electric) in operation with 24 units under construction (27 GWe). China leads the world in terms of the pace of nuclear development and new reactor construction. The country officially plans its total nuclear capacity to be 58 GWe by 2020 plus 30 GWe under construction," Zhang said. "Nuclear energy is clean but cannot proceed alone because of its close ties with other types of non-fossil fuels," Xu said. "Synergic development has to be managed. In the short term, use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) instead of coal is immediately required. In the long term, non-hydro renewables (wind and solar) are a must." The Paris Agreement, drafted in December 2015, outlines commitments that signatory states must assume in their responsibility to the environment. China and more than 100 other nations' leaders will sign it on Earth Day, April 22. Commitments addressed in the Paris Agreement include "Holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels". President Xi Jinping announced at the White House on Sept 25 during his US state visit last year China's plan to launch a national emissions trading system in 2017. "Energy transition is a must, but uncertainties remain," Xu said. "Our expected transition will come with lower GDP growth, industrial reform and restructuring, and higher coal efficiency. This will all result in lower carbon emissions." Allan Fong in Washington contributed to this story. Two men are facing fines of 63 million Kenya Shillings ($620,000) in total for illegal possession of ivory after the Kenyan government announced a 21-day amnesty for the surrender of any wildlife trophies. Wilson Kiyayooni and a minor, whose name is not disclosed, were arrested in Narok county for illegally possessing elephant tusks weighing over 3 kg, read a statement from Kenya Wildlife service. While Kiyayooni is facing fines of 40 million Kenya Shillings or life imprisonment, his minor partner was released by the court, the statement said. In another case in Laikipia county, James Aoi Lokigen also showed up in the court for illegal possession of 3 kg of ivory. The man is facing fines of 3 million Kenya Shillings or two years imprisonment for illegal possession of a government trophy. Meanwhile, he was also convicted of dealing with a government trophy without authorization and is facing fines of 20 million Kenya Shillings or life imprisonment. The two cases were released after Judi Wakhungu, cabinet secretary of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Regional Development Authorities, announced on March 30 that Kenya is going to burn 105 metric tons (231,485 pounds) of seized ivory and 1.3 tons of rhino horn on April 30. Wakhungu also announced the start of a 21- day amnesty as of March 30 for the surrender of any wildlife trophies that are held without a permit issued by the Kenya Wildlife Service. She said those who turn in jewelry or trinkets made from ivory or rhino horn will not be punished. BERLIN -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Wednesday for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. Speaking at a press conference after meeting visiting Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in Berlin, Merkel said the recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, gave cause for concerns. Efforts towards an "acceptable and permanent ceasefire" in the region, the chancellor stressed, are "of the utmost urgency". Merkel said that Germany advocated resolving the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan peacefully and wanted to "help constructively". Recent hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries blaming each other for triggering the escalation. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces have killed 70 Armenian soldiers and destroyed 20 armored vehicles on Monday and Tuesday, while at least 16 Azerbaijani soldiers were killed during heavy fighting in the region. JUBA -- China has donated 1,700 tonnes of rice to South Sudan as part of efforts to help the world's youngest nation that is facing a humanitarian crisis. During the ceremony for the donation held in the capital Juba on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to South Sudan Ma Qiang said that China was concerned with the deteriorating humanitarian situation in South Sudan. "Rice is the first phase of Chinese donation agreed upon by the two governments in July 2015," said Ma. Medical aid from China is also due in Juba soon, to be given to the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, an agency of the South Sudanese government, according to the ambassador. South Sudan is suffering a food shortage due to poor crop production, with UN agencies putting the cereal deficit this year in the country at 381,000 tonnes, up 53 percent from a year earlier. Humanitarian efforts in South Sudan have been largely halted since civil conflict began in December 2013 when President Salva Kiir fell out with his former deputy Riek Machar, who later formed a rebel force. Ma said China would continue to support South Sudan in solving some of the challenges it faces. South Sudan's Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Awut Deng Achuil, expressed gratitude for the Chinese aid. "Your support will surely save life and alleviate the suffering of our people and the government. China will not be forgotten by the people of South Sudan," Awut said. (Photo : Photo: Kevin Lee/Getty Images) Advertisement The Chinese legal system is undergoing a streamlining process, a development that will make it easier to file cases against government agencies that do now follow the rule of law. According to high-ranking court officials, this move will enable authorities to further fine tune legal procedures and come up with innovate solutions to settle legal disputes, reported the China Daily. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement In May of last year, central authorities released a guideline which required the nation's courts to eliminate unnecessary barriers and accept a suit once it is registered. This is in contrast to the earlier procedure wherein a case must first undergo a preliminary review in order to determine its merits before it is filed in court. However, with this innovation in the Chinese legal system, there has been a marked increase in the filing of disputes - particularly those involving complaints against government departments. A work report of the top court during the annual session of China's legislature revealed that in March 2015, courts nationwide handled 241,000 administrative cases, an increase of almost 60 percent year-on-year. "The things residents appealed about most often in the pasthouse demolition and administrative information disclosure - have been made easier," Li Shaoping, vice-president of the Supreme People's Court said. But the rise in the number of administrative disputes being filed in court has also caused a major strain on the Chinese legal system, particularly in courts which are unable to handle the deluge of cases due to the limited number of judges. To address this challenge, Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court was identified as a pilot site for legal reforms, and a venue to develop ways of promoting efficiency and professionalism in the judiciary. Whenever a government body is named as defendant in a lawsuit in any of the capital's 16 districts, Beijing No 4 Court is assigned to hear the case. According to a March 31 court report, district governments in the capital were named as defendants in 1,397 administrative cases accepted in 2015, which is seven times more than those tackled by the city's courts in 2014. "They are in the middle of reforms in urban management, so it's easier to produce disputes," Court President Wu Zaicun explained, noting that more than 25 percent of the cases were decided against the government. Advertisement Tagschina, Chinese legal system, Chinese court, Rule of Law (Photo : Getty Images) China on Wednesday Commenced operation of a lighthouse on Subi Reef amid growing tensions in the South China Sea. Advertisement China has started operation of a newly built lighthouse on Subi Reef, one of the many artificial islands constructed by Beijing in the disputed South China Sea region. The 55-metre light house was inaugurated by China's Transport Ministry, state media Xinhua announced on Tuesday. The lighthouse emits white light and will provide efficient navigation services to the Chinese coastal guard. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement China initiated the construction of the lighthouse after U.S. guided missile destroyer USS Lassen sailed within 12 nautical miles of Subi Reef in October last year. Beijing described the move as "extremely irresponsible." Over the last year, China has steadily increased its construction activities on several reefs and artificial islands of South China Sea. China's construction activities have been scorned by all other claimants, who are mostly China's small neighbors. Many have described it as "assertive action" on the part of Beijing to stake its sovereignty over the disputed maritime territory. However, China maintains that construction activities are purely meant for achieving maritime safety and other obligations like scientific research. China also has a lighthouse projects on two other reefs, Cuarteron Reef and Johnson South Reef. China is laying claim to most part of the energy rich South China Sea, while five of its prominent neighbors - Brunei, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam are also stake competing claims over the waters. Tensions keep flaring up in South China Sea region, as most claimants perform military and no-military activities near the region to stake their claims. Several experts have noted that the South China Sea region is one of the major "flashpoints" in the Asian continent. Advertisement TagsSouth China Sea, china (Photo : Getty Images) Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said that Beijing will seek to enhance and improve relations with Myanmar's new government as he paid a courtesy call to his counterpart, foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday in Naypyidaw. Advertisement Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said that Beijing will seek to enhance and improve relations with Myanmar's new government as he paid a courtesy call to his counterpart, foreign minister Aung San Suu Kyi, pn Tuesday in the nation's capital Naypyidaw. Wang is the first top diplomat to pay a courtesy call to Myanmar's new leaders shortly after the new government officials assumed office on March 30. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement During his meeting with minister Suu Kyi, Wang said the two nations should immediately conduct "high-level exchanges" and discuss issues about their bilateral cooperation. Friendship He said that his two-day visit is an evidence of the friendship between the two neighbors and that Beijing is committed to supporting Myanmar's steps to national reconciliation. "China-Myanmar relations are now at a new historical starting point," he said. Suu Kyi led a major landslide victory for her opposition-backed National League for Democracy party. Her party won the recent elections, but she is not allowed to be president based on Myanmar's constitution. China-Myanmar relations After the meeting with Wang, Suu Kyi said the China-Myanmar relations is "very important politically, socially, and economically." Beijing is eager to enhance the bilateral relationship between the two nations and vowed to support Myanmar's national reconciliation program. "China is a good neighbor to Myanmar. We want to improve the relationship between the two countries," he said. Largest trade partner Political observers said the new administration will seek greater economic growth through trade with China and address the lack of industries and infrastructure. China is Myanmar's largest trade partner and number one investor. Experts said the China-Myanmar relations have stood the test of time and that the new government will promote traditional and friendly relations with Beijing. Advertisement TagsMyanmar, Minister Aung San Suu Kyi, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, courtesy call, Beijing, national reconciliation, National League for Democracy party, bilateral cooperation (Photo : Getty Images) Taiwan and the US have announced an agreement that will expedite travel between the two countries - using Global Entry in America and e-Gate in Taiwan. Advertisement Travel between the US and Taiwan just became much easier, as the two countries signed an expedited travel cooperation agreement earlier this week. The agreement will allow eligible US and Taiwanese nationals to bypass long lines and check through customs electronically. This is great news for travelers. The Taipei Times reported that e-Gate, Taiwan's electronic immigration process, takes merely 11 seconds to be completed. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Taiwan joins a short list of countries that are eligible for the US electronic customs process, which is called Global Entry. Global Entry is currently available to approved visitors from the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Panama, South Korea, and Mexico. In Taiwan, e-Gate is only available to Taiwanese nationals, alien residents with multiple re-entry status, and foreign diplomats. The US is the first country to be granted e-Gate access. The agreement was signed in Washington D. C. by representatives from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). It has been praised by officials as validation of strong relations between the US and Taiwan. "This is another example demonstrating that Taiwan-US relations are now at their best since the Taiwan Relations Act was adopted in 1979," said Shen Lyu-shun, the TECRO official who signed the agreement. AIT representative Joseph Donovan echoed Shen's sentiments, calling the cooperation a "sign of the deep and expanding ties between the people of the US and the people of Taiwan." According to the AIT, 2015 saw almost 14,000 travelers enter the US from Taiwan four or more times, while about 150,000 Americans entered Taiwan two or more times. These frequent travelers stand to benefit the most from the agreement, as occasional visitors may want to avoid the fee required to apply for eligibility. Global Entry requires a $100 application fee. However there is no information indicating that there will be a fee implemented for US travelers who wish to use e-Gate. The new program should be open before the end of this year. Advertisement TagsUS, Taiwan, Travel, e-Gate, Global Entry, US-Taiwan relations, AIT, TECRO (Photo : Getty Images) China's state media on Wednesday criticized New Delhis tentative move to tighten security clearances for Chinese companies. Advertisement Amid reports that India is mulling a decision to tighten security clearances for Chinese companies, Chinese state media on Wednesday criticized New Delhi's tentative move, saying that it will hurt them more. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement An article published in state run Global Times said, "India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms if it scrapped security clearance to Chinese companies." The article further stated that Chinese companies will be hesitant to invest in India in the wake of tough security clearances and India's economic development will be hindered as a result. "Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, India's development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered," Hu Zhiyong, a researcher in Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told Global Times. The article appeared just a day after reports emerged that New Delhi may review its liberalized investment policies for Chinese companies. The move was touted as a punitive action against China as it blocked India's bid in the United Nation to blacklist Pakistani militant Masood Azhar. India followed liberalized investment policy to improve relationship with China In a bid to improve its strained relationship with Beijing, during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to China last year, he announced several initiatives. One such initiative was to remove China from the list of "country of concern," which made security clearances for Chinese companies easier than ever before. The initiative lead to asharp rise in Chinese investment in India, with several big Chinese companies including Huawei Telecommunications announcing huge investment plans. China's proximity with Pakistan is a diplomatic thorn in Indo-Sino relations Experts claim that China's close diplomatic ties with India's arch rival Pakistan has further complicated its relationship with New Delhi. China's continuous supply of military and financial aid to Pakistan has been viewed with skepticism by India. Apart from offering aid, Beijing has also blocked several "anti Pakistani resolutions" initiated by India at international forums in the past. Experts say that China's pro-Pakistan policy is purely aimed at piling pressure on India. Advertisement Tagschina, India, China and India (Photo : Youtube.com) China on Wednesday successfully launched its first microgravity satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Advertisement China's space program reached a new milestone after the successfully launch of the country's first microgravity satellite in the early hours of Wednesday. According to Xinhua, the SJ-10 satellite blasted into space on the back of the Long March 2-D rocket from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern part of Gobi desert. Like Us on Facebook Advertisement Designed in unique bullet shape, the satellite will perform 19 experiments during its voyage to study various aspects of microgravity, including microgravity fluid physics, microgravity combustion, microgravity biological effect, space bio-technology and space radiation effect. "All experiments conducted on SJ-10 are completely new ones that have never been done before either at home or abroad. They could lead to key breakthroughs in our academic research," said Hu Wenrui, chief scientist of the SJ-10 mission. Unlike ordinary satellites, SJ-10 is a retrievable satellite. This means that after orbiting space for 15 days it will return back to earth with results. China has sent as many as 24 retrievable satellites into space. In the decade, China has made huge investment in science and space research. Experts say China's space program is not only aimed at achieving self-sufficiency in technology, but also bolstering the country's image as a "rising economic power." China's successful landing of a land rover on moon in 2013 was widely hailed by scientific community and global leaders. Now China is aiming to build a manned space station and send crewed expedition to the moon by 2020. China is also engaged in many other interesting space programs, some of which have already caught the fancy of the scientific community. This includes building the world's largest telescope, located in Guizhou province, which will become operational in October this year. China also expanded its underground space laboratory, located in Sichuan province, earlier this year to conduct in-depth research on elements of our universe. Advertisement TagsChinese space prgram, Chinese staellite, China's Microgravity Satellite 'Forgive' the terrorists says priest who lost 27 family members to suicide attack 06 April, 2016 by Gregory Tomlin , | LONDON (Christian Examiner) When Rev. Fayaz Adman learned of the suicide bombing of Christians celebrating Easter in a Lahore, Pakistan, park March 27, he hadn't fully healed from a similar bombing two-and-a-half years before. His wounds weren't physical. They were emotional and spiritual. The bombing in 2013 killed 85 members of the All Saints Anglican Church in Peshwar. Twenty-seven of the dead belonged to his family. Fayaz, an Anglican priest in West Bolton, near Manchester, learned of the bombing through a phone call and subsequent television report. He traveled to Pakistan the next day to see how he could help the survivors. "I felt I was lost," Fayaz said in the interview April 4 on a Church of England podcast.. "I said, 'I need to go back and see my family members, which is difficult to explain in words.'" As a human being and a minister it was difficult for me to forgive those who attacked. It was difficult because they took many of my family in just one event. I know that it is difficult, but I forgive them and I pray for their families. And I, too, pray that God will enable our friends and family members to forgive those who attack and persecute our family members. Fayaz later walked through the shattered church where two members of the Pakistani Taliban blew themselves up during a worship service. He spoke of the blood and human remains scattered around the church. What he saw motivated him to action, the priest said. He and his wife, a registered nurse, asked for permission from the Anglican hierarchy to do something for those wounded in the attacks. They soon established Project Umeed or Project Hope, a medical services program for the victims. They worked with hospitals in Lahore, Peshwar and Islamabad including the Taxila (Presbyterian) Mission Hospital to obtain western-quality medical care for many of those injured. At first, he said, the people believed the quality of care was too good to be true, but later the program expanded to include the long-term care of more of the victims, who needed more than physical care. They also needed spiritual and psychological care. "I am glad my wife worked honestly, skillfully, and provided the best care to our families," Fayaz said in the interview. Now, those who were wounded in the 2013 bombing are back at All Saints Church, Fayaz said. He returned when most were back in the pews. "When I saw those people working on their feet and all the people supporting us, I said a very big 'thank you.' There is a need to support Pakistani Christians," he said. Like the patients aided through Project Umeed, Fayaz has also been a beneficiary of the work. He said the two-year journey, followed by the recent events of persecution of Christians has made him value forgiveness even more. "It was really difficult to think about forgiveness in the last few years," Fayaz said. "As a human being and a minister it was difficult for me to forgive those who attacked. It was difficult because they took many of my family in just one event. I know that it is difficult, but I forgive them and I pray for their families. And I, too, pray that God will enable our friends and family members to forgive those who attack and persecute our family members." That experience of forgiveness was fresh in his mind, he said, when the Easter Sunday bombing took place in Lahore. He said in the podcast that he was "on the holy table," or serving communion, when word of the suicide blast reached him. "I was shocked," Fayaz said. "I was unable to speak for a few minutes." "The basic thing is to pray for these terrorists and those who control these innocent people to offer their lives to be terrorists," he said. "I think that is a major thing missing in our prayers. And they need the church needs our support. As long as these fundamentalists are there, our Christians are in danger." The danger is real and present. On April 5, reports surfaced that the terrorists behind the Pakistan park bombing, the Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction of the Taliban, were plotting much larger and more "devastating" attacks. The terror group reportedly provided NBC News with information about the suicide bomber and its plans to continue killing members of the Christian community and other religious minorities. Several smaller attacks earlier in March went largely unreported by western media. Those attacks outside churches in Peshwar killed 14 and wounded 80. Tennessee could become first state to officially recognize Bible as 'the state book' 06 April, 2016 by Tobin Perry , | NASHVILLE (Christian Examiner) Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam has an opportunity to make history if he signs a new bill that would make the Bible the state's official book. Tennessee would be the first state in the country to do so. On Monday the state senate passed the bill by a 19-8 vote, dividing both the Democrat and Republican caucuses. Republican State Sen. Steve Southerland, R-Morristown, an ordained minister, sponsored the bill. He wants to see the bill passed because of the Bible's "great historical and cultural significance in the state of Tennessee as a record of the history of Tennessee families that predates some modern vital statistical records," according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, pulled from history to make a case for the official recognition of the Bible by the state. "The very founding of our nation the very form of government that we have today was put forth by men of faith, based on their faith, based on what they read in Holy Scripture." "The very founding of our nation the very form of government that we have today was put forth by men of faith, based on their faith, based on what they read in Holy Scripture," Roberts said. Opponents of the bill have complained that the bill would be unconstitutional and could trivialize the Bible. "The Bible is a book of history, but it is not a history book to be placed on the shelf," said State Sen. Ferrell Haile, R-Gallatin. The Republican noted that the Bible was to be recognized by individuals not by states. He said government's involvement in recognizing it demeans the Bible. Haslam, a Republican, has raised similar concerns. It's unknown whether he will sign the bill. Other items officially recognized by the state of Tennessee, according to The Washington Post and The Times Free Press, include the state's official amphibian (a Tennessee Cave Salamander), rifle (a Barrett .50 caliber) and song (a murder ballad). The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and the state's attorney general both oppose the measure mostly on the grounds that the bill violates the First Amendment. "Lawmakers' thinly veiled effort to promote one religion over other religions clearly violates both the United States and Tennessee Constitutions, as our state attorney general has already pointed out," said Tennessee ACLU Executive Director Hedy Weinberg told The Tennessean. After the bill passed the state house last year (by a 55-38 vote), the vote appeared dead in a senate committee. The states of Louisiana and Mississippi tried to pass similar measures last year but failed. The sponsor of the bill in the house tried to change the bill to make Andrew Jackson's Bible the official state book in an effort to alleviate some of the constitutional concerns. A pastor from Chongyi Church -- China's largest megachurch -- was released after spending three months in "black jail," which falls outside the country's penal system. But, he still remains under the "residential surveillance." Pastor Gu Yuese was arrested on charges of "embezzlement," but human rights and Christian activists said that he was likely caught in the government's radar after vocally opposing state-sponsored cross-removal campaign. The pastor was detained in January, but formally arrested on February 1 on embezzlement charges. However, the government never provided any details about the accusation. Chongyi is a state-approved church with over 10,000 members, and Pastor Gu was held in good repute by the Communist Party before he openly protested against the cross-removal campaign since 2014, which has destroyed about 2,000 crosses. He was expelled from his position as the church leader 10 days before he was detained. Prior to his imminent arrest, he issued an open letter addressed to his congregation, warning about a, "rare freezing, cold [set to] befall Hangzhou," which is the capital city of province Zhejiang, also called Jerusalem of China for its high concentration of Christians. He was apparently referring to the government's crackdown on crosses across the city. "Chongyi Church is also experiencing unprecedented trials," the letter reads. "Everyone must equally rely on the Lord's grace to confront [this hardship] and triumph over it... Increasingly, we feel God's good intentions in this storm. It will refine every impurity in our ministry team to the greatest extent and compel us to love the Lord and people more purely." It was first time since Communist dictator Mao Zedong's rule and the Cultural Revolution, that a clergy holding such a high position was arrested. According to a Reuters report, China is conducting the worst domestic crackdown in two decades on human rights and Christians under President Xi Jinping. Nearly 1,000 rights activists were detained last year alone - and almost as many as in the previous two years combined. Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide Mervyn Thomas said: "We welcome news of Pastor Gu's release but note with concern that he is not actually free as he is under residential surveillance." The new liberal Canadian government has decided it will no longer fund the office of religious freedom, and allowed it to close by the end of last month. The government voted against a Conservative motion to renew the funding of the office for another term on March 21. The office was set up by the Conservative Party when it was in power in 2013, and was managed by a few employees with a $5 million budget. The department promoted religious freedom and tolerance worldwide through education and youth movements. The organization has worked to distribute children's books to promote pluralism among Bangladeshi children in collaboration with Aga Khan Foundation, documented injustices faced by non-Muslims in Pakistan, and engaged with youth in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria to increase inter-religious dialogue for promotion of religious freedom. The Religious Freedom office also incorporated Holocaust awareness events and genocide prevention into international educational curricula, conducted exchange programs to bring together Ukrainian youth from different ethnic and religious backgrounds, mediated conflict in Nigeria's Plateau State, and promoted journalist sensitivity in Myanmar to combat hate speech and religious intolerance, among its many other programs. However, the new government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has indicated that it will take a non-religious approach towards human rights, but has not stated any new projects or offices as yet. We now have one less strong partner and one less voice for religious freedom, Katrina Lantos Swett, commissioner of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, told WORLD Magazine. This is a very unfortunate message to send out to the rest of the world at this time. The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) urged the government to not close the office, given the importance of religion in society. "The Canadian Ambassador for Religious Freedom and the Office of Religious Freedom were an important signal to the international community and to Canadians - as well as a reminder to our civil servants and our country's diplomats - of the singular importance of religious freedom, and of the unfortunate lack of voices in society prepared to come to its defence," said a CCCB statement. "Religious freedom and freedom of conscience have a pivotal status among human rights," the statement continues. "Religious freedom is more than the right of an individual to believe and pray. It equally involves a faith community's identity as well as its interactions with society." Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who established the office, had dedicated it to a Pakistani politician Shahbaz Bhatti, who raised his voice in support of religious minorities including Christians and Hindus in his country. He was assassinated in Pakistan in 2011, when he returned to his country after visiting Canada. The first attempt to replicate the United Statess diplomatic advocacy for beleaguered believers worldwide has come to an end. Five years ago, Canadas Conservative party campaigned for a new office to champion the cause of international religious freedom (IRF). The office opened in 2013, looking to complement the strengths of the US State Departments IRF office that it was modeled after. But six months after the Conservatives lost national elections to the Liberal party, the four-person, $5 million Office of Religious Freedom (ORF) has been shut down. Our government shares the same conviction as the previous government, but it assesses the consequences of its chosen method of promoting this conviction differently, said foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion during a speech, according to The Globe and Mail. I am referring to freedom of religion or belief, which we will defend tooth and nail, but not through the office that the Harper government ... 1 Local Foundation Files Brief in Immigration Case MONTGOMERY, Ala., April 5, 2016 / A federal judge in Texas halted the implementation of the order, saying it exceeded the President's powers under the Constitution, and a divided Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments on the case in April and to decide the case before the end of June. Foundation President Kayla Moore said of the case, "It is appalling to think that President Obama would by executive fiat allow millions of aliens to stay in this country even though they are clearly violating the law. It is manifestly unfair to place illegal aliens on a path to residency ahead of the many who have gone through the legal process to become legal immigrants. Even elementary school children know it is wrong to 'crowd' in line." Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe added, "The President asked Congress to make these changes, and when Congress refused, he did so himself by an executive memorandum. Not only has he usurped the powers of Congress; he has abdicated his own constitutional duty to 'take Care that the laws be faithfully executed.' He has made a shambles of the separation of powers our Framers gave us in the Constitution." In the same case, Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions announced that they are joining with 42 other Senators in filing an amicus brief supporting Texas and opposing the Obama Administration's immigration order. Also, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced that Alabama has joined a coalition of 26 states in filing a brief supporting Texas and opposing the Administration's position. Share Tweet Contact: John Eidsmoe, Foundation for Moral Law , 334-262-1245MONTGOMERY, Ala., April 5, 2016 / Christian Newswire / -- The Foundation for Moral Law, an Alabama organization dedicated to the defense of the Constitution strictly interpreted according to the intent of its Framers, has filed an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court in a case involving President Obama's November 2014 executive memorandum stopping the deportation of an estimated 4.1 million illegal aliens.A federal judge in Texas halted the implementation of the order, saying it exceeded the President's powers under the Constitution, and a divided Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments on the case in April and to decide the case before the end of June.Foundation President Kayla Moore said of the case, "It is appalling to think that President Obama would by executive fiat allow millions of aliens to stay in this country even though they are clearly violating the law. It is manifestly unfair to place illegal aliens on a path to residency ahead of the many who have gone through the legal process to become legal immigrants. Even elementary school children know it is wrong to 'crowd' in line."Foundation Senior Counsel John Eidsmoe added, "The President asked Congress to make these changes, and when Congress refused, he did so himself by an executive memorandum. Not only has he usurped the powers of Congress; he has abdicated his own constitutional duty to 'take Care that the laws be faithfully executed.' He has made a shambles of the separation of powers our Framers gave us in the Constitution."In the same case, Alabama Senators Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions announced that they are joining with 42 other Senators in filing an amicus brief supporting Texas and opposing the Obama Administration's immigration order. Also, Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange announced that Alabama has joined a coalition of 26 states in filing a brief supporting Texas and opposing the Administration's position. Hundreds Join Life-Affirming Prayer Luncheon Blocks Away from Planned Parenthood Heroic Media Event Featured Laura Ingraham, Raised Funds to Help Women Choose Life Contact: Heidi McDow, A. Larry Ross Communications, 972-267-1111, heidi@alarryross.com DALLAS, April 5, 2016 /Christian Newswire/ -- In response to the annual Planned Parenthood fundraising luncheon featuring President Cecile Richards yesterday in Dallas, more then 600 individuals joined Heroic Media, a pro-life organization that uses targeted advertisements to connect pregnant women with life-affirming pregnancy resource centers, for a luncheon April 4 to pray for grace for those working in the abortion industry and raise funds to help women learn options to choose life. Radio show host and author Laura Ingraham was the guest speaker. "Heroic Media has answers and they come not in the form of condemnation and punishment, but in the form of a warm embrace," said Ingraham. Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee and author and founder of And Then There Were None, a non-profit to help get those working in the abortion industry a way to get out, served as emcee for the prayer luncheon, which took place at the Omni Hotel Dallas, just blocks away from the Planned Parenthood annual fundraising luncheon. "We aren't just trying to save babies but create a culture where abortion isn't just illegal, but where it is unthinkable," said Johnson. "It's what we don't know, it's what these women don't know -- it's the false advertisements, the fake compassion -- that is what leads women through the doors of the abortion clinic," Johnson continued. "Heroic is here to tell women the truth. They are the antidote to Planned Parenthood's message. Every year pregnancy clinics are showing them real options and real medical care, no matter what. It's not fake. We aren't driven by profit, we are driven by the mercy of Christ." With the looming Supreme Court decision over Texas laws which drastically impact how abortions are performed in the Lone Star State drawing national attention, Heroic Media seeks to lessen Planned Parenthood's impact on the area and the nation, and help women who find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy find life-giving alternatives. "We see the truth and the beauty of the pro-life movement. We do not inhabit the darkness or traffic in lies we save lives," Ingraham said. "Because of the work done by Heroic Media, women who are fearful, hopeless, or just misguided, are presented with a beacon of light that illuminates a path of undeniable truth and hope. There is no other alternative other than victory. Think of what our Framers wrote 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' You can't get to the latter two without first preserving LIFE!" The primary focus of the Heroic Media prayer luncheon was to pray for God's mercy on those who work for Planned Parenthood. Additionally, Heroic Media raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for its advertising program in Texas. Heroic Media was founded in April 2004 in Austin with the goal of saving lives from abortion through the use of targeted advertising programs. The organization believed that if women in crisis could learn of hopeful alternatives to abortion, they would choose life. Since 2010, Heroic Media has received over 1 million responses to its online advertisements, and has helped save over 11,000 babies' lives from abortion. "Planned Parenthood looks at abortion as big business, and big business uses ads to get customers. Everyday Planned Parenthood uses ads to get hundreds of women into abortion clinics all in the name of financial profit," said Brett Attebery, Vice President of Marketing for Heroic Media. "Because of our efforts, abortion-minded women are redirected and connected to a life-affirming pregnancy resource center," Attebery continued. "Through that connection, it drives out fear and restores their hope, and they can look at the life growing inside them and see it for the gift it is. When these women are shown compassion, they can then, in turn, show compassion to that child." About Heroic Media Heroic Media uses targeted advertising to connect women facing unexpected pregnancies with life-affirming pregnancy resource centers. Heroic Media ads are carefully researched and designed to interrupt the abortion mindset and give a woman hope. Since 2010, Heroic Media internet advertisements have helped save over 11,000 babies from abortion. For additional information, visit heroicmedia.org. Note to Editors: To arrange an interview with Abby Johnson or Brett Attebery or for more information about Heroic Media, please contact Heidi McDow at heidi@alarryross.com or call 972.267.1111. Share Tweet home US ACLU challenges Kentucky prison's policy on LGBT literature The American Civil Liberties Union, a non-partisan organisation focused on social issues, has challenged the policies of a prison in Kentucky that prevents inmates from receiving magazines with LGBT content. According to the Courier-Journal, the Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex in West Liberty censors LGBT magazines and other similar reading materials that they think "promote homosexuality." While the Kentucky Department of Corrections handbook does not contain such policy, this particular penal institution's has, under its Unauthorized Mail section, a restriction for such materials. There have been 13 cases of inmates being denied their mail between August and November 2015 alone. Personal letters and photos were also rejected, according to Reuters. "Letters, photographs, books and magazines that promote homosexuality" are reported to be prohibited, as well as free gifts, those that contain other people's social security number, and gang signs, as they are deemed to constitute "a threat to institutional discipline or security." Magazines like The Advocate and OUT are not allowed. A letter to Warden Kathy Litteral last month, co-written by ACLU staff attorney Ria Tabacca Mar and ACLU legal director William Sharp, says that with this policy, indivuals, based on their sexual orientation, are singled out for unequal treatment. After the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, "it can no longer be seriously argued that being gay constitutes a security threat that justifies discriminatory treatment of gay prisoners." The policies and procedures of the Kentucky Corrections, under the Pornography or Sexually Explict Materials section of Inmate Correspondence, say that the types of materials that are likely to be rejected include those that show "homosexuality, sadism, masochism, bestiality, and sexual acts or nudity with children," although it is specified that "rejection shall not be based upon the grounds set forth above if the material does not pose a threat to any aspect of the institution." According to Reuters, the policies are now in review, quoting Commissioner Rodney Ballard's email as saying, "I have asked our general counsel to research the issue and provide guidance." Another non-profit organization, LGBT Books for Prisoners, said that more than one prison has rejected materials they sent to inmates because of gay content. home US Atheist & Satanic anti-Christian materials banned by Colorado school district Atheist and Satanist groups were scheduled to make literature available to students in a school district in Colorado on April 1, but two of the reading materials that they submitted for approval were blocked and limited for distribution only in local high schools. Happy Halloween #Dreadfuls! Behold your treat: A new #PennyDreadful Comic Book Series, coming 2017, set 6 months after the TV series finale! pic.twitter.com/RQai9HMjDL Penny Dreadful (@SHO_Penny) October 31, 2016 Delta County School District objected to the pamphlet from Freedom From Religion Foundation titled "What Does the Bible Say About Abortion?" The group used Renaissance artist Albrecht DArer's 1504 woodcut "Adam and Eve" as cover, and this was categorized by the school district as a "pornographic picture." "Albrecht DArer's famous depiction of Adam and Eve in Paradise can be called many things, but it is not pornography," said Andrew Seidel, FFRF staff attorney. "DArer completed this engraving in 1504, and it is one of the most technically precise woodcuttings in all of art history. It has been displayed in the world's foremost museums and is a staple of most art history classes. The idea that this picture is somehow pornographic is, to be frank, absurd." The other pamphlet put in question and limited for distribution in high schol is "An X-Rated Book: Sex and Obscenity in the Bible." It shows a cartoon of a Bible with hands groping under a young girl's skirt. "It is inappropriate in a school setting; we would not allow any of the high school students to wear or otherwise display such a cartoon," School District Attorney Andrew Clay said, as quoted in the FFRF website. "Why would we allow them to carry it in the building? It may also qualify as hate literature, demeaning women." The group, however, said that the school officials are interpreting it the wrong way, and that they miss the point entirely. "The cover image is a feminist cartoon whose message is that the bible itself demeans women," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, the group's co-president. Seidel also said that the pamphlet contains mostly quotes from the Bible, and he argued that if the school district is banning it because it qualifies as hate literature, then the Bible must be banned as well. "There is absolutely no way for the district to exclude the pamphlet and allow the bible to be distributed," he said. A compromise was apparently reached, with FFRF having to place a sticker across the cartoon. It reads, "CENSORED by order of Delta County Schools," something that the group thinks would likely pique the interest of students more. The move by the FFRF, Western Colorado Atheists and Freethinkers, and The Satanic Temple to make non-Christian materials available to students was prompted by Gideon International's distribution of the Bible in the Colorado school district in December. Canada: Blow to religious freedom as government office closes Canada's Office of Religious Freedom, established three years ago by the country's Conservative government, has been closed by its recently-elected Liberals. The final decision was taken in a March 22 parliamentary vote and the office was closed on March 31. The closure sparked criticism from supporters who claimed it marked a diminution of Canada's commitment to religious freedom and was driven by a secularist agenda. According to the administration of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canada would fold religious rights into a broader concern for human rights. Foreign affairs minister Stephane Dion said his party would continue to defend all human rights, including the freedom of religion and belief, "tooth and nail". "Canada will support every effort to speak out when human rights are in question or where people are being persecuted for who they are or for their beliefs, including when human rights defenders are arrested and threatened for daring to speak out against human rights," he said. However, the decision has been condemned by churches and rights organisations. A spokeswoman for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Katrina Lantos Swett, said: "This is a very unfortunate message to send out to the rest of the world at this time." She told Baptist Press: "Both the enemies and the friends of religious freedom will view this decision as an effort to downgrade the importance of this fundamental human right. The world is kind of on fire, as it relates to religious freedom. So the timing, in my humble opinion, couldn't be much worse." The president of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, Bruce Clemenger, said: "Religious freedom deserves unique focus, particularly in this time in history." He added: "We lost an important capacity today." Jewish groups also criticised the closure and paid tribute to the work of the office's ambassador, Andrew Bennett. Avi Benlolo, president of the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies, said: "In the face of continued divisiveness in our society, the Office of Religious Freedom provided a sense of inclusivity with government to many groups of numerous faiths. This is a loss for Canada and for anyone who believes in human rights and the sanctity of freedom of religion." Michael Mostyn, CEO of B'nai Brith Canada, said the government's decision was "unfortunate." "The Office of Religious Freedom was an important symbol to recognise the suffering and oppression so many face because of their faith," he said. "With acts of terror so often religiously motivated, now more than ever, Canada must enshrine the promotion of religious freedom as a cornerstone of its foreign policy." Charleston massacre: Dylann Roof trial delayed over death penalty decision A judge on Tuesday granted US prosecutors' request for trial delay as it considers whether to seek the death penalty for a white man accused of killing nine parishioners last summer at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina, in what prosecutors say was a hate crime. District Judge Richard Gergel urged the federal government to make a decision soon on whether they would pursue the death penalty for Dylann Roof, 22, who plans to plead guilty if he will not be facing the possibility of execution. Gergel said he could set a trial date at some point in the interest of a speedy trial. "There are victims here," Gergel said. "They have a right to put this behind them." Roof, who faces 33 federal hate crime and firearms charges, is accused of opening fire during a June 17 Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in a crime that sparked a fierce social debate about race and gun control in the United States. Assistant US Attorney Jay Richardson said he understood the Justice Department deliberations on whether to seek the death penalty for Roof had reached the desk of US Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who will announce the decision. "This is obviously a very important decision and one that's being taken quite deliberately," Richardson said. Roof's attorney, David Bruck, said if the death penalty is ruled out, there would be no need for a trial because Roof would plead guilty. Gergel also had delayed Roof's trial in February at the request of his defence, which needed more time to prepare. The Justice Department also was still considering the death penalty. The Justice Department declined further comment on Tuesday. Some family members of victims and a survivor of the shootings attended Tuesday's hearing but Roof did not. Roof had been linked to white supremacist views and Lynch has said the federal charges against him are based on evidence he targeted his victims because of their race, obstructing their exercise of religion. South Carolina prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Roof when he is scheduled to go on trial for murder on July 11. In a related case, defence attorneys and prosecutors said they could be ready by mid-summer for the trial of Roof's friend, Joseph Meek, charged with concealing knowledge of a crime and lying to an FBI agent after the shooting. A trial date was not set. China: Hong Kong pastor held as pressure on Christians increases A pastor in Hong Kong has been prosecuted in mainland China for printing Christian books and raising money, according to UCA News. Rev Ng Wah disappeared in July and was arrested on the mainland, said Constant Kim, Wah's friend and a member of his Christian Church of Chinese Ministry. Kim said: "It is political persecution. Some extreme leftist officials in Guangzhou did this." The pastor is believed to have faced a fraud trial over funds totalling more than 100 million yuan (US$15.43 million). He was tried with Lin Jingying, who organised an unregistered house church. Ng Wah's colleague Rev Phillip Woo was told to stop preaching in mainland China by officials who accused him of violating the country's religious laws. He had posted messages on social media calling on Chinese Christians to come to Hong Kong for training. Woo told ucanews.com the incidents showed China's religious situation "has tightened." They are the latest in a series of imprisonments evidently illustrating China's harder line toward Christians. Pastor Gu Yuese, who opposed the demolition of churches and the removal of crosses in Zhejiang province, was imprisoned on similar charges of embezzlement but has just been released and placed under "residential surveillance". According to China Aid, both Pastor Gu and Christian human rights lawyer Zhang Kai were released in advance of President Xi's visit to the US for the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC. Also in China, Christian human rights lawyer Ni Yulan has been prevented from travelling to the US to receive an International Women of Courage Award. Ni, who has previously been imprisoned and tortured, was refused a new passport, apparently because of her connection with lawyers detained in a "crackdown" on July 9, in which more than 300 lawyers, activists, family members and associates were interrogated, detained, imprisoned and disappeared. Gay adoption now allowed all over U.S. as Mississippi becomes last state to lift ban Same-sex adoption is now legal in Mississippi after a federal judge struck down the state's 16-year old anti-gay adoption law. Mississippi was the last state to have such a ban on the books after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year legalising same-sex marriage. In a 28-page ruling filed on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Daniel Jordan issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, citing the Supreme Court's decision legalising same-sex marriage nationwide last summer. NBC News reported. The Supreme Court ruling "foreclosed litigation over laws interfering with the right to marry and rights and responsibilities intertwined with marriage," Jordan stated in his ruling. "It also seems highly unlikely that the same court that held a state cannot ban gay marriage because it would deny benefits expressly including the right to adopt would then conclude that married gay couples can be denied that very same benefit." The court case stemmed from the complaint filed last year by four same-sex couples who were joined by the Campaign for Southern Equality and the Family Equality Council. According to the complaint, hundreds of families and thousands of children in Mississippi were disrespected and denied legitimate rights, benefits and duties that come with legal parentage. Jordan ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to adopt violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Various supporters and human rights groups praised the ruling. "Two sets of our clients have waited many (almost 9 and 16) years to become legal parents to the children they have loved and cared for since birth," said Roberta Kaplan, lead attorney in the case for the Campaign for Southern Equality, a North Carolina-based activist group, which represented four Mississippi couples in the suit along with the Massachusetts-based Family Equality Council. "We hope that it should finally be clear that discrimination against gay people simply because they are gay violates the Constitution in all 50 states, including Mississippi,'' she added. Susan Hrostowski, one of the original plaintiffs, said: "Our son just turned 16 on Easter Sunday and is going to get his driver's license tomorrow. For us, the feeling and the way we have operated as a family have never been impacted by this law. But to have this ruling and to be able to start the adoption proceedings tomorrow means everything to me.'' The Human Rights Campaign's Mississippi state director Rob Hill also welcomed the decision, saying it affirms that qualified same-sex couples in Mississippi seeking to become adoptive parents are entitled to equal treatment. "Judge Jordan has repudiated reprehensible efforts by our elected leaders to deny legal rights to our families. They are on the wrong side of history, and today's decision confirms, yet again, that they are also on the wrong side of the law." Iraq stands at 'dangerous crossroads', Christian bishops warn Bishops in Iraq have issued a formal statement praising the Iraqi army, Kurdish and tribal forces in freeing many towns and cities from the ravages of Islamic State. They warn: "Iraq stands today at a dangerous crossroads that represents a historic turning point and we should deal with it wisely. The current opportunity imposes on every one of us a historic responsibility that we should not miss." The Chaldean Catholic bishops prayed for God to "culminate these victories" by releasing Mosul, the Nineveh plains and every other area of Iraq still held by ISIS. They also asked God to shower mercy on Christian martyrs and to bless the wounded with speedy recovery. In a statement issued at the end of a meeting in Ankawa in Erbil, the bishops also declared their support and solidarity with the millions of forcibly displaced and migrated people, "hoping that their suffering will end in the near future, when they will be able to go back to their homes and live in freedom, dignity and peace." The Chaldean Patriarchate is responsible for nine of the 14 Catholic dioceses in Iraq. The Chaldeans are among the Eastern-rite churches that are part of the Roman Catholic Church. The head of the church, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako, was at the meeting held yesterday to discuss latest developments in Iraq and the region, especially the plight of Iraqi Christians who have been severely persecuted. The bishops warned of the "serious impact" on living conditions of many Iraqis due to "widespread financial corruptions, with the sharp economic decline and the resulted severe fiscal crisis." In particular, the bishops are worried about the security status of the country given the large number of families living at or below the poverty line. The bishops called for the "wise" Islamic authorities to help make sure basic services are provided, that social justice is restored along with human rights, and that sectarian and partisan gains are abandoned. They called for Christians to be included in the new government. "We confirm our support for the Iraqi citizens in demanding reform, which has become a matter of urgency that cannot be separated from the process of speeding up a genuine national and comprehensive reconciliation in order to establish a real political partnership, away from sectarian quotas and favoritism in all its forms," the bishops said. Reform should start with a change of heart and liberation of the soul, they said. "We call Christians to be patient, persistent and not to be dragged into a random immigration," the bishops said. "We stress once again the need to protect Christians' homes and properties and to stop seizing them illegally." The bishops said there was no way to overcome the crisis other than facing the "chronic" problems with courage, strength and determination. ISIS burns 15 people alive for attempting to flee Iraqi city Islamic State has burned 15 people to death for attempting to escape the city of Fallujah in Iraq. The terror group has also arrested a woman who went on local television to describe deteriorating conditions, and begged for someone to help save residents. Fallujah, known as the City of Mosques, is just over 40 miles from Baghdad and has been under ISIS control for over two years. When nearby Ramadi was liberated last December, Fallujah was left isolated in ISIS control and as a result is suffering serious shortages. Many residents are hungry, malnourished and unwell. Azal Obaid, a local governor, told Kurdish news agency ARA that 15 civilians who tried to escape have been publicly executed by being burned to death. He also said ISIS militants are using civilians as human shields to protect its soldiers. Burning is one of Islamic State's favoured forms of execution. Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh was shown being burnt alive in one of the more horrific of the group's propaganda videos. However, hope could be around the corner. The occuping jihadists are reported to be showing signs of increasing paranoia. Residents are viewed with suspicion as the Iraqi army continues to tighten its grip on the surrounding area. Obaid revealed: "There is a military plan prepared by the leadership of the Iraqi army and local tribes to liberate the city of Fallujah." A woman living in the city told Al Arabiya News Channel: "People are dying because of hunger, there is no medicine, no food, we have no more options left. Allah is my refuge." Mississippi governor signs religious freedom law that allows denial of service to gay couples Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant on Tuesday dismissed objections by LGBT groups and businesses as he signed into law a legislation that would protect the religious freedom of individuals and groups in the state and prevent them from being forced to take part in same-sex marriage ceremonies. HB 1523, or the Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act, is meant "to protect sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions of individuals, organisations, and private associations from discriminatory actions from state government or its political subdivisions, which would include counties, cities and institutions of higher learning," Bryant said. The religious beliefs protected under the law are that marriage is or should be recognised as the union of one man and one woman; sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage; and male or female refers to an individual's biological sex. Under HB 1523, the state government will not act against any religious organisation that will solemnise or decline to solemnise any marriage, and refuse to provide services, accommodation, facilities, goods or privileges related to the marriage based on its religious beliefs. It also gives any religious organisation the right not to hire or terminate a person whose conduct or religious beliefs are inconsistent with its beliefs. The law also protects a person who declines to perform sex reassignment surgeries or gender identity transitioning. In addition, it also protects individuals who refuse to provide services, accommodations, facilities, goods, or privileges in same-sex marriages. These include businesses involved in photography, poetry, videography, disc-jockey services, wedding planning, printing, publishing, floral arrangements, dress making, cake or pastry artistry, assembly-hall or other wedding-venue rentals, limousine or other car-service rentals, jewellery sales and services. "Mississippians from all walks of life believe that the government shouldn't punish someone because of their views on marriage," said Alliance Defending Freedom Legal Counsel Kellie Fiedorek. The law also allows schools or businesses to impose policy on the use of "restrooms, spas, baths, showers, dressing rooms, locker rooms, or other intimate facilities or settings," which would mean transgenders can use these facilities based on their biological sex and not gender identity. Family Research Council president Tony Perkins lauded the law, saying it "gives fresh momentum to efforts on the federal and state level to stop government discrimination against people who believe that marriage is between a man and a woman." However, Jennifer Riley-Collins, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, said: "This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousands of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licences, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are." The law will take effect in July this year. Norway: Judge rules in favour of Christian couple, baby Ezekiel to be returned A Norwegian judge has ruled that the baby son of the Bodnariu family should be reunited with his parents. Ezekiel Bodnariu was removed from their custody with his four older siblings by Norway's controversial Barnevernet or child welfare service last November. The judge also ruled that Marius and Ruth Bodnariu should see the two older boys twice a week for two hours at a time. Marius, a Romanian, and Ruth, a Norwegian, were suspected of parental child abuse and religious indoctrination after one of the daughters told her headteacher that they spanked the children as a disciplinary measure. Formerly members of the Philadelphia Pentecostal Church in Bucharest, Marius and Ruth moved to Norway 10 years ago to start a family there and live in Naustdal on the west coast. Corporal punishment is illegal in Norway, and schools are obliged to report it. The case has highlighted other examples of Barnevernet removing children from their parents. Mixed or migrant families are particularly vulnerable. A petition calling for the return of the Bodnariu children has drawn around 60,000 signatures and hundreds of Christians have demonstrated outside Norwegian embassies across Europe. The family's spokesman, Pastor Cristian Ionescu, wrote in a statement: "This ruling is a step in the judicial process and does NOT end the Bodnariu's appeal or fight to regain full and unhindered custody of ALL of their FIVE children. The battle for the children continues!" He encouraged supporters to join a day of protest on April 16. Barnevernet has refused to comment on the case, citing privacy issues. Pakistan: Christian teenager kidnapped, raped, and forced to convert to Islam shares her testimony Komal, 15, was abducted from her home in Pakistan, raped and forced to convert from Christianity to Islam in June last year. She suffered unrelenting abuse and was forced to marry one of her rapists, who acted as her pimp and she fell pregnant. Throughout her captivity, she had faith that Jesus would be faithful and rescue her from the hell she was experiencing. In February, she managed to escape, and has since shared her story with International Christian Concern (ICC). "I was sleeping along with my mother on a single bed during a power-cut time in my house yard," Komal told ICC, describing the evening she was abducted. "At around midnight, five armed men with masks climbed over the boundary wall and entered into [our] house. "The armed men brutally beat the entire family and threatened them [with] severe consequences if they shouted for help," she said. "Then, the kidnappers dragged me from my mother's lap to their car in the street. My eyes and mouth were covered with a piece of cloth and they took me to [an] unknown place where five of them raped me in front of each other, taking turns." Her kidnappers continued to abuse her during her six months in captivity. "Burning my female parts with cigarettes was a routine exercise for them," she said. "Almost for two months they beat me every day for nothing and did not give [me] enough food to eat." Komal was forced to legally change her religion from Christianity to Islam and marry one of her captors with forged documents claiming she was 18. "After almost two months of inhuman treatment and humiliation, they took me to the courthouse and forced me to put my thumb impression on a document that declared me the wife of a Muslim," she said. In Pakistan, a woman's husband has full legal custody of his wife. "I did not want this to happen, however, I had no other option because they threatened to kill my parents if I did not obey. Therefore, they forcefully married me to a Muslim and converted me to Islam. "Without my wish they changed my religion, my identity and even my name," she said. "My new husband, who continued to rape me for the next two months, then moved to another city. This man already had two wives at his house." Her new husband forced Komal to become a prostitute, which she described as "the worst agony of all": "I felt like dying every day... I had become a forced prostitute. He even hired a watch-woman to keep an eye on me almost round the clock." Throughout this, Komal said: "I had faith that Jesus would get me out of this hell." In February, the opportunity to escape arose. "Before sun rise, I managed to sneak away from the house to an urban area after walking about five hours. I begged for money from the people there to cover a bus fare and was able to reach my home after sunset on the same day. "I am thankful for this mercy and the miracle of rejoining my parents now. I couldn't stop crying when I hugged my parents and family for the first time," she said. "One can hardly imagine the painful situation which I and my parents experienced. It was like rising from the dead." During her captivity, Komal became pregnant. "I am confused about what to do with my unborn baby. What will the future of my child be if I give birth to him or her?" Komal's story is not unique there are as many as 700 Christian women and girls, often between 12-25, who are abducted and forcibly converted to Islam each year, according to research by the Movement for Solidarity and Peace. "I want justice, but do not want to put my parents in danger," Komal said. "Those people are very rich and influential and therefore we cannot go into the legal process against them. I just want to be divorced and try to plan a happier life." Pope to visit Lesbos in bid to 'shed light' on refugee crisis Pope Francis is to visit Lesbos in Greece next week in a visit that is certain to add pressure on leaders in Europe as the controversial agreement to send migrants back to Turkey was called to a temporary halt today. The Pope will visit Lesbos with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop of Constantinople and head of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The Pope and the Patriarch have become good friends and allies since they met on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem in 2014. Pope Francis has strong views on the refugee crisis and in his Easter homily, criticised their rejection by the EU. In February he visited the US-Mexico border, and has openly cofronted anti-immigration views such as those of Donald Trump. "The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees," a government source told the Mail. "Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with them to the island of Lesbos." Lesbos is at the frontline of the refugee crisis. The Lesbos deportations were stopped today after thousands of those who are being detained claimed asylum. Many arrived after risking their lives to make the crossing from Turkey by boat. The Greek Orthodox Church gave the go-ahead to the visit, only just arranged, after Pope Francis said he wanted "to shed light on the major humanitarian problem" presented by the crisis. Two hundred migrants were deported on Monday but the removals stopped today as a protest took place at Lesbos, with one migrant even threatening to hang himself. It is understood a further attempt will be made tomorrow. On nearby Samos 100 migrants have gone on hunger strike, angry that they face being returned to Turkey or applying for asylum in Greece when they risked their lives to get to Europe. For every Syrian refugee returned, one will be resettled in the European Union, up to a maximum of 72,000. Amnesty has described the deal as a "dark day for humanity". #EUTurkey deal: This is a dark day for the refugee convention, a dark day for Europe and a dark day for humanity. Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) March 18, 2016 The Pope is consciously trying to see what he can do to help, in light of the fact that many refugees are children and the UN has voiced fears about conditions on Lesbos. The Financial Times reported: "Some EU diplomats see the papal activism on refugees as an important counterpoint to populist anti-immigrant voices in Europe. Even so the papal visit to Lesbos next week comes at a vulnerable moment for the EU, a club built on idealism that is unused to the blunt criticism it is facing from aid agencies and charities over migration." Scotland's great Reformer: Who was John Knox? A documentary about the Scottish reformer John Knox is up for a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award next week. Knox tells the story of one of Scotland's greatest figures. Presented by Philip Todd, it's directed by Murdo Macleod, who said: "It is very rare for an explicitly Christian film to achieve recognition in the mainstream industry, and we hope that this nomination will allow the Christian message that Knox preached to reach a wider contemporary audience in Scotland than just the church." The film is making waves outside Scotland too. Knox is also nominated for best director, best documentary and most creative at the International Christian Film Festival 2016, to be held in Orlando, Florida at the end of this month. But who was John Knox, and why should he be remembered? 1. He was a key figure in Scottish history Knox founded the Church of Scotland and helped make Scotland a Protestant country. He led the Reformation in the country and is remembered for his uncompromising stand on the Word of God. 2. He was a man of action Born perhaps in 1514, he studied theology at St Andrews and was ordained in 1536. The Reformation was gathering force on the Continent and Lutheran ideas were finding their way to Scotland. Knox accepted them in the early 1540s and became a bodyguard to George Wishart, a fiery Protestant preacher. The Catholic Cardinal Beaton had Wishart arrested and executed, whereupon a Protestant mob murdered him, with Knox's approval. After a siege of St Andrew's Castle he was sent to the galleys for 19 months. 3. He was a friend of John Calvin He travelled to Geneva and learned much from the great Reformer, calling Geneva "the most perfect school of Christ that was ever on earth since the days of the apostles." 4. He advocated violent revolution In Geneva he wrote fierce denunciations of his enemies. His Admonition to England condemned the English for allowing Catholicism back after Edward VI's death (under Mary Tudor, 'Bloody Mary'). In The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women he argued, like a 16th-century John Piper, that women shouldn't be queens with authority over men; his targets were Mary Tudor and Mary Queen of Scots, but he also offended the future Queen Elizabeth. In Appellations to the Nobility and Commonality of Scotland he said people should rebel against unjust rulers. 5. He was fervently anti-Catholic Those were not good times for ecumenism. Knox returned to Scotland in 1559 and preached a violent sermon in Perth against Catholic 'idolatry'; a riot ensued. He was also a mighty preacher who would spend half an hour in calm exegesis then apply the text to Scotland's situation, whereupon he would pound his pulpit and terrify his hearers. 6. His influence was profound After the Treaty of Berwick in 1560, the pro-Protestant English and the pro-Catholic French agreed to leave the country, with the Protestants in charge. Parliament ordered Knox and five others to write the foundational documents of the Church of Scotland, which was Calvinist in theology and Presbyterian in church order. It took years for this to be accepted, but Knox prevailed in the end. 7. He clashed with his Queen On more than one occasion he crossed swords with Mary over her Catholicism and her personal life, on at least one occasion reducing her to tears. He said then: "Madam, in God's presence I speak: I never delighted in the weeping of any of God's creatures; yea I can scarcely well abide the tears of my own boys whom my own hand corrects, much less can I rejoice in your Majesty's weeping." This did not stop him calling for her death after she married the Earl of Bothwell, suspected of the murder of her husband Lord Darnley. Knox is revered for his uncompromising faith, his courage and his personal integrity. He died in 1572, saying in his will: "None have I corrupted, none have I defrauded; merchandise have I not made." He was only interested in doing the will of God. At his graveside in Edinburgh's church of St Giles, James Douglas, fourth Earl of Morton and newly elected regent of Scotland, said: "Here lies one who never feared any flesh." Follow Mark Woods on Twitter: @RevMarkWoods U.S. Army allows decorated Sikh officer to wear turban, beard while in uniform The United States Army has granted religious accommodation to a Sikh American officer by allowing him to wear turban, beard and uncut hair while serving on duty. In a decision issued on March 30, Army Assistant Secretary Debra Wada has granted the privilege to Capt. Simratpal Singh, 28, to wear the articles while in uniform, becoming the first Sikh soldier in the U.S. military to get the accommodation. "I had a childhood fascination with the Army. The Sikh concept of standing up for the weak and defending the defenceless is very much at the core of the Sikh psyche, and those are same ideals that the U.S. Army upholds," Singh told CNN. He requested exemption last October and the U.S. Army granted temporary exemption last December. In February, the army ordered him for additional gas and helmet testing. He then filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense. "My military service continues to fulfill a lifelong dream," said Singh. "My faith, like many of the soldiers I work with, is an integral part of who I am. I am thankful that I no longer have to make the choice between faith and service to our nation." Singh will continue in his battalion operations staff position at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, according to The Sikh Coalition. Eric Baxter of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is a co-counsel in the case, said, "No American should have to face religious discrimination to serve their countryespecially not top-notch, battle-tested soldiers like Captain Singh." In the decision, Wada told Singh that while assigned or performing non-hazardous duties, he may wear a beard, turban and uncut hair but these should be worn in such as way that they would not impair his ability to wear the army combat helmet or other protective equipment. Wada ordered his command to "provide quarterly assessments of the effect of your accommodation, if any, on unit cohesion and morale, good order and discipline, health and safety, and individual and unit readiness." Singh graduated with honours from West Point in 2010. After failing to get exemption, he cut his hair and beard. After completing Army Ranger School and a Bronze Star tour in Afghanistan, he filed for exemption last October. Underdogs Cruz, Sanders big winners in Wisconsin primaries: Is this the turning point for both candidates? It was the night of the underdogs in the U.S. primaries on Tuesday as Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz and his Democratic counterpart Bernie Sanders both scored resounding victories over their respective parties' front-runners in Wisconsin. Cruz added 33 new delegates to his pot after winning 48.3 percent of the vote while Donald Trump picked only three new delegates after taking 35.15 of the vote, as tabulated in Real Clear Politics. John Kasich, the third GOP candidate, registered 14 percent with no new delegates. Trump now has a total of 740 delegates, needing 497 more to reach the 1,237-delegate threshold to clinch the Republican nomination. Cruz has a total of 514 delegates; Marco Rubio, who has quit the race, has 171 while Kasich has 143. Despite Cruz's victory in Wisconsin, Trump still enjoys a sizable lead in the race for the Republican nomination. If Trump maintains his current level of support in the remaining races, he could win a delegate majority before the convention, according to a New York Times analysis. No other candidate has a realistic chance of capturing the delegates required to win the nomination outright. Even if Cruz were to win all of the remaining delegates, it is a near impossibility for him to reach the 1,237-delegate threshold, the Times said. However, Trump is not yet assured of winning enough delegates to secure the Republican nomination, according to analysts. Reaching the 1,237-delegate threshold requires him to maintain the same level of voter support in the forthcoming races. Cruz and Kasich can still earn enough delegates between them to deny Trump a majority of the vote, thus forcing a second ballot at the Republican national convention where anything can happen, the analysts said. In the Democratic race, Sanders won 45 new delegates after winning 56.4 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton got 31 new delegates after taking 43.3 percent of the vote. Clinton now has a total of 1,274 delegates while Sanders has 1,025. Although Sanders won a large majority of delegates in the most recent contests on March 26 and April 5, he continues to trail Clinton by a large margin in the delegate count. Clinton can win slightly less than half of the remaining vote and still earn a majority of the pledged delegates by June, the New York Times analysis said. Cruz was ecstatic after the vote count. "What an incredible victory tonight," he told the crowd at his primary night rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, WND reports. He said Wisconsin is a "turning point," adding that now, Americans "have a choice, a real choice." "Three weeks ago, the media said Wisconsin was a perfect state for Donald Trump," Cruz said. "So just how significant is tonight? Well just today, our campaign has raised over $2 million. ... We've had over 1.3 million contributions. "In the last two weeks, and in the coming days when Colorado and Wyoming finish voting, we are likely to have gained over 100 delegates on Donald Trump. ... I'm more and more convinced that our campaign is going to win the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, we will win a majority of the delegates. And together, we will beat Hillary Clinton in November." However, Cruz faces far more difficult contests ahead in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Delawarestates leaning on Trump. But Cruz is undaunted. "Just a couple of weeks ago, all of the media commentators were saying Wisconsin was a state that I could not compete and do well," Cruz told supporters on Monday. "They were saying it was a state that was a natural state for Donald Trump ... and yet I think the people of Wisconsin, they're looking at the records of the candidates, and they recognise that Donald screams and yells a lot, but he has no solutions." United Methodist pastor faces possible church trial after coming out as gay A United Methodist Church pastor in Kansas may face church trial after she came out as gay last January. The complaint against Rev. Cynthia Meyer of the Edgerton United Methodist Church in Edgerton, Kansas, was referred to Rev. David Bell as counsel of the church, Religion News Service reports. Last Jan. 3, Meyer preached at the church in which she announced that she was in a "committed relationship" with another woman, which she described as a "covenant." She sent a copy of her sermon to her district superintendent, Rev. David Watson. Two days later, Watson filed a complaint against her, calling her a self-avowed, practising homosexuala chargeable offence for clergy under the United Methodist Church. Under the church's Book of Discipline, "The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practising homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church." The decision to refer her complaint came after parties involved in the supervisory response process did not agree on a just resolution of Meyer's case. Bell will review the evidence and may choose to take the complaint to the Committee on Investigation, a church body that could decide whether to move the matter to a church trial. No date has been set. The review takes place ahead of the United Methodist Church's General Conference slated on May 10-20 in Portland, Oregon. More than 860 delegates from around the world will consider amendments to the church's Book of Discipline on human sexuality. "While many persons within The United Methodist Church disagree with the rule that says persons who are self-avowed, practicing homosexuals may not be ordained and may not be appointed as pastors, the rule is currently in effect," said Bishop Scott Jones. "Rev. Meyer's sermon prompted the supervisory response, the attempt to find an agreed-upon just resolution and this referral to Church counsel, as outlined in the Book of Discipline." While Meyer awaits a decision on her case, she will continue to serve at the Edgerton church. Meyer was appointed as Edgerton pastor last July after serving 12 years as assistant dean of students at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, according to the Religion News Service. Jones suggested to Meyer to wait for the decision of the conference. If the decision to allow gay pastors is rejected, Jones told Meyer to withdraw from the ministry. She could also withdraw her congregation from the church and establish an independent church or affiliate of another denomination. Meyer rejected both proposals. On Facebook, Meyer said a few church leaders were upset with Jones' proposal. "They joined me in my dismay at his suggestion that I leave, and that the entire congregation leave the denomination," Meyer said. A "Star Wars" themed airplane from All Nippon Airways, the largest airline in Japan, landed in Los Angeles on March 28, marking its first international flight. The exterior of the Boeing 777 is fashioned after BB-8, the small droid who made his debut in last year's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." The inside, as well, is stocked with BB-8 cups and napkins; even the stewardesses wear BB-8 outfits. The White Oak Music Hall will welcome 3,000 fans on Saturday for its first live show on the lawn of the sprawling complex in the near northside. But in the midst of this, questions have been raised about how the developers are opening this portion of the concert complex without permits to build. Neighbors already wary of the new venue, and the overflow cars and crowds likely to use their residential streets, say the operators are taking advantage of a loophole in the city's rules regarding land use by using a temporary stage and calling it a special event - one of dozens they have planned for the year, including three in May with some bigger-name bands. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Woodlands Waterway Arts Festival Hundreds of artists and craftsmen will be showcased at this 11th annual event at Town Green Park along The Woodlands Waterway. This year's featured artist is whimsical painter Julia Gilmore. In addition to the colorful marketplace, the festival also includes music, chef demonstrations and children's games. When: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday Where: 2099 Lake Robbins, The Woodlands Tickets: $15, free for ages 12 and younger; woodlandsartsfestival.com Happy birthday to the wolves The Saint Francis Wolf Sanctuary in Montgomery will host a "Birthday Celebration for the Wolves." The event will give visitors a chance to interact and learn about wolves and wolf-dogs. The nonprofit sanctuary gives homes to animals that are not able to be released or adopted. When: Noon-4 p.m. Saturday Where: 2757 St. Beulah Chapel Road, Montgomery Cost: $10, $5 for children (recommended donation); wolvesofsaintfrancis.org Bringing Texas history to life In the spring of 1836, Texians were forced to flee for their lives from the Mexican Army. The incident, known as the Runaway Scrape, will be re-created at George Ranch Historical Park this week. In addition to the battle re-enactments, the day will include military drills, archaeology digs and folklife demonstrations. When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday Where: 10215 FM 762, Richmond Tickets: $10, $5 for ages 5-15; georgeranch.org 'The Emperor's New Clothes' In a bilingual, musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson tale, a young Tejano star learns about fame. Presented by Express Theatre, the made-for-kids play features Tex-Mex music by Jack Helbig and Tim Fried-Fiori. When: 11 a.m. Tuesday Where: 6000 Hermann Park Information: milleroutdoortheatre.com Swing, Jive and Pop METdance's program presents dance through the years in an interactive program geared for young audiences. When: 11 a.m. Wednesday Where: 6000 Hermann Park Information: milleroutdoortheatre.com Montgomery County Fair This weeklong celebration of all things farm and ranch kicks off Friday. In addition to a rodeo and livestock show, the fair features a fair queen contest, pet parade, barbecue cook-off and an Elvis tribute show. When: Friday-April 17 Where: 9201 Airport, Conroe Tickets: $5-$12; mcfa.org This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Wrestling in the park Doomsday Wrestling, which has been body slamming for laughs since 2003, will bring its unique comedy to downtown's Market Square Park this week. The family-friendly event promises wrestling, music and mayhem. When: 7 p.m. Saturday Where: 301 Milam Information: doomsdaywrestling.com Cajun festival Spicy food, zydeco music and plenty of dancing are the enticements of the 21st annual Bayou City Cajun Festival at Traders Village. Headliners include Nathan & the Zydeco Chas Chas and Step Rideau. Free admission, but parking is $4. When: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Where: 7979 N. Eldridge Information: tradersvillage.com Houston Pet Expo Shop, learn and play at this event at the Pasadena Convention Center that will feature dozens of pet-rescue groups. Experts will be on hand to discuss training, grooming and traveling with your pet. See obedience and lure-chasing demonstrations and get your pet's nails trimmed for free. When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Where: 7902 Fairmont, Pasadena Information: houstonpetexpo.com All eyes are on the prairie chicken Booming-N-Blooming, the 22nd annual celebration of Attwater's prairie chicken, will offer walking tours of the Attwater Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge, Native American dance demonstrations, an art contest and special presentations. When: 7 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday Where: FM 3013 between Sealy and Eagle Lake Information: fws.gov Barefoot Bands in the Park Enjoy contemporary pop and country tunes at Barefoot Bands in the Park. In addition to music, there will be kids' activities and food trucks. Featured entertainers include Amy Andrews, DeDe and the Daydreams and Cody Bryan. Blankets and picnics are encouraged at the event in Spring's Barefoot Park. When: Noon-4 p.m. Saturday Where: 28400 Rose Vervain, Spring Information: harmony-houston.com Dance Artifacts: A 22-year retrospective by the postmodern Suchu Dance Company and hip-hop based Fly Dance Company. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; MATCH, 3400 Main; $15-$25, 713-521-4533, matchouston.org. Honored Guests: METdance performs a mixed-rep program with a premiere by Katarzyna Skarpetowska and works by Robert Battle, Joe Celej, Kiki Lucas, Jhon Stronks and Ben Doyle. 8 p.m. Friday; Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas; $15-$45; 832-478-7041, houstonfirsttheaters.com. L'Dor Vador: "Three Generations of Poetry and Dance." NobleMotion Dance presents an autobiographical spoken-word and movement piece by Andy Noble about his family legacy. 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood; $15-$30; 713-551-7255, ergcchouston.org. Before Never: Refine Arts performs a dark dance narrative based on J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan" stories. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday; Frenetic Theater, 5102 Navigation; $10-$15; freneticore.net. Theater Grounded: In the Nevada desert, a now pregnant ace F-16 fighter pilot has been reassigned to a new position, flying a remote-controlled drone from an Air Force trailer. Her 12-hour shifts hunting terrorist targets in the Middle East are followed by 12 hours at home, struggling as a wife and mother in suburban Las Vegas. 8 p.m. Fridays, 2:30 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 2 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, through April 17; Alley Theatre, 615 Texas; from $46; 713-220-5700, alleytheatre.org. End of the Rainbow: Carolyn Johnson is Judy Garland in Peter Quilter's depiction of the star's final months. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Sunday; Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway; $23-$49; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com. Miss Teen: A single mother resorts to desperate measures to meet the demands of the pageant life after her shy daughter unexpectedly wins a pageant contest. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays through May 1; Stages Repertory Theatre, 3201 Allen Parkway; $21-$49; 713-527-0123, stagestheatre.com. Oliver!: Charles Dickens' classic novel turned award-winning musical tells the story of a young orphan, Oilver Twist, who falls in with a pick-pocketing gang. When Oliver's mark tries to help him by offering him a home, the other boys try to kidnap Oliver to keep him from talking. 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday Theatre Under The Stars, 800 Bagby, $37.75-$104.50, 713-558-2600, tuts.com. The Apostle: A.D. players perform a dramatization of the Book of Romans, adapted from Eugene Peterson's "The Message." 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2:30 p.m. Saturday and 2: 30 p.m. Sundays, through April 17; $20-$40; Grace Theater, 2710 W. Alabama; 713-526-2721, adplayers.org. Speakeasy, a New Musical: Conceived, written and developed by Houstonian's Rachel Landon and Liz Tinder, "Speakeasy" is a glimpse into 1920s America and the speakeasy phenomenon during the Prohibition era. 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 8 p.m. Monday and Thursday; $30-$37.50; Obsidian Theater, 3522 White Oak; 832-889-7837, obsidiantheater.org. Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: William Hauptman and Roger Miller's musical adaptation of Twain's classic novel. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays through April 10; Queensbury Theatre, 12777 Queensbury; $18-$48; 713-467-4497, queensburytheatre.org. Hair Like the Sun: By Charles B. French, directed by Steven Fenely, the production recounts the 1942 executive order, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, that designated certain areas of the United States military zones and, in turn, made lawful the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans in internment camps. The play follows one family as it attempts to find dignity in the harsh reality of war. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday; The Texas Repertory Theatre; Northwoods Plaza, 14243 Stuebner Airline; $38; 281-583-7573, texreptheatre.org. Detroit '67: It's 1967 and almost every single Motown release has made the charts, yet the world is changing around Chelle and Lank, who run an after-hours club in the basement of their late parents' house. Tensions mount when the siblings discover that their dreams have diverged, and their tight-knit community is threatened by the arrival of a mysterious outsider, while the city around them erupts in violence. Set to a vibrant soundtrack of Motown hits of the day. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through April 17. The Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main; $38-$44; 713-520-0055, ensemblehouston.com. 1946: Play by David Hagemann chronicles the lives of a Texas family in the aftermath of World War II. Inspired by Hagemann's family, it plays out against the background of historical figures, including Vernon Baker, Hank Greenberg and Frank Sinatra. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through April 17. Main Street Theater-Rice Village, 2540 Times; $39-$42; 713-524-6706, mainstreettheater.com. Fool for Love: Set in a seedy motel on the outskirts of the Mojave Desert, "Fool for Love" is the story of two people who can't seem to escape each other. May, hiding from her past, is confronted with the abrupt arrival of her lifelong lover Eddie. Previews 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Opens Sunday; The Landing Theatre at the Docks, 1119 Interstate 10 E., 562-502-7469, landingtheatre.org; Donation. The American Soldier: One-man show examines the internal struggles and problems that soldiers face when returning home from combat. 7 p.m. Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday; Talento Bilingue de Houston, 333 S. Jensen, $15, 713-222-1213, tbhcenter.org. Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: The "Pure Sound" Youth Choir of St. Luke's United Methodist Church presents its 20th annual spring musical, the story of Joseph of the Bible, set to music across all genres. 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday; St. Luke's United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer; $10; 713-402-5016, stlukesmethodist.org. Classical Ravel's Bolero: Experience the magic and mischief of Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, inspired by Goethe's classic poem and famously featured in Disney's original Fantasia. Then, Caroline Goulding plays Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with "the poise and sheer veracity of technique of a veteran soloist." Also, delight in Poulenc's charming Model Animals Suite, taken from his ballet based on the tales of La Fontaine. Finally, witness Ravel's genius at work in his ever-popular Bolero, his radical musical experiment with the power of orchestration. 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday; Jones Hall, 615 Louisana; $25-$134; 713-224-7575, houstonsymphony.org. Moores School of Music Guest Artist Recital: Kirill Gliadkovsky, piano: Kirill Gliadkovsky was born in Moscow and has studied music since the age of 5. Mr. Gliadkovsky attended the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, he's also earned both his Master's and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees at the University of Southern California. 1 p.m. Tuesday; Moores School of Music, Choral Recital Hall, 3800 Cullen; 713-743-3388, artshound.com. FREE More details have been released after an Alief Independent School District bus was involved in a wreck Wednesday morning in southwest Houston. The collision occurred about 6:40 a.m. on Westpark near Gessner, according to Alief ISD officials. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A homeowner is lucky to be apparently unhurt after a man appears to have lost control of his car and crashed through the side of a house early Wednesday morning in southeast Houston. The incident happened about 12:30 a.m. in the 9400 block of Misty Vale Lane near Blackhawk, according to the Houston Fire Department. Officials said when paramedics arrived they found a man trapped in the driver's seat of a car after it had plowed through the yard and smashed into the front of the home. Firefighters cut open the crumpled car to get him out. The man, officials said, was rushed to Ben Taub General Hospital. Details of his injuries and condition were not released but officials said he is expected to survive. The homeowner, Ben Brown, said he and his wife went to sleep about 10 pm Tuesday but woke about two hours later when they heard a loud crash. They thought a lightning bolt had hit the front yard or the house. When Brown's wife looked outside, she saw the car sticking out of the front of the home. Brown said the careening car hit large boulders he had placed in his front yard to protect the home after another driver had plowed into house about six or seven years ago. The rocks were no match for the car. They were shoved through a wooden fence into the backyard about 30 feet from where they sat in front of the house. The car, Brown said, ended up bedroom in the front of the home. "We're very blessed the rocks slowed him down enough not to end up in the back bedroom," he said. The Lone Star State is full of beauty, but sometimes gruesome realities overshadow that beauty. Skip Hollandsworth zeroed-in on those grisly facts in his new true crime book, "The Midnight Assassin: Panic, Scandal, and the Hunt for America's First Serial Killer." When unregulated food is sold around the world in markets, grocery stores and online, it puts consumers at risk. Sometimes, rotting food is treated with chemicals to make it appear fresher. Other times, food is labeled as a high-quality product or a name brand when it is in fact adulterated with fillers or is another type of food altogether. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Are you experiencing itchy, irritated eyes, a constant sore throat and a persistent urge to sneeze? Congratulations, you are one of many thousands in the Houston area who are being pummeled by allergies as trees cover everything in sight with powdery green and yellow pollen. Those affected are finding themselves sidetracked with a host of symptoms. HoustonChronicle.com: Battling allergies starts at home One area doctor offers some advice to soften the blows of allergy season, which she says runs from early spring until at least early fall. Dr. Sujata Sharma with AFC Urgent Care near the Heights says that most of her patients come to her as a last-ditch effort after battling allergies for days. Most people wait until it gets really bad by the time they get to my office, Sharma says. Some of my patients cant even leave the house when pollen is bad outdoors. While some patients complain that over-the-counter medications dont work, Sharma says it could be they're not giving the products enough time. RELATED: The skinny on spring allergies If an over-the-counter medication doesnt work within a few days, most people give up on them, Sharma says. Most dont really become effective until four days of use. If its been a week or so, Sharma says that consulting a physician isnt a bad idea. Grass and tree pollen keeps Sharma the busiest during allergy season, along with ragweed. Treatment varies by the patient, says Sharma, and it all depends on the symptoms and the patients medical history. Sinus pressure and congestion can usually be knocked out with rest and hydration. Some people think they have pink eye but learn it's just allergies after theyve spent money on medicine, Sharma says. Here are a few of her suggestions to help Houstonians sidestep major allergy trouble: Remove your contact lenses Those who have severe allergies and wear contact lenses during flare-ups are shooting themselves in the foot. It might be a good idea to wear glasses when there is a lot of pollen in the air, Sharma says. When you rub your eyes you can damage your eyes and worsen irritation. Stay indoors in the afternoon Allergies are most prevalent in the air in the afternoons, Sharma says. If its not possible to be a shut-in during those hours wash your hands when you come back inside so you dont spread the allergen. Change your sheets often Allergens can build up on bedding and cause some to wake up sicker than when they went to sleep. Curb your alcohol intake According to a Danish study that Sharma cited, even a glass of wine can irritate existing allergies and every additional alcoholic drink in a week increases the risk of seasonal allergies by three percent. The researchers believe that the bacteria and yeast in alcohol can produce histamines and cause a stuffy nose or itchy eyes. So, you probably arent allergic to cheap wine after all. Eat a bit cleaner Eat more fruits and vegetables but avoid bananas and melons if you suffer from ragweed allergies. Drinking wine doesnt count as eating fruit, by the way. Keep all windows closed Keep your car windows closed when the vehicle is parked because that pesky yellow pollen can get in the air-conditioner and stay there. At home, it may sound like a good idea to open windows to let in milder spring air, but you are in fact letting in more pollen. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate It's hard to foresee a bright future in Houston, with recent - and reoccurring - oil struggles, but the Bayou City is nonetheless ready for the future. That's what computer manufacturer Dell said of Clutch City in its ranking of 50 cities around the world. Houston came in 19th on the list of metropolitan areas with future-ready economies, called the Dell Future-Ready Economy Model, according to a news release. MAKE BANK: Houston tops Bankrate's best cities to accumulate wealth "We live in a digital age in which the power of innovation to transform our world is all around us," said Liz Matthews, Dell's executive director for corporate brand and purpose, in the release. "The cities where we live are faced with new challenges every day, from supporting a growing population and building a thriving culture, to fueling economic opportunity for everyone." To build the ranking, Dell looked at three major dimensions: Human capital, infrastructure and commerce. BAYOU CITY BUZZ: The best cities in Texas for those under 35 The study measured whether people had the right skills to drive social and economic change, whether the infrastructure was ready to support progress and whether the economy could help sustain innovation and growth. "This ranking scores large, high-growth global metropolitan areas based on attributes that enable people and organizations to access new tools and new ideas that deliver better connectivity, better economic performance and a greater ability to attract talent," the release said. MILITARY REPRESENTS: The best cities in America for mid-career military veterans Topping the list is San Jose, California. Mexico City comes in at 50th place. Dell rolled out the findings at a dinner event Tuesday night in Seattle, set to include people from Dell, Microsoft, the mayor's office and other local businesses. Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, business and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay. Orfeo ed Euridice" is an opera that "puts the pedal to the metal," says its dynamic director, Leslie Swackhamer. "It is straight-ahead storytelling," said Swackhamer, a Lynn Park resident, who directs the show's April 8-16 performances as the final offering of the 20th anniversary season of Opera in the Heights (Oh!). The group's venue, Lambert Hall, said Swackhamer, "is so intimate the music literally vibrates in your body. The music is fantastic, and it's a visceral experience you can't get in a bigger opera house." "Orfeo ed Euridice (Orpheus and Eurydice)" is based on an ancient Greek myth in which a man, refusing to accept that his beloved is dead, strikes a bargain with the gods to allow him to journey through the underworld to retrieve her. The catch is that he can't look at her until they are both safely back among the living. More Information Want to go? What: "Orfeo ed Euridice" Where: Lambert Hall, 1703 Heights Blvd. When: 7:30 p.m. April 8, 14 and 16; 2 p.m. April 10 Details: 713-861-5303, www.operaintheheights.org See More Collapse "Somebody being so obsessed that he would go to Hell and back is very romantic," said Swackhamer. The director's own husband, Ten Eyck Swackhamer, squired her across country when she decided to leave her career as a high-powered Washington, D.C. trial lawyer to study directing in Seattle, Washington. "Practicing law made me money but it didn't make me happy," said the director. "We cut ties to stability and packed up and moved." Swackhamer had grown up in Bradenton, Florida, as "a nerdy redhead" with dreams of becoming a brain surgeon. However, when she arrived at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, she "fell in love with the study of history" while also pursuing theater as a hobby. Swackhamer was playing the mayor's daughter in a production of "The Music Man" when its choreographer fell ill and Swackhamer was asked to replace her. "Afterward, the director took me aside and said, 'You really have the directing gene.'" When she moved to Houston 10 years ago, where her husband is general manager of the Alley Theatre, Swackhamer "pretty quickly" gravitated toward Stages Repertory Theatre. "It is my artistic home," she said. However, to Houston fans, Swackhamer's hits shows at Stages, such as "The Great American Trailer Park Musical," might have eclipsed her national reputation as a director of operas. Following "Orfeo ed Euridice," for example, Swackhamer is inked to direct "Madame Butterfly" at both the San Francisco Opera House and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in the nation's capital. "About 30 or 40 percent of my work is opera," she said. "Travel is tricky," she added, explaining that she and her husband have a daughter, Sarah, who is a sophomore at Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Houston. "Her interests are debate and robotics," said her mother. Swackhamer previously directed "Don Giovanni" and "Macbeth" at Opera in the Heights, which she said "has reconnected with our mission" by casting "young talent" in major roles in "Orfeo ed Euridice." Swackhamer also enjoys new play development and theater administration, including her work the past five years as executive director of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Houston-based international competition for female playwrights. In press material, Oh! principal conductor Eiki Isomura said that Christoph W. Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice was "a game-changer" for opera. "At a time when the art form had become a vehicle for vocal display, Gluck sought to integrate all the aspects of the medium, stripping away anything he considered superfluous, in service of authentic storytelling," said Isomura. "It proved a powerful model for opera as a total art form, influencing generations of progressive composers ranging from Mozart to Wagner." Swackhamer said "one whole section takes place in Hell. It is breathtaking." "I'm excited to have (veteran Houston choreographer) Krissy Richmond work on movement and dance, which is so pivotal in this opera," said Swackhamer. "She is a consummate artist, having been a principal dancer with the Houston Ballet, and going on to enjoy an international career. A Houston treasure, she brings elegance and creativity to everything she touches." Text goes here.... On any given afternoon at Town Square Plaza in Sugar Land, you will find Fort Bend County's ethnic diversity on display. On a recent weekday, three young Asian-American men sipped Frappuccinos outside of the Starbucks there. Yards away, two middle-aged black women slid through a door at the Japanese Grill and Bar. An Anglo woman and her daughter splashed water at the fountain in the shadow of City Hall. And inside Baker St. Pub and Grill, five South Asian men chuckled together on a corner of the restaurant's square bar. Welcome to what has been branded through reports, data and opinion as the most diverse county in America. When results of an annual survey by Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research are released April 19, its director, sociology professor Stephen Klineberg, expects findings to be much like those from previous years. The survey, which questioned hundreds of Houston-area residents on beliefs and attitudes, has for several years compared findings from Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. In 2015, the survey took a closer look at diversity in Fort Bend County, where the 628,000 residents reflect a mix of 36 percent Anglo, 21 percent black, 24 percent Latino and 20 percent Asian or other. Among residents of the three counties, those in Fort Bend were the most enthusiastic about the region's diversity. They also had the best rating for the relationship between ethnic groups, with 54 percent describing it as "good" or "excellent." "Fort Bend has been more accepting of diversity because the more you experience diversity, the more you accept it," Klineberg said. "We are in Houston, where all of America will eventually be with diversity, and Fort Bend comes closer than anyone else in experiencing it." In Klineberg's 2015 study, Fort Bend had the most highly educated population of the three surveyed counties. About 42 percent of its population age 25 or older has college degrees, compared to 31 percent in Montgomery and 29 percent in Harris. Drawn by opportunity As Houston's job growth flourished in the 1960s and '70s, a diverse mix of newcomers were drawn to the First Colony and Pecan Grove master-planned communities. Already in the county was a black community dating to when slaves were used for farming and ranching in the 1800s. A Hispanic population also existed in western Fort Bend by the 1950s, according to Tim Cumings, vice chairman of the Fort Bend County Historical Commission. Oil careers brought more Hispanics to Houston and eventually to Cinco Ranch, now also called "Katy-zuela" because of its affluent Venezuelan population. Many of various Asian backgrounds were drawn to the area when the Texas Medical Center expanded in the 1990s, and some established local private medical practices. These professionals looked toward suburbs outside of Houston to raise families and live quietly, said Sony Philip, 33, who works at the Texas Medical Center. He moved back to Fort Bend 10 years ago after being raised in Sugar Land. An ongoing draw to Fort Bend includes factors such as master-planned communities, recognized school districts, proximity to Houston and developments such as Sugar Land's plaza. "The county has a perfect combination of opportunities" for families and careers, Philip said. "I knew the area was diverse when I came. People know it's diverse and know there's communities here for them." Businesses owned by minorities in the county include local Asian-American resident Thompson Lin's Applied Optoelectronics in Sugar Land. A changing chamber No one, however, sees a picture of complete harmony or claims that people of diverse backgrounds interact in all aspects of life throughout the county. When you map out where people live based on ethnicity, some neighborhoods in Rosenberg, Missouri City and Sugar Land are predominantly composed of those in the same ethnic group. Since 2012, Fort Bend ISD has been investigated by the U.S. Department Office of Civil Rights with allegations that black and Hispanic students in the districts have been disciplined at a disproportionate rate. The investigation is ongoing. The district's truancy court, one of only two in the state, has been the subject of similar complaints. The court remains, but the district this year decriminalized truancy charges in accordance with a new state law. "There's always going to be some issues," said County Judge Robert Hebert, who's lived in Fort Bend for 36 years. "But we embrace diversity, and we are active in all of our communities. You want to avoid separation and assimilate, and I believe we are doing that." Hebert, who is white, said the county is poised to lead not only Houston, but the nation, as a model of diversity. It's an idea that Keri Schmidt, president/CEO of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, has sought to foster in her group. Schmidt has recruited diverse candidates to what had been a mostly Anglo board. Her 39-member board went from being more than 90 percent white and 70 percent male to 50 percent white and 55 percent male. She sees the change as something that can spread to other groups and communities. "Our leaders have embraced these cultures," she said of the chamber. "It's positive change and our community is better for it. We have a large influence. Here, it shows you what the future will look like everywhere." In an essay she wrote this year to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, a nonprofit organization for chamber executives, Schmidt said all chambers must embrace diversity or shrink. The same goes for the county, she argued. "Changes like this don't happen overnight and demographics take time to reset," Schmidt wrote. "I believe we are better for our combined diversity - in our communities, our cities, our counties, our nation." Lone Star College-Kingwood will host more than 100 authors of various genres of fiction and nonfiction during its first book festival April 8-9. "We want this to be seen as a community event," said John J. Theis, director of the Center for Civic Engagement at Lone Star College. "We brought in authors that we believe have a community-wide appeal." One of the keynote speakers will be Astros legend and former Major League pitcher Larry Dierker, who will present "I Don't Care if I Ever Get Back: A Life in the Big Leagues." More Information Want to go? What: Lone Star College Book Festival When: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. April 8; 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. April 9. Where: LSC-Kingwood ,20000 Kingwood Drive Details: Visit http://kwlibguides.lonestar.edu/book-festival See More Collapse Dierker commented on the importance of reading. "Reading isn't always easy or enjoyable for students, offering subjects that may be of interest to them can be the gateway to a broader interest in reading," said Dierker. "A lot of young people, especially boys, are interested in sports. My book may serve to bring them inside a world they are interested in and also demonstrate that it is not unmanly to be literate." Authors also will read from their books, and there will be book signings with books available for purchase. Several keynote speakers and authors will hold discussion panels which will be broken up by genre, author's achievements, the publishing process and literary film. For younger readers there will be crafts as well as authors of children's books conducting panels and "story times." Children also will have the opportunity to attend a "Musical Petting Zoo" on the second day of the festival. They will be introduced to different percussion instruments and be able to participate in a hands-on West African percussion class. "This event is promoting reading for education and lives," said John M. Barr, director of the book festival. "Many of our students have children themselves, and to be able to bring the parent and child to meet these authors connects the community on how important reading is." There also will be music performances by the Lone Star-Kingwood Choir and Patrick Brink Group featuring Marvin Sparks. The book festival also will feature Texas authors, including Jerry Bradley, Jerry Craven, Gretchen Johnson and Jim Sanderson, who will participate in "Big Texas Tales." panel. The authors will discuss their action-packed novels. Texas poets like Robin Davidson, Dave Parsons and Natalia Trevino will be a part of a poetry panel titled, "Liter(ari)ly Texas." Members of the Houston Writer's Guild, students from the Lone Star College student-run arts journals and students from the University of Houston Gulf Coast Magazine also will be "showcasing their work alongside published authors," said Chelsie Meredith, literary director for Lone Star College. The book festival is free and open to the public. Memberships to the event are available starting at $50, which will include perks such as a meal, special admittance to exclusive book signings and preferred seating to all festival events. Details: http://kwlibguides.lonestar.edu/book-festival Segment G of the Grand Parkway, which connects the 12.5-mile stretch between Interstate 45 and Interstate 69 is now open and Kingwood and Lake Houston officials are pleased. "This is an exciting time to see this new extension open as the city is experiencing tremendous growth," said Houston City Councilman Dave Martin, who represents Kingwood. "With this new growth and new road we are hopeful that congestion on the major arterial roadways will be reduced." While the opening of the newest segment of Houston's third loop will ease congestion on other major freeways, such as Interstate 69 between Kingwood and Beltway 8, local leaders see it as an opportunity for growth and future prosperity. "I believe the Grand Parkway will be a huge boost to the housing and construction sector in and around the Lake Houston area," said Michael Prats, vice president of the Lake Houston Economic Development Partnership. "From a Lake Houston area business and resident point of view, they are certainly hopeful that the opening of Segment G will help increase the flow of business and employment (consumers and workers) by increasing connectivity to and from the area to the rest of Greater North Houston." The Grand Parkway has been viewed as an economic development tool by a number of communities along its corridor. In December, members of the Greater Tomball Area Chamber of Commerce, the Tomball Economic Development Corp., the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, and Harris County, toured segments F1 and F2 with commercial real estate and economic development professionals. "The idea behind doing that trip was to get a little more of an understanding of the activity that's going on in the north Houston region," said Kelly Violette, executive director for the Tomball EDC. "We wanted to bring everyone together, and look at regionally what is going on, and the spine of it - being the Grand Parkway - and how that really connects us." The progress of the Grand Parkway corridor was the catalyst for the creation and eventual construction of Tavola in New Caney. "The timing of Tavola has been ideal with the expansion of the Grand Parkway and the overall growth of the northeast area," Friendswood Development president John Hammond said. Tavola is two exits past the Grand Parkway and seven miles north of Kingwood. New homes in the 1,560-acre community start around $250,000 and are available from Perry Homes, Lennar and Lakewood Homes. A recreation center will open in Tavola this summer. Friendswood Development, which has built many of Houston's earliest master-planned communities, is preparing to open Royal Brook at Kingwood next month, located near West Lake Houston Parkway at Mills Branch. While the most significant growth projected along the parkway corridor is mainly associated with residential development, some local leaders are looking forward to seeing and hearing about new commercial development, as well. Sparky Nolan, president of the Kingwood Chamber of Commerce, said he is certain the region will growth, only at a much slower pace than many anticipate. "I am eager to meet with those people and those companies who want to come here and improve our area," Nolan said. "I am anxious and excited to meet those who are ready to invest in our community. "I want to see the people, talk to the people, and see their investment and we want to be part of that investment." For more details For potential business opportunities in the region, contact the Kingwood Chamber of Commerce by going to www.kwchamber.org/ or contact the Lake Houston Economic Development Partnership by going to www.lakehouston.org/ This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate An unlikely alliance between a local orchestra and wildlife rescue center makes for an interesting camp program for children this summer, a creative idea brought about by effects on the local economy from the drop in oil prices. The Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra is teaming up with the Texas Wildlife Rehabilitation Coalition's Wildlife Center to provide a few weeks of summer fun, combining music and animal wildlife activities for children ages 7-11. The "Music for the Animals" themed weekly camps will feature performances by chamber groups from the orchestra, whose home is in west Houston's Energy Corridor, and an "instrument petting zoo" for campers to learn about the instruments. The wildlife center will conduct activities around the feeding and caring of wildlife species, related crafts and simple veterinarian activities. More Information At a glance Texas Wildlife Rescue Center: Takes in injured, orphaned or ill wildlife in a bid to restore them to health and release into the wild. Visit www.twrcwildlifecenter.org/ The Energy Corridor of Houston Orchestra: The next performance "East by Southeast" is from 7 -9 p.m. April 24 at BridgePoint Bible Church, 13277 Katy Freeway. A Memorial Day celebration is scheduled for May 30 at Memorial Oaks Cemetery. Visit www.echorchestra.org/. See More Collapse In addition, wildlife experts will be brought in to speak to campers. "The camp offers a unique experience to hold and touch a variety of animals - like a blue-tongued skink, a dozen varieties of snakes," said Victoria Hepburn, assistant curator of daily care at the wildlife center. "And if children are interested in becoming a vet, this is an excellent way to start." Sarah McDonner, executive director and founder of the orchestra, said the partnership not only provides a great opportunity to let kids learn about animals in the suburban wild and be soothed by the sounds of instruments and melodies, it also benefits the animals. "Music has been shown to calm animals as well as humans," McDonner said. "They respond to music in similar ways, and it's a great way to show how animals sometimes behave no differently than humans do." TWRC has until now held camps at its headquarters at 10801 Hammerly Boulevard. However, Hepburn said it recently closed its education center because of a slowdown in donations. "We hear about so many people losing their jobs - and it's affecting peoples' ability to give a donation, and we are feeling that a lot," Hepburn said. Hepburn and McDonner combined forces in an effort to promote awareness of the orchestra, defray costs for the wildlife center and keep the camp going. In addition, they enlisted Citizens for Animal Protection to provide a venue. Camps are offered July 11-15 and July 18-22, with the possibility of a third week from July 25-29 if there is demand. Camp is from 8:30 a.m. to noon at CAPS, 17555 Katy Freeway. The fees are $245 per week or $55 a day. Organizers also are seeking sponsors and camp counselors. To find out more or to register, visit www.twrcwildlifecenter.org/ and click on the Education Center tab. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The former money man for an international drug cartel was sentenced in federal court in Houston Tuesday for aiding in a $1 million marijuana operation. Jose Juan Banda-Corona, who was known by the nickname Cachetes, or Cheeks, admitted he was an accountant for the Gulf Cartel drug operation. BEHIND THE SCENES: Gulf Cartel show their faces in recently released photos U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison sentenced him to three and half years in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. "Sir, if you are deported, which I think you will be, I hope you won't come back here," Ellison said. Banda-Corona looked at him and indicated that he understood. Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Darnell Smith told the judge that Banda-Corona, 36, was the fee collector for the cartel in Mexico and the U.S., and tabulated $1 million worth of business. Defense attorney Fabian Guerrero asked the judge for leniency. "He's as pleasant a fellow as you'll meet," Guerrero said. Banda-Corona was among 52 people named in a 31-count indictment in 2013. Ellison sentenced four other defendants from the same indictment Tuesday, the majority of whom received similar advice from the judge. For the most part, their pleas were under seal, preventing the public from knowing the acts they admitted to committing. Juan Oscar Rodriguez, 34, known by the nickname Cuatro, or Four, was given a sentence of just under five years in prison and four years of supervised release. Mario Alberto Gonzalez, 41, known as Cookie, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and four years of supervised release. Julio Cesar Lerma, 36, known as El Licenciado, or the Graduate, who had pleaded guilty to possession with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana was sentenced time already served in federal detention. Lydea Gonzalez, 56, who was not mentioned by nickname in the indictment, was sentenced to eight months in prison and two years of supervised release. She remained free on bond and will voluntarily surrender to officials. So far, 35 codefendants have entered guilty pleas, though a number of them has yet to be sentenced. Several of the defendants remain fugitives and two have died, including the man associates referred to as Comandante, or Commander, Galindo Mellado-Cruz, the founder of the Zetas. Officials said he was killed in a shootout with Mexican federal police in the border region of Tamaulipas in 2014. The Zetas were an offshoot of the Gulf Cartel known for beheading civilians. U.S. officials have said Mellado-Cruz returned to the Gulf Cartel in a lower profile in the last years of his life. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A former Harris County Precinct 4 constable's deputy is under criminal investigation for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman he pulled over during a traffic stop. After the investigation into the alleged misconduct of William Hansen began last year, prosecutors dismissed charges against at least four people he had previously arrested, one of whom was re-arrested Tuesday and charged in a hit-and-run. Hansen also is being investigated for stealing narcotics during the incident, alleged to have occurred in March of last year, according to court records. The 33-year-old Tomball resident began working as a reserve deputy for Precinct 4 in January 2014 and joined the department as a full-time peace officer a month later, state records show. He worked for the department for a year before being fired in April 2015. Calls to Hansen's home were not answered or returned. More for you Ex-HPD officer sentenced to life in rape "There was an internal affairs investigation within our department after the allegations (surfaced), and we found several policy violations, at which time he was terminated," Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said when asked about the case. "After that, the criminal investigation got kicked off, but we had already terminated him before the criminal part started." Herman said the department first learned about the allegations after a woman filed a report with the Harris County Sheriff's Office accusing Hansen of assaulting her. A sheriff's office spokesman has not yet responded to requests for more details. The revelations came to light in a legally required disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence to the lawyers of other defendants who had been arrested by Hansen. Scott Durfee, a Harris County assistant district attorney, said his office had located at least four cases in which Hansen had arrested a suspect who was later charged. Three of the cases were for driving while intoxicated; in the fourth, Hansen arrested a woman for possession of marijuana. Charges dismissed It was not clear Wednesday if there were any other cases that could be affected by Hansen's alleged conduct. "The DA's office acknowledges it has an ongoing responsibility to provide notices of Hansen's investigation in any ongoing cases in which he was arresting officer or an investigator," Durfee said. Charges in all four cases ultimately were dismissed. When the primary investigator in a criminal prosecution is investigated for allegedly committing a crime, the credibility of the official can be questioned on the witness stand. "It's fair to say it makes our job more complicated than it already is, sometimes," said Inger Chandler, chief of the DA's conviction integrity unit. In at least one case, a man Hansen arrested and whose charges were dismissed was later re-arrested. Horace McMillan, whom Hansen arrested in March 2015 for allegedly driving while intoxicated, was arrested Tuesday in Harris County and charged with a felony for failing to stop and render aid in an accident causing injury. On Wednesday, the charge was dismissed because, according to a court filing, the state cannot prove the need to render aid. Charles A. Brown, McMillan's lawyer, could not be reached for comment. Hansen's alleged misconduct "undercuts the authority of police, especially in the last year and a half with the exposure of malfeasance that officers have gone through," said Larry Karson, an assistant professor of criminology at the University of Houston-Downtown. "But beyond that, it also brings into question for the general public, can I trust that police officer when they pull over my 16-year-old daughter? It's not just seen as a general problem with police, but it can be quickly personalized if one's wife or daughter are stopped by an officer, especially at night, in an unusual location or circumstance." Other instances Such issues were forefront in the case of Daniel Holtzclaw, a police officer in Oklahoma who was sentenced in December to 263 years in prison after being convicted of multiple counts of rape, sexual battery and other charges, following allegations he sexually assaulted more than a dozen women while on duty. The issue took prominence locally after former Houston police officer Abraham Joseph was convicted of raping a cantina waitress living in the country illegally in 2011, while he was on duty. Jim Harrington, founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said Hansen's alleged misconduct and other instances of sexual harassment or assault by police officers were a "very serious problem" that also could make the public more distrustful of law enforcement and could discourage people from contacting police during emergencies. "I think it also entails the fact that women won't come forward on it because you have the perception - probably correctly - that the police officer is going to be believed over the woman," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Houston school board has suspended its chief auditor because of alleged misconduct and performance concerns. Richard Patton, who has led investigations into fraud and misspending in the district since taking the job in 2014, declined to comment Wednesday. The district ordered him to not report to his office or work on school district business during an ongoing investigation. He was suspended with pay, effective March 10, according to a memorandum he received from the district's chief human resource officer. In response to a public-records request, the Houston Chronicle received a copy of the memo Tuesday afternoon from the school district. The board's audit committee, made up of three of nine trustees, plans to meet Thursday and may consider naming an interim internal auditor, according to the meeting notice. "I can't say anything because we have an ongoing investigation," Manuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the Houston Independent School District board, said in interview. The internal auditor is the board's only direct report, besides the superintendent. The memo to Patton, approved and signed by Rodriguez, provided scant details regarding the specifics of the allegations. "We believe it is in your best interest and that of the Houston Independent School District that you be temporarily reassigned until further notice," according to the memo. The memo said Patton, whose annual salary is $186,920, was banned from contacting district staff, parents and students and may not work on HISD business without approval. Investigations conducted under Patton's leadership uncovered several problems in the district. The reports found improper changing of student grades at a high school and possible violations of state law involving construction contracts not approved in advance by the school board. Patton's October 2015 review of the district's voter-approved construction bond program found that weak supervision of contractors and insufficient competitive bidding contributed to a projected budget shortfall. The report drew strong criticism from former Superintendent Terry Grier's administration, which blamed financial problems on higher-than-expected prices in the city's booming construction market. Board members had mixed reactions to Patton's bond report. Grier hired Patton in 2010 as a compliance officer to ensure the district followed a settlement agreement with the federal government concerning a technology program known as e-rate. The government alleged former district employees received lavish gifts from technology vendors, violating the competitive bidding process. In September 2014, the school board named Patton the chief internal auditor, tasking him with cleaning up the department after a critical external review by the Institute of Internal Auditors. District records show that Grier awarded Patton an "effective" rating in his 2014 job evaluation when he served as chief ethics and compliance officer. The district's public-records office did not release any evaluations for 2015. A Houston medical examiner sprang into action Wednesday when a juror appeared to faint during a presentation of autopsy photos in a Seabrook slaying. Dana Hopson, a medical doctor with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, was testifying about the fatal shooting of 36-year-old Brandon Smith when a man sitting in the front row of the jury box slumped forward and began sputtering unconsciously. Hopson rushed from the witness stand to direct other jurors who were trying to lay the man down in the cramped jury box. Moments later, Hopson helped the man up, and he was escorted to the jury room. State district Judge Marc Carter adjourned for the day and later said all of the jurors were fine. He said the trial will continue Thursday. The jury had just seen diagrams and graphic photos of Smith's autopsy. He died after being shot twice, once in the abdomen and once in the head in the early morning hours of May 26, 2013. Karl Edward Hormann, a 56-year-old Seabrook optometrist, was later charged with murder. His attorney is arguing that the eye doctor shot Smith, who lived nearby, in self-defense. Attorney Skip Cornelius told jurors Smith was crashing a Memorial Day Weekend crawfish boil at the doctor's Taylor Lake home. He was kicked out after words were exchanged about 2 a.m., then returned a couple of hours later, and the altercation escalated. The lawyer said Smith threatened the partygoers and told them he had a knife but did not show it. Investigators later found a black lockblade knife in the dead man's pocket. Prosecutors told jurors during the trial's opening statements that Smith was unarmed and was trying to leave the scene when he was shot. Assistant Harris County District Attorney Aaron Chapman said in court that Smith lived at his parent's home and could not hold a job. He had brain damage after being in a wreck when he was 18 and had a drinking problem. It was after 4 a.m. when Smith apparently got into a heated exchange with several of the people at the party, including teenagers, and Hormann pulled a pistol with a laser sight. Cornelius said Hormann and his son used their cell phones to call the police as Smith left through the front gate. Hormann followed him to the street as he waited for police to arrive. Cornelius said Smith charged the optometrist and Hormann fired. He said powder burns on Smith's skin would show he was close enough to take the gun when he was shot in the head and abdomen. Hormann was not arrested at the scene but was indicted months later on a charge of murder. The trial is expected to last through the week. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Earlier this week, the U.S. Army awarded German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch a contract to replace the M110 Semi-Automatic Sniper System. The M1110, manufactured by Florida's Knight's Armament Company, was a little too long and unwieldy for marksman, according to the brass. The competition to replace the rifle, dubbed the Compact Semi-Automatic Sniper System, aimed to find a "shorter, lighter, more accurate, more ergonomic and more reliable" rifle. "Compared to the M110, the CSASS will be easier to carry, handle and maneuver in close quarters combat ... These improvements will not sacrifice existing performance, accuracy or reliability," according to a military document. GUN NEWS: If Texas had a state firearm, what would it be? In 2014, when the Army announced their competition, the military branch had very specific details about what they wanted their new sniper system to be. Military.com sorted out the highlights from their proposal requests: the Army wanted the base rifle to weigh no more than 9.0 pounds and equal to or less than 36 inches in length. Currently, H&K has not named the weapon that will embody these characteristics, but military tech enthusiasts believe the existing G28 is the obvious candidate though it may be a too long and heavy right now. See a history of U.S. military battle rifles and designated marksman weapons in the gallery above. Former Utah teacher Brianne Altice says there was no 'evil' or 'malice' involved when she had sexual relations with three high school students, according to a handwritten letter obtained by the Salt Lake Tribune. In April 2015, Altice pleaded guilty to three counts of second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. A judge sentenced her to two years in prison with a potential 30-year extension. Ted Cruz firmly won the Wisconsin primary, and he's in the race until its end, but he doesn't stand a realistic shot of winning the Republican nomination through the primary vote. Now the question becomes: How much can he narrow the delegate gap between himself and Donald Trump, and how much does it matter? Such questions are subject only to speculation, since no precedent for this scenario exists in recent memory, and because the party's rules for the process are months from being formed. But experts agreed: The future of this race lies with the delegate tallies. Even with a sweeping victory Cruz won 33 Badger State delegates and Donald Trump won 6 the Texas senator is not poised to win a majority of delegates before the party convenes to pick a nominee. Instead, his campaign will be investing fully in a plan to win the race at the GOP convention in Cleveland in July, where most indicators suggest the body of delegates will hold a series of re-votes, possibly electing an alternate winner to the primary frontrunner. RELATED: Growing chance of contested convention puts added focus on delegates "This fight will go to convention," said Jordan Berry, an Austin-based political consultant who supported Cruz in his 2012 Senate bid. "And Ted will win at that convention." Experts largely agreed that Cruz stands a serious shot at the nomination if Trump can't amass an outright majority of delegates before the first vote at convention. His campaign has proven more formidable than Trump's in the emerging delegate game, and Cruz's supporters are often more inclined towards the political activism that could get them to the national convention as delegates. RELATED: North Dakota victory highlight Cruz's strength in delegate game But Trump has built a formidable lead that won't be easy to chip away. A Houston Chronicle analysis found that Cruz, in his most optimistic scenario, would arrive at the convention trailing 150 delegates behind Trump. Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, reviewed the analysis and thought the Chronicle gave Cruz too much credit in Northeastern states, many of which vote later this month. By Skelley's estimate, Cruz can realistically narrow the gap to about 260 delegates. How much would that matter at a convention? "It's a little bit in the eye of the beholder," said Matt Mackowiak, a Texas-based GOP strategist. Bringing more delegates into the convention would make Cruz "appear more legitimate" as an alternative option, he said. But there's no firm number of delegates Cruz needs to claim to officially sport the title of acceptable alternative. It largely depends on Trump's numbers. If the billionaire frontrunner, is lagging just a few delegates behind the 1,237 he needs to cinch the nomination, then Cruz would be hard pressed legitimize his candidacy, several hundred delegates behind. But if Trump finishes several hundred delegates behind the threshold, then Cruz could comfortably trail Trump by up to about 200 delegates without concern for appearing invalid. "Cruz should be able to get within striking distance of Trump, primarily for the court of public opinion," said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University. "You can imagine a scenario where Cruz is within a legitimate range, where he has just as much right to the nomination as Trump." That will depend on the remaining primary votes, especially in large states with big delegate caches like New York and California. The Chronicle's optimistic analysis gave Cruz a tie and a slight lead in those states, respectively, even though polls suggest Trump will win. Other northeastern states will vote on April 26, and their Republican demographics are not typical of Cruz's evangelical support base. Cruz could have the upper hand in some Midwestern and Northwestern states that vote in May and June. RELATED: Looking past Wisconsin, Cruz strategizes a contested convention Trump has maintained that the nomination should go to which ever candidate claims the most delegates before convention, whether or not they cross the 1,237 delegate threshold to win. He has even made veiled threats to sue to the Republican Party if he enters the convention with the most delegates and leaves without the nominationin which case he's asserted his supporters would riot. RELATED: Donald Trump predicts 'riots' if GOP convention picks alternate nominee The convention rules won't be written until mid-July, the week before the delegates gather, so it remains unclear how the event will unfold procedurally. Experts assume that the delegates will take a series of votes, with most bound on the first and second to vote according to their state primary, then freed on successive ballots to vote with their personal preference. There remains the possibility that a yet-unannounced candidate ends up with the party vote. "If Trump doesn't win on the first ballot, the assumption is that he would begin to lose support," said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. "If Cruz doesn't win on the second or third ballot, then the thing is wide open." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate A ginormous cattle-snatching alligator has been shot and killed in Florida. The alligator weighed some 800 pounds and was almost 15 feet long. The two hunters that took down the reptile told Fox 13 in Okeechobee that its the largest alligator theyve ever caught. The alligator was so big the pair needed a tractor to pull the creature from the swampy farmland. READ THIS: Texas man mocks alligator, gets eaten And no, the photos of the huge gator arent photoshopped, they insisted to skeptical media. Lee Lightsey, the owner of hunting company Outwest Farms and guide Blake Godwin, shot the alligator April 2 during a guided hunt, after spotting it in a pond on their farm. "Although this animal is huge I was not that surprised it existed," Lightsey told the BBC. "We have come across lots over the last 20 years that have been only a little smaller. But what really drew our attention to this animal was the fact that it seems to have been feasting on the cattle on my farm, because mutilated body parts were found in the water. It was a monster which needed to be removed." RAMBO THE GATOR: Florida woman fights to keep pet alligator The company plans to donate the huge quantity of alligator meat -- steaks, filets, other choice cuts -- to charity. After harvesting the meat, theyll get the remaining carcass stuffed to show off at hunting expos. Lightsey said hes been commercially hunting alligators since 1988. He and his partners also hunt turkey and invasive wild boar on the land. Alligators have lived in Florida for centuries and can be found in all 67 counties, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. See more close encounters with alligators in the gallery above. -- HOW CRUZ WON Wisconsin last night, per NBC News: Cruz's victory was fueled by strong performances among key groups in the Wisconsin GOP electorate, according to the NBC News Exit Poll. He dominated Trump among voters most concerned about winning in November, 68 percent to 19 percent. Cruz also was heavily favored by Wisconsinites preferring a candidate with experience in politics, beating Trump in this group 68 percent to 8 percent. Cruz also performed well with other Republican groups, including those agreeing with the party's traditional position that trade with other countries creates more U.S. jobs. He beat Trump comfortably among these voters (54 percent to 28 percent). Cruz also outperformed Trump handily with the state's wealthiest voters, besting him by 52 percent to 32 percent among those with incomes of $100,000 or more. -- Trumps response paints Cruz as a leader of the GOP establishment. Hmm (Continue reading for more on this below.) Talking Points Memo: Ted Cruz is worse than a puppethe is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump, the statement from Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks read. We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. -- SIREN from exit polls last night: And 37 percent of those who voted in the Republican primary said they would support Hillary Clinton, a third-party candidate or no one at all if Mr. Trump were the nominee, The New York Times reported. -- Re: party unity >> Contrast the GOP story out of Wisconsin to Clintons tweet last night congratulating Bernie on his big win. To all the voters and volunteers who poured your hearts into this campaign: Forward! she wrote. -- To New York! Whats next, per the APs Jonathan Lemire: The voting on April 19 will be the first time the state has a played a meaningful role in the nominating process in decades. New York is a coveted prize, offering the most delegates of any contest left on the primary calendar until California's primary June 7. And the two leading hometown candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, who have long eyed New York as a bulwark against their opposition, now both need the state to provide a bounce-back victory after some disheartening defeats. -- Please, governor, speak up about the pay gap in Texas, by the Chrons Lisa Falkenberg. There's also a lot Abbott could say from his bully pulpit: encourage wage transparency in the workplace, for one. At the very least, suggest that Texas businesses take a good, long look in the mirror, and at their payrolls. They might be surprised. The gap is real. It's persistent. Many are fighting to change it, but governor, even tough Texas women could use some help. SPEED READ Cash-strapped charter schools vie for federal development funds, Houston Chronicle Texas needs to dump its franchise tax and come up with something better, Houston Chronicle Right-wing think tank: Let the market sort out school finance, Texas Observer Panama Papers could add outrage in presidential race, Austin American-Statesman AP source: U.S. to try to block Halliburton from buying rival, Austin American-Statesman Obama hits Cruz for draconian ideas and Trump for half-baked border wall plan, The Dallas Morning News Viral story blamed Texas 20-week abortion ban for couples ordeal, but the law didnt apply, The Dallas Morning News For drug cartels, offshore companies are a good fix, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Dallas regions top CPS official retires amid staggering caseloads, The Dallas Morning News Bernie-ite angles for Lamar Smiths job, San Antonio Express-News John Cornyn: Donald Trumps border security plan is naive, The Dallas Morning News Drug compounders accuse Dallas Morning News of libel, The Dallas Morning News New Texas schools official changed his name after leaving Kansas City board, The Dallas Morning News Task force seeks to address prenatal care crisis, San Antonio Express-News Kerry to be part of summit taking critical look at Vietnam War, San Antonio Express-News CAPITOL DAYBOOK HOUSE: 9:00 a.m.: Economic & Small Business Development [ 675 W. Walnut St. Garland, TX 75040 ] 10:00 a.m.: Appropriations - S/C Article II [ E1.030 ] QUOTE TO NOTE Cruzs victory speech last night: Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hardworking men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice. A real choice. RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE -- PA primaries: Three weeks ahead of the Pennsylvania primary, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are holding on to single-digit leads among likely voters in their state's primaries, according to the results of the latest Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, per Politicos Nick Gass. -- Cruz cozies up to DC establishment, by Politicos Katie Glueck. Directly and through surrogates, the Texas senator is aggressively reaching out to his Senate colleagues as he prepares for the possibility of a convention floor fight against Donald Trump. And Cruzs emissaries on Capitol Hill are now signaling to senior Republicans that Cruz would be willing to work with them as the GOP nominee in a way Trump would not. -- Hillary has had enough of Bernie. Glenn Thrush of Politico interviewed Clinton for his podcast. Dont miss it. >>Sanders was very much on Clintons mind more than Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, the whole lot of them when I sat with her for a far-ranging and unvarnished discussion for POLITICOs Off Message podcast last Friday inside an empty warehouse at an upstate New York farmers market. It was the first time in about a decade I had been granted a one-on-one interview with a woman Id covered more or less constantly since she was elected to the Senate; as a reporter for Long Islands Newsday, I had a local scribes regular, if intermittent access to Clinton and found her to be funny, friendly and occasionally candid, if fundamentally guarded. She became far, far less accessible when she embarked on her presidential campaign in early 07 and the spigot shut off completely in mid-2008 when I jumped to POLITICO to join a national press pack Clinton avoids out of personal preference (and, as shed explain to me, as a strategic choice). The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p. Inside the Comprehensive Ranking System: Express Entry Report Offers Valuable Insights from the Pool CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Since the Express Entry selection system for immigration to Canada was first introduced in January, 2015, candidates have speculated about the make-up of the pool, but no candidate ever fully knew its structure. Now, since the recent publication of an enlightening Express Entry report, the inner workings of the Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) can be revealed. The year-end report covers the period from January 1, 2015 to January 3, 2016, which takes into account the first 23 draws from the pool. A data extract (or snapshot) from the pool was provided, revealing a view of the pool on January 3, 2016. Through the report, we learned the following: As of January 3, a total of 191,279 Express Entry profiles had been submitted. Of these, 88,048 were found not eligible because they did not meet the criteria of at least one of the three programs managed by the system, namely the Federal Skilled Worker Class , the Federal Skilled Trades Class , and the Canadian Experience Class . On January 3, a total of 1,303 profiles were pending due to Job Bank registration or verification of a Provincial Nomination (PN). , the , and the . On January 3, a total of 1,303 profiles were pending due to Job Bank registration or verification of a (PN). A total of 63,937 candidates were in the pool on January 3. Of these, 3,895 had received an Invitation to Apply (ITA) but had not yet submitted an application (candidates have 60 days to do so after receiving an ITA). (ITA) but had not yet submitted an application (candidates have 60 days to do so after receiving an ITA). Of the profiles that had left the pool, the overwhelming majority (21,651) were applications that had been submitted for processing. Other profiles had either been withdrawn or reached the 12-month expiry date. Active candidates in the Express Entry pool have the opportunity to increase their likelihood of receiving an ITA by improving their CRS score. This can be done by: gaining additional work experience; completing a level of education; improving language proficiency in English and/or French; and/or adding a spouse or common-law partners language proficiency and/or level of education, if applicable. In addition, candidates may: obtain a qualifying job offer from a Canadian employer; or obtain an enhanced provincial nomination certificate from a Canadian province. Candidates with a qualifying job offer or PN are awarded 600 CRS points, and will be invited to apply at a subsequent draw from the pool. Draws typically occur around every two weeks, with the lowest CRS point requirement of any draw thus far having been 450. When a draw takes place, candidates with a CRS score equal to or above the requirement are issued an ITA, after which they may submit an application. Once they do so, they leave the pool. Therefore, the number of candidates with a score equal to or above the most recent CRS cut-off point is generally relatively low, as there is a constant flow of people leaving the pool due to the submission of applications. Take, for example, the January 3, 2016 snapshot of the pool provided by IRCC. The draw prior to this snapshot took place on December 18, 2015, and issued 1,503 ITAs to candidates with 460 or more CRS points. As we can see in the table below: On January 3, 2016, a total of 851 candidates had 600 or more CRS points. All candidates with 600 or more CRS points had either a qualifying job offer or PN. A further 1,659 candidates had between 450 and 599 points. These candidates had been awarded a significant number of points based on their human capital factors. Assuming that none of these candidates withdrew their profiles or allowed them to expire over the three days before the next draw from the pool, which took place on January 6, 2016, all of the candidates with 600 or more CRS points, as well as a proportion of those in the 450 to 599 range, were issued ITAs. The candidates remaining in the pool, many of whom had CRS scores in the 300s, were in a strong position to get into that 450+ range by promoting themselves to Canadian employers and attracting the attention of provinces that are looking for particular skill sets that may benefit the local labour market. Other candidates were well-positioned to obtain an ITA as a result of improving their human capital factors alone. As we can see from the data extract, in addition to other information based on Express Entry draws, proactive candidates have been successful at improving their CRS score and getting that all-important ITA. Interestingly, of the candidates in the pool in the 600 to 1,200 range on January 3, 2016, the vast majority (72.3%) had scores of between 600 and 999, meaning that the number of points allotted to them for core human capital factors alone was less than 400. Indeed, almost half of them had core human capital points of 349 or less (plus 600 for the job offer or PN). This shows that a proportion of candidates who enter the pool with low CRS scores are ultimately receiving ITAs. Moreover, there was a wide range of CRS scores among the candidates who received an ITA in 2015, with around 40% of them having been invited based on core human capital factors alone. The remainder had either a qualifying job offer or PN. PNP becomes a significant factor deeper into the year When Express Entry was launched, Canadian provinces generally took some time to become acquainted with the new system before opening enhanced Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) streams. The first eight draws together selected only 159 candidates under a PNP, representing less than 2% of the total number of invited candidates over that period. Towards the end of the year and into 2016, however, this figure had increased more than ten-fold; over the last 10 draws of 2015, 21.7% of invited candidates had successfully obtained a PN. Over the entire year, 13.2% of invited candidates had obtained a PN. Conversely, earlier draws selected a large number of CEC candidates. This was because of the high number of foreign workers with LMIA-backed job offers who wished to immigrate to Canada permanently. Nonetheless, throughout 2015, a plurality of invited candidates (42.6%) were issued ITAs under the Federal Skilled Worker Class, which remains the most popular route to Canadian permanent residence through Express Entry. Proactive candidates are getting ITAs There are a couple of important takeaways from this report with respect to the Comprehensive Ranking System. First, it should be noted that the Federal Skilled Worker Class has been the most popular route through Express Entry. Second, the data extract from the pool, combined with what we already knew from the results of the draws, shows that a significant number of proactive individuals with core CRS scores in the 300s, and even lower, are ultimately receiving invitations to apply, says Attorney David Cohen. The upshot of this is that it is important for individuals who are interested in immigrating to Canada and eligible to enter the Express Entry pool. If youre not in the pool, you are effectively invisible to Canadian employers and provinces, two groups of stakeholders that are becoming more familiar with the system and selecting candidates at an increasing rate. Express Entry Eligible candidates may submit a profile into the Express Entry pool, where they are ranked according to the CRS. The government of Canada selects the top-ranked candidates on a priority basis when it performs one of its frequent draws from the pool. Candidates who are issued an ITA for permanent residence then have 60 days to submit a complete e-application, from which point the government of Canada aims to process the application within six months. For more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place so far, click here. CICNews.com has published two further accompanying articles relating to this report: To find out if you are eligible for any of over 60 Canadian immigration programs, including the federal economic programs that are processed under Express Entry, please fill out a free online assessment today. 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved Long-Awaited Express Entry Report Gives Important Details on Occupations and Candidates Selected for Immigration to Canada CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A In a comprehensive and informative report, Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC) has provided valuable insights on the first 12 months of the Express Entry selection system for immigration to Canada, which came into operation on January 1, 2015. The end-of-year report provides a range of highly useful information for Express Entry candidates for immigration to Canada. The data given in the report covers the entirety of 2015, encompassing the first 23 draws (also known as rounds of invitations), while also providing a snapshot of the composition of the pool taken from a data extract on January 3, 2016. CICNews.com has published a series of articles analyzing this report. In addition to this article, there are also articles covering Canadian provinces and the Comprehensive Ranking System. Over the course of 2015, a total of 31,063 Invitations to Apply (ITAs) were issued to individuals around the world looking to immigrate to Canada. Through the report, we learned the following: Many candidates in IT occupations have been issued ITAs, while individuals working in the food service industry have also fared well. The majority of candidates issued ITAs were residing in Canada. More than half of all invited candidates were nationals of one of the following five countries: India, Philippines, China, the U.K., and Ireland. IRCC has stated that Future invitation rounds from the Express Entry pool will become the main source of applications to meet annual immigration levels targets for certain economic immigration programs under the Express Entry system as the older inventories are reduced. Focus on occupations In the run-up to the launch of Express Entry, the government of Canada stated that the new system would ensure that Canadas economic and labour market needs are met. For the Express Entry system, as compared with previous systems, intake caps for specific occupations were done away with. Express Entry is intended to be a flexible system that is more responsive to the immediate needs of Canadian employers and provinces. As such, eligible candidates who obtain a qualifying job offer (supported by a Labour Market Impact Assessment) or provincial nomination certificate are issued an ITA at a subsequent draw from the pool, regardless of their occupation. It should be noted, however, that a job offer is not required in order for a candidate to receive an ITA. Indeed, at least 40% of all ITAs issued in 2015 were issued to candidates who did not have a job offer. The top 10 most invited occupations made up 10,685 (or 38%) of the total number of ITAs issued. These occupations were: IT professionals (NOCs beginning with 21) and business and finance professionals (NOCs beginning with 11) have been successful at obtaining ITAs. According to IRCC, these candidates often have high human capital with no valid job offer, while candidates with NOCs beginning with 63 are more likely to have first arrived in Canada on a work permit and later obtained a job offer. Given that early draws selected a large number of candidates under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC), it is likely that a large number of food service supervisors and cooks already in Canada were invited over the first few rounds of invitations. As time goes on, the relative number of invitees in such occupations is expected to decrease; the figures heading into 2016 and beyond will likely reveal a wider range of occupations, particularly in professional occupations such as IT and business. CEC dominates early draws before PNP becomes more popular, FSW steady throughout As stated above, earlier draws selected a large number of CEC candidates. This was because of the high number of foreign workers with LMIA-backed job offers who wished to immigrate to Canada permanently. Indeed, the third draw from the pool selected CEC candidates exclusively. Over time, however, Canadian provinces engaged more actively with the system and issued an increasing number of enhanced provincial nomination certificates, which consequently led to an increase in PNP invitations. Throughout the year, a significant number of candidates were issued invitations under the Federal Skilled Worker Class (FSWC). A small, but steady, number of invitations were issued under the Federal Skilled Trades Class (FSTC). Of the 31,063 ITAs issued during 2015, a total of 13,214 (42.6%) of them were issued under FSW, 11,228 (36.1%) were issued under CEC, 4,105 (13.2%) were issued under PNP, and 2,516 (8.1%) were issued under FST. The data may also be depicted in a bar chart. Sixty percent of all invited candidates had 600 points or more (i.e. they had either a qualifying job offer or provincial nomination certificate). For more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place so far, click here. Average processing times well within IRCC target When Express Entry was introduced, the government of Canada set a target to process at least 80% of complete applications within six months. Not only has this target been reached it has actually been surpassed, and comfortably. This aspect of Express Entry has been an unambiguous success, and leaves the system in a competitive position to continue to attract new candidates who wish to take control of their own destiny and apply to an immigration system that is responsive and swift. Processing times for applications based on final decision date Application data FSW CEC FST PNP Total average 80% of applications finalized within x months 4.7 3.5 4.9 3.8 4.4 Applications finalized 3,223 9,861 2,330 1,077 16,491 Applications finalized, in the table above, refers to applications approved (14,058) and refused (2,433), up to January 3, 2016. Country of residence and citizenship of invited candidates While more than three quarters (78.1%) of invited candidates over the course of 2015 were residing in Canada, this figure is lower than it was for the mid-year report published by CIC/IRCC. At that time, and over the course of the first 11 draws only, 85.5% of invited candidates were residents of Canada. The country of citizenship of invited candidates is more varied and reflects the origin of qualified candidates from the pool. According to IRCC, it is anticipated that the top ten countries of citizenship will continue to shift as more candidates are invited to apply over time. Express Entry: past and future With this detailed report, IRCC has given all stakeholders a highly valuable insight into Express Entry its past, its present, and its future, says Attorney David Cohen. When looking at the past, what we see is that the number of invited candidates with job offers being invited to apply decreased over time. That being said, obtaining a qualifying job offer from a Canadian employer remains as beneficial to a candidates chances today as it ever has. While the number of food industry workers may have been higher than expected, this is largely explained by the number of Canadian-based cooks and supervisors at the time the system was launched. I am pleased to see that IT personnel, among other workers, have fared well so far. I expect a wider spread of invited occupations over time, as per IRCCs projections. Further, IRCC has been as good as its word when it comes to processing times, which is positive news for candidates and employers alike. With the department having also stated that future invitation rounds will become the main source of applications to meet annual immigration levels and with provinces presenting proactive candidates with an increasing number of options to applying through a PNP the outlook for the rest of 2016 and beyond is positive. Express Entry Eligible candidates may submit a profile into the Express Entry pool, where they are ranked according to the CRS. The government of Canada selects the top-ranked candidates on a priority basis when it performs one of its frequent draws from the pool. Candidates who are issued an ITA for permanent residence then have 60 days to submit a complete e-application, from which point the government of Canada aims to process the application within six months. For more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place so far, click here. CICNews.com has published two further accompanying articles relating to this report: To find out if you are eligible for any of over 60 Canadian immigration programs, including the federal economic programs that are processed under Express Entry, please fill out a free online assessment today. 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved New Report Reveals Popular Destination Provinces for new Immigrants to Canada CIC News Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif Sans Font Size A A Have you ever wondered which provinces have selected the most candidates since Express Entry was launched? The provinces of Alberta, Ontario and British Columbia were the most popular destination provinces among applicants for immigration to Canada through Express Entry, while Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan have been very active in attracting newcomers through the immigration selection system, which was launched last year. A new report published by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC, formerly known as CIC) provides a range of insights into the provinces that are attracting the most new immigrants through Express Entry, as well as which provinces have issued the most enhanced provincial nomination certificates throughout 2015. Data provided in the report covers the period from January 1, 2015 to January 3, 2016. Over the course of 2015, IRCC received 21,562 applications for permanent residence from candidates who were invited to apply during the invitation rounds, with an additional 15,862 family members joining principal applicants on applications (making a total of 37,424 applicants and their family members). By January 3, 2016, a total of 14,058 applications had been approved, resulting in 13,241 visas issued to principal applicants and their dependants, and 9,739 admissions (landings) in Canada. While Alberta edged out Ontario as the most popular destination province, attracting 7,996 (37.1%) of all applications submitted, it should be noted that the vast majority (58%) of applicants choosing Alberta were invited to apply under the Canadian Experience Class (CEC). In the report, IRCC stated that earlier draws selected a large number of CEC candidates because of the high number of foreign workers with Labour Market Impact Assessment-backed job offers who wished to settle in Canada permanently. It is very likely that a significant number of these applicants were Alberta-based foreign workers who moved to Alberta between one and five years ago. As we moved deeper into 2015, when Ontario and British Columbia unveiled a range of enhanced Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) options, it is quite likely that the relative number of applicants choosing to settle in either of these provinces increased. In any event, Ontario and British Columbia will no doubt continue to attract significant numbers of newcomers, as they both have growing economies and diverse towns and cities where immigrants can feel at home. Applications received by province of destination Province of Destination FSW CEC FST PNP All Programs Alberta 1,974 4,637 1,385 7,996 British Columbia 1,672 1,295 199 1,218 4,384 Manitoba 77 48 9 103 237 New Brunswick 29 19 2 89 139 Newfoundland 29 17 14 60 Northwest Territories 11 15 1 5 32 Nova Scotia 103 48 5 497 653 Nunavut 3 5 8 Ontario 4,670 1,833 199 646 7,348 PEI 7 5 122 134 Quebec 3 3 Saskatchewan 111 117 30 299 557 Yukon 7 4 11 Total 8,693 8,046 1,844 2,979 21,562 Readers should note that the province of Quebec has a unique immigration system with its own eligibility criteria. The main economic immigration program in Quebec is the Quebec Skilled Worker Program, and Quebec intends to welcome many thousands of newcomers through this program in the near future. To learn more, click here. Which provinces are selecting new immigrants through Express Entry? As the table above and pie chart below show, certain Canadian provinces have been more active than others with respect to attracting newcomers through their enhanced PNP streams, which are aligned with the Express Entry system. Provinces can use these PNP streams to select immigrants who may benefit the local labour market. All Canadian provinces and territories, except for the provinces of Quebec and Alberta and the territory of Nunavut, have opened Express Entry-aligned PNP streams. Candidates in the Express Entry pool who successfully obtain an enhanced provincial nomination certificate are awarded 600 Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) points, and will be invited to apply for Canadian permanent residence at a subsequent draw from the pool. Some enhanced PNP streams, for example those offered by the governments of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Saskatchewan, do not require candidates to have a prior connection to the province in order to make an application. Interestingly, these programs were among the most popular over the course of 2015. Here is a full list of PNPs that offer at least one Express Entry-aligned immigration stream: PNPs in 2016 According to its Immigration Levels Plan for 2016, which was published last month, the government of Canada has set an admission target of 47,800 for the PNPs, which are expected to continue to have an increasingly role within Express Entry throughout 2016 and beyond. Knowledge is power, but being proactive is too The more candidates learn about Canada its regions, its provinces, its economy, and the employment opportunities throughout the country the more likely it will be that they will be well positioned to immigrate to the country. A big part of that is staying up-to-date on which occupations are in demand and where these jobs may be, says Attorney David Cohen. Though provinces may have initially been more like interest observers over the opening months of Express Entry, later in 2015 and into this year they have been increasingly active in their pursuit of new immigrants, who are desperately needed in some parts of the country. This report from IRCC confirms a simple reality. Applying to one or more of the Provincial Nominee Programs increases a candidates chances of successfully immigrating to Canada. Express Entry Eligible candidates may submit a profile into the Express Entry pool, where they are ranked according to the CRS. The government of Canada selects the top-ranked candidates on a priority basis when it performs one of its frequent draws from the pool. Candidates who are issued an ITA for permanent residence then have 60 days to submit a complete e-application, from which point the government of Canada aims to process the application within six months. For more information on draws from the Express Entry pool that have taken place so far, click here. CICNews.com has published two further accompanying articles relating to this report: To find out if you are eligible for any of over 60 Canadian immigration programs, including the federal economic programs that are processed under Express Entry and the various Provincial Nominee Programs, please fill out a free online assessment today 2016 CICNews All Rights Reserved When Steve Rothaus began covering the gay community for the Miami Herald nearly 20 years ago, he was one of the first reporters at a mainstream newspaper anywhere in the country to cover gay issues as a regular news beat.* It was the summer of 1997, and Gianni Versace had just been murdered on the steps of his South Beach mansion. Though investigators never determined the motive of spree killer Andrew Cunanan, many people speculated it had to do with Versace being gay. Herald editors came to Rothaus, then an 11-year veteran of the paper who had been out at work most of that time, and asked him to start writing twice a month on gay issues. We had trouble competing within our own community, Rothaus recalls. We didnt have anybody on the staff who was plugged in within the LGBT community. We had gay reporters, but they were not covering that. You might think by now hed be one of many newspaper journalists on the beat. But the increasing visibility of the LGBT community coincided with the collapse of newspaper economics, and while theres been an explosion of gay-themed news coverage and commentary online, Rothaus role at a local paper remains pretty unique. Over the years, hes served readers with coverage of subjects both weighty and light-hearted, and served as a resource to colleagues learning how to cover LGBT issues. Hes also been a pioneer in other waysas a newspaper reporter who embraced the online world, and demonstrated the value of community engagement. Steve is like our greatest treasure, said Elizabeth Schwartz, a Miami Beach attorney who has spent her career fighting for LGBT rights and won important battles in the fight for same-sex marriage before the Supreme Court ruled on it last year.* Not only does he tell our stories, he gives us access to the broader world and gives the broader world access to us. For people to see their lives and their love reflected in the Miami Herald, thats nothing short of a life-saver for some people, she added. I really dont think thats an overstatement. Sign up for weekly emails from the United States Project When Rothaus first started on the beat, he says, it was a different world. Many people warned that it would interfere with his career path, but the Herald offered a welcoming environment. His early work consisted of news coverage, but it ran as a column, alongside his photofirst in the Heralds Neighbors section, then in features. We wanted people to know that I was a real person so they would feel more comfortable having their name in the paper, knowing that they were talking to someone who was in the paper and who also was gay, he said. (In the early 1990s, Deb Price of The Detroit News had become the first newspaper journalist to write a syndicated column from a gay perspective. And beginning in the 1980s, Randy Shilts covered the AIDS epidemic, including its impact on the gay community, for the San Francisco Chronicle. ) After a couple years, the papers publisher said the stories should be like any other news, with no columnist sig and placed wherever they belonged. But the focus on the beat continued. Rothaus also was a resource in the newsroom for straight reporters covering stories that touched on LGBT issuesand an advocate for greater awareness of transgender issues, at a time when that couldnt be taken for granted even in the gay community. When I was new to the Herald, years before any major news organization had come up with a style guide on how to handle the pronouns in stories about transgender people, Steve helped me make sure a story about the murder of a transgender woman was written sensitively. I wanted the Herald to be out front, ahead of all the other news organizations in South Florida in terms of how we covered the LGBT community and how we treated people, he explains. He was also active in the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, now the Association of LGBT Journalists. Rothaus volunteered to visit newsrooms around the country on behalf of the association, training editors and reporters on how to report fairly on the LGBT community. Its more than a beat. People live this. Its important that they see themselves in the paper. Steve was one of the early leaders in the organization, says Bob Witeck, a marketer in Washington, DC who focuses on how businesses and nonprofits reach the LGBT community and was on the association board with Rothaus in the 1990s. Steve was amazing because he was already creating a name for himself nationally. That national profile was boosted by Rothaus embrace of digital media. In the mid-2000s, the Herald began to move into blogging, and he started Steve Rothaus Gay South Florida blog. It met with quick success, drawing strong readership and dedicated advertising requests. The move to digital prepared him to develop an active social media presence, too. Becoming a more public figure took some getting used to. But, he says, We are much more engaged in our community than we were before, engaged with readers and advertisers. We are a society of people who interact online and know each other that way. The contraction of newsrooms around the country amid the digital transition affected coverage of many groups, and particularly the LGBT community, says Mike Signorile, editor-at-large for Huffington Posts Queer Voices. Steves been able to make that transition digitally that has been so difficult for many journalists to do, says Signorile. As coverage of so many things has been contracting, hes gone in the opposite direction, covering a community that we dont see anyone else in the country covering for a mainstream newspaper. These days dubbed Gay South Florida, Rothaus platform has evolved beyond the blog format. It includes his own storieswhich might be about drag brunches at a popular local restaurant, or developments in the legal fight over same-sex marriage or adoptionwhile also aggregating articles from around the world. Hes really the authority on LGBT issues, says Rick Hirsch, the Heralds managing editor. This is a region with a very significant LGBT community. Covering it well and intelligently really has value to our readers. Rothauss own work also strays beyond the local market at times. In 2014, he wrote about Jennifer Gable, a transgender woman in Idaho who died at age 32. At the funeral, Gables family presented her as a man in an open casket. The Herald article about Gable was the most-read story of the year across all of McClatchys publications, said Rothaus. Ten years ago, I hoped there would be people doing what I do all over the country, but it never happened, he says. Maybe not in every city, but in a lot of cities, this is a beat that should be considered a vehicle to increase readership. Over the years, Rothaus has been offered some other opportunities, but hes never really considered leaving the Herald, where hes handled other jobs while covering the LGBT beatediting in business and features, working as an online producer, and now editing the community sections. Miami is home to his family and his longtime partner, whos now his husband. And he wanted to stay at the Herald, he says, because I like being mainstream. Its more than a beat, he says about his work. People live this. Its important that they see themselves in the paper. Thats a big part of what it is and why Im still doing this. Hes not an activist, he says, but Im part of the community. Schwartz, the attorney, says Rothauss coverage of events in the local LGBT community often feels like validation. On a recent weekend, he was too busy to cover an event, she says, and it was like it didnt happen. Now, that community plans to honor Rothaus. The National LGBTQ Task Force announced Wednesday that it has selected Rothaus to receive its annual Eddy McIntyre Community Service Award at a Miami gala this fall. Someone else will have to cover it for the Herald. * Corrections: This post has been revised to refer to Rothaus as one of the first reporters at a mainstream newspaper to cover gay issues as a regular beat, not just the first. It has also been updated to note Randy Shilts work for the San Francisco Chronicle, and revised to more accurately describe Elizabeth Schwartzs legal work. Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today Susannah Nesmith is CJRs correspondent for Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. She is a freelance writer based in Miami with more than 25 years working for regional and national outlets. Follow her on Twitter @susannahnesmith. Honda Motor Co. will conduct at least the sixth round of major recalls involving its top-selling Fit compact in less than three years, as the Japanese automaker struggles to move past the quality woes that contributed to a change in chief executive officers. The company will recall more than 283,000 Fit cars and Vezel crossovers after reports of six fires related to a control systems flaw and two collisions linked to a power steering defect, said Yuichi Yamamoto, a Japan transport ministry official. None of the incidents resulted in death or injury, he said. Persistent recalls of the Fit and Vezel that first began in October 2013 were among quality woes that led former President Takanobu Ito to abandon a global sales target before resigning the position. His successor Takahiro Hachigo has reshuffled top management and consolidated responsibility for product planning and evaluation, ceding more control back to the companys overwhelmed research-and-development division. Honda tried to introduce models optimized for disparate regions at a pace and scale that was beyond its means, Hachigo, 56, said in February. The company announced sweeping management changes, including the resignations of Chairman Fumihiko Ike and the CEOs second-in-command Tetsuo Iwamura. Previous Fit and Vezel recalls in Japan include: October 2013: Honda recalls 4,883 Fit cars over automatic transmission and control modules. December 2013: Extends production period of previous recall, boosting number of cars affected to 36,100 units. February 2014: Recalls 81,353 Fit, Vezel vehicles over engine control units July 2014: Extends production period of Fit and Vezel recall, raising number of vehicles affected to 175,356. October 2014: Recalls 321,501 Fit and Vezel vehicles over engine ignition coils, power supply circuits. Hondas quality problems with new product introductions have continued into this year. The automaker recalled the 2016 Civic in February after 2-liter engines seized up in quality-control checks and in the field, resulting in a fire and one reported injury. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Youre landing at New Yorks LaGuardia Airport on the expressway approachits called that because you come in low enough to buzz the Grand Central Parkway and Mets Citi Field before dropping down quickly on a runway that perches over the middle of a bay. As it is, its one of the more jarring landings in the U.S. What, then, would happen if a drone suddenly appeared in the flight path? The threat in recent years of pilots blinded by high-powered lasers may soon be superseded by this potentially more fearsome prospect: drones finding their way into restricted airspace around airports. Each month, pilots and air traffic controllers report more than 100 drone sightings to the Federal Aviation Administration, which has begun compiling and releasing periodic reports on these encounters. The FAA says such reports have surged since 2014, with more than 1,200 incidents nationwide last year.Over the latest reporting period, from August 2015 through January, the New York metro area led the nation in drone sightings by airline pilots with 43. The Los Angeles area was next, with 25, according to an analysis of FAA data released March 25. The Dallas area was third, with 18. Pilots consider drones a safety risk that must not be underestimated. Were not kidding when we say it has to be mitigated as a threat, said Tim Canoll, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA, and a drone hobbyist himself. Your imagination can run wild with the problems of hitting hard metal objects at 200 mph. One of the most recent incidents occurred March 18, when a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt approaching Los Angeles International Airport reported a drone flew about 200 feet above the Airbus A380. Police and sheriffs department helicopters were dispatched to search for the drone, the Los Angeles Times reported. Because of incidents like this, regulators have been working feverishly to formulate rules for how to incorporate commercial drone operations into U.S. airspace and trying to educate hobbyists about staying out of the way of airliners. We dont want to fuel fears over drones and we dont want the flying public to be overly concerned with this issue, but we do want to say this should be a consideration going forward, says Dan Gettinger, co-director of the Center for the Study of the Drone at Bard College. A lot of things have to go wrong for a collision to happen. In a statement accompanying its data, the FAA said it wanted to send a clear message that operating drones around airplanes and helicopters is dangerous and illegal. Current FAA rules restrict drone operators from flying within five miles of an airport and above 400 feet. About 92 percent of the most recent pilot sightings occurred above 400 feet; 60 percent were closer than the five-mile limit. So, apparently, a lot of people arent listening. In all but 11 instances, these encounters required no evasive action by pilots, nor was it clear how close the aircraft and drone actually were. In two dozen cases, the drone came within 50 feet of a manned aircraft, according to a close analysis of the FAAs raw data by the drone center. The probability of [a collision] is still pretty, pretty lownot that it couldnt happen, says Rich Hanson, director of governmental relations with the Academy of Model Aeronautics, a nonprofit group that promotes recreational model aircraft flying. The pilots union believes that enthusiast drones should be policed by geo-fencing technology, which could prevent the devices from flying near airports. Get too close and they crash to the ground. Embedded software could also restrict altitude, ALPAs Canoll said. If we ignore this, I can promise you it will be a problem, he warned. It will be a contributing problem to an accident. One of the critical problems in assessing the overall risk is a lack of information about what actually would happen should a small unmanned aerial vehicle strike a Boeing 737 or Airbus A321 airplane or be sucked into an engine. The FAA has been conducting computer simulations of drones hitting commercial aircraft and expects to release a report on its findings in September. The FAA takes the possibility of airborne collisions seriously, spokesman Les Dorr said in an email. Researchers at Virginia Techs CRASH (Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids) Lab have performed such simulations. In one scenario, engineers introduced an 8-pound quad-copter rotor into a large, 9-foot diameter engine fan typically found on long-range jet models such as the Boeing 777 and Airbus A380. The damage was quickwith a speed of 715 mph in less than 1/200th of a secondand catastrophic, with the drones destruction decimating fan blades and creating an engine failure. The study aims to determine whether any drone ingestions create a scenario where the damage isnt contained within the engines housing. Thats a crucial distinction, because uncontained turbine blades pose risks to other parts of the aircraft as theyre ejected. Commercial jet engines are certified for hazards such as bird strikes, blade failures, heavy rain, hail and multiple types of ice, up to certain limits. To test for bird strikes, engineers have built chicken cannons to fire dead birds into engines. Many aircraft have suffered a single engine failure due to bird strikes or other failures. All current models must be able to fly with just one engine. Its unclear whether future engines will need to be certified for small drone strikes as well. Its probably expensive, and airlines, pilots and the FAA would all like to see public education and airport enforcement as sufficient deterrents to drones wandering where they shouldnt. Last month, two researchers at George Mason Universitys Mercatus Center examined 25 years of FAA bird-strike data and concluded that an increase in unmanned drone flights poses little risk to U.S. airspace. That report drew a quick rebuke from ALPA, while other researchers echoed the unions view that soft-tissue ingestion was not comparable to the materials used for drones. There is also, of course, the issue of commercial drone use, the kind that businesses use for real estate and wedding photography, advertising, film-making, utility inspections, and numerous other applications. To date, the FAA has granted more than 4,000 exemptions for commercial firms to fly drones in their work. Many law enforcement agencies also fly drones. Any of them can stray through error or malfunction. When we think of this issue we shouldnt just pigeonhole the problem cases as hobbyists drones gone awry, Gettinger says. Thats hardly comforting to nervous fliers who now must add drones to their menu of fears. Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Almost two years ago I wrote an article for Claims Journal entitled The Emerging Hail Risk: What the Hail is Going on? The response was overwhelming. It was Claims Journals most read article for several weeks and the second most read article for the entire year. I wasnt surprised. The article identified a looming crisis and stated with candor what the hail was going on at that time: The property insurance industry is under attack. The present battle has nothing to do with repairing roofs actually damaged by hail, but instead putting money in the pockets of individuals who can find a way to inject themselves into the insurance claims process. I called out these individuals as contractors, public adjusters, policyholder attorneys, and other assorted crooks and frauds. The label was strong. It was the first time someone from the industry spoke about the issue in such candid terms. Support for the article was widespread. Both from within the insurance industry and otherwise. A well-known and respected policyholder attorney, Chip Merlin, wrote a blog entry about the article, stating: Well see where this leads with hail claims. It is a very complicated subject. To his credit, Steve Badger raises many valid points. But the balance Where this leads is now crystal clear. The hail risk has emerged. The attack continues. And there is no balance. The scales are tipped far in favor of the assorted crooks and frauds. As a result, what the hail is going on right now is nothing less than an all-out feeding frenzy to sign up building owners and file lawsuits against insurance companies. Sadly, there is no end in sight. The Feeding Frenzy Model Earlier this month, two significant hail events struck neighborhoods in North Texas. These neighborhoods are today littered with yard signs and door hangers, not only from roofing contractors and public adjusters, but incredibly also from attorneys. After other recent storms across Texas, attorneys set up folding tables and banners in front of grocery stores and at weekend flea markets. Yes, Texans can now buy Girl Scout cookies and hire a lawyer in a single stop. Interestingly, the table banners posted by these flea market attorneys dont state: Hail Claim Denied? No, that would be too restrictive. Instead, the banners state Affected by Hail? That casts a much wider net. In fact, this broad-brush approach is consistent with a very troubling recent door hanger advertisement for a law firm: Call Us First Before You Call Your Insurance Company Really? Is this the new insurance claims reporting model in Texas? So much for reporting a claim to your neighborhood insurance agent. Just call your lawyer! This is only one aspect of the all-out assault. Perform a simple Google search using the words hail insurance claim Texas. The first three hits are all paid advertisements. One for a roofing contractor. One for a public adjuster. One for an attorney. Yes, a lawyer ad appears even though the search doesnt include the word lawsuit. So much for the homeowner working cooperatively with the insurance adjuster in amicably resolving a claim before thinking about a lawsuit. Today, hail damage insurance claims are no longer about getting a roof fixed. Lawyers market a mindset that an insurance claim can be a profit center, both for the building owner and the lawyer. Fortunately, many Texans still submit their own insurance claims and work cooperatively with their insurance companies. Historically, the Texas insurance industry reportedly has a 98 percent success rate in resolving claims without litigation. Thats pretty impressive. And that high rate of success in amicably resolving claims remains the case today. But only until the doorbell knockers arrive long after the storm and long after repairs are completed. Then everything changes. The typical door-to-door canvasser script goes something like this: Canvasser: Hello, Im here to get you a free roof after the recent hailstorm. Homeowner: No, thanks. My insurance company bought my roof. Canvasser: But did they pay for your fence? Homeowner: My fence? My fence is fine. Canvasser: No its not. The hail broke the water seal. Wood rot is certain. Homeowner: Thats ok. My insurance company treated me fairly. Canvasser: No they didnt. They should have paid you 20 percent extra for general contractor overhead and profit. Homeowner: But I didnt have a general contractor. Canvasser: Doesnt matter. They owe it. Here, sign this form and I will make certain you get additional money from your insurance company. And the best thing is that you can do whatever you want with the money. Need a new car? Swimming pool? Caribbean vacation? The insurance companies always pay. Theres no downside. Homeowner: Wow! I need a vacation. Where do I sign? Canvasser: Here is our contract. Sign here. Oh, and by the way, sign these two pieces of paper also just in case we need to bring in a public adjuster and lawyer to help you. Homeowner: What happens next? Canvasser: Well send someone out to inspect your house and write up an estimate for damage. Really, you ask? Does this actually happen? Yes, it does. Hundreds of times a day all across Texas. In fact, it is typically the case that a supplemental claim is never even submitted. The insurance company hears nothing absolutely nothing about a supplemental claim until.. A lawsuit is filed. And on the very same day the insurance company is notified of the lawsuit, the homeowner is notified that it is a plaintiff in a lawsuit. The lawyers letter to the homeowner typically reads something like this: Dear Homeowner, Allow us to introduce ourselves. We are your lawyers! Nice to meet you. We filed a lawsuit today on your behalf against your insurance company. We will let you know when it goes to mediation. Dont worry. You dont even have to attend mediation. We will settle the matter for what we think is fair and send you a check for your portion. Regards, Your Lawyer I know what you are thinking. This sounds like criminal barratry. It is. I suspect you are also thinking this must violate multiple ethical rules. It does. Unthwarted, however, by any concerns about barratry laws, ethical standards, or even just good common sense, the lawyer pursues the lawsuit on behalf of a client it has never met (some homeowners dont even know they are parties to lawsuits). Eventually, the lawyer settles the lawsuit without the homeowner ever being consulted as to amount of damage being alleged, without attending the mediation, and without being asked about an acceptable settlement amount. The homeowner then receives a check, usually for less than half the settlement amount after the lawyer, public adjuster, estimator, and expert are all paid (yes, the quotes are appropriate as none of these players are truly filling these roles.more on that later). There is no denying that this model exists all across Texas. Dont believe me? Send me an email. Ill send you the documents to prove it. Are you convinced now that the words all out feeding frenzy are appropriate? The Ongoing Crisis Texas Since my article appeared two years ago, nothing has changed. In fact, lets be honest. It has gotten worse. No longer do we have a problem only in a single impoverished county in South Texas (where over 11,000 lawsuits were filed after a single catastrophic event). We now have a problem all across Texas (where nearly 10,000 hail damage lawsuits are being filed each year). Every day, I receive listings of all the new lawsuits filed in Texas. The reports for numerous Texas counties Potter, Dallas, Tarrant, Webb, Cameron, Hidalgo are chock-full of hail lawsuit filings every single day. Sometimes a single lawyer files a half dozen lawsuits or more in just one day, with the pattern repeating itself several times a week by the same lawyer filing lawsuits in several different counties. I often wonder how that lawyer has time to travel around the state to meet with and sign up all of those clients himself, to draft all of those petitions and then to litigate all of those lawsuits. The answer is simple. He doesnt. Want proof? Go to a resume posting website like indeed.com. Type in the name of a lawyer who you know handles hundreds of hail lawsuits. You will find resumes from numerous past employees of that lawyer who describe their previous job functions as drafting pleadings, speaking to homeowners, negotiating with adjusters, answering discovery and resolving insurance claims. None of these people are lawyers. Most arent even paralegals. How is this not the unauthorized practice of law by these individuals? How is the lawyer who allows his name to be put on all of these pleadings not violating any ethical rules? Of course, the problem is not just the lawyers. There are also roofing contractors who continue to act as insurance claim specialists and offer to negotiate on your behalf despite clear laws prohibiting such conduct. These contractors also continue to waive deductibles, which is illegal. But the contractor problem goes far beyond just roofing contractors. The insurance restoration contractor industry is growing more aggressive in their tactics. Each month they hold seminars and conferences on how to win the storm and get overhead and profit on every claim. Speaking of which, have you noticed that most roofing contractors are now calling themselves general contractors? Apparently they are being taught that this title will help them get overhead and profit on every claim. These contractors also have online forums where they exchange ideas on how to inflate Xactimate estimates. Here is another interesting twist. The lucrative nature of the insurance restoration contracting business has resulted in public adjusters turning in their licenses to become contractors. Why? Because a public insurance adjuster is limited by statute to a 10 percent commission. A contractor that can get away with negotiating insurance claims has no limits on what it can earn. This paper contractor (called such because they are really just sales people) will submit an inflated Xactimate estimate, get the carrier to pay, and then subcontract all of the work out for 50-60 percent of the insurance proceeds received. Thats a 40 percent profit margin. Far, far more than the 10 percent commission earned by a public insurance adjuster. These same contractors also want a piece of the litigation action. To accomplish this, they ask former employees to create public adjusting and estimating companies. Eventually the money paid to these companies gets back to the contractor. This nets the contractor 10 percent of the litigation settlement, disguised as a Public Adjuster Commission, and a $1,000 referral payment from the lawyer, disguised as an Estimator Fee. All of this comes out of the homeowners insurance settlement. The bad actors have also circled their wagons around the appraisal process. There now exists an entirely new industry of professional appraisers who advertise as appraisal advocates for the insured and boast of their 95 percent success rate. Thats curious, given that appraisal was intended to be a quasi-judicial dispute resolution process with appraisers acting as unbiased neutrals in search of the fair and correct result. Not any longer. The professional appraiser is an advocate for the policyholder and knows how to turn a legitimate $1 million dispute as to the cost to replace a large roof into a $5 million dispute with new allegations of damage to bricks, windows, and other additional damage components not previously part of the claim. The umpire then issues a compromise appraisal award for $1 million. Some compromise, huh? The law of large numbers prevails. These are just a few of the schemes being pursued by the traditional players in the insurance claims process. New business models and claim schemes are emerging all the time. One new business model is the self-anointed title of Claim Consultant. Apparently, these people are not lawyers and they are not public adjusters. They call themselves claim consultants who bring all the necessary players (contractor, estimator, meteorologist, lawyer, etc.) together for the benefit of the building owner. And for this service they take 20 percent of the paid claim. This cant be legal. It has to be either the unauthorized practice of public adjusting or the unauthorized practice of law. Perhaps both. The latest claims scheme in Texas, one that was imported from Florida, is the falling object claim. Do you have a single broken Saltillo tile in your pantry from a falling can of green beans? No worries. A public adjuster, his appraiser friend, and his lawyer buddy will all team up to argue that the insurance company should pay for a new floor throughout your entire house. This is because the tiles are 20 years old and the one cracked tile cannot be matched with all the others. Thus, they argue, the insurance company should pay for an entire new floor. The public adjuster knows what the insurance carrier will do when faced with the choice of paying a $10,000 nuisance value settlement or spending $100,000 to litigate through trial. Settle. And if 50 homeowners can all be signed up with one of these claims, thats a nice chunk of change. I could go on with more examples. But I think you get the point. In the end, nothing has changed in Texas. In fact, the ongoing crisis is getting worse. Given the recent significant hail events in North Texas, with over $500 million in estimated property damage from these storms alone (and we are only in early April!), there is no doubt that the all-out feeding frenzy will continue so long as the legislature allows it. The Ongoing Crisis The Rest of the Country Not surprisingly, the hail lawsuit crisis has gone national. Colorado, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Minnesota, Arizona, and anywhere else where hail falls from the sky and damages property. Texas lawyers are running ads across the country. You dont believe me? Google the phrase hail damage lawyer and any state name. Most of the ads and top hits are from Texas law firms prepared to work in any state. And then there is Florida. Talk about a mess. Incredibly, in Florida a contractor can ask the homeowner for an assignment of benefits. Yes, the contractor actually pursues the claim and initiates litigation. How is that not a conflict of interest? Sadly, one small regional carrier advises that 30 percent of all new claims are reported by lawyers. Fortunately, assignments of benefits are not allowed in Texas and most other states. The Inevitable End Result In 2014, I finished my first article with this observation and prediction: Like mold and similar previous attacks on the industry, in the end the insurance companies will respond by limiting or even excluding coverage. That effort is already underway. While that will provide the necessary and inevitable end to the battle, the unfortunate loser in all of this is the building owner who truly had holes knocked in his roof by large hail. Because of all the money being paid today to contractors, public adjusters, policyholder attorneys, and other assorted crooks and frauds, the guy with water pouring through large holes in his roof caused by large hail will no longer have coverage. And that is truly unfortunate but inevitable absent legislative change. In 2015, the Texas legislature had an opportunity to provide such legislative change. It failed to act. As a result, the insurance industry is responding. Policy forms are being amended to clarify and at times restrict coverage. Deductibles are increasing. Insurance companies are turning to actual cash value only policies. Most troubling is that some companies have completely withdrawn from certain markets. At least two major insurance companies have stopped writing policies in South Texas. As a result, as predicted, there are Texas homeowners struggling to obtain insurance for their homes. Again, you dont believe me? Call an insurance agent in Hidalgo County and ask what has happened to rates and availability of coverage in the past couple years. Finding That Balance No one disputes that insurance companies should promptly and fully pay to repair building components damaged by hail consistent with the terms of their policies. Insureds should be brought back to their pre-loss condition with materials of like kind and quality. That is a given. And when insurance companies knowingly fail to meet these fundamental obligations, they should face penalties. I agree with that. Conversely, insurance companies are not charitable organizations. They should only be obligated to pay claims consistent with the terms of their policies. They should not be asked to pay for roofs simply because they are old. They should not be asked to pay for damage that occurred long before their policies incepted. They should not fund vacations or new cars by paying for building components, like fences and bricks, that are not damaged and that the insured had no intention of ever replacing. And, most critically, they should not be forced into the untenable position of settling meritless lawsuits lawsuits often filed without their insureds even knowing they are plaintiffs simply to avoid the cost of litigation. In the end, Chip Merlin is right. We need to strike the right balance. When hail lawsuit reform legislation was proposed during the 2015 Texas legislative session, opponents argued that it would gut the insurance code and take away the homeowners rights to sue when insurance companies act badly. Neither assertion was accurate. Each of the nine specific legislative changes set forth in the proposed legislation were directed at ending a particular abuse common in the hail claims and litigation process, while preserving the consumers right to sue when bad insurer conduct actually occurred. But that all got lost in the political scare tactics. Trial lawyer groups argued that all the problems were the result of bad public insurance adjusters and a very small number of corrupt attorneys. They proposed a simple solution further regulate public insurance adjusters and enforce barratry laws. That proposed solution was shallow and self-serving. Legislation was enacted in 2015 that now precludes public adjusters from accepting or paying referral fees and prohibits public adjusters from signing up clients solely for purposes of flipping them to an attorney. While the new legislation ended both of these specific practices, the overall crisis is much larger and far far from over. Further, while barratry laws have been on the books for decades, barratry remains commonplace in hail claims and other areas. There is no information indicating that a single lawyer has been disciplined for barratry in a hail claim. Not one. This is despite the fact that everyone on both sides of the docket knows darn well that it is going on. So just saying enforce the barratry laws is no solution at all. More must be done to strike the right balance. The Texas legislature has another opportunity to strike that balance in the approaching 2017 legislative session. The insurance industry must receive relief from the abuses it is facing in the claims process and the thousands of lawsuits being filed across the state. Conversely, any such relief must ensure that building owners have adequate remedies when insurers knowingly engage in improper conduct. Concluding Thoughts Most of the abuses, fraud and other illegal conduct fueling the Texas hail claims crisis can be remedied with legislative action. Balance can be restored a balance that provides the insurance company with protection from improper conduct and likewise provides the building owner with protection from improper conduct. Otherwise, if nothing is done, the Texas hail claims feeding frenzy will continue unchecked. In two years from now Ill write another follow-up article talking about how additional insurance companies have stopped writing hail policies in Texas. As a result, there will be Texas families with real hail damage to the roofs on their homes and no insurance coverage to fix it. And as I said in 2014, that is truly unfortunate but inevitable absent legislative change. Today, we are two years closer to that inevitable result. Next Week: Proposed Legislative Changes To Achieve A Balanced Solution Steven Badger represents the commercial property insurance industry, both as a plaintiff in large loss catastrophe subrogation and as a defendant in roofing related losses. Badgers practice is presently devoted entirely to addressing the emerging hail risk, with a specific focus on the identification of fraud, barratry and other illegal conduct occurring in these matters. He can be reached at sbadger@zelle.com CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A longtime Cleveland community activist has filed suit against Cuyahoga County, Cleveland Municipal School District, The Plain Dealer and the operator of cleveland.com, alleging a conspiracy to defame her through false news stories after she was hired for a high-level county job that she later lost. Marcia McCoy, in a lawsuit filed Friday, claims that David Merriman, a county administrator, and cleveland.com reporter Andrew J. Tobias worked together "to cause the plaintiff, amongst other things, ridicule, shame, loss of employment, damage to her reputation." The lawsuit alleges that Tobias and Merriman are brothers-in-law. The stories cost McCoy a $103,000-a-year job at the county and her position at the school district, according to the lawsuit. Chris Quinn, vice president of content at Advance Ohio, which operates cleveland.com, said the allegations in the lawsuit are without merit and described Tobias' reporting on McCoy as high-quality watchdog journalism. "Right off the bat, the lawsuit says Andrew and Merriman are related, and that's no more true than the other claims in the filing," Quinn said. "Our work here was a public service, and we look forward to proving that in court." The lawsuit names Tobias, Merriman, County Executive Armond Budish and others as defendants. McCoy brings claims including defamation, conspiracy, and breach of oral employment agreement and bad faith. She is seeking at least $25,000 in damages. (You can read the lawsuit here or at the bottom of this story.) Spokeswoman Mary Louise Madigan said the county will "vigorously defend" the lawsuit. A school district spokeswoman said she could not comment on pending litigation. Cleveland.com published the articles in question in April 2015. They examined Budish's hiring of McCoy, a local political mainstay who was then working as a recruiter for the school district, to be the county's director of public benefits and external relations. The articles reported that, according to Merriman, she told the county that she made $80,000 in salary and benefits at the school district. The articles stated, however, that school records showed that she received a base salary of $40,000 plus a $15,000 performance bonus and that she drew a school district salary the week of Feb. 9, 2015 -- the same week she started working for the county. County and school district documents related to McCoy's employment were posted along with the stories on cleveland.com. McCoy first lost her job at the county and then the school district. Her lawsuit, filed in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, says the county director position was for work on a temporary campaign. It says school district CEO Eric Gordon supported her decision to work at the county. According to the lawsuit: * McCoy correctly told the county that she earned $65,000 from the school district as a salary and a stipend after taxes. She maintains that she was being paid by the school district when she was hired at the county and that she went on unpaid leave from the district starting Feb. 9. * Tobias twisted the words of county and school district spokespeople and "incorrectly reported" that McCoy could not be reached for comment and did not return messages. The case is assigned to Common Pleas Judge Michael Donnelly. cuycountybuilding.jpg Cuyahoga County has banned non-essential official travel to North Carolina. (Thomas Ondrey, The Plain Dealer ) CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish on Wednesday issued an order banning all non-essential government travel to North Carolina. Budish's order to employees is in response to North Carolina's "Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act," which bars transgender people from bathrooms and locker rooms that do not match the gender on their birth certificates. County employees have not traveled to North Carolina and none of the 15 current requests for travel is to that state, a county spokeswoman said. North Carolina legislators passed the bill March 23, and Gov. Pat McCrory signed it into law that night. Republican lawmakers in North Carolina led the effort in response to an anti-discrimination ordinance approved by Charlotte, which included allowing transgender people to use the public bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity, not gender at birth. Cuyahoga County joins New York, San Francisco and Seattle in banning non-essential travel to the state. Businesses also oppose it. PayPal announced Tuesday that it was withdrawing plans to open an operations center in Charlotte, that would have provided 400 jobs. Cuyahoga County has adopted an Equity Plan which ensures equal treatment for members of lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning communities, Budish said in a statement. "A major pillar of this administration is fairness and equity for all persons. We deplore the radical action recently taken by the state government of North Carolina, and we will not support such action with our tax dollars," Budish said. The North Carolina act prohibits cities and other localities in North Carolina from passing anti-discrimination ordinances that protect lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and questioning communities. Budish invited companies to bring their business to "a much more welcoming location, Cuyahoga County." Budish said his order remains in effect until the act is repealed or amended. Getting the word out Voting used to involve much more than simply casting a ballot as people learned about candidates and issues in community gatherings and debates. (Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer) AKRON, Ohio - Akron hopes to bring back the "joyful culture of voting" that once made elections large participatory events with street theater, open-air debates and festivals. Akron is one of four cities that will launch an initiative called "The Joy of Voting Project" to change the perception that voting is a duty and restart a community conversation about candidates. The project by Citizen University, a national nonprofit that teaches and promotes citizenship, is funded by a $125,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Groups in Akron, Miami, Philadelphia and Wichita, Kansas, will develop community projects. Five projects in each city will receive an average of $3,600 to create events that will be held before the November election. Akron's primary partner in the initiative is the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron. "Promoting engagement in voting and elections, especially in such a positive way, is one of the main missions of the Bliss Institute," associated director Stephen Brooks said in a statement. "Expanding engagement efforts to include diverse elements of the Akron community helps demonstrate the value of enjoyable politics to our community." From the Revolutionary War through the civil-rights era, as historians describe, the United States had a robust participatory culture of voting, according to a report in Atlantic magazine. Activities included parades, raucous street theater, open-air debates, broadsheets and pamphleteering, rituals of toasting and fasting, fighting, festivals, bonfires and outrageous wagers. "This project will combine the old and the new to reinvigorate a culture of voting in our four pilot cities," said Citizen University founder Eric Liu in a statement. "By the end of Election Day 2016, we will have seeded 20 different experiments across the country of what it can look like when citizens come together to creatively reimagine and reclaim the act of voting and the ritual of American elections. What would it take to bring back the 18th and 19th century culture of pageantry and participation? Simply doing it." A meeting will be held April 27 in Akron to begin the process of developing programs. CINCINNATI, Ohio - A man and a woman wanted in three states for more than 15 bank robberies were arrested Monday in Cincinnati. Nickole Collins, 29, and John Morgan, 32, were taken into custody at a traffic stop once the officer discovered out-of-state warrants, Cincinnati.com reports. The couple is from Bronson, Michigan - about eight miles north of the Indiana border. Collins and Morgan are wanted for about 16 robberies, including bank robberies, across Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, according to Cincinnati.com. It is unclear if the duo is accused of any Cincinnati-area robberies. The couple is awaiting extradition at the Hamilton County Jail to Branch County, Michigan where they face multiple bank robbery-related charges, according to the Associated Press. When they were taken to the jail Monday, police found heroin on Collins and Morgan, Cincinnati.com reports. They're charged in Hamilton County with drug abuse, possession of drug abuse instruments and obstructing official business. Collins and Morgan are scheduled to appear in Hamilton County Municipal Court on April 14. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A poll worker accused of pulling out a gun and threatening to kill another worker at a polling station inside a West Side elementary school poses "no risk to society," his lawyer says. Shaker Heights attorney Michael L. Wolpert filed a motion Monday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court asking Judge John P. O'Donnell to reduce Allen Bethea's $5,000 bond. Wolpert requested a $2,000 bond. O'Donnell has yet to rule on his request. Witnesses said about 50 voters were inside the polling station March 15 at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School in the 10000 block of Baltic Road when the incident happened. Bethea pulled a .380 pistol out of his backpack and said, "Somebody's going to die," after an argument with fellow poll workers, witnesses told reporters. Bethea left the school. Police took him into custody a short time later at West 107th Street and Detroit Avenue. According to court records, Bethea, 46, pleaded not guilty to charges of carrying concealed weapons, possession of deadly weapon or deadly ordinance in a school safety zone, and aggravated menacing. Like Chanda Neely on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter: CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A "monster" alligator was shot and killed by a Florida farmer who said it was eating his cattle. Measuring 15 feet and weighing an estimated 800 pounds, the alligator was killed during a supervised hunt Saturday after it surfaced in a cattle pond about 20 feet away from the hunters. "We also discovered the remains of what we determined to be cattle in the water," hunting guide Blake Godwin told Florida TV station Fox 13. "We determined that he was in fact attacking our livestock as they came to drink." This 15-foot alligator shot in Florida on Saturday weighed an estimated 800 pounds. The owner of the hunting reserve, Lee Lightsey, told the BBC the beast was one of the biggest he had come across in 18 years. "Although this animal is huge, I was not that surprised it existed," Lightsey told the BBC. "We have come across lots over the last 20 years that have been only a little smaller. "But what really drew our attention to this animal was the fact that it seems to have been feasting on the cattle on my farm, because mutilated body parts were found in the water. It was a monster which needed to be removed." Lightsey charges $10,000 to kill an alligator larger than 13 feet, usually with a high-powered rifle. "But always we kill them with the minimum of suffering without allowing them to be injured before they die," he said. A large tractor was required to remove the alligator after it was killed in Okeechobee, Florida. The record for the longest alligator captured in Florida is a little over 17 feet. Lightsey said meat from the animal will be donated to a charity. The alligator will be stuffed and taken to outdoors shows. Royal super fan Christine Meer behind the scenes at FashioGCaington Palace.jpg Ohio's Christine Meer won a trip to London, where she got to tour various royal locations, including Kensington Palace. COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It was Christine Meer's mother who first introduced her to the English royal family, back when Princess Diana was in the spotlight. Now, Meer just returned from her first trip to London in February. She won the trip as part of a competition to celebrate "super-fans" of the city, presented by Visit London. There Meer visited various London hotspots, including the Tower of London and Windsor Castle. She said the trip was a chance to see where the royals' stories play out. "I think that America loves to watch the royal family because of the pageantry," said Meer, a speech pathologist for Ohio State University. "America doesn't have the pomp and circumstance that England does. There's tradition there." Meer said she loves watching the families grow, especially following Prince William and Princess Kate's wedding and the birth of their children. She said another draw for her is seeing how the royals use their power to do good. It is the family's humanitarian work that recently inspired her to take a medical mission trip to Haiti. "They're so relatable," she said. "They're making the world a better place." The trip included flights for Meer and her boyfriend, a stay at the London Hilton on Park Lane, a "royal" makeover and tours including Kensington Palace and Hampton Court. "I truly was waiting to wake up," she said. "To be part of that history for a moment, it was amazing." Semi-tractor trailer overturns on Route 2 Workers prepare to move a semi-tractor trailer truck that overturned Tuesday afternoon on the westbound off-ramp of Ohio Route 2 leading to I-90 east. (John Kuntz, cleveland.com) EUCLID, Ohio -- The Ohio Route 2 ramp in Euclid is closed as crews work to clear an overturned semi, police said. The ramp that passes over Ohio Route 2 eastbound that connects to Interstate 90 eastbound remains closed as of 5:30 p.m. Traffic headed eastbound on Ohio Route 2 was directed to either exit the highway or go east on Interstate 90. The driver of the semi was not injured, and there were no other cars involved in the crash, Euclid police dispatch said. The semi's smashed yellow trailer was upright as road crews prepared to tow the truck about 4 p.m. It appears the truck failed to properly negotiate the ramp's curve on Interstate 90, smashing metal guardrails and cement dividers. There is currently no timeframe as to when the roads will reopen, police dispatch said. CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The man accused of beating to death a Cleveland woman last month remains jailed on $1 million bond. Charles Stoves, 57, appeared Wednesday before Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Joseph J. Zone to face charges that he killed Lola Robinson last month. The case was bound over to the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. Stoves is charged with killing Robinson the week after he was released from jail, where he was being held on charges stemming from a previous attack on Robinson. Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Brian Murphy told the judge Stoves and Robinson were in a relationship at some point, and that they used to live in the same apartment building. Stoves stalked Robinson at her home the morning of March 21 before he killed her, Murphy told the judge. Stoves was the last person seen with Robinson. Stoves struck Robinson in the head several times in the garage of a vacant home on Folk Avenue near East 103rd Street, police said. When authorities found Robinson's body about 7 a.m., she was lying face-down in a pool of blood and was bleeding from her head and face, police said. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Robinson died of blunt-force trauma to the head with cervical compression. Stoves appeared in Cleveland Municipal Court March 14 on an assault charge after he was accused of attacking Robinson and throwing her to the ground. Stoves pleaded not guilty and was released on a personal bond. The complaint was filed February 9, and a temporary protection order was issued the same day, records show. Warning: The above video contains content that might be disturbing to some viewers. CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A Glendale, Ohio, police officer is being hailed for his restraint after body-camera video shows his encounter with a knife-wielding murder suspect who was begging police to shoot and kill him. "I'm not going to speak for the chief or the sheriff, but Joshua Hilling deserves a medal for what he did," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters told reporters on Tuesday, according to wcpo.com. Hilling, 31, an officer at Glendale for four years, stopped to investigate last week after seeing Javier Pablo Aleman, 46, walking south on Interstate 75, about 13 miles north of Cincinnati. Officials tell cincinnati.com that Hilling intended to offer Aleman a ride, not knowing that Aleman was a suspect in a fatal stabbing three weeks earlier in Maryland. Aleman told Hilling he was walking from Dayton, but investigators aren't sure if that is true, cincinnati.com reports. After Hilling said he intended to pat Aleman down, Aleman pulled a knife and began yelling for Hilling to kill him. Hilling fired one shot, striking Aleman in the stomach, when the suspect charged at the officer. Wounded, Aleman spent the next few minutes moving toward Hilling and other officers who arrived at the scene with his knife, pleading more than 40 times for police to kill him. He wandered onto the highway, bringing traffic to a stop. Hilling can be heard yelling, "Sir, please, just get down. Sir, please, drop the knife. Let us help you." Another officer finally stopped Aleman with a Taser and he was taken into custody. The suspect is recovering from the gunshot wound at a hospital and has been charged with attempted murder. Officials believe the knife used by Aleman likely is the murder weapon from the stabbing in Maryland. After being indicted in Hamilton County, Aleman is expected to extradited back to Maryland, fox19.com reports. Hilling is expected to return to duty this week, cincinnati.com reports. "Officer Joshua Hilling is one brave individual," Deters said. watch now watch now watch now The slowdown in China worrying global investors is unlikely to result in a hard landing although high debt levels are a concern, said Fitch Ratings in a special report released on Wednesday. Fitch is still maintaining its stable outlook on China's credit rating for now, unlike peers Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service who have lowered the outlook in recent weeks amid concerns over debt levels in the world's second-largest economy. "Fitch Ratings believes strongly that China has the administrative and financial resources to avoid a disruptive slowdown to near-zero growth over the rating outlook horizon of about two years," the agency said in an announcement. Fitch has a A+ sovereign rating on China but has not raised it to AA due to "high and rising" leverage in the economy which it said is a source of "systemic vulnerability." Fitch expects China's economy to grow between 6 to 6.5 percent in 2016 and 2017. The country's official growth target is 6.5 to 7 percent this year. China's currency has come under scrutiny since a hefty devaluation last August rocked global financial markets and fueled a surge in capital outflows amid expectations that authorities will guide the yuan lower to bolster the economy. The ratings agency thinks China "has the will and the means not to devalue the yuan substantially against its new basket." "There would be risks and costs with a large devaluation. Such a development would be a major negative shock for the global economy that could rebound on China by generating systemic stress among emerging markets globally, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, and provoking a backlash from global trade partners it could even mean the unraveling of the current open global trading regime." A large devaluation would also undermine the progress that China has made so far on its transition to a greater emphasis on consumption from an earlier reliance on manufacturing, as a weaker currency would depress household real incomes and strengthen the profitability of exporting companies, Fitch said. High leverage is still the key concern for the economy with the stock of aggregate financing, excluding equity-raising, rising to 198 percent of GDP by end-2015 from 115 percent at end-2008, according to official data. Fitch says this was likely closer to 250 percent in 2015 and economic targets agreed at the National People's Congress this year suggest that authorities are "content" to see the country's debt continue to rise in 2016 with aggregate financing moving up by 13 percent, the ratings agency added. WHEN: Today, Tuesday, April 5th WHERE: CNBC's "Closing Bell" Following is the unofficial transcript of a CNBC EXCLUSIVE interview with Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari on CNBC's "Closing Bell" (M-F, 3PM-5PM ET) today, Tuesday, April 5th. Following is a link to the video on CNBC.com: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000506813. All references must be sourced to CNBC. KAYLA TAUSCHE: MINNEAPOLIS FEDERAL RESERVE PRESIDENT NEEL KASHKARI IS CALLING FOR THE BREAK UP OF BIG BANKS IN THIS COUNTRY. YESTERDAY, FORMER FDIC CHAIR SHEILA BAIR, WHO HAS DONE A LOT OF WORK ON THE TOO BIG TO FAIL ISSUE HERSELF, HAD THIS TO SAY. SOUND FROM SHEILA BAIR: I THINK TOO BIG TO FAIL IS STILL A PROBLEM. I WISH HE WAS THIS VOCAL IN 2010 WHEN WE WERE DOING DODD FRANK, I'LL PUT THAT ASIDE. GARY STERN, HIS PREDECESSOR, TWO PRESIDENTS AGO, WAS VERY, VERY BIG ON TOO BIG TO FAIL. HE AND I WORKED TOGETHER EVEN PRIOR TO THE CRISIS ON THIS. SO THERE IS A LONG TRADITION AT MINNEAPOLIS FED ON THIS ISSUE. TAUSCHE: NEEL KASHKARI JOINS US NOW IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW. AND MR. KASHKARI, TAKE A MOMENT TO RESPOND TO WHAT SHEILA BAIR HAD TO SAY ABOIUT WHY YOU'RE CHOOSING RIGHT NOW TO BE SO VOCAL ON AN ISSUE THAT HAS BEEN AT WORK IN WASHINGTON FOR EIGHT YEARS? NEEL KASHKARI: WELL, FIRST OF ALL, THANKS A LOT FOR HAVING ME. YOU KNOW, IN 2011, JUST AFTER DODD FRANK WAS PASSED, I GAVE A SPEECH AT THE CHICAGO FED AND I EXPRESSED SOME OF MY CONCERNS THAT I THOUGHT DODD FRANK DID A LOT OF GOOD BUT IT DIDN'T REALLY SOLVE THE TOO BIG TO FAIL PROBLEM. I WENT BACK TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR. AS YOU KNOW, I RAN FOR OFFICE NOW JOINING THE MINNEAPOLIS FED. I'VE BEEN ABLE TO WORK WITH THE EXPERTS HERE IN MINNEAPOLIS TO LOOK AT WHAT'S BEEN ACCOMPLISHED WITH DODD FRANK AND WHAT'S LEFT REMAINING. MORE THAN ANYTHING, I JUST DON'T WANT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO HAVE A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY THAT WE'VE ADDRESSED TOO BIG TO FAIL, THAT THIS CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN. I THINK SOME OF THOSE RISKS REMAIN AND WE NEED TO CONSIDER MORE TRANSFORMATIONAL SOLUTIONS TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM ONCE AND FOR ALL. BILL GRIFFETH: YOU KNOW, I'M GOING TO COME OFF AS A CYNICAL JOURNALIST BY ASKING THIS, BUT I DON'T MEAN THIS IN A CONFRONTATIONAL WAY, BUT WHY ARE YOU DOING WHY ARE YOU USING THE BULLY PULPIT OF THE MINNEAPOLIS FED TO FURTHER THIS CAUSE? I MEAN YES, THERE'S A TRADITION, GARY STERN WAS VERY BIG ON THIS AS SHEILA BAIR MENTIONED, BUT THERE'S NO AUTHORITY. YOU CARRY NO AUTHORITY. THERE'S NO REGULATION THAT YOU COULD COME UP WITH THAT WOULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT THIS. ALL YOU'RE DOING IS JUST JAW BONING AROUND THE COUNTRY TO TALK ABOUT THIS ISSUE THAT THEY'VE BEEN DEALING WITH IN WASHINGTON FOR EIGHT YEARS. WHY NOW? KASHKARI: WELL, IF I'M NOT GOING TO SPEAK UP, WHO'S GOING TO DO IT? DO YOU THINK IT'S OKAY IF CONGRESS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE LEFT WITH A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY THAT THIS CRISIS CAN'T HAPPEN AGAIN IN 20 OR 50 YEARS FROM NOW WE MAY NOT BE BACK IN THE SAME SITUATION? I FEEL LIKE I HAVE A MORAL OBLIGATION TO STAND UP. GRIFFETH: SO YOU DON'T THINK THAT DODD FRANK HAS GONE FAR ENOUGH? THAT THE CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS THAT ARE IN PLACE NOW AND SOME OF THE OTHER REGULATIONS THAT, BY THE WAY, PEOPLE LIKE JAMIE DIMON, YOU KNOW, THEY'VE OFTEN CALLED DODD FRANK, DODD FRANKENSTEIN. THEY ARE FED UP WITH THE REGULATIONS THAT THEY ALREADY HAVE TO DEAL WITH. YOU DON'T THINK IT'S GONE FAR ENOUGH? KASHKARI: FOR THE BIGGEST BANKS, NO I DON'T. HERE'S THE KEY THING. DODD FRANK HAS DONE SOME GOOD. MORE CAPITAL, DEEPER LIQUIDITY, STRESS TESTING THESE ARE ALL STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. I ABSOLUTELY ACKNOWLEDGE THAT. BUT THE QUESTION IS IN A STRESSED ECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT LIKE A CRISIS WHEN MULTIPLE BANKS ARE RUNNING INTO TROUBLE AT THE SAME TIME, WILL WE ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO HAIR CUT BOND HOLDERS AND CREDITORS? I SAY THE ANSWER IS NO. AND THE REASON IS THE CONTAGION FROM ONE BANK TO ANOTHER BANK TO ANOTHER BANK. NO ONE YET HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO SOLVE THAT CONTAGION RISK. DODD FRANK HASN'T DONE IT. THE T-LACK HASN'T DONE IT. WE SEE IT IN EUROPE WITH THE CONTINGENT CONVERSION DEBT. THOSE CONTINGENT CONVERSION SECURITIES HAVEN'T ADDED TO STABILITY. THEY'VE ACTUALLY ADDED TO INSTABILITY AND UNCERTAINTY. WE NEED TO BE HONEST ABOUT THAT. TAUSCHE: SO DO YOU THINK THE SYSTEM REALLY WOULD BE MORE SECURE IF YOU BROKE UP THE BANKS AND GAVE THE FED AND THE U.S. ECONOMY THREE OR MORE NEW PURE PLAY INVESTMENT BANKS THAT THEY WOULD HAVE TO HOLD CAPITAL AGAINST AND WOULD STILL HAVE INHERENT RISK IN THE BUSINESS MODEL BUT NOT CUSHIONED BY OTHER BUSINESS UNITS? WOULD THAT REALLY BE THE IDEAL OUTCOME FOR YOU FOR THE ECONOMY? KASHKARI: WELL, WE HAVEN'T DECIDED WHAT THE IDEAL STRUCTURE LOOKS LIKE. WHAT I'M SAYING IS AND WHAT WE IN MINNEAPOLIS ARE SAYING IS A BUNCH OF THESE TRANSFORMATIONAL SOLUTIONS WERE TAKEN OFF THE TABLE IN 2010. IT WAS TOO THEY ARE TOO BOLD COMING OUT OF THE CRISIS. I'M SAYING NOW IS THE TIME TO REFLECT ON THE LAST SEVEN OR EIGHT YEARS. WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED, WHAT PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE, WHAT GAPS REMAIN? BREAKING UP THE BANKS IS ONE OF THE OPTIONS THAT WE LOOKED AT YESTERDAY, PROFESSOR JOHNSON AT M.I.T. TALKED ABOUT IT. PROFESSOR ADMATI FROM STANFORD TALKED ABOUT INCREASING THE CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS SO BANKS ARE SO STRONG THEY VIRTUALLY CAN'T FAIL. YOU CAN NEVER ELIMINATE ALL RISK AND I DON'T THINK WE WOULD WANT TO, BUT I THINK WE CAN GO FURTHER THAN WE'VE GONE TODAY. AND IT'S ALL ABOUT COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS. WHERE'S THE OPTIMAL SAFETY VERSUS COST VERSUS RISK FOR THE ECONOMY AND FOR THE COUNTRY? TAUSCHE: SO YOU'RE ACKNOWLEDGING THOUGH THAT A REVIEW HAS TO BE DONE AND IS ABOUT TO BE DONE, BUT SOME OF THE CRITICISM ESPECIALLY FROM TONY FRATTO FROM HAMILTON PLACE STRATEGIES, HE SAID THAT THE ISSUE IS THAT YOU'RE BEGINNING A REVIEW NOT WITH QUESTIONS BUT CONCLUSION. IS THAT FAIR? KASHKARI: WELL, FIRST OF ALL, I LOVE TONY FRATTO. WE WORKED TOGETHER AT TREASURY AND HE IS THE ULTIMATE BANK LOBBYIST WHO PASSIONATELY FIGHTS FOR HIS CLIENTS AND I HAVE NOTHING BUT RESPECT FOR HIM IN THAT CAPACITY. BUT I DON'T THINK SO. IF ANYBODY TUNED IN, YOU KNOW, WE LIVE STREAMED OUR SYMPOSIUM YESTERDAY. IT WAS OPEN TO PRESS, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC TO WATCH AND PARTICIPATE. WE HAD A VIBRANT DISCUSSION. ALL SIDES WERE REPRESENTED AND WE REALLY BROUGHT A LOT OF THE COMPLEXITIES AND A LOT OF THE ISSUES FORWARD. SO I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU AND YOUR COLLEAGUES AT CNBC AND PEOPLE IN THE PUBLIC ALL AROUND TO WATCH US, PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. YOU'RE GOING TO SEE HOW DEEP WE ARE GOING TO GO INTO THIS AND THAT'S ULTIMATELY WHAT IS GOING TO SHAPE OUR CONCLUSIONS, NOTHING ELSE. GRIFFETH: ALRIGHT, WELL LET'S BE MORE PRACTICAL ABOUT THIS. WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN THEN? I MEAN, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT YOUR OWN BOSS, JANET YELLEN, DURING HER LAST NEWS CONFERENCE WHEN SHE WAS ASKED ABOUT THE PROGRESS OF DODD FRANK AND BANK REGULATIONS SAID THAT SHE FELT LIKE THEY HAD MADE PROGRESS. I MEAN, IT SOUNDED, YOU KNOW, SOME INTERPRETTED THAT AS KIND OF A LITTLE PUSHBACK TO YOU FOR MAKING THE NOISE YOU HAVE SINCE YOU TOOK OVER AT MINNEAPOLIS. KASHKARI: WELL, YOU KNOW, 100 YEARS AGO WHEN CONGRESS CREATED THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM BY DESIGN, THEY CREATED A DISTRIBUTED FEDERAL RESERVE REPRESENTING THE NATION TO ENCOURAGE A DIVERSITY OF VIEWS. AND I THINK IT'S A GOOD THING THAT WE HAVE A DIVERSITY OF VIEWS ON THIS AND MANY OTHER ISSUES ACROSS THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. AND SO WE'RE INVITING ALL OF OUR COLLEAGUES WHO WANT TO PARTICIPATE TO PARTICIPATE. WE'RE LISTENING TO ALL VIEWS AND I'VE JUST COMMITED BY THE END OF THE YEAR WE'RE GOING TO COME OUT WITH OUR BEST ANALYSIS, OUR BEST RECOMMENDATION GOING FORWARD. AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT'S UP TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO DECIDE, DO WE HAVE THE RIGHT BALANCE OF SAFETY VERSUS COST VERSUS RISKS? I WANT TO MAKE SURE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE AS INFORMED AND EDUCATED AS POSSIBLE SO THAT THEY AND THEIR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES CAN MAKE THE BEST DECISIONS. IT'S NOT UP TO US, IT'S NOT UP TO ME TO MAKE THAT DECISION. I THINK IT'S UP TO THE PEOPLE. THAT'S WHY WE'RE RUNNING A VERY PUBLIC TRANSPARENT PROCESS SO THEY HAVE THE BEST INFORMATION POSSIBLE. GRIFFETH: ALRIGHT, VERY GOOD. NEEL, GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. APPRECIATE IT. KASHKARI: THANK YOU VERY MUCH. APPRECIATE IT. About CNBC: With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, CNBC World and CNBC HD , CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to approximately 371 million homes worldwide, including more than 100 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries. CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms. These include CNBC.com, the online destination for global business; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides real-time global market data and live access to CNBC global programming; and a suite of CNBC Mobile products including the CNBC Real-Time iPhone and iPad Apps. Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBC Universal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/mediavillage/networks/cnbc/. Glencore is close to the sale of a large stake in its agriculture business in a deal that would meet a pledge by the miner and trading house to get its balance sheet in better shape amid a sharp downturn in commodity prices. The anticipated deal, which involves the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, is central to Glencore's goal of using $4bn to $5bn of asset sales this year to reduce its large debt pile. The deal would lead to the Canadian pension fund taking a 40 per cent stake in Glencore's agriculture trading unit for about $2.4bn, giving the business an equity value of about $6bn, according to people familiar with the situation. That is lower than some analysts expected and reflects challenging market conditions for agricultural traders. Plunging commodity prices last year added pressure across the sector and put companies with high debt under particular scrutiny. Shares in Glencore, one of the world's largest mining groups as well as a trader of resources spanning agriculture, energy and metals, were among the worst performing among leading UK companies in 2015. However, they have risen 60 per cent this year as commodity prices have partially rebounded. Dr. Jason Burke received his medical degree from Duke University, and he built a career in anesthesiology so successful he once bought a Ferrari. "That was a nice car." His partner, Darien Cohen, has a Ph.D. in cell biology from Dartmouth, and he used to work for Genentech before leaving to start a consulting business. "I specialize in protein purification and characterization." These are serious credentials. So why are both men riding around Las Vegas in a renovated tour bus once owned by a Christian gospel group? They saw a void and filled it. Their bus and their business is called Hangover Heaven, a mobile clinic to cure, well, hangovers. Last year, they treated 11,000 people in the party capital of America. "I came up with the idea working in the recovery room," said Burke. He would treat people coming out of surgery who were suffering from headaches or nausea. "These medications are really the same treatments for what is a hangover." That was 2011, and Burke discovered there were no hangover clinics in Las Vegas, just "a couple people running around with a bag of saline." Contrary to popular opinion, dehydration is only one part of a hangover. Burke created his own cure in an IV and became "patient zero" one morning after waking up with a hangover ("we had a big wine dinner the night before"). After administering the IV, Burke said, "It was amazing. I didn't realize it would work that well." He set about starting Hangover Heaven. At first, Burke planned to rent a physical space across from The Hard Rock and remodel it. However, the owner wanted him to sign a five-year lease. "I would have been on the hook for about $600,000 if the thing didn't work out," he said. "That's a lot of money, even for an anesthesiologist." The doctor was ready to give up, and he sent in paperwork to the state to dissolve the company before it even started. Then one day Burke got an idea (how often have you heard those words in a story about a successful start-up?). He realized people suffering from hangovers in their hotel rooms wouldn't want to go to a clinic, even if a shuttle picked them up. So why not bring the clinic to them? "I thought, 'Let's just treat them ON the transportation.'" Burke then went hunting for the right vehicle, and he finally decided on a tour bus, paying $60,000 for one which had been used by a gospel band in the Northeast. He spent another $100,000 fixing it up so air conditioners could handle the Las Vegas summer. He also added everything necessary to treat multiple hangovers at once including hooks along the ceiling mirror for several IV lines. "I actually had to sell my Ferrari to pay for that bus. That was painful," he said dryly. "Yeah, people shed lots of tears." Jane Wells receives the hangover treatment Source: CNBC Around that time, Cohen, the Ph.D. in cell biology, joined up. Cohen is a family friend and godfather to Burke's children, and Burke needed him to operate the business. Cohen said his job was to make sure "we had the requisite bells and whistles to allow us to have robustness that any business needs to deal with the volume of patients we were beginning to see." At first, however, Las Vegas casinos were not fans of the idea. They didn't want a large bus pulling up with "Hangover Heaven" splashed across the side. "They were way way way shields up," said Burke. Eventually, however, that attitude changed. "They've seen that we get their clients feeling well, and get them back to their vacation." The men say business is growing 30 to 40 percent a year. Super Bowl weekend alone brought in about 300 people. They now have added a brick and mortar clinic west of the Strip and provide in-room visits to many casinos. The average treatment costs $225, and most customers are around 40 years old. Burke said they're often people in town for a convention or business meeting. "They'll hit the day club and the night club," he explained. "During a 12-hour period they may have had 10 or 12 drinks." Any billionaires? "Oh yeah." Also famous movie stars, athletes, musicians. No names of course "Whatever happens at Hangover Heaven stays at Hangover Heaven." We put it to the test So does the Hangover Heaven cure work? There was only one way to know. One day recently I arrived at the Wynn Resort and began a night of responsible drinking. It started with a couple glasses of red wine at dinner. However, I knew that to achieve a hangover, I would need some tequila. To keep myself out of trouble, I retired to my hotel room and drank, well, a lot of tequila. Mission accomplished. Awaking the next morning, I had a pretty serious hangover. I think I may have gotten sick during the night, though there was no evidence of it. I discovered that I had sent at least one iPhone video to my producers which I don't even remember making. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst hangover ever, I was hovering around an 8. Headache, nausea, fatigue and a general feeling that I would never do this again, not even for a story. I hobbled down to the Hangover Heaven bus parked outside the Wynn Resort to meet Burke and Cohen. They checked my vitals and asked me about my symptoms. Soon I was hooked up to an IV with a little pediatric needle (I hate needles), and I spent the next 45 minutes taking in two bags worth of fluids ... a combination of saline, vitamins, ibuprofen, anti-nausea meds, and a proprietary concoction of substances like glutathione and taurine to attack "oxidative stress and free radicals." Dr. Jason Burke treats a patient Source: Hangover Heaven Twenty minutes later, the headache was gone, and 20 minutes after that, so was the nausea. By the time the 45 minute treatment ended, I felt a mix of exhaustion and elation. Burke and Cohen were not surprised. They'd seen much worse, what they call their epic hangovers "People who've thrown up 30 or 40 times." When asked if their business model encourages overindulgence, the doctor argued his service does quite the opposite. It actually reduces overall alcohol intake. "People will go to sleep and wake up with a bad hangover, and they basically start drinking again. In the hotel room.. The in-room treatments have been eye opening for Cohen, who describes himself as "a conservative boy" from Savannah, Georgia. One weekend he was called to help provide treatments for people attending the annual adult video convention in Vegas. "I've never been around porno people before, so that was a little nerve wracking," he laughed. "When we arrived at the room, I could look through the doorway, and there was a completely naked woman." Cohen is helping expand the business to hangover prevention pills and other nutritional supplements which they sell online. There are plans to go in an entirely different direction and open up urgent care centers overseas where Americans will feel comfortable seeking medical help. Everything, the two partners say, is self-funded, without investors. Dr. Jason Burke, Hangover Heaven founder Source: Hangover Heaven It's that time again! Jim Cramer rang the lightning round bell, which means he gave his take on caller favorite stocks at rapid speed: Starbucks : "I like the fact that they are doing that roastery in New York, although it is far away. I think Starbucks is good, my charitable trust owns it. We want to buy some below $55." Teleflex : "I like Teleflex, why? Because Teleflex is literally almost around the corner from where I grew up. A medical device company with a lot of good products, single-use. That is the great formula for making money." Cypress Semiconductor : "I have been let down by Cypress Semi, too. I'm surprised the stock is as low as it is. It does have that stock dividend. I don't want you to give up on it, but boy it ran up to $14, I guess that was the chance to sell. And did I sell? Did I tell people to sell? No. I got it wrong. My bad." Read more from Mad Money with Jim Cramer Cramer Remix: Don't fear Trump's negative talk Cramer: Donald Trump is right, there's a bubble Cramer: Facebook, GE downgrades are a blessing Whiting Petroleum : "Whiting fits the depiction of what Steve Chazen [CEO] from Occidental Petroleum told me the other day. Its assets are too expensive out of the ground. I say don't buy." Deutsche Bank : "No, it's still too risky for me. Across the board, just don't want to be there. Too much risk." Stanley Black & Decker : "Why would you sell that? Home Depot is telling you that business is real good, and they are telling you tools are good. My charitable trust owns it. No, I don't want you to sell that stock. Stanley Black & Decker is good, but under $100 I would buy." Avis Budget Group : "No, this group has gotten competitive again. I don't want to be there. Let's say no to Avis." watch now The Obama administration announced on Wednesday a new rule on investment advice that may change how millions of Americans choose their retirement investments potentially saving them billions of dollars in the process. By requiring all financial advisors to act in their clients' best interests, a criterion known as the fiduciary standard, the rule aims to protect investors from conflicted investment advice when they are exiting a workplace savings plan like a 401(k) and transferring their money into an IRA. "American families are losing billions of dollars because of an out-of-balance system," said Labor Secretary Thomas Perez in a news briefing. "With the finalization of this rule, we are putting in place a fundamental principle of consumer protection in the retirement landscape." The rule will take effect in stages beginning in April 2017, Perez said. But that time is unlikely to pass quietly, not least because various financial industry groups have vowed to fight the rule. For many, retirement savings decisions are some of the most important financial choices they ever make. According to an estimate by the Council of Economic Advisers, a worker who rolls over 401(k) savings to an IRA at age 45 and followed conflicted advice could have 17 percent less savings by the time he or she reaches age 65. In all, it estimated that conflicted investment advice currently costs savers roughly $17 billion a year. Opponents of the rule say that estimate may be woefully high, yet David Certner, legislative policy director for government affairs at AARP, thinks the cost could be even greater because the council did not examine conflicts in the insurance market. No matter the exact figure, the costs are hitting savers at a time when millions are facing retirement with little in the way of financial resources. Only 25 percent of workers report feeling on track with retirement savings, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, and 60 percent say they are behind to some degree. Some 75 million families have a workplace retirement account, an IRA, or both, the council found, and savers often transfer hundreds of billions of dollars from accounts like 401(k)s into IRAs every year. As defined contribution plans become even more widespread, rollovers will as well. If savers receive advice at that point that is truly in their best interests, they stand to retain more of their money, at least in theory. But current regulations allow advisors to suggest certain investments if they are "suitable," even if it means higher fees or lackluster performance for the investor. "Both your doctor and your lawyer are obligated to look out for what is best for you," said Perez. "If you had an illness or cancer, you wouldn't want your doctor to tell you what's suitable for you." The new rule comes after years of fierce wrangling over its terms. Large financial services firms and their advocates, like the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (known as SIFMA), figure prominently in the opposition. Among the advocates are consumer groups, AARP and the Financial Planning Coalition, a group that includes major financial planning organizations. Opponents have argued that the new rule would impose a major bureaucratic burden on financial firms, and complying would push up the cost of providing advice and force firms to drop clients with smaller account balances. "We think that there should be a uniform standard when you are providing personalized investment advice," said Kenneth Bentsen, chief executive of SIFMA. "But that should apply across the marketplace, and shouldn't be so prescriptive that it is going to raise costs to investors, or reduce their access to advice, or both." "The rule is very prescriptive. It adds a whole host of new requirements," he said, and as a result, compliance will be expensive. "Where it is really not cost-efficient with lower-balance accounts, firms may just decide they will exit that business and focus on their higher-margin accounts," Bentsen said, which could cut off smaller investors from personalized advice. Advocates counter that the rule will help investors on several fronts. For one thing, consumers are often unclear about what standards their advisors follow, said Certner. "You watch the commercials and they talk about 'your trusted advisor,'" he said. "That certainly makes people think they are acting in your best interest, when their standards are not at that level." A study by the Rand Corp. for the Securities and Exchange Commission found that while broker-dealers and investment advisors have to follow different regulatory standards, "trends in the financial services market since the early 1990s have blurred the boundaries between them." As for serving clients with smaller accounts, a study published earlier this year for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards found that for certified financial planners, or CFPs, who have to follow a fiduciary standard, mass market clients make up slightly more than 10 percent of their clients, roughly the same share as for non-CFP practices. "A common perception is that mass-retail clients are unable to afford a CFP professional's services, which implies that CFP professionals work with a smaller percentage of mass-retail clients. Our study refutes this point," the researchers wrote. Put another way, less-affluent clients account for only a small share of any advisor's client roster, not just those following the fiduciary standard. The CFP Board, as it is known, has already been through the process of imposing a conflict of interest standard. In 2008, it adopted a fiduciary standard requiring its planners to act in clients' best interests. "We heard the same arguments: It's going to reduce the availability of services, and CFP professionals in our firm will have to rescind their certification," said Marilyn Mohrman-Gillis, head of public policy at the CFP Board. But since the board adopted it, profits for CFPs overall have increased more than 30 percent, she said. In addition, a 2013 study for the CFP Board found that 46 percent of so-called fiduciary registered representatives saw assets under management increase an average of more than 10 percent annually over the five years since 2007, as did 55 percent of registered investment advisors, who also have to meet that standard. Only 29 percent of other registered representatives saw assets grow that much. Images Bazaar | Getty Images People watch a television broadcast reporting the North Korean missile launch at the Seoul Railway Station on March 26, 2014 in Seoul, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun | Getty Images North Korea can mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile, a South Korean official said on Tuesday in a new assessment of the capability of a country that conducted its fourth nuclear test this year. "We believe they have accomplished miniaturization of a nuclear warhead to mount it on a Rodong missile," said the South Korean official, who has knowledge of South Korea's assessment of the North's nuclear program. The official spoke to a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last month that his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles. It was his first direct statement of a claim often made in state media though never independently verified. The Rodong missile can fire a 1 tonne (1,100 lb) warhead a distance of up to 2,000 km (1,250 miles), the official said. That would put all of South Korea, most of Japan and parts of Russia and China in range. watch now "We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision," said the official. There was no direct evidence that the North has successfully mounted a warhead on such a missile, the South Korean official said, declining to discuss the basis for the change in assessment. The United States, South Korea's staunch ally, concurred. "We know that they've said they have that capability, and we have to take them at their word," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said at a briefing for reporters on Tuesday. "But we have not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real." watch now For decades, North Korea and South Korea have faced off against each other. An armistice ended the fighting in the Korean 1950-53 civil war but there was no peace treaty. The South's conservative president, Park Geun-hye, has reversed a policy of trying to engage the North in dialogue and has instead adopted a hard line against it, particularly since the North conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6 and a month later launched a long-range rocket putting an object into space orbit. The test and launch prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions. South Korea has previously said North Korea had made progress in its efforts to miniaturize a nuclear warhead but the capability was incomplete. South Korea's Defence Ministry said on Tuesday that assessment remained the military's position. watch now watch now watch now Although small-business owners have more tools and sources of capital available to them than ever before, it still takes a lot to keep a start-up going. And a lot can go wrong, especially in the early days, if a founder hitches their ambitions to the wrong set of management principles. Longtime investors and business executives shared insights and lessons learned about the right mind-set for building a wildly successful business with aspiring entrepreneurs at iCONIC in Seattle. 1. Pursue excellence, not money Greg Glassman, founder and CEO of CrossFit, believes that entrepreneurs who start businesses to make money will often find themselves on a wild goose chase. "The universe doesn't care if you want to be rich," Glassman said at the iCONIC Conference in Seattle on Tuesday. "Markets are unknowable." "Excellence stands like a beacon, a lighthouse," Glassman said. "Excellence is obvious to everyone. Chase it. Pursue it." He explained that entrepreneurs that aim to produce high-quality products and services will often find financial success as well. 2. Forget the "vision" mumbo jumbo; execute the plan "Shark Tank's" Kevin O'Leary, founder of the O'Leary Financial Group, thinks that the most important quality of an entrepreneur is the ability to execute, because that is the foundation of a business. "There's nothing worse than vision all day long. Vision is easy. Execution is hard," he said. O'Leary explained that entrepreneurs that are able to set goals, communicate them and are transparent about progress toward those goals are the ones that succeed. 3. Don't deny big sources of resistance Danae Ringelmann speaking at CNBC's Iconic conference in Seattle, Washington on April 5th, 2016. David A. Grogan | CNBC Danae Ringelmann, founder and chief development officer of Indiegogo, said that entrepreneurs should expect obstacles. "When you're trying to do something new, you are going to face resistance," she said. In fact, while many successful entrepreneurs are renowned for their confidence, Ringelmann said besides the typical rejection and ridicule, one of the biggest forms of resistance is self-doubt. Ringlemann said that if entrepreneurs prepare for this hindrance rather than hide it, then they can at least be prepared to deal with reistance properly. 4. Cutting back is not only for worst-case scenarios Tilman Fertitta, star of "Billion Dollar Buyer" David A. Grogan | CNBC Tilman Fertitta, CEO of Landry's and host of CNBC's "Billion Dollar Buyer," said that in tough financial decisions, you can't hesitate to trim what's necessary. "Don't be scared to make cuts. You can't save the world. If you want to be successful in business, you gotta be tough sometimes, and you better be tough in tough times," Fertitta said. He said that there's a surprising amount of excess in every business. Fertitta explained that while quality should never be sacrificed, there's always something that can be shaved off in every aspect of a business. 5. You'll never be fully "prepared"; just take the leap! "Every 13 seconds, someone is getting divorced in this country. It's created a $30 billion market in legal fees alone and the second most stressful event in life," said Michelle Crosby, founder of Wevorce. This start-up is taking a high-tech approach to making divorces more amicable. Crosby's idea came from her own childhood experience in and out of courtrooms during her parent's contentious divorce. "Wevorce is changing divorce for good," Crosby told CNBC. Wevorce's web-based technology connects users with experts and resources, from attorneys to financial experts, that can all help families reach a settlement. Couples begin by filling out a questionnaire, which the start-up uses to create a "divorce archetype." "Our divorce archetypes predict where a family's divorce explosions will be and give them a road map to keep their divorce amicable," she said. The starting price to use Wevorce's online platform is $749. Scott Eells | Bloomberg | Getty Images Check out the companies making headlines after the bell Wednesday: Valeant Pharmaceuticals continued to gain after the bell after closing up almost 19 percent in the regular trading session. The embattled pharmaceutical company restructured the terms of its debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. Regulatory investigations into its accounting practices and pricing have weighed on the company, but the new development could save it from default, the Journal reported. Shares of retirement consultant and broker-dealer LPL Financial Holdings edged higher after the Obama administration announced new rules on retirement investments. Financial advisors must now act in their clients' best interests when they look to make changes to IRAs or 401(k)s, the new rules say. Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond jumped in extended trading after the home goods retailer posted earnings and revenues that beat analysts estimates. The company reported adjusted earnings $1.85 per share on sales of $3.42 billion, higher than the $1.81 per share on revenues of $3.39 billion expected by analysts, according to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates. The company, which also owns brands like World Market, Buy Buy Baby and Harmon Face Values, declared a quarterly dividend of 12.5 cents. watch now David Tepper's gain is New Jersey's loss. The hedge fund billionaire, founder of Appaloosa Management, officially changed his tax residency and corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Florida. People close to Tepper say he made the move to be closer to his mother and sister, who live in Florida. Yet it could also save him hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes that would have gone to New Jersey. According to Institutional Investor's Alpha, Tepper has earned more than $6 billion over the past three years. Given that the top tax rate in New Jersey is 8.97 percent, his tax bill for the state over that time frame could have been more than $500 million. Of course, his real bill was likely much lower, given charitable deductions and other accounting treatments. Yet he still likely paid in the nine figures to the state of New Jersey over those years. watch now Wisconsin voters went to the GOP primary polls Tuesday thinking they were voting in a state whose delegates will be "bound" to a particular candidate going into the party's convention this summer. But a divide is emerging within the Republican National Committee over the question of whether any of its delegates are really bound to candidates, or can they vote their own preferences at the convention in late July in Cleveland. Having more unbound delegates would be a huge factor for those within the GOP trying to halt Donald Trump from getting the party's nomination. Longtime RNC rules committee member Curly Haugland claims all of the 2,472 GOP delegates are unbound, and can vote for whomever they want, citing various RNC rules. But the RNC has countered back saying it's not true. When asked about the rules surrounding the delegates and if they are unbound, RNC spokesman Lindsay Walters told CNBC they are not: "Delegates are bound according to the rules written by the state party." GOP Delegates at the 2012 GOP Convention in Tampa, Fla. Getty Images But through research conducted by CNBC, RNC rules or not, a political party has power over the states and could override their binding rules, according to two Supreme Court rulings: Cousins v. Wigoda in 1975 and Democratic Party v. Wisconsin ex rel. La Follette, 1981. "The RNC probably can exercise that power to bind or unbind," said Gregory Magarian, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "But what matters here is not the law but politics. Reaction from the voters, delegates, party regulars saying if the RNC stepped in it would be 'unfair and improper.' This is more about structural politics. As a matter of law the RNC could step in and do whatever it wants to do. But if they stepped in it would be seen as a power grab." In most election years, rulemaking is likely perfunctory, but because of the contentious, divisive GOP race this time around, those rules and delegate counts will be under much higher scrutiny. Behind the rules The RNC is ignoring its own rules, Haugland claims, because it is in love with the money and power the primary/caucus system generates, "We are seeing this battle for the delegates because the RNC is in the primary punch bowl," said Haugland, "The free will of the delegates goes back to Garfield in 1880. The language of the law has essentially never been changed. There are two RNC convention rules that prohibit binding." The rules of the Republican Party are adopted the same way every convention. The RNC breaks them down into two parts: the first part is how the RNC runs the organization before and after the convention and the second set of rules focuses on matters just at the convention itself. For example, in 2012, 42 rules were adopted and they were divided into three sections. The first two sections (rules 1-25) were about how the RNC would operate after the convention. The third section (rules 26-42) were the rules that solely dealt with the convention and are called the "standing rules" for the convention. These rules are only in effect for the five days the convention is running. After the convention, those rules are no longer valid. It's important to point out this nuance and distinction between these sections because it validates Haugland's case that all delegates are free agents at the convention. Rules 26-42 from the 2012 convention will be the set of rules the 2016 convention rules committee will look at to pass, modify or add to. The first of the two RNC convention rules Haugland is citing is what's called the "unit rule" (Rule 38), which guarantees the delegates are unbound and vote their conscience. The second rule is 37B: Delegate votes are counted individually and their votes are not lumped together as one. Those who disagree with Haugland and say delegates are bound point to RNC Rule 16(a) which says state primaries and caucuses must be "used to allocate and bind the state's delegation to the national convention in either a proportional or winner-take-all manner." But while this rule does exist, according to the way the RNC breaks down its rules and runs the convention, "This means Rule 16 is not in play because it is not in the numerical rule block," said Haugland. Looking at SCOTUS Examples of how RNC members use the rules and Supreme Court decisions to favor a particular candidate can be found in the transcripts of the 1976, 1980 and 2012 GOP conventions, according to official RNC convention transcripts obtained exclusively by CNBC. In 1976, the rules committee bound delegates by citing the Cousins v. Wigoda case. Then GOP convention general counsel Bill Cramer said to the rules committee: "I am saying that Cousins v. Wigoda in effect said that the party can do as it sees fit with regard to delegate selection matters, even though it is totally contrary to State Law." In 1980, the rules committee cited Cousins v. Wigoda as the precedent to unbound the delegates. "The Supreme Court has spoken to this. We don't like them to speak to a lot of things, especially the party issues. But whether they did speak to it, they state that party rules are supreme over state law," said then convention rules committee member Paula Hawkins. Gary Emineth, former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party and an unbound delegate, said the RNC has a long history of manipulating and ignoring rules. "I believe this has been at the peril of the party," he said. "The party survives long after campaigns come and go. It's unfortunate the party allows itself to be used and manipulated with the undue influence of individual campaigns for president." A flip-flop? Some richly yielding options still present themselves, however. Among those are three large ETFs that each have dividend yields above 9 percent. The 10-year Treasury yield fell Friday to 1.72 percent. And amid the rate rout, even the amount earned on low-quality bonds is dropping, with the yield spread enjoyed by investors in speculative-grade fixed income contracting in March even as the default rate rose to six-year highs. In a low-rate world, investors who hunger for yield may need to get creative. The highest-rate option among those is the iShares Mortgage ETF (REM) , with a dividend yield of nearly 12 percent. This product is designed to track a set of real estate investment trusts that themselves own residential and commercial mortgages. The two biggest REITs tracked by the mortgage ETF are Annaly Capital Management and American Capital Agency , which themselves yield 11.7 percent and 12.9 percent, respectively. Together, these two make up 30 percent of the ETF's holdings. Whether an investor should choose to buy the ETF or simply one of those REITs depends on a few factors, but by buying a REIT outright, one would save the 0.48 percent expense ratio. Additionally, diversification is not as big a concern among investors in REITs as in single stocks, since REITs themselves tend to be diversified in their holdings, at least geographically. This mitigates one of the biggest typical advantages of picking an ETF over a single stock. As to liquidity, Annaly tends to trade more than 8 million shares per day, and American Capital 3 million shares, versus well less than a million for the ETF. Finally, the ETF has badly underperformed its two biggest constituents over the past year (and for comparison's sake, those were also its two biggest holdings one year and two years ago, so this isn't merely selection bias at play). The second ETF on the list, the Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) , has the distinction of actually drawing in money this year. This well-known product tracks energy master limited partnerships, and is thus a bet on American energy infrastructure. Unsurprisingly, the product has not fared well over the past year, as oil prices have tumbled. But while the two other names on the list has suffered mild outflows, AMLP generated $253 million of net creations in 2016, according to ETF.com. Read More Dividend payers are crushing big buybackers The final ETF, the PowerShares CEF Income Composite (PCEF) , tracks closed-end funds that themselves generate income by holding bonds and by pursuing certain options strategies. This is probably not the most expense-efficient product, as it charges a 0.5 percent management fee for bundling other products that themselves charge sometimes-hefty fees. It also appears to be far less liquid than many of its constituents. On the upside, however, the ETF houses a large number of funds, with no one or two products making up the lion's share. So for those who desire income but abjectly refuse to decide on how that income ought to be generated, this might be an attractive choice. More generally, Max Wolff of Manhattan Venture Partners has a warning to all those who are considering investing in the three ETFs, or in any other super-high-yield products, be they ETFs, stocks or bonds. "I think that we should look at suspiciously priced assets with all the fear that you would deeply discounted street food," Wolff said Tuesday on CNBC's "Power Lunch." "It's definitely not something you want to imbibe without a lot of skepticism." A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Check out which companies are making headlines before the bell: Constellation Brands The spirits maker reported quarterly profit of $1.19 per share, 5 cents above estimates, with revenue also beating forecasts. Constellation also announced an agreement to buy the Prisoner Wine Co.'s brand portfolio from Huneeus Vintners for an undisclosed amount. Allergan , Pfizer Pfizer abandoned its $160 billion merger with Allergan following the Treasury's new rules aimed at discouraging so-called corporate tax inversions. Pfizer will pay a deal termination fee of $150 million to reimburse Allergan for expenses, per their merger agreement. Wells Fargo Guggenheim downgraded the bank's shares to "neutral" from "buy." The firm said the stock is fully valued relative to its peer group, among other factors. At the same time, Guggenheim designated Ally Financial as a "Best Idea," citing an improving cost of funds and stable operating expenses. Cisco Systems JPMorgan Chase upgraded Cisco to "neutral" from "underweight," saying earnings estimates are conservative enough to offset the risk that Cisco's switching products are becoming commoditized. Polycom The provider of video and voice technology is in advanced talks to be acquired by mobile communications company Mitel , according to a Bloomberg report. The price is said to be $12.50 per share, compared to Tuesday's close for Polycom of $10.84 per share. Wynn Resorts Wynn released preliminary quarterly results showing a further slowdown in its already slumping Macau operations, while results in the Las Vegas market were relatively flat for the casino operator. Cree Cree preannounced quarterly results which are well below its prior guidance as well as the Street's consensus estimates. Cree, which specializes in LED offerings, points to lower commercial orders in its lighting products business. Amazon.com Amazon will release a new Kindle e-reader with a rechargeable protective case, according to multiple sources. Fiat Chrysler The automaker will spend $500 million to revamp its Argentina plant, where it is planning to produce a new model starting next year. Most of the cars produced at the plant will be exported out of the country. Johnson & Johnson The Food and Drug Administration approved a "biosimilar" to Johnson & Johnson's rheumatoid arthritis treatment Remicade. The new drug comes from South Korean drugmaker Celltrion, in partnership with Pfizer . Facebook Facebook's WhatsApp standalone messaging app is now fully encrypted and unreadable to anyone, including the authorities, according to the unit's CEO Jan Koum. Apple Apple was rated "strong buy" in new coverage at Needham, which set a $150 per share price target. Needham said Apple dominates the wealthiest segment of a rapidly growing consumer market, and the iOS universe has fewer competitive pressures and higher pricing power. French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Wednesday he had questioned the head of Societe Generale about its record creating shell companies and opening client accounts in Panama. SocGen was this week ranked fourth in a list of international banks creating shell companies in Panama since the 1990s, with a total of 979 created. The list was based on leaked documents from a law firm, dubbed the Panama Papers, that showed possible fiscal wrongdoing using offshore company structures. "What is important to me ... is what happened over the past few years, for example, did Societe Generale - through an affiliate or by itself - open offshore accounts and shell companies with intent to hide something, and in particular to hide money to escape tax ... I told him I want everything to be put on the table," Sapin said on Europe 1 Radio, of the meeting which took place on Tuesday evening. SocGen, one of France's top three banks, led by Chief Executive Officer Frederic Oudea and Chairman Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, said on Monday it abided by all the rules of the countries in which it operates and was proactive in fighting tax fraud. Plenty of menswear designers, and men's magazines alike, love to talk about their "man." A sort of idealized customer, reader, and alter ego, the man in question probably prefers BMWs, enjoys artisanal cocktails, and is between 28 and 35 with an unreasonable amount of disposable income for his age. More from Racked.com: 5 spending swaps to maximize your money What designer bag has the best resale value? Gucci will merge its women's and men's runway shows He is "unshaven, gets up at 9:15, he uses this razor blade, he drinks macchiatos, and he hates the Tube," says Tom Cridland, a fresh-faced 25-year-old British entrepreneur who launched an eponymous menswear brand in 2014, with an audible sneer. "It's just like, you don't know that, shut up." Source: Tom Cridland Cridland doesn't have an ideal man, whether realistic or not, a fact the founder freely acknowledges. "It's just me, me telling you a load of bull----," he says over breakfast one morning at the stuffy St. Regis Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. Cridland wore a Tom Cridland "30-Year Jacket" in "Chilli Red," a name and color that brings to mind something Guy Fieri might have worn to his senior prom. Rather than artisanal snobbery or urban glamour, Cridland's brand is all about inclusive luxury, he says. "I don't want to make it pretentious or open to any one single person. I'm happy to take money from anyone." Tom Cridland sits at the intersection of two trends. The first is brand transparency, a value embraced by small, often direct-to-consumer companies that build consumer trust by making their supply chains, mark-ups, and product development processes public (Everlane is perhaps the largest example). The second is marketing sustainability rather than outright stylistic relevance. Cridland might not quite make you look cutting-edge, but like menswear compatriots Best Made, American Giant, and Ministry of Supply, he's confident that his "30 Year" series of shirts, sweatshirts, and the new jackets will endure for just that long. "We're encouraging people in the industry to protect our resources by not making clothing that wears out quickly," Cridland says. Ministry of Supply founder Aman Advani, whose company blends athleisure materials into office clothing for long-term wear, has also noticed a self-conscious movement toward quality. "Customers have shifted to being value seekers over price seekers," he says. "They've become fairly open to a wide price range in exchange for a quality that matches or exceeds the price paid." Raised first in London and then rural Cambridgeshire by parents with an entrepreneurial bent (his mother runs an accountancy, his father manufactured clay pigeons and then bought Lumie, a company that makes natural-light alarm clocks), Cridland started a bootleg CD business at the age of 10. He went on to study modern languages at Bristol University. Classes were less important than meeting Debs Marx, his girlfriend, when they were both 18 (Marx is currently the company's only other full-time employee). In 2009, Cridland also produced and sold 300 t-shirts emblazoned 'SWINE 09', satirizing the porcine flu outbreak. The venture was highly profitable, but then, "we thought profiteering off swine flu was quite poor form, so we donated the money to charity," he says. Cridland started seriously mulling his own start-up in 2013 when he noticed a gap in the market for men's pants. Inspired by companies like the Brooklyn sneaker maker Greats and Harry's razors, he decided to go direct-to-consumer. "I was looking at all these brands in America," he says. In the U.K., "the entrepreneurial scene is really lame. Everyone's quite close-minded." Cridland is as straightforward and unpretentious as his brand. For breakfast, he orders two plates of plain bacon strips, which he dips in ketchup and consumes in rapid succession. ("That was a bit of an overkill on the bacon," he later groans.) A $9,000 start-up loan from the U.K. government in January 2014 provided enough capital for Cridland to travel to Portugal to inspect manufacturers, a location he chose because he's half Portuguese. The rest of the money went to designing samples, creating a logo through the on-demand platform 99 Designs, and paying for web services like Shopify. "I had to raise the money for my first stock order with preorders," he says. These came from crowd-funding projects on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, which have netted the brand over $100,000 and doubled as marketing initiatives. "We didn't need to give away equity and we attracted a customer base," Cridland says. It also helped that Cridland got his initial run of pants on celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Stiller, and Elton John's drummer Nigel Olsson, who became a friend of Cridland's and has a shade of navy trousers named after him. Daniel Craig was also seen wearing a pair of the unobtrusive $135 pants. The founder didn't have special relationships with stylists or agents, he says. "I just got in touch with their teams." Some of the celebrities even offered to pay. The 30-Year Shirt and Sweater came along in early 2015, when Cridland started noticing the problems with cheaply produced, ephemeral clothing, as epitomized by brands like the Irish Primark, which sold 2.5 billion worth of clothes worldwide in the six months before February 2015 at an average price of 3.87. "Fast fashion is a bit silly, a bit stupid," Cridland says. "A white t-shirt is a white t-shirt. If you buy one that lasts longer it'll end up being cheaper for you." The 30-Year Jacket uses heavyweight cotton and all the seams are reinforced. The result is not particularly delicate it looks like it could withstand a tank onslaught. Cridland's brand has released few revenue numbers, but 6-7,000 30-Year Sweaters have sold for $94, the founder says. A full 40% of sales go to the United States, despite a $25 shipping fee. His buyers have no particular demographic or age bracket, but 80% of purchases are in gray and navy. It's tempting to put this popularity up to a larger menswear movement. "There's been a dramatic shift in men's intentionality, from the craft beer and coffee they drink to the shirts they put on their backs," Advani says. The only way to stop U.S. enterprises from fleeing abroad is for Washington to reform corporate tax laws to make American companies more competitive, anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist said Wednesday. The founder of Americans for Americans for Tax Reform said President Barrack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid have blocked tax reform because Republicans have not been willing to agree to tax increases. "Good ideas that everybody agrees on in Washington, D.C., are not known as passed legislation. They're known as hostages," Norquist told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "He's been holding tax reform hostage," he said. On Wednesday, Pfizer and Allergan announced they would abandon a $160 billion merger after the U.S. Treasury Department announced new rules to curb so-called inversions, or deals in which American companies buy a foreign firm in order to shift their business to a more attractive tax domicile. The long-running debate over the responsibilities that financial advisors have to their clients took a big step forward on Wednesday. The Department of Labor issued a final rule imposing new fiduciary obligations on advisors to 401(k) plans and individual retirement accounts. More than $10 trillion in assets are held in such retirement accounts, according to industry data. Initially proposed in 2010, the final rule requires that all advisors to such accounts act in the best interests of their clients. (For a chart illustrating how the DOL develolped the final ruling from the initial proposal, click here.) Jacob Wackerhausen | Getty Images "Many firms say they put their clients' interests first," said Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez in a press conference Tuesday. "Now it's not just a marketing slogan, it's the law." He added: "This is a huge win for the middle class." Perez said the final rule incorporates changes that make the mechanics of drafting the new best-interests contracts easier, reduces the disclosure requirements on advisors and extends the timeline for full compliance with the new rule. "I believe the industry will be able to comply with these new streamlined rules," Perez said. Despite intense opposition and heavy lobbying against the proposal by the brokerage and asset management industries, the new rule is the first major change to Employee Retirement Income Security Act law in four decades and will take full effect at the beginning of 2018. "This involved one of the most well-funded efforts to defeat a proposed rule in the last decade but it made it," said Ed Gjertsen, vice president of Mack Investment Securities and chairman of the Financial Planning Association. "Most people don't understand the fiduciary debate, but they do understand the idea of someone acting in their best interests. "This rule is a huge benefit to the public," he added. There has been opposition, however. "Affordable, objective financial advice is a critical component to hardworking Americans' ability to save for a dignified retirement," said Dale Brown, CEO of the Financial Services Institute in a prepared statement. "The Department of Labor's two earlier proposals were complex and unworkable," he added. "As we have said since day one, there is no compelling evidence this rule is necessary to achieve a uniform fiduciary standard, and DOL's own analysis fails to make the case. We will spend the coming days thoroughly analyzing this rule to determine if it protects Main Street investors by preserving their access to affordable, objective financial advice delivered by their chosen financial advisor." The rule, however, remains a mystery to most individual investors. Surveys regularly indicate that few investors understand the concept of fiduciary obligation, and most believe their advisors are already required to act in their best interests. Investors need to keep in mind that this new rule covers only tax-advantaged retirement accounts and does not apply to most other investments. However, industry observers believe it could lead to more sweeping changes in the years ahead across the financial services industry. To that point, it could make it difficult for some smaller advisory firms to do business and perhaps encourage a further consolidation into larger companies better able to handle the detailed rules of compliance. This is a process, not a light-switch kind of event. Buyers still need to beware and demand cost and fee transparency from their advisors. Knut Rostad president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard "If I were outside this industry, I would assume that my financial advisor was required to act in my best interest," said Skip Schweiss, a managing director of advisor advocacy and industry affairs for TD Ameritrade Institutional. He added that "the DOL rule enhances the standard of care applying to financial advisors. There may be unintended consequences, but fundamentally, this will be a good thing for investors." The unintended consequences of the rule, say opponents, will hurt the small investors the rule is intended to protect. The brokerage industry argues that the increased compliance costs that will come with the new rule could price small investors out of the market for financial advice. Some might be forced into more expensive, fee-based accounts while others would lose access to advice entirely. Sheryl Garrett, founder of the Garrett Planning Network of fee-based financial planners, thinks such fears are overblown. "There will be a period of adjustment, but it won't be as dreadful as many fear," said Garrett, whose network includes 280 advisors. "The brokerage industry wasn't exactly embracing the middle class, anyway. "It could take until the next generation of financial advisors to really see the transition to a fiduciary culture," she added. The brokerage industry will be most affected by the DOL rule. Many brokers are currently regulated under a weaker "suitability" standard of conduct, in which investment recommendations have to be suitable for investors but not necessarily optimal or in their best interests. That lesser standard will still apply to brokers advising taxable investment accounts. The rule, however, will also affect registered investment advisors, insurance agents and anyone else providing advice on individual retirement accounts. "It casts a wide net," said Gjertsen of the FPA and Mack Investment Securities, whose "hybrid" firm offers both commission and fee-based investment advice to clients. "It's not just broker-dealers that will be affected." Fee-based advisors already operating as fiduciaries under the 1940 Investment Act will have to adjust to the ERISA rules governing retirement accounts. The issue of rollovers of 401(k) plans into IRAs or taxable accounts is a key element of the DOL's initiative, and it affects all advisors. Roughly $500 billion in assets every year are rolled over from 401(k) plans into other accounts when employees leave a job. Those numbers will increase as more baby boomers enter retirement. The DOL wants to ensure those rollovers are in the best interest of their owners. There are four basic options for investors: Leave the assets in the plan; move them to a new employer's plan; roll them tax-free into an IRA; or cash out the funds with a taxable distribution. What the best interests of an individual are depends on their circumstances, their need for income and their tolerance for risk. watch now The 401(k) plan may represent the lowest-cost investment account but may not necessarily be the best choice for investors. "Costs matter, but the appropriateness of advice and accomplishing financial objectives matters more," said Garrett of the Garrett Planning Network. "The key on rollovers is having an open, informed discussion about the client's objectives and alternatives." Perhaps the biggest benefit of the DOL rule will be clearer information for investors on the costs of their retirement accounts and of the financial advice they receive. "People understand price transparency, and this rule will provide more transparency on costs to consumers," said Knut Rostad, president of the Institute for the Fiduciary Standard. That includes product commissions and account management fees, as well as 12b-1 fees and other revenue-sharing payments that advisors receive from mutual fund firms and insurance companies. The DOL rule doesn't prohibit commissions or revenue sharing, but it requires that all advisors sign the best-interests contract, disclosing all payments and conflicts of interest they have. If investors feel their interests have not been protected, they can now sue their advisors for breach of contract. The substantial changes that the DOL rule entails won't happen overnight. Firms are adapting their platforms and putting resources in place to handle the new compliance. Independent broker-dealer LPL Holdings, for example, recently announced changes to reduce costs and simplify fee structures for its retirement plan offerings to investors. Other firms may decide not to serve smaller investors at all, because of the increased costs, while others will offer streamlined advice products similar to what's on offer from so-called robo-advisors or online automated wealth-management services. "This is a process, not a light-switch kind of event," said Rostad. "Buyers still need to beware and demand cost and fee transparency from their advisors." Acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny again lost a vote in parliament to be re-elected premier on Wednesday, dragging out a political deadlock following inconclusive elections in February. Needing 79 votes for election, Kenny was backed by 51 lawmakers, meaning he won the support of just one outside his Fine Gael party as the 15 independent members of parliament with whom he wants to form a minority government either abstained or voted against him. A Fine Gael-led minority would need the consent of the second-largest party and historic rival, Fianna Fail, to allow it to govern. Kenny is due to meet Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin for the first time since the election later on Wednesday. Chris Ratcliffe | Bloomberg | Getty Images A $160 billion merger between Pfizer and Allergan lay in tatters Wednesday and left experts contemplating whether more deals could be hit by new tax rules issued by the U.S. Treasury. The deal, which would have allowed New York-based Pfizer to cut its tax bill by redomiciling to Ireland, has now been formally ended. Fresh rules issued Monday make it tougher for target companies to pass on their overseas registered address and in turn, beneficial tax rates. Pfizer said Wednesday it had agreed to pay Allergan $150 million for reimbursement of expenses associated with the deal. Coca-Cola could be the next big company to drop a merger plan, according to research firm Dealogic. Last year, three of Coca-Cola's European bottlers agreed to a billion-dollar merger which it said would create the region's largest distributor of Coke products. The U.S.-based Coca-Cola Company was the owner of the German bottler that was involved in that deal. Despite approval by U.S. and European regulators the deal is yet to be fully completed. Dealogic identified the merger as an outstanding tax inversion deal initiated by a U.S. firm. A spokesperson for Coca-Cola Enterprises told CNBC via email that it is reviewing the U.S. Treasury Department's notice and would not speculate on any potential impact until the review is completed. "We continue to focus on ensuring a successful close of the CCEP (Coca-Cola European Partners) transaction by the end of the second quarter of this year," the spokesperson said. Dealogic Christopher Kummer of the Institute for Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances said recent scandals, such as the Panama Papers revelation last weekend, will mean tax regulations are set to get tougher. "All in all, taxation may make transactions more costly in the future which will decrease the deal activity. This year, M&A (merger and acquisition) activity has already begun to slow down. "Taxation could become a factor to actually put an end to a very young M&A wave that we experienced for far after 2008," Kummer told CNBC by email. The new rules are seen as a victory for President Barack Obama who calls 'tax inversions' an injustice to the U.S. tax system. Samsung is looking to step up its effort in electronic payments and is considering catching up with Apple in rolling out in-app purchases using its Samsung Pay as well looking at the potential of paying in virtual reality (VR). The South Korean electronics giant launched Samsung Pay last year, its answer to Apply Pay which allows users to tap their phones on a reader to pay for anything. Samsung Pay recently launched in the U.S. and China after a debut in South Korea. Now the company is considering the next steps to build out the product, which could include loyalty schemes and in-app purchases. "Gift cards I think provide us with a unique way to provide offers, we have in-app, that is on our road map, online commerce, being able to pay online with Samsung Pay is very important," Nathalie Oestmann, head of Samsung Pay Europe, told CNBC in an interview at the Money 2020 conference on Tuesday. "People are browsing retail sites. Many are browsing but only a small number are paying. Merchants will want to close that gap, banks would like to close that gap, if you use Samsung Pay in an in-app capacity, you won't have to re-enter card details." Apple Pay currently has in-app purchasing capabilities but Samsung is yet to launch this feature. A major test for the future of Asia is on the horizon, and it's centered on the South China Sea. Within the next three months, a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague is expected to rule on China's expansive and somewhat ambiguous territorial claims in the South China Sea, which the Philippines contends are invalid under international law. That decision is important for a number of reasons, but among them, experts say, is that China's island-grabbing campaign may be designed to give Beijing a strategic headlock on one of the planet's most critical waterways. Experts tell CNBC that China will likely lose some elements of the Hague case, "Philippines v. China." The world's most populous nation has already denounced the process, and opted not to participate, but the tribunal's decision will technically still be binding under international law. Beyond the geographical claims themselves, the tribunal is also looking into whether Beijing is overstating the types of territory it controls the air and maritime rights associated with rocks are different than those of reefs or islands and the legality of other Chinese actions near the Philippines. Experts who closely watch developments in the South China Sea tell CNBC that they expect China to lose at least some of the elements of the case, but the real test will come in how Beijing reacts to a ruling. It's possible that China will back off from its broadest claims, but it may also demonstrate a willingness to buck the international legal system. "My speculation would be that China has basically calculated that it will take some near-term, rather assertive actions in the South China Sea, and pay short-term reputation costs in exchange for what it believes to be longer-term strategic gains," Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for New American Security, said. Beijing's real rationale for risking its global reputation over a handful of tiny islands remains open for debate. Most agree that China truly believes it has a historic right to the region but the South China Sea's relatively paltry energy resources (especially with oil now so cheap) hardly justify such an assertive grab on a realpolitik basis. Rather, many point to the geostrategic value of the South China Sea. "The logical conclusion drawn from China's adding ... islands in the southern part of the South China Sea with military-sized runways, substantial port facilities, radar platforms and space to accommodate military forces is that China's objective is to dominate the waters of the South China Sea at will," Peter Dutton, professor and director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the U.S. Naval War College, said in a February speech at London's Chatham House. "Building the islands is therefore, in my view, a significant strategic event," he said. "They leave the potential for the South China Sea to become a Chinese strait, rather than an open component of the global maritime commons." DigitalGlobe imagery of the nearly completed construction within the Fiery Cross Reef located in the South China Sea. Fiery Cross is located in the western part of the Spratly Islands group. DigitalGlobe | Getty Images Speaking with CNBC, Dutton explained that there are few circumstances where China would want to restrict commercial movement in the area, but "the real problem" is that Beijing could readily exercise that capacity in times of crisis or conflict. And that's where the United States comes into play: The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates the United States exported $79 billion in goods to the countries around the South China Sea in 2013, and imported $127 billion from them during that period. Navy Adm. Robert Willard estimated that the region accounted in 2011 for $5.3 trillion in bilateral annual trade $1.2 trillion of which is tied to the U.S. "Free access for commercial trade is a vital interest of the United States, so we have to consider what it means when one country has the capability to shut other countries off" when it chooses, Dutton said. In his Chatham House speech, Dutton likens such a Chinese "strategic strait" to the Strait of Hormuz a critical choke point for global trade. A full 90 percent of East Asian energy imports travel through the South China Sea, he said. The South China Sea, several hundred nautical miles wide, doesn't appear at first glance to be a geographical bottleneck. China can, however, effectively create a strait by locating sufficient military assets on two sets of land it controls: the Paracel Islands in the north and the Spratly Islands in the south. watch now The issue: China should play by international rules on market access, trade and currency and not "take" U.S. jobs. What the candidates say: China and international trade are ugly phrases in a populist year. Hillary Clinton, an architect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, now opposes it. She rails against unfair currency manipulation. Bernie Sanders decries China's economic and trade practices as taking away from U.S. workers to line the pockets of wealthy global corporations. Donald Trump wants to label China a currency manipulator and promises to bring back 'tens of millions of jobs" lost to China. John Kasich has called for China to stop manipulating its currency, while Ted Cruz is focusing on eliminating taxes on exports to better compete with China. The reality: China has made progress in opening up its markets to U.S. goods, but slowly. The trade deficit with China reached $365 billion last year. This is primarily due to Chinese saving more than Americans and the types of goods the U.S. sells to China (capital goods such as airplanes and communications equipment) versus what China sells to the U.S. (which include low value electronics, furniture and clothing). China's impact on U.S. jobs is real but not what the candidates say; it is estimated that only 20 percent of the jobs lost in manufacturing in the 2000s were due to Chinese competition, with the rest from technology change and other factors. In fact, Germany has a per capita trade deficit with the U.S. that is three times higher than that of China. The hard truth is that most of the manufacturing jobs lost in the U.S. are not coming back from China or anywhere else. Creating new jobs in growing industries is what is going to matter for the next president. On the currency side, most economists agree that China's currency is no longer overvalued. In spite of what candidates Clinton, Sanders and Trump say for sound bites, the U.S. dollar has actually depreciated against the Chinese yuan by approximately 25 percent over the past decade, bringing the currencies back into fairer value. China must manage its currency because it is not floating. Calls to end manipulation miss the point it is how China is manipulating its currency that matters. So is China blameless? Hardly. China uses a wide view of what it considers national security priorities to limit or block foreign participation in various sectors where the U.S. is particularly strong, including financial services, education and media. It only recently opened up e-commerce to full foreign ownership and still manipulates grains and cereals through tariffs and direct payments to farmers. There is still room for improvement, but by and large China is not causing the stagnation in wages and lack of new opportunity being felt by less educated workers in the United States. Oil also got a lift this week from comments made by Kuwait's OPEC governor, Nawal Al-Fuzaia, who on Tuesday said all signs point to an agreement among producers to hold output levels at the April 17 meeting in Doha. Crude futures surged more than 5 percent Wednesday, helped by a weaker dollar and a drawdown in U.S. supplies by 4.9 million barrels when the market expected a build. West Texas Intermediate futures settled at $37.75 per barrel. "It totally matters. The market goes up and down by who said what last," said John Kilduff, partner at Again Capital, of the meeting. "I don't think there's going to be a deal but it makes a market here." Oil's rally could fizzle if there's no agreement among major producers for a freeze later this month, and the ripples could be felt across global markets. The Kuwaiti governor's comments are in contrast to remarks last week from Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who said the kingdom will not freeze production unless Iran also agrees. Those comments sent oil sharply lower, as Iran is working to return crude to the market and has said it will not agree to a freeze. "They're like the Janet Yellen of the oil production group. Everyone says one thing, and they say something else. Everyone says there's going to be a freeze, and the Saudis disagree. They're like Janet Yellen," said Kilduff. Fed Chair Yellen rocked markets last week when she sounded much more dovish than other members of the central bank. "The rhetoric around this meeting intensifies every day," said Kilduff. Bin Salman's comments surprised oil traders last week, as Saudi Arabia had been publicly supporting the idea of a freeze. "Things would have been a lot more robust if we thought there was going to be a commitment on the production side," said Bart Melek, head of commodities strategy at TD Securities. If there is no deal, he said WTI could fall back in the low- to mid-$30s per barrel, but he does not expect it to retest its lows in the $20s. For now, he sees WTI as range bound, and not likely to break above $42. "I think the market is going to punish OPEC and producers for not coming through with a deal," said Kilduff, adding he believes oil could head back to its lows if there is no accord. Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said, on the other hand, that the market may have already priced in failure by the producers. "It's my take they are doing nothing, and their actions are in direct opposition to what they're trying to accomplish," said Lipow. "I think the market is very skeptical something's going to happen. We've seen Russian production increase in February. We saw Kuwait and Saudi Arabia announced an agreement to restart production in what's known as the neutral zone oil field, which has a capacity of 300,000 barrels a day." Production in the U.S.has actually been on the decline. According to the Energy Information Administration, oil output in the U.S. fell to 9.01 million barrels a day last week, from 9.02 million barrels. It has been slowly slipping from the 9.6 million barrels a day peak a year ago. Lipow said production could drop below 9 million barrels a day in the near future. "I think that psychologically will hit the market," he said. U.S. production continued to rise after OPEC announced it would let the market set prices in November 2014, and the market has been waiting for it to fall as U.S. producers react to the pain of low prices. Lipow also found negatives in the government's weekly inventory data in that supplies of gasoline and distillate increased. Now focus is on the Doha meeting, but Melek said failure to reach a deal there may set the stage for a change in policy by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries when it meets in June. The Doha meeting is also not just being watched by the oil markets. Jim Caron, fixed income portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, said the event is on his radar, as it could drive the price of oil. He said if the meeting does not go well, and crude falls sharply that could send buyers into the safety of Treasurys. Oil in the low $30s or lower would be a negative, raising fears of bankruptcies in the sector and raising the specter of a global slowdown. "There are two things that are driving risk premia in the market one is China and one is oil prices," said Caron. He said while it is being watched as an indicator of global growth, investors may be overreacting to it. Oil's gains Wednesday fired up a rally in the stock market with the energy sector outperforming. Chevron , up 2.3 percent was the biggest contributor to the Dow , and the Energy Select Sector SPDR fund rose 2.2 percent. Art Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the NYSE, said the stock market moved on oil Wednesday when WTI futures reached $37.10. They settled at 37.75 per barrel. But he said there is skepticism about the April meeting among stock traders. "They don't have very high hopes and the belief here is these guys in Saudi Arabia are focused on Iran. They're not going to freeze," Cashin said. Jim McDonald, chief investment strategist at Northern Trust, said he does not see a big risk for markets from the Doha meeting. "The concept of the production freeze having supported the bounce in oil prices doesn't hold water. They are unlikely to make a major concession on that. Iran has said it was not going to participate," he said. "I don't think the market has been moved by the expectation of a production freeze. Traders are trading on headlines but I just don't believe real money believe they're going to take a production freeze." Turbulence in the business-jet market is rattling some investors, and even status jets like the Gulfstream G650 are showing signs of the stress as more go up for sale. While the large-cabin business segment appears to be the weakest, the small and midsize business jets appear to be holding up better. Analysts say demand in Europe remains flat and emerging markets such as Brazil and China are still in a major slowdown, although deliveries in the U.S. are starting to grow again. "There's clearly more weakness at the upper end, which would be for the most part Gulfstream and Bombardier ," said Cai von Rumohr, an analyst at Cowen & Co. As a result, he said, if things worsen there's a possibility Gulfstream parent General Dynamics "might be looking at flattish profits next year." Gulfstream G550 and G650 jets SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images Analysts say lower oil prices also are to blame for the business-jet malaise because some countries that would benefit from higher oil prices or energy-related corporations are cutting back on business-jet purchases. On the other hand, lower oil prices are helping the commercial aircraft space. Overall, the number of used business jets on the secondary market as a percent of the active fleet in February reached levels not seen in roughly two years, Goldman Sachs reported last week. It also highlighted how "new business aircraft to market on a trailing 12-month basis are the highest they have been since 2009 setting up supply/demand challenges." Shares of two major U.S.-based business jet manufacturers Gulfstream's General Dynamics and Cessna's Textron are lagging the broad market this year. In the same period, Embraer SA also is underperforming, while Canada's Bombardier and France's Dassault Aviation are holding up better. For Textron, the company earlier this year forecast 2016 earnings would fall short of Street estimates due in part to weakness in its aviation and Bell commercial helicopter segments. Textron's Cessna Aircraft business makes Citation jets, such as Latitude, a roughly $16 million mid-size business jet, and it has the newer Longitude business jet that has a longer range and is priced at around $25 million Brazil's Embraer is facing tougher price competition in the regional jet business. Embraer is looking for margins to be down this year and they are competing with Bombardier, which itself is struggling. Bombardier's U.S.-listed stock price has lost nearly 50 percent in the last 12 months and has looked to Canada's government for financial help for the company's delayed C Series jets. Meantime, Gulfstream is seeing more of its G650 going to the secondary market, meaning customers can essentially get the aircraft quicker and potentially pay a lower price, too. Gulfstream's strategy has been to slightly increase the production of the G650 while at the same time delivering fewer G450s and G550s, which are older planes with generally softer prices. "Used G650 pricing has dropped back to in line with new after being well above," UBS analyst David Strauss said in a research note to clients on Monday. "We believe the used business jet market serves as a leading indicator of the new business jet market." Gulfstream delivered its first G650 in 2012, and the product quickly earned a reputation as a new status symbol for corporate chieftains. Through mid-March, Gulfstream had reportedly handed over 158 of the aircraft. The long-range jet lists for between $65 million to $70 million. More than half of the orders for G650s last year were from North America. Ascent Flightglobal Consultancy's senior analyst Daniel Hall estimates around 15 to 20 of the G650s are currently for sale in the secondary market possibly more. Just six months ago, about 10 aircraft were available and about five a year ago, he said. Deutsche Bank analyst Myles Walton highlighted the inventory and price risk for Gulfstream/General Dynamics in a March 24 research note entitled "13 percent of G650s available for sale (and rising)." He then downgraded the aerospace and defense company's stock rating from a buy to a hold, leading to a nearly 4 percent decline in the stock that day. The stock has retraced some of the losses but still is in the red for the year-to-date period through Monday. In his downgrade comments, Walton said: "The continued downward asking price will start to impede on new G650 orders if not cancellation activity." "We haven't seen much cancellation activity and perhaps won't given sizable customer deposits; however, the inventory climb implies OEM production may be 20-30% above actual demand over the medium-term," he added. Prime Minister David Cameron and his family do not benefit from any offshore funds, his spokesman said on Tuesday, after the British leader came under pressure over his late father's inclusion in the "Panama Papers" revelations over tax havens. During a visit to a business in central England on Tuesday, Cameron said he did not own any shares or have any offshore funds but did not answer a question on whether he or his family had benefited from offshore investment funds set up by his father. On Monday, his spokeswoman had said it was a "private matter". In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesman for Cameron said: "To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds." He did not say whether they had benefited in the past. "The prime minister owns no shares ... Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her father's land, which she declares on her tax return." The leader of Britain's main opposition party urged the government to tackle tax havens, accusing Cameron of allowing "the super rich elite" to dodge taxes. Leaked documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have provided evidence of how the world's rich and powerful used secretive offshore company structures to stash their wealth. The documents named Cameron's late father Ian and members of his Conservative Party among the list of the firm's clients. The government has promised to investigate the leaked data but opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called for more to be done, including setting up an independent investigation. "There cannot be one set of tax rules for the wealthy elite and another for the rest of us," Corbyn said at the launch of Labour's campaign for local elections next month. "The unfairness and abuse must stop ... no more lip service, the richest must pay their way." Corbyn said Britain had a "huge responsibility" as many tax havens are British overseas territories, such as the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, or crown dependencies, such as Jersey or the Isle of Man. Photo credit: Nancy Premo LinkedIn page SYRACUSE, N.Y. CenterState CEO, Central New Yorks primary economic-development organization, announced it has hired Nancy L. Premo as its first VP of human resources (HR). Premo will be responsible for ensuring that CenterState CEO is in compliance with local, state and federal employment laws, and best practices, the organization said in a news release. She will also oversee administration of all of its HR efforts. CenterState CEO said that this new position will also serve its organizational partners, including the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Visit Syracuse, NUAIR Alliance, SyracuseFirst, Benefit Specialists of NY, CNY International Business Alliance, University Hill Corporation, and Electronics Park, LLC. Premo was most recently director of human resources at Bousquet Holstein, PLLC, a Syracuse law firm. She holds a professional in human resources (PHR) certification from the Human Resources Certification Institute. Premos background also includes serving as executive assistant to the chairman of the board and CEO of the C&S Companies, as well as being personal assistant to Secretary of State John Kerry when he was a U.S. Senator. Contact The Business Journal News Network at news@cnybj.com PHOTO CREDIT: Office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman SYRACUSE, N.Y. A Syracuse nurse aide is accused of hitting and shoving a nursing-home resident and not being truthful about the alleged incident. Samantha Grover, 36, allegedly struck and pushed a male resident at the James Square Health and Rehabilitation Centre at 918 James St. in Syracuse, the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a news release issued Tuesday. The victim then tripped and fell, hitting his shoulder on a piece of furniture. As a result, the resident suffered from impingement syndrome of the right shoulder with a rotator-cuff strain. Grover then allegedly made a false statement to James Square officials regarding the incident, Schneidermans office said. The incident allegedly occurred on Oct. 17 of last year. Grover has worked at the nursing home for four years, according to the release. Shes been formally charged with endangering the welfare of an incompetent or physically disabled person in the first degree; falsifying business records in the first degree; and willful violation of health laws. Schneidermans office on Tuesday announced Grovers arraignment before Judge Kate Rosenthal in Syracuse City Court. Grover entered a mandatory plea of not guilty and was released on her own recognizance. Judge Rosenthal set the next appearance for April 12. Nursing-home aides are charged with taking care of some of our most vulnerable citizens, and must treat them with the care and respect they deserve, Schneiderman said in the release. We will prosecute those medical professionals who violate the trust placed in them. Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com April 6, 2016 The world's largest non-profit organization dedicated to studying marine science and engineering took a giant leap forward on Wednesday (April 6), welcoming its new research vessel, the R/V Neil Armstrong, to its port in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The 238-foot-long (72.5 m) ship, which was named in 2014 for the first man to walk on the moon, arrived at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), where it was met by an audience of invited guests that included members of Armstrong's family and a space station commander. "Welcome to the Neil Armstrong," said Sunita Williams, a NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Captain who flew twice to the International Space Station. "It's really great to see her here to start her new career." The R/V Neil Armstrong pulled into port just after 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) on Wednesday to begin its decades-long mission of science and exploration. Capable of putting out to sea for as long as 40 days with 44 scientists and crew, the ship is equipped to conduct advanced ocean research almost anywhere in the world. The Neil Armstrong replaces the R/V Knorr, which traveled over a million miles, roughly the same as two trips to the moon. (WHOI) The first of the new Armstrong-class of research vessels, the R/V Neil Armstrong was launched on Feb. 20, 2014 in Anacortes, Washington. The ship underwent outfitting and trials prior to its delivery to Woods Hole on Wednesday. Owned by the Navy, the R/V Neil Armstrong was provided to WHOI under a no-cost lease by the government. "Since Neil Armstrong [the astronaut] landed on the moon almost 50 years ago, there have been only nine ships built and added to the academic research fleet," said Williams. "Neil Armstrong will be one of just seven large vessels of the nation's research fleet." The Neil Armstrong replaces the R/V Knorr, best known for supporting the researchers who discovered the wreck of the RMS Titanic in 1985. That ship was named for Ernest Knorr, a leader of the Navy's first systematic charting and surveying effort from 1860 to 1885. In service to WHOI for 44 years beginning in 1970, the R/V Knorr traveled the rough equivalent of two round trips from the Earth to the moon. The Neil Armstrong, which can support a crew of 44 for 40 days at sea, is expected to be in service for the next 50 years. (WHOI) "Much like astronauts, we go out and explore new worlds," said Mark Abbott, the president and director of WHOI. "But we are doing more than just exploration. Our ships service whole new fleets of moorings, of gliders, robots and Earth orbiting satellites." "And ships like the Neil Armstrong and her sister ship, the [R/V] Sally Ride, are essential to take us to these places and deploy and service these fleets of instruments. They will serve us for the next 50 years. They are the technically most capable ships in the fleet today," said Abbott. The R/V Neil Armstrong is outfitted with a modern suite of oceanographic equipment, including acoustics capable of mapping the deepest oceans and advanced over-the-side handling gear to deploy and retrieve scientific instruments. "With the discovery and evidence of water on Mars, I think all of us are now becoming acutely aware that if we want to sustain life on Earth, we need a greater understanding of the oceans' vital impacts on the Earth's climate and life," said Williams. "Luckily for us, in the next half a century, the R/V Neil Armstrong will take generations of researchers to remote ocean frontiers." Mark Abbott and Rob Munier with WHOI present Carol Armstrong, Neil Armstrong's widow, with a commemorative WHOI flag. (WHOI) In addition to the Ride and Armstrong, the Navy has four other ships named after U.S. astronauts. The USNS Alan Shepard, named for the first American to fly in space, was launched in 2006; the USNS Wally Schirra, named after the only pilot to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules, was launched in 2009; and the USNS John Glenn, named for the first American to orbit Earth, was named in 2014. The R/V Neil Armstrong was christened in the memory of the Apollo moonwalker, who died in 2012 at the age of 82. Armstrong served at NASA as an engineer, research test pilot, astronaut and administrator. Prior to joining the space program, he flew combat missions during the Korean War as a naval aviator. "I know Neil would love this because Neil was Navy," said Carol Armstrong, the astronaut's widow. "That is where he started and that is where his heart was." Scott Kelly, seen wearing a virtual reality headset aboard the space station in February 2016, is also sporting a Breitling chronograph. Now back on the Earth and retired from NASA, Kelly has become a brand ambassador for the Swiss watch manufacturer. (NASA) April 6, 2016 An astronaut who set a record for time in space has now signed on to represent the brand of luxury watches that helped track his 8,168 hours and 42 minutes circling the Earth. Scott Kelly, who in March completed an almost year-long mission aboard the International Space Station a first for a U.S. astronaut was announced on Tuesday (April 5) as the new ambassador for Breitling, the Swiss manufacturer that made two of the timepieces he wore while in orbit. "If you look at Scott's impressive career in space, you can't help but respect the longevity and duration of time he has spent in space," said Thierry Prissert, president of Breitling USA, in a statement. Kelly, who retired from NASA on April 1, logged more than 340 days during his most recent space station expedition, setting a record for the longest single mission flown by an American. Totaling the time he spent on his four missions, Kelly tallied more than 520 days off the planet, more than any other NASA astronaut to date (Jeff Williams, currently aboard the station, will surpass that record in August). A Breitling wrist chronograph is seen floating in front of a window on board the International Space Station. (Breitling) During his almost year-long mission, Kelly wore an Omega Speedmaster chronograph issued to him by NASA, but he also brought with him two Breitling timepieces: a limited- edition wristwatch equipped with a calendar function and a bright yellow model outfitted with a dual frequency distress beacon. "Breitling watches set the standard for how a chronograph should perform," said Kelly, "so when I volunteered for the yearlong mission, I needed to have my Navitimer 1461 and Emergency with me," Kelly said. The Navitimer 1461 was gifted to Scott by his twin brother, Mark, who is also a former NASA astronaut. During the March 2015 to March 2016 mission, Mark on the ground and Scott in space were the focus of a series of experiments as part of NASA's Twins Study. With the newly-announced Breitling partnership, the Kellys now share something else in common. "Being close to my brother, Mark, who is [also] a Breitling Ambassador, I have become familiar with Breitling, so I am really excited to be joining the Breitling family," Scott said. Breitling Emergency and Navitimer 1461 Blacksteel model watches as worn by Scott Kelly on his yearlong space mission. (Breitling) Breitling's association with astronauts extends beyond the Kellys, dating back to the fourth American in space. In 1962, Scott Carpenter wore a Breitling Navitimer on his orbital mission aboard the Mercury space capsule "Aurora 7," making that timepiece the first wrist chronograph to be worn by a U.S. astronaut in space. Back on Earth, Carpenter's fellow Mercury astronaut Wally Schirra and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin also sported Breitling watches as personal timepieces after they left NASA. Scott Kelly said that it was the quality and precision of the watches that drew him to wear and partner with Breitling. "As the commander of a mission to the International Space Station, I rel[ied] heavily upon my instruments to perform in pressure-packed circumstances," Kelly said. "Their tireless effort to be at the cutting-edge of chronograph production is pretty remarkable." Three takeaways from Missouri's win against Vanderbilt Missouri football took on Vanderbilt for its homecoming game on Saturday. Here's what to know from the game. Best of Business 2022: Learn Who Won Our 15th Annual Reader Poll Local professionals chose their favorite business and professional services, products, healthcare, dining and more. Find out who their top picks are. Scott Woods: Artists Need to Put Their Merch on the Table Make sure your work is out thereand where you can sell a copy or two. Niblio Torres is a young Amazon shaman in 'Embrace of the Serpent." Go Play If you want personality, you gotta #GoMemphis SHARE By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal "Embrace of the Serpent" (Not rated, 125 min) The galleries of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are closed for renovations until April 29, but the museums Dorothy K. Hohenberg Auditorium is continuing to screen movies, including -- as has been a museum tradition -- significant movies that have been ignored by the city's commercial cinemas. The latest of these essential offerings is "Embrace of the Serpent," which makes its Memphis debut at 7 p.m. Wednesday (April 6) at the Brooks. An Amazon adventure in which madness and religion prove more dangerous than disease or predator, "Embrace of the Serpent" was nominated this year for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, making it the first film from Colombia to be so recognized. (It lost, as most prognosticators figured it would, to Hungray's "Son of Saul," a Holocaust drama.) Written and directed by Ciro Guerra, "Serpent" should appeal to fans of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," Werner Herzog's "Aguirre, the Wrath of God," and even John Boorman's "Deliverance." This is another movie in which a "civilized" man's river odyssey becomes a voyage of shocking setbacks and transformative self-discovery. An essential difference is that the central point of view in "Serpent" is not that of a European or North American interloper but that of an occupant of the forest -- in this case, a barely clothed, feather-bedecked Amazonian shaman, Karamakate (played as a young man by Nilbio Torres and as an older man by Antonio Bolivar), who undergoes his own crisis of faith. Known in the jungle as "the world mover," Karamakate functions as a guide for both the audience and for the movie's two major non-Amazon characters, both based on real-life explorers. Jan Bijvoet is Theo, a German, in 1909; Brionne Davis is Evan, an American botanist, in 1940. ("You devote your life to plants? That's the most reasonable thing I've ever heard a white say," the shaman comments when he meets Evan.) The men's expeditions are complementary, even parallel, and the film moves back and forth in time between them. "Embrace of the Serpent" was filmed in striking black-and-white, which has the effect of eliminating the distinctive tropical colors of the jungle while making the human characters seem like part of the landscape or elements of nature, like the flowers and the birds. The environmental message is not subtle. "You have no discipline, you'll devour everything," Karamakate warns the starving Theo at one point, in an accusation obviously aimed at Europe and the U.S. for their exploitation of the Amazon's resources. The shaman prefers his fabulist, traditional interpretations of the world to the science of the white men, which leads "only" to "violence." Religion is no better, as demonstrated in a harrowing pair of visits to a decaying and increasingly deranged Christian mission. But Indian and white man alike long for the effects of the yakruna, a sacred plant, and for the rejuvenation that occurs when Karamakate blows great blasts of stimulant into the ailing Theo's nostrils, like a god breathing life into the clay of creation. Crime Report Shelby County 911 - A Crime Report SHARE David Cresswell and Cassie Cresswell By Yolanda Jones of The Commercial Appeal A Millington couple has been accused of printing counterfeit money at their home, according to an arrest affidavit. David Cresswell, 35, and Cassie Cresswell, 33, have been charged with criminal simulation over $1,000, forgery over $1,000 and computer crime. On Tuesday, the Shelby County Sheriffs Office and the Secret Service acting on a tip arrested the couple at their home in the 7800 block of Commodore. Investigators found fake $20 bills, counterfeit currency paper stock and printers and ink cartridges. Authorities also searched a hotel room in the couples name in the 6300 block of Navy Road where they found additional fake bills. In total, authorities found $4,480 in fake money at the couples home and the hotel room, according to the affidavit. David Cresswell is in jail on a $75,000 bond. Cassie Cresswells bond is $2,000. The couple had a video arraignment Wednesday morning and are due back in court April 13. On The Docket Whether it's a verdict or a hearing, it's On The Docket SHARE By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal A 27-year-old Memphis man was convicted of trafficking a teenage runaway for sex, the office of Edward L. Stanton III, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, said Wednesday. Harold Davis met the girl between May and June 2014 and put her photo on Backpage.com, according to a news release. The defendants activity was discovered when a Shelby County Sheriffs Deputy stopped Davis vehicle for a traffic violation, wrote Stantons spokesman Louis Goggans. He noticed the female minor in the backseat of the vehicle. The deputy also observed an unusually large amount of condoms and female hygiene products in the car. The Federal Bureau of Investigations Human Trafficking Task Force connected Davis to the Backpage advertisements through his e-mail and phone. Davis was convicted of one count of using the internet to conduct an unlawful activity and one count of sex trafficking a minor. Sentencing in the case prosecuted by Debra Ireland and Kasey Weiland is scheduled July 14. SHARE Business Q&A with Kevin McKenzie By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal The risk of further annexations by Memphis helped drive Barry Thomas in 2010 to sell the waste disposal company he owned, Express Disposal, to a far larger competitor. Moves by the state legislature since 2014 to curb decades of easy annexation by Tennessee cities and towns helped convince Thomas to get back in the business. As president of Home Town Disposal LLC, Thomas is once again offering residents of unincorporated areas of Shelby County, where theres no municipal government, weekly trash collection services. The only reason I ever sold was because of annexation, I didnt want to sell, but because the city of Memphis was annexing so much and because there was talk of (city and county government) consolidation, Thomas said. A small company like Express Disposal, which he had started in 2005 and had about 10,000 customers, can lose thousands of customers when unincorporated areas are annexed by cities and towns, he said. Youre just left hanging with expensive trucks, a lot of bills and no revenue, so you had to be kind of careful with that, he said. Larger companies buying smaller ones is a staple of the nations solid waste industry. Thomas -- who had gained experience working for Browning-Ferris Industries, Allied Waste Services and Waste Industries -- sold Express Disposal to Texas-based Waste Connections, which reported revenue of more than $2.1 billion for 2015. Thomas watched Tennessee lawmakers in 2014 end six decades of municipal annexation without approval of residents being annexed. This year, allowing some areas previously annexed to de-annex gained political traction. Now I feel like its safer long-term, Thomas said. With a half-dozen employees that he said deserve praise, new trucks that cost about $200,000 and new 95-gallon rolling carts, Home Town Disposal is mining unincorporated neighborhoods for customers. Commercial customers offer another market. In fact, small businesses with roll-out carts served by the city of Memphis could contract with a private service like his and lower costs, he contends. Unified Waste Systems LLC, based in Hernando, is another small waste disposal company competing in an industry dominated by giants. Youve got to put together a business plan for which customer base you want to serve and determine whether its economically feasible to go after a small niche market, said Jeff Papasan, general manager for Unified. Unified, owned by Jim Becher, focuses on roll-off service for large commercial dumpsters and also offers residential collection, Papasan said. Thomas isnt expecting to regain customers overnight. A non-compete agreement when he sold his company also left him on the sidelines for five years. Its a grind it out business, said Thomas, 62. Theres nothing glamorous about it, you dont get 10,000 people in a day. He said that being a smaller local company focused on personal service offers an advantage over the industry giants. Thomas provides more insight on the Business Q&A video accompanying this article. Our weekly Business Q&A answers your questions about business and customer service in Memphis. Have a question? Submit it to Kevin.McKenzie@commercialappeal.com. SHARE The closed Tax Firm office at 2828 Coleman in Raleigh. (Photo by Kevin McKenzie.) By Kevin McKenzie of The Commercial Appeal Two Memphis tax return preparers, a wife and husband, have been barred from the business and face sanctions after a federal judge found that they violated previous court orders. Stephanie Edmond and her husband, Kevin Williams, and the Tax Factory and the Tax Firm preparation businesses in Raleigh, were held in contempt of court earlier this week by U.S. District Judge S. Thomas Anderson. The judge ruled that Edmond "is not competent, of if competent, she is not willing to prepare returns that comply with the law." The court found that Edmond and the Tax Factory violated a previous court order by having Williams, using a third tax preparer's electronic filing number, operate the Tax Firm at 2828 and 2826 Coleman. Other violations included not properly reporting to a monitor as ordered. In addition to being barred from preparing federal tax returns, sanctions include paying to the U.S. government all fees collected since Jan. 15, 2016, for preparing returns. The business appeared closed and Edmond and Williams could not be reached for comment. SHARE By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal ServiceMaster Global Holdings is spending $440,000 to renovate its Memphis headquarters. The company is updating the property while it searches for a site for its new headquarters. ServiceMaster has looked for possible space in Atlanta, although spokesman Peter Tosches said last week that Memphis remains in the running to keep the home office. No deadline for the site selection has been announced. The company applied this week for a permit to renovate the interior of its offices at 860 Ridge Lake Boulevard. A company spokesman likened the work to maintenance instead of a major investment. The home services company employs 2,200 workers in Memphis and has told The Commercial Appeal it has outgrown its home offices in East Memphis. "The permit is for construction work being done in our current building (860 Ridge Lake),'' Tosches responded by email Wednesday when asked about the construction. "... Weve been making some physical changes to our (headquarters) to update the workspace when possible, creating more open spaces and opportunity for collaboration among work teams,'' he said. "The space was previously occupied by TruGreen, which recently moved out of our building so were simply reconfiguring some of that space and moving employees from our other local buildings into 860.'' ServiceMaster spun off TruGreen in late 2013. It still operates the American Home Shield, AmeriSpec, Furniture Medic, Merry Maid, ServiceMaster Clean and Terminix brands. Company leadership wants to either build or find an existing building that supports a digital-first corporate culture that is appealing to workers in their 20s and 30s, Tosches said last week. Kontji Anthony with WMC-TV co-anchor Joe Birch (Brandon Dill/Special to The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Mark Richens of The Commercial Appeal Kontji Anthony will be a co-anchor for WMC Action News 5's broadcasts at 5, 6 and 10 p.m., the station announced Wednesday. Anthony, who started at Action News 5 in 2005 as a reporter, also served for several years as weekend anchor and has filled in as anchor for the daily broadcasts where she will now be a permanent presence. "Kontji Anthony is the perfect partner for our team of Joe Birch, Ron Childers, and Jarvis Greer," Tracey Rogers, WMC Action News 5 vice president and general manager, said in a statement. Anthony is a native of New Rochelle, New York, and a graduate of Howard University. Before coming to Memphis, she worked as an anchor in Greenville, North Carolina, as a reporter and anchor in Bakersfield, California, and as a reporter for "Good Morning Sacramento." "It's surreal to be given the opportunity to live your dream in the town that you love," Anthony said. "It has been an absolute joy to work with the most seasoned news team in town. I am extremely humbled and cannot thank the leadership at WMC Action News 5 enough for believing in me." Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal April 5, 2016 - Calvary Rescue Mission co-founder Betty Hatcher stands up and sings along during a service to celebrate the mission's 49th anniversary and the start of construction of a new multi-million dollar facility surrounding the current building on South Third. The new facility will increase the space to help area homeless men from 46 beds to 108 beds. SHARE April 5, 2016 - Kendall Williams ascends from the kitchen at Calvary Rescue Mission with a tray of freshly fried chicken to serve guests during a ceremony to celebrate the start of construction on a new building at the mission on South Third that serves homeless men. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) April 5, 2016 - A collection of stones with names, bible verses or inspirational messages are piled up inside a block that will be used as a corner stone for the new Calvary Rescue Mission facility that will begin construction this summer. Over the past several years the mission has raised more than $2 million toward the cost of the new facility but is not to it's goal of $4 million to cover the complete cost. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) April 5, 2016 - A model mocks up the design of the new facility at Calvary Rescue Mission that wraps around the current facility. the chapel will remain with the housing, kitchen and classrooms moving to the new building increasing capacity from 46 beds to 108 beds to serve homeless men. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal The Calvary Rescue Mission is more than halfway to its $4 million fundraising goal to be used for the construction of a new facility. Plans for the new facility were announced at a luncheon Tuesday afternoon outside the mission at 960 S. Third St. Executive director Bob Freudiger told the crowd of supporters that the mission has raised more than $2 million over the past three years with donations, some of which came from the men it serves. "It's been very grassroots. We have men that stay here at the mission, homeless men, who have asked can they contribute to the building campaign," Freudiger said. "These guys make hardly anything and some of them give like $60 a month just because they want to." Mission co-founder Betty Hatcher said she hopes the new facility will be completed by February 2017. So far, the mission has raised $2 million, but ultimately hopes to secure twice that amount. "We're not quite where we need to be yet," she said. The mission has applied for a $1 million grant from the Assisi Foundation of Memphis and expects to hear back this month, Freudiger said. The 15,500-square-foot facility will be constructed on the land surrounding the existing shelter, Freudiger said. Once completed, it will be handicap accessible with a new kitchen, sprinkler system, office space, and "educational vocational center" where men will get vocational training, he said. They will still use the chapel inside the original building, where a service is held every evening. One of the biggest changes will be the capacity the mission will be able to host 108 men instead in the 46 in the current building. "I've been here when someone has come up and your heart breaks because sometimes we just don't have space for them," Hatcher said. "So the building will be able to double the space that we have right now." The current building was built in the 1920s as a small church and was sold to Holiday Inn in 1952. The building was firebombed when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, Hatcher told The Commercial Appeal in 2012. Instead of repairing damages sustained by the firebombs, Holiday Inn sold the building to the mission for $1, Hatcher said. During the luncheon, guests were served fried chicken prepared by mission cook Robert Oliver, so well-known for his poultry that his chef's uniform featured the title of "The Chicken Man." Corky's BBQ provided mashed potatoes and green beans. Students from Belle Forest Community School helped Corky's staff serve the meals. Several stones sat on the tables for guests to sign their names or write scripture passages or inspirational messages. After the meal, they placed the stones inside a forest-green cement box created by Linkeous Construction Co., which will be incorporated into the building as a cornerstone. Since its inception in April 1967, the 49-year-old Calvary Rescue Mission has served more than 580,000 homeless men more than 1.4 million hot meals and provided clothing for more than 22,000. SHARE By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal A 31-year-old Memphis woman was indicted on a charge of vehicular homicide in a crash last year on Interstate 240, the office of the Shelby County District Attorney General said Wednesday. Chicarra S. Williams was driving south at about 11:45 p.m. July 18 on the interstate near Poplar in a pickup truck. The truck hit the back of a Honda Accord. The cars crashed into a concrete median and caught on fire, according to a news release. "Jessica Williams, who may have been out of her vehicle at the time, was found in the roadway and pronounced dead at the scene," the state said. The victim, who was not related to the driver, was 17 years old. Memphis police officers who were involved in the officer involved shooting at 3449 Dillard have been identified as (from left) Officer Brian Moore, Officer Leon Dickson and Officer Joshua Crawford. By Stephanie Norton of The Commercial Appeal Memphis police have identified three officers involved in the fatal shooting of a man on March 23 in the 3400 block Dillard Road. Leon Dickson, Joshua Crawford and Brian Moore were named in an emailed statement from police spokesman Louis Brownlee on Tuesday. The officers names were also included in a police incident report immediately after the shooting of Alexio Allen. Allens mother called police shortly before 9 p.m. and said her son was armed with a shotgun, according to TBI representative Susan Niland. Allen allegedly began struggling with a woman over the weapon. He was having some sort of episode, and (the police) made him more agitated, Niland said. The matter escalated, Niland said, and Allen was shot. He died a few hours later at the Regional Medical Center. Initially, police said Allen was shot after pointing a weapon at officers. The investigation is ongoing. April 6, 2016 - Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland in the podcast studio. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal One hundred days into his term, Jim Strickland says he isn't having second thoughts about taking over as mayor of one of the South's largest metros yet. So far, much of his time has been taken up by unexpected financial challenges that have cropped up since he took over Jan. 1 from former mayor A C Wharton, including a now-defeated bill that would have allowed widespread de-annexation, potentially costing the city millions of dollars and thousands of residents. And all the while, the city's tally of murders has risen steadily, and is now above 60 for the year, putting pressure on Strickland who campaigned largely on public safety concerns to begin delivering results. Ahead of his presentation of the city budget to City Council on April 19, Strickland stopped by the InforMemphis podcast studio Wednesday to talk about his first 100 days, hot button topics ranging from de-annexation to the Greensward and his priorities for the next 100 days. Highlights: Tell us about the challenges and the highlights from your first 100 days. A: Obviously, the largest challenge Memphis has, and it's really shown the last 100 days, is crime violent crime. I ran a campaign on combating that, and unfortunately, particularly with the homicide rate, it's increased since I've been mayor, in the first 100 days. Trying to allocate our resources, try to address that you know, I knew coming in that it would be a long-term solution, and I think most of the public understands that. But that doesn't make it any easier to accept what's happened, and I don't accept it and the public shouldn't accept it. Under what circumstances would you support de-annexation? Well, we don't know yet. First thing, we need to look at if any other cities have had a good process on shrinking their footprint, de-annexing areas. I think Detroit has looked at it, and maybe actually done it, but I'm not 100 percent sure on this. So, we want to do it in a rational way, but what that rational way and what the measurements should be I don't know. I'm sure factors would be density. Is the area dense? How much money has been invested in the city? If the Shelby County Commission doesn't approve extra funds for the county District Attorney to hire video analysts, as some commissioners hope, what happens to the rollout of Memphis police body cameras? I don't know, because city government isn't going to fund the county district attorney. ... But I've also talked to county commissioners who say they will fund it. So, you know, that's their issue. I'd hate to speculate on it. I don't know enough about criminal law to know what would be the result if they didn't have that tech support. Raquel Boyd (middle right) along with her daughter Raine Scott, 2, (middle left) of Jackson, Miss., pet mounted police horses in the Memphis Zoo parking lot last Saturday morning. Dozen of Memphis police officers were on hand at the zoo and Overton Park's greensward for crowd control after last weeks protest of zoo visitor's parking on the park's green space. (Mark Weber/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE By Tom Charlier of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Zoo officials said Wednesday theyll use no more than the northern one-third of the Overton Park greensward for overflow parking this weekend, sticking to a compromise measure that was hashed out amid protests last month. The announcement means the zoo will use only its original footprint of the lawn instead of the entire swath that was placed under its control in a March 1 resolution adopted by the Memphis City Council. During a week in March in which local schools were out for spring break, the zoo parked cars on the larger area, which extends south almost to Rainbow Lake Playground. The use of the larger area prompted protests on March 26, leading to a compromise worked out by Memphis police, the zoo and activists. The zoos use of the greensward in recent weeks has generated intense controversy and legal conflict, including the filing of suits by the zoo and the Overton Park Conservancy claiming control over the lawn. The conservancy, which manages much of the park under a contract with the city, commissioned a report released this week that identifies possible alternatives to the greensward parking. In the meantime, Mayor Jim Strickland has overseen mediation talks in an effort to resolve the parking problem. Naomi Van Tol of the group Citizens for the Preservation of Overton Park said she couldnt predict whether the zoos adherence to the compromise will avert further protests because the issue continues to attract more activists. Another wrinkle in the controversy developed this week as some activists opposed to the zoo parking say they have been told by Code Enforcement officials to take down banners on their property saying Save the Greensward. April 6, 2016 - County Commission Chairman Terry Roland tells fellow Commissioners and the gallery his intent to turn over copies of the Diversity Study to members of the media immediately following a vote to open the document to the public during a special called meeting Wednesday morning. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) By Linda A. Moore of The Commercial Appeal The unredacted draft report of Shelby County's disparity study was made available online Wednesday following a vote by the County Commission to release the document to the public. It is available on the County Commission's page at shelbycountytn.gov. The 10-0 vote in a special called commission meeting was necessary because the consulting firm that conducted the study, Mason Tillman Associates, was hired as special legal counsel to the commission, making the document privileged information, said Ross Dyer, county attorney. The commission received the draft of the final report on March 28 but, based on advice from Dyer, did not release it. The Commercial Appeal filed an open records request for the document and the commission was also called out on WREG-TV's show "Informed Sources" for its failure to release the report. Commission chairman Terry Roland took issue with the implication that the commission did not act with transparency. "At the end of the day I won't do what the press wants me to do anyway. At the end of the day I'm going to do what the voters want me to do," Roland said. No one from the public, he said, has contacted him about the report. He also advised that because the document was a draft, some information could change. Before the report could be released, the resolution had to be signed by county Mayor Mark Luttrell. A preliminary presentation on the study, made in February, noted that businesses owned by white men received 88.32 percent of the contract dollars awarded by county government between 2012 and 2014, or $168.2 million of the total $190.5 million that was spent. Businesses owned by African-Americans received 5.8 percent of the county's contract dollars or $11 million, with those owned by white women receiving 5.15 percent or $9.8 million during that same period. It also found that 55 percent of contracts are fulfilled by businesses outside of the county, another concern for Commissioner Mark Billingsley. "As much as I want to champion better diversity in the way we do business, I want us to spend our monies in Shelby County. We should work overtime to be sure we're helping our own," Billingsley said. Shelby County lost a lawsuit in 1993 over its purchasing policies and as a result rewrote its procedures. The legal decision also required the county to conduct a disparity study before the policies could be modified. Roland has seated an ad hoc committee, which includes members of the business community, to review current purchasing policies and make recommendations on necessary changes. SHARE By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal WASHINGTON A national civil rights group warned Tuesday that Tennessee could see the same kind of backlash North Carolina is facing if the state enacts legislation requiring transgender students to use bathrooms that match their sex at birth. "It's clear that when states have discriminatory laws or come close to passing discriminatory laws, there is an outpouring of opposition from the business community," said Chase Strangio, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBT and HIV Project. A bill under consideration by the Tennessee General Assembly would require students in public schools to use restrooms and locker rooms "that are assigned to persons of the same sex as that shown on the students' birth certificates." The proposed law is similar to one that South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard vetoed in March and is one of dozens of bills introduced in legislatures across the country that target gays in the aftermath of last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a law that allows public and private businesses to refuse service to gay couples based on the employers' religious beliefs, despite opposition from gay-rights groups and some businesses who say it enables discrimination. North Carolina also is under fire over a new law that bars local governments from extending civil rights protections to gay and transgender people. More than 100 corporate leaders have denounced the North Carolina law. The online payment company PayPal announced Tuesday it is scrapping plans to open a $3.6 million global operations center in Charlotte to protest the law, which the company said "perpetuates discrimination" and violates the values and principles at the core of its mission. The decision will cost the state 400 jobs. In Tennessee, bills requiring students to use restrooms and locker rooms that match their sex at birth are pending in both the House and the Senate. Religious conservatives are pushing the legislation, which is sponsored by Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, and Sen. Mike Bell, R-Riceville. A House committee killed the legislation in March, but religious conservatives are trying to keep it alive. The House Education, Administration and Planning Committee is scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday. Opponents argue the proposed law unfairly treats one group of students differently than others and could put the state at risk of losing federal funds because it would violate a federal education law that bars discrimination on the basis of sex. The proposal is broader than the bill that South Dakota's governor vetoed, Strangio said. The Tennessee legislation would apply to students in public elementary and high schools, as well as the state's public colleges and universities. The South Dakota legislation was limited to elementary and high school students. "Like the bill in South Dakota, it's a bill that targets a vulnerable group of people," Strangio said of the Tennessee legislation. "It is responding to no actual problem and creating a statewide rule where local school districts have been managing these situations without incident." Businesses have raised objections to the Tennessee bill, raising the possibility that companies could move jobs out of the state or refuse to bring in new job opportunities, Strangio said. Hollywood production companies have threatened to stop filming in North Carolina because of that state's new law, so it's possible Tennessee also would lose film projects if it passes the transgender bathroom law, Strangio said. January 28, 2016 - TBI agents walk through the intersection of South Parkway and Mississippi near the scene near where Memphis police shot and killed a man. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal NASHVILLE A state bill mandating that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation be the lead agency investigating all officer-involved shootings in the state and that the findings be publicly released likely won't go as far as its sponsors intended, for this year at least. Committees in both the House and Senate have already removed the mandate for a TBI investigation, and public disclosure of the findings when TBI does investigate has been removed from the House version. Under current law, TBI investigates officer-involved shootings only when requested by district attorneys. And by law, all TBI investigative records remain permanently confidential, even after the investigations are closed. But the issue has spurred statewide interest as citizens demand more transparency when people are critically injured or killed by law enforcement officers. In Memphis, local authorities signed an agreement in October for the TBI to probe shootings by Memphis police and Shelby County sheriff's officers, but there is no state legal requirement and the agreement can be revoked. District Attorney General Amy Weirich had to petition a court to order the release of the TBI's investigative report on the shooting death of 19-year-old Darrius Stewart by a Memphis police officer after a traffic stop last July. Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, the House sponsor, said Tuesday that the mandate for TBI probes of all officer-involved shootings statewide may have been too ambitious of a goal to accomplish this year, with the legislature headed to adjournment by the end of the month, and will have to be delayed until next year. But he believes the separate provision requiring some kind of public disclosure of the investigative findings when the TBI does investigate shootings by law enforcement officers, particularly those involving deaths, will win legislative approval this year although how and when disclosure will occur is yet to be determined. The current Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, says that after TBI completes its investigation and turns its report over to the district attorney, the D.A. "may disclose the investigative records to the public upon agreement with the chief law enforcement officer of each agency involved in the shooting." That means, for example, if the TBI investigates a shooting by a Memphis police officer, the police chief and the district attorney must agree for the public disclosure of the TBI's report or it remains confidential. Kelsey did not return calls for comment Tuesday but when he presented the bill and the amendment limiting the bill's scope last week in the Senate Judiciary Committee, he cited the Darrius Stewart case. "Last year we had an officer-involved shooting in Memphis. Our district attorney wanted to release the records but she had to go to court to do so. This would simply allow the district attorney in consultation and agreement" with the chief of police to release the records, Kelsey said. The current version of the House bill has removed all references to the TBI and public disclosure, leaving only a provision that increases the death benefit paid by the state to the family of a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty from the current $25,000 to $100,000. (That provision is part of the Senate bill too.) Hardaway said that when the House Criminal Justice Committee considers the bill Wednesday, there likely will be efforts to re-insert a provision requiring public release of the results when the TBI does investigate an officer-involved shooting, with redaction of sensitive information to protect sources and other investigations. That could be immediately after TBI turns over its report to the district attorney, or 30 days later, he said. Whatever happens, the Senate and House must approve identical language for a bill to become law. Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the current version of the bill doesn't go far enough. "If the General Assembly wants transparency in officer-involved shootings, they should require that investigative reports on officer-involved shootings be made public after the investigation is over." Hardaway said that any bill requiring public disclosure is a step forward. "We will probably end up with a good bill and we will have made considerable progress, not only for victims but for officers too," he said, citing the death-benefit provision. January 28, 2016 - TBI agents walk through the intersection of South Parkway and Mississippi near the scene near where Memphis police shot and killed a man. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Richard Locker of The Commercial Appeal NASHVILLE A House committee moved Wednesday to allow public release of TBI investigative reports on officer-involved shootings "after the completion of prosecutorial functions" in such cases. Testimony in the House Criminal Justice Committee indicated that could be after a trial, if there is one, or after a grand jury declines to issue an indictment in an officer-involved shooting case. But the amendment puts the bill in a different posture than the Senate version of the bill: The Senate version allows a TBI investigative report on an officer-involved shooting to be made public after it's turned over to the local district attorney who asked the TBI to investigate but only if the district attorney and the local police chief agree to publicly release it. Current Tennessee law makes all TBI investigative files permanently confidential, including investigations of officer-involved shootings, even after cases are closed. Both bills are now awaiting further review in the House and Senate finance committees. The bill, sponsored by Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, and Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, originally required the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to be the lead agency investigating all shootings by law enforcement officers that result in death or critical injury of another person. But the sponsors have given up on passing that mandate during the current legislative session, leaving it to the discretion of local district attorneys to request TBI involvement in investigating shootings by local law enforcement officers. The bill is left with a provision to increase the current $25,000 state death benefit for the families of law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty to $100,000, and the differing provisions on the release of the TBI's report whenever the state agency does investigate officer-involved shootings. Community members urge MLGW to 'take the offramp' and not sign 20-year deal with TVA local April 6, 2016 - MIFA volunteers Tempie Anderson (from left) Learlean Jones and Rose Crabbock thank each other and those around them for their service to the community during a service to recognize the contributions AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members have on Memphis. Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps and Senior Corps was on hand to honor the volunteers. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) SHARE April 6, 2016 - Wendy Spencer, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that administers AmeriCorps and Senior Corps , laughs during ceremony to honor a room full of volunteers. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland shook hands and posed for pictures before he stopped at Cat Monaco's booth inside First Baptist Church-Broad on Wednesday morning. Monaco told Strickland about the service work taking place in the city with the Impact America Corps Program, where she is state director. Strickland attended the event to personally thank AmeriCorps members who serve in community service-based programs across the country as part of the fourth annual Mayor, County, and Tribal Recognition Day for National Service. "The Mayor and County day of recognition is for us to show them all the kinds of services we do for the community," Monaco said. "It's their day to come and see the impact that we've made." Strickland called the volunteers "invaluable." "Their volunteer hours helping make Memphis a better place is just so appreciated," Strickland said. "We just commemorated the death of Martin Luther King and to paraphrase his saying, "Life's most persistent question is what are you doing for others?" These people are living examples of what we should be doing for others, serving and helping." AmeriCorps members, usually young adults, commit to a full or part-time position with a nonprofit community organization or public agency. Senior Corps connects adults 55 and up to organizations where they can serve as mentors or companions to those who need it in their community. In Memphis there are 812 AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members, part of the 4,941 members who work across the state of Tennessee. Wendy Spencer, the CEO of the Corporation for National Community Service, which administers the AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs, traveled to Memphis for the event and thanked the crowd of roughly 250 Senior Corps members who sat in the audience. "We are nothing without you," she said. "You are serving Memphis, you are serving this great state of Tennessee, you're serving our country. It's really touching to be here on behalf of the president to thank each and every one of you." Louemma Moore, 71, became a Senior Corps volunteer with the Porter-Leath Foster Grandparents program after she retired. "I love it. We sit and help read and talk to the children," Moore said. "It helps seniors have an outing and not be stuck around the house." In Memphis, Bridge Builders Inc., the city of Memphis, Impact America, Hopeworks, the Libertas School of Memphis, Literacy Mid-South, Memphis Teacher Residency, MIFA, Porter-Leath, the Shelby County Board of Education and Teach for America all participate in AmeriCorps or Senior Corps programs. "Memphis is such a great place for AmeriCorps because there is such a really high need for the services that are being provided by AmeriCorps members," Monaco, from Impact America, said. "You can recruit volunteers from the community to get involved and see what's going on in their own backyard." SHARE By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal Traffic was back to a normal flow Wednesday afternoon on a busy stretch of Poplar Avenue in Collierville, after workers repaired damage caused about 8 a.m. when a vehicle trailer crashed into a utility pole and broke it. The accident caused electrical and communications wires to fall into the road, damaged an underground water main and forced traffic detours while workers cleaned up the mess. For much of the day, police blocked off a section of Poplar in both directions around the site of the accident. The affected area stretched from Old Byhalia to just east of New Byhalia. Police Officer Shepard Taylor said a vehicle trailer that was hauling a piece of construction equipment called a Bobcat somehow detached from the vehicle, hit the pole and broke it. The accident caused damage both above and below ground. Workers with Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division and AT&T also responded. SHARE Linda Oxford By Linda Oxford, Special to Viewpoint House Bill 1840 declares that no person providing counseling or therapy services in Tennessee shall be required to counsel or serve a client whose goals, outcomes or behaviors conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist. This bill passed the state Senate 27-5 in February, and is scheduled to go before the House of Representatives this week. Described by its supporters as a bill needed to safeguard a counselor or therapist's religious beliefs and moral convictions, some believe House Bill 1840 to be a reasonable protection of the right of conscience of counselors and therapists confronting a conflict between their own and their clients' values. What's unreasonable about this bill and its purpose is that it 1) ignores the fact that professional counselors and therapists already possess the right and the mechanisms by which to refer clients for appropriate services and 2) privileges the values and beliefs of counselors and therapists above the needs of vulnerable clients in direct opposition to professional codes of ethics that mandate that the needs and well-being of the client be paramount. As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Tennessee, I am required not only by my state licensure board, but by my profession and its code of ethics to "provide professional assistance to persons without discrimination on the basis of race, age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, gender, health status, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or relationships status." This requirement exists to ensure that all Tennesseans who could benefit from the services offered by a licensed therapist are afforded equal access to those services. The proposed legislation is unnecessary in that there are already provisions in place so that counselors and therapists may provide ethical referrals to clients based on the skills needed to provide the client with the best available services for the client's particular treatment needs. However, those same provisions prohibit counselors and therapists from using the referral process as a means of exercising discrimination against a client or prospective client, thereby ensuring that all prospective clients who could benefit from our services equal access to those services. HB1840 creates opportunities for discriminating against our state's citizens, abusing the client referral process and circumventing standard provisions in professional ethical codes that exist to protect Tennesseans. Despite the claim by its proponents that this bill protects patients and helps them obtain more appropriate care, the fact is that the bill permits counselors and therapists to put their personal beliefs and moral positions above the needs and best interests of the client, and so poses a clear threat to client well-being. Rather than requiring therapists and counselors to strictly adhere to the highest standards of mental health service provision, the bill both lessens these standards and creates a loophole that would limit access to services by those in need. Any legislation that creates such opportunities for counselors and therapists to abuse the referral process, limit access to services and risk harm to clients, whether intentional or not, is clearly not in the best interests of Tennessee mental health service consumers or their families, friends, and employers. For the hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans who seek counseling and therapy services at the most vulnerable and desperate times in their lives, it is vitally important that they have access to those services and that they are not further harmed by the rejection of those who are expected to assist them. As licensed counselors and therapists, our first priority is the well-being of those we serve, not the use of the power and privilege of our profession to impose our personal preferences on them. SHARE By Adam Plant I'm trans. And I'm Christian. Put together, those two words sometimes earn me strange looks. But in truth, these identities have been knitted together within me and have been knitting me together since I was a child. For the first two weeks of my life, I had no name. "Baby Plant" was the placeholder, while my parents searched for the perfect name for their little girl. Had I been assigned male at birth, my name would have been Adam. This truth gave me constant comfort as a child, when I would whisper that name and let the sound of it wash over me. Other names enticed me. I tried in vain to get my family and friends to call me Jack, or Tony. The names never stuck, but my deep sense of knowing that I was a boy that never went away. North Carolina has always been my home. My soul thrills at the sight of these wide-open Carolina skies. But the law that North Carolina has passed the first in the country that requires students like me and others to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificate sends angry storm clouds churning above my head, masking the beauty of my home state from view. Public bathrooms, you see, are a place of fear and anxiety for many trans people, myself included. I associated bathrooms with fear from the time I first started school as a young child. I quickly learned to feel shame about the boyish way I looked and dressed. I learned from my peers that being different was a sin, something to be punished. I learned to hide, waiting in the stall with my feet pulled up until the bathroom was empty. I preferred a reprimand from my teacher to the unpredictable punishments doled out in that cold, ceramic box. Even today, as a divinity school student and as a trans person who is privileged to be able to pass as male, public bathrooms are still one of the scariest places I frequent on a daily basis. I open the door, praying not only for an unoccupied stall, but for a completely empty bathroom. Better to not be seen here at all. If I'm out of town or in an unfamiliar place and someone enters while I am in the stall, I wait until they leave. I've seen the news stories, the police reports. Trans people overwhelmingly trans women are assaulted and harassed in public bathrooms on a regular basis. I have no desire to become one of those news stories. And so I wait. I hide. And as I wait, I think about my school-age self. I tell him that one day, he won't have to hide anymore. One day, he won't have to be afraid. Except in the bathroom. Regardless of what my state's law now says, and regardless of the gender that appears on my birth certificate, I do not plan on frequenting any women's restrooms now or any time in the future. Doing so would guarantee two things: that I would be uncomfortable, and that the women sharing the bathroom with me could be uncomfortable. And so I will continue to use bathrooms that correspond with my gender identity. If that is an act of protest, then so be it. But personally, I just like to call it "peeing." I believe that we are all on a journey of becoming a journey to find our true name. For many of our Biblical forebears, that name is different from the name we have been called our entire lives. Abram and Sarai were on a journey to become our patriarch and matriarch Abraham and Sarah. Jacob became Israel once he wrestled with God. In the New Testament, Simon made a journey to become Peter, and Saul to become Paul. And I at last realized my own true name: not the name I was assigned two weeks after birth, and not Tony or Jack. It is the name I have heard all my life, woven into the tale of my birth. Adam. Adam. Adam. In my journey, the voices of support have been mixed with a few powerful voices of condemnation. Early on in my transition, a pastor told me that his heart was breaking for me because of the apparent step I had taken away from God's plan for my life. As he was talking, all I could think was, "I'm sorry that your heart is breaking for me, but my heart is just beginning to heal." Those fragile pieces of my heart that I feared had crumbled to dust, leaving me as empty as I felt, were being brought to life again by a God I had never felt was this real or this close until She breathed life into a body that I never thought was mine. As it turns out, this is my body. It's gone through some changes it has a few more scars than it used to but they tell a story. My body tells the story of a God who formed me and saw that I was good. Not perfect, not a finished product, but good. I and my fellow trans North Carolinians will hold onto that goodness we know is within us, as we continue this lifelong journey of becoming who we truly are. We will do this with or without the support of Gov. Pat McCrory and the state legislature. But wouldn't it be better if we no longer had to hide? If we no longer needed to feel fear? If we learned to embrace those we don't understand and find that we are all human after all? I am trans. I am a Christian. I am a North Carolinian. My faith is my own and the God that I know is vast enough to include every single one of us. And my faith does not stop at the bathroom door. Adam Plant is a graduate student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity in North Carolina. He wrote this for The Washington Post. SHARE By Marc Champion Donald Trump is weighing in on the future of NATO, a topic about which he admits to knowing little and on which he is not for the first time spectacularly wrong. But he isn't wrong to pose the question of whether the alliance is now obsolete. The case made for maintaining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has often been woolly. On Monday, President Barack Obama said that the alliance remains "the linchpin, the cornerstone of our collective defense and U.S. security policy." It was a tacit riposte to Trump. The unaddressed question is: How? At various times since the collapse of the former Soviet Union, Trump might have found himself in very knowledgeable company asking that question. In 1998, George Kennan, the architect of the U.S. containment strategy during the Cold War, argued against expanding the alliance into the former Warsaw Pact countries, calling it a tragic mistake. "Don't people understand? Our differences in the Cold War were with the Soviet Communist regime," not with Russia, said Kennan. Russian leaders, then and now, agreed. Trump's sentiments also would have been in line with those of former U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld a few years later. Rumsfeld wasn't that interested in NATO as a consensus-based alliance, brushing off its declaration of NATO's Article 5 collective defense clause after 9/11. He wanted instead to form ad hoc coalitions of countries willing to sign up to particular U.S. policies, starting with the invasion of Iraq. NATO itself seemed for some years to be searching for a new role as it talked about needing to, as former U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar once put it, either "go out of area or go out of business." Alliances do generally have to stand against something if they are to survive, and many have argued that terrorism wasn't a big enough threat for NATO to unite against. The U.S. scholar of international realtions Kenneth Waltz predicted NATO's eventual demise this way: "Europe and Russia may for a time look on NATO, and on America's presence in Western Europe, as a stabilizing force in a time of rapid change. In an interim period, the continuation of NATO makes sense. In the long run, it does not." Europeans, he continued, "will have to learn to take care of themselves or suffer the consequences. American withdrawal from Europe will be slower than the Soviet Union's. America, with its vast and varied capabilities, can still be useful to other NATO countries, and NATO is made up of willing members. NATO's days are not numbered, but its years are." Waltz saw the bipolar Cold War world as an historical anomaly. Once it was over, he thought the world would inevitably return to its natural anarchic state, characterized by shifting alliances in search of a balance of power. This was Europe before 1949. Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks the same way. So does Trump, to the extent he has thought any of this through. But things have changed since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. Eastern Europeans, who never bought Kennan's belief that the threat from Moscow ended with the collapse of communism, foresaw a return to pre-communist, imperial Russian impulses. Now they think their fears have come true, giving NATO a renewed sense of purpose. Threats from the Middle East also have come closer to home for Europeans, who have turned to NATO for help with the national security threat posed by the refugee crisis. And NATO isn't just a defensive alliance to deal with external dangers; it can help defuse tensions between alliance members. Having witnessed a brawl between thousands of Hungarians and ethnic Romanians in Transylvania 1990 that left six dead and hundreds wounded, I'm pretty sure former Yugoslavia isn't the only place in post-Cold War Europe with the potential for conflict. NATO members have, finally, begun to reverse declines in defense spending. The U.S. pays 22 percent of NATO's roughly $2.3 billion common budget (a reasonable share given that the U.S. accounts for 50 percent of total alliance GDP). It continues to shoulder far too much of actual spending, but dissolving the alliance makes sense only if the U.S. can afford to walk away from European commitments. It can't. The U.S. has too much at stake in the transatlantic alliance: $700 billion in mutual trade in 2014, almost 60 percent of each other's foreign direct investment stocks, and a strategic interest in Europe as a power base. An atomized Europe detached from its alliance with the U.S., like that proposed by Trump with such insouciance, would be less stable and more dangerous than the Europe we have known. As the U.S. discovered in two world wars, it's hard to stand aside when things go wrong. If any U.S. leader wants to encourage it, they should think hard about why it is that the only supporters for the idea in Europe are the likes of Putin in Russia and right-wing ultra-nationalists, such as Hungary's Jobbik party. Then he must ask himself, do these people have U.S. interests at heart? Marc Champion writes editorials on international affairs for Bloomberg View. 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Cumbu T.V. Cumbu Tamarind Fruit Tamarind Seed Tapioca Taramira Tender Coconut Thinai (Italian Millet) Thogrikai Thondekai Tinda Tobacco Tomato Toria Tube Rose(Double) Tube Rose(Loose) Tube Rose(Single) Turmeric Turmeric (raw) Turnip Walnut Water Melon Wheat Wheat Atta White Peas White Pumpkin Wood Yam Yam (Ratalu) Select State Select Market This is a guest post for Computer Weekly Open Source Insider written by Umair Shahid in his role as head of PostgreSQL at Percona -- a company known for its work delivering enterprise-class ... In this guest post, Aidan McClean, CEO and co-founder of online electric vehicle hire firm UFODRIVE, highlights the shortcomings in the UKs car charging infrastructure The UKs 2030 ban on the ... The artist formerly known as Kanye West has tied a ribbon round his recent package of white supremacist slogans, George Floyd family agitation and anti-Semitic tropes with an agreement to purchase ... 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"The cost of transformable furniture is much less than a mortgage," said David Rose, a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab and author of Enchanted Objects: Innovation, Design and the Future of Technology. Rose was at Tuesday's MIT "Connected Things" Enterprise Forum. With that in mind, home and furniture design will incorporate collapsible systems and moveable walls that enable space to be repurposed as needed, reducing the need for big houses. These abodes will offer mesh networking that controls lighting and tells you when someone is coming. Your needs will be met not through ownership, but increasingly through connected sharing services, such as Turo, which allows vehicle owners to make their car available for rent (and helps those who want to rent). Rose bikes to work, leases his car out -- and makes money each month. Many of these systems use Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. But Rose wanted attendees to think about the goals of a connected world, "what are we striving for" or "aspire to" in that hyper-connected world of the future. That's not to say that IoT has solved its basic deployment problems. Security, in particular, remains a nightmare. And as sensors become more ubiquitous, new questions arise. What will this connected world lead to? How will it improve the human experience? In Boston, that means thinking about autonomous vehicles and the rules and systems necessary to allow these vehicles, said Nigel Jacob, co-chair of the Boston Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics. "If we want to enable these vehicles on our roadways, what do we need to do?" The city may need a programmable urban environment guided by intelligent algorithms that automatically change parking rules at the curb. Traffic flows would have to be optimized to move people and traffic, said Jacob. There are other fundamental issues yet to be addressed. "There has to be a standard about how these devices communicate," said Joel Neideig, the owner and CTO of Itamco, a precision machining and precision gear company. The company has about half million square feet of manufacturing floor space, and its been collecting data from its machines for predictive analysis and preventive maintenance. But not all of its machines can communicate with one another. In the business-to-business arena, Michael Chui, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, said that about 60% of the tech value that can be unlocked requires interoperability. Security remains a major obstacle because of cyber-physical systems that have no "perimeter," which means traditional security measures won't work, said John Walsh, president of Sypris Electronics LLC. What will be needed is security that relies on silicon, not people. "We want to get the carbon (humans) out of the loop," said Walsh to chuckles from the audience. Security improvements won't come fast enough, said Sanjay Sarma, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT and vice president of the school's open-learning program. "I think we will have a disaster on our hands; I think we will have a few disasters," said Sarma. Sarma expects security breaches to bring a couple of power plants down, as well as a chemical plant. "I'm terrified of this," said Sarma, at the conference. In an effort to encapsulate the potential for IoT, Rasmus Blom, a partner at the Implement Consulting Group, may have made the best case. By instrumenting systems, you are "getting much closer to the real need of people and society," said Blom. In other words, you can measure what is being used and what is being wasted. For instance, if IoT technology can reduce losses in water distribution systems, he said. The FBI is reportedly still analyzing Syed Farooks iPhone, but theres been a lot of drama about whether or not the FBI is using Cellebrite to crack the encrypted San Bernardino shooters iPhone. Some news outlets such as Patently Apple suggested that the FBI asking for a delay in the case could be related to the FBIs $15,278.02 purchase order with Cellebrite dated March 21. The purchase order seems to be one listed on the Federal Procurement Data SystemNext Generation (FPDS-NG), a site which posts government agency purchases. That apparently led to Steve Morgans article on Forbes which pointed out the government has dropped millions upon millions of dollars on Cellebrite via 1,511 purchase orders. So far in 2016, the biggest government customers of Cellebrite seem to be the FBI, ICE and the DEA; each are listed five times this year. Purchase orders arent really my thing, so Im no expert, but a simple search for Cellebrite 2016 resulted in 31 purchase or delivery orders for the government dated in 2016. That may be incomplete, and even shows orders from 2015, but those specifically dated 2016 are as follows: 2016 US government Cellebrite customers 5 for FBI: You are likely most curious about Cellebrite and FBI dealings. On January 6, there was a $3,850 order. On February 8, the FBI had a purchase order for $4,500. On February 29, there was one for $23,180.45 this time. On March 21, the FBI had a purchase order with Cellebrite for $15,278.02. On March 28, there was yet another for $218,004.85. ICE: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been busy with Cellebrite this year as five are dated in 2016. There was a $16,000 delivery order on January 22. $0 on February 18 with IDV (Indefinite Delivery Vehicle) type listed as IDC (Indefinite Delivery Contract). Latin would have made more sense, so draft IDV is a record that is missing certain required elements. ICE had another $0 for a March 1 delivery order. On March 2, ICE had an $11,988 delivery order from Cellebrite and the same day had another $0 delivery order. DEA: The Drug Enforcement Agency has placed so many total orders with Cellebrite that it should be getting a wholesale price by now. This year there was a $0 purchase order dated January 19 for education/training. A $6,049 purchase order on February 5 was for office devices and accessories this time. Another $0 purchase order on February 26 was for an annual service plan. The $3,098.99 order on March 21 was for IT and telecom system acquisition support. There was a $18,468 order dated March 24 and marked as information technology equipment system configuration. Secret Service: There are three orders with Cellebrite listed for the US Secret Service. A purchase order for $29,976 on March 2; another ICD for $0 on March 10 as well as a March 10 delivery order of $781,113.80. Treasury: The IRS had a Cellebrite delivery order on January 19 for $233,463.60 and a February 1 delivery order marked as $0; both are grouped with a December 30, 2015, delivery order for $59,382. The IRS is part of the Treasury Department, which had another $48,360 delivery order for the Bureau of the Fiscal Service on March 31. Military: The US Coast Guard had two Cellebrite purchase orders so far this year; $3,850 on January 13 and $6,058 on March 3. The US Army had a $0 purchase order dated on January 6. Commerce Department: On March 26, there was a $3,406.96 purchase order from the Department of Commerce Office of the Secretary. State Department: On February 10, there was a $108,500 purchase order with the contracting office listed as American Embassy Santo Domingo. On February 11, there was a $11,143.85 purchase order with the contracting office listed as American Embassy Lima; both are for education/training other. The Federal Prison System had a $3,850 Cellebrite purchase order dated March 24. Offices, Boards and Divisions had a $0 purchase order on March 24 that was marked with PSC Code support - professional expert witness; the contracting office is listed as US Attorney's Office DC. It seems to be related to two others from 2015, with only one for $4,600 showing money passing hands. USDA, NASA: Some of the odd 2016 Cellebrite government contracts I dont know what people are doing to trees, or perhaps planting in national forests, that would require the Forest Service to need Cellebrite devices to pull data off phones, but nonetheless it is listed. Specifically, it is listed under USDA which is one of the top 10 departments with Cellebrite contracts; clicking the link shows USDA, Office of Inspector General and even six purchase orders for the Forest Service none of which occurred in 2016. However, the USDA had a purchase order from March 10 for $7,700 listed for education/training other. Another headscratcher is why would NASA need Cellebrite? NASA had a $25,688.93 Cellebrite purchase order dated March 31, 2016, under the PSC code information technology support equipment. Top 10 US departments and contracting agencies for Cellebrite The all-time top 10 departments that are the best Cellebrite customers are the Justice Department (643), Homeland Security (413), Department of Defense (207), State Department (93), Treasury Department (24), Health and Human Services (19), Interior Department (18), Securities and Exchange Commission (14), Department of Agriculture (12) and NASA (12). That might be a bit deceiving on face value if you are no purchasing agreement pro; for example, following the link for Health and Human Services shows purchase orders from the CDC, FDA and Program Support Center. The Justice Department may be at the top of departments with 643, but following the link shows purchase orders for a plethora of agencies ranging from the USDA, Office of Inspector General, DISA (Defense Information Systems Agency), Forest Service, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Agency for International Development, Court Services and Offender Supervision, the Department of Energy, ATF, Acquisition and Property Management Division and the Federal Prison System. Of course there are pages and pages of Cellebrite purchase agreements for the DEA and FBI. The all-time top 10 contracting agencies include the DEA (371), ICE (216), FBI (199), US Army (106), State Department (93), US Customs and Border Protection (83), US Coast Guard (60), US Navy (55), US Marshals (28) and US Secret Service (25). Meg Whitman doesn't shy away from a challenge. She led eBay from tiny startup to household name, ran for governor of California and, nearly five years ago, took the helm at Hewlett Packard and stabilized an organization stumbling badly from a variety of very public missteps. Having engineered the split of the Silicon Valley icon into consumer tech (HP, Inc.) and corporate-focused Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Whitman is now HPE's Chief Executive Officer. The IT market is undergoing fundamental and rapid change owing to cloud, mobile and other powerful drivers. The competitive landscape in which this $50 billion startup plays is also shifting dramatically, with a slew of emerging players and the prospect of the largest-ever tech merger of Dell and EMC. No sweat, right? In this installment of the IDG CEO Interview Series, we asked Whitman to talk directly to IT leaders about what the company split means for them as customers, and how HP Enterprise's new innovation agenda will help them transition to private and hybrid cloud. Whitman spoke with Chief Content Officer John Gallant about why HPE is better positioned than Dell/EMC to drive customer success, and about the company's strategy for hyper-converged infrastructure -- HPE's so-called Composable Infrastructure. She also shared insights on big data, cognitive computing, networking, high-performance computing and other critical growth areas for the company. Whitman discussed the challenges ahead and how she'd like perceptions of the company to change. I really want to focus on what your strategy, as well as some of your recent moves, mean for our readers, who are senior IT leaders. If I'm a CIO or another top IT executive who has considered HP a strategic partner over the years, how exactly does this split benefit my organization? First, I would say that the market is moving at lightning speed. I'm sure your audience says this to you every day. I've been in the IT industry for a long time. I've never seen it move this fast. And, in fact, part of the reason for the split was that we had to get smaller to go faster. What they will find, I believe, is a stronger, more agile, more innovative company that is better positioned to help them transform their IT infrastructure. Virtually every customer I talk to has an aging, siloed, relatively high cost and not as flexible an infrastructure as they would like. And they're going to have to get to a new place with better security, using big data, enabling a mobile generation of users. Most people, not everyone, but most customers need help thinking through that and actually getting it done. We hear terms like agile and nimble a lot. Can you give our readers some specific examples of what that means for them? Where is this agility actually showing up in terms of new investment or bringing things to market more quickly? It turns out these two businesses -- both HP, Inc. as well as Hewlett-Packard Enterprise -- are two different businesses. Right? The PC and printer business is a scale [business]. We sell six PCs a second at HP, Inc. The Hewlett-Packard Enterprise business is a solutions business. And we are now doubling down on innovation and R&D. We have introduced probably the fastest and most important innovation agenda that we have had -- at least since I've been here, for sure, and maybe in the last decade. A lot of long-time HP'ers tell me this is the best product lineup we've had in a decade. It is more focused. [According to data provided by an HPE spokesman, R&D increased both in absolute terms and as a percentage of revenue over the past three years. R&D grew from $1.95 billion and 3.4% of revenue in fiscal year 2013 to $2.33 billion and 4.5% of revenue in FY2015.] I'll just tell you personally, I went from running seven businesses to basically running four. And I can tell you I go deeper on each customer, I go deeper on the technology roadmap over the next three years and I work a lot more closely with our business units because I have more time. And that shows up, I believe, in results. We've strengthened our go-to-market and I'd be happy to go through some of the products that we've introduced in the last year if that would be of interest. I definitely want to go into some of those key areas that you've mentioned. When you talk specifically about R&D and doubling down, can you put some numbers around that? What exactly would people see there? Well, first of all, they would see research and development as an increasing percentage of sales over the last 4-1/2 years, even as we were cutting costs pretty dramatically. We expect that trend to continue with Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. When you break apart the two businesses, we actually spend a higher percentage of sales on R&D at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise than we did at HP, Inc. because, obviously, the PC business doesn't have a big R&D spend and it's a huge business. I think you will see quite a different picture of our R&D spend and we're going to continue to increase that spend. When you talk about that innovation agenda, what tops that innovation agenda? What should people know about that? Well, it really focuses around the four transformation areas that we outlined late last year. The strategy for Hewlett-Packard Enterprise is in many ways the same. We want to help people transition to what we call the new style of IT and we're organizing ourselves around four transformation areas that customers basically told us were their biggest pain points. I'll recap briefly for you. How do we help IT leaders transform to a hybrid [cloud] infrastructure? How do you decide what apps you want locked down in your data center and touched only by your employees? What are you willing to have in an on-prem private cloud, a virtual private cloud and managed by the cloud and in the public cloud? And then how do you orchestrate all of that for the best asset utilization, the most flexibility and the lowest cost? The second area, of course, is how do you secure your digital assets? We have both a services practice and a software practice there. Then, how do you empower a data-driven organization? And we have a slightly different take on this because, remember, we have a very big high-performance compute business. We're practically the last man standing in high-performance computing -- only us, Cray and SGI. As the data multiplies, someone has to crunch that data and so we're really focused on the high-performance compute market. We have products like Vertica and IDOL that help gain insights from all that data. And, finally, empowering a mobile and generationally different workforce. I don't know about your company, but our 50-somethings have a very different point of view on what they want at work than our 20-somethings. And that was of course why we bought Aruba, for great wired, wireless, LAN capability at the campus, branch and edge. That investment really seems to be paying off. It was such a great acquisition for us. It was really just like 3PAR, just like 3Com, it was complementary technology that leveraged our go-to-market, and frankly gave us legitimacy in the switch market. Obviously now everyone understands that we're committed to networking and a great alternative to Cisco in many, many instances. Meg, I want to get into some of those specific product areas in a moment, but I want to explore more of the context here. Let's say I'm a customer that's committed to HP. If I'm concerned about the company no longer being the one-stop shop that it once was, or I'm worried about losing long-time contacts at the company or changes with my service and support, what are you telling customers like me? Our TS [Technology Services] organization -- which is break/fix -- used to be one organization. But 4-1/2 years ago we actually split TS to support printing and PCs, and then the other half to support our server/storage/networking/cloud initiative. What we found was the skills to service printers and PCs are actually quite different than the skills to service Superdome Integrity X servers running SQL. So that has not been a big change for customers. If they bought our PCs and printers they got one set of TS execs and workforce, and if they bought our data center products they had another. When we went through the separation, we actually had two separate contracts with customers because we had to invoice as two separate companies, they had to pay two separate companies. So to do that we went customer by customer -- by the way, value added reseller by value added reseller, of which we have 150,000 -- to get that technology change made there. Then, by the way, most folks had at least two representatives calling on them. They had a data center person and a printer and PC business. Our global accounts had one person, and the global accounts will still run interference. If you're on the HPE side, they'll run interference for HP, Inc. I have to say that customers have adapted to this beautifully. I think I've had one customer call me and say, "Hey, I wish I could still have my AGM [account general manager] in charge of all of HP." And I said, "Well great, you can. Don't worry about it, we'll do some one-offs for you." But the truth is the people making the printer and PC decisions are almost entirely different than the executives that are making the data center decisions. So it's been a really seamless separation of these two companies. Customers got it. There's an expression in politics: When you're explaining, you're losing. And we didn't have to do much explaining on this, honestly. 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. Davidson pledges to break up Labour-SNP stranglehold The Herald reports that the leader of the Scottish Conservatives argued that electing her party to be opposition in the Scottish Parliament would introduce a genuine clash of ideas to politics north of the border. Speaking in Ayr, Ruth Davidson accused Labour of failing to challenge the SNP on a range of issues, especially the increasingly controversial and unpopular Named Person scheme. In her column for this site last week, she set out in detail how both Labour and the Nationalists planned to use Holyroods new tax powers in ways which would render Scotland uncompetitive. However, other parties attacked Tory proposals to introduce backdoor tuition fees, claiming they were part of a hidden tax plan. Whilst coming second would be a superb result, the Conservatives primary goal next month is winning 20 seats, their best-ever result. Hoey claims court case might be needed to win Labour candidates right to stand in Northern Ireland It may take a legal challenge to force Labour to contest elections in all four corners of the United Kingdom, according to one of its MPs. According to the News Letter Kate Hoey, the Ulster-born MP for Vauxhall and head of Labour Leave, made her remarks after the central party once again denied its local activists the opportunity to stand. Labour has traditionally resisted organising in Ulster due to its links with the nationalist SDLP, which returns three MPs. It has an active and sizeable local branch regardless, after admitting Northern Irish members in 2003. She also joined Owen Paterson, the former Northern Irish Secretary, on the streets of Belfast to campaign for Brexit this week. Dugdale takes friendly fire over suggestion she might back independence Tom Harris, the former Labour MP and minister, has attacked the leader of Scottish Labour for suggesting that she might back Scottish independence in the event of Brexit. Speaking to PoliticsHome Harris, who is now the Scottish director of Vote Leave, claimed she was making a major mistake in trying to make the EU referendum a proxy for Scottish independence. Dugdale seemed to row back from her remarks afterwards, prompting Sturgeon to accuse her of u-turning. The possible impact of Brexit on the integrity of the Union has been written about elsewhere on this site. DUP warn of chaos if they come second to Sinn Fein Nigel Dodds, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, has warned of chaos if the Democratic Unionists dont come first in next months provincial elections, the News Letter reports. The Belfast North MP was trying to corral unionist voters behind his party, hoping to repeat their 2011 performance when fear of Sinn Fein drove the DUP to a great result. Meanwhile Arlene Foster, the First Minister, unveiled the DUPs ambitious bid to win back a seat for unionism in Belfast West, which has been without a single pro-Union MLA since Diane Dodds lost her seat in 2007. Replacing the long-standing and unpopular Peter Robinson, Foster has become a focal point of the DUP campaign. Sturgeon feels the heat over secret China deal The First Minister of Scotland was accused this week of trying to keep secret the terms of an agreement struck between the Scottish Government and a Chinese consortium. Despite being signed before the purdah period that precedes next months election, the administration did not make details of the deal public and told The Sun it would need to make a Freedom of Information request. This apparent secrecy prompted a backlash both from the opposition and the press, especially due to the current focus Chinese commercial practices in the steel industry. Jones calls for UK Government to take over Port Talbot steelworks The First Minister of Wales used a special session of the Assembly to urge the Government to take over and operate the Tata steelworks until a new buyer could be found, according to Wales Online. He argued that whilst the Welsh government was prepared to contribute funds, it did not have the financial means to underwrite the plant on its own. Elsewhere, ministers in his administration were criticised for using taxpayer-funded limousines to make very short journeys. UKIP select Scottish candidates amidst stitch-up allegations The UK Independence Party has unveiled its candidates for Mays elections to the Scottish Parliament, but have followed their Welsh comrades by having a row over selections. UKIP have opted only to contest the regional list seats, rather than spend resources on individual constituency races, and are running 26 candidates in all. However, the leadership faced a backlash over claims that senior members had been parachuted into regions they didnt live in and that David Coburn, the partys Scottish MEP, had been given carte blanche to select and rank candidates. Several members selected as candidates dropped out close to the deadline, leaving the Peoples Army with four candidates on some lists but only three in others. Rebecca Coulson is a freelance classical musician and writer, and was Parliamentary Candidate for the City of Durham at the 2015 General Election. Thinking Africas a country, going ghostbusting, telling me you dont like seafood whilst Im cooking crab linguine for you, using comma splices. We all have cut-off points. Now, Im not talking about real failings, such as wanting to punish women whove had abortions, or refusing to denounce the Ku Klux Klan. Rather, its those lines past which we can continue to deem someone a decent person, but lose hope of respecting them, again. One of my most resolute lines has to be homeopathy: the more I fear you might believe in it, the more my respect for you will be diluted Something unlikely to form a cut-off between us, however, is the admission that Ive always (perhaps unthinkingly) been a monarchist. We love our kings and queens here. Even when we dont. Recent YouGov polling suggests that the nations second least favourite monarch is King Canute what a very British question, and answer. Whether we love them, or love to hate them, monarchs categorise our past: an apt citizenship test could consist of points awarded per name recited from Willy, Willy, Harry, Ste, and, obviously, its coolest to favour Shakespeares history plays. In this, the month of our longest reigning monarchs 90th birthday, were more royalist than ever. The aforementioned poll claims that only nine per cent of people consider the monarchy to be bad for Britain, and as many as 67 per cent, good. That sentiment must be exaggerated on our side of the spectrum: we conservatives are by definition into traditional institutions, arent we? The first Tories were set apart by their support for the crown: they were cavalier, fighting to save Carolingian heads and a classic line of succession. Then, after everyone tired of bloodshed, and managed to find a way to maintain the monarchy but promote the parliament, sensible conservatives felt content (if politically neutered, for a while). And that desire to protect yet, when necessary, apply common-sense reform to viable institutions is certainly the kind of conservatism I like. Those institutions depend on their context, however. In America, the founding Tories backed the British crown against the revolution; as republicanism became a defining feature of the country, it also became its conservative standpoint (Ill save a Trumpian analysis for another day). Conservatism is situational and non-ideological: conservatives want to conserve their nations traditions and values. To some, that might seem irrationally reactionary. You champion a thing simply because its there? What if it were wrong? Well, thats where sense comes in: to stay right, you have to continue justifying your views. So, is monarchism good in itself? Reassessment seems appropriate, now during our ongoing feud over questions of sovereignty, national and international makeup, the role of elected and unelected leaders, and that small but shouty swing from even the steadiest forms of establishment. The long-time divisions within Britains political parties become ever more evident. Labours hybrid marriage of trades-unionism, communist apologism, middle-class sensitivity, and social democracy is bulging at its uniformed seams. On the other side, alliances remain between a High Tory devotion to Queen, God, and country; the advocacy of liberal values and varying degrees of libertarianism; Thatcherite free marketeering; interventionist neo-whatever; and a modernised one-nation redistribution drive. Interpreting conservatism as non-ideological, however, elucidates why a broad church works better for us than for Labour. In that light, although free market economics isnt inherently conservative, its fine to be a conservative and like Nozick, too. Sure, we could dream up clever arguments explaining how everything each of us believes conforms to or, sometimes, is contingent on a conservative attitude. But we dont have to. We can be happily pragmatic, without the need for (or the constraints of) an overriding belief system. That said, the monarchy unifies most Britons. In negative terms, it represents something the majority of us oppose because, today, equality reigns supreme. Ok, we havent agreed on how we might attain that equality, or what the word actually means. Regardless of your specific stance, though, heritable rulership (even without primogeniture) probably doesnt fit. Yet monarchism also unifies us positively: republicanism isnt popular on either of our main parties fronts. In economic straits, jubilee moments dower the land with a bunting-clad, sausage-roll-crumbed, river-boat-powered, burst of joyful Gloriana. The famous financial benefits of the monarchy may be famously unquantifiable, but its an undeniable social cement. The Queen is soft and safe: a reliable haven amongst increasing uncertainty over how we should rethink our complex institutional relationships. Its understandable to shelter in the embrace of that soft safeness rather than face up to what monarchy might truly signify. Whether that salve will stick returns us to homeopathy. Ive always been a Prince Charles fan: he wears nice shirts; Poundbury proves the possibility of modern housing; his trust has helped nearly a million struggling 13-to 30-year-olds; and a love of Wagner is no longer one of my cut-off points. Yet, the princes well-known faith in that most illogical of alternative medicines exemplifies my fears about him. The monarchys present popularity is dependent on the Queen, and, surely, her likeableness is tied to her apoliticism. Her promotion of the greatness of Britain has never crossed into critical commentary on its governance. Prince Charles differs. He may have been persuaded against joining the Labour Party as a student, and his scrawled memos may have mostly pushed policy on topics as uncontroversial as endangered species, but his approach is alien, nonetheless (Id say new, if it werent for his ancestry). In short, even if Prince Charles as king were to stop holding court on his favourite issues, wed already know, or suspect, what he thought. And that will be forever exploitable as a lobby tool, whether used in the endorsement of unscientific healthcare, or appeasement of Iran. To me, our current royal situation suits the highly representative and localist nature of our political system. Constituency-based parliamentary democracy is supremely more tangible in its accountability to the people than a regime in which your vote counts as one of millions, setting off on a serpentine voyage towards a couple of party-chosen, presidential kings-in-waiting. The Queen, in practice, is no executor. Yes, she symbolises checks and balances, but if she, or any successor ever tried with the slightest spider steps to activate the adjective in the Royal Prerogative, immediate headlines would herald the excitement of a tautogrammatical constitutional crisis. As a favourite figurehead, Elizabeth II unites our great almost-republic. The monarchy works well, here for now. Ending Human Violence Is A Task For Each Of Us By Robert J. Burrowes 06 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org Do you think that ending human violence is impossible? Do you believe that even aiming to do so is unrealistic? Well, you might be right. But you might also be interested to know that there are a lot of people around the world who are committed to trying. And, if you think the aim is worthwhile, you could be one of them. The most casual perusal of the media will confirm what most of us suspect: violence takes many forms and it is absolutely pervasive. But what the media might not report regularly is that there are some phenomenal people and organizations out there that are doing everything they can to tackle one or more aspects of this violence. And as they identify themselves as part of one or more worldwide networks working on violence, they acquire a fuller appreciation of what is being achieved. Let me tell you about one such network 'The People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World' http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com which has participants in 93 countries who are committed to developing and implementing nonviolent solutions to each and every violent problem in our world. Some of these people work locally, some work nationally, some work regionally and some work globally. Some work on domestic violence, some are working to end war, some are tackling exploitation and poverty, some work on national liberation struggles and some work on one or more environmental issues. But each of them is committed to developing a way out of the violent mess in which we now find ourselves. Here are some of them. Zaure Khizatolla lives in Kazakhstan. Motivated since a young age by her 'mission in life', she has sought to answer the question 'What should I do to make the World better?' Well, Zaure is now a mother, lawyer, poet, writer and peacemaker and in each of these roles she seeks to reduce the violence in our world. As a poet, for example, she is highly productive and among her many poems she has written 153 about love! You can read her poems here http://www.stihi.ru/avtor/zaureha and read more about Zaure and see some photos of her here. http://www.peacefromharmony.org/?cat=en_c&key=466 Enrique Ramirez Guier of Costa Rica is a biologist whose work is focused on terrestrial and marine ecology projects in Costa Rica, several other countries in Central and South America and beyond. From 2003-2008 he was Executive Director of the Tropical Science Center in Costa Rica, a not-for-profit NGO established in 1962 for natural resource management, private conservation of natural resources, environmental assessment and management planning, project development and implementation, and environmental education. His responsibilities in this position included management supervision of 5 biological preserves, including the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve, which is the world's best known, and iconic, cloud forest and home to a staggering 2.5% of world biodiversity! If you like, you can see something about this beautiful cloud forest here. http://www.cloudforestmonteverde.com/ Australian Anahata Giri is a yoga and meditation teacher who remains committed to practising nonviolent parenting as part of her personal pledge to making our world nonviolent. If this sounds obvious and easy, you might find it more challenging after reading her brilliant article 'I have never punished my child: parenting for a nonviolent world'. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2015/11/i-have-never-punished-my-child-parenting-for-a-nonviolent-world/ Amatus Douw from West Papua is an ambassador of the United Liberation Movement of West Papua (ULMWP). He is committed to the nonviolent liberation of his country from Indonesian occupation. His recent book on West Papua 'The World's Richest Islands of West Papua: Under International System in the 21st Century' has just been published and can be obtained here. http://www.amazon.com/Worlds-Richest-Islands-West-Papua/dp/6022691532 Ime Bisassoni is a talented performance artist from Argentina who works all over the world. In her work she reminds us that most people grow up forgetting 'how cute and fun it is to be a child'. They forget their own lack of hatred and ambition, what it means to 'play a game without the idea of winning something'. Perhaps, she wonders, 'if the world was a child' everything would be different. 'There would be no hunger and poverty, there would be no sadness or pain'. Do you remember the feeling of 'happiness upon awakening'? You can see something about her remarkable efforts and read some of her poetry here. http://www.aveviajera.org/semillasdejuventud/id424.html Yunusa Badjie is from Gambia where he works as an electrical engineer at the only water and electricity company in that country. But his commitment to work towards ending violence stems from his realisation that 'The unstable of the world have touched each and every soul directly or indirectly: no wonder if it's not you, it is your neighbour. War everywhere violence everywhere.' Jill Gough is national secretary of Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Cymru which works relentlessly to end all aspects of militarism in Wales and Britain. On 27 February, for example, they were part of a 'Stop Trident' rally and demonstration in central London involving people from across Britain resisting any replacement of the Trident Nuclear Weapons system. The support for the campaign against Trident and its replacement is, and always has been, strong in Wales. And explaining CND Cymru's participation in a nonviolent action against the Cardiff Weapons Fair on 16 March, Jill explained that 'Arms Fairs are crucial to the smooth-running of the arms trade. They promote weapons sales by giving arms dealers the chance to meet and greet military delegations, government officials, other arms companies and a host of individual visitors. Unsurprisingly, the guest lists for arms fairs frequently include regimes who abuse human rights, and countries actively involved in armed conflicts.' You can read more about their great nonviolent activism on their website. http://www.cndcymru.org/ Apart from the individuals mentioned above, a large range of organisations around the world has endorsed the Nonviolence Charter too. You can see these names on the Charter website. So have a ponder. Does violence concern you? Would you like to know more about why it happens? See 'Why Violence?' http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence and 'Fearless Psychology and Fearful Psychology: Principles and Practice'. http://anitamckone.wordpress.com/articles-2/fearless-and-fearful-psychology/ And does making a commitment to join those who are working to end it feel worthwhile? If so, you are welcome to sign the online pledge of 'The People's Charter to Create a Nonviolent World'. http://thepeoplesnonviolencecharter.wordpress.com and to consider participating in 'The Flame Tree Project to Save Life on Earth'. http://tinyurl.com/flametree The simple reality is that violence will only end when each one of us is committed to ending it. Are you? Robert J. Burrowes has a lifetime commitment to understanding and ending human violence. He has done extensive research since 1966 in an effort to understand why human beings are violent and has been a nonviolent activist since 1981. He is the author of 'Why Violence?' http://tinyurl.com/whyviolence His email address is flametree@riseup.net and his website is at http://robertjburrowes.wordpress.com Panama Papers: Iceland PM Gunnlaugsson Resigns By Countercurrents.org 06 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org In the first instance of a prominent politician taken down by the 11.5 million documents leaked in the Panama Papers, Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson resigned on Tuesday after fully 10 percent of Iceland's population rallied in protest of his wife's secret, offshore shell company holding millions. PM had earlier asked President to dissolve Parliament, call for new elections. Panama Papers showed PM's wife owned offshore company with big claims on Iceland's collapsed banks. Mr Gunnlaugsson was one of 12 current and former world leaders to have his alleged hidden financial dealings. Pressure had been mounting on Mr Gunnlaughsson, 41, to resign after leaked documents showed his wife owned an offshore company with big claims on Iceland's collapsed banks. Following the announcement, Iceland's opposition party maintained that they still wanted to hold a snap general election. Mr Gunnlaugsson's company, named Wintris Inc and acquired in 2007, was intended to manage his wife's inheritance from her wealthy businessman father, according to the Panama Papers. The Prime Minister sold his 50 per cent share to his wife for a symbolic sum of $US1 at the end of 2009. But when he was elected to Parliament for the first time in April 2009, as a member of the centre-right Progressive Party, he neglected to mention his stake in his declaration of shareholdings. Puttakota Killing Of Adivasi Farmers By Greyhounds Police By The Human Rights Forum 06 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org The Human Rights Forum (HRF) demands that Greyhounds police personnel responsible for the killing of two adivasis Ganga Madkami (40) and Ganga Podiami (33), on the afternoon of February 21, 2016 in the Puttakota forest area of Koyyuru mandal in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh be booked under relevant penal sections of the law and criminally prosecuted. A two-member HRF team visited several villages in Korukonda block of Malkangiri district of Odisha on 31-3-2016 to elicit facts about the alleged encounter at Puttakota that resulted in the death of two adivasis and bullet injuries to one person. The team visited Balakati village in Dudametta panchayat, the native village of the two deceased and spoke with residents and family members. We went to Tumasapalli village, where we met and spoke with Irma Kawasi (50) the injured survivor of the February 21 firing. Contrary to the fiction being peddled by the AP police including senior officials, Madkami and Podiami were not members of the Galikonda area committee of the Maoists. Nor was there any exchange of fire as the police have maintained. In matter of fact, there was no provocation of any sort by the adivasis warranting the police to exercise any force upon them, much less kill them. Madkami and Podiami were adivasi farmers of Balakati who were, along with Kawasi, part of a group of 22 adivasis, all of them belonging to the Koya tribe, from three villages of Korukonda block --- Balakati, Tumasapalli and Nemelguda (Mariwada panchayat). They set out into the forest on February 14 in search of wild game, a custom that is traditionally undertaken twice or thrice a year by the Koyas. Only those who are adept at tracking and trapping wild animals in the forest go out on these trips. The group ventured quite far from their area into the Puttakota reserve forest in AP since game there is aplenty and they expected to bring back home some good catch. At about noon on February 21, Madkami, Podiami, Kawasi and Mukka Madkami set out for the hunt while the other 18 were preparing food. About two hours later, they were resting in a fairly open area with traditional bows and arrows and 2 country-made weapons when there was a burst of gunfire which felled Madkami and Podiami killing them instantly. A bullet hit Kawasi on his left upper arm and lodged itself inside while another one went through the upper portion of his right arm. A terrified Mukka Madkami,who was lucky to escape any injuries, fled. He returned to his village Tumasapalli five days later. (Tragically, he died on the night of March 30 of a snake-bite while asleep in his house.) Irma Kawasi ran in the direction away from the gunfire and managed to reach Puttakota village where the residents helped him lie down in the village church. He was semi-conscious and unable to eat anything only sipping some water an old woman gave him. The police came looking the next morning and took him away with them and along with the bodies of Madkami and Podiami shifted them to Narsipatnam. After a post-mortem was done and information sent to Balakati, the police handed over the bodies to relatives of the deceased who brought them backand cremated them on March 25. The police also gave Rs 10,000 each to the two families. After preliminary treatment, Kawasi was taken to Visakhapatnam to a place he calls the police medical centre at Kailasgiri. He was operated upon and the bullet removed from his left hand. After convalescing, he was sent home by the police on March 16 after being given Rs 5000. It is clear to us that on February 21, a combing part of the Greyhounds chanced upon the four adivasis, two of them with country-made weapons, in the Puttakota forest and opened fire straightaway. If their reaction was provoked by two of the adivasis holding country-made weapons, then it makes it no less of a crime. There was no attempt by the Greyhounds whatsoever to call out to the adivasis. A hail of bullets were immediately let lose killing two instantly and injuring a third. Contrary to the habitual assertion by the police, this was not a case of firing in self-defence resulting in the death of two Maoist cadre. The Greyhounds shot dead two adivasi farmers as if they were wild game. Those responsible for these deaths cannot be allowed to wash their hands off in such a cavalier manner. They must be held accountable to the law.No mention has been made till date by the police about the injured Kawasi. The reason for keeping secret the treatment they got done for the injuries he sustained is obvious. Revealing it would have opened up the truth about the one-sided and unilateral firing by the police and the wanton,consequent death of two adivasi civilians. We demand that the Greyhounds personnel as well as police officials concerned be charged under IPC 302 and other relevant penal provisions including screening of evidence as well as the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The investigation into this case must be handed over to the CBI. The families of the two deceased must be paid not less than Rs 10 lakh each and Rs 5 lakh must be given to Kawasi. We urge the Malkangiri Collector to visit Tumasapalli, meet Kawasi and ensure that he gets proper medical treatment in the weeks ahead so that he may fully recover. VS Krishna (HRF general secretary, AP&TS) K Sudha (HRF executive committee member) Modis Visit And Saudi-India Relations By Sazzad Hussain 06 April, 2016 Countercurrents.org Prime Minister Narendar Modis recent visit to oil-rich Gulf monarchy of Saudi Arabia coincides in a time when the ever volatile Middle-East and West Asia has been experiencing a change in their geo-politics vis-a-vis the world order. Iran has been embraced to the global partnership of trade and diplomacy following the landmark agreement on its nuclear programmes and the battle against the deadly IS has been considerably won by the regime forces in Syria. At the same time Modis visit to the kingdom is significant so far as Indian Muslims are concerned. The monarchy which endorses and exports a brand of Islam that homogenizes Muslims across the world at the cost of local diversities has been a matter of concern for a nation of pluralistic culture and inclusive society like India. Therefore a multitude of questions and apprehensions remain following the Prime Ministers visit to Riyadh and on the India-Saudi relations in the changing world order. Saudi Arabia, founded in 1932 by Ibn Saud with British help has been occupying centre stage in the world affairs for two major reasonsfirst to be the protector of the two most holiest sites of Islam and second for its oil. The Saudi king overtook the control of the two grand mosques of Mecca and Medina, earlier controlled by Ottomans and since then the royal family has been enjoying the awe and reverence from Muslims around the world, particularly for the annual Haj. Secondly the discovery of oil in that kingdom in 1939 made Roosevelt to forge a lifelong tie of America for its energy demands. These two aspects of Saudi Arabia has put the country in a unique position in the world enjoying allegiance from a vast population transcending political or territorial borders and the protection from a mighty superpower who is not interested on the undemocratic set up of the kingdom. Indian Muslims, like any from other countries, had a regular touch with the kingdom for the Haj and it flourished during the British colonial period. The British shipping companies earned a lot of money during that period by arranging tour packages for Indian pilgrims. As India gained independence after WWII, Saudi Arabia allied with America in the Cold-War scenario. It started to follow a pro-western policy at the same time perusing an Islamist agenda. So it set up OIC (Organization of Islamic Conference) to form a group of countries having large Muslim populations. Though India was following a non-aligned policy based on Nehruvian socialism and secularism, it was invited to join the OIC for its large Muslim population. New Delhi too responded by sending its agriculture minister Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed to it summit in Rabat in 1969. But India could not become a member due to opposition from Pakistan, a move which was silently agreed by Riyadh. After that Saudi Arabias policy was always tilted towards Pakistan. It was also instrumental in supporting the military dictatorship of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in Pakistan that Islamized (read Arabized) the country from South Asian elements. Saudi Arabia again came to the prominence as a global player when it successfully increased the oil prices by imposing an oil-embargo against the west in 1974. That incident, which created OPEC, was responsible for the oil-boom that reshaped the Gulf region to be the hub of the global rich economy. Empowered by the massive oil revenue, Riyadh started to stretch out its influence in different places of the world through Islam. Ever since its inception, Saudi Arabia has been the upholder of Wahhabism, a strict and militant form of Islam called Salafism that reject any local element in Islam to be impure. The Saudi outreach spread Wahhabism as the purest form of Islam in Muslim societies across the globe funding seminaries and religious congregations. This petro-Islam served the Cold-War designs of America very much whose battlefront was set on the Af-Pak border following the entry of Soviet troops in Kabul. The Afghan Mujahedeen, which was made to attract transnational volunteers created Osama bin-Laden, a Saudi subject. The Saudis too backed Iraqs Saddam Hussain, a Sunni to fight a decade long war with Shiite Iran following the 1979 Revolution which had toppled pro-west Shah Pahlavi. India was opposed to both these hostilities and suffered a lot as the Afghan jihadist later reinforced on Kashmir from 1989 after the Soviet pull out. India also suffered the Kandahar hijacking at the hands of Taliban installed in Kabul in 1996 by Pakistan with Saudi help. Now the same Saudi regime is soft towards IS. Meanwhile the Wahhabi elements of Islam, exported by Saudi Arab destroyed the age old Islamic heritage of Islam in India which was Sufi, inclusive and diverse. The prevalent domestic crisis of communalism and this Saudi petro-Islam pushed the Indian Muslims further to the corner with increased burqa system and self-alienation as well as a distance between Shiites and Sunnis. Despite these India has never been hostile towards the kingdom. The Saudi King Abdullah bin-Abdul Aziz was the official guest in Republic Day Parade in 2006. Earlier King Fahd bin-Abdul Aziz attended the NAM Summit in New Delhi in 1983. Prime Minister Modi visit to Riyadh is important because of the presence of a large Indian expatriates there. On many occasions these Indians face problems from being the victim of fraudulent placement to abuse by employers, jails and deportations and even executions. The agreements signed between the two nations during Modis visit are expected to address problems of Indian expatriates in Saudi Arab. Though there was an agreement on non-oil economic sector, we expected a favourable bilateral oil deal between the two countries following the slash of global oil prices. Or India should reconsider the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project inked during the NDA government which was later abandoned by the UPA following American pressure. As Iran is emerging to be a major regional power in the Middle-East following the lifting of the sanctions, India should be extra cautious in its relations with Riyadh because the Saudis consider Tehran to be their arch enemies. As President Bashar al-Assads army has been recapturing the territories from the IS in Syria, New Delhi should extend support to Damascus to contribute its role in the war against terror. However it is Saudi Arabia which is opposed to the Assad regime, a secular establishment which is crucial for checking radical Islamist militancy in that region and for the honourable settlement of the Palestinian conflictthe issues that New Delhi is committed to. The writer is a freelancer based in Assam SHARE File photo Greg Wathen has been named among the top 50 economic developers in North America. Consultant Connect, a consulting agency that strives to bridge the gap between economic developers and site consultants, recently named Greg Wathen, president and CEO of the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana, as one of North America's Top 50 Economic Developers. This is the second year for Wathen to be named to the list. According to a release, since March 2007, Wathen's leadership has helped garner over $2.8 billion in investment, over 3,500 jobs and $74 million in state and federal grants for the region. In 2015, he helped Southwestern Indiana be named one of Indiana's first Regional Cities with an award of $42 million in state funding to help create projects. Wathen previously worked as the executive director for the Perry County Development Corporation and was public affairs manager for the Greater Louisville Economic Development Partnership. He also managed the Greater Louisville Media Information Center, an independent news service bureau which assisted international, national and regional media in dealing with stories about the Greater Louisville area. In 1999 and 2001, he was part of a five-member U.S. team who taught the first tertiary and advanced economic development courses in New Zealand. The podcast "From the Ground Up: North america's Top 50 Economic Developers," has a conversation with Wathen that can be heard at http://consultantconnect.org/1435-2/. SHARE By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press Local high school seniors recently learned their college education would be paid in full. The 2016 Lilly Endowment Community Scholars will receive full tuition to the Indiana college of their choice, as well as a $900 yearly stipend for books and equipment. The Vanderburgh County Community Foundation named Maria del Valle Coello, Philip Eykamp II and Valerie Muensterman as Evansville's Lilly Scholars. Coello and Eykamp are both Signature School seniors. Coello plans to study environmental science at Indiana University with a goal to be a scientific researcher. Eykamp plans to study chemical engineering at the University of Notre Dame. And Muensterman, a Mater Dei High School senior, aspires to be a writer after pursuing an English degree from the University of Notre Dame. Lilly Scholar alternates are Reitz High School's Kristina DiDomizio and Jacob Riggs, North High School. In Posey County, the community foundation's Lilly Scholar recipient is Jarrod Koester, a senior at North Posey High School. Warrick County Community Foundation awarded two Lilly scholarships to Donnie Fuerstenau and Laura Titzer, both seniors at Castle High School. To select the winners, each foundation's scholarship committee reviews each applicant's academic performance, school and community activities, any barriers they have overcome and financial need. Then, finalists in each county were interviewed by the scholarship committee. Nominations were submitted to Independent Colleges of Indiana, Lilly Endowment's statewide administrator, for formal selection of recipients. Indiana ranks among the lowest in percentage of residents older than 25 with a bachelor's degree. So the scholarships are part of a statewide Lilly Endowment initiative with a goal to help Hoosier students reach higher levels of education. The endowment funded 142 scholarships statewide, which encourages students to stay in Indiana and contribute their talents to local communities. SHARE By Zach Osowski, zach.osowski@courierpress.com INDIANAPOLIS The Indiana Black Legislative Caucus will make a stop in Evansville this weekend to recap the 2016 session and discuss issues voters would like to see addressed. The IBLC is comprised of African-American legislators and works to address the needs of all Hoosiers with an emphasis on the struggles of minority populations. Opportunities for better education, public safety and more economic opportunities for families dealing with financial hardship are some of the top issues the caucus has been trying to address over the years. None of the legislators from Southwestern Indiana are on the caucus, but the members frequently visit various parts of the state to hear from all Indiana residents. The group has already had events in Indianapolis and Fort Wayne and will be visiting Terre Haute, South Bend and Gary before the end of April. "The sessions give us the opportunity to learn what Hoosiers think needs to be improved in Indiana," IBLC Chairman Sen. Lonnie Randolph said. "Our constituents' input is invaluable as we work to shape the course of the next legislative session." The IBLC town hall meeting will take place at the University of Southern Indiana at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Wright Administration Building. Everyone is welcome to attend the event, especially those with questions or concerns they would like to see the caucus address. SHARE By Zach Evans of the Courier and Press The Evansville Redevelopment Commission approved a $298,338 contract for an Indianapolis company to inspect the North Main Street project. The $16.7 million project to redo North Main Street between Division Street and Garvin Park will start sometime this month. The contract with RQAW Corp. gives the company its first regional job to inspect the work completed by the contractor and subcontractors. City Engineer Brent Schmitt said RQAW will be on site every day to inspect the full scope of the project to ensure its done to the city's specifications. "This is a long-term investment," Schmitt said during the meeting. "And it's a project we want there, not for 10 years, but for 50 years." The city will typically use an outside firm to inspect large-scale public projects, like it did for the Weinbach-Washington Avenue intersection and the pedestrian bridge over the Lloyd Expressway, he said. "My office felt the need to have the assistance to ensure the construction was done right," he said. Newburgh-based Ragle, Inc. is the lead contractor on the project. In other business, the redevelopment commission approved two change orders for the Downtown hotel project Tuesday. The board approved paying $29,338 for a change of drainage plans to help reroute roof drains to stormwater collectors underground. The second change order was for $11,428 to alter the hotel street lighting to match the lighting the city will install for the Downtown medical school streetscape project. The board also awarded bids to pave two parking lots on North Main Street. Deig Brothers Construction won the project for 602 N. Main St. for $87,257. Rivertown Construction won the paving project at 14 W. Iowa St. for $77,777. SHARE By Zach Evans of the Courier and Press Vanderburgh County employees continued to unload their frustrations on county commissioners Tuesday night over changes to a voluntary retirement fund. The changes, the employees said, came with none of their input, and negatively affect their investments. In November, commissioners approved changing an employee retirement account broker from Nationwide to Voya-Wells Fargo. The minimum guarantee on the most-used fixed account for Nationwide was 3.5 percent for Voya-Wells Fargo, it will drop to 2.1 percent by 2018. Most county employees didn't learn about the change until last month. That left many employees feeling left out, said Maryann Weightman, a supervisor in the misdemeanor traffic courts. "I just question the change. ... A lot of us aren't very happy with this," Weightman said. The plan is voluntary, and is not connected to the Public Employee Retirement Fund. The plan works like a 401(k), but without any contribution by the county only county employees are paying into the fund. Jim Ethridge, a retired county employee, said employees and retirees should've been asked before making the change. "The process by which you switched this was about as transparent as a brick wall," Ethridge said. "I urge you to take steps to reconsider it and give the county employees an input into the decision." (Ethridge is the brother of Courier & Press Editor Tim Ethridge.) County Commissioner President Bruce Ungethiem, R-District 2, said after the meeting he thinks there's a lot of misinformation about the change being spread around. Meetings scheduled for next week will lay out the details of the plan, he said. Most employees and retirees, though, likely haven't received notice of the meeting yet. The county used Nationwide for the service for 34 years. Ungethiem said it was the commissioners' due diligence to evaluate their plan against other offerings. Nationwide's service fees were too high, he said. On top of lower service fees, Ungethiem said the average performance of the Voya-Wells Fargo account over 10 years was 4.06 percent, while it was 3.66 percent for Nationwide. Linda Freeman, the chief deputy surveyor who spoke against the change in the last commissioners' meeting, said she knows commissioners had discretion to change the plan. "But the other side of the coin is it is voluntary, it is our money, and then you guys didn't even have the decency to ask us about it. It's six months after the fact, six months after you signed this agreement and now we're going to get some info. " ... So, yeah, we're upset. I don't know why you guys don't understand. You kind of downplay it," she said. Of the county's 800 employees, 441 take part in the voluntary retirement fund. It wasn't clear Tuesday how many retired county employees are affected by the change. The new retirement plan goes into effect in May. Photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Evansville Signature School sophomore Ritik Shah (left) hands Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, along with Rep. Holli Sullivan, the pen to be used for signing the Regional Cities bill at Tuesday's ceremony held at the Robert L. Koch II Science Center. SHARE Held at the Signature School Science Center, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence watches as Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke addresses guests attending Tuesday's signing of the Regional Cities bill. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Indiana Governor Mike Pence signing the Regional Cities bill during Tuesday's ceremony at the Robert L. Koch II Science Center, April 5, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Tuesday's signing ceremony for the Regional Cities bill held at the Robert L. Koch II Science Center, April 5, 2016. MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS Indiana Governor Mike Pence speaking at Tuesday's signing ceremony for the Regional Cities bill, April 5, 2016. By Susan Orr of the Courier and Press Evansville has a reputation as a city with a poor self-image. But Indiana's Regional Cities program is helping the community shed this problem, local officials say. "Regional Cities is giving us the opportunity to look at ourself through a different lens to understand that we are worthy of investment, we're worthy of future growth," Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke said Tuesday at Evansville's Signature School. "Regional Cities could not have been more tailor-made for our region. It is the right initiative at the right time," the mayor said. Winnecke was a speaker at a ceremonial signing attended by Gov. Mike Pence and state legislators from Southwestern Indiana. The state's other two Regional Cities winners, Fort Wayne and South Bend, are hosting similar events. Regional Cities is providing $42 million in state money to each of the three regions. In Southwestern Indiana the money will help fund a dozen projects in Vanderburgh, Warrick, Gibson and Posey counties. Including local and private funding, the total investment in the local projects is $671 million. The program's overall goal is to improve quality of life and boost population around the state. "This is not about bricks and mortar. This is about our future," Pence told the crowd. Other attendees agreed, saying that they feel a change in attitude about the region. "It kind of feels like it's our time," said Greg Wathen, president and chief executive officer at the Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana. Wathen cited a number of other factors as well. He said the recent completion of I-69 to Bloomington; Evansville's under-construction convention hotel; and its planned Downtown medical campus are all helping boost the area's profile. "It's that perfect storm. Everything is happening at the right time." Robert Yeager, vice president of administration and finance at Oakland City University, agreed. With its share of Regional Cities money, the Gibson County school plans to build a mixed-use student housing development in downtown Oakland City. "We're positioned well for growth couldn't be in a better position than we are now," Yeager said. The county is also benefiting from I-69, which has three Gibson County exits. The interstate provides a much quicker link to Evansville, Yeager said, and it creates much better access to Oakland City and other communities in eastern Gibson County. County officials are working to bring sewer infrastructure to those three interchanges, which would enable future development near the interstate. "We're on our way," said Gibson County Commissioner Steve Bottoms. Tuesday's event was held at Signature School because it's in line for some of the Regional Cities money. The charter school plans to use $2.5 million in regional cities money plus $500,000 in private funding to build a new science center. Principal Jean Hitchcock said the school hopes to begin the work this month. SHARE A combination of military and civilian jets will roar over the Riverfront during the ShrinersFest air show, June 25-26. Featured acts will include the Navy A-4 Skyhawk, which will do a tactical demonstration. The Skyhawk carried out some of the first airstrikes of the Vietnam War and served as the Navy's light attack fighter, operating from the pitching deck of aircraft carriers at sea. It was the aircraft of choice for the Navy Blue Angels from 1973-1986. Also featured will be a Russia MiG-17 flight demonstration. The Soviet jet fighter became well known in the Vietnam War. Until the introduction of the F-16, it was the tightest turning fighter aircraft in the world. There will be additional performances by: * Vanguard Squadron Formation Aerobatic Team. Based in South Dakota, the Vanguard Squadron is the world's only 100 percent ethanol-powered air show team. It features aerobatic maneuvers in a diamond formation, with wingtip separation sometimes only a few feet apart. * Royal Air Force MK1 Tucano. The Tucano is a two-seat military aircraft used for basic training by the Royal Air Force. The Tucano demonstration is flown by Lee Leet of Louisville. * Vultee BT-13 Valiant. Serving as a training during World War II, the Vultee B-13 taught thousands of military pilots to fly throughout the 1940s. The display will be flown by Michael Kennedy of Nashville, Tennessee. * North American T-6 Texan. Known as the "pilot maker," the North American T-6 Texan is an iconic World War II aircraft. It also served in Korea and Vietnam. * Billy Werth Airshows "Stars & Stripes" Pitts S2C. Air Force Maj. Billy Werth will return to ShrinersFest and present his low altitude, high energy aerobatic display. * Bob Richards Airshows Pitts S1C Biplane. A new ShrinersFest act, Richards, of Leawood, Kansas, flies a low-level routine of aerobatic maneuvers. The lineup of air show acts was unveiled Wednesday at Evansville Regional Airport by Luke Carrico, show announcer. ShrinersFest button sales will kick off on May 11, when the full schedule of festival activities and attractions will be presented. Photos by MIKE LAWRENCE / COURIER & PRESS After waiting in the hallway for the office to open on Tuesday, Fairley Pinson prepares to sign the register with Civic Center election officials (from left) John Gerard, Viola George and Robin Schmitt, to be the first to cast a ballot to mark the unofficial start of primary election season. SHARE Evansville resident Fairley Pinson ponders his choices as he prepares to cast a ballot Tuesday morning at the Civic Center election office. Pinson was the first to sign-in at 8 a.m. marking the unofficial start of primary election season. By Thomas B. Langhorne of the Courier and Press If the first Vanderburgh County polling place voter of 2016 is any indication, it will be about presidential choices for many who vote in party nominating contests on May 3. Fairley Pinson, a 69-year-old retired autoworker, showed up at the county election office bright and early Tuesday morning to be the first to do his early voting in an actual voting booth. The county has already received about 120 mailed absentee ballots. Declaring he would vote in the Republican Party's primary, Pinson admitted he didn't know much about GOP candidates for local office. He was there to vote against presidential candidate Donald Trump's big mouth and "big attitude." "He's done some serious things I don't agree with," Pinson said, adding that he doesn't care for remarks Trump has made about women. Tuesday's 8 a.m. debut of early voting at polling places heralds the unofficial start of primary election season, and there's no shortage of local intrigue. Three Republicans and three Democrats are vying for the legislative seat being vacated by Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, former County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave's bid for her old seat is opposed by Alex Schmitt, a 32-year-old political newcomer backed by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, as well as by conservative activist Brenda Bergwitz. Democrats will choose between Zach Heronemus, top aide to 2011 mayoral candidate Rick Davis, and Elliot Howard, a board member for Tri-State Alliance, for county clerk. But on the Republican side at least, local races could be overshadowed and affected by the volatile, high-decibel presidential race. The 2014 primaries, in which there was no presidential nominating contest, saw 6,352 GOP ballots cast in Vanderburgh County. But this year, local elections officials expect something more like the 13,784 Republican primary votes that were cast in presidential election year 2012. "Chances are you'll see a much higher level of activity at the top of the ticket for Republicans than we've seen in quite some time," said Ed Feigenbaum, an Indianapolis-based political analyst. Feigenbaum said it is not far-fetched that large numbers of Indiana Democrats attracted by the hoopla surrounding Trump could vote in GOP primaries this year. He compared it to 2008, when many Republicans cast ballots in Democratic primaries to affect the presidential race between then-Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The Vanderburgh County Voter Registration Office reports having already received a spate of calls from self-identified Democrats asking whether they can vote in the GOP's primary. Feigenbaum said presidential candidates on both sides are actively organizing in the state, but he cautioned that earlier primaries in other states likely will dictate how important Indiana will be. The organizing work may include the opening of a Trump campaign office in Evansville. Rex Early, a former Indiana GOP chairman and state legislator who chairs Trump's campaign in the Hoosier State, said Tuesday he will recommend to the national campaign that it open an office here soon. "I'm going to advise them that they get an office down in Evansville maybe Fort Wayne and Evansville," Early said by telephone from Indianapolis. "We've got one in Carmel that I'm going to recommend to (national Trump campaign officials) when they come to Indianapolis probably Saturday or Monday. "I think they do want an office in Evansville. They want a minimum of three offices in the state up north, down south and in the Indianapolis area." Things are happening fast for other presidential candidates in Evansville, too. Supporters of Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders opened a local campaign headquarters last week at 312 N.W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. While Clinton opened an Indianapolis office Tuesday, her campaign hasn't announced any specific plans for an office in Evansville. But Tony Goben, a local Clinton organizer, said it seems likely. "I just spoke briefly by email with (an official of the national campaign) and he just said, 'Stay tuned,' " Goben said. "So, hopefully, it'll be very, very soon. We were always kind of under the assumption that there would be (a local Clinton office), and I haven't heard otherwise." Indiana's Democratic and Republican presidential primaries will stand alone on the primary calendar, ensuring that if April's contests enhance the Hoosier State's importance, the world will be watching. Feigenbaum said it's too early to tell whether either party's Indiana primary will recreate the do-or-die intensity that characterized the 2008 Clinton-Obama contest. But then, early voters such as Pinson aren't thinking about events between now and May 3. "Those people's votes won't be swayed by something that happens two or three weeks from now. They can't be swayed: They've already voted," Feigenbaum said. "You want to watch for an early infusion of Democrats who vote in the Republican primary as an indication that people think (the GOP contest) is particularly salient." Opposition to draconian legislation Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Debate, March 15, 2016, Legislative Assembly, NSW Parliament) I strongly oppose the Inclosed Lands, Crimes and Law Enforcement Legislation Amendment (Interference) Bill 2016. This is a draconian piece of legislation that aims to curb the rights of people who protest peacefully against the environmental destruction caused by mining operations in the state and indeed will impact on those who protest peacefully for important social change. This legislation aims to curb the rights of people who protest peacefully against the environmental destruction. Healthy democracies encourage public displays of opinion and do not curtail dissent against government decisions and policies. Mining continues to be a contentious community issue, and many people feel their only option is to protest on site against mines. People are understandably concerned about the impacts mining is having on food, air, water, biodiversity, climate change and green energy alternatives. There are a large number of examples where mining has destroyed the local environment and significantly impacted on local communities. The planning approval process has not prevented long-term environmental damage associated with many mines and much damage has been done that can never be remediated. When first elected, the government attempted to empathise with community concerns on coal seam gas (CSG) and temporarily placed a moratorium on CSG development in the special areas of Sydneys drinking catchments while the New South Wales Chief Scientist and Engineer investigated its impacts on water. But a second term sees the government fed up and wanting to steamroll mining projects with a tough stance against anyone who actively opposes them. The bill will increase the maximum fine for trespassing on private property from $550 to $5,500 if there is interference, or an attempt or intention to interfere with a business, or where the trespasser does something that creates a serious risk to their safety or the safety of anyone on the land and that is according to the discretion of the police. This is a tenfold increase to existing fines. Complying with the safety risk will be easy on mining sites where there is heavy machinery and heavy trucks. Anyone peacefully protesting against mines will be at risk of massive fines. The government has a clear aim to punish and deter people who choose to show public dissent. Protesters against mines are often farmers, environmentalists or neighbours to the mine their wealth is incomparable with that of mining companies. A $5,500 fine will have a significant negative impact. It is a disproportionate amount for the offence and other charges are available if criminal activity does take place, including mine operators suing for any losses they suffer as a result. In contrast, the government is introducing a new penalty regime for mining companies that do the wrong thing, with fines of just $5,000 for drilling without approval, which is a crime that can endanger land, water, flora and fauna. For multimillion dollar mining companies that stand to earn super profits from mining activities, this will be a mere running cost. The bill gives police new search and seizure powers without a warrant if they reasonably suspect that someone or a vehicle is carrying an object that will be used to lock-on a person to a fence, tree or fixture in a way that will interfere with the conduct of the business and pose a safety risk. The ability to search a person and to also seize their belongings, such as bike locks, based on the subjective test of reasonable suspicion is an unacceptable approach to dealing with people exercising their right to protest. I share the concerns expressed by Stephen Banks, President of the New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties, who stated: Police powers which are based on their assessment of a persons intention are very easily able to be abused and undoubtedly will be abused in many cases police shouldnt have those kinds of powers. Under the bill police directions in public places to prevent the obstruction of persons or traffic, or harassment or intimidation, will be able to apply in the case of demonstrations, protests, processions or organised assemblies. These limitations have applied historically to enable people the freedom to assemble in protest, which is essential to a free democracy. Police will be able to move people on if they believe it is necessary to deal with a serious safety risk or if the protest is obstructing traffic and was not authorised. Again, police wanting to break up a protest will easily be able to claim safety risks on mining and logging sites because of heavy machinery, trucks and bulldozers. Distinguishing between authorised and unauthorised protests is a dangerous and anti-democratic approach given that protests can, and often must, be organised with little time as they respond to issues and incidents. I was concerned to learn that despite the limitations this Parliament has placed on donations, mining company Santos, which has highly controversial CSG mining projects in the heart of the Pilliga forest with a number of ongoing protests, has donated $568,857 to the Liberal-Nationals Coalition since 2010. I also find it ironic that a few weeks ago the House made a formal apology to the 78ers for heavy-handed policing that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people and their supporters suffered while they protested peacefully against government policies affecting them at the first Mardi Gras in 1978. I am sure that the 78ers would agree with me that laws designed to prevent people from standing up against what they see as wrong, and to search and move on protesters even if their actions are peaceful are a human rights violation. In fact, former Senator and leader of The Greens Bob Brown is contesting similar laws in Tasmania in the High Court on the grounds that they are contrary to the implied freedom of speech on government and political matters in the Australia Constitution. Brown was arrested when he was rallying against the logging of Lapoinya Forest. This House should not be considering these laws until the outcome of this High Court challenge is determined. I foreshadow that when the question is put That this bill be now read a second time, I will move to postpone the vote on the bill to the end of the year, by which time we should have more information on the outcome of the court case. The government has failed to justify the need for these changes. Protests have not changed over the years and there are laws to deal with violence and trespassing on and destruction of private property. The bill is hard lined, unnecessary and undemocratic and I oppose it. *Alex Greenwich is the Independent member for Sydney WestConnex Legal cloud over toxic waste Marrickville Council last week voted to release confidential legal advice which suggests that WestConnex has been operating for months without any legal approval, including in the handling of toxic waste and asbestos. Greens Marrickville Councillors and Greens WestConnex spokesperson Jenny Leong MP have called on the Minister to issue an immediate stop work or to produce evidence of the legal authority issued for the works and what environmental protections have been put in place. WestConnex would connect two existing motorways and run underground eight kilometres eastward from Concord via Haberfield to Rozelle, two kilometres west of the city, then five kilometres south to St Peters, then seven kilometres southwest to Kingsgrove. The proposal is accompanied by proposed mandatory zoning to allow high-rise residential development adjacent to WestConnex and other transport corridors. The proposal would involve construction of gargantuan above-ground spaghetti-junction interchanges at St Peters and Rozelle, plus the removal of 350 mature trees, 14,000 square metres of the magnificent award-winning Sydney Park, and a huge strip of historic Ashfield Park. The project would necessitate the compulsory purchase and demolition of 118 houses and other buildings, many with historic significance, plus a huge increase in traffic and pollution in Green Square, Alexandria, Ashmore and historic Haberfield, Erskineville, St Peters, Newtown, Redfern and Rozelle. Euston Road on the eastern boundary of Sydney Park would become a six lane highway carrying 50,000 vehicles each day a tenfold increase in car numbers and pollution for a threefold increase in capacity. Much of that traffic would enter historic King Street, Newtown, which is already a bottleneck. Marrickville Greens Councillor Sylvie Ellsmore put forward the successful motion to release the legal advice last night. Councillor Ellsmore said, Council sought legal advice on the St Peters Dial A Dump site last year, after a number of residents complained WestConnex sub-contractors had moved in and were undertaking excavation of toxic materials without approval. The legal advice confirms our fears that WestConnex has been undertaking development at the heavily contaminated former landfill site, including the removal of buildings and other materials, outside Council approval and outside the strict local conditions imposed to manage known toxic materials. While the legal advice also confirmed what we knew about the broad ranging power of the state government to override local controls on projects like this, the advice suggests that the Minister had not even issued the required State approvals, despite several months of work at the site and the large number of resident complaints. Jenny Leong said, When large scale excavation and removal of landfill began in October last year at the Alexandria Landfill site in St Peters, we were originally told that this work was not excavation and that no asbestos contaminated fill was being removed. It was only through the consistent complaints by the community that an asbestos safety regime was instituted for all the trucks leaving the site. With the release of this information, we can now see that theres significant doubt as to the legality of the work that was done last year and its time for some serious scrutiny of what WestConnex has been doing without consent, Ms Leong said. Councillor Ellsmore said, In the rush to approve this highly controversial project, local residents have a right to know if Minister has bypassed even his own planning rules by engaging contractors to excavate and transport highly toxic material through high density residential areas. Action to end Cuba blockade The International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity (formerly known as the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban 5) is returning to Washington next month to increase pressure on President Barack Obama to do more to reduce the impact of the failed 55-year-old blockade against Cuba, and to encourage Congress to pass legislation to eliminate it entirely. President Obama and the executive branch continue to announce new regulations that ease restrictions against Cuba in such areas as travel and commerce, yet the teeth of the criminal blockade against Cuba remain intact. The International Committee, accompanied by supporters from across the United States and beyond, will descend on Washington on April 18-22 for a second Days of Action Against the Blockade. They not only will undertake grassroots advocacy visits to the offices of Senators and members of the House of Representatives, but also stage a community forum, Through Cuban Eyes, to provide Americans with a Cuban perspective on whats been happening in Cuba and the real state of US-Cuban relations. The keynote speaker at the April 22 community forum will be Cuban Ambassador Jose Ramon Cabanas. Invited guests from Cuba include medical professionals who took part in the fight against Ebola in West Africa and in restructuring the health infrastructure in Haiti, the Director of Havanas Literacy Museum, a representative of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the People (ICAP), and a Cuban journalism student with his own dramatic story to tell. Jorge Jorgito Jerez was born with cerebral palsy in Cuba in 1993, but today thanks to Cubas health care and education system he has become a self-sufficient, independent young journalist. The Power of the Weak, a documentary by German filmmaker Tobias Kriele about Jorgitos life and the social supports available to him in Cuba, will be screened during the Days of Action. While acknowledging the significance of President Obamas decision in December 2014 to end, in his words, the United States outdated approach [to Cuba] that, for decades, has failed to advance our interests, and the Presidents recent historic visit to Cuba, Alicia Jrapko of the International Committee explained there is much more Obama can do to help normalise relations with Cuba: Although we applaud many of the steps taken, we urge the President to use his executive power to close Guantanamo Prison and return to Cuba the land it sits on. He should also end the preferential wet foot, dry foot policy that encourages Cubans to embark on illegal and unsafe migration; end the Parole Program for Cuban Medical Professionals that encourages Cuban doctors to abandon Cubas medical programs abroad; and stop funding USAID and National Endowment for Democracy programs aimed at fomenting dissent in Cuba. Netfa Freeman from the Institute for Policy Studies, one of the groups organising the upcoming April events in Washington DC, noted that a majority of Americans, including Cuban Americans, support ending the blockade. Part of this support, says Freeman, is from heightened awareness of the hypocrisy in US claims of wanting to encourage change for a Cuban society that is not experiencing a national epidemic of killings of people of colour by police and mass incarceration or social ills like rampant homelessness. The overwhelming majority of Cubans are guaranteed shelter and healthcare as human rights. Freeman pointed to the success of a recent whirlwind 10-day visit to the West Coast by Miguel Fraga, the first secretary of the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC, as another sign of the changing mood. Fraga spoke to close to 1,500 people at 20 different events, and was even introduced on the California State Senate floor. The cold war is over! declared Los Angeles State Senator Isadore Hall as the Cuban flag was displayed in the chambers. It is time to look forward and to look ahead to a future where Cuba is a partner, not an enemy to the United States. As part of the tour of the Cuban diplomat speaking at a conference in Seattle, veteran 7th District Representative Jim McDermott urged the audience to go to Washington in April to lobby to end the blockade. Granma UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine resigns The UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine has announced his resignation because Israel has frustrated his efforts to discharge his duty every step of the way. Richard Falk, his predecessor, comments. Makarim Wibisono has announced his resignation as UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, to take effect on March 31. This is the position I held for six years, completing my second term in June 2014. Makarim Wibisono. The prominent Indonesian diplomat says that he could not fulfil his mandate because Israel has adamantly refused to give him access to the Palestinian people living under its military occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way, Wibisono explains. His resignation reminds me in a strange way of Richard Goldstones retraction a few years ago of the main finding in the UN-commissioned Goldstone report, that Israel intentionally targeted civilians in the course of Operation Cast Lead, its massive attack on Gaza at the end of 2008. At the time I responded to media inquiries by saying that I was shocked, but not surprised. Shocked because the evidence was overwhelming and the other three distinguished members of the UN fact-finding commission stuck by the finding. Yet I was not surprised because I knew Goldstone a former judge of the South African constitutional court to be a man of strong ambition and weak character, a terrible mix for public figures who wander into controversial territory. In Wibisonos case I am surprised, but not shocked. Surprised because he should have known from the outset that he was faced with a dilemma between doing the job properly of reporting on Israels crimes and human rights abuses and gaining Israels cooperation in the course of gathering this evidence. Not shocked, indeed grateful, as it illuminates the difficulty confronting anyone charged with truthful reporting on the Palestinian ordeal under occupation, and by his principled resignation Wibisono doesnt allow Israel to get away with neutering the position of Special Rapporteur. It is worth recalling that when Wibisono was selected as my successor, several more qualified candidates were passed over. Although the selection guidelines stress expert knowledge of the subject matter of the mandate, Wibisono apparently gained the upper hand along with the acquiescence of Israel and the United States precisely because of his lack of any relevant background. I can only hope that now the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) will redeem its mistake by reviving the candidacies of Professor Christine Chinkin and Phyllis Bennis, both of whom possess the credentials, motivation and strength of character to become an effective Special Rapporteur. The Palestinians deserve nothing less. Honesty When I met with Wibisono in Geneva shortly after his appointment as Special Rapporteur was announced, he told me confidently that he had been assured that if he accepted the appointment the Israeli government would allow him entry, a reassurance that he repeated in his resignation announcement. On his side, he pledged objectivity and balance, and an absence of preconceptions. I warned him then that even someone who leaned far to the Israeli side politically would find it impossible to avoid reaching the conclusion that Israel was guilty of severe violations of international humanitarian law and of human rights standards, and this kind of honesty was sure to anger the Israelis. I also told him that he was making a big mistake if he thought he could please both sides, given the reality of prolonged denial of fundamental Palestinian rights. At the time he smiled, apparently feeling confident that his diplomatic skills would allow him to please the Israelis even while he was compiling reports detailing their criminality. He told me that he was seeking to do what I did but to do so more effectively by securing Israels cooperation, and thus short-circuiting their objections. It was then my turn to smile. It is correct that the mandate itself is vulnerable to criticism as it does not include an assessment of the responsibility of Palestinian administering authorities for violations of human rights, and only looks at Israeli violations. I tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade the HRC to have the mandate enlarged to encompass wrongdoing by the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. The arguments against doing so were that it had been difficult to get agreement to establish the mandate, and opening up the issue of its scope was risky, and also that the overwhelming evidence of Palestinian victimisation resulting from the occupation resulted from Israels policies and practices. Hence, it was argued by several delegations at the HRC that attention to the Palestinian violations would be diversionary and give Israel a way to deflect criticism directed at the occupation. Facing the heat What I discovered during my six years as Special Rapporteur is that you can make a difference, but only if you are willing to put up with the heat. You can make a difference in several ways. Above all, by giving foreign ministries around the world the most authoritative account available of the daily realities facing the Palestinian people. Also important is the ability to shift the discourse in more illuminating directions instead of limiting discussion to the occupation, address issues of de facto annexation, ethnic cleansing and apartheid, as well as give some support within the UN for such civil society initiatives as the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement and the Freedom Flotilla. By so doing, you have to expect ultra-Zionist organisations and those managing the special relationship between Israel and the United States to react harshly, including by launching a continuous defamatory campaign that seeks by all means to discredit your voice and will mount inflammatory accusations of anti-Semitism and, in my case, of being a self-hating Jew. What both shocked and surprised me was the willingness of both the UN Secretary-General and US diplomatic representatives (Susan Rice, Samantha Power) at the UN to bend in Israels direction and join the chorus making these irresponsible denunciations focused on a demand for my resignation. Although periodically tempted to resign, I am glad that I didnt. Given the pro-Israel bias of the mainstream media in the United States and Europe, it is particularly important, however embattled the position, to preserve this source of truth telling, and not to give in to the pressures mounted. My hope is that the HRC will learn from the Wibisono experience and appoint someone who can both stand the heat and report the realities for what they are. It is hampering the performance of a Special Rapporteur to be denied Israeli cooperation with official UN functions, which is itself a violation of Israels obligations as a member of the UN. At the same time, Israels behaviour that flaunts international law is so manifest and reliable information easily available that I found it possible to compile reports that covered the main elements of the Palestinian ordeal. Of course, direct contact with people living under occupation would have added a dimension of validation and witnessing, as well as giving some tangible expression of UN concern for the abuses being committed under conditions of an untenably prolonged occupation with no end in sight. Until the day that Palestinian self-determination arrives, the least that the UN can do is to keep open this window of observation and appraisal. After all, it is the UN that undertook back in 1947 to find a solution to the Israel/Palestinian struggle that acknowledged the equal claims of both peoples. Although such an approach was colonialist and interventionist in 1947, it has plausibility in 2016 given the developments in the intervening years. The UN may not be guilty in relation to what went wrong, but it certainly has failed to discharge its responsibilities with regard to Palestinian fundamental rights. Until these rights are realised, the UN should give this remnant of the colonial era as much attention as possible. Third World Resurgence Culture & Life Never forget My Lai Capitalism is synonymous with wars of aggression. To covet control over other peoples territory and resources is fundamental to it. To secure that control or to eliminate competition it initiates wars of conquest or simply of destruction. And to ensure that the young men it sends to carry out those wars do so with the right degree of savagery capitalism inculcates in them not just a carefully nurtured hatred for the enemy, but also a contempt, a belief that the enemy is less than human, inherently inferior and undeserving of any humanitarian concerns. One of the memorial sculptures at the My Lai massacre site. (Photo: Nissa Rhee) The Nazis outrages on the Russian front exemplified this in WW2, but a few years later US troops engaged in similar atrocities against the gooks in the Korean War. Then came the Vietnam War and American soldiers were once again taught to view Vietnamese as less than human, expendable, no more than collateral damage. March was the anniversary of the My Lai massacre, one of the most horrific incidents of the Vietnam War, a war that was marked by a plethora of horrific incidents. A company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of the population of the South Vietnamese hamlet of My Lai in March 1968. Though exact numbers remain unconfirmed, it is believed that as many as 500 people including women, children and the elderly were killed. The My Lai hamlet, part of the village of Son My, was located in Quang Ngai province, which was believed to be a stronghold of the National Liberation Front (NLF) which the Yanks referred to as the Viet Cong (VC). Told that VC guerrillas had taken control of Son My, Charlie Company of the 11th Infantry Brigade Led by Lieutenant William Calley, was sent to the village on a search-and-destroy mission. Army commanders advised the soldiers of Charlie Company that all who were found in Son My could be considered VC or active VC sympathisers, and ordered them to destroy the village. When they arrived, the soldiers found no Viet Cong, but rounded up and murdered hundreds of civilians mostly women, children and old men in an extremely brutal fashion, including rape and torture. Not a single shot was fired against the men of Charlie Company at My Lai. The villagers, who were getting ready for a market day, at first did not panic or run away, and they were herded into the hamlets commons. Harry Stanley, a machine gunner from the Charlie Company, said during the US Army Criminal Investigation Divisions inquiry that he observed a member of the 1st Platoon push a villager into a well and throw a grenade into the well. Further, he saw 15 or 20 people, mainly women and children, kneeling around a temple with burning incense. They were praying and crying. They were all killed by shots in the head. A large group of approximately 7080 villagers was rounded up by the 1st Platoon, and then led to an irrigation ditch to the east of the settlement. All detainees were pushed into the ditch and then killed. The mentality of the US soldiers is typified by Paul Meadlo, a Private First Class who machine-gunned women and children. He testified that women were trying to shield their children. He remembered that he was shooting into women with babies in their hands since he was convinced at that time that they were all booby-trapped with grenades and were poised to attack. The My Lai massacre was so horrendous that other US troops were outraged by it. Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson, an Army helicopter pilot on a reconnaissance mission, landed his aircraft between the soldiers and the retreating villagers and threatened to open fire if they continued their attacks. Ron Ridenhour, a soldier in the 11th Brigade who had heard reports of the massacre but had not participated, began a campaign to bring the events to light, but faced a cover-up on the part of the US Army. After writing letters to President Richard Nixon, the Pentagon, State Department, Joint Chiefs of Staff and several congressmen, with no response, Ridenhour finally gave an interview to the investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who broke the story in November 1969. In frantic damage control, the US Army ordered a special investigation into the My Lai massacre. The inquiry, headed by Lieutenant General William Peers, released its report in March 1970 and recommended that no fewer than 28 officers be charged for their involvement in the massacre or the cover-up. Only half that number were actually charged and all were acquitted except for Calley, who was given a life sentence for his role in directing the killings. His sentence was reduced upon appeal to 20 years and later to 10; by 1974, he was paroled. By the early 1970s, morale among US troops in Vietnam was low, and anger and frustration were high. Drug use among soldiers was rampant (an official report in 1971 estimated that one-third or more of US troops were addicted). The revelations of the My Lai massacre caused morale to plummet even further, as GIs wondered what other atrocities their superiors were concealing. On the home front in the United States, the brutality of the My Lai massacre and the efforts made by higher-ranking officers to conceal it fuelled anti-war sentiment. William Thomas Allison, a professor of Military History at Georgia Southern University, wrote, By midmorning, members of Charlie Company had killed hundreds of civilians and raped or assaulted countless women and young girls. They encountered no enemy fire and found no weapons in My Lai itself. As far as I could tell, the anniversary of the My Lai massacre passed without comment or notice in the capitalist mass media, pushed under the carpet where the Pentagon wanted it in the first place. Massacres and other atrocities have become commonplace, its true, but to wilfully forget or ignore them is to become complicit in them. Continue Reading Below Advertisement The resulting infection is known as ophthalmomyiasis, which is pronounced "God is a bastard." Thankfully, the baby bot flies don't go after tissue, instead being content to writhe around in your ocular orbit, drinking your eye juice. Drinking. And writhing. 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Continue Reading Below Advertisement What do Chuck Norris, Liam Neeson in Taken, and the Dos Equis guy have in common? They're all losers compared to some of the actual badasses from history whom you know nothing about. Come out to the UCB Sunset for another LIVE podcast, April 9 at 7:00 p.m., where Jack O'Brien, Michael Swaim, and more will get together for an epic competition to find out who was the most hardcore tough guy or tough gal unfairly relegated to the footnotes of history. Get your tickets here! Psst ... want to give us feedback on the super-secret beta launch of the upcoming Cracked spin-off site, Braindrop? Well, simply follow us behind this curtain. Or, you know, click here: Braindrop. For more terrifying creations of Mother Nature, check out 13 Real Animals Lifted Directly Out Of Your Nightmares and 5 Creepy Creatures We Wish Science Hadn't Just Discovered. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and check out 4 Tiny Creatures That Prove Camping Isn't Worth It, and watch other videos you won't see on the site! Also, follow us on Facebook, and let's grab some torches and burn nature to the ground. Continue Reading Below Advertisement As with most things, the root cause of the problem is money -- namely, the companies making your hardware don't have any. The resulting business model is pretty simple: They sell off hard drive space to software developers who'd kill for the opportunity to get eyeballs on their latest product, while software developers hope that SuperCyberAdFucker+ Premium Gold Trial Edition is so endearing to you that you'd want to drop $189 on the full version. It's like internet advertising, except you can't install AdBlock. As much as you may love your new copy of CyberLink PowerDVD, all of those programs that accompanied it are probably reducing your computer's speed to an asthmatic crawl. If you don't clear them out or wipe your computer (that's only a nuclear option, by the way), they'll just keep running in the background and take up valuable memory that could be used for other, much more rewarding activities. Softonic If you watch porn on this thing, both the computer and the actors get fucked. Continue Reading Below Advertisement That is, if they don't destroy your privacy first. In February 2015, it transpired that Lenovo -- one of the world's biggest computer manufacturers -- had pre-installed a program called Superfish onto its machines. As much as we'd like, we can't compare it to Swordfish, because the only thing that got blown here was the security of those machines -- the program effectively exposed users' web traffic to anyone with rudimentary technical savvy and/or a loose set of morals, even if it had been uninstalled from the computer. Suffice it to say, the shit hit the case fan and Lenovo ended up promising only to do it one more time. Scott Redding has explained how 'a disconnected feeling' with the throttle was at fault for his retirement from the MotoGP race in Argentina while sat in a promising sixth place. Feeling no ill-effects from his lucky escape from a tyre failure on Saturday that altered the course of the rest of the weekend, Redding was also critical of Jack Miller's riding in the early laps, feeling it cost him valuable time as he attempted to bridge the gap to the leading group. "I'm disappointed because we made a good race considering the problem we had," said the Englishman. "We made good of a bad weekend but it just wasn't enough. Something had to come and get us again which was quite annoying." Starting well, Redding slipped to the lower points positions after a mistake at turn one on lap two but recovered well to sit behind Dani Pedrosa after the enforced bike swap. It was after he effortlessly moved by the Spaniard to assume sixth place that the problem occurred, leaving him to rue a potential missed podium. "The start was OK. Jack [Miller] fighting with you for no reason. That's why we lost the first guys originally. Then I went into turn one deep and got caught up with that crash with [Cal] Crutchlow and [Aleix] Espargaro and I was 17th or 18th. I managed to catch the group again. "I made a great change. I think it was the second or third fastest in the pits. I was fast right out of the box. Pedrosa passed me but I think he only pulled three tenths on me on my out lap so it was really good in that area. I knew I was going to be faster, passed him and tried to make a gap. I was riding about 80 percent because there was too much of a gap in front to really do anything. "I went into turn one and there was nada. I tried to reboot the engine three times; off, on, off, on. I had to come to an end. There was an opportunity to take some good points. We were sixth at the time. With what happened I would have been third. But fifth or sixth is where it was. It was just one of those weekends. There was the incident with the tyre. Then a f**k up in FP3 so I didn't go through to Q2." On a hectic first lap spent fighting with an ultra-aggressive Miller, Redding said he was sure Miller would be unable to complete the 20 laps in the style he was riding. "He can put the bike where he wants but we're going to lose time on other guys. You go into T1, there's no line there and he's just driving into the side of you. I'm like, 'Dude, come on!' Then you brake into turn two and he's trying to go round the outside. Into three and he's there and he goes on the inside and you pass him back on the straight. "Then he tries to come back up the inside of you at seven and by that point the leading guys have put eight tenths on you. I knew he wasn't going to finish the race. He was riding like a f**cking out of control lunatic and then he crashes again. "I can help myself by not qualifying there. I just need to do it. I think when I qualify in the first three rows I'll be able to hold on to that front group easily. It's getting there is a bit frustrating because you try to recover, brake harder, make a mistake and recover again. It's just endless." Argentina was another race in which Redding was unable to build on the promise he has shown throughout various points in the weekend, but the Englishman remained optimistic before travelling north to Austin. "I don't really know what the problem was. It would have been nice for that to have happened in practice but we learnt something. The race wasn't bad until then. I caught and passed Dani, was the first satellite bike at the time, which was good. We have to look on to Texas. It's got to stop at some point!" Sussex News Story Saved You can find this story in My Bookmarks. Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right. Responsible for a population of more than 22,000 and many times that number of daily visitors, Peter Auhl is driving a process of transformation at Adelaide City Council that is leading his city to be considered among the smartest in the world. Tell us about a project that involved an IT supplier Weve just deployed leading-edge smart city infrastructure along one of our arterial roads here in Adelaide, which has revolved around a relationship with Cisco and the Smart City Lighthouse project. Its an integration between a number of players. One of them is called Sensity from the US, along with Cisco and some local suppliers to do the installation. Its quite a complex project to run from a technical point of view, because we have to work with leading-edge technology as well handle the logistical issues such as the timing of the deployment of sensors through the evening. Where do you normally use partners? We have lots of things happening, ranging from systems upgrades to integration projects, and we have just migrated a bunch of workloads to the cloud. We are looking to our partners to engage at a strategic level, not just talk about the technology. What does a third party need to do to impress you? They need to understand what we are trying to achieve from a customer outcome point of view. Our approach is very much trying to understand what the problem statements are first, then to bring in technology at the end of the process. The problem statements are very much focused around customer outcomes, which would be the users of our city. They range from business users and people coming into the city for work to those attending a sporting or cultural event, even tourists. When has a partner impressed you? Most recently meeting with the new CTO from Dimension Data, Debra Bordignon. She comes at it from a similar perspective and didnt start talking to me about technology, but about the methodology and outcomes. Thats the transition companies need to make. They come in trying to sell you a product, without actually understanding what you are trying to achieve. Do you see yourself moving more to the cloud? We migrated all of our Exchange workloads last year and weve got a connection to the Equinix Marketplace. Every service we bring up from now on will be cloud-first where possible. I have tasked my infrastructure architect to get our entire data centre migrated to the cloud over the next two years. Do you see yourself using partners more or less often? The capabilities and skills we are looking for will be vastly different to what we have used previously. We are looking for partners that can bring UX experience, or data analysis, or facilitation and relationship skills, rather than just purist technical skills. Hacking and eavesdropping into a technological or telephonic network surreptitiously is a crime in accordance with provisions set forth within 18 USC 1030 and 2511. Consider this: Would you expect to be arrested if you were the victim of being robbed in a dark alley? The rationale for your arrest being that: You should not have been in the alley in the first place, and you should have armed yourself with a weapon in order to have prevented the mugging. The obvious answer to this ludicrous question should be: of course not. It is just as ridiculous to hold a corporation or an employee responsible for its technological network being hacked into unless they were in fact involved with the infraction. I am not suggesting that as trusted agents and corporate stewards that we not take prudent measures or employ industry best practices in order to safeguard our networks. However, I am recommending we develop a paradigm shift in the way that we view data breaches. In most cases, there is absolutely no way possible to prevent a crime, cyber or otherwise, unless you have foreknowledge that the crime is about to be committed. The countervailing idea or thought is the creation of Hollywood fiction along the lines of movies such as Minority Report. Develop a collaborative network of law enforcement agents... Domestic and international law have not kept pace with the ever-growing epidemic of cybercrime throughout the world. In most cases, cybercriminals are never brought to justice by law enforcement agencies, thus leaving the public with the idea that it is impossible to do so. This trend must stop. The legal system and law enforcement agencies at all levels must be equally equipped to accost and successfully prosecute those that are guilty of breaking into the networks of others without their expressed permission. Enemies of our state, such as North Korea, make no secret of their commitment to cyberwar to the extent that it has operationalised its activities within their military forces. The US is currently trying to address this disturbing trend via the expansion of the Department of Homeland Security's cybersecurity division in Utah. But, we lag far behind our enemies in our efforts. What can be done in order to aggressively address this issue? Firing the CEO, CIO or CISO after a data breach is not an effective method of solving the problem in and of itself. In fact, some enterprises that resort to such strategies experience recurring incidents after their terminations. Government organisations and non-government organisations must take a pragmatic approach to addressing the issue. US government Strengthen/develop international laws with respect to what constitutes a violation of a state's sovereignty relative to cybercriminals and actions that can be executed when such breaches of sovereignty are violated. Additionally, strengthen relationships within the League of Nations as to prevent safe harbor of cybercriminals wherever they reside. Law enforcement agencies at all levels Become more technologically savvied, astute, and competent. Develop a collaborative network of law enforcement agents both locally and internationally with the sole mission of bringing cybercriminals to justice. Corporations and leadership Take ownership for safeguarding and hardening your network infrastructure beginning with securing the human at all levels, especially top-tier leadership, by providing them with information security awareness and training. Investment in a state of the art enterprise encryption solution with multifactor authentication is a must. In the final analysis, all parties concerned must stop blaming the victim with respect to cybersecurity crimes launched against them. The blame should always rest squarely on the shoulders of the transgressor and not the victim. The matter of information security is everyone's business. Zachery S. Mitcham is CISO at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The opinions expressed in this article do not represent the opinions and beliefs held by UNC Wilmington. This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com EMC explained the business structure it will follow after the merger with Dell is complete. In a detailed document, EMC stated that after the deal is closed, the new company will focus on three segments: enterprise, commercial, and consumer and small business. The final decision is scheduled to happen between May and October 2016. The new company expects to create a business with approximately US$80 billion (A$104 billion) in revenue. There are no plans of site closure despite discussions of Dell keeping EMC's Hopkinton, Massachusetts, location, which will serve as the combined company's headquarter for enterprise systems business. In the middle of 2015, EMC announced the closure of 80 South Street in Hopkinton three minutes away from the company's headquarter and has been relocating staff to other facilities. Both companies operate their businesses separately until the transaction is complete. A full integration is expected to take two years, with some things being implemented at the close of the deal and others by the end of Dell's 2017 fiscal year. So far, there has been no announcement regarding partner programs. EMC mentioned that a planning process is in place and decisions will be communicated in the coming months. The channel can expect: "the commitment to partners and programs, R&D investment; including the enhancement of products and roadmaps in place, dedication to customer choice, continue enhancement of partnerships and technology ecosystems and clear communication following customer feedback," according to the storage vendor. The new company will have more freedom to invest in innovation despite concerns of Dell recently investing very little in R&D. "After Dell was taken private, Dells R&D investment increased", stated the document. EMC subsidiaries EMC expects that Dell and RSA combined will create a "top five security player across SMB and enterprise customers". The relationship with Dell will increase converged infrastructure opportunities for VCE converged platforms. The relationship between VCE and Cisco should not be affected, according to EMC. After the merger is completed, there will be three "strategically aligned" business: VMware, Pivotal and SecureWorks. VMware will continue to operate as a public-traded company and Pivotal as a startup with the prospect of becoming a public company. There is a business opportunity in VMware's software-defined data centre layered on top of Dell and EMC's converged infrastructures, according to the document. This can be offered as a service through Virtustream, a joint venture of EMC and VMware. The service could also be delivered through Pivotal's application development platform. "Security assets from Dell and RSA enable us to further extend our trust value proposition to the customer critical in cloud environments." Merger details The merger is on schedule and a meeting of EMC shareholders is expected by the end of May. Antitrust clearance has been provided by the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland and Turkey. Still to be expected is approval from jurisdictions including Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia, South Korea and Taiwan. Denali, Dell's parent company, said that the merged company will work on reducing its aggregate debt during the first 18 to 24 months after the completion of the merger. "Going private is expected to eliminate approximately US$3.5 billion (A$4.6 billion) of stock repurchases and dividends EMC has averaged annually over the last three years. These savings are greater than the outlay to service Dells debt, creating more opportunity to invest in the business rather than less," stated the document. Each share of EMC common stock will be exchanged for US$24.05 in cash and approximately 0.111 shares of the tracking stock. The document containing 125 frequently asked questions was filed with the US Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 30 March and also addressed major employees concerns. People that dob in the use of unlicensed software by Australian business will get up to $20,000 reward from BSA The Software Alliance - four times the previous $5,000 reward. The reward applies for leads on the illegal copying or use of software that belongs to BSA members, which includes Adobe, Apple, CA, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Symantec. In 2015, IDC research revealed that the higher the unlicensed PC software rate in a country, the more malware was generally registered. A recent study by the Australian Cyber-Security Centre revealed that 56 percent of respondents have increased the investment on cybersecurity in the last 12 months. BSA senior director Roland Chan said: With cybercrime rising in Australia, its now more crucial than ever for organisations to introduce a formal policy on licensed software use to create the best possible security to protect them from infringement and cyber-theft. Reward payments will be made 30 days after the BSA members obtain a judgement or out-of-court settlement. Potential recipients must provide assistance and evidence to support the information provided. Last year Western Australia was the state with the highest number of software piracy settlements by businesses. BSA said the majority of offenders were in the manufacturing industry. Microsoft has recently launched a campaign to encourage people to anonymously report Australian businesses selling software that is not genuine. The campaign stresses the financial loss resellers face when competing with the illegal software market. Following the massive 2.6 terabyte leak from the Panamanian corporate service provider and legal firm Mossack Fonseca, a sentiment emerges among security professionals assessing the wreckage at the secretive company. In addition to the unsettling practices that the firm appears to have engaged in, the sheer volume of data released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists' Panama Papers brings a startling awareness of the potential damage of weak information security practices to a legal firm and its clients. The dizzying quantity of data contained in the Panama Papers dwarfs the data released through Wikileaks by approximately 1,500 times. The files include more than 11.5 million confidential documents, 4.8 million emails, three million database records, and 2.1 million PDF files. The full list of companies is expected to be released early next month. The leaked documents were released less than a week after a report of the federal investigation that brought the cybersecurity practices of US law firms Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP into the limelight. A question lingers: will law firms' weak cyber practices begin to shift following these startling examples? The two incidents should catch law firms' attention, a cybersecurity professional, who wanted to remain anonymous, told SCMagazine.com. Based on the amount of data that was reportedly exfiltrated from Mossack Fonseca, SAS director of cyber strategy Christopher F. Smith projected that the organization probably didn't have DLP (data loss prevention). After you were in inside the perimeter, you basically had access to the keys to the kingdom. Several security pros agreed, noting that the leaks underscore the lack of preparedness among legal firms regarding insider threats. In a similar vein, intelligence agencies abruptly learned this painful lesson after the Snowden revelations almost three years ago. The Panama Papers leak appears to show just how critical it is that firms safeguard their information, not just from external forces, but also from inside adversaries,, said Ari Juels, professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute and member of the Cornell Tech Security Group, in comments sent via email to SCMagazine.com. In general, it's difficult to create systems and policies that strike an appropriate balance between enablement of legitimate whistleblowing and protection against outright theft of data. Mossak Fonseca has now become a poster child for the shortcomings of widely relied upon security solutions, wrote Seclore chief executive Vishal Gupta, in an email to SCMagazine.com. Unless data-centric security solutions capable of persistently controlling use of documents are in place, there is very little likelihood Mossak Fonseca, or any data breach victim, can remediate the damage done from this incident. Organizations must get away from this old-school thinking of Inside good, outside bad,' said Smith at SAS. That doesn't exist anymore. If users want to keep something confidential, don't put it on a computer specifically one connected to the Internet, warned Dodi Glenn, vice president of cybersecurity at PC Pitstop. The very second you do that, you can assume the data can be purloined. The incident may prompt long-term repercussions that extend beyond the walls of Mossack Fonseca's worldwide offices and the properties of its ultra-rich clients. Mark Sangster, vice president of marketing at eSentire believes the leak may trigger a new regulatory landscape for law firms. We're seeing many cases of insider data breaches that involve leaking sensitive data for front running trades or more malicious intent, he said. Until now, the legal industry has generally operated within a loose set of cyber security guidelines. However quickly, we expect to see hardline compliance rules and fines come to firms with sub-standard cyber security defenses in the future. That is a failure, said Smith. If you can move 2.6 terabytes into or out of an organization, it is a problem. This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com A researcher at Vulnerability Lab claimed to have discovered a pass code bypass vulnerability in iOS 9.3.1-enabled iPhone 6S and 6S iPhone Plus devices which use the 3D Touch feature. Benjamin Kunz Mejri discovered the vulnerability that allows local attackers to bypass the physical device protection mechanism of the iPhones 6s and plus models, according to a 5 April Full Disclosure mailing list archive. An attack reportedly requires a low privileged iOS device user account and no user interaction in order to exploit. Researchers estimated the vulnerability rating would be high with an estimated 6.1 exploitation on the common vulnerability scoring system. If exploited, the bug could result in unauthorised access a user's contacts, photos, text and picture messages, emails, and phone settings. A source at Apple told SCMagazine.com that the vulnerability has already been patched without user interaction and is no longer exploitable. Skycure was unable to reproduce the exploit, company chief technology officer Yair Amit told SCMagazine.com via emailed comments, but said this wasn't the first time an exploit like this has been reported. The vulnerability was similar to another alleged iOS bypass bug reported by that the security firm earlier this month that claimed to leverage Siri to gain unauthorised access to a device. NSFOCUS International Business's chief research analyst - principal engineer Stephen Gates - told SCMagazine.com in emailed comments that vulnerabilities are not going away anytime soon. If every vulnerability had to be found before an operating system or application was launched or updated, nothing would ever be released, Gates said. This article originally appeared at scmagazineus.com Applications & OS News Red Hat CEO To Partners: 'Each Of You Has A Piece Of $4 Billion' Joseph Tsidulko Share this Red Hat is going to need a lot of help from its partners. A week after reporting that the open-source software leader crossed the $2 billion threshold in revenue in 2015, CEO Jim Whitehurst revealed an ambitious goal of becoming a $5 billion company in five years. The technology is there that will propel his vision, and the company's open-source culture is a unique differentiator, Whitehurst told roughly 250 partners attending its North American Partner Conference in New Orleans on Tuesday. But some number crunching reveals the immense challenge ahead for the software vendor from Raleigh, N.C., in dramatically scaling its business, and why the channel is essential to realizing that goal. [Related: Red Hat And Microsoft Enter 'Monumental' Linux-Azure Partnership, Creating Major New Opportunities For Channel] In his keynote address, Whitehurst told partners that Red Hat has 9,000 employees, but to make $5 billion the way it's going now, it projects needing 20,000 in five years. With attrition, that means hiring 17,000 people. "We would really love to have your help so we don't necessarily have to bring that many people into the company," he said. If partners help alleviate the staffing dilemma, "the single largest challenge we have as a company," they will have to generate $4 billion of the $5 billion in annual revenue. "Each of you has a piece of that $4 billion," Whitehurst told attendees. Red Hat's CEO didn't talk much in the keynote about the specific products that will underlie the growth he expects to see. (He shared his thoughts on the next-generation of open-source technologies, and how they will drive a wave of enterprise adoption a day earlier in an exclusive interview with CRN.) But where he sees a source of opportunity, and at the same time what makes Red Hat uniquely capable of helping companies survive the digital disruptions upending so many legacy industries, is in Red Hat's culture itself, and "how it grew up," he said. The problems enterprise customers are having -- existential for many -- and the capabilities they need to address those problems are "just naturally in the open-source DNA," Whitehurst said. It's not just about technology, but process and culture, he said, and "thats why I think the opportunity is so big." Only five software companies have ever achieved $5 billion in revenue: Microsoft, VMware, Oracle, SAP and Salesforce. As Red Hat aspires for that milestone, its CEO is thinking about the durability of his company's model, and what the sources of competitive advantage are in the software industry. Economies of scale don't come into play like they do with physical products. But Whitehurst believes Red Hat has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. First off, it can replicate what has been a sustainable advantage for Microsoft and VMware -- leverage a platform. Red Hat Enterprise Linux, while not proprietary, is "an extraordinarily valuable strategic asset" as a platform for building an ecosystem and leveraging innovation, Whitehurst said. It's RHEL that positioned Red Hat to seize the opportunities presented by OpenStack and Docker containers -- technologies on which next-generation architectures are built. Secondly, Red Hat enjoys a capabilities-based advantage in open-source methodologies that no other company so far has been able to master, Whitehurst told attendees. "From involvement upstream to how we productize and support," Whitehurst said, working with open-source is "very deeply tied into the culture of who we are and how we act." Brian Peterson, vice president of systems at Forsythe Technology, a Red Hat partner based in Skokie, Ill., told CRN the channel is transforming, and no IT solutions provider has seen more change in the past few years than Forsythe. The margins derived from reselling products are being driven down by commoditization, and it's the services side of the business that's really driving growth at Forsythe and across the channel, Peterson said. With Red Hat's products, that's even more pronounced, "because using open source has serious value to the customer, but it's not easy," Peterson told CRN. While open-source solutions save customers money, the challenges in implementing and servicing them typically mean more, and higher-yield, engagements from solutions providers, he said. That's why Red Hat's ambitious goal of more than doubling sales in five years, if achieved, will be such a boon for its hundreds of North American partners. Red Hat growing to $5 billion in revenue will signify a significant rise in adoption of many open-source solutions, according to Peterson, and that bodes well for the kinds of services-focused channel businesses that most VARs are becoming. The revenue growth partners see from their Red Hat practices could be significantly higher than Red Hat's own, he said, because services revenues usually offer a multiple on sales revenues. Scott Ancha is vice president of engineering at Dasher Technologies, a systems integrator from Campbell, Calif. that partners with Red Hat and will be vying for a piece of the expanding pie Whitehurst described. After Whitehursts keynote, Ancha told CRN that the Red Hat product line has rapidly matured, empowering its channel to offer comprehensive solutions to clients to modernize their infrastructure. Dasher specializes in implementing OpenStack, a technology Red Hat sees as a major vector of growth. "Dasher made a big bet investing early in OpenStack partnerships and training in hopes that there would be high adoption rates with these technologies. The interest and movement toward these solutions is now undeniable," Ancha told CRN. Channel programs News HPE To Subcontract More Than 200 Sales Positions To Insight Enterprises Michael Novinson Share this Insight Enterprises expects to hire more than 200 inside sales workers from Hewlett Packard Enterprise's Conway, Ark., facility as HPE looks to better manage labor demand. The HPE labor agreement will help Tempe, Ariz.-based Insight -- No. 13 on the CRN Solution Provider 500 -- grow its inside sales operations around the small to mid-sized business and public sector segments of the U.S. market, according to a filing late Tuesday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Insight said it expects more than 200 new employees to be on-boarded by the end of August. This arrangement and the additional dedicated resources will enhance Insights expertise in the data center, expand its sales coverage in the SMB and public sector markets and provide the potential to accelerate data center solution sales, Insight wrote in the 8-K filing. The company declined to comment further. [RELATED: HP Confirms Enterprise Services Ciber Subcontracting Arrangement] Employees transitioning from HPE to Insight will be offered an equitable compensation package, with comparable salaries, benefits and commission payouts, according to a source with knowledge of the situation. The majority of HPEs Conway-based employees will be affected by the arrangement, according to the source, and will need to decide in the near term if they wish to stay on as re-badged Insight employees. There are employees who will move from HPE to Insight, and continue to work for HPEs EG [Enterprise Group] Inside Sales organization, HPE said in a statement, adding that it expects all employees to have a role in the new model. HPE will continue to own and manage the end-client relationship. Members of HPEs EG inside sales team in Conway were responsible for making sales calls around server, storage, networking and converged infrastructure offerings, according to the source. Both Insight and HPE will be located in the same building in Conway, the source said, though each company will have completely separate workspaces. Insight said in its filing that the employees its acquiring have specialized knowledge of data center solutions, making it possible for the solution provider to better meet growing demand for core infrastructure. The arrangement isnt expected to have much impact on Insights 2016 earnings performance, though the company said it should provide a foundation for growth in 2017 and beyond. The agreement with HPE should help Insight with a year-old initiative to transform its SMB sales engagement model by reexamining its hiring, training, development and compensation practices. The solution provider said its also looking to revamp its sales enablement through digital marketing, web automation and cloud aggregation. Jeromy Siebenaler, Insights vice president and chief cloud architect, told CRN last month that the company is investing heavily in its cloud platform to build out Infrastructure-as-a-Service consumption abilities and enhance management capabilities through improved dashboards. This arrangement between HPE and Insight appears very similar to one revealed in August between Hewlett Packards Enterprise Services group and Greenwood Village, Colo.-based solution provider behemoth Ciber -- No. 37 on the CRN SP 500 -- where a small number of application delivery services employees moved from HP to Ciber. HPs Enterprise Services Group indicated at the time that it wasnt unusual to enter into subcontracting relationships with other system integrators. HP announced last year that it was aiming to take $2 billion in costs out of its enterprise services business over the next three years. Networking News Nokia Cutting Thousands Of Jobs, R&D After Alcatel-Lucent Acquisition Mark Haranas Share this Nokia says it's cutting thousands of jobs worldwide as part of a $1 billion cost-saving plan after its recent acquisition of networking rival Alcatel-Lucent. The telecommunications equipment maker on Wednesday said it is beginning actions to reduce its personnel globally "as part of its synergy and transformation program," according to a release from the Espoo, Finland-based company. The company could eliminate up to 15,000 positions out of a combined Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent staff of 104,000 -- more than 14 percent of its global workforce. [Related: Mitel, Polycom Merger Talks 'Heating Up'; Shares Soar] One executive of a channel partner of Alcatel-Lucent, which is based in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, said that although the staff reduction on the surface appears negative, the reductions will enable the company to focus more closely on its fast-growing market segments. "These reductions will enable the combined entity to focus on the fast-growing segments of their business like 4G, 5G and Small Cells, as carriers look to upgrade their infrastructure," said one top executive from a solution provider and Alcatel-Lucent partner who declined to be named, in an email. "I don't expect that US-based VARs will feel much, if any impact," he said. "From a product perspective, this is a good thing for VARs." In April, Nokia confirmed plans to acquire Alcatel-Lucent in an all-stock deal valued at around $17 billion. Nokia shareholders approved the acquisition and the two companies began working together in January. Reductions are expected to come in the areas where Nokia says there are overlaps, such as research and development, as well as regional and sales organizations, according to the release. Nokia said it will cut about 1,300 jobs in Finland alone and will begin meeting with workers in 30 countries in the upcoming weeks. The vendor attempting to reduce $1.03 billion in operating costs by 2018, according to the release, while also looking at savings in the areas of manufacturing, real estate, services, procurement and supply chain. "These actions are designed to ensure that Nokia remains a strong industry leader," said Rajeev Suri, Nokia's president and CEO, in a statement. "We also know that our actions will have real human consequences and, given this, we will proceed in a way that is consistent with our company values and provide transition and other support to the impacted employees." The channel partner executive said he believes the combined Nokia and Alcatel-Lucent is creating a more formidable foe to competitors such as China-based networking rival Huawei and Ericsson, which formed a strategic partnership last year with Cisco Systems. However, the executive said, partners need to begin to learn about Nokia's channel strategy. "As a VAR, we'll have to figure out what Nokia's partner engagement model looks like," he said. Security News Security Solution Providers See Growing Opportunity In Privileged Account Management Sarah Kuranda Share this There are plenty of opportunities for solution providers in security, but one rising to the top is the growing demand for privileged account management solutions, a panel of security experts and solution providers said this week in Boston. Privileged account management is a market that is gaining attention in security sales conversations, as many of the most notable breaches in recent months involved some form of privilege abuse. The technology helps companies identify, secure, manage and monitor those privileged accounts. It's a market where partners are seeing a lot of opportunity, especially in integration with identity and access management solutions or security services, partners and security experts said in a panel discussion moderated by CRN. [Related: Q&A: CyberArk CEO Talks Acquisition Rumors And Up-And-Coming Privileged Account Management Market] "I think [customers] are opening their eyes to this opportunity," said panel member Charles Drum, director of security technology at Boulder, Colo.-based Integral Partners. David Mapgaonkar, Principal, Cyber Risk Services at Deloitte (which provides audit, consulting, tax and advisory services to 80 percent of the Fortune 500 companies), says that various clients are recognizing privileged account management as a "known business problem. Thats an attitude that has evolved from a historical approach of user provisioning and single sign-on in the early 2000s, he said, and highlights the move from a focus on protection to the ability to monitor and respond. "Spending on security used to be focused on protecting data and information," Mapgaonkar said. "Today, that has evolved. It's no longer just protection. Companies are focusing on monitoring and vigilance. Then, when the breach does happen, they are measured on how quickly they can respond and how resilient their business is." For that reason, Mapgaonkar said, Deloitte is placing a "big bet on privileged account management" by investing in the technology, training people and building partnerships with key vendors. "We anticipate that there will be a big, significant payoff at the end of it. We don't think this is a one-time spike of need. It's going to be here for a long time," Mapgaonkar said. Drum said his business has seen particular success integrating privileged account management solutions into a solution with identity and access management, using the company's system integration capabilities to build out custom connectors and intellectual property around the two. He said he has also seen success securing the log-in systems for security professionals and other security vendor solutions. "That's a huge opportunity to help clients define and implement that process and use the building blocks from [privileged account management vendors] and existing solutions out there to build out assets to tell a story beyond just what we're doing today," Drum said. Scott Whitehouse, vice president of channels and alliances for the Americas at CyberArk, a Newton, Mass.-based privileged account management vendor, said that's a successful approach he sees many of the company's channel partners taking. He said he has also seen partners connecting the solution to analyst tools and vulnerability management through the endpoint. Whitehouse said CyberArk sees privileged account management often coming up in conversations after a breach has already occurred or in response to an audit. However, he said CyberArk is pushing partners to have more of that conversation before an event takes place to prevent it from happening in the first place. That's an opportunity that has a lot of runway for partners, CyberArk CEO Udi Mokady said. He said 2015 was a "wakeup call" when it comes to the importance of high privilege access management, and the channel is key to expanding that solution footprint. "It's an open, greenfield opportunity," Mokady said. The Internet of Things (IoT), software-defined networks (SDN), cloud-based services and network virtualization (NV) dont sound like emerging technologies. They have all been around for more than a decade thats multiple generations in the high-tech world. But according to Dr. James Burrell, deputy assistant director at the FBI, they are indeed still emerging. Burrell told an audience at the Federal Reserve Bank of Bostons 2016 Cybersecurity Conference that, what really matters is the rate of adoption and the rate of adaption within organizations. That impacts the risk calculus. And he said while everybody is very much aware of the IoT, they are likely not ready, at the adoption or adaption level, for the Internet of Everything (IoE). Burrell, one of seven speakers at the one-day event, added that this is not just coming from a government official. He cited John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco, who has said the IoE, will be more impactful in the next five to 10 years than the entire Internet has been to date. [ ALSO ON CSO: IoT dangers are real and widespread ] Technology brings opportunities with it, of course, he said, but the amazing rate of advancement in online technology makes it difficult for organizations, to align the risks and opportunities of technology. To do so, he said, will require, a paradigm shift in thinking. And that shift has a long way to go to reach critical mass. The world of designing apps and software technology is, almost like 20 years ago, with people doing it in their basements and garages, he said. And security is not their No. 1 concern the demands of consumers is. You can say you wont buy what theyre making, but your employees and your customers are. Youre going to be forced to deal with it. Burrell said when smartphones and BYOD became common a decade ago, businesses were quick to see the opportunities it offered, but they didnt understand the security of the technology. And thats nothing compared to what the IoT is going to do to you if youre not prepared. The billions of devices that make up the IoT expected to reach 21 billion or more within the next four years, are not standardized, like mobile devices, he said. And the issue is not that somebody knows the temperature of your (smart) refrigerator. Its that it is a vector a way to get into your network. And he said the price of tools for cyber criminals keeps getting cheaper. They can get open-source software to override your door locks for zero nothing, he said. The cloud is equally transformative and risky. I have to convince everyone that the cloud is not just a way to do things faster, he said. Its a game changer. Youll be able to do things youve never been able to do before, but unauthorized cloud use by employees, especially in the storage arena, is a huge risk to your organization. Added to that is a lack of fundamental security awareness, even at the IT level, within organizations. He referred to one, unnamed, large company that he said, had all the best tools, but had them on default configurations, so they got breached. Burrell offered a number of recommendations to keep current with risk management. One is to keep current with academic research. There are thousands of articles, he said. Its worth having one of your people look at the research for finding risk. Another is to use NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education) framework for things like improving attack detection in cloud. Yet another is to use his agency the FBI for malware analysis. We have an auto-analysis and repository system, which can get you a response in two minutes, he said. We get trending data that goes on our classified side. If you use us, you might not have to hire forensics people, which could cost you $60,000 or more, he said. The key, he said, is to try to maintain some control over hardware and software, and then vet the apps used on it. Thats the way to a more secure environment, he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate More than most, Marshall Cooper knows how CEOs feel about having their companies in Connecticut or elsewhere it comes with the territory, after all, of running Chief Executive magazine, which convenes an annual roundtable and survey to assess just those issues. When Cooper went looking for new offices for his Chief Executive Group, rather than hopping west from Greenwich to New York, he is heading east, to the former headquarters of Nine West in Stamford. With Fairfield Countys commercial real estate market still affected by underwhelming jobs growth and huge empty spaces on the market, Forstone Capitals success drawing tenants to its 9 West Broad St. building in Stamford stands out, with Chief Executive only one of multiple firms to take space at the building at the northern tip of the Mill River Park, where construction is proceeding on a carousel pavilion. If General Electric (NYSE: GE) is hopping off the regions office merry-go-round in 2016, plenty more are keeping their seat, including Chief Executive. Cooper said the publisher did not give serious consideration to Westchester County or other New York locales in its hunt for new office space. We have an employee base we didnt want to disrupt, Cooper said. Were not a financial services company (and) its very expensive in Greenwich. The Stamford ... location for us was great, right in the downtown area. Cooper had no shortage of options; in the first quarter, 24 percent of Fairfield County office space was vacant, according to calculations by Jones Lang LaSalle, with the countys corporate center of Stamford having the highest vacancy rate of any major submarket at just over 30 percent. Among localized markets, Norwalks downtown and Connecticut Avenue office buildings were nearly half-empty. Greenwich continues to be the hottest market by multiple measures, with an overall vacancy rate of 18.4 percent that tightens to 14.6 percent in class B buildings that carry lower rents. And at the most local levels, Fairfield was the lone market with a single-digit vacancy rate at 9 percent. The vacancy rate figures have been in a state of flux as buildings formerly occupied by single tenants hit the market under new owners for multitenant use in Stamford notably including the former headquarters of UBS, Pitney Bowes and General Reinsurance. The list is soon to include the GE headquarters in Fairfield, if a developer that acquires the property maintains its use as an office facility. In Danbury, the owner of Matrix Corporate Center is readying to absorb the loss of one of its two biggest tenants in Praxair, which uses about 200,000 square feet of space at the center and which is relocating across the city to a former GE Capital building. The emptying of Praxairs space to the Danbury vacancy rate would hike Danbury and Ridgefields combined vacancy rate to nearly 26 percent, up from under 23 percent today. If Praxair represented a major retention for Connecticut given GEs departure for Boston, it was not the only one. At Forstones new building in Stamford, construction crews were working Wednesday to complete a new space for the energy brokerage firm Tradition, which is moving more than 100 employees there from 680 Washington Blvd. in Stamford, with the company also maintaining a pair of offices in New York City. Having secured naming rights to 9 West Broad St., Tradition will hang its moniker from the building later this month. I think we looked at 40 properties," said Miroslav Safran, a senior Tradition executive who commutes from New Jersey. We thought this was a little hidden gem. Also having a new office fit out at 9 West Broad is the commercial broker RHYS, whose signs are a familiar sight at office and retail buildings throughout Fairfield County, with the firm previously located at 300 Atlantic St. in Stamford. With his encyclopaedic knowledge of Fairfield Countys commercial real estate scene, CEO Cory Gubner chose 9 West Broad St. Forstone Capital principal Brandon Hall said his company has worked to reconnect 9 West Broad to downtown Stamford, including everything from replacing its white facade with wood finishing that reflects the Mill River Park extending south; to new entryways and outdoor seating to better integrate the building at street level. An office lobby is going more towards (resembling) a hotel lobby, Hall said. Its a gathering place it should be be a place of energy and a place where people are congregating. Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-964-2236; www.twitter.com/casoulman This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate One of Bridgeport's favorite sons turns 69 on Wednesday. Actor John Ratzenberger, born in Bridgeport on April 6, 1947, has been in countless movies and television shows over more than forty years in acting. To celebrate, here's a look back at some of Ratzenberger's most memorable roles on the big screen. According to film website IMDB, Ratzenberger began the improvisational comedy group, "Sal's Meat Market", in Bridgeport, while attending Sacred Heart Universityhe is also on the board of SHU and Pepperdine University. He later became a part of the group, "The Downtown Cabaret," as well. He's best known for his role as "Cliff" on the long-running television series, Cheers, and for his recurring voice roles in Pixar animated movies. Ratzenberger has voiced the most Pixar characters ever. The multi-Emmy-nomiated actor, screenwriter, and director produced and starred in the Travel Channel show, "Made in America," and co-authored the book "A Common Man's Salute to an Uncommon Country." Currently, Ratzenberger is pre-producing an unnamed television series on the shortage of skilled workers in America, according to his website. Check out the slideshow above to see some of Ratzenberger's most memorable roles. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate April 5 marks the 402nd wedding anniversary of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. Who's John Rolfe, you ask? It appears Disney left off that part of the story. There are some discrepancies between the Disney version and real-life version of Pocahontas' life. Some believe she didn't actually save John Smith from execution, and there are even tales of her disliking him and throwing shade at him when they ran into each other in London years later. In reality, Pocahontas was captured by the English and held hostage in Jamestown, Virginia in 1613 at just 17 years old. A year later, she married John Rolfe, who was known for commercializing tobacco (umm, thanks?) and nine months after that gave birth to their son Thomas. She converted to Christianity during her captivity and was re-branded Rebecca Rolfe. SEE ALSO: Top 10 Walt Disney myths and facts Her life was used as an example of a "civilized savage," all in the hopes of people throwing more money at a Jamestown settlement. She was wined and dined and even became something of a celebrity in London, but all of that would be short-lived. After setting sail from London to Jamestown with her family, she fell ill and died at 21 years old. The cause of death is believed to be smallpox, but there's no official word on that. There are no pet raccoons, no going just around the river bend. Just kind of a sad tale of a woman whose world was turned upside down. This isn't the first time Disney took liberties with a real-life person's tale. Take a look at the true stories behind these Disney legends in the gallery above. Then, keep clicking to see the faces behind some of the most recognizable Disney voices. HARTFORD The GOP majority in the U.S. Senate has made it plain they will not move forward on President Barack Obamas nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court. But that didnt stop the Democratic majority in the Connecticut Senate on Wednesday from approving a resolution requesting their Washington counterparts conduct confirmation hearings. The legislation passed along party lines, 19-15. Ned Gerard / Hearst Connecticut Media STRATFORD Cannibalism is going on with impunity in the South End of town, but dont call the cops just yet. This has to do with a an aging Sikosky S-76 helicopter that was donated to the Connecticut Air & Space Center. Some of its parts will be find their way into a much older helicopter that the center is restoring, a Sikorsky Skycrane that dates back to the early 1960s. Five years ago, Presley Eze, a licensed practical nurse from West Hartford, was arrested outside Trader Joes when, police said, he was holding a long sword and appeared to be high on PCP. Though hes been arrested four times since and was found wandering barefoot in the snow in 17-degree weather in 2013, the state Board of Examiners for Nursing concluded that Eze, 29, has maintained his sobriety and is now safe to practice nursing with reasonable skill and safety. The board made that decision March 23 when it imposed a four-year probation on Ezes nursing license with many conditions. He must have periodic drug and alcohol tests and visit support groups at least eight times a month. Records show the board members concluded that Eze has fully accepted responsibility for his misconduct. At the same meeting, the board also disciplined seven other nurses. On May 11, 2011, Eze was charged at the West Hartford grocery store with breach of peace, risk of injury to a minor and possession of weapons in a motor vehicle, the boards memorandum of decision said. In August of 2011, he was charged with driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the memo said. Three months later, he was convicted of criminal trespass in connection with the sword incident and received a suspended sentence of one year and probation for two years, the memo said. In April of 2012, Eze was charged with disorderly conduct after his parents told police he was behaving aggressively, the memo said. A month later, he was convicted of DUI and received a six-month suspended sentence and was placed on probation for 18 months. On Jan. 2, 2013, West Hartford police found Eze in the snow in his pajamas and sent him to a local hospital for evaluation for substance abuse, the memo said. Three months later, he was charged with DUI again, the memo said. Five times in 2013, Eze tested positive for PCP and opiates, the memo said. His attorney, Richard Brown of Hartford, said Eze has maintained his sobriety for a long time and was never accused of harming a patient. Hes never let his personal issues affect his profession, Brown said. The conditions [of his probation] are such that theres no tolerance. If he fails a drug test, he loses his license. In other business on March 23, the nursing board revoked the license of Lisa Kuba, a licensed practical nurse from West Haven. While employed at All Pointe Homecare of Cheshire in June of 2015, Kuba falsified patient records, abandoned a patient, violated professional boundaries with one or more relatives of a patient and drank alcohol at work, board records show. The board also: Suspended the license of Gregory Klimaytis, a registered nurse from Redding, pending a hearing on charges that he violated probation by skipping drug tests. In 2013, the board had placed his license on probation for four years after he admitted stealing a painkiller, abusing alcohol and falsifying records, board records show. Suspended the license of RN Samantha Angelini of East Granby, pending a hearing. Records show she is accused of abusing Ritalin, Adderall, Percocet, marijuana, Suboxone, alcohol and cocaine in 2013 and 2014. Suspended the license of RN Dawn C. Palmer of Danielson, pending a hearing on charges that she violated probation by testing positive this year for opiates, records show. Approved a four-year probation for Dorsey Saunders, an LPN from Bridgeport. In a consent order she signed, Saunders admitted that while working at the Fairview of Fairfield nursing home, she stole and abused oxycodone and fentanyl in 2015. Approved a two-year probation for RN Amy B. Tagg of New Milford. In a consent order, she admitted stealing Percocet and Dilaudid for personal use in 2011 from Danbury Hospital when she was working there. She also excessively used Focalin, a stimulant, in 2015, the consent order said. Placed a one-year probation on the license of RN Karen Greenland of Windsor. In a consent order, she admitted that she failed to write down a prescription order for a patient and failed to notice that the medication was not called for in the patients plan of care, the consent order said. This story was reported under a partnership with the Connecticut Health I-Team (www.c-hit.org). This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate BRIDGEPORT The 19-year-old Sacred Heart University student thought the man waiting outside the Main Street bar was the Uber driver her friends had called. Police said the man, who they later identified as Alfonso Reid, a felon with prior convictions for attempted murder, assault and gun possession, told the victim and her friends his name was Fonzie, and claimed he had been both an employee and a student at the university. Police said the 39-year-old Reid later tricked the young woman to separate from her friends and took her back to his home, where he repeatedly raped her, ordering her to hold a stopwatch to time his assaults on her. On Wednesday afternoon, Reid showed no emotion as he stood shackled before Superior Court Judge William Holden. The judge ordered Reid, who is charged with first-degree sexual assault, held in lieu of $750,000 bond and continued the case to April 19. On Tuesday night, police had raided the Golden Star Cafe, at 3915 Main St., where they said the victim and her friends said they had been drinking prior to meeting Reid the night of March 30. Police said the bar was crowded with underage Sacred Heart University students. It appeared to be some kind of party for college students; there was someone at the door collecting money, one cop said. Denials from bar owner Eighty-five people were issued infractions for underage drinking. Police said they were also going to cite the owner, Gregory Kapetaneas, for numerous liquor violations. For his part, Kapetaneas said that his doormen always checked IDs with an electronic scanner, and that he posted staff at all the entrances to the building to catch people trying to sneak in. As far as Im concerned, there were no underage kids, Kapetaneas said Wednesday night. They all passed our scanner. Kapetaneas said the tavern is largely a neighborhood spot, though it does host college nights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Sacred Heart University does not condone underage drinking and has several initiatives in place to encourage students to make thoughtful decisions about alcohol, University spokeswoman Deborah Noack said. On Wednesday evening, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim announced through his communications director, Av Harris, that he and Sacred Heart University Dean of Students Larry Weilk would announce stepped-up enforcement measures to combat underage drinking at a press event set for Thursday morning. Police said the assault victim told them she and her friends had arrived at the bar at about 9 p.m. on March 30, and while there had been drinking and dancing. Allegations of drugging, assault When the bar closed, the young women got into Reids car, and while driving he suggested he take them to his home on Scofield Avenue, where they could do cocaine and smoke marijuana, police said. However, police said, the women pleaded with Reid to drive them to the university, one of them threatening that her cell phone was being tracked by her father, who is a law enforcement officer. Reid dropped the women off at their dormitories, but then told the victim she had left something in his car, police continued. When she went with him to get it, police said, Reid forced the woman to swallow a pill that made her compliant and drove off with her. Sometime later, one of the victims friends got a phone call from the frantic victim, police said. The victim told her she was at Fonzies house and she could hear Fonzie in the background telling the victim, Hang up the phone right now, police said. After assaulting her, police said, Reid agreed to drive the victim to her dorm, telling her he was going to pay her and is wealthy. Fearing he was going to assault her again, police said, the victim managed to escape from his car and hid behind some parked cars until he drove away. She called campus security and waited on the phone until security picked her up at Wentworth and Main streets. Police said Reid was identified as the assailant from campus surveillance video. Kapetaneas said he had been taken by surprise by the news of the assault. Ive been here for 38 years; thats the first time that anything like that happened, he said. Ive never heard of that in this part of the city. After recently recording four and a half hours of Donald Trumps stump speeches and press conferences, Politico found more than 60 statements judged to be mischaracterizations, exaggerations, or totally false. While Trump seems to take dishonesty to a new level, its nothing new in American political campaigns. While running for office is all about generating enthusiasm among the voters, serving in office is fundamentally different. Once elected the candidate becomes the president of everyone, requiring credibility to serve effectively. There will always be some people who believe in a candidate no matter what, but all leaders need a majority of people to trust them or at least believe they are moderately competent. This is true for business leaders as well as elected officials, but CEOs are particularly vulnerable to a loss of credibility: It only takes a few instances of delivering non-credible statements to totally lose the peoples trust. Once credibility is lost, it becomes almost impossible to lead effectively. Why credibility is crucial for CEOs. The immediacy of the position is one thing that makes credibility so critical for corporate heads. The CEO is held directly responsible for the performance of the company. Employees understand that this person is vital to their livelihood. This is not to diminish the role of the most powerful person in the world, but the president is far removed from the people, has checks and balances ideally, and often has little direct control over the behemoth that is the federal government. Also essential for CEOs is dependence on employees to execute on their vision and strategy. CEOs dont command an army: To lead successfully, they need employees to freely commit to their vision. Their employees have choices: They can disengage or seek other employment. Related: 7 Sure Signs Now Is the Time for a Career Change Employees who disengage are less likely to do their best. This will have dire consequences for even the largest companies. When their leadership fails, CEOs are fairly easy to remove. On the other hand, presidents are less dependent upon the performance of employees in every agency and have to make colossal mistakes in the eyes of the country to even get near to being impeached. Indeed, a LeadershipIQ.com study found that most CEOs are not fired due to financial performance but because of soft issues such as credibility. The organization surveyed more than 1,000 board members from 286 public, private, business and healthcare organizations that fired, or otherwise forced out, their CEO. For example, 27 percent said they fired CEOs because of tolerating low performers. According to the study, Board members shared that when CEOs allowed an obvious low performer to linger (without any improvement or discipline), it destroyed their credibility and made it politically difficult for them to hold others accountable. Related: 7 Ways to Build Credibility, Trust and Character That Will Grow Your Business Maintaining credibility. What can CEOs do to remain credible? A big part of it is simple honesty: Employees must believe that CEOs are telling them the honest truth (as the CEO sees it) at all times. Telling the truth 90 percent of the time is little better than telling the truth 10 percent of the time. Another aspect is being transparent. Many CEOs start out with the best of intentions. Its easy to share positive information. However, when things turn south, CEOs often are reticent to share the negatives. They cannot face the responsibility of leading people through tough times, or the realization that they may have no control. They try to pretend that it isnt happening, hoping that things will improve (The LeadshipIQ.com research also found that 23 percent fired their CEOs for denying reality). When cutbacks and layoffs come after the CEO has claimed that everything is okay, all credibility with employees is lost. Regaining credibility becomes almost impossible in this situation, and a change of leadership may be the only answer. Related: Why Are Leaders So Afraid of Change? This doesnt mean that CEOs cant make mistakes. Employees understand that everyone is human and prone to issues; but CEOs cant hide behind that excuse when it comes to integrity. If they make a mistake, they must quickly come forward and take responsibility by being absolutely honest about the problem. While the media might assert that its difficult to find a CEO whose behavior is guided by ethics, integrity, and honesty, this isnt the case. Time will tell who our presidential candidates will be in the general election, but odds are that neither will be taken down by a dishonesty smoking gun in the meantime. The standards are much higher for CEOs. Related: Act Like a Leader: Help Others Succeed. Build Strategic Alliances. Know Yourself. 5 Qualities of a Thriving Entrepreneur Human Capital Forum MENA In Dubai To Discuss Transformation Of HR Sector Copyright 2016 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved The state employees unions are protesting the major job cuts coming to their members as part of the deal struck in Hartford to try to close the states massive budget deficit. Anyone feeling buyers remorse for blindly voting for all those Democratic candidates - the ones looking out for the unions and the middle class? The Democrats are the ones responsible for the states current fiscal mess. Massive tax hikes and intrusive regulations have made us an unattractive state for businesses and citizens, causing the taxpayers to head elsewhere. This is just the beginning. According to Senate President Martin Loone, D-New Haven, next years budget cuts will be 4 times as bad as this years. So those of you who survived this years cuts, get ready. We need to change course here in the state. We vote in the Democrats year after year, and things only deteriorate. We send Democrats to Washington each election cycle they take trips to Cuba and submarine trips to the Arctic Circle. Governor Malloy sees what a mess the state is in - he is actively campaigning for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she is elected president and will find a landing spot for him in D.C. Lets give the Republicans a shot in November - can they do any worse? Who is John Galt? Steve Rowe Stratford This letter is in response to a letter written by Will Duchon (Trump an embarrassment, Mar. 25). Duchon got it half right. He states there is a misguided disgust with Washington and a disintegration of our Representative Government. On that he is correct, but this disgust is not misguided. That disgust is guided by a lack of ability and a lack of faith. The lack of ability of our elected representatives to adhere to the Constitution, and a lack of faith that any of them will keep their word. I've always heard that liberal progressive Democrats, such as Duchon, hate name calling. Yet that is exactly what he resorts to. Duchon calls Donald Trump a megalomaniacal bigot. He calls former President George Bush a war criminal and he calls the people who vote for Donald Trump brain-washed. Another fine example of liberal progressive Democrat ideology. Duchon said Donald Trump has zero political experience. Well, that is exactly what a good portion of America wants, non-politicians representing them, people who are not beholden to a political party and people who will follow the Constitution, not work around it. Duchon says Donald Trump representing the United States would be an embarrassment. Dear Mr. Duchon, what do you think Barrak Obama is. J.. Melita Milford La Habana, the name of Iberia's latest Airbus Spain's Iberia Airline Company named its latest Airbus A330-200 La Habana, after the Cuban capital, to mark the 70th anniversary of its flights to Latin America. The name La Habana comes on the front of the planes, just below the cabin. Thus far Iberia, which was the first to fly to Latin America from Europe after World War II has thus far acquired three of those planes. Iberia plans to get 29 new long-range planes, with 13 of them being Airbus A330-200 and others are new generation Airbus A350-900 to be with the company between 2018 and 2012, according to a news release by the company. At present, the Spanish airline company maintains over 250 weekly flights to 20 destinations in 15 Latin American countries. Iberia began operations in Cuba in 1949 and most recently, following a two-year flight interruption, resumed flights to Havana in June 2015. source: www.cibercuba.com 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. Leesburg Electric: With prices soaring, late fees are being waived Prices are up, so Leesburg Electric has decided that, as of Oct. 1, late fees will be waived. Despite objections from president M. David Rudd and chief of campus police services Bruce Harber, full-time U of M employees may soon be allowed to carry handguns on campus. The two sent an email to students and faculty Monday stressing the potential issues of handguns on campus. Austin Anderson Tennessee lawmakers are voting on a bill that would allow university employees to carry concealed weapons on college campuses. Currently, it is illegal to bring a gun onto the University of Memphis campus. Full-time University of Memphis employees may soon be packing heat on campus, and M. David Rudd, university president, and Bruce Harber, chief of Campus Police Services, are not happy about it. The two sent an email to U of M faculty and students Monday about a proposed Tennessee legislation that would allow full-time employees of the university with a state gun permit to carry handguns on campus. aThe University of Memphis has consistently been one of the safest places in the state,a their email said. aWe believe our exemplary safety record is due in part to guns being prohibited on our campuses.a Rudd and Harber also said those who have permits are not necessarily trained how to use their guns in a crisis situation. aMore weapons on campus may result in more frequent emergency alerts a which will disrupt our academic mission and adversely impact student success,a the email said. The U of M held active shooter training on March 1. During the event, Harber said he opposed the bill, and that awe are doing everything we can to keep it from happening.a Austin Anderson Firearms in the hands of untrained (or minimally trained) individuals can lead to bad decisions and tragic consequences,-Harber According to Harber, if the bill passes, police response to these stressful situations would take longer. Harber said at the training event in March that more guns in any possible active shooter situation would complicate the scene, and it would take more time to respond appropriately. Austin Anderson Despite objections from president M. David Rudd and chief of campus police services Bruce Harber, full-time U of M employees may soon be allowed to carry handguns on campus. The two sent an email to students and faculty Monday stressing the potential issues of handguns on campus. Stuart Dedmon, U of M student and Tennesseeas state president of Students for Concealed Carry, disagreed with the email. aI believe that Dr. Ruddas statement is based on emotions and expected narratives rather than the facts that are readily available,a he said in an email to The Daily Helmsman. aThe observable facts are on the side of campus carry advocates. The proposed legislation in no way changes who has the lawful right to carry, it only removes the geographical barriers that are currently placed on permit-holding faculty,a Dedmon said in his email. The university should be forced to follow the law if passed, even if administrators do not like it, Dedmon said. aThe University of Memphis is not a private institution, it is publicly funded and, therefore, should comply with public mandate.a However, Dedmon said fulltime employees should only use a gun for personal safety and let police handle emergency situations or a mass shooter. aContrary to what some opponents of campus carry might claim, permit holders donat need extensive tactical training because they are not charged with protecting the public,a he said. aItas not their job to act like amateur one-man SWAT teams.a University of Memphis administrators hope conditions will improve for Physical Plant workers after hiring Ronnie Brooks as the new head of the plant. Brooks left his job at Tennessee State University to come back to the U of M. BAILEY CLARK University of Memphis administrators hope conditions will improve for Physical Plant workers after hiring Ronnie Brooks as the new head of the plant. Brooks left his job at Tennessee State University to come back to the U of M. The U of M is looking to a former employee to resolve the complaints coming from maintenance workers and custodial staff on campus. The newly hired head of the U of Mas Physical Plant department, Ronnie Brooks, worked for the university for 13 years before he left for another job. Brooks, who will begin work May 2, will face a slew of problems within the department. John Gluszek, a student and parttime worker at the Physical Plant, said he hopes the new director will take the workersa concerns seriously. aEveryone thinks [the new hire] will fix everything, but nothing will change if he doesnat implement serious changes,a he said while watering flowers outside of the Ned McWherter Library. aWith that being said, I was excited to hear about the new hire. I think itas a good thing he worked at the university before.a University administrators are confident Brooks will improve working conditions and seem to be giving the Physical Plant a more important role in the university. For example, when Brooks starts, he will be an assistant vice president a a much higher position than when he left. U of M president M. David Rudd elevated the head of Physical Plant to highlight the importance of their employees and the roll of campus maintenance, he said. aWeall allow him time to make the transition, get to know our employees and work directly with those individuals raising concerns,a Rudd said. aIam confident Ron is someone that will help us improve as a university and a community.a The new hire comes after a report conducted by the Keith McGee Group that said Physical Plant employees compared working conditions to slave labor, specifically calling the department the aPhysical Plantation.a The report released in October included interviews with department employees. University administrators and employees hope the new hire will address concerns and alleviate some of the problems in the Physical Plant. In an email sent to all students and faculty March 14, David Zettergren, vice president of U of Mas business and finance, said Brooks is not a stranger to the university. Brooks served as associate director of the Physical Plant and director of engineering and crafts from 1995 to 2008. He has more than 20 years of facilities management experience. He left his job as the associate vice president for facilities management at Tennessee State University to come to the U of M. Anjetta Brown, administrative assistant at Tennessee State University, said the transition would affect her the most because she works directly under Brooks, and things will not be the same without him. aHe is over our facility plant and is basically in charge of anything on our campus that isnat academic,a Brown said. aWe are all sad he is leaving because he wears a lot of hats and is a great asset.a Brooks was unable to comment, but according to Laura Henson, administrative associate II at the University of Memphis, many current Physical Plant employees are familiar with him. aBecause he is a former employee of the U of M, some of the guys that work here have known him for a while, which is a good thing,a she said. Concerning the October report, Zettergren said many improvements have already been made within the Physical Plant, but Brooks will only help to implement the process. aWe have filled vacant positions, reevaluated and changed staffing levels in those areas where more staff are needed, and adjusted employee schedules to align with the employeesa desires and the universityas needs to ensure work is completed appropriately,a he said. aI am certain Mr. Brooks will meet with the Physical Plant staff early on and analyze the changes already implemented to develop a strategy for improvement.a Zettergren said one of the problems still needing to be addressed in the Physical Plant are the aging buildings on campus and deferred maintenance, which creates intermittent problems. aThe uncertainty of the issues we must address and the stress it puts on our limited staff is also a challenge,a he said. Filling vacancies within the Physical Plant was one of the problems highlighted in the October report. Several employees reported being stretched too thin because there were not enough employees in their assigned areas. The report also outlined many other concerns including the lack of training for employees, the lack of an employee safety program, few opportunities for employee advancement and an unfair system of addressing disputes with management. Rudd said the concerns were taken into account when selecting a new member of the Physical Plant department team. aAn almost singular focus of the hiring process for the new associate VP was identifying someone capable and committed to making positive changes in our Physical Plant operations, consistent with the recommendations offered in the report,a Rudd said. Lifestyle | Daily Life | News | The Sydney Morning Herald Were sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. Were working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Time and again, the unaccountable judges of the European Court of Justice have flouted both national sovereignty and simple common sense. Indeed, in their determination to undermine our parliamentary and judicial system, they have become a serious threat to democracy. In its latest idiocy, the court has ruled that two suspects, a Romanian and a Hungarian, cannot be deported to their home countries because this would infringe their human rights. The European Court of Justice, pictured, has ruled that Romanian and Hungarian criminals cannot be deported from Britain to serve their sentances at home because it would infringe their human rights We have repeatedly been assured that one of the great advantages of belonging to the European Union is that thanks to the European Arrest Warrant, suspects can swiftly be returned to face trial. But the court declares that being locked in a Romanian or Hungarian prison would be degrading and inhuman. This whole sorry issue raises the question of why Romania and Hungary are allowed to remain in the EU, if their standards are so lamentable. More pertinently, although this case occurred in Germany, the new ruling applies equally to the UK which in the past five years has received requests from Romania and Hungary to send more than 6,000 of their nationals home for trial. These judges exploit the almost infinitely elastic doctrine of human rights to do whatever they please. They have become, quite literally, a law unto themselves. To add insult to injury, the ECJ has just doubled, from 28 to 56, its number of judges justifying the increase by pretending there was a backlog of cases, which had in fact already been cleared. Judges often end up believing they are better equipped than mere elected parliamentarians to determine, not just interpret, the laws under which we should live. At the ECJ, they are seizing the opportunity to exert more and more power over the lives of 500million Europeans. The sooner these judicial empire-builders wings are clipped, the better. Camerons EU-turn Cranking up the rhetoric of Project Fear, the Prime Minister warns that withdrawing from the EU would put two million jobs at risk, while forcing up prices and dragging living standards down. You have to ask: why on Earth would we do this to ourselves? he says. I believe it would be needless and reckless an act of economic and political self-harm. Two questions. First, if David Cameron seriously thinks withdrawing would be such a catastrophe, arent voters entitled to ask why he ordered this referendum? After all, if he believes his own scaremongering, he must think calling the vote was like handing a razor blade to a potentially self-harming teenager. Which brings us to our second question. Can this be the same Mr Cameron who warned three years ago that without fundamental, far-reaching change, the EU would make us weaker, not stronger? More of the same will just produce more of the same, he said in 2013, less competitiveness, less growth, fewer jobs. After the abject failure of his renegotiation, can the PM explain precisely what has changed, in just three years, to make pulling out of the EU a greater threat to jobs than staying in? Prime Minister David Cameron has been increasing the level of fear associated with a British EU exit A policemans lot This paper yields to nobody in our admiration of the police. But can cuts really be blamed, as the Police Federation claims, for the 35 per cent rise over five years in the numbers taking long-term sick leave for psychological reasons? Ah, Greece, land of sun-dappled ancient ruins, coastal hillsides speckled with bright white houses, blue shutters and turquoise waters everywhere you look. And then there's the food. Creamy tzatziki, salty feta, honey, stuffed vine leaves and yoghurt, washed down with cool cans of Mythos. It's enough to make us book one-way tickets to Kefalonia, but if your chosen holiday companion needs any more persuading, here are a few to help you... 1. Its heavenly climate It is little wonder so many of us have a serious love affair with Greece. But as well as the stunning scenery and rich culture, it is their amazing FOOD that keeps us seriously happy Here in the UK we're struggling to remember the last time we left the house without first mummifying ourselves in three pairs of tights, six polo necks, nine pairs of jeans, three snowsuits and 45 bobble hats. People in Greece don't even own COATS (well, probably). With balmy Mediterranean summers, deliciously mild winters and barely a droplet of rain from February to November, it's no wonder Greek people always look so fresh of face and clear of skin. 2. Those breathtaking islands Think you know all the Greek islands? Think again. Greece has around 6,000 of them, just 227 of which are inhabited, but that still leaves you with a fair few holiday options. Each island bursts with its own marvellously unique personality, allowing travellers to chose between a family-friendly break (Corfu), a romantic getaway (Santorini), a gastronomic paradise (Crete) or a totally tranquil break away from it all (Skyros). But whichever isle you pick you're guaranteed secret swimming coves, pristine beaches, unbeatable hospitality and a dinner table laden with fresh seafood, warming lamb stews, filo-wrapped delicacies, and lashings of crisp white wine. Cheers, or Yamas as they say over there. If the summer seems too far away, you can recreate your own Greek feast at home with Lidl's delicious Greek range in store this week (and on sale until April 13). Begin with grilled Cypriot Halloumi with Basil (1.39), Musky Octopus in Spicy Sauce (1.49) and Anchovies in Soya Oil (99p), before moving on to a Gyros Rice Dish (1.99) and Moussaka (2.19). Serve with a bottle of traditional dry white Retsina (4.99). 3. Olives, nailed There are around 143 million olive trees in Greece - which explains why their olives and products are the best Thanks to its perfect climate, olive trees flourish on Greek soil. There are around 143 million of them there, making the country a huge exporter of both the fruits and their oil, that delicious stuff that the Greek poet Homer once described as 'liquid gold'. Enjoy them as flavoursome oils, stuffed with cheese, blended into pastes and dips, scattered them over salads, or simply served them as they are with a round of chilled drinks. Treat your guests to Olives Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (1.79) and drizzle Lidl's Extra Virgin Olive Oil made from black Kalamata olives (2.69) Lidl has every olive you might want to eat this summer, with its range of Greek foods from Eridanous. Treat your guests to Olives Stuffed with Sun-Dried Tomatoes (1.79) with pre-dinner drinks alongside the delicious Antipasti Selection (1.69), stir Pitted Green Olives (3.99) into chicken dishes, and pour their Extra Virgin Olive Oil made from black Kalamata olives (2.69) all over ripe tomatoes or a crisp salad. 4. The beautiful people The men are ruggedly sexy, the women powerful and alluring: Greek people kick the proverbial in terms of beauty. Sakis Rouvas and Anna Vissi are the sparkling darlings of the singing stage, but Greek beauty has made its way across the Atlantic, where Hollywood stars including Jennifer Aniston, Billy Zane, Tina Fey and Costas Mandylor all owe their golden looks to Greek heritage. Gorgeous Greeks: Tina Fey, Billy Zane and Jennifer Aniston (L-R) all have Greek heritage to thank for their looks 5. Dips, full stop Dunk your toasted pitta into Lidl's Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tzatziki (99p), or scoop up their wonderfully rich Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce (99p) alongside some some stuffed vine leaves (1.29) Nobody does dips quite like the Greeks do dips. Whether it's tangy tzatziki, flavourful taramasalata, charred melitzanosalata (the aubergine one), whizzed up butterbeans, garlicky skordalia (the potato one), whipped feta or - who could forget, that king of dips humous, they've got dips covered. Who could forget that king of dips humous We'll take five pittas, hot off the grill, torn into strips and served with cauldrons of tzat, please. At home, dunk your toasted pitta into Lidl's Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tzatziki (99p), and make your own butterbean dip by whizzing their wonderfully rich Butter Beans in Tomato Sauce (99p) in a blender. Why not mix up your dip offering by serving some Vine Leaves Stuffed with Rice (1.29) or Succulent Meatballs in Tomato Sauce (1.79) alongside them? 6. The old guys We mean the REALLY old guys. Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Hippocrates, Archimedes, even Pythagoras and his handy little theorem... When it comes to producing entrepreneurs and thought-leaders, ancient Greece really knew what it was doing - and we owe them rather a lot. Philosophy, geometry, astronomy, botany, mythology, architecture, cartography, the Olympics and the alarm clock are just a few things first developed by the ancient Greeks. Heck, these guys even invented DEMOCRACY. And we'd be in a bit of a pickle without that. 7. Their party spirit They smash dinner plates at big fat Greek weddings. They down shots of Ouzo just because it's a Wednesday. And they dance on top of tables long after those sunburned British holidaymakers have gone to bed. Man, those Greeks know how to party. Well, if you can't beat 'em, eh? Kick your party into a gloriously Greek gear with bottles of Mythos beer (99p for a 330ml bottle, and perfect when the sun's shining), and keep it going with a bottle of Korifeos Ouzo (9.49), or the Greek traditional resinated white wine Retsina (4.99) all available at Lidl. Kick your party into a gloriously Greek gear with bottles of Mythos beer (99p for a 330ml bottle), and keep it going with a bottle of Korifeos Ouzo (9.49), or the Greek traditional resinated white wine Retsina (4.99) 8.Honey on everything Honey is oddly overlooked in British desserts. We slather it on the occasional crumpet, then plump for chocolate chips, golden syrup and boring old sugar when making puds. But as soon as you touch down in Athens you're handed gallons of the stuff and instructed to pour it on absolutely everything you eat. The Greeks make great use of the wonder that is gooey, sweet honey in a lot of their cooking Take a sweet leaf out of Greece's honey-loving book by starting your day with a Greek Style Yoghurt with Honey and Dates (35p or six for 1.80 from Lidl), and finishing it with a box of gooey Baklava (2.49) Over there they bake it into cakes, biscuits and sticky loukoumades; spoon it into Greek yoghurt; drizzle it over cheese, marinate chicken with the stuff; use it to coat roasted nuts and fruit, and, of course, to make chewy, crunchy, crumbly, sticky, heavenly baklava. Mmmm. Right, that's it - we're buying shares in bees. Take a sweet leaf out of Greece's honey-loving book by starting your day with a Greek Style Yoghurt with Honey and Dates (35p from Lidl), and finishing it with a box of gooey Baklava (2.49). 9. The ancient bits Some of Greece's ancient bits - like the Parthenon, pictured - are enough to make Stonehenge look a bit pedestrian The Acropolis and the Parthenon in Athens... Kamiros on Rhodes... the Temple of Apollo in Delphi... Knossos in Crete. Crikey. Those Ancient Greeks were a busy bunch. And their phenomenal architectural output is enough to make Stonehenge look a bit... pedestrian. 10. Insanely delicious pastries Don't get yourself in a twist attempting to make your own filo pastry, just buy Lidl's Cheese or Spinach and Cheese Swirls (2.59) or puffs (2.29, pictured). We won't tell! From buttery, nutty, multi-layered baklava to spanokopita (that's the cheesy, spinachy one) and loads of other flaky, crispy, melt-in-the-mouth delicious morsels, Greek pastries are a thing to behold. Whether folded or spiraled or drizzled or oozing we have only one thing for them - nostimo (that's delicious in Greek). We've all tried to make filo pastry and we've all failed spectacularly. Which must mean only one thing: Greek chefs are a little bit magic. Don't get yourself in a twist attempting to make your own Greek delicacies, just buy Lidl's Cheese or Spinach and Cheese Swirls (2.59, frozen) or puffs (2.29, frozen). We won't tell! 11.Gyros! The king of meats Anyone who has ever holidayed in Greece knows about the wonder that is gyros. And if you don't - boy are you in for a treat. Traditionally eaten in a warm pitta bread with salad and tzatziki, or with rice and vegetables, gyros can be any type of meat, most often pork, chicken or beef, that is slowly cooked rotisserie style. This makes the meat wonderfully tender and flavoursome and it is carved off the main piece into thin, small slices. Gyros can be any type of meat, most often pork, chicken or beef, that is slowly cooked rotisserie style which makes the meat wonderfully tender. It is traditionally served either with rice or in a pita bread Lidl sell Gyros (1.99, frozen) and a Gyros Rice Dish (1.99, frozen) as part of their Eridanous range If you are reminising about that mouthwatering gyros that hit just the right spot on your Greek holiday, or if you just want to try this fabulous Grecian dish, Lidl sell Gyros (1.99, frozen) and a Gyros Rice Dish (1.99, frozen) as part of their Eridanous range. And if you are a fan of the other great meat dish to come from Greece (and let's face it, who isn't?) they also have Moussaka - slices of potato, aubergine, minced meat, tomato sauce and topped with creamy bechamel sauce- in their chilled range (2.19). Opa! 12. Culture both old and new Greece has inspired some of the greatest cultural contributions the world has ever seen, including of course Meryl Streep's singing, dungaree'd turn in Mamma Mia! The Movie Greece, being so utterly spectacular and beautiful and delicious and steeped in ancient history and generally amazing, has inspired some of the greatest cultural contributions the world has ever seen: Homer's Odyssey, Aesop's Fables, Woody Allen's tragicomedies, Dogtooth, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Before Midnight and, most importantly, Meryl Streep's singing, dungaree'd turn in Mamma Mia! The Movie. 13. Greek salad, nuff said Greek people don't mess about with cold-pressed avocado, dehumidified butternut squash, or raw grated beetroot marinated in yak's tears. Smokin! What is really hot right now is halloumi When it comes to assembling a salad, their recipe sticks to the basics - cucumber, tomato, onion, feta, olives, olive oil. Delicious, and you can knock one up in the time it takes to slice a cucumber (which you can pick up at Lidl for just 39p). Joy. 15. Cheese Cheese, in Greece, is a big deal. Such a big deal, they even have their own god of cheesemaking, (Apollo's son Aristaious, since you ask), and he's obviously done his homework. Crumbly feta is the most famous of all of Greece's cheeses: sharp, salty, and the perfect foil for ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuce, and a drizzle of aromatic extra virgin olive oil in Greek salad. Other delicious cheeses include saganaki, galotiri, ladotyri and mizithrya. But what's really hot right now is halloumi, best enjoyed fried until golden and just the tiniest bit crunchy on the outside, hot and molten within. We like it on warm lentil salads, with red onions and cherry tomatoes scattered on top, or try it in a wrap with red peppers, tomatoes and pickles. Try Lidl's Halloumi with Basil or Chilli (1.39) or their Eridanous Feta cheese (89p) - mama mia, it's enough to make us feel like we're there at a taverna on a beautiful beach, waves lapping at our feet. TAXI! It's the stuff of nightmares, so when a group of internet pranksters took to the streets of London brandishing a fake sawn-off leg most people were suitably terrified. But others remained entirely calm when they were confronted by a stranger holding what appeared to be a bloodied amputated limb during prank channel Trollstation's 'social experiment'. In the video, which was one of the earliest the group filmed but has now resurfaced, a man is seen going up to numerous groups of people in the capital and presenting them with the 'mutilated leg'. Scroll down for video A similar reaction comes from these girls, after the prankster casually reveals the morbid prop from behind his back as he's having a chat with them In the first of more than 10 different scenes, he is seen approaching a group of young men in the street holding out his macabre prop, saying: 'Do you want one of these?' Wasting no time, they run straight away with the prankster shouting behind them: 'Boys, stop. Take it.' He gets a similar reaction from his next target - a lady in a red jacket - although she does run away with an awkward smile on her face, showing she had probably realised it was a joke. The man is then seen talking to a group of three girls, before casually pulling out the morbid item from behind his back. 'Okay, erm. I've just got a dead leg,' he says. It is met with ear-piercing screams, as the girls run away as quick as they can. But when he approaches a man and woman in the street, it's only the man who is unnerved. He backs off straight away with a frightened look, while his female friend is left giggling at his reaction. In this clip, the man looks visibly terrified and immediately backs away, while his female friend looks on in amusement This group are also left frightened, and can't get away quick enough after being confronted with the 'limb' This woman wasn't so sure, but she ran away anyway - but with a amused look on her face Next up, he sits beside a man reading a book on a bench overlooking the River Thames. As soon as he clocks what the prankster next to him is holding, he leaps up. The joker says: 'Whoah! What's wrong? It's only a leg, man. Calm down.' A group he approaches in a spot nearby have a more animated response, as he says: 'Excuse me, I've just found this. What shall I do with it? They scream and run away, as do another group of girls he targets with a similar tactic in the clip that follows. But this couple barely flinch as they walk past the prankster in the street as he waves the bloodied leg around Would you like any popcorn with that? The prankster goes up to this woman walking along the street, and she backs away as soon as she can The video then shows the prankster in a busy street, and he walks up to a mixed group of youths - but while the boys flee at lightening speed, their stoic female friend looks on unnerved. After scaring the life out of another group of girls, he then employs a different tactic to get people's attention. He goes up behind a group of people walking along the street and screams out: 'Excuse me, you've just dropped this.' In the final clip, the prankster approaches two women standing outside a building. While they do back away slightly with a perplexed look on their face, it's this onlooker that gets up and runs for her life Most of them scream and run away, but one amused man hangs around to give the fake amputated limb a feel - before his friends return to join him. The prankster goes on to target several other people along the same street with varying results. While some run away screaming, others simply step out of his way unflinchingly and carry on walking. The video ends after he approaches two women standing outside a building to tell them his friend had 'lost his leg'. While they only back away slightly, a woman nearby looking on sprints for her life. Photos featured pregnant women trying to get fit, fighting off morning sickness at work and 'calling for backup' at the store If you were to purely glean life experiences from magazine covers, pregnancy would seem like the most glamorous thing in the world. But the reality is much, much different than simply buying a whole new wardrobe and decorating a nursery - and that's what Hoboken, New Jersey, photographer Danielle Guenther is showing with her new image series What the BUMP!. Each of the four photos in the series so far shows a scenario that most mothers will be familiar with, covering everything from staying in shape to being afflicted with morning sickness at the worst possible moments. Day to day: A new photo series by Hoboken, New Jersey, photographer Danielle Guenther entitled What the BUMP! shows the unglamorous side of pregnancy The series is a follow up to Danielle's first series Best Case Scenario, which saw her capture moments of chaos in parenthood, including children trashing homes and restaurants or driving their parents to exhaustion. 'We're really superheroes, trying to house and grow a baby for ten months,' Danielle told Today Parents. 'Some of us are doing it for the first time and are super excited, but then I have friends who are on their second or third or even fourth child and they are over it. Being able to showcase and shine light on this really amazing thing we do as women is the point of this series.' With What the BUMP!, Danielle is going back to show that not only do children add chaos when they arrive, but often they change every aspect of your already-busy life. Calling for back up: An overwhelmed mom looks for help after a shopping trip with her kids goes awry One image, entitled OverDO, sees a very heavily pregnant woman performing a precarious lunge on a yoga mat in her living room. She writes on her website that the woman in the image actually 'went into labor 8 hours after we shot this! It worked!' Another photo sees a pregnant mom-of-two in a grocery shop parking lot with her kids passing each other bags and a sad dozen eggs cracked on the pavement. The image, entitled Calling for Backup, also has the exhausted pregnant mom sitting in the trunk of the car, presumably calling her partner for help. Close call: Danielle shows how morning sickness is a 9-5 issue in this image of a pregnant woman at work The photo names Morning Sickness, 9-5, is just what it may seem, showing a woman in the earlier stages of pregnancy seemingly in a meeting at work. The woman, sporting a smart pink blazer, appears to have been overcome with a sudden bout of morning sickness and is about to vomit into her handbag. Another shows a group of pregnant moms in their current mode of socializing: eating junk food in a park while their children play around them. The image is aptly titled Priorities. According to Danielle, the series is actually ongoing, meaning she will be adding to it in the future as some of her prospective subjects wait for their bumps to grow. The new normal: This image, entitled Priorities, shows pregnant moms eating junk food in a park while their children play around them 'A lot of the time, people don't want to talk about the struggle of how hard it can be, but at the same time that it's crazy and chaotic, there are all these moments that are perfect,' Danielle. 'You have this beautiful side and this crazy side to it at the same time, and that's a fun combination to capture.' Deborah Lambie, from Wellington, New Zealand, boasts a slightly unusual CV. As the former Miss New Zealand, you might think the world she is used to is one filled with beauty pageants, bikini competitions and beautiful dresses. But instead, the 25-year-old is more regularly found make-up free, with her hair scraped back and wearing regular blue scrubs - as a registered doctor. She often puts in long shifts at Wellington Hospital, where she is finally putting seven years of dogged determination at medical school into practice: Scroll down for video Unusual CV: As the former Miss New Zealand, you might think the world she is used to is one filled with beauty pageants - instead, the 25-year-old is more regularly found make-up free, with her hair scraped back and wearing regular blue scrubs - as a registered doctor in Wellington Hospital 'It's pretty challenging, but it's also very rewarding,' Ms Lambie told Stuff. 'It's definitely a change in lifestyle,' she continued. 'I've been doing completely different things and haven't been thinking about much medicine. So it's taking me a while to get my head back into it.' The Kiwi pageant native came 15th overall in the Miss World contest in 2015, where she was selected from the 117 Miss World contestants at the final, held in Hainan island, China. At the same time, she completed her studies in medicine at the University of Otago. Life of glamour: The Kiwi pageant native came 15th overall in the Miss World contest in 2015, where she was selected from the 117 Miss World contestants at the final, held in Hainan island, China, while studying to be a doctor Change in lifestyle: According to Ms Lambie her change in lifestyle is 'pretty challenging, but also very rewarding' It's been really important for me personally to make sure I've kept a focus on medicine and my studies... Ms Lambie describes her job as a 'new chapter in her life'. According to the doctor: 'It's been really important for me personally to make sure that I've kept a focus on medicine and my studies. I knew that I'd always come back to that.' And while medicine is obviously her passion, Ms Lambie has many pursuits, such as public speaking, modelling and running a business - she is the co-founder of a non-profit tutoring website. It's a CV most would be proud of. New chapter: She describes this as a 'new chapter' in her life - 'It's been really important for me personally to make sure that I've kept a focus on medicine and my studies. I knew that I'd always come back to that' Woman of many talents: And while medicine is obviously her passion, Ms Lambie has many pursuits, such as public speaking, modelling and running a business - she is the co-founder of a non-profit tutoring website These days, she regularly works overtime, putting in a three-month-long stint in the general surgery ward right now, but it is something she loves. Ms Lambie will next move to the psychiatry ward, before heading over to general medicine: 'I remember seeing him [her father] being really kind to this distressed elderly lady,' she says, when recalling how she first came to love medicine at age 15: 'It was kind of at that point when I thought, "this is what I want to do".' She doesn't, however, yet know which area she wants to specialise in. Ms Lambie finished her seven years of medical study in November 2015, just days before she headed off to China for Miss World: 'It was a little bit tricky - I definitely had to cut down on my sleep before I left to fit all of that in,' she said. Busy girl: Ms Lambie finished her seven years of medical study in November 2015, just days before she headed off to China for Miss World Crazy time: 'It was a little bit tricky - I definitely had to cut down on my sleep before I left to fit all of that in,' she said, about fitting it all in And although she would like to keep modelling if her timetable allowed, Ms Lambie says her beauty pageant days are behind her: 'Going to Miss World and getting fifteenth was really awesome and I feel satisfied I've done the best that I could,' she said. Ms Lambie's time in the spotlight has not come without its own controversy, though. In 2015, her performance of the haka at the Miss World final was dubbed 'embarrassing' and 'inappropriate' by people on social media, despite the fact that she had gone to an expert to learn the traditional dance. Controversy surfaces: Ms Lambie's time in the spotlight has not come without its own controversy, though Loved and hated: In 2015, her performance of the haka at the Miss World final was dubbed 'embarrassing' and 'inappropriate' by people on social media While some thought it was powerful and amazing, it soon descended into a barrage of criticism for the young then-24-year-old. But with that behind her, Ms Lambie is all about challenging stereotypes. 'Not everyone would want to go to medical school, and not everyone would want to go to Miss World,' she said. 'It's about being true to yourself, and the thing you want to spend your time doing.' Challenging stereotypes: She says: 'Not everyone would want to go to medical school, and not everyone would want to go to Miss World. It's about being true to yourself, and the thing you want to spend your time doing' Past behind her: Ms Lambie is putting all of the controversy behind her Little Reagan weighs just over five pounds, which is still small for her age The baby and mother, Dania Smart, are both doing well now This meant a caesarean section needed to be performed in hospital She was born after her mother suffered a placental abruption She weighed the weight of a block of butter; her height was just 31cms Reagan Smart was born at 23 weeks and six days premature At just over the size of a regular 30 centimetre ruler and the weight of a traditional block of butter, Reagan Smart came into the world at just 23 weeks and six days. But the baby, who is still in hospital in Ashhurst, New Zealand, despite being born on December 3, 2015, is continuing to defy the odds, despite her small size. She was born after her mother suffered a placental abruption, which basically means the placenta detached from the wall of the womb prematurely, forcing the doctors to perform a caesarean section. Tiny miracle: At just over the size of a regular 30 centimetre ruler and the weight of a traditional block of butter, Reagan Smart came into the world at just 23 weeks and six days And she weighed just 715 grams and measured 31 centimetres. While both little Reagan and her mother, Dania Smart, were at risk at first, everything worked out in the end: 'If I had been at home, I would not have made it and neither would Reagan,' Ms Smart told Stuff. She had visited the hospital after she fell over in early December, but was told everything was fine. Nevertheless, the doctors offered to fly the mum-to-be down to Wellington 'so they could keep an eye on me', Ms Smart said. And after Ms Smart arrived and started to have bad cramps: 'They rushed me into theatre.' How it happened: She was born after her mother suffered a placental abruption, which basically means the placenta detached from the wall of the womb prematurely, forcing the doctors to perform a caesarean section Little fighter: But the baby, who is still in hospital in Ashhurst, New Zealand, despite being born on December 3, 2015, is continuing to defy the odds, despite her small size Because of the nature of the c-section, there were several procedural measures that had to be followed, including the fact that Ms Smart wasn't allowed to see her baby for an entire day, when little Reagan's weight had dropped to just 680 grams. 'It was hard [meeting my baby]... there were parents who were in the same room as us who had to have goodbye cuddles. That makes it very real,' Ms Smart said. 'A couple of times we watched Reagan flatline. 'They push the emergency button, it's quite scary. All the nurses and doctors drop everything and start running.' Separated at first sight: Because of the nature of the c-section, there were several procedural measures that needed to be followed, including the fact that Ms Smart wasn't allowed to see her baby for an entire day And that wasn't the end of the fear. Even though little Reagan had been transferred to Palmerston North Hospital in February, she was sent back down to Wellington after just one week in the neonatal ward. Due to her reliance on oxygen, and the possibility of her retina detaching, Reagan had to undergo eye surgery. Today, Reagan is just over five pounds and learning to feed. She is still small for her age. She is also gradually being weaned off breathing support, and, according to her mum, is on the 'home stretch'. 'It's scary and amazing to see how far she's come from being that little,' Ms Smart says. You can donate to Reagan and her family via this Givealittle page. Get up, shower, eat breakfast, check emails, go to the gym, get filmed having sex with multiple men... Not the average day at the office for most people, but one that porn star Lana Jane is quite familiar with. The Sydney-based adult actress and escort has spilled the beans on what it's really like to make pornography for a living, with some titillating facts that may surprise you. For one, the 25-year-old tells Daily Mail Australia that porn scenes are shot right after one another, so you can do as many as three different films in one day. You and me: Lana Jane (above) is a Sydney-based porn star and escort who has spilled the beans on what it's really like to be an adult actress Hard workers: Lana revealed that most of the time porn scenes are shot back to back, so you might make three films in one day 'Most of the time you do scenes back to back. The company has paid for the location so youll do a couple of scenes that day,' she explained. 'Before anyone agrees to a scene you talk to the company directly about what your limits are and what you agree to do on camera.' Consent and safety is a big focus of the process, Lana explains, and ever actor must present a blood test from the last week proving they are disease free before they can work. Consent in the porn industry has gotten mainstream media attention in recent months after a number of adult actress accused well-known male porn star James Deen of rape. Lana said that she believes the stigma attached to sex work means many women in the industry find it hard to seek help when they are abused. 'We get victim blamed simply for being in the industry,' she said. 'I can't tell you how many times I've heard the words "well you put yourself in that position". Being in the sex industry, doesn't give people the right to abuse us. For some reason society feels that because we use our body to make an income, it somehow allows others to abuse us.' Clean and clear: The 25-year-old said that consent and safety are huge parts of the process of making porn, and that all actors have to present blood test results proving they are disease free before filming 'It's a side job': Lana said that the porn industry in Australia is much smaller than in America or Europe, so you can't make a liveable wage just doing adult films LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT THE AUSTRALIAN PORN INDUSTRY Scenes are filmed back-to-back and actors shoot up to three a day Porn scene 'stills' that are used to advertise movies after actually shot before the scene is filmed and are not action shots Porn is a part-time job in Australia because the industry is so small Laws around making pornography change from state to state, and most Australian porn is filmed in Melbourne Many sex workers now use social media to build their 'brand' and advertise their services Porn stars have to present blood tests from less than a week before to prove they are disease-free Advertisement She also revealed that Australia's porn industry, which is mostly located in Melbourne, is very small so most of the films they make are 'basic' and not as out-there as the variety that comes out of America. 'Australias porn scene is relatively small in comparison to America or Europe. Its pretty much your basic stuff like boy/girl for a basic sex scene, girl-on-girl or multiple people,' she said. 'Most of the porn companies in Australia are subscription only websites. It means if you jump online and go to big porn sites you wont see the Australian porn.' Because it's such a small industry it also means that everyone generally knows each other, but also that actors can't make a huge amount of money just from porn. 'Porn doesnt pay well in Australia,' Lana said. 'You couldnt live on a porn wage alone in Australia, the industry isnt big enough for that to happen. 'Typically sex workers do porn as a side job.' High quality: You won't find much Australian porn on big streaming sites, the blonde beauty explained, because most of the films made in Oz are for subscription only websites Keeping it simple: Most of the porn filmed in Australia is 'basic' and nowhere near as varied as what is made in America Lana herself only treats porn as something to supplement her other work and films scenes when she has spare time when travelling to Melbourne for bookings as an escort. She said that often escorts and glamour models only use porn as a tool to become more well known and build their brand in the rest of the sex industry. 'If I wanted to further my porn career and make a name for myself I would have to leave the country to build a porn brand. Porn is a part time career here,' the blonde beauty explained. Island nation: Lana treats porn as a part time job and said that if she wanted to further her career she would have to move overseas Gaining fans: She also said that it's important for sex workers and porn stars to cultivate a personal 'brand' and market themselves This personal 'brand' is something fairly new for sex workers, but the rise of social media and the internet has meant that marketing is key for anyone in the industry. Personally Lana says that Twitter is the most effective tool for sex workers to 'sell' themselves. 'You have to worry about marketing and social media now, and Twitter is incredible for that,' she explained. 'Its crazy how good Twitter is for marketing within the sex industry. You can get a big following on Instagram but its nowhere near as effective. Twitter doesnt have the censorship issues that Instagram has, you can see full-on porn on Twitter.' 'Twitter is incredible': Lana uses Twitter to market herself as a porn star and escort, and says that it's an extremely effective tool for the sex industry 'This is what I choose to do': The 25-year-old says that the biggest misconception about porn and sex work is that women in the industry are 'trapped' or forced into it Above all though, she says the biggest misconception about porn stars, or sex workers in general, is that they've been forced or pressured into the industry. 'I dont have to do sex work, Im educated, Im highly intelligent, its not a fallback career. We arent voiceless, we arent trapped. This is what I choose to do,' she said passionately. 'I dont care what people think. If they want to judge me on something that makes me happy and that puts me well ahead of where I would have been if I working 50 hours a week working for someone else, thats their problem not mine.' After the closure of one of Sydney's most iconic wedding venues, the Sydney Polo Club, at the end of last month, comes another closing that is leaving people in the lurch before their big day. The Wedding Centre, a popular wedding boutique which was previously located in the Sydney suburb, Windsor, has shut up their shopfront with little explanation. This sudden move has left more than 20 brides and grooms angry and confused as to the whereabouts of their dresses or wedding clothes. Scroll down for video Sudden news: The Wedding Centre, a popular wedding boutique previously located in the Sydney suburb of Windsor, has shut up their shopfront with little explanation Future uncertain: The closure has has left 20 brides and grooms angry as to the whereabouts of their outfits On Sunday April 3, customers received a group text from the business telling them about the closure, but also warning them that the business was 'not in receivership' and that they should not be concerned by the change. 'The Wedding Centre is STILL TRADING and is NOT in receivership,' the text sent around to the couples read, according to news.com.au. 'Your dress has arrived at The Wedding Centre. You will be contacted in the next 48 hours regarding final payment and shipping,' it continued. Dress in doubt? Brides were told their dress had arrived at The Wedding Centre - and they would be contacted about payment and shipping Cause for concern: On Sunday April 3, customers received a group text from the business telling them about the closure, but also warning them that the business was 'not in receivership' and that they should not be concerned by the change However, according to news.com.au, the only way for the brides to receive their orders is if they 'transfer all remaining funds to an online bank account, and their items will be shipped to a nominated address once received'. This news follows the closure of the Sydney Polo Club in March to weddings. This meant that more than a dozen couples were left with nowhere to host their special day - and 11 days notice to boot. After a dispute with the local council over noise, the Sydney Polo Club was forced to cancel their bookings, which, according to the owner of the 180-hectare property, Peter Higgins, left him 'totally dumbfounded'. Controversial news: This closure follows the shutting up of the Sydney Polo Club in March to weddings, which meant that more than a dozen couples were left with nowhere to host their special day - and 11 days notice Abandoned dreams: According to the owner of the 180-hectare property, Peter Higgins: 'This is the most important day of these twelve couples' lives' 'This is the most important day of these twelve couples' lives,' Mr Higgins previously told Daily Mail Australia. 'It has nearly been ruined.' While many of the brides embroiled in the The Wedding Centre situation are asking for their money back, including a woman called Camilla Tym, nearly all feel that their wedding days have been sent into turmoil. 'All I want is my money back. I contacted the maker of my dress, and they said they never received my order,' Ms Tym told news.com.au. Increasing dramas: While many of the brides with regards to The Wedding Centre situation are asking for their money back, most feel that their wedding days have been sent into turmoil The Wedding Centre, meanwhile, did not answer Daily Mail Australia's calls. Are you one of the brides left with no dress or clothes for your impending nuptials after the closure of The Wedding Centre? She's the granddaughter of the late Princess Grace of Monaco so it's no surprise Charlotte Casiraghi knows how to look elegant on the red carpet. The Monaco royal, 29, made a rare red carpet appearance at the Montblanc 110th Anniversary Event held at the Rainbow Room in New York last night. The 29-year-old wore am embellished yellow Gucci couture gown for the star-studded occasion, stunning in the regal brocade design. Scroll down for video Charlotte Casiraghi made a rare red carpet appearance at the Montblanc 110th Anniversary Event held at the Rainbow Room in New York Hugh Jackman and Charlotte posed for photos at the event with Montblanc head Jerome Lambert The daughter of Princess Caroline of Hanover and the late Stefano Casiraghi, an Italian industrialist, certainly stood out in the eye-catching colour as she posed for pictures with tuxedo-clad actor Hugh Jackman and Montblanc head Jerome Lambert. The Monagesque royal paired the haute couture gown with a simple jewel-studded necklace that matched the embroidered neckline of the low-cut dress for the gala to celebrate the 110th anniversary of Montblanc luxury watches. Charlotte wore her hair in loose curls and emphasised her eyes with smoky makeup and kept the rest of her face natural to show her radiant complexion - and uncanny resemblance to her mother Princess Caroline. The show jumper, who grew up in the south of France and Paris, seemed to get on well with Hugh Jackman as they met on the red carpet and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek while shaking his hand. Hugh has met the eighth in line to the Monaco throne several times before and attended a Swiss gala in January which Charlotte also made an appearance for. Charlotte wore a yellow Gucci couture gown for the star-studded occasion and stunned in the regal brocade design Charlotte seemed to get on well with Hugh Jackman as they met on the red carpet and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek while shaking his hand The royal paired the embellished sleeveless gown with a jewel-studded necklace that matched the embroidered borders of her low-cut dress Charlotte knows how to dazzle with a stunning outfit, pictured with Hugh and Jerome on the red carpet Charlotte knows how to dazzle with a stunning outfit and she turned heads last month when she attended the annual Rose Ball in Monaco in a satin pearl-embellished jumpsuit and a sheer cape. Kate Bosworth also appeared at the glamorous event and the Blue Crush actress, 33, wore a calf-length black designer gown with patterned sleeves and a contrasting bodice bow. She went bare-legged in black pumps and wore her golden blonde hair sleeked back behind her ears which were adorned with diamonds. The actress wife of director Michael Polish accentuated her arched eyebrows with light brown pencil and rouged her cheeks. She wore a shade of lipstick that matched the colour of her blush and had a clear manicure. The Superman Returns star accessorised with a shiny clutch. Stunning: Kate Bosworth was stylish in an elegant designer frock that featured a large contrasting bow across the bodice as she stepped out to support the Montblanc 110th anniversary gala in NYC Striking a pose: The actress, 33, knew just how to pull off her look Glamorous: The Blue Crush star was the epitome of the cool blonde with her hair sleekly styled Also on hand to celebrate the famous watch and pen maker was Australian actor Hugh Jackman's wife Deborra-Lee Furness, 60, on her 47-year-old husband's arm and former Glee actor Matthew Morrison. Broadway star Morrison, 37, was dressed in a bespoke suit with off-white shirt and monochrome patterned tie. Models Jasmine Tookes, Emily DiDonato and Sara Sampaio brought the glamour to the evening. Victoria's Secret Angel Tookes, 25, shimmered in a full-length, long-sleeved shiny gown cinched with a belt at the waist. Star couple: Hugh Jackman and Deborra-Lee Furness came out to support the event in matching black outfits - a tuxedo for the actor and a dress with asymmetrical hem and small train with cropped jacket for his wife Timepiece supporter: Former Glee star and Broadway actor Matthew Morrison wore a bespoke suit with monochrome patterned tie Beautiful trio: Models Jasmine Tookes, Emily DiDonato and Sara Sampaio brought their signature looks to the gala held Tuesday night Contrasting styles: DiDonato opted for a jumpsuit with statement belt and a one-shoulder asymmetrical top, while Tookes shimmered in a full-length number with high slit and cinched at the waist Pretty patterns: Sampaio chose a floaty dress with sheer panels and full sleeves DiDonato, 25, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model, chose a one-shoulder black jumpsuit with a statement belt and black sandals, and wore her long hair tied back in a fierce ponytail.. Portuguese model and SI Swimsuit star Sampaio chose a full-length black designer gown with sheer panels in the bodice and sleeves. The brunette beauty, 24, left her long hair loose and cascading in curls around her shoulders. Party couple: Olivia Palermo showed up with husband Johannes Huebl Glittered: The socialite and former reality star wore a sleeveless shiny top and a black skirt with a front slit and a large diamond choker Also on the guest list was socialite and reality star Olivia Palermo. The 30-year-old, who was accompanied by her husband Johannes Huebl, was elegant in a sparkly black sleeveless top and a plain black skirt with a front slit. A woman has revealed how she was able to forgive her father for killing her mother in a 'crime of passion' that she witnessed as a teenager. Lynn Smillie, 47, from Glasgow, was 14 when she watched Paul Harris attack her mother Irene, stabbing her 12 times with a knife. Mother-of-two Irene died on her way to hospital and Paul was jailed for just four years for culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility, of which he served 18 months. Scroll down for video Lynn Smillie appeared on today's This Morning to reveal how she saw her father kill her mother as a teen Paul, who had sobbed about how much he loved Irene as he cradled her dying body, was given a lenient sentence as it was deemed he had committed a 'crime of passion' and was not in control of his actions at the time. Appearing on today's This Morning, Lynn admitted his actions left her feeling hurt and confused for decades as she battled her hate for what he had done with her love for him as her father. She told presenters Ruth Langsford and Rylan Clarke-Neal: 'He was my father and it was very confusing that your parent kills your other parent. 'You can't just cancel the love, the love is still there. You still have this bond. You're confused but you hate at the same time. For many years I juggled those two emotions.' She said she eventually forgave him on his deathbed in 2013 as 'it hurt me more to continue with the hatred. I realised I must find out more, I must dig a bit deeper and find out what was going on for him to make him like that.' Explaining how the fatal events unfolded in November 1983, she said: 'I was in the other room and I heard my mum scream, it was different to all her other screams, it was terror. Lynn's father Paul Harris with her mother Irene who he killed in 1983 after years of domestic abuse 'That scream remains with me to this day. I saw him over her and fur flying in the air as she had a fur jacket on after coming back from a social club. 'What was more frightening was I couldn't hear her screaming back. I thought she must have been knocked out and thought he must have hit her on the head. 'He said to me "you're next" and his fist was all blood. I saw she had stab marks and I saw the knife on the side by the stereo, it was like a nightmare.' We lived under a cloud of fear - there were dinners thrown against the walls and beatings in front of his friends Lynn said her father had always been violent towards her mother after they met as teenagers. Lynn previously told The New Day of these dark times: 'We lived under a cloud of fear - there were dinners thrown against the walls and beatings in front of his friends.' Irene endured the abuse for years but eventually plucked up the courage to leave him after he started attacking Lynn too when she became a teenager. She said: 'It was as if I was acceptable to him to beat me at that age. He had started beating my mum before they were married and they met at a similar age.' She recalled how one New Year's Eve he beat her around the head in front of her friends. Lynn's beatings led Irene to kick Paul out and she reported him to the police who gave him a non-harassment order. But he ignored this and days later came to the house on the pretext of doing DIY and committed the fatal attack on Irene. Lynn and her younger sister, Julie, went to live with relatives after their mother's death and Lynn said she originally blamed herself for what had happened. Lynn and her sister Julie, right, with their father as children. She broke off contact with him following her mother's death but forgave him decades later as she said it 'hurt me more to continue with the hatred' She said she became promiscuous and drank heavily, going on to marry her first husband at the age of 21. They had two children together but separated ten years later as Lynn said she was still struggling to deal with her past. She had vowed never to see her father again and kept that promise until decades later in 2011 she was contacted by one of his friends and told he was dying from cancer. She went to see him on his deathbed and seeing how frail and regretful he was, she finally forgave him for what he had done. She said she had found faith by this time and this taught her that she could find peace through forgiveness. She said of forgiving her father: 'We had many conversations and went through a journey of forgiveness, I told him how it was for me without mum, I didn't let him off.' Lynn now runs a community cafe in Glasgow helping the victims of domestic abuse with the aim of stopping the cycle of violence that led to the death of her mother Lynn told her 'nightmare' story to presenters Ruth Langsford and Rylan Clark-Neal on This Morning Lynn now works to help victims of domestic abuse in the hope others won't suffer the way her family did at the hands of her father. With her new partner David, 45, she runs a not-for-profit community cafe in Glasgow called No Feart (meaning no fear in Scotland) which supports victims of domestic violence in conjunction with The Freedom Programme. As well as offering support to victims, they also deal with abusers, tackling why they can become violent with the people they love with the aim of stopping the cycle of abuse. Lynn wonders what might have been if her parents had had such support. She writes on the No Feart website: 'If only my mother had the information and awareness, she could have made better and informed choices perhaps? 'And my father would have been challenged by the mirror of behaviours and beliefs held in front of him to perhaps stop him in his tracks?' Arrowsmith shot the couple during album cover photo shoots for the band they formed together, Wings Advertisement Candid images of Sir Paul McCartney and his late wife Linda may never have seen the light of day if photographer Clive Arrowsmith had not cleared out his attic. The playful shots were found in the loft of the celebrated fashion and celebrity snapper, taken in impromptu sessions at the end of two official photoshoots in 1976 and 1993 - the first of which featured McCartney's band Wings, which he formed with Linda. Arrowsmith revealed that Paul asked the stylist to get some 'fun costumes' for a spontaneous shoot, and judging from the results the party enjoyed their dressing up session, with Linda even donning a fake beard. Unseen images captured by photographer Clive Arrowsmith of Sir Paul and Linda McCartney show the couple's special bond. Paul gazes lovingly at his wife with a playful pout as they clasp hands, their wedding bands clearly visible In one of the more recent portraits, the strong bond between the couple is evident as they pose cheek to cheek. Paul pouts lovingly at his wife as they clasp hands, their wedding bands clearly visible. Similarly a colour shot from the same day shows Linda leaning companionably on Paul's shoulder. Another more playful pose from 17 years earlier sees the pair in jaunty costumes. Linda looks edgy in a top hat while Paul salutes the camera wearing a beret and clasping a cane to his chest. The Beatle's famous Liverpudlian sense of humour is again apparent in a photograph of him appearing to bungee jump whilst holding his guitar. Despite the high-adrenaline activity, the musician still manages to look over his shoulder and give a cheeky smile to camera. Arrowsmith, who was born in North Wales, told how stumbling across the pictures in his London home had triggered many happy memories. The closeness of the McCartney marriage is evident in the portraits of the couple, which were found in the photographer's loft. The images will appear in a special musical version of The Royal Photographic Society Journal The Beatle's famous sense of humour is apparent in a photograph of Paul McCartney seeming to bungee jump while holding his guitar He said: 'They really capture the seminal moments of the shoot when it all came together. The fun we were all having, plus Paul and Linda's closeness, it's the naturalness of the pictures that is the key to their success.' Their rediscovery came to light during an interview with Arrowsmith in the special music edition of The Royal Photographic Society's member publication, The RPS Journal. It's no wonder that the British photographer, who made his name with iconic pictures of Jimi Hendrix, was able to capture McCartney looking so relaxed as the pair were close friends after meeting in their college days. Although the pair did not attend the same academy (Arrowsmith trained at Queensferry Art School while McCartney went to Liverpool Art School) the fledging photographer hung around with Paul, John Lennon, George Harrison and Stuart Sutcliffe who would go on to form part of the original line up of The Beatles. For the Off the Ground album shoot in 1993, there were a wild array of costumes on set. McCartney dons a militia jacket and smart white trousers while his wife stands to his left in a navy and pink dress in the style of the 1900s and an admiral's hat In another picture the happy couple wear matching beards, while Linda wears and spangled black dress and Paul a red coat. The members of his touring band stand around them, one in an outfit suited to a Chinese emperor He has also photographed a roll call of fashion designers including Yves Saint Laurent, Zandra Rhodes, Yamamoto; world-renowned musicians David Bowie and Mick Jagger as well as actors Michael Caine, Tom Hardy and Charlotte Rampling. Andrew Cattanach: Editor of The Royal Photographic Society Journal said: 'Clive Arrowsmith is one of the World's most celebrated fashion and celebrity photographers who is held in very high regard amongst our members & in the photographic world. 'I am delighted that we were able to include an interview with him in our April edition and that he has allowed us to bring these images into the public domain.' Other photographs included in the collection are from Wing's album shoot for Wings At The Speed Of Sound (1976) in which the band wear white jumpsuits and aviation goggles. Wings pose for a casino-inspired photo in 1974 (pictured Linda McCartney, Denny Laine, Sir Paul McCartney: Jimmy McCulloch and Joe English). Arrowsmith said of the images: 'They really capture the seminal moments of the shoot... The fun we were all having, plus Paul and Linda's closeness, it's the naturalness of the pictures that is the key to their success' A laid back shot of Paul and Linda McCartney and his touring band on the cover of Off The Ground sitting with their trousers rolled up and their feet dangling off the edge of a railing For the shoot for McCartney's ninth studio solo album Off The Ground in 1993, there were a wild array of costumes on set. Paul dons a militia jacket and smart white trousers while his wife stands to his left in a 1900s-style navy and pink dress and an admiral's hat. For another picture the happy couple sport matching beards, with Linda wearing a spangly black dress and Paul a red coat. A laid-back shot of Paul and Linda on the cover of Off the Ground show them sitting with their feet dangling off the edge of a railing with the touring band, their trousers rolled up. Jeffery Felner, a historian of fashion and style, wrote: 'Arrowsmith is not a photographer that one can easily describe but it is safe to say that he is part Avedon, Hiro, Mapplethorpe, Ritts, Bourdin, Scavullo, Coffin, and more. His influences are vast, and his output is nothing less than astounding and prodigious.' Linda, who came from a wealthy American family, made her own fortune from photography and music, heavily boosted by her vegetarian food business. The couple had three children together, the most famous of which is fashion designer Stella. Linda died in April 1998 at the age of 56 after a three-year battle with breast cancer. Black American patients are often under-prescribed pain medications because some doctors believe false biological differences between races, a study has warned. This bias leads those medics to be less accurate in their assessment of a black patient's pain and also their treatment of it. Past studies have documented that black Americans are systematically undertreated for pain relative to white Americans. This is likely due to both the over-prescription and over-use of pain medications among white patients, as well as the under-prescription of pain medications for black patients, experts said. Indeed, studies have shown black patients are undertreated for pain not only relative to white patients, but also relative to World Health Organization guidelines. Black Americans are under-prescribed pain medication, studies have shown. A new study by experts at the University of Virginia now suggests that is due to some doctors believing false biological differences between the races, such as that black people's skin is thicker than whites. These false beliefs result in some doctors being less accurate in their treatment Now, new evidence from the University of Virginia suggests a substantial number of white medical students and residents hold false beliefs about biological differences between black and white people. For example, that black people's skin is thicker or that black people's blood coagulates more quickly. As a result researchers suggest these incorrect beliefs could affect how medics assess and treat the pain experienced by black patients. Kelly Hoffman, a psychology PhD candidate, who led the study, said: 'Many previous studies have shown that black Americans are undertreated for pain compared to white Americans, because physicians might assume black patients might abuse the medications or because they might not recognize the pain of their black patients in the first place. 'Our findings show that beliefs about black-white differences in biology may contribute to this disparity.' Ms Hoffman and her team asked white medical students and residents - 222 participants in total - to rate on a scale of zero to 10 the pain levels they would associate with two mock medical cases. They were a kidney stone and a leg fracture, for both a white and a black patient. And the medics were asked to recommend pain treatments based on the level of pain they thought their patients might be experiencing. These beliefs have been around for a long time in our history. They were once used to justify slavery and the inhumane treatment of black people in medicine Kelly Hoffman, a psychology PhD candidate at University of Virginia They were also asked the extent to which various beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites are true or untrue. For example, that black people age more slowly than whites', their nerve endings are less sensitive than whites', their blood coagulates more quickly than whites', their skin is thicker than whites' - all of which are false. Other assertions were true - that whites are less susceptible to heart disease, and that white people are less likely to have a stroke than black people. The researchers found that half of the medics endorsed at least one of the false beliefs, and those who endorsed these beliefs were more likely to report lower pain ratings for black patients versus white patients. They were also less accurate in their treatment recommendations for their black patients when compared to their white patients. In order to determine treatment accuracy, the researchers provided 10 experienced physicians with the same medical cases. The majority of these doctors recommended a narcotic - an opiate such as oxycodone for example - for both cases, which also aligns with the pain treatment guidelines set out by the WHO. Kelly Hoffman, a psychology PhD candidate, who led the study, said: 'Many previous studies have shown that black Americans are undertreated for pain compared to white Americans, because physicians might assume black patients might abuse the medications or because they might not recognize the pain of their black patients in the first place' Importantly, white medical students and residents who did not endorse these false beliefs did not show the same bias. Ms Hoffman said: 'We have known for a long tome that there are huge disparities in how blacks and whites are assessed and treated by the medical community. 'Our study provides some insight to what might contribute to this - false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites. 'These beliefs have been around for a long time in our history. 'They were once used to justify slavery and the inhumane treatment of black people in medicine. 'What's so striking is that, today, these beliefs are not necessarily related to individual prejudice. 'Many people who reject stereotyping and prejudice nonetheless believe in these biological differences. 'And these beliefs could be really harmful, this study suggests that they could be contributing to racial disparities. 'The good news is that individuals who do not endorse these false beliefs do not show any evidence of racial bias in treatment recommendations.' She said future studies will need to test whether challenging these beliefs could lead to better treatment and outcomes for black patients. Thus, experts believe the virus may directly affect nerve cells of adults Those disorders can cause paralysis and permanent disability Zika has now been linked to serious brain and spinal cord conditions The virus' damage is more widespread and varied than originally thought Experts say microcephaly and Guillain-Barre are just two of Zika's maladies Zika experts now believe the virus' damage may be more varied and widespread than originally thought. Top scientists have suggested that the birth defect microcephaly and Guillan-Barre syndrome, which can cause temporary paralysis, are merely the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. Recent discoveries of serious brain and spinal cord infections - such as encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - in people exposed to Zika have added fuel to the fire of suspicion that the virus is even more dangerous than first thought. The new evidence of Zika's widespread damage puts even more pressure on affected countries to control mosquitoes and prepare to provide intensive, and potentially lifelong, care to more patients. The disorders linked to the virus can cause paralysis and permanent disability - an outlook that makes the need for a vaccine even more urgent. Top Zika experts across the globe now believe the birth defect microcephaly (pictured) and Guillain-Barre syndrome are just two of the most obvious maladies caused by the mosquito-borne virus. There is new evidence that Zika can cause severe brain and spinal cord infections in adults, as well Some scientists believe the new maladies have come to light because, as the virus is spreading through such large populations, it is revealing aspects of Zika that previously went unnoticed in earlier outbreaks in remote areas. Others have suggested that the newly detected disorders provide more evidence that the virus has evolved. Dr Peter Hoetz, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, told Reuters: 'What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain.' The Zika virus has been spreading through the Americas since it was first detected in Brazil last year. The outbreak has been associated with thousands of suspected cases of microcephaly - an otherwise rare birth defect that causes abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. The evidence tying Zika to microcephaly led the World Health Organization to declare it a global health emergency in February. Autopsies on aborted and stillborn fetuses showed the virus replicating in brain tissues - causing scientists to suspect that Zika acts directly on nerve cells. Experts reported finding other abnormalities - in addition to microcephaly - linked to Zika, including fetal deaths, placental insufficiency, fetal growth retardation and central nervous system injury. If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand Dr Alberto de la Vega, of San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico Scientists are also concerned that Zika exposure in utero may have hidden effects - such as behavioral problems or learning disabilities, which are not apparent at birth. Dr Alberto de la Vega, an obstetrician at San Juan's University Hospital in Puerto Rico, told Reuters: 'If you have a virus that is toxic enough to produce microcephaly in someone, you could be sure that it will produce a whole series of conditions that we haven't even begun to understand.' The virus was first discovered in the Zika forest of Uganda in 1947. It circulated quietly in Africa and Asia, causing rare infections and mild symptoms. But a 2013 outbreak in French Polynesia - the largest at the time - prompted scientists to make the Guillain-Barre link. At the time, other neurological effects were noted, but scientists made little of them. Guillain-Barre is a rare and poorly understood condition - causing weakened muscles or temporary paralysis, often requiring patients to use respirators to breathe. It is an autoimmune disorder - in which the body attacks itself in the aftermath of an infection. Experts have recently discovered that the virus may also cause encephalitis, meningitis and myelitis - severe infections that can lead to paralysis and permanent disability. Pictured here, results of blood tests for various diseases - including Zika - at a laboratory in Panama City There were an estimated 32,000 people infected with Zika during the French Polynesia outbreak. Of that group, 42 patients were confirmed to have Guillain-Barre - a 20-fold increase in incidence over the previous four years, according to the WHO. Another 32 patients had other neurological disorders - such as ecephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis. WHITE HOUSE TO TRANSFER REMAINING EBOLA FUNDS TO TACKLE ZIKA The Obama administration is set to announce Wednesday that it will transfer leftover funds from the largely successful fight against Ebola to combat the Zika virus. Nearly 75 per cent of the $600 million remaining Ebola funds will be devoted to the Centers for Disease Control - which is focused on research and development of vaccines, treating those with the virus and combating the mosquitoes that spread it. The rest of the funds will go to foreign aid accounts to help fight the virus abroad. Congressional officials told the Associated Press of the fund transfer on the condition of anonymity. President Barack Obama has asked for roughly $1.9 billion in emergency money to fight Zika - but the request has stalled in Congress. The White House has already acknowledged that the substantial Ebola funding is left over, but it had committed much of it to help at least 30 other countries prevent, detect and respond to future outbreaks and epidemics. The administration also wants to preserve money to keep fighting Ebola if it should flare up again. But, the impending fund transfer comes as there's greater urgency to battle the Zika virus - which is projected to spread to the US as summer weather leads to mosquito season. Congress approved approximately $5 billion in 2014 to combat Ebola. Advertisement The newly discovered brain and spinal cord infections are caused by a direct attack on the nerve cells - a different mechanism than Guillain-Barre. The finding has prompted researchers to consider whether Zika may also infect nerves directly in adults, in addition to fetuses. Last month, doctors described in medical journals neurological syndromes in two patients they attributed to Zika. Doctors in Paris diagnosed meningoencephalitis - an infection of both the brain and spinal cord - in an 81-year-old man who was exposed to Zika on a cruise. Another French team reported acute myelitis - a paralyzing condition of the spinal cord - in a 15-year-old girl infected with Zika on the French Carribbean island of Guadeloupe. The WHO said the two cases 'highlight the need to better understand the range of neurological disorders associated with Zika-virus infection.' Other viruses transmitted by mosquitoes - including dengue, Japanese encephalitis and West Nile - are known to directly infect nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. However, those viruses are rarely linked to Guillain-Barre - and never with microcephaly, according to Dr Hoetz. WHO researcher Mary Kay Kindhauser wrote in a recent paper that Zika 'appears to have changed in character' - transitioning from a mild infection to one causing 'large outbreaks linked with neurological disorders.' Zika investigators in Brazil are now reporting the same neurological disorders seen in French Polynesia. And, from April through July 2015, doctors in Brazil also saw a spike in Guillain-Barre cases. In Salvador, Brazil, there were nearly 50 reported cases if Guillain-Barre in July alone - far more than would be typically expected. Dr Albert Ko, a tropical disease expert from Yale University who is studying Zika in Salvador, told a research symposium: 'Throughout Brazil, doctors have seen strange, atypical, neurological manifestations.' Some patients exposed to Zika have had other neurological problems as well. The findings put additional pressure on scientists to develop Zika vaccines and treatments, and for affected countries to control their Aedes aegypti mosqutio (pictured here) populations - which transmit the disease - and to prepare for even more people in need of intensive, or even long-term, medical care Those problems include acute disseminated encephalomyelitis, which causes inflammation of the myelin - the protective sheath covering nerve fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Furthermore, other patients experienced tingling, prickling or burning sensations - which often points to peripheral nerve damage. In addition to Brazil and French Polynesia, at least 11 more countries and territories have reported hundreds of Zika-linked Guillain-Barre cases. What we're seeing are the consequences of this virus turning from the African strain to a pandemic strain Dr Peter Hoetz, of Baylor College of Medicine In Brazil alone, Guillain-Barre cases jumped 19 per cent - up to 1,708 last year. Additionally, though El Salvador has an annual average of 196 Guillain-Barre cases per year, the country reported 118 cases over six weeks in December and January. Zika spread to Colombia in October 2015 - and has been linked to another increase in cases of the autoimmune condition. Colombia usually reports 242 cases of the condition per year - or five each week. However, in five weeks starting in December, Colombia reported 86 cases - or 17 per week. Dr Carlos Pardo-Villamizar, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is investigating Zika complications in conjunction with five Colombian research centers. They have seen cases of encephalitis, myelitis and facial paralysis associated with Zika - and seek to understand what is triggering these complications. The team of scientists also hopes to study whether prior infection with dengue or chikungunya - two related viruses - are contributing to neurological disorders seen in patients with Zika. Zika is expected to infect hundreds of thousands of residents of Puerto Rico by the end of the year - and so, scientists are now turning their attention to the US territory. Snap taken on the bus has been shared thousands of times on internet Shop assistant Courtney Jones was so inspired she took a 'selfie' with him When Craig Bryden was diagnosed with incurable lung cancer, he decided not to dwell on use his chemotherapy sessions as a way to make other people smile. The Royal Navy veteran pushed his devastating diagnosis to one side and dressed up as a pirate to cheer other patients up. Now he has become an internet sensation with his picture being shared millions of times online. Mr Bryden, 56, was snapped on the bus by sales assistant Courtney Jones who was so inspired by his determination to remain positive that she posted a 'selfie' with him on Facebook. Today on the bus, I made a new friend! I want to introduce you all to this lovely pirate, Craig. He got on the bus and... Posted by Spotted Portsmouth on Friday, April 1, 2016 Royal Navy veteran Craig Bryden decided to make other people smile by sporting a full pirate costume for his chemotherapy session in Portsmouth The photo, taken on his way to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, Hampshire, has now been seen by millions of people around the world. The married father-of-two said he would not be bowed by cancer after surviving the sinking of HMS Sheffield in the Falklands in 1982, which killed 20 crew. The 56-year-old was determined to stay positive about his illness and caught the bus to his first chemotherapy session dressed as a pirate - complete with waistcoat, hat and long-haired wig. Mr Bryden, now a plasterer and decorator after 20 years in the navy, said: 'All the nurses were stopping what they were doing to come out and look at me. There were lots of people waiting for chemotherapy and every one of them had a smile on their face - To me that's worth more than life Craig Bryden, 56 'There were lots of people waiting for chemotherapy and every one of them had a smile on their face. 'To me that's worth more than life. If I can put a smile on someone's face it will make me feel 10 times better. 'I was sunk in the Falklands and then sent to Beirut, after that I was diagnosed with PTSD and went through a dark time. I pulled myself through it. 'This is a new life for me, and I have enjoyed the life I have had, and still have. It is something that I am living with. 'Although I have a terminal illness, it is not the end of the world and I plan on being here in 10 years' time. I hope to be an ambassador of happiness.' Craig Bryden dressed as a pirate during treatment and sat next to Royal Navy friend Lee Neal, who is also having chemotherapy Mr Bryden, 56, who lives Portsmouth with wife Rae and children Alistair, 21, and Laura, 22, was first diagnosed when he went for an over 55s NHS health check in March. Until then, his only sign of the disease was a cough. Although I have a terminal illness, it is not the end of the world and I plan on being here in 10 years' time He has now had hundreds of messages of support from all over the world and he has been asked to appear at charity fundraisers. Mr Bryden, who is originally from Kilmarnock in Scotland and moved to Portsmouth in 1997, said: 'I believe that with the right determination and attitude you can conquer everything. 'I hope that my attitude will be an inspiration.' The British ship HMS Sheffield, a Type 42 Guided Missile Destroyer, was sunk by an Argentine missile fired from a fighter bomber. The ship was part of the task force sent to the Falkland Islands during the Falklands War but was struck by an Exocet air-launched anti-ship missile from a Super Etendard aircraft. Just one session smoking a hookah pipe can cause a person to develop lung abnormalities, scientists have warned. Smokers are exposed to four times the amount of nicotine, as they would inhale smoking one cigarette, a new study has revealed. Furthermore, they are also exposed to 11 times the amount of carbon monoxide and 100 times more tar than smoking one cigarette. Scientists analyzed the effects of smoking a waterpipe on a group of light-use smokers and found marked changes in the cell linings the airways. Experts revealed hookah use can cause alterations in the cells of a person's airways, including an increased circulation of small particles in the lungs. These are signs of early lung damage, scientists said Study author Dr Ronald Crystal, of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, said: Our study results justify initiating large epidemiologic studies to further assess the harmful effects of waterpipe smoking. It is uncontrolled - there are no regulations pertaining to its use - and the data raises red flags that even limited use may cause lung damage. Few studies until now have assessed the safety of smoking with a waterpipe, or hookah. The device delivers fruit-flavored tobacco that is placed in a bowl and burned with charcoal. Smoke from the tobacco is bubbled through water and then it is carried through a hose, which the user then inhales. Waterpipe smoking is a common pastime in the Middle East. And, in recent years, it has been growing in popularity among young people in the US. The study, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, entailed light-user waterpipe smokers in New York City. The participants, who had an average age of 24, smoked no more than three bowls per week, for less than five years. The team of Weill Cornell scientists assessed the effects of waterpipe smoking on participants through biological and clinical paramaters. The clinical data found that hookah users coughed more frequently and produced more sputum than nonsmokers. And, biological changes were observed in the smokers airways. Scientists revealed one hookah session exposes users to more toxins than smoking one cigarette, including 100 times the amount of tar, four times the amount of nicotine and 11 times the amount of carbon monoxide Furthermore, the scientists found that hookah users had an increased circulation of small particles shed by endothelial cells in the lungs. Dr Crystal said: This is indicative of ongoing damage to the capillaries. The scientists concluded that the biological and clinical changes associated with light hookah use are signs of early lung damage. In comparison to one cigarette, one waterpipe session also exposes the smoker to 17 times the amount of formaldehyde. They also are exposed to five times the amount of molecular weight carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons and three times the amount of phenol, in comparison to one cigarette. A suspected Indian ISIS recruit was intercepted at the Pune airport as he was about to board a flight to Dubai on Tuesday. A lookout circular was issued for Ismail Abdul Rauf, a resident of Bhatkal in Karnataka, to ensure he does not leave the country. Sources said his activities were under scanner as he was suspected to be in touch with ISIS recruiters. Suspected ISIS recruit Ismail Abdul Rauf (not pictured) was travelling to Dubai, reportedly to meet some handlers. His movements were under surveillance by the Intelligence Bureau and Research and Analysis Wing Several recruits of indigenous terror group the Indian Mujahideen are from Bhatkal, and some of its earlier members have also been associated with ISIS, according to intelligence reports. The Intelligence Bureau and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) had been closely monitoring his suspicious movements, sources said. The 35-year-old was travelling to Dubai, reportedly to meet some handlers. Sources said he has been taken into custody by the state police, but if needs be he would be handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) which is probing similar ISIS-related cases. In the past, Indians living in the UAE have been identified as having alleged ISIS links. On September 15, 2015, the UAE deported four Indians suspected to have links with the ISIS. Last year, the UAE also sent back a 37-year-old woman, Afsha Jabeen alias Nicky Joseph, who was allegedly recruiting youths in the name of ISIS, even though she was not in direct touch with any ISIS member. In January, three Indians who were based in Abu Dhabi were detained by authorities there on suspicion of being involved in activities linked to the terror group Islamic State or ISIS, and were deported to India. The NIA registered a case to probe the ISIS Abu Dhabi module and arrested the trio. The growing influence of ISIS on Indians living in the Gulf has alarmed the security establishment, and the concern was flagged at a recent meeting chaired by union home minister Rajnath Singh to combat the ISIS threat. India has rubbished claims made in the Pakistani media that the Pathankot attack was stage-managed by Indian agencies. Rebutting the report, sources said the evidence provided to Pakistans Joint Investigation Team (JIT) can stand international scrutiny and expressed surprise over media reports emerging that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had not provided enough evidence to the visiting team. India has provided irrefutable evidence to the Pakistan Joint Investigation Team (JIT) during their visit here regarding the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorists, sources said. They claimed that the reports were double speak by Pakistan, designed to divert attention. The Pakistani JIT recently visited Pathankot to gather evidence about the siege there The news report in daily 'Pakistan Today' quoted an unnamed JIT member to say that the attack was nothing but vicious propaganda against Pakistan as Indian authorities did not have any evidence to back their claims. Within hours of the assault, all the attackers were shot dead by the Indian security forces. However, the Indian authorities made it a three-day drama to get maximum attention from the world community in order to malign Pakistan, the report added. The Bijnor district police have released pictures of two suspects following the brutal murder of National Investigation Agency (NIA) deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mohammad Tanzil Ahmad. Two motorcycle-borne attackers had shot Ahmad dead on Sunday while he was returning to New Delhi after attending the marriage of his nephew. Ahmad was shot at from close range, and his wife - who survived - was also hit four times. The police suspect that prohibited bore arms were used in the shooting. Bijnor district police have released pictures of two suspects in the killing of NIA officer Mohammad Tanzil Ahmad. The policeman was shot dead by two men on a motorbike as he travelled back from a family wedding. Ahmad's two children were also in the car when the slaughter took place. While Ahmed was declared brought dead, his wife is being treated in a private hospital in Noida. The pictures are of two unidentified youths, who were present at the wedding function. Neither the relatives of the boy or the girl recognised them. Prima facie it appears that a proper recce was conducted before the incident. We hope to crack the case soon, Superintendent of Police (Bijnor) Subhash Singh Baghel told mediapersons on Tuesday while releasing the pictures. Police have also got CCTV footage from a camera that was installed in a school building about a kilometre from the spot. Relatives of the NIA officer comfort his elder brother in the aftermath of the appalling attack The body of Mohammad Tanzil Ahmad being returned to his residence in New Delhi The video grab shows that the bike riders were following Ahmads car. Though the footage is of night and the registration number of the bike is not visible, we hope to extract some vital clues from it, Baghel added. Meanwhile, ADG (Law and order) Daljit Singh also reached Bijnor on Tuesday. We (UP Police) are coordinating with the teams of NIA and the ATS. We hope to crack the case soon, he said. Ahmad was a part of the NIA team that is investigating the Pathankot terror attack and also had some other cases like cracking SIMI and IM modules to his credentials. The cops has also not ruled out a planned killing. The Modi government believes that it should achieve energy sufficiency for the next generation and is also confident of transformational changes in the coming three years. This insight into the government was given by Indias Power Minister Piyush Goyal, who was speaking at the 2nd Mail Today Energy Conclave on Tuesday. A mobile application to check power status across India, an impressive surge in the sale of energy-efficient LED bulbs, and a missionary zeal to turn around the energy sector. These have been some of the major achievements of the power minister. Power Minister Piyush Goyal said he was trying to achieve uniform power rates across the country Goyal spoke about the functioning of the Modi government in general and his ministry in particular. He also said that the Narendra Modi government doesnt sleep. It is working round-the-clock and is always on the phone converting calls into high-profile meetings where projects worth thousands of crores are finalised. "This government works like an organic entity, as one team, as Team India. There is no discord between ministers and we work together. A day when Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu called, I was in a meeting with some officers including the power secretary. We converted the call into a meeting putting Prabhu on speaker and took a decision on a project worth Rs 35,000 crore and one which will save us billions and add billions to the electricity unit demands of the railways," said Goyal. Minutes of the meeting were recorded and later conveyed to the Railway ministry. This is how this government works, the Union minister added. Asked about his views on privatisation in the energy sector by India Today Group Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Aroon Purie, Goyal said reforms don't necessarily mean privatisation. The tech-savvy minister highlighted that he was trying to achieve the target of uniform power rates across the country. People everywhere should be able to find out if power is available through the application Vidyut Pravah. It also gives the rates at which power is available on the grid. This is momentous! It is a delight to tell you all that as of this moment all of India has power at the same rate that is Rs 4.40, Goyal said. This is our mission: One nation, one grid, and one price, he said. Goyal said bringing power to all was not just a target but a mission commitment as well. My father used to study under a street lamp, but that was before Independence. It is unfortunate and sad that even now someone has to do it after 70 years of Independence, he said. Goyal said his ministry was constantly monitoring how many villages were getting powered every day. People tell me when electricity reaches those places where people had never thought they would get power or where students thought kerosene was the best they could get, villagers celebrate as if it were Diwali, said Goyal. Power has to be affordable as well as of quality. We are conscious of the environment, also of the fact that India must not become non-competitive in the world economy. We are conscious of the fact that village children who are talented should not forego opportunities due to absence of electricity, he said. Asked about politics forcing the unrealistic pricing of power, Goyal assured that his ministry was working in a completely transparent way to achieve all goals. I want to assure you that no politics will come in the way of our goals. Our entire programme is woven around the concept of efficiency. Hitherto the thrust was to raise tariff, but for the first time we are talking about decreasing tariff, said the Union minister. While taking questions, Goyal also dealt with calls for the privatisation of PSUs. Privatisation equals efficiency - this bogey needs to be buried. We are not averse to it, but we don't want to go the way previous regimes went. If needed then okay, but not when it is not needed, Goyal said. The power ministry would focus on hydro power in the coming days. The year 2016-17 is dedicated to hydro power. It got a push some 30-40 years ago, but in recent past it has been ignored due to huge challenges like local resistance and issues of land acquisition, he said. The minister claimed that the Uday scheme launched by the government will be the fulcrum of the power sector reforms and renewal. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday hit out at the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government, saying it had used the odd-even scheme to gain cheap publicity. I will not put out so many advertisements with my Prime Minister's photograph on it, Pradhan said when asked to comment on the anti-pollution step taken by the AAP government. He was speaking at the 2nd Mail Today Energy Conclave at the glittering Taj Vivanta-Ambassador Hotel. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan condemned AAP's handling of the anti-pollution 'odd-even' scheme Earlier in the day, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party National Convenor held a press conference saying the BJP had back-stabbed Bharat Mata by inviting ISI officials to investigate the Pathankot terror attack. Reacting to Kejriwals comment, Pradhan said: I got to know about it through the media this morning. It's sad. I think the debate over whether we should interact with Pakistan at all, should end right now. We are talking to them on a range of issues, including the Indo-Iran gas pipeline. When you talk to them, that's alright; but when I talk to them, that's wrong. How can that be? Regarding the odd-even scheme which is set to see its 2nd installment from April 15, Pradhan said: If CM Arvind Kejriwal is so keen on reducing pollution, why doesn't he fully activate and functionalise the Bawana gas-based plant. Its a state-of-the-art plant and needs utilisation. It may have to sell electricity at a market-driven, slightly higher price but will reduce pollution. Not all decisions can be taken keeping an eye on your constituency. Oddeven is only symbolism. Pradhan said that while the Petroleum Ministry was ready to ensure a supply of cheap natural gas to run the Bawana power plant, the Kejriwal government was persisting with the purchase of power from coal-fired power plants, which is cheaper but causes a lot of pollution. The shutting down of the environment-friendly Bawana power plant shows the lack of a broader commitment to controlling pollution, he added. The minister said that the Narendra Modi government, on the other hand, was working on a more broad-based strategy to control pollution without the high-voltage ad blitz of the Delhi government that sees posters of the chief minister splashed all over. The cost for cleaner air was worth paying, and a large segment of the population in Delhi can afford to pay the higher price, he added. Pradhan said that subsidies should be provided only to the poor while those earning higher incomes should pay the market price for what they consume. Pradhan said that he had asked Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) to supply fuel at a concessional price for those buying it at odd hours in order to reduce queues at filling stations so that more people can conveniently buy natural gas to run vehicles. The minister said that another 100 CNG stations would be set up in Delhi soon to increase the availability of the green fuel in the city. The proposal for setting up these filling stations had been held up earlier as clearances from various authorities had not come through, he added. Citing other steps that the government was taking to control pollution, the minister said that the public sector oil companies had been asked to jump directly from BS IV to the more stringent BS VI norms for petrol and diesel so that cleaner transport fuels become available sooner to bring down vehicular emissions. Pradhan said oil companies were now ready to meet the new deadline for introducing the BS VI norms nationwide by 2020. He also said that the days of free products are long over and even oil-rich Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, which believed in near-zero prices of fuel for their consumers, are shifting closer to a market-determined price system. The pricing of petroleum products has become a hostage of political decisions, he lamented. We have to give subsidy only to those who need it and not those who can afford to pay the market price, he added. He pointed out that the Modi government was targeting subsidies for the weaker sections and the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG had proved to be a huge success. Pradhan said that the DBT scheme, through which cash is transferred directly to the bank accounts of consumers, had succeeded in weeding out 3.34 crore fake LPG connections which had resulted in a saving of Rs 15,000 crore in the subsidy bill. The minister was all praise for the people who had voluntarily given up their subsidy in response to the initiative taken by the Prime Minister. "Close to 1 crore consumers have voluntarily given up their subsidy and these connections were being made available to the poor families as part of the new model of governance, he explained. Pradhan said that with the changes in the geopolitical situation, India is in a better position to source natural gas and LPG from Iran and oil and gas from Russia. Only four days after enforcing a partial liquor ban in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday implemented total prohibition in the state with immediate effect. The decision to make Bihar a dry state was taken at the state cabinet meeting during the day. Announcing the decision, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that the manufacturing, distribution and sale of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) would be banned across the state in keeping with the overwhelming sentiments of the people, especially women and children. Man with the ban: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar addresses the media in Patna The government had earlier banned country and spiced liquor in rural areas, but had allowed the sale of IMFL through outlets of the Bihar State Beverages Corporation Ltd (BSBCL), a state government undertaking. However, the opening of new outlets of BSBCL met with vociferous protests from local residents, mostly women, at many places forcing the government to rethink the issue. We wanted to enforce total prohibition in the second phase after creating strong public opinion against the consumption of liquor, Nitish said. But we felt in the past four days that such an atmosphere already prevailed in the state. Nitish said that women, children and others protested against the opening of the new outlets in the urban centres and even prevented it at many places. It has already taken the form of a social movement, he said. The chief minister said that he had not set any time-frame for enforcing total prohibition earlier. I was only waiting for the right atmosphere, he said. The tremendous response of the people in the last four days convinced me that it was the perfect time to enforce total prohibition. Asserting that Bihar would set an example, Nitish made it clear that no licence for the sale of liquor would be given to the hotels and clubs, and only Army cantonments, which had their own way of regulating its consumption, would be out of its purview. Nitish said that the companies manufacturing alcohol in Bihar would have to understand that their products would have no consumption in the state now. They can manufacture their products here but they will all have to sell off their products outside Bihar from now, he said. However, they will have to transport their products in vehicles equipped with digital lock and GPS monitoring system. He also said that the excise department would chalk out plans on how to dispose of the 36,000 litre of IMFL currently in stock with BSBCL. Nitish also sought to dispel the confusion on the sale of toddy. He said that his government had only enforced the guidelines set up way back in 1991 which only allowed the sale of neera (a palm drink obtained from the trees before sunrise). There is no permission for sale of toddy which is obtained from palm trees after sunrise and has alcoholic properties, he said. However, he said that a high-level committee headed by the Development Commissioner would suggest ways to make palm trees beneficial for the people dependent on them, as was done in Tamil Nadu. He said that products such as mat and baskets could be made from the palm trees and one could earn up to Rs 6,000 every year from a single tree. UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav sent a Cabinet minister in his place Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav skipped PM Narendra Modi's event in Noida again, apparently owing to the so-called Noida jinx. Skipping the Stand Up India event is Yadav's second bid to avoid going to Noida in three months. Modi launched the 'Stand up India' scheme at a gala event at Sector-62 of Noida township. While Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik was present at the event, Yadav was absent. His government was represented by a state Cabinet minister. CJI: Nobody can change court view A heated exchange ensued between senior lawyer Rajeev Dhavan and Chief Justice TS Thakur in courtroom no. 1 of the Supreme Court after the bench dismissed his case. As Dhavan walked in hurriedly while a junior was arguing, the CJI told Dhavan: "Sorry we have already made up our mind and we are dismissing the case." Thakur then told him tersely that if the court has formed a view, even if a senior walks in it will not change its view. Dhavan then told the CJI that it was an insult to the senior members of the Bar. Indifference of states hurts Najma Slamming the states which did not send their ministers for a conference to discuss issues involving minorities, Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptulla said it showed they were not interested in welfare of the communities. If they (ministers) come, they will benefit. I am not disappointed, but sad. I am sad they are not realising that if they cooperate with us, it is they who will benefit. Court gives special lessons to police Police officers of the New Delhi district got lessons from the sitting judges of Patiala House Courts on the investigation of crime against women and children at the office of the Delhi State Legal Services Authority. The police officials were given a lesson on questioning, carrying the investigation and the ways of interacting with the women and children. The judges also solved various queries that officers face while dealing with such cases. Big B to advice on family planning Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan will be the brand ambassador and anchor for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's new family planning awareness programmes. Union Health Minister J P Nadda made the announcement on Tuesday while launching the new revamped logo for the Family Planning media awareness campaign. Defunct Kingfisher Airlines and its chairman Vijay Mallya owe Rs 9,000 crore to a consortium of banks The consortium of lenders led by the State Bank of India (SBI) is set to reject businessman Vijay Mallyas offer to repay Rs 4,000 crore - less than half of what his defunct Kingfisher Airlines (KFA) owes them - sources with knowledge of the matter told news agency Reuters. Sources at various banks said that they want a better offer from the company. The lenders are due to inform the Supreme Court of their decision on the offer at a hearing on Thursday. A senior SBI executive overseeing its stressed assets management unit declined to comment when asked about the banks decision. A spokesman for Mallyas UB Group did not comment either. Last week, the airline and Mallya had submitted a proposal in the apex court to pay Rs 4,000 crore by September to the consortium. A Bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton F. Nariman had given the consortium a week to respond to the proposal and fixed April 7 for further hearing. Mallya and KFA owe Rs 9,000 crore to the consortium. SBI has an exposure of more than Rs 1,600 crore to the defunct airline. Of the total amount, the banks have so far recovered only around Rs 1,240 crore by selling pledged shares and other collaterals. The lenders have another Rs 1,250 crore to gain, but the amount is blocked due to various court stays. Last year, SBI declared Mallya as a wilful defaulter for failing to repay the dues. Punjab National Bank also declared him, Group holding company United Breweries Holdings, and KFA wilful defaulters last month. The banks have put the brand Kingfisher up for sale on April 30 with a base price of Rs 356 crore. When pledged as collateral, the brand Kingfisher was valued by Grant Thornton at Rs 4,100 crore in 2011, and others have recently pegged it at a paltry Rs 100- Rs 200 crore. The banks efforts at selling Kingfisher House on March 17 came a cropper as no bidder came forward to buy the property, which had a reserve price of Rs 150 crore. Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industry said that wilful defaulters need to be brought to book. Lt Col Purohit has been in jail for over seven years without bail, pending trial With a National Investigation Agency (NIA) team visiting the US to probe leads into the role of Lashkar-e-Taiba in the Samjhauta blast, Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit has written a letter to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar seeking the restoration of his honour and dignity. Lt Col Purohit has been in jail for over seven years without bail, pending trial. He is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, but the NIA is yet to file a charge-sheet despite probing the case for the past five years. In an April 2015 order, the Supreme Court had said there is no evidence to indicate Purohits involvement under the stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Lt Col Purohit has now sought the restoration of his rank and seniority in the Army, saying: All my actions were in the line of duty. Mail Today has accessed his letter no: PSP/55224/official/ 16 dated April 4, 2016 written by Purohit from Taloja Central Prison to Parrikar, where he says: My report on SIMI and ISI had a clear mention of role of LeT in Samjhauta blast. The letter The NIA also wants to question Lt Col Purohit in connection with the Samjhauta blast where he stands suspected of having provided the RDX. Purohit has denied the charge. In fact, he has received a summons to testify as a witness in the Samjhauta blast case. My reports of 2005 June of ISI-Naxal weapon and equipment supply arrangement through Dawood Ibrahim have proved correct much later in 2012 when Karnataka police first accepted the nexus, he writes. Likewise Konkan belt of Maharashtra being used as training ground both by Jihadi terror groups and the Naxals was reported by me in 2006. The same too has been accepted by the Maharashtra police recently. I had personally infiltrated in to my target organisation SIMI, IM, Naxals, etc, he adds. Lt Col Purohit, a Military Intelligence Officer then posted in Maharashtra, claims his superiors in the Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) were in the loop on all his operations. The NIA wants to question Lt Col Purohit, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast, in connection with the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast The Court of Inquiry papers now with the Sessions Court also prove beyond any doubt that the meetings which are termed as conspiracy meetings were duly reported by me before, during and after they were conducted. Sources were developed and later even officer intelligence units of MI benefitted in this regard. And for these conspiracy meetings, I have been booked in a bomb blast case which as such is a fabricated one, he writes. Purohits lawyer Neela Gokhale said: The source card registered with the Army and now filed in the Sessions Court clearly indicate that two of his sources have been made coaccused by the ATS and two others made witnesses against him. Systematically, the ATS actually destroyed the network of sources. No evidence The Supreme Court, in April 2015, delivered a verdict saying there was no evidence on record to book either Lt Col Purohit or Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur under MCOCA. Despite the Supreme Court order one year ago, neither has been granted bail to date. In his five-page-letter to Parrikar, Lt Col Purohit says: Thankfully the charges under MCOCA against me which placed me at par with the underworld gangsters have proved to be non-applicable as per the Supreme Court. The prosecutors (NIA) have ratified the same in the High court. However, the officer has neither got bail, nor has the Army stepped forward to provide him with legal assistance. Mail Today has also accessed details of the military court of inquiry findings where most of the 59 witnesses including his superiors told the military court that Lt Col Purohit had infiltrated both right-wing and left-wing organisations in the line of duty. In fact, in 2005, Purohit had been invited by the Anti-Terror Squad of the Maharashtra police for a lecture on successfully infiltrating terror organisations. The same ATS arrested him four years later for the same. Stories of secret torture cells run by the Pakistan army, its kill-and-dump policy, and mass graves where Balochis have allegedly been buried alive are now tumbling out. These chilling claims are being made by a Baloch activist fighting for what she terms nothing short of independence for Balochistan. Naela Qadri Baloch, 47, has gone through a harrowing time herself. She alleges that the Pakistani administration harassed and raided her house repeatedly. They picked up her husband, filmmaker Mustafa Raisani. Naela claims he was kept in a secret torture cell for two long years, before what she terms the kill-and-dump policy came into being. Balochistan activist Naela Qadri Baloch narrated stories of secret torture cells run by the Pakistan Army, its alleged 'kill-and-dump' policy, and mass graves where Balochis have allegedly been buried alive She says her husband was never the same even after his release, having suffered both psychologically and physically. But she was simply thankful that he came back alive. Naela, her husband, and their three sons were forced out of their home in 2010. They sought refuge in Afghanistan. But repeated attempts on their lives were made in Kandahar and then Kabul. Since 2014, she has been claiming political asylum in Canada. But more startling is Naelas account of what is going on inside Balochistan in Pakistan. She says that over 25,000 Balochis are missing, allegedly abducted by the Pakistani Army. Very recently, she says, some 40 bodies were found at the Chashma Barrage, some with their limbs chopped off. Naela believes these could be some of those kidnapped and missing. But no one really knows their exact identities. A former associate professor at the University of Balochistan, Naela does not mince her words when she blames Beijings interference for the increased violence in Balochistan. She says that ever since China started developing a naval base at Gwadar, killings of innocent Balochis and rapes of women have shot up. She suggests that unlike Pakistan and Iran, Afghanistan is more inclusive and treats Balochis well - but a few months ago about 10 Balochi activists were kidnapped by the Taliban and sold off to the Pakistani Army. She compares the suffering of Balochis to what the Jews went through at the hands of the Nazis or the pain of Bangladesh. She calls it a warlike situation, a genocide to eliminate the entire tribe. The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi was asked about the allegations, but did not respond. India accused of 'interfering' Recently, the issue of Balochistan and Pakistans allegation of Indias interference came to the fore, with the arrest of an ex-Indian Navy member, Khulbushan Jadhav. Pakistan claimed to have picked him up from Balochistan and alleged that he was spying. India rubbished the charges and sought consular access to Jadhav, which is still awaited. The MEA said that its enquiries revealed that Jadhav was harassed while operating a legitimate business from Iran. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar may have been receiving bouquets for enforcing total prohibition in the state, but his decision has also earned him some brickbats. Noted Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor was among those who gave his instant disapproval of Nitishs decision. The actor, who was last seen in current hit Kapoor & Sons, took to Twitter to say that Nitishs decision would not only encourage bootlegging but also make Bihar lose revenue worth Rs 3,000 every year. Bihar you will encourage bootlegging and illicit liquor. Prohibition has failed worldwide. Wake up!You will also lose Rs 3000 cr revenue loss, Rishi tweeted on Wednesday. He also took a dig at the new excise laws in the state, saying he would not like to visit Bihar now. 10 years imprisonment for alcohol Five years for illegal possession of arms? Wah Nitish! Me no coming to Bihar! How myopic can you get in 2016? he said. The veteran actor said that he had been drinking liquor since his Coolie days, but hastened to add that smoking and drinking were hazardous. People, please abstain from it, he advised. Meanwhile, the overnight disappearance of all kinds of booze from the market, a day after the ban on its sale and distribution came into force, has made many alcoholics resort to desperate measures to curb their addiction. At Bettiah, a 45-year-old man named Mohd Gaisuddin reportedly started behaving strangely after he failed to get a pouch of his favourite country liquor. His family members said that he began to eat soap at home when he did not get his usual quota of alcohol. Gaisiddin, according to his family, has been addicted to liquor for more than 20 years. He had to be rushed to a local de-addiction centre on Tuesday. Bihar CM Nitish Kumars order on prohibition has made some very happy. Pictured: Members of the Rashtriya Mahila Brigade celebrate after the government banned country-made liquor In East Champaran district, a policeman named Raghunandan Besra fainted on the streets and was rushed to a nearby hospital. The doctors alleged that he had lost his senses because he had suddenly given up booze. Many alcoholics who were unaware of the prohibiton order on Tuesday were disappointed to find the liquor shops locked. Meanwhile, an ex-servicemen named AN Singh filed a public interest litigation in Patna High Court on Wednesday challenging the prohibition order. The petitioner contended that the order of the state government was a violation of fundamental rights of a citizen on what to eat and drink. It also said that the amended excise policy, which was passed by the Bihar legislative assembly last week, was draconian, arbitrary and malafide and could be misused by the police. Elsewhere, Nitishs decision earned the instant appreciation of women across the state. Many of them celebrated Holi on the streets to celebrate the promulgation of prohibition. Moral policing has once again raised its ugly head in the communally-sensitive coastal Karnataka region, with the police arresting five Bajrang Dal activists for allegedly assaulting a youth from a minority community after he was seen with a Hindu girl in a mall in Mangaluru city. The police are searching for five more suspects who are on the run. The incident took place last Sunday when the 21-year-old victim, Arshad, visited the Forum Fiza Mall with his female friend to do some shopping. Five Bajrang Dal activists were arrested after they beat up a Muslim man seen with a Hindu girl. (Picture for representation only.) The duo spent more than an hour there, then emerged from the mall to be confronted by a gang of 10 youths. One of them asked the girl her name, and when she revealed it they told her to go home. When she tried to confront them, they ordered her to mind her own business or face dire consequences. The gang then set upon Arshad and bundled him into a van parked near the mall. They took him to an isolated place on the outskirts of the city and beat him up. The held him captive for more than an hour and grilled him. Finally, they warned Arshad against talking to any Hindu girls in future and let him go. In the meantime, the worried young woman lodged a complaint with the police. On the basis of the descriptions provided by the girl and the victim, the police arrested Chetan (22) from Kujathbail, Rakshit (23) from Sringeri, Sushanth Shetty (23) from Karkala, Sharat Kumar (20) and Ashwin Raj (21) from Mangaluru on Monday. The other five accused, who learnt about the arrests, fled Mangaluru on Monday. Police suspect that they might be in hiding in Kerala, and a team is being sent there to search for them. According to the police, Arshad, who works for a private firm in Dubai, had returned to Mangaluru recently. He befriended the girl, who studied in a private college in Manipal, on Facebook. The girl hailed from Maharashtra and the two had decided to meet in Mangaluru. The fate of nearly 1,75,000 students sitting the XIIth standard examination (also referred to as second pre-university examination in Karnataka) is hanging in the balance. The Congress government in Karnataka has failed once again to keep the questions of the Chemistry paper under-wraps, and students are now facing the nightmare situation of having to re-sit. In this advanced era of the online secure examination system, it's surprising that the questions get leaked - not once, but twice - and still the government remain clueless. The fate of nearly 1,75,000 students sitting the XIIth standard examination is hanging in the balance The government may have acted quickly by handing over the case to the CID police officials, who netted several big fish, including a special officer working for the Minister for Medical Education, for allegedly leaking the questions cash. But the fact remains that the government system has not changed in the last three decades despite examination question papers being frequently leaked online. The government has never taken this issue seriously, but this time its public image is taking a severe beating. The government cannot simply sit back and just order a probe. It has to stop the rot within the system. There are hundreds of officials working at the same centres in the Department of Pre-University Education for more than a decade. They have to be transferred out and replaced with a new bunch of officials as many of these officials are in cahoots with teachers, who run expensive tutorials for second PU students. It is not a secret that some of the students attending well-known tutorials are aware of the questions even before the examination. The nexus between the officials and the tutorials has to be broken down. This year, the question paper leak was waiting to happen, as predicted by many. The Chemistry examination was originally scheduled for March 21, but by then the questions were circulating on WhatsApp and this prompted the government to reschedule it to March 29. However, hours before the examination, the questions were once again leaked and students were stopped from entering the examination centre. Now, the examination has been rescheduled to April 12, closer to the date of other entrance examination for professional courses. Ironically, Karnatakas Minister for Primary & Secondary Education Minister Kimmane Ratnakara has declared that he will quit the office if the questions get leaked for a third time. The leaking of second PU question papers is not without precedent in Karnataka. In 1993, when I appeared for the second PU examination, the Chemistry paper questions were out in the open, some of them were even published in local newspapers, a day before the examination. Incidentally, most of the questions that were out in the open were the same the next day in the question paper. However, a re-examination was not ordered and we were all spared the ordeal. Now, 23 years have passed by and still nothing is being done to stop people from making money by leaking examination papers. It is time that the government should adopt technology to prevent these kinds of examination malpractices. Even today, students of second PU write lengthy descriptive and objective answers in the examination spread over three hours. The evaluation of the answer scripts is also a matter of concern, as students complain of poor scores. Every year, thousands of students apply for a revaluation of their answer scripts by paying a fee. Some of them are forced to appear for supplementary examinations. The government can end this process by revamping the examination system. Computerising the entire process, including the examination, is one of the options. After all, it was Karnataka that demonstrated to the rest of the country how to conduct Common Entrance Test for admission into professional courses without providing any scope for malpractice. It will take the government at least 2-3 years to put the entire system in place, but it is better late than never. Siddaramaiah must re-shuffle Cabinet to avoid rebellion Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiahs three-year reign, which has been consistently marred by accusations of poor administration, is facing fresh trouble from within. A number of ministerial aspirants are calling for a Cabinet reshuffle now that the Congress government has completed three years in power. Never before has the rebellion been as out in the open as it is now. Siddaramaiah's popularity is dipping and Congress loyalists are calling on him to reshuffle his cabinet Leading the rebels is the Bengaluru Urban District Congress Committee President and legislator S T Somashekar. According to Somashekar, all Congress leaders are equally responsible for decimating the BJP in the previous elections and, bearing this in mind, Siddaramaiah should drop 25 ministers from the Council of Cabinet to accommodate the younger talent in the party. Major leaders, who have thrown their hats in the ring, are former ministers Dr A B Maalakaraddy, K B Koliwada, Maalikkayya V Guttder, R V Devaraj, and MLAs K N Rajanna, M Krishnappa, and Shivananada Patil, many of whom are considered as money bags. Ever since the Congress appointed Siddaramaiah as the CM, there has been unrest among the Congress loyalists. Siddaramaiah, ignoring the original party leaders, appointed several of his followers and erstwhile Janata Parivar leaders to important posts. By appointing his followers in all the key posts, the Congress loyalists feel that Siddaramaiah is not doing justice to the growth of the party. According to the 25 plus Congress legislators, they have given Siddaramaiah time till May to undertake the Cabinet reshuffle. As many as 5 states are going to the polls in May and the rebels want to wait for the elections to conclude. Siddaramaiahs popularity in the state is decreasing due to his poor administrative skills. After the drought, the declining economy and the subsequent suicides by farmers, he has become an easy political target for the rival BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular). Last year, foreign investors, consulate officers and industrialists had directly complained to the Congress leaders in New Delhi on the deteriorating quality of infrastructure in Karnataka. For the time being, Siddaramaiah has silenced his detractors by hinting about a Cabinet reshuffle in May. But this rebellion is unlikely to die any time soon. Bengaluru gets nine-day arts festival Every year The IT Capital of the nation hosts a number of landmark events. Adding to the growing list this year is Designuru - a nine-day festival combining arts, architecture and design. The MG Road and Cubbon Park are playing host to this rare event organised by the IIID (Institute of Indian Interior Designers, Bengaluru). Running until April 10, the festival features exhibitions, workshops, interactive stalls, installations and talks on Architecture, Heritage, Urban Design, Interior Design, Product Design and Arts & Performing Arts. Children are actively taking part in puppetry, pottery, clay modelling and many more fun activities. Bollywood veteran and BJP MP Hema Malini was heavily criticised on Tuesday for what many on social media regarded as an insensitive tweet in the wake of late actor Pratyusha Banerjees suicide. Although Hema did not specifically name Pratyusha in her tweets, they appeared to refer to the 24-year-old TV actor, who was found hanging in her flat on April 1. All these senseless suicides which achieve nothg! Life is Gods gift for us to live not for us to take at will. We have no right to do that (sic), tweeted the Bollywood star of the seventies on Monday night, at her account @dreamgirlhema. BJP MP and Bollywood veteran Hema Malini (left) was criticised on social media for her insensitive tweets in the wake of late actor Pratyusha Banerjees (right) alleged suicide One must learn to overcome all odds & emerge successful, not succumb under pressure & give up easily. The world admires a fighter not a loser (sic), @dreamgirlhema further wrote. No sooner did her tweets go live than many tweeted their objections. Stung by such a broad backlash, Hema turned to lambasting the media. Just becomes food for the hungry media who chew on news like celebrity suicides until the next sensational news happens. Thn it is forgotten (sic), she tweeted. Tweets expressing displeasure over Hemas insensitivity ranged from the caustic to the angry. The world admires someone who can keep their mouth shut and give respect to a dead person, not an irresponsible blabbermouth (sic), wrote @ADelhiDame. You just lost all my respect. It is because of stoic elders like you, young minds in the country have mental health issues (sic), tweeted @Anu_Mukherjee. One must learn to overcome all odds & emerge successful,not succumb under pressure & give up easily.The world admires a fighter not a loser Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) April 4, 2016 All these senseless suicides which achieve nothg! Life is God's gift for us to live not for us to take at will. We have no right to do that. Hema Malini (@dreamgirlhema) April 4, 2016 Angry tweets lambasting Hema ranged from personal digs on how she had destroyed the married life of another woman (the reference being to the fact that Dharmendra took her as a second wife), to recalling how she had been equally insensitive while dealing with the issue of Vrindavan widows and a hit-and-run where her car ran over a little girl. Meanwhile, four days after Pratyushas death, her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh has been charged with abetment to suicide. Rahul, a TV producer, was admitted to Shree Sai Hospital on Sunday after complaining of chest pain and low blood pressure. He was subsequently moved from ICU to the general ward. According to Rahuls lawyer Neeraj Gupta, he is still in a state of trauma. The police, who have questioned Rahul, revealed they have zeroed in on 10 of Pratyushas closest friends to get an idea of the couples relationship. Pratyushas close friends, actor Kamya Panjabi and producer Vikas Gupta, held a press conference where they alleged Rahul was cheating on her and describing the relationship as 'messy'. Mention was also made of a slap that Rahul inflicted on Pratyusha in public and that his ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma had allegedly assaulted the late actor. Rahul has told a Mumbai-based tabloid that he was serious about marrying Pratyusha. The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) has joined the chorus within the Sikh community against Sardar jokes. In written submissions on Tuesday in the Supreme Court, which is hearing a PIL seeking a ban on websites which spread jokes portraying the Sardar community as persons of low intellect, stupid and foolish, the SGPC said: Nobody can be allowed to do business at the cost of reputation or dignity of a community. The circulation of Sikh jokes by the websites or otherwise and compilations of Sardar jokes for selling, should not be allowed. Perception of people or the image of a community can be influenced positively as well as negatively by creating an image, and because of that image people belonging to that religious group gets labeled that way, it said in the statement filed before a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur. The Supreme Court is hearing a PIL seeking a ban on websites which spread jokes portraying the Sardar community as 'persons of low intellect, stupid and foolish' The SGPC has also said portraying Sikhs as people who do not know English and as persons with low intellectual capabilities also affects the job prospects of the youth belonging to the community. If Sikhs are labeled as not knowing English well or that they are of low intellectual capabilities, and wherever selection criteria requires from a candidate proficiency in English, the employer gets influenced by such labeling, it said. Pointing out that it did not want Sikhs to be ridiculed, the Supreme Court had on February 16 for the first time asked the community to come out with suggestions as to what could be done within the permitted jurisdiction of the judiciary to impose limited ban on sardar jokes. We may say 'do not crack such jokes'. But then how do we enforce the order. Of course we do not want you to be ridiculed but please tell us in what way we can do something. You come out with suggestions within six weeks, the bench told senior lawyer RS Suri, who represented Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee and main petitioner and advocate Harvinder Chowdhury. Suri said he was not for any penal provision but primarily wanted sensitization of the public especially the school students on the issue. Advertisement They say 50 families left when the huge crack appeared in the middle of the stairwell. Some were bought out and others left freely terrified their cramped apartment would be swallowed into dust as their half century old complex gave up the ghost. The White Building in Cambodias Phnom Penh slum was once the pinnacle of modern day living the first multi-story complex for a smorgasbord of middle to low income residents, from civil servants to artists - but today it's one of the city's last monuments to the urbanized poor. Dilapidated: When the White Building was first built in Cambodia's Phnom Peng slum, it was hailed as the pinnacle of modern living - but today is little more than a crumbling ruin, where people fear the next crack could be the one which brings it all crashing to the ground All walks of life: The in-house beauty parlour in the White Building - where everyone from mothers at the end of a hard week, to sex workers getting ready for another night on the streets, come together to relax, and gossip Gone also are most of the prim civil servants. Hedonistic artists remain alongside families, nuns, business owners as well as less salubrious characters. Surviving: But others are refusing to leave the place they have called home for decades, where their neighbours have become family Gone also are most of the prim civil servants. Hedonistic artists remain alongside families, nuns, business owners as well as less salubrious characters. The shining white walls gleam from the black and white photos taken on the completion of the iconic landmark in 1963, the only hint of where the now grimy, dilapidated building got its name. The other blocks have their own character some are a bit more shady than others and house drug dealers, heroin addicts and prostitutes but walking the corridors are a united space and a welcome reprieve from the heat and humidity outside. The corridors are the only place to hang out, photographer Tariq Zaid told MailOnline. So everybody integrates and socialises there. Tariq has spent three years documenting the community which is both unique and a tragically ubiquitous in cities where poor inner city residents are being priced out of their neighbourhoods by modernized urbanization and foreign investment. Residents say the crack was caused by nearby excavation work for an 11-story hotel. Commercial developers bought out the families who wanted to stay despite the safety issues with more than they earn in a year about $1,500. For those who stay, the future is just as uncertain. Inspiring: The White Building has always been home to artists - and the various murals on the wall pay testament to its creative past today Community: It was designed for those on middle and lower incomes, but today is also home to those making a living on the fringes of society - ladyboys and prostitutes who have found a happy home living alongside families in the White Building Last days: But they may all have to leave. The residents have already been served two eviction notices so far, and more are sure to follow Dirty: At first glance the slum looks grim, residents insist they dont want to leave their home and the tightly knitted community Residents have already been issued two eviction order and while the first was immediately rescinded the second seems to have stuck. While on first inspection the slum looks grim, residents insist they dont want to leave their home and the tightly knitted community that has developed. That and the fact that its either too expensive or impractical to move anywhere else. Some 600 families live in the slum and are working to save it from demolition conscious their home is a national eyesore. NGOs entice artists to come and paint murals on the stairs, organise free schooling for the children and business owners set up shop wherever they can. The local hair salon is a buzzing hub for those who make their homes here on a Friday night full of mothers getting ready for weddings, celebrations, girls having a gossip and prostitutes getting made up for their busiest night of the week. In another apartment, a proud seamstress shows off her double use of space both her home and her studio, where she sews clothes for her neighbours. Meanwhile, Phnom Penhs skyline continues to transform. When the 29-storeyed Canadia Tower was completed in 2010, it was the first high rise in Cambodia. Now there are more than 30 high rises in varying stages of construction in the city centre while a local developer is in talks with a Chinese firm to build a 1,640ft twin tower mega-skyscraper, at the cost of $3bn - about one fifth of the countrys GDP. Together: There are still 600 families living in the White Buildings, desperate to save it from developers with an eye on the land value Businesses: A proud seamstress, who makes her living from sewing clothes for the residents of the White Building Eyesore: Despite appearances, the White Building is actually a thriving community, with cafes, shops and salons Valuable: Cambodia's property market is booming, with 30 high rise blocks currently under construction in Phnom Penh Attractive: Commercial developers bought out the families who wanted to stay despite the safety issues in the block with a crack in it with more than they earn in a year about $1,500 Front doors to homes are often left open, yet many doors have metal grilles to provide the additional security that is felt to be necessary Convicted drugs mule Michaella McCollum Connolly has found God and will start her new life quietly - living with a 73-year-old Catholic priest in his modest city-centre apartment, MailOnline has learned. McCollum Connolly - one half of the 'Peru Two' who along with Scot Melissa Reid was jailed for trying to smuggle 1.5 million of cocaine from Peru to Spain will live full-time with Father Sean Walsh and work for his church from his tiny home office. MailOnline has learned exclusive details of the 23-year-olds fresh start since she was released from prison after serving two years and three months of a six year, eight month sentence at a tough Peruvian prison. Convicted drugs mule Michaella McCollum Connolly will start her new life living in the apartment of Catholic priest Father Sean Walsh, in Lima, Peru (pictured above) McCollum Connolly has been released on parole, after being jailed with Melissa Reid for trying to smuggle 1.5 million of cocaine from Peru to Spain The former drug mule, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, will stay at the three-bedroom apartment in Miraflores, Lima, for the foreseeable future while she sees out up to six years on parole in the country. Father Walsh will oversee McCollum Connollys progression in the real world. She will carry out administrative and clerical duties for the priest from his fifth floor apartment and work on the churchs magazine, New Hope, setting templates and carrying out photographic work. Included in one of the latest issues of the low budget New Hope is an article about how marijuana use can affect teenage intelligence and another about a pastor who was addicted to pornography who now counsels men and women with the same problem. Michaella did her time with dignity, took her lumps and now shes ready to start life fresh. Father Walsh Father Walsh will also encourage McCollum Connolly to volunteer for other church groups, including working with Father Cathal Gallagher, a Columban priest in Peru, helping people who are HIV-positive or have Aids. McCollum Connolly will work a 9-5 eight hour day, Monday to Friday, and will be paid a small wage as well as food and board. And the priest said hes excited to work alongside the attractive parolee. The Lord blessed her with good looks, he joked. Michaella did her time with dignity, took her lumps and now shes ready to start life fresh. Im excited about the possibility of working with her. Michaella is an intelligent and gifted young lady, she just did something dumb, now she can get on with the rest of her life. She will be on parole for another 50 months, but she can apply to leave Peru and go back to Ireland. My apartment will be her residence, this is going to be her office and her rooms over there. Father Walsh will oversee McCollum Connolly's transition back into the real world, and she will stay in his apartment and carry out administrative and clerical duties for him McCollum Connolly will work a 9-5 eight hour day, Monday to Friday, and will be paid a small wage as well as food and board in Father Walsh's apartment McCollum Connolly will be staying in Father Walsh's three-bedroom apartment for the foreseeable future, as she still has to serve up to six years' parole in Peru The apartment in on the fifth floor of a block in the bustling neighbourhood of Miraflores, in the Peruvian capital Shes welcome to stay here and work here as long as she likes. The change of pace is a world away from the glamorous makeover and stay at a luxury hotel that McCollum Connolly enjoyed while filming an interview with Irish TV station RTE over the weekend. The convicted criminal looked more like an X-Factor finalist than the frightened young woman who was caught at Lima Airport in 2013 with 24lbs of cocaine hidden inside food packets. The 'hair donut' do had been replaced with long blonde locks, and she wore a smart white blazer over ripped black jeans and a black top, as well as bright red lipstick and matching manicure. McCollum Connolly, who often broke into a smile, came under fire after the TV appearance, widely slated for overhauling her image and not sounding sorry enough. Im not sure she was a staunch Catholic before I met her, but I really think she did come to the Lord (in prison), at least in her conversations with me, she indicated that. Father Walsh But her brush with celebrity and taste of the glamorous will be short-lived, for she is due to move in soon with Father Walsh who has spent 37 years with the church. Before then she is spending precious time with family members at a hotel in Lima. The priest and prison missionary has set aside a bedroom in his modest home for his new guest. The small room, shown to MailOnline, is decorated in plain white, has a double bed with a floral print cover, a side table and lamp, desk and a vanity dresser with a large mirror basic but far more comfortable than her prison quarters. The only ornament on display is a hand-painted Inca joss stick holder on the dresser. The apartment is filled with quaint religious artwork and scriptures some from Father Walsh's time working in Africa and family photos. The property sits on the fifth floor of a dated high-rise apartment block above a Peruvian restaurant and across from Kennedy Park in a bustling area of Lima. McCollum Connolly was widely criticised following an interview with Irish TV station over the weekend, in which she showed off a dramatic post-prison makeover Northern Irish Michaella McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid (pictured together) from Scotland were jailed for six years and eight months in 2013 after they were caught with cocaine worth 1.5million hidden in their luggage at Lima Airport With the temperature in the city reaching 27 degrees on Monday, the loud shrill of car horns and workmens machinery flooded in through the large open window of Father Walshs office. Father Walsh believes his young guest has found God and that will be her focus. Im not sure she was a staunch Catholic before I met her, but I really think she did come to the Lord (in prison), at least in her conversations with me, she indicated that. Shes bright, she can learn a lot of different things and her heart is in the right place. Father Walsh Father Walsh who has worked closely with the Peruvian prison ministry for four decades helping foreign inmates - became involved with McCollum Connolly and Reid after being asked to by the Irish Consul. And for the past two years he has been visiting them in jail up to three times a week. Michaellas parole was granted, her first time requesting it, her judge is a lady judge and a female prosecutor, tough as nails but fair, they did everything by the book. The Peruvian authorities want to see this happen (parole). Even in Peru they dont want to see people punished gratuitously forever. Walsh says he first came to Peru from the United States as a missionary, but after witnessing homeless parolees on the streets in Lima he decided to make counseling foreign inmates in Peru his full-time job. Ive been doing this for a number of foreign inmates, theoretically theres 1,500 foreign parolees on the streets living in Peru, he said. They can be rescued and become good productive citizens. The priest and prison missionary Father Sean Walsh has set aside a bedroom in his modest home for his new guest Father Walsh who has worked closely with the Peruvian prison ministry for four decades helping foreign inmates - became involved with McCollum Connolly and Reid after being asked to by the Irish Consul Decorations inside the apartment of Father Walsh, where drug mule Michaella McCollum Connolly will be living and working for him as part of her parole A copy of the Nueva Esperanza (New Hope) magazine published by Father Walsh. McCollum Connolly will help him with the low-budget magazine, by setting templates and carrying out photographic work The Irish American priest arrived in Peru as a missionary before he decided to make counseling foreign inmates in Peru his full-time job, after seeing homeless parolees on the streets of Lima They need to know that they have hope and a future, and I think that's the church's role more than the government's. Father Walsh said McCollum Connolly - who he now sees as a granddaughter - isnt confined by law to his apartment. Eventually, if she chooses to change residence or change employment, she can do what she likes, he said. Shes entitled to do that, the only condition being she must so advise the (prison) board and the parole officer. Shes spending time with family now, but the sooner she starts the better as far as Im concerned. Father Walsh said McCollum Connolly had done a lot of soul-searching while locked up. The prisons here, they might not be the worlds worst, but they are still not a walk in the park. Father Walsh The prisons here, they might not be the worlds worst, but they are still not a walk in the park, he explained The girls were held in dormitories which had 30 beds, it was like being in a boarding school. He said that McCollum Connolly had avoided trouble with other inmates and kept her head down, making the most of educational programs. She never complained to me, he said. He said she learnt Spanish and even took a hair-dressing course. Her Spanish is fluent and she likes to tease me and calls me in Spanish, it takes me a second to recognize her voice. I think the Spanish went in her favor at the parole hearing, most foreign prisoners do not learn Spanish. She handled herself abundantly well. Shes bright, she can learn a lot of different things and her heart is in the right place. Father Walsh says that the Peruvian government has laid down strict sentences for foreigners caught trafficking drugs, but he believes offenders should be given some clemency. He says that non-Spanish speaking foreigners stuck in Peru on parole without identification cards or work visas, face a bureaucratic nightmare that makes living any kind of a normal life extremely difficult. Gaining permission to leave the country can also take many years. Irish-born Michaella McCollum, handcuffed, arrives for a court hearing, in Lima, Peru, in December 2013. She has now been released on parole but will still have to stay in Peru for up to six years Although currently spending time with her family, McCollum Connolly will be moving into Father Walsh's flat soon to start her new life He added that McCollum Connolly is one of the fortunate ones but said she will want to work hard to pay her dues. Michaella will probably want to reimburse her family for the horrific legal fees they have been paying for these last two years, he explained. What I can pay her is not going to make her a million, its more of a volunteer stipend. Eventually she may find different employment. After her release on Thursday McCollum Connolly gave her first interview and said she feels like she'll wake up 'back in the nightmare' of prison despite her freedom. She told RTE: This feels like a dream, it feels like Im going to wake up back in jail, back in the nightmare. A rare blue diamond which was almost stolen in the thwarted Millennium Dome jewels heist in 2000 has sold for a record 20million. The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4, a 10.10 carat vivid blue diamond, broke the record for the most expensive piece of jewellery to be sold at auction in Asia yesterday at Sotheby's in Hong Kong. It ended up being sold for HK$248.29 million (20million), which was at the lower end of estimates which had predicted it would fetch up to 31million. The De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 (pictured), a 10.10 carat vivid blue diamond, broke the record for the most expensive piece of jewellery to be sold at auction in Asia yesterday in Hong Kong The De Beers Millennium Jewell 4 Diamond, pictured, was previously targeted as part of a failed jewel heist at the Millenium Dome, in London, when it was on display part of a collection of millennium jewels Slightly larger than an almond, it is described by Sotheby's as the largest oval blue diamond ever to appear at auction and 'internally flawless'. It was sold to an anonymous phone bidder. 'It was a very successful sale,' Sotheby's international jewellery division worldwide chairman David Bennett said. 'The fact that it's a record price for jewellery in Asia I think speaks well about the Asian market... I think it's alive and well and very healthy,' Bennett said. The Millennium Dome raid was an attempted robbery of the Millennium Dome's diamond exhibition in Greenwich, South East London on November7 2000. The Oppenheimer Blue is expected to beat the current record for most valuable gemstone sold at auction currently held by The Blue Moon diamond which sold for 32 million at Sotheby's last year The stone is named after Sir Philip Oppenheimer, who died in 1995, a racehorse owner-breeder and diamond dealer whose family owned diamond company De Beers A gang planned to ram-raid the De Beers diamond exhibition where the De Beers Millenium Jewel and others were being held at the time. CAUGHT RED-HANDED: THE RAID Armed with nailguns, ammonia and sledgehammers, a gang planned to use a mechanical digger to break into the Dome and steal diamonds, including the Millennium Star and 11 other rare blue diamonds. An armoured van is loaded by police after the raid They had planned to make their escape in a speedboat down the River Thames, but their plan was foiled by police - who knew in advance of the heist. Officers had staked out the Dome on more than 20 occasions, being aware that any raid there depended on a high tide on the Thames for a getaway. The JCB used by the robbers lies abandoned When the raid finally took place on November 7, 2000, more than 100 police were surrounding the Dome in boats, in helicopters, on cranes and posing as Dome staff. Officers believed the criminals already had wealthy Arab clients for the gems. Five gang members were jailed for a total of 71 years. Police block entry to the Dome after the raid Advertisement The gang had planned to escape via the Thames in a speedboat but the attempted robbery was foiled by the Flying Squad of the Metropolitan Police, who already had the gang members under surveillance for their suspected roles in a number of unsuccessful armoured vehicle robberies. Meanwhile the biggest blue diamond ever to be auctioned is expected to fetch 31million at Christie's next month. Weighing in at 14.62 carats, the Oppenheimer Blue is named after its previous owner, the late Sir Philip Oppenheimer, a racehorse owner-breeder and diamond dealer whose family owned diamond company De Beers. The huge rectangular-cut gemstone is called a 'fancy vivid' for its very rare medium to dark tone and has been branded 'the gem of gems'. In a previous study of blue diamonds, which account for 0.1 per cent of diamonds mined around the world, just one per cent of those were Fancy Vivid. Sir Philip, who controlled the Diamond Syndicate in London, chose the gem because of its 'perfect hue, impeccable proportions and fabulous rectangular shape', according to Francois Curiel, chairman of Christie's Asia Pacific and China.' The huge blue gemstone will be the centrepiece at Christie's Magnificent Jewels sale at the Four Seasons Hotel des Bergues, Geneva on May 18. The Oppenheimer Blue - which has been valued at between 26.5million and 31.3million - is the latest in a line of historic blue diamonds that have been auctioned at Christies. These include the Tereshchenko in 1984, the Wittelsbach Blue in 2008, the Begum Blue in 1995, and a blue-diamond ring owned by Marie-Antoinette which was auctioned 1983. Curiel explained the appeal of the rare gems: Blue diamonds have gained a wider following, not only because they are stunning, but because there are so few of them available in the world. The Oppenheimer Blue can only be described as one of the rarest gems in the world, said Curiel. It is the gem of gems. Rahul Kadakia, international head of jewellery at Christie's, described it as the largest and finest Fancy Vivid Blue diamond ever. The current record auction price for a diamond is 32million, paid for The Blue Moon diamond at Sotheby's last year. The previous record was held by the Graff Pink of 24.78 carats, sold by Sotheby's for 29 million in 2010. In November 2015 a Canadian miner unearthed a diamond the size of a tangerine believed to be the biggest gem-quality stone discovered in more than a hundred years. North Korea has the capability to launch a nuclear warhead 1,250 miles to reach Taiwan and parts of Russia, it has been claimed. A South Korean official said they believe the outcast nation is capable of firing a medium-range Rodong missile following its fourth nuclear test this year. The Rodong missile can fire a 1 tonne warhead a distance of up to 1,250 miles, the official said, placing all of South Korea, most of Japan and parts of Russia and China in range. The North Korean warhead could deliver nuclear missiles to areas as far away as Taiwan, it has been claimed The anonymous official said: 'We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision.' North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said last month that his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles. It was his first direct statement of a claim often made in state media though never independently verified. There was no direct evidence that the North has successfully mounted a warhead on such a missile, the South Korean official said, declining to discuss the basis for the change in its assessment. The United States, South Korea's staunch ally, concurred. 'We know that they've said they have that capability, and we have to take them at their word,' Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said at a briefing for reporters on Tuesday. 'But we have not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real.' For decades, North Korea and South Korea have faced off against each other. An armistice ended the fighting in the Korean 1950-53 civil war but there was no peace treaty. The South's conservative president, Park Geun-hye, has reversed a policy of trying to engage the North in dialogue and has instead adopted a hard line against it. The South's conservative president, Park Geun-hye, has adopted a hard line against her counterpart Kim Jong-Un (pictured) Rodong missiles, developed from Soviet-era Scud missiles, make up the bulk of the North's missile arsenal. In this picture, from April 2, a North Korean anti-air guided missile system is tested This has intensified this year after the North conducted its fourth nuclear test on January 6 and a month later launched a long-range rocket putting an object into space orbit. The test and launch prompted the U.N. Security Council to impose new sanctions. Rodong missiles, developed from Soviet-era Scud missiles, make up the bulk of the North's short- and medium-range missile arsenal with an estimated stockpile of 200. Experts have predicted that the delivery vehicle for the North's first nuclear warhead would be the medium-range Rodong missile, rather than an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which the North has yet to test. Despite threats to strike the mainland U.S., the North is seen as several years away from building an ICBM that can carry a nuclear warhead. Experts have previously said a functioning mid-range nuclear missile would need the technology to overcome the stress of launch and re-entry and to strike the target with precision, which requires repeated testing. Police have identified the five people killed when their sightseeing helicopter crashed and burned near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee. The pilot, 38-year-old Jason Dahl, of Sevierville, Tennessee; and his four passengers, 49-year-old Johna Morvant of Kodak, Tennessee,brother and sister 22-year-old Peyton and 18-year-old Parker Rasmussen of Huntersville, North Carolina, and 21-year-old Michael Glenn Mastalez of Prosper, Texas. Family members said Peyton and Parker Rasmussen were visiting their mother, Morvant. Killed: Mom 49-year-old Johna Morvant and her two children Parker, 18, (center) and Peyton Rasmussen, 22, (right) all lost their lives when the helicopter they were aboard crashed Lives lost: Peyton and Parker were on a sightseeing trip to visit their mother who perished along with them Tragic: The helicopter they rode in crashed during a 12-minute tour of the Smoky Mountains The family was originally from North Platte, Nebraska and the children had been living with their father in Huntersville, North Carolina, the children's father Scott Rasmussen told Knox News. Their mother had remarried about a year ago. 'My daughter was 22 years old and the most loving, softest-hearted daughter in the whole world,' the father said. 'She was a very, very, very loving daughter, and everybody who met her loved her.' Parker Rasmussen was being home-schooled, and Peyton Rasmussen was attending classes to become a medical technician, he said. 'Parker was kind of a quiet type kid,' said their grandfather, Butch Rasmussen. 'Peyton was the type of person who had a posse with her all the time, had a lot of friends.' Airman: The fifth fatality, the helicopter's pilot, was identified Tuesday evening by the Pigeon Forge Police Department as 38-year-old Jason Dahl of Sevierville Atheltic: Dahl was piloting the sightseeing helicopter, operated by Smoky Mountain Helicopters Gone too soon: 21-year-old Michael Glenn Mastalez of Prosper, Texas was also among the dead Nice guy: Michael was the boyfriend of Peyton Rasmussen who was also onboard the doomed flight Peyton and her mom, Johna, both died in the accident along with Peyton's boyfriend and Johna's husband The helicopter crashed on Monday afternoon near a large outlet mall in Sevierville. Investigators have been going through the wreckage but haven't yet determined what caused the Bell 206 helicopter to crash. Investigators on Tuesday examined the wreckage of the downed copter that crashed but said it was too early to tell what caused it to go down. Luke Schiada, a senior investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board, said there was evidence that the Bell 206 helicopter made contact with the top of a ridge on the side of a mountain. Officials said the tourist helicopter, which was built in 1977 and operated by Smoky Mountain Helicopters, was destroyed by fire after the crash. History: Investigators were headed to the scene of the sightseeing helicopter on Tuesday. The helicopter that crashed was almost 40 years old Emergency vehicles respond to the scene of a fatal helicopter crash on Monday in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee Officials said five people died when the helicopter crashed near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Crash: The helicopter came down near Sevierville, Tennessee, at around 3.30pm on Monday, killing all five people on board. Winds then caused fires to spread into Great Smoky Mountains National Park Schiada said the tour route that the helicopter was on indicated that it was on a 12-minute flight, and it was the second flight of the day for the pilot in the helicopter. The NTSB said it would be reviewing how the helicopter was loaded, the aircraft's maintenance records, the pilot's background and the wind conditions at the time it crashed, he said. 'The fact that the wreckage was consumed by the fire does make things more complicated,' Schiada said at a news conference. The NTSB will present a preliminary report on the facts of the crash on its website by the end of next week, Schiada said. An investigative report containing the probable cause of the crash could take a year or more, he said, adding the investigation is a 'methodical process.' The crash site is less than a mile from a large outlet mall in Sevierville and adjacent to a neighborhood off the main tourist drag. The site is about three miles from Dolly Parton's Dollywood theme park. No one on the ground was hurt. Forest fire: The blaze, described by local police chief Jack Baldwin as 'a major forest fire' was proving difficult to control Monday evening, as wind caused it to spread quickly Looking back: Pigeon Forge police chief, Jack Baldwin (pictured), said that the crash was the fourth one that he could remember - and 'the worst' Shawn Matern said he was inside his parents' house Monday when he heard a loud boom. 'That's when we came out and saw the second explosion right before our eyes,' he said. He said he saw the pilot roll out of the burning helicopter on the ground and a neighbor went to try to help. Matern said the tour helicopters fly over at least three or four times a day in that area. A man who answered the phone at Smoky Mountain Helicopters declined comment and hung up. Gary C. Robb, a Kansas City attorney who wrote a book on helicopter crash litigation, said it was far too early to determine the cause of the Sevierville crash, but some helicopter tour operators have been known to be reckless to 'thrill the tourists' by flying too close to trees or waterfalls or by dangerous maneuvers. Emergency personnel work where a sightseeing helicopter crashed Monday As Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's popularity slips in the polls, nervous MPs have reportedly urged him to start making tough calls. One Queensland MP described the Prime Minister's 'inconsistencies' on tax reform as 'wishy washy', and said that voters needed a more definite direction. However the latest Newspoll shows that despite the Coalition slipping in the polls, voters still believe that Mr Turnbull's decision to run for leader and replace Tony Abbott was the right one. Scroll down for video Government MPs are concerned about Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's lack of decision making Government backbencher Michelle Landry, who holds a marginal Queensland seat, said there was a perception that the Coalition party lacked focus. 'I think it's coming across to the public that we are a bit wishy-washy,' she told ABC Radio. A 'senior source' reportedly also had concerns about the prime minister - warning he could become 'overexposed' before the federal election later this year. They told the Courier Mail that Mr Turnbull needs an 'enforcer' in to keep state MPs in line and said the concerns about the tax recall debate are ongoing. Meantime Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer has dismissed claims of tension between the prime minister and Treasurer Scott Morrison. 'There is a very good and strong relationship between the treasurer and the prime minister and all of this nonsense - speculation - is simply a distraction,' she told the Nine Network on Wednesday. Meantime Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer has dismissed claims of tension between the prime minister and Treasurer Scott Morrison (pictured) Despite all the conversation about Mr Turnbull's leadership, the latest Newspoll showed that most voters still believe that outing former PM Tony Abbott was the right call. The poll taken for The Australian shows 57 per cent of voters continue to support September's switch to Mr Turnbull, while 31 per cent do not. The survey of 1743 people taken from Thursday to Sunday shows 35 per cent of voters believe Mr Turnbull is the best choice for Liberal leader ahead of his deputy Julie Bishop on 22 per cent, Mr Abbott on 14 per cent and Treasurer Scott Morrison on eight per cent. The latest Newspoll showed voters still believe outing former prime minister Tony Abbott (pictured) was the right decision Among coalition voters, Mr Turnbull's support jumps to 48 per cent, more than double the 20 per cent backing for Mr Abbott, while Ms Bishop is third with 16 per cent and Mr Morrison is on eight per cent. Among Labor voters, Ms Bishop is almost as popular as Mr Turnbull, who gets 30 per cent support to her 28 per cent. Gloria Vanderbilt was only seventeen in 1941 when she met business tycoon, aviator and filmmaker Howard Hughes at the Beverly Hills villa where she was spending the summer with her mother, Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. The older Gloria, a Swiss-born American socialite, was expecting the much sought-after Hughes when little Gloria swept by her on the staircase and was on her way out to meet a man she was seeing. Just as she touched the doorknob, the front bell rang. I opened the door, and there, standing before me, was a very tall, very thin, very very sensitive-looking man who made me weak in the knees, Gloria recalled in a conversation with her son, Anderson Cooper in their new book, The Rainbow Comes and Goes, Harper. Gloria only learned the next morning that Hughes had arranged to meet with her mother to discuss a screen test for her daughter - not to ask the older Gloria out. Of course, I told him it was out of the question, her mother stated. Gloria Vanderbilt was only seventeen in the summer of 1941 when she met business tycoon, aviator and filmmaker Howard Hughes at the Beverly Hills villa where she was spending the summer with her mother When I think of Howard Hughes, I imagine him as a recluse living in the penthouse of the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, using tissues to protect himself from germs, Gloria writes. I cant reconcile the man I dated with the man he apparently became. When I knew him, he was thirty-six, wildly romantic, and gentle' What makes you think you could ever be an actress? Little Gloria actually had thought of it - but instead of the screen test, she started dating Howard. She had already dated swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn. Something had passed between us when I opened that door and saw him, and wild horses couldnt have prevented us from seeing each other again. When I think of Howard Hughes, I imagine him as a recluse living in the penthouse of the Desert Inn Hotel in Las Vegas, using tissues to protect himself from germs. I cant reconcile the man I dated with the man he apparently became. When I knew him, he was thirty-six, wildly romantic, and gentle, yet he had the power to rule the world. He was extremely masculine, but there was a fragility about him, as if he were made of fine and tawny flesh; and a reticence, a shyness, which was extremely appealing. Gloria, now 92, writes that she had never met anyone like him. He was extremely masculine, but there was a fragility about him, as if he were made of fine and tawny flesh; and a reticence, a shyness, which was extremely appealing after being with the man she had been dating and would marry, Pat DeCicco, a 33-year old tough guy and gambler who worked for Hughes in some minor capacity. Their time together felt like wild joy. Howard was possessive, secretive about their relationship and adventurous. He picked her up in a shabby Oldsmobile and off theyd go she never knew where in advance. Sometimes theyd fly to Catalina, a Channel Island twenty-six miles southwest of Los Angeles,where they dined at a seaside restaurant. Some nights in his private screening room he showed her films he produced and directed. Best of all, sex not only worked, but it was the first time since I started having sex that summer that I didnt have to fake an orgasm.' They grew closer every time they were together but Howard never proposed and Gloria thought that marriage would have been a great escape from her mother. At the end of summer, she had to return to New York to finish high school. On the flight back East, she kept hearing his voice in her head, I love you, Gloria. He meant it. There was no question in my mind that it was the truth.' When the two Glorias arrived at the Hotel Marguery, on Park Avenue, there was a massive bouquet of yellow roses in a crystal bowl sent by Howard. Frank Sinatra rescued Gloria from her second husband, renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski whose possessiveness became overbearing along with the deceit about his background Gloria, 92, wrote a joint memoir The Rainbow Comes and Goes with son Anderson Cooper, 48 Later that evening, at a party at the Pierre Hotel, Pat DeCicco was there and insisted they get married and Gloria consented. At seventeen, she felt unworthy to be loved by a man like Howard who treated her like a queen. Glorias mother had many affairs with handsome, dashing, titled men but she was also a lesbian. Her one great love was His Serene Highness Prince Friedel Hohenlohe, a great grandson of Queen Victoria. He had a monocle in one eye and carried himself as though a rod had been rammed up his behind. Every time I saw him was scarier than the time before, Gloria wrote in her book Once Upon A Time: A True Story. Glorias mother would have become a Serene Highness had she married Prince Friedel but more importantly she would have lost her trust fund. The engagement was ended. Fascinating, glamorous, mesmerizing in her zaftig splendor, Nada had a mop of tousled red and orange hair and lacquered her nails the same shade of mahogany as my mother. Her mother's most passionate and longest relationship was to follow with Lady Nada Milford Haven, who was related to the Russian royal family as well as to a great-grandson of Queen Victoria. Fascinating, glamorous, mesmerizing in her zaftig splendor, Nada had a mop of tousled red and orange hair and lacquered her nails the same shade of mahogany as my mother. She wore dresses of soft, flowing fabrics and carried a cigarette in an ivory holder. The older Gloria, shy and passive appeared happy now to the seven-year old girl. I didnt know it then, but I realize now it was because they were madly in love. Once during a stay in London, little Gloria spied on them through a half-open door and saw them sitting together on a sofa, arms around each other, laughing and whispering in front of a glowing fire. Her mother caught her daughter staring and told her there was a draft coming in and run on out and play. The lesbian relationship became public in 1934 when being gay was a terrible scandal, considered evil and a crime that warranted imprisonment or institutionalization. It was viewed as heinous as murder. The allegation that my beautiful mother was a lesbian, clamped down on my ten-year-old heart, squeezing it hard Pain scrambled my brain, sucking me in a whirlpool of vile thoughts. I didnt understand what it meant. Little Gloria had no one to speak about it with and I became obsessively worried that I, too, would grow up to be like my mother: a lesbian. That floated in and out of her mind along with her terror as a child that she might have inherited her fathers alcoholism that killed him when she was only fifteen months. Gloria climbed under the covers with a classmate of hers from Miss Porters School, a private preparatory school for girls in Farmington, Connecticut. Her best friend reminded her of her cherished Irish nanny, Dodo and she just wanted to please her. It was during an Easter vacation at Glorias Aunt Gertrudes house on New Yorks Fifth Avenue. The girls cuddled down in the four-poster canopied bed and started to fondle. Gloria and her mother Gloria Morgan-Vanderbiltin in Los Angeles on December 6, 1939. Gloria was the grand-daughter of the tycoon Cornelius and the daughter of Reginald Vanderbilt Gloria's mother's most passionate and longest relationship was to follow with Lady Nada Milford Haven, who was related to the Russian royal family as well as to a great-grandson of Queen Victoria It was great. Of course, I didnt quite know what it was, but I didnt want it to stop. But she did and when she ran into the girl years later on Madison Avenue, the girl had transitioned to a man. Gloria hurried by and pretended she didnt know her. In her thirties, Gloria confesses to Anderson that she secretly wished she had been born gay. My closest friends have always been women, and I certainly understand them more than I do men, but it was not to be. Frank Sinatra was one lover she wouldnt have given up for any woman. As a lover, he made me believe I was the most important person in the world to him. As a friend, I knew I could always depend on him.' Sinatra rescued Gloria from her second husband, renowned conductor Leopold Stokowski whose possessiveness became overbearing along with the deceit about his background. Sinatra appeared as a knight in shining armor who stayed for only three weeks but it gave me a gigantic boost to suddenly have him in my life. Gloria had many erotic love affairs with wildly exotic men. One such lover she described to her son as the Nijinsky of c*********s. Anderson loved hearing about his mothers sex life but felt embarrassed that it was more interesting than his own. In February 1945, Gloria, at age twenty-one, was escorted into the vaults of Bankers Trust by a team of guardians and lawyers. A whopping $4.5 million dollars was now hers. She had no idea what to do with it. Anderson recalls in one of their conversation that Gloria and his father, author and screenwriter Wyatt Cooper, Glorias fourth husband, told him that he would not be inheriting any money and would be financially on his own after college. Im thankful for that. I never wanted a trust fund, and it has always bothered me when people assumed I had one. I wanted to achieve something on my own.' Hes proud of his mothers success and her ability to earn a fortune on her own besides her vast inheritance, but he wasnt given a trust fund. But had I believed there was a financial cushion to fall back on, I probably would have made different choices, and I doubt I would have been as driven.' I certainly wouldnt have started working when I was twelve as a child model in order to save up money, calling an agent every day after school to see what auditions or go sees there were for me. Knowing I would have to find my own way financially is another reason I paid more attention to the Cooper side of our family history than I did to the Vanderbilt side. A judge in a defamation suit brought against Rolling Stone by a university administrator ruled Jackie will be deposed on Thursday The woman identified as 'Jackie' who said she was gang-raped at a University of Virginia fraternity house and was the centerpiece of a now-retracted Rolling Stone article will have to answer attorneys' questions in a defamation lawsuit. The student is scheduled for a deposition Thursday at an undisclosed location, U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad said Tuesday. Jackie has fiercely resisted attempts to answer questions about claims she was gang raped. 'A Rape on Campus,' the Rolling Stone story about a brutal rape at the university attracted enormous attention after its publication in November 2014 Rolling Stone has said it was the magazine's most-clicked feature story ever that wasn't about a celebrity. The November, 2014 Rolling Stone story about a gang rape at the University of Virginia was retracted after it was found to contain factual inconsistencies - and an administrator at the college has sued the magazine for defamation, leading a judge to rule Tuesday that the accuser in the story, identified as 'Jackie,' be deposed University of Virginia administrator Nicole Eramo, left, has sued Rolling Stone for defamation over a story written by Sabrina Erdely, right But Jackie's account, writer Sabrina Erdely's reporting, and the magazine's fact-checking practices came under scrutiny from journalists at other publications, who conducted their own investigations into the story and were able to discredit some of the claims put forth in the piece. The Washington Post, in its investigation into the alleged rape, came up with several inconsistencies in Rolling Stone's account. For instance, friends in whom Jackie confided after her alleged rape, who were mentioned in the original piece but not interviewed by Rolling Stone, told the Post that Jackie originally told them she had been raped by five men. The Rolling Stone story had the number of attackers as seven. One of the friends, Ryan Duffin, told CNN that Jackie had given him the name, Haven Monahan, and number of the person who she claimed ended up instigating her rape but public records databases showed no person with that name exists in the United States. A picture purportedly sent by Monahan to Duffin via text turned out to depict a former high school class mate of Jackie's, who was not a University of Virginia student and had a different name, leading Duffin to suspect it was actually Jackie who was sending him texts under the name Haven Monahan. But the magazine had begun doubting the story even before public scrutiny mounted, it was revealed in an independent review into the piece, ordered by Rolling Stone and carried out by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. The rape of college student 'Jackie' was said to have happened in 2012 at the University of Virginia (pictured) Three friends of Jackie said they were inaccurately portrayed in Rolling Stone's story. Left to right: Kathryn Hendley, Alex Stock, and Ryan Duffin A week after the story's publication, Erdely recalled, she finally persuaded Jackie to tell her the name of the person she was accusing. But when Jackie struggled to remember the last name of the accused, Erdely said, 'An alarm bell went off in my head.' After doing research into the name provided by Jackie and being unable to confirm some of her key claims, Erdely said she phoned the story's editor, Sean Woods, 'and said she had now lost confidence in the accuracy of her published description of Jackie's assault,' according to the Columbia review. The magazine was forced to retract the story and issued an apology to its readers, and 'to all of those who were damaged by our story and the ensuing fallout, including members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and UVA administrators and students.' But the apology wasn't enough for university administrator Nicole Eramo, who sued the magazine and the author in May 2015, saying the article cast Eramo as 'chief villain.' 'Rolling Stone was dead set on portraying [Eramo] as a callous administrator who discouraged Jackie from reporting an assault to police when in fact, it appears that Jackie knew that her tale of rape would not have stood up under real scrutiny and investigation,' said Eramo's attorney, Libby Locke. Eramo is seeking to depose Jackie in a $7.5 million defamation lawsuit filed against Rolling Stone. Jackie's lawyers had previously sought to avoid a deposition, saying that forcing her to recount her experiences under oath would expose her to 'extreme psychological' and 'irreparable harm,' CNNMoney reported. Judge Conrad denied Jackie's lawyers' motion to quash the deposition subpoena and ruled that all records and transcripts of the deposition be sealed, CNNMoney reported. Rolling Stone has also been sued by the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and by three individual members of the organization over the November, 2014 story. Each year, nearly 300,000 people over the age of 12 become victims of sexual assault in the United States. A year or so before David Cameron became Prime Minister, there was an awkward moment when he struggled to pinpoint how many properties he owned. Do not make me sound like a prat for not knowing how many houses Ive got! he begged the interviewer. He spent the rest of the conversation fretting about how he would come across. The PM has always been aware that if voters knew the scale of his wealth, they would consider him incapable of relating to their daily struggles. Downplaying his family fortune has been vital to his political success which is why this weeks reminder about his fathers links to tax havens is so potentially toxic. David Cameron has always been aware that if voters knew the scale of his wealth, they would consider him incapable of relating to their daily struggles Downplaying his family fortune has been vital to his political success which is why this weeks reminder about his fathers links to tax havens is so potentially toxic. He is pictured with his father Ian in 2010 To Westminster watchers, the revelations about the late Ian Camerons tax-avoidance schemes may sound familiar. It has long been known that he made a very comfortable living advising wealthy clients how to avoid contributing to the public coffers. In any case, the prime minister cannot be held responsible for his late fathers financial decisions. Cameron senior launched his business way back in 1979, when such markets were only just being opened up to British investors. There was none of the political sensitivity surrounding such arrangements that there is today. Camerons problem is the lingering suspicion that he himself benefits from offshore funds in some way, an impression he has failed to dispel by dodging the question this week. Although, it has to be said, he has admirably done more than most world leaders to call for a crackdown on tax-avoidance. It is just bad luck that some of his relatives have assets owned in offshore companies or work for firms based in tax havens. It means he is deeply conflicted on an issue he himself has chosen to make a very public political priority. Over the years, he has gone to great lengths to create the illusion that he is only a bit better off than most. During the Easter holidays, for example, he made a point of taking a bargain basement Easyjet flight to Lanzarote, a popular and relatively affordable holiday destination. His mother Mary is descended from a wealthy MP who owned a grand house in Berkshire on a 660-acre estate When Samanthas parents divorced, her mother Annabel, who runs the furniture and interior retailer Oka, married another wealthy aristocrat, William Astor. He owns an 18,736-acre estate on the remote Scottish island of Jura (pictured) which David Cameron adores Not for him the style of break favoured by Tony and Cherie Blair, in luxury private yachts and Tuscan villas borrowed from princes and billionaires. Indeed, he and Samantha seem genuinely content to holiday in Cornwall, Portugal and Ibiza (the latter a particular favourite with Samantha, who loves the searing summer heat and music scene). To emphasise the point, Camerons children attend state schools (for the time being at least). Even the family home in Witney looks quite ordinary from the road. (It helps that you can only see a fraction of the property, which is substantial, but tucked behind another house.) The truth is, however, that by almost any standards, the couple are stupendously rich. As Cameron himself once jokingly put it in private, he was born with two silver spoons in his mouth. When Samanthas parents divorced, her mother Annabel, who runs the furniture and interior retailer Oka, married another wealthy aristocrat, William Astor The money is inherited as well as self-made. Both the PMs parents were well off. His mother Mary is descended from a wealthy MP who owned a grand house in Berkshire on a 660-acre estate. His father Ian came from a long line of successful bankers and financiers (Camerons paternal grandfather Donald left the equivalent of nearly 1m in his will in 1958, a huge sum in those days.) Ian, who worked very hard, set up his own business shortly after it became legal to shelter money overseas to avoid UK tax. He proved very skilled at the work so much so that in 2007 the Sunday Times Rich List estimated his wealth at 10million. In the 1970s and 1980s, his expertise in tax avoidance funded a very comfortable lifestyle for his young family, enabling him to send all four of his children to private schools and have wonderful holidays. As a result of this lifestyle, Cameron was an extremely sophisticated teenager. (His godfather Ben Glazebrook remembers him nonchalantly recommending a gourmet French dish from a Soho restaurant at the age of 14.) Four years before Ian died in 2010, the Prime Ministers older brother, Alex, became sole owner of the Rectory where they all grew up a move likely to have significant implications for reducing inheritance tax liabilities on the property. According to reports, around the same time, another family property in Kensington, worth 1million, passed to Camerons two sisters, Tania and Clare, in equal share. When Ian died, suddenly on holiday in France, his estate was valued at just 2.74million. Crucially, however, his will only detailed his UK assets. In April 2015, a Channel 4 investigation confirmed what many had long suspected: that he had left money squirrelled away in Jersey. Quite how much is unknown, but the grant of probate filed in Jersey and attached to his will would only have been required for assets of more than 10,000. Camerons father also had financial links to Switzerland raising the possibility that the family retains assets there. All this would be enough to put Cameron in a league well above the hard-working middle classes. It is Samanthas money, however, that pushes the couple into the ranks of the super rich. She, too, has made an art of underplaying it. In her twenties, she would tell people that her father Reggie was a farmer. In fact, Sir Reginald Sheffield is the eighth holder of a baronetcy that dates back to 1755, and has a property portfolio worth upwards of 20million. It includes 3,000 acres of arable land; a 5million stately home near York; a place in London; and the family seat in Lincolnshire, a Regency mansion called Normanby Hall. SAM CAM'S 77,000 STAKE IN FAMILY FIRM Samantha Cameron owns shares in a 2.2million family firm, Downing Street confirmed yesterday. It is run by her father Sir Reginald Sheffield and linked to his estate near Scunthorpe. Downing Street said she declared the shares on her tax return. There is no suggestion the firm is run offshore. But its interest in a proposed 1,000-home greenfield development in Lincolnshire led to criticism in 2013 that Mrs Camerons stake was not included in her husbands list of financial disclosures. Developers used government planning reforms to argue for the scheme, potentially worth 20million. But Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood deemed it not relevant to be included in the Prime Ministers public declaration of interests. Mrs Cameron and younger sister Emily own a small stake in Normanby Estate Holdings, run by their father. The most recent accounts show its assets are worth almost 2.2million, which values Mrs Camerons holding at just under 77,000. Mrs Cameron also received an estimated 400,000 windfall from the sale of stationery firm Smythson. She was a creative director for the company and owned a reported 275 shares when it was sold in 2005 to a consortium of City grandees. Advertisement When Samanthas parents divorced, her mother Annabel, who runs the furniture and interior retailer Oka, married another wealthy aristocrat, William Astor. He owns an 18,736-acre estate on the remote Scottish island of Jura, which has been held in an offshore company called Ginge Manor House, based in Nassau. (The company has the same name as Viscount Astors home in Oxfordshire.) Cameron adores the tranquillity of the Hebridean estate, and used to holiday there regularly, but the link with the Bahamas has been a periodic embarrassment. In the past, Astor has vigorously defended the (entirely legal) arrangement, which dates back to the late 1960s. He says it has no tax benefit. As for Samantha herself, she far out-earned her husband as creative director at the luxury leather goods firm Smythson, though in 2010 she scaled back and became a creative consultant at the firm. It, too, is based in a tax haven. It is owned through a holding company in Luxembourg and linked to a trust in the Channel Island of Guernsey, another well-established tax haven. Then there are the wealthy friends who donated to Camerons leadership campaign, two of whom, JCB boss Anthony Bamford and the Fleming family, who made their fortune through investment banking, feature in the so-called Panama Papers. (Bamford has said that the company he held in the British Virgin Islands was never active, nor owned any assets.) As for Samantha herself, she far out-earned her husband as creative director at the luxury leather goods firm Smythson, though in 2010 she scaled back and became a creative consultant at the firm To make matters more awkward, Chancellor George Osborne has had his own difficulties with links to tax havens. Last year it emerged that his familys business, Osborne & Little, made 6million from a property deal with a developer based in a tax haven. All of which is unhelpful for a prime minister who has made such efforts to try to end tax secrecy, labelling some offshore schemes not fair and not right. Last night, he continued to insist his familys tax arrangements were a private matter. Under pressure to reveal whether he benefits from any investments held in offshore trusts, he has chosen his words very carefully, saying that he does not own any shares, offshore trusts or offshore funds, and that neither his wife, nor their children, benefit from such arrangements. It stops short of a denial that they stand to benefit from such assets in future. Of course there is no crime in being wealthy, and all the Camerons have worked very hard to get where they are today. Some of them are also commendably civic-minded. His mother, Mary, has devoted much of her life to good works. A former part-time magistrate, she is a pillar of the community in her village of Peasemore in Berkshire and is involved with multiple local charities, to which she quietly devotes time and money without seeking any public recognition. The irony of this weeks revelations is that no recent party leader has done more than Cameron to crack down on tax avoidance, and in contrast to the Blairs, is a model of financial rectitude. Indeed, Tory loyalists yesterday took to Twitter to claim that he made more than 40 changes to tax law in the last parliament to close loopholes Labour ignored. GP surgeries are reaching 'saturation point' and cannot cope with the rapidly rising population, a major study warns today. Family doctors are already stretched as far as they can go and things are set to get worse, according to Oxford University analysis. The crisis has been caused by dramatic rises in numbers of pregnant women and young children fuelled by migration as well as in the elderly. These groups need more appointments than others and the strain is such that patients may be told to stay away if they have minor illnesses or long-term conditions that can be treated at home. GP surgeries are reaching 'saturation point' and cannot cope with the rapidly rising population, a major study warns today (file photo) The study published today in the Lancet medical journal says the situation will only get worse as recruitment of family doctors fails to keep pace with the rising population. Figures revealed yesterday that up to four million people already have to queue outside surgeries to get a same-day appointment. Today's study, which looked at 100 million GP appointments, highlights the impact of the rapid increase in England's population in the eight years to 2014, up 6 per cent to 54.3 million. Although the number of GPs has risen, it has not kept pace. There are only about 60 family doctors per 100,000 patients one of Europe's lowest levels. It compares with 162 per 100,000 in France, 139 in Finland and 75 in Romania. Professor Richard Hobbs, lead author and head of primary care sciences at Oxford University, said: 'The demands on general practice have increased substantially over the past seven years. 'Recruitment of new GPs and nurses remains low while the population in England steadily increases. As currently delivered, the system seems to be approaching saturation point. The system is probably providing the maximum number of consultations that it can at the moment. 'We've just got this capacity issue where there just isn't enough GPs to do more surgery sessions or to do longer surgery sessions. Demand has increased and yes, things will get worse if the situation continues.' He said academics and NHS officials may need to 'have a debate' with the public about restricting GP services with options including patients with minor illnesses being asked not to go to surgeries for treatment. Family doctors are already stretched as far as they can go and things are set to get worse, according to Oxford University analysis (file photo) The Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week said the UK population could reach almost 80 million within 25 years if immigration continues to rocket and life expectancy increases. The UK Statistics Authority said more than 1.6 million migrants moved from EU nations to the UK between 2006 and 2014. ONS figures show a growing share of babies are born to immigrant mothers. In 2014, 27 per cent of births were to mothers born outside Britain, up from 26.5 per cent in 2012. Immigrants are thought to have higher fertility rates as they are usually young and in their childbearing years. The latest analysis looked at almost 102 million appointments from 398 surgeries between 2007 and 2014. It found GPs' average workloads had increased 16 per cent in that time and consultations were highest amongst the under-fours, pregnant women and the elderly. These patients require many more appointments than the general population for routine check-ups, scans and vaccines. The number of face-to-face appointments and their average length both increased, while the number of telephone consultations nearly doubled. Barbara Keeley MP, a Labour health spokesman, said: 'Millions of people are being left on hold, queuing to speak to the surgery or waiting up to three weeks for an appointment. FACT BOX TITLE Picket: Dr Melissa Baldwin in February strike Almost 25,000 operations have been cancelled because of the strikes by junior doctors. They include 5,100 scheduled for today and tomorrow as medics take to the picket lines for the fourth time since January. This 48-hour 'emergency care only' walkout will begin at 8am and thousands of non-urgent scans and outpatients' appointments have also been postponed. In three weeks' time, junior doctors are due to stage the first all-out strike in the NHS's history. Some A&E units may close as they will be left too short-staffed to run safely. The row centres on a new contract for junior doctors that will see them working more weekend and evening shifts for slightly lower rates of pay. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for doctors to think again about the strike. He said: 'It is patients who are suffering.' Department of Health figures show 24,500 non-urgent operations have been cancelled since December, including hip and knee replacements and surgery for cataracts. Dr Johann Malawana, of the British Medical Association, said doctors were taking action 'because we believe this contract would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term'. Advertisement 'Under the Tories, general practice has been left underfunded, understaffed and unable to cope with rising demand.' The crisis in surgeries has been worsened by soaring numbers of demoralised GPs retiring early, becoming private doctors or moving overseas. They are not being replaced by young trainees, who are instead opting for careers as surgeons or hospital specialists, which they see as more prestigious. Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: 'This report should ring alarm bells for the Government and spur ministers into action to address the crisis in general practice before it's too late.' Ex-GP Dr Matthew Thompson, now a professor at the University of Washington in the US, said: 'This struggle to provide the quality of care GPs would like to offer, in the face of competing demands on time, is contributing to alarming rates of burnout.' He also drew attention to 'deeply concerning' figures showing many GPs aged 50 or over were considering early retirement within the next five years. Tory MP Priti Patel said the pressures would continue as long as Britain remained in the EU and there was a lack of immigration controls. She said: 'Our membership of the EU means we are unable to control our borders and that is putting an acute strain on our public services.' NHS England said it had invested 125.5million to help expand opening hours of surgeries and was working to increase GP numbers. Two women were sexually assaulted and a third escaped an attack one after the other on a February morning in a busy city centre, and it's believed the same man is responsible for all three incidents. About 9 am on February 15 in Melbourne's CBD, a 23-year-old woman was on Lingham Lane when a man approached her, started a conversation, then followed her into a building and sexually assaulted her. She fled, and he went to nearby Degraves Street, where he followed another 23-year-old woman into a building and sexually assaulted her in a corridor before she also fled. CCTV images of a man police believe can help them with their investigations into the sexual assaults on February 15 in Melbourne's central business district A map showing the approximate locations in the Melbourne CBD where the first two attacks occurred (the two markers on the right) and where the man began following a third woman (second marker from left) to where he attempted to sexually assault her and she escaped (left marker) Lingham Lane, where the first attack on a 23-year-old woman took place about 9am on February 15 He then proceeded onto Flinders Lane and followed a 39-year-old woman onto Mill Place where he tried to sexually assault her, but she pushed him off and escaped to a nearby business where she raised the alarm. A police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia the 'opportunistic' attacks had taken place in laneways where, despite the city being busy, people could be found alone in the middle of the day. Victoria police investigating the incidents have released images of a man they believe can help in them with their investigations into the attack. He appears to be Caucasian and is wearing dark pants, dark shoes with white soles, and a grey hooded sweatshirt with a red design on the front. Anyone with information about the attacks is urged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000 or via the website. Degraves Street in Melbourne's CBD, where one of the 23-year-old women was sexually assaulted On Flinders Lane (pictured), the man approached a 39-year-old woman and began following her Soaring numbers of police officers and staff are on long-term sick leave, according to new figures. Employees taking time off for 'psychological reasons' has gone up by a third, from 4,544 in 2010 to 6,129 in 2015. This is despite the overall police workforce in England and Wales shrinking by more than 17,500 people. The Police Federation, which represents frontline officers, said cuts to officer numbers are leading to an 'overstretched' service. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws to BBC Radio Five showed 19,825 employees were on long-term sick leave in 2010/11. By 2014/15 the number had risen to 22,547. Employees taking time off for 'psychological reasons' has gone up by a third, from 4,544 in 2010 to 6,129 in 2015 (file photo) Long-term sick leave is defined as people who are off work for either 28 or 29 days or more. Of the 46 forces in the UK, 40 responded to requests for information. They came from England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Police Scotland did not reply. West Yorkshire Police recorded the largest rise in long-term sick leave over a year, up 44 per cent between 2013/14 and 2014/15. Che Donald, of the Police Federation, said: 'The police service has seen unprecedented cuts to police officer numbers, amounting to 17,000 officers since 2010. 'The current demand placed on the police service has not however decreased with overall crime showing a recent increase of five per cent and violent crime up 27%, this will have an impact on an overstretched and overworked police service. 'The increase in sickness levels, including mental health and psychological issues, does not come as a surprise. 'We are seeing more officers needing to take time off for mental health reasons; they are often working in highly stressful fast-moving environments along with being exposed to horrific situations which takes its toll. 'This, coupled with a reduction in resources and manpower, can lead to the perfect storm.' Figures released under Freedom of Information laws showed that 19,825 employees were on long-term sick leave in 2010/11 and by 2014/15 the number had risen to 22,547 (file photo) The Government said it recognises how stressful and demanding policing is and has allocated money to help officers cope. It has allocated 10m to help support emergency services personnel and volunteers, focused on mental health, physical recuperation and bereavement support. Police Minister Mike Penning said: 'Policing, by its very nature, is a stressful and demanding job and it is the responsibility of chief officers, with help from the College of Policing, to ensure police officers and staff are supported in their work.' Deputy Chief Constable Andy Rhodes, who has national responsibilities for the wellbeing of officers, said he wants officers to 'thrive not just survive'. He said: 'Over 80 per cent of money spent on policing is on its people. Police officers and some police staff are regularly exposed to trauma and highly stressful events, which is why I work with chief constables and the College of Policing to build wellbeing and resilience. 'Unfortunately, cultural stigmas still exist and this can prevent our staff from talking about how these experiences affect them. 'It is the job of all police leaders to create a culture where people feel confident in talking about their experiences so that we can work on prevention rather than cure. It will come as little surprise to any man whose wife can spend an hour ringing her mother or her best friend. Women really do talk for longer on the phone, Oxford University research shows. Analysis of mobile phone data revealed they rack up around 130 hours a year in calls around 30 hours more than men. A new study shows that women rack up around 130 hours a year in calls around 30 hours more than men (stock image) Researcher Robin Dunbar, a leading evolutionary biologist, said this gap of two-and-a-half hours a month is likely to reflect differences in the way the sexes maintain their friendships. While women keep bonds strong by chatting, face to face or on the phone, men keep their friendships alive by taking part in activities together. However, although their calls may be shorter, men ring more people, at least while they are young. Unnamed records from 3.2million mobile phone users showed that up to the age of 25 or so, the average young man has around 19 regular contacts, while a female of the same age chats to 17 or 18. Professor Dunbar, who collaborated with Finnish researchers in the study, tried to exclude business calls, and focus on contacts who were the subject of regular social calls. This means the results should provide a good representation of a persons circle of friends. The analysis showed we call fewer people and by implication have fewer friends as we get older. It is thought this is because we experiment socially when we are younger and looking for love, but as we get older and settle down, our network of friends shrinks. The study found men drop friends more quickly, so women are more likely to have a bigger social circle from the age of 39. While young males tend to have a large group of friends, women often have one best friend early on, helping to explain why they call fewer people when younger. The study found men drop friends more quickly, so women are more likely to have a bigger social circle from the age of 39 (stock image) But in later life, their phone line may be kept busy keeping in touch with children who have left home. The research, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, also suggests mobile phones play an important part in the dating game at least where young women are concerned. Professor Dunbar said: Girls make up their mind about who their romantic partner is going to be long before boys do. We can see there is a period from around 20 until their mid-30s where they are just phoning one single male constantly. Its a 14-year window where they are constantly phoning one person. You dont see that with boys. It is almost as if the girls are saying, This is him, and phoning and phoning until even the most stupid male understands. It has been claimed previously that women speak about 20,000 words a day some 13,000 more than the average man. Oxford University where the study was made. Researcher Robin Dunbar said the results are likely to reflect differences in the way the sexes maintain their friendships US scientists believe that this is because women have higher levels of the language protein Foxp2 in their brain. Researchers from Maryland University found those with more Foxp2 in their brains were chattier. In humans this was women, in rats it was males. Other studies have shown that girls learn to speak earlier and more quickly than boys. They produce their first words and sentences earlier, have larger vocabularies and use a greater variety of sentence types than boys of the same age. However, psychologist Geoffrey Beattie of Manchester University reviewed 56 studies into male and female communication and discovered that 24 concluded men used more words a day. Only two pointed to women being the more talkative sex. The experts claimed the diagnosis of asthma had become ' Inhalers are being dished out like fashion accessories with too many children being wrongly diagnosed with asthma, experts warn. Doctors are taking the slightest wheeze to be a sign of the condition and handing out inhalers where they are not needed, they say. And they warn that the wrong diagnoses are costing the NHS a fortune as well as risking needless side effects in healthy children. Doctors are taking the slightest wheeze to be a sign of the condition and handing out inhalers where they are not needed, experts warn. Picture posed by model Professor Andrew Bush, a consultant paediatric chest physician at the Royal Brompton Hospital in London, and Dr Louise Fleming, a clinical senior lecturer in respiratory paediatrics at Imperial College London, also said children who really do have asthma were continuing to die. Writing in the medical journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, they said the diagnosis of asthma has become trivialised. UK death rates from asthma have stayed at around 1,200 a year for many years, even though 90 per cent are preventable. The experts wrote: No lessons have been learnt over the last 15 years, and children still die because of failures in basic management. We propose that one contributing factor is that the diagnosis of asthma has been trivialised and inhalers dispensed for no good reason, and have become almost a fashion accessory. The result is the fact that asthma is a killing disease, if not correctly managed, is overlooked. Some 1.1million children in the UK have been diagnosed with asthma, but experts are increasingly concerned that many of them may not have the condition. And last year NHS watchdog NICE warned around one third of asthmatic adults showed no clinical signs and had probably been misdiagnosed. Officials said that too often doctors were basing diagnosis on case history of breathing problems, wheezing and coughs rather than any clinical tests. The watchdog is currently drawing up new guidelines advising doctors to use more clinical tests to back up their judgment. The authors of the editorial wrote: Inhaled corticosteroids, when properly used, dramatically improve quality of life and reduce the risk of asthma attacks and mortality. But inhalers can also involve severe side effects, they said, including growth suppression and reduction in immune activity in the airways. Professor Andrew Bush, from the Royal Brompton Hospital in London (pictured) wrote with Dr Louise Fleming of Imperial College London that inhalers had become 'almost a fashion accessory' They added: Is there any other chronic disease in the world in which children are committed to potentially hazardous, long-term therapy without every effort being made objectively to document the diagnosis? The authors said testing needs to be improved, and that children should be tested with different treatments and not be left on an unproven treatment ad infinitum. Dr Samantha Walker, of the charity Asthma UK, said: This illustrates the challenges that GPs face every day because there currently isnt one definitive way of easily diagnosing asthma. Its astonishing in the 21st century that there isnt a test your child can take to tell if they definitely have asthma. Dr Maureen Baker, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, said: Asthma is an extremely distressing condition affecting as many as one in 11 children, and GPs are highly trained to identify symptoms, prescribe appropriately and monitor treatment to help patients of all ages manage their condition. Parents and children should be reassured that in the majority of asthma cases, they are managed well with the right treatment and appropriate monitoring. Inhalers, like any other medication, come with risks and GPs would never prescribe them unless they think it is in the best interests of the patient in front of them. The president of the United Arab Emirates has amassed a UK property empire worth 1.2billion through offshore businesses supplied by the law firm at the heart of the Panama leaks. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyans purchases in central London include the BHS building on Oxford Street and properties in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, where tenants include Annabels nightclub. In total 90 title deeds are linked to companies he owns but his name is omitted in the bulk of the documents, The Guardian reported. Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyans (pictured) purchases in central London include the BHS building on Oxford Street and properties in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, where tenants include Annabels nightclub The UAE president is one of many public figures who have bought properties anonymously thanks to Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, according to the leaked documents. Other property owners reportedly include the ex-head of HSBC Michael Geoghegan, who spent nearly four decades at the bank and was chief executive until 2010. He owns a property in Kensington purchased through an offshore company. Owning property through an offshore company is legal and can reduce tax bills. Around 2,800 Mossack Fonseca companies appear on a Land Registry list of overseas owners dating from 2014, according to The Guardian, which analysed the 11million leaked documents. The files also reveal that HSBC helped Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assads cousin hide his family fortune in Switzerland. Other property owners reportedly include the ex-head of HSBC Michael Geoghegan (pictured), who spent nearly four decades at the bank and was chief executive until 2010 Rami Makhlouf was subject to US sanctions as early as 2008. Despite this, HSBC vouched for him in dealings with Mossack Fonseca, which also counted Mr Makhlouf as a client. It also emerged that Assads London fixer built a 6million property portfolio through offshore companies. Soulieman Marouf was able to purchase at least six luxury flats thanks to Mossack Fonseca through companies based in the British Virgin Islands. Released under and FOI request, more than 1800 students were caught Thousands of Australia's future doctors, lawyers and teachers have been caught cheating their way through university, alarming figures reveal. Statistics revealed under the Freedom of Information Act and published by The Adelaide Advertiser show more than 1800 students at South Australian universities Flinders and Adelaide University have been caught copying other people's work and cheating exams since 2010. One university stated they choose to 'eduate rather than penalise' student amid calls for the naming and shaming of serial cheaters and harsher punishments. Hundreds of Australia's future doctors, lawyers and teachers have been caught cheating their way through university as alarming figures have been revealed Flinders University, with more than 26,000 enrollments in 2016, had recorded 743 cheating students since 2010, including 188 last year with students studying to become nurses, doctors, public servants, lawyers and teachers Adelaide University recorded an increase in cheating numbers since 2010, with 206 cheats caught in 2015 A spokeswoman for University of South Australia, whose figures were not released in the report, said the goal of the university was to 'educate rather than punish' their cheating grads The FOI statistics published show Adelaide University recorded a whopping 1075 student cheats during the time period, with 206 cheats caught last year. Flinders University, with more than 26,000 enrollments in 2016, had recorded 743 cheating students since 2010, including 188 last year with students studying to become nurses, doctors, public servants, lawyers and teachers. Both universities recorded an increase in cheating numbers. A spokeswoman for University of South Australia, whose figures were not released in the report, said the goal of the university was to 'educate rather than punish' their cheating grads. 'Instead each case is handled at the school level and more as an education and consultative process. We just don't have data like the data provided by Flinders and Adelaide.' Xenophon Team MLC John Darley, who made the FOI request, has called for universities to review their cheating penalties and suggested naming and shaming of students. Xenophon Team MLC John Darley, (pictured) who made the FOI request, has called for universities to review their cheating penalties and suggested naming and shaming of students The FOI statistics published show Adelaide University recorded a whopping 1075 student cheats during the time period, with 206 cheats caught last year 'In extreme cases it would be appropriate to name and shame these students. That would be one alternative,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'It's unfair to students that are doing the right thing, even at the end of the three strikes students are not expelled. 'If you've been warned twice and you are still cheating, questions need to be asked as to what is failing, people shouldn't be able to get away with cheating. It indicates students are deliberately flouting the rules. 'Especially for students who finish a course and dont know anything about it, then where does that leave them?' A woman was horrified to hear doctors insulting her while she was sedated for surgery after she secretly recorded the procedure. Ethel Easter, of Harris County, Texas, decided to record her hernia surgery by hiding a small device in her hair extensions after an unpleasant conversation with her doctor. She had broken down and cried after he informed her she would have to wait two months to schedule the operation, she told Fox26. And when she played the recording back after the procedure, she was shocked to hear him and other medical professionals make nasty comments about her body as well as talking about touching her and a reference to Bill Cosby. Scroll down for video Ethel Easter was horrified to hear doctors insulting her while she was sedated for surgery after she secretly recorded the procedure After her doctor told her she would have to wait months to be scheduled for surgery, she said she told him: I was like I cant wait for two months. He got very abrupt. He said, who do you think you are? You have to wait just like everybody else. His tone made her nervous, she said, so she decide to hide the recorder in her braided weave before her surgery at a hospital operated by Harris Health System. As soon as she is heard starting to snore on tape, the doctor is heard talking about her with his colleagues in the operating room. Easter decided to record her hernia surgery by hiding a small device in her hair extensions after an unpleasant conversation with her doctor. Shes a handful. She had some choice words for us in the clinic when we didnt book her case in two weeks, he says. He repeats a comment he claims Easter made about calling a lawyer about the issue while others are heard laughing. One man asks: That doesnt seem like the thing to say to the person whos going to do your surgery. Easter says the medical professionals also made hurtful comments about her body and called her Precious a reference to Gabourey Sidibes character in the 2009 film. Did you see her belly button? a woman is heard asking, followed by the sound of laughs. It was Precious meet Precious, as though I was this big, fat, black woman, Easter told Fox26. She added that some of the medics called her a queen and her doctor remarked that he felt sorry for her husband. While Easter says she does not intend to sue anyone, she wants to share her story. It's among the most iconic of Australian foods and now Vegemite - the spread first made from leftover brewer's yeast more than 90 years ago - has a street named after it. Cook Street in Port Melbourne, Victoria, where the popular spread is made, was renamed Vegemite Way in an official unveiling on Monday. Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle described the renaming as a fitting 'toast' to a favourite Australian spread. Scroll down for video Swimmer Melanie Wright (left), an Olympian and RIO medal hopeful, flew down for the unveiling of Vegemite Way Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle (pictured) described the street name as a fitting 'toast' to an important part of Melbourne history 'In the past, streets in Melbourne were named to suit the grand visions of historical pioneers,' he said. 'Now Cook Street has been renamed to suit the grand visions and reality of today Australia loves its Vegemite and it is considered by many part of the fabric of our national identity.' Vegemite was first cooked up in Victoria's capital by the Fred Walker Company, which later became Kraft Food Company, in the early 1920s. The yeast spread has since became as synonymous with Australia as kangaroos, barbecues and the outback. During World War 2 Australian soldiers bought it in bulk due to the product's nutritional benefits. Last year, Australian actor Hugh Jackman even took the time to tout Vegemite on toast on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. But its popularity hasn't always been viewed favourably by authorities. It was reported last year that the Tony Abbott government was attempting to limit the sale of the iconic spread because it was fuelling a surge in alcohol-related violence. Shopkeepers in dry outback Queensland communities were told to report bulk purchases of Vegemite because it's being used to brew homemade alcohol. Monday's tribute to the spread was hailed on social media. Vegemite was first cooked up in Victoria's capital by the Fred Walker Company, which was later bought by the US-owned Kraft Food Company, in the early 1920s 'Just drove down 'Vegemite Way' I'm not sure there is anything more Australian than that...' one person wrote on Twitter. Another wrote: 'they renamed a port melbourne street vegemite way i love australia [sic].' Swimmer Melanie Wright, an Olympian and RIO medal hopeful, flew down from Queensland to join in the festivities. 'Vegemite is part of my daily ritual and I am so excited to be attending such a fun moment that make will be making its mark in the history books'. Despite now being owned by Mondelez, Vegemite is still made in Port Melbourne and the company says more than 22 million jars are sold in Australia each year. A 30-year-old motorcyclist has been busted travelling 136km/h over the speed limit. The young driver was pulled over on Monday after a Traffic and Highway Patrol Command spotted him whizzing down a quiet industrial street in Minto, in Sydney's far south-west. NSW Police posted a photograph of the officer's dash-mounted speed radar showing a reading of 196km/h - well over the street's 60km/h speed limit. Wearing a short-sleeved t-shirt, the motorcyclist can be seen hunched over on the side of the road with his head in his hands. The grey Yamaha R1 'superbike' he was driving is capable of reaching a maximum speed of close to 300km/h, and clocks 0-97km/h in less than three seconds. A 30-year-old Sydney man has allegedly been caught travelling 196km/h in a 60km/h zone But some social media users were more interested in the officer's choice of radio station But what captured the attention of most social media users was not the fact the motorcyclist was pinged at an outrageous speed with no protective gear, but that the officer was listening to Triple M. 'What's the typical jail sentence for someone caught listening to Triple M?,' wrote one Reddit user. The officer - who had his iPhone synced up to the car with the nickname 'Lynchy' at the time of the photo - quickly became somewhat of an internet sensation. 'Don't disturb Constable Lynchy when he's listening to Triple M,' wrote one one Reddit user. 'Adds new meaning to rock patrol,' chimed in another. 'Biggest crime here is triple M on the radio,' said one woman. The driver was on a Yamaha R1 (stock pictured) - which can go from 0-97km/h in less than three seconds Others more appreciative of the typically old-school rock and roll vibes of the 104.9 FM Sydney radio station voiced their support for 'Officer Lynchy' and his workplace music choices. 'Gone. Magistrate is going to roll this fella hard. Good job Lynchy, I hope Triple M was bangin some hard rock when you nabbed this nugget,' wrote one man. 'Good job Lynchy!! Rocking out to some Acca Dacca on Triple M and catching crims! Legend,' penned another. The motorcyclist was issued a Field Court Attendance Notice for driving at speed dangerous to the public, had his license was suspended and number plates confiscated for three months. He will appear at Campbelltown Local Court on May 2. The officer - who had his iPhone synced up to the car with the nickname 'Lynchy' at the time of the photo - quickly became somewhat of an internet sensation Undercover federal agents created a fake university to attract recruiters, brokers, and other middlemen who were paid by more than a thousand foreign students to help them stay in the US through visa fraud. Feds created the fictitious University of Northern New Jersey, setting up a website that promised an 'exceptional educational experience' under the motto 'Humanus, Scientia, Integritas'. Twenty-one of the middlemen were arrested in the 'pay to stay' scheme after they acknowledged the university was fake and went on to create sham documents like transcripts, attendance records and diplomas in exchange for commissions. The University of Northern New Jersey website promised an 'exceptional educational experience' under the motto 'Humanus, Scientia, Integritas'. The school was created by federal agents in an operation to bust student visa fraud Some of the federal agents posed as administrators in a small office in Cranford, New Jersey, but the school had no classes, instructors, curriculum or education activities Nineteen have been charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit, while two others were also charged with making false statements. The Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit set up the fake university website, with a few agents posing as administrators in a small office in Cranford, New Jersey. There were no classes, instructors, curriculum or education activities, according to a press release by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The school attracted students primarily from China and India, many of whom had legally entered the US to attend other schools on non-immigrant student visas. Once the timeline for those visas neared their ends, the students enlisted the help of recruiting companies and businesses to enroll in the UNNJ to obtain another document that would allow them to stay in the country until they finished their second course of study. Federal agents made it clear that UNNJ was fake, and told the middle men, most of whom are naturalized citizens and legal residents, that there were no actual classes during recorded phone calls. In one instance, defendant Chaun Kit Yuen, 24, responded, 'Weve been doing this for years, no worries,' according to one of the 14 complaints filed today, the NYTimes reported. US Attorney Paul J. Fishman said in a news conference: 'Once word got out, brokers descended on the school, clamoring to enroll their clients.' Since the school was established in September 2013, it attracted about 1,076 foreign students who were named as 'willing participants in the scheme' by the ICE. The twitter account for the fictitious UNNJ is full of announcements cancelling classes Some of the middlemen also arranged fake jobs and IT projects at the school in order to obtain illegal work visas for their clients, according to the ICE. They created contracts, employment verification letters and other fake documents in the process. According to the filed complaints, one middleman Syed Qasim Abbas owned an IT staffing company called Fastnet Software International. He paid UNNJ $6,000 to get 20 H-1B work visas, which allow foreigners to temporarily work in specialized industries in the US. The visas were never issued. He also paid the university $17,750 to extend student visas. The operation raised the possibility that extremists could enter the country posing as students and threaten national security since the middle men did not conduct background checks on their clients, officials said. During the operation, federal agents monitored the students but did not find any security risks. Most of the defendants face up to 15 years in prison. The conspiracy to commit visa fraud has a maximum sentence of five years and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit and H1-B visa fraud carries a maximum 10 year sentence and a $250,000 fine. Today, it is many years since most of Britain went to work on an egg as the advertising slogan urged. In the Sixties, people ate an average of five eggs a week, often as part of a full breakfast. But a combination of sugary cereals, muesli and health minister Edwina Curries notorious claim in 1988 that most of the countrys eggs were contaminated with salmonella put paid to that. During the 1960s, most Britons ate on average five eggs per week, although this figure has fallen dramatically Egg sales dropped 60 per cent immediately after her comment and, despite a recovery, then remained 30 per cent lower. Fears that eggs were a cause of increasing cholesterol levels provided a further blow. But now this traditional, high-protein staple is making a comeback, due to much-decreased health concerns. The trend has been encouraged by Mary Berry-style cake- making and that now permanent feature of modern shopping: the supermarket price war. Britons now eat 20 per cent more eggs than they did seven years ago and consumption is back to pre-Eggwina levels. As sales increase, so prices fall for budget eggs produced by hens housed in cages and free-range eggs sourced from birds that are allowed a greater degree of freedom. The cost of a half-dozen box is the lowest in years welcome news for poorer families in search of nutritious food. But the consequences for egg producers, human and hen, are not necessarily so positive. The supermarket price war is threatening to destabilise the egg industry, as it has the dairy sector through slashed milk prices. Former health minister Edwina Currie, pictured, claimed in 1988 that most eggs were contaminated with salmonella Morrisons fired the first salvo earlier this year when it cut the cost of its cheapest brand to 52p for half a dozen. Asda went further, reducing its Smart Price budget eggs from 80p to 50p for six. Free-range alternatives have witnessed similar falls. The benchmark for six medium-sized free-range eggs used to be 1, but is now 79p. These seem like permanent cuts in prices, says Philip Clarke of Farmers Weekly. Basic foods are a traditional battleground in the war between the big four supermarket chains: Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons. Staples provide a clear marker for those in search of value for money and they bring customers through the door. Previously, milk played that role. As milk prices fell, dairy farmers had to sell their product for less than it cost to produce. Incomes halved in some cases, forcing many to sell up while leaving numerous others hovering on the edge of insolvency. Now egg farmers could be in for the same treatment. Supermarkets have been funding the cost of promotions on eggs for some time, but the burden is spreading along the supply chain, says Mr Clarke. That pressure has reached the farm gate. At the same time, the rise in consumption has fuelled an increase in capacity, with producers investing in new sheds costing around 450,000. The national flock of hens is believed to have increased from 36 million to 38 million, which could lead to over-capacity. When the egg boom slows, producers who have borrowed heavily to invest could go to the wall. Currently, egg producers are being helped by cheap feed prices due to healthy wheat harvests in recent years, but this cant last. When that price turns, probably a lot of producers will go into the red just as has happened with the dairy sector, says Mr Clarke. A lot of unsustainable businesses are barely able to keep going. On average, farmers receive 48p for half-a-dozen free-range eggs. But production costs feed, energy and purchase of young birds are almost equal to that figure, if average debt interest payments are also factored in. Farmers with low levels of debt may be thriving, but those who have borrowed to expand are vulnerable to the whims of supermarkets. The egg war is rippling through the industry, affecting even those who avoid selling to the big chains. Jason Thompson farms 16,000 free-range hens on the Dorset/Somerset border. He once sold to the supermarkets via Noble Foods, a huge egg packer and producer, but then went in search of a better deal. He supplies an independent packer in Surrey and has seen the price fall 9p per dozen since November. Each 5p decrease represents 20,000 in lost annual income. Britain consumes 12 billion eggs per year, with half being sold in boxes and the rest processed into food If, say, youve spent 485,000 on a new shed and the supermarket you supply cuts its purchase price by 10p a dozen, suddenly you are going bust, he says. I am very fortunate we dont supply supermarkets any more. Britain consumes 12 billion eggs a year, with ten billion produced in this country and retail sales valued at 900 million. Just over half are sold as boxes of eggs, the rest being processed into foods such as quiches and mayonnaise. Supermarkets dominate egg sales, with 88 per cent of the market. As for health issues, the risk of contracting salmonella is considered low by the government committee on microbiological safety. Meanwhile, changes in feed have lowered egg cholesterol levels. Runny yolks are considered safe for more vulnerable groups, so long as the egg has the British Lion Quality mark, which denotes a UK product. Improved safety has been accompanied by another major shift in egg production: the growth in importance of free-range. In the early Nineties, just 5 per cent of eggs sold were free-range from hens allowed to move around in the open air in daylight. But as public revulsion about battery farming grew, free-range became the norm for most supermarket buyers. Small battery cages were banned in the EU in 2012. Now, 53 per cent of eggs sold in shops are free-range, compared with 3 per cent from hens housed in barns and 44 per cent from ones imprisoned in large colony cages. Colony cages are a minor improvement on battery cages. Battery hens were each crammed into a space equivalent to an A4 piece of paper; in colony cages, they get the equivalent of one piece of A4 plus a beer mat. This means they still cant flap their wings or take dust baths, resulting in distress. It is these colony-caged hens that supply the 50p-for-six boxes. So the price war is helping to perpetuate cage farming. We would like to see cage egg production consigned to the history books, says Mia Fernyhough of the RSPCA. Indeed, cages may disappear over the next decade due to consumer pressure Sainsburys, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer have already banned cage eggs. But there are still issues with free-range. To stop hens pecking each other, their beaks are trimmed back. This causes stress and possibly chronic pain. Ultimately, almost all eggs bought from supermarkets pay some kind of price in terms of animal welfare. Carol McKenna, of Compassion in World Farming, urges consumers to spend that bit more on higher welfare eggs ideally free-range or organic. Indeed, Jane Howorth, of the charity British Hen Welfare Trust, says consumers must take their share of the blame as they benefit from the price war. She says too much emphasis is placed on farmers treatment of hens and not enough on the responsibility of the consumer. With German budget chains Aldi and Lidl advancing relentlessly into the British supermarket sector, there seems no end in sight to price-cutting. Eggs and milk are merely the latest ammunition in a titanic struggle for retail supremacy. Butter could be next. The Tories have received at least 10million from five donors named in the Panama Papers, it emerged. The leaks from Panamanian offshore experts Mossack Fonseca include donations from two former party treasurers and a wealthy industrialist who received a Lords seat under David Cameron. Labour demanded an independent inquiry into all Britons linked to tax haven allegations. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the businessmen, and it is legal to manage money offshore. Those who have been named are: DAVID ROWLAND The property developer and Guernsey-based tax exile once called a shady financier in Parliament has donated 5.1million to the Tories. He was appointed party treasurer in 2010 but stood down two months later, before starting the job, after other donors raised questions about his business tactics. Sources claimed he was appointed by Mr Cameron even though he had been warned he was unsuitable. He was accused of having looted millions of pounds earmarked for environmental protection following a pollution scandal in the US. Mr Rowlands last donation to the Tories was 322,700 in 2014. The Guardian reported he is shareholder of dozens of offshore firms, and he and his family held shares and properties in the British Virgin Islands. He declined to comment. Property developer and Guernsey-based tax exile David Rowland (left) has donated 5.1million to the Tories. JCB heir Lord Bamford (right) has handed the Tories a total of 4.83million LORD BAMFORD The JCB heir has handed the Tories a total of 4.83million. He received a peerage in 2013 months after closing a firm registered in the British Virgin Islands, according to the leaked documents. The honour was conferred even though the House of Lords appointments commission raised a number of questions over his tax affairs. The Panama Papers show he was the sole shareholder of BVI company Casper Ltd from 1994 until it was dissolved in 2012. A spokesman said Casper Ltd never owned any assets or engaged in any activity. TONY BUCKINGHAM The founder of energy firm Heritage Oil has given the Tories 100,000. The leaks reveal Heritage Oil used Mossack Fonseca to urgently move its registration from one tax haven to another, which could have let it avoid hundreds of millions in tax. Heritage Oil said: The process of re-domiciling was commenced for a variety of reasons. The founder of energy firm Heritage Oil Tony Buckingham (left) has given the Tories 100,000. Arron Banks (right), who gave 25,000 to the Tories between 2007 and 2009, leads Leave.EU ARRON BANKS Mr Banks, who gave 25,000 to the Tories between 2007 and 2009, leads Leave.EU, one of the groups seeking to run the Out referendum campaign. The Guardian says the Panama Papers list him as the shareholder of a company registered in the BVI called PRI Holdings Limited. Shares from PRI were also transferred to Elizabeth Bilney, the chief executive of Leave.EU. Sir Cliff Richard once lent Tony Blairs family his home in Barbados because he felt the then prime minister was so urgently in need of rest and recuperation. Now the pair are enjoying relaxing together. Globe-trotting moneybags Blair joined Sir Cliff in Dubai at the flamboyant four-day wedding of Sanjay Arora, whose hotel tycoon father Surinder is a mutual pal. After singing at the cocktail reception in a skin-tight animal print shirt, orange trousers and pink trainers, Sir Cliff joined guests on the dancefloor and showed that he can still impress with his moves at the age of 75. Dancing knight: Sir Cliff joined guests on the dancefloor and showed that he can still impress with his moves Relaxed: Blair poses with model Slavena Mihaylova (left) and Sir Cliff is pictured with a fellow guest (right) Open-necked Blair seemed to enjoy meeting Bulgarian model Slavena Mihaylova, who shared this picture online. Its not known whether Cherie was in attendance. Its good to see Sir Cliff looking so relaxed. More than 600 days since his Berkshire home was raided in a sex abuse investigation, police still havent sent a file to prosecutors. His father's son: Bailey Jr snaps lover in the nude David Baileys son Fenton is so fed up with celebs flaunting naked selfies that hes created a 21st-century version of the Victorians saucy What The Butler Saw machine. Im serious, Fenton tells me. Whatever happened to sensuality and women teasing? Im fascinated by those Victorian motoscopes which showed ladies, in a state of undress, through the peephole. Ive made my own and dubbed it a Fentoscope. David Baileys son Fenton, 28, has persuaded his girlfriend, Sarah Stanbury, to bare all for his exhibition The 28-year-old photographer son of Swinging Sixties snapper David has persuaded his 21-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Stanbury, to bare all for his exhibition at the Lights Of Soho gallery in London. My dad thinks Im mad, but this is going to be very tasteful, Fenton adds. Bailey Senior should know: he shot an erotic coffee-table book of his second wife, model Marie Helvin, in various states of undress that had her complaining bitterly for years. Don't mention the tax scandal, Andy! Under fire for failing to confront the Chinese over the dumping policy that helped drive our steel industry to the wall, the Government has taken action. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has dispatched Prince Andrew to carry on grovelling to the Communist regime. Air Miles Andy was meant to have stepped down as a trade envoy in 2011 after a series of controversies, but he arrived in Beijing on Monday for talks with President Xi Jinping. His Royal Highness is visiting to further develop bilateral discussions and build links in science and entrepreneurship, says Buckingham Palace. Sydney siege survivor Julie Taylor has told an inquest that gunman Man Haron Monis was suspicious she could have been Jewish. An emotional Ms Taylor revealed her treatment at the hands of the gunman on Wednesday while speaking publicly for the first time about her horrific ordeal during the December 2014 Martin Place Lindt Cafe siege. She said Monis asked her a range of personal questions, including about her religion, and was suspicions she had a Jewish background, News.com.au reported. Scroll down for video Lindt Cafe siege survivor Julie Taylor is to speak publicly for the first time on Wednesday about the horrific ordeal when she addresses an inquest into the December 2014 incident (stock image) Ms Taylor, who was 19 weeks preganat at the time had been in the cafe with her best friend, Katrina Dawson, who was killed by a stray bullet from a police weapon Ms Taylor has named her daughter Emily Katrina as a tribute to her friend Katrina Dawson, who was a mother-of-three Ms Taylor was 19 weeks pregnant when she was taken hostage. She had been with best friend Katrina Dawson when Man Haron Monis took them hostage He'd initially agreed to let her and friend Katrina Dawson go free because they were 'nice', according to Justice New South Wales. But once they reached the door to leave, he told them to stop and put their hands up, News.com.au reported. Ms Dawson was killed in the violent end to the siege hours after it began by a stray police bullet when gunfire was exchanged with Monis. Ms Taylor had fled the building minutes before after realising if she didn't escape, she would likely lose the chance to do so and die. Earlier in the siege, she hadn't try to flee because she 'couldn't live with someone being shot because of our escape', the ABC reported. When the siege began, she'd been preparing to leave the cafe when she heard a man say Australia was under attack by Islamic State. Ms Taylor will speak the inquest into the siege for the first time on Wednesday, April 6 Julie Taylor spoke of her friend Katrina Dawson at a memorial shortly after the siege, but has not spoken publicly of the ordeal since Fellow siege survivor Selina Win Pe heard a sad, last call for help from a male voice moments before gunman Man Haron Monis fired his shotgun Ms Taylor commended Lindt Cafe manage Tori Johnson as a 'model citizen' who showed 'amazing bravery' during the siege. He was killed by Monis at the violent end to the siege She also commended the 'amazing bravery' of cafe manager Tori Johnson. Crying, she told the inquest he was a 'model citizen', and she believed he could have got himself out of the cafe safely, News.com.au reported. 'I admire that he didnt do that. He must have had an enormous strength of character not to have taken those opportunities.' He was later executed by Monis. Before Wednesday, Ms Taylor had not spoken publicly of the events of the siege, when Ms Taylor was 19 weeks pregnant with her unborn daughter. She later named her daughter Emily Katrina in honour of her best friend, Ms Dawson, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Before Ms Taylor spoke, fellow survivor Selina Win Pe heard a sad, last call for help from a male voice moments before gunman Man Haron Monis fired his shotgun. She didn't see him get shot by gunman Man Haron Monis, but heard a deep, male Australian voice say 'oh my god' moments before he was killed. 'They were definitely the words I heard and it was an absolutely, fearful, "help me God, this is it". A very dire, sad, frightened, last cry for help,' she said. On Tuesday, the inquest heard of the terrifying final moments of the Sydney siege, where the sound of police storming the Lindt Cafe was like being 'inside a firework' and officers had to step over the blown-out head of the gunman Ms Win Pe, who said Mr Johnson's final words were: 'an absolutely, fearful, "help me God, this is it". A very dire, sad, frightened, last cry for help' Hostage Marcia Mikhael told how she initially thought the siege was a prank and later spoke to police and media as the siege progressed Hostage Marcia Mikhael told how she initially thought the siege was a prank, but as the day went on she realised Monis didn't plan on leaving alive. At the gunman's order, Ms Mikhael, 43, had been speaking to police negotiators and media during the December 2014 siege. However, she become increasingly certain it would end 'some other way'. 'I thought he had a plan to die,' Ms Mikhael told an inquest on Tuesday. Monis was brandishing a sawn-off shotgun and had told his 18 hostages he had a bomb in his backpack. He made demands for an Islamic State flag and a conversation with then prime minister Tony Abbott. Monis agreed to release one hostage if the flag was delivered and three more if the phone call with Mr Abbott happened. The demands were made through Ms Mikhael, and she was told by a police negotiator they were working on obtaining the flag, but Mr Abbott was 'too busy' to talk to Monis. 'You don't tell someone who has a gun pointed at their head that,' Ms Mikhael said, becoming agitated as she recounted her call with the negotiator. 'I was concerned that they thought our lives weren't worth saving.' Sydney siege survivor Joel Herat departs the Lindt Cafe siege inquest in Sydney, Monday, April 4 Siege survivor Jarrod Morton-Hoffman at the inquest - one of the 18 hostages held during the incident, some of which have given evidence at the inquest Sydney siege survivor Paolo Vessallo departs the Lindt Cafe inquest in Sydney Several groups of hostages managed to escape during the 17-hour siege. Ms Mikhael was one of the last captives inside and kept her eyes on Monis as she hid under two cafe tables, comforting fellow hostage Katrina Dawson as the siege moved towards its violent end. They had taken cover after the final group escaped the cafe, with Monis shooting at the fleeing hostages as they ran to safety in Martin Place. After reloading his gun, Monis ordered cafe manger Tori Johnson to 'come over here right now', Ms Mikhael said. She was lying on her stomach and couldn't see what happened next - as Monis executed Mr Johnson - before police stormed the building. Ms Mikhael said she had her hands over her ears during this 'most horrible' time. 'There were shots being fired, the sound of little grenades everywhere,' she said. 'It was like being inside a firework.' While lying under the tables, Ms Mikhael felt a pain in both legs. Realising she had been shot, she curled into the foetal position, hoping to avoid becoming a target again. Ms Mikhael described the final minutes of the siege as a 'blur'. After police had stormed the building and killed Monis, two officers carried her out. 'They had to step over Monis and half his head was blown out,' she said. Ms Mikhael blasted the police response before the siege's bloody end. 'It was just me on the phone,' she said. 'Monis wasn't on the phone with [the police negotiator]. There was no negotiation.' Former Lindt Cafe barista Harriette Denny, who was pregnant at the time, also said hostages believed no one cared or was willing to help. 'We felt like they were not doing anything, the police,' Ms Denny said. Ms Dawson also died during the end of the siege. The inquest will continue for another six weeks. People run with their hands up from the Lindt Cafe, Martin Place during a hostage standoff on December 16, 2014 in Sydney Lindt siege hostages flee the cafe during the ordeal in December 2014. Police stormed the cafe where gunman Man Haron Monis had held people captive A Florida woman is disgusted after an image showing a teen posing with the wreckage of a vehicle from an accident that killed her husband began circulating on social media. Elsie Nieves-Drewelus saw the photo three days after her husband, Robert D. Drewelus, 53, of St. Petersburg, Florida, died in a fiery car crash on Florida's Interstate 75. The photo shows the 15-year-old passenger of the car smiling holding up four fingers on each hand in front of the smashed Volvo. The words RIP Volvo with a smiley face emoji with a tear drop above it's eye and a semi truck emoji next to it appear over the image. After a crash that left a 53-year-old man dead, the brother of a 16-year-old, who was charge with a felony for leaving the scene of a crash involving death, posted this picture of himself posing with the wrecked car 'I am angry cause, meanwhile, they are posting pictures on social media thinking it's funny, my husband - what was left of him - is being cremated,' Elsie told WFTS. The driver of the Volvo, the 15-year-old's brother, was arrested for felony leaving the scene of a crash involving death and violating the conditions of his learners permit. Drivers under age 18 must abide by a curfew. 'My heart is broken, it's shattered. I'm still in disbelief. I'm in shock, still,' Elsie said. Elsie Nieves-Drewelus (right), whose husband Robert Drewelus (left) died in the accident said she is horrified by the teenager's actions The accident happened early Tuesday after a tanker, driven by Robert and loaded with 8,500 gallons of gasoline, was driving on I-75 in Sarasota, Florida, at 3:01am last week. The front of the tanker struck the rear of the Volvo and veered into the west shoulder of the highway, troopers said. It overturned and burst into flames, according to the Bradenton Herald. Robert was thrown from the tanker and pronounced dead on scene. The 16-year-old was later charged with the felony. The 15-year-old's Instagram account later appeared to be hacked by Anonymous and was set to private. Robert was driving a tanker loaded with 8,500 gallons of gasoline when he and the volvo collided on Florida's Interstate 75 A Christian father accused of killing his son because he is gay may have actually committed the murder to cover up stabbing his wife to death a day earlier, police have said. Shehada Khalil Issa, 69, was arrested last week after police found the bodies of his son, Amir, 29, and his wife, Rabihah, 68, at their home in Los Angeles. Attorneys said Amir was killed because of his sexuality, but police now believe that is not the case. 'Dad killed mom and then killed his son to cover it up,' LAPD homicide detective John Doerbecker said. Scroll down for video Shehada Khalil Issa (left) was accused of killing his son, Amir (right), because he is gay, but may have actually murdered him to cover up stabbing his wife a day earlier, police said 'Weapon': Prosecutors claim that a shotgun like the one pictured here, at the scene, was used in the crime The detective told the Los Angeles Times that Issa's son's sexual orientation was a factor in the killing, but was not the main reason. Officers found Amir's body outside the family home with gunshot wounds to the face and abdomen after his father allegedly blasted him with a shotgun. Issa argued he shot his son in self-defense after he came at him with a knife, but investigators dispute this, saying a blade was not found near Amir's body. Rabihah Issa's body was later found in a pool of blood in the home's bathroom, but it is not clear how she died. Cops said she had been 'dead for a while' and there was 'obviously some form of foul play'. Police now believe Issa killed his wife less than 24 hours before he shot Amir - and that the 69-year-old may have killed his son to cover up his wife's murder. Police found Amir's body outside the home (pictured) with gunshot wounds to the face and abdomen, while Issa' wife, Rabihah, was found dead in a pool of blood in the bathroom Issa is charged with the premeditated murder of his son but is yet to be charged over the death of his wife. Det Doerbecker said the father and son did not 'get along with each other' and that there was friction between the pair. Amir - whose name is spelled Amier in court documents - ranted on Facebook about his parents, accusing them of 'literally controlling me in my sleep'. Los Angeles Police Detective Richard Wheeler told the Times that Issa saw his son as a 'freeloader' and that he was 'clearly angry' with him. 'I think this is a case of anger and disappointment building over an extended period of time,' he added. Prosecuting attorney Emily Cole said family members claimed Issa made threats against Amir because of his sexuality in the past. She said there was enough evidence to press hate crime charges against the father. 'We have enough, obviously, to prove he killed the son, but the motive and the reasoning and everything is very much an ongoing investigation,' she said. Last week, the district attorney's office released as statement, saying: 'The murder was committed because of the victim's sexual orientation and because of the defendant's perception of that status and the victim's association with a person and a group of that status.' Police now believe Issa killed his wife less than 24 hours before he shot Amir - and that the 69-year-old may have killed his son to cover up his wife's murder. Pictured, police at the crime scene A neighbor of the Issa family, Francisco Gonzalez Jr, said he rushed round to the property after hearing gunshots on March 29. 'Were those bullets? Are you OK, Joe? Was that you?' Mr Gonzalez asked Issa. 'Everything is fine now,' he replied, according to the LA Times. Gonzalez said it was not the first time police had to intervene at the home. About three months ago, Issa called police on his son. He told Gonzalez: 'Its just my son acting crazy again. Its the drugs. I called the cops, so Im just waiting for them. Im just going to wait here.' 'Drugs can mess up your life. My son had a great life, and then he did drugs and it all went away.' Amir was living in the back of Issa's house and using it as an apartment, but his parents were seeking to sell the house and evict their son, police said. Officers are believed to have been involved in the eviction process. Ted Cruz scored a critical win for his campaign on Tuesday as he prevailed in Wisconsin - but opponent Donald Trump says he didn't come by the victory honestly. Trump lashed out at Cruz via spokeswoman Hope Hicks overnight and accused the Texas senator of breaking the law. Hicks said the Republican frontrunner 'withstood the onslaught of the establishment yet again' even as 'Lyin' Ted' and his buddies in the conservative media and the 'party apparatus' worked to unseat him. 'Not only was he propelled by the Anti-Trump Super PAC's spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was also coordinating with his own Super PAC's (which is illegal) who totally control him,' she said in a statement distributed to the press. Cruz is 'worse than a puppet,' the Trump aide wrote. 'He is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump.' The campaign said it has 'total confidence' that Trump will go on to win New York on April 19 and the nomination. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEOS VICTORY: Republican Ted Cruz (pictured above with his wife Heidi) won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump's hopes of amassing the delegates needed for the party's nomination ahead of the July convention JOY: Cruz's win was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nominating fight that could last to the July convention 'LYIN TED': Opponent Donald Trump says Cruz didn't come by the victory honestly - the billionaire says Trump illegally coordinated with the Super PACS supporting him 'Not only was he propelled by the Anti-Trump Super PAC's spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was also coordinating with his own Super PAC's (which is illegal) who totally control him,' a campaign spokeswoman said in a statement distributed to the press Cruz's win Tuesday evening put new pressure on Trump. It was an election the U.S. senator had to win in order to stay in the presidential hunt. He framed the win as 'a turning point' in the GOP race and 'a victory for every American,' projecting strength despite the lack of a path to the nomination outside of a contested convention. 'Together we will win a majority of the delegates, and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November,' he said, allowing that capturing the nomination is something more likely to happen during the July Republican National Convention than beforehand. With 99.9 per cent of the voting precincts in the Badger State reporting their totals, the Texas senator had 48.3 per cent of the votes, with the billionaire front-runner at 35 per cent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed with 14.1 per cent. MESSAGE: 'Tonight is a turning point,' Cruz told cheering supporters at a victory rally. 'It is a call from the hardworking people of Wisconsin to America. We have a choice. A real choice' FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz celebrated with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (left) during a Wisconsin primary night rally at the American Serb Banquet Hall in Milwaukee Your browser does not support the iframe HTML tag. Try viewing this in a modern browser like Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Internet Explorer 9 or later. Cruz took the stage at the american Serb Banquet Hall to the strains of 'Where The Stars And Stripes And Eagle Fly' by country artist Aaron Tippin. 'I was born by God's dear grace in an extraordinary place where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly,' the song begins. It was an odd choice for a presidential hopeful who was born in Canada and held dual citizenship until less than two years ago. Trump has made hay over Cruz's place of birth, suggesting he should resolve the legal question of his eligibility to hold the Oval Office well in advance of the general election. The brash billionaire issued a fighting-words statement saying that he had 'withstood the onslaught of the establishment' in Wisconsin that wants to poach the GOP nomination from him and hand it to one of their own. DRINKING IT IN: Cruz celebrates flanked by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on the left and his wife Heidi on the right SMILES: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz celebrates with his wife Heidi in Milwaukee 'Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,' his campaign said in the statement. 'We have total confidence that Mr. Trump will go on to win in New York, where he holds a substantial lead in all the polls, and beyond. 'Mr. Trump is the only candidate who can secure the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination and ultimately defeat Hillary Clinton, or whomever is the Democratic nominee, in order to Make America Great Again.' NBC News, CNN and the Fox News Channel declared a half-hour after polls closed Tuesday night that Trump couldn't possibly catch up to Cruz. Wisconsin will award 42 convention delegates 18 to the overall winner and three more to the victor in each of the state's eight congressional districts. It was possible for Cruz to sweep the entire contest with even the narrowest of wins in all eight regions of the state, but Trump carried one district and a second was still too close to call on Wednesday morning. Sounding more like a general election candidate than a primary warrior, Cruz laid into Clinton and postured himself as her eventual opponent in the fall. 'Tonight was a bad night for Hillary Clinton,' he said. 'It was a bad night in the Democratic primary, and it was an even worse night for her in the Republican primary.' 'Hillary, get ready! Here we come!' SEE YOU IN NEW YORK: Trump, who leads in the overall nationwide contest, will have to nurse his wounds for two weeks until the Empire State's primary on April 19 SO GRACIOUS: Trump's campaign said in a post-election statement that 'Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination' HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (left) endorsed Cruz and guided him through his home state to victory DISTANT THIRD: John Kasich had a poor night, winning only 14 per cent of the vote in Ohio and will face increasing calls to drop out of the race Exit polling conducted by CNN on projected the race as a laugher, with the Texas tea party senator holding 47 per cent of the vote compared with the pugnacious billionaire's 36 per cent. As the night wore on, that impressive margin looked to be an understatement. Kasich's supporters made up another 14 per cent of the exit poll results, pointing to the spoiler role he has played in the weeks since the rest of the 'establishment' GOP field dropped out of the race. Cruz hosted an election night party in Milwaukee, the state's largest city. Trump left Wisconsin in the afternoon. The Texan's supporters filed into the Serb American Hall in small numbers, cheering when a TV tuned to CNN announced that he had won. Gov. Scott Walker appeared on stage to praise Cruz as a 'common sense conservative' and to thank his constituents for sending Trump packing. ''Wisconsin nice' means we're nice but we're not pushovers,' he said. LOOK OUT, HILLARY: Cruz insisted he'll be the Republican presidential nominee and warned the Democratic front-runner that he'll be gunning for her next 'Trump, the overall national front-runner, had predicted a 'surprise' finish during a campaign stop Tuesday morning near Milwaukee. He said Monday night that he thought Wisconsinites would hand him 'a very, very big victory.' Wisconsin could have been the cherry on the Trump sundae, an acknowledgement that the real estate tycoon's unlikely White House run had gathered too much steam to be stopped or even slowed. Instead, Cruz will likely own GOP bragging rights in the two weeks leading up to the April 19 New York primary, a contest Trump is expected to win in a landslide. The same outcome is projected for a string of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states a week later. Trump is the only GOP candidate who currently has a reasonable chance of collecting the 1,237 Republican National Convention delegates required to cinch the White House nomination. The grown up son of the 55-year-old grandmother who is now Britain's oldest mother of triplets said today: 'She shouldn't be having children due to her age'. Sharon Cutts, from Boston in Lincolnshire, gave birth to Mason, Ryan and Lily, on March 21 with her boyfriend Stuart Reynolds, 40. The mother of seven spent 22,000 on IVF in Cyprus because she was too old for NHS treatment - and today her 21-year-old son Charles revealed that he disagreed with her decision. The gym instructor said: 'I'll always be there for her and support her but I did disagree with the IVF. Obviously I'm concerned for her health because she's 55'. New mum: Mother-of-seven Sharon Cutts, (pictured holding one of her grandchildren), has become Britain's oldest mother of triplets at 55 - but her eldest son Charles, 21, right, says she is too old Cute: Triplet Lily, left in pink, and one of her brothers in blue born on March 21 - all three of the young siblings are doing well 'It's a big thing for a 55-year-old, they should be relaxing more and starting to enjoy life, but now she's starting all over again'. Charles, who also has siblings Emma, 26, Sam, 23, and Amy, 19, from Ms Cutts' relationship with her estranged husband has visited his mother three times since the triplets were born. He said: 'I'm happy that my mum and Stu got what they wanted. Stu has no children of his own this was his last shot at it really. 'They both seem very tired but I'm sure they'll get into a routine and it'll get easier.' The glamorous grandmother of four gave herself Botox on the maternity ward and sneaked out for hair extensions 'to look my best for when the babies were born'. The trained nurse told The Sun: 'I only injected a little bit, because really you shouldn't do it while you're pregnant. I gave myself a dose while I was staying in the maternity ward for 11 weeks'. The NHS will only perform IVF up to the age of 42, so the couple went to a private clinic before travelling to Cyprus for the procedure. Ms Cutts, who has gone through the menopause, used eggs from a woman chosen because they look alike. These were fertilised with her boyfriend's sperm in a lab before being placed in her womb. She has four grown-up children with her estranged husband of 24 years, and said she does not care that the babies are younger than her grandchildren because 'it means they've got lots of playmates'. Ms Cutts added: 'At the scan we were told there were three heartbeats. Stuart was shocked and I was in tears, crying with joy. 'The first thing I thought was: 'Oh my God, how am I going to cope?'. Factory worker Mr Reynolds said: 'I was excited, and then bricking it. Now they're here I wouldn't change it for the world.' The couple took out loans of 15,000 to pay the medical bills and spent 7,000 of their savings. The pregnancy was fraught with problems and doctors advised one of the babies should be aborted due to the dangers of pregnancy at that age. Mother-of-seven Sharon Cutts, right, and her boyfriend Stuart Reynolds, 40, together left, welcomed sons Mason and Ryan and daughter Lily into their family on March 21 The 55-year-old grandmother has become Britain's oldest mother of triplets after undergoing IVF But Ms Cutts refused and the triplets were born by Caesarean section after an 11-week stay in Nottingham University Hospital. They each weighed between 4lbs and 5lbs. The proud parents, who have been together for four years, had wanted to start a family but Ms Cutts had started the menopause. Her boyfriend Stuart did not have any children of his own. They decided to try IVF, where an egg from another woman's ovaries was fertilised with Stuart's sperm and then placed in her womb. Because she was over the age of 42 the NHS do not offer the treatment and so they tried Cyprus because they do it to the age of 60. In 2014 they made two attempts but none of the nine embryos placed in the grandmother's womb was successful. But with hope and money running out the third IVF attempt last year was successful and three of the four embryos survived. Two weeks later it was confirmed she was pregnant but at 23 weeks she started to bleed and eventually spent the final 11 weeks of her pregnancy in a Nottingham hospital. Happily Mason, Ryan and Lily were all born safely last month. Ms Cutts admits that her older children Emma, 26, Sam, 23, Charles, 21, and Amy, 19, weren't all convinced that becoming a mother again was a good idea. One of her sons said she was 'too old' and would get 'fat', she said. She says she is a former marathon runner and fitness fanatic who is well equipped for the sleep deprivation every new parent faces. And having had four children before she will be ready for the 21 nappy changes and 24 feeds required for the triplets every day. Do you know Mrs Cutts or her family? If so please email sam.tonkin@mailonline.co.uk or call 02036151861 The Panama law firm at the centre of the tax haven data leak today insisted the company was the victim of a hack from outside the company. Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said his company, Mossack Fonseca, had a 'technical report that we were hacked by servers abroad' but did not specify from which country. He said the firm, which specialises in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. Nor had it ever destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money, he added. Defiant: Ramon Fonseca, founding partner of law firm Mossack Fonseca, gestures during an interview in which he insisted the the company was the victim of a hack from outside the company and not an 'inside job' Company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organizations, were 'taken out of context' and misinterpreted, he told Reuters news agency. 'We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack,' said Fonseca, 63, at the company's headquarters in Panama City's business district. 'We have a theory and we are following it,' he added, without elaborating. 'We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney General's office and there is a government institution studying the issue,' he added, flanked by two press advisers. In a separate interview with the AFP news agency, Fonseca said: 'We have a technical report that we were hacked by servers abroad.' He did not specify from which country the hack was carried out. Governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of more than 11.5 million documents, dubbed the Panama Papers, from the law firm that span four decades. The papers have revealed financial arrangements of prominent figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Iceland's prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned, becoming the first casualty of the leak. 'The (emails) were taken out of context,' Fonseca said, denouncing what he called a 'witch-hunt'. Fonseca said company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organisations, were 'taken out of context' He lamented what he called journalistic activism and sensationalism, extolling his own investigative research credentials as a published novelist in Panama. He said he feared that his rivals could muscle in on their business following the leak. 'The only crime that has been proven is the hack,' Fonseca said. 'No one is talking about that. That is the story.' He said his company had a staff of around 500, of whom 300 work in Panama, but declined to comment on his law firm's structure or franchises in other parts of the world. Setting up a company might cost between about $700 and $1,000, he said, with a significant part of that fee going to the government. Mossack Fonseca has set up around 250,000 businesses over the past 40 years. He added that it is cheaper to do business in Nevada. He said business rules have tightened and that his company has adhered to them. 'Fifteen years ago, due diligence didn't exist and they are judging us by other standards,' Fonseca said. France announced on Tuesday it would put the Central American nation back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. Alvaro Aleman, chief of staff to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, told a news conference the government could respond with similar measures against France, or any other country that followed France's lead. A jealous boyfriend who was convicted for stabbing his fiancee's lover 14 times after finding him in bed with her will get a re-trial after his 17-year jail term was quashed on appeal. Roy Tabalbag, 30, attacked Amin Sthapit like a 'demon possessed' when he found the chef in a tryst with Geecy Rebucas at the couple's Darling Point home in Sydney's east. Court documents obtained by Daily Mail Australia reveal that he successfully appealed against the decision on Wednesday, arguing that the 11-member jury should have been given more time by Justice Michael Adams to try and reach a unanimous decision. Roy Tabalbag is escorted to a prison transport vehicle at the Supreme Court ahead of his trial - he was convicted and sentenced over the stabbing death of Amin Sthapit but has successfully appealed his 17-year jail sentence Roy Tabalbag (pictured) was jailed for 17 years after being found guilty over the stabbing death of his girlfriend's lover but has been granted a re-trial Tabalbag (right) flew into a fit of rage when he found a man naked in bed with his partner, Geecy Rebucas (left), the Supreme Court heard last September ahead of his conviction. He has been granted a re-trial The jealous boyfriend stabbed Amin Sthapit (pictured) like a 'demon possessed', the court had heard Tabalbag's legal team argued Justice Adams 'had no power' to allow a majority (10-1) verdict. The jury had been deliberating for just over 22 hours at that stage. Tabalbag wept in the dock at the Supreme Court in September as he was sentenced to at least 12 years in prison for the 2013 killing. The Court of Appeal has thrown out the sentence and granted him a re-trial. The Supreme Court had previously heard Tabalbag had tracked down his girlfriend using the Find My iPhone App and repeatedly stabbed Mr Sthapit with a kitchen knife while saying: 'Look, this is what happens.' Tabalbag admitted he delivered the fatal wounds but pleaded guilty to manslaughter rather than murder, saying he had been provoked. But this was rejected by the jury which convicted him of murder on June 12 last year. Justice Michael Adams said Tabalbag was 'filled with hatred and rage' when he pursued Mr Sthapit around the apartment with the knife. '(Tabalbag said) had he been of right mind, he wouldn't have done what he did. It seems to me this is the all too tragic truth,' Justice Adams said. In the weeks before the attack Tabalbag had become suspicious of his long-term girlfriend Gee Cy Rebacus and used software to read her deleted text messages, the court heard. On the morning of the attack, he used the Find My iPhone App on his mobile to locate her phone and went back to the apartment. After seeing her lying naked with Mr Sthapit, who was also in a relationship, he said: 'Why, why did you do this?' Grabbing her chef's knife, he pursued Mr Sthapit who tried to take shelter in the bathroom. Tabalbag ripped the door off its hinges before stabbing Mr Sthapit and following him around the bedroom, the court heard. When Ms Rebacus tried to halt the attack, he said: 'Don't try to stop me or I will stab you'. The jury heard that Ms Rebucas had yelled 'it's my fault' during the attack where she sustained minor injuries. She had met Mr Sthapit at the Double Bay hotel where they both worked, at a time when she had 'sort of lost interest' in Tabalbag, the court heard. Paramedics found Mr Sthapit in a critical condition with numerous stab wounds to his torso after the attack. Tabalbag (pictured) wept in the dock as he was sentenced to a minimum of 12 years but he had his sentence quashed on Wednesday on appeal Mr Sthapit's fiancee Pradeepa Yonzon (left) pictured leaving the Supreme Court in Sydney Mr Sthapit went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene. Tabalbag, who is originally from the Philippines, later handed himself into police. Justice Adams said while it was plain the conduct of Mr Sthapit and Ms Rebacus 'gave rise to his uncontrolled response' it 'cannot allow or excuse violent attacks that are not in self defence'. He said: 'There is nothing about the conduct of Ms Rebacus or Mr Sthapit that could justify in any sense or to any degree the attack.' But he said Tabalbag was a man of previous good character who had shown genuine remorse and was unlikely to re-offend. Under the original sentence Tabalbag would have been eligible for parole in November 2025. Online booking sites are forcing up accommodation costs despite claiming to offer the best prices and it turns out the cheapest way to travel is often by calling the hotel directly. Booking.com, Hotels Combined, Expedia and Wotif are charging as much as 15 per cent commission and forcing hotels to raise their prices, according to an ABC's The Checkout. Calling hotels directly could save travellers as much as 25 per cent on their bookings, Kirsten Drysdale, a presenter of the consumer affairs television series told Daily Mail Australia. Scroll down for video Online travel sites are forcing up accommodation costs by charing hotels as much as 15 per cent commission (Hotels Combined search pictured) It is as much as 25 per cent cheaper to phone a hotel directly than book online (strip of hotels at Broadbeach in Queensland's Gold Coast pictured) The websites remain useful to shop around to see what's available, before phoning the hotel to make a booking which is likely to be cheaper. 'A few [hotels] were the same price [online and by phone], but most hotels we rang were cheaper if you called them,' Ms Drysdale told Daily Mail Australia. And the most significant savings were in smaller hotels as opposed to the larger chains. Parity clauses in the contracts between hotels and online travel agencies (OTA) force hotels to offer their cheapest price through the site like Booking.com. But a loophole allows them to offer a discounted price by phone. 'I think it's because of the wording of the clause,' Ms Drysdale said. 'Basically, they [hotels] can't be publicly offering better prices.' Hotel strip at Broadbeach in Queensland's Gold Coast The Checkout said the websites have been steadily increasing their commission rates for the past five years, steadily raising them from about nine to 15 per cent since 2010 (Booking.com accommodation search pictured) Loyalty programs can also cut costs for those who travel a lot, while holiday makers who require a room, flights and a hire car may well find a better price in a travel package found online. Ms Drysdale said the smaller OTAs may be cheaper for travellers because the commission they charge hotels is likely to be lower. The Checkout will air at 8pm Thursday on ABC But they're not necessarily better, she said, because they're likely to have fewer options to choose from. The Checkout said the websites have been steadily increasing their commission rates for the past five years, steadily raising them from about nine to 15 per cent since 2010. 'When they [the online booking sites] first started out in the early to mid-2000s, I think they really did give good offers you couldn't get elsewhere,' Ms Drysdale said. When they first began, hotels were using the websites to list unused rooms at a discount ensuring they filled accommodation which would otherwise be empty while travellers got cheaper accommodation. 'But as they [hotels] have become more and more of a crucial part of business for hotels, they've upped the commission, and now hotels have upped their prices to cover that,' Ms Drysdale said. Loyalty programs can also cut costs for those who travel a lot, while holiday makers who require a room, flights and a hire car may well find a better price in a travel package found online, Ms Drysdale (pictured) said The Checkout found travellers could save as much as 25 per cent on bookings by phoning a hotel directly Hotels can't afford not to list their accommodation on the online travel sites, with a growing monopoly on the market. More than 50 per cent of bookings made in lesser known hotels are made through the websites, according to The Checkout. She said some European-based websites take as much as 25 per cent from commission, with fears the trend will continue in Australia, where the cuts booking sites take are steadily climbing. 'If you look over the contracts that booking sites have [with hotels], you just see it go up and up,' Ms Drysdale said. And about 85 per cent of the websites are reportedly owned by two companies Expedia and Priceline Group. In statements provided to The Checkout, booking sites said they provide an affordable marketing channel for hotels as travellers find accommodation they might not have come across otherwise. Managing Director of Expedia ANZ, Georg Ruebensal, told Daily Mail Australia their provide many benefits. 'Our customers choose to book with Expedia to get access to many benefits, not just price. As a one-stop-shop, booking through Expedia is convenient travellers have access to hotels, flights, car hire, activities, insurance, all at their fingertips via their mobile phone, tablet or computer,' Mr Ruebensal said. About 85 per cent of the websites are reportedly owned by two companies Expedia and Priceline Group (Expedia advertisement pictured) Hotels Combined advertisement pictured, with added imagery from The Checkout He added their website offered security, provides special rates, the option to pay immediately or later, and the ability to earn points through their loyalty program. Mr Ruebensal wouldn't discuss specific details of partner contracts, but said their partners 'consider Expedia a valuable channel in their distribution and marketing strategies'. 'We believe Expedia helps hoteliers become visible and bookable ... and enables travellers to find the right hotel at the right price in an efficient manner.' Managing Director of Wotif Group Australia and New Zealand said there were 'lots of tangible benefits of coming to Wotif for travel'. 'At Wotif, we are focused on bringing great rates and availability to Aussie travellers, so everyone can find and take a well-deserved holiday for a great price.' In 2015, Germany led a ban on parity clauses and was followed by France. Back home, the ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has been consulting the industry on the use of the price parity clauses by OTAs. 'The information gathered through this consultation will help the ACCC assess whether these arrangements raises any competition issues,' the ACCC wrote in September last year. Daily Mail Australia has contacted a number of online hotel booking websites for comment. Suspended deputy mayor Salim Mehajer is in a turf war with his own council as officials push for him to rip up the artificial lawn he 'illegally' installed on the nature strip outside his lavish home. Auburn council staff have made a number of recommendations to the Independent Assessment Panel after investigating Mr Mehajer's palatial mansion in Sydney's west. A business report prepared for the panel says the artificial grass - which was installed shortly before Salim and Aysha's blockbuster wedding eight months ago - was not approved by local council. Scroll down for video Salim Mehajer might be forced to rip out the artificial lawn in front of his western Sydney mansion (pictured) A report by the suspended deputy mayor's own council found that he had 'illegally' installed the fake grass A business report prepared for the panel says the turf - which was installed shortly before Salim and Aysha's (pictured) blockbuster wedding eight months ago - was not approved by local council 'The proposed artificial turf in lieu of grass to the nature strip is adverse to the character of the locality,' the report says. 'It does not allow for planting, has no ecological benefits, does not allow for natural drainage, reduces the ability of the ground to provide thermal massing, and has adverse impacts in streetscape visual amenity terms.' The report also takes issue with the 2.1 metre-high rear and side fences at Mr Mehajer's Lidcombe residence, suggesting that they create an 'unreasonable outlook for immediate neighbours.' Mr Mehajer claimed that the fence height was required for security, privacy and amenity reasons. But the report disagreed, urging the panel to force Mr Mehajer to cut it down to 1.8 metres. 'The fences also create some additional overshadowing to the neighbours, the degree to which has not been demonstrated by the applicant. The proposal, if approved, would also create an undesirable precedence,' the report says. The report also takes issue with the 2.1 metre-high rear and side fences at Mr Mehajer's Lidcombe residence The investigation into his western Sydney home comes at a tough time for the controversial politician, with rumours swirling that his marriage is on the rocks just eight months in (motorcade from wedding pictured) It comes at a tough time for the controversial politician, who is battling rumours that his marriage is on the rocks. Earlier this week it was reported Ms Mehajer had packed her bags and left their mansion in Lidcombe, western Sydney, to stay with family in the NSW Illawarra region. The report by A Current Affair said friends of the couple claim the controversial property developer and suspended Auburn deputy mayor had been constantly phoning and texting his wife in an attempt to get her back. An Instagram account using both their names is reportedly run by Mr Mehajer. In recent days the page has been bombarded with seven-month-old photos of their wedding and declarations of love. Neither husband nor wife have been spotted at their home in recent days, the program reported. But Mr Mehajer has made an effort to douse rumours they were living separately, taking to Facebook to post photos of himself and his wife claiming the pair's relationship is 'unbreakable.' The politician posted the words: 'Our love. True love. One love separated by a heart and crown emoji.' He shared another snap of his wife, Aysha, later, captioned: 'my best friend, my soul mate, my love of my life.' Mr Mehajer maintains that his relationship with Aysha has never been better, writing a number of adoring posts across his social media accounts A Gold Coast circus acrobat sentenced to more than nine years in jail for intentionally infecting his girlfriend with HIV has won a High Court appeal against his conviction. Godfrey Zaburoni, 37, had been ordered to serve a nine-and-a-half year jail term in April 2013 after he became the second person in Queensland to be convicted of intentionally transmitting a serious infectious disease. But, in its judgement on Wednesday morning, the High Court upheld his appeal against the Zimbabwean-born man's conviction and ordered the sentence to be set aside. Scroll down for video Godfrey Zaburoni (pictured left going to the High Court on Wednesday, and right), 37, had been ordered to serve a nine-and-a-half year jail term in April 2013 for intentionally infecting his girlfriend with HIV Zaburoni knew he had the potentially fatal virus and lied to his partner about it, but the court ruled there was no evidence that he deliberately infected his partner. The court found, that at most, the prosecution had been able to show that he'd had 'reckless indifference' to a woman who showed signs of illness consistent with HIV during their relationship. He will now be re-sentenced on a lesser charge of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm, to which he has already pleaded guilty. The Court found, although Zaburoni had frequent unprotected sex with his girlfriend, there was 'no evidence to support the inference' he intended to infect her with the HIV virus. Justice Stephen Gageler said it was instead a reasonable possibility the performer continued to have sex with her 'selfishly for his own gratification, being reckless as to whether or not the complainant might become infected'. Zaburoni's sentence was overturned on appeal During the trial, the jury heard evidence there was about a 14 per cent chance Zaburoni's girlfriend would contract HIV during this time they were together. Justice Gageler said there was 'nothing in the evidence' that suggested Zaburoni knew about the probability or that it could be higher. The Court ruled the prosecution were required to prove Zaburoni engaged in the unprotected sex, knowing he was HIV positive, with only the sole purpose of infecting his girlfriend with the virus. The court's ruling found there could be more than one purpose and that his recklessness did not mean he intended to cause her harm. Zaburoni had previously appealed his sentence to Queensland's court of appeal, which dismissed the claim and was then granted special leave to appeal the decision in the High Court. The Guardian reports the Zimbabwe-born Zaburoni was diagnosed with HIV in 1998 while working as an acrobat with a touring circus in Adelaide. Before his arrest Zaburoni came to national prominence after appearing on the Channel Seven program Australias Got Talent. HIV advocates say the ruling would definitely help HIV advocates in their quest to improve the way these cases are prosecuted in the future. 'Police, lawyers and the judiciary need to recognise that the issues around transmission of HIV and intent are unique and a standard criminal law approach cannot be taken,' the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre, Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations and National Association of People with HIV Australia said in a joint statement. 'Advocates can also learn what information must be provided to defence lawyers regarding reasons for HIV non-disclosure, and what may be presented to a court to refute the assumption that non-disclosure in and of itself may equate to intentional transmission of HIV.' Zaburoni will now be re-sentenced on a lesser charge of unlawfully doing grievous bodily harm at Queensland's District Court, to which he has already pleaded guilty. Connecticut Gov Dan Malloy and Sen Chris Murphy both disagree with him Later said that assault weapons like the one used by Adam Lanza in the 2012 shooting should be banned Sanders said last week that gun dealers should not get sued for selling legal products that get misused Bernie Sanders has defended gun manufacturers against a potential lawsuit from the families of victims in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. The Democratic candidate addressed the issue during an interview with the editorial board of the New York Daily News last week, published in full on Monday. Sanders said victims of a crime committed with a gun should not be able to sue the manufacturer and that gun dealers should not get sued for selling legal products that get misused. Hillary Clinton blasted his comments during a Brooklyn town hall on Tuesday, bringing up his decision to support a 2005 bill that granted partial immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers. Scroll down for video Bernie Sanders (pictured at a campaign rally in Laramie, Wyoming on Tuesday) said victims of a crime committed with a gun should not be able to sue the manufacturer 'I was against it, and he was for it, to give immunity from liability to gun makers and sellers,' Clinton said during the event at Medgar Evers College according to the New York Daily News. 'We can reverse this, and 92% of Americans and 85% of gun owners agree that we should.' Relatives of some of the 20 children shot and killed by Adam Lanza want to sue the companies that made, distributed and sold his AR-15 rifle, an assault weapon. They say the weapon wasn't suitable to be used by civilians. 'Do I think the victims of a crime with a gun should be able to sue the manufacturer, is that your question?' Sanders asked during his interview with the New York Daily News. He then replied: 'No, I don't.' Sanders later said that people should be able to sue gun manufacturers and dealers who sell guns even though they know they are going 'into the hands of wrong people'. 'So if somebody walks in and says, "I'd like 10,000 rounds of ammunition," you know, well, you might be suspicious about that,' he told the New York Daily News. 'So I think there are grounds for those suits, but not if you sell me a legal product.' Hillary Clinton blasted his comments during a Brooklyn town hall on Tuesday (pictured), bringing up his decision to support a 2005 that granted partial immunity to gun manufacturers and dealers He then spoke against assault weapons like the one used by Lanza in the Newton, Connecticut shooting, saying he had opposed them during the 1988 congressional election in Vermont. 'I do not believe, I didn't believe then and I don't believe now that those guns should be sold in America. They're designed for killing people,' Sanders told the New York Daily News. Connecticut governor Dan Malloy and Chris Murphy, one of the state's senators, both criticized his latest comments. 'He is just wrong,' Malloy told the New York Daily News News. 'He is dead wrong on guns. He had an opportunity to educate the people of Vermont about guns. Vermont is small enough that he could have gone house to house to educate people about guns.' Both Malloy and Murphy support Clinton. Murphy said on Twitter: 'For Sanders to say that the Sandy Hook families should be barred from court, even if the weapon was negligently made, is wrong. 'Democrats cannot nominate a candidate who believes that toy gun makers should be held to a higher legal standard than real gun makers. 'And if this isn't Sanders' position - if he supports full return of liability for sellers and makers, then he should clarify immediately.' A Connecticut judge will rule on whether the families of children killed during the Sandy Hook shooting can sue. Batterham is in maximum security as his parents try to raise $100,000 bail Ben Batterham was drinking beer to celebrate his birthday and chatting 'about old times' with a friend in the kitchen of his home when Ricky Slater, who Batterham says he had never met before, allegedly appeared in his hallway. Batterham chased Slater out onto the street where a struggle allegedly ensued in which Batterham was bitten twice, had his tooth chipped and cheekbone injured. The 33-year-old, who is now in a maximum security prison cell charged with Slater's murder, has revealed his version of what really happened on the night Slater allegedly broke into his home in the early hours of Easter Saturday. Batterham's barrister, leading Sydney criminal defence lawyer Winston Terracini SC, told Daily Mail Australia that bite marks were inflicted by Slater and were still visible just below Batterham's right bicep. He said Batterham has since undergone hospital tests for Hepatitis C, HIV and tetanus. Mr Terracini asserted that Slater went nowhere near the bedroom of Batterham and his partner Monique's young daughter and was unknown to the apprentice chef when he turned up at the house on Cleary Street, Hamilton in Newcastle in the NSW Hunter Valley. Scroll down for video Ben Batterham's lawyer said he had never met Ricky Slater before the 34-year-old convicted criminal allegedly entered his home while Batterham was having birthday drinks Ricky Slater allegedly entered Ben Batterham's home (pictured) but was chased out by the chef and down the street Mr Batterham, from Newcastle in the NSW Hunter Valley, was drinking beer and chatting with a friend when Ricky Slater allegedly burst into his home Batterham's barrister, leading Sydney criminal defence lawyer Winston Terracini SC (pictured) said bite marks allegedly inflicted by Slater were still visible on Batterham's right bicep Mr Terracini also asserted that Batterham and his friend, Paul O'Keeffe, who lives in Brisbane had met up at Batterham's house, which is owned by his parents, Bruce and Dianne, and is under renovation. Mr O'Keeffe and Batterham, who are old friends from Melbourne, were drinking beer and 'talking about old times, about life' at around 3.30am on March 26 when 34-year-old Slater allegedly entered the hallway near the lounge room of the home. 'But he didn't get past the hallway,' Mr Terracini asserted. '[Ben Batterham's] daughter would not have even known [Slater] was there.' Batterham allegedly ran from the kitchen down the hallway towards Slater and said something like 'get out. what the hell are you doing here' and then dialled Triple-O as he chased him but did not speak with police. Mr Terracini said Batterham was 'scared and angry' and the chase allegedly continued for between 10 and 20 seconds out of Batterham's yard and onto the footpath. Cleary Street, pictured in daylight and showing the house (left) owned by Benn Batterham's parents Bruce and Dianne and the home (right) the couple bought for their son The footpath outside Ben Batterham's home where Ricky Slater was allegedly chased at around 3.30am on March 26 (left). Batterham (right) asserted he was bitten by Slater The street was poorly lit and for a few moments in the early-morning gloom Batterham could no longer see the man he says was Slater, but the intruder then jumped out at him and there was a verbal confrontation and swearing exchange about the fact that Batterham had allegedly called the police. According to Mr Terracini, Batterham then 'tried to restrain him and wait for the police'. He said Batterham, who was considerably smaller than the taller, 120kg Slater 'held him on the ground and in the process he [Slater] bites more than once ... just below the right bicep'. Slater allegedly continued to resist being held down and chipped Batterham's tooth and injured his cheekbone. At some point, Slater allegedly lost consciousness and when emergency services arrived at the scene, he was placed on a stretcher and taken to Newcastle's John Hunter Hospital, where he was placed on life support. Doctors found that his brain had been deprived of oxygen for too long and the following day, Easter Sunday, his mother Beryl Dickson, her daughters and estranged husband Ricky Slater Snr made the decision to turn off Slater's life support. At the same hospital, Ben Batterham was treated for his injuries. He had turned himself into police on the Saturday and Paul O'Keeffe was questioned by detectives but then released. Eminent Sydney defence lawyer, Winston Terracini SC (pictured), who visited Ben Batterham in the Cessnock cells after being engaged to represent him, specialises in complex murder and manslaughter cases Slater, pictured with his mother Beryl Dickson, was chased out of Ben Batterham's hallway and down the street before the chef held him down as the convicted rapist bit and struck out before losing consciousness and his life support was later switched offf in hospital Batterham, who had turned himself into police and been charged with grievous bodily harm, had his charge upgraded to murder. He was taken to the Mater Hospital in Newcastle to be tested for a range of diseases including HIV, Hepatitis and tetanus. Batterham was placed in a maximum security remand cell at Cessnock Correctional Centre where he has been visited once by his parents and by his partner Monique. Mr Terracini visited Batterham in the cells at Cessnock and inspected the bite marks below his right bicep, the chipped tooth and cheekbone injury. Dianne and Bruce Batterham, who are health centre manager and IT professionals and who live in the house next door to the dilapidated home they bought for their son, are struggling to raise around $100,000 for a surety in a bail application within the next two weeks. Bruce Batterham was retrenched from his IT executive job at Hunter Water six months ago and Dianne Batterham's role is clerical rather than medical. The couple, who temporarily moved from their home because they feared for their own safety, are understood to be applying for access to the equity on their son's mortgaged home. Mr Terracini, who has promised to expedite Ben Batterham's release on bail, said it was his client's first time in custody. He is yet to interview Batterham's friend Paul O'Keeffe in Brisbane The father-of-one's was expected to remain behind bars until his case is heard again in court on May 25, but Mr Terracini SC has vowed to have his release 'expedited'. Mr Terracini SC, who specialises in complex murder and manslaughter cases, with a history of defending notable clients including Gordon Wood and Keli Lane, has applied for a forensic pathologist to review the post mortem examination on Slater. Ben Batterham's arrest has caused significant outrage in the community, with 110,000 people signing a change.org petition demanding his immediate release. Many have claimed that the father-of-one was simply defending his home and family after the convicted sex offender allegedly broke in. Ricky Slater (pictured) 'didn't get past the hallway' of Ben Batterham's home and when spotted by the chef from the kitchen where Batterham was drinking beer with an old friend was chased out and down the road TIMELINE OF RICKY SLATER'S ALLEGED MURDER BY BEN BATTERHAM Richard James 'Ricky' Slater allegedly entered the Cleary Street, Hamilton home of Ben Batterham at around 3.30 am on Waster Saturday, March 26. Slater, a 34-year-old convicted rapist with a 15-year adult criminal history of assault, drug possession and break and enter offences, entered the hallway of the home where Batterham was drinking beer with his friend Paul O'Keefffe of Brisbane. The two, who had known each other from when they lived in Melbourne were celebrating Batterhma's 33rd birthday and 'talking about old times' when Slater, who Batterham had never before met, appeared in the hallway. Batterham ran down the hallway towards Slater, yelling out 'get out. what the hell are you doing here' and chased Slater through his yard and down Cleary Street. En route, Batterham dialled Triple-0 Zero and in the gloom of the poorly lit street lost sight of Slater, who then emerged from the gloom. Batterhma tackled Slater to the ground and was holding him down to wait for police to arrive andmake an arrest. During this physical struggle, Slater allegedly bit Batterham twice just below the apprentice chef's right bicep, chipped his tooth and injured Batterham's cheekbone. Police arrived at the scene where Mr Batterham was struggling with Slater who lost consciousness and was rushed to John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle. Doctors fund that Slater had been deprived of oxygen to his brain and the following day, Slater's family turned off his life support. Treated for his injuries and charged with causing grievous bodily harm, Batterham was taken into custody and charged with murder. He was placed in a maximum security remand cell at Cessnock Correctional Centre and taken to the Mater Hospital in Newcastle to be tested for HIV, Hepatitis and tetanus. The father-of-one did not apply for bail when his case was mentioned in Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday and was remanded until May 25. His parents, Bruce and Dianne Batterham, engaged prominent defence barrister Winston Terracini SC, who has applied for a forensic pathologist to review the post mortem examination on Ricky Slater. Mr Terracini is assisting the Batterhams in their efforts to raise $100,000 for their son's bail. Advertisement It could have come from a scene straight out of the Borat movie, only this time it was for real. The President of Kazahstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, was clearly extremely nervous at sampling some of New York's fine dining, and ended up bringing an entourage of staff with him, simply to enjoy an evening out. With everyone from taste-testers to his own personal waiters, the staff at trendy Soho restaurant Mamo, could only watch as they were firmly pushed to the sidelines while personnel from the Central Asian country took matters into their own hands. Concerned: President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan was so worried about his safety during his visit to the celebrity hangout Mamo on Monday that he lined the eatery with security guards Taste test: The Premier ordered a truffle pizza and roast chicken at Mamo - all of which was tested beforehand A source claimed the entire scene was farcical and more akin to Borat than Presidential behavior Sources tell the New York Post that even the plates and bowls were disinfected with vodka for some unknown reason, and a doctor was also on hand to taste test every mouthful of food. 'He had eight people from the US Secret Service inside the restaurant,' a witness told The Post. 'As well as 15 to 20 people from his own security detail, outside the restaurant, it was insane.' The restaurant's perfectly capable waitstaff was replaced with the Kazakh Premier's own people, while his personal physician demanded to be allowed access to kitchen to oversee the preparation, and to personally taste the food. 'Very nice!' Borat would likely have said. The source tells The Post how Mr Nazarbayev would drop the fine Mediterranean fare cooked by Mamo into little test tubes for 'testing'. The results would then be conveyed to the President's advisers situated in the main dining room, via an earpiece. Luckily, all of the food, which consisted of truffled pizza, penne with lobster, a burger and roast chicken, passed the inspection. The dishes were brought to the table by Nazarbayev's own servants. It's unclear why the Kazakh Head of State appeared to be so nervous. The President has governed the country unopposed since 1991 and in the past has been accused of silencing media that are critical of his office. Blue plaque will be located at the Soho cinema where her most famous film, Come Play With Me, ran But killed herself in 1979 aged 33 after battling depression and addiction She was one of Britain's most famous and A 1970s porn star is to be honoured with a blue plaque 36 years after she killed herself. Mary Millington, originally from Kenton, Middlesex, became one of the most successful women working in the sex industry in Britain and she later campaigned for the right to buy, sell and view pornography. Despite her incredible success, which saw her named as one of the hottest British sex film stars of the 1970s, she killed herself at her Surrey mansion in 1979 at the age of 33 after battling depression and a drug addiction. Mary Millington, originally from Kenton, Middlesex, became one of the most successful women working in the sex industry in Britain and she later campaigned for the right to buy, sell and view pornography Mary's most famous soft porn film, Come Play With Me, played continuously for four years in old Moulin Cinema in London's Soho. The cinema, which has since been transformed into a cocktail bar, is the planned site of the blue plaque, which will be unveiled later today by Mary's ex boyfriend and porn baron David Sullivan, who is now the joint chairman of West Ham. He told The Sun Mary would have been extremely proud of the blue plaque. He said: 'She would be very proud. It's probably the first recognition for any woman from the British sex industry. Despite her incredible success, which saw her named as one of the hottest British sex film stars of the 1970s, she killed herself at her Surrey mansion in 1979 at the age of 33 after battling depression and a drug addiction 'To set up a record that stands 40 years later we're all very proud of it. 'She was a liberal and as long as the act was legal and between consenting adults she felt people should be able to see whatever they wanted.' Mary was born Mary Ruth Quilter but because her parents were not married and she grew up without her father she was often bullied at school and, as a result, suffered from low self-esteem throughout her childhood and teenage years. After marrying at a young age she moved to Dorking in Surrey and nursed her terminally ill mother Joan for more than ten years. Described as one of the 'hottest British sex film stars of the seventies', Mary began her porn career to pay for her mother's care after initially becoming a glamour model in the late 1960s, and from there found herself gradually moving into hardcore porn. Her role in Come Play With Me made her a household name, as did the publicity campaign for the film during which Mary posed with a police officer outside 10 Downing Street and flashed her breasts for the cameras She met Sullivan in 1974, and he then reportedly convinced her to change her surname to Millington - so she could pretend to be the sister of Doreen Millington, the editor of Sullivan's Whitehouse magazine. Throughout her career, and even after finding success, Mary had been working as an escort, and claimed to have had a string of high-profile lovers including the then Prime Minister Harold Wilson. She once famously said: 'I treat sex as something to be enjoyed, something to be savoured, something to cling to, something to be indulged in whenever possible. The old slogan of "Make Love Not War" was a very good one.' In 1977 her small role in Sullivan's Come Play With Me made her a household name, as did the publicity campaign for the film during which Mary famously posed alongside a police officer outside 10 Downing Street and unexpectedly flashed her breasts for the cameras. The next year she starred in another Sullivan film, The Playbirds, about a group of policewomen, but her later films were less popular and Mary began to fear her looks were fading. The two sex shops she owned were frequently raided by police, and she repeatedly complained that officers were harassing and unfairly targeting her. The actress had begun to spiral into depression following the death of her mother in 1976. She struggled with drug addiction and debt, and was found guilty of a string of petty thefts - believing that the police were pursuing her on account of her unconventional lifestyle and campaigning. Mary's most famous sort porn film, Come Play With Me, played continuously for four years in old Moulin Cinema in London's Soho The blue plaque, which will be unveiled later today by Mary's ex boyfriend and porn baron David Sullivan (pictured earlier this year at the Olympic Stadium), who is now the joint chairman of West Ham Her finances were shambolic, and she was facing demands for unpaid taxes while relying heavily on cocaine. She had been arrested for shoplifting just days before death, later taking the overdose after calling her friend and publicist John East, who she asked to sing the track Goodnight Sweetheart to her. She was found by her husband Bob - who she had married as a teenager although the pair had an open marriage - on the morning of August 19, 1979. In one of the notes found alongside her body, addressed to Sullivan, she had written: 'The police have framed me yet again. They frighten me so much. I cant face the thought of prison.' Harvard University's president has dedicated a plaque that honors slaves who worked on campus centuries ago. The slate plaque was placed on Wadsworth House on Wednesday. The building served as the official residence of Harvard's presidents until 1849. The plaque lists the names of Titus and Venus, who were slaves who worked for President Benjamin Wadsworth from 1725 until 1737. It also lists the names of Juba and Bilhah, who were slaves in the household of President Edward Holyoke from 1737 until 1769. It comes amid a widespread drive by Ivy League universities to acknowledge their involvement in the slave trade, and to expunge any racist or slave-trade references from their institutions. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Finally unveiled: This slate plaque was placed on Wadsworth House on Harvard University's grounds on Wednesday. The building served as the official residence of Harvard's presidents, and their slaves, until 1849 THE FOUR SLAVES REMEMBERED They paid tribute to Titus, who is described in President Wadsworth's diaries as a 'mulatto' or 'Native American'. He was one of just two ethnic minorities ever allowed to join the full communion at First Church Cambridge, where he was baptized. Venus, described as 'a negro wench' who mainly served Wadsworth's wife, was also baptized in First Church. Only one other ethnic minority was baptized there between 1696 and 1830, according to Harvard's slave history archive. She was bought shortly after the Wadsworth family moved into their home in 1726, and records show her baptism came in 1740, after Wadsworth had ended his presidency. President Holyoke took over in 1737, and bought two slaves: Juba and Bilhah. According to Holyoke's diaries, it seems Juba participated in family activities and was a key part of their every day lives. During Holyoke's tenure Juba married Ciceely, the slave of a Hebrew professor at the school. Little is known about Bilhah, except that she died at 6pm on February 24, 1765. Advertisement Yale is in talks to change the title of a residential college named after John C Calhoun, a US vice president who was an ardent supporter of slavery. Harvard is considering changing its school shield, which has bundles of wheat in tribute to a plantation owner. And Princeton students staged a sit-in calling on the school to drop President Woodrow Wilson's name from a college as he 'had a racist legacy'. On Wednesday President Drew Faust hailed the new plaque as a significant step towards confronting the school's involvement in the slave trade. She told people at the ceremony that Harvard 'was directly complicit in America's system of racial bondage,' and the plaque is meant to remember 'stolen lives.' The nearly 400-year-old school was founded in 1636 and Massachusetts abolished slavery in 1783. Faust was joined by Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a veteran of the civil rights movement. They paid tribute to Titus, who is described in President Wadsworth's diaries as a 'mulatto' or 'Native American'. He was one of just two ethnic minorities ever allowed to join the full communion at First Church Cambridge, where he was baptized. Venus, described as 'a negro wench' who mainly served Wadsworth's wife, was also baptized in First Church. Only one other ethnic minority was baptized there between 1696 and 1830, according to Harvard's slave history archive. She was bought shortly after the Wadsworth family moved into their home in 1726, and records show her baptism came in 1740, after Wadsworth had ended his presidency. President Holyoke took over in 1737, and bought two slaves: Juba and Bilhah. According to Holyoke's diaries, it seems Juba participated in family activities and was a key part of their every day lives. During Holyoke's tenure Juba married Ciceely, the slave of a Hebrew professor at the school. Little is known about Bilhah, except that she died at 6pm on February 24, 1765. Wadsworth House now contains offices. Announcing the move in an op-ed for the student newspaper The Harvard Crimson last month, Faust said she's also convened a committee to recommend other campus sites warranting similar recognition and says Harvard will host a conference on universities and slavery next year. In her op-ed, Faust gave two reasons for erecting the plaque. The first was that in order to 'truly move beyond the painful injustices' of slavery, ' the school must 'fully acknowledge and understand' their role in the shameful trade. It's a subject that has long been studied in the South, and largely ignored in the North. 'The importance of slavery in early New England was long ignored even by historians, and the presence and contributions of people of African descent at Harvard have remained a largely untold story. 'But Harvard was directly complicit in Americas system of racial bondage from the Colleges earliest days in the 17th century until slavery in Massachusetts ended in 1783, and Harvard continued to be indirectly involved through extensive financial and other ties to the slave South up to the time of emancipation. Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a veteran of the civil rights movement, was present for the ceremony President Drew Faust gave two reasons for the plaque. Primarily that in order to 'truly move beyond the painful injustices' of slavery, ' the school must 'fully acknowledge and understand' their role in the shameful trade Melissa Smith, of Cambridge, Mass., left, a Harvard Law School administrator, and Kyle Courtney, of Hanover, Mass., right, a copyright advisor at Harvard, examine the newly-unveiled plaque on Wednesday 'This is our history and our legacy, one we must fully acknowledge and understand in order to truly move beyond the painful injustices at its core,' she wrote. Faust adds that by studying history, and the abuses of Harvard's forefathers, the community will also be betTer able tackle current social issues. 'We need to understand the attitudes and assumptions that made the oppressions of slavery possible in order to overcome their vestiges in our own time. 'It should not be because we feel superior to our predecessors that we interrogate and challenge their actions. We should approach the past with humility because we too are humans with capacities for self-delusion, for moral failure and blindness, for inhumanity. 'If we can better understand how oppression and exploitation could seem commonplace to so many of those who built Harvard, we may better equip ourselves to combat our own shortcomings and to advance justice and equality in our own time,' Faust wrote. OTHER WAYS IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS ARE CONFRONTING THEIR SLAVE TRADE PASTS HARVARD'S CREST Harvard's current shield, officially adopted in 1937, represents three bundles of wheat derived from the family crest of a plantation owner and slave trader The announcement comes as Harvard has taken steps to remove university symbols and references that harken to the slave era. The school's current shield, officially adopted in 1937, represents three bundles of wheat under the university's motto, 'Veritas'. It derives from the family crest of Isaac Royall Jr, a plantation owner and slave trader from Antigua. The symbol came under fire last fall, when a group of students launched a campaign called Royall Must Fall to have it changed. Dean Martha Minow created a committee, made up of professors, alumni, students and staff, in response to the Royall Must Fall movement. 'I endorse the recommendation to retire the shield because its association with slavery does not represent the values and aspirations of the Harvard Law School and because it has become a source of division rather than commonality in our community,' she wrote to students and alumni. The shield's meaning has changed over time, said Bruce Mann, committee chairman and Harvard Law professor. 'Too many people think the shield has become an impediment,' he said. 'Too many people see the association with slavery.' Not everyone agreed with the recommendation. One professor on the committee, joined by a student, said keeping the current shield was a way to honor the slaves whose sacrifice provided the Royall family with its wealth. They said the current shield should be tied 'to a historically sound interpretative narrative about it' and suggested adding the word 'Iustitia' justice in Latin below the word 'Veritas.' The Harvard Corporation will make a final decision regarding the shield's future. YALE'S COLLEGE NAMED AFTER PRO-SLAVE-TRADE VICE PRESIDENT Yale University's leaders have urged conversation about whether to change the name of a residential college named for John C Calhoun, a US vice president who was an ardent supporter of slavery. Debate over the name began this summer with a petition circulated after nine black worshippers were slain in a Charleston, South Carolina, church. The petition said the Calhoun name, in place since the 1930s, represents 'an indifference to centuries of pain and suffering among the black population.' This (left) is Yale's college named for John C Calhoun (right), a US vice president who supported slavery 'Calhoun College will always preclude minority students from feeling truly at home at Yale,' it said. Its namesake graduated from Yale in 1804 and was a senator from South Carolina who routinely defended slavery as 'a positive good' before he died in 1850. President Peter Salovey and Dean Jonathan Holloway said in a letter to alumni that weren't taking a position on the question but urging a discussion in welcoming speeches to first-year students, and 'we encourage you to take part as well.' 'Any response should engage the entire community in a thoughtful, campus-wide conversation about the university's history, the reasons why we remember or honor individuals, and whether historical narratives should be altered when they are disturbing,' the letter said. PRINCETON STUDENTS' BATTLE AGAINST PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON COLLEGE Princeton University became the latest school to be embroiled in a race scandal with 30 student's staging a sit-in inside their president's office in November. The Black Justice League (BJL) have told President Christopher L. Eisgruber they won't leave until Woodrow Wilson's name is removed from a college and international affairs school, and a mural to him in a dining hall is demolished. The group believe the former President, who led the formation of the League of Nations and helped all women get the vote, was a 'proud Clansman' who has a 'racist legacy'. They also want a 'cultural space' only black students can use and believe staff should go through 'cultural competency training'. Princeton's Black Justice League (BJL) left this placard on the grounds during a sit-in in November In addition, demonstrators insisted mandatory classes on the 'history of marginalized peoples' should be held in a bid to create a better student environment for minority students. But Eisgruber has not signed the document, insisting he cannot put the demands in place on his own. Princeton is now one of 23 schools across the country where students are staging protests and demanding action from senior officials because they believe they have been subjected to racism and harassment. The BJL announced through Facebook that they wanted 'to confront and challenge institutional racism and systemic inequality' in a bid to improve 'student experience'. However, according to student newspaper The Tab, some students condemned the move as their demands 'didn't make any sense'. OLE MISS EXPELS STUDENT WHO PUT NOOSE AROUND STATUE'S NECK A former University of Mississippi student pleaded guilty last month to placing a noose on the school's statue of its first black student. Austin Reed Edenfield, 21, waived indictment and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge before U.S. District Judge Michael Mills in Oxford. The charge says Edenfield helped others threaten force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university. He admitted to taking part in a February 2014 incident during which a noose and a former Georgia state flag with a Confederate battle emblem were placed on the Ole Miss statue of James Meredith. Austin Reed Edenfield, 21, (left) pleaded guilty to putting a noose around the neck of this statue (right) which depicts the first ever black student at Ole Miss, James Meredith Meredith integrated the university in 1962 amid rioting that was suppressed by federal troops. Prosecutors said another former student, Graeme Phillip Harris, hatched the plan to place the noose and flag on the statue after a night of drinking with Edenfield and a third freshman in the Sigma Phil Epsilon fraternity house on campus. They said Edenfield actually tied the noose on Meredith's statue after Harris couldn't do it. Harris pleaded guilty in June to a misdemeanor charge of threatening force to intimidate African-American students and employees at the university after prosecutors agreed to drop a stiffer felony charge in exchange. Meredith (pictured) integrated the university in 1962 amid rioting that was suppressed by federal troops His lawyer argued Harris did not deserve prison, saying he had written a letter of apology to Meredith after falling under the influence of racist traditions at the fraternity. Harris, who is also from Georgia, was sentenced to six months in prison, followed by 12 months of supervised release. The Illinois Board of Elections found in February that the Texas senator was eligible to run Objectors tried to block him from running for President because he was born in Canada The patriotic anthem tells of a man's pride of having been born in the US Aaron Tippin (pictured) released the patriotic song in September 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks Ted Cruz entered his victory rally to a country song in which a man proclaims his pride at being born in the U.S. - even though Cruz himself was born in Canada. The Texas senator won the Wisconsin primary with half of the votes on Tuesday and gave an optimistic speech in Milwaukee, saying he could overtake Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But before Cruz delivered his address, he walked onstage to the sound of Aaron Tippin's Where The Stars And Stripes And Eagle Fly, a patriotic anthem that reads as a love letter from a man to the US, his birth place. 'I was born by God's dear grace in an extraordinary place where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly,' the first stanza reads. Tippin released the title in September 2001 following the 9/11 attacks and gave all proceeds to help the Red Cross with its disaster relief effort. In the song, a man celebrates the U.S., 'a big 'ol land with countless dreams' where 'happiness ain't out of reach'. It references the Statue Of Liberty and the Liberty Bell. The lyrics culminate when the narrator announces: 'I pledge allegiance to this flag and if that bothers you, well that's too bad.' Unlike the song's narrator, Cruz wasn't born in the U.S. but in Canada - as some of his political adversaries have repeatedly reminded him. Five opponents filed a federal lawsuit in February arguing that the Texas senator shouldn't be able to run for President due to his birthplace. Donald Trump threatened to sue Cruz 'for not being a natural-born citizen' in a tweet at the same time. Cruz, who was born in Alberta to an American mother and a Cuban father, renounced his Canadian citizenship in 2014, nine months after finding out he had it. 'Nothing against Canada, but Im an American by birth and as a U.S. senator, I believe I should be only an American,' Cruz told the Dallas Morning News in 2013, after learning he might have dual citizenship. The Illinois Board of Elections found in February that Cruz had been a natural-born U.S, citizen and is eligible to run for President. A man, 65, refuses to believe he has sent at least $3 million to overseas scammers despite exasperated police insisting he's just making a band of West African thugs rich. Peter Melvin Kleinig, from Western Australia, has sent millions of dollars to bogus companies in Ghana and Togo, consumer authorities said in an extraordinary warning issued on Wednesday. Mr Kleinig is adamant he is sending the money to gold and silver mining firms and has even solicited donations from others in a newspaper advertisement with the promise of rich returns. It has forced Consumer Protection WA to take legal action to prevent him from showering the scammers with even more money. Peter Melvin Kleinig (pictured) has been barred from sending even more money overseas He has sent millions of dollars to faraway locations including Ghana and Togo, according to intelligence data In a statement, Acting Commissioner David Hillyard said anti-fraud officers 'have spent a lot of time trying to prove to Mr Kleinig that the... investment company, he believes in, does not exist'. Police in Ghana made nine arrests over the defrauding of Mr Kleinig and his friend Fred Williams - who had invested $2 million. But even that did not stop Mr Kleinig from continuing to ask others for money to send to the 'investment group'. 'It's extremely sad that Peter Kleinig has lost his life savings and refuses to accept that he is at the centre of an investment fraud,' Mr Hillyard said. Consumer Protection WA said the company sent Mr Kleinig this bogus 'certificate of incorporation' 'However, when the actions of a victim present a financial risk to other members of the community, authorities have a responsibility to step in to protect the public. 'That's why we have entered into this Court enforceable undertaking.' Customers in the Swan Valley, Armadale, Albany and Esperance have all donated money to Mr Kleinig. 'Anyone wanting to invest money should not give it to Peter Melvin Kleinig, or anyone like him who is not licensed or qualified to deal with other people's money.' Homeless protesters have returned to Heirisson Island in Perth just after they had been forcibly removed on Tuesday by Western Australia Police. Perth Now reports that 20 homeless people returned on Tuesday night to the island in eastern Perth despite police officers and city rangers removing tents and personal belongings on Tuesday morning amidst scuffles. Perth City Council had said that more than 100 mostly indigenous people were illegally living there, but were forced off the site with much of their possessions seized by police. However, by Tuesday night they were back. Around 20 homeless protesters have returned to Heirisson Island in Perth The occupation of the island was initially a protest against the closure of Aboriginal communities and has been continuously occupied for several years since. Weeks of protests were held on Heirisson Island in 2012 after a group of Aboriginal activists objected to the WA government's $1.3 billion native title offer to the Nyoongar people. Some of the campers evicted on Tuesday soon moved back in with donated tents on Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning they had built a camp fire and were having breakfast together. The Western Australian reports that homeless man David Edwards has lived at the camp for a month and was arrested by police on Tuesday during the eviction. On Tuesday more than 100 mostly indigenous people were removed (left), but by Wednesday morning they had returned (right) However, he returned to the camp as he believed it was a safe place for the city's homeless people to congregate. 'They bailed everyone up into the car park, and one of them must have dropped police issued zip-tie handcuffs, so I picked it up and threw it at them,' he said. 'They said "don't do that" but I said "why, you're doing it to our stuff so I'm going to do it to yours". 'I've been moved, stabbed, everything in the city. I can come here and get a good night's sleep.' A teenager who had already been declared dead in the Kalamazoo, Michigan shooting in February has made a miraculous recovery and started walking again. Abigail Kopf, 14, was shot in the head when Uber driver Jason Dalton went on a five-hour shooting spree, and doctors had talked about harvesting her organs for donation when Abigail squeezed her mother's hand. She uttered her first word in March, and a Facebook video released by her family on Sunday shows her making big strides at a rehabilitation center. Scroll down for video Abigail Kopf (pictured) had already been declared dead in the Kalamazoo, Michigan shooting in February has made a miraculous recovery and started walking again (left) Abigail Kopf, 14, was shot in the head when Uber driver Jason Dalton went on a five-hour shooting spree in February. She opened her eyes and started talking in March In the new video of Abigail released by her family on Facebook, she can be seen walking confidently with the help of a medical professional, as she waves to the camera and says 'Hi'. Her family wrote online: 'Abbie's recovery is astounding. It's hard to believe that a girl who was shot in the head a month ago is now playing board games.' A previous GoFundMe page was shown an outpouring of support as strangers chipped in to raise $67,206 to cover her medical expenses after six others were killed in the shooting. In a new crowdfunding effort, her mother Vickie Kopf described Abigail's brush with death, and wrote: 'That was 6 weeks ago. 'Not only did Abbie come back to us, shes walking and talking. But her path to full recovery is uncharted and may never end.' Abigail is slated to be released from the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the next month, but may have to continue physical therapy for the foreseeable future, her mother said. The family also faces the cost of remodeling their home to prevent Abigail from having to climb the stairs. Jason Dalton (pictured), 45, an Uber driver, has been charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder in connection with the shooting. Police say the attack was random and haven't given a motive so far Abigal began speaking in mid-March, less than a month after the shooting on February 20. 'This little girl loves her pig named Hamlet,' her father wrote on the family's Go Fund Me page. 'Tonight, Abbie spoke her first word. It was "pig".' 'This gives us great hope that she will regain her speech.' She was released from Bronson Chidlren's Hospital, and Dr. Aaron Lane-Davies, medical director of Bronson Childrens Hospital said: 'The pace of her progress is exceptional. 'It will be a long journey ahead but she is regaining her functions more quickly than expected for someone with an extensive brain injury.' Abigail needed a ventilator at first but began breathing on her own again a few days after she was shot. Earlier in March, she opened her eyes for the first time since the attack and managed to take a few steps. Jason Dalton, 45, an Uber driver, has been charged with six counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. Police say the attack was random and haven't given a motive so far. At the time of the attack, Abigail was in the passenger seat of this car parked outside a Cracker Barrel restaurant. Doctors declared her dead at the hospital but she squeezed her mother's hand Magistrate said it was 'appalling driving' but did not seek jail time The Sunday Telegraph's political editor has pleaded guilty to drink driving charges after she was caught with a blood alcohol reading of almost three times the legal limit. Samantha Louise Maiden, 43, pleaded guilty to two charges in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday of mid-range drink driving and failing to obey police direction. The 43-year-old recorded a positive reading on her roadside breath test when police pulled her over in Goulburn, 200km south-west of Sydney, on March 20, according to The Goulburn Post. Sunday Telegraph political editor Samantha Maiden (pictured) pleaded guilty to drink driving charges after she was recorded driving almost three times the legal alcohol limit Ms Maiden (pictured) was arrested and taken to Goulburn Police Station she allegedly recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.136 - almost three times the legal limit After she was arrested and taken to Goulburn Police Station she allegedly recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.136, the report stated. In ordering a pre-sentence report, Magistrate Daryl Pearce recommended looking at alternatives to jail. 'It was an appalling piece of driving,' the Magistrate said. Ms Maiden is expected to reappear in court on May 18. Samantha Louise Maiden, 43, (pictured) faced two charges in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday of mid-range drink driving and failing to obey police direction In ordering a pre-sentence report, Magistrate Daryl Pearce recommended looking at alternatives to jail Pope Francis will travel to the Greek island of Lesbos on the frontline of Europe's refugee crisis next week as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled. The trip by the pope, who will be accompanied by the head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, is likely to pile pressure on EU leaders already facing criticism over the controversial deal struck last month. 'The Greek government will welcome Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew as valuable defenders of support to refugees,' a government source in Athens said, adding the trip would happen on April 14 or 15. 'Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras will go with (them) to the island of Lesbos,' a tourist hub that has been transformed into a major gateway for new arrivals seeking a better life in Europe. Pope Francis, surrounded by his security guards, greets faithful as he makes a tour of St Peter's Square at the end of a Mass for the the Holy Year of Mercy at the Vatican on April 3. He will travel to Lesbos on the frontline of Europe's refugee crisis next week as a controversial EU accord to send migrants back to Turkey stalled The deportation of migrants from Lesbos was halted after just one day this morning because thousands of those in detention have now claimed asylum. Refugees are pictured at Moria camp in Lesbos Hundreds of thousands of people have landed on the island's shores over the past year after crossing over from Turkey in flimsy boats, part of Europe's worst migration crisis since World War II. Brussels sought to tackle the problem by signing an agreement with Ankara last month to send new arrivals back to Turkey, in exchange for resettling some of the millions of Syrians living in refugee camps on its soil. The deal has already contributed to a slowing of new arrivals, and Germany's interior minister said Tuesday that his country could lift temporary border controls brought in last year by mid-May if the arrivals continue to dwindle. But the deal has been slammed by rights groups, the UN and even the pope, who used his Easter address to criticise the 'rejection' of refugees, and has been slowed by a last-minute rush of asylum applications. The Greek Orthodox Church said it had approved the papal visit to Lesbos after Francis expressed a desire to 'shed light on the major humanitarian problem' of the migrant influx. Tensions were running high on the Greek islands after the first tranche of 200 migrants were deported on Monday. A Turkish official said the next transfer 'has been postponed to Friday' at Greece's request. A last-minute rush of asylum applications have been submitted and a Greek government spokesman said no operations were planned for the rest of the day. A protest has taken place at the camp in Lesbos The process has been slowed 'by an increase in asylum requests' in the last few days on Lesbos and another Aegean island, Chios, said Greek migration spokesman Yiorgos Kyritsis. On Samos, less than two kilometres (one mile) by sea from Turkey, Ali, a Pakistani, told AFP that 100 migrants had gone on hunger strike. 'We risk our lives to come here, we don't want to go back to Turkey because they are going to send us back to Pakistan,' he said. 'We don't want to apply for asylum in Greece, we want to go to Germany.' All 'irregular migrants' arriving in Greece since March 20 now face being sent back, although the EU deal calls for each case to be examined individually. For every Syrian refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the European Union, with numbers capped at 72,000. Out of around 6,000 migrants who arrived on the islands after a deadline of March 20, more than 2,300 had applied for asylum EU border agency Frontex described the first deportation operation as 'orderly', but on Tuesday the UN's refugee agency said some of those sent back may not have had access to proper asylum procedures. 'We are concerned that 13 people, most of them Afghans, who expressed the wish to request asylum were unable to be registered in time,' the UNHCR's representative in Greece, Philippe Leclerc, told AFP. The numbers crossing from Turkey have dropped since the deal came into force, with hundreds landing on the Greek islands per day as opposed to thousands. This, along with a series of border closures further up the migrant route, has reduced the number of new arrivals in northern Europe - the main destination for the more than million people who arrived in Europe last year. David Cameron was today forced to make a fourth attempt to kill off toxic speculation about his links to tax havens by denying that he, his wife or their children will ever benefit from offshore funds. Downing Street scrambled to issue a wider denial as the Prime Minister's financial affairs came under intense scrutiny in the wake of revelations about his late fathers investments. A massive haul of leaked documents from a Panama law firm has disclosed details of how Ian Cameron's company Blairmore Holdings allegedly avoided UK tax for a decade. Number 10 initially attempted to sidestep questions over whether Mr Cameron had gained from the offshore assets by insisting it was a 'private matter'. David Cameron, pictured an at EU referendum campaign event, said he received no income from any offshore trusts after Jeremy Corbyn called for an inquiry into the Cameron family finances Cameron, pictured with his parents Ian and Mary Cameron, has been dragged into the Panama Papers scandal after it emerged that his father Ian's (left) firm was based offshore and involved in tax avoidance But as the outcry gathered pace, the premier made an extraordinary public statement insisting that he had no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. He said had only some savings and a house that he let out. In a series of retreats yesterday, aides then declared that Mr Cameron did not have a 'blind trust' for investments, and neither Samantha Cameron nor their three children currently benefited from any offshore assets. Sources have now gone further issuing a fourth statement stating: 'There are no offshore funds or trusts from which the Prime Minister, Mrs Cameron or the children will benefit from in future.' The assurance is still unlikely to satisfy critics including Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who have demanded to know whether Mr Cameron benefited indirectly from money gained through tax avoidance, when he was younger or through his inheritance. The statements so far have also made no direct reference to assets held by Mr Cameron's mother Mary. Mr Corbyn has demanded an independent inquiry in the Cameron family's finances. Speaking at a referendum campaign stop in Birmingham, Mr Cameron said: 'There are two things I am responsible for - my own financial affairs and the tax system of the United Kingdom. 'And in terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares, I have a salary as Prime Minister, I have some savings which I get some interest from, and I have a house which we used to live in which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street. 'That's all I have - I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds - nothing like that.' London Mayor Boris Johnson put aside hostilities with Mr Cameron over the EU referendum to dismiss the row as 'absolute tripe'. 'As far as I can see, even a close study of the Guardian, I cannot see what they are blathering on about, I really cant,' he told LBC radio. 'The prime minister has made a very clear statement that he does not have a trust or any income from trusts and all the rest of it. It seems to be a load of absolute tripe.' Asked if he had any offshore funds, the Tory MP replied ruefully: I wish. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, pictured at the launch of his local election campaign, has called for an independent investigation into David Cameron's family tax affairs In another day of global drama yesterday: Icelands prime minister resigned after the Panama Papers revealed he had an undeclared interest in his nations bailed-out banks; It emerged that five former Tory donors linked to tax havens in the data leak had given the party at least 16.4million; Mr Cameron was urged to impose direct rule on British-owned tax havens; HSBC was accused of lobbying to keep Swiss bank accounts open for a cousin of Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad; Barack Obama gave his first response to the leaks, saying wealthy individuals and corporations were gaming the system. Mr Corbyn said: 'It's a private matter in so far as it's a privately held interest, but it's not a private matter if tax has not been paid. 'Investigations must take place, independent investigations, unprejudiced, to decide whether taxes have been paid or not 'I think the Prime Minister in his interests ought to tell us exactly what has been going on.' HM Revenue and Customs said yesterday it would study the data in the leaked files, adding the information was already subject to 'intensive investigation'. LABOUR MP BRANDS IAN CAMERON'S TAX ARRANGEMENTS A 'SIN' A Labour backbencher has launched a brutal attack on Ian Cameron's 'disgusting' tax arrangements. Birmingham Yardley MP Jess Phillips said the 'sins' of the Prime Minister's late father were 'not illegal but they are utterly disgusting'. 'What makes it worse is that they got the best of everything while you paid the tab,' she wrote on the Huffington Post website. 'They reaped the benefits of your hard toil, and because they had money to spare they got the best education, smaller class sizes, better service. Their kids got privilege that you paid for but never benefited from.' She went on: 'So David Cameron doesn't need our praise for paying his tax. He's not a very clever boy, he's a very average boy who used privilege rather than brains to get where he got.' Advertisement Mr Corbyn said he wanted an investigation conducted by HM Revenue and Customs 'about the amount of money of all people that have invested in these shell companies or put money into tax havens and to calculate what tax they should have paid over the years'. Asked whether the PM should resign if he is found to have benefited, Mr Corbyn said: 'Let's take one thing at a time. 'We need openness, we need an examination, we need a decision after that.' Pressed on whether he would publish his own tax return, Mr Corbyn said: 'There is no problem with my tax affairs, they are very, very limited indeed. 'I have got an income as an MP, sadly I have got no family trusts of any sort.' The details about the Prime Minister's father's affairs emerged following the leak of 11.5million secret documents from the offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. As more world leaders, celebrities and business figures were compromised: Three former Tory MPs, six Lords and a number of Conservative donors were linked to tax havens, including financiers who supported Mr Cameron's rise to power; HSBC and the Queen's bank Coutts were revealed to have been among the biggest facilitators of offshore tax deals; The files revealed that gold from the Brink's-Mat heist may have been laundered with the help of Mossack Fonseca, which denies wrongdoing; Iceland's prime minister was left facing a no-confidence vote after it emerged he had an undeclared interest in his nation's bailed-out banks; A suspected 1.4billion money-laundering ring was said to involve close associates of Vladimir Putin; HMRC was branded 'hapless and pathetic' after being wrong-footed by the Panama Papers. Mr Corbyn earlier told the BBC that in the wake of the Panama Papers leak he wanted direct rule of British territories that refused to follow tax law. He said: 'The point is that they are not independent territories. They are self-governing, yes, but they are British crown dependent territories. 'Therefore, surely, there has to be an observance of UK tax law in those places. 'If they have become a place for systematic evasion and short-changing the public in this country, then something has to be done about it. 'Either those governments comply or a next step has to be taken.' Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve warned against closing down tax havens. He told the BBC: 'I must say that I think the present government has done more to close tax loopholes than was ever done by Labour. Prime Minister David Cameron, pictured with his late father Ian, initially refused to say if his family benefited from offshore funds 'There has in fact been a tremendous amount of work done by the treasury. But ultimately I think you have to strike a balance. 'If we are going to destroy the economy of the British Virgin Islands then we are going to destroy the livelihoods of those inhabitants.' Experts today said the way Ian Cameron's firm held meetings in the Caribbean and Switzerland appeared little more than a 'conjuring trick' to make it seem the firm was based outside the UK when key decisions were actually taken in Britain. The leak shows his firm used a secretive type of share certificate now banned in the UK. The 'Panama Papers' also reveal his company Blairmore Holdings avoided UK tax by hiring Bahamas residents including a bishop to sign paperwork. As Prime Minister he has spearheaded efforts to make global finance more transparent. He has spoken out repeatedly against tax avoidance and is hosting a major summit on the issue next month. Senior government officials said David Cameron (left), who is not involved in his father's (right) business, does not personally own shares in any company and no shareholdings are registered in the list of MPs' interests It emerged in 2012 that Ian Cameron had run a network of offshore investment funds to help build the family fortune. But the Panama Papers included significant new details yesterday. Though entirely legal, the funds were set up in tax havens such as Panama City and Geneva, and were said to have explicitly boasted of their ability to remain outside the UK tax jurisdiction. Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was said to have been instrumental in setting up Blairmore, which was run from the Bahamas but named after the family's ancestral home in Aberdeenshire. It managed tens of millions of pounds on behalf of wealthy families. Ian Cameron's firm Blairmore Holdings allegedly paid people in the Bahamas to sign paperwork so they could enjoy offshore tax status Clients included Isidore Kerman, an adviser to Robert Maxwell, and Leopold Joseph, the private bank used by the Rolling Stones. John Mann, a Labour member of the Treasury select committee, demanded that No 10 publish full details about the links between the Cameron family and Blairmore. 'Parliament and every taxpayer have a right to know whether any of this money is still hidden offshore,' he said. And Jeremy Corbyn demanded that the Prime Minister 'stop pussyfooting around' and take action to tackle tax dodgers. The Labour leader will insist today there cannot be 'one set of rules for the wealthy elite and another for the rest of us'. He will argue avoidance of tax by wealthy firms and individuals is starving public services of vital funding. Mossack Fonseca said it had operated 'beyond reproach' for 40 years, simply set up firms and had never been charged with criminal wrongdoing. Government sources insisted they had taken tough action on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance, ending the situation under Labour when some City bosses were paying less tax than cleaners. They pointed to the 2billion raised following a crackdown on offshore holdings, and billions more raised following a crackdown on aggressive tax avoidance. But Richard Pyle of Oxfam said the UK was in a unique position 'to help clean up the murky world of tax havens' and should ensure the real beneficiaries of offshore companies were revealed. SHARES WITH NO NAME Bearer shares are so called because no name is attached to them. Whoever has the physical share certificate is its owner the same way that whoever has possession of a 10 note owns it and is free to spend it. Information about who actually owns the share is concealed. Certificates can be passed or sold by one person or company to another and the firm that issued it does not have to be informed. UK companies were banned from issuing them last May under the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act. By next month, British firms that previously issued bearer shares must have converted them into a normal 'registered' share. But they are still allowed in a number of countries. And they remain a means of money laundering and tax evasion as they leave no trace of who owns or controls the finances of the company that issued the shares. Advertisement David Cameron faces embarrassment as the leak threatens to overshadow international summit on tax avoidance next month TIM SCULTHORPE, MAILONLINE DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR David Cameron will meet world leaders next month to work on new tax avoidance measures but the massive leak of the Panama papers could overshadow the London summit. No 10 yesterday insisted the Prime Minister and Britain had been global leaders on cracking down on tax evasion and aggressive avoidance. But after the leak of millions of papers - suggesting, among others, Mr Cameron's father and a string of Tory donors sheltered money off shore - threatens to undermine the talks. David Cameron, right at a summit in Washington with Barack Obama last week, struck a deal on international tax avoidance with the US President and other G8 leaders in 2013. He is hosting a follow up meeting in London next month Campaigners have demanded British legislation to end UK tax havens - including in the crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. The Prime Minister placed tackling global tax avoidance at the heart of his G8 presidency in 2013 and is working to follow up on the agreements made. Mr Cameron has been a vocal advocate of reform and legislation forcing British companies to disclose who owns and benefits from their activities which comes into force in June. Despite several years of pressure however, few UK Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories - which are said to make up a large part of the tax havens referred to in the papers - have taken concrete action to open up the books. WHAT ARE OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS AND HOW ARE THEY USED? WHAT ARE OFFSHORE OR SHELL ACCOUNTS? Offshore bank accounts and other financial dealings in another country can be used to evade regulatory oversight or tax obligations. Often, companies or individuals use shell companies, initially incorporated without significant assets or operations, to disguise ownership or other information about the funds involved. WHERE ARE MOST OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS? Panama, the Cayman Islands and Bermuda are among more than a dozen small, low-tax locations that specialize in handling business services and investments of non-resident companies. LEGITIMATE USES FOR OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS: Companies or trusts can be set up in offshore locations for legitimate uses such as business finance, mergers and acquisitions and estate or tax planning, according to the global money laundering watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force. ILLICIT USES OF OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS: Shell companies and other entities can be misused by terrorists and others involved in international and financial crimes to conceal sources of funds and ownership. The ICIJ says the files from Mossack Fonseca include information on 214,488 offshore entities linked to 14,153 clients in 200 countries and territories. EFFORTS TO CRACK DOWN ON FINANCIAL HAVENS: Financial and legal professionals get training on how to spot potential violations, since in some cases lawyers and bankers are unaware they are handling illicit transactions. The EU has stepped up efforts to crack down on tax avoidance by multinational corporations. Advertisement He faces pressure to secure progress at an international summit on tackling corruption which he will chair in London in May and where the use of offshore tax havens to escape scrutiny will be high on the agenda. Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman insisted good progress had been made since 2013. She said: 'We want to see the overseas territories and crown dependencies play their part and that is why we will continue to push them to do so and as I have said the Prime Minister has made clear that should they fail to do so, he rules absolutely nothing out.' Asked if any cash should be repaid she added: 'That is a matter for HMRC.' Mr Cameron's spokeswoman said Britain was 'leading the pack internationally' on the issue and said 90 countries were now signed up to policies agreed at the G8 in 2013. Turning to next month's summit, she added: 'We will be looking at a range of areas - this was something the Prime Minister decided last summer ahead of the G7 meeting in Germany that we should try focus on this issue as a country that is meeting its commitment to 0.7 per cent aid spending. 'We want to look now at how we move forward to make sure in different walks of life money is being spent in the right way and people know where taxpayers money is being spent. 'May's summit will be an opportunity to bring together leaders, international organisations, NGOs, to look at is there more we can do in this area to do with tax and transparency or, indeed, in other areas such as sport.' Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said not enough had been achieved. 'Cameron promised and has failed to end tax secrecy and crack down on 'morally unacceptable' offshore schemes,' he said. 'Real action is now needed.' SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie said the Government had to go further on British Overseas Territories. He said: 'Currently, true ownership of companies registered in British Overseas Territories is shrouded in secrecy due to the use of nominated directors and shareholders making it impossible for tax authorities to find out who really owns and benefits from the company. 'This has to stop and the Tories are running out of excuses as to why they have not done more to stop this dubious practice.' Ahead of the 2013 summit, Mr Cameron insisted tax havens had a right to be low tax jurisdictions but said rules had to be transparent and enforced fairly. Four women, including bride-to-be Lauren Estabilio, were taken to hospital He was charged following a brawl in March in a Sydney CBD Hungry Jack's He appeared in a Sydney Court on Wednesday and did not enter a plea A mining worker charged over a wild brawl that saw a bride-to-be fracture her collarbone has claimed he is the victim. John McFadyen, 43, appeared in Downing Centre Local Court charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and two counts of common assault, after a fight outside a Hungry Jack's store in Sydney last month. Speaking outside court, McFadyen said he did not assault anyone and instead he was 'punched in the face about five times' by Lauren Estabilio, who was celebrating her hen's night when the incident took place, The Daily Telegraph reports. Scroll down for video John McFadyen (pictured), a mining worker charged over a wild brawl that saw a bride-to-be fracture her collarbone, has claimed he is the victim One of the women suffered injuries after the brawl at Hungry Jack's and was taken to hospital Ms Estabilio, 29, and three friends were taken to hospital after the brawl, along with a 69-year-old man who was injured while trying to defend the women. It comes after it was revealed the fight allegedly broke out after sexually inappropriate comments were made towards the bride-to-be and her friends. McFadyen did not enter a plea during his appearance in court. However, his lawyer, Winston Terracini, SC, said his client gave the woman a 'push or a shove' and she fell over a table leg, causing the injury. During the incident Ms Estabilio (left), who was due to be married to fiance Ian Bennett (right), fractured her collarbone and was taken to hospital Ms Estabilio (right) and her friends Charissa Valenton, Katherine Smith and Gemma Jenkins were all taken to hospital following the incident last month Police conducted interviews following the incident on March 12. McFadyen's lawyer said he gave a 'push or a shove' and that the injury to Ms Estabilio happened 'when she hit the ground' McFadyen was sitting in the fast-food restaurant when a fight broke out and 'spilt over' in his direction, his lawyer Winston Terracini SC said. 'It is a classic defence, we came to the aid of our partner during the brawl which involved three to four people. The victim fell over a steel leg of a table in the restaurant and fractured a shoulder,' Mr Terracini said according to the Daily Telegraph. McFadyen is currently on bail and will report to Chatswood police station on a weekly basis. A second man, Mark Ambrose Shepherd 44, was also charged in relation to the incident and faced five charges of assault and affray. Both cases will return to court next month. The Good Samaritan, 69, who stepped in to help the women was treated for swelling to the face ISIS has burned 15 people alive for trying to escape from Fallujah after arresting a woman who pleaded for the West to 'save us or bomb us' on television. The civilians were sentenced to death for trying to flee the city, which is under siege by Iraqi troops having been held by the terror group since January 2014. Militants have also detained a dissident who went on television to reveal how desperate residents are starving to death while there was now no more medicine to treat the sick. Militants have also detained a dissident who went on television (pictured) to reveal how desperate residents are starving to death while there was now no more medicine to treat the sick She told the Al Arabiya News Channel: 'People are dying because of hunger, there is no medicine, no food, we have no more options left.' As she becomes more and more emotional in the clip, she cries: 'Save us from Islamic State or bomb us with chemical weapons so we will immediately die and not have a slow, agonising death. 'Allah is my refuge,' she added in the short video. According to the Kurdish news agency ARA, Azal Obaid, of the Anbar Provincial Council, said that ISIS publicly burned 15 people to death after they tried to leave the city, some 30 miles west of the capital Baghdad. It quotes a source as saying: 'Living within the city under the terror group's authority has become unbearable. 'Fallujah has been under suffocating blockade for several months. People endure severe shortage of basic materials, amid deteriorating living conditions.' Obaid said civilians are being used as human shields 'to protect its own militants inside the city of Fallujah'. The civilians were sentenced to death for trying to flee the city, which is under siege by Iraqi troops having been held by the terror group since January 2014 (file picture) Last month the jihadist group released pictures of six men being executed on charges of 'spying' for the Iraqi government in Fallujah. ISIS used three different methods to execute their victims, all wearing orange jumpsuits. The pictures showed masked ISIS fighters in full tactical gear, against the backdrop of a heavily damaged city. Four of the victims were shot in the head, one was decapitated with a knife and another with an explosive rope. Fallujah lies in Anbar province and is the jihadist group's largest remaining stronghold in Iraq after the city of Mosul. ISIS controlled most of Anbar a few months ago but sweeping military operations by the Iraqi security forces backed by air strikes from the US-led coalition are turning the tide. Fallujah is almost completely isolated from other ISIS-controlled territory and ISIS is believed to be increasingly struggling to get supplies into the city. The situation also appears to be causing increased internal tension in Fallujah, with ISIS paranoid that residents are assisting with an impending government offensive. A severely visually impaired woman was told by staff at a hipster cafe that she could not eat there because they refused to allow her guide dog to enter. Alyse Garner, 28, claims that her disability resulted in her being effectively turned away from Simply Organique in Manor House, north London - along with Lola, her black Labrador. The writer, who was visiting the area from Leicester, alleged that a waitress just shrugged and walked off when she protested that it is illegal for restaurants to ban guide dogs. Refused entry: Alyse Garner, 28, claims that her disability resulted in her being effectively turned away from Simply Organique in Manor House, north London - along with Lola, her black Labrador The cafe has now apologised to Miss Garner - who had gone there with a friend on Sunday - and confirmed that the member of staff involved has now been dismissed. Miss Garner told MailOnline: I was told I wasn't allowed to bring in the dog because all the seating is upstairs and it would have to sit outside. I said actually it's against the law to refuse a guide dog. People wouldn't think twice about allowing a wheelchair or cane into their business - and it's difficult as well because you develop a really strong close relationship with your guide dog.' She added: It's the law, it's not something you can choose... Having a disability is hard enough, and when you're refused in somewhere it makes you feel more singled out and more vulnerable. Disabled people in England should be given access with their guide dog to cafes and restaurants under the Equality Act 2010, which requires service providers not to discriminate against them. And Miss Garner - who grew up in Finsbury Park and is now studying for a PhD at the University of Leicester in film, cinema and video studies - is hoping to raise awareness of the law. 'We really apologise': The cafe (above) in north London has said sorry to Miss Garner, who had gone there with a friend, and promised to speak to staff about what happened, insisting that it is very animal friendly The charity fundraiser added that it was the first time in three years with Lola that she has been turned away from somewhere. A spokesman for Simply Organique, which describes itself as a smugglers cove of organic, fair trade and gluten free ingredients, told MailOnline: We couldn't be sorry enough for what one of our members of staff has caused. Having a disability is hard enough, and when you're refused in somewhere it makes you feel more singled out and more vulnerable Alyse Garner 'We have checked CCTV and we once again apologise to the lady and her dog Lola. She added that she wanted to offer Miss Garner any complimentary services at the cafe, and confirmed that the member of staff involved has now been 'dismissed' from the business. The Guide Dogs charity has warned assistance animals being banned from restaurants is a common problem, with various other examples reported in the media over the past few years. James White, senior campaigns manager for the charity, told MailOnline: We were disappointed to hear that Alyse was asked to leave a cafe in north London because of her guide dog. People with sight loss rely on their guide dogs to live with freedom and confidence, and its extremely distressing to be turned away by a business. Despite legal protection, our research shows that around half of all guide dog owners have faced such an access refusal and as a charity, Guide Dogs is campaigning to change this. In February, blind student Holly Scott-Gardner saw a birthday meal in Coventry ruined when staff at the PGR restaurant said her guide dog Isla would not be allowed in and had to be tied up outside. Advertisement Junior doctors launched a fresh wave of strike action today cancelling more than 5,000 operations - bringing the total to almost 25,000 since the dispute began. Medics walked out across England for a 48 hour strike on non-emergency care at 8am in a continued dispute with the Government over a new contract. Protesters focused their anger on a Department of Health analysis published last week which conceded the new contract would indirectly impact disproportionately on women. One placard at the picket line outside Bristol Royal Infirmary read: 'My ovaries and breasts don't make me worth less'. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced in February he would impose the deal amid a continuing row over rates of pay for Saturday shifts. The British Medical Association plans an all-out strike with no emergency cover later this month - despite warnings it will put patients lives at risk. Junior doctors from St Thomas' in London were seen on the picket line today as the latest strike action over a new contract got underway Picket lines were also busy outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary today as junior doctors continued their campaign of action against the imposition of a new contract Doctors on the picket line in Bristol hit out at findings the new junior doctor contract is in some ways discriminatory against women Today's strike action saw thousands of doctors walk out and picket lines manned across England. A noisy protest was held outside the Department of Health headquarters in Richmond House. The event was attended by actress and political activist Vanessa Redgrave as striking doctors staged a 'die in' on the pavement outside the department. She said: 'Junior doctors are being treated like all the other wonderful things - like dirt. Treated as if they were mad, as if they were stupid.' She added: 'I could cry, they work so hard', before being interrupted by chanting as fresh protesters flocked to join the throng. And the cast of the Green Wing, a TV sketch comedy about doctors, reunited to join the protests outside Northwick Hospital in Middlesex. Stephen Mangan, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pippa Haywood, Tamsin Greig and Oliver Chris donned their green scrubs to join the picket line hours after the 48-hour walk out began. Mr Mangan said he had watched the negotiations be 'completely botched' by Jeremy Hunt, and urged the Health Secretary to sit down and talk to junior doctors. The actor, who played ladies' man Guy Secretan, said: 'They're reasonable people, as far as I can make out. They're nothing like the characters we played in Green Wing - they seem to be quite intelligent and sensible most of the time.' He warned good will was being 'exhausted' by Mr Hunt's approach to the negotiations. The Green Wing cast of Stephen Mangan, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Pippa Haywood, Tamsin Greig and Oliver Chris donned green scrubs to join the picket line at Northwick Hospital in Middlesex Today's strike involves all hospital doctors below consultant level but is not taking place in accident and emergency departments. NHS England said that 46 per cent of junior doctors had turned up to work today - but this includes those who had never planned to strike such as those providing emergency care cover. Ahead of today's strike, Dr Anne Rainsberry, national incident director for NHS England, said: 'We've already seen that a 48-hour strike puts considerably more pressure on the NHS and it's deeply regrettable that thousands of patients are still facing disruption because of this recurring action. 'As always, the safety and care of patients is our number one priority and everything possible is being done to make sure patients will still be able to access urgent and emergency services. 'Following closely on from the four-day Easter break, this will be a difficult period, especially over the course of the second day. 'Consequently we have redoubled our planning efforts and will be closely monitoring events to make sure we can respond to any rising pressures.' Dr Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA's junior doctor committee, said: 'We deeply regret any disruption this action will cause to patients, but it is because we believe this contract would be bad for the delivery of patient care in the long term that we are taking this action. 'By imposing a contract that junior doctors have no confidence in and refusing to re-enter talks with the BMA, the Government has left us with no choice. Junior doctors at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester today hung an effigy of health secretary Jeremy Hunt and accused him of killing the NHS Doctors also joined picket lines in Preston today as they insisted the new junior doctor contract was 'not safe, not fair' in the BMA's campaign to stop Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt from imposing the new deal Protesting doctors on the picket line outside St Thomas' hospital in London donned face masks highlighting research suggesting women could lose out under the terms of the deal 'We want a contract that is fair for all junior doctors - not one which the Government has admitted will disadvantage women - and ensures that they feel valued and motivated so that the NHS can retain the GPs and hospital doctors of the future. 'Responsibility for industrial action now lies entirely with the Government. 'They must start listening and resume negotiations on a properly funded junior doctor's contract to protect the future of patient care and the NHS.' The BMA is launching a judicial review challenging the lawfulness of the imposition of the contract. It will challenge the lawfulness of the decision, saying it is a 'total failure on the Government's part'. It branded the Government's handling of the process as 'shambolic', saying generations of doctors had been alienated. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is also facing a second legal challenge from NHS staff campaign group Just Health. A Department of Health spokeswoman said today: 'This strike is irresponsible and disproportionate, and, with almost 25,000 operations cancelled so far, it is patients who are suffering. 'If the BMA had agreed to negotiate on Saturday pay, as they promised to do through Acas in November, we'd have a negotiated agreement by now.' Actress and political activist Vanessa Redgrave joined protesters at a 'die in' outside the Department of Health on Whitehall today during the first day of a new 48 hour strike over a new junior doctor contract Scores of protesters turned up at Richmond House, the headquarters of the Department of Health, to demand changes to the new contract being imposed on junior doctors Around 40 junior doctors and supporters joined a picket line outside the Royal Liverpool University Hospital. STRIKING DOCTOR LOCKED HIMSELF IN A STOREROOM AND WEPT AFTER HE WAS LEFT IN CHARGE OF AN ENTIRE HOSPITAL OF PATIENTS TWO WEEKS INTO THE JOB A striking junior doctor has revealed how locked himself in a cupboard and wept after being left in charge of a whole hospital of patients with just one other doctor. Matt Tuck told of how he hid in the storeroom with his pager and two page list of tasks. Dr Tuck said he was just two weeks into his career as a junior doctor and was just 23. Now 25 and working at Hull Royal Infirmary, he said: 'For any doctor, if they say they didn't have that horrible moment when they either cried or were on the verge of tears, they are lying. 'Two weeks in the job, you are the first port of call for any general query or worry from any nurse on the wards, you have to answer the bleep and you've got a long list of jobs left by the consultants. 'That's in addition to responding to crash calls where people have stopped breathing. 'I just leaned against the wall, let it wash over me and picked it up again.' Dr Tuck insisted he had never expected to be involved in a strike during his medical career but said he had to try and stop the new contract. He said: 'I need to be able to look back and say I did everything I could to stop this, not just for the next 40 years of patients, but for the next 40 years of new doctors.' Advertisement First-year doctor and strike co-ordinator Nusiba Taufik said: 'We have had a lot of support from the public and patients - they back us because the new contract the Government is trying to introduce just does not benefit anyone at all. 'I have had conversations on my ward with patients who want to know if we are striking, and why. 'Generally, the overwhelming majority are with us on this. 'We have minimised the risk to patients, and consultants have offered to cover those of us out here on strike so it is a bit like a Bank Holiday on the ward. 'We have always said we don't want to do a full walkout, but the Government simply is not listening to us. 'In an ideal world we want the Government to come back to the negotiating table.' Outside the Bristol Royal Infirmary, dozens of campaigners, including a drummer and a tambourinist, lined the picket. Drivers beeped their horns as they passed, while people walking down the street were urged to chat to striking doctors. Speaking in Bristol, Dr Kitty Thompson, 28, said: 'The contract details were announced last week and that's really put more fire into our bellies, particularly the point in the contract where they have admitted that there's potential for discrimination against women. 'A lot of women work part-time compared to men because of raising children and things like that. 'I just think in this day and age and in this country it's completely wrong for them to be openly discriminating against women. 'That's not the country that we want to live in.' Consultant anaesthetist Barbara Stanley, of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: 'If this contract continues and the Government does not withdraw it, it means there is potential for mass resignations among doctors all over this country come August and that would potentially mean the collapse of the NHS.' Dr Stanley said the contract is 'unfair and unsafe' for patients, with doctors being forced to work much longer hours for much less money. 'But what has really made doctors angry is that the safeguards in place to prevent them working lots and lots of nights and lots and lots of days all consecutively have been removed under the contract The major sticking point has been over weekend pay and whether Saturdays should attract extra 'unsocial' payments. Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attracts a premium rate of pay for junior doctors. The Government has said the Saturday day shift must be paid at a normal rate. The British Medical Association (BMA) also objects to other terms in the contract, which will be imposed from August, but has called on the Government to resume negotiations. Today's strike is the fourth round of industrial action. More than 19,000 operations were cancelled ahead of previous strike dates. In Bristol striking junior doctors warned they would make more mistakes if they were left tired by working long shifts under the terms of the new contract Pickets lines formed outside the Royal Berkshire Hospital and in London today as the latest strike action got underway today Junior doctors on strike in Reading said opposing the new contract was vital to protect medical staff and the future of the wider NHS Senior Tory Sarah Wollaston, the chairman of the Commons health committee, this week blasted the British Medical Association for calling an all-out strike later this month over the imposition of a new contract on thousands of junior doctors. She said the escalation of industrial action would 'solve nothing', be 'disastrous for patients' and would risk lives as emergency care would be withdrawn. JUNIOR DOCTORS HAVE DEMANDED MORE PAY ON SATURDAYS The major sticking point has been over weekend pay and whether Saturdays should attract extra 'unsocial' payments. Currently, 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday and the whole of Saturday and Sunday attracts a premium rate of pay for junior doctors. The Government has said the Saturday day shift must be paid at a normal rate. The British Medical Association (BMA) also objects to other terms in the contract, which will be imposed from August, but has called on the Government to resume negotiations. Today's strike is the fourth round of industrial action. More than 19,000 operations were cancelled ahead of previous strike dates. Advertisement But the MP also condemned Mr Hunt and the Government for being 'entirely unreasonable' in presenting the new deal as the solution to higher weekend death rates in hospitals. Dr Wollaston said: 'Saving lives must take priority over saving face.' The strike comes as the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) said it had written to the Health Select Committee asking it to conduct and inquiry into the 'escalating crisis' relating to the contract. Professor Derek Bell, president of the RCPE, said: 'The situation should not have escalated to this level as matters of this importance can only be resolved in a sustainable way through negotiation. 'The college believes that an urgent inquiry by the Health Select Committee could help resolve the current impasse and restore stability within the junior doctor workforce in England. 'If we do not resolve this dispute, the impact on our patients, the NHS workforce and the long-term sustainability of the NHS will be profound.' Health officials were cautioned earlier this week by leading human rights experts to ensure that the new contract for junior physicians does not 'unlawfully indirectly discriminate against some doctors'. The Equality and Human Rights Commission issued the warning after the Government's own equality analysis states that there are 'features of the new contract that impact disproportionately on women'. The analysis of the controversial new contract for junior doctors in England, which was published last week, states the contract may 'disadvantage' women working part time and single parents. There may also be 'adverse impacts regarding maternity (leave)', it states. But the assessment concludes: 'While there are features of the new contract that impact disproportionately on women, of which some we expect to be advantageous and others disadvantageous, we do not consider that this would amount to indirect discrimination as the impacts can be comfortably justified.' The decision by Mr Hunt to impose the contract after a breakdown in talks in February has been at the centre of the latest phase of the dispute between the BMA and the Department of Health Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has insisted the new contract is vital to deliver a seven day NHS and moved to impose the new terms after a break down in talks in February Wild dogs are capable of speeds of up to 40 miles an hour Advertisement This shocking set of photographs shows just how fearsome a pack of wild dog puppies can be. A dozen puppies were snapped as they took down a fully grown male Nyala antelope in a private game reserve in South Africa. The 12 puppies were shown what to do by seven adult wild dogs and ended up with a hearty lunch. It's all about teamwork. Wild dogs hunt in packs and these puppies learn from an early age the art of isolating their prey, wounding them and slowly wearing them out until they are ready for the kill As they play fight in a puddle the wild puppies appear cuddly and totally adorable but they are actually in training to become killing machines The action took place in the Zimanga private game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, which has been set up specifically for wildlife photographers. Photographer Hendri Venter caught these amazing images of the wild pups, who were urged on by seven adult dogs. The Nyala antelope is a common species across southern Africa and the male - known as bulls - have distinctive spiral horns which they use to fend off predators. Antelopes live in herds of extended families but the wild dogs chase them in a bid to pick off the weaker animals. The bull antelope having failed to fend off the pack is finally brought to ground and the puppies beginning to feed on it even before the poor creature is dead Wild dogs are a common sight on the plains of southern Africa, where they prey on antelopes and gazelles, but they also eat smaller creatures like cane rats and porcupines It is the same tactic used by lions and other African predators and when they eventually succeed in isolating an antelope they attack en masse, biting it until the wounded beast is brought to ground. Eventually the hapless creature succumbs to blood loss and the pack feeds on the carcass. Although they look similar to hyenas, wild dogs are killers whereas hyenas tend to feed on animals killed by other predators. African wild dogs - which are distant cousins of domesticated dogs - also eat smaller prey like cane rats, porcupines and birds. Although they have no natural predators they are sometimes shot by farmers and are currently an endangered species. They might be distantly related to pet dogs found in Europe but these animals are definitely wild and they show no mercy to their prey once it has been targeted In some of the pictures the animals frolic in puddles of water and appear genuinely harmless but they are some of Africa's best predators Nature involves the survival of the fittest and although some of the images are quite grisly the man behind the lens, Hendri Venter, finds them inspiring. On his website he writes: 'As a young child growing up on a farm, I quickly turned to the seemingly endless expanse of wildlife on the farm and fulfill my urge to be outdoors. 'I began to form a strong sense of appreciation and amazement for all things natural. This appreciation has stayed, and even grown with me, my entire life. 'It wasn't until I picked up a camera, that I realised how I could capture the beauty of nature.' 'To be able to capture a moment in the ongoing and amazing flow of nature based on the everlasting flow and ebb of time, is a God-given gift' he says. Wild dogs look quite similar to hyenas but they are hunters unlike hyenas, which traditionally feast off the carcasses of animals killed by other predators, like lions This fully grown wild dog (pictured) is believed to be the alpha male of the pack. He casts his eyes over the scene as the puppies tear into their prey Wild dogs might not be as fast as cheetahs but they have an impressive turn of speed and are frequently clocked at 40 miles an hour while in full pursuit of their prey The Greek government fears it could be subjected to terror attacks if a taxpayer-funded mosque is not constructed in Athens. Officials claim it would allow Muslims to practise their religion under the auspices of a centrally-appointed imam that would ensure it does not stray into extremism. This would be preferable to the dozens of basements in the capital which have been converted into makeshift mosques by Muslim migrants, they added. Officials fear Athens (pictured) could be subjected to an attack if a mosque is not constructed in the capital According to Kathimerini, an official from the Education and Religious Affairs Ministry said they must move quickly to build the mosque, which had been announced in 2006 but is being delayed by appeals. The official said: 'It is exactly because of the recent terrorist attacks that we have to move quickly to construct the mosque in Athens. 'Every day that we do not have an official mosque and imam in Athens, we pay for in the increased risk of the radicalisation of Muslims in the dark and unofficial places of worship. 'When you do not have official places of worship, who can you speak with?' In the past few years, Greece has found itself at the epicentre of Europe's biggest migrant crisis since the Second World War. Hundreds of thousands have using the country as a staging point on their journey from the Middle East via Turkey and towards the Balkan states. The official's warning comes as the EU's border agency, Frontex, yesterday said potential terrorists are taking advantage of Europe's failing EU border checks. Frontex said a large number of people arriving mainly in Greece and Italy with false documents are not facing thorough checks or penalties. It said the Paris attacks last November - in which several terrorists were found to have entered Europe via Greece with false ID papers - demonstrate irregular migration patterns could be used by terrorists to reach the EU. Refugees and migrants disembark in the port of Piraeus, near Athens, from a passenger ship transporting them from the Greek islands. Thousands have been making the journey every month in a bid to reach Europe Refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos protest at their deportation back to Turkey yesterday Greece has found itself at the epicentre of Europe's biggest migrant crisis since the Second World War It also revealed more than 1.8 million illegal border crossings were detected by EU member states in 2015, six times the number reported in 2014. The agency said the never-seen-before figure is still linked to the estimated one million individuals who reached the EU, suggesting many crossed two sections of the external borders of the EU. The report, Risk Analysis for 2016, said: 'The Paris attacks in November 2015 clearly demonstrated that irregular migratory flows could be used by terrorists to enter the EU. 'Two of the terrorists involved in the attacks had previously irregularly entered through Leros and had been registered by the Greek authorities. They presented fraudulent Syrian documents to speed up their registration process. A German journalist has lifted the lid on what it is like living under the Islamic State after a trip to Raqqa where Jihadi John was his driver and he was told by a white militant that the body of James Foley was just 'tossed onto the ground' after he was beheaded. Jurgen Todenhofer made the journey in 2014 to both Mosul and Raqqa - ISIS held cities in Iraq and Syria - after negotiating a visit with the terror group's senior leaders. While he was there with his son Frederic, they were shown how people live under the terror group and were given more details about the executions of western hostages, including American journalist James Foley. Scroll down for video Mr Todenhofer said he was allowed to interview German jihadist who goes by the name of Abu Qatadah, centre, on camera for his book In a new book white German jihadist Abu Qatadah, right, told journalist Jurgen Todenhofer, left, that the bodies of ISIS hostages are just 'tossed onto the ground' Mr Foley, from Rochester, New Hampshire, was captured not far from the Syrian border with Turkey in 2012 by a small jihadist group which would later swear fealty to ISIS. He was held hostage before being beheaded by the executioner known as Jihadi John in a graphic video released in August 2014. Now in a new book, My Journey Into the Heart of Terror, serialized in the Guardian, Mr Todenhofer, writes that he asked a German extremist named as Abu Qatadah what happened to the murdered hostages. The question came as Mr Tofenhoder was taken to the place in Raqqa where ISIS fighters decapitated the heads of enemies as his son Frederic was told not to take any pictures. American journalist James Foley who was beheaded by ISIS after being captured by militants on the Syrian border with Turkey Journalist Mr Foley, pictured was held hostage before being beheaded by the executioner known as Jihadi John in a graphic video released in August 2014 And according to the book, Qatadah replied: 'They were buried individually, or rather, tossed onto the ground. Somewhere.' Mr Todenhoffer also reveals how the driver who took them around while they were staying with ISIS fighters later transpired to be Jihadi John. He also adds that they asked to interview the ISIS executioner and British hostage, journalist John Cantlie, but were told no. Meanwhile on another visit during his time with ISIS, the jounalist was given a tour of the caliphate's publishing departemnt where he saw literature being created including brochures called 'How to Handle Your Slaves' and 'How Women Should Behave and Dress'. Mr Todenhofer talking to two jihadi fighters in the Iraqi city of Mosul, where he went to carry out research for his book The German journalist talks to an ISIS fighter in a ski mask, who he says was European while in the centre of Mosul Mr Todenhofer with his son Frederic, dressed like locals on their trip to Mosul. The pair believe that the man, who acted as their driver during the trip was Jihadi John He also described how slaves were bought and sold and that a Yazidi woman could sell for over 1,000, the same price as a Kalashnikov. The writer also adds that ISIS finances itself through assets seized by war, sales of oil and the zakat. His incredible journey to visit ISIS-held territory was the result of months of negotiations via Skype with the terror group's senior leadership. Having previously written articles critical of ISIS, Todenhofer demanded written assurances that he would not come to harm and, astonishingly, the terror group kept their word. Upon return the journalist told how ISIS is a larger and more united force than is widely believed in the West, and said he was concerned America and Britain had underestimated the jihadis. The terror group also released a number of videos showing the murders of fellow American journalist Steven Sotloff, British humanitarian Alan Henning and David Haines, another British aid worker. Fellow captives have spoken out about their time in prison with Foley, whom they referred to as a pillar of strength. They revealed that he received the most brutal treatment out of dozens of hostages because he was American. The fellow prisoners claimed that as early as August 2013 - before ISIS caught the world's attention with its huge land grab in Iraq - Foley would regularly be lashed to a metal bar by the ankles and left dangling from the ceiling for hours. Sales above the 325,000 IHT threshold have nearly doubled since 2009 Almost a quarter of homes sold last year were worth more than the threshold for paying inheritance tax, according to research. Some 24 per cent of properties went for over 325,000, potentially landing heirs with a big bill - compared to 13 per cent in 2009. The taxman takes 40 per cent of the value of estates above the threshold. Saga Investment Services analysed six years of property sales figures from England and Wales to identify the big rise. The top 10 'hotspots' for properties selling above the threshold were focused on London and surrounding areas. But the proportion sold above 325,000 has also been climbing outside of the capital. Over the period sales above the threshold have doubled in more than a quarter of postcodes. They include Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Colchester, Durham, Northampton, Norwich, Portsmouth, Stevenage, Tweed and Watford. People who while married or in a civil partnership can currently pass on unused tax allowances to their surviving partner, effectively exempting up to 650,000 from inheritance tax. But the study indicated that the number of properties sold above that level has more than doubled since 2009 - rising from 2.4 per cent to 5.5 per cent. There are 17 postcode areas in which one in every 10 properties sold in 2015 exceeded 650,000, compared to seven areas in 2009. Chancellor George Osborne is implementing a Tory manifesto pledge to allow couples to pass up to a million pounds on to their close family tax free. From next April, there will be a new 100,000 IHT allowance for main homes that are sold after death - increasing to 175,000 in 2020 to achieve the 1 million total. Gareth Shaw, head of consumer affairs at Saga Investment services, said: 'When the initial nil-rate band was set at 325,000 in 2009, just over one in 10 properties were sold above the threshold. Soaring property prices has driven this far, far higher over the intervening six years, meaning IHT has potentially become an issue for many more people. 'In this context, the changes to the IHT rules something Saga had long campaigned for - will benefit many who've built up larger estates thanks to the value of their home. These may not necessarily be wealthy people, but those who live in a property hotspot. 'Our research suggests widespread confusion about IHT 42 per cent of over 50s don't know whether their property is worth more than the IHT allowance, and only 4 per cent have taken any action to reduce the value of their estate for IHT purposes.' The inmate who gave Subway pedophile Jared Fogle a prison yard beating has been forced to move to a different jail. Steve Nigg, who was locked away over gun charges, punched the 38 year old several times in January, leaving him with a bloody nose, scratched neck and a swollen face. The 60 year old has now been moved nearly 700 miles from Colorados Federal Correctional Institution in Englewood to a federal prison in Oklahoma City, according to the New York Post. Nigg reportedly targeted Fogle after becoming angry that he was serving the same length sentence. Fogle received 15 years and eight months for trading child pornography and having sex with underage prostitutes. Inmate Steve Nigg (left), who gave Subway pedophile Jared Fogle (right) a prison yard beating, has been forced to move to a different prison Nigg also told his family members he thought child molesters, or 'chomos' as he calls them, were being coddled in the minimum security prison and alleged Fogle had flashed his money around and paid for bodyguards. According to the Denver Post, he wrote to his family saying: 'The public believes these sick predators are being punished when they are sent to prison. 'The administration treats them like they are on the endangered species list.' His 59-year-old brother Jimmy told the Post: 'Now they send in a celebrity chomo. He's flashing his money around. He hired two big convicts to protect him. He was paying for commissary.' Jimmy told Radar Online that Jared's paid protection is what 'set Steve off'. Steve, who was apparently pleased the beating became national news, also 'wanted people to know he was given an excessive sentence' in comparison to Fogle, his nephew Jimmy Niggs Jr. said. Steve was convicted in 2012 for selling unregistered guns on Craigslist, according to court documents cited by the Post. His nephew defended his uncle by saying: 'He's serving 15 years in prison for a non-violent crime and Fogle is serving the same sentence for raping kids.' Steve was previously jailed for three armed robberies, stealing $670 between 1976 and 1990. Steve Niggs punched Fogle several times in January, leaving him with a bloody nose, scratched neck and a swollen face. Pictured, the prison incident report for the January 29 assault According to the official report filed at the prison, the inmate 'assaulted Fogle by pushing him to the ground and striking Fogle multiple times in the face with a closed fist.' 'Fogle sustained a small cut on his hand and an abrasion on his left knee from the concrete during the assault.' Steve is reportedly serving solitary confinement for the beating, and claims the bodyguards didn't do much to stop him. Jimmy Nigg Jnr, previously told the New York Daily News: 'Jared's lucky he's still alive. My uncle was in a position to kill him. 'He got him down, then walked away. Hes not a violent guy, he doesnt have a violent history. Hes sending a message is what hes doing. 'A guy walks in with all this money and celebrity and instead of flying under the radar, hes going into the yard, walking around with big guys, saying no one can mess with me, flashing his money around and that's what (my uncle) is p****d off about.' Jimmy Jr also added that his uncle attacked Fogle to get back at him for his crimes. He added: 'He said these kids (the victims) got dads and uncles and they'd love to do what I just did. I'm doing it for the families. I couldn't help it.' Fogle rose to fame when he appeared in the fast-food chain's adverts, after shedding more than 200lbs, in part by eating Subway sandwiches Fogle rose to fame when he appeared in the fast-food chain's adverts. He allegedly shed more than 200lbs (91kg), in part by eating Subway sandwiches. A raid on his suburban Indianapolis home and the resulting criminal case destroyed his lucrative career with the sandwich restaurant chain. He pleaded guilty to one count each of travelling to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor and distribution and receipt of child pornography. Fogle, a father-of-two, also admitted having sex with two prostitutes aged under 18 at hotels in New York City. Months later she died after jumping from a cliff in a New York state park But the provider suddenly withdrew coverage and she was forced to leave She used her stepmother's health insurance to pay for residential treatment Laura Foulkes, 24, moved to the US in an attempt to overcome bulimia Personal battle: Laura Rebecca Foulkes, 24, had suffered from bulimia for years before her death A British woman who suffered from bulimia killed herself after she was forced to leave a US treatment centre when her health insurance was withdrawn, an inquest heard. Laura Rebecca Foulkes, 24, moved to live with her father in the US in July 2014 in a last-ditch attempt to beat the eating disorder, which she had battled for a number of years. She sought treatment at a residential clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before transferring to another in St. Louis, Missouri, relying on her stepmother's health insurance to pay for the fees. But two months into the treatment the coverage was suddenly withdrawn and, despite making good progress at the centre, Miss Foulkes was forced to leave. Over the coming months, her mental state deteriorated and her weight plummeted to less than 7st, the inquest heard. Miss Foulkes, originally from Lancashire, died after jumping from a cliff face in a park near where her father lived in New York state in August last year. Miss Foulkes' mother, June, told the inquest that her daughter, who also suffered from depression, had moved to the US because she was unhappy with the outpatient treatment she was receiving in Britain. Miss Foulkes, a gifted musician and swimmer, felt the weekly programme was having little impact and wanted to seek residential care. Mrs Foulkes said: 'She had a diagnosed significant eating disorder, borderline personality disorder and depression. 'She was being treated here by outpatients at Nelson Hospital, she would go there once a week. It wasn't enough but she went there for about a year. It wasn't doing any good or making any difference really.' Mrs Foulkes said her daughter initially went to the US for a three-week holiday in July 2014 and that she had suggested she speak to her father about her disorder while she was there. 'When she was in this country she said she knew she needed to go somewhere 24/7 because she knew it was too difficult for her to manage,' Mrs Foulkes told the inquest. 'That's why I told her she needed to talk to her dad because even though they knew she had an eating disorder, they didn't live with her. I said she needed to show them how bad it was and see what they could do.' Seeking help: Miss Foulkes, pictured, believed she needed residential care to overcome her problems The inquest in Burnley, Lancashire, heard Miss Foulkes stayed in the US and sought treatment at The Renfrew Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in January last year. However she 'didn't do as well as expected', her mother said, and a month later she was moved to the smaller Castlewood Eating Disorder Treatment Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs Foulkes said: 'Castlewood was a smaller place with less residents, there was about 12 of them altogether. That was better for her.' Her daughter spent two months at the centre before her stepmother's insurance provider 'decided it was not okay and she had to leave'. The inquest heard that Miss Foulkes' US visa was due to expire in November last year but that she had told her mother in June that she had hoped to return while the weather was still mild. But Miss Foulkes' condition continued to deteriorate and she dropped to 6st 13lb. I know she took her own life because she couldn't live with it but she couldn't live without it. She thought that to go to heaven would be the answer because then she could be at peace and that's what I feel June Foulkes, mother of Laura Mrs Foulkes told the inquest that her daughter had sent her a heart-wrenching letter before she died, saying: 'When your time comes, I will be waiting for you".' 'I know what she means by that,' Mrs Foulkes said. 'She has a faith and so do I, I know she planned not to be here, she believes that we will be together one day. 'When she died I know she was listening to Purple Rain and Ave Maria, she knows that if I was told she was listening to music I would have asked what she was listening to, so she put it in my letter at the end. 'Purple Rain starts with something like "I didn't mean to cause you any sorrow, I didn't mean to cause you any pain", I know that's what she was listening to. 'I think she felt defeated, she had been trying for years even before I knew she had an illness. She battled through her A-levels and I think she got weary towards the end of fighting it. 'That's why I know she took her own life because she couldn't live with it but she couldn't live without it. She thought that to go to heaven would be the answer because then she could be at peace and that's what I feel.' The coroner heard a witness statement from Kelly Tirral, who said she saw Miss Foulkes fall from a cliff in Taughannock Falls State Park, New York, on August 1. She said she phoned 911 when she saw Miss Foulkes near the edge, and again when she fell. Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Richard Taylor made reference to diary entries that he had read following Laura's death. He said: 'The content that I've seen makes her intention absolutely clear and it's written down very carefully about what she's going to do, when she's going to do it and how. 'I can only repeat my condolences to you all and thank you for coming today. I'm sorry you had to relive what happened and I hope whilst time will never heal that you may understand a little more as time goes by, if you do get to see her diaries. 'They are clear towards the end of what she's saying as to the intent she had and she's quite specific as to where and how it will happen. I say no more than that.' In a tribute, Mrs Foulkes said: 'She was a talented girl, she was a gifted swimmer and lifeguard. She was musical, artistic and wanted to do her degree, she had started writing her personal statement. 'She was a very bright young woman, she had some very good qualities, she was a very caring person, a really good listener, she was very kind and loving. 'She had so many skills, she could speak fluent Spanish and was fantastic at English language. She wasn't just an ordinary swimmer but a gifted swimmer, she was capable of so much. 'She was a big thinker and everything was thought out, she never acted in the spur of the moment, she would always think about what she was going to do.' An Afghan migrant who raped a mentally ill 15-year-old girl at a psychiatric clinic in Sweden has been found to have lied about being underage. Convicted rapist Ali Bahmani claimed to be 16 years old, but a dental examination later found him to be 'at least 19.2 years,' court documents state. The rape took place at a children's psychiatric clinic in central Stockholm where both Bahmani and the victim were inpatients, ten days before he had even applied for asylum. Attack: Afghan migrant Ali Bahmani, who claimed to be 16, but was found to be 'at least 19', raped a 15-year-old mentally ill girl at a children's psychiatric clinic in central Stockholm (pictured) Bahmani and the victim had been watching television with members of staff at the children's psychiatric care ward in Stockholm the evening of December 4, 2015. When the staff left the room 'for a few minutes', Bahmani climbed on top of the victim, held her down on the sofa, and raped her, court documents state. She later told police that: 'It happened so suddenly that she did not make a sound. She had not had sex "for real" before. 'When staff came into the room, Ali Bahmani jumped up and pulled up his trousers. She lay shocked in foetal position with her trousers around her ankles, she cried and was afraid.' The teenager immediately accused Bahmani of sexually assaulting her, and police were called to the psychiatric clinic where he was detained. Rape: Bahmani and the victim(not pictured), who suffers from PTSD and anxiety, had been watching television at the clinic, and when staff left the room 'for a few minutes', Bahmani raped her on the sofa Bahmani denied rape, claiming the sex had been consensual because, while the victim had not spoken during the attack - and he admitted to noticing that she was crying during the assault - he said she told him she consented 'with her heart'. 'KILLER CLAIMED TO BE 15': MURDER OF SWEDISH SOCIAL WORKER ALEXANDRA MEZHER Sweden welcomed more migrants and refugees per capita than any other EU nation in 2015, with some 165,000 people arriving in the country. While asylum is granted to all refugees, asylum for migrants is needs-based and the application process can be long and arduous, particularly after the recent influx. However, all unaccompanied underaged migrants are automatically granted asylum in Sweden, and as a result, there have been several cases of new arrivals lying about their age. The rape in Stockholm took place just a few weeks before the well-publicized murder of Swedish social worker Alexandra Mezher. Miss Mezher, 22, was stabbed to death by a Somalian migrant at a refugee centre in Molndal, near Gothenburg in January this year. The centre housed unaccompanied underaged migrants, and Miss Mezher had stepped in to stop a fight between two residents. Youssaf Khaliif Nuur, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder, had originally claimed to be 15 years old, but is now believed to be 'at least' three years older. Advertisement The victim told police that she had not spoken to Bahmani before the rape, apart from a exchanging a few sentences in English. However, she had felt on several occasions that Bahmani had walked very close to her, and had raised this with both staff at the clinic and her mother. Bahmani was formally arrested the following day, December 5, but documents from the Swedish Migration Agency shows that he did not apply for asylum in Sweden until December 14. Bahmani claimed to have been born in Afghanistan in November 1999, but had no passport or proof of identification when he arrived in Sweden in the autumn. An examination carried out during the investigation found that Bahmani had 'a teeth development showing a higher age, most likely over 19.2 years'. In a police interview after his arrest, Bahmani admitted to officers that he was 19 years old, but later claimed to be 17 - neither of which collaborate with his supposed date of birth. The 15-year-old victim had been admitted to the children's psychiatric clinic several times since April 2014, spending a total of four months as an inpatient. At the time of the rape, the victim, who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and severe anxiety disorder, had been in their care since November. It is not known why Bahmani had been admitted to the clinic, but a psychological evaluation during the investigation found him to suffer be mentally ill. Bahmani has been sentenced to psychiatric care, after which he will be deported and banned from entering Sweden until 2026. Retired council planner Nigel Mentzel, 70, was a leading collector of colourful posters inspired by the mind-bending drugs of the sixties and seventies One of Britain's top experts in psychedelic art died after experimenting with a 'legal high' he had opted to take instead of banned cannabis. Retired council planner Nigel Mentzel, 70, was a leading collector of colourful posters inspired by the mind-bending drugs of the sixties and seventies. An inquest heard he turned his back on illegal drugs to try a synthetic marijuana legal high at his home but was killed by cannabis poisoning. A coroner warned the so-called 'legal high' was in fact more dangerous than banned drugs - and was the direct cause of his death. Pathologist Dr Sarah Winstanley told the inquest patients who experienced the effects of synthetic cannabinoids reported worse agitation and hallucinations as well as a faster heart rate. She added: 'Their effects do seem to be worse than the effects of cannabis.' The pensioner retired from his job as a council strategic planner more than five years ago - but maintained his interest in the psychedelia of the 60s and 70s. The inquest in Cardiff heard he was also interested in mind-altering substances and started using a synthetic drug called 'Cherry Bomb'. The keen blues guitarist bought it legally from a shop in Cardiff city centre. His partner, Julie Garner, told his inquest she warned him not to smoke the highs in their home in Penylan, Cardiff. Mrs Garner, who had been in a relationship with Mr Mentzel since 2009, told how she began to notice a change in his behaviour. She said: 'He would get very defensive and angry and we would argue because I disagreed with his use of the highs. 'He was very private and I never sought help for him. He always felt I was overreacting.' An inquest heard he turned his back on illegal drugs to try a synthetic marijuana legal high at his home - but was killed by cannabis poisoning. Cardiff assistant coroner Thomas Atherton said it was ironic substances like 'cherry bombs' were known as legal highs, despite being more dangerous than illegal drugs like cannabis Mr Mentzel collapsed and died at his home on January with traces of the synthetic cannabinoids later being found in his system. Cardiff assistant coroner Thomas Atherton told his inquest it was ironic substances like 'cherry bombs' were known as legal highs, despite being more dangerous than illegal drugs like cannabis. Mr Atheron said: 'It may well give the impression that they are safe to use or at least not as dangerous as those which are illegal. An inquest heard Mr Mentzel (second from right) turned his back on illegal drugs to try a synthetic marijuana legal high at his home - but was killed by cannabis poisoning The pensioner retired from his job as a council strategic planner more than five years ago - but maintained his interest in the psychedelia of the 60s and 70s. He had become one of Britain's top experts in psychedelic art 'It's quite clear that synthetic cannabinoids are extremely dangerous drugs to use, in spite of the fact it's given the term of legal high.' He recorded a narrative conclusion that Mr Mentzel died from using synthetic cannabis. Spanish police have now arrested nine men in connection with the assaults One woman was dragged along the tarmac after confronting her attacker Shocking footage shows vicious thugs preying on tourists as they stop their vehicles at motorway service stations in Spain. The gang members caught on camera were so callous that they threatened two children who had been left alone in their car whilst their father popped into the shop to buy snacks. In another incident, they stole items from a woman's car and then dragged her along for several seconds when she tried to confront them and her necklace got caught in the door. Scroll down for video The robbers are seen here attacking a group of tourists who had stopped in a motorway service station In another instance, they mugged a woman for her necklace (pictured) while she walked through a car park Her attempt to confront her attacker backfired when he dragged her back towards his getaway car She then became trapped in the car's backdoor and was dragged several metres along the tarmac Eventually she broke free from the vehicle and was left lying shaken on the tarmac Police say the gang, which has now been arrested in a series of dawn raids, was highly organised and changed their getaway vehicles on a regular basis. Nine Spaniards, aged between 30 and 46, are being held on suspicion of committing at least 55 robberies involving violence and threats. They are also accused of possessing offensive weapons, drug trafficking and belonging to a criminal organisation. A spokesman for Los Mossos, the Catalonian police, said their victims were almost always tourists who were making a stop at service stations. They would keep watch on cars arriving and then swoop once the occupants were getting out or were otherwise distracted. 'They would then make their escape in high-end vehicles and think nothing of speeding off at more than 280km [170mph] an hour, putting the lives of other road users at serious risk,' he said. In some instances, they would use the wrong side of the road and were often involved in crashes, once with a police car. More than 200 police officers were involved in raids on a number of properties, during which drugs were thrown out of a window and another patrol car was rammed. Items seized included cocaine, 23 mobile phones, cash, computers, electronic equipment, jewellery, foreign currency and weapons. Six marijuana plantations were also found in different homes. Police say they have not ruled out further arrests. Police in Spain have now arrested nine people, aged between 30 and 46, who are suspected to have committed at least 55 robberies Police in Catalan seized weapons during the raids, including this boxed handgun Retired Colonel Richard Kemp today warned putting female soldiers on the front line will be 'paid in blood' Putting female soldiers on the front line is a 'social engineering experiment' that will be paid for 'in blood', the Army Colonel who led British troops in Afghanistan warned today. Retired Colonel Richard Kemp said that women - who are currently unable to join infantry battalions - will become a 'weak link' if they are allowed to join front line units. He blamed 'politicians desperate to be seen as 'progressive', feminist zealots and ideologues hell-bent on equality of opportunity without exception' for pushing ahead with the planned move. Colonel Kemp said only a 'fraction' of the small number of women who want to join the infantry would pass current tests - meaning they would have to be eased. In an article in The Daily Telegraph he warned: 'This is an extremely dangerous move. 'Physical fitness is the single most important building block for an infantry soldier. Everything else depends on it. 'The only people who fully understand the demands of infantry close combat are infantrymen themselves. 'I have not heard a single serving or retired infantryman say that admitting women is the right thing to do unless their wives or senior officers are listening. 'The overwhelming majority are vehemently opposed and many have said that if women join they will leave.' Colonel Kemp said: 'Why do feelings run so high? Because every infantryman knows that the price for this social engineering experiment will be paid in blood.' His comments come after it was reported by The Sunday Times that the army is amending its fitness tests to recognise the differences between men and women. But General Sir Nick Carter, chief of the general staff,said: 'I want to make it very clear that there will be no lowering of training or qualifying levels for soldiers in ground close combat roles. A decision to allow female soldiers into infantry units is expected later this year (file picture) A review is currently under way to decide whether both sexes can fight together and Penny Mordaunt, Britain's first female Armed Forces Minister, has insisted that women can make the grade. Research which has driven Defence Secretary Michael Fallon's expected decision found women were twice as likely to suffer musculoskeletal injuries during initial training. And analysis of recent Army recruits suggests only 30 women a year would pass the current physical standards for joining the front line units. The study found: 'We know that women are built differently to men higher fat mass, less muscle mass, less cardio output, which leads to greater/quicker energy deficit than men and they have to work harder to achieve the same output.' A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: The MOD is undertaking a review to establish the physical standards required for ground close combat, which is due to complete in 2019. 'It will be based upon the principle that any standards will be related to the required role rather than individual characteristics. 'No decisions have been taken and any claims of what this will involve are pure speculation. A stork has melted hearts in Croatia by flying to the same rooftop every year for 14 years - to be reunited with its crippled partner. The faithful bird, called Klepetan, has returned once again to the village of Slavonski Brod in east Croatia after a 5,000 mile migration. He spends his winters alone in South Africa because his disabled partner Malena cannot fly properly after being shot by a hunter in 1993. Scroll down for video Faithful: Klepetan the stork flies back to the same rooftop every year - to be reunited with its crippled partner Every summer, the pair bring up chicks, with Klepetan leading their flying lessons in preparation for the trip south in summer Klepetan spends his winters alone in South Africa because his disabled partner Malena cannot fly properly after being shot - but makes the 5,000-mile journey home every year Malena had been found lying by the side the road by schoolteacher Stjepan Vokic, who fixed her wing and kept her in his home for years before helping her to build a nest on his roof. After placing her there, she was spotted by Klepetan 14 years ago. And now every year they are reunited in the spring. Klepetan keeps a very strict timetable, usually arriving back at the same time on the same day in March to be welcomed by locals. But this year he was running six days late, causing panic among local media and fans of the stork couple. Such is the popularity of the pair that there is even a live feed on the main square in the capital Zagreb showing the two storks. It is the 14th year in a row that it has flown back to its disabled partner Malena, which cannot fly properly after being shot be a hunter in 1993 Klepetan keeps a very strict timetable, usually arriving back at the same time on the same day in March to be welcomed by locals Malena had been found lying by the side the road by schoolteacher Stjepan Vokic, who fixed her wing and kept her in his home for years before helping her to build a nest on his roof There was huge excitement when stork-watchers saw what they thought was Klepetan circling over the nest, and then coming in to land. But the new arrival turned out to be a different stork that was attempting to woo Malena. She quickly attacked him and drove him off and continued to wait for Klepetan. Stjepan Vokic, whose roof the couple nest on, said: 'She was pretty clear about the message, I doubt he will be back again.' Vokic has taken care of Malena since she was first injured by hunters and says that she - like her partner - is now part of the family. During the winter, Vokic keeps her inside the house, and then lets her go to the roof each spring where she patiently waits for her partner. Heart-warming: Klepetan has returned once again to the village of Slavonski Brod in east Croatia after an 5,000 mile migration from Africa Kleptetan was running six days late, causing panic among local media and fans of the stork couple This year, Malena made a rare flight and the couple were reportedly inseparable for hours This year, Malena made a rare flight and the couple were reportedly inseparable for hours. She does have the ability to make very short flights but her wing has not healed well enough for her to make the trip to Africa, or even to properly feed herself. Every summer, the pair bring up chicks, with Klepetan leading their flying lessons in preparation for the trip south in summer. Self-styled 'Lord' Andrew Bedford (pictured) assaulted his wife as she slept and left her with a scar on her face just months after he smashed up her Range Rover in a drunken rampage A self-styled 'Lord' assaulted his wife as she slept and left her with a scar on her face just months after he smashed up her Range Rover and wrestled a security guard in a drunken rampage. Andrew Bedford, 51, from Fareham, Hampshire, admitted assaulting his wife Siobhan but said he could not remember the attack. Today he was sentenced to 42 days in prison for the assault, but was released immediately after already serving 24 days on remand. In December last year, Bedford was given a community order and told to tackle his drinking problem after he caused 20,000 worth of damage to Mrs Bedford's rented Range Rover by launching a fire extinguisher through the window after being locked out of his hotel room at the Hilton Metropolitan Hotel in London. The father-of-five, who runs a discount window centre, was then seen on CCTV trying to kick his way into a hotel room, and lashed out at a security guard when he tried to intervene. Fareham Magistrates Court was told today that Bedford, who was listed as Lord Andrew Bedford on court papers, had left his wife with a 1cm scar above her eyebrow in the latest incident on February 21 of this year. He admitted the assault charge on the first day of his trial, but the court was told he was unable to remember attacking her as she lay asleep in bed. Howard Barrington-Clark, mitigating, told the court that Bedford suffers from epilepsy which causes 'transient amnesia'. 'Because she was asleep, Mrs Bedford cannot say who caused or how she got her injury,' Mr Barrington-Clark said. 'The defendant says due to his epilepsy and transient amnesia, he cannot remember anything. 'He pleaded guilty because he accepts what his wife said about her not having the injury when she went to bed. He must have caused it.' The court was told that prior to the attack Bedford had argued with his wife after going out separately that evening, and that both had been drinking. Mr Barrington-Clark added: 'He blames no one but himself. Bedford, 51, admitted assaulting wife Siobhan (pictured with him) but said he could not remember attacking her 'He has an alcohol problem bubbling below the service for which he is getting help.' Bedford, who was remanded in custody before the court hearing after breaching his bail conditions, was sentenced to 42 days in jail. Chairman of the magistrate Malcolm Brown said Bedford could be released on supervision as he had served more than half that sentence while remanded. During sentencing, Mr Brown said factors such as alcohol, the breach of trust, the place and time of the offence and the domestic aspect made the incident cross the custody threshold. He said the previous assault charge which Bedford had appeared in court for in December, where he admitted assaulting his wife and damaging the Range Rover, added to the seriousness of the crime. Mr Brown added: 'We are going to sentence you to 42 days in prison. However because you have served 24 days on remand, which is just over half that, you will be released immediately. 'It is still a custodial sentence on your record and if you commit a crime again, it will be more serious.' Footage has emerged of the moment that a college student was tackled to the ground and arrested by a group of undercover police officers, who believed they had nabbed an armed fugitive. James King said he thought he was being mugged when he was allegedly targeted by two plain clothed officers in Grand Rapids, Michigan, because the pair did not identify themselves. The 23 year old claimed he was searched for identification and held against an unmarked SUV before being tackled to the ground and beaten in the incident on July 18, 2014. Now, photographs from a jail booking have been released showing King, who was a 21-year-old computer science student at the time, with a swollen face and bloodshot eyes after his arrest, along with footage of the point he was restrained. Photographs showing the bruised and bloodied face of James King, who claims he was brutally attacked by two undercover officers after being stopped in the street, have been released Video: Several bystanders called police while recording video of the incident on their cell phones, unsure of what was happening Scene: Witnesses say there were forced to delete some of the footage they took, with a local officer telling them that it compromised the work of the undercover officers King, who was not the man the police were originally looking for, was later acquitted of charges brought against him over the incident including resisting or obstructing an officer causing injury and felonious assault, according to MLive. He has since filed a lawsuit, which bring claims against the U.S. government including assault, battery, false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress, at the U.S. District Court. The documents state that King was walking when he spotted the two officers - named as FBI Special Agent Douglas Brownback and Grand Rapids Police Detective Todd Allen - leaning against the vehicle. Similarities?: Police say they were looking for a fugitive named Aaron Davison, who was wanted for a recent home invasion, however they only had one grainy photo of him (left). They mistook King (left) for Davison He claims he was approached by the men, who did not say who they were, before they asked for identification and patted him down. King was arrested and tried to run when one of the men took the wallet from his pocket because he believed he was being mugged, the lawsuit states. It adds: 'He [King] made it about three steps before Allen and Brownback tackled him to the ground.' King claims it was at this point the officers restrained him, with Allen allegedly choking him until he fell unconscious. The two men also continued to 'pound his head for no reason' after he came round, one witness alleged. King claimed he was searched for identification and held against an unmarked SUV before being tackled to the ground and beaten in the incident on July 18, 2014. He is pictured with injuries after the incident Officers claimed they were looking for a man who had been involved in a home invasion. Their description listed a 26-year-old man, between 5ft 10ins and 6ft 3ins tall. King was taken to hospital after the incident before being booked into Kent County Jail. Grand Rapids Police Officer Connie Morris is also accused of violating the King's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights in the lawsuit. A man who spat in the face of a young woman who worked at a fast food restaurant has appealed his jail sentence. Hassan Abdul-Rahim, 26, appeared in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court in Melbourne on Wednesday after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for spitting in the mouth of a 19-year-old in the drive-through of a McDonald's in January. The 26-year-old was sentenced to serve one month in prison for the 'disgusting' act, however he was granted bail when his lawyer immediately appealed , according to The Age. A man (pictured) who spat in the face of a young woman who worked at a fast food restaurant has appealed his jail sentence Hassan Abdul-Rahim (pictured), 26, appeared in the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court in Melbourne on Wednesday after pleading guilty to aggravated assault for spitting in the mouth of a 19-year-old The court heard Abdul-Rahim was furious at having to wait for his fries and drinks, and repeatedly honked his car horn and threatened to block the drive-through. When he was then asked to move from the second window to the first, he spat on the young worker - who later underwent medical tests after some saliva went in her mouth. Abdul-Rahim told the court he did not deliberately spit on the young woman, and was instead clearing 'excessive phlegm' from his throat. Magistrate Meagan Keogh labelled the act 'gutless' when she sentenced the 26-year-old, the Herald Sun reports. The moment the man unleashes his spit on the worker. Circled is his saliva Footage of the 'disgusting' incident was released by Victoria Police earlier this year in an attempt to track down the culprit 'It's an appalling display against someone who's just doing their job,' Magistrate Keogh said. 'There was no aggravation except that he was delayed in his drive-through experience. 'Spitting is a particularly awful crime. Gutless in a lot of respects... This behaviour is completely unacceptable in a civilised society.' Abdul-Rahim's lawyer said his client had a problem with ice at the time of his offence, and was also facing other charges, including driving while disqualified, defrauding his employee, and ammunition possession, according to the newspaper. Defence counsel Hayden Rattra told the court Abdul-Rahim knew the incident 'shouldn't have happened'. 'My client expressed remorse when he went to the police,' Mr Rattra said, according to The Age. Abdul-Rahim (pictured) was furious at having to wait in the McDonald's drive-through for his order of fries and drinks 'He has never done anything like this in the past and will never do anything like this again.' At the time of the incident, Victoria Police said the victim had been 'traumatised'. The case will be re-heard in June. After he spat on her, the teenage is seen wiping the spit off her face and making her way to the bathroom Charles 'Tex' Watson, who has reportedly mailed Wikipedia asking them to change parts of his online page The so-called right-hand man of Charles Manson has reportedly mailed Wikipedia handwritten edits of his page from prison demanding it be changed. Charles 'Tex' Watson is still in Mule State Creek Prison in California after being convicted of seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in 1971. Among his victims was actress Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant when she was murdered in August 1969. Now it has emerged that Texas-born Watson, who has become a born-again Christian during his time in prison, printed out a copy of his Wikipedia page and annotated it, marking out what he said were inaccuracies. He then sent it to Wikipedia, which revealed that most of the edits he was demanding were surprising banal. Among the changes he requested were that the page be titled after his real name Charles Watson, and that the nickname 'Mad Charlie' be removed from the info box. He also asked that his early life section be re-done to include information about his former jobs working at an onion packing plant and for Banff Airlines. However, he does ask for edits on the crimes he was accused of asserting that fellow Manson family member Patricia Krenwinkel was the primary killer of victim Abigail Folger, although he admits he 'assisted'. Scroll down for video Watson also wants an entire paragraph related to a citizen signature drive to oppose parole following the commutation of his sentence from death to life deleted. As he notes in the margins, the section is unsupported by citations. In an article on the The Wikipedian, William Beutler points out: 'It does seem that Watson has done at least a bit of research into how Wikipedia works: he understands there should be citations, and knows he can lobby for the removal of uncited material - although it seems more likely someone will just find a news story about the signature drive than remove this detail.' Watson, pictured left in 1971, was convicted of seven counts of murder with his victims Sharon Tate, right, the wife of Roman Polanski, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her death Watson being led back to his cell in 1971 after he was convicted of seven counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison It is believed that Wikipedia editors are in the process of discussing if his Wikipedia entry should be changed. Watson was part of the Charles Manson 'family' who slaughtered Sharon Tate, the actress wife of Roman Polanski and three of her friends at her home above Beverly Hills. Stephen Parent was a fifth victim that night - he had driven to the property to see if caretaker William Garreston wanted to buy his AM/FM Clock radio and had stayed on for a beer at the guest house. He was shot multiple times when he wound down the window at the electric gate as he left. Watson was part of the Charles Manson family and was the right hand man of criminal mastermind Manson, pictured The following night they butchered small business owners Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, in their home in Los Angeles. Watson married and divorced in prison and has four children from conjugal visits. In a book he wrote while in jail called 'Manson's Right-Han Man Speaks Out! says Watson believed Manson 'offered utopia, but in reality, he had a destructive world view, which he ended up believing in and acting upon. A Utah teacher serving time after she admitted to having sexual contact with three of her students defended her actions from behind bars while lashing out at the parents of one of her teenage victims. Brianne Altice, 37, of Salt Lake City responded to a lawsuit filed against her and the Davis School District in December by one of her victims and his parents saying that they failed to attend her parent-teacher conferences and that their son often complained about his strained relationship with the two. She also shot down claims that she wore 'risque' clothing in the classroom saying that there she had never received any complaints about her work attire. Altice, who is serving a minimum of two years in prison after pleading guilty last April to three counts of forcible sexual abuse, also said that she had no 'evil or malicious intent' by having sexual contact with her three victims. Scroll down for video Behind bars: Brianne Altice (above in January 2015) is serving between two and 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of forcible sexual abuse Fighting back: Altice responded to a lawsuit filed against her by one of her victims in a letter submitted to the court saying the boy's parents never attended parent-teacher conferences Altice said she wrote the two-page letter that was submitted to the court last month in response to the lawsuit because she cannot afford legal counsel. In the letter, obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune, she also responded to allegations that she allowed the boys to skip class and hang out with her, saying that she frequently let both male and female students spend time together in her classroom before and after school and during their lunch hour. The initial complaint claims that employees at the school told administrators about Altice's inappropriate behavior with male students and they chose to ignore the problem. Attorneys for the school district have denied this claim. The lawsuit also claims that Altice's rampant romps were so blatant that the question 'Who is Ms. Altice sleeping with now?' became a running joke throughout the school. The young man who filed the lawsuit was 16 years old the first time he engaged in sexual contact with Altice. According to Altice's letter the boy would often help 'thwart inappropriate comments directed at her'. She said her victims would also frequently tell her 'youre hot' and 'youre sexy.' In December, a state court judge also tossed out a lawsuit filed by one of Altice's other victims. A school district attorney argued that the district is immune from liability under state law that exempts state entities for physical and emotional harm suffered as the result of physical battery. Police say Altice befriended the boys while they were students, eventually progressing to three separate sexual relationships, meeting the teens for sex at parks, in cars and at her home while her husband was away. She has since divorced. Legal trouble: In 2013, Altice (left in July, right in February 2014) had sexual contact with three male teenage students at Davis High School in Salt Lake City, Utah Attire: Altice (above in January 2014) also shot down claims in the lawsuit that she wore risque clothing in the classroom saying there were no complaints about her work attire The disgraced teacher had sexual relationships with the boys for months, going on picnics and dates with the students. The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount in damages for physical, mental and emotional pain and expenses for counseling, therapy and related care and treatment. It also seeks punitive damages against Altice. A trial date has not been set at this time. A second victim had also filed a suit against Altice and the school district claiming that the teacher took advantage of the fact that the teenager had been sexually abused and had a troubled past. That suit also alleges that the school district knew about the Altice's relationships and failed to protect the students. Altice admitted to touching the genitals of her three victims in 2013, while all three of the young men said they had sex with the teacher. In exchange for the plea, Davis County prosecutors dismissed 11 other felony charges, including first-degree felony rape. Jay Rutland arriving at Thames Magistrates' Court today to face an allegation he assisted trafficker James Tarrant Formula 1 heiress Tamara Ecclestone's millionaire husband appeared in court today accused of helping an on the run drug lord avoid justice. Jay Rutland, a property developer from Kensington, west London, appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court today to face an allegation he assisted trafficker James Tarrant. Wearing a black suit, white shirt and black tie, the former City trader spoke only to confirm his name, age and address. His wife did not accompany him to court. Co-defendant Martin Beckett, 42, also appeared in court, charged with assisting an offender. Wearing a black Ralph Lauren polo shirt, Beckett also spoke only to confirm his name and age. The case was adjourned for two weeks until April 20, when both defendants will appear in court. Rutland was given conditional bail, and is barred from holding or applying for international travel documents as part of the bail conditions. Beckett was also released on bail. Magistrate Robert Jackson told Rutland: 'Mr Rutland, stand please. 'You must be back here on that date, the 20th April. You are going to be put on conditional bail, with the same conditions. 'And you must not apply for any international travel documents. These conditions have been placed upon you. 'You are under a legal duty to attend that date. Thank you, you may leave the court.' Tarrant, 66, fled while awaiting trial for drugs offences in 2010. Rutland and Tamara, 31, married in 2013 and they have a baby daughter together. Tamara is the daughter and heiress of racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, who has amassed a 3billion fortune. Rutland attended a police station on February 21 where he was arrested and later charged. He appeared in court for a brief hearing last March where he spoke only to confirm his name and address. Rutland and Tamara, 31, married in 2013 and they have a baby daughter together (pictured earlier this month). Tamara is the daughter of racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, who has amassed a 3billion fortune He shares a home with Tamara and their daughter in Kensington, west London. Tarrant went on the run while awaiting trial after police found cannabis, cocaine, a gun, ammunition and body armour in a home in Waltham Abbey, Essex. He was convicted in his absence and given 14 years imprisonment. 'Extremely disgusted': Faramade Ifaturoti, 19, a first-year biomedical sciences student at Warwick, is being comforted by her friends and family A black student has claimed she found the words monkey and n**** written on a bunch of bananas in her university accommodation. Faramade Ifaturoti, 19, a first-year biomedical sciences student at the University of Warwick, posted a photograph of the racist slurs online after allegedly finding them in her kitchen. The 19-year-old from Colchester, Essex, is now being comforted by her friends and family after she was left incredibly shaken and shocked by her discovery on Monday night. The university has launched an investigation following her tweet, in which she said she was extremely disgusted by the incident. And Miss Ifaturoti, who has since made her Twitter profile private, told BuzzFeed News that she felt targeted, adding: This is not the first time something like this has happened. Her friend Jere Agbaje, 19, a law and sociology student at Warwick, told the Independent: She unpacked and stored her shopping, whilst four of her flatmates were in the kitchen. When she came into the kitchen, to her horror, those shocking racial slurs and dehumanising remarks were branded on her bananas. I have been in contact with Fara, and she is incredibly shaken and shocked. She is currently being comforted by her friends and family. This is been an incredibly distressing ordeal for her. A friend of Miss Ifaturoti said a photo of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was also found on the fridge in her accommodation near the racist note. Social media users have been posting messages of support to Miss Ifaturoti under the hashtag #WeStandWithFara, saying what happened to her was 'awful', 'disgusting' and 'appalling'. And the universitys handling of the incident over the past few days has been criticised by Mems Ayinla, co-president of Warwick Anti-Racism Society, who said it was not given enough urgency. Shocking: Miss Ifaturoti posted a photograph of the racist slurs online after allegedly finding them in her kitchen on Monday. There is no evidence that any of her flatmates were involved Investigation: Miss Ifaturoti, pictured on Facebook, was left incredibly shaken and shocked by the incident She told the Huffington Post UK: As a black student, I dont feel safe in some of my spaces and we need to make sure there is a zero-tolerance of all types of incidents like this. The hashtag (#WeStandWithFara) is bringing other students in to share their experiences and it gives them support not just from Warwick, but other universities too. And Miss Ifaturoti was also unimpressed, tweeting after the university acknowledged the incident: I'm highly disappointed it took a Twitter escalation in order for you to respond. The Anti-Racism Society has set up a petition asking the university to review 'their entire policy on racism and discrimination', which had received more than 600 signatures as of 3pm this afternoon. But a university spokesman said: We are aware that a racist incident has been widely reported on social media the university is investigating this as a matter of urgency. We first became aware as we were alerted by somebody who works with social media at the university. A senior officer is on the case to look into the concerns, and has spoken to the student. Warwick: The universitys handling of the incident has been criticised by Miss Ifaturoti and others, but officials have insisted that it is being investigated both 'seriously and 'as a matter of urgency' We treat each incident or event depending on what it is seriously. Our concentration right now is on this case. She is incredibly shaken and shocked. She is currently being comforted by her friends and family. This is been an incredibly distressing ordeal for her Jere Agbaje, friend A Warwick Student Union spokesman added: Warwick SU has a zero-tolerance policy on racist behaviour. We unequivocally condemn this shocking and disgusting act, which should clearly have no place in either our university or society at large. We have reached out to the student affected by this episode and have contacted the university to offer further support. Should a formal complaint be raised regarding a specific individuals conduct, the SU will of course treat it as a matter for urgent disciplinary action. This is the dramatic moment a TV crew captured footage of them rescuing a stricken farmer before his road grader was engulfed in flames during a wildfire. Oklahoma City's KWTV storm trackers Amy and Val Castor had been reporting on the wildfires sweeping across the state when they noticed a tractor in the path of the quick moving flames. But with no other way to escape the blaze, Mr Castor, who was driving the TV station's car decided to drive near to the road grader and urged the driver to jump in their vehicle. Storm trackers Amy and Val Castor had been watching wildfires in Oklahoma when they noticed a stricken farmer about to be engulfed by flames The pair urged him to run to his car and the man could be seen dashing towards the couple's car as he escapes the fire The footage shows Mr and Mrs Castor's horror as they see the man struggle in his digger. Mrs Castor says: 'He needs to get out' before shouting 'Come on guy get out!' And with the flames approaching, the man can be seen opening the door of his road grader and running towards the Castor's car. Mr Castor shouts: 'Get in, hurry up, hurry up', before his wife adds 'Back up!' and the pair reverse away with the rescued man safely in their car. The road grader, stuck in the dirt, became engulfed in flames seconds after the driver leapt out and ran to the Castors' car. Large flames could be seen blowing toward the windshield as they pulled away. He makes it to the couple's car and quickly jumps into the vehicle as Mr Castor shouts: 'Get in, hurry up, hurry up!' Authorities have been responding to wildfires in Oklahoma and Kansas that have led to evacuations, scorched mostly rural land and destroyed an unknown number of structures. In Oklahoma, the largest fire was in the area near the border with Kansas where blazes last month scorched hundreds of square miles. Authorities there urged the approximately 300 residents of Freedom, about 170 miles northwest of Oklahoma City, to evacuate, Woods County Emergency Management Director Steve Foster said. The fire was burning uncontrolled, stoked by wind gusts of around 40 miles per hour, said Woodward County Emergency Management Director Matt Lehenbauer. By late Tuesday evening, the flames had stalled at the Cimarron River west of Freedom, but officials remained wary of its potential threat to the town. As they drive away from the fire, the farmer's tractor can be seen being engulfed in the out of control flames 'We're going to have to really watch it, because if it jumps that river, it's going to be tough to stop again,' Lehenbauer said. Oklahoma Forestry Services said in a statement that structures had been lost in the fire and in another blaze in the central part of the state. A beautician who pleaded guilty to stealing her former friend's identity to obtain a fake driver's licence and take out a loan to buy a new car has been jailed. Aldina Ederlina Fanning, was sentenced on Wednesday to at least 10 months behind bars by the District Court in Adelaide for conning ex-flatmate Vanessa Curnow, reported The Advertiser. District Court Chief Judge Geoffrey Muecke described Fanning's crimes as a 'breach of trust in a serious way' and said there was a risk she will reoffend. Aldina Ederlina Fanning (pictured) has been sentenced to one year and four months in jail for stealing her former friend's identity to obtain a fake driver's licence and take out a $12,000 loan to buy a new car The 31-year-old will serve one year and four months in jail with a non-parole period of 10 months. Fanning used her housemate's identity to secure finance for a GT Mazda car in February 2015, and was only exposed when Ms Curnow received a customer service phonecall from Optus regarding changes made to her account. Fanning was given her best friends personal details to plan a holiday to Hawaii but instead she hoped to obtain a $35,413 loan for the car in order to 'look the part' in her new job as a real estate agent. Not only did Fanning swindle Ms Curnow, but the real estate agent attempted to hide her deception by changing her housemate's mailing address, telephone plan and email address. Fanning pleaded guilty on February 18 after the finance company used to obtain the loan lost $12,000. The victim who was 'traumatised' by Fanning's actions did not appear in court for the hearing. As the judge described her victims inability to overcome the feeling of betrayal and socialise with friends, Fanning shook her head, reported The Advertiser. Fanning, 31, appeared in Adelaide District Court on on Wednesday. The victim was not present during the hearing Not only did Fanning swindle Ms Curnow, but the real estate agent attempted to hide her deception by changing her housemate's mailing address, telephone plan and email address District Court Chief Judge Geoffrey Muecke said 'he was not confident,' Fanning will not reoffend In an earlier hearing, Fanning's lawyer, Andrew Ey, pleaded with the court in asking they do not sentence Fanning to jail time, saying she desperately wants to do the right thing from this point forward. Mr Ey also said Fanning repaid the $12,000 loan, using her wages as a real estate agent and money from her beauty salon Le Lash Beautique.. 'This has been an extremely stressful time for her, she knows imprisonment is inevitable, but she is in an extremely good place now,' he said. 'Though quite impulsive, she is a young woman that's intelligent and does have a bright future and a lot of potential.' Ms Curnow's statement was read to the court on Thursday, according to the newspaper, where she said it is 'nearly impossible' to explain how she felt after the incident. 'I have been deceived, manipulated and taken advantage of by someone who I looked up to as a sister ... there are so many toxic emotions and negative feelings,' the statement said. Before being charged with one count each of producing prohibited material and deceiving another to benefit herself fanning had received a two year good behaviour bond for stealing and drug possession. Fanning also had previous suspended sentences for fraud-related charges. Fanning used her housemate's identity to take out the loan in February 2015, and was only exposed when Ms Curnow received a customer service phonecall from Optus regarding changes made to her account A five-year-old US girl who is going blind and deaf has been granted her wish to see the Pope before she loses her sight. Lizzy Myers, who suffers from a rare genetic disease, travelled from Bellville, Ohio, with her family to see Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome. Her parents, Steve and Christine, have taken her on a week-long 'visual bucket list' to show her some of the wonders of the world while she can still see them. Scroll down for video Tender: Pictures captured the moment the Pope embraced five-year-old US girl Lizzy Myers who is going blind and deaf Lizzy Myers, who suffers from a rare genetic disease, travelled from Bellville, Ohio, with her family to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome Pictures show the 79-year-old Pontiff stooping down to speak to the youngster, who smiled as they embraced in front of crowds during an emotional meeting. Francis spent several minutes with her at the end, caressing her, hugging her, and placing his hands over her eyes. She gave him a meteorite chunk. 'She was awestruck. She just teared up,' her mother, who is Catholic, told reporters afterwards. 'To her he's the big guy in the white hat.' 'He asked us to pray for him and told us he would pray for us,' she said. Lizzy and her family had special seats for Francis' general audience this morning. The Vatican visit caps off a week of touring that has seen the child visit the statue of Julius Caesar, the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. Lizzy doesn't know she suffers from Usher's Syndrome, which will take away her hearing and gradually make her blind. Day to remember: Little Lizzy steps up to meet Pope Francis during his weekly audience at the Vatican today Pictures show Pope Francis stooping down to speak to the youngster, who smiled as they embraced in front of crowds Lizzy doesn't know she suffers from Usher's Syndrome, which will take away her hearing and gradually make her blind Pope Francis touches the face of five-year-old Lizzy Myers, from Bellville, Ohio, at the end of his general audience in St. Peter's Square The Pope and Lizzy touched foreheads as they prayed together during their brief meeting at the Vatican today But Steve said after his daughter received the diagnosis 'we realised that we have to do as much as we can to let her see as many wonderful things as possible.' The first item on their bucket list was the Warren Rupp observatory near their home, where Lizzy could look through a giant telescope at the moon and the stars. Someone at the observatory invited a journalist and before the Myers knew it, Lizzy's story was all over the news and they were receiving generous offers to help them show her much more in the short time she has before her sight fails. Five-year-old Lizzy and her family had special seats for Francis' general audience this morning The Vatican visit caps off a week of touring that has seen the child visit the statue of Julius Caesar, the Colosseum (pictured) and the Roman Forum The general manager of Turkish Airlines was touched by Lizzy's story and round-trip tickets were offered to anywhere in the world. The family chose Rome. Mr and Mrs Myers said Lizzy had already adjusted well to the hearing aids she has to wear. 'I want her to live as normal a life as she can, now,' said her mother. 'There will come a time when we will have to tell her. I dread that day.' Litigation: Devon Murray, 27, pictured outside court yesterday, played wizard Seamus Finnigan in the Harry Potter films and is being sued by his agent over his $1.2m A Harry Potter star is being sued by his former agent in a bitter High Court battle over 286,000 (230,000) in commission fees. Devon Murray, 27, is being pursued for the large sum by Dublin-based agent Neil Brooks Management on the basis that he earned about 1.2million (970k) from his work on the hit film franchise, the High Court in Dublin has heard. The management company says it successfully negotiated for Mr Murrays role in the first two Harry Potter films - but that relations with the family later broke down over alleged non-payment of commission fees. It is alleged that the young actor - who played the character of Irish student Seamus Finnigan in the Harry Potter films alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Emma Watson - tried to break away from his agent after the first four films. Meanwhile, the Murrays are counter-claiming for more than 98,000 (79,000) that they say they paid to the management firm. Mr Murray first went to court on Tuesday with his parents Michael and Fidelma. But a full hearing of the case was postponed until today. The family arrived at the Four Courts in Dublin this morning in anticipation of a full hearing of the case - only for the case to be delayed due to a shortage of judges. When the case was called, senior judge Mr Justice Seamus Noonan joked that he hadn't yet been able to 'conjure up a judge' to hear the civil action against the actor - who played a schoolboy wizard in the Harry Potter films. The case was adjourned until 2pm, in the hope that a judge would become available - but has now been delayed until tomorrow. Mr Murrays parents Michael and Fidelma are also being sued by the management company because their son was a child - just 10 years old - when he was first entered a contract with the management company back in 1998. Lucrative: The young actor, pictured far left alongside Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Sparks flying: Devon as Seamus in the early films alongside Harry - the series earned him an estimated 1.2million fortune Mr Murray, who is from Celbridge, Co. Kildare, reportedly beat thousands of other hopefuls to win the part back in 2000 and shot to fame on the back of it. HOW HARRY POTTER CONJURED MORE THAN 150M FOR ITS STARS Devon Murray may have earned around 1million from his work in the Harry Potter films but its main stars made 150million between them. Actor Daniel Radcliffe, 26, who played the title role in the eight movies has an estimated wealth of 69million. Emma Watson, 25, who starred as Hermione Grainger, has 33million from the franchise while Rupert Grint, 27, who played her love interest Ron Weasley is worth 26million. Tom Felton, 28, who play's Harru's enemy Draco Malfoy has a fortune of 23million - but this is eclipsed by author JK Rowling who is worth 580million. The movie franchise's stars started out on quite low salaries, paid to their parents, but by the final movie they were earning up to 8million to appear as the wizards. Each of the main characters are understood to have been paid bonuses based on how well the films did at the box office. And they would have been paid extra for 'image rights' from merchandise including video games and toys. Advertisement A dispute arose because Mr Murray allegedly tried to break away from his agent after the first four films. In the action, Mr Brooks says he was appointed sole agent for the young actor in October 1998 under a commission-based agreement - and successfully negotiated for Mr Murrays role in the first two Harry Potter films. Mr Brooks says the initial 1998 agreement entitled him to commissions of 12.5% for Mr Murrays film and TV earnings, 15 per cent from TV commercials plus 7 per cent from any theatre work. It is claimed that an increase in commission fees was agreed for the third and fourth instalments - but that the Murrays have failed to make such payments since around August 2005. It is claimed that as of March 2016, more than 286,000 (230,000) is due to the management company. In a counter-claim, the Murrays are seeking more than 98,000 (79,000) that they say they paid to the management firm. In fact, a civil action was first lodged by Neil Brooks Management against the actor and his parents in 2008 - but it has never reached a full hearing. A full hearing was due to begin on Tuesday. Gary McCarthy SC, for Neil Brooks Management, told the court on Tuesday that his side was now anxious for the case to proceed. But it was further postponed after lawyers for the Murrays asked for permission to stop representing the family. The Murrays did not object to their lawyers coming off record on Tuesday. Mr Justice Noonan had said a full hearing of the case would hopefully go ahead today. Advertisement Ethiopia is suffering from its worst drought since the mid-1980s when it led to a famine which claimed the lives of 400,000 people and spawned the famous Live Aid charity concerts. For the second consecutive year rains have failed to materialise, leading to a widespread drought with eastern Ethiopia, close to the border with Somalia, worst affected. The El Nino weather system, which has also triggered droughts in southern Sudan as well as in the United States, Indonesia and several other countries, is being blamed for the crisis in Ethiopia. The elderly and young mothers are among the hardest hit by the drought. Many Ethiopians have no memory of the catastrophic drought and famine which ravaged their country between 1983 and 1985 Seasonal rains in Ethiopia have failed for two years running with El Nino being blamed. Rivers have dried up, crops have wilted and died and much of the country's cattle has died Assia (pictured) helps her mother fetch water from a lake miles from their home in Keluwa, eastern Ethiopia. The water is not be drinkable unless it is treated A crocodile's skeleton on the bed of what was once a lake at Afambo show just how bad the drought is in the Afar region of north eastern Ethiopia Ethiopia's economy is much stronger than it was 30 years ago which means it is able to provide food to support those affected by the drought. But babies and old people are still vulnerable More than 10 million Ethiopians, including six million children, are now in need of emergency aid after crops failed and livestock is also at risk. In the last decade Ethiopia's economy has been the fastest growing in the whole world so the country is not the basket case it was between 1983 and 1985 when the failure of rains led to the deaths of thousands from famine. Eastern Ethiopia, between the capital Addis Ababa and neighbouring Djibouti, is the worst affected part of the country. These women have dug down three metres below the bed of a dried-out river to find water. They lift it out of the makeshift well and fill up the yellow plastic barrels which they often carry for miles back to their families The drought is placing a massive burden on Ethiopian women, particularly those who are pregnant or breastfeeding. They often have to walk long distances to find water for their families Around 430,000 children are suffering from severe malnutrition in Ethiopia and millions more are at risk after rains failed to materialise for two years running The drought and famine in Ethiopia was headline news in December 1984 (pictured) and 145m was raised by the Live Aid charity effort Streams, rivers and even some lakes have dried up, hundreds of thousands of livestock have died and malnutrition is at alarming levels. The women are probably suffering the most because they are the ones being sent out to walk up to 12 hours a day under the burning sun to find water, fill water barrels and bring it back to their villages. They are taking water from shrivelled rivers and lakes and boreholes dug by the government. But sometimes they themselves dig up to three metres down to find an aquifer. Most of the water they are using is untreated and can cause serious diseases for their families. The drought is putting a massive burden on the elderly as well as pregnant women and those who are trying to breastfeed. Many Ethiopians have abandoned their villages and are living nomadically, travelling from one water source to the next. Thousands of children have disappeared from school as a result. The Ethiopian government is working closely with United Nations agencies and international aid organisations but it says it is a long way short of the 1billion it needs to deal with the crisis. In the mid-1980s the situation was exacerbated by the policies of the left-wing regime, known as The Dergue, which had overthrown Emperor Haile Selassie 10 years earlier. The Dergue's leader Colonel Mengistu ruled until 1991 when he was overthrown by rebels and fled into exile in Zimbabwe. The rebels restored democracy and under President Meles Zenawi improved the country's economy enormously. He died in 2012 but the country is still performing well economically and has seen massive inward investment, especially from China. Last year a new railway was opened from Addis Ababa to the Red Sea port of Djibouti and this line is a key to supplying famine aid to the drought-hit region through which it passes. Ironically Ethiopia is in the middle of building a huge dam on the river Nile. The 2.9bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam - mostly funded by Ethiopian taxpayers - is being built in the Benishangul region on the border with Sudan and will provide the country with hydro-electric power. But countries like Egypt and Sudan, which are downstream, fear it will restrict the flow of water down the Nile. Ethiopia insists the dam will not affect the flow of the Nile and says it is not planning to use the water from the huge reservoir to alleviate future droughts. A child sits alone in a classroom in eastern Ethiopia. The drought has forced many families to uproot and move in search of water and this has led to many children dropping out of school A woman breastfeeds her baby as her other children gaze into the distance. Parents are having to ration the water they give to their children Cattle are pictured drinking from a stream. This was the first rain water which had fallen in the area since the beginning of the year This family have decided to up sticks and move to another area where they hope to find water. They have brought with them their trusty camels, which famously can exist on little or no water Ethiopia's economy has grown exponentially in the last decade but much of the country is still reliant on agriculture and, as a result, on rainfall. And for two years running it has failed to materialise The burden of foraging for water and also fetching food and firewood falls to the women as the menfolk are busy trying to keep alive their livestock. The fields of much of Ethiopia are arid and parched Farah (pictured) has just loaded up with water from a shrunken lake and is now setting off on an eight mile walk back to her home Three days before this photograph was taken it had rained for 30 minutes. It was the first rain they had had in the Keluwa district of Afar region all year. Local people were grateful for the water, even if it was not potable A boy sits on bags of food aid which has been brought to the Afar region by the Ethiopian government, which is working closely with the UN and international aid agencies to prevent a repeat of the famine of 1983-85 With some flour which has been supplied by the government, Aisha is able to bake some bread for her family on a rudimentary oven. It will keep them from starvation but it is a bare existence Goats are fairly hardy animals who famously eat virtually anything but the drought has been hard for them too. Around a million animals - goats, sheep and cattle - have died since the drought began El Nino has been blamed for the drought which has hit Ethiopia this year. Sudan, Indonesia and parts of the United States have also suffered significant drops in rainfall in the last two years This is the moment a no touch 'energy shield master' receives a heavy dose of reality after he invites a professional martial artist to punch him in the face. Stuntman Alexandr Litvinenko or 'Alex Lee', a seven-time martial arts champion of Ukraine, proves to be more than a match for the resistance specialist in a video which has re-emerged on social media. The 36-year-old, who lives in New York, is asked to hit the master who says he can neutralize the threat with just the impulse of his hand movements. Martial arts master? A no touch 'energy shield master' receives a heavy dose of reality after he invites a professional martial artist to punch him in the face Professional fighter: Alexandr Litvinenko or 'Alex Lee', a seven-time martial arts champion of Ukraine, proves to be more than a match for the resistance specialist Wearing a black shirt Alexandr strikes out, but his first punch is defended and he is slapped in the face. The no touch master struggles to hide his smile after his successful move. But although the unidentified man with blonde hair manages to fend of the first attack, he is then caught up in a bruising flurry of punches which knocks him to the ground. Onlooking students are sent the unintended message that a no touch martial arts system may not be as effective a technique as the master likes to think. The five-foot-seven stuntman teaches the no touch practitioner a new lesson. Alexandr uploaded the footage to his YouTube channel in 2012 and the match-up occurred in 2009, but his video has recently been trending again on the internet. Face slap: Wearing a black shirt Alexandr strikes out, but his first punch is defended and he is slapped in the face Flurry of punches: Although the unidentified man with blonde hair manages to fend of the first attack, he is then caught up in a bruising flurry of punches Knocked down: The five-foot-seven stuntman teaches the no touch practitioner a new lesson and knocks him to the ground Under the video Alexandr wrote that the man had in fact asked him to only simulate a punch to his face, so he could non-violently show how he would block it. Yet after receiving a slap to the face from the master Alexandr decided to show the man the futility of his technique. It is not clear where the class took place. A sexually frustrated husband who filmed up womens skirts on the London Underground said his wife's breast cancer left him unable to control his 'urges'. Darren Lessman, 43, was twice caught on CCTV using his mobile phone to film between his unsuspecting victims legs on the Victoria Line. Lessman was given a 12 month community order at Westminster Magistrates Court and banned from taking photos on the Tube for two years. The court heard he had no outlet for his urges after his wife's single mastectomy affected their sex life. Darren Lessman, 43, pictured left and right, was twice caught on CCTV using his mobile phone to film between his unsuspecting victims legs on the Victoria Line Lessman was also ordered to carry out 40 hours of unpaid work. Prosecutor Zahid Hussain told the court Lessman approached the first woman at 10.21pm last July 8. He said: The defendant was captured on CCTV footage. He was on the London Underground Network and he was standing within close proximity of a female on the escalators. He places his smartphone, to which there is attached a camera, under the skirt of the female in question. Lessman was caught by CCTV filming another woman on the Tube at 9.50am on September 22. He positions himself again within close proximity of a female, age unknown - Im told it was not a minor, said Mr Hussain. Again he places his smartphone under her skirt and again he was filming under her skirt. He was captured on CCTV and there were also enquiries in relation to his oyster card. Lessman was charged with two counts of outraging public decency and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity on March 16. Ploy: Lessman, who said he was sexually frustrated because of his wife's cancer, filmed up skirts on Tube escalators (file picture) Benedict Henriques, defending, said: My client was under particular stress and difficulties at the time, I dont say that as any excuse. Lessman claims his urges got the better of him when his love life took a turn for the worse after his wife had a major operation. Very unfortunately at the same time his wife had breast cancer, she had to have a single mastectomy, said Mr Henriques. Understandably it affected their intimate relationship together. He added: The fact that he was not able to have an outlet for his urges was a factor. Lessman was given a criminal behaviour order that bars him from taking photographs on the London Underground for two years. He was also handed a 12-month community order with a requirement of 40 hours of unpaid work and a requirement of 25 days rehabilitation activities. Chair of the bench Penny Hatfield said: Well Mr Lessman these were serious offences even though the victims were unaware of the violation of their privacy. Its concerning that the behaviour was repeated and deliberate. Jonathan Thomson-Glover, 53, recorded students using the bathroom and engaging in private sexual activity at prestigious Clifton College over 16 years One of Britain's top private schools has been stripped of millions of pounds of funding by the Ministry of Defence after its housemaster was caught secretly filming children. Perverted Jonathan Thomson-Glover, 53, recorded students using the bathroom and engaging in private sexual activity at prestigious Clifton College over 16 years. The German master was jailed for three years and nine months last August after admitting 36 charges of making, taking and possessing indecent photos of 130 pupils. News of the scandal saw the elite college come under fire as parents claimed they warned staff about Thomson-Glover a decade before his arrest. Nine months on, the MoD has temporarily blocked funding Continuity of Education Allowance for new places at Clifton College pending the results of a critical inspection. It currently gives more than 50 children at the school a discount of more than 230,000 each on fees, meaning they pay five times less than non-service families. While standard boarding costs 288,210 for ten years, Forces families pay just 54,318. The Bristol-based college's 150 year tradition of supporting service families could come to a bitter end if MoD funding is permanently scrapped over safeguarding concerns. The MoD said they will 'review its position' once results of an inspection are revealed. However, they stress that if no improvement is seen then the funding is likely to be permanently stopped. An emergency inspection ordered by the Department for Education last July - after Thomson-Glover was charged - found welfare requirements were being missed. Nine months on, the MoD has temporarily blocked funding Continuity of Education Allowance for new places at Clifton College (pictured) pending the results of a critical inspection It currently gives more than 50 children at the school a discount of more than 230,000 each on fees, meaning they pay five times less than non-service families. While standard boarding costs 288,210 for ten years, Forces families pay just 54,318 A follow-up report by the Independent Schools Inspectorate is due to be published in the next four to six weeks. The MoD said on the advice of the Department for Education, it has 'temporarily ceased' payments to those 'making initial applications for places at Clifton College.' Clifton College is one of a handful of centres in Britain in receipt of a bursary from the Ministry, which heavily subsidises fees for the children of active servicemen. Currently, around 20 per cent of the pupils who board at the school - more than 50 children - are from Armed Forces families. The huge discount is supposed to ensure there is no disruption to children's education when their parent is deployed overseas. Armed Forces families receive a 20 per cent discount on fees from the school itself and MoD subsidies of 5,081 a year for junior boarders and 6,669 for senior boarders. A spokeswoman for Clifton College said the elite school has a 'proud tradition of supporting armed forces families' over more than 150 years. 'The MoD has continued to provide the Continuity of Education Allowance for existing pupils throughout this period,' she said. The German master was jailed for three years and nine months last August after admitting 36 charges of making, taking and possessing indecent photos of 130 pupils. This photograph shows VHS tapes, CDs and DVDs belonging to Thomson-Glover 'The ISI have carried out their inspection and we are awaiting the publication of their report. 'Should the outcome prove positive, we understand the MoD will review their position with a view to reinstating the allowance for new families who wish to join the college.' To his admirers, Thomson-Glover was a real-life 'Mr Chips' a teacher who devoted his life to pupils at a prestigious public school. Parents regarded him as a 'consummate professional', while to pupils he was a 'friend' who allowed them to smoke, drink and have sex on school premises. But in reality he was a pervert who for 16 years recorded the most intimate moments of children in his charge using secret cameras for his own sexual gratification. The housemaster was a pervert who for 16 years recorded the most intimate moments of children in his charge using secret cameras for his own sexual gratification (an image from one of the cameras) Another video still shows a lens pointed towards a bath and shower used by the school's young pupils He was arrested at his parents' address in August 2014 after the National Crime Agency flagged an IP address which had been used to download indecent images. The former Clifton pupil resigned immediately from the post he had held at co-educational Clifton College for more than three decades, citing 'personal reasons'. Police found more than 300 video tapes containing 2,500 hours of footage and 1,400 images of his teenage victims, who were both boys and girls. The images were taken at a number of locations including a property in Wadebridge, Cornwall, as well as at Clifton College. Unmarried Thomson-Glover was jailed and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life in August last year. The school's headmaster, Mark Moore, stepped down two months later saying it was time for him to 'explore other opportunities'. to make bombs, which set off car alarms in area Pineapples and melons were just some of the objects blown up by FBI explosives experts during an operation to educate the public on homemade bombs. FBI Newark gathered in Edison, New Jersey for the demonstration, which was designed to illustrate how easy it is to create deadly explosives using everyday household ingredients. Christopher White, a special agent bomb technician for the FBI, explained that it was important to educate the public in this area to avert potential terrorist attacks. Big bang: FBI Newark said the demonstration was designed to illustrate how easy it is to create deadly explosives using everyday household ingredients Christopher White, a special agent bomb technician for the FBI, said it was important to educate the public to avert potential terror attacks FBI Supervisory Special Agent Kevin Conklin expressed his concerns regarding how easy it is to find bomb-making instructions online while talking to New Jersey.com. Agent White assured the demonstration was nothing more than a regular part of FBI training, however, and was not put on in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels. During the demonstration Agent White showed how ingredients including antifreeze and brake fluid can be combined to create an explosive, reported the paper. Timothy Gallagher, the special agent in charge of the FBI Newark division, said: 'Individually, these chemicals probably could not harm you.' During the demonstration several car alarms were set off as a pineapple (left) was blown to smithereens (right) Anyone for a smoothie? A melon (left) was also used in the demonstration and blown to pieces (right) Experts were filmed mixing the chemicals at a work station before retreating to safety to detonate the explosive devices He added: 'But when you combine them, in the amounts that you combine them, they could produce quite a blast.' The special agent also explained that the readily available chemicals are inexpensive and said that the FBI needs the public to be on guard against anything suspicious. He told the paper that if people are educated they are less likely to overlook something. The FBI is hoping the explosive operation will nip any potential future terrorist attack in the bud. The FBI is hoping the explosive operation will nip any potential future terrorist attack in the bud FBI Special agent Marcus Iticovici gets out the way as an explosion occurs during the training demonstration Timothy Gallagher, the special agent in charge of the FBI Newark division, said the FBI needs the public to be on guard against anything suspicious During the demonstration several car alarms were set off as a pineapple and a melon were blown to absolute smithereens. Experts were filmed mixing the chemicals at a work station before retreating to safety to detonate the explosive devices. According to the paper, one detonation was delayed when two geese decided to settle down right in the middle of a blast site. The FBI assured the demonstration was nothing more than a regular part of FBI training, and was not put on in response to the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels During the demonstration an agent showed how ingredients including antifreeze and brake fluid can be combined to create an explosive British grandfather Jim Atherton, 53, who sold his belongings including his car, boat and motorbikes to travel to Kurdistan to fight ISIS, says his children have branded him a 'daft old sod' A British grandfather who sold his belongings including his car, boat and motorbikes to travel to Kurdistan to fight ISIS says his children have branded him a 'daft old sod'. Jim Atherton, 53, spent eight months in the disputed region in close range combat with ISIS troops as he fought alongside Peshmerga to keep extremists out of Europe. The former white van driver returned to his home in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in November last year, but is planning to go back to the Middle East at the end of this month. However, not all of his family are as keen for him to go. He says his wife 'hates' what he does, and his three grown up children have all described him as a 'daft old sod' for fighting ISIS and risking death every day. Despite the fears of his family, Mr Atherton says he is willing to put his life on the line and fight with voluntary Christian militia group Dwekh Nwasha to stop religious fundamentalists from entering the UK. 'I have been in trenches on the front line, with rockets going off, and ISIS trying to sneak through the trench lines,' he said. 'I am doing this because I do not want ISIS in the UK, and there is a real danger of that. They need to be kept out of Europe.' Mr Atherton, who has no formal military training, endures basic conditions in Kurdistan, which borders Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq, and has slept in trenches, although sometimes has the comfort of a sofa or floor. The brave grandfather has come face to face with ISIS fighters on the front line, and says that Dwekh Nwasha, alongside Kurdish armies have been successful in preventing ISIS entering Europe - but need funding. Atherton spent eight months in the disputed region in close range combat with ISIS troops as he fought alongside Peshmerga to keep extremists out of Europe Despite the fears of his family, Mr Atherton says he is willing to put his life on the line and fight with voluntary Christian militia group Dwekh Nwasha to stop religious fundamentalists from entering the UK Dwekh Nwasha is just one of two Christian militias fighting in the region and has about 45 fighters, with around 12 of those westerners, and Mr Atherton is determined to raise money to help while he is back in Britain. The former white van driver returned to his home in Washington, Tyne and Wear, in November last year He says the weapons the group fight with are decades old and in desperate need of replacing, and the group is only surviving thanks to donations. 'When I was out in Kurdistan the first weapon I had was older than I was,' he said. 'It had been made in 1962. 'Most of the weapons are antiques from the 1970s. The group survives purely on donations and is doing vital work to keep ISIS out of Europe. 'The militia comes under fire from mortars and katyusha rockets 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 'It is all down to money and power, why the British government will not do more to help.' Mr Atherton, who is armed with grenades and a machine gun while in Kurdistan, hit the headlines last year when he sold all of his belongings including a Ford Sierra Cosworth, two motorbikes, a boat and car parts, to raise 18,000 to fund his trip to the middle east. He previously said: 'I couldn't stand seeing ISIS killing women and kids. No one seemed to be doing anything about it, so I decided I would. 'People were commenting online about ISIS atrocities then five minutes later it was all forgotten. Police in India have issued a terror alert warning three jihadis may have entered the country just days ahead of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's official visit. The warning said the terrorists armed with guns, ammunition and a suicide belt could target Delhi, Goa and Mumbai - the city where the couple will begin their tour. According to reports in India, the three terrorists are suspected to have entered the country via the Punjab region which borders Pakistan. India has been targeted by terrorists before, most notably in 2008, when gunmen spent four days killing 164 people in a series of coordinated attacks across Mumbai. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are flying to Mumbai - where police have just issued a terrorist alert - on April 9 in their first-ever visit to the city Ajmal Kasab, one of the gunmen involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, walks through a railway station carrying his weapon An Indian soldier takes cover as the Taj Mahal Hotel - where Prince William and Kate are planning to stay - burns during gun battles between Indian military and militants in November 2008 The alert issued by Punjab police stated: 'Their target could be in Delhi, Goa and Mumbai,' India Today reported. 'You are directed to take all the necessary steps in this regard and specially focus on strict checking of vehicles, security of all vital installation[s] including police buildings and defence establishments, religious places, crowded places such as market areas, malls, railway stations, railway tracks, and educational institutions.' According to reports, the three Pakistani terrorists are travelling in a Maruti Swift Dzire car with the license plate JK-01 AB-2654, and a local from the Punjab region is thought to be with them. It comes just days after Indian security agencies killed three terrorists in shootouts and they were tipped off about the presence of jihadis entering the country from Pakistan. The Royal couple's visit to Bhutan and India this week will see them stay in the Mumbai hotel which was targeted in the city's 2008 terror attacks in which 164 people were killed. The attacks saw 10 members of an Islamic militant organisation based in Pakistan carry out several days of coordinated attacks across Mumbai. The attackers, who landed in the area via speedboats, used assault rifles and bombs to kill both tourists and locals at a series of landmark hotels and cafes. Kensington Palace refused to comment on whether the alert would affect the couple's travel plans, which begin when they arrive in Mumbai on April 10. In a press release to mark the details of their trip, a spokesperson last month said the trip would begin with a trip to the Taj Palace Hotel.. The spokesperson added: 'The Taj was one of the scenes of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 and is now an iconic symbol of the citys resilience and strength. 'The stories of the bravery and dedication of the staff there are now known around the world. 'The Duke and Duchess are following in the footsteps of other world figures, including The Prince of Wales and the US President who have both used their stays at the hotel to display solidarity with the people of this great city. 'On arrival they will lay a wreath at a memorial inside the hotel and meet members of staff who helped protect guests during the attack.' Pictured is debris scattered across the Coilaba market in downtown Mumbai following the 2008 attacks Shadow chancellor John McDonnell faced being dragged into an anti-Semitism row today after links on his blog were questioned John McDonnell was dragged into a row over alleged anti-Semitism in the Labour Party today after it emerged his blog contained links to a website said to include 'tributes to suicide bombers'. The shadow chancellor made the post in 2014 while still a little-known backbench MP. His website was updated today to remove the links to the Innovative Minds page and Mr McDonnell's team insisted the shadow chancellor had not been aware of the controversial content. Labour has faced a growing row about claims the party is failing to police new members who express anti-Semitic views. Officials have claimed senior Labour MP Louise Ellman has faced an 'orchestrated' anti-Semitic campaign while former Labour Treasurer Lord Levy has threatened to quit the party over attacks made on him. The revelations in the Evening Standard about Mr McDonnell's website today provoked fury among Labour MPs who have repeatedly demanded stronger and more public condemnation from leader Jeremy Corbyn on the issue. One of the articles on the Innovative Minds website focused on a suicide bomber who murdered 19 Israelies outside a nightclub. Another, posted in 2002, said Israel had no right to exist and should be 'dismantled'. Mr McDonnell linked to the website in a post about a boycott of Israeli goods during the 2014 bombing of Gaza. Sir Eric Pickles, the chairman of the Conservative Friends of Israel group, told the Standard the posts on Innovative Minds amounted to 'tributes to suicide bombers'. A spokesman for Mr McDonnell said: 'John was supporting a peaceful campaign against the bombing in Gaza at the time in 2014. The campaign suggested using the link to this website in order to take part. 'He was obviously not aware of the views this website historically expressed 10 years previously but John's office has subsequently removed the link in question immediately. 'John has a zero tolerance approach to anti-Semitism and has a record of campaigning against all forms of racism.' Former shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher today said the removal of the links from the shadow chancellor's website was 'good'. Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher said it was 'good' Mr McDonnell had removed the links on his blog but warned anti-Semitism was a 'poison' with no place in the Labour Party Mr Dugher added: 'Anti-semitism is happening. That's not ''debate''. It's a poison and it has no place in the Labour Party.' Liverpool Riverside MP Louise Ellman has been subject to anti-Semitic attacks in her constituency it was claimed today A spokesman for Innovative Minds told the Standard the articles were historic and not written by people who manage the website, which he said opposed 'all forms of racism including anti-Semitism' and aimed to promote 'peaceful anti-racist, pro-justice, anti-apartheid activism'. He added: 'InMinds' website carries diverse views and opinion pieces on issues to do with peacefully resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In particular ... it has been to promote the work of Jews, Muslims, Christians and many more in this field and promote an understanding of shared humanity Ms Ellman has faced verbal attacks in her Liverpool Riverside constituency in recent months. Liverpool's assistant mayor Nick Small today said it represented an 'orchestrated' campaign against the veteran MP. He said: 'I found these comments offensive and believe that they have no place within the broad church of the Labour party. 'There are a tiny but vocal group within our CLP who seem hell-bent on attacking our MP in an orchestrated, horrible, personalised way. 'They are trying to create an atmosphere of intimidation and hostility that is making many members, particularly Jewish members, feel deeply uncomfortable.' Labour MP Jamie Reed sad the allegations were 'utterly sickening' and demanded 'quick and decisive action' from the Labour leadership. A Labour spokeswoman said: 'The Labour party takes all complaints seriously and will investigate appropriately.' Jamie Reed said the allegations about attacks on Ms Ellman were 'sickening' and demanded 'quick and decisive' action Sadiq Khan admits he wears a 'badge of shame' over Labour's anti-Semitism troubles as he campaigns for London Mayor Sadiq Khan today admitted he wears a 'badge of shame' because of the problems the Labour Party has with anti-Semitism. The London Mayor candidate said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn 'could have taken a tougher stance and needs to take a tougher stance'. The party has been dragged into a series of rows about anti-Semitic members which some MPs have warned are not being kicked out of the party swiftly enough. Jewish Labour MPs have also claimed they have come under attack from anti-Semitic individuals online. Sadiq Khan, left alongside his Tory rival for City Hall Zac Goldsmith, has admitted he wears a 'badge of shame' over anti-Semitism from some in Labour Mr Khan said he knew what it was to suffer 'hate crime' and added: 'I also know its unacceptable in 2016 that there is anti-Semitism in the Labour party. 'Its with sorrow that I wear that badge of shame.' Mr Khan added: 'If it means members of my party, senior members of my party including members of [Labours ruling National Executive Committee] being trained about what anti-Semitism is, then so be it.' Speaking at a hustings organised by the London Jewish Forum, Mr Khan said: 'I have said at the outset, Im embarrassed and sorrowful about anti-Semitism in the party. of the victim has not yet been disclosed while police inform the family Woman in her 20's has been found dead in a creek on University of Texas at Austin campus, say officials. The victim has been identified as a woman in her 20's and the death is being treated as possible homicide, University of Texas public information officer told DailyMail.com. She was found just after 10.46 am Tuesday morning. Police would not confirm if the woman was a student at the university, PI officer Cindy Posey told the Mail. Police discovered the body after students reported a smell coming from Waller Creek, located behind the university's Etter-Harbin alumni center, according to ABC News. Scroll down for video The body of a woman - believed to be a student in her 20's - was found in a creek (pictured) on University of Texas at Austin campus Tuesday She was found just after 10.46 am Tuesday morning Waller Creek, located behind the university's alumni center The death is being investigated by UTPD, the Austin Police Department and the Texas Rangers Police discovered the body after students reported a smell coming from Waller Creek and are treating the incident as a homicide Austin police say they are treating the incident as a homicide and are now working with investigators from campus to identify possible suspects. The death is being investigated by UTPD, the Austin Police Department and the Texas Rangers. A female student was reported missing three days ago but police would not say if the two cases were connected. University of Texas president Gregory Fenves released a statement Tuesday: 'Today, we are dealing with a tragedy on campus. University police have discovered a body in Waller Creek behind the alumni center and are investigating a possible homicide. 'I have spoken with campus public safety leaders and am writing to assure you that we are doing everything possible to ensure safety on campus. 'We are also working closely with Austin police to identify possible suspects. We are unable to release the name of the victim or any details until the family has been notified. University of Texas president Gregory Fenves (pictured) released a statement Tuesday: 'Today, we are dealing with a tragedy on campus' UT student Ivy Markwell (left) leads a volunteer group called Sure Walk (right) that offers safety tips to students and provides 'buddies' for those who feel unsafe walking alone have also stepped up their work following the tragedy 'Based on the information we have and our conversations with police, the campus continues to operate fully, and all classes and events remain on schedule.' While classes are continuing as usual, Austin Police and DUP troopers are providing extra security on campus, with 50 officers from UTPD, APD and DPS deployed to patrol the university community, says Fenves. And a student-led safety group is also stepping up its work. UT student Ivy Markwell leads a volunteer group called Sure Walk that advises students on safety after hours and offers 'guardians' for those who feel unsafe walking home alone. She told TWC News: 'It's pretty scary to think you can't walk home safely on campus.' DailyMail.com contacted Dallas Police for further information on the incident but they were unable to disclose any at this time. Parents are pulling their children out of a Texas elementary school over a new policy banning family members from campus. At the beginning of the academic year, Bear Branch Elementary School Principal Holly Ray instituted a new rule banning parents from stepping foot on campus. Parents now only have the options of having their children ride the bus or waiting in a mile-long car line to shuttle their kids to and from school. Scroll down for video The principal of Bear Branch Elementary School has instituted a new policy, banning parents from walking their children to and from school Those who have flouted the rules and accompanied their children to the campus say they have been threatened with criminal charges. Private school teacher Wendy Jarman, who lives in a neighborhood by the school, says she used to walk her children to and from the educational institution. She took her children out of the school on Monday, due to the new rule. Wendy Jarman (left) and Frank Young (right) are two parents who have pulled their children out of the school over the policy Young says he was issued this 'trespass warning' when he dropped his children off at school in September 'She's threatening to arrest people,' Jarman said of principal Ray in an interview with Fox 26 Houston. 'This has happened to many parents. They have been cited. They have been threatened, if they step one foot on school property they will be arrested and charged with who knows what.' One of the parents who has been cited is Frank Young, who has also decided to pull his kids from the school. 'Mrs Rays policy is implying that a parent doesnt have the ability or capability to decide what is safest for her children and that the school district does,' Young said. Fox 26 reporters say they spoke with at least three other families who had recently switched their kids to different schools over the policy, but who did not want to appear on TV. Meanwhile, the school district has stood behind principal Ray. Flight attendant Julia Price (above) The flight attendant who exited an airplane at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas on Monday by deploying the emergency slide has been identified as Julia Price. It still remains unclear why Price made the decision to deploy the slide and leave the plane in this manner, but family members said she is doing well and wants to keep the matter private. United Airlines meanwhile has fired Price from her job and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident according to Click 2 Houston. Video of the incident filmed from inside the airport on Monday shows Price opening up the plane door, throwing her bag to the the ground and then jumping down the slide. It happened just after noon when the plane landed after travelling from Sacramento. At the same time a medical emergency was happening on board the plane when a passenger began having difficulty breathing. The passengers were all eventually safely deplaned, and some had no idea that Price had even exited the plane via the emergency slide. 'When we landed we were told to stay in our seats as deplaning would take a bit longer,' said passenger Jonah Vella. 'Everything seemed to be pretty standard.' The individual who was having trouble breathing was taken out in a wheelchair. The FAA will not be pressing any criminal charges for the incident but may choose to issue fines based on the findings of their investigation. We just got off the phone with this flt att.'s family who says woman is doing well & says it is a pvt family matter. pic.twitter.com/v2XtNRYhcL Jace Larson, KPRC (@jacelarson) April 5, 2016 Out of a job: Price has been fired by United and the Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident United said in a statement earlier this week; 'The unsafe behavior is unacceptable and does not represent the more than 20,000 flight attendants who ensure the safety of our customers.' Price was one of six crew members on board the plane, which carried 159 passengers. Two children are believed to have caught the virus while in India Two patients spent time in Queensland before returning to Sydney Doctors, travellers and hotel residents were told to be extra cautious NSW health warns the community to watch out for measles Health authorities have urged travellers, doctors and hotel residents to watch out for measles after four people were confirmed to have contracted the contagious illness. The four patients spent time while they were infectious around a large number of people risking the spread of the airborne disease, the Sydney Morning Herald. Two travellers who arrived to Sydney via a Virgin flight on March 28 and a Tiger Airlines flight on March 29 spent time in hostels in Cairns and Magnetic Island, north-east of Queensland before being diagnosed in Sydney. NSW Health has warned the community especially doctors, travellers and hotel residents to be alert to the symptoms of measles after four people were reported to have been in the community while infectious One person spent the night of March 29 in the emergency department at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital upon their return. Two children were also confirmed to have contracted the disease after spending time at Blacktown medical centre as well as Mt Druitt Hospital in western Sydney on April 2. It is believed the children contracted the virus in India before arriving in Sydney on March 30 after catching the AI302 flight from Delhi. NSW Health Communicable Diseases Branch Director Vicky Sheppeard has warned the public to look out for symptoms especially if they have not received two doses of the vaccine. 'When a person who has measles has been in a setting like an airplane, like a hospital, like a general practice, we can quickly get more cases,' said Dr Sheppeard. 'We will probably see further cases in backpackers'. Symptoms include fever, runny nose, red eyes and a cough followed by a blotchy rash that spreads but is not itchy. is for Australian and US forces to improve air support procedures for soldiers on the ground involves eight US F/A-18E Super Hornet jets doing drills with Australian PC-9 aircraft Exercise Black Dagger has seen US and Australia military personnel Advertisement Bombs obliterating targets into balls of flames, military jets spiralling overhead and camouflaged soldiers taking orders through handheld transceivers. They may look like scenes from a war-stricken battlefront, but the images come from Townsville in far north Queensland, where Australia and the U.S. are staging a major biannual training exercise. Images show the two nations flexing their military might through aerobatics demonstrations at Exercise Black Dagger, a joint Air Force and Navy operation held at RAAF Base Townsville this month. A Mk-82 High Explosive bomb dropped from an US F/A 18E Super Hornet explodes on its target in Townsville, Australia The drill is part of a major biannual training exercise between Australia and the US known Exercise Black Dagger, held at RAAF Base Townsville A 18E Super Hornet from the United States Navy fighter squadron VFA-115 conducts a bombing run as part of the exercise Eight US F/A-18E Super Hornet jets have flown over for the exercise, joining Australian PC-9 aircraft to drop powerful explosives on targets and improve air support procedures for soldiers on the ground. Dramatic images Mk-82 High Explosive bombs dropped from US F/A 18E Super Hornets obliterating targets before bursting into raging infernos and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air. Other images show the elaborate air drills, where RAAF PC-9 aircraft and US F/A-18E Super Hornet can be seen soaring through the sky as soldiers watch on from below. The exercise happens twice a year when Air Force and Navy personnel from the respective nations deploy air support for soldiers through a number of drills. Australia and the US have been flexing their military might through the aerobatics demonstrations at the biannual event Eight US F/A-18E Super Hornet jets (pictured) have flown in for the exercise, which is intended to improve air support procedures for soldiers on the ground Australian PC-9 aircraft are also partaking in the drill A RAAF (Royal Australian Air Force) PC/9A coducts a fly by during air operations in Townsville on April 6 The exercise happens twice a year when Air Force and Navy personnel from the respective nations deploy air support for soldiers on the ground through a number of drills Australia and the US have both been flexing their military might through the aerobatics demonstrations at Exercise Black Dagger Commanding officer of No.4 Squadron Wing Commander Harvey Reynolds said there were hundreds of personnel involved in the exercise, reports Townsville Bulletin. 'At any given day there's 200 or 300 people doing this exercise,' he said Wing Cdr Reynolds said learning how to work closely with the US military and join forces with them in a range of drills was vital to improving Australia's defence. 'These are the people we fight alongside overseas so it's really important to make sure we practise these procedures in a coalition environment,' he said. rticle that used a fake quote attributed to Palin she believed was real Azaealia Banks is firing back at Sarah Palin after she revealed on Tuesday that she planned to sue the rapper for comments she made on Twitter over the weekend calling for the 'biggest burliest blackest' men to gang-rape the former Alaska governor. Banks posted a message calling Palin a 'cracker' on Wednesday while also criticizing her on Twitter for supporting Donald Trump, saying: 'Everyone can tell you're spreading them cheeks for Mr. Trump Sarah..... you ain't got to lie.' She also responded to Palin's comment that she planned to delete Banks' music off her daughter's playlist by going after Bristol Palin's two out-of-wedlock pregnancies, saying; 'If Bristol Palin listened to my music she probably wouldnt have all those cotdamn kids!!!! ;-P #sis #iud #stayinschool #causeitsthebest' Scroll down for video Round two: Azaealia Banks (above in September 2014) went after Sarah Palin when the former Alaska governor said she planned to sue the rapper for comments she made on Twitter On the attack: Banks posted a message calling Palin a 'cracker' and attacked her for supporting Donald Trump on Wednesday (Palin and Trump above on Saturday) Azealia shared her thoughts on Twitter with these tweets pictured above Banks attacked Palin on Twitter Sunday in a series of now deleted tweets. 'Honestly Lets find the biggest burliest blackest n****** and let them run a train on her. Film it and put it on worldstar,' wrote Banks in one of the tweets. In another she wrote; 'Hideous. At least suk a n**** d*** or summ before you start talking s*** about "black people willingly accepting slavery." Least she can do.' The rapper lashed out at the former Alaska governor after reading a satirical article in which Palin was falsely quoted as saying; 'Im telling you, Ive been saying it for years, but nobodys listening slavery wasnt forced onto African-Americans, they accepted it willingly.' Palin responded to Banks on Tuesday, saying she was 'not exercising enough intelligence' and later added: 'Why don't we strengthen both our platforms and work together on something worthwhile.' She then wrote that 'condoning racism' was one of the things that the women could work on before editing it to 'condemning racism' in the post. Palin later told People; 'I've had enough of the unanswered threats and attacks against my family and me. 'So, for the first time I'm going to enjoy the only retribution some protected "celebrities" seem to understand I'm suing Azealia Banks and can't wait to share my winnings with others who have gone defenseless against lies and dangerous attacks far too long.' Palin added; 'Azealia engages in a form of racism and hate that is celebrated by some in the perverted arm of pop culture, but is condemned by those who know it's tearing our country apart. 'Others may keep turning a blind eye to problems like Azealia's mouth; I choose to take a stand against it and the double standards that result in her actually being rewarded for her divisive tactics and aggressively inciting violence.' Banks responded to this on Twitter, writing; 'When you're a public figure who courts attention, you can't sue ppl for making jokes. Freedom of Speech girllllyyyyy.' She also wrote; 'F*** Sarah Palin.' In the letter she posted Wednesday, Banks wrote; 'Despite their best efforts to conceal the contempt and envy that the cracker has for Blacks and other people of color... they just cant hide it and it's seeping from the seams of their being. 'Im 100% positive that the police killings, cultural appropriation, Trump and Palin etc. represent the contempt that whitey shares for this intangible , uncontrollable new black man thats been steeping for a while now.' AZEALIA BANKS' SECOND OPEN LETTER POSTED WEDNESDAY MORNING 'Despite their best efforts to conceal the contempt and envy that the cracker has for Blacks and other people of color they just cant hide it and its seeping from the seams of their being. 'im 100% positive that the police killings, cultural appropriation, Trump and Palin etc. represent the contempt that whitey shares for this intangible , uncontrollable new black mind thats been steeping for a while now. The mind born of very intelligent and real conversations/confrontations around American Racism. And the detachment of the Black mind from the mirage of a subpar existence and self-perceptions that crackers created for us long ago. They feel exposed and out of control for once. And our big black ideas and expression are threatening to further expose them, so theyll try to trivialize and minimize our blackness by stereotyping us. 'Theyre running out of mental mind-f*** tricks. 'Like really they are. 'Blackness is frustrating crackers nowadays because its threatening their sense of security and being. We no longer care about what they think, so its hard to control us. 'Theyre relying on old tricks in hopes that it quiets us down. 'Cultural Appropriation has nothing to do with liking or admiringits about power and dominance and cracker wanting control conversations and expressions of identity that dont belong to him. 'F*** whitey' Advertisement Bristol's turn: Banks also responded to Palin's comment that she planned to delete Banks' music off her daughter's playlist by going after Bristol Palin's two out-of-wedlock pregnancies, saying; 'If Bristol Palin listened to my music she probably wouldnt have all those cotdamn kids!!!!' (Bristol above with her son and daughter) Media Research Center managed to grab Banks' initial tweets before they were taken down, the most vulgar of which said; 'Sarah Palin needs to have her head shaved off to a buzzcut, get headf***** by a big veiny, ashy black c*** then be locked in a cupboard.' She also wrote an open letter to Palin on Tuesday, saying; 'Now since learning that the article was not published officially, I sincerely apologize for any emotional distress or reputational scarring i may have caused you. 'In my honest defense, i was completely kidding. I happen to have a really crass, New-York-City sense of humor, and regularly make silly jokes in attempts make light of situations which make me uncomfortable. 'As the fabric of the American Nation is EMBEDDED with racism, I merely made a raCIALly driven joke to counter what i believed to be real, raCIST rhetoric.' She said later in her letter; 'I cherish my ability to express myself freely, yet remain totally aware that for every action, there will be a reaction. 'All in All, Woman to Woman, I hope you will accept my sincerest apology.' Banks then included multiple PS additions to the letter, writing in one; 'Hey Female Rapper, was your way to euphemize what you REALLY wanted to say. What you wanted to say was, Hey little Stereotypical Black, Thing!' In another she said; 'Twitter is not real, neither is your opinion of me!' Mad: The 24-year-old rapper is frequently in the news for her erratic behavior, and just two weeks ago was seen charging at photographers who were taking her picture outside Manhattan Criminal Court Attack: Banks was appearing in court following an incident that happened in December where she is alleged to have punched and then bitten a female bouncer at a Manhattan club The 24-year-old rapper is frequently in the news for her erratic behavior, and just two weeks ago was seen charging at photographers who were taking her picture outside Manhattan Criminal Court. Banks was appearing in court following an incident that happened in December where she is alleged to have punched and then bitten a female bouncer at a Manhattan club. She was also accused of assaulting a bouncer at the Break Room 86 club in Los Angeles in October. Banks has also engaged in numerous Twitter fights, most notably with fellow rappers including Iggy Azalea, Eminem and Nicki Minaj. She tweeted about Azalea just last month, writing; 'Mentioning me is the only thing that will get you attention. Because ur music and nose job are trash.' Banks then posted a second tweet that said; 'Matter of fact. . Let me just kill this b****.' With a convincing win last night in Wisconsin, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continued to deny frontunner Hillary Clinton the claim of the Democratic nomination. So in order to push back, Clinton has been questioning Sanders' Democratic bona fides. 'Well, I think he himself doesn't consider himself to be a Democrat,' Clinton said today on Morning Joe. 'And, look, he raised a lot of important issues that the Democratic party agrees with, first and foremost, but it's up to the Democratic primary voters to make that assessment.' Clinton has become more vocal in exposing Sanders' nebulous party affiliation in recent days. after the self-described democratic socialist senator expressed uncertainty when asked if he would raise money for down-ballot Democrats as the party wages a battle to take back the U.S. Senate from Republicans who gained control in 2014. Scroll down for video He doesn't even go here: Hillary Clinton, when prompted, questioned Bernie Sanders' Democratic bona fides as he routed her from the nomination once again last night in Wisconsin Hillary Clinton appeared on Morning Joe today and suggested that Bernie Sanders' embarrassing New York Daily News interview showed that he didn't do his 'homework' for the past year When asked by Politico's Glenn Thrush about Sanders being a 'real Democrat,' she responded, 'Well, I can't answer that.' She then smiled and answered that. 'He's a relatively new Democrat, and, in fact, I'm not even sure he is one. He's running as one. So I don't know quite how to characterize him,' Clinton said. Today she expanded on those comments by committing to help Senate Democratic candidates win their races. 'I've been in the trenches a long time and I believe in electing Democrats up and down the ticket,' she said. 'I want to see the United States Senate move back in Democratic hands with my friend Chuck Schumer as the majority leader,' she said, giving a shout-out to the prominent New Yorker as she turns her attention to winning the Empire State. 'So I'm going to keep working and fighting for all Democrats,' she added. This morning's appearance on Morning Joe was also Clinton's first opportunity to swing at Sanders for his questionable interview with the New York Daily News' editorial board, in which he was unable to easily articulate how he would break up the big banks one of his main stump speech prescriptions. Clinton wouldn't give a straight yes or no answer when asked repeatedly by Scarborough whether Sanders was 'qualified' to be president. Sen. Bernie Sanders moved on to Wyoming last night - which holds its caucus on Saturday - to celebrate his big win over Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin last night 'Well, I think the interview raised a lot of serious questions,' Clinton replied. 'And I look at it this way, the core of his campaign has been break up the banks and it didn't seem, in reading his answers, that he understood exactly how that would work under Dodd-Frank and exactly who would be responsible, what the criteria were.' 'And that means you can't really help people if you don't know how to do what you are campaigning on saying you want to do,' Clinton added. Asked again if Sanders was ready to be president of the United States, Clinton again punted from delivering a definitive answer. 'Well, I think he hadn't done his homework and he's been talking for more than a year about doing things that he obviously hadn't really studied or understood and that does raise a lot of questions,' she said. Clinton said that voters need to examine whether Sanders can 'deliver' on many of his oft-repeated campaign promises. 'Obviously I think I'm, by far, the better choice,' she added. Scarborough again asked the former secretary of state if she thought Sanders 'qualified' to be president and whether she thought he would deliver on those promises. Hillary Clinton campaign in Philadelphia today and also sat down with the hosts of Morning Joe and Chris Cuomo of CNN to try out some new lines against rival Bernie Sanders Hillary Clinton laughed and called it 'ludicrous' to suggest that she was destroying the Democratic party with her presidential ambitions, something Bernie Sanders' campaign manager asserted last night 'Well, let me put it this way Joe, I think what he has been saying about the core issue in his whole campaign doesn't seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law or the practical ways you get something done,' she answered. On CNN several hours later, it was the word 'surprised' that Clinton used to describe her reaction to Sanders' New York Daily News interview. 'I was a little bit surprised that there didn't seem to be a lot of substance to what he was saying,' she told the network's Chris Cuomo. When Cuomo challenged Clinton, suggesting perhaps the specifics didn't matter, she hit right back. 'Well, that's not the way I've seen it work,' she said, explaining that a president should be able to 'hit the ground running' in regards to the dual job as president and commander in chief. She also laughed loudly at comments Sanders' campaign manager Jeff Weaver uttered the night before. 'Don't destroy the Democratic Party to satisfy the secretary's ambitions to become president of the United State,' Weaver had warned during a Tuesday appearance on CNN. Clinton let out her trademark cackle. 'It's just ludicrous on the face of it,' she said. 'You know, I have been campaigning for Democrats, fundraising for Democrats, recruiting Democrats to run and win and for a really long time, I think for forty years, and Sen. Sanders by his own admission hasn't even been a Democrat.' Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are ahead in Pennsylvania in their respective presidential primaries but a poll released this morning suggests their surging underdog opponents may be able to flip the script. Trump is leading Ted Cruz by nine points in Quinnipiac's survey of Republicans in the state with 39 percent. John Kasich, the governor of neighbor state Ohio, was another six points down. Just seven percent of Republicans said they were undecided yet 27 percent said they weren't firm in their choice. Clinton faces a closer challenge from Bernie Sanders, who trailed her by six points at 44 percent to her 50 percent. Six percent said their minds weren't made up and 22 percent they could be persuaded to change their vote still. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are ahead in Pennsylvania in their respective presidential primaries but a poll released this morning suggests their surging underdog opponents may be able to flip the script Trump is leading Ted Cruz by nine points in Quinnipiac's survey of Republicans in the state with 39 percent. John Kasich, the governor of neighbor state Ohio, was another six points down Just seven percent of Republicans said they were undecided yet 27 percent said they weren't firm in their choice. On the Democratic side, six percent said their minds weren't made up and 22 percent they could be persuaded to change their vote still The April 26 contest will be an important one for both parties, particularly if the race's leaders don't win their home state of New York. Clinton and Trump are on track to come out on top there on April 19. The race has not been without its surprises, however, as Cruz and Sanders overcame the odds and won their party primaries last night in Wisconsin. Both candidates claimed the momentum and Cruz called it a 'turning point' in the Republican campaign. Sanders touted his wins in seven of the eight most recent contests and contended that he has an 'excellent' change of taking New York, his birth state, as well. Should Cruz or Sanders manage upsets in the Empire State, their political party's competition for the nomination will be turned upside down. Five contests a week later, including Pennsylvania, will suddenly become game changers that could see Sanders pull ahead of Clinton and Cruz brush up against Trump. Republicans and Democrats will divvy up the state's pledged delegates proportionally. Democrats will share 189 delegates, Republicans will fight over 71. Cruz has been running behind in polls in Pennsylvania but he was the winner last week of a straw poll conducted at a conservative conference in the state. He crushed Trump with 64.6 percent of the unofficial vote in the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to the billionaire's 13.6 percent. Kasich was hot on Trump's tail at 13.3 percent. The survey bolsters Cruz's chances of another surprise victory. Sanders could also have a strong showing in the Democratic-run state with strong ties to the labor movement. Sanders could also have a strong showing in the Democratic-run state with strong ties to the labor movement. He trails Hillary by six percent - but 22 percent of Pennsylvania Democrats said they could still change their mind He and Clinton have already begun competing for votes there and both are speaking at the AFL-CIO's conference in Philadelphia over the next two days. Clinton took the top slot this morning, and Sanders will make his case tomorrow. They've both been endorsed by unions within the national organization and have their backers and detractors. This morning American Federation of Teachers head Randi Weingarten passionately declared that Clinton is a 'fighter' who 'knows you make change through hard work.' 'People love when Bernie speaks,' the labor leader said, because of his 'authenticity.' But she said, 'When Clinton peaks she speaks about what change really requires'. After 9/11 everyone wanted to help rebuild New York, she said. Clinton didn't didn't forget the first responders to the horrific tragedy who had to walk the 'piles' and worked to get their health care covered. A senior police officer who had sex with an 16-year-old girl he met at a police disco has had his three-year jail term slashed as a judge did not take his 'good character' into account. Dale Knoote-Parke, 52, was sentenced to three years and two months behind bars in September after he pleaded guilty to four counts of having unlawful sexual intercourse with a 16-year-old girl in the South Australian District Court. Judge Peter Brebner said the Redwood Park man's previous good character had been 'simply swept away' by his offending and described the offences as 'serious, exploitative and corruptive', the ABC reported. But on Wednesday, three judges unanimously ruled to have the former police officer's sentence reduced by nine months as Justice Brebner did not consider the 52-year-old's 'good character' during his judgement, according to the Adelaide Advertiser. Dale Knoote-Parke, who had sex with an 16-year-old girl he met at a police disco, has had his three-year jail term slashed as a judge did not take his 'good character' into account While it was initially found he used his position of power to seduce the young girl, Justice John Sulan reportedly said Knoote-Parke should not be considered a paedophile as the sexual relationship, which occurred over four weeks in 2014, 'followed a long friendship'. The pair had met at a Blue Light Disco - a safe, alcohol and drug free event event organised by police to improve relationships between officers and youth. 'He did not target his victim and groom her as is the case in many instances of sexual offending against children,' Justice Sulan said. 'The victim had almost reached the age of consent,' he added. He went on to say that the former police officer, who met his victim at a police 'Blue Light Disco', was 'weak and thoughtless' in his offending and that while he should be imprisoned, the court should show him some 'mercy', the Adelaide Advertiser reported. Justice John Sulan (pictured) reportedly said Knoote-Parke should not be considered a paedophile as the sexual relationship, which occurred over four weeks in 2014, 'followed a long friendship' The pair had met at a Blue Light Disco - a safe, alcohol and drug free event event organised by police to improve relationships between officers and youth 'There are compelling reasons for the Court to show mercy in a case in which a person who has offended has paid a high price for his conduct and demonstrated that he is truly remorseful and is unlikely to reoffend.' According to the Adelaide Advertiser, Knoote-Parke, who was 51 at the time of his offending, had not been getting much attention at home and was chuffed the young woman showed interest in him. The District Court heard that he would visit the teenager during the day as her school was close by and that they had coffee together inside his police station. The relationship became public after the young girl told her school friends about the affair. They immediately reported the inappropriate relationship to a school counsellor who contacted police. A woman has accused surgeon Dr John McGuire of sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious - and five other patients claim he abused them A woman has claimed a surgeon sexually assaulted her while she was under anesthesic, after five other patients accused him of raping and abusing them. The patient says she was having her thyroid gland removed at Temecula Valley Hospital, California, in April last year when she was sexually assaulted by Dr John McGuire. The woman says she went to the bathroom after waking from surgery and instantly knew she had been abused while she was unconscious, according to her attorneys. The female patient, from Murrieta, California, spent months struggling to come to terms with the alleged assault, but eventually told police, KTLA reported. 'I did not want to believe that - a doctor, a doctor? Someone who you trust? I just didn't believe it. I tried to get over it myself,' she said. McGuire, 44, was arrested in August 2015 and is charged with 26 sexual offenses against five victims. He is charged with three counts of rape by force or fear, two of sexually penetrating an unconscious victim, six of sexual battery using restraint, nine counts of sexual activity with a patient, three of sexual battery, and three other sexual offense charges. The woman who claims she was assaulted during her thyroidectomy is one of six women accusing McGuire of abusing them in a civil lawsuit. The patient - who wishes to remain anonymous and was referred to as Jane Roe No. 5 in court papers filed last month - also claims the surgeon twice touched her genitals, claiming he was inspecting a rash. She says McGuire entered the recovery room twice under the pretense of examining a condition in her vaginal area, which did not exist. The patient - who wished to remain anonymous - says she was having her thyroid gland removed when she was sexually assaulted by McGuire 'After the first time, I knew there was no rash. I knew something was not right,' she said. 'The morning he came in to discharge me, he asked me one more time. I told him, "There is no rash, I checked". He was kind of startled, and set aback.' McGuire - who specialized in ear, nose and throat conditions - is accused in three civil lawsuits of raping three women and sexually assaulting two others, according to attorney John Mittelman. Mr Mittelman accused McGuire of a 'sexual rampage' and said he 'took advantage' of vulnerable patients. 'He did it in the most despicable ways possible,' the attorney said. 'It just strains the belief that nobody knew, no nurses saw, nobody knew anything. Of course, that's what everyone says.' The woman says the assault took place at Temecula Valley Hospital (pictured), California, in April last year Attorneys have appealed for any other women who believe they were assaulted to come forward. The lawsuit is also filed against McGuire's former partner, Dr Michael Forrester, the hospital, its owner United Health Services, and North County ENT Medical Group. The suit claims the defendants allowed McGuire to sexually abuse female patients. They are alleged to have continued referring women to him, even though he he had already been accused of sexual misconduct. McGuire is being held on a $3 million bail and is next due in court on Friday. This is the 58-year-old British expat who was stabbed to death with a spear in his home in Algarve, Portugal after inviting his alleged killer back for sex. Simon Carley-Pocock was found dead Tuesday morning after Portuguese police stopped a young man driving the Hertfordshire accountant's Audi, who then confessed to the murder. Self-confessed killer Eugenio Filipe Reicha scowled and made obscene gestures as he was led into the court on the Algarve to face a judge on Wednesday. Victim: Simon Carley-Pocock, 58, Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, from was found dead at his home in Algarve on Tuesday morning after Portuguese police stopped Eugenio Filipe Reicha driving his Audi In court: Self confessed murderer Reicha, 20, appears at court in Vila Real de Santo Antonio, near Alcoutim today, in connection with the murder of Mr Carley-Pocock Victim: The body of Mr Carley-Pocock is removed from his home in an Algarve village in Portugal on Tuesday Reicha was brought to the court in in Vila Real de Santo Antonio near Portugals border with Spain in handcuffs and flanked by four police officers after spending the night in Faro Jail. Police arrested the serial thief after stopping him in Mr Carley-Pococks Audi 4 in the southern Portuguese city of Faro. Reicha told police he had gone home with Mr Carley-Pocock, originally from Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, after a night out in Faro. He said he he stabbed his victim in a drug-fuelled rage with a spear, after which he had a bath and a meal, before leaving the scene in the victim's Audi. He told cops he had thrown the murder weapon out of the window as he drove away, and it has yet to be found. Confession: Eugenio Filipe Reicha, 20, told police he killed Simon Carley-Pocock, from Hertfordshire, with a spear after going back to the British man's house after a night out Reicha told officers he had gone home with Mr Carley-Pocock after a night out in the Algarve city of Faro Reicha confessed to the murder and told police he killed the 58-year-old Brit - and then took time to have a bath and something to eat and drink, before leaving the scene in the victim's Audi The body of Mr Carley-Pocock, an accountant, is believed to have laid undiscovered at his hilltop home near the pretty tourist village of Alcoutim for around three days. Police are understood to be probing whether Reicha, who was already known to his alleged victim, was working as a prostitute. Local authorities said Mr Carley-Pocock, who is thought to have given up his accountancy job and moved to Portugal to rest after being diagnosed with a serious illness, had been living in Portugal for several years. A British ex-partner who said he was too upset to speak, spent most of the day with police at the crime scene as they tried to piece together the dead man's last hours and collect forensic evidence after his body was removed from the house. They are understood to have split up around three years ago after a relationship of nearly three decades. A Portuguese man 'aged around 20' has been arrested, with police saying there is a 'possibility' that the victim had met the young man 'for casual sex' and invited him into his home Portuguese police say the self-confessed killer admitted to stabbing the Briton after meeting him on Friday night in Faro and going back to his home near Alcoutim, Algarve A spokesman for Portugal's PSP police, which initially arrested him for driving without a licence after stopping him in his alleged victim's car, said in a press release today/yesterday (WED): 'The suspect's insecurity as regards the ownership of the car and his previous for crimes of theft in Faro, plus the fact we weren't able to contact the registered owner, made us suspect it had been stolen. 'Some cufflinks and a knife he had on him increased our suspicions. 'The detained man eventually confessed he had been involved in a row with the vehicle owner over the weekend at his house and fatally stabbed him. 'Another police force in Alcoutim found the British man dead with signs of having been stabbed inside that property. 'We immediately contacted the Policia Judiciaria police force who took over the case.' The PJ in Faro, who investigate serious crimes, said in a statement ahead of the court case: 'In cooperation with the PSP police in Faro, we arrested a man suspected of murder and theft. 'The detainee used an undetermined bladed weapon to stab a 58-year-old man repeatedly in the abdomen, causing his death, inside his house in the Alcoutim area. 'Subsequently he took the victim's car and several other objects before being intercepted in Faro for driving without a licence.' The self-confessed killer said he murdered the British man 'during a row after some drinks' Portuguese police have arrested a man 'aged around 20', saying there is a 'possibility' that the victim had met the young man 'for casual sex' and brought him back to his home near Alcoutim Reicha was remanded in jail following his court hearing. It is understood he declined to answer questions from the woman investigating judge, who was not named. He was brought out of the court building around 4.30pm local time by several police officers and was expected to be returned to Faro Prison while the judicial investigation continues. Local public prosecutors confirmed in a statement that the murder weapon was a spear. The statement, released after the hearing, said: 'A 20-year-old has been remanded in jail on suspicion of a crime of murder and another of theft in Pereiro in the municipality of Alcoutim, following a judicial quiz today in Vila Real de Santo Antonio. 'The official suspect or arguido had initially been arrested in the Faro area for driving a car without the proper licence. 'It was subsequently established that the vehicle belonged to a British man aged 58 who was found dead inside his house. 'The arguido is suspected of attacking his victim with a spear, stabbing him several times and causing his death. Pc Amar Tasaddiq Hussain (pictured outside court today), is alleged to have been part of a group that made a hoax phone call about an ISIS threat to his own force A police constable made a hoax 999 call to his own force claiming a Muslim officer was going to be kidnapped by ISIS, a court heard today. West Midlands Police were told a man, called Irfan who 'had just got back from Syria' was 'going to drive a car that evening and kidnap a police officer.' After receiving the call on December 8 last year, the force went into 'overdrive' and a kidnap negotiator was put on standby. Every officer across the force area was told to call their stations when they arrived at home safely. But after arresting two suspects and interviewing them, officers believed the calls were 'malicious and false' and set about investigating why they were made. Pc Amar Tasaddiq Hussain, 29, of Yardley, Birmingham, was charged with making the 999 call along with Adil Bashir, 25, of Small Heath, Birmingham, and Muhammad Sheikh, 30 of Bordesley Green, Birmingham. All three denied two counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice when they appeared at Stafford Crown Court today. A recording of the 999 call, made at 3.41pm on December 8, 2014, was played to the jury. An Asian man is heard telling the call handler: 'I want to speak to someone about a potential terrorist. 'I have been asked to drive someone I know around because he's basically got some link with ISIS and Syria and his next stage is now to kidnap a police officer from Birmingham, West Midlands. 'I have been told by him that he wants me to drive the car when they kidnap the police officer.' Later in the recording, which lasts 19 minutes 23 seconds, the caller tells the operator: 'He [Irfan] said to me, you know we, we should fight for Islam but I don't believe this. 'He said we, we should do jihad and we, we should kill people and the British are no good. 'He just say to me that it is a Muslim policeman he want to kidnap today because he is traitor, he's traitor, betrayed his country.' Prosecutor Simon Davis said: 'The caller was saying he had been told by Irfan that he had just got back from somewhere - supposedly Syria - and that Irfan has links with ISIS 'He had been asked by Irfan to drive a car that evening in which there were going to be two others and that they were going to kidnap a police officer. 'Again, a little later in the transcript, he said he was scared for his life, was being threatened to do this and that they would not let him go. 'He said he himself was illegally in the UK and couldn't go to the police. He had been told that Irfan was illegal - in other words, an illegal immigrant. 'It was clear that the focus of that call was the man Irfan - Irfan the terrorist, that Irfan wanted to kidnap a Muslim police officer.' He continued: 'The police listened to that call. They took it extremely seriously. They saw the content of the call as a credible threat to the security and safety of a police officer who may be kidnapped that night. 'They had six hours to put procedures in place to minimise the threat and maximise the security and safety of all police staff. Not just Muslims, all police staff. 'The resources available to West Midlands Police, already overstretched, went into overdrive. Protect staff, minimise risk, maximise protection. 'That night, unprecedented procedures were put in place across the West Midlands Police area and beyond. 'Roll call, such as that as your children probably have at school every day, had to be implemented. 'Police staff were told that they had to call their stations to say when they got home that they had got home safely. The serving police officer is appearing in the dock alongside Muhammad Sheikh (left), 30 of Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and Adil Bashir (right, with a scarf around his face), 25, of Small Heath, Birmingham 'Armed response teams were on heightened alert. 'Staff coming into work and staff going home were told to be extra vigilant and to adopt different procedures to usual. Watch they weren't being followed, go a different way home, not wear blues but casual clothing. 'A hostage negotiator was on call. He tried to make contact with the number which had made the 999 call to try to get further information but with no joy - the phone was off. 'The next day by 4.20pm, the police had done enough research from what the caller had told them to identify a suspect. 'Irfan was an illegal immigrant, he did exist, and he was an overstayer. At that time, Irfan Ul-Haq was arrested. 'By the time of or soon after his arrest, it was clear that the information provided by the anonymous caller and the circumstances known to the officers about Ul-Haq matched. 'Accordingly, the decision was made to arrest Ul-Haq on suspicion of kidnap. 'He was interviewed at length. He was asked: 'Are you a terrorist, are you going to kidnap a Muslim police officer?' 'The 999 call had done its job. 'However, during the course of the interviews it became obvious to the investigating officers that the call to the police was malicious and lies had been told. 'Ul-Haq was released from the custody of the Counter Terrorism team and handed over to the Immigration Department. He has subsequently returned to his home country. 'What that call had done was to set off a chain reaction. The huge resources of the police force were thrown at the event. 'But, it also caused significant anxiety and concern to officers on duty. Anxiety and concern on their way to work, out on patrol, and on their way home that night - times when they would be vulnerable. 'Once the police investigation realised that the call was malicious and false, they set about finding who was responsible for the call. 'Why would anyone do something like this? The implications were huge. 'It was clear that someone had it in for Ul-Haq and Faisal Sami The police wanted to know why and who was involved* 'The prosecution's case is that these three defendants were part of an agreement to pursue a course of conduct, namely to make false complaints against Irfan Ul-Haq and Faisal Sami.' A recording of the 999 call, made at 3.41pm on December 8, was played to the jury. An Asian man is heard telling the call handler: 'I want to speak to someone about a potential terrorist' The court was told Pc Hussain made the hoax call after harbouring a grudge against a member of a Muslim community group who refused to make him head of security. It heard victim Faisal Sami was head of the West Midlands Dawat-E-Islami organisation and friends with Irfan Ul-Haq, who was also a member. Hussain, Bashir and Sheikh are said to have made a number of false complaints alleging Mr Ul-Haq and Mr Sami were running sham marriages. A police colleague of Hussain also told the jury that he alleged that a member of his mosque had discussed kidnapping and beheading an officer. Mr Davis said: 'Irfan Ul-Haq told the officers in interview that on a Saturday evening in or about September 2014, he was at the home of friends when the police came to the address acting on information that a sham marriage was taking place. 'Satisfied that no such thing was happening, the officers left the property. This left Ul-Haq thinking that someone was making false allegations about him. What that call had done was to set off a chain reaction. The huge resources of the police force were thrown at the event Prosecutor Simon Davis 'It transpired that over the same time period, a police officer, whom he knew as Amir, and the prosecution say that this was Amar Hussain, "befriended" him. 'Ul-Haq came to find out that Amir was asking questions about him. Such as where is he living, where is he working. Ul-Haq knew that Amir wanted to be the head of the security operations for the Dawat-E-Islami group functions and gatherings. 'He also knew that that did not happen and that Amir was unhappy at the refusal. 'Sami was head of the the Dawat-E-Islami Organisation in the West Midlands and he also confirmed that a number of the Dawat-E-Islami functions require security arrangements to be put in place. 'At the end of 2013, he became aware that Amar Hussain was critical of the security arrangements at one of the functions. 'Others within the group, together with Hussain, began to demand that Hussain should be head of security. 'The demands became more hostile, turned to rumours and suggestions that the leadership of the Dawat-Islami were corrupt. 'Mr Sami has confirmed that during the period 2013 to 2015, Hussain developed a personal grudge towards him. 'Sami confirmed that he too had received a call at his home address from police who were acting on information that forced marriages were happening at his home address. All three denied two counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice when they appeared at Stafford Crown Court (pictured) today 'Sami suspected Hussain and his friends to be behind this.' Mr Davis read a transcript from a call on September 27, 2014, made by a Mr Hassan from a telephone kiosk on Waverley Road, Birmingham. It said: 'I want to report an illegal male marrying a girl to stay in the country. It is happening now. Marriage is happening at the property now. The illegal guy is called Irfan. 'Don't know his surname but the guy who is organising the wedding is Faisal Sami.' Referring to events immediately after the 999 call, Mr Davis said: 'In December 2014, Sami became aware that Mr Ul Haq had been arrested on suspicion of terrorist related offences. 'At or about the same time, he knew that Hussain had been saying that Ul Haq had been arrested, that Irfan was strongly linked to Shahid Aslam, and that the Dawat-E-Islami cabinet of members was linked to a terrorist. 'Mr Hussain could only have known this through his own personal knowledge of the 999 call. I want to report an illegal male marrying a girl to stay in the country. It is happening now. Marriage is happening at the property now. The illegal guy is called Irfan Transcript of a call made by a Mr Hassan from a telephone kiosk in September 2014 'Subsequently, Sami too received a WhatsApp message which attacked him, suggesting that Aslam [the current head of security for Dawat-E-Islami] should be removed, that he [Sami] should be removed as regional head of the Dawat-E-Islami group and that Hussain should take over as Head of Security.' Referring to evidence from Hussain's colleague PC Tipton, Mr Davis said: 'In the late summer of 2014, PC Tipton had a conversation with Amar Hussain over the phone. 'Hussain told him that elders at his Mosque were concerned that a male attending prayers had extremist views and had been talking about decapitating a police officer. 'PC Tipton told Hussain to notify the Counter Terrorism Unit immediately, but Hussain was reluctant and said he wanted to test the information.' Mr Davis said forensic speech and audio analyst Dr Kirchubel was brought in to analyse the 999 call on December 8. He said: 'Dr Kirchhubel took the view that the technical quality of the 999 call was good. 'There were strong indications that the caller had adopted a form of vocal disguise. 'The disguise was inconsistent, unconvincing but did not completely obscure the voice and speech patterns of the caller. 'But he was able to come to the view that there was moderately strong support that the caller was Amar Hussain.' The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues. 'It was not on my property,' facility spokesman Mike Gavula and a dozen traffic violations prior to going to Rockford Dead: Clay McInnis III, 38, was found dead outside the Rockford Center in Stanton hours after he was denied admittance A Delaware man reportedly committed suicide outside of a mental hospital last week and friends say it's because the center refused to admit him. Clay McInnis III, 38, was found dead outside the Rockford Center in Stanton hours after his friend Mike Vanscoy took him there on March 28 for an admissions interview, according to The News Journal. His cause of death has not been revealed but police said no foul play was involved. Vanscoy waited at the center for two hours until his friend was reportedly seen by someone on staff, he claims. Vanscoy said of his friend that it was 'overwhelmingly obvious that he was in distress.' Vanscoy called to check on his friend the next day and that's when a Rockford employee informed him that he was found dead outside the property. His relatives are desperately searching for answers as to how McInnis' death occurred. 'I'm afraid that I am unable to comment at this time as I still do not have all of the details surrounding my brother's death,' his mother told The News Journal. 'It was not on my property,' facility spokesman Mike Gavula told The News Journal. Last week, Delaware State Police spokesman Master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said that McInnis was found dead on the grounds of Rockford Center but he later confirmed his body was found on a nearby property. Both of McInnis' parents are dead. McInnis' mother Judy was a University of Delaware professor who died in 2006. McInnis graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in history. McInnis was staying at Charles Brinton Sr's guest house prior to his suicide and a run-in with police just days before his house. The hospital: The Rockford Center (pictured) is operated NY Universal Health Services. The UHS is under a federal government investigation for negligence and poor billing practices. Though, their Delaware facilities are not currently under investigation Brinton Sr, a father of McInnis' friend, said that Brinton moved in last fall. He described him as being 'intelligent' but said that he has a sleep disorder and would exhibit bizarre behavior such as talking to himself and waving his arms in the air. 'He was incoherent. You couldn't have a conversation with him,' Brinton told the News Journal. 'He needed some help.' Brinton kicked McInnis out after he returned home one day and saw his property in shambles. On March 27 McInnis was arrested for drug possession and was cited for 12 traffic violations. Vanscoy picked him up some days later to drive him to Rockford. McInnis was found guilty in 2013 of drug possession was also arrested for two armed robberies. The robbery charges were later dropped but he had $12,400 impounded by Illinois drug enforcement after police found crack, marijuana and opiate pills in his car, according to The News Journal. The Rockford Center is operated NY Universal Health Services (UHS). The UHS is under a federal government investigation for negligence and poor billing practices. Though, their Delaware facilities are not currently under investigation. There have been reports of sexual assault and violence at other UHS run facilities. The Rockford Center provided the following statement: 'We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident and extend are heartfelt sympathy and condolences to family members. The administration and staff of the hospital are fully cooperating with the authorities in their investigation of the incident, but due to stringent patient confidentiality and privacy laws, the facility is precluded from discussing any details regarding current, former or potential patients. Magistrate said it was 'appalling driving' but did not seek jail time A News Limited journalist who pleaded guilty to drink driving offences after police allegedly caught her repeatedly swerving on to the wrong side of the road could could face a jail sentence. Samantha Louise Maiden, political editor for the Sunday Telegraph, pleaded guilty to two counts of mid-range drink driving and failing to obey police direction in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday. The 43-year-old journalist recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.136g, almost three times the legal limit, at around 3am on March 20 after she was pursed twice by police who allegedly witnessed her driving erratically in Goulburn, 200km south-west of Sydney, the Goulburn Post reported. In ordering a pre-sentence report, Magistrate Daryl Pearce recommended looking at alternatives to jail Ms Maiden's lawyer asked for the case be adjourned to Queanbeyan court, however Magistrate Daryl Pearce denied the request and warned the political editor she would be facing a jail sentence. 'It was an appalling piece of driving,' Magistrate Pearce said according to the Goulburn Post. 'You were on the wrong side of the road and there was a police pursuit.' In documents tendered in court, police allege they observed Ms Maiden, who was driving a Hyundai Sante Fe, swerving across double lines into the wrong lane. Sunday Telegraph political editor Samantha Maiden (pictured) pleaded guilty to drink driving charges after she was recorded driving almost three times the legal alcohol limit They put on their siren and attempted to pull the driver over for a breath test but Ms Maiden failed to stop and continued crossing on to the wrong side of the road. Police gave chase and the car was registered travelling between 80 and 110km/h before they were forced to terminate about a kilometre from Goulburn. Highway patrol commenced a second police pursuit where Ms Maiden was allegedly registered travelling 80 kilometres in a 50 kilometre zone, the Goulburn Post reported. According to police, the esteemed journalist only stopped after she almost hit a parked car. Samantha Louise Maiden, 43, (pictured) faced two charges in Goulburn Local Court on Wednesday of mid-range drink driving and failing to obey police direction The 43-year-old submitted to a road side breath test which came back positive so she was arrested and taken to Goulburn Police Station where she received a blood test. She told police she drank around five glasses of champagne between the hours of 9pm and 1am. Magistrate Pearce said a pre-sentence report should look at alternatives to a jail but reportedly added that this 'is a very serious matter, make no mistake'. Her case will be heard again in Goulburn Local Court court on May 18. Ms Maiden (pictured) was arrested and taken to Goulburn Police Station she allegedly recorded a blood-alcohol reading of 0.136 - almost three times the legal limit surgery to remove the gold ring, and the residents of the burgled home confirmed it belonged to them A burglar needed surgery to remove a stolen ring he had swallowed while fleeing police. Joel Steffensen allegedly robbed a property in Walnut Creek, California, but crashed his car into a chain-link fence while he was trying to get away. The 36-year-old went to the hospital after the crash, where an X-ray revealed that he had a ring in his esophagus. So he was forced to go under the knife. Joel Steffensen, 36, needed surgery to remove a stolen ring he had swallowed while fleeing police after he burgled a home in Walnut Creek, California Doctors removed it and it was later identified by the owner of the home, the San Jose Mercury reported. The ring appears to be a gold wedding band in photos released by police on Tuesday. Images of Steffensen's X-rays were also released, showing the ring lodged in his esophagus. Prosecutors charged Steffensen with burglary, evasion of police officers and resisting arrest. It was not immediately known if Steffensen has an attorney. Lt. Lanny Edwards said: 'We don't know what he was thinking, or when he might've swallowed it. It wasn't smart. Steffensen remained in custody Tuesday at the County Jail in Martinez, California. He is being held on a $1.355 million bail. Steffensen allegedly robbed a property in Walnut Creek, California, but crashed his car into a chain-link fence while he was trying to get away Residents of the robbed home identified that the gold ring belonged to them after the procedure A woman who is wanted for allegedly putting a hit out on a dentist in Texas who was dating her ex-boyfriend has been added to the FBI's Most Wanted list. Brenda Delgado was indicted on capital murder charges after Kendra Hatcher, 35, was found murdered in her Dallas apartment building parking garage on September 2. The indictment said that Delgado 'and a drug cartel' provided Kristopher Ledell Love money and drugs in exchange for killing Hatcher. The 33-year-old spoke with detectives before she disappeared and is believed to be in Mexico, where she was born. Brenda Delgado (left) was indicted on capital murder charges after Kendra Hatcher (right), 35, was found murdered in her Dallas apartment building parking garage on September 2. The FBI has added Delgado to their Most Wanted list Authorities say Delgado was jealous of Hatcher's new relationship with ex-boyfriend Ricardo Paniagua. Pictured above Hatcher and Paniagua Authorities say Delgado was jealous of Hatcher's new relationship with ex-boyfriend Ricardo Paniagua. Delgado allegedly plotted Hatcher's murder after she learned that Paniagua, who is a dermatologist, flew with Hatcher to meet his parents in San Francisco. In addition, Hatcher, who was a dentist, and Paniagua were planning a vacation trip to Mexico, the Dallas Morning News reported. Hatcher was followed into the parking garage of her upscale Victory Park apartment tower by Love and getaway driver Crystal Cortes. Police say Love, 31, ambushed and shot Hatcher. Delgado, who was a dental hygiene student, told police that she loaned Cortes a Jeep that belong to one of her friend's and Cortes told cops that she didn't know Hatcher would be murdered. Delgado (above) allegedly plotted Hatcher's murder after she learned that Paniagua, who is a dermatologist, flew with Hatcher to meet his parents in San Francisco. The indictment said that Delgado 'and a drug cartel' provided Kristopher Ledell Love money and drugs in exchange for killing Hatcher Hatcher (left), who was a dentist, and Paniagua (right), who is a dermatologist, were planning a vacation trip to Mexico Cortes remains in the Dallas County Jail with bail set at $500,000 as she faces a capital murder charge. Love faces a state capital murder charge and a federal weapons charge. He remains in jail with bail set at $2.5million and in 2005 he was convicted of aggravated assault in Tennessee. A state warrant was issued for Delgado's arrest on October 2, and on October 7 she was charged with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A federal arrest warrant was issued by the United States District court, Northern District of Texas. The wanted flyer issued by the FBI says that Delgado should be considered armed and dangerous and that she has ties to Texas and Mexico. Authorities believe that Delgado is hiding out in Mexico after a relative reportedly put her on a bus to the country last year. Youd think Amy Schumer would be the kind of girl who it was impossible to offend. Talking candidly about the stuff which makes other people cringe has been her shtick and she does it brilliantly. In many ways I think we are similar creatures: thick-skinned and a great deal more interested in the interesting things lurking in the minutiae of life than dresses or Botox. She even posed naked apart from her pants for the Pirelli Calendar to show she felt like a strong, beautiful woman. Not happy: Amy Schumer (left) has called out a magazine for including her in a list of 'plus size' stars, including Melissa McCarthy (right), who is a size 14; Amy says she is between a size 6 and 8 My own nude pics for a magazine drew criticism for my ugly feet (entirely fair) and my girlfriends said my lady bits looked like the ears of a broken Basset Hound (they do). But women like me with kids, jobs and a husband dont have time to be wondering if our vulva needs a vajazzle whilst were trying to CiIlit Bang the shower. Nor did I turn up to the shoot to show the world that I was two steps behind Gigi Hadid. I sat there flashing my front bottom at the photographer because I have nothing to hide. My body is a functional tool to get me to the people and job I love. Ive had catheters shoved in, accidently pulled my own coil out, and birthed an eleven pound baby without stiches. My vagina is known as The Tunnel of Turmoil. But it is still hanging on in there, even if my girlfriends think labioplasty is definitely on the cards. My vagina is known as The Tunnel of Turmoil. But it is still hanging on in there, even if my girlfriends think labioplasty is definitely on the cards. Which is exactly the message Schumer thrives on. She told friends at a bridal shower shed been heavy-petted by a New York cabbie and still paid the fare when she got home. Porn, sex and her body are her favourite material. So its pretty confusing to me why being lumped in with strong women like Adele and Melissa McCarthy in a special plus-size edition of Glamour magazine has managed to cause her such offence. In my eyes Amy IS quite chubby. But why should she care what any of us think when she is consistently voted one of the funniest women in America? Amy, 34, posted on Instagram: "I think there's nothing wrong with being plus-size. Beautiful healthy women. Plus-size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8. 'Glamour magazine put me in their plus-size-only issue without asking or letting me know, and it doesn't feel right to me. Proud: Amy Schumer has previously posed naked for Pirelli but claims her size 6 to 8 shape should not be called plus-sized 'Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus-size? What are your thoughts? Mine are: not cool Glamour, not glamorous.' So she does care, deeply, about what people think of her body and its size. This is the opposite message we hear from feminists leading the leisurely charge in favour of fat. They say chubsters should embrace their curves and celebrate pictures of women who have body confidence, no matter if that confidence is based solely on ignoring the problem facing them in the mirror each morning. We are supposed to think plus-size women look beautiful. And if they post naked pictures of themselves oozing body confidence, even better. Being fat has somehow become synonymous with empowerment, because you have managed to resist the pressure to conform and be slim and have eaten most of Pizza Hut instead. No one dares point out plus-size is code speak for unhealthy, and when all that fat heads south and the diabetes kicks in, your body confidence will be on the floor. I put on nearly half my body weight to prove fat people are lazy. Apart from the physical side effects, I received far more positivity at 170lb hideously overweight for my height, with a gut that prevented me seeing my toes than I ever did when I was my normal skinny self. There is a perception you are lucky to be skinny and somehow the combination of luck and popularity or social advantage make being skinny hideously unfair. This was perfectly demonstrated by the Beach Body Ready adverts on the London Underground in 2015. Fat activists were outraged a physically fit woman would be considered beach-body ready when their fat friends would not. Such was their determination not to be judged, they sat in the park in bikinis in the rain (and were judged as fat nutters instead). In this society which we have built on saying what people want to hear and manipulating the truth to avoid giving offence when people are desperate to take it we have lost the beautiful art of honesty At my fattest I wanted some honesty, not the fawning embrace of the fat sisterhood, so I stood in front of a team of rugby players in a bikini. They said I looked like Jabba the Hut. And like my girlfriends discussing my labia and those who said my feet were ugly, they were right. I remain unfazed. Because in this society which we have built on saying what people want to hear and manipulating the truth to avoid giving offence when people are desperate to take it we have lost the beautiful art of honesty. I currently look like a cancer victim. But I am grateful because my functional body just had some major brain work and came out the other side. I am back with my family, cured of epilepsy and back at the job I love. Amy Schumer attacked Glamour for this edition which features Ashley Graham on the cover alongside the caption 'Women who inspire us', listing the size 14 model alongside Amy, Melissa and Adele Meanwhile, despite shocking others with her honesty for a living, Amy Schumer is unable to handle the truth herself, even when it is sugar-coated and wrapped up with a couple of other funny and inspiring women in a glossy magazine. Listen, Amy. You might not have given permission for anyone to call you plus-size. But you did open up your life to the world, so the permission was tacitly implied. If you put yourself out there, expect to hear the truth. If you dont like it, stay home and sit on your sofa. I wonder how strong you are behind the bravado. Was the Pirelli calendar a lie? Were we only allowed to say you looked lovely? I also wonder what really matters to you. And am disappointed it is what people think of your body. Complaint alleges homeowner shot Johnson in the back as he ran away Shooting was a split-second decision as he 'felt my life was in danger' Stiffler claimed Johnson broke into his Montana home and threatened him The 69-year-old had always claimed that he had acted in self defense A homeowner, 69, who shot and killed an intruder after he broke into his house, has been hit with a wrongful death lawsuit. James George Stiffler has always insisted he acted in self defense when he opened fire on burglar Henry Thomas Johnson, 37, after finding him at his Helena home in Montana in 2013. Homicide charges against Stiffler were dropped in February after a trial ended in a hung jury, the Independent Record reports. Now a lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Johnson's estate, which seeks damages for negligence, wrongful death and infliction of emotional distress. Plaintiffs are Roxeen and Byron Wieder, the guardians of Johnson's daughter. James George Stiffler has always he insisted he acted in self defense when he opened fire on burglar Henry Thomas Johnson, 37 The complaint alleges James George Stiffler shot Johnson in the back as he was running away. Stiffler, who has not yet responded to the suit, has always insisted that shooting Johnson had been a split-second decision. He had told the jury at his February trial that he 'felt my life was in danger. I didn't think I deserved to die either.' During his call to 911 after the incident on May 22, 2013, which was played in Lewis and Clark county courthouse, the estate agent said he had returned home to find the intruder still inside the house. 'He came at me, and I fired,' Stiffler told a 911 dispatcher. 'I caught him breaking into my house.' Stiffler says that shooting Johnson had been a split-second decision after he arrived back at his Helena home (pictured) to find the intruder inside Stiffler's lawyers argues that their client was in fear for his life when he opened fire, and was also terrified that his wife may have still been inside the house. The court heard that Johnson had clenched his fists and shouted 'I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to hurt you' moments before he was shot. 'He was frightened by a burglar who literally kicked his door in,' attorney Nicole Siefert told jurors in February. 'He was forced to pull out his gun. He was forced to fire,' Siefert said. 'Mr Johnson ultimately caused his own death.' But prosecutors contested Stiffler's version of events, saying it does not match up with evidence that Johnson was shot in the back. A medical examiner at the time had testified that the bullet had entered through the intruder's back and pierced his lung. Johnson fled through a window to his girlfriend's silver Ford Taurus which was parked outside. He died from his injuries inside the car. During his call to 911 after the incident on May 22, 2013, which was played in Lewis and Clark county courthouse (pictured) the estate agent said he had returned home to find the intruder still inside the house Stiffler, who has had a license to carry a concealed weapon for more than 40 years, said it was the first time he had ever used his gun on another person. His two-week trial ended on February 11 after the jury were unable to come to a decision following 11 hours of deliberation. An attorney for the Wieders, the guardians of Johnson's daughter, said that their lawsuit was about getting closure for the family. 'It's a little girl who lost her daddy. That's what's important,' Michael Doggett said. A trial date for the wrongful death lawsuit has not yet been set. Many states in the U.S. offer protection in the law for people defending their homes and loved ones from burglars. Montana's laws state that a homeowner may be justified in shooting dead an intruder if they believe that they or someone else inside the house is at risk of being attacked. A mother has been told she must leave the country after her request for a visa was rejected - because her British husband of nine years does not earn enough. American Katy James, 40, and her British husband Dominic, 42, moved back to the UK with their two-year-old daughter Madeleine last year. But the family face being split up for up to a year after the Home Office rejected her visa application. American Katy James, 40, and her British husband Dominic, 42, moved back to the UK with their two-year-old daughter Madeleine last year - but the family now face being split up Under UK law, the British spouse must have available funds equivalent to a minimum gross annual income of 18,600. This rises to 22,400 for families with a child. The government says the minimum income rule is to prevent unqualified spouses coming to the UK and becoming dependent on the state. Mr James, a musician, is earning below the threshold and so the family now face being split up. They are planning to appeal the decision but the process could take up to a year. Mrs James said: 'We are absolutely devastated and it has left us feeling terrible and rejected - it is completely unfair. 'We are a normal average couple who fell in love. We have been married for nearly ten years, we have a lovely young child, and we want to stay here with our extended family. 'We do not want to go back to America. We have little family support out there, and we desperately want to stay in this country. 'Our lives are on complete hold. I'm not allowed to work, they have even taken my passport away.' Mr James, a musician, is earning below the minimum threshold and so the family now face being split up The couple first met online in 2005. Mr James went to America to spend three months with his girlfriend before the pair married in 2006. They lived in Edinburgh between 2006 and 2009 after Mrs James obtained a 'spousal visa' but then they returned to Seattle. Mrs James said: 'It was always intended to be temporary. We had no intention of spending the rest of our lives out there. 'Madeleine was born in 2013 and then in 2014 I had the chance to transfer my job as a project specialist with IT company Cisco from Seattle to Edinburgh. 'A month after the transfer, I was made redundant and under Home Office rules I had to leave the country in 90 days.' As the family did not want to be separated, the couple and Madeleine returned to Seattle, but they always intended to settle permanently in the UK. Having had a miserable time in the States, they moved to Eastbourne, in East Sussex [where Mr James was born] in August 2015. Mr James said: 'It just wasn't working out there so we knew we had to come back. We did not want to be there. Our lives were empty. We never thought the Home Office would reject Katy's application. It is cruel and heartless.' He added: 'Our life has been on hold since we applied. Their verdict is a great blow to us and will impact the life of our close family, especially my daughter.' Mr James has now set up an online petition calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to intervene and allow the family to stay together in the UK. The 42-year-old said: 'My parents, sisters, nephews, and cousins have lived in Eastbourne for 30 years. 'We have a deep connection with the community and have many friends and a well-established life in the town. Mr James, a musician, is earning below the threshold and so the family now face being split up 'We included 15 letters of support in our application, including personal messages from close friends, our doctor, our daughter's nursery, our parish priest and bank manager. 'Katy has lived and worked in the UK before, never claiming benefits, paying her taxes and living a productive life in the UK. 'Our family wrote the stories of how my grandfathers fought and died in the wars for our country, to secure the freedom of their future generations. But it was all to no avail. 'This is not just my home, it is also the home of my daughter who has a wonderful life here with her grandparents, aunties and uncles, five cousins and her friends at nursery and community in Eastbourne. 'Katy has lived in Britain as my wife twice before, has never claimed benefits, speaks English as her first language and has many friends and close ties with our community and family in Eastbourne.' He added: 'Our MP Caroline Ansell told my family that the law was never meant for genuinely married people like us. 'My wife has a degree, has an excellent work history and offers so much to this country with her skills and work ethic. 'We are not prepared to spend nearly a year separated, a requirement of the UK Family Immigration Law, while I earn the 18,600 for the six months and the visa processing time that would separate us. 'It is an immoral, brutal, law, which has no place in British life.' The couple, with MP Caroline Ansell, who has arranged legal advice for them - they have said they will appeal A Home Office spokesman said: 'All applications are considered on their individual merits and in accordance with the immigration rules. 'This case is ongoing so it would be inappropriate to comment further.' Caroline Ansell MP told MailOnline: 'Today I had a two-hour meeting with Katy and Dominic. During that time, I was able to arrange some legal advice for them and they have said they will appeal the decision. 'I will now speak to the immigration minister, James Brokenshire, on Monday. He has the discretion to change the decision, and I will be urging him to do so. He says he will offer a perspective on the 'faults of the justice system' Now he has been hired as a murder 'expert' on an unsolved crimes show The ex-boyfriend of Amanda Knox has been hired as an 'expert' for an Italian crime show - just 12 months after he was acquitted of the killing of Meredith Kercher. Raffaele Sollecito - who along with Knox was definitively cleared of Kercher's murder in March last year - claims he will offer a perspective on the 'faults of the justice system'. He made his first appearance on the unsolved crimes TV show 'Mystery of the Week' during its Saturday broadcast on Italy's Tgcom24 channel. Raffaele Sollecito, 32, has been hired as an 'expert' on an TV show about unsolved crimes, just 12 months after he was acquitted of the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, 2007 British student Meredith Kercher (left) was found murdered in her flat in Italy in November 2007. Amanda Knox (right) and her then boyfriend Sollecito spent four years in prison before being cleared of the crime Sollecito told The Times: 'I have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice, I know the faults of the justice system, what happens in jail and what happens when the media twists the truth. 'The usual experts on these shows have seen things through a window - I have lived them.' Sollecito and Knox were both convicted of murder following the 2007 killing of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. The pair then spent nearly four years in jail before they underwent an emotional series of appeals and retrials which culminated in their acquittal in March last year. Paul Landry, the director of the channel, told Corriere.it: 'Sollecito was finally acquitted by the Supreme Court, has been in prison, he faced all levels. He's knows the machine of justice better than all of us.' Sollecito, who is now aged 32, recently revealed he was suing the Italian state for wrongful imprisonment. In January it was reported he made a wrongful imprisonment claim of 500,000 euros - the maximum he can ask for under Italian law. It is believed he is struggling to repay huge legal debts incurred during the eight-year court battle. The brutality of the attack on 21-year-old Kercher, the alleged sex games, and multiple trials provided fodder for tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic and inspired books and films. Kercher, an exchange student from Coulsdon in south London, was discovered dead on the floor of her bedroom in this flat she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy Fingerprints and DNA at the scene were found to belong to Ivorian Rudy Guede (pictured), who was found guilty of her murder in a fast-track trial, but police also believed Knox and Sollecito to be involved The murder mystery, for which only one man is serving prison time, made world headlines due to its sordid subject nature. Rudy Guede, from the Ivory Coast, is halfway through a 16-year sentence for his involvement in Kercher's death after a separate trial. Sollecito finished his undergraduate degree in computer science at the University of Perugia in 2008 while in prison. He later completed a masters degree at the university of Verona and produced a thesis in which he analysed social media activity related to his own criminal case. Siddhartha Dhar, known as Jihadi Sid, skipped bail and fled Britain in 2014 to join ISIS in Syria Terror suspects who try to skip bail and leave the country will be jailed for up to a year in a new crackdown after Jihadi Sid escaped Britain and turned up in Syria. Theresa May today announced a new offence of breaching pre-charge bail would be created by the Government following demands by the police for more powers. Siddhartha Dhar was arrested on suspicion of terror offences in 2014 before being released on bail. He disappeared in September of that year - only to turn up in Syria last year as a new executioner for the ISIS terror group in 2015. The British citizen was dubbed Jihadi Sid after apparently taking on the gruesome propaganda duties of another Briton, Jihadi John, who had been killed in a drone strike. Labour claimed the new powers as a victory for the Opposition, insisting they had campaigned for the closure to the loophole. Revealing the new measure, Home Secretary Mrs May said: 'We are determined to give the police the tools they need to fight terrorism and keep people safe. 'This tough new criminal offence will help stop suspected terrorists from fleeing the UK to join Daesh. 'We have already taken action to deal specifically with the problem of foreign fighters, including introducing powers to seize and hold the passports of those suspected of planning to leave the UK and take part in acts of terror. 'The measure will help the police protect people from the threat of terrorism it underlines the Government's determination to tackle those who would do us harm or threaten our way of life.' Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham today warned Labour would scrutinise the details of the new policy, which will be written into the Policing and Crime Bill. He said: 'This move is a victory for Labour. We have put pressure on the Government to toughen the police bail regime for terror suspects and are pleased that the Home Secretary is finally listening. 'It cannot be right that terror suspects on police bail are waltzing out of the country and it is essential that this loophole is closed as a matter of urgency. 'But we will need to see whether Theresa May's proposals go far enough. 'It is essential that the Police are able to request surrender of passports and travel documents as a condition of release from custody. 'Nothing less will stop people like Siddhartha Dhar travelling to Syria. We look forward to the Home Secretary's clarification on this crucial point.' Home Secretary Theresa May announced the tough new powers today following a request by the Metropolitan Police but Labour's Andy Burnham insisted it was a victory for the Opposition Jihadi Sid was able to leave Britain in 2014 despite being on bail and having been arrested six times. He left Britain with his family the day after being bailed, travelling to Paris and then Syria. Six weeks after his disappearance, police wrote to Dhar reminding him of the need to hand over his passport. Enhanced powers had been called for by Britain's top anti-terror policemanMetropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley It will be a criminal offence for an individual released on pre-charge bail following an arrest for a relevant terrorism offence to breach any conditions of that bail that prohibit them from leaving the country. It would apply to cases where an individual is arrested on suspicion of a terrorism offence listed in section 41 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, such as membership of a proscribed organisation, fundraising in support of terrorism, and encouraging terrorism. Under the new clause, it would be an offence to breach bail conditions such as a requirement on an individual not to leave the UK, a requirement to surrender travel documents, and a requirement not to be in possession of any travel documents - even if they belong to someone else. Anyone convicted faces a maximum penalty of 12 months' imprisonment. Perpetrators could also be fined. The move aims to close a loophole which means an individual who breaches pre-charge bail conditions can be arrested but will not face any further prosecution or criminal sanction for the violation. Earlier this year Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, Britain's most senior counter-terrorism officer, described the arrangements as 'weak' and 'toothless'. A lasting tribute to the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was almost derailed thanks to an unfortunate acronym. Last week, George Mason University announced that its law school would be renamed the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University after the strict Constitutionalist who passed away on Feb. 13. And while Scalia's Supreme Court bestie Ruth Bader Ginsburg applauded the move, lots of liberals likely laughed at the school's unintended nickname: the ASSlaw or ASSOL at George Mason University. Scroll down for video The late Antonin Scalia was supposed to be honored by a renaming of the George Mason University law school - but his name created an unfortunate acronym that spelled out 'ASSlaw' or 'ASSOL' The school has already rearranged the wording of its new name so that the acronym wouldn't be commonly used - even though the official name will stay the same The Wall Street Journal reported that the school has now rearranged the wording of the new name so that it reads 'The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University' on literature and the school's website, though the formal title will remain the same. The name change was announced last Thursday and coincided with two donations for $30 million to the school $20 million from an anonymous donor and the rest from the Charles Koch Foundation, the charitable arm of one of the two politically influential 'Koch Brothers.' Because it's a public school, the university's Board of Visitors, who are appointed by Virginia's governor who is currently a Democrat had to vote in favor of a name change, which they did on Thursday. The switch will still need a final stamp of approval from Virginia's higher education oversight agency. Justice Scalia's February death rocked the political world as President Obama and Senate Republicans have been locked in battle over Scalia's replacement The Journal reported that the name change was expected to go through without any problems. The name comes to a school that is more friendly to those on the political right, with many professors known for libertarian and free-market leanings, the Journal pointed out. Ranked in the top 100 in the country, the school, based just outside of Washington, D.C., in Northern Virginia, will use the new dollars for a number of scholarships and for faculty members too. 'It sends a general message that George Mason is a law school on the move,' said its dean Henry Butler to the Journal. 'We have $30 million in scholarships going out when schools are competing like crazy for students.' And while the name of the law school has been occupying the time of bloggers, who were the first to point out the unfortunate acronym, Scalia's death is still causing mischief in the political world. President Obama's selection to replace the conservative justice, Merrick Garland, continues to meet with senators on Capitol Hill this week, but it's likely that Republicans will continue dragging their feet as they said they would just hours after Scalia's death was made public. The 79-year-old jurist had been found dead in February at a luxury resort in West Texas, having attended a party the night before. A member of the Qatari royal family has been released by kidnappers in Iraq after nearly four months in captivity, the Qatari foreign ministry said on Wednesday. The male Qatari royal was among more than 26 people abducted from a desert hunting party near Samawah province, 230 miles from Baghdad, in December last year. Around 100 armed kidnappers on 50 machine gun-mounted SUVs raided the hunting party's camp at 3am in the morning and abducted more than two dozen men, including the royals. Freed: The male Qatari royal was among more than 26 people abducted from a desert hunting party near Samawah province, 230 miles from Baghdad, in December last year The member of the emirate ruling family was released alongside a Pakistani man who had been kidnapped at the same time. The ministry initially announced 'the release of a Qatari citizen and his Asian companion who were kidnapped in Iraq.' 'Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped,' a brief statement published on the official QNA news agency said. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that negotiations were continuing with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the remaining hostages. It is not known if any ransom was paid for the release of the two men freed on Wednesday. The group were reportedly snatched by 100 armed men on machine gun-mounted SUVs, in a night-time raid on the hunting party's camp in Samawah, southern Iraq (file photo) The hostages were abducted when gunmen attacked their camp in a Shiite-majority area of southern Iraq. Nine members of the party managed to escape and cross into nearby Kuwait. There is widespread enmity towards the Gulf Arab states in Shiite areas of southern and central Iraq because of their support for Sunni rebels in the conflict raging in neighbouring Syria. Iran-backed Shiite militias, which have a major presence in the region, have sent fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The hunting party was in Iraq on an officially licensed expedition and Doha has put pressure on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad to help secure the hostages' release. Wealthy Gulf Arabs often brave the risks of travel to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Iraq to hunt with falcons without the bag limits and conservation measures they face at home. They are seemingly impossible skills that will leave your head in a spin. A group of spinning top masters from Taoyuan, Taiwan can be seen performing incredible trick shots using the traditional children's toys. Footage shows the men launching the spinning tops up to 10ft and somehow landing them on tiny platforms where they carry on rotating. It also shows them spinning the toys through the air and easily landing them on someone's up-turned palm and even on top of their head. In a sensational finale, a fizzing top is sent several feet along a piece of string before it bounces into the air and bursts a balloon prompting gasps of disbelief. Precision: A group of spinning top masters from Taoyuan, Taiwan can be seen performing incredible trick shots using the traditional children's toys Technique: Footage shows the men launching the spinning tops up to 10ft and somehow landing them on tiny platforms where they carry on rotating Balance: The men a are capable of thrown the toys long distances and stopping them on small platforms Skills: It also shows them spinning the toys through the air and easily landing them on someone's up-turned palm and even on top of their head Wonder: A child dressed in pink smiles as she examines a spinning top that landed just inches in front of her Talent: A man unleashes another spinning top before landing it perfectly on a platform no bigger than a 50p peace In a spin: The two-minute video sees the men take on a range of trick shots, as well as lining them up on the ground Sparkling success: In one scene, the talented spinning top masters manage to launch the toy into the middle of a tinsel ring Tight rope: In a sensational finale, a fizzing top is sent several feet along a piece of string before it bounces into the air They ruled it 'has adverse impacts in streetscape visual amenity terms' Panel ruled for fake lawn to be removed from Salim Mehajer has removed an artificial lawn outside his lavish home just hours before a local panel ruled for the grass to be ripped up. A business report prepared for the panel says the artificial grass - which was installed shortly before Salim and Aysha's blockbuster wedding eight months ago - was not approved by local council. The lawn was removed from outside the Lidcombe property on Wednesday morning, shortly before the Auburn Independent Assessment Panel held a meeting, reports Sydney Morning Herald. Salim Mehajer has ripped out the artificial lawn (pictured) outside his western Sydney mansion 'There is no artificial turf at the front of the premises,' Mr Mehajer reportedly told the Herald in an email. 'It's been removed.' The Auburn Independent Assessment Panel chairman Paul Stein said the grass was installed 'while we were there'. 'The proposed artificial turf in lieu of grass to the nature strip is adverse to the character of the locality,' the report says. 'It does not allow for planting, has no ecological benefits, does not allow for natural drainage, reduces the ability of the ground to provide thermal massing, and has adverse impacts in streetscape visual amenity terms.' Scroll down for video A report by the suspended deputy mayor's own council found that he had 'illegally' installed the fake grass A business report prepared for the panel says the turf - which was installed shortly before Salim and Aysha's (pictured) blockbuster wedding eight months ago - was not approved by local council The report also takes issue with the 2.1 metre-high rear and side fences at Mr Mehajer's Lidcombe residence, suggesting that they create an 'unreasonable outlook for immediate neighbours.' Mr Mehajer claimed that the fence height was required for security, privacy and amenity reasons. But the report disagreed, urging the panel to force Mr Mehajer to cut it down to 1.8 metres. 'The fences also create some additional overshadowing to the neighbours, the degree to which has not been demonstrated by the applicant. The proposal, if approved, would also create an undesirable precedence,' the report says. The report also takes issue with the 2.1 metre-high rear and side fences at Mr Mehajer's Lidcombe residence The investigation into his western Sydney home comes at a tough time for the controversial politician, with rumours swirling that his marriage is on the rocks just eight months in (motorcade from wedding pictured) It comes at a tough time for the controversial politician, who is battling rumours that his marriage is on the rocks. Earlier this week it was reported Ms Mehajer had packed her bags and left their mansion in Lidcombe, western Sydney, to stay with family in the NSW Illawarra region. The report by A Current Affair said friends of the couple claim the controversial property developer and suspended Auburn deputy mayor had been constantly phoning and texting his wife in an attempt to get her back. An Instagram account using both their names is reportedly run by Mr Mehajer. In recent days the page has been bombarded with seven-month-old photos of their wedding and declarations of love. Neither husband nor wife have been spotted at their home in recent days, the program reported. But Mr Mehajer has made an effort to douse rumours they were living separately, taking to Facebook to post photos of himself and his wife claiming the pair's relationship is 'unbreakable.' The politician posted the words: 'Our love. True love. One love separated by a heart and crown emoji.' He shared another snap of his wife, Aysha, later, captioned: 'my best friend, my soul mate, my love of my life.' Mr Mehajer maintains that his relationship with Aysha has never been better, writing a number of adoring posts across his social media accounts Londoner says he spent 15 hours being questioned by Italian authorities A man who was escorted from an easyJet flight bound for London by armed police because a fellow passenger told staff she 'didn't feel safe' with him on board said he was left feeling 'violated'. Meghary Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, from London, was told by the captain he would need to get off the plane shortly before it was due to take off from Rome's Fiumicino aiport. He was told the woman had complained about his presence on the flight before being taken to the airport's police station, where he said he was questioned by Italian authorities for more than 15 hours. Scroll down for video Meghary Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, from London, (pictured) was escorted from an easyJet flight by armed police because a fellow passenger told staff she 'didn't feel safe' with him on board 'I felt violated,' he told ITV News London. 'It was racial profiling. 'If she feels uncomfortable, she should get off the plane.' Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis, who is understood to be of Eritrean descent, said he had been waiting for the plane to leave Italy when a member of cabin crew asked him to step forward. 'After a 20 minute delay the captain explained a technical fault with luggage and informed us that the flight will commence shortly,' Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis said. 'After a few minutes, cabin crew emerged and asked 'Is there a passenger with the last name of Yemane-Tesfagiorgis on board?' 'I replied "Yes", assuming that it was my luggage that was the issue. 'I was then asked to come to the front of the cabin where I was greeted by armed police. I was asked to leave the plane by the captain, when asked why? He explained: "A fellow passenger has stated that she does not feel safe with you on board". ' Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis was told by the captain he would need to get off the plane shortly before it was due to take off from Rome's Fiumicino aiport Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis was questioned for more than 15 hours by authorities in Rome, before finally being allowed to fly home to London from the Italian capital Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis says he then spent hours speaking to airline staff and the police, and suggested the passenger who made the complaint should be taken off the plane. 'I was then directed by the police to the airport police station,' he said. 'I was subjected to further questioning and intimidation by the Italian authorities before being left to sit in the airport for a further 15 or so hours.' Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis says he is seeking legal advice. 'They [easyJet] have apologised to me on a few occasions,' he said. 'But it's not about me and easyJet. It is way bigger than that.' In a statement the airline said: 'easyJet can confirm that flight EZY5258 from Rome Fiumicino to London Gatwick on 29 March 2016 was delayed due to the police requesting that additional security checks were undertaken before departure. Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis has said he believes it was a case of 'racial profiling' 'Mr Yemane-Tesfagiorgis was questioned by the authorities as a result of another passenger reporting concerns about his behaviour. 'The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority and airlines have to take any security-related concerns seriously. Far-right French MEP Jean-Marie Le Pen was today fined 25,000 for Holocaust denial after describing the wartime genocide of Jews as a 'detail of history'. The founder of the National Front (FN) had claimed immunity from prosecution because of his status as a European Parliament member representing South-East France. But judges sitting at the Paris Correctional Court rejected his defence, saying he was 'guilty of questioning a crime against humanity'. Jean-Marie Le Pen (pictured) was today fined 25,000 for describing the Nazis' genocide of six million Jews as a 'detail of history' In 1972, Le Pen (left) founded the far-right National Front party which his daughter Marine (right) now heads The conviction for gross anti-Semitism will increase tensions between the 87-year-old and his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who is the current leader of the FN. She has desperately been trying to 'modernise' the party against accusations that members have Nazi sympathies. Reigniting old tensions, Mr Le Pen appeared on live French TV a year ago and said: 'What I said corresponds to what I think. 'The gas chambers were a detail of the war, unless we admit that the war was a detail of the gas chambers!' During the interview on the BFMTV channel in Paris, Mr Le Pen said 'the truth' should 'not shock anyone', and that historical reality should not be used to portray him as anti-Jewish. 'This case was manipulated against me by introducing a hint of anti-Semitism,' said Mr Le Pen. 'I challenge anyone to name an anti-Semitic phrase in my political life.' Repeatedly questioned about the Holocaust, Mr Le Pen said: 'War is horrible, you know, a piece of shrapnel that tears your stomach, a bomb that decapitates you, a room in which you are asphyxiated, it's all pretty disgusting, it's true.' Under Marine Le Pen's leadership, the party has deepened its roots across France and next year she intends to make a run for the country's presidency Marine Le Pen turned on her father at the time, saying: 'I deeply disagree with him. I take note of what he said but I believe that those coming over to vote for us understand what is going on. He is being deliberately provocative.' Mr Le Pen, who was not in court today, is also at the centre of a financial corruption scandal, with investigators looking party funds over the years. Senior party officials have also been identified in the so-called Panama Papers leaked documents which expose politicians who have used offshore companies to avoid tax. Ms Le Pen's party regularly wins up to 25 per cent of the popular vote at local and regional elections, and Ms Le Pen intends to stand for the job of president in 2017. Under her leadership, the party has deepened its roots across France, winning outright control of some town halls and getting its officials elected onto the councils of 'departements', broadly the equivalent of counties. Polls suggest she could make it into the second-round run-off of a presidential election but is unlikely to win. Mr Le Pen remains popular with many FN members, despite having been convicted on numerous occasions of being anti-Jewish and for 'inciting racial hatred'. He has regularly made the comment about the Holocaust, telling the European Parliament in 2009: 'I just said that the gas chambers were a detail of Second World War history, which is clear.' Mr Le Pen was first convicted by a Munich court in 1999 for 'minimising the Holocaust' after telling a German far-right meeting that Nazi concentration camps and the gas chambers are 'what one calls a detail'. He has had a string of other convictions, including ones for violence and was briefly banned from being an MEP in 2003 following a physical attack on a French Socialist MEP. Jews have complained of increasing anti-Semitism in France, much of it stirred up by far-right activists. Fed up of wasting up to 800 a month on rent, this former soldier decided to start on his dream home by spending 750 on a 16-year-old rusty LDV Convoy van. And Jamie Waddington, 25, of Leeds, then decorated it with a rustic wooden interior finished with beautifully carved handles, skylight and carpet, complete with shelves and cupboards. His van home - which he began work on in October and has lived in for three months - also has a hob, fridge, sink, sofa and fold-out bed, as well as fire extinguisher and carbon monoxide detector. New build: Jamie Waddington started on his dream home by spending 750 on a 16-year-old LDV Convoy van Putting it together: He decorated it with a rustic wooden interior finished with beautifully carved handles Interior: The former soldier also installed a skylight and carpet, complete with shelves and cupboards Playing the guitar: Mr Waddington began work on the home in October and has lived in for three months To avoid having to share a house, he worked 80-hour weeks on various jobs including the fire service and outdoor firms to raise the cash for his new lifestyle after an early mid-life crisis. Mr Waddington, who believes there is pressure on people his age to buy property, claims he can now survive on less than 10 a week on food and spends money on little else other than petrol. He survives on helping farmers around the country in exchange for food that he then cooks in the van, and has paid work lined up for summer from previous employers in the countryside. The former film extra said: I buy very little, however I eat well. Aside from farmers, you get good food in honesty boxes for very little money, such as wonky veg. I could make the van exactly how I wanted it and it is better than a house-share with people I dont get on with know well. Ive always been an outdoor person but I realised this would give me the freedom what I wanted with my life. I felt I was growing up too quick and didnt want to settle down. Project: To avoid having to share a house and fund his new lifestyle, he worked 80-hour weeks on various jobs New kitchen: Mr Waddington, from Leeds, believes there is pressure on people his age to buy property Outlook: He survives on helping farmers around the country in exchange for food that he then cooks in the van Relaxing: Mr Waddington has paid work lined up for summer from previous employers in the countryside I wanted to do something I felt I had control over and my aim was to become self-sufficient. I enjoy budgeting and the challenge of surviving on very little cash. I could make the van exactly how I wanted it and it is better than a house-share with people I dont get on with know well Jamie Waddington I mainly cook all of my own food. The only thing I dont have is a toilet, so I rely on public places and the generosity of people letting me into places to use the bathrooms. Originally hoping to buy a camper van, Mr Waddington soon realised that could set him back tens of thousands of pounds. Instead, he brought in the help of his father to convert an old white van, insulate it, panel it with wood and fit it out with all the appliances he would need. So far, the van has travelled around Yorkshire while Mr Waddington visits friends, toured Cumbria and Wales and spent time in Bristol as he stayed with people he knows. However he doesnt plan to stay in Britain. In fact, Mr Waddington hopes to take the old van on a tour of Europe and even hopes it might stand up to a trip to the Sahara. Chilled out: He claims he can survive on 10 a week on food and only spends significant money on petrol Construction project: The van had to be completely refurbished to become the home that it is today Work begins: He brought in the help of his father to convert an old white van, insulate it and panel it with wood Going places: So far, the van has travelled around Yorkshire while Mr Waddington visits friends, toured Cumbria and Wales and spent time in Bristol as he stayed with people he knows He said: Ive had offers from people all over Europe for jobs and places to pitch up so should be easy to make my way about with little expenditure, doing it as long as I want. I have a little routine when I am travelling on the road from place to place. I wake up and wash in the sink like everyones grandparents would have done. I have a little routine when I am travelling on the road from place to place. I wake up and wash in the sink like everyones grandparents would have done Jamie Waddington Then I might driver into a village and find a toilet and free wi-fi and then visit a couple of places or natural sights of beauty. After that I spend the time planning a sensible place to sleep, such as quiet car parks. My van has everything a regular house would have except smaller - though the living area is probably bigger than student halls and some flatshares I know. The inside of most vans are dark and dingy but the natural light from the skylight mean this is very nice to sit in and its very homely. I just have to sleep with something covering my eyes or I will be woken up very early in the morning. Shirley Worrall, 42, has been sacked after crashing her car while almost twice over the drink drive limit A policewoman has been fired after crashing her Audi TT into the front of a car dealership while almost twice over the drink-drive limit. Shirley Worrall, 42, was off-duty when she smashed her silver car into the front of the Vauxhall dealership in West Bromwich, in the West Midlands, on February 17. The officer, who had nearly 15 years experience, was sacked without notice at a misconduct hearing yesterday. Ms Worrall, who was a local intelligence supervisor, was arrested, breathalysed and then charged with drink driving following the incident. She admitted drink driving at Birmingham Magistrates' Court on March 17 and was banned from driving for 18 months. She was also fined 500 and ordered to pay costs of 135. Ms Worrall, who lives in a 127,000 house in West Bromwich, did not attend the misconduct hearing yesterday. However Police Federation representative John Tooms said: 'She fully accepts what she did was wrong. 'Up until this point she has had an exemplary record and this was totally out of character. 'This was a one-off error of judgement. She apologises for her actions and knows that she has let everyone down.' Ms Worrall was off-duty when she smashed her silver car into the front of the Vauxhall dealership in West Bromwich, in the West Midlands, on February 17 The officer, who was a local intelligence supervisor, was arrested, breathalysed and then charged with drink driving following the incident in Spon Lane (pictured) Chief Constable Dave Thompson said it was a 'sad way for her to end her career' but added all officers must act within the law. He added: 'Criminal convictions undermine the practical ability to police. 'They cut right to the heart of public trust in the police service and drink driving is a particularly serious matter. Every household in the country will receive a taxpayer-funded leaflet on the referendum setting out the Government's pro-EU message from next week. Almost 10million is being spent producing, printing, delivering and promoting the leaflet which will set out why the Government believes Britain is better off in the EU. Environment Secretary Liz Truss today defended the spending by pointing to independent polling indicating 85 per cent of voters wanted more information to help them make a decision. But backers of the Brexit-backing campaigns expressed outrage at the move to flood the country with pro-EU 'propaganda' just weeks before the June 23 poll. Scroll down for video The 16-page leaflet, pictured, leaves no room for doubt about what the Government is telling voters they should do - to the outrage of Brexit backing politicians Every household in the country will receive a taxpayer-funded leaflet (pictured) on the referendum setting out the Government's pro-EU message from next week Almost 10million is being spent producing, printing, delivering and promoting the leaflet which will set out why the Government believes Britain is better off in the EU Ms Truss said: 'This referendum will be a huge decision for our country, perhaps the biggest we will make in our lifetimes and it is crucial that the public have clear and accessible information. 'Independent polling carried out on behalf of the Government made clear that 85% of people want more information from the Government to help make an informed decision. 'The document makes clear why EU membership brings economic security, peace and stability. 'It also sets out that if the UK voted to leave, the resulting economic shock would put pressure on the value of the pound, which would risk higher prices of some household goods.' Tory MP Steve Baker, a leading member of the Vote Leave campaign, told MailOnline: 'The Government is about to spend more taxpayers' money propagandising for the pro-EU Britain Stronger in Europe campaign than Vote Leave will be allowed to spend from voluntary donations during the formal period. 'This David and Goliath fight demands the support of everyone who wants to take back control so we can spend on our priorities, like the NHS.' Andrew Rosindell, another Tory eurosceptic, also dubbed the leaflet 'propaganda'. David Cameron, seen leaving his latest pro-EU campaign event yesterday, has made the formal recommendation of the Government to stay in the trading bloc Andrew Rosindell, a Tory eurosceptic, was one of several critical of the leaflet. He dubbed it 'propaganda' The Government said similar leaflets had been published ahead of the EU referendum in 1975, the referendums on the creation of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in 1997, the creation of the Mayoral system in London in 1998 and two UK Government leaflets during the Scottish referendum in 2014 Peter Bone, a co-founder of the Grassroots Out campaign, said: 'This is an outrageous way to spend hard-working taxpayers money. 'Many recent polls have shown that the majority of the UK public are actually in favour of leaving the EU so to spend their money on a pro-EU propaganda exercise is an inexcusable waste. 'This is a major error of judgement given the lack of funding for vital public services.' The Government said similar leaflets had been published ahead of the EU referendum in 1975, the referendums on the creation of the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly in 1997, the creation of the Mayoral system in London in 1998 and two UK Government leaflets during the Scottish referendum in 2014. Steve Baker, who back the Voter Leave campaign being championed by Boris Johnson, pictured, said the 10million bill for the leaflet made clear the 'David and Goliath' nature of the referendum battle Both official campaigns will get to send their own taxpayer-funded leaflet to every household ahead of the poll. The Electoral Commission will also send a leaflet featuring one page each from both official campaigns. The 16-page leaflet - half of which is covered in pictures - leaves no room for doubt about the Government's view that EU membership is good for Britain. Its front cover reads 'Why the Government believes that voting to remain in the European Union is the best decision for the UK'. The back cover repeats an identical message but adds tick boxes suggesting the EU protects jobs, provides a stronger economy and provides security. Inside are sections about why the referendum is an 'important decision for the UK', claims the EU offers a 'stronger economy' and why the Government said membership ensured ministers were 'controlling immigration and securing our borders.' Ukip leader Nigel Farage was quick to protest claims in the document, insisting it was 'full of lies' and was 'outrageous' Tory MP Andrew Rosindell also claimed the leaflet was 'propaganda' in favour of the EU from the Government It makes claims such as 'a vote to leave could mean a decade or more of uncertainty' which will be hotly contested by the Brexit campaign. Ukip leader Nigel Farage hit out at the claim. He said: 'Government's pro-EU document full of lies including claim that we currently control our borders. We don't. Outrageous to suggest otherwise.' He continued: 'This government scam confirms my view that this referendum is defined by the battle of the people vs. the politicians. 'Why is the government spending 10million of our money telling us what to think?' The leaflet is costing 458,500 to produce. Printing and delivering it to 27 million homes - in two waves - is costing 5.9million. Another 2.8million is being spent on promoting the leaflet and a companion website. Households in England will receive the leaflet between April 11 and 13 next week. The document will be sent to Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish homes from May 9 to ensure it arrives after the devolved assembly elections. Big Claims... But do they really stand up to scrutiny? Within days, a 16-page taxpayer-funded leaflet on why Britain should remain in the EU will begin dropping on doormats across England. Here, Political Editor JAMES SLACK examines the Governments claims and the response of the Out campaign. CLAIM: More than three million jobs in Britain are linked to exports to the European Union. RESPONSE: The claim is more than 15 years old having begun life in a South Bank University paper in 2000. In any event, there are five million jobs in other EU countries which are dependent on trade with the UK, such as the sale of wine, clothes and cheese. This means other member states would have far more to lose by not agreeing a trade deal with a post-Brexit UK. CLAIM: The EU is by far the UKs biggest trading partner. EU countries buy 44 per cent of everything we sell abroad, from cars to insurance. RESPONSE: The EUs importance to the UK economy is declining sharply in 2006 the EU accounted for 62 per cent of British exports. Last year, Britain bought far more goods from EU countries than they bought from us with the gap at an all-time high of 89billion. Again, it is the other EU countries with most to lose. Pro Europeans claim Brexit would lead to an economic shock which could hit the value of sterling CLAIM: If the UK voted to leave the EU, the resulting economic shock would put pressure on the value of the pound which would risk higher prices of some household goods and damage living standards. RESPONSE: There is no agreement among economists, businessmen or politicians on the impact of Brexit. For instance, a study published by the Institute of Economic Affairs and cited by the Office for Budget Responsibility argues that leaving the EU could actually increase UK GDP by 13 per cent. CLAIM: EU membership gives UK citizens travelling in other European countries the right to access free or cheaper public healthcare. There are no guarantees we would keep these benefits if we left. RESPONSE: Both Switzerland and Norway use the EHIC insurance scheme which currently provides healthcare to Britons abroad and they are not members of the EU. In any event, Britain pays the bill and could continue to do so. Since 2007, the UK has paid out 5.8billion more to other member states for the treatment of British citizens abroad than has been recouped for the cost of treating their citizens here. CLAIM: Cooperation with the European Union makes it easier to keep criminals and terrorists out of the UK. RESPONSE: Frontex, the EUs own border agency, has admitted that mass immigration is allowing terrorists to slip into the EU including two of those behind the devastating attacks in Paris. Meanwhile Sir Richard Dearlove, who is the former head of MI6, has said Britain could be safer outside the EU as it would make it easier to deport fanatics. Frontex has admitted that mass immigration is allowing terrorists to sneak into the EU along with refugees CLAIM: Some argue that leaving the EU would give us more freedom to limit immigration. But in return for the economic benefits that come with access to the EUs single market, countries not in the union such as Norway have had to accept the right of all EU citizens to live and work in their country. RESPONSE: EU immigration is increasing the UKs population by 180,000 every year. Vote Leave point out that the EU has free trade deals in force (which do not entail membership of a customs union or limitless immigration) with at least 17 countries. These include: Colombia, Peru, Mexico, South Africa, Chile, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. CLAIM: The Government has negotiated a deal that will make our benefits system less of a draw for EU citizens. RESPONSE: David Cameron got a far weaker deal than he originally wanted or his manifesto promised. His changes to benefit rules will come into force in 2017 at the earliest and will be almost entirely counteracted by the new Living Wage. Weekly take-home pay would continue to be 156 per cent higher than in Poland and 353 per cent higher than in Bulgaria, according to research by Vote Leave. CLAIM: Voting to leave the EU would create years of uncertainty and potential economic disruption. This would reduce investment and cost jobs. RESPONSE: The head of the Remain campaign, Lord Rose of Monewden, has himself said: Nothing is going to happen if we come out of Europe in the first five years. There will be absolutely no change Its not going to be a step change or somebodys going to turn the lights out and were all suddenly going to find that we cant go to France, its going to be a gentle process. French president Francois Hollande has dismissed claims that the UK's status within the EU is 'special' CLAIM: The UK has secured a special status in the EU. The UK has kept the pound, will not join the euro and has kept control of its borders. RESPONSE: French president Francois Hollande has dismissed the idea the UKs status is special. Cabinet minister Chris Grayling has warned that, as the rest of the EU moves towards full political union, Britain will be left voiceless, isolated and subject to ever more harmful meddling by a giant federation of eurozone states. CLAIM: For every 1 paid in tax, a little over 1p goes to the EU. The Government judges that what the UK gets back in terms of opportunities, job creation and economic security from EU membership far outweighs the cost. RESPONSE: HMRC collected 515billion in taxes in 2014-15. According to Full Fact, in 2015 the UK government paid 13billion to the EU budget, and EU spending on the UK was 4.5billion. So the UKs net contribution was estimated at about 8.5billion. This is money which could be better spent at home on the NHS and other public services. CLAIM: Being inside the EU also makes it more attractive for companies to invest in the UK, meaning more jobs. Over the last decade, foreign companies have invested 540billion in the UK, equivalent to 148million every day. Now Smith, 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, does not own a home Former Fusilier Daniel Smith who now sleeps in his car after suffering from post traumatic stress An Iraq War hero who became one of the youngest soldiers to receive the George Medal for bravery is sleeping in his car after being cast adrift by the Army. Former Fusilier Daniel Smith was just 21 when he was honoured by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace for rescuing injured colleagues with no concern for his own safety. But after returning from Iraq, he developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), which led to him drinking heavily and caused the collapse of his marriage. He left the Army but has struggled to hold down a job ever since and has started sleeping in his car as he does not own a home. The soldier, from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, served in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2005 at the height of roadside bomb attacks against the lightly armoured 'Snatch' Land Rovers used by British troops. Despite the danger, he bravely rescued comrades from the burning wreckage of vehicles that had been destroyed in two separate blasts six days apart. The citation for his award said: With no regard for his own safety, and with his focus firmly on saving those in the vehicle, he commenced the evacuation of the casualties from the burning chaos. Recalling his experiences in Iraq, Mr Smith, now 31, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, told the BBC: If I think back now I didnt really care about my life as such. I didnt think of the consequences. I didnt know what I was walking into. It was one of those things I just did because I had to because I was the team medic at the time and I just wanted to help, really. You put a lot of pressure on yourself. Because I was young at the time and obviously newish I didnt want to come across as weak so I put all that built-up hate and that in the bag. Obviously it all went a bit Pete Tong [slang for wrong] for me. I didnt really know who to talk to. Mr Smith said that on his return, his life very quickly spiralled out of control and he began drinking, lost his job and his marriage collapsed. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and, with no permanent home, has ended up sleeping in his car for a few nights a week to escape human companionship. After returning from Iraq, Mr Smith lost his job and his marriage collapsed. He believes more should be done to help soldiers with post traumatic stress disorder It didnt really feel [like] reality at the time but obviously a year later it sinks in, the pressure kicks in: youre drinking but you dont realise youre changing but other people see you are, he added. And you just become very angry towards them really. Youre like, I aint changed - youre the one whos changed. Youre putting the blame on them. It is thought that his PTSD began after the vehicle patrol he was part of was blown up by roadside bombs twice in a week in 2005, killing some of his comrades. I took a lot of guilt because obviously I thought I did my best at the time when I was treating them, he said. I didnt really think they would die, I just thought they would be injured or go back home, but they passed away and obviously that was a big shock to us and I didnt know how to take that. Asked how he felt about the Army now, Mr Smith said: Im very bitter towards them at the minute. I feel like Ive been cast aside. Although the Army provided help, including six weeks intensive therapy, he says the flashbacks, anger and resentment did not go away. There was also no NHS follow-up. The George Medal for bravery, similar to the one Mr Smith received for rescuing his comrades from burning vehicles in Iraq in 2005 He said that better support is needed for members of the armed forces who leave the military with PTSD. His father Gary said he has already spent more than 3,000 trying to get his son diagnosed and treated. Hes fought for his country and hes just been cast adrift and thats the bit I find the biggest shock, he said. As soon as hes discharged, theyve let him go and put him back into society and basically all theyve done is put a sticking plaster over a gaping wound. Asked if he was worried about his sons future, the father said: I am. I cant see a long term recovery. I hope there is but I think without treatment and without any support network I do fear for his health. Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety condition caused by witnessing or being involved in a frightening or distressing event. Veterans mental health charity Combat Stress said there had been a 28 per cent increase in veterans seeking mental health support last year, treble the increase the year before. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: The government is absolutely committed to the mental health of our armed forces and provides a wide range of support both during and after service. Donald Trump is poised to crush his Republican competition in the April 19 New York primary, with more than half of GOP voters supporting him in a new public opinion survey. And a majority don't seem to care about his crass campaigning style or his gaffe-littered performance during the last week of the Wisconsin campaign. A Monmouth University Poll released Wednesday found 52 per cent of likely Republican primary voters in the Empire State would choose the billionaire front-runner if the election were held today. Trump was on top with 52 percent of the vote, compared to 25 per cent who support Ohio Gov. John Kasich and 17 percent who side with Sen. Ted Cruz a distant third-place finish for the Texan who scored a strong victory Tuesday in Wisconsin. Because of the way the state's congressional districts are organized, Trump could pull off a near sweep of New York's 95 convention delegates when the votes are counted. Scroll down for video HOME STATE COMEBACK: Donald Trump suffered a stinging defeat in Wisconsin on Tuesday but the next big contest in New York promises to be a convention delegate windfall for the billionaire YANKEE BLUES: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is a disappointing third in a new poll of New York Republican primary voters 'If this result holds in every single congressional district, Trump will walk away with nearly all of New York States delegates,' said Patrick Murray, the poll's director. His survey found that about the real estate tycoon is strongest in the 16 congressional districts covering New York City and Long Island a region whose voters will award more than half the delegates despite producing only about one-third of the Republican voters. Congressional districts are drawn according to overall population including Democrats, Republicans, independents and members of other smaller political parties. But urban areas are far more Democrat-dominated, meaning that a relatively smallish group of motivated Republicans in the New York City metroplex can control a disproportionate number of convention delegates when the dust settles. Three delegates will come from each congressional district, giving a small number of Bronx or Brooklyn Republicans the same clout as a much larger group of GOP voters from Republican-dominated areas upstate. And every district operates as a miniature winner-take-all election, handing all three of its delegates to any candidate who can top the 50 per cent threshold. If no one wins an outright majority, the delegates are carved up proportionately among those who collect at least 20 per cent of the vote. With 27 congressional districts in all, 81 of New York's 95 delegates will be awarded that way. The other 14 will be divided among the statewide winners with the same winner-take-all math kicking in if anyone exceeds 50 per cent. SPOILER? Ohio Gov. John Kasich could snag a few delegates from Trump but he's far, far behind in the overall counting Cruz is in danger of being shut out completely if he can't reach 20 per cent in any districts where Trump fails to win a majority. Kasich could deny Trump a handful of delegates, but most of New York's haul would still be chalked in Trump's win column. Trump also has 58 per cent of the vote in New York City and Long Island, 52 per cent in upstate New York and 47 per cent in the more conservative western portions of the state. Kasich performs a bit better in rural areas between 26 and 28 per cent. The only region where Cruz tops the 20 per cent threshold is western New York, where he registered 21 per cent in the Monmouth poll. Trump's strong New York numbers stand in contrast to national outrage that erupted last week when he suggested U.S. allies in Asia should develop their own nuclear weapons programs, and expressed the view ever so briefly that women who have illegal abortions should be punished legally. Fully 57 per cent of Republican primary voters in New York told pollsters that those cringe-worthy moments won't affect their voting decisions at all. Twenty-nine per cent said they would be less likely to support Trump as a consequence far less than the overall number of GOP loyalists who have already chosen Cruz or Kasich. Another 7 per cent say Trump's high-profile unforced errors would make them more likely to vote for him. The Monmouth poll sampled a small group, just 302 likely New York Republican primary voters, but the survey was in the field from April 3 to April 5 arguably the most politically nuclear days Trump has seen in months. Seventy per cent said they would vote for Trump in November if he were the Republican presidential nominee, with 9 per cent saying they would defect to former New York senator Hillary Clinton. Kasich inspired more party loyalty, with 81 per cent saying they would stick with him in a general election. But ultimately those numbers are unlikely to matter: Despite Trump's claim that his home state voters could deliver a win for him in November, New York's Electoral College votes haven't been awarded to a Republican since President Ronald Reagan's two sweeping victories in 1980 and 1984. A group of school children made a lucky escape in Florida on Tuesday afternoon, after their bus caught fire and they were able to make it out right before the vehicle exploded. The driver of the Orlando-area bus has been praised by parents and authorities alike for getting all the children out into the street after the bus caught fire. The bus, which was carrying students from Piedmont Lakes Middle School, caught fire on Cimmaron Ash Way near Wekiva Springs Road in Apopka. The driver had been pulled over for mechanical reasons when he realized there were flames. Boom: The driver of the Orlando-area bus has been praised by parents and authorities alike for getting all the children out into the street after the bus caught fire - and then exploded 'There was one explosion, and then a few minutes later another explosion,' said one witness, Doug Alexander One witness, Doug Alexander, who took video from the scene, said that it was a seriously close call. 'All of a sudden, ka-boom! There was one explosion, and then a few minutes later another explosion,' Alexander told Click Orlando. He said he saw the driver running away from the bus just minutes before it exploded. 'Once you see those flames, it's like, ''Oh man, that thing is going to blow up''. Alexander said he spoke to the bus driver himself, and that the man said he believed the problem came from the air conditioner. Scene: The bus, which was carrying students from Piedmont Lakes Middle School, caught fire on Cimmaron Ash Way near Wekiva Springs Road in Apopka One parent, Sean Rogers, whose daughter was on the bus, said he had the driver to thank for how well the unfortunate incident turned out. 'I would tell him thank you very much for saving all those children's lives,' he said. , was driving on a suspended license and faces a motor vehicle homicide charge, but posted $5,000 bail and fled The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said that an illegal immigrant who killed a woman in a car crash while street racing in Nebraska was not detained by immigration officials because the offense did 'not constitute a crime of violence'. Edwin Mejia, 19, faces up to 20 years in prison for his role in a fatal crash that killed 21-year-old Sarah Root on January 31 in Omaha, WOWT reported. Authorities say Mejia was drunk and street racing another vehicle when his truck slammed into the back of a stopped SUV that Root was driving. Edwin Mejia, 19, faces up to 20 years in prison for his role in a fatal crash that killed 21-year-old Sarah Root on January 31 in Omaha Authorities say Mejia was drunk and street racing another vehicle when his truck slammed into the back of a stopped SUV that Root was driving. Pictured above is the accident scene His blood alcohol content level at the time was .241, which is four times the legal limit to drive, WOWT reported. Pictured above is the accident scene His blood alcohol content level at the time was .241, which is four times the legal limit to drive, WOWT reported. In addition, Mejia was driving on a suspended license and faces a motor vehicle homicide charge. Douglas County Judge Jeff Marcuzzo set Mejia's bail at 10 per cent of $50,000, which means he only had to post $5,000 cash to be released. Mejia was driving on a suspended license and faces a motor vehicle homicide charge in Root's death. He was released on bond and has now fled According to Omaha.com, Mejia did not show up to his required twice-daily urine tests and a warrant was issued for his arrest. ICE has not added him to their 'Most Wanted' list, Fox News reported. 'Mr Mejia should not need to be on this list he should be in jail,' Republican Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse said in a March 30 statement. 'ICE originally said that Mr Mejia was not an 'enforcement priority,' but this morning he was placed on their Most Wanted list. The public still does not have a complete account of what went wrong.' Sasse told Fox News that his office issued a letter to ICE Director Sarah Saldana on February 29 and said her response was 'bureaucratic nonsense.' He also said that he wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on April and hoped to get a response that was not 'an embarrassment to the hardworking men and women' at DHS. Meija was first encountered by border agents in May 2013 when he arrived in Nogales, Arizona from Honduras. The then 16-year-old was designated as an unaccompanied child, according to the agency's initial response letter to Sasse, Fox News reported. He was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a requirement by law, and then moved to Omaha in 2014 to live with his brother, Fox News reported. It's unclear if his brother is in the US legally or illegally. Root died at the Nebraska Medical Center just hours after the accident in which she suffered critical injuries The day before the accident, she had just graduated from Bellevue University with straight A's and a degree in investigations When Mejia was arrested in January for the deadly crash, ICE officials 'encountered him only once' but did not detain him. Though his actions reportedly didn't fit the requirements by ICE to issue a mandatory detainer, DHS officials have discretionary ability to issue one if the 'removal of such alien would serve an important federal interest,' Fox News reported. 'After further review, we believe that further enforcement action would have served an important federal interest in this case,' the ICE response letter said according to Fox News. Root died at the Nebraska Medical Center just hours after the accident in which she suffered critical injuries. The day before the accident, she had just graduated with from Bellevue University with straight A's and a degree in investigations, according to Omaha.com. Her family told WOWT that she was full of life and ready to take on the world. 'We're doing the best we can for her...she loved a lot, and we'll do the best we can for her,' Lyndsey Johnson, Root's cousin told the TV station in February. 'She brought joy to everyone and everybody will remember here. She was a great person, and I don't think you'll find one person that disliked her.' Hillary Clinton made moves to shore up support on the left flank of her party today, telling attendees of a labor conference that she'd use her authority as president to help build unions back up and protect American workers. 'Here is my promise to you: If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, organized labor will always have a champion in the White House and a seat at the table,' she told attendees of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO's Constitutional Convention. Clinton is being challenged from the left by Bernie Sanders, an independent senator who became a Democrat in order to channel the resources of the ruling political party as the competes for the White House. His candidacy has energized white working class voters in the Democratic Party, helping him to win labor-heavy states like Wisconsin and Michigan. He's campaigned hard against Clinton's record on trade deals liberals believe are bad for America's middle class and will speak at the Philadelphia conference tomorrow morning. Scroll down for video Hillary Clinton made moves to shore up support on the left flank of her party today, telling attendees of a labor conference that she'd build unions back up and go after elites who refuse to pay their 'fair share' 'Here is my promise to you: If I am fortunate enough to be elected president, organized labor will always have a champion in the White House and a seat at the table,' she told attendees of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO's Constitutional Convention Clinton alluded to the spat today as she told union members, 'There have been a lot of distortions about my record on trade. 'You'll probably hear it during the next couple of weeks,' she said. 'So I want to set things straight.' The former secretary of state told them her message to every across the country is: 'I will stand with you, I will have your back, and I will stop dead in its tracks any trade deal that hurts America.' Sanders has hit Clinton for backing her husband's North American Free Trade Agreement and President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement. She eventually came out against the accord, once she says she had a chance to review the final product of the years-long negotiations, but it was after prodding from influential unions and other progressive groups. Clinton today argued that the she opposed the only multi-lateral trade agreement that came up for a vote when she was in the Senate - Central America Free Trade Agreement. She said she sided against Obama's TPP deal because didn't feel she 'could look in the eyes of any American worker' and say 'this deal will create more jobs and raise your wages.' Taking aim at Sanders, Clinton said, 'We need a president who doesn't just complain about trade, we need a President who knows how to compete against the rest of the world and win for America and for American workers.' 'That means first and foremost standing up to China, which is the biggest abuser of of global trade,' she said, disparaging the communist's countries' manipulation of its currency and abusive behavior toward American businesses. Sanders fancies himself the true progressive in the race. He has the endorsements of heavy-hitters on the left like Democracy for America, and the Communications Workers of America, National Union of Healthcare Workers, as well as AFL-CIO chapters in Vermont and South Carolina. But Clinton has the backing of the most of the nation's most prominent unions. The American Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSME), the National Education Assocation, Service Employees International Union, and the North America's Building Trades are all working for her. Together, they have more than 10 million members. AFT head Randi Weingarten argued this morning in a speech before Clinton's that the ex-New York senator and Sanders, who represents Vermont, actually voted in 'sync 93 percent of the time' when they served together. 'The big difference, with all do respect, is that Hillary has a track record of getting things done,' She later accompanied Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney to a discussion at Impact Services in Philadelphia. Clinton won Pennsylvania by nearly 10 points in 2008 when she ran against Barack Obama and is ahead of Sanders here now. His successes in similar states doesn't bode well for her, though Clinton won Pennsylvania by nearly 10 points in 2008 when she ran against Barack Obama and is ahead of Sanders here now. His successes in other blue states Clinton did well in last time around and his popularity with white voters doesn't bode well for Clinton, though. In 2008 Clinton won 60 percent of white voters in Pennsylvania. They made up 81 percent of the Democratic electorate that year, according to exit polling at the time. Blacks tend to favor Clinton but accounted for just 13 percent for the vote total. A Quinnipiac poll of the state that was released today had Sanders down by six points, an easily erasable margin. Whether or not he can simultaneously pull off wins in other states that vote the same day as Pennsylvania, April 26, will be the real test of his candidacy. Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island also vote that day. Pennsylvania has 189 pledged delegates to give out but the other four have a combined 195. Clinton will give Sanders a run for his money in Pennsylvania in any event. Her grandfather immigrated to the state and worked in the lace mills near Scranton. She recalled family trips from Illinois to see him and said, 'A lot of those experiences really embedded deep in my heart how to respect the dignity of hard work.' 'That to me is the promise of America,' she said. SEE YOU SOON: Sanders has campaigned hard against Clinton's record on trade deals liberals believe are bad for America's middle class and will speak at the Philadelphia conference tomorrow morning Clinton said she was with Democratic Governor Tom Wolf on raising the minimum wage in the state and praised New York and California for taking that step this week. 'This is what a movement looks like, and Americans owe a debt of gratitude.... to workers who are standing up and saying we have to do better,' she said. 'This kind of grassroots mobilization is essential.' She derided Republicans who 'are waging a relentless assault on workers' rights' through their pursuit of right-to-work laws that would eliminate mandatory union membership fees. 'Right-to-work is wrong for workers and wrong for America,' she declared. She also denounced the 'outrageous tax havens and loopholes that super rich people around the world that super rich people across the world are exploiting.' 'Now some of this behavior is clearly against the law, and everyone who violates the law anywhere should be held accountable,' she said of the violations revealed in the Panama Papers. Clinton added that, 'Its also scandalous how much is actually legal.' The former U.S. senator said she has a plan that would end the 'private tax system for the mega-wealthy' and said, 'We're going after all these scams and make sure that everyone pays their fair share here in America.' A Florida man with a tattoo of the state on his face was arrested for burglary. Johnathan Hewett allegedly broke into a West Palm Beach home and attempted to hide his distinctive tattoos. But police were able to identify him from a Florida state tattoo on the left side of his face. The state tattoo and a 'red rum' tattoo written across his neck, were hard to miss on the surveillance footage, according to the Palm Beach Post. Johnathan Hewett (pictured), 25, was arrested for burglary after police identified him with a tattoo of the state of Florida on his face The 25-year-old was identified by his multiple tattoos and arrested on charges of burglary, grand theft and possession of a weapon by a felon. Judge Caroline Shepherd ordered Hewett to be held without bail on the burglary charge because he was released from prison in 2015. Hewett is seen on surveillance video prying open the door of a home in the Westgate neighborhood. Police said Hewett took a gun, a Michael Kors watch and a counterfeit Rolex. The homeowner told investigators he knew Hewett as the friend of a former roommate who had been to the home before. In the surveillance footage police were able to clearly see his 'red rum' tattoo, which investigators noted is 'murder' spelled backward, according to The Post. Investigators were able to match Hewett's tattoos through a database from the Palm Beach County jail. They also used driver's license records. Hewett was released from prison last year after serving eight months of a year-long sentence for carrying a concealed weapon, a felon in possession of a gun and intimidating a witness, according to The Post. He also served eight months on a robbery conviction. Lauramore Barton will serve an additional seven years on neglect charges in the death of her son Barton and Lauramore Barton are going to prison on unrelated drug counts Lonzie drowned in a bathtub in July as his mother and her ex-boyfriend, William Ruben Ebron Jr, reportedly had sex Parents of a Florida toddler who went missing last summer and was later found dead attended the 21-month-old boy's funeral before heading to prison this week. Lonzie Barton was buried in a private ceremony on Tuesday in Glen Saint Mary nine months after he drowned in a bathtub as his mother and her ex-boyfriend reportedly had sex. Christopher Barton and Lonna Lauramore Barton, who were were recently sentenced on multiple unrelated drug counts, attended the funeral before heading to prison, Baker County Sheriff Joey Dobson said. Christopher Barton and Lonna Lauramore Barton attended the funeral for 21-month-old Lonzie Barton (pictured) in Glen Saint Mary, Florida on Tuesday. Lonzie drowned in a bathtub in July as his mother and her ex-boyfriend, William Ruben Ebron Jr, reportedly had sex The boy's funeral was held free of charge by V Todd Ferreira Funeral Services in Baker County. It was a private ceremony and approximately 20 to 30 friends and family members attended V Todd Ferreira Funeral Services in Baker County agreed to bury Lonzie free of charge, according to the Florida Times-Union. 'He was buried in a private ceremony, and Lonna and Chris were there, plus his grandparents on both sides, family and a few friends. They wanted it that way,' Dobson told the Times-Union of the ceremony. He added: 'Ebron left yesterday [Tuesday] to go to prison, and they [Lonna and Chris] will leave in the morning. I worked very closely with the funeral home and family on it, and it was the right thing to do for the both of them.' Lonzie Barton was reported missing in July. Authorities searched unsuccessfully for him for months before Lauramore Barton's ex-boyfriend led them to the child's remains in January. William Ruben Ebron Jr pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and received 20 years. Lauramore Barton, 26, pleaded guilty to a neglect charge. When Lonzie was reported missing on July 24, Ebron Jr told police he had left the boy alone in his car for a few minutes to retrieve something from the house. He said when he returned, Lonzie and the car were gone. Barton (left) and Lauramore Barton (right) are going to prison on drug counts unrelated to the boy's death. Lauramore Barton will serve additional time on charges related to Lonzie's death Lauramore Barton's boyfriend, William Ruben Ebron Jr, pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and received 20 years. Lauramore Barton, 26, pleaded guilty to a neglect charge But police later released surveillance video that showed Ebron's car driving past the camera, and later a man they believed to be Ebron running back the other direction. For months, Ebron Jr denied involvement in Lonzie's disappearance, but after Lauramore Barton pleaded guilty last month and agreed to testify against him, things changed. An emotional Ebron Jr led a convoy of investigators down a long, dark road to a wooded area in Bayard in January. After searching for hours, an investigator saw a bone sticking out of a tire in a pile of garbage. There was evidence that the boy's ribs had been broken previously and had healed, and there was some damage to his skull, according to the medical examiner's report. Ebron pleaded guilty to child neglect, giving false information to police and tampering with evidence. Lauramore Barton met Ebron, who was known as someone who could supply drugs, during her time as a stripper at Wacko's Gentlemen's Club. They then began a romantic relationship that seemed to be focused on drugs, according to The Florida Times-Union. ISIS shot and killed two men before hanging their bodies from a roundabout in the terror group's capital of Raqqa after accusing the victims of spying. The two men, believed to be Syrian nationals, were dressed in orange jump suits before their murders. According to human rights sources inside the occupied city, the men were shot before crucified. Scroll down for video Human rights observers said the two men were murdered by ISIS in the terror group's capital city of Raqqa President Obama has vowed to wipe out ISIS and drive them out of their strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul The terrorist organisation has murdered more than a dozen civilians over the past week, accusing them of a range of 'crimes'. US President Barack Obama said destroying the terrorist group remains his top priority during the final months of his presidency. During a meeting with senior military officials at the White House, President Obama said: 'We continue to take on their leadership, their financial networks, their infrastructure. We are going to squeeze them and we will defeat them.' 'As we've seen from Turkey to Belgium, ISIL still has the ability to launch serious terrorist attacks.' Addressing the issue of Raqqa, the ISIS capital in Syria, he said: 'We can no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and in Mosul. 'Destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority.' The Syrian army and its allies on Monday retook Syria's central town of al-Qaryatain, one of the last ISIS strongholds in the region. A lottery insider's brother has been arrested in a $1.2 million jackpot-fixing scandal. New digital evidence revealed how Tommy Tipton, 51, manipulated drawings to enrich himself and his associates with jackpots in Oklahoma and Colorado. Tipton, a former justice of the peace and reserve police officer in Texas, turned himself in Wednesday to face a charge of ongoing criminal conduct. Authorities allege he conspired with his older brother, Eddie Tipton, the former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association who was convicted last year of fixing a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot. New digital evidence revealed how Tommy Tipton (pictured) manipulated drawings to enrich himself and his associates with jackpots in Oklahoma and Colorado worth up to $1.2 million jackpot-fixing scandal He's also awaiting trial on charges linking him to lottery prizes in several other states. The jackpot-fixing allegations have rocked the Multi-State Lottery Association, an Iowa-based nonprofit that administers Powerball and other games for dozens of states. Prosecutors have alleged Tipton tampered with random number generators that he built and installed for use by state lotteries. But their case had been based on circumstantial evidence because the computers he worked on at the association had been erased or destroyed, and Tipton's defense repeatedly cited the lack of evidence as a reason why charges should be dismissed. Wisconsin authorities were able to recover the random number generator used for a $2 million Megabucks jackpot paid out to Tipton's best friend in 2008, according to court documents. A forensic examination found that the generator had unauthorized segments of code that were installed after it had been reviewed and verified as legitimate by a lottery security firm. That code directed the generator not to produce random numbers on three particular days of the year when they fell on certain days of the week. Instead, numbers on those days would be drawn by a 'multi-variable algorithm' that Tipton could predict based on his knowledge of how it worked, according to an affidavit by Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Don Smith. All six prizes linked to Tipton so far were drawn on either the days of November 23 or December 29 between 2005 and 2011. 'Upon re-creating the draws according to the algorithm, forensic examiners produced the very same "winning numbers" from the program that was supposed to produce random numbers,' Smith wrote. Eddie Tipton was charged and fired last year after authorities released surveillance footage of a person buying the winning ticket for a $16.5 million jackpot and hot dogs at a Des Moines gas station in 2010 Eddie Tipton (pictured), the former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association, was convicted of fixing the $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot Assistant Iowa Attorney General Rob Sand, who has overseen a lengthy investigation into Eddie Tipton, said Wisconsin investigators 'are due credit for these welcome developments in electronic evidence'. Eddie Tipton was charged and fired last year after authorities released surveillance footage of a person buying the winning ticket for a $16.5 million jackpot and hot dogs at a Des Moines gas station in 2010. Colleagues identified the buyer as Tipton, a computer whiz who had unparalleled access to lottery software. Tommy Tipton testified at his brother's trial, saying the buyer looked nothing like his sibling. Besides, he said, Eddie doesn't like hot dogs. But months later, Tommy Tipton resigned his elected judicial position in Flatonia, Texas, after his name surfaced in connection with the case. The criminal complaint filed Wednesday says that Tommy Tipton first came under scrutiny in 2006, when Texas investigators received a tip that the judge had $500,000 in cash. He told investigators he got the money after purchasing a ticket that won a share of a $4.5 million Colorado Lotto jackpot, and recruited a friend to claim the prize because he didn't want his wife to know about the winnings as they were considering divorce. His friend claimed the $569,000 lump sum cash option, and passed the winnings to Tipton. At the time, investigators didn't know that Tipton's brother wrote and installed the program that Colorado Lottery officials used to draw the numbers. In 2011, he purchased numbers that would win a $1.2 million Hot Lotto jackpot while traveling in Oklahoma with a friend, the complaint said. The friend's relative claimed the $644,000 cash prize, which allegedly went back to Tommy Tipton. He was released on bond Wednesday from the Polk County Jail. His attorney, Randy Schaffer, said he was still reviewing the allegations and didn't want to address the merits of them. For Bernie Sanders supporter Spike Lee, he's living the Democratic gender divide. 'My wife is a Hillary Clinton supporter, so there's a little bit of a divide in the household,' Lee told the Hollywood Reporter, who handed him over the keys to interview Sanders, who he endorsed in February, for the magazine's New York Issue. 'But my two children are with their daddy,' Lee said. Scroll down for video Director Spike Lee endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders in February and appeared at a South Bronx campaign rally for the candidate last week - but his whole family isn't feeling the Bern Spike Lee's wife Tonya Lewis Lee (left) is actually a Hillary Clinton supporter, the director admitted to the Hollywood Reporter. He interviewed Sanders for the magazine's cover story Bernie Sanders - a native of Brooklyn - basically has to win New York to have the chance of routing Hillary Clinton's run for the White House Lee articulated his voting split with his wife Tonya Lewis Lee who he met at Congressional Black Caucus Weekend in Washington, D.C. and married in 1993 before posing a number of questions to Sanders who he had never met in person before their Hollywood Reporter sit-down. Both from Brooklyn, with the Atlanta-born Lee growing up in the borough and Sanders being from there before heading to Vermont, Lee wanted to know why so many influential people were from the area. 'Education was very important in all this, you know? And people bouncing off of each other,' Sanders replied, suggesting that 90 percent of the prominent thinkers of Brooklyn probably went to public schools in New York City. 'It was a great place to grow up for me,' Sanders added. 'It is and was a very vibrant community with a lot of great people,' the Vermont senator added. Sanders has said that he needs to win his home state of New York to continue routing rival Hillary Clinton from the Democratic nomination, though she has ties to the state too, having been elected by New Yorkers twice to the U.S. Senate. Lee gave Sanders a little grief for high-tailing it to Vermont. 'So how do you go from Brooklyn to Vermont?' the famed director asked the candidate. 'Well, mostly it was by car,' Sanders answered. 'A seven-hour trip north.' More seriously though, Sanders explained that he first felt the tug of the countryside after attending Boy Scout camp in Narrowsburg, New York. Spike Lee (right) was joined by actress and activist Rosario Dawson at Bernie Sanders' rally at Saint Mary's Park last week in New York City Hillary Clinton has a lead in the polls in New York and home state status having been elected twice to represent the state in the U.S. Senate 'It was the first glimpse I had of the country, and you know what? I really liked it,' Sanders explained. Sticking with the New York theme, Lee asked about another prominent New Yorker running for president that of businessman Donald Trump who Lee suggested reminded him of the character Lonesome Rhodes, played by Andy Griffith in the 1957 film 'A Face in the Crowd.' Not necessarily picking up on the reference Sanders warned that Democrats shouldn't 'underestimate' Trump. 'And God knows who he is really, but we see what her personifies on TV every night,' Sanders said. 'He knows how to manipulate the media very effectively, he knows how to do what he does with people,' the senator continued. 'But let me just reassure you: Donald Trump is not going to become president of the United States,' Sanders added. 'That I can say.' Lee wondered if the Republican had a 'Frankenstein'-like creation on their hands. 'There's no question,' Sanders replied. 'The establishment Republicans are going nuts. And this could lead to a real dissolution of the Republican Party as we know it.' Sanders, however, said he understood the attraction felt by voters 'these 50-year-old, 60-year-old white guys ' who are 'working longer hours for lower wages, they are seeing their jobs go to China, they are seeing their jobs go to Mexico.' 'You don't get to the real issues as to why people are hurting, you scapegoat,' Sanders said of Trump's tactics. 'You scapegoat blacks, Latinos, gays, anybody, Jews, Muslims, any minority out there, that's what you do. That is nothing new. That's what demagogues have always done, and that's what Trump is doing,' he said. As for going against Clinton in New York, Sanders said he wasn't scared. 'I'm very excited about it,' he told Lee. Advertisement The US Navy has sent a squadron of F/A 18E Super Hornets from Japan to Australia to take part in the bi-annual Exercise Black Dagger. The operation is designed to improve the level of co-operation between US and Australian Forces. This year's exercise, which took place outside Townsville, in Queensland, concentrated on training ground troops on how to call in close air support. Scroll down for video This is the moment a F/A 18E Super Hornet dropped a Mk-82 High Explosive bomb on a target during the mission in Queensland, Australia The F/A 18E Super Hornet, pictured, was one of four aircraft to fly in from Japan to take part in the important training exercise The US jets were dropping bombs which were guided to their target by Joint Terminal Attack Controllers of the Royal Australian Air Force As part of the exercise, Australian Joint Terminal Attack Controllers based on the ground directed the US attack jets to their targets using special laser designators. The laser designators pain the target location allowing the aircraft to accurately drop its munitions on the correct area. The F/A-18Es were dropping 500lb Mk-82 bombs which contain 192lbs of high explosives on the mocked up targets. The $29million jet is the US military's first-strike fighter and can be used in all weathers and tasked with a wide range of roles. During Operation Desert Storm, the F/A-18 was able to destroy Iraqi Air Force jets in the air while on a bombing mission. The single-seat jets are manufactured by McDonnell Douglas and can fly at super sonic speeds. The aircraft can be armed with a Vulcan 20mm cannon as well as a range of air-to-air missiles as well as munitions to destroy ground targets or armour. The JTAC troops are trained to call in close air support to drop munitions on enemy forces such as Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban The US jets are normally based at the Naval Air Facility Atsugi in Japan and are tasked with protecting the Pacific Ocean area The Royal Australian Air Force deployed dome of its Pilatus PC9-A turbo prop advanced training aircraft during the exercise The Swiss-built PC-9s operate with a two man crew and can be used in a ground attack close support role with bombs, rockets and cannon The exercise is designed to allow ground troops to communicate effectively with aircraft to deploy critical close air support The F/A 18E - which can be launched from an air craft carrier - conducted bombing missions co-ordinated by Australian ground troops United States Navy VFA-115 squadron conduct maintenance on the 20mm canon of a FA/18E Super Hornet in its hangar at the airport Australian pilot Flight Lieutenant Mike Keaney, pictured in the cock pit of his aircraft at the Townsville airport, took part in the exercise US ground crew from the Navy VFA-115 squadron conducted maintenance on the 20mm canon of the Super Hornet aircraft The Australians used a special laser target designator to 'paint' the mocked up enemy position allowing the jet to attack successfully The use of close air support is a vital advantage Western military forces have over terrorist organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda A set of twins have beaten the odds and record books after being born more than five weeks apart in Tennessee. When Jefferson City high school sweethearts Kristen and Ian Miller found out they were expecting twins just a few months after being married, they were surprised, as twins don't run in either of their families. During her pregnancy, Kristen had no complications and everything was going as planned for the expecting 27-year-old woman until she started feeling contractions during a church service. When she reached her home, her water had broken and she called her husband 'hysterical,' he explained to WBIR. Scroll down for video Overjoyed: When Jefferson City high school sweethearts Kristen and Ian Miller (above) found out they were expecting twins just a few months after being married, they were surprised, as twins don't run in either of their families During her pregnancy, Kristen had no complications and everything was going as planned for the expecting 27-year-old woman until she started feeling contractions during a church service Using a variety of treatments and drugs, doctors were able to hold off labor for two more weeks as they hoped to allow their son, Micah, reach 24 weeks. Pictured above are Micah (left) and Madelyn (right) after their parents gave them their first bath Using a variety of treatments and drugs, doctors were able to hold off labor for two more weeks as they hoped to allow their son, Micah, reach 24 weeks. Doctors suggest that 24 weeks is the maturity that a baby needs to be able to survive outside of the womb, though the risk of complications are still high. 'Our goal, before he was born, was, 'we've got make it to 24 [weeks]!' Sure enough, he made it to 24 and one day,' Ian told WBIR. 'There were 18 people in the operating room with us.' The happy couple welcomed Micah on Valentine's Day, nearly four months before his and his sister's actual due date in early June. But for his twin sister, doctor's had a slightly different plan. 'Just because we're having one [baby] doesn't mean we have to have the second or the third. But it's hard to find the person who's a really good candidate,' Dr Kristina Shumard, a Maternal Fetal Medicine obstetrician at University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, told WBIR. The happy couple welcomed Micah on Valentine's Day, nearly four months before his and his sister's actual due date in early June. But for his twin sister, doctor's had a slightly different plan. Above Micah is pictured left and Madelyn is right The doctors at the medical center were successful in stopping Micah's twin from coming right away, as Kristen and the babies were perfect candidates for delayed interval delivery The doctors at the medical center were successful in stopping Micah's twin from coming right away. Shumard said that she expected to welcome the baby girl within the hour. However, Kristen and the fraternal twins, who had separate amniotic sacs and placentas, were the perfect candidates for delayed interval delivery, which happens when twins are born at different times. Since each baby had its own amniotic sac and placenta, doctors felt as though Micah's baby sister should stay in Kristen's womb for a bit longer. The Millers were explained the developmental benefits of keeping a baby in the womb as long as possible and they agreed. Doctors say the delay typically lasts anywhere from an hour to a week, as they are very rare. The team of doctors put Kristen on strict bed rest, as she wasn't even allowed to hold Micah for three weeks. The team of doctors put Kristen on strict bed rest, as she wasn't even allowed to hold Micah (left) for three weeks. As the days kept passing, the stronger Micah's baby twin sister (right) appeared to be getting inside her mother's womb 'I think all of us had counseled her so cautiously. And tried to frame their expectations, but instead she kept doing better each day,' UT Medical Center's Director of Obstetrics Dr Kimberly Fortner told WBIR. 'And we just kind of all looked at each other and said, 'Ok, another day it is.' As the days kept passing, the stronger Micah's baby twin sister appeared to be getting inside her mother's womb. 'We made it five and half weeks before Madelyn decided she wanted to come into the world. Thirty-eight days,' Kristen told WBIR. The two doctors say the Millers had the longest interval delivery in both of their careers, and the longest in recent memory at the hospital. Baby Madelyn (right) was delivered 38 days after her twin brother Micah (left). The two doctors say the Millers had the longest interval delivery in both of their careers, and the longest in recent memory at the hospital 'I don't know that we've broken national records, but it certainly felt like such a coup for all of us,' Fortner told WBIR. 'It's been amazing and exciting! Baby Madelyn is growing in the same hospital room as her big brother Micah and is even breathing on her own. Doctors say that Micah and Madelyn are doing as well as to be expected for preemies of their size. The twins will be in the NICU room for at least two more months, as their parents just celebrated their first wedding anniversary with them at the hospital. 'We feel so blessed to be here,' Kristen told WBIR. 'The only thing that's gotten me through this... is to say, 'God is in control.'' The twins will be in the NICU room for at least two more months, as their parents just celebrated their first wedding anniversary with them at the hospital. Kristen and Ian are pictured above before the twin's arrival A two-alarm fire at New York City's most prestigious apartment building - home to some of the richest and most powerful people in the world - is now under control. The blaze erupted in a duplex apartment belonging to Bernie Madoff associate Ezra Merkin at 740 Park Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side shortly before 3pm on Wednesday, Patch reports. An FDNY spokesman told Daily Mail Online that the fire started in a unit on the sixth floor at 2.53pm and was under control by 4.30pm. A two-alarm fire at New York City's most prestigious apartment building - home to some of the richest and most powerful people in the world - is now under control The blaze erupted in a duplex apartment belonging to Bernie Madoff associate Ezra Merkin (right) Three firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, the spokesman added, after flames spread to other units of the Art Deco masterpiece. The building, located between East 71st and East 72nd Streets is also home to billionaires David Koch and Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman as well as fashion designer Vera Wang. Although the cause of the fire is not known, an FDNY spokesman told Daily Mail Online that it is non-suspicious and an investigation is underway. Merkin's apartment once contained one of the world's largest private collections of Mark Rothko works - but they were sold during the Madoff scandal, WSJ reported. The 17-story building, comprising of just 31 residential units, is known as one of New York's 'Towers of Power' and residents are a who's who of the rich and famous. The blaze erupted in the apartment of Bernie Madoff associate Ezra Merkin at 740 Park Avenue Three firefighters suffered minor injuries battling the blaze, an FDNY spokesman told Daily Mail Online The cause of the fire is not known, but an FDNY spokesman said it is non-suspicious and an investigation is underway It was designed by architects Rosario Candela and Arthur Loomis Harmon and opened in 1929. Today, it is one of the most sought-after addresses for the super-rich, but a strict co-op board means rejected residents include Barbra Streisand, Neil Sedaka, junk bond tycoon Nelson Peltz, and Russian billionaire Leo Blavatnik A book by Michael Gross on the building's history and its wealthy residents over the years, including Vanderbilts, Rockefellers and Chryslers, dubbed it the 'world's richest apartment building'. Indeed, the apartment building is home to more billionaires than any other in the city. The lives of the residents of 740 Park was also laid bare in a documentary called Park Avenue: Money, Power and The American Dream. Former residents include John D. Rockefeller and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, whose 8,000 sq ft childhood home on the sixth and seventh floors was last listed for sale for $44million. Four units in the building are currently for sale, including a six-bedroom apartment for $4million and a 12-bedroom duplex listed for $32.5 million. The apartment building, dubbed the 'world's richest', is home to more billionaires than any other in the city Dozens of firefighters were called to the scene of the fire on Manhattan's Upper East Side on Wednesday 20 first-graders and six adults were shot dead in massacre there in 2012 Newtown Middle School is just miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School Science teacher Jason Adams allegedly brought a gun to work at Newtown Middle School A teacher at a middle school in Newtown has been charged after he brought a gun to work. Science teacher Jason Adams, 46, was detained by security after allegedly walking onto school grounds with a concealed firearm. Adams, who has a valid permit to carry a handgun, has been charged with possessing a weapon on school grounds. Newtown Middle School is just seven miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 first-graders and six adults were shot dead by Adam Lanza during his murderous rampage in 2012. Police were called to the school shortly after 9am on Wednesday, the Hartford Courant reported. By the time officers arrived, Adams had been detained by security based at the school. Adams has been placed on leave while an investigation is underway, school officials said. While the teacher has a gun permit, it is still a crime to bring a gun into school - and is also against the school's policy. Adams was released on recognizance and will appear in court on April 20. Connecticut's permits unit have been made aware of his arrest. Scroll down for video A spokesman for Newtown Public Schools said: 'This matter is very serious and troubling, both the Newtown Public School system and the Newtown Police Department took immediate steps to address the matter. 'The teacher was immediately detained by security personnel. Adams was detained by security after allegedly walking onto school (pictured) grounds with a concealed gun Newtown Middle School is just seven miles from Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 first-graders and six adults were shot dead in 2012 'Both agencies have been working closely together to investigate the incident and are taking precautions to ensure the continued safety of our students, staff and community members.' Twenty first-graders and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook when Lanza, 20, burst into the elementary school and opened fire. He had earlier killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their home in Newtown. SWAT officers eventually breached property and took her into custody Morgan walked outside house with boy and fired single round, cops said Cops were told she had a gun and was holding four-week-old grandson A Georgia grandmother has been arrested after holding her four-week-old grandson at gunpoint for four hours during a drunken row with the boy's father, police say. Laurie Morgan, 57, was arrested at around 8am after a SWAT team stormed her property in Peachtree Corners, near Atlanta, Georgia, to rescue the boy, who escaped unharmed. Police were called to the property at around 3am after Morgan, who was believed to be drunk, got into an argument with a man thought to be the baby's father, Chris Massie. Grandmother Laurie Morgan, 57 (left), has been arrested after she allegedly took her four-week-old grandson (pictured left and right, with mother) hostage during a drunken row Massie managed to get out of the property, but Morgan remained inside holding his son while armed with a gun, according to police. Cops surrounded the property and began communicating with Morgan, who emerged around 4am while still carrying the child. According to police Morgan fired a single shot, which did not hit anybody, before retreating back inside the house and refusing to communicate. Gwinnett police corporal Michele Pihera said: 'Nobody was injured by this round fortunately, but we dont know who her intended target was. 'So thats when our officers on scene decided to make it a designated SWAT call.' Police were called to the home that Morgan (right) shares with daughter Connie Hearne and boyfriend Chris Massie (left) at around 3am to reports that she was drunk and had a gun Morgan got into a row with Massie (pictured right) before the standoff began, and only ended at 8am when SWAT officers breached the door and took her into custody Officers continued to attempt to negotiate through a PA system, but say they received no further contact from her. At around 8.30am SWAT officers breached the property, got between Morgan and the baby, and arrested her. The baby was checked out by a waiting ambulance crew before being reunited with mother Connie Hearne, who shares the property with Morgan and the Massie, according to neighbors. Morgan is now in jail charged with aggravated assault and reckless conduct. Police were accused of promoting a selfish finders keepers society on Wednesday by turning away lost property. Forces claim they no longer have the resources to reunite people with their belongings. Instead, members of the public are being told to try and trace the owners of missing wallets, keys and phones themselves. Members of the public are being told to try and trace the owners of missing wallets, keys and phones themselves as forces claim they can no longer offer a lost property service (stock image) If contact details are not obvious they should try posting information on social media like Facebook or Twitter. Suffolk Police revealed they were no longer providing the service, joining forces including Kent, Cumbria, Merseyside and West Mercia who have made similar announcements. It provoked a furious reaction on Facebook with people criticising their retreat from a basic service. Clara Louise Hines wrote: So are they saying finders keepers then... Not very good way of teaching kids. June Radley said: Surely, with a Lost Property not in place with Suffolk Police, then how can you teach younger people to be honest when finding items that could potentially be valuable? Hmmmmm!! And Stuart Brierly added: The police are making it difficult to be honest and do the right thing... Im not sure thats a good direction for society. Police stations used to take in anything that was left in the street and would log details including a description of the item and where it was found. They were usually sent to central storage areas, where they would be kept for a period of time before being auctioned off for charity if not claimed. But police chiefs claim budget cuts mean they cannot continue providing the service if they are to maintain officer numbers. Dia Chakravarty, political director at the TaxPayers Alliance, said: Accepting stolen property shouldnt be a particularly onerous task as long as the police force doesn't create unnecessary bureaucracy around it. Police stations used to take in anything that was left in the street and would log details including a description of the item and where it was found (stock image) If someone comes across something valuable - a lost wedding ring, perhaps - who are they meant to hand it in to, if not the police? It seems bizarre to discourage little acts of kindness which could reunite a resident with a precious personal item. Last year it emerged people who misplaced items were being told to pay 3.95 to register details with a private firm. Constabularies in Devon and Cornwall, Avon and Somerset and Dorset were paying a fixed fee for residents to access reportmyloss.com for free. But some customers were being referred to the official police website by other forces or stumbling across the website while looking for a way to register a missing item. Suffolk Police said lost items should be registered with free service immobilise.com but also suggested putting notices around neighbourhoods and in local shops, or handing them in to owners or managers if found in commercial properties such as supermarkets. If reasonable attempts to locate the owner are unsuccessful they can dispose of the item, sell it or give it to charity. Suffolk Inspector Bob Cracknell said the only items that would be accepted are those that relate to crime, contain sensitive details or pose a public threat. It is time to look at the practicalities of lost and found property, he added. The constabulary handles a large amount each year and it costs a significant amount to process. Advertisement If youve ever wished you could turn on your coffee machine without getting out of bed, check if youre out of milk while on the bus, or turn the oven on before you get home, your dream may about to become reality. For this is all possible thanks to the latest smart gadgets from a talkative fridge to an internet-enabled washing machine which are now available to buy on the high street. These devices promise to revolutionise family life as part of the Internet of Things where everyday appliances can be controlled via your smartphone. John Lewis has launched its first smart home department at its flashship Oxford Street store today featuring the equipment John Lewis has now tapped into this growing market by launching its first smart home department at its Oxford Street store today. It says searches for smart home products on its website are up 1,600 per cent year-on-year and sales have leapt by 81 per cent. One of the futuristic gadgets on offer in the new department is the four-door Samsung Family Hub smart fridge. Connected to the internet via wi-fi, the appliance boasts a 21.5in LED touchscreen from which the cook can stream and play favourite music or videos from the household TV or look up recipes. The 4,499 fridge features three built-in cameras so you can check what ingredients you have while youre standing in the supermarket. It also includes Alexa, Amazons AI assistant, which responds to voice commands so you can tell it to turn music on, order more food and even make notes. The kitchen section of the department store also features the AEG ProCombi Plus smart oven. The 1,499 appliance links to the web and even takes selfies while its cooking. A built-in camera livestreams your meals progress to your phone, meaning you can keep track of your souffle without opening the oven door. The new devices are compatible with a range of smart phones which can control heating, security, lighting and even the cooking Home cooks can even share their culinary creations through the camera with family and friends via social media. Also on offer is the latest Samsung smart TV, which not only allows you to watch on-demand programmes, but can connect to other devices in your house allowing you to do anything from switching on the lights to locking your doors without leaving the sofa. Home security has also become smart with the Netatmo Welcome Home Camera with face recognition. This device sits on a hall table and will send an alert to a parents smartphone when a child arrives home from school, and can even raise a warning if a stranger is at the door. A Chinese man has attracted attention in his local area by performing a remarkable feat of balance - falling asleep on a single strand of rope used as a make-shift hammock. Fu Hong, a 45-year-old builder from Bijie, Guizhou province, south-west China, is known locally for hanging up his rope horizontally around town and laying down on it with perfect balance. He is even called 'Mr Rope-Sleeper' by his colleagues on the construction site and his impressive antics first started to go viral on the internet five years ago. Talent: Fu Hong, a 45-year-old builder from Bijie, south-west China, is able to sleep on a rope held horizontally Famous: He is even called 'Mr Rope-Sleeper' by his colleagues on the construction site and went viral in 2010 Showman: Fu is endowed with powerful muscles and says he has never been a fan of performing Kung Fu Despite the fact that he is short in stature, Fu is endowed with powerful muscles gained from his work on the construction site and says he has never been a fan of performing Kung Fu. However he is able to lie completely flat on the rope without any visible wobbles and remain there, rather like a martial arts master from a historical drama. When Fu was spotted wowing tourists with his stunt at a train station in October 2010, People's Daily Online reported that he had once performed the feat for over an hour. Fu's colleagues also told reporters how he is a hard-working, modest but undeniably talented person to work with when he isn't doing his party trick. He has now returned to his hometown, which is being featured for redevelopment by the Chinese government, and is helping work on the construction there. Amazing: Fu's colleagues also told reporters how he is a hard-working, modest but undeniably talented person Slumber: Fu says there is a piece of rope hanging in his house and that he gets some much-needed rest on it Suspended: Fu says he wanted to keep this talent of his quiet because he didnt mean to become famous The builder was challenged by members of the local media to see if he can still pull off his trademark stunt five years after he first shot to fame, and confirmed that it was simple for him to do. Fu says there is a piece of rope hanging in his house the whole time and that he gets some much-needed rest on it whenever hes free to do so. Some remember deceased relatives by putting flowers on their graves. But at this cemetery in Guandong province, China, people chose to commemorate their family members with some sexy dancing, Huanqiu, affiliated with the People's Daily Online reports. The performance took place during Tomb Sweeping Day which fell on April 4. Is this for real? Footage shows the scantily clad women dancing provocatively inside a cemetery in China Weird: Crowds of people gathered to watch the dancers perform in Guangdong province, southern China The video which was posted online shows the trained group of dancers at the cemetery in Guangdong. The footage has been a big hit on Chinese social media site Weibo. One user said: 'This is immoral! Your ancestors are not going to rest in peace with these disgraceful sons and daughters!' While another wrote: 'Ladies, leave the ancestors alone! Why dont you just stick to the traditions of the Qingming Festival? The heritage has been around for thousands of years. It is untouchable!' The Tomb Sweeping festival, also referred to as Qingming is a public holiday where people visit their families tombs, clean them up and eat glutinous rice dumplings. The story has been a trending topic on China's social media site Weibo with many angry at the disrespect Tomb Sweeping Day is a time to visit the tombs of deceased ancestors and ensuring their tomb is clean This isn't the first case of interesting ways of commemorating the dead. Last year in Taiwan, a woman hired two strippers for her husband's funeral because 'he had an eye for women'. Taichung Funeral Home in Taipei, Taiwan was turned into a makeshift gentleman's club when the dance music began pumping and neon lights started flashing as the girls went through their moves. Some mourners appeared to be more interested in filming the sexy dancers rather than remembering their departed friend as they vied for the best position to take photos and videos on their smart phones. Family and friends of the deceased expressed their shock during the performance but it didn't stop the dancers who went through three different fast paced songs. A wealthy Chinese businessman decided to treat ten of his employees by giving them a Maserati each before challenging them to drive one of the world's most dangerous roads. The 29-year-old boss, named Ni Haishan, drove in his Ferrari worth 5.3 million yuan (580,460) while his staff steered their brand new Maseratis for the ultimate off-road adventure, the People's Daily Online reports. And in true Top Gear fashion, Ni and his convoy set off in Ningbo, east China, on March 15. Their plan was to reach Lhasa in Tibet through the 1,336-mile Sichuan-Tibet highway, dubbed the 'highway of death' by the Chinese media. A boss in China decided to purchase 10 supercars for his employees and took them on a hard-core drive I can't look! The supercars went through some tough terrain such as running streams and dirt tracks The wealthy boss: According to reports, Haishan inherited the family business and likes to show off wealth Before things went wrong: Boss Ni Haishan wanted to display his wealth so took the trip with his employees Looking good: The group took a picture before setting off from Ningbo in east China on March 15 Ni Haishan, who is from the city of Hangzhou in east China, reportedly gifted ten of his employees supercars worth 898,000 yuan (98,000) in January as their year-end bonuses. According to reports, the whole trip was a way of Haishan showing off his wealth and success to the world. It's been understood that Haishan inherited a family business producing Chinese medicinal plasters. However the journey wasn't as smooth as first thought, with only five of the Maserati cars making it to their final destination on March 26 with the Ferrari missing three wheels. The cars were put to the test, driving through dirt tracks and crossing streams. On their journey the cars even passed the Nujiang Bridge which is famous for its weak appearance. The Sichuan-Tibet highway is one of the world's most dangerous but scenic roads and runs from Chengdu to Tibet. Its Tongmai section, which is about 8.5 miles long, is known as the 'Tongmai Graveyard' for the number of deaths the road sees ever year. The World Health Organisation has called for tougher road safety laws in the country. Last year they announced that at least 200,000 people die every year on the country's roads. The cars drove through some rough terrain on the Sichuan - Tibet highway which runs from Chengdu to Tibet One of Ni's employees tried to fix a tyre after one supercar broke down on March 24 during the road trip Scary! They had to go over bridges such as the famous Nujiang Bridge which is considered to be dangerous Money doesn't get you everything: People online have blasted the boss for showing off his riches online What we now know as the modern English alphabet first appeared thousands of years ago, a new research project into its origin and spread has found. It was used more than 3,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ugarit, which is now modern Syria. Researchers suggests that due to the high level of interconnectedness in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, the alphabet could have spread as people moved, traded and interacted with others. The alphabet was first used more than 3,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ugarit, which is now modern Syria. Pictured, a clay Abecedarium showing the ancient Ugaritic cuneiform alphabet, c. 1400 BCE. HOW DID THE ALPHABET SPREAD? It was used more than 3,000 years ago in the ancient city of Ugarit, which is now modern Syria. Researchers suggests that due to the high level of interconnectedness in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, the alphabet could have spread as people moved, traded and interacted with others. The Phoenicians, who lived in what is now Syria and Lebanon, used the same order for their alphabet. The Greeks borrowed the Phoenician writing system and they still kept the same order of signs: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. They transported the alphabet to Italy, where it was passed on to the Etruscans, and also to the Romans, who still kept the same order: A, B, C, D, which is why our modern alphabet is the way it is today Advertisement The University of Cambridge has established Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems (CREWS), a project that is investigating how writing developed during the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East. And it is exploring how different writings systems and cultures that used this system related to each other. The project researchers will be working on specific case studies relating to inscriptions of the ancient Aegean, Eastern Mediterranean and Levant (c.2000-600 BC), Dr. Philippa Steel, principal investigator of ERC project Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems, shared about the project. By looking at the ways in which writing systems were developed and used, we can study not only the systems themselves and the languages written in them, but also the cultural settings in which they were adapted and maintained. The evidence that supports this concept was found in the ruins of Ugarit and known as abecedarian, which are surviving tablets with letters arranged in alphabetical order. The ancient civilization wrote in cuneiform script made of wedge-shaped signs impressed on clay tablets and could have been used to teach or train young scribes. Due to the combined pressure of the steady collapse of the palace-temple economy due to the ruralization of the Ugarit countryside and the migration of the Sea Peoples from the west, Ugarit collapsed by the middle of the twelfth century BCE. But this wasnt the end of the alphabet. THE RISE AND FALL OF UGARIT The evidence that supports this concept was found in the ruins of Ugarit and known as abecedarian, which are surviving tablets with letters arranged in alphabetical order. The ancient civilization lived in what is now modern Syria Ugarit was a sea port city in the Northern Levant and became an important economic center in the Ancient Near East. It also was known as a major trading hub between Egypt and the major powers of Bronze Asia Minor and Mesopotamia. And although it was inhabited close to the Neolithic period (c. 6500 BCE), it was not until c. 1900 BCE that Ugarit begins to establish itself as a major center of trade. Ugarit's importance was rooted not in its military prowess, but in its political and economic pragmatism. The ancient civilization fell around the 12th century due to the combined pressure of the steady collapse of the palace-temple economy due to the ruralization of the Ugarit countryside, and the migration of the Sea Peoples from the west. All of the texts found at Ugarit come from the Late Bronze Age. Eight different languages have been taken from Ugarit: Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite, Luwian, Hurrian, Egyptian, Cypriot-Minoan and Ugaritic. There are also five distinctive writing systems were used at Ugarit, the two most common were the Sumero-Akkadian logo-syllabic and Ugaritic. Source: Ancient History Encyclopedia Advertisement The Phoenicians, who lived in what is now Syria and Lebanon, used the same order for their alphabet. Although their language was related to Ugaritic, the writing system was different. This group used linear letters, which is actually much closer to how we write the English language today. The University of Cambridge has established CREWS, a project that is investigating how writing developed during the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East The Phoenicians, who lived in what is now Syria and Lebanon, used the same order for their alphabet (left). In the late 1920s the ruins of an ancient city called Ugarit were found on the coast of Syria at a site called Ras Shamra. Among the ruins archaeologists discovered thousands of clay tablets (right)) with an unknown kind of writing on them The Phoenician alphabet began with the letters Alep, Bet, Gimel, Dalet similar to our A, B, C and D. The links from the ancient past to our alphabet today are no coincidence. The Greeks borrowed the Phoenician writing system and they still kept the same order of signs: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, said Dr Steele. They transported the alphabet to Italy, where it was passed on to the Etruscans, and also to the Romans, who still kept the same order: A, B, C, D, which is why our modern alphabet is the way it is today. Steele and her colleagues plan to look at the social and political context of writing and drivers of language change, literacy and communication. The links from the ancient past to our alphabet today are no coincidence. The Greeks (pictured) borrowed the Phoenician writing system and they still kept the same order of signs: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta. Steele plans to look at the social and political context of writing and drivers of language change, literacy and communication Some theories suggests that because of the high level of interconnectedness in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, the alphabet could have travelled with people as they moved around, traded and interacted with other cultures. To our shareowners: This year, Amazon became the fastest company ever to reach $100 billion in annual sales. Also this year, Amazon Web Services is reaching $10 billion in annual sales doing so at a pace even faster than Amazon achieved that milestone. Whats going on here? Both were planted as tiny seeds and both have grown organically without significant acquisitions into meaningful and large businesses, quickly. Superficially, the two could hardly be more different. One serves consumers and the other serves enterprises. One is famous for brown boxes and the other for APIs. Is it only a coincidence that two such dissimilar offerings grew so quickly under one roof? Luck plays an outsized role in every endeavor, and I can assure you weve had a bountiful supply. But beyond that, there is a connection between these two businesses. Under the surface, the two are not so different after all. They share a distinctive organizational culture that cares deeply about and acts with conviction on a small number of principles. Im talking about customer obsession rather than competitor obsession, eagerness to invent and pioneer, willingness to fail, the patience to think long-term, and the taking of professional pride in operational excellence. Through that lens, AWS and Amazon retail are very similar indeed. A word about corporate cultures: for better or for worse, they are enduring, stable, hard to change. They can be a source of advantage or disadvantage. You can write down your corporate culture, but when you do so, youre discovering it, uncovering it not creating it. It is created slowly over time by the people and by events by the stories of past success and failure that become a deep part of the company lore. If its a distinctive culture, it will fit certain people like a custom-made glove. The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another. The world, thankfully, is full of many high-performing, highly distinctive corporate cultures. We never claim that our approach is the right one just that its ours and over the last two decades, weve collected a large group of like-minded people. Folks who find our approach energizing and meaningful. One area where I think we are especially distinctive is failure. I believe we are the best place in the world to fail (we have plenty of practice!), and failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that its going to work, its not an experiment. Most large organizations embrace the idea of invention, but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there. Outsized returns often come from betting against conventional wisdom, and conventional wisdom is usually right. Given a ten percent chance of a 100 times payoff, you should take that bet every time. But youre still going to be wrong nine times out of ten. We all know that if you swing for the fences, youre going to strike out a lot, but youre also going to hit some home runs. The difference between baseball and business, however, is that baseball has a truncated outcome distribution. When you swing, no matter how well you connect with the ball, the most runs you can get is four. In business, every once in a while, when you step up to the plate, you can score 1,000 runs. This long-tailed distribution of returns is why its important to be bold. Big winners pay for so many experiments. AWS, Marketplace and Prime are all examples of bold bets at Amazon that worked, and were fortunate to have those three big pillars. They have helped us grow into a large company, and there are certain things that only large companies can do. With a tip of the hat to our Seattle neighbors, no matter how good an entrepreneur you are, youre not going to build an all-composite 787 in your garage startup not one youd want to fly in anyway. Used well, our scale enables us to build services for customers that we could otherwise never even contemplate. But also, if were not vigilant and thoughtful, size could slow us down and diminish our inventiveness. Hailed as the most expensive weapon in history, costing an estimated $400 billion to develop so far, the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet can dogfight, drop bombs and spy on emery territory. While the US' plane is eight years late and recently had problem with its radar system, a video shows it dropping a particular type of laser-guided bomb for the first time. Footage released by the US Navy shows the F-35C test aircraft piloted by Commander Theodore Dyckman releasing a 1,000lb AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) from an internal weapons bay on 23 March. Scroll down for video Footage released by the US Navy shows the F-35C test aircraft piloted by Commander Theodore Dyckman releasing a 1,000lb AGM-154 Joint Stand-Off Weapon (JSOW) from an internal weapons bay on 23 March. A screenshot of the video footage is shown above The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is designed to accurately destroy targets, while staying out of reach of anti-aircraft guns. The F-35 comes in three models, the F-35A designed to take off and land on a conventional runway, the F-35B for short take-off and vertical landing and the carrier-based Catapult Assisted F-35C, which will be used on aircraft carriers. The first squadron was declared ready for deployment after intensive testing last July but have yet to be used in combat, although this is planned to happen by September. The F-35A is the lightest of the three at 29,300lbs (13,290kg), measuring 14.4ft-tall (4.4 metres), while the F-35C is the heaviest at 34,800lbs (15,785kg) and 14.7ft-tall (4.5 metres). The F-35A and B have the same wingspan of 35ft (11 metres), with C's wings able to fold up to save space on air carriers. Designed for the Navy, the F-35C has longer wings measuring 43ft across that have a larger surface area too to boost drag. The plane's capabilities are designed to allow it to accurately destroy targets, while staying out of reach of anti-aircraft guns. An F-35 test plane in flight is shown above The US tested the F-35's Gatling gun, which would be used in air-to-air combat at California's Edwards Air Force Base last year. The F-35A completed the first three airborne gunfire bursts from its internal Gun Airborne Unit (GAU)-22/A 25mm Gatling gun system during a California test flight on 30 October. In the first live firing test, three bursts of one 30 rounds and two 60 rounds each were fired from the aircraft's four-barrel, 25-millimeter Gatling gun. The 25mm gun is embedded in the F-35A's left wing and is designed to be integrated in a way to maintain the plane's very low observable criteria. It is kept hidden behind closed doors to reduce its radar cross section until the trigger is pulled. The weapon will provide pilots with the ability to engage air-to-ground and air-to-air targets. The F-35A is the only model to have an internal 25mm gun, but all the models carry 18,000lbs (8,165kg) of ammunition, including two 350lb (159kg) air-to-air missiles under the body. Hailed as the most expensive weapon in history, costing over $3.5 billion to develop so far, the Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet (pictured) is intended to dogfight, drop bombs and spy on emery territory The F-35A and C have two 2,000lb (907kg) bombs, while the F-35B carries two 1,000 (454kg) bombs - the type that have just been put through their paces in the most recent tests. 'The successful aerial gun test sortie was a culmination of several years' planning, which intensified in the first half of 2015 at the Edwards F-35 Integrated Test Force (ITF) Flight Test Squadron with a team of Air Force, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman personnel,' said Mike Glass, Edwards ITF flight test director. 'At the end of the program's system development and demonstration phase in 2017, the F-35 will have an operational gun.' Last month, it emerged the jet's complex radar system kept crashing thanks to a software glitch that interfered with the F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter's AN/APG-81 AESA radar working in flight. Major General Jeffrey Harrigian, director of the air force's F-35 integration office at the Pentagon, described the problem as 'radar stability - the radar's ability to stay up and running'. HOW DOES IT COMPARE WITH ITS 1970S PREDECESSOR, THE F-16 JET? F-35 Role: Stealth multirole fighter First flight: December 15, 2006 Unit cost (not including engine): F-35A - $98million F-35B - $104million F-35C - $116million Number built: 115 (as of November 2014) Length: 15.67metres Wingspan: 10.7metres Height: 4.33metres Max speed (F-35A): 1,930kph Armament: One of the most highly-anticipated features of the F-35 armament is the Small Diameter Bomb II (SBD II).The bomb is able to guide towards its target using laser, imaging infrared or radar homing. It can hit moving or stationary targets in any weather, or at night, with unprecedented reliability and accuracy. The 'super weapon' is predicted to be the most versatile air-to-ground munition in the Pentagon's air combat inventory. The cost per SDB II is said to be around $250,000 and the US military plans on buying as many as 17,000 of them. F-16 Role: Multirole fighter First flight: January 20, 1974 Unit cost: F-16A/B - $14.6million F-16C/D - $18.8million Number built: 4,540+ Length: 15.06metres Wingspan: 9.96metres Height: 4.88metres Max speed (F-16C): 2,120kph Combat history: The F-16 has served in the Air Forces of 26 nations, including the U.S., Israel, Egypt, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. During Operation Desert Storm, the 1991 assault on Iraq, F-16s flew over 13,000 operations, more than any other Coalition aircraft. The U.S. has employed the F-16 in operations over the Balkans, Afghanistan and Libya. At its production peak in 1987, the F-16 team in Fort Worth was also making history, by producing 30 F-16s in just 30 days. Thanks to frequent upgrades improving and incorporating new technologies into the cockpit, avionics, sensors and weapons, the aircraft has become more reliable over its 40 years. Advertisement 'What would happen is they'd get a signal that says either a radar degrade or a radar fail - something that would force us to restart the radar.' New software that corrects the error was expected to be delivered to the US Air Force at the end of March, meaning the glitch may be fixed by now. A recent Pentagon report revealed a massive list of potentially lethal bugs still facing the jet and a December memo by Michael Gilmore, the Department of Defense's director for Operational Test and Evaluation warned of 'significant ongoing challenges'. The US tested the F-35's Gatling gun, which would be used in air-to-air combat, at California's Edwards Air Force Base last year. An image of the plane talking off is shown above Samsung has been granted a patent for contact lenses that project images directly into the eye. The patent, awarded in South Korea, includes a contact lens equipped with a display, a camera, an antenna, and several sensors that detect movement. The contact lens will use the antenna to link up to a smartphone, which processes the image sent into the eyes. Scroll down for video Samsung has been granted a patent for contact lenses that project images directly into the eye. The patent, awarded in South Korea, includes a contact lens equipped with a display, a camera, an antenna, and several sensors that detect movement HOW IT WORKS The contact lenses will be equipped with a display, a camera, an antenna, and several sensors that detect movement. The system will use the antenna to link up to a smartphone, which processes the image sent into the eyes. The lens can then send images onto the wearer's eye and record their surroundings. Advertisement Meanwhile, the sensors will be used to control the images using movements such as blinks. The lens can then send images onto the wearer's eye and record their surroundings. If Samsung can make it a reality, the 'smart' contact lenses could prove tough competition for products such as Google Glasses. SamMobile, who first spotted the patent, claims the 'lenses can provide a more natural way to provide augmented reality than smart glasses.' Google also has two patents for smart contact lenses, which may be closer to reality. In 2014, it signed a deal with health giant Novartis to produce its ground-breaking smart contact lenses. The two said they would produce the first glucose monitoring lens for diabetics and one to treat farsightedness, it was announced. However, the firm hinted at 'other uses' for the technology with patent of a lens that includes a built in camera. According to PatentBolt, the system could even be used to help the blind see. The sensors will be used to control the images using movements such as blinks. The lens can then send images onto the wearer's eye and record their surroundings. Pictured is the basic layout of Samsung's contact lens design, according to the patent application 'For example, a blind person wearing Google's contact lens with a built-in camera may be walking on a sidewalk and approaching an intersection,' it says. 'The analysis component of the contact lens can process the raw image data of the camera to determine processed image data indicating that the blind person is approaching intersection with a crosswalk and establish that there is a car approaching the intersection.' Like Samsung, the lens also has wireless capabilities allowing it to link to a smartphone, which can be used to process data and give the user audio commands. ELECTRIC COATING TURNS CONTACT LENSES INTO TVS Researchers have developed a polymer film coating that conducts electricity on surfaces as small as contact lenses. Pictured is a prototype Forget chunky wearables, or carrying a phone with you at all times, in the future you will be able to browse the web or watch TV using smart contact lenses. Researchers have developed a polymer film coating that conducts electricity on surfaces as small as contact lenses. Scientists have created a 'proof of concept' and said it has the potential to create miniature electrical circuits that are safe to be worn by a person. The concept was developed by scientists at the University of South Australia's Future Industries Institute. They used a conductive polymer and put it on a hydrogel before passing a current through it. The team was able to secure the current within the hyrdogel meaning that if it was built into a contact lens, for example, it wouldn't come into contact with the eye itself. Associate Professor Drew Evans said the technology was a 'game changer' and could provide one of the safest methods to bring people and their smart devices closer. Advertisement Alphabet also filed a patent for a contact lens that could potentially gather data about the wearers environment. According to the patent, the device could sense allergens such as grass or tree pollen while 'photo detector sensors and solar cells' that would act like solar panels to power the device. Samsung applied for its smart contacts patent in two year ago, at the same time that Google received patents for its smart contact lenses. The company has yet to respond to DailyMail.com on if and when a consumer product will be released. The mosquito is the most deadly animal on the planet and is thought to be responsible for more than one million deaths every year. To stop the spread of diseases such as Dengue and Zika, scientists are engineering sterilised mosquitos to kills off the hated insects. One larva laboratory in Guangzhou, China has released sterile mosquitoes in the local area in a bid to curb suffering caused by Dengue, which kills 25,000 people across the globe every year. The mosquito is the most deadly animal on the planet and is thought to be responsible for more than one million deaths every year. A developing insect in a lab in China is shown above Images from the lab show close-ups of developing larva as well as cups storing thousands of the insects. A team of scientists, including Xi Zhiyong of Michigan State University released 6.5 million male sterile mosquitoes around the small island, with the aim of diluting the population with insects not carrying Dengue. The males are sterile because they were infected with wolbachia bacteria, which limits the insects' ability to carry Dengue fever. Symptoms of the mosquito-borne illness include a having a high temperature, a headache and bone or muscle pain. To stop the spread of diseases such as Dengue and Zika, scientists are engineering sterilised mosquitos (young pictured) to kills off the hated insects The intensity of the symptoms is so strong that the virus has been nicknamed as 'breakbone disease' and, when serious, it can even lead to death. However, there is currently no vaccine or treatment available. On the island, the sterile males compete with wild males to mate with the females. Females that mate with a sterile male produce no offspring, thus reducing the next generation's population. Peoples Daily Online has previously reported that one million sterilised insects are now being released in the region each week. One larva laboratory in Guangzhou, China has released sterile mosquitoes in the region in a bid to curb suffering caused by Dengue, which kills 25,000 people across the globe every year. Close-ups of details of mosquitoes grown in the lab are shown above left and right A team of scientists, including Xi Zhiyong of Michigan State University, recently released 6.5 million male sterile mosquitoes around the small island, with the aim of diluting the population with insects not carrying Dengue. A worker in the lab that produced them is shown above The males are sterile because they were infected with wolbachia bacteria, which limits the insects' ability to carry Dengue fever. A lab-created mosquito is shown above GM MOSQUITOES SPREAD THEIR GENETIC KILL SWITCH Aedes aegypti mosquitoes transmit viruses which pose a serious health risk, including dengue, chikungunya, yellow fever and Zika. Wild populations are targeted with insecticides to wipe them out but this approach can have a limited effect. But British biotech firm Oxitech has created a genetically modified insect which it says could offer a solution. The OX513A A.aegypti mosquitoes carry a genetic 'kill switch', which they pass on to their offspring. Once released, the GM insects breed with the wild population, spreading their killer gene so the offspring die and the wild population is reduced. Advertisement Peoples Daily Online previously reported that one million sterilised insects are now being released in the region each week. The project leaders hope that once the trial is more established and has proved successful, similar labs could be established to breed sterile or GM mosquitoes to tackle diseases such as malaria and zika. In February, Brazil announced it's planning to fight the Zika virus by zapping millions of male mosquitoes with gamma rays to sterilise them using a device called an irradiator and stop the spread of the virus linked to thousands of birth defects. Brazil is trying to eradicate the Aedes mosquito thats behind the outbreak, which has been linked to babies with abnormally small heads. The International Atomic Energy Agency has said it will ship an irradiator to the state of Bahia so that a non-profit organisation called Moscamed can breed up to 12 million male mosquitoes a week, sterilise them and release them in 12 towns to test the outcome. If successful, the Brazilian government could scale up the operation, potentially releasing millions of mosquitoes in densely-populated areas of the vast country, using drones. The project leaders hope that once the trial is more established and has proved successful, similar labs could be established to breed sterile or GM mosquitoes to tackle diseases such as malaria and zika. Pots of mosquito larva are shown above Symptoms of the mosquito-borne illness, Dengue, include a having a high temperature, a headache and bone or muscle pain. A lab-grown mosquito is shown above Females that mate with a sterile male produce no offspring, thus reducing the next generation's population. Lab grown mosquitoes ready to be released are shown above Like with Dengue, there is no cure for Zika, which has spread to more than 30 countries, the latest being Vietnam. In the US, the Food and Drug Administration has decided that the modified insects pose no significant threat to humans or the environment, paving the way for trials to begin in a community in Key West, Florida. If passed, the controversial decision would mean GM Aedes aegypti mosquitoes could be released in an effort to curb the spread of diseases transmitted by the insects, including Zika. The US FDA has said GM mosquitoes engineered by British firm Oxitec would likely have no significant impact on humans or the environment. The GM mosquitoes have been tweaked to pass on a genetic kill switch to their offspring, reducing the population of Aedes aegypti (pictured) which spread diseases such as Zika Unlike with sterilised mosquitoes, these ones have been engineered by Oxford based firm Oxitec to pass on a genetic kill switch to their offspring. Once released, the firm's OX513A insects would breed with wild insects, passing on the gene and reducing the wild population. Trials have already been carried out in Brazil, Panama, the Cayman Islands and Malaysia, where it was shown the wild populations could be drastically reduced. In a statement released by Oxitec last week, the firm said that the mosquitoes pose 'a massive threat to human health' it was pleased with the FDA's preliminary decision. In a press briefing, Oxitec's chief executive Hadyn Parry explained that vaccines for Zika 'are years away' and that the GM solution is available immediately. A preliminary decision by the FDA means the GM mosquitoes could soon be trialed in Key Haven, a community in the Florida Keys (pictured) which has suffered multiple outbreaks of dengue fever Women who prefer brainy boyfriends are less likely to show an interest in male-dominated careers like engineering and science, a new study suggests. Researchers said these types of women are more intent on playing a 'traditional' gender role and gravitate towards more nurturing professions such as teaching and social work. The study found those who want to date someone smarter than themselves were more likely to distance themselves from paths which involved maths and science. Women who look for partners who are intelligent are less likely themselves to seek a career in the science, technology, maths or engineering. In the TV series the Big Bang Theory, Penny (right) works as a waitress while her on-off boyfriend Leonard (left) is a physicist And the same women are also less likely to have a talent or love for maths, the research suggested. However, those who have no interest in going for a clever partner were more likely to be interested in these paths. The researchers said that women on the hunt for an intelligent man could be down-playing their own talents either 'strategically' or subconsciously in order to appear more attractive. MEN'S BRAINS REALLY ARE WIRED DIFFERENTLY FROM WOMEN'S The old adage that men and women's brains are 'just wired differently' may be more accurate than first thought. Scientists have produced a set of 'road maps' for the brain's connections, which they say could explain 'typically' male and female behaviours. The maps show that men's brains may be hardwired for better special awareness and motor skills, while connections in women's brains are wired to give them an edge in memory and social cognition. The findings could help to shed light on brain diseases and behavioural conditions which progress faster in one sex than the other. While our brains share a common 'template' for connecting the different areas, researchers wanted to find out if there were templates for men and women which could explain behaviours we might typically associate with sexes. Scientists produced a set of 'road maps' for the brain, which they say could explain 'typically' male and female behaviours (illustrated) Advertisement The study, published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, will add to the debate over the lower numbers of girls pursuing careers in science, maths, engineering and technology (STEM). Concerns have been raised that many are dropping maths and science at an early age and limiting their earning potential, as these subjects are key to many potentially very lucrative areas. The research, from the University of Buffalo in the US, identified the dating preferences of more than 900 participants. They found that women were more likely to look for a smarter partner than men and that the more seriously they felt about this, the more traditional they were in gender roles. The researchers then put the maths skills of their participants to the test before analysing how much they enjoyed maths and how interested they were in it while they thought of their dream partner. The results revealed that the women who were most driven in finding a smarter man were the poorest at maths and the least interested in STEM careers. Study author Professor Lora Park, of Buffalo University in the US, said: 'What we found is that not all women reacted equally to these romantic goal primes. 'Women who had a traditional romantic partner preference of wanting to date someone smarter than themselves were the ones who distanced themselves the most from STEM fields when they thought about romantic goals.' Prof Park added: 'In general terms, women have made many advancements, but in certain fields of STEM they haven't made that much progress. 'I was surprised by the fact that some women have this preference. 'But I wasn't surprised that this preference led to worse outcomes in these masculine fields.' Figures from the Wise Campaign, which aims to get more women into STEM careers, reveal that women make up just one in seven of the UK STEM workforce. The debate about whether you can catch Alzheimer's from other people is still raging. Recent findings in Switzerland suggests the protein 'plaque' linked to Alzheimer's can be passed between human brain. But the results remain controversial, and now scientists are racing to find more evidence. The latest effort has been launched by researchers in Canada who will be studying the brains of four people who died after transplants gave them Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, Scroll down for video The debate about whether you can catch Alzheimer's from other people is still raging. Recently, Swiss doctors found signs of the disease in the brains of people who died of the rare, brain-wasting CreutzfeldtJakob disease (CJD). Stock images of brains scans shown. The red colours are a warning of Alzheimer's Disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a form of mad cow disease in humans, is believed to spread through medical grafts. Scientists want to know if its possible that Alzheimers like Creutzfeldt-Jakob can be transmitted from person to person. The Canadian study is being led by Michael Coulthart, a Public Health Agency of Canada scientist, according to a report in Vancouver Sun. The four Canadians whom Dr Coulthart is studying are believed to have acquired Creutzfeldt-Jakob from grafts of dura mater - the membrane that covers the brain and spinal cord - from 1998 to 2003. Dr Coulthart will attempt to examine exactly how the disease was transmitted, and if there are any pathological signs that are associated with Alzheimer's disease. In January, researchers reported a second case that suggests Alzheimer's can be transmitted during medical treatments. Swiss doctors found signs of the disease in the brains of people who died CreutzfeldtJakob disease. Before their deaths, the individuals had all received surgical grafts of dura mater. The autopsies, revealed in the Swiss Medical Weekly, found that in addition to the damage caused by the prion protein that causes so called 'mad cow disease', five of the brains displayed some of the pathological signs that are associated with Alzheimer's disease, the researchers from Switzerland and Austria report. They said the find is 'highly unusual and suggests a causal relationship to the dural grafts.' The grafts were prepared from human cadavers and were contaminated with the prion protein that causes CJD. 'Further studies will be needed to elucidate whether such pathology resulted from the seeding of A aggregates from the grafts to host tissues,' the team wrote. 'Whilst the iatrogenic transmission of aggregated A is one of several possible explanations for the findings reported here, the growing circumstantial evidence for such transmission should prompt a critical re-evaluation of the decontamination procedures for surgical instruments and drugs of biological origin, with the goal to ensure the complete absence of potentially transmissible contaminants.' Earlier this year, a potentially explosive study has provided the first evidence that the devastating condition can, like mad cow disease, spread through 'medical accidents'. The British researcher, Professor John Collinge, said we 'need to rethink our view of Alzheimer's and evaluate the risk of it being transmitted inadvertently to patients'. Following the second case, he told Nature 'Our results are all consistent. 'The fact that the new study shows the same pathology emerging after a completely different procedure increases our concern.' Neither study implies that Alzheimer's disease could ever be transmitted through normal contact with caretakers or family members, the scientists emphasize. Professor John Collinge, from University College London, has warned in a potentially explosive study that the devastating condition, Alzheimer's (pictured) can, like mad cow disease, spread through 'medical accidents' One of the UK's leading brain surgeons warned that we don't know if the techniques used sterilise medical instruments are effective and said that the research 'must be taken seriously'. However, others urged caution, saying the study was small and it does not prove that Alzheimer's disease is contagious. Worldwide, nearly 44 million people have Alzheimer's or a related dementia. Until now, it was thought it was either caused by faulty genes or a combination of bad luck and ageing. Professor Collinge, of University College London stumbled on the link with Alzheimer's when inspecting the brains of eight people who had died from CJD, the human form of mad cow disease. They had caught CJD after being given injections of human hormones as children to treat growth problems. To his great surprise, he found a protein that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's in the brains of seven of the eight of the patients. In four of them, levels of the memory-robbing amyloid beta protein were 'severe'. Writing in the prestigious journal Nature, he said that those studied were aged between 36 and 51 and such brain damage is 'simply not seen' in people of that age. Professor Collinge said it is possible that contaminated medical instruments and blood transfusions could also lead to the amyloid beta protein being passed from one person to the next With no evidence that CJD somehow triggers the build-up of the protein, Professor Collinge said the most likely answer is that it, like the CJD, had been lurking in the hormone injections. None had actually developed full-blown Alzheimer's but they may have done if they had lived longer. Some 1,850 British children with growth problems were treated with hormones extracted from ground up brain tissue before the procedure was banned in 1985. In no way does this suggest that Alzheimer's disease is in any way contagious. You can't catch it by living with someone with Alzheimer's disease or by caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease Professor John Collinge, UCL Around 1,500 are still alive and Professor Collinge said some of them may still develop Alzheimer's disease. Worryingly, there is no complete record of who was treated meaning many will have had no advance warning of the bombshell. The study also has implications for the wider population. Professor Collinge said the similarities between the amyloid beta protein of Alzheimer's and the prion protein that causes CJD means we must question if the two can spread in the same way. He said it is possible that contaminated medical instruments, blood transfusions and dentistry could all lead to the amyloid beta protein being passed from one person to the next. The protein 'sticks avidly' to metal surfaces, such as surgical instruments, and it isn't clear if it is killed off by conventional sterilisation techniques. Professor Collinge said that while transmission by blood transfusions is 'possible', surgical contamination is a bigger threat. Even dentistry can't be given the all clear. Professor Collinge said the similarities between the amyloid beta protein of Alzheimer's and the prion protein that causes CJD means we must question if the two can spread in the same way. He warned dental procedures cannot be given the all clear, and urged for more research to be conducted (file image) The professor said: 'I think one would have to consider whether certain types of dental treatment are relevant', adding that more research would be 'prudent'. However, he stressed that he had not proved that the seeds of Alzheimer's can be passed from person to person and urged people not to panic. Professor Collinge said: 'In terms of people worrying about this, it is important you understand that this relates to a very special situation, where people have been injected with extracts of human tissue. 'In no way does this suggest that Alzheimer's disease is in any way contagious. 'You can't catch it by living with someone with Alzheimer's disease or by caring for someone with Alzheimer's disease. 'I don't think anyone should delay or rethink having surgery on the basis of this finding. 'I don't think that any immediate action needs to be taken.' Richard Kerr, president of the Society of British Neurological Surgeons and a consultant brain surgeon, said: 'This is new information in a field of highly complex scientific enquiry that needs to be taken seriously. 'With such a small study, however, further research is needed so we can learn more about transfer and whether existing decontamination procedures are effective. 'This will inform any clinical decisions that need to be taken to manage and reduce even the smallest risk to patients.' Masud Husain, an Oxford University professor of neurology, described the research as 'beautiful' but cautioned it must be kept in context. Dr Doug Brown, of the Alzheimer's Society, said the findings were 'interesting' but contain 'too many unknowns'. He added: 'Injections of growth hormones taken from human brains were stopped in the 1980s. 'There remains absolutely no evidence that Alzheimer's disease is contagious or can be transmitted from person to person via any current medical procedures.' The Department of Health stressed that the study didn't provide any evidence that Alzheimer's can spread through medical procedures. Professor Dame Sally Davies, the chief medical officer, said: 'This was a small study on only eight samples. 'We monitor research closely and there is a large research programme in place to help us understand and respond to the challenges of Alzheimer's. 'I can reassure people that the NHS has extremely stringent procedures in place to minimise infection risk from surgical equipment, and patients are very well protected.' Advertisement A medieval stately manor, said to be the inspiration behind Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, has reopened after a 10-year restoration. The authoress is said to have visited Norton Conyers, situated in North Yorkshire, in 1839 and learned of a legend of a mad woman locked in the attic. This later formed the basis of Bronte's Mrs Rochester character, who was similarly kept in confinement by her husband in the novel. Norton Conyers, said to be the inspiration behind Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, has reopened after a 10-year restoration Fans of Jane Eyre (pictured left in a BBC adaptation in 2011), can view a stairway (right) leading up to the attic known as The Mad Woman's Room. When Bronte visited the property she heard of a legend about an insane lady having been confined upstairs and is said to have based the character of Mrs Rochester on this Over Easter the owners, Sir James Graham and his wife Lady Graham, were said to have personally greeted visitors, and showed them round their historic home for the reopening. Pictured is the dining room Fans of Jane Eyre can now walk through a hidden door built into the 19th century panelling and see the stairway leading up to the attic, known as The Mad Woman's Room. However, the stairs are not sturdy enough to be climbed. Owner Sir James Graham told MailOnline Travel: 'We call it "The Jane Eyre Staircase" because Charlotte Bronte describes an exactly similar staircase as existing at "Thornfield Hall", which Mr Rochester uses as a short cut to his attics, in one of which his mad wife is confined. It's a new experience for visitors.' In the timeless novel Thornfield Hall is described as being both stately and elegant and also gloomy and haunting, something Sir Graham and his wife Lady Graham have sought to celebrate in their renovations. The library has been furnished to emulate Mr Rochester's study, which was used in the novel as a classroom in which Jane Eyre is to teach his French ward Adele Varens. Central heating pipes have been mended and extended so previously unheated rooms are more comfortable for the visiting public. Over Easter the couple were said to have personally greeted visitors, and showed them round their historic home for the reopening. Central heating pipes have been mended and extended so previously unheated rooms are more accessible for the visiting public. Pictured is the hall As well as Bronte, the house has welcomed a number of high profile guests in the past, including James II and Charles I. Pictured is the Mad Woman's room The image on the left is a portrait of Charlotte Bronte and on the right the book cover of Jane Eyre. This month sees the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontes birth As well as Bronte, the house has welcomed a number of high profile guests in the past, including James II and Charles I. Norton Conyers has belonged to the Graham family since 1624 and the current owners have spent 30 years renovating it. In light of their work, the Grahams won the 2014 Restoration Award, presented by the Historic Houses Association and Sotheby's. The House is currently open to the public on select days during March, May, July and August and highlights also include seeing family portraits from around 1600 to 1968. Advertisement These shocking images shows the harsh reality of life in the shadow of an erupting volcano. An estimated 30,000 people were displaced from their homes after Mount Sinabung on the Indonesian island of Sumatra started erupting on June 2, 2010 - after 400 years of laying dormant. Officials have placed the 2,460-metre volcano under a high risk warning ever since, with eruptions continuing on a periodic basis. Scroll down for video A terrified woman runs down a track barefoot to escape the looming cloud which has formed following an eruption The volcano had lain dormant for four centuries until 2010 when it began showing signs of life again Even though Indonesia's volcanoes erupt sporadically and violently, farmers work on its deadly slopes because the ground there is so fertile Locals are urged to wear face protection to guard themselves from the harmful aerosols found in the volcanic ash Many villages on the volcano's slopes are now almost empty as many residents abandon their homes to seek refuge in temporary shelters. The images were shot in June 2015 by professional photographer Sutanta Aditya - who lost two friends in the major eruption of February 2014. He said: 'For me this subject is close to my heart and very saddening as I have lost two friends from this tragedy.' Aditya has since visited Sinabung on several occasions to document the seemingly impossible lives of those left behind at the foot of the volcanic giant - with crops destroyed by ash and the air thick with smoke. The ash-covered body of a victim is collected by two men on a motorbike following an eruption of the 2,460-metre volcano National Disaster Agency estimates the eruption of Mount Sinabung has caused more than $100million (71million) in damages More than 30,000 affected residents have been evacuated from the region and buildings and wildlife have been destroyed This shocking image shows the lightning of Sinabung Volcano during an eruption. The photograph is as seen from Karo district Villager Serasi Sembiring said: 'My feeling at this moment is complete sadness because the house that we're living in has been destroyed. 'We didn't have any time to take any of our belongings or save any of our sentimental items. Day by day, the situation is getting worse.' According to the photographer, some residents have returned to their villages but not everyone wants to go back due to the uncertain future. Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire - a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean. Many villages on the volcano's slopes are now almost empty as many residents abandon their homes to seek refuge in temporary shelters Sinabung is one of 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire in Indonesia's North Sumatra province The images were shot in June 2015 by professional photographer Sutanta Aditya - who lost two friends in the major eruption of February 2014 Aditya has since visited Sinabung on several occasions to document the seemingly impossible lives of those left behind at the foot of the volcanic giant - with crops destroyed by ash and the air thick with smoke A damaged home sits crumbled among heaps of ash that has fallen following another eruption The economic impact of Sinabung has been devastating with the National Disaster Agency estimating it caused more than $100million (71million) in damages over the last few years. Paidi Surbakti said: 'We hope to get relocation assistance, so that we are no longer homeless. The government should not only make promises, but follow through on them soon. 'Because until now we have waited for over a year for the relocation of new houses as promised by the government and we are still waiting.' The Indonesian government has placed an area of 2.1 miles radius around the peak under a red-alert high-risk danger zone. The volcano has been placed under a high risk warning ever since 2010 as eruptions are continuing on a periodic basis A woman stands beside a number of villager's bodies that have been wrapped in cloth after being killed during one of the eruptions Villager Serasi Sembiring said: 'My feeling at this moment is complete sadness because the house that we're living in has been destroyed' The Indonesian government has placed an area of 2.1 miles radius around the peak under a red-alert high-risk danger zone Bailiffs threatened to impound a multi-million pound Thomas Cook Airlines plane unless the travel company stumped up 600 to a passenger hit by 22-hour delays. After fighting for compensation for four years following the mammoth delay on her holiday, the unnamed German woman was granted the payout by the Austrian courts. And it came with a stark warning from court officials, who said that unless the money was not paid, a Thomas Cook passenger jet would be grounded. Bailiffs threatened to impound a Thomas Cook jet unless compensation for flight delays was paid out to a German woman (file photo) A bailiff was handed the power from the courts to impound a jet at Salzburg Airport on Saturday. He called the airport the day before to find out how he was supposed to get to the aeroplane on the field. The airport then called Condor, Thomas Cook's sister airline, who paid out. The woman was flying from Vienna in Austria to the Caribbean in 2012 when she was held up on her journey. However a delay on paying compensation as set out in EU regulations prompted the woman to take her case to claims company FlightRight. Flightright hired a lawyer to represent the woman in court, handled the paperwork, and took a 25 per cent cut following the successful claim. Bailiffs contacted Salzburg Airport to tell officials there that they would need to seize a Thomas Cook Airlines plane until the compensation had been paid Speaking to MailOnline Travel, a spokesperson for FlightRight said: 'We have to say it is highly unusual that cases need this long to be enforced. 'Usually court proceedings do not take nearly as long and very often we are able to pay out a compensation within two to four weeks after requesting the compensation from the airline. 'So it is very likely that this particular claim simply got lost in the airline's paperwork somewhere along the way.' Condor spokesperson Johannes Winter told MailOnline Travel: 'A European Payment Order unfortunately did not reach our UK airline. Therefore, the bailiff was granted a title. 'When informed about the title against our UK airline last Friday, Condor instantly transferred the money. 'We were confident at all times that the aircraft operation would not be affected. 'We are very sorry about the initial confusion regarding this customers payment and apologise to our customer.' EU regulations concerning flight delay compensation kick in if you are departing from any airport situated in the EU, or arriving in the EU with an EU carrier or one from Iceland, Norway or Switzerland. If your flight is delayed by five hours or more, you are also entitled to a refund. But if you accept a refund, the airline does not have to provide any further onward travel or assistance. Rayani Air, the first Shariah-compliant airline in Malaysia, is being investigated by the countrys transport ministry and could face sanctions over security concerns after it issued hand-written boarding passes to passengers. Officials launched a probe into the carrier, which launched last December, after a Malaysian MP posted Facebook photo of his boarding pass on a domestic flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching. The photo shows a piece of paper with Rayani Airs logo printed on it and flight details written in ink, including the passengers name, seat number and cities of departure and destination. Malaysian MP Lau Weng San said he was given a hand-written boarding pass before flying to Kuching Rayani Air became Malaysia's first Shariah-compliant airline when it operated its maiden flight last December In his Facebook post, MP Lau Weng San called the boarding pass unbelievable, adding: It wouldnt be accepted anywhere else in the world, only in Malaysia. Hand-written boarding passes were given to the politician and other passengers as they endured a lengthy flight delay due to a hydraulic leak on the plane. The travel documents did not have any security features such as a barcode and appeared as though it could have been written by anyone. Malaysian Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lay said the boarding passes posed a potential security threat and should never have been issued, the Malay Mail Online reported. The carrier adheres to Islamic rules, including prayers and no alcohol consumption or meals with pork Muslim female flight attendants must wear the hijab. The airline welcomes Muslim and non-Muslim travellers He told reporters the ministry is looking into those concerns and complaints about sudden flight cancellations and poor service, warning that Rayani Air may have its operating licence suspended if it doesnt comply with Department of Civil Aviation regulations. In a statement, Rayani Air said it was forced to distribute hand-written boarding passes before the 19 March flight due to a computer glitch and it wouldn't happen again. It said the flight details were written on the airlines official thermal paper, which is the same paper used for a printed boarding pass. The statement said: "The flight eventually took off at 5am and due to the delay, passengers who checked in at the counter after 12am were given a manual boarding pass as the system was unable to roll back and print any boarding pass due to the backdated details of the initial flight time. Rayani Air had its maiden flight last December, becoming one of a handful of carriers that adhere to Islamic rules, including pre-flight prayers, no alcohol or meals with pork and a strict dress code for Muslim female flight attendants, who must wear the hijab. Advertisement Thirty years ago this month, the Ukrainian city of Pripyat was the site of one of the worst man-made disasters of all time, killing dozens of people in the immediate aftermath and leaving many more to die of cancer in the years that followed. More than 50,000 residents were forced to flee the city and a radioactive cloud, leaving belongings behind, after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurred on 26 April 1986. Today, the abandoned city has morphed into a tourist attraction for those with a morbid curiosity, but it appears some visitors are treating the radioactive zone like a playground. Thrill-seeking tourists are visiting the site of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe in greater numbers, but many could be accused of being insensitive towards the dead and the survivors. Photos of a recent tour show holidaymakers smiling as they pose for snaps while seated in rusting bumper cars or at desks in decaying classrooms once filled with children, and in front of the stricken power plant where reactor number four exploded, sending a radioactive cloud over Europe. Holidaymakers must receive a special permit, usually through an approved tour operator, to enter the exclusion zone around the ghost city, with a one-day tour costing about $100 (70). Travel guides armed with Geiger counters to measure radioactivity in the poisoned landscape insist travellers are exposed to less radiation than they would be on a transatlantic flight, but there is still an element of 'extreme tourism'. Visitors are warned not to wander into the undergrowth that is slowly reclaiming the once-bustling city because they risk disturbing a radioactive 'hot spot'. It has been estimated that Pripyat will remain unsafe for at least 24,000 years. Victor Korol, director of SoloEast Travel, said visitors are told before each tour not to touch or sit on any outdoor objects. He added: If people do that, it is not a crime or gross violation. All the paths are specifically selected to minimise any possible dangerous exposure of the visitors to radiation. A guide is not a guard with a whip and he or she does not have any intention to punish people for those violations. All he or she can do is prevent people from doing that, when noticed. A tour group poses for a photo in front of a communist monument in the deserted city, with the nuclear power plant in the background A rusting fairground, abandoned homes and overgrown infrastructure are among the ruins of the Ukrainian city of Pripyat Pripyat was a modern Soviet city, with a now-empty Olympic-sized swimming pool that tourists can now enter and explore More than 50,000 people were forced to flee Pripyat following a man-made disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 Thrill-seeking holidaymakers are visiting the site of the world's worst nuclear catastrophe in greater numbers since tours were allowed Tour guides claim they instruct visitors not to disturb the site, but tourists pose for photos inside abandoned classrooms at one school A cluster of rusting beds inside a nursery in Pripyat, located near Ukraine's northern border with Belarus, another former Soviet republic Once a bustling city, Pripyat was built less than two miles from the nuclear power plant to house scientists and workers serving the plant Gas masks, pieces of wood and a doll's head on the floor in one building. There have been claims some ruins have been staged Tragedy struck on 26 April 1986, as one of the reactors deep inside the Chernobyl power plant went into meltdown and exploded Residents and workers were forced to flee Pripyat in the aftermath of the blast, leaving many of their belongings behind Tourists are flocking in increasing numbers to the Ukrainian disaster site, although the zone is still classed as uninhabitable It wasn't until the day after the explosion that the government realised the extent of the disaster and ordered an evacuation of citizens The stricken reactor has been encased within a lead and concrete sarcophagus, but it is crumbling and due to be replaced A morbid curiosity draws tourists to Pripyat, where they snap photos of a Ferris wheel that has been used in 30 years About a dozen tour groups have been authorised to take visitors to residences and businesses, and within yards of the damaged reactor Travel guides and holidaymakers are armed with Geiger counters to measure radioactivity in the poisoned landscape Travel guides insist visitors are exposed to less radiation than they would get on a flight, but there is still an element of 'extreme tourism' Pripyat was once a busy city with crowded shopping streets, schools, apartments, a swimming pool and hospital Holidaymakers must receive a special permit, usually through an approved tour operator, to enter the exclusion zone around the ghost city Chernobyl was Soviet Ukraine's first nuclear power plant, but on 26 April 1986 a reactor deep inside the plant went into meltdown All visitors sign a health and insurance disclaimer before being allowed past the check points into the exclusion zone The exclusion zone around the damaged nuclear reactor was eventually extended to 18 miles after the initial six-mile radius Before leaving Pripyat, visitors must be checked for radioactive contamination and may have to have their clothes washed Visitors are warned not to wander into the undergrowth in Pripyat because they risk distburing a radioactive 'hot spot' There are plans to cover the damaged nuclear reactor with a new sarcophagus, but the area will remain unsafe for thousands of years The official death toll was put at less than 50. However, thousands were diagnosed with cancer after extreme radiation exposure The intriguing disaster site attracts around 12,000 visitors a year, with visits organised by tour groups approved by the government It is estimated that it will take until 2065 to decommission the three remaining reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear plant She gave birth four months ago. And Sam Faiers seemed delighted to be off on her first family holiday with adorable baby Paul and her partner Paul Knightley as they appeared to jet off to Dubai. The smiling TV personality could be seen breastfeeding her tot in the Emirates lounge as she sported a cosy ensemble. Scroll down for video 'So excited': Sam Faiers seemed delighted to be off on her first family holiday with adorable baby Paul and her partner Paul Knightley as they appeared to jet off to Dubai The former TOWIE star had her designer handbag and a plain bag diaper bag beside her in the shot as she smiled towards the camera. Baby Paul appeared to be very cosy on the Emirates flight in a snap which saw the baby boy being held lovingly by his father in their seat. Sam has clearly taken to motherhood with ease and the popular star chose to share a very personal photograph of herself breastfeeding her baby last week. The 25-year-old looked beautiful in the snap as she relished the natural moment, with her little tot resting peacefully in her arms. He can't wait: Baby Paul appeared to be very cosy on the Emirates flight in a snap which saw the baby boy being held lovingly by his father in their seat Nothing to hide: Sam has clearly taken to motherhood with ease and the popular star chose to share a very personal photograph of herself breastfeeding her baby last week Sitting in a sun-soaked location, she captioned the image with the words: 'Me and my bubba,' as she looked pretty in a cream mini dress. The couple appear to be enjoying every minute of their new roles as parents and Sam's happiness was plain to see as she smiled broadly in her latest picture. She has been regularly documenting her child's life on social media and on Wednesday, she shared another very cute snap of her little boy. So cute: Sam regularly shares snaps of her pride and joy on social media As he lay down on a towel in a cute sunhat, she wrote: 'Mummy's little helper,' alongside a sunshine emoji. Sam spent a very relaxing Easter break at home with her family, with them getting pictured picking up some groceries from a local supermarket. The model sported a pair of flesh-coloured leggings paired with black trainers and a fur-lined coat and cradling baby Paul as she walked along with her man. Sam also shared a snap of her beautiful Easter display on her fireplace, featuring special balloons, cuddly toys and plenty of chocolate treats. The star also uploaded a cute picture of herself with boyfriend of 15 months Paul, looking like the picture perfect family as she cuddled their baby son. Baby's day out: Sam brought her young son Paul Tony along to the shops with her partner Paul Knightley on Monday as they relished in their domestic duties While her Instagram is an image of new parenthood bliss, Sam's life as a mum has been widely-discussed after she starred in an ITV documentary about motherhood called The Baby Diaries. As the show detailed Sam and Paul's pregnancy journey, Paul came under fire as many viewers branded Paul Senior 'controlling' and a 'man child.' He refused to move in with Sam when she was six months pregnant, or cook for himself, asking Sam to make him beans on toast when she was breastfeeding. Atop his reluctance to do his part around the home, Paul's relationship with his mother Gaynor also came under fire after the duo were seen sharing a kiss on the lips during the show. Happy Easter: The star also uploaded a cute picture of herself with boyfriend of 15 months Paul, looking like the picture perfect family as she cuddled their baby son Viewers commented on the kiss, as they talked about his move into parenthood with one writing: 'Just watched the Sam faiers programme. Her boyfriend and his mother are very creepy... Strange relationship.' While a second said: 'Sam Faiers boyfriend awkward kiss with his MUM!!!! Did anyone else see this?' Despite this, Sam remained defiant, telling Lorraine: 'He wasn't too keen on the cameras. He took some persuading. It's not his world. He has a normal life, but he did it for me. I'm glad he got as involved as he did. 'It captured a massive milestone in our lives. It shows us as a family unit and it's something we can keep forever and show the baby when we're older.' One is Australia's 'First Lady of Comedy' and the other is one of Britain's funniest female exports. So it was hardly surprising that Julia Morris was delighted by her pal Dawn French's arrival Down Under, as she tours her widely-praised stage show Thirty Million Minutes. The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! host, 47, beamed with pride as she posed for an Instagram photo on Tuesday night with British writer-actress Dawn. Scroll down for video Funny friends! Comedian and TV personality Julia Morris (right) shared an smiling snap of herself and British writer-actress Dawn French (left) on Instagram on Tuesday, following a performance of her one-woman show In the smiling snap, Julia is dressed in a stunning leather dress and black-rimmed spectacles beside Dawn, who styled her hair in her trademark sleek bob with a bold fringe. The photo opportunity also likely served as a reunion for the pair, as they both featured on Australia's Got Talent back in 2013 - with Julia as host and Dawn as a judge. Meanwhile, Julia previously lived in the United Kingdom - where Dawn has spent most of her career - between 2000 and 2007. Reunited: The TV stars previously worked together on Australia's Got Talent back in 2013 - with Julia, 47, filling in hosting dutues and Dawn, 58, serving as a judge In the caption, she heaped praise on Dawn's one-woman play - which opens at the Sydney Opera House this weekend - after viewing one of her recent performances in Adelaide. She wrote: 'Such a magical day with my heavenly friend the delicious Dawn. I just love her. @sydneyoperahouse is hosting her this weekend. #MUSTSEE'. Meanwhile, Dawn also shared the image on her Twitter, adding the caption: 'How much do I love the splendid #LadyJMo for turning up to support me at my first Adelaide show? She of the huge heart' Returning the favour: Dawn paid tribute to Julia on Twitter, thanking her for 'turning up to support' her Adelaide performance of Thirty Million Minutes - a one-woman play that has been praised for its humour and honesty 'She of the huge heart': It would seem from their recent social media exchange that Julia and Dawn enjoy a close and supportive friendship, despite living on opposite sides of the world Critical acclaim: Julia heaped praise on Dawn's one-woman play Thirty Million Minutes (pictured), which plays in Adelaide this week before opening at the Sydney Opera House on Sunday Later that evening, Julia followed up with another Instagram post, recommending the show to her 91,000 followers. 'It's moving and funny & heartbreaking and hilarious,' she began. 'So hilarious. So amazing, in fact, that there were no emotions left for me to feel. 'I felt the lot of them. It was truly a magical performance. Dawn, I love you.' Dawn French's Thirty Million Minutes plays at Her Majesty's Theatre in Adelaide Wednesday through Friday. On Sunday, she will deliver two performances at the Sydney Opera House. Star line-up: Dawn (centre) featured on the Australia's Got Talent judging panel in 2013 alongside Tim Omaji (right), shock jock Kyle Sandilands (second from left) and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell (second from right); Julia (left) served as host for the series, replacing Grant Denyer She rose to fame as the series 'villain' of My Kitchen Rules last year - infuriating millions viewers with her faux French accent and sneering demeanour. But Ash Pollard looked far more relaxed as she enjoyed 'a bit of touchy feely' with a younger male companion while cooking dinner - sharing photos of the occasion on Instagram on Tuesday. The Dancing with the Stars beauty, 29, was joined for the dinner party by Melbourne entrepreneur Dalton Graham last month, but only recently shared their affectionate moment with fans. Scroll down for video Getting frisky! My Kitchen Rules star Ash Pollard (left) enjoyed 'a bit of touchy feely' with her younger male pal Dalton Graham (right) last month, and recently shared their affectionate moment with fans on Instagram Earlier this week, she posted a snap to her 27,000 social media followers of 22-year-old Dalton and herself preparing a tasty dish together in her kitchen. Ash - who styled her hair in her trademark bouffant, blonde curls - flashed a cheeky smile at the camera as Dalton appeared to get up-close-and-personal with the reality TV star. She looked simply stunning in a figure-hugging grey dress, while her handsome pal cuddled up close behind her to help serve up the gourmet food. And it was hard to ignore Dalton's left hand, as he protectively held her slender waist. Getting close: Two weeks ago, 22-year-old Melbourne entrepreneur Dalton shared an intimate photo of him and Ash as they sipped red win together at the same dinner party 'A bit of touchy feely in the kitchen never goes astray,' she captioned the image, coquettishly. 'As long as he's as delectable as whatever it is you've cooked!' Some of Ash's Instagram followers seemed to conclude that she is dating Dalton - the Melbourne-based founder of lifestyle guide The Tailored Man. 'Who is that handsome guy?' asked one, as another declared, 'Well now, that's a treat!' Three's a crowd! But it turned out that Dalton and Ash weren't alone for their soiree - as they were in fact joined by Melbourne model and blogger Laura Henshaw (left) She showed them! Ash boasted at the time of serving up an indulgent meal to her guests Dalton and law student Laura Henshaw, remarking that they probably 'went for runs' the morning after Meanwhile, two weeks ago Dalton himself shared an intimate photo of the pair as they sipped red win together at the same dinner party. With the food proudly on display, he clearly approved of Ash's culinary offerings - and wrote on Instagram: 'Her kitchen really does rule.' However, it would seem from Ash's social media that this wasn't quite the intimate soiree it seemed to be. 'Last night's date': While romance may not have been on the menu that night - it certainly the first time that Ash has enjoyed some quality time with Dalton, as last month they attended a swanky event in South Melbourne There was in fact another guest at their dinner party - Melbourne model and blogger Laura Henshaw. At the time, Ash shared a photo of herself and the law student-turned-fitness guru - and even poked fun at her two friends' healthy eating ways. 'Showed a couple of clean eaters what it's like to indulge in a world of deliciousness last night,' she boasted, before tagging both Laura and Dalton. Holding her close: Three weeks ago, Ash shared a photo of herself and Dalton dressed to the nines at a foodie event at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne '16 hour lamb, duck fat potatoes, flat bread, apple tarte tatin... You name it, I made it. Typically they both probably went for runs this morning. Me? I went to brunch.' Amusingly, Ash's comedian friend Joel Creasy - co-host of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!'s after show - commented: 'Stilllll waiting on a dinner invite'. While romance may not have been on the menu that night - it certainly was not the first time that Ash has enjoyed some quality time with Dalton. Last month, she shared a snap of the pair on Instagram while attending a Formula 1-related Tag Heuer event at the Luminaire nightclub in South Melbourne. Man's best friend! When he's not dressed up in well-tailored suits, the lifestyle mogul appears to enjoy his downtime in more casual, sporty ensembles Looking gorgeous in an Aurelio Costarella black dress, she playfully referred to Dalton as her 'date' for the night in the caption. And three weeks ago, she shared a photo of herself and Dalton dressed to the nines at a foodie event at Flemington Racecourse. Once again, she praised her sharp-looking companion in the most complimentary tones - by comparing him to her first love, food. 'This specimen has the cheek to be utterly delectable sometimes (if not all of the time). 'Perhaps equally as delectable as yesterday's @flemingtonvrc Grazing Trail and Cellar Door luncheon,' she concluded. She then added the hash-tags: 'So suave' and 'You're never too old to have a crush'. Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Ash Pollard's representatives for comment. She may have found stardom as a sassy housewife on popular television franchise Real Housewives Of Melbourne. But it appears the hit show wasn't Gamble Breaux's first small-screen debut. Before her fame, the now glamourous 45-year-old featured in a very corny television commercial promoting a men's hair restoration product. Scroll down for video Back to her acting roots! Before her fame, Gamble Breaux featured in a very corny television commercial promoting a men's hair restoration product In the uncovered footage, which is believed to have aired more than nine years ago, the Melbourne socialite puts on quite the cringeworthy performance. Appearing as a blonde bombshell called Megan, a much younger Gamble first appears clad in sexy lingerie as she emerges from the bedroom to undress behind the advert's male star. Combing his hair in the mirror, the handsome but awkward talent makes a startling confession to the camera about his hair thinning problems. Corny: In the uncovered footage, which is believed to have aired more than nine years ago, the Melbourne socialite puts on quite the cringeworthy performance 'You know, when I started going out with Megan, I told her I tried out for the Olympic diving team. 'I even told her my ex-girlfriend was runner-up in the Miss Universe contest. He goes on to add: 'What I didn't tell her was that I had a thinning hair problem.' Vixen: Appearing as a blonde bombshell named Megan in the commercial, a much younger Gamble first appears clad in sexy lingerie as she emerges from the bedroom to undress behind the advert's male star Bombshell: Gamble then throws on a bright-green figure hugging dress as she admires herself in the mirror Gamble then throws on a bright green figure-hugging dress as she admires herself in the mirror before seductively walking up to her beau whilst playfully fiddling with her earrings. 'C'mon honey, we're going to be late,' she coos at the gentleman. Gamble then hugs her man from behind as she compliments him on his hair. 'I just love your hair,' she murmurs whilst running her hands through his luscious dark mane. The pair then giggle before leaning in for an affectionate embrace. 'C'mon honey, we're going to be late': Gamble then seductively walks up to her beau whilst playfully fiddling with her earrings 'I just love your hair': Gamble then hugs her man as she compliments him on his hair Way back when: The pair giggle before leaning in for an affectionate embrace While acting may not be Gamble's forte, the blonde beauty has seen immense success on her popular reality series Real Housewives Of Melbourne. Currently in its third series, the hit show recently featured the former art consultant's wedding to renowned eye surgeon Dr Rick Wolfe. The lavish beachside ceremony took place in Byron Bay and was attended by Gamble's fellow RHOM co-stars - Janet Roach, Gina Liano, Pettifleur Berenger, Chyka Keebaugh, Jackie Gilles, Lydia Schiavello and Susie McLean. He passed away when she was just 11 years old. To mark her 18th birthday Paris Jackson got a tattoo tribute dedicated to her late father Michael Jackson. The young woman posted a snap on Tuesday to Instagram from a tattoo parlor as she revealed her new inking. Scroll down for video To mark her 18th birthday Paris Jackson got a tattoo tribute dedicated to her late father Michael Jackson Paris, who celebrated her milestone birthday on Sunday, had the words 'Queen of My Heart' tattooed on her wrist in her father's handwriting. 'To everyone else he was the King of Pop,' she captioned the image. 'To me, well, he was the king of my heart.' Paris got her inking at Timeless Tattoo 738 by LA based artist Justin Lewis. 'Archangel': Paris paid a touching tribute to the late Michael Jackson last month Paris Michael Jackson got her tattoo today, letters from her father, so sweet. #parisjackson and Austin Brown her cousin. A photo posted by Justin's Dermagraphink Tattoo (@dermagraphink) on Apr 5, 2016 at 2:59pm PDT The tattoo artist wrote on his own Instagram account: 'Paris Michael Jackson got her tattoo today, letters from her father, so sweet'. June 25th will mark the seven year anniversary of the King Of Pop's death. Michael passed away in 2009 at the age of 50. He left behind three children, including Paris. She is the only daughter of the late King of Pop, and has 19-year-old brother Prince Michael and 14-year-old brother 'Blanket' (whose real name is also Prince Michael). June 25th will mark the seven year anniversary of the King Of Pop's death. Michael passed away in 2009 at the age of 50. He left behind three children, including Paris (seen here in 2003) Paris returned to the Jackson family estate in Calabasas a little over a year ago, following a stint at a therapeutic girls' boarding school in Utah - the result of a suicide attempt in 2013. She recently hit back at critics in an Instagram post and revealed that she has been attending AA meeting. After sharing an illustration which received hundreds of comments, Paris replied by telling her followers she doesn't appreciate being criticised for not responding to every single person - especially the 'negative' ones. It has been almost five years since the final Harry Potter movie debuted in cinemas. But Evanna Lynch, who found fame portraying lovable and quirky Luna Lovegood, certainly hasn't forgotten her roots. The 24-year-old cast her magic over the red carpet at the opening of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood on Tuesday. Lady Lovegood in red: Evanna Lynch cast her magic at the opening of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Hollywood on Tuesday Evanna was joined by some of her former co-stars: Tom Felton, who portrayed Draco Malfoy, Oliver and James Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley and Warwick Davis, who played Professor Filius Flitwick and Griphook the goblin. The actress sported a tight-fitting shiny red dress, highlighting her lovely figure. Evanna styled her blonde hair in curls and wore dramatic eye make-up and lots of lipstick, but dressed her look down with a pair of lace-up leopard print shoes. The Irish beauty explored the attractions at the park last week - which include shops and restaurants in Hogsmeade, a Harry Potter And The Forbidden Journey ride through Hogwarts, and a Flight Of The Hippogriff roller coaster. Bewitching: The 24-year-old teamed her slinky red dress with leopard print shoes and lots of glam make-up She hasn't forgotten her roots: Evanna portrayed lovable and quirky Luna Lovegood in the franchise. She is seen here in a scene from Order Of The Phoenix Several other celebrities were also at the opening night on Monday, with Vanessa Hudgens, Steven Spielberg and Mindy Kaling all showing their support. Billy Bob Thornton, Thandie Newton, Ed O'Neill and Mario Lopez also brought along their children to join in the fun. In January, Evanna joined Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) and Katie Leung (Cho Chang) at a Celebration of Harry Potter held at the theme park in Orlando, Florida. Suave Slytherin: Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) cut a dapper figure in a suit jacket and pale blue trousers Double the fun: Oliver and James Phelps, who played Fred and George Weasley, were also at the bash While preview days have been taking place at the park in Los Angeles for the past several weeks, it officially opens to the public on April 7. Since wrapping up work on the Harry Potter franchise, Evanna has appeared in movies such as G.B.F, Addiction: A 60's Love Story and My Name Is Emily. Evanna recently revealed why she decided to speak publicly about her battle with anorexia, which began at the age of 11, after she became famous. 'I think it's because I felt like I was being dishonest by omission,' she told Ireland's Sunday World Magazine. Charmed, I'm sure!: Warwick Davis (Professor Filius Flitwick) wore Ravenclaw blue for the event They're Potterheads too!: Vanessa Hudgens (L) and Mindy Kaling were among the A-listers checking out the rides 'I had talked about how I had a relationship with JK Rowling, writing to her beforehand, that it meant a lot to me. People would ask: "Why did she write to you?" 'And it was because I was sick, and I was asking for advice, and telling her how much her books had helped me, and that was what touched her.' She added: 'I didn't anticipate this, but it helped me get distance from it. Talking about it makes you reflect on it, and it makes you say, "That is the past." 'It's very hard to let go of an eating disorder, to say, "I'm enough, I don't need that any more. I'm past that."' They each put on a smouldering display when out in Cannes earlier this week. But Jonathan Rhys Meyers and fiancee Mara Lane both ditched the glamour in favour of more relaxed in-flight togs when they stepped out of Los Angeles' LAX airport on Tuesday. Despite their lengthy flight, the couple appeared in high spirits as they exited the airport and returned to their home in the city. Scroll down for video Keeping it casual: Jonathan Rhys Meyers and girlfriend Mara Lane both ditched the glamour in favour of more relaxed in-flight togs when they stepped out of Los Angeles' LAX airport on Tuesday Jonathan looked as casual as they come in a knitted teal jumper, which he teamed with easy black sweatpants and trainers. He layered the look beneath a leather jacket which was emblazoned with an array of zips and fastenings for that added pizzazz. The Tudors actor looked to want to go under the radar as he concealed his famous profile beneath a grey beanie hat and over-sized sunglasses, tilting his head down toward the floor as he walked. All smiles! Mara didn't seem fazed by photographers as they departed the airport, flashing a coy smile beneath her aviator shades and the sizable hood of her tan coat Pared-back: Jonathan looked as casual as they come in a knitted teal jumper, which he teamed with black sweatpants and trainers Mara seemed less fazed by photographers as they departed the airport, flashing a coy smile beneath her aviator shades and the sizable hood of her tan coat. The actress exuded some serious bohemian vibes in a hippy-inspired T-shirt and billowing flares which were adorned in a colourful paisley print. Mara looked to have been keeping herself entertained on the long-haul flight with some of her favourite tunes as she hung her headphones coolly around her neck, her hands rested nonchalantly in the pockets of her coat. The loved-up couple - who have been engaged since December 2014 - were last spotted in Cannes together, where Mara was on hand to support her man at the photocall of his upcoming TV series, Roots. But the rather chivalrous Jonathan wasted no time doting on his wife, lending her his coat when she began to feel the chill - even going as far as to drape it over his fiancee's shoulders for her. Boho babe: Mara exuded some serious bohemian vibes in a hippy-inspired T-shirt and billowing flares which were adorned in a colourful paisley print Jonathan looks to have come a long way since his relapse in May 2015, when shocking images emerged of Meyers looking dishevelled as he drank vodka straight from the bottle. Following the relapse, The Tudors star, who has battled alcohol issues for over a decade, apologised to his fans in a statement released via his fiancee's. Instagram account. Alongside an image of the couple he wrote: 'Mara and I are thankful for your support and kindness during this time. 'I apologizes [sic] for having a minor relapse and hope that people don't think too badly of me.' Meyers continued: 'I stopped drinking immediately and it is no reflection on Damascus Cover (a film he starred in last year) as I was not meant to attend Cannes this year and I apologize to fans and colleagues.' 'I am on the mend and thank well wishers and sorry for my disheveled appearance as I was on my way home from a friends and had not changed'. Sofia Vergara gave an insight into her healthy home on Tuesday, when she was seen leaving a UPS store with a bulk buy of healthy smoothies. And the actress was showing off the results in her skintight workwear as she was helped to her car with three boxes full in Wilmington, North Carolina. Sofia, 43, married 39-year-old Magic Mike hunk Joe Manganiello last year, so it's little surprise that the acting duo are keen to stock up on their health foods at the Fresh Market. Scroll down for video Healthy feeling: Sofia Vergara was seen leaving Fresh Market in Wilmington, North Carolina on Tuesday with a stack full of smoothie boxes The Modern Family star looked like she was returning from a gym session as she sported black and white running shoes. Her gym gear - a pair of contoured leggings and a loose sweat top - were doing a great job of showing off just how in-shape she was, too. Sofia was in high spirits, thanking the accommodating UPS staffer with a smile after balancing one of the giant boxes on her hip while opening the car. Showing the results: The actress gave an insight into her healthy home as she showed off her shape in workout wear Sofia and Joe are no doubt happy to be settled back at home after their busy careers have been keeping them on the move since their wedding in Palm Beach, Florida. Settling into happily married life, Sofia recently told Harper's Bazaar Arabia that she and Joe are not in any hurry to have children. The 43-year-old said: 'I cannot just expect anything natural anymore. We'll see what happens. It's not something that doesn't let us sleep. But it's not something I am completely opposed to.' Healthy home: The brunette was helped to her car after picking up three sizeable boxes of fresh goods Sofia has one child, 23-year-old son Manolo, from her first marriage to Joe Gonzalez, which ended after two years in 1993. 'I was a single mom for a long time and he always supported and helped me, made it easy to be able to work. 'I never had to worry about him. When you have a problem all the time, you are unable to be creative and think. As a single mother, I was able to do everything I wanted to do.' She's spent the last few days getting to know her new so-called girlfriend. And Gabi Grecko, the estranged wife of Australian businessman Geoffrey Edelsten, is making the most of Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan's beachside Malibu house where she staged a playful shoot. With her ample assets barely being contained by a sparkly gold bikini top, the 26-year-old posed in a pair of pink high-waisted frilly underpants brandishing a giant lollipop. Scroll down for video Where to look? Gabi Grecko styled a steamy photoshoot featuring a giant lollipop and put her ample assets on display in a tiny gold bikini top Sporting a platinum blonde wig, the Maxim model holds the novelty candy in one hand while the other parts the revealing swimwear top as she looks seductively into the camera. In another picture, taken by photographer Bob Delgadillo, Gabi sticks out her tongue and playfully licks the wrapped sweet as she leans onto the balcony railing. She opted for a full face of make-up, finishing her look with sultry smokey eyes, nude lipstick and pink blush while accessorising with chandelier earrings and multiple bracelets. Continuing the steamy shoot, Gabi poses in a very pink wardrobe while wearing PJs and pink G-string, which she matches with a pair of platform high heels. Playful: Sporting a platinum blonde wig, the Maxim model holds the novelty candy in one hand as she peers seductively into the camera Beach side: The pictures were taken by photographer Bob Delgadillo at the Malibu house of Gabi's new girlfriend, reality star Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan Gabi pulls her top up suggestively as she stares into the distance as piles of clothes fall around her knees. In another shot, the giant lollipops make another appearance as Gabi holds onto them and smiles at the camera, this time sporting longer auburn coloured locks. Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail Australia, Gabi said the playful shoot was the result of her own doing. Steamy: In another series of shots, the 26-year-old poses in a very pink wardrobe wearing nothing but a G-string and IPJ shirt which she pulls up suggestively Sweet! The giant lollipops make another appearance as Gabi poses in a walk-in wardrobe 'I styled the shoot, I thought it was cute, it's a real life size lollipop,' the busty model said. While Gabi's unique personality is displayed in the series of photos, the American also said she's comfortable within herself when asked why she wanted to licked the wrapped candy. 'I'm not a rational person, I've realized and accepted I'll never be normal,' Gabi went on to say, 'I'm a weirdo so I didn't even think of why.' All the same: The Barbie-like photo featured endless amounts of pink stiletto high heels as well as mini-dresses and matching handbags Earlier in the week, Gaby jetted into Malibu to spend time with new flame former Celebrity Big Brother star 'Frenchy', 40, and it wasn't long before the two combined their eccentric wardrobe. Taking to social media, Gabi shared an image of their closet to social media with the caption: 'When two become one'. The Barbie-like photo featured endless amounts of pink stiletto high heels as well as mini-dresses and matching coloured handbags. First rendezvous: Gabi became acquainted with her new flame Angelique 'Frenchy' Morgan in bed after jetting to Malibu to meet her on Tuesday In-between the shelves of accessorises featured randomly placed hair extensions of different tones as well as numerous bras which fell messily on the floor. Gabi's iconic Moschino crop top and skirt were also seen in the middle of the shot, placed tightly between a black and gold jacket and orange handbag. Moments after the social media posts Gabi gushed about her new romance with the older woman, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'She's an amazing woman, we're taking things really slow.' 'I'm really happy': Gabi announced last week she was bisexual and in love with an older woman Gabi, who declared last week she was bisexual, added: 'I'm really happy, I've waited a long time to meet her after talking and Skyping for so long.' Celebrity Big Brother star 'Frenchy', 40, said for her part: 'We've been in bed all day, first time for us in bed, were about to fall asleep and are going to spend some quality time together.' The former exotic dancer from Paris added: 'We're double trouble. And, yes, I'm bisexual too'. Getting acquainted: Frenchy was seen topless in bed while Gabi was seen wearing pjs with the words I love New York peppered over it In the snaps of the pair flaunting their new romance in bed, Frenchy is seen toples posing with her peroxide locks draped strategically over her chest, while Gabi was seen wearing pjs. They strike a variety of poses and both appeared a little bleary-eyed. When it comes to spying out season trends she is among the first to know the deal. So putting her knowledge to good use, Karlie Kloss looked great on Tuesday in New York City as she ushered in the spring. Doing well to showcase her model frame, the 23-year-old was chic in a casual ensemble as she hid behind a pair of stylish shades. Scroll Down For Video Looking the part: Karlie Kloss ushered in the spring on Tuesday as she stepped out in New York City The statuesque beauty was as fashionable as ever as she opted for the laid back look. For her day out in the Big Apple, Karlie slipped into a moss green mini knitted jumper dress. But keeping warm as the last of the winter chill departs, Kloss wore a pair of opaque tights with thigh high flat suede boots. Wearing her blonde hair loose in a centre parting, the former Victoria's Secrets model donned blacked out wayfarer sunglasses. Accessorising with a plain gold ring, Karlie finished her outfit with a small black leather bag. Effortless: The 23-year-old slipped into a moss green mini knitted jumper dress teamed with thigh high boots The Chicago born star's outing comes after she spoke candidly about her younger years in an interview with Glamour. Speaking to the magazine, Karlie discussed her time at Webster Groves High School in her native Missouri and how she did not waste time with boys. She said: 'I was absolutely and totally not popular with the boys partly because I was so good in terms of academics and ballet, but also because I didnt have time to waste on boys. 'I did get teased a lot though, because I was so tall and skinny.' The news that the Loch Ness Monster has been sighted in London's River Thames has clearly set some people on edge. And none more so than Rylan Clark, who completely lost his nerve during the live broadcast of This Morning on Wednesday. The presenter looked terrified as he glanced out the window at the start of the programme to the water behind him to try to catch a glimpse of the fabled water monster, before later being terrified by his co-star Ruth Langsford during a prank. Scroll down for video Shock! Rylan Clark lost his nerve on This Morning on Wednesday, as Ruth Langsford pranked him, pretending to see the Loch Ness Monster in the River Thames The 27-year-old former X Factor star was clearly shaken by the idea that the Loch Ness-based beast, which is largely believed to be the stuff of legend, is in the British capital and has been obsessing over it. Recent footage of the Thames taken by a member of public on the Emirates Airline cable cars showed what looked like a large creature in the water, swimming past Greenwich's O2 Arena. And while they have been chatting about the supposed sighting on the show, it all got a bit too much for Rylan as Ruth played a prank on him, causing him to act hysterically in a panic. In a split-second move while they sat on the sofa in front of the windows, the 56-year-old presenter pretended to have seen something out of the window and in the river. Prank! Ruth, 56, played a joke on her 27-year-old co-star, pretending to see the legendary monster in the river outside the studio Panic: Rylan quickly leapt to his feet to see what she had been reacting to The hilarity! Ruth couldn't keep it together as she fell about laughing while Rylan acted hysterically As she gasped, a terrified Rylan quickly jumped up off the sofa and squealed, causing Ruth to fall about laughing at his reaction. Looking traumatised, the TV star said, his head in his hands: 'I thought there was something wrong! Feel my heart, look what you've done!' Ruth couldn't stop laughing while apologising, adding that she was surprised he reacted so quickly to her joke. Rylan, trying to calm down, explained: 'I didn't even think about the monster, I thought we were getting attacked, I thought someone come out the kitchen cupboard. 'You need to sort your life out Ruth!' 'You need to sort your life out Ruth!' Rylan was shocked at her trick as he added he thought they were being 'attacked' Meltdown: The former X Factor star had revealed earlier in the show that he was terrified by the idea of the Loch Ness Monster in the Thames Earlier in the show, Ruth had had fun winding him up as Rylan was freaked out by a shadow that fell over the Thames. 'There's something going on and I don't like it!' he said, much to Ruth's amusement, who attempted to tell him that it was probably just a seal. 'Look at the size of that crane and you call that a seal?' he remarked, getting hysterical. Also during the show, the lovable host joked that Nessie had come down to watch Adele perform at the O2 Arena. Scaredy-cat: He tried hard to pull himself together after his moment of panic Although Rylan may have been left rattled from the ordeal, fans of the ITV programme loved his reaction as they took to Twitter in their droves. 'Rylan on this morning kicking off about the Loch Ness monster in the Thames is the funniest,' wrote @xmollll. And @Charlie__Tweets added: 'Kind of wish @Rylan could see the Loch Ness monster to put him at ease. @itvthismorning.' One user made a quip about Rylan's bright white teeth, with @cooperbloke writing: 'Looks like that Loch Ness Monster going down the Thames is trying to give Rylan his old teeth back@itvthismorning.' Keeping watch: Ahead of the broadcast, the This Morning Twitter account shared a picture of Rylan looking over the Thames after reports claimed the Loch Ness Monster had been spotted in London's river Just an April Fool's prank? Footage captured by YouTube user Penn Plate showed a mysterious creature surfacing on the Thames before sinking back under the water User @doodleberry6000 commented: 'Omg just seen the Loch Ness monster behind the @itvthismorning window @Rylan.' While @GBrown84 was in fits of giggles, writing: 'Omg I love @Rylan he makes my morning @itvthismorning I was wetting myself with laughter at his antics over Grinny the Loch Ness monster!' And @ChloeGunn17 remarked: '@Rylan it's not the Loch Ness monster it's me coming to see u in my submarine I came a day early.' However, not everyone found his antics so amusing, with @southby85 mocking him: 'The Loch Ness don't exist in Scotland so why would it be in England only @Rylan would believe something like that.' Earlier in the week, footage shot by YouTube user Penn Plate showed a humped figure making its way through the huge river near the O2 Arena - before sinking back under the water. Penn said: 'This was on the cable car in Greenwich yesterday. Something huge was moving under the water and then briefly surfaced. 'Are there whales in the Thames? Or is it some weird submarine?' Stephanie Davis shocked fans when she unveiled her newly plumped pout on Instagram, prompting fans to liken her to Leslie Ash. And the CBB star's on/off boyfriend Jeremy McConnell has now jokingly suggested she won't be getting any more lip fillers following the cosmetic faux-pas. Sharing a black and white snap of the lovebirds cuddling up in bed on Snapchat, Jeremy can be seen making a thumbs down as he pulls a grumpy face. Scroll down for video Not a fan! Jeremy seemingly joked he was 'never again' letting his girlfriend Stephanie Davis get lip fillers following her recent transformation The Irish model captioned the snap, 'Never again', and shared a string of sick face emojis. Stephanie can be seen nestling up to her shirtless beau under the covers, her lips puckered in an over-the-top pout. Jeremy seems to be suggesting he's certainly no fan of Stephanie's new look, which caused quite the stir on social media. The former Hollyoaks actress revealed at the weekend that she underwent a light touch of surgery, and has had lip fillers to plump her pout as well as brightening her bottle blonde locks even more. Shock! Fans aired their concerns over Stephanie's new appearance - complete with plumped-up pout and brightened bottle blonde locks - following the posting of his snap with boyfriend Jeremy and David Gest However, as Jeremy shared a new photo of them on Instagram, the 23-year-old has faced a slew of negative comments about her new aesthetic, with many fans sharing their concerns over her altered face. One follower on the social media site even compared the young Celebrity Big Brother star to actress Leslie Ash, who famously sported a trout pout after botched surgery left her with inflated lips. Instagram user jadelouiseb commented underneath the image, which showed Steph and Jeremy posing with their former CBB co-star David Gest: 'Steph looks like Lesley ash here, maybe she should go back dark and stop getting her lips done!' New look: Until early February, Steph sported naturally dark brunette locks and her lips were notably smaller pre-cosmetic enhancement Likened to Leslie: Writing under Jeremy's Instagram picture, some pointed out that the 23-year-old bore a likeness to Leslie Ash, who suffered from botched lip surgery Uncanny? With her brightened blonde locks and larger pout, the former Hollyoaks star looked similar to the Men Behaving Badly actress (pictured in 2006) And, although former brunette Steph has been a blonde since mid-February, she has gone one further and also took her mane a few shades lighter earlier this week, another factor in her striking new appearance. With her skin tanned and her lips and smile notably larger, the Stephanie who became a household name at the start of the year on the Channel 5 reality show was almost unrecognisable. Other comments shared under 25-year-old Irish hunk Jeremy's photo ranged from the shocked to the derogatory, most of them simply questioning what she has done to herself. Concern: Plenty of fans left concerned and shocked messages under the image on Instagram Instagram user kimberley95x wrote: '@sivealive look at her,' while her pal replied: '@kimberley95x omg naaaaa.' Another Jeremy fan, kirstencx, commented: 'Wtf!! Is with that face!!!' 'Whys her face swollen up? :( (sic),' added taraskelton, and kristina.lauren opined: 'Looks like she's had lips and cheek filler done too. She's so young such a shame she doesn't need that.' As well as comparisons to former Men Behaving Badly star Leslie's surgery-enhanced appearance, Stephanie was also likened to others, including designer Donatella Versace and former glamour model Jodie Marsh. xkt.noahx scoffed: 'Omg shes starting to look like donna tella vers (sic).' And oliviathatcher questioned: 'I don't know why she looks like Jodie marsh.' There were plenty of other comments on the social networking site to reflect the shock of Stephanie's new look. User n_aomix simply wrote 'look the state', and cynchiangel remarked that Steph 'looks older now'.lucindajohnstone@ohrach wait ...wtf happened to her face Plenty of those leaving comments added that Steph needed no work done, with turkstagram__ adding: 'She turned into a chipmunk.' murielbrookes727 wrote: 'No need for all that done to ur face.' One of the most pleading comments, from debbietaylor85, read: 'Wow !! @jeremymcconnellcooke what has she done to her face !!! She was GORGEOUS before she started having work done!! Stop her from ruining her looks !!' Leslie has previously been very candid about her lips, and several years ago admitted that she wanted fillers to make herself look more beautiful. More comparisons: Steph was also compared to fashion designer Donatella Versace Speaking to FEMAIL, she explained: 'The lips had everything to do with vanity. Id had it done before by a friend's mum, a plastic surgeon from Venezuela, and it was really lovely. So, I hit 40, and thought, "I'm going to have that done again." I just wanted to look like Liz Hurley or Meg Ryan. I used to look at magazines and think, "What's she had done?" She looks amazing. 'But this time, my friend's mum used a completely different product. I should have known something was up because she put in so many more injections.' After her face plumped up to a startling degree - and did not subside - it was later discovered following an MRI scan that the surgeon in question had injected her lips with liquid silicone rather than collagen. Leslie was horrified when she saw herself in the mirror, particularly when the swelling failed to subside. She confronted the plastic surgeon, who refused to say what she had injected her with. In the following months Leslie underwent an MRI scan, after which it was discovered she had been injected with liquid silicone, rather than a more commonly used filler such as collagen. Before and after: Stephanie treated herself a spot of pampering as she had her lips cosmetically enhanced with fillers on Saturday and shared the results on Instagram Pout it out: Stephanie - who also lightened her blonde hair - made the most of her new lips as she posed pouting up a storm Blonde beauty: Stephanie found time to revisit the salon on Friday as she showed off her new more even locks after being mocked for her original dyed tresses Another sweet photograph shared on Jeremy's page showed them locking lips in a sweet smooch, just days after she got her fillers. Earlier this week, Steph shared a before and after photo of her pout, writing along with the snap: 'Wooo @aestheticallyyou for my lush lips forever the best! #natural #bow #kiss #readyformykisses.' The treatment involves injecting the lips with a gel-like product that helps fill out their appearance and define the cupids bow and was made famous by the likes of Kylie Jenner and Geordie Shore's Charlotte Crosby. Meanwhile, Stephanie and Jeremy appear to be back on the track with their romance, having recently reunited for the fourth time. Their latest break-up came earlier this month when the Irish model was accused on cheating with Stephanie with five women. As she was: Stephanie has had a whirlwind three months so far this year, going through three break-ups and four reunions with Jeremy while altering her image But the blonde beauty - who hooked up with Jeremy during their CBB stint in January - later took to Twitter to clear up the confusion as she 'I can confirm the messages supposedly sent from Jeremy aren't true. 'Everyone can hate and say what they like, but at the end of the day I met a boy who I fell in love with. 'It's been hard with all the press and tweets, have all you not experienced heartache. It's been so hard for us. And if you could all see the pain I've been in and him you would understand. 'Yes you're right and I won't be posting my life on social media. But when you meet someone you love and can't live without, you know its real. 'This week has been the worst week of my life and I just want to be happy. Against me or not I'll do what I have to do and follow my heart. Where sets what will be will be. She finished: 'There's a lot u don't know only by what papers say. It's my life and my choice, I might be wrong I might be right... I can only follow my heart & I hope.' They've been hard at work filming xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. But Ruby Rose broke away from routine on Tuesday and proved there's never a dull moment when she's around. The teal haired 30-year-old, who was spotted on the Toronto, Canada set in a black jacket with gold buttons, enacted her revenge on co-star Nina Dobrev with a hilarious prank that left the Vampire Diaires actress completely in stitches. Scroll down for video Never a dull moment: Ruby Rose enacted her revenge on co-star Nina Dobrev during a break from filming xXx 3: The Return Of Xander Cage in Toronto, Canada on Tuesday Just face it! Rose had Nina in stitches when she surprised her by placing countless photos of herself in her trailer on Tuesday The moment was captured on Ruby's Instagram account, who shared a video of Nina entering her trailer as she was confronted with countless images of the Orange Is The New Black actress. As Nina, 27, laughed, Ruby feigned concern, asking, 'What the hell is this, man? Dude, this is not okay. Are you obsessed with me?' The photos were actually placed by Ruby, who captioned the video, 'When you go to say hi to @ninadobrev but she has 100 photos in her trailer of you and it's awkward because you're trying to be professional..' The prank was done in retaliation for one pulled on Ruby last week by Nina, who popped out of a corner and scared Ruby as she entered her trailer. See more of the latest on Ruby Rose as she enacts revenge on co-star Nina Dobrev 'Are you obsessed with me?' Dobrev couldn't contain her laughter as Ruby feigned concern Just look at you! The 27-year-old shared the numerous photos of Rose scattered throughout her trailer Simply stunning: Deepika Padukone was spotted in a bathrobe as she strolled through set with her brunette tresses styled in glossy waves Nina responded on her own Instagram account with a video of the photo collage, which she captioned, 'After I scared the crap out of her last week, she retaliated back. In true Narcissist fashion. By covering my entire trailer with photos of herself. Stay tuned y'all. The war has begun... #ScareWars...Watch your back Rose... Watch your back. @rubyrose #XXXtheMovie.' It seemed to be business as usual for Ruby and Nina's co-stars elsewhere on set, meanwhile. Deepika Padukone was spotted in a bathrobe as she strolled through set with her brunette tresses styled in glossy waves. Staying in the loop: Deepika took a phone call in between takes Bedroom chic! The stunning 30-year-old teamed her bathrobe with a pair of comfy fur-lined boots Red alert: Nina was also bundled up in her red down jacket and boots, with a sexy leather skirt adding a glam touch The stunning 30-year-old had a slick of ruby red lipstick on and also sported a pair of comfy fur-lined boots. Nina was also bundled up in her red down jacket and boots, while flashing a bit of skin with her sexy leather skirt. Tony Jaa, 40, meanwhile, faced the chilly Toronto temperatures in a long black coat and slouchy trousers. The plot thickens: xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage follows extreme sportsman Xander Cage, played by Hollywood veteran Vin Diesel, who returns from a near death experience to take on another tough mission xXx: The Return Of Xander follows extreme sportsman Xander Cage, played by Hollywood veteran Vin Diesel, who returns from a near death experience to take on another tough mission. The movie, which is scheduled for release in January 2017, will also star fellow Australian actress Toni Collette and Samuel L. Jackson. Nina stars as Rebecca 'Becky' while Ruby has joined the cast as Adele Wolff. Look who's here! Tony Jaa, meanwhile, faced the chilly Toronto temperatures in a long black coat and slouchy trousers Star-studded: The movie, which is scheduled for release in January 2017, will also star fellow Australian actress Toni Collette and Samuel L. Jackson Ruby captured mainstream attention last year when she joined the cast of Orange Is The New Black in season three, playing sassy Litchfield inmate Stella Carlin - a romantic interest for the critically-acclaimed Netflix series' lead Piper Chapman. After captivating a new fan following from the American comedy-drama, the tattooed beauty secured a number of modelling gigs and roles in new movies, including Resident Evil: The Final Chapter and John Wick: Chapter Two. She recently received a special award for her contribution to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at the 27th annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday. She might have called time on her marriage to husband Professor Green in February. But Millie Mackintosh has quickly proved she isn't one to sit around moping as the Made in Chelsea star enjoys her sixth holiday of the year. The 26-year-old beauty can now add Verona, Italy, to her endless list of destinations as she once again frequented her Instagram account with photos from her cultural sojourn. Scroll down for video Sun-seeker! Millie Mackintosh has quickly proved she isn't one to sit around moping as the Made in Chelsea star enjoys her sixth holiday of the year The reality TV star has no doubt sent her 1.2 million followers green with envy after posting countless snaps from her city break, which has already seen her attend the Calzedonia fashion show and gorge on pasta and wine in copious supply. The fashion designer has been sampling designs from her own range during the trip, including a pretty floral tea dress that was perfect for flaunting her long, bronzed legs. Her latest break comes as a source tells MailOnline that Millie's former flame Professor Green - real name Stephen Manderson - is happy to watch his ex move on. Ciao! The 26-year-old beauty can now add Verona, Italy, to her endless list of destinations as she once again frequented her Instagram account with photos from her cultural sojourn Jet-setter: The reality TV star has no doubt sent her 1.2 million followers green with envy after posting countless snaps from her city break Busy bee! The fashionista stopped to watch the Calzedonia fashion show earlier this week 'Stephen feels that who Millie sees is none of his business now as they're not together anymore. 'He's happy for her to move on,' they conceded. And while the 32-year-old is enjoying a stint in new reality TV series Drive, it seems Millie is choosing to move on by hotfooting across the globe. As well as Verona, the fitness enthusiast has already jetted off to Portugal, Dubai, Sydney and Florence this year alone, with the latter marking her final trip with Profession Green. Buon appetito! Millie has been indulging in pasta and wine in copious supply Amicable: Her latest break comes as a source tells MailOnline that Millie's former flame Professor Green - real name Stephen Manderson - is happy to watch his ex move on The romantic getaway - which saw Millie post a particularly loved-up snap of herself and her husband sharing a tender kiss in front of Milan Cathedral - came just weeks before the duo announced that they were ending their marriage. MILLIE'S HOLIDAYS Maldives: The beauty kicked off her sun-seeking with a two-week break in the Maldives with one of her close pals in January. Florence: Less than a month later, Millie jetted off to Florence, Italy, for a romantic weekend getaway with husband Professor Green - a holiday that wound up being their last together. Sydney: Shortly after announcing her split, the former Made in Chelsea star flew across the globe to the famous Australian city in early March, where she bonded with her gal pals, including Natasha Oakley. Portugal: Surrounded by her girlfriends, health guru Millie and her pals flew out to Portugal where they indulged in a detox juice retreat - posting plenty of envy-inducing bikini snaps along the way. Dubai: Never one to miss a lavish event, Millie escaped her London pad to fly out to Dubai in late March, where she attended the British Polo Day event. Verona: Millie's most recent holiday has seen her hotfoot across to the rather romantic Verona, though this time she is without a man and once again in the company of her girlfriends. Advertisement In a joint statement released at the time, the spouses - who have been married for two and a half years - said: 'It is with sadness and regret that we confirm our separation. 'It is a mutual decision, we still care deeply about each other and would like it to be known it is on amicable terms and we wish each other well.' And things certainly seem to be amicable between the pair as Professor Green jumped to the defence of his estranged wife on social media over the weekend. After it was rumoured that Millie had abandoned her beloved bull terrier, Arthur, following the end of their marriage, the rapper took to Twitter on Saturday to reveal that the story was categorically untrue. In a post shared with his 2.13million followers, Stephen declared that the author and health guru 'loves Arthur to bits'. Taking aim at reports that Millie had abandoned their dog and had angered him by refusing to see the white bull terrier in the weeks since their split in February, the rapper poked fun at the situation declaring he'd had 'enough of dog-gate'. And in a further twist to the canine conundrum, he appeared to deny the couple owned another dog they were reported to have re-homed last year. The Read All About it hit-maker succinctly addressed the matter, tweeting: 'I don't know who belle is but enough of dog-gate. Millie loves Arthur to bits and I have no anger at the situation.' Stephen's defence comes just shortly after a photo emerged of Millie sharing an intimate moment with former Made in Chelsea co-star Hugo Taylor while at the British Polo in Dubai last month. A lot can change in two months! Millie's last trip to Italy marked her final getaway with husband Professor Green. The trip came just weeks before they announced their separation Beach babe: Millie once again stripped down to her bikini as she holidayed in Dubai just weeks before her latest break Health guru: Surrounded by her girlfriends, Millie and her pals flew out to Portugal where they indulged in a detox juice retreat - posting plenty of envy-inducing bikini snaps along the way No distance is too far! Shortly after announcing her split, the former Made in Chelsea star flew across the globe to the famous Australian city in early March, where she bonded with her gal pals Wearing a blue and white dress, the same she was pictured in on her Instagram, Millie was seen with her arms around sunglasses entrepreneur Hugo as they kissed at a table at the event. An onlooker at the Polo said Millie appeared to be emotional and covered her face as she chatted quietly to Hugo. The fellow polo-goer told The Sun: 'They looked very cosy and seemed to be very close again.' Lovely set of coconuts! The beauty kicked off her sun-seeking with a two-week break in the Maldives with one of her close pals in January She's a devout follower of trainer to the stars Tracy Anderson's method. And Ashlee Simpson was paying yet another visit to Gwyneth Paltrow's BFF's exercise studios in Los Angeles on Tuesday, looking ready to work up a sweat. The 31-year-old singer - who has nine-month-old daughter Jagger Snow with her husband Evan Ross - was rocking an all-black sportswear look, adding a designer edge to the ensemble with a $4,500 Fendi handbag. Scroll down for video Sporty style: Ashlee Simpson was ready for action as she arrived at Tracy Anderson's studios in Los Angeles on Tuesday Ashlee looked ready for action in her cropped leggings and zip-up fleece top, set off with burgundy trainers. The pop star pulled her hair back into a high ponytail and shielded her eyes behind a pair of designer shades. She looked the picture of health, showing off her toned legs in her form-fitting leggings. Fighting fit: The 31-year-old singer looked sensational in a pair of black cropped leggings and a zip-up fleece as she prepared for her workout Ashlee has been a disciple of Tracy Anderson's method for years and even followed the exercise plan - favoured by the likes of Jennifer Lopez and Madonna - while pregnant. The star has been enjoying every minute of parenthood so far as she and Evan, the son of Motown legend Diana Ross, focus on raising their daughter. She told AOL: 'In general, your second child is way more laid back. Designer touch: The star went high end when it came to her accessories, toting a $4,500 Fendi handbag 'I was pretty laid back with [my first child] Bronx, but this time you definitely know what you're getting into it. The Boyfriend hitmaker also confessed that her seven-year-old son Bronx Mowgli - who she has with her ex-husband, rocker Pete Wentz - has been a great help with his little sister. She said: 'He can calm her down and tell her it's OK, entertain her, and dance with her. He's a really good big brother.' If she's still struggling with a broken heart, you wouldn't know it to look at her. But newly-single Lindy Klim has shown there's no point dwelling in the past as she stepped out on Wednesday for the launch of the annual White Shirt Campaign at the Sydney Opera House. The 37-year-old Balinese Princess looked glowing as she posed for the cameras with Vogue fashion associate and friend Petta Chua. Scroll down for video Girls' night: Lindy Klim (R) attended the White Shirt Campaign, dressing in theme for the event donning a white dress shirt, with pal Chua (L) at The Sydney Opera House on Wednesday In theme: Lindy dressed in theme for the event donning a white dress shirt that featured a silky bow and long sleeves The mother-of-three dressed in theme for the event, donning a silk white dress shirt from Witchery that featured a large bow and long sleeves. She put on a leggy display teaming the trendy shirt with a navy knee-length skirt and black ankle boots. She kept her dark brunette locks out for the event which complimented her dewy complexion and finished her night time look with bronzer and nude lipstick. Moving on: Shortly after the news of her separation from husband, Olympic swimmer Michael, Lindy was seen with a mystery male companion as she arrived at Heathrow airport in London Meanwhile her petite friend Petta paired skinny jeans and black heeled boots with a white shirt that sported oversized sleeves and a high collar. The beauty lent her support to the campaign, which aims to help save lives of women around the country by finding an early detection test for Ovarian Cancer. The outing comes after Lindy arrived back in Australia having spent the Easter break in Bali with her three children, Stella, 10, Rocco, seven and Frankie, four. Lindy and Olympic swimmer Michael Klim announced their separation in February this year after ten years of marriage. Long weekend break: Lindy and her children recently spent the Easter holidays in Bali. The Klims have been splitting their time between Melbourne and Bali, where the children attend school Last month Michael told The Daily Telegraph he only wants his ex to be 'happy,' saying: 'I want her to be happy and if that means her being with someone, that's great, and I'm sure it's vice versa. 'I am sure we will move on and we will be dating other people,' he said. 'Ultimately, I have respect for Lindy.' Best wishes: Michael (pictured)has said he wants Lindy to be 'happy'. Pictured at the Buro 24/7 Australia launch at the Sydney Opera House in 2015 In happier times: Lindy and Michael announced their split by way of a joint statement in February and are seen here with their children Stella, 10, Frankie, four, and Rocco, seven, in Melbourne in 2014 'I want her to be happy and if that means her being with someone, that's great, and I'm sure it's vice versa.' In the weeks that followed the news of their separation, Lindy was seen with a mystery male companion as she arrived at Heathrow airport in London at the beginning a European getaway. Michael, 38, has moved on, being seen recently in Bali with Lindy lookalike and fashion designer Desiree Deravi. The Klim's have been been based between both Bali and Melbourne with the children going to school in Bali. The former couple have their own natural skincare line, called Milk & Co. She's known for making people smile. And Melissa McCarthy was certain to do just that as she headed out of her hotel in New York on Wednesday, ready to tackle another day of promotional appearances for her new movie The Boss with a positive attitude. The 45-year-old was a breath of fresh air as she grinned and waved to photographers, looking chic in her black coat and chartreuse yellow Zara heels. Scroll down for video Morning sunshine! Melissa McCarthy won style points as she headed out of her hotel in New York on Wednesday in a chic grey scarf, black coat, and leather gloves Melissa also donned a grey scarf and a pair of eye-catching leather gloves. She accessorized with a large pair of sunglasses and metal teardrop earrings. Brightening up her complexion was a swipe of rose-hued blush and a glam hot pink slick of lipstick. It seemed Melissa was off for an appearance on Live With Kelly and Michael, where she spoke about her new new movie and her family. Putting her best foot forward! Melissa also won style points for her eye-catching Zara heels, which tied around her ankle The actress said she never tires of working with her husband Ben Falcone, who wrote and directed The Boss. 'It's how we met, it's why we became such good friends, it's always seemed really easy,' she told Kelly and guest co-host David Duchovny. The famous funny lady also revealed that she has a hard time impressing their two daughters Georgette, six, and Vivian, eight, with her antics. Going glam: Brightening up her complexion was a swipe of rose-hued blush and a hot pink slick of lipstick Elegant touch: The Tammy actress accessorized with a large pair of sunglasses and metal teardrop earrings Speaking of her sitcom Mike And Molly, Melissa said she was 'pretty heartbroken' to learn the show had been cancelled. The star also said the team had a hard time filming the last three episodes without shedding tears. Melissa had nothing but praise to offer her co-star Billy Gardell, who she called 'spectacular' and a 'gentleman', and even compared him to a brother. Multi-talented: Aside from being an A-list actress, the actress also has a line of plus-size clothing, Melissa McCarthy Seven7 During her appearance, Melissa donned a far more summery outfit than the one she was spotted in earlier that morning. Speaking in a video posted to Live With Kelly And Michael's Instagram account, the actress said the dress came from her very own fashion line, Melissa McCarthy Seven7. The off-white dress was buttoned-up at the front and also featured a rose design and collared neckline. Doing the rounds: McCarthy appeared on Live With Kelly And Michael, featuring guest host David Duchovny Hello petal: Speaking in a video posted to Live With Kelly And Michael's Instagram account, the actress said the dress came from her very own self-titled fashion line Teamwork: The Boss sees her play wealthy mogul Michelle Darnell, who must rely on her former assistant when she is left broke after a stint in federal prison for insider trading Drumming up interest: McCarthy also made an appearance with her husband Ben Falcone at AOL Build Series on Wednesday Melissa explained to Refinery29 in 2015 that she entered the clothing business after finding it 'very strange' that retailers didn't seem to always recognize that 'women come in all sizes'. 'Seventy per cent of women in the United States are a size 14 or above, and that's technically "plus-size," so you're taking your biggest category of people and telling them, "Youre not really worthy,"' she said. 'It doesnt make a lot of sense numbers-wise.' Melissa has been busy in the mean time promoting her new film The Boss. The movie sees her play wealthy mogul Michelle Darnell, who must rely on her former assistant when she is left broke after a stint in federal prison for insider trading. The film will be released on April 8. New look: Melissa now wore a pair of strappy black heels and a loose ocean blue top with matching trousers Cheerful: The star had a smile on her face as she wielded a sharpie before signing her autograph Having some fun: Falcone and his wife looked truly happy to be discussing their latest film together Iggy Azalea may have said that her relationship with Nick Young is 'good' leading many to believe that their winter nuptials are still on. But the 25-year-old rapper's face told a much different story on her latest outing. The Fancy hitmaker was spotted looking downtrodden while heading to a studio in the posh Los Angeles neighbourhood of Beverly Hills on Wednesday. Scroll down for video Downtrodden: Iggy Azalea had a sad look on her face while heading to a Beverly Hills studio on Wednesday Forgiven: Despite their recent drama, it looks as though Iggy and Nick Young's winter nuptials are definitely still on (pictured May 17) The trip came shortly after a Twitter user called Rat Emoji offered to call a moving van for Iggy on Tuesday, as she replied: 'lol, errrrr.... nick and i are good babe.' It's not completely surprising considering the Australian blonde attended Sunday's iHeartRadio Awards rocking her $500K, 10-carat yellow diamond engagement ring crafted by Jason of Beverly Hills. 'Peep the way when one thing happens media scrambles to keep adding on to the storyline, like a soap opera. #IggyNovela,' the Azillion hitmaker tweeted to her 6.1M followers on Monday. Leggy lady: The 25-year-old rapper wore a grey vest tucked into Daisy Dukes as she carried along an Apple Macbook Relaxing ride? Iggy let her hair blow in the wind as she drove her Jeep Wrangler Tough times: Despite her insistence that everything was 'good' on social media, the Aussie rapper did not seem to flash a single smile on the outing On March 24, her 30-year-old live-in fiance of 10 months was caught on tape in a leaked YouTube video discussing his dalliance with a 19-year-old in a nightclub. After the 6ft7in shooting guard's LA Lakers teammate admitted to shooting the clip last week, Azalea had suspiciously tweeted: 'hmmm i see D Angelo Russell is trending... I actually liked his film. Thanks bro.' On Monday, Nick reportedly retweeted (then deleted) a TMZ article titled 'Nick & Iggy Are Still Getting Hitched.' See the latest on Iggy Azalea as she confirms her engagement is still on with Nick Young Interesting: This came just hours after a Twitter user called Rat Emoji offered to call a moving van for the 25-year-old rapper on Tuesday, she replied: 'lol, errrrr.... nick and i are good babe' Wedding bling: It's not completely surprising considering the Australian blonde attended Sunday's iHeartRadio Awards rocking her $500K, 10-carat yellow diamond engagement ring crafted by Jason of Beverly Hills 'I said yes!' On March 24, her 30-year-old live-in fiance of 10 months was caught on tape in a leaked YouTube video discussing his dalliance with a 19-year-old in a nightclub (pictured June 1) After the 6ft7in shooting guard's LA Lakers teammate admitted to shooting the clip last week, Azalea had suspiciously tweeted: 'hmmm i see D Angelo Russell is trending... I actually liked his film. Thanks bro' Most recent picture together: On Monday, Nick reportedly retweeted (then deleted) a TMZ article titled 'Nick & Iggy Are Still Getting Hitched' (pictured March 5) Last week, Young - whose cousin is rapper Kendrick Lamar - celebrated his son Nick Jr.'s fourth birthday with his babymama Keonna Green. Iggy - born Amethyst Kelly - is currently promoting her second single Team off her second studio album Digital Distortion, which Def Jam drops in June. The four-time Grammy nominee will next appear, and likely perform, on Friday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show. Superhero-themed bash: Last week, Young - whose cousin is rapper Kendrick Lamar - celebrated his son Nick Jr.'s fourth birthday with his babymama Keonna Green Cover artwork: Iggy - born Amethyst Kelly - is currently promoting her second single Team off her second studio album Digital Distortion, which Def Jam drops in June Rapping her track Team: The four-time Grammy nominee will next appear, and likely perform, on Friday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show She is full of the joys of spring, and Kate Garraway certainly brightened up a blustery day in her colourful combination while out and about in London on Wednesday. The 48-year-old Good Morning Britain presenter certainly made a loud fashion statement with her lively get-up as she walked through the busy streets. The mother-of-two rocked a floral yellow dress with a leopard print coat as she left Global Radio in Leicester Square. Scroll down for video Loud and proud: Good Morning Britain's Kate Garraway, 48, rocked a windswept look in a mishmash print leopard print and floral combo as she left Global radio on Wednesday Kate hid her slender frame as she colour clashed in her fun ensemble. She ramped up her spring style by modelling a canary yellow frock with a rainbow of colourful flowers splashed across it in pink, purple, black and white. The dress fell just above her knees and she rocked the form fitting ensemble with a gold pendant chain. The ensemble was brightened up even more thanks to a fun and flirty leopard print jacket as she took on the elements. Windswept: Kate left her dark blonde hair loose as she worked a windswept look after her radio show Kate left her blonde hair loose as she worked a windswept look after her radio show. Her highlighted honey-hues fell just below her shoulders in voluminous natural waves. She kept her make-up simple adding just a touch of mascara to accentuate lashes and a slick of nude lipgloss to perfect her pout. Style maven: She kept her make-up simple adding just a touch of mascara to accentuate lashes and a slick of nude lipgloss to perfect her pout Meanwhile Kate Garraway hit headlines just yesterday as she got told off by EastEnders star Harry Reid after getting Barbara Windsor's name wrong. She was interviewing the actors who play Ben Mitchell and Abi Branning in the segment. Keen to ask the pair about the highly-anticipated return of Peggy Mitchell to Albert Square, she asked: 'When is Barbara Windsor coming back?' Immediately, Harry then stepped in to correct Kate: 'You mean DAME Barbara Windsor?' It comes after she raised eyebrows with her flirty banter with Jeremy Kyle - her new co-anchor on Wednesday's show. Their saucy chat left viewers stunned during an installment of Good Morning Britain at the end of March. Flirting up a storm Kate gave him a reason to blush when she declared that he should do a 'Poldark' and take his shirt off. They were rumoured to have grown close again after they were pictured embracing in Dubai less than two weeks ago. And now Made In Chelsea exes Millie Mackintosh and Hugo Taylor have fuelled speculation they are dating again after he was pictured spending the night at her London home. Millie, 26, and Hugo, 29, were photographed arriving at her West London pad together on Sunday, before he was seen leaving the following morning, according to The Sun. Scroll down for video Back on? Millie Mackintosh and Hugo Taylor, pictured in 2011, are rumoured to be dating again The pair, who originally dated for around six months in 2011, have apparently been getting reacquainted following the breakdown of the fashionista's marriage to Professor Green, which was announced back in February. An onlooker told The Sun: 'They've been spending a lot of time with each other recently, really enjoying each others company and after a day out on Sunday they decided to go back to Millie's pad. They had a great night together and it it looks like they are officially back on after all these years apart.' The former make-up artist's apparent romantic reunion with Hugo comes amidst claims her estranged husband insisted he's happy for her to 'move on'. Cheers to me! Millie is currently on her sixth holiday of the year in Verona, Italy A source told MailOnline that Professor Green - real name Stephen Manderson -doesn't want Millie to hold back. They said: 'Stephen feels that who Millie sees is none of his business now as they're not together anymore. 'He's happy for her to move on.' Millie and Hugo were first pictured kissing and hugging at a table during British Polo Day in Dubai in 25 March. Split: Millie and rapper husband Professor Green announced they had separated after two and a half years of marriage in February They originally dated five years ago during Series 1 and 2 of Made In Chelsea, with Millie accusing Hugo and her close friend Rosie Fortescue for kissing while they were dating. Soon after splitting from Hugo, Millie met Professor Green in November 2011, before they announced their engagement in March 2013 and married that September. In an interview shortly before she met Prof Green, Millie spoke fondly of Hugo: 'I loved him - those feelings dont disappear but I just always have to remind myself why were not together. 'I do think that, for the rest of my life, every time I see him, Ill get that feeling in my stomach. I dont think I could ever not get that butterfly feeling.' Classic: Millie throwing a cocktail over Hugo in Series 2 after finding out he had cheated on her is an iconic Made In Chelsea moment Stormy: The pair had a turbulent six month romance on the reality show before parting ways Millie and Hugo managed to salvage a friendship following their split, with the former getting to know his next girlfriend Natalie Joel, who he dated on and off for four years before parting ways in late 2015. Meanwhile, Millie is now on her sixth holiday of the year after jetting to Verona, Italy. She and Prof Green announced they had split after two and a half years of marriage in February. In a statement at the time, they said: 'It is with sadness and regret that we confirm our separation. 'It is a mutual decision, we still care deeply about each other and would like it to be known that it is on amicable terms and we wish each other well.' MailOnline has contacted Millie and Hugo's representatives for comment. British actor Clive Owen was seen enjoying a leisurely beach day in Barbados on Tuesday during a family holiday. The handsome star was seen soaking up the sun and making the most of the calm water as he enjoyed some time in the popular tourist destination. Shirtless Clive, 51, was seen sporting black swimming shorts and a simple necklace as he made his way through the sand. Scroll down for video Chilling: British actor Clive Owen was seen enjoying a leisurely beach day in Barbados on Tuesday during a family holiday The smiling star was seen with a female family member who teamed a cut-out swimsuit with black shorts as they enjoyed their idyllic day in the glorious sunshine. Clive and his family were then seen sharing laughs on board as boat as they spoke with staff. The actor has been keeping a relatively low profile since making an appearance at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February. The actor joined fellow jury members including Meryl Streep to celebrate the best in indie cinema at the annual event. Enjoying some time off: The handsome star was seen soaking up the sun and making the most of the calm water as he enjoyed some time in the popular tourist destination Catching a tan: The 51-year-old was seen sporting black swimming shorts and a simple necklace as he made his way through the sand Clive resides in North London and Essex with his wife Sarah-Jane Fenton and their two daughter, Eve, 15 and Hannah, 19. The Coventry-born actor and Sarah-Jane, an actress-turned-academic, are celebrating their 21th wedding anniversary this year, making theirs one of the strongest marriages in show business. Promoting his film Words and Pictures in 2014, Clive he revealed the secret of a lasting marriage in the movie industry is to ensure you're never parted through work for too long. Family time: The smiling star was seen with a female family member who teamed a cut-out swimsuit with black shorts as they enjoyed their idyllic day in the glorious sunshine Just keep swimming: The actor has been keeping a relatively low profile since making an appearance at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February Makig a splash: The actor has been keeping a relatively low profile since making an appearance at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February He explained: 'If you go away for a long period of time for a shoot you then go home for a long period of time and put it back there because otherwise you're not going to sustain it.' At the same time, the Closer star also admitted that he and Sarah-Jane also enjoy the independence of an equal union. He explained: 'I couldn't bear a marriage in which one partner hinges on the other. Taking to the water: Clive resides in North London and Essex with his wife Sarah-Jane Fenton and their two daughter, Eve, 15 and Hannah, 19 'My wife needs her freedom just like me. The wonderful thing about my wife Sarah Jane is that she's an actress herself and she knows what that means: constant travels and goodbyes.' Meanwhile it was revealed that Clive is set to star alongside Amanda Seyfried in upcoming sci-fi drama, Anon. Set in a future world with no privacy, ignorance or anonymity, Anon will have Owen play a detective who meets a young woman (Seyfried) who has no digital footprint and is invisible to the police, a discovery he realizes might not signify the end of crime but the beginning. Fun in the sun: Clive and his family were then seen sharing laughs on board as boat as they spoke with staff She married in an intimate ceremony in November. But the celebrations for Katie Piper and her husband Richard Sutton have continued into 2016, with the newlyweds setting off on honeymoon. Katie, 32, has been busy keeping her Instagram fans updated on the couple's romantic trip and on Wednesday she shared a stunning shot as she relaxed on the beach in Miami. Scroll down for video Beach life: Katie Piper shared a snap from her Miami honeymoon on Wednesday as she hit the beach in a daring swimsuit which showed off her toned and tanned figure Telling her followers that she was lapping up the Florida sunshine during the last day of her honeymoon, Katie shows off her sensational beach body in a daring swimsuit. The mum of one flaunts her tanned and toned figure in the holiday snap, with the black one-piece featuring racy cut out details on the bust and hips. The star, who is mum to daughter Belle, two, captioned her pic: 'Last day' along with a sunshine emoji. Belated trip: Katie Piper and her husband Richard Sutton married in November but the celebrations have continued into 2016, with the newlyweds setting off on honeymoon to the US a week ago Katie and Richard jetted to the States a week ago, first heading to New York where the delighted model shared a snap of her welcome message from the plush Waldorf Astoria Spa, gushing in the caption: 'On our honeymoon and a member of staff just gave me this! I've been Mrs Sutton for 5 months now but I'm still buzzing when I get notes like this! #MrsSutton.' The couple then headed down to Florida, enjoying the sun in Key West before jetting to Miami on Tuesday, with Katie sharing a snap of the pair's wedding bands as she told her Instagram fans: 'Heading to Miami for the last leg of our honeymoon .' Katie and Richard married in an intimate ceremony in November, after welcoming their daughter in March 2014. Katie has finally got the fairytale ending she's long hoped for after suffering horrific and life-changing burns at the hands of her convicted ex-boyfriend Daniel Lynch who organised an assailant - Stefan Sylvestre - to throw sulphuric acid in her face after a falling out in March 2008. 'Buzzing!' Katie and Richard started their trip in New York where the model shared a snap of her welcome note from a spa, gushing: 'I've been Mrs Sutton for 5 months but I'm still buzzing when I get notes like this!' The incident was caught on CCTV and both Lynch and Sylvestre were handed life sentences of which they'll serve 16 and 12 years minimum, respectively. Katie's recovery is on-going - she has so far undergone 40 separate operations - and she's an advocate for body confidence. She set up her foundation - which focuses its efforts on raising awareness of the plight of victims of burns and other disfigurement injuries - in late 2009 with her surgeon Dr. Mohammad Ali Jawad who treated her in the aftermath of the attack. The star recently told the Sunday People that Richard turned her life around after they met through a friend: 'I feel so lucky to have met my husband he's a gift from God . He's an amazing person who changed my life for the better,' she gushed. 'He has given me our daughter and it's one of the best things that has happened to me.' When Luisa Zissman announced her pregnancy last week, she was forced to deny accusations it was an April's Fool joke. And now the former Apprentice star has proved her critics wrong as she showed off her baby bump for the first time on Instagram. The baking entrepreneur, 28, revealed she is actually further along than many suspected as she posted photos of herself in a bikini while on holiday. Scroll down for video 'Sunning the bump': Former Apprentice star Luisa Zissman showed off her pregnancy curves in a bikini on her Instagram page on Wednesday Posting a photo of herself reclining on a lounger while in a taupe two-piece, she wrote: 'Last day sunning the bump can't believe I'm 6 months already! #6months #pregnant #bumpwatch.' She also shared a selfie of her eating a chocolate ice cream, captioning it: 'Ice cream and sunshine. Indulging my pregnancy cravings #pregnant #icecream #sunshine.' Luisa revealed last week she was pregnant with her first child with new husband, Irish millionaire Andrew Collins, 46. Big news: Luisa revealed last week she was pregnant with her second child Good appetite: The 28-year-old showed off her sizable 1.5million engagement ring as she posed for a selfie with an ice cream The reality star posted a picture of her pregnancy test on Friday morning, which showed two lines. After her Instagram followers asked her if she was joking and claiming the post was in bad taste, she was forced to write: 'Is it April fools day today? I didn't realise.' She also has a six-year-old daughter Dixie from her first marriage to businessman Oliver Zissman. The businesswoman, who was runner-up on the ninth series of The Apprentice in 2013, is currently holidaying in a mystery sunny location after flying in with her daughter on Saturday. It isn't clear whether or not her husband is also with her, as he prefers to remain off social media. Luisa and Andrew started dating in late 2013, a few months after she found fame on The Apprentice. Loved up: Luisa's pregnancy comes nine months after she wed millionaire buisinessman This is the life: Luisa posted a photo of the view from her holiday villa in a mystery location The business tycoon proposed to Luisa with a 1.5million ring in Paris in October 2014 before they tied the knot in France last July. Luisa has fought to keep her marriage private from the media, previously writing on her social media accounts: 'My personal life is my business, whether I am married or not is nothing to do with anyone but me, my friends and family.' She remains on good terms with her first husband Oliver - founder of Total Fitness - who she split from in 2012 following three years of marriage after he allegedly cheated on her. In an interview two years ago, she said: 'I just don't hold bad feeling over it. S**t happens. People have affairs. It was hardly the end of the world. 'We werent exactly happily married and jumping into bed every night having amazing sex so it was kind of a good thing.' Ahead of meeting Andrew, she was rumoured to have had a six-month romance with co-star Jordan Poulton while they filmed The Apprentice in 2012. Starting a family: Luisa's husband Andrew Collins prefers to stay out of the public eye Loved up couple Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna stepped out in Calabasas on Wednesday. The duo looked content as they took a romantic stroll in the suburban neighbourhood just two days after they confirmed their engagement to the world. The former reality star showed off his trimmed down physique in a white t-shirt and blue shorts while the 27-year-old former stripper looked sporty in black and white. Scroll down for video Headed down the aisle: Couple of the moment Blac Chyna and Rob Kardashian stepped out in Calabasas on Wednesday after the duo got engaged over the weekend In a coordinated display, the couple wore their matching Yeezy sneakers designed by Rob's brother-in-law Kanye West - the same shoes they purchased for $7,000 (for three pairs) and sharing the shopping spree on Snapchat. Chyna wrapped her head in a colourful scarf and tucked into an ice pop as she walked. The outing came as Blac Chyna's mother poked fun at the Kardashian sisters and said they'll never be invited to her daughter's wedding. Tokyo Toni shot to the defense of the model by mocking up a picture of them in tears as they hold onto Blac's wedding dress, and blasting them as 'reality h**s' who are 'boxed or botched'. Bride-to-be: Chyna, 27, sported a colorful scarf on her head with a sporty black and white outfit No hook-up from 'Ye: The duo sported matching Yeezy sneakers on the outing - the shoes they paid almost $7,000 In a post on Instagram attached to the Photoshopped picture of Kim, Khloe and Kylie Jenner crying while holding onto Blac's wedding dress train, Tokyo wrote: 'This is funny!! However!! Her train would be so long they assess would be in the Michigan triangle holding it and miss the wedding!! That's how far back they will be!! " Shots fired" oh well!! It's social media!! And all these reality h**s are " Boxed or botched!!. Bonus - You not even going to be invited! I didn't see the invitation ! Ps' To all her fake ass friends!! " Oh b***h I see you and NO b***h will ever plan my daughters wedding but "Me" or her! #ps or her bestie - Whoever that is? (sic)' Blac's mum also appears to poke fun at the sisters for their Armenian heritage. She added: 'PS -,they are Armenian so no blonde hair blue eyes over here wheneva they do have a kid!! Let's get it poppin now!! Lol!! Okay whenever y'hall ready but get the point (sic)' Serious shade: Blac Chyna's mother Tokyo Toni has mocked the Kardashian sisters in an Instagram post while also saying they won't be invited to the wedding Getting no love: Rob's family have still not commented on his engagement and sources are saying his mother Kris things he is making a mistake rushing into things with Tyga's ex-fiancee Getting on with things: The couple's outing came as Rob's mother Kris and all his sisters enjoy a trip to Vail, Colorado this week Meanwhile, a source told Us Weekly that Rob's mom Kris Jenner told he's 'making a mistake' by rushing into this life decision, and her daughters agree. Kris, 60, and her daughters are currently enjoying a ski trip in Vail, Colorado. They jetted out the same night Rob and Blac revealed their engagement news to the world. The KUWTK clan are reportedly unconvinced it the romance will last as Rob has previously professed his undying love for exes Rita Ora and Adrienne Bailon, and even told his relatives he had proposed to them, though no engagement announcements were ever made. Shedding the weight: Rob, 29, showed off his trimmed down physique in a white t-shirt and blue shorts A source recently said: 'No one [in his family] is jumping up and down with excitement today. They have made a united decision as a family to not comment on social media yet about Rob's engagement. The news is not shocking, and not totally unexpected. 'There has been a fear that Blac Chyna is manipulating the situation with Rob. That he is getting himself into a situation that is not ideal for him. Blac Chyna has been great as kind of a rebound.' Despite this, Blac's former fiance and father of her three-year-old son Tyga - who is now dating Kylie - insists he is happy for the couple. He tweeted: 'Everybody deserves 2 be happy. What some1 does for their happiness is not my concern, as long as it's not interfering wit my happiness. 'It makes me happy to see the mother of my son happy.My only concern in this situation is my son. I want him in happy environments (sic).' Sugar fix: The mother-of-one sucked on a fruity ice pop in a Snacpchat she shared the same day Ricky Whittle has spoken out on his decision to leave his hit US show The 100. The British actor, who shot to fame as Calvin Valentine on Hollyoaks, has accused the show's executive producer Jason Rothenberg of 'bullying him' out of his role. Ricky - who has starred in the CW drama since the first episode in 2014 - has told Zap2It that he felt he had to quit the series, alleging that Rothenberg made his job 'untenable.' Scroll down for video Tough time: Ricky Whittle has spoken out on his decision to leave his hit US show The 100, accusing the show's executive producer Jason Rothenberg of 'bullying him' out of his role Ricky's character Grounder Lincoln was executed on Tuesday night's episode of The 100 in the US. Speaking to Zap2It, the actor claimed on his exit: 'Jason Rothenberg abused his position to make my job untenable. What he did was disgusting and he should be ashamed.' He added: 'He was professionally bullying me, cutting out all the storyline I was supposed to be doing, cutting lines, cutting everything out, trying to make my character and myself as insignificant as possible.' 'Jason was trying to cut me out and it was childish, it was immature, it's narcissistical, really. He chose to belittle me and neglect my character and myself...That's one thing that I'll never forgive him for, he made me walk away from something I really love.' Killed off: Ricky's character Grounder Lincoln was executed on Tuesday night's episode of The 100 Taking to Twitter as his final scenes aired on Tuesday, Ricky told his fans: 'I will always support my friends,but I also said on periscope a while back that YOU need to make the choice to look after yourselves first.' 'Anyway,I just want to thank you again for all ur support,u truly have inspired me to be better each day. #Stayblessed #grateful.' In a statement to MailOnline, Rothenberg said: 'Ricky Whittle is a talented actor; I appreciate his work on The 100 and wish him all the best moving forward on American Gods.' Ricky is moving on, recently landing a role in another US series, American Gods, playing the front man, Shadow Moon. Allegations: Speaking to Zap2It, the actor claimed: 'Jason Rothenberg (pictured) abused his position to make my job untenable. What he did was disgusting and he should be ashamed' Starring in his first leading role, the 34-year-old will be at the centre of the adaptation of Neil Gaimans acclaimed contemporary fantasy novel. The series, which will begin production this month, sees a war brewing between old and new gods with conflicting traditional and new age values. The novel already has a huge cult following, translated into more than 30 languages and awarded the Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel among many other accolades. As Shadow Moon, Ricky will play an ex-con who becomes bodyguard and traveling partner to conman, Mr. Wednesday. Saying goodbye: Taking to Twitter as his final scenes aired on Tuesday, Ricky told his fans that he will always support his friends on the show, which he has starred on since the pilot episode in 2014 New venture: Ricky is moving on from the CW series, recently landing a role in American Gods, playing the front man, Shadow Moon However, his enigmatic new boss is one of the older gods, who is on a mission to gather his forces in order to declare war against the new gods - who are obsessed with money, technology, media, celebrity culture and drugs. Writers and showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green, explained the decision to cast Ricky was non-debatable. 'We searched every continent and country and all the islands in between for our Shadow Moon, and we are lucky to have found Ricky,' they said. 'Fans of the novel will find he has every bit of the heart of the character they fell in love with.' She made her start in media as a cadet at Sydney radio station 2UE. And former news anchor Chris Bath has announced she will be returning to the airwaves after leaving Channel Seven as a presenter following a career spanning 20 years. The 48-year-old - who departed the Seven newsroom in July last year - will replace ABC 702 radio drive host Richard Glover for three weeks beginning Monday. Scroll down for video New venture: Former Channel Seven news anchor Chris Bath has landed a new role in radio, joining ABC 702 'I have had an ongoing conversation with 702 since I left Seven and the opportunity came up to fill in for Richard and I first though, wow, and then I thought, huge shoes to fill,' Chris told The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday. Chris expressed that she deeply missed the thrill of working as a news anchor, but it seems she will get her fix in the temporary radio role. 'When news breaks, the leadership spill in Canberra, when Tony Abbott was ousted, and more recently, the Brussels attacks, I find myself saying, I wish I was at work,' she told the publication. 'I love those breaking news stories. Radio is like three hours of rolling coverage, so I know I will get that adrenaline rush.' Chris also confirmed media speculation that she is in talks with Sky News Australia, as well as 'a lot of people' about new television roles, after stating she would inevitably return to her preferred medium when leaving Seven last year. 'Big shoes to fill': Chris will replace radio drive host Richard Glover for three weeks beginning Monday 'I know I will get that adrenaline rush': Chris expressed that she deeply missed the thrill of working as a news anchor, but it seems she will get her fix in the temporary radio role Chris announced her sudden departure from the Seven Network in June after 20 years with the station spent presenting the news and hosting Sunday Night. A teary on-air farewell ensued in late July as the newsreader handed over her position to former Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle. Meanwhile, the popular newsreader made a short return to TV in September, eight weeks after leaving Channel Seven. She appeared on rival station Network Ten, guest hosting their morning show Studio 10, alongside a panel including Ita Buttrose, Jessica Rowe, Sarah Harris and Joe Hildebrand. While her appearance was for Stroke Awareness week, a cause very close to her heart, it was a big coup for the network which have nabbed the presenter's first TV gig as a free agent. Television return? Chris also confirmed media speculation that she is in talks with Sky News Australia, as well as 'a lot of people' about new television roles Since leaving Seven, Chris has also appeared on Network Ten's The Project, and landed a job at Australian lifestyle website The Carousel as guest contributor for a six-part series on inspirational women in an unpaid capacity. Veteran publisher Robyn Foyster, who runs the independent website, told Daily Mail Australia in January that Chris agreed to do the series for no fee, despite the Daily Telegraph reporting the role was salaried. 'She agreed to do it for no fee and in support of me and because she is passionate about bringing the stories of inspirational women to life,' Robyn revealed. 'And I'm both proud to feature her inspirational women series and have someone of the stature of Chris Bath support a small independent media company and Australian owned women's lifestyle site with great content,' she said. Sad farewell: Chris announced her sudden departure from the Seven Network in June after 20 years with the station spent presenting the news and hosting Sunday Night The Carousel first enticed Chris back into the interviewer's chair at the end of 2015 with an exclusive interview with Australian ballet soloist Robyn Hendricks. The interview was the first video in the veteran news reporter's six-part series, followed by a second with London Bombings survivor Gill Hicks, one which appears very close to Chris's heart. 'Gill is the one interview I always wanted to do for Sunday Night, but never did,' says Chris. Time for change: A teary on-air farewell ensued in late July as the newsreader handed over her position to former Sunrise co-host Melissa Doyle Well-liked: The presenter was a much-loved presence within the network During the series, she also carried out interviews with jewellery designer Jan Logan, TV food queen Lyndey Milan, WINK Models founder Taryn Williams and Alexx Stuart, an expert at helping people detox their homes and food. Chris has also written an impassioned open letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull for the Stroke Foundation, of which she is an ambassador. 'Again, she did this purely in her capacity as the ambassador of the National Stroke Foundation and because it is a good cause,' Robyn explained. Other well known contributors for the site, which launched in 2013, include Channel Ten alumni, former morning television producer Adam Boland and presenter Angela Bishop. She's back! Since leaving Seven, Chris landed a job at Australian lifestyle website The Carousel as guest contributor for a six-part series on inspirational women in an unpaid capacity 'Gill is the one interview I always wanted to do for Sunday Night': Her interviews included one with London Bombings survivor Gill Hicks Chris, who was born in Sydney's working-class western suburb of Auburn in South Wentworthville and was a trainee manager at Kmart before pursuing a career in journalism. Her first media job after completing her university degree was at the Sydney radio station 2UE, and she has been on the frontline of breaking stories throughout her career. She said in her Channel Seven goodbye statement that her assignments have included covering East Timor, Bali, the Sydney Olympics, Prince Williams Royal Wedding and Gallipoli commemorations, and going onto 'the glorious anarchy of anchoring breaking news events for hours with our first class studio crews. Much-loved: Her first media job after completing her university degree was at the Sydney radio station 2UE, and she has been on the frontline of breaking stories throughout her career 'I feel with all that experience on board now, the time is right again to explore new horizons.' 'I've loved it all, worked with some amazing people and made lifelong friends at Seven,' she went on. 'It has been a tough decision to leave, but years ago I left a great job in regional television because I didn't want to say 'What if?' about life. Rumours circulating at the time also suggested Chris refused to take a pay cut to her salary, that she was unhappy with the sexism rampant in the television industry, as well as reports of a repeatedly denied feud with Sunrise host Samantha Armytage. A source close to the host told Daily Mail Australia at the time that Chris was jumping ship to 'explore fresh options,' stating: 'she will work again, but for another channel. 'She is exploring all options and feels she needs fresh challenges and that she was getting a little stale.' The source refused to elaborate on what work Chris will next take on, but maintained while 'she hasn't lined anything up,' she 'loves the Sunday Night thing, interviewing people, live TV and politics.' Also correctly predicting: 'She may also write blogs, newspaper and online articles.' Top of her game: Chris was a much-loved presence within the Seven Network during her 20-year career At least 17 killed in Monday's clashes in Congo capital: govt At least seventeen people died Monday in fighting in Congo's capital Brazzaville, the government said, adding they had been killed in a "terror attack" and the subsequent "rapid intervention" by security forces. "Three members of the security forces, two civilians and 12 attackers" were killed in the unrest in the city's south, according to a "provisional toll" posted by government spokesman Thierry Moungalla on Twitter Tuesday. "Six members of the security forces were injured, as well as some civilians. The number is being evaluated." Security forces stand guard as residents of the southern districts of Brazzaville flee clashes between Congolese security forces and unknown assailants on April 4, 2016 STRINGER (AFP/File) Six police stations, a town hall and two customs checkpoints were torched along with many vehicles, Moungalla said, adding that attackers had made off with "weapons of war and ammunition". "In the course of the police operation during the assault, security forces arrested around fifty former militia members, the perpetrators of the attack," Moungalla said. Officials have identified them as former members of the disbanded Ninja Nsiloulou militia, he added. The Ninjas is a rebel group that fought two civil wars in the 1990s and is headed by Protestant preacher Frederic Bintsamou, known as Pastor Ntumi, who disbanded the group in return for a junior government position. He recently came out in favour of presidential candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who came second to President Denis Sassou Nguesso in last month's election, which the opposition say was marked by massive fraud. "The overwhelming evidence held by relevant services clearly points to the active implication of Mr Bintsamou in the events of Monday," Moungalla said. Thousands of people on Monday fled the heavy fighting in southern Brazzaville districts loyal to the opposition. Residents were woken by automatic gunfire and explosions before dawn on Monday. The fighting continued sporadically until sunset, forcing many to spend the night sheltering in churches and government buildings. On Tuesday, troops deployed across key points of the capital and manned roadblocks. Less UN food aid reaching Syria's besieged towns Fewer UN relief convoys are reaching starving civilians in Syria's besieged areas, prompting the United States on Tuesday to call for renewed pressure on the Damascus regime to allow access for aid deliveries. The UN Security Council heard during a closed-door meeting that food aid in March reached 21 percent of Syria's 500,000 people trapped in besieged areas, down from 25 percent in February. "We need the trend lines going in a much different direction," US Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters after the briefing. Men trying to put out a fire in a building in the city of Daraya, southwest of the capital Damascus, as fighting between opposition forces and troops loyal to the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues on January 12, 2014 Hussam Ayash (Local Council of Daraya City/AFP/File) "Every besieged area needs to be reached. All those in hard-to-reach areas need to be reached, and we are a long way from that." The United Nations began scaling up deliveries of aid in Syria after a ceasefire went into force in February, hoping the desperately needed supplies will shore up a fragile peace process that began that same month. Aid deliveries to hard-to-reach areas however climbed to 83,000 in March from 53,000 in February, according to UN aid officials. Power singled out the rebel-held town of Daraya, which has received "not one crumb of UN food, since 2012" and was in urgent need of supplies after shelling polluted the water. The United States and its partners have "appealed to those with influence" over the Syrian regime to press for more humanitarian access, said Power in a reference to Russia. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi, the council's president for this month, said Daraya was "part of a bigger problem" of humanitarian access in Syria. "We need to really look at the problem from all dimensions and, whoever can have influence to bear on the different parties, we should really work together," he said. Nearly half a million Syrians are trapped in towns besieged by the Syrian army, armed groups or Islamic State jihadists, in the complex war now in its sixth year. The United Nations has asked Syria to grant access to 11 priority areas in April, but the government has so far approved only six, said Amanda Pitt, spokeswoman for UN humanitarian affairs. Daraya, Duma and East Harasta have been left off the governments list. An airdrop of humanitarian is planned for Deir-Ezzor, which is under siege by IS jihadists, after a first delivery failed to meet its target. Samantha Power, United States Permanent Representative to the UN, speaks to journalists following Security Council consultations on the recent ballistic missile launch by Iran on March 14, 2016 Mark Garten (United Nations/AFP/File) US arrests 21 for visa fraud in fake university sting The United States arrested 21 suspects on suspicion of visa fraud conspiracy for allowing more than 1,000 foreign students, primarily from China and India to extend their stay in America illegally, prosecutors said. Federal agents set up a fake university to ensnare the suspects in an operation that spotlights growing concern about visa fraud at a time when illegal immigration has become a major issue in the US presidential campaign. Prosecutors said the recruiters, brokers and employers were charged with conspiracy to commit visa fraud and conspiracy to harbor aliens for profit, which each carry a maximum sentence of five and 10 years in prison, respectively. Homeland Security investigators set up the so-called University of Northern New Jersey in September 2013 in a bid to crack down on visa fraud from foreigners who fraudulently maintain their non-immigrant status on false pretenses Saul Loeb (AFP/File) Homeland Security investigators set up the so-called University of Northern New Jersey in September 2013 in a bid to crack down on visa fraud from foreigners who fraudulently maintain their non-immigrant status on false pretenses. They staffed offices in Cranford, New Jersey with undercover agents posing as administrators, but there were no teachers, no curriculum and no classes, prosecutors said. They reeled in suspects by pretending to have the authority to grant the certificate that allows foreigners to get a legitimate student visa. The defendants then enrolled their foreign clients to fraudulently maintain their student visa status in exchange for kickbacks, prosecutors said. They created false student records and diplomas, for which their clients paid, to deceive immigration authorities and allegedly used the fake university to fraudulently obtain work visas for hundreds of clients, creating false contracts, employment verification letters, transcripts and other documents. The defendants allegedly paid undercover agents thousands of dollars to put the school's letterhead on the sham documents and sign the paperwork. US authorities said they were working to terminate the visas for the foreigners in question, who are mostly from Asian countries, and arrest them if necessary. The suspects "recklessly exploited our immigration system for financial gain," said chief New Jersey prosecutor Paul Fishman. He said "Pay to Stay" schemes damage legitimate student and foreign worker visa programs and "pose a very real threat to national security." Almost a million foreign students enrolled in US higher education programs in 2014-2015, up 10 percent on the previous year, the State Department has said. Nigeria sets up camp for reformed Boko Haram fighters: military Nigeria has established a camp to rehabilitate and reintegrate Islamist Boko Haram militants who have surrendered and are sorry for their actions, the military said Tuesday. The camp "is geared towards rehabilitating and reintegrating the repentant and the surrendering Boko Haram members back into normal life," it said in a statement. The military did not give any details of the camp is or how it run, but said the repentant militants would be given vocational training so they can help contribute to the economy. Chadian soldiers display arms captured from Boko Haram militants on April 3, 2015 in Malam Fatori, in northeastern Nigeria Philippe Desmazes (AFP/File) An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram began its campaign of violence in 2009 to carve out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. More than 2.6 million people have fled their homes since, but some of the internally displaced have begun returning. Nigerian military authorities also appealed to those still carrying arms to repent, after recently announcing the capture of dozens of jihadist militants. Antarctica: International relations in a cold climate Winter is coming, and like many scientists posted in Antarctica, Bogdan Gavrylyuk is looking forward to going home. It has been a year since the 43-year-old Ukrainian geophysicist started his latest posting, monitoring climatic phenomena on an island off western Antarctica. "Everybody misses home. Everybody has a family or a girlfriend and of course we miss them," he says. "But here, there is a job we have to do." The Vernadsky Research Base, an Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica Eitan Abramovich (AFP/File) He will ship out from Vernadsky Research Station in early April to make way for his replacement, before the sea freezes over. Scientists call Antarctica the Earth's last wilderness. For some, it is also a paradise of international cooperation. It is home to thousands of researchers and technicians from various countries who share the territory under the Antarctic Treaty. In Gavrylyuk's office, blinking computer screens show graphs of data from meteorological instruments deployed around the wind-swept base. "We share a lot of important, interesting information between different Antarctic countries -- data on the ozone layer, meteorological information, geophysical information. All the countries here are doing the same," he says. He also shows off a pair of keyboards on which he plays rock music in his free time. "I have a guitar, a flute, harmonica, keyboards. It helps me relax when I'm working hard on my project," Gavrylyuk explains. - Science and peace - Diplomats cherish the Antarctic Treaty that has governed this continent since 1959. "It has lasted for over 50 years. It brings us all together for science and for peace," says Ray Arnaudo, who was formerly the US State Department's top official for Antarctica. "If you extended the boundaries of Antarctica by five degrees every couple of years, in 50 years you would have world peace," he says. "Some say I'm a dreamer." But when it comes to protecting the region, the Antarctic Treaty is prey to international politics beyond its icy shores. "Antarctica has traditionally been a place where people have been able to cooperate more than they would on other issues. However there is an outstanding list of to-dos," says Claire Christian, acting director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition, a grouping of environmental NGOs. Run by Britain until it was sold to Ukraine in 1996, Vernadsky Station was one of the research bases whose atmospheric readings revealed the hole in the ozone layer in the 1980s, Gavrylyuk says. Now the focus is on climate change. Antarctica's western peninsula has warmed by three percent on average over the past half-century, according to environmental groups. They hope the Antarctic Treaty's environmental commission, CCAMLR, can agree on measures to protect the continent. "There are a lot of political obstacles," says Christian. "It's been very difficult, for example, for countries in CCAMLR to agree to marine protected areas." - Antarctic climate change - At Argentina's Almirante Brown Station, biologist Rocio Fayo and her 10 colleagues lead an isolated life. "There is no Internet connection here, so the group has a very strong bond," says Fayo, 31, standing under the gray skies of Paradise Bay outside the red wooden hut where the team sleeps. "We've been up the peak over there a few times. We climb up and slide back down fast on our bottoms in the snow. It's good fun." Fayo has spent the summer studying micro-algae. Another researcher has set up a camera for monitoring penguins in the bay. Conservationists fear the penguins are threatened by climate change and fishing. Campaigners complain that some countries are resisting conservation efforts by fellow CCAMLR members. Andrea Kavanagh, head of the penguin campaign of Pew Charitable Trusts, a US lobby group, says Russia and China want to expand fishing near endangered penguin colonies. - Hiking the frozen sea - Far away from their countries, on the bases, staff say Antarctic relations run smoothly, however. "There's this great international collaboration. Politics is set aside here more than in most places," says laboratory supervisor Carolyn Lipke, 35. She is getting ready for a break after spending her sixth year at Palmer Station, one of several US Antarctic bases. Among various research projects at her station, chemists are examining spongy invertebrates on the seabed that they think give off toxins with potentially cancer-fighting qualities. When they're not deep-sea diving for specimens or working in the lab, she says, the 40 or so staff here play cards, watch movies and hold open-mic talent shows. In winter, they can hike across the frozen sea to neighboring islands. A satellite Internet and phone link helps them keep in touch with loved ones. "That makes it easier to be here for long periods, and also for the scientists to communicate," Lipke says. "You can communicate with your family but you can also get a ton of work done." Gentoo penguins pictured on the shore of Vernadsky Research Base, a Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica Eitan Abramovich (AFP/File) Researchers at Palmer Station, the only US research station in Antarctica located north of the Antarctic Circle, pictured on Anvers Island, Antarctica Eitan Abramovich (AFP/File) The barman who works at the Vernadsky Research Base, an Ukrainian Antarctic Station at Marina Point on Galindez Island, Antarctica Eitan Abramovich (AFP/File) Palmer Station, the only US research station in Antarctica located north of the Antarctic Circle Eitan Abramovich (AFP) Industry threatens nearly half of natural heritage sites: WWF Almost half of all natural World Heritage Sites, including the Great Barrier Reef and Machu Picchu, are threatened by industrial activities such as mining, oil exploration and illegal logging, conservation group WWF warned Wednesday. The 114 threatened sites, virtually half the total listed by UNESCO, provide food, water, shelter and medicine to over 11 million people -- more than the population of Portugal, according to a WWF-commissioned report. The sites are meant to be protected for future generations. A Green turtle swims near San Cristobal island in the Galapagos Archipelago Pablo Cozzaglio (FILES/AFP/File) "Despite the obvious benefits of these natural areas, we still haven't managed to decouple economic development from environmental degradation," WWF director general Marco Lambertini said in a foreword. "Instead, too often, we grant concessions for exploration of oil, gas or minerals, and plan large-scale industrial projects without considering social and environmental risks." The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) lists 197 "natural" and 32 "mixed" Heritage Sites in 96 countries around the world, alongside 802 cultural sites. The 229 natural and mixed sites, nominated by governments of the countries in which they are found, include national parks and nature reserves, forests, coral reefs, islands and coastal areas. But among the 114 sites highlighted by the WWF, Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's biggest coral reef ecosystem, is threatened by both mining and shipping. In the US, the Grand Canyon Natural Park is threatened by dams or unsustainable water use. And the 15th-century Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983, is threatened by logging, the WWF said. The report said oil or gas concessions had been granted in 40 of the sites and mining concessions in 42. Twenty-eight sites were at risk from dams or unsustainable water use, a further 28 from illegal logging, two from overfishing, and 20 from construction of roads or railways. Many sites were threatened in more than one category. Countries are meant to assume responsibility under the World Heritage Convention to protect listed sites within their borders. - 'Not anti-development' - "The World Heritage Committee is clear and definitive that extractive activities should not occur in World Heritage sites," WWF global conservation director Deon Nel told AFP by email. "It has consistently maintained a position that oil, gas and mineral exploration and exploitation is 'incompatible with World Heritage status'. Despite this, about a third of natural sites have concessions allocated across them." The WWF urged governments to cancel all such concessions, and also called on companies to refrain from harmful activities in protected areas, and on financial institutions not to fund them. The report relies in large part on data from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which monitors UNESCO's natural Heritage Sites. It found that two-thirds of Heritage Sites are important for water provision, more than 90 percent provide jobs in tourism and other sectors, and over half provide flood prevention services and store potentially harmful carbon. "Healthy natural World Heritage sites contribute to poverty reduction, help alleviate food insecurity, combat climate change and restore and promote the sustainable use of ecosystems," said Lambertini. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest proportion of Heritage Sites at risk, followed by South Asia. "Protecting natural areas and ecosystems is not anti-development," stressed Lambertini. "It is in the interest of long-term, robust and sustainable development that benefits people and natural systems, including our social stability, economic prosperity, and individual well-being." The Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian department of Cusco Eitan Abramovich (AFP/File) An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsunday Islands, along the central coast of Queensland Sarah Lai (AFP) Fresh setback for Chevron's giant Australia gas project Australia's largest resources project will stop production for up to 60 days owing to mechanical issues, US energy giant Chevron said Wednesday, in the latest setback to hit the US$54 billion plant. Chevron's Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off Australia's northwest coast -- one of the world's biggest -- started production in early March and began shipping fuel a few weeks later after delays and cost overruns. "Chevron Australia today advised that liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at the Gorgon Project ... has been temporarily halted due to mechanical issues with the propane refrigerant circuit on Train 1 at the plant site," the company said in a statement. Australia has several liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in the pipeline and is predicted to overtake Qatar as the world's biggest liquid natural gas producer by 2020 Greg Wood (AFP/File) Chevron added that there were ongoing repairs at the production unit and a "restart of the plant within 30-60 days is estimated at this time". The project has had its share of troubles with its isolated location, labour shortages and strict environmental conditions blowing out costs by billions of dollars and leading to a two-year delay in its start-up. The Gorgon asset is part of the US multinational's push to position itself as a major LNG supplier, particularly to the Asia-Pacific, by 2020. The first shipment was delivered to Chubu Electric Power, one of the smaller partners (0.417 percent) in the joint venture, and arrived in Japan on Wednesday, Chevron said. Chevron owns 47.3 percent of the venture with other partners Shell and ExxonMobil, which each hold 25 percent, and Japanese firms Osaka Gas (1.25 percent) and Tokyo Gas (1.0 percent). The energy company said it still expected the production unit to lift output to full capacity over six to eight months. The announcement came two weeks after Australian energy company Woodside indefinitely shelved a more than US$40 billion gas project off the country's west coast because of plunging energy prices. Australia has several other LNG plants in the pipeline and is predicted to overtake Qatar as the world's biggest liquid natural gas producer by 2020. Leading Arab satellite operator drops Hezbollah TV A leading Arab satellite operator cut transmission of Hezbollah's television channel Al-Manar on Wednesday amid rising tensions between the Lebanese Shiite group's backer Iran and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia. In a statement distributed to journalists, Hezbollah "sharply condemned" the move. Officials at both Al-Manar and Cairo-based Nilesat confirmed the transmission had been cut over accusations the channel violated its contract by airing programmes promoting sectarian divisions. An image grab taken from Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV on January 3, 2016, shows Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the militant Shiite movement, giving an address from an undisclosed location in Lebanon "This is a political decision, not an industry decision. Al-Manar has nothing to do with sectarian strife," the channel's general manager Ibrahim Farhat told AFP, calling the move "unjust and arbitrary". "This is part of the political problem in the region, that they're taking out on the media," Farhat said. Asked about the decision to cut Al-Manar's transmission, a senior Nilesat official said channels "must abide by not airing any violent or racist content, or provoking sectarian strife." "No other channels have violated the contract," he told AFP, in response to a question on whether any other Lebanese channels would be affected. The cut came ahead of an expected visit this week by Saudi King Salman to Egypt, which operates the Nilesat satellite. Hezbollah said the decision was part of "the attack against the Resistance (Hezbollah) and all its branches by some Arab organisations". "We in Hezbollah condemn this unjust decision against Al-Manar and we demand that the responsible officials at Nilesat immediately rescind this decision," the group said in a statement. Last month, Gulf Arab states led by Saudi Arabia blacklisted Hezbollah, the leading force in Lebanon's governing bloc, as a "terrorist" organisation. The kingdom halted a $3 billion programme of military aid to Lebanon to protest what it said was "the stranglehold of Hezbollah on the state". It also urged its citizens to leave Lebanon and avoid travelling there. Al-Manar said on Twitter that it could still be watched via a Russian satellite or online. The moves against Hezbollah come amid a spike in tensions between its backer Tehran and Riyadh this year after demonstrators stormed the kingdom's missions in Iran following Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shiite cleric. The kingdom cut diplomatic ties with Iran and led Arab allies in a series of retaliatory measures against it. Millions 'drinking arsenic-laced water' in Bangladesh Some 20 million poor Bangladeshis are still drinking water contaminated with arsenic, two decades after the potentially deadly toxin was discovered in the supply, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday. A new report from the rights group said Bangladesh had failed to take the basic steps needed to tackle the problem, which kills an estimated 43,000 Bangladeshis every year, mostly in poor rural areas. It dates back to the 1970s, when the Bangladesh government drilled millions of shallow tube wells to provide villagers with clean water -- not realising that the soil was heavily laced with naturally occurring arsenic. A Bangladeshi woman collects water from a polluted lake in Dhaka Munir Uz Zaman (AFP) "Bangladesh isn't taking basic, obvious steps to get arsenic out of the drinking water of millions of its rural poor," HRW researcher Richard Pearshouse told AFP. "The reasons why this huge tragedy has remained so pervasive are due to poor governance." Bangladesh has been building deep tube wells to source water from beneath the arsenic-tainted soil. But HRW said there was no proper government oversight of the scheme, with politicians earmarking the new wells for their own supporters rather than putting them in the worst-affected areas. "It means the situation is almost as bad as 15 years ago," said Pearshouse. The UN's World Health Organization has called Bangladesh's arsenic crisis "the largest mass poisoning of a population in history". Chronic exposure to arsenic is linked to cancers of the liver, kidney, bladder and skin as well as heart disease, but HRW said many victims in Bangladesh had no access to health care. It warned that millions of Bangladeshis would die unless the government and international donors act to mitigate contamination. Doctors say arsenic-laced water may also cause miscarriages, low birth weights and poor cognitive development in children. "It's a slow poison. You'll be affected with a host of life-threatening diseases before you can even realise," said Tariqul Islam, a University of Chicago researcher who has worked with thousands of affected people. The government says it has installed around 210,000 deep tube wells over the past 12 years to mitigate the crisis and is testing the water from millions of shallow wells for contamination. There was no immediate response from the government to the latest report. But an official who asked not to be named told AFP that individual lawmakers decided where 50 percent of the state-funded tube wells should be built. "It's a government-approved policy. The lawmakers have every opportunity to misuse their power and divert the tube wells to their supporters rather than distributing them to the people who are affected by arsenic contamination," he said. Figures cited by HRW suggest that exposure to arsenic in drinking water will eventually kill up to five million of the 90 million children estimated to be born between 2000 and 2030. In 2013 an investigation into the high levels of arsenic in Bangladesh's groundwater fuelled suspicions that eating rice boosts exposure to the poison. After testing thousands of volunteers, scientists found that those who ate large amounts of rice had higher levels of arsenic in their urine than those who ate little rice. Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher Richard Pearshouse answers questions during a press conference in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka, on April 6, 2016 Munir Uz Zaman (AFP) The UN's World Health Organisation has called Bangladesh's arsenic crisis 'the largest mass poisoning of a population in history' Munir Uz Zaman (AFP/File) Panama Papers: UAE president leads London property holdings The president of the United Arab Emirates owns London properties worth more than 1.2 billion ($1.7 billion, 1.5 billion euros) through offshore companies revealed in the so-called Panama Papers, The Guardian reported on Wednesday. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al-Nahyan was among numerous public figures named as owners of billions of pounds of central London real estate following the huge leak of documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Owning British property through offshore companies is perfectly legal, but it is controversial because such holdings obscure the identity of the owners, allowing them to avoid scrutiny and tax. Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron (L) greets Emirati President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan (R) at his Downing Street residence in London in May 2013 Andrew Cowie (AFP/File) Sheikh Khalifa's property portfolio includes the BHS department store building on Oxford Street and the designer shops of Bruton Street and Berkeley Square, with tenants including Stella McCartney, The Guardian said. Three children of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have also been shown to own London real estate through offshore companies administered by Mossack Fonseca. The Guardian reported that Sharif's daughter Maryam was the beneficial owner of two offshore companies that each own flats on the prestigious Park Lane. The premier has insisted his family has done "nothing wrong". The newspaper also reported that former Iraqi prime minister Ayad Allawi was named as a director of two British Virgin Islands companies that bought a 2.75 million Kensington townhouse in 2008 and a 750,000 commercial building near Paddington in 2009. British Prime Minister David Cameron said last year that more than 36,000 London properties were owned by offshore companies, amounting to 122 billion of property across the whole of England and Wales. While the "vast majority" of firms were legitimate, he said some high-value properties were being bought with "plundered or laundered cash" and promised to take action to improve transparency. Patrice Talon sworn in as Benin president Businessman Patrice Talon was sworn in as Benin's new president Wednesday after winning last month's elections in the tiny West African country. The wealthy 57-year-old was sworn in at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in the capital Porto-Novo. He had met earlier Wednesday with outgoing head of state Thomas Boni Yayi, who stepped down after two terms in office, at the Presidential Palace in the economic hub Cotonou. Businessman Patrice Talon was sworn in as Benin's new president at the Charles de Gaulle stadium in the capital Porto-Novo Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP/File) In a show of goodwill, the former political rivals hugged each other after the meeting. Talon, dubbed the "King of Cotton", bankrolled Boni Yayi's successful 2006 and 2011 election campaigns. But their relationship deteriorated and in 2012 Talon, who was abroad at the time, was accused of masterminding an alleged plot to poison Yayi. He only returned last October after receiving a presidential pardon. Talon gave a short inauguration speech that focused on his popular campaign promise to change the constitution so Benin presidents serve just one term. "With my term I will exercise state power with dignity and simplicity," Talon said. "I will serve as the president with humility, selflessness and sacrifice for the welfare of all," he added. "I will work to make my term an instrument of change for major policy and institutional reforms." Talon handily won the presidential election in March with 65.37% of the vote against 34.63% for the ruling party's candidate, Franco-Beninese businessman Lionel Zinsou. Zinsou was seen as the frontrunner with the support of most lawmakers in parliament, but his popularity was dented by Talon who billed himself as the authentic Beninese candidate and repeatedly attacked Zinsou's dual French nationality. Pakistan searches for 23 people trapped by landslides Pakistani rescuers were struggling Wednesday to reach 23 people buried by a landslide in the north after heavy rains on the weekend that authorities said have killed at least 92. National diaster management authorities said more than 1,200 houses have been damaged since April 2, with roads across the mountainous north blocked. Communications have been knocked out across much of the region, making it difficult to tell how many people are still stranded, amid fears the toll could still rise. Residents cross a flooded road on the outskirts of Peshawar, northern Pakistan on April 4, 2016 A Majeed (AFP) Authorities in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province said they are still battling to reach the 23 buried by the landslide in Kohistan district on Monday. Five injured people and two dead bodies had been pulled from the rubble over the last two days. Rescuers were also searching along the northern Karakoram Highway (KKH) for travellers trapped by rockfalls. "We fear some casualties as some passengers might have came under landslides. There are dozens of other passengers stranded on KKH without food and shelter," a spokesman from the chief minister's office told AFP. He said six people had managed to travel on foot for three days, reaching Gilgit on Tuesday, and they described the situation as "horrible". The death toll across the province was 64, officials said. Neighbouring Gilgit-Baltistan region was the worst hit with roads blocked by landslides in every district and more than a dozen foreign tourists trapped in the Hunza valleys, a disaster official said. Medical teams were unable to reach upper Hunza, with an official there describing the situation as "alarming". The military said that troops were working 24 hours to restore communications and clear roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. In Pakistani-held Kashmir local government official Hameed Kayani told AFP that most foreign tourists had been evacuated from the scenic Neelum Valley, adding that authorities were clearing the main road. Poorly built homes across Pakistan, particularly in rural areas, are susceptible to collapse during the annual spring rains, which are often heavy. Severe weather in recent years has killed hundreds and destroyed huge tracts of prime farmland. During the rainy season last summer, torrential downpours and flooding killed 81 people and affected almost 300,000 people across the country. Tata to start British steel sale process 'by Monday' India's Tata Group will begin the process of selling its British steel assets by Monday, a British minister said Wednesday after talks with the firm in Mumbai, adding that there was no set timeframe for its completion. British Business Secretary Sajid Javid said his government would do "all it can to help secure a serious buyer" for the Port Talbot plant in Wales and other assets, where 15,000 jobs have been put at risk by Tata's plans to sell. "They will start the formal sales process by Monday but they have also not set a formal timeframe," Javid said after his meeting with Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry. Tata Steel wants to sell off its British assets due to a global oversupply of steel triggered by cheap imports into Europe from countries including China, high costs and currency volatility Lindsey Parnaby (AFP/File) "What they have said is that they will allow a reasonable amount of time for this process to be completed." Describing the meeting as "constructive and positive", he said: "I've made it clear that the UK government will do anything it can to support any serious buyer in every way we can to secure the long-term future of this industry." Javid said "a number" of people had expressed an interest in the steel business but added: "I think more will do so once the formal process begins." Sanjeev Gupta, the boss of steel and metals company Liberty House, is the only buyer who has publicly expressed an interest so far, and he said Wednesday that his plans are only in the very early stages. "It's a very daunting proposition, I'm not suggesting that it's easy... it's going to require a lot of analysis," he told the BBC. Tata Steel said it was selling off its loss-making British assets due to a global oversupply of steel, cheap imports into Europe from countries including China, high costs and currency volatility. Prime Minister David Cameron's government has been racing to find a buyer amid growing pressure from the opposition, trade unions and the press to safeguard the iconic British steel industry which dates back to the 19th century. One of last jazz giants, Sonny Rollins not finished at 85 One of the last in a generation of jazz greats, Sonny Rollins once thought music could change the world. His optimism about humanity has since vanished but, at 85, he still has much he wants to say. The "Saxophone Colossus," a nickname that was also the title of his seminal 1956 album, is among a handful of sax players including John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Coleman Hawkins who defined the instrument, with Rollins creating a heavy-charging, mordant style that was also readily experimental. The hard-working tenor saxophonist has taken several extended sabbaticals, most famously when he temporarily retired -- yet would practice on New York's Williamsburg Bridge. He later moved to India and Japan to explore spirituality. American jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins performs on July 11, 2010 Robert Vos (ANP/AFP/File) His latest break is less intentional -- respiratory problems have kept him from playing since 2012. "I am not finished with what I want to do musically, so I definitely want to do more and I am hoping that I will be able to," Rollins told AFP in a reflective interview on a career spanning more than 65 years. Rollins voiced confidence that "new, modern medication" would help him return to form. Eager to keep releasing music in the meantime, he has been reaching into his vault of live recordings to put out collections. His latest, "Holding the Stage: Road Shows, Vol. 4," comes out on Friday and features 10 tracks, some of them never recorded in studio, of performances since 1979 across the United States and Europe. Highlights include songs from his nerve-wracking yet emotionally resonant performance that he went ahead with days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which the native New Yorker witnessed firsthand as he lived near the fallen World Trade Center. - 'This world will never change' - Fueling his desire to record, Rollins said he saw music as commentary on happenings around him. Another of his classic works, 1958's "Freedom Suite," was driven by a strong, confident tenor sax that reflected the burgeoning movement for African American civil rights. The saxophone legend now says he is no longer driven by current events and instead wants to reflect musically on "the bigger picture -- not this world, the infinite world." In the 1960s, Rollins said that he and like-minded artists "were thinking that music could change the world." "At one time in my life I thought that this world could change and get more peaceful, with everybody loving each other and all this hope. But then I learned, and I lived a little longer," he said. "I realized that this world will never change. This world is meant to be a place of war, killing, everything -- sickness, illness, death. That's this world." Rollins -- mellow and affable with his striking shock of white hair -- however does not sound bitter, rather believing that the "purpose of life is to serve others" -- in his case, by bringing joy through music. "I'm very fortunate that I was blessed to live my life playing my music," he said. - One of last legends - Born to parents from the US Virgin Islands, Rollins was inspired by musicians as he grew up in Harlem and recalls Frank Sinatra visiting his school where he successfully appealed to end fighting between young Italian and African Americans. By his 20s, Rollins already managed to play with some of the biggest names in jazz history including Parker, Miles Davis, Max Roach and especially Thelonious Monk, with the young Rollins hanging out at the pianist's apartment and playing on Monk's classic 1957 album "Brilliant Corners." His most complicated relationship may have been with Coltrane, who was a friend but often described as a rival until Coltrane's death from cancer in 1967. Rollins called Coltrane "a beautiful, beautiful human being" and said that he had struggled as a young prodigy to fit in with the legends. "I look back on my relationship with Coltrane, and my relationship with Monk -- a lot of stupid things I did with those people that I would not have done if I was more mature," he said. Rollins nevertheless said he had no regrets musically about his past. Besides his playing style of heavy inflections, Rollins pioneered jazz performances without piano and was perhaps most inventive with his improvisation in rhythm. "St. Thomas," his best-known song, incorporated Caribbean calypso he remembered as a child. Most known for his hard bop, Rollins later played with The Rolling Stones and brought elements of rock and even disco into his own music. - At peace with death - Two jazz legends close to Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Horace Silver, have died since 2014. Coleman was instrumental in the creation of flowing "free jazz," while Silver, a frequent collaborator who is eulogized musically on Rollins' latest album, was a leading hard bop pianist. "We are not supposed to be in this world forever, so you can't look at so-called death as some kind of bad thing," Rollins said of his friends. "They gave the world jazz, which is a never-ending phenomenon. That is wonderful." Rollins credited his longevity in part to yoga, which has helped him concentrate and to stay off drugs and drinking after trouble in his youth. But mostly, he points to his creative spirit. "I'm still alive because I'm still learning." Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins performs during the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival Rick Diamond (Getty/AFP/File) Jazz musician Sonny Rollins received a lifetime achievement award from the Kennedy Center Honors in 2011 Jewel Samad (AFP/File) With only eight justices, US Supreme Court struggles The US Supreme Court has a clutch of major decisions coming up on hot-button issues like immigration, birth control and affirmative action -- but with only eight justices instead of nine, those rulings could be more complicated than ever. A political fight is raging between Democratic outgoing President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled Senate over filling the vacancy created by the death of conservative justice Antonin Scalia in February. Obama has nominated Merrick Garland, currently the chief judge on a key federal appellate court in Washington, to fill the spot. Many Republicans have refused to even meet him, and say no one should be considered until after the presidential election in November. Under the US Constitution, the president appoints nominees to the Supreme Court and they are approved or rejected by the Senate Karen Bleier (AFP/File) Under the US Constitution, the president appoints nominees to the Supreme Court and they are approved or rejected by the Senate. In scenarios like this, if a Supreme Court vote ends up in a 4-4 tie, the decision confirms the lower court ruling which the high court has been asked to consider. But in a deadlock, no legal precedent is established and the underlying issue remains unresolved, meaning the high court's influence is curtailed. Cases overseen by eight rather than nine judges raise "the specter that this term at the court could be replete with cases ending in four justices voting one way and four justices voting the other way" on very sensitive issues, said Justin Pidot, of the University of Denver's Sturm College of Law. "Whatever the cause, should the court be unable to resolve some of the important and high-profile cases on its docket, that will surely further dampen public confidence in the institution," Pidot said in a study on tie votes. That confidence is already at its lowest level in decades after highly divisive decisions, such as one legalizing gay marriage nationwide in 2015 or one that eliminated limits on corporate contributions to election campaigns, in 2010. - #WeNeedNine - The political leaning of the court -- conservative until Scalia died, but now divided equally between liberals and conservatives -- is at stake. Tensions mounted this week as the Senate returned to work following an Easter recess. Garland -- chief justice of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit -- seems to enjoy a favorable consensus among the two American political parties and received wide backing when he was nominated for his current job. But only a handful of Republican senators have agreed to even sit down with him, and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is digging in his heels, insisting his nomination will not be brought up for consideration. "I think it is safe to say there will not be hearings or votes," McConnell said Tuesday. Obama says it is his right and duty to name a nominee -- and it would appear the American public is on his side. Polls show two-thirds of Americans back Obama on this issue. Social media have lit up with hashtags such as #DoYourJob and #WeNeedNine. Over the past three weeks, more than 400 newspaper editorials have hammered home Obama's message: it is his constitutional right to nominate a judge and the Senate's duty to hold hearings on approving or rejecting him or her. - Obama heads back to law school - Obama plans to travel Thursday to the University of Chicago, where he once taught constitutional law, to highlight the inaction of Senate Republicans. For the time being, only a few cracks have appeared in the Republican wall of refusal, with a few moderate Republicans receiving Garland. "These courtesy visits are an important step in the Senate confirmation process and represent opportunities for senators to have thoughtful, substantive conversations with Chief Judge Garland," the White House said. The stalemate could last a year or more. And with so many variables up in the air, the Republicans could ultimately come out on the losing end: right now, for the first time since the 1970s, the court no longer has a conservative majority. The new balance was seen clearly last week when the court deadlocked 4-4 on a case involving public sector unions, effectively affirming their right to collect mandatory fees from non-members in states that allow the practice. When the case was heard in January -- with Scalia still on the bench -- it looked like a win for the conservatives challenging the law. Without him, unions scored a victory, reflecting the court's changing dynamics. "Tie votes are, in effect, an admission that the justices have failed to fulfill their job responsibilities because they could find no manner of resolving a case that was acceptable to a majority of them," Pidot said. In the end, Republicans may regret not approving the centrist judge Garland. If either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders -- both Democrats -- is elected president and the Democrats win control of the Senate, the future president will be in a position to nominate a judge who is much more progressive, tilting the Supreme Court's historic balance to the left. US Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland takes meetings with Senators on Capitol Hill on April 5, 2016 Yuri Gripas (AFP) Syrian arrested in Germany on war crimes charges German authorities Wednesday arrested a Syrian national on war crimes charges, on suspicion of commanding a rebel militia in Aleppo that committed atrocities and plundered artefacts for sale. Federal prosecutors said in a statement that the 41-year-old accused identified only as Ibrahim Al F. had been detained in the western region of Westphalia on a German arrest warrant. "The accused is strongly suspected of treating people entitled to protection under international humanitarian law cruelly and inhumanely in the autumn of 2012 during the Syrian civil war," prosecutors said. German authorities allege Ibrahim Al F led a 150-man district militia in Aleppo Zein Al-Rifai (AMC/AFP) Ibrahim Al F. is believed to have led a 150-man district militia in Aleppo belonging to the Islamist rebel group Ghuraba al-Sham, then part of the Free Syrian Army, a loose coalition of opponents to President Bashar Al-Assad's regime. Prosecutors said the militia, however, mainly pursued "self-serving aims". These included repeated plunder after the withdrawal of government troops from parts of Aleppo, including the looting of valuable art that the accused later tried to sell. "Two residents who tried to protect their neighbouring district from plundering are believed to have been captured by the accused and his fighters and held for several days at a makeshift prison under their control," prosecutors said. The two prisoners were "tortured repeatedly in the accused's presence and by him personally", as were six other people who were later kidnapped by the militia, the prosecutors said. Some of the hostages only gained their freedom by paying ransoms, the prosecutors alleged. Qatari royal freed by Iraq kidnappers A member of the Qatari royal family has been released by kidnappers in Iraq nearly four months after being taken captive while on a hunting trip, Qatar said Wednesday. A Pakistani national was also released, the Qatari foreign ministry said. The pair, who have not been named, were among more than 20 people abducted from a desert hunting party close to the Saudi border last December. Wealthy Gulf Arabs often travel to countries like Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan to hunt with falcons without the restrictions they face at home Azhar Shallal (AFP) "Efforts are still ongoing to free the rest of the 26 kidnapped," a brief statement published on Qatar's official QNA news agency said. It was unclear if any other Qatari royals were still being held. Faleh al-Zayadi, the governor of Muthanna province where the hunters were seized, told AFP at the time that "a number of members" of the Qatari ruling family were among those abducted. He said the kidnappers were heavily armed and travelled in dozens of vehicles. A foreign ministry spokesman told AFP that negotiations were continuing with the Iraqi government to try to secure the release of the remaining abductees. It is not known if any ransom was paid for the two men who were freed. The hunters were abducted when gunmen attacked their camp in a Shiite-majority area of southern Iraq. Nine members of the party managed to escape and cross into nearby Kuwait. Earlier this year, the Doha government said Baghdad had a "responsibility" to free all those who had been kidnapped. Pressure has also been placed on Iraq by the Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Qatar is a member. In a joint statement immediately after the kidnapping, the GCC said Iraq should take "decisive and immediate measures" to secure the release of the hunters. There is widespread enmity towards the Gulf Arab states in Shiite areas of southern and central Iraq because of their support for Sunni rebels in the conflict raging in neighbouring Syria. Iran-backed Shiite militias, which have a major presence in the region, have sent fighters to Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad's regime. The hunting party was in Iraq on an officially licensed expedition and Doha has put pressure on the Shiite-led government in Baghdad to help secure the hostages' release. Wealthy Gulf Arabs often brave the risks of travel to countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Iraq to hunt with falcons without the bag limits and conservation measures they face at home. Pakistani military launches new offensive following Lahore bombing The Pakistani military in coordination with law enforcement agencies launched a new offensive in southern Punjab, officials announced Wednesday, weeks after a suicide bomber killed more than 70 people in Lahore. "Coordinated operations are underway against terrorists and hardened criminals," read a military statement. The statement also included images of military helicopters hovering over the plains of Punjab and paramilitary troops loading ammunition into trucks and preparing for an operation. Pakistani activists carry placards and banners during a protest in Islamabad on March 31, 2016, to condemn a suicide bombing in Lahore Aamir Qureshi (AFP/File) The offensive comes after a Taliban suicide bomber killed 73 people in a popular Lahore park on Easter day. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, the Taliban faction that carried out the bombing, said Christians were the target of the attack. The incident illuminated festering extremism in Punjab, the home province of three-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and provincial authorities said they would launch a crackdown against militant groups in the province long considered a bastion of the establishment. Christians make up an estimated 1.6 percent of Pakistan's 200 million people and have long faced discrimination. Twin suicide attacks against churches in Lahore killed 17 people in March last year, sparking two days of rioting by thousands of Christians. The country is still scarred by a Taliban assault on a Peshawar school in 2014 that killed 150 people, mostly children. ICC prosecutor says 'relentless intimidation' sunk Kenya case The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor Wednesday blamed a "relentless" campaign of witness intimidation as the reason behind a decision to drop the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto. War crimes judges at the Hague-based ICC on Tuesday ordered that all the crimes against humanity charges be "vacated" against Ruto and his co-accused, radio journalist Joshua Sang. This means no-one has been successfully prosecuted by the court for the bloodshed which claimed hundreds of lives after disputed 2007 Kenyan elections. Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto using his phone shortly after charges of crimes against humanity against him were dropped, at his office in Karen district in Nairobi on April 5, 2016 Charles Kimani (Deputy President Press Office/AFP/File) "There was a relentless campaign to identify individuals who could serve as prosecution witnesses in this case and ensure they would not testify," Bensouda said in her first full statement on the issue. "As a result, potential witnesses told us they were too afraid to commit testifying against the accused." "Others, who initially gave us accounts of what they saw during the post-election period, subsequently recanted their evidence and declined to cooperate with the court," Bensouda said. Ruto, 49, and Sang, 40, had both denied three counts of crimes against humanity -- namely murder, forcible deportation and persecution committed during the violence in 2007 and early 2008 in which prosecutors say some 1,300 people were killed. The bloodshed in the east African nation was the worst since independence from Britain in 1963 and shook its image as a regional beacon of stability. Even before the ICC authorised a probe in 2010 to investigate the violence there was a concerted campaign to intimidate witnesses which "intensified in the weeks leading up to the trial and continued throughout the life of the case," Bensouda said. She also accused Nairobi of not fully cooperating with the investigation, a charge which Kenya denies. "Despite repeated assurances of cooperation with the court the government of Kenya provided only selective assistance to the prosecution," Bensouda said. She again called on Nairobi to hand over three suspects accused of seeking to bribe witnesses in the case. Ultimately, it was the victims of the violence that would suffer the most, she said. "The hurdles we encountered in our efforts to investigate and prosecute have frustrated the course of justice for the victims in this case and this must be a matter of profound regret," Bensouda said. At least 100,000 displaced in Darfur fighting: UN At least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes in an upsurge of fighting since January in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN's peacekeeping chief said Wednesday. "Clashes and aerial bombings are currently continuing" in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra, Herve Ladsous, the under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the Security Council. About 103,000 people have sought refuge at four camps set up by the joint UN-African Union UNAMID mission in Darfur, he said. Newly internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Sortoni, in Sudan's North Darfur state, who fled their homes following ongoing clashes between armed movements and government forces in the Jebel Marra area, on February 8, 2016 Captain Hagen Siegert (UNAMID/AFP/File) Ladsous quoted humanitarian agencies as saying that at least 138,000 people had been on the run since mid-January. Restrictions imposed by the Sudanese government to aid agencies and to the UNAMID mission made it difficult to be precise in assessing the number of displaced in the recent fighting, he said. Jebel Marra sits at the heart of the Darfur region and is a stronghold of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army commanded by Abdulwahid Nur (SLA-AW). Sudan's Ambassador Omar Dahab Fadl disputed the reports of large-scale movements of civilians, saying "large numbers" of displaced people had managed to return to their villages in Darfur and were growing their crops. "Preparations are underway for the return of 100.000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) to their villages in the east and west of Darfur," the ambassador told the council. Khartoum's envoy insisted that the Sudanese army was responding to attacks from the SLA-AW and had managed to restore security to the region, with roads now open to civilians. "For the first time in 13 years, primary school students sat for general examinations. Levies ceased to be paid to hooligans," he said. "Show me in which way this can clash with UN objectives." The UN peacekeeping chief called on the government and the rebels to immediately halt fighting in Jebel Marra and begin peace talks to end the conflict. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft expressed concern over the continued violence in Jebel Marra and said humanitarian access to central Darfur had become "even harder" as a result. "We ask all parties to provide the cooperation that UNAMID needs to do its job," he said. Darfur descended into conflict in 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled, complaining the region was being economically and politically marginalized by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. US security chief compares anti-Muslim remarks to Red Scare The US domestic security chief on Wednesday compared current anti-Muslim sentiment to the anti-communist "Red Scare" of the 1940s and '50s, suggesting that divisive statements by Republican presidential candidates are to blame. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, who is black, noted that his grandfather was forced to testify in front of the House of Representatives in 1949. "He had to, in the height of the Red Scare, to deny he was a member of the communist party, and went on to give an impassioned statement about how American negroes are patriotic," Johnson said at a conference in Washington about countering violent extremism. US Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson speaks during the Countering Violent Extremism Symposium on April 6, 2016 Mandel Ngan (AFP) "Efforts and dialogue that have the effect of vilifying American Muslims are counter to our homeland security interest," he said, without specifically naming any political candidates. Those who don't know history "are bound to repeat it," Johnson added. Republican presidential hopefuls Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have both been criticized for statements seen as hostile to Muslims. Trump wants to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States, while Cruz has called for allowing law enforcement to "patrol and secure" Muslim neighborhoods. The Obama administration slammed those remarks, with Secretary of State John Kerry calling them "an embarrassment to our country." The candidates' views run counter to government efforts to build bridges with Muslim communities and prevent radicalization. Cyprus agrees to extradite EgyptAir hijacker Cyprus said on Wednesday that it had approved a request from Cairo to extradite the man accused of hijacking an EgyptAir plane and diverting it to the Mediterranean island. Egyptian Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa, 58, is accused of using a fake suicide belt to seize the Alexandria-to-Cairo flight on March 29 and force it to land in Cyprus. Cypriot government officials said that a legal process would now begin to send home the 58-year-old, who is in police custody on the island. Seif al-Din Mohamed Mostafa, an Egyptian man who hijacked an EgyptAir passenger plane is brought by policeman to the court in Larnaca on March 30, 2016 George Michael (AFP/File) "Instructions were given for the relevant procedures to begin," a government official told AFP. Nicosia is expected to try to fast-track the extradition process which could take several weeks. The suspect is expected to remain in custody until his extradition papers are ready. The Egyptian state prosecutor's office had asked for him to be handed over under a 1996 bilateral extradition treaty. Mostafa -- described by authorities as psychologically unstable -- has said he acted out of desperation to see his Cypriot ex-wife and children. Cypriot prosecutors said last week he faced possible charges of hijacking, kidnapping, reckless and threatening behaviour, and breaches of the anti-terror law. According to police, Mostafa has given a voluntary statement admitting to the hijacking. His ex-wife has been quoted by Cypriot media as describing their five years of marriage as a "black period" of her life. The hijacking ended peacefully with Mostafa's arrest. CASPER, Wyo. A Casper man pleaded not guilty to a charge of child abuse Tuesday in Natrona County District Court. Authorities say Ryan Dale Townsend slammed his 8-year-old stepsons head into the floor in February and choked the boy. Townsend, 28, posted $10,000 bond and has been released from jail. Child abuse is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Townsend also faces a misdemeanor charge for possession of marijuana. A trial date will be set. Townsend is being represented by public defender Kurt Infanger. According to court documents, the boy reported the abuse to a school employee Feb. 9, one day after it allegedly occurred at the home where he and Townsend lived. The boy had bruising to his forehead and around his eye, as well as red marks on his neck. The alleged victim was interviewed at the Childrens Advocacy Project and evaluated at Wyoming Medical Center, the documents state. His 6-year-old brother, who witnessed the alleged abuse, was also interviewed at the Childrens Advocacy Project. Officers and Department of Family Services agents visited the familys home on Kit Carson Avenue to determine if the boys, along with their younger brother, could continue to live there with their mother. However, officials found the house was very dirty and smelled of urine and feces, according to the documents. They also discovered marijuana in the home, and the boys mother tested positive for marijuana. The children were placed with an aunt. The 8-year-old boy told investigators he had been watching TV with his brother when Townsend became angry over a mess the familys dogs had made, the documents state. The boys mother was not home at the time. He said Townsend took hold of his arm and threw him face down to the hardwood floor. Townsend then laid on top of the boy and choked him. The boy told investigators he tried to pull Townsends arms away from his neck. He said he was crying and gasping for air during the incident. After Townsend let him go, the boy went to the bathroom to wash blood off his face, according to the documents. Townsend later apologized to the boy and told him to lie to his mother about what happened. When interviewed by officers at the police department, Townsend said the 8-year-old sustained the injuries while he was roughhousing with the boy. He denied assaulting the child. Ex-CEO gets year in jail after deadly US mine accident The former Massey Energy chief was given a one-year prison term for his role in a deadly 2010 mine blast that was one of the worst in US history, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Don Blankenship, convicted by a jury in December 2015 of conspiracy to willfully violate mine safety standards, will also be fined $250,000, the Justice Department said. The sentence was imposed the day after the six-year anniversary of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia in which 29 men died. Don Blankenship, convicted by a jury in December 2015 of conspiracy to willfully violate mine safety standards, will be fined $250,000 Alex Wong (Getty/AFP/File) It "lets companies and their executives know that you can't take chances with the lives of coal miners and get away with it," acting US attorney Carol Casto said. "Putting the former chief executive officer of a major corporation in prison sends a message that violating mine safety laws is a serious crime and those who break those laws will be held accountable." The government, in a sentencing document to the court, described Blankenship's indifference to safety violations as "monstrous" and said he "made a conscious, cold-blooded decision to gamble with the lives of the men and women who worked for him." In 2011, an independent investigation found that Blankenship had failed to implement proper safety standards at the mine and concluded the accident "was the result of failures of basic safety systems." The investigation found that an inadequate ventilation system allowed explosive gases to build up, while water sprays were not properly maintained and failed to extinguish a spark that caused the blast 1,000 feet (305 meters) beneath the surface. Blankenship's team had argued he was portrayed unfairly by prosecutors and had a commitment to mine safety. He was expected to appeal, according to US media reports. The government had also charged Blankenship with lying to regulators and investors, but he was acquitted by the jury on those counts. Massey Energy was acquired by Alpha Natural Resources in 2011. In December that year, the US Justice Department announced that Alpha had agreed to pay a record $209 million to settle a criminal probe into safety violations at the Upper Big Branch mine. Gawker challenges $140 mn decision in Hogan sex tape case Entertainment website Gawker has challenged a jury's decision to award $140 million to former wrestler Hulk Hogan, saying Wednesday it expected to be "fully vindicated" in the sex tape case. New York-based Gawker has filed legal motions requesting a new trial or a reduction in the amount it must pay to 62-year-old Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea. Hogan had accused the site of invading his privacy when it posted a sex tape featuring him and a friend's wife. Hulk Hogan accused Gawker of invading his privacy when it posted a sex tape featuring him and a friend's wife Gerardo Mora (Getty/AFP/File) The March trial in the Florida city of St. Petersburg was closely watched by legal experts, as defense attorneys argued that publication of the sex tape was protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. "Gawker is now beginning the process of challenging the jury's verdict in a trial where key evidence was wrongly withheld and the jury was not properly instructed on the constitutional standards for newsworthiness. So we expect to be fully vindicated," the website said in a statement about its Monday court filings, without elaborating as to the nature of the evidence. "And even if the verdict were to stand, there is no justification for awarding tens of millions of dollars never seen by victims of death and serious injuries." Hogan was one of America's most famous entertainers in the 1980s and 1990s, known for his bandana, handlebar mustache and crowd-pleasing routines that included him ripping his shirt apart. According to Hogan, the amateur video posted by Gawker, which was less than two minutes, was recorded without his consent. Hogan's lawyer has said the video -- published in October 2012 -- was viewed around seven million times. Federal official pledges improved care at tribal hospitals SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) A federal official acknowledged Tuesday that the level of care is "unacceptable" at some government-run hospitals serving Native American patients and assured tribal leaders her agency would work to enact swift and long-lasting reforms. Mary Smith, principal deputy director of the Indian Health Service, spoke with Great Plains tribal leaders in Sioux Falls during the first in a series of meetings to discuss the hospitals' quality of care, including recent findings of woefully inadequate service at some of the facilities. IHS provides free health care to enrolled members of Native American tribes as part of U.S. treaty obligations. In the Great Plains region, the agency provides services to about 130,000 people through seven hospitals, 15 health centers and several smaller satellite clinics. Indian Health Service principal deputy director Mary Smith speaks to a group of Great Plains tribal leaders in Sioux Falls, S.D., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Smith and other senior agency leaders are hosting a series of meetings in Sioux Falls to address the quality of care provided at hospitals administered by the Indian Health Service. (AP Photo/Regina Garcia Cano) "We are committed to fixing these issues not simply in the short-term but so that the changes are sustainable over time," said Smith, who has led the agency for about a month. "I am committed, along with the rest of the team, to creating a culture of quality, accountability and leadership. You have my assurance that is far from business as usual at IHS." Most of the meeting Tuesday was focused on the need for significant improvements at two facilities in South Dakota and another in Nebraska where federal inspectors last year found serious deficiencies, some so concerning that the lives of patients were threatened. In October, inspectors visiting the hospital on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota cited safety deficiencies including unsecured drugs and medical records and doctors without proper credentials. An inspection of the hospital on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in November found conditions so alarming the emergency room was shut down, forcing patients to be diverted to facilities about 50 miles away. And months earlier, an inspection report of the hospital in Winnebago, Nebraska, cited the case of a patient who died at a relative's house two days after he told hospital staffers about extreme back pain and was sent home. A hospital staff member then left him a voicemail telling him his kidneys were failing, but the staffer did not attempt to make additional contact. Members of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe expressed their frustration Tuesday over the closure of their hospital's emergency department for four months. "We have lost six patients in the back of those ambulances since this happened," said Evelyn Espinoza, a registered nurse and health director of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. "... I cannot say with certainty that all six patients would still be alive today if Rosebud ER was opened, but I can say with absolute certainty that the Rosebud ER would have been the nearest ER for our relatives to be treated at." Smith said the agency is currently accepting bids for a contract to manage the emergency rooms in Pine Ridge, Rosebud and Winnebago. She added the bidding soon will open for a contract to administer region-wide telemedicine services, which allow patients to access doctors remotely via video and other technology. The services are expected to focus on behavioral health and emergency medicine. She also encouraged members of the audience, which included tribal members and health care workers, to work with the agency to fix problems. "I'm treating every single day as urgent, but I need your help," said Smith, who will visit some of the hospitals later this week. ___ Follow Regina Garcia Cano on Twitter at: https://www.twitter.com/reginagarciakNO Wheeler gets winner as Jets rally to stun Ducks in OT, 2-1 ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) With a late equalizer and an even later game-winning goal, the Winnipeg Jets reminded the playoff-bound Anaheim Ducks they should never get comfortable at this time in the NHL season. Marko Dano scored the tying goal with 3:46 to play, and Blake Wheeler got the winner with 1:53 left in overtime in the Jets' 2-1 victory over the Ducks on Tuesday night. Michael Hutchinson stopped 27 shots in his first victory since March 14 for the last-place Jets, who won their second straight with a late rally to stun the Pacific Division leaders. Winnipeg was swept in the first round of last season's playoffs by the Ducks, and the Jets are staying home this spring but they started their final road trip with a memorable win. Winnipeg Jets center Marko Dano, right, of Austria, celebrates with teammates after he scored the tying goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. The Jets won 2-1 in overtime. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo) "We flipped the script on them this year," Wheeler said. "They were able to steal a few from us last year, and it's a good feeling to win in this building. These guys are primed for probably a deep playoff run, and we understood that coming in, so we wanted to give them all they could handle. To get the win is a bonus." John Gibson got a piece of Wheeler's shot in overtime, but the puck looped over the goalie's head and got across the line before Andrew Cogliano could pull it back. "Having a lead late in the game like that, you'd like to close those out," Getzlaf said. "We had a couple of looks, and we didn't execute very well." Ryan Getzlaf could have ended it moments before Wheeler's winner, but Hutchinson got his pad on the Ducks captain's low shot. "(When) players with gifted hands like that go five-hole, your heart stops," Hutchinson said. Gibson made 24 saves and Corey Perry scored a power-play goal in the first period for the Ducks, who fell into a first-place tie with the Los Angeles Kings atop the Pacific Division. Both teams have 99 points heading into their Freeway Faceoff showdown at Staples Center on Thursday. The Ducks also have a game in hand on the Kings, who snatched a 5-4 overtime victory in Calgary earlier in the night. "We never should have got to overtime," Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler said. "I don't think we challenged their goaltender as much as we would have liked. Our power play stumbled along. You have to credit them, too. By no means did it look like a team that had nothing to play for." Winnipeg avoided a three-game season sweep at the hands of the Ducks, who blew the chance for their 26th win at Honda Center. The Ducks' NHL-best power play converted its first opportunity in the opening period. Perry tapped in his 33rd goal after Getzlaf's shot rattled off the post. Anaheim appeared to be rolling toward victory before Dano abruptly ended Gibson's bid for the fifth shutout of his rookie season, artfully deflecting home Jacob Trouba's shot from the blue line for his fifth goal. Fowler took the blame for not marking Dano in front after Anaheim's Ryan Kesler lost a defensive-zone faceoff to Alexander Burmistrov. "When the best faceoff player in the league loses a draw and we don't cover the guy in front of the net, bad things happen," Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. Forward Brandon Tanev made his NHL debut for the Jets, who signed him as a free agent March 30. The 24-year-old Providence College product and younger brother of Vancouver defenseman Chris Tanev scored the winning goal in the 2015 NCAA championship game for the Friars. NOTES: The team handed out duck calls to the crowd on Fan Appreciation Night, but the collective buzz sounded much more like bees than quacks. ... Tanev is the 11th rookie to play for Winnipeg this season. Eight Jets have made their NHL debuts this year. ... Anton Khudobin continued to back up Gibson in place of Frederik Andersen, who is out with a concussion. Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau hopes Andersen will play in a game this weekend to assess his availability for the playoffs. ... Anaheim played without injured forwards Rickard Rakell, Brandon Pirri and David Perron and defenseman Kevin Bieksa. Winnipeg Jets right wing Nikolaj Ehlers, front, of Denmark, lunges for the puck as he falls to the ice while under pressure by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Hampus Lindholm, top, of Sweden, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo) Anaheim Ducks right wing Corey Perry, left, celebrates his first period goal during an NHL hockey game against the Winnipeg Jets in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo) Winnipeg Jets right wing Joel Armia, left, of Finland, and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Josh Manson, right, compete for the puck during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo) Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot, right, moves the puck while under pressure drom Anaheim Ducks left wing Andrew Cogliano, left, during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo) The anti-Trump: Obama slowly stepping into campaign fray WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama has opened his final presidential campaign against Republican front-runner Donald Trump. His name won't be on November's ballot, but Obama is slowly embracing his role as the anti-Trump, using the contrast between himself and the boastful billionaire to paint Trump as anything but presidential. A Trump victory in the presidential race would mark an overwhelming rebuke to Obama and the likely demise of many of his policies. So with Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders still fighting it out in the Democratic primary, it has fallen increasingly to Obama to take on Trump in ways that no other Democrat can. In this April 5, 2016, photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. He wont be on Novembers ballot, but Obama is slowly embracing his role as the anti-Donald Trump, taking on the Republican front-runner in ways that no other Democrat can. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) For months, Obama and his aides mostly avoided getting dragged into the fray or letting the campaign din distract from Obama's agenda. The White House would sidestep questions about the latest Trump controversies, refusing to turn Obama into a pundit on the race to replace him. When Obama waded in, it was only to offer implicit rebukes of the Trump phenomenon, such as Obama's assertion in September that "America is great right now" a not-so-veiled reference to the business mogul's campaign promise to "make America great again." Now the Trump critique is coming with increasing frequency and ease. Asked Tuesday whether Trump's proposals were already damaging U.S. relations, Obama answered unequivocally: "Yes." "I am getting questions constantly from foreign leaders about some of the wackier suggestions that are being made," Obama said. "They don't expect half-baked notions coming out of the White House. We can't afford that." The Democratic National Committee quickly circulated video of Obama's remarks, arguing they illustrated how Trump "simply doesn't have the temperament necessary to be commander in chief." Yet by calling attention to Trump's positions, the White House risks further elevating him, while giving Obama's critics a fresh reason to get behind the billionaire businessman. Obama has said repeatedly he doesn't believe Trump will win, and White House officials said there was no concerted effort to insert Obama more visibly into the election debate. After all, every minute Obama spends talking about Trump is a minute wasted when it comes to Obama's many unfinished pieces of business. Still, the president in recent days has rarely passed up a chance for a Trump takedown especially on foreign policy, where Obama's status as commander in chief gives him a unique perch to besmirch Trump's approach. Closing out a nuclear security summit last week, Obama said Trump's suggestion that South Korea and Japan develop nuclear weapons "tell us that the person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy, or nuclear policy, or the Korean Peninsula." "Or the world generally," Obama added wryly. And in his latest rebuke, Obama unloaded on Trump's proposal to compel Mexico to pay for a border wall by threatening to cut off remittances that Mexican immigrants in the U.S. send back home. Asked about that idea, Obama issued a point-by-point rebuttal, arguing that would actually increase the flow of immigrants into the U.S. and that tracking huge numbers of remittances was impossible. "Good luck with that," Obama said. Obama's public scolding of Trump, who for years peddled inaccurate claims about Obama's birth certificate, dates back to 2011, when Obama roasted him at the glitzy White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Trump was visibly humiliated as Obama lobbed joke after joke at him on national television. Obama, echoing the broader message from Democrats this year, has stressed that Trump isn't the only Republican espousing "draconian" rhetoric about Mexicans, Muslims and others. Yet the brunt of Obama's criticism has centered on Trump, who has the best mathematical path to the Republican nomination despite losing to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Wisconsin on Tuesday. Though Clinton and Sanders have both vigorously attacked Trump, neither has been able to focus exclusively on the Republican as their battle for the Democratic nomination continues. Obama hasn't endorsed either of the Democrats or campaigned on their behalf, leaving his condemnation of Trump as his primary foray into the race to date. The White House said once the Democrats choose their nominee, Obama will be out in full force campaigning, raising money and activating his own supporters. ___ Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP Cruz win in Wisconsin leaves Trump a damaged front-runner MILWAUKEE (AP) Republican Donald Trump emerged from the Wisconsin primaries as a damaged front-runner following a crushing primary loss to rival Ted Cruz, deepening questions about the billionaire businessman's presidential qualifications and pushing the Republican Party toward a rare contested convention nomination fight. Democrat Bernie Sanders also scored a sweeping victory Tuesday giving him fresh incentive to keep challenging Hillary Clinton. But Sanders still lags behind Clinton in the all-important delegate count. Both parties now turn their sights toward New York, which offers a massive delegate prize in its April 19 contests. It marks a homecoming of sorts for several candidates, with Trump, Clinton and Sanders all boasting roots in the state. Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, waves during a primary night campaign event, Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) In the Republican primary system, candidates vie in each state to win delegates, who then vote for the nominee at party conventions over the summer. If no candidate wins an outright majority in the first vote of the convention, most delegates are free to change their allegiance, so candidates would have to compete to win their support. Cruz has stepped forward as the candidate best positioned to block Trump in the Republican race, though it would likely take a convention battle to accomplish that goal. A Texas senator with a complicated relationship with Republican leaders, Cruz cast his Wisconsin victory as a "turning point" in the race and urged the party to rally around his candidacy. Even if Cruz's gains do force the Republican race into a contested convention in July, it is unclear whether he would emerge as the nominee, or whether the party would try to put forward someone else. In the Republican race, Cruz was poised to collect most of Wisconsin's 42 Republican delegates. In the Democratic race, Sanders still trails Clinton in the pledged delegate count and has so far been unable to persuade superdelegates the party officials who can back any candidate to drop their allegiance to the former secretary of state and back his campaign. At a raucous rally in Wyoming, Sanders cast his victory as a sign of mounting momentum for his campaign. "With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won 7 out of 8 of the last caucuses and primaries," he declared. Sanders is favored to win Wyoming's Democratic caucuses on Saturday, but it offers a small delegate prize. Because Democrats award delegates proportionally, Sanders' victory in Wisconsin did not cut significantly into Clinton's lead in the pledged delegate count. Sanders' win will net him at least 47 delegates and Clinton will gain at least 36. That means Sanders must still win an unlikely 67 percent of the remaining delegates and uncommitted superdelegates in order to win the Democratic presidential nomination. The state-by-state nominating contests are choosing delegates who will select the presidential nominees at the parties' national conventions in July. ___ Associated Press writers Scott Bauer in Milwaukee and Julie Pace, Hope Yen, Stphen Ohlemacher and Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jpaceDC Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally in Laramie, Wyo., Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Sanders won the Democratic presidential primary in Wisconsin Tuesday. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop, Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) In Pakistan, tackling extremism is a political minefield ISLAMABAD (AP) Tackling extremism is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the state's ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. A suicide bombing in a park in Lahore that killed 72 people, many of them Christians celebrating Easter Sunday, brought renewed international attention to Pakistan's extremism problem. In the aftermath, security forces arrested hundreds of suspected militants. At the same time, however, demonstrators calling for the implementation of Islamic law and expressing their support for the man who murdered an anti-blasphemy campaigner were allowed to congregate freely in the capital. On social media, pictures circulated showing senior members of Pakistan's elite police forces praying at the grave of Mumtaz Qadri, the policeman charged with killing the secular, left-leaning politician Salman Tanseer because he defended a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. When Qadri was hanged for the murder in February, tens of thousands of Pakistanis rallied in his support. FILE- - In this March 1, 2016 file photo, thousands of people attend a funeral of Pakistani police officer Mumtaz Qadri, the convicted killer of a former governor, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Tackling extremists is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups, and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the states ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File) The sincerity of authorities' efforts to tackle extremism was further called into question when Rana Sanaullah, the law minister for Punjab province of which Lahore is the capital issued statements denying that militant groups operated in the area. Yet outlawed and violent Sunni Muslim militant groups are widely known to be headquartered in Punjab province, though many hide behind different names, according to Zahid Hussein, an expert on militancy in Pakistan. Among them is Jaish-e-Mohammed, which operates under several banners according to Hussein, and has been implicated in a number of bombings. Its leader, Masood Azhar, was freed from an Indian jail where he was being held for attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir in exchange for the release of passengers aboard the 1999 hijacked Indian Airlines plane. The U.S.-declared terrorist group Lashkar e-Taiba also operates in the province, under the name Jamaat-ud Dawah. It was banned in Pakistan in 2015, but its leader Hafiz Saeed travels freely around the country and gives speeches inciting people to attack western and Indian interests. Punjab is also the headquarters of Sipah-e-Sahaba (SSP), whose military arm is responsible for scores of attacks on Pakistan's minority Shiite Muslims, according to Hussein. Law Minister Sanaullah might be expected to know that SSP operates in Punjab. He openly campaigned with the SSP leader during provincial elections, although the group is officially outlawed. Pakistan is regularly witness to deadly militant attacks on schools and universities, buses, parks, churches, temples and Imam Bargahs, Shiite places of worship. According to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 4,612 people were killed in bombings and other violence in the country in 2015. Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, the group that claimed responsibility for the Easter Sunday bombing, has roots in the tribal region and has declared its sympathy with the Islamic State group. According to Michael Kugelman, Senior Associate for South and Southeast Asia at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, it shares many views in common with the scores of other militant groups operating in Pakistan. "If there is one thing that can be said about all Pakistan-based terror groups, it is that they are all cut from the same cloth," Kugelman wrote in an email to The Associated Press. "They all share the same violent extremist views, and many of them retain strong links to al-Qaida. And though they focus on different targets some target Pakistan, others India, others Afghanistan there are many examples of operational collaborations across the board. In effect, the terrorist landscape in Punjab and beyond is essentially one large, overlapping network." Thousands of Pakistani soldiers have been killed or wounded in battles against militants in the tribal regions, which border Afghanistan in the northwest of the country. Yet the Pakistani military has historical links to militant groups raising further doubts abroad about whether the security services are up to the job. It was the military that spawned the likes of Lashkar-e-Taiba, offering it financial, organizational and operational assistance. Others like Harakat-ul-Jihad, whose fighters attack Indian targets inside the disputed Kashmir region, are known to have links with Pakistan's Intelligence Agency (known by its acronym, the ISI). Pakistan's military rulers have also often aligned themselves with the country's extremist groups. In the 70s and 80s, military autocrat Zia-ul Haq used extremist groups to push his agenda of restricted liberties and more Islamic laws. More recently, U.S.-backed Gen. Pervez Musharraf positioned himself a bulwark against extremism while patronizing groups when it suited him, striking deals with them to keep him in power. "In reality, the fundamental cause of mayhem on Pakistani streets is not a malicious foreign power or inept civilians, but blowback from the military's own long history of using jihad as an instrument of national security," Aqil Shah wrote last month in the U.S.-based Council on Foreign Relations publication, Foreign Affairs. The military's spokesman and three star general, Asim Bajwa, strongly refuted the suggestion. He did not acknowledge the military's past links to militant groups, but said in an interview that today the army has a "zero tolerance" policy toward extremists. "It is a different time," Bajwa said. "Our operations (against militants) are indiscriminate," he said. "It is not possible to differentiate from the air and from the ground. You just go in. We are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism." The army led the offensive in Punjab following the Easter Sunday attack, carrying out raids throughout the province, sometimes in joint operations with police and paramilitary rangers. Bajwa says that 20,000 militants were rounded up in one week. The majority were subsequently released. Despite the Lahore bombings, there are modest signs of progress. In its 2015 report, the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said violent attacks by militants halved between 2014 and 2015. "Pakistani army operations in North Waziristan have killed many terrorists and destroyed their networks, but many more terrorists remain," said Kugelman of the Woodrow Wilson Center. "So long as Pakistani society continues to provide a fertile environment for extremist thought, and so long as the Pakistani state does not counter such dangerous ideologies, then more terrorists, nurtured and fueled by these hateful narratives, will keep regenerating." Pakistan's military spokesman Gen. Bajwa insisted, however, that the military is determined to eliminate extremism. "We want to progress. We want to move ahead," he said. "And we want the world to stand with us." FILE- In this March 27, 2016 file photo, Pakistani religious protesters beat a paramilitary soldier during clashes near the parliament building in Islamabad, Pakistan. Tackling extremists is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups, and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the states ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File) FILE- In this Wednesday, March 30, 2016 file photo, protesters from the Pakistani religious group Sunni Tehreek celebrate the success of a negotiations with government, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Tackling extremists is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups, and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the states ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, File) FILE - In this March 28, 2016 file photo, a Pakistani Christian mother mourns the death of her son in a suicide bombing in Lahore, Pakistan, that killed over 70 people. Tackling extremists is a political minefield in Pakistan, where politicians openly consort with leaders of banned militant groups, and sympathy exists within the security forces and civil administration for perpetrators of crimes committed in the name of religion. As a result, many remain skeptical of the states ability to put an end to the militant violence that kills hundreds of Pakistani civilians each year. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary, File) Life story, movie star father lift Poe in Philippines' race MANILA, Philippines (AP) Her life story could have come straight out of a soap opera. As a newborn, Grace Poe was abandoned in a Catholic church and adopted by movie star parents, giving her a powerful narrative and name that have helped catapult her to front-runner in the Philippine presidential race. A political newcomer, elected to the Senate just three years ago, Poe has promised to cut taxes, fight crime and offer free kindergarten-to-college education for the poor. But it is the popularity of her late father, regarded as the king of Philippine movies, and her humble beginnings that appeal to the masses in this country where presidents have traditionally come from the landed gentry and political elite. The 47-year-old candidate's campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father Fernando Poe Jr., popularly known as FPJ, who often played roles of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. He too ran for president in 2004 but lost amid allegations he was cheated in an election many viewed as marked by fraud. He died months later, unable to carry out his battles off the screen. In this Jan.19, 2016 photo, Sen. Grace Poe, one of the Presidential candidates in May's presidential elections, arrives at the Philippine Supreme Court for the oral arguments following a petition filed before the Highest Court questioning her citizenship in Manila, Philippines. Poe, the front-runner in the Philippines May 9 presidential election, has a powerful narrative that appeals to the masses: As a baby, she was abandoned at a church and adopted by movie celebrity parents. Her campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father, whose film roles were mostly that of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. Poe promises to do the same in real life. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) His daughter is pledging to fight real-life poverty and despair and her father's public image is a huge asset in her campaign. "I like her because Fernando Poe is my idol," said Eliza Oledan, a laundrywoman with nine children, after hearing Poe a rally in Manila. "I also like her platform of government, especially that she will make college education free." One of her children had to stop schooling due to lack of money, Oledan said. Poe's compelling life story nearly cost her her candidacy, however, when opponents claimed that because she was a foundling, it wasn't clear that she was a natural-born Filipino, as the constitution requires. Last month, the Supreme Court declared her qualified to run. Other detractors have questioned her allegiance because she once renounced her Filipino citizenship to become a naturalized U.S. citizen. Poe later gave up her U.S. passport to accept a government post. Her husband and children are American citizens. If elected president on May 9, Poe tells voters she will offer a free lunch program for all public day care and elementary schools, more job opportunities for women and more aid to farmers. She told an audience of mostly college students that she would increase Internet speed in the country, among the slowest in Asia. And she told businessmen she would improve infrastructure and push to amend the economic provisions of the constitution that discourage foreign investments. "I think I can deliver on those promises," she told The Associated Press. "Filipinos should really have a leader that unifies." Asked if she believes her poignant life story is boosting her campaign, she said it's important that the candidate has a story to tell, but most important is that "the candidate would be able to understand the story of our people, and in our case we don't want anyone left behind." Temario Rivera, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, credits Poe's popularity to her fresh public personality untainted by corruption allegations, her ability to connect with ordinary people and her father's popularity. "The foundling narrative is a very powerful narrative," he said. The celebrity status of her family as well as her and her father's underdog image "hits the right note, especially for a society where many continue to be poor and marginalized." A recent survey by independent pollster Social Weather Stations gave Poe support from 34 percent of would-be voters. Tough-talking Mayor Rodrigo Duterte got 31 percent while Vice President Jejomar Binay and former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas both got 17 percent. Poe's critics have pounced on her lack of experience, but Rivera points out the same could be said of U.S. President Barack Obama when he assumed office. Poe needs to assemble a good team and be a fast learner, he added. Some have been upset by the support she has received from a wealthy businessman who allegedly profited from a tax imposed on impoverished coconut farmers during the martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Others have questioned her personal story. For years, rumors have swirled that she is the illegitimate daughter of Marcos with her adoptive mother's sister a rumor Poe and her family deny. At a recent rally, dressed in her trademark immaculate white shirt and blue jeans, Poe told the working class audience that those who question her being Filipino only need to look at her round nose, short height and dark hair. "There are so many children who are found abandoned in garbage dumps in Manila," she said. "Every week, we hear news of children being thrown away. Can we say they are not Filipino?" Everyone should be given equal opportunity, she said, and that is why she will push for free education for the poor. "The problem with political candidates is they are all honey-tongued during election," said Ramon Castro, a technician who favors another presidential candidate but acknowledges Poe's lead in polls. If she wins, he said, "let's see if she can fulfill her promises." In this March 16, 2016 photo, Philippine presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe listens to a question during her forum with Filipino businessmen at the financial district of Makati city east of Manila, Philippines. Her life story could have come straight out of a soap opera. As a newborn, Grace Poe was abandoned in a Catholic church and adopted by movie celebrity parents, giving her a powerful narrative and name that have helped catapult her to front-runner in the Philippine presidential race. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) In this Jan. 19, 2016 photo, Sen. Grace Poe, one of the Presidential candidates in May's presidential elections, is mobbed by supporters as she arrives at the Philippine Supreme Court for the oral arguments following a petition filed before the Highest Court questioning her citizenship in Manila, Philippines. Her life story could have come straight out of a soap opera. As a newborn, Grace Poe was abandoned in a Catholic church and adopted by movie star parents, giving her a powerful narrative and name that have helped catapult her to front-runner in the Philippine presidential race.(AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) In this March 8, 2016 photo, Philippine Presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe addresses hundreds of supporters, mostly women, during a rally to mark the 105th International Women's Day in Manila, Philippines. The 47-year-old candidates campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father Fernando Poe Jr., popularly known as FPJ, who often played roles of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) In this March 8, 2016 photo, Philippine Presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe greets hundreds of supporters, mostly women, during a rally to mark the 105th International Women's Day in Manila, Philippines. Poe, the front-runner in the Philippines May 9 presidential election, has a powerful narrative that appeals to the masses: As a baby, she was abandoned at a church and adopted by movie celebrity parents. Her campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father, whose film roles were mostly that of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. Poe promises to do the same in real life. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) In this March 8, 2016 photo, Presidential candidate Sen. Grace Poe waves to her supporters following a to mark the 105th International Women's Day in Manila, Philippines. Poe, the front-runner in the Philippines May 9 presidential election, has a powerful narrative that appeals to the masses: As a baby, she was abandoned at a church and adopted by movie celebrity parents. Her campaign speeches are peppered with dialogues from the movies of her late father, whose film roles were mostly that of an underdog battling powerful opponents to champion the poor and oppressed. Poe promises to do the same in real life. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) Trump eyes shift to policy 'meat' as convention fight looms NEW YORK (AP) Republican Donald Trump declared it's "great to be home" at a massive rally in the New York City suburbs Wednesday, shrugging off a defeat in Wisconsin a day earlier and instead, predicting victory in his delegate-rich home state. "I love these people. These are my people," he said to thunderous cheers. Dozens of police officers amassed outside the soundstage venue on Long Island as protesters chanted "your hats are made in China" and "dump Trump." Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas autographs a hat for a voter at the Sabrosura 2 restaurant in the Bronx borough of New York, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer) Trump supporters retaliated, declaring "socialism sucks!" and "leave this country!" The rally comes as the GOP front-runner signaled a shift toward "more meat on the bone" in his policy speeches amid new signs of campaign discord after his stinging Wisconsin loss to rival Ted Cruz emboldened his critics and pushed the GOP closer to its first contested national convention in four decades. Former gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, one of Trump's state co-chairs, said the campaign received 18,000 requests for Wednesday's event, although the venue holds just 3,000 people. Said Paladino, a Buffalo-based businessman: "We've seen people just coming up saying, 'Where has he been?' Thank God he's here." As for possible friction in the campaign, Paladino said he's had no problems with Trump's campaign manager. "They do have a small staff probably smaller than they should have but these guys work 24/7," he said. "I don't know how they keep their senses about them." Both parties shifted toward New York's April 19 primary elections, where Democrat Hillary Clinton and Trump hold big leads in early polls. Clinton embraced a tougher approach with liberal rival Bernie Sanders Wednesday after her defeat in Wisconsin. Still, Sanders' string of recent primary victories has done little to erode the former New York senator's overwhelming delegate lead as the 2016 primary season lurches toward a high-stakes contest in two weeks in New York. "The core issue in his whole campaign doesn't seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law or the practical ways you get something done," an aggressive Clinton declared in an interview on MSNBC. She suggested Sanders "hadn't done his homework" on specific prescriptions needed to address economic inequality. As the Democratic front-runner tried to undercut Sanders' recent momentum, Trump's grasp on his party's presidential nomination appeared far more tenuous. Senior Trump adviser Barry Bennett shrugged off Tuesday's loss to Cruz, but he also said the billionaire businessman would soon begin to deliver a series of "presidential, substantive" speeches on his policy priorities. That list likely includes immigration, trade, defense and taxes. "That's coming," Bennett said of the shift. "There will be more and more meat on the bone as we go forward." At the same time, Trump's team quietly worked to resolve problems with its young delegate outreach operation, a critical tool as the primary campaign speeds toward the possibility of a contest convention. The tension centers on campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, whose management style has alienated some would-be allies on the ground in key states. For example, the campaign over the weekend fired the person running its Colorado operation ahead of the state's convention on Saturday. The move was confirmed by a person with direct knowledge of the staffing situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The issues come as leading Democrats and Republicans acknowledge a growing likelihood that Cruz could wrestle the presidential nomination away at the GOP national convention in July. While Trump maintains a big delegate lead, Cruz took a big step forward with his win in Wisconsin. The senator has no realistic path to claim the nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he might force a contested convention by blocking Trump from getting a majority of delegates in the state-by-state voting. Trump must win 57 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he's winning 46 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who hopes the year will play out in Cruz's favor, said the Republican race was "very likely" headed to an open convention. "Ted Cruz will win on the second ballot if not on the way in, and he will unite the party," Walker said on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee. New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, asked if she's coming around to the idea of Cruz as the nominee, said, "I'm coming around to more like, 'It looks like it will be a very interesting convention.'" At the same time, Clinton allies were broadening their attacks against Trump to include Cruz, a first-term senator who has often alienated Democrats and Republican alike in Washington. "One of the scariest parts of Donald Trump's insulting, demeaning and dangerous attack on women is that Ted Cruz might actually be even worse for women," said Anne Caprara, who leads the pro-Clinton group, Priorities USA. That group worked with the campaign arm of Planned Parenthood to unveil an anti-Trump internet ad on Wednesday. ___ Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Jersey City, New Jersey, Rachelle Blidner and Michael Balsamo in New York, Hope Yen, Stephen Ohlemacher, Andrew Taylor, Erica Werner in Washington and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed. In this April 4, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a rally at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee. He wont be on Novembers ballot, but President Barack Obama is slowly embracing his role as the anti-Trump, taking on the Republican front-runner in ways that no other Democrat can. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, right, shakes hands with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during a primary night campaign event, Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Montana is one of only two states in the country that does not pay for students with disabilities to pursue their high school diploma past 18 years old, effectively capping the graduation age in most districts. Advocates for people with disabilities pushed for change Tuesday at a meeting of the School Funding Interim Commission, a group of 16 legislators and educators who can make policy recommendations to the 2017 Legislature. Advocates said many teens with disabilities can graduate or at least finish preparation for a job if only they had a little extra time. That, they said, sets up students to be independent, working members of their communities who use less of costly support programs, which can drain family and public budgets. Additionally, they noted that Montana law means the state cannot receive federal funding to provide job training and some transitional services for teens and young adults with disabilities. If we do right by our youth, there will be less problems and less expenses when we go to work with adults, said Jim Marks, state director of vocational rehabilitation and disability transition services. The Department of Public Health and Human Services division uses federal funds to offer job training to young adults with disabilities. Similar programs, including independent living centers and a handful of nonprofits, report having long waiting lists that leave many without the help they need to secure a job or live independently. Unlike Montana, most states take advantage of federal funding to provide those programs in high schools so that there is no gap in services. If you dont use it, you lose it, said Michael Beers, a Missoula County Schools Trustee and Youth Transitions coordinator at Summit Independent Living Center who also lives with a disability. These teachers do a lot of great work. It is frustrating to see students start freshman year and constantly build, year after year, and be very, very close to employable and efficient. Then the day after they graduate, they have to spend two years on a waiting list. Montana cannot receive federal funds to offer such job training programs in schools because the state stops paying districts for students who are older than 18 by Sept. 10 of that academic year. Without state support, few districts opt to extend teaching and support services to older students with disabilities, largely because such costs must be supported entirely with local funding. In the 2015 session, House Bill 451 would have removed the age limit on state funding to school districts for every child receiving special education services, leaving it to local trustees to decide which students would be offered the extended programming, if at all. The bill was tabled by the appropriations committee amid debate of the proposals true costs, effectively killing the measure. Rep. Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton, and others questioned whether the bill would force districts to pay to educate students until they are 21 years old, regardless of the severity of a disability or a schools ability to offer such services. By her calculation, nearly 1,300 students might qualify, which she said could cost the state an additional $58 million a year. Office of Public Instruction Special Education Director Frank Podobnik told the commission Tuesday that calculation was flawed and offered to email members the methodology he used to reach the official cost estimate: $340,000 a year to extend schooling for an estimated 39 students whose disabilities and progress indicate they might be good match for such programs. Great Falls Public Schools Director of Student Services Dale Lambert said the costs are worth it, which is why his district voluntarily offers extended programming without any state support. Of the districts 158 high school students eligible for special education, 25 of them between 19 and 21 years old. Ten of those students are capable, but just could not finish in time, which is why trustees granted them waivers. Most of the other 15 completed life skill development goals, like effectively communicating with a boss, and are in a training program where they spend part of the day in classes and part at an off-campus job. Every day I go to work, I drive past a bus stop and at that bus stop is a former life skills student who sorts parts into a bin at NorthWestern Energy so the linemen have what they need, he said. We want to provide them the opportunity to be a part of the community and gainfully employed and give back. It's a good investment. The return is greater than the investment we make. Christy Sofianek of Bozemans Project SEARCH said more districts and communities could benefit from such programs, and many districts are interested in offering them. The biggest challenge, she says, is the absence of state funding, locking Montanans out of the best national models. Her own program, which provides training and internships at Bozeman Deaconess hospital, is the only of its kind in the country to operate outside a school and only does so with funding help from Syracuse University. This program is really about jobs, she said. A successful outcome for us is a minimum of 16 hours a week not two hours a week which is what most of our clients had before coming to us if they worked at all in an inclusive environment, working out in the community. Not seasonal work. The commission likely will not decide whether to revive a version of HB 451 until it meets in June. Candidates come home as, in a rarity, NY primary matters NEW YORK (AP) The year's biggest, wildest show is finally coming to Broadway. And Brooklyn. And Buffalo. And Syracuse. The presidential primary is descending on New York. The voting on April 19 will be the first time the state has a played a meaningful role in the nominating process in decades. New York is a coveted prize, offering the most delegates of any contest left on the primary calendar until California's primary June 7. FILE - In this Tuesday, April 5, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks during a campaign stop, in New York. The presidential primary is descending on New York, with voting on April 19 as the first time the state has a played a meaningful role in the nominating process in decades. New York is a coveted prize, offering the most delegates of any contest left on the primary calendar until California votes on June 7. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson, File) And the two leading hometown candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, who have long eyed New York as a bulwark against their opposition, now both need the state to provide a bounce-back victory after some disheartening defeats. Clinton, who has a home just north of New York City and her campaign headquarters in Brooklyn, is aiming to recover from a loss to Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin by emphasizing the eight years she represented the Empire State in the Senate. But polls show her lead over Sanders another New Yorker who grew up in Brooklyn before settling in Vermont narrowing. So she is turning to local political organizations, unions and a vast statewide network of supportive elected officials to ward off what would be a humiliating defeat that could send the Democratic establishment into a panic even though she'd still possess a significant delegate lead. "New Yorkers took a chance on me, and I will never forget that," Clinton said at a recent event in Harlem. "You have always had my back and I have always tried to have yours." For Trump, the campaign's move to the city where his name is a fixture on apartment buildings, hotels and even Central Park's ice skating rink, gives him a chance to shake off a resounding defeat to Ted Cruz in Wisconsin. That loss may doom his chance to lock up the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination before the party's convention this summer, but the celebrity businessman appears poised to rack up a significant win in his home state. He has a commanding lead in recent polls and his organizational reach appears to dwarf those of Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. "I love New York. New York just came out with polls and I'm killing everybody," said Trump at a rally in Wisconsin on Monday. "Isn't it nice when the people know you best have you way up?" The rules governing New York's set of delegates are complex. On the Republican side, for instance, 81 are pledged based on results in the state's 27 congressional districts. Three delegates from each district are given to the candidate who wins at least 50 percent of the vote; if no one exceeds that threshold, the winner gets two delegates and the second-place finisher gets one. Another 14 at-large delegates must vote for the first-place finisher on the convention's first ballot. Both the Clinton and Trump campaigns may draw lessons from the state's 2014 gubernatorial race. That year, Democratic incumbent Andrew Cuomo ran on a record of being a business-friendly tax cutter, boasting that he frequently worked with the Republicans in the state Legislature to pass restrained, on-time budgets. But many Democrats across the state rallied around unknown law professor Zephyr Teachout, who with little money or organization, mounted a challenge to Cuomo from the left and ended up with a shocking 33 percent of the vote. Sanders backers believe that scenario could be repeated on a far greater scale against Clinton, and the Vermont senator has repeatedly attacked her cozy ties to Wall Street, connections he says were strengthened when she represented New York in the Senate. Cuomo two years ago faced a stiffer-than-expected general election campaign from the poorly financed Westchester County executive Rob Astorino, who in a losing effort actually drew more votes from outside New York City than the sitting governor, demonstrating the dramatic shift in the state's political landscape outside the five boroughs. Upstate New York is mostly small towns and rural areas, a far cry from the glittering skyscrapers and liberal politics that many across the nation associate with New York. Those counties, while home to far fewer people than the city, frequently vote Republican, as do, at times, the populous Long Island suburbs and some of the city's far-flung northern exurbs. In a possible general election contest, a Trump campaign would also likely target the disaffected voter living in hardscrabble upstate cites like Rochester and Buffalo, as well as wide swaths of the northern and western parts of the state that have been mired in economic doldrums for decades. But while Trump has declared that "in upstate New York, I'm like the most popular person that's ever lived," it would be a tall task to flip his native New York red in November due to the sheer number of votes in New York City. In 2012, President Barack Obama won the city by 1.5 million votes, nearly the exact margin by which he captured the state. Ronald Reagan was the last Republican to win New York, back in 1984. Eight years later, Bill Clinton emerged victorious in a grueling primary, the last time New York played a pivotal role in a presidential primary. "It's really exciting that New York matters this time around and that all the candidates are here," said Tanisha Smith, 36, an undecided Democratic voter from Brooklyn. "We don't have to wait to November this year!" Vietnam's prime minister steps down after 10 years in office HANOI, Vietnam (AP) Vietnam's prime minister stepped down Wednesday after 10 years in office, leaving behind a mixed legacy of promoting failed state enterprises but at the same time attracting foreign investment and daring to challenge China. In a formal vote, 430 of 462 members of the rubber-stamp National Assembly voted to remove Nguyen Tan Dung, three months before the end of his term, the government said on its website. Dung's departure was a mere formality after he lost a leadership battle during the ruling Communist Party's congress in January. Dung lost to Nguyen Phu Trong, who was re-elected party general secretary for a second five-year term. FILE - in this April 27, 2015 file photo, Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung waits for the plenary session of the 26th ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Dung stepped down Wednesday, April 6, 2016, after 10 years in office, leaving behind a mixed legacy of promoting failed state enterprises but at the same time attracting foreign investment and daring to challenge China. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul, File) The National Assembly is scheduled to appoint Dung's deputy, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, as prime minister on Thursday. In Vietnam, the Communist Party general secretary, the prime minister and the president form the triumvirate of power. Dung was easily the most high-profile prime minister Vietnam ever had. He was charismatic, a good orator and mixed easily with foreign leaders, which raised the country's profile. But within the party he was blamed for the failures of huge state-owned enterprises including the monumental collapse of the Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group and Vietnam Shipping Lines. Many of the state owned enterprises ended up with mountains of public debt. "Over the course of his tenure, Dung distinguished himself as a highly public and entrepreneurial leader, even as the substance of his policy initiatives drew criticisms from both conservative and reform elements within the party," Jonathan London, a Vietnam expert at the City University of Hong Kong, said in an email interview. Also, Dung's closeness with numerous newly and unusually wealthy Vietnamese raised suspicions among many. "Be that as it may, during Dung's tenure, Vietnam continued to grow and draw large-scale foreign investment, defying regional and global trends," said London. Dung's position as an experienced leader will be hard to fill. "Dung's successor, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who comes to the office with considerable less punching power, is a study in contrast with Dung," said London. "In essence, none among Vietnam's current leaders will fill Dung's shoes." Dung took office in 2006, during the global financial crises, followed by a global economic slowdown that severely impacted Vietnam, which at the time and even today largely depends on foreign investment and trade for economic growth. Le Hong Hiep, a visiting fellow at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, noted that his plan to create giant state-backed conglomerates may have been well-intentioned, but it was poorly executed. Instead of selecting and promoting strong and efficient private companies, he decided to promote inefficient and corruption-laden state-owned enterprises, he said. Still, it may not have been his plan alone but that of the party, which at the time wanted such state-owned companies to become the "iron fists" of the economy, said Hiep. "In this sense, he can be seen as a victim of the system," he said. Dung also won accolades from common Vietnamese for standing up to China in their territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Impeachment call latest complication for Alabama governor MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Two weeks after admitting to sexually charged remarks to a female aide, embattled Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley faces a call for his impeachment from a bipartisan group of lawmakers who said the public has lost confidence in the Republican governor. Although the impeachment effort is considered a longshot in the legislative session that ends next month, it is a sign of the governor's growing political troubles in the wake of the scandal. "We are looking at this governor who has essentially betrayed the trust of the people of Alabama through actions and lies that have caused us to have some doubt about his leadership," Rep. Ed Henry said during a news conference at the Alabama Statehouse. Gov. Robert Bentley speaks during Alabama Community College Day on the Alabama Capitol lawn on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala. Republican Rep. Ed Henry says he is filing an impeachment resolution against Gov. Bentley in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) Henry introduced the five-page articles of impeachment Tuesday, accusing Bentley of moral turpitude, willful neglect of duty, corruption and incompetence. Bentley lashed out at the effort Tuesday, saying he would vigorously defend himself. "Today's press conference is nothing more than political grandstanding intended to grab headlines and take the focus away from the important issues the Legislature still has to address before the end of the session," Bentley said in a statement. Bentley last month admitted making inappropriate remarks to his senior political adviser, Rebekah Caldwell Mason, who has since resigned. The admission came after former Alabama Law Enforcement Secretary Spencer Collier, a day after being fired by Bentley, accused the governor of having an affair with Mason and of interfering with law enforcement investigations. Bentley has denied both accusations. Yet the scandal has engulfed Bentley, a mild-mannered dermatologist and former Baptist deacon whose political ascendency was based partly on his morally upright, honest reputation. Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled Alabama Legislature are not pushing the impeachment effort. The resolution was sent to the House Rules Committee, where it will likely linger for the 11 meeting days remaining in the legislative session without a floor vote. House Rules Committee Chairman Mac McCutcheon said the committee would first establish an investigating commission to vet the articles of impeachment and determine whether grounds exist for impeachment. Some Alabama lawmakers quickly dismissed the impeachment effort as premature. "I'm not in the mood to impeach someone over personal issues. Unless someone can show us a reason that someone has misused their office or misused tax dollars and I haven't seen that," said Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, the GOP's leader in the chamber. Republican Rep. Jack Williams said Tuesday that he can't support an impeachment process "wrought with stoked-up emotion." Williams said the governor deserves due process as the state Ethics Commission conducts its investigation. "It's the wrong day and the wrong way," Williams said. Alabama lawmakers have never previously tried to impeach a sitting governor. The state constitution spells out a vague but seldom-used procedure for impeachment. If the House of Representatives approves the impeachment resolution, a trial would be held in the Alabama Senate. But the impeachment effort is another indication of the shift in the fortunes of a governor who has banked on his scrupulous character. "There is a crisis of confidence, and this needs to be resolved," Republican Rep. Mike Ball said. Dianne Bentley, the governor's ex-wife, filed for divorce in 2015, saying their 50-year marriage had suffered an irreparable breakdown. Recordings obtained by The Associated Press purportedly show the governor before his divorce professing love to someone named Rebecca or Rebekah and telling her how much he enjoyed kissing her and touching her breasts. "I love you so much; I worry about loving you so much," Bentley says on the call. The governor in a news conference last month said he did not have a "physical affair" with Mason and that there was no "sexual activity." Henry said the recordings cast doubt on Bentley's description and undermine the governor's credibility on that and other issues. The impeachment articles lay out few specifics of the charges against the governor but cite an "inappropriate relationship" with Mason and suspicions that he might have inappropriately used his office resources to conceal or advance the relationship. The impeachment articles also cite a lack of transparency in how Mason was paid. Mason was not on payroll, but was paid by Bentley's campaign. Bentley has a habit of saying in speeches how much he loves the people of his state. Henry said voters do not reciprocate the affection right now. "If he truly loves the people of this state, he'll step down," Henry said. Alabama Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, announces that he will be filing an impeachment resolution for Gov. Robert Bentley, before filing it in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala. Henry says he is filing the impeachment resolution in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, speaks during a press conference announcing that Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, center back, will be filing a resolution for Governor Robert Bentley's impeachment in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala. Henry says he is filing the impeachment resolution in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, speaks during a press conference announcing that Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, will be filing aresolution calling for for Governor Robert Bentley's impeachment in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Montgomery, Ala. Henry says he is filing the impeachment resolution in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) Alabama Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, announces that he will be filing an impeachment resolution for Gov. Robert Bentley, before filing it in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala. Henry says he is filing the impeachment resolution in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) Alabama Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle, announces that he will be filing an impeachment resolution for Gov. Robert Bentley, before filing it in the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, at the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala. Henry says he is filing the impeachment resolution in the wake of a scandal involving one of the governors top aides, who has since resigned. The resolution will likely be sent to the House Rules Committee for consideration. (Albert Cesare/Montgomery Advertiser via AP) European Union ponders better way to deal with migrants BRUSSELS (AP) The European Union took its first steps Wednesday toward a fundamental reform of its defective migration policy, which has heaped huge pressure on some nations like Greece as over a million migrants and refugees surged into the continent over the past year. Yet almost immediately, the East-West fissure within the EU over migration was laid bare. Nations like Germany and Greece welcomed the plan by the EU's executive Commission that seeks to amend the current principle under which the first nation where a migrant arrives is forced to process their asylum request and temporarily shelter them. The Czech Republic, which chairs the Visegrad group of four eastern EU nations, voiced opposition to any plan that would mean each EU nation has to take a set number of asylum-seekers. Migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) The Commission is proposing a reform in which a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU would be a key element, either as part of a whole new system or as an addition to the current one. But efforts to distribute the recent influx of refugees already caused serious friction with many EU nations. Migratory pressures over the past year drove a stream of hundreds of thousands of people up from the Mediterranean toward northern nations like Germany and Sweden in chaotic circumstances which turned current EU rules into a mockery. "The current crisis has shown the present system is not working," EU Vice President Frans Timmermans said, adding small nations like Greece could never have dealt with such a task to process so many asylum claims. "This is neither fair nor sustainable." The Commission said in a document to EU institutions that "significant structural weaknesses and shortcomings" in the current system were rife, which placed "a disproportionate responsibility" on some nations, while others, mostly eastern European members, sought to shield their countries from having to carry much of the refugee burden. In the face of such shortcomings, nations like Greece and Germany quickly welcomed the Commission's proposals. Showing the sensitivity of the issue though, the Commission said its proposals offered only "options" on which the member states and the EU parliamentary groups should build further. And Timmermans insisted that a logical extension of common EU policies, like a central European system to deal with asylum claims was still too controversial. "In political terms, it is not realistic to talk about this today." The bloc's inefficient rules on how to handle migration along with its slow decision-making once the refugee crisis hit last year have been fodder for critics who portray the EU as an inefficient, outmoded institution. Even French President Francois Hollande, a staunch defender of the EU, was forced to admit Wednesday that the bloc's biggest problem is its slow decision-making process whether in the financial crisis, the fight against terrorism or a common response to the refugee crisis. In an interview in the German daily Bild, Hollande said "in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution ... but we have to pay a high price for the lost time." More than 53,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since Austria and the Balkan nations north of Greece Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia closed their land borders last month. Prior to that, hundreds of thousands fleeing war and poverty at home crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, then went overland to wealthy European nations. To stem that flow and break the Turkish smuggling rings ferrying migrants to Greece, the EU reached a deal with Turkey last month. Now those arriving on Greek islands from March 20 onwards who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose application is rejected will be deported back to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country. The deportations began Monday with 202 people being sent back from Greece to Turkey. But an increase in the number of asylum applications by those earmarked for potential deportation have led to a pause in the returns, with no more deportations planned until Friday. Migrants and refugees sleep as a ferryboat arrives at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are on the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A child sleeps at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are on the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A baby stands outside a makeshift tent as migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016.Volunteers are concerned about children health of some 300 migrants and refugees that manage to leave the VIAL detention center a few days ago. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are in the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A Migrant covered with a sleeping bag looks on at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are in the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are on the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Migrants and refugees sleep as a man from Pakistan wrapped in a blanket watches a ferryboat leaving the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A Pakistani migrant wrapped his body in a blanket throws water on his face at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Volunteers are concerned about children's health of some 300 migrants and refugees who managed to leave the VIAL detention center on the island a few days ago. Authorities said that more than 1,700 migrants and refugees are on the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Migrant women wait in a line to get free tea at the border crossing of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) Migrant women get warm near a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) Migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Volunteers are concerned about children's health of some 300 migrants and refugees who managed to leave the VIAL detention center on the island a few days ago. Authorities said that more than 1,700 migrants and refugees are on the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) Migrant men play football at the border crossing of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) A boy protects his face from smoke at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) A migrant woman smokes as she sits in her tent at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) A migrant family warm themselves near a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) A group of migrant boys warm themselves near a fire at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) Migrant children play together at the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) The Latest: UN: 13 deported migrants wanted to seek asylum DIKILI, Turkey (AP) The Latest on Europe's response to the continuing tide of refugees (all times local): 9:10 p.m. The U.N. refugee agency says 13 of the 202 migrants Greece sent back to Turkey this week had "indicated" to it their intention to seek asylum in Greece and may not have been able to launch the process before being deported. Migrant women wait in a line to get free tea at the border crossing of the northern Greek border point of Idomeni, Greece, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. A plan to send back migrants from Greece to Turkey sparked demonstrations by local residents in both countries days before the deal brokered by the European Union is set to be implemented. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) The UNHCR on Wednesday also requested "urgent action" to ensure that migrants on Greek islands have full access to the asylum process, noting that the country's asylum system is overwhelmed. But a Greek government official ruled out the possibility that the 13, who were deported from the island of Chios, had notified authorities of their intention to seek asylum. The official said migrants can be taken off the deportation list to Turkey "even at the very last moment" and 15 others did just that Monday, leaving deportation buses when they said they wanted to apply for asylum. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity. Monday's migrant deportations to Turkey were the first under a controversial European Union plan to stem the flow of refugees to the continent. ___ 6:10 p.m. The Czech government and opposition are both voicing opposition to a proposed reform of European Union migration policies that would mean each EU nation has to take a set number of asylum-seekers. The EU's executive Commission is proposing a reform in which a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU would be a key element. But efforts to distribute the recent influx of refugees already caused serious friction with many EU nations including the Czech Republic. Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said Wednesday that "the Czech government won't agree with any system of mandatory permanent quotas." Interior Minister Milan Chovanec said any mandatory distribution of migrants won't work because "the people don't want to be here." The opposition Civic Democratic Party said the proposal limits the sovereignty of EU member countries. ___ 3:40 p.m. Turkey's prime minister denies that his country is returning Syrian refugees to their homeland, as claimed by Amnesty International. Ahmet Davutoglu says Turkey hasn't returned a single Syrian refugee, because the government and the extremist organizations in Syria are known for being "brutal." Davutoglu spoke Wednesday at a joint news conference with his Finnish counterpart, Juha Sipila, in Helsinki. He said Amnesty International's claim was "absolutely wrong," adding that hundreds of thousands of Syrian children now living in Turkey are "our children." The organization alleged Turkey has been expelling Syrian groups of around 100 men, women and children on an almost daily basis since mid-January. ___ 3:30 p.m. The mayor of a northern Greek border region has filed a lawsuit claiming impromptu refugee camps in the area are illegal, and citing violations of regulations on health, safety and the obstruction of traffic. Christos Gkountenoudis, mayor of Peonia, filed the lawsuit Wednesday against "anyone deemed responsible" a system whereby a lawsuit can be filed when the precise culprit of an alleged crime is not known. Peonia includes the border village of Idomeni on whose outskirts more than 11,000 refugees and migrants have been camping for months Gkountenoudis alleged Idomeni and impromptu camps at a nearby highway gas station and a hotel, were illegal. He also complained about protesting refugees blocking the rail freight link with neighboring Macedonia and occasional closures of nearby roads. ___ 2:05 p.m. Dozens of migrants and refugees are staging a sit-down protest in the Greece's main port of Piraeus, where thousands have been camping out for weeks, after reports that authorities would try to move the people there into organized camps. Dozens shouted at police and sat on the dock chanting "open the borders." Greek authorities have been trying to persuade the more than 4,700 people camping in small tents in the port to move to organized camps, but few have been boarding the buses provided. Many fear the conditions in the organized camp will be worse than in the port, or that they could be restricted in their movements. More than 53,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece since Europe closed its land borders last month. ___ 12:15 p.m. After a crisis that has shaken the European Union to its core, the EU's executive wants a fundamental reform of its migrant policies that heaped pressure on some nations like Greece as a million migrants and refugees have arrive over the past year. In a draft document to other EU institutions and seen by The Associated Press, the EU Commission wants to amend the principle where the first nation of call must process the asylum request. Under both options put to the member states and the parliament, a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU would be central. A mandatory distribution of the current influx of asylum seekers has already caused serious friction among many EU nations. The Commission presents its proposals later Wednesday. ___ 11:50 a.m. French President Francois Hollande says that the European Union's biggest problem is its slow decision-making process whether in the financial crisis, the fight against terrorism or a common response to the refugee crisis. In an interview published Wednesday in the German daily Bild, Hollande said Wednesday that "in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution ... but we have to pay a high price for the lost time." The French president, who is meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in France for government consultations on Thursday, also stressed that the refugee crisis needs a common European response instead of national decisions by different European countries. Hollande said that when it comes to migration, 2016 cannot be a repeat of 2015 which saw more than 1 million migrants entering the EU. ___ 11:05 a.m. The Turkish coast guard has apprehended dozens of migrants on the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. About 60 people, including some Syrians, were brought to a coast guard station in the western province of Izmir on Wednesday. The European Union began sending back migrants this week under a deal with Turkey aimed at preventing illegal migration to Europe. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. Meanwhile, dozens of Syrians were flown to German, Finland and the Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday. The EU-Turkey deal stipulates that for every Syrian returned from Europe to Turkey another should be resettled in Europe. A baby stands outside a makeshift tent as migrants and refugees sleep at the port of the Greek island of Chios, Wednesday, April 6, 2016.Volunteers are concerned about children health of some 300 migrants and refugees that manage to leave the VIAL detention center a few days ago. Authorities said that more than 1700 migrants and refugees are in the island. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) A migrant girl stands in a doorway with a view on Macedonian mountains near the official Greek - Macedonian border station in Evzoni, Greece, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Stranded migrants chosen to spend their days in an abandoned building near the official Greek - Macedonian border station in Evzoni, Northern Greece waiting for borders to be opened and living in conditions without running water or electricity under tent or in abandoned building. (AP Photo/Amel Emric) France passes law which punishes prostitutes' clients PARIS (AP) French lawmakers on Wednesday approved a bill against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers will face fines and be made to attend awareness classes on the harms of the sex trade. The legislation, which passed 64-12 in the parliament's lower house, the National Assembly, makes French law one of the toughest against sex buyers in Europe. Prostitution in itself is legal in France though brothels, pimping and the sale of sex by minors are illegal. Sex workers hold signs during a protest against new bill against prostitution and sex trafficking, in Paris, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. France's lower house of parliament holds a final vote on Wednesday on a bill against prostitution and sex trafficking that bans buying sex, not selling it. Customers would face fines and be required to attend classes on the harms of prostitution. Opponents fear that cracking down will push prostitutes to hide and they would be even more at the mercy of pimps and violent clients. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus) The new measure does away with a 2003 law that banned passive soliciting by sex workers on the street and thus put the legal onus on prostitutes. This new bill focuses the punishment on the client, introducing a 1,500-euro ($1,700) fine that would rise to 3,750 euros for a sex buyer's second offense. The convicted client will be obliged to attend classes highlighting the dangers associated with prostitution. The measure will also make it easier for foreign prostitutes many currently illegally in France to acquire a temporary residence permit if they enter a process to get out of the prostitution business. Supporters of the bill argue that it will help fight trafficking networks. "The most important aspect of this law is to accompany prostitutes, give them identity papers because we know that 85 percent of prostitutes here are victims of trafficking," Maud Olivier, a lawmaker with the governing Socialists and a sponsor of the legislation, told The Associated Press. Olivier said that many of the sex workers who arrive in France have their passports confiscated by pimps. "We will provide them with documents on the condition they commit to leave prostitution behind," she added. But opponents fear that cracking down will push prostitutes to hide, leaving them even more at the mercy of pimps and violent clients. France's parliament started debating the bill in 2013, but the final vote was delayed due to sharp divisions between the lower parliamentary chamber and the Senate. Written by a group of lawmakers from both right and left and backed by the Socialist government, the legislation has been inspired by Sweden, which passed a similar measure in 1999. Norway and Iceland also followed the Swedish model. Other countries such as Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, where brothels are legal, are interested in the French experience. ___ Actress Helen Mirren to present "Jewish Nobel" in Jerusalem JERUSALEM (AP) Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren has agreed to host the award ceremony of Israel's Genesis Prize in Jerusalem. Organizers of the award, known as "the Jewish Nobel," announced the selection of Mirren on Wednesday. The $1 million prize is being awarded to Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman for his accomplishments as a musician, teacher and advocate for the disabled. "Dame Mirren has been an outspoken supporter of Israel, and we look forward to the elegance and grace she will bring to the ceremony," said Stan Polovets, co-founder and chairman of the Genesis Prize Foundation. FILE - In this Wednesday, March 9, 2016 file photo, Helen Mirren attends the premiere of "Eye In The Sky" at AMC Loews Lincoln Square. The Oscar-winning actress has agreed to host the award ceremony of Israels Genesis Prize in Jerusalem, organizers said Wednesday, April 6, 2016 . The $1 million prize is being awarded to Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman for his accomplishments as a musician, teacher and advocate for the disabled.(Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File) In a statement, Mirren said she was "honored and humbled" to host the ceremony. "My connection to Israel and the Jewish people has truly been a part of making me what I am today, and I am very excited to be returning to this great country," she said. Mirren is one of the few actors to have won the so-called Triple Crown of acting collecting an Oscar, Tony and four Emmy awards over the years. She received her Academy Award for the 2006 film "The Queen." The foundation said Mirren, who is not Jewish, has visited Israel several times, including a stint as a volunteer on a kibbutz, or collective farm, in 1967. She also has been a vocal critic of pro-Palestinian activists who have called for a cultural boycott of Israel. She played the role of a former Mossad agent in "The Debt," and in "Woman in Gold" she played an elderly Jewish refugee who fought the Austrian government for a decade to reclaim an iconic Gustav Klimpt painting stolen from her family by the Nazis. Perlman is the third recipient of the Genesis Prize, which is to be presented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on June 23. Perlman intends to use his prize money for projects to assist individuals with disabilities and to develop young musicians of special talent, prize organizers said. Actor Michael Douglas was last year's winner, and Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman and former New York City mayor, won the inaugural prize. Former late-night talk show host Jay Leno hosted the first two award ceremonies. Israeli board denies early parole for ex-President Katsav JERUSALEM (AP) An Israeli parole board has rejected an appeal for early release by the country's former president, Moshe Katsav, who is serving a prison sentence for sex crimes. The board unanimously ruled Wednesday that Katsav should complete his 7 year jail term. Katsav's attorney, Tzion Amir, said he would appeal the decision. Katsav resigned in June 2007 after being charged with rape and sexual harassment. He began his sentence in 2011. Katsav has repeatedly professed his innocence. Israel's presidency is a largely ceremonial office, typically filled by a respected elder statesman expected to rise above politics and serve as a moral compass. Most political power is in the hands of the prime minister. How stricter rules for brokers will affect retirement savers WASHINGTON (AP) High fees. Conflicts of interest. Inappropriate investments. The Obama administration is going after a host of perceived rip-offs with the new rules it's unveiling Wednesday for brokers who recommend investments for retirement savers. No longer will brokers who sell stocks, bonds, annuities and other products be required just to recommend investments that are "suitable" for a client. They'll now have to meet a stricter standard that has long applied to registered advisers: They will be considered "fiduciaries" trustees who must put their clients' best interests above all. The new rules, to be phased in starting a year from now, follow intense lobbying by both consumer advocates and the financial industry. Full compliance will be required by January 2018. At stake are about $4.5 trillion in 401(k) retirement accounts, plus $2 trillion in other defined-contribution plans such as federal employees' plans and $7.3 trillion in IRAs, according to the Investment Company Institute. Too often, regulators say, brokers steer clients toward questionable investments for which the broker receives a fee, thereby acting in their own financial interest instead of the client's. The problems often arise when people who are retiring "roll over" their employer-based 401(k) assets into individual retirement accounts. Brokers may persuade them to put those assets into variable annuities, real estate investment trusts or other investments that can be risky or otherwise not in the client's best interest. The administration has said investors will save about $4 billion annually under the new rules. The industry has countered that investment firms will have to shell out more than that just to comply with the rules. Financial firms also argue that the stricter rules will likely shrink Americans' investment options and could cause brokers to abandon retirement savers with smaller accounts. Americans increasingly seek guidance in navigating their options for retirement savings. Many professionals provide advice. But not all are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest. "This is a huge win for the middle class," Labor Secretary Thomas Perez said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. "We are putting in place a fundamental principle of consumer protection." Here are some questions and answers: ___ BROKERS? FINANCIAL ADVISERS? WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE? It's significant. Brokers buy and sell securities and other financial products on behalf of their clients. They also can provide financial advice, with one key stipulation: They must recommend only investments that are "suitable" for a client based on his or her age, finances and risk tolerance. So they can't, for example, pitch penny stocks or real estate investment trusts to an 85-year-old woman living on a pension. But brokers can nudge clients toward a mutual fund or variable annuity that pays the broker a higher commission even without disclosing that conflict of interest to the client. Registered investment advisers, on the other hand, are "fiduciaries." In that way, they're more like doctors or lawyers obligated to put their clients' interests even ahead of their own. That means disclosing fees, commissions, potential conflicts and any disciplinary actions they have faced. Advisers must tell a client if they or their firm receive money from a mutual fund company to promote a product. And they must register with the Securities and Exchange Commission, thereby opening themselves to inspections and supervision. __ WHAT DO THE NEW LABOR DEPARTMENT RULES DO? They put brokers under the stricter requirements when they handle clients' retirement accounts. The Labor Department has grappled with the issue for years. The department withdrew an earlier proposal in 2010 amid an outcry from the financial industry, which warned that it would hurt investors by limiting choices. The rules update the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, known as ERISA, enacted in 1975. That was a far different time. Traditional company pension plans were still the dominant source of retirement income. Now, traditional pensions are increasingly gone. In their place are 401(k)-type plans, which require workers to set aside pre-tax money but also add a new layer of risk: Employees themselves must decide how to invest their retirement money, and many seek professional advice. __ WHAT ARE THE ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST? Consumer, labor and civil rights groups have pushed for the new rules. They say the current system provides a loophole that lets brokers drain money from retirement accounts in fees they receive that can tilt the investment advice they give clients. Ordinary investors with relatively small balances in their retirement accounts could especially benefit from the changes, according to Barbara Roper, director of investor protection for the Consumer Federation of America. These are the people who are now most likely to get "a sales pitch dressed up as advice" from brokers, Roper says. __ AND THE OTHER SIDE? Wall Street lobbying groups, mutual fund companies, life insurance firms and other industry interests have opposed the rules as proposed last year and pushed the Labor Department to revise them. They say the stricter requirements could limit many people's access to financial guidance and retirement planning and their choice of investment products. They warn that that would fall especially hard on mid- and low-income employees with smaller retirement balances say, less than $50,000 who could be abandoned by brokers. The new requirement to act in a client's best interest means, in many cases, that the practice of charging commissions on every trade would be replaced by a set fee for a broker as a proportion of a customer's assets. Some brokers may decide that the smaller fees aren't worth their trouble, opponents say. Some financial companies and groups may take the government to court over the new rules. __ Cease-fire largely holding around Nagorno-Karabakh BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) A cease-fire largely held Wednesday around Nagorno-Karabakh after an outburst of fighting that raised fears of a new all-out war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. Russia sought to assuage tensions by reaching out to both sides. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said its troops have been observing a cease-fire in the region since midday Tuesday following three days of intense battles involving heavy artillery and rockets. The ministry accused Armenian forces of breaking the truce on several occasions Wednesday by firing mortars at Azerbaijani positions, adding that Azerbaijani forces had not returned fire. The ministry late Wednesday also claimed Armenian forces had shelled the Azerbaijan exclave of Nakhchivan after the cease-fire was declared. Nakhchivan is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. Armenian soldiers pose near a frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. A cease-fire largely held Wednesday around Nagorno-Karabakh after an outburst of fighting that raised fears of a new all-out war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. (Karo Sahakyan/PAN Photo via AP) Nagorno-Karabakh military spokesman Senor Asratyan insisted its forces have strictly respected the cease-fire, which was agreed upon by the top military officers of Azerbaijan and Armenia, who met in Moscow on Tuesday. Fighting that erupted over the weekend killed at least 63 people and marked the worst violence since a separatist war ended in 1994 and left Nagorno-Karabakh, officially a part of Azerbaijan, under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military. Armenian forces also occupy several areas outside the Karabakh region. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said 31 of its soldiers have been killed since Saturday; Karabakh acknowledged the loss of 29 and said another 101 have been wounded. Each party put enemy losses in the hundreds, rival claims that couldn't be independently verified. Mustagim Mammadov, a local official in Azerbaijan's Terter region, said three civilians were killed and six wounded. He said Armenian forces fired automatic weapons overnight at front-line villages but there was no fighting during the day Wednesday. Speaking from the village of Gapanli, he said life was getting back to normal as a local school reopened. The fighting had raised fears of a possible escalation in hostilities, with Turkey strongly backing Azerbaijan and Russia obliged to protect Armenia by a mutual security pact. Russian President Vladimir Putin had separate phone calls Tuesday with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia, urging them to honor the cease-fire. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev Wednesday, offering to help ensure that the truce will last and to contribute to a political settlement. Lavrov is set to meet with his Azerbaijani and Iranian counterparts in Baku on Thursday, while Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will visit the Armenian capital of Yerevan on the same day. Russia has supplied weapons to both Azerbaijan and Armenia, reflecting its desire to expand its influence in the strategic South Caucasus region, a key conduit for energy resources from the Caspian Sea to the West. That has angered many in Armenia, which has hosted a Russian military base and maintained close security and economic ties with Moscow. Asked about Russian arms sales to Azerbaijan during a visit to Berlin, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Wednesday it was "painful" to see that. German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasized after the talks with Sargsyan that upholding the cease-fire is the top priority. "We have to do everything to stop the bloodshed, to stop people dying," Merkel said. "Because as long as the fighting is going on, no political solution can move ahead." Each side accuses the other of sparking the outburst. In Washington, Armenian Ambassador Grigor Hovhannissian told The Associated Press that he believed Azerbaijan launched an offensive as an effort to divert domestic attention from "social unrest and discotent throughout the country." In a separate interview, Azerbaijan Ambassador Elin Suleymanov accused Armenian forces of starting the battle to divert attention from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyeav's recent visit to Washington, which he described as highly successful. ___ Avet Demourian in Yerevan, David Rising in Berlin, Maria Danilova in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report. Armenian soldiers pose near a frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. A cease-fire largely held Wednesday around Nagorno-Karabakh after an outburst of fighting that raised fears of a new all-out war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. (Karo Sahakyan/PAN Photo via AP) The body of an Azerbaijani soldier lies at a frontline in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. A cease-fire largely held Wednesday around Nagorno-Karabakh after an outburst of fighting that raised fears of a new all-out war between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces. (Karo Sahakyan/PAN Photo via AP) Nagorno-Karabakh army artillerymen prepare to open fire from a howitzer on positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Azerbaijan forces and separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed on a cease-fire Tuesday following three days of the heaviest fighting in the region since 1994, the Azeri defense ministry announced. (Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo via AP) Karabakh Armenian soldiers stand near a howitzer in Hadrut province in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Azerbaijan forces and separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed on a cease-fire Tuesday following three days of the heaviest fighting in the region since 1994, the Azeri defense ministry announced. (Albert Khachatryan/Photolure via AP) Nagorno-Karabakh army self-propelled artillery vehicles stand on positions in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Azerbaijan forces and separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakh agreed on a cease-fire Tuesday following three days of the heaviest fighting in the region since 1994, the Azeri defense ministry announced. (Vahan Stepanyan/PAN Photo via AP) Mother of Karabakh military officer Armenak Urfanyan grieves at a coffin with the body of her son who was killed in fighting around Nagorno-Karabakh, during a funeral ceremony in a church in Yerevan, Armenia, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Azerbaijani and Armenian forces have engaged in fighting around Karabakh since Saturday. (Aram Kirakosyan/PAN Photo via AP) Elmar Abdullayev, 55, stands at a gates of his home hit by shelling in a village of Gapinli, in Terter region of Azerbaijan on Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Azerbaijan and separatist forces in Nagorno-Karabakhk on Tuesday agreed on a cease-fire starting noon local time following three days of the heaviest fighting in the disputed region since 1994, the Azeri defense ministry announced. Gapanli, a village south of Terter, has been one of the hardest hit. Houses bear the marks of the recent shelling; metal doors are riddled with shrapnel, power lines are cut down, craters are seen in the yards. (AP Photo/ Hicran Babayev) In this frame grab made from a video provided by the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry press service, Monday, April 4, 2016, an Armenian tank which the Azerbaijani forces say they destroyed is on fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan and separatist forces agreed on a cease-fire starting noon local time Tuesday, following three days of heavy fighting in the disputed region, the Azeri defense ministry announced. (Azerbaijani Defense Ministry Press Service/ Photo via AP) AP HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE In this frame grab made from a video provided by the Karabakh militia, Monday, April 4, 2016, a burning drone burns after being shot down by Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani and Armenian forces have engaged in fighting around Karabakh since Saturday. (Karabakh Forces photo via AP) AP HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE Protestors hold flags of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Germany as they protest against the meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in front of the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) The President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan attends a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) Protestors hold flags of Azerbaijan as they protest against the meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan in front of the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) Protestors shout slogans and hold flags of Azerbaijan ,Turkey and Germany as they protest against the meeting of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the President of Armenia, Serzh Sargsyan, in front of the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber) MONTROSE, Colo. Keith Carey is a gunsmith in Montrose, a town with a frontier flavor set amid the mesas of western Colorado. He's a staunch, though soft-spoken, defender of the right to bear arms. Yet now he's a willing recruit in a fledgling effort to see if the gun community itself sellers and owners of firearms, operators of shooting ranges can help Colorado and other Western states reduce their highest-in-the-nation suicide rates. "Suicide is a tragedy no matter how it's done," said Carey, whose adult daughter killed herself with a mix of alcohol and antidepressants a few years ago on the East Coast. However, he sees the logic in trying gun-specific prevention strategies in towns like Montrose, where guns are an integral part of daily life. "It's very expedient for people to commit suicide by a firearm, without too much forethought," Carey said. "Unfortunately, it's generally effective." At the urging of a local police commander, Carey agreed last year to participate in the Gun Shop Project, a state-funded program in which gun sellers and range operators in five western Colorado counties were invited to help raise awareness about suicide. It's a tentative but promising bid to open up a conversation on a topic that's been virtually taboo in these Western states: the intersection of guns and suicide. Carey's shop counter now displays wallet-sized cards with information about a suicide hotline. A poster by the door offers advice about ways to keep guns away from friends or relatives at risk of killing themselves. Carey says some customers take materials home, or ask a few questions. The conversations tend to be brief. "Suicide is one of those morose subjects that a lot of us don't want to talk about," he said. "But it's all too common. I believe any method of suicide prevention is worth a good hard try." ___ Across the U.S., suicides account for nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths far outnumbering gun homicides. In 2014, according to federal data, there were 33,599 firearm deaths; 21,334 of them were suicides. That figure represents about half of all suicides that year; but in several western Colorado counties, and in some other Rocky Mountain states with high gun-ownership rates, more than 60 percent of suicides involve firearms. Along with Alaska, the states with the highest rates form a contiguous bloc Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Utah and New Mexico. All have age-adjusted suicide rates at least 50 percent higher than the national rate of 12.93 suicides per 100,000 people; Montana's rate, 23.80, is the highest in the nation. Between 2000 and 2014, gun suicides increased by more than 51 percent in those states, while rising by less than 30 percent nationwide. Theories abound as to why such high rates. Commonly cited factors include the isolation and economic hard times in rural areas of these states. There's also belief that a self-reliant frontier mindset deters some Westerners from seeking help when depression sinks in. "We embrace the cowboy mentality," says Jarrod Hindman, director of Colorado's Office of Suicide Prevention. "If you're suffering, suck it up, pick yourself up by your boot straps. But that doesn't work very well if you're suicidal." Underlying all these explanations is the fact that firearms are more ubiquitous in the West than in most other parts of the country. Catherine Barber, a suicide prevention expert at the Harvard School of Public Health, says residents of gun-owning homes are at higher risk of suicide than other people simply because a suicide attempt is more likely to involve a gun. According to federal estimates, suicide attempts involving firearms succeed 85 percent of the time, compared to less than 10 percent of attempts involving drug overdoses and several other methods. "It's not that gun owners are more suicidal," Barber argues. "It's that they're more likely to die in the event that they become suicidal, because they are using a gun." Colorado's Gun Shop Project is modeled after a program pioneered in New Hampshire. Barber helped design the initiative and hopes collaboration on firearm suicide prevention can spread nationwide. "In the past, people shut up about this issue because they thought raising it meant raising the issue of gun control," she said. "It makes so much more sense to look at gun owners as part of the solution." Hindman said that when he joined the state health department in 2004, talking about the role of firearms in suicide was discouraged. It's still a sensitive topic, he said, but some funding has materialized for gun-specific initiatives. In Montrose, Police Commander Keith Caddy has been around guns since childhood. Now he's doing outreach for the Gun Shop Project and most of the businesses he has visited agreed to display suicide-awareness materials once they were assured it wasn't a gun-takeaway program in disguise. "It's my duty to protect the community I serve," Caddy said. "If I can go out there and spend a little time talking to the gun shops, maybe the reward will be saving someone's life." ___ Suicide presents a distinctive challenge for shooting ranges: Occasionally, someone will rent a gun, then use it to commit suicide. At the Family Shooting Center in Denver, there have been three such incidents, including two since Doug Hamilton began managing the range in 2004. Hamilton is open to letting his staff get suicide-prevention training, though he's unsure it would help. Those who killed themselves at his range exhibited no signs of stress beforehand. "Suicide prevention brochures aren't something that anyone's going to pick up who has come out to our range to kill themselves," he said. Such challenges are familiar to Dr. Michael Victoroff, a Denver-area physician whose leisure-time passion is competitive shooting. He was at the Family Shooting Center in Denver when one of the suicides occurred there. Victoroff belongs to the American Medical Association and the National Rifle Association, and has qualms about both. "The medical community has been content not to know anything about gun culture and gun safety," said Victoroff. As for the NRA, he'd like to see suicide prevention highlighted in its training materials. Over the years, firearm suicide has not been a high-profile issue for the NRA; it worries that the topic might be used to advance a gun-control agenda. Though the NRA has no position on Colorado's Gun Shop Project, it has endorsed a bill in Washington state encouraging gun dealers to participate in suicide prevention efforts, said spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. Throughout Colorado, prevention efforts are fueled to a large degree by people who've lost friends and loved ones to suicide. Cindy Haerle, a teacher and board member of the Grand Junction-based Western Colorado Suicide Prevention Foundation, grew up in "a real gun family" in Salida, Colorado, and had her own gun by the time she was 5. But she gave up shooting after her brother John killed himself with a pistol in 1980 at age 29. "Nothing is as final as a gunshot," said Haerle, who was 13 at the time. In the northwest counties of Routt and Moffatt, the Gun Shop Project is coordinated by Meghan Francone, who constantly reassures gun owners and sellers that the outreach program poses no threat. She got involved after her 15-year-old brother-in-law fatally shot himself in 2010. "Keep your guns. Keep a dozen. I don't care. But please make sure they are locked and out of the reach of someone who's in crisis," she said. "I'm not asking any gun shop owner to be a psychologist. I'm asking them to be their brother's keeper." Turkish PM: precautions taken over massive database leak ANKARA, Turkey (AP) Turkey's prime minister says his government is taking protective measures after a database that appears to contain personal information on nearly 50 million Turkish citizens was leaked on the Internet. The leak features information such as names, addresses and citizenship ID numbers for some 49.6 million people. The Associated Press was able to partially verify the authenticity of the leak by running 10 Turkish ID numbers against names contained in the leaked data. Eight of them matched. There are fears that the leak could put people at risk of fraud. Speaking during a visit to Finland Wednesday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "Our citizens must be reassured that measures are being taken." He didn't elaborate. Norway: 2 arrested in connection with 2009 Munch art heist COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) Two men have been arrested and jailed for four weeks in connection with the 2009 theft of a valuable work by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer, Norwegian police said Wednesday. Police spokeswoman Unni Groendal said the men are suspected of handling stolen goods, not carrying out the theft itself. They were arrested Monday and Tuesday in Oslo, and jailed after a hearing Wednesday. The men were not identified but Norwegian media said they were well-known to police and have criminal records. The hand-colored Munch lithography "Historien," or "History," was recovered Monday, Groendal said, declining to elaborate. FILE - This is a Nov. 13, 2009 file photo of plain clothed police officer on the scene of a burglary in central Oslo were a lithograph by Edvard Munch was stolen. Norwegian police say they have arrested 2 men in connection with the 2009 theft of a valuable artwork by Edvard Munch from an Oslo art dealer. Police spokeswoman Unni Groendal says the men are suspected of handling stolen goods and face a pre-trial detention later Wednesday April 6, 2016. (Lise Aserud, NTB scanpix, File via AP) NORWAY OUT Printed in 1914, the lithograph was stolen on Nov. 12, 2009, from the Nyborgs Kunst art gallery in Oslo after one of its windows was smashed with a rock. Gallery owner Pascal Nyborg told the Norwegian news agency NTB the lithograph is estimated to be worth about 2 million kroner at the time. The Norwegian artist's work has been a popular target for thieves. The most notorious theft was in 2004 when gunmen stole the masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" in a brazen midday raid on Oslo's Munch Museum. Another version of "The Scream" Munch painted several was taken from Norway's National Gallery in 1994 by two thieves who left behind a postcard that read "Thanks for the poor security." One of the thieves had previously served a four-year sentence for the theft of Munch's "The Vampire" in 1988. Johannsson to seek approval to become Iceland's next PM REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) Iceland's fisheries and agriculture minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson said Wednesday he will seek the president's approval to become the country's next prime minister after the previous leader resigned because of revelations he had offshore accounts. Johannsson said Iceland's center-right governing coalition remains intact despite the turmoil that started Sunday after a massive leak of documents from a Panamanian law firm showed it created offshore accounts for Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife. Gunnlaugsson stepped down two days later. Johannsson is expected to meet President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson on Thursday, but the opposition opposes the move and is planning to pursue a vote of no confidence in parliament. People protest in front of the Progressive Party headquarters building in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 5, 2016. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claims its first high-profile victim as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns amid outrage over revelations he used such a shell company to conceal a conflict of interest. (AP Photo/David Keyton) "We will still push forward a proposal to dissolve parliament and hold earlier elections," said Helgi Hrafn Gunnarsson, a legislator with the Pirate Party, which has high popular support. Opposition lawmakers have said Gunnlaugsson's offshore accounts revealed a significant conflict of interest with his official duties. They now accuse the government of trying to cling to power. Earlier Wednesday, hundreds of people staged a noisy protest in the rain outside parliament in Reykjavik the third consecutive day of demonstrations calling for a new government in the North Atlantic island nation. Gunnlaugsson has denied wrongdoing. His center-right Progressive Party is in a coalition government with the Independence Party. Arni Pall Arnason, leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, said the two parties in the governing coalition are desperately trying to hang on to power without public support. "What I think the government parties are trying to do is to cling onto power while doing the absolute minimum of changes in order to escape the public," he said. "The government doesn't want to confront the issue or face the public." People protest in front of Parliament building in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 5, 2016. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claims its first high-profile victim as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns amid outrage over revelations he used such a shell company to conceal a conflict of interest. (AP Photo/David Keyton) People protest in front of the Progressive Party headquarters building in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 5, 2016. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claims its first high-profile victim as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns amid outrage over revelations he used such a shell company to conceal a conflict of interest. (AP Photo/David Keyton) People hold banners and protest in front of Parliament building in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tuesday April 5, 2016. The leak of millions of records on offshore accounts claims its first high-profile victim as Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigns amid outrage over revelations he used such a shell company to conceal a conflict of interest. (AP Photo/David Keyton) People protest in front of the Parliament building during the third consecutive day of demonstrations calling for a new government in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday April 6, 2016. Opposition lawmakers accused the Icelandic government of trying to cling to power Wednesday amid a political impasse after the prime minister stepped aside because of revelations of having offshore accounts. Banner reads "Bad can worsen". (AP Photo/David Keyton) People protest in front of the Parliament building during the third consecutive day of demonstrations calling for a new government in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday April 6, 2016. Opposition lawmakers accused the Icelandic government of trying to cling to power Wednesday amid a political impasse after the prime minister stepped aside because of revelations of having offshore accounts. (AP Photo/David Keyton) People protest in front of the Parliament building during the third consecutive day of demonstrations calling for a new government in Reykjavik, Iceland, Wednesday April 6, 2016. Opposition lawmakers accused the Icelandic government of trying to cling to power Wednesday amid a political impasse after the prime minister stepped aside because of revelations of having offshore accounts. (AP Photo/David Keyton) Bogus identities with fake IDs vital for terror networks PARIS (AP) Your lost or stolen passport may have found a new life in the shady underworld of a crime gang or in the pocket of a terrorist plotting an attack. Like crime syndicates, terrorist networks are often globe-spanning operations, and doctored documents are the keys to unlocking borders and staying below the radar. Fighting bogus identities is now a top security priority, with France's interior minister pushing for Europe-wide action, and Interpol pleading for tougher document policing as it warns that the world is awash in 38 million lost or stolen passports that are ripe for doctoring. False identities have complicated the task of investigators trying to untangle the many-tentacled and overlapping networks that carried out the recent attacks in Paris and Brussels. Many of the attackers used fake identities. French expert of the French Office of False Documents and Identity Fraud, Laurent Gauthier, shows false passports during an interview with The Associated Press in Paris, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Police, immigration specialists and hi-tech experts from 16 countries are seeking ways to tackle the growing problem of identity and document fraud that feeds the movement of terrorists across borders, social welfare scams and preys on refugees seeking a safe haven in the West. Your lost or stolen passport may have found a new life in the shady underworld of a crime gang or in the pocket of a terrorist plotting an attack, like the strikes in Paris or the Brussels bombings. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File) Investigators spotted the trail of Najim Laachraoui after he built the bombs used in the Paris bloodbath but couldn't stop him before he blew himself up at the Brussels airport four months later because they knew him only from his fake Belgian ID under the name of Soufiane Kayal. A fraudster's den discovered in a Brussels suburb indicates the scale of the crime, and how hard it is to vanquish: It held some 1,000 digital images used to make false documents. Weeks after authorities raided the site in October, three people connected to those documents joined in the attacks on Paris. It was four months before the chief fraudster was arrested across several European borders, in Italy. "The central element for the secrecy of organizations is to have false passports and false identity papers. It is absolutely indispensable," said retired anti-terrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere, once France's top counter-terrorism investigator. The underworld of document doctors provides many choices for finding a new identity, from industrial-sized operations to artisans working from home on easily procured and increasingly refined equipment. A newcomer to the business is the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq, which reportedly seized thousands of blank passports and equipment in towns it conquered. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve has been pressing his European partners to do more to fight the Islamic State, which he says has created a "structure that manufactures fake documents." That organization claimed responsibility for the November attacks that killed 130 Friday night revelers in Paris and the March attacks on a Brussels airport and subway station that killed 32 people. Two of the suicide bombers at France's national stadium remain unidentified except for their fake Syrian passports. One of those passports had been listed by Interpol, the international police agency, as among a batch of stolen blank passports. Germany stopped recognizing passports issued in territory controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq at the start of the year. Belgium raided the document den in the Brussels suburb of Saint-Gilles in October, but put out a warrant for the suspected forger Djamal Eddine Ouali only in January. On March 26, Italian police arrested the 40-year-old Algerian when he applied for a residency permit. A court in Salerno, in southern Italy, granted Belgium's extradition request on Sunday, but Ouali plans to appeal that decision, according to his lawyer, Gerardo Cembalo. Information-sharing is critical in the effort to catch fraudsters, a message hammered out by Interpol. Its database had nearly 38 million travel documents reported lost or stolen by 166 countries as of July 2013, the latest figures available. Layers of security are built into U.S. and European passports, the most valuable documents for anyone trying to sneak into the borderless Schengen region or to return home covertly from places like Syria. European Union passports have added value for those crisscrossing the continent, an increasingly frequent tactic, because visas aren't needed. No passport the ultimate identity document is fully fraud-proof, despite holograms on identity pages, complex watermarks and biometric data contained in embedded chips. Bruguiere, the retired anti-terrorism judge, said document forgers operate as part of the outer circle of terrorist operations "people who are somewhat or a bit or perhaps not concerned with the operation" but who contribute logistical support such as "a hideout, for example, a car, fake papers, without being directly linked to the project." "There are guys who meet from time to time," Bruguiere said. "And then, 'Can you give me a hand? I need fake papers.'" ___ Frances D'Emilio in Rome contributed to this report. Saudi court sentences Syrian for espionage RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) A Saudi-owned newspaper says the kingdom's counterterrorism court has sentenced a Syrian national to eight years in prison on charges related to espionage. Al-Hayat reported on Wednesday that the Specialized Criminal Court found the defendant, who was not named, guilty of sharing information on Syrian opposition figures and dissidents residing in Saudi Arabia that benefits the Syrian government. Saudi Arabia is a backer of Syrian opposition groups fighting to oust President Bashar Assad. It's also home to several Syrian opposition figures and in December hosted a conference of Syrian opposition groups attempting to form a unified position. Prosecutor: Teacher-student marriage a 'sham' ahead of trial ONEONTA, Ala. (AP) A prosecutor has blasted the marriage of a former teacher and his former student, calling it a "sham" designed to keep the woman from having to testify against him. Citing court records filed Monday, Al.com (http://bit.ly/1qtAUuU ) reports that Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey is asking that the 18-year-old wife of Matthew Shane Wester be required to testify against her 38-year-old husband. Casey says no marital privilege exists in cases where one spouse is the victim of the other. Gawker files motions seeking new trial in privacy case ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) A New York news website has filed motions in a Florida court seeking a new trial in the Hulk Hogan invasion of privacy case. In court filings filed this week, lawyers for Gawker Media asked for a new trial or for the amount in damages awarded to the former pro wrestler be vacated or drastically reduced. "Gawker is now beginning the process of challenging the jury's verdict in a trial where key evidence was wrongly withheld and the jury was not properly instructed on the Constitutional standards for newsworthiness," Gawker wrote in a statement. "So we expect to be fully vindicated. And even if the verdict were to stand, there is no justification for awarding tens of millions of dollars never seen by victims of death and serious injuries." Hogan sued Gawker after it posted a video of him having sex with his then-best friend's wife. Hogan said he didn't know he was being taped by Bubba The Love Sponge Clem. In March, a St. Petersburg jury sided with Hogan, who sued after the website posted a portion of the video. Hogan was awarded $115 million in compensatory damages plus an added $25.1 million in punitive damages, for a total of $140.1 million. "We emerged victorious once and we plan to do so again," wrote Hogan's legal team in a statement. "Of note it is apparent Gawker is unable to accept responsibility for their actions or demonstrate any intention of correcting their behavior." Emirates labor law meet finds foreign workers still troubled ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) Laborers gathered Wednesday for an event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable instead discussed unscrupulous bosses, abuses and poor conditions rampant across the Gulf Arab states. Wearing handed-out white baseball caps reading "I (heart) UAE," laborers praised the Emirati effort at translating labor laws while still complaining about stagnant wages and being suckered by agents into jobs they didn't want. "The companies are gaining. They are making all the profits. What about the laborers?" asked Adnan Chaudhry, 30, of Pakistan, who works in human resources at a copper manufacturing plant. "The managers are up, up, up and the laborers are down, down, down." A Senior Administrator from the Dubai Labor Office, speaks to several hundred workers, gathered at a residential camp for laborers and managers during an event, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. An event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable for its vast population of foreign workers found laborers still troubled by abuses and poor conditions. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) Gulf nations long have relied on migrant labor to build their oil-funded skylines, drive their taxi cabs and clean their hotel rooms. In the UAE, a federation of seven emirates on the Arabian Peninsula, foreign workers vastly outnumber locals. In recent years, however, the conditions workers face has gained particular attention ahead of Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. An Amnesty International report last week alleged migrant laborers faced abuse that in some cases amounted to forced labor while working on one stadium that will host the tournament. On Wednesday, Emirati officials gathered before several hundred workers at what appeared to be a model residential camp for laborers and managers on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital. They answered a series of questions from workers as Saqr Ghobash, the UAE's minister of human resources and emiratization, moved through the crowd, trailed by television cameras. But even here, with security guards holding trays full of expensive chocolates, taxi drivers discussed how their housing didn't allow them to cook meals. Others talked about being in small rooms split in two, with 10 men sleeping inside at a time. An apprentice taxi driver said he had his pay docked any time he did poorly on an exam. 'I'm not happy," said the taxi driver from Nigeria's southern Edo state, who asked his name not be used for fear of losing his job. "I wish I never came." Gulf Arab nations have come under increasing scrutiny from human rights and labor activists over their treatment of low-paid workers. Labor unions are not allowed and strikes are illegal in the UAE, though protests sometimes occur. Hundreds of migrant laborers staged a rare protest in November near the airport hosting the opening day of the biennial Dubai Airshow. Habib Rehman, a Pakistani who works in human resources for a construction firm, said he appreciated the effort to translate labor laws into languages like Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Urdu, but said a wider campaign was needed to educate all workers. Also, even laborers who know their rights sometimes face bosses who threaten to ban them from the UAE, he said. "There are people in between who have been misusing" the laws, Rehman said. "They put them under pressure, blackmailing them." Ali Ebrahim al-Shehhi, a senior administrator at the Dubai labor office who attended Wednesday's meeting, answered several of Rehman's questions, stressing workers should document what they see and never sign a paper they don't understand. However, when pressed by Rehman about bosses and company heads knowingly breaking the law, he said Emirati authorities wouldn't allow it. "The world has changed," al-Shehhi said. "You have to change your mentality." ___ Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jon-gambrell . Saqr Ghobash, the UAE's minister of human resources and Emiratization, second right, meets with workers gathered at a residential camp for laborers and managers during an event, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. An event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable for its vast population of foreign workers found laborers still troubled by abuses and poor conditions. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) Senior Administrator of the Dubai Labor Office, Ali Ebrahim Al Shehhi, right, speaks to workers gathered at a residential camp for laborers and managers during an event, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. An event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable for its vast population of foreign workers found laborers still troubled by abuses and poor conditions. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) Senior Administrator of the Dubai Labor Office, Ali Ebrahim Al Shehhi, right, speaks to workers gathered at a residential camp for laborers and managers during an event, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. An event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable for its vast population of foreign workers found laborers still troubled by abuses and poor conditions. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) Senior Administrator of the Dubai Labor Office, Ali Ebrahim Al Shehhi, right, speaks to workers gathered at a residential camp for laborers and managers during an event, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. An event aimed at showcasing how the United Arab Emirates is trying to make labor laws more understandable for its vast population of foreign workers found laborers still troubled by abuses and poor conditions. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) France switches ambassador said to be gay to UNESCO PARIS (AP) France's government has named a respected diplomat who is said to be gay as the country's ambassador to UNESCO, several months after he was nominated as ambassador to the Vatican a job he never started. Laurent Stefanini was confirmed Wednesday by France's council of ministers as the country's top diplomat at the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Last year, France submitted Stefanini's nomination as ambassador to the Holy See. A French official said last June that the French government was awaiting a response shortly via Vatican diplomatic channels, but France subsequently disclosed no decision either way. FILE - In this June 2, 2015 file photo chief of protocol at the French presidential palace, Laurent Stefanini, right, speaks with an unidentified person at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Frances government has named a respected diplomat who is said to be gay as the countrys ambassador to UNESCO, several months after he was nominated as ambassador to the Vatican _ a job he never started. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File) Government seeks to limit questions in Clinton email case WASHINGTON (AP) Lawyers for the State Department have asked a federal judge to limit the scope of testimony about Hillary Clinton's use of a private email account as secretary of state. The government filed its response late Tuesday in a public records lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative legal advocacy group. Federal District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan last month granted the group "limited discovery" into why the Democratic presidential front runner used an email server at her New York home while serving as the nation's top diplomat. Judicial Watch wants to question eight current and former department staffers under oath, including top Clinton aides Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin. FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2015 file photo, former Secretary of State Clinton testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. Lawyers for the State Department have asked a federal judge to limit the scope of testimony about Hillary Clintons use of a private email account as secretary of state. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File) In its response, the government asked the judge to strictly limit the questions that can be asked to those involving the 2009 creation of Clinton's private email system. Topics the government asked Sullivan to forbid include the "employment status of a single employee; the storage, handling, transmission, or protection of classified information, including cybersecurity issues; and questions about any pending investigations." The FBI is investigating whether sensitive information that flowed through Clinton's email server was mishandled. The inspectors general at the State Department and for U.S. intelligence agencies are separately investigating whether rules or laws were broken. There are also at least 38 civil lawsuits, including one filed by The Associated Press, seeking records related to Clinton's time as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013. Critics of Clinton's decision to rely on the private server have suggested it potentially made her communications more vulnerable to being stolen by hackers, including those working for foreign intelligence agencies. In response to public records requests, the State Department has released more than 52,000 pages of her work-related emails, a small percentage of which have been withheld because they contain information considered sensitive to national security. Thousands of additional emails have been withheld by Clinton, whose lawyers say they contain personal messages unrelated to her government service. Clinton has admitted on the campaign trail that her home-based email setup was a mistake, but insists she never sent or received any documents that were marked classified at the time. ___ LARAMIE, Wyo. U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders told some 1,800 people gathered at a rally Tuesday night that Wyoming can be part of the political revolution that shifts the balance of power from the billionaires to the young, elderly, middle class and low-income people. "With your help on Saturday, we're going to win here in Wyoming," he said. "Then we are headed to New York." The U.S. senator from Vermont spoke for about 30 minutes at the University of Wyoming Arts and Sciences Auditorium during a rally that featured upbeat oldies music and cheering campaign staff holding signs saying A Future To Believe In. Bernie spoke shortly after all the major news networks announced he had won the Wisconsin primary. He thanked the people of Wisconsin for their support. "I think people in this country are tired of establishment politics." Wyoming Democrats will hold their county caucuses Saturday. Delegates will be selected for the partys state convention next month. Wyoming Democrats will send 18 delegates to Julys Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. The proportion of delegates each candidate receives in the county caucuses will be the same proportion sent to Philadelphia. Ultra-conservative Wyoming is getting a lot of attention from Democratic candidates. Sanders wife, Jane Sanders, spoke earlier Tuesday in Cheyenne and Monday night in Casper. Monday morning, former President Bill Clinton campaigned for his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Cheyenne. A Democratic presidential candidate needs at least 2,383 delegates to win the national nomination in Philadelphia, and Wyoming is proving important in the race, Democratic observers have said. Sanders said the major media and pundits had described him as a fringe candidate but his candidacy has gained momentum. He's beating Clinton in many states and polls show he is more electable than Clinton if the Republican candidate is Donald Trump. Sanders said he has not established a super political action committee to raise funds. Money in politics is the program, he said. "We don't want their money," he said, ticking off a number of industries he said has too much control including fossil fuels. The crowd also said in unison several of Sanders' campaign slogans and went wild when he mentioned the gender-pay gap. Wyoming has one of the worst pay gaps in the country. Sanders wants to reverse that and to provide three months of paid family leave. "Why are women giving birth in Wyoming and Wisconsin and Vermont and they're going back to work in two or three weeks because they don't have the income to take care of their family?" he said. Sanders bemoaned the state of the country's infrastructure. "How come we can (fix) the infrastructure of Iraq and Afghanistan and we cannot rebuild our own?" he asked. "The status quo is not working," he said. "We can do better." Robert Wolfe, 47, wore a white T-shirt with the words #FeelTheBern in large gold letters. Hes normally a registered Republican so he can participate in the primaries of the states majority party, he said. But he considers himself more progressive than the average Wyoming Republican and, inspired by Sanders, recently switched his registration to caucus Saturday in Cheyenne, he said. Wolfe likes Sanders stances on health care and campaign finance. I think hes really going to get this nation back into shape, economically and politically, Wolfe said. The billionaires have too much power. At the Bernie rally, people queued outside the Arts and Sciences Auditorium for over an hour before doors opened, as sellers of Bernie pins and T-shirts hawked their wares. Drew Romero, of Boulder, Colo., was one of the first in line. He wore a "Bernie for President" sign around his neck, a pink pin saying, Babes for Bernie and carried a towel painted with the words Revolution. This will be the first presidential election Romero gets to vote in. He will be a delegate in Philadelphia from Colorado, supporting Bernie, he said. My generation, were actually tired of hoping for change, he said. I think theres nothing bad about America taking care of its citizens. Not 24 hours before the UW rally, Jane Sanders told about 120 people in Casper her husband is the candidate most concerned about the gap between the rich and poor and the declining middle class. Jane Sanders, a community organizer and former college president, met her husband 35 years ago while working with low-income residents of Burlington, Vt., and organizing a mayoral debate. He was a political newcomer who ultimately won the race. He still embodies everything Ive ever believed in, she said. Hes never let me down. Hes never let the people of Vermont down. She spoke about Bernies plans for free college and trade schools, single-payer health care and increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The format was a town hall meeting. Attendees asked about a variety of topics, from her husbands views on drugs Bernie believes marijuana should be removed from the list of Schedule I drugs, and states should be allowed to choose how far they want to loosen its prohibition to the gender pay-gap Bernie believes in equal pay for equal work and supports paid maternal and family leave. Casper City Councilman Shawn Johnson, the only person who approached the microphone and identified as a conservative Republican, touched on the recent layoffs of nearly 500 coal miners in northeast Wyoming. Jane Sanders expressed sympathy for the miners and described Sanders plan to retrain them. That includes $41 billion over the next decade to transition workers from the fossil fuel industry. The package would ensure miners maintain the same level of wages, pension and health care while obtaining job training and vocational skills perhaps on the side while they worked in fossil fuels and to invest in the revitalization of coal communities through improving broadband and infrastructure. The $41 billion would come from closing tax loopholes. Hes very clear he wants to move away from fossil fuels, she said. Instagram diva Toast the rescue dog stars in new photo book NEW YORK (AP) There was too much sun, swimming, eating and zooming about in Jaguars and private helicopters, but Instagram diva Toast the dog took the Hamptons last summer and lived to write about it. The pup with the floppy tongue and loyal social media following is out with her first book, a collection of swanky, beachy photos, "ToastHampton: How to Summer in Style." While, yes, Toast would rather be carried than walk on her own four paws, and yes, she prefers bottled water over tap, the ruby Cavalier King Charles spaniel with the substantial wardrobe is also a visible advocate for a good cause: ending inhumane puppy mills and encouraging humans to adopt older pets through rescue organizations. Toast, a 10-year-old a Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy mill rescue, poses for photos, in New York, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Toast has amassed about 350,000 followers on Instagram. Now, she models for fashion and photo shoots, including a stint as the fuzzy face of Karen Walker's eyewear collection for spring 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Toast was rescued from a North Carolina mill in 2011 at age 5 or 6. She was a breeding mom who lost all her teeth to decay, allowing her tongue to chronically escape her mouth her signature trait on Instagram. Her human mom and "dogager," Katie Sturino, put Toast's first photo up on Instagram about two years ago and away she went under the handle @toastmeetsworld. While Toast is no Kim Kardashian in the social media numbers game, she has amassed about 350,000 followers on Instagram. Now, she models for fashion and photo shoots, including a stint as the fuzzy face of Karen Walker's eyewear collection for spring 2015. Oh, and Toast married fashion editor Amanda Hearst's dog, fellow rescue Finn, in January wearing a custom Marchesa gown and dripping in $175,000 worth of borrowed diamonds. The happy couple raised money for Friends of Finn, Hearst's organization to fight puppy mills and raise awareness on how to find mill dogs. "Everyone who meets Toast falls in love with her," Sturino said in a recent interview. When Toast found her forever family with Sturino, and dad and fellow Instagrammer Josh "The Fat Jew" Ostrovsky, she was in bad shape. Her teeth were infected and her coat was a ratty mess, Sturino said, but "she was smiling. She charmed us from day one." Now she rules the roost at home in downtown Manhattan, lording over fellow Cavalier rescues Underpants and Muppet. "Toast is definitely the diva of the house. She has the most accidents on the floor. She does literally whatever she wants. She's fully capable of jumping up and down off of the bed yet she just stands there and barks," Sturino said, smiling. "She wears Ralph Lauren through the entire book. She definitely gets much better perks than I do." So how did Toast enjoy the Hamptons? "She loves to take a chopper to the Hamptons. She has no time for traffic," Sturino joked. And her favorite restaurant there: Moby's in East Hampton for the kale salad. As for Toast's wedding, "It was a nicer ceremony than my own," Sturino said. About 300 guests toasted Toast and Finn at a Manhattan hotel. There was cake. Lots of cake. "Toast's mom ate a lot of cake. I don't know what else happened," Sturino joked. In addition to the book, out May 24 from Harper Design, Toast and her mom will lend their testimony to a proposal in New Jersey to end pet store sales of dogs and cats from puppy mills. A portion of proceeds from the book will go to Friends of Finn, Sturino said. "I've gotten so many emails from people saying I was about to buy a dog from a breeder but I rescued because of you," she said. "That's been really, really amazing for us to watch." Toast, a 10-year-old a Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy mill rescue, is held by her owner Katie Sturino in New York, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Toast has amassed about 350,000 followers on Instagram. Now, she models for fashion and photo shoots, including a stint as the fuzzy face of Karen Walker's eyewear collection for spring 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Almodovar cancels new movie promo events on offshore news MADRID (AP) Spanish movie director Pedro Almodovar canceled his appearances this week at promotional events for his new movie "Julieta" following intense interest in the offshore company he owned with his brother years ago, Almodovar's production company said Wednesday. The director nixed planned interviews and a photo shoot ahead of the debut of "Julieta" in theaters across Spain Friday, his El Deseo company said in a statement and emailed comments to The Associated Press. The statement did not directly blame the revelation of the director's previous offshore company via leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm, but strongly suggested that was the reason by saying the events were called off due to attention on matters unrelated to the movie. "Julieta" is Almovodar's 20th movie. Actors in the movie including Emma Suarez, Adriana Ugarte, Rossy de Palma, Daniel Grao, Inma Cuesta and Michelle Jenner did do their planned interviews to promote the film, the Europa Press news agency reported. Agustin Almodovar, the director's brother and business manager, on Monday blamed his inexperience for the decision to set up an offshore company aimed at expanding their international film business. Spain's El Confidencial digital publication reported as part of the release of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that the two brothers were listed as the agents of a British Virgin Islands company from 1991 to 1994. Agustin Almodovar said in a statement he launched the company but shut it down "because it did not fit with the way we worked." He also apologized for the "damage my brother's public image is suffering, caused only by my lack of experience in the first few years of our family business." Agustin Almodovar said he and his brother have met all of their tax obligations. ___ All of them have been charged with second-degree child porn distribution and face up to 10 years in prison The suspects range in age from 17 to 72 with the youngest being a high school student One of the suspects who works at a school A teacher, a school bus driver and a high school student were among 16 people facing child pornography charges in New Jersey, authorities announced Wednesday. They were arrested between February and March in a state and federal probe that targeted suspects using online file-sharing networks to distribute kiddie porn, including child rape videos. Authorities charged Thomas Guzzi Jr, 36, of Pitman, who is a teacher and drama club adviser at the Winslow Elementary School in Vineland, was accused of possessing 100 or more files. Thomas Guzzi Jr., 36, (left) of Pitman, is a teacher and drama club adviser/, accused of possessing 100 files. Eugene Triston, 55, (right) of Stanhope, drives a school bus and was charged with distributing 25 files Brandon Weiss, 42, (left) of Burlington Township; a line worker for label printing company. Germin Simon, 34, of South Plainfield; iwas self-employed computer repair technician under name 'The Computer Man' He is also accused of hiding a camera in a bathroom stall at the Broadway Theater in Pitman, where he worked as a stage manager and has been suspended from his job. The Associated Press was unable to obtain a telephone number to determine if he has hired a lawyer who can comment on the accusation. Another suspect, Eugene Triston, 55, of Stanhope, who drives a school bus in Sparta, was charged with distributing 25 or more files. He allegedly watched child porn during breaks on the job, police said. A telephone call to his home seeking comment was unanswered. Supermarket employee Robert Kunert, 22, (far left) of Hamilton; supermarket employee. He allegedly possessed approximately 298 files of child pornography in a shared folder on his computer. John Wilms, 46, (center) of Mount Holly; a driver for parcel delivery service is charged with distributing 25 or more files of child pornography for files allegedly found in a shared folder on his computer, including many videos involving infants. Oziel Hernandez Sandoval, 27, (right) of Piscataway. A forensic preview allegedly revealed about 225 files of child pornography in a shared folder on his computer Dimas Zuniga, 44, of Roselle (left), Bernard Rapp, 72, of Southampton (center) is charged with possession of 100 or more files of child pornography. Christian Martinez-Gonzalez, 34, of East Windsor (right) A 17-year-old from Kearny is charged with selling, distributing and possessing child pornography. Dubbed 'Operation Safeguard,' investigators said they searched for digital 'fingerprints' of known child pornography, and searched terms used by those who download and share child pornography to find New Jersey residents who were downloading child pornography and making it available through shared computer folders. The 16 suspects, who live in 14 towns around the Garden State, were arrested between February 10 and March 31 for allegedly distributing child porn videos, including depictions of child rape, authorities said. They range in age from 17 to 72, with the youngest being a high school student in Hudson County. Matthew Dieterman, 32, of Piscataway (left) is a public employee who works for Somerset County in county garage. He, along with Andres Tejada-Diaz, 42, of Kearny (right) is charged with possession of 100 or more files and distribution of 25 or more files of child pornography Shaun Dooley, 46, of Summit (left); a senior IT officer for a insurance company is charged with possession of 100 or more files of child pornography. William Morgan, 59, of Manalapan (center); Armando Gonzalez-Longorio, 70, (right) of Elizabeth; works for employment agency. All of them have been charged with second-degree child porn distribution and face up to 10 years in prison. 'These defendants come from all walks of life, but they allegedly share a depraved desire to see children being raped and sexually exploited,' Acting State Attorney General Robert Lougy told reporters. He said the massive kiddie smut ring put its suspects 'in league with the predators who torture children to create these repulsive materials.' News of the busts comes just a day after authorities in Florida announced 18 arrests for a child sex sting called 'Operation April's Fools.' Money-laundering case puts light on ex-Argentine president BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) A businessman with close ties to former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez refused to testify Wednesday in a money-laundering probe being closely watched as a test of the new administration's promise to crack down on corruption. Lazaro Baez was escorted by police into a Buenos Aires court. However, he refused to testify and instead handed a letter to Judge Sebastian Casanello, the official Argentine news agency Telam said. A top court official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed to The Associated Press that Baez refused to answer questions and said the suspect would be returned to custody until his legal situation could be sorted out. Argentine businessman Lazaro Baez, center, is escorted by police after being arrested as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering, at an airport on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, late Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Baez, who got large public works contracts during the Kirchner and Fernandez administrations, is accused of embezzling and laundering millions. He denies any wrongdoing. (AP Photo/Agustin Marcarian) It wasn't immediately clear what would happen next. Argentine judges have wide leeway to hold suspects during an investigation, particularly if they are deemed a flight risk. A message left at Casanello's office was not returned. The person who answered the phone at the law firm representing Baez declined comment. Baez was initially scheduled to testify Thursday, but his appearance was moved up after his surprise arrest Tuesday night. Baez received large public works contracts during the administrations of Fernandez and her late husband and predecessor as president, Nestor Kirchner. Baez is accused of embezzling and laundering about $5 million. He denies any wrongdoing. Prosecutors starting looking into Baez after a 2013 journalistic investigation said he was Kirchner's figurehead in an elaborate scheme. The news report charged that Baez used companies to launder money for the former presidents. Recent images aired on local TV showed one of Baez's sons and others counting wads of cash at a company being investigated. For many Argentines, the allegations surrounding Baez underscore the kind of endemic corruption that has long plagued the South American nation. Argentina ranked 107 out of 167 on Transparency International's annual corruption index last year, worse than other Latin American countries with long histories of graft, such as Mexico, Brazil and Bolivia. Fernandez, whose second term ended in December, has long been dogged by allegations related to Baez. Her family owns several top hotels in the southern province of Santa Cruz. According to local news reports, the hotels are often empty and thus incapable of generating the kind of income they report. Prosecutors have said they are looking into the financial transactions at Kirchner family hotels. Fernandez has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged. However, most observers think that a thorough investigation could never have happened while she was in power. The current president, Mauricio Macri, a conservative who campaigned on promises to root out corruption, has been careful in comments about Fernandez. When asked about her by the AP during an interview last month, Macri noted she had not been charged with anything but said he would not stand in the way of any investigation related to her. Diego Maria Olmedo, a criminal lawyer, said so far Macri's administration has taken a hand-off approach. "In general, governments tend to keep federal judges at their side," Olmedo said. "This government is apparently letting them work" without interference. ___ Tennessee bill would allow counselors to deny services NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) A bill that would allow mental health counselors to turn patients away based on the counselors' religious beliefs and personal principles has passed in the House in Tennessee, the latest state to introduce measures that opponents say legalize discrimination against gays, bisexuals and transgender people. The Senate, which already passed the measure, still would have to approve an amendment adopted by the House. The bill passed 68-22 Wednesday following a rancorous debate on the House floor. If it is signed into law, Tennessee would be the only state to allow counselors to refuse to treat patients based on the counselors' own belief systems, said Art Terrazas, Director of Government Affairs for the American Counseling Association. The organization has called the bill an "unprecedented attack" on the counseling profession and government overreach. Reps. Tim Wirgau, R-Buchanan, left, and John Forgety, R-Athens, confer on the House floor in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, during a debate about a bill to allow counselors to refuse treatment of patients based on personal beliefs. Those opposed to the bill, say the measure casts such a wide net that therapists could virtually turn anyone away. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) Opponents of the measure say it would allow therapists to discriminate against gays and other people who are at their most vulnerable and need therapy. Proponents say it takes into account the rights of everyone, including the therapists. "We are standing up for everyone's right when we vote for this bill," Rep. Matthew Hill, R-Jonesborough, told members before the vote. Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, tried unsuccessfully to attach several amendments to the bill, including one that would force therapists to treat children who are victims of bullying. He said that Tennessee would be an outlier if it passes the legislation. "It's intriguing to me that this body is wanting to stand in the way of people seeking help in the state of Tennessee," Clemmons said during the debate. The bill would not allow counselors to turn away people who are in imminent danger of harming themselves or others. The measure is part of a wave of bills across the country proposed by Conservative Christian lawmakers who are upset about the Supreme Court decision last year that effectively legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. The Tennessee bill is both narrower and broader in scope than those recently presented in Georgia and Mississippi, which would allow religious clergy and many types of service providers the right to deny service to customers based on the providers' religious beliefs. Georgia's governor said last week that he would veto the measure; Mississippi's governor signed it on Tuesday. Tennessee's bill limits itself to counselors, but allows them to deny services for reasons that go beyond religion. The original version of the bill, first passed by the Senate, based any denial of services on "sincerely held religious beliefs." The House amended that language to allow any counselor in private practice to refuse to treat a client and provide services relating to "goals, outcomes, or behaviors that conflict with the sincerely held principles of the counselors or therapist." The counselor would have to refer the patient to someone else. Those in the counseling community say the law as it is written now is so broad that it would allow counselors to turn away patients for virtually any reason. As an example, Terrazas said, a therapist opposed to war or U.S. military policy could refuse to treat a veteran with post-traumatic stress syndrome under the bill. The Tennessee Equality Project, which supports gay rights, condemned the House passage of the bill and called on the governor to veto the legislation. Rep. Andy Holt, R-Dresden, attends a House floor debate in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, about a bill to allow counselors to refuse treatment of patients based on personal beliefs. Those opposed to the bill, say the measure casts such a wide net that therapists could virtually turn anyone away. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) Rep. John Ray Clemmons, D-Nashville, speaks on behalf of a series of proposed amendments to a bill to allow counselors to refuse treatment of patients based on personal beliefs during a House floor debate in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Those opposed to the bill, say the measure casts such a wide net that therapists could virtually turn anyone away. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada signals to colleagues on the House floor in Nashville, Tenn., Wednesday April 6, 2016, during a debate about a bill to allow counselors to refuse treatment of patients based on personal beliefs. Those opposed to the bill, say the measure casts such a wide net that therapists could virtually turn anyone away. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig) UN prosecutor appeals Serb nationalist Seselj's acquittal THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) The chief prosecutor of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is appealing the acquittal of Serbian ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj, citing "the far-reaching nature of the errors we have identified" in the majority judgment. The United Nations court cleared 61-year-old Seselj last week of crimes including persecution, murder and torture, saying there was not enough evidence to support the charges. Prosecutors had demanded a 28-year sentence for his alleged support of Serb paramilitaries during the bitter, bloody wars in Croatia and Bosnia in the early 1990s. In a statement Wednesday, Prosecutor Serge Brammertz pointed to a long list of findings he would challenge in the ruling. Russia's new National Guard will be tasked to suppress riots MOSCOW (AP) The National Guard being formed in Russia will be given broad powers to suppress riots, according to a presidential decree released Wednesday. Analysts said President Vladimir Putin's decision to create the National Guard could reflect Kremlin fears of possible anti-government protests or even a coup attempt amid an economic downturn. The Russian economy last year was dragged into recession by plummeting oil prices and Western economic sanctions over the crisis in Ukraine. Putin's popularity has remained high, but living standards have dropped sharply and the prospect of unrest looms. Parliamentary elections set for September will test the Kremlin's ability to maintain a tight grip on political life. FILE In this Saturday, June 9, 2007 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, with then head of his bodyguard service Viktor Zolotov in the back, watches the presentation of Sochi's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the creation of a new law enforcement agency, the National Guards, which will be led by their commander, Putin's former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov. (AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky, File) Putin announced the creation of the National Guard on Tuesday, when he said it would focus on the fight against terrorism and organized crime. Putin appointed his former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov, to oversee the force. Zolotov, who previously led the Federal Protective Service and served as a deputy interior minister, has been one of Putin's closest lieutenants. He will have a ministerial rank and answer directly to the president as the National Guard chief. Wednesday's presidential bill said the law enforcement agency also would be used to quell mass disturbances and would be provided an arsenal of non-lethal weapons, including stun grenades, and newly designed anti-riot vehicles. On a visit to the Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters earlier this year, Putin and senior law enforcement officials were shown some of these vehicles, including one hulking armored model that has been named Karatel, which translates loosely from Russian as "The Punisher." The bill specifies that national guardsmen won't be permitted to use force against pregnant women and children unless they offer armed resistance, in keeping with Russian legal norms. The National Guard will draw forces from Interior Ministry troops and riot police. Russian media outlets estimate that the force may grow to 400,000 members. The U.S. global intelligence think tank Stratfor said the decision "signals that the Putin administration is worried about instability, in Russia as well as the Kremlin itself." "In calling for a national guard, and appointing Zolotov as its commander, Putin could be fortifying his administration against the threat of a coup," it said. "This may suggest that the Russian president doubts whether other security forces, the FSB, Interior Ministry troops or even the military would remain loyal to him in the event of a coup." Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Commander-in-Chief of the Interior Ministry troops Viktor Zolotov attend a meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) FILE In this Friday, Oct. 31, 2014 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, shakes hands with then Interior Troops Commander Viktor Zolotov at a meeting with senior officers in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia. Putin has ordered the creation of a new law enforcement agency, the National Guards, which will be led by their commander, Putin's former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, file) FILE-In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007 file photo Russian President Vladimir Putin, flanked by then presidential security service chief Viktor Zolotov, pets a horse in the courtyard of the Jeronimos Monastery in Lisbon, Portugal. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the creation of a new law enforcement agency, the National Guards, which will be led by their commander, Putin's former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov. (Vladimir Rodionov/Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File) Code let lottery vendor predict winning numbers, police say IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A lottery vendor for years manipulated drawings to enrich himself and associates by installing software code that allowed him to predict winning numbers on specific days of the year, Iowa investigators alleged Wednesday. Authorities called the newly obtained forensic evidence a breakthrough in the investigation of alleged jackpot-fixing scheme by Eddie Tipton, former security director of the Multi-State Lottery Association. A jury convicted him last year of rigging a $16.5 million jackpot, and he's awaiting trial on charges linking him to prizes in Colorado, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Kansas. Prosecutors filed charges Wednesday against his younger brother, Tommy Tipton, a former justice of the peace and reserve police officer in Texas. He surrendered to authorities and was released on bond. He's charged with ongoing criminal conduct related to his role in securing the Colorado and Oklahoma jackpots, which allegedly netted him $1.2 million in cash. This Wednesday, April 6, 2016 booking photo released by the Polk County Jail in Des Moines, Iowa, shows Tommy Tipton. Tipton turned himself in to face charges that he conspired with his brother, former lottery vendor Eddie Tipton, to win rigged jackpots worth millions of dollars in Oklahoma and Colorado. (Polk County Jail via AP) The case has rocked the Multi-State Lottery Association, an Iowa-based nonprofit that administers Powerball and other games for states. Prosecutors had alleged Eddie Tipton tampered with random number generators that were used by the association and state lotteries to pick jackpot winners. But their case had been based on circumstantial evidence because the generators had been erased or destroyed. Tipton's defense has cited the lack of evidence as a reason charges should be dismissed. Documents filed Wednesday show Wisconsin authorities recovered the random number generator used for a $2 million Megabucks jackpot claimed in 2008 by Tipton's friend, Robert Rhodes. He is fighting extradition from Texas to Iowa, where he faces charges. A forensic examination found that the generator had code that was installed after the machine had been audited by a security firm that directed the generator not to produce random numbers on three particular days of the year if two other conditions were met. Numbers on those days would be drawn by an algorithm that Tipton could predict, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Don Smith wrote in an affidavit. All six prizes linked to Tipton were drawn on either Nov. 23 or Dec. 29 between 2005 and 2011. Investigators were able to recreate the draws and produce "the very same 'winning numbers' from the program that was supposed to produce random numbers," Smith wrote Eddie Tipton was charged last year after authorities released surveillance footage of a person buying the winning ticket for a $16.5 million Hot Lotto jackpot and hot dogs at a Des Moines gas station in 2010. Colleagues identified the buyer as Tipton, a computer whiz who had unparalleled access to lottery software. Tommy Tipton, 51, testified at his brother's trial, saying the buyer looked nothing like his sibling. Besides, he said, Eddie doesn't like hot dogs. But months later, Tommy Tipton resigned his elected judicial position in Flatonia, Texas, after his brother was convicted and his name surfaced in the case. The complaint filed Wednesday says that Tommy Tipton came under scrutiny in 2006, when Texas investigators received a tip that the judge had $500,000 in cash in consecutively marked bills. He told them he got the money after winning a share of a $4.5 million Colorado Lotto jackpot, saying he recruited a friend to claim the $569,000 cash payout because he didn't want his wife to know about it while they were considering divorce. Investigators didn't know then that Tipton's brother wrote and installed the program that Colorado Lottery officials used to draw the numbers. In 2011, Tommy Tipton purchased numbers that would win a $1.2 million Hot Lotto jackpot while traveling in Oklahoma, the complaint said. A relative of one of Tipton's friends claimed the $644,000 prize, which was returned to him. Tipton's attorney, Randy Schaffer, said he was reviewing the allegations and didn't want to address their merits. But he said he "took the high road" by surrendering rather than fighting extradition. "This is a guy who, until a few months ago, was a judge," he said. "He's going to hopefully ... be professional and responsible in his dealings." 40 days in limbo: Ireland fails to elect leader for 2nd time DUBLIN (AP) Ireland remained mired in political limbo Wednesday after lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected all three candidates to lead the country's next government. It was the second time that lawmakers tried and failed to select a prime minister following Ireland's Feb. 26 election. That poll 40 days ago left the two traditional enemies of political life caretaker Prime Minister Enda Kenny's Fine Gael and Micheal Martin's Fianna Fail virtually neck and neck in a fractured parliament. Their center-right parties trace their origins to the opposite sides of Ireland's 1922-23 civil war and have never shared power. But after both men failed to win the leadership vote, Kenny and Martin confirmed that they would meet Wednesday night to open discussions on forming a possible coalition. Kenny received all 51 votes from his own party, Martin 43 from his own party. A third candidate, socialist Ruth Pottinger, received 10 votes. A winner would have required at least 79 votes in Ireland's 158-member parliament. FILE - In this Friday, Feb. 19, 2016 file photo, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, left, as he speaks with members of his delegation at the conclusion of an EU summit in Brussels. Ireland remains mired in political limbo after lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected all three candidates to lead the countrys next government. The inconclusive votes on Wednesday, April 6, 2016 represented the second time that lawmakers have failed to select a prime minister following Irelands Feb. 26 election. That poll 40 days ago left the two traditional enemies of political life - Prime Minister Enda Kennys Fine Gael and Micheal Martins Fianna Fail - virtually neck and neck in a fractured parliament. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File) A glum-faced Kenny, who has been Ireland's leader since 2011, said he would try to form a government with Fianna Fail that could survive a full five-year term. "I hope the discussions that I hope to initiate with Deputy Martin will lead us very much in that direction," he said. Members of Irish parliament are called deputies. But Martin highlighted the possibility that Fianna Fail could refuse to enter a coalition government and instead offer vote-by-vote support to a minority Fine Gael government. "The notion that the government must win every vote and get its way on every issue is a nonsense," said Martin, who was foreign minister in Ireland's previous Fianna Fail-led government. Fine Gael opposes the idea of forming a minority government, a normal occurrence in other European countries, because it would give Fianna Fail the power to pull the plug and force an early election whenever it chose. For the first time since Ireland's 1920s independence from Britain, only a combination of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail would produce the parliamentary numbers needed for a stable majority. Should their coalition talks fail, Kenny could call a second 2016 election. Ireland hasn't experienced back-to-back elections since 1982. Ireland's record for going without a government is 48 days, when a November 1992 election produced a coalition pact in January 1993. That record could be matched or broken this month. Kenny scheduled the next possible leadership vote for April 14, 48 days after the election. Canadian retiree slain in Dominican Republic SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) Authorities in the Dominican Republic say a Canadian retiree has been killed in an apparent robbery and two local men have been arrested as suspects. A statement from police in the beach town of Sosua says Leo Frank Boulanger was killed in an apartment he had rented for three month with his Dominican girlfriend. The body of the 75-year-old from Winnipeg was found Tuesday. A preliminary examination determined the cause of death as asphyxia. Police say the men arrested Wednesday had the victim's cellphone and other belongings and confessed to killing him in the course of robbing him and trying to get his bank code. HAYMARSH William Russell Gietzen looks out the window of his small home at Haymarsh, a settlement north of Hebron in low-lying land that fills with snowmelt and summer rain, and sees the old brick school that formed the man he would be in a time of war. That man would be one who did his duty in the First Infantry Division, as an E Company Ranger and an interpreter in the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971, with his highest rank as sergeant. He was awarded four Bronze Medals, two for valor. But it would also be the man who stepped in to prevent brutality toward civilians and he says he believes he saved the lives of 100 innocent people and stopped rapes and killings by calming some of his fellow soldiers. He pulled a rifle on two of them to prevent the massacre of little boys in Cambodia. They looked like 12 little monks, maybe 9 years old, dressed in yellow robes. They were fleeing, Gietzen said. He saw things that were almost unendurable, but the lesson learned at the St. Clements Catholic schoolhouse remained. That was the lesson we learned of the knights of old: Dont use your strength for the abuse of people, he said. Acts of war are one thing; acts of inhumanity quite another, he says. Gietzen was just out of high school when he enlisted in the U.S. Army, and he waited until the crops were in and the calves were weaned before reporting for basic training in November 1967. He wanted to be an infantry man and was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, known as the Big Red One, for a distinctive patch on the uniform. I was not impressed with the guys who were doing all they could to get a deferment. I believed in the words of President Kennedy when he said, `Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, he said. Russ Gietzen was in Vietnam when his brothers, Gene and Glenn, twins a year younger than himself, enlisted and were sent to the same war. Gene Gietzen was killed in May 1969 after stepping on a Bouncing Betty, a hostile explosive device while Russ Gietzen was home. He watched a Marine officer and the pastor come into the farmyard. While he was too numb from the heavy combat hed been in to make sense of what he was seeing, his mother and father knew immediately. Hell always remember the sound of pain from his father at that moment of understanding. Twin Glenn Gietzen was assigned to escort his brothers body home to the Parish Hall in Glen Ullin, where the Knights of Columbus, the American Legion and Legion Mothers kept the body attended day and night. He had seen his brothers once in Vietnam, when all three of them were able to be together for Easter Sunday, April 1969. We said the rosary together, and we just visited. That was the last time I saw him, he said. After burying his brother, he returned to the war. So did the remaining twin. After the First Infantry, he was assigned to the Military Assistance Command in aid of the South Vietnamese forces because he had a good ear for the Vietnamese language, talking with children along the roadside or the locals who helped guide the infantry in the countryside. We were eating like them, thinking like them. It was an immersion in their culture, he said. His assignment with the E Company Rangers placed in Cambodia to secure the Ho Chi Minh Trail was the stuff of nightmares that plagued him for many years. I almost lost my faith in the human race for awhile. We were in some horrible situations that were almost beyond human endurance, he said. Its part of the fabric of my life, and its something I cant separate. After Viet Nam, he was a drill sergeant, training recruits at Ft. Lewis, Wash., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., before his discharge in 1974. Just as Vietnam has never left his mind, it has never left his side, either. He married Tran thi Ngoc Anh, a woman he met the day he came out of Cambodia. I had met her mother and liked her so much. Her (Anh, his wife) looks were so enchanting, and I also loved the culture, he said. I brought her to Haymarsh, he said. Over the years, they built a small farm, living in a house across from the St. Clements church with a long-abandoned school and a few other houses and farms nearby. He raised draft horses, big Belgians and Percherons and broke nearly 500 over the years, mostly for centennial parade teams. Together, he and Anh raised six children. He has been a certified nurse assistant at the Glen Ullin Manor nursing home since 2007, though he is on leave now to provide in-home care for Anh, who has some serious health issues. He doesnt have much there in Haymarsh, at least materially, and the wheelchair in the living room, the wife sleeping in the back bedroom and the medications on the kitchen table tell the story of his days now. He does have the knowledge that he is the kind of man who could do the right thing in the fog of war and remain true to the values he learned from Catholic nuns at a school built for faith and by faith. I actually think being in Vietnam made me stronger. There are lots of things in life that come and go, but whats not fleeting are the duties that you face. The war made me see through a lot of things that you see on the news. Nothing is simple; its a rich mans war and a poor mans fight. Its the innocent who do the majority of the suffering, he said. I almost lost my faith in the human race for awhile. We were in some horrible situations that were almost beyond human endurance. Its part of the fabric of my life, and its something I cant separate. William Russell Gietzen, Vietnam veteran Egypt threatens to shut down center documenting torture CAIRO (AP) For more than two decades, a team of psychiatrists in downtown Cairo have provided a unique service in Egypt: Therapy for people who say they are victims of torture. Now authorities are trying to shut down the Nadeem Center, housed in an apartment building off a street full of auto parts dealers and mechanics. Twice in the past three months, most recently on Wednesday, police have stormed in with closure orders. So far, the center has managed to ward them off while its lawyers protest. Its founders, however, fear the government is determined to eliminate an organization that, beyond helping victims, produces detailed documentation of police torture. Those accounts contrast starkly with officials' repeated denials that such abuses take place, except in rare, individual cases. FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 file photo, Aida Seif el-Dawla, Suzan Fayyad, center, and Magda Adly, right, co-founder of El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, hold a press conference in Cairo. For more than 20 years, a team of psychiatrists housed in a 100-year-old building down a quiet alley in downtown Cairo have been providing a unique service in Egypt: Therapy for victims of torture. Now authorities are trying to shut down the El Nadeem Center. (AP Photo/Mohamed el Raai, File) Last year, the center tallied around 600 cases of police torture and almost 500 people killed by security forces, 100 of them while incarcerated. "I haven't seen a worse situation than what we have now the violations, the impunity, the defiance" by police, said Aida Seif el-Dawla, a psychiatrist and one of the center's co-founders. "They keep repeating that there is no torture, that there are no forced disappearances, as if this would somehow make it a valid statement," she said. The move against the Nadeem Center is part of an effort targeting a number of rights groups and non-governmental organizations that has raised sharp criticism of Egypt at home, as well as from the United States and Europe. The Nadeem Center and other groups are under investigation on possible criminal charges of illegally receiving foreign funds. Also, the center faces a closure order from the Cabinet that has never been made public but is reportedly based on vague claims of violations of Health Ministry regulations. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has overseen a broad crackdown on dissent since 2013, when he led a military overthrew his Islamist predecessor. Security forces have arrested thousands of Islamists and killed hundreds as they crushed protests. In the past year, the campaign has also increasingly targeted secular activists who criticize the former general's rule. Authorities have argued that they are acting to bring stability after five years of turmoil following the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Many of the top activists involved in the 2011 uprising are now in prison, most under a draconian law passed in 2013 effectively banning all street protests. In response to international criticism of the foreign funding investigation, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said there are tens of thousands of NGOs operating in Egypt, and the government is committed to enabling their work. But he said the activities of civil society groups should be steered in "the right direction, not to the benefit of people whose practices could harm their countries." A Health Ministry spokesman, Khaled Mujahed, told Egyptian media that Nadeem was ordered closed "like any center that is proven to have violations." The center denies committing any violations. The groups believe authorities want to silence criticism at a time when they say police abuses are worsening. "It's no longer just special police units committing these acts. Normal police are practicing torture too. In the current environment, they think the law doesn't apply to them," Seif el-Dawla said. Egypt has faced international criticism over the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian Ph.D. student whose brutalized body was found dumped by the side of a road, raising suspicion of police involvement. Egypt denied its security services were behind the killing. Last month, the Interior Ministry said it had killed members of a gang suspected of being responsible for Regeni's death. But that claim was largely dismissed in Italy, where many in the media accused Egypt of a cover-up. Rome is demanding Cairo come clean and present results of a detailed investigation. Seif el-Dawla says Regeni's wounds, detailed in Italian autopsy findings, bear all the hallmarks of cases she has seen in decades of documenting police torture. "Burning by cigarettes, ripping off fingernails and dumping bodies, that's their style, and it's very common in disappearance cases," she said, sitting at a table in the center's sparse meeting room that is normally used for recording the testimony of victims. In recent years, the Nadeem Center, headed by Dr. Magda Adly, received about 200-300 new clients annually. The doctors provide individual and group therapy, and sometimes conduct medical exams. Under Mubarak's 29-year rule, non-governmental groups faced complicated rules meant to control, contain or sometimes discourage their operations. Nadeem's clinic treating patients, for example, is formally a separate entity from its center doing documentation. In that way, it conforms to rules on which activities each part can conduct. NGOs also faced close monitoring by security agencies. Seif al-Dawla said she's long known that the cigarette seller at a kiosk outside the office is a police informant keeping an eye on who comes and goes. Under Mubarak, however, rights organizations were rarely shut down. Seif al-Dawla fears that's the government's plan. Security authorities don't like "civil society organizations that are outside their control, especially in the field of human rights," Seif al-Dawla said. The Nadeem Center's accountants have been questioned by investigators trying to find a way to discredit it, she said. "The problem now is that you cannot predict what can put you in jail or not," she added. Nadeem does receive funding from abroad, but it is all reported to the authorities and tax records are kept, she said. "Nothing about us is underground or hidden, we operate totally transparently," Seif al-Dawla said. "They know all about it." Dozens of organizations could face prosecution in the foreign funding case. Prominent investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat, rights advocate Gamal Eid and others have been barred from travel, and a court is considering whether to freeze the assets of Bahgat and Eid. The case is a reopening of an investigation that began in 2011 against nonprofit foreign groups. At the time, several U.S. and German groups were charged with receiving foreign funding in violation of Egyptian law. The constitution expressly allows NGOs, but receiving funds from abroad is heavily regulated, and new laws in recent years include vague bans on activities that undermine "national interests or unity." In the meantime, the Nadeem Center continues to work quietly, but receives no patients at the center, just in case the police swoop in. Seif al-Dawla said she's hoping the closure order will be lifted. In the meantime, she is pushing back appointments and handling new would-be patients. "The phone here just keeps ringing," she said. ___ Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter at: http://ww.twitter.com/brian_rohan Chaos in Cleveland? Odds of contested convention increase WASHINGTON (AP) The chances of a contested Republican national convention just got higher with Donald Trump's loss to Ted Cruz in Wisconsin. Despite his wide lead in the delegate count, Trump isn't scooping up delegates fast enough to ensure he'll win a majority during the primaries and caucuses. A look at what's known and, more importantly, unknown about how a contested convention might work. DEFINITION, PLEASE What's a contested convention? It's when the convention opens without a presumptive nominee because no candidate has been able to lock up commitments from a majority of convention delegates. This year, the magic number for the Republicans is 1,237 one delegate more than half of the 2,472 convention delegates. In this April 4, 2016, photo, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses the crowd during a rally at the Milwaukee Theatre in Milwaukee. He wont be on Novembers ballot, but President Barack Obama is slowly embracing his role as the anti-Trump, taking on the Republican front-runner in ways that no other Democrat can. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast) TRUMP'S CHALLENGE Only Trump has a potential path to lock up enough delegates before the convention, and it's an extremely slim one. To claim the nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, he'd have to win 57 percent of the remaining delegates. So far, he's won just 46 percent. The delegate count so far: Trump, 743; Cruz, 517; John Kasich, 143. WHY NOW? The likelihood of a contested convention has increased with the Republican Party shifting away from a winner-take-all strategy, in recent years, to a more proportional way of allocating delegates. Only nine states are awarding all their GOP delegates to the winner of their primary or caucuses this year. The once-large field of GOP candidates in the 2016 race and Trump's wildcard candidacy also feed into this year's uncertainty. SIX-WEEK WINDOW If the primary season ends with no presumptive nominee, there are still six weeks before the convention opens in Cleveland on July 18, during which candidates could try to cobble together a majority. If Trump is close to the magic number, for example, he might be able to scrounge up commitments from delegates in the five states and territories that didn't have statewide presidential preference votes during the primary season. He may also turn to delegates who backed candidates who have dropped out of the race, says Joshua Putnam, a political science lecturer at the University of Georgia whose frontloading.blogspot.com explores the intricacies of the primaries. "Things can happen, particularly if someone is close," says Putman. Even if a candidate can round up commitments from unbound delegates, there's really no way to know for sure how those delegates will vote. FIRST BALLOT When the convention opens in Cleveland, about 90 percent of the delegates will be bound to a particular candidate on the first ballot, based on the results of the primaries and caucuses. If no one gets a majority of delegates on that first vote, all bets are off: Nearly three-fourths of delegates won't be bound on the second vote, and the percentage of unbound delegates keeps going up from there. SOMEONE ELSE? If none of the candidates can get to 1,237, it's conceivable that delegates could turn to someone who didn't run in the primaries. House Speaker Paul Ryan's name keeps popping up as a possible alternative, though he's said he's not interested. Such a scenario could inflame all those voters who made their preferences known during the nominating season. Trump, for one, has talked about riots if he's denied the nomination after arriving at the convention with the biggest share of delegates, even if he's short of 1,237. RULES INTRIGUE Each convention adopts its own rules, and those rules can have a lot to do with how the events play out. If this year's convention adopts the same rules as in 2012, a candidate would have to get support from a majority of delegates in eight states to be placed in nomination. ABOUT LAST TIME The last time a Republican convention opened without a clear nominee was 1976, when Gerald Ford led in delegates but lacked a majority coming into the convention. Ford beat back a challenge from Ronald Reagan and eked out the nomination on the first vote. BROKERED CONVENTION There's no such thing anymore, because there are no more party bosses and power brokers who can sway large chunks of delegates. You have to go back to 1952 for a true brokered convention. That's when Democrats turned to Adlai Stevenson, who won on the third ballot. ___ AP Writer Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow Nancy Benac on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nbenac Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a primary night campaign event, Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) The Latest: Officials sign pact to tear down Klamath dams SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The Latest on an agreement to remove hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California (all times local): 11:40 a.m. Endangered salmon blocked for nearly a century from hundreds of miles of the Klamath River in Oregon and California are expected to return en masse under unusual new agreements to tear down four hydroelectric dams. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell says the agreements involve one of the largest river restoration projects in the history of the United States. She signed the agreements Wednesday along with the governors of both states. The deals also protect farmers and ranchers from rising power and water prices as officials try to end long-running water wars in the Klamath basin over dividing scarce water between farms and fish. ___ 12 a.m. Officials from Oregon, California and the Obama administration are preparing to sign an agreement pledging to seek permission to tear down four hydroelectric dams that are blamed for killing fish and blocking their migration. They will also agree Wednesday to protect farmers and ranchers from rising power and water prices as they work on a broader pact to bring peace to long-running water wars in the Klamath River basin, which straddles the Oregon-California border. The agreement revives a dormant settlement process that died at the end of last year when Congress failed to approve it. That original settlement would have removed dams, restored tribal lands and provided more water for farmers and ranchers. Police: Newtown teacher arrested for having gun at school NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) A teacher was arrested Wednesday for bringing a gun to the town's middle school, police said. The 46-year-old teacher, Jason Adams, has a valid pistol permit, but Connecticut state law prohibits possession of firearms on school grounds. A telephone message seeking comment was left at Adams' home in Newtown. This booking photo released by the Newtown Police Department shows Jason Adams, arrested Wednesday, April 6, 2016, and charged with having a gun at the town's middle school. Adams, 46, a teacher at the school, was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds, which is illegal in Connecticut. Police said he has a valid pistol permit. A gunman shot and killed 20 students and six educators at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012. (Newtown Police Department via AP) Adams was detained by school security after he was seen with the gun and then arrested by Newtown police who were called to Newtown Middle School, according to Police Chief James Viadero. Adams was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and released. On Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman shot and killed 20 students and six educators at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School. The shooter fatally shot his mother inside their Newtown home before going on the rampage and then killing himself. Adams has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to the Newtown public school system, which said in a statement that it has been working closely with local police. "This matter is very serious and troubling, both the Newtown Public School system and the Newtown Police Department took immediate steps to address the matter," the school system said. Defying Christie, NJ speaker unveils own Atlantic City plan ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) New Jersey's Assembly speaker unveiled his own bill to aid Atlantic City Wednesday night, defying Gov. Chris Christie's vow not to sign it on a day that the governor rained caustic, intensely personal criticism on the resort's mayor, calling him a liar and questioning his intelligence. Vincent Prieto will formally introduce a bill Thursday morning that combines elements of a Christie-endorsed two-bill Atlantic City aid package that Prieto has refused to put up for a vote, objecting to provisions that would let the state break public employee contracts. Christie has said he will not sign anything other than the bills the state Senate already has passed. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering as he lays out the problems he says Atlantic City is not addressing Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Atlantic City, N.J. Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, left, listens. The Republican governor and Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are wrangling about giving the state authority over the city's finances. Prieto objects to legislation approved by the state Senate and backed by Christie, saying it jeopardizes unions' bargaining rights. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) "It's unfortunate that Gov. Christie has failed to use his existing authority to help Atlantic City, and the existing bill doesn't do enough to protect core values such as collective bargaining, fair labor practices and civil liberties," Prieto said Wednesday night. "This bill is a very fair compromise that accomplishes everyone's goals." Prieto's bill draws from both the stalled bills: one that would let casinos make specified payments to the city in lieu of taxes, and another that would give the state sweeping authority over Atlantic City's finances. But his bill would give the city the chance to meet certain benchmarks before the state could seize more power. It also would create a five-member panel of state and city officials to assess that progress. Prieto's bill will be discussed and voted on by an Assembly committee on Wednesday morning. He acted hours after Christie came to Atlantic City, not to meet with its embattled mayor, but to denounce him as a liar who has "zero idea" what he's doing. The governor used his harshest language yet to criticize Mayor Don Guardian, a fellow Republican, as the seaside gambling resort draws closer to going broke. The city adopted a payroll maneuver Wednesday night that it hopes will temporarily avert the crisis, delaying the need to shut down non-essential services for about two months. But the city still has not found a way to cope with the contraction of its casino industry, which has lost more than half its revenue and four of its 12 casinos since 2006. Christie used a press conference with Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson to take repeated shots at Guardian in the harshest and most personal language he has used against him to date, reminiscent of the invective he frequently hurled at Guardian's Democratic predecessor, Lorenzo Langford. Asked about complaints by Guardian that he has not met with the governor in months as his city inches closer to bankruptcy, Christie replied, "Because there's no purpose in meeting with a liar." Christie accused Guardian of agreeing to a state takeover in a Statehouse news conference with leaders of the state Senate and Assembly, then changing his mind. Guardian said lawmakers promised to make changes to protect the city's interest but failed to make good on them. "He has no idea what he's talking about," Christie said. "Zero idea what he's talking about." Christie also seemed to insult Guardian's intelligence as well as his competency. "The mayor's math and his understanding match his management ability," Christie said. At his news conference afterward, Guardian disputed many of Christie's criticisms and laid much of the blame for his city's fiscal crisis on the doorstep of the state, which has appointed monitors to oversee the city and school system. "I'm sorry that he has to use name-calling," Guardian said. "I'm disappointed, and I can say, like every urban mayor in the state of New Jersey, that we can't wait until Jan. 14, 2018, when we have a new governor." ___ Follow Wayne Parry at http://twitter.com/WayneParryAC New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering as he lays out the problems he says Atlantic City is not addressing Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Atlantic City, N.J. The Republican governor and Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are wrangling about giving the state authority over the city's finances. Prieto objects to legislation approved by the state Senate and backed by Christie, saying it jeopardizes unions' bargaining rights. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) Atlantic County Executive Dennis Levinson, left, listens while New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering as he lays out the problems he says Atlantic City is not addressing Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in Atlantic City, N.J. The Republican governor and Democratic Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto are wrangling about giving the state authority over the city's finances. Prieto objects to legislation approved by the state Senate and backed by Christie, saying it jeopardizes unions' bargaining rights. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) Review: Melissa McCarthy's 'The Boss' misses the mark The search continues for a suitable showcase for the awesome talents of Melissa McCarthy outside of films directed by Paul Feig. The latest vehicle to give it a try, "The Boss," has a promising enough blueprint for comedy. McCarthy plays the red-haired, thoroughly turtlenecked Michelle Darnell, a ruthless, self-made executive whose Martha Stewart-like descent lands her in white-collar prison. Penniless upon release, she moves in with her former and much mistreated assistant Claire (Kristen Bell) and her daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson). But, as in McCarthy's slipshod road movies "Identity Thief" and "Tammy," the material here isn't on her level, the laughs are largely cheap and once again, the hall-of-fame comic actress is stuck in a minor-league movie. This image released by Universal Studios shows Melissa McCarthy in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) Like "Tammy," ''The Boss" was directed by Ben Falcone, McCarthy's husband and longtime collaborator, and written by them both. (Steve Mallory, who also dates back to their improv days at the Upright Citizens Brigade, also pitches in on the screenplay). In both films, the premise is solidly rooted in the common frustrations of thoughtless bosses and dead-end jobs. Tammy's midlife crisis was partially prompted by a meltdown with her fast-food manager (played by Falcone), but in "The Boss," Bell's Claire is the one suffering under tyrants. Michelle is introduced as the 47th wealthiest woman in America, a perch she flaunts as a finance guru. At an arena rally, she descends to the stage on a bird with dollar bills showering her. She's Suze Orman times a hundred. Her downfall is plotted by a business rival, Renault (Peter Dinklage), who gets her locked up for insider trading. Claire, a single mother, finds another job with yet another uncaring supervisor (the underused Cecily Strong). But Michelle turns up on Claire's Chicago doorstep, looking for a place to stay. The first sign of trouble in "The Boss" isn't the lack of a Bruce Springsteen cameo, but Michelle's first night on Claire's couch bed. When she sits down, the bed violently flings her high up on the wall, a crudely brutal, digitally faked moment of poorly calibrated slapstick that seems to exist only for the movie's trailer. Other such bits crop up, like a tumble down stone steps by Michelle, that feel like desperate reaches for laughs. After attending Rachel's Girl Scouts meeting, Michelle hits on an idea for a homemade brownie operation that will teach young women more capitalistic ideals and give them a percent of the profits, too. By even the standards of redemptive occupations in comedies, it's a thin concept. But Michelle's rival troupe of treat-selling girls begins to take off, bringing back all of Michelle's hard-nosed business tactics. A street fight between the girls follows, as does the expected lesson about family and generosity. "The Boss" is tighter than "Tammy" and it's not without laughs. With few supporting players providing much humor (Kathy Bates, as Michelle's mentor, is entirely squandered), McCarthy shoulders the film. And she remains a captivating, unpredictable force in even a mediocre film, with a rare gift for both bombastic and humble characters, sweetness and crassness, physical comedy and verbal spats. But so far, those gifts have only been fully put to use by Feig. Their films together "Bridesmaids," ''The Heat" and "Spy" are a class above the rest. Thankfully, their next one, "Ghostbusters," is due this summer. "The Boss," a Universal Pictures release, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for "sexual content, language and brief drug use." Running time: 99 minutes. Two stars out of four. ___ Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP This image released by Universal Studios shows Melissa McCarthy, left, and Kristen Bell in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) This image released by Universal Studios shows Melissa McCarthy, left, and Ella Anderson in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) This image released by Universal Studios shows Melissa McCarthy, background left, and Kristen Bell in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) This image released by Universal Studios shows Melissa McCarthy, from left, Kristen Bell and Bel Falcone in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) This image released by Universal Studios shows Kristen Bell, seated left, and Melissa McCarthy, seated right, in a scene from, "The Boss." (Hopper Stone/Universal Studios via AP) Wisconsin: GOP outlier or signs of trouble for Trump? WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) In the end, maybe the "Cheeseheads" just weren't angry enough for Donald Trump. Wisconsin Republicans were less incensed than GOP primary voters in most states where Trump had previously triumphed, according to exit polls from the state's presidential primary Tuesday. Almost six out of 10 primary voters also expressed concern or even fear about the bombastic billionaire occupying the Oval Office. Those dynamics, reinforced by a bumpy few weeks of campaigning, added up to a double-digit victory for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Tuesday's Wisconsin primary, complicating Trump's path to winning the nomination outright and increasing the possibility of a contested convention when Republican delegates gather this summer in Cleveland. FILE - In this April 5, 2016 file photo, Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, waves during a primary night campaign event in Milwaukee. While the focus of the Republican presidential campaign shifts eastward to the New York primary, Cruz is pivoting west, where he is quietly trying to chip away at Donald Trumps lead in the race for convention delegates. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) Cruz declared his victory a turning point in the nomination fight, trying to buttress his claim as the clear alternative for Republicans wary of making Trump their general election candidate. The question going forward: Are Wisconsin Republicans outliers or has Cruz consolidated support in a winnowed field and exposed Trump weaknesses that will carry over into upcoming contests concentrated in the northeast? According to the exit polls conducted Tuesday for the Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research, a third of voters Tuesday described themselves as "angry" about the federal government, and Trump managed only to break even with Cruz among those voters. On March 15, when Trump notched primary wins in several states, he far outpaced his closest competitors among self-described "angry" Republicans, who accounted for about 40 percent of the primary electorate in Florida, Missouri and North Carolina all Trump victories. In Florida, Trump more than doubled up his nearest competitor among the angry GOP faction to fuel his biggest win of the day. Trump also failed in Wisconsin to match many of his previous performances among Republicans who described themselves as "dissatisfied," as opposed to angry. Cruz won more than half of those voters Tuesday, more than 20 percentage points ahead of Trump. Trump lost those voters in Missouri and North Carolina on March 15, but generally not by such wide margins. Wisconsin followed a similar trend along ideology, with Cruz outpacing Trump among "somewhat conservative" Republicans and trouncing him among "very conservative" GOP voters. The latter group often aligned with Cruz in earlier primaries, but Trump had enjoyed considerable success and sometimes big margins among the "somewhat conservative" slice of the Republican electorate. Wisconsin GOP voters were roughly split on their preference for the next president to have political experience versus being an outsider. Trump garnered just 8 percent of the vote among Wisconsin Republicans who want a president with political experience. That's not out of line with what he had drawn from similar voters in earlier states, but Cruz managed 68 percent support from those voters the highest total any single Trump opponent has managed aside from Kasich in his home state of Ohio. It's also evidence of Trump's struggle to consolidate GOP support even as the field has narrowed, with the result denting what has been one of his predictable advantages throughout the primary season. Trump's Wisconsin slide was further evident among less-educated and working-class Republicans. He drew support from fewer than four out of 10 Wisconsinites without a college degree; in the March 15 primaries, he won about half of Republicans at that education level. In North Carolina, Missouri and North Carolina, Trump also won or nearly tied Cruz in every income classification. In Wisconsin, it was Cruz who demonstrated strength across income strata, even managing a near tie with Trump among voters with income of less than $50,000. Many of those measures could support Cruz's contention that he is consolidating support of a majority of primary voters in a party where many leaders are openly contemptuous of tapping Trump as their standard-bearer. There were, nonetheless, plenty of signs leading up to Tuesday that Wisconsin was never going to align behind Trump. For several weeks, Milwaukee's conservative talk radio personalities near-unanimously tried to expose Trump as a charlatan, and WTMJ's influential Charlie Sykes would endorse Cruz two weeks before the primary. Cruz also won the backing from the state's elected Republican leadership, led by Gov. Scott Walker, himself a failed GOP presidential hopeful. The radio influences helped Cruz in the semicircle of suburban counties outside Milwaukee. Among them, Ozaukee, Washington and Waukesha counties account for roughly 40 percent of Wisconsin's GOP primary electorate. Cruz outmaneuvered Trump in the next most pivotal region of the state, the Fox River valley which runs northeast from Madison to Green Bay. Cruz campaigned up and down this rural and working-class corridor for a week, before Trump even arrived in the state. Cruz also tailored his message to reach the mid-state region's manufacturing workers, a demographic that could be useful in a general election campaign. ------ Associated Press reporters Thomas Beaumont and Jill Colvin and polling director Emily Swanson contributed to this report. ------ Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP . Voters cast their ballots at the Pleasant Valley Town Hall and Fire Station on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, in Eleva, Wis. Wisconsin voters are expected to turn out Tuesday in large numbers for the presidential primary and statewide races. (Marisa Wojcik/The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT Advocacy group to seek probe of federal election official WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A nonprofit public advocacy group called Wednesday for an investigation of a top federal elections official in the wake of a media report about his communications with one of the nation's leading advocates of voting restrictions. Washington, D.C.,-based Allied Progress provided to The Associated Press a letter is said will be sent on Thursday to the Inspector General of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission asking it to look into communications between that agency's executive director, Brian Newby, and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. The nonpartisan group calls itself a grassroots organization that aims to hold special interest groups accountable, and has taken up causes as diverse as voting rights, payday lending reform and keeping a crude oil export ban. The request comes in the wake of an AP story based on emails obtained through open records requests showing that Newby used his ties to Kobach, a leading advocate of voting restrictions, to help secure the top job at a government agency entrusted with making voting accessible. Newby then used the federal position to implement rules requiring residents of Kansas, Alabama and Georgia to provide citizenship documentation to register to vote using a national form. Its complaint also cited an interview Newby had with MSNBC in which he acknowledged communicating with election officials in those states about implementing the voter registration changes, without including commissioners in those discussions. Allied Progress said EAC policy prohibits nonpublic communications with any entity regulated by the EAC. "It comes down to an issue of trust," said Karl Frisch, executive director for the advocacy group. "The reason that these rules are in place is so that public officials don't come under undue influence." Newby and Kobach did not immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment. The commission's spokesman, Bryan Whitener, said the agency could not comment until it had received the letter. It is unclear whether the inspector general's office will investigate the complaint, but Frisch said such officials are there to do exactly what the advocacy group is asking: to make sure policies that are established are followed and that employees are held accountable for violations. EAC Inspector General Patricia Layfield declined comment. The little-known federal commission was created in 2002 to help prevent a repeat of the disputed 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore following voting chaos in the crucial state of Florida. Among the commission's duties is oversight of the national voter registration form, which Congress intended to be a simple, easy form to encourage voter registration. Outside experts break with Mexican prosecutors on missing 43 MEXICO CITY (AP) Independent experts sent to Mexico by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights say they won't work with Mexican prosecutors investigating the alleged burning of 43 missing college students at a garbage dump. The experts criticized prosecutors' decision to release a report last week saying there was a fire at the dump and the remains of at least 17 people were found there. The experts said Wednesday the report was inconclusive. They have cast doubt on whether such a large fire was possible there. The experts will wind up their work in April. David Cameron will not benefit in the future from offshore trusts, says No 10 David Cameron will not benefit in the future from offshore trusts or funds, Downing Street has said. The Prime Minister has come under intense pressure over his family's tax arrangements following the Panama Papers data leak, which reportedly included details about his late father Ian's tax affairs. Facing calls to explain his family's finances, the Prime Minister declared he has "no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds". Prime Minister David Cameron declined to say if his family had reaped the rewards of an offshore arrangement in the past or were likely to in the future But as questions continued about the past and future benefits the Camerons may have reaped, No 10 put out a fresh statement stating the PM, wife Samantha and children would not benefit in the future. A spokesman said: "There are no offshore funds/trusts which the PM, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future." The Prime Minister has championed the transparency agenda at a series of international summits, and legislation forcing British companies to disclose who owns and benefits from their activities comes into force in June. But despite several years of pressure, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have proved reluctant to fully open up their business registers to UK law enforcement agencies. Mr Cameron hopes for more action ahead of a major international anti-corruption summit he is hosting in May. His father ran an offshore fund that avoided ever having to pay tax in Britain by hiring a small army of Bahamas residents - including a part-time bishop - to sign its paperwork, according to The Guardian. Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was a director of Blairmore Holdings Inc, which, until 2006, used unregistered "bearer shares" to protect its clients' privacy. His use of the firm to help shield investments from UK tax helped build up a significant legacy, part of which was inherited by the Prime Minister. There is no suggestion that this avoidance arrangement or others exposed by the leak were anything but entirely legal or that Mr Cameron's family did not pay the UK tax due on any repatriated assets. Chancellor George Osborne refused to say if he had benefited from offshore funds or expected to in the future. Asked about his tax affairs during a visit in London, he told the BBC: "All of our interests as ministers and MPs are declared in the register of members' interests and we have made our position very clear." London Mayor Boris Johnson dismissed the row over the Prime Minister's finances as "absolute tripe". Asked if he had any offshore holding linked to the Panama Papers, he joked "I wish". He said: " As far as I can see, even a close study of the Guardian, I cannot see what they are blathering on about, I really can't." Government 'soft-pedalling' on death penalty, Amnesty International claims The Government has been accused of "soft-pedalling" over the death penalty and seeming to make trade more important than human rights. The charge by Amnesty International UK's director Kate Allen comes as the human rights organisation released figures showing that at least 1,634 people were executed in 2015, a rise of 54% on the year before. Despite being the highest number Amnesty has recorded since 1989, this total does not include China, where thousands were likely to have been executed but where the death penalty is a state secret. The "profoundly disturbing" surge in executions was largely fuelled by big increases in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International reported The figures - contained in the report Death Sentences and Executions in 2015 - show that the top five executioners in the world in 2015 were China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the USA. This "profoundly disturbing" surge in executions was largely fuelled by big increases in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International reported. Amnesty International's fears have been raised just hours after MPs on the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee said there is "plainly a perception" the Government is prioritising trade and security with China, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain above human rights. Ms Allen said: "Like the Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday, we're worried that the Government has started soft-pedalling over foreign countries' use of the death penalty, preferring to prioritise trade with countries like China, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. "Until recently the UK's policy of seeking global abolition of capital punishment had a clear focus and strategy. Now the death penalty's been thrown into the pot with other concerns and it's much harder to tell whether the Government is prioritising this life-and-death matter. "If governments in Beijing, Tehran, Islamabad and Riyadh aren't hearing about our outrage at executions after torture and unfair trials, then the executioners are going to think they've got a green light to carry on killing. "We want to see the Foreign Office publishing a clear strategy for its anti-death penalty work at the earliest opportunity." Amnesty International's secretary general Salil Shetty said: "Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials." Last year, the Foreign and Commonweatth Office's most senior civil servant made a frank admission to MPs that human rights "is not one of our top priorities" and that the "prosperity agenda is further up the list". Ministers deny the issue has been downgraded but a string of trade-focused, red carpet visits to the UK by the leaders of countries with some of the worst records of rights abuses has reinforced the perception of a shift of diplomatic emphasis. At least 977 people were executed - mostly for drug-related crimes - in Iran in 2015, according to the report. This increase, from approximately 743 in 2014, included at least four people who were under 18 at the time of the crime for which they were convicted, as Iran persists in its stance as one of the world's last executioners of child offenders, Amnesty International said. At least 326 people were sent to the gallows in Pakistan in 2015 while executions rose by 76 per cent on the previous year in Saudi Arabia, where at least 158 people were killed. Most were beheaded, but firing squads were also used and executed bodies were sometimes displayed in public, it was noted. The world's death row population stands at a minimum of 20,292 people, according to Amnesty International figures. Saudi Arabia is the only country to use beheadings and two women - one in the Maldives and one in Saudi Arabia - were sentenced to death by stoning for "adultery". The Maldives conviction and death sentence were later overturned while the Saudi Arabian death sentence was later commuted. Chad, which had not executed anyone for more than a decade, resumed executions and put ten people to death. The USA executed 28 people - its lowest number of executions for 25 years, while The Republic of Congo, Fiji, Madagascar and Suriname all abolished the death penalty last year. Human rights minister Baroness Anelay said: "I am deeply troubled by the increase in the number of reported executions in 2015, which was driven by concerning increases in Pakistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. "The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we make our opposition well known at the highest levels to countries which continue to apply it. Our message to them is clear, the death penalty is unjust, outdated and ineffective. It also risks fuelling extremism. "Despite these concerning figures there has been progress in many countries. It is welcome that in 2015 Fiji, the Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Suriname all abolished the death penalty. "The Foreign Office will continue to use its diplomatic network to push for progress towards the global abolition of the death penalty." Maya Foa, of Reprieve, described the rise in executions as "extremely troubling" adding: "It is all the more disturbing, therefore, to see what the Foreign Affairs Select Committee this week described as an 'apparent deprioritisation' of human rights by the UK government. Real Madrid face tough Champions League test after 2-0 away loss to Wolfsburg Wolfsburg stunned Real Madrid with two goals in eight first-half minutes to take control of their Champions League quarter-final tie. The 10-time winners of the competition face an uphill task just to progress to the last four this year after losing 2-0 in Germany in the first leg. Real goalkeeper Keylor Navas had not conceded in this competition prior to this game but he was beaten by Ricardo Rodriguez's penalty, before Maximilian Arnold doubled the advantage soon after. Ricardo Rodriguez scored a first-half penalty for Wolfsburg Four days on from a win at the Nou Camp with 10 men, Zinedine Zidane's side looked shaky at the back and have it all to do in the return fixture in the Spanish capital next Tuesday. There were early hints that this would not be a straightforward night for Real when, 70 seconds in, Cristiano Ronaldo was flagged for a marginal offside call when he collected Karim Benzema's pass and turned home. Moments later Gareth Bale was then denied what appeared a clear penalty after Luiz Gustavo clattered into his leg inside the area. Madrid should have led anyway through Benzema who, having returned to the pitch following treatment, moved beyond Dante before placing his effort into Diego Benaglio's leg. Wolfsburg were a threat on the counter, though, and after Bruno Henrique had headed at Navas, the Real keeper finally conceded after 738 minutes without doing so in the Champions League when Rodriguez sent him the wrong way from 12 yards out. The spot-kick call was debatable as Andre Schurrle appeared to kick his own foot as he swung his leg past Casemiro, who was caught on the wrong side of the ex-Chelsea forward. Seven minutes later it was 2-0, Julian Draxler finding Henrique in space and from his cross Arnold stole a march on Sergio Ramos and finished first-time past Navas. Benzema then headed wide before injury eventually forced him off, Toni Kroos drew Benaglio into a save and Bale planted a 25-yard free-kick over his crossbar of the stroke of half-time. Zidane's side pushed for an away goal after the interval and Ronaldo missed the target with two attempts from Bale crosses. However, they almost found themselves three goals down as Schurrle took up the space once again left vacant by Marcelo, but, after taking a touch, he fired over. Marcelo's frustration was evident when he kicked out at Arnold before comically falling to the ground after placing his head in the goalscorer's chest, with only the victim and Bale booked in the subsequent skirmish. Steelworkers encouraged as Javid reassures on Tata plan to be responsible seller Steelworkers have been "encouraged" about efforts to save their jobs after hearing from the Business Secretary that Indian conglomerate Tata is planning to act responsibly over the sale of its UK assets. Sajid Javid visited the giant Port Talbot steelworks just hours after flying back to the UK from meeting Tata officials to press for time over the sale of its steel plants. He arrived at the site in a black chauffeur-driven Jaguar just before midday before he was locked in talks with workers and union officials for three-and-a-half hours. Members of the Community trade union erect a banner outside the steelworks in Port Talbot The minister was driven away without making any comment. Community union president Alan Coombs said he was encouraged by what the minister told managers and union representatives. "At the end of the meeting, the million-dollar question was 'what guarantees have we had from Mumbai?' I was very encouraged by what he said - that Tata are not going to forget about their values and they are going to be responsible sellers. They are going to give the appropriate time to get a buyer in. "There's no line in the sand when it has to be sold by. To me, that's a big plus. I don't want to work to a deadline to get someone in, although I know it can't be open-ended either. "I appreciate what Tata have done for us in Port Talbot over the years, but everybody understands that Tata is not a bottomless pit and they are not continuing with it. "It has been a very frustrating process, but there is some hope. A week or so ago it was the worst-case scenario. That seems like a million miles away now. There does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel - even though there is nothing concrete at the moment. "However, there is no doubt that the UK Government and Welsh Government are going to have to be part of any deal." Mr Javid visited Port Talbot last Friday after cutting short a business trip to Australia because of the crisis gripping the steel industry. He said before leaving Mumbai that Tata's sale process will start by Monday, although there was no set timeframe for it to be completed. Sanjeev Gupta, the head of Liberty House, the only company to publicly express an interest in Tata's plants, told the Press Association the process would take months. Mr Javid said Tata will allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the process to be completed. The minister stressed that the Government wanted to work with any prospective buyer, saying "a number" of people had already started coming forward. "I would like to see many more come forward when the formal process begins," he said. Mr Gupta said buying Tata's UK steel business was a "daunting" prospect, especially as the sale announcement was so unexpected. He told the Press Association he expected other companies to show an interest now that the sale process was about to formally start. "We have had very good interaction with the Government and unions but we now need a proper analysis, and work out many details." Mr Gupta said any buyer would have to "turn around" Tata's loss-making business and would not want to take on the huge pension liabilities. Tata would probably want to make progress on any sale within weeks, but Mr Gupta said he believed the process would take months. "We are interested and we now need to work out a business plan." Mr Gupta said Tata workers would have to be retrained and he still believed jobs could be saved, although he added it was time to "take a breather" to consider details of the sale. A Welsh Government spokesman said: "The First Minister of Wales met with Sanjeev Gupta of Liberty House Group this afternoon to discuss ways in which government could support any future purchaser of Tata's steelmaking operations in Wales. "It was a useful meeting and the First Minister reiterated his commitment to work closely with Mr Gupta and his team. They will keep in regular contact as discussions progress." :: A ceremony will be held at the Dalzell steelworks in Motherwell on Friday to mark the handover of the plant and its sister works at Clydebridge, Cambuslang, to Liberty House following its purchase from Tata. Ministers could be forced to defend 9m pro-EU leaflet spending before MPs Ministers could be hauled to Parliament to defend spending taxpayers' cash on a pro-EU leaflet after a petition opposing it passed the 100,000 threshold. The decision to send a Government-produced leaflet to every household in the country setting out the case for voting to remain in the EU in June's referendum - at a cost of more than 9 million - provoked a blistering row between the in and out camps. Justice Secretary Michael Gove attacked the idea of taxpayers funding "one-sided propaganda" rather than the NHS after David Cameron insisted it was "money well spent". The UK Government's leaflet about the EU referendum, which it plans to send to every household in the United Kingdom Downing Street said the move was a response to polling which showed 85% of the public wanted more information from the Government to help them make an informed choice on June 23. But a petition calling for the leaflet campaign to be halted soared past the 100,000 mark, meaning it has to be considered for debate in Parliament as anger from Leave supporters continued. The petition text, submitted by Get Britain Out director Jayne Adye, says: "We, the petitioners, demand the Government STOPS spending our money on biased campaigning to keep Britain inside the European Union. "The Great British Public have waited since 1975 for a vote on our relationship with Brussels. No taxpayers' money should be spent on campaign literature to keep Britain inside the EU." Prime Minister Mr Cameron earlier said he would "make no apologies" for throwing the full weight of the Government behind one side of the argument, declaring: "It is not, in my view, just legal - I think is it necessary and right. "I don't want anyone to go to the polls not knowing what the Government thinks, and I think that is money well spent." But Mr Gove - one of four Cabinet ministers campaigning for the "leave" vote on June 23 - said it was "wrong" and called for a fair campaign in which both sides are heard. He told the BBC: "I just think it is wrong that at a time of austerity, 9 million of taxpayers' money is being spent on a one-sided piece of propaganda. "That money should be being spent on the NHS and the people's priorities, not on propaganda." The cost of the promotional push is greater than the 7 million each the formal Leave and Remain camps will be allowed to spend by law in total during the last 10 weeks of the campaign, Vote Leave said. Ukip leader Nigel Farage questioned whether the referendum was now still "free and fair". The Electoral Commission watchdog had campaigned for a ban on such Government activity during the formal "regulated period" of the campaign, which begins on April 15. The leaflet is due to start hitting doormats in England next week, but not until after May 5 elections in the rest of the UK. Although ministers backed down from a significant lifting of the pre-vote "purdah" period during which government activity is restricted, legal restrictions still apply only for the final 28 days. The pro-Brexit Grassroots Out (GO) group has written to the Commission, questioning whether the leaflet was legitimate "given that the Government has not registered as a campaigner". GO suggested the cost should be included within the spending limit of the Remain camp during the formal campaign period. A Commission spokeswoman said: "After the referendum on Scottish independence, the Electoral Commission recommended that governments should conduct no taxpayer-funded advertising activity during the regulated period. "However, Parliament decided not to put any legal restrictions on Government activity until 28 days before the poll, May 27. These are the same rules that were in place for other recent referendums." She said: "The Electoral Commission is responsible for regulating the rules on spending in the run-up to the EU referendum. "The rules on spending apply during the regulated period which starts on April 15 and ends on polling day, June 23. "The rules exclude spending that is met out of public funds, which includes spending by the Government on the Government information booklet." Prime Minister David Cameron speaks at Exeter University Prime Minister David Cameron addresses students at Exeter University Saudi king sets aside frustrations with Egypt for state visit By Angus McDowall and Lin Noueihed RIYADH/CAIRO, April 5 (Reuters) - Despite years of mutual frustration and disappointment over diverging priorities, Saudi Arabia and Egypt remain fundamental to each other's security, a message King Salman's visit to Cairo this week is intended to reinforce. The rare foreign trip by the 80-year-old Saudi ruler will counter media commentary in both countries of discord between the richest Arab state and the most populous, to show Riyadh still backs Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Gulf monarchies have lavished aid on Egypt since 2013, but have grown increasingly disillusioned at what they see as Sisi's inability to address entrenched corruption and inefficiency in the economy, and at Cairo's reduced role on the regional stage. However, with Iraq, Syria and Yemen immersed in civil war, and Saudi Arabia preoccupied by its own region-wide tussle with Iran, Riyadh is determined to stop the Egyptian state from failing. It will maintain some aid despite its own tighter budgets from falling global oil prices, analysts say. That position contrasts with Riyadh's approach to Lebanon, from which Gulf states have pulled aid in response to the growing role there of Iran's ally Hezbollah, evidence of Saudi Arabia's with-us-or-against-us regional doctrine. "The Saudis are very keen not to allow Egypt to collapse, but at the same time the Saudis cannot pay forever. I think King Salman will try to explain these issues," said Mustafa Alani, a security analyst with close ties to the kingdom's Interior Ministry. In recent months, groups of Egyptian ministers have flown to Riyadh almost weekly for meetings with their Saudi counterparts, a diplomat said, and officials are planning to unveil Saudi investments of $4 billion this week. Saudi Arabia is also expected to sign a $20 billion deal to finance Egypt's petroleum needs for the next five years and a $1.5 billion deal to develop its Sinai region, two Egyptian government sources told Reuters. Egyptian intelligence sources said Sisi wanted the visit to soothe the recent strains in the relationship, attract more Saudi investment, reassure Riyadh over Cairo's support for its stance towards Iran and discuss possible arms deals. Agreements to cooperate more closely on a range of issues, from the armed forces to the economy, will be announced, say people in Riyadh, but are seen as unlikely to make the relationship significantly deeper. "It is like a married couple who argue but decide to stay together for the sake of the children," said Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent Saudi journalist. DISAPPOINTMENT Once a central axis of Middle East politics, the relationship between Cairo and Riyadh has become increasingly peripheral since the 2011 Arab uprisings in a region now beset by civil wars and widespread unrest elsewhere. In Syria, where Saudi Arabia is a leading backer of rebels, it has worked most closely with Qatar and Turkey, political rivals of Egypt. In Yemen, Cairo has contributed naval forces to a Saudi-led military intervention, but Riyadh's main ally has been the United Arab Emirates. Riyadh was a strong supporter of Sisi's rise to power as army chief in 2013 and president the following year, after his military overthrew a Muslim Brotherhood-led government that emerged from the revolution. While Saudi Arabia views Iran as its most pressing regional adversary, it also sees Sunni Muslim Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood ultimately posing a greater threat to its dynastic system of rule and fears their rise in Arab allies. However, as Saudi Arabia has turned to confront what it sees as a threat of Iranian expansionism across the region, Egypt has grown ever more introverted, focusing on the turbulent aftermath of its uprising and counter revolution. Riyadh wanted Cairo to play a central role in its coalition confronting Yemen's Houthi group, which the kingdom says is allied to Iran. Egypt was reluctant to commit ground troops. Western diplomats in Cairo and the Gulf said this strained ties somewhat, but that Riyadh had ultimately accepted Egypt's reasoning and its public pronouncements that it would defend Saudi Arabia from any external threat. "The fact is that because of its revolution and its domestic economic situation, Egypt is not what it was, and more and more the Saudis are taking this prominent role," said a diplomat. "The Saudis have some differences with them, but it's between consenting adults." Still, Egypt's naval participation in the Yemen campaign is seen in Riyadh as important and despite Cairo's unwillingness to join Gulf states in declaring Hezbollah a terrorist group, its regional position has broadly aligned with that of the kingdom. LAVISH AID Both Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir dismiss any talk of recent strains, insisting there was no ill feeling over the Yemen campaign or other issues. "This is an historic visit," said Jubeir at a news conference on Tuesday. Shoukri, in an interview with the pro-government daily Al Youm Al Sabee last week, he and Jubeir were "amazed" at suggestions the relationship was difficult. Since Egypt's army deposed the Islamist government in 2013, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait have given Cairo around $35 billion in aid in the form of oil shipments, cash grants and deposits into the central bank. Meanwhile, Riyadh and Cairo have spoken of the need to increase Gulf investments into Egypt, a goal that has faltered as prominent businessmen in Saudi Arabia and its neighbours have complained openly about red tape and corruption. For some in Riyadh's elite, the fault lies with Egypt's president, a man regarded when the army seized power from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, and upon his election in 2014, as Saudi Arabia's newest best friend. EU-Canada deal to share air travellers' data raises privacy fears By Julia Fioretti LUXEMBOURG, April 6 (Reuters) - An agreement between the European Union and Canada to share airline passenger data that they say is key to fighting terrorism drew tough scrutiny at an EU court hearing on Tuesday because of privacy concerns. The dispute over the retention and sharing of passenger name records (PNR) has become a shibboleth in Brussels for the debate over balancing people's privacy with the need to protect against terrorism. The agreement with Canada foresees the retention and sharing with Canadian authorities of airline passenger data by carriers operating flights between the EU and Canada. The Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) heard arguments for and against the agreement at a six-hour proceeding. "We ... know that these crimes do not respect borders," said D. Fennelly, a lawyer for Ireland. "The European Union cannot and should not act in splendid isolation." Islamist militant attacks in Paris last year and last month's attacks in Brussels have stoked calls for law enforcement agencies to have easier access to people's data. Ireland, France, Britain, Spain and Estonia, who intervened in the case, emphasized that PNR do not allow investigators to paint a detailed picture of someone's private life. But the European Parliament and privacy advocates cast doubt on that assertion. PNR includes name, travel dates, itinerary, ticket and contact details, travel agent and other details. "Practically all of the PNR data transferred by air carriers is systematically analysed in order to make assumptions about who is or who is not a dangerous traveller," said Anna Buchta, agent for the European Data Protection Supervisor. The governments' lawyers said it was impossible for investigators to know beforehand which PNR data could prove useful. "If an agreement such as the envisaged agreement, which respects fundamental rights, is unable to be concluded, it will have a major impact on the conclusion of other agreements with other countries, including the European PNR," said Dominique Maidani, a lawyer for the European Commission, referring to a stalled proposal to share passenger data among EU security services. But the lead judge on the case, Thomas von Danwitz, seemed unconvinced about the privacy safeguards in the agreement. "No one tells me that these data are transferred to Canada and no one tells me why they are transferred to Canada," von Danwitz said. U.N. experts report cluster bombs, gold smuggling in Darfur By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS, April 5 (Reuters) - United Nations sanctions monitors confirmed in their latest report the recent presence of cluster munitions in Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region in violation of a U.N. arms embargo while rebel groups earned cash from illicit gold mining. The U.N. Security Council's Panel of Experts on Darfur said it had evidence Sudan's air force recently had RBK-500 cluster bombs at the weapon loading area at the Nyala Forward Operation Base. "Although Sudan is not a signatory to the Cluster Munition Convention, it has previously denied either possessing or using cluster munitions," the panel said in its report, seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Cluster munitions explode in the air and scatter smaller "bomblets" over a huge area that detonate when stepped on or picked up. The panel's sighting of cluster munitions supports the findings of the U.N. Mine Action Service that the Sudanese Air Force has used RBK-500 cluster bombs. The panel also raised concerns about gold smuggling. Moscow, which has good relations with the Khartoum government, was unhappy with the panel's reporting. Russian Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev said Russia was opposed to publishing the report because "the experts are not behaving like they are required to." The U.N. Security Council sanctions committee has to agree by consensus to release the report. The experts said some 48,000 kg (105,822 pounds) of gold was potentially smuggled to United Arab Emirates from Darfur between 2010 and 2014 and "such an export level equates to an additional income of $123 million to the armed groups of Darfur over this period." The experts visited the Jebel Amir artisanal gold mines in June 2015 and said they were certain that the Abbala militia control at least 400 mines. They said the group earns some $54 million annually from levies on prospectors and support businesses, direct prospecting and the illegal exporting of mined gold. The panel said South Sudan violated the sanctions regime by failing to stop training of the Darfur rebel group known as the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) on South Sudanese territory, and by failing to prevent it from transferring weapons into Darfur. The experts said the Juba government clearly knew about JEM's presence and therefore violated the sanctions. Dutch referendum on Ukraine treaty will test anti-EU sentiment By Toby Sterling AMSTERDAM, April 6 (Reuters) - A Dutch national referendum on Wednesday on economic and political ties with Ukraine is turning into a test of anti-EU sentiment before June's Brexit vote. Dutch politicians say rejecting a treaty intended to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union would hand a symbolic victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine are widely accused of bringing down an airliner in 2014 with the loss of almost 200 Dutch lives. Even so, many would-be "yes" voters, plus those frustrated with the Dutch government, are considering staying away from the vote, launched by eurosceptics. The "no" vote is ahead in polls, but turnout estimates hover around just 30 percent, the minimum needed for a valid result, on an issue with little national significance. In addition, few believe that the Ukraine treaty, which has already provisionally gone into effect with the approval of the 27 other EU member states, can be derailed. "I find it idiotic that we have to have a referendum about it," said Ottelien, a Dutch woman on a busy shopping street in Amsterdam who did not give her surname. "I have the feeling that the people who wanted this referendum have a completely different agenda than Ukraine," she told Reuters TV. If the referendum result is not valid, or the "yes" vote wins, the process is likely to be written off as a waste of time and money. However, if voters return a valid "no" vote, less than three months before a British referendum on whether to quit the EU, it could escalate into a domestic or even a European political crisis. Europe's refugee debate has cost Prime Minister Mark Rutte's already unpopular government further ground and ignoring a "no" vote would be risky with national elections scheduled no later than March 2017. "It's an advisory referendum, so the only thing the law requires is that we reconsider it," Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday. In parliament, Rutte's conservative VVD party has said it would ignore a "no" vote, while junior coalition partner Labour has said it would honour it, setting the stage for a split. In theory, the Cabinet could use an overwhelming "no" vote to ask the EU to reopen negotiations with Ukraine to alter the treaty, though a collapse of Rutte's coalition seems more likely. Japan court rejects appeal on Kyushu Electric reactors, keeping them in operation-NGO TOKYO, April 6 (Reuters) - A Japanese court on Wednesday rejected an appeal that would have led to the shutdown of reactors operated by Kyushu Electric Power, the country's only operating units, a non-governmental group opposed to atomic power told Reuters. The verdict on Kyushu Electric's Sendai station represents a victory for an industry struggling to restore atomic power five years after the Fukushima crisis. It was read out at the Miyazaki court in southwestern Japan a little after 0130 GMT, Aileen Mioko Smith, director of Green Action, told Reuters by phone. Fiji braces for second cyclone, thousands shelter in evacuation centres SYDNEY, April 6 (Reuters) - Cyclone Zena, a category three tropical storm with winds in excess of 120 kph (75 mph), is set to hit Fiji within 24 hours as the South Pacific island nation struggles to recover from a devastating cyclone in February. Category five Cyclone Winston, one of the most powerful storms recorded in the southern hemisphere, killed 42 people and flattened settlements in February. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said it could take years for Fiji to recover. With widespread damage to homes across Fiji, many people have returned to shelters used when Cyclone Winston hit. Nearly 80 evacuation centres have been opened with 3,592 people taking shelter there, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We have pretty significant concerns of public health outbreaks," Alice Clements, Fiji representative at the U.N. Children's Agency, UNICEF, told Reuters. Romania - Factors to watch on April 6 BUCHAREST, April 6 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Wednesday. GOVERNMENT The government holds weekly meting. It may discuss plans to amend public sector wage legislation. WAGE DATA Romania's statistics board is expected to release average wage data for February. CEE MARKETS Central European currencies joined a retreat of regional equities on Tuesday as investors sold risky assets across global markets on concerns the U.S. Federal Reserve may lift rates sooner and faster than expected. For the long-term Romanian diary, click on For emerging markets economic events, click on For an index of all diaries, click on Egypt's debts to foreign oil companies up to $3.2 bln - petro ministry official CAIRO, April 6 (Reuters) - Egypt's outstanding arrears to foreign oil companies rose to $3.2 billion at the end of March from $3 billion at the end of December, an official at the ministry of petroleum told Reuters on Wednesday. PRESS DIGEST - Bulgaria - April 6 SOFIA, April 6 (Reuters) - These are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy. -- Bulgaria's Revenue Agency has asked the international media consortium that revealed the 11.5 million documents from the files of Panamanian law firm, to hand it the names of Bulgarians that were mentioned as shareholders or managers of offshore registered companies. (Capital Daily, Standart) - Europe loses over 1 trillion euros in taxes a year due to companies registered in off-shore zones, Social Minister Ivailo Kalfin said. He said that any Bulgarian politician that has an offshore account should quit politics. (Capital Daily, 24 Chasa, Trud, Monitor, Standart) -- Over 1,500 children refugees without parents are crossing Bulgarian every three months, Social Minister Ivailo Kalfin told an international forum for protection of the rights of the children. (24 Chasa, Standart) Taiwan president-elect's brother named in Panama Papers, but did no wrong -lawyer TAIPEI, April 6 (Reuters) - An older brother of Taiwan President-Elect Tsai Ing-wen was named in the so-called Panama Papers as setting up an offshore company in 2008, his lawyer said on Wednesday, stressing that he had done nothing illegal. But the news prompted criticism from Tsai's political opponents who called for a full explanation. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialises in setting up offshore companies have shone a light on the finances of politicians and public figures around the world, causing public outrage over how the powerful are able to hide money and avoid tax. Taiwan President-Elect Tsai Ing-wen's brother, Tsai Ying-yang, set up the offshore firm, Koppie Limited, in 2008 at the recommendation of a foreign private banking adviser on personal investments, his lawyer, Lien Yuan-lung, told Reuters, declining to elaborate. "He lost 30 percent of the investment in the first year, so he closed the contract with the bank immediately...," Lien said by phone. "He was not involved in money laundering, hiding the Tsai family's wealth overseas, evading tax or anything illegal." The president-elect's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) declined to comment. But the opposition Nationalist Party called for an explanation. "According to practice and research from the past, there are three purposes to set up companies in Panama: to evade tax, to invest overseas, especially in China, and to avoid supervision (by the Taiwan government)," lawmaker William Tseng told a news briefing. "Which of these was it? Tsai Ing-wen and her relatives should fully explain." Panama is one of just 22 allies, including the Vatican, which maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, with most countries in the world recognising "one China", led by Beijing. China claims Taiwan as a wayward province and says it has no right to have diplomatic relations with anyone. Iceland government seeks new leader to avoid early vote after Panama leaks By Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir REYKJAVIK, April 6 (Reuters) - Iceland's government sought to avoid early elections on Wednesday by picking a replacement for the prime minister who stepped aside over links to an offshore company, as the "Panama Papers" leaks cast the tiny country into a political maelstrom. Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson exited on Tuesday after leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm showed his wife owned millions of dollars worth of previously undisclosed shares in a company that held debt from failed Icelandic banks. Picking a new prime minister could allow the ruling coalition to remain in power, but the opposition is trying to force a new election with a vote of no confidence in the government, which could lead to a radical political shift. Polls show the anti-establishment Pirate Party in the lead if a new election is called in the country of 330,000 people, a result with potentially wider impact across Europe where mainstream political parties are fending off populists from both the left and right. The Panama documents revealed that Gunnlaugsson's wife owned a previously undisclosed firm with claims on the island's collapsed banks. His opponents say that represents a conflict of interest because the government is playing a central role in negotiating the value of such claims. More than 10,000 people showed up earlier in the week to demand Gunnlaugsson's resignation, although protests dwindled late on Tuesday. Iceland has struggled to recover from the 2008 collapse of its highly indebted banks, which led to popular protests, the fall of a government and the jailing of many bankers. The ruling Progressive Party's deputy leader, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, said on Tuesday his party had proposed to its junior coalition partner, the Independence Party, that he become the new prime minister. That requires a formal decision by the government, which was expected to meet later on Wednesday. However, there were signs that a transition would not be smooth. A statement emailed on Tuesday night by government spokesman Sigurdur Jonsson said Gunnlaugsson had suggested that Johannsson take over as prime minister "for an unspecified amount of time". "The prime minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as chairman of the Progressive Party," it said. ELECTION DEMANDS Opposition politicians are standing their ground, calling for a vote of no-confidence. While the government has a parliamentary majority, it is not clear whether all its members would now support it. "It is clear our demand for new elections still stands," Left Green Party leader Katrin Jakobsdottir told Reuters late on Tuesday. A poll conducted by Icelandic media outlet Visir on Monday and Tuesday showed 43 percent would vote for the Pirate Party if elections were held now, giving the anti-establishment group a stunning victory. Some 69 percent of those who answered want finance minister Bjarni Benediktsson to resign. The Pirate Party, which campaigns in favour of transparency, direct democracy and reform of copyright laws, has had a small following in several European countries for a number of years but has never come close to political power before. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialises in setting up offshore companies were unveiled this week by new organisations around the world. Stories from the documents have shone a light on the finances of politicians and public figures from around the world, causing public outrage over how the powerful are able to hide money and avoid tax. An Iceland government spokesman has said the claims against Iceland's collapsed banks held by the firm owned by the prime minister's wife, in which he also temporarily held a stake, totalled more than 500 million Icelandic crowns ($4.1 million). Iran to send team to Gulf rival Saudi Arabia to discuss haj pilgrimage DUBAI, April 6 (Reuters) - Iran plans to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia to discuss new arrangements for the haj pilgrimage to Mecca, Iran's Tasnim news agency said on Wednesday, the first official visit by either side since ties were severed in January. The pilgrimage was marred last September by a deadly crush that killed hundreds of people, many of them Iranians, which drove up tensions between the two powers. It comes this year with Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran still locked in a row that has fuelled sectarian tensions in the Middle East. The head of Iran's haj organisation, Saeed Ohadi, said Saudi authorities had invited Tehran to send a delegation to Riyadh on April 14 to discuss preparations for haj, which is expected to fall again in September this year. Ohadi told state news agency IRNA that the Iranian delegation members were still waiting for their visas and were expecting to meet the Saudi haj minister. "The fate of this year's haj will be decided in this meeting," Ohadi said, according Tasnim news agency. Saudi officials could not immediately be reached for a comment. Saudi Arabia has faced heavy criticism for its handling of the crush last year, in which up to 2,070 people were believed to have been killed according to a Reuters tally, making it one of the deadliest haj disasters in recent memory. Saudi officials have stood by their official counts of 769 dead and 934 injured, figures that have not been updated since two days after the crush. Saudi King Salman ordered an investigation into the causes of the crush, which occurred as two groups of pilgrims converged at a crossroads in a tent city outside Mecca. But more than six months after the disaster, no findings have been published. Iranian officials have accused Riyadh of mishandling the response and complained of delays in repatriating the bodies of the 461 Iranian nationals who died in Mecca. The disaster exacerbated tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, as many of the pilgrims killed were Iranian. Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after demonstrators angry at the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric attacked Saudi diplomatic missions. Saudi Arabia has also led Gulf Arab states to declare the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group, an ally of Iran, a terrorist organisation. Hague prosecutor to appeal acquittal of Serbia's Seselj By Ivana Sekularac BELGRADE, April 6 (Reuters) - Prosecutors at the Yugoslavia crimes tribunal in The Hague said on Wednesday they would appeal last week's acquittal of nationalist politician Vojislav Seselj, whose Serbian Radical party is likely to return to parliament later this month. Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor, said judges had ignored a large body of evidence when they freed Seselj, who was accused of stoking murderous ethnic hatred with fiery rhetoric against Bosnian Muslims and Croats in the early 1990s. Brammertz said judges' misinterpretation of the evidence had led them to entertain the possibilty that "expelling civilians was a humanitarian gesture" and "incendiary hate speech was simply morale boosting for the Serb forces". Seselj said he was unworried at the appeal. "They have no legal grounds," he told Reuters by telephone as he headed to an election rally in the eastern town of Bor. "This will in no way affect my election campign. I am the best jurist in the world." Pollsters say his party is likely to exceed the five percent vote threshold needed to return to parliament after four years, meaning that Seselj himself is likely to be elected. They say support for his Radical Party has firmed since his acquittal. News of the decision to appeal by prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia may only boost Seselj's popularity among his hardline supporters, who cheered his acquittal on March 31. Angola to open loan talks with IMF as oil price bites LUANDA, April 6 (Reuters) - Angola will begin loan negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on a three-year loan facility next week as lower oil prices hammer the finances of Africa's second-largest crude exporter, the Finance Ministry and the IMF said on Wednesday. Angola's economy has grown rapidly since a 27-year civil war ended in 2002, peaking at 12 percent three years ago, but a sharp drop in oil prices has sapped dollar inflows, dented the kwanza and prompted heavy government borrowing. Oil output represents 40 percent of gross domestic product and more than 95 percent of foreign exchange revenue. Brent crude traded below $39 a barrel on Wednesday, down more than 30 percent compared with a year ago. "The government of Angola is aware that the high dependence of the oil sector represents vulnerability for the public finances and the economy in an extensive way," the Finance Ministry said in a statement. "The government requested the support of the IMF for a supplementary programme ... taking account of the decline in the price of petroleum." Finance Minister Armando Manuel told Reuters in March Angola had no plans to approach the IMF for loans. In Washington, IMF Deputy Managing Director Min Zhu said discussions would start with Angolan authorities next week during the Fund's spring meetings on a three-year Extended Fund Facility. The talks will move to Angola shortly thereafter. In a statement, Zhu said low oil prices have challenged oil exporting countries, especially those that have not yet diversified their economies. "The IMF stands ready to help Angola address the economic challenges it is currently facing by supporting a comprehensive policy package to accelerate the diversification of the economy, while safeguarding macroeconomic and financial stability," Zhu said. The IMF's Extended Fund Facility program is designed for countries with balance of payments issues and slow growth or structural impediments. Under normal access, it allows a member country to borrow up to 145 percent of its quota share in the Fund annually. For Angola, that could mean about $1.5 billion a year, based on its share and current exchange rates, with a cumulative total capped at just over $4.5 billion, net of repayments. Syrian army and allies launch attack south of Aleppo By Tom Perry BEIRUT, April 6 (Reuters) - The Syrian army and its allies launched a major attack on insurgents south of Aleppo, described as the fiercest government assault in the area since an agreement to ease the fighting came into effect in February. Fighting south of Aleppo in recent days has put further strain on the already widely violated ceasefire deal brokered by the United States and Russia with the aim of launching a diplomatic process towards ending the five-year-long war. The indirect talks organised by the United Nations are struggling with no sign of compromise over the main issue dividing the sides: the future of President Bashar al-Assad. A second round of talks is due to begin on Monday in Geneva. Rebels described intense air strikes in the southern Aleppo area where the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front shot down a Syrian warplane on Tuesday and captured its pilot. Nusra Front, which along with Islamic State is not part of the ceasefire, last week attacked and captured a town in the area, killing dozens of Syrian soldiers and their allies, among them 11 members of the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah. A statement from the Syrian army and its allies said they were targeting armed groups in areas south of Aleppo, supported by "heavy and concentrated air strikes", the website of the Hezbollah-controlled al-Manar reported. The statement said the attack was a response to insurgent violations of the cessation of hostilities agreement. "This fire will continue until all the militants surrender", it said. Each side accuses the other of seeking to wreck the cessation of hostilities agreement that has slowed the war across many of the major frontlines of western Syria but not stopped it entirely. Though Nusra is not part of the deal, its fighters are deployed near rebel groups that are. Syria's crisis erupted five years ago with protests against Assad which were put down with force. It descended into a civil war which has killed more than 250,000, drawn in global military powers and helped Islamic State establish its self-declared caliphate. Nearly five million refugees have been driven abroad. Russia's six-month-old intervention in Syria has helped to swing military momentum in Assad's favour, reversing last summer's gains by insurgents including Western-backed rebels and helping government forces to drive Islamic State out of the ancient city of Palmyra. The recapture of Palmyra and its military airport, in the central Syrian desert, opened up the road further east to the Islamic State bastions of Deir al-Zor province and Raqqa. Any offensive on Deir al-Zor or Raqqa, however, would probably need significantly more firepower than the Palmyra assault. INSURGENTS FIGHT BACK A rebel said the government attack south of Aleppo was the heaviest in that area since the truce agreement came into effect. Hany al-Khaled of the Sham Revolutionary Brigades group, an affiliate of the Levant Front, said his group had taken part in repelling the attack, and Shi'ite militias fighting with the government had suffered heavy losses. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based organisation that tracks the war, said air strikes, artillery and rockets were being used in an attack aimed at recovering Telat al-Eis, the town seized in the Nusra Front-led assault. The statement reported by al-Manar accused insurgents of breaching the truce "in execution of foreign orders". Opposition official Asaad al-Zoubi, meanwhile, told Reuters the truce was "in danger of ending" due to government violations. "There are still hiccups in the ceasefire that are happening from day to day," the U.S. Pentagon said in a press briefing on Wednesday. In addition to the 11 Hezbollah fighters killed, 43 Syrian soldiers died in last week's Nusra attack, sources familiar with the details said. Hezbollah's support has been crucial to Assad in the conflict, together with backing from Shi'ite militias mobilised from Iran and Iraq and Russian air power. Russia last month withdrew some of its warplanes from Syria, where it has been bombing in support of Assad since Sept. 30. Indicating an expansion of Iranian support, an Iranian military official said on Monday that Tehran has sent commandos from the regular Iranian army to Syria as advisers. So far, Iran's military support to Damascus has mostly been supplied by its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. ESCALATION OF MILITARY OPS "Overall there is an escalation of military operations across Syria," said Rami Abdulrahman, Observatory director. With help from Hezbollah and the Russian air force, the Syrian military has turned some of its firepower towards the Islamic State group since the cessation agreement took hold. In an apparent response to setbacks including the loss of Palmyra to government forces last month, Islamic State launched attacks on government-held areas some 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Damascus overnight. The jihadist group said in a statement it had attacked the Tishrin power station 50 km (30 miles) northeast of the capital and a Syrian military source acknowledged the group had staged assaults, but said all those who took part had been killed. In the same area, Islamic State attackers, using five bomb-laden cars, also struck military positions near the Dumeir military airport 40 km (25 miles) northeast of Damascus, killing 12 soldiers, the Observatory said. Islamic State claimed the bombings in an online statement, saying it carried out a suicide attack on government forces. Syrian government forces have, meanwhile, advanced to within 20 km of the Islamic State-held town of Sukhna to the northeast of Palmyra, the Observatory said, edging closer to the eastern province of Deir al-Zor nearly entirely controlled by the group. Rebel factions backed by Turkey have also gained ground against the group near the Turkish border - an area where the Syrian army is also trying to make gains, and the U.S.-allied Syria Democratic Forces alliance is also planning an attack. As news of the Panama Papers scandal continues to break, Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg has been making the media rounds to help people understand what appears to have happened and why. Sam made two appearances on radio yesterday, first on Relevant Radios The Drew Mariani Show, speaking with guest host Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com; later in the afternoon he spoke with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radios Kresta in the Afternoon. The audio of both interviews is posted below. Ireland's Kenny loses vote for prime minister for second time DUBLIN, April 6 (Reuters) - Acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny again lost a vote in parliament to be re-elected premier on Wednesday, dragging out a political deadlock following inconclusive elections in February. Needing 79 votes for election, Kenny was backed by 51 lawmakers, meaning he won the support of just one outside his Fine Gael party as the 15 independent members of parliament with whom he wants to form a minority government either abstained or voted against him. Ireland's Kenny proposes coalition with 2nd largest party By Padraic Halpin DUBLIN, April 6 (Reuters) - Acting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has proposed entering an unprecedented coalition government with the country's second-largest party and historic rival Fianna Fail, his Fine Gael party said on Wednesday. Kenny made the proposal during his first meeting with Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin since inconclusive February elections after both failed for the second time to be elected prime minister. The two centre-right parties have few policy differences but have been bitter rivals for decades and senior members of both parties, particularly in Fianna Fail, had ruled out a formal coalition with their fierce rival before the meeting. "Taoiseach (prime minister) has formally offered Micheal Martin a full partnership govt with Independent TDs (lawmakers) - a historic change and good for Ireland," Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, one of Fine Gael's negotiators, said on Twitter. Fine Gael said in a statement that such a government would have the "potential to provide a stable and lasting government" and that the two party leaders had agreed to meet again on Thursday for further discussions. A Fianna Fail spokesman said Kenny told Martin a minority government led by either party reliant on the other for support from opposition would not work. Martin will discuss the offer and other options with his party before meeting Kenny again. The offer was a good first move on Kenny's behalf, according to Eoin O'Malley, politics lecturer at Dublin City University, as he knows Martin cannot really accept it but it allows the Fine Gael leader to appear magnanimous and constructive. One Fianna Fail lawmaker, Lisa Chambers, told national broadcaster RTE that she would not be prepared to go back on the party's election promise not to enter a coalition with Fine Gael. The rivalry between the parties dates back almost a century to Ireland's civil war and senior members admit they deeply mistrust each other. Since the election the parties had separately been vying to win the support of 15 independent members of parliament to form a minority government before asking the other to back it from the opposition benches on a vote-by-vote basis. Martin, who would have to win approval of reluctant grassroots members of the party to enter coalition with its rival, has not ruled out backing a minority Fine Gael government. However, analysts have said a minority administration would be weak and short-lived, potentially paralysing policy needed to tackle bottlenecks in housing and infrastructure that threaten to choke a sharp economic recovery. Ireland's central bank has said the impasse has so far had little effect on Europe's fastest growing economy but warned it could have an adverse impact. Data on Wednesday showed consumer sentiment posted its sharpest fall in 17 months in March. South Africa says nuclear project delayed, not stalled By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo JOHANNESBURG, April 6 (Reuters) - South Africa's energy department said on Wednesday the process to procure six new nuclear power plants to help overcome chronic electricity shortages had been delayed for more consultations but had not stalled. Africa's most industrialised economy was expected to finalise some requirements for its nuclear expansion by April, with Russia and China the front-runners to build the new power stations, Reuters reported in February. "There is a consultation process with key stakeholders that the department of energy has undertaken before issuing the request for proposals (RFP)," the department said. "This consultation process has not yet been concluded and the RFP will be issued as soon as this process is concluded. The process is continuing and should not be rushed," it said in a statement. Pretoria has earmarked billions of rand for increases in power generation but the price tag of up to 1 trillion rand ($66 billion) for 9.6 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2030 has raised concerns over whether the plan is affordable. The opposition Democratic Alliance said earlier that Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson informed a parliamentary committee that an April 1 deadline in the procurement process had not been met, and that no new date had been set. The Democratic Alliance said that meant "the procurement process is now in limbo". The energy ministry rejected the opposition party claim. "The status quo remains. South Africa still has a nuclear procurement process," energy ministry spokesman Thabo Mothibi told Reuters, adding that the process would be subject to the "strictest scrutiny possible". Fears the nuclear project could be the most expensive procurement in South Africa's history, and that decisions could be made behind closed doors without the necessary public scrutiny, have been raised by the opposition. The government has said the procurement process would be conducted in a transparent manner. South Africa's cash-strapped power utility Eskom, which relies heavily on coal for electricity generation, is scrambling to keep the lights on and raise the capital needed to build new coal-fired units and maintain its existing fleet of plants. Honda says new Takata air bag death reported in Texas By David Shepardson and Bernie Woodall WASHINGTON/DETROIT April 6 (Reuters) - A 17-year-old driver of a recalled 2002 Honda Civic was killed last month after a Takata Corp air bag ruptured during a rear-end crash, Honda Motor Co and U.S. regulators said on Wednesday, the 10th U.S. death linked to a defect that has prompted recalls of tens of millions of vehicles worldwide. The latest death took place on March 31 in Fort Bend County, Texas. Honda said the owner had been mailed multiple recall notices about the five-year-old recall effort, but repairs were never made. The victim, a high school senior from Richmond, Texas, ran into the back of a Honda CR-V that was waiting for traffic to clear to make a left turn, said Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Danny Beckwith. The driver was not excessively speeding and was wearing her seat belt, he said, saying the crash resulted in moderate damage to her car. "Everybody should have walked away from this," Beckwith said in an interview. He said shrapnel punctured the air bag and sliced the young woman's neck and carotid artery. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Honda spokesman Jeffrey Smith said the automaker has more than doubled the size of its customer relations team working on this issue. "This is a very motivated, dedicated and engaged group, working seven days a week to help customers get their vehicles repaired," Smith said. He said Honda has sent more than 9.9 million mailers, 11.9 million postcards, 4.5 million emails, 12.8 million direct and automated phone calls and used targeted advertising, social media and other efforts. Overall, 10 people have died in the United States in accidents linked to exploding Takata air bags. Nine of those U.S. deaths have occurred in Honda vehicles, Honda said. Ford Motor Co has reported a death from a Takata air bag rupture in one of its vehicles in the United States. A pregnant woman was killed in Malaysia in July 2014 after the rupture of a Takata air bag in a 2003 Honda City. Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said in a statement the latest death "shows that the current recall efforts are just not getting the job done. Takata and the automakers have to step up their efforts to locate, notify and fix every impacted car as soon as possible - before anyone else dies." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement it "has demanded that manufacturers work to a 100 percent completion rate, and take all efforts necessary to reach that goal." The agency said it "is renewing its call to all auto manufacturers involved in the Takata air bag recall to intensify and expand their outreach to affected vehicle owners." To date, 14 automakers have recalled about 24 million vehicles involving about 28 million Takata air bag inflators, , which can explode with excessive force and spray metal shrapnel into vehicle passenger compartments. They have been linked to more than 100 U.S. injuries. In late December, NHTSA named John Buretta, a former official in the Justice Department's criminal division, to serve as independent monitor overseeing the Takata recalls. Last month, NHTSA said automakers have replaced more than 7.5 million defective Takata inflators, or about a third of those recalled through December. Honda has replaced about 5.4 million inflators, or 54 percent of vehicles it had recalled through December, the highest completion rate of any automaker. Honda said it has enough replacement inflators to complete repairs under the open recall of the 2002 Civic, "and we continue to encourage all owners of affected vehicles to seek repair immediately." IMF, Somalia agree to 12-month reform monitoring program WASHINGTON, April 6 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to deepen its engagement with Somalia through a 12-month program to assist and monitor its reforms of government operations and fiscal management. In our discussions about reviving a healthy and holistic theology of work and vocation, it can be easy to get stuck in the realm of the theoretical. But what does it actually look like in practice, whether as an individual or enterprise? In an event co-sponsored by the Acton Institute and hosted at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, several North Carolina businessmen share their insights and advice on a range of topics, including company culture, employee discipleship, and the churchs role in ministering to businesspeople. Moderated by Preston Parrish of Corporate Chaplains of America, the panel includes Cliff Benson, Bill Boddie, Don Dancer and Sidney Hinton. Shoes are important to our everyday life. In America, you can't go anywhere without them, and the majority of people have them, often even taking them for granted. For students at one school in Honduras, however, shoes often don't exist or are shared. To help, City Hope Church, whose main location is in Spanish Fort, is hosting a first annual race in Alabama to help provide these students with new shoes of their own. The Race for Hope 5K and fun run event is set for Saturday morning, April 16 in front of the Daphne City Hall, 1705 Main St. in Daphne. Registration is available online now for the 5K or Fun Run event on Eventbrite at Race for Hope 5K and Fun Run. Registration is $20 before the event and $25 day of race. Race-day registration and check-in/packet pickup are available from 6:30-7:30 a.m. The 5k start time is 8 a.m., with the Fun Run beginning at 9:30 a.m. Proceeds from the organized run will help provide the nearly 800 students at New Destiny Christian School in Honduras with shoes - one pair for every student. According to school founder, Wyly Gammon, the students in the school come from extreme poverty or even dangerous areas. Many come to school with no shoes, shoes that are taped together or are sharing their shoes with other family members. Race for Hope participants will be each receive an individual student's story, along with a token representing a student at the school so they can see exactly who they are supporting with the race. Gammon said the focus of the race is shoes because they are a great protection from parasites or other things the students might walk in, but it also helps the children with personal hygiene and can give them a "personal satisfaction of having shoes and being in shoes," which many of them have never had. The close to 800 shoes they're hoping to pay for with the race will be a leather shoe that Gammon will purchase in Honduras, which also will contribute to the country's economy. Jerry Taylor, pastor of City Hope Church, said that his congregation has been involved with Gammon and his work for eight years and that hosting this run is a way to reach a large number of children in need at one location at one time. "It just makes it simple for people here to do something tangible," he said, adding that it's a great way for families who can't necessarily travel on a mission to get involved and give back as a family unit. "I want children here to be engaged with helping children in a third world country and to me it's a real tangible way to do this. It's a way to learn to give with no strings attached." City Hope also has a campus in Honduras that works with the school and serve the children in a variety of ways. This family friendly race will include a 5K run and a fun run. For more information on the Race for Hope 5K and Fun Run and to register, visit cityhope.cc. City Hope Church began in 1998 in a small warehouse with the name Bay Community Church. The church's mission is focused on showing the love of Jesus to the community and this drives what they do each day. Now, the church has campuses in Malbis, Mobile, Foley, Bay Minette, and even Honduras and has changed its name to City Hope Church to fully reflect their global mission. Learn more at cityhope.cc. New Destiny Christian School was founded by Wyly and Candace Gammon in 2012 after they had served in the mission field since 1998 in the country of Columbia and moved to Honduras. Their focus has always been on the children of these countries and sending them to school, but it was a struggle because the government doesn't pay the teachers there so many of the students weren't learning anything. The Gammons decided to pursue the idea of starting a school and immediately received funding from a group in Germany affording them the opportunity to use the school building of an already established, private, Christian school in the afternoon. The school also offered to provide equipment, teachers and even an administrator of New Destiny Christian School for the Gammons. In the first year, 245 students attended with 360 the next year. They opened a second school in 2014 and now have approximately 720 students between the two schools. They are hoping to push this to 880 students next year, according to Wyly. New Destiny has kindergarten through ninth grade currently in one school and up to seventh in the other, working to add a new grade level each year. The school provides the student with two shirts to attend school, but they can wear whatever pants and shoes they want. Many students own no shoes or ones in disrepair. According to Wyly, most importantly, New Destiny Christian School provides the students in Honduras with something that many have never had: hopes and dreams. "They live in generational and systemic poverty so they have never had dreams or the possibility of dreaming something," he said. Now, many of them see the possibility of attending university and becoming professionals, such as teachers, architects, or engineers. The cycle is beginning to change for many students and the stories Gammon shares are truly humbling. A student has thanked him for changing his life, and a sixth-grade girl named Brigitte wrote: "I know that my destiny is strong for this opportunity to have an education of quality. God is with me and everything that I ask I receive. I want to be an excellent professional and give to my family a different life." More stories like this can be found by visiting streetreachintl.com. FACT SHEET 61 percent of the Honduran population is below the age of 25. 86 percent of Hondurans complete the sixth grade, but fewer than 45 percent complete the ninth grade; fewer than 25 percent complete high school, and only 6 percent continue to complete a university education. Honduras has the lowest secondary school enrollment rate in Latin America. 42 percent of heads of families subsist on $2 a day. More than 40 percent of the total population and more than 80% of the rural areas are illiterate. The recent ban on the sale of beef by the BJP-ruled states and the demand of several right-wing groups for its extension across India has sounded an alarm for cattle-owners, traders and lakhs of consumers, with attacks on individuals, labelled as "beef eaters", adding to the hysteria. Dealers and consumers from across the country have serious concerns over the ban on the slaughter of certain categories of cattle that were earlier permitted - the aged and infirm, calves, and male cattle. "Banning slaughter of beef directly affects our livelihood. How do they (the supporters of beef ban) expect us to pay for the upkeep of such a large cattle when we cannot sell meat?," said Rakib Hussain, a meat seller in South Delhi. Beef exports from India, which is generally confused with cow meat is actually carabeef, the Indian breed of "water buffalo". Beef, Basmati rice, wheat and several varieties of rice share the lead of items exported from India annually. The impact of the call for the ban can be gauged by the ongoing turbulence in international markets, where the cost competitiveness of Indian beef in relation to Brazil and other top exporters has abraded. According to a study conducted by the US Department of Agriculture in 2014, India precedes Brazil and Australia in the export of beef. The fact is, India is set to lose its status of the largest exporter - the position it dislodged Brazil from, only last year. Exports of India's animal products in the year 2014-15 was Rs 33,128.30 crore, out of which Rs 29,282.60 crore was beef. "Beef exports generate revenue of over Rs 29,000 crore and banning it would be a big setback for the economy which no government no matter what their political affiliation could afford", said a senior official of Agricultural and Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). India records a large cattle population, which has increased from 111.09 million in 2007 to 118.59 million in 2012, that is, an increase of 6.75 per cent, as per 2012 Livestock Census. In such a scenario, cattle owners are left with three options - either abandon their cattle, sell them illegally or send them to cow protection centres (the gaushalas). India has roughly 80 million old and unproductive cattle, and there has been a record increase in the number of cattle deaths recently. Most farmers, who would earlier sell the old cattle to slaughterhouses, are now forced to abandon them. "Out of the many hundreds of cows we have, more than 400 of them were abandoned and have been brought from streets in the past six months only," said the owner of a "gaushala" in outer Delhi's Bawana. The owner wished not to be named fearing it might bring him unwanted trouble. The nation presently records a large cattle population, which has increased from 111.09 million in 2007 to 118.59 million in 2012, that is, an increase of 6.75 per cent, as per 2012 Livestock Census. In such a scenario, cattle owners are left with three options - either abandon their cattle, sell them illegally or send them to cow protection centres (the gaushalas). India has roughly 80 million old and unproductive cattle, and there has been a record increase in the number of cattle deaths recently. Most farmers, who would earlier sell the old cattle to slaughterhouses, are now forced to abandon them. "Out of the many hundreds of cows we have, more than 400 of them were abandoned and have been brought from streets in the past six months only," said the owner of a 'gaushala' in outer Delhi's Bawana. The owner wished not to be named fearing it might bring him unwanted trouble. Many cow-shelters in and around Delhi are taking care of aged and diseased cows, but a larger portion of abandoned cattle still remain unprotected. Even the shelter owners refuse to take in cows that are seriously ill and prefer that the owner looks after it, a fact confirmed by the owner of Shri Krishna Gaushala, which claims to "serve about 7,000 cows, largest in the NCR". The abandoned cattle may create a crisis of sorts, considering millions of hectares would be required to feed them. In villages, with standing crops these cattle end up straying into the fields, creating trouble for farmers. While hundreds of cattle die on streets for the want of proper care, a large section of the society - which fed on them due to unaffordable prices of vegetables and pulses - now has been deprived of their biggest source of protein. For them, the meat from cow-shelters sold clandestinely in shops is the only option for survival. "The cheapest source of protein we can afford is meat of dead-cattle that we get secretly from specific sellers somehow connected to cow-shelters," said a 28-year-old man. For them, the meat from cow shelters sold clandestinely in shops is the only option for survival. "The cheapest source of protein we can afford is meat of dead-cattle that we get secretly from specific sellers somehow connected to cow-shelters," said a 28-year-old man, resident of South Delhi's Okhla area. The vicious cycle further continues as those in the lower hierarchy of the chain sell off leather to undercover business mafia or illegal traders who in turn reap huge benefits from foreign buyers. LONDON - England - Anyone who crosses the Schengen line in the EU is given free access to everything within Europe. This is fundamentally wrong, because criminals, terrorists and anyone else who wishes to exploit the system is given free passage to do so. Selective migration is something that should be adhered to post Brexit Britain, where each individual case is reviewed before entry to the UK. Wouldnt it be better to involve people who are beneficial to the UK instead of hindering its progress and economy? The current Home Secretary, Theresa May seems to have things the wrong way around, when she is deporting skilled workers from the rest of the world with Tier 2 visas, yet still allowing anyone from the EU to settle in the UK regardless of their qualifications or criminal records. There is no logic in this action by the pro-EU members of the government and their debilitative stance on migration is an affront to good economic sense. With the NHS falling victim to endemic levels of health tourism leaving its coffers empty, and other public services reeling under the strain of mass unfettered EU migration to Britain, there should be a re-think into migratory policy when Britain leaves the EU. Post Brexit governments should therefore think clearly in defining the usefulness of incoming migrants, and tailor laws to be inclusive in a fair manner, yet discriminatory towards those who will be a burden towards the economy, justice or welfare system. The fate of Britains economy now rests on voting to leave the EU on June 23. Britain has always welcomed diversity, and innovation, and we must think globally with distinction of those who will be beneficial to the long term standing of the country, or to remain in an unordered chaotic bloc and be flooded further killing off the NHS, the schools, the welfare and essential services. GAUTIER, Mississippi -- Gautier city manager Samantha Abell entered Tuesday night's city council meeting hoping the council would approve her succession plan, which called for her to stay on for at least another 60 days while she trained her successor -- who she recommended be fire chief Robert Jones. When the meeting ended nearly four hours later, Abell was no longer city manager, human resources director Jason Pugh was appointed as "the person responsible for the city" for the next two days and the council had scheduled a Thursday meeting to discuss appointing city attorney Josh Danos as the interim city manager. During a roughly one-hour executive session, the council opted to forego Abell's succession plan and instead voted 4-2 to accept her resignation effective immediately, bringing to an abrupt end her more than four years as city manager and six years with the city overall. Mayor Gordon Gollott and councilman Johnny Jones were the lone votes against accepting Abell's resignation. Councilwoman Mary Martin had left the meeting early. Danos announced the decision made in executive session, after which Abell expressed disappointment the council had disregarded her succession plan. "I'm a member of the International City Manager's Association," she said. "A succession plan is among their recommended best practices for city manager. It is what a progressive city does. "I'm appreciative of the opportunity to work with you these past six years," Abell continued. "I'm very proud to have been a part of growing the city." Although she is immediately being replaced as city manager, Abell will technically be on paid leave for the next 30 days -- the council having agreed to pay her full salary for that period. She will also likely be paid for an additional 30 days of unused vacation time, Gollott said. After the meeting, Abell hesitated when asked by The Mississippi Press if the council had asked for her resignation. "I offered a succession plan under which I would stay on for 60 days," she said. "Instead, they are giving me 30 days of leave with pay. They have opted not to have me train and handoff to an interim. The person who replaces me will be starting from scratch. Abell said that she was leaving either way, but the board opted to accelerate the time frame. Outside of Gollott, who paid tribute to Abell's efforts during her tenure as city manager, none of the other councilmembers had any comments after Abell's resignation was announced. "I've been in management my entire life," Gollott said, "and I've got to say -- even though some may disagree -- she has done her utmost to promote this city and move it forward." In appointing Pugh as interim city manger for roughly two days, the council asked Danos to submit a proposal from his law firm as to what it would cost the city to have Danos fill that role for the immediate future. Whether the council appoints Danos to the position will be largely dependent on the cost. A precursor of what was to come may have occurred earlier in the meeting when the council voted to rescind a letter drafted by Abell requesting a renegotiation of its contract with Waste Pro. After councilman Casey Vaughan made the motion to rescind the letter, none of the other councilmembers had any comments or questions, but Gollott -- one of Abell's most ardent supporters -- seemed totally perplexed at Vaughan's request and at the lack of comments or questions from the remainder of the council. The council voted 5-1, with Gollott voting nay, to rescind Abell's letter to Waste Pro. The city will instead notify Waste Pro that they will revisit the contract issue at a later date -- presumably after a new permanent city manager is hired. 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. In the first year of a pioneering National Rabies Control Program in the Hisar Division of Haryana, India, Humane Society International sterilized, vaccinated, and provided medical treatment to more than 92,000 community dogs. Photo by HSI 502 shares In so many countries throughout the world lacking a humane infrastructure, millions of dogs wander the streets, lonely and often hungry. Many of these nations control strays by poisoning or even clubbing the animals. Humane Society International has been leading the fight to control street dog populations humanely and fight concerns about rabies with a comprehensive street dog program that is now active in 10 countries Bolivia, Bhutan, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guyana, India, Panama, and the Philippines and in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Rota, and Saipan. In India, our team reported remarkable success this week vaccinating and sterilizing or medically treating more than 92,000 dogs within the last year. This was a massive effort, requiring extraordinary teamwork, with our staff identifying facilities and infrastructure in remote areas, getting locals to agree to surgery for community dogs, and training local workers to assist in carrying out the work. On one particularly successful day, the team conducted 200 surgeries and vaccinated 1,000 dogs. Other milestones for HSIs street dog welfare program in recent years include: In Bhutan, HSI has sterilized and treated 64,252 animals since 2006. In the Philippines, HSI has helped spay/neuter 19,281 dogs and vaccinated 17,223 dogs since 2009. We have also helped train 132 veterinarians and 18 para vets in the country, and we have responded to disasters like the Haiyan typhoon in 2014. As part of our street dog program in Jamshedpur, India, we have spayed and neutered and vaccinated 15,653 dogs since 2014, with the help of our local partners, Animal Help Foundation and Jamsetji Tata Trust. In Puerto Rico, where HSUS and HSI launched the Humane Puerto Rico Initiative last year, HSI has been conducting spay/neuter and vaccination clinics throughout the island. More than 5,000 animals have been spayed/neutered since the beginning of the program. In Chile, HSI crossed 10,000 spay/neuter surgeries in 2015. In the second year of the two-year National Rabies Control Program in India, HSI will open new sterilization centers in India with plans to sterilize 50,000 more dogs and vaccinate another 180,000. We also have plans to expand to other countries where the need is great: our program in Nepal will launch on April 20th. Learn how you can help HSI help street dogs around the world by becoming a Street Dog Defender, a special community that helps provide services to humanely manage dog overpopulation and helps stop dog culls. Adams County Winery Adams County winemaker Max Klein: 'There is no end to what you can learn and no ceiling on improvement of this craft. It combines history, chemistry, geology, meteorology, biology, business, marketing, sales, leadership, and creativity to produce something that is both an art and a science combined into a truly unique product made just for people to enjoy with other people.' (Submitted) Adams County Winery's new winemaker tells the story of a new career that began while he was stationed in one of wine's original haunts. Max Klein started Monday at the winery west of Gettysburg, filling a spot that has been vacant since last summer. A Carlisle native, the route back here began in the Kuwaiti desert, where he was a sergeant in the Marine Corps. He tells the story of paging through a dusty old book found hidden between stacks of Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler novels in a makeshift USO book exchange tent. The book, The Signet Book of Wine (A. Bespalaff, 1971), sparked an interest that would develop into a passion and, today, a full-time career. Klein said he would read the book during any free moments he had during training in early March 2003, and also as he, along with the First Marine Division, mobilized north into Iraq to launch Operation Iraqi Freedom. He kept it with him though places like An Nasiriyah and Al Kut, over the Euphrates River and eventually into Baghdad. The descriptions of lush green vineyards and ancient cool cellars provided an inspiring and stark contrast to the surroundings of war in a desert and planted a seed of fascination with all things wine. READ MORE: Honorably discharged in late 2003, Klein moved back to Pennsylvania and began to study wine on his own and eventually make it at home. He went back to school on the GI Bill to the University of Pittsburgh, then earned his bachelor's degree and MBA (business strategy and management) online from Western Governors University. For the last eight years he has worked as an outside sales representative for a plastic and steel construction product manufacturer. But wine has remained on the periphery, as Klein took the Vesta Wine Quality Improvement and Sensory Analysis Training and also was accepted into the enology program at UC-Davis. Klein also has served as an intern at several wineries in Pennsylvania and Maryland. All that has led to a full-time gig, and he's thrilled about it. What satisfies him most about being a winemaker "is the tie with 8,000 years of history, that wine is being basically the same way as it has through the ages," he said. He loves seeing the smiles on people's faces when he shares great wine he has made and his knowledge and love of the product." Max married his wife, Kamm, in 2007 and a year later they became parents. They now have two children of elementary school age. READ MORE: When asked about what makes him passionate about winemaking, Klein pointed to the possibilities this career offers. "There is no end to what you can learn and no ceiling on improvement of this craft," he said. "It combines history, chemistry, geology, meteorology, biology, business, marketing, sales, leadership, and creativity to produce something that is both an art and a science combined into a truly unique product made just for people to enjoy with other people." Said a spokesperson for the winery: "We feel we have chosen one of the best [winemakers] in PA and certainly Max will be an asset to us in every way. He has the leadership, winemaking expertise and passion for the industry to continue to produce the award-winning, quality wines we are known for at Adams County Winery." The winery is one of the state's oldest, opening in 1975. The husband and wife team Katherine Bigler and John Kramb took over Adams County Winery in the summer of 1998. Since 2000, it has garnered more than 140 major national and international competition awards. One of its former winemakers, August Deimel, works at Keuka Springs Vineyards in the Finger Lakes. Klein replaced Michael Vorauer, who arrived at Adams County from Texas in the fall of 2012 before leaving there last summer and eventually hooking on with Berks County's Folino Estate, which opened its winery operation and restaurant along Route 78 near Kutztown in late November 2015. Thanks to Adams County Winery's Katie Martin for her contributions to this story. New York: Emerging economies like India, China and Brazil invested more in renewable technologies last year than the developed world, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Kerry said for the first time in history, despite the low price of coal, oil, and gas more of the world's money was spent fostering renewable energy technologies than was spent on new fossil fuel plants. "Over the past decade, the global renewable energy market has expanded more than six fold. Last year, investment in renewable energy was at an all-time high nearly USD 330 billion," Kerry said in his remarks at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit hereon April 5. "That's a revolution. And make no mistake: This is not only happening in industrialised countries. In fact, emerging economies like China, India and Brazil invested even more in renewable technologies last year than the developed world," he said, adding that China alone invested more than USD 100 billion. Kerry also underscored the economic opportunities presented for American companies by India's plans to get almost half of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030. India plans to get 40 per cent of its power capacity from non-fossil-based sources by 2030, he said, adding that this will require bringing 200 gigawatts of additional renewable power online. "Let me just add that American companies are already bidding on those projects and frankly, winning large and lucrative deals," Kerry said. China too has set a target that will require the country to add between 800 and 1,000 gigawatts of non-fossil energy, he said. Kerry said that the cost of investing in clean energy was now far cheaper than paying for the consequences of climate change later and this is leading nations around the world to set their own ambitious emissions-target reductions. "Countries are now working to turn those pledges into real, on-the-ground action and concrete projects, and foster new directions for economic growth in a low-carbon future. And as we work together to achieve our targets, those betting on renewable energy are going to win big," Kerry said. Noting that the pledges being made by countries in renewable technologies is not "conjecture", Kerry said it was written right into the targets that even the world's largest developing and fossil fuel-dependent economies have already announced. "We are seeing a global surge, and as a result, in many places, clean energy has already reached cost parity with fossil fuels. And more and more people are directly reaping the economic benefits of this boom," Kerry said. "7.7 million people around the world are currently employed by the renewable energy industry and more than a million of those jobs have been added since 2014," he added. A United Nations-backed report released last month had said that India and China led the developing nations in investments made in renewable energy last year. Kolkata: The Kolkata Police on Wednesday arrested Ranjit Bhattacharya, the associate vice-president of Hyderabad-based construction company IVRCL, in connection with the collapse of under construction flyover last week, killing 26 people and leaving 89 injured. Eight officers of the IVRCL have been arrested under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. Earlier, investigators had arrested Project Manager Tanmoy Sil and conducted a thorough search of IVRCL's Beadon Street office and seized several documents. The city offices of the company were sealed following the tragedy. The flyover, located in the congested marketplace of Burrabazar in North Kolkata, partially collapsed on March 31. The police slapped murder charges against the arrested IVRCL officials after the incident. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had assured all possible support to the victims. The state government had announced an ex-gratia compensation of Rs 5 lakhs to kin of the victims and Rs 2 lakhs to gravely injured people. The Pentagon Monday awarded a USD 17 million contract to Raytheon for supply of state of the art thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities. (Photo: militarysystems-tech.com) Washington: The US is poised to sell state of the art thermal weapon sights and spares to Pakistan, in the wake of Obama administration's decision to provide eight F-16 fighter jets and nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters worth USD 170 million to the country. The Pentagon Monday awarded a USD 17 million contract to Raytheon for supply of state of the art thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities by enabling soldiers to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, fog and other obscurants. Raytheon is known as a pioneer in thermal weapons sights. The Pentagon Monday said Raytheon has been awarded a USD17,877,938 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Pakistan) for thermal weapon sights and spares, training, and contract data requirements lists. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; and Pakistan, with an estimated completion date of October 30, 2017. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of USD17,877,938 were obligated at the time of the award, the statement said. Jerusalem: A parole board on Wednesday rejected a request for early release for Israeli ex-president Moshe Katsav, who began serving a seven-year prison term in 2011 for rape and other sexual offences. The justice ministry said the parole board found that Katsav, the first Israeli head of state to be sent to prison, "expressed no regret and no sympathy toward the victims of his crimes." "The board emphasised that the prisoner has presented himself as a victim and has continually attributed responsibility for his situation to others," the ministry said in a statement. Katsav was expected to appeal the parole board's decision. The 70-year-old has always maintained his innocence despite being convicted in December 2010 on two counts of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice. The 18-month trial included harrowing accusations and portrayed him as a sexual predator who routinely harassed his female staff. The offences committed against his employees were said to have occurred when he served as tourism minister and president. A woman who served as his secretary during his term as tourism minister in the late 1990s made graphic allegations against him. She described Katsav as "monstrous," with a "split personality" that subjected her to "terror." Katsav became president in 2000 and for months defied enormous public pressure to quit over the allegations before ultimately resigning as part of a plea bargain in 2007. He was replaced by Nobel Peace laureate and elder statesman Shimon Peres in the largely ceremonial post. Afer resigning, Katsav later decided that instead of facing trial for lesser charges he would "fight until the truth comes out" and called off the plea bargain. He appealed his conviction before the Israeli Supreme Court, but lost. He also failed to convince either judges or lawmakers that he should be allowed to serve his sentence at home. 'Burying a man alive' He entered Ma'asiyahu prison near Tel Aviv on December 7, 2011. Speaking to reporters as he left his home, Katsav said Israel was "burying a man alive." "Today the state of Israel is taking a man out to execute him on the basis of impressions, without evidence," he said. "One day the truth will be revealed. The state is imprisoning a grandfather of grandchildren, a former president. I never hurt anyone, I treated everyone with respect." Controversy surrounded Katsav's request for early release, with many drawing attention to the fact that he had not expressed remorse for the crimes. Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked also drew criticism in recent weeks after she reportedly discussed a pardon for Katsav with current President Reuven Rivlin, who was said to have rejected the idea. Katsav, an Iranian-born bureaucrat, rose from impoverished origins as a child immigrant to the nation's top job. A member of the right-wing Likud party, he was Israel's first conservative president and the first born in an Islamic country. One of eight children, Katsav was born in December 1945 and arrived in Israel three years after its creation in 1948. He was considered a competent administrator within the hawkish Likud and served terms as tourism and transport minister in the 1980s and 1990s. If enforced diligently, the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016, have the potential to ensure safe and scientific disposal of biomedical waste. The new rules are more comprehensive than the 2011 rules. They cover biomedical waste generated not only by healthcare facilities but also camps for immunisation, blood donation and surgery conducted outside a healthcare facility. The 2016 rules provide for pre-treatment of laboratory and microbiological waste and blood samples and bags on-site as prescribed by the World Health Organisation and the National AIDS Control Organisation. They also classify biomedical waste into four categories, instead of 10 in the 2011 rules, to simplify segregation at source. The authorisation process has also been made simpler. The new rules mandate barcoding of all bags and containers that contain biomedical waste. This is to monitor the waste once it leaves the premises of a healthcare facility to address the problem of pilferage. They put in place stringent standards for emission from incinerators. This is expected to reduce emission of pollutants into the atmosphere and environment. The rules also cover the wellbeing of those who handle biomedical waste by providing for their training and immunisation. Biomedical waste includes human and animal anatomical waste, soiled bandages and hospital linen, used syringes, needles, catheters and gloves, as well as blood and tissue samples. These need to be disposed of scientifically; else they could cause diseases like AIDS, hepatitis, etc. According to official estimates, Indias healthcare facilities generate 484 tonnes of biomedical waste per day. Although only 15% of biomedical waste is infectious, if not segregated it ends up contaminating all waste. This makes it imperative for biomedical waste to be segregated from other waste. Besides, scientifically disposing of this waste reduces its deadly impact. A related problem is that of used syringes, saline bottles and catheters not being disposed of but sold to unscrupulous traders who then reintroduce them in the market. Setting norms is important but as vital is monitoring of healthcare facilities, and the process of collection, transport and disposal of waste to ensure that rules are followed. Hospitals are meant to provide treatment and enhance the health and wellbeing of their clients. But when they cause disease and death due to violation of rules, they must be penalised. Stringent punishment must be imposed on violators of the Biomedical Waste Management Rules, 2016. Names of hospitals that disregard waste disposal norms must be publicised so that patients and the public are made aware of their lackadaisical approach to public health. US law enforcement agencies today arrested 21 people, including 10 Indian Americans, on charges of visa fraud involving about 1,000 foreign students. Arrested in New York, New Jersey, Washington and Virginia these 21 individuals were brokers, recruiters and employers who conspired with more than 1,000 foreign nationals to fraudulently obtain student and foreign worker visas through a "pay to stay" New Jersey college, Department of Justice said. "Today's arrests, which were made possible by the great undercover work of our law enforcement partners, stopped 21 brokers, recruiters and employers across multiple states who recklessly exploited our immigration system for financial gain," US Attorney Paul J Fishman said in a statement. "Pay to Stay schemes not only damage our perception of legitimate student and foreign worker visa programs, they also pose a very real threat to national security," he said. As per the federal compliant unsealed today, the defendants, many of whom operated recruiting companies for purported international students, were arrested for their involvement in an alleged scheme to enroll foreign nationals as students in the University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ, a purported for-profit college located in Cranford, New Jersey. Unbeknownst to the defendants and the foreign nationals they conspired with, however, the UNNJ was created in September 2013 by federal agents. Through the UNNJ, undercover HSI agents investigated criminal activities associated with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), including, but not limited to, student visa fraud and the harboring of aliens for profit. The UNNJ was not staffed with instructors or educators, had no curriculum and conducted no actual classes or education activities. The UNNJ operated solely as a storefront location with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators, the Justice Department said. During the investigation, HSI special agents identified hundreds of foreign nationals, primarily from China and India, who previously entered the US on F-1 non-immigrant student visas to attend other SEVP- accredited schools. Through various recruiting companies and business entities located in New Jersey, California, Illinois, New York and Virginia, the defendants then enabled approximately 1,076 of these foreign individuals all of whom were willing participants in the scheme to fraudulently maintain their nonimmigrant status in the US on the false pretence that they continued to participate in full courses of study at the UNNJ. During the course of their dealings with undercover agents, the defendants fully acknowledged that none of their foreign national clients would attend any actual courses, earn actual credits, or make academic progress toward an actual degree in a particular field of study, it said. Rather, the defendants facilitated the enrollment of their foreign national clients in UNNJ to fraudulently maintain student visa status, in exchange for kickbacks, or "commissions". Meanwhile, the 76th meeting of the Academic Council (AC) of HCU decided to put in place a mechanism to redress relevant issues at the earliest, including with regard to the appointment of an Ombudsman, activating the Equal Opportunities Cell and appointment of Anti-Discrimination Officer in line with relevant UGC Regulations of 2012. The AC meeting came on the heels of the announcement of high national ranking achieved by the HCU and receiving the best rating in meeting the requirement of Social Justice. 106 faculty members out of the total of 170 attended the meeting, a statement from HCU said. The members observed a minute's silence and offered condolence on the demise of Prof A V Raja, Professor of Economics and PhD scholar Rohith K Vemula. The meeting also discussed finalisation of entrance examin schedule for the admissions for academic year 2016-17. The notification for admissions will be released at the earliest and online applications will be available from April 11 to May 10. It was also decided to reduce the application fee for OBC candidates, the statement said. Fresh protests rocked the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) today as members of the Left-affiliated student unions tried to force their way into the university campus demanding Vice-Chancellor Appa Rao Podile's removal over the suicide of Rohith Vemula, even as police took into preventive custody 83 of the protesters.In a new development, Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna walked out of the Academic Council Meeting in the Varsity to express his solidarity with the agitators as protests by scores of students as part of 'Chalo HCU' were held at the gate of campus.The 'Chalo HCU' call was given by Joint Action Committee (JAC) for Social Justice of HCU to intensify their ongoing agitation demanding removal and arrest of Podile, who resumed as VC on March 22 after being on leave for two months.Some of the protesters, who claimed that Podile has no right to chair the AC meeting, climbed the main entrance gate even as police deployed in large numbers, immediately intervened and prevented them from entering the campus and took them into preventive custody.Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhujanga Rao said there was no permission for outsiders to enter the HCU campus. "They tried to barge into the campus...In view of the law and order issue, police stopped them and took 83 of them into preventive arrest," he said.Prashant, a JAC member said, "We will seek cooperation from different political parties and students and civil organisations to build pressure on BJP government for sacking Appa Rao."The protesting students raised slogans against Podile and held banners asking him to leave the campus. They said Podile has been booked on charge of abetting suicide of Vemula, and questioned how can he chair the AC meeting. @Body:The JAC had earlier appealed to all the students, political organisations, and people to come to the HCU today to register their protest and express solidarity seeking justice for Vemula."Since the university administration has imposed a blockade on the campus preventing students to contact anyone from outside, 'Chalo HCU' call is also against the imposed blockade on the university," JAC had said.On March 23, the varsity authorities had decided not to allow any outsider, including media-persons and politicians, on the campus. HCU has seen sporadic protests by a section of students after Vemula committed suicide in a hostel room of the varsity.The JAC claimed that the two-member inquiry commission constituted by the HRD Ministry has blamed the VC and the administration for Vemula's death. It said that as HRD ministry's judicial probe is still going on, Podile's presence as VC can "tamper" the inquiry process.Meanwhile, referring to media reports that some review papers that were published by Podile before being appointed as VC, carried "plagiarised content", varsity's authorised spokesperson Vipin Srivastava said, "They are review articles by Podile...only one sentence has been repeated. Both are his own articles. This does not amount to plagiarism by any stretch of imagination." A 43-year-old Keralite software professional in Libya, taken captive along with three other colleagues in Tripoli, have not been been physically harmed, according to information received by the family. Reji Joseph, working as IT engineer in the Al Diwan software company for Technical Consultancies and IT Ltd had been abducted along with three other Libyan colleagues on March 31. He was working for a project of Civil Registration Authority when he was taken captive along with others, Jojo Joseph, Reji's brother told PTI from Koorachundu in Kozhikode district. The company's owner, Khalid, today informed Reji's wife Shinju Thankachen, a nurse working in a hospital in Libya, that her husband and the others were not physically harmed. The couple have 3 young daughters. The family today contacted the External Affairs Ministry seeking their help. Emails have also been sent to Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Jojo said. They were planning to come this week or next week. While Shinju had not been getting her salary for over a year, Reji's pay was also due for two months, his brother said. Reji had gone to Libya in 2007 and returned in 2010, just as the civil war broke in that country. In 2013, Reji's wife went back to Libya and he followed a year later with the children, the family said. Since the past few days, due to the unrest, Reji had been working from home and on March 31, the owner sent his car with armed guards to fetch him . Reji after reaching the work site at Suk El Juma, had texted a message to his wife and brother in Kerala that he had safely reached his workplace. However, when even late into night he did not turn up, his wife contacted the owner, who assured that he was at work. The initial information the family received was that Reji had been abducted by an extremist group. There was no information after that following which his wife contacted the embassy officials and informed them about his plight. The embassy officials got in touch with the owner who informed them that the Keralite and three others had been taken into custody by Intelligence Bureau. The family is not yet clear who has holding them captive and where, they said. The schedule for the civic bypolls to the 13 wards across the city will be announced by April 15 and the polls will be held in May, said the State Election Commission on Tuesday. The municipal by-elections have become a three-pronged contest with the entrance of the Aam Aadmi Party in the fray. So far, only the AAP has declared its candidates who will be contesting for the 13 wards. The BJP which is ruling the three municipalities and the opposition Congress are yet to come out with the lists of candidates. State Election Commissioner Rakesh Mehta said the election schedule will be out by next week. The election schedule for the civic bypolls will be announced before April 15 and the Model Code of Conduct will apply for a minimum of one-month period, Mehta told Deccan Herald. The State Election Commission had earlier asked the Delhi government to issue funds to the three municipal corporations for the bypolls. Usually a municipal corporation provides funds to the State Election Commission and the Commission gives the expenditure details to the state government through the civic agency concerned. But seeing the depleting financial condition of the corporations in Delhi, we requested the city government to issue funds to the municipalities for the by-elections, said the commissioner. The Delhi government has released Rs 10 crore to the three municipal corporations for the bypolls, he added. So we have written to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (nodal municipality for the civic election-related matters) yesterday to provide the funds to the State Election Commission for conducting the by-elections, said Mehta. Officials with the State Election Commission said the commission has already begun preparations by appointing returning officers and other officials for smooth and fair elections. After December 2013 Delhi Assembly elections, nine councillors had resigned from their posts after being elected as MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha. Following the February 2015 Assembly elections, four more resigned from their posts after being elected as legislators for Vidhan Sabha. Of these 13 wards, seven are in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, two in the East Delhi Municipal Corporation and four in the North Delhi Municipal Corporation. Since 2013, no by-elections have taken place to fill the vacancies in these 13 wards. Three Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC)-run colleges are awaiting Delhi Universitys nod to part ways with the varsitys centralised admission process. The colleges are seeking an autonomous admission process like St Stephens and Jesus and Mary College, according to Delhi University officials. Last year, the three colleges Mata Sundari College for Women, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College and Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce set their cut-offs for various courses based on the applications invited through the centralised admission process of Delhi University. But sources said no decision has been taken on whether they will be exempted from varsitys admission rules. Minority status Parminder Pal Singh, DSGMC spokesperson, said the High Court granted minority status to these colleges, but that was only after the admission process kicked off last year. We are hopeful to implement our own admission policy this year, he told Deccan Herald. As per the governments reservation policy, these institutions are expected to have a quota for the minority they were set up to cater to (Sikhs in this case) to the extent of 50 per cent. However, it is not clear whether Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, another DSGMC-run DU college, can have its own admission process. The college has been giving cut-off relaxation of 5 per cent to both Sikh and non-Sikh students who have studied Punjabi till class 10 or 12. Its important for us to preserve our culture, this is why these institutions were set up in the first place, Singh said. He said the Committee is hoping to clear the air over this issue in another two to three days. Being a Christian minority institution, St Stephens and Jesus and Mary College are allowed to follows a schedule and procedure for admission which is different from that at other Delhi University colleges. Unlike other colleges, St Stephens holds personal interviews to screen out applicants. There were five persons on two motorcycles who narrowly escaped a collision with the Mercedes Benz minutes before Siddharth Sharma was hit at north Delhis Civil Lines on Monday. Sharma, 35, was killed in the accident while he was walking back home. The motorcyclists were following the car to give a warning to the driver and occupants, Sharmas friend Dhruv told Deccan Herald. The car hit Sharma, a business consultant by profession and BBA student, near Ludlow Castle School. Sharma was taken to Sant Parmanand Hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. Now, the motorcyclists are being treated as crucial eyewitnesses.Businessman and builder Manoj Aggarwal the Mercedes owner and a few others went to the hospital soon after the incident. They were non-repentant for the wrong doing. They even talked their driver into going to the police station and falsely owning up to have been driving the car, a friend named Neha said. However, after a few hours of police interrogation and the investigators explaining the repercussions of the incident, the driver admitted that he was told to own up falsely. The driver was told that Sharma was only injured in the accident. On being told that Sharma had died, the driver confessed that he was told to go to the police station and accept the responsibility, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Madhur Verma. In the initial probe, police were told by the eyewitnesses that the cars occupants were boys. We are yet to identify the driver. The boy could be a minor too, but we are yet to confirm it, Verma added. The investigators will now question boys and young men in Aggarwals family. His family members were unavailable for questioning on Monday. Sharmas friends and college students are now planning to hold protests demanding strict police action. A case under the Indian Penal Code has been filed with Civil Lines police station. The Delhi High Court today asked Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, an accused in a disproportionate assets case along with others, to join the probe in the matter and directed CBI not to arrest him. Justice Pratibha Rani said this after Singh told the court that he was willing to join the investigation and cooperate with the agency. "They (Singh's counsel) are saying that they are ready to join the investigation. It is only about joining the investigation. They will join. You (CBI) will not arrest him," the court said. The court said this while disposing of CBI's plea seeking vacation of Himachal Pradesh High Court's interim order of October 1, 2015 restraining the agency from arresting, interrogating or filing a charge sheet against Singh in the case. The court told senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for Singh, to provide the personal mobile number of his client to the agency and also said Singh will have to join the probe whenever he is called by the investigating officer (IO). During the hearing, Sibal told the court that Singh was willing to join the probe. Additional Solicitor General (ASG) P S Patwalia, who appeared for CBI, initially pressed for modification of the interim order saying the agency "should be given a free hand to investigate" the case. However, at the fag end of the hearing, the ASG said, "We are happy that he(Singh) is willing to join the investigation. Let him join the investigation. He should be rest assured that nothing extraordinary would happen. We will take it in the normal course." Yesterday, Singh had said he had no problem in joining the CBI's investigation in the matter after the Delhi High Court asked him why he was not doing so. The court had said it would refer the matter to the Chief Justice of Delhi High Court to decide whether a single judge bench can hear this plea as the interim order was passed by a division bench of Himachal Pradesh HC. (More) PTI ABA HMP The CBI had yesterday told the court that investigation in the case was "seriously held up" due to the interim order passed by Himachal Pradesh High Court. It had said as per the interim order, CBI can neither record Singh's statement, nor can it interrogate him and the agency cannot file a charge sheet in the case without taking the court's permission. On February 25 on Singh's plea seeking quashing of FIR lodged against him and others in the case, the CBI had told the bench that its investigation was "held up" due to the interim order of Himachal Pradesh HC. On November 5 last year, the Supreme Court had transferred Singh's plea from Himachal Pradesh HC to Delhi HC, saying it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but "simply" transferring the petition "in interest of justice and to save the institution(judiciary) from any embarrassment". CBI had moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case from the Himachal Pradesh HC to Delhi High Court and setting aside of the interim order granting protection from arrest and other relief to Singh. Singh had filed a petition in Himachal Pradesh HC pleading that searches on his private residence and other premises were conducted with "malafide intentions and political vendetta" by the central investigating agency. Singh had sought directions from the high court to quash CBI's FIR registered in Delhi against him and others under Sections 13 (2) and 13(1)(e) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 109 of IPC. India has taken up at a "very high level" with China the issue of Beijing blocking its bid to have JeM chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar as designated terrorist by the UN, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said today. Asserting that India will continue to pursue the matter with China in the context of the UN, he also noted that the government has had a "backing and forthing" on the issue with the Chinese. "My sense is that the particular issue that you referred to is something we have taken up with the Chinese. We have taken it up at a sort of very high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese," Jaishankar said. He was replying to a question during an interaction on India's position on China blocking for the second time country's bid at the UN to get Azhar banned. At the same time, he indicated that the issue was not going affect India's relationship with China in other areas. "This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context. I would not like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We have had a backing and forthing with them on this issue. We have to wait and see where this goes," he said. Last week, China stopped UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as terrorist, maintaining that the case "did not meet the requirements" of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked India's bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. The UN had banned the JeM in 2001 but India's efforts for slapping sanctions on Azhar after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack also did not fructify as China, that has veto powers, did not allow it apparently at the behest of Pakistan again. Last July, China had similarly halted India's move in the UN to take action against Pakistan for its release of Mumbai terror attack mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, saying its stand was "based on facts and in the spirit of objectiveness and fairness" with Beijing again claiming at the time that it was in touch with New Delhi. Swiss architect Le Corbusier said, Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light. True to what he said, an exhibition that explores the man and his art, is the photo exhibition Le Corbusier - Mastering the Image, which will be on display at the National Gallery of Modern Art, from April 7, 6 pm. This exhibition, which is produced by the Embassy of Switzerland in India, is held in close collaboration with NGMA and the Consulate General of Switzerland in Bengaluru. This is held as a part of the Year of Swiss Innovation in India 2015-2016. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known better as Le Corbusier, was invited by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to build a city representative of modern and independent India and that is how Chandigarh came into being. Francoise Gardies, Senior Cultural Program Manager, Embassy of Switzerland, says, Le Corbusier is known well for his architectural practice, which has influenced several generations of architects and urban planners. Last year was the 50th death anniversary of the architect and since the architect has a close connect with India, having designed Chandigarh and buildings in Ahmedabad, we thought the exhibition would be a great platform to popularise his art. She says that since Chandigarh was planned much ahead of its time, anyone who can appreciate design will be able to understand and appreciate the works. The city is known to be one of the smart cities of the country. Many architects like Rahul Mehrotra appreciate how Chandigarh was planned years before and is relevant to todays times. She adds that a little knowledge about the man would add to the experience of the exhibition. The show intends to focus on multiple facets of the man. This show is less about architecture and more about the man, the artist, the architect and how he thought and continued his search in the field of architecture and urban planning. It explores the various relationships he had through photography. He was a very modern person and he used the medium to promote his architectural concepts too, she adds. A lot of the photographs will explain how Le Corbusier used the medium of photography as a way of note-taking on his travels across the world. He had an eye for photography, she says. The show will include more than 150 photographs and will have different sections like Biography, Portraits of Life, The Secret Photographer, and another section which will feature frames by contemporary photographers from India, Russia, Switzerland and Turkey. This show includes many unpublished works of Le Corbusier. The purpose of the last section is to show how Le Corbusiers work has influenced others across the globe. Architectural photography (which is more topographic) and humanist photography are the different things showcased here, says Francoise. Guided visits of the exhibition in English and screening of films on Le Corbusier will also be a part of the exhibition. The exhibition will be on till April 23. The timings are 10 am to 5 pm. National Investigation Agency (NIA) has approached probe agencies of some foreign countries including the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in connection with its probe into the Pathankot terror attack. The help of the agencies is being sought even as central probe agencies still await a formal response from Pakistan for allowing a NIA team to that country for a thorough investigation. Official sources said today that the help of some of the agencies including the FBI had been sought for tracking some of the cyber footprints that had been left by handlers of Pakistan- based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) in the aftermath of the attack on the strategic IAF base at Pathankot on the intervening night of January one and two. Immediately after the attack, Abdul Rauf, brother of Jaish chief Maulana Masood Azhar, was seen on a video taking responsibility on a website 'alqalam.com' and 'rangonoor.com' which were hosted by a US-based domain service provider. While 'alqalam' was shut down before the arrival of Pakistan's Joint Investigation Team(JIT) to India last week, the other one remains hosted but the video has been removed. The payments for the same website have been routed through an European country and NIA has sought details of the persons who made the payments and was subsequently renewing the contract with the domain provider, the sources said. The NIA has also approached other international agencies regarding the weapons and other equipments seized from after the 80-hour gun battle with the terrorists at Pathankot. NIA has conveyed to the Pakistani JIT which was headed by Additional Inspector General of Police, Counter Terrorism Department, Muhammad Tahir Rai and also including ISI's Lt Col Tanvir Ahmed, that the cooperation was extended in accordance with terms of reference mutually agreed on the basis of reciprocity and that it was waiting for a permission to visit that country. The NIA has also sent a Letters Rogatory to Pakistan for which a response was still awaited. The sources said NIA has provided all the evidence to the Pakistani JIT on the basis of written requests submitted by them to the central probe agency. The terrorists entered the air base and mounted the brazen assault on the intervening night of January one and two. In the fierce encounter that ensued, seven security personnel besides four terrorists were killed. National carrier Air India today launched its direct non-stop flight to Austrian capital Vienna from here, with a Boeing B787 Dreamliner aircraft. It will be operated thrice a week. The direct flight will meet a long-standing need of Indians in Austria and neighbouring European cities as well as of locals visiting India, Air India said in a release. "The new service assumed significance in view of the strong relationship that India and Austria have been sharing in tourism, education, industry, culture etc. The new service will cater to different segments of air travellers," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Lohani said. The Delhi-Vienna flight will offer easy connection to over 25 destinations in Europe, Air India said, adding major tourist attractions include the imperial palaces of the Hofburg and Schonbrunn (also home to the world's oldest zoo) and the Riesenrad in the Prater. The airline currently operates to 35 international destinations across the US, Europe, Australia, Far East and South East Asia and the Gulf. The Department of Pre-University Education (DPUE) gave evaluators a 30 per cent hike in remuneration for evaluation of second PUC answer scripts, but the Pre-university College Lecturers Association continued to boycott the evaluation work on Wednesday. The members of the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi units of Karnataka State Pre-university College Principals and Lecturers Association staged a protest in front of deputy commissioners office. The protesters said the evaluation of answer scripts started from April 3. As announced by the Karnataka State PU Lecturers Association, the lecturers did not take up evaluation work at 41 centres in eight districts Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mangaluru, Shivamogga, Dharwad, Ballari, Belagavi and Davangere. The lecturers have boycotted the evaluation in all the five centres in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts, they added. They said, The PU college lecturers have been demanding a hike in salary for years. The government constituted a committee to resolve salary and other issues. Based on the recommendations of the Kumar Naik committee, the lecturers monthly pay must go up to Rs 28,100 from Rs 22,800. Only a few lecturers are promoted as principals, which is unfair. The government should introduce a system of promotion for the PU lecturers as well. We have been demanding to set right the discrimination in the salary of PU college lecturers for the past 18 years. When we decided to boycott the evaluation in 2011, the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa constituted a committee under Kumar Naik to study the discrimination in payment of salary. Though the committee submitted its report in 2011, no action has been taken so far. The government is showing a step-motherly attitude and has done injustice without addressing the differences in salaries of PU college lecturers. In spite of our protest, the government has failed to heed to our demands, the protesters claimed. MLCs support Meanwhile, MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik has extended support to the protesting PU college lecturers. In a press release, he said that the discrimination in the salary of the lecturers should be sorted out. I will extend my support to the teachers who are protesting peacefully. The government should initiate measures to fulfill the demands of the protesting lecturers, he stated in the press release. Bilateral ties between India and Saudi Arabia, which have traditionally hinged overwhelmingly on their crude oil trade Saudi is Indias largest source of oil are expanding. During the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Riyadh, the two sides signed MoUs on diverse issues ranging from labour and technical cooperation to counter-terrorism cooperation. However, it is on the question of growing counter-terrorism cooperation that India will draw most satisfaction. During Modis visit, the two sides agreed on greater coordination on counter-terrorism operations, intelligence sharing related to money laundering and terrorism financing, cyber security, including prevention of the use of cyberspace for terrorism, radicalisation, etc. For decades, India was miffed with Saudi support to religious extremists and anti-India terrorist outfits, and its bonding with Pakistan on the matter. It was only in 2012 that the two countries began working, taking baby steps on counter-terrorism issues when the Saudis deported Abu Jundal, who was wanted in India for his role in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. Recently, the Saudis and the US imposed joint sanctions on the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a move that was noted with appreciation in Delhi. While a large gap between India and Saudi Arabia persists on terrorism related issues, it is heartening that the two sides have begun to cooperate to tackle the menace. Space is opening up for deeper ties between India and the Gulf states. The latter are slowly realising that they cannot depend solely on their traditional allies in the West for defence and security. They are recognising that India must be part of a long-term security strategy for the Gulf. India must build on this opportunity that is opening up. A section of Indias security establishment has depicted Modis successful Saudi visit as marking an Indian shift away from Iran. This either/ or approach to West Asia would be disastrous for Indian diplomacy. Stronger ties with the Saudis need not and must not be at the cost of our relations with Iran, just as ties with Iran should not block engagement with Israel. Iran provides India not only with oil but also overland access to Central Asia. Ignoring Iran will, therefore, not be in Indias interests. Delhi can learn much from Chinas diplomacy in West Asia. Beijing has been successful in building strong ties with not only the Gulf Cooperation Council but also, Iran, Israel and the Palestinians. Putting all our eggs in one basket, whether it is that of the Saudis, the Israelis or the Iranians, must be avoided as it goes against Indias interests. Washington How much should state and district leaders rethink how they handle federal funds under the Every Student Succeeds Act? Quite a lot, according to those who eat, sleep, and breathe K-12 finance. During a presentation at the Council of Chief State School Officers legislative conference here on Monday, Mississippi education department officials as well as two Title I policy experts encouraged state leaders to work with districts on more creative uses of Title I and other money to better support student learning, and to make sure broader groups of officials are thinking about and overseeing how schools use federal funds. What we thought we knew about Title I, we can leave it behind, said Sheara Krvaric, an attorney at the Federal Education Group whos assisted states and districts in their handling of K-12 dollars from Washington, and whos studied notable shifts in funding policy under ESSA. To illustrate how much flexibility officials have that they might not know about, especially under the new federal education law, Krvaric noted in her remarks that many state chiefs are still surprised when she tells them that Title I funds (those earmarked for children from low-income households) and other federal aid can be used for purposes other than reading and math programs in order to support a well-rounded education. As you may know, ESSA doesnt change Title I funding as much as some lawmakers envisioned last year. But it does make a few notable changes to how federal K-12 spending works . For example, it will allow districts to apply for waivers from states to use Title I money on a schoolwide basis even if less than 40 percent of students in a given school are designated as low-income. And changes to supplement-not-supplant, which requires federal funds to be additional resources for schools and not a replacement for state and local resources, could ultimately create breathing room for districts to try new approaches with Title I aid. (Although what those exact changes look like could be in dispute .) Key questions for states to ask themselves are whether federal requirements, state objectives, and local needs are all aligned, said Melissa Junge, another Federal Education Group attorney. And Junge also encouraged states not to have a blinkered out when it comes to who has oversight of federal money. Different teams from different areas of K-12 policy should collaborate to work with districts on the use of federal aid, and to conduct oversight of how that moneys used. And districts should have room to present new ideas when making applications for funds, particularly online, she said. I love the other button, Junge told the audience. Mississippi is one state trying to change its approach. Mississippi chief Carey Wright, as well as Chief Academic Officer Kim Benton, presented the nuts and bolts of the Mississippi Comprehensive Automated Performance-based System (MCAPS). The state is using MCAPS to make the Title I process for districts more transparent, institute online Title I applications for local K-12 officials, link funding to student outcomes, and provide a planning tool for both schoolwide plans and targeted assistance plans for federal aid. MCAPS is supposed to work in conjunction with the states School Effectiveness Review Process , which is intended to help low-performing districts (as defined under Mississippi law) use federal funds more effectively. And both MCAPS and the effectiveness review are supposed to help state leaders think and act more responsively to local educators, Benton said. Were actually changing to look like what we want to see in districts, she said. Follow us on Twitter at @PoliticsK12 . The man looked up from the large stacks of handkerchiefs, widened his eyes and looked incredulously at my mother. Amma, youre quoting a price that wouldnt even fetch me a glass of water. I can give you five rupees less for your sake, he said, placing his hand protectively on the creamy white, blue and red handkerchiefs neatly folded and stacked like loaves of bread. Amma stood obstinately, and the vendor sighed and reduced the rate by two more rupees. When the deal was eventually done and Amma tucked the bunch of handkerchiefs in her leather bag, she bragged, I couldve gotten them for even lesser, with a smile. Thousands of housewives like her honed their haggling skills on the pavements of the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road or NSC Bose Road that snakes through some of Chennais busiest by-lanes. Hawkers filled every available corner from the beginning of NSC Bose road, on the edge of Wall Tax road in the west to Parrys Corner in the east. With the Esplanade road joining the stretch after the Flower Bazaar Police Station and King Georges statue, the road is wide for the best part of half a kilometre up to the Parrys Corner. It is at this stretch of the road where we found some of the toughest pavement vendors who would never give away a fruit or a piece of vegetable without a hard bargain. And they knew a naive customer simply by the way they examined the goods and quoted the price. I remember sauntering up to Burma Bazaar, where a friend of mine suggested I would get a good digital watch for a throw-away price. The friend, a local Gujarati, asked me to keep quiet and let him negotiate. Sea breeze from the harbour softened the summer heat in the evening, making walking even on a busy stretch like NSC Bose Road pleasanter. We found a watch vendor little further from Dare House, home to the well-known industrial house EID Parry. The man laughingly asked: How old are you guys? Why do you want to know? My friend retorted, trying to wrong foot him. The bargain began from Rs 80. My friend managed to bring it down to Rs 30 and put down the piece he held saying, Youre quoting high. The vendor held my friends hand saying he should buy what he examined, else he would call the police. At which point I handed him the money, unable to stand the extremes the two were going and anxious about where it would end. After several decades of hawking everything from handkerchiefs, apparels to leather goods, the vendors were driven away from the pavements of NSC Bose Road recently, thanks to a Madras High Court order declaring the place no hawking zone. The purpose may be to decongest the area, but with High Court complex to the right, Dare House to the left and numerous offices along the stretch, decongesting the place is nearly impossible. Dr Bui Xuan Hiep, head of tuberculosis control in this citys Hoang Mai district, paged proudly through a large handwritten patient log. This districts cure rate averages 90%, he said. Still, Bui could see problems.Seven patients had turned up with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis; four had been cured, two had died and one had simply disappeared. Its a story repeated throughout Vietnam. The nation was once racked by a tuberculosis epidemic, one of the worst in which HIV was not the driving force. But officials fought back fiercely. Twenty-five years ago, battered by the aftermath of a long war, chronic poverty and a heavy-handed government isolated from much of the world, Vietnam had nearly 600 cases of tuberculosis for every 100,000 residents. Today, it has less than 200. The country boasts a 90% cure rate for uncomplicated tuberculosis and cures 75% of its drug-resistant cases, easily beating the global average, 50%. Indeed, public health officials worldwide have made remarkable progress against tuberculosis. Deaths from the disease have fallen drastically since 2000, according to the World Health Organisation. Tuberculosis has been halted or reversed in 16 of the 22 countries that account for the vast majority of cases. But Ban Ki-moon, secretary-general of the United Nations, last week warned that the fight was only half won and estimated that 1.5 million worldwide would die of the disease this year. There is no better example of how fragile this success may be than Vietnam. Hospital wards here are packed dangerously full, raising the risk that drug-resistant strains will spread. The easy-to-reach patients have been treated, and many of the rest are the hardest to help: heroin-addicted couriers and laborers from the poppy fields of the nearby Golden Triangle, and mountain villagers who do not speak Vietnamese and are barely connected to the health care system. But the biggest threat is that the money is close to running out. Our TB program is cost-effective and has great impact, said Dr. Nguyen Viet Nhung, its national director. But I always emphasise that this is a preliminary success. We need to sustain it. To reach Vietnams ambitious goal of pushing prevalence rates down to 20 cases per 100,000 residents essentially eliminating tuberculosis as a public health problem its tuberculosis-control program needs to spend at least $66 million a year. It now spends about $26 million a year. About $19 million of that comes from foreign donors, with more than a third from the United States, Nguyen said. After years in the shadow of the AIDS epidemic, tuberculosis is regaining its notoriety as one of the worlds great killers: an airborne bacterium that spreads easily among people living crowded together in jails, ships, mines, trenches or slums and insinuates itself deep in the lungs and grows, slowly tearing apart the tissue until victims are coughing up blood. Tuberculosis now kills more people around the world than AIDS, according to the WHO: 4,100 a day, compared with 3,300 dying of AIDS, making tuberculosis the leading infectious cause of death in the world. Mortality from both diseases is dropping, but tuberculosis deaths have fallen more slowly, especially in Asia. Vietnams success where so many other nations have failed is not just because of donor money, said Dr Mario C Raviglione, director of the WHOs global tuberculosis programme. It succeeds because its a Communist country, he said. Socialist countries put a lot of resources into primary care: lots of doctors, lots of clinics. And once central government adopts a thing, they really do it. They give orders. Tuberculosis is an ideal disease for a regimented treatment approach. Almost all patients with uncomplicated tuberculosis bacteria that are not drug-resistant can be cured if they take a standard menu of four antibiotics every day for six months without fail. In Vietnam, treatment standards set at the national level are followed by the entire public health network. The National Lung Disease Hospital in Hanoi oversees 64 provincial hospitals, which oversee 845 district hospitals, which oversee 11,065 neighborhood health clinics. The pharmaceutical-supply chain, the Achilles heel in many tuberculosis-ridden countries, is impressive. On a weeklong tour of urban and rural clinics, not one nurse or patient reported ever running out of drugs. Those neighborhood clinics usually just a few examining rooms, a small pharmacy and a parking lot are as ubiquitous here as police stations and firehouses in the United States. They treat many illnesses, but their role in tuberculosis is simple: Every tuberculosis patient in the district reports once a day to take his or her pills in front of a nurse. Each dose taken is checked off on a yellow card. In New York Citys outbreak of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the 1990s, officials legally locked up patients who refused to take their pills. The rare noncompliant patient here faces no such threat. We cant do that, said Dr Le Minh Hoa, head of treatment at Hanois provincial lung hospital. We dont have enough spaces for the people who want treatment. A grim picture Patients with drug-resistant disease are especially hard to help. Their medicines, some of which are intravenous, must be taken for 2 years, and can cause deafness, psychosis and kidney failure. Patients must be hospitalised, their movements restricted to one or two corridors, sometimes for months until they are no longer coughing up live bacteria. Hospital wards are full of stooped, forlorn-looking men and women in masks and pajamas waiting to be declared well enough to go home and become a district outpatient. If they become worse instead of better, the prognosis is usually grim. Extensively drug-resistant disease, or XDR TB, requires even more toxic drugs costing 25 times as much. Most XDR TB patients here die. Dr Thuy Nguyen Thu, head of the inpatient unit at the National Lung Disease Hospital, which treats the toughest cases, said four of her staff had caught tuberculosis in the past five years. New nurses were nervous, she said. Thuy had asked for ozone air filters, better fans and safer face masks, but there are budget limitations. In the Hanoi Lung Disease Hospital, Hoang Van Toan, a weathered farmer looking much older than his 49 years, sat wrapped in a blanket. He had taken all his pills, he said, but tuberculosis had somehow outwitted them. The room was bare, with no television or any other diversion. I talk to my wife, he said, nodding at the woman sitting on the temporarily empty bed opposite him. And I walk for three hours every day at dawn, he added, pointing out the window to a nearby park. He wears a surgical mask as required, he said, but that makes no one nervous in Hanoi; thousands of passing motorcyclists wear them, too. What made him saddest, he said, is that it is still too dangerous for his grandchildren to visit. Asked if he would make it through the next two years, he said Yes, emphatically. I was a soldier. I fought the enemy. I can fight this. The University of Mysore may be one of the oldest varsities in the country, yet it doesnt figure in the Top 100 rankings of higher educational institutions, as per National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) by the Union HRD Ministry. Reason: Lack of time that stymied the chances of the century-old seat of higher learning, according to Vice-Chancellor K S Rangappa. Reacting to media queries, Rangappa said, the varsity could not submit complete and required data online within 15 days, as set by the HRD Ministry. Only 50 per cent of the data could be uploaded. So, it has been decided to seek another chance and additional information will be provided. A letter will be written to the HRD Ministry in this regard, said Rangappa. The V-C, who initially seemed to be upset with the rankings awarded to private universities, also blamed it on a hurried exercise, only to retract later. He said, our employees should have done it on priority, so as to submit complete data. Sounding that the Mysore varsity is several notches high, compared to other universities, Rangappa said: We have 54 departments, the information of which has to be compiled and sent. Moreover, each department is nothing less than a university in itself. He shot back at media persons, asking, if equally old varsities like Calcutta and Mumbai Universities in Kolkatta and Mumbai respectively had participated in the ranking. Instead, Rangappa said, the varsity is going for QS-world ranking, a private ranking agency, based in Chennai. The process is expected to be completed in two to three months. He claimed that the varsity had already been accredited by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It may be mentioned that JSS Pharmacy College in Mysuru under JSS University (Deemed) has bagged the 10th rank, while a similar institution run by the same varsity, located in the neighbouring Ooty, in Tamil Nadu, is ranked ninth. Several other institutions in the State both government and private have figured in the rankings, as per the NIRF. Barcelonas Luis Suarez netted twice for a 2-1 win over 10-man Atletico Madrid in their Champions League quarterfinal, first leg on Tuesday after the visitors Fernando Torres opened the scoring and was later sent off. After a flurry of chances for the home side, Suarez levelled from close range in the 63rd minute and then headed the winner in the 74th, giving the European champions the edge before next weeks second leg at the Vicente Calderon. Atletico got off to the ideal start when Torres fired Kokes pass through the legs of keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen after 25 minutes but 10 minutes later he was dismissed for a second booking as they suffered a seventh straight loss to Barca. Atletico had been in confident mood after thrashing Real Betis 5-1 in La Liga on Saturday and were looking to take advantage of Barcelona, who were reeling from a 2-1 home defeat by Real Madrid that ended their record 39-game unbeaten run. Diego Simeone's men defended as a team and their organised play and high pressing interrupted Barca's usual quick passing game. After Lionel Messi and Neymar missed the target in the early stages, Atletico pounced with their first proper chance. After a long spell of possession, Koke received a pass from Gabi and took a touch before threading the ball into the path of Torres, who got his 11th goal in 15 matches against Barcelona. The former Liverpool striker received his first booking for a late tackle on Neymar in the middle of the pitch four minutes after scoring and got his marching orders for a second yellow minutes later for fouling Sergio Busquets. Simeone's side had two sent off when they lost to the Catalans in La Liga and were again punished for indiscipline. After the break Messi was inches away from his 500th career goal with a scissors kick before Neymar hit the far post and then sent a shot whistling just wide. Barcelona broke Atletico's resistance when Suarez diverted Jordi Alba's low cross home with his shin and then powered into the area to head Dani Alves' cross past Jan Oblak to score the winner with his eighth Champions League goal this season. Vidal hand Bayern edge In Munich, German champions Bayern Munich will take a slender lead into the second leg of their quarters tie against Benfica after Arturo Vidal's early goal earned a 1-0 win over the resolute Portuguese side. Benfica, aiming to reach the European Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990, have conceded 13 goals in their three previous visits to Bayern and must have feared the worst when Vidal headed home after two minutes. But the floodgates failed to open after that as the visiting defence stood firm on a frustrating evening for the hosts who beat Benfica's arch-rivals Porto 6-1 at home at the same stage of the competition last season. Bayern got off to the perfect start when Chilean Vidal got on the end of Juan Bernat's cross to head past keeper Ederson. That was not the cue, however, for the expected goal rush as Benfica, twice European champions in the 1960s, kept possession despite creating few real chances. Renu Basumatary, 33, lives in Rupohi village in the remote interiors of Baksa district of lower Assam. Baksa along with Udalguri, Chirang and Kokrajhaar forms the Bodoland territorial Area District (BTAD) which is governed by the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). BTAD has been an area which has been boiling for decades with the clarion call by the largest tribal group in Assam, the Bodos, for a separate Bodoland state. The BTC was formed out of the Bodoland accord of 2003 and the BPF came to power. Not that the Bodo people are very happy with the BPF. They only work for their own party people, not even Bodos. The other non-Bodo communities get almost nothing from BPF. Under BPF we will never get a separate state, nor will conflicts ever end. We want change, Renu says, wearing a cap in support of United Peoples Party (UPP), a newly formed Bodo political party led by former Rajya Sabha member Urkhao Gwra Brahma. UPP is contesting 13 seats and has formed an interesting alliance with the ruling Congress. The Congress has left four seats indie in the BTAD region for UPP, and UPP would be supporting the Congress outside the BTAD region and in some seats like Bhabanipur for which Renu would be casting her vote. The Congress and UPP would have friendly fight as the UPP would be cutting into the vote bank of the Hagrama Mohilary led Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) which is in power in BTC and an ally of the BJP for the Assam poll. There are total of 16 constituencies in BTAD, though four of them partially fall even in districts which are not inside BTAD. In 2011 Assembly polls BPF had won 12 seats, the BJP had formed an alliance with it hoping for a repeat of that result, but the UPP is backed by the powerful All Bodo Students Union (ABSU). It was ABSU that spearheads the separate Bodoland movement. BPF might find itself in a shaky ground as thousands of Bodos are attending UPP rallies. UPP is seen among the Bodo society as hardliners on the Bodoland issue. The BPF on the other hand has been earlier a partner to the ruling Congress in Assam and now with the saffron party is seen to have a compromised position on the call for a separate Bodo state. BJP talks about identity politics. But does not talk about separate Bodoland and the BPF forms an alliance because it wants to stay with the power centre. There is a brief lull in this region, will BJP and BPF take the responsibility if the region erupts again. Southern Indias port city of Viskhapatnam is good 1,600 km away from Gossaigaon sub-division of lower Assams conflict-ridden Kokrajhar bordering West Bengal and Bhutan. It was in 1994 that an unemployed youth from Visakhapatnam took a train ride to Gossaigaon searching for a job. In two decades, 40-year-old Ravi Shankar Khasireddy not only flourished in his business, but is also contesting the Assam Assembly polls to represent people of Gossaigaon. Ravi Shankar is contesting on AIUDF ticket for the Gossaigaon seat. Ravi is now a permanent resident of Srirampur, a small town on the Assam-West Bengal border and runs several businesses, many say that he actually runs a notorious syndicate that controls the Srirampur check gate through which thousands of trucks carrying essential items for entire North-East region enter Assam. I hail from Yellamnachili in Viskhapatnam district. My father used to work in a petrol pump. Right from childhood I have seen abject poverty. I was good at studies and I completed my graduation and was looking for job. One uncle from my village was a trucker. He brought me to Srirampur and I got a job in one of the transport office leased to private individuals for collection of duties from the good carrying trucks. Since lots of trucks with fish and other items came from Andra Pradesh, I was engaged as translator because the Telugu truck driver did not know Hindi, Ravi told Deccan herald on the sidelines of a party rally in Gossaigaon. It was in 2001 that he started his own transport firm and all truckers from southern India started taking his service. Later he started wholesale business of fish brought from Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh. Ravi is now one of the top notch business personalities of lower Assam. Gossaigaon the only unreserved constituency in Kokrajahr districts, the area saw clashes between the Muslims and the Bodo tribe in 2012 and massacre of Adivasi people by Bodo militants in 2014, but Ravi is acceptable to one and all and has a Robin Hood image. Ravi might have hobnobbed with the high and mighty as a businessman but he is god-sent for poor people. Being at the fringes, this area is totally neglected by the government. Ravi helps people if they have to get admitted in hospitals, he gives financial help to poor students, builds small bridges and roads in remote villages and he does it for all Bodos, Adivasis and Muslims explains Abdur Rehman, a Madrassa teacher from Gossaigaon. I am now one among them. This area needs an MLA who can fight for their rights and not eat away the money sent for developmental works. Ravi adds. Prominent tribal activist C K Janu said on Wednesday that she is considering contesting as an NDA candidate from Sultan Bathery in Wayanad district. The move has surprised people involved in tribal rights movements she has led even as Janu said she has not taken a final decision. On Wednesday, the Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha (AGMS) leader held talks with leaders of the BJP and Bharat Dharma Jana Sena (BDJS), a key BJP ally in the state. The talks triggered rumours that the BDJS will field Janu as its candidate, but she dismissed the rumours. I wont be contesting for BJP or BDJS. Im discussing possibilities of contesting as an independent candidate as part of the NDA, but no decision has been taken, Janu told Deccan Herald. BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan had earlier said there were possibilities of Janu joining the NDA but said the final word had to come from her. Janus move has led to differences within the AGMS. The repeated falling of glass ceiling at Chennai airport has now attracted the attention of NHRC, which believes that such incidents endangers safety of fliers. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has now sought reports from the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports Authority of India (AAI) over 61 incidents of glass fall at the Chennai airport. The notices have been issued to the Civil Aviation Secretary and the AAI Chairman on a complaint it received. Issuing notice, NHRC Member Justice D Murugesan said providing safety and security to passengers is one of the cardinal duties of the airline operators and also of the airport authorities. UPDATED Washington, D.C. In yet another sign that the student-data-privacy turmoil of recent years is shifting from boil to simmer, school systems can now apply for a Trusted Learning Environment Seal, intended to demonstrate to parents and the community at large that they are taking appropriate steps to protect the privacy and security of sensitive student information. The seal will be issued by the Consortium for School Networking, a membership group for school technology leaders, which is hosting its annual conference here this week. Also supporting the initiative are AASA-The School Superintendents Association, the Association of School Business Officials International, and the Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. We see it as a fundamental shift in helping school systems change the conversation from privacy to one of trust, CoSN CEO Keith Krueger said in an interview. This is about setting expectations that are ambitious, but not so ambitious they cant be achieved. Numerous statements of principle , guidance documents, industry pledges , and toolkits related to the hot-button issue of student data privacy have been released in recent years, as policymakers and educators have scrambled to catch up to the legislative and technical challenges presented by rapid advances in educational technology. The new TLE Seal is different, Krueger said, because it is meant both as a comprehensive guide for what school systems should be doing, and as a framework for how they can move beyond compliance with state and federal laws and begin implementing a set of aspirational practices. The TLE Seal will cover a set of approximately 40 specific practices across five domains: district and school leadership, classroom procedures and processes, data security, business operations, and professional development. The criteria have not yet been released in full. In an interview, Linette Attai, the president of PlayWell LLC and the project director of CoSNs privacy initiative, said that examples include: Having up-to-date policies and rules related to data privacy and security. Ensuring that members of school system governing bodies are aware of relevant laws and requirements. Implementing a privacy and security vetting process to guide the acquisition of online services. Implementing clear policies regarding retention of student records, allowable data transmission protocols, and access to electronic data. Creating up-to-date, easily accessible training resources and templates related to data security and privacy. Ensuring that teachers are using classroom instructional strategies that protect students information. School systems will be able to earn the TLE Seal through written submissions that include documentation of such practices and resources, usually from their chief technology officer or equivalent, Attai said. No on-site audits or observations of district practices will take place. The first 100 school districts who apply for the seal will be able to do so for free, Krueger said. After that, CoSN will charge a fee of a couple hundred dollars, depending on the districts size. The seal will be considered active for two years after it is awarded, with a small renewal fee for the second year. Criteria for the seal were developed with the input of 28 school system leaders, including Robert J. Moore, the chief technology officer for the Dallas Independent School District and the project director for CoSNs Trusted Learning Environment Seal initiative. Despite the attention that data privacy and security have received in recent years, Moore said in an interview, attaining the seal will likely require a leap for many districts, which he said have lacked clear guidance and expectations beyond what it takes to comply with existing state and federal laws. Now, [districts] know for the first time what they should be prioritizing, he said. But I would be surprised if a large number of districts were able to achieve the seal immediately. And as for what it will mean for those districts that do earn the seal? It should give parents a sense of trust and confidence that their childrens data are being handled correctly, Moore said. This post has been updated to specify that Robert Moore is the project director for CoSNs Trusted Learning Environment Seal initiative. See also: for live coverage from #CoSN2016. Talks between Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar and lecturers over evaluation of II PUC answer sheets failed again on Wednesday. The minister tried hard till late in the evening to make the lecturers come to an agreement, but they didnt relent. The Karnataka State PU Lecturers Association said the government wanted the lecturers to report for evaluation duty without any precondition. The government implored us citing the paper leaks and the plight of parents and students, Ningegowda A H, general secretary of the association, said. All it said was that it will try to implement the G Kumar Naik report by September. It refused to make an immediate commitment without consulting the Finance Department. Ningegowda said the association would take a decision after consulting its office bearers. As of now, the protest will go on. We want nothing but implementation of the Kumar Naik report. We want better pay and other benefits. Tension prevailed at the University of Hyderabad campus as police detained students from several organisations trying to enter the campus demanding the resignation and arrest of Vice Chancellor Podile Appa Rao. Under the banner of joint action committee for social justice that spearheads the agitation to get justice for research scholar Rohit Vemulas suicide, students called for a chalo UoH to converge at the campus gates and demonstrate as the varsity held its 76th Academic Council (AC) meeting. At the varsitys website, Prof Appa Rao, who chaired the meeting at the VC lodge, said the AC has been called following the universitys recent national ranking, particularly its high rating at social justice. In this spirit, the AC would discuss, among other things, setting up an ombudsman, constituting an equal opportunity cell and appointing an Anti-Discrimination Officer in line with the 2012 UGC regulations, the VC said in a statement, adding finalising admissions was also part of the agenda. I appeal to all sections of the University community, including students, teaching, non-teaching staff to kindly cooperate for successful conduct of the Academic Council Meeting, Prof Appa Rao said. Even as activists from AISF, SFI and PDSU climbed the gates shouting slogans against the Vice-Chancellor, Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna walked out of the AC meeting holding the Vice-Chancellor responsible for the current turmoil at the varsity and declaring him unfit to continue. I hold the VC responsible for the death of Rohith. He has lost control over the university and unfit to continue. I am with students and will fight along with them, Prof Krishna told media. The sudden decision of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to ban liquor even in urban areas has caught many persons in the hospitality sector unawares. Take for instance the premier Hotel Maurya which, a couple of days back, procured its fresh licence for the financial year 2016-17 after paying a licence fee of Rs 20 lakh. Our business will be adversely affected as we earned a revenue of around Rs 2 crore per annum from our customers drinking liquor at the bar, said the general manager of the Maurya, BD Singh. Singhs sentiments were echoed by an office-bearer of a prominent city club Bankipore Club. On April 2, we paid Rs 6 lakh for the renewal of bar licence. Now within two days, we have been informed that not one drop of liquor could be served anywhere in Bihar. At least we should have been given some deadline before imposing a complete ban on liquor, since we still have stocks worth Rs 10 lakhs, said the club office-bearer, who is a serving government employee.Since Bihar attracts lots of foreign tourists throughout the year, the tourism industry feels that a complete ban on liquor would dissuade such tourists from visiting Bihar. The tourism and hotel industry will be hit hard. Many foreign tourists come here to relax. These people are used to consuming alcohol. A total prohibition will make them feel uncomfortable and they may alter their Bihar visit plan. I personally feel that the government, instead of being hasty, should have allowed drinks in three or five star hotels, opined president of Bihar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, OP Shah. But not everyone is so disappointed. I strongly support Nitish Kumars decision to ban liquor. This will not only help check growing incidents of domestic violence, but also make crime graph fall, argued Suman Kumar, a businessman, who owns the food-joint Ji Huzur. Initially, there may be some reservations, but mark my words, in the long run, the prohibition will make people mentally, physically and financially stronger, Suman said. Another prominent businessman Ashwani Kumar Rastogi agreed with Suman. Nitish ji has done well in imposing prohibition even in urban areas. Or else, it would have led to chaos, confusion and smuggling of liquor from one area to another, Rastogi told Deccan Herald, adding that the prohibition order will also see a decline in road accidents since well-off people, particularly youths, have, of late, been involved in drunk driving here in the state capital. The phase-wise ban on liquor, which included prohibition in rural areas, was introduced from April 1 in Bihar. But, what actually happened in the next four days that led to a complete ban on liquor even in urban/town/municipal areas in Bihar? After all, many of the hotels and restaurants in urban areas had procured bar licence after paying hefty fees. The fresh licences were procured as the government had earlier made it clear that liquor would be banned in town areas in the second phase, possibly from the next financial year. So what made Nitish Kumar suddenly change the tack? Sources familiar with the developments said that around 15 hours before convening a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar summoned his trusted bureaucrat KK Pathak, the Principal Secretary of Excise Department, to his chamber. Though what exactly transpired between the two on Monday late evening was not known, but sources did argue that Pathak, soon after coming out of CMs room, asked his junior colleagues to draft two proposals. One of the proposals was to allow private liquor retailers an extension of six months. This was being done as the Government-run Bihar State Beverages Corporation Limited (BSBCL), entrusted with the task to sell Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) in town areas, had failed in its job. Besides, Nitish was already apprised of the news that local people were vehemently opposing opening new shops of BSBCL. Nitish was reportedly happy as well as worried. Happy that his decision to ban liquor was being hailed by the people even in the urban areas. But at the same time, he was worried about the problems being faced by BSBCL in opening new outlets. Against such a backdrop, the second proposal, which Pathak reportedly asked his men to prepare, was a complete ban on liquor. These officials, who worked till Monday midnight, were again summoned by Pathak on Tuesday morning at around 7 am. In the Cabinet meeting that took place on Tuesday, the two draft proposals were placed before Nitish Kumar. The Chief Minister is believed to have told his close aides that there was a silent revolution in favour of prohibition. in rural areas as well as urban areas. The time has come to read the pulse of the people and enforce a complete ban on liquor throughout the State. As soon as the Cabinet meeting was over, Nitish made the historic announcement of Bihar becoming a dry State. The Central Information Commission (CIC) has asked the Union Environment Ministry to release the biosafety data on the trials of genetically modified mustard in the public domain after screening out the confidential information. In addition, the CIC directed the ministry that all biosafety data pertaining to other genetically modified organisms in the pipeline also be published before April 30, 2016, as this is part of voluntary disclosure under the RTI Act. The Commission directs the public authority to verify and provide the biosafety dossier as submitted by the crop developer in 2014 and 2015 and any other material under review after separating the confidential information, CIC said in its April 1 order. The information was sought by the activists opposing entry of GM crops after they raised questions on the yield of GM mustard and the secretive nature of field trials. The developers from Delhi University brushed aside those allegations. The people should know how and why GM mustard is being permitted or denied because they have to consume that food or feed and face consequences. It is a policy decision by the public authority, which needs to be revealed to the public in general as mandated by Section 4 (of the RTI Act) because they are going to be affected if GM mustard is marked, said the order. The genetically engineered mustard was under the consideration of the biotechnology regulator, Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) for commercial cultivation, when environment minister Prakash Javadekar held it back presumably for wider public consultation. A GEAC meeting scheduled on April 11 has now been postponed. With the needle of suspicion pointing at staff of Treasury department in PU question paper leak, it has now emerged that the government had recently granted discretionary powers to the Director of Treasury to release question papers of public examinations from strongrooms. The government in an order dated December 12, 2015 relaxed article 18(a) of the Karnataka Treasury Code and empowered the Treasury department director to exercise the discretion in handing over question papers kept at strongrooms to the examination-conducting authorities. K P Jyoti is the Director of Treasury department, which comes under the Finance department. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah holds the finance portfolio. As per the Karnataka Treasury Code, the question papers kept at strongrooms have to be handed over to the examination-conducting authority only one hour before the scheduled time of the examination. Prior to the recent order, it was mandatory for the Director to obtain special, case-by-case permission from the government to hand over the question papers in advance. And the government used to grant the permission only if any examination-conducting authority had given a requisition, citing difficulty in distributing the paper to colleges located in far-off places from taluk headquarters. The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) probing the leak, suspects the question paper was leaked from a strongroom of the treasury department. The CID sleuths have arrested Oblaraju, Officer on Special Duty to Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, Rudrappa, office superintendent, PWD, and Manjunath, a physical education teacher in a private college in Vijayanagar, Bengaluru. Pending amendment to article 18(a) of Karnataka Treasury Code, the Treasury Director has been empowered to use discretion to hand over the question papers as per the request by the examination-conducting authorities of SSCL, PU, Union Public Service Commission and other government departments, the order stated. Misusing power Sources in the government said there is a possibility of officials at the taluk and district levels misusing the discretionary powers. Director Jyoti said the department receives requests from examination-conducting authorities for early handing over of question papers in some places every year. The requests used to come a day prior to the examination and, in some cases, there used to be delay in the government granting permission. Hence, the government recently vested discretionary powers in the Director for handing over the question papers, she added. The Treasury is only the custodian of the materials kept by any authority. We are not concerned about the contents of sealed covers kept in the strongrooms. The sealed covers are handed over to the authority concerned on request. This year too I had received some requisitions for early release of question papers in some places and they were granted, she stated. The Jana Sanjeevini generic drug stores launched with much fanfare last June have failed to live up to their promise. From lack of manpower to unavailability of drugs, the shortcomings are aplenty. For instance, the boards on the stores claim they are 24-hour pharmacies. But anyone rushing to a Jana Sanjeevini pharmacy in the dead of night during an emergency, would have to return empty handed. For, the pharmacies, whose drugs are cheaper than the branded ones by at least 40%, are run only during the day. The state government has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Lifecare Limited (HLL) for setting up these generic drug stores. A doctor at K C General Hospital said in-patients attendants usually returned empty handed or were forced to buy drugs from private pharmacies. I asked for a paracetamol and tramadol combination. I was told that it could not be sold despite being on the shelf since it was not entered in their list, said the doctor. Apart from the new Jana Sanjeevini store, the hospital also has a Janatha Bazaar medical store. Even this shuts down at night. When Deccan Herald visited the Hospital, Raaghu Gowda, a patients attendant said he had to go in search of hospitals with 24x7 pharmacies in case doctors asked for medicines at night. We have to travel at least half a kilometre to get the medicines, said Gowda. I do not have a two-wheeler. Hiring an auto at that hour will mean that I have to shell out twice the fare, he said. Jana Sanjeevini stores set up at Victoria Hospital and Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital also function only during the day. Pharmacists at the Victoria Hospitals Jana Sanjeevini store said they did not have stock of most of the combination drugs. The pharmacy does not even stock generic drugs for diabetes, blood pressure and cardiac ailments. The state-run Institute for Nephrology and Urology also functions from the campus but no drugs required by its patients are stocked at this pharmacy. Minister for Health and Family Welfare U T Khader said these pharmacies were run on a trial basis and have not been opened officially. We will have 10 more such pharmacies in the state which will sell as many as 700 generic drugs, he added. A disruption to Internet access at the site of a Kansas-based assessment provider delayed testing of students across the country and caused Alaska to cancel state assessments altogether this school year. A backhoe used in construction work at the University of Kansas on the afternoon of March 29 accidentally cut a fiber optic cable providing the campus digital connection. Servers at the universitys Center for Educational Testing & Evaluation , which provides state assessments for students in Kansas and Alaska, went down. The stoppage meant students in those states taking CETE tests could not finish or begin testing. And students in 15 other states, in addition to Kansas and Alaska, which use the CETEs Dynamic Learning Maps to assess students with significant cognitive disabilities, also were also unable to access the tests. The testing platform ... went down, said Marianne Perie, the director of CETE, who said the signal was severed at the main trunk line bringing Internet to the campus. It was about the worst place you could cut a line. Students who were testing at the time in Kansas, where the assessment window had recently opened, received popup messages saying their machines was no longer connected to the Internet. The system automatically saves all test answers students have provided, except for the question a student is working on when the outage takes place, Perie said. The university worked quickly to patch the cable and testing resumed, with limited capacity the following day, Perie said. On March 31, CETE told states they could return to normal testing, but the system was overloaded and went down again, staying down while officials worked on it through the weekend. This week testing resumed and was back to normal with 21,000 students testing simultaneously with no difficulties, she said. However, Alaskas interim state education department commissioner Susan McCauley announced on April 1 that the state would cancel CETEs Alaska Measures of Progress testing for all students this academic year, despite the fact that Alaskas testing window had just opened. McCauley said the unreliability of the systembeing told it was back online only to have it crash againand considerations unique to Alaska prompted her decision to discontinue testing for the year. The amount of chaos in Alaska schools last week cannot be overstated, she said in an interview this week, adding that teachers had to scramble to create lessons when they thought testing was to take place instead. To ask teachers and students to try it again with no guarantee that it was going to work was irresponsible. One of the states largest rural school systems, the 2,000-student North Slope Borough School District, for example, had planned to test students early to release them for whale hunting season, and would be unable to reschedule testing later during the window, McCauley said. In addition, many home-schooled or remote Alaska students must travel to testing facilities for assessment. Some have to travel more than 100 miles by car, or fly or take a ferry. I couldnt ask them to come in again for a system in which we could get no guarantee of it being functional, she said. AMP tests were already on their way out in Alaska. After using the tests for the first time in the 2014-205 school year, the state decided this was to be the last year students would take the tests and are seeking another assessment vendor. Perie said she wished that McCauley had just waited a few days to make her decision, by which time the system would have been working. She said the state will be missing out on useful data that could provide information on student growth in Alaska. But she understood the frustration of schools and districts trying to deal with the uncertainty. On schools behalf, I feel their pain, she said. When teachers think they have a day of testing and have to come up with lessons, I sympathize with that. Daniel Walker, the superintendent of the 4,300-student Lower Kuskokwim School District in Bethel, Alaska, said he agreed with McCauleys decision. His district was already having technical difficulties with language-assessment testing for the large population of English-language learners in his district who speak the Native Alaskan language of Yupik. After AMP, students were proceeding to district testing with Measures of Academic Progress assessments. Walker said he didnt believe that limited years of AMP testing would provide insight that other testing does not. I was concerned with assessment fatigue, he said. Im really glad they ditched it. In addition, educating students in rural Alaska already comes with a host of technical problems that are battled on a near-daily basis, he said. With our limited bandwidth and no assurance that this was going to work, he said, the frustration levels were going to be off the charts. In Kansas, most districts said they believed they could still complete testing before the window closes in May, said Brad Neuenswander, the deputy commissioner of the Division of Learning Services at the Kansas State Department of Education. He said the state has worked with CETE for decades and has full confidence in the assessment system. Right now were not going to extend the window, but we still have flexibility with that if we need it, he said. Well be monitoring the situation. CETE plans to put a contingency plan in place to prevent future issues, Perie said, with a bank of servers that will be housed off campus by a third party, but would be owned by CETE, which would have exclusive access to the data contained, she said. If on-campus servers were compromised, CETE would be able to switch, with minimal interruptions, to the backup option, she said. At the 51,100-student Wichita Public Schools, some students were not able to complete sections of the tests they were working on when the system went down, but district spokesperson Susan Arensman said this week that Wichita students work was saved and they will be able to get back in and complete their assessments. She said the district anticipates being able to finish testing by the state deadline. As of Monday, students were testing and back on track, she said. Its one of those things where its frustrating for the school and students because they get prepared for this and its not able to happen, she said. But technological glitches are just part of our reality. In fact, in 2014 Kansas had to suspend testing because CETE was attacked by cyber-hackers . As a result, the state was unable to report its scores to the federal government. See also: President of Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce S V Rajendra Singh Babu on said he will request the government to increase subsidy for award winning national films to Rs 50 lakh. He was speaking at an event to honour winners of the 63rd National Film Awards on Wednesday. He said in states like Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, national award winning films are given an aid of Rs 1 crore. Babu also suggested that the life and achievements of late thespian Rajkumar be popularised nationally and internationally. He said the chamber also planned to translate Rajkumars biography to English. Filmmaker Girish Kasaravalli said the film fraternity is proud of the Kannada film industry for getting four awards. He said many Bollywood films did not deserve the nationaward. He said directors must take note of the fall in quality of filmmaking. For poor people with diabetes, fighting the lifestyle disease can be a big strain on their meagre finances. They cannot afford the out-of-pocket expenditure the disease requires. For them, its a choice between medication and their daily bread. More often than not, they choose the latter. As a result, they skip doses of medication and eventually drop out of treatment. Poor diabetics in villages also worry about availability of drugs and travel expenses. Consider the case of 45-year-old Rathnamma (name changed), a resident of KG Halli. Diagnosed with having diabetes years ago, she has been taking medicines on and off. She depends on her daily savings to buy medicines. I think twice before buying Rs 10 worth of tablets. I can use those Rs 10 to buy coconut and make chutney, she said. Many things come in the way of treatment for poor diabetics. From repaying loans to providing the daily essentials, they have several other more important things to pay for from their meagre income, found a study conducted by the Institute of Public Health in KG Halli, a poor neighbourhood of Bengaluru. Health insurance Though health insurance policies and government schemes cover several in-patient procedures, they offer little to patients of non-communicable diseases. The survey found that more than 75% of the 9,000 people covered live below Rs 110 a day, said Dr Upendra Bhojani, faculty member, Institute of Public Health. The urban poor spend Rs 300-400 a month (if diabetes is in the initial stage) and Rs 5,000 if they have associated complications. Poor diabetics often cannot get medicines available at government hospitals at lower prices or free of charge. Those from rural areas have to travel a distance to get medicines from district hospitals, said Dr Riyaz Basha, associate professor, department of community medicine, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. That means loss of daily wage. Travel time is another deterring factor. Diabetes expenditure Diabetics need to spend Rs 100 for tablets each time they undergo a blood sugar test (once in 15 days) besides Rs 50 on travel. Injections will cost Rs 300 to Rs 1,600 a month. A needle costs Rs six. Dr Basha said the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke could help poor diabetics if there was a good co-ordination mechanism. Burglars stole Rs 6 lakh in cash and 520-gram gold jewellery from a house in JC Nagar, northcentral Bengaluru, the police said. Taleef Ahmed, who runs a printing press in Vyalikaval, said he had kept the valuables in the cupboard. On April 4, he opened the cupboard and found the cash and jewellery missing. He checked other cupboards and rooms but could not find them. He checked with his family members but no one had a clue. He suspects workers who were hired for his sisters wedding that day. On Wednesday, he lodged a complaint at the JC Nagar police station. The police said they were questioning the workers hired by the family. A team of volunteers from People for Animals (PFA) rescued and rehabilitated a displaced jungle cat from Yelahanka New Town in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. The PFA received a call around midnight on Tuesday from a resident who had gone searching for his missing turkey. Based on a complaint from residents, rescuers Somu, Harish and Pavan rushed to Yelahanka New Town equipped with a catcher and kennel. They found the jungle cat inside a sewage passageway. The informer said he found the cat preying on the bird. Out of fear, he had closed the other end of the tunnel with plywood planks and alerted the PFA shelter. The PFA team placed the kennel inside the passageway to minimise the risk of being attacked by the adult jungle cat. The rescuers then placed wooden planks to close the gaps between the cat and the kennel. After nearly two hours of repeated attempts, the rescuers were able to get the cat into the kennel. At one point, the jungle cat was inside the kennel. By the time we tried to close the lid, the swift animal escaped. This happened twice. We were no match for its reflexes and dexterity, said Harish. Jungle cats are a rare sighting and in nearly three years, only three other adult jungle cats have been rescued by PFA. As the cat was healthy, it was released into a conducive habitat away from human habitation on Wednesday, Harish added. The state police chief has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe a multi-crore financial scam in a city-based private firm. As many as 11 officials of Metal Closures Private Limited, including its chief finance officer (CFO) and staff of a consortium of nationalised banks such as SBI, Punjab National Bank, Corporation Bank and UCO Bank, have been accused of misappropriating the companys funds worth Rs 200 crore. The police have taken up cases of violation of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, conspiracy, cheating, theft and the Prevention of Corruption of Act. We have received an order to probe the case from the Director General and Inspector General of Police Om Prakash. We will form a team, unearth the nexus and financial losses and take stringent action against the suspects, IGP (Economic Offences) Hemanth Nimbalkar told Deccan Herald. Prashanth Hegde, managing director of Metal Closures, lodged a complaint with the Ashoknagar police on July 22, 2015. He had named CFO Mahesh, DCFO Yogesh K Ural, AGM (accounts) Achchut KS, secretary to MD Bharathi B S, executive Vinod Kumar, senior manager (Finance) Rajendra B R, AGM (Finance) Prahalada Rao, senior manager (Imports) Roney Jacob DSouza, AGM (Materials) Nagesh, Manjunath, Vijay and others. The police top brass decided to order a CID probe considering the huge financial misappropriation, the CID police said. Metal Closures, manufacturer of packing products for a number of international brands in food, beverages, battery, jackets, flash torches, shoe care, etc, had three manufacturing units in Bengaluru (1977), Kunigal (1992) and Himachal Pradesh (2006). Things were fine till Adishesha was the CFO but they went awry months after Mahesh took over. Prashanth Hegde felt the shortage of working capital and took stock of the situation and was shocked to see huge misappropriation, police said. The suspects used Rs 75 crore as a letter of credit, placed orders using duplicate documents, procured materials from Japan and China and sold them to rival firms and others. They forged Hegdes signature and other documents, connived with bank officials and diverted the funds. They also used the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) facility and transferred funds, said the cops. The bankers tried to fix accountability on me when I raised the matter with them. They violated all norms and sanctioned funds based on forged cheques and documents. There was no action by the bank even after complaints to the chief vigilance officers of all the banks. Finally, I moved the Debt Recovery Tribunal against the banks and sought claims. I lodged the complaint with the Ashoknagar police as the suspects started threatening me, Hedge told Deccan Herald. The police arrested Mahesh and he was remanded in judicial custody. Due to the financial misappropriation, all the three units were shut down and about 750 employees lost their jobs. The employees now anticipate a speedy probe by the CID and action against the culprits so that the three units are restarted and they get back to work. Chief Secretary Arvind Jadhav on Wednesday submitted to the High Court that State government is planning to amend the Karnataka Police Act to bring the District Police Complaint Authorities (DPCAs) under the chairmanship of the deputy commissioner (DC) instead of the regional commissioner. In an affidavit, the chief secretary has stated that the government has also proposed to change eligibility of member of Retired Civil Servants from not below the rank of joint secretary to government to 'not below the rank of Grade-1 Tahasildar. The proposed amendment will be brought before the Legislature in the next session. Jadhav, in the affidavit, has stated that the government has already decided to provide office space for the DPCAs in the DC office respective districts. In case the office space is not available, action would be taken to identify alternative buildings to locate the DPCA there. Further, with regard to the relocation of the State Police Complaint Authority (SPCA), an alternative location has been identified at the multistoried buildings, which is easily accessible to the general public. The SPCA office is currently based at the Vikasa Soudha building. Justice A N Venugopala Gowda recorded the statement made in the affidavit, however, he expressed his displeasure saying that he was not completely satisfied with the steps taken by the government in creating the SPCA and the DPCAs. The bench further observed Its been close to 10 years now since the Supreme Court has taken the initiative to set up police complaint authority, but the state government is woken up now. The bench directed the government to comply with the orders made during the previous hearing to setup the SPCAs and DPCAs and submit an action taken report in the next hearing on April 28, 2016. Ted Cruz is emerging as the Republican favorite to win Colorado after he captured the states first six national delegates and leads his rivals into this weeks party convention with the most pledged support. Donald Trump is a distant second, according to early results, and his supporters are outnumbered among the GOP activists vying for national delegate seats at the Cleveland convention. John Kasich, meanwhile, is scrambling to make a mark. The candidates are shifting their attention to Colorado this week, where an intense behind-the-scenes campaign is underway for the states 37 delegates. Cruz will speak at the party convention, and Trump is expected to attend. Typically, when we get our delegates selected, theres a presumptive candidate, said state GOP chairman Steve House. But this year, he added, they get to have a real say. Colorado played no role in the early months of the presidential contest after state Republican leaders canceled the presidential straw poll to allow its delegates to remain unbound. But Trumps struggle to secure the 1,237 delegates needed for the partys nomination puts the state in a new light. It went from Colorado was getting left out to Colorado being a hot spot, said Andrew Boucher, an adviser to the Kasich campaign on convention strategy. There are so few unbound delegates heading to Cleveland that Colorado presents a unique opportunity. The state Republican Party awards three delegates in each of the seven congressional districts and another 13 at the convention Saturday in Colorado Springs. The three remaining delegates are unbound party leaders. Ahead of the state convention, it appears Cruz has the edge among the party activists competing for one of the national delegate slots. About 40 percent of potential delegates are pledged to Cruz, according to an analysis of the delegate pool provided by the state Republican Party on Monday, compared to just less than 10 percent for Trump and 2 percent for Kasich. Nearly half are unpledged, though most will declare a favored candidate in the end. A total of 19 national delegates are needed to claim victory in Colorado. The Cruz campaign won the first six national delegates awarded at two congressional district conventions Saturday and claimed all but two alternates who ran unpledged to a candidate. The Texas senator entered both contests with the most support from potential delegates and asked his followers to coalesce behind three campaign-endorsed candidates. At the 1st Congressional District convention in Littleton, about 100 party activists competed for the three delegate and three alternate seats. A significant number of potential delegates ran unpledged but expressed support for a particular candidate. Each gave a 30-second pitch that showcased the volatile nature of the race. At one point, the local sheriff had to stand between Cruz and Trump supporters, who were engaged in a heated shouting match. Im a conservative and its time to make a stand. So Im pledged to Ted Cruz, said Ronald Adams, a delegate candidate. One reason is because Donald Trump is like Forrest Gumps box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get. A minute later, Kevin Kijewski, a superintendent of Catholic schools at the Archdiocese of Denver, said: I want to beat Hillary Clinton this November. We have to unify. A vote for Cruz is a vote for Hillary. Vote Trump. The crowd booed and hissed at each speech. The overwhelming win for Cruz showcased the campaigns months-long efforts to garner support with targeted robocalls and e-mails to delegates and pick slates of candidates that could win the most votes at conventions. The Cruz campaign was working since January getting folks to go to their caucuses and elect Cruz supporters, said U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, the Colorado campaign chairman. We have been spending a lot of time to build a level of support from the grassroots. The system gives far more influence to party insiders and conservative interest groups, such as the Gun Owners of America and the Faith and Freedom Coalition that helped to push Cruz to the top. The Kasich campaign is trying to make inroads in Colorado with volunteer phone calls that target Rubio supporters and other uncommitted delegates. We are reaching out to delegates to the convention and the district convention to make the pitch for Gov. Kasich, said Boucher, a former Colorado-based strategist. The pitch is very simple: If John Kasich is the nominee, the Republicans will win the White House in November. The Trump campaign is relying on scattered supporters across Colorado to organize themselves ahead of the convention and paid staff based outside the state. Becky Mizel, a prominent Trump backer and former Pueblo County GOP chairwoman, said the billionaire businessmans support is underestimated in the number of convention delegates. A lot of the Trump supporters are independent voters or Republicans who have not really been a part of the process so they wont necessarily be the people who are at the state assembly, she said. I always tell Trump supporters to gird your loins, because youll be accused of not being a Christian, not being a conservative, youll be called every name in the book. Richard Jordan, an El Paso County Republican who is campaigning for a delegate seat, said he is undeterred in his support for Trump. Ive been contacted by about two or three different folks with the Cruz campaign, said Jordan, a 77-year-old Navy retiree. They wanted my support for Cruz, and I just told them, No way. They just told me how great he was, which just shows Cruz is desperate to win. John Johnson, a 61-year-old businessman in Parachute, remains pledged to Ben Carson, even though the candidate suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. Mine is strictly a protest vote because of what I think has become a disrespectful spectacle, he said of the GOP race. John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or @ByJohnFrank ATHENS, Greece A controversial European Union plan to stem the flow of refugees began Monday with the deportation of more than 200 people from Greek islands to Turkey, despite concerns over human rights and criticism that Europe was turning its back on refugees. In all, 202 people from 11 nations 191 men and 11 women were sent back. They included 130 Pakistanis, 42 Afghans, 10 Iranians, five Congolese, four Sri Lankans, three Bangladeshis, three from India, and one each from Iraq, Somalia and Ivory Coast, as well as two Syrians who Greek authorities said had asked to be sent back. Human rights groups expressed concern over the operation. The returns underway this morning in the Aegean are the symbolic start of the potential disastrous undoing of Europes commitment to protecting refugees, said Amnesty Internationals deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik. Urgent key questions are: What process is everyone going through and what will become of them after their return? Judith Sunderland, acting deputy Europe director at Human Rights Watch, said trying to close the Aegean migration route by shipping people back to uncertain fates in Turkey will only make them seek potentially more dangerous and expensive ways to reach the EU. It is completely disingenuous to say that the EU-Turkey deal is about saving lives, Sunderland said. Conducting serious search-and-rescue operations at sea, doing large-scale, unconditional resettlement, creating legal migration pathways these policies would save lives. European officials insist the EU-Turkey agreement is the only way to deter people from heading to Greece from the nearby Turkish coast a brief but perilous trip that has cost many lives and to stop what was an almost uncontrolled flow of hundreds of thousands of people heading into Europes prosperous heartland. Under the deal, those who arrived on or after March 20 will be sent back to Turkey unless they qualify for asylum. For every Syrian returned, Europe will take a Syrian to be resettled in an EU country. Despite the deal, hundreds have persisted in making the Aegean crossing, although the numbers are far lower than the thousands who had earlier arrived daily. On Monday, Greek authorities said they had registered 339 new arrivals over the past 24 hours. Even Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country agreed to the deal in return for an EU pledge of 3 billion euros to handle the refugee crisis, lashed out at Europe for turning its back on refugees and restricting the numbers they will accept. Did we turn Syrians back? No, we didnt, but they did, he said of EU countries. By way of placing razor wire, they didnt let these people into their countries. We see whos dying on the Aegean Sea. But the number of those rescued by us on the Aegean Sea is 100,000. Turkey, home to 2.7 million Syrian refugees, has come under criticism for not cracking down on the smugglers who have ferried hundreds of thousands across to Greek islands, often with deadly results. Under the deal, Turkey will also see visa liberalization talks and EU membership negotiations speeded up. As part of the other half of the plan, 32 Syrian refugees from Turkey were flying into Germany to be resettled, while another 11 arrived in Finland. Balkan and European countries began restricting the flows of refugees and migrants through their borders earlier this year, and shut them completely in early March. More than 52,000 are now stranded in Greece. NBC News Education Nation, which retreated from its annual splashy New York City confabs on school issues after 2013, has been quietly focusing on something called the Parent Toolkit . Thats a collection of mostly soft education features such as how to get kids moving and talking to kids about emotions. But next week, Education Nation is teaming with NBCs Baltimore affiliate, WBAL-TV, for a slightly grittier projecta two-hour forum timed to the anniversary of the death of Freddie Gray. The 25-year-old African-American man died April 19, 2015, seven days after falling into a coma during a ride in a Baltimore Police van while in custody for allegedly carrying an illegal switchblade. Demonstrations following Grays death turned destructive. Six Baltimore police officers have been charged in relation to the death. The death of Freddie Gray and the unrest that followed had a profound impact on the city as a whole, but especially on its students, says the description of panel titled Education as Empowerment. With the one-year anniversary of the event approaching, this panel will look at how schools and the community are helping Baltimore students not only move forward, but feel empowered, the Education Nation release says. NBC News Chief Education Correspondent Rehema Ellis will moderate the panels, joined by WBAL education reporter Tim Tooten. Other panels will address parent involvement, student health, emotional and social development, school equity, and higher education. The forum is scheduled for Thursday, April 14, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Arts Meyerhoff Auditorium. The forum will be live-streamed on ParentToolkit.com and NBCLearn.com, and will be broadcast live in Baltimore on WBAL. CENTENNIAL A man accused of fatally shooting a doctor and wounding two women including his wife was combative in court Tuesday, at times interrupting the judge and shouting at public defenders assigned to represent him. Kevin Lee Lyons, who turned 46 on Saturday, is suspected of first-degree murder and is being held at the Arapahoe County jail without bond. Lyons is accused in a rampage across his Centennial neighborhood on Monday afternoon that centered around his home on the 6100 block of East Long Circle South, neighbors and authorities say. The spree left two homes across the street peppered with bullet holes and evidence strewn over the span of a block. Officials say Lyons faces three counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder of a peace officer, two counts of first-degree assault and one count of felony menacing. Lyons, shackled and clad in red jail clothes, interrupted District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. so many times the judge at one point told him: We cant both talk at the same time. A visibly frustrated Samour added: Im not playing games. Lyons contended that the two public defenders he appeared alongside were not his lawyers and said that instead he had hired John Elways attorney. He asked to be returned to his cell until his private counsel arrived. Youre not my representation, bro! the steel-haired suspect shouted at one of the public defenders. I dont even know you! A public defender told Samour he had concerns about Lyons mental health. Gods got this, Lyons said at one point during the hearing . The Arapahoe County Sheriffs Office, which is investigating the case, identified the man killed in the rampage as 65-year-old Kenneth R. Atkinson. He was taken to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead. The county coroners office said Atkinson died of two gunshot wounds one to his torso and the other to his head. Atkinson was a married, well-respected doctor who had children and grandchildren, those who knew him said. Many times there were patients who couldnt pay, said Mari Delapp, who worked for Atkinson. He would see that person. He would work it out or do it for nothing. Neighbors say Atkinson was gunned down as he ran out of his home to help the wounded women. Authorities identified them as Lyons wife, 44-year-old Elizabeth L. Lyons, and 46-year-old Laurie H. Juergens. Authorities said both are expected to fully recover. Lyons was arrested safely by sheriffs deputies near the scene. Neighborhood residents said he is a married father of three children who worked in construction. Roxie Pomarico, who lives adjacent to Lyons, said he spoke to the accused gunman moments before the shootings began. Pomarico said Lyons told him he was painting doors and didnt appear to be acting out of the ordinary. Then, all of the sudden, a volley of gunshots rang out. I just went in a dark room and hid, Pomarico said. Bill Krieg said he stuck his head out the front door when the chaos erupted to find Lyons screaming and firing a gun at a home across the street. He would fire in a quick succession and then stop for a minute and either reload or head somewhere else, Krieg said. Then he would start shooting some more. Krieg said Lyons continued firing even after law enforcement arrived. Investigators were still at the crime scene Tuesday taking pictures and collecting evidence. A motive has not been released. That will be some time, Undersheriff Louie Perea said. During Tuesdays hearing, Lyons objected to Samours decision to seal arrest documents in the case, saying: I want this in the press! Lyons also said he wanted news cameras to capture his likeness. You just made something classified that should be public! Lyons called out to Samour. Prosecutors said they plan to file formal charges on Friday after Samour ruled there was probable cause to keep Lyons jailed. During the hearing, a group of people sat with victims advocates from the district attorneys office and cried at times. Prosecutors declined to speak at length about the case afterward. Theres not much I can say, Assistant District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told reporters. Neighbors said Lyons is the owner of KLL Construction, a general contracting company. State records show Lyons failed to appear in an Arapahoe County civil case in 2013. Otherwise, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, he did not have any recorded run-ins with the law in the Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul Staff writer Tom McGhee contributed to this report. A bill to limit red-light cameras to major streets, school zones and roadwork areas is tied up in the Colorado statehouse as Republicans push Democrats to expand the limits to photo radar, as well. The bills sponsor, Rep. Steve Lebsock, a Democrat from Thornton, said expanding the bill, however, would violate the state constitution, as it would no longer fit the single subject rule for state laws. In Colorado, bills must stick to the single subject in their titles, and in this case the bill is titled Restricting the Use of Red Light Cameras. Such a bill also would risk a veto from Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper vetoed two related bills last year, one that banned both devices and one that would have allowed local residents to vote on banning them. The governor said that when used correctly, both make roads safer, as he discussed the red-light limits Democrats are trying to pass this year. Hickenlooper last week told reporters that he would probably again veto a bill similar to last years legislation. The National Motorists Association and other opponents argue that the data doesnt support that roads are made safer, but merely raise revenue for cities. The devices brought in $14.2 million in fines for the 10 local governments that used them in Colorado in 2014. House Bill 1231 is headed to a conference committee to try to work out a compromise. House Republicans first urged Democrats to accept the expanded Senate version Monday. This is an incredibly popular version of the bill, said Rep. Patrick Neville, a Republican from Castle Rock. This is what people are asking us for. This is what our constituents want. Rep. Jovan Melton, an Aurora Democrat, said adding a second subject to the bill would be a waste of time and legal fees. Police have arrested two men including one whom they followed to Texas in connection with a northeast Denver shooting that killed an 18-year-old last month. The shooting happened on March 9 near Bruce Randolph Avenue and Cherry Street. According to a news release from the Denver district attorneys office, when police responded they found two victims with gunshot wounds inside a car. Prosecutors allege that Keon Nixon, 24, and Eli Mayfield, 18, knew the victims and were involved in the shooting. Both men have been charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder. Tarell Burton, was identified as the 18-year-old who died from multiple gunshot wounds. The woman, who was injured, was not identified. Police found and arrested Nixon last month in Fort Worth. The Star-Telegram in Fort Worth reported that police were waiting for Nixon and arrested him as he got off a Greyhound bus. Mayfield was arrested in Denver last week. Both men are being held without bond. Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost.com or @yeseniarobles A controversial bill seeking to address teen sexting failed in a close committee vote Tuesday, with lawmakers citing concerns about the legislations potential impact on victims and whether or not the practice should be barred by law. The House Public Health Care and Human Services Committee rejected House Bill 1058 by a 7-6 vote. The committees members, however, left open the possibility it could be brought up again later in the session, which ends May 11. The bipartisan legislation sought to make Colorado one of about two dozen states with a juvenile sexting-specific misdemeanor or petty offense law. Activists, however, said that while the bill was a good start, it didnt do enough to protect victims. They said it also vilified the consensual exchange of nude images and tried to halt a practice that cannot be stopped. Ultimately, legislators embraced those concerns. Were legislating on something that we think is kind of icky, said Rep. Max Tyler, a Democrat from Lakewood. I dont think we understand how important that is or not important that is. Tyler added that he didnt think the legislation was a solution. The bills main sponsor, Rep. Yuelin Willet, R-Grand Junction, warned before the legislation was rejected that lawmakers were effectively kicking the issue down the road. Current statutes can hand a teen who sexts a felony child pornography conviction that comes with a mandatory sex offender registration and a potential lifetime criminal record. Authorities say the law, as it stands, offers limited options when it comes to weighing the seriousness of the issue and the weight of a potential conviction. Willet drafted the legislation after the sexting scandal that involved scores of middle school and high school students in Canon City, who took and traded nude photos of one another. At a news conference announcing no charges would be filed against the children involved, school district Superintendent George Welsh said laws force prosecutors to use analog rules to deal with a digital issue. There is no greater priority for government than keeping its citizens safe. Ensuring that our criminal justice system produces the best possible outcomes requires not just vigilance but also the flexibility to adjust our approach as new evidence emerges. Fortunately, Colorados leaders understand this. Over the past two years they have enacted a series of smart, comprehensive reforms to improve public safety by strengthening the states parole system. Recently, these reforms have come under attack by critics who have linked their passage to several widely publicized episodes involving parolees. The most serious case involved Calvin Johnson, a Denver parolee who has been charged with the murder of a homeless man, Teodoro Leon III, on New Years Day. Such events are unquestionably tragic, and Gov. John Hickenlooper has responded appropriately by asking the Department of Corrections to review its policies and recommend any needed adjustments. But whats missing from this discussion is one crucial fact: despite these isolated cases, the data clearly show Colorados parole system is on the right track toward making communities safer for all. Let us share some background on how our state got to this point. For years Colorado has struggled with a high failure rate among its parolees. What that means is a large percentage of people on parole were unsuccessful, typically because they broke the rules governing their release and landed back in prison. These parole revocations have been a key dynamic driving Colorados prison population upward for decades, leading to a corresponding jump in taxpayer costs. While some parolees commit new crimes, a large proportion of those returned to prison are sent back for technical violations, such as a failed drug test or missed appointment with a supervising officer. Last year, for example, such technical violators accounted for 37 percent of all people admitted to prison. Overall, Colorados recidivism rate has been disappointingly high for far too long, with almost half of all former offenders returning to prison within three years of their release. As such numbers indicate, a change was needed and a change occurred, beginning soon after the murder of Department of Corrections Director Tom Clements in March 2013. The first phase of reform came with 2014s House Bill 1355, which passed with strong bipartisan support in the Senate (32-3) and House (47-15) and was based on input from the National Institute of Corrections. The legislation fortified the parole system through staff increases, enhanced training, equipment upgrades and support for community-based services and treatment programs proven to help parolees succeed upon release. In 2015, a second reform bill, Senate Bill 124, passed both chambers unanimously. This legislation was based on the latest science and best practices about what works to change criminal behavior and on reforms made in other states that produced very positive results. Specifically, the bill was anchored in studies showing that swift, certain and proportional sanctions, combined with treatment addressing drug and alcohol dependency and other criminal risk factors, are most effective in reducing parolee failures and thereby enhancing public safety and cutting taxpayer costs. That formula has been most powerfully demonstrated in Hawaii, where a gold-standard evaluation of the H.O.P.E program found significant declines in recidivism by using short commitments to jail rather than revocation to prison as the response to probationers technical violations. Courts in other states, including Alaska, Arkansas, Nevada and Oregon, have since adopted the model, and research strongly supports the effectiveness of its core principles. So what have these two waves of parole reform brought Colorado thus far? The results are encouraging. Most importantly, the state is making steady progress on its problem of parolee failure. During the last fiscal year, the number of parolees returned to prison on a technical violation dropped 11 percent, while readmissions for a new felony conviction declined by 5 percent. So far, the picture looks even brighter for this fiscal year, which ends July 1. The number of people re-incarcerated for a technical parole violation is down 18 percent to date, while readmissions for a new felony conviction have dropped 8 percent. Is there room for improvement? No doubt and we trust that the governors team will identify weaknesses in the system and remedy them as needed. That is how it should be. But the bottom line is this: While there will always be isolated tragedies that grab headlines, Colorado was in dire need of parole system reform, and our state leaders did the right thing for public safety by adopting it. After decades of prison growth, we now have less incarceration and less crime. Thats exactly the kind of win-win we need to see more of in public policy, and something all Coloradans should celebrate. Republican B.J. Nikkel is a former Colorado state representative. Rep. Pete Lee, a Democrat, represents District 18 in the state House. To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by e-mail or mail. PHOENIX The Rockies came to a political consensus in their Chase Field clubhouse before Tuesdays game against the Diamondbacks. They nearly all wore the same T-shirt, a slogan printed in large type on the front. PARRA FOR PRESIDENT Gerardo Parra, in his Rockies debut Monday, helped his poll numbers by knocking three doubles in a 10-5 rout of Arizona. But what position is he running for? President of Colorado? President of the world? President of the clubhouse? President of something, Parra said, laughing, before he handed out more T-shirts. Its my opportunity to be president. I want to think of something good for the team. His presence as the Rockies newest left fielder is good enough for now. His three doubles, off three Arizona pitchers including ace Zack Greinke, might have been overshadowed by Trevor Storys two home runs. But he also stole third base off Greinke and scored a run. Rockies Mailbag: Pose a question for Patrick Saunders Im happy to be here. I know its the first game. We have a lot more season to play. I just have to keep playing hard, Parra said. Parra walked to the plate Monday to a loud ovation from Arizona fans. He made his debut in 2009 with the Diamondbacks and played six seasons for them. Just 28 years old, hes now playing for a fourth team in his ninth season. The Rockies, who signed him to a three-year contract in January, believe he can help them reimagine how to win games. Were more multidimensional than we have been, manager Walt Weiss said. Were not as heavy-footed. We were station-to-station a lot last year. Parra, whose doubles barrage Monday included a 400-foot line drive that fell about 10 feet shy of a home run to straight-away center field, isnt known for his power. But the Rockies, as least on opening night, werent lacking for big bats. I still believe we can slug, Weiss said. And we will slug. Instant relief. After Jorge De La Rosa got the hook in the fifth inning Monday, Weiss forced two pitchers into unusual appearances. They both came through. Justin Miller inherited the bases loaded, but pitched out of it, then returned for another three outs. Left-hander Boone Logan pitched 1 innings. Neither allowed a run. Logan didnt allow a hit. So much for left-handed special situations, Logan said. He was reduced to facing lefty hitters last season in low-leverage situations. But Weiss went to him for an extended outing, with right and left batters, for the first time with the Rockies, the manager said. History made. Trevor Story got more than 100 text messages after his two home run debut Monday. The rookie shortstop had his first home run ball retrieved, but the second one slipped away. Yeah, I care about the history, said Story, who was the first player to homer twice in a debut on opening day. Any time you do something thats never been done, its special. It sounds cliche, but I was most excited that we won last night. Gray update. Jon Gray (abdominal strain) threw three innings of live batting practice Monday, with 55 pitches, but hes waiting for a side session Wednesday before the Rockies plan out his rehab assignment. It doesnt hurt when I pitch, but I can feel it in other movements, Gray said. Sitting up, things like that, but anything rotational doesnt hurt. Injury update. Left-handed pitcher Tyler Anderson (oblique strain) is throwing long toss. Left-hander Tyler Matzek (performance anxiety) has been throwing bullpen sessions, but there is no plan yet for him to pitch in games. Looking ahead Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (did not pitch in 2015) at Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (6-5, 3.60 in 2015), 1:40 p.m Wednesday, ROOT; 850 AM This is a big game for Chatwood, the bulldog-tough right-hander who has not pitched in a major-league game since April 29, 2014, at Chase Field. He underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career in July 2014. Chatwood showed excellent command during spring training, going 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA in five games (four starts). Corbin had an outstanding spring, compiling a 1.71 ERA in five Cactus League starts. He had Tommy John surgery in March 2014 and returned to the mound last July. Corbin has tamed Rockies bats, going 5-0 with a 3.14 ERA over his last eight starts against them. Thursday: Off Friday: Padres RHP Colin Rea (2-2, 4.26 ERA in 2015) at Rockies RHP Jordan Lyles (2-5, 5.14), 2:10 p.m., ROOT Saturday: Padres LHP Drew Pomeranz (5-6, 3.66 in 2015) at Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa (0-0, 9.64), 6:10 p.m., ROOT Patrick Saunders, The Denver Post Today, Benjamin Pietro Marcus , Research Fellow with the Religious Freedom Center, part of the Newseum Institute, shares strategies for including religion in your classroom. Teachers committed to global education increasingly understand the urgency of teaching about religion in the context of contemporary social and political life. Yet not everyone agreesdespite books and reports that explain why learning about religion is both constitutional and critically important for responsible citizenship in a diverse nation. By reminding skeptics that the world has seen an increase in social hostilities related to religion since the atrocities of September 11including 500 percent more hate crimes against Muslims per year in the USperhaps they will recognize that religious literacy education is a key tool for preventing and reducing religion-related violence. Instead of repeating the why of religious literacy education, this article provides suggestions for the how. After a brief review of the best existing guidelines for teaching about religion, we will explore a lesser-known, valuable framework for teaching about religious identity. Teaching about Religion In 2010 the American Academy of Religion (AAR) published Guidelines for Teaching about Religion in K-12 Public Schools in the United States . This excellent resource outlines three premises about religion, listed below along with their corresponding guiding questions and sample lessons. For additional resources visit the Pluralism Project and the Religious Literacy Project websites. 1. Religions are internally diverse, not homogeneous. People with the same religious affiliation often hold different beliefs and behave in different ways. Teachers should encourage students to compare and contrast the ways people within a specific religious tradition (e.g., Christianity)and even within a different branch (e.g., Protestantism) or denomination (e.g., Baptist)describe their beliefs and practices. Some guiding questions for students might be: Is a specific religious tradition the same for all people in all places? What are the differences observed among people who claim the same religious affiliation? Lesson Idea: In a unit about British colonialism, a 9th grade history teacher asks students to research the history of the word Hinduism. Teachers provide primary and secondary sources that describe Hindu beliefs and practices during the colonial period. Students write argumentative essays about whether it is more appropriate to speak of a single Hinduism or of multiple Hindu traditions. 2. Religions are dynamic and changing, not static and fixed. The beliefs and behaviors that characterize a religious community change over time. Teachers should encourage students to consider how and why the beliefs and practices of a religious tradition (e.g., Judaism) and its sub-communities (e.g., Reconstructionism) might change as people who practice that religious tradition wrestle with external forces and events (e.g., the Holocaust). Guiding Questions: How has a specific religious tradition changed over time? In what ways does a religious tradition remain the same? Lesson Idea: In a unit about contemporary global affairs, an 8th grade social studies teacher asks students to research major leaderspolitical, religious, business, etc.and compare them with their predecessors. The teacher wants students to understand how leaders and major institutions adapt in a changing world. As an example, the whole class reads about the leadership styles of the current Dalai Lama and the 13th Dalai Lama, including their interpretations of Buddhism and relationships to the Tibetan Buddhist community. Pairs of students write a list of similarities and differences between the two. Students share with the class in pairs. 3. Religions are embedded in cultures, not isolated from them. Religions influence and are influenced by culture. Religious communities do not exist in a vacuum. Members of religious communities interpret and reinterpret their religious traditions as they respond to changing social, economic, political, and other conditions. Religious communities or individuals also play a role in shaping culture. Teachers should encourage students to examine how religious communities react to and influence the world around them. Guiding Questions: In what ways is a religious tradition affected by culture, politics, economics, etc.? In what ways does a religious tradition affect culture in a specific time and place? Lesson Idea: In an 11th grade social studies unit about globalization, a teacher divides students into groups to research Muslim communities in contemporary Nigeria, Indonesia, Iraq, France, and the United States. In a cafe conversation format, students representing different countries discuss how local cultural norms affect interpretations of what it means to be Muslim and how dominant interpretations of Islam affect culture and politics. Teaching about Religious Identity If the AAR Guidelines name three facts about religion, the 3B Framework explains those facts by analyzing how people experience religion in their own lives. According to the 3B Frameworka synthesis of the research of numerous scholars including Jonathan Haidt , Vassilis Saroglou , and myselfpeople construct their religious identities in different ways based on how much they value belief, behavior, and experiences of belonging. Teachers should help students investigate not only what religious communities and individuals believe but also how they act (behaviors) and create community (belonging). Students should consider why a religious community or individual prioritizes believing a certain set of ideas, behaving in certain ways, or devoting oneself to a certain community. Below are guiding questions and lesson ideas for investigating religious identity in the classroom. 1. Belief Sacred beliefsincluding those about the ultimate nature of deities or the universecan provide reasons for behaving a certain way or for joining a religious community. Students should learn how specific theologies, doctrines, and scriptures (e.g., Quran) can influence behaviors (e.g., daily prayer) and a sense of belonging to a specific community (e.g., Muslims). Teachers should remind students that not all members of a community hold the same beliefs, and the ways religious communities interpret those beliefs change over time. Guiding Questions: What theologies, doctrines, sacred narratives, social and ethical values, and holy texts do individuals and institutions refer to when speaking about their beliefs? How do religious beliefs influence behaviors and create communities of belonging? Example: In a longer unit about religion in the United States, a 12th grade social studies teacher asks students to analyze two sourcesa primary text written by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church, which says that only men can act as priests, and a recent poll which shows that a majority of American Catholics support the ordination of women. Students individually describe how the primary text justifies reserving the priesthood for men. Then they develop hypotheses about why a majority of American Catholics disagree with the Church on this issue yet continue to claim affiliation with the Roman Catholic Church. Students discuss their hypotheses in pairs before sharing with the class. 2. Behavior For some religious individuals, acting a certain wayincluding through rites, rituals, holidays, or daily devotional practicescreates belief and fosters a sense of community. In other words, a religious (e.g., Buddhist) individual may participate in certain actions (e.g., seated meditation), and through that activity, she may come to believe in a certain set of ideas (e.g., impermanence) and create a community with others who engage in the same practices (e.g., Zen Buddhists). Students should note how this behavior-centric way of creating a religious identity differs from a belief-centric mode of religious identity formation. Guiding Questions: What are important rites, rituals, and practices associated with daily life and major life milestones that shape religious behavior? How do behaviors create beliefs and a sense of belonging to a community? Example: As part of a 7th grade social studies unit about adolescence in America, a teacher asks groups of students to examine religious rites and rituals to mark the end of childhood. One group may investigate Jewish rites including the celebration of the bar or bat mitzvah in the 2000s and in the 1950s. Students may use first-person accounts, articles, or even video documentaries. After a close reading (or viewing) of each source, groups analyze the meaning behind the ceremony, how participation might affect belief or a sense of belonging to a certain community, and why the format of the ceremony may vary depending on year, gender, or community (i.e., Orthodox, Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative, or Humanist). 3. Belonging Religious, racial, ethnic, familial, gender, sexual, and other identities affect the lived experiences of religious individuals and communities. It is critical to remember that the shared experiences of the communities with which we associate can affect our religious beliefs and behavior. Students should explore how the mix of a certain set of community markers (e.g., Hindu, South Asian, female, millennial, American) can affect the beliefs and behaviors of religious individuals. Guiding Questions: How do religious groups or sub-groups create a sense of community? What is the role of non-religious or cultural factors in the lived experiences of religious communities? How does belonging to a specific community affect the beliefs that constitute a worldview or the behaviors that are prescribed or proscribed? Example: As part of a unit about the civil rights era in a 10th grade history class, students read excerpts from sermons and other religious texts written by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rev. Dr. James Cone, and Rev. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. The teacher facilitates a Socratic seminar to discuss the relationship between belief about God, prescribed behavior vis-a-vis civil rights activism, and race in the United States in the 1960s. The teacher should ask students to consider why three Protestant Christians self-identify as such even though they disagree about particular beliefs and behaviors. Religious literacy is a core civic competency. Strong, constitutional lessons about religion belong in history, social studies, and literary arts public school classrooms. We can no longer afford to treat it as a luxury. Connect with Ben and Heather on Twitter. Note: On April 18 the author and his colleagues will host a Conference on Religion in Public Secondary Schools. Email bmarcus@newseum.org for conference details, notifications about future opportunities, or access to full lesson plans that utilize the 3B Framework. Image courtesy of Scott Sanders, staff photographer, Daily Herald. Washington The arduous work of coming up with accountability plans under the Every Student Succeeds Act took center stage as the National Association of State Boards of Education held its annual legislative conference this week, with workshops and a conversation about ESSA with U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. The new federal K-12 law, which goes into full effect in the 2017-18 school year, gives states more flexibility over school accountability systems and teacher evaluations, among other things. This is your chance to ensure that every one of your students are ready to seize the American dream, King told board members, encouraging them to incorporate social studies, the arts and social-emotional skills in their accountability systems. As I wrote about last week , state boards are being squeezed by state legislatures, departments of education, and local school districts as authority over key aspects of K-12 policy devolves from federal to state authority. At least 60 bills have been proposed this year that would either strip or amend state boards powers, according to Daniel Thatcher, a policy researcher at the National Conference of State Legislatures. As part of the conference, NASBE released a paper done with University of Kentuckys Center for Innovation in Education that reasserts state boards policy role and gives guidan23ce on the questions board members should ask themselves, their departments, and educators across their states. According to the paper, 31 state boards have authority over their state assessments and 45 have constitutional or legislative authority over state standards. State legislatures have a very important job, and our job is to make sure they swim in their own lane, NASBE Executive Director Kristen Amundson said Tuesday during a session on boards reasserting their power. Amundson and Gene Wilhoit, the executive director of University of Kentuckys Center for Innovation in Education, advised gathered board members to get their own house in order and lobby legislatures for state boards to retain control of state testing and standards. You need to be controlling that conversation with the legislature, Wilhoit said. NASBE is advising board members to assure that states are asking the following questions when choosing which test to use: Kentucky may be the latest state to step into the murky pool of teacher-dismissal reform, thanks to a report last weekend from the Lexington Herald Leader. The newspaper found through an examination of public records that many teachers who are recommended for firing or suspension in the state end up having those decisions reversed during their due process hearingsor are given a suspension or fine instead. As weve reported here at Education Week, the details of each states due process rules are enormously complicated and vary from state to state. In Kentucky, teachers have a right to a three-person tribunal not unlike those in California (which have been one of the targets of the Vergara v. California lawsuit). And as in New York, those tribunals tend to issue lesser punishments than what the district originally pursued. Predictably, this has led to a back and forth among interested parties. Kentucky school administrators support proposals to appoint just one hearing officer, but the unions contend that the current system is fairer to teachers. For more on teacher due process: Data centre provider Flexenclosure has received an order to supply 1,000 eSite power systems for IHS Towers sites in the Abuja region of central Nigeria. The order is a part of IHSs significantly larger green energy programme. This agreement is the largest eSite deal in Flexenclosures history, and will make IHSs Nigerian mobile network more sustainable as IHS tower sites will be powered by renewable energy solutions which rely heavily on solar energy. IHS is the largest mobile telecommunications infrastructure provider in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and with this eSite deployment it is pioneering the first large-scale deployment of solar powered towers in West Africa. Through mobile infrastructure, IHS is accelerating a mobile enabled economy across sub-Saharan Africa. IHS invests heavily in projects that improve energy efficiency to reduce the environmental impact of its operations and decrease its diesel consumption across its portfolio. eSite manufacturing is ongoing in Sweden and over 100 eSites are already fully up and running in Nigeria. Nigeria is the biggest telecommunication market and the second largest tower market in Africa. The mobile penetration rate is over 80%, with 151 million subscribers. IHS Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer William Saad said: We needed to be sure that we were deploying the best available power solution at our tower sites. Flexenclosure has successfully rolled out various large scale deployments and eSite has proven credentials operating in the toughest environments while delivering exceptional reductions in diesel-related costs and carbon emissions. eSite is a hybrid power system for base station sites in areas where grid power is either unreliable or unavailable. Combining battery, solar and genset power sources, eSite is designed to support 24/7 network uptime and cut diesel-related costs by up to 90%. eSite is also designed to be used in a shared tower environment where it can provide power to several mobile telecommunications base stations a critical requirement for IHS. Flexenclosure CEO David King said: In working with IHS, our corporate strategy is evolving from simply being an equipment provider to partnering with our customers over the long term to maximise site profitability. With a population of nearly 180 million people, increasing smartphone penetration and limited fixed line infrastructure, Nigerias vibrant wireless industry is poised for a sustained period of network investment and growth. Flexenclosure and IHS will work to roll out renewable energy solutions and diesel reduction initiatives enabling IHS to maintain unparalleled network uptime. Scientists have found a new way of determining the chances of developing type 2 diabetes by examining specific changes in a type of gene through a simple blood test. The risk of type 2 diabetes can be assessed through measurements of average blood glucose levels over time. But the predictive potential of this method is modest. Researchers from Swedens Lund University are now looking at whether its possible to measure the presence of DNA methylations which are chemical changes that control gene activity in four specific genes. This could predict who is at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, long before it occurs. Dr. Karl Bacos, a specialist in epigenetics at Lund University, said: This could motivate a person at risk to change their lifestyle. The hope is that this will be developed into a better way to predict the disease. The researchers found that the DNA methylations in the four genes increased based on age and this affected the activity of the genes. When these changes were copied in cultured beta cells, they had a positive effect on insulin secretion. Bacos explained: We could then see the same DNA methylation changes in the blood which was really cool. Blood samples were compared from participants of two separate studies, one Danish and one Finnish. These were then taken again a decade later. The Finnish participants who had higher levels of DNA methylation in their first sample had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes after 10 years. In the Danish participants, higher DNA methylation in their first sample was associated with higher insulin secretion in the second sample. All of the Danes were healthy on both occasions, but about one-third of the Finnish people had developed type 2 diabetes. Professor and research project manager Charlotte Ling said: Increased insulin secretion actually protects against type 2 diabetes. It could be the bodys way of protecting itself when other tissue becomes resistant to insulin, which often happens as we get older. You cannot change your genes and the risks that they entail, but epigenetics means that you can affect the DNA methylations, and thereby gene activity, through lifestyle choices. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications. Amid a recent rise in sexual misconduct cases involving teachers, the Clark County school district in Nevada is looking to implement a policy that restricts digital communication between students and teachers . An investigation by The Las Vegas Sun of teacher sex abuse cases in the Clark County district from 2005 to 2015 found that about half included private electronic communication between the teacher and the victimand around 80 percent of cases within the last five years. In addition, of the five teachers arrested on sexual misconduct charges since the investigation, four were found to have privately communicated with students (often voluminously) without the knowledge of their parents. Most cases that we work have a tie to social media, Clark County school district Police Sergeant Mitch Maciszak told the paper. The technology we battle on a daily basis is ever changing. Now, to combat the issue, the district is looking at ways that provide a safer way for students and teachers to communicate. CCSD is exploring multiple technology platforms and applications that allow students and teachers to communicate in a setting that protects both the students and staff members from inappropriate and private messaging, while still allowing a means for communicating critical information pertinent to academic achievement, district spokeswoman Michelle Booth reportedly said in a statement. The district has yet to offer specifics on how and when it will release a plan. Over the last few years, states and school districts across the country put in place measures that restrict or ban educators from communicating with students online. In 2009, Louisiana passed a law that required teachers and all other school employees to document any electronic interaction through nonschool-issued devices between students within 24 hours of exchange. The Dayton, Ohio school district banned teachers from friending or adding students on social-networking sites or sending texts or instant messages to students. The Folsom Cordova Unified School District in California adopted a policy that advises teachers to avoid contacting students privately on a social-media site or through text-messaging. Such policies have met mixed reactions, however. Critics argue that they jeopardize teachers ability to use social media tools for legitimate educational purposes and to communicate important information to students. In 2011, a Missouri law barring private electronic contact between teachers and students was repealed the same year after opponents said it violated First Amendment rights. Administrators in the McKinney Independent School District in Texas experienced an outcry from teachers, students, and parents after introducing a school policy that banned all electronic teacher-student communication . The feedback included examples of situations where personal electronic exchanges could be a valuable tool for educators. In the end, the district revised the policy to require employees to abide by a professional code of ethics. In place of regular text or online messaging services, many schools have turned to platforms like Remind and Classdojo that facilitate more secure and more visible teacher communications with students and parents. However, its not clear how often teachers are restricted to the use of such services. Photo by Flickr user Mariah Dietzler ; licensed under Creative Commons . More on teacher-student communication and sexual abuse in schools: These e-rickshaws are a great green alternative, especially for travelling short distances. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Stand up India initiative which aims at increasing entrepreneurship among people from the SC/ST community and women in India. He flagged off 5100 e-rickshaws under MUDRA Yojana and among these, 151 women were given e-rickshaws to ensure financial independence and help support their families better. These e-rickshaws can be booked via Ola and Freecharge and this collaboration comes under Digital India initiative. The transport service app Ola, launched e-rickshaw category in the Delhi NCR region and customers can book the electric vehicles on the app. In partnership with Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC), these will be sprawled across Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. Ola also plans to scale it up to Tier III cities and small towns. The base fare will cost Rs. 25 and Rs. 8 for every following km distance and the company will charge a 10% commission from the rickshaw pedallers. It will not charge convenience fee from the users. Ola and BMC will set-up and run skill development centres in small towns to enable continuous skilling and training for thousands of rickshaw driver-entrepreneurs. Digital payments company Freecharge lets you pay the e-rickshaw drivers directly using pay via chat option on their app. The drivers will register as a merchant at zero investment and register their banking details, The customers can use the chat-n-pay service to pay them directly without the hassle of shelling out the correct change from wallets. The new Quadro M5500 is not only the fastest mobilNvidia has unveiled a new SKU for high-end desktop replacement laptops - the Quadro M5500. The Nvidia Quadro e Quadro unit, but also meets the hardware requirements of HTC Vive and Oculus Rift VR headsets. Nvidia has unveiled a new SKU for high-end desktop replacement laptops - the Quadro M5500. The Nvidia Quadro M5500 packs in a fully-enabled GM204 GPU, complementing it with high Thermal Design Power (TDP) of 150W. It has 8GB of DDR5 VRAM, running at memory clock of 6.6GHz. The GPU has a boost clock of around 1140MHz, and is based on the Maxwell 2 architecture. To translate the technical detail, the Nvidia Quadro M5500 is an incredibly powerful graphic rendering unit that is capable of producing desktop-class graphics. However, with the increase in TDP from 100W to 150W, the Quadro M5500 is much more power-hungry, and as such, requires better cooling mechanism to keep it functioning properly. It will feature in MSIs WT72 mobile workstation, which uses Intels Mobile Xeon CPU in combination with the Quadro M5500, and present the worlds first mobile VR experience when combined with an HTC Vive, or Oculus Rift headset. The MSI WT72 Workstation also houses a 17.3-inch display with 3840x2160-pixel (4K) resolution, along with 256GB of Super RAID 4 SSD, 1TB 7200rpm HDD, a Blu Ray disc burner and Windows 10 Professional. It weighs 3.81 Kgs (8.4 Lbs), and is priced at $6,900 (Rs. 4,59,300 approx). The Nvidia Quadro M5500 houses 2048 CUDA cores, up from 1536 cores in the Quadro M5000M. The higher VRAM, along with higher processing power in terms of cores and running frequency, will lead to much enhanced gaming and visual performance out of the GPU. The cost factor, however, will mean that the first ever mobile VR station will remain only in the hands of enthusiasts and VR developers. The Quadro M5500 will also stand as a backbone of Nvidias professional VR plans for the future, giving it a platform to build for the future array of VR-laden devices and platforms. The Telangana government announced the move as part of the Telangana IT Policy 2016. The government of Telangana announced, on Monday, that it will set up the worlds biggest startup incubation centre in India. According to reports, the government will set up 1 million square feet of infrastructure space, in collaboration with the private sector. This will then be used for entrepreneurship activities and startups, over a period of five years. The move is part of the Telangana IT Policy 2016 and was unveiled by Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao yesterday. Further, international financial institutions will be roped in to deploy approximately $300 million (Rs. 2,000 crore) worth of aid for entrepreneurs. The government also launched four sub policies on innovation and startups, gaming and animation, rural technology, design, electronics and manufacturing. We assure you hassle-free, corruption-free clearances in the stipulated period. We gave approval to 1,691 units after launching the industrial policy last year and of them, 883 have been in various stages of production. We will do so for the IT sector as well, depending upon the merit of their applications, said Rao, inviting IT companies to invest in Telangana. ATTENTION From now on, your password will need to comply with the following rules: Minimum length of 6 characters At least one lower case letter At least one capital letter At least one number At least one of the following characters: ! , ; . : - _ Click below on "Forgot password?" to change it if it does not comply with the above rules Confusion surrounded the resignation of Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson on Wednesday in wake of the Panama Papers documents leak. Having been refused permission to dissolve parliament on Tuesday by President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Gunnlaugsson then said he was resigning only for one of his aides to deny this hours later. According to a statement, Gunnlaugsson had only asked the vice-president of his Progressive Party take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time. The prime minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as chairman of the Progressive Party. Gunnlaugsson requested the dissolution of parliament after leaked documents revealed he had owned an offshore firm which held bonds in the three Icelandic banks that collapsed in the financial crisis. He sold the firm to his wife who was still the owner, according to documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Grimsson told a news conference on Tuesday he would not grant the prime minister's request on the basis of Gunnlaugsson using the threat of dissolving parliament "as a bargaining chip in his negotiations with his coalition partner". "What the president must consider under these circumstances is whether the parties which form the governing majority in parliament support the decision, and whether the dissolution of parliament is likely to be beneficial to the nation and the governance of the country," he said. "He could not assure me of the (coalition member) Independence Partys stand regarding this matter. In light of this I explained to him that I was not ready to grant him his request to dissolve parliament at this time, or at least without having first discussed the matter with the head of the Independence party, or others." Russia was eyeing up oil prices of between $40 and $50 a barrel on Tuesday ahead of a meeting with leading producers in Doha later this month. OPEC and non-OPEC producers were set to gather on 17 April to finalise a draft deal between Russia, Venezuela, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to freeze oil output to January levels, in a bid to curb the current glut of supply. An unnamed source told Reuters that there was now discussion over how long production would be frozen, and how the agreement would be enforced. The level of $45-$50 is acceptable from the point of view of market balance; if prices go higher shale oil production could start to recover, the source told Reuters. It was also understood that Russia was not prepared to put new projects on hiatus as part of the deal, instead looking at alternative means to regulate its production. According to figures for March, Russia was producing at 30-year record levels last month with 10.91m barrels per day being pumped. The state budgets of both Russia and Venezuela - whose economies are heavily reliant on oil - remained at risk since oil prices first began to plummet in 2014. HSBC , Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are reportedly set to close 400 UK branches this year. Reuters cited people familiar with the matter as saying that HSBC was set to close the highest number, with about 200 branches this year. That is about a fifth of the bank's UK branches and a third more than it closed last year. It was understood RBS and Barclays were planning on closing about 100 branches each. All three banks said in separate statements they were reducing their branch networks as customers increasingly turn to banking online or via mobile. Each bank said they had put in place measures to mitigate customer concerns, with HSBC forming a partnership with the Post Office and Barclays teaming up with supermarket chain Asda to continue offering services. "The bank closures will accelerate the death of the British high street," Derek French, director of the Campaign for Community Banking told Reuters. "This will particularly have a knock on impact on local businesses and the elderly." Criminal Law Definition: What Is an Aggravator? The law has its own vocabulary, although often the words sound just like those we use in regular life. For example the word "aggravator" has a particular legal meaning in the context of criminal law, which is related to the way we use the word aggravation generally. Let's consider the term in the context of crime prosecution, where it arises during sentencing. Criminal Aggravators We use the word "aggravate" generally to indicate the intensification of negative circumstances, like, "The drilling right near my ears aggravated my headache." In that situation, the headache is an existing negative circumstance being made worse, or more grave, by someone drilling uncomfortably close. That's similar to how an aggravator is defined in criminal law. A legal aggravator is a negative factor to be considered by a judge during sentencing. Aggravators make a sentence more severe, or more grave, and are defined by statute. Some are automatic, or mandatory, while some are optional, to be taken into consideration but not necessarily imposed obligatorily. Every state has its own criminal statutes that will tell a judge what can and must be considered at sentencing. Sample Aggravator Sometimes an aggravator is triggered by the location of a crime. Say that police find a doughnut full of Xanax pills in a school (which really did just happen). The underlying offense is possession of an illegal substance with intent to distribute, but the fact that the crime occurred at school aggravates the sentence. Possession of drugs within 1,000 feet of a school or church will generally make a simple possession charge more severe. For example, in New Jersey, possession of marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school automatically requires a minimal imposition of fines and 100 hours of community service, in addition to the primary punishment for the underlying charge. Some aggravators are very severe and some much less so. Regardless, every state has its own statutes that will dictate the extent to which a particular factor must or can impact a sentence. A Minute on Mitigators Mitigators are the opposite of aggravators. These are factors that make a sentence less severe, such as lack of a prior criminal record. Aggravators and mitigators exist in order to address the specifics of a particular crime, making it more or less severe under the actual circumstances in which it arose. When a defendant is convicted of a crime, a judge punishes the person according to the requirements of state statutes for the particular offense and the individual's personal criminal record. Someone who has never been convicted of a crime will likely get a less severe sentence while repeat offenders will face a harsher punishment for the same act. Talk to a Lawyer If you have been charged with a crime, speak to a lawyer promptly. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case and explain the many factors that might impact the outcome of a prosecution. Related Resources: Founder and chief executive of Amazon , Jeff Bezos, sent a letter to shareholders overnight on Tuesday, finally responding to a critical report on the online retailers corporate culture published in the New York Times. In 2015, Amazon was the focus of a lengthy investigation by the NYT, which alleged the company had a damaging culture that saw employees constantly evaluated by managers and colleagues, with those receiving poor reports squeezed out. At the time, the report was rebutted in a public letter written by the companys top spokesman Jay Carney, which revealed information about former employees quoted in the story. Tuesdays letter was the first major response from the man seen as the driving influence behind Amazons success. "The reason cultures are so stable in time is because people self-select. Someone energized by competitive zeal may select and be happy in one culture, while someone who loves to pioneer and invent may choose another, wrote Bezos. He also pointed out the success of some of the companys recent gambles, such as Amazon Web Services and its membership service Prime. Details of Primes membership are not disclosed by Amazon, though analysts believe it has more than 40m US customers. "Used well, our scale enables us to build services for customers that we could otherwise never even contemplate." Bezos also highlighted the speed it launches new services with, such as the two-hour Prime Now delivery service, telling shareholders there were more bold investments to come. UK Prime Minister David Cameron was still be being pressed on Wednesday about whether or not he had benefited from an offshore fund set up by his father, revealed in the Panama Papers documents leak. A spokesman for the Prime Minister said he and his family would not benefit from offshore trusts in the future but there was no comment on whether he had done so in the past. It was the third attempt in the last 24 hours by Downing Street to put the matter to rest, but opposition politicians said an investigation into all Britons linked to allegations of tax evasion via offshore havens should be set up. In response to a direct question on whether he had benefited, or would do so in the future, from Blairmore, an investment fund run from the Bahamas that was set up by his late father Ian Cameron, the Prime Minister said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. I have a salary as prime minister, and I have some savings which I get some interest from and I have a house which we used to live in which we now let out while we're living in Downing Street, and that's all I have." However, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn increased the pressure on Cameron by calling for a probe into the matter. "I think the Prime Minister, in his own interest, should tell us exactly what's been going on. "It's a private matter in so far as it's a privately held interest, but it's not a private matter if tax has not been paid. So an investigation must take place, an independent investigation." Labour MP Wes Streeting, a member of the all-party Treasury select committee said Cameron must clarify whether he has previously benefited from any off-shore funds. "I think where David Cameron made a rod for his own back yesterday was issuing quite a qualified statement that then led people to think 'is he being shady about this, is he being evasive, are there further questions to ask'. he told the BBC. "I think there are still questions about whether or not he benefited in the past." The leaked documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed that Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, was one of five UK directors of Blairmore. Cameron senior and other board members flew to board meetings in the Bahamas or Switzerland. There were also three directors in Switzerland and three in the Bahamas. Londons FTSE 100 was up 0.6% to 6,124.61 at 1410 BST as investors looked ahead to the minutes from the latest Federal Reserve meeting. Pharmaceutical stocks racked up healthy gains as investors bet that the termination of Pfizers agreement to buy Allergan might make the London-listed companies bid targets. Shire, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline were all firmly in the black as Pfizer confirmed that its $160bn agreement to buy Allergan has been terminated by mutual agreement after the US Treasury announced new measures to curb tax inversions. "Reports that the Allergan-Pfizer merger has been terminated has counter-intuitively sparked buying in other UK and Irish pharmaceutical groups," said CMC Markets Jasper Lawler. "Speculation that Pfizer will look for another partner in its quest to relocate its headquarters and lower its tax burden has sent the shares of Shire and AstraZeneca flying." Strong R&D pipelines at some UK firms were also seen as a possible reason why they might attract attention from suitors from rivals overseas. To take note of, a raft of US merger deals had come under increased scrutiny from anti-trust regulators Stateside recently. Of possible interest in that regard, a recent piece from The Economist highlighted how a lack of effective anti-trust regulation in the US might have contributed to record corporate profits, due to the lack of sufficient competition among firms. CRH was also on the front foot after JP Morgan Cazenove upgraded the stock to overweight from neutral and lifted the price target to 29 from 26. JPM said the stocks valuation was now relatively attractive and broadly in line with the sector average compared to a premium of around 15% over the last three years. On the downside, Glencore slid after confirming that it has agreed to sell 40% of its agriculture commodities business to the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board for $2.5bn (1.8bn) in cash. The deal, which values Glencore Agri at $6.25bn, which is towards the bottom of analyst expectations, is expected to close in the second half of 2016 with the FTSE 100 using the proceeds to pay down debt. Budget airline EasyJet flew lower after it reported a rise in passenger numbers in March but a drop in the load factor. A total of 5,728,114 passengers flew during the month, up 4.3% on a year earlier. On a rolling 12 month basis to 31 March, the airline carried 70,761,515 passengers, up 7.2% on the prior 12 months. The airline's load factor in March was 91.3%, down 1.3 percentage points on March 2015, while its rolling 12-month load factor of 91.5% was an improvement of 0.6 percentage points. Risers Shire Plc (SHP) 4,231.00p 4.49% AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,093.00p 3.59% CRH (CRH) 1,987.00p 2.42% Prudential (PRU) 1,295.50p 2.17% GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,448.00p 2.04% United Utilities Group (UU.) 924.50p 1.99% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.23p 1.93% Next (NXT) 5,345.00p 1.81% Barclays (BARC) 149.20p 1.77% Royal Mail (RMG) 476.80p 1.68% Fallers Glencore (GLEN) 135.65p -4.37% Anglo American (AAL) 507.90p -3.39% easyJet (EZJ) 1,488.00p -2.23% BHP Billiton (BLT) 722.10p -1.69% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 540.50p -1.55% Rio Tinto (RIO) 1,903.50p -1.25% Whitbread (WTB) 3,803.00p -1.09% Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,654.00p -0.97% Capita (CPI) 1,029.00p -0.87% Inmarsat (ISAT) 983.00p -0.61% Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. No power, no hot water, bedbugs at apartment towers near Downtown Residents at the Latitude Five25 apartment towers on the Near East Side said they've had no hot water, no power at times. The city is going to court. FCC Price Cap on Inmate Phone Calls Stalled, Talk Still Not Cheap Inmates and their families have to pay to communicate, and some say the costs are so high and outrageous that they constitute a tax on the poor. Last year, in October, the Federal Communications Commission capped the costs of calling inmates, but the International Business Times reports that there are setbacks. The setbacks reveal a lot about what was wrong with the jail and prison communication system to begin with. Mignon Clyburn, an FCC commissioner who led the charge for reform, has called the prison phone industry the "most egregious case of market failure" she has seen in her career. Here's why. Rate Cap Flap Despite the new rates under the approved cap, which were to go into effect last month, the cost of calling inmates has not gone down. First, the FCC's move was challenged by Securus Technologies and Global Tel Link, two companies making a great deal of money connecting inmates and the outside world. Now, some states have joined the private companies in their suit against the feds. Oklahoma, for example, says it will lose $3 million a year in commission payments on the calls if there is a cap. The commissions are a way that localities profit from deals with the communications companies, skimming a percentage of the phone call cost and putting it back in local pockets. The money is meant to go to inmate welfare funds, but it often goes to other things, like tasers and cop cars. Paul Wright of the Human Rights Defense Center, says the commissions that these companies pay counties are simply "kickbacks" that artificially inflate prices for poor families and get spent with little to no oversight or auditing. "It's a total slush fund," Wright says. "A boondoggle of corruption." The Price of Silence Struggling families, already taxed by the fact that one member of the clan is incarcerated, often cannot afford to pay to communicate. This has a negative effect on relatives outside of jail or prison, particularly children. "Studies have consistently shown that communication with family members lowers the rates of inmate recidivism," writes Eric Markowitz for the International Business Times. "But calls are often too expensive for lower-income people, which make up the vast majority of those who are incarcerated." Markowitz has covered the cost of calling the incarcerated extensively and recently spoke to a mother from Mississippi locked up in Florida. She said, "There's so much stress. People are heartbroken. People miss their kids. They can't talk to them. People go crazy inside." Talk to a Lawyer If you or someone you know has been accused of crime, talk to a lawyer. Don't delay. Get help today. Many criminal defense attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to discuss your case. Related Resources: Ruby Tuesday Workers Sue Food Chain in Wage Class Action Ruby Tuesday workers sued the restaurant chain in a class action lawsuit over wages. The plaintiff class covers all Ruby Tuesday servers and bartenders who worked in all of the chain's restaurants for the last three years, according to Grub Street. The workers say that they were forced to spend more than 20 percent of their time on side work while being paid on a tip-wage basis, which violates the law, and also were encouraged by the corporation not to report their side-work hours. To understand the workers' claims, you need to know something about serving drinkers and diners in the US. So let's start with the basics. Server Wage Basics If you don't know how waiters and waitresses work from personal experience, you really should become aware as a consumer and diner. What it comes down to is this -- many waiters live off of tips and are paid a sub-minimum wage of about two dollars an hour (yes, you read correctly). Only eight states bar the sub-minimum wage. Tips are meant to make the difference between the sub-minimum and true minimum wage -- which ranges from about 7 to 15 dollars an hour across the country. But that means a server's day cannot be spent on side-work. Only 20 percent of a day, or about one-fifth, can be spent on side work -- like cutting lemons, stocking napkins, filling salt and pepper shakers, etc. -- to ensure that waiters can earn the money that brings their wage up from practically non-existent to barely livable. States that allow the sub-minimum wage arrangement (42 out of 50 nationwide), limit side work to ensure that servers can make the minimum wage on any given day. The lawsuit against Ruby Tuesday argues that the corporation expects workers to do more side work and to just "deal with it," writes Grub Street. Ruby Tuesday Responds The restaurant chain responded to the lawsuit in a statement, denying all accusations. Strangely, the company said it was looking forward to having its day in court and to vigorously defending itself, which hardly seems a conciliatory approach to all the people who keep its restaurants going. If Ruby Tuesday is found guilty in this recently-filed lawsuit, it will reportedly owe workers in 658 locations back pay of as much as $10 per hour. According to Grub Street, the last restaurant chain to face such a suit was Applebee's, which fought more than 5,500 workers very hard. In 2012, the case went all the way to the Supreme Court but the nation's highest court refused to consider the restaurant's appeal. Talk to a Lawyer If you are a business owner concerned about a worker wage suit, talk to a lawyer about what you can do. An attorney can help you consider all aspects of your business operations and assist you in implementing new systems that could prevent a lawsuit down the line. Follow FindLaw for Consumers on Google+. Related Resources: Subscriber content preview By ANNA FROST Homer News HOMER, Alaska After a trip to Washington state in February for a farmers market conference, the management of the Homer Farmers Market is certain of one thing Homer's small town market is on par with, or exceeding, other markets in the United States. As a part of a USDA grant the Homer market received last year, market manager Robbi Mixon and board member Lori Jenkins attended the Washington State Farmers Market Association conference in Olympia in February. Kyra Wagner, seasonal farmers market columnist for the Homer News and the mind behind Sustainable Homer, also attended on a scholarship from the market. . . . The Abbey Arts Centre was packed out last Wednesday evening for the launch of a new book on archaeological excavations in Ballyshannon. There was a terrific atmosphere of old friends reunited after a dozen years. On hand were engineers, including Damian McDermott of the National Roads Design Office in Drumlonagher, who worked on the design and construction of the N15 Ballyshannon to Bundoran bypass back in 2003-2004, when a medieval burial ground was unearthed. The engineers met up again with the archaelogists, including Michael MacDonagh and and Dr Catriona McKenzie, who painstakingly excavated nearly 1,300 skeletons and countless artefacts from the site. Dr McKenzie recalled expecting to find the remains of up to 100-150 individuals and being amazed at the scale of the previously undiscovered graveyard. "It was really exciting because this was the first Gaelic medieval cemetery to be excavated in Ireland." The engineers and architects, in turn, caught up with locals such as Mary Coyle and her neighbours Michael and Bernie Finan, who played host at Ballyhanna, providing the workers with much appreciated cups of tea. Mrs Coyle told the Democrat, "It's lovely being here and seeing them all again. We used to bring them tea. I felt so sorry for them, it was such a cold winter. I don't know how they managed it." Mr Finan said that although the work went on outside their front door for six months, the disruption was kept to a minimum. "It was well organised by Michael MacDonagh and his team." All three are happy to welcome visitors who want to see the park and memorial at the site. Mrs Coyle said, "I've had visitors and, when they drop the key back, I offer them a cup of tea and we have a chat. They've told me that's been the highlight of their trip." Adding to their numbers at the book launch were researchers from Sligo IT and Queens University Belfast, who have spent the last twelve years cataloguing and studying the finds, in a unique cross-border collaboration. Their work has been supported by Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII); the Department of Tourism, Transport and Sport; and Donegal County Council. The occasion of the reunion was the publication of The Science of a Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard: the Ballyhanna Research Project, edited by Catriona McKenzie, Eileen Murphy and Colm Donnelly. Mr MacDonagh called the book "the jewel in the crown" of the collaboration. Some of the key aspects of the work and its findings were highlighted in display boards in the foyer, in a slideshow in the main theatre, and by speakers at the launch. The featured guest speaker was Professor Marie Cassidy, who, in addition to being Ireland's State Pathologist, is Professor of Forensic Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons. She is also, it turns out, a fantastically entertaining speaker. Professor Cassidy had the audience in stitches as she shared anecdotes from her remarkable career. For example, she recalled hearing about bones turning up during major construction projects and thinking, "Isn't it lucky that there always seems to be someone around who knows about these things?" Until, that is, a colleague finally pulled her to one side and explained that archaeologists are always on hand at the start of major roads projects, as a matter of policy. She praised the archaeologists for their "truly exceptional work" on the Ballyhanna project. The new book and accompanying CD came in for equal praise. "Anybody who goes and looks at it, you will marvel at it," Professor Cassidy said. The Science of a Lost Medieval Gaelic Graveyard: the Ballyhanna Research Project can be ordered online at www.wordwellbooks.com. The terrible tragedy that enveloped Buncrana when five people lost their lives two weeks ago was recalled by one of the country's best known broadcasters when he appeared on Friday night's Late Late Show. Tommie Gorman, who hails from Sligo, was celebrating his 60th Birthday on Friday night and has covered news stories that reflect the Ireland of today the good news, bad news and often the tragedy that lies below the surface. As RTEs man in Belfast he has probably witnessed some of the worst imaginable scenes. On Friday night he told Ryan Tubridy the tragedy in Buncrana was one of the most intensely emotional situation that he had dealt with. Speaking to a hushed audience Gorman said, This simply broke the hearts of a nation. It was all such an ordinary activity. A mother away for a well deserved weekend with the father minding the kids and taking them off to Buncrana for the afternoon. A thing that many Derry people do. Bravery of Davitt Walsh As they watched the sun setting, the tragedy that we are no all too familiar with struck. We saw the most intense of emotions where the father had to make the most terrible decisions imaginable. And then the bravery of Davitt Walsh and the many others who tried in every way to help. Gorman continued, In the days afterwards we saw the sheer dignity of the mother at the funeral and then later when she returned to Buncrana to thank the people where she found the strength I just dont know. She is a wonderful woman. Speaking of Davitt Walsh Tommie added, In the aftermath Davitt came down to us in Letterkenny for an interview. He brought along his girlfriend Stephanie, his mother and two sisters. This was not just an interview; it was clear that Davitt wanted to talk about this, he needed to talk about it, all we had to do was listen. He was recalling all those minutes in the water when it emerged that Stephanie had encouraged him, and indeed as soon as the little baby was brought back on to shore, she huddled her away into the car to get some heat. He added: This is such a human story tragedy, intensity, emotion but it also shows the great sense of community in both Donegal and Derry. Everybody just reached out to each other and did what they could. Unfortunately even in situations like this there are still bills to be paid, but the people of Buncrana have already set up a fund in the Credit Union in Buncrana for the family which just highlights this close bond in the community. Communities across Donegal and across the country marked the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising this past weekend with parades and other events. Commemorative events are taking place throughout the year in the Donegal 2016 programme, supported by Donegal County Council, which reflect on achievements over the past 100 years and also look toward the future. Events in Donegal reflect the strands of the national programme: Ceremonial, Historical Reflection, An Teanga Bheo/The Living Language, Youth and Imagination, Cultural Expression, Community Participation and Global and Diaspora. Here is a sampling of events in the coming weeks. Local historian and author Helen Meehan will deliver a series of lectures based on 1916 leaders connections to Donegal in each municipal district. She will speak at the Buncrana Community Library at 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 13th; at the Central Library in Letterkenny at 6pm, Thursday, April 21st; at Leabharlann Phobail na Rosann, Dungloe, at 2pm, Tuesday, May 10th; at Bundoran Community Library at 7pm, Wednesday May 11th; and at Lifford Community Library at 11am, Wednesday, May 18th. On April 8th, Donegal County Museum will launch its, County Donegal in 1916: Childrens Activity Booklet, at a special schools event. The booklet will enable children to interact with the County Donegal in 1916 exhibition in an educational and fun manner. Also on April 8th, a lecture in Letterkenny, Brian Crowley, curator of the Pearse Museum in Dublin, will explore the connections between the Pearse family and St. Eunans Cathedral in Letterkenny in a lecture in Letterkenny. The Inishowen Traditional Music Project, in association with Ceol na Cille in Letterkenny, will discuss and perform the traditional, military and popular Irish songs of the day. In May, Donegal County Museum, in conjunction with Dark Daughter productions, presents, The Forgotten Women of 1916, a drama production exploring the role of women in 1916. On July 23rd and 24th, commemoration events on Gola Island will include a historical walk and a lecture on the Asgard trip. On July 25th, Oideas Gael in Glencolmcille will hold a bilingual symposium, The Irish language Whose language? including speakers Mary McAleese, former president; Linda Ervine, Turas Language Project; and Dr Seosamh Watson. On May 17th, family history experts from Findmypast and Eneclann will be at the Central Library in Letterkenny to help people trace their ancestors. From May 18th-20th, a 1916 Diaspora conference in Letterkenny will address a range of issues relevant to the 1916 period and its legacy. The full programme for Donegal 2016 is available at the Donegal County Council website, www.donegalcoco.ie. Common Carrier Liability in Light of Amtrak Crash in PA Last weekend an Amtrak train derailed near Philadelphia, killing two people and injuring 35, according to ABC News. The injuries were not life threatening, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency announced immediately after the accident, but that's not likely to be the end of the story for Amtrak. In fact, it seems very likely that the passengers who crashed right before reaching Philadelphia will sue for any damages arising from this train accident. So let's take a look at proving a case of negligence against a common carrier. Common Carriers Negligence in the legal sense occurs when a person or entity who owes a duty to another falls below the duty of care that is expected for a reasonable person in same or similar circumstances. Amtrak is a common carrier and carriers are required to exercise the highest degree of diligence in the safety of their passengers and cargo. If the passengers on the train to Philadelphia can show that the carrier, Amtrak, failed to exercise due care, breaching its particular duty, and this is what caused their injuries, the passengers will be able to recover damages for harm sustained during the accident. But not all accidents arise from negligence -- sometimes something bad happens and it is totally unforeseeable. Then there is no one to blame. Breaking Down the Elements The elements of negligence that a plaintiff must prove to succeed in a claim against a common carrier, spelled out and broken down, are as follows: The defendant owed the plaintiff a duty of care -- in the case of a common carrier, the utmost care must be exercised. The defendant breached the duty of care by exercising less than the utmost care and diligence. The defendant's breach caused the plaintiff's injuries -- there were no unforeseeable intervening circumstances and if not for the defendant's breach, the injury would not have occurred. The plaintiff suffered an injury, harm or damages -- a plaintiff may be compensated for physical injury and associated costs but also lost wages and emotional distress, for example. It is reasonably foreseeable that a train could derail, which is why it seems likely that Amtrak will face a legal complaint -- or 35 -- after the injured passengers have a chance to heal and speak to attorneys. The two people who died in this incident were reportedly Amtrak workers, and their families may claim wrongful death, which will allow them to recover on behalf of the deceased. Injured? If you or someone you know was injured by a common carrier or anyone else, speak to a lawyer. Many personal injury attorneys consult for free or a minimal fee and will be happy to assess your case. Related Resources: 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. Oh snap! GoComics needs JavaScript to work, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Fiat's born-again 124 Spider won't arrive in Australia wearing a Fiat badge at all. Instead, the Italian car maker has confirmed it will only offer the high-performance Abarth version of the MX-5-based roadster when sales begin later this year. "From our perspective, we're going after the performance sector of the market with that car and we believe it speaks exactly to what you want in a roadster," Fiat Chrysler Automobile Australia's marketing and product manager, Zac Loo, told Australian media. "We think it will be an excellent expression of performance and the heritage of the Abarth brand." Fiat's decision not to offer the mainstream 124 Spider is understood to provide the brand with a clear point of difference from the popular Japanese convertible on which it is based. While the 124 Spider is distinguished from the MX-5 by new front and rear styling treatments, it's unique 1.4-litre turbo charged four cylinder - borrowed directly from the mid-level Abarth 500 hot hatch - produces similar power outputs to Mazda's range-topping 2.0-litre variants. The Abarth 124 Spider adds even more spice with the same engine uprated to produce 126kW and 250Nm, which means it will be the most powerful and, with a claimed ability to sprint from 0-100km/h in 6.8 seconds, the quickest version offered across the Fiat and Mazda models. Visually, it also amps up the style with the Abarth featuring a new bonnet with scalloped vents and bootlid with an extended integrated wing, both which are painted in matte black. There's also a more aggressive front slip spoiler in contrasting red and unique design alloy wheels. FCA's Loo wouldn't be drawn on direct comparisons with the MX-5 and the positioning of the Abarth 124, but said "For us it is about the opportunity we can best leverage and that is the performance version of the 124." As a result, the Abarth 124 Spider is likely to sit above the range-topping MX-5 2.0-litre GT Roadster with a starting price in the low $40k bracket when it arrives in showrooms before the end of 2016. Fiat Chrysler is planning a two-sided attack on the booming ute market in Australia. The local division of the Italian-American group has confirmed it will offer the highly-anticipated four-door ute version of the next-generation Jeep Wrangler off-roader that was announced late last year, while also pinning its hopes on right-hand drive availability of the light-duty Ram 1500 soon. FCA Australia's product strategy and marketing manager, Zac Loo, told Australian media the company has "articulated the size of the pick-up market here" to its global product division headquarters is now looking ahead to adding the dual-cab ute that will be developed off the next-generation Wrangler due within the next 18 months. "We see some good opportunity in the market as we transition into that space where customers want a multi-use tool-of-trade leisure vehicle and a car they want to use on the weekend for camping or getting into bush," said Loo. "And obviously Wrangler is a very unique car in the market and combining that flexibility with a ute tray will add another dimension to a product that we know is very special." Jeep has already developed a series of custom-built Wrangler utes over the years for the annual Easter Safari enthusiasts festival in the Southern Utah town of Moab. The latest concept, dubbed Crew Chief 715, takes its inspiration from Jeep's military heritage with a soft-top over the cabin and 1.8-metre out the back. The next-generation Wrangler has already begun prototype testing in the US and while it is expected to retain its body-on-frame construction, heavy-duty axles and four-wheel drive transmission it is likely the cabin will be lighter (potentially using aluminium in the body work) and that it could be offered with more fuel-efficient four-cylinder turbo petrol and diesel engines as well as an updated 3.6-litre V6. As for where it is built, it is understood that FCA is planning to utilise its wider network of production facilities to cope with the increase in global demand for the Wrangler and its future variants. While it is expected that the majority of production will remain in the USA, the Wrangler could also be constructed from parts (as a complete knock down or CKD) in India at a plant that is currently a joint venture operation between Fiat and Tata and/or China in one of two FCA vehicle assembly plants. Either way, Loo intimated the Wrangler Ute will only be offered in a dual-cab body style and will be positioned as a leisure vehicle against the likes of the top-end Ford Ranger Wildtrack and Toyota HiLux SR5. There is no plan to add trade-style cab chassis or single-cab variants of the Wrangler. Instead, FCA Australia boss Pat Dougherty contined to express his desire to add the light-duty Ram 1500 range to the local line-up as a more trade focussed ute offering. Available in USA in either single-cab or dual-cab body styles and powered by a range of engines - including petrol and diesel V6s as well as a 5.7-litre Hemi V8 - the 1500 is offered in a wide variety of models that range from genuine workhorses to luxury, performance and off-road specific variants. With American Special Vehicles - a joint venture between independent vehicle importer Ateco and the Walkinshaw Group - already offering the larger Ram 2500 and 3500 in Australia, Dougherty doesn't see any potential conflict in adding the 1500 through FCA's own official channels. "I don't think we would have too may major conflicts with the Ram brands going forward," he said. "I also think that [the heavy-duty segment] is a more specialised market and we want to compete in the more volume section of the truck market." Bentley has shown off its new Black Edition of its two-door Continental GT Speed along with the revised version of its regular two-door coupe and convertible models. The British brand claims the new 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12-powered Black Edition will be the car maker's fastest ever production version. Good for 472kW and 840Nm - up from 467kW and 820Nm - the Continental GT Speed Black Edition has a top speed of 331km/h with a claimed 0-100km/h time of 4.1 seconds. Bentley is offering the Black Edition in both coupe and convertible body styles and offers a range of body touches including high gloss black window openings and lamp bezels, along with contrast colours on the front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser. The Black Edition rides on 21-inch all-black wheels with the option of either black or red brake calipers. The interior fascia, centre and roof consoles are covered with carbon fibre and seats, centre console are bordered by contrast leather accents available in four colours. The inside of the doors and seats also feature contrast stitching. Hi Drive I recently purchased a new Jaguar XE Prestige. It's now only 5 weeks old and when entering a roundabout I noticed the blinker flashing fast. After checking I found the right hand rear indicator inoperative. Although I'm not disappointed in the car as these things happen I am disappointed in the Jaguar dealers and Jaguar. After ringing the selling dealer to have the fault repaired I was informed this would be repaired at a cost to me as globes aren't warranty. I was told the same thing by a second dealer. It's not the cost, it's the fact it's a brand new car! Does this sound right to you? Regards, Vince We contacted Jaguar head office and asked the question. We were informed by Jaguar Australia's warranty manager that all Jaguar vehicles have a 12 month warranty period on globes. If the dealer has charged you for the repairs we'd be asking for a refund. If they refuse have them call head office for confirmation. It is frustrating when dealers do not know facts about the product they sell and service! A native of Dundalk living in America is going from strength to strength after undergoing a life-saving heart transplant earlier in the month. Roger McCarrick underwent the surgery in California to replace his heart having suffered with a heart condition that he was born with. His family both in the US and Ireland had been invovled in a campaign to raise funds for his aftercare. According to reports from his family on his fundraising campaign's Facebook page Roger was moved out of intensive on Monday and is in the cardiology ward. He's going from strength to strength. He started major physiotherapy and is now able to raise himself and walk with an aid around the ward wearing his HEPA mask. We received some training from the pharmaceutical and nutritional team today and they have been doing some tests on his new heart. All looking good. We'll keep you posted on the progress. A fundraiser was held here in the Riva restaurant in Dundalk. Born and raised in London, Roger was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries (TGA). a life threatening illness which mean blood is not pumped away from his lungs efficiently. He underwent operation as a child and later as an adult in Boston. He moved to Dundalk with his parents when he was eight and has many family still living in the area. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. Maj. Mai Aik Kyaw, information officer of the Palaung State Liberation Front/Taang National Liberation Army (PSLF/TNLA); one of the groups that is fighting with the Burma Army and Restoration Council Shan State (RCSS), claimed that the army was using the NCA as a divisive tool against the ethnic minorities. The ethnic people take up arms to resolve political issues. As I see it, the Burma Army has been using RCSS to wage war against us. Nothing happened in the northern Shan State before the NCA was signed. There were MNDAA, KIA, SSPP, UWSA, and other groups [in the northern Shan State]. Everyone cooperated together. Now, the RCSS marched from the south to the north after signing the NCA. There is a long distance [between the north and the south]. There are many Burma Army battalions there. Why didnt they stop them? Now, they [the Burma Army] only ask them [RCSS] to go back after war has started. RCSS said they are not going back. In my opinion, the Burma Army has been creating these conflicts, said. The Panghsang summit was attended by 34 representatives from UWSA, Kachin Independence Organization, KIO/KIA, SSPP/SSA, PSLF/TNLA, MNDAA, ULA/AA, NDAA, to discuss the current political situation in the country. The final statement stated all the concerned groups expressed interest in cooperating with the new government in line with the consensus reached from the two Panghsang summits. It called for political dialogue in order to build peace in the country, an immediate ceasefire between the RCSS and the TNLA and for the Burma Army to cease its offensives in northern Shan State. RCSS leader Lt-Gen Yawd Serk said they expanded their troops in northern Shan State because the public wanted them to. He accused the TNLA of starting the problem. The TNLA has been detaining the Shan people and trying to create an ethnic conflict. I want to know who is supporting the TNLA from behind. We are ready to meet and discuss with the TNLA. I dont want to meet anyone else, he said told the media in Rangoon early last month. Starting in late November heavy fighting between the RCSS and the TNLA has erupted in Kyaukme, Kutkai, and Namhkam townships. Since March, fighting with the RCSS has subsided but it has increased between the Burma Army and the TNLA. Over 4,000 local residents have already been forced to flee from their homes. Translated by Thida Linn Edited by BNI Staff For some businesses, expanding overseas is considered a vital component to their growth strategy. And its not hard to understand why. After all, theyre opening the door to a new [and often much larger] pool of customers and revenue. But if only it were that simple. Sure the sky is the limit where those expansion plans have rolled out smoothly; but for some, that door gets jammed half way, while others walk in having failed to understand whats on the other side. There are many reasons why businesses fail overseas There are many reasons why businesses fail in their international expansion efforts. Dynamic Business speaks to Christelle Damiens, Managing Director of Exportia, who has made it her business to understand why. Exportia is a growing business consultancy that provides expertise for Australian technology companies launching in Europe. Christelle said: There are many reasons why businesses fail overseas: they sign exclusive distribution to anyone that comes to them; they go to a specific market because their mother-in-law lives there; they try to launch a brand new product they have no track record in; or, they send one of their staff there without having any understanding about the market, putting them in a difficult position with remote management issues. While a necessity for many, international business is risky business even the Australian government is stepping in to help entrepreneurs and their start-ups navigate the murky waters of new markets. Under the National Innovation and Science Agenda, the government will be spending $11 million to establish five landing pads in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley and three other locations across the globe. The Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science, The Hon Christopher Pyne MP, said in a statement: The five landing pads will provide market-ready start-ups with a short-term operational base in global innovation hotspots. The initiative gives companies access to entrepreneurial talent, mentors, investors and a wider connected network of innovation hubs. Any international expansion project is a long-term project But while Christelle comments that these landing pads will certainly put selected start-ups on the right track, she says businesses need to recognise that any international expansion project is a long-term project where persistence is key. Given that businesses are limited to a period of 90 days under the governments landing pad scheme, Christelle says that its imperative for leaders to have a clear objective on what they want to achieve during this time before they jump on the plane. Others walk in having failed to understand whats on the other side. Landing pads can only be leveraged if the company does the preparation work. The central question is: is the country that holds the landing pad the correct market for the business? The whole strategy must be robust before going in, said Christelle. If companies have already assessed that the country it is going to is right for their business, and there is a landing pad; great, use it! There is great opportunity for any start-up with a unique value proposition to each specific country market With Exportia facilitating expansion into Europe, and landing pads announced for Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv; how do you know where is right for your business? Christelle said: The question is; who is in that city that I quickly need to reach out to to grow my business significantly? And what challenge does my product solve for my potential customer in this country? There is great opportunity for any start-up with a unique value proposition to each specific country market. With specific experience assisting Australian technology companies launch into Europe, Christelle says that technology companies typically consider the European market over the US and China because they specialise in highly technical products: There are great opportunities in Europe at the moment around health, notably eHealth including medical devices, and aged-care. More traditionally, European manufacturers have fully embraced innovation to keep their position on a global scale, she said. So while there is a hand available to hoist your business up on the international stage; there are no magic formulas for success. The decisions, execution and persistence to continue is very much down to the individuals at the helm. Small businesses must understand its not a one-off show but a 3 to 5-year plan, said Christelle. Allianz Australia took some time to speak with a couple of Aussie businesses that are doing it for themselves. The owner-operators of Naturally Gifted spoke with us about what its like running a micro-business. Businesses that choose to create and provide locally made or locally sold products and services continue to shape not only the Australian economy but also the Australian way of life. Whether its the freshly made jam sold at the farmers market thats sourced from locally grown fruits, or the hand-made jewellery boutique selling to customers in their area, this vibrant community of micro- and small businesses rely on home grown products and home based markets to boost their sales. Naturally Gifted With an environmental focus, Naturally Gifted is a 100% Australian owned company, run by the daughter and father team, Justine and Paul Rudston-Brown. Based in Lisarow, NSW, they sell a large range of gift hampers for the environmentally friendly and socially conscious consumer through their website. Their commitment to reducing the food miles travelled between supplier and seller is part of the companys vision to support local business and reduce their carbon footprint. As part of this, they source many of the products that they use in their hampers from local farmers markets and communities. Naturally Gifted sources many of the products that they use in their hampers from local farmers markets and communities. Justine and Paul took over the business in mid-2013 and have since then encountered various difficulties with a good dose of success too. Speaking with Paul, he said that a key requirement of their business success was the ability and willingness to be flexible even if it means theyre packing gift hampers at midnight. Maintaining the business has taken a lot of perseverance but its worth it. He says that they source their products from excellent small suppliers of locally grown food and wine and that these networks within the industry have been an excellent source of support and wisdom. Plus, there are the loyal customers who religiously use their service, especially within the telecommunications and legal industries. Theyve faced a few challenges along the way; Paul highlights administrative and legislative costs as being greatly prohibitive to fledgling micro-businesses. Online marketing has also presented challenges; particularly, in relation to search rankings and expanding their online presence. This year theyll be focusing on building upon their domestic corporate presence instead of relying solely on direct-to-consumer sales. Protect your business There are many challenges in launching and running a small business in Australia, not least of which is protecting your enterprise against the unexpected. Allianz Small Business Insurance offers a range of covers that do just that. Public and Products Liability insurance can protect your business from financial loss stemming from third party personal injury or property damage claims. Allianz cover for risks like Material Damage, Glass, Money, General Property and Theft can get your business back on track if accidental damage, vandalism or theft of contents, stock or money occurs. In addition, Business Interruption cover can prevent revenue loss when your business operation is interrupted unexpectedly. Personal Accident cover is there to reduce the impact on your business if you or an employee has an accident and are nominated as an insured person on the policy schedule. Insurance Provided by Allianz Australia Insurance Limited ABN 15 000 122 850 AFSL 234708 . We do not provide advice based on any consideration of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Terms, conditions, limits and exclusions apply. Before making a decision please consider the product disclosure statement, available at www.allianz.com.au/business/business-insurance/ Naturally Gifted are an Australian small businesses making a name for themselves both here and abroad. These stories can help to inspire any Australian small business owner wanting to make their mark as well During the recent meeting, U Khaing Soe Naing Aung of the Arakan Liberation Party (ALP) and Pado Saw Kwe Htoo Win of the Karen National Union (KNU) led the grouping of armed groups that had signed the National Ceasefire agreement. Khoo Oo Reh of the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) led the non NCA signatory delegation. An individual familiar with the talks who does not want to be named said both sides are planning to hold a summit in the near future. We didnt discuss any specific topic so no decision has been made. We only exchanged our views. Both sides want to meet as soon as possible. We dont know when explained U Khoo Oo Reh, a key figure in the non-NCA signatory group. The NCA signatory delegation leader, U Khaing Soe Naing Aung remained hopeful that other groups would sign the NCA. They havent signed it yet. They intend to sign it during the administration of the new government. We only need the view of the NLD government, he explained. He added that a meeting is expected to be held in April, likely after the Thingyan water festival, but the meeting could also happen before the holiday period. Apart from the RCSS/SSA the rest of the ethnic armed groups that met in Chiang Mai on March 27 are members of the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT), which was established at the Kachin Independence Origanization's (KIO) Laiza headquarters in 2013. While this group was meeting in Chiang Mai last month, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Burma's largest armed group hosted a conference of ethnic armed groups who had not signed the NCA, in their capital Panghsang. These groups included the KIO, the Mong Las based Myanmar National Democratic Aliance Army (NDAA) as well as the Kokang group known as the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA). Translated by Thida Linn with editing by BNI staff. Foods of fall: Sweet potatoes There are many great foods that we enjoy in the fall. Apples, leafy greens, and of course, one of my favorites, sweet potatoes. Best known... Planning for Santas visit Here at the Early County Museum, weve jotted down our wish list for Santa, and we all wished for the same thing snow! We... A visit to Lake Kolomoki Ranger Lauren Bryant couldnt help but notice young Khalil's casting skills while making rounds Saturday morning. When visiting from Atlanta his grandparents say this is... Fall weather brings unwanted guests We welcome the cooler temperatures of fall, but the unwanted house guests that often appear are not so welcomed. Insects including roaches and other types... [My friend Peter Sheridan is a Los Angeles-based correspondent for British national newspapers. He has covered revolutions, civil wars, riots, wildfires, and Hollywood celebrity misdeeds for longer than he cares to remember. As part of his job, he must read all the weekly tabloids. For the past couple of years, he's been posting terrific weekly tabloid recaps on Facebook and has graciously given us permission to run them on Boing Boing. Enjoy! Mark] It's another fact-challenged adventure into the wonderful world of fiction in this week's tabloids. "Ted Cruz named in Madam's black book!" screams the National Enquirer, following its recent unsubstantiated allegation that Cruz has five mistresses, with the new but entirely predictable claim that he was among the clients of the late Washington, D.C. madam Deborah Palfrey. The madam's former attorney claims the little black book, long-sealed under court order, contains "information relevant to the upcoming election." That's enough for the Enquirer to say that it "could sink Cruz's waning White House hopes." But despite its front page headline, the Enquirer admits that it has no idea if Cruz is in the book. It's just wishful thinking. Tom Cruise is "out to dethrone the Queen," claims the Enquirer, alleging that the actor will donate $21 million for renovations of the Church of Scientology's "castle fit for a Scientology king" in West Sussex, England. The property is large, but hardly palatial, yet that doesn't stop the Enquirer claiming: "Tom's goal now is to have his cult replace the monarchy out of spite for being ignored by the British upper crust." That's what passes as logic in the world of tabloids. I'm only surprised that the Enquirer didn't suggest that the Royal Family has hated Scientologists ever since John Travolta swept Princess Diana across a ballroom floor. "Cruise Cult Invades Britain!" screams the Globe, telling a similar story about Scientology's UK center at St Hill Manor. One small detail: church founder L Ron Hubbard bought the property in 1959. The "invasion" happened 57 years ago but that's evidently "news" to the Globe. Only weeks after the tabloids were warning us that actor Michael Douglas was "wasting away" and days from death, the Globe runs a photo of him looking fit and youthful on a beach, with a small belly hanging over his swimsuit, prompting a caption saying he "is letting it all hang out." So, is Douglas wasting away, or overweight? Maybe the tabloids' indecision is what's killing him? There are new "drug fears for mangy Macaulay" Culkin, as the former Home Alone star was spotted walking down a New York Street "unshaven, with hair hanging below his shoulders and wearing shabby clothes," claims the Globe. Unshaven? Shocking! What are young people coming to these days? No wonder the Globe decides that "his haggard and strange appearance is piling on the fears that he's in the grips of a drug nightmare." I for one am grateful that the Globe's crack team of reporters are trained in the field of sartorial psychoanalysis. It's not that Ted Cruz couldn't possibly be in Palfrey's little black book, or that Tom Cruise isn't actually plotting to overthrow the British monarchy, or that Michael Douglas may one day shed his mortal coil, or that Macaulay Culkin couldn't occasionally be experimenting with drugs it's just that little detail called "facts" that's missing. Call me old-fashioned. It's hard to beat the National Examiner's cover story headline: "Angie Dickinson Tells All Before She Dies!" It's not beyond the Examiner's powers to have TV's former Policewoman star "tell all" after she dies, through the intercession of its team of psychic reporters, but evidently they can't wait that long. So what does Angie tell? Absolutely nothing. Inside its hallowed pages, the Examiner reveals that the actress "is being urged to complete her explosive memoirs before she dies!" Not quite the same thing as a "tell-all" when all Angie Dickinson can tell so far is probably: "I wish reporters would stop asking me when I'm going to write my memoirs." Yet again I'm forced to wonder how sick and decrepit celebrity-lovers must be, judging by the ads in this week's People magazine for anti-aging cream, bipolar depression drugs, cholesterol drugs, menopause medication, rheumatoid arthritis pills, anti-depressants, Listerine mouthwash and skin exfoliators, Both People and Us magazines devote their covers to Drew Barrymore's marriage break-up. "Fairy Tale Destroyed," sobs Us. "Inside Drew's Sad Split," laments People. Both mags agree: She's a free-spirited Californian; hubby Will Kopelman is a straight-laced New Yorker. Therefore it could never work. Perhaps the fact that it was Drew's third marriage might have been a red flag. Abusing drugs from the age of nine probably didn't help, at a wild guess. Fortunately we have the crack investigative team at Us mag to tell us that Rosamund Pike wore it best, actress Kristen Bell hates goat cheese "almost as much as I love rugs," and the stars are just like us: they pick up after their kids, they run on the beach, and they talk on their cell phones. Earth-shattering revelations. This week Us mag dives into the bamboo-handled Gucci tote of Arianna Huffington, which begs the question what was she thinking? Left-wing intellectuals they're just like us? Sure, if we all carry Yamamotoyama Genmai green tea bags, pink silk eyeshades and two cell phones (one to speak on, the other to surf the web) in our handbags. I'm intrigued by the Examiner's headline "Evil Monster Cut Baby Out of Stranger's Womb!" Would it be less shocking if the attacker had cut the baby out of the womb of a close friend? Onwards and downwards . . . Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are integral audiences and partners of the EBRD in the countries where it invests. They provide a valuable contribution to the development of our policies, strategies and the implementation of investment projects, promote public dialogue and hold governments and policy makers publicly accountable. For the EBRDs purposes, civil society includes non-governmental organisations (NGOs), policy and research think tanks, social movements, labour unions, community-based organisations, womens groups, business development organisations and other socio-economic and labour-market actors, including individual activists. Our ongoing dialogue with civil society focuses on human rights and democracy, environmental and social issues, economic inclusion and gender, transparency, good governance and business development issues related to EBRDs work and our countries of operations. The EBRD's engagement with CSOs is designed to: Support the Bank's Article 1 mandate of fostering transition towards market economies in countries that respect the principles of multiparty democracy and pluralism; Support the EBRDs Environmental and Social Policy (ESP) ; ; Promote the EBRDs commitment to transparency and good governance as stated in its Access to Information Policy; Promote collaboration by use of the Civil Society Capacity Enhancement Framework. Video: EBRD engagement with Civil Society A federal magistrate judge on Monday granted the Department of Justices request to delay a much-anticipated court hearing that had been scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Riverside, Calif. The court granted an indefinite stay, after the DoJ said it had found a possible method of accessing the encrypted iPhone of the San Bernardino terrorist without the help of Apple. The Justice Department said it would issue an update on April 5. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Wilkison asked Judge Sheri Pym to postpone the scheduled hearing to give investigators time to see whether the method would work. The DoJ notified lawyers for Apple at 2:30 p.m. Monday, based on the filing, asking them for Apples position on the matter, and Apples lawyers in turn asked for a status conference by telephone. Our top priority has always been gaining access into the phone used by the terrorist in San Bernardino, said DoJ spokesperson Melanie Newman. With this goal in mind, the FBI has continued in its efforts to gain access to the phone without Apples assistance, even during a month-long period of litigation with the company. As a result of these efforts, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI this past weekend a possible method for unlocking the phone, she said. Investigators must first test this method to ensure that it doesnt destroy the data on the phone, but we remain cautiously optimistic, Newman added. Broad Ramifications This is good news, because a legal precedent requiring companies to write backdoors is incredibly dangerous to the security of millions of iPhone users, said Kurt Opsahl, general counsel for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. This case was always about more than access to a single phone, he told the E-Commerce Times. It was an attempt to set a legal precedent that requires any company to undermine their users security at the FBIs request, Opsahl contended. Security is vital to protect the information on your phone, and the FBI should work to enhance user security, not against it. Taken by Surprise The DoJs request came as a bolt from the blue, Apple attorneys told reporters in a conference call Monday evening. The basis for the departments request was a mystery. However, if the DoJ should pursue the case at a later date, then the company would ask it to disclose everything the government knows about how to access data, the Apple attorneys said. Further, they would want to question the entity that contacted the government with the possible method for unlocking the phone. Over the past month, the government gave Apple no indication that it was attempting to contact third parties, they noted. We can only speculate as to the exact reason for the delay, but at this point it seems that the FBI has wasted everyones time pushing a legal theory that is now moot, said Eli Dourado, director of the Technology Policy Program at George Mason Universitys Mercatus Center. Lets hope they never do this again, he told the E-Commerce Times. Court Fight The DoJ and FBI have battled Apple for more than a month in an often bitter public debate over whether Apple should be forced to provide a backdoor method to give investigators access to data stored on the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook. Along with his wife, Farook shot up a holiday party in an ISIS-inspired spree, killing 14 and wounding 22 people. Both Farook and his wife, who is suspected of helping to radicalize him, were killed in a shootout with law enforcement. Graceful Exit? The indefinite postponement of the hearing may be a sign that the government is looking for a graceful exit from a civil liberties nightmare that was beginning to divide Congress along nontraditional lines. This would be a very good outcome, said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. The government may use all lawful techniques to obtain evidence authorized pursuant to a court order. Apple drew the right line in this matter, he told the E-Commerce Times, and it appears the FBI is respecting that line. Fierce Resistance Apple, which has cooperated with investigators in numerous other cases, publicly attacked the governments request for assistance in the San Bernardino case. Its chief concern was that creating a new set of code to allow investigators to access one phone would open the door for additional requests. It also would leave it vulnerable to cooperation demands with various governments around the world that might have dissidents they wanted to crack down upon, Apple maintained. This case was never about a phone, it was always about a precedent, said Evan Greer, campaign director of Fight for the Future. Well be watching carefully to see how this unfolds, but for now it appears that the government is attempting to gracefully back down from its dangerous request that Apple build a backdoor, he told the E-Commerce Times. The group had planned to demonstrate with an online campaign, as well as protesters outside the courthouse on Tuesday, and they will still be there, according to Greer. Decision makers need to know that the public and security experts oppose dangerous backdoors in encryption, he said, so they dont attempt something like this again. Blendle, a Netherlands-based news aggregation site that draws comparisons to Spotify, on Wednesday announced its beta launch in the U.S. Blendle made its debut with the participation of several major new organizations and financial backing from Axel Springer and The New York Times. The 5-year-old company, which recently expanded into Germany, has opened the beta phase to 10,000 users who can make refundable micropayments for stories they choose to read. Journalism needs a Spotify, a Netflix, an iTunes, whatever you want to call it, cofounder Alexander Klopping wrote on Medium. One website that houses the best newspapers and magazines in the country, that allows people to browse through everything and only pay for the stories they like, where you can see what your friends recommended. Success in Europe Since going live in 2014, Blendle has attracted 650,000 registered users who read millions of stories per month in Europe, Klopping noted. Half of the users are under age 35, which is important, because that demographic rarely pays for content. The site lets users connect their Facebook and Twitter accounts to Blendle, so they can see which stories their friends have shared. Some top journalists, including Felix Salmon, a senior editor atFusion, and Kim Ghattas of the BBC, are on board to select stories on business and politics, respectively. Generating money from individual users is critical, because digital media outlets are struggling to bring in advertising revenue, Klopping said, with 41 percent of younger readers using ad-blocking plugins on their devices. Investor Optimism The companies behind Blendle are optimistic about the potential for the site to be successful in the U.S. Axel Springer and the NY Times invested about US$3.8 million in the site in 2014. We at Axel Springer are working on establishing paid content offerings for digital journalism, spokesperson Michael Schneider told the E-Commerce Times. Thats why we think that Blendle is so interesting. The company established digital paid offerings for Bild, which has 318,000 paid digital subscribers, and Die Welt, which has 78,000 paid digital subscribers, he pointed out. It also launched its own digital newsstand, which other publications can use to distribute electronic versions of their content. Blendles technology and micropayments will not be implemented on any of The New York Times sites, a source familiar with the companys policy told the E-Commerce Times. However, NYT articles will be available on Blendles site and via related apps. The Times will work with Blendle to evaluate additional opportunities to integrate the various features as the company grows. Easy Does It Micropayments largely have failed in the U.S. until now, but the jury is still out on how successful Blendle will be in growing its U.S. customer base. Failure of the micropayment model to catch on more widely is partially due to clumsy, cumbersome payment mechanisms, an issue that could well be addressed by the evolution of digital wallet technologies, Pund-IT Principal Analyst Charles King told the E-Commerce Times. Blendle is easy to use and has solved many of the problems that hurt micropayment sites in the past, noted Rick Edmonds, media business analyst for the Poynter Institute. However, the site could suffer from a look dont touch problem as it gains subscribers. Even their good results in the Netherlands and Germany suggest that people may register, but not get in the habit of using, Edmonds told the E-Commerce Times. That behavior is not uncommon, he suggested, pointing to studies showing that people often download large numbers of apps onto their devices, but only become regular users of four or five of them. Strong Resistance Although the benefit for participating media companies includes the ability to generate revenue and attract younger readers, its unlikely that the launch will bring radical change to the existing paywall mechanism for at least a couple of years, Edmonds said. Its a matter of speculation whether the timing of Blendles launch has anything at all to do with The Wall Street Journals decision to close the Google paywall loophole last month. Readers previously had been able to view WSJ stories by clicking on links within Google News, without having to subscribe and pay a fee. Google is a significant provider of referrals to news sites. U.S. consumers remain very reluctant to pay for content, observed Susan Schreiner, an analyst at C4 Trends, which doesnt bode well for Blendle. Going to a reading app is cumbersome, she told the E-Commerce Times, and so is Blendles microtransaction model. 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Zak S. 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. A new nonprofit organization has set out to help school districts compare the prices they pay for education technology and examine the fairness and logic of their procurement practices and contracts with vendors. That organization, the Technology for Education Consortium, has come out of the gate swinginghaving released data that questions the prices that Apple is charging districts for a popular model of iPads. The consortium says its research, based on surveys of 40 districts, shows that the prices those systems paid for iPads with the same features and design ranged from $367 to $499. That gap cant be explained by the volume of the purchases or related factors, the organization argues. Filling a Void The consortiums evaluation of iPads is the first it has conducted and released publicly. It chose a big venue to unveil its data: the South by Southwest Education conference, an annual event held in Austin, Texas, earlier this month that drew digital providers and educators from around the country. Apple, a giant Silicon Valley tech manufacturer with a major presence in schools, responded to the consortiums data by saying that without having more details on the prices paid by specific districts, it couldnt know if the cost figures are accurate, or skewed by unknown factors. The consortium will soon produce other evaluations of ed-tech pricing, including one focused on what districts are paying for Chromebooks, said Hal Friedlander, the consortiums CEO and co-founder. Friedlander knows something about the pressures districts face in buying technology. He used to serve as chief information officer for the New York City schools. Harold Levy, a former chancellor with the school system, is board chairman of the consortium, which has received initial funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Every year American K-12 schools spend billions of dollars on education technology, the organization says on its website. Until now, they didnt have the tools to know if that money was being spent effectively. The consortium intends to fill that void by collecting data from individual districts about their ed-tech purchases and sharing it with members. The value of the consortium will depend partly on its ability to collect and share information among a large enough stable of districts to make its conclusions about various K-12 ed-tech products and policies both relevant and accurate, said Steven Ross, a professor of educational research at Johns Hopkins University. The fewer that are involved, the more bias there would be, Ross suggested. But given the pressures district administrators face, and the lack of objective data they have to make big buying decisions, Ross said the goals of the consortium are appealing. Right now, people dont have information, Ross said. I dont see where it hurts having more of it available. The organization, which launched earlier this year, focused initially on the price districts are being charged for Apple iPad Airs. In an effort to compare the same devices across districts, the consortium said it focused on iPad Airs with 16 gigabytes and the same standard manufacturers warranty. The group says it found that the price for the same iPads varied in different districts from about $370 to nearly $500 per unit. The data showed that the prices did not follow any pattern consistent with the size of the 40 districts, which included some of the nations largest, and relatively small systems, such as one with less than 8,000 students. The price was also not connected to volume, or the numbers of units bought by those individual systems, Friedlander said. The consortium released its data in aggregate, and did not reveal the names of the individual districts, or what each of them paid. Friedlander said the organizations rationale is that it did not want to embarrass school systems saddled with heftier costs than others, but rather to provide them with useful comparisons. But as a service to the districts, the consortium will provide them with national and regional pricing data. It also expects to share pricing data between administrators in comparable K-12 systems, with their consent, Friedlander said. Apple officials, in a statement to Education Week, would not comment in detail on the consortiums findings, saying the data were not specific enough for them to judge individual districts prices or what factors may have shaped those costs. But the company argued that a number of factors could potentially alter the results. One of which is that the price Apple charges for iPadsas with many products in the markettends to be highest when products are initially released, then falls after that. It was not clear from the consortiums data at what point individual K-12 systems bought the iPads, and what prices they paid, Apple said in its statement. In addition, Apple officials also said that even if districts evaluated by the consortium were using the same devices, it was possible that the company negotiated to provide those individual K-12 systems with other products attached to the devices, such as software or professional development. That could have affected the cost, the company said. The company forwarded a previous statement from its CEO, Tim Cook, in which he spoke of the companys desire to create products that are a whole solution for peoplethat allow kids to create and engage on a different level. Friedlander was skeptical of Apples explanations. He said the consortiums data do not show any pattern of districts paying less if they bought the iPads at a later time. He also was not convinced that other features or services were attached to districts iPad purchases in ways that would have raised the devices costs. Those additional features and services would likely have been broken out by the districts, and noted by the consortiums researchers, he said. Eliminating Silos The consortium hopes that administrators from districts participating in the study will share information with each other. Some districts could use the data to negotiate better deals with vendors on their own. Or districts could use the information to band together and make cooperative purchases, Friedlander said. When he was a school administrator, Friedlander said he would often speak with other chief information officers around the country, all having the same frustrations. He hopes his organization will ensure that more of those discussions take place. For most chief information officers, there are a lot of fires to put out every day, he said, and many administrators operate in silos. Ross agreed, noting that K-12 officials buying ed-tech are often forced to make decisions about buying technology that is constantly evolvingoften faster than academic researchers studying it can keep upand as state and local academic standards shift. Partly as a result, district officials rely on word-of-mouth recommendations about ed tech from other K-12 system administrators. That isnt necessarily a bad thing, though efforts like the consortiums project could bring valuable structure to the peer-to-peer information sharing, he said. School district administrators are really overburdened these days, said Ross, and they need information about ed-tech quickly: They dont have the luxury of being researchers. Gov. Butch Otter issued his first vetoes of the year Tuesday afternoon, killing the closely watched Bible-in-schools bill. In vetoing the bill, Otter aligned with Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, who had warned that the bill would violate the Idaho Constitution . While Otter and Wasden have publicly sparred in recent days over the demise of the Idaho Education Network contract, Otter echoed Wasdens concerns over the Bible bill. I have deep respect and appreciation for the Bible as a religious doctrine as well as a piece of historic literature, Otter wrote in a veto message addressed to Secretary of State Lawerence Denney. However, allowing S1342 to become law is in direct contravention to the Idaho Constitution, and it could result in a loss of funding and costly litigation for Idaho public schools. Pushed by Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll, R-Cottonwood, Senate Bill 1342 would have allowed teachers to use the Bible and other religious texts in public school classrooms as a reference. Current law already allows teachers to use the Bible, and the leaders of several education groups have said there has been no confusion about the matter . However, Nuxoll and other supporters said the bill was necessary to clarify the issue and ease educators fears. Opponents, including some legislators, claimed the bill was clearly unconstitutional and would only lead to costly litigation. Other lawmakers downplayed the issue. The little Supreme Court in my head says its OK, said Rep. Sage Dixon, a Ponderay Republican and House sponsor of SB 1342, during floor debate on March 21. After Senate leaders agreed on amendments, including a reference addressing the use of other religious texts the Bible bill passed the Senate on a bipartisan 31-3 vote. Two weeks later, it passed the House, 54-15. Otter issued the veto on the final day that he was allowed to act on the bill and more than a week after the Legislature left town. The bill reached Otters desk on March 24, the day the Senate adjourned for the year and a day before the House adjourned. Otter had three options for handling the Bible bill. He could have signed it into law, vetoed it or allowed it to become law without his signature. Moments after vetoing the Bible bill, Otter informed Denney he also vetoed a funding bill designed to align with a failed bill that aimed to provide healthcare coverage to Idahoans falling in the so-called Medicaid gap. Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, Apr 6 (EFE).- In five years, a construction company in Mexico was able to raise the participation rate of women in its workforce to 8 percent. "Through a program of motivating construction leaders and a recruitment program, we achieved a record share of female labor," Caetano Rocha, who is in charge of the construction of Latin America's largest petrochemical complex, Etileno XXI, told EFE. In Mexico, only 3.5 percent of people working in construction are women, according to government figures. "We set specific goals for percentages of women within our ranks. It was necessary to train the women for them to join the workplace in a safe way," Rocha said. The program included the installation of 28 mailboxes at the work site and in neighboring communities to respond within 20 days to any complaints or reports of harassment. This led to the resolution of disputes, including cases of labor or sexual harassment against women, and the removal of the men responsible for improper or offensive behavior. The project also recruited college-trained professionals. Yarizbeth Hernandez Guarneros studied mechatronics, a discipline that combines systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering and computer engineering. "I took a five-month course and signed a contract. I am happy because it is so difficult to find a job," Hernandez Guarneros said. Her job as a field operator requires the verification of fluid levels, valve regulation and starting the operation of pumps. Hernandez Guarneros said she felt supported by her male co-workers and satisfied with her job. But Hernandez Guarneros's is not an isolated case. At her workplace, there are six other women performing similar tasks. "In total, we are 36 women among a total of 76 workers," Hernandez Guarneros said. In the course of this gigantic project's construction, there were seven female team leaders, 18 coordinators, 20 engineers, 34 supervisors, 78 equipment operators and 37 security staff, all holding jobs traditionally occupied by men. Many more women were employed in administration and services. Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is to resign, his party said on Tuesday, becoming the first casualty of leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm which have shone a spotlight on the finances of an array of politicians and public figures worldwide. The Panama Papers showed the premier's wife owned an offshore company with big claims on Icelandic banks, infuriating many in his country who joined mass street protests calling for him to resign. The more than 11.5 million documents, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, have caused public outrage over how the world's rich and powerful are able to stash their wealth and avoid taxes while many people suffer austerity and hardship. Mossack Fonseca denies any wrongdoing and on Tuesday, Panama President Juan Carlos Varela's chief of staff told a news conference that the government could retaliate after France announced it would put the Central American country back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. The official, Alvaro Aleman, said that no Panamanian company had been found to have committed a crime. He added: "We are not going to allow Panama to be used as a scapegoat by third parties. Each country (implicated) is responsible." Among those named in the documents are friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the leaders of China, Britain and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine. Gunnlaugsson quit ahead of a planned vote of no-confidence, hours after asking the president to dissolve parliament, a move which would almost certainly have led to a new election. 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. 08:11, 22 OCT 2022 City/Town: ZURICH Event Type: Concert/Show Location: Volkshaus, Stauffacherstr. 60, 8004 ZH Price: Chf 55.- **SOLD OUT** Jimmys been described as the hardest working man in comedy. Which, lets face facts, is not that impressive. Its like being the Tallest Dwarf or the Healthiest Scotsman. Really not that big a deal. Funny Business is Jimmys brand new stand up show. Come for the witty and incisive musings on the human condition; stay for the knob gags. Jimmy Carr Funny Business Multiple Choice Jimmy Carrs Funny Business will be: a) Packed with jokes b) Rude and offensive* c) A great night out d) Chf 55.- a ticket ** If you answered a) b) c) or d) you were right! * If you are easily offended. Dont be a dick about it. ** The show is not suitable for anyone who hasnt bought a ticket. UNRESERVED SEATING. NON SMOKING. How does this work? More info and booking details at InternationalComedy.Club, join the Facebook Page, Cuckoo us on Twitter, or subscribe to our mailing list. RSVP'd Yes: 5 (2 members and 3 guests) mirfield Crumbs + 3 guests (2 members and 3 guests) Re: Should I get invisalign from Canada or Swiss? Quote: noyman Hey! I'm 22 years old and live in Canada. My upper front teeth are slightly protruding but it's not that noticeable. One of my friends asked to get braces from a dental clinic in Oshawa I'm planning on getting invisalign braces as I don't want others to notice my braces. But I'm in a confusion, I will be relocating to Swiss after 3 months due to my dad's business. I'm not sure if I get an invisalign now, will I be able to complete my treatment before going to Swiss? Or should I get invisalign from Swiss? I don't have any idea about the place which I'm relocating, so what am I suppose to do? Any idea? Invisalign treatment duration can vary from couple of months up to 2 years maximum. In your case, as you describe it, it is a light dental crowding problem so in principle should take couple of months to get it straight with the Invisalign aligners. So maybe yes or maybe not, you can finish the treatment before relocating to Switzerland. But anyhow, Invisalign allow also cases referrals between dentists directly from their professional accounts. Another matter you should consider is the followup after the Invisalign treatment. Thats why i would be inclined to advise you to wait for the relocation to Switzerland to start the treatment. Our dental office in the the city of Lausanne is an Invisalign certified provider if you happen to relocate to the french part of Switzerland. If not, I can hook you up with some Invisalign certified providers in different parts of Switzerland. Hope this info will help you. If you have any further question feel free to ask me. Please do check our dental office website under the Directory tab listed under Dentists : KD1 Cabinet Dentaire Khoury Dulla. Best luck with your relocation. Paul Khoury Dr med dent Hello,Invisalign treatment duration can vary from couple of months up to 2 years maximum. In your case, as you describe it, it is a light dental crowding problem so in principle should take couple of months to get it straight with the Invisalign aligners. So maybe yes or maybe not, you can finish the treatment before relocating to Switzerland. But anyhow, Invisalign allow also cases referrals between dentists directly from their professional accounts. Another matter you should consider is the followup after the Invisalign treatment. Thats why i would be inclined to advise you to wait for the relocation to Switzerland to start the treatment. Our dental office in the the city of Lausanne is an Invisalign certified provider if you happen to relocate to the french part of Switzerland. If not, I can hook you up with some Invisalign certified providers in different parts of Switzerland. Hope this info will help you. If you have any further question feel free to ask me. Please do check our dental office website under the Directory tab listed under Dentists : KD1 Cabinet Dentaire Khoury Dulla.Best luck with your relocation.Paul KhouryDr med dent This paper delineates the social history of insidious communal political violence in north Malabar. It focuses on Nadapuram, a rural region in Kerala's Kozhikode District. The complexities of communal proliferation are products of entanglements of caste, conversion, economic mobility and land relationship. Political discourses at the global stage and efforts in building identity-based alliances have a direct bearing on this region. Changing politics of both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) also has a direct bearing on the social life of the Hindus, while the communitarian politics of Indian Union Muslim League, Islamic doctrinal debates and neo-Salafisation are no less significant in the making of a new Muslim mindscape. These particularities then facilitate in the making of two oppositional and clannish identities in the region. Dear Reader, To continue reading, become a subscriber. Explore our attractive subscription offers. Click here The first major clinical trial to include a blinded, placebo-controlled "statin re-challenge" in patients with a history of muscle-related side effects sheds new light on statin-associated muscle symptoms, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology's 65th Annual Scientific Session. The trial also demonstrates that monthly self-injection of the relatively new non-statin cholesterol-lowering drug evolocumab reduces levels of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol to a greater extent than ezetimibe, a traditional drug used in statin-intolerant patients. The study showed that 42.6 percent of 491 patients who had previously reported muscle pain with at least two different statins had a recurrence of symptoms during blinded administration of atorvastatin, but not while taking a placebo. After a 24-week treatment period, patients with confirmed statin intolerance who were given evolocumab on average showed a 52.8 percent reduction in LDL cholesterol, one of the study's co-primary endpoints, compared with a 16.7 percent reduction for patients taking ezetimibe. For the study's other co-primary endpoint, the average change in LDL cholesterol for weeks 22 and 24, patients taking evolocumab showed a reduction of 54.5 percent and patients taking ezetimibe showed a reduction of 16.7 percent. "These findings provide unique insights into the challenging clinical problem of muscle symptoms in statin treated patients," said Steven Nissen, M.D., MACC, chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at Cleveland Clinic and the lead author of the trial. "Evolocumab substantially lowered LDL cholesterol with few patients experiencing muscle symptoms. The study has important implications for both guidelines and regulatory policy, because it provides strong evidence that muscle-related statin intolerance is a real and reproducible phenomenon." The patients in the GAUSS-3 trial had very high levels of LDL cholesterol, averaging more than 210 mg/dL. Untreated high LDL cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease, and statins are the most effective drugs available, yet some patients report that that they are unable to tolerate statins, mostly due to muscle pain or weakness. There has been considerable controversy about the prevalence of muscle-related statin intolerance because large randomized trials have reported low rates of muscle symptoms, while observational studies have suggested that 5 to 20 percent of patients experience muscle symptoms when taking statins. "Statin intolerance has been one of the most vexing problems faced by cardiologists," Nissen said. "Patients with high levels of LDL cholesterol and a high risk of cardiovascular events are often reluctant or completely unwilling to take statins, the only cholesterol lowering drugs approved to reduce their risk of a cardiovascular event. This situation is extremely frustrating for both patients and physicians because there have not been good alternatives for treatment." Evolocumab, a proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitor, is a non-statin cholesterol-lowering drug administered by self-injection every two to four weeks. By binding to and inhibiting PCSK9, a protein that degrades LDL cholesterol receptors on the surface of the liver, the drug is designed to increase the number of LDL receptors on the liver, thus allowing the liver to remove LDL cholesterol from the blood more effectively. Ezetimibe, the existing drug used as a control in the trial, lowers blood cholesterol by decreasing the absorption of cholesterol in the small intestine. The phase 3, randomized, double-blind GAUSS-3 trial enrolled 511 patients at 53 health care centers. Participants had high LDL cholesterol and a history of statin intolerance. A vast majority of participants--82 percent--had tried and failed to tolerate three or more statins. Previous studies, including the trial's predecessor, GAUSS-2, have shown evolocumab reduces LDL cholesterol levels more effectively than ezetimibe. Because the trial was intended to evaluate evolocumab in statin-intolerant patients, it included an initial statin re-challenge procedure designed to confirm that patients had reproducible muscle symptoms when taking a statin. Nineteen of the enrolled participants bypassed this initial segment because they were documented to have creatine kinase levels--a marker of muscle injury--at least 10 times higher than the upper limit of normal when taking a statin. Those who participated in the statin challenge were given 20 milligrams of atorvastatin or a placebo daily for 10 weeks, then switched over and were given either a placebo or atorvastatin--whichever one they had not been given in the first phase--for 10 more weeks. Of the 491 participants, 209, or 42.6 percent, reported muscle-related side effects while taking atorvastatin but not while taking the placebo. More than a quarter, 26.5 percent, reported muscle pain while taking the placebo but not while taking atorvastatin, suggesting that although statin intolerance can be confirmed in a substantial proportion of patients with self-reported intolerance, there is also a significant proportion who experience muscle pain that cannot be attributed to taking statins. After that initial phase, 218 patients with confirmed statin intolerance were enrolled in the trial's second segment, with 145 randomly assigned to receive evolocumab and 73 randomized to receive ezetimibe. Because evolocumab was administered through self-administered injections totaling 420 milligrams per month, and ezetimibe was administered through a 10-milligram daily pill, those randomized to receive evolocumab were given injections of evolocumab and daily placebo pills, and those randomized to receive ezetimibe were given placebo injections and a daily ezetimibe pill. Participants in the study's second phase had an average baseline LDL cholesterol level of 220 mg/dl. After 24 weeks, those given evolocumab had an LDL cholesterol level of 104 mg/dl on average; 64.1 percent of patients taking evolocumab finished the trial with LDL cholesterol below 100 mg/dl, and 29.9 percent finished with LDL cholesterol below 70 mg/dl. Treatment was discontinued during the trial for one patient given evolocumab and five patients given ezetimibe due to muscle-related adverse events. Longer-term results from another evolocumab trial showing health outcomes may be available by the end of 2016. The study's limitations included its modest size and relatively short duration, but Nissen said it was adequately powered to address its primary endpoint. The trial was funded by Amgen. Nissen has served as a consultant for many pharmaceutical companies and has overseen clinical trials for Amgen, AstraZeneca, Cerenis, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, The Medicines Company, Orexigen, Takeda and Pfizer. However, he does not accept honoraria, consulting fees or other compensation from commercial entities. This study was simultaneously published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association at the time of presentation. ### The ACC's Annual Scientific Session, which in 2016 will be April 2-4 in Chicago, brings together cardiologists and cardiovascular specialists from around the world to share the newest discoveries in treatment and prevention. Follow @ACCMediaCenter and #ACC16 for the latest news from the meeting. The American College of Cardiology is a 52,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. The ACC leads in the formation of health policy, standards and guidelines. The College operates national registries to measure and improve care, offers cardiovascular accreditation to hospitals and institutions, provides professional medical education, disseminates cardiovascular research and bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet stringent qualifications. Nissen will be available to the media in a press conference on Sunday, April 3, 2016, at 9:30 a.m. CT/10:30 a.m. ET/2:30 p.m. UTC in Room N229. Nissen will present the study, "Comparison of PCSK9 Inhibitor Evolocumab Versus Ezetimibe in Statin-intolerant Patients: The Goal Achievement After Utilizing an Anti-PCSK9 Antibody in Statin Intolerant Subjects 3 (GAUSS-3) Trial," on Sunday, April 3, 2016, at 8 a.m. CT/9 a.m. ET/1 p.m. UTC in the Main Tent (North Hall B1). The annual award was created by the AMS Committee on the Profession to recognize outstanding programs that successfully address the issue of underrepresented groups in mathematics. David Savitt of Johns Hopkins University, who served as chair of the award selection committee, said: "The Department of Mathematics at Morehouse College goes the extra mile to encourage and challenge its students. The faculty show great care and devotion in their teaching and mentoring, and they also open students' horizons by, for example, offering research opportunities and getting students to participate in conferences. The impact Morehouse has on increasing diversity in the mathematical sciences community will exert a positive effect for years to come. The AMS is very happy to present this deserving department with the Programs that Make a Difference Award." Morehouse College is a private, all-male, historically black college in Atlanta, Georgia, with enrollment of approximately 2200 students. In recent years its Department of Mathematics has graduated an average of 14 mathematics majors per year. This places Morehouse as the nation's top producer of black male mathematics degree recipients (and one of the top producers of all black mathematics graduates). Roughly half of recent mathematics majors have gone on to graduate programs in STEM disciplines, a majority of those in the mathematical sciences. Notably, three alumni earned mathematics PhDs in 2015 (and a total of six in the past seven years); for comparison, a total of fifteen black male U.S. citizens earned a PhD in mathematics nationwide in 2013-14. The Morehouse mathematics department strives to provide a challenging yet nurturing environment for all of its students. Much of the department's energy is focused on excelling in the ordinary business of all mathematics departments: delivering high-quality instruction in rigorous courses. Encouragement and support are given both to students who are struggling and to students who are excelling. The department hosts various social events that build community among the students and foster a sense of camaraderie centered on shared interest in mathematics. Through interactions with faculty and colloquium speakers, Morehouse mathematics students gain new perspectives on the opportunities a degree in mathematics opens up. They also start to see beyond their coursework and to get a taste of what research in mathematics is like. Mathematics majors are encouraged to participate in Research Experiences for Undergraduates programs, and some also do research projects with Morehouse faculty. Students make presentations in departmental poster sessions and at local and national mathematics conferences, including in the Harriett J. Walton Symposium on Undergraduate Mathematics Research, which the department has held annually for the past 14 years. The official announcement of this award, including the selection committee's citation, is available from the AMS Public Awareness Office and will appear in the May 2016 issue of the Notices of the AMS. In the week of April 19th, that issue will be available on the Notices web site; no subscription is necessary. ### Find out more about this and other AMS awards at http://www.ams.org/profession/prizes-awards/prizes. A series of massive supernova explosions near our solar system showered the Earth with radioactive debris between 3.2 and 1.7 million years ago An international team of scientists has found evidence of a series of massive supernova explosions near our solar system, which showered the Earth with radioactive debris. The scientists found radioactive iron-60 in sediment and crust samples taken from the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The iron-60 was concentrated in a period between 3.2 and 1.7 million years ago, which is relatively recent in astronomical terms, said research leader Dr Anton Wallner from The Australian National University (ANU). "We were very surprised that there was debris clearly spread across 1.5 million years," said Dr Wallner, a nuclear physicist in the ANU Research School of Physics and Engineering. "It suggests there were a series of supernovae, one after another. "It's an interesting coincidence that they correspond with when the Earth cooled and moved from the Pliocene into the Pleistocene period." The team from Australia, the University of Vienna in Austria, Hebrew University in Israel, Shimizu Corporation and University of Tokyo, Nihon University and University of Tsukuba in Japan, Senckenberg Collections of Natural History Dresden and Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) in Germany, also found evidence of iron-60 from an older supernova around eight million years ago, coinciding with global faunal changes in the late Miocene. Some theories suggest cosmic rays from the supernovae could have increased cloud cover. A supernova is a massive explosion of a star as it runs out of fuel and collapses. The scientists believe the supernovae in this case were less than 300 light years away, close enough to be visible during the day and comparable to the brightness of the Moon. Although Earth would have been exposed to an increased cosmic ray bombardment, the radiation would have been too weak to cause direct biological damage or trigger mass extinctions. The supernova explosions create many heavy elements and radioactive isotopes which are strewn into the cosmic neighbourhood. One of these isotopes is iron-60 which decays with a half-life of 2.6 million years, unlike its stable cousin iron-56. Any iron-60 dating from the Earth's formation more than four billion years ago has long since disappeared. The iron-60 atoms reached Earth in minuscule quantities and so the team needed extremely sensitive techniques to identify the interstellar iron atoms. "Iron-60 from space is a million-billion times less abundant than the iron that exists naturally on Earth," said Dr Wallner. Dr Wallner was intrigued by first hints of iron-60 in samples from the Pacific Ocean floor, found a decade ago by a group at TU Munich. He assembled an international team to search for interstellar dust from 120 ocean-floor samples spanning the past 11 million years. The first step was to extract all the iron from the ocean cores. This time-consuming task was performed by two groups, at HZDR and the University of Tokyo. The team then separated the tiny traces of interstellar iron-60 from the other terrestrial isotopes using the Heavy-Ion Accelerator at ANU and found it occurred all over the globe. The age of the cores was determined from the decay of other radioactive isotopes, beryllium-10 and aluminium-26, using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) facilities at DREsden AMS (DREAMS) of HZDR, Micro Analysis Laboratory (MALT) at the University of Tokyo and the Vienna Environmental Research Accelerator (VERA) at the University of Vienna. The dating showed the fallout had only occurred in two time periods, 3.2 to 1.7 million years ago and eight million years ago. Current results from TU Munich are in line with these findings. A possible source of the supernovae is an ageing star cluster, which has since moved away from Earth, independent work led by TU Berlin has proposed in a parallel publication. The cluster has no large stars left, suggesting they have already exploded as supernovae, throwing out waves of debris. ### WACO, Texas (April 6, 2016) - Your coworker wastes time. He mismanages resources. He's been known to engage in activities that you and others consider conflicts of interest. Yet, he seems to "do no wrong" in the eyes of the company. Why? Because he's producing. A new Baylor University study published in Personnel Psychology - ""I Don't Want to be Near You, Unless...": The Interactive Effect of Unethical Behavior and Performance onto Workplace Ostracism" - investigates why employees' unethical behaviors may be tolerated versus rejected. "In this study, we're asking the questions: When and why are people ostracized - or excluded from the group - while at work?" said the study's lead author, Matthew J. Quade, Ph.D., assistant professor of management in Baylor's Hankamer School of Business. "Our research contributes to an ongoing conversation regarding whether people's competence is more important than morality within the context of organizations." Researchers conducted a total of three studies and surveyed 1,040 people - including more than 300 pairs of supervisors and their employees. Study results show: High job performance may provide a motivated reason to ignore moral violations Unethical people are more likely to be ostracized if they do not perform well These results exist regardless of gender These results exist regardless of the ethical culture of the organization "Unethical, high-performing employees provide contrasting worth to the organization," researchers wrote. "The employees' unethical behaviors can be harmful, but their high job performance is also quite important to the organization's success. In this vein, high job performance may offset unethical behavior enough to where the employee is less likely to be ostracized." On the flip side, unethical, low-performing individuals do not fare as well. "[They] not only violate moral norms, but they fail to fulfill role expectations, which would make them particularly difficult to work with as evidenced by relationship conflict," researchers said. "People, then, are expected to demonstrate their disapproval towards those who create conflict by ostracizing them." Quade said the research ultimately shows that unethical behavior, while overlooked in some cases, and ostracism are detrimental to the organization and all involved. "Unethical, yet high-performing employees, their work groups, and their organizations may exist on a false foundation that has the potential to crumble and cost employees their jobs and their organizations significant amounts of money," researchers said. The study offered two ways that organizations can curtail improper behavior and curb workplace ostracism: 1. Make it clear that employees' unethical behaviors, regardless of performance, will not be tolerated. "Leaders need to be particularly diligent in swiftly disciplining unethical behavior," researchers said. "Organizations might consider hiring and training ethical leaders who will demonstrate and espouse the importance of behaving ethically." 2. Provide a more functional way for employees to respond to unethical employees. "Relationship conflict and workplace ostracism can adversely affect the organization's bottom line because of reduced performance and satisfaction and increased withdrawal," researchers said. "Employees could be encouraged, and even rewarded, for discussing suspect behaviors with their leaders." ### Study co-authors include Rebecca L. Greenbaum, Ph.D., associate professor of management at Oklahoma State University, Spears School of Business, and Oleg V. Petrenko, Ph.D., assistant professor of management at Texas Tech University, Rawls College of Business. ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 16,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. ABOUT HANKAMER SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business provides a rigorous academic experience, consisting of classroom and hands-on learning, guided by Christian commitment and a global perspective. Recognized nationally for several programs, including Entrepreneurship and Accounting, the school offers 24 undergraduate and 14 graduate areas of study, as well as Ph.D. programs in Information Systems, Entrepreneurship and Health Services Research. Visit http://www.baylor.edu/business and follow on Twitter @Baylor_Business. This news release is available in Spanish. Scientists at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS) have made a first-ever identification of the alterations in the neuronal circuit that impact cerebral cortex physiology, and that could be the cause of cognitive deficits in Down Syndrome. The study, published in the latest edition of the Journal of Neuroscience, explains how a gene linked to Down Syndrome is associated with altered oscillations in the cerebral cortex, the region responsible for our capacity for reasoning, language and social behavior. Barcelona, April 5, 2016. Cerebral activity is governed by a fine balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition. Specifically, neurons are activated by excitation mechanisms tightly regulated by inhibition processes. For certain functions, the neuronal network needs to be synchronized. This causes high-frequency oscillations that make behavior and information-processing possible. This synchronization depends on the excitation/inhibition balance that is affected in a significant number of disorders that involve cognitive dysfunction. In an article published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation, led by Dr. Mara Dierssen, and the laboratory of Dr. Mavi Sanchez Vives, at the Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), describe altered oscillations and synchronization in the cerebral cortex for a Down syndrome candidate gene in a mouse model. Such alterations have been linked to problems with functions as relevant as decision-making, impulsiveness, working memory or attention. "Changes in the cellular architecture of neurons in the cerebral cortex, in Down syndrome animal models had already been detected in the past. We observed that the neurons had a different structure. Now we have taken another step, studying the physiology, or the function of this cerebral cortex, and found that those cellular alterations and slight changes in inhibitory connectivity translate into a deficit of activation of this region and of its neuronal activity rhythm and synchronization," states Dr. Mara Dierssen, head of the Cellular and Systems Neurobiology group and Co-Principal Investigator of this study. "One of the main problems with mental impairment is that we don't understand how the alterations that we detect at the cellular level trigger changes in the cerebral circuits and alterations in cognitive function. The study that we've published explains some of these cellular alterations and offers for the first time an in vivo study of the physiology of the cerebral cortex, a key structure in executive functions such as concentration, learning or problem-solving." she adds. The researchers focused on one of the genes related with Down syndrome. Using experiments on animal models that overexpress the candidate gene, the researchers have shown that an excess of this gene causes very subtle changes in the excitation/inhibition balance, and these lead to a significant diminishment of the activity and synchronization of excitatory neurons in the prefrontal cortex. In other words, when this gene is over-expressed, it reduces the discharge level of the neurons and alters the oscillation of high-frequency waves in the cerebral cortex. Not only that, they observed that the problem originates in neurons responsible for controlling inhibition. In short, if there is less activity and an imbalance in the frequencies of the cerebral waves in Down syndrome it could be due to changes in the connectivity of neurons that should control them. The study combined experiments in electrophysiology and histology with a computational model that virtually emulates the neuronal circuit of the cerebral cortex. "We've identified anatomical and functional alterations and, using a computational model, we've shown how these deficits could explain experimental observations," says Dr. Sanchez Vives, head of the Systems Neurosciences team and Co-Principal Investigador of this paper. "The computational model has made it possible for us to understand the entire mechanism. We can make predictions on how the cerebral cortex functions in this pathology, and how the alterations detected will impact cognitive function," concludes the researcher. This study, the lead authors of which are Marcel Ruiz-Mejias of IDIBAPS and Maria Martinez de Lagran of the CRG, has also been participated in by researchers from Pompeu Fabra University, the Pablo de Olavide University and the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome. ### Pictures: Pictures available at: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/83z5x6ovttlf8ld/AACXF1JI2eIRKgRwBdxPW_tla?dl=0 Reference: Ruiz-Mejias, Martinez de Lagran et al. "Overexpression of Dyrk1A, a Down syndrome candidate, decreases excitability and impairs gamma oscillations in the prefrontal cortex" The Journal of Neuroscience. 30 March 2016. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2517-15.2016 Media contacts: Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) Press Department - Laia Cendros e-mail: laia.cendros@crg.eu - Tel. +34 316 02 37 - Mobile +34 607 611 798 Washington, DC--A team of astronomers from Carnegie and the University of Western Ontario has discovered one of the youngest and brightest free-floating, planet-like objects within relatively close proximity to the Sun. The paper reporting these results will be published by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. At an age of only 10 million years, which means it's practically a baby on a galactic time scale, the object identified as 2MASS J1119-1137 is between four and eight times the mass of Jupiter, and hence falls in the mass range between a large planet and a small brown dwarf star. Using data from NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and other ground-based telescopes, 2MASS J1119-1137 was identified by its unique light signature using a combination of optical and infrared images from large-area surveys of the sky. "We identified 2MASS J1119-1137 by its highly unusual light signature," explains lead author Kendra Kellogg, a graduate student at Western's Department of Physics and Astronomy. "It emits much more light in the infrared part of the spectrum than it would be expected to if it had already aged and cooled." According to Carnegie's Jacqueline Faherty, the challenge with identifying such rare objects is distinguishing them from a multitude of potential interlopers. "Much more commonly, distant old and red stars residing in the far corners of our galaxy can display the same characteristics as nearby planet-like objects," says Faherty. "When the light from the distant stars passes through the large expanses of dust in our galaxy on its way to our telescopes, the light gets reddened so these stars can pose as potentially exciting nearby young planet-like objects in our data, when they actually are not that at all." With knowledge of these common misidentifications, the team immediately checked their findings using the FLAMINGOS-2 spectrograph instrument on the Gemini South telescope in Chile. "We promptly confirmed that 2MASS J1119-1137 is in fact a young low-mass object in the solar neighborhood, and not a distant reddened star," says Western's Stanimir Metchev. Next, the team wanted to determine the precise age of this object. "Our Gemini observations only showed that the object was younger than about 200 million years. If it was much younger, it could actually be a free-floating planet--an analog of our own Jupiter, yet without a host star," says Metchev. The final piece of the puzzle was contributed by Carnegie's Jonathan Gagne using one of the most efficient instruments for infrared spectroscopy in existence, the FIRE spectrograph on Carnegie's Baade 6.5-m telescope in Chile. FIRE allowed the measurement of the line-of-sight velocity of 2MASS J1119-1137 through the Doppler shift of its emitted light. Combining this measurement with the sky motion of 2MASS J1119-1137, the team discovered that it belongs to the youngest group of stars in the solar neighborhood. This group contains about two dozen 10 million-year-old stars, all moving together through space, and is collectively known as the TW Hydrae association. "Demonstrating that 2MASS J1119-1137 belongs in the TW Hydrae association, and so is only 10 million years old, inevitably led to the exciting conclusion," says Gagne. Being nearby, 95 light years away, 2MASS J1119-1137 only narrowly misses the crown for being the brightest free-floating planet analog. That is held by another object known as PSO J318.5?22, discovered three years ago. However, at an age of 23 million years, PSO J318.5?22 is more than twice the age of 2MASS J1119-1137, and is therefore more massive. "Discovering free-floating planet analogs like 2MASS J1119-1137 and PSO J318.5?22 offers a great opportunity to study the nature of giant planets outside the Solar System," concludes Kellogg, who says free-floating planet candidates are "much easier to scrutinize than planets orbiting around other stars. Objects like 2MASS J1119-1137 are drifting in space all alone and our observations are not overwhelmed by the brightness of a host star next door." ### This work was supported by an NSERC Discovery grant at the University of Western Ontario. This work was performed in part under contract with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech)/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) funded by NASA through the Sagan Fellowship Program executed by the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute. This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 meter Magellan Telescopes located at Carnegie's Las Campanas Observatory, Chile. The Carnegie Institution for Science is a private, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with six research departments throughout the U.S. Since its founding in 1902, the Carnegie Institution has been a pioneering force in basic scientific research. Carnegie scientists are leaders in plant biology, developmental biology, astronomy, materials science, global ecology, and Earth and planetary science. Status report shows that RPS policies likely to remain an important driver for renewables growth Berkeley, CA --State renewables portfolio standards, known as RPS policies, have contributed to more than half of all renewable electricity growth in the United States since 2000. Most state RPS requirements will continue to rise through at least 2020, if not beyond, and collectively these policies will require substantial further growth in U.S. renewable electricity supplies. These findings are part of a new annual status report on state RPS policies, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The status report--published in slide-deck form and entitled U.S. Renewables Portfolio Standards: 2016 Annual Status Report--provides a data-intensive review of state RPS policies, highlighting recent legislative revisions, key policy design features, past and projected impacts on renewables development, compliance trends, and costs. "This document is intended as a progress report to help policy-makers and other electricity industry participants understand the past and future role of state RPS programs--recognizing that they are but one of a number of key drivers affecting renewable energy development in the United States," said Berkeley Lab's Galen Barbose, the report's author. Mandatory RPS policies require utilities or other electricity providers to generate a minimum portion of their supply from eligible forms of renewable electricity or renewable electricity certificates. They currently exist in 29 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., and have been a cornerstone of renewable electricity policy in the United States over the past decade. Additional states have voluntary renewable electricity goals. Key trends highlighted in the report include the following: Recent Legislative Revisions: In total, almost 150 RPS-related bills have been introduced since the beginning of 2015, split roughly evenly between those that would strengthen, weaken, or have a neutral impact on RPS requirements. Significant legislation enacted in the past year includes new or expanded RPS policies in California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Vermont, while Kansas replaced its RPS with a voluntary goal. Regulators in New York are also in the process of expanding the state's RPS. Historical Impacts on Renewables Development: More than half of all growth in U.S. renewable electricity generation (60%) and capacity (57%) since 2000 can be associated with state RPS requirements, though other drivers also undoubtedly contributed to this growth (see infographic: https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/Slide1.PNG). The relative contribution of RPS programs to overall renewable energy growth has declined in recent years as other drivers--such as corporate procurement and projects developed for merchant power sales--have become more significant. Although wind energy has been the predominant share (64%) of all RPS-driven capacity growth to-date, solar energy was by far the largest source (69%) of new RPS builds in 2015. Growing RPS Demand: Five states reached the terminal year of their RPS in 2015, and most others will do so by 2025. Nevertheless, total RPS-driven demand for renewable energy will double from 215 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2015 to 431 TWh in 2030. To match this growth, total non-hydroelectric renewables in the United States would need to reach 12.1% of electricity sales by 2030, up from roughly 8% today (see infographic: https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/Slide2.PNG), though actual growth may be greater or less than this amount. This comparison focuses on non-hydroelectric renewable electricity, because most RPS rules allow only limited forms hydroelectric generation to be used for compliance. Projected Future Impact on Renewables Development: Relative to currently available renewable energy supply, increasing RPS demand could require an additional 60 gigawatts (GW) of primarily non-hydroelectric renewables capacity by 2030, beyond the 114 GW of capacity installed as of year-end 2015 (see infographic: https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/Slide3.PNG). Current build-rates are on pace to meet those requirements, with roughly 6 GW of non-hydroelectric renewable generation capacity added for RPS requirements in 2015. Achievement of Interim RPS Targets: RPS requirements have thus far largely been met fully with renewable energy purchases, with states collectively meeting roughly 95% of their interim RPS targets in recent years (see infographic: https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/Slide4.PNG). Achievement of solar and distributed generation carve-outs has been somewhat lower, though still relatively high, with states meeting 87% of recent interim targets, on average. Compliance Costs: RPS compliance costs totaled roughly $2.6 billion in 2014 (the most recent year with available data), averaging $12 per megawatt-hour of renewable electricity. These costs equate to 1.3% of average consumer electricity bills in 2014, up from 1.0% of average electricity bills in 2013 (see infographic: https://emp.lbl.gov/sites/all/files/Slide5final.PNG). Growth in compliance costs going forward will be capped in most RPS states by cost containment mechanisms of various types. A separate Berkeley Lab study released earlier this year quantified benefits associated with state RPS policies. The status report draws on regulatory filings and other public data sources, and is an extension of Berkeley Lab's ongoing efforts to track and analyze state RPS policies. This publication and other related resources--including data files, prior reports, presentations, and webinar recordings--are freely available through Berkeley Lab's RPS webpage: rps.lbl.gov. This research was supported by the National Electricity Delivery Division of the Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability of the U.S. Department of Energy. ### The Electricity Markets and Policy Group at Berkeley Lab conducts technical, economic, and policy analysis of energy topics centered on the U.S. electricity sector. Our current research seeks to inform public and private decision-making on public-interest issues related to energy efficiency and demand response, renewable energy, electricity resource and transmission planning, and electricity reliability. For more information, please visit emp.lbl.gov and follow us on Twitter at @BerkeleyLabEMP. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more information, please visit http://www.lbl.gov. DOE's 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. This news release is available in German. This year's recipients of the most important prize for early career researchers in Germany have been announced. The selection committee, appointed by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), has chosen ten researchers, five women and five men, to receive the 2016 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prizes. The prizes of 20,000 euros each will be presented on 18 May in Berlin. The 2016 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize recipients are: Aline Bozec, Rheumatology, Erlangen University Hospital Tobias Erb, Microbiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg Daniel Gutzmann, Language and Linguistics, University of Frankfurt/Main Markus Krotzsch, Information Technology/Representation of Knowledge, Technical University, Dresden Christoph Lundgreen, Classical Antiquity, Technical University, Dresden Isabell Otto, Media Studies, University of Konstanz Hannah Petersen, Theoretical High Energy Physics, University of Frankfurt/Main Ludovic Righetti, Robotics, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tubingen Tatjana Tchumatchenko, Theoretical Neurosciences, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt/Main Celine Teney, Empirical Social Research, University of Bremen The Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize has been awarded annually to outstanding early career researchers since 1977 as recognition and as an incentive to continue pursuing a path of academic and scientific excellence. Named after the atomic physicist and former DFG President, and awarded for the first time during his term of office, the prize is regarded as the most important of its kind for early career researchers in Germany. In addition, in a survey carried out by the German magazine "bild der wissenschaft", the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize was voted the third most important science prize in Germany by the leading research institutions - after the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize, presented by the DFG, and the Deutscher Zukunftspreis, awarded by the Federal President. A total of 134 researchers representing all research areas were nominated for this year's prize; 15 of the nominees were then shortlisted. "With the candidates' outstanding curricula vitae and their excellent work, it has been a pleasure for the committee to select the prizewinners from the shortlist," said the chair of the committee, DFG Vice President Professor Dr. Marlis Hochbruck, after the decisions were made. This year's recipients: Aline Bozec (38), Rheumatology, Erlangen University Hospital Aline Bozec noticed at an early stage in her research career that bones have a number of integrating interfaces to other tissues and organ systems. In the course of her work in France, Austria, Spain and Germany, she has described key transcription factors and signal paths which are relevant in the form of switches for differentiation and activity in osteoclasts, osteoblasts and fat cells. Bozec has used this knowledge to explain fundamental phenomena concerning the regulation of bone growth and bone absorption, the modulation of regenerative mechanisms in stem cell niches in bone marrow, and their significance for health and disease. The French-born biochemist is the head of an Emmy Noether independent junior research group and a junior professor at the University Hospital in Erlangen. She is also a project leader in the DFG Priority Programme "Osteoimmunology". Tobias Erb (36), Microbiology, Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg Tobias Erb is the head of a working group at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology in Marburg that focuses on analysing and optimising carbon dioxide fixation and other metabolic pathways in the carbon cycle. Erb discovered a new pathway for carbon dioxide assimilation - the ethylmanolyl-CoA pathway - early on in his career when he was writing his doctoral thesis. Funded partly by an ERC Starting Grant, his research into the metabolic pathways of acetate and carbon fixation has contributed greatly to the knowledge of the carbon cycle in biology. Before working at the MPI, Erb was a junior leader in a working group at ETH Zurich. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Young Academy of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Daniel Gutzmann (31), Language and Linguistics, University of Frankfurt/Main Linguistic modelling of the meaning of language expressions traditionally distinguishes between a semantic level, which is largely independent of the context of the expression, and a pragmatic level, which is comparatively heavily dependent on this context. This distinction is reflected in the system-oriented and usage-oriented approaches that have become established in the theory of meaning and in linguistics. In his research at the universities of Mainz and Frankfurt/Main, Daniel Gutzmann has overcome this dichotomy by developing a two-dimensional model of linguistic meaning which provides for both a description of the situation and a speaker-related aspect. The model can be applied to a wide range of phenomena which have not been adequately described up to now, such as modal particles, sentence mode, and expressive verbalisms. Since April 2015, Gutzmann has been a visiting professor for Linguistics at the University of Cologne. Markus Krotzsch (34), Information Technology/Representation of Knowledge, Technical University, Dresden The representation of knowledge is the machine-readable representation of human knowledge that facilitates its intelligent and automatic processing with a computer. This basic technology thus allows large and/or complex amounts of data to be handled intelligently in a wide range of applications. Knowledge representation research focuses on three areas: formal foundations, development and optimisation of software systems, and their application. Markus Krotzsch has made an important contribution to all three of these areas during his doctoral studies at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), as a researcher at the University of Oxford, and as the leader of an Emmy Noether independent junior research group at the Technical University in Dresden. One of his achievements is the creation of Wikidata, a "Wikipedia of Data" which supplies Wikipedia articles in every language with data which had already been available in millions of articles. For example, using the "semantic" wiki developed by Krotzsch, it is now possible to answer the question of which of the ten largest cities in the world currently has a female mayor. Christoph Lundgreen (35), Classical Antiquity, Technical University, Dresden Christoph Lundgreen studied both history and law, which is reflected in his research. In his dissertation on "Conflicting Rules in the Roman Republic", submitted in conjunction with his studies in Dresden and Paris as part of a double doctorate, Lundgreen integrated observations on legal history as well as theories of political science and sociology and thus revealed hitherto unconsidered aspects of research into the political culture of the Roman Republic. The concept of the category "law", broadened by its inversion, the conflict in law, is not only redefined, but the law/violation itself becomes a historical kaleidoscope through which Lundgreen views the order of the Republic and communication between political and social institutions. Isabell Otto (38), Media Studies, University of Konstanz Isabell Otto pursues an innovative approach in cultural media studies. She places the very fast-paced developments in digital media in cogent theoretical contexts and at the same time interprets patterns using actual instances. Examples include her discursive and analytical studies of media violence and aggressive behaviour in films, television series and computer games. In 2010, Isabell Otto was appointed Junior Professor for Media Studies at the University of Konstanz and awarded a fellowship under the Fast Track funding programme of the Robert Bosch Foundation. As head of the DFG network "Media of Collective Intelligence" and current deputy spokesperson for the DFG's "Media and Participation. Between Demand and Entitlement" Research Unit in which she holds a Research Unit professorship, she focuses particularly on issues of community and participation. In her postdoctoral thesis "Chronologies under the Constraints of Digital Media", Isabell Otto looked at temporality in the digital sphere. Hannah Petersen (32), Theoretical High Energy Physics, University of Frankfurt/Main Professor Hannah Petersen is working on new theoretical descriptions of the "Little Bang" in the area of relativistic heavy ion collisions. Heavy ion collisions give rise to quark-gluon plasma at extremely high pressure under which the plasma expands explosively. The conditions surrounding this event are similar to those of the Big Bang. Petersen was one of the first to recognise that the course of the explosion was affected by fluctuations in density and temperature as the result of quantum effects and to investigate how this happens. Using a comparison of theory and experimental data, Hannah Petersen set up a much-cited hybrid model which maps the dynamic of the plasma and its viscosity to the initial state of the quantum fluctuation in each case. She has been head of a Helmholtz independent junior research group since 2012 and was appointed to a W2 professorship in 2013. Her "event-by-event" method of analysis has provided a new foundation for various experiments, for example at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (Brookhaven, USA) and at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (Darmstadt). Ludovic Righetti (34), Robotics, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tubingen An IT specialist, Ludovic Righetti is researching how to teach a robot to walk. He uses movement patterns from nature, such as the climbing skills of animals, and attempts to apply their principles to concepts for robot control mechanisms. Righetti has succeeded in combining several superfluous degrees of freedom for the robot with the contact problem in walking. This is a sophisticated undertaking as there are no accurate models for ground compositions, which is why robots up to now have not been able to deal with every ground surface. Righetti received an ERC Starting Grant in 2014 for his work in this area. His methods have also succeeded in making robots grasp objects better with several fingers, which has particularly significant potential for human-robot interaction. After studying in Switzerland and a postdoctoral stay in the USA, Righetti set up an independent junior research group at the MPI for Intelligent Subsystems in Tubingen. He is still head of this group. Tatjana Tchumatchenko (35), Theoretical Neurosciences, Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt/Main The neural processes investigated in brain research can only be measured indirectly. They behave in an extremely non-linear fashion and are subject to great variability on different scales of time and space. The development of descriptive theoretical models to support usable quantitative analysis and comparison of neural data is therefore a challenge. Tatjana Tchumatchenko is head of the working group "Theory of Neural Dynamics" at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt/Main" in which she researches the dynamic and information processing of neural systems from individual nerve cells to neural networks. She has developed mathematical models for describing dynamic and static properties of biological neural networks and theoretically analysed and numerically implemented them. With this work, she has provided theoretical neuroscience with important insights, particularly on information processing. Celine Teney (34), Empirical Social Research, University of Bremen Based on a firm grounding in ethnology and sociology, Professor Celine Teney works in the area of integration research and political sociology. Her research is characterised by a wide range of topics, such as the acculturation of ethnic minorities, the transnationalisation of elites and other social groups, and the election success of extreme right-wing parties. Professor Teney uses a multitude of data analysis methods, such as geographically weighted statistical analysis processes in her analysis of the election success of the NPD (National Democratic Party of Germany). She is a native of Belgium and studied and completed her doctorate in Freiburg and Brussels; she has also worked as a researcher at the Social Science Research Center Berlin and the University of Harvard. At the University of Bremen, she leads an independent junior research group "Winners of Globalization? A Study on the Emergence of a Transnational Elite in Europe", financed under the Excellence Initiative. ### Further Information The 2016 Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Prize award ceremony will be held on 18 May at 2 pm in the Harnack-Haus, Ihnestrae 16-20, 14195 Berlin. Representatives from the media are cordially invited to attend the award ceremony. Please register in advance with the DFG Press and Public Relations Office: Tel. +49 228 885-2443, Jutta.Hoehn@dfg.de. More information about the prize and previous winners is available at: http://www.dfg.de/en/funded_projects/prizewinners/maier_leibnitz_prize DFG programme contact: Annette Lessenich, Scientific Prizes Team, Tel. +49 228 885-2835, Annette.Lessenich@dfg.de Astronomers have uncovered one of the biggest supermassive black holes, with the mass of 17 billion Suns, in an unlikely place: the centre of a galaxy that lies in a quiet backwater of the Universe. The observations, made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the Gemini Telescope in Hawaii, indicate that these monster objects may be more common than once thought. The results of this study are released in the journal Nature. Until now, the biggest supermassive black holes -- those having more than 10 billion times the mass of our Sun -- have only been found at the cores of very large galaxies in the centres of massive galaxy clusters. Now, an international team of astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a supersized black hole with a mass of 17 billion Suns in the centre of the rather isolated galaxy NGC 1600. NGC 1600 is an elliptical galaxy which is located not in a cluster of galaxies, but in a small group of about twenty. The group is located 200 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus (constellation). While finding a gigantic supermassive black hole in a massive galaxy within a cluster of galaxies is to be expected, finding one in an average-sized galaxy group like the one surrounding NGC 1600 is much more surprising. "Even though we already had hints that the galaxy might host an extreme object in the centre, we were surprised that the black hole in NGC 1600 is ten times more massive than predicted by the mass of the galaxy," explains lead author of the study Jens Thomas from the Max Planck-Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany. Based on previous Hubble surveys of supermassive black holes, astronomers had discovered a correlation between a black hole's mass and the mass of its host galaxy's central bulge of stars: the larger the galaxy bulge, the more massive the black hole is expected to be. "It appears from our finding that this relation does not work so well with extremely massive black holes," says Thomas. "These monster black holes account for a much larger fraction of the host galaxy's mass than the previous correlations would suggest." Finding this extremely massive black hole in NGC 1600 leads astronomers to ask whether these objects are more common than previously thought. "There are quite a few galaxies the size of NGC 1600 that reside in average-size galaxy groups," explains co-author Chung-Pei Ma, an astronomer from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, and head of the MASSIVE Survey [1]. "We estimate that these smaller groups are about fifty times more abundant than large, dense galaxy clusters. So the question now is: is this the tip of an iceberg? Maybe there are a lot more monster black holes out there." It is assumed that this black hole grew by merging with another supermassive black hole from another galaxy. It may then have continued to grow by gobbling up gas funneled to the core of the galaxy by further galaxy collisions. Thus may also explain why NGC 1600 resides in a sparsely populated region of the Universe and why it is at least three times brighter than its neighbours. As the supermassive black hole is currently dormant, astronomers were only able to find it and estimate its mass by measuring the velocities of stars close to it, using the Gemini North 8-metre telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii. Using these data the team discovered that stars lying about 3000 light-years from the core are moving as if there had been many more stars in the core in the distant past. This indicates that most of the stars in this region have been kicked out from the centre of the galaxy. Archival Hubble images, taken with the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), support the idea that the two merging supermassive black holes in the distant past gave stars the boot. The NICMOS images revealed that the galaxy's core is unusually faint, indicating a lack of stars close to the galactic centre. "We estimate that the mass of stars tossed out of the central region of NGC 1600 is equal to 40 billion Suns," concludes Thomas. "This is comparable to ejecting the entire disc of our Milky Way galaxy." ### Notes [1] The MASSIVE Survey, which began in 2014, measures the mass of stars, dark matter, and the central black hole of the 100 most massive, nearby galaxies, those larger than 300 billion solar masses and within 350 million light-years of Earth. Among its goals are to find the descendants of luminous quasars that may be sleeping unsuspected in large nearby galaxies and to understand how galaxies form and grow supermassive black holes. More information The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. The study "A 17-billion-solar-mass black hole in a group galaxy with a diffuse core" appeared in the journal Nature. The international team of astronomers in this study consists of J. Thomas (Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, Germany), C.-P. Ma (University of California, Berkeley, USA), N. McConnell (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Canada), J. Greene (Princeton University, USA), J. Blakeslee (Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, Canada), and R. Janish (University of California, Berkeley, USA) Links Images of Hubble - http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/archive/category/spacecraft/ Link to hubblesite release - http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/12/ Link to science paper - http://www.spacetelescope.org/static/archives/releases/science_papers/heic1607a.pdf Contacts Jens Thomas Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics Garching, Germany Tel: +49 89 30000 3714 Email: jthomas@mpe.mpg.de Mathias Jager ESA/Hubble, Public Information Officer Garching, Germany Tel: +49 176 62397500 Email: mjaeger@partner.eso.org EPFL and UNIGE scientists have developed a microchip using graphene that could help wireless telecommunications share data at a rate that is ten times faster than currently possible. The results are published today in Nature Communications. "Our graphene based microchip is an essential building block for faster wireless telecommunications in frequency bands that current mobile devices cannot access," says EPFL scientist Michele Tamagnone. Graphene acts like polarized sunglasses Their microchip works by protecting sources of wireless data -- which are essentially sources of invisible radiation -- from unwanted radiation, ensuring that the data remain intact by reducing source corruption. They discovered that graphene can filter out radiation in much the same way as polarized glasses. The vibration of radiation has an orientation. Like polarized glasses, their graphene-based microchip makes sure that radiation that only vibrates a certain way gets through. In this way, graphene is both transparent and opaque to radiation, depending on the orientation of vibration and signal direction. The EPFL scientists and their colleagues from Geneva used this property to create a device known as an optical isolator. Faster Uploads in the Terahertz Bandwidth Moreover, their microchip works in a frequency band that is currently empty, called the Terahertz gap. Wireless devices work today by transmitting data in the Gigahertz range or at optical frequencies. This is imposed by technological constraints, leaving the potential of the Terahertz band currently unexploited for data transmission. But if wireless devices could use this Terahertz bandwidth, your future mobile phone could potentially send or receive data tens of times faster than now, meaning better sound quality, better image quality and faster uploads. The graphene-based microchip brings this Terahertz technology a step closer to reality. This discovery addresses an important challenge that was so far unsolved due to lacking technologies, confirming once more the extraordinary physical properties of graphene. ### This joint project between EPFL and the University of Geneva was funded by the European Graphene Flagship project and by the Swiss National Science Foundation. Argentinian researchers from the Centro de Investigaciones de Plagas e Insecticidas have developed a new trap that can be used to effectively monitor and control the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is the primary transmitter of Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever. The trap is described in the Journal of Medical Entomology. The plastic ovitrap is a small cup made of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) that has been infused with the larvicide pyriproxyfen. When the cup is filled with water, the larvicide is immediately released from the plastic. Female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes prefer to deposit eggs in small containers such as pots and tires that contain water, so the trap is an attractive egg-laying location. "This is a great idea," said Grayson Brown, an entomologist at the University of Kentucky, who was not involved in the research. "Pyriproxyfen likes to move around in the environment. Molding it into the plastic like that keeps it where you put it." Although ovitraps have been used for decades as a means of conducting mosquito surveillance, the use of plastic containing the larvicide pyriproxyfen is a new development in the effort to control mosquitoes. In their study, the researchers tested the trap on laboratory-raised Aedes aegypti mosquitoes and reported that the larvicide was 100 percent effective in preventing the larvae from developing into adults. Pyriproxyfen has gained notoriety through false reports by activists who claimed that it caused microcephaly. However, that claim was debunked by the Entomological Society of America. The Brazilian government has also stated that the association between the use of pyriproxyfen and microcephaly has no scientific basis. Pyriproxyfen is a juvenile hormone analog that prevents insect larvae from developing into adults. It is one of several pesticides recommended by the World Health Organization Pesticide Evaluation Scheme. Dr. Brown, who recently co-organized a meeting in Brazil called the Summit on the Aedes aegypti Crisis in the Americas, thinks that the cups would be most effective on a neighborhood basis, with perhaps one or two cups in the equivalent of a back yard. He also believes that the concept of pyriproxyfen embedded in plastic can go well-beyond the small cups used in the study. "When I read through the paper, I immediately started thinking of disposable liners for drain pans and outside potted plants, and disposable liners for bird baths," he said. However, Brown cautioned that it is hardly a "silver bullet." "This is another potential tool [to control mosquitoes], and we need all the tools we can get," he said. Dr. Laura Harburguer, one of the co-authors, said that the scientists are preparing to do field trials of the trap in the fall, and that they are testing attractants to preferentially lure the mosquitoes to the ovitraps. ### The full article, "Biological and Chemical Characterization of a New Larvicide Ovitrap Made of Plastic With Pyriproxyfen Incorporated for Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) Control," is available at http://jme.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/03/25/jme.tjw022. The Journal of Medical Entomology is published by the Entomological Society of America, the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and people in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA today has nearly 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, and hobbyists. For more information, visit http://www.entsoc.org. MANHATTAN, KANSAS -- Think of it as a microscopic movie: A sequence of X-ray images shows the explosion of superheated nanoparticles. The picture series reveals how the atoms in these particles move, how they form plasma and how the particles change shape. The method of taking these pictures is a collaborative creation that involved Kansas State University researchers Artem Rudenko and Daniel Rolles, both assistant professors of physics. The movies help scientists understand interactions of intense laser light with matter. But even more importantly, these experiments lead the way to filming various processes that involve ultrafast dynamics of microscopic samples, such as the formation of aerosols -- which play a major role in climate models -- or laser-driven fusion. "We can create a real movie of the microworld," Rudenko said. "The key development is that now we can take sequences of pictures on the nanoscale." Rudenko and Rolles -- both affiliated with the university's James R. Macdonald Laboratory -- collaborated with researchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University, Argonne National Laboratory and the Max Planck Institutes in Germany. Their publication, "Femtosecond and nanometre visualization of structural dynamics in superheated nanoparticles," appears in Nature Photonics. In this work, the collaboration used intense lasers to heat xenon nanoscale clusters and then took a series of X-ray pictures to show what happened to the particles. The picture series became a movie of how these objects move at the level of femtoseconds, which are one-millionth of a billionth of a second. "What makes nano so interesting is that the behavior for many things changes when you get to the nanoscale," Rolles said. "Nano-objects bridge the gap between bulk matter and individual atoms or molecules. This research helps us as we try to understand the behavior of nano-objects and how they change shape and properties within extremely short times." The pictures of the nanoparticles cannot be taken with normal optical light, but must be taken with X-rays because X-ray light has nanometer wavelengths that enable researchers to view nanoscale objects, Rolles said. The light wavelength must match the size of the object. To take the pictures, the researchers needed two ingredients: very short X-ray pulses and very powerful X-ray pulses. The Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC provided those two ingredients, and Rudenko and Rolles traveled to California to use this machine to take the perfect pictures. The photo-taking method and the pictures it produces have numerous applications in physics and chemistry, Rolles said. The method is also valuable for visualizing laser interactions with nanoparticles and for the rapidly developing field of nanoplasmonics, in which the properties of nanoparticles are manipulated with intense light fields. This may help to build next-generation electronics. "Light-driven electronics can be much faster than conventional electronics because the key processes will be driven by light, which can be extremely fast," Rudenko said. "This research has big potential for optoelectronics, but in order to improve technology, we need to know how a laser drives those nanoparticles. The movie-making technology is an important step in this direction." Rudenko and Rolles are continuing to improve the moviemaking process. In collaboration with the university's soft matter physics group, they have extended the range of samples, which can be put into the X-ray machine and now can produce movies of gold and silica nanoparticles. ### Could organs explanted from other mammals save human lives someday? A new study shows that genetically modified pig hearts developed by US and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers can survive for more than up to 2 years when transplanted into baboons. Thousands of people in Germany alone are on waiting lists for transplant operations to replace an ailing vital organ. But the need vastly outstrips the available supply of organs such as heart, liver, lung or kidney. This explains why researchers all over the world have been exploring the possibility of resorting to other mammals as sources of replacement organs. These efforts have, however, been confronted by a succession of apparently insurmountable hurdles. The principal problem arises from the fact that the host's immune system recognizes the donor organ as foreign and initiates a destructive rejection reaction. Now researchers at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda report that a pig heart transplanted into a baboon remained functional for 945 days - more than twice as long as the best result achieved prior to this. Using a relatively simple and well tolerated form of immunosuppression, the team was able to effectively delay rejection of the transplant. The findings are reported online in the leading journal "Nature Communications". Among the authors of the new study are Professor Eckhard Wolf (who holds the Chair of Molecular Animal Breeding and Biotechnology) and his colleague Nikolai Klymiuk at LMU's Gene Center. Wolf and his team have been developing pig strains specifically for use as sources of organs for xenotransplantation. In particular, they have created genetically modified strains whose hearts are less likely to provoke rejection reactions when implanted into other mammalian species. Pigs are regarded as promising sources of organs for transplantation into humans, as their size and overall metabolism is very similar to our own. The pig hearts used in previous studies of this kind carried two different genetic modifications designed to prevent antibody-mediated organ rejection. However, in these cases, delayed rejection was stimulated by clot formation and concomitant injury to the blood vessels of the donor heart. The LMU researchers have meanwhile added a further modification to the donor pig strain, which inhibits the formation of clots when the blood of the primate host comes into contact with the vasculature of the transplanted organ. An interaction between the soluble blood protein thrombin and thrombomodulin on the surface of the endothelial cells that form the vessel wall plays an important role in the control of blood coagulation. Binding of thrombin to thrombomodulin is necessary to activate protein C, which inhibits clot formation. In the context of xenotransplantation, however, activation of protein C is significantly reduced because the form of thrombin found in primates and swine thrombomodulin expressed on the cardiac vasculature are not fully compatible. This increases the likelihood that clots will develop, which in turn promotes rejection of the foreign organ. The new modification introduced by Wolf and Klymiuk enables the endothelial cells of the donor heart to produce the human form of thrombomodulin (hTBM). This reconstitutes the normal interaction with human thrombin, and significantly reduces clot-dependent pathology in the transplanted pig heart. ### Wolf's research group is one of those involved in the transregional Collaborative Research Center (CRC) for Xenotransplantation, which is made up of teams based in Dresden, Hannover and Munich, and is funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. The Spokesperson for the CRC is cardiac surgeon Professor Bruno Reichart of the LMU Medical Center. WASHINGTON, April 6, 2016 -The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced more than $1.2 million in available funding to support the development of environmentally and economically sustainable aquaculture in the United States. This funding is available through the Aquaculture Research Program, administered through USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The Aquaculture Research program focuses on projects that directly address major challenges to the U.S. aquaculture industry. Results of projects supported by this program are intended to help improve the profitability of the U.S. aquaculture industry, reduce the U.S. trade deficit, increase domestic food security, provide markets for U.S. produced products, increase domestic aquaculture business investment opportunities and provide more jobs for rural and coastal America. Aquaculture contributes more than half of the seafood consumed globally, and this contribution is expected to grow. Although U.S. aquaculture production has shown growth in the past decade, the U.S. currently still has an approximately $12 billion trade deficit in seafood products and imports more than 90% of seafood consumed. The factors that limit aquaculture in the U.S. are complex and multifaceted. Applied research in genetics, disease, production systems, and economics is needed to develop practical solutions that will facilitate growth of the U.S. aquaculture industry. This research will help reduce the U.S. trade deficit in seafood products and enhance the capacity of the U.S aquaculture industry to contribute to domestic and global food security and economic growth. Since 2014, this program has awarded nearly $2.5 million in funding. For information on last year's funded projects, visit the NIFA website. Applications are due May 17. Please see the RFA for more information. Since 2009, NIFA has invested in and advanced innovative and transformative initiatives to solve societal challenges and ensure the long-term viability of agriculture. NIFA's integrated research, education, and extension programs, supporting the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel, have resulted user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that are combating childhood obesity, improving and sustaining rural economic growth, controlling water availability, increasing food production, finding new sources of energy, mitigating climate variability, and ensuring food safety. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural science, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates, or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts. ### USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write to USDA, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Stop 9410, Washington, DC 20250-9410, or call toll-free at (866) 632-9992 (English) or (800) 877-8339 (TDD) or (866) 377-8642 (English Federal-relay) or (800) 845-6136 (Spanish Federal-relay) The specter of a geomagnetic solar storm with the ferocity to disrupt communications satellites, knock out GPS systems, shut down air travel and quench lights, computers and telephones in millions of homes for days, months or even years has yet to grip the public as a panic-inducing possibility. But it is a scenario that space scientists, global insurance corporations and government agencies from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to NASA to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) take seriously, calling it a "low probability but high-impact event" that merits a substantial push on several fronts: research, forecasting and mitigation strategy. Space Weather Experts Gather At a recent conference in Washington, D.C. that drew space weather specialists from academia, the federal government, the military and private industry, Louis Lanzerotti, distinguished research professor at NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, summed up the implications of a massive, well-timed solar storm for today's technology-based, hyper-connected global society: "Since the development of the electrical telegraph in the 1840s, space weather processes have affected the design, implementation and operation of many engineered systems, at first on Earth and now in space," noted Lanzerotti, a panelist at the conference. "As the complexity of such systems increases, as new technologies are invented and deployed, and as humans have ventured beyond Earth's surface, both human-built systems and humans themselves become more susceptible to the effects of Earth's space environment." In addition to disrupting communications and energy grids, what is broadly known as space weather - powerful bursts of electromagnetic radiation, energetic charged particles and magnetized plasma - has the potential to corrode water and sewer pipelines, to erase historical data stored in computer memory, to undermine military and security operations and to harm astronauts traveling in space. The symposium, "Space Weather Science and Applications: Research for Today, Training for Tomorrow," sponsored by the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) and the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, focused on the growing urgency for both basic scientific research and the development of practical applications in the field. "Once systems start to fail, (the outages) could cascade in ways we can't even conceive," said Daniel Baker, director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado-Boulder and also a panelist, who recommends increasing support for the development of engineering systems and devices capable of protecting Earth's infrastructure. Trillion Dollar Recovery In a 2013 report, Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, put the population at risk of a massive storm at "between 20-40 million with durations up to 1-2 years," depending "largely on the availability of spare replacement transformers." The cost of such a recovery would range between $600 billion and $2.6 trillion. The symposium followed on the heels of a conference late last year, "Space Weather: Understanding Potential Impacts and Building Resilience," convened in Washington, D.C. under the auspices of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and also attended by scientists and engineers from academia and industry, as well as policymakers and elected officials. At that time, the OSTP laid out a multi-part action plan to address, as Lanzerotti put it, "civil societal issues related to all aspects of space weather." In an op-ed piece that followed, Lanzerotti, who was also panelist at that conference, called the federal plan "impressive for its analyses and coverage of the measurements, data, and models that will be required to ensure security under space weather events of all types--from huge geomagnetic storm-produced telluric currents initiated by coronal mass ejections to solar radio-produced outages of GPS receivers to radiation effects by magnetosphere, solar and galactic radiation to satellite drag effects from Earth's atmosphere and ionosphere." These areas are the focus of NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, which has a variety of instruments in space and on the ground for observing and recording space weather, including the world's largest solar optical telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory, a solar radio telescope array in Owens Valley, instruments across Antarctica and aboard spacecraft in the Van Allen radiation belts. At the recent symposium, Tamara Dickinson, the principal assistant director for environment and energy at the OSTP, described recent minor storms that had caused disruption: a blackout in Sweden during which NASA also detected anomalies in deep space missions and several years later, the interruption of flight-control systems, again in Sweden, that halted air traffic. Setting Benchmarks to Assess Risks to Critical Infrastructure Dickinson said the government is "at a "fundamental turning point" in its approach to space weather planning and prepared to "take decisive action to address this risk." Ralph Stoffler, the director of weather, deputy chief of staff for operations at U.S. Air Force headquarters in Washington, said the Air Force was currently expanding its network of sensors to monitor space weather, including placing them on all of its satellites. "We need data to support particular military operations," Stoffler said, adding that the Air Force relies on GPS for missions such as piloting remote aircraft in Afghanistan from the U.S. "If we can predict space weather, we can have other operations in place or delay." The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has recently added space weather to its daily operations briefings. "We know there is a gap in our ability to assess vulnerability and consequences," said Jack Anderson, a senior analyst at DHS's National Protection and Programs Directorate, adding that while there is currently no scale for predicting the magnitude of a storm as exists for hurricanes, for example, "we need to develop that at FEMA." William Lapenta, director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said his agency's goal was to track solar storms "from sun to mud," to predict where conditions following a coronal mass ejection, for example, would be most intense in the ionosphere and on Earth in the form of underground electrical currents, and to calculate impacts on a variety of systems. One of the near-term challenges for policymakers will be to set benchmarks for assessing the vulnerability of various technology systems and establishing thresholds that would trigger protective or recovery responses, said William Murtagh, the assistant director for the space weather, energy and environment division at the OSTP. There are currently working groups focused on these benchmark amid efforts to reach out to other countries to establish international protocols for aviation conditions, mitigation strategies and data sharing, among other areas. "We do not fully understand those upper boundaries, but we need to ... once we understand how big these storms are we can develop trigger points," he said, adding that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was interested in the "10,000-year storm - that's what they need to know." "The technological and biological impacts of severe space weather events are now firmly in the federal government's sights," noted Andrew Gerrard, director of NJIT's Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research. "All things being equal, increased research funding from the represented federal agencies will further bolster the incorporation of 'space weather' into our daily lives. Such development will enable the solar-terrestrial community to, for the first time, see a solar storm, track its approach, and prepare accordingly." ### About NJIT One of the nation's leading public technological universities, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) is a top-tier research university that prepares students to become leaders in the technology-dependent economy of the 21st century. NJIT's multidisciplinary curriculum and computing-intensive approach to education provide technological proficiency, business acumen and leadership skills. With an enrollment of 11,300 graduate and undergraduate students, NJIT offers small-campus intimacy with the resources of a major public research university. NJIT is a global leader in such fields as solar research, nanotechnology, resilient design, tissue engineering and cybersecurity, in addition to others. NJIT ranks fifth among U.S. polytechnic universities in research expenditures, topping $110 million, and is among the top 1 percent of public colleges and universities in return on educational investment, according to Payscale.com. NJIT has a $1.74 billion annual economic impact on the state of New Jersey. A research group at Osaka University has developed an application which is designed to allow anyone with a smartphone or tablet device to study ancient Japanese characters Kuzushi-ji. By using this application, those who are unfamiliar with pre-modern Japanese books or learning Japanese historical and classical literature outside Japan may obtain ability in reading hentaigana and cursive-style kanji, which will promote utilization of Japanese classical books and historical materials by a wider range of people. KuLA - the Kuzushi-ji Learning Application has three sections: Learn, Read, and Connect. The Learn section allows users to study 278 different hentaigana and cursive-style kanji and features images taken from Japanese historical books. Study progress can be checked with the included kuzushi-ji test feature. The Read section lets users test their ability further by reading images of Japanese classical texts written in kuzushi-ji. The Connect section allows users studying kuzushi-ji to interact with one another. Users can take pictures of difficult characters and ask others for help, or share their study progress with other users. Databases holding images of pre-modern Japanese books and other historical materials are currently in rapid development. The National Institute of Japanese Literature plans to make 300,000 images of historical materials available online over a 10 year period starting from 2014 as part of its Project to Build an International Collaborative Research Network for Pre-modern Japanese Texts. However, whilst researchers in Japan outside of the field of literary studies and researchers of Japanese studies outside of Japan are able to access pre-modern materials more easily, there is still a lack of knowledge as to how to utilize these materials. This application was developed as a tool to aid researchers in fields outside literature and researchers outside of Japan to use these image databases more effectively. ### The application KuLA can be downloaded from the following sites: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=yuta.hashimoto.kula (Android) https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1076911000 (iOS) London, UK (April 06, 2016). A new report from Index on Censorship exposes how many LGBT activists in Honduras risk torture, prison and assassination. The research from Index on Censorship, published by SAGE, carried out by journalist Duncan Tucker and utilising data collected by on-the-ground NGOs, delves into some shocking statistics: 215 LGBT people were murdered in Honduras between 2009 and 2015 37 deaths occurred in 2015 alone Of the?235 murders of LGBT people since 1994, only?48?cases (20%) have gone to court. "I've been imprisoned on many occasions. I've suffered torture and sexual violence because of my activism, and I've survived many assassination attempts," Honduran gay rights activist Donny Reyes said in an interview with Index on Censorship. The violence rocketed after the country's 2009 coup, but the crimes are being largely overlooked, both within the country and internationally. Peter Tatchell, London-based LGBT campaigner, has called for the world to pay more attention to the killings. He told Index on Censorship: "This extensive, shocking mob violence against LGBT Hondurans is almost unreported in the rest of the world. The big international LGBT organisations tend to focus on better-known homophobic repression in countries like Egypt, Russia, Iran and Uganda. What's happening in Honduras is many times worse." Index on Censorship magazine's deputy editor Vicky Baker explained why it was critical for more attention to be paid to the country: "You know you have a very serious situation on your hands when you are researching a topic and every time you find someone you want to speak to, you delve deeper and find they have been killed. At Index on Censorship, we work with a lot of endangered activists and reporters, but these threats are terrifying. Speaking out on an unpopular topic in Honduras is like a death sentence." Activists and journalists are in serious danger in Honduras. Index on Censorship's report also includes an interview with Honduras's most renowned investigative reporter, and former Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award nominee, Dina Meza. The article is part of the spring issue of Index on Censorship magazine to be published in print later this week. The edition also carries a special report on Shakespeare, looking at how his plays have been used to challenge power and sneak past censors around the world, from Brazil and China to the USA and Zimbabwe. ### For an embargoed copy of the article "Rainbow warriors Attacks and killings of LGBT activists in Honduras" by Duncan Tucker and published in Index on Censorship, please contact mollie.broad@sagepub.co.uk (UK) or tiffany.medina@sagepub.co.uk (U.S) Index on Censorship magazine was launched in 1972, has reporters around the world. International in outlook, outspoken in comment, and publishing some of the world's finest writers, Index exposes stories that are suppressed, publishes banned writing, investigative journalism and new fiction. Previous contributors include Margaret Atwood, Noam Chomsky, Nadine Gordimer, Aung San Suu Kyi, Salman Rushdie, Tom Stoppard and Umberto Eco. http://www.indexoncensorship.org/magazine Sara Miller McCune founded SAGE Publishing in 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 900 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company's continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne. http://www.sagepublishing.com MISSOULA, MONTANA - An international team that includes University of Montana researcher Jesse Johnson has learned that the Earth's internal heat enhances rapid ice flow and subglacial melting in Greenland. Johnson, a UM computer science professor and ice-sheet modeler, helped discover that about half of the ice-covered area in north-central Greenland rests on a thawed bed and that the meltwater is routed to the ocean through a dense hydrological network beneath the ice. The work was published in the April 2016 issue of Nature Geoscience. "The strength of this paper is that many different lines of reasoning about data lead to the same conclusion," Johnson said. "I was able to demonstrate that the ice velocities observed by satellite are nearly impossible to explain without the geothermal anomaly discovered here. Glaciologists have long suspected the anomaly exists, but this work quantifies its location and degree and explains why it is there." Johnson collaborated with a group led by Irina Rogozhina and Alexey Petrunin from the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences. The research has for the first time proved a strong coupling between the processes deep in the Earth's interior with ice flow dynamics. Deep under the Greenland Ice Sheet are regions of intense geothermal heat originating in the distant geological past. This heat causes Greenland's ice to melt from below and flow rapidly. The new study identifies a west-to-east zone of northern Greenland having anomalously high heat. Johnson said this anomaly explains observations from radar and ice core drilling data of widespread melting beneath the ice sheet and increased sliding at the base of the ice that drives the rapid ice flow over a distance of 750 kilometers from the summit area of the Greenland ice sheet to the North Atlantic Ocean. The North Atlantic Ocean is an area of active plate tectonics. Between 35 million and 85 million years ago, tectonic processes moved Greenland over an area of abnormally hot mantle material now responsible for the volcanic activity of Iceland. The mantle material heated and thinned Greenland's crust at depth, producing a strong geothermal anomaly that spans a quarter of the land area of Greenland. "This ancient and sustained source of heat has created a region having warmer, softer ice and abundant subglacial meltwater, lubricating the base of the ice and making it flow rapidly," Johnson said. "The geothermal anomaly which resulted from the Icelandic mantle-plume tens of millions of years ago is an important motor for today's hydrology under the ice sheet and for the high flow-rate of the ice," Rogozhina said. "This in turn broadly influences the dynamic behavior of ice masses and must be included in studies of the future response to climate change." These secrets of Greenland's past - hidden by an ice sheet as much as 3 kilometers deep - are now revealed by researchers using an innovative combination of computer models and satellite, airborne and in-situ data. The location and orientation of the zone of elevated geothermal heat flow corresponds to where Greenland moved over Iceland's mantle plume and provides an independent test for models of the formation of the North Atlantic ocean, revitalizing a three-decades-long debate. Johnson said the study demonstrates an unexpected link between the deep geothermal history of the Earth and ice sheet dynamics. It shows that the controls on ice sheet dynamics span a huge range of timescales, from the month-by-month changes of the ice cover to the multimillion-year epochs over which the Earth's mantle and tectonic plates evolve. ### Johnson is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the Namibian University of Science in Africa and Technology and will return to Missoula in January 2017. Irvine, Calif., April 6, 2016 -- While controlling blood pressure, blood sugar and LDL-cholesterol levels reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in people with diabetes, only 7 percent of diabetic participants in three major heart studies had recommended levels of these three factors, according to research from the Heart Disease Prevention Program at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. The findings illustrate the need for persons with diabetes to better manage their blood pressure, blood sugar and LDL-cholesterol levels, which are prime indicators of future cardiovascular disease. The diabetic participants surveyed in the UCI review were enrolled in the three heart studies between the late '80s and early 2000s, when treatment was not as good as it is now. Still, more recent data show that only 25 percent of Americans with diabetes achieve all three of these targets. The good news is that those in the heart studies who did control all three factors had a 62 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to Nathan D. Wong, lead author of the UCI report, which appears online in Diabetes Care. "But we have done a dismal job nationally at getting most of our patients with diabetes controlled for even just these three measures," said Wong, director of the Heart Disease Prevention Program and a cardiology professor at UCI. "Since cardiovascular diseases - including coronary heart disease, stroke and heart failure - are leading causes of death for people with diabetes, these findings underscore the value of achieving target or lower levels of these modifiable risk factors," he added. Wong and colleagues studied 2,018 adults (57 percent female) with diabetes mellitus but without known cardiovascular diseases who participated in the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis or the Jackson Heart Study. Fifty-five percent were African American, 30 percent white, 11 percent Hispanic and 4 percent Asian/Pacific Islander. The researchers compared measurements of the three key factors to American Diabetes Association guidelines that were in effect at the time - blood pressure under 130/80 mmHg, LDL (or bad) cholesterol less than 100 mg/dL and blood HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin) under 7 percent. Forty-one percent of the study group were on target in one of the three categories; 27 percent had achieved two of the benchmarks; but only 7 percent met the recommended scores in all three. Study participants' control of individual and composite factors was also examined in relation to the occurrence of new cardiovascular events (including heart attacks, coronary deaths, strokes, heart failure, percutaneous interventions and bypass surgeries) over an average follow-up of 11 years. Wong said that proper management of any one factor translated to a 36 percent lower risk, proper management of any two factors was linked to a 52 percent lower risk, and proper management of all three factors correlated to a 62 percent lower risk of cardiovascular events compared to those without any factors controlled. Blood pressure management appeared to benefit African Americans and women more than other ethnic groups or men; however, the converse was true for LDL control. "Our analysis of three large U.S. cohorts including persons in whom diabetes has been diagnosed shows those who were at target levels for HbA1c, blood pressure and LDL to have substantially lower risks for cardiovascular disease than persons with diabetes who were not at target levels for such factors," Wong said. "These findings emphasize the importance of composite control of these modifiable risk factors to better address the cardiovascular disease risks seen in persons with diabetes, the need for the development of healthcare strategies to better ensure such management, and the need for studies to evaluate and eliminate barriers to risk factor control in persons with diabetes." ### Yanglu Zhao, Rohini Patel, Christopher Patao and Shaista Malik of UCI; Alain Bertoni of Wake Forest University; Adolfo Correa and Herman Taylor of the University of Mississippi; Aaron Folsom of the University of Minnesota; Sumesh Kachroo and Jayanti Mukherjee of Bristol-Myers Squibb; and Elizabeth Selvin of Johns Hopkins University contributed to the work, which was supported by numerous National Institutes of Health grants and a contract between Bristol-Myers Squibb and UCI. About the University of California, Irvine: Currently celebrating its 50th anniversary, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 30,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's located in one of the world's safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $4.8 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit http://www.uci.edu. Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists. Thousands of loggerhead turtles are killed annually in areas of Syria, Libya and Egypt and Tunisia where they travel to find food, a new study led by researchers at the University of Exeter has highlighted Thousands of loggerhead turtles are killed annually in areas of Syria, Libya and Egypt and Tunisia where they travel to find food, a new study led by researchers at the University of Exeter has highlighted. Robin Snape, a postgraduate research student with the Marine Turtle Research Group at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at Penryn Campus and a team of fellow conservation biologists found that many adult loggerhead turtles are migrate to areas of the Mediterranean where they are dying, trapped in fishing nets used by small scale fishing operations in Cyprus, the Middle East and North Africa. The researchers tracked female turtles by satellite from Cyprus and provided new evidence that the turtles, rather than returning to the place of their birth to lay their eggs, will sometimes nest in a number of countries. Following breeding, females travel to foraging sites over an area covering the continental shelf of Cyprus, the Levant and North Africa sometimes up to 2,100km from their nesting sites. Three of the 27 adult female loggerhead turtles that were tracked by using satellite devices over a ten year period from north Cyprus nesting beaches died within a year of being followed. The study, published in the journal Diversity and Distributions, shows researchers believe the turtles died as bycatch, a result of being caught accidentally in fishing nets. This suggests an 11 per cent mortality rate per year, which is a higher rate than expected in a species that is thought to be very long lived. Turtles need to live longer so that they can produce enough offspring to keep the species going. Robin Snape, who is based in northern Cyprus, said: "The mortality rate and level of bycatch in these countries is very concerning. There is poor understanding of the need for conservation and of the impacts that fishing practices can cause. This is particularly difficult to manage when local people are dependent on fish for their food and livelihood. Wider studies are needed into fishing practices, the exact methods being used and into how we can mitigate bycatch. Although this is difficult at the moment when countries are at war or politically unstable, Cyprus as an EU member state is well situated to address its significant sea turtle bycatch." Project leader, Professor Brendan Godley added: "Whilst the Mediterranean loggerhead turtle population is dependent on the continuation of decades of intense conservation work at core nesting sites in Greece, Cyprus and in Turkey, we now need to move into the water to secure the future of the species mitigating threats from fisheries and oil and gas related seismic activity. Encouragingly, we have been involved in some recent work elsewhere that has shown that the simple and inexpensive measure of putting LED lights on nets can reduce turtle bycatch significantly.Our knowledge of the impacts of seismic activity is embryonic." ### Shelf life: Neritic habitat use of a turtle population highly threatened by fisheries by Robin T. E. Snape, Annette C. Broderick, Burak. A. Cicek, Wayne J. Fuller, Fiona Glen, Kimberley Stokes and Brendan J. Godley is published in Diversity and Distributions. Two hundred and fifty-two million years ago, a series of Siberian volcanoes erupted and sent the Earth into the greatest mass extinction of all time. Billions of tons of carbon were propelled into the atmosphere, radically altering the Earth's climate. Yet, some animals thrived in the aftermath and scientists now know why. In a new study published today, 5 April 2016, in Scientific Reports, palaeontologists from the National Museum, Bloemfontein - a partner of the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences, seated at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg - and their collaborators demonstrate that ancient mammal relatives, known as therapsids, adapted to drastic climate change by having shorter life expectancies. When combined with results from survivorship models, this observation leads the team to suggest that these animals bred at younger ages than their predecessors. "Before the Permo-Triassic extinction, the therapsid Lystrosaurus had a life span of about 15 years based on the record of growth preserved in their bones," said National Museum palaeontologist Jennifer Botha-Brink, the lead author on the paper. "Yet, nearly all of the Lystrosaurus specimens we find from after the extinction are only 2-3 years old. This implies that they must have been breeding when they were juveniles themselves." This adjustment in life history also meant a physical change for Lystrosaurus. Before the mass extinction, this creature would have been a couple of metres long and weighed hundreds of kilograms--about the size of a pygmy hippo. Post-extinction, its size dropped to that of a large dog, in large part due to its altered lifespan. Yet, these adaptations seemed to pay off for Lystrosaurus. Ecological simulations show that by breeding younger, Lystrosaurus could have increased its chance of survival by 40% in the unpredictable environment that existed in the aftermath of the extinction. This change in breeding behavior is not isolated to ancient animals either. In the past century, the Atlantic cod has undergone a similar effect due to human interference. Industrial fishing has removed most large individuals from the population, shifting the average size of cod significantly downward. Likewise, the remaining individuals are forced to breed as early in their lives as possible. Similar shifts have also been demonstrated in African monitor lizards. "With the world currently facing its sixth mass extinction, palaeontological research can help us understand how and why some animals, such as those like Lystrosaurus, thrived in the face of disaster," said Botha-Brink. Studying the reasons for differential survival in response to dramatic environmental perturbation amongst extinct species will allow us to better predict how today's climate change will affect modern species." ### Summary of Major Findings 1. Study of bone microstructure and body size distributions in the forerunners of mammals (therapsids) reveals distinct life history changes during the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction (252 Mya). 2. Our results show that post-extinction species took less time to reach adult size, had shortened life expectancies, high mortality rates, and were at heightened risk of extinction. 3. Simulations using ecological modelling show that breeding earlier, which would have led to shortened generation times, could have helped therapsids survive in the unpredictable, resource-limited post-extinction environment, and explains body size distributions observed in earliest Triassic species like Lystrosaurus. 4. The results help explain how the "disaster taxon" Lystrosaurus, not only survived, but spread to all areas of the globe and became the most abundant vertebrate after the Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction. Background Facts There have been five major mass extinctions in Earth's history. The Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction (252 Mya) was the most catastrophic extinction in Phanerozoic history. It killed 80-96% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial species. Post-extinction ecosystems did not fully recover until some 5 million years after the event. Therapsids include animals like Lystrosaurus, and another group called the cynodonts, which includes mammals and their immediate ancestors. Their body sizes ranged from that of a tiny mouse to a massive rhino. South Africa contains the best fossil record of early therapsids in the world. The paper does NOT say We do not demonstrate behavioural or physical evidence of early reproduction. Rather, our main empirical dataset comes from body size distributions and bone microstructure, which show direct evidence of shorter life expectancies in Triassic therapsids. Our inference of earlier breeding is then based on size distributions and expectations of survivorship models that we pursued based on our observations of the bone microstructure. About the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences The DST/NRF Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the Palaeosciences was awarded in 2013 to the University of the Witwatersrand and its collaborating institutions, namely the University of Cape Town, Iziko Museum in Cape Town, the National Museum in Bloemfontein, the Albany Museum of Rhodes University, and Ditsong Museum in Pretoria. It is hosted in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University. Interviews: Dr Jennifer Botha National Museum, Bloemfontein DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences +27-51-4479609 +27-82-4030604 jbotha@nasmus.co.za Spring in its step: The ECB's headquarters in Frankfurt Dealers that were concerned about their viability as counterparties, such as Deutsche Bank, saw their credit spreads tighten along with those of other borrowers. The market for investment-grade euro bonds enjoyed a surge in issuance that provided a welcome revival in fees for banks after a disastrous start to the year in both debt and equity underwriting. The pixie-dust effect of the ECBs statement of intent on March 10 (it wont actually define terms for its corporate bond buying until late in the second quarter) did not extend to the market for secondary credit trading, however. The recent struggles by Credit Suisse to first understand and then reduce its holdings of distressed credit underscored the problems that banks have with secondary trading of corporate bonds and loans. It could be argued that Credit Suisse should have retained its problematic credit positions in late 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 and worked down its holdings after the ECB contributed to a reversal of global spread widening. Instead the bank realized close to $1 billion of losses that a bold trading manager might have avoided. Gutsy trading heads of the type that used to walk the dealing floors at Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs are out of fashion now, however. Liquidity in secondary credit trading has diminished; the ECBs arrival as a buyer of corporate bonds is likely to exacerbate this trend. Euromoney warned last year about potential conflicts of interest in ECB purchases of bonds from corporates such as Volkswagen that suffer reputational damage and could try to exploit any implicit central bank endorsement. We also cautioned about the distorting effects of the emergence of a so-called Draghi put for corporate bonds. Benign impact The short-term impact of the March announcement that the ECB will make direct bond purchases was benign. European corporate bond spreads for non-bank borrowers that may be eligible for ECB buying fell sharply, and related financial spreads enjoyed similar and at times faster tightening. Banks such as Barclays, Commerzbank and Santander were able to issue debt as the market for euro-denominated bond issuance revived, and US borrowers including Fedex were also beneficiaries with US issuers able to maintain their 2015 share of roughly 25% of euro bond issuance. One deal that seemed to demonstrate the benefits of the ECBs move also highlights another potential pitfall, however. A week after the ECB announced its plans, AB InBev sold the largest euro-denominated bond yet seen. The 13.25 billion multi-tranche bond helped the Belgium-based brewer to fund its planned acquisition of SABMiller and generated over 30 billion of demand from investors keen to join the party in debt that may have the ECB as a backstop buyer. It also attracted investors who anticipate at least a degree of secondary liquidity, given the size of the bond. The appeal of jumbo bonds from big issuers is causing growing bifurcation in the debt markets, which the ECB may exacerbate. Frequent borrowers with the promise of a debt issuance schedule are able to sell bonds much more easily than smaller corporates with uncertain future debt needs. This trend will not help the goal of both policymakers and investment banks in Europe of speeding up the regions shift from corporate lending to development of broad capital market issuance comparable with that in the US. It will also do little to boost credit trading revenues for banks, as debt investors effectively adopt a buy-and-hold policy, where the nearest thing to secondary liquidity is the prospect of further issuance by the very biggest borrowers. Atiur Rahmans downfall began in May 2015 Atiur Rahman stepped down as head of Bangladeshs central bank on March 15, taking the fall for one of the most daring cyber heists in history. The revelation that well-organised thieves operating from the Philippines had stolen $101 million of the south Asian nations foreign currency reserves shocked the world. Yet it was the revelation that Rahman, a pugnacious economist who had run Bangladesh Bank with aplomb for seven years, had kept details of the grand theft secret for weeks, seemingly even from senior government officials, that made his position all but untenable. Rahmans downfall began in May 2015, when four men quietly opened US dollar bank accounts at a branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC), in Makati, a suburb of the Philippine capital, Manila. Hackers then appear to have broken into Bangladesh Bank, planting malware, lurking in the background and studying in detail how staffers operated, communicated and placed and fulfilled orders. On February 4, the four idle RCBC accounts were activated. Using the malware as a shield, the hackers cloned legitimate transactions and then placed 35 fake money transfer orders worth $951 million via Bangladesh Banks account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Fed immediately blocked 30 of the transactions worth $850 million, but five slipped through. Of the remainder, four transactions worth $81 million, officially tagged as development capital, ostensibly to be used to fund vital infrastructure in Bangladesh, including bridges, a power station and the Dhaka Metro, were transferred through the Swift system to bank accounts in the Philippines. From there, the cash was disbursed into the countrys lightly regulated casinos, with $50 million passing through two groups Bloomberry Resorts and Eastern Hawaii Leisure via a money transfer firm, Philippine Remittances. The remaining $31 million was handed in cash to an agent called Weikang Xu, who specialised in organising trips for gamblers. That capital has yet to be recovered. A further $20 million was wired to an unnamed Sri Lankan bank, to be deposited in a Colombo-based non-governmental organization. It was here that alarm bells began to ring. The bank noticed a simple but glaring clerical error: the misspelling of the word Foundation as Fandation. The money order was queried and then frozen once the scale of the hack became clear, allowing that slice of the funds to be recouped. Bangladesh Bank was slow to react. When staff returned to the office on February 6, they found a series of messages from the New York Fed, yet it was two more days before Rahmans team started to piece together what had happened. The scale of the hack did not become public for another three weeks, and it was another fortnight before Rahman finally submitted his resignation to Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina. Two of his deputies, Nazneen Sultana and Mohammed Abul Quasem, were subsequently fired. The government moved quickly to assign a new central bank chief, appointing Fazli Kabir, a former chairman of state-run lender Sonali Bank. Mud slinging Plenty of mud has been flung since the scale of the hack became clear. Officials in Dhaka were at pains to state that the heist itself did not precipitate Rahmans departure from Bangladesh Bank. Cyber hackers have in recent years tried, in some cases successfully, to break into lenders and institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve. Central banks and commercial lenders have ramped up spending on security; that such break-ins remain relatively rare suggests that financial institutions have mostly spent wisely on IT and counsel. Others have been less willing to forgive. Bangladesh finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith railed publicly about the incompetent central bank, and threatened to file a case against the New York Fed, fuming that they cannot avoid their responsibility in any way. Authorities in the Bangladeshi capital allege that the Fed originally questioned at least one of the $101 million-worth of successful transactions, yet approved them anyway, without securing a response. Dhaka itself is trying to understand how someone infiltrated the central bank, planted malware and replicated the access codes and identities of internal staff without being spotted. Some have suggested the hackers were aided and abetted by an insider. The fallout has stretched all the way to the Philippines. RCBC sacked Maia Santos-Deguito, manager of its Makati branch, accusing her of falsification of commercial documents and violating bank policies and procedures. Grace Poe, a frontrunner in the race to become president of the Philippines, has promised to extended money-laundering legislation to cover casinos if elected to the countrys highest office in May. This heist was planned for months; it may be many more before the full story emerges. We pick up where we left off last week (Biomimetics Where the Action Is) with more examples of design-based science from around the world. Gecko astrobot . Get a grip! NASA just launched a space hero to the International Space Station. You could call him Supergecko. Actually, its a new material inspired by this superhero among animals, the lizard that can cling to anything. New Scientist says, In a few years, the exterior of the International Space Station could be crawling with geckos. Its not an alien invasion, or the plot of a low-budget sci-fi movie. The robotic geckos could follow from an experiment NASA launched to the International Space Station on Tuesday aboard an uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft. The Gecko Gripper devices use tiny artificial hairs that replicate the ones geckos use to climb walls. They are designed to help astronauts to keep track of objects in zero gravity, and enable robots to crawl around a spacecraft to inspect and repair it. [Emphasis added.] The bots have been tested and are able to grab and manipulate 100-kilogram objects. Instead of using adhesives, geckos adhere to almost anything using atomic van der Waals forces thanks to tiny hairs on their foot pads. Geckos are natures most amazing climbers, a JPL scientist says. They go from the floor to the ceiling in 2 seconds. Lignin plastic . The woody material in plants, lignin, is finding a new use. In a new alloy with rubber, its replacing plastic with a biodegradable, green thermoplastic material to replace the petroleum-based plastics used in headgear and Lego pieces. Oak Ridge National Laboratory tells how this new material, using 50 percent renewable content, does not require solvents in its manufacture. Its a meltable, moldable, ductile material that is at least ten times tougher than ABS (the petroleum-based plastic used in many products from car bumpers to kitchen appliances). Another advantage is that it can put the waste from pulp and paper mills to good use. In this case, scientists are not imitating lignin as much as using their own intelligence to combine lignins well-designed properties with soft rubber, producing a new material that takes advantage of the plants built-in molecular wizardry. Nature-inspired nanotubes . Thinking about how proteins assemble and fold, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory were inspired to copy that design principle in the manufacture of nanotubes. The research is the latest in the effort to build nanostructures that approach the complexity and function of natures proteins, but are made of durable materials. In this work, the Berkeley Lab scientists studied a polymer that is a member of the peptoid family. Peptoids are rugged synthetic polymers that mimic peptides, which nature uses to form proteins. They can be tuned at the atomic scale to carry out specific functions. One cant fail to notice that mans best efforts to date fail to approach the complexity and function of natures proteins, but they think its a good start getting just a tube to form. But building nanostructures is difficult, they say. And creating a large quantity of nanostructures with the same trait, such as millions of nanotubes with identical diameters, is even more difficult. The simplest bacterium has this solution nailed down pat, from coding to manufacture. Flagellum bots . Inspired by bacteria that swim with their outboard flagellar motors, scientists have created soft microrobots whose body shapes can be controlled by structured light, and which self-propel by means of travelling-wave body deformations similar to those exhibited by swimming protozoa, Nature says. Such remote-controlled microswimmers could revolutionize medicine by unclogging arteries, fixing immotile sperm, or delivering drugs on demand to specific locations in the body. Microbes, of course, already meet all the design requirements for a microswimmer: Designing a robust microscopic robotic swimmer that can navigate complex environments and perform useful functions is a key component of the quest. To operate autonomously or on demand, a microswimmer should be able to harvest energy, propel itself through fluid towards its target and respond to external signals. Energy is needed both to overcome the friction of the fluid and to maintain motion for a long time up to an hour for some biomedical applications. One team publishing in Nature Materials has succeeded in designing biomimetic soft microbots that can swim, driven by structured light. Its not as fast as a paramecium, but its a start at the JV track team. Nature compares a parameciums speed with the dolphins we saw in Living Waters swimming in massive pods: Nature has mastered highly effective means of micrometre-scale propulsion, exemplified by the rotation of helical bacterial flagella, and the wavy beating of the cilia (tiny hair-like structures) that cover Paramecium. This metachronal wave the sequential movement of thousands of cilia enables paramecia to swim at astounding speeds, up to ten body lengths per second. (For comparison, a dolphin barely makes two to three body lengths per second when in a hurry.) Another paper in Nature Communications discusses the subject of microswimmers. First sentence: Interactions of microswimmers with their fluid environment are exceptionally complex. Bacteria manage the complexities with ease using their flagella. This mechanism does not require any active sensing in contrast with fish rheotaxis, the paper says, speaking probably of salmon fighting their way upstream against the current. Human epigenetics . This last example is so striking, and so foreboding, as to raise serious questions about the future of biology and of the human race. Scientists at MIT are boasting about a new programming language they invented to program DNA. MIT biological engineers have created a programming language that allows them to rapidly design complex, DNA-encoded circuits that give new functions to living cells. Using this language, anyone can write a program for the function they want, such as detecting and responding to certain environmental conditions. They can then generate a DNA sequence that will achieve it. It is literally a programming language for bacteria, says Christopher Voigt, an MIT professor of biological engineering. You use a text-based language, just like youre programming a computer. Then you take that text and you compile it and it turns it into a DNA sequence that you put into the cell, and the circuit runs inside the cell. They plan to make the design interface available on the Web. Anyone will be able to create genetic programs no experience needed. You could be completely naive as to how any of it works. Thats whats really different about this, Voigt says. You could be a student in high school and go onto the Web-based server and type out the program you want, and it spits back the DNA sequence. On the one hand, this accentuates the case for intelligent design, because it shows that the existing circuits in life represent programs coded for function on a hierarchical scale. On the other hand, can this kind of technology be trusted in the hands of morally challenged humans? What would this technology mean for bioterrorists and rogue nations seeking to employ biological warfare? Could a high school student release a dangerous microbe by mistake? For now, well defer such discussions to ethicists and theologians. One thing all these examples show, however, is that the imitation of nature depends on design thinking. Think about that. Image: Gecko Gripper via NASA. Despite the act that oil prices have softened considerably of late, the Indian Rupee is predicted to soften thanks to heightened trader risk aversion. Pound Sterlings losses today have mainly stemmed from non-data related announcements, such as increased concerns over the damage of Brexit costs and the UKs ability to combat tax avoidance. One of its competitors, the Indian Rupee, has risen on account of a recent dip in the WTI price of crude oil per barrel. A relatively dovish set of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes have kept market risk appetite buoyant on Thursday. With the Fed looking unlikely to raise interest rates in the near future the Indian Rupee (INR) has been making strong gains against the softened Pound (GBP). Movement for the British pound sterling (GBP) exchange rate today has been mainly negative, due to a recent UK Referendum poll putting very little between a Remain vote and a Brexit. The GBP/INR rate has nonetheless risen, due to the rising price of crude oil disheartening investors. A stronger-than-expected Indian Services PMI has helped to push the GBP to INR exchange rate lower. With the Indian service sector expanding from 51.4 to a bullish 54.3 and with fresh signs of economic improvement in China the appeal of the higher-risk Rupee has climbed. With political uncertainty weighing heavily on investor confidence, the British Pound softened versus most of its major peers. The GBP/INR exchange rate ticked lower thanks to low crude oil prices. However, with trader risk aversion showing little sign of a swift reversal, the Indian Rupee is forecast to soften thanks to its emerging market status. Here are the latest FX Rates for your reference: Pound Sterling to Indian Rupee (GBP/INR) Exchange Rate News and Outlook Yesterday was a mixed day for the Pound. In early trade Sterling advanced versus many of its rivals thanks to better-than-expected services growth. However, as the day progressed demand for the UK asset cooled in the face of growing political uncertainty as a result of the EU referendum and steel crisis. On Wednesday the Pound Sterling continues to fall versus most of its currency competitors as low impact data failed to support demand. Adding to GBP downside pressure was comments from ex Labour Minister Lord Owen. In defence of a British exit from the European Union, Owen suggested that the only way to restore the NHS to its original purpose is to leave the EU. This is because it will not be subject to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the EU and the US. The legal opinion is very clear that there are a myriad of dangers if health comes under the current TTIP system, Owen said. The government could apply for an exclusion but even if we do that we are still left with the problem that the EU has gone more and more into the health service, because as more marketisation comes in there it becomes a greater justification for not treating it as an exception ... such as the insistence on putting more and more out to contract. Sharekhan analysts predict INR depreciation thanks to damp market sentiment and a rise in geopolitical tensions. After crude oil prices fell in response to news that Saudi Arabia will only be willing to freeze oil production if Iran agrees to join, the Indian Rupee advanced versus many of its peers. This is because India is one of the worlds foremost crude oil importers. However, despite low oil prices, analysts at Sharekhan predict INR losses to come, stating; Indian Rupee is expected to trade with negative bias on the back of rise in risk aversion in the global markets after weak economic data from Europe and U.S. Further, Investors will remain careful ahead of Economic data from U.S, FOMC meeting Minutes and US Federal Reserve officials Speech to get further cues. Rise in geopolitical tensions and worries over global economic health will hurt market sentiments. While risk appetite has seen some improvement the New Zealand Dollar is experiencing mixed movement against rivals, in spite of the latest dairy auction bettering expectations. The British pound has seen a 0.34pct rise against the New Zealand dollar today after the NZ currency feels the reduced risk appetite. Risk appetite for the Pound Sterling has risen today, thanks in part to the US Dollar, which has staged an effective recovery. This is possibly because of the recent US claims figures, which showed a definite drop in the number, beyond the expectations of economists. While the overall tone of Marchs Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting minutes leaned towards the dovish there were nevertheless signs of increasing dissent among policymakers. As a result, with bets still on for two interest rate hikes before the end of the year, the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates (NZD) have weakened with decreased risk appetite. Sterling has lost out against the New Zealand dollar today, owing to a string of negative events. Chief among these has been a recent YouGov poll, which has put very little difference between current chances of an In or Out vote in the referendum. Additionally, it appears as though recent proposed plans to save the Port Talbot steelworks are not as concrete as they first may have seemed. Latest Pound/New Zealand Dollar Exchange Rates On Sunday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1 The GBP to GBP exchange rate converts at 1 today. The GBP to AUD exchange rate converts at 1.779 today. Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.13. NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 23rd 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. Today's QV House Price Index has offered little support to the New Zealand Dollar exchange rates (NZD), with prices falling from 11.6% to 11.4% on the year in March. With the domestic housing market showing signs of cooling the outlook of the wider New Zealand economy remains muted, increasing the odds of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) opting to cut interest rates again in the near future. Markets were not impressed by the suggestion that New Zealand has been functioning as a soft tax haven to high-profile political figures, as alleged in the wake of the Panama Papers data leak. With trader confidence substantially dented and markets moving back towards a state of risk-aversion this saw the New Zealand Dollar (NZD) slump sharply against the majors at the start of the week. However, a modest increase in prices at the latest GlobalDairyTrade auction helped to buoy the New Zealand Dollar to Pound Sterling (NZD/GBP) exchange rate on Tuesday afternoon. Confidence in the New Zealand Dollar has remained rather mixed on Wednesday morning, in spite of stronger Chinese data helping to shore up risk appetite. Despite the appreciation in dairy prices the outlook of the sector still seems decidedly weak, even if signs of fresh economic growth in China suggest that a more substantial pick-up in demand could yet materialise. The minutes of the March Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting could offer the NZD exchange rate a greater rallying point, however, if policymakers are shown to regard monetary policy in a more dovish light. Even if the Fed shows greater reluctance towards an imminent rate hike any resultant New Zealand Dollar gains are likely to be short lived, as researchers at Danske Bank note: As Fed communication after the meeting has been extensive, we do not expect any significant news, especially not since Fed Chair Yellen has already set the stage with her recent speech where she repeated the concerned message from the FOMC meeting. Pound Sterling Wavers as UK Steel Industry Hangs in Balance Demand for Pound Sterling (GBP) remains largely muted this week, in spite of a stronger-than-expected UK Services PMI report. Business Secretary Sajid Javid is due to meet with the management of Indian conglomerate Tata Steel on Wednesday, with a view to establishing the timeframe of the groups planned offloading of its UK assets. While there are reportedly a number of interested buyers the future of the UK steel industry still looks far from secure, helping to weigh down the Pound as worries over the outlook of the domestic economy remain dominant. Resurgent Chinese Services PMI Drives up Australian Dollar The Australian Dollar (AUD) has experienced a strong uptick on the back of the latest Chinese Services PMI, as growth in the services sector reached an eleven-month high. This renewed sign of improvement within the worlds second largest economy has boosted hopes that Chinas economic rebalancing is progressing, and has at least temporarily reduced suggestions of a potential hard landing to come. Consequently markets have been inclined to return to higher-yielding assets such as the Australian Dollar, pushing the NZD/AUD exchange rate into a downtrend on Wednesday morning. Hello Thank you so far for this Forum, it has been very useful in the last couple of months! I am a UK expat, living in Mexico, with a Mexican Wife. Aiming to hand in all the documents by the end of April 2016. Here are a few doubts I hope you can help me with: Query 1. I am applying under Category A (as overseas sponsor returning to the UK) of the financial evidence part. I have been in my current job for the last 2 years. I will show my last 6 month payslips. For 6 months I earn around 7,200 pounds. Since this does no come close to providing the financial requirement, I can show cash savings. Can I show, by means of bank statements, the 1 year and a half cash savings I have saved in the bank? The total amount is around 13,800 pounds. Apart from that I have cash savings in the Uk, which I will show as cash savings as well. Query 2. In order to validate the 6 months of payslips, does my current employer have to validate I have been employed for the last 2 years? What does the letter have to say? Query 3. With regards to translating all of the documents and proving all my cash savings proof. (under the assumption they are Mexican bank) Do I have to translate all the bank statements and 6 months worth of payslips? Query 4. The way I understand it, the financial evidence under category B, is basically what you earn in the last 6 months and all your money saved all rolled up in one to satisfy the 18,600 pounds required by Uk Immigration?? Thank you for your help. Regards The percentage of Europeans seeking work in the UK significantly outstrips the percentage of Britons looking for jobs in mainland Europe, according to new research.The study of tens of millions of searches by European Union job seekers by global employment site Indeed found that among those looking for work in a foreign country the UK was consistently the first choice.Indeed, the data shows that the UK receives nearly three times more interest from EU job seekers than either of the next two most popular destinations of Germany and France.Some 37.2% were looking for jobs in the UK followed by 12.1% searching in France, 11.7% in Germany, 8% in the Netherlands, 6.2% in Belgium, 5.7% in Spain, 5.3% in Italy and Ireland, 2.8% in Austria and 1.9% in Luxembourg.By contrast, British job seekers seem reluctant to work in mainland Europe, with just 15% of those who are looking for work overseas choosing to search in the EU. This is less than half the comparable figures for job hunters in the Eurozone's two biggest economies with 36% looking in Germany and 37% in France.Luxembourg tops the table of people looking for work in other EU countries at 71.1%, followed by Belgium at 66.5%, Austria 64.1%, Greece 49.8%, Ireland 49.6%, Spain 48.4%, Portugal 46.3%, the Netherlands 45.9%, Italy 43.4% and Denmark 40.4%.The freedom of movement of workers has always been at the heart of the European Union, but the research suggests that among British job hunters an attitude of splendid isolation persists. Some 98.5% of searches by UK users looked for jobs in Britain, the highest level in any EU country."Freedom of movement has always been one of the EU's central tenets but according to this research, Europe is delivering the UK one way traffic. It's very clear that the average Briton is considerably less likely to want to work in Europe than the average European wants to work in Britain," said Mariano Mamertino, economist with Indeed."In the 19th Century Britain pursued a foreign policy of splendid isolation and, based on this evidence, the isolationist mind set appears to be as strong as ever today. While UK firms may be in a stronger position than their European counterparts when it comes to attracting international talent, this situation may not last forever," he explained."Any policy that restricts the mobility of the EU workforce could negatively affect many UK employers who have historically relied on a steady flow of international talent to fill open positions," he added. SALEM, Ohio A group of Ohio residents is hoping to collect enough signatures over the next few months to get a proposed constitutional amendment on the Ohio ballot, known as the Ohio Clean Energy Initiative. The initiative, now in its sixth year, was certified as a single ballot issue March 23, by the Ohio Ballot Board. The initiative calls for $1.3 billion in Ohio bond money, for each of 10 years, that would be used for renewable energy projects, including solar, wind, renewables and battery technology, consumer and business energy cost reduction. It would also fund jobs training, internships and scholarships related to these energies. Deciding projects According to the petition, project selection and funding would be decided by a company registered in the state of Delaware, called the Ohio Energy Initiative Commission. The petition also stipulates that at least $65 million annually would be transferred to this commission, to cover members operating costs. The petition also seeks to prohibit the Ohio General Assembly from being involved in the selection of projects, or setting the terms of any such award. Signatures In order to place the measure on the fall ballot, petitioners need to collect 305,951 signatures by July 6, which is equal to 10 percent of the total vote cast for governor in 2014. They also need to collect signatures from at least 44 of Ohios 88 counties, and within each of those counties, collect enough signatures equal to 5 percent of the total vote cast for governor in 2014. Farm and Dairy reached out to representatives for the campaign, which is called Yes for Ohios Energy Future, but did not receive a response by press time. Traceability issues A December 2013, Associated Press article reported that the individuals involved with commission could not be traced through IRS records, nor Delaware business records. German Trejo, a campaign strategist and spokesperson for the campaign at the time, said that operating through a corporate structure allows the company to be free from political influence and gridlock. This is truly a citizen-driven idea, and not having the hand of politicians is very important, he told the AP. Point of concern But prohibiting Ohios lawmakers from participating and entrusting the funds to an out-of-state entity has been a point of concern each year that the campaign attempts to get on the ballot. The American Institute of Architects-Ohio, and the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, have both taken issue with accountability of the funds and whether the campaign has the necessary experience in the renewable energy industry. The AIA warned against allowing the money to be controlled by a secretive Ohio commission incorporated in the state of Delaware. And the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, in a November 2015 statement, said the initiative would call for Ohio money to be shipped to a company registered in Delaware, while also granting them sole authority over deciding how the funds be spent. The issue has also raised concern among several Ohio energy and environmental groups that traditionally have supported investing in clean energy. (This article was updated at 2:30 p.m. April 7, 2016, with additional, confirmed details and comments from the farm owner.) CLYDE, Ohio A 31-year-old worker died last fall on a Sandusky County farm after being overcome by exposure to gasses in pig manure, according to the U.S. Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which just released its investigation findings. The deceased worker, who Farm and Dairy confirmed as Humberto Antonio Hernandez, was loading swine manure into tanker trucks for use as fertilizer on Oct. 31, 2015, when he died. He worked for W.E. Soil Enhancement, a manure-handling business owned in part by Sandusky County farmer Rich Eshleman, who also owns Eshleman Fruit Farm. The other owner was Kyle Wagner, according to Ohio Secretary of State records. Hydrogen sulfide Federal investigators determined Hernandez death was caused by inhalation of hydrogen sulfide, which is rapidly absorbed by the lungs. OSHA cited the company March 18 for three safety violations totaling $16,800, after completing its investigation into Hernandez death. Eshleman described it as a freak accident, and doesnt feel the company did anything wrong. He said hes been in the manure pumping business for five to seven years, and has done the same job as Hernandez without issue. Eshleman said the worker died while on top of the manure tanker outside and in open air. Ive been in the exact same position, Eshleman said. I cant figure it out. Eshleman said the company was well aware of the dangers of working around manure, and entering enclosed manure holding structures. He said the gas in question hydrogen sulfide is one of the most deadly gasses on a farm. Citations issued In its investigation, OSHA determined W. E. Soil Enhancement should have provided engineering controls and respiratory protection to protect workers from exposure to hydrogen sulfide gas; developed and trained workers on a hazard communication program; and identified and evaluated respiratory hazards. Symptoms from overexposure to hydrogen sulfide gas can come on rapidly and quickly overcome a worker, said Kim Nelson, OSHAs area director in Toledo. The agriculture industry needs to educate its employees that the foul odors that come with manure spreading are not just unpleasant, they are unsafe and can be deadly. Plans to appeal Eshleman said the company plans to appeal the fines. This is the first time that anything like this has happened to me, personally, he said. According to OSHA, the company has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHAs area director in Toledo, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Hernandez had worked for the farm about six years. He was born in Mexico, according to his obituary, and was survived by his parents; a son, Humberto Padua Hernandez Jr.; four brothers and one sister. Legal ruling set to have implications for farm inheritance rows South Dakota's first agricultural wetland mitigation bank may soon be open for business through the support of a number of South Dakota farm groups. The wetland mitigation bank program is designed to provide agricultural producers with an affordable option to meet their conservation compliance responsibilities by providing a platform where wetland credits can be bought and sold with the assistance of a dedicated third party. Designed by S.D. Farm Bureau through the use of a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG), the framework for the banking program is currently under review by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "The NRCS Wetland Mitigation Banking Program was authorized under the 2014 Agriculture Act (Farm Bill)," explained David Kringen, SDSU Extension Water Resources Field Specialist. Kringen went on to explain that this Wetland Mitigation Banking Program is intended for the express use of agricultural producers needing to comply with wetland conservation compliance provisions that were originally established under the 1985 Farm Bill. In 1985, in order to remain eligible for most USDA programs, producers had to certify that: 1) they had not planted or produced an ag commodity on a converted wetland, and 2) they had not manipulated a wetland to make ag production possible (i.e. removing trees and stumps). Options for wetland conservation compliance included: 1) avoid the wetland, 2) minimize any potential impact to the wetland, or 3) mitigate the wetland through on or offsite restoration, enhancement, or creation. If a producer wanted to mitigate, it was often left up to them to locate and restore/create a wetland of similar "function and value", or made to compete for prohibitively expensive wetland credits with developers, the Department of Transportation, etc. With the help of the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program, funds will be made available to offset the costs incurred by third parties in establishing a wetland mitigation bank, or modifying an existing bank to meet NRCS requirements. These funds - up to $1 million per award - are made available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to states or regions with a high wetland conservation compliance workload. In South Dakota, the third party responsible for the first grant application of its kind will be the S.D. Farm Bureau in partnership with Dakota Wetland Partners (DWP). "This last entity, a private LLC, will provide the technical expertise for the day-to-day operations of the mitigation bank," Kringen said. "Other supporting organizations include the SD Soybean Association and the SD Corn Growers Association." The Mitigation Process The key tenet of the NRCS Wetland Mitigation Banking Program is to target agricultural wetlands by focusing on temporary and seasonal, isolated, degraded, cropped wetlands that typically get driven over, tilled, and sprayed each year. Providing that the bank framework is approved and the grant is awarded, the first step for producers interested in mitigation would be to contact their local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) office to request a certified wetland determination. NRCS personnel will provide a wetland determination which identifies the location of the wetlands on the producer's land and the scope of the required protection in order to maintain USDA program eligibility. Once a determination has been made, and at the producer's invitation, DWP personnel will then visit with the producer to determine the number of credits to be mitigated (1 credit = 1 acre). It will also provide a list of wetland units for sale within the same regional geographic area, or sub-basin (Figure 1). Mitigation outside of a sub-basin where the wetland is located is not allowed. Selling Wetland Credits Landowners interested in selling wetland credits should contact DWP to determine: 1) the number of converted wetlands that the landowner is willing to reestablish, or 2) locations to create a new wetland. Prior converted wetland areas need to exhibit some moderate to serious need for habitat improvement. Payment will be given in exchange for: 1) allowing restoration of the wetlands, and 2) long-term protection of those wetlands. All restoration costs are to be paid by the Exchange, and long-term management costs are to be covered by the grant managed by the Farm Bureau. A minimum 50 foot average buffer may also be required to protect the integrity of the restored/created wetland. Click here to see more... Presented in conjunction with Austrade and the WA Government, the seminars in Seoul and Tokyo promoted the advantages and value of Australian wheat directly to major Korean and Japanese flour millers. "He said we are on the doorstep of a golden era, but we need to achieve it ourselves - which was a take-home message for the night," Mr Lefroy said. "While we recognise that the exact nature of the rights to be sold and the bidding process may not yet be settled, we want to engage with you at this early stage to discuss the open access regime that the Western Australian Government is proposing for the port post-privatisation," Mr Greiss wrote. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is the face of UGG Australia. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley The 28-year-old British model has been announced as the face of the brand for their upcoming Classic II boot campaign, which will be the largest re-launch the fashion house has seen in its four decades, and Rosie is excited to reveal a "different" side to her character with her new partnership. Speaking to WWD.com about her new venture, the blonde beauty said: "It's exciting and fun, and I think it's going to be really different kind of partnership for me. It's a way to showcase a different side to my personality." The 'Mad Max: Fury Road' actress - who designs her own lingerie line with Marks & Spencer, and now has a makeup range, Rosie for Autograph - didn't hesitate when presented with the chance to collaborate with UGG because she adores their trademark sheepskin lined footwear. The former Victoria's Secret Angel - who is engaged to Jason Statham - explained: "I've always owned a pair of UGG boots. They're something I've had when I'm heading home. I grew up in a farm in the UK In the countryside, I'll always have a pair with me. They're part of my active and adventurous lifestyle. I'll wear a pair on the beach when I'm walking the dogs in the winter. They'll be packed in the back of the car on a road trip on the coast in California. I put my feet in a pair literally every morning. They are snuggle shoes that I wear around the house. "During my free time - that's when I have a connection to them. It's more of personal thing to me than a designer handbag or jacket." Speaking about UGG's forthcoming project led by Rosie, senior global director of public relations Alice Hampton said: "Although we don't shoot until later this month, the Classic II campaign will mark the biggest re-launch the brand has ever seen in its 37-year history. "It was important to partner with someone who has a natural love and affinity for the brand, but who could also translate the new street-style features and benefits into their everyday on-the-go lifestyle. I think the biggest insight is that it will be showcased in a very attainable and fun way as Rosie's warmth and effervescent personality is a key component to the creative. It is not just about working with a beautiful face." UGG Australia's Classic II campaign will launch in August this year. There's just a few weeks left to wait before Game of Thrones returns for its sixth season on HBO, and in a new interview with EW, actor Maisie Williams spoke a little bit about her character, Arya Stark's journey in the forthcoming episodes. Credit: HBO She explained: "People don't realise last season Arya went blind. Last season people asked: 'Is she dead?' I'm all, 'No, she's blind.' It's too easy to kill her. If there's one thing we've learned from Game of Thrones it's that death is the easy way out. They're gonna keep her and make her have a [bad] time. Look at Reek. "I was so up for the contacts. I love having something weird going on on the set. There's never a day where I just sat and did dialogue, there's always something going on." Viewers who may be hoping for writers to ease up a little bit on Arya going forward because of her condition may be a little disappointed. Williams continued: "I feel like I got a good one this time: Arya is being more physical again, but she's blind. So her training has progressed even more, but it's on a more physical level and a more technical level because she's lost her eyes. And I love doing stunts. I'm so happy I've got some again. "Last year, people have been like, 'Arya's sweeping floors!' And everything I tweet, they're like, 'Oysters, clams and cockles!' It's part of the training, okay? It's what goes into that. And this year there is more of that, but it's also more exciting." She added: "Every year I think, 'This is really cool.' But this year, as I opened the scripts, it's so exciting because nobody knows what's happening. They're going to hate it, but love it, and I can't wait." Giving her final thoughts on season 6, she said: "This year is so great because we've whittled it down. You can see the final storylines forming. We lost a lot of people last year and that makes it really exciting. There are fewer people on Arya's list. But there's also fewer people to fight for the throne." Game of Thrones season 6 returns to HBO in the US on April 24, simulcast in the UK on Sky Atlantic and shown in the UK on the same channel, Mondays at 9pm. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Filming for the fourth series of BBC One drama Sherlock has begun, with the show returning to screens in the near future for three brand new episodes. Credit: BBC Sherlock Holmes returns to Britain in the beginning of the new series, whilst Doctor Watson and his wife Mary start preparing for their biggest challenge to-date - becoming parents for the first time. Actor Benedict Cumberbatch said he's "genuinely thrilled to be back filming Sherlock with all the cast and crew. I can't wait for everyone to see season four. But you will have to wait... Though not for long... And it will be worth it." Co-creators, writers and executive producers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss add: "Sherlock series four - here we go again! Whatever else we do, whever we all go, all roads lead back to Baker Street - and it always feels like coming home. "Ghosts of the past are rising in the lives of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson bringing adventure, romance and terror in their wake. This is the story we've been telling from the beginning. A story about to reach its climax." "It's taken a while to gather everyone together for series four," says Sue Vertue, executive producer at Hartswood Films: "but I can confidently say I think it will be well worth the wait!" The first of the three new episodes will be directed by Rachel Talalay, who has worked in the past on The Flash, Doctor Who and The Wind in The Willows. by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk find me on and follow me on Being Human, the clothing line with a heart, targets to open 30 more stores by the end of the financial year 2016-17, in addition to the existing 51 stores in 2016 opened in India and Nepal. The brand has made a strong hold all over the country with its massive presence in past 4 years under its global licensing partner Mandhana Retail Ventures Ltd. Amongst its other global expansion plans, Being Human will open its first exclusive store in Bordeaux, France in March 2016 and also launch at the Selfridges in London, Birmingham and Manchester as well as on their online channel with the brand's AW16 Collection in July 2016. The brand is all set to launch its official e-commerce website for USA after having its e-commerce presence in Europe and United Kingdom. Being Human, the clothing line with a heart, targets to open 30 more stores by the end of the financial year 2016-17, in addition to the existing 51# Kunal Mehta, VP - Marketing and Business Development, Being Human Clothing said, We are thrilled to have reached a milestone of 51 exclusive stores and overall 350 point of sales in just under 4 years of inception. It is overwhelming to see such a great response not only from our customers but also our partners who have supported the brand to reach maximum pincodes in the country. We are looking forward to continue to share 100% love care share in newer markets. Manish Mandhana, Director, Mandhana Retail Ventures Ltd said, We are proud to announce that we are available in more than 15 countries across 500 and more point-of-sales. We are focused to enhancing Being Human's presence not only locally but also internationally by tapping new markets this year. Our aim is to make Being Human a global fashion brand that every individual can connect with. (HO) Being Human Lenzing and The Woolmark Company signed a cooperation agreement and presented the partnership between the lyocell fibre, Tencel and Merino wool at recent global textile trade shows. Tencel is ideal as a blending partner for Merino wool. The properties of moisture management and a smooth fiber surface are enriching factors when combined with Merino wool and create textiles for customers who love both performance and luxury. Tencel is of botanic origin. Merino wool is a protein fibre. The fibres unite best of two worlds. Tencel stands for a silky smooth drape, and the blend with Merino wool demonstrates that the luxurious flow of the fabrics can create new and fashionable silhouettes. Lenzing & The Woolmark Company signed cooperation agreement and presented partnership between Tencel & Merino wool at trade shows.# Both fibres absorb moisture vapour very well, and create a pleasant micro climate on the skin. This is important particularly in warm climates and during physical exertion. The two together have already recorded a large number of successes. International brands have been successfully using the fibre duo in their collections. The blend is particularly popular among customers in Europe and the US. Commenting on the collaboration, Robert van de Kerkhof, CCO of Lenzing said, In internal retail analysis, it is striking that the Tencel or Merino wool blend is often used in knitwear. The blend is used predominantly in the activewear segment. Therefore, in the new season, our activities will focus on woven fabrics. Our goal is to target the woven fabric segment with high-quality fabrics for formal suits, clothes and shirts. We are operating with wool blends in a high-end segment with high margins, and are interested in expanding this business, he added. The long term goal of the cooperation is to expand the high-end Merino wool market with Tencel or Merino wool blends by 2020, and firmly establish this elegant blend in global collections. Globally, the focus is on flat knits and circular knits for women's outerwear and for men's and children's outerwear. (MCJ) Lenzing NRI businessman Arun Agarwal, head of leading US-based home textile company Nextt, has been appointed a member of the Product Development and Small Business Incubator Board of Texas to stimulate small business within the state.His term will expire on February 1, 2019, according to a press release from the office of Texas Governor Greg Abbott. NRI businessman Arun Agarwal, head of leading US-based home textile company Nextt, has been appointed a member of the Product Development and Small# The Product Development Fund and Small Business Incubator Fund, collectively PDSBI, are revolving loan programmes administered by the Office of the Governor, Texas Economic Development Bank, under the oversight of a nine-member board appointed by the Governor.The PDSBI Fund provides financing to aid in the development, production, and commercialization of new or improved products and to foster small business within Texas.Agarwal said the board will be aiding in the development of products in the areas of business that are most successful for Texas and have had the most commercial success like nanotechnology, biotechnology, renewable energy, agriculture, biomedicine and aerospace.Dallas-based Agarwal is CEO of Nextt which manufactures home textiles, garments, apparel fabrics and polyester yarns. His company is the market leader in home textiles. Nextt supplies home textiles, garments, apparel fabrics and polyester yarns to major retailers like Walmart, Kohl's, Dillard's, JCPenney and Target.Agarwal is a board member for Gift for Life, board member for the US-India Chamber of Commerce DFW, honorary advisory board member for Indian American Friendship Council, and member of the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce. Agarwal volunteers his time with Chetna which assists South Asian victims of domestic violence, and Living Dreams Foundation which empowers artisans to become future business leaders.He received the 2014 Outstanding Entrepreneur award by the Indian American Friendship Council, the 2013 Minority Business Leader award by the Dallas Business Journal, and the 2013 Entrepreneur of the Year award by the US-India Chamber of Commerce DFW. (SH) Fibre2Fashion News Desk India Bipasha Basu and Karan Singh Grover have been dating for around two years and are all set to marry now. According to the recent reports, the two have even started to send their wedding invites to their loved ones...( and we are super excited!!) We know that Bipasha Basu and beau Karan Singh Grover are all set to tie the knot in April. The love birds are busy with the wedding preparations and have already begun sending out the invites. Click On VIEW PHOTOS To See Some Rare & Unseen Pics Of Bipasha With Karan According to a report in DNA, ''Karan Singh Grover and Bipasha Basu's mehendi will be held on April 28 at Villa 69, a lounge bar in Juhu, and the reception will be held at St Regis (formerly known as Palladium Hotel) in Lower Parel on April 29.'' Is Kareena Kapoor Pregnant? Also Read The Truth About Bebo Freezing Her Eggs! ''The reception will have the couple's friends from Bollywood attending, including Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra and R Madhavan and his wife attending it. Only Bips' best friends, fitness expert Deanne Pandey and designer Rocky S know all the details of the wedding.'' Also, not many people know that there will be an intimate Bengali-style wedding at Bipasha's Khar residence in the morning attended by close family and friends from both sides, on the same day. Bipasha has even hired a wedding planner to plan her big day. Now, you must be wondering that why Bipasha Basu is still mum about the marriage. Reportedly, Bipasha is superstitious about her relationships and that's the reason why she is not talking about it openly. Well, we wish the couple a happy married life! Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai's names have been revealed in the Panama Paper Leak Reports and Aishwarya's team had issued a statement saying the reports are "totally false and untrue". Now Amitabh Bachchan, has sent out an official statement regaring the Panama Leaks and says his name is "been misused". "I do not know any of the companies referred to by Indian Express - Sea Bulk Shipping Company Ltd, Lady Shipping Ltd, Treasure Shipping Ltd, and Tramp Shipping Ltd. I have never been a director of any of the above stated companies. It is possible that my name has been misused. I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas. Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through LRS, after paying Indian taxes. In any event the news report in Indian Express does not even suggest any illegality on my part." So Funny! 15 Pics Of Aishwarya Rai Clicked When She Was Not Ready It is reported that around 500 Indians are reported in the Panama leaks, and that includes several film stars, politicians, industrialists and many other well known personalities. German based daily 'Sueddeutsche Zeitung' was the first to break out the news on the Panama Paper Leaks and shared with the world media by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The Panama Leak is a 1.2 TB document and has shocked the world and is also named as "the world's biggest leak". Totally Rare, Old & Unseen Pictures Of Salman Khan! The Indian Government had as ordered an investigation into the matter about the names of Indian nationalities mentioned in the leaks. Only after the investigation is completed can we confirm if Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai is really under guilt or not. Class Apart! Deepika Padukone Looks Like A Beauty Contest Winner In These Pictures Yenai Nokki Paayum Thotaa, Dhanush's upcoming romantic-action film being directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, which also features Rana Daggubati in an important role, will be partly shot in Turkey. The crew will explore some of the most remote places of the Eurasian country before starting their shooting schedule from this weekend. "The team plans to shoot a few scenes and a song across exotic locations in Turkey. While the team has already reached Turkey, Dhanush is expected to join later this week to shoot through the weekend," a source from the film's unit told IANS. The movie which stars Megha Akash as its female lead will be wrapped up by the end of this month or latest by May midweek. AR Rahman, the man who has two Oscars against his name, was speculated to be the composer of the film. However, the source denied the hearsay. "As of now, we haven't finalised on any composer. Talks are going on with a few music directors and a final decision will be taken soon," he said. Jointly bankrolled by P Madan and Gautham Menon, the movie is slated for release by the end of this year. Interestingly, there are reports suggesting that Simbu's Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada will also be shot in Turkey along with the Dhanush starrer. Since Achcham Yenbadhu Madamaiyada too, is being helmed by the Neethaane En Ponvasantham director, remaining portions of the Simbu starrer will be shot in Turkey while working on Yenai Nokki Paayum Thotaa, it is said. While it is rare for a director to work with two top stars from an industry at the same time, it looks like Gautham Menon will be working with both such stars at the same time and in the same place. Stay tuned for further updates. Also Read: Q&A Session: Karthi Gets Candid In His Latest Interview, Talks About Nagarjuna And Their Bromance! Pratyusha Banerjee's suicide has shocked her parents. Her parents as well as her close friends cry foul play and blame her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh for her death! Till now they had remained silent, as they wanted to rest their daughter in peace, by completing the (last-rites) rituals. Many secrets of Rahul have come out (through Pratyusha's close friends or media), that are indicating that he could be the reason for her death. Also, his lawyer Neeraj Gupta, who was fighting his case, has backed out saying, his clients hid essential facts from him, and he came to know about them from the media. He also added that 'his conscience doesn't allow me to fight for such cases'! Now, Pratyusha's parents have come out in open and have given some shocking statements during the press conference, that was held after Pratyusha's prayer meet. Click On 'View Photos' To Check Out The Adorable Pictures Of Pratyusha Snapped With Her Parents Pratyusha's parents was quoted by a leading daily as saying, "He (Rahul) lied to her about his properties....He took full control of her life. He used to beat and abuse her often." They further said, that they never liked him and have never met his parents. They added, "If Rahul's parents were so close to Pratyusha, they should have been the first ones to be at the hospital." Pratyusha's father Shankar Banerjee said that Pratyusha recently got to know that Rahul had a 9-year-old son from his earlier relationship. Rahul had also threatened Pratyusha to dump her if she lived with her parents! "Rahul lied to her that he had four flats and cars in Mumbai, 150 acres in his hometown and his mother is an MLA. He took full control of her life. He wouldn't let her meet her friends or use her phone. He taunted her about her past relationships. He used to beat and abuse her often and neighbours at the Kandivli house where they lived had once heard a loud sound when she got hurt," Pratyusha's parents were quoted by a leading daily as saying. They also said that Pratyusha had complained to her uncle Deepankar and his wife about the torture (showing them a bruise she had sustained on her leg), in January. A day before her death also she had complained about the abuse to her uncle and parents. Pratyusha wanted the relationship to work and that's the reason she didn't separate. Rahul had also stopped Pratyusha contacting her parents and friends. Her father also was quoted by a leading website as saying, "Rahul and his father were managing Pratyusha's finances." He added, "She was very scared in her last days. She was told that Rahul and his kin are powerful people from Ranchi." Pratyusha wanted a lavish wedding, but her dream was shattered as she met a wrong guy. The maid had also told her parents that 'Saloni would torture her but Rahul never protected Pratyusha.' The actress' mother Soma Banerjee was quoted by the website as saying, "He used to doubt her character and hurl all kinds of allegations on her." Pratyusha's friends Kamya Punjabi and Vikas Gupta also revealed that Rahul had earlier cheated seven girls for money! Shankar added, "Rahul should either get a life sentence or capital punishment. No other girl should have to die like my daughter did." #wewillmissyoupratyusha #justiceforpratyushabanerjee The words private banking can evoke some stereotypical images, like leather-backed chairs in rooms with wood-panelled walls and bookshelves filled with expensive tomes or expensively attired Swiss bankers parcelling out bits of investment wisdom over snifters of brandy and cigars. One item not typically included? A computer screen running a programme that spits out cheap investment ideas. The rise and rise of new technology is upending many assumptions in finance. Technologically savvy companies are already competing fiercely with banks in areas such as retail banking and small company loans. They now see private banking as their next hunting ground. Automated investment programmes, often called robo-advisers, use algorithms to arrange individual investment portfolios based upon stated preferences for a fraction of the fees charged by private banks. And across the Pacific they are making rapid headway. Retail-focused US robo-advisers Betterment and Wealthfront, for example, had between them already accumulated more than $6 billion in assets under management by the end of 2015. These solutions are barely beginning in Asia 8 Securities became the first independently branded robo advisory firm to offer investment products in April 2015. But their rise appears inevitable here too as the number of high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth Asians grows. Robo-advisers will become part of the asset allocation process for HNW and UHNW individuals, while it will be 100% [coverage] across the mass affluent market segment, Liew Nam Soon, managing partner for financial services in Asean at EY, told FinanceAsia. Private banks across Asia are taking the rise of the robots seriously. Standard Chartereds Peter Kok, the regional head of private banking for Asean and South Asia, told FinanceAsia in written comments the bank is investing $250 million to develop its digital services and re-architect its core banking platform. Singapores DBS said in 2014 that it planned to spend S$200 million ($146 million) over three years on digital banking and in March 2015 it introduced DBS Wealth Advisor, based upon the pioneering artificial intelligence system IBM Watson, to advise on investing using cognitive computing. Credit Suisse also has had a digital private banking platform in Singapore for over a year, offering investment analysis and research. Eighteen months ago nobody knew what robo advice was, said Alex Ypsilanti, co-founder and chief executive officer of Quantifeed, a 12-person independent group based in Hong Kong that develops robo-adviser software. But during 2015 private banks realised that they needed to address this strategically at a high level. Its on everyones agenda; whether to launch such services in 2016 or 2017. TRYING TIMES The introduction of robo-advisers comes at a difficult time for many private banks in Asia, despite the regions favourable wealth dynamics. Asias flourishing economies have minted many wealthy individuals in recent years. In their latest Asia-Pacific Wealth Report, released last June, Capgemini and RBC Wealth Management estimated that the number of regional millionaires rose by 8.5% in 2014 to 4.7 million, with combined assets of $15.8 trillion. But private banks have benefited from this less than they would have hoped because most of the regions wealthy are first-generation entrepreneurs who, typically, like to make their own investment decisions and bank locally. Only 10% to 20% of Asias wealthy used private banks in 2014 versus 70% to 80% in Europe and the US, reckons EY in its report Re-thinking Private Banking in Asia-Pacific. Kok notes many of the regions wealth are tech savvy too. They like to see instant information and advice at their fingertips, allowing them to manage their private and business wealth needs across different time zones and geographies, he said. At the same time, private banks in Asia have had to pay up to retain their best relationship managers due to a relative dearth of talent. They are also continuously spending more to meet rising compliance standards. So the average cost/income ratio of Asian private banks was a worrying 75% in 2014, according to EY. The situation has since improved but only because weaker players have exited, Liew said. Barclays Wealth Management, which is looking to sell its regional wealth management operations, is the latest. More are likely to follow. ENTER THE ROBOTS The entrance of robo-advisers is forcing private banks already under pressure to reconsider their business strategies. Automated investment services are efficient and cheap at least for simple investing. Robo-advisers in the US typically charge 0.15% to 0.35% in fees for investors to buy into exchange-traded funds, with larger sums meaning lower fees. Private banks have little choice but to offer similar services, at similar rates, or risk losing their clients to those that do. Technology is hitting the transactionary side of the private banks, Jonathan Hollands, a managing director who works in private banking recruitment at Carraway Group, told FinanceAsia. Banks are losing a lot of volume in equities and fixed income to cheaper alternatives, and thats pushing them to look at more sophisticated products and alternative investments, where they can make justifiable fee income. Yet there are some upsides. Once initial digital investment costs are conducted and processes automated, banks may enjoy lower overall costs. Piyush Gupta, CEO of DBS, has previously told FinanceAsia that digital services helped his private bank operations to a 58% cost/income ratio below the market average. While digital services may help constrain costs, there is little indication as yet that they help revenues rise. Liew said many banks see digital platforms as a means to access clients in markets where they dont directly operate. However, he cautions against too much excitement. There are compliance costs involved [in sourcing clients digitally and remotely from new markets], and banks that have predicted revenues from such efforts have so far tended to be disappointed, he said. RM REALIGNMENT Digital platforms do at least give private banks one definite benefit: unifying their investment advice. Offering global advisory [to all private bank clients] is top of the rank [in terms of importance for digital solutions]. It takes the subjectivity of [relationship managers] out of the relationship, Liew said. Quantifeeds Ypsilanti argues digital solutions can help bolster relationship manager credibility too. We think you can do a lot more with digital wealth management if you use technology to empower advisers, not replace them, he said. Standard Chartereds Kok offers a similar view. Technology helps our relationship managers to deepen their relationships with clients by pulling together the full resources of the bank, from research insights to wealth and investment advisory capabilities, he said. Digital services are unlikely to eradicate the need for relationship managers wealthy individuals will always want a human to talk to. But tomorrows relationship managers may need to be able to discuss complex financing and wealth-planning needs, which cannot easily be replicated by a robo-adviser. That would also be a welcome change in an industry that sometimes gets accused of focusing on selling products over offering more complex advice. NECESSARY SERVICE Digital wealth management is disruptive and costly for private banks. It may not get them many new clients and it is likely to whittle away fees. But it cannot be ignored. Many of Asias wealthy already want to direct their own investments and digital platforms make this easier. Banks will need to offer such services. The big question for private banks is how best to do so. Larger players such as UBS and Credit Suisse may build their own digital wealth management platforms. But many houses are likely to find the investment and maintenance sums involved (which lie in the multiple millions of dollars) to be too expensive. Plus most lack the in-house capabilities to create such technology from scratch. They will likely license at least some digital services from independent suppliers, to try to appear as slick as their larger rivals. Asias private banks are being drawn into a fintech fight. Tomorrows survivors need to arm themselves, fast. Credit Suisse does not help its wealthy clients to dodge paying taxes, chief executive officer Tidjane Thiam said on Tuesday, in the wake of suggestions made in leaked Panamanian documents that the Swiss bank has participated in widespread evasion. Speaking to journalists in Hong Kong on the sidelines of a conference, Thiam also said that there would be no let-up in Credit Suisse's aggressive pursuit of Asias bulging billionaire ranks, whom he likened to present-day Rockefellers and Carnegies. Documents held by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Dubbed the Panama Papers, the ICIJ said the documents show how banks including Credit Suisse used the services of Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca to help billionaires and the poltically connected to hide money offshore from the tax authorities. Although the 11 million documents are still being analysed, they have already revealed the existence of offshore companies linked to the families of many global leaders, including current Chinese President Xi Jinping. We do not condone structures for tax avoidance or any type of non-transparent activity, Thiam said in response to a question about the documents. Mossack Fonseca has also denied any wrongdoing. Since the global financial crisis Credit Suisse has redefined itself primarily as a private bank with investment banking capabilities focused on Switzerland and emerging markets. It has rapidly grown its assets under management in Asia Pacific. In 2015 Credit Suisse saw record inflows of core net new assets in the region of CHF17.8 billion (US$18.56 billion). Compliance Thiam insisted that that growth has been lawful. We are very insistent on tax compliance every customer has to certify to us that they are tax compliant, Thiam said, speaking at a small media briefing on the sidelines of the annual Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference. When there is a structure involving a third-party beneficiary, we insist upon knowing the identity of the third party, he said. He said that the bank only wants to manage tax-compliant assets and has stepped up compliance after paying out fines for breaches and as a result has turned away any money that does not meet its standards. "Since 2014 we have had a regularisation process underway," he said, "We've taken that pain quarter-after-quarter." Credit Suisse agreed to pay a fine of $2.5 billion in May 2014 for helping Americans evade taxes. We only encourage the use of structures when they have a legitimate economic purpose, said Thiam, who last year took the helm of Switzerlands second-largest bank. Thiam likened the wealth creation happening across emerging markets to the US in the late 1800s when people such as John. D Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Cornelius Vanderbilt so called Captains of Industry or Robber Barons, depending on your view amassed huge fortunes. At the early stages in developing economies what is produced is very wealthy entrepreneurs, he said. We want to be the entrepreneurs' bank they benefit disproportionally. After the conference Thiam said he would spend five days in China meeting entrepreneurs. Hong Kong is one of the top-10 most popular tax havens and the top place for intermediaries banks, law firms etc to operate, according to the Panama Papers. ICIJ used the country categorisation contained in the leaked internal client database to describe how many intermediaries were in each country. If you are a wealth manager you want to be where the wealth is being created and wealth is being created on a huge scale in emerging markets, Thiam said. Top 10 countries where intermediaries operate Source: ICIJ Hiring plans Credit Suisse is building business with the regions billionaires by hiring more relationship managers. At the end of 2014, Credit Suisse had about 520 relationship managers and finished 2015 at around 590. Now it is 615 with a few offers in the pipeline, Thiam said. The firm is targeting 800 relationship managers by 2018. Credit Suisse is hiring as many other banks are retrenching from the region. Clearly there is a big opportunity in China he said. Weve been underweight in China. Thiam said that the bank was taking a counter-cyclical approach and taking a long-term view on Chinas economic slowdown. Its a great time to grow We want to pick up growth when it is at its cheapest, when everyone is retrenching we have our pick of resources, Thiam said. Hours after the Labor Department unveiled significant amendments to the final version of its fiduciary rule, several Republican members of Congress vowed to roll back the new regulations though the likelihood of success is low. Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says the rule will harm millions of Americans by raising the costs of financial planning. He urged his fellow congressmen to overturn the "unfair" regulation. "This is Obamacare for your IRA and 401(k), and just like Obamacare this complex rule will likely raise your costs and potentially limit your choices," Hensarling said in a statement. Rep. Ann Wagner (R-Missouri), who serves on the same committee, also called on her colleagues to "to stop this ill-advised rule." Other Republicans, such as Rep. Lynn Jenkins of Kansas, took to social media to show their disapproval. "The #FiduciaryRule is regulatory overreach at its height. Families dont need more mandates. They need more information," Jenkins tweeted. Congress has an opportunity to vote to rescind regulations under the Congressional Review Act of 1996. However, like previous legislative attempts to stop the Labor Department's efforts, this would not likely succeed in this Congress. For example, a bill put forward by Wagner last year failed to pass both houses. If House and Senate majorities voted to overturn the rule, the measure would face a certain veto from President Obama, who has championed the rule. Several leading Democrats including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey were present at a Labor Department event on Wednesday to announce the details. Booker cautioned fiduciary supporters that there would be pushback. "This fight is not over. ...Rules have been attacked before, rules have been rolled back," Booker said. Read more: SINGAPORE, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Process monitoring and analysis per spot, per layer, per part; minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs EOS, worldwide technology and quality leader for high-end Additive Manufacturing (AM) solutions launches EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring as an add-on to the EOS M 290 DMLS system. This innovative tool paves the way for complete part traceability as well as an automated surveillance and analysis of the melt pool during the DMLS build process - every spot, every layer, every part. With the tool EOS expands its existing comprehensive portfolio of monitoring solutions for AM by adding this high-performance online monitoring which ensures even greater transparency of the complex build process. As such, EOSTATE MeltPool targets R&D and manufacturing customers with demanding quality requirements. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349330 ) Dr. Tobias Abeln, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at EOS states: "We developed this powerful, intelligent monitoring solution jointly with plasma Industrietechnik GmbH, a global high-tech supplier of automated quality assurance systems." And he continues: "With EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring we offer a powerful expert tool to those who need to improve their quality assurance procedures for AM and who want to build up deep insights into the DMLS process to support further process development.." Minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs Reliable quality assurance tools play a decisive role in boosting trust in a new technology. The EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring allows the quality assurance to be moved from post- to in-process, not only supportingbetter risk management, but as well reducing time and costs for quality assurance and as a consequence overall costs per part. - Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images ( http://www.apimages.com ) - For further information: Stephanie Cheong, Marketing Manager EOS Singapore Pte. Ltd. (phone +65 6430 0541, e-Mail: Stephanie.cheong@eos.info). Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd / Actelion issues invitation to 2016 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders . Processed and transmitted by NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. ALLSCHWIL/BASEL, SWITZERLAND - 6 April 2016 - Actelion Ltd (SIX: ATLN) today issued the formal invitation to the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Shareholders on behalf of the Board of Directors. The meeting to approve the Business Report of the year ending 31 December 2015 will be held on 4 May 2016 at 10.00 CEST at the Congress Center, Messe Basel, Switzerland. At this year's meeting the Board of Directors is proposing a dividend payment of CHF 1.50 per share, an increase of 15%. The Board is also proposing the reduction of share capital by cancelation of shares repurchased on a second trading line as part of the company's share repurchase program of up to 10 million shares, initiated on 9 April 2015. Also, the Board is proposing the approval of a maximum compensation for the non-executive members of the Board of Directors and the maximum compensation amount for the Actelion Executive Committee. NOTES TO SHAREHOLDERS The invitation was published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt) on 6 April 2016 and is available, together with the Company's Annual Report and Compensation Report, on www.actelion.com/agm (http://www.actelion.com/agm). In order to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Shareholders must have been registered in the Company's shareholder register by 22 April 2016 at the latest. ### NOTES TO EDITORS AGENDA FOR THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS 2016 1. Annual Report 2015, Consolidated Financial Statements 2015, Statutory Financial Statements 2015 and Compensation Report 2015 1.1. Approval of Annual Report 2015, Consolidated Financial Statements 2015 and Statutory Financial Statements 2015 1.2. Consultative Vote on the Compensation Report 2015 2. Appropriation of Available Earnings and Distribution against reserve from capital contribution 3. Discharge of the Board of Directors and of the Executive Management 4. Reduction of Share Capital by Cancelation of Repurchased Shares 5. Extension of Existing Authorized Capital 6. Board Elections 6.1. Re-election of the Board of Directors 6.2. Re-election of the Chairperson of the Board of Directors 6.3. Re-election of the Compensation Committee 7. Approval of Board Compensation and Executive Management Compensation 7.1. Approval of Board Compensation (Non-Executive Directors) 7.2. Approval of Executive Management Compensation 2017 (Maximum Amount) 8. Election of Independent Proxy 9. Election of the Statutory Auditors Actelion Ltd. Actelion Ltd. is a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative drugs for diseases with significant unmet medical needs. Actelion is a leader in the field of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Our portfolio of PAH treatments covers the spectrum of disease, from WHO Functional Class (FC) II through to FC IV, with oral, inhaled and intravenous medications. Although not available in all countries, Actelion has treatments approved by health authorities for a number of specialist diseases including Type 1 Gaucher disease, Niemann-Pick type C disease, Digital Ulcers in patients suffering from systemic sclerosis, and mycosis fungoides in patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Founded in late 1997, with now over 2,400 dedicated professionals covering all key markets around the world including the US, Japan, China, Russia and Mexico, Actelion has its corporate headquarters in Allschwil / Basel, Switzerland. Actelion shares are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: ATLN) as part of the Swiss blue-chip index SMI (Swiss Market Index SMI). All trademarks are legally protected. For further information please contact: Andrew C. Weiss Senior Vice President, Head of Investor Relations & Corporate Communications Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Gewerbestrasse 16, CH-4123 Allschwil +41 61 565 62 62 www.actelion.com (http://www.actelion.com/) The above information contains certain "forward-looking statements", relating to the company's business, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates", "believes", "expects", "may", "are expected to", "will", "will continue", "should", "would be", "seeks", "pending" or "anticipates" or similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Such statements include descriptions of the company's investment and research and development programs and anticipated expenditures in connection therewith, descriptions of new products expected to be introduced by the company and anticipated customer demand for such products and products in the company's existing portfolio. Such statements reflect the current views of the company with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Many factors could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from any future results, performances or achievements that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Press release PDF (http://hugin.info/131801/R/2000832/738137.pdf) BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - Cabinet office is set to release preliminary Japan leading economic indicators for February at 1:00 am ET Wednesday. The leading index is expected to show a score of 99.8, down from 101.08 in January. Ahead of the data, the yen showed mixed trading against its major rivals. While the yen rose against the euro and the Swiss franc, it held steady against the pound and the U.S. dollar. As of 12:55 am ET, the yen was trading at 125.49 against the euro, 156.30 against the pound, 115.29 the Swiss franc and 110.37 against the U.S. dollar. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. TOKYO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Goodman yesterday held an onsite ceremony to mark the completion of Stage 1 of Goodman Business Park, a large-scale, master-planned logistics and business park in Chiba Newtown, a strategic location with excellent transport connectivity in a vibrant and growing residential and business area. The ceremony was attended by Mr. Kensaku Morita, Governor of Chiba Prefecture and Mr. Masanao Itakura, Mayor of Inzai City who both gave congratulatory speeches. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160405/351494 Stage 1 of Goodman Business Park comprises a 116,000 sqm, 4-storey, high specification, multi-customer logistics facility, substantially pre-leased on completion to leading Japanese 3PLs and retailers. With the strong customer demand shown for Stage 1, Goodman yesterday also announced the commencement of Stage 2 of the project which will comprise a 125,000 sqm, 4-storey, high specification, multi-customer logistics facility. Summary of key features: Goodman Business Park Master-planned, multi-stage development accommodating a dynamic mix of complementary logistics and business users Most affordable rents in Greater Tokyo for modern, high specification logistics and business space for modern, high specification logistics and business space Immediately adjacent to a growing, young, high population residential area providing an abundant catchment of local workers Located inland on seismically stable land, 25 metres above sea level, resulting in a very low risk of business interruption from any natural disasters Excellent connectivity to greater Tokyo and major transport infrastructure including roads, sea ports and airports and major transport infrastructure including roads, sea ports and airports High quality amenities planned including retail, restaurants, cafe, child care service, free share bicycle service and dedicated bus services to the nearest train stations Brand new, wide estate roads ensuring congestion free access and left hand only turns for maximum safety Paul McGarry, Chief Executive Officer of Goodman Japan said, "Our customers in Stage 1 of Goodman Business Park have been extremely impressed with the ease of hiring workers for their operations at the facility. The attractive location, combined with the unrivalled, high quality design and amenity has created the perfect environment for our customers to succeed in their key goals of attracting and retaining workers, reducing logistics costs and improving efficiencies". Stage 1 (East Building) 116,000 sqm of modern, multi-customer logistics space 4-stories with truck berths on all floors accessed by separate up and down ramps Exceptionally high level of finish and employee amenity Eco-friendly design including roof top solar panels, LED lighting throughout and shared bicycle system Substantially pre-leased with strong customer enquiry on the remaining space Stage 2 (South Building) Planned completion in early 2018 125,000 sqm of modern, multi-customer logistics space 4-stories with truck berths on all floors accessed by separate up and down ramps Flexible design and specification to meet customers' requirements including custom racking, material handling systems and cold/chilled storage Exceptionally high level of finish and employee amenity Super high voltage electricity available Goodman's Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Greg Goodman said, "The strong customer demand for Goodman Business Park reflects the benchmark set by this project in delivering high specification, modern logistics space with an outstanding level of employee amenity at a very attractive price point. We are excited to now be commencing Stage 2, of what will be a US$1.5 billion logistics and business park on completion". For further information, please contact: Yoko Kashima Goodman Japan Limited Telephone +81 3 6910 3340 About Goodman For more information visit: www.goodman.com About Goodman Japan For more information visit: jp.goodman.com/en About Goodman Business Park For more information visit: goodmanchiba.jp/movie/english.html To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/goodman-completes-stage-1-of-its-us15-billion-goodman-business-park-and-commences-development-of-stage-2-with-positive-leasing-momentum-300246796.html LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Glencore plc (GLCNF.PK, GLNCY.PK, GLEN.L) announced that it has entered into definitive agreement with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board or CPPIB for the purchase by a wholly owned subsidiary of CPPIB of a 40% equity interest in Glencore Agricultural Products, for $2.5 billion payable in cash. Glencore expects the transaction to close during the second half of 2016 and the proceeds from the transaction will be used to reduce net indebtedness. In addition, Glencore and CPPIB have agreed to an initial four year lock-up period subject to a carve-out for Glencore to sell up to a further 20% stake. Barclays, Citi and Credit Suisse acted as joint financial advisers to Glencore. Linklaters LLP provided legal advice to Glencore. 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. Newly Released Case Study Featuring IT Solutions Provider Pensar Highlights the Power of Outsourcing IT Services to Continuum Continuum, the only channel-exclusive IT management platform company, is providing technical, business and marketing support for London-based IT solutions provider, Pensar, so the company can deliver technology support and services for its small and medium-sized business customers. Pensar discovered Continuum through its membership with HTG Peer Groups, an international community of experienced managed service providers with more than 400 member companies. Continuum launched two partner-exclusive peer groups last year in conjunction with HTG one geared toward business owners and the other for network operations center (NOC) managers. "Good talent is very scarce, but we still need to fulfill client requirements; outsourcing to Continuum helps us do that," said Mark Williams, CEO at Pensar. "One of the things that attracted us to Continuum was the fact that they really seem to cultivate more of a partnership rather than a supplier relationship. Continuum has been very good in helping us and other members of our peer group to develop our own businesses particularly on the marketing front." Pensar leverages Continuum's highly-intelligent Remote Monitoring and Management (RMM) platform, which features proprietary IntelliMon alerting technology and allows MSPs to easily monitor, troubleshoot and maintain desktops, servers and other endpoints. Using Elite Server Care, the highest level of RMM support offered by Continuum, technicians at Pensar are able to fully utilize Continuum's Network Operations Center (NOC) and dedicated support teams, 24x7x365. With more than 650 NOC technicians extending Pensar's workforce, the company does not have to worry about issues with scalability or responding to spikes in service requests. Pensar's staff is able to focus on business development and account management. Pensar appreciates the fact that Continuum's platform is fully integrated, providing them with valuable and actionable insights they can leverage when working with customers. To access the MSPradio interview with Mark Williams, "How to Build a Sustainable Company That Withstands Market Changes," visit: http://blog.continuum.net/how-to-build-a-sustainable-company-that-withstands-market-changes-mspradio-64. To access the newly released case study, "The Power of Outsourcing: Pensar Leverages Continuum for Technical, Business and Marketing Expertise," visit: http://www.continuum.net/pensar-success-story. About Continuum UK Continuum's European Headquarters office is located in the Thames Valley region of England at Venture House, 2 Arlington Square, Downshire Way, Bracknell, RG12 1WA. Contact by email: europe@continuum.net or phone: +44 (0) 1344 742 875. For more information, visit: http://www.continuum.net/company/managed-it-services-europe. About Continuum Continuum is the only channel-exclusive IT management platform company that allows its Managed Services Provider (MSP) partners to maintain both on premise and cloud-based servers, desktops, mobile devices and other endpoints for their small-and-medium-sized business clients. Continuum's SaaS platform enables MSPs to efficiently backup, monitor, troubleshoot and maintain clients' IT infrastructurefrom a single pane of glass, all backed by an industry-leading Network Operations Center (NOC) and Help Desk. The company employs 1,200 professionals worldwide, monitors 1 million endpoints for its 5,800 partners including MSPs servicing more than 50,000 SMB customers and Web hosting provider partners supported by its R1Soft server backup product line. Continuum established the Continuum Veterans Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing financial support to charities focused on helping veterans find jobs in IT. For more information, visit http://www.continuum.net/ or follow on LinkedIn and Twitter @FollowContinuum All trademarks recognized. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005497/en/ Contacts: BroadPR Tracy Wemett, +1-617-868-5031 tracy@broadpr.com Global Fund Funding Demonstration Wednesday, April 6th Advocates to Call on Donor Countries to Reverse Funding Cuts to Global AIDS Programs: Demonstration from 8:30 A.M. 10:30 A.M. (47th and 1st Ave.) Followed by 10 A.M. Informal Interactive Civil Society Hearing at United Nations Headquarters, Trusteeship Council Chamber (405 East 42nd St). AIDS Healthcare Foundation, in collaboration with other civil society organizations, recently launched a global campaign calling on donor countries to commit to fully funding the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The campaign was organized in response to a number of countries scaling down their contributions for the 2014-16 funding period. Sweden recently announced a funding cut of over $36 million USD and Denmark a cut of $20 million last year. While this does not necessarily indicate that Sweden or Denmark's pledge at the Global Fund Replenishment Conference for the 2017-2019 grant cycle in the Fall will be lower than that from the current funding period, AIDS advocates are concerned other donors might use it to justify their own reduced pledges. The Global Fund supports responsive, effective, and accountable health programs aimed at ending major epidemics around the globe. As the majority of the Global Fund's resources are provided by donor countries, funding cuts could potentially endanger millions of lives. As part of the campaign, advocates will host a RALLY on 47th and 1st Avenue Wednesday, April 6th, followed by the Civil Society Hearing at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, NY. Advocates from AHF Speak Out, clients and staff from AIDS Center of Queens County, and other AIDS activists will press donor countries to reverse their funding cuts to global AIDS programs. AHF, which is spearheading the 'Fund the Fund campaign, has issued a petition to commit donor countries to meet the Global Fund's fundraising target of $13 billion. The over 50 participants in today's protest will target Germany, China, and Japan for their lack of contributions. WHAT: DEMONSTRATION to urge donor countries to scale up global AIDS funding WHEN: Wednesday, April 6th 2016: 8:30 a.m. 10:30 a.m. WHERE: 47th and 1st Avenue, NYC, near United Nations Headquarters WHO: Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy for AIDS Healthcare Foundation John Hassell, Regional Director, Washington, DC for AHF Jessica Reinhart, Associate Director of Community Outreach for AHF other speakers TBD B-ROLL: 50+ advocates with placards, whistles banners, 3ft world globe balloons CONTACTS: Jessica Reinhart, Associate Director of Community Outreach for AHF +1 (201) 725-1328 cell John Hassell, AHF Regional Director, Greater Washington, DC Region +1 (202) 774.4854 Denys Nazarov, Associate Director of Global Policy for AHF + (323) 219-1091 cell "Now is not the time to retreat on the worldwide fight against HIV and AIDS," said Jessica Reinhart, Associate Director of Community Outreach for AHF. "We are going to hold global leaders in countries like Denmark and Sweden accountable for cutting their potentially lifesaving contributions to the Global Fund and try to persuade them to honor, and at least match, their previous commitments to the Fund in the Fall. We are also going to encourage several other high profile, wealthy countries including Germany, China and Japan-countries that clearly have the resources-to somehow find the political will to really step up in the global fight against AIDS." "The Global Fund has made a tremendous impact in terms of lightening the world's burden of HIV, TB, and malaria," said Michael Weinstein, President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Failing to 'Fund the Fund' not only does the world an enormous disservice, but also endangers the lives of HIV patients who rely on these funds. With the Global Fund Replenishment Conference approaching later this year, now is the time to urge these countries to scale up their funding." Several participants in AHF's rally also plan to attend a lunchtime protest against Denmark's funding cuts at 1:30 p.m. The afternoon demonstration, organized by Health Global Access Project (GAP), will take place outside the Denmark Consulate (885 2nd Ave, Fl. 18th, New York, New York 10017). AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 608,000 individuals in 36 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005509/en/ Contacts: AHF NEW YORK Jessica Reinhart Associate Director of Community Outreach for AHF +1 (201) 725-1328 cell Jessica.reinhart@aidshealth.org or Denys Nazarov Associate Director of Global Policy for AHF +1 (323) 219-1091 cell Denys.nazarov@aidshealth.org SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Fresh Healthy Vending International, Inc. (OTCQB: VEND) (soon to be Generation NEXT Franchise Brands) announced today its 2016 Q3 results, highlighted by impressive sales and premiere location procurement. After showing consistent strength out of the gate in both January and February, Fresh Healthy Vending closed out the quarter with an impressive 277 vending units sold, representing $2,788,000 in deferred revenue. Fiscal Q4, 2015 saw 279 machines sold for $2.8 million in deferred revenue. In addition to impressive bookings, the company further expanded both its reach and operator network alike, adding 257 secured locations across the country and over 22 new franchisees to the FHV family, continuing a successful trend for the company. "As a June 30 reporting entity, Fiscal Q3 was a success for the company, booking near record franchise sales numbers. We continue to consistently secure a diverse range of new healthy vending machine and micro market locations for our franchisees, attracting high profile customers such as the NBA's OKC Thunder and the Lincoln Center in New York City as examples," said Nick Yates, chairman of Fresh Healthy Vending. "One area the company will be focusing on in the next quarter is finding ways to increase the number of units we install, which will result in increased revenues. Our shareholders deserve to see revenue being recognized versus sitting in a deferred basket on our books. To achieve this, the company will continue its capital raising efforts, among other programs in place, to facilitate this need. Overall, I am pleased with the company's performance over the last three months and look forward to finishing the fiscal year on a positive note." That performance and expansion will be coming not only in the form of sales and franchises, but also in the form of a company wide commitment to gaining national visibility for its franchisees, its brand, and more importantly, its message. "We have taken a close look at expanding our marketing and brand awareness initiatives to support our franchisees on a national level," said Paul Schmidt, chief marketing officer for Fresh Healthy Vending. "Just last month, we joined forces with national wellness advocate groups in support of a family wellness initiative featured in USA Today, which is just one example of our focus on providing national visibility and support to our franchise network and our brand." For more information on Fresh Healthy Vending, the franchise program, or to receive a free healthy vending machine in your school or business, visit www.freshvending.com or call toll-free 888-902-7558. About Fresh Healthy Vending Fresh Healthy Vending, based in San Diego, California, is North America's leading healthy vending franchisor. Fresh Healthy Vending pioneered the concept of vending machines stocked with tried-and-tested fresh, healthy snack options to serve the growing market of health-conscious consumers. The Company has over 250 active franchisees throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the Bahamas, and continually looks to partner with like-minded entrepreneurs who share its vision. The Company has booked over 3,000 machines for placement in schools, universities, hospitals, community centers, military bases, airports, fitness facilities, YMCAs, libraries and many other locations. Fresh Healthy Vending's stock is traded on the OTC Markets, Symbol: VEND. Cautionary note on forward-looking statements Except for historical information contained in this release, statements in this release may constitute forward-looking statements regarding assumptions, projections, expectations, targets, intentions or beliefs about future events that are based on management's belief, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management. While the Company believes that expectations are based upon reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurances that goals, results and strategy will be realized. Numerous factors, including risks and uncertainties, terms and availability of financing, may affect actual results and may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by the Company or on its behalf. In addition to statements, which explicitly describe risks and uncertainties, readers are urged to consider statements labeled with such terms as "believes," "belief," "expects," "intends," "feels," "anticipates," "proposes," "proposed," or "plans" to be uncertain and forward-looking. More detailed information on these and additional factors that could affect Fresh Healthy Vending's actual results are described in Fresh Healthy Vending's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Form 10-Q's for the quarterly periods ended December 31, 2015 and September 30, 2015, and its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this news release speak only as of the date of this news release and are based on Fresh Healthy Vending's current beliefs and expectations. Fresh Healthy Vending undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. MEDIA CONTACT: Christina Erwin cerwin@konnect-pr.com Danny Beardsworth dbeardsworth@konnect-pr.com www.konnect-pr.com IHS ASSIGNS 35 TO 40 PERCENT CHANCE THAT UK COULD VOTE TO LEAVE EUROPEAN UNION Potential impact dependent on "soft" or "hard" exit There is a 35 to 40 percent chance that the United Kingdom could vote to leave the European Union in the 23 June Referendum, IHS (NYSE: IHS) -- the leading global source of critical information and insight -- today announced. "Should the UK decide to leave the EU, the outcome of the move is dependent on terms of the exit," said Howard Archer, chief European and UK economist for IHS Global Insight, and one of the authors of the report, entitled UK in or out of the EU: The economic considerations "There would be a two-year timeframe from when the decision to leave was made and the exit actually taking place," Archer said. "One issue that would have a significant influence on how the UK economy fared over this period is how amicable, constructive and successful the UK's negotiations were with the EU." The most favourable outcome to a vote for the United Kingdom to exit the European Union would be what IHS terms a "soft" exit. Under this scenario, the UK would conduct amicable and constructive negotiations with the EU resulting in full trade agreements and full UK access to the European Single Market. On the migration front, the UK would attract highly skilled workers, perhaps through the adoption of a points system as used by Australia. A reduction in the number of less skilled workers coming into the country would have an upward impact on UK earnings; though, this scenario would also hurt the UK's competitiveness by putting upward pressure on unit labour costs, IHS says. Under a "hard" exit scenario, the exit could be contentious and lengthy. The UK would struggle markedly over the short and longer term and would find itself excluded from, or having limited access to, the European Single Market. With the UK having limited access to the European Single Market and struggling for trade agreements, there would be significantly lower levels of new foreign direct investment. The City of London's position would be compromised and it would lose appreciable business to Frankfurt and Paris. Finally, under this scenario, the UK's migration policy would result in a lack of incoming workers needed for lesser-skilled jobs, and the resultant reduced workforce would limit potential UK growth. Any assessment of the economic implications of a UK departure from the EU on the remainder of the bloc needs to take into account the fact that political and economic consequences are closely interrelated in this matter, IHS says. What seems certain, however, is that the opening of such a Pandora's box would render any quick agreement between the EU and the UK on new trade regulations extremely unlikely. This would ensure a lengthy period of high uncertainty about counter-party risk that would significantly dampen international trade and investment activity within Europe for at least two years and probably longer. For a copy of the report UK in or out of the EU: The economic considerations, click here. IHS will present an expanded report on the possible scenarios stemming from a UK vote to leave the European Union at its Economics and Country Risk Conference 13 April in Vienna. Accredited members of the news media can register for a complimentary pass to the event, held at the Palais Hansen Kempinski. Please send an email with your name, title and outlet details to press@ihs.com. About IHS(www.ihs.com) IHS (NYSE: IHS) is the leading source of insight, analytics and expertise in critical areas that shape today's business landscape. Businesses and governments in more than 140 countries around the globe rely on the comprehensive content, expert independent analysis and flexible delivery methods of IHS to make high-impact decisions and develop strategies with speed and confidence. IHS has been in business since 1959 and became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange in 2005. Headquartered in Englewood, Colorado, USA, IHS is committed to sustainable, profitable growth and employs nearly 9,000 people in 33 countries around the world. IHS is a registered trademark of IHS Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners. 2016 IHS Inc. All rights reserved. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005130/en/ Contacts: IHS Inc. Kate Smith, +1-781-301-9311 kate.smith@ihs.com or Press Team, +1-303-305-8021 press@ihs.com SAN FRANCISCO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- India fluoropolymer & fluorosurfactant marketis expected to reach USD 258.5 million by 2022, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Fluoropolymer is extensively used in numerous applications for industries including automobiles, electrical & electronics and chemical processing owing to its high heat resistance and excellent tensile strength. Growing automotive sector in India on account of new product launches by vehicle manufacturers including Toyota and Volkswagen is expected to open new market avenues over the forecast period. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150105/723757) Rising awareness among citizens to curb fire emergencies coupled with introduction and implementation of regulations by state governments is expected to drive growth of firefighting solutions, which will promote fluorosurfactant growth. Moreover, increasing product demand in water-based paints to increase its wetting properties, is expected to propel industry expansion. Chemicals & pharmaceuticals dominated the fluoropolymer market and is expected to witness significant gains at a CAGR of 14.3% from 2015 to 2022, in terms of volume, owing to growth of the chemical processing sector in the country. In addition, the government has announced plans to invest USD 80 million for technology upgradation of the chemical sector as part of the 12thFive Year Plan. Growing requirement of the product in chemical processing and pharmaceutical sectors owing to its superior chemical and thermal resistance will propel demand in the near future. Browse full research report with TOC on "India Fluoropolymer Market Analysis By Application (Automotive, Electrical & Electronics, Construction, Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals), & Fluorosurfactant Market Analysis By Application (Paints & Coatings, Oil & Gas, Industrial Cleaners, Electronics) And Segment Forecasts To 2022" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/india-fluoropolymer-fluorosurfactant-market-analysis Further key findings from the report suggest: India fluoropolymer & fluorosurfactant demand was 8,300.0 tons in 2014 and is expected to reach 20,005.9 tons by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 11.7% from 2015 to 2022. Rapid industrialization is expected to be a key factor driving growth over the forecast period. fluoropolymer & fluorosurfactant demand was 8,300.0 tons in 2014 and is expected to reach 20,005.9 tons by 2022, growing at a CAGR of 11.7% from 2015 to 2022. Rapid industrialization is expected to be a key factor driving growth over the forecast period. Demand for fluorosurfactant in industrial cleaning accounted for 20.6% of the overall revenue in 2014. The product reduces surface tension, offers high wetting of contaminate and effectively provides sustainable foams which will drive industry size over the next seven years. Technological advancements in industrial cleaning sector in the country will augment product demand in the near future. Key industry participants include Gujarat Fluorochemicals Ltd., Chemours, Arkema and Hindustan Fluorocarbons Limited, Chemours, and 3M.Dyneon Fluoropolymers from 3M can withstand extreme temperatures, endures aging and wear & tear, and extends the life of processing equipment. Companies including Chemguard have developed fluorotelomer-based products which do not contain PFOS and PFOA, which will open growth opportunities in the near future. Fluorosurfactants are mainly imported into the country on account of absence of local manufacturing units. High capital investments coupled with complex technology for manufacturing the product has resulted in the absence of manufacturing units in the country. Grand View Research has segmented the India fluoropolymer & fluorosurfactant market on the basis of application India Fluoropolymer Application Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Automotive Electrical & electronics Construction Chemicals & pharmaceuticals Others India Fluorosurfactant Application Outlook (Volume, Tons; Revenue, USD Million, 2012 - 2022) Paints & coatings Oil & gas Industrial cleaners Electronics Others Browse related reports by Grand View Research: Malic Acid Downstream Potential Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/malic-acid-downstream-potential-market Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) Rebars Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fiber-reinforced-polymer-frp-rebars-market Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/polyvinylidene-fluoride-pvdf-market Fluoroelastomer Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fluoroelastomer-market About 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. Thecompany 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. Read Our Blogs - ni2014.org, grandviewresearchinc.blog Contact: Sherry James Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Grand View Research, Inc Phone: 1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: sales@grandviewresearch.com Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Medical device is any software, instrument, material, apparatus or appliance whether it is used in combination or alone including the software intended by its manufacturer to be used specifically for therapeutic purposes. According to the classification of the device, medical device manufacturing needs a level of process control. Furthermore, the manufacturing work is now growing much faster coupled with the support of modeling platforms. Access Full Report With TOC @ http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/medical-device-markets-in-americas United States market is the major market for medical devices with contribution of $110 million. This industry is anticipated to reach out $133 billion by 2016. In 2012, the U.S. market value signifies around 38% of the total demand. This will impact the growth of medical devices market in America. Department of commerce identified that U.S. exports of medical devices is the major product category. The segment exceeded over $44 billion in the year 2012. There are over 6,500 medical device firms in the U.S. These are mostly medium and small sized enterprises. In addition, almost 80 percent of medical device firms have less than 50 employees. These firms have little or no sales revenue which indirectly affects the market. Medical device companies are mostly rigorous in areas known for biotechnology and microelectronics. In addition, Georgia, Florida, Minnesota, New York Illinois and California are the states with highest number of medical device companies. The regions also hold competitive benefits in many industries that the medical device depends on. These industries are biotechnology, microelectronics, instrumentation and telecommunications. Collaborations have resulted in recent advances such as biomarkers, neuro-stimulators, implantable electronic devices and stent technologies. The medical devices market in Americas is projected to be fueled by diagnosing and treating medical problems. Browse All Reports of This Category at: http://www.radiantinsights.com/catalog/medical-equipments The tax not placed from U.S. medical device producers promotes firms to decrease resources for manufacturing expansion and is a shortcoming against foreign competitors. In addition, cost of compliance for manufactures has increased owing to rising regulatory scrutiny in the region. Explore Other Reports By Radiant Insights, Inc. at Medical Oxygen Systems Market - http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-medical-oxygen-systems-market-research-report-2015 Urinary Incontinence Products Market - http://www.radiantinsights.com/research/global-urinary-incontinence-products-market-research-report-2015 About Radiant Insights Radiant Insights is a platform for companies looking to meet their market research and business intelligence requirements. We assist and facilitate organizations and individuals procure market research reports, helping them in the decision making process. We have a comprehensive collection of reports, covering over 40 key industries and a host of micro markets. Contact: Michelle Thoras Corporate Sales Specialist, USA Radiant Insights, Inc. United States Phone: 1-415-349-0058 Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519 Email: Email Contact Web: http://www.radiantinsights.com British Airways Executive Club members can now collect thousands of Avios through Mileslife SHANGHAI, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- China's innovative mileage earning platform, Mileslife, has announced a strategic partnership with Avios, the reward currency of British Airways. British Airways Executive Club members in China can now collect Avios via the platform from their everyday lifestyle spending. The British Airways Executive Club is one of the world's most accomplished loyalty programmes and its rewards currency Avios is widely recognized for its value and convenience. Avios can be used for flights with airlines in the oneworld alliance, including British Airways, Malaysian Airlines, Japan Airlines, Qantas and Cathay Pacific. Mileslife is the first direct airline miles and points earning platform in China, pioneering a new model that enables members to collect various airline miles and points through their everyday lifestyle spending. Members can earn thousands of miles at numerous handpicked merchants, ranging from mid-to-high end restaurants and leading spas through to quality B&Bs, boutique hotels and luxury resorts in China. Through the partnership, British Airways Executive Club members will collect 1-4 Avios per 4 RMB and, to celebrate the launch, Mileslife is running a Double Avios promotion[1] from April 8th- 22nd. With one-way flight redemptions from just 4,000 Avios[2], this means members could start enjoying Avios rewards for as little as RMB 2,000 spending during the bonus period. British Airways has been flying to Mainland China for more than 35 years and operates non-stop flights from London to Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. Marc Guiomar, Head of Markets Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific at Avios, added: "Avios is pleased to partner with Mileslife, enabling British Airways Executive Club members to collect Avios through everyday lifestyle spending such as restaurants, leading spas, boutique hotels and luxury resorts in China. It offers another new way for customers to build their Avios balances quicker and enjoy flight and travel rewards." Troy Liu, Founder and CEO of Mileslife expressed: "British Airways is the UK's largest international airline.As the very first Avios direct earning partner in China, Mileslife will help British Airways build its elite image among Chinese members and the partnership will also be the first move for Mileslife going global." As a renowned loyalty programme expert in China, Troy Liu has cast light on loyalty programmes among Chinese frequent flyersthrough his million-word blogs. He hastravelled toaround 90 countries with the miles he hascollectedover thepast 12 years. With extensive experience and expertise, Troy has provided loyalty programme consulting services for Starwood and other international hotel chains. About Avios (www.avios.com) AviosGroup (AGL) Limited operates the Avios currency for the British Airways Executive Club, Iberia Plus and Meridiana Club frequent flyer programmes, as well as the Avios Travel Rewards Programmes in the UK and South Africa. Millions of customers collect Avios in over 220 countries world-wide. Part of the International Airlines Group, Avios is headquartered in the UK, with a global office network in Madrid, Johannesburg and New York City. Customers can collect Avios when booking cash flights with partner airlines as well as on international hotel chains stays, holidays, car rental and on everyday purchases through partners. About Mileslife (www.mileslife.com) Mileslife is the first App for customers to earn airline miles and points directly through their everyday lifestyle spending and help the local businesses to target potential high-caliber customers. Launched in Nov. 2015, Mileslife quickly partnered with hundreds of mid-to-high end restaurants and leading spas through to quality B&Bs, boutique hotels and luxury resorts in China's major cities and hot destinations. Along with the rise of Chinese middle class, Mileslife aspires to awaken the class's sense to realize the value and unleash the power of airline miles and fulfill their wishes to travel around the world. [1] On qualified Mileslife spend [2] Excluding taxes, fees and charges MONTREAL, CANADA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- (NYSE: CAE)(TSX: CAE) - CAE today announced that it has won defence contracts valued at more than C$175 million to provide a range of simulation products and training support services for global military customers. Some of the key contracts include Lockheed Martin awarding CAE a contract to develop Phenom 100 training devices for the United Kingdom's Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) program; a contract from Canada's Department of National Defence to perform maintenance and support services on flight simulators; a contract to upgrade two CH-47 Chinook dynamic mission simulators at CAE's Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF); a contract from Boeing to provide concurrency upgrades on U.S. Navy P-8A operational flight trainers, and a contract for a C-130J Fuselage Trainer for the Royal Australian Air Force. "These contracts are good examples of defence forces and original equipment manufacturers leveraging CAE's unmatched capability to design and develop high-fidelity synthetic training equipment as well as provide through-life support services and upgrades," said Gene Colabatistto, CAE's Group President, Defence & Security. "The growing demand in defence and security for integrated live-virtual-constructive training is providing us a range of opportunities where we can leverage our experience and expertise as a training systems integrator." Lockheed Martin/UKMFTS CAE was awarded a contract by Lockheed Martin to provide Phenom 100 synthetic training equipment in support of the UK's MFTS program. CAE will provide a Phenom 100 full-flight simulator (FFS), a Phenom 100 flight training device (FTD) and four Garmin 1000 part-task trainers. All training devices will be delivered in 2017 to Royal Air Force (RAF) Base Cranwell and used to support multi-engine pilot training as part of the fixed-wing training element of the UKMFTS program. "We are pleased to once again be selected by Lockheed Martin to provide high-fidelity synthetic training equipment in support of the UK's Military Flying Training System program," said Ian Bell, CAE's Vice President and General Manager, Europe/Middle East/Africa. "We have already provided the Hawk full-mission simulators at RAF Valley, and the tactical mission trainers used for rear-crew and observer training by the RAF and Royal Navy. The fixed-wing element of the UKMFTS program providing elementary, basic, and multi-engine training will offer the UK a modern, integrated training solution, and CAE is proud to play a role in providing part of the ground-based training systems." Ascent, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Babcock, is the Training Services Partner responsible for the UKMFTS program. Recently, Ascent awarded a contract to Affinity for the aircraft that will be provided for the fixed-wing training element of MFTS with the Embraer Phenom 100 selected for multi-engine pilot training. Lockheed Martin has specific responsibility for ground-based training systems for the UKMFTS fixed-wing training element, and awarded CAE the subcontract to develop Phenom 100 synthetic training equipment. The Phenom 100 FFS and FTD will each include the CAE Medallion-6000 image generator and databases built to the Common Database (CDB) standard, which is an open database architecture that is rapidly updateable and enables distributed, interoperable mission training. Canada's Department of National Defence CAE has been awarded a contract to provide the Canadian Forces with simulator maintenance and engineering support services. CAE staff will provide on-site hardware and software maintenance and engineering support services at Canadian Forces Bases (CFB) in Trenton, Ontario; Greenwood, Nova Scotia; Gagetown, New Brunswick; and Comox, British Columbia as well as at the National Defence Headquarters (NDHQ) in Ottawa, Ontario. Specifically, CAE will be responsible for providing support services to the following CAE-built as well as non-CAE-built training devices: -- CC-130 operational flight trainer, CFB Trenton; -- CP-140 flight deck simulator, cockpit procedures trainer, operational mission simulator, maintenance procedure trainer, procedure crew trainer, integrated avionics trainer, and aircraft systems trainers, CFB Greenwood and Comox; -- CH-146 full-flight simulator, CFB Gagetown; and -- Canadian Advanced Synthetic Environment mission rehearsal tactical trainers, NDHQ Ottawa. UK Ministry of Defence/Royal Air Force The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded a contract amendment to CAE to upgrade two of the CH-47 Chinook dynamic mission simulators at CAE's Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF) at RAF Benson. CAE will install the digital automatic flying control system (DAFCS) in each of the simulators to ensure concurrency with the RAF's CH-47 Chinook Mk6a helicopter. The upgrade of the first Chinook simulator will be complete by the last quarter of 2016 with the second simulator upgraded by mid-2017. Boeing/U.S. Navy Boeing has awarded CAE USA a contract to provide a range of upgrades to previously-contracted P-8A operational flight trainers (OFTs) for the United States Navy. CAE will perform hardware and software upgrades to the P-8A OFTs to ensure concurrency with the P-8A aircraft, in addition to providing projector system upgrades for ten P-8A OFTs already delivered to the Navy. Royal Australian Air Force CAE Australia Pty Ltd was awarded a contract from Australia's Department of Defence Capability and Acquisition Sustainment Group (CASG) to develop a C-130J Fuselage Cargo Compartment Trainer for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). More details on that contract are available in a separate release issued today and intended for defence trade media. About CAE CAE's Defence & Security business unit focuses on helping prepare our customers to develop and maintain the highest levels of mission readiness. We are a world-class training systems integrator offering a comprehensive portfolio of training centres, training services and simulation products across the air, land, sea and public safety market segments. We serve our global defence and security customers through regional operations in Canada; the United States/Latin America; Europe/Middle East/Africa; and Asia/Pacific, all of which leverage the full breadth of CAE's capabilities, technologies and solutions. CAE is a global leader in delivery of training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare markets. We design and integrate the industry's most comprehensive training solutions, anchored by the knowledge and expertise of our 8,000 employees, our world-leading simulation technologies and a track record of service and technology innovation spanning seven decades. Our global presence is the broadest in the industry, with 160 sites and training locations in 35 countries, including our joint venture operations, and the world's largest installed base of flight simulators. Each year, we train more than 120,000 civil and defence crewmembers, as well as thousands of healthcare professionals. www.cae.com Follow us on Twitter @CAE_Inc and @CAE_Defence Contacts: CAE contacts: Helene V. Gagnon, Vice President, Public Affairs and Global Communications +1-514-340-5536 helene.v.gagnon@cae.com Trade media: Chris Stellwag, Director, Marketing Communications - Defence and Security +1-813-887-1242 chris.stellwag@cae.com Investor relations: Andrew Arnovitz, Vice President, Strategy and Investor Relations +1-514-734-5760 andrew.arnovitz@cae.com The eighth HKTDC Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition) opens, with more than 1,300 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions taking part. The Hall of Aurora gathers over 230 renowned brands, showcasing lighting products and technologies with intricate designs and excellent functionality. The new Smart Lighting Product Display includes a simulated home environment with a smart lighting system, giving visitors the chance to experience the application of smart lighting products. The largest zone in the fair, LED & Green Lighting presents indoor and outdoor energy-efficient lighting products from over 430 companies. Experts share their views on global market trends of LED products during today's Asian Lighting Forum. HKTDC Communication and Public Affairs Department Joe Kainz Tel: +852 2584 4216 Email: joe.kainz@hktdc.org HONG KONG, Apr 6, 2016 - (ACN Newswire) - The eighth HKTDC Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Spring Edition) opened today and continues through 9 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre with more than 1,300 exhibitors from 11 countries and regions taking part. Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), the fair welcomes new exhibitors from Australia, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine. The fair also features the Guangdong Jiangmen LED Pavilion and Zhongshan Semiconductor Lighting Industry Association Pavilion.To create more business opportunities, the HKTDC organised 58 buying missions that include major importers and distributors such as B&Q China and M Moser Associates from the Chinese mainland, Globe Electric Canada Inc. from Canada, Moebel Rieger from Germany, Crompton Greaves from India, Trydan Kornel Borowski from Poland and Landmark Group from the UAE.Smart home display spotlights smart lighting productsThe all-new Smart Lighting Product Display at this year's Lighting Fair showcases a simulated home environment with a smart lighting system for participants to experience the application of smart lighting products. A wide range of smart products are featured throughout the fairground. The KUJU Smart Home System and Devices developed by Tronico Technology Company Limited is fully DIY and offers new smart home experiences including real-time home surveillance, app-controlled lighting control and power monitoring. AVC Technology (International) Ltd. showcases its Lumen Sphere, which is capable of displaying 16 million colours. It is also waterproof and buoyant, making it suitable for creating a dream-like scene in outdoor areas such as swimming pools. Fushun Optoelectronics Technology Co, Ltd. is presenting the FUSHUN LED Street Light Solution. Equipped with GPRS and Zigbee wireless communication technology, the product is able to control an area of street lights through computer or mobile devices, providing a more convenient smart solution for street light control.LED products popular as demand for green solutions soarsAs consumers become more environmentally conscious, the market demand for green lighting products has increased. LED products continue to be popular, with a growing number of new and interesting designs that are practical, decorative and commercially viable. I2M Co., Ltd. from Korea is displaying its Nanum D'light kinetic lighting. It is an LED table lamp with movable lamp shades that can be transformed into shapes. Another eye-catching exhibit is Siansy Technology Limited's LED writing board, with high brightness LED chips that enhance the visual impact.The Lighting Fair features several themed zones. The Hall of Aurora gathers more than 230 renowned brands to showcase lighting products and technologies with intricate designs and excellent functionality, including Forest Lighting, Jaykal, Ervan and Viribright. The LED & Green Lighting zone is the largest zone at the fair, featuring indoor and outdoor energy-efficient products from more than 430 companies, to meet market demand. Other zones include the Avenue of Inspiration, Commercial Lighting, Decorative Lighting, Advertising Display Lighting, Lighting Accessories, Parts & Components and Avenue of Chandeliers.Asian Lighting Forum analyses latest industry trendsA number of seminars and networking events are being held throughout the fair period. Today's Asian Lighting Forum saw experts discussing topics such as global market trends in LED lighting products and future applications for smart lighting. They also shared the latest market intelligence with the audience.Buyer forums are set up to spotlight opportunities in markets such as the Chinese mainland, Poland, Spain and countries covered by the Belt and Road Initiative. Exhibitors are also able to demonstrate their latest lighting products at the exhibitor forum.The award presentation for the ninth Hong Kong Lighting Design Competition will be held at tonight's networking reception. Awards will be presented in Open Group and Student Group categories. The winning entries are on display throughout the fair period at Hall 1C Concourse, showcasing local creativity to global buyers.Fair Website: http://www.hktdc.com/hklightingfairse/tcFinalist Entries of the 9th Hong Kong Lighting Design Competition: http://hklightingfairse.hktdc.com/img/2016/competition/Final_Entries.pdfPhoto Download: http://bit.ly/1Sb10sBMedia Registration: Media representatives wishing to cover the event may register on-site with their business cards and/or media identification.To view press releases in Chinese, please visit http://mediaroom.hktdc.com/tcAbout HKTDCA statutory body established in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is the international marketing arm for Hong Kong-based traders, manufacturers and services providers. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China and throughout Asia. The HKTDC also organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in overseas markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdcTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdcLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2016 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. Frost & Sullivan's Intelligent Mobility conference will showcase business opportunities arising from cognitive technologies and digitisation for the mobility industry to embrace LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Digitisation will change the future of cars, challenge traditional business models and create immense potential for innovation. In future, cars will be cognitive - not only will they recognize voices and be able to optimise the journey, they will also incorporate other cognitive technologies of AI - computer vision, machine learning, rules based systems as well as planning and scheduling. It is around these subjects that Frost & Sullivan's Intelligent Mobility event - taking place in London on the 28th and 29th of June - will evolve. Today, there are 4.4 million taxis globally. In 2020 this number is expected to reach 5.5 million. Once the commercialisation of autonomous driving kicks in, the taxi market has the potential to double. This would allow for mobility to become a commodity or a service, which could compete with public transport. Similarly, commercial transport will be affected by AI. By 2035, approximately 300,000 heavy-duty truck drivers globally could lose their jobs based on freight efficiency enhancement tools, automated driving and other utilization technologies. The societal impacts of AI, and autonomous driving as one element of it, will be far-reaching. Alongside the impact on the society, AI and autonomous driving will change the future of our cities. Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor, Transport at Greater London Authority will be a keynote speaker at the event of 28th June, hosted at The House of Lords. Dedring will explore how policies have to change in order for cities to be able to adapt to these changes in an ideal way. To download the brochure and to attend the Intelligent Mobility event, please visit http://frost.ly/78. The two major concerns connected to cars are accidents and pollution - which will be significantly reduced or even eliminated, once electric vehicles and autonomous driving work together. AI enabled automated driving also has the potential to eliminate traffic jams, as Frost & Sullivan Senior Partner Sarwant Singh explains: "Today, when you are caught in a traffic jam, it is already too late. In future, AI combined with data analytics could predict a traffic jam, avoiding not only you getting into the traffic jam but preventing congestion in the first place." On the 29th of June, visions of the future of mobility will be explored. A highlight will be the contribution of Julia Steyn, Vice President, Urban Mobility Programs at General Motors, who will speak on GM's concept of new urban mobility business models to target new customers. Sarwant Singh will introduce the subjects AI and digitisation with his keynote speech. "We are moving rapidly into the cognitive era where Artificial Intelligence and digitisation in cars and transport will disrupt the future of the car and pave the way for new business models. Everything from vehicle design to ownership models and mobility services will be transformed. This is an exciting change for the industry to embrace." Speakers from backgrounds as diverse as the topics making mobility such an exciting discussion and business subject will share their insights and visions at Frost & Sullivan's Intelligent Mobility 3.0 event. Six panels, each dedicated to one industry challenge, will offer a broad spectrum of insights.The workshop will be enriched by Frost & Sullivan's global mobility program, which publishes over 100 research studies annually and has dedicated activity on new mobility business models. For more information and to attend 'Intelligent Mobility', please e-mail Jana Schoeneborn, Corporate Communications, at jana.schoeneborn@frost.com Event: Intelligent mobility 3.0 Date: 28th and 29th of June 2016 Venue: House of Lords and the Jumeirah Carlton Hotel in London About Frost & Sullivan Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants. Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure. The Integrated Value Propositionprovides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation. The Partnership Infrastructureis entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices. For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies? Contact Us: Start the discussion Join Us: Join our community Subscribe: Newsletter on "the next big thing" Register: Gain access to visionary innovation Contact: Jana Schoeneborn Corporate Communications - Europe P: +49 (0) 69 770 3343 E: jana.schoeneborn@frost.com http://www.frost.com NINGXIANG, China, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Ningxiang, the famous tourism city in southern China, held a special tourism conference on 6th April, 2016, with senior officials of local government and thousands of local people taking to social media to extend invitations to visitors around the world. Photo link - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20160406/0861602889 During the conference, a tourism alliance proposed by Ningxiang and five other famous tourist destinations in central China was established. The alliance,which is expected to provide better tourism resources andservices for tourists visiting China, hasattracted attention from the news media and the public of numerous places among themSouth Korea, Japan andRussia. Tanhelirelicin Ningxiang County,also knownas the 'Center of South China Bronze Culture',is famous as the location where the fang zun -- a nationally treasured,four-legged wine serving vesseladorned with thecarvings offour rams heads andhuman mask designs -- was excavated along with 300 other rare bronze relics. As the cultural site of Dahefang Country in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, Tanhelirelics retain strong feminist cultural clues. The female ruler in those days was Princess Qingyang, whose appearance was 1,000 years earlier than Lady Xinzhui, the famous Han dynasty noblewoman. The costume and legendary story of Princess Qingyang went public for the first timeat the conference, unveiling a previously unknown taleofthe mysterious history of ancient China. There will also be a 'Lucky Endorser' competition held at eight key scenic spots in Ningxiang throughout the year. Open to tourists worldwide, each participant will have a chance to win a big prize. Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016-04-06 12:42 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- By the initiative and decision of the Board of the company the Annual General Meeting of Vilniaus Degtine AB (company code 120057287) to be held on April 28th, 2016 at 10.00 a.m. at the company's premises in Paneriu str. 47, Vilnius is convened. Registration of shareholders starts at 9.00 a.m.The shareholders attending the meeting must provide an identification document. The representatives of the shareholders must additionally posses a proxy approved by the procedure prescribed by law.A shareholder may, by means of electronic communications, authorize a natural or legal person to participate and vote in his name at the General Meeting of Shareholders. Such a power of attorney of the shareholder need not be certified by a notary. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels must be confirmed by the shareholder by a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The shareholder shall inform the company on the power of attorney issued through electronic communication channels by e-mail vd@degtine.lt no later than last business day before the meeting at 4 p.m. The power of attorney and notification shall be issued in writing. The power of attorney and notification to the company shall be signed with the Electronic Signature but not the letters sent via the e-mail. By submitting the notification to the company the shareholder shall include the Internet address from which it would be possible to download the software to verify an Electronics Signature of the shareholder.The Meeting's accounting day - April 21st, 2016. The persons who are shareholders of the company at the end of accounting day of the General Meeting of Shareholders shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders.The rights accounting day - May 12th, 2016. The shareholders will use property rights arising from the resolutions accepted during the General Meeting of Shareholders on a ratio basis of number of shares at the end of the rights accounting day.On the Agenda:1. Auditor's opinion on the set of company's financial statements and on the company's yearly report.2. Proposals and comments of the Supervisory Board.3. Approval of the company's yearly report for the year 2015.4. Approval of the set of company's financial statements for the year 2015.5. Appropriation of the year's 2015 profit of the Company6. Election of the firm of auditors and establishment of terms of remuneration for audit services.7. Regarding mortgage and pledge of companies fixed assets.8. Elections of members of Supervisory board.9. Other questions.The agenda of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders may be supplemented by initiative of shareholders who own shares no less than 1/20 of all the votes. Proposals to the agenda of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders may be submitted by e-mail vd@degtine.lt or delivered to the Company's office at Paneriu str. 47, Vilnius, no later than the April 14th, 2016. Please be informed that along with a proposal to supplement the agenda of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders must be submitted the drafts of proposed decisions, or if the decisions shall not be adopted, explanations on each of the proposed issue.Shareholders who own shares no less than 1/20 of all votes own the right at any time before the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders or during the meeting in writing (delivering proposals to the company at Paneriu str. 47, Vilnius) or by e-mail vd@degtine.lt propose new draft decisions related to the questions included into agenda, additional candidates of the company's organs, propose an audit company.Shareholders own the right to ask the questions concerning the agenda on 20th of April, 2016 of the Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders. Questions may be submitted by e-mail vd@degtine.lt or delivered directly to the Company's office at Paneriu str. 47, Vilnius, not later than 3 working days till General Meeting. The Company may refuse to answer to shareholder's questions if they are concerned to the commercial (industrial) secrets or other confidential information. If it is possible to set the shareholder's identity, the Company shall inform the shareholder on the refusal to provide asked information.Each shareholder or representative thereof shall have the right to cast his/her vote in advance in writing by filling in a general ballot paper. The general ballot paper form shall be announced in the company's website http://www.degtine.lt. no later than 21 days before the Meeting. Upon the shareholder's request in writing, the company no later than 10 days before the Meeting shall send a general ballot paper by registered mail free of charge or hand it in person against signature. The general ballot paper filled shall be signed by the shareholder or his/her representative. In case the ballot paper is signed by the shareholder's authorized representative, such person along with the filled ballot paper shall submit the document to confirm the voting right corresponding to the requirements set by the laws. The ballot paper filled and the document confirming the voting right (if required) shall be submitted in a written form to the company's head office Paneriu str. 47, Vilnius, by registered mail or by handing against signature no later than on the last business day before the Meeting.The following information and documents during the whole period are available on the website of the company http://www.degtine.lt starting no later than 21 days before the Meeting:- report on the convening of the Meeting;- the total number of the company's shares and the number of shares with voting rights on the convening day of the Meeting;- draft resolutions on each agenda issue and other documents to be submitted to the Meeting;- general ballot paper form.Attachments:1. Draft Resolutions of the General Shareholder Meeting; 2. Financial Statements for the year 2015; 3. Ballot Paper.Authorized to provide additional information - General Manager Juozas Daunys 8 5 233 0819Acting CEODovile Tamoseviciene8 5 233 0819Attachment:https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=555092 WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Glencore plc (GLCNF.PK) Wednesday announced a definitive agreement with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board or CPPIB for the sale of 40 percent equity interest in Glencore Agricultural Products. The total consideration is around $2.5 billion in cash. The transaction values Glencore Agri at $6.25 billion. Glencore Agri is into global agricultural products value chain with more than 200 storage facilities, 31 processing facilities and 23 ports, around the world. It had earnings before interest and tax of $524 million in 2015. The Transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016 and the proceeds will be used by Glencore to reduce its debt. As per the agreement, CPPIB will appoint two directors to the board of Glencore Agri in addition to two directors, and CEO Chris Mahoney, appointed by Glencore. At shareholder meetings, Glencore and CPPIB representatives shall vote in proportion to their shareholdings, subject to certain reserved matters. Glencore and CPPIB have agreed to an initial four year lock-up period subject to a carve-out for Glencore to sell up to a further 20 percent stake. There will be customary exit provisions, including a right of first refusal, each of Glencore and CPPIB may call for an initial public offering of Glencore Agri after eight years from the date of closing. Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, said, 'CPPIB have a proven track record in the sector and share our vision for the future growth of the business through value-creating organic and inorganic growth opportunities for the benefit of all stakeholders. We welcome them aboard and look forward to continuing our good relationship as we work together.' Barclays, Citi and Credit Suisse acted as joint financial advisers to Glencore. Linklaters LLP provided legal advice to Glencore. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Geomega Resources Inc. ("GeoMegA" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: GMA) and Innord Inc. ("Innord") are pleased to announce that the two companies signed a Technology License Agreement ("TLA") pursuant to which GeoMegA is granted a non-exclusive license to build and operate processing and separation facilities using the licensed technology ("Licensed Technology"). The Licensed Technology includes the patent applications for "A system and method for separation and purification of dissolved rare earth/precious metals elements/compounds" covered under patent application 2,893,793 (Canada) and 14/653,777 (U.S.A) and for "A system and a method for metallurgical extraction of REE and Nb from Ferro-Carbonatite" covered under patent application 62/180,663. The companies will continue to work jointly on developing the technologies, scaling up, implementing pilot plants and attaining industrial application. The TLA is not limited in time and is not restricted to any particular territory. Technology License Agreement - Royalty As part of the agreement, GeoMegA will pay Innord a 0.5% Net Value Royalty ("NVR") for all sales of products produced in a processing and separation facility utilizing the Licensed Technology. In the case where the processing and the separation facility are located in the James Bay Territory, the NVR will be of 0.25%. GeoMegA reserves the right to re-purchase half of the royalty (0.25% or 0.125% depending on the case) from Innord by paying a fixed fee of $250,000. The balance of the royalty could be re-purchased by paying an additional fee, to be negotiated based on market value and agreed upon by both parties at a later date. The Royalty can only be re-purchased once GeoMegA has reached commercial production and only if Innord's main revenue is no longer that from the GeoMegA royalty. "Since the creation of Innord in March of 2015, investors wanted to understand the exact nature of cooperation between GeoMegA and Innord, rights to technology, fee structure if any, etc. This agreement addresses exactly these questions. With this critical agreement, we define the fundamental structure between the two companies which will be of utmost importance once testing of electrophoresis separation by Innord begins yielding detailed results such as estimates of operating and capital costs. The agreement also outlines an incentive in terms of a reduced royalty for setting up the separation and processing facility in the James Bay region." comments Kiril Mugerman, President and CEO of GeoMegA. As a control person of Innord, Geomega will be an interested party to the transaction. The transaction is exempt from the formal valuation and shareholder approval requirements provided under Regulation 61-101 respecting Protection of Minority Holders in Special Transactions ("Regulation 61-101") in accordance with sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of said Regulation 61-101. The exemption is based on the fact that the market value of the contribution or the consideration paid by such insiders does not exceed 25% of the market value of the Company. In accordance with Regulation 61-101, the transaction will be effective at a date which is at least 21 days after the date of this press release. Change of Address - GeoMegA and Innord move corporate headquarters GeoMegA and Innord would like to announce that they have moved its corporate headquarters from the St-Lambert office to the NRC facility in Boucherville where the Innord lab facility was already located. The company's new coordinates are as follows: Geomega Resources Inc. 75 Boulevard de Mortagne Boucherville, Quebec J4B 6Y4 Telephone number: +1 (450) 641-5119 Fax number: +1 (800) 865-6536 Transaction to sell the Buckingham graphite property GeoMegA is pleased to announce that the Company has signed a property purchase agreement with Saint Jean Carbon Inc. (TSX VENTURE: SJL) ("Saint Jean") whereby Saint Jean will acquire a 100%-interest in the Buckingham mining property. The property consists of 13 claims located in southwestern Quebec. Under the terms of the agreement, GeoMegA will receive 1,500,000 common shares of Saint Jean subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval. GeoMegA will retain a 0.75% Net Output Returns Royalty on the property. GeoMegA and Innord in the Media Here are several recent articles featuring Geomega and Innord: - Summary of Innord Press Conference with Plan Nord, SDBJ & ARBJ - March 3, 2016 - PDAC 2016: Working around the rare earths mountain - March 9, 2016 - Un investissement d'un million pour le projet Montviel - March 22, 2016 (French only) About Innord Inc. Innord is a private subsidiary of GeoMegA of which GeoMegA owns 96.1%. The goal of Innord Inc. is to develop and optimize the proprietary separation process of rare earth elements based on electrophoresis, for which it holds all the rights. Electrophoresis is the migration of charged species (ions, proteins, particles) in solution in the presence of an electric field. Innord has filed patents in Canada and the United States to protect its novel separation process and is looking to file in other jurisdictions. About GeoMegA (www.geomega.ca) GeoMegA is a mineral exploration and evaluation company focused on the discovery and sustainable development of economic deposits of metals in Quebec. GeoMegA is committed to meeting the Canadian mining industry standards and distinguishing itself with innovative engineering, stakeholders' engagement and dedication to local transformation benefits. 77,433,712 common shares of GeoMegA are currently issued and outstanding. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding our intentions and plans. The forward-looking statements that are contained in this news release are based on various assumptions and estimates by the Company and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. As a consequence, actual results may differ materially from results forecasted or suggested in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. We caution you that such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, as discussed in the Company's filings with Canadian securities agencies. Various factors may prevent or delay our plans, including but not limited to, contractor availability and performance, weather, access, mineral prices, success and failure of the exploration and development carried out at various stages of the program, and general business, economic, competitive, political and social conditions. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward- looking statements, except as required by applicable securities laws. Contacts: Kiril Mugerman President and CEO GeoMegA 450-641-5119 ext.5653 kmugerman@geomega.ca TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Cordoba Minerals Corp. ("Cordoba" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CDB), is pleased to announce that High Power Exploration Inc. ("HPX"), a private mineral exploration company indirectly controlled by mining entrepreneur Robert Friedland, has entered Phase One of the Joint Venture Agreement ("JV Agreement") whereby HPX can earn a 25% interest in the San Matias Project in Colombia by spending an additional C$6 million. Phase One of the Joint Venture has commenced as a result of HPX completing an initial C$2.5 million exploration program funded by HPX private placements into the Company (see details in Cordoba's February 29, 2016 news release). In Phase Two of the Agreement, HPX can earn a 51% interest in the San Matias Project by spending an additional C$10.5 million, for total exploration expenditures of C$19 million. HPX can earn up to a 65% interest in the project by carrying it to feasibility. HPX has also acquired a direct 50.1% interest in Sociedad Ordinaria de Minas Omni ("OMNI"), owners of the Alacran Copper-Gold Project (see October 21, 2015 news release), for approximately US$3.3 million. The Joint Venture has the option to acquire a 100% interest in the property, which is located within Cordoba's San Matias Project, and is currently completing a 3,000-metre drill program as part of the earn-in agreement. The share acquisition simplifies the OMNI shareholder structure, will contribute to the HPX earn-in under Phase One of the JV Agreement and will give HPX a 50.1% share of option payments and royalties attributable to OMNI under the Alacran earn-in agreement. "I am very pleased that HPX is proceeding to the next phase of our partnership and has committed additional funds to advance our exploration efforts at the San Matias Copper-Gold Project in Colombia including Alacran, where we believe the potential exists to make a world-class discovery. The purchase of the OMNI shares provides HPX with a controlling interest in the company for the benefit of both Cordoba and HPX," commented Mr. Stifano, President and CEO of Cordoba. The Company also announced that the Definitive Agreement for the acquisition of the Alacran Project from OMNI has been completed and the Company issued 100,000 warrants pursuant to the previously announced earn-in agreement. Each warrant is exercisable to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $0.21 until April 1, 2018. About San Matias Project The newly discovered San Matias Copper-Gold Project comprises a 20,000-hectare land package on the inferred northern extension of the richly endowed Mid Cauca Belt. The project contains several known areas of porphyry copper-gold mineralization, copper-gold skarn mineralization and vein hosted gold- copper mineralization. Porphyry mineralization at the San Matias Project incorporates high-grade zones of copper-gold mineralization hosted by diorite porphyries containing strong potassic alteration and various orientations of sheeted and stockwork quartz-magnetite veins with chalcopyrite and bornite. The copper-gold skarn mineralization at Alacran is associated with stratabound replacement of a marine volcano-sedimentary sequence. The nature of mineralization encountered at San Matias is similar to other large high-grade copper-gold deposits. About Cordoba Minerals Cordoba Minerals Corp. is a Toronto-based mineral exploration company focused on the exploration and acquisition of copper and gold projects in Colombia. Cordoba owns 100% of the highly prospective San Matias Project, located near operating open-pit mines with ideal topography in the Department of Cordoba. For further information, please visit www.cordobaminerals.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include predictions, projections and forecasts and are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "forecast", "expect", "potential", "project", "target", "schedule", budget" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions and includes the negatives thereof. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding the potential of the Company's properties are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Company's expectations include actual exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, uninsured risks, regulatory changes, delays or inability to receive required approvals, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the Company with securities regulators. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause such actions, events or results to differ materially from those anticipated. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate and accordingly readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation, except to the extent required by law, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contacts: Cordoba Minerals Corp. Mario Stifano President and CEO +1 416-862-5253 info@cordobamineralscorp.com www.cordobaminerals.com VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Asanko Gold Inc. ("Asanko" or the "Company") (TSX: AKG)(NYSE MKT: AKG) is pleased to announce that commercial production has been declared at Phase 1 of the Asanko Gold Mine, located in Ghana, West Africa, effective April 1, 2016, a quarter ahead of schedule. Gold production will continue to ramp-up during Q2 2016 as the mining operations access the main ore body in the Nkran pit. Steady-state operations are expected by the end of Q2 2016. During March 2016, the processing facility processed 276,146 tonnes (8,908tpd (tonnes per day)) which is 111% of design capacity. The Phase 1 project construction is now essentially complete, ahead of schedule and within budget, with all ancillary infrastructure, such as workshops & warehouses installed and operational. As at March 31, 2016, a total of 15,337 ounces of gold and 2,860 ounces of silver have been produced and shipped. 8,710 ounces have been sold at an average price of US$1,211 per ounce for sales of US$10.6 million. In addition to this, approximately 6,200 ounces of gold have been locked-up in the processing circuit. Commenting on the performance to date, Peter Breese, President and CEO, said: "The ramp-up to steady-state production levels is progressing well and reaching commercial production a full quarter ahead of our original schedule is a fantastic achievement by our team. The milling circuit achieved design feed rates and target grind size within weeks of being commissioned. Since then, the milling rates have continued to improve as has gold recovery, both of which are exceeding design parameters by some margin. The stripping of waste at the Nkran pit continues to advance as the pit is being opened up to expose the main zones of mineralization. 2016 will therefore be a year of two halves. The first half is focused on preparing the pit for continuous long life operations and steady-state production levels whilst the second half of 2016 will reflect the Definitive Project Plan ("DPP") run rates and grade profile." Processing Update The plant commissioning and ramp-up has been performing extremely well. The mills achieved designed grind and throughput within a few weeks of startup and are currently running at above designed levels, with the following results achieved: -- The mill processed 276,146 tonnes in March, which is 111% of design capacity; -- A best 7-day run to date of 70,710 tonnes - equivalent to 303,043tpm (tonnes per month) and two continuous days of milling in March which exceeded 11,000tpd; -- Notwithstanding higher throughputs, the mill grind of 85% passing 106 um is better than the plan of 80%; -- Power consumption in the SAG and Ball Mills are materially lower than planned which gives the plant the ability to run more material through the mills at a lower power cost per unit; -- Key reagent consumptions to date are at, or below, design parameters; -- Tailings residue grades are better than expected, with an average tails grade of 0.07g/t for March against a design of 0.15g/t, confirming the ore behaves well from a metallurgical standpoint; -- Current gold recoveries are exceeding expectations, achieving in excess of 94% over the last two weeks of March versus a design of 92.5%. Approximately 45% of gold is being recovered by gravity; -- Gold smelting and shipments are occurring on a weekly basis; -- As the mill continues to be optimized, the operations team are debottlenecking the flow sheet to stress test the mills up to 12,000tpd. The graph "Graph 1: Weekly Process Plant Statistics since Commissioning" is available at the following address: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049622e.pdf Mining Update The pushback of the Nkran pit continues to be a key area of focus and is advancing well, with a total of 28 million tonnes (Mt) mined since mining operations commenced early in 2015 against a plan of 26.2Mt. The pit has been placed under pressure to deliver ore tonnes to the milling facility which started operations six weeks ahead of schedule, ramped up to design throughput rates three months faster than expected, and is now consistently operating at more than 10% above design throughput rates. As a result of this demand for feed, ore mining to-date has been predominantly bulk mining with a focus on mining higher rates from the pit in order to open up the main ore zones, as well as to give the pit more operational flexibility. The Company expects to continue to use a bulk mining approach during this stripping exercise in order to get to the main ore zones as quickly as possible. Consequently, lower head grades are being mined, with higher levels of dilution and gold losses than planned. This is expected to continue throughout Q2 until the main ore body is fully exposed. The historical pit floor that hosts the main, continuous ore zones is on track to be exposed by the end of Q2 2016, when more selective mining will commence and the life of mine reserve grade is expected. Bulk Mining Control Test During the 3rd week of February, after the mills had achieved design capacity, a controlled, comprehensive test using a grade controlled, selectively mined ore block of +/-54,000t was undertaken. This controlled bulk sample was an internal test to empirically evaluate the complete mining and gold recovery cycle, from grade control through mining, dilution, ore feed and metallurgical recoveries against the assumptions that were used in the feasibility study. A reconciliation of results of the test is shown in Table 1. The grades and tonnes estimated from the resource model, through to the grade control model, through to plant feed were very closely correlated and well within the assumptions assumed in the feasibility study, which is very encouraging. In-situ density and long-term dilution parameters were also confirmed. Once the main ore zones have been accessed, work on formal grade control reconciliation will start. Table 1: Bulk mining grade control test sample results ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Grade Mineral Control Actual Variance Reserve Model Actual Measured Reserve to Estimate Estimate Mined Plant Feed Plant Feed ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contained gold (g/t) 1.63 1.77 1.76 1.70 4% ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Power Supply Update In February 2016, Asanko signed a five-year Power Purchase Agreement ("PPA") with the Volta River Authority, a parastatal power provider in Ghana. Power is being delivered via a 30km long, 161kV power line connecting the Mine site to the national power grid at the Asawinso substation. This is the main source of power being used for operations on the mine. The current tariff, which is subject to regular reviews based on the in-country energy mix and associated prices, is lower than the DPP estimate, published in November 2014. 2016 Production Outlook In Q2 2016 the Company expects to produce 35,000 to 40,000 ounces. For H2 2016, the Company expects to produce 90,000 to 100,000 ounces, which is indicative of steady-state life of mine production rates. Cash Position As at March 31, 2016 the Company had approximately US$72 million cash on hand Enquiries: For further information please visit: www.asanko.com, email: info@asanko.com. About Asanko Gold Inc. Asanko's vision is to become a mid-tier gold mining company that maximizes value for all its stakeholders. The Company's flagship project is the multi-million ounce Asanko Gold Mine located in Ghana, West Africa. The mine is being developed in phases. Phase 1 has been commissioned, with first gold produced in early Q1 2016. Ramp-up to steady-state production levels of 190,000 ounces per annum is expected in Q2 2016. Asanko is managed by highly skilled and successful technical, operational and financial professionals. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities. Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, possible future mining, exploration and development activities, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices for metals, the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses, the timely renewal of key permits, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, mining rates and recovery rates and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it or at all. The Company is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's annual Form 20-F filing with the United States Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at www.sedar.com. Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Contacts: Asanko Gold Inc. Alex Buck Manager, Investor and Media Relations Toll-Free (N.America): 1-855-246-7341 +44-7932-740-452 alex.buck@asanko.com Asanko Gold Inc. Wayne Drier Executive, Corporate Development +1-778-729-0614 wayne.drier@asanko.com Asanko Gold Inc. info@asanko.com www.asanko.com DALLAS, TEXAS -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Editors Note: There is a photo associated with this press release. Dalfen America Corp. (DAC) today announced the sale of 4707 E. Baseline Road in Phoenix, AZ. to Denver-based Industrial Property Trust (IPT) for $14 million. Mike Parker and Evan Koplan with CBRE's Phoenix office negotiated the transaction. Built in 1996 and recently renovated, the Class A 128,300 square-foot, single-tenant industrial property is fully leased for 10 years to Independent Electric Supply Co., a subsidiary of Sonepar USA. Sonepar is a global market leader in distribution of electrical products who employs over 40,000 people and has 2,600 offices worldwide. Through its Opportunistic Industrial Fund Ashrei II, DAC acquired the property vacant in 2013 through an off market transaction for $7.5 million from Hawaii-based Holualoa. Sean Dalfen, President and CIO said of the sale: "Our acquisitions team did an excellent job every step of the way executing our strategy in buying a well located and high quality property below replacement cost. Our asset management team was quickly able to work their magic, taking a vacant building and fully leasing it to a credit tenant." He added, "When we buy at $59 per square foot and sell at $110 per square foot, I'm confident in saying our team did a great job." Although Dalfen America is strategically disposing of assets it acquired through its 2012 opportunity fund, DAC continues to be one of the most active buyers of industrial real estate in the country and has closed on properties in excess of $130 million in Texas and Ohio. About Dalfen America Corp. Dalfen America Corp. (DAC) is a leading industrial real estate investment manager and hands on real estate operator that is focused on acquiring, developing and operating industrial real estate throughout the United States. DAC currently owns and manages millions of square feet of premier commercial properties in the U.S. and in Canada, through its Canadian counterpart, Dalfen's Limited. For more information visit: www.dalfen.com To view the photo associated with this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/BASELINE.jpg Contacts: Dalfen America Corp. press@dalfen.com www.dalfen.com EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Ceapro Inc. (TSX VENTURE: CZO) ("Ceapro" or "the Company") a growth-stage biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of active ingredients for healthcare and cosmetic industries, today announced the signing of a new long term agreement with German-based multinational, Symrise AG, for the distribution and commercialization of Ceapro's high value active ingredients to major key international players in the cosmetic market. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. However, Symrise will provide Ceapro with financial support under the form of a significant line of credit until January 1, 2019. "Symrise is a long-term partner of Ceapro, and we are very pleased to have renewed this Agreement. Their continued partnership and financial support should enable us to accelerate the growth of our cosmeceuticals base business. We are delighted for the vote of confidence towards our Company and especially for the recognition of the quality and uniqueness of Ceapro's products to be manufactured in our new and larger capacity facility in Edmonton," said Gilles Gagnon, President and CEO of Ceapro. "We are confident that our partnership with Symrise, one of the most respected players in our industry, will continue to equally aid in the achievement of our common goals," he added. "Ceapro and Symrise have a long-standing relationship in product development that has benefitted both companies over the years," said Eder Ramos, President, Cosmetic Ingredients Division, Symrise AG. "We see great value in this partnership and are very pleased to have secured the renewal of this agreement, which will continue to pave the way for future developments that should benefit both companies in creating value." About Ceapro Inc. Ceapro Inc. is a Canadian biotechnology company involved in the development of proprietary extraction technology and the application of this technology to the production of extracts and "active ingredients" from oats and other renewable plant resources. Ceapro adds further value to its extracts by supporting their use in cosmeceutical, nutraceutical and therapeutics products for humans and animals. The Company has a broad range of expertise in natural product chemistry, microbiology, biochemistry, immunology and process engineering. These skills merge in the fields of active ingredients, biopharmaceuticals and drug-delivery solutions. For more information on Ceapro, please visit the Company's website at www.ceapro.com. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Source: Ceapro Inc. Contacts: INVESTOR AND MEDIA CONTACT: Jenene Thomas Jenene Thomas Communications, LLC T (US): 908-938-1475 jenene@jenenethomascommunications.com NEW YORK CITY (dpa-AFX) - Pfizer Inc. (PFE) announced the termination of its merger deal with Allergan plc (AGN) by mutual agreement. The companies said the decision was driven by the actions announced by the U.S. Department of Treasury on April 4, 2016, which the companies concluded qualified as an 'Adverse Tax Law Change' under the merger agreement. Pfizer has agreed to pay Allergan $150 million for reimbursement of expenses associated with the transaction. Ian Read, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer, said: 'We plan to make a decision about whether to pursue a potential separation of our innovative and established businesses by no later than the end of 2016, consistent with our original timeframe for the decision prior to the announcement of the potential Allergan transaction.' Allergan reiterated its standalone growth profile and strategy following the announced termination of the agreement. Based on a preliminary review of the proposed regulations outlined in the U.S. Treasury Notice, Allergan believes that the regulations will have no material impact on the company's standalone tax rate. 'While we are disappointed that the Pfizer transaction will no longer move forward, Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes,' said Brent Saunders, CEO and President of Allergan. 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. ~ Acquisition further strengthens Constellation's position at high end of the wine category ~ VICTOR, N.Y., April 6, 2016 - Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B), a leading premium wine company announced that it has agreed to acquire The Prisoner Wine Company's portfolio of brands from Huneeus Vintners, a fine wine company. The portfolio includes five fine wine brands led by The Prisoner, a fast growing super luxury wine, and also includes Saldo, Cuttings, Blindfold and Thorn. The transaction is expected to close by the end of April. The brands from The Prisoner Wine Company have grown quickly over the last three years, offering a portfolio of unique wine blends anchored by The Prisoner. Launched in 2003, The Prisoner soon became the most recognized innovative and unique Napa Valley Red Wine blend, leading the resurgence of blends, and today is the #1 super luxury red blend, growing 28 percent in retail sales since last year, while maintaining a strong presence in the on premise* (#_ftn1). The Prisoner has a consistent track record of 90+ point scores and has been a Wine Spectator Top 100 wine three times. Saldo is the #2 super luxury Zinfandel with IRI dollar sales growth of more than 40 percent over the last 52 weeks while Blindfold is the #1 super luxury white blend* (#_ftn2). "More than ever, consumers are seeking high quality, distinctive wines and the portfolio we are acquiring from The Prisoner Wine Company delivers," said Bill Newlands, president of the Wine and Spirits Division of Constellation Brands, Inc. "Huneeus Vintners is known for building luxury wine brands and excels in growing gems and turning them into powerhouse brands. These wines resonate with consumers and this acquisition further strengthens our position in the fine wine segment of the category." "Huneeus Vintners and Constellation have a strong history of respect and success working together," said Agustin Francisco Huneeus. "Our team - including employees, growers, distributors, and winery partners - have created and built an exceptional portfolio of fine wines and we are very proud of the success they have achieved in a relatively short timeframe. Constellation's market reach, business intelligence and access to high quality grapes, will enable the brands' continued growth momentum." Huneeus Vintners and Constellation will maintain a winemaking consulting agreement with The Prisoner Wine Company general manager and winemaker Jen Beloz and her production team, to ensure continuity in the unique styles of the wines. The wines will have further access to premium Napa fruit and winemaking and production will occur at Franciscan Estate winery. The Prisoner was created and inspired by the drinkable "mixed blacks" first made by the Italian immigrants who originally settled in the Napa Valley. The wine is a blend of Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Petite Sirah and Charbono. It features enticing aromas of bing cherry, espresso, and roasted fig. Persistent flavors of ripe raspberry, pomegranate and wild berry linger harmoniously for a smooth and luscious finish. About Constellation Brands Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ and STZ.B) is a leading international producer and marketer of beer, wine and spirits with operations in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Italy. In 2015, Constellation was one of the top performing stocks in the S&P 500 Consumer Staples Index. Constellation is the number three beer company in the U.S. with high-end, iconic imported brands including Corona Extra, Corona Light, Modelo Especial, Negra Modelo, Pacifico, and Ballast Point, one of the most awarded craft brewers in the U.S. Constellation is also the world's leader in premium wine selling great brands that people love including Robert Mondavi, Clos du Bois, Kim Crawford, Meiomi, Mark West, Franciscan Estate, Ruffino and Jackson-Triggs. The company's premium spirits brands include SVEDKA Vodka and Black Velvet Canadian Whisky. Based in Victor, N.Y., the company believes that industry leadership involves a commitment to brand-building, our trade partners, the environment, our investors and to consumers around the world who choose our products when celebrating big moments or enjoying quiet ones. Founded in 1945, Constellation has grown to become a significant player in the beverage alcohol industry with more than 100 brands in its portfolio, sales in approximately 100 countries, about 40 facilities and approximately 9,000 talented employees. We express our company vision: to elevate life with every glass raised. To learn more, visit www.cbrands.com. About Huneeus Vintners Spanning generations and hemispheres, the fine wines of Huneeus Vintners reflect a sense of place and a passion for excellence. After years of running global wine companies, father and son, Agustin Huneeus and Agustin Francisco Huneeus, teamed up in 2005 to establish a portfolio of wines that represent the finest vineyard estates, appellations and wines in both North and South America. Today, the critically-acclaimed wines and estates include Quintessa, Flowers, Faust, Illumination, The Prisoner Wine Company (The Prisoner, Saldo, Cuttings, Blindfold and Thorn), Neyen, Primus, Ritual and Veramonte. It takes generations of focus, passion and determination to build some of the greatest wine brands in the world. Learn more at www.huneeusvintners.com (http://www.huneeusvintners.com). Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains forward-looking statements. The word "expect" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Those statements may relate to Constellation Brands' business strategy, future operations, prospects, plans and objectives of management, as well as information concerning expected actions of third parties. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in or implied by the forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that any transaction between Constellation Brands and Huneeus Vintners will occur or will occur on the timetable contemplated hereby. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this news release. Constellation Brands undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. In addition to risks associated with ordinary business operations, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are subject to other risks and uncertainties, including completion of the announced transaction, the accuracy of all projections, and other factors and uncertainties disclosed from time to time in Constellation Brands, Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Feb. 28, 2015, which could cause actual future performance to differ from current expectations. CONTACTS CONSTELLATION BRANDS: Alicia Laury: 415-298-4277 / alicia.laury@cbrands.com (mailto:alicia.laury@cbrands.com) Cheryl Gossin: 585-678-7191 / cheryl.gossin@cbrands.com (mailto:cheryl.gossin@cbrands.com) HUNEEUS VINTNERS: Joel Fisher: 415-845-1655 / joel@joelfisherconsulting.com (mailto:joel@joelfisherconsulting.com) ### * (#_ftnref1) IRI, Total US Multi-Outlet and Convenience, 52 weeks ending 2/21/16 Constellation Brands Logo (http://hugin.info/143788/R/2000935/738201.jpg) The Prisoner (http://hugin.info/143788/R/2000935/738199.jpg) TPWC All Brands (http://hugin.info/143788/R/2000935/738200.JPG) 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: Constellation Brands Inc via Globenewswire HUG#2000935 Espero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (http://www.esperopharma.com) a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company, today assumed the U.S. promotional responsibility for Nitrolingual Pumpspray, in an exclusive licensing agreement with G. Pohl-Boskamp GmbH Co. KG ("Pohl-Boskamp"), a fully-integrated German pharmaceutical company. Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Espero Pharmaceuticals, has also assumed distribution and supply responsibility for the authorized generic version of Nitrolingual Pumpspray. Nitrolingual Pumpspray is indicated for acute relief of an attack or prophylaxis of angina pectoris due to coronary artery disease. "Espero is excited about commencing our commercial relationship with Pohl-Boskamp with Nitrolingual Pumpspray as part of our portfolio of cardiovascular products," said Quang Pham, CEO. "Pohl-Boskamp is an established worldwide leader in the short-acting nitrate market. More importantly, this partnership helps further enhance patient access to those suffering with angina due to coronary artery disease (CAD, the most common type of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death in the United States in both men and women according to The National Institute of Health." In November 2015, Espero Pharmaceuticals announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has accepted for review the New Drug Application for its nitroglycerin sublingual powder for acute relief of an attack or prophylaxis of angina pectoris due to coronary artery disease. The FDA has set an action date of June 10, 2016 to complete its review, as per the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. Espero Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals Espero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., is an emerging growth specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in maximizing the commercial value of proven treatments that improve the quality of life for patients. Espero is focused on compounds with proven safety and efficacy administered via novel delivery solutions in the cardiovascular and other specialty therapeutic categories. Jacksonville Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a generic pharmaceutical company focused on distributing and marketing select generic pharmaceutical products. G. Pohl-Boskamp GmbH Co KG Pohl-Boskamp is a privately owned business active in the international pharmaceutical market for 175 years with commercialized products in more than 45 countries. Through close collaboration with its partners abroad, Pohl-Boskamp focuses on developing and marketing products that positively impact patients' quality of life. It operates in numerous healthcare sectors including pneumology, urology, parasitology, cardiovascular diseases, gastroenterology, sleep disorders and dermatology. For more information visit http://www.pohl-boskamp.com/en/. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005391/en/ Contacts: For Espero Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Donia Crime, 904-645-6200 dcrime@burdetteketchum.com PUNE, India, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The report"Agricultural Chelates Marketby Type (EDTA, EDDHA, DTPA, & IDHA), Application (Soil, Seed Dressing, Foliar Sprays, & Hydroponics), Crop Type, & by Region - Global trends & Forecast to 2020", The market is projected to reach a value of USD 566.1 Million at a CAGR of 6.7% from 2015 to 2020. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 98 market data Tables and 46 Figures spread through 155 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Agricultural Chelates Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/agricultural-chelates-market-187423817.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The market is driven by factors such as degradation of soil, increased modern farming practices, and demand for chelated iron micronutrients. The high growth potential in emerging markets and untapped regions provides new growth opportunities for market players. EDTA is the fastest growing segment in Agricultural Chelates Market by type during 2015-2020 The EDTA agricultural chelates type is projected to grow with the highest CAGR from 2015 to 2020. EDTA chelate isolates metal ions, such as calcium ions and ferrous ions, and forms weak bonds with metal nutrients, such as zinc, iron, and copper. An EDTA chelate are comparatively less expensive and easily available and also helps to treat harmful lead poisoning in the soil by removing the toxins, such as lead, cadmium, and mercury. These factors have led to the growth in demand for EDTA chelates. Soil application segment depicts high potential for the Agricultural Chelates Market Soil application in the Agricultural Chelates Market is growing as soil nutrition is necessary to increase the productivity of crops. Crops witness a usual deficiency of iron and therefore chelated iron micronutrients are applied in the soil to provide the required amount of nutrition for an enhanced crop production. In the Asia-Pacific region, emerging economies such as India and China, where the agricultural sector significantly contributes to the growth of the eonomy, requires fertile soil for easier growth of crops in order to satisfy the demand, and the application of agricultural chelates in the soil helps to maintain the soil quality. Moreover, the application of agricultural chelates is growing in North America, as people are demanding quality food due to the rising health awareness, encouraging crop manufacturers to use chelates in the soil. Significant growth for agricultural chelates is observed in the Asia-Pacific region Asia-Pacific has a high growth potential for agricultural chelates. This region has many emerging countries, such as China and India, which have considerable cultivable land to grow crops. Moreover, China is among the leading countries for agricultural chelates as the country faces technological growth in agriculture and urbanization which has led to the higher standards of living among consumers, resulting in the rise for food products. In China, especially North China, the soil has deficiency of trace elements, such as boron, manganese, molybdenum, zinc, copper, and iron, raising the demand for agricultural chelates in this country. Speak to Analyst: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=187423817 This report includes a study of marketing and development strategies, along with the product portfolio of leading companies. It includes the profiles of leading companies such BASF SE (Germany), Haifa Chemicals (Israel), Syngenta AG (Switzerland), AkzoNobel N.V. (The Netherlands), and Nufarm Ltd. (Australia). In terms of insights, this research report has focused on various levels of analyses industry analysis and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape, emerging & high-growth segments of the global Agricultural Chelates Market, high-growth regions, countries, and their respective regulatory policies, government initiatives, drivers, restraints, and opportunities. Browse related reports: Agriculture Micronutrient Market by Type (Zinc, Manganese, Boron, Copper, Molybdenum, Iron), Form (Chelated & Non Chelated), Application Mode (Soil, Foliar, Fertigation), Crop Type, & by Region - Global Trends and Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/agriculture-micronutrients-market-968.html Chelating Agent Market by Type (Aminopolycarboxylate, Phosphate & Phosphonate, Biodegradable), Application (Cleaner, Water Treatment, Pulp & Paper, Agrochemical, Personal care, Pharmaceutical, Food & Beverage), & Geography - Global Trend & Forecast to 2019 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/chelating-agent-market-110316150.html About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets is the world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to a multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr.Rohan Markets and Markets UNIT no 802, Tower no. 7, SEZ Magarpatta city, Hadapsar Pune, Maharashtra 411013, India 1-888-600-6441 Email:sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://www.marketsandmarketsblog.com/market-reports/agriculture-industry Connect with us on LinkedIn @ http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Salazar Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SRL)(FRANKFURT: CCG) (the "Company") - Mr. Fredy Salazar, President and CEO is pleased to announce a recapitalization plan for the Company that will include a private placement, royalty sale and debt conversion. The Company is to sell units ("Units") to arm's length financiers to raise US$1,050,000 (the "Private Placement") and will sell a 2% net smelter returns royalty ("NSR") interest in its Curipamba project for US$4,750,000 (the "Royalty Sale"). In conjunction with and as a condition of the Private Placement and Royalty Sale the Company has negotiated agreements in principle with certain creditors, including arm's length creditors as well as employees and directors, to settle unpaid debts including debt arising from cash previously advanced and for accrued and unpaid compensation. Mr. Salazar said: "In these difficult markets we are extremely pleased to have concluded these negotiations. We have been reviewing many financing opportunities and have decided this was the best opportunity available with strong supporters which will allow us to get back to work on advancing our projects in Ecuador." Private Placement The Units are to be sold at a price of Cdn$0.06, with each Unit being comprised of a common share of the Company and a half warrant, with each full warrant (a "Warrant") entitling the holder to purchase an additional common share of the Company at a price of Cdn$0.12 (the "Warrant Exercise Price") for a period of two years from closing. The Private Placement will be led by Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. ("RCF VI") which will be purchasing, subject to completion of all documentation and satisfaction of all conditions precedent, US$820,000 of the Private Placement. The remaining US$230,000 balance of the Private Placement is to be purchased by two arm's length investors who have already advanced their subscription funds to the Company. Assuming a US/Cdn exchange rate of 1.2962, the Company is to issue 22,683,500 Units on closing of the Private Placement. The Company's term sheet with RCF VI provides that the parties are to determine a mutually-acceptable work program within three months of closing the Private Placement and if a work program cannot be settled within such period, RCF VI will be issued an additional Warrant for each whole Warrant issued in the Private Placement and the Warrant Exercise Price for RCF VI's Warrants will be reduced to Cdn$0.069. Royalty Sale The Company has agreed to sell to RCF VI a 2% NSR in its Curipamba project. The Royalty Sale is to be completed in two tranches of 1% for US$2,375,000, with closing of each tranche being subject to the satisfaction of conditions precedent. The Company and RCF VI have agreed to a cash expenditure budget for the net proceeds to be received from the Private Placement and the Royalty Sale. Debt Conversion The final component of this recapitalization plan, and a condition precedent to the Private Placement and Royalty Sale, are agreements to settle outstanding debt (the "Debt Conversion"). To date the Company has received cash advances from both arm's length parties and certain insiders to assist the Company with maintaining operations and paying all core costs including prior years' tenure payments on its properties. To date the amount owing on account of cash advances plus accrued interest thereon totals US $ 1,052,515 and assuming a US / Cdn exchange rate of 1.2962 the Company will issue 22,737,832 Units on closing of the Debt Conversion. The units to be issued pursuant to this debt settlement will have the same terms as the Private Placement financing units. In addition the Company has negotiated debt settlements for both insiders and non-insiders in regards to accrued and unpaid compensation pursuant to which US$265,783 of debt is to be forgiven and US$258,726 is to be settled by the issuance of 5,589,344 common shares at a price of Cdn $0.06 per share. No change of control will occur as a result of these transactions. On closing of the Private Placement, RCF VI is to have the right to nominate a representative to the Company's Board of Directors provided that RCF VI or its affiliates hold at least 5% of the Company's issued and outstanding common shares or an interest in the Royalty. RCF VI will also have the right to participate in future financings to maintain its equity interest. In addition, the Company will require the consent of RCF VI to raise equity or convertible debt at a price less than the Warrant Exercise Price until the Warrants expire, with such consent to not be unreasonably withheld. The Private Placement, the Royalty Sale and the proposed settlement of outstanding debt are subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Private Placement will close once all conditions precedent are satisfied, and the parties have targeted a closing date of April 22, 2016. About Resource Capital Funds Resource Capital Funds ("RCF") is a group of commonly managed private equity funds, established in 1998 with a mining sector specific investment mandate spanning all hard mineral commodities and geographic regions. Since inception, RCF has supported 148 mining companies, with projects located in 47 countries and across 29 commodities. The sixth fund, Resource Capital Fund VI L.P. ("RCF VI") with committed capital of $2.04 billion, is now being invested. Further information about RCF can be found on its website (www.resourcecapitalfunds.com). RCF has a strong team of investment professionals, with wide ranging industry and technical expertise and a demonstrated history of investments in mining globally. RCF's track record is based on its ability to pick technically and commercially compelling assets and support management to achieve desired outcomes whilst remaining throughout a source of patient capital. RCF aims to partner with companies to build strong, successful and sustainable businesses and in doing so strives to earn superior returns for all shareholders. About Salazar Resources Limited Salazar Resources Ltd. is a publicly-listed (TSX VENTURE: SRL)(FRANKFURT: CCG) mineral resource company engaged in the exploration and development of new highly-prospective areas in Ecuador. Led by a senior Ecuadorian management team and most notably by its namesake Fredy Salazar, this team has been instrumental in other major discoveries throughout Ecuador. Being based in Ecuador, thus having thorough knowledge of local human and environmental issues, gives the company a strategic advantage, enabling it to complete exploration at a rapid pace. With an excellent property portfolio (3 projects- 42,900 hectares), good geopolitical positioning and a number of strategic corporate and financial partnerships, Salazar has positioned itself to be a strategic player in Ecuador and throughout South America. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF SALAZAR RESOURCES LIMITED Fredy Salazar, President & CEO Salazar Resources Limited 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. This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking information and such information involves various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking information herein includes, but is not limited to, statements that address activities, events or developments that the Company expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including such things as the successful completion of the Private Placement, Royalty Sale and Debt Conversion and the timing of closing of the Private Placement. Such forward-looking information is based on a number of material factors and assumptions, including that the parties will be able to negotiate definitive agreements in respect of the Private Placement, Royalty Sale and Debt Conversion, and that the Company will be able to satisfy the conditions precedent to closing of such transactions. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. A description of assumptions used to develop such forward-looking information and a description of risk factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from forward-looking information can be found in the Company's disclosure documents on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Salazar Resources Ltd. ir@salazarresources.com www.salazarresources.com SANTIAGO, CHILE -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN), announced today that Ivanhoe and its joint-venture partner Zijin Mining are preparing to accelerate a planned infill drilling program on the Kakula Discovery area at their Kamoa copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), beginning in May 2016. Speaking at the 15th World Copper Conference in Santiago, Mr. Friedland said the Kamoa exploration team's goal is to complete approximately 25,000 metres of additional drilling in the Kakula Discovery area in 2016. The company is upgrading access and drill roads in the Kakula Discovery area to support the additional diamond drill rigs that will be mobilized to the site in early May. "Our accelerated infill drilling program will target thick, flat-lying, shallow resources at grades materially higher than the average grades at Kamoa that potentially could be incorporated into our Phase One feasibility study, which could enhance the already robust economics that were reported in our independent pre-feasibility study on February 23 and help to ensure that Kamoa becomes one of the highest grade, new copper mines in the world," Mr. Friedland added. The accelerated 2016 drill program initially will focus on a 12-square-kilometre area along the projected trend of mineralization intersected in holes DD996 and DD997 that were completed in 2015. The drill program now also includes follow-up infill drilling aimed at defining Indicated Resources in areas where the continuity of materially higher grade is confirmed. The 2016 drilling area and the initial drill sections are shown in figures 1 and 2. The 2015 holes DD996 and DD997 rank among the highest-grade and highest-grade-thickness intersections drilled to date within the Kamoa Mining Licence area. Hole DD996 intersected 24.16 metres (24.13 metres true width) of 3.48% copper, at a 1% copper cut-off. At a higher cut-off of 2% copper, the DD996 intersection was 13.16 metres (13.14 metres true width) of 5.26% copper. Hole DD997 intersected 18.75 metres (18.47 metres true width) of 4.64% copper at a 1% copper cut-off and 15.17 metres (14.94 metres true width) of 5.33% copper at a 2% copper cut-off. Ivanhoe Mines reported on January 25, 2016, that the Kamoa exploration team had made a new tier-one, high-grade, shallow and flat-lying stratiform copper discovery, ideally situated for low-cost mechanized mining, in the Kakula Discovery area, approximately five kilometres southwest of the currently defined resources at the Kamoa copper deposit. The Kakula Discovery is situated within the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa Mining Licence area and represents a major extension of the Kamoa copper deposit, which the company discovered in 2008. Mr. Friedland said in the January announcement that the Kamoa copper deposit already is distinguished as the world's largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper discovery. "The Kakula Discovery has the combination of significant thickness, high grades and strike length that holds promise for significant and rapid expansion of the Kamoa copper deposit." To view Figure 1: Kamoa plan map showing Kakula exploration area, discovery drill holes and 2016 drilling area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F1.pdf To view Figure 2: Kamoa discovery drill holes and Kakula 2016 drilling area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F2.pdf Holes DD996 and DD997 were drilled into an area of thick, high-grade copper mineralization first identified in 2014 - now called the Kakula Discovery area - within the large, 60-square-kilometre Kakula exploration area. The two holes represent 400-metre step-outs north and east from the high-grade copper intersected in drill hole DD942 that recorded 13.50 metres (13.49 metres true width) of 4.15% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off. Mineralization at Kakula appears to be consistent in nature with downward vertical zonation from chalcopyrite to bornite to chalcocite in every hole. Mineralization is consistently bottom-loaded, with grades increasing downhole toward the contact between the host Grand Conglomerate and the underlying Mwashia sandstone. The highest copper grades are associated with a siltstone/sandstone unit and the base of an overlying diamictite unit. These units overlie a less mineralized, thin, sandy clast-rich diamictite above the Mwashia sandstone contact. (See Figure 3 for a section across the Kakula Discovery Area) The bottom-loaded nature of Kakula mineralization could support the definition of selective mineralized zones at cut-offs well above the 1% copper cut-off used to define resources at Kamoa. For example, the lower portion of the mineralized intercepts in drill holes DD996 and DD997 intersected 5.59 metres grading 9.16% copper and 7.06 metres grading 8.50% copper, respectively, both at a 3% copper cut-off. (See Figure 4 for a drill log of DD997). To view Figure 3: Sections across the Kakula Discovery Area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F3.pdf To view Figure 4: DKMC_DD997 strip log showing bottom-loaded distribution of copper mineralization at 1%, 2% and 3% copper cut-offs, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F4.pdf Kamoa Copper Project description The Kamoa Copper Project, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd., is a very large, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 kilometres west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 kilometres west of Lubumbashi. Ivanhoe sold a 49.5% share interest in Kamoa Holding Limited (Kamoa Holding), the company that presently owns 95% of the Kamoa Project on an indirect basis, to Zijin Mining for an aggregate cash consideration of $412 million. In addition, Ivanhoe sold a 1% share interest in Kamoa Holding to privately-owned Crystal River Global Limited for $8.32 million - which Crystal River will pay through a non-interest-bearing, 10-year promissory note. A 5%, non-dilutable interest in the Kamoa Project was transferred to the DRC government on September 11, 2012, for no consideration, pursuant to the DRC Mining Code. Ivanhoe also has offered to transfer an additional 15% interest to the DRC government on terms to be negotiated. Constructive and cordial negotiations over the offer are continuing between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin and senior DRC government officials. Subsequent to the sale to Zijin and Crystal River, Ivanhoe owns an effective 47% of the Kamoa Project, which will decrease to an effective 40% should the additional 15% interest be transferred to the DRC government. Kamoa is the world's largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper deposit. On February 23, 2016, an updated Mineral Resource estimate was issued for the Kamoa Project, with an effective date of May 5, 2014. Kamoa's Indicated Mineral Resources total 752 million tonnes grading 2.67% copper and containing 44.3 billion pounds of copper at a 1% copper cut-off grade and minimum thickness of three metres. In addition to the Indicated Resources, the updated estimate included Inferred Mineral Resources of 185 million tonnes grading 2.08% copper and containing 8.5 billion pounds of copper, also at a 1.0% copper cut-off grade and a minimum thickness of three metres. Qualified Person and Quality Control and Assurance The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, P.Geo., Ivanhoe Mines' Vice President, Project Geology and Evaluation; a Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release. Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA-QC program on assays from its Kamoa Project. Half-sawn core is processed at its on site preparation laboratory in Kamoa, prepared samples then are shipped by secure courier to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia, an ISO17025 accredited facility. Copper assays are determined at BVM by mixed-acid digestion with ICP finish. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks are inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. For detailed information about assay methods and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information, please refer to the current technical report on the Kamoa Copper Project on the SEDAR profile of Ivanhoe Mines at www.sedar.com. About Ivanhoe Mines Ivanhoe Mines is advancing and developing its three principal projects in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery in South Africa; and the Kamoa copper discovery and the high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine in the DRC. (For news and details, visit www.ivanhoemines.com) Forward-looking information Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including without limitation, the timing and results of: (i) statements regarding plans to accelerate an infill drilling program at the Kakula Discovery area in May 2016 and statements regarding the intention to target thick, flat-lying, shallow resources at grades materially higher than the average grades at Kamoa that potentially could be incorporated into the company's Phase One feasibility study; (ii) statements regarding the development of Kamoa into one of the highest grade, new copper mines in the world; (iii) statements regarding the potential to enhance the economics reported in the company's independent pre-feasibility study; (iv) the timing and terms of transfer of an additional 15% interest in the Kamoa Project to the DRC government; and (v) statements regarding the completion of approximately 25,000 metres of additional drilling in the Kakula Discovery area in 2016. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. As well, the results of the pre-feasibility study of the Kamoa Project constitute forward-looking information, including estimates of internal rates of return, net present value, future production, estimates of cash cost, proposed mining plans and methods, mine life estimates, cash flow forecasts, metal recoveries, and estimates of capital and operating costs. Furthermore, with respect to this specific forward-looking information concerning the development of the Kamoa Project, the company has based its assumptions and analysis on certain factors that are inherently uncertain. Uncertainties include among others: (i) the adequacy of infrastructure; (ii) geological characteristics; (iii) metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization; (iv) the ability to develop adequate processing capacity; (v) the price of copper; (vi) the availability of equipment and facilities necessary to complete development, (vii) the cost of consumables and mining and processing equipment; (viii) unforeseen technological and engineering problems; (ix) accidents or acts of sabotage or terrorism; (x) currency fluctuations; (xi) changes in laws or regulations; (xii) the availability and productivity of skilled labour; (xiii) the regulation of the mining industry by various governmental agencies; and (xiv) political factors. This release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation (including estimated future production from the Kamoa Project, the anticipated tonnages and grades that will be mined and the estimated level of recovery that will be realized), which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on: (i) fluctuations in copper price; (ii) results of drilling, (iii) metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licenses. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed here, as well as unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social, political or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; limitations and availability of capital; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results (including the actual results of drilling and exploration activities,) or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release. The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the company's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis report and Annual Information Form, available at www.sedar.com. Contacts: Ivanhoe Mines - Investors Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834 Ivanhoe Mines - Media North America: Bob Williamson +1.604.512.4856 South Africa: Jeremy Michaels +27.82.939.4812 www.ivanhoemines.com WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Global Payments Inc. (GPN) Wednesday announced a 10.4 percent increase in third quarter net profit attributable to the company to $69.06 million from $62.57 million last year. Earnings per share increased 12.8 percent to $0.53 from $0.47 a year ago. On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.67 per share. Analysts estimates usually exclude special items. Revenue for the quarter rose 2.2 percent to $679.94 million from $664.98 million in the previous year. Wall Street expected the company to earn $493.68 million. Looking ahead to the fiscal 2016, the company expects earnings growth of 15 to 18 percent in a range of $2.36 to $2.43 per share. Cash earnings per share is expected to grow 16 to 19 percent in a range of $2.93 to $3.00. Analysts expect $2.94 per share on revenue of $2.08 billion. Global Payments sees growth of 4 to 6 percent in revenue for the fiscal 2016, in a range of $2.87 to $2.95 per share. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Sloan said, 'We are delighted with the progress we have made on the partnership with Heartland Payment Systems and look forward to closing the transaction later this month. The combination with Heartland will transform Global Payments into the leading provider of payments technology solutions worldwide.' Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. DUBLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook has introduced end-to-end encryption for the one billion users of its Whatsapp messaging platform. The update means the company will no longer have the capability to read users' messages even if approached by law enforcement or government agencies. All messages, including group, video and voice messages, will now be accessible only to the sender and recipients. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO ) Security has become a primary concern for everyone, be it individuals, small and medium businesses, enterprises or governments. A recent report on IoT Security notes that with technological advancement and the increasing application of networking, the concern for security is increasing every day. Facebook's decision to increase security comes right on the back of the high profile dispute between the FBI and Apple. The tech company refused to unlock and encrypted phone belonging to Syed Farouk, who was responsible for a mass shooting in San Bernardino in December. Encryption is a technique that secures data by converting plain text into a cipher format during transmission through the internet. The main purpose of encryption software is to protect confidentiality and ensure only authorized parties can read correspondence. One report expects the global encryption software market to grow 17.36% by 2019, while another expects the market to be valued at $2.16 billion by 2020. Whatsapp has previously offered end-to-end encryption on text-only messages between two users. Group messages, voice messages and those containing rich media were not fully encrypted until this latest update. For further information on this topic, and a full list of all related documentation, please visit the Software section at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/rm/NMOQ. 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. Source:http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cybersecurity-whatsapp-idUSKCN0X225G 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 BASEL (dpa-AFX) - Incyte Corp. (INCY) announced it has acquired the rights to develop and commercialize ruxolitinib (Jakafi), its JAK1/JAK2 inhibitor, for graft-versus-host disease from Eli Lilly and Company (LLY). Incyte and Lilly have agreed to amend their License, Development and Commercialization agreement to enable Incyte to independently develop and commercialize ruxolitinib. Incyte will make an upfront payment of $35 million to Lilly. The terms also include additional potential payments by Incyte to Lilly upon the achievement of certain regulatory milestones. Jakafi is marketed by Incyte in the U.S. and by Novartis as Jakavi (ruxolitinib) outside the U.S. Incyte and Novartis have agreed to amend their Collaboration and License Agreement, granting Novartis the rights to research, develop and commercialize ruxolitinib for graft-versus-host disease outside the U.S. Novartis will make payments to Incyte upon the achievement of certain development and regulatory milestones. 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. AUSTIN, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Deily, the rapidly growing community dedicated to hosting an open, honest, insightful discussion about religion, today announced it has been recognized by the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) for its work in digital communications. The award recognizes the achievements of RCC members who demonstrate excellence as religion communicators. Deily was presented with the award for its innovative social platform that serves the organizations, professionals, devout, curious and academic members of the religious ecosystem. The website provides a forum where people from all walks of life can openly share thoughts and discuss religion and all its many facets. "Deily was founded with the goal of bringing best in class digital solutions to the religious space," said Deily.org co-founder and CEO Shawn Bose. "We are thrilled to receive this honor from the Religion Communicators Council and will continue to find ways to engage our audiences digitally and encourage them share their faith, traditions and understanding with one another in a way that impacts lives for the better." Deily was founded by technology entrepreneurs Shawn Bose and Justin Halloran, launching in December 2014 to evoke religious conversation in an entirely new, profound way and unite a significant population interested in religion. In fact, in the United States alone, people conduct nearly 34 million web searches for religious topics every month, among the 100,000+ religious keywords that Deily monitors. The awards honor the late Victor DeRose and Paul M. Hinkhouse, who were leading lithographers in New York City. Aimee Thunberg, from Auburn Seminary, and Tracey Del Duca, of the Ruth Stafford Peale Library in the Interchurch Center, helped coordinate judging of the awards. The DeRose-Hinkhouse Award reception was held in New York City on March 31, 2016, in conjunction with RCC's annual national convention. The RCC is an interfaith association of religion communicators at work in print and electronic communication, marketing, and public relations. Established in 1929, it is the oldest association of religion communicators in America. There are six local chapters around the country as well as members-at-large in cities where a chapter does not exist. The chapters meet monthly, providing an outlet for education and networking for the members. The chapters also serve to promote excellence in the communication of religious faith and values as well as understanding among diverse faith groups. A complete list of the 2016 DeRose-Hinkhouse award winners can be found athttp://www.religioncommunicators.org/derose-hinkhouse-awards. The 2017 RCC National Convention will gather March 29-April 1 in Chicago, Ill. About Deily Founded by technology entrepreneurs Shawn Bose and Justin Halloran in December 2014, Deily is focused on bringing the religious experience into the digital age by making it on demand, personally relevant and accessible in an entirely new and profound way. Transforming the religious experience from passive to active through its social platform, Deily invites understanding between people, encouraging the knowledgeable to share insights and the curious to request explanations. Deily is creating and sustaining an online community dedicated to sharing the world's religious information and supporting the organizations, institutions and individuals devoted to making the world a better place through understanding. Learn more at Deily.org. Media Contact: Sarah Mangum Mob: 512.217.6085 Email: smangum@deily.org DUBLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Marketshas announced the addition of the,"How to Avoid Common Pitfalls in Combined EU/US Patent Applications (London, UK - December 8-9, 2016),"conference to their offering. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO ) This seminar addressed the parallel, but substantially different, rules for drafting and prosecuting patents required by the Examiners and Appeal Board of the EPO and USPTO. You will study the contrasting approaches of the EPO and USPTO and learn the experts' techniques for drafting an applications for, and responding to, rejections issued by the two offices. This Seminar Will Include: - The often unseen traps posed by differing EU and US requirements - Best practices for reconciling the EU and US requirements and drafting an application to: - - Maximise scope of protection - - Reduce objections - - Minimise costs and maximise flexibility - Prosecution procedures - - EPO and USPTO approaches to rejections - - Responding to EPO and USPTO rejections, based on an optimised specification - - Limiting US prosecution history estoppel - Worked exmamples Practical Applications: - You and the other delegates will be invited to correct and modify a sample application to be field with both the EPO and the USPTO. - You will be asked to develop effective arguments, for the EPO and USPTO, with respect to hypothetical patent office rejections This course qualifies for the following CPD programmes: - Solicitors Regulation Authority For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/lvq66q/how_to_avoid 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 DUBLIN (dpa-AFX) - Ireland's consumer sentiment decreased markedly to the weakest level in six months in March, survey figures from the Economic and Social Research Institute showed Wednesday. The KBC Bank Ireland/ ESRI consumer sentiment index fell to 100.6 in March from 105.8 in the previous month. This was the largest monthly decline since October 2014 and brought the index to its lowest level in six months. The decline in March was driven by downgrading of Irish economic prospects and buying climate. Austin Hughes, chief economist at KBC Bank Ireland, said global concerns, Brexit worries and domestic political uncertainty were the key drivers for the weakness. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. Press release 6.4.2016 M-Brain acquires Norwegian media intelligence company Opoint M-Brain becomes the leading company in its field in the Nordics M-Brain, the Finnish globally operating information services, technology and advisory company, expands its operations through the acquisition of Norwegian media monitoring and analysis company Opoint Holding. The acquisition includes Opoint's three subsidiaries in Norway, Sweden and Estonia. All of Opoint's shares are transferred into M-Brain's ownership. The transaction makes M-Brain the leading company in its field in the Nordics. - The acquisition supports our strategic goal to become market leader in our field in the Nordics and throughout the Baltics. Our aim is to further strengthen our position in the industry, comments M-Brain CEO Kim Nyberg. - The combined offering of M-Brain and Opoint will be unbeatable, comments Opoint CEO Terje Andersen. All of Opoint's roughly 150 employees will be transferred to M-Brain. Opoint's turnover in 2015 was approximately EUR 11 million. After the acquisition M-Brain will have operations in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Russia, France, Germany, UK, Canada, US, Brazil, China, Singapore and Malaysia. According to CEO Nyberg, the industry consists of several, different sized, but mostly smaller players. It must therefore be assumed that the industry's fast consolidation process continues. The digitalization is also continually advancing as a result of amongst others, changes in the traditional media field. At the same time, new intelligence companies specialised in social media continue to emerge as well as hybrid solutions, which combine eCommerce and Big Data. This development leads to the continuous creation of new information needs. The amount of information continues to grow, but the amount of relevant and analysed data doesn't In an ever evolving world, the need for relevant and analysed data for corporate decisions and management is all the more important. - Some 10 years ago, the challenge was simply to find information. Today, the challenge is the excessive amount of data, which continues to grow exponentially. What really is important is to find relevant information while saving time for the end user. The most effective way to manage this is by utilizing semantic Big Data technology combined with human intelligence. M-Brain has been one of the fore-runners when it comes to utilizing hybrid solutions in this industry, says Nyberg. - The problem companies are facing is that as much as 60 percent of information used for business purposes is historical data. Internal reports show what has worked in the past and what hasn't, but they don't tell what should be done right now and in the future, Nyberg says. Every year, the amount of stored data grows by about 28 percent, but the amount of analysed data grows only by six percent. Over half of organisations have difficulties in managing all the data they receive. "M-Brain's Big Data technology currently performs on average 21 billion automated relevance judgments of web material daily, out of which it filters roughly 150 000 pieces of information relevant to our client-base. This number is optimal for the size of our current client-base and increases with the number of clients", states CTO Kimmo Valtonen. "Out of this mass, the company's experts further refine about 10 000 pieces of relevant information daily to support out clients' decision-making." The role of M-Brain's Big Data technology is based on finding relevant information for our clients. This relevance is based upon automatic data analysis. M-Brain's analysts further refine this information according to the client's needs. At the same time, the system evolves through the involvement of human intelligence in the process, teaching the machine to continuously improve its source and content judgments. The media material handling technology developed by Opoint complements M-Brain's technology, making M-Brain also one of the leading technology providers in the industry. For further information, please contact: Kim Nyberg, CEO, M-Brain E-mail: kim.nyberg@m-brain.com Phone: +358 (0)400 430 538 Joakim Nyberg, CSO, M-Brain E-mail: joakim.nyberg@m-brain.com (mailto:joakim.nyberg@m-brain.com) Phone: +358 (0)44 538 9227 M-Brain is a global information services company with offices in fourteen countries. Our services are based on a unique combination of our own proprietary big data technology and human intelligence. We offer media, business and market intelligence solutions, strategic analysis and advisory services, consultation services, as well as online intelligence tools and technology to bring true insight into our clients' business environment. Our solutions and services are tailored to serve varying business needs regardless of function, industry type or language barriers. For more information, please visit www.m-brain.com 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: M-Brain Oy via Globenewswire HUG#2001103 VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Focus Ventures Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: FCV) ("Focus" or the "Company") is pleased to advise that it has closed its previously announced non-brokered private placement financing with the issuance of 3,850,000 units at $0.065 per unit, for proceeds of $250,250. Each unit consists of one common share and one warrant entitling the holder to purchase one additional common share of the Company at $0.065 for one year from closing. The common shares and warrants issued in the placement are subject to a resale restriction until August 6, 2016. The proceeds of the placement will be used for general working capital purposes. About Focus Focus is developing the Bayovar 12 phosphate deposit located 40 km from the coast in the Sechura District of northern Peru. Bayovar 12 hosts a large resource of highly-reactive sedimentary phosphate rock - a key raw material input for fertilizers and vital to world food production. Reactive phosphate rock from Sechura is a natural, slow-release source of phosphorus that can be applied directly to crops. Focus aims to supply direct application phosphate rock to the nearby agricultural regions of South and Central America, the fastest growing fertilizer market in the world. For further information, please call 604-630-5544 or visit our web site www.focusventuresltd.com. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD Simon Ridgway, Chief Executive Officer Symbol: TSXV-FCV Shares Issued: 120.4-million Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements contained in this news release constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and include, without limitation, statements about how the financing proceeds will be allocated. Often, but not always, these forward looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "estimate", "estimates", "estimated", "potential", "open", "future", "assumed", "projected", "used", "detailed", "has been", "gain", "upgraded", "offset", "limited", "contained", "reflecting", "containing", "remaining", "to be", "periodically", or statements that events, "could" or "should" occur or be achieved and similar expressions, including negative variations. Forward-looking Statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Such uncertainties and factors include, among others, the expenditure of the financing proceeds as intended; changes in general economic conditions and financial markets; the Company or any joint venture partner not having the financial ability to meet its exploration and development goals; risks associated with the results of exploration and development activities, estimation of mineral resources and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; unanticipated costs and expenses; and such other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's quarterly and annual filings with securities regulators and available under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. Forward-looking statements contained herein are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management, including but not limited to: that the Company will spend the financing proceeds as intended; and that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; and such other assumptions as set out herein. Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, except as required by law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Contacts: Ralph Rushton (604) 630-5544 (604) 682-1514 (FAX) info@focusventuresltd.com www.focusventuresltd.com DENVER, CO--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - CB Scientific, Inc. (OTC PINK: CBSC), a designer, developer and manufacturer of Life Science Analytical Tools and Devices, laboratory services and personal analytical kits and devises, announces today that it has begun a trial evaluation of its "Test4THC" single-use test kit with a large government agency. CB Scientific developed a mobile marijuana detection kit for use as a determinant of probable cause to test any products in possession including oils, concentrates, and edibles for the presence of THC. The company hopes to sign an agreement with the agency by the end of second quarter 2016. "Our TEST4THC product line was inspired by growing demand for a quick and simple THC detection tool. Our Generation 3 closed-system, single use kit met the need for potential use by law enforcement, military, schools or private companies operating within the law to test products used by impaired drivers, government personnel, children or employees," said Sam Talari, CEO of CB Scientific. The kits have been improved multiple times and have now been simplified into an all-in-one Gen 3 test kit, providing a sealed test with the benefit of having a closed system and very simple procedure which can be done in less than a minute with the confirmed results occurring in less than 10. With over two years in personal analytics development process, our products have allowed CB Scientific to gain the attention of government and private organizations (police departments, military, schools, and concerned parents) that could benefit from having a fast, simple, and accurate THC detection kit. The Company is currently making improvements to packaging to make the kits available worldwide. CB Scientific will also be supplying testing and analytical equipment for FutureLand Corp (OTC PINK: FUTL) new medical/recreational facility being purchased in Oregon. The analytical tools will enable FutureLand to manage quality and potency of its productions. About CB Scientific, Inc. CB Scientific (www.cbscientific.com), based in Denver, Colorado, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops and manufactures Life Science Analytical Tools and Devices, laboratory services, personal analytical kits and devises and CBD hemp oil and nutraceutical formulations for growers, care takers, dispensaries and companies worldwide. CB Scientific is continuing to develop new technologies specifically for cannabis (hemp) analytics. CB Scientific believes every product sold to patients as "Medical Quality" should be inspected for health benefits, safety, consistency, purity, potency and packaged properly for distribution. CB Scientific has worked with many of the cannabis industry leaders in the country and have also been featured in cannabis industry publications including High Times Magazine, Culture and many trade publications, on-air interviews and panel discussions across the United States. CB Scientific's focus has been the education and safety of consumers combined with innovation to put power into the hands of the patients. To request further information about CB Scientific, please email us at info@cbscientific.com, log onto our website at http://www.cbscientific.com or visit us on Twitter @cbscientific and Facebook at cbscientificinc. About FutureWorld Corp. FutureWorld (OTC PINK: FWDG), a Delaware corporation, is a leading provider of advanced technologies and solutions to the global cannabis industry. FutureWorld, together with its subsidiaries, focuses on the identification, acquisition, development, and commercialization of cannabis related products and services, such as industrial Hemp. FutureWorld, through its subsidiaries, provides personal and professional THC and CBD test kits, pharmaceutical grade CBD oil solutions, SafeVape vaporizers, smart sensor technology, communication network, surveillance security, data analysis for smart cultivation and consultation for the industrial hemp and legal medicinal cannabis. Our wireless agricultural smart sensor networks offer precision to the agriculture, irrigation systems, and greenhouses for the global cannabis and hemp industry. FutureWorld and its subsidiaries do not grow, distribute or sell marijuana. As the only Cannabis Technology Accelerator, FutureWorld will incubate and fund leading technologies, products, and services for Cannabis industry (Industrial Hemp) for foreseeable future; bringing value to its core and its shareholders. To request further information about FutureWorld, please email us at info@futureworldcorp.com, log onto our website at http://www.futureworldcorp.com or visit us at our Facebook page facebook.com/futureworldcorp or on Twitter @futureworldinc. Forward-Looking Statements This press release may contain forward-looking statements covered within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply and demand conditions, and other expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expectations regarding future revenues depend upon our ability to develop and supply products and services that we may not produce today and that meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words "plan," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in pervasive markets. This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions. Contact: Media Contact CB Scientific Inc. Http://www.cbscientific.com info@cbscientific.com (720) 370-3554 Twitter - @cbscientific Facebook - cbscientificinc WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A former Turkish consulate in Mosul, Iraq, which was taken over by the Islamic State and being used as its headquarters, was destroyed in U.S.-led coalition airstrike Monday. Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters that ISIL operatives took over the consulate in June 2014, claiming it as one of its headquarters. 'ISIL repurposed the compound and used it as a headquarters for senior ISIL leaders, in addition to a beddown location and weapons storage facility,' he said. 'That compound has now been destroyed by coalition aircraft,' he added. The coalition airstrike was carried out 'in full cooperation' with the Turkish and Iraqi governments, Davis said. 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. MAYNARD, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Stratus Technologies, Inc., the leading provider of continuous availability solutions, today announced it will be previewing its new Always-On Infrastructure for Smart Buildings for the first time at the International Security Conference & Exposition (ISC) West being held April 6-8 in Las Vegas. The advent of Smart Buildings drives the need to monitor and control many separate systems ranging from security, to IT, to lighting, HVAC and more. Using a virtualized platform is the only cost effective foundation to do this, but virtualizing can also mean a single point of failure making fault-tolerant virtualization an imperative. Providing a proven, always-on foundation for Smart Buildings, Stratus' industry-leading downtime prevention software, everRun Enterprise, combined with performance monitoring from Sightline Assure, enables a simple way to virtualize disparate solutions and easily monitor the entire building management network -- from servers to virtualized applications, to cameras, door locks and sensors. "We are excited to be showcasing the Stratus Always-On Infrastructure for Smart Buildings for the first time this week at ISC West," said Jason Andersen, vice president of business line management, Stratus Technologies. "The powerful combination of everRun Enterprise's downtime prevention capabilities, along with performance monitoring from Sightline Assure, will make it the most reliable foundation to consolidate and monitor multi-vendor building management and security solutions -- from the virtualized applications to the servers." Visit Stratus at booth #20141 to see first-hand how Stratus everRun Enterprise with the addition of performance monitoring can help you: Optimize your value and differentiate your building security systems with performance monitoring that is powerful and simple to use. Deliver business continuity, compliance and SLAs for your NVR and VMS systems with no interruptions or in-flight data loss. Automatically detect system performance issues on-premise with continuous monitoring of your hardware, operating system, applications and remote devices. Provide continuous or high availability efficiently with two off-the-shelf x86 servers and your choice of storage. About Stratus Technologies Stratus Technologies is the leading provider of infrastructure-based solutions that keep applications running continuously in today's always-on world. Stratus enables rapid deployment of always-on infrastructures, from enterprise servers to clouds, without any changes to applications. Stratus' flexible solutions -- software, platform and services -- prevent downtime before it occurs and ensure uninterrupted performance of essential business operations. For more information, please visit www.stratus.com or follow on Twitter @StratusAlwaysOn. Stratus and the Stratus logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Stratus Technologies Bermuda Ltd. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. DENVER, CO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Ubiquitech Software Corp. (www.ubiquitechsoftware.com) (OTC PINK: UBQU), through its operating subsidiary HempLifeToday.com, known for developing the purest and most potent CBD Hemp derived products available and developer of the proprietary CBD brand CannazALL, is announcing new pricing for HempLife Today and its popular CannazALL brand of CBD (Cannabidiol) products. Prices for all CannazALL products on the HempLifeToday.com Website have been reduced by as much as 50%. The company cites its growing production capabilities, its expanding network of domestic partnerships, and the ability to source more quality Cannabidiol (CBD) products at lower costs from its growers, as the catalysts behind this latest round of price reductions. The company believes that consistently lowering prices and adjusting to this production output will keep the CannazALL brand as the leader in the industry. "We have a very simple philosophy that we feel will keep us growing and ahead of the industry" Said Tim Zorn, CEO of HempLifeToday.com "Always have the best products, the best pricing, the best customer support, and the fastest shipping. If we consistently achieve these goals we will always be profitable and growing, and making CBD more affordable for all." A 250mg bottle of the Company's popular CannazALLTM Hemp CBD Tincture formula is now available on the HempLifeToday.com Website for as low as $29 in a pack of 6. CBD (cannabidiol) derived from hemp is believed by many researchers and users to help the body's endocannabinoid system, part of the immune system, to fight and in some cases help cure many common and serious diseases. People using CBD therapy report relief from pain, anxiety, arthritis, diabetic nerve pain, seizures, sleep disorders, even cancer and cancer treatments, and more. About Ubiquitech Ubiquitech, through its subsidiaries is a dynamic multi-media, multi-faceted corporation utilizing state-of-the-art global internet marketing, Direct Response (DRTV) Television, Radio, and traditional marketing, to drive traffic to the new and emerging multi-billion dollar industries like its subsidiary HempLifeToday.com HempLifeToday focuses on the exciting and dynamic new thinking in the world today that recognizes the important health and life enriching enhancement that CBD Oil from the Hemp plant can bring. Through its network of quality USA growers HempLifeToday.com has developed four CannazALL CBD oil products that include; It's popular CBD Tinctures, Oils, Capsules and e-liquid. This press release contains forward-looking statements. Words such as "expects", "intends', "believes', and similar expressions reflecting something other than historical fact are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the timely development and market acceptance of products and technologies, the ability to secure additional sources of finance, the ability to reduce operating expenses, and other factors described in the Company's filings with the OTC Markets Group. The actual results that the Company achieves may differ materially from any forward-looking statement due to such risks and uncertainties. The Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release. Contact: Ubiquitech Software Corp. Investor Relations E-mail: Info@UbiquitechSoftwareCorp.com SAN DIEGO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Premium men's dress footwear brands Gordon Rush and Crosby Square are pleased to announce their collaboration with one of the fashion industry's most-followed menswear influencers, Blake Scott. Scott -- of the wildly popular blog www.TheScottEffect.com -- is now the first exclusive brand ambassador for Pinnacle Brand Group, the parent company of Gordon Rush and Crosby Square brands. Scott, 26, is a menswear and lifestyle blogger in Los Angeles, and is currently one of the most sought-after male influencers in the United States. Without a background in the fashion industry, Blake's authenticity and originality has allowed him to stand apart from his peers, while sartorially influencing gentlemen around the globe. In just under two years, Scott's total reach across his multiple Instagram accounts alone has grown to over 1.1 million followers. "This partnership formed rather organically," said Scott. "I am passionate about shoes and I continuously look for exciting opportunities that will inspire my followers. Gordon Rush and Crosby Square have consistently been my go-to footwear brands, whether I'm suiting up for a night out, or relaxing in denim. I am honored to join Pinnacle Brand Group as their exclusive brand ambassador and I look forward to being part of these brands that are so true to my personal style." "The ongoing mission of Pinnacle Brand Group is to consistently find new ways to engage customers with our footwear brands," said Kevin Gordon, Pinnacle Brand Group President and CEO. "In the world of menswear influencers, Blake has become a pivotal player and is a natural fit as our first brand ambassador." As part of his exclusive ambassadorship, Scott will host Pinnacle-sponsored "meet-and-greets" with fans across the country this spring. In addition, Pinnacle and Scott are collaborating on a capsule collection of Crosby Square footwear that will be launched online in Fall 2016. The line will be designed by Scott and include five unique footwear pieces that celebrate Crosby Square's heritage while infusing Scott's modern yet classic style. Customers can follow all activities and get sneak peeks of all of the behind-the-scenes action by following @GordonRush, @CrosbySquare, and @BlakeScott_ on Instagram. About Pinnacle Brand Group Headquartered on the West Coast, Pinnacle Brand Group Inc. designs, sources, markets and distributes men's and women's fashion footwear and accessories. A premium design house, Pinnacle Brand Group includes owned brands and private label, both providing design and sourcing services to a broad range of premium retailers and lifestyle brands. Among Pinnacle Brand Group's brands are Gordon Rush and Crosby Square. Gordon Rush (www.GordonRush.com) is an industry leading designer of premium men's footwear and accessories. Launched in 1998, the brand has developed a loyal following for its vision of understated luxury and attention to detail. At the core of the Gordon Rush philosophy is a commitment to innovative design and the use of superior materials. Influenced by the way men live their lives today, Gordon Rush is known for producing collections that are simultaneously modern and timeless. Crosby Square (www.CrosbySquare.com) is an iconic American shoe brand with a long and rich history of shoemaking excellence dating as far back as 1867. In the brand's heyday of the 1930's through the 1960's, Crosby Square was considered one of the finest quality and most innovative American brands of welted men's footwear. Meticulously handcrafted, the latest collection is best characterized by its fresh perspective on timeless and classic style. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2988758 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2988765 Media Contact: Stacey Doss SDDPR 949-285-2362 Email Contact SAN BRUNO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Students at community colleges across the country who have the potential to develop into the next world-changing science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) professional are lacking just one component to success -- resources. Today, the nonprofit Base 11 and Skyline College launched a partnership that brings students the tools -- and the training -- to become the next great STEM entrepreneur. Officials announced their plans at the opening of the campus's new Base 11 Innovation Center, which features a Fab Lab -- short for fabrication laboratory -- developed by MIT researchers. It will be one of about 110 Fab Labs in the country, and the first on a California community college campus. The expert design, installation and operational training for the lab is led by Blair Evans, director of Incite Focus, an MIT alumnus and certified Fab Academy guru. Within the Fab Lab, tools like 3D printers and laser cutters enable students and community members to design and produce almost anything they can imagine. To accelerate innovation within the lab, Base 11 is also rolling out a 16-week entrepreneurial course at Skyline College designed to help students turn their classroom learning into new product ideas and then teach them how to create prototypes in the Fab Lab, develop a business plan, and pitch their product. The course will culminate in a pitch contest, with the top pitches advancing to Base 11's national competition. "Base 11 has brought a tremendous array of resources to Skyline College that most community college students would never have access to," said Regina Stanback Stroud, Ed.D., president of Skyline College. "By bringing Ivy League-quality resources to our campus, we are leveling the playing field for students." Base 11's partnership with Skyline College represents a new "Entrepreneur Accelerator" model, which Base 11's leaders plan to replicate at other community colleges across the country. Base 11 focuses on high-potential students who possess limited resources, and aims to provide them with the tools and support necessary to develop as STEM entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, with the end-goal of catapulting them into higher-paying jobs, acceptance and scholarship opportunities at top-tier universities, and direct access to the funding and mentorship needed to launch the business ventures they create while in the program. This "Entrepreneur Accelerator" expands upon the successful Base 11 internship program, which awards the highest performing Skyline College students with paid summer residency internships at Caltech, University of Southern California, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and the University of California, Irvine. "We're giving these students an opportunity with top-tier universities and corporations to ignite the innovation that our country so desperately needs," said Landon Taylor, CEO of Base 11. "We absolutely believe the next Elon Musk or Steve Jobs may emerge from this Innovation Center at Skyline College." Base 11 aims to propel 11,000 students nationwide into its "Victory Circle" by 2020, and hopes 1,000 of those will come from Bay Area schools. Students qualify for the "Victory Circle" when they are: Admitted to a four-year university to pursue a STEM-related degree, Employed in a well-paid STEM job, or Become a STEM entrepreneur. About Skyline College Skyline College is an accredited, comprehensive California community college serving more than 10,000 students offering approximately 100 Associate Degree and Certificate programs. Located on a 111-acre campus overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Skyline College has offered world-class educational opportunities to residents from North San Mateo County and beyond since 1969. Part of the San Mateo Community College District, Skyline College strives to inspire a global and diverse community of learners to achieve intellectual, cultural, social, economic and personal fulfillment. About Base 11 Base 11 is a non-profit public benefit corporation focused on empowering high-potential, low-resource community college students with hands-on education and training in STEM-related enterprises. Base 11 partners with community colleges and their feeder high schools to provide high-potential, low-resource students with real-world training, experience and mentorship in STEM-related enterprises, delivering to employers a prerecruitment pipeline of well-trained, highly skilled STEM employees and entrepreneurs. For more information, please visit www.Base11.com. Base 11 is a DBA of the Center for Innovations in Education, a non-profit 501(c) 3 -- IRS exemption EIN# 26- 4365936. Media Contact: Stacey Doss SDDPR / Base 11 949-285-2362 Email Contact Cherie Colin Skyline College 650-738-4346 Email Contact INDIANAPOLIS, IN--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - Stonegate Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: SGM), a leading publicly traded mortgage company focused on originating, financing and servicing U.S. residential mortgage loans, today announced that Michael Bender has returned to the company and been named East Regional Manager. In this role, he will lead the East Region's Third Party Origination sales teams, selling products in the company's four TPO channels -- broker, non-delegated correspondent, delegated correspondent and bulk mandatory. He will report directly to John Pantalone, SVP TPO Eastern Division. Commenting on Mr. Bender, Steve Landes, Stonegate Mortgage EVP and National Director of Sales said, "Michael brings the skillset necessary to help grow TPO sales in the east region. We are happy to have him on our team and are confident that his innovative leadership style will contribute to Stonegate Mortgage's position as a leader in the mortgage industry." Mr. Bender has over 10 years of experience in the mortgage industry. Most recently, he worked as Regional Sales Director at ACH Trust, a division of Towne Mortgage. Previously, he served as Business Development Manager at Stonegate Mortgage, as well as Business Development Manager at ICBA Mortgage and Regional Manager at Genworth Home Equity. "I'm looking forward to assuming my role as the East Regional Manager of TPO sales for Stonegate Mortgage," said Mr. Bender. "With superior customer service and competitive pricing and products, Stonegate Mortgage is focused on exceeding expectations." About Stonegate Mortgage Corporation Founded in 2005, Stonegate Mortgage Corporation (NYSE: SGM) is a leading, publicly traded, mortgage company that originates, finances and services agency and non-agency residential mortgages through its network of retail offices and approved third party originators. Stonegate Mortgage also provides financing through its fully integrated warehouse lending platform, NattyMac. Stonegate Mortgage's operational excellence, financial strength, dedication to customer service and commitment to technology have positioned the firm as a leading provider in the housing finance market. For more information on Stonegate Mortgage Corporation, please visit www.stonegatemtg.com. Forward-Looking Statements Various statements contained in this press release, including those that express a belief, expectation or intention, as well as those that are not statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements may include projections and estimates concerning the timing and success of specific projects and our future production, revenues, income and capital spending. Our forward- looking statements are generally accompanied by words such as "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "potential," "plan," "goal" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release; we disclaim any obligation to update these statements unless required by law, and we caution you not to rely on them unduly. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and assumptions about future events. While our management considers these expectations and assumptions to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, regulatory and other risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond our control. These and other important factors, including those discussed in the "Risk Factors" section within our 2014 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on March 6, 2015 and any revisions to those Risk Factors in subsequent filings, may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Media Contact: Sloane & Company (on behalf of Stonegate Mortgage Corporation) Whit Clay, 212-446-1864 Email contact or Investor Contact: Stonegate Mortgage Corporation Michael McFadden, 317-663-5904 Email contact Source: Stonegate Mortgage Corporation HARRISBURG, PA--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - D&H Distributing, the leading North American computer products and consumer electronics distributor, is proud to announce it has won a list of industry honors in the US and Canada since the end of 2015, on behalf of both the company and its individual personnel, respectively. These come from top-flight industry media and associations in the information technology sector and in the consumer electronics/consumer integrator marketplace. Sources of these awards include CRN magazine, CEPro magazine and The ASCII Group in the United States, and CDN magazine in Canada. D&H and D&H Canada have won the following honors in the past four months: The 2015 ASCII Group Distribution Survey - D&H won or tied 11 out of 16 categories in the survey, more than any other broadline distributor in the report. This is the seventh year running that D&H has won more categories than any other distributor in its class throughout the survey. D&H won for criteria including accurate and timely shipping, ease-of-doing-business with its sales reps and its credit department, knowledgeable and helpful sales reps, best pre-sales support, quick issue resolution, and website ease-of-use. CRN Channel Chiefs 2016 - D&H had five executives named to this list of channel leaders. Jeff Davis, Senior Vice President of Sales Rob Eby, Vice President of Purchasing Mary Campbell, Vice President of Marketing Peter DiMarco, Vice President of VAR Sales, Computer Products Division Tim Billing, Vice President of Product Management, Global Vendors Davis, Campbell and Eby have each appeared on the Channel Chiefs list seven times previously. D&H is excited to have Peter DiMarco and Tim Billing added to the list this year. CDN Magazine Top 25 Newsmakers 2015 - D&H Canada General Manager Greg Tobin was named to this prestigious annual ranking, which lists channel executives according to their prominence in industry media. This is Greg's sixth appearance in this yearly feature, announced in March 2016. CEPro Quest for Quality Awards- D&H won a Platinum Award (highest level) for its Social Media Presence, and a Gold Award for its Trade Show Presence. This win was just announced by CEPro on April 1, 2016. "We're thrilled that D&H Distributing's programs, and the personnel who have managed and advocated for those offerings, are generating a level of value that is worthy of recognition in the channel community," said Dan Schwab, co-president of D&H Distributing. "We're grateful to our resellers, vendor partners and the media for embracing these efforts. Together we will continue to drive success in the marketplace." About D&H Distributing As the nation's leading technology distributor, D&H provides a wealth of resources to empower solution providers and consultants, delivering a broad selection of SMB categories, products and applications. Its offerings span networking, mobility, server and infrastructure, SOHO and mobile applications, consumer electronics and gaming. D&H's multimarket expertise, account-dedicated sales teams, sterling service and flexible financing options are unmatched in the industry. D&H ships out of five separate locations in North America, including its US headquarters in Harrisburg and its Canadian headquarters in Brampton, Ontario. Additional US warehouses are located in Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; and Fresno, CA. Call D&H toll-free at (800) 340-1001 or visit www.dandh.com. Contact: Suzanne Mattaboni Suzanne Mattaboni Communications, Inc. For D&H Distributing (610) 261-4560 suzgm@aol.com TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Members of the media are invited to attend a press conference regarding infrastructure with the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, and Josh Colle, TTC Chair. Date: Thursday, April 7, 2016 Event: Visit to TTC - Harvey Shop (photo op) Time: 10:30 a.m. (Members of the media are encouraged to arrive anytime after 10:00 a.m. to allow time to be escorted to the photo op area at the Body Structural Repair Section.) Media availability: 10:45 a.m. Location: Toronto Transit Commission Hillcrest Complex Harvey Shop 1138 Bathurst Street Toronto, Ontario Follow us on Twitter at @INFC_eng Contacts: Press Office Office of the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities 613-991-0947 Infrastructure Canada 613-960-9251 Toll free: 1-877-250-7154 media@infc.gc.ca DUBLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Research and Marketshas announced the addition of the"HVAC Controls Market by System, Component, Revenue Source, Application, and Geography - Global Trend and Forecast to 2022"report to their offering. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO ) The HVAC controls market is expected to reach USD 17.51 Billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 10.8% between 2016 & 2022 The growth of the market is driven by factors such as the increasing demand for improved energy-efficient devices and low environmental impact with the use of HVAC controls, increasing use of IP technology, growing number of construction activities, and increased legislation and energy management initiatives. Factors such as high level of efficiency through wireless controls & sensors and tax reduction offered by government for the implementation of HVAC controls are also supporting the growth of this market. The HVAC controls market for the commercial and residential buildings applications is expected to grow at a high CAGR as compared to that for the industrial buildings application. Building owners are implementing HVAC systems to reduce energy consumption and increase energy efficiency to reduce energy costs. There are a number of government regulations encouraging the implementation of HVAC controls in existing and new residential buildings. Furthermore, several governments offer tax credit on the installation of HVAC controls, which has further accelerated the adoption rate of HVAC controls in the residential buildings application. The market for integrated control systems is growing because of their benefit of providing various controls such as temperature, ventilation, and humidity controls through a single device. It is majorly used in the industrial buildings application where there is a need to maintain the temperature according to the manufacturing process, the requirement of the products being manufactured, and the raw materials stored. The market for integrated control systems is expected to grow at the highest CAGR since these systems help in identifying and collecting data regarding the requirement of the environment to be maintained in that area and automatically maintain the environment at appropriate levels. Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.) invests heavily in R&D for designing innovative products to match the market needs and explore new opportunities to drive the growth and profitability. The company is focusing on new product developments and acquisitions as the major growth strategies. In February 2016, the company launched a new app which would provide managers with real-time data and analysis of a plant on their smartphones. In January 2016, it acquired Elster Division of Melrose Industries PLC (U.S.), one of the leading providers of thermal gas solutions for commercial, industrial, and residential heating systems. Scope of the Report: By System: - Temperature Control - Ventilation Control - Humidity Control - Integrated Control By Component: - Sensors - - By Sensor Type - Controllers & Controlled Devices - - Controlled Equipment - - - Control Valves - - - Heating and Cooling Coils - - - Dampers - - - Actuators - - - Pumps & Fans - - Smart Vents - - Controllers - - - VAV Controllers - - - FCU Controllers By Revenue Source: - HVAC Controls - Building Energy Management Systems (BEMS) By Application: - Residential Buildings - Industrial Buildings - Commercial Buildings - - Office Buildings - - Education Centers - - Healthcare Centers - - Hospitality Centers - - Retail Centers - - Others Companies Mentioned - Delta Controls Inc. - Distech Controls Inc. - Emerson Electric Co. - Honeywell International Inc. - Ingersoll Rand PLC. - Johnson Controls, Inc. - KMC Controls, Inc. - Lennox International Inc. - Schneider Electric SE - Siemens AG - United Technologies Corporation For more information visithttp://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/bq3466/hvac_controls 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 Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016-04-06 15:07 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of AB "Grigeo Grigiskes", legal entity code 110012450, registered office: Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania (hereinafter - the Company), is convened by initiative and the decision of the Board of the Company on the 29 April, 2016, at 11 a.m.The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders will be held at the Company's Office at Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania, the first floor of Company's administration building.Registration of shareholders starts at 10.15 a.m., ends at 10.45 a.m.The accounting day of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is 22 April 2016. The persons who were shareholders of the Company at the close of the accounting day of the Meeting shall have the right to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders in person or may authorise other persons to vote for them as proxies or may conclude an agreement on the disposal of the voting right with third parties.The shareholders' proprietary rights accounting day is 13 May 2016. The proprietary rights (right to receive dividend) will be held by persons who, at the close of the tenth working day after the General Meeting of Shareholders which adopted the appropriate decision, i.e. on 13 May 2016, will be the shareholders of the Company.The agenda of the Meeting:1. Consolidated annual report of the Company for the year 2015.2. Company's Auditor's report.3. Approval of the set of consolidated and separate financial statements of the Company for the year 2015.4. Formation of the reserve for acquisition of own shares.5. The appropriation of the Company's profit for the year 2015.6. Acquisition of own shares.7. Selection of the firm of auditors and setting the conditions for auditor remuneration.A person attending the General Meeting of Shareholders and entitled to vote shall produce a document which is a proof of his identity. A person who is not a shareholder shall additionally produce a document attesting to his right to vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholder entitled to participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders shall have the right to authorise, in writing, a natural or legal person to participate and vote on his behalf at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Such a written authorisation must be approved in accordance with the procedure laid down in legal acts. Shareholder entitled to participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders shall also have the right to authorise, by means of electronic communications, a natural or legal person to participate and vote on his behalf at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders. Such a proxy of the shareholder need not be certified by a notary. The power of attorney issued through electronic communication means must be confirmed by the shareholder with a safe electronic signature developed by safe signature equipment and approved by a qualified certificate effective in the Republic of Lithuania. The proxy given by means of electronic communications and the notice of the given proxy shall be submitted to the Company by e-mail info@grigeogrigiskes.lt not later than on the last business day before the General Meeting of Shareholders. The authorised person shall have the same rights as would be held by the shareholder represented by him, unless the issued authorisation or laws provide for narrower rights of the authorised person. The Company has not set the proxy form.The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders by means of electronic communications.A shareholder or a person authorised by him shall have a right to vote in writing in advance by filling in the general ballot paper. The General ballot paper will be provided on the Company's website www.grigeo.lt, under the heading "Investor Relations". If the person who had completed the general ballot paper is not a shareholder, the completed general ballot paper must be accompanied by a document confirming the right to vote. The duly completed general ballot paper must be delivered or sent by mail to the Company's Office at Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania not later than on the last business day before the General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all the votes, have a right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders. Draft decisions on the proposed issues or, when it is not mandatory to adopt decisions, explanatory notes on each proposed issue of the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders must be presented alongside with the proposal. Proposals to the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders shall be submitted in writing by e-mail to info@grigeogrigiskes.lt or delivered or sent by mail to the Company's office at Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania. The agenda will be supplemented if the proposal is received not later than 14 days before the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.Shareholders who hold shares carrying at least 1/20 of all votes, have a right of proposing draft decisions on the issues already included in the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders, to nominate the audit firm. The proposed draft decisions at any time before the General Meeting of Shareholders must be presented in writing by sending them by mail to the Company's office at Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania, or by e-mail info@grigeogrigiskes.lt. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose draft decisions on the agenda issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders, nominate the audit firm in writing during the Meeting.Shareholders have the right to ask questions concerning the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in advance. Questions may be submitted by e-mail to info@grigeogrigiskes.lt or delivered or sent by mail to the Company's office at Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania not later than 25 April 2016. Responses of a general character shall be posted on the Company's website www.grigeo.lt, under the heading "Investor Relations". The Company will not respond personally to the shareholder if the respective information is presented on the Company's website.The shareholders can get acquainted with the documents held by the Company related to the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, draft resolutions of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, and other documents to be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders as well as to get information regarding execution of the shareholders' rights at the company's office located Vilniaus g. 10, Grigiskes, Vilniaus m. sav., Lithuania on weekdays from 7.30 a.m. till 4.30 p.m. or on the Company's website www.grigeo.lt, under the heading "Investor Relations".The total number of the Company's shares and the number of shares granting voting rights during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is the same and amounts to 65,700,000. ISIN code of the Company's shares is LT0000102030.All the information regarding the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders is presented on the Company's website www.grigeo.lt, under the heading "Investor Relations" or provided by telephone +370 5 243 5801.Gintautas Pangonis President of AB Grigeo Grigiskes (+370-5) 243 58 01 Top executive joins online printing company Management at the online printing company UNITEDPRINT SE, which owns the well-known print24.com, has been given a boost thanks to the appointment of Andreas Moner, a globally recognised industry professional and expert in the online printing market. He is taking over as CEO, while Ali Jason Bazooband, Managing Director for Innovation/Marketing, will act as his deputy. "I am very pleased that Mr. Moner is joining our company in this important role. I believe this is a clear sign that we are on the right track. As a well-known industry professional, Andreas Moner has not only gained a wide experience in the printing industry, but his work has also largely helped to shape it. He has held several management roles over the years, during which time he (among other things) successfully expanded Koenig Bauer AG, turning it into the second-largest printing press manufacturer in the world. In addition to that, he has built up the best network within the global printing market over the decades and is also a leading expert in the online printing market. In his most recent management role, where he was primarily responsible for purchasing and production, he significantly contributed to the rapid growth of one of our market competitors. As the new CEO, Andreas Moner will help us to secure our market position, grow our healthy expansion, and increase our company's value to our target of over 250 million euros", said Ali Jason Bazooband. In the past year alone, UNITEDPRINT SE launched over 100 new products, services and features, a strategy that will continue to be pursued in 2016 with an extended product offensive. The motto, "Think global. Print local", allows the company to create partner shops under its own USS Unitedprint Shop Services brand, offering access to the international web-to-print market. To date, over 20,000 partners have registered and benefited from a wide product portfolio, which includes top sellers in textile products, photo products, advertising equipment and packaging. Anyone interested can register at www.unitedprintshopservices.com and have a look at the USS Demo Shop to discover the impressive range and advanced shop system. UNITEDPRINT SE is a global and innovation-oriented e-commerce company for print and media. As one of Europe's leading online printers, UNITEDPRINT SE is represented in the marketplace by the renowned brands print24, Easyprint, Unitedprint, getprint, printwhat, FIRSTPRINT, DDK PRINT BIG, infowerk, and Unitedprint Shop Services (USS). The company employs a staff of over 700 people at 26 locations worldwide (in Germany, 21 other European countries, and in Brazil, China, Canada, and the US). In addition to the standard print products, the company provides its customers with high-quality products ranging from the textile printing, photo printing, advertising equipment printing and gastronomy sectors. Customers can also benefit from their 24-hour availability as well as their 30/60/90-payment model, which is unique in this sector. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005810/en/ Contacts: unitedprint.com SE Maria Lehmann 0049 (0)351 27225388 presse@unitedprint.com ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (TSX: GMX)(FRANKFURT: G1M)(STUTTGART: G1M)(BERLIN: G1M)(MUNICH: G1M)(XETRA: G1M)(OTCQX: GLBXF) is pleased to inform shareholders that it has acquired 100% interest in the Cameron Gold Property located in Desjardins, Franquet and Grevet Townships, Quebec (32F/07) approximately 27 km north-northeast of the town of Lebel-sur-Quevillon. The property consists of 30 cells totalling 1,242 hectares and covers 6.4 km of the Cameron Shear Zone, host to the Discovery gold deposit, located 12 km west-northwest of the Globex claim group. The Discovery gold deposit has reported historic Measured resources of 3,109 tonnes grading 8.95 gpt Au for 895 oz, Indicated resources of 1,278,973 tonnes grading 5.74 gpt Au for 236,180 oz and Inferred resources 1,545,500 tonnes grading 5.93 gpt Au for 294,473 oz Au (Source: Technical Report on the Scoping Study and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Discovery Project, by InnovExplo Inc., prepared by Carl Pelletier, P.Geo for Cadiscor Resources, filed by Cadiscor on SEDAR on September 30, 2008). Directly adjoining Globex's Cameron Property to the west is the Flordin/Cartwright gold property. The Flordin gold deposit has an historic resource estimate which includes; Measured resources of 116,000 tonnes grading 3.25 gpt Au for 12,133 oz Au; Indicated resources of 2,707,000 tonnes grading 1.77 gpt Au for 153,998 oz Au and; Inferred resources of 2,199,000 tonnes grading 1.95 gpt Au for 137,561 oz Au (Source: Technical Report and Resource Estimated on the Flordin Property by InnovExplo Inc. by Pierre-Luc Richard, P.Geo and Carl Pelletier, P.Geo for North American Palladium Ltd, filed by North American Palladium Ltd. on SEDAR on August 26, 2011). The Cartwright Zone gold deposit has a reported historic resource of 82,930 tonnes grading 10.5 gpt Au (Source: SIGEOM, P. Duhaime, 1988). The Flordin, Discovery and Cartwright resource estimates have not been reviewed by a Qualified Person for Globex; the reader is referred to the identified sources for full details. The mineralization hosted on the Discovery, Flordin and Cartwright gold deposits are not necessarily indicative of the mineralization that may be hosted on Globex's Cameron Gold Property. Globex's Cameron Gold Property has been subject to a number of exploration programs culminating in 119 drill holes, 57 of which are in the area of the Principal Gold Zone, surface mapping and sampling as well as several ground geophysical surveys (HEM, Mag, IP). Gold was intersected in numerous drill holes and in several stripped outcrops. Much of the previous drilling was within 300 metres of surface, intersecting wide zones of low grade gold with occasional spikes into the multi ounce range over narrow widths. SIGEOM, the Quebec government geological information internet site contains reports describing gold values as high as 21.8 gpt Au over 1.5 m, 8.23 gpt Au over 1.3 m, 8.13 gpt Au over 1 m, 7.41 gpt Au over 1.1 m, 28 gpt Au over 0.37 m, 16.1 gpt Au over 0.68 m, 7.72 gpt Au over 1.44 m, 17.8 gpt Au over 1.05 m and other narrow high grade intersections within broad low grade gold mineralized zones related to the Cameron Shear structure. Globex will recompile and study all the technical data from the property and that of adjacent gold deposits to define target areas for new exploration along the prolific gold localizing Cameron Shear. Included in the acquisition is $740,000 of assessment credits. This press release was written by Jack Stoch, P. Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101. We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 - 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9 Forward Looking Statements: A detailed discussion of the risks is available in the "Annual Information Form" filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. 44,797,706 shares issued and outstanding Contacts: Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir. President & CEO Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. 819.797.5242 819.797.1470 (FAX) info@globexmining.com www.globexmining.com LAVAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Savaria Corporation ("Savaria") (TSX: SIS), one of North America's leaders in the accessibility industry, today announced that Silver Cross Automotive, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Savaria, has signed a definitive agreement to purchase the automotive division of Shoppers Home Health Care (a division of Shoppers Drug Mart) ("SHHC Automotive"). SHHC Automotive has long held the Canadian leadership position as a retailer of wheelchair van conversions and mobility adaptation for vehicles, with a 16-year history in the business. As Canada's largest manufacturer of wheelchair accessible minivans, Savaria believes that this strategic acquisition will offer new and exceptional retail distribution opportunities from coast to coast given SHHC Automotive's established presence in the key markets of Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Edmonton, London, Waterloo, Toronto and Moncton. This acquired business is expected to yield sales of approximately $15 million annually for Savaria with an EBITDA of $1.5 million excluding synergies of lift products, Silver Cross products or existing van conversion sales. Savaria will use cash on hand to pay for the acquisition, which will cost approximately $10 million, net of adjustments. "The depth of expertise, experience and vital customer relationships within SHHC Automotive is without peer in the industry. We will be able to reach new markets and new customers with this strategic transaction, allowing us to sell more Savaria-built products as well as complementary products," said Marcel Bourassa, CEO & President of Savaria. Savaria will brand these newly acquired automotive locations under the Silver Cross banner, with some locations offering the complete portfolio of accessibility products such as stair lifts, wheelchair lifts, scooters and daily mobility aids. Savaria acquired the business of Silver Cross in September 2014. The transaction is expected to close in May 2016 and is subject to customary conditions, including the receipt of relevant third party approvals. Laurentian Bank Securities acted as financial advisor and Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP acted as legal advisor to Savaria in connection with the transaction. About Savaria Savaria Corporation (savaria.com) is one of the North America's leaders in the accessibility industry focused on meeting the needs of people with mobility challenges. Savaria designs, manufactures, distributes and installs primarily elevators for home and commercial use, as well as stairlifts and vertical and inclined platform lifts. With the acquisition of Silver Cross, the Corporation now operates a lead generation program to capture and distribute leads on potential customers to close to 100 affiliates in North America; also, it is a franchisor of stores through which new and recycled accessibility equipment is sold. In addition, Savaria converts and adapts minivans to be wheelchair accessible. The diversity of its product line, one of the world's most comprehensive, enables the Corporation to stand out by proposing an integrated and customized solution for its customers' mobility needs. Its operations in China have substantially grown and the collaboration with Savaria's other Canadian facilities increases its competitive edge in the market place. The Corporation records more than 60% of its revenue outside Canada, primarily in the United States. It operates a sales network of some 400 active retailers and affiliates in North America and employs some 440 people at its head office and plant in Laval (Quebec) and at its plants and sales offices in Brampton and London (Ontario), Calgary (Alberta) and Huizhou (China). Cautionary Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation, including, but not limited to, forward-looking statements in respect of the transaction for the acquisition of SHHC Automotive (the "Transaction"). Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "anticipate", believe", "expect", "plan", "intend", "forecast", "target", "may", "will", "should", "could ", "estimate", "predict" or similar words suggesting future outcomes or language suggesting an outlook. Forward-looking information contained in this press release is based on Savaria's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, Savaria. Although Savaria believes that such statements are reasonable, no assurance can be given that such expectations will prove to be correct. Savaria assumes no responsibility to update or revise forward-looking information to reflect new events or circumstances unless required by law. There are risks inherent in the nature of the Transaction, including risks regarding the integration of SHHC Automotive, incorrect assessments of the value of SHHC Automotive, and the failure to obtain the required third party approvals and to satisfy the other conditions to the closing of the Transaction, which could result in the termination of the agreement to acquire SHHC Automotive. Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/savariabettermobility Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mobilityforlife Contacts: Helene Bernier, CPA, CA Vice President, Finance 1-800-931-5655, ext. 248 helene.bernier@savaria.com Marcel Bourassa President and Chief Executive Officer 1-800-661-5112 marcel.bourassa@savaria.com www.savaria.com NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - PharmaCyte Biotech (OTCQB: PMCB) expects to begin its clinical trial in advanced pancreatic cancer in 2016; however, locking down an exact date has been a challenge given the company dramatically changed course with its clinical trial design. While the new trial design offers PharmaCyte a much better shot at success with FDA and EMA approval, it has also been an exercise in patience for the company's leadership and its shareholders. After visiting Austrianova's live-cell encapsulation facility in the Thai Science Park, we were impressed with all of the work being done to outfit a "one-of-a-kind" state of the art manufacturing facility, which at that time was being made GMP-compliant for a clinical trial to be held solely in Australia and to meet the guidelines of that country's drug regulatory agency -- the Therapeutic Goods Administration or TGA. In fact, the Thai facility where PharmaCyte's signature live-cell encapsulation technology, Cell-in-a-Box , and the live cells contained inside that make up the company's pancreatic cancer therapy, would have been ready for a clinical trial to begin in Australia months ago using the old trial design. But, as Kenneth L. Waggoner, the Chief Executive Officer of PharmaCyte, tells us, moving the clinical trial to the United States with sites in Europe meant that Austrianova's facility had to now comply with the far more stringent regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). "I don't think most people are aware that our change in trial design also led to a change in GMP requirements at Austrianova's facility. When we changed our clinical trial design to meet what our 'world-renowned' oncologists felt was a therapy that can address a critical unmet medical need for pancreatic cancer patients, we moved the trial and trial sites predominantly to the U.S. so that Translational Drug Development (TD2) could head up the trial and do so under the watchful eyes of the FDA and EMA. Of course, this meant that Austrianova would now have to complete a great deal more documentation and processes than required by the TGA to comply with the GMP requirements of these two new regulatory agencies. "There has been an incredible amount of work that has gone on at Austrianova's facility since Chamow & Associates visited in December 2015, and we're confident that we are getting close to announcing the facility is GMP-compliant. Getting the facility ready to conduct a clinical trial in the United States with a few study sites in Europe versus in Australia alone, has required the generation of volumes of documentation and procedures. It's a slow and tedious process, but one where we'll benefit in the end. After all, this new trial design gives us the greatest shot at success where there is a real need in the pancreatic cancer community for an effective therapy when the 'gold-standard' no longer works. So, while it may be an exercise in patience on this side of the clinical trial, we feel that the advantages of the new trial design and the addition of TD2 as our lead CRO with most of the trial sites in the U.S. give us a real shot at getting our therapy approved." About Stock Market Media Group Stock Market Media Group is a Content Development IR firm offering a platform for corporate stories to unfold in the media with research reports, corporate videos, CEO interviews and feature news articles. This article was written based upon publicly available information. PharmaCyte Biotech has not endorsed this article, and Stock Market Media Group was not compensated for its production. Stock Market Media Group may from time to time include our own opinions about the companies, their business, markets and opportunities in our articles. Any opinions we may offer about any of the companies we write about are solely our own, and are made in reliance upon our rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and are provided solely for the general opinionated discussion of our readers. Our opinions should not be considered to be complete, precise, accurate, or current investment advice, or construed or interpreted as research. Any investment decisions you may make concerning any of the securities we write about are solely your responsibility based on your own due diligence. Our publications are provided only as an informational aid, and as a starting point for doing additional independent research. We encourage you to invest carefully and read the investor information available at the web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at: www.sec.gov, where you can also find all of PMCB's filings and disclosures. We also recommend, as a general rule, that before investing in any securities you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks. We are not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or adviser. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. Our publications about any of the companies we write about are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security. For more information: www.stockmarketmediagroup.com. Contact: Stock Market Media Group info@stockmarketmediagroup.com ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Explor Resources Inc. ("Explor" or the "Corporation") (TSX VENTURE: EXS)(OTCQX: EXSFF)(FRANKFURT: E1H1)(BERLIN: E1H1) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an agreement with AGORA Internet Relations Corp.("AGORA") in order to increase awareness about Explor on the web. The Corporation will receive significant exposure through millions of content brand insertions on the AGORA network and extensive search engine marketing over the next 12 months. In addition, exclusive sponsorships of invaluable digital properties such as AGORACOM TV, the AGORACOM home page and the AGORACOM Twitter account will serve to significantly raise the brand awareness of the Company among small cap investors. Christian Dupont, President of Explor stated, "AGORA has proven to be a leader in the online marketing space. We are delighted to have retained their services to expand our online presence." Shares for Services Program The Corporation intends to issue shares for services to AGORA in exchange for the online advertising, marketing and branding services ("Advertising Services"). Pursuant to the terms of the agreement, the Corporation will be issuing; -- $10,000+ HST in Shares for Advertising Services up to April 15, 2016 (Campaign Preparation) -- $10,000+ HST in Shares for Advertising Services up to the end of Third Month July 1st, 2016 -- $10,000+ HST in Shares for Advertising Services up to the end of Sixth Month October 1st, 2016 -- $10,000+ HST in Shares for Advertising Services up to the end of Ninth month January 1st, 2017 -- $10,000+ HST in Shares for Advertising Services up to the end of Twelfth Month April 1st, 2017 The number of shares to be issued at the end of each period will be determined by using the closing price of the Shares of the Corporation on the TSX Venture Exchange on the first trading day following each period for which the Advertising Services were provided by AGORA, subject to a minimum price of $0.05 per share. Each issuance of shares for Advertising Services by AGORA is subject to TSX Venture approval. The term of the Agreement is for 12 months effective immediately. The Corporation will issue a press release upon each issuances of shares under the terms of the agreement. About AGORACOM AGORACOM is the pioneer of online investor relations, online conferences and online branding services to North American small and mid-cap public companies, with more than 250 companies served. More than just lip service, AGORACOM is the home of more than 808K investors that visited 5.6 million times and read 52.4 million pages of information every year (Average 2008 - 2015). AGORACOM traffic ranks within the top 0.5% of all websites around the world. These traffic results are independently tracked and verified by Google analytics. AGORACOM traffic can be attributed to its strategy of maintaining the cleanest, moderated small-cap discussion as a result of implementing the first ever Investor Controlled Stock Discussion Forums. AGORACOM Founder, George Tsiolis, publishes the leading blog on small to mid-cap investor relations. His 50 Small-Cap CEO Lessons are a must read for CEO's looking to increase their education and knowledge about online investor relations. Explor Resources Inc. is a publicly listed company trading on the TSX Venture (EXS), on the OTCQX (EXSFF) and on the Frankfurt and Berlin Stock Exchanges (E1H1). This Press Release was prepared by Explor. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the Policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has reviewed or accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. About Explor Resources Inc. Explor Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based natural resources company with mineral holdings in Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick. Explor is currently focused on exploration in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt. The belt is found in both provinces of Ontario and Quebec with approximately 33% in Ontario and 67% in Quebec. The Belt has produced in excess of 180,000,000 ounces of gold and 450,000,000 tonnes of cu-zn ore over the last 100 years. The Corporation was continued under the laws of Alberta in 1986 and has had its main office in Quebec since 2006. Explor Resources Flagship project is the Timmins Porcupine West (TPW) Project located in the Porcupine mining camp, in the Province of Ontario. Teck Resources Ltd. is currently conducting an exploration program as part of an earn-in on the TPW property. The TPW mineral resource (Press Release dated August 27, 2013) includes the following: Open Pit Mineral Resources at a 0.30 g/t Au cut-off grade are as follows: Indicated: 213,000 oz (4,283,000 tonnes at 1.55 g/t Au) Inferred: 77,000 oz (1,140,000 tonnes at 2.09 g/t Au) Underground Mineral Resources at a 1.70 g/t Au cut-off grade are as follows: Indicated: 396,000 oz (4,420,000 tonnes at 2.79 g/t Au) Inferred: 393,000 oz (5,185,000 tonnes at 2.36 g/t Au) This document may contain forward-looking statements relating to Explor's operations or to the environment in which it operates. Such statements are based on operations, estimates, forecasts and projections. They are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and may be beyond Explor's control. A number of important factors could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements, including those set forth in other public filling. In addition, such statements relate to the date on which they are made. Consequently, undue reliance should not be placed on such forward-looking statements. Explor disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, save and except as may be required by applicable securities laws. Contacts: Explor Resources Inc. Christian Dupont President 888-997-4630 or 819-797-4630 819-797-6050 (FAX) info@explorresources.com www.explorresources.com OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Today is National Tartan Day-a day for celebrating the contributions to our country of the more than four million Canadians who have Scottish ancestry. Canada joins with many other countries around the world today in recognizing the achievements of their citizens who hail from Scotland. National Tartan Day is marked annually on April 6, the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath, the Scottish declaration of independence, in 1320. The tartan, a traditional woolen fabric woven in patterns that look checkered or striped (plaid), has long been a symbol of Scotland and is worn proudly by members of its diaspora, including those in Canada. Canada's national tartan, the Maple Leaf Tartan, was created in 1964 by David Weiser in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967. It was proudly worn by Canadians for many years and elevated to official status in 2010. This year, as we mark the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage, we acknowledge the many women of Scottish heritage who have contributed a great deal to Canada. They include suffragist Nellie McClung; the first woman doctor licensed in Ontario, Jenny Kidd Gowanlock Trout; the first woman elected to the House of Commons, Agnes McPhail; and renowned Canadian author Alice Munro. As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I encourage all Canadians to celebrate the accomplishments, honour the people, and commemorate the events that helped shape the Canada we know today. Learn more about our official tartan, The Maple Leaf Tartan, and wear it with pride! Stay Connected Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Flickr. Contacts: Pierre-Olivier Herbert Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage 819-997-7788 Media Relations Canadian Heritage 819-994-9101 1-866-569-6155 PCH.media-media.PCH@Canada.ca WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - General Motors Company (GM) said that Chevrolet, Buick and GMC will expand their military discount programs through May 31, 2016, for all 21 million U.S. military veterans and their spouses, in honor of National Military Appreciation Month. GM offers most comprehensive automotive military discount program. The program is typically available to U.S. military veterans within one year of separation, active-duty personnel, reservists, retirees and their spouses. In honor of May's National Military Appreciation Month, the program expands to include all veterans - regardless of their separation date - and their spouses. The discount is available for popular models, including the all-new Chevrolet Malibu, GMC Sierra and Buick Encore. Because the discount can be combined with most current incentives, veterans could save thousands of dollars on some vehicles, the company said. 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. AB "Rokiskio suris", Pramones str.3, Rokiskis, Lithuania, 2016-04-06 15:27 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Upon initiative and resolution of the Board of Directors, on April 29, 2016 at 12.00 it shall be summoned the general meeting of shareholders of Rokiskio suris AB which will take place in the company's head office (Pramones str. 3, Rokiskis. The company code: 173057512).Registration starts at 11 am and lasts until 11.45am.The general meeting's accounting day - April 22, 2016.The rights accounting day of shareholders - May 13, 2016Agenda:1. Auditor's findings regarding the financial statements and annual report. 2. The Audit Committee report. 3. The Company's annual consolidated report for the year 2015. 4. Approval of the consolidated and the company's financial accounting for the year 2015. 5. Allocation of the profit (loss) of the Company of 2015 6. Election of the Company's auditor and establishment of payment conditions .The general meeting of shareholders may be attended and voted by the persons who were shareholders at the end of the meeting accounting date (22th April 2016) or other persons authorized by actual shareholders, or the persons with whom the voting transference agreement was made.Participants of the general meeting of shareholders with the voting right should have a document proving their identity. The person, who is not a shareholder, in addition should present a document proving his/her right to vote on the general meeting of shareholders.Each shareholder shall have a right, in the manner established by the Law, to authorise another (natural or legal) person on his/her behalf to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders. The authorised person must provide a power of attorney certified in the manner established by the Law. A power of attorney issued in a foreign state must be translated into Lithuanian and legalised in the manner established by the Law. At the General Meeting of Shareholders, an authorised person shall have the same rights as would be held by the shareholder represented by him/her. The Company does not establish special form of power of attorney. The right of shareholder to participate at the general meeting of shareholders also means the right to question.A shareholder or a person authorised by him/her shall have a right to vote in writing in advance by filling in the General Voting Ballot. The General Voting Ballot shall be placed on the company's website not later than 21 day before the General meeting http://www.rokiskio.com at the heading "Investor Relations". Upon a shareholder's request, the Company, not later than 10 days before the General Meeting, shall send the General Voting Ballot by registered mail free of charge. The filled in General Voting Ballot and the document confirming the voting right (if any) must be submitted to the Company in writing not later than on the last business day before the General Meeting of Shareholders by sending it by registered mail to AB "Rokiskio suris", Pramones street 3, Rokiskis LT-42150. The Company keeps the right to not account a shareholder's General Voting Ballot if the General Voting Ballot does not comply with the requirement set by the Law on Joint Stock Companies Article 30 parts 3 and 4, or the ballot is filled misleadingly and it is impossible to read the shareholder's will for one or another item.The Company is not providing the possibility to attend and vote at the General Meeting of Shareholders through electronic means of communication.Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing to supplement the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders. Draft decisions on the proposed issues shall be submitted together with the proposal or, if the decisions do not need to be approved, explanations on each proposed issue of the General Meeting of Shareholders shall be presented. Proposal to supplement the agenda must be presented in writing by sending it by registered mail to AB "Rokiskio suris", Pramones street 3, Rokiskis LT-42150, Lithuania, or by e-mail rokiskio.suris@rokiskio.com. The agenda will be supplemented if the proposal is received not later than 14 days before the General Meeting of Shareholders.Each shareholder holding shares that grant at least 1/20 of all votes shall have the right of proposing draft resolutions on the issues already included or to be included in the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders, to nominate additional candidates to the Board, the audit company. The proposed draft decisions must be presented in writing by sending them by registered mail to AB "Rokiskio suris", Pramones street 3, Rokiskis LT-42150, Lithuania, or by e-mail rokiskio.suris@rokiskio.com. The shareholders shall also be entitled to propose in writing draft resolutions on the agenda issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders during the Meeting.The shareholders shall have the right to present questions related to the agenda issues of the General Meeting of Shareholders to the Company in advance in writing, by providing the shareholder's personal identification. The Company undertakes to respond if the questions are received not later than 3 business days before the General Meeting of Shareholders. The Company will not respond personally to the shareholder if the respective information is posted on the Company's website.The Company may refuse to respond to the questions of a shareholder if they are related with the commercial (manufacturing) secret, confidential information, then the shareholder will be informed unless the identity of questioner cannot be identified. The provision shall not be applied when a shareholder or a group of shareholders possessing over of shares present to the company a determined written obligation not to disclose the commercial (manufacturing) secret, confidential information. In this is a case, each shareholder will receive responds to their questions personally.The shareholders could get familiarised with the documents possessed by the Company related to the agenda of the Meeting, including draft resolutions, and other documents to be submitted to the General Meeting of Shareholders as well as to get information regarding execution of the shareholders' rights at the headquarters of AB "Rokiskio suris", Pramones street 3, Rokiskis LT-42150, Lithuania, or on the company's website www.rokiskio.com under the heading 'Investor Relations'.Total number of shares of Rokiskio suris AB is 35 867 970 ordinary registered shares. Nominal value of the shares is 0.29 EUR each. ISIN of the Company's shares is LT000100372.Number of the shares with voting right - 33 453 391.The Company has purchased 2 414 579 treasury shares.Draft resolutions and consolidated audited financial reports for the year 2015 including the annual report will be provided on 7, April 2016.Dalius Trumpa Board Chairman +370 458 55200 PARIS, FRANCE--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - Partech Shaker, the campus for growth launched by Partech Ventures, today announced "Europe Made Easy," a new service to help foreign tech businesses enter the European market. The service is designed to help companies better understand the European legal & business landscape, allowing them to avoid common pitfalls and reducing their time to market. The service will give access to a curated network of reliable experts in various fields such as HR, legal, finance or accounting and a global bank. Among the partners are the US HR startup Hired (for tech talents), the global HR network Agelium (for country managers & sales teams), the bank BNP Paribas, the French startup Mercurr, whose mission is to help companies grow worldwide, the global law firm Orrick and a network of independent experts in finance, tax & subsidies as well as a few public players such as Paris&Co, the economic development and innovation agency of Paris and Business France. This service comes in addition to the Shaker's state of the art and flexible office-as-a-service, available in the heart of Paris. Companies benefiting from the service will be able to work along some of the best American & European startups, including Dropbox, Pinterest, HotelTonight, Seevibes, Influans, Kantox, and Kartable. Additionally, the Partech Shaker brings a powerful business network to its resident entrepreneurs, helping them connect with leading established companies from many industries, digital experts & prestigious schools. French serial entrepreneur Bertrand Diard, co-founder of Talend, chose the Partech Shaker to launch his new venture, Influans. "France has the best engineers and there is more loyalty for talents here than in the US. For these reasons, Paris has become the best place in Europe to work on your product, said Bertrand Diard, co-founder of Influans. "At the Partech Shaker, we benefit from a great work environment which helps Influans for building disruption with our technology, develop a strong company culture and retain key talent." Even larger companies benefit from the Shaker's incredible list of services: "The Partech Shaker has far exceeded my expectations of a coworking space," said Matt Thorne, Head of IT for Pinterest. "The Partech Shaker is a unique place in France, which gathers promising startups, large corporations as well as international tech companies like Dropbox, who are contributing to the current digital revolution, said Philippe Plichon, CEO of Dropbox France. "It is a very good choice to develop your business in EMEA." "Partech Shaker has proved to be a great environment to host our French office," said Amir Segall, VP International at HotelTonight. "Not only has it provided us access to a broad range of like-minded companies and individuals, but the understanding and flexibility the Partech team can provide companies like HotelTonight at different stages of growth cannot be understated." "We are proud to leverage the ecosystem Partech Shaker has built to help foreign companies grow their business in Europe, starting with France. Paris is now the first European city for the number of Fortune 500's headquarters, the first European country for Innovation and has a more vibrant tech scene than ever, with more than 12,000 startups." said Nicolas El Baze, General Partner, Partech Ventures. The Partech Shaker was awarded the third place by French LifeStyle webzine MerciAlfred in its famous "Best Place To Work" ranking last January. The place already has a great hall of fame with companies like Sigfox, PriceMatch (acquired by Booking.com), Dropbox, Pinterest, Hotel Tonight, Sunrise (acquired by Microsoft), Kantox and Breaz (acquired by Hired). ABOUT PARTECH SHAKER: Launched in 2014 by the VC firm Partech Ventures, the Partech Shaker is both a workplace & a B2B networking venue dedicated to open-innovation & growth through collaboration. Based in central Paris' "Silicon Sentier", the campus is the first place in Paris to welcome startups which have already raised seed money and are business-ready. In the mix of residents: famous US startups such as Dropbox or Pinterest, who decided to develop their European operations from there, growing startups backed by Partech Ventures, such as Kantox, Kartable or Influans, and executives from leading established companies (Alcatel-Lucent, BNP-Paribas, Dentsu Aegis Network, Econocom, France Televisions, Haworth, Saint-Gobain). www.partechshaker.com Twitter: @PartechShaker Facebook: Partech Shaker LinkedIn: Partech Shaker Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/4/6/11G092146/Images/land-at-partech-shaker-61c34a45e2fabe5b90c626846960d32d.jpg Media Contact: In EMEA: Marie Raichvarg MD Partech Shaker mraichvarg@partechventures.com In the USA: Hugo Levy-Heidmann hlevy-heidmann@partechventures.com +1 415 788 2929 PUNE, India, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market research report " Cell Lysis/Cell Fractionation Market by Product (Consumables (Reagents, Enzymes, Detergent), Instruments (Sonicator, Homogenizer)), Type of Cell (Microbial, Mammalian), End User (Research Laboratories, Biopharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies) - Global Forecasts to 2021", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Cell Lysis Market is expected to reach USD 3.84 Billion by 2021 from USD 2.35 Billion in 2016 at a CAGR of 10.3% from 2016 to 2021. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 ) Browse 84 market data Tables and 41 Figures spread through 135 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Cell Lysis/Cell Fractionation Market" http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cell-lysis-market-260138321.html Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report. The major factor driving the growth of this market are increasing government funding for research, high prevalence of diseases, expanding biotechnology and biopharmaceutical industries, and growing focus on personalized medicine The report segments this market based on product, type of cell, end-users, and regions. Among the various product, the consumables segment is expected to account for the largest share of the market. The consumables market includes reagents and kits, beads, and disposables. Reagents and kits are further classified into enzymes, detergent solutions, and other reagents and kits. Enzymes segment is projected to grow at the highest CAGR from 2016 to 2021. The high growth of enzymes segment can be attributed to the increasing investments for cell-based research. On the basis of type of cell, the Cell Lysis Market is segmented into mammalian cells, microbial cells, and other cells. The mammalian cells segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global Cell Lysis Market in 2016. Rising aging population and increasing need for development of new cell therapies are the key factors propelling the growth of this market. End-users, included in the Cell Lysis Market are research laboratories and institutes, biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and others. The research laboratories and institutes segment is expected to account for the largest share of the global Cell Lysis Market in 2016. High incidence of diseases and research investments in life sciences is driving the growth of this market. Based on regions, the global Cell Lysis/Cell Fractionation Market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia, and the Rest of the World (RoW). North America is expected to account for the largest share of the market during the forecast period. Growth in this regional segment is driven by factors such as increase in aging population, and increasing government funding in North America. Talk To Our Research Experts: http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalyst.asp?id=260138321 Key players in the Cell Lysis Market include Beckman Coulter, Inc. (U.S.), Becton, Dickinson and Company (U.S.), Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (U.S.), Cell Signaling Technology, Inc. (U.S.), F. Hoffman-La Roche AG (Switzerland), Merck KGaA (Germany), Miltenyi Biotec (Germany), QIAGEN N.V. (Netherlands), Qsonica, LLC. (U.S.), and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (U.S.). Browse Related Reports: Protein Purification & Isolation Market by Technology (Precipitation, Dialysis, Electrophoresis, Western Blotting, Ion Exchange & Affinity Chromatography) by Product (Instruments, Kits, Reagents, Resins) by Application & End User - Global Forecast to 2020. http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/protein-purification-isolation-market-267756277.html Cell Isolation/Cell Separation Market by Product (Reagent, Media, Serum, Bead, Centrifuge), Cell Type (Human, Stem Cell, Animal), Technique (Filtration, Surface Marker), Application (Research, IVD) & End user (Hospital, Biotechnology) - Forecast to 2020 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/cell-isolation-market-103931479.html About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets is world's No. 2 firm in terms of annually published premium market research reports. Serving 1700 global fortune enterprises with more than 1200 premium studies in a year, M&M is catering to multitude of clients across 8 different industrial verticals. We specialize in consulting assignments and business research across high growth markets, cutting edge technologies and newer applications. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. M&M's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "RT" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets. The new included chapters on Methodology and Benchmarking presented with high quality analytical infographics in our reports gives complete visibility of how the numbers have been arrived and defend the accuracy of the numbers. We at MarketsandMarkets are inspired to help our clients grow by providing apt business insight with our huge market intelligence repository. Contact: Mr. Rohan Unit No. 802, 8th Floor, Tower - 7, Magarpatta City SEZ, Hadapsar, Pune - 411013, Maharashtra, India. Tel: +1-888-6006-441. Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit MarketsandMarkets Blog @ http://mnmblog.org/market-research/healthcare/biotechnology Connect with us on LinkedIn @http://www.linkedin.com/company/marketsandmarkets ALBANY, New York, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new market report published by Transparency Market Researchentitled"Portable Gas Detection Equipment Market-Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2015-2023,"theglobal portable gas detection equipment markethad generated revenues of US$ 1,145.3 Mn in 2014; this is projected to expand at a CAGR of 4.8% during the forecast period (2015 - 2023) and reach US$ 1,737.3 Mn by 2023. The market for portable gas detection equipment is mainly driven by growing preference for flexible, portable equipment for gas leak detection, especially in confined areas with limited access. The expanding applications of this equipment across the mining, industrial, and oil & gas end-use sectors is another driving factor for the market. Moreover, the advent of wearable gas detection equipment is anticipated to offer huge growth potential to the global portable gas detection equipment market in the coming years. On the contrary, a factor hindering market growth is low awareness about portable gas equipment, which receives stiff competition from fixed gas detection equipment that is already installed in major locations. Full Research Report on Global Portable Gas Detection Equipment Market with detailed figures and segmentation at: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/portable-gas-detection-equipment-market.html By type, the portable gas detection equipment market has been segmented into wearable and non-wearable gas detection equipment. In 2014, the non-wearable gas detection equipment segment occupied a major share in the market. However, the wearable gas detection segment is anticipated to experience swift growth. These can be body worn, which not only increases their comfort but also increases their ease of work. In the non-wearable segment, sniffers account for the majority market share owing to their popularity and widespread use across both industrial and non-industrial sectors. Get Sample Report Copy OR For further inquiries, click here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=10115 By end-use, the global portable gas detection equipment market was led by the industrial sector owing to high demand for gas detection equipment in Asia Pacific, North America, and Europe. The market's size is substantial in the mining and oil & portable gas end-use sectors. In the coming years, the oil & gas segment is further expected to embrace gas detection technologies and thus it is anticipated to remain the fastest-growing end-use segment in the global portable gas detection equipment market. The impact of wearable gas detection is also expected to be significantly high in certain applications in these end-use sectors. Browse the Press Release of this report, here: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/portable-gas-detection-equipment-market.htm Some of the key players in the global portable gas detection equipment market are Industrial Scientific Corporation, Dragerwerk AG & Co., KGaA, Dragerwerk AG & Co. KGaA, Mine Safety Appliances, Crowcon Detection Instruments, Ltd., Trolex Ltd., Honeywell Analytics, RAE Systems Inc., Detcon, Inc., and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. The portable gas detection equipment market is segmented as below: Portable Gas Detection Equipment Market By End-use Oil & Portable Gas Mining Industrial Building Automation Others By Type Wearable Gas Detectors Non-wearable Gas Detectors Sniffers Others By Geography North America The U.S. Rest of North America Europe EU7 CIS Rest of Europe Asia Pacific Japan China South Asia Australasia Rest of APAC Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East & Africa & Latin America Brazil Rest of Latin America Other Research Reports by Transparency Market Research: Gas Detection Equipment Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/gas-detector-equipment.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/gas-detector-equipment.html System Integration Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/system-integration-market.html http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/system-integration-market.html Reciprocating Compressors Market:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/china-reciprocating-compressors-market.html About Us Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company,providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMR's experiencedteam of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge. Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector - such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMR's syndicated reports thrive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement. Contact Sudip.S 90 State Street, Suite 700 Albany, NY12207 Tel: +1-518-618-1030 USA- Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453 Email:sales@transparencymarketresearch.com Website:http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com Blog:http://www.europlat.org VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Western Potash Corp. ("Western" or the "Company") (TSX: WPX)(FRANKFURT: AHE) announced the resignations of Bill Xue, Patrick Power and Limin Sun from the Board of Directors effective April 5th, 2016. Each of the three former directors will remain with the Company in their current executive positions. It is the intention of the Board to reduce the proportion of executive directors, thereby optimizing its composition and efficiency. Geoffrey Chang, Chairman of the Board said, "The Company thanks Mr. Xue, Mr. Power and Ms. Sun for their service and commitment to the Board." ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS Geoffrey Chang, Chairman Cautions Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained herein constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the filing and results of the Technical Report. 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 of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking 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 information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information that is set out herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Contacts: Western Potash Corp. Angela Aydon Corporate Communications Manager 604-689-9378 The 13th International Green Energy Expo & Conference began today at EXCO, Daegu. It is Korea's largest new renewable energy show. SEOUL, South Korea, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hosted by the Metropolitan City of Daegu and Gyeongbuk Province and organized by Korea New & Renewable Energy Association, Korea Photovoltaic Industry Association, Korea Wind Energy Industry Association, Korea Hydrogen Industry Association, KOTRA, EXCO, and Korea Energy News, 250 companies from 26 countries are participating in the show in 750 booths. Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160406/352024 This year's show takes a strong significance in the industry since the Paris Climate Change Conference was held last year and the Korean government decided double its investment of R&D in clean energy from 1.5 trillion won. Some of the global companies that are participating in the show are Schmid from Germany, JA Solar from China, and ABB from Switzerland, specializing in electric equipment, power grid and smart grid, and high-efficiency solar module. In Korea, some of the major power corporates like KEPCO, KOGAS(Korea Gas Corporation), and Daesung Energy joined, along with smaller companies that came up with brilliant development in new renewable energy like Shinsung Solar Energy, BJ Power, and Parang E&C. The City of Daegu is introducing the three major new energy industries represented by dispersed power self-sufficient energy city, national industrial district block-type micro grid implementation project, and smart grid expansion project. Gyeongbuk Province is introducing the environmental-friendly Ulleung-do project by using micro grid. Also, these two hosts are introducing the electric car, hybrid car, and clean diesel car together. The tracks in the International Green Energy Conference will be divided by the type of power including fuel cell, wind power, water power, natural resource map, coal gas, as well as global solar power market insight, which will be hosted by Korean and foreign specialists, and they will be presenting the topics in terms of market, technology, policy, and finance. Also, GPVC 2016(Global Photovoltaic Conference) participated by 500 people from 12 countries will be held during the show. Co-organized by KOTRA and Pohang Technopark, there will be an export consultation between 100 buyers from 15 countries and the exhibitors. Also as a cooperative project to implement the marine and wind power between Korea and Netherlands, there will be a signing ceremony between Wind Mind and Haecheon. Also, New Renewable Energy Business Conference hosted by Turkey Foreign Investment Agency will be held. LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Not-for-profit healthcare organisation Nuffield Health has today announced an agreement with software provider InterSystems to implement TrakCare, an integrated Electronic Health Record solution. InterSystems TrakCare is a leading-edge, unified healthcare information system that will provide Nuffield Health's clinicians, employees and patients with comprehensive tools and information, improving services and supporting quality and safety of care. The partnership forms the cornerstone of Nuffield Health's vision to provide integrated healthcare propositions across the organisation, as well as the ability to provide effective transfer of care with the NHS.TrakCare's comprehensive clinical and administrative functionality, intuitive user interface, internet-based technology and ability to integrate a health record across care settings make it a compelling proposition. Alan Payne, Nuffield Health's Chief Digital and Information Officer says, "Better use of data and technology has the power to improve health and transform the quality of care. Our ambition is to create integrated healthcare, with the patient at the centre of all that we do and our partnership with InterSystems will help us to achieve this. By joining up an individual's healthcare journey, we can not only provide an enhanced experience, but give the consumer more control over their health and wellbeing." Nuffield Health and InterSystems will work initially on a proof of concept solution which will be deployed into pilot sites, before a full rollout across their 31 hospitals. In parallel, the use of TrakCare and other technology from InterSystems will be progressed in wider areas of Nuffield Health's business with the intention of providing a single consistent health record accessible by clinicians and patients inside and outside of a clinical setting. Mark Palmer, Country Manager, InterSystems commented, "We are delighted to have been chosen as Nuffield Health's integrated EHR partner. Nuffield Health is a progressive healthcare organisation with a clear vision of their goals and the road they need to take to succeed. We look forward to sharing their journey to deliver integrated healthcare for their customers' health and wellbeing." Notes to editors: About Nuffield Health Nuffield Health is one of the leading not-for-profit healthcare organisations in the UK and has delivered health services for over 50 years. Nuffield Health provides access to more than 10,000 health experts through 31 hospitals, 77 fitness & wellbeing gyms and 212 corporate facilities to help people get healthy, and stay healthy. As the UK's leading employee health and wellbeing provider the organisation work with 60% of the FTSE 100. Nuffield Health also has the largest network of physiotherapists outside of the NHS with 1,900 Physiotherapy fusion clinics and 141 in-house clinics. Vilnius, Lithuania, 2016-04-06 15:59 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board meeting of AB Grigeo Grigiskes on 6 of April, 2016 decided to provide Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of AB Grigeo Grigiskes to be held on 29 of April, 2016, the following information and documents: consolidated annual report of the Company for the year 2015, Auditor's report for the year 2015 and the set of consolidated and separate annual financial statements for the year 2015, project of appropriation of the Company's profit for the year 2015, Draft decisions on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of AB Grigeo Grigiskes to be held on 29 of April, 2016 proposed by the Board, the general ballot paper (see attachments). Gintautas Pangonis President of AB Grigeo Grigiskes (+370-5) 243 58 01 Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=555146 Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann. WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Real estate tycoon Donald Trump is leading in the Pennsylvania Republican primary, according to the results of a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday. The poll found that 39 percent of likely GOP primary voters support Trump, while 30 percent favor Senator Ted Cruz, R-Tex. Ohio Governor John Kasich comes in third at 24 percent, although he is the only Republican who beats either Democratic candidate in head-to-head November matchups in the key swing state. 'Can you be mired in third place among Pennsylvania Republicans and still be your party's best bet come Election Day?' said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll. He added, 'Welcome to Gov. John Kasich's world, where the big prize is tantalizingly close, but blocked by two candidates with the same goal.' On the Democratic side, the poll showed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with a 50 percent to 44 percent lead over Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. There is a wide gender gap among likely Pennsylvania Democratic primary voters, as men back Sanders 53 percent to 40 percent, while women back Clinton 56 percent to 38 percent. The Quinnipiac survey of 1,737 Pennsylvania voters was conducted March 30th through April 4th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. The survey included 578 likely Republican primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points and 514 likely Democratic primary voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.3 percentage points. (Photo Credit: Gage Skidmore) 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. BOSTON, MA--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) -Bio-IT World announced the winners of the 2016 Best Practices Awards this morning at Cambridge Healthtech Institute's Fifteenth Annual Bio-IT World Conference and Expo. Entries from AstraZeneca, DNAnexus, Amgen, Human Longevity, and XOMA were honored. Since 2003, the Bio-IT World Best Practices Awards has honored excellence in bioinformatics, basic and clinical research, and IT frameworks for biology and drug discovery. Winners were chosen in five categories this year from seventeen finalists named in mid-March. "Fourteen years after our first Best Practices competition, I continue to be inspired by the work done in our field," said Bio-IT World Editor Allison Proffitt. "The Bio-IT World Community is increasingly open, and the partnerships and projects showcased here prove our dedication to collaborative excellence." Bio-IT World debuted the Best Practices Awards at the second Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, hoping to not only elevate the critical role of information technology in modern biomedical research, but also to highlight platforms and strategies that could be widely shared across the industry to improve the quality, pace, and reach of science. In the years since, hundreds of projects have been entered in the annual competition, and over 80 prizes have been given out to the most outstanding entries. This year, a panel of ten invited expert judges joined the Bio-IT World editors in reviewing detailed submissions from pharmaceutical companies, academic centers, government agencies, and technology providers. The awards ceremony was held at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, where the winning teams received their prizes from Proffitt, veteran judge Jerry Schindler, Vice President, Late-Stage Clinical Development Statistics at Merck & Co., and Philips Kuhl, President of conference organizer Cambridge Healthtech Institute. 2016 Bio-IT World Best Practices Award Winners: Clinical IT & Precision Medicine: Amgen Real World Data Platform and Analytics The Real World Data (RWD) Platform is a game changer in Amgen's pursuit of serving patients by delivering innovative human therapeutic products faster. It provides a common high performance analytics ecosystem hosting large volumes of real world patient claims data and electronic medical records, enabling epidemiologists, analysts and scientists to deliver insights in a timely and cost effective manner. We used Agile approach to implement a Hadoop based Enterprise Data Lake(EDL) to compute large disparate data sets and harmonized real world patient data assets, patient cohorts with diseases and/or receiving Amgen/competitor therapies to consistently address questions across the drug commercialization lifecycle. The impact includes: Speed to Patient Impact -- Timely and accurate identification of patient populations to inform clinical study design/forecast, resulting in bringing new medicines to patients faster Patient Safety and Value Impact -- Efficient and scientifically rigorous comparative safety/effectiveness analyses to timely inform the risk/benefit of Amgen's medicines Informatics: FDA & DNAnexus FDA advancing precision medicine with precisionFDA: a collaborative informatics community to explore regulatory science The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays an integral role in President Obama's Precision Medicine Initiative, which foresees the day when an individual's medical care will be tailored in part based on their unique characteristics and genetic make-up. To accelerate progress towards this vision, FDA's Chief Health Informatics Officer, Taha Kass-Hout, M.D., began investigating the concept of a research and development portal that would allow community members to test, pilot, share, and validate existing and new bioinformatics approaches for processing the vast amount of genomic data that is collected using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology. After conducting market research, collaborating with FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health, awarding the R&D contract to DNAnexus to build precisionFDA, and assembling a project team, precisionFDA was initiated on July 22, 2015 and launched in beta on December 15, 2015. Knowledge Management: AstraZeneca CI360 (Competitive Intelligence 360) CI360 is a Competitive Intelligence framework developed by Research & Development Information (RDI) within AstraZeneca. It includes a data integration framework, Drug and Trial landscape view and communities SharePoint Online site. It is built using a hybrid of big data/linked data technologies to maximize scalability and data heterogeneity, supporting a plethora of key CI business questions. Judges Prize: Human Longevity HLI Knowledgebase & Health Nucleus Human Longevity Inc. (HLI) has built a cloud based multifaceted genomic and phenotype knowledge management and application ecosystem that includes the HLI Knowledgebase, the HLI Health Nucleus client and clinician portals and the Health Nucleus Integrated Avatar Application. The HLI Knowledgebase currently includes over 10000 integrated health records and the infrastructure to store, query and visualize genomic, metabolomic, microbiome and high quality phenotype data in scientifically meaningful ways. As a key source to the Knowledgebase, the Health Nucleus suite of modalities and applications provide the broadest set of phenotype and medical data available, while the Integrated Avatar application puts the client in the center of their integrated genomic and phenotype results in a novel and engaging way new to the health exploration market. Together, these applications represent a state of the art technology continuum supporting the comprehensive assembly and utility of the deepest and broadest genomics and phenotypic knowledge management solution available. Editors' Choice Award: XOMA XAbTracker & SeqAgent: Integrated LIMS and sequence analysis tools for Antibody Phage Display We present SeqAgent and XAbTacker, an integrated DNA sequence analysis package specifically designed for use with antibody V-regions (Fv) obtained from antibody phage display experiments together with a data management system that will track clones from discovery, through assays and sequence identification until final clone selections are made. SeqAgent is a semi-automated pipeline that takes DNA input files, converts to protein, identifies structural features and produces alignments that are highly annotated and ready for final analysis. XAbTracker provides flexible workflow and data management for antibody discovery and is integrated with SeqAgent. These platforms were developed in-house utilizing current best practices for web application and open-source technologies leading to an extremely low cost, robust, and flexible web-based research management system. Development of these systems has drastically shortened the time required for data analysis and management as well as increased the throughput of our drug discovery efforts. About Bio-IT World (www.Bio-ITWorld.com) Part of Healthtech Publishing, Bio-IT World provides outstanding coverage of cutting-edge trends and technologies that impact the management and analysis of life sciences data, including next-generation sequencing, drug discovery, predictive and systems biology, informatics tools, clinical trials, and personalized medicine. Through a variety of sources including, Bio-ITWorld.com, Weekly Update Newsletter and the Bio-IT World News Bulletins, Bio-IT World is a leading source of news and opinion on technology and strategic innovation in the life sciences, including drug discovery and development. About Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) (www.Healthtech.com) Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI), a division of Cambridge Innovation Institute, is the preeminent life science network for leading researchers and business experts from top pharmaceutical, biotech, CROs, academia, and niche service providers. CHI is renowned for its vast conference portfolio held worldwide including PepTalk, Molecular Medicine Tri-Conference, SCOPE Summit, Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, PEGS Summit, Drug Discovery Chemistry, Biomarker World Congress, World Pharmaceutical Congress, Next Generation Dx Summit and Discovery on Target. CHI's portfolio of products include Cambridge Healthtech Institute Conferences, Barnett International, Insight Pharma Reports, Cambridge Marketing Consultants, Cambridge Meeting Planners, Knowledge Foundation, Bio-IT World, Clinical Informatics News and Diagnostics World. Contact: Lisa Scimemi Corporate Communications Director lscimemi@healthtech.com BELLINGHAM, WA--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - eXp Realty International Corporation (OTCQB: EXPI), announced today that it has entered into an agreement with VirBELA, LLC, one of the leading developers of 3-D, avatar-based, immersive online worlds, which environments EXPI has utilized since inception in 2009 to house, build and run its real estate brokerage operations. As part of the agreement, EXPI has exclusive rights to the VirBELA platform within the real estate industry and an option to exclusive rights within a number of vertical industries including mortgage origination, mortgage lending, title and escrow and title insurance. "Since our inception, we have built a family of more than 1,100 professionals across 35 states and parts of Canada whose office, workplace, and world is and has been 3-D, avatar-based online environments," said Founder and CEO, Glenn Sanford. "VirBELA represents the next generation of these environments and recognizes their potential impact on business, collaboration, and community. We're excited to share with our agent-owners and shareholders news of exclusive worldwide rights for real estate and related verticals," said Sanford. VirBELA was incubated at the University of California San Diego's Rady School of Management with a $1.7 million grant from the Graduate Management Admission Council. VirBELA used that grant to develop and demonstrate an immersive, 3D virtual-reality campus environment that hosted a global business-simulation competition for management students at top universities on three continents. The company has several clients using its immersive platform. "We're excited about our partnership with eXp," said VirBELA CEO, Dr. Alex Howland. "No company has come close to leveraging immersive online environments to the degree or in the ways that eXp has for the benefit of its agents, brokers and shareholders. We believe firmly in the company's mission, management and growth and look forward to being an integral part of its continued success going forward." About eXp Realty International Corporation eXp Realty International Corporation is the holding company for a number of companies most notably eXp Realty LLC, the Agent-Owned Cloud Brokerage' as a full-service real estate brokerage providing 24/7 access to collaborative tools, training, and socialization for real estate brokers and agents through its 3-D, fully-immersive, cloud office environment. This effectively reduces agents' overhead, increases their profits, and provides greater service value to consumers. As a publicly-traded company, eXp Realty International Corporation uniquely offers agents and brokers the opportunity to earn equity awards for production and contributions to overall company growth. eXp Realty, LLC and eXp Realty of Canada, Inc. also feature an aggressive revenue sharing program that pays agents a percentage of gross commission income earned by fellow real estate professionals who they attract into the Company. For more information you can follow eXp Realty International Corporation on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, or visit investors.exprealty.com or www.exprealty.com. The statements contained herein may include statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements that are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements.Such forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof, and the Company undertakes no obligation to revise or update them. These statements include, but are not limited to, statements about the Company's expansion, revenue growth, operating results, financial performance and net income changes. Such statements are not guarantees of future performance. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in forward-looking statements include changes in business or other market conditions; the difficulty of keeping expense growth at modest levels while increasing revenues; and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including but not limited to the most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K. Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2016/4/6/11G092161/Images/EXPI-VirBELA-e2ab9a87fe3ab599b2fe181f5b8a35ab.jpg Investor Relations Contact Information: Glenn Sanford Chairman & CEO eXp Realty International Corporation glenn@exprealty.com 360-389-2426 Trade and Media Contact Information: Jason Gesing President eXp Realty International Corporation jason@exprealty.com 617-970-8518 NEWTON, MA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Sensors Expo & Conference is pleased to announce a co-location with SMTA International, the industry's top conference on electronics assembly and advanced packaging, for Sensors Midwest 2016. Taking place September 27-28, 2016 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Sensors Midwest will feature education, networking, and a packed Exhibit Floor with an anticipated 65+ exhibitors showcasing their latest sensing technologies and products. Sensors Midwest will bring the best technical innovation and thought leadership in the world of sensors to the Midwest. The event will expand its focus on important sensing technologies including Embedded Systems, Printed/Flexibles/Wearables, IoT, MEMS, Robotics, Wireless, and more. The Education Program will feature different tracks in Theater sessions that will explore cutting-edge trends and applications, case studies, and demos from the industry's experts. "Sensors Midwest is excited to be back in Rosemont. This event will bring together the entire sensors ecosystem that will benefit both attendees and exhibitors. We are looking forward to reconnecting with our audience from the Midwest as they seek to keep up with market advances and technologies," stated Cal Groton, Group Director, Sensors Midwest. SMTA President, Bill Barthel, commented, "I am pleased to welcome Sensors Midwest to the SMTA International Technical Conference and Exhibition. We see the leading manufacturing solutions and the cutting edge sensors technology as a great combination for attendees. This integration is especially timely as we move into the era of Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things." Exhibitors for Sensors Midwest are already signing up to showcase their latest products and technologies. "LORD Sensing is looking forward to returning to the Chicago area for the Sensors Midwest 2016 Show. Sensors Expo is consistently our most successful event, and being able to showcase our technological innovations in the heart of America is an exciting opportunity," added Collin Parker, Marketing Specialist, LORD MicroStrain Sensing Systems. Exhibitor sign up is available by contacting Cal Groton (cgroton@questex.com) or Joe Zuccerella (jzuccerella@questex.com). Registration for Sensors Midwest will open in Spring 2016; stay tuned to sensorsmidwest.com. The SMTA International Conference and Exhibition (smta.org/smtai/) will be held September 25-29, 2016 and Sensors Midwest will be held September 27-28, 2016 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL. For information, contact: Ashley Secondini Marketing Manager 617-219-8358 Email Contact VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - The results of the ground-breaking SALOME research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Psychiatry, show chronic heroin addiction now has another effective treatment tool -- hydromorphone, a licensed pain medication. "The findings of the SALOME researchers shine a new light on how we can help people with heroin addictions," said Health Minister Terry Lake. "While methadone and suboxone are effective for many people with opioid addictions, there is a proportion of people who have not found success with these treatments. The SALOME study shows there are alternative treatments that may be able to help those who don't respond to methadone and suboxone. This is very exciting research and could go a long way in helping those who need it." SALOME, which stands for the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness, found hydromorphone (HDM) to be as effective as diacetylmorphine (pharmaceutical-grade prescription heroin) for people who have not benefited from previous treatments, such as methadone or suboxone. Led by researchers from Providence Health Care (PHC), the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHEOS) at St. Paul's Hospital and the School of Population and Public Health of the University of British Columbia (UBC), it's the only clinical trial of its kind in the world. "Prior to SALOME, hydromorphone had never been evaluated as a substitution treatment for opioid dependence," said SALOME Principal Investigator Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes. "Hydromorphone is a widely available licensed pain medication. Our study shows that hydromorphone is as effective as diacetylmorphine, providing a licensed alternative to treat severe opioid use disorder. Providing injectable opioids in specialized clinics under supervision ensures safety of both the patients and the community, and the provision of comprehensive care." A total of 202 participants in Vancouver were randomized in a six-month double blind study to receive either injectable hydromorphone or injectable diacetylmorphine (DAM). The medication was administered at PHC's Crosstown Clinic under the supervision of an interdisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, social workers and counselors. Key findings of the research include: Injectable hydromorphone is as effective as injectable diacetylmorphine for long-term street opioid users not currently benefitting from available treatments (estimated to be about 10 per cent of the opioid-dependent population not currently in treatment). Study participants on both medications reported far fewer days of street-heroin and other opioid use at six months (three to five days per month), compared to almost daily illicit opioid use prior to being enrolled in the study. Participants also reported a significant reduction in days of illegal activities (from an average of 14.1 days per month to less than four). Almost 80% were retained in treatment at six months. Hydromorphone and diacetylmorphine are both safe when taken in a clinical setting. Out of a total of 88,451 injections, there were 14 overdoses and 11 seizures, all successfully managed in the clinic. If these events had occurred in the street, the outcomes may have been fatal. "As diacetylmorphine is not presently available in many countries for political and/or regulatory reasons, hydromorphone has a significant advantage as a legal, licensed pain medication," said Dr. Patricia Daly, Vancouver Coastal Health's chief medical health officer. "While methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone are effective heroin addiction treatments for many people and should remain the first line responses, no single treatment is effective for all individuals. Every person with severe opioid use disorder left untreated is at high risk of serious illness and premature death." SALOME started in late 2011 and concluded in late 2015. It is the follow-up study to the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), North America's first-ever clinical trial of diacetylmorphine/prescription heroin as an opioid agonist treatment medication. The SALOME study received funding from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and private donors through the fundraising efforts of the InnerChange Foundation and St. Paul's Foundation. Providence Health Care funded clinical care for participants during the study. The cost of the study was $7.4 million. Learn More For more information on SALOME including b-roll you can download, please visit www.providencehealthcare.org/salome/. Providence Health Care (PHC)is one of Canada's largest faith-based health care organizations, operating 17 health care facilities in Greater Vancouver. PHC operates one of two adult academic health science centres in the province -- St. Paul's Hospital -- performs cutting-edge research in more than 30 clinical specialties, and focuses its services on six "populations of emphasis": cardio-pulmonary risks and illnesses, HIV/AIDS, mental health, renal risks and illness, specialized needs in aging and urban health and is home to the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. www.providencehealthcare.org. The Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences: A centre of the Providence Health Care Research Institute (PHCRI) and the University of British Columbia, the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences (CHEOS) is a multidisciplinary research collective founded to pursue excellence through the evaluation, interpretation, and dissemination of health outcomes information. CHEOS works across all of PHCRI's health disciplines, including aging, cardiopulmonary health, urban health, HIV/AIDS, mental health, and kidney health. The University of British Columbia (UBC)is one of North America's largest public research and teaching institutions,and is consistently ranked among the world's 40 best universities. Surrounded by the beauty of the Canadian West, it is a place that inspires bold, new ways of thinking that have helped make it a national leader in areas as diverse as community service learning, sustainability and research commercialization. UBC offers more than 58,000 students a range of innovative programs and attracts $519 million per year in research funding from government, non-profit organizations and industry through over 8,000 projects and grants. For more information: Ann Gibbon Senior Communications Specialist - Media Relations Providence Health Care agibbon@providencehealth.bc.ca Tel: 604-682-2344 extension 66987 Cell: 604-837-6003 SACRAMENTO, CA--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - Spring marks the start of not only brighter and longer days, but also your child's college fund with California's 529 College Savings Plan, ScholarShare. Just as a young plant needs only a little sun and water to reach for the sky, with ScholarShare, you can start small with a nominal $25 to open an account and begin reducing the cost of higher education. And, as you celebrate birth throughout the year, ScholarShare makes it easy for friends and family to e-gift college savings to help the account grow. As the days get brighter this season, each contribution will make your child's future brighter as well. Ranked as one of the top rated 529 college savings plans in the country by Morningstar, an independent investment research firm, ScholarShare makes continued savings simple with its online resources. With the planning tool, you can estimate how your savings will add up by the time your child goes off to college and set a savings goals. After that, automatic contribution plans are available to help keep you on track toward achieving your goals with as little as $15 per pay period using automatic payroll deduction. Anyone with a valid social security number or taxpayer identification number can spring into action and open a new account. Any earnings from the college fund are tax deferred and withdrawals are free from federal and California state income tax when used to pay for qualified higher education expenses. This includes mandatory fees, books, supplies, computer equipment, or even certain room and board costs. About the ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan: To sign up for an account or for more information about the plan, visit www.scholarshare.com. For information about the ScholarShare Investment Board (SIB), visit http://www.treasurer.ca.gov/scholarshare. Like ScholarShare on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/scholarshare529 and follow us on Twitter at @ScholarShare529. Named for the section of the IRS code under which they were created, 529 plans offer valuable tax advantages. Contributions are made with money that has already been taxed. Once funds are placed in the account, investment earnings, if any, are not federally or state taxed, if withdrawn to pay for qualified higher education expenses. The ScholarShare 529 College Savings Plan Twitter and Facebook pages are managed by the State of California. For more news, please follow the Treasurer on Twitter at @CalTreasurer, and on Facebook at California State Treasurer's Office. OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada Canada's post-secondary institutions are at the forefront of excellence in science, research and innovation. They help to train the workforce of tomorrow and create the knowledge and insights needed by the private and public sectors to build a clean, sustainable economy. The Minister of Science, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, today announced that the Government of Canada will launch the application process for a $2-billion fund that will improve research and innovation infrastructure at universities and colleges across the country. Announced in Budget 2016, the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund will enhance and modernize research facilities on Canadian campuses and improve the environmental sustainability of these facilities. Consultation with the provinces and territories as well as work to implement the initiative as quickly as possible are already under way. The targeted, short-term investments under the Fund will promote economic activity across Canada and help Canada's universities and colleges develop highly skilled workers, act as engines of discovery and collaborate on innovations that help Canadian companies compete and grow internationally. Quotes "By improving our college and university facilities, we are supporting innovation, scientific research and entrepreneurship in Canada, which translates into sustainable economic growth and support for all Canadians." - The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science "Canada's post-secondary institutions are front-line agents in fostering science and research excellence. They help to train the workforce of tomorrow and create knowledge and insights necessary for the private sector and policy makers to build a thriving, clean economy. These investments will create good, well-paying jobs that can help the middle class grow and prosper today, while also delivering economic growth for years to come." - The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development "Canada's colleges and institutes welcome these important investments in post-secondary infrastructure. The projects that colleges and institutes undertake will strengthen the research and innovation resources available to businesses and organizations, provide students with opportunities to increase their innovation skills, and enhance the environmental sustainability of campuses and facilities across the country." - Denise Amyot, President & CEO, Colleges and Institutes Canada "The U15 applauds the federal government's support for post-secondary infrastructure. These investments will strengthen Canada's capacity for groundbreaking research and help us to attract and retain top talent, build strong research clusters and foster the culture of innovation that Canada needs to prosper in the globally competitive research environment." - Feridun Hamdullahpur, President and Vice-Chancellor, University of Waterloo, and Chair of U15 "Investment in post-secondary infrastructure is an investment in Canada's next generation of students and researchers. Improving the spaces where discoveries are made and where innovation takes place will fuel prosperity for years to come." - Elizabeth Cannon, President, University of Calgary, and Chair of Universities Canada Quick facts -- The Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund supports the Government of Canada's climate change objectives by encouraging sustainable and green infrastructure projects. -- The Government of Canada will cover up to 50 percent of a project's eligible costs. The remaining funding will come from other partners, including provincial and territorial governments and the institutions themselves. -- Institutions that are affiliated or federated with an eligible institution-for example, research and teaching hospitals, research parks, incubators and accelerators-will also be able to apply through the university or college to which they are affiliated. -- The program will support projects that: -- improve the scale or quality of facilities for research and innovation, including commercialization spaces; -- improve the scale or quality of facilities for specialized training at colleges focused on industry needs; or -- improve the environmental sustainability of research- and innovation- related infrastructure at post-secondary institutions and of college training infrastructure. -- Applications are due by May 9, 2016. Associated links -- Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund web site Follow Minister Bains on Twitter: @MinisterISED Follow Minister Duncan on Twitter and Instagram: @ScienceMin Contacts: Veronique Perron Press Secretary Office of the Minister of Science 343-291-2600 Media Relations Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada 343-291-1777 ic.mediarelations-mediasrelations.ic@canada.ca ALAMEDA, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Chipman Relocation & Logistics' company team building day, held recently during an annual Sales & Leadership Conference, served as a day of volunteering for Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley. Chipman's group of 54 volunteers spent a full day working with AmeriCorps and Habitat for Humanity members on the Muir Ridge development in Martinez, California, building homes while building their team. Muir Ridge is a 20-home mixed-income community development that will provide affordable housing opportunities for families with limited incomes. The first phase of the project involves constructing 10 new homes. Chipman volunteers, which included teams from each of the company's 8 offices in California, Washington and Oregon, performed multiple jobs on those newly constructed homes to help complete the builds. "We did everything from painting the interior, installing fixtures, putting up doors, framed porches, and set up the foundation of driveways," says Odelkis Padron, Chipman Marketing Coordinator. Padron, who organized the conference and company team building day, said she chose the Habitat for Humanity EB/SV project because "it was for a great cause." "We can help local families build their homes," she says. The volunteer work was "a great bonding experience," and an ideal project for the Chipman team. "At the end of the day, we are a service company and we help people," says Padron. "Our goal was to motivate our team and inspire them to do that every day at work." To learn more about Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley and the Muir Ridge development, visit www.habitatebsv.org. For more information about Chipman Relocation & Logistics, visit www.chipmanrelo.com. About Chipman Relocation & Logistics Established in 1939, Chipman is a relocation and logistics company that handles residential, commercial, and international moves. Chipman's services include a full suite of workplace services, warehousing and distribution solutions, as well as international freight forwarding and storage. This wide variety of offered services have allowed Chipman to experience a 60% growth in revenue in the last 5 years and establish branches all along the West Coast. To learn more about Chipman Relocation & Logistics, visit chipmanrelo.com. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2988450 For more information, contact: Odelkis Padron Marketing Coordinator Chipman Relocation & Logistics Office: (510) 748-8700 1040 Marina Village Parkway, Ste. 100 Alameda, CA 94501 www.chipmanrelo.com SEATTLE, WA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- ABODA, one of the industry's largest global housing providers, has announced the addition of Rochester, MN's premier high-rise serviced apartment building, Broadway Plaza to its portfolio. As of April 1, 2016, Royal Management & Development Inc. has entrusted the complete property management of Broadway Plaza to ABODA. "We welcome the leadership of ABODA to the Broadway Plaza family to lead and continue the success of our iconic and unique property and team. We are excited and grateful for this new beginning with the ABODA team," said Imad A. Baker, CCIM, Royal Management & Development Inc. president. "The addition of this premier building into our portfolio is a tremendous opportunity for ABODA as we continue to grow our brand globally and move into new types of business lines," says Lee Curtis, CCHP, ABODA Global Housing Management president. "We are very excited and honored to add the iconic Broadway Plaza and its exceptional staff to the ABODA family." With General Manager, Scott Eggert, at the helm, Broadway Plaza will continue to provide a better hotel alternative in downtown Rochester, MN as part of the ABODA team. Opened in 2004 and sitting at 29 stories and 342 feet, Broadway Plaza is the tallest building in Rochester. The building has 145 newly renovated, luxurious furnished apartments and retail space on the second floor. Located just steps away from the world-renown Mayo Clinic with direct access to the Skyway, residents can easily access everything downtown Rochester offers. Property amenities and services include 24/7 concierge service, continental breakfast, a fitness center, a swimming pool, sauna and steam room, and a business center, all designed to make guests more comfortable during their stay. About ABODA ABODA is an innovative leader in global housing management services, providing end-to-end solutions to some of the biggest brands in the world, many headquartered in the Seattle area where the firm is based. ABODA Global Housing Management uses a logistics-focused approach, combining the best of program planning and administration, inventory management, execution, service delivery and technology to help corporate clients operate more efficiently and enhance customer experiences. ABODA also offers furnishings, property management, and cleaning services in the Greater Seattle Area. Employee-owned ABODA is flexible enough to meet clients' ever-changing business needs through its award-winning customer service. Learn more about ABODA at www.aboda.com or call 1-888-389-0500. About Royal Management & Development Inc. RMD Real Estate Investments established in 1992, is an integrated real estate investment services company that develops and operates commercial real estate in the United States. Since its inception, RMD has focused on providing comprehensive real estate services to international investors looking for core and opportunistic investments in the U.S. market. Our diverse portfolio includes, land, commercial office, residential, retail, and hospitality properties in four U.S. markets: the Washington DC metropolitan area (the second largest office market in the U.S.); Atlanta, Georgia; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Rochester, Minnesota -- known internationally for the presence of The Mayo Clinic. Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2989035 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2989038 Media contact: Jocelyn Haugen ABODA (425) 602-5535 Email Contact EATONTOWN, NJ -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- American CryoStem Corporation (OTC PINK: CRYO), a leading developer and marketer of patented adipose tissue-based cellular technologies for the regenerative and personalized medicine industries with laboratories in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China, today announced that it has expanded with the opening of a new, state-of-the-art lab facility in Princeton, NJ. The Company has moved from its original lab facility into a new, larger laboratory facility that provides processing and bio-banking of adipose tissue (fat) for cosmetic tissue grafting, Stromal Vascular Fraction (SVF), and culturing of autologous adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADSCs). The new laboratory will support the Company's increasing processing and bio-banking operations with far higher capacity, at enhanced efficiency to meet growing demand in the US and internationally -- in addition to increased R&D capabilities. John Arnone, Chairman and CEO of American CryoStem Corporation, stated, "Our new, larger Princeton lab contains a suite of advanced biotechnology and stem cell processing equipment. This investment reflects our confidence in the growing global demand we are seeing for our patented technologies and services, as well as the solid progress achieved in our new business initiatives under active development. "The move into a new, world-class facility is an important company milestone," Mr. Arnone added. "We're excited to be in the new lab as we successfully execute on plan to fully commercialize these advanced stem cell technologies -- with the promise of helping to revolutionize the regenerative medicine industry." Today's announcement marks the culmination of strong company progress. American CryoStem's first US laboratory was in a New Jersey-based biotech incubator that provided capital efficiency during its development stage, enabling it to complete its initial stem cell platform, establish its brand in the industry and receive the Incubator Company of the Year award from the NJ Business Incubation Network. There, it established and validated its proprietary protocols, developed world-class Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's), filed eight US and three international patents and initiated revenue producing services around its adipose tissue collection-processing-expansion-storage platform. Now, and going forward, this new facility increases storage capacity, shortens turnaround times for processing, provides a robust tech platform for additional research and allows the company ample space to deliver its proprietary consumable products to its growing global footprint of processing laboratories. It is located in the heart of New Jersey's biotech and pharmaceutical corridor at Princeton Corporate Plaza, 7 Deer Park Drive, Building 7, Suite C7, Monmouth Junction, NJ 08852. For more information please contact info@americancryostem.com or call the Company directly at 732-747-1007. About American CryoStem Corporation Founded in 2008, American CryoStem Corporation is a biotechnology pioneer, standardizing adipose tissue derived technologies for the fields of regenerative and personalized medicine. The Company has developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to operate state-of-art, FDA-registered, clinical laboratories dedicated to the collection, processing, bio-banking, culturing and differentiation of autologous adipose tissue (fat) and adipose derived stem cells (ADSCs). Leveraging its Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved platform technologies with a portfolio of developed products, the Company is building a global network of licensed laboratory affiliates and physician networks to deliver current and future cellular applications. The Company maintains a portfolio of intellectual property that forms the foundation of its standardized platform and products which support a growing pipeline of stem cell applications and biologic products. The Company's R&D efforts are focused on university and private collaborations to discover, develop and commercialize ADSC therapies. For additional information, please visit www.americancryostem.com and www.acslaboratories.com. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including information about management's view of American CryoStem Corporation's ("the Company") future expectations, plans and prospects. In particular, when used in the preceding discussion, the words "believes," "expects," "intends," "plans," "anticipates," or "may," and similar conditional expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any statements made in this press release other than those of historical fact, about an action, event or development, are forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the results of the Company, its subsidiaries and concepts to be materially different than those expressed or implied in such statements. Unknown or unpredictable factors also could have material adverse effects on the Company's future results. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date hereof. The Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Finally, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these statements after the date of this release, except as required by law, and also takes no obligation to update or correct information prepared by third parties that are not paid for by American CryoStem Corporation. Investor Relations Contact: Todd Markey Vice President, Investor Relations Phone: 818-280-6800 tmarkey@irpartnersinc.com LUXEMBOURG -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- 6 April 2016 RM2 International S.A. RM2 enters into landmark alliance with Zhenshi for production of game-changing pallet RM2 (LSE-AIM: RM2), the sustainable composite pallet innovator, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a strategic cost-saving manufacturing agreement with Zhenshi Holding Group Company Limited of China ("Zhenshi"). Zhenshi is a major shareholder of China Jushi Co. Ltd. ("Jushi"), one of the largest manufacturers of fibreglass in the world, producing over 1.1 million tonnes of glass fibre annually. Fibreglass is one of the key raw materials used in the manufacture of RM2's BLOCKpal pallet. The agreement will allow for the mass production of the RM2 BLOCKpal pallet in Tongxiang, at a facility owned by Zhenshi Group Huamei New Materials Co., Ltd, adjacent to the principal Jushi glass fibre manufacturing plant. Initial production is expected to be deployed in Q1 2017 and will target circa 1.5 million pallets per annum, with projected growth to at least 5 million pallets per annum in the medium term. Pallets produced at the facility will initially be deployed with RM2's customers in North America and Europe. RM2 and Zhenshi believe that there is a significant strategic opportunity for BLOCKpal deployment in the domestic Chinese and other Asian markets as Chinese logistics develop and as China palletizes its vast supply chain. The two companies will also develop additional areas where their resources and expertise are complementary, particularly in the area of logistics. This agreement allows RM2 to address the volume demands of its clients whilst significantly reducing Cost Per Unit (CPU). Some of RM2's manufacturing assets will be transferred to China and, as a consequence of reduced production in Canada, RM2 will fall well short of its 2016 production target. Management analysis has demonstrated that the CPU benefits support this decision. The Company continues to seek to improve and optimise its manufacturing processes and remains committed to volume production in North America and will update the market on these plans over the coming months. President Zhang, Chairman of Zhenshi and President of Jushi, commented: "We believe that large parts of the Chinese logistics chain will become palletized over the coming years. We are convinced, after our own extensive research, that the BLOCKpal is the optimum product in the market. Partnering with RM2 allows us to seize first mover advantage as China moves to palletize its economy in a region of the world with limited forestry resources for the manufacture of wooden pallets. Introducing the BLOCKPal pallet to China will put us on a cleaner and more sustainable path. China needs to reduce its logistics costs and we believe that the widespread use of sustainable, reusable pallets will be a key component of that. We will use all our resources to ensure maximum penetration of the BLOCKpal pallet in China and the broader Asian markets and we look forward to further developing our collaboration with RM2." John Walsh, CEO of RM2, commented: "This is a strategic, long term agreement with Zhenshi which will allow us to offer even greater savings to our existing and future customers in North America and Europe due to the lower CPU, whilst also giving RM2 access to the vast Chinese market. This agreement will enable RM2 to produce pallets at a greater rate and at significantly lower cost, while at the same time, Zhenshi's extensive corporate holdings and relationships makes it uniquely positioned to open the Asian market for the BLOCKpal pallet. RM2 has taken steps to ensure we have the pallets available to service our customers during this transition of our manufacturing assets." For further information, please contact: RM2 International S.A. +44 (0)20 8820 1412 John Walsh, Chief Executive Officer Jean-Francois Blouvac, Chief Financial Officer RBC Capital Markets +44 (0)20 7653 4000 Tristan Lovegrove Pierre Schreuder Ema Jakasovic Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0)20 7638 9571 Simon Rigby Kevin Smith Rob Newman Ellen Wilton Notes to Editors RM2 International S.A. specialises in pallet development, manufacture, supply and management to establish a leading presence in global pallet supply and improve the supply chain of manufacturing and distribution businesses through the effective and efficient use and management of composite pallets. It is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange under the symbol RM2.L. For further information, please visit www.rm2.com. The Zhenshi Group principally engages in the business of composite materials, special steel, mineral exploitation, real estate, hotel and tourism, health care, logistics and financial investments. As at the Latest Practicable Date, Zhenshi directly held a 15.59% equity interest in China Jushi, a company listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in China under the stock code "600176" since April 1999, which is one of the world's leading fiberglass manufacturers and the largest fiberglass manufacturer in China. For further information, please visit www.zhenshigroup.com and www.jushi.com. Contacts: RNS Customer Services 0044-207797-4400 rns@londonstockexchange.com http://www.rns.com According to their latest report, Technavio analysts expect the global lager market for 2016-2020 to exceed USD 591 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 4%. According to Vijay Sarathi, lead research analyst at Technavio for foodresearch, "The global lager market is expected to have a steady year-over-year growth rate during the forecast period due to factors such as increasing population of drinkers of legal age in growing economies. Moreover, vendors offer new and innovative products to cater to changing consumer preferences. The increasing preference for flavored and craft lagers has led to the growth of craft distilleries in many countries such as the US, the UK, and China." Technavio's lead food and beverage market research analysts have identified the following four factors that will drive the global lager market: Demand for premium lager Rising disposable income New product launches Increasing mergers and acquisitions Demand for premium lager The most prominent factor driving the growth of the global lager market is the increasing demand for premium lager products. This is especially true in major markets such as the UK, the US, and Canada. Vendors have responded to this demand with the launch of premium products marketed as authentic and genuine. For instance, in October 2014, Tennent's launched its Black T premium lager in Ireland. In Canada, Mad Jack launched its premium apple lager in March 2015. In October 2015, Diageo launched its Hop House 13 lager in the UK, which is targeted at affluent customers who want premium lagers. Rising disposable income The global economy is expected to see an average YoY growth of over 3% during the forecast period. The resurging global economy and robust growth of rising economies such as China, India, and Brazil is likely to result in an increase in the disposable income of consumers. "With greater purchasing power, consumers will spend more on products that were previously unaffordable," says Vijay. The Indian economy is expected to grow at 7% and the Chinese economy at 7.8%, during the forecast period. New product launches There has been a large number of new product launches by vendors for the purpose of staying ahead of the competition. In April 2015, Tennent Caledonian Breweries launched the T2 lager with reduced alcohol for the health-conscious population. T2 contains about 2% ABV and is available in 50-liter kegs. In June 2015, Robinsons launched its Steam Lager, with about 5.5% ABV. This product won a gold medal at the 2015 British Bottlers Institute. In July 2015, Carlsberg launched its first alcohol-free lager under the Carlsberg brand. In September 2015, RnR Brew along with the legendary rock brand Queen launched Queen Bohemian Lager to celebrate 40 years of the third-best-selling single recording in the UK, Bohemian Rhapsody. Increasing mergers and acquisitions With a view to consolidate their position, larger companies have increasingly acquired smaller niche companies. In February 2014, AB InBev acquired Blue Point Beer Company; in November 2014, it acquired 10 Barrel brewing, which makes the Pub Beer brand. In November 2015, Constellation Brands acquired Ballast Point Brewing and Spirits in a deal worth USD 1 billion. Browse Related Reports: Global Alcoholic Drinks Market 2016-2020 USA Alcoholic Beverages Craft Beer Market 2015-2019 Beer Market in Germany Market Research 2015-2019 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005035/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com Paris & Singapore, 6 April 2016, 7pm - Northwood Investors LLC ("Northwood") today signed an agreement to sell a 25% stake in CeGeREAL to an affiliate of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, at the price of 35.65 per-share[1] (#_ftn1). Following the completion of the transaction to occur in the following days, Northwood's entities will hold in concert 57.48% of CeGeREAL. The sale of a 25% stake to GIC will be the final step in a series of successful sales by Northwood to ensure preservation of the SIIC status of CeGeREAL. "Northwood is excited that GIC will become a significant shareholder in CeGeREAL; and that it believes in the company's vision to grow its asset base over time and to become a best in class French office REIT," said John Kukral, Northwood's founder and director on the board of CeGeREAL. Madeleine Cosgrave, Deputy Head of Real Estate, Europe at GIC commented: "As a long-term value investor, GIC is keen to build scale in the French real estate market. We believe this transaction represents a good opportunity to gain exposure to a high-quality portfolio and to support management in its vision to grow CeGeREAL into a larger office platform." J.P. Morgan and Brookfield Financial acted as financial advisors to Northwood on this transaction. About Northwood Northwood is a privately-held global real estate investment and management firm with over 150 employees worldwide and total assets under management of approximately $9 billion. Northwood employs a fundamental, value-driven investment strategy with a longer-term outlook and a focus on key global cities, including New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London and Paris. Northwood currently owns and manages a diverse portfolio of real estate assets worldwide including office, retail, residential, industrial and hospitality properties. For further information on Northwood, visit: www.northwoodinvestors.com (http://www.northwoodinvestors.com) About GIC GIC is a leading global investment firm with well over US$100 billion in assets under management. Established in 1981 to secure the financial future of Singapore, the firm manages Singapore's foreign reserves. A disciplined long- term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including real estate, private equity, equities and fixed income. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,200 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information on GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg (http://www.gic.com.sg). [1] (#_ftnref1) which corresponds to the price of the offer launched by Northwood on CeGeREAL's shares. Press release (PDF) (http://hugin.info/171822/R/2001382/738422.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: Northwood Investors International Limited via Globenewswire HUG#2001382 According to the latest market research study released by Technavio, theglobal military helicopter maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) marketis expected to exceed USD 11.5 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 3%. This research report titled 'Global Military Helicopter MRO Market 2016-2020', provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes an up to date analysis and forecast for various market segments and all geographical regions. Request sample report: http://goo.gl/s8RmSm The report segments the global military helicopter MRO market by maintenance type and can be divided into four broad segments: Field Airframe Component Engine Global military helicopter MRO market for field maintenance The market for field maintenance is expected to reach USD 5.9 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 3%. According to Abhay Singh, lead analyst at Technavio for defense research, "The field MRO market is highly influenced by the increasing orders of military helicopters from developing regions. For instance, South Korea awarded a contract to Airbus Helicopters and Korean Aerospace Industries to develop next generation light-armed helicopter and light civil helicopter in 2015." Moreover, the defense budget cuts in the US have compelled the country's military to focus on improving its helicopters. For instance, the US Army awarded a contract to DynCorp International in 2015 worth USD 388.5 million to provide field maintenance on rotary wing aircraft. Such developments are expected to boost the market. Global military helicopter MRO market for airframe maintenance The market for airframe maintenance is expected to exceed USD 2 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 2%. The increase in the fleet of helicopters is one of the factors leading to the growth of the market. The airframe of a helicopter is another structure that requires maintenance as per specific procedures. Structural repairs, ABC checks (A visual inspection of aircraft structure, lubrication of nose gear, and functions of emergency light and oxygen levels), (B detailed inspections of systems and components), (C visual and operational checks of the onboard systems), and heavy maintenance visits should be adequately performed to maintain the aircraft airworthiness. The US Army invested USD 591.2 million in purchasing 35 AH-64E Apache Guardian attack helicopters from Boeing in 2015. In the same year, the US Army invested USD 220.6 million in buying 41 UH-72A Lakota utility helicopter from Airbus Helicopters that are equipped with latest Raytheon AN/ARC-231 airborne communication system. These new investments will require adequate maintenance thereby generating a demand for MRO services. Global military helicopter MRO market for component maintenance The market for component maintenance is expected to reach 2 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of over 3%. Component MRO includes maintenance of fuel systems, hydraulics, mechanical, electrical, pneumatics, and landing gear division. These are vital components of helicopters and should be maintained according to the standards prescribed by FAA and EASA. Reduced funding for military helicopter procurement will positively affect growth in the component MRO market because the military will focus on the maintenance and upkeep of existing machinery. Moreover, key developing countries such as Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, South Korea, and Qatar are increasing their defense budgets to purchase more helicopters. For instance, in 2015, Saudi Arabia invested USD 1.9 billion to buy 10 MH-60R Seahawk multi-mission helicopters from Sikorsky under the US Foreign Military Sales program, and they are expected to be in service from 2019. Such investments are likely to boost the market during the forecast period. Global military helicopter MRO market for engine maintenance The market for engine maintenance to exceed USD 1.6 billion by 2020, at a CAGR of over 3%. The engine requires periodic maintenance to improve fuel efficiency and to avoid unscheduled maintenance. This has resulted in numerous military forces across the world to outsource their engine MRO to gain competitive advantage. For instance, in 2015, the US Navy outsourced helicopter maintenance contract worth USD 50 billion to Korean Air, which covers maintenance services for the fleet of 40 CH-53 heavy lift helicopters until 2020. "This increase in outsourcing will help the maintenance market grow," says Abhay. Technavio's aerospace and defense analysts highlight the following five vendors as the top contributors to the global military helicopter MRO market: Airbus Helicopter Bell Helicopter Finmeccanica Russian Helicopters Sikorsky Aircraft Browse Related Reports: Global Military Aviation MRO Market 2015-2019 Heads-up Display Market in Military Aviation in the US 2015-2019 Global Military Aircraft Actuation Systems Market 2016-2020 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005029/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com According to their latest report, Technavio analysts expect the global piezoelectric smart materials market for2016-2020to exceed USD 42 billion by 2020 growing at a CAGR of almost 13%. According to Chandrakumar Badala Jaganathan, lead research analyst at Technavio formetals and minerals, "The global piezoelectric smart materials market is expected to be vibrant during the forecast period due to increasing investment in R&D for product innovation and the rising demand from the automotive industry. In addition, high demand from APAC is expected to further drive market growth." Technavio's lead chemicals and materials market research analysts have identified the following three factors that will drive the global piezoelectric smart materials market: Increase in demand from military and aerospace sector Growing demand from construction industry Rise in R&D efforts Increase in demand from military and aerospace sector The spacecraft industry has provided a tremendous boost to the piezoelectric smart materials market globally. Materials with enhanced functional properties such as shape memory, electrochromism, and piezoelectricity, are gaining demand in the aerospace industries. These materials help in controlling the airflow across the wings of an aircraft, maintaining it in takeoff, flying, and landing it more efficiently with less noise. Some applications for aircraft include wing morphing and flapping wing technologies. These materials are used to solve some common problems with the aircraft such as engine vibration, high cabin noise levels, ice formation on wings, flow separation due to turbulence, and control surfaces in cold climatic conditions. In the military, piezoelectric materials are used in applications such as smart sensors, smart nanorobotics, smart combat suits, and smart skins. The majority of the demand from aerospace industry is expected to come from the US followed by Europe. Growing demand from construction industry The application of piezoelectric smart materials in the construction industry falls into three categories: structural health monitoring, vibration control, and environmental control. Structural health monitoring is where piezoelectric smart materials find their most widespread applications. The primary focus of structural health monitoring lies in the monitoring of loads and detection of damage in the structures. In addition, the trend toward longer and more slender cables has given rise to the demand for piezoelectric smart materials for use in structural monitoring and vibration control. North America has the highest level of activity involving structural health monitoring. In the US, optical fiber grating systems are used to monitor traffic and composite repair monitoring. Additionally, embedded and surface-mounted MEMS sensors are used to monitor concrete and metal structures. "The growing construction sector will lead to a greater demand for piezoelectric smart materials," says Chandrakumar. Rise in R&D efforts Transportation, healthcare, and smart packaging are among the sectors that have been receiving tremendous attention with respect to R&D. In the transportation sector, the military and aerospace sector, followed by the automotive and marine sectors account for the major R&D. In the US, a considerable amount of funding has been offered by organizations such as the Naval Research Laboratory, Army Research Laboratories, Air Force Research Laboratories, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. A lot of this funding has been offered to the universities that have given rise to a lot of startup organizations in the field of smart materials. In Europe, many similar initiatives involving Central European Chapter funded plans. In addition, defense programs, financed by the Western European Union, and a few of the large aerospace companies, are being undertaken by many institutions. Browse Related Reports: Global Printed Sensor Market 2016-2020 Global Thick Film Devices Market 2015-2019 Global Automotive Emission Sensor Market 2015-2019 Purchase these three reports for the price of one by becoming a Technavio subscriber. Subscribing to Technavio's reports allows you to download any three reports per month for the price of one. Contact enquiry@technavio.com with your requirements and a link to our subscription platform. About Technavio Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. The company develops over 2000 pieces of research every year, covering more than 500 technologies across 80 countries. Technavio has about 300 analysts globally who specialize in customized consulting and business research assignments across the latest leading edge technologies. Technavio analysts employ primary as well as secondary research techniques to ascertain the size and vendor landscape in a range of markets. Analysts obtain information using a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, besides using in-house market modeling tools and proprietary databases. They corroborate this data with the data obtained from various market participants and stakeholders across the value chain, including vendors, service providers, distributors, re-sellers, and end-users. If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406005033/en/ Contacts: Technavio Research Jesse Maida Media Marketing Executive US: +1 630 333 9501 UK: +44 208 123 1770 www.technavio.com media@technavio.com LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- Spark Networks, Inc. (NYSE MKT: LOV), a leader in creating communities that help individuals form life-long relationships, today announced subscriber metrics for the first quarter of 2016. "In Q1 our average subscriber base declined by 0.2% compared to last quarter, with our average Jewish Networks subscribers down 1.1% and our average Christian Network subscribers up 0.2%. Our quarterly average MAUs on mobile applications reached 337,952, growing 6.2% relative to Q4, with our strongest performance coming from our Christian brands," stated Michael Egan, Spark Network's Chief Executive Officer. "We continue to make very solid progress against our core 2016 initiatives. JSwipe, our mobile dating application focused on the millennial Jewish community formally launched its first premium feature at the beginning of March (Super Swipe). In a single month, this initial feature has already attracted just over 600 subscribers (accounted for in our Jewish Networks numbers) at an average revenue per user that is comparable to our company average. Though it is still very early days, we are seeing solid adoption of the new Super Swipe feature, and most importantly, the feature is contributing to more successful interactions for those using it, with twice the likelihood of matching when compared to normal swipes. The JSwipe team is on pace to roll out a suite of additional premium features in Q2. We believe this new product portfolio will be a significant new channel of paid subscribers for our Jewish Networks franchise. "We are also making progress with our CrossPaths mobile application aimed at the millennial Christian community. We've embarked on a national roll out of the application, and are close to completing a consolidation onto the JSwipe platform, enabling CrossPaths to both benefit from JSwipe's new premium features and accelerate the launch of its Android application. "Finally, we recently signed our third large church, with approximately 15,000 single adults, to our ChristianMingle Church program. This doubles the program's audience month-over-month to over 25,000 single adults. We expect all three churches to be live on ChristianMingle in early Q2. "The Church program is another example of our ability to leverage ChristianMingle's leadership in Christian dating. The fact that the site is responsible for more marriages than any other site amongst church-going Christians in the United States makes it a clear choice for church leaders when advising their members about dating alternatives. Our Church program also provides valuable benefits to our existing community as these new members are concentrated in specific local areas and acquired organically with minimal direct marketing investment. "We are pleased with the pace of improvements we are making and our prospects moving forward," concluded Egan. Today, Spark's Board also authorized an increase in the availability under its existing stock repurchase plan to $5.0 million, up from $2.6 million at the end of 2015. The repurchases may be made from time to time in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions, or otherwise, including pursuant to a Rule 10b5-1 plan, at prices that the Company deems appropriate and subject to market conditions, applicable law, including Rule 10b-18 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and other factors deemed relevant in the Company's sole discretion. The Company is not obligated to repurchase any dollar amount or any number of shares of common stock, and the program may be suspended, discontinued or modified at any time, for any reason and without notice. SPARK NETWORKS, INC. SEGMENT(1)RESULTS FROM OPERATIONS Q1 '16 Q1 '16 v. v. Q1 2016 Q4 2015 Q3 2015 Q2 2015 Q1 2015 Q1 '15 Q4 '15 -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ Period Ending Subs. Jewish Networks 63,982 65,004 64,144 62,991 67,703 -5.5% -1.6% Christian Networks 122,935 123,800 122,068 121,561 129,964 -5.4% -0.7% Other Networks 11,321 11,219 11,620 12,267 12,879 -12.1% 0.9% -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ Total Period Ending Subs.(2,3) 198,238 200,023 197,832 196,819 210,546 -5.8% -0.9% Average Paying Subs. Jewish Networks 63,930 64,627 63,538 65,087 69,632 -8.2% -1.1% Christian Networks 124,180 123,888 121,597 126,214 130,860 -5.1% 0.2% Other Networks 11,341 11,266 11,974 12,594 12,953 -12.4% 0.7% -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ Total Avg. Paying Subs.(2,3) 199,451 199,781 197,109 203,895 213,445 -6.6% -0.2% Average Mobile Monthly Active Users (MAUs) Jewish Networks 189,107 192,236 38,574 31,484 25,544 640.3% -1.6% Christian Networks 144,193 116,820 97,685 90,253 71,305 102.2% 23.4% Other Networks 4,652 9,109 10,751 16 - N/A -48.9% -------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------ ------ Total Average Mobile MAUs(4,5,6) 337,952 318,165 147,010 121,752 96,849 248.9% 6.2% (1) In accordance with Segment Reporting guidance, the company's financial reporting includes detailed data on our separate operating segments. The Jewish Networks segment consists of the company's JDate.com, JDate.co.il, JDate.fr, JDate.co.uk, JSwipe and Cupid.co.il Web sites and their respective co-branded Web sites. The Christian Networks segment consists of the company's ChristianMingle.com, CrossPaths, ChristianMingle.co.uk, ChristianMingle.com.au, Believe.com, ChristianCards.net, ChristianDating.com, DailyBibleVerse.com and Faith.com Web sites. The Other Networks segment consists of Spark.com and related other general market Web sites as well as other properties which are primarily composed of sites targeted towards various religious, ethnic, geographic and special interest groups. (2) "Paying Subscribers" are defined as individuals who have paid a monthly fee for access to communication and Web site features beyond those provided to our members. Period ending subscribers for each quarter represent the paying subscriber count as of the last day of the period. Average paying subscribers for each month are calculated as the sum of the paying subscribers at the beginning and end of the month, divided by two. Average paying subscribers for periods longer than one month are calculated as the sum of the average paying subscribers for each month, divided by the number of months in such period. (3) Total Period Ending Subscribers and Total Average Paying Subscribers exclude results from the company's HurryDate business due to its relative size. (4) Mobile monthly active users are calculated based on the number of unique users accessing our mobile properties in a given month. The metric average mobile monthly active users is used for periods longer than one month and is calculated as the sum of the mobile monthly active users, divided by the number of months in such period. (5) ChristianMingle Android application was launched in late Q4 2014, however user activity was immaterial. (6) Jewish Networks Q4 2015 figures include the post-acquisition impact of JSwipe. Safe Harbor Statement: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding our positioning for continued growth gains in 2016 as a result of the redesign of our JDate and ChristianMingle websites, and our belief that these newly redesigned websites will help drive subscriber growth, particularly in the first quarter of 2016. Any statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be considered to be forward-looking statements. Written words, such as "may," "will," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intends," "goal," "objective," "seek," "attempt," or variations of these or similar words, identify forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements and forecasts involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the near future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially, including, but not limited to our ability to: successfully implement our strategy to stabilize our subscriber base and grow; avoid significant subscriber declines; attract and retain members; convert members into paying subscribers and retain our paying subscribers; retain and enhance the new marketing team; develop or acquire new product offerings and successfully implement and expand those offerings; keep pace with rapid technological changes, including making the technology stack more nimble; drive use of newly-updated mobile applications; maintain the strength of our existing brands and maintain and enhance those brands; continue to depend upon the telecommunications infrastructure and our networking hardware and software infrastructure; estimate on-going general and administrative costs, and obtain financing on acceptable terms. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ are discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" and in other sections of the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), and in the Company's other current and periodic reports filed or furnished from time to time with the SEC. All forward-looking statements in this press release are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or provide similar metrics in future periods. About Spark Networks, Inc.: The Spark Networks portfolio of consumer Web sites includes, among others, JDate.com (www.jdate.com), ChristianMingle.com (www.christianmingle.com), Spark.com (www.spark.com), BlackSingles.com (www.blacksingles.com), and SilverSingles.com (www.silversingles.com). PLYMOUTH, MN--(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - TruStone Financial is proud to announce that TruPartner Network Team member and lending relationship officer Aaron Gerber has been honored as one of Scotsman Guide's 2015 Top Originators. Scotsman Guide, which released its seventh annual Top Originators rankings in April, ranks the nation's top mortgage brokers, originators and bankers and presents the mortgage industry's most comprehensive list of its kind. For his work in 2015, Gerber was ranked #1 nationwide for Top HELOC Volume (awarded for highest home equity line of credit volume) and #243 nationwide for Most Loans Closed. He was the only professional from Minnesota who was ranked in these categories. Eligibility standards for the Scotsman Guide Top Originators recognition are high, originators must have had at least $40 million in loan volume or 100 closed home loans. Only loans and volume that originators closed personally could be considered. "This recognition reflects the level of teamwork Aaron and his industry partners have delivered to their borrowers over the past year," stated Tom Barkley, Assistant Vice President and Relationship Lending Manager. "Aaron has done a great job building new meaningful relationships and nurturing his relationships with current partners to provide a very valuable contribution to TruStone Financial, the local community and the industry." In 2015, the TruPartner Network Team's five loan officers originated over 1,000 product units and $88 million in volume. About TruPartner Network Team The TruPartner Network Team partners with industry professionals to provide a range of non-conforming mortgage and home equity products to borrowers throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. About TruStone Financial TruStone Financial is one of the fastest growing credit unions in the Midwest with assets of $1.1 billion and 97,000 members. There are 13 branches across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The credit union is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. For more information and full membership criteria, visit TruStoneFinancial.org. Contact: Katie Grindeland Senior Vice President, Director of Marketing Phone: 763.595.4002 Katie.Grindeland@TruStoneFinancial.org A.M. Best has affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) and the issuer credit rating of "a+" of TD Reinsurance (Barbados) Inc. (TD Re) (Barbados). The outlook for each rating is stable. TD Re is a life reinsurer that is ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD Bank). TD Re principally reinsures credit insurance policies underwritten by third-party life insurance carriers on consumer loans originated by TD Bank's Canadian retail bank branches. The rating affirmations reflect TD Re's pattern of strong profitability, solid capitalization, above-average return on equity and strong liquidity. Additionally, the ratings recognize the high credit quality of TD Re's investment portfolio, which provides good liquidity with a short duration that adequately matches its liability profile. These strengths are partially offset by a dependence on Canadian consumer loan originations for growth. While the overall operating fundamentals of TD Re remain strong, a decrease in consumer loan originations could impact TD Bank's ability to reinsure credit insurance, thus impacting TD Re's growth prospects. This press release relates to rating(s) that have been published on A.M. Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see A.M. Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. A.M. Best is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit www.ambest.com. Copyright 2016 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406006507/en/ Contacts: A.M. Best Peter Kelly, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5834 Senior Financial Analyst peter.kelly@ambest.com or William Pargeans, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5359 Assistant Vice President william.pargeans@ambest.com or Christopher Sharkey, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159 Manager, Public Relations christopher.sharkey@ambest.com or Jim Peavy, +1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644 Assistant Vice President, Public Relations james.peavy@ambest.com NEW YORK, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --Daniel A. Pollack, Special Master presiding over settlement negotiations between the Republic of Argentina and its Bondholders, issued the following Statement today: "The Republic of Argentina continues to reach settlementswith its holdoutBondholders.The Republic today signed Agreements in Principle with Red Pines and Spinnaker, funds managed by Varde Partners and Spinnaker Capital, Ltd., for an aggregate of just under $250 million. The signed Agreements in Principle involve, among other provisions, the withdrawal by the funds of their opposition in the Court of Appeals to the lifting of the Injunction and their support for the lifting of the Injunction.The financial terms of the Agreements in Principle are within the terms of the Propuesta issued by the Republic on February 5.Thus, the funds will be paid 150% of the principal of their bonds.The lifting of the Lock Law and the Sovereign Payment Law by the Congress of the Republic, a requirement in all settlements with the Republic, has been met, and Judge Griesa issued an Order on March 2 which will lift the Injunction if certain other conditions are met with respect to payment by the Republic. That Order is now before the Court of Appeals, which will hear oral argument next week, on April 13.If the Order is affirmed, this settlement will become final and binding on the parties.I will have no further comment at this time." EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/06/16 -- North American Energy Partners Inc. ("NAEP" or "the Company") (TSX: NOA)(NYSE: NOA) announced today that it will release its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016, on the evening of Tuesday May 3, 2016, after market close. Following the release of their financial results, NAEP will hold a conference call and webcast on Wednesday, May 4, 2016, at 7:00 a.m. Mountain Time (9:00 a.m. Eastern Time). 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. Bright Health, a Minneapolis-based new health insurance startup, secured $80m in Series A funding. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), with participation from Flare Capital Partners and others. The company will use the funds to support its nationwide rollout to the individual health insurance marketplace. Led by Bob Sheehy, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO), Kyle Rolfing, co-founder and president, and Tom Valdivia, MD, MS, chief medical officer, Bright Health offers affordable individual health insurance plans, an integrated technology experience, and provides health systems with economic rewards for practicing efficient healthcare. The company plans to enter its first market and enroll members for the 2017 plan year. The companys plans will be offered directly to consumers, via broker partners, and through public and private health insurance exchanges. Additional market expansion, care provider partnerships and Medicare Advantage Plans are planned for 2018 and beyond. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 Holaverse, a Shangai, China-based Android app developer, closes a $70m funding round. The round was led by Addor Capital with participation from Qihu360, Yi Capital and other institutional investors. The company intends to use the funds for corporate team-building, product R&D and global expansion with development and roll out of new and original products to its global mobile game platform and to social networking. Led by Brian Xie, CEO, Holaverse provides: Hola Games to play casual games with a mobile app, Hola Launcher, a homescreen UI replacement which allows users to simplify, organize, and personalize their Android mobile experience, Locker Master, which allows users to create their own interactive custom lock screens with a DIY editor, or browse and download the creations of amateur and professional designers from around the world, and Omni Swipe, which allows users to keep favorite apps, tools, and contacts with an innovative solution to growing screen sizes. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 Jellagen Pty Ltd, a Pembroke Dock, UK-based medical-technology company, completed a further 1.53m in equity funding. The round, was led by angels in Medcity/London Business Angels and Finance Wales* with co-investment from xenos, the Wales Business Angel Network and other existing investors. The company intends to use the funds to expand and increase its collagen processing capacity, to establish a Quality Management System, recruit up to six new staff over the next two years, strengthen and build its IP portfolio as well as business development and marketing activities to increase sales. Founded in August 2013 by Dr Andrew Mearns Spragg, Chief Executive Officer, Jellagen is a MedTech company exploiting jellyfish to provide next generation collagen biomaterials for application in 3D cell culture (in vitro diagnostics, including research level regenerative medicine R&D) and medical devices. *The syndicate of 17 business angels including investment from the London Business Angels EIS Roundtable Syndicate 2015 fund matched the package from Finance Wales with an eight figure equity investment. The lead angel investor Mr Thomas-Paul Descamps, a business angel with a background and expertise in the life science sector. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 MacStadium, an Atlanta, GA-based Mac hosting provider, received a multi-million dollar line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank. Silicon Valley Bank has extended a line of credit to allow the company to accelerate growth. Concurrent with the financing, MacStadium acquired Macminicolo, a vendor in the commercial Mac hosting industry, to reach a greater audience on the West Coast, supplementing a recent expansion into Dublin, Ireland in Europe. Led by Greg McGraw, CEO, MacStadium provides an Apple Mac hosting provider supplying dedicated servers and private cloud hosting solutions to software developers around the world. Dedicated Mac servers are coupled with enterprise-class networking and security, plus an expert staff available 247 to provide remote Mac hosting solution to single developers and enterprises alike from multiple locations in North America and Europe. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 Sailthru, a NYC-based customer retention cloud for retail and media companies, acquired Carnival.io, a mobile marketing automation platform for global brands. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Led by Guy Horrocks, CEO, Carnival provides customers including Coca-Cola, Penguin Random House and Air New Zealand, with a mobile marketing suite featuring push notifications; in-app messaging; a customizable message center which allows marketers to automate messages by customer behavior, location and demographic data; and mobile analytics. The company has raised $2.4M in venture funding from Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Gary Vaynerchuk, Google Ventures, Flybridge Capital Partners, Bowery Capital, Box Group, Jos White and Mike Lazerow. With the acquisition, Sailthru will integrate Carnival to in its marketing technology to deliver cross-channel personalization, automation and analytics based on a single customer profile. Founded in 2008 and led by Neil Lustig, CEO, Sailthru provides a customer retention cloud that allows marketers at retail and media companies to build relationships with their customers by personalizing individual customer experiences across digital communication channels in email, on a brands website and in their mobile applications. Users include publishers, including The Economist, Business Insider, and Mashable, and ecommerce companies including Rent The Runway, JustFab, and Alex and Ani. The company is backed by Benchmark, RRE Ventures, DFJ Gotham, Scale Venture Partners, and AOL Ventures. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 SwervePay, a Chicago, IL-based patient-centric payment solution in healthcare, acquired StatPayMD, a platform that allows patients to understand out-of-pocket costs before and at care. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. The acquisition is designed to enable SwervePay to provide healthcare consumers with additional information, tools and transparency needed to manage their financial responsibility. Founded by Piyush Kedia, CEO, accelerated within Blueprint Health, a healthcare IT accelerator in New York, and most recently based at Matter in Chicago, StatPayMD (formerly Symbiosis Health) uses a combination of technology, services and direct partnerships with insurance companies to access relevant and accurate eligibility data from every health plan. The analytics engine blends that data with providers negotiated contracts and claims history to create a personalized cost estimate for each patient. Launched in 2010 by Jaeme Adams, CEO, SwervePay provides a cloud-based platform that allows providers and health systems to engage patients with a text message that lets them securely submit payments, estimate care costs and confirm appointments. In February 2016, the company completed a $10m Series B funding round, led by Chicago-based Garland Capital Group. FinSMEs 06/04/2016 LONDON (Reuters) - Worsening financial and political turmoil in southern Europe caused a surge of interest in London property last month with buyers from Greece and Spain showing strongly among investors seeking a safe haven for their money. The number of Greeks searching for homes costing more than 1.5 million pounds on the website of property agent Savills jumped 39 percent in April compared with the average of the preceding six months, the company said. "The reason Greeks are coming is very simple," said Dinos Joannou, a 65-year-old Cypriot who works in the Athenian Grocery in the Bayswater district of London and has seen growing numbers arrive this year. "Greece is screwed, there are no jobs and it has been run by crooks." The number of Europeans buying property in London has grown steadily over the last year as the euro zone debt crisis has worsened but numbers spiked ahead of elections in Greece last weekend that failed to produce a government. George Kastaros, 37, dresses as a traditional Greek soldier handing out leaflets for the Kalamaras restaurant on Queensway in Bayswater, an area popular among Greeks and home to the St Sofia's Greek Orthodox cathedral. The Athenian moved to London before the crisis began in 2007 and said the number of Greeks arriving jumped after Christmas. "Dressed like this, Greek people who have just got off the plane come up to me with their suitcases and ask where they can find a place to live or a job. I was stopped by more than 100 people in January." The chef at Kalamaras arrived five months ago with his son and daughter, who are a doctor and teacher, he said. "These are well-educated people who cannot find jobs in Greece." "What we're seeing is another stage in the euro zone crisis gathering pace," said Liam Bailey, head of residential research at property agent Knight Frank. "It's ironic that the more instability you get in the euro zone the more the London property market benefits." Savills data showed Spanish buyers grew 14 percent in April compared with the same six-month period and Knight Frank registered a 21 percent jump. Searches from Portugal last month were 153 percent up on April 2011 while Italian traffic jumped 46 percent, Knight Frank said. Growing interest from Greece in the last three weeks has been buoyed by buyers looking to rent out property as an investment, said Noel de Keyzer from Savills. "There seems to be an endless flow of wealthy Greek buyers, old Greek family money, coming to London both renting and buying." In addition to countries afflicted by the euro zone crisis, the best London homes have attracted growing interest from Russia, the Middle East and Far East as buyers attempt to protect their assets amid the gyrations of the money markets. Interest has pushed prices for so-called prime central London properties up by 44 percent in the last three years, more than twice the increase across London as a whole, Knight Frank said. Kostas Kazolides owns the Halepi Greek restaurant around the corner from Kalamaras and provides advice to Greeks looking to buy real estate or invest as part of club deals in residential and commercial property. "There have been a lot of new faces walking through the door of my restaurant lately," he said, pointing to the growing popularity of deals in which professionals such as doctors and architects club together to invest. "There is real and justified fear on the streets of Greece at the moment. People are going hungry and those with money feel threatened by kidnap. My banker friends in Greece tell me about nine billion euros left the country after the election." Most buyers are reluctant to talk publicly, said one estate agent who specialises in helping wealthy Greek buyers find London real estate. "With the Greek tax system the way it is, these people don't want others to know how much they are moving out of the country or where they are putting it," he said. (Reporting by Tom Bill) Quetta, Pakistan Pakistan on Wednesday arrested a suspected Afghan spy believed to be behind assassinations and bombings in its Baluchistan province, security and government officials told Reuters. The move comes two weeks after Pakistan detained another man it said was an Indian spy who illegally entered the country and was also captured in the mineral rich province. "The arrested man is an Afghan national living in a rented house in Boghara area at the outskirts of Chaman town. Paramilitary forces raided the house on intelligence and detained him," Manzoor Ahmed spokesman for the paramilitary force said. "He was working for Afghan spy agency National Directorate of Security (NDS)," Ahmed said. Initial interrogation pointed to an NDS role in killings and blasts in the Baluchistan cities of Chaman and Quetta. The accused has not been identified and Afghan authorities did not immediately comment on the arrest. "He was on the payroll of NDS," said Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, spokesman for the Baluchistan government. Security forces also said they had seized a large arms and ammunition cache due to information gleaned from the Afghan. Pakistan has uneasy relations with neighbour Afghanistan. Kabul has long accused Pakistan of sheltering the Afghan Taliban insurgency's leadership, a charge Islamabad denies. For its part, Pakistan has demanded that Kabul do more to capture leaders of the separate Pakistani Taliban. They are believed to have sought refuge on Afghan soil after being dislodged in a Pakistani military operation from North Waziristan along the border. Pakistan last month said it had detained a spy from regional arch rival India in Baluchistan who had illegally entered from Iran. It later released a videotaped confession by the man. India has confirmed that the man was a former Indian navy official but denied he was a spy. (Writing by Syed Raza Hassan; Editing by Jon Boyle) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. NEW DELHI/BEIJING - China's top carmaker SAIC Motor Corp and Great Wall Motor, its biggest maker of SUVs, are spearheading the country's first major push into India, one of the world's fastest growing auto markets, as growth at home stagnates. The entry is late and risky - global carmakers like Volkswagen AG, Ford Motor and General Motors have struggled to push sales in the cost conscious Indian market despite being here for more than a decade. Chinese cars also suffer from perceptions of poor quality in India. While they plan to woo Indian buyers with their no-frills cars and cut-price SUVs, Chinese manufacturers will compete head on with established carmakers like Suzuki Motor and Hyundai Motor that dominate many markets in Southeast Asia. Even so, India offers one of the last frontiers of growth - by 2020 the country is likely to become the world's third-largest car market, from fifth place, with annual sales nearly doubling to 5 million vehicles from 2.7 million in 2015. SAIC and Great Wall are in separate talks with the state government of Maharashtra to set up a factory in the auto hub of Pune city, the state industries minister told Reuters. A source close to SAIC said the company is considering Pune city among other locations. The automaker plans to set up a factory in India within the next three years and is in the early stages of researching such a move, the person said. "The market potential of India is huge," said the source. For SAIC, the maker of marquee MG and Roewe cars, India is next on the agenda after entering Indonesia and would happen before they try to enter Russia, other European nations or the United States. SAIC is also in discussion to buy a plant currently operated by GM in Gujarat, according to people familiar with the matter. The Detroit automaker plans to stop production at the Halol plant in Gujarat by end-June as it consolidates operations at one location. "We are examining a number of options in relation to the Halol factory ... including the sale of the site," GM said in a statement. The company declined to elaborate on how it plans to sell the factory and said there was nothing further to announce about Halol at this point. In February, 12 executives from Great Wall attended the India Auto Expo car show to survey the market and understand government policy on diesel engines and emissions, an industry source in India said. Great Wall's board of directors on March 7 voted unanimously in favour of a motion to establish a subsidiary in India, according to a stock exchange filing. A spokeswoman said there were no further details on the automaker's plans there, including when it would set up a subsidiary. Chongqing Changan Automobile, China's fourth biggest automaker, launched a search in January for an advisor in India to help form an entry plan, according to an email from the company to a consultant that was seen by Reuters. Company president Zhu Huarong told reporters in November that Chongqing Changan saw India as one of its three strategic foreign markets for investment and planned to start making cars there by 2020. A spokeswoman for SAIC and a spokesman for Changan declined to comment. QUALITY PERCEPTION Global carmakers like Toyota Motor Corp and Volkswagen have struggled to push sales in India in part due to the lack of a portfolio of feature-rich, compact cars priced at about $5,000-$7,000, a segment where demand is high. Equally essential in the Indian market is having a wide-spread service network and keeping car maintenance costs low. "If the Chinese carmakers are able to overcome the quality perception, they have a huge cost advantage," said Amit Kaushik, country head at consultant JATO Dynamics. SAIC is evaluating what models to launch in India and is considering vehicles less than four metres in length because of favourable policies - sub-compact cars attract lower taxes - the source close to the company said. It is also looking at modifying existing models to offer stripped down versions, as India is more price sensitive and regulatory requirements are lower, the person said. Reuters Srinagar: Unrest was witnessed again on Tuesday at NIT Srinagar, the scene of last week's clash, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. With the situation being tense, CRPF was on Tuesday night deployed at campus and Jammu and Kashmir government assured full security to the students from other states studying here. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also called up Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and discussed with her the situation at NIT. Some non-local students attempted to leave the campus and return to their home states, saying, they were "not feeling safe" inside the campus, a police official said. Police personnel on duty at the NIT tried to reassure the students that they were safe inside the campus but they were not pacified, he said. As the head of the security deployment was speaking to them, a few of the students allegedly resorted to sloganeering and even pushed him around, the official claimed. He said the other police personnel then resorted to "lathicharge" to disperse the students who were "getting violent". The situation, however, was brought under control shortly, the official said. Outstation students, on the other hand, alleged that they were holding protests and were lathicharged by the police with brute forces and not allowed to move out of the NIT gate. "We had sat on dharna and were demanding meeting with HRD officials. We held meeting with NIT administration and they agreed to the demand. We were allowed freely to move out the gate," said one of the students on condition of the anonymity. "When we were going out of the campus as per the past practice, police did not allow us and resorted to cane-charge resulting in injuries to several students," he claimed. Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh told PTI in Jammu on Tuesday night: "We assure security to the students of various states of the country studying in NIT Srinagar. Additional security of CRPF has been deployed at the campus." Singh, who along with Minister of State (MoS) Education Priya Sethi, talked to Mehbooba, DGP K Rajendra and NIT Director, said "all measures are being taken by the administration of the NIT to instill confidence among these students and the issues raised by them are being resolved." In Delhi, HRD ministry officials said they were in touch with the management of the institute and the Director of the NIT has spoken to the students so that normalcy prevails. On Friday last, the campus had witnessed clashes between local and non-local students over India's defeat in the semi-final match in the World T20 tournament. After the clashes, the NIT authorities had shut down the institute which was reopened on Monday. "We take responsibility all the students of the country studying in NIT. We have put in place all the measures," the Deputy Chief Minister said. Administration has held meeting with the NIT students to resolve the issue, Singh said, adding SSP Srinagar is camping in the area to ensure peace. He said the outstation students are demanding security and postponement of exams. "Director of NIT has said that the demands have been accepted," he said. "I appeal to the students to call on my number 09419149494 in case they have any problems on any front particularly on the security. We will look into that," Deputy Chief Minister said. "We assure the parents of these students that all measures have been taken for the safety of students," he said. New Delhi: Unhappy over the initial report, Defence Minister AK Antony has asked the army to take immediate "corrective" steps to see that incidents like the clash between soldiers and officers at a firing range near the India-China boundary in Nyoma, Ladakh do not recur. The minister is understood to have expressed his displeasure to the army top brass over the initial report that is said to have attempted a cover up on the clash that has raised questions over discipline in an important unit of an artillery regiment, highly-placed sources said. He has now sought full details of the incident in Nyoma, they said. The army had submitted a brief initial report about the incident to the ministry on Friday evening, almost a day after the incident took place in the Mahe field firing ranges in Ladakh. Sources said army had attempted to describe the whole incident as only a minor scuffle between soldiers and officers but no details were provided. The army had on Saturday said the clash between the soldiers and officers near Leh was an "isolated act of indiscipline" and not a mutiny and that the media had "sensationalised" the incident. It also denied any arms and ammunition were used during the incident, saying, "The armoury has not been captured by the troops as is being reported wrongly." The army has ordered a Court of Inquiry into a scuffle that broke out between officers and soldiers in Ladakh after the ministry sought a detailed report from it on the incident. Army sources said the officers and soldiers involved in the clashes will now be attached to the CoI ordered by the superior headquarters and will face action. The CoI is being headed by a Brigadier-rank officer. Sources said Commanding Officer of 226 Field Regiment Colonel Prakash Kadam has been relieved of his command duties in view of the incident and another officer has been given the charge. However, army sources denied any such move. Sources said there was also a possibility of the unit being disbanded after the completion of the disciplinary proceedings into the case. PTI The life of a rubber farmer depends on tyres. Thats because tyres consume about 60 percent of the worlds natural rubber. But with the downturn in economy, especially in China the worlds biggest rubber consumer the demand for tyres has reduced, price of rubber has crashed and so has the life of rubber farmers across the world. India is the worlds sixth largest rubber producer, with Kerala accounting for 80 percent of the countrys rubber production. About 1.2 million poor farmers are fighting to make ends meet. While the states Congress-led UDF government has come up with a half-hearted subsidy scheme, the Modi government is guilty of having left key posts in the Rubber Board vacant. Firstpost talks to farmers and officials to gauge the crisis and offers solutions. This is the second part of a two-part series on the Great Rubber Slump. Fact one: Tyres are made of rubber. Fact two: Price of rubber has crashed. Why arent tyre prices coming down, is the question that rubber farmers have as you drive through the districts of Kottayam, Pathanamthitta and Idukki, Keralas rubber belt. That is precisely the question that SP Singh, the convenor of All India Tyre Dealers Federation (AITDF), has been asking for some time, and getting no convincing answer. When rubber prices go up, tyre companies go to great lengths to explain why they are hiking tyre prices, but when rubber prices go down, they maintain a deafening silence, Singh tells Firstpost. He said the companies had selectively reduced prices on some tyres more as tokenism but not in proportion to the current slump in rubber prices. Tyre dealers, he said, found this situation difficult to explain to consumers. On average, natural rubber accounts for about 40 percent of a tyres cost. In a second representation made in seven years to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in November 2013, the AITDF said five companies, which controlled 90 percent of Indias tyre market Apollo Tyres, MRF, CEAT, JK Tyres and Birla Tyres were indulging in cartelisation to keep prices high. The AITDF alleged that in January 2009, not just rubber prices, even the excise duty on tyres was slashed, but the tyre prices were not brought down. However, in 2011-12, the rise of rubber price to Rs 243/kg led to a tyre price hike of 18 to 25 percent. It's been a free fall ever since with no corresponding drop in tyre prices. The MCA referred the matter to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which was set up by the Union government in 2003 to look into, among other things, anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position by enterprises. The CCI ordered an investigation by its Director-General, who concluded in December 2015 that the five companies were indeed in active collusion to determine tyre prices under the aegis of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA). The investigation found evidence that Koshy K. Varghese, Executive Vice-President (Marketing) of MRF and Neeraj Kanwar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Apollo Tyres, had a dialogue on pricing of tyres through ATMA. ATMA's contention was that steep increase in the prices of raw materials other than natural rubber nylon tyre fabric, carbon black, butyl rubber, rubber chemicals, bead wire etc. made it difficult to reduce tyre prices. The commission refused to buy their claims and also the argument that dumping of cheap tyres by China in the Indian market has put Indian companies under pressure. Says Thomas Ouseph, noted rubber consultant and former Secretary of Rubber Board: The government has always been sympathetic to tyre companies and they have been making fabulous profits. The CCI, which is currently in the process of hearing final submissions from contending parties, may soon come up with a verdict. The next hearing is on 17 May, but it will be of little use to rubber farmers. Vicious import cycles By keeping the tyre prices high, the companies do not cause any direct harm to the farmers. But by importing rubber in devious ways, they can. Even in the best of times, Indian companies had to import rubber because the countrys production fell short of demand. Imports are necessary because of the shortfall in production, but the companies import more than needed, and that depresses the domestic price, points out Ouseph. And they are too eager to import rubber from countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, where rubber is cheaper by about Rs 20/kg. An analyst, who has watched the rubber industry for decades, says, They time their imports in a way that brings down the price of Indian rubber. They place import orders when India has little rubber that is during the monsoon. But by the time they receive rubber from abroad at a cheaper price, India has stock and the cheaper import reduces the domestic price. The import of rubber has more than doubled from 1.8 lakh tonnes in 2009-10 to 4.4 lakh tonnes in 2014-15, partly because of production shortfall. Production has been coming down at an alarming level and this will lead to a supply crunch in time, points out N. Dharmaraj, President of United Planters Association of Southern India (Upasi) and Chief Executive of Harrison Malayalam. From a high of 9.13 lakh tonnes in 2012-13, production of rubber in India fell to 7.7 lakh tonnes in 2013-14 and to 6.45 lakh tonnes in 2014-15. Upasi estimates that, in 2015-16, production will be just 5.4 lakh tonnes and imports will touch an all-time high of 4.6 lakh tonnes. As a result, from being the worlds third largest producer of rubber after Thailand and Indonesia in 2011, India slipped to the fourth place in 2012 after Malaysia and now finally to the sixth after Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China and Malaysia. Indias production is falling because a good number of farmers have stopped producing. Thats because producing rubber is costing them about Rs 100/kg, while it is fetching them in the market just about that much, may be a little less or more, depending on the fluctuating prices. The Mercy Boban story For the farmers to survive or make money, the market prices must go up. Or you must bring the cost of production down, says Mercy Boban, 50, who has won an award from Rubber Asia magazine for doing precisely that. With her husband, the principal of a college, and son, a software engineer, away in Thiruvananthapuram, Boban looks after the familys 25-acre rubber plantation. A postgraduate in history, Boban has hired seven skilled tappers who tap latex in a way that causes minimum damage to the tree and gets maximum output. And she takes care of the trees and the tappers with equal zeal. She gets the soil tested by local staff of the Rubber Board, uses only recommended fertilisers and does everything to nurture the trees with due diligence. This textbook approach led to a remarkable productivity of 2,967 kg/hectare in a block during 2014-15, nearly double the average yield other farmers get. And from May 2015 to February 2016, she spent about Rs 8 lakh on her plantation and extracted 14,225 tonnes of rubber from 2,430 trees and sold it for about Rs 14 lakh. This only means she brought her cost of production down to an amazing Rs 56/kg. While other farmers spoke of starvation, she made a neat profit of about Rs six lakh. Its hard work, she says with a satisfied sigh. Its not easy going around the plantation every morning and checking on everything. Other farmers have negative thoughts. I handle everything in a positive manner. Thats what gets good results. Kurian Abraham, the Editor of Rubber Asia says, however, that its difficult for all farmers to marshal the time and resources needed to adopt her methods. What the farmers must do Experts say that after the boom and the bust, the farmers can hope for another boom in a few years. If the low price persists and if more and more farmers discontinue tapping in India and elsewhere, the world is in for a huge rubber shortage. By the time the economy finally recovers, tyre makers will find themselves short of rubber, and farmers will find the prices shooting up. When the boom returns, cautions Abraham, farmers who have quit rubber will miss the windfall. He advises them to remain unfazed by the current downturn and hold on to rubber while keeping their costs low, though they must cautiously diversify into other crops like pineapple and medicinal plants. The fear of an impending rubber shortage is so strong that worlds top tyre companies are investigating guayule shrub, which grows in south-western United States and Mexico, as a possible source of natural rubber in future. Bridgestone, Cooper Tire and Rubber, and Apollo Vredestein (the Netherlands unit of Indias Apollo Tyres) have produced prototype tyres made of natural rubber from guayule. Continental has made test tyres made of rubber produced from the roots of dandelion, a flowering plant indigenous to Kazakhstan. Indias tyre cartel must stop Indias tyre companies must stop cartelisation and stop being greedy. The likes of MRFs Koshy Varghese and Apollos Neeraj Kanwar must exchange emails not on how to keep tyre prices high, but on how to sustain plantations. They must learn that a reasonable price for farmers will encourage them to stick to their rubber plantations and ensure enough raw material for their tyres in future, when the market looks up. And the government must wake up and find ways to help farmers to adopt smart agricultural practices and raise productivity like Mercy Boban has done. That work must be done by the Rubber Board, but the Modi government is guilty of having left the board without a chairman for close to two years and without a production commissioner for one and a half years. The board has had no secretary for 15 years. And the board, comprising growers, traders and manufactures and others has not been reconstituted for two years. To read Part 1: India's 1.2 million rubber farmers fight to survive Jammu: Hitting out at the PDP-BJP government for the police lathi charge on outstation students in NIT Kashmir, a body representing Kashmiri Pandits said on Wednesday that it's an "eye-opener" for the Centre and demanded assurance from the Prime Minister on safety of the students in the Valley. All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC) will send a delegation to Srinagar to support and instill confidence among the non-Kashmiri NIT students, APMCC Chairman, Vinod Pandit told reporters. "We demand intervention and reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the safety and security of the non- Kashmiri students studying in NIT Srinagar following use of the brute force by the police," he said. The PM needs to assure the nation and parents of the students about their safety when protectors have become "tormentors" in Kashmir for them, he said. He hit out at Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and her Deputy Nirmal Singh for the use of force by the police. "The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister should also explain why action have not been taken against the police," he asked and demanded the officers responsible should be suspended. "Is waving national flag a crime in Jammu and Kashmir to be punished by police cane-charge? BJP and the Modi government should explain it and clarify their stand," Pandit said. He said that besides the APMCC leadership, top leaders representing the community including Swami Kumar Ji of Geeta Satsang, M K Yogi, President of Martand Tirath Trust, Ravinder Raina of All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference (ASKPC) will go to Kashmir to meet the students. APMCC will hold a protest including, in Jammu and New Delhi, on Thursday in support of the NIT students and in protests against the police, he said. Unrest was witnessed on the campus when Kashmiri and outstation students had a confrontation after India lost WT20 semifinal match to West Indies on 31 March. On Tuesday, unruly scenes were witnessed with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with the police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. Bhopal: Naxals allegedly held a 'kangaroo court' in Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh where a sarpanch was asked to ensure payment of wage arrears under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This is after a long time that Naxal activity has come to light in Balaghat district, which is close to Rajandgaon district of Chhattisgarh and Gondia of Maharashtra, both of which have rebel presence. "Twenty Naxals including six women held an unofficial court in Pandripani jungle near Rashimetta in south Baiher on the night of 4 April," said former Lanji MLA Kishore Samrite. The villagers complained to the Naxals that they had not received wages for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act for several months. The Naxals told the woman sarpanch's husband to make sure that payments were made within 15 days. Otherwise the sarpanch should resign, they said. "We have got inputs that rebels held a meeting, not a kangaroo court, on 4 April," district superintendent of police Gaurav Tiwari told PTI on Wednesday. Naxals now a days hold such meetings for 10-15 minutes before fleeing the area, he added, while denying a report in a Hindi daily that Naxals abducted some 15 sarpanchs from south Baiher and held a kangaroo court. As per the police's information, Naxals asked Kuwar Singh Dhurve, husband of Navhi village sarpanch Munni Bai, to ensure payment of wages for MNREGA works within 15 days, he said. Dhurve hadn't lodged a complaint with police, the SP said, adding the police had taken a serious note of incident. A person who accompanied Dhurve to Pathri market on 4 April told PTI that the sarpanch's husband was indeed asked by Naxals to expedite payment to labourers in 15 days or resign. Balaghat collector Bharat Yadav also said a sarpanch had informed him about Naxals asking to ensure payment of MNREGA dues. "Problem of delay of payments under MNREGA is being faced by some other districts of MP and others states too. There is a shortage of fund. We are making efforts to clear the dues as soon as possible," Yadav said. New Delhi: Supreme Court on Wednesday pulled up the Centre for not releasing adequate funds to states for MGNREGA and asked it to give details of expenditure on the scheme in drought-hit states, saying relief has to be provided now and not after one year. "If you are not releasing the funds, then no one will like to work. States will say they have no funds, so they can't pay anyone for MGNREGA work. No state will make any commitment to the people," a bench headed by Justice MB Lokur said. "Relief has to be given immediately and not after one year. Temperature is soaring at 45 degree celsius, there is no drinking water, nothing is there. You have to do some thing and provide relief on time," the bench said. It said as per government's own figures, average workdays is 48 days, while the statute says it should be 100 days. "The argument holds substance that since you (Centre) are not releasing the funds, states are not willing to allocate works to people under MGNREGA and hence the average workdays will fall," the bench also comprising Justice NV Ramana said. "We should realise that there is problem. Nine states and now Rajasthan have declared drought. It is difficult to believe that there is no drought in Bundelkhand and Marathwada," the bench said. Additional Solicitor General Pinky Anand informed the bench that Rs 7983 crore will be released by the Centre in a couple of days towards wage liability, while Rs 2400 crore material liability will be cleared in June. She said that Rs 2723 crore was being released as wage reliability for the drought affected states. "This year also, you will face problem. Things will not improve unless you provide funds. One more state Rajasthan has now declared drought. Now the total drought-affected states have gone up to 10. Total of 256 villages in Gujarat have been now declared drought-affected," the bench said. "We are not targeting anybody. We are not targeting the officials. There are other ways of targeting. This is not an adversarial issue and everyone should come up with solutions. We are just trying to help the people," the bench said while referring to the officials present in the court room. The Additional Solicitor General further submitted that the Centre was trying to do everything possible to help the people in drought-hit areas but there were some constraints. The hearing remained inconclusive and will continue on Thursday. On 31 March, the apex court had asked Centre to say how many states had drought management cells and why no district-level disaster management authorities have been set up. It had suggested that the Centre, with the help of satellite data, should analyse the expected rainfall in the monsoon season and take effective steps to tackle drought-like situations on time. The bench is examining various aspects of relief given to drought-hit farmers during the hearing of a PIL filed by NGO Swaraj Abhiyan seeking urgent implementation of guidelines for areas hit by natural calamity. Earlier, the court had expressed its concern over low compensation paid to calamity-hit farmers and observed that it was leading some of them to commit suicide. The NGO, in its revised prayer, has sought a direction to Centre to abide by the provisions of MNREGA Act and use it for employment generation in drought-affected areas. The PIL filed by the NGO has alleged that parts of 12 states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Haryana and Chattisgarh were hit by drought and the authorities were not providing adequate relief. Hyderabad: Tension prevailed near the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) on Wednesday after scores of students belonging to different organisations held protests demanding arrest of the Vice Chancellor and tried to forcibly enter the varsity even as police took them into preventive custody. In another development, Controller of Examination Professor V Krishna, expressing solidarity with the protesting students against Rao's removal, resigned from the post and walked out of the Academic Council Meeting going on in HCU. The students gathered in front of the campus as part of a call for 'Chalo HCU' given by Joint Action Committee for Social Justice of HCU to intensify their ongoing agitation demanding removal and arrest of Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile, who resumed as VC on 22 March. Some of them climbed the main entrance gate even as police deployed in large numbers, immediately intervened and prevented them from entering the campus and took them into preventive custody. The protesting students raised slogans against Rao and held banners asking him to leave the campus. They said Rao has been booked on charge of abetting suicide of research scholar Rohith Vemula, and questioned how can he hold the 76th academic council meeting, which was going on in the university on Wednesday. The JAC earlier had appealed to all the students, political organisations, and people to come to the HCU on Wednesday to register their protest and express solidarity against the alleged injustice to Rohit and to the university. Since the university administration has imposed a blockade on the campus preventing students to contact anyone from outside, 'Chalo HCU' call is also against the imposed blockade on the university, JAC had said. On 23 March, the varsity authorities had decided not to allow any outsider, including mediapersons and politicians, on the campus. HCU is on the boil since January this year after Dalit research scholar Vemula committed suicide in a hostel room of the varsity. Meanwhile, the university authorities termed as rumours the reports in a section of media that there is a bandh in the varsity on Wednesday. "This is false information. The reports from various schools and departments confirm that the classes are functioning smoothly and it is also clarified that administration is also functioning normally," a statement from HCU said. The JAC said that the two-member inquiry commission sent by the HRD Ministry has blamed the VC and the administration over Rohit's death. It said that as HRD ministry's judicial probe is still going on, Rao's presence as VC can tamper the inquiry process. New Delhi: Backing the protesting jewellers, on Wednesday, Rahul Gandhi dubbed the one per cent excise duty on non-silver jewellery items as an "assassination attempt" on traders by the BJP government and alleged it was being done to benefit big industrialists. The Congress Vice President, who was addressing a rally of the All India Bullion Jeweller and Swarnakar Federation at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, once again ridiculed the Centre's 'Make in India' initiative with a reference to its logo, saying it was a "babbar sher" that wants to "strangulate" small businesses. "This is not an excise duty on you. This is an assassination attempt on you. You are being killed.... But why are you being killed? Who will benefit from this? "First and foremost big industrialists will benefit and secondly those people will gain who will extract money from your profit through pressure and blackmail. This 'babbar sher' belongs to five to six big industrialists and those who want to suck your blood and earn through 'dalali' (brokery)," Gandhi said. Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi compared the 'charkha' symbol with Make in India's 'lion' saying while the former was powered by the strength of "small businesses, farmers, labourers" the latter symbolized a handful of "five to six big industrialists". "When Modi ji talks about Make in India, he actually refers to those five to six big industrialists. Traders associated with jewellery don't have factories of Rs 10,000 crore. They have small units," he said. Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Hooda and his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda and Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken were also present at the rally where people raised slogans against the BJP. Garbeta, West Bengal: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said infiltration is on in Bengal and the state government has "failed" to check it. "Infiltration is taking place from Bangladesh and the state government has failed to check it. The state's border with Bangladesh will be sealed and infiltration checked if BJP is voted to power in Bengal," he said at an election meeting here. "If voted to power, we will also change the situation in Bengal," Singh said, adding the situation has "improved" in states where BJP is in power. Stating that a corruption-free and transparent administration is required in Bengal, Singh said after NDA government came to power in Delhi steps taken by the prime minister have benefited the poor. "The poor people in the country have opened their bank accounts and the subsidies they get go directly to their accounts," he added. The polling for second part of the first phase in Bengal will be held on 11 April. What does one make of the full-page warning issued by the AAP government to private educational institutions in Delhi? Stop fleecing students, or else... it says. It also warns the schools against any discrimination against students from weaker sections of the society. It is easy to call it political messaging riding on a popular concern; the typical holier-than-thou positioning the party is by now known for. But scratch deeper, it is much more than that. Beyond the compulsive obsessive rant against the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in particular, and the habit of crying victim at the drop of a hat, this government is actually into something serious. It wants to change the face of education in the National Capital and has gone beyond pointless rhetoric in its efforts. In its first budget, the government allotted a whopping Rs 4,570 crore towards education, a 106 percent hike over the earlier budget. In its second budget presented recently, education was the priority area again, accounting for 23 percent of the total budget. The allocation was to the tune of Rs 10, 690 crore. Public health has been another priority area for the government. Its strong message to private players in the education sector is in sync with its line of thinking. Earlier, it had scrapped the management quota in nursery schools something the Delhi High Court later stayed maintaining that the practice was inherently discriminatory, unreasonable, exploitative, non-transparent and prone to misuse. It allowed the authorities to trade seats for money and thus created an uneven playing field for students seeking admission. The private players may have a valid ground for raising an objection to the governments stand, but from the perspective of parents who send their children to such schools it makes sense. Fifty-six thousand rupees. Thats what I have to shell out for the readmission of one of my two sons this month, says a friend whose child moved from class seven to eight this year. I have two sons. For the other one, who moved from class five to six, I have to pay nearly Rs 50,000. Imagine how it hurts a middle class mans budget, he added. He said for each of his children he spends nearly Rs 1.50 lakh every year. Thats more than the entire amount our parents spent on our education from nursery to graduation, he said. Admitted, private schools have flourished because the inefficiency of the government to provide quality education in its own schools. They are also bridging the gap between the demand and supply of quality education to children. But certainly that is no licence to loot. Its an exploitative system where parents have are left with little choice. Once the child is in the school, they have to surrender to the whims of school authorities. The end result is a big chunk of the family budget is devoured by the schooling of children. The higher up they go, the bigger is the expenditure. The situation is particularly bad for families of children from the economically weaker category who get admitted to private schools under reservations stipulated by the RTE Act. The AAP government is doing well by trying to keep the hunger for profiteering among many private schools under check. It would be better if he took parents into confidence too while spelling out his education policy. However, this can only be a small solution to the bigger problem of lack of proper government schools for children to go to. Arvind Kejriwal would do well to improve the lot of these schools and take measures to improve the quality of education there. It might appear a difficult task, but he can set up a few model schools to begin with, or upgrade some existing ones to models ones. That seems to be the plan of his government. Hope it is successful in carrying its agenda forward. Pazham kanindhu paalil vizhum (The fruit has ripened and will fall into the milk), said nonagenarian politician M Karunanidhi, leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) last month. He was referring to progress in alliance talks with Vijayakanth, 'Captain' to his cadre, leader of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) the third largest party by vote-share in Tamil Nadu. Vijayakanth, having kept the DMK, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Vaiko-led PWF (Peoples Welfare Front) guessing for months, finally announced his plan to battle the polls on his own. A week later, he did a volte face, signing an alliance deal with the PWF, comprising Vaiko of the MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), both Left parties and Dalit leader Thol Thirumavalavans VCK (Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi). Vijayakanths wife Premalatha mocked Karunanidhi on stage at a rally Pazham nazhuvi thenil vizhundhu vittadhu (The fruit ripened and fell into honey), she stated. The fall of the fruit into the honey though, appears to have spattered its surroundings. On Tuesday, three MLAs and 10 district secretaries of Vijayakanths DMDK addressed reporters in Chennai. We are pleading with Captain to rethink his decision, announced VC Chandrakumar, propaganda secretary of the DMDK and an MLA. This alliance (with the PWF) is not an alliance that will defeat Jayalalithaa. Ninety-five percent of the DMDK cadre want to ally with the DMK. This is a suicidal decision by Captain, he stated, clarifying that none of those with him intended to quit the party. Within an hour though, all of these men found themselves expelled from the party through a statement issued by their leader Vijayakanth. This is not the first display of resentment against the decision to go with the PWF. Kanyakumari and North Chennai district secretaries of the DMDK jumped fence to join the DMK last week. Vijayakanth promptly announced replacements. Ally Vaiko told reporters that this was a ploy by the DMK to break the DMDK party. Show Me The Money! The reason behind this sudden mutiny in Captains ranks, according to insiders, is a banal one. A DMDK leader explained the logic to Firstpost on condition of anonymity. We formed an alliance with the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) in 2011 and won the election, explained the insider. Within a few months, relations between J Jayalalithaa and Captain soured. We became the main Opposition. Despite having 29 MLAs, we could not make money because we took a stand against the ruling party. For the 2014 elections we spent from our pockets and took loans too. Now no one in the party has any money to spend, he said. The preference for an alliance with the DMK was a prosaic one, he continued. If we ally with the DMK, their district secretaries will spend for campaigning for our candidates, he stated. We wouldnt have to worry. But whether we contest alone or with the PWF, we will end up having to take more loans and spend, because the PWF consists of tiny parties with no money or muscle, he explained. This was even pointed out subtly at the press conference addressed by V Chandrakumar, DMDK MLA. In the last election, we even pawned our wives thaali (mangalsutra) to campaign, he said. We have spent so much of our own money on elections, the party has not given us anything we have done all this out of genuine love for our leader Captain, he said. Chandrakumar also alleged that during candidate interviews, Vijayakanth had continually indicated that a tie-up with the DMK was in the offing. He said that neither he, nor other district secretaries were aware of the impending announcement of an alliance with the PWF, even on the morning of the announcement. The insider refutes this allegation. Everyone was told about the PWF alliance a day before, he stated. These people did not open their mouths then. What is the point of talking now? Chandrakumar also alleged that the very next day after the announcement of the alliance with PWF, on 24 March, he and other district secretaries had submitted a letter to Captain, expressing their disappointment at the alliance and requesting him to rethink the decision. Captain kept telling us to be patient, he alleged. Another DMDK MLA though disagrees. Chandrakumar is lying about the letter, said Azhagapuram Mohanraj. There is no truth in any of his allegations. Chandrakumar has betrayed the party and Captain. There is no setback to us due to the exit of these people. A rebel DMDK MLA told Firstpost, on condition of anonymity, that DMK leaders had reached out to him as long as a year-and-a-half ago. They wanted me to join the party, he admitted. I asked for the district secretary post that they were not willing to give me. So I declined it at that time, he said. When questioned about whether the DMK had made any offer recently, he categorically denied it. DMK leaders were unavailable for comment on this development. In February this year, Vijayakanth, at a rally in Kanchipuram asked his cadre Do you want me to be king or kingmaker? The crowd roared back in response King. Both options now look like a tough ask, with his soldiers deserting the ranks. The politicking for May 2016 has only just begun. The author tweets @anandkso BEIRUT Egyptian satellite company NileSat has stopped broadcasting Hezbollah-controlled Lebanese television channel Al Manar, an official said on Wednesday, a move the Iranian-backed group condemned as part of a campaign by Gulf Arab states against it. "This is completely in line with the attack launched by some Arab regimes on the resistance (Hezbollah) in all sectors, including the media," Hezbollah said in a statement. Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Beirut have been brewing since January. Riyadh is worried Hezbollah has too much power in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia and Iran are regional rivals. Saudi Arabia cut $3 billion in military aid to Lebanon after the Lebanese government failed to condemn an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in January. On Friday, the Saudi-owned television news channel Al Arabiya shut its offices in Lebanon. On the same day, protesters attacked the Beirut office of Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq al-Awsat in response to a cartoon published by the paper criticising the Lebanese state. There have also been reports from Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Bahrain, about Lebanese citizens being expelled because of links to Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia has lavished aid on Egypt since its military overthrew an Islamist government in 2013, and while ties have been strained over the past year, Cairo has broadly followed Riyadh's lead on regional politics. NileSat stopped broadcasting Al Manar to subscribers late on Tuesday, although the channel can be received in Lebanon through other broadcast media. A NileSat official, who asked not to be named, would not comment on the reason for the broadcast ceasing, but said: "The usual terms (of the company) prohibit the use of satellite media to broadcast programmes which call for violence or racism or incite sectarianism." Al Manar said in statements on its TV channel: "NileSat is trading in flimsy excuses and its claims of inciting discord do not fool anyone." (Reporting by Lisa Barrington in Beirut and Mohamed Abdellah in Cairo; Editing by Janet Lawrence) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. OSLO Industrial activity such as mining and logging threatens almost half of the world's natural World Heritage sites, from Australia's Great Barrier Reef to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru, the WWF conservation group said on Wednesday. It urged companies to obey U.N. appeals to declare all heritage sites "no go" areas for oil and gas exploration, mines, unsustainable timber production and over-fishing. A total of 114 World Heritage sites out of 229 worldwide that are prized for nature or a mixture of nature and culture were under threat, according to the study by WWF and Dalberg Global Development Advisors, a U.S.-based consultancy. "This is staggering. We're trying to raise a flag here," Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International, told Reuters. "We're not opposing development, we're opposing badly planned development." The WWF findings are far higher than the 18 natural sites listed as "in danger", a more severe condition, by the World Heritage Committee of the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO. The WWF rates the Great Barrier Reef, for instance, as under threat from mining and shipping, while last year, the Heritage Committee stopped short of an "in danger" listing. And the WWF says Machu Picchu in the Andes, also not on the U.N. list, is under threat from logging. Other sites under threat include the Everglades in the United States, Ecuador's Galapagos islands or Russia's Kamchatka volcanoes, it said. Of those, only the Everglades were rated "in danger" by the Heritage Committee. Mechtild Rossler, director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre in Paris, said she welcomed such non-governmental reports as an aid to raise awareness of risks. Only some companies have heeded repeated U.N. calls for no go zones. The International Council of Mining and Metals, grouping major companies, agreed in 2003 to stay out of World Heritage sites. Some oil and gas companies, such as Total (TOTF.PA) and Shell (RDSa.L), have made similar commitments. "Oil and gas is more an individual discussion. We lack the overall organised approach," Rossler told Reuters. The WWF study said that more than 11 million people depended on the heritage sites for food, water, shelter and medicine. Lambertini said that the economic value of nature was too often ignored, even though the sites created jobs, for instance from ecotourism worth billions of dollars. "Nature continues to be taken for granted," he said. The study expands on a report by the WWF last year that said about a third of sites were threatened by mining and oil and gas. It adds threats such as over-fishing, harmful logging and disruptions of water supplies from dams. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; Editing by Alison Williams) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Reykjavik: Iceland's coalition parties held talks on Wednesday on the government's future, a day after the prime minister's resignation over the Panama Papers scandal that propelled the Pirate Party to the top of polls ahead of a possible snap election. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson stepped down on Tuesday, the first major political casualty to emerge from the massive leak of 11.5 million documents detailing hidden offshore accounts held by world leaders and celebrities. The documents revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands and had placed millions of dollars of her inheritance there. The prime minister sold his 50-per cent share of the company to his wife for a symbolic sum of $1 at the end of 2009, but he had neglected to declare the stake as required when he was elected to parliament six months earlier. Gunnlaugsson, of the centre-right Progressive Party, has said he regretted not having done so, but insisted he and his wife had followed Icelandic law and paid all their taxes in Iceland. It has not been proven the couple stood to gain financially from the offshore holding, and the ICIJ noted only that Gunnlaugsson had "violated Iceland's ethics rules." But the issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to conceal their dealings in risky financial products and which ultimately led to the 2008 collapse of the nation's three main banks. Thousands of protesters demonstrated on Monday, calling for Gunnlaugsson to step down. He finally did so on Tuesday. But several hours later he denied having formally resigned, saying he had only stepped down temporarily and proposed his deputy party leader, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, as acting prime minister. Political observers noted that ultimately Iceland's president would have to approve any change of premier. The left-wing opposition, which presented a vote of no-confidence to parliament on Monday, wants early elections to be held ahead of the scheduled April 2017 vote. Two other sitting cabinet ministers - for finance and the interior, both of the junior coalition member Independence Party - have also been named in the Panama Papers. Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, the Independence Party leader, was to meet today with the acting prime minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson. Riding high on Icelanders' anger over the affair, the four-year-old Pirate Party has seen its support soar. A libertarian movement campaigning for more transparency in politics, Internet freedoms and copyright reform, the Pirate Party garnered 43 percent of voter support in a Gallup poll conducted Monday and Tuesday and published by daily Frettabladid and Channel 2 television. ABUJA, Nigeria (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Nigerian officials gave permission on Tuesday for a memorial event at a school in northeast Nigeria from where Islamist rebels abducted 276 girls two years ago with parents hoping this would remind the world their daughters are still missing. The event, a prayer session integrating both Muslim and Christian faiths, will mark the second anniversary of the girls' abduction by Boko Haram militants from Chibok that provoked an international outcry and a viral campaign #bringbackourgirls. It will be held on April 14 - exactly two years since Boko Haram fighters stormed the Government Secondary School in Chibok in the middle of the night and kidnapped 276 girls. In total 57 managed to escape but 219 remain missing. Lawan Zanna, secretary of the Parents of the Abducted Girls from Chibok association, said the government had agreed to give the parents access to the school that is heavily guarded and all the parents of the missing girls are expected to attend. The parents were hoping the event would again garner attention for the girls who have not been seen since the night of their abduction despite calls to find them from celebrities and politicians including U.S. first lady Michelle Obama. "We have also invited all the government officials from Chibok .. and they also promised to allow any person from the media to join us," Zanna, whose 18-year-old daughter is among the missing girls, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Boko Haram has kidnapped thousands of boys and girls in northeast Nigeria over the past seven years, turning them into cooks, sex slaves, fighters, and even suicide bombers to attack their own villages, according to Amnesty International. But the Chibok abduction remains the most high-profile. On the first anniversary of the abduction the parents held a memorial event at the school but then a military checkpoint was then set up outside the school and the area ruled out of bounds. Visitors are required to seek official permission from the government or the military to get access to the school and also to Chibok town. The parents received permission to use the venue for this year's event on Tuesday after three representatives of the parents' association met with government officials. In March last year, the previous Nigerian government of President Goodluck Jonathan began work on rebuilding the school that was razed by the militants on the night of the abduction. But weeks later Jonathan was forced from power by Muhammadu Buhari in a national election and no buildings have yet been erected on the school site. Buhari ordered a new investigation into the kidnappings in January. (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith) This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed. Yangon: Myanmars president Wednesday signed a bill giving Aung San Suu Kyi a new role of state adviser, shoring up her influence across all branches of government despite vehement opposition from the still-powerful military. Suu Kyi is determined to rule the former junta-run nation regardless of an army-scripted constitution that bars her from becoming president, as she strives to meet the aspirations of millions of voters who gave her pro-democracy party a landslide election victory last November. She is already foreign minister and met her Chinese counterpart for talks on Tuesday, prioritising Beijing in her first foray into international diplomacy since her National League for Democracy officially took power last week. The bill outlining her advisory role, which mentions the Nobel laureate by name, enables Suu Kyi to wield influence over parliament as well as in the cabinet in a position officially called "state counsellor". It was signed into law by President Htin Kyaw, Suu Kyis longtime aide and effective proxy, following debates in both houses of parliament that have seen protests by the armys legislative representatives. "The president has signed the state counsellor bill today," president office deputy director-general Zaw Htay told AFP. He declined to give further details on the legislation, which sped through both houses of parliament thanks to the NLDs huge majority. In a dramatic lower house session on Tuesday, unelected military MPs who make up a quarter of the legislature because the constitution reserves seats for them stood up to register a protest that their suggested amendments were being ignored. The bill was then sent straight to the president without a vote in the combined legislature because no clauses had been altered. One army MP, Brigadier General Maung Maung, complained to reporters after Tuesdays session that the passage of the bill was "democratic bullying by majority". Impoverished Myanmar has seen dramatic changes since 2011 as the military released its stranglehold on power after decades of repressive rule that saw Suu Kyi and many of her colleagues imprisoned or held under house arrest. Foreign tourism and investment have begun to flood into the resource-rich nation of 51 million. But the new government faces stiff challenges, particularly smoothing relations with the army and tackling ongoing civil wars in ethnic minority border areas. Beirut: A Syrian fighter who appeared in a gruesome video cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it has been shot dead by rival rebels, a monitoring group said. Known by his nom de guerre Abu Sakkar, the rebel reportedly joined the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front about a year ago, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Rival rebels "assassinated Khaled al-Hamad, who was known as Abu Sakkar and who was a military commander in Al-Nusra, by gunning him down" in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Observatory said late on Tuesday. In May 2013, Abu Sakkar appeared in a video showing him eating the heart of a dead regime soldier, sparking an international outcry and condemnation from the mainstream Syrian opposition. At the time, he was fighting in a rebel brigade in central Homs province. "He was likely killed in a settling of accounts" between Al-Nusra, which dominates much of Idlib province, and other Islamist rebels in the area, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. The Syrian conflict began as a peaceful uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011 but swiftly escalated into an armed rebellion after his regime unleashed a brutal crackdown. Many Syrians became radicalised, and human rights groups have accused all sides in the fighting of committing atrocities. New Delhi: Niira Radia, the founder of Vaishnavi Communications whose taped telephone chats with some prominent people in India around eight years ago, including ministers, journalists and business tycoons became the matter of a probe, has now surfaced in the "Panama Papers" expose. Her name (appearing as Nira Radia, in the documents investigated, minus the extra 'i') is allegedly linked to a company in British Virgin Islands, which her office has denied, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday. In the article, as part three of the expose on Indians having alleged offshore links, Radia is said to have figured prominently as a director in the 232 documents pertaining to the company listed in the tax haven, Crownmart International Group. The list published by the newspaper on Wednesday also has the names of a top business tycoon in Bellary, a prominent industrialist and a chartered accountant each of whom, which The Indian Express says were contacted for their responses, with many also sharing their versions. Another article seeks to shows how the world's largest currency note maker De La Rue had contracted a New Delhi businessman to help bag tenders in India, in return for a 15-percent commission. The paper identifies the company as Aphra Consultants, linked to Somendra Khosla of New Delhi. Amid these allegations, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan has said that not every off-shore company opened by an Indian national need be illegitimate, and that this would be the primary task of a probe team in which the central bank has been co-opted. On Radia, the paper said: "An investigation of these papers shows the existence of one offshore entity owned by Radia, an International Business Company registered in the British Virgin Islands by Mossack Fonseka in 1994 named Crownmart International Group Limited." In response, her office said the said entity was set up by her late father Iqbal Narain Menon and that she was not a beneficiary. Also that Radia had disclosed her assets to the authorities in UK and India and that such information was personal and confidential for third parties. In another article published on Wednesday, the newspaper said the Indian diamond merchants, who were probed earlier for having overseas accounts in Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands and HSCB, have also surfaced in "Panama Papers". Prominent among them are Rosy Blue, one of the largest diamond traders in the world, and Chetan Mehta of the Belgium-based Gembel family. The paper also reported that Harshad Ramniklal Mehta of Rosy Blue did not respond to its calls or queries, while Chetan Mehta said he has been a non-resident Indian living in Belgium and that the companies were shut longtime ago. A part of the list, Hyderabad-based Moturi Srinivas Prasad said the off-shore entities were started as one dollar companies with the hope of doing business, but were closed. Satish Modi of Modi Global was away from India, but an e-mail reply from his office said he is an NRI and laws were followed. Others named in the Panama Papers: - Hyderabad-based businessman Bhavanasi Jaya Kumar who maintained he had nothing to do with offshore companies. - UK-based Bhaskar Rao, whose son said the companies were not exactly active and that due procedures were followed. - Civil construction business people Preetam Bothra and Sweta Gupta, with the latter when contacted, posing the query, as to why she should share any information with the newspaper. - Ahmedabad-based Bhandari Ashok Ramdayalchand, with a response from someone at his residence that he was not interested in talking. - Kolkata-based Ashok Malhotra who, the paper says, admitted to knowing about the off-shore accounts but kept changing his stories. - Dehradun-based Sanjay Pokhriyal, who said the $10,000 endowment for a Panamanian fund allegedly linked to him was not his own money. - Belary iron exporters Prasanna V Ghotage and Vaman Kumar who the paper could not contact. - Vadodara-based Pradeep Kaushikray Buch, who denied he had any such overseas company linked to him. - Rahul Arunprasad Patel of Sintex Industries, who reportedly said he has several overseas companies but was not sure if the one named in the expose belonged to him. - Thiruvananthapuram native and chartered accountant George Mathew, who said the linked companies belonged to clients and that Indian agencies had nothing to do with them. The global expose has been conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) along with over 100 global media organisations, dubbed the "Panama Papers", based on millions of documents of a Panama law firm Mossak Fonseca that helped in setting up off-shore entities. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already ordered a multi-agency probe team on the expose. United Nations: The United Nations today brushed aside Japanese complaints over Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's plan to attend a military parade in Beijing, saying the World War II commemoration was an opportunity to reflect on the past. Japan complained that the United Nations should remain "neutral" and shun the military parade this week marking 70 years since Japan's defeat in World War II. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric stressed that Ban had attended similar events throughout the year, notably in Poland, Ukraine and in Moscow where President Vladimir Putin staged a show of military might. Ban "hopes that all countries will use this time to reflect on the past and obviously look to the future," said Dujarric. China's parade on Thursday, which comes as Beijing takes a more assertive stance regionally, will see 12,000 soldiers and 500 pieces of military hardware roll through Tiananmen Square. Nearly 200 aircraft will fly overhead. Two dozen heads of state and government are scheduled to attend including Putin, South Korea's Park Geun-Hye and South Africa's Jacob Zuma among the most prominent. Former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama -- who issued a landmark apology for the war in 1995 -- will be present at the commemorations in a personal capacity, but Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is staying away. The conflict is officially known in the country as the "Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War". Washington: The US has refuted reports that it was considering allowing Iran to get access to its financial system. "I can tell you that reports that the United States is considering allowing Iran to get access to the US financial system are false," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters yesterday. "We are interested in making sure that the United States and the rest of the international community lives up to the commitments that we made in the context of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," he said. The US is prepared to follow through on the commitments that its made because it has verified that Iran has followed through on the commitments that they have made. "Iran, for example, reduced their nuclear stockpile by 98 percent. They unplugged thousands of centrifuges. They have taken steps to render their heavy-water plutonium reactor harmless and incapable of producing fuel that could be used for a nuclear weapon," he said. Earnest said there are a whole variety of steps that Iran committed to implement, including the most intrusive set of inspections that have ever been imposed on a country's nuclear program. "That's something that we're going to follow through on. But we can do that without reinstating U-turn authorization or giving Iran access to the US financial system," Earnest said. The Obama administration, he said, has a lot of confidence in the deal that it reached with the rest of the international community to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. It's going to enhance the national security of our partners in the region, including our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel, he argued. "The President is proud of this foreign policy accomplishment. We are pleased that thus far we've able to verify that Iran has lived up to the agreement that was signed," he said. Earnest said the Obama administration has been extraordinarily transparent about the terms of the deal when communicating with Congress about it. "Time and time again, Congress has been briefed on the details of the deal.That was true even while the deal was being negotiated," he said. Washington: The US is poised to sell sophisticated thermal weapon sights to Pakistan following the Obama administration's decision to provide eight F-16 fighter jets and nine AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters worth USD 170 million to the country. The Pentagon on Tuesday awarded a USD 17 million contract to Raytheon for supply of the thermal weapon sights and spares which improve targeting and surveillance capabilities by enabling soldiers to spot targets at long distances through haze, dust, fog and other obscurants. Raytheon is known as a pioneer in thermal weapons sights. The Pentagon yesterday said Raytheon has been awarded a USD 17,877,938 firm-fixed-price, foreign military sales contract (Pakistan) for thermal weapon sights and spares, training, and contract data requirements lists. One bid was solicited with one received. Work will be performed in McKinney, Texas; and Pakistan, with an estimated completion date of 30 October 2017. Fiscal 2010 other procurement funds in the amount of USD 17,877,938 were obligated at the time of the award, the statement said. There was a certain degree of skepticism in Saudi Arabian administration when Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his desire to visit Tata Consultancy Services facilitys at Riyadh during his two day visit to the kingdom. There is hardly anything to be seen, was the prevailing feeling among officials. The facility exclusively run by the women from Saudi Arabia is largely out of bound for males. The interaction of women with men other than family members is forbidden by a religious decree which is strictly adhered to and enforced. After some vacillating, it was finally agreed that Modi would visit the facility and hold a conference with working women. During his visit there, several women, clad in abayas, spoke about technology, human resource development and the modern world. You have projected Saudi Arabias new face to the world, a high-ranking Saudi official accompanying Modi said. The Prime Minister later said he was "equally impressed" by the manner in which his hosts conducted themselves. Given the cultural sensibilities that hold sway in the kingdom, Modi was particularly mindful of the manner in which he addressed the women. He described them as aan baan and shaan (pride and honour) of Saudi Arabia, adding that what he witnessed at the facility "appears to be a harbinger of a positive force for the world". He then invited them to India and sought their remarks about India women, to be submitted using the Narendra Modi app. Of all his foreign visits, the trip to Saudi Arabia could be regarded as the most significant for many reasons. It appears Modi has developed a rapport with the oil-rich kingdom that is independent of Indias relationship with Pakistan. There is a strategic and historical context in which bonhomie between Modi and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has to be viewed. India was grateful to the Saudi regime for providing exemplary support in the operation conducted to rescue over 5,000 Indians trapped in Yemen. It is likely Saudi Arabias role weighed heavily on Modis mind when he visited the country. At the same time, there is a palpable sign of estrangement between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. For instance Pakistans dalliance with Iran has not gone down well with the Saudi regime. Similarly Pakistans decision to stay clear of the kingdoms battle against Islamic militants particularly Shia forces in the neigbourhood is seen as too-clever-by-half diplomacy. Pakistan has used the pretext of its own large Shia population for not joining the battle. This has certainly rattled the Saudi regime. Apart from strategic and diplomatic ramifications, Modis visit to Saudi Arabia was personally significant. In the post-2002 communal violence in Gujarat, Modis projection as villain of the piece by a section of media found international resonance. while the United States of America denied him a visa, the UK politely dissuaded him from visiting Great Britain. His acceptance in the Islamic world was considered to be an impossibility. Contrary to his image, Modis acceptability among leaders like the ruler of Saudi Arabia seems to have soared in the two years that he has served as Prime Minister. This was indicated by conferment of the highest civilian award by the Saudi regime during his just-concluded visit. Similarly his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) proved to be productive in terms of trust building. Given the fact that Modi shares a special relationship with Israel, he is adept enough not to allow this proximity to limit his relationship with the Islamic world. Conscious of Indian imperatives that call for maintaining a strong relationship with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Modi makes it a point to visit Indians settled in those countries. This is the precise reason why selfies clicked by women techies in Riyadh is not an ordinary event. It is to Modis credit that the response he received was contrary even to what the Saudi administration believed would result from his visit to the TCS facility. LGBT rights advocates suffered a setback with the new Mississippi "religious freedom" law recently enacted and set to take effect on July 1 this year. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed a law that is said to allow businesses including restaurants to refuse service to gay couples for religious reasons according to a Restaurant Business article. The new Mississippi law could also be used as a basis for government employees to refuse the issuance of marriage licenses and perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples. The far-reaching law also allows businesses to deny jobs, adoption, housing and foster care services simply because of one's sexual orientation according to an article in Los Angeles Times by Jenny Jarvie. Also known as the "Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act," it may also be used by employers to cite religious reasons in setting up workplace policies on grooming, dress code and even on bathroom and locker access according to a Thompson Reuters article on CBC News. The law is part of similar recent measures from other states after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last year. For example, North Carolina has a recently imposed ban on transgender individuals in choosing bathrooms based on their identity. Reacting to the new law, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Mississippi executive director Jennifer Riley-Collins released a statement saying "This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousand of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licenses, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are." Governor Bryant clarifies that the law is not an attempt to challenge federal laws. Bryant added that the law highlights the religious freedoms protected by the 1st Amendment and is an attempt to prevent government interference in the personal lives of people in the state according to LA Times. U.S. businesses are generally against such legislations. For example, a coalition of more than 100 companies asked Governor Pat McCrory for the reversal of a similar law in North Carolina according to the Thomson Reuters article in CBC News. Starbucks and Coca-Cola are among 80+ companies who joined forces with The Human Rights Campaign - signing a letter addressed to North Carolina Governor, Pat McCrory; and asking him to repeal the mean law that discriminates LGBT community. The HB2 bill is a 'discriminative regulation' that will ban North Carolina to have equality rights for transgender. The HB2 bill has just been announced and quickly received protests, not only from the transgender community but also from chairmen and equality right activists. They are anticipating a prevention of this bill from coming into law. The bill itself mandates all transgender people to use a restroom that corresponds with the gender stated on birth certificate instead of how they are acknowledged within present. The letter expresses the CEOs' disappointment on the new regulation because they think it is 'discriminatory' and 'bad for employees and businesses'. The join-force urges McCrory to repeal the bill in the upcoming legislative meeting because it does not reflect the companies' value and the North Carolinians'. The 3-paragraph letter also alarms the governor on the impact of House Bill 2 in the future. Given that such discrimination will draw away students, tourists, workers and other economy-related activities. The companies also believe that with this rule being applied, it would be in contrast to their state of being 'open-minded' businesses that welcome all genders including the LGBT community. Companies that put their executive's signatures on the letter include Facebook, Apple, Tumblr, Google, eBay, DropBox, Kellogg Company, and AirBnB. North Carolina will face a challenge after the American Civil Liberties Union made an official announcement to file a lawsuit regarding the HB2 law. The bill itself is a bitter fact for transgender students. Transgender student, Skye Thompson, told CNN how the bill would affect on the daily routine at the hall. "People (in woman restroom) are going to freak out because I look like a guy," Thompson says. It is the most dreaded letter a taxpayer can receive. You've just joined an elite club, one whose initiation ritual is an IRS audit. Unfortunately, you can't refuse membership -- and the dues could be astronomical. When the IRS Restructuring and Reform Act was enacted in 1998, lawmakers ordered the agency to focus more on taxpayer rights instead of collection activities. Not surprisingly, the number of audits -- or examinations, as the agency prefers to call them -- dropped dramatically. During the first year of the kinder, gentler IRS, about 1 in 79 tax returns was audited. By 2003, it was even easier for tax scofflaws; that year, according to IRS data, only 1 in 150 individual taxpayers were audited. Focus on richer taxpayers The number of audits nowadays remains low. IRS data show that in 2015, audits were conducted on only 0.84% of nearly 147 million individual returns filed that year, representing the fewest audits in a decade. The 2015 percentage is down fractionally from the 0.86% audit rate for the prior year. Even better news is that most of us aren't the target of IRS examiners. The tax collector has been focusing on the rich. If you made less than $200,000, your chance of being audited in 2015 was just 0.76%. That's down from the 0.78% audit rate in 2014 and 0.93% a decade ago. Your audit odds increased if your income was between $200,000 and $1 million. In fiscal year 2015, returns filed by individuals in that income range were audited at a 2.61% rate, more than 3 times that of lower-earning taxpayers' returns. And if you made more than $1 million, almost 10% of returns got closer looks from IRS auditors in 2015. The lower level of return examinations, however, is not just out of the goodness of Uncle Sam's heart. General budget cuts forced the IRS to pull back on some of its audit operations. IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told a National Press Club audience in March that budget constraints mean that at least for 2016, the number of audits will remain low. What's the DIF? In addition to a filer's overall income, other figures also get auditors' attention. When it comes to avoiding prying IRS eyes, it's best to be just one of the crowd. "Don't draw any more attention to your return than you need to," says Robert G. Nath, author of multiple tax guides, including the book "The Unofficial Guide to Dealing with the IRS." "Simple, plain-vanilla returns are fairly safe," he says. The IRS says there are several ways a return can be selected for audit and the first is via the agency's computer-scoring system known as Discriminant Information Function, or DIF. The IRS evaluates tax returns based on IRS formulas, and DIF is based on deductions, credits and exemptions with norms for taxpayers in each of the income brackets. The actual scoring formula to determine which tax returns are most likely to be in error is a closely guarded secret. But Nath, a tax attorney in the Washington, D.C., area, says it's no mystery the system is designed to screen for returns that could put more money in the government Treasury. How do your deductions compare? Tax experts believe one discriminant information function component looks at average deduction amounts. This allows IRS examiners to spot inconsistencies, such as a high mortgage interest deduction and low income. Tax specialists at Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting US examined 2013 return statistics, the latest complete data, and came up with the following itemized deduction averages. These are for illustrative purposes only. The experts note that the IRS takes a dim view of taxpayers who base their claimed deductions on these figures. The numbers can be useful, however, in giving you a general idea as to whether certain deductions on your return might seem out of line. Allison Einbinder, owner of Dollars and Sense, a tax and accounting firm in Oakland, California, recommends that all filers review the differential comparisons. How you stack up against a national standard, she says, will give you an idea of whether the IRS might take a closer look at your return. So what is likely to trigger a discriminant information function red flag? Higher incomes. Income other than basic wages; for example, contract payments. Unreported income, such as investment returns. Home-based businesses, especially when in addition to salary income, and home office deductions. Noncash charitable deductions. Large business meal and entertainment deductions. Excessive business auto usage. Losses from an activity that could be viewed as a hobby rather than a business. Large casualty losses. Returns claiming the earned income tax credit, designed as a tax break for lower-income wage earners, also catch IRS eyes. The credit's complexity often results in legitimate mistakes on returns. Some filers, however, have been caught making false claims to increase the payment the credit provides. Schedule C filers who report a business loss also are likely to face more questions from the IRS. The agency wants to be sure that it was indeed the economy, and not an effort to trim taxes, that produced the bad business results. Don't cheat yourself But don't let fear of a potential audit discourage you from filing for tax credits or taking legitimate tax deductions. Although some tax return actions are likely to flag your return, Nath says that doesn't necessarily mean you'll be audited. Even if your return is questioned, it's not a foregone conclusion that you'll end up owing the IRS. As long as your deductions and expenses are legitimate and you have documentation, Nath says, they will be allowed. The groundwork you put into preparing your return will pay off in an audit situation. "Be confident in what you entered," says Einbinder. "That's easy when you have good records to support your tax return entries." And even if an audit doesn't go your way, don't despair. "You have rights to contest audits," Nath says, "at every level of the process." Read Bankrate's stories on how a tax return could invite an IRS audit, as well as how to prepare for an audit in case you get summoned. Copyright 2016, Bankrate Inc. Image source: Google. Alphabet's Google launched its Fiber Internet service about four years now, but because it's only available in a few select regions across the U.S., some of the details of the service still elude many people. So let's take a quick look at what Google Fiber has to offer, and how it differs from similar services from Comcast , AT&T , and Time Warner Cable . 1. Google Fiber users have a free optionMosf the Internet plans Google Fiber offers cost $70 per month for 1 Gbps Internet speeds. But customers in Google Fiber cities also have a free option. They can get 5 Mbps per second download and 1 Mbps upload speeds at the locked-in price of $0 per month for 7 years. For comparison's sake, Time Warner Cable charges $30 per month in my city for the 6 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload service. 2. It's helping to lower your Internet bill, or increase your speedsWhen Google Fiber shows up in a city, Internet service providers (ISPs) either increase their Internet speeds, lower their prices, or both. For example, when Google announced Fiber was coming to Charlotte, North Carolina, Time Warner Cable increased its Internet speeds across the board, by up to 6 times faster than before. 3. Fiber's not the fastest Internet aroundComcast recently launched a 2 Gbps service on its existing cable lines. The new service isn't available in many locations, but it's opening up a new way for the company to make more money from its existing lines. The price tag is significantly more than Google Fiber, though, at $300 per month. 4. You can get home phone service That's right, you can still get a home phone that you can actually hang on the wall! Fiber just launched its home phone service with nationwide local and long distance calling for just $10 per month (on top of the Fiber Internet price). Users can also make international calls with rates as low as $0.01 per minute. Fiber phones also have free call forwarding to smartphones, Caller ID, 911 service, and let you keep your existing number. 5. The service is continually expanding Google Fiber is now available in four cities, with seven more cities set to come online, and 11 more in the works. That's not many locations compared to the entire U.S., but remember that Google Fiber only launched four years ago. 6. You can get 1 TB of Google Drive storage with your service Google's known for offering lots of free online services, but even Google starts charging for online storage space after awhile. Fortunately for Fiber customers, the company offers 1 TB of free Google Drive storage, compared to 15 GB of free storage for everyone else. 7. There are no data caps on your Internet usage Surprisingly, this is no longer a given for some Internet service providers. Comcast is testing a 300 GB per month data capin some places around the country, and if customers want unlimited data they have to pony up up to $35 more per month for it. Similarly, AT&T's Gigapower offers up to 1 TB of data usage each month, and charges $10 per month for each 50 GB over that. Admittedly, that's a lot of data, but it's still the fact that AT&T and Comcast have some version of a data caps for home Internet, while Fiber doesn't restrict any amount of data usage. Google Fiber beats the competition in most categories, but the real focus for the company is to force its competitors to offer faster Internet service at lower prices. And so far, it appears that's happening. By doing so, Google believes more people will use its online services, spend more time online, and eventually see more of its ads. And as AT&T, Comcast, and Time Warner Cable try to match or exceed Fiber's offerings, they're effectively helping Google reach its goal. The article 7 Surprising Google Fiber Facts originally appeared on Fool.com. Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Chris Neiger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares) and Alphabet (C shares). Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. You know the feeling: that rush of excitement when you open your mailbox and find the iconic blue and whiteBed Bath & Beyond coupon promising 20% off. Considered by many to be the Holy Grail of coupons, this special offer can help shoppers save big. However, you might not realize that there are other ways to save moneyat Bed Bath & Beyond. Fromstockpiling these couponsto asking for price matches and adjustments, read on to discover nine ways to maximize your savings at Bed Bath & Beyond. 1. Sign up and download the appIf you want to receive the latest sales information and coupons, then you need to sign up online at BedBathAndBeyond.com. Don't forget to check the box to receive circulars and those blue and white postcard coupons, which will come through snail mail. If you're a heavy mobile user, it's a good idea to download the Bed Bath & Beyond app, as well. "We've all received the ubiquitous Bed Bath & Beyond 20% megacoupon in themail, but it seems like whenever we're in the store, the coupon is sittinginconveniently at home," said Mike Catania, chief technology officer ofPromotioncode.org. "If you download the app, though, you can have anew one sent via text to your phone. A word of caution, though, that,unlike the print versions, the mobile/text versions do expire." Another way to score a 20% off coupon is to sign in to your Bed Bath & Beyond account and add something to your online shopping cart. Next, leave the page by closing the tab. The retail giant will likely send you an email with a 20% off code in order to "fix" yourshopping cart's abandonment issue by encouraging you to check out. 2. Stockpile the couponsIt's a poorly kept secret that Bed Bath & Beyond coupons don't expire, andeveryday consumers aren't the only ones who cherish these treasures. In fact,celebrities like Kristen Bell have gushed about the value of the coveted Bed Bath & Beyond coupon. On an episode of Conan, Bell said, "The best coupon you can get, possibly in the world, is the Bed Bath & Beyond coupon, and you know it's the best one!" Tomake the best use of your coupons, be sure to stockpile them. Keep these valuable items in your glovebox, purse, reusable grocery bag, or anywhere else that provides easy access and prime visibility as you're heading to the store. 3. Use the right coupon and use more than oneThe trick to saving more is knowing which coupon will yield the most savings in a given circumstance. Consumer shopping andmoney-saving expert Andrea Worochsaid that a 20% off deal should be applied to any purchase that will save you more than $5. In other words, buyers should earmark these coupons for items marked $25 or higher. Because these coupons are generally good for single items only, it's best to save them for bigger-ticket purchases. On the other hand, consumers can apply the$5 off $15 coupons to their entire purchase. Thus these offers provide the best savings when used on purchases ranging from $15 to $24.Additionally, savvy shoppers know that they are allowed to use multiple coupons at Bed Bath & Beyond for a single transaction. "Once in a while, you get a 20% off your entire purchase which is a great coupon," Woroch said. "[However], you can also use multiple coupons on your purchase, so make sure you bring as many coupons as you have so you don't miss out on those extra savings. Using a 20% off coupon on a $10 item still saves you money!" 4. Don't forget manufacturer couponsIn addition to the legendary 20% off and $5 off coupons, manufacturer coupons can help consumers snag extra savings atBed Bath & Beyond. You can find manufacturer coupons in your Sunday newspaper or search for them online by visiting manufacturers' websites and coupon sites, such asCouponSherpa.com and Coupons.com. 5. Ask for a price matchIt's important to note that Bed Bath & Beyond doesn't always offer the cheapest prices. Even with a coupon, you might still wind up paying more for an item than you would in a different store. BecauseBed Bath & Beyond will price match if another store, including Amazon, offers a lower price, it's crucial to compare prices before you shop. "Use apps like ShopSavvy when you're shopping in store to compare prices among competitor stores and Amazon," said Woroch. It's worth noting that you can pair a price match with a manufacturer coupon, but unfortunately you can't pair a price match with a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon. 6. Ask for a price adjustmentSave your receipts and pay attention to the price of items after you purchase them, especially for big-ticket goods.If an item goes on sale after you make a purchase, Bed Bath & Beyond will honor a price adjustment. Additionally, websites and apps likeCamelCamelCamelandSlickDealscan help alert you to price drops. You can also ask for a price adjustment on a previous purchase if you forgot to use a coupon but happen to find one after the fact. 7. Shop the clearance section on MondaysSavings expert Kendal Perez ofCouponSherpa.comrecommends shopping the clearance section on Mondays. "According to retail insiders, Bed Bath & Beyond restocks its clearance section over the weekend, making the beginning of the week the best time to search for deals," Perez said. Darla DeMorrow, author ofThe Pregnant Entrepreneurand owner ofHeartWork Organizing, echoes the sentiment. She recommendsbrowsing the clearance section for stocking stuffers, hostess gifts, and snacks that you can buy year round and save for seasonal occasions. 8. Get free gift cardsFew people would turn down afree gift card. If you want to save more at Bed Bath & Beyond, take advantage of the retailer's complimentary gift card offers tied to various products. For instance, one past offer promised a $50 free gift card if customers spent $300 on Calphalon products. These gift cards never expire and can be used in conjunction with your stockpile of 20% off coupons for a rainy day. 9. Know the refund policyAlthough Bed Bath & Beyond once had a notablylaid-back return policy, the retailer's stance on refunds has changed somewhat in recent years.Benjamin Glaser ofDealNews.comsaid the store's famous return policy has gotten slightly less generous. "Returns with a receipt can be made for a full refund, with essentially no time limit," said Glaser. "Even if you don't have a receipt, you can get a full refund if the purchase was made with a credit card or off of a gift registry. The only change is for those making a return without a receipt: they will get an exchange or store credit worth 80% of the item's current value." If you're buying with cash, hold on to those receipts for best results. This article originally appeared onGOBankingRates.com. The article 9 Ways to Save Money at Bed Bath & Beyond originally appeared on Fool.com. ByAutumn Rose.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. Oil prices surged more than 5 percent on Wednesday, heading for their largest gain in three weeks, after the U.S. government reported a surprise draw in domestic crude stockpiles versus market expectations for a new record high. Crude stocks unexpectedly fell 4.9 million barrels last week as refineries continued to hike output and imports dropped, the Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the U.S. government's Department of Energy, reported. [EIA/S] Analysts polled by Reuters had expected inventories to hit record highs for an eighth straight week with a build of 3.2 million barrels. U.S. crude futures were up $1.85, or 5.1 percent, at $37.74 a barrel by 12:46 p.m. EDT (1646 GMT). Brent futures , the European benchmark, rose by $1.98, or 5.2 percent, to $39.85, gaining more than $2 earlier. U.S. crude futures found additional support from TransCanada Corp's delayed restart of its 590,000 barrel per day Keystone pipeline that delivers crude to Cushing and Illinois. U.S. futures' front-month was at its narrowest discount in three weeks to the second month following the outage. Brent was also underpinned by planned maintenance works at Norway's Ekofisk and Britain's Buzzard oil fields. The rally represented a sentiment shift in oil after last week's 7 percent drop in U.S. crude futures and 4 percent in Brent amid worries the global glut in oil was growing again while producing countries' plans to freeze output would fail. The EIA also reported that gasoline stocks rose for the first time in six weeks, potentially snapping a pillar of support to U.S. crude prices. Stockpiles at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub for U.S. crude futures, another key data point, also rose. . But traders chose to focus on more bullish aspects of the inventory report like the crude draw and the drop in crude imports of nearly 450,000 bpd. "I think the market is more about the total change in (crude) inventories, rather than individual components," said Scott Shelton, energy broker with ICAP in Durham, North Carolina. "It's the first week of the second quarter and we have a net draw. That will force the bears to rethink their bearish balances for Q2." Refinery runs rose by almost 200,000 bpd as utilization rates rose 1 percentage point. . "For refiners, they see a market with strong demand for gasoline and decent profit margins. I expect they will begin ramping up in order to capture the sweet spot of high volume and high margins for as long as it lasts," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at energy-specialized commodities broker Powerhouse in Washington. (Reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in LONDON; Editing by Diane Craft and Marguerita Choy) U.S. sales of Toyota's RAV4 jumped 15% last month, a much-needed bright spot as the brand's sedans continued to slump. Image source: Toyota. Toyota said that its U.S. sales fell 2.7% in March from a year ago, as a continued slump in sedan sales and the timing of the Easter holiday weekend hurt showroom traffic. What Toyota said: U.S. sales of Toyota-brand car models fell 9% in March, the company said -- but sales of Toyota SUVs were up 9%, and its midsize Tacoma pickup posted an 11.3% year-over-year increase. Sales at Toyota's luxury Lexus brand followed a similar pattern. U.S. sales of Lexus cars fell just over 14% last month, while Lexus' SUVs as a group posted a 9.5% year-over-year gain. "Trucks hauled the industry to see the best March in over a decade," said Bill Fay, Toyota's U.S. brand chief, in a statement. "For the Toyota division, light trucks, mostly supported by record sales of RAV4 and Highlander, posted best-ever March and first quarter sales." "Lexus continues to be well-positioned with our fresh LUV lineup to meet the increasing customer demand for crossover and utility vehicles in the luxury market," said Lexus U.S. brand chief Jeff Bracken in a statement. "Our NX posted its best-ever month, and the all new RX posted its best-month since launch. In addition, the new LX was up 45.7 percent." What the numbers said: The Toyota brand sold 94,794 cars in the U.S. last month. On the one hand, that's a lot. On the other hand, it's down from just over 104,000 a year ago. The drop isn't just about one Toyota model: Sales of all of of Toyota's sedan entries were down year over year. It's a trend we're seeing at most other mass-market automakers in the U.S.: More buyers are choosing crossover SUVs over sedans. For automakers with strong SUV lineups, that's often a win: SUV generally carry fatter profit margins than sedans. But Toyota's not winning enough SUV sales to offset its sedans' declines, in part because production of its two key models, the RAV4 and Highlander, is close to maxed out. It isn't alone: Rival Honda , which like Toyota has long been dependent on mainstream sedan sales, is facing similar struggles. During a conference call for analysts and reporters, Fay said that Toyota is working to get more production of Highlanders, RAV4s, and "light trucks" for the U.S. market. It hasn't yet cut production of the slumping Corolla or Camry, but it's "trying to move around the mix a bit," Fay said. A bright spot for Lexus: Lexus' U.S. sales may have been down in March, but so were those at its biggest rivals. Despite the year-over-year sales decline, Lexus outsold both BMW and Mercedes-Benz in the U.S. for the second month in a row, leading the luxury-vehicles market. BMW-brand sales were down 12%, while Mercedes-Benz's U.S. sales fell 5.9%. As with mainstream models, sales of luxury sedans are slipping while crossover SUV sales have continued to post gains. Lexus' NX line posted a year-over-year sales gain of almost 25% in March, while RX sales rose 5.1% and sales of the big and expensive LX line jumped 46% to 424 units. What's next for Toyota: Given that the shift in buyer preferences away from sedans is likely to be a long-term trend, I expect Toyota to work on boosting SUV production in the short term -- and possibly to add more SUV models over time. We already know that the company is planning to introduce a new small crossover SUV to rival Honda's subcompact HR-V. I expect that will be just the first of several new Toyota SUV variants we'll see over the next few years. The article Trends Favoring SUV Sales Continue to Hurt Toyota originally appeared on Fool.com. John Rosevear has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BMW. 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. Since 2008, Newark Airport -- the largest (and arguably most important) hub for United Continental -- has been subject to strict flight limitations. Airlines are required to hold a "slot" for any arrival or departure, making it very difficult for new competitors to enter the market or expand there. That's going to change in late October, according to an FAA order published last week. While Newark Airport will still have capacity constraints, it will be a lot easier for smaller airlines to expand there. That means more competition for United, which currently dominates the airport. Newark is a key cog in United's profit machineNewark Airport is one of three major airports serving New York City, and is United Airlines' main base in that important market. United Airlines has a big hub at Newark Airport, just outside New York City. When measured by the number of daily departures or daily seats, Newark Airport is the third largest hub for United, behind Chicago and Houston. However, due to the high proportion of international and transcontinental flights at Newark, United has 20%-25% more capacity there -- as measured by available seat miles -- than in Chicago or Houston. Furthermore, Newark is United Airlines' most profitable hub, due to the slot limitations that have kept competition down. By contrast, United faces stiff competition in Chicago from discounters like Southwest Airlines and Spirit Airlines . In Houston, it's suffering from weak energy-sector demand -- and Southwest and Spirit are growing there, too. Slot constraints have hindered competitionUnder the current system, United Continental holds 73% of the slots at Newark Airport. Most of those slots came from Continental Airlines, which built up its dominance in Newark at a time when other airlines weren't very interested in flying there. More recently, United has capitalized on this built-in market dominance to charge higher fares than it can command elsewhere. Last summer, the average domestic airfare at Newark Airport was 11% higher than at any of the other 12 busiest airports in the country. Smaller airlines have criticized United (and the other legacy carriers) for limiting their access to key airports like Newark. Ultra-low-cost carriers including Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines don't have any slots at Newark Airport. Southwest Airlines has 18 daily slot pairs at Newark that United and Continental were required to divest as part of their 2010 merger, but it would probably like to expand further. Ultra-low-cost carriers like Spirit Airlines don't have slots at Newark Airport. Image source: Spirit Airlines. Federal regulators have also chimed in, opposing a proposed slot swap with Delta Air Lines that would have given United even more slots at Newark Airport. What the FAA is doingWhile Newark Airport still has more delays than average, an FAA study noted that the delays are much less severe than they were prior to the imposition of slot constraints in 2008. Furthermore, the FAA also noted that the airport typically operates somewhat below its official capacity of 81 takeoffs/landings per hour. During the summer of 2015, Newark had an average of 72 scheduled commercial takeoffs and landings per hour during peak hours. That's because airlines (and especially United) don't use all of their slots every day. On peak days during the peak season, the airport may be maxed out, but that's rarely the case. Airport slots are subject to "use it or lose it" provisions, but airlines generally don't have to use their slots every single day to keep them. As a result, other airlines haven't been allowed to add flights on days when United isn't using its full slot portfolio. To fix this issue and improve competition, the FAA will designate Newark Airport as a Level 2 airport rather than a Level 3 airport as of Oct. 30. Whereas the Level 3 designation entailed slot-controlled operations, Level 2 airports have a less regimented "schedule facilitation" process. As a practical matter, airlines will be able to propose new schedules that incorporate growth or retimed flights. However, the FAA will have to approve any changes and will work with airlines to ensure that their schedules are consistent within the airport's capacity limits. United could face a double whammyThe good news for United Continental is that the FAA isn't making Newark Airport a Level 1 airport, which would allow airlines to do whatever they want. Also, there isn't much room to add flights on peak days, and airlines that want to grow would also have to secure scarce gate space. Nevertheless, United won't have quite as dominant a position at Newark Airport by the time November rolls around. The FAA is likely to favor low-cost carriers in reconciling airlines' proposed schedules. This could drive a sharp increase in price competition at Newark. At the same time, increasing the number of scheduled flights at Newark Airport will inevitably cause delays to worsen. So not only does United face potential revenue pressure from increased competition, it could also see an uptick in costs as schedules get disrupted on bad-weather days. United Continental shareholders should definitely keep an eye on this upcoming change and management's plans to combat a potential increase in price competition at United's most important hub. The article United Airlines Could Soon Face More Competition at Its Top Hub originally appeared on Fool.com. Adam Levine-Weinberg owns shares of Spirit Airlines and United Continental Holdings, and is long Jan. 2017 $40 calls on Delta Air Lines, and long June 2016 $30 calls on Spirit Airlines. The Motley Fool recommends Spirit Airlines. 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. Energy shipping is in a weak cycle. Eventually it will recover and Teekay investors should do well. Image source: Teekay. What: Shares of several stocks that are part of theTeekay Corporation family, including Teekay,Teekay LNG Partners L.P., andTeekay Offshore Partners L.P., were up big in March: TK data by YCharts. Teekay Tankers Ltd. was the only Teekay stock to finish March on a down note. So what: The market's exuberance for Teekay, and particularly Teekay Offshore and Teekay LNG Partners, is more a reaction to "no more bad news" than it was anything "good" that's happened. Even after the strong market gains in March, shares of all of the Teekay family stocks are still well down for the year: TK data by YCharts. It's tied to several things. First, there's significant concern that the prospects for much of Teekay's business, which is heavily tied to shipping of energy products such as crude oil, propane, and liquefied natural gas, are facing strong headwinds. This is tied to weak demand for shipping of oil and refined products in the near future, as global demand continues to be relatively weak, and economic uncertainty, especially in parts of Asia including China, weighs on energy markets. There are also fears that the expectations for huge growth in LNG shipping could be overly optimistic. The near-term weakness was a key reason that Teekay, Teekay LNG Partners, and Teekay Offshore all slashed their dividend and distribution payouts late last year, sending income investors fleeing the stocks to find higher-yield income. Another driver behind the payout cut was the (ongoing) weakness in the equity markets, which presented a challenge for Teekay LNG and Teekay Offshore, which have used equity offerings in the past to raise capital. The decline in the stock prices for these partnerships had pushed the yields up so high that equity offerings as a source of capital were simply no longer cost-effective. Now what: Uncertain demand for LNG shipping could weigh on Teekay LNG for some time. Image source: Teekay LNG Partners. While there's still some uncertainty about near-term demand, the dividend cuts from last year helped free up a lot of cash flows that Teekay can use to fund capital plans and support operations. At the same time, the Teekay family recently declared upcoming dividend payments, and held payouts steady at the levels announced in late 2015, so there don't appear to be any forthcoming cuts. At the same time, it's likely that the Teekay family of stocks will remain very volatile, moving up and down with energy prices as much as "real" news. As things stand today, Teekay Corporation stock yields about 2.8% based on the current dividend, while Teekay Offshore yields about 9% and Teekay LNG yields 4.7%. Looking ahead several years, it's likely that these prices turn out to be more than fair, and you could be collecting much larger payouts on your initial investment. Nonetheless, there's also reason to expect the share prices to continue moving up and down, and you could certainly see them fall lower than current levels in the short term. There's also the potential that, if the biggest fears come true and demand for energy shipping further weakens, or if LNG growth doesn't pan out, dividend cuts could happen again. But if you're willing to stomach the short-term volatility and the cyclical nature of shipping in general, a long-term investment in almost any of the Teekay family of stocks could turn out very well in a few years' time. The article Why Teekay Offshore Partners L.P., Teekay LNG Partners L.P., and Teekay Corporation Stocks Soared in March originally appeared on Fool.com. Jason Hall 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. Both parties' presidential front-runners lost the Wisconsin primary Tuesday as GOP Sen. Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders bested Hillary Clinton, virtually assuring heated battles all the way to the final primaries in June, including California. The results increase the odds that Republicans will have a contested party convention in July and force Mrs. Clinton to fight longer than anyone expected to clinch her party's nomination. "Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry," Mr. Cruz told supporters in Milwaukee after he finished ahead of Mr. Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. "We have a choice, a real choice." The GOP result was a hard-won victory for anti-Trump forces who had seen the Wisconsin primary as their last, best hope to slow the front-runner's momentum toward the Republican nomination. Mr. Trump's campaign issued a defiant statement in response to the outcome, saying Mr. Cruz was a tool of an establishment dead set against him. "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet," the statement said. "He is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump." The Texas senator's victory followed one of the rockiest weeks of Mr. Trump's campaign. Trailing in the polls and under concerted attack from Republican leaders in the state, Mr. Trump also weathered a series of controversies over abortion and other issues that threatened to undercut his standing with women voters. Wisconsin will award its 18 at-large delegates to Mr. Cruz as the statewide winner. He's likely to also win a vast majority of the 24 delegates divided among the state's eight congressional districts, though district-by-district results weren't yet available. Mr. Cruz's strong showing will make it more difficult for Mr. Trump to wrap up the 1,237 delegates needed for the GOP nomination before the primary season ends on June 7, when California allocates the largest number of delegates. Next up on the GOP calendar is the April 19 primary in New York, Mr. Trump's home state, where polls show him with a commanding lead of more than 30 percentage points over Mr. Cruz, who in some surveys runs behind Ohio Gov. John Kasich. New York awards 95 delegates, most of which are allotted proportionately by congressional district. Mr. Trump plans to campaign on Long Island on Wednesday. "Trump has more support than anyone else in New York and always had," said state assemblyman Bill Nojay of Pittsford, in north-central New York. "If the vote was held today, we expect he would win every single congressional district." A week later, a swath of other East Coast states vote -- Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. Mr. Cruz's best hope is in states further ahead in the calendar -- Indiana on May 3 and Nebraska on May 10. Wisconsin -- with its GOP electorate dominated by the kind of working-class, white voters who have been drawn to Mr. Trump elsewhere -- was long seen as fertile ground for the New York businessman. But it turned into a hotbed of anti-Trump sentiment. "We have to stop Trump," said Mary Czarra, 65 years old, of Menomonee Falls, who voted for Mr. Cruz even though she preferred Mr. Kasich. "He insulted our governor, for crying out loud. You can't do that if you're a Republican here." Mr. Cruz was endorsed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, still a hero to the state's conservatives even though his 2016 presidential campaign fizzled. Mr. Trump lambasted Mr. Walker and others in the state party establishment who opposed him, and their assault on the front-runner backfired among voters like Jim White, 62, of Milwaukee. "I see the GOP fighting this guy all the way, and I don't like it," Mr. White said. "My feeling is this is about to destroy a lot of people; they won't vote ever again if Trump loses." Holding out hope for a come-from-behind victory, Mr. Trump spent the past week stumping across the state, even skipping his grandson's bris Sunday to greet voters at a Milwaukee diner. "He cannot downplay the significance of Wisconsin, because he moved here for the final week," said Brian Fraley, a Republican operative based in the Milwaukee suburb of Brookfield. "He went to every corner of the state. He was everywhere and he worked it hard, so he can't say that little Wisconsin didn't mean much. If it didn't mean much, he wouldn't be investing time and energy here." Wisconsin's primary had been seen as a tough test for Mr. Cruz because he has struggled in other Midwestern industrial states including Michigan and Illinois. Most of his victories over Mr. Trump have come in states that hold caucuses -- time-consuming events that play to his grass-roots organizational strength. Wisconsin's primary also is open to Democrats and independents, not just registered Republicans. Mr. Trump has done better in open primaries, while Mr. Cruz improves where balloting is limited to the party faithful. But with an equally competitive Democratic race between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders for their party's nomination, it was unclear if Mr. Trump could pull away cross-party voters. Before Tuesday, Mr. Trump had 737 delegates, Mr. Cruz had 475. Even if Mr. Cruz ended up winning all 42 delegates from Wisconsin, it was unlikely there are enough bound delegates left for him to reach 1,237 before the convention. For Mr. Trump, locking up the nomination during the primary season is possible but increasingly difficult, raising the chances that Republicans will choose their nominee in Cleveland, in a contested convention. Messrs Cruz and Trump have played down suggestions that another candidate would be nominated if the convention deadlocked, and warned that grass-roots Republicans would rebel if that happened. Mark Meckler, a tea-party activist who hasn't endorsed any candidate, agreed. "As for the chatter about a contested convention, if neither Cruz nor Trump are the nominee, the Republican Party will end in a fiery crash and Hillary Clinton will be our next president," he said. "Many in the grass-roots movement say they will simply not vote." The next several primaries are in East Coast states where Republicans are likely to be less receptive to Mr. Cruz's religious, antiestablishment brand of conservatism than they are in Wisconsin. "This is the last state in which Ted Cruz has any ability to win a state through the rest of April, and in some of them, he's going to be fighting for second place," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a Trump adviser and daughter of former presidential rival Mike Huckabee. "Moving forward, the momentum will all be on Trump's side." In the run-up to Wisconsin, a series of controversies damaged his already-shaky standing among women. He admitted it was a mistake to have retweeted an unflattering photo of Mr. Cruz's wife Heidi. And he offered contradictory responses to questions about the sensitive abortion rights issue. He seemed to be trying to lessen the damage by bringing his wife, Melania, onto the campaign trail on the eve of theWisconsin primary. Yet his mistakes helped Mr. Cruz pick up the endorsement of the National Right to Life Committee, the leading national antiabortion rights group. After a vote Saturday by its board of directors, the group said: "Sen. Cruz is the only candidate for president who has always been pro-life, who has a 100% pro-life voting record with National Right to Life, who can win the Republican nomination, and who can defeat pro-abortion Hillary Clinton in November." In an MSNBC interview Tuesday, Mr. Trump denied the week has reflected badly on his support for women. "As far as women are concerned, nobody respects women more than I do, not even close," he said. --Beth Reinhard contributed to this article. Write to Janet Hook at janet.hook@wsj.com and Reid J. Epstein at Reid.Epstein@wsj.com Image 1 of 1 For the 85 percent of amputees who suffer from phantom limb pain, finding relief may seem hopeless. But a new study from Emory University has found a technique that significantly reduces the painful sensations amputees feel in their removed limbs. It was amazing, the very next day, all that aching and pain were gone, study participant Charles Thom Presley, 59, told FoxNews.com. I still had the sensation that my foot was there I could still wiggle my toes that werent there but I have had no trouble since with the pain at all. Its just brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Presley is one of 20 patients who were part of the Emory University study on the use of cryoablation therapy, a minimally invasive targeted treatment that uses cold blasts to reduce phantom limb pain. The study, which was presented Wednesday at the Society of Interventional Radiologys 2016 Annual Scientific Meeting, was led by Dr. J. David Prologo, an assistant professor in the division of interventional radiology at Emory University School of Medicine. Essentially what we see is for a great majority of patients, if we had 100 patients undergo therapy, we can expect 85 of them to respond, Prologo told FoxNews.com of the three studies the team has done on phantom pain and cryoablation therapy, which uses a pen-tip sized needle to shut down the nerve responsible for the pain. For this study, the participants rated their pain on a 10-point scale before treatment, seven days post-treatment and again at 45 days after. Prior to cryoablation, the average pain score was 6.4. By day 45, the average score was 2.4 points. According to the Amputee Coalition, 2.1 million people live with limb loss and 185,000 people have an amputation each year. What is phantom limb pain? For individuals with amputations, phantom limb pain seems to arise from the part of the limb which has been removed. The sensation occurs when there is an interruption of the nerve that supplied the removed body part. Normally, it would send signals from that body part to the brain, but when there is amputation, several things may occur: A scar may form at the end of the nerve, other nerves may be confused by the missing limb and send out false signals, the brain may reorganize itself in response to missing input from the amputated limb, or other nerves may get ramped up and feed into the pathway. Patients present with well-defined pain, Prologo said, specifying, for example, a stabbing pain on the bottom of the foot or the outside of the pinky toe. Since nerves are all assigned to certain parts of the body, researchers are able to trace the nerve responsible for the phantom pain. The condition is hard to treat because each phantom limb patient is unique and input from each of the points on the neural pathway is different, making it difficult to create a treatment that works for all patients, researchers noted. Standard treatments for phantom limb pain include psychological interventions, anti-depressants, anti-anxiety medications and opioids, as well as mirror therapy, where the patient looks in the mirror at his remaining limb and watches the reflection, so it appears that both the good limb and remaining stump are moving. Current treatments are from stem-to-stern psychological to psychiatric and everywhere in-between but none are particularly effective, Prologo said. With cryoablation, the probe is placed in proximity to, or next to the responsible nerve which has been located by image guidance and CT-scan guidance and the temperature is dropped for 25 minutes, shutting down nerve signals in the targeted area. For the study, patients first described their symptoms in an office consultation to confirm they had phantom limb pain as opposed to residual limb pain in the remaining stump. During that visit, the team determined which nerve was responsible for the pain described. Then, the patient was administered numbing medicine and a small amount of steroid around the nerve in order to temporarily shut down the nerve to confirm it was related to the pain. The patient was then scheduled for cryoablation and, after undergoing treatment, was monitored for 24 hours for safety and 45 days proceeding. The Emory study included 20 patients and overall the pain averages came down, but two of the patients reported their pain remained the same. Moving forward, the team has applied for a grant to study if they can predict who will best respond to cryoablation therapy. They plan to design a multi-center trial, including the San Antonio Military Medical Center Prologo added that it is the largest military hospital in the U.S. to treat the greatest number of amputees to study 140 participants. This next step will take three years, during which time researchers will evaluate whether their treatment is effective and safe on a large scale, then disseminate it for use. The team has already appealed for a American Medical Association procedure code, which is important because it ensures a medical practitioner will be reimbursed by health insurance, Prologo said. As for any risks with cryoablation therapy, Prologo said they had a few cases of swelling, but no complications that required additional treatment. Undergoing any procedure is a risk, he added. When I talk to patients, I tell them from my experience, the biggest risk is undergoing a procedure that may not help, even with that its a 10 percent risk, he said. It was such a blessing For study participant Presley, cryoablation therapy has been a blessing, he said. The Cherry Log, Georgia, mans left foot was amputated below the knee around Easter 2015. By July, as he was starting to prepare for physical therapy, he felt stabbing pain that kept him awake at night. The phantom pain was unbelievable. I had a dull ache in my absent foot behind the toes. Once I got a prosthetic and was learning in PT how to use it, it became extremely painful, Presley said. It really interfered with my learning to walk again. Presleys primary care physician had recommended Lyrica, but Presley was only able to afford the generic form under Medicaid and the medication didnt help his pain and made him feel very goofy all day, he said. Plus, taking four daily doses was a hassle and he was getting up in the middle of the night and walking without his prosthetic and therefore falling on the floor. Really there was nothing anybody could offer other than to say, Live with it or dont take the [medication] and the pain will be worse, he said. When I discovered Dr. Prologo, it was such a blessing, I swear. Presley underwent cryoablation therapy on October 31. The worst part was the freezing blasts that made his muscles contract like a painful cramp, but since he was under anesthesia, it wasnt that bad, he said. Since undergoing the therapy, he hasnt experienced any side effects from the cryoablation therapy. While he remains in a wheelchair due to diabetes-related issues in his right foot, his goal is to walk again and ride an electric bicycle again. Dont let anybody tell you it doesnt exist, because it does, Presley said. Its hard to think something not here hurts so bad, but it does; your brain remembers. Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has spread to many countries in the Americas. The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbreak: How do people become infected? Zika is transmitted to people through the bite of infected female mosquitoes, primarily the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the same type that spreads dengue, chikungunya and yellow fever. The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said Aedes mosquitoes are found in all countries in the Americas except Canada and continental Chile, and the virus will likely reach all countries and territories of the region where Aedes mosquitoes are found. How do you treat Zika? There is no treatment or vaccine for Zika infection. Companies and scientists are racing to develop a safe and effective vaccine for Zika, but the World Health Organization (WHO) had said it would take at least 18 months to start large-scale clinical trials of potential preventative shots. How dangerous is it? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention concluded that infection with the Zika virus in pregnant women is a cause of the birth defect microcephaly and other severe brain abnormalities in babies. The CDC said now that the causal relationship has been established, several important questions must still be answered with studies that could take years. According to the World Health Organization, there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can cause the birth defect microcephaly in babies, a condition defined by unusually small heads that can result in developmental problems. In addition, the agency said it could cause Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disorder that can result in paralysis. Conclusive proof of the damage caused by Zika may take months or years. Brazil reports the number of confirmed cases of microcephaly at more than 1,700 as doctors and Brazilian health officials find that some suspected cases of microcephaly are not the disorder. Suspected ones under investigation declined to 3,257. Brazil registered 91,387 likely cases of the Zika virus from February until April 2. Current research in Brazil indicates the greatest microcephaly risk is associated with infection during the first trimester of pregnancy, but health officials have warned an impact could be seen in later weeks. Recent studies have shown evidence of Zika in amniotic fluid, placenta and fetal brain tissue. What are the symptoms of Zika infection? People infected with Zika may have a mild fever, skin rash, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain and fatigue that can last for two to seven days. But as many as 80 percent of people infected never develop symptoms. The symptoms are similar to those of dengue or chikungunya, which are transmitted by the same type of mosquito. How can Zika be contained? Efforts to control the spread of the virus focus on eliminating mosquito breeding sites and taking precautions against mosquito bites such as using insect repellent and mosquito nets. U.S. and international health officials have advised pregnant women to avoid travel to Latin American and Caribbean countries where they may be exposed to Zika. How widespread is the outbreak? Active Zika outbreaks have been reported in at least 51 countries or territories, most of them in the Americas, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Brazil has been the country most affected. (http://1.usa.gov/1ovAJyh) Africa (1): Cape Verde Americas (42): Anguilla, Argentina, Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Bonaire, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saba, Puerto Rico, Saint Barthelmy, Saint Lucia, Saint Martin, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Eustatius, St. Maarten, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, U.S. Virgin Islands and Venezuela. Oceania/Pacific Islands (8): American Samoa, Fiji, Kosrae, Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, and Tonga. What is the history of the Zika virus? The Zika virus is found in tropical locales with large mosquito populations. Outbreaks of Zika have been recorded in Africa, the Americas, Southern Asia and the Western Pacific. The virus was first identified in Uganda in 1947 in rhesus monkeys and was first identified in people in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania, according to the WHO. Can Zika be transmitted through sexual contact? The World Health Organization (WHO) said sexual transmission is "relatively common" and has advised pregnant women not to travel to areas with ongoing outbreaks of Zika virus. It also advised women living in areas where the virus is being transmitted to delay getting pregnant. The U.S. CDC is investigating about a dozen cases of possible sexual transmission. Those cases involved possible transmission of the virus from men to their sex partners. But the CDC issued updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection on July 25, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner. A reported case of female-to-male sexual transmission in New York City, and limited human and non-human primate data indicating that Zika virus RNA can be detected in vaginal secretions, led to the new warning, the agency said. CDC's expanded warnings on sexual exposure to Zika now caution against sex without a condom or other barrier method of protection with any person, male or female, who has traveled to or lives in an area with Zika, including female to female transmission with a pregnant partner. British health officials reported Zika was found in a man's semen two months after he was infected, suggesting the virus may linger in semen long after infection symptoms fade. The PAHO said Zika can be transmitted through blood, but this is an infrequent transmission mechanism. There is no evidence Zika can be transmitted to babies through breast milk. The WHO has identified Zika cases in Argentina, Chile, France, Italy and New Zealand as likely caused by sexual transmission. What other complications are associated with Zika? Zika has also been associated with other neurological disorders, including serious brain and spinal cord infections. The long-term health consequences of Zika infection are unclear. Other uncertainties surround the incubation period of the virus and how Zika interacts with other viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes, such as dengue. It was never supposed to be this close. Bernie Sanders win Tuesday in Wisconsin adds another victory to his impressive total and raises the question of whether or not this process is making Hillary Clinton stronger or is exposing her very real vulnerabilities. Theres one metric that has consistently worked in Sanderss favor and has decided many primaries: authenticity. In Tuesdays exit polls, Wisconsin Democrats said by a margin of 82 percent to 16 percent that Sanders was more honest and trustworthy than Clinton. And while she beat Sanders 85 percent to 14 percent in terms of which candidate had the right experience for the job, voters ranked honesty and trustworthiness as their number one issue. The second most important issue? It was cares about people like me another winning category for Sanders. This will continue to plague Clinton throughout the primaries and, indeed, the general election. Its not just the email scandal or her speeches at Goldman Sachs or flip flopping on key issues to Democrats like trade agreements. Its an overwhelming feeling that Clinton operates in her own self interest as opposed to the good of the many and that she is, fundamentally, inauthentic. That feeling appears to be overwhelming the electorate in many states. To be sure, the states that Bernie Sanders is winning are largely white and tend to be more liberal. Clinton continues to consistently win African-American and Latino voters, two key voting blocs that will help her as the race moves to more diverse states again. But in a campaign that has been so driven by momentum, Wisconsin certainly helps Sanders as he heads to New York. He already raised an astounding $44 million in March and will no doubt do the same in April. And though New York is Clintons adopted home-state after serving as senator there, Sanders is making inroads. Hes now only 12 points behind Clinton when he was upwards of 40 points behind her just a few months ago. Momentum is the reason that the Sanders campaign is now talking about Clinton not getting the delegates she needs to win the nomination before the convention, and making the case to super-delegates that they should support him over her. His team has been invoking 2008 when super-delegates left Clinton for Obama. That scenario was decidedly different in that Obama was the frontrunner for much of the race and Sanders will not be the frontrunner as we head into Philadelphia. But Sanders will have a case if he manages to keep up this pace and pull off some bigger wins he needs larger margins to make a dent in her delegate count and therefore argue that the electorate is behind him; or at least behind him enough that they should think twice. The odds of this scenario playing out are still quite unlikely. Tuesdays win wont seriously hurt Clinton as Wisconsin splits delegate proportionally. That said, an increasingly close race in New York, where a Sanderss rally at Washington Square Park is scheduled just five days before the primary, is certainly unsettling for the Clinton camp. Well say it again. It was never supposed to be this close. Kids at Monroe Middle School in Florida got a lesson on privilege the other day in their Spanish class. How much privilege do you have? That was the name of the survey administered to seventh and eighth grade students. Click here to join Todds American Dispatch a must-read for Conservatives! It wasnt quite as bad as the white-shaming exercises weve seen on university campuses and in the Armed Forces. But it was certainly inappropriate for a bunch of 12, 13 and 14-year-olds. The youngsters were asked about religion and skin color and sexual orientation. The teacher wanted to know if the children identified as straight, homosexual, bisexual, asexual or pansexual. They were also queried on their gender. They had to choose between transgender, cisgender or gender queer. Sweet Lord Almighty! Dont even get me started, folks. Lets just say the Spanish teachers lesson got lost in translation. A number of moms and dads were mucho-angry that their kids were asked such probing questions --- in a Spanish class. Her sexuality has nothing to do with school, parent Regina Stile told television station WTSP. And Hillsborough County Schools wholeheartedly agrees with the outraged parents. Spokesperson Tayna Arja tells me the teacher has been removed from the classroom pending the outcome of a district investigation. We expect our teachers to create a safe learning environment for our students and this assignment could put students in an uncomfortable position or could compromise a safe environment for them, Arja told me. The school district says the privilege lesson was not approved or appropriate for the students. This was a teacher-generated assignment without any type of principal approval, the spokesperson said. Its absolutely something we would not want our teachers to use. To make matters worse, at least one of the parents had to explain what some of the terms meant. Shes twelve. Some of these things should be taught at home, Stile told the television station. Its a bell that cant be un-rung, as they say. And its still unclear why the Spanish teacher wanted to know how much privilege her students had. The teacher says she was discussing inequality in pieces of literature and was using this to further the discussion, Arja said. Tolerance, meet diversity. Its a classic episode of how a public school classroom has been turned into a social engineering petri dish. Its muy loco, amigos. Muy loco. Just a little over a month ago, Secretary of State John Kerry told Congress that Iran, one of the major backers of Syrian president Bashar al-Assads regime, was moving its troops out of that country. Unfortunately, it isnt so. Instead, Iran is rotating forces in and out of Syria, bolstering pro-Assad militia units and likely beefing up Tehrans ability to project military force abroad. These developments deserve close scrutiny rather than optimistic misinterpretation if we hope to keep a very bad situation in the Middle East from getting worse. Kerrys interpretation may come from the fact that Irans troop movements leave gaps between deployments in Syria during which the number of Iranian troops in-country is relatively low. The U.S. intelligence community appears to be reporting these troughs as evidence of Irans withdrawal, even though Irans leaders have loudly said otherwise. If anything Tehran significantly escalated its involvement in Syria in October 2015 by creating a more aggressive model of support to pro-Assad forces. Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) plugged brigade-sized cadre formations into an amalgam of Iraqi Shia militias, Hezbollah, and other pro-regime militias in order to integrate and lead these proxy forces. The IRGC units rotate on tours of two or three months at a time and we have observed several rotations over the past six months. But Iran also expanded its presence on the frontlines in Syria during the first week of February with over 40 IRGC members reportedly killed during pro-regime operations north of Aleppo. The IRGC is continuing to sustain casualties in Syria despite the withdrawal and a nationwide cessation of hostilities that also began in February. Five IRGC members were reported killed in March, including one who was supporting regime offensives around Palmyra. At least six IRGC members were announced killed after a major opposition offensive seized a town south of Aleppo on April 2. Moreover, Irans leadership is bringing new forces to the fight in Syria with the deployment of its conventional troops, the Artesh. A senior Iranian commander announced on April 4 the dispatch of troops from the elite 65th Special Forces Airborne Brigade, nicknamed the Green Berets, as well as unnamed other Artesh units, to serve in an advisory role for pro-regime forces. Sending Artesh troops abroad marks a significant shift in their role within Irans military structure. The IRGC and the related Quds Force have historically been responsible for conducting Irans military and paramilitary operations abroad. The Arteshs mission has been constitutionally limited to defending Irans territorial integrity. There were no indicators that Artesh troops operated in Syria before the first week of March, 2016. The change was probably driven by a number of factors, including rivalry between the Artesh and the IRCG over access to political leadership, financial resources, and military procurement. The 125,000 member Guards enjoy a far larger budget, greater influence over regime decision-making, and more access to resources than the Artesh, despite the fact that the Artesh has some 350,000 troops. The fight in Syria has also been an opportunity for the IRGC to earn prestige, argue for even greater resources, and gain combat experience. The Artesh likely wants to reap similar benefits. Recent statements by Artesh commanders indicate that they are determined to position the Artesh as capable of operating outside of Irans borders in order to defend and protect the interests of the Islamic Revolution. In early March, Artesh Ground Forces Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan, for example, called the Arteshs drone fleet the long arm of Irans armed forces. It remains unclear whether the Artesh intends to use, or is even capable of using, members from its conventional forces in an expeditionary role. The deployment nevertheless shows that Irans ability to conduct expeditionary operations in the region is likely far greater than previously believed. U.S. policy-makers and analysts must recognize and interpret Irans troop movements as part of a broader pattern instead of selectively reporting fluctuations as cutbacks in Tehrans commitment to Damascus. The bigger picture here is that the Iranian military, both the IRGC and the Artesh, are deploying and sustaining ground forces in major combat operations far from Irans borders. They are also building up capacity to do more of the same. Thats the development we should be watching, very closely. Tucker Carlson told viewers Tuesday on Special Report with Bret Baier that Ohio Gov. John Kasich is a living embodiment of the attitude that is going to cause us a lot of problems pretty soon. Both Donald Trump and Sen Ted Cruz have pushed Kasich to drop out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Kasich maintains that he would be best suited to take on the eventual Democratic nominee in the fall, despite winning only a single primary, in his home state of Ohio, and having no mathematical path to the 1,237 delegates required to be nominated at the national convention in July. He can only be the nominee by fiat, Carlson, host of Fox & Friends Weekend and a Fox News contributor, said. Whenever you impose something by fiat on a population that's not convinced of it, whether it's Roe vs. Wade or ObamaCare or the Iraq War or whatever, you have long term, decades-long resentment and problems as a result. We're getting to a place where the Republican Party is willing to say we're going to put someone in there who can get any [number of] votes, or far fewer votes. Whoever the nominee is, and I think it actually could be Cruz, has to have enough votes to be a legitimate nominee. I know that's technically not true, you can force someone who doesn't have it, but you're going to pay the price for that because basically you're saying, this is not a democracy. And people will resent that. Hillary Clintons campaign is using a rocky Bernie Sanders interview with the New York Daily News editorial board as a fundraising tool by pasting the entire interview in an email to supporters. In the interview, published Monday, the democratic socialist was pushed on how to carry out his main campaign pledge of breaking up the big banks. The Vermont senator struggled to answer in detail, saying only that they could be broken up by "having legislation passed, or giving the authority to the secretary of treasury to determine, under Dodd-Frank, that these banks are a danger to the economy over the problem of too-big-to-fail." A president doesn't have legal authority to unilaterally break up banks. A group of regulators would have to carry out those plans, and a president is empowered to appoint the regulators. But they have staggered terms, designed to reinforce their independence from the White House. On foreign policy, Sanders said he didn't know if President Obama's drone policy was the right one. And he "hadn't thought a whole lot" about where he would imprison a captured Islamic State commander. Sanders was also caught out when asked about his claim he recently used the New York City subway. When asked how to use the subway, he replied You get a token and you get in. Tokens were discontinued on the New York City subway system in 2003 in favor of the Metrocard system. The Clinton fundraising email praises Sanders for being a powerful advocate for leveling the playing field. But we've said for a long time that this primary is about who's really going to be able to get things done. And from reading this interview, you get the impression Senator Sanders hasn't thought very much about that, the email says. In fact, even on his signature issue of breaking up the banks, he's unable to answer basic questions about how he'd go about doing it, and even seems uncertain whether a president does or doesn't already have that authority under existing law, the email reads. The Sanders campaign sought to clarify the senators position Tuesday, detailing how he would break up the banks. Within the first 100 days of his administration, Sen. Sanders will require the secretary of the Treasury Department to establish a Too-Big-to Fail list of commercial banks, shadow banks and insurance companies whose failure would pose a catastrophic risk to the United States economy without a taxpayer bailout, spokesman Michael Briggs said in the statement. Briggs went on to lay out how Sanders would enact a 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act to clearly separate commercial banking, investment banking and insurance services. The email from Clinton was sent just a few hours before Sanders was projected to win the Democratic primary in Wisconsin. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders scored big victories in Wisconsin's presidential primaries Tuesday, dampening Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's hopes of wrapping up the race any time soon -- and putting heavy pressure on the front-runners to recapture the momentum in contests later this month. Both Cruz and Sanders charged out of Wisconsin claiming momentum was turning in their favor. Sanders, who notched his sixth victory in the last seven state contests, won all but three of the Badger State's 72 counties. And we have won almost all of them with overwhelming, landslide numbers, Sanders told an ebullient crowd of supporters Tuesday night. Sanders was speaking in Wyoming, which holds a caucus contest this weekend. But the next big primary will be in New York on April 19, and Sanders has vowed to take on Clinton in her adopted home state. Cruz also pointed to his win Tuesday as a sign the tides are turning against Republican front-runner Trump, who faced one of the roughest weeks of his campaign going into the primary. "Tonight is a turning point," Cruz declared at a rally in Milwaukee. "It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hard-working men and women of Wisconsin to the people of America: we have a choice. A real choice." Yet Cruz, despite winning in Wisconsin and outmaneuvering Trump lately in the grueling battle for delegates, still faces challenging terrain in the weeks ahead. Trump has a clear lead in New York polls, and his campaign claimed "total confidence" they would win that race. Trump's campaign also put out a biting statement Tuesday night that said Cruz was "worse than a puppet--- he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump." Even if Trump holds his ground in New York, however, Cruz's Wisconsin win only increases the odds that the Republican Party will hold its first open convention in four decades this July, a scenario Trump seemed to be referring to. Any candidate would need 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination before then, and Cruz's Wisconsin victory makes that number very difficult for Trump to obtain. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Cruz led with 48 percent of the vote to Trump's 35 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was trailing far behind on 14 percent of the vote. Exit polls showed disquiet about Trump among Wisconsin Republicans. In the Fox News survey of 1,532 primary voters, 58 percent of respondents said they were either concerned or scared about the prospect of Trump being elected president. More worryingly for the Trump campaign, 37 percent said they would not vote for him if he faced Clinton in November's general election. On the Democratic side, returns showed Sanders with 56 percent of the vote to Clinton's 43 percent with 99 percent of precincts reporting. The victory helps fuel Sanders' argument that the Democratic primary is far from over, even as front-runner Clinton tries to turn her attention to the general election. Exit polls in the Democratic race show Sanders won in part with the help of independent voters, 72 percent of whom broke for the Vermont senator. While the Cruz and Sanders wins in Wisconsin won't necessarily shorten the odds on either winning their partys nomination, the losses by the front-runners keep an aura of uncertainty hanging over both races. Cruz, enjoying the support of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, campaigned harder than anybody in the Midwestern state. Buoyed by conservative talk show hosts and others opposed to a Trump bid, the Texas senator led in most GOP polls leading up to Tuesdays primary. For Trump, the long lead-up to Wisconsin's contest has included one of the worst stretches of his candidacy. He was embroiled in a spat involving Cruz's wife, which he now says he regrets, was sidetracked by his campaign manager's legal problems after an altercation with a female reporter, and stumbled awkwardly in comments about abortion. Still, Trump made a spirited final push in the state. His campaign said Tuesday night he withstood an "onslaught of the establishment" in Wisconsin. Complicating the primary landscape for both Cruz and Trump is the continuing candidacy of Kasich. The Ohio governor's only victory has come in his home state, but he's still picking up delegates that would otherwise help Trump inch closer to the nomination or help Cruz catch up. Trump has joined Cruz in calling for Kasich to end his campaign. But Kasich cast Trump's focus on him as a sign that he's best positioned to win over the businessman's supporters. For Republicans, 42 delegates were at stake Tuesday. According to an Associated Press count late Tuesday, Cruz won 33 of 36 allocated Wisconsin delegates, with Trump winning the other three and six delegates still outstanding. With the latest results factored in, Trump has 740 delegates to Cruz's 514. Kasich is a distant third with 143 delegates. For Democrats, 86 delegates were on the line Tuesday in Wisconsin. With his victory, Sanders won 45 delegates to Clinton's 31, with 10 delegates outstanding, according to an Associated Press count. When including superdelegates, the party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton holds 1,743 delegates to Sanders' 1,056. It takes 2,383 delegates to win the Democratic nomination. On the eve of voting in Wisconsin, Clinton's campaign manager argued that Sanders' only path to victory "relies on overturning the will of the voters." In a memo to supporters, Robby Mook wrote that Sanders' strategy now is "a combination of trying to flip pledged delegates at state and county conventions, while also convincing superdelegates that he deserves their support." The Associated Press contributed to this report. A California businessman is trying to expose the influence of money in politics by getting an initiative on the November ballot that would require state legislators to wear the logos of their top donors -- NASCAR-style. The Name All Sponsors California Accountability Reform initiative (NASCAR for short) is being led by businessman John Cox, also a former Republican congressional and White House candidate who says big money in politics has gone too far. Candidates on both sides raise enormous amounts of money, then become beholden to those who give it to them, Cox told FoxNews.com on Wednesday. Cox has until April 26 to get 365,880 valid signatures to qualify to get on the ballot and has vowed to spend $1 million of his own cash. Hes also hiring paid signature-gathers and has organized rallies at city halls, courthouses and other sites throughout the state to which he brings cardboard cutouts of the 120 state legislators with corporate logos plastered across their clothes. Unions and corporations have too much power in our state, Cox says. "The California is not for sale initiative will bring a level of transparency never before seen in politics. Cox, a lawyer and investor, faces an uphill battle, considering getting a voter-led initiative on the ballot can cost millions and requires a well-oiled grassroots effort. Still, he's got a few factors working in his favor. Bernie Sanders has made campaign-finance reform a key part of his insurgent 2016 campaign, though Cox doesnt agree with the Democratic presidential candidates alternative of publically funded campaigns. And Republican Donald Trump has taken his campaign to the top of the GOP presidential field in part by telling Americans he is not beholden to special interests because he doesnt need their money. The signature requirement in California is the lowest since 1982, the result of low voter-turnout in 2014, which has helped some. Cox said the low threshold hasnt brought the expected advantages because it has also resulted in more ballot initiatives and their backers flocking to shopping centers to hawk signatures. Its absolute chaos, he said Wednesday. He also acknowledged having about 250,000 signatures with less than three weeks to go and asked that Californians go to his website to download a petition, then mail in a signed copy. Nine voter initiatives already are certified in California this year, including the highly publicized one in November that would require actors having sex in pornographic films to wear condoms. The official language in Coxs initiative states in part that legislators and other elected California officers must display on their persons the identity of the top 10 donors to their controlled committees when testifying or voting on state legislation, with the possibility of criminal and civil sanctions for violations. Cox arrived in California is 2008, after his brief and unsuccessful White House bid earlier that year. He also failed in 2002 and 2004, respectively, to win a House and Senate seat in his home state of Illinois. Since the move, he also has tried to lessen the influence of special interests in California government and give voters more access by making the state's legislative districts more community based. However, his 2014 plan to divvy up the 120 districts into roughly 12,000 more community-based ones failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot. An illegal immigrant -- who police said was drunk while street racing when he killed a Nebraska woman in a car crash -- wasnt detained by immigration officials because his offense did not constitute a crime of violence, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency said in a March letter to Congress. Edwin Mejia, 19, is accused of being drunk and driving recklessly when his vehicle slammed into 21-year-old Sarah Roots car in January. Root died at the hospital. Mejia later posted bond and fled. Hes been added to ICEs Most Wanted list. Mr. Mejia should not need to be on this list he should be in jail, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., said in a March 30 statement. ICE originally said that Mr. Mejia was not an enforcement priority, but this morning he was placed on their Most Wanted list. The public still does not have a complete account of what went wrong. Sasse has been pressing for answers since his office issued a Feb. 29 letter to ICE Director Sarah Saldana. He called Saldanas eventual response bureaucratic nonsense and wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on April 4 seeking a response that was not an embarrassment to the hardworking men and women at DHS. Border agents first encountered Mejia in May 2013 when the 16-year-old arrived in Nogales, Ariz., from Honduras and was designated as an unaccompanied child, according to ICEs initial response letter to Sasse. As required by law, Mejia was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which then shipped him to Omaha in 2014 to live with his brother. Its not clear if Mejias brother was legally in the U.S. After Mejias January 2016 arrest for motor vehicle homicide, ICE officials encountered Mr. Mejia just once, but they did not file a detainer. While Mejias actions didnt fit the requirements for issuing a mandatory detainer, DHS personnel have discretionary ability to issue a detainer if the removal of such alien would serve an important federal interest. After further review, we believe that further enforcement action would have served an important federal interest in this case, the ICE response letter said. Concerned that hundreds of American forces based in Egypts Sinai Peninsula are vulnerable to attack by a nearby Islamic State affiliate, top administration officials are worried about their safety and what to do next. The State Department said Wednesday the U.S. troops will not be withdrawn from Sinai. We remain fully committed to our multinational force and observers mission, said State Department spokesman Mark Toner. So no change in policy, no change in our force structure. But troop safety has U.S. military leaders weighing what to do next. More than 1,600 international forces occupy outposts in the Sinai, including 700 mostly U.S. Army National Guard troops. But these forces are unable to carry out offensive operations against ISIS-affiliated groups such as Wilayat Sinai since they are bound by an agreement made months after the 1978 Camp David accord, which made peace between Egypt and Israel. At the Pentagon Wednesday, a senior U.S. military leader said discussions at the highest levels were taking place among the U.S., Israeli and Egyptian governments about the future size of the U.S. commitment to Sinai. My focus is making sure that they have the force protection measures in place and we have increased the force protection measures, said Rear Adm. Andy Lewis, Joint Staff vice director for operations, in a briefing with reporters. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the Armys top officer, visited the force in December, accompanied by Fox News, shortly after four U.S. soldiers were injured by a roadside bomb. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack. In early September, the Pentagon added 75 more troops, as well as additional armored vehicles including four Bradley Fighting Vehicles, after another ISIS attack injured two peacekeepers from Fiji. Their base is typically hit by incoming fire once a day. As part of the routine harassment attacks, mostly from small arms fire, ISIS-aligned forces sometimes launch mortars without warheads to land inside the camp in order to send a message, one official told Fox News. The threat is increasing, said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media. The warning signs have been mounting. In November, a group claiming allegiance to ISIS said it downed the Russian airliner that crashed over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board. In December, the Middle East Institute's Geoffrey Aronson got the Pentagon's attention when he wrote in an article: "Sinai is ground zero in the ongoing insurgency against the Egyptian government led by ISIS." Another foreign policy expert said it is unlikely the United States will be able to change its treaty agreements regarding the international force. The Israelis and Egyptians do not want them to [pull out], they don't want to appear to be giving into ISIS, said Paul Salem, of the Washington-based Middle East Institute, in an interview with Fox News. They're pushing the Americans hard not to redeploy. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld faced pushback when he tried to pull the U.S. troops out over a decade ago. Israel and Egypt have resisted calls for American troops to withdraw, leaving the Pentagon and the White House with a dilemma considering 700 U.S. troops are now positioned in the middle of an increasingly dangerous region. Almost everything has changed in the last few years, Salem said. Now there's a full-on battle between ISIS and the Egyptian army. The Trump campaign, reeling from a tough loss in Wisconsin, is moving to discourage anybody considering getting on the Ted Cruz train by sounding the alarm that the GOP establishment is only using him to get to an open convention. The campaign unleashed the tough new line of attack against his Republican presidential primary opponent Tuesday after the Texas senators big Midwestern victory. Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump, the statement said. Trump national spokeswoman Katrina Pierson defended the statement on an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday, saying the so-called establishment has no intention of supporting Cruz at the convention -- suggesting the goal is only to use him to hold back Trump and force a floor fight, and then back somebody else. Their loyalty is not with Senator Cruz. However Senator Cruz has now made himself that Trojan horse to push this to a contested convention, Pierson said. This is going to be a very serious problem if Senator Cruz continues to go down this path, and then neither Trump or Cruz becomes the nominee. Cruz, though, has rejected talk of the establishment swooping in with a candidate of their own, saying the voters would rightly revolt. This fevered pipe dream of Washington that at the convention they would parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment, it is nothing less than a pipe dream, Cruz said Monday. It aint gonna happen. If it did happen, the people would quite rightly revolt." Cruz only bolstered his case that he's gaining momentum in the battle against front-runner Trump with his Wisconsin victory. He scored 48 percent of the vote to Trump's 35 percent, and picked up the lion's share of the state's delegates. Ohio Gov. John Kasich trailed far behind. The race heads next, though, to New York state where Trump has a commanding lead in the polls. The criticism of having ties to the establishment is an unusual one for Cruz -- who has portrayed himself as an outsider fighting against what he calls The Washington cartel, and until recently has had few allies on Capitol Hill. Cruz, though, has recently found backing from figures such as South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who have offered their support as a way to stop Trump. These figures have sometimes been open about their endorsement of Cruz merely being a way to stop Trump and not a full-throated endorsement of Cruz himself. Graham once joked that if Cruz was shot in the Senate, no senator would convict him. The lukewarm endorsements have allowed the Trump campaign to pounce. Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told FoxNews.com last month that Cruz is being "taken for a ride," and should there be a contested convention, his current backers will abandon him in favor of an alternative candidate. "The establishment is using him because they want to get to the second ballot, and then they'll pretend they've never heard of him," he said. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton still lead their respective primary packs heading into Pennsylvanias April 26 contest, but the challengers whove dogged the respective Republican and Democrat frontrunners so far continue to nip at their heels in the Keystone State, according to a new Quinnipiac Poll. Trump leads the Republican primary field with 39 percent in the April 6 poll. The New York businessman has consistently placed first in previous Pennsylvania polling, and the Northeast states have long been expected to be friendly terrain for the New York mogul certainly more friendly than a state such as Wisconsin, where Trump was drubbed by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Tuesdays primary. Cruz sits just nine points behind Trump at 30 percent in the Quinnipiac poll. Thats a huge jump, as Cruz drew only single digits in numerous polls as late as October and only climbed into double digits during the last month. Ohio Gov. John Kasich takes third with 24 percent, but the Quinnipiac poll also shows Kasich as the lone Republican to top Clinton or Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., in hypothetical general election matchups. Kasich beats Clinton 51-35 percent and Sanders 46-40 percent. Cruz ties Clinton at 43 percent and loses to Sanders 46-38 percent. Trump loses to both Democrat candidates. Sanders, whos taking some momentum into the Northeast swing after winning seven of the last eight Democrat contests, polls just six points behind Clinton in Pennsylvania, 50-44 percent. Either race, however, could swing dramatically in the next three weeks. While just seven percent of Republicans and six percent of Democrats surveyed said they were undecided, 27 percent of Republicans and 22 percent of Democrats said they may change their minds before casting a ballot. Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island vote on April 26 with 172 delegates at stake for Republicans and 462 for Democrats. The Transportation Security Administration came under fire Wednesday after it emerged the agency spent $47,000 on an app that points left or right -- something tech experts say could have been created by a novice coder in a day. According to documents obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request by developer Kevin Burke, the TSA paid $336,413 as part of a larger $1.4 million contract with IBM. A TSA spokesman later told Mashable that $47,600 was paid for developing the app and the $336,000 was awarded in a 2013 contract more generally for mobile application development. The app was used to randomly assign passengers a lane at certain airports, in order to shuffle some into a faster PreCheck lane where passengers don't have to remove coats, belts and shoes. A 2014 Bloomberg article explained the app was a way of making it harder for terrorists to detect patterns and exploit them. It also aimed to restrict racial profiling. Burke explained in his blog post that a beginner could build [the app] in a day." A number of tech sites have pointed out that programs that create random outputs are one of the first things a coder learns. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., blasted the expense in a tweet, saying there was "no reason" for taxpayers to pay that much. No reason taxpayers should pay $47,000 for an app any intro coder could make in 10 mins to randomly point or https://t.co/T3XcmWSwxq Darrell Issa (@DarrellIssa) April 5, 2016 The app is no longer in service. The managed inclusion system of which it was a part was dropped in 2015 after a convicted felon was guided into the PreCheck lane. A Christian saints bones have reportedly been unearthed amid the rubble of an ancient Syrian monastery destroyed by Islamic State. Much of the fifth-century St. Elian, or Mar Elian, monastery in the town of Qaryatain has been reduced to stones by ISIS. Qaryatain was recaptured by Syrian government forces Sunday. Channel Four News journalist Lindsey Hilsum reports that the bones of saints were clearly visible among the wreckage of the monastery, a once-cherished pilgrimage site. The bones of Christian saints in the rubble of St Eliane monastery in #Qaryatayn. #ISIS blew it up last August. pic.twitter.com/Htyipk1k6I Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) April 4, 2016 The bones are thought to be those of St. Elian, also known as St. Julian of Emesa, which is the ancient name for the Syrian city of Homs. St. Elian was martyred in 284 A.D. after his refusal to renounce Christianity. Related: Experts harness 3D printing to recreate ancient artifacts destroyed by ISIS Bones of saints, chucked into a room, after #ISIS destroyed their resting place at St Eliane monastery #Qaryatayn pic.twitter.com/WtzzS7is5A Lindsey Hilsum (@lindseyhilsum) April 4, 2016 The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights reported that ISIS destroyed the monastery in August 2015. They pulled it down using bulldozers claiming that the monastery is worshiped beside Allah, SOHR said in a statement released Aug. 20 2015. Militants also trashed an ancient church next to the Assyrian Christian monastery, and desecrated a nearby cemetery, breaking the crosses and smashing name plates. Related: Syria works to save Palmyras treasures as ISIS advances on ancient city Midway between the ancient city of Palmyra and the Syrian capital, Damascus, Qaryatain was once home to a sizeable Christian population. Before IS took it over last August, it had a mixed population of around 40,000 Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as thousands of internally displaced people who had fled from the nearby city of Homs. As it came under militant attack, many of the Christians fled. More than 200 residents, mostly Christians, were abducted by the extremists, including a Syrian priest, the Rev. Jack Murad, who was held by the extremists for three months. During the eight months that Qaryatain was under IS control, some Christians were released and others were made to sign pledges to pay a tax imposed on non-Muslims. Some have simply vanished. Syrian forces recaptured Palmyra from ISIS last month, ending their reign of terror at the UNESCO World Heritage site. Palmyra, located about 150 miles northeast of Damascus, dates back to the second millennium B.C. The city was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world and has been home to Arabic, Aramaic, and Greco-Roman culture. ISIS took control of Palmyra last year and subsequently demolished some of its best-known monuments, such as the Temple of Ba'al. The jihadists, who beheaded the citys former antiquities chief, also used Palmyras ancient amphitheater for public executions. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers If Terri Schiavo had continued to receive the rehabilitation services that were denied her during the final years of her life, she could meet me and my family at the food court at the mall. The shopping malls here in the suburbs of Philadelphia all have wheelchair ramps and elevators. She would only need a wheelchair, and an aide to drive the van and wheel her to meet us at the pretzel stand. She wouldnt be eating a pretzel with us, as she had difficulty swallowing after her brain injury and was fed once a day through a tube in her stomach but we would plan our outing around her schedule. Terri Schiavo would be completely unencumbered by IV lines or machines, as she hadnt needed any machines to keep her alive in the years after her still-unexplained collapse in February 1990. Her brother, Bobby Schindler, could meet us there with his family. Terri Schiavo could not speak (although during her intensive rehabilitation time in the early years after her collapse, she had been starting attempts to form words with her mouth). So we would talk to her, include her in the conversation, and she doubtless would enjoy the company and the change of scenery. Food courts are always filled with wonderful smells, too. After we ate, we would take turns pushing her wheelchair past the pizza shop (who doesnt love that smell?), past the bakery, and then through the mall. By the fountain, wed stop and listen to the pleasant sound of water flowing. I love that sound. I was in my early 30s and pregnant with my second son when the Terri Schiavo case made national then international news. Focused on full-time motherhood with my firstborn (who was just 2 years old at the time) and on my growing baby inside, I hadnt paid much attention to the specifics of the battle fought by the Schiavo family against Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terri Schiavo, who had petitioned the courts to deny his wife food and water. Like many people at the time, perhaps, the snippets I caught of Terri Schiavos story left me with the impression that she was a bedridden woman in pain, hooked up to machines in a dimly-lit hospital room, eyes closed, completely unresponsive her situation hopeless. This could not have been farther from the truth. Since I started public pro-life advocacy work a few years ago, I have been blessed to become acquainted with Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo, and shocked to learn the horrific details surrounding this woman's court-ordered starvation and dehydration. Apart from her unexplained traumatic brain injury that left her cognitively disabled, Terri Schiavo was in good health for a woman her age and Im going to mention this again because it is very important. She was not dying, she was not in pain, and she was not relying on hospital machinery to keep her alive. Hers was not a case of refusing heroic or extraordinary measures, or of "pulling the plug" or easing or ending the suffering of a dying person. She was a woman with a disability who needed, and deserved, compassionate care and rehabilitation services. She did not need or deserve to be starved and dehydrated to death 11 years ago over an excruciating 13-day period at the age of just 41. The other night my husband and I attended the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Networks "Tribute to Life" to honor this woman. The reception was preceded by a memorial Mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia that was celebrated by Priests for Lifes National Director Fr. Frank Pavone, a longtime friend of the Schindler family who was with Terri Schiavo when she died. Terris brother, Bobby Schindler, and her mother, Mary, were present and shared the painful details surrounding their beloved family member's death with those who had gathered to remember her. Terri Schiavos parents and siblings continue to honor her with strength and dedication through the invaluable work of the foundation they started. They want to help other families faced with life-or-death decisions that are foisted upon them and their medically vulnerable loved ones. The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network offers free assistance to families in similarly painful and precarious situations, with the goal of saving lives and preserving the inherent dignity of the human person. People living with disabilities need and deserve our love and care, not to be forgotten or eliminated. May God continue to bless Terri Schiavos family and all those helped by their courage of to transform their heartbreak into a beacon of hope for "the least of these" among us. Jewels Green is a mother, writer, public speaker and advocate for the right to life from conception to natural death. More from LifeZette.com: Technology Takeover: The Dumbest Smart Gadgets How My DIY Project Turned into Help Me, Please! Primary Care Doctors: Needle in a Haystack The Disorder Everyone Disowns A driver and nine students were rushed to hospitals Wednesday after their school bus crashed north of Baltimore, according to rescuers. The crash unfolded near Hereford High School in Parkton, some 30 miles north of the city. There were 43 people were on the Baltimore County school bus at the time of the crash, according to Fox 45. Police said the ten people hurt are nine students and the bus driver. The driver of the bus reportedly sustained the most serious injuries out of all the patients. Video from the scene showed the bus on its side, with medical crews rescuing the students. Crews shut down the road in both directions. It's not clear what triggered the crash. Baltimore County officials said an investigation could take several weeks. Click for more from Fox 45. A New York man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound after coming home to find three suspects attacking his teenage daughter during a break-in, police said Monday. Rochester police said the 51-year-old man interrupted a home invasion and robbery after three masked suspects entered the house Monday night and began assaulting his 16-year-old daughter. He fought with the suspects and was shot in the lower body, but managed to get the weapon away from one of the suspects, officers said. Authorities took one of the intruders into custody and recovered a handgun. WHAM-TV identified the man as Bernard Dickerson Tuesday. Dickerson told the station he was the father who took the bullet then took down the attackers. I knew I was shot I felt it go through my leg, he said. I just took off at him. I knew in my mind that I have to get the gun from this guy. I got to him, grabbed his hand and shook the gun out of his hand. The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle reported the girl was not the suspects main target. Police told the newspaper that the house was targeted for a reason, but did not elaborate further. Dickerson told WHAM-TV that he knows the suspects and is hopeful that police will be able to catch the two remaining suspects at large. Dickerson is being treated at Strong Memorial Hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. Police say his daughter was treated for facial injuries. Both are expected to be OK. Police are still searching for the two remaining suspects and are trying to determine why the attackers targeted Dickersons home. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from WHAM-TV. Gratitude, the ability to appreciate the abundance in our lives, is a concept more and more parents are teaching their kids that, and the ability to pause and take a break for a moment. Between rigorous academic expectations, a heavy after-school activity load, and constant text message alerts and Snapchat notifications, it can be hard for kids to be kids today and to slow down in a fast-paced world. But its important that kids learn to do it. The act of paying attention, on purpose, includes recognizing ones own thoughts and feelings during various circumstances. "With the multitude of electronic distractions kids have today added to the normal mix of distractions my generation grew up with, being focused is a bigger challenge than ever for many children," said Kaia Roman, a Santa Cruz, California-based mom who blogs at TheJoyPlan.com. "Kids feel the benefits from a brain break or taking time to focus on their breath and bodys sensations and want to know how to find that calm whenever they need it." Kids can easily become caught up in overwhelming thoughts and emotions without realizing there is a physiological response happening in the brain that they can address. "Its not about trying to clear your mind of all thoughts, but allowing thoughts and emotions to come and go without judgment," said Janine Halloran, a licensed mental health counselor and mom of two in Braintree, Massachusetts. "Living in the present sounds easy but takes practice." Some children are easily able to embrace these concepts, Halloran said. Others need more guidance. The key is to keep it simple and model the behavior. 1.) Start with simple breathing exercises. "When kids associate deep breaths, visualization and happy brain chemicals with a sense of calm, peace and fun, theyll be more likely to remember and use those tools at other times," said Roman. 2.) Focus on the senses. "Try listening, eating a treat or taking a walk using all of your senses," Halloran said. More and more schools are incorporating the practice of renewed focus and taking a moment as part of their daily routine. Some teachers take breaks with their students during the day. Others use the concept in conflict resolution, Roman says. Some schools have more formalized programs. Roman teaches elementary school-aged kids in Santa Cruz, California, in 45-minute blocks once a week and said she stresses "learning concepts related to the brain. We talk about the main chemicals in the brain that bring on feelings of happiness, like dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, and how to give and receive happy feelings through simple things like hugs, kindness and laughter." Roman said she hears success stories on a regular basis. "My students tell me when they are having a fight with a sibling, they take a break, go somewhere quiet and take deep breaths, maybe find something soft to cuddle for an oxytocin boost, and then they feel much better and solve the conflict easily," she said. "My students also tell me about how they use techniques they've learned in class when they are nervous about a test or having trouble focusing on their homework." "Kids who are experiencing stress can use mindfulness as a coping skill to help manage their stress in a healthy way," said Halloran. "Any child would benefit, but children who struggle with managing their emotions, anxiety, self-regulation and attention issues in particular would benefit." More from LifeZette.com: Technology Takeover: The Dumbest Smart Gadgets How My DIY Project Turned into Help Me, Please! Primary Care Doctors: Needle in a Haystack The Disorder Everyone Disowns A pair of Florida hunters bagged a 15-foot, 800-pound alligator Saturday and photos of the massive specimen have gone viral. Lee Lightsey, the owner of Outwest Farms in Okeechobee, and hunting guide Blake Godwin discovered the alligator in one their cattle ponds while on a guided hunt. They believe the gator had been feasting on the farm's cattle. "We ... discovered the remains what we determined to be cattle in the water. We determined that he was in fact attacking our livestock as they came to drink," Godwin told Fox13. The guide said Lightsey shot the gator as it surfaced about 20 feet in front of them. Godwin said the animal was so big that the pair had to use a farm tractor to pull it out of the water. Photos posted on the farm's Facebook page showed the alligator dangling from the tractor. Godwin insisted the photos weren't a belated April Fool's Day joke. "It is hard to believe that something this big exists in the wild," Godwin said. "Hunting is a way of life for us and we are very proud of it." Outwest Farms has been guiding hunts for alligators, wild boar, and turkey for 18 years and Lightsey says on his website he's been hunting all his life. According to Godwin, the largest alligator they had taken before Saturday's hunt was just over 14 feet long. The pair plan to donate the gator's meat to charity and have the alligator taxidermied for display at their hunting shows and expos. Click for more from Fox 13 News. The woman who said she was gang-raped at a University of Virginia fraternity house and was the centerpiece of a now-retracted Rolling Stone article must answer attorneys' questions in a defamation lawsuit, a federal judge ruled. The student identified as "Jackie" in the article has fiercely resisted attempts to answer questions about her claims. U.S. District Judge Glen E. Conrad said Monday she is scheduled for a deposition Thursday at an undisclosed location. She is being questioned as part of university administrator's $7.5 million defamation lawsuit against Rolling Stone and the article's author. Nicole Eramo, an associate dean of students who had counseled Jackie, says the article cast Eramo as "chief villain." The piece by Sabrina Rubin Erdely also cast the university as indifferent to her claims of a sexual assault. Eramo's attorneys want to know what the woman told Erdely, who wrote the lengthy article in late 2014 about what Jackie said was an hours-long sexual assault in Charlottesville. Jackie's narrative did not hold up under media scrutiny and a Charlottesville police investigation found no evidence of an assault Jackie described. Rolling Stone ultimately commissioned an examination by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. It concluded in a blistering report that Rolling Stone failed at virtually every step, from the reporting by Erdely to an editing process that included high-ranking staffers. Attorneys for Eramo and Jackie have waged an escalating war of words in briefs over the deposition. In a March filing, Eramo's lawyers sought to tone down "vitriolic personal attacks" directed at Eramo by Jackie's attorneys. In turn, Jackie's attorneys criticized Eramo's attorneys for their "scorched-earth" efforts to depose her. Jackie has also resisted questioning because her attorneys have said she would be "re-victimized" as a sexual assault victim. Besides Eramo's lawsuit, the fraternity filed a $25 million lawsuit against the magazine. The judge said the deposition would remain confidential. Eramo's attorneys were given up to five hours to depose Jackie. Eric C. Conn, the flamboyant Kentucky lawyer who billed himself as "Mr. Social Security," has been indicted on allegations that he made millions by paying a doctor and a judge to rubber-stamp false disability claims using phony medical evidence. Conn was indicted along with David Daugherty, a Social Security administrative law judge for more than two decades, and Dr. Alfred Bradley Adkins, a clinical psychologist. They are charged with 18 counts altogether, including fraud and conspiracy, according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday. "The defendants are charged with designing an intricate scheme, using their expertise and positions of authority, to fraudulently induce payment of $600 million in federal disability and healthcare benefits," Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell said in a news release Tuesday. Until his arrest late Monday, Conn had escaped legal consequence for years, even after the Social Security Administration last summer cut off disability payments to hundreds of his clients in the impoverished coalfields of eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Conn continued to practice law and remains in good standing with the Kentucky Bar Association. In 2013, the U.S. Senate released a scathing report titled "How Some Legal, Medical and Judicial Professionals Abused Social Security Disability Programs for the Country's Most Vulnerable: A Case Study of the Conn Law Firm." For 161 pages, the report detailed Conn's relationship to Daugherty and four doctors, and the lengths to which investigators say they went to hide the alleged scheme. It accused Conn of paying the doctors, whom he called his "whore doctors," to sign dubious medical reports showing his clients were disabled. Daugherty then allegedly approved the claims, assembly-line fashion, often without a hearing. Adkins was the only one of the four doctors charged; another has since died and two more are listed in the indictment as "unindicted co-conspirators." A federal grand jury in Lexington returned the indictment on Friday, though it remained sealed until Tuesday. Conn's attorney, James Deckard, declined to comment as he arrived at the courthouse for the defendants' court hearing Tuesday afternoon. Adkins' attorney, Jonah Stevens, said his client "has the presumption of innocence." Not guilty pleas were entered in court on behalf of Conn and Adkins. Both defendants wore hand and leg irons. Conn, somber-looking as he entered the courtroom, sat next to former Kentucky Chief Justice Joe Lambert, his co-counsel, and sipped from a cup of water with his hands bound. Conn remained in custody with a detention hearing set for Thursday. Adkins was released on his own recognizance on the condition he remove from his residence firearms found when he was arrested. The federal prosecutor, Trey Alford, argued against Conn's release, saying he poses a flight risk and has indicated he would flee, that he has transferred money overseas, including in others' names to make it harder to track, and that his home is for sale. Deckard countered that Conn has always returned to the U.S. after traveling overseas and has strong ties to eastern Kentucky. Conn opened his practice in a trailer in 1993 in his hometown of Stanville, Kentucky, population 500, according to the Senate investigation. From there he built the third-most lucrative disability firm in the nation, bringing in more than $20 million in fees between 2001 and 2013. He became a local celebrity for his over-the-top advertising campaigns. He dispatched crews of "Conn Hotties" to events, hired Miss Kentucky to appear in commercials and had a 19-foot replica of the Lincoln Memorial erected in the parking lot of his office. Daugherty became a Social Security judge in 1990 and worked in Huntington, West Virginia, according to the Senate report. The report said his fellow judges reported numerous times that he would sign in early in the morning, disappear from the office all day and return at night to sign out. Yet he heard 1,276 cases in 2010 and awarded benefits in all but four of them, according to the report. The Senate investigation found that Daugherty received $96,000 in cash deposits from 2003 to 2011, some of which went to his daughter Amy when she was running for Magistrate in Cabell County, West Virginia. She lost. Daugherty refused to explain the cash deposits to Senate investigators. After a Wall Street Journal article questioned Daugherty's approval rate and his relationship to Conn in 2011, the Senate investigation alleges Conn's firm shredded 26,000 pounds of documents, more than 2.5 million sheets of paper, and destroyed more in a bonfire behind his office that burned for four days. Daugherty was put on administrative leave in 2011 and soon retired. Conn, according to the Senate report, tried to discredit Sarah Carver, an employee at the SSA office he believed had leaked information to the news media. He allegedly spied on her in an attempt to catch her on video not working on days she was supposed to be telecommuting. The plan failed. "It's been a long time coming," Mark Wohlander, an attorney who had filed a federal whistleblower suit on Carver's behalf, said of the indictments. "And a lot of people have been hurt as a result of Mr. Conn." Cyclists on one of North Americas most legendary bike paths have more to worry about than flat tires and slipped chains: Radar gun-wielding rangers on Northern Californias Mount Tamalpais will soon begin enforcing a strict 15-mile-per-hour speed limit. The picturesque preserve in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, is seen by many as the birthplace of mountain biking, with a maze of winding routes that take cyclists through forests, atop spectacular peaks, and down paths at speeds topping 30 miles per hour. County parks officials say the speeding bikes could put hikers and horseback riders at risk. If trail users simply treat each other with mutual respect, we could all get along and have a great time in the woods. Greg Heil, editor-in-chief of Singletracks.com. We dont have good data about how often speeding is occurring on Open Space Trails and this effort will provide good data about speeding in our preserves, Max Korten, acting assistant director of Marin County Parks, told FoxNews.com. The first step is to gauge the problem by equipping rangers with LiDAR, a laser-style speed-tracking technology, he said. For now, they will only issue written warnings, but ticket-writing could soon follow. A citation would go on the violators DMV record, and fines could reach $100. Cyclists say speed limits on bike paths are silly and unnecessary. Marin County Parks has deemed radar necessary to show concerned parties, mainly the foot people that safety on the trials is priority, said Vernon Huffman, president of Access4Bikes, a Marin County non-profit organization whose mission is the fair and reasonable access to the local trails. But Marin County Parks cant name one single past incident that radar would have prevented. Korten acknowledged that the trails are relatively safe, but said a reasonable speed limit could keep it that way. We have had a few incidents of collisions between bike riders and pedestrians or equestrians, but those incidents are relatively rare when compared with the high level of use occurring on our trails, Korten said. Mount Tamalpais in the late 1970s became known as the cradle of mountain biking, providing the soil and swells for some of the countrys top racers. Yet in recent decades, bikers have lamented the rise of legislation and banning of bikes from the vast majority of single-track trails in Marin County. If trail users simply treat each other with mutual respect, we could all get along and have a great time in the woods, said Greg Heil, editor-in-chief of the website Singletracks.com. There are thousands of miles of multi-use trails across the country where mountain bikers peacefully co-exist with others. Less than one percent of these trails have a posted speed limit, much less rangers with radar guns enforcing them. What I do see from this unfortunate waste of taxpayer dollars is that Marin continues to cement itself as one of the least mountain bike friendly locations in the nation, he added. Chris Edwards, editor of DownsizingGovernment.org and an expert at the public policy-centered Cato Institute, agreed that setting speed traps for cyclists is a classic case of local government overreach. Park agencies are always complaining that they have a shortage of funding, but the Marin County effort to prevent mountain bikers from having fun shows that it has money to burn, he said. Marin County has implemented speed limit enforcement on paved bike paths since 2015 and claims that this effort combined with a signage and education initiative lead to a significant reduction of speed. Sheriffs deputies in the area reportedly have issued more than 60 citations and warnings. Rangers also patrol popular off-road trails in Californias East Bay and other areas in the state are known for their ranger presence. Through our road and trail management plan we are considering proposals to open new trails to mountain bike use and want to have a tool to address safety concerns from hikers and equestrians regarding the potential bike use on these trails, Korten said. We hope that bicycle use is not deterred by this effort, but that all of our visitors including those on bicycles will be more likely to visit our preserves knowing that other users will conduct themselves in a safe manner. Texas parents have had enough of an elementary schools new pick up policy that reportedly could have them face trespassing charges if they try to get their child after the school day is over. Bear Branch Elementary in Magnolia implemented the policy at the beginning of the school year. Under the new rules, if a student does not take the bus, parents must wait in the mile-long car pick up line to get their child, according to Fox 26 Houston. Now, some parents have pulled their kids from the school. Shes threatening to arrest people, Wendy Jarman said about Principal Holly Ray to the Fox station. Jarman said she officially pulled her children out of Bear Branch Monday and put them in a private school. She lives in the neighborhood and would escort her kids to school, but the new rule forces her to stay away from the school altogether. This has happened to many parents, Jarman said. They have been cited. They have been threatened, if they step one foot on school property they will be arrested and charged with who knows what. Frank Young is another parent who pulled his children out of the school after receiving one of the warnings. He told Fox 26 Houston that the school district has made no effort to re-negotiate the policy. Mrs. Rays policy is implying that a parent doesnt have the ability or capability to decide what is safest for her children and that the school district does, Young said. The Magnolia School District has backed Ray 100 percent. The district said in a statement to Fox 26 Houston that the ultimate goal is a safe dismissal process. Other parents have said that Rays my way or else tactics go deeper than just the dismissal process. Parents have said that not only are students leaving because of it, but teachers and staffers are quitting as well. Click for more from Fox 26 Houston. For younger generations, care packages are shipments of treats and gifts parents send their children while theyre away at camp or college. But the term dates back to the end of World War II, when Americans sent lifesaving food and supplies to survivors in Europe. Opening it was like manna from heaven because we hadnt seen so many good things to eat in many, many months, 87-year-old Helga Kissell remembered. Flour, powdered milk, egg powder, shortening, cigarettes, chocolate and coffee. These simple items came as a great comfort to Kissell. At the time, she was a 16-year-old refugee, who had lost her father and her home to air raids in Berlin. Opening it was like manna from heaven because we hadnt seen so many good things to eat in many, many months. Helga Kissell The shipments arrived through an effort known as the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe (CARE), which would later evolve into a global humanitarian organization. The original CARE Package was really born out of the generosity and compassion of Americans after World War II, said Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CARE USA. They saw an enormous amount of suffering millions of people who were refugees and who were hungry. And many of them were our former enemies Germans that we had been fighting just literally months or years before. Seven decades later, CARE invited Kissell and a handful of other former World War II refugees to write letters of encouragement to todays young refugees. Kissell reached out to Sajeda, a 16-year-old Syrian refugee now living in Jordan. In a letter to Sajeda, Kissell writes, We both have a lot in common! I know firsthand what it is like to lose a home and become a refugee. The letter goes on to describe Kissells struggles as a refugee in Bavaria, and how she received CARE Packages and letters from Leo, a U.S. soldier she had met during the American occupation. Kissells refugee story ends happily. She immigrated to the U.S., where she married Leo. In August, the couple will celebrate their 68th anniversary. It is never easy to have to leave ones homeland, Kissells letter explains. Always remember the good times and look forward to what the future may bring. CARE recorded Sajedas reaction to Kissells letter. In a video posted on CARE.org, the young refugee is momentarily overcome with emotion and then expresses deep gratitude for Kissells support. She made me feel like I exist, Sajeda explains in the video. Even though I have not met her in person, now she plays an important role in my life. North Korea is jamming GPS devices in South Korea, affecting hundreds of passenger jets, commuters, Uber drivers and commercial fishing boats while raising alarm bells in the Pentagon, multiple defense officials confirmed to Fox News Wednesday. The U.S. has sent roughly 30,000 troops to protect the South Korean border in a war that began in 1950. It's technically ongoing, as no peace treaty was ever signed. The signal-jamming would not affect U.S. military members who use encrypted GPS, according to officials. South Korean officials said the attempt to jam GPS signals, which began Thursday, did not cause any major disruptions of South Korean military, aviation and sea transport and telecommunication systems. However, more than 130 fishing boats reported problems with their navigation systems and some were forced to return to their ports, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said. South Korea's Defense Ministry called the jamming attempt a provocation that threatened public safety and military operations in the South. A ministry statement warned North Korea to immediately stop the jamming efforts or face unspecified consequences. South Korea has blamed North Korea for several previous jamming attempts. The recent round of signal-jamming is the first since 2012, according to South Korea's Science Ministry. North Korean state media had no immediate comment. Tensions are running high on the divided Korean Peninsula. The U.N. Security Council has imposed stiffer international sanctions on North Korea, and since the start last month of annual South Korea-U.S. military drills, the North has threatened nuclear strikes on Seoul and Washington and warned it will test a nuclear warhead and ballistic missiles capable of carrying it. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Big night for Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders. Both men won easy victories in last nights Wisconsin primaries. The double digit win for Cruz is resetting the race, and makes a contested convention much more likely. Ted Cruz called it a turning point> Donald Trump didnt speak last night, but his campaign said Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet he is a Trojan horse. Heres how the Washington Post reporters Sean Sullivan and Philip Rucker described it today: Ted Cruz rolled to a landslide victory Tuesday in Wisconsin's hotly contested Republican presidential primary, capitalizing on a difficult stretch for Donald Trump to cut into the front-runner's overall delegate lead and deliver a psychological blow to the billionaire mogul. Although the senator from Texas is reviled by many party leaders for his explosive and polarizing brand of politics, Cruz won over establishment Republicans as well as grass-roots conservative activists across this state who had come together in an urgent push to stop Trump. Late returns showed him leading Trump by a wide margin. Cruz hopes his Wisconsin win transforms the trajectory of the race. Wisconsin adds an important Midwestern bellwether to the basket of mostly Southern or rural states he has won to date, giving the Texan evidence that he can appeal beyond ultra-conservative and religious voters. Wisconsin was a sixth straight victory for Bernie Sanders who has performed well in mostly-white voting states especially in caucuses. Heres how the reporters John Wagner, Anne Gearan, and Abby Phillip put it in the Washington Post today: Bernie Sanders emerged from Wisconsin with a solid victory Tuesday, prolonging his dogged but improbable bid to catch Hillary Clinton in the fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. The senator from Vermont was leading the party's front-runner in a state with a celebrated tradition of progressive activism - and a primary open to independent voters, a bedrock Sanders constituency. Now, despite Clinton's still-overwhelming lead in delegates, Sanders can claim the momentum of winning in six of the past seven states holding nominating contests across the country. The battle now moves to New York where Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are hoping to win their home states and regain some momentum. One challenge for Hillary Clinton is that Sanders is from Brooklyn. In other news, There are big wildfires raging in Oklahoma and Kansas. Keep an eye on stocks today as global economic weakness weighs on stocks. There are growing fears over the likelihood of a weak earnings season. Pfizer has ended a huge $150 billion merger with drug maker Allergen after the Feds cracked down on inversions. Pfizer had planned to merge with Ireland based Allergen and move its headquarters to Ireland in an effort to save on taxes. New rules from the Treasury Department made that harder. So the deal is off. The White House also unveiling rules requiring financial advisers to put clients first ahead of pushing certain stocks or investments. San Francisco last night became the first place in the nation for paid leave for new parents. The board of supervisors passed legislation last night providing six weeks of paid leave. Alabama lawmakers are working to impeach the governor over allegations he cheated on his wife with a top aide. Mississippi signed legislation that will allow business owners to refuse to serve gay people on religious grounds. PayPal became the latest company to push back on new legislation in North Carolina that is seen as anti-LGBT. The payment company is halting expansion plans that would have added 400 jobs in NC. The law prevents cities from passing non-discrimination policies related to the Gay, Lesbian and transgender communities. For more news, follow me on Twitter: @ClintPHenderson Voters have lifted a longstanding ban on alcohol sales in a small northeastern Wisconsin village. WLUK-TV reports that voters in Ephraim on Tuesday approved referendums allowing the sale of beer and wine. The village of about 300 people has been dry since Norwegian Moravians founded it in 1853. Residents unsuccessfully tried to change the ban in 1934 and 1992. Supporters of the change said allowing alcohol sales would improve tourist trade at the village along the water in peninsular Door County, about 70 miles northeast of Green Bay. Opponents said introducing alcohol sales would tarnish the quaint feel of the area and spurn village history. A militant involved in the March 22 Brussels terror attacks had worked in the European Parliament building in the Belgian capital, a spokesperson revealed Wednesday. The unidentified extremist worked as a cleaner for an outside contractor. The European Parliament confirms that seven and six years ago, one of the perpetrators of the Brussels terrorist attacks worked for a period of one month for a cleaning company which was contracted by the European Parliament at the time, Parliament spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said in a statement. As a student, he held a summer holiday job cleaning at the Parliament for one month in 2009 and one month in 2010. Those were the only instances he worked at the Parliament. The suspected terrorist was found to have no criminal record when he was hired, the statement said. Its unclear if the man who was employed was one of the bombers who blew themselves up during the attacks or was an accomplice. Authorities are still hunting several people connected to the bombings, for which the Islamic State terror group claimed responsibility. The dual bombings, at Zaventem Airport and Maelbeek metro station, killed 32 and injured more than 300 others. The cleaning contractor who employed the militant no longer provides services for Parliament and was changed three years ago, Politico Europe reported. The Panamanian law firm at the center of the huge leak of data on offshore financial accounts reportedly incorporated a string of companies named after James Bond films, one of the outlets that were given access to the documents said Wednesday. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said law firm Mossack Fonseca incorporated companies named Goldfinger, SkyFall, GoldenEye and Moonraker and was asked to set up a firm called Octopussy. The OCCRP said the law firm also incorporated companies named Blofeld and Spectre, after the classic Bond villain and his organization. In addition, its report said, the files contain correspondence from a man called Austin Powers but that apparently was his real name, according to The Associated Press. On Wednesday, Ukraines president was the latest prominent politician to deny wrongdoing after his name was linked to Mossack Fonseca. The revelations have raised suspicion that such offshore entities were set up to avoid taxes, but Petro Poroshenko denied that was the purpose in his case. Rather, he said, it was necessary to create an offshore holding company to put his candy business in a blind trust when he became president of Ukraine in 2014. "This is absolutely normal procedure, and I think this is the main difference from the naming of all the political figures in this Panama list," Poroshenko said in Tokyo, where he was meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and business leaders. "If we have anything to be investigated, I am happy to do that," he said. "But, this is absolutely transparent from the very beginning. No hidden account, no associated management, no nothing." Reports, based on a trove of confidential documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, have purported to expose the offshore arrangements of public officials, businesspeople and celebrities around the world. Iceland's prime minister became the first casualty of the affair Tuesday, stepping down two days after a video was aired showing him breaking off a television interview over questions about his family's offshore dealings. Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson had faced opposition calls to resign over revelations he had used a shell company to shelter large sums while Iceland's economy was in crisis. He denied wrongdoing and has recommended that his deputy Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson take over as prime minister for an unspecified period of time. Protesters planned to gather outside parliament Wednesday afternoon in the third consecutive day of demonstrations calling for a new government. In France, the far-right National Front party said Wednesday it was filing lawsuits for defamation against media who imply that it or leader Marine Le Pen who plans to run in the 2017 presidential race may be implicated in the so-called Panama papers scandal. Paris daily Le Monde reported Tuesday on the offshore dealings of a longtime Le Pen acquaintance whose company provides publicity for electoral campaigns. The paper also examined potential but unproven offshore interests of Le Pen's father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, via a former employee. Le Pen's anti-immigration National Front portrays globalization as one of the enemies to redressing the French economy and preserving the nation's identity, making any innuendo that people linked to the party may allegedly be using foreign shell companies to hide funds a sensitive issue. The so-called Panama Papers reports, which were coordinated by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, have prompted both fierce criticism of those named and strong denials of wrongdoing. While there are legitimate reasons for setting up offshore companies, corruption experts say such constructs are frequently used to hide assets be it from tax authorities or ex-spouses. In Poroshenko's case, Ukrainian opposition groups argue that the president's decision to set up an offshore holding company in the British Virgin Islands could have deprived his country of millions of dollars in taxes. A British Virgin Islands company has also been linked to Formula One driver Nico Rosberg, though his lawyer said the offshore firm was created solely for liability reasons and to enable him to operate internationally. German public broadcaster NDR reported that Mossack Fonseca manages a company called Ambitious Group Ltd which has a contract with Mercedes for Rosberg's "driver services." Rosberg's German lawyer, Christian Schertz, said Ambitious Group, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands, wasn't used for tax avoidance. "Tax-wise, Mr. Rosberg acted correctly in every way," Schertz said in a statement late Tuesday. Rosberg, who won Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix, is registered in Monaco for tax purposes and receives all payments there, he said. A prominent Bollywood actor, Amitabh Bachchan, also denied reports by The Indian Express newspaper that he was connected to four shipping companies registered in tax havens. "It is possible that my name has been misused," Bachhan tweeted late Tuesday. "I have paid all my taxes including on monies spent by me overseas," he said. "Monies that I have remitted overseas have been in compliance with law, including remittances through LRS (Liberalized Remittance Scheme) after paying Indian taxes. In any event the news report in the Indian Express doesn't even suggest any illegality on my part." The Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 For more than two decades, a team of psychiatrists in downtown Cairo have provided a unique service in Egypt: Therapy for people who say they are victims of torture. Now authorities are trying to shut down the Nadeem Center, housed in an apartment building off a street full of auto parts dealers and mechanics. Twice in the past three months, most recently on Wednesday, police have stormed in with closure orders. So far, the center has managed to ward them off while its lawyers protest. Its founders, however, fear the government is determined to eliminate an organization that, beyond helping victims, produces detailed documentation of police torture. Those accounts contrast starkly with officials' repeated denials that such abuses take place, except in rare, individual cases. Last year, the center tallied around 600 cases of police torture and almost 500 people killed by security forces, 100 of them while incarcerated. "I haven't seen a worse situation than what we have now the violations, the impunity, the defiance" by police, said Aida Seif el-Dawla, a psychiatrist and one of the center's co-founders. "They keep repeating that there is no torture, that there are no forced disappearances, as if this would somehow make it a valid statement," he said. The move against the Nadeem Center is part of an effort targeting a number of rights groups and non-governmental organizations that has raised sharp criticism of Egypt at home, as well as from the United States and Europe. The Nadeem Center and other groups are under investigation on possible criminal charges of illegally receiving foreign funds. Also, the center faces a closure order from the Cabinet that has never been made public but is reportedly based on vague claims of violations of Health Ministry regulations. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has overseen a broad crackdown on dissent since 2013, when he led a military overthrew his Islamist predecessor. Security forces have arrested thousands of Islamists and killed hundreds as they crushed protests. In the past year, the campaign has also increasingly targeted secular activists who criticize the former general's rule. Authorities have argued that they are acting to bring stability after five years of turmoil following the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Many of the top activists involved in the 2011 uprising are now in prison, most under a draconian law passed in 2013 effectively banning all street protests. In response to international criticism of the foreign funding investigation, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said there are tens of thousands of NGOs operating in Egypt, and the government is committed to enabling their work. But he said the activities of civil society groups should be steered in "the right direction, not to the benefit of people whose practices could harm their countries." A Health Ministry spokesman, Khaled Mujahed, told Egyptian media that Nadeem was ordered closed "like any center that is proven to have violations." The center denies committing any violations. The groups believe authorities want to silence criticism at a time when they say police abuses are worsening. "It's no longer just special police units committing these acts. Normal police are practicing torture too. In the current environment, they think the law doesn't apply to them," Seif el-Dawla said. Egypt has faced international criticism over the case of Giulio Regeni, an Italian Ph.D. student whose brutalized body was found dumped by the side of a road, raising suspicion of police involvement. Egypt denied its security services were behind the killing. Last month, the Interior Ministry said it had killed members of a gang suspected of being responsible for Regeni's death. But that claim was largely dismissed in Italy, where many in the media accused Egypt of a cover-up. Rome is demanding Cairo come clean and present results of a detailed investigation. Seif el-Dawla says Regeni's wounds, detailed in Italian autopsy findings, bear all the hallmarks of cases she has seen in decades of documenting police torture. "Burning by cigarettes, ripping off fingernails and dumping bodies, that's their style, and it's very common in disappearance cases," she said, sitting at a table in the center's sparse meeting room that is normally used for recording the testimony of victims. In recent years, the Nadeem Center, headed by Dr. Magda Adly, received about 200-300 new clients annually. The doctors provide individual and group therapy, and sometimes conduct medical exams. Under Mubarak's 29-year rule, non-governmental groups faced complicated rules meant to control, contain or sometimes discourage their operations. Nadeem's clinic treating patients, for example, is formally a separate entity from its center doing documentation. In that way, it conforms to rules on which activities each part can conduct. NGOs also faced close monitoring by security agencies. Seif al-Dawla said she's long known that the cigarette seller at a kiosk outside the office is a police informant keeping an eye on who comes and goes. Under Mubarak, however, rights organizations were rarely shut down. Seif al-Dawla fears that's the government's plan. Security authorities don't like "civil society organizations that are outside their control, especially in the field of human rights," Seif al-Dawla said. The Nadeem Center's accountants have been questioned by investigators trying to find a way to discredit it, she said. "The problem now is that you cannot predict what can put you in jail or not," she added. Nadeem does receive funding from abroad, but it is all reported to the authorities and tax records are kept, she said. "Nothing about us is underground or hidden, we operate totally transparently," Seif al-Dawla said. "They know all about it." Dozens of organizations could face prosecution in the foreign funding case. Prominent investigative journalist Hossam Bahgat, rights advocate Gamal Eid and others have been barred from travel, and a court is considering whether to freeze the assets of Bahgat and Eid. The case is a reopening of an investigation that began in 2011 against nonprofit foreign groups. At the time, several U.S. and German groups were charged with receiving foreign funding in violation of Egyptian law. The constitution expressly allows NGOs, but receiving funds from abroad is heavily regulated, and new laws in recent years include vague bans on activities that undermine "national interests or unity." In the meantime, the Nadeem Center continues to work quietly, but receives no patients at the center, just in case the police swoop in. Seif al-Dawla said she's hoping the closure order will be lifted. In the meantime, she is pushing back appointments and handling new would-be patients. "The phone here just keeps ringing," she said. ___ Follow Brian Rohan on Twitter at: http://ww.twitter.com/brian_rohan The European Unions border agency admitted Tuesday it cannot fully track the flood of refugees pouring in, and said a "staggering number" of Europeans have joined terror groups only to return to the continent amid the migrant wave. Europe reported a record 1.82 million illegal border crossings last year, according to Frontex, but the group conceded that the true number of illegal crossings is probably much higher because so many refugees have entered Europe undetected. The Paris attacks in November 2015 clearly demonstrated that irregular migratory flows could be used by terrorists to enter the EU, the report said. With no thorough check or penalties in place for those making such false declarations, there is a risk that some persons representing a security threat to the EU may be taking advantage of this situation. Two extremists involved in the Paris attacks entered through the Greek island of Leros and registered with Greek authorities using fraudulent Syrian documents, The Telegraph reported. The route through the Greek islands accounted for the largest number of detections more than 885,000. There is no EU system capable of tracing peoples movements following an illegal border-crossing. Therefore it is not possible to establish the precise number of persons who have illegally crossed two sections of the external borders of the EU, the report stated. The EU Commission announced Wednesday it wants to change the standard that forces the first nation where a migrant arrives to process his or her asylum request. "The current system is not sustainable," EU Vice-President Frans Timmermans said. Austrias Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner and Germanys Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Tuesday the EU must link efforts to control migration and improve security by establishing functioning outer borders and improving information exchange channels among its member nations over terror threats. "A Europe without internal borders can exist only when a European outer border" functions to control those entering the EU, Mikl-Leitner said. Citing figures of 5,000 radicals in Europe, she said the EU needed "systematic border controls ... where EU citizens first and foremost are the ones controlled." The Commission on Wednesday proposed activating a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU. That means each EU nation would have to take a set number of asylum-seekers, according to a quota devised by the bloc. Still, a mandatory distribution of some asylum-seekers already in Europe has already caused serious frictions among many EU nations and the Commission's proposal to amend one rule was unlikely to change that immediately. French President Francois Hollande, a staunch defender of the EU, was forced to admit Wednesday that the European Union's biggest problem is its slow decision-making process -- whether in the financial crisis, the fight against terrorism or a common response to the refugee crisis. In an interview in the German daily Bild, Hollande said "in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution ... but we have to pay a high price for the lost time." More than 53,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since Austria and the Balkan nations north of Greece -- Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia -- closed their land borders last month. Before that, hundreds of thousands fleeing war and poverty at home crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, then went over land to wealthy European nations like Germany and Sweden. To stem that flow and break the Turkish smuggling rings ferrying migrants to Greece, the EU reached a deal with Turkey last month. Now those arriving on Greek islands from March 20 onwards who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose application is rejected will be deported back to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country. The deportations began Monday with 202 people being sent back from Greece to Turkey, but have been suspended for technical reasons. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Click for more from the The Telegraph. Icelands embattled prime minster is stepping aside for an unspecified amount of time but not for good, the countrys government said Wednesday, in the first major political shakeup linked to the Panama Papers leaks. The reports, based on a trove of confidential documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposed the offshore financial arrangements of public officials, businesspeople and celebrities around the world. The leaked documents allege that Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife set up a company called Wintris in the British Virgin Islands with the help of Mossack Fonseca. Gunnlaugsson is accused of a conflict of interest for failing to disclose his involvement in the company, which held interests in failed Icelandic banks that his government was responsible for overseeing. Gunnlaugsson's deputy, Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, first announced Tuesday that the prime minister would step down as leader of Iceland's coalition government. It followed the refusal by Iceland's president to dissolve parliament and call a new election, and after thousands of Icelanders protested outside the parliament building in Reykjavik. No replacement for Gunnlaugsson has yet been named, and President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson did not immediately confirm that he had accepted the resignation. Late Tuesday, a government statement said Gunnlaugsson had suggested Johannsson take over as prime minister for "an unspecified amount of time," while Gunnlauggson would stay on as leader of his center-right Progressive Party. Gunnlaugson has denied any wrongdoing and said he and his wife have paid all their taxes. He also said his financial holdings didn't affect his negotiations with Iceland's creditors during the country's acute financial crisis. Iceland, a volcanic North Atlantic island nation with a population of 330,000, was rocked by a prolonged financial crisis when its main commercial banks collapsed within a week of one another in 2008. Since then Icelanders have weathered a deep recession and been subjected to tough capital controls another reason the prime minister's offshore holdings rankle many. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also denied wrongdoing Wednesday after his name was linked to accounts arranged by Mossack Fonseca. Poroshenko said it was necessary to create an offshore holding company to put his candy business in a blind trust when he became president of Ukraine in 2014. "This is absolutely normal procedure, and I think this is the main difference from the naming of all the political figures in this Panama list," Poroshenko said in Tokyo, where he was meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and business leaders. "If we have anything to be investigated, I am happy to do that," he said. "But, this is absolutely transparent from the very beginning. No hidden account, no associated management, no nothing." Because offshore accounts and companies also hide the names of the ultimate owners of investments, they can be used to illegally evade taxes or launder money. Mossack Fonseca said it obeys all laws relating to company registrations and does not advise people how to evade taxes. The firm said in a statement that "our industry is not particularly well understood by the public, and unfortunately this series of articles will only serve to deepen that confusion. "The facts are these: While we may have been the victim of a data breach, nothing in this illegally obtained cache of documents suggests we've done anything wrong or illegal, and that's very much in keeping with the global reputation we've worked hard to build over the past 40 years of doing business the right way." The Associated Press contributed to this report. next Image 1 of 2 prev Image 2 of 2 John Kerry is now the most traveled secretary of state in U.S. history. Kerry's trip Wednesday from New York to Bahrain pushed him past 1.06 million miles as America's top diplomat. Condoleezza Rice held the previous mark with 1.059 million miles. Kerry eclipsed Hillary Clinton's mileage tally in December. One record eludes Kerry still: Clinton's 112 countries visited on the job. Having shuttled regularly between several favorite destinations including Paris, London and Jerusalem Kerry had only been to 80 countries. Bahrain makes 81. It is the first trip by an American secretary of state since demonstrations by the kingdom's Shiite majority in 2011. Saudi and Emirati troops helped put down the protests, though discontent continues. Human rights groups chastise Bahrain's Sunni rulers for repression and discrimination. Mexico reportedly announced Tuesday it has changed two of its top officials who are responsible for relations with the U.S., citing concerns about an anti-Mexico climate across the border. Reuters reported Mexico named Carlos Sada as the ambassador to the U.S., while Paulo Carreno was appointed the deputy foreign minister for North America. Sada previously served as the consul in Los Angeles and Carreno was one of President Enrique Pena Nietos communications directors. Sada will still have to be approved by the Mexican Senate. We have been warning that our citizens have begun to feel a more hostile climate," Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu told a Mexican radio station. This (anti-Mexican) rhetoric has made it clear that we have to act in a different way so that this tendency being generated doesn't damage the bilateral relationship. Mexican officials have expressed concerns about the rhetoric from Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump due to his verbal attacks on Mexico and his vow to make Mexico pay for a border wall. Tuesday, Trump threatened to block remittances from illegal Mexican immigrants if elected president, unless Mexico agreed to pay for his planned wall. Click for more from Reuters. North Korea has developed a large-caliber multiple launch rocket system that has the capability to strike Seoul as early as this year, South Koreas defense minister said Wednesday. The announcement, reported in The Washington Post, comes a day after a South Korean official said the North has the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile that could strike targets in Russia, China, Japan and the Korean Peninsula. Han Min-koo said Wednesday that North Koreas recent rest-firings of 300-millimeter rockets suggest that its multiple launch rocket system is almost fully developed. Under this assessment, I think North Korea will deploy the 300-mm MLRS as early as the end of this year, Han told reporters. The 300-millimeter rockets are cheaper than missiles and are believed to have a range of 125 miles, giving them the ability to strike Seoul, a city of nearly 26 million people that lies just 35 miles from the demilitarized zone, the Post reported. North Korea recently has threatened to "scorch" South Koreas presidential offices with its powerful large-caliber multiple-rocket-launching systems, according to statements from the regime. The official who said Tuesday that South Korea believes the North can mount a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile said there was no direct evidence yet that it had done so, but declined to elaborate. "We've not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily, but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real," Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said Wednesday when asked about the claim from the South Korean official. "That said, we know that they've said they have that capability and we have to be -- we have to take them at their word," he added. "And that is why we have a missile defense system that we have been working and developing over time. As they've developed their capability, we have worked to outpace that capability with our defensive system." Click for more from The Washington Post. Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report. It was a slippery sight. A town in Spain has been fined more than $1,700 for hosting a slippery pig competition in which small swine are covered in grease and chased by children, The Local reported Wednesday. A regional court found that last September's bizarre event in El Sahugo, which awarded the greasy pigs to the first child to catch them, was degrading to animals. The court reviewed the case after complaints from animal rights groups including the Spanish animal rights party Pacma and the National Association for the Protection and Wellbeing of Animals. The complaint claimed that using pigs and other animals in such events is illegal, citing previous cases in the nearby provinces of Segovia, Salamanca and others. El Ayuntamiento de El Sahugo, multado por soltar en una fiesta cerdos untados en grasa - https://t.co/edtAA2PH77 pic.twitter.com/vX8z7YY2k3 Republica.com (@Republica_com) April 5, 2016 While the courts ruling represents a win for activists, a member of Pacma told The Local the ruling does not solve the problem. "These kinds of festivities perpetuate the abuse by teaching kids that is right to treat an animal like that. The fine is quite insufficient, Claudia Manas said. Manas added that the fine will not be enough to deter people from hosting the event again. "Councils will just pay the fine, even collect the money among the neighbors, and just keep on celebrating year after year. This proves that the law fails at deterring animal abuse. next Image 1 of 3 prev next Image 2 of 3 prev Image 3 of 3 The Turkish coast guard has apprehended dozens of migrants on the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece. About 60 people, including some Syrians, were brought to a coast guard station in the western province of Izmir on Wednesday. The European Union began sending back migrants this week under a deal with Turkey aimed at preventing illegal migration to Europe. On Monday, 202 migrants from 11 countries were sent back to Turkey from the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios. The same day, 155 migrants were caught on the Aegean by the Turkish coast guard. Meanwhile, dozens of Syrians were flown to German, Finland and the Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday. The EU-Turkey deal stipulates that for every Syrian returned from Europe to Turkey another should be resettled in Europe. In this rapidly developing topic, we aim to provide you with the ability to share your experiences, questions and news with us. Simply choose one of the options below and your story may be featured in this section. Learn More Essential Businesses Share Your Story Ask Questions Submit News Subscribe School supporters and anti-tax conservatives dominated a lengthy public hearing Tuesday night on Spotsylvania Countys proposed budget and tax rate. The hearing at Courtland High Schools auditorium included some pointed remarks from both sides of the debate the culmination of a contentious budget season. As of 10 p.m., about 60 speakers had urged the Board of Supervisors to either give schools more money or cut taxes. Dale Swanson, speaking on behalf of the Spotsylvania Conservative Womens Coalition, noted that nearly 40 percent of the school systems students qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. Are you really going to ask their parents to pay more in taxes? she asked. Is this what compassion looks like? Resident Elizabeth Thurber asked how it was fair for private-sector employees to pay more in taxes so government workers can get a pay raise. Resident Sandra Barnstead told supervisors that the recent attacks on teachers in Spotsylvania schools are deplorable. She was referring to anonymous fliers stating that educators are seeking pay raises on the backs of taxpayers. Who will be attacked next? Firefighters, police officers? Barnstead asked. Another speaker said the county was being mocked on a national level after a Comedy Central website poked fun at one of the fliers. That flier depicted a family that could not afford pizza because the county raised taxes for teacher pay raises. Resident Shelton Richards, who spoke in support of additional funding for schools, said his son had trouble reading when he started sixth grade after moving to Spotsylvania from California. The passion of one teacher alone turned him from failing to being an enthusiastic reader, he said, noting his son is now a Marine. On April 12, the supervisors will take a final vote on the tax rate and budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Some Spotsylvania Education Association members asked supervisors to approve the advertised real estate tax rate of 86 cents per $100 of assessed value. Thats the current rate, though, if it is adopted, many homeowners would pay more in taxes because of rising property values. Supervisors can lower the advertised rate, but they cant raise it. Meanwhile, the anti-tax speakersincluding tea party members wearing We the people shirtsasked the supervisors to approve a 3-cent tax rate decrease to offset the higher home values. Reducing the rate by that amount would save the average homeowner $73which one teacher noted equals 20 cents a day. Jean Hope, who asked for lower taxes, said the economy is not growing, yet year after year taxes and everything else goes up. But the supervisors did hear some welcome news at a meeting last week. County Budget Manager Bonnie Jewell said revenue projections are upwhich would allow supervisors to fund County Administrator Mark Taylors recommended budget at an 83-cent real estate tax rate, she said. County staff initially thought Taylors budget would require an 86-cent rate. Local taxpayer dollars spent on schools would increase by $2.7 million for debt service on maintenance work, new buses, new technology and other projects under the county administrators spending plan. The School Board had requested a $12.6 million increase in local tax dollars, including $5.2 million for a 1 percent cost-of-living raise and a step increase on the salary scale for school employees. That request would have required an 8-cent tax rate increase. The School Boards budget proposal also includes an additional 47 positions about half of which would support special education services. Early in the budget hearing, some audience members laughed after Swanson said Spotsylvania teachers make an average of $54,000 annually excluding benefits. A document on the official county website says teachers earn $53,050 on average. I thought there was a rule about that, Swanson, also a member of the Spotsylvania Republican Committee, said of the interruption. She later told the supervisors that she just got heckled and nobody did anything to stop it. The exchange was notable because last month the supervisors approved a resolution offering their sincerest regrets to a teacher for a verbal assault by Swanson. The teacher was formally addressing the supervisors when Swanson told her, You shouldnt be teaching if you dont know anything. VATICAN CITYPope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox Christians, will visit the Greek island of Lesbos next week to highlight the plight of refugees, the Greek government said, as refugees and other migrants are being deported back to Turkey under the European Unions controversial program to ease Europes migrant problem. Under the EUs deal with Turkey reached last month, those arriving on Greek islands from March 20 onwards who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose application is rejected or deemed inadmissible will be deported back to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country. But after the initial return of 202 people Monday from the islands of Lesbos and Chios, most of the roughly 4,000 people earmarked for deportation were submitting asylum applications, leading to delays in the system. No deportations were carried out Tuesday, and a Turkish interior ministry official said no further returns were expected until Friday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the record. Francis, the son of Italian immigrants to Argentina, has been outspoken about Europes moral obligation to welcome refugees and his visit to Greece will likely embarrass EU leaders already under fire from human rights groups over the deportations. The Holy Synod of the Church of Greece, the decision-making body of the Greek church, said Francis had asked to come to highlight the plight of refugees. It said the request had been accepted and the island of Lesbos suggested, adding it had also extended an invitation to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of the worlds Orthodox Christians, to visit the island on the same day. The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate confirmed Bartholomew would visit the island. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said Tuesday that no decision had been made but in an email to The Associated Press he said I dont deny that there are contacts about a possible trip. The Greek government issued a note saying the pope and patriarch would be visiting Lesbos on April 14-15 along with Athens Archbishop Ieronymos, and that Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would join them. Francis has made the plight of migrants a priority of his three-year pontificate, insisting in particular that Europe and other countries open their doors and hearts to people fleeing persecution and poverty. He told the Vaticans diplomatic corps in January that Europe had the means to welcome refugees without compromising its security or culture and that the continent bore the moral responsibility to care for others who have fled their homes to seek a better life. Europes deal with Turkey has come under fierce criticism from human rights groups and aid organizations, who accuse European countries of ignoring their commitments to protect vulnerable refugees. Judith Sunderland, acting deputy Europe director at Human Rights Watch, said Monday that trying to close the Aegean migration route by shipping people back to uncertain fates in Turkey would just make them seek potentially more dangerous and expensive ways to reach the EU. This whole deal involves throwing human beings down legal loopholes, she said. Turkey is not a safe country, and rights on paper are not the same as rights in practice. The deal and its accompanied closing of land borders to migrants have also led to more than 52,000 people being stranded in Greece. European officials have billed the deal as the only way to deter people from risking the dangerous if brief sea journey from the Turkish coast to Greek islands. Maria Stavropoulou, director of Greeces Asylum Service, told state TV that some 3,000 people held in deportation camps on the islands are seeking asylum, with the application process to formally start by the end of the week. Asylum applications typically take about three months to process, she said, but would be considerably faster for those held in detention. There will be a difficult few months ahead, Stavropoulou said. We are dealing with people who speak 70 different languages and many have traveled to Greece without papers because they are escaping war. Only 30 of 400 migration officers from other EU countries have arrived in Greece so far, Stavropoulou said, while additional locally hired staff would take several months to train and integrate into the Asylum Service. Colorado Springs Used Car Buyers Guide Launched by Suss Superstore Suss Superstore, a family owned and operated used car dealership, has launched the first ever used car buyers' guide in the Colorado Springs area, dedicated to the local market. The company provides used cars, trucks and SUVs and a range of financing options. -- Family owned and operated Suss Superstore used car dealership has launched what is believed to be the first ever used car buyers' guide in the Colorado Springs area, dedicated to the local market. More details about its premium used car service and range of financing options can be viewed on the website: https://www.susssuperstore.com/used-cars-colorado-springs-buyer-guide. Suss Superstore developed its used car buyers' guide to help those shopping for a second hand car filter through the vast selection of stock available, providing useful tips and information on what to look for, so they can make better informed buying decisions. It also provides a used truck buyers' guide. The used car dealership provides a range of information for people searching for used cars in the Colorado Springs area, such as information on: reliability issues, car repairs and warranties, insurance costs and safety features, working with a fixed budget and how to narrow down the time consuming and daunting task of selecting used car models and brands. In addition to the used car buyers' guide, the Suss Superstore website also provides a host of other information regarding its inventory of cars, trucks and SUVs, with a searchable section for vehicles under $10,000. It also provides information on certified preowned stock and Internet specials. Customers are able to negotiate pricing, trade in values and obtain pre-approval in 30 seconds directly from the website. A wide selection of four wheel drive vehicles is currently being offered on the Internet specials section of the website and the under $10,000 section is offering a selection of regular cab pickups and premium sedans. Family owned and operating in the Colorado area for over 35 years, Suss Superstore is known for not charging dealer handling fees, providing financing options for a wide range of credit profiles with a 'no pressure' no haggle' sales approach. Suss Superstore has experienced staff who have helped customers from the Denver, Castlerock, Monument, Chapel Hills, Peyton, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Woodland Park, Falcon, Black Forest, Larksburg, Palmer Lake, Cimarron Hills, Whitefield and Security localities of Colorado Springs. The business, located in Motor City Drive, Colorado Springs, can be visited from 9am until 8pm from Monday through to Saturday; it is closed on Sundays. For more information about us, please visit https://www.susssuperstore.com/used-cars-colorado-springs-buyer-guide Contact Info: Name: Kevin Fox Organization: Suss Superstore Address: 945 Motor City Dr, Colorado Springs, CO 80905 Phone: 719-466-8300 Release ID: 109635 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Celebrating Local Moving Company's Anniversary Local Moving Company of College Hunks of Dayton celebrates 3rd year anniversary and joined forces with DIA for fundraising. College Hunks Hauling Junk is one of the fastest growing businesses in America and has made 'Entrepreneur" magazine's list of the top franchise in the nation. -- Dayton, Ohio - Local Moving Company celebrates their 3rd year anniversary this coming April 25, 2016. The College Hunks of Dayton is a local moving company franchise of College Hunks Hauling Junks by Tom Powell, CEO and sole proprietor of the franchise in Dayton, Ohio is excited to announce their 3rd year anniversary with the conjunction of fundraising program with Daystar In Action. DaystarInAction.org is locally geared for the underprivileged children and helps in developing their self-esteem and self-worth through various activities. College Hunks of Dayton has joined forces with DIA to raise funds to help these kids through services of the local moving company of College Hunks of Dayton. College Hunks Hauling Junk has been named one the fastest growing businesses in America by "Inc." and has made "Entrepreneur" magazine's list of top franchise opportunities for five years in a row and counting. The company was started in 2003 by Omar Soliman and Nick Friedman, and it began franchising in 2006. Omar and Nick have been named two of the top young entrepreneurs in America by "Inc." magazine. They wrote the best-selling entrepreneurs book and co-authored "Effortless Entrepreneur" to share their planning, lessons, and strategies that have made College Hunks Hauling Junk an overwhelming success. College Hunks Hauling Junk is the fastest-growing junk hauling and moving the franchise in America. College Hunks Hauling Junk also has impressive brand recognition. The franchise has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC's Shark Tank, HGTV's House Hunters. Also featured on AMC's The Pitch, Bravo's, The Huffington Post, Forbes, Inc, The Millionaire Matchmaker, TLC's Hoarding: Buried AliveandFox Business, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the USA Today, Time magazine, and more. Any questions regarding relocating to another home or office or just getting ready for Spring clean up to take the junk away. Call and contact Julie Barrett at www.CollegeHunksDayton.comor call 937-668-3269 For more information about us, please visit http://www.collegehunksdayton.com Contact Info: Name: Manuel Taningco Email: mygt5marketing@gmail.com Organization: GT5 Marketing, LLC Address: 3106 Oakmont Ave. Phone: 9372722480 Release ID: 108451 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Space City Drones Announces New Ownership, Launches New Website, Positions Customer Service as New Main Focus Space City Drones launches new website under new ownership. The Heber City, Utah, business aims to become the world's premier UAV and drone company, and focuses new initiative on customer support for UAVs and accessories. -- Space City Drones announces new ownership as well as a more customer-focused, straightforward new website that makes it even easier to contact team members and learn about every facet of drone operation. The Heber City company seeks to become the world's leading UAV and drone company, and to offer everything an enthusiast needs to operate and enjoy a quality quadcopter. The new website features sections focused on the need of the customer. From fun nano drones, as well as UAS for "beginner" UAVs, "intermediate" UAVs, and "industrial" UAVs. Space City Drones is becoming the fastest growing DJI drone seller and backs every sell with a high level attention to customer services. There are also sections for drone assistance, including manuals, accessories, batteries, and recovery products, such as drone parachutes. It certainly helps to have a parachute attached to your drone in the event of a crash! Space City Drone's new owner - Jason Pedersen, goals is to make the company's staff as accessible as possible. For this reason, the new website features live chat, free contact numbers, and other message options. Live chat is especially useful when dealing with a drone issue, as team members are always ready to walk clients through the process and get their drones where they should be--soaring through the air. Space City Drones hopes to outshine its competition by offering unmatched customer support that allows enthusiasts to relax and know answers to their burning quadcopter questions are merely a message away. Building trust with every customer interaction is a cornerstone of Space City Drone's operation. Team members are committed to helping customers learn more about their drones and graduating from the tiniest nanos to quadcopters crafted by renowned drone brands such as DJI and their Phantom line. The company also offers financing for businesses looking to purchase their UAVs. About Space City Drones Space City Drones is a UAV company based in Heber City, Utah. The company provides an informative and easy-to-use platform for drone enthusiasts so they may find what they're looking for, purchase the drones and accessories they need, and form strong connections with team members. Space City Drones provides live chat support and other services designed to help customers through every step of the drone operation process and ensure they enjoy their UAVs responsibly and safely. For more on drones, drone accessories, and tech support, you can contact Space City Drones today. For more information about us, please visit https://www.spacecitydrones.com/ Contact Info: Name: Jason Pedersen Email: Jason@SpaceCityDrones.com Organization: Space City Drones Address: Heber City, UT 84032 Phone: 951-200-0685 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/space-city-drones-announces-new-ownership-launches-new-website-positions-customer-service-as-new-main-focus/109654 Release ID: 109654 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Fort Lauderdale's RPM Diesel Celebrates Sixty Years in Business From humble 1956 origins, company has grown to become one of industry's leading providers of diesel sales, service, and parts, RPM Diesel reports -- RPM Diesel, South Florida's leader at marine and industrial diesel sales, service, and parts, is celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of the company's founding. Since opening its doors as a three-person shop in 1956, RPM Diesel has grown over six decades to become one of the country's most prominent and best-equipped diesel engine specialists. With over 68,000 parts in stock and on-site fuel injection and turbocharger repair facilities, RPM Diesel today employs over 50 of the industry's most experienced and skilled technicians and other experts. Those interested in the the company's history and what it has to offer can learn more from RPM Diesel at its website at www.rpmdiesel.com. "We strive every day to deliver the absolute best in diesel parts and service to our many valued clients," RPM Diesel representative Todd Barnes said, "An important part of what inspires us in our daily work is the outstanding reputation the company has built up over the years. With our sixtieth anniversary now upon us, we're truly proud of what RPM Diesel has accomplished. We commit to building on that impressive legacy with everything we do going forward, and to making RPM Diesel an even more respected and highly regarded source for everything diesel." Even while engines designed to combust gasoline remain the most common among passenger vehicles, power-plants of a different kind have long been the norm in a variety of environments where heavier duties prevail. From the massive motors that propel many ocean-going boats and ships to slow-turning generators that run for months at a time without fail, diesel-burning engines often offer levels of reliability, torque, and efficiency that those which subsist on gasoline cannot match. Since 1956, RPM Diesel has been one of country's leading providers of top-quality diesel parts, maintenance, and service. After four highly successful years following its founding, the company was incorporated in 1960, with continued growth remaining the norm throughout the decades since. Today, RPM Diesel ranks as one of the most highly regarded and capable diesel specialists in the nation, with a staff of 50 experienced professionals seeing to everything from expert advice regarding parts selection to top-quality maintenance, repairs, and full rebuilds. With a wide range of industrial and marine clients throughout South Florida and beyond consistently relying on RPM Diesel for all their diesel parts and service needs, the company has become an integral part of the regional economy, attaining a status befitting its now six-decade-long tenure. Those interested in learning more about what the company has to offer can vist RPM Diesel online, where an informative website details everything from its long history to its current parts and service offerings. About RPM Diesel: South Florida's leader in diesel sales, service, and parts, RPM Diesel boasts an inventory containing over 68,000 products, on-site turbocharger and fuel injection repair facilities, and a 50-strong staff of dedicated diesel professionals, including over twenty factory-trained master craftsmen. For more information about us, please visit http://www.rpmdiesel.com Contact Info: Name: Todd Barnes Organization: RPM Diesel Address: Fort Lauderdale, FL, 33312 Phone: 800-660-6304 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/fort-lauderdales-rpm-diesel-celebrates-sixty-years-in-business/109682 Release ID: 109682 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Alexander Law Firm Announces Their Recent Expansion To The Boston Area The new location has opened in downtown Boston in the Fort Point area of the city's Seaport District, reports http://alexanderlawfirmllc.com. -- Alexander Law Firm, a premier law practice serving residents and business owners in the St. Louis area, is announcing their recent expansion across the country to Boston, Massachusetts. The new Boston office has recently opened downtown and is located in the Fort Point area of the city, right in the heart of the Seaport District. Those who would like to get more details about the recent move should visit AlexanderLawFirmllc.com/boston/. Alex Curcuru, the experienced attorney heading up the firm, stated "It has been so exciting and such a pleasure getting the opportunity to serve the great people of St. Louis and the surrounding areas for all of these years. Our firm is happy to take that same excitement and passion to the east coast with our recent expansion into the Boston area. Serving people with our knowledge and experience is what we do, and we are grateful for the chance to apply those things in helping the people of Boston find viable solutions to their tax problems and get a handle on the complexities of tax planning." Alex Curcuru and his team have spent the last decade immersed in tax law and the issues that home and business owners face when it comes to their taxes. He has spent many hours preparing and quality reviewing tax returns as well as working as a tax research specialist answering countless questions about tax credits and deductions, residency status, sources of income, and the First-Time Homebuyer Credit. This experience, along with his extensive law background, qualifies Mr. Curcuru to help the people of Boston get through their tax disputes and overcome any tax issues they may be dealing with. As Curcuru goes on to say, "We'll be providing the same caring attitude and aggressive representation for our new Boston clients as we have for many years for our St. Louis clients. We look forward to having the opportunity to help the clients in Boston face tax issues head on and win." About Alexander Law Firm: The Alexander Law Firm handles tax controversy matters involving IRS and Illinois, Missouri and Massachusetts Department of Revenue disputes. With an accounting background and knowledge of tax law combined, Alex Curcuru is uniquely prepared to help clients with their tax planning, tax preparation, or tax problems. His team can help with IRS audits, IRS examinations, IRS offers in compromise, Missouri Department of Revenue tax matters, Illinois Department of Revenue tax matters, Massachusetts Department of Revenue tax matters, delinquent and amended returns, delinquent payroll taxes, liens, levies and garnishments, or collection due process appeals. Their offices are conveniently located in St. Louis and St. Charles and proudly serve the following communities: St. Peters, Hazelwood, Maryland Heights, Creve Coeur, University City, Webster Groves, Clayton, Brentwood, Ballwin, OFallon, and the surrounding areas. For more information about us, please visit http://alexanderlawfirmllc.com Contact Info: Name: Alex Curcuru Organization: Alexander Law Firm Address: St. Louis, MO 63108 Phone: (314) 261-4111 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/alexander-law-firm-announces-their-recent-expansion-to-the-boston-area/109680 Release ID: 109680 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) African Biosciences Ltd Launches First Ever E-commerce Platform For Bioscience Reagents And Supplies In Nigeria African Biosciences Ltd., a subsidiary of US-based African Biosciences Inc. launches first ever e-commerce platform for biosciences reagents and supplies for the bioscience and clinical research market in Nigeria with plans for African-wide expansion. -- African Biosciences Ltd. a subsidiary of US-based African Biosciences Inc. announces the launching of the first ever e-commerce platform in Nigeria to bridge the gap of access to reagents and supplies by the bioscience and clinical research community. African Biosciences Ltd is the first company to use an e-commerce driven model to deliver reagents and supplies to meet the needs of researchers into the biology of animals, humans, microbes and plants and medical testing laboratories in Nigeria. This achievement is part of plans to provide integrated bioscience research services that includes ground-breaking research advisory services, structured technical training, lab-for-rent, contract research and data analysis services, thus addressing some key challenges of the Nigerian bioscience research system. With research advisory services covering project design, data acquisition, data analysis and technical report writing in biosciences, African Biosciences Ltd. is positioned to be a key player in the biosciences research market by being a leading service provider to build technical capacity in bioscience research in Nigeria and soon across Africa. According to Dr. Ikhide Imumorin, Co-founder and President/CEO of the company "This is a turning point in the ability of Nigerian researchers to access reagents and supplies to facilitate their research work, removing significant barriers of entry into the exciting field of biosciences in general and biotechnology and molecular biology in particular". African Biosciences Ltd. entered the biosciences research market as the only biosciences research company in Nigeria providing a unique integrated research design-to-data analysis pipeline to assist customers to achieve their research project goals from concept to data which will help push the frontiers of bioscience research in Africa. Echoing the same sentiments, Mr. Calistus Igwilo who is Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of the company said "We listened to our customers and are committed to providing a robust platform to help folks conduct bioscience research, and this e-commerce platform is the first stage to be soon followed by opening a state-of-the-art bioscience research laboratory to provide lab-for-rent and contract research services to the research community". In addition to the e-commerce platform, the planned state-of-the-art commercial research laboratory will be the first of its kind in Nigeria for modern bioscience research and will provide comprehensive solutions for genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics with platforms for high throughput DNA analysis, gene expression profiling, chemical and biochemical analysis, histological, immunological and cell biology assays for academic and clinical researchers. These applications will benefit research in agriculture, healthcare and environmental management. African Biosciences Ltd. aims to be the premier bioscience research service provider in Nigeria and across the African continent with plans to expand to Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Senegal, Senegal, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda in the near future. About African Biosciences Inc. African Biosciences Inc. is an innovative life sciences company whose mission and goals are to provide through wholly owned subsidiaries easy access to bioscience research regents and supplies through an e-commerce platform, bioscience research advisory services, bioscience technical training, lab-for-rent and contract research services in a state-of-the-art bioscience research laboratories across Africa. It is the first and only vertically integrated biosciences research company providing a unique research design-to-data analysis pipeline to assist customers to achieve their research project goals. For more information, visit us at www.africanbio.com For more information about us, please visit http://www.africanbio.com Contact Info: Name: Dr. Ikhide Imumorin Email: iimumorin@africanbio.com Organization: African Biosciences Inc Address: One Commerce Center, 1201 North Orange Street, Suite 600, Wilmington, DE 19801 Phone: (607) 793 3116 Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmrFJ65ObaM Source: http://marketersmedia.com/african-biosciences-ltd-launches-first-ever-e-commerce-platform-for-bioscience-reagents-and-supplies-in-nigeria/109675 Release ID: 109675 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Maryland Paving Contractors Crew Offers Website Launch Maryland paving contractors are noted for their ability to create long term partnerships with clients and customers. Both commercial and residential paving projects are included in the firm's portfolio. -- Maryland paving contractors team works diligently with home owners, community developers and management firms to create the best pricing for asphalt paving projects, as well as maintenance work. Maryland Paving Contractor firm has been seeing an increasing number of clients in need of repair work because other contractors have offered less-than-satisfactory results on paving jobs. The professionals provide top quality paving work with affordable prices and no need for a do-over. Asphalt paving in Maryland by highly qualified contractors begins with an accurate, free and responsive quotation to customers and clients. Asphalt services are attractive as driveways of all sizes and shapes, as well as asphalt walkways. The company can also create beautiful patios. Home or business owners can assist in getting rid of problems areas in outdoor surfaces. Problems can be caused by excessive wear and tear on the surface, as well as from weather-related conditions. Full maintenance and repair services are available for existing spaces. Taking care of winter-related cracks and damaged pavements is important to prevent further damage to the asphalt-covered areas. The team at Maryland paving contractors will respond quickly to provide an estimate for damages. They can identify areas where the soil beneath the paving is unstable. Ice can build up throughout the winter weather, expanding and contracting. The result is uneven spots in the driveway which could be a liability risk. For commercial customers, a parking lot that looks and feels just right is important. Clients or employees using the lot want the space to be smooth and well-designated to show traffic direction. The paving firm recognizes the result of wear and tear on industrial, municipal and commercial surfaces. In addition to asphalt paving services and asphalt repairs, the company offers seal coating work to protect and prolong parking lots or other areas. The team also stripes the surfaces and does concrete work. For more information about us, please visit http://marylandpavingcontractor.com Contact Info: Name: Compass Contractors Group Organization: Compass Contractors Group Address: 3 Church Circle Annapolis Maryland 21401 Phone: (443)808-0390 Source: http://marketersmedia.com/maryland-paving-contractors-crew-offers-website-launch/109726 Release ID: 109726 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Marilyn Monroe Spas Announces Franchise partnership with Empire Business Brokers Marilyn Monroe Spas, the only spa concept that can leverage the iconic and world renowned Marilyn Monroe brand, has entered into a strategic partnership with Empire Business Brokers, over 70 offices franchise professionals in the United States, Mexico, Spain and Central America. -- Marilyn Monroe Spas and Empire Business Brokers International have announced strategic partnership. Marilyn Monroe Spas ha enlisted Empire Business Broker channel will assist in locating qualified candidates to grow the Marilyn Monroe franchise concept in the United States and Internationally. Full details on the partnership can be viewed here: www.franchisebuyersandsellers.com or www.empirebbfranchises.com Marilyn Monroe Spas is the ONLY spa and beauty franchise opportunity that embraces the glamorous, world renowned and timeless legacy of Marilyn Monroe. Health, Beauty & Wellness is "One of the Fastest Growing Industries" and beauty and health spending is on the rise. Marilyn Monroe, paired with a spa experience unlike any in the industry, creates the perfect foundation for as new kind of beauty experience and unprecedented franchise opportunity. Empire Business Brokers International has a network of over 70 offices and hundreds of business brokerage and franchise professionals in the United States, Mexico, Spain and Central America, focused on providing franchise sales and support. The ideal Marilyn Monroe franchise candidate is interested in owning and operating a single spa or building out 2 to 3 spas in a manage the manager model. The ideal business owner is a highly motivated entrepreneur that is proficient in marketing and networking. Candidates should have a comfort level with an emerging brand and be excited about the opportunity to get in on the ground floor with an international brand offering a game changing concept in a well established, recession resistant and rapidly growing industry. For those interested in fully developing defined MSA's and beyond Area Developer or Master Franchisee options are available. As part of a long-term strategy, the two companies hope to sell franchises around the globe. When asked about the new joint venture, Drew Paras, from Marilyn Monroe Spas said, " We are excited to partner with Empire to expand the Marilyn Monroe Spas brand both domestically and internationally". Gregory Evans, VP Franchise Sales and Development for Empire Business Brokers is also excited about the venture, saying "Empire Business Brokers looks forward to presenting such an iconic brand as Marilyn Monroe to the market and our buyers". For more information about us, please visit http://www.franchisebuyersandsellers.com Contact Info: Name: Gregory Evans Organization: Empire Business Brokers International Address: Mobile, Alabama Phone: +1 770 256 7676 Release ID: 109730 For more information visit r Recent Press Releases By The Same User Agarwood Essential Oil Market Expected to Grow at CAGR 4.2% During 2016 to 2022"> (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Cyber Weapon Market by Type, Product, Application, Region, Outlook and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Landscaping and Gardening Expert Trevor McClintock Launches New Locally Optimized Website (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Sleep apnea devices Market is Evolving At A CAGR of 7.5% by 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Agriculture Technology Market 2017 Global Analysis, Opportunities and Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Global VR Helmet Market by Manufacturers, Technology, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022 (Fri 2nd Jun 17) Ted Cruz and his growing legion of newfound Republican allies hailed a turning point in the battle to stop Donald Trump on Tuesday night. The formers double-digit victory in Wisconsin injected renewed hope that Mr Trump can be denied the partys nomination. Yet under the circumstances Mr Trumps tally was astonishingly robust. Despite having self-inflicted the worst two weeks of his campaign, and provoking the opposition of almost every senior Republican in Wisconsin, Mr Trump still took more than a third of the vote and in a state that he was likely to lose. It is quite possible even probable that Mr Trump will fail to win a majority of delegates before the Republican convention in July. But it remains almost inconceivable Mr Cruz will overtake him. The maths are too daunting. Yet conventional wisdom tends to draw a straight line from whatever happened most recently. In the next two weeks before the far more important New York primary, Mr Cruz will benefit from the earned media that will result from his emphatic victory in Wisconsin. For the time being the momentum is now his. Yet his chances of defeating Mr Trump in New York remain slim. Wisconsins demographics, which skew towards educated conservatives, are similar to that of Iowa, which Mr Cruz won at the start of the primary season two months ago. New Yorks are closer to that of New Hampshire, which Mr Trump won handily the following week. In the next two weeks, Mr Cruz is likely to shift his message to the centre. There will be less talk of God and more talk of empowering women. It is anybodys guess what Mr Trump will say, or tweet. His capacity for self-destruction can never be underestimated. But it takes a leap of faith to believe he will be defeated on his home turf by a Texan conservative who denigrates New York values. Wisconsin does not drastically alter the bigger picture. Republicans are probably heading towards a contested convention in Cleveland in which they will confront a choice between Mr Trump and Mr Cruz. Neither is remotely palatable to the partys Washington power brokers to the extent they have anything left to broker. Yet Mr Cruz is considered the less unpalatable of the two. But he should not delude himself that his newfound allies actually like him Mr Cruz remains the most detested figure in the US Senate. But his new friends believe that the better he performs against Mr Trump, the more likely the convention will produce a deadlock in which someone more electable, such as Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, will emerge as a white knight nominee. That is probably a pipe dream. Between them, Messrs Trump and Cruz will have roughly 80 per cent of the delegates. It would provoke an earthquake, or possibly a riot, to give the nomination to someone else. John Kasich is the only remaining candidate who could defeat Hillary Clinton in November, according to the polls. But the governor of Ohio has won just one of the contests so far his own. The pressure on him to drop out and consolidate the anti-Trump vote behind Mr Cruz will only grow. It is doubtful there is a senior Republican in Washington who would choose Mr Cruz over Mr Kasich he is their kind of conservative. Yet they are governed by their fears of a Trump nomination. Mr Kasichs presence can only benefit Mr Trump. The moral of the story is simple. People celebrate Wisconsin nice and on Tuesday the Midwestern states electorate rejected the decidedly not nice Mr Trump. But what happens in Wisconsin is likely to stay in Wisconsin. Mr Cruz proclaimed it to be a turning point in Wisconsin. In all likelihood it was just another bend in a Republican contest that is meandering steadily towards the Niagara Falls. Today (6 April) marks the first day of the new fiscal year, traditionally a time for the government to begin various new financial initiatives and tax structures. Here is a quick rundown of what tax changes are taking place from today and what your clients need to do: The new tax year will see the personal savings allowance set at 11,000 within the basic rate tax band of 32,000 - meaning the majority of the working population can earn up to 43,000 without entering the higher tax bracket. Similarly, if an individual has savings that are subject to income tax, then the first 1,000 will be tax free; creating a further saving of 200. It is also possible to receive a further 5,000 in dividends without paying additional tax, according to Eric Clapton, managing director of chartered accountancy firm Clapton Consultants. The new allowances need to be absorbed into a clients financial planning from the beginning of the tax year, stated Mr Clapton. With good advice it is quite possible for a couple to pay no tax on non-Isa savings of 400,000 and receive income of almost 100,000 without paying higher rate tax. Stuart Hulme, director of savings at Hampshire Trust Bank, pointed out while HMRC has confirmed it will collect the money by adjusting tax codes, based on interest earned in the previous year, the detail is not yet clear. What is certain is savers who earn interest above their personal savings allowance, which, in terms of basic rate tax payers will typically impact those saving 69,000 or more in the top interest paying easy access savings account, could be in for a period of confusion about their tax liability and will need to check they are not overpaying, or indeed underpaying, he said. We are calling for more information to be made available to savers to help ensure they are managing their affairs correctly and are not faced with any unexpected charges. 2) Isa time Today marks the launch of the Innovative Finance Isa, allowing savers to earn tax-free interest from peer to peer lending. Richard Harwood, director at the Innovative Finance Isa website, said P2P lending has already provided more than 5bn of funding to smaller companies that would have otherwise struggled to borrow money from the high street banks. He said: If investors opt to lend to these businesses through the new Isa, this figure will rise significantly and the impact on British business - in particular SME growth - could be monumental. Those still favouring more classic Isa structures are reminded investing a lump sum into their allowance at the start of the 2016 to 2017 tax year will benefit from a whole year of compound returns, resulting in considerably greater returns than if they were to invest at the end of the tax year, or drip feed throughout. Nutmeg chief executive Nick Hungerford said: Our calculations show if youd invested 10,000 in a medium-risk portfolio for each of the past 10 years - on day one instead of at the last minute - you could have accrued more than 3,478 in additional returns. Henderson has said it is not on the verge of soft closing its UK Absolute Return fund, despite the strategy reaching a level previously specified as its capacity threshold. Manager Luke Newman, who runs the fund alongside Ben Wallace, said in January that the product had a notional capacity of $6.5bn to $6.7bn (4.5bn to 4.7bn). Total assets across the strategy, which encompasses offshore and onshore portfolios as well as the AlphaGen Octanis hedge fund, have now reached the $6.5bn mark, according to FE figures. However, the fund house has said there is capacity in the portfolio, and it is still accepting orders from fund selectors and new investors. Mr Newman said at Hendersons conference in January this year: We like to have the ability to liquidate 80 per cent of net asset value in 10 days. That implies a notional capacity at the moment of $6.5-6.7bn.Funds capacity constraints can shift over time as a result of liquidity conditions or managerial resources. The Henderson fund was originally soft closed in November 2011 when assets reached $2bn. It reopened in June 2013, a move Mr Wallace said was due to an increase in stock dispersion which had allowed the managers to put more capital to work. The product has been a rare winner so far in 2016 in terms of both performance and inflows. The onshore fund took in an estimated 200m in the first two months of the year, according to Morningstar, at a time when UK fund flows were at their lowest levels since 2008. Having outperformed on the upside in recent years, the strategy also held up well during the January sell-off. It returned 5.5 per cent on a one-year view as of March 31.Interest in absolute return funds has led some asset managers to soft-close portfolios to new investors. Both Dalton Strategic Partnership and Kames Capital have taken steps to manage inflows in the first quarter of the year. Managers at Natwest bank refused to help prosecute an employee to avoid reputational damage after two elderly customers were conned out of 180,000, the Old Bailey heard. Tariq Aslam, 36, and Ajit Atwal, 26, targeted wealthy older women, aged 73 and 91, before forging their signatures to gain access to their accounts. Both then transferred around 90,000 to each of their own bank accounts before suspicions were raised. They both walked free with suspended sentences after the judge was told they were not the architects of the fraud. Aslam and Atwal were handed confidential information from a bank insider who told them exactly how much cash was in the accounts. A female employee, whose details were used to access the accounts of both women without any official reason, was arrested as part of the probe into the scam. She was sacked but no charges were ever brought after Natwest, owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, made it clear it would not support the prosecution. A statement read out in court said: I am authorised by Natwest to formally withdraw allegations of theft against [the employee] (I thought that is what the CPS decided). I have made this decision because of the affect it could have on other staff and reputational damage to the organisation. Black cab driver Aslam opened a business account under the name Patel Builders along with a personal account at Natwest in Reading in July 2013. An application apparently signed by the 73-year-old victim on 22 July was sent with instructions to add Aslam to the victims account, which was authorised by a Natwest employee. After several test transactions for small sums, just under 90,000 was transferred into his account on 21 October 2013. He then visited the Slough High Street branch where he transferred 45,000 into Atwals account before taking out 7,000 in cash. The bank froze the accounts and just 7,000 of the money was not recovered. In an almost identical scam, Atwal opened a Natwest business account on 13 July 2013 linked to his personal account. Again, the bank received an application purporting to have been signed by a 91-year-old woman, granting him access to her account. Its clear somebody within the bank has been providing information to the organisers because the details provided on that form are were correct and the signature closely mirrored hers, said the judge, Recorder Michael Wood QC. Atwal transferred just over 90,000 into his account, none of which was recovered by the bank. The judge told the pair: Im probably doing the wrong thing, I hope Im not as he sentenced them both to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years. Neither of you were the organisers. Someone within the bank was providing confidential client information. If either of those two had been before the court they would be going to prison for a very, very long time indeed. Atwal was ordered to pay the full 90,904.43 he defrauded from Natwest in compensation after the court heard he had friends who had provided funds. Vets are calling on farms to demystify a painful teat condition that can lead to stricken cows chewing off their own teats. Ischaemic teat necrosis (ITN) is a costly condition mainly affecting first-calving heifers. A pea-sized scab on one udder can spread across all four quarters within 12-24 hours, making milking parlour vigilance critical in spotting ITN early. While there have been studies into the disease, scientists are yet to find a cause and cure. Culling animals, often in early lactation, is the only option for a growing number of herds. See also: Video: Herdsmans tips on beating ischaemic teat necrosis Worst-known culling levels have been as high as 25% of heifers on a 400-cow, robot-milked dairy for two consecutive years, although affected farms typically report one or two cases a year. Similarities with digital dermatitis bacteria Pungent, fetid odour Moist stippled appearance (resembling other treponemal skin infections) Reports of treponemes isolated from ulcerative mammary dermatitis Results from vet observations Most cases are seen in high-yielding Holstein-Friesians, but cases in 5,000-litre lactation herds, cross-bred and Jersey herds have been reported too. First described in Vet Record by Gloucestershire vet Roger Blowey in 2004, the condition has since been shown to have global implications, with Mr Blowey at the time reporting a considerable increase in cases over the previous year. The ailment is now known to be affecting farms across the length and breadth of the UK and has been linked to the same causal bacteria behind digital dermatitis lesions, according to Al Manning at the Royal Veterinary College. Morbidity rates Morbidity is quite high. However, mortality from the disease appears to be low, but most cases are removed from the herd as, without udders, they are useless as a dairy cow, he said. Geographically, it seems to be much more widespread than we initially thought. We have received emails from around the world, as far away as Uruguay, with a disease which appears to be similar. Along with researchers at Liverpool University, Mr Manning is keen to hear from as many farmers as possible to share accounts of ITN to help secure grants for research. Farmers are urged to send in: Images of affected teats. Figures of cases and culls. Details about novel treatments and coping with the condition. Information about the system bedding, milking intensity, parlour routine. What to look out for It usually starts with a dry, scabby lesion at the base of the teat, most commonly in heifers, Mr Manning said. It progresses down the teat and can spread to the udder tissue. There is no formation of warts or blisters like in some other teat diseases. Ultimately, it is so painful that affected animals have been reported to chew their own teats off. Affected herds usually have only a handful of cases and currently very little is known about the disease. Preliminary findings of a Liverpool University study Most common in first lactation heifers in early lactation. Farms that suffered with ITN had a variety of bedding, teat liners, milking techniques, milking intensity and systems (housed and grazing). 80-95% of cases were in freshly calved heifers, with very few cases in cows. It is resistant to a wide range of treatments, from injectable steroids and antibiotics, to antibiotics sprays, Stockholm tar, teat dip, udder salve, topical iodine, copper sulphate solution, hydrochlorite and fusidic acid. Cure rate facts Cure rates are low. A study found eight of 43 cases were curable, the rest had to be culled. Must be identified within 24 hours. Nsaids, topical salves and vasolidators (increase bloodflow by relaxing smooth-muscle cells) have been shown to lessen the condition if caught early. If you have ITN on your unit, you can send case information, details of herd losses and pictures of affected udders to Al Manning at the RVC (amanning@rvc.ac.uk), which is trying to identify risk factors for the disease and test treatments. At Liverpool University, Simon Clegg (s.r.clegg@liverpool.ac.uk) will soon be leading an AHDB- and government-funded research programme. British vets are calling on prospective Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish lawmakers to revise existing bovine TB controls to include the targeted and humane culling of badgers. Ahead of national elections on 6 May, the British Veterinary Association (BVA) supported by branches in each of the countries has launched three manifestos detailing preferred action for animal health and welfare. Sent to all candidates standing for election in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the manifestos include around 20 policy recommendations each, including suggestions on the eradication of bovine TB. Incoming Welsh and Northern Irish Assembly members are urged to review TB eradication programmes to include the targeted and humane culling of badgers, by means of cage trapping and shooting only, in areas where bovine TB is endemic and the wildlife reservoir is significant in the [spread of the disease]. See also: More than 36,000 TB-infected cattle slaughtered in 2015 Meanwhile it challenges the next Scottish Parliament to maintain a comprehensive approach to tackling bovine TB to ensure that Scotland remains disease free and retains its official tuberculosis free status. In the manifestos, which were also sent to chief veterinary officers and honorary MPs, MEPs and peers, BVA also calls on the new governments to: Protect animal welfare by requiring all animals to be stunned before slaughter and label meat accordingly so consumers can make an informed decision Introduce mandatory CCTV use in all approved slaughterhouses to help meet animal welfare requirements Support vets and farmers in combating endemic livestock diseases through, for example, bovine viral diarrhoea eradication schemes (established in Scotland and Northern Ireland, proposed in Wales) eradication schemes (established in Scotland and Northern Ireland, proposed in Wales) Continue to support the One Health joint approach on human and animal antibiotic use, sale and resistance in the UK Lobby in Europe to protect the vets right to prescribe and dispense veterinary medicines. The UK prides itself on high, continuously improving animal welfare standards and voters care deeply about animal health and welfare issues, so we urge the incoming national governments to include this in their agendas and champion the concept of One Health in recognition of the inextricable links between animals, humans, and our shared living environment, said Sean Wensley, president of the BVA. Through our daily work, and these manifestos, we believe vets are in a unique position from which to offer the next governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales evidence-based and informed advice and policy recommendations. Owners of Land Rover Defenders are being urged to increase security and be vigilant amid reports of a sharp rise in thefts of the iconic vehicle. The last Land Rover Defender rolled off the production line on 29 January, which could explain why thieves have been targeting them, say police. Police forces across the UK have reported seeing increases in thefts of sought after Defenders both in urban and rural areas since the start of 2016. See also: A nostalgic drive in the retiring Land Rover Defender Sergeant Nick Hill, based in Stokesley, of North Yorkshire Police, said organised gangs of criminals had been targeting Land Rover Defenders in the county. He said: It appears an organised group of criminals is specifically targeting this make and model of vehicle. Of greatest concern to us is that it is evident these thieves have knowledge of this particular vehicles factory-fitted security and electrical systems. However rural insurer NFU Mutual said thefts of Defenders had been on the rise over the last 12 months, with parts of vehicles also being removed and stolen. Across the UK, Land Rover Defender theft claims cost the insurer 1.8m in 2015, an increase of 8% since 2014. Latest figures from the insurer reveal that claims costs for theft of Defenders rose by 69% to 760,000 from 2014 to 2015 in the North East. Clive Harris, agricultural vehicle specialist at NFU Mutual, said: I urge Land Rover Defender owners to be vigilant and be on their guard. Owners should ensure they have adequate security measures in place and consider fitting an after-market approved immobiliser and a tracking device if possible. When not in use, Defenders should be parked in a garage or a secure area which is well lit if possible. Never leave keys in the ignition and keep keys out of sight at home and when out in public areas; its essential that easy opportunities are taken away from thieves. Top tips for securing your Land Rover Defender Story Highlights 53% worry "a great deal" about crime, compared with 39% in 2014 44% are concerned about drug use, also up significantly since 2014 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans' level of concern about crime and violence is at its highest point in 15 years. Fifty-three percent of U.S. adults say they personally worry "a great deal" about crime and violence, an increase of 14 percentage points since 2014. This figure is the highest Gallup has measured since March 2001. Twenty-six percent of U.S. adults currently worry "a fair amount" about crime and violence, while 22% worry "only a little" or "not at all." When Gallup first asked Americans about their level of concern regarding crime and violence in March 2001, 62% said they worried a great deal. That figure remains the highest level of worry in Gallup's 15-year trend on this question. In the months leading up to 9/11, Americans consistently mentioned crime and violence as one of the most important problems facing the country in response to a separate Gallup question. But after 9/11, crime and violence no longer appeared among the list of problems Americans identified as most important, with terrorism rising to the top. In turn, the percentage saying they personally worry about crime and violence plunged to 49% by March 2002. Crime worry remained at a lower level over the next decade, as Americans named other issues such as the situation in Iraq, terrorism, the economy, dissatisfaction with government and healthcare as the most important problems facing the country. After falling to a record-low 39% in 2014, worry about crime and violence increased in 2015 and 2016. The rise in Americans' level of concern about crime could reflect actual, albeit modest, increases in crime, as well as increasing media coverage of it. The number of violent crimes reported to police across the country in the first half of 2015 was up by 1.7% compared with the same period in 2014, according to the FBI's 2015 Uniform Crime Report. Many large U.S. cities reported spikes in their homicide rates in 2015, including Milwaukee, St. Louis, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. From a long-term perspective, though, violent crime is down significantly since the 1990s. Gallup's annual Environment survey asks Americans how much they personally worry about a number of specific problems facing the country. In addition to crime and violence, only two other issues have Americans just as concerned: the economy and the availability and affordability of healthcare. Concern about crime and violence slightly exceeds concern about the possibility of terrorist attacks. Worry About Crime Rises Across All Major Subgroups Americans across all major subgroups show heightened worry about crime compared with 2014. Worry has increased the most among those without a college degree and those living in households earning $30,000 to less than $75,000 annually. More broadly, those with no college education are roughly twice as likely as those with a college degree to worry about crime, and those living in households earning less than $30,000 per year are much more likely than those earning at least $75,000 to worry about crime and violence. Nonwhites' concern about crime is much higher than whites' worry about the issue. Americans' Level of Concern About Crime and Violence, by Subgroup % A great deal 2014 % 2016 % Change (pct. pts.) National adults 39 53 14 Men 32 49 17 Women 46 56 10 Whites 32 46 14 Nonwhites 59 68 9 18 to 34 34 52 18 35 to 54 40 48 8 55+ 43 58 15 High school or less 50 70 20 Some college 32 52 20 Graduated college 31 32 1 Less than $30,000 59 66 7 $30,000 to $74,999 37 57 20 $75,000+ 28 36 8 Republicans 38 53 15 Democrats 44 52 8 Independents 36 53 17 Gallup poll Women and older Americans are more worried than their male and younger counterparts about crime and violence. Worry about crime and violence is similar across party groups, though Republicans' and independents' levels of worry have increased more than Democrats' since 2014. Americans' Worry About Drug Use Also Up Sharply Americans' worry about drug use has followed the same basic pattern over the last 15 years as worry about crime and violence. Forty-four percent of U.S. adults say they worry a great deal about drug use, up 10 points from the low found in 2014. This level of concern is on the higher end of what Gallup has found since first asking the question in 2001, but is comfortably below the peak of 58% measured that year. This rise in worry about drug use preceded President Barack Obama's announcement on March 29 about his plan to reduce drug abuse and overdose deaths. The uptick in worry about drug use since 2014 spans most subgroups. In general, concern about drug use is higher among those with less education, those with lower incomes, older Americans, women, nonwhites and Republicans. Drug use worry is comparatively low among college graduates and those in households earning at least $75,000 annually. Americans' Level of Concern About Drug Use, by Subgroup % A great deal 2014 % 2016 % Change (pct. pts.) National adults 34 44 10 Men 30 40 10 Women 38 47 9 Whites 27 41 14 Nonwhites 52 49 -3 18 to 34 22 37 15 35 to 54 35 41 6 55+ 43 51 8 High school or less 46 62 16 Some college 27 41 14 Graduated college 25 22 -3 Less than $30,000 52 55 3 $30,000 to $74,999 34 47 13 $75,000+ 21 28 7 Republicans 37 48 11 Democrats 39 42 3 Independents 28 41 13 Gallup poll Implications Gallup reported in October 2015 that Americans perceived more crime in the U.S. than the year before. However, perceptions of local crime held steady. Together, these findings suggest that even if many Americans are not aware of increased crime where they live, they may be exposed to media coverage of rising crime and violence throughout the U.S. On the drug front, the rise in overdose deaths and media coverage of the nation's opioid abuse and heroin epidemic may be playing into Americans' rising level of worry. The number of drug overdose deaths reached a record high in 2014 and increased 6.5% from 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New Hampshire's heroin epidemic has been a hot topic in the 2016 presidential election, elevating the issue of drug use to the national stage. Obama's initiatives to address the nation's opioid abuse epidemic, with the goal of treating this type of drug addiction as a public health problem rather than a criminal issue, could assuage Americans' worry about drug use. But those initiatives could also draw more attention to the issue, resulting in increased public concern. Historical data are available in Gallup Analytics. Survey Methods Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted March 2-6, 2016, with a random sample of 1,019 adults, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of national adults, the margin of sampling error is 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods. Learn more about how the Gallup Poll Social Series works. Case As a geriatrician it is not uncommon to have patients present in clinic with signs of infection like cellulitis, an infection of the skin. My patient, who I will call Mr. Sa, is a 79 year old man with a history of hypertension, high cholesterol, and COPD who struggled with recurrent cellulitis of his right lower leg. Despite two prior clinic visits and completed courses of antibiotics, the infection would heal but return several months later. Clinical Question In patients with recurrent lower extremity cellulitis, do prophylactic antibiotics, compared to no treatment, reduce the recurrence rate of lower extremity cellulitis? Best Available Evidence A search of the literature found a systemic review and meta-analysis of antibiotic prophylaxis for preventing recurrent cellulitis1. The systemic review used the Cochrane Collaboration tool for assessing the risk of bias and the meta-analysis was used to calculate a weighted treatment effect across trials. Five studies met the inclusion criteria resulting in a total of 535 participants with 260 participants taking antibiotics and 275 participants on placebo or not taking any antibiotics. The average age of participants in the five studies ranged from 45 to 67.5 years. A majority of the participants (397) were from the PATCH 1 and 2 studies located in the United Kingdom with a follow up time of 36 months. Statistical methods calculated included risk ratio, Chi2, and I2 tests. Results Analysis revealed that prophylactic antibiotics were beneficial for preventing recurrent cellulitis (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.26-0.79) with a number needed to treat (NNT) of 5 patients. This means that 5 patients would need to receive the prophylactic antibiotics in order to benefit 1 patient (in preventing recurrent cellulitis). Appraisal It should be noted that two of the studies (PATCH 1 and 2) were found to be high quality whereas three of the studies were of low or unclear quality with respect to randomization, allocation concealment, blinding, incomplete outcome data, and selective reporting. Overall limitations include a small number of studies performed in the United Kingdom, a heterogeneous study population among subjects, optimal duration of treatment was non-specified, and finally specific antibiotic medication choice (erythromycin or penicillin) varied across the studies. The most commonly reported adverse events with prescribing prophylactic antibiotics were nausea, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. These limitations hinder the generalizability of the study results, especially with varying antibiotic resistances profiles dependent on location. The review supports the positive impact of antibiotics for prophylaxis against recurrent cellulitis in the United Kingdom. However, there needs to be more randomized controlled trials set in the United States to determine the applicability, specific antibiotic choice, and optimal duration of treatment. Back to our Patient For Mr. Sa, prophylactic antibiotics were not prescribed for cellulitis prevention given his allergy to Penicillin antibiotics. However, for future patients who struggle with recurrent cellulitis, the low NNT and low risk of side effects makes prescribing prophylactic antibiotic a treatment to consider. Reference: 1. Oh, C.C., Ko, H.C.H, et al. (2014). Antibiotic prophylaxis for preventing recurrent cellulitis: A systemic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Infection, 69, 26-34. By: Megan E. Rau, MD, MPH @meganerau Megan is currently a first year fellow in Geriatrics and Palliative Care at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. This post is part of the #GeriCases series, in which we discuss a clinical case in geriatrics and palliative medicine and the attempt to provide patient-centered care with the use of best available evidence. Ravishankar Ramaswamy, MD @RavRamaswamy Section Editor, #GeriCases What is Android Auto and How Indians Can Use it? Features oi -Vigneshwar Search engine giant Google has announced its Android Auto app initially on June 25, at Google I/O 2014. and got released on March 19th, 2015. Now the latest news is that, the Android Auto is coming to India and 17 other countries. The company announced this on their official Twitter account, saying "Full speed ahead. #AndroidAuto is now available in 18 new countries" with flag emoji's. The list of countries includes, Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Russia, Switzerland, Uruguay and Venezuela. What is Android Auto? Android Auto is basically a smartphone projection standard running on Android OS. This brings the most useful apps from your smartphone to your car screen, optimized for glanceability and readability while driving. Meanwhile, this is desgined to minimize the distraction, so that the driver can stay focussed. With this, user can control GPS mapping/navigation, music playback, SMS, telephony, and web search using a touch screen that is embedded in the dashboard. Morevoer, it uses card-based system like Google Now to gives the information as you are driving. How to use Android Auto? Using Android Auto is pretty simple! All you have to do is to go to Google Play store and download the app on your phone that supports Android Auto. Make sure your smartphone runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher. Now connect your smartphone to the car, where your mobile will go to the car mode and casts the Android Auto on touch screen in the dashboard. Further, the users can interact with them using Voice actions. Inspired from Apple? The alternative or rival to the Android Auto is none other than its long-term rival, Apple. The Cupertino giant Apple has similar technology dubbed as, "CarPlay", which was introduced with iOS 7.1. It also employs the same technique, all the options are controlled on car's dashboard display. Best Mobiles in India Vivo V3 and V3 Max Launch: Whats Good and What Alls bad! Features oi -Ankit Vivo launched the V3 and V3 Max smartphones in India at a press event in Mumbai. The company also announced their new brand ambassador - Ranveer Singh as well as the partnership with IPL Season 9, starting next week. SEE ALSO: 10 Most Anticipated Superhero Movies Of The Next 5 Years The V3 and V3 Max are the latest flagship smartphones for the Indian market and come with mid-range and high-end specifications, respectively. Here are all the pointers as to what all is good and bad about the Vivo V3 and V3 Max launched in India. THE GOOD 4GB RAM at an effective cost Vivo V3 Max, the higher end of both the smartphones, has 4 gigabytes of RAM at a price of Rs. 23,980. This puts it in comparison with other such smartphones like the Xiaomi Mi 5, Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, all of which have 4GB of RAM but are priced much higher. This, relatively, puts the V3 Max in a situation making it one of the most cost-effective smartphones with that amount of RAM. Phase Detection Auto Focus A new technology in mobile camera optics, Phase Detection Auto Focus or PDAF is quite rare in smartphones of this price range. Both the V3 as well as V3 Max equip this tech in their rear cameras. It is currently proving to offer the fastest focusing times in real-life scenarios. Samsung kicked it off with the PDAF tech in the Galaxy S5, then Apple introduced something similar under the marketing name Focus Pixels with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Sony has the system in its newest IMX230 sensor as well, calling it hybrid autofocus. 360-degree fingerprint sensor Most smartphones now come with fingerprint sensors on them, providing extra security for your precious data. The Vivo V3 and V3 Max also follow suit but there is a feature that stands out. The fingerprint sensor on both these smartphones is placed on the rear provides 360-degree feedback. This means that whatever way you use your finger to register a fingerprint, it will read it, irrespective of the angle of your finger. As complicated as it may sound, this feature is quite a nifty way to reduce phone unlocking time. A kickass audio engine/system Launched by Vivo in 2014, the AK4375 Hi-Fi audio chip is something that has always been appreciated on their smartphones since the X5Max was launched. This is a special audio chip that enhances sound quality by focusing on all highs and lows in the type of music you play with it. Ranveer Singh - The youth icon Putting aside the features of the smartphones that were launched, another highlight of the Vivo launch was the roping in of Ranveer Singh as the company's brand ambassador. After successive Bollywood hits, Ranveer is one actor who is quite popular with the Indian youth. This will enable Vivo to catch the eye of the population of Indian markets, one of the youngest in the world. THE BAD Snapdragon 652 over Snapdragon 820 The Vivo V3 Max is powered by Qualcomm's latest mid-range chipset, Snapdragon 652. The price tag of around Rs. 24,000 puts it in competition with the recently launched Xiaomi Mi 5, which is running the high-end Snapdragon 820. Yes, the Snapdragon 652 is just a tad bit low in performance compared to the 820 but equipping the flagship chipset in a flagship device gives a better overall appeal. The V3 is overpriced With specifications like Qualcomm Snapdragon 616, 3GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, as well as a cut-throat competitive Indian smartphone market, one would expect the Vivo V3 to be priced around the sub-10k price point. Priced quite steeply at Rs. 17,980, the Vivo V3 is definitely overpriced and makes the V3 Max a much better upgrade at a difference of around Rs. 6,000. SEE ALSO: Vivo ropes in Ranveer Singh to launch Vivo V3, V3 Max Smartphones in India: 7 Special Features Android 5.1 Both these smartphones are running on FunTouch 2.5, based on top of Android 5.1.1. The latest OS from Android 6.0 Marshmallow - that released more than 6 months back. This has been the case with almost all of the OEMs and as a result only 2% Android smartphones are running Marshmallow. Best Mobiles in India 'Feels Like Home Season 2' offers something real and tangible to think about; takes home a pertinent point - if your intentions are good, there is nothing in life that isn't achievable. B-52 conducts long-range training with Colombian forces By U.S. Strategic Command, / Published April 05, 2016 OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. (AFNS) -- A B-52 Stratofortress from Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, conducted a long-range training sortie to engage with South American military partners April 1-2. During the course of the 27-hour, nonstop mission, the aircrew trained with the Colombian air force before executing a flyover of the International Fair of Air and Space in Santiago, Chile. "This bomber mission is just one of many demonstrations of our ability to maintain a credible strategic defense force," said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, the U.S. Strategic Command commander. "Within the last year, U.S. Strategic Command bomber forces have conducted missions with Canadian, Colombian, Australian and Jordanian forces in national and international airspace. In addition to the outstanding training value realized by the U.S. and our partners, these missions demonstrate the credibility of our forces to address a global strategic and security environment that is more diverse and uncertain than at any time in our history." STRATCOM routinely displays its capability to command, control and conduct global bomber missions, most recently by deploying B-52s into the U.S. European Command and B-2 Spirits into the U.S. Pacific Command areas of responsibility last month. One of nine Defense Department unified combatant commands, STRATCOM has global strategic missions, assigned through the Unified Command Plan, which include strategic deterrence; space operations; cyberspace operations; joint electronic warfare; global strike; missile defense; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; combating weapons of mass destruction; and analysis and targeting. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address F-16 crews soar in South Korean exercise By 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, / Published April 05, 2016 JUNGWON AIR BASE, South Korea (AFNS) -- F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots from the 80th Fighter Squadron practiced combined flying operations March 28-31 alongside counterparts from the South Korean air force's 19th Fighter Wing at Jungwon Air Base during Buddy Wing 16-3. Buddy Wing training, conducted multiple times a year, polishes the ability of South Korean and U.S. pilots to train and operate as a combined force. "These exercises certainly help you understand what the Koreans are bringing to the fight," said Maj. Nicholas Longo, the assistant director of operations for 80th FS, based at Kunsan AB, South Korea. "We also look at the similarities and differences of tactics, strategies and technical subjects." Buddy Wing helps examine the similarities and bridge the gaps in understanding the differences between how things are done on both ends of the table. "Even though our pilots have a lot of flying skills, I think it's important to highlight that our key to success is that we're continuing to maintain, develop and share every aspect of how we plan to defend (South Korea)," said Lt. Col. Bokman Jung, the commander of the 162nd FS at Jungwon AB. "It helps us consolidate our plans so we're both going in the same direction in the end." This iteration of Buddy Wing training included two air combat maneuvering exercises, eight air interdiction exercises, 11 strike coordination and reconnaissance exercises and 14 defensive counter-air exercises. "We always talk about fitting our host nation partners into our game plan, but they're also fitting us into their game plan," Longo said. "Because for us to be able to fight alongside them, we have to understand how we fit into the big picture with them." The 80th FS pilots were also able to communicate differences in verbiage and build on coordination techniques they use with their South Korean counterparts and ground forces. "Even with a slight language barrier, our pilots are ready to fight tonight," Jung said. "On the (South Korean) side, the pilots are still developing their English speaking skills. I cannot guarantee that there is no barrier between (South Korean and U.S. forces), but we are narrowing down those gaps. It's narrow enough to be able to perform combined missions." Getting to know South Korean pilots on a personal level was also instrumental to enhancing communication and the understanding of each other's culture. "Almost everything we worked on stemmed from the focal point of communication," Longo said. "If there was a breakdown there, then we had a hard time moving forward. However, as the week progressed, we've started to see the communication gap narrow as we get on the same page." Not only did the Buddy Wing training strengthen relationships, but it also enabled U.S. and South Korean pilots to further solidify their skills in air combat. "We really appreciate the patience, friendship and devotion to the mission that the U.S. pilots bring to the table," Jung said. "We are the edge of the sword, so we have to always prepare to fight with the enemy. Through our combined Buddy Wing training, we have opportunities to sharpen that sword." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ramstein mobility wing credited for smooth departure from Turkey By Staff Sgt. Armando A. Schwier-Morales, 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs / Published April 05, 2016 RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Even before the flow of families arrived at Ramstein Air Base after they were ordered to depart from Turkey on March 29, Airmen from the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing were getting ready to make their transition as fluid as possible. The 521st Aerial Port Squadron at Ramstein AB and the 728th Air Mobility Squadron at Incirlik AB, Turkey, both part of the 521st AMOW, kept in constant contact to help the departing passengers. The 721st Aircraft Maintenance Squadron maintenance and support Airmen diagnosed and repaired two C-17 Globemaster IIIs continually making flights between Ramstein AB and Incirlik AB. The 721st APS logistics crews kept the bags and cargo moving and Airmen of the 313th Expeditionary Operations Support Squadron Air Mobility Control Center provided updated timing, coordination and notifications. "I am proud of the flexibility and tenacity demonstrated by the Airmen of the 521st AMOW," said Col. Charles Henderson, the 521st AMOW vice commander. "Their dedication to customer service and team spirit made the ordered departure go as smoothly as possible and contributed greatly to its success. This event only proves that America, our Airmen and their families can depend on us." The 521st AMOW had their Airmen at the right time and place that allowed them to react quickly and prevent many dependents from being stranded on Ramstein AB. Air Mobility Command's premier mobility wing in Europe worked long hours shifting pets, luggage and coordinating with base agencies to ensure the dependents had a one-stop shop to transition to and from Ramstein AB. "It has been impressive to watch so many of our base organizations come together and be prepared to help our Air Force family members as soon as they get here," said Master Sgt. Chad Oswald, the 721st APS passenger operations NCO in charge. "I think we are really ready for anything. Some of the agencies that are set up to help the incoming travelers include pre-coordinated hotel reservations and customs procedures, American Red Cross services, travel specialist to assist with onward travel reservations and many others." Airmen from Ramstein AB gathered to support and one of them was a first sergeant from the 435th Construction and Training Squadron who gave his time to answer questions, escort, offer advice and support the families in any way possible. According to Master Sgt. Steven Williams, the 435th CTS first sergeant, the effort the 521st AMOW provided was appreciated. "As their first sergeant I am constantly in contact with the families," Williams said. "I have received great reviews from the families on the support they have received. I want to thank Ramstein Airmen, key spouses and all the agencies for their outpouring support." The State Department and secretary of defense approved the ordered departure of dependents from bases across Turkey to allow their safe return due to ongoing security concerns in the region. U.S. European Command officials announced March 29 that the move does not signify a permanent decision to end accompanied tours in Turkey. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Coalition Airstrike Destroys ISIL Headquarters Compound in Mosul By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, April 5, 2016 A U.S.-led coalition airstrike took out an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant headquarters compound in Mosul, Iraq, yesterday morning, a Pentagon spokesman said today. Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters that ISIL operatives took over the former Turkish consulate in Mosul in June 2014, claiming it as one of its headquarters. "ISIL repurposed the compound and used it as a headquarters for senior ISIL leaders, in addition to a beddown location and weapons storage facility," he said. "That compound has now been destroyed by coalition aircraft." The coalition airstrike was carried out "in full cooperation" with the Turkish and Iraqi governments, Davis said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gorenc Discusses European Reassurance Initiative, Air Police Mission By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, April 5, 2016 The commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Forces Africa said today that the increase in European Reassurance Initiative funds next year will allow his command to improve its presence and facilities on the eastern side of NATO and to deter Russia. Air Force Gen. Frank Gorenc also told the Defense Writers Group here that his command is working on transferring the air policing mission over the Baltic Republics into an air defense mission. The European Reassurance Initiative is set at $3.4 billion in the fiscal year 2017 defense budget request -- four times greater than in 2016. The budget line is in response to some really aggressive Russian actions in Ukraine. The ERI increase will allow Gorenc to build on what is already a "pretty robust" training program in Europe. He is planning more "heel-to-toe" training -- meaning that training is continuous. It will also allow for more bilateral and multilateral exercises. Building Capacity "We already had a pretty robust training regime in Europe with our partners and allies, but this will allow us to do another aspect that I am keen on and that is continuing to develop the airfields, particularly on the Eastern side of NATO -- the Baltic Republics, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria," he said. "This will allow for an easier place to go, to accomplish high-volume, high-velocity operations." Airfields are more than just runways, he said. Airfields need infrastructure -- weapons storage, fueling capabilities, maintenance facilities. "It needs to be an environment that can generate sorties and combat power from the air as part of the joint campaign," Gorenc said. The reassurance money will allow him to do just that. The NATO air component is looking at the Baltic air-policing mission. "Air policing is a peacetime mission designed to provide a capability assure the sovereignty of NATO airspace," Gorenc said. "But air policing is just one part of what I consider comprehensive air defense." Air defense is the integration of aircraft, surface-to-air systems and air-space control measures, he said. "We've been talking about this inside the NATO context, and we've been working on the air police to air defense initiative and so it's a journey," he said. Air policing has been going on over the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania since they joined the North Atlantic Alliance 2004. The three nations didn't have the resources to conduct the air-policing mission alone, so NATO nations joined to ensure the mission could be accomplished. Other NATO nations -- Luxemburg, Albania and Slovenia -- have similar air policing arrangements. In 2015, NATO bulked up the air-policing mission after a steady increase in Russian military air activity. There are currently eight NATO aircraft performing the mission. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, said last week in Vilnius, Lithuania, that NATO should build up its air police to an air defense force that could be effective in war. "The air defense journey is important because it gets us in the mindset to be able to quickly transition to a more robust defense of the air in case it is necessary," Gorenc said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Azerbaijan Destroys Armenian Frontline Command Post People's Daily Online (CRI Online) 08:40, April 05, 2016 The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said on Monday that the country's armed forces have destroyed an Armenian command and staff point in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. "A command and staff point of the Armenian armed forces stationed in the occupied Azerbaijani territories was destroyed by return fire inflicted by the Azerbaijani troops," the ministry said in a statement, adding that a large number of Armenian troops, including officers of the rank of colonel and general, were killed. The ministry said it will later provide a video footage of the operation. Earlier, the ministry said that the tense situation on the front line remained. Ministry Spokesman Vagif Dargakhly told local media that the two sides were using heavy equipment and artillery. The Armenian armed forces resumed shelling of Azerbaijani positions along the line of contact on Monday. Hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan on the contact line of the Nagorno-Karabakh region reportedly flared up overnight Saturday with the two countries' defense ministries blaming each other for triggering the escalation. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said 12 Azerbaijani soldiers have been killed in the fighting while the Armenian side said that 18 soldiers died on its part. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been locked in a bitter dispute over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Their conflict over the region first broke out in 1988, when the region claimed independence from Azerbaijan to join Armenia. Peace talks have been held since 1994 when a ceasefire was reached, but minor clashes occasionally occurred in the past along the contact lines and across the volatile frontline. The clashes escalated last month. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Karabakh peace appears 'to have taken hold' Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 7:55PM As a ceasefire is announced between Azerbaijan and the Armenia-backed Nagorno-Karabakh, efforts are underway for sustainable peace in the volatile region. The United States welcomed the ceasefire, saying truce "does seem to have taken hold" there. On Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner told a news briefing in Washington, DC, that both sides have been urged to uphold the ceasefire. "The United States does welcome both sides' confirmation of a ceasefire," Toner said. "It's a very nascent ceasefire but we are encouraged that it does seem to have taken hold. And we're actively engaging with both sides to urge them to strictly adhere to the ceasefire." Iran and Russia have also called for peace in the region as the warring sides announced an end to hostilities after four days of clashes. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke with his Armenian counterpart, Edward Nalbandian, on the phone. Zarif also met with his Azeri counterpart, Elmar Mammadyarov, in the northern Iranian city of Ramsar while another meeting was set to be held in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, with the two as well as Russian Foreign Minister Srgey Lavrov in attendance. "You know that a trilateral meeting in the Russia-Iran-Azerbaijan format has been planned in Baku. Surely, it assumes special relevance in the wake of the latest events. The issue of Nagorno-Karabakh will be the central one," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. Like Toner, Zakharova sounded optimistic about the ceasefire, saying the two sides "have gotten on the track toward a settlement." Russian President Vladimir Putin also spoke with Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders, urging them to "urgently ensure a complete cessation of military hostilities and respect for the ceasefire," the Kremlin said in a statement. Since Friday, at least 73 people have been killed in the most violent clashes the disputed region has seen in decades. Meanwhile, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which has previously mediated Karabakh peace talks, urged an "immediate negotiation" between the two sides. The OSCE, which consists of the US, some European countries as well as Turkey, said in a statement that there is "no military solution to the conflict." After the recent escalation, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara would support Azerbaijan "to the end" and "we pray our Azerbaijani brothers will prevail in these clashes." The ethnic clashes that began in the late 1980s and left tens of thousands dead by May 1994 have ever since been continuing in the landlocked South Caucasus region, claimed by Azerbaijan and governed by the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. Mostly populated by Armenians, Karabakh has been under the control of local ethnic militia since the ceasefire. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Azerbaijan confirms Nagorno-Karabakh ceasefire Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 12:9PM Azerbaijan confirms reaching a ceasefire agreement with Armenia-backed rebels over the volatile Caucasus region of Nagorno-Karabakh following a new spate of violence between Yerevan and Baku over the disputed territory. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry on Tuesday confirmed a ceasefire agreement that had been announced by the separatist authorities in Karabakh. "Military actions were halted as of 12:00pm local time (0800 GMT) on Tuesday," Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said in a statement. A Karabakh Defense Ministry spokesman had said earlier in the day that Armenian and Azeri authorities of the region have reached an agreement to end four days of fierce fighting. "An agreement to cease fire has been reached with Azerbaijan," the official stated, adding, "An order was given to stop shooting." However, Azerbaijan's Foreign Ministry had denied knowledge about the truce. At least 46 people have been killed since April 1, when fighting broke out between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Karabakh. On April 3, Baku announced a "unilateral" ceasefire as a gesture of goodwill, warning, however, that it would strike back if its forces came under attack. Bouts of fighting were reported soon afterward. Mediators from Russia, the United States and France are expected to meet in the Austrian capital, Vienna, later on Tuesday over the flare-up. Iran has also said it is ready to help restore calm to the volatile region. The landlocked Karabakh region, which is located in the Azerbaijan Republic but is populated by Armenians, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian militia and the Armenian troops since a three-year war, which claimed over 30,000 lives, ended between the two republics in 1994 through mediation by Russia. Last December, the Armenian Defense Ministry said the ceasefire deal was no longer in place, saying the current situation amounted to "war." Although the two countries are divided by a buffer zone, both sides frequently accused one another of violating the ceasefire. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Defense Secretary Wants More Power for Chairman of Joint Chiefs Sputnik News 23:07 05.04.2016 US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said that the government and Congress need to reform the US military command system to give more power to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and their staff to move forces quickly around the world on daily basis. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) The US government and Congress need to reform the US military command system to give more power to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs and their staff to move forces quickly around the world on daily basis, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Tuesday. "We need to clarify the role and authority of the chairman and, in some cases, the Joint Chiefs and the Joint Staff to help synchronize resources globally for daily operations around the world," Carter stated in a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The new powers for the Joint Chiefs were needed to enhance the Department of Defense's flexibility in moving its forces rapidly between combatant commands around the world, Carter noted. "The chairman of the Joint Chiefs today advises the secretary of defense on where to move forces, what forces to move He has to be the integrator and that is not explicitly written in Goldwater-Nicholls [Act]," Carter explained. The 1986 Goldwater-Nicholls Act set up the current, relatively centralized US command structure so that the military branches could cooperate more effectively within unified regional commands covering different theaters of operations. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs also should have the formal responsibility to advise the secretary of defense on military strategy and operational plans, looking across the different armed services and combatant commands to make objective recommendations to Defense Department civilian leaders, Carder added. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Azerbaijan Defense Ministry Reveals Losses in Karabakh Escalation Sputnik News 22:01 05.04.2016(updated 22:42 05.04.2016) The Azeri defense Ministry said that the Azeri armed forces have lost 31 servicemen and just one tank in recent outbreak of hostilities along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact. BAKU (Sputnik) The Azeri armed forces have lost 31 servicemen and just one tank in recent outbreak of hostilities along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact, the Azeri defense Ministry said on Tuesday. "The Azeri side has lost a total of 31 servicemen during the armed clashes," ministry's spokesman Vagif Dyargahly said. "The claims by the Armenian side that they have destroyed 24 Azeri tanks are disinformation. The armed forces of Azerbaijan have lost just one tank," Dyargahly said. The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a breakaway region of Azerbaijan with a predominantly Armenian population, escalated on Friday night. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities. Following three days of heavy fighting, the conflicting sides agreed a ceasefire in the disputed region that came into force at noon on Tuesday. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nagorno-Karabakh Ceasefire Came Into Force at Noon - Karabakh Spokesman Sputnik News 15:46 05.04.2016(updated 15:48 05.04.2016) Armenians and Azerbaijanis both ceased fire Tuesday at noon on the frontline in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, a spokesman for the government of the self-declared republic said. YEREVAN (Sputnik) A bilateral agreement on a ceasefire is being prepared at the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh in Vienna. "Since 12PM, the fire on the frontline of Karabakh and Azerbaijan has been stopped from the both sides," Artak Beglaryan tweeted. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry also said they ceased hostilities at noon local time. Armenia's Defense Ministry spokesman told RIA Novosti earlier the warring parties were working on a truce. Earlier, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic's army recieved an order from the political leadership to cease fire. Hostilities in the mountainous Caucasus region have allegedly killed dozens of Armenians and Azeris since the frozen conflict flared up again on April 2. Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but is controlled by ethnic Armenians. It was at the heart of an Azeri-Armenian war in the early 1990s that ended in a Russia-mediated ceasefire in 1994. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Armenia Confirms Ceasefire Preparations for Nagorno-Karabakh Sputnik News 14:15 05.04.2016(updated 17:48 05.04.2016) Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a bilateral ceasefire along the contact line in Nagorno-Karabakh, which came into force at noon local time on April 5. The Armenian Defense Ministry has confirmed that a ceasefire agreement in Nagorno-Karabakh is currently being prepared, the ministry's press secretary said Tuesday. "A document on a ceasefire is currently being prepared. I'm not authorized to give details of the document," Artsrun Hovhannisyan said. A bilateral agreement on a ceasefire is being prepared at the meeting of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh in Vienna. The OSCE Minsk Group, co-chaired by the United States, Russia and Farnce, has been mediating the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis settlement since 1992. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry also confirmed the ceasefire, stating that all hostilities in Nagorno Karabakh ceased at 12:00 local time. "We made the decision to cease fire along the Karabakh contact line on April 5 at 12:00 [08:00 GMT]," the ministry spokesman Vagif Dargali told RIA Novosti. Earlier, the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh republic's army said to have recieved an order from the political leadership to cease fire. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) demands recognition and an agreement that would guarantee that hostilities in the area do not resume, head of the NKR representation in Moscow Albert Andryan announced. "Karabakh has a single stance recognition of the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and a clearly formulated agreement on non-resumption of hostilities," Andryan told Govorit Moskva radio. He also stated that Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR) will never agree to wide autonomy while remaining part of Azerbaijan. "Such a decision is impossible. After what happened, such a decision cannot be made, not in 50 and not in 100 years. Generations have changed in Azerbaijan, in Armenia, in Karabakh, new people are being born a lot of people who did not see this war and don't know about it. But there is massive propaganda and agitation, the president of Azerbaijan states every day that he will take Karabakh by force," Andryan said. Armenia and Azerbaijan declared a dramatic escalation of the situation in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on April 2. Baku and Yerevan traded blame for breaching the truce in the conflict and reported heavy fighting in the area. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry reported shelling and numerous ceasefire violations by the Armenian armed forces. In turn, Armenia reported offensive actions from the Azerbaijani side. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before proclaiming independence after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The conflict escalated further in September 2015, with the sides blaming one another for violating the truce. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Azeri Military Claims to Have Destroyed Armenian Army Base HQ in Karabakh Sputnik News 09:52 05.04.2016(updated 10:04 05.04.2016) Azerbaijani Armed Forces have destroyed an Armenian military base headquarters in the Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Azerbaijani Defense Ministry press spokesman Vagif Dargahli said Tuesday. BAKU (Sputnik) The fighting in the area erupted on April 2, with Azerbaijan and Armenia trading blame for violating the ceasefire in place since 1994. "The Azerbaijani Army has carried out precision strikes against a military base headquarters located in the village of Madagizand destroyed it. On the evening of April 4, three Armenian tanks and their crew were destroyed," Dargahli told RIA Novosti. The Azerbaijani Defense Ministry spokesman also said that that the country's armed forces have destroyed approximately 20 pieces of Armenian military hardware and killed at least 70 Armenian soldiers in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict in the past 24 hours while having lost 16 Azerbaijani soldiers in the past 48 hours. "Over the last two days, the Azerbaijani Army has lost 16 people. The Azerbaijani Armed Forces have killed up to 70 Armenian soldiers and destroyed up to 20 pieces of Armenian military hardware from the evening of April 4 to the morning of April 5," Dargahli told RIA Novosti. Earlier in the day, the Defense Ministry spokesman said that Baku reiterated its threats to attack Hankendi (Stepanakert), the capital of the self-proclaimed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, should the Armenian army continue to carry out artillery strikes against settlements on the territory of Azerbaijan. The conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh began in 1988, when the Armenian-dominated autonomous region sought to secede from the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, before the latter proclaimed independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US: Ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh 'Seems to Have Taken Hold' by Ken Schwartz April 05, 2016 The United States says the ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh "seems to have taken hold" and encourages both sides to strict adherence. Fours days of renewed fighting over the disputed region between Armenia and Azerbaijan killed at least 60 people. It was some of the worst violence since the war ended in 1994. A State Department spokesman said Tuesday the U.S. urges any government that has influence over the two sides to dissuade them from further violence. The current chairman of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said OSCE's "immediate efforts must now focus on stabilizing the ceasefire and preventing any new escalation." Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan, but has been under control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military since the 1994 truce. But what looks like a territorial dispute between neighbors could potentially turn into something much more serious. Russia is obligated by a security treaty to come to Armenia's aid if the country is attacked while Turkey is one of Azerbaijan's post powerful allies and promises to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with Azerbaijan. After a meeting in Vienna, OSCE said the group's co-chairs stressed the importance of returning to "the political process on the basis of a sustainable ceasefire." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address International Force Frees 2,000 Boko Haram Captives by Moki Edwin Kindzeka April 05, 2016 Cameroon says a regional force arrested more than 300 Boko Haram fighters and freed at least 2,000 people in the first five days of an operation to flush the terrorists from their remaining hideouts along the borders of Cameroon, Chad and Niger. A thousand soldiers from the regional force, composed of fighters from Nigeria, Chad, Niger and Cameroon, returned from the Walasah area in Nigeria to their base at Mora, Cameroon. Cameroon General Bouba Dobekreo, one of the commanders, said Tuesday that 17 villages had been freed. He said soldiers destroyed a Boko Haram logistics base and training center, plus vehicles, and had seized huge stocks of weapons and other materiel. He said they were ready to go farther into the hinterlands and do away with Boko Haram. Dobekreo said people freed from Boko Haram strongholds had been handed over to the Nigerian army or had left the area with the soldiers' protection. Among the returning soldiers was Eyong Levis, who said he and five other soldiers had been wounded by a land mine. "Where I am now, I am getting better and I am determined that when I will be strong, I have to go there because those men are not armies," Levis said. "They are just rebels, and I am determined to finish with them. I hope that by the end of this year, Boko Haram will be history." Beya Jude, a 47-year-old father of four, said he had crossed into Cameroon because so many people in his village died during the raids. "On Saturday in the morning, they called us," he said. "We gathered our children, our wives and others. I brought my family all here." Hundreds of Nigerian refugees were sent to the Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon. Raids organized by the joint force since December have increased the number of internally displaced persons and refugees in Cameroon from 150,000 to more than 200,000. More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have also been deployed to attend to the refugees and internally displaced. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Rights Groups Dismayed at ICC Ruto Ruling by Lisa Bryant April 05, 2016 Rights groups reacted with dismay Tuesday at the International Criminal Court's decision to end its trial against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, saying it left victims without justice and showed the limits of pursuing cases against powerful individuals. But analysts also suggested the Hague-based court had learned some important lessons that might help it move forward in fulfilling its mandate. Human Rights Watch Senior International Justice Counsel Elizabeth Evenson called the ruling a "hugely disappointing decision." But she added, "the court has shown ... it's not complacent in the face of the setbacks and challenges over the past few years, and it wants to do things differently and better." In a written statement released late Tuesday, the court said the prosecution had failed to deliver sufficient evidence to convict either Ruto or Kenyan broadcaster Joshua Sang. Both were charged with crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in violence following Kenya's 2007 elections that killed more than 1,000 people and forced hundreds of thousands of others to flee. Future trial possible But the majority ruling, delivered by two of the three-judge panel, did not close the door completely to a future trial, and said the current decision may be subject to appeal, the statement read. Meanwhile the third, dissenting judge found there was enough evidence to pursue a case and potentially convict the defendants. In 2014, the Hague-based court also dropped crimes-against-humanity charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was also implicated in the same post-election violence. Altogether, the court pursued charges against six people, all of which have now been dropped. In both the Ruto and Kenyatta cases, witnesses either refused to testify or changed their stories. In both cases, the prosecution suggested witnesses had been bribed or intimidated, and accused the Kenyan government for failing to fully cooperate. In its ruling Tuesday, the court did not dismiss the possibility of witness interference and political meddling "that was reasonably likely to intimidate the witnesses." Reacting to the news, Kenyatta said the court's decision "brings to a close what has been a nightmare for my country." He also released a statement criticizing the ICC for blindly pursuing an "ill-conceived, defective agenda." Lessons for court Anthony Dworkin, a specialist on human rights and international justice at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the ruling underscored the court's difficulty in bringing powerful figures to justice and in securing the cooperation of participating states. "All of this points to the complicated position of having an institution like the ICC which is supposed to be an independent judicial body, that doesn't pay attention to the messy business of power politics," Dworkin said. "And yet it's sitting in the middle of an international political system which is very dependent on power politics." While the ICC must continue to pursue powerful individuals implicated in crimes, "it has to make pretty sure it has extremely solid cases before it starts moving to trial," he added. For her part, Evenson of Human Rights Watch believes the court needs to draw some key lessons: "stronger investigations, stronger witness protection programs, and also stronger and more consistent support from the international community." Nonetheless, she points to last month's conviction by another international tribunal of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on similar war crimes charges. "It shows that it is possible to hold politically powerful individuals to account," Evenson said. "It may be a long and difficult road, but it is possible." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gun Battles Kill 17 in Congo Capital by VOA News April 05, 2016 At least 17 people have been killed in a gun battle between former militiamen and security forces in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo. A government spokesman said three police officers, two civilians and 12 attackers were killed Monday. The shooting came weeks after President Denis Sassou Nguesso won a disputed re-election bid for his third term. Police say former members of an anti-Nguesso militia called "The Ninjas" raided local police, military and government offices and set them on fire. Witnesses said gunfire erupted before dawn in the capital's southern neighborhoods, a stronghold for the opposition party, and continued into early afternoon, when troops flooded the city streets. Tuesday there was relative calm in Brazzaville, but most schools and stores remain closed. It was the first violence seen since the contested March 20 election. A government spokesman said there is no proof the Ninja militia was behind the attack, but investigations are underway. The Ninjas were one of the major anti-government forces that fought Nguesso in a 1997-99 civil war. Residents who witnessed the shooting said they saw armed men in civilian attire, but could not say if they were Ninja militia. Nguesso, 72, has ruled Congo for more than three decades. He won re-election in March after he got voter approval to remove age and term limits that would have blocked him from participating. Official results show Nguesso won about 60 percent of the vote. Members of the opposition party claim the election was nothing more than a "massive fraud." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South African President Zuma Survives Impeachment Vote by Thuso Khumalo April 05, 2016 South African President Jacob Zuma survived an impeachment vote Tuesday, with about 60 percent of lawmakers voting to keep him in office. Opposition parties presented the impeachment motion after a court ruled Zuma had ignored an order to pay back state funds spent on his private home. Tempers ran hot as parliament members debated the motion Tuesday. An hour into the parliamentary session, lawmakers were yet to discuss the motion to impeach Zuma. Lawmakers were instead trading arguments and insults over the opposition's demand that the National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete recuse herself. The debate comes less than a week after the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma to pay back part of the $16 million in public funds used for upgrades to his private home last year. The court said the president violated the constitution by disregarding the Public Protector's recommendation for him to pay for non-security-related features built using these funds. The court also found fault with parliament. A parliamentary committee had said Zuma did not need to repay the money. The Constitutional Court said lawmakers failed to hold the executive to account. In a nationally televised speech Friday, Zuma apologized. Opposition parties want Zuma removed from office but do not have the two-thirds majority vote in parliament to impeach him. The ruling ANC party has rallied around the president. Coming out of a strategy session Monday, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe made it clear that his party is ready to use its majority to oppose the impeachment motion. "If they want to make motions because it makes sense for them and it gives them public attention, then fine," said Mantashe. "We can't stop them from doing it." Zuma support cracking But there are signs of cracks within Zuma's support base. The army union, ANC war veterans and former senior government officials are some of those who have called for Zuma to go. Political analyst Sanusha Naidu says defending Zuma will be damaging for ANC members of parliament. "You have got domestic public opinion on the outside as well," Naidu said. "So it's going to be a difficulty, because those that are going to try and circumvent it, have to make sure that they really want to do this in a public standing in the way they want to." The Democratic Alliance party is calling on ANC lawmakers to break ranks and back impeachment. The Economic Freedom Fighters party says if the motion fails in parliament, they will take to the streets. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL Terrorists in Iraq, Syria From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release SOUTHWEST ASIA, April 6, 2016 U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq yesterday, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today. Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports. Strikes in Syria Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted four strikes in Syria: -- Near Hawl, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL mortar system. -- Near Idlib, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle. -- Near Manbij, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit. -- Near Mara, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL vehicle. Strikes in Iraq Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 19 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government: -- Near Hit, two strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed six ISIL fighting positions, six ISIL boats, two ISIL vehicles, an ISIL supply cache, an ISIL medium machine gun and three ISIL vehicle bombs and denied ISIL access to terrain. -- Near Kirkuk, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL command and control node, an ISIL bed-down location, three ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL vehicle bomb and an ISIL machine gun. -- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position. -- Near Mosul, seven strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units, an ISIL financial storage center and an ISIL headquarters and destroyed two ISIL supply caches, two ISIL vehicles, an ISIL command and control node and three ISIL assembly areas. -- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit. -- Near Sinjar, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL supply cache and three ISIL assembly areas. -- Near Sultan Abdallah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, two ISIL fighting positions, six ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL vehicle, two ISIL mortar systems and an ISIL tunnel system. -- Near Tal Afar, a strike suppressed an ISIL tactical unit. 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, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nagorno-Karabakh Cease-Fire Holding April 06, 2016 by RFE/RL A fragile cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh appeared to be holding, despite claims of violations, as high-level meetings were held separately with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia in an effort to defuse tensions. The diplomatic scramble comes after a tenuous truce was agreed on April 5, ending three days of intense fighting between Armenian-backed separatists and Azerbaijani forces. The fighting, which has left more than 60 people dead, is the heaviest seen over the Azerbaijani territory in two decades. Azerbaijan and Armenia fought a war over Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1994 that claimed the lives of more than 30,000 people. The conflict is generally considered to be "frozen," with internationally mediated negotiations having failed to achieve a resolution, and with sporadic violence breaking out over the years. Russia and the United States expressed optimism as the truce went into effect on April 5, but the two warring sides were urged to return to the negotiating table. Speaking in Berlin after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on April 6, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian urged the international community to recognize the right of Karabakh's separatists to "determine their own fate and their own future." Chancellor Merkel, for her part, said international mediation efforts were "of the greatest urgency." Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeiner, also held talks. The co-chairs of the so-called Minsk Group of mediators in the conflict -- France, Russia, and the United States -- met with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on April 6. The mediators had "stressed that it is important to return to the political process on the basis of a sustainable cease-fire." The conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh is also likely to loom large when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visits Baku on April 6-7. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is expected to visit the Armenian capital, Yerevan, on April 7 and also plans to visit Azerbaijan on April 8. Also on April 6, Iranian President Hassan Rohani offered to mediate over the conflict in separate telephone conversations with his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts. The truce went into effect at midday on April 5, after the chiefs of staff of the Armenian and Azerbaijani militaries reached an agreement at a meeting in Moscow to halt the fighting. Early on the morning of April 6, Karabakh's military reported that "last night, the cease-fire was generally maintained" along the "line of contact" that effectively serves as a front line separating the combatant sides. It added that "sporadic shooting" had taken place despite the cease-fire but that it had no impact on the general situation. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry said the situation along the front line remained tense but calm. It was reported as saying on the morning of April 6 that separatist forces had "violated the cease-fire" 115 times over a 24-hour period, adding that Azerbaijani armed forces had returned fire on hostile positions. However, it was unclear whether the allegation referred entirely to the cease-fire agreed on April 5 or the 1994 truce that stopped the war. The ministry later said Azerbaijani positions in two areas were coming under intensive fire from Armenian mortars, which the separatists denied. Populated mainly by ethnic Armenians, the Azerbaijani territory became a source of conflict in the waning years of the Soviet Union. The situation escalated following the creation of the self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh in 1991 and subsequent declaration of independence in 1992. The self-declared republic remains internationally unrecognized. Each side has accused the other of starting the latest outbreak of violence, which has involved tanks, helicopters, and artillery. Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry says that 31 Azerbaijani servicemen have been killed in the fighting, while one helicopter and one tank have been lost. Karabakh's armed forces said 29 of its soldiers had been killed and 28 others were missing in action. In addition, Armenian Defense Ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan said two Armenian servicemen were killed in the early hours of April 6. A number of civilians were also reported killed on both sides -- about 10 overall -- along with Armenian "volunteers." Azerbaijan's army claims to have taken control of several strategic locations inside Armenian-controlled territory, which Armenia and the unrecognized republic deny. On April 5 in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the Azerbaijani and Armenian presidents after the cease-fire agreement and told them to "ensure" an end to the violence, the Kremlin said. "It's a very nascent cease-fire, but we're encouraged that it does seem to have taken hold," U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. "We are actively engaging with both sides to urge them to strictly adhere to the cease-fire." On an April 5 visit to a hospital in Baku where he met wounded Azerbaijani soldiers, Aliyev said the conflict could be solved peacefully if the Armenian leadership "behaves sincerely at the negotiating table." The unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic's involvement in the negotiating process is "a priority goal," Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Shavarsh Kocharian said on April 6. "This has no alternative." He said the warring sides should also get back to the positions they were holding before the recent clashes. Also on April 6, Armenian foe and NATO member Turkey weighed in to accuse Armenia of not sticking to the truce. "I hope the steps taken by Azerbaijan to end fighting will be imitated by Armenia, but this is not the case right now," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Erdogan also accused Russia of siding with Armenia in the conflict, saying Moscow was meddling as it had in Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria. Relations between Turkey and Russia have drastically deteriorated after Ankara downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November. With reporting by RFE/RL's Armenian and Azerbaijani services, Reuters, AFP, TASS, and Interfax Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/nagorno-karabakh- ceasefire-largely-holding/27657414.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hague War Crimes Court Halts Trial Of Ill Croatian Serb Leader Hadzic April 06, 2016 by RFE/RL United Nations judges ordered an "indefinite" halt in the war-crimes trial of Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic, who is terminally ill with brain cancer. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in a majority ruling released on April 5 found that Hadzic, 57, "is currently unfit to stand trial." Hadzic was charged with 14 war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1991-95 war in Croatia, including the murder of civilians taken from Vukovar hospital in 1991. He also is charged with responsibility for the massacre of Croat civilians who were forced to walk into a minefield in the Croatian town of Lovas in October 1991. The court has indicted 161 people involved in the brutal Balkans wars, and Hadzic was the last of a string of defendants to be prosecuted. The court said UN medical reports showed "a recent and marked deterioration in Hadzic's ability to communicate." Recently, a new lesion was found in his brain which was likely to impair his functioning "from week to week," so Hadzic is "no longer able to effectively exercise his fair trial rights, even with the assistance of counsel," the court said. Hadzic was released in April 2015 so he could go to Serbia for treatment, and he has lived at his home in Novi Sad since then. Hadzic wanted to create a Serb-dominated state out of a splintering Yugoslavia. He is accused of "cleansing" non-Serbs from about one-third of Croatia through a campaign of murders, unlawful jailings, beatings, deportations, and forcible transfers. Dissenting Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua disagreed with the majority of judges who ordered a halt in the trial, saying that a judgment should have been returned as soon as possible. "Even a person who is in the final stages of his/her life is also entitled to a judgment...even if there is no hope of him/her serving a prison sentence," he wrote. The ruling on Hadzic comes within days of the court's March 24 decision finding former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic guilty of genocide, for which Karadzic was sentenced to 40 years in jail. A week later, ultranationalist Serb leader Vojislav Seselj was acquitted of all charges in a controversial decision that saw him declared a "free man." With reporting by AFP and Magyar Szo online Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/hague- war-crimes-court-halts-trial-ill- serbian-leader-hadzic/27657192.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address De Facto South Ossetian President Proposes New Model For 'Union' With Russia April 06, 2016 by Liz Fuller Leonid Tibilov, the leader of Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia, has backtracked on his proposal last fall to hold a referendum on the region's incorporation into the Russian Federation. Instead, Tibilov told journalists on April 4 that he reached agreement during talks last week in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the creation of "a single union organ" with Russia, to which South Ossetia would delegate its prerogatives. That approach, Tibilov explained, would avoid creating "political risks for our strategic partner," by which he presumably meant the widespread international condemnation and sanctions that followed Russia's unrecognized annexation of Crimea two years ago. Tibilov said that it will be necessary to conduct a referendum on amending Article 10 of South Ossetia's de facto constitution to empower the president of the separatist entity to initiate the creation of a "single union organ." At present, Article 10 of the constitution specifies only that "the Republic of South Ossetia has the right to enter a union with other states and to delegate to the union organs the exercise of part of its prerogatives." He said the referendum will take place "not in one year or two, not even in half a year, but sooner." Tibilov did not specify what he envisaged by a "union state" or what powers South Ossetia might cede to it. Neither did he explain how the creation of such a union state dovetails with the provisions of the bilateral Treaty on Union Relations and Integration signed in March 2015, Article 1 of which obliges Russia to do all in its power to expand the number of states that formally recognize South Ossetia as an independent polity. It is worth noting, however, that at the same April 4 press conference Tibilov stressed that South Ossetia will retain its own armed forces, given that the provision of the bilateral treaty that envisaged subsuming some South Ossetian military units into the Russian Army violates Russian law. 'Union State' Lack of clarity concerning that anticipated downsizing or even abolition of the region's independent military capacity had given rise to an acrimonious dispute earlier this year between the de facto defense ministry and parliament speaker Anatoly Bibilov. Commentator Yury Vazagov was quoted by RFE/RL's Echo of the Caucasus as suggesting that what Tibilov has in mind is something comparable to the Union State of Russia and Belarus that has existed for the past 20 years. At the same time, Vazagov noted that it is not clear how the referendum question will be phrased, meaning whether voters will be asked to approve or reject the creation of a "Union State" or South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation. Tibilov did not say how soon after the planned referendum on amending the constitution he would formally raise with the Russian leadership the question of creating the "union state." But it is logical to assume that he hopes to do so before the end of this year. His term in office expires in April 2017, and assuming he seeks reelection, his main challenger will be Bibilov, who launched a campaign two years ago for a referendum on South Ossetia's incorporation into the Russian Federation. A second pundit, Roland Kelekhsayev, suggested to Echo of the Caucasus that Tibilov's "union state" initiative is intended both to "wrest the initiative" from Bibilov and "cut the ground from under his feet," and to demonstrate Tibilov's loyalty to Russia. Moreover, in light of the international community's condemnation of Russia's seizure of Crimea, the Kremlin is more likely to look favorably on the author of an initiative that enables it to strengthen its influence over South Ossetia without laying it open to charges of illegally incorporating the territory of another state than on Bibilov's proposal that South Ossetia effectively provide Russia with a legal fig leaf for designating the territory as a Russian Federation subject. That in turn raises the question: Given that as recently as late February Tibilov defended the idea of a referendum on South Ossetia becoming part of Russia and downplayed the possible negative repercussions for Russia's relations with the international community, might the "Union State" proposal not be his brainchild at all, but have originated with the Russian presidential administration, which duly instructed him to go public with it? Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/caucasus-report-south ossetia-russia-union-new-model/27658342.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Renewed Fighting in Sudan's Darfur Region Displaces 138,000 Civilians Sputnik News 20:15 06.04.2016 UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous said that because of Sudan government's access restrictions, "the exact number of civilian casualties from the recent wave of belligerence cannot yet be ascertained." UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) A fresh outbreak of fighting in the Darfur area of in Western Sudan has sent tens of thousands fleeing to refugee sites, with an unknown number of civilian casualties, UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous told the Security Council on Wednesday. "The escalation of fighting in Jebel Marra has led to large scale displacement," Ladsous said. "Humanitarian organizations estimate that as of 31 March, at least 138,000 people from Jebel Marra have been newly displaced in North, Central and South Darfur. Ladsous noted that because of Sudan government's access restrictions, "the exact number of civilian casualties from the recent wave of belligerence cannot yet be ascertained." The conflict in Darfur began in the 1980s and escalated dramatically in 2003, when non-Arab tribes revolted against the Arab-led government of President Omar al-Bashir. The United Nations estimates that 300,000 people have been killed in the violence and another 2.5 million people displaced. In 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in the Netherlands indicted Bashir on charges of directing a campaign of mass killing, rape and pillage. Bashir was the first sitting president to be charged by the ICC. The Sudanese leader has said he does not recognize the authority of the court. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nagorno-Karabakh Agrees to OSCE Monitoring Along Contact Line Sputnik News 18:59 06.04.2016(updated 19:22 06.04.2016) Karabakh's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Sargsyan said that the authorities of the self-proclaimed region of Nagorno-Karabakh sent consent to conduct monitoring along the contact line between the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan through the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson. YEREVAN (Sputnik) The authorities of the self-proclaimed region of Nagorno-Karabakh have agreed on the monitoring of the situation in the area of the conflict by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Karabakh's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Ani Sargsyan said Wednesday. "We sent today our consent to conduct monitoring along the contact line between the armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and Azerbaijan through the office of the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson," Sargsyan told RIA Novosti. The violence in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region with a predominantly Armenian population, escalated on Saturday. Baku and Yerevan have accused each other of provoking hostilities. On Tuesday, the conflicting sides reached the ceasefire deal at a meeting in Moscow. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Another Sign of Clout: China Unveils New Lighthouse on Disputed Spratlys Sputnik News 17:44 06.04.2016(updated 17:51 06.04.2016) Beijing has reportedly started to operate a new lighthouse on one of its contested man-made islands in the South China Sea. In a sign of its increasing influence in the contested South China Sea, Beijing announced the completion of the construction of a lighthouse on Zhubi Reef in the disputed Spratly archipelago, media reports said. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the country's Transport Ministry held a ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate the completion of the 55-meter-high facility. "The lighthouse emits white light in the nighttime, with a light range of 22 nautical miles and a glowing cycle of five seconds," Xinhua said. The facility is equipped with an automatic identification system and very high frequency stations which Xinhua said will help "provide efficient navigation services such as positioning reference, route guidance and navigation safety information to ships." In 2015, the Chinese Transport Ministry announced plans to construct an array of large multi-purpose lighthouses on the Spratly Islands, in a bid to improve the maritime emergency response in the area. Overall, China claims over 80 percent of the South China Sea as its own. The United States has repeatedly warned that it does not recognize Chinese claims of sovereignty over the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Countries located in the South China Sea area, including Brunei, the Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam, have expressed competing claims to the disputed Spratly Islands. The United States has conducted two "freedom of navigation" operations in the South China Sea since October 2015. Last month, the Philippines agreed to give US forces access to several military bases, some of which are close to the disputed territories. Meeting his US counterpart Barack Obama on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping specifically warned against violating his country's sovereignty and undermining its national interests under the pretext of freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address U.S. Cyber Command Chief Testifies on Challenges, Security Initiatives By Cheryl Pellerin DoD News, Defense Media Activity WASHINGTON, April 5, 2016 Over the past year U.S. Cyber Command has continued building capability and capacity and made progress in building its 133-team cyber mission force, all while operating at an increased tempo, Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers told a Senate panel today. In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Cybercom commander said the cyber mission force -- made up of 13 national mission teams, 68 cyber protection teams, 27 combat mission teams and 25 support teams -- will be built and fully operational by Sept. 30, 2018. "Today, we have 27 teams that are fully operational and 68 that have attained initial operational capability," Rogers said. "Even teams that are not fully operational are contributing to our cyberspace efforts, with nearly 100 teams conducting cyberspace operations today," the admiral added. For example, the command continues to support U.S. Central Command's efforts to degrade, dismantle and ultimately defeat ISIL, Rogers said. Challenges, Innovation Over the past year Rogers said Cybercom has seen an increase in cyberspace operations by state and non-state actors and a wide range of malicious cyber activities aimed against government and private sector targets. "At U.S. Cyber Command, we focus on actors that pose a threat to our national interest through cyberspace," he said, noting that nations still represent the gravest threats to national security, but that Cybercom continues to watch for signs of cyber capability improvements by non-state actors. Malicious actors use cyberspace to steal intellectual property and citizens' personal information and have intruded in DoD networks ranging from the Joint Staff's unclassified network to networks controlling U.S. critical infrastructure, the admiral said. "These threat actors are using cyberspace, I believe, to shape future operations with a view to limiting our options in the event of a crisis," Rogers said. "Despite this challenging environment, U.S. Cyber Command continues to makes progress as it emphasizes shifts to operationalizing the command and sustaining capabilities." Cybercom has also established a partnership program in Silicon Valley "to link command personnel to some of the most innovative minds working in cyberspace," he told the panel. The program is collocated with the department's Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, the admiral said, an innovation outpost designed to link technology companies with DoD needs for innovative products. Full Unified Command Since last fall, when the Senate Armed Services Committee heard testimony from witnesses who recommended elevating Cyber Command to a full unified command, discussion has continued among the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and SASC member Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island democrat, said Defense Secretary Ash Carter is considering the recommendation as part of the Goldwater-Nichols reform effort. Rogers told the panel that Cybercom would benefit from the designation. "What tends to drive [whether an organization] should be elevated to a combatant command broadly across the department," he said, "[are] the imperatives of unity of command and unity of effort and ... in this case [whether] the function rises to a global level and is it of sufficient priority to merit coordination across the entire department?" The other issue, Rogers said, is one of speed. "My input to the process has been that a combatant command designation would allow us to be faster, which would generate better mission outcomes," he said. "I would also argue that the department's processes of budget prioritization, strategy and policy are all generally structured to enable direct combatant commander input into those processes. That's what they're optimized for. I believe that cyber needs to be a part of that direct process," the admiral noted. Cybercom Priorities In detailing Cybercom's most urgent priorities, Rogers included defending the DoD networks, continuing to provide options for policymakers and integrating part of the cyber mission across the government. "We clearly need a focus on ensuring, No. 1, that we've got our defensive house in order and that we're able to defend our systems as well as our networks, and we need to think beyond just networks into our individual combat weapons," the admiral said. The second priority is to continue to generate the complete spectrum of capabilities to provide options for policymakers and operational commanders, he said, when cyber issues arise. And lastly, Rogers added, "We've got to figure out how to bridge across not just the DoD but the entire U.S. government and the private sector about how we're going to look at this problem set [of responding to critical cyber issues] in an integrated national way. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China Sends Scientific Satellite Into Space to Study Microgravity Sputnik News 08:15 06.04.2016(updated 10:34 06.04.2016) On Wednesday, China launched a retrievable scientific research satellite atop a Long March 2-D rocket; it will conduct 19 experiments to study the effects of microgravity, the state news agency reported. MOSCOW (Sputnik) According to Xinhua news agency, China sent the SJ-10 satellite into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert atop a Long March 2-D rocket. The satellite is bullet-shaped and will carry out 19 experiments while in orbit related to fluid physics, microgravity combustion, the effects of space radiation, the biological effects of microgravity, space material and space bio-technology. "All experiments conducted on SJ-10 are completely new ones that have never been done before either at home or abroad. They could lead to key breakthroughs in our academic research," Hu Wenrui, chief scientist of the SJ-10 mission told Xinhua. The SJ-10 satellite is the second of four launched under a Chinese Academy of Sciences program, but the only one that is retrievable. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Belarus to Receive 4 Russian Yak-130 Jets, S-300 Battalion in 2016 Sputnik News 17:29 06.04.2016(updated 17:41 06.04.2016) Commander of the Belarusian Air Force Maj. Gen. said that Belarus will receive the fourth and final battalion of S-300 air defense systems as well as another four Yak-130 combat trainers in 2016. TVER (Russia) (Sputnik) Belarus will receive the fourth and final battalion of S-300 air defense systems as well as another four Yak-130 combat trainers in 2016, Commander of the Belarusian Air Force Maj. Gen. Oleg Dvigalev said Wednesday. "The deliveries of S-300 battalions from Russia will be finalized this year. Three of them have been already deployed in Belarus, while the fourth is on its way," Dvigalev told reporters following a meeting of the CIS coordination committee on air defense issues. According to Dvigalev, Belarus has received the first four Yak-130 combat trainers from Russia and is expecting the arrival of four more by the end of the year. Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on joint protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State airspace and the creation of a unified regional air defense network in February 2009. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, Belarus Finalize Creation of Unified Air Defense Network Sputnik News 16:43 06.04.2016(updated 16:56 06.04.2016) Russia and Belarus have finished setting up a unified air defense network in the East-European region of collective security, a deputy commander of the Russian Aerospace Forces said Wednesday. TVER (Russia) (Sputnik) Moscow and Minsk signed an agreement on joint protection of the Russia-Belarus Union State airspace and the creation of a unified regional air defense network in February 2009. "The practical implementation of the agreement has been finalized, future efforts will be focused on regular joint air defense tasks and joint combat training," Lt. Gen. Pavel Kurachenko said at meeting of the CIS coordination committee on air defense issues. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address North Korea can mount nukes on mid-range missiles: South Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 11:51PM North Korea has reached the capability to mount nuclear warheads on its medium-range missiles, which can hit targets in the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China, and Russia, says a South Korean official. "We believe they have accomplished miniaturization of a nuclear warhead to mount it on a Rodong missile," a South Korean official said on Tuesday. Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un claimed that Pyongyang had successfully miniaturized nuclear warheads so they can be fit on ballistic missiles. "They have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision," added the official who was speaking on condition of anonymity. He added that Rodong missiles are capable of delivering a one-ton warhead over a distance of 2,000 kilometers. Despite its alliance with South Korea, the US disagrees with Seoul's assessment. "We know that they've said they have that capability, and we have to take them at their word," said Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis on Tuesday. "But we have not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real." China sanctions on North Korea In accordance to the UN sanctions, China banned the import of iron, iron ore, gold, titanium, rare earths, and several other materials from North Korea on Tuesday. Exports of jet fuel and other petroleum products were also halted to the country. In March, the UN Security Council unanimously passed a resolution expending existing sanctions on the North over its missile and nuclear tests. On January 6, North Korea said it had successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb, its fourth nuclear test, vowing to build up its nuclear program as deterrence against potential aggression from the US. A month later, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket which it said placed an earth observation satellite into orbit. However, Washington and Seoul denounced it as a cover for an intercontinental ballistic missile test. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Seoul Claims North Korea Capable of Launching Mid-Range Nuclear Missile Sputnik News 22:54 05.04.2016(updated 01:10 06.04.2016) Amid North Korea's recent push to improve its nuclear capabilities, South Korean officials claim that Pyongyang can mount a nuclear warhead on a medium-range missile. In January, North Korea conducted the fourth test in the history of the country's nuclear weapons program. Shortly thereafter, the DPRK launched a satellite, in what the United Nations deemed an obvious attempt to demonstrate its ballistic missile technology. Both tests resulted in the implementation of harsh new sanctions against Pyongyang, aimed at preventing the country from achieving its nuclear ambitions. According to a South Korean official, the penalties have failed to discourage the North Korean government. "We believe they have accomplished miniaturization of a nuclear warhead to mount it on a Rodong missile," the official told reporters on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We believe they have the ability to mount a nuclear warhead on a Rodong. Whether they will fire it like that is a political decision." A medium-range missile, the Rodong could theoretically launch a 1,100-pound warhead within a range of 1,250 miles. If true, Pyongyang could strike anywhere in South Korea, as well as most of Japan. One of these missiles was test-launched last month, flying roughly 500 miles before falling into the sea. Officials in the United States, a key ally of South Korea, agree with the new assessment. "We know that they've said they have that capability, and we have to take them at their word," Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis told reporters. "But we have not seen them demonstrate it, so we don't share that assessment necessarily but we do accept what they say as a threat we need to take as real." Still, neither Washington nor Seoul has offered any direct evidence to back up their claims. A South Korean official declined to discuss the reason for Seoul's sudden reassessment of the DPRK's capabilities. While the US and its allies have warned that the DPRK's nuclear ambitions threaten global stability, Pyongyang argues that it is under direct threat and needs to mount nuclear weapons as a safeguard. "[North Korea] realizes that, without a nuclear deterrent, a small country like itself, in the crosshairs of the United States, needs that nuclear deterrent to ward off any possibility of attack," Gregory Elich, a member of the advisory board of the Korea Policy Institute, told Radio Sputnik's Loud & Clear last month. He cites Washington's recent joint military exercises with Seoul that explicitly rehearsed a "preemptive strike on North Korea." "This year will be the largest exercise yet held between South Korea and the United States, and they're held in the area of the Korean peninsula," he said. "This is explicitly intended to threaten North Korea." Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address South Korea: Kim's Power 'Unshakable' After Nuclear Tests by Brian Padden April 06, 2016 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's grip on power is now "unshakable" following the country's recent nuclear test and rocket launch, a South Korean official said Tuesday. Despite purges of numerous high-ranking officials, including the execution of Kim's uncle and mentor, Jang Song Thaek in 2013, and last year's removal of the country's defense minister, Hyon Yong Chol, there are no indications of growing instability in the North Korean leadership, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. And the tougher international sanctions that were recently imposed have actually seemed to strengthen the North Korean leader's authority and power. The new United Nations measures adopted last month are meant to cut off sources of funding and supplies to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Sanctions enforced China on Tuesday moved to enforce the sanctions by banning imports of gold and rare earth minerals from North Korea and exports to the country of jet fuel and other oil products used to make rocket fuel. Kim seems now "in a hurry" to advance his country's nuclear capabilities before the full effects of the sanctions take hold, said the South Korean official. Last month, Kim said his country had miniaturized nuclear warheads to mount on ballistic missiles although this claim has not been independently verified. Warhead, missile The South Korean official said Seoul believes North Korea has developed a one-ton (907 kg) warhead that can fit on a Rodong missile that can reach a distance of 2,000 kilometers and potentially strike U.S. bases in Okinawa and Guam. But he said Pyongyang is still a couple years away from developing the capacity to strike the U.S. mainland. By moving quickly to increase its technical capabilities North Korea reportedly hopes to solidify its status as a nuclear power in the eyes of the world. South Korea's defense ministry this week rejected Pyongyang's call for talks to resolve the standoff over the North's nuclear program. Seoul is "not interested in dialogue for dialogue's sake," and time is needed for the sanctions to force Pyongyang to "change its behavior" and agree to give up its nuclear ambitions, the South Korean official said. Kim is expected to demand continued nuclear development. But if the sanctions restrict needed funding, materials and equipment, North Korean officials will be unable to meet their goals. And that, the South Korean official said, will "introduce an element of chaos" within the highly secretive and repressive regime. Possible humanitarian crisis Any further nuclear or ballistic missile tests will be met with additional sanctions that could include a ban on the export of North Korean labor. The Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) estimates there are more than 50,000 North Korean laborers working in China, Russia and other countries, and that they earn billions of dollars, most of which goes to the state. There is concern that North Korean sanctions could have a severe impact on much of the general population, which already lives on the margins of poverty. South Korean President Park Geun-hye's decision in February to close the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Complex put more than 54,000 North Korean employees out of work. North Korean state media last week warned that the sanctions could cause another "arduous march," a term that refers to the severe North Korean famine that killed more than 3 million people in the 1990s, and the hardships suffered after the Soviet Union collapsed and stopped sending economic aid, and because the communist government grossly mismanaged the country's economy. Aid suspended Most South Korean aid to the impoverished North has been suspended in light of the recent provocations and sanctions. Little is known about these privately funded assistance programs because North Korea set conditions for accepting aid that include an agreement not to disclose what aid was sent, and not to acknowledge that a request was made. The Seoul official said North Korea bears the responsibility for any humanitarian needs that arise due to the sanctions, and that it would be "wrong to criticize South Korea" for supporting measures that restrict the North's economic activities. While the sanctions target economic activities that fund North Korea's nuclear program, they could also aid in the growth of private markets that will more directly benefit ordinary people. Since the famine of the 1990s North Korean authorities have allowed the growth of the private economy to increasingly provide for the needs of the people. North Korean leader Kim has embraced economic reforms that include allowing farmers to sell a portion of their crops, and provides some industries more incentives and control to manage their production and workforce. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Official: No ban on Russia's export of Sukhoi-30, T-90 tanks to Iran IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Moscow, April 5, IRNA -- Head of Russian Foreign Ministry's Administration for Security and Disarmament Mikhail Oliyanov underlined that there are no obstacles hindering the sale of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and T-90 tanks to Iran. 'The UN Security Council's Resolution 2231 has not banned sale of these military equipment to Iran,' Oliyanov said on Tuesday. 'We are of the opinion that the possible sale of Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and T-90 tanks of Russia to Iran have not been prohibited in Resolution 2231 and this resolution has permitted Iran to purchase such military hardware,' he added. Oliyanov reiterated that the UN Security Council has not asked for permission for sale of Sukhoi-30 to Iran. The Sukhoi Su-30 is a twin-engine, two-seat supermaneuverable fighter aircraft developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation. It is a multirole fighter for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. 2050**2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's defense industry dashed enemies' hope for military attack IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Tehran, April 5, IRNA -- Deputy Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said here on Tuesday that Iran's defense industry has frustrated the enemies' hope for any military strike. Addressing a group of defense ministry's managers and staff, Hatami said amid vast sanctions imposed against Iran defense industries, the Iranian youth managed to frustrate enemies. He reiterated that during the past 37 years, the enemies have done their best to put Iran in danger and make the country's economy collapse. In recent years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and has attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems. The Islamic Republic has repeatedly said that its military might poses no threat on other countries, reiterating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence. 9060**1771 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran never to allow Syria partition: IRGC chief Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:52PM A senior Iranian military official says the Islamic Republic will continue to support the Syrian government in its fight against terrorists, warning that Iran will never allow the disintegration of any Muslim state. "We will continue to support the survival of the Syrian government [in its fight against terrorist groups] and its sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never allow any partitioning of any of Muslim territories," Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, the chief of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), said on Tuesday in a meeting with IRGC commanders. "We view disintegration as a British-American-Zionist strategy, therefore we will never allow any weakening of Muslim nations," he added. Opponents of the Syrian government have on several occasions floated the idea of the partition and federalization of Syria as the solution to the crisis in Syria. Ram Ben-Barak, the director general of Israel's Intelligence Ministry, called on February 14 for the partition of Syria along sectarian lines. "I think that ultimately Syria should be turned into regions, under the control of whoever is there - the Alawites where they are, the Sunnis where they are," Ben-Barak said. Militancy began in Syria in March 2011, and has, according to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, killed at least 270,000 people. Some reports, however, put the death toll at as high as 470,000. The United Nations has appointed several special envoys for Syria over the course of the conflict in the country. Italian-Swedish diplomat Staffan de Mistura is the latest person to serve in the post. Iran to 'multiply' missiles General Jafari also said Iran will continue to develop more missiles as deterrence against enemy threats against the Islamic Republic. "Our missiles that have become more precise and more destructive will be multiplied more than before," he said. "Before being ready for political and diplomatic options, we have become ready for [facing] the military option," he added, noting that Iran would never "welcome" any war. The IRGC successfully test-fired two ballistic missiles on March 9 as part of military drills to assess the IRGC's capabilities. The missiles dubbed Qadr-H and Qadr-F were fired during large-scale drills, code-named Eqtedar-e-Velayat. On March 8, Iran fired another ballistic missile called Qiam from silo-based launchers in different locations across the country. The United States claims that Iran's missile tests violate the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 that endorsed a nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on July 14, 2015. Iran, however, has repeatedly announced that the missile launches were not against the Security Council resolution. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US to block sale of Russian Su-30 aircraft to Iran: State Dept. Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 3:57PM The United States would use its veto power in the United Nations Security Council to block the sale of Russian Su-30 fighter jets to Iran, the State Department says. Department of State Under Secretary for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon made the announcement on Tuesday during a congressional hearing on Iran. "We would block the approval of fighter aircraft." Shannon told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that any such sale of fighter jets would have to be approved by the UN Security Council. Su-30 is a multirole advanced fighter aircraft for all-weather, air-to-air and air-to-surface deep interdiction missions. "The sale of Su-30 fighter aircraft is prohibited under UNSCR 2231 without the approval of the UN Security Council and we would block the approval of any sale of fighter aircraft under the restrictions," Shannon said. Shannon was referring to the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, adopted by the Security Council on July 20, 2015, which endorsed the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany. The UN resolution calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology. But according to diplomats, resolution 2231 does not prohibit Iran from buying fighter jets, and the language of 2231 is not legally binding and cannot be enforced with punitive measures. Iran and the P5+1 finalized the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna, Austria, on July 14, 2015. They started to implement the JCPOA on January 16, 2016. Under the agreement, limits are put on Iran's nuclear activities in exchange for, among other things, the removal of all nuclear-related economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 1st S-300 shipment to head to Iran in coming days: Russia official Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 9:56AM A senior Russian official says Moscow is to deliver the first shipment of its S-300 air defense systems to Iran in the coming days as part of a long-running contract between Tehran and Moscow. "I don't know if this will happen today, but they (the consignments) will be loaded [for shipment to Iran]," Zamir Kabulov, a department chief at the Russian Foreign Ministry, was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying on Tuesday. In mid-February, the official had said that Moscow would deliver the surface-to-air missile systems to the Islamic Republic in "the nearest time." Russia committed to delivering the systems to Iran under a USD 800-million deal in 2007. Moscow, however, refused to deliver the systems to Tehran in 2010 under the pretext that the agreement was covered by the fourth round of the United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program. The sanctions barred hi-tech weapons sales to Tehran. Following Moscow's refusal to deliver the systems, Iran filed a complaint against the relevant Russian arms manufacturer with the International Court of Arbitration in Geneva. In April 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin lifted a previous ban on the delivery of S-300 to Iran, and in November last year, Russia signed a new contract to supply Iran with the systems by the end of that year for the first time since the 2010 freeze on supplies under the Security Council resolutions. The long-overdue delivery has not happened, yet. Recent pledges to make the delivery came after Iran and the P5+1 states Russia, China, France, Britain, the US and Germany reached a landmark agreement, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on Tehran's nuclear program in July last year. Under the JCPOA, all nuclear-related economic and financial bans against the Islamic Republic are lifted. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Analysts: Libya's New UN-Brokered Government Faces Daunting Task by Jamie Dettmer April 05, 2016 Libya's U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) is off to a better than expected start in the few days since its six-strong Presidency Council arrived in Tripoli on board a boat from neighboring Tunisia "promising to turn the page" and restore order to the country. The leader of one of Libya's two other rival governments has withdrawn obligingly from the Libyan capital, but says he still disputes the GNA's legitimacy. And the leaders of the other rival government, the House of Representatives (HoR) in Tobruk, are now making conciliatory statements. GNA is meant to be sharing power with the two rivals under a political deal brokered by the U.N. and Western powers. Until recently the HoR's National Salvation Government was the internationally recognized authority in the fractured North African country. Several mainly Islamist militias that have been controlling Tripoli since 2014 after forcing the HoR to flee the capital have either announced their neutrality or agreed to support the GNA, at least for the time being. This has removed the threat of immediate violence. That in itself is music to the ears of Western diplomats who feared militias might try to sabotage the new government, especially when political rivals closed the airspace over Tripoli, forcing the putative prime minister, Fayez al-Sarraj, and his team to sail to Libya. "At least they have a foothold now," said a relieved Italian diplomat. Walking tour Since the Presidency Council's arrival, the Libyan capital has been relatively quiet, although gunmen stormed a Libyan television station last week, halting transmissions. In a show of confidence, Sarraj, 56, the scion of a prominent local family, went on a walkabout in Tripoli over the weekend. Hundreds of supporters rallied in the capital and chanted "Bye-bye, GNC," referring to the militia-backed General National Congress, which refused to stand aside after the HoR was elected in 2014 in nationwide polls. The refusal plunged the country deeper into turmoil. But as the GNA seeks to consolidate its position in the Libyan capital, let alone expand its U.N.-given authority to the rest of the country, no one is underestimating the challenges that remain for Sarraj. His first priority is to persuade the HoR to ratify the new political setup, and until he does, the GNA remains in legal limbo. Analysts question whether Sarraj's arrival in the capital will herald a period of stability for a country that has been tottering from one crisis to another since the 2011 ouster of strongman Moammar Gadhafi. The negotiating process for the political settlement wasn't inclusive enough, warn some analysts, who fear the odds of success are stacked against the new government. Key to survival Under the U.N. deal, the presidential council is meant to lead a unified government. The HoR will be the main legislature, while a State Council made up mainly of GNC members will be a second, consultative chamber. Elections are supposed to be held within six months. Karim Mezran, an analyst at the Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, argues the survival of the GNA will "depend on the degree of support Western governments give it, and if the Egyptians, the Qataris and the Turks are really on board." Qatar and Turkey have supported the GNC, while Egypt along with the United Arab Emirates has been supportive of the HoR, and especially of former Gadhafi general Khalifa Haftar, who heads the so-called Libyan National Army made up of former militiamen and veterans from Gadhafi's security forces. In the past, Egypt and the Emirates have mounted airstrikes in support of the general's forces, who have focused on battling Islamic State militants and their affiliates in the eastern part of the country. "I honestly doubt the GNA can last long," said Hafed Al-Ghwell, a senior adviser with Oxford Analytica, a global risk advisory group. "There are still very big questions that need to be answered, including how much credibility the government really has. We still have three governments and it is unclear what happens now." Al-Ghwell argued that there is a lack of consensus among Libyans behind the GNA, which was shaped after months of fraught negotiations. "Many people have been excluded from the U.N. agreement, especially tribal and former Gadhafi officers as well as over a million Libyan exiles in Egypt and Tunisia," he said. "What incentive is there for them to support the GNA and not sabotage it?" He fears the GNA will go the way of previous short-lived post-Gadhafi governments quickly being held hostage by town-based, secessionist and Islamist militias, who he believes are now just biding their time and repositioning themselves politically, waiting to see how the GNA fares. Going right to work Sarraj has wasted little time in trying to exert authority. With the help of one powerful militia, he has secured the prime minister's office. On Monday, after gaining the support of the country's central bank as well as Libya's National Oil Corporation, he ordered "the freezing of bank accounts belonging to ministries, agencies and bodies as well as public institutions funded by the public treasury" as the first in a series of moves to gain control over the country's finances. Libya's central bank issued a statement saying it wished the new unity government "all success in carrying out the difficult tasks ahead." Diplomats acknowledge the road will be difficult. Sarraj has to unify a country divided along sharp regional, tribal and ideological lines, and to persuade militias to disband or join a national army, something that eluded a series of previous governments. He also has to ward off the burgeoning threat of IS, which has expanded its reach. The terror group controls Gadhafi's coastal hometown of Sirte and has a strong presence in other towns, including Ajdabiya, Sabratha and Derna. Western officials put the number of IS fighters in the country now at around 8,000, although local anti-IS militiamen estimate the number at 5,000. Western role Western officials hope war fatigue, the allure of foreign aid and development money, and the IS threat will help build momentum for the unity government and persuade opponents to hop on board. But while Western powers hope Sarraj can persuade the militias to disband, the militias will be needed in the interim to battle IS, a factor that won't help the new government tilt the balance of power in Libya away from the gun and back to politics. The future role of Western powers in Libya is also unclear. The biggest concern of Washington and nearby European powers such as Italy and Spain is the growth of IS in the country and the opportunity that gives the militants to launch attacks on southern Europe, a short boat ride away. Small groups of Western special forces are in the country, working with militias fighting IS. U.S. warplanes have twice launched strikes on the militants in Libya in recent months, and Pentagon officials say more are in the offing. The GNA needs Western support to establish itself, but a too aggressive Western military role risks angering a wide swath of Libyan opinion, say analysts. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address US Navy Orders 9 Bell Combat Helicopters for Pakistan Sputnik News 04:02 05.04.2016(updated 04:05 05.04.2016) Bell Helicopter has won a US Navy contract to manufacture nine AH-1Z Viper combat helicopters for Pakistan. WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Bell Helicopter has won a US Navy contract to manufacture nine AH-1Z Viper combat helicopters for Pakistan under the foreign military sales program, the US Department of Defense announced. "Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., Fort Worth, Texas, is being awarded $170.1 million contract for the manufacture and delivery of nine AH-1Z aircraft for the government of Pakistan," the announcement stated on Monday. The Bell AH-1Z Viper is a twin-engine attack helicopter based on the previous AH-1W SuperCobra model that was developed for the United States Marine Corps. The Viper has a top speed of 255 miles per hour (420 km/h) and a range of 426 miles (610 km). In April 2015, the US Department of State approved the possible sale to Pakistan for 15 AH-1Z Vipers with Hellfire missiles and support worth up to $952 million. Bell is also interested in selling the AH-1Z to Poland and the Czech Republic to replace their old Soviet-built Mi-24 helicopters. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Army Receives Vikhr-1 Guided Missiles From Kalashnikov Concern Sputnik News 13:26 05.04.2016(updated 13:28 05.04.2016) The Kalashnikov Concern delivered Vikhr-1 guided missiles to the Russian Armed Forces under a state defense procurement plan. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian Armed Forces have received Vikhr-1 guided missiles worth about 13 billion rubles ($191 million) under the state defense procurement plan, Russian arms manufacturer Kalashnikov Concern said in a press release on Tuesday. "Kalashnikov has successfully completed the delivery of Vikhr-1 guided missiles to the Russian Defense Ministry within the framework of the state defense procurement plan. The total cost of the state contract is about 13 billion rubles," the press release reads. Russia is currently implementing a large-scale rearmament program, announced in 2010, to modernize 70 percent of its military hardware by 2020. The total modernization program cost is estimated to reach about 20 trillion rubles. The Kalashnikov Concern was created in 2013 following the merger of two Soviet-era plants, Izhmash and Izhevsk Mechanical Plant, becoming Russia's largest producer of rifles and other weaponry. The Vikhr-1 guided missile can be used against armored vehicles and low-speed aerial targets. Its maximum range of fire is 10 kilometers. The company sells civilian firearms and combat weapons in over 20 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia Creates National Guard to Fight Terror, Crime by Isabela Cocoli April 05, 2016 Russia's president signed a decree Tuesday to create a national guard tasked with fighting terrorism and organized crime. The new federal agency will be led by Vladimir Putin's former chief bodyguard, Viktor Zolotov. Putin said in a televised meeting with Zolotov and other top security officials in the Kremlin that the new government entity will merge the country's interior ministry troops with riot police and swat teams. He also said that Russia's drug control and migration services will be incorporated into the interior ministry's structure. The decree lists the main duties of the newly created national guard, which in addition to the fight against terrorism and extremism, include other functions such as participation in the territorial defense of the Russian Federation, protection of important state facilities and special cargoes, support for border protection, and the monitoring of compliance with the law in the areas of arms circulation. The decree says that it takes effect on the day of signing. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Saudi fuels global arms spending increase Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 9:18AM Saudi Arabia's lavish spending on its military sector last year contributed to the first increase in global arms spending since 2011, a report says. Overall, the world spent nearly USD 1.7 trillion on arms last year which reflected a one-percent increase in real terms compared to 2014, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported on Tuesday. The world also witnessed the rise in military spending due to Saudi Arabia spending USD 87.2 billion on weapons, it added. The figure, the institute said, was double what Riyadh had disbursed from its coffers for military purposes in 2006. Saudi Arabia, thus, ranked third across the international community, standing after the United States and China, which respectively spent USD 596 billion and an estimated USD 215 billion on arms in 2015. Senior researcher Pieter Wezeman, who contributed to the report, attributed Riyadh's increased arms spending to its intention "to be able to fight against internal uprisings, whether a more-peaceful nature or more violent." The monarchy has been engaged in stifling opposition protests in its Shia-majority and oil-rich Eastern Province, especially following its January execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who used to vociferously criticize its policies. Saudi Arabia has also deployed military forces to Bahrain to help the Manama regime crack down on anti-regime protests there. Wezeman also put the increase down to Saudi Arabia's intention "to intervene in neighboring countries," referring to Saudi Arabia's March 2015-present military campaign against Yemen which has killed nearly 9,400 people so far and its role in the United States-led coalition that purports to be striking Daesh in Iraq and Syria. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants 'shoot down Syrian jet in Aleppo' Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 1:42PM A Syrian warplane has been shot down by a surface-to-air missile fired by militants in the northern province of Aleppo, a Syrian military source says. The unnamed official told state media on Tuesday that the jet was targeted while on a reconnaissance mission and its pilot ejected. The plane was downed over the Talat al-Iss highland near the village of Eis, south of Aleppo, according to reports. It was "likely that (al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria) al-Nusra Front shot down the plane and took the pilot," a militant source said, adding that the jet had been hit by heavy machine gun fire. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) also said the downing had been carried out by the Nusra Front terrorist group, saying the militants captured the pilot and took him to one of their headquarters in the area. Social media videos purport to show the pilot parachuting down from the plane and smoke coming from the crash site. Deadly Aleppo shelling In another development on Tuesday, terrorists fired tens of mortar and rocket shells into the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood of Aleppo City, killing 14 people and injuring 50 others. Syria's official news agency SANA quoted local sources as saying that the death toll is expected to rise as some people are still under the debris of three buildings collapsed in the shelling. On April 4, militants also targeted the Sheikh Maqsood neighborhood with rockets, damaging houses while leaving eight civilians dead and 20 more wounded. The attacks come despite a ceasefire brokered by the US and Russia, which took effect on February 27. A Russian coordination center tasked with reconciling warring parties in Syria said the truce had been violated over 350 times since then, mostly in the provinces of Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and Latakia. Syria has been gripped by militancy since 2011. SOHR says at least 270,000 people have since been killed in the war-ravaged country; however, some reports put the death toll at over 470,000. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh uses mustard gas in attack on Syria airbase Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:55AM The Daesh terrorist group has reportedly carried out a chemical attack on a Syrian military airport in eastern Syria. "The terrorists fired rockets carrying mustard gas" and targeting the airbase in the south of Dayr al-Zawr city, Syria's Ikhbariyah television station said in a statement late Monday. The report did not disclose whether there were any casualties. Russia's RIA Novosti, however, cited a military source as saying that "a number of soldiers were choking." Last January, the Syrian army managed to drive back Daesh from several villages near the airbase. Operations are still underway, however, to totally remove them. Mustard gas can form large blisters on exposed skin and in the respiratory tract, severely complicating breathing. It is banned under the Chemical Weapons Convention. Daesh earlier claimed that it had carried out an attack on Jufrah Village near the airbase. The report said two bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into the army defenses and killed at least ten people. Daesh, which is notorious for its barbarity, heinous atrocities and sacrilegious acts, has been accused of committing gross human rights violations and war crimes in the areas it has overrun, particularly in Syria and Iraq. The group has used chemical weapons in both countries. Back in March, local Iraqi governor Najmuddin Kareem told Reuters that the group had used "poisonous substances" during an attack on the village of Taza, in northern Iraq. More than 40 people suffered from partial chocking and skin irritation after the attack. On August 21, 2013, a chemical weapon was used in the Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Hundreds of people died in the attack. According to reports, the rockets used in the assault were handmade and contained sarin. A report by the Syrian-American Medical Society said Daesh has carried out more than 160 attacks involving "poisonous or asphyxiating agents, such as sarin, chlorine, and mustard gas" since the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011. At least 1,491 people have been killed in the chemical attacks. The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 270,000 people have been killed in war-ravaged Syria; however, some reports put the death toll as high as 470,000. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address By Liberating Al-Qaryatayn, Syrian Army Destroys Largest Daesh Stronghold Sputnik News 20:44 05.04.2016(updated 22:17 05.04.2016) A RIA Novosti correspondent was present at the scene during the liberation of Al-Qaryatayn. The Syrian Army destroyed the largest Daesh stronghold and liberated the city on Sunday. The Christian city of Al-Qaryatayn is situated in Homs province. It was captured by Daesh militants almost a year ago. RIA Novosti correspondents were the only journalists who accompanied the army during the liberation of the city. The city of Al-Qaryatayn, which has a population of 40 thousand, was seized by militants with little or no resistance. The terrorists were supported by pre-prepared troops recruited from among local residents. Most of the inhabitants of the Christian population managed to flee to Homs, but about two hundred people were taken as slaves. The terrorists promised to execute all the Christians if the Syrian army decided to storm the city. It took almost 9 months to release the hostages. The army decided to attack Al-Qaryatayn simultaneously from different directions. Twenty-five militia fighters of the Social-Nationalistic Party of Syria were sent to town via the main road. About 20 people from the military climbed on to the parapet to monitor the progress of combat. "Senior officers were monitoring the movement of soldiers. The combat started when the officers noticed a Daesh jeep coming right at the soldiers," a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. Al-Qaryatayn is considered to be a part of the Palmyra front. A few weeks ago, terrorists could throw reinforcements and ammunition from one city to another, hiding from aviation in remote canyons of the mountain range east of Qalamuna. As the correspondent reported, at the start of the offensive in Al-Qaryatayn and the adjacent areas around fifteen hundred Daesh militants were present. As the army made progress, a number of terrorists dispersed with no more than 100 suicide bombers left during the actual battle for the liberation. "The commanders of the Syrian army and militias were in touch via the radio. Every ten minutes a report was released with information that the streets and buildings were being liberated. It seemed that the city would be liberated just within a few hours," the correspondent reported. The operation to liberate the Christian town of Al-Qaryatayn from Daesh militants began on Saturday morning. Covered by artillery fire, vanguard units of the army and its allies began an assault from the south, southeastern and northwestern directions, a RIA Novosti correspondent reported. The Christian town was seized by Daesh terrorists in August 2015. Terrorists turned it into their main stronghold in southern Homs. From Al-Qaryatayn, militants moved reinforcements and ammunition to Palmyra to fight against government forces. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russian Bomb Squad Clears 158 Mines in Syria's Palmyra in Past 24 Hours Sputnik News 18:24 05.04.2016 The Russian bomb squad has demined 12 hectares in the historical part of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra in the past 24 hours. MOSCOW (Sputnik) The Russian bomb squad has demined 12 hectares in the historical part of Syria's ancient city of Palmyra in the past 24 hours, clearing a total of 158 explosive devices, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday. "The specialists from the Russian mine-clearing group continued demining the ancient monuments and infrastructure in Palmyra. In the past 24 hours, the Russian sappers have cleared 12 hectares in the historical part of the city, destroying 158 explosive devices," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website. Moreover, a total of 58 settlements and 47 armed groups have joined the ceasefire regime in Syria, the Russian reconciliation center in Syria said. "The number of settlements that have joined the ceasefire has reached 58 The number of illegal armed groups that have declared their commitment to the ceasefire has reached 47," the reconciliation center said in an update published on the Russian Defense Ministry's website. However, a total of five violations of the ceasefire regime in four Syrian provinces were registered in the last 24 hours. "The cessation of hostilities in Syria has been respected in general. However, a total of five violations of the ceasefire regime have been registered including two in the Latakia province, and one each in the Daraa, Homs and Damascus provinces," the ministry said in a daily bulletin posted on its website. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daesh Uses Mustard Gas in Syria, Iraq at Least Three Times in 2016 Moscow Sputnik News 17:49 05.04.2016(updated 17:50 05.04.2016) Daesh terrorists have already used chemical weapons at least three times in Iraq and Syria, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. MOSCOW (Sputnik) Daesh militants have used sulfur mustard gas, a chemical warfare agent, at least three times in Syria and Iraq since the beginning of the year, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's department on arms control said Tuesday. "In spite of the many crimes involving the use of chemical weapons that have been committed by terrorists on the territory of Syria and Iraq, the United Nations Security Council has not responded yet. It is becoming harder and harder to block the Russian proposals under the pressure of facts. According to our data, Daesh militants used the sulfur mustard at least three times in the first quarter of 2016. This is a dangerous chemical agent, the use of which is a serious crime," Mikhail Ulyanov told RIA Novosti. The statement comes a day after a military source told RIA Novosti that Daesh, a jihadist group banned in Russia, used a chemical substance in an attack against a Syrian army airbase in the province of Deir Ez-zor. In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that Moscow calls for a separate convention to cover the issue of chemical terrorism as the existing international law does not solve the issue. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Syrian Fighter Jet Downed Near Aleppo - Source Sputnik News 14:13 05.04.2016(updated 16:29 05.04.2016) A Syrian fighter jet has been downed Tuesday near Aleppo. Militants have downed a Syrian Air Force warplane to the south of Aleppo, according to the source. A representative of the command of the Syrian Armed Forces confirmed to RIA Novosti that a Su-22 warplane had been downed in Aleppo. "The Syrian Air Force plane was shot down by militants in the Aleppo province during a combat mission. At the moment, we are trying to find out the fate of the pilot," the Syrian military told RIA Novosti. According to state TV, the pilot of the Su-22 pilot ejected. According to local TV, the warplane, which was believed to be on a reconnaissance mission, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Reuters cited a watchdog and a Syrian rebel source as saying that the pilot of the Su-22 was captured by al-Nusra Front terrorists. "Militants have downed a warplane, which had been on a combat duty in the province of Aleppo. It was based at the Shairat airbase," a source told RIA Novosti earlier in the day. The Russian Defense Ministry said that aircraft of the Russian air group in Syria have not been carrying out operations in the area, where a fighter jet had been downed. "Russian Aerospace Forces aviation did not conduct any operations in Aleppo and its outskirts," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Tuesday. A ceasefire regime in Syria backed by Russia and the United States came into force on February 27. It was supported by Damascus, as well as by dozens of opposition groups on the ground. Daesh and al-Nusra Front terror groups are not part of the deal. On Saturday, the Russian reconciliation center stated that al-Nusra Front terrorist group has gained control over groups opposing the Syrian government in several districts of the Aleppo province. Aleppo, the largest city in Syria, was attacked by Daesh and al-Nusra Front terrorist groups in 2012. Since then, Syrian government forces have been fighting for the city. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PYD Kurdish Party Blames Turkish Pressure for Geneva Talks Snub Sputnik News 17:10 06.04.2016(updated 17:32 06.04.2016) Countries that block Syrian Kurds participation in Geneva peace talks do so because of the pressure exerted by Turkey, the co-chair of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), told Sputnik on Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik), Svetlana Alexandrova On Tuesday, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said that Russia's proposal to include Kurds in Geneva Syrian talks was vetoed by the UN Security Council's Western members as well as by non-permanent Council member Ukraine. "All countries who oppose joining Kurds have their interests with Turkey and are under its pressure. Kurds are not enemies to Turkish people," Saleh Muslim said adding that the ruling Turkish Justice and Development Party (AKP) and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "should give up Kurdophobia for the good of nations." Muslim welcomed the Russian initiative to invite Kurds to the Geneva talks stressing that "negotiations will not be fruitful if Kurds excluded." He added that at the moment there was no such invitation. The previous round of Syrian talks wrapped up on March 24 after ten days of intense discussions. The round ended in delegates submitting their proposals on how to stop the conflict to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura who then produced a final paper with points of convergence. The talks are expected to resume on April 11. Turkey has strongly opposed the inclusion of the PYD in the reconciliation talks. Turkish President Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu repeatedly stated that Turkey makes "no distinction" between the PYD and the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which is outlawed in Turkey. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN Unable to Confirm Mustard Gas Attacks by Daesh in Iraq, Syria in 2016 Sputnik News 16:08 06.04.2016(updated 16:28 06.04.2016) The United Nations cannot yet confirm any cases of the use of mustard gas by the Daesh terrorist organization in Iraq and Syria in 2016, Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for the UN secretary-general, told Sputnik on Wednesday. MOSCOW (Sputnik) On Tuesday, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, Mikhail Ulyanov, said Daesh jihadists had used sulfur mustard gas, a chemical warfare agent, at least three times in Syria and Iraq since the beginning of the year. "We don't have confirmation of the use of mustard gas by Daesh at this time," Haq said. Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow proposed to develop an international convention for the suppression of acts of chemical terrorism, explaining that the new instrument would transcend the issues of non-proliferation, disarmament and counter-terrorism. In March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland, that Moscow had called for a separate convention to cover the issue of chemical terrorism as existing international law does not fully cover the issue. Daesh is a terrorist group that has taken control of large portions of Iraq and Syria and is outlawed in the United States, Russia and many other countries. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Militants Violate Ceasefire in Aleppo Province, Syrian Army Retaliates Sputnik News 08:58 06.04.2016(updated 09:53 06.04.2016) The Command Joint Operations Headquarters of the Syrian Army in Aleppo announced that the ceasefire had been disrupted in the southern part of the province in a statement Wednesday. DAMASCUS (Sputnik) The Syrian Army has renewed military activity against armed groups that are regularly violating the internationally-brokered ceasefire agreement in the south of Aleppo, the Command Joint Operations Headquarters of the Syrian Army in Aleppo said in a statement Wednesday. "The Syrian Army and its allies have begun completing military tasks and are conducting gunfire against armed groups, their command points, and areas where they are gathering in the south of Aleppo province," the statement reads. Since 2011, Syria has been mired in a civil war, with government forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad fighting a number of militant groups and opposition factions. The conflict has significantly damaged the country's economy and caused a humanitarian disaster. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), 6.6 million Syrians are internally displaced, while over 4.8 million have fled the country amid violence. A US-Russia-brokered ceasefire came into force on February 27 across Syria. It was supported by Damascus, as well as by dozens of opposition groups on the ground. The Islamic State (also known as Daesh) and the Nusra Front (both outlawed in Russia) were not part of the deal. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey may strip PKK supporters of citizenship, Erdogan says Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:31PM Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara "must" consider all options including revoking citizenship to prevent supporters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) from doing harm. "To prevent them from doing harm we must take all measures, including stripping supporters of the terrorist organization of their citizenship," Erdogan said in reference to the PKK in a speech in the capital, Ankara, on Tuesday. "These people don't deserve to be our citizens." Elsewhere in his remarks, the Turkish president called on the legislature to "immediately" act to strip parliamentarians of their immunity to allow for prosecution. He has repeatedly accused the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), the parliament's third-largest party, of being an extension of the PKK. The HDP categorically denies any affiliation to the militant group. Erdogan also stated that there is "no difference" between academics and journalists, who he described as supporters of terror, and "the terrorists who throw bombs." The Turkish government has been criticized for a growing crackdown on free speech. Several Turkish lawyers, journalists and academics have been arrested for denouncing the military's heavy-handed tactics in the Kurdish-dominated areas. Erdogan's comments came one day after he pledged to continue operations against the PKK, saying there remains no room for peace talks with the militant group. The PKK militants should either surrender or they will be "neutralized" by Turkish security forces, he added. Ankara has been engaged in a large-scale campaign against the PKK in its southern border region in the past few months. The Turkish military has been pounding the group's positions in northern Iraq as well. The anti-PKK operations began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, prompting the Turkish military operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey detains 68 over alleged links to Gulen Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 2:19PM Police in Turkey have launched a series of raids across the country, arresting 68 people as part of a probe into the so-called Gulenist terror group. The state-run Anadolu Agency said on Tuesday that suspects were held in raids carried out in 22 provinces in an investigation into their alleged links to Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in the United States. He is seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main foe. The report said those arrested include former police chiefs, businessmen, academics, municipality workers and employees of state-run broadcaster TRT. It said arrest warrants have been issued for a total of 120 people in relation to the case, adding that several of the wanted suspects are believed to be abroad. Erdogan accuses Gulen of running a "parallel state" aimed at usurping him, while judiciary has officially called the cleric the leader of Fethullahaci Terror Organisation/Parallel State Structure (FeTO/PDY), which seeks to overthrow the legitimate Turkish authorities. Gulen was once regarded as a major ally for Erdogan, but relations broke in 2013 when police and prosecutors seen as close to Gulen opened a corruption probe into the inner circle of Erdogan, who was then the prime minister. Numerous police operations have been carried out since the summer of 2014 to round up allies of Gulen with thousands, including police officers, prosecutors and judges, sacked or reassigned over links to Gulen. Reports said the raids on Tuesday were the biggest to date. Last month, Turkish authorities forcibly seized Turkey's best-selling Zaman newspaper and its affiliates, sparking huge international outrage over the country's zero tolerance for freedom of speech. Gulen has been based in the United States since 1999, when he fled charges against him laid by the former secular authorities. Ankara's request for the cleric's extradition has been met with cold response from Washington. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Turkey declares curfew in southeast town Iran Press TV Tue Apr 5, 2016 9:35AM Turkey has declared a curfew in the southeastern town of Silopi after an attack by Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants on police there. Local authorities declared the curfew in Silopi, in Sirnak Province, in from 4:30 a.m. (0130 GMT) in an announcement by loudspeakers from mosque minarets and police vehicles, according to witnesses. The Kurdish PKK militants targeted an armored vehicle with rockets in the district of Silopi early Tuesday, leaving at least one police officer dead and four others wounded, Anadolu News Agency cited unnamed sources as saying. According to witnesses, gunfire rang out in the town through the night. Turkey has recently been involved in a large-scale campaign against the militants in the country's southern border region. The military has also been conducting offensives against the positions of the group in northern Iraq. Dozens of militants were killed in separate operations in the provinces of Hakkari, Mardin and Sirnak on Saturday, the Turkish military said. Seventeen militants were killed during heavy clashes in the Kurdish-populated city of Yuksekova in Hakkari Province east of the capital, Ankara. Elsewhere in the southeastern city of Nusaybin, Turkish soldiers killed six PKK militants. A ceasefire between the PKK and the Turkish government collapsed last July, and militant attacks on Turkish security forces have soared ever since. The Turkish military operations against the PKK began in the wake of a deadly July 2015 bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc. More than 30 people died in the attack, which the Turkish government blamed on the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. After the bombing, the PKK militants, who accuse the government in Ankara of supporting Daesh, engaged in a series of supposed reprisal attacks against Turkish police and security forces, in turn prompting the Turkish military operations. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to continue the operations until they either surrender or are "neutralized." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Dutch Vote On Ukraine Deal Could Reverberate Throughout Europe April 05, 2016 by Rikard Jozwiak AMSTERDAM -- When Dutch voters head to the polls on April 6 they could say a lot about the future of the European Union. Technically, they will be voting in a referendum on whether to approve or reject the bloc's Association Agreement with Ukraine, a pact that would bring the country closer politically and economically to the EU that has been ratified by all members aside from the Netherlands. But the impact of "no" result -- a scenario that is predicted by opinion polls, but also dependent on sufficient voter turnout -- would be felt not only in Kyiv and Brussels, but in Moscow, London, and beyond. Far-Reaching It would certainly be a harsh blow to Ukraine, whose population has paid a high price for seeking closer association with the EU. It was, after all, former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's refusal to sign the Association Agreement in late 2013 that prompted the Euromaidan protests, which led to his ouster, Russia's annexation of Crimea, and a drawn-out conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. It would be celebrated by the Kremlin, which has long opposed the agreement, and would be poised to wield its influence on trade aspects of any future renegotiation process. That outrage over Russia's suspected role in the July 2014 downing of an airliner over eastern Ukraine -- in which 193 of the 298 passengers killed were Dutch -- would not translate to votes for Ukraine would be another coup for Moscow. A "no" vote would also add fuel to rising Euroskepticism amid a refugee crisis, and serve as a bad omen ahead of the United Kingdom's June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the EU. It is less clear what would happen should the Netherlands fail to ratify the Association Agreement. It is possible that the EU could continue to provisionally apply the deal (the trade aspects of the agreement were delayed until the beginning of this year in a nod to Russian financial concerns, while the political side has been applied since autumn of 2014) meaning there would be few disruptions to existing relations. If the terms of the deal are altered, it would require more negotiations and the ratification process that began more than a year ago among the EU's 28 states would have to start anew. All the mainstream Dutch parties have campaigned for a "yes" vote, arguing that it will bring more safety and economic growth both in the EU and in Ukraine. "It's about trade, it's about safety, it's about normal things that in Europe, in the European Union are normal for us," says Alexander Pechtold, the parliamentary leader of the liberal D66 party. "We fought for it, we negotiated for it, during 70 years, and now another country, a country to the borders of the European Union, wants to have the same standards, the same values, and I think that that country -- bigger than France, with 45 million inhabitants -- should deserve the same rights as we have." The 'No' Camp The Dutch electorate does not appear to agree about the merits of the deal, which is intended to facilitate trade and bring Ukrainian laws and regulations closer to those of the EU. Recent polls show that as many as 66 percent of Dutch voters would reject the agreement, although turnout would have to pass 30 percent in order for the nonbinding referendum to be valid. In that event, the Dutch government has pledged to honor the outcome. Many voters oppose the Association Agreement in the belief that it would mark the first step toward Ukrainian membership of the EU, a notion that "yes" supporters have worked to dispel. "There are a lot of myths that have been created around this association agreement," says Dutch Labor parliamentarian Marit Maij. "At all the meetings that I have participated in in the last three weeks I always try to tell people it is not in the treaty that Ukraine will become a member." But her argument fails to sway Arno Wellens, a journalist for the investigative website 925.nl who will vote no on April 6. "The problem with this association agreement is that it is very vague about whether or not Ukraine will join (the EU)," he says, noting references in the agreement to legal standards covering everything from energy policy to external relations on which EU-entry negotiations are based. "This association agreement mentions the word acquis communautaire 25 times," Wellens says. "So people in Ukraine say, 'Hey, this will take it into the European Union.' But in Holland politicians are saying no this is not about entering the European Union because it doesn't explicitly say so, and that is the problem." Euroskeptics Another issue at play ahead of the vote is a general feeling of distrust toward the EU. This vote is the first under a new law that allows citizens to call for a nonbinding vote on legislation already passed by parliament. The Dutch House of Representatives approved the agreement in April 2015, followed by the Senate that July. The law resulted from an online petition, initiated by euroskeptic activists and an antiestablishment website arguing that citizens should have more say in EU matters, that gathered almost half a million signatures. British politician Nigel Farage spoke about the potential impact of the vote while supporting the "no" campaign in the Dutch town of Volendam, just a few kilometers north of Amsterdam. The leader of the anti-EU United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) said he hopes the effects will be felt both in his own country and in Brussels. "It is not about the technical details but it is about direction of travel, it is about governments and Brussels together fundamentally changing the nature of Europe, the direction of Europe without ever asking anybody," he said. "A 'no' vote here is a cry of 'listen to us,' but it is also a message that says we are going in the wrong direction." Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-dutch- referendum-europe-no-vote/27655959.html Copyright (c) 2016. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address As several companies from around the world of telecoms share their Q3 results, here is a financial round-up with all of the key points. The Better Business Bureau has a promposal for those searching for that perfect prom dress: Check it out first. Prom season is here and teenagers everywhere are frantically searching for that perfect dress. Meanwhile, parents are also frantically searching for ways to not go bankrupt on said dress. To save money and ensure that no one else will have the same outfit, many shoppers are now shopping online. Its no wonder as the Internet can be a wonderful place to shop. Theres an almost limitless amount of designs to choose from and the savvy shopper can sometimes find designer dresses for a fraction of the normal cost. With the perfect dress at the perfect price, a prom can become an event which will never be forgotten. Unfortunately theres always someone trying to ruin the party by spiking the punch. The internet is full of punch spikers. For every reputable online garment seller, theres a dozen sites selling knock-off, fake, or damaged goods. Theres nothing worse than buying that dream dress, for that dream date, and have it all turn into a nightmare when either: The dress doesnt arrive The dress doesnt fit The dress rips during the 3,875 pre-prom photos taken To be safe and enjoy this prom season follow these BBB tips: Check with BBB. Contact BBB if you feel a websites prices seem too good to be true, or if the site itself seems a bit off. You can search for the companys BBB Rating by going to www.bbb.org and while there check for any prior complaints or government actions. Know the website. Before ordering a dress, check the URL link to make sure it starts with https:// (the s means it is secure). Also look for a small padlock icon usually located at the corner of the URL bar. These symbols tell shoppers that a website is secure. Check contact information. Make sure the site has listed a physical location and working phone number. Call customer service before you make the purchase. If you can't reach a real person at a company, that is generally a red flag. If you are considering buying a dress online, give the company's customer service department a call and go over their return, exchange, and delivery policies. Check for hidden costs and bad reviews. Some popular sites such as Amazon and Ebay allow third-party sellers to list items. This can result in higher than expected shipping costs which arent always regulated by the website where the item is being listed. Check over the reviews of sellers to see how long theyve used the site and how previous customers rated their purchasing experience. Read over the return policy. Read the return policy carefully to see if the business allows a full refund if the customer is not happy with the product. Review the policy to see who pays for the cost of shipping and handling for the return. Dont assume verbal promises on return policies are accurate. Read and compare. When buying anything online, read the entire description including the fine print. Its important to understand the details of the product being purchased so that there are no surprises when its delivered. Check competitor prices to guarantee the lowest price. There are many online resources that allow the comparison of products and offer coupon codes to get a better deal. Choose the correct payment method. Always pay with a credit card when shopping online. A purchase with a credit card is protected under the Fair Credit Billing Act. This allows customers to briefly hold payment while a problem is reviewed and resolved. This act also protects customers in the event that credit card information is stolen and used without permission. Make sure to print the receipts and product information of any online purchases to prevent incorrect charges. If a company demands payment by money wire or pre-paid gift cards, run away. Keep personal information safe. Never email any personal information such as credit card and banking numbers, or social security numbers. Be careful to only give financial information through secure websites. Check the privacy policy to see how the business is using the information they have requested. In the event of online fraud. If there is a problem with a purchase or business, complaints can be filed with the Better Business Bureau to help resolve the issue. The Federal Trade Commission also handles complaints at www.ftc.gov/complaint along with the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov. MillerCoors has chosen June 3 as the date for the first round of job cuts at its Eden brewery, the company said in a WARN Act notice sent to state Commerce officials. About 85 employees will have their jobs terminated on that date, all represented by the Teamsters 391 chapter. Those employees are believed to have bumping rights. MillerCoors is the third-largest private employer in Rockingham County, trailing Unifi Inc. and Walmart, according to Rockingham economic officials. The plant is at 863 E. Meadow Road. The company cited decreasing consumer demand as a factor in announcing in September its plans to close the Eden plant after 38 years. At that time, the company said it had 520 plant employees. In the WARN notice, 349 jobs are affected by the closing, with the second round of terminations set for July 29 and the final round Sept. 9. The Sept. 14 announcement was made two days before AB InBev said it planned to buy SABMiller. SAB and Molson Coors are co-owners of MillerCoors The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act was enacted in 1989 with the intent of preventing situations where rank-and-file employees show up for work only to discover that their employer has shut down without notice. The act requires companies that are planning large job cuts defined as more than 50 employees to notify their state and local governments, as well as affected workers, at least 60 days in advance. It provides certain benefits to laid-off workers, such as 60 days of pay and benefit contributions if the closing is immediate, and access to COBRA insurance benefits for 60 days. The closing announcement has stirred a bipartisan response from bitter political rivals, all aimed at putting pressure on MillerCoors executives to not close the brewery. On March 31, Roy Cooper, the state's attorney general and the Democratic nominee for governor, said during a Teamsters rally outside the plant that he would like the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the decision. The influence of N.C. Senate President pro tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, led to a congressional hearing on the merger in December. If MillerCoors does not want to operate the facility, both Cooper and Teamster officials encouraged the company to find a buyer. Rockingham already has the highest unemployment rate of the 14 Triad and Northwest N.C. counties at 7.1 percent in July. When SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. merged in 2007, the Eden plant had 639 employees. That was down from 739 in 2002. "We made the difficult decision to close our brewery in Eden in order to optimize our brewery footprint and streamline operations for greater efficiency across our remaining seven breweries, " Fernando Palacios, the company's chief integrated supply chain officer, said in a statement. The company said there is "significant overlap in distribution" between Eden and the Shenandoah, Va., brewery, which is 200 miles away. "Eden has been a strong performer over the years," the company said. In 2014, Eden produced 7.1 million barrels of beer, which were shipped to 280 independently owned distributors. "However, Shenandoah is better suited geographically in relation to Northeast markets and is also the newest brewery in MillerCoors' network," Palacios said. Rockingham manager Lance Metzler said the brewery represents about $32.9 million of assessed tax value in real estate and about $132.6 million in personal property, such as business equipment inside the plant. For the 2015-16 fiscal year, the company already has paid Rockingham taxes of $1.2 million. New U.K. Treasury chief Jeremy Hunt has reversed most of an economic package announced by the government just weeks ago, including a planned cut in income taxes. Hunt said Monday he was scrapping almost all the tax cuts announced last month by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Liz Truss, and also signaled that public spending cuts are on the way. It was a bid to soothe turbulent financial markets spooked by fears of excessive government borrowing. The move raises questions about how long the beleaguered prime minister can stay in office, though Truss insisted she has no plans to quit. She vowed to lead the Conservatives into the next general election, but many in the party want her gone. Toronto, Ontario (FSCwire) - West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. (West Red Lake Gold or the Company) (CSE: RLG) (FWB: HYK) (OTC: HYLKF) announces that it has completed a non brokered private placement of common share units for aggregated gross proceeds of $575,000. The Company issued 5,750,000 common share units (the Common Share Units) at a price of $0.10 per Common Share Unit for aggregated gross proceeds of $575,000. Each Common Share Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (the Warrant). Each Warrant issued in connection with the financing entitles its holder to purchase one common share in the capital of the Company at an exercise price of $0.15 per share for a period of 24 months from the date of issuance. Proceeds from the financing will be used for exploration on the Company's gold exploration project located in Red Lake, Ontario and for general working capital purposes. Exploration work is planned to commence following the spring breakup period. The Company also announces that options have been granted to directors and consultants of the Company to purchase, in aggregate, up to 400,000 common shares in the capital of the Company at an exercise price of $0.15 per common share for a period of three years. In connection with the financing, the Company issued 261,000 common shares in finders fees to eligible persons. West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. is a Toronto-based minerals exploration company focused on gold exploration and development in the prolific Red Lake Gold District of Northwest Ontario, Canada. The Red Lake Gold District is host to some of the richest gold deposits in the world and has produced 30 million ounces of gold from high grade zones. The Company has assembled a significant property position totalling 3100 hectares in west Red Lake (the "West Red Lake Project") which contains three former producing gold mines. The Mount Jamie Mine and Red Summit Mine are 100% owned by the Company and the Rowan Mine is held in a 60%-owned joint venture with Red Lake Gold Mines, a partnership of Goldcorp Inc. and Goldcorp Canada Ltd. The West Red Lake Project property covers a 12km strike length along the Pipestone Bay St Paul Deformation Zone and the Company plans to continue to explore the property both along strike and to depth. To find out more about West Red Lake Gold, please visit our website at http://www.westredlakegold.com. For additional information, please contact: John Kontak, President and acting CFO Phone: 416-203-9181 Email: jkontak@rlgold.ca The Canadian Securities Exchange has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward looking statements". When used in this document, the words "anticipated", "expect", "estimated", "forecast", "planned", and similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements or information. These statements are based on current expectations of management, however, they are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements in this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements. West Red Lake Gold does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date hereof, except as required by securities laws. To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/westredlake04052016.pdfSource: West Red Lake Gold Mines Inc. (CSE:RLG, OTC Bulletin Board:HYLKF) http://www.westredlakegold.com/ Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2016 Filing Services Canada Inc. April 06, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, BC- Nevada Energy Metals Inc. "the Company" TSX-V:BFF (OTC: SSMLF) (Frankfurt: A2AFBV) is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Jeremy Poirier to the Nevada Energy Metals Advisory Board. Mr. Poirier has been providing a range of investor awareness and advisory services for both public and private companies since 2004. Over the past 12 years, Mr. Poirier has acquired extensive market experience and built a strong network of investors and industry contacts. He has also served as a member on a number of boards of directors and has held officer positions at several public and private companies. Through his network and market expertise Mr. Poirier has facilitated capital raising efforts as well as successful asset acquisition and corporate development undertakings. Most recently, Mr. Poirier has reviewed various lithium assets around the world in his continuing role as a director of Pure Energy Minerals. We believe that Mr. Poirier's extensive experience in the junior lithium sector will aid Nevada Energy Metals. About Nevada Energy Metals: http://nevadaenergymetals.com/ Nevada Energy Metals Inc. is a Canadian Based exploration and development company who's primary listing is on the TSX Venture Exchange. The Company's main focuses are brine based lithium exploration targets located in the mining friendly state of Nevada. As of January 13th the Company has completed a $900,000 CAD secondary funding to carry out an exploration program in a 60% earn-in agreement with Dajin Resources Corp. at Alkali Lake. This Nevada lithium target is just 12km from Rockwood Lithium, the only brine based lithium producer in North America. Nevada Energy Metals has also acquired, by staking, 100 placer claims covering 2000 acres (809 hectares) at Teels Marsh, Nevada. The property, called Teels Marsh West is a highly prospective lithium exploration project, 100% owned without any royalties. On March 23 2016 the Company announced the addition of the San Emidio Dessert lithium property, a prospective lithium brine property to add to its project portfolio. On Behalf of the Board of Directors Harry Barr Chairman & 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. Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. VANCOUVER, April 6, 2016 - SnipGold Corp. ("SnipGold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SGG), in response to the trading halt issued by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada ("IIROC"), provides the following statement:As previously disclosed, the Company has had discussions with various third parties with respect to a possible transaction or agreement to advance the Iskut Property and the Company may continue to have discussions with respect to such a transaction. The Company does not have any undisclosed material change to report as this time. The Company will keep the market informed as required.The Company's Iskut holdings consist of over 500kmof prospective ground in the Golden Triangle of British Columbia. The Company's property hosts numerous drill ready high-grade gold targets. SnipGold Corp. is a Canadian company focused on the exploration and expansion of gold resources in northwest British Columbia. SnipGold's board and management have significant experience in discovery, exploration and development of gold projects.On Behalf of the Board of Directors, SnipGold Corp.Patrick SoaresChairman of the BoardNEITHER 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.Statements in this release may be viewed as forward-looking statements. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual events to differ materially from those projected. There are no assurances the Company can fulfil such forward-looking statements and the Company undertakes no obligation to update statements. Such forward-looking statements are only predictions; actual events or results may differ materially as a result of risks facing the Company, some of which are beyond the Company's control.John Zbeetnoff, CEO604-681-3989604-681-3557info@snipgoldcorp.comwww.snipgoldcorp.com TORONTO, April 6, 2016 /CNW/ - Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE: AEM) (TSX: AEM) ("Agnico Eagle" or the "Company") today announced that it will release its first quarter 2016 results on Thursday, April 28, 2016, after normal trading hours. Additionally, the Company will host its Annual and Special Meeting ("AGM") the following day, Friday, April 29, 2016, in Toronto. First Quarter 2016 Results Conference Call Webcast Agnico Eagle's senior management will host a conference call on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 8:30 AM (E.D.T.) to discuss the Company's financial and operating results. Via Webcast: A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available on the Company's website at www.agnicoeagle.com. Via Telephone: For those preferring to listen by telephone, please dial 416-260-0113 or toll-free 1-800-524-8950. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call. Replay archive: Please dial 1-647-436-0148 or toll-free 1-888-203-1112, access code 531498. The conference call replay will expire on May 30, 2016. The webcast along with presentation slides will be archived for 180 days on the Company's website. Annual and Special Meeting The AGM will begin on Friday, April 29, 2016 at 11:00 am (E.D.T). The AGM will be held at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel (Dominion Ballroom) - 123 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON. During the AGM management will provide an overview of the Company's activities. For those unable to attend in person, the alternatives to participate are listed below. Via Webcast: A live audio webcast of the AGM will be available on the Company's website at www.agnicoeagle.com. Via Telephone: For those preferring to listen by telephone, please dial 1-416-260-0113 or toll-free 1-800-524-8950. To ensure your participation, please call approximately five minutes prior to the scheduled start of the AGM. Replay archive: Please dial 1-647-436-0148 or toll-free 1-888-203-1112, access code 5039640. The conference call replay will expire on May 30, 2016. The webcast along with presentation slides will be archived for 180 days on the Company's website. About Agnico Eagle Agnico Eagle is a senior Canadian gold mining company that has produced precious metals since 1957. Its eight mines are located in Canada, Finland and Mexico, with exploration and development activities in each of these countries as well as in the United States and Sweden. Agnico Eagle and its shareholders have full exposure to gold prices due to its long-standing policy of no forward gold sales. Agnico Eagle has declared a cash dividend every year since 1983. SOURCE Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. Betti Bravo's is a tropical themed bar-restaurant on the Kingston Foreshore. Photo: Jamila Toderas Address 2 Trevillian Quay Kingston, Australian Capital Territory 2604 View map Book online Opening hours Tue-Sun noon-midnight Features Licensed, Accepts bookings, Outdoor seating Prices Moderate (mains $20-$40) Chef Simon Prickett Phone 02 6295 7000 At this time of year, there aren't going to be too many nights where you can willingly sit outside and dine alfresco in Canberra, so when this late March evening proves to be mostly balmy, we head to Betti Bravo's on the Kingston Foreshore. This tropical themed bar and restaurant opened in January in the spot where the Rum Bar used to be, with a giant parrot mural on an outside wall, pink flamingo wallpaper and some lazily turning wooden fans whose services are superfluous tonight. Outside, there's a sofa nook, some big bar tables for the drinking of wine and passing of gossip and little pastel coloured tables and chairs looking out over the water. Char-grilled octopus, kipfler potatoes and sweet paprika. Photo: Jamila Toderas We get a spot in a rather dark corner, and order drinks from a menu that's focused on cocktails with a big splash of rum, though there's a short wine and beer list. A glass of Pimms (should Pimms come in anything less than a jug?) is a taste of summer and helps prolong denial of an impending autumn and winter. Our friends order zombies - which come in a kitsch tiki mug and involve a bisected lime set aflame - and Planters punch to get into that Pirates of the Caribbean frame of mood. In the food department, Betti Bravo's tends towards the share plates with a sort of Caribbean/Spanish vibe calamari and chorizo, tortilla, and "Spanish burgers" (I did say "sort of Caribbean/Spanish). So that's how we order, mostly smaller plates and a few big dishes. If you want to make things easier, you can choose between a couple of set menus, with a spread of dishes from $40-$55. A couple of confit chicken wings are crisp but heavy on the salt. There's a streak of corn puree and tonka bean aioli on the side, which are both too bland for my liking. Betti Bravo's large parrot mural. Photo: Jamila Toderas Much better bold flavours are to be found in the firm chunks of char-grilled octopus ($17), coated in smoky paprika and spritzed with fresh lime. Slices of potato make a good supporting act. Grilled corn pieces ($11) dusted in a snowy layer of iberico cheese (a la Mamasita in Melbourne) are satisfying, and someone has thankfully taken the time to make the mixed-leaf salad more interesting than it usually is, with a judicious sprinkling of sumac and mint. The bigger dishes are pretty hearty. Jerk chicken ($27) is blackened on top and tender roasted beneath a little oddly, there's a dab of allspice paste on the side of the plate which would be better smeared across the chicken and cubes of mango are scattered across the top of the meat. This is a good feed, though I'd love to see more heat. Dessert gnocchi: White chocolate and ricotta pillows with vanilla ice-cream and macadamia. Photo: Jamila Toderas A platter of roast goat slices ($34) are soft and pink in the middle but dry around the edges. Another drink? We'd love to another zombie, another tiki mug. Service has been very friendly and mostly switched on, though we get a little lost in the back third of the meal when we're waiting on desserts. Sensibly for a place that's mostly about drinks and nibbles, there are only two desserts. And just as sensibly, one of them is unusual and a little bit of fun. Betti Bravo's cocktail list features a big splash of rum. Photo: Jamila Toderas Dessert gnocchi ($16) is a creamy mix of white chocolate and sweet ricotta gnocchi, cooked in sherry and topped with a blanket of golden brown macadamia crumbs. It's a good blend of warm gnocchi and vanilla ice-cream, with plenty of nutty crunch on top. The other dessert, a creme catalan ($16) is cold and thick on the bottom but has a lovely glassy cap which gives under the spoon with a sharp crack and has lots of citrus and cinnamon spice. That chilled tropical vibe and the food focus give Betti a bit more interest and elevate it a notch or two beyond your usual drinking hole. Let's hope it continues. http://www.bettibravos.com.au/ Tax Havens: 6 Must-Know Things Classroom oi-Sneha The recent leak of Panama papers indicating names of famous personalities, celebrities, sportsmen, politicians having accounts and companies in safe tax havens has created a stir. Here are few things you should know about tax haven countries. 1) What is a tax haven? Taxes havens are countries where foreign individuals and companies are not taxed or taxed at very low percent. In such countries business are operated out side hence they are called offshore companies and they tend to enjoy the benefits offered in that countries. Such companies are operated by maintaining secrecy of the owner identity such as name and personal information. 2) Reasons, why tax havens, are popular Individuals or companies can be taxed at low rates or virtually zero rates, really depending on a whole lot of things. One of the biggest advantages is the high level of secrecy, though with wikileaks and the recent Panama case, even secrecy is something that is questionable. However, in the foreseeable future it may be difficult to conceal things. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jailey recently said: ""With G20 initiatives, FATCA and bilateral transactions in place with effect from 2017, the world is going to be a far more transparent institution and therefore, this kind of an adventurism will prove to be extremely costly for those who have indulged in it," Jaitley. He was referring to unaccounted wealth in tax havens. There are also little worries of inheritance or corporate governance rules. 3) Top Tax haven countries Among the countries that are considered as safe havens include: Switzerland, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Lebanon to name a few. Swiss Accounts are known for their secrecy and getting account information is not very easy. 4) Offshore companies Offshore companies tend to benefit as such countries do not ask to pay income tax on international transactions, fees or sales tax. 5) Shell Companies There are many shell companies which are being operated in tax havens, encouraging money laundering. Shell companies are those which exists only on papers with no employees and office. 6) Offshore accounts Many offshore banks in select locations offer a great amount of tax efficiency. This, of course, would depend on the local laws and guidelines from time to time. Goodreturns.in For investment related articles, business news and mutual fund advise Allow Notifications Story first published: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 11:29 [IST] Chinatopix via Associated Press In this March 14, 2016 photo, a North Korean soldier walks past a truck park near the goods pile up on a dockyard in Sinuiju, North Korea, as seen from Dandong in northeastern China's Liaoning province. China on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 imposed restrictions on imports of coal from North Korea and exports of jet fuel to the North in a potentially significant increase in pressure on Pyongyang following U.N. sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests. (Chinatopix via AP) CHINA OUT SHARE By Keith Zhai And Feiwen Rong, Bloomberg News (TNS) BEIJING China made good on its pledge to support a key provision of United Nations sanctions over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, banning imports of coal, iron ore and other commodities from its reclusive neighbor. The Ministry of Commerce in Beijing announced the ban Tuesday after Chinese President Xi Jinping returned from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, where he huddled with U.S. counterpart Barack Obama over efforts to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table. The measure, which includes gold, titanium, vanadium and rare earth imports, also restricts jet fuel exports from China. China's support for U.N. sanctions over Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons program last month was crucial because North Korea relies on two-way trade for food, arms, energy and hard currency. While North Korean coal represents less than 10 percent of China's import volumes, the commodity accounts for more than 40 percent of the North's overall exports to the country in U.S. dollar terms, according to General Administration of Customs data. China imported 19.6 million metric tons of coal from North Korea last year, compared with total inbound coal shipments of 204 million tons, according to customs data. The world's biggest coal producer slashed imports 30 percent last year and is on track to mine 3.65 billion tons of the fuel this year. The strength of the new ban remains to be seen. The U.S. and its allies have long complained about rampant smuggling across the Chinese border and North Korea had exported coal in violation of previous sanctions. The Communist Party in Beijing wants to avoid toppling Kim's regime or causing a breakdown in ties between the two Cold War-era allies. To secure China's support for the latest measures, the U.S. accepted provisions to limit "adverse humanitarian consequences" for North Korean civilians. North Korea tested what it said was its first hydrogen bomb on Jan. 6 and followed up with the launch of a satellite on a rocket on Feb. 7. Most Western analysts expressed skepticism about whether the nuclear test really was a hydrogen bomb. SHARE Di Pietro died March 9, 2013, when his motorcycle hit a pickup sitting in the road. Civil suit is settled; court dates slated By Jennifer Rios A glow from a neon bar sign and honky-tonk music spilled onto Christoval Road the night Marine Sgt. Donald Di Pietro died. Nautical twilight had set in by the time a broken-down Chevrolet pickup made its way to the middle of the road ? just down the road from Goodfellow Air Force Base, where the Marine was stationed. Malcolm Guy McBurnett, with the help of Allen Lee Schmidt, pushed his pickup into the road because it wouldn't start the evening of March 9, 2013. While McBurnett was behind the wheel, Di Pietro, a Marine linguist at Goodfellow Air Force Base, crashed into the side of the pickup ? cracking his helmet and losing his life. The crash occurred about 7:30 p.m. Di Pietro's death has spurred six felony indictments, a lawsuit naming three parties and shut down the Party Ranch ? the bar McBurnett was leaving. Since then a $2 million lawsuit against McBurnett was settled in Di Pietro's favor, the two men await criminal trials and all families involved are trying to cope. After months of counseling, reading the Bible and seeking comfort from friends, Teresa Di Pietro said she's able to put aside her grief enough to attend Schmidt's trial slated for March 21. "It's going to hurt. It's going to scar me for life, but I have the rest of my life to mourn and cry," she said over the phone Friday, "but I have to do this for my son." Schmidt, represented by San Angelo attorney Jimmy Stewart, faces charges of criminally negligent homicide, intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle and manslaughter. McBurnett, represented by Melvin Gray, faces the same charges. Both manslaughter charges are second-degree felonies punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000. In April 2013, Donald Ray Di Pietro, Di Pietro's father, filed a lawsuit against Party Ranch owner Tracy Lawson, McBurnett and Schmidt. In October 340th District Judge Jay Weatherby ordered McBurnett to pay $2 million to Di Pietro in a default judgment. Mary Golder, an attorney with Webb, Stokes & Sparks LLP, who is representing Di Pietro, said the other two civil cases are pending. She said automobile insurance could have covered the amount, but McBurnett did not have liability insurance on his pickup, which had been registered to Gray, who was a former employer. Gray said he had fired McBurnett several weeks before the crash and had sold the pickup to him for salvage. It wasn't running when the pickup was sold. MENTAL STATE QUESTIONED In March, 391st District Judge Tom Gossett ordered that McBurnett was incompetent to stand trial for a second time, based on an evaluation, and he was released from the jail for treatment March 27. Jail Lt. Beth Holland-Mull said nine times out of 10 jail inmates who are released for treatment return to the facility. "Doctors will treat him," said Richard Villarreal, who's prosecuting Schmidt's case for the San Angelo District Attorney's Office. "If they can get him competent, they can ship him back to us." Until then his charges, intoxication manslaughter with a vehicle, manslaughter and criminal negligent homicide, will be postponed indefinitely. A competency hearing was held earlier this month after a psychological evaluation was filed with the court. Medical records, including the court-ordered evaluation, are not public record. San Angelo police arrested McBurnett on March 9, 2013, after a fatal crash in the 5200 block of Christoval Road. McBurnett had been drinking at the Party Ranch bar before putting his pickup in neutral and pushing it into the road with the help of others, according to a complaint filed with Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Judge Kay Longest. The pickup was disabled and without lights. McBurnett was behind the steering wheel trying to start his vehicle when a motorcycle driven by Di Pietro, 28, crashed into the pickup, police said. Di Pietro was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been stationed at Goodfellow since August 2012. Evidence at the crash scene shows that the motorcycle brakes were applied almost 80 feet before it fell on its left side and slid 18 more feet before crashing into the pickup, a police news release said. In July 2013, 51st District Court determined McBurnett was incompetent in July after a psychological evaluation. McBurnett and Schmidt had trial dates scheduled for May 17. Schmidt was accused of helping McBurnett push the pickup into the road. Schmidt's trial date, where he will face the same charges as McBurnett, has been moved to April 21. In 1998 McBurnett was convicted of driving while intoxicated three or more times, according to online judicial records. He was sentenced to five years in the Texas Department of Corrections and was released in 2001. ALCOHOL-RELATED PROBLEMS Administrative Law Judge Sarah Ramos, in an order recently issued, found that the Party Ranch sold alcohol to three intoxicated people involved in two fatalities and on two occasions sold alcohol to minors. Two sales to intoxicated people stemmed from the Di Pietro case and one from a fatal crash Nov. 21, 2012. Carl Bevers, 27, was driving his Chevrolet Impala on the Houston Harte Expressway west frontage road when it struck a Dodge Stratus reversing from a private driveway. Bevers' girlfriend, Teresa Lynn Gartrell, was killed in the crash, which also injured two men in the Stratus. Several family members testified during his trial, saying Bevers said he and Gartrell had been drinking at the Party Ranch before the crash. In November 2013, Bevers pleaded guilty to intoxication manslaughter and intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. He was sentenced to 20 years and 10 years, which will run concurrently. Lawson also claimed his bartenders never served Bevers "at all," Lawson said. An administrative hearing was held Feb. 5 in Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace Eddie Howard's courtroom, but Lawson closed his bar Super Bowl weekend because he lost his bartenders. In December and then again in January, Lawson had a bartender arrested on suspicion of Texas Alcohol Beverage Commission violations. A third bartender, who was there the night of the crash, quit after the other bartenders were fired. "She said, ?I can't do this anymore,' " Lawson said . "I said you know what, I can't do this anymore either. I'm tired of it (operating the bar)." The bartender told Lawson she would have served McBurnett, too, because she didn't think he was drunk. Lawson, who said he's watched video of McBurnett and Schmidt trying to move the pickup, said more than 20 vehicles drove by before Di Pietro struck the pickup. It was unclear how far the pickup was in the roadway when motorists were passing. Lawson said that his bartender served McBurnett three 12-ounce bottles of beer, and that he stopped drinking by 6 p.m. A field sobriety test was conducted that night, and a mandatory blood sample was taken. Lawson represented himself in court because he couldn't afford $40,000 in attorney fees for both cases, he said. He felt the judge wasn't listening to his side of the case. "I was guilty when I walked through the door," he said. He was told by Schmidt's family that a crash reconstruction was conducted, or will be, for trial. He questions Di Pietro's speed and when the brakes were applied. Lawson had been at Daytona Beach for Bike Week, an annual motorcycle rally, when a musician who played that night at the Party Ranch called him about the crash. He and his sons, one of whom was Di Pietro's age, ride. He feels for the Marine's family, but also questioned why Di Pietro didn't see the pickup and his speed. He wonders why McBurnett wasn't serving time for prior alcohol-related crimes and why nobody stopped to turn on their emergency lights and help McBurnett move his pickup. "I think everybody's to blame in this situation," he said. In a picture on neam.org a tall young man is smiling at the camera. He is Lt. Yates C. Smith. It's June 1945 and he is on Tinian Island. As one of "The Greatest Generation" he is by all accounts a hero, his obituary reads. He died Friday. And the New England Air Museum shows what it takes to be a hero with this questionnaire Yates completed. Name: Yates Curtis Smith Parents: Hugh and Mary; siblings: Robert, Betty Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee Date Entered Service: March 1, 1942 Service Number: 14102007 Bomb Group: 468th Bomb Group Squadron: 794th Bomb Squadron Location of Unit: Smokey Hill Air Base, Salina, Kansas; Sept. 25, 1943 Missions Flown: 30 Hump Missions Flown: 11 Targets: Bangkok, Rangoon, Pangkalan Brandan, Georgetown, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Cam Ran Bay, Nagasaki, Anshan, Omura, Shanghai, Mukden, Hankou, Kobe, Nagoya, Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, Chichijima, Tomioka, Omuta, Kure, Utsunomiya Awards/Decorations: Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters, Distinguished Unit Badge with Three Oak Leaf Clusters, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Four Bronze Stars, China Defense Medal, Air Offensive Japan Medal, India-Burma Campaign Medal, Air Combat Palembang Medal, American Theater Medal, WWII Victory Medal Service Schools Attended: Primary Flight School, Coleman Texas, June-August 1942; Bombardier Training, San Angelo, October 1942 to January 1943; Navigation Training, Monroe, Louisiana, February 1943 to May 1943 Military Specialties: Aerial Observer (Bombardier), Aerial Observer (Navigator) Rank Upon Discharge: First Lieutenant Crew Type: Flight crew Airplane Serial No. & Name: 42-6284 The Challenger, 42-24893 Li'l Organ Annie Were you a POW? No Were you interned? No Date Transferred from the 58th: July 1, 1945 Date Discharged from the 58th: Dec. 31, 1946 Post-WWII Service: After I returned to the States in August of 1945 I was assigned to Ellington Army Air Field, Houston, Texas, to Skeet and Small Arms Range. On Feb. 26, 1946, I was assigned as a Squadron Training Officer in the 3543rd basic training squadron for training recent inductees. I remained on active duty until Dec. 31, 1946, when I was placed on inactive duty. I remained active in the Army Air Corps Reserve Program. On Aug. 2, 1952, I was on active duty for two weeks at Lowery Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado, attending an Aerial Photography course. On July 9, 1953, I was promoted to captain in the Air Force Reserves. I was on active duty at Patrick AFB, Florida, from Oct. 1, 1962, until Oct. 15, 1962. On Dec. 10, 1960, I was promoted to major in the Air Force Reserves. On Feb. 1, 1969, I completed my 20 years of service in the Air Force Reserves and was placed on Retired Reserve status Post-WWII Civilian Occupations: In January 1947, I enrolled in the University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri. I graduated in June 1949 with a BS in Agriculture with a double major in soils and chemistry. From the fall of 1949 until December of 1950, I was an agricultural instructor with Senath Independent School District at Senath, Missouri. From June 1950 until August 1953 I was in charge of the Soil Conservation office at La Grange, Texas. September 1953 until August 1958 I was a salesman for Mathieson Chemical Co. at Lubbock, Texas. August 1958 until June 1963 I was a graduate student at the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia. I finished a Master's Degree in June 1961 in Soil-Water-Plant Relationship and a PhD. in soil physics in June 1963. From April 1963 until June 1992 I was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority. I had the responsibility of development and introduction of new and experimental fertilizers in the states of Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. I also helped to implement a TVA software program to assist the fertilizer industry in these three states to formulate fertilizer mixtures. I retired in June 1992. Smith's Thoughts on the 58th Bomb Wing: As you can see I have referred to the 58th as the 58th Test Wing. When I attended our reunion at Valley Forge, PA, I was talking to Col. Jim Edmundson. Told him I thought the 58th Bomb Wing was a misnomer, it should have been called the 58th Test Wing. Our entire service in India and China was to test the limits of the B-29 under all types of conditions. Col. Jim agreed with me wholeheartedly. I have also come to the conclusion I don't think it is a healthy situation to fly an A model of any airplane. The B-29s we took to India were not even designated A models. Most crews had less than 50 hours of flight time in a new airplane, that had not been tested or proven, but somebody had to do it. I would not take anything for the experience of flying in the B-29, but would not suggest it for long life. I believe data would show we had more losses from mechanical failure than we did to combat. I believe the results of our testing the plane meant the B-29 crews who followed us to Saipan, Tinian and Guam had greater success with less problems. Never thought when I joined the B-29 outfit in Salina, Kansas, I was going to have the opportunity of getting to have a round-the-world trip. The opportunity of seeing so much of the world has given me an entirely different perspective of life in many different countries of the world. Biden continues efforts to raise awareness about sexual assaults at colleges. SHARE On the road to to get Its On Us pledges By Niels Lesniewski, CQ-Roll Call (TNS) WASHINGTON Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is hitting the road again this week to make another push against sexual violence with the first of three speeches coming Tuesday at the University of Pittsburgh. Biden's tour this week is a continuation of his efforts to raise awareness about sexual assaults on college campuses and to get more people to join the "It's On Us" pledge. After Pittsburgh, Biden will stop on campuses in Nevada, where he'll be joined by Lady Gaga, then Colorado. There's optimism among advocates that the laws governing the handling of sexual assault claims could be updated with the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee having already held hearings on reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, and past comments by Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., expressing interest in moving the measure this year. Biden is likely to carry a similar message as the one he took to the Academy Awards in February and the NCAA Final Four last Saturday night, when Biden's favored Syracuse Orange lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels. In an interview during TBS' coverage of the Final Four games on Saturday, Biden said the change in culture is "overwhelming" and dependent on men speaking out. "I did town hall meetings nationwide because I learned that we made great progress except for college kids. So I asked them, what do you most think we should do? They said, get men involved," Biden said. "And you guys know it. You see what's happening now. These kids are standing up. A fraternity brother sees a freshman that's drunk too much being taken upstairs, the guy has got to have guts to walk over and say, not on my watch, Jack." Off the court, Biden fared better than his alma mater's team. The pledge picked up about 5,000 followers in conjunction with the Final Four, bringing the total number of signatories to about 332,000, with 50,000 or so in the aftermath of the Oscars, according to a White House official. Jill Biden, a longtime community college professor, said during the same interview that the vice president's interest in the newest initiative fit within his work over decades. "Joe started this when he started the Violence Against Women Act. And you know one in five women will be sexual(ly) assaulted on campus. So Joe started the It's On Us (initiative)," she said in a statement provided by the White House. On a parallel track, the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault has been encouraging colleges and universities to change the way they handle reports of sexual abuse. One offshoot of that has been a blueprint released last month by the University of Texas that was the result of work between the police for the massive university system and social work researchers. The document helps university police officers to better address the needs of victims, as well as broader questions about how cases are reported on campus. An Association of American Universities survey from September 2015 said that 23 percent of female college students reported unwanted sexual contact of some nature, with official reporting lagging reality. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat who has prioritized response to sexual assault both in the military and in higher education, is among lawmakers who hope to advance legislation as part of the higher education bill. A Gillibrand aide emphasized that if the higher education train does not move, however, advocates would seek other vehicles. "Surveys keep confirming the prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses across the country, yet too many of our colleges and universities still aren't taking this problem seriously and would rather sweep it under the rug. Our legislation would flip the incentives for schools, create transparency and accountability, and help make sure sexual assault is handled appropriately so our college campuses are safe," Gillibrand said in a statement. "This broadly bipartisan bill would do just that; it has momentum; we've shined a spotlight on the issue and we are going to keep raising our voices until we pass it." Republican supporters share that sentiment. A spokesman for Sen. Dean Heller said the Nevada Republican believes Biden's issue could be addressed this year by Congress. "That's why Senator Heller has repeatedly spoken with Chairman Alexander about the Campus Accountability and Safety Act, bipartisan legislation Heller introduced to combat sexual assault on college and university campuses," Heller spokesman Neal Patel told Roll Call. "The bill strengthens accountability measures for schools to ensure the safety of their students and provides survivors with the assistance they need." The measure would create new incentives for schools to get a more accurate accounting of sexual assaults in their campus communities through a national survey overseen by the Department of Education. It would also call for schools to develop better response plans. Colleges and universities would need memorandums of understanding between local law enforcement and campus officials, as well as a designated point person to direct victims seeking information. In a brief interview on Monday, Alexander said that the Higher Education Act could get done this year despite a truncated calendar for campaigns. The immediate priority for the HELP Committee, however, is working through a bill to help provide resources for health research known as the 21st Century Cures Act, set to be marked up in part on Wednesday, Alexander said. "We've done a lot of work on higher education. There's bipartisan agreement on a good bit of campus sexual assault. So, there's a chance we could get to it this year," Alexander said. Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times The Colonel C.C. Walsh House, built sometime before 1908, was added to the National Register of Historical Homes in May 1993. SHARE Around 1900 early San Angelo blossomed with many beautiful houses. Some of the three-story homes looked like castles. Later, many of those castles were demolished to make room for everything from downtown parking lots to space for modern apartments. It was progress, but it must have hurt. Luckily, not all of the fairy tale homes were put on the chopping block. The Colonel C.C. Walsh House on the corner of Park and Pecos streets is a wonderful example. Walsh who earned his title of "Colonel" as a Southern gentleman of honor and integrity, not on the field of the battle was a go-getter who brought a wealth of improvements with him to San Angelo. He and his wife moved to San Angelo in 1907. Walsh became president of San Angelo Bank and Trust Co. and later president of Central National Bank, which was closely linked to the city's livestock and wool trade. Town boosters used 1909 pictures of the house in promotional pamphlets. Walsh was also a prominent San Angelo citizen leader. He helped establish and served on the West Texas and San Angelo Chambers of Commerce; was secretary-treasurer of the Board of Missions for the Methodist Church, introducing a new bookkeeping system that was adopted by the church at large; established Southern Methodist University in Dallas; and served as a member of the San Angelo school board until he resigned and moved to Dallas in 1925 to direct the Federal Reserve Bank of the 11th District. Walsh did not stop there. He was a member of the Dallas Writer's Club and Poetry Society of West Texas, publishing 13 books, 25 scrapbooks, 50 volumes of prose writing and 20 volumes of poetry. The Walsh House has had several owners since it was built. One was Bryan Knodel, a mechanical engineer for Ethicon Inc. who moved to San Angelo from Chicago in 1990 and looked for an older house. "It's sort of a hobby with us," Knodel told Standard-Times reporter Loretta Macias in 1990. "We like to see older houses' character remain alive and nurture that back to the original beauty," Knodel said. The 2-story house was one of several similar houses that originally formed Angelo Heights. The subdivision was developed after 1905. John Fuentes and his wife, Lisa, owners of Fuentes Cafe Downtown, bought the C.C. Walsh house in 1992. The house had included five bedrooms, six bathrooms, a library, parlor and formal dining room. Their Classical Revival house was added to the National Register of Historical Homes in May 1993. Rick Smith is a local news and community affairs columnist. Contact him at rick.smith@gosanangelo.com or 325-659-8248.

A health worker watches from the Ministry of Health treatment center at the site of an Ebola contamination on October 2, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. More than 3,200 people have died in West Africa due to the epidemic

SHARE Supportive care is the best treatment so far By Lee Bowman, Scripps News Many people probably are wondering whats happening with the development of drugs to treat Ebola now that theres a report saying the West Africa epidemic could affect more than a million people and the first case has been confirmed in the United States. The U.S. case involves a man who flew from Liberia to Texas to visit family. He began to show symptoms of the virus a few days after arriving and is now in isolation in a Dallas-area hospital. Containment and supportive care for anyone who becomes infected are still the mainstays for fighting the virus because there is no proven cure. Still, a host of researchers, drug companies, government agencies and charities are moving quickly to create a better Ebola arsenal. Here are six key things to know about those efforts: A few Ebola patients have been treated with experimental drugs. What are those drugs? At least a half dozen drugs are in various stages of development and testing. Three of them, ZMapp, TKM-Ebola and AVI-7537, are considered farthest along. ZMapp was developed by Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, a small San Diego company that got support from the U.S. and Canadian governments. The drug is a cocktail of three antibodies grown using genetically modified tobacco plants that neutralize the virus. This was the so-called secret serum given to two American missionaries who contracted the disease in Liberia. The company ran out of doses of the drug in August. TKM-Ebola is made by Tekmira, a Canadian company. It works by interfering with the transfer of genetic information. The company has enough doses of the drug to run clinical tests, and it's been given to a missionary doctor (Rick Sacra) who was treated in a Nebraska hospital after contracting Ebola at a pediatric hospital and to a patient in France. AVI-7537 is a gene-targeting drug developed by Sarepta Therapeutics in Cambridge, Mass., under a $292 million Defense Department contract that was canceled in 2012 due to budget constraints. The drug has not been used in the latest outbreak, but the company says it has about 25 doses available and ingredients for at least 150 more. How effective are the drugs and how safe are they? The federal Food and Drug Administration typically requires companies to show that drugs work first in infected animals, and then that theyre safe in humans by giving a limited number of healthy people the drug. ZMapp was found completely effective on 18 rhesus monkeys with Ebola. TKM-Ebola also had good results in animals, but produced some side effects in human immune systems during safety testing. AVI-7537 showed good results in monkeys and passed a limited human safety check before testing shut down. With only a handful of people given any of the drugs during the current Africa outbreak, its impossible to say how effective they are, what dose is needed or how far into an illness they can be given for the patient to stand a chance at recovery. Whats being done to ramp up production of these drugs? Both Mapp and Tekmira are getting extra government support to increase capacity and the Wellcome Trust and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are looking into the possibility that ZMapp could be produced more rapidly in animal cells than on tobacco. Why does it take so long to produce them? The pharmaceutical industry says it typically takes 12-15 years and approximately $1.2 billion to bring the average drug to market. Until now, demand for Ebola drugs has been limited, and the labs developing cures deliberately have kept production levels and costs low. So, for instance, with federal encouragement, Mapp is working with several possible partners that have large greenhouses full of tobacco plants for drug development, rather than the handful of plants theyve worked with until now. Whos paying for these rush efforts? The Department of Health and Human Services is expected to help underwrite Mapps work to expand production using tobacco. The Defense Department has also given money to Mapp, Tekmira, and Biocryst. In addition, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $50 million to the Ebola fight, with about half that money going toward helping with drug and vaccine development and testing. And the British NGO Wellcome Trust has pledged $5 million toward testing ZMapp, TKM-Ebola and perhaps AVI-7537 on Ebola patients in Africa at clinics run by Doctors Without Borders. What about a vaccine to prevent the illness? There are a couple of research programs working on vaccines. GlaxoSmithCline, working with the National Institutes of Health, has already started safety trials on a preventive serum; Johnson & Johnson and partner Barvarian Nordic expect to begin testing another vaccine early next year. SHARE In a campaign that has involved talk of revisiting the Geneva Conventions, rewriting the 14th Amendment and rounding up and expelling 11 million people, failures of politeness, violations of manners, would seem a secondary concern. But in this political cycle, insults, invective and coarseness have been charged with a political significance. They are intended to indicate authenticity and a fighting spirit the liberation of politics from political correctness and elite sensibilities. Some find this invigorating, others offensive. But it is one of the ways that the election of 2016 will be remembered for playground taunts, for attacks on candidates' families, for vulgar bodily references and for a nasty, ungenerous spirit. This is hardly unprecedented. To the contrary, our country's conception of proper manners has often moved in a generational cycle. Various movements of the late 1960s, for example, involved liberation from stifling social conformity. This created necessary space for the unconventional, while changing stupid and oppressive conventions (such as social prohibitions on interracial marriage, or, later, bigotry against gays and lesbians). But all attempts to overthrow etiquette in favor of what is "real" come from a belief (hat tip to Jean-Jacques Rousseau) that what comes naturally is also good. In real life, what comes naturally to human beings as anyone who has cared for small human beings will tell you is often selfish, petulant and rude. All children are Donald Trump before they are taught manners. People get tired of living in a society filled with the sharp corners of incivility. The mannerlessness of the late 1960s and 1970s produced a backlash of good taste, symbolized by the popularity of Miss Manners (aka Judith Martin) in the 1980s and Ronald Reagan's rather courtly formality. What is different this time is that the challenge to manners is coming from the right not the "free speech movement" but from brushfire populism. The standards and values of reality television the exaggerated feuds, the personal vilification and the deleted expletives have invaded the political realm. And it is a form of social decay. America's founders actually thought and wrote a lot about manners. (No. 2 on the "Rules of Civility" George Washington copied down as a boy: "When in company, put not your hands to any part of the body not usually discovered." I imagine this would also cover references to your manhood during a presidential debate.) The founders worried that a society without an aristocracy would lack obvious standards of propriety. But it is good manners that allow citizens to argue without coming to blows, and even to find productive compromise. Manners are not the same thing as morality. They are practical rules for living together. Unlike morality, manners vary greatly by country and tribe, as well as across time. But being relative does not make them trivial. Particularly in a democracy, good manners involve an affirmation that we, all of us, are part of the same community, and that everyone is due a certain minimal amount of respect. Poor manners, in contrast, can indicate the dehumanization of individuals and groups. The boor is often the bigot. "America has in theory the best code of manners the world has ever seen," argues Miss Manners. "That's because it is based on respect for the individual, regardless of his or her origin. Good manners in America are about helping strangers. They're also about judging people on their qualities rather than on their backgrounds. These are principles that were deliberately worked out by our Founding Fathers to assure the dignity of the individual and keep society nonhierarchical." This is what should appeal to conservatives the most. Good manners create a livable community without recourse to laws and regulations. They create ties among citizens that are not based on compulsion. When we stand in a stadium with our hand over our hearts, or refrain from using bad language in front of children in the subway, or disagree about politics without becoming personal and vicious, we add a few invisible strands that hold our community and democracy together. In most everyday circumstances, manners matter more than laws. This is a social contract. We treat people with respect in the hope and expectation we will be treated with respect. And people who demand respect without showing it are properly viewed as narcissists or sociopaths. Those who equate crudeness and cruelty with authenticity are doing a nasty disservice to their country, making it that much harder to live together. Those who want to serve their country should mind their manners. Michael Gerson is a Washington Post columnist. Contact him at michaelgerson@washpost.com. More than 63 percent. That's the portion of active registered voters -- those who were eligible to participate in one of the 34 state primary elections or party caucuses conducted through March 26 -- who didn't vote or caucus for a presidential candidate.This 37 percent turnout rate would look even worse using official, published figures; many states' voter registration rolls are rife with so-called "inactive" voters. Use an even broader denominator -- all eligible citizens, registered or not -- and the no-show rate is over 70 percent.This needn't be. Abysmal voter-participation rates have many causes, but one of the most important ones is that we simply make it too hard for Americans to vote. Three states have adopted a simple and cost-effective solution. If adopted broadly, universal voting by mail would go a long way toward bringing far more citizens into the critical process of selecting our political leaders.There's certainly vast room for improvement. In 21 primary elections to date, active registered voter turnout has averaged just 41 percent. Only two states have cracked the 50 percent mark: Ohio (51 percent) and New Hampshire (60 percent). Caucus states' turnout rates have been far lower: overall, just 13 percent of the active registered voters allowed by various parties' rules to participate. Iowa's iconic caucuses attracted fewer than one in five registered voters, even though non-affiliated voters were allowed to participate.Most news coverage has reflected a far different narrative of "record high" turnout with "droves" and "long lines" of voters, especially new, young, and/or angry ones who favor the parties' insurgent candidates, Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Some lines have indeed been inexcusably long. It's true that compared to the 2008 primary election cycle -- not to mention 2012, when only the Republican nomination was in play -- there's been an uptick in many states' numbers. And yes, there are certainly a lot of angry voters, driven by such issues as immigration, trade agreements, economic inequality or Wall Street banks. But less than a third of eligible Americans weighing in on these and other issues hardly a tidal wave makes.Have voters been too busy to notice there's a presidential race going on? Not likely, given the endless, wall-to-wall press coverage of every angry rally and testy debate exchange. Maybe the weather has been bad? So far this year, the weather gods have actually been gracious. A February blizzard in Iowa hit the dayits caucuses. Most of New Hampshire got blanketed with snow the day before its primary, but Primary Day itself dawned to sunny skies and mostly plowed roads. Are photo ID laws taking a toll on turnout? As odious and unnecessary as these restrictions are, so far they seem to be a non-issue.You can't really blame voter-registration or polling-place hassles. Most states now allow online voter registration. In the last decade, many states also have loosened absentee-ballot rules and instituted "early in-person voting" at special polling sites open for several weeks (including weekend days) prior to Election Day.But processing millions of additional absentee-ballot requests, setting up extra polling places and hiring more poll workers costs real money, and elections are still largely the financial responsibility of cash-strapped local governments. Aanalysis of state records in 2012 concluded that various early-voting strategies had caused these costs for Ohio counties to nearly double between presidential election cycles, from $67 million to $122 million.If such changes consistently led to higher turnout, they'd arguably be worth the extra cost. But among the 10 states in the 2014 midterm elections with the highest rates of early in-person voting, the collective turnout rate of active registered voters was actually slightlythan the national average.Most important, such efforts ultimately are just "add-on" strategies to a long-standing ballot-delivery model by which voters are required to either physically go to where their ballots are issued, be it on Election Day or before, or apply and qualify for an absentee ballot.How much more evidence of poor -- or even dismal -- voter turnout in critically important elections is needed before we recognize that the traditional polling place a far more potent "voter suppression" mechanism than photo ID laws?During the 2014 midterms, active-registered-voter turnout was just 48 percent nationally, and only 56 percent among 16 key battleground states with close U.S. Senate and/or governor contests. The top two states in getting active registered voters to cast ballots were Colorado (72 percent) and Oregon (71 percent) -- and the latter wasn't even a battleground.Oregon's May 2008 presidential primary was the most recent occasion when that state's voters had contested races for both Democratic and Republican candidates (though the GOP's nominee was largely decided by then). Republican active-registered-voter turnout was 56 percent; Democratic turnout was 76 percent.What do Oregon and Colorado (and, since 2011, Washington state) do differently? For every election, these states simply mail every registered voter a ballot. Voters can then drop the completed ballot into the mail or use any one of hundreds of convenient drop stations.What isn't part of these systems? Voting lines, for starters. Absent, too, are software-based voting machines that, as they wear out or become obsolete, will cost their jurisdictions billions of dollars to replace. Photo IDs aren't an issue, nor is voter impersonation or other electoral mischief. Each returned ballot is verified by checking the voter's signature against his or her registration record.Oregon's local governments save about $3 million each election cycle. The cost of mailing out more than 2 million ballots statewide is more than offset by the savings from eliminating thousands of polling places and their Election Day workers. A just-released Pew Charitable Trusts study pegged Colorado's 2014 election savings at $6 per vote -- roughly $12 million compared to its 2008 experience.The bottom line is this: Had every American state matched Oregon's and Colorado's 2014 turnout, 30 million more ballots would have been cast. And imagine the extra ballots -- not to mention their impact -- in the current presidential races.Some candidates and their partisans may actually prefer far lower turnout. Others simply don't want to let go of those Norman Rockwell-like visuals of intrepid voters traipsing through snowy streets to do their civic duty. But American history will be made whether it's with a few of us voting or a lot of us. Isn't it long past time to stop confusing a particular, long-standing ritual of democracy with its essence: participation? The governor vetoed his first two bills of the year Tuesday. One was a controversial measure to allow the use of religious texts in Idaho schools, and the other a funding bill meant to accompany a failed bill to apply for a Medicaid expansion waiver.In his veto message, Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter quoted the Idaho Constitution, which bans the use of "books, papers, tracts or documents of a political, sectarian or denominational character" in public schools. The Idaho Attorney General's Office previously said the bill is allowable under the U.S. Constitution but violates Idaho's."I have deep respect and appreciation for the Bible as religious doctrine as well as a piece of historic literature," Otter wrote. "However, allowing S1342 to become law is in direct contravention to the Idaho Constitution, and it could result in a loss of funding and costly litigation for Idaho public schools."The bill would have let schools use "religious texts, including the Bible," where it is relevant to a subject, while forbidding doctrinal instruction. The original version of the bill only mentioned the Bible, but a Senate committee amended it to include other religious texts and it passed the Senate with a few Democrats joining the GOP to support it. It then passed the House on a mostly party-line vote, although Magic Valley Republicans Fred Wood and Lance Clow voted against it after an unsuccessful attempt to remove the explicit reference to the Bible.Otter also vetoed the funding bill that was meant to accompany a bill to authorize the Department of Health and Welfare to apply for a Medicaid expansion waiver. The House passed the funding bill on a Thursday night, but killed the bill authorizing the waiver application the next morning as one of its last acts of the session.The money, if the accompanying policy bill had passed, would have gone toward $5 million a year in grants for community health clinics plus $400,000 to gather data on the uninsured in the "Medicaid gap.""The aforementioned bills were placebos, not a panacea to address the health care needs of 78,000 Idahoans," Otter wrote. "The need still exists and I hope we can summon the resolve to finally address the issue during the next session of the Idaho legislature."The Legislature ended this year's session without passing anything toward covering the uninsured, although House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said he plans to create a workgroup of lawmakers to study the issue during the interim. Otter ruled out taking executive action on Medicaid expansion or calling a special session on the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday left unsettled one of the most important cases involving public-sector workers in decades.In Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a group of teachers had argued that requiring nonmembers to pay fees for the cost of negotiating contracts was unconstitutional and in violation of their free speech rights. But in a 4-4 decision on Tuesday, the nation's highest court left intact a prior appeals court ruling permitting government unions to collect the fees.Although the one-sentence opinion affirmed the lower court's ruling, it set no legal precedent. It's expected that the court could soon revisit the ruling, raising the possibility that the unions victory may be short-lived.Union leaders hailed the decision, calling the case an attempt to weaken collective bargaining and suppress their political influence.In Friedrichs, the court saw through the political attacks on the workplace rights of teachers, educators and other public employees," said Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Association, in a statement. "This decision recognizes that stripping public employees of their voices in the workplace is not what our country needs."Lawyers with the Center for Individual Rights, a conservative legal group representing the plaintiffs, vowed to fight the ruling. The centers president, Terry Pell, said the firm would file a petition for the court to revisit the case.Either compulsory dues are an acceptable exception to the First Amendment or they are not," said Pell. "A full court needs to decide this question and we expect this case will be reheard when a new justice is confirmed."In a 1977 decision, the court ruled that public unions could require workers (even if they aren't dues-paying members) to cover the cost of negotiating contracts with what's known as fair share fees or agency fees." Separate fees, which members can opt out of paying, fund unions political activities. The plaintiffs in Friedrichs, however, argued that all union activity is inherently political, so states shouldnt require public employees to contribute to costs of negotiating contracts either. Labor advocates contend that this would lead to free riders benefiting from union representation without sharing the costs of negotiating contracts.Earlier this year, court observers had expected a 5-4 ruling that would have overturned the decades-old precedent on the issue. But the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, whose line of questioning seemed to suggest he opposed the unions, altered the dynamics of the court.President Obama nominated federal Court of Appeals Judge Merrick B. Garland to fill the vacancy on the court, but Senate Republican leaders have pledged to not consider his nomination until after the November elections.Eliminating requirements for union workers to cover the costs of labor negotiations would deal a blow to labor unions operating revenues. Its difficult to say how much union coffers would take a hit, though, as the extent to which they rely on fair share fees varies. California Teachers Association members pay about $1,000 in annual dues, of which roughly $600 to $650 covers fair share fees for representation.Union members additionally pay separate fees that fund lobbying and political activities but have the right to opt out of paying such fees. The Friedrichs case called into question whether workers should have to opt out in the first place, with the plaintiffs arguing union workers should instead opt in before paying any lobbying fees. With the 4-4 tie, union members can continue to opt out of (not into) paying such fees. Any changes relating to the collection of these fees are likely to be felt more over the longer term. Its believed that most longtime union members arent likely to opt out of paying these costs, but more new members taking their place might not elect to opt in if required to do so. More than half of states have passed right-to-work laws, prohibiting unions from requiring employees to join or pay dues. Particularly in those states, any future court decision carries major implications for millions of public employees. In right-to-work states, overall union membership rates are typically lower.The public sector represents one of the last remaining strongholds of the U.S. labor movement. Nationally, more than a third of all public employees belong to unions, compared to less than 7 percent of private-sector workers, according to the most recent Labor Department estimates. Amid a flurry of strongly worded tweets, PayPal on Tuesday became the first and only prominent tech company to commit to moving operations out of North Carolina, whose governor last week signed into law a bill that bars local governments from passing antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people.Bay Area companies with operations in North Carolina and Mississippi have loudly condemned recently passed state laws that target lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.But few have put action behind their words. The electronic payments firm announced Tuesday it would scrap plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte, N.C., after committing to employ more than 400 people in skilled jobs in the state.No other company has committed to taking steps to leave either North Carolina or Mississippi, which on Tuesday passed legislation that allows public employees, schools, hospitals, shelters, faith-based organizations and businesses to refuse service to LGBT people and families. The Mississippi bill also allows these organizations to refuse to acknowledge the gender identities of transgender people."Our decision is a clear and unambiguous one," wrote Dan Schulman, PayPal's president and chief executive, in a company blog post. "As a company that is committed to the principle that everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination simply for being who they are, becoming an employer in North Carolina, where members of our teams will not have equal rights under the law, is simply untenable."Microsoft, considered a "major supporter" of the Mississippi Economic Council, a pro-business lobbying group, declined to comment on whether the Mississippi bill would affect its business in or relationship with the state.Brad Smith, Microsoft's president and chief legal officer, took to Twitter to announce his disappointment in the Mississippi government: "These laws are bad for people, bad for business and bad for job growth," he wrote.The Mississippi Economic Council condemned the legislation Monday -- a day before Gov. Phil Bryant signed it into law.PayPal's move comes a week after similar pressure forced the hand of Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, who vetoed a similar religious-freedom bill after Salesforce and Netflix said they would pull operations and relocate offices and staff outside of Georgia should the provision pass.A slew of other companies with employees in the region condemned the legislation, but did not warn of further action.Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said though actions like closing offices or facilities may have a starker impact on a state's economic vitality, public condemnation by globally recognized brands like Google, Facebook and Apple also go a long way to influence public opinion."It brings enormous visibility to the issue and helps enormously with public education," Minter said. "Public officials really care what businesses think about their state. It helps when businesses put up a united and powerful front."Minter noted the business community in the Bay Area, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, had been instrumental and vocal supporters of same-sex marriage laws and many companies had written friend of the court briefs in support of extending the right to marry to gay couples when the issue was before the Supreme Court in 2014."These businesses are already connected and committed to standing with LGBT equality so it's much less of a heavy lift to get them to weigh in," he said. "They're already there."San Francisco and several other cities have limited municipal employees' travel to states or municipalities with anti-LGBT laws.Last week, Mayor Ed Lee said Bay Area businesses putting weight behind the issue was significant.The city will "join with businesses and others to put economic and political pressure on these state governments that are doing the wrong thing," Lee said.Assemblyman Evan Low, D-San Jose, introduced a bill last month that would ban state government workers from traveling to states with anti-LGBT laws. San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener has introduced a resolution to lend the city's support to Low's measure.In 2015, when Indiana passed a law facilitating discrimination against LGBT individuals, Salesforce's Benioff canceled all of the company's events in the state. No tech company has yet followed suit in announcing employee travel bans or canceled events in North Carolina or Mississippi. 1. Transforming state government 2. Supporting the development of smart cities 3. Creating smart and connected regional clusters Inviting private/academic/financial sector partners as advisers; Studying further the economic value of the smart state; Building an executable strategy; Identifying high-value, low-effort projects to get off the ground; Identifying high-value, high-effort projects for potential private financing options; and Drafting appropriate forward-looking policies/legislation to enable Internet of Things/smart state businesses to thrive in Illinois. The smart city concept encompasses some broad common elements elements that can be applied beyond the city such as sustainable economic development, data-driven decision-making, innovative thinking, and use of emerging technologies and new partnerships. And Illinois is working to incorporate these elements, as well as common technology components such as connected devices, the Internet of Things, analytics, cloud and mobility, making it well on its way to becoming the first smart state.IDC recently sat down with the Smarter Illinois team, an initiative led by CIO Hardik Bhatt and supported by Gov. Bruce Rauner. Bhatt has a vision to create the first smart state, which is described on the Smarter Illinois website . The central themes to the smart state include the triple role the state can play:States have responsibilities, challenges and inefficiencies similar to those of many large cities; they need to become more efficient and "smarter" themselves.States play a major role in supporting the creation of smart cities in their jurisdiction through policies and funding.States can connect smart cities within their jurisdiction to create smart and connected regional clusters of economic development.So how does the smart state differ from the smart city?Part of the difference rests on the sphere of influence that different government entities have. Cities are focused on their metropolitan area where most of the geography is urban, whereas states must factor in not only influence over multiple cities and towns, but also urban, suburban and rural community needs, and think more broadly about urban corridors.Not surprisingly, the actual use cases smart grid; water and waste; intelligent traffic systems; smart emergency response; connected public safety officers; and smart, green buildings are very similar. In these ways, cities and states can learn and support each other as they pilot and scale these newer systems, helping each other to reduce implementation risks. However, the pure scale of coordination around efforts in states as compared to cities can be quite different. In Illinois, for instance, Bhatt must coordinate with 86 agency CIOs to implement a coordinated smart state agenda.Because of the sheer scale, the process by which Bhatt and his team are tackling this transformation is worth watching over time. At the end of January, the state announced a plan for consolidating its IT department into a new agency, the Office of Innovation and Technology, led by Bhatt.As noted in recent coverage of the initiative, Illinois is the 30th state to consolidate its IT department and have an IT-focused agency. As Bhatt points out, this will not only reduce duplicate spending, it also will bring together the 86 department CIOs and foster the ability to think strategically at the state level.The fact that this approach is similar to that of smart cities isn't a coincidence.Under the leadership of Chief Strategy Officer for Enterprise IT Marian Cook, the state has developed a successful process to execute its vision for a Smarter Illinois and fulfill the aforementioned three central roles.This process involved conducting a baseline survey for "smart" initiatives across state departments, which showed a lack of clear understanding for what these initiatives are, especially around the Internet of Things; creating an agency CIO working group that will evolve into an enterprise Center of Excellence; and pairing that working group with an external advisory board of global experts.Each of these steps was no small feat, but each provided Bhatt and his team with valuable information, as well as the state with a template it can use to continue to foster innovative new plans. In the end, the state of Illinois plans to move forward by:Illinois is a state to watch and learn from as it undergoes a very large-scale transformation and it's a transformation that applies to other states, cities and counties. Mick Schumacher is taking on a busy calendar in 2016 as he continues his push towards formula one. Now 17, F1 legend Michael Schumacher's son began his open wheel adventure last year in German Formula 4, but Bild reports that the young German will also race in parallel in the Italian series this season. Driving for the Ferrari-linked Prema team, Schumacher's campaign kicks off at Misano this weekend, followed by the opening German round in Oschersleben the following weekend. He got his season off to a good start this week, topping the testing times. "At least at first he will do both series and over time we will see if he concentrates on one," manager Sabine Kehm told the German newspaper. Kehm said it is good that Schumacher's schedule will be busy in 2016, explaining that the decision was taken against pushing Mick into the highly-competitive F3 Euro series this year. "We have deliberately opted for another year in Formula 4 so that his training is not rushed and is as broad and deep as possible," she explained. "With regards to later, that's important. Mick is still in the training phase, and this must not be forgotten," said Kehm. Meanwhile, former Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has again commented on the recovery of Michael Schumacher, having earlier this year said the news about the seven time world champion is "not good". "I want to express very strongly my confidence," he is quoted by the Italian broadcaster Sky, "because in the past some of my words were misinterpreted. "With strength and conviction, I am very confident about Michael's recovery and that he will make it. His strength is his great ability to react, so I am convinced that, surrounded by his family and with his own strength, he will fight back," Montezemolo added. (GMM) Amid Sauber's obvious financial problems early in 2016, new media reports suggest the struggling Swiss team could soon be sold. Co-owner and boss Monisha Kaltenborn was not in Bahrain last weekend, with sources reporting she stayed at Hinwil for crucial talks over the team's future. But alarming speculation that Sauber's 23-year F1 adventure could end even before travelling to China next week may be wide of the mark. Citing "multiple sources", Brazil's Globo said Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericcson will definitely be present and racing next weekend in Shanghai. But the report also said Kaltenborn is in crucial talks over Sauber's future, and potentially with the Ferrari-linked Italian carmaker Alfa Romeo. And separate talks may also be taking place with the wealthy Swedish backers behind current race driver Ericsson, including links to the multinational packaging company Tetra Pak. The Finnish newspaper Turun Sanomat, meanwhile, cites a Swiss source who said another potential investor could be from Dubai. (GMM) Versalis (Eni) and Genomatica signed a definitive joint development and licensing agreement to establish a technology joint venture for bio-based butadiene. The two companies will work together to develop a complete end-to-end process for the production of butadiene from non-food biomass. ( Earlier post .) Butadiene is a major chemical building block for the petrochemical industry and is presently produced primarily as a by-product of ethylene cracking. About 10 million tonnes are produced each year, of which two-thirds are used to manufacture synthetic rubber, with the last third is used for nylon, latices, ABS plastics and other polymers. The resulting process will be licensed across Europe, Asia and Africa by the newly-created joint venture. Future licensees of the process, including Versalis, will provide the capital required for the construction and operation of their own plants, and be responsible for the use and sale of the resulting butadiene. Versalis will provide over $20 million in funding to Genomatica to support development of the integrated end-to-end process. It will also aim to be the first to license the process and build commercial plants. The current agreement completes the steps included in the Memorandum of Understanding which was announced in July 2012. Genomatica brings its expertise in biotechnology, particularly in engineering organisms and fermentation. As a leader in butadiene-based products, Versalis will bring its expertise in catalysis and process engineering. The joint venture with Genomatica is consistent with the new Versalis strategy which envisages investment in innovation and in the elastomer business. This process started in 2011 with the constitution of the Matrica joint venture for the construction in Porto Torres, Sardinia, of the largest green chemistry complex in the world for the production of bio-intermediates, bio-lubricants, bio-additives and bio-plastics. Versalis has also recently signed an agreement with Yulex, an American company producing agriculture-based biomaterials for the production of natural rubber from guayule for consumer, medical and industrial applications, as well as for the construction of an industrial production complex in Southern Europe. Based on the partnership with Yulex, Versalis recently announced the signing of an important agreement with Pirelli for a joint research project on the use of natural rubber from guayule in the production of tires. (Earlier post.) Global Bioenergies has purified its bioisobutene to 99.77%, a polymergrade level. Global Bioenergies routinely produces isobutene batches using its industrial pilot located in PomacleBazancourt, eastern France. Up to now, 95% purity was reached, a level sufficient for several applications, such as fuels and paints. For the first time, with the help of Processium, a chemical engineering company headquartered in Lyon, France, Global Bioenergies was able to purify batches to a much higher level, reaching 99.77%, the remaining 0.23% being mostly composed of CO 2 , an inert gas known to be neutral in most chemical reactions. Several applications in the polymers business (rubbers, plastics...) require highpurity isobutene, and 99.77% corresponds to the polymergrade standard. We expect that our highpurity bioisobutene will meet the specifications of the industrial leaders involved in converting isobutene into polymers, and that they will be able to use their existing polymerization processes, designed for fossil feedstocks, without any significant change. The higher the purity, the higher the value: targeting highervalue markets is especially important in the present oil and gas environment. Thomas Buhl, Head of business development at Global Bioenergies Global Bioenergies is developing processes to convert renewable resources into hydrocarbons through fermentation. The company initially focused its efforts on the production of isobutene, one of the most important petrochemical building blocks that can be converted into fuels, plastics, organic glass and elastomers. Two articles on acts of terrorism caught my eye recently. One at the U.S. Capitol was the act of a lone gunman; the other, a claimed act of supporters of the Islamic State in Pakistan that targeted Christians on Easter, killing 72 and wounding 300. How will our president respond? If past history is any indicator, he will refuse to note the significant differences in cause and effect. He will more likely lecture us on Islamophobia and gun control than acknowledge that the Pakistani attack is another in a long line of worldwide gruesome killings of innocent people by a highly committed, organized, well-funded group motivated by its theology. They are, in fact, Islamic terrorists. They themselves acknowledge that fact; European leaders acknowledge it; even Muslim leaders such as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif acknowledge it. My question: If the rest of the world can recognize that there is a real and meaningful difference between the motivation of random terrorist acts committed by deranged individuals and the mass killings motivated by radical Islamists, why cant our president? And if he cant or wont acknowledge that difference, how can he provide for the security of America, much less lead the effort of the civilized world in combat against this evil? Curtis Collins Jamestown As the Easter/Passover season is coming to a close and our mutual Houses of Worship were filled to the brim, I thought about an important book that was published at the beginning of the 21st century, Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam. The book tells the story of two men, John and Andy. John was 63 years old and of African-American descent. Andy was 33 years old and of Euro-American descent. John was a retired hospital worker and Andy was an accountant. The only thing the two men seemingly had in common was that they bowled together in the same league. For three years, John had been waiting on a kidney transplant. One day in a casual conversation at the bowling alley, Andy learned about Johns situation. Andy, with no other relationship with John, offered and eventually donated one of his kidneys to him. From a seemingly mundane communal environment, the greatest act of love and kindness was made on behalf of one human being for another. While the story of John and Andy is especially powerful, Putnams overall book documented how our communal lives in modernity less and less reflect this type of both individual and collective holiness. As Putnam so eloquently stated, the reality of todays times is that more and more of us are bowling alone. Putnams book made an imperative case for needing to cultivate community that produces strong ties between individuals, families, friends, neighbors, etc. The Easter/Passover season was an additional important reminder for us all. On the Jewish holiday most widely attended within the Jewish Community, the Eve of Yom Kippur, Yogi Berra of Blessed Memory passed away. In learning of the loss, I shared a piece with my congregational family that I had on file which noted some of his most wonderful quotes. What was especially poignant was his practical statement: If you dont go to somebodys funeral, they wont come to yours. Belonging to our Temple Sholom Community is a source of blessing and support for our specific Temple members. Together, we strengthen our holy instincts and more effectively initiate our holy actions. We also assure that our fellow Jews are not spiritually bowling alone. We attend shiva (houses of mourning), join in making a minyan (prayer quorum) for Kaddish (prayer for the loved ones who have passed away), respond to the crisis of a fellow Temple member with our love and tangible support. Belonging to the Temple Community is very important, but, even more important, is actively becoming engaged and present with our fellow Temple Sholom members. What is true for Temple Sholom is also true for any other particular house of worship. Communal observances, whether religious, educational, social, etc., are most effective only when we make the effort to be present. Dropping off our children at religious school is a more powerful experience when we take the time to walk them into the building as they head off to their classes, or are being dismissed, and they witness the natural schmoozing that occurs between fellow house of worship members. Seeking out the opportunities to be together creates the catalysts for both individual and collective holiness to be actively pursued. The purpose of belonging to a temple or church community is to secure a communal framework that religiously anchors our lives. We pray together, we sing together, we eat together, we laugh together, we mourn together .. we never allow for anyone to feel they must bowl alone. What is additionally unique is that the faith-based institutions also join together and the sub-communities in sum become greater than their parts. Greenwich is especially blessed to have our temples and churches working so close with one another. My communal prayer is to quote the Psalmist: Mekhayil el Khayil (Psalms 84:7) -- May we go from strength to strength. Rabbi Mitchell M. Hurvitz is Senior Rabbi Temple Sholom of Greenwich, co-founder of the Sholom Center for Interfaith Learning and Fellowship, and a past-president of the Greenwich Fellowship of Clergy. For an archive of past columns, visit www.templesholom.com Last December Google introduced a new Reminders feature in its Calendar apps for both Android and iOS. And now the feature is finally ready to be rolled out to the web version of Google Calendar as well. In a way overdue move, Google will add the functionality at some point later this week. Once you get Reminders in Google Calendar for web, you can fully take advantage of this neat feature. Reminders you create in Inbox for Gmail, Google Keep, or the Google app on your mobile device will also show up in Google Calendar. Obviously, reminders you create in the Google Calendar app for Android and iOS will seamlessly sync with the web version once the rollout completes. And regardless of where you view your Google Calendar from, you'll see reminders that aren't completed at the top - until you mark them as done. Source After installing a new government led by Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles, Haitis interim president Jocelerme Privert has now passed a second hurdle: setting up another Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) on Mar. 30, 2016. This is the sixth CEP formed in the past four years. The new CEP has as its president Leopold Berlanger, formally the representative of the National Association of Haitian Media (ANMH) and the Association of Haitis Independent Media (AMIH). Berlanger is also the informal representative of Haitis bourgeoisie and the so-called Core Group, the ambassadors who follow U.S. leadership in Haiti. The CEPs vice-president is lawyer Carlos Hercule, who represents the Catholic Church of Cardinal Chibly Langlois and Bishop Patrice Aris. Marie Frantz Joachim, the representative of Haitian Women Solidarity (SOFA), is the CEPs Secretary General, while Dr. Frinel Joseph, representing Haitis Protestant sector, is the treasurer. Haitis human rights sector, represented by the Platform of Haitian Human Rights Organizations (POHDH) and the National Human Rights Defense Network (RNDDH), nominated Jean Simon Saint-Hubert to the new CEP while the Peasant and Vodou sector sent Kenson Polynice. Marie-Herolle Michel represents the business community on the new CEP, while Josette Jean Dorcely represents the trade union sector, and Lucien Jean-Bernard, the university sector. Mr. Bernard was a member of the CEP which organized the massively boycotted election of Jan. 17, 1988 that brought to power President Leslie Francois Manigat. Four months after his Feb. 7, 1988 inauguration, Manigat was overthrown by the same general, Henri Namphy, who put him in power. That 1988 CEP was chaired by Jean Gilbert, who held his election less than two months after a Nov. 29, 1987 election was aborted after paramilitary thugs macheted and shot to death dozens of would-be voters around Haiti. The new CEP is also trying to hold an election in an extremely polarized and volatile political atmosphere. The big question is this: will it annul the Aug. 9 and Oct. 25, 2015 rounds, as demanded by Haitis people and most of the political class, or will it attempt to hold a third round which accepts the results of the first two, as demanded by the Core Group? Haitis leading presidential candidates demand the formation of an independent commission of inquiry to review the ballots and tally sheets of the Aug. 9 and Oct. 25 pollings, marred by fraud and violence, to determine what the true results were, if that can even be done. Many doubt it can. If the independent investigation is not carried out, it is doubtful that any major presidential candidate will participate in the elections whose schedule the new CEP must establish. On Apr. 4, popular organizations and students organized a sit-in in front of the National Palace and the Justice Ministry to demand that in addition to an independent commission of electoral verification, there be formed a commission to audit the management of three funds. First, they want an investigation of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC), co-chaired by former U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton, which decided how to spend about $13 billion in post-earthquake international aid to Haiti. Secondly, they want to know how over $1.5 billion was spent by the government of President Michel Martelly out of Haitis PetroCaribe account, where 40% of all state oil sales are parked to provide capital for social welfare programs. Even Mary Barton-Dock, the World Banks Special Envoy to Haiti, told the Financial Times that transparency in the use of PetroCaribe funds is minimal. Today, Haiti owes 86% of its foreign debt to Venezuela, and it has not paid the 60% of oil revenues it owes Venezuela up-front for over nine months. Finally, Martelly and his Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe established an illegal tax (it was never ratified by Parliament) of $1.50 on every international money transfer and five cents on every international phone call. The tax generated tens of millions of dollars which have never been accounted for, although the money was supposed to be funding education. The demonstrators also denounced the interference of the Core Group, the UN Mission to Stabilize Haiti (MINUSTAH) chief Sandra Honore, U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Peter Mulrean, and Canadian Ambassador Paula Caldwell St-Onge in Haitis internal affairs. Under the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic and Consular Relations, accredited diplomatic representatives are formally prohibited from interfering in their host nations internal affairs. In recent weeks, students mobilizing at State Universitys Faculty of Ethnology and the Faculty of Law have clashed with the Haitian National Police (PNH), as they clashed with MINUSTAH troops last year. Today, they say loud and clear that they will not obey the dictates of the Core Group and Washington. If Leopold Berlanger allows his CEP to be used by Washington like that of his predecessor of Pierre-Louis Opont, he will suffer the same fate of having to resign in disgrace, they say. Interim President Jocelerme Privert and Prime Minister Enex Jean-Charles are also not immune from popular anger if they dont establish commissions to verify Martellys elections and audit his finances, demonstrators say. Haiti - Politic : PM convened by a commission of the lower house The Deputie Antoine Rodon Bien-Aime, President of the Commission "Economy and Finance" of the Lower House, asked Cholzer Chancy, President of the Chamber to convene for April 7, 2016, Prime Minister Jean-Charles; Yves Romain Bastien, the Minister of Economy ; Jessy C. Petit-Frere, the Minister of Commerce ; Pierre Guito Laurore, the Minister of Agriculture and the Director General of Customs. The Commission intends to seek clarification on the ban from 1 October 2015 on 23 products from the Dominican Republic https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15156-haiti-notice-import-ban-by-road-of-certain-products-from-dr.html ; the closure of provincial customs offices along the border between the two countries and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Haitian Government, represented by Wilson Laleau, Minister of Economy and the Israeli firm HLSI on strengthening the management of our borders and particularly the restructuring, the construction and modernization of 9 border posts; the acquisition of materials and equipment ; assistance in border surveillance [Advice] (air, land and sea) and building employee skills [training] https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-15580-haiti-flash-border-surveillance-agreement-with-an-israeli-firm.html https://www.icihaiti.com/en/news-15987-icihaiti-security-monitoring-of-our-borders-israel-will-inject-$50m.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping politics... Some want to obtain at all costs the cancellation of elections Rosny Desroches, Executive Director of the Civil Society Initiative (ISC) and former Spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Evaluation (of which he was a member), fears that certain sectors that demands a Verification Commission , have their own agenda, want to obtain at all costs the cancellation of elections to have a new chance to go in the second round. According to Mr. Desroches it is impossible to know who benefited of irregularities in this election to the extent that all the candidates seem to have benefited. Jocelerme Privert at the Lycee Alexandre Petion Tuesday, President a.i. Jocelerme Privert, visited the Lycee Alexandre Petion, as a prelude to commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the founding of this institution. The Head of State, a former student of Lycee Alexandre Petion, took the opportunity to address to students of the institution, reminding that "out of 57 Presidentsthat knew the Republic of Haiti, 46 were students of the Lycee Alexandre Petion." The US ready to finance the second round US Ambassador accredited to Haiti, Peter F. Mulrean declared "It is unfortunate that there was some delay. In the agreement, there are steps to follow for governance, for the elections, which remain entirely valid. We support the agreement [...] it is the CEP that will tell us when the elections will be possible, "stating about the financing of election "Under the conditions set by the CEP we will continue to fund elections . We were already prepared to financially support the second round of presidential elections [...] "recalling that the delays are expensive," on-site staff of the United Nations and UNDP continue to be paid and we have no endless funds." An action plan for the CEP, without any timetable... The Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) has defined a plan in several major points for the first actions to be taken to revive the electoral process: assessing the electoral apparatus; dialogue with the various stakeholders involved in the elections; meetings with the Executive and the actors of the International Community for strengthening and independence of the institution and analysis of municipal elections. These actions are not supported by any timetable... In addition, the Electoral Council announced that it would soon publish the final results for the municipalities that are not affected by litigation (81 complaints were filed). OAS met Prime Minister Tuesday at the Primature, the Prime Minister, Enex Jean-Charles, received in closed session, the representative of the Organization of American States (OAS). HL/ HaitiLibre Login or sign up to follow actresses, movies & dramas and get specific updates and news Login Sign Up New Ad-free Subscriber Login Email Password Password Username Your E-mail will only be used to retrieve a lost password. Stay logged in Help Published on 2016/04/06 | Source On the 13th episode of KBS 2TV's 'Descendants of the Sun', Yoo Si-jin (Song Joong-ki) and Kang Mo-yeon (Song Hye-kyo)'s romance continued in Korea. Advertisement When Kang Mo-yeon came back from Uruk, she submitted a resignation letter to the hospital. But when she realized she could not loan the fund to open her own clinic from bank, she came back to the hospital unwillingly. She complained to the bank teller (Yoo Ah-in), "What should I do now", he ignored her issue flat out while saying, "Why do you ask me". Kang Mo-yeon contacted Yoo Si-jin and complained about her situation. She asked how much captain's salary was and her issue was ignored by Yoo Si-jin as well. Kang Mo-yeon being upset with the entire situation complained to Yoo Si-jin, "Copy, Don't worry about me, I won't go bankrupt" And then she returned to the hospital. Because Kang Mo-yeon was cut off from the special care ward, she was assigned to emergency room on overnight duty. Although her tough daily life began, Yoo Si-jin came back to Korea and their tedious love story started becoming interesting. Although Yoo Si-jin was called in during their date, this incident helped Kang Mo-yeon understand the nature with a soldier's career better. Since Kang Mo-yeon and Yoo Si-jin came back from Uruk, their love became even stronger. In addition to this, Yoo Ah-in's cameo appearance made this episode extra special. Meanwhile, Seo Dae-yeong decided to take off his uniform to have his relationship approved from Commander Yoon (Kang Shin-il). However, Yoon Myeong-joo (Kim Ji-won) informed him that she was breaking up with him. She explained, "If you are going to become miserable because of me, let's just break up". Watch on Viki 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. 09:00, 23 OCT 2022 In this age of the internet, the widespread use of smartphones, tablets and high-speed mobile internet means your staff are never truly out of the office. And while Australian employers are not requested to give their employees the right to disconnect from work responsibilities, HR professionals need to be mindful of how the perception of being virtually chained to their desks may affect their employees mental health. Hannah Ellis, Principal at The Workplace employment lawyers says there are a number of ways HR practitioners can support their staff while minimizing their employers exposure to unwanted workers compensation and other legal claims. HR should consider their culture around internal expectations and demands and ensure that managers and staff are trained on what constitutes urgent as opposed to what can wait, Ellis told HC Online. Management should ensure this culture is supported for example, by not sending company internal memos outside of ordinary hrs and not bothering staff unnecessarily outside of their working hours, she says. She says HR professionals may consider might implementing a policy addressing employer expectations of out of working hours contact. For example, there might be a policy that if something is urgent, the employee is called by their Manager and can recognise the call as such but otherwise, an employee is not required to respond to work emails on their mobile device between certain hours, Ellis says. She says one of the hardest issues in this debate is managing client expectations. If clients have unreasonable expectations, HR could consider inserting company-approved wording to staff emails, specifying their hours of business and suggesting an alternative contact person who can deal with out of hours requests. HR can also consider training employees to unwind through mindfulness or yoga classes, she says. Since the circumstances of each business and employee are different, theres simply no one-size-fits-all solution to how employers can manage the expectation of employee afterhours availability, Ellis says. For example, there is no way around working unfriendly hours for businesses that operate 24/7 or who have overseas clients or offices, she says. But HR always needs to keep its eyes and ears out for people who are working long hours and put in place risk minimisation strategies in order to meet its health and safety obligations. She says employees who arent given the time and space to disconnect and are expected to constantly reply to emails after hours and on weekends can suffer from a mental and physical health perspective. Their productivity, creativity and motivation can decline as they are not given the chance to recuperate and re-energise, Ellis says. However, the reality of modern business and todays technologies, is that things move quickly and sometimes things cant wait, she says. She says employers face the constant battle of prioritising what communication is urgent and where the line should be drawn in terms of expectations surrounding after-hours contact. The Commonwealth Bank is under the spotlight again for its harsh treatment of an employee who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and left years to receive an unsatisfactory insurance pay-out. CBA's life insurance business, CommInsure, is being accused of unethical and unscrupulous behaviour in its life insurance business. Former employee Jayne Bradley was working as a customer services manager with the Commonwealth Bank when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a debilitating and painful condition. She continued working until 2008 when her health rapidly deteriorated. Her doctor wrote to the bank on her behalf, requesting more flexible working hours since her current role was no longer suitable. Bradley told Fairfax Media that CBAs interpretation of "more flexible" was to move her from department to department. "At one stage they put me in Parramatta, which was two hours from home, so I was travelling four hours a day," she told Fairfax Media. "It wasn't easy." She was moved between different branches over the next couple of years, performing different duties without an official title. It was during this time she says she experienced bullying and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. In June 2010 Bradley applied for a career break, a condition of which was that she eventually return to work full time. In a letter to the bank, she said: "Over the past 17 months I have struggled to obtain any stability in my work life which is due to several factors including the restrictions imposed on my working environment by my treating neurologist." While on her career break and just days before she was due to return to full-time work, Bradley says CBA advised that it would "ill-health retire" her. "It all happened so quickly, a few days before I was due to return to full-time work I received a letter with a cease date that I had been medically retired," she told Fairfax Media. Bradley was told to lodge a total and permanent disability claim (TPD) with CommInsure through her super fund, the Officers Superannuation Fund (OSF), a CBA-owned fund for CBA staff. However, almost eighteen months after lodging her claim, Bradley received a response from CommInsure with an offer of $62,000, which was $155,868 less than the amount she believed she was entitled to. Her employer argued that she was only eligible for a part payment due to her reduced number of hours. "They would not provide me with any information and if they did it would take months or wasn't what I had asked for," Bradley says. She decided to settle on the basis the bank was too big to take on. A CBA spokeswoman told HC Online the bank cared "deeply" about customer service and were very happy to review Ms Bradleys concerns, which were brought to our attention last week. We care deeply about providing the best service to our customers and are always concerned when we hear of potential poor claims experience at CommInsure, the spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said the bank was committed to doing the right thing by all of their customers and employees. CBA recently came under the spotlight for its poor treatment of employee Matthew Attwater, who was ill-health retired after suffering from major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. CommInsure took two-and-a-half years to assess Attwater's claim, during which time he was forced to sleep in his car. Maurice Blackburn principal Josh Mennen says the bank's underpayment of Bradley is a breach of good faith by the CBA. The TPD benefit amount ought to be based on the member's salary from before they become sick, Mennen told Fairfax Media. He says Bradley negotiated in good faith with CBA to remain working in a restricted role despite being diagnosed with MS. She thought the CBA was accommodating her sickness but ultimately they have used her brave efforts to 'soldier on' as a basis to slash her disability benefit by over $155,000," Mennen says. The following information is provided by local law enforcement agencies. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Compiled by Jessica Isaacs The following were provided by the Watauga County Sheriffs Office. March 29 INCIDENT: Possession of methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia was reported at a traffic stop near Cove Creek Store in Vilas. INCIDENT: Larceny from buildings was reported at 600 Larkspur Trail in Banner Elk. INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported at the Watauga County Jail. INCIDENT: Fraud credit card/ATM was reported at 467 U.S. Highway 321 N in Vilas. March 30 INCIDENT: Damage to property was reported at 164 David McLean Drive in Boone. INCIDENT: Counterfeiting was reported at 800 Broadstone Road in Banner Elk. INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 789 Kirby Branch Road in Zionville. April 1 INCIDENT: Breaking and entering was reported at 230 Sgt. Pardue Circle in Zionville. INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 1826 U.S. Highway 421 S in Boone. INCIDENT: Larceny from buildings was reported at 137 Avalanche Trail in Boone. ARREST: A male suspect, 51, of 13327 N.C. Highway 41 S in Fairmont, was charged with felony fraud. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on April 19. April 2 INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 200 Slabtown Road in Zionville. INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 214 Rowe Keller Road in Boone. INCIDENT: Drug violations were reported at 421 Thompson Seafood in Deep Gap. INCIDENT: Trespass, simple physical assault and damage to property were reported at 105 Windy Gap Road Unit 1 in Blowing Rock. INCIDENT: Assault and battery were reported inside of a vehicle in Boone. INCIDENT: Calls for service were reported at 556 Laurel Gap Ridge in Boone. ARREST: A female suspect, 23, of 149 Hensels Lane in Boone, was charged with drug violations. She was held under a $1,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 16. ARREST: A female suspect, 42, of 1394 Milton Moretz Road in Boone, was charged with assault and battery. She was held under a $500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18. April 3 INCIDENT: Damage to property was reported at 190 Parkwood Circle Unit 2 in Boone. INCIDENT: Assault and battery and communicating threats were reported at 835 Hopewell Church Road in Boone. INCIDENT: Vandalism was reported at 2114 Longhope Road in Todd. ARREST: A male suspect, 20, of 835 Hopewell Church Road in Boone, was charged with assault and battery and communicating threats. He was held under a $1,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18. ARREST: A male suspect, 35, of 103 McNab Lane in Boone, was charged with probation violation and all traffic (except DWI). He was held under a $5,500 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 16. ARREST: A male suspect, 33, of 119 East McNeely Ave. in Mooresville, was charged with felony probation violation. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18. April 4 INCIDENT: Larceny was reported at 233 Alpine Acres Road in Vilas. INCIDENT: Larceny from buildings was reported at 340 Stonecroft in Blowing Rock. INCIDENT: Assault on a female was reported at 848 Slabtown Road in Boone. ARREST: A female suspect, 51, of 159 Roaring Fork Road in Todd, was charged with OFA/FTA. She was held under an $800 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 25. ARREST: A female suspect, 35, of 400 Gordon St. in Greenville, South Carolina, was charged with felony larceny of chose in action. She was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18. ARREST: A male suspect, 38, of 2004 Groce Meadow Drive in Taylors, South Carolina, was charged with felony larceny of chose in action. He was held under a $10,000 secured bond and is scheduled to appear in court on May 18. April 5 INCIDENT: Simple physical assault was reported at 514 Guy Ford Road in Sugar Grove. INCIDENT: An unattended death was reported at 446 Roby Greene Road in Boone. INCIDENT: Possession of marijuana, drug paraphernalia and marijuana paraphernalia were reported at 3784 U.S. Highway 321 N in Sugar Grove. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket By Jessica Isaacs Interested in getting to know some local entrepreneurs? The Avery County Chamber of Commerce will host its next Business After Hours event from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on April 12 at Linville Falls Winery. Held each month at a different local venue, these events provide an opportunity to get together, exchange information and make new friends for chamber members and prospective members. The goal is to bring our businesses, members of the chamber and friends together to encourage one another, said Avery Chamber Executive Director Melinda Martin Pepple. Someone attending might have a need for, say, a reputable dentist, or an attorney they can turn to. This is a chance to lift each other up and communicate. Its all about networking, and it helps to build our businesses. Linville Falls Winery The stunning grounds of Linville Falls Winery will play host to this months event, which will feature some of its award-winning wines, live music from Dave Calvert and a sampling of food from other local establishments. We love our chamber and we love what the chamber does for us and how they support every business, not just ours, said Linville Falls Tasting Room Manager Linda Wiseman. We look forward to hosting the After Hours event so we can give the chamber more opportunity to invite people to get involved. The winery sits on a picturesque 40-acre farm that features 10 acres of vines, a Christmas tree farm and a state-of-the-art tasting room in a facility that mimics California wineries. This time around, Elk Mountain Riding Company will be on hand, giving you a chance to tour the grounds on horseback. Lily Livermore, a wine steward at Linville Falls who spends a lot of time riding the trails with her own horses, said it will be a great experience for all involved. The trails on the property are very safe and well kept, she said. It offers many panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. Not yet a member of the chamber? No worries. If youre interested in joining, the After Hours events are the perfect opportunity for you to get involved. The whole goal is to add to our membership so that we can support the chamber, support one another and let people know what businesses are here in our county and surrounding counties, Pepple said. Because we are also a visitor center, folks usually come to us first when they get to the area. They want to see the chamber because we are a representation of the local businesses. The Avery Chamber serves approximately 350-400 members every year, and offers unique personal services for each, like offering them a website through averycounty.com. We work to advertise for our members and can offer them a website. Its a double whammy for them if they have their own already, and its an advantage for folks who dont have a website because the chamber is here to provide one for them, said Pepple. There are a lot of good perks to being a member. Of course, we would love to increase our membership and let the people of our county know whos available. Planning to attend the April 12 event? Call the chamber at 828-898-5605 to RSVP. For more information, check out averycounty.com. The Avery County Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center is located at 4501 Tynecastle Highway Unit 2 at the intersection of N.C. Highways 105 and 184 in Banner Elk. It operates from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays during spring and summer months. Share this: Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Reddit Pocket The stainless steel manufacturer announced in a press release that it is also considering outsourcing the positions of approximately one hundred staff members employed in its manufacturing support operations in Tornio as part of its efforts to improve competitiveness and financial performance. Outokumpu saw its shares rise more than six per cent on the Helsinki Stock Exchange on Tuesday after announcing that it will reduce a maximum of 600 positions worldwide, including 140 in Finland. Outokumpu said it has set itself the target of improving its annual operating result, excluding non-recurring items, from the -132 million euros it posted in 2015 to 500 million euros by the end of 2020. It is also seeking a 12 per cent return on investment and a debt-to-equity ratio of less than 35 per cent. While we now have a world-class industrial foundation and a robust financial position, the true profitability potential of the company is far higher than the current financial performance shows, Roeland Baan, the chief executive of Outokumpu, says in the press release. The performance targets set by the steel manufacturer are not unreasonable but will necessitate resolute measures, according to equity analysts at Inderes. Outokumpu has a long and rocky road ahead of it before it can meet its targets. The tools seem appropriate, however. Its financial targets are roughly in line with the current profitability ratios of its competitors and therefore are not unreasonable, they tweeted on Tuesday. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Markku Ulander Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi It has come under heavy criticism from the standpoint of human rights. Its implementation will be difficult. The flows of migrants will surely look for alternative routes, of which there are already signs in the Mediterranean, he stated in his address to the National Defence Course Association on Tuesday. The contentious migrant-exchange agreement between the European Union and Turkey is not perfect but better than no agreement at all, estimates Sauli Niinisto, the President of Finland. But an attempt at a solution is clearly better than no attempt at all. And it's probably better than 28 different national attempts, he continued. Niinisto emphasised in his address that instead of repeating common principles it is necessary to seek answers to the practical problems associated with migration flows. Europe, he said, has had to take action to curb the flow of migrants to the continent despite the reluctance of many to acknowledge and admit to it. We're in many respects living in a time when we have to choose between unpleasant alternatives, he said. Europe, he estimated, no longer has the luxury of being right, waiting for the perfect idea and repeating common principles it must also tackle practical problems. The contentious agreement between the European Union and Turkey was struck last month and put into effect recently. The agreement stipulates that all irregular migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey will be returned to Turkey and that for every migrant returned to Turkey, a Syrian quota refugee will be re-settled from Turkey to the European Union. Human rights watchdogs, in particular, have criticised the agreement. Niinisto estimated yesterday that the agreement is an attempt to ensure assistance is targeted specifically at people fleeing hostilities. The European Union has confirmed that the agreement is also an attempt to check uncontrolled flows of migrants. I pointed out while talking about this in February that the objective should be a satisfactory solution. Nothing better is in sight, said Niinisto. Aleksi Teivainen HT Photo: Vesa Moilanen Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi Businessman Jim Mansfield Jnr will claim gardai left behind ammunition belonging to his father when they removed his legally-held firearms from the family home after he passed away. He will also claim his gun licence was cancelled by gardai without notifying him, his solicitor said. Jim Mansfield (48) is charged with having a pump-action shotgun, shotgun cartridges and ammunition without a firearms certificate. He is facing a Circuit Court trial after a judge refused jurisdiction to deal with his case in the District Court. Shotgun His brother, Patrick James Mansfield (38), is accused of having over 1,000 rounds of ammunition without a licence. Judge David McHugh accepted jurisdiction in this matter. Jim Mansfield, of Tassaggart House in Saggart, is charged with possession of a Fabarm pump action shotgun without a firearm certificate. He is also accused of possession of 180 rounds of .22 Walther ammunition and 19 rounds of 12-gauge shotgun cartridges without a certificate. PJ Mansfield is charged with possession of 1,252 rounds of Walther ammunition, without a firearms licence at his home at Coldwinters Lake in Saggart. Blanchardstown court heard the DPP has directed summary trial in the District Court. Outlining the allegations for jurisdiction purposes, Detective Garda Ian Pemberton alleged gardai searched Jim Mansfield's home on January 29, 2015, and found a shotgun in the master bedroom. Gda Pemberton claimed 19 rounds were found nearby, and the accused had no licence for the gun or ammunition. The garda said officers also seized a licensed Walther pistol. However, he alleged gardai found 480 rounds of ammunition, which was 180 rounds in excess of the licence. Defence solicitor Yvonne Bambury claimed her clients had firearms licences, but they were cancelled without notification to them. She said the men's father, Jim Mansfield Snr, had an interest in antique weapons and held a number of valid firearms. He died in January 2014 and, when he died, gardai collected his weapons - but did not collect the ammunition that was there. A State solicitor asked that "the evidence not be tested prior to jurisdiction". Judge McMcHugh refused jurisdiction in the case of Jim Mansfield. However, Judge McHugh said he accepted jurisdiction in PJ's case. Gregory Harmon (42) is accused of assaulting the woman in an incident at her home in west Dublin. Stock picture A man forced his way into his ex-wife's house and pinned her down on the stairs before hitting her about the head and body, injuring her, it has been alleged. Gregory Harmon (42) is accused of assaulting the woman in an incident at her home in west Dublin. The case against him was adjourned when he appeared in Blanchardstown District Court. Mr Harmon is charged with assault causing harm to his ex-wife and resisting a garda at Liffey Valley Drive, Liffey Valley Park, Lucan on December 19 last year. Garda Laura Conlon told the court she charged the defendant and he made no reply after caution. The DPP directed summary disposal of the case at district court level. The garda said it was alleged that the accused forced his way into his ex-wife's house and assaulted her. Pinned According to the prosecution, Mr Harmon "pinned her down on the stairs and struck her a number of times on the face and body". Judge David McHugh asked the garda if there was a note of any "sequelae or outcome of the assault". A state solicitor said she had a copy of a medical report. Reading it, Judge McHugh said it appeared that the injuries were "soft tissue" and he accepted jurisdiction to deal with the case. This means it can be heard at district court level instead of at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court. Mr Harmon was already charged with contravening a protection order in the same incident, and putting his ex-wife in fear on October 9 last year. Judge McHugh extended bail to the new charges and made an order for disclosure of prosecution statements to the defence. The defendant was remanded on continuing bail. Drug mule Michaella McCollum lied about sectarian threats that she claims forced her to flee Ireland overnight for Ibiza. McCollum (23) claimed in her much-criticised RTE interview that she left her home in the North for "sectarian" reasons and said she was told to leave the area under threat. However, her mother previously told the same documentary makers that her daughter planned her trip to Ibiza months before travelling in 2013. Two local politicians also cast doubt on Michaella's claims of sectarian threats. McCollum, interviewed after her release from a Peruvian prison, suggested that following the threats, she decided to leave for the party island "overnight". But the Herald can reveal this account is directly contradicted in an interview given by her mother Norah McCollum in 2014, for a documentary called Michaella, Peru and the Drugs Run. Her mother said her daughter had been planning to go to Ibiza since the beginning of 2013, despite protests from the family. She travelled there in June 2013. Both the 2014 documentary and Sunday's interview were broadcast by RTE and created by Below the Radar, the same production company that has been given access to McCollum's family. "Sometimes when I was faced with problems. I'd run away from my problems instead of actually facing them," McCollum said at the weekend. "I was living in an area that caused me a little bit of problems. I was told to leave the area as soon as possible or something would happen. "I didn't have the money to pay a deposit for a new house ... to rent a new house. I was a little bit too proud to go back to my family's home. I literally had that moment that I would go to Ibiza. "I'd go on vacation and leave my problems here ... it was an overnight decision. My family were highly against it," she added. But there was no discussion of sectarianism, threats or overnight decisions when her mother was interviewed in 2014 about the Ibiza trip. She was joined by a camera crew for a visit to Peru to see her daughter in prison. "It was probably early last year (2013) she talked about going to Ibiza, to work during the holidays," Ms McCollum said in the documentary, which was broadcast by RTE in July, 2014. "But I wasn't really happy about it so I was hoping that she wouldn't, that it never came to that. "So then she did decide to go, I wasn't happy with her going either. None of us wanted her to go," Ms McCollum said. Trevor Birney - whose line of inquiry included questions about McCollum's bun hairstyle - failed to address the inconsistency in the interview broadcast by RTE last Sunday. Mr Birney is the CEO of the production company and was listed as the director of the 2014 documentary. Questions to the filmmaker's company about why the inconsistent story went unchallenged, were unanswered yesterday. A spokesperson said that Mr Birney was in Cuba. Threatened The interview has been criticised as a PR exercise designed to make McCollum look like a victim. It is not the first time that McCollum has lied. After being arrested at Lima Airport in 2013 with 2m of cocaine, she falsely claimed that she had been threatened by drug lords. She later admitted this was untrue. The question of sectarian threats against McCollum was also rubbished by politicians in her home of Dungannon, Co Tyrone. They said they were frustrated and annoyed that the criminal has used the excuse of sectarianism as the reason for leaving - adding that she was never involved in violence. Representatives said that McCollum had friends from both the republican and unionist communities. Dungannon councillor Walter Cuddy, who runs newsagents in the town, told the Herald he knows the McCollum family and was "surprised" at the sectarian explanation. Mr Cuddy said that McCollum had also lived in Belfast - where she studied photography and worked as a model - with flatmates from unionist and republican background "The family have never been involved in any violence in Dungannon. To my knowledge she was not the type of person to be involved, unless something brewed-up," he said. Councillor Wilbert Buchanan said sectarianism was not an issue at the time McCollum decided to leave. "She's only a young girl. The Troubles were a long time ago. Things have well settled down. I wouldn't be aware of any sectarianism in recent years. It's a great place to live," he said. Denise Mullen, another local councillor in the area, said she knows what real sectarian issues are. "I witnessed my father being shot dead and also my mother being shot at just four years old. I had no notion of moving away," she said. Production company Below the Radar has made eight RTE-commissioned documentaries since 2009. The 2014 documentary about McCollum followed her mother and her sister Samantha McCollum as they visited her in jail in Peru. 28 Mar 2016: General view of scene where Sean Sweeney and his son died beside the Royal Canal and railway tracks. Picture: Caroline Quinn Irish Rail's decision to repair a fence after a double drowning tragedy is "completely inadequate", a Dublin councillor has claimed. Sean Sweeney (36) and his son Tyler (3) drowned in a ditch while using a shortcut through a broken Irish Rail fence. The tragedy happened over the Easter weekend when the pair fell into a stream while taking a shortcut between Ashington Park and Finglas. A slippery clay ledge beside a briar-covered ditch, double railway tracks and a passage over a lock on the Royal Canal at Pelletstown are all part of the shortcut. "Irish Rail have once again fixed the hole in the fence, but just repairing the fence is completely inadequate," said Labour councillor Brendan Carr. Broken "It keeps getting broken by people taking the shortcut - and this fence will only be broken again." Irish Rail admitted the tragedy happened just two weeks after the fence was fixed on March 12. A high wall between Ashington Park and the railway line runs the length of the park, but there is a 20-foot-long gap in the wall filled by metal palisade fencing. The fencing is frequently repaired and just as quickly damaged as people insist on using the shortcut, which can save them up to one hour in a walk between Ashington and Pelletstown and Finglas as there is no direct bus service. "It is time for Irish Rail and Dublin City Council to meet up and come up with a permanent solution to the safety problem caused by this short cut," said the local councillor. "The 20-foot-long gap in the existing wall should be filled with a high concrete wall instead of fencing," he said. "It's Irish Rail's responsibility to protect the tracks and it's Dublin City Council's responsibility to make sure that children using the park and playground are protected. "Children have been accessing the rail tracks from the park - and gardai have been warning about it for a long time." A local 49-year-old mother-of-two told the Herald that people should not be breaking the fence and using the shortcut, but said a solution had to be found "after this terrible tragedy". A spokesman for Irish Rail confirmed that rail staff who have fixed the fence in the past have been physically threatened by people. "We use standard urban palisade fencing along the rail network. It is in everybody's interest that people do not take shortcuts across rail tracks as it is inherently dangerous to do so," he said. Damaged The rail spokesman added that there had been a continuous high wall along the boundary of the park provided by the city council. Some years ago, after the wall was damaged, the council removed a section and Irish Rail put up the metal fence to prevent access to the rail tracks, he said. "We would certainly be willing to meet the council about this problem. It's in everybody's interests," he said. Floral tributes to the two victims remain at the base of a tree near the newly-repaired fence. Easter eggs, teddy bears, and a dinosaur were left along with messages of sympathy for little Tyler and his dad. Tyler's heartbroken mum, Pamela Joyce, recently spoke of her grief in a Herald interview. She said that a walkway should be built over the stream where her son and Tyler's father drowned. It is believed that they had been using the shortcut to visit Mr Sweeney's parents when tragedy struck. Ms Joyce paid tribute to her little bundle of joy who she said was "always so happy" and "brought joy to everyone". "It's the only thing that's getting me through. That he was so happy," Ms Joyce said. "Why can't they make a little walkway. It's not going to cost them much. "Even a bus from there (Ashington Park) to Finglas would stop people jumping the wall. If there was a bus he (Sean) could have just walked around the corner and got a bus. "I know they fixed the fence, but young fellas cut it. That's because they don't want to walk all the way round. It would take an hour's walk or you can do it in 10 minutes by jumping the wall," Ms Joyce added. A northern New Jersey town is planning to acquire 20 air horns to help its residents deal with aggressive wild turkeys. The Record newspaper reports (http://bit.ly/1q5bkMs ) Animal Control Officer Vincent Ascolese says he will give the air horns to Teaneck officials to distribute to the public. Officials say they've received about a dozen complaints from residents reporting aggressive wild turkeys. The birds have attacked residents, pecked at cars, held up traffic. One has flown through a glass kitchen window. Town officials say only the state is able to touch the birds, but residents can humanely scare them away by using water hoses or making loud noises to assert dominance. Amy Schweitzer, of the state Department of Environmental Protection, says the birds' aggressive behavior tends to decrease in the summer. ___ Information from: The Record (Woodland Park, N.J.), http://www.northjersey.com It takes 270 to win. The UVA experts put Virginia, with 13 electoral votes, in the leans Democratic column. They have been much too generous to Republican presidential contender Donald Trump. He is going to lose Virginia YUGE against whomever the Democrats nominate. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., retains a mathematical chance to beat former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination, and he shows no signs of giving up the fight. But it will take an epic Clinton mistake or campaign-altering event for her to blow a sure thing at this point. Trump claims he is the candidate Democrats fear most. One of his leading media defenders, Ann Coulter, said Trump is the only Republican with a chance to win the White House. Why? She sees him as the great white hope for white people, the key voting group in her mind for the GOP. Based on Trumps campaign, he seems to agree. They view themselves as the vanguards of a new white identity, rooted in the nations changing demographics. They claim Trumpism offers a special appeal to millions of white Americans who didnt vote in 2012 or 2008. They claim Trumps appeal has motivated millions of white Democrats to cross party lines to vote in this years GOP primaries. They appear focused on the type of backlash Sen. Barry Goldwater, a Republican, predicted in 1964, when President Lyndon Johnson supported path-breaking Civil Rights Legislation. Prior to becoming the GOP presidential nominee that year, Goldwater had supported similar civil rights legislation. But Goldwater voted against Johnsons landmark bill on alleged constitutional grounds. Most GOP lawmakers backed it. Goldwater won five Southern states that year, but he lost all the key GOP strongholds across the United States long responsible for the partys presidential strength and got crushed on Election Day. With all due respect to Professor Sabato: Donald Trump will not win Virginia this November if Republicans are foolish enough to nominate him for president. Sabatos Crystal Ball also sees only a minor defection from normally GOP-leaning voters in states Mitt Romney carried in 2012. Unless Trump changes his strategy, the good professor will prove too cautious on Trumps political toxicity here, too. Virginia has recent experience with nominees with great appeal to an insular party minority but little attraction to the wider electorate. In 2013, Virginia Republicans nominated E.W. Jackson for lieutenant governor. Jackson shared some of Trumps characteristics. He campaigned proudly as politically incorrect. He had never previously held public office (although he ran unsuccessfully for the GOPs Senate nomination in 2012). And many openly wondered whether Jackson had the temperament to hold statewide office. Jackson won the nomination on the force of personality. Going into the nominating convention, the pundits dismissed him as a sure loser against well-known, better-funded, more experienced candidates with establishment backing. But Jackson delivered a take-no-prisoners convention speech. His blunt style electrified the crowd. One of the authors attended and can attest to the growing excitement sweeping across the crowd as Jackson spoke. The anti-establishment crowd found a seemingly true anti-politician. No amount of hard-nosed analysis about Jacksons verbal gaffes, controversial policy positions, lack of qualifications or his dismal showing in the 2012 Senate primary would change his supporters minds. They were convinced Jackson could win back Democratic voters. What happened? After a few early campaign mistakes, he never had a chance. On Election Day, he failed to get any usually Democratic votes. His obvious problems cost at least 10 percent of the normally Republican vote. We were surprised the defections werent higher. Jackson amazingly managed to get 44.5 percent statewide. He apparently benefited from close races for governor and attorney general. This year, Trump will have no such good fortune. He will lead the Republican ticket to the gallows. Trump says Virginians love him because he owns wonderful properties in the state. He underestimates us. He makes valid points about economic dislocation, points the GOP has ducked or dismissed for more than a decade. But Trumpism, boiled down, is as bad for the commonwealth as it is for the nation. In the last two presidential elections, Virginias results have been the best mirror of the nationwide vote. Sabato might want to ease his readers toward the political truth with his leans Democratic rating for Virginia. But we prefer to tell it straight. As Virginia goes, so goes America again in 2016. And Virginia isnt going for Trump. Insider: A QB change won't save IU's season. It's already lost. IU quarterback Connor Bazelak's struggles have IU fans suggesting change, but at this point change might not make much difference. Consider a few key numbers. Serving central government employees in India , based on the beneficiaries of the 7th Pay Commission this year, add up to only 4.8 million. According to an employment portal, the number of all government job vacancies in India this month, including extended ones in public sector companies, state governments and universities, is only 82,451. Now, look at the population of Dalits in India. Officially called the Scheduled Castes, they totalled more than 200 million in the last census held in 2011. That should illustrate the humongous shortage of jobs in the country as we look at inclusive growth. Anyone looking at the Dalit problem solely through the prism of reservation by quotas should realise that government jobs are an expensive way to uplift their lot, considering that even a clerk earns about Rs 46,000 a month on average, according to respected salary tracking portal, Glassdoor.com. Therefore, it made eminent sense this week when Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Stand Up India programme that aims to help Dalits and tribals with loans for entrepreneurial activity, with a call that people should change from being job seekers to job creators. The scheme offers bank loans of between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 crore for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and women setting up new enterprises outside of the farm sector. The initially intended beneficiaries total only 125,000 -- but thats more than the number of all government job vacancies open at the start of the current financial year. The simple fact is that the scheme still leaves out millions of farmhands and menial workers who may still have to suffer discrimination and exploitation at the hands of land owners from dominant castes. At a population of 200 million , there are roughly 40 million Dalit families out there . The new loan scheme will only scratch the surface. But it is a significant leap from the government-job dependent culture in which fiscal costs run high for the State, hitting other activities such as building of infrastructure to fuel economic growth. Prime Minister Modi hands over a symbolic key to a woman entrepeneur at the launch of the Stand Up India scheme (Hindustan Times) More important, the Stand Up India scheme, by focusing on entrepreneurship, enables creativity that may not be defined by academic qualifications but one that should result in productive work. For landless Dalits, whose current options may be limited to working as menial servants or farm hands or struggle through education to get government jobs, this is a window of opportunity to rise from their status as untouchables over the centuries. Above all, the scheme may also help Dalits join the mainstream of an Indian economy that is no longer dominated by the government, and provide social mobility. There is already a Dalit Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (http://www.dicci.org/). Its members may multiply , thanks to the scheme. All this would hopefully ease the pressure on controversial reservations in government jobs which involves a separate debate on whether job quotas hurt efficiency of public service done by government workers. Indias private sector is also reluctant to accept job quotas. However, two hard questions loom: Is the move a political gambit by Modi s BJP to grab votes in next years UP elections? Will the loans actually reach the intended beneficiaries? There are no easy answers, but it pays to hail political measures that usher in positive social change. In the end, the Dalits who gain or not will call the shots. Preity Zinta, who recently tied the knot with her long-time friend Gene Goodenough in a private ceremony in USA, has returned to India to support her IPL team. As soon as the 41-year-old actress landed in Mumbai, she treated herself to the famous cutting chai. In pics: After marriage, Preity Zintas life is Goodenough She took to her Twitter and posted a picture of herself with a glass of tea. She captioned it, Beating the jet lag & #Mumbai heat with a cup of #chai and loving every minute of being home #home #jetlag Ting. While we are exceedingly happy to see the bubbly star back home, we would sure like some pictures of husband Gene Goodenough as well. The actress has also refused to share pictures of her wedding, keeping the ceremony intensely private. Preity with her cutting chai. (Facebook) Preity was later spotted with friend and celeb fitness trainer, Yasmin Karachiwala, where the actress seems all pumped to shed some extra kilos. She captioned the snap, Finally back in the gym with my fav @yasminbodyimage Pumped with endorphins and #girlpower #pilates #workout #health #supertrainer #selfie Ting. Read: Who is Preitys husband Gene Goodenough? we tell you all Preity was later spotted with friend and celeb fitness trainer, Yasmin Karachiwala. (Facebook) The actress got married in Los Angeles on February 28 amidst family and close friends. It is being said that she plans to host a big fat reception in April. A government body has issued notices to China, Japan and South Korea proposing to initiate a probe on the dumping of some steel products into India, a source said. The notices have been issued for hot-rolled coils of alloy and non-alloy steel, a source at the Directorate General of Anti-Dumping & Allied Duties (DGAD) told Reuters. Indian steelmakers Steel Authority of India Ltd, JSW Steel Ltd and Essar Steel had approached the DGAD seeking anti-dumping duties on cheap imports flooding local markets and pressuring margins. Imports of steel into India rose 20.5 percent in the 11 months to February compared with the same period last year, government data showed. New Delhi last week extended safeguard import taxes on some steel products until March 2018, and in February imposed a floor price to curb overseas purchases of cheap steel and shield domestic mills. Tata Steel will launch the formal sale process for its British assets by Monday (April 11) at the latest, Britains business secretary Sajid Javid said after a meeting with the companys chairman Cyrus Mistry in Mumbai on Wednesday. Theyve said that they intend to launch formally the sales process by Monday at the latest, Javid said. Ive also made it clear that the UK government will do everything it can to support any serious buyer in every way we can to secure the long term future of this industry. No timeframe was yet decided to complete the sale process and Tatas will allow a reasonable period to find a buyer, Javid added. Todays meeting is the follow-up of what we have announced on March 29, a Tata Steel spokesperson said. Senior officials of Tata Steel led by Mistry have told Javid that the company will conduct the entire sell-off process in a smooth and transparent manner, with minimum loss of jobs, people familiar with the matter said. Javid also said a number of parties, including Liberty Steel, have come forward, but did not share further details. Industry circles described the meeting as unprecedented with a minister flying in to meet officials of a private company. The meeting came a day after Javid met officials of Tata Steel, who were present in London, as part of the sale process that was announced on March 30. In its previous statement, Tata Steel had said that the company has been in deep engagement with the UK government seeking its support to achieve the best possible outcome for the UK business. These discussions are ongoing and will continue. On March 30, Tata Steel said it has advised the board of its European holding company to explore all options for portfolio restructuring, including the potential divestment of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts. Given the severity of the funding requirement in the foreseeable future, the Tata Steel Europe Board will be advised to evaluate and implement the most-feasible option in a time-bound manner. According to sources, Tata Steel had been looking at all options over the past five years when it became clear that the UK operations were not viable, even after the group extended financial support to the business and suffered asset impairment of over 2 billion. The company was losing 1 million a day for running the Port Talbot site, the largest among its steel plants in Britain. It will be difficult to retain all 40,000 jobs. The group will probably be able to keep jobs connected to the downstream business, because usage of steel is not going to stop. What will be difficult is sustaining the prime steelmaking facilities, one person familiar with the talks said. Global steel demand, especially in developed markets such as Europe, has remained muted following the Lehman financial crisis in 2008. (With inputs from agencies) The 70-member board of trade (BoT) is set meet again after almost three years to brainstorm ways to turnaround dipping exports, which have fallen for 15 straight months. The meeting to be chaired by commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to discuss issues such as sector-specific incentives, better road and rail connectivity, and lending and liquidity. The board which is the top advisory body on trade, was reconstituted late last month and includes 19 members from industry and academia (non-official); 31 heads of trade and industry associations (ex-officio); and 20 top officials including 13 secretaries of the government of India, deputy governor of RBI, chairmen of railway board and National Highways Authority of India. Apart from this, the director general of foreign trade is the member secretary of the board, a position held by Anup Wadhawan at present. The non-official members include Apollo Tyres CMD Onkar Kanwar, Hero MotoCorp MD Pawan Munjal, ICICI Bank CMD Chanda Kochhar, Biocon MD Kiran Majumdar-Shaw, ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar and Ashok Leyland MD R Seshasayee among others. Exports dipped 5.66% in February 2016 to $20.73 billion due to contraction in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods amid tepid global demand. On yearly basis, exports have declined from $314 billion in 2013-14 to $310 billion in 2014-15. Exports in 2015-16 are expected to shrink further to around $260 billion. The objective of BoT is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry. The BoT would advise the government on policy measures related to free trade policy in order to achieve the objective of boosting Indias trade, a commerce ministry statement said. The board reviews export performance of sectors, identifies constraints and suggest industry specific measures to optimise export earnings. It also advises the government on policy measures for preparation and implementation of both short and long term plans for increasing exports in the light of emerging national and international economic scenarios. We will also suggest that Indian government should extend line of credit to Latin American and African countries as they are facing foreign exchange crisis due to dip in oil and commodity prices. In this way we can enhance our exports to those nations, said Ajay Sahai, director general of Federation of Indian Exports Organisation. Besides, the issue of better rail and road connectivity from export clusters to ports and airports at the state-level to boost exports by reducing logistics time, is also on the top of the agenda. To decongest Chandni Chowk, the Delhi government will convert the market into a non-motorised, pedestrian friendly zone. Only non-motorised vehicles such as cycle-rickshaws will be permitted in the area as part of the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Plan aimed at improving the safety and convenience of pedestrians and shoppers. A meeting of officials of the Shahjahanabad Redevelopment Corporation (SRDC), the Public Works Department and Delhi Traffic Police will be held on Friday to check if the proposal is feasible. Once enforced, parking and hawking will not be allowed on the main road from Lal Qila to Fatehpuri Masjid. The traffic plan was prepared by the Delhi Metro and it would require a go-ahead from the traffic police before implementation, said a senior government official. The government is serious about the beautification and redevelopment of Chandni Chowk. We are holding a meeting with joint commissioner of police (traffic) Sharad Agarwal on Friday in which all stakeholders, including Nitin Panigrahi, the court-appointed nodal officer for the project, will be present with senior officials of the corporation, said Chandni Chowk MLA Alka Lamba. Kejriwal asks to clear Chandni Chowk mess in a week Lamba inspected the area with the North Delhi Municipal Corporation and Delhi government officials on Sunday after the Delhi high court order to remove encroachments. She held talks with representatives of religious bodies about the court order to remove illegal religious structures from the area. I urged them (religious bodies) to cooperate with the government in implementing the court order and suggested, if they had objections, they could challenge the order, the AAP leader added. The decongestion plan was first envisaged in 2003 and was cleared by then Delhi chief secretary S Regunathan in July 2005. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Women are likely to be exempted from the second round of the odd-even car rationing scheme to be implemented from April 15 to 30. Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal urged transport minister Gopal Rai to exempt women, saying the public transport system was not in a good shape. We sought exemption for women drivers considering their safety. We suggested elderly drivers and children below 18 years travelling with a woman driver be exempted from the odd-even policy, Maliwal said. Women groups were consulted on Tuesday. Many said the concession for women should continue but some argued against it. Maliwal said she and other women members of the commission will use public transport when the odd-even policy kicks in. A final decision on the exemption will be taken on Wednesday after a coordination committee constituted by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal submits its report to the cabinet. There is a need to improve public transport and ensure safety for women before making women part of odd-even, said a transport department official. Maliwal said that 200 of the 218 women participants in the consultation wanted exemption. Parminder Kaur Malhotra, a resident, said that during the first round of odd-even, schools were closed but this time they are open and women will pick up their children. Assembly deputy speaker Bandana Kumari and AAP women MLA Alka Lamba voted for exemption. The overwhelming opinion at the meet was that the time was not right to remove exemption for women. The reasons were poor safety, lack of good public transport and poor last-mile connectivity. Also, women as caregivers usually pick up and drop children to school, said Kalpana Viswanath, co-founder of Safetipin. Safetipin is a mobile application that helps people rate an area based on its safety. These concerns are real. I suggested the government introduce a new step towards women safety in each phase of odd-even so that eventually the exemption may be done away with, Viswanath, who was part of the panel, said. Some women said the government should not exempt women. Tine, a resident of Dwarka, said that women should help the government deal with the rising pollution levels. Three months after it launched the Accessible India Campaign, which seeks to make at least 50% of all government buildings in Delhi and the state capitals disabled-friendly by 2018, the Centre last week released the Inclusiveness and Accessibility Index that measures the actions and attitudes of different organisations towards people with disabilities. Read | People with special needs are being hired in various jobs While both these developments are good steps to make India a more inclusive space, there are several other barriers that the government needs to bring down to make the campaign and index successful in letter and spirit. First, make the office of the Disability Commission more effective. As of now, activists allege, it takes way too long for the office to act on complaints and, even when it does, its directives are not taken seriously. Second, there must be a correct assessment of the number of disabled people. Read | Access denied: Delhi not for disabled The United Nations pegs the disabled in India at 15% of the population but the census fixes it at just 2.2%. This means there are many who do not get access to the State benefits that are due to them. One of the main reasons why the numbers are low is that the enumerators often dont ask the right questions; families tend to hide those who suffer from mental illness; and sometimes they are unaware of challenges like autism. To redress this situation, the government needs to pump in more money on public awareness programmes and train enumerators better. Read | Govt launches Accessible India Campaign for persons with disabilities Last, but not the least, political parties must stop dillydallying on the passage of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2014, which is pending in Parliament. The Bill replaces the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. Instead of seven disabilities specified in the Act, the Bill covers 19 conditions. The Bill is being brought in to fulfil obligations under an international treaty. Many have criticised the Bill, saying that its not perfect but then no Bill is. At least this has expanded the number of disabilities and that is a step forward and will give many more disabled people access to opportunities and funds that are earmarked for them. I am pursuing BA economics from Indira Gandhi National Open University and I am also preparing for the Graduate Record Examination. I wish to pursue masters in economics overseas. Will I get a job abroad with an open degree qualification? Chetas Rao Most universities abroad will admit students with qualifications from recognised universities, even if they are distance learning programmes. However, there are a number of other deciding factors, including good academic grades, high GRE scores, TOEFL (the English language test) in addition to other requirements. As you are preparing for GRE, I presume you are looking for admission to a US university. Any application to a masters degree programme at a US university requires a statement of purpose, CV/resume, three academic references, official transcripts detailing your university-level qualifications and marks and English language test scores. US universities require 16 years of study so you would need to complete a 16th year of study after your three-year BA in economics. This could be either the first year of a masters degree in economics in India, or any full-time course recognised by the University Grants Commission. You also need to keep in mind that the cost of a masters degree programme abroad could range from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh (including cost of stay) per year, and getting a scholarship is not always possible. You can get all the information you require from study abroad websites. Read more: Career counselling: Easy ways to fund your studies abroad Delhi University offers similar graduate courses for students of physics, chemistry and biology. Which one should I take up? Please help. - DS Chhaya When deciding on which course to take up, it is best to consider the subject or subjects you are most interested in, and what further study or career goals you wish to pursue. If you are looking for a career related to the medical or healthcare sector, the BSc bio-medical sciences is ideal. BSc life science and BSc biological science is a good course for a wider learning base, which can enable you to take up further study or research in any life science field, whether biotechnology, food and nutrition, pharmacy, environment science, genetics etc. The applied life science is a more practical course where you learn to apply knowledge from one or more natural scientific fields to practical problems. If you graduate in this course, you can go into fields related to agriculture, ecology, waste management, polymer sciences, food industry, paints and plastics and many others. (Send your queries at hteducation@hindustantimes.com or to Career Counselling, HT Education, 1st floor, HT House, 18-20, KG Marg, New Delhi-110001. The columnist is director of Careers Smart, and author of the Penguin India Career Guides Vol 1 and 2) The tussle over Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)s minority status is not new: The Supreme Court had in 1967 ruled that the university was established by an Act of Parliament and not by Muslims, and hence was not a minority institute. However, a 1981 parliamentary verdict circumvented the apex courts ruling, granting AMU minority status, a move that was spearheaded by the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the precursor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). There was a time when the Bharatiya Jan Sangh was a strong proponent of Aligarh Muslim Universitys (AMU) minority character. Read more | Aligarh Muslim University not a minority institution: Govt tells SC The Bharatiya Jan Sangh, from which was born the BJP, contested the 1977 and 1979 general elections on the manifesto and symbol of the Janata Party. During the 1979 mid-term elections, its manifesto read, The Janata party will give priority to enacting appropriate legislation to restore the autonomy and original character of the university as institution for Oriental and Islamic studies, and for the promotion of educational and cultural advancement, primarily of the Muslim community. It also explained how it failed to enact the legislation to (restore) the minority character of the university because of the early dissolution of the Lok Sabha. Future BJP leaders such as LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee were part of the Morarji Desai cabinet that drafted the bill. The legislation in question was the Aligarh Muslim University (Amendment) Act, which was passed two years later in 1981 by then Congress government. The bill introduced by the Indira Gandhi-led government was also supported by senior Janata leaders such as Ram Jethmalani, the then vice-president of the party, and Subramanian Swamy. Jethmalani even introduced a private member bill to give AMU a minority status. We do regard Aligarh Muslim University not as just a university but as a movement, which was started with the objects and purpose that Mr Gadgil just appropriately pointed out, Swamy said during a debate on the bill, ...but the basic points about the Aligarh Muslim University are its minority character and autonomy... Now, over a period of 18 years (1965-1981) they have gone through a process of losing it. In fact, Dr Swamy asked the government to include the addendum: ...notwithstanding any judgement or a decree of the court of law to the contrary, the university is declared a minority institution under Article 30 (1) of the constitution. He said he would wholeheartedly support the bill if his request was met. However, even if it was not, he said, he would still support the bill, but with reservations. However, more than three decades later, on April 4 this year, the BJP-led NDA told the Supreme Court that AMU is not a minority institution, seeking to reverse the stance taken by the UPA. The move threatens to snowball into a political slugfest ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year. If declared a minority institution, AMU need not reserve seats for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes. In 2006, the erstwhile UPA government and AMU appealed against the high court verdict that struck down a 1981 parliamentary amendment to grant the university minority status and circumvent the 1967 Supreme Court verdict. As part of an initiative to prevent the younger generation from falling prey to Maoist propaganda, the Jharkhand government has decided to relocate many impoverished children from 32 rebel-hit villages in the Gumla-Latehar-Lohardaga tri-junction and enroll them in residential schools across the state. Chief minister Raghubar Das has asked senior government and police officials to build residential schools on a war footing, and rehabilitate the children with their parents permission. However, until the new institutions are constructed, the children will be enrolled in existing boarding schools at Bishunpur, Gumla and nearby townships. Director general of police (DGP) DK Pandey has asked boarding schools across the state to spare at least two seats in each section for children from these areas. While we are sparing no effort to flush the Maoists out of their last refuge in the state (the tri-junction), we want to ensure that they do not succeed in inducting children from the region into their ranks, Pandey told HT. Read: Jharkhand cops save kids from becoming Maoist child soldiers Pandey said security forces relocated at least 28 children from affected villages in the last fortnight, and were trying to accommodate them in residential schools. Talks are on with parents of another 42 children in the area because they stand the risk of being recruited forcibly by the Maoists, he added. The DGP said security forces have penetrated deep into rebel territory, clearing the areas where their hold is the strongest. The initiative comes in the wake of a fresh demand for children made by Maoists in at least five border villages of the tri-junction. HT had earlier reported how they were even holding public lotteries to draft children into their fold. Keen on clearing the area of Maoists, civil authorities undertook a series of development initiatives in the district. Welfare secretary Rajiv Arun Ekka recently announced three area development plans for the Banalat, Peshrar and Sarju regions located in the tri-junction. He also announced that two residential schools would be set up in Maoist-affected villages under the Banalat Action Plan. Read: Maoists in Jharkhand use lottery to pick child soldiers Police alone cannot turn the tide and bring in a revolution, the DGP said, asking civil society groups, NGOs and conscientious citizens to help generate at least 400 seats in private boarding schools for children from Maoist-affected areas. Additional director general (operations) SN Pradhan said that though rehabilitating children from Maoist belts was not the responsibility of the police alone, they are the ones who usually wind up shouldering most of the burden. But we have never shied away from taking up such responsibilities because we are as concerned about the safety and development of children in hard-to-reach areas as their parents may be, he claimed. The Bombay high court has rebuked the Nagpur civic body over plans to organise a mass recital of Hindu text Hanuman Chalisa at an AIDS awareness camp. The court asked the BJP-ruled municipal corporation on Tuesday if it thought that India is for Hindus only and wondered why authorities did not pick passages from holy books of other religions. The observation comes at a time there is a nationwide debate on freedom of faith, with opposition parties criticising the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for alleged political and religious intolerance. Why only recital of Hanuman Chalisa and why not from Quran, the Bible or other religious literature? What is the nexus of AIDS awareness and Hanuman Chalisa recital? Is it only Hindus who contract AIDS? Is chanting of Hanuman Chalisa the only remedy for eradication of this deadly disease? a division bench of justices Bhushan Gavai and Swapna Joshi said, responding to a PIL filed by a former corporator. The court disposed of the public interest litigation after the civic body agreed to dissociate the Hanuman Chalisa recital and AIDS camp. It also agreed to pay the cost of stage and ground used for the event planned on Thursday. The judges said they were not against any religious programme, but concerned with government agencies getting involved in such an event. The judges asked the Nagpur municipal agency in Maharashtra to keep at least an hours gap between the AIDS awareness programme and the Hanuman Chalisa recitation. The Hanuman Chalisa is a Hindu devotional hymn dedicated to the monkey god and contains 40 verses. It is believed to have been authored by 16th century poet Tulsidas. Nagpur is the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered the ideological mentor of the BJP that is in power in the state in coalition with right-wing ally Shiv Sena. Around 1.5 lakh people are expected to attend the events, which are organised by Poddareshwar Ram Mandir Trust, a charitable religious organisation. In a breakthrough in the 2010 killing of Pune-based RTI activist Satish Shetty, the CBI on Wednesday arrested a city crime branch police inspector for his alleged role in the murder conspiracy and subsequent shielding of actual culprits while probing the case. CBI has today arrested BR Andhalkar for his role in the conspiracy behind the murder of Satish Shetty with others, though his motive is yet to be established, said an officer of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The inspector is also accused of fabricating and manipulating evidence at the time he was part of the local police team probing the murder to shield the real culprits, he added. It is the first arrest in the case, in which the CBI is conducting a re-investigation after once filing a closure report. HT had first reported in its edition dated February 28, 2015 about the police officer being in the CBIs case scanner for allegedly wrongfully arresting a suspect, whose absence from the crime scene has been established by eyewitnesses accounts. The report had also stated that the officer had attempted to plant fake evidence on the suspect. The CBI is probing whether the crime could be linked to Shettys police complaint in 2009 against certain unauthorised sale of land. A construction firm has been under the agencys scanner. The probe is ongoing and more arrests are likely soon, said an agency source. Also under the scanner is a set of other police officers who allegedly kept telephonic contact with a few case suspects as evident from an analysis of their mobile phones call data records (CDRs), said the source. Police arrested several students who attempted to force their way into the University of Hyderabad while demanding the ouster and arrest of vice-chancellor Appa Rao on Wednesday. The agitators were physically bundled into waiting police vans and whisked away from the scene. Some students of Osmania University also staged a flash protest in front of the official residence of Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to demand Appa Raos removal. However, police took them into custody and cleared the area. Earlier in the day, security was stepped up on the university campus in view of a Chalo HCU call as well as a protest organised by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (JACSJ) an umbrella group of 14 student bodies against an academic council meeting presided by Appa Rao. The JACSJ, which does not recognise Rao as the university vice-chancellor, took exception to him presiding over the meeting and called for a voluntary boycott of classes. Read: Tales from Hyderabad varsity: King Lear, Malayali Romeo, Manipuri boy Though the council meet was supposed to be held at the School of Life Sciences auditorium, its venue was shifted to VC Lodge in view of the Chalo HCU movement. Members of student groups such as the Students Federation of India, Progressive Democratic Students Union and All India Democratic Students Organisation responded to the JACSJs call, but were stopped at the main gate because a ban on the entry of outsiders remained in force. However, some of them tried to break through the security cordon and climb the gate. The agitators were heard raising slogans against Appa Rao as well as Union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya. In another development, controller of examinations Professor V Krishna reportedly resigned from his post and walked out of the academic council meeting in an expression of solidarity with the students demanding Appa Raos removal. Cyberabad police had erected barricades and deployed additional personnel to prevent protesting students from heading towards VC Lodge. The council meeting coincided with the Chalo HCU movement called by the group to protest the violence unleashed on students ever since Appa Rao returned as its vice-chancellor on March 22. It has asked everybody sympathetic to the cause from students to activists to undertake a march to the university for condemning the police action and the continued lockdown of the campus. Read: No let up in protests demanding ouster of Hyderabad university VC The JACSJ is demanding the immediate removal and arrest of Appa Rao in view of a case registered against him under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act in January, following the suicide of Dalit research scholar Rohith Vemula. The students group pointed out that the vice-chancellor had not been granted anticipatory bail by the court, though he had approached it six times. A two-member inquiry commission set up by the Union ministry of human resources development had blamed Vemulas death on the vice-chancellor as well as the university administration. The JACSJ contends that in view of the ongoing judicial probe, Appa Rao should be removed from his post to prevent him from tampering with material evidence. (With PTI inputs) Students of the famous Victoria College, Palakkad celebrated the retirement of their outgoing principal by digging a grave for her. The symbolic final resting place was prepared on college grounds and a wreath placed on it on March 31, the day the principal with about 30 years academic experience retired. They also put up a makeshift headstone and showered petals on its. In the ensuing furore, the students were arrested and charged under IPC Section 143 (unlawful assembly), Section 147 (rioting) and Section 500 (defaming a person in authority). Both ruling Congress and the BJP have condemned the incident and sought strict action against erring students. The public should come forward to restrain the ideology that prompts the young generation to believe that everyone who opposes them should be annihilated, said Kerala BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan. He also questioned the silence of cultural leaders and intelligentsia who, he says, cry cultural invasion and intolerance at the drop of a hat. The police on Tuesday booked eight students after the outgoing Principal of Victoria College in Palakkad Dr TN Sarasu filed a complaint. When the issue snowballed into a controversy the Students Federation of India, student wing of the CPM, disowned the act and said that it would take action if any of its activists were involved. College authorities say the student outfit and the principal had been at loggerheads over many issues. In her complaint the principal alleged that the students acted at the behest of some members of the Kerala Government College Teachers Union, a Left-leaning organisation. She alleges that she was victimised for enforcing discipline on the campus. The 127-year-old government college is a prestigious educational institution in all of south India. Alumni includes: EMS Namboodiripad, first chief minister of Kerala; TN Seshan, former chief election commissioner; and E Sreedharan, the man behind Konkan Railway and several Metro rail projects in the country. The principal could not be contacted for comments. Three years after the introduction of the National Food Security Act, the Gujarat government implemented it across the state on Wednesday and re-christening it as Maa Annapurna Yojna, prompting the Congress to accuse the ruling BJP of hijacking their pet programme. Maa Annapurna Yojna, was simultaneously launched from all the districts of the state on the BJP Foundation Day, with chief minister Anandiben Patel seeking to give credit for the scheme to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and urging people to retain the government which brings such pro-poor schemes, keeping in mind the 2017 state elections. Opposition Congress accused the BJP of hijacking their pet programme, saying that only the party of Modi and Patel can do such a thing blatantly. They said that it was only after Supreme Court reprimand that the state is implementing the Food Security Act. When Congress was ruling this state, only 1.88 crore people were given food-grains at subsidised rates prior to 1995. Now, under this Maa Annapurna Yojna, 3.82 crore people of Gujarat will be benefited. Each of them will get rice at Rs 3 per kg and wheat at Rs 2 per kg, said Patel in her address without mentioning once that it was a previous UPA act which she was implementing. She even slammed past Congress governments in Gujarat for not understanding the pain of poor citizens. Out of 35 kg given at subsidised rates during Congress rule, only 16 kg of food-grain was given at those rates, while for the remaining 19 kg, government used to charge Rs 7.70. Now, PM Modi removed this condition and has announced to give the entire 35 kg of food-grain at subsidised rates, she said. Patel claimed that Modi is the first PM of India who took care of poor citizens. Due to efforts of Modiji, many poor citizens, including widows and those farmers who lost their crops, are now covered under this scheme and they no longer have to worry about feeding their families. No other PM has thought about poor people in the past, claimed Patel. The enforcement directorate (ED) escalated its disproportionate assets probe against Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Wednesday, suggesting he and aide Anand Chouhan were involved in a textbook case of money laundering. The ED tightened its case against the Congress veteran on a day the Delhi high court directed him to cooperate with the central bureau of investigation, the second agency probing the alleged laundering of unaccounted wealth worth Rs 6 crore. But Justice Pratibha Rani told the agency that it cannot arrest Singh or his wife, Pratibha, without the courts consent. The Singh couple had told the court that they were willing to cooperate if they were not arrested during investigation. Sources in the ED said the findings against Singh will be part of the agencys chargesheet to be submitted in court. Singh and insurance agent Chouhan allegedly tried to camouflage the money as proceeds of agricultural income from the chief ministers 105-bigha apple orchard, named Shrikhand, in Himachal Pradesh. The money was used to purchase 19 insurance policies from Chauhan in the names of Singh, his wife, and their children. The chief minister denied any wrongdoing. Witch-hunt shall not persist. I have full faith in the judiciary. I will continue to serve people of the country, one of his political aides quoted him as saying. The EDs case was registered last November on the basis of the CBIs disproportionate assets case against them. The CBIs first information report accused Singh of amassing wealth beyond his known sources of income during his stint as Union steel minister in the Congress-led UPA government of 2009-2014. The agency recently moved to attach assets worth around Rs 8 crore that Singh and family own. A high court bench refused to halt the EDs provisional attachment of property belonging to the chief ministers son Vikramaditya Singh and daughter Aparajita Kumari. The EDs findings allege the 2008 memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Singh and Chouhan for managing the sale proceeds of the orchard was fabricated. The MoU was for the maintenance of the orchard for 2% commission on the sale proceeds. Till now, the accused have not provided the original copy of the MoU and given a photo copy with cut-marks, which raised questions about its authenticity, a source said Singhs aides said the allegations were fabricated and baseless. These are propagated by the BJP for political reasons, one of them said. The chief minister has been crying political vendetta since the case surfaced. His counsel in the high court, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal, said as much. Speaking on behalf of Singh, he told the court: I have been an MLA for 55 years, never lost an election. I have three palaces with me, besides 2,000 acres of forest land. However, I have been prosecuted for just Rs 6 crore. On October 1, 2015, the Himachal high court passed an interim order restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a charge sheet against Singh. Later in November, the Supreme Court transferred the case against to Delhi high court to protect the judiciary from embarrassment. The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh to cooperate with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in probing a disproportionate assets case registered against him. Justice Pratibha Rani, however, told the agency that it cannot arrest Singh or his wife, Pratibha, in this regard without the courts consent. The high court order came after Singh and his wife said they were willing to cooperate with the CBI if the court gave its assurance that they would not be arrested during the investigation process. However, the investigation agency registered its protest. We should be allowed to have a free hand in the investigation, additional solicitor general PS Patwalia told the court. Read: No HC relief for Himachal CMs son, daughter as ED attaches properties Patwalia also said that a witness was pressured to retract from his statement. However, the court said it was not inclined to go into the merit of the case at this stage. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Ram Jethmalani represented Singh and his wife respectively. Speaking on behalf of Singh, Sibal told the court: I have been an MLA for 55 years, never lost an election. I have three palaces with me, besides 2,000 acres of forest land. However, I have been prosecuted for just Rs 6 crore. On October 1, 2015, the Himachal high court had passed an interim order restraining the CBI from arresting, interrogating or filing a charge sheet against Singh. The CBI sought to vacate the order, contending that it was hampering the investigation. The Himachal Pradesh high court was hearing a plea by Singh, seeking the quashing of an FIR lodged against him by the CBI. In November last year, the Supreme Court transferred the DA case against Singh from the Himachal high court to the Delhi high court stating that the transfer was necessary to protect the judiciary from embarrassment. The apex court, however, did not pass any order to modify the Himachal high court order that restrained the CBI from arresting Singh. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Booze lovers in Bihar are running to the border to quench their thirst as the government tightens the noose on liquor sale. While some choose to head to Nepal, others are flocking to shops in Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The Bihar governments decision is a blessing for wine shops in Birgunj, Bhansar, Kalaiya, Gaur (near Raxaul) and Inarva (across Jaynagar). The shops have increased footfall from Bihar, but whether this is just a knee-jerk reaction to the ban remains to be seen. Nonetheless, while the going is good, shop owners are making the most of it. Our daily sales have registered a three-fold jump after the implementation of liquor ban in Bihar, said Manoj Sapkota, a shop owner in Kalaiya (Nepal). We are selling our stuff at a premium due to surge in sales. I have already sounded my distributor to increase the quota of vodka, rum, kurkuri, beer, etc, to keep pace with increased demand, said Ramavtar, a liquor vendor in Birgunj-Bhansar. Not everyone can afford to travel for their daily fix. Ramesh Sahani, an alcoholic under treatment in Motihari Sadar Hospital, said the distance was a prohibiting factor for him to lay hands on a cheap substitute of the country liquor from across the border. Now I am dying in hospital, he said. His wife, Shanti Devi, on the other hand, couldnt be happier. She hopes he comes out a sober man, and urged the government to step up vigil on the border to check drunkards from skirting the law. Excise inspector Sagir Khan said the borders were being patrolled and those found inebriated would be punished. We are also keeping a close watch to stop smuggling of liquor, he said. The local police allegedly are using violence to deter tipplers trudging back with their prize from Birgunj in Nepal. Such caning is almost a daily feature, said Dilip Dubey, a local resident. The drive to destroy illegal breweries also continues. Parliaments audit watchdog has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to furnish a report on why the probe agency closed 18 cases in the Commonwealth Games scam, which led to a political storm against the Congress. At the meeting of a sub-group of Public Accounts Committee on the CWG on Tuesday, lawmakers quizzed CBI chief Anil Sinha after he informed that 18 out of 33 cases lodged by the agency have been closed. Permission from the court has been sought to close down six more cases, Sinha said. It was such a high-profile case. The CAG gave a detailed report. Yet, we see so many cases had to be closed as the CBI failed to pursue leads. After we get a reply from the CBI, we will judge the merit in each of the closures, said a senior Opposition MP. The allegations of financial scam in the CWG, hosted in Delhi in 2010, had rocked Parliament as a united Opposition attacked the Congress, then the biggest party in the ruling dispensation. Former Congress MP Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the CWG organising committee, faces charges of alleged financial irregularities, and was jailed for 10 months. Kalmadi was arrested in 2011 along with two of aides on charges of corruption and criminal conspiracy in the scam that cost the exchequer Rs 90 crore. Some members, however, maintained that a review of closed cases would not be helpful, said a source. Some members also feel that Kalmadi the then president of the Indian Olympic Association, may not be at fault, said an MP. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Chinas blocking of Indian efforts to list Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist at the UN sanctions committee was taken up at a fairly high level with the neighbour, foreign secretary S Jaishankar said on Wednesday, adding he wouldnt give the impression that Beijings action would overflow into other areas of bilateral ties. China came in the way of Indian efforts last week to designate as a terrorist the JeM chief who India blamed for the Pathankot attack, putting the move on technical hold through an eleventh hour intervention. It was the second time China scuppered Indian plans to designate Azhar as a terrorist at the UN. We have taken it up at a fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with the Chinese. This is an issue to be pursued with the Chinese in a UN context, Jaishankar said at a function to launch the Indian chapter of an American think tank. The committees decision has to be unanimous. Once listed by the committee, entities and individuals face an asset freeze, a travel ban and an arms embargo actions that would cripple their ability to conduct terrorist activities. However, it was not disclosed at what level India took up the issue with China. Asked whether India would pursue a carrot and stick policy in the context of Beijings blocking of the move, the foreign secretary said in diplomacy you dont speak of carrots and sticks. Its undiplomatic. ...I wouldnt like to give the impression that somehow this is going to overflow into other areas. We had a backing and forthing with them on this issue and we have to wait and see where it goes, Jaishankar said. India will step up efforts to get the UN sanctions committee to blacklist Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant group chief Masood Azhar as a terrorist, despite China blocking the move last week. Beijing blocked the Indian application to put Azhar, the lynchpin of the Pathankot airbase attack in January, in the UN sanctions list. But New Delhi remained optimistic that the Chinese pressure could wilt under growing support from UN member countries to blacklist the rabidly anti-India militant groups chief. Foreign ministry officials said the US, UK and France have for the first time come together as co-sponsors to back Indias move. Separately, the government decided to hold a meeting next week to decide on whether to put China back in the list of country of concern, which could mean either total denial of security clearance to Chinese firms or stricter norms for setting up a shop here. A meeting of representatives from all stakeholders ministries of home, external affairs, finance and commerce is being called to decide on the issue, said a senior government official requesting anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to media on the issue. The move is seen in line with the Indian retaliation to Beijings UN moves. There is larger synergy among the UN members on the issue of designating Azhar a terrorist. We will learn lessons from the latest experience and step up our efforts, a foreign ministry official said. Foreign policy experts were not entirely convinced, saying overturning a negative Chinese response would be a daunting task. India and China have to have greater level of confidence with each other for this. As long as that doesnt happen, Beijing will not be on board, former career diplomat MK Bhadrakumar said. India approached the sanctions committee in February to act against Azhar. The process involves proving how entities and individuals are associated with UN-proscribed organisations such as al-Qaeda, Islamic State and Taliban. Once they are listed, individuals and organisations will face asset freezing, travel ban, arms embargo and other penalties that would cripple their ability to carry out attacks. (With inputs from Rajesh Ahuja) US authorities announced on Tuesday the arrest of 10 people from India and 11 from China for alleged visa fraud involving college admission and likely deportation of hundreds of Indian students. The accused used a phony university in New Jersey to grant certification needed for legitimate student and work visas but were not aware it was run by federal agents investigating them. Authorities said defendants helped over 1,000 foreign students stay in the US legally with papers provided to them from this phony institution, University of Northern New Jersey (UNNJ). The accused are charged with visa fraud and making false statements, each carries a sentence of five years, and H-1B visa fraud and harboring aliens, each carrying 10 years. Authorities are cancelling non-immigrant student visas of foreign nationals who benefitted from the racket, and, if applicable, arrest them and start deportation proceedings against them. Read | American dream turns nightmare for Telugu students The Indian Embassy in Washington is in touch with the US government about Indians among these students around 370 and 380 according to official sources seeking fair treatment for them. The embassy has requested the US government to not arrest or deport them. And given them a chance, instead, to keep their student visa by transferring to another university. This has been done before in the case of Tri-Valley (a fake California university busted by authorities in 2011 for running a pay-to-stay student visa racket), said an official in Delhi. The embassy is also awaiting consular access to those among the arrested who hold Indian passports going by their names, 10 of them seemed to be Indian or of Indian descent. Read | Deportation row: Why is US turning back Indian students? Students from India have been found enrolled in vast numbers in almost every fake university busted in recent years Tri-Valley in 2011 and University of Northern Virginia in 2013. Late 2015, US authorities deported hundreds of Indian students headed for two California universities from the airport itself, San Francisco, and in some cases from their stop-overs. Most of these universities operate as fronts from pay-to-stay operations, selling I-20s Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status - for Academic and Language Students needed to get a student F-1 visa. This time agents of Homeland Security Investigations (a wing of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees immigration) started one as part of a sting operation. Set up in 2013, UNNJ had no instructors or educators, no curriculum, and conducted no classes or education activities, said a statement from the office of US attorney for New Jersey. Read | Indian tourists, businessmen also deported from US The university, which operated solely as a storefront location with small offices staffed by federal agents posing as school administrators, could issue I-20s, however. That brought them the defendants, recruiting companies, brokers and business entities located from all over the country New Jersey, California, Illinois, New York, and Virginia. Everyone involved recruiting agents and their clients, mostly from India and China knew UNNJ was a phony university, as perhaps like the others they had heard of. Only, this one was being run by undercover federal agents. Read | Deportations fail to curb US dream of Hyderabad students Defendants are charged with producing false documents to facilitate their clients enrolment at UNNJ and also arrange for H-1B visas meant for highly skilled foreign workers. Beneficiaries were mostly those already in the US on valid visas. Enrolment and work permit through UNNJ allowed them to continue staying, legally but through illegal means. Kolkata police on Wednesday arrested the head of IVRCLs east India operations, the company responsible for the construction of the flyover that collapsed last week in Kolkata, taking the count upto nine. Read more | Kolkata flyover tragedy: Police arrest 4 more IVRCL officers Ranjit Bhattacharya was booked by police for the Vivekananda Road flyover collapse that killed almost 30 people and injured dozens more. About a 60-metre-long portion of the Vivekananda flyover had collapsed last Thursday following which the police registered a case against the Hyderabad-based company for culpable homicide not amounting to murder and attempt to commit culpable homicide, and sealed the local office of the company. Read more | Kolkata flyover collapse: Death toll rises to 27 as more bodies found Bhattacharya, who will be produced in a city court on Wednesday, had fallen ill soon after the collapse and was hospitalised. On March 31, the day of the tragedy, IVRCL officials claimed that the mishap was an act of God. We are also shocked that flyover collapsed and want to know why it happened. This is an accident, how can we fix responsibility on someone, the company said in a statement issued on April 1. Police sources however claimed the company did not implement a proper quality assurance plan (QAP). Labourers, who were on spot at the time of accident, also said that the engineers did not paid any heed to their advice on safety measures and ignored their concerns. Read more | Kolkata flyover collapse: Builders say city officials were in the loop The accident put the ruling Trinamool Congress in the oppositions cross hairs as they attempted to pin the blame of the accident on chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her government. The contract for the project was however awarded during the previous Left rule. With voting for assembly seats underway, the accident could hurt the Trinamools chances in returning to power with a comfortable margin. Read more | Trinamool, Mamata to blame for Kolkata flyover collapse: Rahul Gandhi A senior Chinese official said on Wednesday there was a need for more evidence from India for a United Nations ban on Jaish-e-Mohammad chief and Pathankot attack mastermind Masood Azhar. Liu Jinsong, deputy chief of mission and minister at the Chinese embassy, justified Chinas action on Indias bid against the Pakistan-based terrorist and said his country cant decide who is right and who is wrong on the issue. Last week, China stopped the UN sanctions committee from designating Azhar as a terrorist, maintaining that the case did not meet the requirements of the Security Council. This is not the first time China has blocked Indias bid to get Pakistan-based militant groups and leaders proscribed by the UN. Read: India takes up JeM leader Masood Azhars UN case with China India accused Azhar of masterminding the fatal attack on the Pathankot airbase in January. India had requested that JeM chief be added to a UN Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al Qaeda or Islamic State, but China objected. At the UN, this is a very serious issue. We need to discuss (on the issue), we need some kind of understanding from the related countries, concerned countries. Pakistan is not your enemy right? Its your brothers, its your neighbour. It is a nation (born) from one nation. You were one family before. You cant move neighbours. And you can have a new boyfriend or a girlfriend tomorrow, but you cant have your neighbours changed, Liu said when asked about the Chinese action. Read: Dont target Chinese firms over Masood Azhar, India will lose out Pakistan says Indias position is not good for them, it is against Pakistan. But India says its position is in its national interest. China cant be the judge (to decide) who is right, who is wrong. With Pakistan, we are good friends. With India, we are also good friends, said Liu. We cant be on any side. We cant stick to one side. We cant veto, we cant (remain) absent. Only thing we can do is (to put it on a) technical hold, he added. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modis recent comment that there cannot be any distinction between good and bad terrorists, he said China endorses the view and complimented him for trying to improve ties with Pakistan. Our view is Prime Minister Modis view... There is no good or bad terrorists. So there should not be any kind of double standard. Read: Govt rethinks security nod to Chinese firms after snub on Masood Azhar At the UN this is a very serious issue. We need to discuss, we need some kind of understanding from the related countries, concerned countries, the official said, adding we are very pleased to say that Prime Minister Modi tried to do his best to improve relations with Pakistan. We like our two neighbours-- India and Pakistan. Liu said India and Pakistan must engage in talks. We always tell our Indian friends (that) if you mention something related to Pakistan then why dont you have some bilateral talks. You can have some agreement, you can have some close door argument, he said. Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday targetted Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Pakistani media reported that the JIT, which came to India to probe the Pathankot terror attack, dubbed it as a drama staged by India to malign Pakistan. Congress demanded an apology from Amit Shah for having distributed certificates of sincerity to Pakistan, it took a swipe at Modi saying he was nose led repeatedly by the Pakistani establishment into situations which led to national embarrassment. From day one, we had asked what convinced the Prime Minister or assured him that the understanding reached between his NSA Ajit Doval and the Pakistani NSA former ISI General Naseer Janjua convinced him that the entire establishment of Pakistan endorsed the talks and the peace process. He and his government have been silent. First it happened post-Ufa when there was an attack in Udhampur, then Gurdaspur, then after his dramatic visit to Lahore and Raiwind to Nawaz Sharifs residence, in five days, we had the attack in Pathankot. What Prime Minister has claimed and his government as diplomatic triumph has turned out to be a diplomatic disaster, senior Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma Sharma told reporters. Read: Pathankot: India claims strong evidence, rejects Pak media reports Congress communication department chief Randeep Surjewala said reports in Pakistani media quoting leaked contents of Pakistani Joint Investigation Team report on Pathankot terror attack have once again exposed the doubled-faced policy of Pakistan in dealing with terrorism. He said it is now clear that neither has Modijis rhetoric of 56 inches chest or showing red eyes to Pakistan and China paid off nor has his sudden visit to Pakistan and attending feasts and marriage parties with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had any effect. Read: Pak probe team says India staged Pathankot attack: Pak media Modi should tender an apology: Kejriwal Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Prime Minister Narendra Modis invitation to Pakistani JIT, which included an ISI official, amounted to giving a clean chit to the spy agency for the Pathankot attack and demanded that he tender an apology for the monumental foreign policy failure. The Centres decision to invite a Pakistani Joint Investigation Team to probe the Pathankot airbase attack was a monumental failure and a stab in the back of Bharat Mata, Kejriwal told a press conference in New Delhi. He alleged that Modi had entered into a deal with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif during his Lahore visit in December last year, and sought to know its details in the countrys interest. Read: BJP betrayed Mother India by inviting ISI to probe Pathankot: Kejriwal The Prime Minister called over ISI officials despite being aware that it was behind the Pathankot terror attack which amounted to a clean chit. Now the JIT has reportedly claimed that India had itself staged the attack. No prime minister has capitulated before Pakistan the way Modi ji has, Kejriwal said. BJP/RSS " " ISI Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 5, 2016 After such an abject surrender, who will believe Indias long-held position that the Pakistani spy agency is behind terror strikes in India. Its a monumental foreign policy failure, the AAP chief said. But what is the reason behind this failure? The country wants to know about the deal struck between Modi ji and Sharif. The country is being sold. The Prime Minister should apologise to the people of the country, Kejriwal said. Muslims bow before their motherland 96 times while offering namaz five times in a day. But how many times people raising the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan bow before their motherland? Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangimahli, Imam-e-Eidgah and noted Islamic scholar posed this question for saffron outfits (without naming them) amid the raging Bharat Mata slogan controversy. Muslims bow before their motherland (India) 96 times in 24 hours while offering namaz five times a day. How many times these people (pressing Muslims to raise Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan) bow before their motherland, asked Khalid Rasheed, while talking to HT on Tuesday. He said: Muslims do not need to prove to anyone their love for the country. We have been raising the slogans Hindustan Zindabad, Jai Hind and Madre Watan. All have the same meaning as Bharat Mata Ki Jai. We will not say Bharat Mata Ki Jai under anyones pressure, he added. Coming down heavily on the recent fatwa issued by Darul Uloom, directing Muslims not to raise Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan, Khalid Rasheed said: Institutions of religious importance like Darul Uloom should not issue fatwa on sensitive issues like the Bharat Mata Ki Jai. Fatwas issued by the Darul Uloom are taken seriously by the community (Muslims). So, the institution must not issue such fatwas, he said. Stressing on the negative impact of such fatwas, the Islamic scholar said: Such fatwas further alienate the Muslim community from the mainstream of the society. Therefore, Darul Uloom should not have issued fatwa on this issue (Bharat Mata Ki Jai). Khalid Rasheed also asserted that there was no need for Darul Uloom to issue fatwa on each and every issue which comes before it. There is absolutely no need to issue fatwa on every issue. The Darul Uloom must ignore controversial issues, he said. The issue of Bharat Mata Ki Jai made headlines after All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi courted controversy at a public meeting at Udgir tehsil in Latur district (Maharashtra) on March 13. He declared that he would not chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan even if a knife was put to his neck. Owaisis statement was a riposte to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwats statement advocating that younger generation must be taught to chant slogans in favour of the country. However, the RSS chief had recently stated that no one should be forced to chant the Bharat Mata Ki Jai slogan. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Nepal and India expressed alarm on Tuesday over a report that children as young as 10 from both countries are being sold as domestic slaves to rich families in the UK for 500,000 rupees each. An investigation by The Sun newspaper suggested that gangs operating in the north Indian state of Punjab are preying on destitute Indian children, as well as Nepali children who migrated to India after earthquakes hit their country last year. The article published on Monday prompted British Home Secretary Theresa May to call for a police investigation into the allegations of child trafficking - a truly abhorrent crime - and action against perpetrators. Government officials in Nepal and India said they are aware human trafficking is common, especially after natural disasters, but were surprised victims are being sent as far away as the UK. We have already instructed police to investigate this. This is very serious, Yadav Koirala, spokesman for Nepals Home Ministry, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. We have no proof now. If any proof is found out during investigation, we will bring those involved it the crime to justice. There is no question of leaving them without punishment. An official from Indias home ministry said the government was trying to tackle the menace of human trafficking with all seriousness. It is a known fact that children from poor families are trafficked from states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal. The last devastating earthquake in Nepal has added to this problem, said the official, who did not want to be named. He said cases of human trafficking were possible in Punjab where drug trafficking is a problem, and that the same gangs could be involved in buying and selling children as well. Take a Nepalese to England The Suns investigation was carried out by an undercover reporter posing as a wealthy British-Indian visiting the city of Jalandhar, looking for a child worker to take back to the UK. It quotes a trader called Makkhan Singh, who had lined up three children for the reporter to choose from, claiming he had supplied mostly Nepali boys to rich families in England. Take a Nepalese to England. They are good people. They are good at doing all the housework and theyre very good cooks. No one is going to come after you, he was quoted as saying. India is flooded with boys. Nepal has been destroyed and all the Nepalese are here. We go to the poor parents, we talk to them, we do a deal, he added. South Asia is the fastest-growing and second-largest region for human trafficking in the world, after East Asia, according to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC). India, alone, is home to almost half the worlds 36 million slaves, according to the 2015 Global Slavery Index, produced by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation. Thousands of children, mostly from poor rural areas, are taken to cities every year by gangs who sell them into bonded labour or hire them out to unscrupulous employers. Many end up as domestic workers or labourers in brick kilns, roadside restaurants or small textile and embroidery workshops. Many women and girls are sold into brothels. Experts say the risks of being exploited are even greater after disasters when homes, jobs and livelihoods are lost. 40,000 children hit after quake Earthquakes that struck Nepal in April and May 2015, killed some 8,800 people, left hundreds of thousands of families homeless and raised concerns among rights groups that trafficking rings would take advantage of the vulnerable. Nepali officials say more than 40,000 children either lost their parents, were injured, or were placed in a precarious situation following the disaster. Authorities launched anti-trafficking awareness campaign in 22 districts bordering India and alerted police and child rights activists to remain vigilant against child exploitation. Over the last year, Nepali officials say they had intercepted 400 children moving in groups without their parents. In India, officials in Uttar Pradesh state say they have rescued more than 160 Nepalis, mainly women and children, from human trafficking after the twin quakes. Back in Britain, Home Secretary May called on The Sun to help with the police investigation in the UK. We encourage The Sun to share its disturbing findings with the Police and National Crime Agency so that appropriate action can be taken against the vile criminals who profit from this trade, May said in a statement on Monday. Tensions mounted at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar on Wednesday as the Centre rushed a probe team to the campus amid widespread condemnation of alleged police brutality against hundreds of non-Kashmiri students a day before. Authorities cordoned off the campus that adjoins the Dal Lake and stationed paramilitary forces inside as home minister Rajnath Singh assured the safety of outstation students, who demanded the campus be shifted out of the Valley and opposed the anti-national Kashmiri students. Mehbooba ji assured that all students will be safe. She said an inquiry will be conducted to find out how the incident happened and also fix responsibility, he said, referring to Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Human resource development minister Smriti Irani said she spoke to Mehbooba and that the two-member team will remain on campus until exams begin on April 11. The incident has become the first major test for the CM as allegations of violence against non-Kashmiris can potentially pitch the Hindu-majority Jammu region of the state against the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley. This is a problem for Mehbooba whose father and then CM Mufti Mohammad Sayeed died earlier this year as the alliance between her Peoples Democratic Party and the BJP rests on a promise of bringing these two hostile regions closer. Read | Mehbooba assures Irani of students safety: Latest updates on NIT row Police men outside the gate of Srinagar NIT (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo ) The campus flared up last Thursday after West Indies knocked India out of the World T20, when some Kashmiri pupils allegedly celebrated with firecrackers and shouted anti-national slogans. Enraged, some non-Kashmiri students ran around campus with a Tricolour, shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai in protest. Authorities shut down the campus on Saturday but re-opened it on Monday. On Tuesday evening, around 500 non-Kashmiri students tried to march out of the campus, saying they felt insecure and wanted to return to their homes. They were blocked by police and allegedly beaten up. No one is questioning those who raised anti-national slogans, instead we are facing atrocities of the local police and college administration, a student said. Read | Srinagar: Non-Kashmiri students of NIT clash with police, CRPF deployed The incident comes weeks after Delhi was rocked by protests following the arrest of several students of Jawaharlal Nehru University for allegedly shouting anti-national slogans. There are several demands made by the students to the central team, including one to shift the NIT out of Srinagar to Jammu, considering the security threats caused in this incident, a final year undergraduate student told HT. The non-Kashmiri students demanded the police return their Tricolour that was allegedly taken from them during Tuesdays protests. Of the 2400-odd students in undergraduate courses, 50% come from state quota. But in post-graduate courses, admissions are open and based on entrance test scores. State education minister Naeem Akhtar said the incident was not a local-versus non-local issue but an administrative one that was being sorted out. The police maintained they chased the mob of students after officers were assaulted. The Congress joined the BJP, chamber of commerce, and Hindu organisations against the alleged lathicharge. It is ironic. While students in Delhi are arrested on the basis of alleged fake videos, those who raise slogans for India in Kashmir are assaulted. Why this different yardsticks? asked party spokesman Manish Tewari. The campus flared up last Thursday after West Indies knocked India out of the World T20, when some Kashmiri pupils allegedly celebrated with firecrackers and shouted anti-national slogans. (Waseem Andrabi / HT Photo ) NIT trends on social media On Wednesday, #NIT trended on social media as posts, videos and pictures of the clashes, including police allegedly firing tear gas shells at the students hostel, did the rounds. Two companies of CRPF in a campus is not normal by any stretch of imagination. Requires tact not use of force, former chief minister Omar Abdullah tweeted. First established as a Regional Engineering College in 1960 and made into an NIT in 2003, NIT-Srinagar is one of the top engineering institutes in the state. Situated near the famous Hazratbal shrine, NIT offers undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses in technology and sciences. (with agency inputs) A day after tensions erupted at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar, the human resource development ministry (HRD) sent a two-member team on Wednesday to assess the situation on campus. Read more: Clashes at NIT Srinagar: Students kicked, punched, boycott classes Police and students clashed after outstation students expressed a sense of insecurity and attempted to leave the campus following last weeks clash after the World Twenty20 semi-final match between India and West Indies. Some students were injured when police resorted to lathicharge. Unrest was witnessed at the campus, the scene of last weeks clash, with outstation students expressing a sense of insecurity and attempting to leave the campus, leading to a confrontation with police which resorted to lathicharge in which some were injured. The institute administration suspended classes over the weekend to prevent the violence from escalating. Classes were resumed on Tuesday, but few students have been attended the sessions. The atmosphere is becoming tense due to the ongoing clashes, students told Hindustan Times. Top CRPF officer to HT: Sufficient deployment inside campus. Can't give exact details regarding numbers. MHRD team on its way. @htTweets Abhishek Saha (@saha_abhi1990) April 6, 2016 NIT gate, rain-soaked Srinagar and a CRPF jawan crosses the road. (Abhishek Saha/ Hindustan Times) Read more: Srinagar: Non-Kashmiri students of NIT clash with police, CRPF deployed The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed on Tuesday night with the Jammu and Kashmir government assuring students of adequate security. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh also discussed the situation at NIT with chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Clashes broke out last Friday between local and outstation students over Indias defeat in the World Twenty20 semi-final match, forcing NIT authorities to shut down the campus till Tuesday. We take responsibility of all the students of the country studying in NIT. We have put in place all the measures, deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh had said. Singh added that the administration held a meeting with the students to resolve the issue. Outstation students demanded additional security and postponement of exams. The senior superintendent of police is in the meantime camping in the area to ensure peace. Director of NIT has said that the demands have been accepted, Singh said. Students at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) in Srinagar on Wednesday alleged police harassment and accused the college administration of threatening them following last weeks clashes between local and outstation students. The director called a meeting with students; there he threatened us and said that if you rake this issue more, we will fail you and delay your degrees. At this time, we students got to know about the media presence at the gate of the institution. So, we went to interact with them but were stopped at the gate of the college and then the police baton-charged us. No one was speared; girls, handicapped, all were beaten by the police, one of the students alleged. No one is questioning those who raised anti-national slogans, instead we are facing atrocities of the local police and collage administration, another student said. The unrest follows last weeks clashes among students during the World Twenty20 semi-final match played between India and West Indies. India had lost the match, forcing the team out of the tournament. Some engineering students from outside the state claimed Kashmiri students had chanted anti-India slogans and burst firecrackers after Indias defeat. Read more | Clashes at NIT Srinagar: Centre sends 2-member team to assess situation The NIT administration suspended classes and shut the campus down till Tuesday to prevent the situation from escalating, but students expressed a sense of insecurity and wanted to leave campus. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was deployed inside the campus following the confrontation as protesting students accused the state police of using excessive force against them. Adding to the tension, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday threatened a nationwide stir if security was not provided to non-Kashmiri students who were allegedly attacked. State VHP president Leela Karan Sharma, who was also the face of 2008 Amarnath land row in Jammu, said police action against students for waiving an Indian flag and raising nationalistic slogans was unheard of. We warn of a nationwide repercussion in case the adequate steps to restore the honour of students are not taken. The VHP will send its own fact finding team of office bearers to NIT Srinagar to meet the victims and students of NIT, Sharma said as the VHP demanded that paramilitary forces be deployed to ensure security. Deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said there was a mild lathicharge when students tried to reach the main gate of the campus. Singh also spoke to chief minister Mehbooba Mufti about the incident. NIT trended on social media as posts, videos and pictures of the clashes, including police firing tear gas shells at the students hostel, did the rounds. A Facebook page Save the students of NIT Srinagar was created while the hashtag #Jihad on NIT Student was tweeted out frequently. Former chief minister Omar Abdullah also took to Twitter to comment on the situation, urging the NIT administration to find other means of dealing with the situation. Two companies of CRPF in a campus is not normal by any stretch of imagination. Requires tact not use of force, Abdullah posted. With inputs from agencies The Delhi high court on Wednesday refused to halt the provisional attachment of the properties belonging to Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singhs son and daughter by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering probe. A bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath said it will not pass any interim relief order in the case before hearing the EDs response. It then posted the plea filed by Singhs daughter Aparajita Kumari and son Vikramaditya Singh for further hearing on April 18. Read: Will BJP call Virbhadra anti-national for stand against T20, asks Shiv Sena Senior advocate Amit Sibal, appearing for the two, had sought a stay on the EDs provisional attachment order dated March 23, 2016, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The petition stated that the ED had attached movable assets amounting to Rs 15.85 lakh of Kumari and Rs 62.8 lakh of Singh without naming them in the first information report. No property of the petitioners can be attached without giving them an opportunity to explain the sources for the property under attachment, the petition said. It further submitted that the proceedings under the PML Act were bad in law because the allegations in the enforcement case information report did not mention any money laundering charges. The government has dissociated itself from remarks by Baba Ramdev and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on chanting bharat mata ki jai. Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said views expressed by individuals on the issue are not authorised by the government. Ramdev had triggered a row with his statement earlier in the week that but for the law he would have beheaded lakhs of those who refused to chant the slogan. Fadnavis too suggested that those who refuse to say Bharat mata ki jai had no right to stay in India. The damage control exercise by Naidu came in the face of BJPs reluctance to be drawn into the controversy involving the two. He said, Did the chief minister pass any legislation on it? In a democracy, people will say so many things. At the end, what the government decides is binding on all. The government has not come out with any circular making the chanting of Bharat mata ki jai mandatory, but it is an emotive issue and sensibilities of all should be taken care. The BJP had remained hesitant in reacting to Ramdevs remarks fearing it would amount to owing it up. Babas spokesmen are in best position to react, a BJP spokesman said. The Yoga guru is considered close to the BJP and the Sangh parivar. Conflicting statement from the RSS, too, did not help the matter. Within days of its chief Mohan Bhagwat suggesting that nobody should be forced to chant the slogan, RSSs second in command Suresh Bhaiyaji Joshi appeared to be striking a different note. All those who consider this land as their mother say Bharat Mata Ki Jai, jo is bhumi ko bhogbhumi maante hain, ve hi Bharat Mata Ki Jai kehne se inkaar karte hain, he said at a function in Mumbai last week. India on Tuesday termed as total concoction a Pakistan report, quoting sources in the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that visited India, that the Pathankot attack was staged by India. Meanwhile, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said no one, including people in Pakistan, will believe that the Pathankot airbase attack was stage-managed by India. The report in Pakistan Today is a total concoction. While in India, the JIT took onboard the detailed evidence which was shared by the NIA, sources from the external affairs ministry (MEA) said. Read more: Pathankot: India claims strong evidence, rejects Pak media reports Since the JIT collected evidence in accordance with Pakistani law which applies to Pakistani citizens committing an offence abroad, the involvement of Pakistanis in the Pathankot attack is self evident, the sources added. Pakistan Today, quoting sources in the JIT said the attack was a drama staged to malign Pakistan. Reacting to the Pakistani newspaper report that claimed that the JIT that probed the January 2 attack said it was staged by India, Venkaiah Naidu said: Pakistan has always done this. The minister said the newspaper report was not an official version from Pakistan but quoted sources. Read more: BJP betrayed Mother India by inviting ISI to probe Pathankot: Kejriwal I hope they (Pakistan) wont take such a stand. No one will believe it, including the Pakistani people, Naidu said during an interaction with the Indian Women Press Corps. They are under pressure of extremist groups... people want dialogue, but a dialogue cannot go along with terror, he said. On similar lines, National Investigation Agency (NIA) spokesperson Sanjeev Singh told IANS: We had provided all kinds of information sought by the five-member Pakistani team. The report being run on news channels is quoting sources. We have not had any talk with Pakistani officials on this so far. A report in Pakistan Today newspaper, quoting sources, said the JIT concluded that the Indian authorities had prior information about the attackers. The daily claimed its source said India used the attack as a tool to expand its vicious propaganda against Pakistan without having any solid evidence to back the claim. The report also quoted a member of the JIT as saying that NIA officer Tanzil Ahmads murder on Saturday night in Uttar Pradesh showed that Indian establishment wants to keep the matter under wraps. The JIT arrived in India on March 28 and visited Pathankot the next day. It returned to Pakistan on April 1. The January 2 attack on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab left seven security personnel and the intruding terrorists dead. India blamed banned terror organisation Jaish-e-Mohammad for the attack. Bollywood actor Salman Khan has said he consumed water and not alcohol at a party in a Mumbai hours before his car mowed down a man and injured five people sleeping on a pavement in September 2002. In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the actor said state police framed him in the hit-and-run case on the basis of fabricated evidence. Salman requested the top court to uphold the Bombay high court order that acquitted him in the case. The Maharashtra government has appealed against the HC verdict. The Bombay high courts acquittal of Salman in December last year triggered angry reactions from the public. A trial court had earlier convicted and sentenced Salman to five years in jail. His bodyguard, Ravindra Patils statement formed the basis of the conviction. Salman said police deliberately ignored his friend Kamal Khans testimony, saying the actors driver was at the wheels during the accident. The respondent (Salman) drank some water at Rain bar. The respondent did not consume any alcohol. The prosecution has not presented any eye witness who saw the respondent consume alcohol, read the affidavit. The police produced fabricated bills of the bar to frame the star, it said. He complained the investigators had not conducted a proper forensic examination of his vehicle involved in the accident. In its appeal, the Maharashtra government said the HC erroneously disbelieved Patils statement and acquitted Salman. The driver, Ashok Singh, mysteriously surfaced 13 years after the incident. Salman said Patils statement before a metropolitan magistrate should not be taken into account in his case. Patil died in October 2007 and could not be examined before the sessions court. According to Salman, his friend Kamal Khan was present in the car besides Patil. He was an eye-witness to the incident but the prosecution deliberately did not examine him, Salman said. Police dropped Kamal from the list of witnesses, saying he ignored the summons sent to him. Salman said the report showing his friend did not receive the summons was fake. This was a serious flaw on the part of the prosecution to the case sought to be made out against the respondent, and had to he led to an adverse inference that Kamal Salman would tell the truth, which would go against the prosecution, Salman said. Read: Salman has spent over Rs 25 crore in the hit-and-run case: Salim Khan SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea to order an inquiry into bribery allegations against former CBI director Ranjit Sinha, accused of demanding money from a person facing charges of illegal export of iron ore. A bench headed by Justice MB Lokur monitoring the CBI probe into the coal scam cases said it was not possible for it to permit Prem Chand Garg, managing director of Shri Lal Mahal Ltd, to give a statement to the special team investigating the charges against Sinha. The panel is probing whether the former CBI bosss meeting with those accused in the 2G and coal scam cases amounted to interference with the investigation. When Gargs counsel, Diljit Ahluwalia, sought permission to approach the high court, the bench said: You avail the legal remedy available to you. We shall not interfere. Garg accused Sinha of forcing him to pay up to dilute the charges against him in the criminal case registered in Bengaluru. The businessman said he first met the former top cop after the FIR was registered in September 2013. His meeting took place at Sinhas official residence in Delhi where, the application read, the ex-CBI director asked for Rs 12.5 crore. Garg alleged the CBI issued him a notice after he refused to pay. His company director was arrested but let-off after remaining in jail for two months. During that period, Sinha asked for Rs 15 crore again to let off Garg. He claimed the agency got an open-ended, non-bailable warrant issued against Garg, which the Karnataka high court dismissed on January 28, 2014. By then, a charge sheet was filed against him. Yet, Sinha allegedly called Gargs wife and demanded Rs 25 crore. . Three Pakistani militants and a local travelling in a car carrying weapons and possibly a suicide belt could target Delhi, Goa or Mumbai, a senior police officer said on Wednesday. Input received from the Special Cell of the Delhi Police say a grey-coloured Swift Dzire is likely to cross Banihal Tunnel later today (Wednesday), television channels reported Punjab director general of police (Law and Order) HS Dhillon as saying. A security alert has been issued, he added. You are directed to take all the necessary steps in this regard and specially focus on strict checking of vehicles, security of all vital installation including police buildings and defence establishments, religious places, crowded places such as market areas, malls, railway stations, railway tracks, and educational institutions, an alert issued by the police said. Punjab has witnessed two major terror attacks in the past nine months. Suspected Pakistani terrorists attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force base on January 2 and killed seven security personnel. On July 27 last year, three suspected Pakistani terrorists attacked Dinanagar town in Gurdaspur district leaving seven people dead. Both attacks took place in areas of Punjab bordering Jammu and Kashmir. With inputs from IANS The political uncertainty in Uttarakhand could end when the high court hears the petition of the Congress challenging the imposition of Presidents Rule in the state on Wednesday. A double bench of Justice KM Joseph and Justice VK Bisht is likely to pronounce a decision on two separate petitions of Congress in the high court that objected to a floor test on March 31 and challenged the Centres appropriation ordinance. Earlier this week, both the union government and Congress filed counter affidavits in the court. The Union government in its reply maintained that the imposition of Presidents rule was inevitable because of a complete breakdown of constitutional machinery. A single bench had on March 29 ordered a floor test for the Harish Rawat-led government. The union government filed an objection to it and the double bench stayed the floor test a day later. On the same day, Rawat filed a petition challenging the Centres appropriation ordinance for the state alleging that an ordinance on state finances after April 1 was aimed at justifying illegal imposition of Presidents rule. Advocates Abhishekh Manu Singhvi and Kapil Sibal will argue on behalf of the Congress while Nalin Kohli and solicitor general Mukul Rohtagi will represent the union government. The nine Congress legislators, whose rebellion stoked the political deadlock, also challenged their disqualification from the assembly in the high court. Their petition will be heard on April 11. Read more | Uttarakhand: Rebel Cong MLAs suspended, BJP demands Presidents Rule Meanwhile political parties in the state are hoping that the courts decision will come in their favour. Stating the Congress had faith in the judicial system, state party president Kishor Upadhyay said, We strongly feel that we will get justice against the arbitrary decision of Union government. The party accused the BJP of engineering a political coup and creating chinks in the Congress, allegations the BJP has denied. While Congress legislators are camping in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh and are waiting on the courts decision to decide on its next course of action, the BJP is mulling its options to form government in the hill state. We have pressure of party colleagues to find out whether to form government. We are hopeful we will get the support of the majority of the legislators, said Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, a BJP leader and front runner for the chief ministers position. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to take the debate on nationalism a notch higher in Gujarat by holding the Bharat Mata Gaurav Kooch the Mother India pride march at 18 places across the state on its foundation day, which falls on Wednesday. Besides commemorating the partys 36th anniversary, the event will set the tone for the state assembly polls next year. The significance of this move can be gauged from the fact that three Union ministers health minister JP Nadda, human resource development minister Smriti Irani and petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan will preside over rallies held in Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara. The celebrations will begin with booth-level meetings at 40,000 places across the state in the morning. Later in the day, party workers will attend government functions in various areas to mark the launch of the Maa Annapurna programme under the National Food Security Scheme. In the evening, the party will hold the three-km Bharat Mata Gaurav Kooch, which will begin with people singing Vande Mataram. Later, they will unfurl the Tricolour amid chanting of the Bharat Mata ki Jai slogan. Read: Govt hasnt made chanting Bharat Mata Ki Jai mandatory: Venkaiah Naidu The conclusion of the march will wrap up the day-long celebrations. The rallies come close on the heels of the BJP national executive meet, during which the party leadership had given every indication that nationalism would top its agenda in the coming years. It was also one of the main talking points at farmers conventions held in various parts of the state recently. The party played video clippings related to alleged anti-national sloganeering at the Jawaharlal Nehru University during a convention in Vadodara on March 28. Addressing a similar convention in Surat the next day, party chief Amit Shah asked workers to take the issue of nationalism from door to door. Nationalism took centre stage at all eight such rallies held by the BJP after it was routed in the countryside in the local body polls. The reasons cited for its bad performance were erratic supply of water and electricity, unsatisfactory cotton MSP, and an agitation launched by the politically influential Patidar community for OBC quota. In the November 2015 local body elections, the BJP won just 60 of the 230 taluka panchayats while the Congress captured 124. Of the 31 district panchayats, Congress bagged 23 while the BJP won just six. Though it retained six municipal corporations, the partys vote share declined significantly even in those areas. Read: If Bharat Mata Ki Jai means Janta Ki Jai, ready to chant: Aiyar In contrast, the BJP had won 30 district panchayats and 176 taluka panchayats in 2010. The party had bounced back to power under firebrand leader (and incumbent Prime Minister) Narendra Modi in the 2002 state assembly elections, which were held in the backdrop of the communal riots. The Hindutva card helped the BJP which faced challenges such as anti-incumbency and factionalism bag as many as 127 seats. Significantly, the party had lost a crucial by-election just before the riots. However, in the two subsequent polls held in 2007 and 2012, which the party fought on the development agenda, its seat and vote shares declined. Today, given the leadership vacuum created by the relocation of Modi and BJP leader Amit Shah to New Delhi, retaining power never seemed this challenging for the party since 1995. As the Bharat Mata Gaurav Kooch begins, it remains to be seen whether the BJPs newfound nationalism card works as efficiently at garnering votes as the Hindutva one. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Bihar imposed total prohibition of alcohol on Tuesday, becoming the fourth Indian state to do so after Gujarat, Nagaland and Lakshadweep (Union Territory). As the national capital, should Delhi-NCR then take a cue and go dry (other than the weather of course)? What would this mean? For one, a drastic and welcome drop in crime, accidents, drunk driving, domestic abuse and local brawls (we hope). But on the other hand, the change would mean denying tipplers their daily fix and socially awkward beings their armour at get-togethers (were sure). We spoke to some alcohol aficionados to find out what they think the National Capital Region would be like if it followed in Bihars footsteps. Drinking trips and highway jams Since you cant really separate one from their drink, Raja Menon believes there will always be a scramble to get some from legitimate stores across borders. Given Delhis central location, it would not be so difficult to get alcohol. Four hours in any direction, and you would find all that you need, said the 29-year-old comic web artist. But this is likely to lead to nasty weekend traffic jams on highways and in turn affect inter-state commute, he added. Hike in suicide rates Many would probably agree with this, that alcohol comes in handy while trying to drown worries, sorrows, fears and other negative feelings. People frustrated with life have just that one drink to go to at the end of the day, said Arundhati Singh, a 26-year-old lawyer. If you take even that from them, living would get difficult. Read: Bihar goes dry: Five things you must know about liquor ban A lot more protests We Dilliwalas love to take to the streets to protest. With something as big as a liquor ban, the streets would be filled with people protesting against the move until it is overturned. It will only add to the number of protests we already have on Delhi streets, said Naman Agarwal, a 25-year-old software engineer. Hard to argue with that. Drab weekends Delhi has much to offer in terms of leisure culture, architecture, retail, arts. But, come summers, its a cold draught with friends that always wins. Hanging-out with friends over weekends, a major stress buster for most, wont be the same. Alcohol is a great equaliser. It brings everyone on the same page and helps making friends easier. Meeting friends or new people would not be as much fun without alcohol, said 26-year-old Spandan Murthy, a structural engineer. Senaara Ailawadi agrees, and she would know; shes a public relation officer. We would miss out on so much fun. Liquor helps you ease a bit and gives you such fantastic and hilarious memories. Wed not be looking forward to spending time with friends on weekends as eagerly as we do now. Well get poorer, so would the government Making cigarettes more expensive has hurt smokers, but has hardly cut down on their number. Manish Sain, a 28-year-old media professional, thinks the same would be the case with alcohol. No ban can prevent booze lovers from drinking Because it would get costlier, I might drink four times a week instead of everyday. It would burn a bigger hole in my pocket but thats that. Praditi Jain, a 23-year-old analyst, adds, Government gets a sizeable share of its taxes from liquor licenses. There is a liquor store every 1.5 kms. It will lose out on a lot of money. It cannot afford to ban alcohol. Read: Bihar turns dry as CM Nitish Kumar announces total prohibition on liquor Big, fat Punjabi weddings wont be the same Can you imagine weddings in Delhi without the free flow of alcohol? Punjabis would just abandon Delhi as their wedding destination and we would be losing out on the hullabaloo, revelry and madness that these weddings are, said Tara Saboo, a 30-year-old event manager. In demand: Friends in the army Weve envied people in the defence services for the subsidised rates at which alcohol is available in defence canteens. If prohibition did come into force, everybodys going to want a whole friends list of them. Being friends with people from the army will come back in vogue, more out of necessity than anything else, said Zoya Wahi, an account manager. Delhiites will get creative From trying out other substances to attempting to brew their drink, Delhiites predict the city is going to have a new fad take over. People will start brewing their own alcohol and get to learn a new art, said Harshit Passi, a 23-year-old engineer while Shreya Jain, a public relations officer, thinks other substances like Marijuana could find new takers. If alcohol actually does get banned in Delhi, well have to wait until Patanjali comes up with its ultra-legit rum, joked a 24-year-old travel writer, Shreshti Verma. With no liquor around, people will have to look for other reasons to blame all that is wrong with the society. It would be interesting to see what could get as infamous as alcohol, added Rahul Tyagi, an analyst by profession. So Delhi, in case you are thinking about the ban, you know what to factor in. Our advice, dont do it *hic*. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON A special Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) court on Wednesday pronounced the quantum of punishment for all those found guilty in the 2002-2003 Mumbai blasts case. These were the first blasts in which the banned organisation Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and members of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) conspired together to conduct a series of blasts in the city. Bomb-planter Muzammil Ansari, Wahid Ansari and Farhaan Khot were sentenced to life imprisonment. Former general secretary of SIMI Saquib Nachan, who the prosecution claimed was a key accused, was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, along with Ateef Mulla, Hasib Mulla and Gulam Khotal. Noor Malik, Anwar Ali and Muhammed Kamil were sentenced to two years in jail. Read: 10 convicted, 3 acquitted by POTA court in 2002-03 Mumbai blasts case The case is going on for 13 years for the prosecution and for defence. I have tried to appreciate both the evidence. You know this is the trial court and not the last court. Some might be pleased and some might not. I have tried to give justice, judge PR Deshmukh observed while pronouncing the verdict. Deshmukh had earlier convicted Nachan and nine others 13 years after three blasts that shocked the city for hatching a conspiracy in preparation of the terror acts. Three accused Adnan Mulla, Harroon Lohar and Nadeem Paloba were earlier acquitted for lack of evidence. The three blasts that rocked the city between December 2002 to March 2003, killed 12 people and injured 139. Mumbai blasts: A timeline According to the Mumbai Police, the act was the handiwork of the banned organisation SIMI. The prosecution claimed that Nachan along with Pakistani nationals and a member of the LeT, Faisal Khan, along with 23 other accused were involved in the case. Out of the total 24 accused, five including Khan who was killed in an encounter, are dead while six other accused are still absconding. On December 6, 2002, a bomb exploded in the McDonalds outlet at Mumbai Central railway station where 27 persons were injured. A month and a half later, on January 27, 2003, a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded outside the Vile Parle railway station, killing Anita Indulkar (35) and injuring 32 others. On March 13, 2003, another bomb exploded in the ladies first-class compartment of a Karjat-bound fast train as it approached Mulund station where over 90 people were killed. Read: Confessions helped prosecution nail 2002-2003 blasts case SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has the Dalit vote on its mind for the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections that are only 10 months away. Atrocities on Dalits, particularly women, in UP during the four-year rule of the Samajwadi Party, will be the top agenda for assembly polls, according to BJP leaders. The partys UP unit decided in its state executive meeting held on February 7 this year that injustice against Dalits should be the main agenda in the elections. In the last 11 months, 92 Dalits have been killed, which indicates a complete collapse of law and order in the state since the Samajwadi Party came into power in 2012. Among the 92 victims of violence, most are Dalit women, who were raped before being killed due to police laxity, said the states BJP president Lakshmikant Vajpayee. Dalits constitute 21 per cent of the total voters in the state and are considered a vote bank of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the party of former chief minister Mayawati. According to BJP leaders, by raising Dalit issues and making Dalit atrocities its core agenda for the assembly polls, the party wants to make inroads into Mayawatis vote bank. However, BSPs Noida leader Davendra Sharma questioned as to why the BJP is talking of Dalit welfare just before the state polls. Dalits know who is working for their welfare. They will not fall into BJPs trap. We are going to form the next government in the state, said Sharma, whose name has been announced as the BSPs Noida candidate for the 2017 assembly polls. However, BJP state president Vajpayee said his party is genuinely working for Dalits to empower them. Mayawati and BSP workers have not visited the houses of any of the Dalits killed in the last 11 months. I have supported these 92 Dalit families whose members were killed due to various reasons. In our state executive meet, we made it clear that we will fight for Dalits and get them justice, said Vajpayee. In his April 5 event in Noida, which was held on the birth anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that he has directed all 1.25 branches of banks to give a mandatory guarantee-free loan to at least one member of a Scheduled Caste or Schedule Tribe and a woman. With entrepreneurship, Dalits will bring a big social change in India. Our government will support them wholeheartedly, Modi had said. He also said that history forgot Babu Jagjivan Ram Babu Jagjivan Ram, who was first agriculture minister to bring a revolution in this field. He was also the defence minister when India won the 1971 war defeating Pakistan, the PM added. He believed in merit-based scholarship. Social obstacles never came in his way to success. He believed in samta mulak samaj; equal opportunity for all. If we provide the opportunity, Dalits, women and STs can do wonders, the PM had said on Tuesday. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON The family of Himanshi Kashyap has accused her father-in-law and Bahujan Samaj Party Rajya Sabha MP Narendra Kashyap of dowry harassment and murder. Himanshi was found dead with a gunshot wound at her Ghaziabad residence on Wednesday morning. The mystery surrounding her death has pitted two friends -- MP Kashyap and Himanshis father Hiralal Kashyap, who is a BSP leader from Badaun district -- against each other. She was frequently beaten up by her in-laws. On Tuesday, I met her during a function and she pleaded with me to take her back with me. She also asked me to arrange for a Toyota Fortuner. I told her to wait for a month as my property business is slow. She had an injury mark on her face on Tuesday. Even today, she had a bluish-black injury over her eye, Hiralal Kashyap said. She was being harassed since the early days of her marriage. She had come to meet me on March 25 and repeatedly told me that she wants to return home. She was murdered for dowry, he said. Himanshis family has forwarded a police complaint to Kavi Nagar police station in Ghaziabad, accusing her in-laws, including MP Narendra Kashyap, of dowry harassment and murder. Narendra Kashyap has denied all allegations and said the incident has tarnished his political and family life. The MP claimed that someone was instigating Himanshis family, adding that BSP chief Mayawati also called him and sought information about the incident. Her father and I were together at a function on Tuesday. Had there been any sort of dispute or hatred between the two families, we would not have been together. I called him while Himanshi was taken to hospital. We had cordial relations as I had recommended him to Behanji (Mayawati) for the post of vice-chairman UP Avas Vikas in the previous government, he claimed. We did not call the police as we were in a hurry to rush Himanshi to hospital. Thereafter, we called up several police officers. We took the revolver from the scene of crime to the bedroom. I had also got her admitted to a law college recently as she was good in studies. In fact, it was we who selected Himanshi for our son. We did not take any dowry. Im ready even for a CBI probe, Narendra Kashyap said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Worried agriculture department officials and farmers are looking skywards hoping that it doesnt rain for the next two weeks. Rain and hailstorm at this time of the year will not only hit the wheat yield but will also have an adverse impact on the grain quality, as it happened last year. Expecting a bumper wheat harvest this year, the farmers and officials are keeping their fingers crossed as the Met department has predicted rain in the next few days. Even a light rain can affect the grain quality, besides delaying harvesting. Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds and hail can cause lodging of the crop (when the wheat plants fall to one side) hitting the yield. The district has not received any rain in past fortnight. However, the border areas of the district experienced a brief spell of rain in mid-March. High yield expected Agriculture department officials are expecting a yield of 5,000 kg per hectare in the district provided it does not rain in the next two weeks. This yield was achieved in the district two years ago but it fell to 4,682 kg per hectare last year due to inclement weather conditions that prevailed in late March and early April. The area under the wheat cultivation in the district is 1.88 lakh hectares and the projected production is around 9.40 lakh tonnes as against 8.80 lakh tonnes last year. Of the total projected production this year, around 6.90 lakh tonnes of wheat will make it to the grain markets for sale at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,525 per quintal. Last year, 5.80 lakh tonnes was sold in the grain markets. Giving reasons for the high yield this year, chief agriculture officer Balwinder Singh Chinna said the weather had by and large been ideal during the winter months. It was long winter which helped the grain quality, he added. We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that it does not rain the crop is harvested. Last year too, we had a good crop, but rain and hail hit the wheat production as well as effected grain quality, he added. While the wheat procurement officially begins from April 1 in the state, Chinna said in Amritsar and neighbouring districts, it is expected to commence around Baisakhi. He said combine harvesters are yet to arrive in the border areas, where even under normal circumstances harvesting begins in the second week of April. The delay of a few days is due to the inclement weather that prevailed in mid-March, he said, adding that the rain and hail had caused damage to the crop in some parts of the district. He said the worst hit areas were the Ajnala and Chogawan blocks. The crop on around 5,000 acres had suffered damages between 20% and 40%, he added. Preference for Haryana varieties As has been the case in the past few years, this time also the farmers of the district have given preference to wheat varieties of Haryana over Punjab. Around 83% of the total area under wheat is under the HD 2967 variety while the remaining is under HD-3086 and WH-1105. The preference for Haryana varieties is largely due to their high yield and these have better resistance to disease than the other varieties. Two years ago, the Punjab government had tried to discourage the farmers from sowing the Haryana varieties by giving threats that these may not be purchased in the grain markets by the state food and procurement agencies. However, still the farmers went ahead to sow the Haryana varieties. A cow vigilante team held a tanker ferrying tallow oil captive for four hours at Bhaidesa village of Mansa district on Tuesday night. Tallow oil, used mostly in making soap, is extracted from beef fat. But the variety derived from Buffalo meat is legal to be processed, despite objections by cow protection groups. Police said the excise department was verifying bills and documents carried by the driver. Around 10 members of the Gau Raksha Dal had halted the tanker at 2.30 am, but it took hours as police stations were confused in whose jurisdiction the area fell. SHO of Maur police station told HT that the tanker was delivering the oil to soap manufacturing factories in Bathinda. Police, however, refrained from commenting on why no action was taken against the cow activists for illegally detaining the truck and its driver. Satish Kumar Rajpuriya, national president of the Gau Raksha Dal, defended his activists, saying the oil was being ferried using fake receipts. I will ensure that an FIR is registered against the driver, he said. Tallow oil traders have in the past accused self-styled vigilantes of harassing them in the name of checking cow slaughter. The murder of Chand Kaur, widow of former Namdhari sect head Satguru Jagjit Singh, has only brought the war of succession into the limelight. But, behind the raging war in the two centuries-old Namdhari sect --- which has properties and donations running into hundreds of crores and is a power centre of religion and politics --- are two generations of brothers. The last sect chief Satguru Jagjit Singh and his younger brother Maharaj Bir Singh had long fallen out over the control of influential Namdhari empire. While Jagjit Singh, widely-recognised among Namdhari followers as the real spiritual chief, was based at Bhaini Sahib, the sect headquarters on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana highway, Bir Singh took over the sects over 200 acres of land at Jeewan Nagar in Sirsa, Haryana and made it his parallel seat of power. Bir Singh, who died in 2008, had two sons Thakur Dalip Singh and Uday Singh. Satguru Jagjit Singh passed away in 2012, without a male progeny or naming his successor. Before Satgurus death, Dalip Singh was banished from Bhaini Sahib in 2009. History repeated itself after Satgurus widow Chand Kaur anointed Uday as Satguru four years ago, deepening the bad blood between the two siblings. A section of Namdharis coronated Dalip as their parallel spiritual head at Sirsa. Both brothers have since been locked in a bitter power duel for supremacy in the Namdhari sect. Mondays murder of 85-year-old Chand Kaur, though still a mystery, is seen as a violent fall-out of the sibling rivalry. In an interview to assistant editor Sukhdeep Kaur, incumbent Satguru Uday Singh says as brothers they were poles apart and he could not have let the guru gaddi pass on to the wrong person. Q: It is ironic that a spiritual dera has witnessed a murder most foul of an 85-year-old matriarch. Is it a spill-out of the bitter war of succession? A: It is not a war of succession between two brothers but between good and evil. As brothers, we were poles apart and unlike him, I had never aspired for the guru gaddi. I was happy handling my business in Bangalore and accepting the gaddi is no less than a sacrifice. It has put me and my familys life in danger but I could not have let it pass on to the wrong people. Also read: 3 hours of hope for Namdhari followers before Matas death Many feel your elder brother was denied the right to the throne by intrigues and conspiracies hatched by the powerful coterie surrounding the Satguru. Is the coterie the real power centre? All these intrigues and conspiracy theories have been planted by him. When Satguru Jagjit Singhs health started deteriorating, my elder brother started holding meetings at Mandi, Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Delhi from 2006 to provoke the community against whom he described as the Satgurus powerful coterie. It was said the Satguru was being administered heavy sedatives, his wife Chand Kaur was being kept in confinement and they were restricting access to the Satguru. Pictures of helpless Satguru were circulated. There were rumours against his son-in-law Jagtar Singh that he beats his wife. You have to understand the psychology of my brother. All he has been trying to do to is provoke clashes in the community. He recently asked his followers to keep the kirpan (sword), which goes against the teachings of Namdhari gurus. Now, he is trying to align with the Akalis and trigger clashes between Akalis and Namdharis. Were you hinting at involvement of your brother in the murder of Chand Kaur when you said everyone knows who is behind it? That is for the police to investigate. All I am saying is that we should understand who stands to gains by keeping the community on the boil. Also read: Murder of Namdhari ex-heads wife: Arrest feuding nephew Dalip Singh But why were your parents supporting your elder brother when your mother was banished from Bhaini Sahib? My parents stayed with me whenever they came to Bangalore and not with him (Dalip Singh) though he had a sprawling bungalow there. Though I was closer to Satguru Jagjit Singh, I have always served my parents. But since there were differences between my father (Maharaj Bir Singh) and Satguru Jagjit Singh, they too kept away from Bhaini Sahib. Also read: Followers, politicos pay last respects to Chand Kaur at Bhaini Sahib It is believed that behind all power struggle is the huge business empire and properties of the Namdhari dera. Is it true? We do have lot of properties but we have set up schools, hospitals and colleges. We do much more charity than the donations we receive. The Satguru Partap Singh Hospital alone provides free treatment and medicines to the tune of Rs 2 crore every year Thakur Dalip Singh says he is not after the guru gaddi, and unlike you, never had a flourishing business. What do you have to say? If he does not want the gaddi, why did he start holding meetings since 2006? And why is he instigating people of the community? As for doing business, he has never believed in working. We both have different temperaments but it does not mean we cannot live together or serve the community together. But he believes in confrontation and has a mind of an anarchist. He created a Facebook page by the name of namdharidarbarbhainisahib and posted a fake hukumnama from me that I have asked Namdharis not to consider Guru Granth Sahib as their holy book. We have registered a complaint in this regard with the police. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON In the wake of protests by parents against charging of arbitrary fee by private schools besides the alleged nexus between schools and booksellers, the district administration has formed a special three-member committee to look into the matter. Kapurthala deputy commissioner Jaskiran Singh said the committee members will visit prominent private schools in the city and they will submit a report to him on their findings. The committee comprising sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Satwant Singh, district education officers (DEO secondary) Gurbhajan Singh and DEO (primary) Gurcharan Singh Multani visited MGN Public School, The Mall, Kapurthala, in the city and interacted with the students and staff members on Tuesday. The matter is serious since it involves children. We will conduct an inspection at all schools this month and a report will be submitted for further action, SDM Satwant Singh informed. Earlier, various parents body had submitted memorandums to the administration demanding prompt action against the monopoly of private schools and few shopkeepers forcing parents to purchase books, uniform and other material only from some particular shops. The parents claimed that despite clear guidelines of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to the aided schools that the details and quantity of books, the list of boards publications/textbooks should be uploaded on their website but it is not being followed by the schools. The deputy commissioner had assured the parents of justice in the case. The SDM said he had also interacted with various stakeholders and advised people to come to him if they have any complaint against a school management. Most of the private schools have failed to form the mandatory school-level committee despite the directions of the state transport department, the Supreme Court and the Punjab and Haryana high court in this regard. It has been two years since the orders were passed to form the school level transport committee at all private schools, but no progress has been made. The state transport department had issued directions to the district administrations in Punjab to form a district level inter-departmental committee led by SDMs in January 2014 to supervise the work of the school-level committee. The committees objective was to hold a monthly meeting with members and discuss safety measures while transporting children and related issues. The probe committee is supposed to be headed by principal or headmaster of the school and it comprises a police official, transport officer, assistant district education officer and a representative from the parent-teachers association from the school. However, district education officer (DEO secondary) Gurbhajan Singh said he was not aware of any committee formed by private schools. When asked on the issue, SDM Satwant Singh said he would look into the matter and ask the schools to form committees and hold monthly meetings. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Mata Chand Kaurs funeral pyre was being lit when many of her followers reached the cremation ground at Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara Complex to pay tributes to the departed soul on Tuesday. Tejinder Kaur who had been a physiotherapist to Chand reached the venue at 2.45 pm and rushed to the pyre with tears in her eyes. Others were aware that she had come from London, so they made way. She served as Chand Kaurs physiotherapist over the years and always cherished listening to her sermons as she treated her. Within hours of hearing about Mata Chand Kaurs demise, Tejinder took the first flight from the UK and landed in Delhi this morning from where she reached Chandigarh by flight and then came to Bhaini Sahib by road to pay her last tributes. Devotees were seen jostling with as the body was brought to the gurdwara for cremation. The police were seen struggling to manage the crowd. She was not the only one to reach there to pay last respects to the mortal remains of Chand Kaur. Atul Mittal, a resident of Tanzania, also made it to the cremation. It is unfortunate that an 88-year-old woman has been murdered. The news was shocking to us as we are her ardent followers for the past many decades. We rushed to get our tickets as soon as we heard the news, said Mittal. We are settled in Bankgok and took the first flight when we got to know about the unfortunate incident, said Mahinder Singh, a businessman based in Bangkok. We have come from Sirsa to attend the cremation. Last time, we came here for Hola Mohalla celebrations two weeks ago. I met Mata Chand Kaur and she seemed happy at that time. Who had thought that we would have to attend her cremation in just two weeks, said Surinder Kaur. Chand Kaur, wife of former head of the Namdhari sect late Satguru Jagjit Singh, was on Monday shot dead by two unidentified bike-borne assailants at the Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara complex, 30 km from Ludhiana. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Even though the municipal corporations apni mandi committee in their several meetings held last year decided to streamline their functioning, the conditions on ground have not changed for the better. In September last year, the committee recommended conducting surprise checks, installation of mobile toilets and ban on the use of poly bags at these sites. The panel also had urged the police to regulate traffic near apni mandis. However, even after seven months neither MC officials, nor the committee members have visited the mandis to implement the recommendations. During a visit to these mandis by HT, it was found that poly bags are still used by the vendors. Mobile toilets are conspicuous by their absence and no checks on overcharging and traffic chaos are the order of the day near these markets. Use of poly bags rampant Even though the UT administration has directed the concerned authorities for implementing the ban on poly bags in apni mandis without fail, the conditions on ground present an entirely different picture. In case of default, the licence would be cancelled immediately. The civic body enforcement staff and the junior engineer concerned were also directed to check the use of poly bags. Former chairperson of apni mandi committee, Heera Negi admitted that despite their several recommendations, nothing has been done. Former member of the municipal corporation committee, Major DS Sandhu (retd) said, The issue of Sector 43 apni mandi was taken up in the committee regarding the traffic flow, but despite assurances from police, no action has been taken. The vehicles parked on the V-3 road dividing Sectors 42-B and 43-A were causing traffic snarls. The issue of vendors occupying the cycle track between the site and the road to evade licence fee was also discussed, he said. In general, around 400 stalls are set up at a mandi and piles of garbage is left behind in absence of a proper arrangement for lifting the litter. Sources say before 1996, independent farmers could set up stalls at the designated sites. After the municipal corporation took over, it started registrations and since then there has been a steady decline in the number of farmers visiting these mandis. According to rough estimates, 6,000 people visit these mandis, divided into four zones, on a given day. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Not only letters and sessions court summons, the Ludhiana Post office are occupied in delivering driving licences (DL) and vehicle registrations certificates (RCs) from district transport office (DTO). The DTO that had begun the initiative of sending driving licences through post in January 2015, has now started sending the RCs by post on trial-basis, which is very well being received by residents. According to the officials, the postal department receives an average of 10,000 posts from district transport offices, while around 250 summons are delivered by them on a monthly basis Suresh Kumar, superintendent of Ludhiana post office said: We receive the DL and RCs in two colours of envelops- yellow and red. Yellow coloured envelops are the ones which have to be delivered under the municipal corporation (MC) limits, while the red color posts are to be delivered outside the MC limits. The rate of Rs 17 was fixed for posts to be delivered under the MC limits, while for the other category the rate is fixed at Rs 40. Kumar further added, An average of 250 summons are coming from session court in a month and department is charging Rs 34 per post- Rs 17 each for sending and reply, Meanwhile, Dalwinderjit Singh, district transport officer said, We have recently started delivering registration certificates of vehicles through post on trial-basis and we are getting good response from people. Earlier, we had started delivering driving licenses, which was also welcomed by the people. These services provide ease to the public. Jaskaran Singh, a resident of Dugri, said, I received my driving license through post a week ago. Its a very good initiative as earlier people had to visit the DTO office for collecting their driving license and registration certificate. Meanwhile, SP Pahwa, senior post master at Bharat Nagar Chowk, head post office said: Not only summons, driving licenses and registration certificates, many banks, mobile companies and many other institutes send their posts through the postal department. With garbage not lifted in the town for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday due to the ongoing strike by all 400 sanitation workers (safai karamcharis), municipal corporation commissioner Uma Shankar Gupta has written to the deputy commissioner seeking police protection so that the civic body could start lifting garbage after arranging additional manpower. We are ready to clean the city provided we are given police protection. The safai karmacharis have issued threats, so we need police protection, Guptas letter says. The workers have been on strike for the past five days demanding the filling up of 328 vacant posts, insurance cover of `10 lakh and inclusion of Class-4 employees and sanitation workers within the ambit of recommendations of the Pay Commission. They have also opposed the use of mechanised cleaning vehicles. Most demands of the striking workers can be dealt with only at the government level. We have no role to play, commissioner Gupta said. To end the deadlock, SAS Nagar deputy commissioner DS Mangat met representatives of the striking workers, but no solution could be found. We will not take back the strike till our demands are met. We want a meeting with the chief minister, said Sajjan Singh, chairman, Punjab Safai Mazdoor Federation. We held the first-round of talks on Tuesday. The union will revert on Wednesday, the DC said. The majority of the 400 sanitation workers are on contract and as of now, door-to-door collection also stands suspended. The protesters are not even allowing mechanised sweeping. Employees of other municipal corporations in Patiala, Bathinda and Jalandhar have also supported the strike. The Punjab food and civil supplies department is struggling to get the cash credit limit (CCL) released from the Centre for procurement of wheat that got underway in the state on April 1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which releases the CCL to the state through its lead bank, State Bank of India (SBI), last week reportedly asked the SBI to submit a report on the best practices adopted by the state during the previous procurement seasons. The SBI, which is the lead bank for providing funds to the state for procurement, so far has not sent the report to the RBI. We are waiting for the lead bank to send the report so that we get funds for procurement as soon as possible, said an officer in the food and civil supplies department. After receiving the report, the RBI may take a few days to process the states case. Meanwhile, though the wheat arrival in the mandis is currently negligible, it is expected to pick up by next week. However, uncertainty over the release of CCL continues and senior department officials say it may take a few days because of procedural delays. Punjab intends to procure 120 lakh tonnes for the Centres public distribution system out of an expected wheat production of 170 lakh tonnes this season. To give a minimum support price of Rs 1,525 per quintal to farmers the state needs Rs 20,000 crore. Last week, food and civil supplies minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon and secretary Raj Kamal Chaudhary were in Delhi to make a case before the Union finance ministry for the release of CCL. Same old story It is the fourth consecutive season when the state government had to make up a strong case before the Centre for release of funds for procurement. In the 2014 kharif season, the Centre had withheld the release of CCL asking Punjab to first settle the accounts for Rs 42,000 crore of the previous CCLs with the Food Corporation of India. Before that, the Centre had been finding faults with Punjabs use of CCL over the past three to four years, and in rabi season of 2014 had told Punjab to settle the outstanding accounts. The Centre wanted Punjab to maintain fiscal discipline, whereas the state said it had to spend from its own pocket to procure paddy on behalf of the Centre. Arrangements for gunny bags on Meanwhile, the state department is still in the process of making arrangements for gunny bags and finalising allotment of work to transporters for shifting the procured wheat from mandis to godowns. The state requires 3.8 lakh bales of gunny bags (each bale has 500 bags to fill 50-kg wheat each) of which 2.47 lakh are jute bags and the rest are poly propylene. We have finalised arrangements for 50% of the transportation required for shifting the wheat, an officer said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON On the occasion of World Health Day on April 7, Punjab government will organise camps in all districts as well as sub-divisional hospitals where people can get sugar level in the blood tested free of cost. The theme of the global event is Halt the rise, Beat diabetes. Punjabs health and family welfare principal secretary Vini Mahajan on Wednesday said these camps would be held from 7 am to 9 am. However, she said, patients were being tested free-of-cost for diabetes in all government hospitals on Wednesday also. Anyone diagnosed with high/low sugar levels/diabetes would be referred to the specialists for further advice and if required, they would be given medicines free of cost. She said as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) study, the prevalence rate of diabetes in Punjab is 9.8 per cent. Expressing concern over the rise in diabetic cases in school-going children, Mahajan said she would take up the issue with the school managements and ensure that during the periodic health check-ups in schools, diabetic screening is also done. All government and aided schools have been covered under school health programme. The feud between Namdhari sect head Satguru Uday Singh and his estranged brother Thakur Dalip Singh turned murkier on Wednesday with the former alleging that Dalip Singh was an obvious suspect in the Namdhari sect martriach Chand Kaurs murder. This is the third attack on us in the past five years and who else could be the interested party, Uday Singh told reporters after meeting director general of police Suresh Arora at Bhaini Sahib. In 2011, our ardent follower Avtar Singh was shot. The 2015 Dugri car bombing directly points towards Dalip Singh. And now a pious lady (Chand Kaur) has been brutally murdered, he said. The DGP has provided assurance to us that they will crack the case soon. I am hopeful that the special investigating team will do its job, he added. Read: Murder fallout: Brother trying to align with Akalis to trigger clash, says Namdhari sect head Give SIT a deadline: Ex-PPCC chief Former PPCC chief HS Hanspal Singh, who again visited Bhaini Sahib on Wednesday, urged the state government to set a deadline for the SIT to crack the case. We cant wait endlessly for a murder to be solved. The man who attacked Satguru Uday Singh in the UK in 2014 is cooling his heels in the jail. We need to learn a lesson from them, said Hanspal. I dont want that deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal should give up the home portfolio, but he can at least ensure that the SIT completes its job in a speedy manner, he said. SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Despite ban, plastic carry bags and thermocol items are being openly used across the city as municipal corporation (MC) has failed to implement the ban in a proper way. In absence of any awareness among people, visitors bring plastic carry bags with them to government offices. It seems the authorities of various offices at the mini-secretariat, MC, Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and others have not been able to create awareness about ban on their respective premises, as many visitors were seen carrying plastic bags even on the fifth day of ban. The state government had imposed the ban on manufacturing, stocking, distribu-tion, reuse, selling and use of polythene (plastic) carry bags and thermocol material from April 1 in the urban areas. Information about the ban has been displayed at only a few places in the city, but no such initiative has been taken to create awareness about the ban on the office premises. Sanjay Sharma, a visitor to the deputy commissioners office at the mini-secretariat, said I have no information about the ban, but I think the government should provide alternative to plastic carry bags at affordable rates. The recyclable plastic carry bags can be allowed by the government, but it should be the responsibility of civic body to find solution for disposal of the plastic waste. Similar situation was witnessed at MC Zone-A office, Sarabha Nagar, where a visitor, Ramandeep Singh said, If the government has imposed ban, it should be implemented properly. They should disseminate information using various mediums. If the government acts strictly against the manufacturing units, ban can be implemented in a better way. Vendors, shopkeepers using banned items Though some shopkeepers and store owners are offering paid jute bags to customers, mostly vendors and shopkeepers in the city are still using banned polythene or plastic carry bags. Tiger Singh, president of the Rehri Phari Federation, Ludhiana, said that they had met mayor as they had no other alternative for polybags. MC commissioner GK Singh Dhaliwal said, The health branch officials are creating awareness among the consumers who are end users. MC has given directions to seize the banned items being sold by the wholesalers and shopkeepers. Currently, MC issues challans to the sellers only, while Punjab Pollution Control Board can issue challans to the manufacturing units. Plastic manufacturers meet Sukhbir A delegation of Plastic Manufacturers and Traders Association met deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, against the ban on plastic carry bags. The delegation asked the deputy chief minister to amend the recent order to impose the ban on plastic carry bags and thermocol items in the state. They also demanded from the state government to adopt the notification by the central government to allow manufacturing of plastic bags above 50 microns. Mukesh Marjara, the general secretary of the association, said the deputy chief minister has assured them to look into their demand. The traders and manufacturers have been opposing the ban on plastic carry bags and thermocol items since the state government had ordered to impose the ban from April 1. Meeting of MCs health branch Meanwhile, the officials of the health branch were given directions to continue drives to seize the banned items including plastic carry bags and thermocol products. MC health officer Dr Charanjit Uppal said the meeting was headed by health branch chief Rishipal Singh. Television celebrities got together at a gurdwara in Mumbai for a prayer meet in memory of late TV actor Pratyusha Banerjee. The death of the 25-year-old actor, who allegedly committed suicide recently, was mourned by her friends from the television industry. Wrestler Sangram Singh, who was present at the meet, said, Pratyushas close friends have organised this prayer meet. They wanted to have it at a place that was peaceful, that is why a gurdwara was chosen. Here are all the stars who attended the meet: Gauhar Khan, Pooja Gor and Sangram Singh. (HT Photo) Sambhavana Seth, Sayantani Ghosh and Sneha Wagh. (HT Photo) Vikrant Massey, Ratan Rajput and Shashank Vyas. (HT Photo) Anup Soni and Delnaaz Irani. (HT Photo) Read: Rahul has not been honest from the day of Pratyushas death, says his lawyer A day after Mumbai police booked Rahul Raj Singh for abetment of suicide in Pratyusha Banerjees suicide, advocate Neeraj Gupta, who was representing Rahul, withdrew from the case. Advocate Ashok Sarogi, who has taken on Rahul as his client, has filed for an anticipatory bail. The bail hearing is scheduled at Dindoshi session court. While speaking to Hindustan Times, Gupta said his values do not allow him to fight a case where a girl has died because of someone. My soul did not allow me to continue with this. What my parents have taught me goes against this. A girl has died here because of someone else and what he did, Gupta said. Read: Rahul tortured Pratyusha, drove her to suicide, claim parents Gupta added Rahul was not honest since the day Banerjee died. Rahul allegedly told Gupta that he and Banerjee shared a happy and a healthy relationship. Gupta claimed he was not aware of the fights between the duo and the fresh allegations that Rahul used to torture her. Pratyusha committed suicide on Friday allegedly after a fight with Rahul. The police had initially questioned Rahul but let him go. In the last few days, Pratyushas friends and family has claimed Rahuls abusive behaviour drove the actor to suicide. Her parents said at a press conference on Tuesday, Rahul should either be hanged or kept in prison for the rest of his life. He has ruined our daughters life, she should get justice. On Tuesday, Pratyushas friends such as actor Kamya Punjabi and producer Vikas Gupta alleged that she was tortured by Rahul and his ex-girlfriend Saloni Sharma. They also said that Pratyusha wanted out of the relationship and was also thinking about filing a case against her boyfriend. Rahul and his family, however, insisted that Pratyusha took the drastic step as she was in an acute financial mess. We were a happy couple and were thinking about marriage. Financial crisis drove her to suicide, Rahul said in an interview. All the deatils of Pratyusha suicide case April 1, 4.30 - 5pm: Rahul Raj Singh, boyfriend of actress Pratyusha Banerjee reached their house and found her hanging from the ceiling. He rushed her to Kokilaben Hospital with the help of the cook and a few others. 7.15 pm: Authorities from the Kokilaben Hospital informed the police about the death. 7.25 pm: The police reached Banerjees apartment and conducted a punchnama Around midnight: Banerjees body was sent to Siddharth Hospital for a post mortem April 2, 12.15 pm: Banerjees parents reached the hospital. Rahul also arrived in a police vehicle. Police record statements of Banerjees parents and Rahul at the autopsy centre. 5.45 pm: Rahul Raj was taken to Bangur Nagar police station for further inquiries. Evening: Banerjee was cremated at Oshiwara Night: Rahul was allowed to go. He left the police station with his father, aunt and lawyer. April 3, 11 am: Rahul complained of chest pain after watching media reports. He was admitted to Shree Sai Hospital. Doctors told his family he was under severe stress. Noon: Banerjees apartment was searched for a second time. Evening: Kamya Punjabi, Vishal Gupta, Adaa Khan and Shashank Vyas hold a press conference, allege Banerjee wanted to leave Rahul and file a case against him. April 4: Police recorded statements and studied financial details of the couple as well as their call records. They found that Banerjee was facing financial issues. She was struggling to pay the rent. April 5: Police register case against Rahul based on a fresh complaint by Banerjees mother, Soma. Key witnesses Keymaker: The keymaker was called by Rahul when he did not get a response to the door. Cook: Sunil Mukhiya, a cook working in the neighbourhood, saw Rahul outside his house and then entered the room from the balcony. He first spotted Banerjee hanging. Banerjees parents: Based on statements of her parents, the police have registered a case against Rahul. Watch | Pratyusha Banerjees parents want tortorous Rahul to rot in jail SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON TV actor Pratyusha Banerjees father Shankar Banerjee and mother Soma spoke to the media on Tuesday and blamed her boyfriend Rahul Raj Singh for their daughter taking the drastic step. Pratyusha committed suicide on Friday at her Mumbai apartment. The police on Tuesday registered a case against Rahul for allegedly abetting her suicide, based on the statement of Pratyushas mother. Read: Pratyushas boyfriend Rahul booked for assault, abetment to suicide Rahul -- who was interrogated by police for two days after Pratyushas suicide on April 1 -- is presently undergoing treatment in a suburban hospital for the past two days. He is likely to be arrested after his discharge from hospital in a day or so. During the questioning earlier, he had said he was innocent. Rahul should be either hanged or kept in prison for the rest of his life. He ruined my daughters life, she should get justice, Shankar said. A prayer meet was held for Pratyusha Banerjee on Tuesday at a gurdwara in Mumbai which was attended by her mother, father and her close friends. This is what her parents had to say about her suicide... 1. We didnt come in front of the media all this while because we wanted all the rituals to be done. We have lost our daughter and we have filed an FIR... whatever problem she had, we have recorded our statement at the police station. 2.He (Rahul) should not get out. Our daughter should get justice and we would like to appeal to the entire nation to help us in seeking justice for our daughter. He tortured our daughter a lot and finished her. Rahul Raj Singh a day after Pratyusha Banerjees suicide. 3. Our world has been shattered. It doesnt matter if he (Rahul) is hanged or gets life imprisonment. Our daughters soul wont rest in peace unless he is punished...We trust the law and have faith that truth will ultimately come out. 4. She was very interested in astrology and would ask me (Pratyushas father) to read her horoscope. Her star sign was Leo. I was telling her that it was a good year for her. She said her life was very difficult. 5. Like any other girl Pratyusha had a dream of getting married and have kids. But lately she realised that she had taken a wrong decision and lost her life while doing the wrong right. Read: Pratyusha Banerjee wanted to file a case against boyfriend Rahul 6. Rahul claimed he had four flats, three cars and 150 acres of land. He even told Pratyusha that his mother is an MLA in Mandar, but we never found truth in his statements. 7. He and I (Pratyushas mother) had not spoken for quite some time. She called on March 31 evening asking me if I spoke to him. I dont even want to take his name. I told her to live happily. That was our last conversation. We first saw Pratyusha Banerjee as Anandi in Colors' TV show Balika Vadhu. 8. Rahul and his father used to handle Pratyushas finances. Rahul would use her debit card. He had forced Pratyusha to cut herself off from her staff, us (her parents) and her friends. 9. Pratyusha had realised he is not right for her. She melted and lost her way thanks to his sweet talks. 10. We are fighting this case, so that these things never happen to any other girl. He should get the strictest punishment. We are getting full support from police and are sure that justice would be done. (With inputs from agencies) This is a gift that just keeps on giving. Whenever TV channels are in doubt about what they should feed their viewers that isnt the same, run-of-the-mill saas-bahu saga, they take shelter in mythology. Yes, it is more often Hindu mythology than anything else but the viewers dont seem to mind. Currently, the Hindi TV scene is riddled with mythological and historical shows and guess which one is more popular than all of them combined? Another adaptation of Valmikis holy text of Ramayana, Siya Ke Ram. In 1986, exactly 30 years ago, Ramanand Sagar too caught the right nerve when he decided to televise the epic. The show was so incredibly popular, it even got its name on the Limca Book of Records for the Worlds most watched mythological series. Streets would go bare, people would dine earlier than usual just to make it in front of the TV in time. Or at least that is what my parents have told me as it was long before I was even born. Read: This 1992 Ramayana inspired more Hollywood movies than youd believe! Over the years, I have managed to watch the countless reruns of the show and on the basis of that, here is a comparison between the 1986 series and the 2015 series. However, apart from these two, Sagar Arts made another rather miserable attempt at Ramayan in 2008 with NDTV Imagine and we will talk about it too. The Characters: Ram Left to right: Arun Govil, Gurmeet Chaudhary and Ashish Sharma in Ramayan (1986), Ramayan (2008) and Siya Ke Ram. (YouTube) One very noticeable pattern in all these character comparisons will be how the actors just keep getting younger and younger. While Gurmeet and Ashish are more or less of the same age, Arun Govil looked like a Ram in his 40s. Arun Govils voice was his biggest asset. It was so gentle and calming, you could actually listen to him with your eyes closed and attain spiritual bliss. Ashish Sharma is a muscular, powerful Ram with a perennial pokerface. But he does look a lot more like a prince than Arun Govil. One can have no complaints against his acting which is always up to the mark and never too loud. Gurmeet Chaudhary, however, was always over the top at everything he did. Always super angry, super romantic or super gentle, if that is even possible for anyone to be. Sita Left to right: Deepika Chiklis, Debina Bonnerjee and Madirakshi Mundle in Ramayan (1986), Ramayan (2008) and Siya Ke Ram. (YouTube) This is where Siya Ke Ram wins with quite a margin. They have always said it that the show is a retelling of the epic from Sitas perspective and this gives Madirakshi a lot more room to be impressive. She is not mute or opinionless like Deepika Chiklis Sita. Yes, she is still self-sacrifising and demure like we know Sita to be, but she is also interesting. The initial few episodes of the series, where she was at the forefront, she was not just a beautiful princess but one who helps her father and the people of her land in moments of need. Madirakshi is also more expressive without ever going overboard. Talking about people going overboard, Debina Bonnerjee overdid everything, just like Gurmeet. She would make the most forced faces like the one above and do things like talk while smiling through her teeth even when the scene called for a normal conversation. The 2008 version was too much into going all out with everything. Ravana Left to right: Arvind Trivedi, Akhilendra Mishra and Karthik Jayaram in Ramayan (1986), Ramayan (2008) and Siya Ke Ram. (YouTube) Of all these actors, perhaps Akhilendra Mishra is the only actor people know from other than this role. He is a great actor, no doubt and also pretty scary. But the shoddy job done by the series could not be saved even with Mishra on their side. While all three of them look big and scary, Karthik still has a long way to come close to Arvind Trivedi, who made Ravana iconic with his pot-belly with a heavy moustache. Karthik is big too but in a gym-jock way rather than a fat-demon way. But it does seem logical that Ravana should be muscular because how else would he be able to wreak havoc on an entire army? Surely not with a pot-belly. Karthik too is not perfect. His accent was not popular among the audience as many Hindi words would give him trouble. Like rather than saying dha-nush he would always say daa-nuss. They did get a voice actor to dub over his words but it is all too evident on screen and a tad irritating. Hanuman Left to right: Dara Singh, Vikram Sharma and Danish Akhtar in Ramayan (1986), Ramayan (2008) and Siya Ke Ram. (YouTube/Twitter) Now that we still havent been introduced to Danishs version of Hanuman, we can only compare the three based on their looks. Dara Singh was brilliant. Period. There are two things expected of anyone who plays Hanuman- a) that he is big and muscular and b) that he is funny. Dara Singh was the perfect mix of both these qualities. Vikram fell short on both these criteria. He was not very big, which we could have overlooked had he been funny. Danish is huge! So here is a check on that. But his make up doesnt seem too convincing from the initial pictures of him released online. But hey, well wait till we see him onscreen. The Sets and Costumes A still from Ramananda Sagars Ramayan. (YouTube) The 1986 version was all about super bright colours and we can understand that considering how the Indian population was just getting introduced to colour television, sure the producers would go ballistic with the pinks and the reds. Apart from the colour, the sets were rather simple and so were the costumes but hey, that was definitely a glorious venture considering the time and era. On the other hand, looks like with time, the aesthetic eyes doesnt always get sharper. Look at this: A still from the 2008 Ramayan. (NDTV Imagine) And it was so yellow. The entire 300-episode series was made in such overbearing yellows and sepia tones. All men were made to wear shiny, brown lipsticks, oodles of kohl and nothing about their make-up was natural. A still from Siya Ke Ram. (Hotstar) Making an epic TV series means CGI is inevitable. In Siya Ke Ram, the computer graphics help give an appearance of grandeur and the largeness of the scale of the story. The attention to detail and the costumes are beautiful as well: A still from Siya Ke Ram. (Hotstar) Notice the lamps behind the actors, the divan, the beautiful artworks and the colourful sheets. Everything is done to make it look like a kings room. Sure the CGI goes a bit awry from time to time: Ram and Sita with a horrible CGI deer. (Hotstar) The Story Surpanakha is out to take revenge on Ravana. (Hotstar) While the earlier two versions stuck closely to the original work by Valmiki and Tulsidas Ramcharitmanas, Siya Ke Ram is taking full liberty with the content. For instance, they included the story of Rams elder sister which was something not many knew about. They even snuck in the sidestory of Ravana getting his sister Surpanakhas husband killed because she married out her clan. So far, none of these tangents have been boring or unnecessary. The great acting from even the secondary characters like Kaikeyi (Grusha Kapoor) and Dasharath (Dalip Tahil) is enough to keep viewers hooked. While the 1986 Ramayana definitely has the nostalgic value, Siya Ke Ram is also one of the better things to watch on Hindi TV right now. The author tweets @soumya1405 SHARE THIS ARTICLE ON Beirut A pregnant woman and three children were among 18 civilians killed when Syrian rebels shelled a Kurdish neighbourhood in the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said on Thursday. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 70 people, including 30 children, were also wounded in the attack, adding that the shelling was a violation of a ceasefire agreement. A major shelling attack on Tuesday has left 18 civilians dead, including three children and two women, a pregnant one and an elderly one, according to the Observatory. The attack targeted the majority-Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsud, where some 50,000 residents are caught in the crossfire of regime-held districts and those controlled by rebels. This is a very clear violation of the ceasefire in place in Syria since February 27, said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said. Rebels including Ahrar al-Sham, which is allied to Al-Qaeda in Syria, kept up today their shelling of Sheikh Maqsud which overlooks regime-held areas, said the Observatory. Abdel Rahman said the rebels want to take the neighbourhood because it would allow them to have a launching pad for attacks on government forces. Aleppo became a divided city in 2012 after a rebel onslaught was met with resistance by the army. Kurds represent about 15 per cent of Syrias population and have tried to avoid confrontation with the regime or non-jihadist rebels since war broke out in 2011. But the rise of the Islamic State group, which has seized large swaths of the war-torn country, has seen the Kurds lead the fight against the jihadists in parts of Syria. On March 17, Kurdish parties, including the powerful Democratic Union Party (PYD) and their allies, announced the creation of a federal system in northern Syria. The announcement was heavily criticised by Syrias opposition, who have vowed to use all the political and military force at their disposal to fight it. Syrias conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has since morphed into a multi-front war drawing in regional powers. India stands to lose if it tightens security clearances for Chinese firms in retaliation against Beijing blocking New Delhis move to ban Pakistan-based terrorist Masood Azhar, the state media warned on Wednesday. Quoting India-focussed Chinese experts, the influential Global Times newspaper said Chinese firms will stop looking at the Indian market as a potential investment destination if clearances are tightened or existing ones revoked. Chinese firms will stop expanding and India will lose out on the billions President Xi Jinping had promised to invest during his visit in 2014. Without Chinas help, Indias need for finance in infrastructure will remain unfulfilled, the report contended. Senior officials told Hindustan Times in New Delhi that a review of clearances for Chinese firms will be carried out after China blocked a move to put Azhar, the chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammed, on a UN sanctions list. That will not be a wise move, Chinese experts told the newspaper. India stands to lose more than gain if it tightens its security checks on Chinese firms after Indian media claimed the country is considering scrapping security clearance to Chinese companies, the analysts were quoted as saying. Chinese companies may think twice about their expansion plans in India over the possible security clearance review. Thus, Indias development, which relies on China to improve its poor infrastructure, will be hindered, said Hu Zhiyong from the Institute of International Relations at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. None of the experts mentioned that Chinese companies are looking at India as a major market to expand as growth in the rest of the world, including in China, gradually slows. This includes Chinese computer and smartphone companies such as Lenovo, Xiaomi and Vivo. An anonymous Chinese diplomat told the newspaper that overall, the ease of doing business in India has improved for Chinese companies in the last couple of years. Although India conducted a security review of Chinese firms, Chinese companies in India say the general business environment is improving, and the Chinese companies feedback is positive, the official was quoted as saying. Hindustan Times reported that around 25 Chinese companies have been given security clearance in the past two years for projects, mostly in power, telecom, railways and infrastructure. Sun Shihai from the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the Indian government is unlikely to tighten its policies toward all Chinese investments, but it may pick on some Chinese companies. Irans envoy to Pakistan has criticised the countrys decision to leak the news of the arrest of an Indian national on charges of working for RAW during Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis visit to Islamabad. Kulbhushan Jadhav, the Indian arrested on charges of espionage, is a former navy officer who was engaged in business at Chahbahar in Iran. Reports have said Islamabad has asked Tehran to probe Jadhavs connections in Iran. Iranian ambassador Mehdi Honardoost said on Tuesday the news about Jadhavs arrest was leaked to the media despite good contacts between the security institutions of Pakistan and Iran. It is for the first time that before being discussed between security authorities of the two countries, an issue was leaked to media. We have reservations over it which have been conveyed to our Pakistani brothers, he said. Honardoost said this was unprecedented since Iran is a time-tested friend of Pakistan and the security and stability of Pakistan is that of Iran. Some countries, he said, arent happy with the Pakistan-Iran friendship. Read: Pak arrests RAW agent, India denies link: All you need to know It is for the first time in the history of Pakistan-Iran relations that after such an impressive high-level visit, during which all aspects of bilateral relations were adequately discussed, an issue was raised, Honardoost told Geo News. He was responding to a question about Jadhavs arrest in Pakistan and his connections with Chahbahar port in Iran. Iran faced a backlash after the successful visit of Rouhani, Honardoost said. Our people, distinguished brothers, and public opinions are so concerned about this false news, one hundred percent false news, and fortunately all authorities in Pakistan emphasise about it that its false news and no one has the right to ignite this issue, Honardoost said. False news exactly, as it says that Iranian side ignored and averted its eyes to the activities against Pakistan; it is one hundred percent false, we totally denied it...Iran would never allow its soil to be used against Pakistan, he added. On Wednesday, Pakistans top civilian and military leadership expressed concern over the role of hostile agencies in creating instability in the country. During a meeting of the National Security Committee of the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the leaders reviewed steps being taken for national security and expressed satisfaction over counter-terrorism measures. The meeting also expressed concern over the apparent role of hostile agencies in Pakistan, said a statement issued after the meeting. The hostile agencies were not named but Pakistan uses such characterisation for Indias Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistans National Directorate of Security (NDS). Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm from where a data leak on investments in tax havens exposed and embarrassed a clutch of world leaders, said the firm was a victim of a hack from outside the company. The law firm has also filed a complaint with state prosecutors. Founding partner Ramon Fonseca said the firm, which specializes in setting up offshore companies, had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. Nor had it ever destroyed any documents or helped anyone evade taxes or launder money, he added in an interview with Reuters. Company emails, extracts of which were published in an investigation by the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and other media organizations, were taken out of context and misinterpreted, he added. We rule out an inside job. This is not a leak. This is a hack, Fonseca, 63, said at the companys headquarters in Panama Citys business district. We have a theory and we are following it, he added, without elaborating. We have already made the relevant complaints to the Attorney Generals office, and there is a government institution studying the issue, he added, flanked by two press advisers. Governments across the world have begun investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of more than 11.5 million documents, dubbed the Panama Papers, from the law firm that span four decades. Read | Iceland PM quits after being implicated in Panama Papers, Pak PM Sharif forms probe panel The papers have revealed financial arrangements of prominent figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese President Xi Jinping, and the president of Ukraine. On Tuesday, Icelands prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned, becoming the first casualty of the leak. The (emails) were taken out of context, Fonseca said, denouncing what he called a witch-hunt. Ramon Fonseca asserted that his law firm, Mossack Fonseca , had broken no laws and that all its operations were legal. (REUTERS) He lamented what he called journalistic activism and sensationalism, extolling his own investigative research credentials as a published novelist in Panama. He said he feared that his rivals could muscle in on their business following the leak. The only crime that has been proven is the hack, Fonseca said. No one is talking about that. That is the story. He said his company had a staff of around 500, 300 of which work in Panama, but declined to comment on his law firms structure or franchises in other parts of the world. Read | Panama papers in numbers: Countries implicated, companies involved Setting up a company might cost between about $700 and $1,000, he said, with a significant part of that fee going to the government. Mossack Fonseca has set up around 250,000 businesses over the past 40 years. He added that it is cheaper to do business in Nevada. He said business rules have tightened and that his company has adhered to them. Fifteen years ago, due diligence didnt exist and they are judging us by other standards, Fonseca said. France announced on Tuesday it would put the Central American nation back on its blacklist of uncooperative tax jurisdictions. Read | Censorship, CIA and no US citizens: Panama Papers conspiracy theories Alvaro Aleman, chief of staff to Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, told a news conference the government could respond with similar measures against France, or any other country that followed Frances lead. This is a tropical storm, like the ones we have here in Panama where once it passes the sun will come out, Fonseca said. I guarantee you that we will not be found guilty of anything. The Panama Papers: All about the biggest leak, people and what they did A divided European Union on Wednesday unveiled a fresh plan to shake up its failed asylum policy and force countries to share the burden of its unprecedented migrant crisis. Just days after Greece began expelling migrants to Turkey under a controversial swap deal, a top EU official admitted that the blocs current system was not working. We need to reform our European asylum system, Commission vice president Frans Timmermans told reporters in Brussels, as the bloc battles its worst migration crisis since World War 2. The influx of more than one million migrants fleeing war and poverty has put the blocs cherished border-free rules under severe strain and sparked sharp divisions among the 28 EU nations. Under the blocs existing rules the so-called Dublin system migrants seeking asylum must apply in the country where they first arrive and are returned there if they move to somewhere else. But critics have slammed this as obsolete and unfair to Greece and Italy, where most of the 1.25 million Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other migrants entered the bloc last year. The rules in any case fell apart in 2015 as Greece and Italy, overwhelmed by the crisis, simply waved migrants onwards to countries where they wanted asylum, like Germany. Neither fair, nor sustainable Timmermans said as he outlined two possible new approaches. The first, dubbed Dublin plus, would be to keep the existing system but add a corrective fairness mechanism to redistribute migrants from a member state grappling with a sudden influx of refugees. A majority of countries support this option, a European diplomat said. A second, more radical, proposal would be to automatically distribute migrants across the EU based on member states population, wealth and capacity to take in newcomers. This option had the support of Germany and Sweden, which have taken in the lions share of migrants, the diplomat said. Both options will provide much needed solidarity, Timmermans added. Pakistans opposition has rejected the judicial commission announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to probe allegations that his family owned offshore companies and concealed foreign assets, triggering a war of words on Wednesday. Sharif said during a televised address on Tuesday night the commission will be headed by a former judge. On Wednesday, it was announced the panels terms of reference will include allegations against all Pakistanis, not just Sharifs family. More than 200 Pakistanis figure in the Panama Papers, including lawyers, lawmakers and some people linked to the judiciary. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan, who has led the charge against Sharif since the Panama Papers leaks revealed the premiers family owned offshore firms, rejected the commission. A number of judicial commissions have been appointed in the past and nothing has come out of them, he told the media. This is all an eye wash. The Pakistan Peoples Party described Sharifs address as most unfortunate because he blamed his woes on the policies of Zulfikar and Benazir Bhutto to deflect the storm brewing as a result of the Panama Papers. Instead of answering questions raised in the leaked documents, Sharif resorted to a blame game against PPP leaders, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement. Read: Putin, Nawaz Sharif among world leaders exposed in tax haven dump Imran Khan also said the charges against Sharifs family should be investigated by the National Accountability Bureau, the countrys anti-graft watchdog. Information minister Pervaiz Rashid, a close aide of the premier, alleged that Khan too was guilty of channelling funds abroad through his charitable cancer hospital. Rashid told reporters in Islamabad that details of funds stashed abroad by others will be presented by the government to the judicial commission. Sharif has said he wants people levelling allegations against his family to appear before the commission and record their statements. He said his sons Hassan and Hussain Nawaz had been living in London and Saudi Arabia since 1994 and 2000. Both of my sons have been working under the legal ambit and rules and regulations of (these) countries, he said. In a related development, former interior minister Rehman Malik claimed the Panama Papers were a RAW conspiracy. He alleged the papers were part of an international conspiracy hatched by RAW to make fun of Pakistan. Another person who created a flutter by speaking out was Tehmina Durrani, the sister-in-law of Nawaz Sharif. Durrani is married to Sharifs brother, Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif. Durrani called on the Sharif family to bring back its offshore wealth to Pakistan to clear its name. Only way to clear Sharif name is to keep minimum, simplify life drastically, return all foreign and local wealth to the nation, she tweeted. The United Nations has defended its stance against terrorism saying it is certainly trying to take a responsible attitude in dealing with the menace, days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the world body over the issue. We certainly are trying to take a responsible attitude in terms of dealing with terrorism and the spectre of terrorism worldwide...The UN encourages international solidarity against terrorism in all its aspects, whether it is terrorist bombings or terrorist financing, deputy spokesperson for secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, Farhan Haq told PTI. Haq was asked about the UN Chiefs response to Modis sharp criticism in Brussels last week when the Indian leader had said the world body does not know what terrorism is and how to deal with it. Haq said in the next few days, the UN will hold a meeting in Geneva on the need to prevent and to counter violent extremism. And the Secretary-General will be speaking at that - in terms of the specific measures that weve been talking about, in terms of handling violent extremism and its spread throughout the world, and the Secretary-General will speak at that in just a few days from now, he said. Modis visit to Brussels came just days after terror group ISIS carried out attacks that ripped through the departure area of the international airport and a subway station in the busy morning hours in the Belgian capital. The attack left over 30 people dead and many more injured. Addressing a gathering of Indian diaspora in Brussels, Modi had said that the UN has all means and mechanism to deal with war but does not know what the definition of terrorism is and how to address it. He also warned that the UN will become irrelevant if it does not come up with appropriate response to deal with the scourge. He pointed out that India has been pleading with the UN for years to define terrorism, a terrorist and who helps terrorists. I dont know when the UN will do so and how it will do so but given the emerging situation, if solutions are not found to this (problem), then it does not take time for an institution to become irrelevant, he had said. PTI YAS NSA A US Marine Corps dog that lost a leg while sniffing out explosives in Afghanistan has been honoured with a prize for animals serving bravely in military conflict. Lucca, a 12-year-old German Shepherd, won the Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of Britains Victoria Cross, a decoration for bravery. She is the first US Marine Corps dog to receive the honor. The dog is credited with saving thousands of allied troops and never had a human casualty on one of her patrols. On her final patrol in Afghanistan in 2012, she discovered a 13.6-kg improvised explosive device and was searching for more when a second device detonated. Lucca suffered severe burns and lost her left leg, but survived. Her owner, Gunnery Sergeant Christopher Willingham of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was by her side in London on Tuesday as she received the medal. The Dickin Medal, founded in 1943, is awarded by the Peoples Dispensary for Sick Animals, a British veterinary charity. Lucca completed more than 400 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan during six years of service and protected the lives of thousands of troops. The Dickin Medal is the highest award any animal can receive while serving in military conflict. (AP) Lucca was trained by the US Marine Corps as a search dog to sniff out explosives. Her previous handler, Corporal Juan Rodriguez, recalled the moment she was injured: The explosion was huge and I immediately feared the worst for Lucca. I stayed with her constantly throughout her operation and her recovery. She had saved my life on so many occasions I had to make sure that I was there for her when she needed me, Rodriguez was quoted as saying by the BBC. Lucca, now retired, completed more than 400 missions in Iraq and Afghanistan during six years of active service. She lives in California with Willingham. The Panama Papers have sent shock waves across the world and many implicated in the leaked documents are trembling. This is the latest and biggest revelation of state and economic secrets since the whistleblower website WikiLeaks began using the Internet to break new ground in social activism. Here is a recap of all the major leaks in recent times: Wikileaks Founded in 2006 and launched a year later by Australian ex-hacker Julian Assange, WikiLeaks begins releasing secrets such as operating procedures at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, and the contents of US politician Sarah Palins personal e-mails. In April 2010, the video of a US helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed two Reuters staff and others puts WikiLeaks back in the headlines. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Reuters file) It follows up in the summer with two massive releases of tens of thousands of internal US military documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, detailing cases of abuse, torture and civilian deaths. American soldier Bradley Manning -- a transsexual now known as Chelsea Manning - is arrested after being identified as the source of the leaks. She is serving a 35 year jail sentence for breaches of the Espionage Act. Protesters demonstrate the conviction of WikiLeaker Bradley Manning in front of the White House in Washington DC. (AFP file photo) In November 2010, WikiLeaks releases of 250,000 diplomatic cables from US embassies around the world which deeply embarrass Washington. The same month, a Swedish prosecutor issues an international arrest warrant for Assange on charges of rape, and after exhausting his legal options, Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19, 2012 and asks for political asylum. He is still there. Snowden and the NSA Edward Snowden, an intelligence contractor with access to classified information from the US National Security Agency (NSA), contacts British newspaper The Guardian, which reveals in June 2013 the existence of a secret US court order forcing US telephone company Verizon to provide the NSA with daily information on its customers calls over a four-month period. Edward Snowden during an interview with John Oliver (File photo) On June 6, the Washington Post and The Guardian report that the NSA and FBI have access to servers of major Internet companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google and Facebook to monitor the web traffic of people outside the United States. Chinese mobile phone companies are also said to have been hacked. US authorities charge Snowden, who has acknowledged being the source of the leak, with espionage and the theft of state secrets and seek his arrest in Hong Kong. He slips away however and flies to Moscow. He is still living in Russia. The NSA revelations stun the world, straining US relations with allies as it emerges that Washington has spied on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the government of Mexico, among others. President Barack Obama promises more transparency, and the US Congress reforms laws on electronic surveillance. The Panama Papers The Panama Papers have sought to shed light on a global network of tax avoidance and were compiled by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The huge operation, the biggest worldwide to date, has revealed assets held in tax havens by 140 political leaders and high-profile personalities, including a close confidant of Russian President Vladimir Putin, relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. The ICIJ allegedly exposed a range of personalities from political leaders to sportsmen and filmstars whom a Panama-based company helped to use tax havens to hide their wealth. (panamapapers.icij.org screengrab) The papers were examined by more than 100 media organisations combing through 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, specialists in the creation of offshore business entities. The ICIJ has already published Offshore Leaks on thousands of people who hold foreign accounts for tax purposes, LuxLeaks on agreements between Luxembourg and multinational companies to limit tax exposure, and SwissLeaks on a scheme that allegedly helped clients of banking giant HSBCs Swiss division evade taxes on accounts worth $119 billion. ICIJ is run by Australian journalist Gerard Ryle, is based in Washington, and includes 190 journalist from more than 65 countries. It probes cross-border corruption, organised crime syndicates and tax evasion, among other issues. Thank you! You've reported this item as a violation of our terms of use. This content was contributed by a user of the site. If you believe this content may be in violation of the terms of use, you may report it. Insomnia may be caused by impairments in the brain's communication networks. New brain scan research reveals that insomniacs have abnormalities in their brain's white matter tracts. The latest study involved 53 participants. Researchers noted that 23 of the participants suffered from primary insomnia, a condition characterized by difficulty falling or staying asleep for a month or longer. The other 30 participants in the control group were made up of healthy volunteers. "Insomnia is a remarkably prevalent disorder," said Shumei Li, the lead researcher of the study. "However, its causes and consequences remain elusive." Li and her team at the Department of Medical Imaging at Guangdong No. 2 Provincial People's Hospital in Guangzhou, China, used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans to examine white matter tracts in the brains of the participants. Researchers noted that MRI scans in the current study involved a specialized technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), which tracts water movement along white matter tracts. Researchers said that tracking the pattern of water movement helps determine the integrity of the white matter. "We used a new method called Tract-Based Spatial Statistics that is highly sensitive to the microstructure of the white matter tract and provides multiple diffusion measures," Li explained. Participants were also asked to complete a variety of questionnaires about mental status and sleep patterns. Researchers noted that some of the questionnaires included the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Self-Rating Depression Scale, the Insomnia Severity Index and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Study analysis revealed that insomniacs had significantly worse white matter integrity in the thalamus and many parts of their right-brain regions. Li noted that the affected parts of the brain in insomniacs play a role in regulating consciousness, sleep and wakefulness. "These impaired white matter tracts are mainly involved in the regulation of sleep and wakefulness, cognitive function and sensorimotor function," Li explained. "The involvement of the thalamus in the pathology of insomnia is particularly critical, since the thalamus houses important constituents of the body's biological clock." Study results also revealed significant links between the length of the patients' insomnia and score on the self-rating depression scale, as well as impairments found in their brain's thalamus and body corpus callosum. The findings were published in the journal Radiology. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The momentum of the GOP primaries seems to be shifting. After dominating so far in the electoral race, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has seen his ratings drop amid a number of gaffes last week, most notably his controversial statements (and immediate counter-statements) regarding abortion. With Wisconsin looking like it would be a landslide for rival Ted Cruz, and his ratings among female voters dropping to new lows, it seems like this might very well be the beginning of the end for Donald Trump's pursuit of the presidency. As far as the Trump campaign is concerned, it seems like Trump's camp has begun to initiate damage control. In a political rally at the Milwaukee Theater Monday night, Donald Trump's usual aggressive, brazen rhetoric was quite subdued. Indeed, with Wisconsin politicians opting to support his rival, Ted Cruz, instead, Trump seemed a bit out of character. For one, Trump's wife, Melania, took the stage in what seems like an attempt to sway female voters back to her husband's cause. Reading a prepared speech, the former model addressed the people in the theater. "I'm very proud of him," she said. "He is a hard worker, he's kind, he has a great heart, he's tough, he's smart, he's a great communicator, he's a great negotiator, he's telling the truth, he's a great leader, he's fair." Listing a series of flattering adjectives to describe her husband was not the only issue brought up by Melania. She also addressed and defended her husband's strong rhetoric, which has made enemies out of numerous politicians and other groups. "As you may know by now, when you attack him, he will punch back ten times harder," she added. "No matter who you are, a man or a woman, he treats everyone equal." Melania's speech was followed by yet another endorsement from former Miss Wisconsin Melissa Young, who lauded the candidate for attempting to make America into a "country that is safe." Meanwhile, just 16 miles away, Cruz was licking his chops, enjoying the support of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was quickly eliminated out of the GOP race last year. Together with Walker, Cruz also loved the endorsements of several notable Wisconsin personalities. Despite his easing stance among female voters, however, Trump has made no efforts in reaching out to the Wisconsin governor. In an interview last Tuesday, Trump even insulted Walker, referencing how quick he was eliminated in the GOP race. "Your governor came out, he was expected to win, and we sent him packing like a little boy," he said. However, as much as Walker could very well end up as fodder for Trump's insults, the governor is actually extremely popular among the people of the state, with a very impressive 80 percent approval rating. Thus, by continually attacking Walker, Trump might very well end up alienating the voters in Wisconsin even more. Brandon Scholz, a longtime Republican strategist and lobbyist in the state, believes that Trump's strategy in the state so far is a gross miscalculation, and is backfiring on the candidate. "Maybe, in his mind and some others, this is a political tactic, that they can get people engaged and thinking that there's a lot of anti-Walker Republicans, which there aren't - he's got an 80 percent approval rating - then, maybe, Trump can, as he does in other places, get his earned media that way. But it's backfired, it's backfired terribly," Scholz said. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Male fiddler crabs have one enlarged claw that is used both as a weapon in combat and to attract a mate. As a vital component of the crabs' long-term survival, males are able to regrow a lost enlarged claw - but there's a catch. While regenerated claws - grown on either the left or right side - are often the same size as the crab's original, they lack distinguishable teeth. What's worse is regrown claws tend to be much more fragile and weaker than the original, giving males a disadvantage in defending their territory or burrow. To overcome this challenge, male fiddler crabs (Uca lactea) bluff their way through fights and adapt their fighting tactics to compensate for their weaker limb. In other words, males with weaker regrown claws choose smaller, opposite-handed opponents. This discovery was made by wildlife researchers Daisuke Muramatsu of Kyoto University and Tsunenori Koga of Wakayama University. After videotaping 138 fights between male fiddler crabs in the Waka River estuary in Japan, researchers revealed how the sneaky crustaceans use deception to their favor. Researchers captured, measured and marked all crabs observed in sparring matches. Of the 138 fights observed, only 42 were between males with original claws and those with regrown ones. This suggests that fiddler crabs are unable to visually discriminate one from the other, as males with regrown, or weaker, claws were not preyed on more often. Furthermore, researchers noted they witnessed no fights including a male whose lost claw had not yet grown back to its original size, suggesting crabs are unwilling to engage in fights until their claws are completely regrown. When fully regrown, however, regenerated crabs take no mercy: to protect their inferior claw, they chose smaller and opposite-handed opponents, as claws are generally wrestled more tightly in same-handed fights. "Fiddler crab males adapt their fighting tactics and choice of opponent depending on whether they have lost their major claw," Muramatsu said, adding that this shows animals are able to switch tactics during their lifetime. Males with regrown claws also tend to make a show of being aggressive to ward off opponents - but this is really just a bluff, since they surrender easily when the fight escalates to a level their handicap claw can't compete with. In fact, the videotaped fights revealed that, on average, regenerated males win only two out five such encounters. In contrast, males with their original claws intact are more likely to choose same-handed opponents. As part of their own counter-bluff tactic, they persist in fights even when their opponents are larger. In other words, they go into a fight with the assumption that their opponent has a regenerated claw and, if this turns out to be true, the regenerated male will therefore retreat. "The findings are in line with current theories that predict that animal signals are generally honest, but each signaling system allows for deception," co-researcher Koga added. Their study was recently published in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. After North Carolina hastily passed a law which many consider anti-LGBT, one of America's largest payment firms has decided to pull out of expansion plans in the state. On Tuesday, PayPal announced that it will no longer push through with its planned expansion to Charlotte due to the presence of the bill. Just last month, PayPal stated that it was planning to open a global operations center in the city, a facility which was set to employ 400 people and bring in millions to the local economy. Alas, North Carolina will be missing out on all that. In a statement on Tuesday, Dan Schulman, PayPayl's president and chief executive, expressed its disappointment over the passing of the bill, explaining that the law's points contradict with the firm's core values. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte," he wrote. "As a company that is committed to the principle that everyone deserves to live without fear of discrimination simply for being who they are, becoming an employer in North Carolina, where members of our teams will not have equal rights under the law, is simply untenable." As of writing, the PayPal CEO has not announced its selection for the new location of the planned facility. North Carolina became the center of a massive rights controversy after overriding a Charlotte ordinance which stated that transgender people must be allowed to use public bathrooms which correspond to their gender identity. In response to criticism from conservatives in the state, lawmakers passed a bill which overrode Charlotte's measure, demanding that transgender individuals use public restrooms that correspond to their biological sex alone. Though North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory praised the law as a means to "stop this breach of basic privacy and etiquette," numerous prominent firms, together with LGBT advocates, have been quick to condemn the state's decision. Among the corporations which publicly criticized the law included Google, Facebook, American Airlines and PayPal. While analysts believed that the law would negatively impact the economy of the state, the governor was firm and confident that North Carolina's finances would not be adversely affected at all. With PayPal drawing first blood and costing North Carolina millions in revenue, it seems like McCrory is being proven wrong. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. What is a beach without sand? As shorelines continue to recede and beaches lose their sand to wind and wave erosion, local communities tirelessly attempt to restore the natural landscape by using offshore sand. However, researchers from the University of California, San Diego, revealed that this process - also known as beach replenishment - can have long-term negative effects on coastal ecosystems. For instance, the study found a more than twofold reduction in the abundance of intertidal invertebrates 15 months after a beach restoration project took place. What's more is populations of polychaetes - a class of ringed worms - appeared to take the hardest hit. "We found rather long lasting declines in invertebrate abundances due to replenishment," said Joshua Kohn, a UC-San Diego biology professor who led the study. "These invertebrates are what shorebirds eat when they poke their bills in the sand. They are also food for small inshore fish." Scientists examined the biodiversity and abundance of intertidal invertebrates at eight different beaches in San Diego County. Both a control plot and beach replenishment plot were set up at each beach, so that the differences in biodiversity could be measured and compared four, 12 and 15 months after replenishment. Researchers warn that the reductions observed "may have far reaching consequences for sandy beach ecosystems." What's unique about this study is that it paints a clearer picture of how the total invertebrate community across eight different beaches in California is impacted by beach replenishment. Previously, this type of research was carried out only on individual beaches. "In San Diego there are multiple species of tiny worms called polychaetes," explained Heather Henter, a biologist and academic coordinator of the University of California Natural Reserve System. "Little bean clams, Donax gouldii, are sometimes on our beaches by the thousands and there are various crustaceans such as amphipods, or sandhoppers, and mole crabs, Emerita analoga, that stick their feathery antennae up above the sand to filter food out of the waves in the swash zone." While most of the animal types suffered initial losses, many - including the sandhoppers and bean clams - rebounded in about a year. The tiny worms, however, failed to recover within 15 months. With so many variables, researchers noted that additional studies are needed to determine how long exactly these negative effects last. "There are large gaps in our knowledge," added Tyler Wooldridge, a graduate student at UC-San Diego. "For instance, how long will the effects we observed last? What is the effect of reduced invertebrate abundance on bird and fish populations? Another key question is how frequent and widespread should efforts to replenish beaches be? Are there times of the year when it is more or less disruptive for the animals that live in the sandy beach? To answer those questions, we need more studies." Their study was recently published in the journal Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. Since starting his presidential campaign, GOP front-runner Donald Trump has made the notion of a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico as one of the cornerstones of his policies. Though he has frequently referred to the planned wall in his campaign speeches, he has been pretty vague about how exactly he plans to implement the project, except that he would force Mexico to pay for it. That is, until now. In a recent memo, Trump finally provided an outline on how he plans to build the wall at Mexico's expense. Trump's grand plan involves a very notable step: cutting off a portion of funds sent to the Latin American country through money transfers such as Western Union through a provision in the U.S.A. Patriot Act. Of course, doing so would surely, severely cripple the weakening economy of the Latin American country. In order to prevent such catastrophic economic results, Trump stated in his memo that all Mexico needs to do is to make a "one-time payment of $5-10 billion" to pay for the border wall. Other sanctions proposed by Trump include trade tariffs and the cancellation of visas among Latinos in America. For Trump, the choices are clear for Mexico. Either cripple the economy by blocking money transfers to the nation or pay up. As much as the proposal exudes bravado on the part of the GOP candidate, Trump's plan has immediately been clamped down by critics. Among the most vocal critics of Trump's plan came from the country's current president himself, Barack Obama, who stated that the notion of tracking and blocking every single money transfer coming from the U.S. and going to Mexico would be highly impractical and counter-productive. "This is just one more example of something that is not thought through and is primarily put forward for political consumption. The notion that we're going to track every Western Union bit of money that's being sent to Mexico, good luck with that," Obama said. Cristobal Alex, president of the Latino Victory Fund, also stated that the idea is very unrealistic and downright dangerous. "This is nothing but another attack against immigrants that would have devastating consequences for Latinos and Americans overall, endangering our economy, our democracy, our foreign policy and security," he said. Stuart Anderson, executive director of the National Foundation for American Policy, believes that enacting Trump's proposal would be challenging from a judicial standpoint, as well. "Trump is giving an extremely broad definition of this section of the Patriot Act and what it allows, and it'd surely be litigated. It would be a large expansion beyond what the text reads," he said. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. A south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed a 12-year-old boy to death and then revealed to authorities that voices compelled him to drink the victim's blood is set to be executed via lethal injection Wednesday, April 6, at the state's death chamber in Huntsville. Pablo Vasquez, 38, will be put to death at 6 p.m., which will mark the sixth execution in Texas since the start of 2016, as well its 537th overall - the most of any state - ever since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the the death penalty in 1976. That is, however, if it actually goes through. Vasquez's lawyer, James Keegan, has launched a last-minute appeal to halt the execution, saying in a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court that there should be a reprieve so justices can determine whether Vasquez was denied fair punishment because several potential jurors were dismissed if they voiced objections to the death penalty or said they were uncomfortable making such a decision. This appeal comes after courts as recent as last month rejected arguments that Vasquez had mental health problems and suffered from learning disabilities. As such, the lawyers have also raised questions of ineffective counsel at trial and initial appeal. The incident this case revolves around dates back to April 18, 1998, when Vasquez, his 15-year-old cousin, Andres Rafael Chapa, and the victim, David Cardenas, were on their way home from a party in Donna, Texas. Vasquez, who admitted to being drunk and high at the time, confessed to police that he heard voices in his head that eventually convinced him to kill Cardenas upon reaching a wooden shed near where his body was found. The murder had already raised concerns of satanism at the time, since police, who received an anonymous tip about the murder, found Cardenas under a pile of metal sheets with his arms missing, no skin on the back and a hole in his head. Those fears were stoked after Vasquez confessed to the murder and revealed that he also drank his blood. Beyond the murder, which was committed by hitting the victim in the head with a pipe and cutting his throat, court records indicate that the body was mutilated "by some means that caused bones to shatter." It took the jury an hour to find Vasquez guilty, and despite concerns about satanism being prominent at the time, the subject never came up during the trial or in the appeals. In the meantime, Chapa, who was a co-defendent in the case, was charged with murder and is serving a 35-year prison term, while three of their relatives, one of whom was deported to Guatemala, received probation and a small fine for helping to cover up the incident. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. What appears as a huge win for the Obama administration seems like a big loss to pharmaceutical giants Pfizer Plc and Allergan Plc, as the two firms decided to forego their mammoth $160 billion merger amid increased pressure from the U.S. government. The cancellation of the deal serves as a significant victory for U.S. President Barack Obama, whose administration has taken on the task of preventing deals such as U.S.-based Pfizer and Ireland-based Allergan's proposed merger, which would result in the American company saving billions of taxes by moving overseas. Had the deal been successful, Pfizer would have been able to cut its taxes by an estimated $1 billion annually. This is due to the difference in tax rates between the U.S. and Ireland, where Allergan is based. By domiciling in Ireland, Pfizer would have been able to escape a significant portion of its taxes in America, in what is popularly referred to as a tax inversion. The deal between Pfizer and Allergan first made headlines back in November. Due to both of the companies' massive size, the deal, had it pushed through, would have been the biggest merger in the pharmaceutical world to date. However, such mergers have been in the sights of the Obama administration for a while. The U.S. government has previously moved to discourage corporate maneuvers that result in tax inversions, culminating in a series of more aggressive and far more expansive rule changes on Monday, which were announced by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service. With the merger falling into pieces amid increased pressure from the U.S. government, Pfizer would now be compelled to pay Allergan $150 million in order to cover the expenses of the planned merger so far. Both companies have released announcements about the breakup of the merger, calling the decision a mutual agreement. Ian Read, the Pfizer chairman and chief executive, announced that the intricacies of the merger were scrutinized before the final decision was made. "Pfizer approached this transaction from a position of strength and viewed the potential combination as an accelerator of existing strategies. We remain focused on continuing to enhance the value of our innovative and established businesses," he said. Brent Saunders, chief executive of Allergan, stated that though the breakup of the deal was disappointing, the Ireland-based pharmaceutical giant would continue to move forward nonetheless. "While we are disappointed that the Pfizer transaction will no longer move forward, Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth built on a set of powerful attributes," he said. Shares of Allergan plunged in Tuesday trading, falling 15 percent. Pfizer shares, on the other hand, surged 1.3 percent. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents returned a lot of stolen dinosaur fossils that were taken from Mongolia Tuesday. The fossils originated from six dinosaur species that were smuggled out of the country and eventually seized by agents in New York and Utah. "Today's ceremony is an excellent demonstration of the cooperation between HSI, our colleagues at the Department of Justice and our foreign counterparts with the Government of Mongolia," said Peter Edge, HSI's executive associate director. "A successful repatriation requires extensive cooperation among all parties involved, which is rewarded by the knowledge that we've returned what rightfully belongs to the people of Mongolia." Among the fossils returned Tuesday were: an Alioramus skull, Bactrosaurus skeleton, Protoceratops baby skeleton pieces, Troodontid egg bed, Psittacosaurus skeleton and skull and Hadrosaurus skeleton pieces. The Alioramus skull was the biggest of the fossils and originates from an extremely rare dinosaur that scientists believe lived in the Gobi Desert approximately 66 to 70 million years ago. The rare dinosaur is a relative of the Tyrannosaurs and, as of now, only two specimens have been discovered. The fossil impounded by agents is described as the most complete Alioramus fossil discovered to date. The smugglers attempted to retrieve the fossil after having it shipped from France with false papers that identified it as a cheap replica. Afterwards, the shipper submitted forged Mongolian export documents before Mongolia determined that the items were national property in 1924, and the customs agents seized the entire shipment of stolen dinosaur fossils. Robert Capers, Brooklyn's U.S. attorney, hosted the ceremony surrounding the return of the fossils. "We are proud of our role in restoring this rich paleontological heritage to the Mongolian people and taking these cultural treasures from the hands of looters and smugglers," he said. "We stand beside the people of Mongolia by disrupting the international trade in smuggled fossils and returning them to their home where they will be studied and treasured." "Mongolia is home to the world's largest reserve of dinosaur fossils with many discoveries waiting to be made," he added. Over the past three years, 23 dinosaur fossils were returned to Mongolia from the United States, including the return of a Tarbosaurus bataar fossil that was approximately 70 million years old. @ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. The Henn-na Hotel in Japan is one of the great hotels of the world and it just got a lot more futuristic. When you walk up to the front desk, a Japanese hostess bows and says "welcome." The catch: She's a robot. What's fitting is that in Japanese, Hen-na means either "flower" or "it's weird," depending on your interpretation. I remember being on a long business trip about 10 years ago, and there was a layover in Tokyo. I was amazed at the display of robotics and automation on items even like the beverage vending machine at the airport. A chilled glass slid down a conveyer belt and a robotic arm holding a soft drink spout poured Pepsi into the glass. Then a voice in English (why it knew to speak English instead of Japanese, I'll never know!) asked me for the money and thanked me. That was a decade ago. Now, a walking Honda robot recently shook hands with the American president during his trip to Japan. Not to be outdone, the hospitality sector in Japan is going head-over heels for robotics. Not only do they make guests smile, but over the long run, hotels like Hen-na reckon they might be able to save money on labor costs. That's why they are starting with 10 robots in their hotel. Their goal is that someday in the near future, 90 percent of all tasks in the hotel will be performed robotically. Therein lies the promise of automation. Some customers are going to come away from their first interaction with that robot and believe that a new technology is blossoming and that we are on the cusp of an exciting new age. Others will think a robot greeter is downright weird. The secret in making consumers receptive to automation is in an enterprise's strategy to save cost and labor in the long run. Let's face it: Automation is here to stay. From henceforth it's what we do with automation that counts. That includes leveraging the technology to give consumers more bang for their buck. To be sure, automation has existed for more than three decades. With increasing competition and the need to provide rich, personalized guest experiences, hoteliers want technologies that develop customized, personalized experiences. Yes, we said it: the customer experience. Not only are robots a marketing wonder; studies have shown that customers enjoy them and in turn become more loyal to the brand. Automation that uses Artificial intelligence is one such new technology. In fact, innovations like machine learning, A.I., autonomous agents, and virtual reality are deeply changing the workforce and rapidly transforming jobs once considered impervious to change. To the hotel guest, there's a big difference in a robot programmed to say hello and a robot that learns your needs during the course of your stay. The latter is A.I., and it's a lot more than just a cute marketing ploy. Here are just a few examples of how A.I. is radically improving the customer experience: Smart mirrors: The next time you're brushing your teeth, you might encounter a smart mirror that lets you read the news and check the weather. I read that a Google engineer was unsatisfied with other smart mirrors. So he developed a mirror that could tell him what to wear in the morning and even when it's his friends' birthdays. Smart floors: A German company, Future Shape, is developing this technology with the hopes that it will soon be within the reach of average consumers. Future Shape is focusing on many applications, not the least of which is what it calls Sensfloor to monitor elderly people who live alone and run the risk of falling down. IoT comes to hotels: A plan I've seen floated is also to allow mobile phones to set the temperature and light controls and even brew coffee. So why all the robotic fuss? Some economists say labor costs. The Online Travel Reservation and Management System (better known as OTRAMS) estimates that the money global hotel chains spend on labor accounts for more than half of all operational costs in the hospitality sector. The need for efficient labor controls is essential for companies in this challenging sector to keep costs down and maintain consistent service. Automation on a mass scale might be an answer to this issue. But automation, even on a mass scale, won't get the job done. That's why Artificial Intelligence combined with automation/robotics is key. I came across research that suggests nearly half of all industries well beyond just hospitality will feel the effects of automation in the next 20 years. With A.I. added to the mix, we are going to see a seismic shift in not only the labor market, but what the minimal threshold of quality is for consumers. A.I.-enabled automation can reduce manual errors significantly that's an intangible cost for tremendous value nonetheless. The industry has started applying Artificial Intelligence to robots in the role of receptionists and guides. More than simply automated robotics, the knowledge-based "expert analytics" that works close to human thinking can provide more guest-aligned services and offers greater brand loyalty and ancillary revenue. The hospitality industry is taking a big leap by adopting Artificial intelligence and virtual reality' Consumers will experience overwhelming and mesmerizing experiences going forward, which can't come at a better time: There's a dire need for hoteliers to create unique and memorable customer experiences. Although this need involves major investments, long-term decisions, and time, doing so will certainly give them an edge over the competition and create easy word-of-mouth marketing. The result is that A.I. investments will directly impact daily occupancy and average daily rates and nothing cuts to the core of the hospitality industry than daily occupancy. Neeraj Upadhyay Infosys +91 7022042136 Infosys Limited Hospitality Net today Sign up to our free daily newsletter, It looks like you've reached a page that doesnt exist (anymore). Please use the navigation or search above to find content on Hospitality Net. Go back to home Groups and meetings intelligence company introduces dynamic new product to help hotel enterprise-level management teams see the big picture of the group market. Knowland today announced the global release of Insight Enterprise Market Analytics, a business intelligence platform that gives hotel sales organizations, sales operations teams, revenue management professionals, and hotel owner/asset managers deeper analytic data on market, brand, and portfolio performance within the meetings and group ecosphere. Market Analytics aggregates the meetings and events data Knowland collects daily through its extensive research activities. This data represents a wide, uniform sampling that provides insight into overall market dynamics and group buying behavior. It supports a more diagnostic level of groups and meetings benchmarking than has previously been available, illuminating market and competitive performance at the segment, industry, and account levels. With Market Analytics, sales organizations can better identify market opportunities and competitive gaps, and put strategies in place accordingly. Global and national sales teams can deep dive into competitive performance by account to support more informed sales targeting, goal setting, and overall account management. Market Analytics complements Knowlands existing Insight lead search and generation platform to strengthen portfolio-wide strategies from the top down. For ten years, Insight has been crucial to on-property sales teams for identifying specific group opportunities that most closely align with their group revenue-maximization goals. Market Analytics can formulate a plan to guide how team efforts are focused and targeted within Insight. Knowland has collected an enormously powerful database of group and meeting data, said Tim Hart, Knowlands President and CEO. We want to relieve above-property sales, support, and revenue teams of some of the heavy lifting that comes with maneuvering through the complex meeting ecosystem in which we now live. We want to provide our customers with new ways to efficiently identify group opportunities that best match their needs and revenue strategies. About Knowland Knowlands mission is to help drive revenue with meetings market intelligence for the hospitality industry. As a globally recognized provider of meeting and group data, Knowland offers extensive insight into market analytics, group industry trends, and powerful benchmarking through innovative products. For more information, please visit Knowlands website at https://www.knowland.com/enterprise or call (202) 312-5880. You can also follow Knowland on LinkedIn. Contact: Knowland Jim VanDevender, Chief Development Officer 202-351-1522 jvandevender@knowland.com Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) and Commonwealth Hotel Collection (CHC) announced today the opening of Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center. Located in Denvers rapidly developing neighboring city of Aurora, the hotel serves the adjacent University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, a hub for medical research and development, meeting the demand for accommodations, dining and meeting space. Additionally, the hotels proximity to Denver International Airport and the new Regional Transportation District (RTD) Light Rail line creates a central meeting location for both local and traveling conference attendees. We are delighted to bring the Hyatt Regency brand and a new conference center to Aurora. This hotel is specially designed to foster connections and serve as a dynamic, energizing space where guests can collaborate, share and find inspiration, said Stephan Meier, general manager of Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center. With the modern facilities and caring associates, our guests and customers can leave every detail of their visit to our dedicated and professional team so they can enjoy their stay, whether it be a business trip, social gathering or unique dining experience. Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center features 249 non-smoking guestrooms and suite accommodations, including 195 luxurious deluxe rooms with king beds, 49 spacious deluxe rooms with two queen beds, four beautiful grand suites, and one presidential suite. All accommodations offer complimentary Wi-Fi, 55-inch flat screen televisions, individual climate control, and access to various amenities and services to make stays more seamless and enjoyable. Offering unprecedented meeting and event space, customers have access to more than 36,000 square feet to plan for their needs. Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center offers 15 meeting rooms, including 20,000 square feet of traditional meeting space, an 11,750 square foot Grand Ballroom and 8,100 square feet of meeting space that holds the elite accreditation from the International Association of Conference Centers (IACC). Approximately 4,000 square feet of outdoor terrace space is also available. Additionally, the hotel provides among the best catering services available in the metropolitan area, boasting an experienced staff equipped with the knowledge to provide exceptional quality and incredible service for any size or type of event. The hotels highly anticipated restaurant, Borealis, reflects a number of different culinary styles and influences. Guests can embark on a culinary journey with the hotels award winning chef, Tim Freeman, who regularly incorporates fresh, local Colorado flavors with Asian and Middle Eastern influences. The relaxed and inviting fine-dining atmosphere allows guests to unwind with a cocktail or craft beer in the lounge or enjoy the fresh air on the hotels large terrace. The wellness facilities at Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center include an oversized fitness center with the latest high-tech cardio and strength training equipment, a hot tub, and an outdoor swimming pool with sun deck. With Drakes Hotline Bling recently becoming his biggest hit to date, the rapper seems to have mastered the art of the standalone single. Drizzy has been using loose tracks as a means to promote his albums for a few years now, and hes only become more generous with the release of singles since the launch of his OVO Radio show. Some of these tracks are among his best work, but its easy for songs to fall through the cracks over the years if they are not attached to a larger project, so weve decided to go through Drakes catalog and put together all of his non-album releases from the last few years. Of course, we had to draw up a few guidelines. The songs selected had to be billed with Drake as the lead artist, therefore disqualifying DJ Khaled collaborations or remixes where the original artists remain on the bill. Finally, were only counting official releases here, no sketchy leaked tracks. All in all, its a pretty impressive collection of records, and were sure that one day Drake will make a point of releasing it as some sort of compilation, but until then, youll have to settle for flipping through our galleries. Pre-Thank Me Later Pre-Thank Me Later (August 2009-June 2010) Drakes pre-album single strategy that hed later adopt for his 2nd and 3rd album wasnt really in effect during the time leading up to Thank Me Later, but there were a couple of releases that helped to generate hype for Drizzys debut album. Forever was the biggest, setting us up for the impressive roster of features wed find on the LP, as well as the hashtag-rap style he would use across most of the tracks on the project (it appeared on the soundtrack to a Lebron James doc released that year). Later on, he put out 9AM in Dallas, which he expressed would have been the opening song on the album had it not come together at the last minute. This would be an important song in that it ignited the series that would include later installments such as 5AM In Toronto and 6PM In New York. Forever 9AM In Dallas Pre-Take Care Pre-Take Care (May-September 2011) As he prepared his sophomore album, Drake introduced a new rollout strategy that found him releasing a collection of records in advance of the LP as standalone singles. Among these releases were Dreams Money Can Buy, a song that sampled BTSU, from then relatively new electronic act, Jai Paul, as well as Club Paradise, an ode to his favorite West End strip club, and Free Spirit, with Rick Ross, a regular collaborator of his at the time. He also released Trust Issues, a slow R&B cut that used lyrics from his feature on DJ Khaleds Im On One, and was later remixed by The Weeknd, predicting Abels large role on the writing side of Take Care. Marvins Room was also released in advance of the album, and was initially planned as yet another free track, but according to Drake, 40 later insisted that it be included on the album. Dreams Money Can Buy Free Spirit Club Paradise Trust Issues Pre-Nothing Was The Same Pre-Nothing Was The Same (March-June 2013) As Nothing Was The Same season began, Drake used an almost identical strategy to the one he did preceding Take Care, putting a number of songs leading up the release date. 5AM In Toronto was the first of these releases, arriving in March of 2013, and serving as a sequel to the aforementioned 9AM In Dallas. He followed it up with yet another Khaled collab in No New Friends, and a Fauntleroy duet called Girls Love Beyonce. In June, he shared four new songs on the OVO blog, including guest appearances on tracks from PartyNextDoor and Migos. Two proper Drake cuts came out of this SoundCloud dump Jodeci Freestyle, which paired him with J. Cole, and The Motion, the former of which never getting placement while the latter landed on the NWTS deluxe edition. 5AM In Toronto Girls Love Beyonce Jodeci Freestyle OVO Soundcloud Regular OVO SoundCloud Releases (December 2013-June 2014) 2014 was Drakes year off, which meant he didnt release a project, but made sure to keep the OVO SoundCloud regularly updated with new hits. Just before the new year, he dropped We Made It, a freestyle over Soulja Boys record of the same name, as well as Trophies, which he hoped would become a NYE anthem. From there, he put out, Days In The East, Draft Day, and 0 to 100, the last of which would later be taken off SoundCloud and marketed as a proper single. It would go on to peak at #35 on the Hot 100, but never made it to an album. We Made It Trophies Draft Day 0 To 100 Days In The East Leak Damage Control Leak Damage Control (October 2014) Towards the end of the year, Drakes fanbase was getting ahead of him, as snippets of a number of unreleased songs began to circulate the web. In October of 2014 (Drizzys favorite month), the rapper shared three songs that had been making the rounds in raw forms 6 God, Heat Of The Moment, and How Bout Now. 6 God ended up making the cut of If Youre Reading This Its Too Late, while the others remained as one-offs. How Bout Now was eventually tacked on to the IYRTITL deluxe edition, but as it seemed like a retroactive label decision, weve decided to include it. How Bout Now (later added to IYRTITL deluxe) Heat Of The Moment Meek Mill OVO Radio Era (Summer 2015) By 2015, Drake had begun premiering new music on his Beats 1 show, OVO Radio, and in the summer it kicked off, he dropped some pretty crazy exclusives, including Sweeterman, his Ramriddlz remix, the immortal Hotline Bling, that would take a few months to really catch on, and of course, Charged Up, the first of two diss tracks aimed at Meek Mill. Back To Back would follow that run of releases a few days later, and would go on to be nominated for a Grammy. Hotline Bling, of course, rose to number 2 on the Hot 100, making it the rappers most successful song not attached to a project. You could say, this was the height of this particular release strategy. Sweeterman Charged Up Hotline Bling Right Hand Back To Back Pre-Views Pre-Views (???) (January 2016-Present) As weve seen from his previous rollouts, sometimes theres no way of knowing what will and will not go on to make the album. In advance of Views From The 6, there have been three songs dropped, none of which have been confirmed to make the cut. However, all of the songs have been shopped to iTunes, something Drake has learned can be a lucrative move, and with his new deal with Apple in effect, is likely just a part of his contract. So the question is, will these records stand on their own when the album does surface sometime this month? Our guess is the answer is yes for Pop Style and One Dance, with Summer Sixteen potentially going the way of Marvins Room or Started From The Bottom, and making the cut. What do you think? Summer Sixteen Listen to Pop Style and One Dance on iTunes. This article can only be read with a Premium Account Rock rebels everywhere should be appalled at the British establishments attempt to appropriate punk rock This article can only be read with a Premium Account Please Log In or Subscribe to continue reading The Brookyn band gave an incendiary performance that was crackling with energy and experimental racket Robed in galactic green capes with matching fiery buzzcuts, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig descended on The Academy with their Brooklyn brand of noise pop like two regal extra terrestrials come to conquer the human population. Two ethereal voices rang through the crowd as the 80s beats of Madness snaked into our minds. Howling harmonies, screeching synths and grating guitars were the formidable weapons Lucius employed to wage war on our ears and the crowd was reeling with the onslaught. This is the first night of our tour. Were so thrilled to be back in Europe and the UK, Jess announces in a little Brooklyn accentCue grumbles of discord from the previously entranced crowd. Luckily the drummer speaks up after a palpable pause: But were in Ireland! This happened to me the last time and I got so much shit for it, Andrew advises the co-frontwomen. Were wearing green for fucks sake, Holly laughs, and so do we. Crisis averted. Back to more mind-bending, hair-raising music: the crowd swayed in frantic disharmony as the dreamy skittish loops of Truce gave way to upbeat swinging vocals. The siren calls of Something About You led the crowd with twitching fervour to Lucius noise pop anthem Born Again Teen. Crackling with energy and experimental racket this was the incendiary highlight of an avant-garde musical tempest. Advertisement But now our assailants are missing and the stage is dark. A long atmospheric instrumentalist intro pummels the crowd as we wonder what can be next. And then we hear themtheir twin-vocals swelling around the swoonsome notes of Almighty Goshand we realise that the red-haired duo, unrecognisable in a brand new gold ensemble, our in our very midst. The crowd gives way to their lithe forms as they flit through the beautifully abrasive notes of a song that laments how we forget the Almighty. But the surprises werent over there. Lucius proceeded to call to the stage an old friend who they had met at their Whelans gig in 2014- none other than national treasure Bronagh Gallgher, best known for her role in the iconic film The Commitments. Together the trio crooned along to a stripped down version of Elvis Presleys love ballad I Cant Help Falling In Love With You. Talk about firing on all four cylinders: Lucius gave a performance last night that was at once magnetic, haunting, beautiful and monstrous. This Brooklyn quintet are a maverick talent and if last night is anything to go by, their galactic quest will surely end in world domination. Check out our photographer's snaps of Lucius' dazzling performance here. November saw U2 bring a stunning, 3D, in-the-round show to the North Wall, the likes of which Dublin had never seen. And while not yet ready to claim the crown as the world's greatest rock band, last night showed Muse have the stadium-rock-in-an-arena credentials to match any act on the planet HP sharpshooter Kathrin Baumbach was on hand to capture the action at 3Arena; check out her gallery here. Many moons ago, yours truly popped his rocknroll cherry at the Showgrounds in Cork. Ash were headliners that evening, but history will show that the first live band ever seen was the support an up-and-coming English rock act named Muse. A lot, of course, has changed since then your humble correspondent hit puberty, for instance. For the Devon trio, even more dramatic growth lay ahead; sophomore album Origin Of Symmetry (released the following month, July 2001) launched them as an act of serious note, and the following decade saw them cement a place among the worlds premier exponents of stadium rock, as orchestral flourish and theatrical bombast merged with boundless, limitless ambition. And last night, there was a roof over it, too. The pre-show announcements were particularly focused on audience members turning off the flash on their cameras. It mightnt have been amiss to ask that they also check their sense of irony at the door, as it clearly wasnt needed much anyway. At one point, during a sequence of songs from last years Drones, a giant inflatable drone flew overhead. Because, y'know, drones. Subtle it werent. But around the arena it went, and so did the band. Staged in the round, the show was nothing if not ambitious; the sporadically-rotating stage plonked dead centre, with a monstrous catwalk extending the breadth of 3Arena. The unorthodox approach did lead to a few odd moments none better than when Matt Bellamy strode to the extremities of the set, only to find himself in danger of skipping the queue for the adjacent bar but for the few flat-earthers left unconvinced by U2s storming effort late last year, it was a definitive reminder that a well-produced arena show can match, and beat, stadium shows of far greater size. Indeed, it was difficult not to think of our own rock royalty at times, especially when video clips poked their way into proceedings; not least during a religious refrain of the distrust of unmanned weaponry (still very much on message), a speech from JFK, and a puppet-on-string effect during The Handler that brought the interactivity of the Cedarwood Road sequence to mind. Were not saying there was intentional shading going on, but Dublins own were given a genuine run for their money in the epic indoor performance stakes. At times, the tunes struggled to match the quality of the show. Sure, theres bangers in that back catalogue neer a foot went unstomped during Supermassive Black Hole, Time Is Running Out or Uprising, while Starlight found a rabid crowd in rare voice but the most recent material was occasionally found wanting. A blistering pace ensured energy levels remained high, and the powerful-yet-clear racket (kudos to the engineers, whove designed a patently brilliant 360 speaker system) combined with the relentless visual stimulation meant there was always something to focus the attention, but there's no disguising The Globalist as anything other than a bloated album track. A blast of Plug In Baby or Stockholm Syndrome would have been most welcome, but much of the bands early material has apparently been retired; only an excellent rendition of Bliss and a relatively pedestrian Citizen Erased truly brought this writer back to the good old days. Looking to the past isn't really Muse's game, anyway. By the time the sweating, swaying masses pogoed through closer Knights of Cydonia, and gave the mother of all ovations as the band left the stage, nobody could question the success of the evening even if it was more about fist-pumping fun that the earnest evangelism the band seem to hold so dear. By early June, the trio will be hitting the Pyramid Stage of Glastonbury, puny arena shows but a memory. Best to cherish this one, then. Cody Duty/Staff For a state that's been inclined in recent years to erect barriers to voting, a state whose governor claims to be aware of vote fraudsters chewing like voracious termites into the integrity of the ballot box, this week's U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a Texas case should be eye-opening. Although the state of Texas didn't initiate the suit - which was, in fact, against the state - the impetus for it was the same straitened notion of political participation that drives the vote-suppressors, including those who hold public office. On Monday, the court voted unanimously - an eye-opening occurrence, in and of itself - to reject a lawsuit from Texas that sought to count only eligible voters when state legislative districts are drawn up. Texas, like virtually every other state, uses the court's "one person, one vote" rule to count all people living in a district, not just those who can vote. The plaintiffs were two Texas voters who argued that their votes counted less than the votes in neighboring senatorial districts with a lower percentage of eligible voters. Alice P. Gast, 57, is the president of Imperial College London, and the former president of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. Gast, who has a Ph.D in chemical engineering, was born in Houston at Hermann Hospital and has a son attending Rice University. Her meeting with the editorial board brought to mind an option that more U.S. students should consider: an undergraduate British education. With the cost of colleges and universities spiraling in the U.S., annual tuition for British undergraduate degrees averages below the expense of some private colleges in the U.S. and can be compared to tuition for an out-of-state student at a public flagship university. Here are a few highlights from our interview: What's Imperial College Like? "It's one of the great universities of the world. It's not as well-known as it should be. It's a science, medicine and business focus. Culturally very much like an M.I.T. with a big medical school." Is it as old as Oxford? "No. Its roots go back to the Great Exhibition of 1851. Prince Albert and Queen Victoria held the exhibition of science and industry in Hyde Park, Crystal Palace, and made a handy profit And Prince Albert took that money and purchased that farm land in Kensington ...So it's a younger university in that respect." Student demographics: "It is a global university. We have about half of our students come from non-E.U., U.K. And about 40 percent of our staff are also from abroad." How does higher education in the U.K. differ from the U.S.? "The main difference is the depth vs. breadth More breadth in the U.S. and more opportunity to take your time making up your mind what you really want to do, whereas in the U.K. you dive more intensively." What can U.S. institutions learn from the U.K. model? "Working with industry and corporate research in ways with intellectual motivation rather than just the monetary We can have embedded scientists from companies in our labs. We can have our people go to corporate labs. And I think we do that with a bit more effectiveness than the U.S. universities generally do." Reflections about a proposed University of Texas System campus in Houston: "One thing that's really changing in higher education is the need to collaborate I think the way to look at it if they are building a new campus is: How can we benefit? How can we work with them? How can we collaborate?" Views on weapons on Texas university campuses: "There is an impression [in the U.K.] that there's already guns everywhere So it's a concern." Thoughts on Texas college football: "There are some balance issues. You have to think about what the purpose is. Is it student athletes having a full experience and then getting leadership skills and capabilities and time management, and they are also scholars? Or is it entertainment for alumni and the public? Or is it commercial - how much do they get from the TV contract?" Most provocative reflection: "Why computer science has so few women is astoundingWe need to get to the bottom of that in computer science and figure out ways forward. " Best quote: "Perhaps being on a small island, there's a different view of collaboration." Subscribing to our services is a three step process. First you have to create an account and then you have to pick if you want to subscribe to digital and or print. Some people only want to be a digital subscriber to get access online and others want to also receive the print edition. 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BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust Announces the Center for Character Ethics Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-06-2016 11:29 am Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes BBB-branded ethics programs identify todays trustworthy leaders, train up the ethical leaders of tomorrowArlington, VA (PRWEB) April 05, 2016As part of its commitment to trust in the marketplace and ethical business leadership, the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust (BBB Institute) is launching an international BBB Center for Character Ethics to provide local BBBs with tools and programs to assess, strengthen and recognize leadership character and organizational ethics at businesses and charities across North America.Ethics is the foundation of both BBB and the BBB Institute, says Janice Lachance, interim director of the BBB Institute, which is the research and educational foundation of the Council of Better Business Bureaus. The BBB Center for Character Ethics gives local BBBs and Accredited Businesses simple, practical tools to advance trust as an element of distinction in individuals and enterprises. Research shows that businesses perceived as ... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Payscout Appoints Dan Gardner as Chief Financial Officer,Veteran executive brings strong financial, international expertise to one of the worlds fastest-growing global payment providers. Posted by Press Releases on Wednesday, 04-06-2016 12:58 pm Currently 0.0/5 Stars. 1 2 3 4 5 0.0 from 0 votes LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) APRIL 05, 2016Payscout has announced the appointment of Dan Gardner as Chief Financial Officer. Gardner graduated from London Business School with an MBA, and holds a Bachelors Degree in Commerce from Concordia University in Montreal. He is a licensed CPA and previously held a FINRA Series 27 license as a registered financial and operations principal. Gardner brings a wealth of global financial expertise to his new position and prior to his appointment at Payscout, Dan spent the last 5 years as CFO of TRANSFAST, driving it into a leading cross-border payments and solutions provider that operates a best-in-class network across over 120 countries. Earlier in his career, he also served in a series of increasingly responsible financial management positions at international firms such as Global Capacity and D.B. Zwirn.As Payscouts Chief Financial Officer, Gardner will be responsible for the financial reporting/operations, risk management and treasury/li... Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email An HR.com member profile provides you with access to a multitude of information and education along with the opportunity to network with the largest HR community on the web. If you need any help, call .877.472.6648 and ask for our Member Experience Co-ordinator. Hi Please check your email for an activation link. If you do not receive your activation email within a few minutes, check your spam folder or call our Help Desk at 1.877.472.6648 For faster assistance, dial extension 4. Thank you! Continue Hi Verification error - Please enter the correct code above. Verified Wow! You have successfully verified the account Continue Hi your HR.com account is ready Your Profile completion: 30% Complete your profile Close Forgot Your Password? Enter in your email address and we will send it to you. Send Email HR Custom Content Programming - Continuing Ed - Emphasis on Leadership/Organizational Development Rank 2 Company Name: FIU Center for Leadership Program Name: Miami-Dade County Public Schools Principals Leadership Development Program Program Director: Dr. Mayra E. Beers Address: Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th St, MARC 326, Miami, FL 33199 Email: mayra.beers@fiu.edu Visit: lead.fiu.edu Our editorial team interviewed Dr. Mayra E. Beers from FIU Center for Leadership at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview. What is the overall objective of your program? The overall objective of the program is to collaborate with educational leaders in Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) in providing custom-designed programs and workshops to assist participants in developing facilitative leadership skills to enhance positive student outcomes. Research has consistently provided evidence that principal-leader efficacy has a cascading effect on collaborative leadership and its powerful impact on positive student learning outcomes.1 For school leaders, creating an environment where positive change can flourish is a difficult task that becomes more acute in burgeoning urban systems where challenges to education delivery are amplified.2 Designed using multidisciplinary, research... Open Enrollment - Continuing Education With An Emphasis on Leadership Rank: 6 Company Name: Babson Executive Education Program Name: Womens Leadership Program: From Opportunity to Action Program Director: Dr. Susan Duffy Address: 231 Forest Street, Babson Park, Massachusetts Call: 781-239-4354 Email: exec@babson.edu Visit: www.babson.edu/bee/women Our editorial team interviewed Dr. Susan Duffy from Babson Executive Education at the Leadership Excellence Awards this past February. Here are some excerpts from the exclusive interview. What is the overall objective of your program? Womens Leadership Program: From Opportunity to Action is a unique personal leadership experience with emphasis on driving organizational performance by recognizing and building on strengths and engaging entrepreneurial thinking and behavior. Through the important transition into strategic and entrepreneurial leadership, participants of this Babson Executive Education program gain a deep understanding of the interconnectivity between individual effectiveness and organizational outcomes, as well as the interplay between the leaders influence and organizational performance. Participants bring back to their teams and their companies new tools, concepts, resources, and approaches for driving innovation and growth amidst often uncertain market conditions. ... About Webcast HR leaders know that the global talent landscape is changing. More companies are expanding overseas, with 71% of business leaders planning growth in regions where English is not spoken. In order to meet the needs of an evolving business, HR must ensure that their employees have the skills to serve their customers and the business. They must be forward thinking to empower their employees to communicate with new colleagues and global customers. Whether your employees are working with a new supplier that doesnt speak their native language, or a customer calls into a help desk and is unable to communicate their problem, the more prevalent language barriers become the bigger impact they have on your business. In this presentation, Lisa Frumkes, Head of Language Learning at Rosetta Stone, will uncover the effect that this globalization is having on your business. She will discuss: 1. how HR can provide relevant and cost efficient language training 2. why human interaction plays a key part in effective virtual training 3. the impact of a blended virtual approach Finally, we will bring you the story of our customer, Olympus, Japan-based manufacturer with a portfolio of innovative test, measurement, and imaging instruments. You will see how Olympus incorporates language training into their mix to create a culture of global inclusion between their Japanese, Canadian, and U.S. offices. Mariah Cajuste, learning and development specialist at Olympus, will discuss their blended language learning approach that incorporates on-demand e-learning with virtual face-to-face tutoring to provide a scalable program that can serve the various needs of their business. Please join Lisa and Mariah to hear how virtual language tutors have helped them achieve their goals. We look forward to seeing you there! By registering for this webcast you will receive email communications and notifications from the sponsor(s). Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-04-05 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 62/16 05.04.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci criticizes President Anastasiades for the third round of tenders alleging that it constitutes a potential risk for the Cyprus negotiations [02] Kalyoncu's "government" tabled its resignation [03] Talat on search for new patterns to form a "government" [04] The "draft law" on the water management was approved by the "parliamentary committee" [05] Columnist: "Ankara's team in Nicosia" carries out a coup whenever the Turkish Cypriots do not abide by its wishes [06] Turkish Cypriot daily: "If the negotiating process will be harmed, it means that the Ankara government wants to harm the process" [07] Columnist: Turkey demands the regime's "citizenship" to be massively granted to another 26,000 settlers [08] Ozersay said that the old political understanding of the political parties makes the "citizens" dissatisfied with the "state" [09] Incidents between Kurds and Grey Wolves students in occupied Keryneia; Twenty students arrested by the so-called police [10] Fikri Toros re-elected as chairman of the KTTO [11] The Turkish Minister of Tourism expressed optimism over tourism in Turkey [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci criticizes President Anastasiades for the third round of tenders alleging that it constitutes a potential risk for the Cyprus negotiations Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (05.04.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci has said that the potential income from the newly found natural gas reserves in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) could contribute in the financing of the agreement for reunifying the island. In statements to Associated Press (AP), Akinci argued that the natural gas could contribute to peace in our turbulent area by increasing cooperation among Israel, Turkey and Cyprus. However, the "unilateral drillings" could cause tension again, he claimed, arguing that the natural gas could be turned into an "asset" as long as it is used wisely in a manner that does not (further) trigger tension in the area. Akinci criticized the launching of the third round of tenders by the Republic of Cyprus in spite of an agreement they had allegedly reached on the issue with President Anastasiades in the beginning of the negotiating process. Recalling that the debates over the island's natural resources have been continuing for years and that the negotiating process for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem was interrupted allegedly because of drillings in the southern sea of the island, Akinci claimed that "when starting the negotiations last year with Anastasiades, we had agreed that this issue will not negatively influence the negotiating process". Akinci reiterated the allegation that the launching of the third round of tenders for natural gas constitutes a potential risk for the negotiating process. Akinci said that they have come very close to the solution during the negotiating process they are holding with President Anastasiades for the last ten months. He argued that the Turkish Cypriots should constitute the majority in the north part of the island which will be under their administration in a possible bi-zonal solution and that the method of exchange of property would guarantee respect to the property rights. (I/Ts.) [02] Kalyoncu's "government" tabled its resignation Turkish Cypriot Bayrak (05.04.16) broadcast that "prime minister" Omer Kalyoncu presented this morning the resignation of the "government" to the Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci. According to Bayrak, Akinci will hold meetings with the parties that are represented in the "assembly" today in order to safeguard that a new "government" will be established the sooner possible. In addition, the Turkish Cypriot press reports today (05.04.16) about the scenarios for the formation of a new "government". Diyalog writes that the key for the new "government" is again at the hands of the Democratic Party (DP). The paper argues that the issue of a coalition between the Republican Turkish Party (CTP), DP and the Social Democratic Party (TDP) came into the agenda. Speaking yesterday at a meeting of the "assembly", DP's leader Serdar Denktas sent the message that DP will demand more than 3 "ministries" in order to co-operate with a party. On his part, TDP leader Cemal Ozyigit stated to Diyalog that the party's priority is early "elections", not to be a part of a new "government". Star Kibris writes that the four "independent deputies" are playing a key role to the formation of the new "government" since CTP may form a new "government" with the support of the "independent deputies". Under the title "Someone to sigh is needed", Detay reports that following the collapse of the "promising coalition" between CTP and the National Unity Party (UBP) Turkey is now looking for a new "government" that will be willing to sign the "economic protocol". Finally, Kibris Postasi writes that a coalition between UBP and DP is very possible and argues that in this case the economic protocol with Turkey will be signed right away without any questions. (CS) [03] Talat on search for new patterns to form a "government" Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis newspaper (05.04.16) reports that the leader of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) Mehmet Ali Talat stated that the party will not escape from its responsibilities. Talat who was commenting on the collapse of the "coalition government" between CTP and the National Unity Party (UBP) after the latter's decision to leave the cooperation, stated that CTP will start meetings with all the parties that are represented in the "assembly', as well as with the "independent deputies" in order for a new "government" to be established. In statements this morning to Bayrak (05.04.16) Talat further said that UBP's decision came as a shock to him since he had a meeting with UBP's leader Huseyin Ozgurgun a few days ago and he did not mentioned that leaving the "government" was on his agenda. He went on and added that following the meetings he will hold with the parties it will be determined if a new "government" will be established or new "elections" will be held. He also said that in the framework of his duty he will assist the Cyprus negotiations and added that the aim is the establishment of a "government" that will help towards this direction and aim towards the solution. (CS) [04] The "draft law" on the water management was approved by the "parliamentary committee" Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (05.04.16) reports that the "law draft of the agreement regarding the management and the supply of the water between Turkey's government and the government of the TRNC (translator's note: the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus)" was unanimously approved by the "committee on law, political and foreign affairs" of the so-called assembly. (DPs) [05] Columnist: "Ankara's team in Nicosia" carries out a coup whenever the Turkish Cypriots do not abide by its wishes Under the title "The package and the policy which ended the government", columnist Sami Ozuslu writes in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (05.04.16) that some details of the draft of the "economic protocol" between Turkey and the breakaway regime which is "kept secret" and caused the end of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) ? National Unity Party (UBP) self-styled government were revealed last night by Kanal Sim television. "The known reality of this country has once more been confirmed when the details of the Draft of the Turkey-TRNC Economic Program came to surface last night on a special program of Kanal Sim", reports the columnist recalling that UBP's "ministers" and officials have been stating on the one hand that they were not aware of the economic program's content and on the other they were demanding the immediate signing of the "protocol". The columnist notes: "Ankara's team in Nicosia does not refrain from administrating the TRNC as they know and carrying out a political coup when their wishes are not followed! Even though it is not known to what extent the center, that is, the political circles in Ankara are aware of these issues, it is very evident that the reports and the information sent from here are full with 'misguidances'". In spite of some "correct provisions", argues Ozuslu, the documents obtained by Kanal Sim include also some "unacceptable demands" which will lead the Turkish Cypriot community to "the point of losing everything". Except for the issues of the electricity, the ports and the "municipalities", the "protocol" includes some "new demands by Ankara which will influence very seriously the life and the future of the individuals, writes the columnist noting that the increase of the retirement age to 65 is one of these issues. (I/Ts.) [06] Turkish Cypriot daily: "If the negotiating process will be harmed, it means that the Ankara government wants to harm the process" Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika newspaper (05.04.16) refers to the worries expressed that the resignation of the Republican Turkish Party (CTP) ? National Unity Party (UBP) self-styled government will harm the negotiating process for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem and reports that if the negotiating process will be harmed, it means that Ankara wants to harm the process. "It is as if there are people among us who do not know that the TRNC governments have a button and as soon as Ankara presses the button governments can be established and collapse. Do not make fun of us gentlemen by alleging that the continuation of the process depends on the TRNC government. If the solution process will be harmed, it means that the Ankara government wants to harm the process. It is so simple. The fact that the TRNC is administrated by the Turkish government through blackmails and threats is evident. If you do not privatize the electricity, the water, I will spoil the government. If you do not privatize the ports, I will cut your salaries and spoil the government. There is no need to become comical by referring to the 'process' in these conditions. Those who spoiled the government can destroy the negotiating table as well. [?]" On the other hand, columnist Mert Ozdag in Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (05.04.16) argues that after the collapse of the "government" the "federal Cyprus alliance" has become weaker [in the occupied ara of the island], because there will not be a "prime minister" believing in the "federal Cyprus", unless a surprise is experienced and the Republican Turkish Party will participate again in the "coalition". (I/Ts.) [07] Columnist: Turkey demands the regime's "citizenship" to be massively granted to another 26,000 settlers Under the title "Critical threshold for the citizenship", Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper's (05.04.16), general director and general editing director, Cenk Mutluyakali reports that Turkey demands the "citizenship" of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus to be massively granted to another 26,000 Turkish settlers. "[?] This demand has repeatedly been submitted at all levels starting from Turkish President Erdogan to Prime Minister Davutoglu, from ministers to permanent undersecretaries, and it was rejected", writes the columnist adding that the reply given to the Turkish authorities was that "this will happen within the framework of the new law". The columnist adds the following: "Now it is once more asked that this law and the criteria to be 'a dead letter'. The reason for the so little interest towards the white identity card practice is actually the message sent by some places that 'you should wait', because Turkey's Cyprus policy has not accepted the 'white identity card' from the very first day. 'Direct citizenship' is asked. And this is one of the elements which ended the CTP-UBP coalition government. Twenty six thousand new and massive citizenships! Yesterday, one of the newspapers of the big capital which came to the island from Turkey, known with its 'pro-non-solution' stance on the Cyprus problem, put forward an 'UBP-DP coalition' giving the message for 'ten thousand new citizenships immediately'. It presented this as action of priority for the UBP-DP government! The number of the Turkish Cypriots who possess identity card or passport of the 'Republic of Cyprus' is around 100 thousands. The latest data says it is 98 thousand and 287. There is also the number of 114 thousands additionally accepted at the negotiating table. Basically it is provided for all the citizens in the north to become 'United Cyprus' [citizens] with the solution. If another adventure is not attempted again. That is, an irresponsible step will cause serious damage both to the negotiating process and especially to the status of the people who have taken citizenship by coming to the island from Turkey. This danger is very serious. Let no one try to present it over 'the good relations between Turkey and north Cyprus'. On the contrary, it cannot be a bigger injustice than this for the families which migrated to the island from Turkey after 1974, for their children born here and even for their grandchildren. And for all Cyprus and Cyprus' future". (I/Ts.) [08] Ozersay said that the old political understanding of the political parties makes the "citizens" dissatisfied with the "state" Turkish Cypriot daily Diyalog (05.04.16), The People's party (HP) announced that the old political understanding, which is conducted by cooperating on the basis of the political party interests, makes the "citizens" who live in the occupied area of Trikomo-Karpasia to be dissatisfied with the "state".. According to a press release by HP, the leader of HP and former Turkish Cypriot negotiator Kudret Ozersay, in meeting with the inhabitants of the occupied villages of Tavros, Rizokarpaso, and Galinoporni, said that the economic and social collapse encountered in the occupied regions of Rizokarpaso, Varosha and Morphou brought along also the problems of a certain marginalization. (DPs) [09] Incidents between Kurds and Grey Wolves students in occupied Keryneia; Twenty students arrested by the so-called police Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (05.04.16) reports that a fight occurred yesterday at the illegal American University of Keryneia ("GAU") between a group of Kurdish students and a group of ultra-nationalist "Grey Wolves". According to the paper, the so-called police intervened and after an operation it carried out at student's dormitories, it arrested around 20 students. The arrested students will be sent to the occupied Keryneia district court today, writes the paper. (AK) [10] Fikri Toros re-elected as chairman of the KTTO Turkish Cypriot daily Democrat Bakis newspaper (05.04.16) reports that Fikri Toros has been re-elected as the chairman of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Trade (KTTO) during the ordinary general congress of the Chamber which took place during the week-end. (AK) [11] The Turkish Minister of Tourism expressed optimism over tourism in Turkey Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (05.04.16) reports that the Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mahir Unal has optimistically suggested that Turkey would manage to close this year's tourism season only with 20% loss amid rising security concerns and a significant decline in the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey. Delivering a speech at Parliament, Unal said: "I am hopeful about the tourism sector. We have just received the latest figures for this season. There is only a 10% of decrease in the number of tourists visiting Turkey in February compared to the same month of 2015. The reservations for this year have been slow as people are cautious. We believe the reservations will rebound again by the end of April," he said. "The reservations for Italy and Spain have already been full?I believe the reservations for Turkey will rebound again by the end of April and we will close the year with only 20% of loss compared to the previous year," he said. According to data released by the Tourism Ministry, the number of foreign visitors coming to Turkey tumbled 10% in February, the biggest drop in a decade. The decline was the biggest since October 2006. The industry is also suffering from a chill in relations with Russia as Russian visitors fell by more than half during the month. Unal supported that there has been some recovery in the number of Russian tourists visiting Turkey. "Some 4.5 million Russians visited Turkey last year. I believe around 2.5 million Russians will visit Turkey as the ties with Russia have already started to recover. We will try to close the gap by luring more Iranian and local tourists. I do not expect such a big loss, contrary to several estimates," he noted. TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (AK/AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-05 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] Tsakalotos: 'We want to complete program review by April 10-12' [02] Political, economic stability key in allowing banks to support economy-head of banking body [03] Planes to be grounded on April 7 due to air traffic controllers' strike [01] Tsakalotos: 'We want to complete program review by April 10-12' The Greek government wants to complete the ongoing review of its third program by April 10-12 in order for the economy to turn a new page, Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said in an interview with news website news247 on Tuesday. "We want to conclude the negotiation by April 10-12, then go to the IMF's spring meeting, then to the Eurogroup on April 22 and I hope we'll have a package on this. If the international community marks with this package a new page [for Greece], then I think the light at the end of the tunnel will shine brighter," the minister was quoted as saying. He then said that if the program review completes by the end of April and Greece gets something on debt relief, then the worst part of this crisis will have passed. "After that, we can return to growth. I believe that," he added. Asked about developments after the Wikileaks affair, Tsakalotos said that the government concluded from the reply of IMF chief Christine Lagarde that the Fund wants the same thing as Greece: the completion of the program review soon. "Now they have to prove it," he added. [02] Political, economic stability key in allowing banks to support economy-head of banking body Political and economic stability as well as the effective management of non-performing loans (NPLs) are two of the five main preconditions that would allow the domestic banking system contribute effectively to Greece's growth and provide loans to small and medium-sized businesses, the head of the Hellenic Bank Association, Louka Katseli, said on Tuesday. Katseli, who is also the governor of the National Bank of Greece (NBG), was speaking at an event organized by Greek-German Business Forum and the Economist Conferences on Greek innovation and the role of start-ups in the economy's return to growth. The NBG governor said the first precondition is to complete the country's program review to achieve political and economic stability in the country so that banks can help the real economy. "The banking system, not only in Greece but also internationally, is not isolated from the wider economic and political environment. The successful completion of the first review of the Greek program is the first key parameter in building confidence and reducing uncertainty," she said. The second precondition is ensuring a climate of stability to the financial system that would allow the return of bank deposits. The third is the effective management of NPLs and specifically of business portfolios held by banks. The fourth element is creating innovative funding tools to attract investments, by limiting the cost of money, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as improving corporate governance in the banking system. Katseli said the last precondition is to have a comprehensive rebranding of the Greek financial system. [03] Planes to be grounded on April 7 due to air traffic controllers' strike Flights to and from all Greek airports scheduled for April 7 have been cancelled due to the participation of air traffic controllers and civil aviation employees to a 24-hour strike called by public sector union ADEDY, their union said on Tuesday. ADEDY is protesting against planned reforms in the social security and pension system. According to the air traffic controllers' union, the strike will start at 00:01 after midnight, on early Thursday morning and will end on midnight on Thursday. Exceptions to the decision will include air force flights, humanitarian aid, search and rescue and health emergency flights, as well as those transporting heads of state. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-04-06 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at CONTENTS [01] More than 53,000 refugees in Greece [02] No refugees and migrants arrived at northern Aegean islands in 24h [01] More than 53,000 refugees in Greece The number of refugees in Greece exceeded 53,000 on Wednesday, according to data of the Refugee Coordination Crisis Management Body. There were just 68 new arrivals, while the total number of those who remain in the islands is 6,384. 14,797 are hosted in Attica, 4,720 of whom in Piraeus. In Evia, Fthiotida and Larissa there are 2,566 people, while in southern Greece 340. At the camp, at Idomeni there are 11,269 refugees and another 1,264 at the gas station at Polykastro. Overall, in northern Greece refugees amounted to 28,955. [02] No refugees and migrants arrived at northern Aegean islands in 24h No refugees and migrants arrived at the islands of the northern Aegean over the last 24 hours for the first time after several months. According to the police, 463 refugees on Lesvos and 208 refugees on Samos came before the readmission agreement which was entered into force on March 20. All of them are free and stay in facilities outside the hot spots. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article I think there's nothing wrong with being plus size. Beautiful healthy women. Plus size is considered size 16 in America. I go between a size 6 and an 8. @glamourmag put me in their plus size only issue without asking or letting me know and it doesn't feel right to me. Young girls seeing my body type thinking that is plus size? What are your thoughts? Mine are not cool glamour not glamourous A photo posted by @amyschumer on Apr 5, 2016 at 8:18am PDT With warmer days ahead of us, you know what that means...bikini season. For many of us, the thought of putting on a bikini right now is cringe-inducing, especially after a long, cold winter. But if you need a little motivation, look no further than Irene Carney for some major confidence. the gorgeous 90 year old Irene on her family cruise wearing her @seafollyaustralia spot on bikini-never too old for a bikini. Love#ladywatego #ballina#seafollyaustralia #bikini#nevertooold Posted by Lady Watego Byron Bay on Friday, 25 March 2016 Advertisement In a post shared by Byron Bay's Lady Watego boutique, the 90-year-old Australian beauty is seen striking a pose in her Seafolly pink polka-dot bikini on a cruise ship. Yes, you read the right 90 years old. "Never too old for a bikini," Lady Watego captioned the photo. The post, which now has over 1,700 likes and 286 shares, has made Irene an Internet superstar with many women applauding her confidence. "Fantastic lady! Irene you are an inspiration! You have a great figure and I'm glad you are too smart to listen to anyone who says otherwise! Keep on being beautiful!" one user wrote. A representative from Lady Watego shared with HuffPost Canada Style that Irene came into the shop with her daughter, and first purchased a kaftan. A few weeks later, joined by her friends and caretakers at the retirement home, Carney was convinced to buy a bikini for a cruise she was about to embark on. Advertisement "I am always encouraging women to wear a bikini no matter what age or shape, so I loved the idea," the Byron Bay-based shop wrote in a Facebook message to HuffPost Canada Style. Lady Watego's rep said she suggested the retro high-waist bottoms and underwire bralette to Irene, who loved the colour and polka-dots. "It fit her perfectly!" After returning from her holiday, the 90-year-old returned to the shop with a photo which Lady Watego asked to post online. "I really didn't expect it to be shared so much, but am so happy with all the positivity it has generated!" the Lady Watego rep said. Advertisement Way to go, Irene! Follow Huffington Post Canada Style on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter! Also on HuffPost Orange Street News/YouTube Journalist Hilde Kate Lysiak is facing backlash after she reported a homicide in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon and beat all her competitors to it. But what really got the public riled up was the fact that Lysiak is just nine years old. On Saturday, the young reporter got a tip from a good source that a suspected murder had occurred on 9th Street, just a few blocks from her house. She then went straight to the scene to gather more information from neighbours and police officials. Advertisement Later that day, Lysiak published her news story, along with a video clip from the scene, on the website of her newspaper Orange Street News with the headline: EXCLUSIVE: MURDER ON NINTH STREET! (Lysiak is also the editor and publisher of her paper.) Pretty soon, Lysiak received a number of negative comments on her Facebook and YouTube pages from people criticizing her for reporting on violent crimes. One person wrote: 9 year old girls should be playing with dolls, not trying to be reporters. Some even questioned Lysiaks parents for letting her write about such an inappropriate topic: Does no one realize that this is a 9 year old reporting this type of graphic information! I mean, what parents are encouraging this type of behavior! Advertisement Despite this, the young girl hit back at her critics with some strong words. I know this makes some of you uncomfortable and I know some of you just want me to sit down and be quiet because Im nine but if you want me to stop covering news then you get off your computer and do something about it, she said in a YouTube video. There, is that cute enough for you? (Be sure to note the button she's wearing in the video. On Tuesday, the reporter also told the Associated Press: It kind of gets me angry because, just because Im nine doesnt mean I cant do a great story. It doesnt mean I cant be a reporter. Lysiak started her website Orange Street News back in 2014, when she was seven, and has been reporting ever since. Her father, Matthew Lysiak, who is a former reporter for New York Daily News, inspired her love of journalism. If you want me to stop covering news then you get off your computer and do something about it. Matthew told the Washington Post, [Hilde] doesnt have a lot of fear. She just wants to get the stories out. And she really wants to report real news. Advertisement Since the backlash, many more people have taken to social media to show support for the nine-year-old and her chosen career path. People need to stop bashing this awesome and intelligent kid for doing what she dreams, one wrote. Why the hell are y'all trying to stifle her when we need MORE kids, especially girls, to break out and do what they're good at, not what others think they should do. You are the literal future of journalism, Washington Posts social media editor Gene Park added. Keep it up Hilde! ALSO ON HUFFPOST: It is "totally incomprehensible" that Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould is going forward with a controversial private fundraiser, says a former federal Liberal cabinet minister. Ujjal Dosanjh, who served as health minister under former prime minister Paul Martin, went public with his views in a blog post Tuesday amid reports about the planned reception at a major Toronto law firm's office. Advertisement Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould scrums with media in Ottawa in February. (Photo: Matthew Usherwood/Canadian Press) Wilson-Raybould, who also serves as Canadas attorney general, will be the main draw at a two-hour, $500-a-head event Thursday at the office of Torys LLP, an international firm with locations across Canada. Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the Liberal Party. The Liberals' provincial cousins have faced criticism in recent weeks about their own private fundraisers, which rivals claim give the rich special access to lawmakers. On Tuesday, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that she was cancelling all future fundraisers about a week after her party raked in more than $2.5 million at a Toronto dinner. Her government will also bring in new fundraising rules this spring. Advertisement It is in that context that Dosanjh is now urging Wilson-Raybould to cancel the event. Former Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh gestures as he stands in the House of Commons during question period on April 20, 2010. (Photo: Pawel Dwulit/Canadian Press) "In the days when the influence of big private money is being debated everywhere from the Panama Papers to the current US presidential campaign to Queens Park in Ontario it is totally incomprehensible to me how a Minister of our Federal Crown, the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General at that, participating in a private fund raiser with lawyers can be said to escape either the reality or the appearance of a conflict of interest," he wrote. He also said that if the current laws allow the minister of justice to be in "at least the appearance" of a conflict, they must be changed. Dosanjh, a former premier of British Columbia, also suggested the event is a particularly bad idea for Wilson-Raybould in light of the role she plays in government. Advertisement "It is for the sake of preserving not just her own independence and integrity but also the integrity of her office that minister Wilson-Raybould should seriously reconsider her position." "An Attorney General is not just any minister. She is the Attorney General of Canada and in (a) significant number of her functions she must remain and be seen to remain independent of the office of the Prime Minister," he wrote. "It is for the sake of preserving not just her own independence and integrity but also the integrity of her office that minister Wilson-Raybould should seriously reconsider her position." Conservatives want watchdog to investigate Perhaps unsurprisingly, Conservatives agree. Ontario Tory MP John Brassard told Global News he wants Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson to take a look at the event. "You've got an attorney general, the minister of justice, one of the top lawyers in the country, at a fundraising event with a law firm that has offices from coast to coast, that represents stakeholders that deal directly with the government, asking $500 per ticket to attend this fundraiser," he said. Advertisement But Torys partner Mitch Frazer told CTV News he organized the event on his own because he supports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and went to "deliberate lengths to make sure our firm is not connected to this." Trudeau says rules are 'clear' Asked about this situation in Montreal on Wednesday, Trudeau pointed to the "very clear rules" at the federal level that disallow parties from taking money from unions and corporations. In addition to those strict limits, the political donation laws demand "transparency," he said. All donations of more than $200 are publicly reported each quarter. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses the workers and media as he tours a garage of the Montreal Transportation Commission, Wednesday, April 6, 2016 in Montreal. (Photo: Paul Chiasson/CP) "The Liberal Party, under my leadership, has always shown openness and transparency and has been very clear about what were doing in terms of funding and in every area of our operations," he said in French. Advertisement Trudeau also said he agreed with Wynne's decision to cancel private fundraisers, adding that a "number of provinces have work to do" on tightening donation rules and should consider banning union and corporate contributions, as has been done at the federal level. A Liberal spokesperson told The Huffington Post Canada in an emailthat Wilson-Raybould takes her ethical obligations very seriously and contacted the ethics commissioner in advance to make sure there was no conflict. Also on HuffPost: PhotoAlto/Sandro Di Carlo Darsa via Getty Images Plastic toolbox set on work table An electrical company has been given the largest fine in the Ontario industry's history after their faulty work led to the death of an elderly man. Pro-Teck Electric had installed a heated bathroom floor in a Niagara-on-the-Lake home. An elderly man fell on that floor on April 5, 2014, according to a release from Ontario's Electrical Safety Authority (ESA). He suffered second and third-degree burns to his body, and died from his injuries weeks later. Advertisement According to an ESA investigation, the floor's heat sensor was not installed, and the heating system was set up with the wrong voltage, which led to the overheating. Pro-Teck pled guilty to multiple charges in 2015, including leaving an unsafe electrical condition and failure to procure connection authorization before use, according to the St. Catharines Standard. A spokesperson for the safety authority told the Standard that Pro-Teck did not file an application for inspection of the work being done, which is the law in Ontario. Court 'delivered a strong message': safety officer The Niagara Falls-based company was fined $537,500 on Thursday, which the ESA called the "largest fine in the history of electrical contractor licensing in Ontario." Advertisement The fine includes a 25 per cent surcharge, which goes to the Ontario government to assist victims of crime. ESA chief public safety officer Scott Saint said he was "pleased the court has delivered a strong message." "We are terribly saddened by this incident and it underscores how dangerous electrical work can be when it's not done properly," he said. Warning: complaints about telephone extortion schemes are on the rise, and they're targeting targeting refugees and other newcomers to Canada. Scammers are posing as Canadian government employees who threaten refugees with deportation or arrest if they don't transfer money right away, the Competition Bureau said last week. Advertisement Complaints about extortion phone scams grew to 15,000 last year 10 times more than there were in 2014, Reuters reported. Canada's Anti-Fraud Centre has logged at least 5,200 complaints this year already. The Competition Bureau did not say how many of those complaints were about scams targeting refugees, but spokeswoman Marie-France Faucher said the warning was issued in large part because of the "arrival of a number of new immigrants and refugees to Canada over the past year." Other scams threatening families, offering English lessons The complaints come after the RCMP warned people about scams targeting immigrants in January. Strongly-accented scammers with anglophone names would demand additional fees for application documents, and threaten victims with arrest, deportation, and separation from their children, CBC News reported. Last year, Georgina Perez, an immigrant who has lived in Toronto since 2002, told the network that a fraudster demanded she pay a penalty for failing to file some documents with the Mexican consulate. Advertisement "For the first 40 minutes I thought it was legit and I was scared," she said. "If there was somebody who doesn't understand English very well or someone who's been here for less time, for sure if they were close to a deportation they will do anything." "For the first 40 minutes I thought it was legit and I was scared." And in February, a Syrian refugee family in New Brunswick lost hundreds of dollars after a scammer offered English lessons, The Canadian Press reported. The Competition Bureau says government and police officials will never contact individuals by phone or email to demand money or banking information, or threaten someone with deportation or arrest. You should hang up the phone or delete the message if you receive any threats, the bureau advises. Advertisement Also on HuffPost Walking kids home from school is a daily activity for many parents, but one Texas school has banned the act and is now threatening criminal charges. According to Bear Branch Elementary Schools new rule, parents are no longer permitted to walk to school to pick up their kids, nor can they drive to the school, park and retrieve their child. Instead, parents must either put their kids on the bus or wait in a car pick-up line. Advertisement Since the policy was implemented at the beginning of the school year, many parents have become fed up, calling it a ridiculous situation. People start lining up here about 2:30 p.m. for a 3:25 p.m. dismissal, one dad, Jeff Wendinger, told KPRC 2 News. Mom Wendy Jarman told Fox 26 that Principal Holly Ray is threatening to arrest people who break the rule. Jarman, who lives within walking distance of Bear Branch Elementary, pulled her kids from the school on Monday and enrolled them in a private school. Principal Ray has enlisted the help of Montgomery County constables to help reinforce the policy. This has happened to many parents, Jarman said. They have been cited. They have been threatened, if they step one foot on school property, they will be arrested and charged with who knows what. Advertisement Despite the outrage from parents, the Magnolia School District fully supports the principals decision. A spokesperson for the school district told Channel 2 Houston that the new policy was in place to ensure a safe dismissal procedure, as the school is located on a busy five-lane highway. Not all parents are angry over the policy. "I'll sit here the 45 minutes or an hour so that I know my daughter is safe," mom Doreen Thurkettle told Channel 2 Houston. "It really doesn't bother me." Other parents think the new policy is over-stepping the role of the school. Mrs. Ray's policy is implying that a parent doesn't have the ability or capability to decide what is safest for her children and that the school district does. I disagree, said dad Frank Young in a Fox 26 interview. Young has also pulled his kids from the school after the principal made it clear that she would not alter the policy, even after hundreds of parents petitioned her to do so. This isnt the first time weve heard of a school putting restrictions on how parents can pick up and drop off their kids from school. Back in February, UK principal Kate Chisholm, of Skerne Park Academy, banned parents from wearing pajamas to drop off their kids because it set a bad example. Advertisement ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Canada's two hottest housing markets, Toronto and Vancouver (seen here) are seeing a steep decline in the number of homes for sale. (Photo: Steve Allen via Getty Images) This is pretty much the last thing new home buyers in Toronto and Vancouver needed to hear. Canadas two hottest housing markets are experiencing a shortage of homes coming onto the market, National Bank Financial notes in a new report. The supply of homes listed for sale in those two cities has dropped to the lowest levels seen in 12 years. Advertisement Listings in Vancouvers market have dropped more than 40 per cent in the past year. In Toronto, listings have slipped 3.7 per cent in the same period, and down some 50 per cent from the peak in 2008. The combination of high demand and low supply of course puts pressure on prices," National Bank economist Marc Pinnsoneault wrote, adding that these two cities are responsible for the growth in average house prices in Canada. This could all 'end badly' but when? No one has a clear explanation why fewer Canadians are putting their homes up for sale, especially in this high-price environment. This authors own speculation: aging baby boomers are retiring, and the retired largely stay put. Advertisement But whatever the reason for the run-up, many economists say such steep increases can result in a crisis in the market if it goes on long enough. Affordability is deteriorating; mortgage rates are at rock-bottom and can, for the most part, only rise from here. "Odds are that if this kind of price growth (especially Vancouver) continues, it will end badly but that still looks to be sometime down the road," Bank of Montreal senior economist Robert Kavcic wrote in a client note Wednesday. Kavcic offered five scenarios that could topple the housing markets in Canadas hottest cities and shot them all down as unlikely in the short term. Heres Kavcic's list of what could cause things to end badly in the housing market but wont, for now: An economic slowdown/jobless rate spike: Not likely anytime soon, with growth in B.C. and Ontario leading the country. Not likely anytime soon, with growth in B.C. and Ontario leading the country. Higher interest rates: Umm, no. Note that 5-year GoCs are trading back below 70 bps. [Translation: The markets expect interest rates to stay low for a long time.] Umm, no. Note that 5-year GoCs are trading back below 70 bps. [Translation: The markets expect interest rates to stay low for a long time.] More supply: Condo supply is coming to market in these cities, but detached supply, as weve argued for years now, is drum tight and not changing. Condo supply is coming to market in these cities, but detached supply, as weve argued for years now, is drum tight and not changing. Affordability: The concern is that rising prices dont slow activity, but rather beget even higher prices. The Vancouver condo market might be heading down this road now. The concern is that rising prices dont slow activity, but rather beget even higher prices. The Vancouver condo market might be heading down this road now. Policy measures: Thats a no. At least not the variety (i.e., marginal changes to down payment requirements) most recently introduced by Ottawa. Also on HuffPost: Security advocates cheered while the FBI probably shed a tear or two Tuesday when WhatsApp announced that it was encrypting all it data end-to-end Everything on the instant message service, including photos and videos sent and received by the app's one billion users, is now for users eyes only. Advertisement The California-based messaging service has been encrypting data bit by bit since 2013 but their move earlier this week is meant to ensure that all the information shared within its service is inaccessible to outsiders, thus protecting itself and its users. No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us, WhatsApp wrote in a blog post announcing the change. So even if the app wanted to assist governments in providing information, they simply couldnt. Internet and messaging security has been making big news of late. Following the San Bernardino massacre, the FBI called for Apples assistance in unlocking the shooters iPhone. Apple refused, and the two went to court. The case was resolved last month when the FBI paid a third-party company an undisclosed amount of money to get access to the phone. Whether or not the information found in the phone is useful remains to be seen. Advertisement A series of companies filed amicus briefs in support of Apples position against creating backdoors for law enforcement, of which WhatsApp was one. This, however, has raised questions about the role that communication services play in investigations around acts of terror. Following the Paris attacks, investigators found evidence that suggested the attackers were using encrypted apps, like WhatsApp and Russia-based Telegram, to communicate. Whatsapp founder Jan Koum is having none of that though. I think this is politicians, in some ways, using these terrible acts to advance their agendas, Koum told Wired Magazine. Koum founded WhatsApp with fellow Yahoo employee Brian Acton back in 2009. The messaging service, now owned by Facebook, has always been committed to security. Advertisement We live in a world where more of our data is digitized than ever before. Every day we see stories about sensitive records being improperly accessed or stolen, the WhatsApp blog says. With the NSA recently revealing that it only discloses about 91 per cent of the vulnerabilities it comes across to companies like Apple and the 2013 Edward Snowden leaks showing the lengths the agency goes through to access private messages, distrust of government is high in Silicon Valley. So rather than scaling back on encryption, services are increasing their efforts. The FBI maintains that they require access to encrypted data to break up everything from terror plots to child pornography rings. "Armed with lawful authority, we increasingly find ourselves simply unable to do that which the courts have authorized us to do, and that is to collect information being transmitted by terrorists, by criminals, by pedophiles, by bad people of all sorts," FBI director James Comey has said. But its not just the U.S. government thats applying pressure to tech companies. Last year the BBC reported that a Brazilian court ordered that WhatsApp services be suspended for 48 hours in the country after the app failed to comply with a court order in a criminal case. Twelve hours later the ban was lifted, when a judge realized that millions of people would be impacted by the decision. Advertisement TechCrunch estimates that about 93 per cent of internet users in Brazil use WhatsApp. I am stunned that our efforts to protect people's data would result in such an extreme decision by a single judge to punish every person in Brazil who uses WhatsApp, Mark Zukerberg wrote at the time. For WhatsApp, protecting data goes beyond concerns about the U.S. government because many of its one billion users are outside the U.S.. Last month, for instance, the French Parliament voted in favour of punishing smartphone makers who refused to hand over encrypted data. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse from cybercriminals, hackers, and rogue states, they wrote. Technology is an amplifier. With the right stewards in place, with the right guidance, we can really effect positive change, Acton told Wired Magazine. In fact, they see the move to encryption as a harkening back to before the digital age. "If you look at human history in total, people evolved and civilizations evolved with private conversations and private speech. If anything, were bringing that back to individuals, Moxie Marlinspike, a coder and cryptographer with Whatsapp told Wired. Advertisement Happy Mother's Day mum... You have been my number one fan from day one but more importantly your support , honesty , and tireless love for not just me and my sisters but for your grand kids which really shows the type of person you are ... Amazingly generous .. Thank you for being my mum A photo posted by David Beckham (@davidbeckham) on Mar 6, 2016 at 12:05am PST Lucas Oleniuk via Getty Images TORONTO, ON - APR. 4: The Black Lives Matter demonstration travelled to Ontario's Parliament building from Toronto Police Headquarters Monday. (Lucas Oleniuk/Toronto Star via Getty Images) Black Lives Matter Toronto is refusing to comment on a tweet posted by one of its co-founders about "killing men and white folks." According to a representative of the organization, discussing the tweet would besmirch the memory of blacks who have died at the hands of police. "This is tabloid," the representative told CP24 News. "It's not public interest news. It's not news." Advertisement As a supporter of Black Lives Matter, I couldn't disagree more. Since its creation, the organization has been shrouded in heavy controversy (admittedly, Black Lives Matter was controversial long before it came to Toronto). Critics of the international movement have called it discriminatory and racist, citing it as an attempt to prioritize black lives over all others ("It's not just black lives -- all lives matter!"). And perhaps most significantly, many have accused the organization of inciting hatred and violence against police. Though these assumptions are completely false, the discovery of a co-founder's tweet talking about killing white people does nothing to quell these criticisms. Rather, it simply adds fuel to an already raging fire. [The tweet] reinforces one of the most prominent arguments critics have used to discredit the organization: Black lives matter, white lives don't. It makes it a matter of the public interest. It becomes news. The tweet in question was posted by Black Lives Matter Toronto co-founder Yusra Khogali. "Plz Allah give me strength to not cuss/kill these white men and white folks out here today. Plz plz plz," she wrote. Though the tweet appears to have been posted in February (it has since been deleted and Khogali's profile is now protected), it was reposted by NewsTalk 1010 reporter Jerry Agar, April 5. Reaction to the tweet on social media has been mixed, with some accusing Agar of antagonizing the movement, while others expressed outrage. Local media outlets have also picked up the story (according to many reports, Khogali hasn't responded to requests for an interview). Though the story has largely remained within Toronto, it's unclear how long it will remain this way. The discovery of Khogali's tweet comes just days after Black Lives Matter Toronto secured a major victory in its fight for the Ontario premier's attention. Advertisement On March 20, the organization began a 15-day vigil and protest held outside the Toronto Police headquarters. The sit-in was in response to news that the police officer who shot and killed Andrew Loku, a 45-year-old Sudanese father of five who suffered from mental illness, wouldn't face charges or be publicly named. The meeting led to an impromptu meeting with Premier Kathleen Wynne, who vowed to work with Black Lives Matter and address anti-blackness in Ontario. Although the protest ended April 4, the organization has issued a set of demands, which includes a provincial review of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Whether the co-founder's tweet will have any bearing on the organization's future meeting with the premier is unclear. But the effect it will have on Black Lives Matter's reputation -- both among its critics and supporters -- is undeniable. Black Lives Matter has been relentless in its fight against racism and police brutality. Using non-violence and persistence, they've successfully shaken the very institutions that have long used systemic racism and discrimination to perpetuate anti-blackness. Advertisement For this, they must be commended. But Khogali's tweet, along with Black Lives Matter's refusal to acknowledge its impact, is disappointing. Perhaps worse, it reinforces one of the most prominent arguments critics have used to discredit the organization: Black lives matter, white lives don't. While I know this has never been a true belief of the organization, others do not. Khogali's tweet is the very ammunition proponents need to further disparage it. Her words will provide the opportunity to perpetuate the many misunderstandings of Black Lives Matter. Unfortunately, it's an opportunity the organization simply can't afford. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Craig Easton via Getty Images The Fogo Island Inn by Saunder Architecture of Norway, Newfoundland, Canada, North America When you book your flights and you're finally ready to book hotels, are hotels your accommodation of choice or is there consideration for hostels, apartments, or even some really unique accommodation options. This country is filled with amazing places to stay that are very different from any typical hotel option. Canada is filled with beautiful scenery close to lakes, mountains, forests and much more. Here are a few of the most unique accommodations options in Canada selected by Flight Network. 1. Hotel de Glace, Quebec City, Quebec Advertisement Arguably the most unique place to stay in Canada, to produce the Hotel de Glace, we need 30.000 tons of snow and 500 tons of ice and offers guests the chance to sleep on a bed made of ice. Sound chilly? You can always warm up in the hot tub or sauna, or opt for a Deluxe suit that's decked out with a much-needed fireplace. 2. Clayoquot Wilderness Resort, Tofino, B.C. Set on Vancouver Island and only reachable by seaplane or boat, this resort offers the perfect glamping experience, complete with luxurious en-suite tents and heated floors. The in-house activities director creates personalized adventures for every guest. 3. Soule Creek Lodge, Port Renfrew, B.C. Advertisement Each yurt at Soule Creek Lodge comes with its own private deck that looks out over the west coast scenery. The rustic rooms are complemented by the surrounding landscape, which is filled with walking trails and beach views. 4. Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, B.C. Go one step further and explore the underwater world of Vancouver's Aquarium after closing hours. You can bed down for the night in front of the colourful sea creatures -- a one-of-a-kind experience for the whole family. 5. Fogo Island Inn, Joe Batt's Arm, N.L. Carving a modern silhouette against a timeless landscape, the Fogo Island Inn is described as a cultural movement that brings together creatives from all walks of life. Its contemporary interior boasts artist studios and gallery space. Advertisement 6. Parc Aventures Cap Jaseux, Saint-Fulgence, Que. Dangle from the treetops in a tiny orb overlooking the Saguenay Fjord. When you're not cooking up a storm in the designated picnic areas, you can enjoy the views and relax under the twinkling stars. To view more unique accommodations in Canada visit Flight Network Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Feng Yu via Getty Images canadian dollar, concept of tax As the federal government considers its options for spending on the structures and systems that keep our economy humming, one piece of infrastructure urgently needs repair -- Canada's Income Tax Act. Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) is encouraged by the announcement in Budget 2016 that the government "will undertake a review of the tax system to determine whether it works well for Canadians, with a view to eliminating poorly targeted and inefficient tax measures." Advertisement While the extent of the review is uncertain, the timing is definitely right. The Royal Commission on Taxation conducted the most recent review back in 1966, and Canadian society and our economy have changed markedly since then. It is an ideal time to address pressing issues -- like tax reform -- that call for vision, commitment and focus. CPA Canada has long been calling for a review to modernize the country's tax system. Indeed, there is a growing consensus for tax simplification and reform -- from major national organizations, economists and think-tanks, and the House of Commons finance committee. For example, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Business Council of Canada, the Conference Board of Canada and the CD Howe Institute have called for a top-to-bottom review of the tax system with a view to simplifying it and supporting economic growth. Advertisement Needed: A tax system for the 21st century Canada's tax system is a key lever for economic prosperity, so a review is squarely in line with the government's agenda for growth. As the Business Council of Canada said in its October 2015 open letter to the prime minister-designate, "Canada needs a tax system for the 21st century, one that reduces compliance costs and increases transparency while promoting growth, investment, entrepreneurship and job creation... the fundamental goal of tax reform should be to achieve the broadest base possible, with lower rates and fewer preferences." In 2015, PwC released a survey of 80 Canadian companies represented by the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (now known as the Business Council of Canada). The report showed that on average these companies employed 17 full-time employees and spent $3.9 million in 2013 fiscal periods to comply with all of their tax legislation and compliance activities in Canada. Advertisement The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 2015-16 ranked tax rates and the complexity of tax regulations as two of the most problematic factors for doing business in Canada. And the Fraser Institute has estimated that "taxpayers and businesses spent up to $25 billion in 2011 to comply with Canada's tax code -- representing 1.4 per cent of Canada's GDP. The report also estimated the government cost of tax administration (e.g. collecting taxes, maintaining records, and managing appeals at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels) to be $6.6 billion in 2011." Tax reform would benefit individuals, business and government Tax reform could promote a fairer and less complex system and provide an internationally competitive tax system that benefits Canadian individuals and Canadian businesses. A simpler tax system brings lower compliance costs, sparks investment and provides administrative savings to government. By making it easier to navigate the tax rules and meet their obligations, Canadians will spend less time and less of their money on preparing their taxes, leaving more in their pockets. Advertisement For Canadian businesses, productivity could improve as they spend less time, effort and capital dealing with tax compliance and red tape. For small and mid-sized business, the costs associated with an unsustainable compliance burden come with an even greater price in terms of opportunities lost -- time and resources that could be better spent on making their businesses grow instead of determining how much tax to pay. In short, Canada's tax system is one of the most important policy mechanisms available for ensuring that its business environment remains competitive and for promoting economic growth. With a majority government in place and an election unlikely for the next four years, it is an ideal time to address pressing issues -- like tax reform -- that call for vision, commitment and focus. Read more of our views on this year's budget in CPA Canada's Budget Brief 2016. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Jorge Silva / Reuters Brigadier-General Jonathan Vance, head of Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, announces the death of a Canadian soldier at Kandahar Airfield June 14, 2009. Canadian Army Corporal Martin Dube, 35, was killed by an explosion of an improvised explosive device (IED) in Panjwayi district. REUTERS/Jorge Silva (AFGHANISTAN POLITICS MILITARY) The Chief of the Defence Staff, General Jonathan Vance, believes there is no end in sight in the fight against Islamic State. "I don't think it's in sight, I think we are thinking through the problem, we understand more and more and when you say ISIS, or ISIL or Daesh, it comes in many forms," Vance said during an interview on CBC News Network's Power & Politics. Advertisement I cannot agree more with General Vance on this, the fight against Islamic State is far from being done. As a matter of fact, it could take decades, if not more. Canada pulled out of Afghanistan too early and I believe the same will happen in Iraq. Although the mission is completely different, our contribution to training troops remains almost identical. When we left Kandahar for Kabul, Canada ended its combat mission and started a training one. This time, I believe the plan will be similar to Operation ATTENTION in Kabul. Canadian soldiers train local fighters to fight for their own turf while we provide them with logistics and training. Vance also believes that Canadians should prepare to see casualties due to the newly established ground operations. "Canadians need to be prepared for the fact that there will be confrontation, there will be fighting, I am certain of it, there has been already," Vance said during the interview. "This represents an expansion of our mission on the ground, so it stands to reason that there will be fighting, and potential casualties as we face this mission." Advertisement Will the training be enough? Are we going to stay as long as needed to see a difference? I don't think so, unfortunately. As a matter of fact, I believe General Vance is right. Although the Liberals call the mission a training one, having troops on the ground exposes them to possible clashes with Islamic State militants. Fighting Islamic State militants and dealing with improvised explosive devices (IED) like in Afghanistan will most likely occur on a regular basis. When General Vance said its soldiers are allowed to "engage a hostile act ... or an intent before it materializes," mostly to defend themselves, it was a proof of possible fighting. "When you are using the rules of engagement that allow you to defend yourself and you are fighting, it's combat. But it's not a combat mission. If it was a combat mission we would be doing things very differently," Vance added during the interview. Deemed a train, advice and assist mission, the Canadian soldiers on the ground will expose themselves. The plan itself lacks so much details that it is hard to say whether it will be an "inside the wire" mission or a mentoring mission such as what Canada did in Kandahar with the Afghan National Security Forces. Advertisement Even if the mission is to be conducted "inside the wire," training local fighters could potentially create "green on blue" attacks, meaning that trainees would attack the trainers. This happened on many occasions in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, when I deployed to mentor Afghan soldiers in Kandahar back in 2009, it never happened and I can proudly say that Canadian soldiers were excellent mentors and were very respected by our Afghan counterparts. The experience acquired in blood and tears by our soldiers in Afghanistan will truly reflect their professionalism and I am convinced they will only engage potential threats if they are 100 per cent sure. Having said that, despite the possibility of casualties, I believe Canada's plan to train locals is great. But in reality, will the training be enough? Are we going to stay as long as needed to see a difference? I don't think so, unfortunately. Advertisement Pulling out the CF-188 Hornets was a huge mistake However, I don't agree with the Liberals pulling out our CF-188 Hornets from the U.S.-led coalition. The removal of the CF-18 fighter aircraft does not only engage Canada in a supporting role instead of a combat one, it also send a message to our allies that "we're done with combat and everyone else should do it for us." Trudeau might pretend our allies are satisfied with our new plan, but I still find it very hypocrite to bring back our fighters while keeping an aerial refueling tanker in the air to support other nation's air strikes. Basically, Trudeau pulled the CF-18 on a promise he made to get elected, regardless of the consequences it will have on Canada's reputation within the Allied circle. While it might only be less than three per cent of the air strikes, Canada's contribution was a proof of its willingness to actively take part in the destruction of IS. The same CF-18s, along some Canadian Special Forces operators, were able to help the Kurds kill 70 Islamic State fighters in a failed surprise attack. With troops on the ground soon, the CF-18s would've been a great close-air support asset to support them in case of future surprise and coordinated attacks. Advertisement As a combat veteran of Afghanistan, I would've loved to have had Canadian fighter aircraft supporting our operations, especially since they would've been made available right away for us. This is something Minister Sajjan knows, but I guess Trudeau was insistent on keeping its promises regardless of the possible close-air support possibilities for Canadian ground troops. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook MORE ON HUFFPOST: Kolett via Getty Images It was a question that many of us were asked repeatedly during university, at family functions, hanging out at the pub or making small talk during travel, "What are you going to do with a History degree?" My Dad was more reassuring as I writhed with indecision, "Do what you love. You can always sell real estate later." Advertisement People usually followed with, "You must have a good memory." Like memorization was a character flaw. Most assumed I would teach and teaching at all levels still tops the recommendations when you Google, "What do people do with a History degree?" Others become lawyers. It is not hard to understand why. When you study History you consume vast amounts of content on any given subject, distill what is relevant and then make a sound argument, which you must communicate in a compelling way. When taught right, History is less about memorizing facts and more about understanding the impact of people, events and things on the course of history. The best part about this approach is that it can be applied to anything: everything has a history. No matter what your passion, medicine, cats playing the piano or portraits of Winston Churchill, understanding its history grants amazing insights. It is a great lens for examining the world and understanding our place in it. Photo of Winston Churchill As a result I am very excited about the potential of British Columbia's New Curriculum. It concedes that it is increasingly hard to 'know' things in an absolute sense (hence it is less important to memorize endless 'facts'). New information is being revealed and created on a daily basis and with the constant confirmation available online, it is more important that our kids learn become critical thinkers, assessing the credibility of the source and the relevance of the information. My greatest hope is that we stop using multiple choice Scantron exams to test students' historical knowledge. Advertisement While we pursue Arts degrees, our loved ones fear that we're going to end up massively in debt and completely unemployable. My experience is that there are good jobs out there for people with our skill sets. We just have to be more creative and work harder to sell the skills. It may also be that a history degree (or two!) will have to be paired up with some other practical skills. I took accounting courses at BCIT to make myself more marketable, which also prepared me to run a small business. All that said, I have landed any history lover's dream job. I write and produce documentary films. Over the years my production company has produced historical projects about: medieval castles, ancient empires and various war stories, but I've found that my skills are just as easily transferable to discussing engineering or mangrove ecosystems. My job is to deconstruct concepts and find ways to communicate them to others, as simply as possible. If I don't understand the idea, my audience usually ends up confused. One of the perks of my job is that I get to travel around the world and talk to smart people. Our new project Hell Below has been no exception. I got to visit vintage submarines with our production crew as they filmed the drama sequences to chronicles some of the most amazing sub patrols of the Second World War. While we were there, I conducted on camera interviews with historical consultants like Norm Friedman, James Scott, Eric Grove, Christian Jentzsch and Brian Hayashi. I worried a little that we focused our research so narrowly on individual submarines and their crews. The experts always helped me to contextualize the experience of the crew within the larger historical picture. In particular I wanted to know why if the American submarine campaign against the Japanese was ultimately more successful (they did in fact strangle the Japanese war economy), why everyone (including Americans) tends to know so much more about German U-Boats. Interestingly many agreed that this was the result of propaganda. Dr. Christian Jentzsch pointed out that every American and Canadian serviceman travelled by ship across the Atlantic. Each would have been aware of the U-Boat threat given its early and frightening successes against the Allies. Nazi war propaganda lionized the U-Boat service and Dr. Jan Witt called them the "pop stars of their era." The defeat of the U-Boats in the Battle for the Atlantic, in turn made Allied naval forces appear to be giant killers. Advertisement I know there are people out there who don't consider what I do to be 'real' history. I don't spend years in the Archives to write a book for my specialist colleagues to read. Television is a very populist approach to history, which teaches the most basic of history lessons. As a result, it is an amazing opportunity to expose millions of people to great stories and I hope provides a gateway to encourage viewers to dig deeper and learn more. Filmmaking is simply a different genre. We have to tell our stories in a compelling and visual way. I'm happy to defer writing a monograph to someone else. I hope one day we History Geeks will rise up like our science-loving friends and we will gather to support great human history stories shared on websites such as I F*cking Love Science. Science seems to be opening up in new ways to share information and discoveries and I hope we can too. As much as I love fiction and drama, I get a special thrill when I know the some story is real. Even better, I get to tell some of them. It isn't a path I could have imagined as I studied. I guess my real estate career will have to wait. Our new series Hell Below premieres on Smithsonian Channel Canada Tuesdays starting April 5th until May 10th. Advertisement Chris Wattie / Reuters Canada's Foreign Minister Stephane Dion listens to a question after delivering a speech at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Canada, March 29, 2016. REUTERS/Chris Wattie One thousand four hundred. This is the approximate number of Canadians detained abroad. Some of them have been tortured, detained for months without charges, kept in solitary confinement, threatened to be killed or waiting to be killed. This is almost the same numbers I heard over and over since 2002 when my husband Maher Arar was one of those Canadians detained abroad. The response I got then from Foreign Affairs officials was that "Canada uses quiet diplomacy." I didn't understand what "quiet diplomacy" means when your loved one has been in a dungeon beaten with electrical cables and the dictator safe in his palace surrounded by his guards. Fourteen years, two changes of governments later, it seems that there has been a change in vocabulary used by Foreign Affairs but yet not in attitudes or in actions. Advertisement "Responsible conviction" is a strange combination of words that summarizes the guiding principle that the new Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion is proposing to follow in order to fulfill his mandate. Resorting to the philosophies of Max Weber and using them as his source of inspiration, Mr. Dion explained that today we couldn't use the ethics of "responsibility" in absolute terms neither the ethics of "conviction" in absolute terms. Rather, he proposed to be enlightening his path with a newly discovered concept of "responsible conviction." He promised that this new principle will make some noticeable shifts in the Canadian foreign policies and one of the examples he gave is that of death penalty: "We will demand clemency for all to maximize the possibility of obtaining it for some." However, Mr. Dion didn't say a word on how "responsible conviction" can help cases of Canadians detained abroad like: Huseyin Celil detained in China for 10 years or Salim Alaradi detained in the United Arab Emirats for almost two years. Does it mean concretely that Mr. Dion will "responsibly" call his counterpart in China and ask for the transfer of Mr. Celil and his return to Canada to his wife and four children? Or does it mean that Mr. Dion will call his Emirati counterpart and use the over $1.6 billions trade relationship as a "convincing" argument to demand that Mr. Alaradi is given a fair and transparent trial or let go? Advertisement But how about the Egyptian government who has been preventing a Canadian family returning to Canada? Will Mr. Dion advise Prime Minister Trudeau to kindly call the ruthless General Al-Sissi, who has been detaining and disappearing hundred of activists, and beg him to give the Al-Qazzaz family the green light to leave? And how about the Saudi Arabian government, will Mr. Dion whisper in the ear of the Saudi Ambassador to Canada or may be shake his hands or perhaps finish some trade business with him and then later demand that Raif Badawi will not be lashed another time and instead allowed to come to Canada to join his family? And last but not least what will happen to Bashir Makhtal promised transfer to Canada? Will Mr. Dion "convince" our Ethiopian ally to send him home? "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian," repeated Prime Minister Trudeau during the last federal campaign. Meanwhile, two concerned groups came forward with two powerful documents on how to assist and help Canadians detained abroad. They presented "responsible" steps to deal with this serious issue. Amnesty International along with the Fahmy Foundation released a "Protection Charter" that the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group endorsed as well as other human rights organization and more recently the Rideau Institute released a document that highlights policy and legislative guidelines that should be followed by the Canadian government. So far, we didn't hear a word of commitment by Minister Dion as to follow the steps suggested by both of these documents. Wasn't he convinced enough that these steps are necessary and crucial to obtain the release of the Canadian detained abroad? Advertisement "Enshrine the right to Consular assistance and equal treatment in Canadian laws" and "Equality of service" are both principles emphasized by Amnesty International and the Rideau Institute respectively to deal with these difficult situations. "A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian," repeated Prime Minister Trudeau during the last federal campaign. No matter where you were born and what you believe in and how awful the acted you committed. The law should prevail. But, I don't see how Mr. Dion is applying this principle so far and how his "responsible conviction" can be inserted in that slogan. Another strong counterargument used by the government in dealing with the cases of Canadians detained abroad is the question of privacy. Each time, we learn about another sad case, the response that we receive from Canadian officials is that privacy concerns wouldn't allow them to share information with the human rights organization and the public. Justice Dennis O'Connor who conducted a lengthy inquiry about the case of Maher Arar and released his report in 2006, and stated in that regard that: "Consular officials should clearly advise detainees in foreign countries of the circumstances under which information obtained from the detainees may be shared with others outside the Consular Affairs Bureau, before any such information is obtained." Gar Pardy, a former Director of Consular Affairs Bureau at Foreign Affairs who dealt with several high profile cases of Canadians detained abroad and who wrote the report by the Rideau Institute, shares his scepticism about whether this recommendation was implemented by Global Affairs or no. Maybe Max Webber was misinterpreted and, after all, his rigid distinction between responsibility and conviction should be better amalgamated and used together like Mr. Dion attempts to do; but nothing should justify or prevent Canada from adopting a serious policy that would save the lives of hundred of Canadians abroad. Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomes Syrian refugees to Canada December 2015 at Pearson International airport, PMO (CC) It must feel good to be a refugee-hugger. Until a day when your neighbour tells you that your "moral preening," "utopian kumbaya," "politically correct humanism," and your "misguided idealism" endanger our way of life, our women and western Judeo-Christian values. And it is your nice neighbour who says that to you. Advertisement The split among Canadians on the question of dangers of the current refugee crisis has been highlighted during Friday's Munk Debate at the Toronto's posh Roy Thomson Hall. After listening to the arguments from two sides, a whopping 45 per cent among the well-attired, well-educated and well-intentioned in audience went home convinced of the perils of holding on to the ideal "give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." They must have forgotten recent darling photos of our Prime Minister putting winter jackets on the shoulders of shell-shocked Syrian children landing at our airports. Munk Debate on Refugee Crisis, April 1, 2016, by Nicholas Nazar On one side of the debate stood ever-undaunted Nigel Farage (leader of the U.K. right-wing party UKIP), flanked by sly and eloquent Mark Steyn (popular writer, commentator). These pragmatists squared off against the idealists -- refreshingly sane unshakable legal juggernaut Louise Arbour (Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals) and poetic historian Simon Schama. Madame Arbour, quoting Canada's obligations under 1951 Refugee Convention, insisted that Canada needs "to welcome people who like all of us came from somewhere else" and to "provide a generous resettlement program." She added that the panicked voices of the opposition are a replay of the old "ugly response to every new wave of immigrants in history." Advertisement The real danger to us, she intoned, lies not with refugees swarming our shores but with violent jihadi groups who "seek to destroy our democracies by letting us slowly self-implode in response to fear." "A three-year old was raped by a refugee" shouted Mr. Steyn for the pragmatists. Five hundred cases of sexual assault were reported just on one New Year Eve night in Cologne -- "migrant rights now trump women's rights," he said. The chief of police of Vienna advised women that it is no longer safe to go out unaccompanied -- "migrant rights trump the right of free movement." In Sweden the influx of young males has skewed the ratio of boys to girls among the 16-year-olds to 1.23 to 1 -- a number worse than that in China. This immigration wave is different, Mr. Steyn said, many newcomers are not refugees but "economic migrants who want to avail themselves of the comforts of advanced societies." Shall we do a reality check? I believe that most Canadians do not give a hoot about Canada's "special obligations" under some 1951 convention. Madame Arbour, it will not move anyone to suggest that "we have done only a fraction of what we should do" and that failure to generously welcome refugees is "to look to the past and to stagnate in isolation." Mr. Farage is absolutely right when he says many Europeans have become "hard-hearted." Advocates of a more generous refugee policy must acknowledge the reality on the ground. Madame Arbour, your aspirations notwithstanding, current political context matters. Right now, 71 per cent of Canadians do not want Canada to accept above the original target of 25,000 Syrians. The warm feeling of moral righteousness is not particularly useful for devising a policy at a time when 60 per cent of Americans agree with Donald Trump's proposal to ban entry of all non-citizen Muslims to the United States. For real. 60 per cent. Do you get a feeling that "we are not in Kansas anymore?" Advertisement The Wizard of Oz, Warner Bros. What are we, bleeding hearts, left to do in this situation? Pivot. Take a dose of reality, a pill of optimistic pragmatism and pivot. Canadian government showed that it knows how to do so. First, it preempted the sexual predator argument and a security concern by excluding Syrian single men from the new asylum admittance rules. Do you think the Refugee Convention allows for that? Do you think Germans could easily get away with the same approach? Also, the government has hinted at moving away from placing "a special priority on Syria." Again, wise move. Is there a certain ideal that informs our values on immigration? If Canadians still have questions, let us address them openly and head on. Do Muslim men pose a special danger to women? Years of trauma from violence and war, ever-present stench of death, hate and destitution mixed with adolescent mob mentality -- if unchecked -- will erupt in violence. No surprise. What is key to this issue is a loud and clear confirmation, as Canadian Council of Muslim Women asserts, that the violence against women in Muslim communities in North America is "at a similar rate to women in the general population." There is no Muslim sexual beast roaming the streets out there. Period. Where Mr. Farage is right, I believe, is on the point that we need to feel no shame about changing our minds (our policies, our obligations from 1951) about what we demand of the newcomers to our shores. Reality on the ground forces us to adjust our immigration policies, not -- and this is critical -- our way of life. European bureaucrats, beware. We can stand proudly on what we choose to accept and what we do not. Mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, is an idiot for suggesting after the New Year Eve attacks that German women ought to adopt a new "code of conduct." No, no chance. Period. What is dearly missing in this whole debate is a reassuring voice of wisdom that can help us see if we Canadians got it right in formulating our immigration policies. Is there a certain ideal that informs our values on immigration? Is there an ideal that has withstood test of time and will endure new challenges to it, come what may -- Syrian refugee crisis or another world catastrophe? Certain pragmatic idealism in our ancestral memory beckons to us at this moment. It is a balanced position epitomized by two minds, who can be credited with planting on this continent centuries ago seeds of good immigration policy. In their words we can see a jubilant embrace for the poor and the huddled, tempered with reasonable caution. Our values have grown out of the ideas articulated by these architects of the American Experiment. Our values have not changed fundamentally, they are strong -- they have weathered the test of time. Advertisement If they come of themselves, they are entitled to all the rights of citizenship: but I doubt the expediency of inviting them by extraordinary encouragements. -- American Founding father, Author of Declaration of Independence, third American president Thomas Jefferson, 1782 Born in other countries, yet believing you could be happy in this, our laws acknowledge, as they should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to our established rules. -- Thomas Jefferson, 1801 The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment. -- American Founding father, Commander-in-Chief in the American Revolutionary War, first American president George Washington, Address to the Members of the Volunteer Association of Ireland, 1783 Follow HuffPost Canada Blogs on Facebook ALSO ON HUFFPOST: Many of you will know that my family suffered a heartbreaking tragedy when my father's gambling bombshell hit. Almost exactly two years ago, my father told us he would not be going away on a work training course as planned, his visit away was actually to a court room in Wales. He was actually being sentenced for fraud; though he didn't fully admit this. Cutting a long story short, he was jailed for two years for fraud. He stole 50,000 from his employers to fund a secret gambling addiction, leveraging his position as an accountant to cipher off the funds. This addiction had gone on some 30 years in secret. He'd spend around 30,000 a year aimlessly online and offline, gambling away until all the money was gone. He re-mortgaged our family home, racked up almost 500,000 of debt through whatever means possible and left us in turmoil. Advertisement I took over the finances, became the man of the house at 21 and kept the household running with my mum (who was a retired housewife.) It was such an emotional, devastating time. We didn't even know a 'gambling addiction' could even be a real thing. But it really is. Industry funded figures suggest that there are 500,000 problem gamblers in Britain. We believe and know for a fact the figure is really much higher. I've been campaigning since this tragic story took hold for there to be better social responsibility in the gambling industry - namely a cap on how much you can spend on addictive machines both on and offline, tough restrictions on advertising and better technology to detect risky spend patterns. We're eventually consulting with the Government and working with the NHS to put this on the health agenda - it needs to be a public health issue, there just isn't medical intervention freely out there, it's so tragic. This week, new measures come into play which the bookies are claiming will really help in this problem gambling debate. Unfortunately, their proposition of self-exclusion schemes, which were already proven not to work, and their proposition of local area risk assessments (which to a degree already exist) do absolutely nothing to stop the damage being caused. Advertisement The bookies always win remember - these regulations aren't a winner for me. Delhi is dust. Fluid warmth. Polluted heat aching for monsoon. The baby in the puddle cries as I walk away. A rickshaw, all tinsel and paint, stutters down traffic choked streets. Poverty juxtaposes opulence. I am off the tourist trail, surrounded by labourers and carefully preened business men. Concrete overstocked shops extend down the street, in between each shop nestles a staircase. A few curious glances stray upon me as I get out and pay the driver, asking him to wait... just in case. This is Garstin Bastion Road: the street of prostitution. My translator and I ascend creaking wooden steps, peeling paintwork whispering it was once red. An authoritative woman demands our purpose. Am I a tourist? Charity worker? Police? I say I'm a writer wishing to chat, and she bristles with disdain, attempting to bustle us back down the steps. Our reluctance raises curses, conjuring large and remarkably threatening men. Swift diplomacy involving wads of cash sees resistance, if not suspicion, evaporate. The woman silent now under the men's vicious glares. I am ushered down bare concrete corridors lined with what can only be termed 'cells', approximately two metres squared, containing a wooden bench at waist height attached to the wall by rusting chains. Some cells are open, others closed. I walk past one that has a fetid puddle on the crumbling concrete floor with a baby sat alone in the puddle, staring vacantly into nothingness. A cell is opened and we are gestured inside by a man with thick stubble and unreadable, vacant eyes. A look of anxious concern passes between my translator and I. We step inside, noting with concern the metal bolt was on the outside. The door clanks shut and I hover in fetid darkness, frightened breath anticipating the noise of the bolt sliding shut; minutes disappear like startled hours. Advertisement Light storms the cell and flitting figures settle like nervous birds upon the wooden perch. Slanted light illuminates three sari draped women, the eldest perhaps fifty, the youngest maybe fourteen. The child is called Pukka, there is a woman my age called Uskar, and the eldest doesn't want to say her name either through fear, experience, or both; she remains swathed silently in a scarf throughout the discussion, like a sentinel of dark secrets. It is Usker who spills, erupts, murmurs and wavers, but never quite cries her story to me. Born in a small village in the Northern state of Bihar, Uskars' childhood was one of subsistence agricultural poverty, lacking education. Bihar is extremely poor, with over 37 million people below the poverty line. The World Bank describes Bihar as one of the most densely populated agglomerations of poor people anywhere in the world. Her father was drunk and abusive, her mother a shadow of a woman and her brothers violent and lazy. When she was fourteen a stranger arrived and 'fell in love' with Uskar, offering to take her away to a luxurious life in Delhi. They fled one night and the man became unfriendly, cold and aggressive. In Delhi Uskar was sold to a brothel. A girl has a certain status, respect and security in her home village; outside of this sphere a young village girl has no protection or safety and thus can be traded, like cattle. They have sex in the cells with usually four to eight men a day, every day. The men include teenagers, old men, shop keepers, taxi drivers, road-sweepers, businessmen, off duty police and unknown 'wealthies'. Their average fee is 150 rupees (1.60) for full penetrative sex, although for 50 rupees touch only can be bartered. The women know about HIV, AIDS, STD's. A charity education initiative existed at one time, although I guessed it had ended sourly given their tone. Access to condoms is not a problem, getting men to wear them is. Clients are often violent, drunk, drugged, or otherwise abusive, and the men who escorted me to the cell rarely intervene unless there is a refusal of payment. The local police are in collaboration, so do nothing. Advertisement I ask what her view on love is now and her eyes cloud, focus on some unknown middle distance. Love in the romantic Bollywood style has become absurd. She has a child called Aamaal (hope), and that is love. She wants to save enough money to send the child to school and lead a good life. I consider the baby I passed in the puddle combined with the demand for underage prostitution in India, and optimism dies. The cell is infernally hot, sweat soaking us all. Wishing them well, not knowing what else to say, we sneak out the cell, running down the steps before the men knew we had finished. Minutes later I find myself seated in an air conditioned bar, sipping cold beer costing more than two days' earnings for Usker. What can be done? Who is to blame? No clear answers emerge. Many of the men involved in trafficking are also traumatised, poverty stricken and from backgrounds as relentlessly cruel as the acts they commit. This article isn't a soapbox. I'm not preaching at you. The experience leaves me at a loss. I feel putting some contrite, conceited conclusion devalues Uskar's words. It is a narrative of harsh reality, told by humans not so different from you and I. Voices that deserve an audience. Do with their story what you will. But remember Uskar's name. I feel incredibly lucky because I was born on one of the smallest islands in the Commonwealth. I understand the existential threat that is presented by climate change. For us, it has been our lived experience for decades while the rest of the world has been in denial. When Tropical Storm Erika hit my home country of Dominica last August it affected 90% of Dominica's GDP and caused more than US$500m worth of damage. A year ago Cyclone Pam swept through the Pacific and caused havoc in Vanuatu, where a generation of development was lost in a matter of hours. 70% of its population was displaced. In February, Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji, causing damage estimated at $460million. Today, in my first week as Secretary-General, I'm bringing together leaders such as Mary Robinson, President of the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice and former United Nations Special Envoy for Climate Change, scientists such as Sir David King, the UK Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change, together with High Commissioners, NGOs and experts from across the Commonwealth Advertisement Climate change is the most severe challenge facing our generation. But this is not a new argument for the Commonwealth. We were arguing for collective action on climate change long before Kyoto was know for anything other than being the formal imperial capital of Japan. The Commonwealth adopted the Langkawi declaration on the environment back in 1989. Five years later it facilitated the Barbados Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States. In 2009 Commonwealth Heads signed the Port of Spain Climate Change Consensus: The Commonwealth Climate Change Declaration. This declaration had a decisive impact on COP15 in Copenhagen. This time, in advance of COP 21, the Caribbean countries and the Pacific Island Forum united in calling for a 1.5 degrees limit in global temperature rises. Those 24 countries then joined with the remainder of the Commonwealth when we went to Malta for the Heads of Government Meeting immediately before Paris. Advertisement There was an agreement that 53 of us would commit to 2% with 52 of us saying 1.5% would be our aspiration. Countries like Canada that had been sceptical in the past came on board because they heard the voice of the small island states and signed on to a common Commonwealth agenda. That meant that when we all went to Paris united in our aims and active across the five different regions. We had members of the Commonwealth with one voice saying, "take this seriously." And they did. So now, having been instrumental in achieving the Paris agreement, the Commonwealth now has to be instrumental in delivering it. We can do this through targeted programmes of research, advocacy and capacity-building to achieve greater resilience through sustainable development. Implementation of COP21 must be informed by the best available science, with reviewable outcomes that are delivered in a transparent and accountable manner. We new human ingenuity and innovation to deliver a symbiotic solution which is restorative and regenerative. Advertisement At their Meeting in Malta, Commonwealth Heads of Government approved the establishment of the Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub to help member states - particularly those with constrained capacity - gain access to much needed Climate Finance. The Hub will be one of a range of flagship Commonwealth programmes designed to support national efforts and build the resilience of small states. Another of our initiatives addresses the dual challenges of Climate Change and the high debt that cripples many small countries. Our Debt Swap for Climate Action initiative promotes agreements between climate finance providers and debtor countries. Agreements fund local climate change projects through reductions in the public debt of small states. Our scheme to swap national debt for climate action has already gained considerable support - including endorsement by the UN Secretary General. These are just two examples. There are a whole number of questions we need to answer, which is why I am starting this dialogue today. For example, what are the further practical steps that ensure we can deliver what is not just an environmental challenge but a health, wellbeing and development challenge? How do we better develop a climate impact assessment for policy development, for building regulations, for land use? How do we ensure better coordination when disaster does strike? Advertisement These are the challenges. These are the opportunities. As Secretary-General I'm determined the Commonwealth takes a lead. Not just for our small island states who are literally disappearing before our eyes but for the world as a whole. We've had the agreements. It's time now for action. I have to admit that when I left university I tried pretty hard to distance myself from the student world. Two weeks before graduating I moved out of the terraced houses of Jesmond to a far more 'civilian' town on the other side of the river. I revelled in the fact that I could do a weekly shop without running into someone in fancy dress, and that my next door neighbour asked what I did as opposed to what I studied. It's been two years since then and a couple of weeks ago, I realised a tiny part of me was missing the adorable 'love to hate' life of being a student. I had spotted a girl at the train station carrying a tote bag with Jeremy Corbyn's face screen printed onto it. I would not have been surprised if she had made it herself, spending a good few hours of her art degree's weekly contact hours finding the right profile of politics' unlikely superstar. Faced with all that free time and all that passion, it's no wonder student activism is fierce and unforgiving. Recently, the National Union of Students has come under siege from so-called 'veteran' activists such as Peter Tatchell and Germaine Greer after LGBT officer Fran Cowling would not share the stage with Tatchell during a debate at Canterbury Christ Church University. One candidate for NUS Women's Officer, Anna Lee, has been receiving horrible transphobic abuse since putting herself forward for the position. Next, a motion to remove the necessity of a Gay Mens' representative in University LGBT societies caused outrage, the main source of said outrage being those who weren't even present at the debate, and who never engage in student politics besides tweeting angrily about it. Advertisement Whether I agree with these decisions or motions is, frankly, by the by. The reaction from most people is the same: it's political correctness gone mad. These young things! Heaven forbid they should see what the real world is like! In actual fact, students and their flights of fancy - you know, maintenance grants for poorer students, fair doctors' contracts, sexual consent lessons - is the reason why all sorts of things get done in the 'real world'. A trainee teacher on my Facebook newsfeed recently called the NUS 'an irrelevance'. Only last week the National Union of Teachers voted unanimously against the Government's proposed PREVENT Campaign, which would 'make it a duty for staff in publicly funded institutions to report on signs of radicalisation'. The proposal has been widely criticised for unregulated training and disproportionately targeting the Muslim community; NUS officials were at the forefront of the counter movement, with the organisation's Black Students' officer Malia Bouattia testifying against PREVENT at the United Nations in Geneva. Students are not simply improving their campuses (or coating them in cotton wool, as some might say); they are changing laws. Laura Coryton was studying at Goldsmith's University when she created the change.org petition 'Stop Taxing Periods. Period', which in less than two years since gained over 320,000 signatures and succeeded in its mission to axe the 5% VAT on menstrual care products in the UK. She was formally recognised in parliament for her outstanding contribution to one of the most important campaigns of the past decade. Advertisement In both the United Kingdom and the USA, young people will have extreme political influence over the coming months (even swaying the votes in some US states), yet voting numbers among them are lower than any other group. When LBC asked how we could motivate them to get to the polling station, this is the sort of reply that they got: @bridget_helen@LBC but most millenials are brainwashed Cultural Marxist scum. Edgelord BLAZINOAH (@WomenObeyUKIP) April 3, 2016 How can we expect students to exert their power in the 'real world' if we tell them they don't have any? How can we expect young people to make our society a better one if 'veteran' activists call their ideas 'pretentious wank'? This morning David Owen gave a speech in which he claimed that Britain needs to leave the EU to protect the our Health Service. I have great respect for his work on the NHS but I disagree with Owen about leaving the EU - which will not remove the real threat to our health service. The thrust of his argument is that our health service is under threat from the European Union because of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) - a mammoth trade deal being negotiated between the EU and the USA. TTIP is indeed dreadful and must be opposed by all of us fighting for our NHS but leaving the EU doesn't rid us of the threat of damaging trade deals. Just imagine for a second that we did exit the EU- leaving the Tories in charge of negotiating our trade deals with the rest of the world. The UK has, in the past, signed a number of bilateral deals that include the dreaded investor state dispute mechanism (ISDS) which allows companies to sue states for risking their 'future profits' - and which threatens our health service. Indeed the Tory Government is a major driving force for TTIP - and David Cameron is one of the deal's top cheerleaders. If we left the EU, then we could be left with the Government negotiating trade deals with the rest of the world. What then? With the Tories still in charge, we could then expect the roll out of multiple TTIPs on steroids as Britain negotiated trade deals with countries across the world. Each of these deals could include an ISDS - thus potentially allowing companies from to sue our Government for protecting public services. That doesn't sound like safety for our NHS to me. Advertisement Mounting pressure from citizens, campaigners and politicians across Europe has successfully forced the EU to open up TTIP to more scrutiny. Eventually, our MEPs and MPs will vote on the final deal. We can stop TTIP but to do so we need to make sure our elected representatives know that they will not get away with waving TTIP through. You only have to look at the recent history of our Health Service to see where the real danger lies. Starting a quarter of a century ago a marketplace was introduced into the NHS - a process which was accelerated by the last Labour Government and put into overdrive by the Coalition with the Health and Social Care Act of 2012. We're now seeing our NHS changing at a terrifying pace. Many services have been handed to private companies such as Virgin, Serco and the US giant United Health, all hiding behind the NHS logo. In the past five years there has been a 50% increase in the amount spent by local health bodies on non-NHS providers. All of this damage is being done by a Government on an ideological mission to carve up our public services. A solution to the crisis in our NHS is available - and it would work whether we are in or out of the EU. Like me, David Owen is a proponent of the NHS Reinstatement Bill - which would restore the NHS to being a public service. The Reinstatement Bill explicitly prohibits ratification of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership without the approval of Parliament. So there is a legal way of saying TTIP shall not apply to health services and to protect the NHS from being trumped by trade rules. Parliament can and must assert its competence - and we don't need to leave the EU to do so. Advertisement Coincidentally, or not, it was a group of Tory Brexiteers who conspired to 'talk out' the NHS Bill when it came to Parliament last month - meaning MPs never had a chance to properly debate or vote on the legislation. One of them - Philip Holobone - even wore a 'Grassroots Out' tie while he spent over an hour wittering on to stop Parliament debating the future of the health service. Whatever happens on 23 June the NHS will still be in the hands of the Tories come the morning of the 24th. And, if we walk away, our trade deals will be solely in their hands too. There is no question about the greatest threat facing our NHS. It comes in the form of pro-privatisation politicians passing damaging domestic legislation which cripples our health service. Our NHS can be saved by the NHS Reinstatement Bill - there is huge and growing support for the Bill to keep our NHS public. The Bill's backers include the BMA, Unite, (with 100,000 members in the NHS), the President of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, as well as great activists like Harry Leslie Smith, a raft of famous faces and many, many local NHS campaigners - that is where our efforts to save our NHS must lie. Last Thursday I was almost ejected from a meeting because I moved my arms. I know it sounds farcical, but it's true. It's now been reported in the Huffington Post, Mail, Telegraph, Independent, Express, Newsweek, I could go on. But here I'd like to set the record straight: What happened was a gross abuse of our Safe Space Policy. First, someone was making a speech and referenced an open letter to Edinburgh University Students' Association (EUSA), where I am an elected Vice President, and claimed we had not responded. I raised my arms in disagreement, as we had responded to the writers almost immediately. Then, nothing. The meeting continued, seemingly without any cause for concern. About 40 minutes later, I made a passionate speech against BDS, the motion for EUSA to boycott Israeli products, companies, and academic institutions. The main point of my speech was to highlight an already growing problem of anti-Semitism in the student movement, that BDS has proved harmful and divisive on other campuses. It was only after that speech that someone made a safe space complaint about me for what happened at the start of the meeting. Advertisement There has been a safe space complaint against @eusavpaa for inappropriate hand gestures. #eduni Student Newspaper (@TheStudentPaper) March 31, 2016 The attendees then had to vote on whether I should be allowed to stay for the rest of the meeting. Thankfully, they voted for me to stay. Though I will always defend the concept of safe space, I cannot help but think that the complaint against me was a political move. During my speech, while I listed potential risks of BDS for Jewish and Israeli students on campus, there were many who were shaking their heads. Yet later in the meeting someone threatened me with a second complaint because I was shaking my head as someone spoke. Safe space cannot become a tool for the hard left to manipulate proceedings when they disagree, something I'm certain happened in this instance. Maybe people should be less concerned with my arm movements and more concerned that EUSA just passed policy to support BDS. Imo Wilson EUSA VPAA (@eusavpaa) April 1, 2016 Advertisement Safe Space is there to protect free speech, by making sure that everyone's voices and opinions are heard, and especially that students from marginalised groups feel comfortable contributing. It's the student union way of making politics more accessible, and trying to steer it away the 'old boys club' ways of the past - and it works. The underlying benefits of safe space come from people knowing that racist, ableist, homophobic, sexist, and transphobic language is unacceptable, and it leads to more constructive and respectful debate. ArmGate, as my friends are calling this bizarre incident, was in fact the only time an official safe space complaint has been made at a student council meeting in my time as a Vice President at EUSA, a testament to the policy's success. By supporting safe space, I support free speech. Schools, libraries, booksellers and individuals are being encouraged to make nominations for a brand new award in memory of a bestselling novelist. The Ruth Rendell Award, which was launched by the National Literacy Trust and is sponsored by the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Society, will recognise the author or writer who has done the most to raise literacy levels in the UK either through their writing and books or through their advocacy and championing of the cause of literacy. Ruth Rendell, who died last year aged 85, was a bestselling author known for writing thrillers and psychological murder mysteries including the Inspector Wexford series. She also wrote under the pen name Barbara Vine and won a number of awards for her books in a career which spanned six decades. Advertisement Ruth Rendell was a long-time supporter of the National Literacy Trust since the charity's launch 21 years ago. Nominations for authors or writers who have had a significant influence on the literacy cause in the past year are being sought from schools, charities, libraries, booksellers and individuals. The closing date for entries is 31 May. Joining me on the judging panel will be writer Jonathan Fryer, an ALCS board member, Sue Wilkinson, Chief Executive of the Reading Agency and Ginny Lunn, Chief Executive of Beanstalk. The Reading Agency and Beanstalk are both members of the National Literacy Forum, convened by the National Literacy Trust, which includes representatives from Government, business, local authorities and the voluntary and community sector. We are delighted that Ruth's son, Simon, has agreed to present the Ruth Rendell Award at a ceremony at the House of Commons in December 2016 as part of the All Party Parliamentary Writers Group annual reception. The person who nominates the winning author or writer will be invited to attend the award ceremony. For more information about the Ruth Rendell Award and to make your nomination, visit: www.literacytrust.org.uk/ruthrendellaward Advertisement Tiredness kills, so the motorway signs say. In certain criminal trials in the USA, tiredness can also prove fatal. When Kenneth Fults stood trial for murder in the state of Georgia in 1996, his state-appointed attorney Johnny Mostiler was seen to fall asleep on numerous occasions in the courtroom. One of the jurors later said this in a sworn affidavit: "It was clear to me during Mr Fults's trial that his lawyer, Mr Mostiler, did not provide any real representation of him. He just didn't really do anything at all, and several times I saw him sleeping during the trial. His head would be bowed down and he wasn't doing anything like writing. In fact, I never saw him write anything down or take any kind of notes. I was not surprised by Mostiler sleeping, because I also sat on another jury where Mostiler was the defense lawyer and I saw him sleeping during that trial too." Another of the former jurors said largely the same thing: "Mr Fults's lawyer, Mr Mostiler, did not seem to care about Mr Fults or his case ... He was uninterested in what was happening, and it seemed like something was wrong with him. I saw him fall asleep repeatedly during the trial, and he would wake up, startled, when it was his turn to examine witnesses. I saw him sleeping off and on throughout the whole trial. It really bothered me because here there was a man on trial for his life and his lawyer didn't even care enough to stay awake, much less properly cross-examine the witnesses ...". Advertisement Yet, all these years later, Fults - who was found guilty and sentenced to death - is now set to be executed in Georgia lethal chamber. His execution is set for this coming Tuesday. But sleeping on the job isn't even the half of it. Fults, an African American man, was found guilty of the murder of a white woman called Cathy Bounds. In Georgia, a deep South state with a long history of racism, one where the Ku Klux Klan is still extremely active, this ought to have rung alarm bells. Instead, the jury included at least one member who later gloatingly said: "I don't know if he ever killed anybody, but that nigger got just what should have happened. Once he pled guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that's what the nigger deserved." And not only that, there are even reports that Fults' own attorney Johnny Mostiler, who is now deceased, was also a frequent user of the N-word. Advertisement Meanwhile, as with so many capital trials in the USA, especially where people from deprived socio-economic backgrounds are on trial, Fults' lawyer seems to have made only a token effort to present the full circumstances of his client's case. Once again former jurors complained about the conduct of the defence case. Mostiler hadn't told them about how Fults' childhood was scarred by neglect and abandonment, having been born to a 16-year-old mother who later became addicted to crack cocaine. And they didn't hear that Tufts grew up with an intellectual disability (he's been assessed as having an IQ of only 72). Yet in the long run none of this has mattered. The execution juggernaut has been set rolling, and it's very hard to stop it. Despite the patent unjustness of his conviction, Tufts' appeals have either failed on "procedural" grounds or because of an institutional reluctance on the part of federal courts to rule against state-level courts. As the campaigner Helen Prejean has long noted, 95% of justice in US death penalty cases occurs at the original trial, badly conducted or not. Lose that and doors start closing rapidly. Tufts may die next week because of the scandalous rigidity of a US justice system that is often incapable of righting a blatant wrong. It's a dreadful miscarriage of justice, but some observers will insist that the iniquity of Kenneth Fults' case is rare and claim that a "reformed" justice system can safely operate capital trials in the USA. To this I'd say: stop dreaming. One hundred and fifty-six people have been exonerated from various death row facilities in the USA in the past four decades. And these are just the ones we know about. How many other victims of miscarriages went to their deaths? Serious crimes deserve serious sentences, but the premeditated cruelty of the death penalty is not the answer. Capital punishment has no proven deterrence value, it's prone to terrible error, it's often (as in Fults' case) applied following shoddy trials and sometimes in blatantly political ways, it's irreversible if implemented, and it inflicts mental torment on the condemned as well as physical torment in the - not-infrequent - event of the actual execution being botched. The USA executed 28 people last year, fewer than at any time in a quarter of century. It's the right direction of travel, but we need to see the USA getting to a point of arrival (abolition, in line with a majority of the world) far quicker. Like tiredness, speed kills on motorways; but it's the slow pace of change on the death penalty in the USA that's still killing people like Kenneth Fults. *Amnesty has just published new figures for the death penalty in 2015 showing a "profoundly disturbing" 54% increase in executions compared to the previous year I'm one of the first to criticise the EU referendum campaign on both sides. Firstly, because no one understands the EU. I've got a degree in Politics and I still can't grasp it all. It's so bureaucratic and distant to the people of this country, that no wonder so many of us are confused about what affect it has on our lives, good or bad. Secondly, politics gets nasty and you can't trust anyone. Naturally, considering the title of this article, I support staying in the EU, but even "my side" of the campaign spouts facts and figures that I'm less than trusting about. Everything can be turned around to support your own side or condemn the other, you just have to be passionate enough to see it. So where do I stand then? And how did I get there? I'm not going to deny that I'm not a bit keen when it comes to politics, like I said I did a degree in the subject, so it's not a surprise that I've thought about this a lot. But for me it came down to principles. I've always believed that principles are more powerful than any factual or statistical evidence. And I think this is where both sides of the campaign are going wrong. Let me explain. Advertisement We hear a lot of figures being thrown at us. 'So-many jobs' we gain from the EU or 'however much money' it costs each person etc. but does this really hit home? We've been bombarded with so many facts and figures, skewed by bias, that do they really have an impact on us anymore? I don't believe so. For every piece of research saying one thing for one side, there's another saying it for the other side on the same topic. So what can we really believe? So I think this referendum should be about principles. Do we still want to be a part of the European Union? That's it. Do you want to? Normally I whole-heartedly advocate that people do thorough and unbiased (if that exists) research before they put a cross in the box, but this time feels different. This time, I suggest going with your gut. I want to be a citizen of a country that doesn't run from problems, and doesn't leave its friends. Europe is a community of people. We are strong together, even if a little flawed. I don't believe that abandoning that community and distancing ourselves is morally and practically the right thing to do. We are all people are we not? This is something that I think everyone needs to remember more. Everyone is fundamentally the same. Everyone is human and everyone deserves a chance at life. It's literally just luck that you're born in the country you are. But we are privileged in this country and we shouldn't be greedy and trying to keep it all to ourselves, we should be using it to help others and we can achieve more if we join forces. They're all humans too. You just have to ignore the borders. Advertisement We cannot begin to solve world problems or tackle climate change and other big issues without coming together and working with each other, simply as people, instead of being split by nationalities. There's nothing wrong with being proud of your country, and definitely I will be, if we choose to stay with our family in Europe. We need each other and we deserve each other. When it all boils down to it, one core value of mine which stands strong when I think about this issue is that, no good can ever come from walking away from a community and going it alone. We are all stronger together and we cannot make change or help people from the outside in as well as we can by being a part of the group. People will say "but that's not practical" and "you're very idealistic" but I don't feel like I have any other choice in this referendum. I don't trust anything except my principles in this debate, and I think that many other people will feel the same way I do. Sometimes you have to let go of a bit of reason in order to make the right choice. When Stephen Kinnock was selected as Labour's candidate for the Welsh constituency of Aberavon in March 2014, there were suggestions he was just another 'Red Prince'. The son of former Labour leader Neil, he was filed alongside the sons of Jack Straw and John Prescott - also selected as General Election candidates - as proof nepotism was alive and well in the party. Although he was born just 30 miles from Aberavon in Tredegar, Kinnock had spent much of his adult life not only out of Wales but out of the UK. Advertisement He worked in Russia, Sierra Leone, Brussels and Switzerland, and his wife just happened to be then-Prime Minister of Denmark. Was this really the right man to represent the steelworkers' constituency of Aberavon? Even after he was elected, one member of the Shadow Cabinet dismissed him to me as just one of the "beautiful people" - implying that for all his style, there was little substance. But Kinnock's handling of the steel crisis, which threatens thousands of jobs at the Port Talbot works in his constituency, has shown what an astute political operator the 46-year-old is. His fellow Labour MPs have been quick to heap praise on Kinnock for his work: Michael Dugher: "The steel crisis has shown again what a first class Member of Parliament Stephen is: deeply committed, passionate about the people he represents and a tenacious and formidable campaigner who is always in command of his brief. He never, ever lets the Government off the hook". Advertisement John Woodcock: "Stephen has been leading the way for all of us in fighting for UK steel jobs. His commitment to the cause and clear knowledge of the industry and economic environment makes him a brilliant champion for his constituents and the Labour Party." Wes Streeting: "People expect to see a local MP fighting for their community, but I'm not sure anyone expected to see their local MP flying to Mumbai to fly the flag for British steel and Port Talbot while the Business Secretary took his eye off the ball in Australia. If Sajid Javid had put in half as much effort as Stephen Kinnock, UK steel might be in a better position. It's why we need Labour MPs like Stephen back in government." Conor McGinn: "Stephen is showing the difference between having a Labour MP who cares about the community and people he represents, and a Tory Government that would let places like Port Talbot - and St Helens, for that matter - sink in to an abyss of joblessness and hopelessness. He's doing a great job and all of his colleagues are fully behind him and proud of the stand he is taking for his constituents." One Tory backbencher, who, like Kinnock, is part of the 2015 intake, has also been impressed by his political rival. The Tory told me: "He is a quality piece of work - one of the strongest of the new intake. On this type of issue it's really easy for the local backbench MP to come across shrill. I think he's played it very, very well. I think there would have been enough pressure through circumstances for Sajid to work really, really hard so I am not convinced his trip [to Mumbai] forced Sajid's hand, but his stock on the Tory side of the House has gone up." Advertisement Yet even before he stole a march on the Government by flying to India ahead of the crunch meeting of Tata executives last week, Kinnock was quietly building a reputation as an MP who is going places. In September last year he published a pamphlet called A New Nation, in which he argued Labour needed to "reclaim ownership" of the Union Jack. He directly attacked Ukip and the SNP, accusing them of being "unpatriotic". "The Union Jack, the Welsh Dragon, the Cross of St George, and the Scottish Saltire belong to the British people, but for too long the Labour Party has allowed others to claim these potent symbols of what it means to be British as their own," he wrote. It was a bold statement to make at a time when the party had just elected a leader who seems uncomfortable with any kind of patriotic action. Indeed, the pamphlet came out just weeks after Jeremy Corbyn was criticised for not singing the National Anthem at a Battle of Britain memorial service. Kinnock's identification of "patriotism" as one of the three pillars on which to build the UK - alongside "purpose" and "resilience" - shows he is one of the few Labour MPs willing to talk about how to win back voters who have flocked to Ukip in recent years. Advertisement He understands that what unites those working-class Ukip supporters who used to back Labour is not a hatred of the European Union, but a love of the UK. In October, Kinnock's profile was raised when he appeared on BBC's Question Time, and successfully managed to balance his leader's anti-nuclear weapons view with his own pro-Trident renewal stance. While it has been in recent weeks that Kinnock's defence of the steel industry has made national news, he has been campaigning on the issue ever since he was elected. In his maiden speech, Kinnock described Port Talbot steelworks as "the beating heart of our community" adding: "I therefore wish to use the platform accorded to me today to urge the Government to understand that they must do more to support the British steel industry." In January he secured a backbench debate on the future of the UK steel industry and in the very final question of PMQs before the Commons broke up for recess, Kinnock raised the Mumbai meeting directly with David Cameron. Advertisement Kinnock has shown he is an internationalist who can think local - someone who can consider the big, extensional issues of politics and society and also get stuck in to the nitty-gritty of constituency problems. The Welsh coastal town of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire is about as far away from London's Silicon Roundabout as you can get. With the town is situated in the UK's only coastal National Park, surrounded by mountains and a picturesque shoreline with colourful fishing boats dotted along the quay. Tourism and fishing have long played a key part in its economy but, thanks to former teacher Duncan Wilson, it is now rapidly becoming an Edtech hotspot as well. Duncan is a paradigm example of a "teacherpreneur": a passionate teacher, honest, open and caring, with an eye for finding innovative ways of helping fellow teachers to save time. He got a job as a chemistry teacher in Fishguard 20 years ago, and has since spent his whole career there. Four years ago, however, he made a life-changing decision to leave his job to run his own tech business full-time. Something happened at his school that, no matter how unlikely, gave Duncan one of his greatest tech inspirations to date: an Ofsted inspection. The imminent inspection led Duncan to be given a Mission Impossible by his headteacher - to generate PowerPoint slides containing an accurate seating plan of every class in the school featuring detailed information about pupils. Advertisement Duncan found a tech solution. Indeed his seating plans wowed Ofsted, who commended them as an example of excellence. The genesis of what would become his flagship Edtech product, ClassCharts, was born. Determined to drum up support for his new idea, Duncan applied to pitch his idea for digital seating plans to a Dragons' Den-style panel of at the Bett Show, the world's largest education exhibition, in 2012. To his surprise, his application was successful, and he was asked to deliver his pitch. It was after this experience that Duncan decided to go "all in" and leave his job as a teacher to work on his company, EduKey, full time. This was a risky decision leading to "a year of sleepless nights". But Duncan decided he needed to commit wholeheartedly to working on his product ideas for them to succeed, working with his colleague, Lithuanian maths champ Gintas Sasnauskas. For a whole year, the EduKey project was touch-and-go. But Duncan says he put his "heart and soul into it ". And, gradually, it paid off. He launched ClassCharts, where teachers digitally record the behaviour of students in class, using a clever algorithm to provide teachers with an ideal seating chart that helps to minimise disruption in the classroom. Advertisement A powerful tool, not least when the UK is facing its worst-ever teacher shortage. Word of ClassCharts spread from school to school and he now has a rapidly growing user base of over 350,000 teachers and four-million students. This attracted the attention of one of the biggest names in European Edtech, TES Global, which acquired a stake in the company sum last month. EduKey has this week also been approved as a full member of the British Educational Suppliers Association, meaning schools can have full confidence in the quality of the products they purchase from them. Duncan claims he now plans to recruit a new member of staff every week for the next 16 weeks. The secret to his recruitment strategy? Hire your students! "This is something I would advise to any fellow teacher entrepreneurs," Duncan claims. Currently 70% of his team are ex-pupils. "It is my 'ace in the hole'," he says. "You've known them from 11, you know they're reliable, that they're smart and have a trustworthy personality." It seems to work: his staff churn to date is an unbeatable 0%. Duncan recalls that his first hire was former pupil Jamie, who had a 2:1 in Business Information but, prior to joining EduKey, had been working as a butcher in a local supermarket. His next employee, Nia, had a first-class degree in criminology but had been working in a pound shop. His recruitment tactics are unorthodox, but incredibly effective. He gives his employees 30 to, "go round pubs and find people who you know I used to teach". They then pass on details of job openings at EduKey, which has led to numerous successful hires. Advertisement Duncan's ambition is global, but he is deeply committed to "building a sustainable business in Fishguard with jobs for local people that have a worldwide reach". No map of the UK's Edtech hotspots would now be complete without Fishguard on it, and it seems only a matter of time before other companies join him there. The question of whether Britain should remain part of the European Union (EU) has polarised opinion creating a deep divide. Euro-sceptics play up concerns of immigration and border security, whilst Europhiles point to potential economic catastrophe in the event of an exit. I, along with my fellow UK Vice-Chancellors, fiercely oppose a British withdrawal from the EU. Together, we feel very strongly that we need to stay in Europe. In my mind, it is not just a financial matter. It is also a matter of values. Universities have always been global - they have never respected borders. The connections into Europe fostered by the EU are enormously valuable, ranging from research funding through to staff and student mobility. Erasmus funded work and study placements enable our students to gain international experience and global networks. Collaborative research with our European colleagues has kept UK Universities high in the world rankings. And access to a deeper pool of highly-skilled and experienced academic and research staff across European countries enhances teaching quality. The forthcoming referendum signals one of the most important votes we as Europeans will ever have to cast. With that in mind, I would like to share what I believe to be profoundly mistaken beliefs which underpin the arguments to leave the EU; that of identity, sovereignty and immigration. Advertisement Let's start with identity. Some people believe that leaving Europe will result in them 'getting their identity back'. They do not consider themselves to be Europeans. It is a complex picture, with some concerns based on trumpery, others on genuine angst that their identity is being undermined by migration, legislation or refugees. We all have multiple identities. It is possible to be British, Welsh and European, and we should have no qualms about being Europeans. I am Australian. I passed the citizenship test and became British last year, not simply a dual Australian / UK citizen, but also of the 28 EU nations. Transnational European citizenship is unique. It is the first of its kind not based on empire, but on joint interests. We take our holidays, shop online across the channel and have access to health care across Europe. The right to belong to multiple member states is not something that we should take for granted. It is down to hard work, collaboration, dedicated time and process. Advocates of an exit often claim that it will stop the erosion of the UK's governance and sovereignty. Boris Johnson talked of regaining sovereignty and managing our own laws, playing on the loathing of regulation and Brussels. But let's be clear, EU rules and regulations are just some of many we are bound by - UN regulations, the World Trade Organisation, the Paris climate conference to name a few. As an example, climate change cannot be managed on a case by case basis. We need to work together collectively, through powerful groupings such as the EU. And finally, immigration - one of the arguments often cited by the 'leave' campaigners. Of course, countries have a right to decide who they welcome, after all they are looking after the interests of their citizens. It cannot be denied that European policy has its weaknesses and continues to face many challenges. Take the refugee crisis as an example of a set of events which could have been better managed. But it is cases like this which demonstrate why Europe should work together to develop policies and practices and find suitable outcomes. It is not a problem that can be solved by just one country - it needs to be addressed collectively. Advertisement The huge leak of data from the Panama based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, has laid bare a web of secrecy and lies that has allowed hundreds of politicians, business people and sports-people - including 72 current or former heads of state - to hide wealth, evade taxes and launder money. Whilst many people may not be surprised by the lengths the rich and powerful go to hide their wealth, the scale of the leak and the UK's own involvement are deeply troubling. The leak shows UK "intermediaries" -bankers, accountants and lawyers - commissioned the most offshore shell companies from the firm, aside from Hong Kong. Over 2,000 British firms instructed Mossack Fonseca to create companies for their clients and a total of 32,000 shells were created for British clients. Advertisement And all this just weeks before the Prime Minister, who has also found himself dragged into the tax haven storm, is due to host an international anti-corruption summit in London. David Cameron had promised to sweep away tax secrecy and clamp down on tax avoidance, but in reality the UK Government continues to dance around the issue. Too much time has been spent by Downing Street spin doctors crafting carefully worded statements on the Prime Minister's personal affairs and not enough time given to dealing with this insidious financial cancer eating away at the international reputation of UK plc. Whilst previous 'sweetheart' tax deals with companies like Google have been labeled as victories, HMRC has proven to be less energetic in standing up against tax dodgers and the havens they hide their wealth in. Although to be fair to HMRC, how can it be expected to launch a full scale assault on tax evasion when ministers have hobbled it with massive staff cuts and Treasury directed "rationalisation"? The fact of the matter is, the UK Government is relaxed about tax evasion and now it has been found out, clear for us all to see. Advertisement All the emphasis in the last two days has been to focus on legality, conveniently setting aside the equally important matter of morality - something I am always wary about injecting into political discourse. Whilst the alleged actions of those involved may technically be legal, at a time when austerity is being forced upon ordinary people the length and breadth of Britain it is nigh on impossible to justify them as being moral. Where now for the well-worn mantra of "We're all in this together"? Where now the Chancellor's iron determination? The British Virgin Islands, a British overseas territory, was by far the most popular tax haven state used by firms in the documents. According to the leak, more than half of all the firms listed were incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. Others were set up in UK jurisdictions, including British Anguilla, Jersey, the Isle of Man and the UK itself. Whilst tax havens under UK sovereignty have been urged to combat money laundering and introduce central registers of beneficial owners, only Montserrat has indicated it will do so. In fact, secrecy helps keep the British Virgin Islands economy afloat. It is estimated that just over 50% of government revenues come from incorporation fees. This isn't just happening on the government's watch, but in its own back yard. Advertisement So what will the Government do to address this scandal? HMRC has assured the public that they will examine the data and act swiftly and appropriately. I'm less than confident, but what else could it say? The truth of the matter is that the UK continues to govern tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands. Without appropriate ministerial action, this Government will bear some of the responsibility for the tax dodgers, money launderers and corrupt leaders who use them. Those involved in this tax scandal have carefully colluded to play this corrupt game and they've treated tax regulations as a charade. And the response? Spin - Downing Street style. This is risible. The UK Government needs to up its game and seek assurances that British crown dependent territories, such as the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands, will abide by tax laws. More immediately, the Prime Minister must use the upcoming anti-corruption summit to push for an international agreement on stricter rules concerning tax havens and beneficial owners. Greed, corruption and lax regulations have allowed the wealthy and powerful to exploit the UK's tax havens, and the road runs all the way to Downing Street. For months, this Government has promised to clamp down on tax secrecy. The Panama leak proves that they've paid nothing but lip service so far. Kangaroo onesies, guys in expensive suits wrestling crocs and the use of Japanese chopsticks to select customers orders -- the boys from online tie and mens accessory retailer OTAA are using a whole lotta cheek to stand out. Melbourne brothers Shaheen and Fameez Haroon have invested time, money and energy into creating catchy website designs, funny YouTube videos and tongue-in-cheek emails to make customers LOL -- and turn them into repeat purchasers. Advertisement Shaheen and I wanted to build a business that didnt take itself too seriously, Fameez told The Huffington Post Australia. Because every business that we know of, its like a guy leaning on a brick wall, brooding and pouting and we just didnt want to do that. So its the DNA of the business -- we want to make it a little less serious. Guys respond to humour more than anything. Communicating to their customers in a friendly, jocular fashion begins with their website. Ten seconds after arriving to otaa.com.au a pop-up will say, Find out why we send the best damn emails. Each web page of the OTAA collection features a suited mascot doing something rather silly -- wrestling a croc in a rickety boat, strolling through Africa being stalked by lions or grilling a massive marlin on a tiny, deserted island. Advertisement Shaheen and Fameez Haroon didn't want to be like every other men's tie retailer. But the piece de resistance is their unique twist on the usually dry confirmation email sent to clients post-purchase. We picked out your order by gently picking it from the shelves with Japanese chopsticks and placing it on a silk pillow. We had a specially trained team of excommunicated runway models to look at your order to make sure it was perfect. They all gasped in amazement of how good your choice of OTAA gear was. One of them rolled over and went into tears -- he no longer works with us. "Once that part was done, our small team of 7 people got together and celebrated your order by baking a cake with your name on it. "After the celebration, we carefully packed your item into our extremely rare packaging that was designed by the same guy who invented Glad Wrap (at least he told us). We then happily marched down to the post office with your parcel and waved with a single tear, 'Goodbye' -- your order has now been sent. Fameez says its a simple technique but customers love it -- and it keeps the conversations flowing. The funny thing is that it has caused so much response from our customers, he said. We never ever would have got people responding to a confirmation email but people do every single day. Advertisement When people purchase from a website you forget the company, but for us we wanted to make sure the experience is warm, funny and humorous and memorable instead of a completely forgettable one. The OTAA email is chock full of quirk -- and customers love it. And its certainly working. Business is booming for the brothers, whose design range has blossomed from a few neckties to 2700 unique products (and set to double in the next few months) since creating the business in 2011 and whose Instagram following has just tipped over the 103,000 mark. OTAAs Instashop has been a huge hit too. Instagram posts by customers and bloggers are curated and added to the shop where, when you hover over the picture of a tie or pocket square, it will tell you its name so you can easily find it on the site. Its been a real game changer for us, Fameez said. It allows us to feed our bloggers products, ask them to take whatever photos you can and allows us to select, curate and pick the best ones that inspire our customers. Advertisement Fameez said Instagram allowed OTAA to form a community of fashion-loving blokes. When a customer purchases from us we send an insert to say hashtag #otaa for a chance to be featured on our Instagram and that allows them to take photos, put it on our feed and be part of the community, so it isnt just a run-of-the-mill purchase, Fameez said. Social media has just allowed us to build a community of people wearing stuff, and that includes customers. Timmy Knowles is OTAA's main ambassador and star of the company's videos and photo shoots. Yet despite the impressive social numbers and community of customers and bloggers, the brothers say word of mouth and repeat business as a direct result of the companys tude really fuels sales. We always say social media doesnt drive that many sales -- for us its more about communication, branding, letting our customers know ways they can dress, said Fameez. Advertisement A lot of it is also organic word of mouth. We have a little section on our web page when people go to check out they say how they find us and you can pick word of mouth, Google, magazines and I would say a lot is word of mouth because people are really happy with their experience and they talk about it and they come back. The King of Style Grey with Brown Polkadot Tie @danielre @otaa.australia OTAA.COM A photo posted by The Brothers at OTAA (@otaa.australia) on Mar 29, 2016 at 9:54am PDT Once an engineer and a student, now tied to small business OTAA was the brainchild of Shaheen who, after travelling overseas between engineering jobs, was inspired by the standard of dress among men in locations such as Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai. He knew Aussie guys needed premium products for special occasions -- and increasingly for everyday wear -- but they didnt want to pay premium prices. OTAAs ties sit around the $40 mark. I always loved reading GQ magazine and people dressed up in neckties and suits, Shaheen said. You go to a shopping centre and look at a necktie and the price would be $100 for one necktie and a pocket square was $50. So if you did really like something in a magazine one it was really expensive or you couldnt find it anywhere. So thats where the gap in the market was for us. Advertisement Fameez worked on the business casually with Shaheen while also studying law and working a part-time job. Then one day he made a call to throw the towel in on his degree and commit to the business full time and the pair started to build the business while working out of their mothers garage. They work with designers in The Czech Republic and Denmark to create the designs and the ties are manufactured in China. Shaheen said originally they started with fairly conservative designs but now their more unusual prints -- flamingos, horses and anchors proved to be a hit. And then theres the knitted ties. Despite some initial resistance from customers (some people said they looked like a sock said Shaheen) this range of crafted neckwear has boomed from 35 to 134. And its mostly thanks to the power of mens fashion bloggers. The King Woods American Knit Tie @thekingwoods @otaa.australia Shop OTAA.COM #oneofthebrothers #manofotaa A photo posted by The Brothers at OTAA (@otaa.australia) on Mar 15, 2016 at 7:16pm PDT Advertisement The knitted tie was something I really loved, Shaheen said. They are literally in every magazine and everyone was wearing them but when we first introduced them they were so hard to sell. We launched our Instagram page and we pushed out some of the knitted ties to our bloggers, because we were like, we dont need these any more because people arent selling them. And as soon as some of our bloggers started to wear them with a nice suit jacket and a pocket square and load photos up, it almost created like a domino effect where one blogger copied the other blogger and they copied each other. All of a sudden the bloggers are wearing them and the customers are seeing them on our Instagram and they started buying them. Its really taken off. And the brothers see their business taking off overseas too -- in fact its already there. We have people from Italy, USA, South Africa -- pretty much every continent wearing our ties. We then tag it on our Instagram and we geolocate the photos so you can tell which country it comes from. The Australian Rhino Project Since 2010, over 5,000 rhinoceros have been poached in South Africa and every six hours, one rhino is killed. This drove Ray Dearlove to start The Australian Rhino Project, with a mission to bring 80 rhinos from South Africa to Australia in the next four years. Advertisement The project's ultimate goal is to establish a breeding herd of rhinos in Australia as an "insurance population". The rhinos will go into quarantine in Johannesburg and then will get crated individually and partly sedated for their flight to Sydney. With male white rhinos weighing as much as 3,600kg, this comes with a hefty airfare of $75,000 per rhino. "We are spending a lot of money and time to ensure they are safe," Dearlove said. Dearlove was born in South Africa and grew up in the northeast near Kruger National Park. Wildlife has always been his greatest passion. "Ninety-five percent of poaching occurs at Kruger National Park. In 2013, more than 1,000 rhinos were killed. In 2014, more than 1,200 rhinos were killed and last year 1,340 were killed. Advertisement "We can't continue to lose 1,200, 1,300 animals a year. It's just not sustainable," Dearlove said. Rhinos are poached for their horns, which are valued at US$390,000 per horn -- a value twice that of gold. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), international trade in rhino horn has been banned since 1977, but there is still a high demand for powdered horn for use in traditional Asian medicines which are supposed to cure a range of illnesses. Through the project's research, Dearlove determined that Australia was a suitable country for the rhinos to be relocated to. The vegetation and climate is appropriate, animal poaching isn't an issue and world class veterinary support is available. In order to relocate the rhinos to Australia, Dearlove had to put in place what he refers to as 'four pillars'. Advertisement "We had to set up a company which is registered in Australia with tax deductibility. We then had to get approval from the Australian government to import rhinos to Australia. "We had to gain South African approval. And finally we have to fundraise," Dearlove said. Dearlove said the team are satisfied they can get the animals to Australia in the next six to eight months. In 2012 the project commissioned a feasibility study in order to recognise what is associated with establishing a rhino breeding herd in Australia, such as vegetation, costs and transportation considerations. One rhino is killed every six hours. (Picture: Shannon Wild) Zoos South Australia Acting Chief Executive, Peter Clark, is excited to be partnering with the project. Advertisement "Its hoped that the first rhinos will arrive in Australia this year and that a number of these will find a home at Monarto Zoo. "The objective of the Australian Rhino Project, working with Australian zoos including Monarto Zoo, is to maintain a viable population, with targeted genetic and demographic management that will ultimately allow for the repatriation of African rhinoceros back to their natural habitat and homelands should it be required," Clarke said. Dr Derek Spielman from the University of Sydney's Faculty of Veterinary Science who has been working directly with the project said the poaching in Africa is so bad that the rhinos will disappear from the wild in the next decade or two. "If we dont get enough of those animals out of there then the ones we have in the zoos around the world may not be enough to secure the species' survival," Spielman said. Advertisement More than 5,000 rhinos have been poached since 2010. (Photo: Shannon Wild) It is unlikely that the rhinos sent to Australia will be able to return to their homeland, Spielman said. However, he hopes that their offspring will. "Who knows how long it will be before they stop poaching and supplying the illegal market of rhino horns. "We dont want to risk sending them. They will have to wait until it's safe for them to return," Spielman said. With the killing rate of rhinos exceeding the birth rate, Dearlove said a tipping point has been reached. "With three rhinos killed everyday, the line has been crossed. There are fussy travellers and then there are the auditors accredited to review a hotel's official star rating. Across the nation, there are three people whose responsibility it is to determine whether a property is worth 4 or 4.5 stars for the independent official system Star Ratings Australia -- and it's serious business. Advertisement But in the world of online ratings and 'like' buttons, what value do those five little stars hold? Then there's the elusive sixth star, which some say Australia's ready for. How it works When these accreditors walk into a room, they've got an iPad loaded with 200 criteria, and it's not a simple checklist of the bed size or the number of complimentary cookies provided. A spokesman for Star Ratings Australia said they were looking for quality. "They've all been doing this for more than 10 years, and the system used to be a simple checklist -- are there bedside tables? How big is the mirror? But now, they're looking for quality," the spokesman said. "It's not about simply having a king-size bed. For the luxury end of the market, the question is whether the king size bed is of the highest standard and well maintained." Advertisement How to navigate the stars What do everyday consumers know of the rating system? Star Ratings Australia has launched a new campaign with travel host Catriona Rowntree to educate people about the ratings system. There's even a game where you can test your knowledge of the six star rating categories. Yes, six categories. There are different star rating requirements for hotels, motels, serviced apartments, self-catered places, hosted accommodation and caravan parks. Each has their own criteria derived from a federal government-funded study through Victoria University. How it's received Tourism Accommodation Australia's chief executive officer, Carol Giuseppi, told The Huffington Post Australia the system was widely accepted but the industry was changing with more chains that were a known quantity for travellers. "We support the concept of an official, professionally-managed star ratings system that is respected by both the industry and guests," Giuseppi told HuffPost Australia. Advertisement "However, since the rise and expansion of branded hotel chains in Australia, the need for an independent system has become less important because hotel groups invest significantly in developing and maintaining brand standards. "Travellers know exactly what to expect from a Novotel, Rydges, Holiday Inn or Hilton and the chains are very rigorous in providing a guaranteed, consistent experience across the country and around the world. "But for independent or unbranded hotels, an official star rating can be really beneficial, especially for overseas travellers, who may have little knowledge of the destination or the hotel products available." But what about 'self rated' stars or online reviews? Star Ratings Australia checks its official rating system with an aggregator that pulls in consumer reviews from around the world in 45 different languages. The spokesman said "We're pretty confident that if we get the rating wrong, consumers will tell us". Advertisement As for self-rated stars, Guiseppi said it was up to the accommodation provider to be truthful. "Hotels can choose to gain official star ratings or self rate. If they choose to self-rate we encourage owners and managers to be realistic with the rating, because with the rise of the internet and review sites, hotels that exaggerate their rating will be quickly found out," Guiseppi said. "While online reviews cant always be trusted as either representative or accurate, travellers are becoming smarter about reading between the lines and getting a more genuine impression of a particular property. Many hotel groups have their own extensive review systems because guest satisfaction and loyalty are at the top of their priorities." A sky full of stars Globally, there are several hotels that claim to be six or seven stars strong like Burj Al Arab in Dubai and Pangu Seven Star Hotel in Beijing. Burj Al Arab is beyond five stars. Financial and professional services firm JLL Hotels & Hospitality Groups Julian Whiston said the Australian hotel industry was undergoing its most dramatic expansion in its history, with more than 60 hotels in the development pipeline, including several heralding themselves as six-star. Advertisement He said Ritz Carlton was talking of a six-star hotel for Melbourne and Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles was calling for tenders for a six-star number in Darwin. But is there a sixth star? Officially, the answer is 'no', but Whiston said there was an argument for the category. "The Australian hotel industry has evolved a vast amount in the past four decades from the days when Hilton was a reference point for upscale hotels," Whiston said. "Today, there are dozens of brands claiming five-star status, and a new category may be warranted to differentiate the new breed of luxury hotels -- if not six-star, then at least five-star plus. Zoonar/D.Dzinnik via Getty Images insulin injection Up to 2.5 million Australians are undiagnosed and dangerously at risk of developing diabetes, the fastest growing chronic disease in Australia. The alarming statistic comes ahead of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) World Health Day on Thursday, which this year is dedicated to targeting and 'beating' diabetes. Advertisement Referring to WHO figures, Diabetes NSW said if diabetes was a country it would be the third largest country in the world. Each year, the WHO chooses a priority area of global public health concern as the theme for World Health Day and this year hopes to increase the awareness surrounding diabetes. The WHO identifies 347 million people worldwide have diabetes which makes up nine percent of all adults. Ninety percent or 312 million of those people with diabetes around the world have type 2. Help us raise awareness on diabetes this World Health Day. Share to spread the word! #WHD2016pic.twitter.com/UC1teFRd2A Diabetes NSW (@Diabetes_NSW) April 2, 2016 Advertisement Renza Scibilia, manager of type one diabetes and consumer voice for Diabetes Australia, told The Huffington Post Australia diabetes is a major global health challenge in the 21st century and one of the biggest threats to economies around the world. "Diabetes is a growing trend in Australia. Last year, for the second year in a row, 100,000 Australians were diagnosed. "It's a very significant health challenge. It needs to be recognised and it needs to be talked about," Scibilia said. According to Diabetes NSW, one in 10 Australians die each year from type two diabetes-related illnesses. Diabetes NSW CEO Sturt Eastwood said Australians need to learn to read the signs of diabetes better. Advertisement "Type 2 diabetes...kills more of us than breast, prostate and brain cancer combined in any one year and costs our healthsystem $14.6 billion a year," Eastwood said. By 2025, that number could increase to $30 billion, he said. Scibilia said there are about two million Australians with pre-diabetes -- the early stage of diabetes -- and that group is at a high-risk of developing the disease. "We know that there are hundreds of thousands of people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes," Scibilia said. Both Eastwood and Scibilia agree Australians can halt the increase in diabetes across the country by working to prevent the disease. #Diabetes is a growing problem It affects millions worldwide See the many faces of diabetes https://t.co/hFmunMNoVdpic.twitter.com/wvyP8QBqqp WHO (@WHO) April 5, 2016 Advertisement Last year Diabetes Australia welcomed the release of the new Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2020 "We are thrilled about the strategy. It has been given to all state territory health ministers, but now we need to act and see what the implementation will be. "We need a national program, like the United States who systematically identify people who are at high risk of developing diabetes and helping them access a prevention program in their community. "In Australia we have seen that in Victoria where the government has funded a prevention program since 2008 and Queensland is now funding a similar program," Scibilia said. Eastwood said stopping the rise of type two diabetes is possible. "We know that 58 percent of type two diabetes cases are preventable through lifestyle changes. "It requires a coordinated effort from our government, health professionals, employers, the media and individuals themselves to better read the signs, manage and prevent diabetes," Eastwood said. Advertisement Diabetes is a metabolic disease characterised by elevated levels of blood glucose. Based on the Berniebros in our Facebook feeds, Democrats are all for science except for when it comes to delegate math. That said, Sanders gained tremendous momentum last night, guaranteeing that Hillary Clinton may, MAY invite him to campaign for Peter Welch when shes president. And the Labor Department publicly announced a sweeping new Wall Street regulation, better known as the "that Tom Perez sure would make a swell VP, dontcha think?" rule. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Wednesday, April 6th, 2016: THE GOP CONVENTION IS GONNA BE WEIRD - Come for the political intrigue! Stay for the simmering socio-economic resentment and rampant gay prostitution! Natalie Jackson: "Donald Trump was having a rough week even before he got clobbered by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in Wisconsins primary on Tuesday. Prediction markets which allow people to bet on what they think will happen showed his chances of winning the nomination dropping over the last week. The chances of a contested Republican convention requiring two or more votes have climbed to 75 percent. PredictWise, which estimates these probabilities based on those prediction markets, shows that the likelihood of a contested convention has grown 14 percent in just a week. The likelihood of Trump winning the nomination has dropped by 19 percent in the same amount of time... According to FiveThirtyEight, Trump was already 6 percent behind the number of delegates he would need to be on track to win the nomination. The deficit in Wisconsin pushed him even farther behind." [HuffPost] Advertisement POLITICIANS TRAVEL TO NON-PARK AVENUE NEW YORK - Ten dollars to the first person to get John Kasich to say "bodega." Amanda Terkel: "The upcoming New York election may be one of the most consequential primaries to date, with both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump fighting to avoid embarrassing losses on their home territory. Its the first time in modern history that the state has had two competitive primaries...Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, although hes spent his entire political career in Vermont. But its Clinton who is now most closely associated with the state; she was elected to two terms as its U.S. senator and has used that experience as part of her case for why she is best positioned to be president. Losing the state, even if it doesnt hurt her significantly in the delegate count, would be a mighty symbolic blowTrump is on firmer ground in New York. Hes lived there his whole life and his golden, gaudy brand is inextricably tied to Manhattan. Hes also resonating in upstate New York, where his messages on trade and the economy have rung true with workers who have seen jobs disappear from the Rust Belt. His first congressional endorsement came from Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who represents the suburbs and rural areas outside of Buffalo." [HuffPost] TRUMP LOOKING LIKE A YUGE OPPORTUNITY FOR DEMS - Sam Stein: "Within the confines of the Democratic Partys vast and amorphous universe of 'strategists' and 'operatives,' theories about the dangers of an imminent Donald Trump nomination have shifted. A month ago, he was a nonconventional pol with emotional appeal to struggling working-class white voters in the Rust Belt, someone who could put traditionally Democratic states into play. As Trumps self-inflicted injuries have piled up, the anxiety has softened. Increasingly, Democrats see him less as a threat and more as an anchor they could tie around the neck of the Republican Party. On Wednesday morning, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did just that. In an interview with Politicos Glenn Thrush, she twice made the case that Trump wasnt wholly different from the rest of the GOP but, rather, the most evocative, noxious incarnation of its platform and approach to governance. In each case, she made the point to tie Trump to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)." [HuffPost] Advertisement The FBI and Department of Homeland Security spy on American cities from planes endlessly circling overhead, BuzzFeed reports in a story that is somehow weird, surprising and not surprising. DELANEY DOWNER - Gary Burlingame, director of lab services for the Philadelphia Water Department, thinks the Flint water crisis has been a bit overblown. What we dont have from Flint is a peer-reviewed published study to look at the science of Flint, Burlingame said In fact, peer-reviewed research led by Flint pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha revealed Flints water treatment failure corresponded to higher levels of blood lead in Flints children...HuffPost asked Burlingame whether he believed it was possible for someone to suffer lead poisoning as a result of drinking water with lead in it. He said he couldnt answer, so HuffPost asked again: is it theoretically possible for someone to get lead in their body from drinking water that has lead in it? Can somewhere in the world someone drink a water that has a high level of lead that affects their blood? I guess so, he said. Sure. Thats what the papers tell us. Weird! [HuffPost] DOUBLE DOWNER - Alan Lessard of Canaan, Maine, does not like Paul LePage's food stamp policy. "I am a recently unemployed 47-year-old man. If it wasnt for my parents, I would be starving. I do not get unemployment and will soon be homeless. I do not qualify for food stamps, because LePage has made it impossible unless I volunteer 20 hours a month at a nonprofit organization. I cannot afford gas to get to the next town or to food cupboards to get handouts. How can I afford to get there three or four times a week? I am told they dont need more help, but because of this they need more donations!" [centralmaine.com] Advertisement 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 GOVERNMENT ORDERS PEOPLE TO DO JOBS - An attempt to cut out fi-douche-iary sentiment from Wall Street. Dave Jamieson and Shahien Nasiripour: "After six years of debate and lobbying, the Labor Department rolled out a major new regulation on Wednesday that will require virtually all financial advisers to legally act in their clients best interests. Known as the fiduciary rule, the new standards are aimed at cutting down on the unnecessary fees that Americans pay to brokers who advise them on their retirement investments. The White House says the rule will address a fundamental conflict of interest within individual retirement accounts, or IRAs that many brokers, who arent legally bound to act in their clients best interests, have a financial incentive to shepherd clients toward investments that come with high commissions, regardless of whether its right for the customer. Administration officials say the change will put the law regarding retirement funds on par with that of pensions. Pension trustees and administrators are considered 'fiduciaries,' who therefore have a legal obligation to act in the clients best interests. But when it comes to retirement advice, until now only financial advisers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission have been considered fiduciaries, so brokers were held to a lesser standard." [HuffPost] JOE MANCHIN JOE MANCHINS - Mike DeBonis: "Senate Democrats have presented a united front when it comes to advancing the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. But should Garland eventually receive an up-or-down vote, that Democratic unity may not endure. Garland met Tuesday with Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), who has frequently broken with his party over matters of environmental regulation and gun rights two issues on which the Supreme Court has significant influence through its constitutional interpretations. Manchin, in an interview Wednesday, praised Garland but said he still has reservations after their hour-long meeting. 'I have concerns,' he said. 'But you know what? He was very straightforward and forthright, and we just have to see. Thats why I would like the committee hearing to proceed. It would really let me know a lot more.'" [WaPo] TODAY IN D'UH - File this one alongside Citizens United. Andrew Hart: "In a moment of extraordinary honesty, a GOP congressman from Wisconsin said a new voter ID law will help the eventual Republican presidential nominee win the state in November. Rep. Glen Grothmans prediction, made in response to questions about Tuesdays primaries in the state, gave credence to critics of voter ID laws who say they are tools used by conservatives to disenfranchise the poor and minorities, many of whom vote for Democrats. Grothman told WTMJ-4s Charles Benson that despite past GOP candidates poor showings in the Badger State, this year will be different. 'Now we have photo ID, and I think photo ID is gonna make a little bit of a difference as well,' he said. Grothman said something similar in 2012, when he was minority assistant leader in the state Senate. At that time, he said the law, which he helped to pass in 2011,could help GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney if it were in effect for the November election because people who vote inappropriately are more likely to vote Democrat. [HuffPost] MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN - Jake Sherman and Anna Palmer: "Embattled former Rep. Aaron Schock has hired high-profile GOP message guru Frank Luntz's firm. Schock paid Luntz Global Partners $10,000 in February, according to a recently released filing with the Federal Election Commission. Luntz Global Partners is doing "communications consulting" for the former congressman, according to Schock's FEC filing. It's not clear what precise role Luntz is playing on Schock's team. The pair previously worked together in 2013, according to campaign filings. But Schock's public relations message is being handled by McGuire Woods, the Richmond, Virginia-based law firm that is also representing him in legal proceedings. Luntz, who has worked with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republican leaders, runs a top messaging and public opinion firm." [Politico] BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here are some tiny bears. COMFORT FOOD - How to be basic. - A description of mapmakers' fake towns. - Drinking a gallon of water, one a day, for thirty days. TWITTERAMA @adrianchen: Kasich is that last guy at the house party who you're trying to put in an Uber but he's all "It's cool I'll just sleep on the couch!" @SimonMaloy: based on years of personal experience, I'm guessing Staten Island is probably the Trumpiest goddamn place on earth Advertisement A public official giving an interview in which he calls members of an entire religion less than citizens of his country. And a celebrated and overwhelmingly elected champion of the people remains silent as many of those people are persecuted. The circumstances sound like Nazi Germany but they describe today's Burma. Newly appointed Minister of Religious Affairs, a former military general, Aung Ko, told Voice of America that while Buddhists are "full citizens" of Burma, Muslims and other minorities count only as "associate citizens". This statement implies that Muslims are foreigners who do not deserve the full rights accorded citizens of Burma, or even that they are sub-human. Advertisement The Minister of Religious Affairs then followed up with a visit to U Wirathu, the firebrand extremist leader of Ma Ba Tha, the leading extremist group that is blacklisted in a 2015 US budget bill. The minister offered the extremist monk a cash donation while bowing to him. The newly elected government will be better off asking this minister of "religion" to resign. Sadly, the new minister is following the old "solution" as offered by the former President of Burma who officially asked the United Nations to resettle all Rohingya Muslims in a third country. Rohingya are indigenous people living in their ancestral land who have always been citizens, and have always voted and elected their representatives in Burma until the racist and Islamophobic policies of the military regime took away their citizenship. Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries after their homes were burned down and thousands of them were killed. Almost 125,000 are living in what the New York Times describes as the 21st-Century Concentration Camps. Pres. Obama and others have called for Rohingya citizenship to be restored. And as chair of Burma Task Force USA, I co-chaired a conference at the Nobel Peace Institute last year when seven Nobel peace laureates joined hands in calling the persecution of Rohingya "a textbook case of genocide". Advertisement This statement of the "religious" minister comes up with a fictional category of "associate" citizenship & officially expands the state-sanctioned Islamophobia beyond the Rohingya population to other Muslims in Burma. While Rohingya Muslims have been the main target of hate and bigotry, the rest of the Burmese Muslims have also suffered heavy discrimination and some attacks. Burmese Muslims believe they number about six million; almost half of them are Rohingya and the rest are Chinese-speaking Muslims on the border of China, Muslims of Indian heritage and even Muslims who are ethnically Burman, the majority race of Burma. Since in the recent Burmese census the government refused to follow the UN guidelines, there's no authentic way of assessing the real numbers of ethnic groups. Furthermore, there are about 10 ethnic groups, mainly Christians, who have been fighting with arms for their rights in Burma, where ethnic groups constitute almost 30% of the population. The only minorities which aren't involved in an armed struggle are Rohingya and other Muslim minorities. Instead of rewarding their peaceful struggle for freedom, the Burmese government is persecuting them the most. What type of message are they giving to Muslims of Burma? Unfortunately Norway, which chairs the peace process of Burma, has all the armed groups of Burma around the table minus the Rohingya and other peaceful minorities. That is simply shameful. We must negotiate with and reward those who are using peaceful means for their freedom instead of pushing them towards the terrible armed conflict which other Burmese ethnic groups were forced to opt for. This is dire news, but something can and must be done to reverse the situation. For the new government of Burma to prove itself moving towards freedom and equal rights for all Burmese, under the leadership of the Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, it is critical to set the right tone in the first hundred days of the new government. Advertisement A necessary start will be a strong condemnation by Aung San Suu Kyi of the statement Mr. Ko has given. If she does this swiftly, indicating that the National League for Democracy in no way shares the anti-Muslim bigotry of Mr. Ko, and that measures will be taken to stop Mr. Ko from promulgating that sentiment or turning it into policy, that will truly signify that Burma is changing. Her silence, on the other hand, might be negatively interpreted in the light of recent revelations that she complained about being interviewed by a Muslim correspondent of the BBC. The transformative process from military dictatorship to pluralistic democracy must continue unabated - with equal benefits to all people, all considered full citizens. Full citizenship for non-Rohingya Muslims is enshrined in Burma's Constitution, which states that Islam is a recognized religion of Burma. It further states, "The Union may assist and protect the religions it recognizes to its utmost." The Constitution makes no reference to these "associate citizens" and such rhetoric should be immediately abandoned. Rather, the government of Burma should take steps to protect these suffering minorities and maintain their integration with the rest of Burmese society. Burmese Muslims must remain full citizens as the new government restores Rohingya's citizenship as well. This article originally appeared on Forbes. Last week, tens of thousands of high school seniors across the country got bad news. Acceptance rates at selective colleges hit record lows, down to a minuscule 4.7% at Stanford and 5.2% at Harvard from an already stingy 10.9% and 10.5% ten years ago. The same trend was true at Brown, Penn, Duke and just about every other national university. Why is it that competition for college degrees is heating up despite the arrival of online resources that offer college-level classes nearly for free? Part of the explanation is demographics -- there are more 18-year olds right now than at many other points in history. Part of it is that the economy is more competitive than ever, and a college education is seen as more and more necessary to prepare. But perhaps the biggest driver is that young people want more from an education than just to learn; they crave an identity and community, and this desire holds more strongly than ever and drives interest in certain institutions. Advertisement What do I mean? I ran Manhattan GMAT, the country's largest GMAT prep company by enrollment, for five years. Here were the top reasons that students told me they wanted to attend business school: 1. Credentialing: They wanted to get a degree that would mark them as smart and qualified for the rest of their career and set them up for good opportunities. 2. Network: They wanted to become friends and colleagues with smart, ambitious people that would look out for them for years to come. 3. Social/personal: They wanted to socialize, party and meet an appropriate mate (Yes, I heard this all the time). Advertisement 4. Confidence: They didn't feel confident in their career direction and wanted to become a manager or professional. 5. Coursework: They wanted to learn finance, basic accounting, marketing and the like. The big point is this -- what they learned in class was not the primary draw. Many applicants had spent years at a bank or consulting firm or had studied business as an undergrad and saw the coursework as mostly review. Yet they were willing to spend $100k+ and two years of missed wages for what they felt was mostly credentialing, networking and socialization. We see it here at Venture for America too. Over 1,300 college grads applied for 180 spots this year to work at startups in Detroit, Baltimore, St. Louis and other cities. The main draw, if you ask them, is "the network of other smart, enterprising people." The same motivations apply at the college level. Most parents and students have little idea who individual professors are or how departments stack up before applying. They'll visit schools to see what they think. They might look at a few third party rankings. But they're primarily seeking for their son or daughter or themselves the credentialing, network, socialization, identity formation and job prospects that come with a particular school. What is learned is less central -- learning is simply presumed to happen above a certain baseline and come packaged with the degree. You can literally take a Stanford or MIT computer science course online right now nearly for free. But applications are up at these schools, not down. Advertisement Top educational institutions today don't confer lessons. They confer a brand, a network, a credential, friends, a personal life, a residential experience, a set of opportunities and a sense of self. In short, an identity. This is the main reason why the Internet isn't displacing traditional education and, in the face of increasing pressures, people are applying to selective colleges more than ever. This isn't to say that there won't be changes upcoming. Marginal schools will struggle in the coming years due to increased costs and competitive pressures. And entrepreneurs will find ways to supplement learning with the non-classroom benefits that students and parents are seeking. Perhaps the most prominent example of the latter is the Minerva Project, a startup university now entering its third year. At Minerva, students take classes online.* But they do so while living together in dorm-style housing. They spend up to one year each in different dorms in San Francisco, Buenos Aires, London, Seoul and Istanbul. Minerva is selective -- the acceptance rate for the latest class was only 1.9%. Students socialize and build connections because they live and travel together. Minerva delivers learning yes, but it also delivers the credential, network, socialization and identity that students crave. And it does this at $28k a year, a little more than half of what similarly selective universities charge.** Minerva is a signal of the future of college education. College as an institution is safe. What students and parents want is constant. But it's going to be the combination of old and new institutions that successfully compete to deliver credentialing, networks, socialization -- and learning -- in innovative ways that will thrive. (Reprint Wellesley College News, online 29 March 2016) Hillary -- The Natural Political Leader and Activist BY Commander Beth F. Coye, U.S. Navy (ret.) '59 Hillary Rodham Clinton's claim that unlike Bill she is not a "natural politician" requires rethinking! Not only has Secretary Clinton been a natural in serving her country as an activist, First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State, and yes, a politician, but she has filled those duties with brilliance and a commitment to transformation and reformation of our country and planet. That Clinton has been the "most admired woman in the world" for 14 of the last 20 years (Gallup poll) attests to her leadership. Younger and other disheartened voters who categorize Clinton as "the Establishment politician" should consider her history. Hillary Rodham Clinton began her political career from the podium of Wellesley College's 1969 graduation ceremonies. The Administration had selected her to be its first student graduation speaker. As Senator Edward Brooke (R-MA) was delivering a bland, uninspiring keynote speech, Rodham decided to refute his conceptual framework before going to her own text. Her extemporaneous remarks countered Brooke's complacency with the status quo. On behalf of her classmates, she stipulated: .... "Part of the problem with empathy with professed goals is that empathy doesn't do us anything. What does it mean that 13.3% of the people in this country are below the poverty line?.... We're not interested in social reconstruction, it's human reconstruction." She continued, "....We feel.... that our prevailing, acquisitive and competitive corporate life, including tragically the universities, is not the way of life for us. Advertisement We're searching for more immediate, ecstatic, and penetrating modes of living. ....We also know that to be educated, the goal of it must be human liberation." She understood Wellesley's motto, Non Ministrari sed Ministrare (Not to be ministered unto but to minister), a need for action and that with entitlement comes responsibilities. At the end, her class gave her a 7-minute standing ovation! Hillary became a Wellesley legend. Before Americans accept Clinton as "not a natural politician," think about the primary roles of the highest office of a U.S. politician and who is best suited to orchestrate those roles: Commander-in-Chief, Chief Administrator, Chief of State, Chief Legislator, Chief Diplomat, Party Leader, Representative of the People, Mobilizer of Government and the People, World Leader, Manager of the Economy and Social Reformer. Voters' solemn duty in a presidential election is to elect someone who is right for the times and best qualified to serve. Clinton matches. For instance: * Senator Clinton served on the Armed Services Committee, gaining the highest marks from the generals and admirals. Contrary to public opinion, career military officers lean toward being doves, not hawks. * Clinton's tour as Secretary of State gave her deep knowledge of international relations as well as experience in managing a large Federal Department. * Clinton's exceptional experience as an activist defending those who do not have a place at the table has given her more qualifications than previous presidents to be the people's voice for social reform. Advertisement The primary reason Clinton is both beloved and hated by Americans is her long-time dedication to being a change agent leader. Let us remember, however, that to be a leader requires strength, determination and sacrifice. To be in the public's eye means becoming the target of constant criticism; in the spotlight for decades, Clinton has inevitably been the recipient of considerable reprehension. She continues, nonetheless, to labor tirelessly on behalf of our citizens, country, world community and planet. The historical record reveals Clinton has both the vision and resilience to be our leader. In college, something powerful "clicked" for Hillary Rodham, awakening her to fight against discrimination and for human rights. Ever since the day when she graciously yet firmly confronted Senator Brooke, core internal values -- justice, integrity, trust, service, kindness and love -- have continuously fueled this woman of action. During my twenties, I thought leadership was all about me. And for a while, it was. As a twenty-six-year-old Berkeley student, I had the audacity to believe I could start a company, raise millions of dollars for it, and make it successful. Looking back, I must have been insane. I'm not sure how, but I managed to convince some serious venture capitalists to invest millions of dollars in my dream. In doing so, I promptly discovered just how far in over my head I was. I had no business experience, I'd never held a full-time job, and I didn't even know what I didn't know. I was in serious trouble. I was also committed. Fully. So I worked as hard as I could - 90 hours a week, every week, for four years. One week we'd be on the edge of phenomenal success, and the next week we'd be on the brink of failure. This pattern repeated itself, through three rounds of funding, two strategic partnerships, and four failed attempts to replace myself as the CEO. It was quite the ride. Advertisement When the company crashed and burned, I took the loss very personally. I'd made a lot of promises to a lot of people - investors, employees, customers - and I felt that I'd failed them all. It wasn't just that the company had failed. I had failed. Because, of course, it was all about me. I had more success with the acquiring company. After taking a few months off to recover, I moved into a position in which I had influence without responsibility, and a reasonable work load. I was told not to waste my time on investors, and then I snuck out and raised $10 million anyway. It was like bringing home a puppy. "Look what I found! Can we keep it?" It was still all about me. My achievements. My responsibilities. The number of people I was managing. The money I had raised. The company gains that could be traced back to me. Leadership was about one thing - me. Thankfully, the CEO of the acquiring company was a lot older and wiser, and one day he sat me down for a performance review. I don't remember the exact words, but it basically went like this. Advertisement "Brian, you're smart. We are so impressed with how smart you are. You are really, really smart. AND, you would be so much more effective if you could learn how to at least occasionally listen to what other people have to say." His feedback brought me up short. Ouch. I'd been treating leadership as something I do to people rather than do with them. I'd been equating leadership with "being the hero" - always having the right answers, being the smartest person, putting in the most hours. And for the first time, I wondered if there might be a more effective way. As an executive coach, I've encountered many leaders who think that leadership is all about them. It's their job is to be the hero, to be in control, and to make everything work out. "How good am I?" "Do I know enough?" "Am I making enough money?" "How can I come up with the right strategy?" "Am I making the right decisions?" "Do people respect me?" "Do I have enough power?" These are typical questions Heroic Leaders ask. In contrast, Authentic Leaders focus on the purposes they support and the people they serve. This isn't to say that they're martyrs, that they're weak, or that they're never thinking of themselves. Authentic Leaders build strong relationships that work for everyone. They build relationships based on Win/Win or No Deal. This requires a great deal of courage and self-discipline. In a time of brutal competition and blistering change, Win/Lose thinking is almost automatic. "It's a dog-eat-dog world out there." "We need to beat our competitors and take their market share." "Business is war!" Advertisement From this perspective, Heroic Leadership just seems to make sense - life is a battle for survival and self-importance, and stress is the automatic price of success. This wouldn't be so bad except that heroes are always supposed to be able to conquer their fears. They're taught to have the courage to conquer (which starts with determination), but not the courage to change (which starts with acceptance). Acceptance is the foundation of lasting change. Yet this is the last thing that Heroic Leaders are trained to do. These days, conquering the competition is much less important than keeping up with the exponential pace of change. If you're a business leader and you're not alarmed by how fast things are changing, you should be. It's become the primary challenge of leadership. And Heroic Leadership is the opposite of what's required to deal with it. Authentic Leaders are in the business of change. And that means playing a completely different game. The job of a Heroic Leader is to have the right answers. The job of an Authentic Leader is to ask the right questions. Heroic Leaders worry about their level of importance. Authentic Leaders focus on their level of contribution. Heroic Leaders think life is a battle. Authentic Leaders live in a world of Win/Win or No Deal. Advertisement And they tend to be extraordinarily effective. James Burke was the chairman of Johnson & Johnson in 1982, when seven people died from taking Tylenol capsules that had been pulled off the shelf of a Chicago store, replaced with cyanide, resealed, and put back for someone to buy. Suddenly, his company's products were being blamed for people's deaths, though the actual cause was entirely outside of his control. Burke could easily have gone on television and blamed the unknown criminal. He could have limited the recall to Chicago. He could have treated the problem as a Tiger, surrounded himself with lawyers, and done everything he could to protect his company's short term profits. But he didn't respond that way at all. Burke didn't assume he had the right answers. And he didn't jump to attack. Instead, he pulled together a seven-person strategy team and asked them to answer two questions. First, "How do we protect the people?" And second, "How do we save the product?" As a result, the company instructed the nation to stop consuming the product, pulled every bottle of Tylenol from every store in the country, and issued a recall that cost them $100 million. They created triple-safety packaging, communicated their actions, and then re-released the product once they trusted it was safe. Because of this, the company took a short term hit and created a long term success. They were able to both protect their customers and save a $350 million-per-year product. What could have been the end of their good name established their brand as supremely trustworthy. They turned an existential crisis into a Win/Win. That's the power of Authentic Leadership. Authentic Leadership may sound naive, idealistic, or unreachable. Not so. It's one of the most powerful forces on earth, and it's something anyone can develop. Walking the journey of Authentic Leadership can be complicated, but finding the path is simple. It merely requires a reliable guidance system - the ability to find and follow your Yes Yes Hell No's. Advertisement Baseball season opened with a bang on Monday. The San Francisco Giants crushed the Milwaukee Brewers, hitting back-to-back-to-back homers for only the 10th time in the team's history, and the first on an opening day. 24 hours later, San Francisco Ballet opened its Program 6 with a triple bill of Tomasson, Ratmansky and Wheeldon but the evening's home runs were hit by the musicians rather than the choreographers. The glamorous Mungunchimeg Buriad sent one whistling from the grand piano onstage at the War Memorial Opera House clear out to Van Ness Avenue, carried aloft on the limpid measures of Domenico Scarlatti. Roy Bogas in the pit, reinforced by the stalwart San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, swung at Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 with dazzling virtuosity. And the orchestra dispatched Bohuslav Martinu's gloriously nuanced Sinfonietta La Jolla with verve and style. The program was narrative-free, though Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas hinted at deeply conflicting emotions, even scandal, underneath the restrained Scarlatti. Three couples - all delicately costumed in white of an indeterminate period somewhere between the Edwardian and the millennial - danced singly, in pairs and trios. They were people, but they were also ideas about people, perhaps political ideas. Footwork was fleet, sometimes impish, at other times desperate. Frequently, a dancer would head in one direction only to be thwarted by another. Advertisement The choreography was a mash-up of playful childhood games, fraught gestures, and classical ballet steps. In a witty nod to the Italian composer, Ratmansky employed the gracious, lighthearted Italian assemble - in which the dancer bends the knees and pulls them up in mid-jump, keeping the feet together - as a signature step. With the exception of the ardent, impetuous Davit Karapetyan and Vanessa Zahorian, a woman of mysterious depths, the principal characteristic of the rest of the crew was that of implacable efficiency. Mathilde Froustey cycled between petulant and flirty, repeatedly pushed by unseen forces to the verge of nervous breakdown in her duet with the sympathetic Joe Walsh. Whirling dervish Frances Chung wore a wooden smile during her cat-and-mouse shenanigans with the capable Gennadi Nedvigin; at other times she was a cipher. At the somber close, the three couples fell to their knees. The women then keeled over, the men leaned on the women and bowed their heads in apparent grief. It was more puzzling than moving. Helgi Tomasson's Prism opened inauspiciously with the fiddly partnering of a trio set to the first movement of the Beethoven. The celestial music simply did not fit the jaunty, off-balance neoclassical machinations, and though the radiant Sasha De Sola danced as if she didn't need any support at all, her anxious squires Vitor Luiz and Carlos Quenedit kept trying to insist that she did. Advertisement The second and third movements, however, seemed to flow miraculously from the stirring score. Considerable aerobic demands were placed on the vast ensemble, costumed like a field of poppies, most especially the golden California poppies that are running riot alongside our freeways after the copious March rains. The intoxicating Sofiane Sylve reigned over the elegiac second movement in the vivid poppy red of Flanders fields. In the spring of 1915, these red poppies carpeted the otherwise desolate battlefields of Belgium, France and Gallipoli, and became a symbol of the massive loss of life in the first World War. Blown by the wind (a noble and unobtrusive Luke Ingham), mirrored by a corps barely visible in the smoky gloom so exquisitely constructed by lighting wizard Mark Stanley, Sylve's piercing sorrow wafted through the opera house. Our spirits were lifted in the boisterous final movement as Taras Domitro tossed off his signature turning split jumps like a stag romping in a meadow of wildflowers. A madness of cabrioles spread like wildfire among the male ensemble while the women echapped deliriously. The regal Sylve and Ingham returned for a glorious sequence of slashing lifts, and all thoughts of war were banished by curtain fall. The structure of Christopher Wheeldon's Rush closely resembles that of Tomasson's Prism, with a slow, sensuous pas de deux sandwiched between two frantic outer movements. Program notes tell us the Czech composer was inspired by "the California sea and sky" but Wheeldon's concept appears inspired by southern California traffic, judging from the grandiosely copyrighted title and the choreography. The sensational up-to-the-minute costume designs by Jon Morrell feature a bold geometric slash down the front of the women's dresses. Isabella de Vivo and Myles Thatcher in teal blue went for broke, attacking the highly kinetic choreography with great daring. Advertisement The second movement takes us on a detour into a temple where the backdrop glows like a deep red Rothko. Maria Kochetkova and Joan Boada execute a sinuous, yearning duet with competence. In an ominous development, Kochetkova, who at first gave signs of wanting to take her relationship with Boada to the next level, leaves him for dead on the side of the road. Back on Interstate 5 for the final movement, the fearless Formula 1 drivers Jahna Frantziskonis and Lauren Strongin make some thrilling banked turns off the chests of two obliging young men. In the most beautiful sequence of the ballet, three couples execute unison lifts in which the women repeatedly switch their arabesque leg in the air, land delicately on pointe with hovering arms and gracefully inclined necks, but are swept into the air again. Their agile maneuvers resemble the heart-stopping landing attempts of fighter jets on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. The statistics are staggering: violence is the 3rd leading cause of death among U.S. teens and young adults ages 15 to 24. In addition, nearly 1 million young people are treated in hospital emergency rooms each year as a result of physical violence, sexual assault, bullying, or self-harm. In a recent national survey, 1 in 10 teens reported being hit or physically hurt by someone they were dating. Whether it's relationship violence or bullying, online or in-person, youth violence is far too prevalent and warrants our attention. In recognition of National Youth Violence Prevention Week, April 4-8, I join others in raising awareness about this important issue facing our nation's young people and the parents, educators, and health care providers who care for them. Searching for Answers Researchers understand the need for evidence to help track, reduce, and prevent youth violence. To this end, the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development supports studies to explore the complex issues that surround youth violence. Several branches in our Division of Extramural Research support a wide range of projects, including the following: Advertisement Developing better screening tools for educators to accurately identify youth at-risk of exposure to violence or of becoming violent Designing effective bystander intervention programs for high school students, encouraging and enabling them to speak up and help deter potential acts of aggression Understanding the effects of sexual abuse across generations, particularly on premature aging of the brain Determining when and how early childhood maltreatment becomes biologically embedded in a person's genes and body responses Analyzing risky online behavior of teens Research on youth violence has provided some answers and potential strategies for prevention. It has also highlighted gaps in care. For example, a study published last December in the journal Pediatrics found that teenage victims of sexual assault treated at 38 emergency rooms across the country weren't receiving adequate care, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More often than not, hospital emergency departments did not test for sexually transmitted diseases nor did they administer medication to treat these diseases. Another study on gun violence tracked the whereabouts of young male gunshot victims ages 10 to 24 during the 24-hour period before the attack. Researchers mapped the paths and activities of more than 600 kids in the Philadelphia area: 143 had been shot with a gun; 206 were injured with another weapon; and 283 were unharmed. The findings showed that the kids' neighborhood locations and activities either helped shield them or significantly increased their risk of assault. The brain still is developing during the teenage years and this may affect their decision making, including not being able to fully comprehend the consequences of their actions until it is too late. We know that the adolescent years can be associated with impulsive and, at times,"thoughtless" actions. Young people need the appropriate supports and services to foster their positive development and reduce problematic risk-taking. New research we are supporting analyzes magnetic resonance images of the brain to explore these concepts and to understand why some juvenile offenders respond to rehabilitation treatment while others relapse into violent behavior. Partnering to Make Progress Duke University student Sydney Roberts shouts during a protest against House Bill 2 on Thursday, March 24, 2016, outside of the Governor's Mansion on North Blount Street in downtown Raleigh, N.C. (Jill Knight/Raleigh News & Observer/TNS via Getty Images) "What if it was your daughter who was the target of this bill?" For a moment a few weeks ago, it seemed like lawmakers in Tennessee had really heard the brave testimony of a transgender young person and her parents. A mother's simple ask to legislators about what they would do if it was their child who was transgender hit a nerve, and the anti-transgender bill was sent to a summer study session, seemingly killing it for this year. But that was two weeks ago -- a lifetime ago, it seems, in light of all that has happened since -- and that bill is back. Advertisement But that's nowhere near the worst of it. Apparently in a bid to outdo each other, lawmakers in North Carolina and Mississippi have passed and signed sweeping anti-LGBT legislation into law over the last two weeks. North Carolina's HB 2 was rushed through a special legislative session on March 23 and signed the same day by Gov. Pat McCrory. The bill,which we have since challenged in court, not only repeals local ordinances extending protections to LGBT individuals and prohibits the passage of any such ordinances in the future. It does something far worse: It mandates discrimination against transgender people by government agencies and schools. Not to be outdone, yesterday, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed into law HB 1523, another sweeping piece of legislation, which authorizes discrimination based on sincerely held religious beliefs that: The bill will further entrench discrimination against LGBT people, unmarried people who have sex, and anyone else who doesn't conform to expectations about gender and gender roles. It will (or aims to), among other things: Advertisement prevent the government from taking any action if LGBT kids are forced into conversion therapy by foster parents allow counselors practicing conversion therapy, including school counselors, to keep their licenses allow single mothers to be turned away by a government-funded homeless shelter, food pantry, or day-care program permit government employees to refuse to issue marriage licenses or solemnize marriages for same- sex couples allow medical providers to turn away transgender patients or restrict access to health care related to gender transition In both Mississippi and North Carolina, the most vulnerable in the community will be targeted -- homeless people, foster youth, kids. Lawmakers claim the laws are necessary to respect people's religious beliefs or privacy, yet so many will suffer as a result of these unprecedented new measures. In fact, so many are already suffering. As Mississippi lawmakers sent HB1523 to the governor on Monday, James Dixon pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Black trans woman Islan Nettles in New York City. He killed her in August of 2013 on the street in Harlem after he realized that she was transgender. When police questioned him about Islan's death, he explained that he had recently been "fooled by a transgender" and was "blinded" with rage at the idea that he could be fooled again. So he killed her because he didn't believe in her humanity or womanhood. Like the more than 22 transgender women -- almost all of them women of color -- who were murdered last year, Islan died in a world that treated her in life as less than human. The same beliefs that motivated James Dixon to kill Islan on that street in Harlem -- the belief that transgender women are not women and that transgender people are less than human -- animate the anti-trans legislation that is now codified into law in Mississippi and North Carolina, and which is at risk of becoming law in Tennessee and elsewhere. Advertisement We must sit with that harsh and disturbing reality and react with urgency as these bills continue to make their way through state legislatures. Today lawmakers in Tennessee will again consider HB 2414/SB 2387, a measure targeting transgender students. Proponents of the bill are claiming this bill marks a critical fight in the "New Civil War" over "the truth about human sexuality, or perhaps more fundamentally, what it means to be human." Meanwhile, brave, young transgender people and their families will again stand up to lawmakers and ask that the bullying, harassment, and fixation on bathrooms stop. Enough is enough. In states across the country, transgender young people have had to listen to their government speak about them as "twisted" and try to cast them out of public space. Despite all the vitriol, the trans community continues to show up and lead the fight to stop these bills. But we're not alone in this fight. Powerful businesses and religious leaders are speaking up, telling lawmakers that discrimination is unacceptable. Some have even halted investments, in addition to condemning these inhumane laws. We may not yet stop them all, but we are telling our stories. And in the end, we will win this fight. A woman walks past the Uber offices in Hong Kong on January 22, 2016. Two Hong Kong Uber drivers were fined on January 22 after pleading guilty to driving without proper licences, the latest slap on the wrist for the global ride-sharing giant. AFP PHOTO / Philippe Lopez / AFP / PHILIPPE LOPEZ (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE LOPEZ/AFP/Getty Images) CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- San Francisco-based ride-sharing service Uber had already established itself as a leader in the U.S. market when Chinese-owned Didi Dache first released its own mobile application for on-demand taxis in June 2012 in China. Yet since Uber quietly moved into the country in late 2013 with a soft launch in expat-friendly Shanghai, the American company's imminent failure at the hands of its Chinese competitor has become central to the story. In February 2015, Didi Dache -- backed by Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd -- put an end to its rivalry with local competitor Kuaidi Dache, whose taxi-hailing app was funded by global e-commerce leader Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. Together, they formed Didi Kuaidi -- which soon became known as Didi Chuxing, or Didi for short -- and turned their attention to driving Uber out of the market. Advertisement Both companies compete for riders with similar service offerings, including premium and standard on-demand private cars, but the Chinese contenders' head start has made catching up an enormous challenge for Uber. In August 2014, the American company surprised the world by piloting a non-profit ride-sharing program in China, which matches car owners with people looking for a lift. Riders pay a fee to cover the driver's basic costs, including gas and tolls. They called it "People's Uber," and not-so-subtly tapped into China's inclination towards nationalism by coloring the cars red in their mobile app. The message was clear: Uber was willing to forgo profit in order to woo Chinese consumers. Less than a year later, Didi followed suit with its own car-pooling service. The message was clear: Uber was willing to forgo profit in order to woo Chinese consumers. Certainly, no one expected the U.S.-owned transportation network company's success in the Chinese market to come easily. China is a notoriously inhospitable environment for foreign companies, and in the wake of Beijing's recent concerns over "Internet sovereignty," foreign tech companies in particular are at risk of being ousted or bullied. U.S. Internet giants Google, Facebook and Twitter have been fighting a losing battle in China since on-demand taxis were little more than a concept. By establishing a separate Chinese subsidiary, Uber China, officially or "You Bu," the U.S. startup managed to circumvent some of the issues associated with operating on the mainland, and the company's growth since mid-2014 has been relatively steady, if rather expensive. While speaking at a private event in Vancouver earlier this year, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick admitted to losing over $1 billion a year in China, Canadian tech news site Betakit reported. But the funding wars that Uber and its Chinese contender recently entered into helps to put losses -- or, more optimistically, investments -- of this amount into perspective. Advertisement Screenshot of China's People's Uber. (Fusion/Uber) On Sept. 7, Uber China confirmed it had so far raised $1.2 billion in its second series of venture capital funding to help fuel its expansion into 100 cities on the mainland over the next 12 months. The funding round was led by search giant Baidu and included a number of politically-connected, high-profile Chinese companies. That same week Didi announced it had secured an additional $3 billion in funding of its own. An October 2015 report by Beijing-based consultancy firm Analysys International chalks up 83.2 percent of China's private car ride-hailing market to Didi and 16.2 percent to Uber China. Neither company has released up-to-date figures, but Uber claims to have completed 1 million daily rides in 22 Chinese cities between summer 2015 and January of this year, compared to the approximately 7 million rides being fulfilled by Didi each day across over 400 cities, TechCrunch reported. Both Didi and Uber China have spent "hundreds of millions of dollars" on subsidies to attract drivers to their service, according to Forbes. "Didi spent a lot of money on cultivating the market," Xu Ke, a 37-year-old employee at Nestle China who uses both Didi and Uber to get around Beijing, told me. "If I want to take a taxi I will first check Didi. If they have any promotions or special discounts, I'll use them. If they don't, I use Uber. Uber is about 10 percent cheaper." 'If I want to take a taxi I will first check Didi. If they have any promotions or special discounts, I'll use them. If they don't, I use Uber.' Didi believes that having a far-reaching physical presence gives the company an edge over Uber, said Quartz, even though business may be slow in all but the largest cities where it operates. Advertisement "We have a fierce competitor that's unprofitable in every city they exist in, but they're buying up market share," Kalanick said in an interview with Betakit. Didi claims to have "broken even" in "over 100" of its 400 cities across China, where service offerings include taxis, chauffeurs, car-pooling and bus services, according to Forbes. "I wish the world wasn't that way," Kalanick said. "I prefer building rather than fundraising. But if I don't participate in the fundraising bonanza, I'll get squeezed out by others buying market share." A smartphone shows the two apps, Kuaidi Dache -- part-owned by Alibaba -- and Didi Dache -- backed by Tencent before the merger. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Uber is the largest mobile app-based transportation company globally, but its latest $62.5 billion valuation puts it in a completely different league than the likes of tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, which both have a market capitalization in the region of $200 billion. There's no doubt that the deep pockets of Didi's backers have been a key driver in its somewhat aggressive path towards market domination. But buying market share holds no guarantees of retaining it. Advertisement Navigating up to the railway in Nuwara Eliya's tea country One, two, three; I mentally counted each wooden, rectangular plank I tread upon and shifted the heavy backpack on my shoulders as my local friend Amran Athas and I followed train tracks through the tea plantations of Nuwara Eliya; Sri Lanka's fabled hill country steeped in colonial history and home to one of the world's most reputable tea industries. While planning my trip, I had stumbled upon Hiking Sri Lanka and that's how I met Amran and Pazi; adventure junkies who, in their spare time, explore all corners of the island nation. They started HSL in 2014 as a digital commonplace for young Sri Lankans to share their passion for the outdoors and to promote hiking and camping in a country where backpacking isn't popular among locals, although it very well should be. Sri Lanka is a treasure trove for nature lovers and backpackers just begging to be explored. I was new to the concept of traversing from village to village in a foreign country by foot, let alone by following railway tracks as a guide instead of carefully cleared trails. But for Amran, it's the way to see Sri Lanka, and not just see it, but to look between the pages of hip beach resorts, backpacker towns and internet-ranked exotic destinations to find the real wilderness and traditional Sinhalese village life within. Advertisement We wove around tall mounds of rich earth studded with fragrant tea bushes through a land trapped in a sort of time warp; where sarong clad Sinhalese villagers intermingle with the remnants of colonial British influence. A nameless waterfall gushed around a steep hillside corner where the worn tracks passed over a babbling stream of cool mountain water. Plantation workers washed the day's dirt from their mahogany skin and a smiling Buddhist statue basked on a nearby rock. Shacks clustered in certain areas along the tracks and children frolicked with stray pups among the yellow wildflowers that sprouted between rails and ties. It's Sri Lankan village life untouched by the ticklings of a rapidly-growing tourist industry. There are plenty of well-known treks you can organize with a guide that will take you on planned trips through some of the most beautiful parts of the country, but following the railways opened my eyes to travel experiences and pristine sights I never expected. I witnessed the locals who use the railway system not just to catch a ride, but who work or even live in harmony alongside it. The scenery surrounding the tracks is untouched, giving a hidden glimpse of Sri Lanka where westerners wouldn't think to look. It also provided some of the most unbelievable views of Sri Lanka travel famed sites and access to waterfalls that were devoid of people with the rare exception of children bathing in the cascades or a mother scrubbing her family's clothes in a small pool. Planning a trip to Sri Lanka and want to do some trekking? Amran shares his insight on exploring by railway, the culture surrounding Sri Lanka's railway lines and some of his favorite places to follow the tracks and discover Sri Lanka from a different perspective. Advertisement Why do you like to trek by the tracks? SCENIC!!! That would be my answer. Beginners who get into trekking do a lot of railway trekking because you just have to follow the railroad and you don't get lost. Plus the railway track flows through thick jungles, tea estates, remote villages and across beautiful streams and alongside many waterfalls. How important are the railroad track systems in Sri Lanka? Rail was introduced in Sri Lanka in 1864 to transport coffee from plantations in the hill country district of Kandy to the port city of Colombo on its way to Europe and the world market. The railway tracks are important as much as the roadways. Though the bus is quicker for long distances when compared with the train, people prefer the train because you don't have to sit in one place for the whole journey. You can move around and sit on the foot-board as well which is usually enjoyed by locals and tourists as well. Also, traveling by train is cheaper and more scenic than the bus. The "Nine arch bridge" in Ella; built in 1921 Is this the way the locals do it when they travel daily? Railway tracks were used by villagers when the public transport was not established a couple of years ago and when the roadways were too far to walk. For example, If a villager wanted to travel from Idalgashinna to Haputale, they had to walk a few kms to the road where public transport is available and then travel by bus. But, if they walk via the railway track it is shorter and quicker. Are there many known hiking trails in Sri Lanka? Or is it mainly the railroad tracks that establish trails? There are pretty decent trails for trekking most of the mountain peaks. But railway trekking is just a part of it and is good for beginners. Experienced trekkers also do long segments of railway trekking. For example thru-hiking from Badulla to Kandy covering approximately 184 kms. What are some amazing sights you've witnessed by trekking on the tracks? One time I found the carcass of a sambar deer- just the remnants of the bones. I realized it had been attacked by a leopard. Most wildlife is nocturnal though, so besides monkeys it's rare to see bigger animals. There are plenty of amazing scenic viewpoints though. You can see Elgin Falls between Ambewela and Nanu Oya, Adams Peak from Great Western Railway Station, Devon Falls and St. Clair Falls near Talawakele and the tea estates in Hatton. Advertisement What are your top Sri Lanka railroad trek recommendations? - Ohiya to Pattipola - 7kms - Base of Horton Plains. The best thing is that this trek is within Horton Plains limits through dense forests. - Ambewela to Nanu Oya - 15kms - Nuwara Eliya district. The Horton Plains border is close to Nanu Oya, so you would still walk within Horton Plains limits on this trek as well. - Hatton to Inguru Oya - 28kms - Nuwara Eliya district. This trek gives you stunning views of lush green hills and walks you alongside many cascades. - Ohiya to Idalgashinna - 9kms - Badulla district. A high number of awesome railway tunnels to venture through! **However, you should keep in mind that railway trekking is banned due to illegal activities nowadays, such as cutting trees. So you have to get prior permission or inform the station master before doing it or you can end up in jail. So. Another city bombed. What do we do now? Terrorists would not be terrorists if they warned everyone beforehand of their targets. There is nothing for it: This is the new normal. And it isn't particularly "new;" gunmen later identified as Muslim anti-Israel extremists turned Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, and Schwechat, in Vienna, into shooting galleries back in 1985. The Brussels attack followed that blueprint, a check-in desk is guaranteed a huge crowd, and thus huge casualties. Pass/Fail So where do we go? Where is safe? From a travel writer's perspective, the best advice I can give is to travel-nuts either not travel ever again, travel only by your own personal automobile, or go to places so off the radar that they simply don't have the high profile to be a nice, juicy, fear-inducing, story-generating, paranoia-fueling, finger-pointing, blame-flinging, cause-appropriating, ass-covering target. While I am sure you will have a lovely stay in Guyana, the Cook Islands, or Togo, it is naive to think that even those places are immune to attack simply because they haven't yet been attacked, and every place as its own set of security problems, imported or otherwise. And now let's talk practicality. No offense to Guyana, but Paris is more of a draw and will be for years to come. Oh, sure: there will be a dip in travel numbers; there is already speculation that the Summer 2016 travel season will be a dismal one (at least, with regards to air travel), the same thing happened after 9-11. But dips rebound. Maybe memory fades, maybe people get used to the "new normal." Or maybe people simply aren't going to be terrorised. Paris and Brussels will recover. Not right away, but they will. Advertisement There is no "maybe," however, in that Belgian law enforcement bungled this just enough to give ISIS an edge. When Turkey deported one of the bombers, IDed as Ibrahim el Bakraoui, in 2015 to the Netherlands, warnings were sent along with him, warnings that seem now to have gone unheard. Belgium, whose Flemish and Walloon halves are disdainfully gridlocked up and down the political spectrum, has an internal security now so layered with red tape, distrust, discommunication, and mind-numbing bureaucracy that it may as well not be there at all. Authorities in France, whose anti-terrorism measures are fairly up to snuff, were little surprised the Paris bombings were planned in Brussels, and Belgium is now being roundly slammed for this critical blind eye. In the wake of the Brussels bombing, it is now becoming clear that Belgium, and not perennially-blamed bugaboos like Bosnia, is the terrorist gateway to Europe. This places the entire European Union in danger; haul out a map and see just how close the country is to Paris, London, or Amsterdam. The Belgians will learn from this, now that it has finally happened to them. Unfortunately, terrorism, even in this day and age, is still largely seen as somebody else's problem, which ignores the plain fact that we are all somebody else to somebody else. America's security was lax before 9-11, Japan's was before Aum Shinrikyo, Spain's was before the 2004 Madrid train bombing. As Lady Gaga sings, "...'til it happens to you..." Say What? Do What? In the meantime, travelers are urged to "exercise vigilance" when they hit the road. It's a maddeningly catch-all phrase, but what it comes down to is this: don't make yourself a target. When it comes to airports, ports, or train stations, get in and out as fast as possible. There are dozens of electronic check-in options to make things faster once you arrive, and even something as basic as only going with carry-on can get you through security in a jiffy (pack for a week, it will last you a year). The quicker you can get to a secure area, wherever it is, the better. Not dilly-dallying is good advice, anyway. Advertisement It also means to keep an eye out. "Us vs. Them" thinking is a slippery slope, and few threats look the same every time around. The only thing amiss about the Brussel's bombers were that two of them wore one glove each. It was a simple ruse that, some officials now believe, hid detonation devices. But it is these subtle clues that we now need to watch out for. And the US State Department has the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP), a free service to allow U.S. citizens and nationals traveling abroad to enroll their trip with the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate, should anything go south once you are actively traveling. If such a misfortune does happen, American officials will know beforehand you are in the danger zone and can sweep in fairly quickly, be it anything from a terrorist attack to a tsunami. The logos of Airbnb Inc. sit on banners displayed outside a media event in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Monday, July 27, 2015. Airbnb is hoping to spread its unique brand of hospitality throughout Africa. Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg via Getty Images Let's get this out of the way: Airbnb is fairly amazing. These days, with the click of a button, you're at home pretty much anywhere around the globe, whenever you want to be. For those who can't stop exploring, it's easier than ever to stay mobile at a price that's often remarkably affordable. Yes, Airbnb is terrific -- until it's not. Airbnb is still largely illegal in some cities -- New York has been fighting with the company for years. Amsterdam is currently clamping down, hard. In many destinations, hosts choose to ignore building and municipal rules regarding short-term rentals, asking their guests to straight-up lie if confronted by neighbors. Many cities haven't yet figured out how to collect taxes, giving hosts a major advantage over local hotels that they have in no way earned. Then, of course, there are Airbnb's own fees, which can be downright punishing to the budget traveler. Advertisement Finally -- after all that! -- there's your actual stay. It doesn't matter how taken you are with the low, low price of that flat in Paris. With Airbnb as with anything, you typically get exactly what you pay for. Sometimes, a whole lot less. After a number of years weighing the pros and cons, I find my enthusiasm for Airbnb waning, more than just a little. I'm still loving life on the road, but for much of 2016, I've opted to find housing through different channels. Here are five reasons why. #1 Everyone's full of it. I'm all for the site's policy of hosts being able to publicly review their guests, but with positive feedback crucial to both parties' continued success on the site, serious site users are sometimes forced to lie through their teeth. I've been in situations where I've wanted to buy billboards to warn people off certain hosts and listings. Instead, I've ended up leaving no review at all, simply because I don't want to poke the bear. Many users feel the same way -- this is how too many average listings become "amazing" and how an indifferent host becomes "the best ever." A good 50 percent of the time, I find that reviewers are either completely ignoring or straight up lying about issues I'd loved to have been made aware of beforehand. #2 Too many hosts don't know how to clean a house. Over a four-year period, I've lost track of how many homes I've stayed in where they -- from the flakiest noob to Superhosts with hundreds of five-star reviews -- hadn't properly dusted or picked up the pet dander. Windowsills black with soot, air conditioners gummed up with junk, central air ducts that belched out particulate matter, dust bunny farms under the bed -- I've seen it all. Over and over (and over!) again. In my case, this means that I either take pricey allergy medication every night or I don't sleep well. I'm done hoping for the best -- if a unit isn't professionally (or at least properly) cleaned between guests, I won't book. Advertisement #3 In many destinations, Airbnb can be poor value for short stays. From the Pacific Northwest in the winter to Mexico City anytime, never assume that Airbnb is the most cost-effective route. Outside of the high season, I can typically get a clean, quiet hotel room within walking distance of the seawall in Vancouver for the same or less than a dank, cheaply-decorated basement suite in a boring residential area far from the Skytrain, while in places like Mexico City, there are decent budget properties near the Alameda that easily beat out yet another poorly-insulated Condesa flat where the hot water only works on alternating Tuesdays. Then there are cities like Portland, Ore., where taxes are now so considerable, it's foolish to not cross-check with hotel rates, particularly during low season. Simply: For stays of less than a week, always check hotel rates. At the very least, you'll have a better understanding of how much you're saving with Airbnb. #4 Some smart hosts now cross-post to HomeAway/VRBO (now the same company), Booking.com and Priceline (also now the same company), making Airbnb less useful. See something you like on Airbnb? Before booking, see if it's listed somewhere that doesn't charge Airbnb's hefty fee. Even with the most flexible of policies, canceling an Airbnb stay won't get you the fee back -- I recently lost nearly $100 when nixing two relatively cheap, short-term stays that offered fully flexible terms. Incidentally, I'd cancelled them when a vastly-superior long-term opportunity came up through HomeAway. There, I was offered a full refund if I decided to cancel, as long as I did so 30 days in advance. That's a lot better than Airbnb's long-term cancellation policy: I'd have lost every penny of the first months rent, even if I changed plans months ahead of my stay. #5 Too many hosts have no idea what hospitality means. From row houses in deepest Baltimore to ocean view homes in sunny Southern California, Airbnb has allowed me to meet amazing people in all sorts of different places, seriously wonderful human beings who think nothing of opening their homes and hearts to strangers. It's an inspiring experience. Also, it almost never happens. In my experience, you're far more likely to meet people who really, really need to make money. They'll rig up every closet and garage space and spare room, pimp it out for a quick buck, watch travelers lap it right up and get furious with people like me who say, hold on, wait a minute, are you serious? From the Venice Beach loft hastily split into a duplex, where a barely-papered window in the shared wall allowed the neighbors to peer into my living room while sitting on their toilet (no, seriously) to an overpriced guest cottage in Portland that offered sweeping views of beer-swilling hipsters on an unapproved, multi-day team building exercise in and out of the main house while hosts traveled overseas, to countless grotty rooms everywhere, each with a cheaper Ikea bed than the last, I've had so many experiences I never want to repeat, let alone relive, I sometimes wonder: Is this relationship worth saving? Advertisement Salma and her 11-year-old child were buying bread near their home in Syria when they were abducted by members of Assad's regime. Driven to an unknown location an hour away, Salma and her son were greeted by an army of men who physically and sexually assaulted them for the next two weeks. Fearing the risk of reprisal, Salma remains too afraid to explicitly state she was raped. She does, however, recount being hit on her head every day. She does remember her son being dragged across the floor amidst tears of desperation. I spoke with Salma on the phone yesterday, six months after they escaped Syria and fled to Jordan, and she and her son still have not seen a mental health professional for their post-traumatic stress disorder. They cannot afford to do so. Joke: One man says to his colleague, "How are you?" "In a word," he replies, "good." "In two words, not good." This month marks the 10-year birthday of Twitter, the social media platform that limits our reports, reactions and responses to 140 characters. Twitter has spread like wildfire with close to 1 billion subscribers worldwide. That is more than half of the computer-using world. Advertisement The problem with Twitter is its limits. 140 characters cannot describe, detail or delineate most scenarios in life. In fact, Twitter has ushered us into an age of staccato answers that lack nuance. We have devolved; instead of hashing things out, we sum up things with hashtags. I find that criminal since the world we live in has more layers than ever before. #Damnyoutwitter! Indulge me to share a few examples with you. I loathe Donald Trump but I am a staunch supporter of AIPAC. I found myself in a conundrum when the organization near and dear to my heart invited all candidates for President of the United States to speak at their annual conference. After thoughtful deliberation, I decided to stay for Trump's speech and promised myself I would not applaud for anything he said until he uttered the following: "In a world where we make firefighters our heroes, young boys and girls will dream of being firefighters when they grow up. In a world where we make athletes our heroes, young boys and girls will dream of being athletes when they grow up. And in a world where we make suicide bombers our heroes, young boys and girls will dream of being suicide bombers. So we must stop making these people martyrs and heroes and all leaders must condemn these despicable acts of violence." Any civilized and democratic society would agree with that sentiment. In fact, those parameters of heroism might be the litmus test between good and evil in the world. Advertisement I agreed with every syllable Trump said in that statement. Inertia took over and I found myself rising to my feet and applauding loudly. Upon the conclusion of the session, I found that everyone with whom I interacted asked me, "Did you stay or leave for Trump? Did you clap or sit still?" The questions were crafted to seek one-word answers and inherently categorize me without hue or tone and offer no trace of nuance. I was provided no envelope for explanation. Some who had noticed my standing and clapping were dumbfounded; how could I be applauding anything but Trump's exit? Did this mean I support his candidacy? #helmeexplainthis Another example of a non-sound-bite situation happened about two weeks ago, approximately 6000 miles away. A knife-wielding terrorist threatening to attack a soldier in the town of Hebron was summarily killed. The knife was taken away from him and the threat neutralized. The Palestinian assailant lay subdued on the floor with his hands and legs spread, in a pre-arrest position. Another solider then took the judicial process into his own hands. He shot the 21 year-old in the head. The assailant died instantly. The country of Israel, along with those monitoring the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from afar, have quickly been divided into two factions: one which holds that the soldier is guilty for war crimes, along with the IDF for being in Hebron in the first place. The opposing faction exonerates the soldier from any wrongdoing, because he was defending the land from saboteurs. In Twitter talk it would read something like: 2 factions. Free the soldier or try him for murder. Is it possible to love Israel, support the IDF and condemn this heinous act of vigilantism? Can I be a part of both factions? #of2minds #confused #itscomplicated Advertisement As someone who has tuned into the issue of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict for as long as I can remember, I find myself torn. I love the IDF and the brave, young soldiers who not only defend the homeland of Israel, but de-facto, defend the Jewish people, worldwide. Each time I visit Israel the soldiers seem younger. I am 42 and question my decisions hourly. In Israel, we are bequeathing the morality of a 2,000-year-old religion and the stability of its homeland to an 18-year-old kid who potentially is staring down the barrel of a rifle at armed terrorists holding a baby as a human shield. His decision to shoot, or be shot is a judgment made in milliseconds that will hold with it the scrutiny of media outlets, the condemnation of governments across the globe or the consolation of heads of state. #nowin #loselose The world of politics is rife with examples of clipped answers and quickly-drawn conclusions too. Look no further than our commander in chief, Barrack Obama, the President one either hates or loves. Yes, it is that black or white. The Iran deal, the mistreatment of the Israeli Prime Minister, snubbing Bibi when he was in DC, skipping a visit to Jerusalem during his landmark trip to Cairo, and the list goes on, are all criteria that the anti-Obama crowd has marked up against the man. The divide amongst the pro-Israel community about this leader is wider than the crossing Moses maneuvered at the Red Sea. Yet, this week, that same President whose imminent exit from office caused people to rise in thunderous applause, signed legislation that prohibits Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel from European Union countries. The penalty for passing any BDS laws in Europe would now carry the penalty of losing the ability to trade with the United States. Most notably, it stops un-just economic warfare against Israel. President Obama's signature turned that bill into the law of the land. #justabilloncapitolhill Advertisement How can we properly modulate feelings about the President when those who dislike him still celebrate his decision to sign this bill? Perhaps we need more than just 140 characters to make our point? Can we support some decisions of President Obama and be disappointed in others? Do we have to be limited to one word answers like, "good" or two words, "not good" to explain the intricacies and layers of any situation or feeling? Can we transcend party affiliation or team allegiance when individual merit and distinct achievement warrant? Can we realize that with the due diligence necessary, which will indeed take more than 140 letters? This problem started long before Twitter. The sage Hillel who lived almost 2000 years ago, was once asked by a potential convert to Judaism to explain the entire Torah while standing on one foot. In consulting jargon, Hillel was asked to deliver an 'elevator pitch' about Judaism. In the social media world, it would be called, a 'tweet.' #contextualizing Hillel replied, (Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 31a) "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation of this--go and study it!" (132 characters) Just enough left over to tag a person with a short name or add and pithy hashtag. The fundamental part of Hillel's statement is forgotten. "Go and study it." That critical cog of the answer demands of us to unpack the layers of tradition, to explore the complexities of situations, to apply context to any text and to expand on statements with details and nuance. We cannot afford to forfeit explanation. If our world continues to become a mosaic of thoughts, opinions and ideas representing many faiths and passions, why should we seek to sum it all up in so few characters? #wewantnuancenow Police officers stand guard during a rally to celebrate the second anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea just off Red Square in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 18, 2016. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 after a hastily organized referendum not recognized by the United States and the European Union. A poster reads Fraternity and Unity. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev) Two years ago Russia detached Crimea from Ukraine. Since then the Western allies have huffed and puffed while imposing economic sanctions, but to little effect. Although Russia's economy has suffered, Vladimir Putin remains popular. Most important, Crimea just celebrated the second anniversary of its switch, with construction planned on a bridge to link the territory to southern Russia. No one believes Crimea, Russian until six decades ago, is going back to Ukraine. Yet the European Union recently called on other countries to join its ineffective boycott. Declared the European Council, one of the EU's multiple governing bodies: "The European Union remains committed to fully implementing its non-recognition policy, including through restrictive measures," and "calls again on U.N. member states to consider similar non-recognition measures." Advertisement The EU bars residents from financing or buying firms located in Crimea. The Europeans (and U.S.) also apply other, less severe restrictions on commerce with the rest of Russia. Although America's leading Asian allies have joined to penalize Moscow, most countries, including China, India and Brazil, have avoided the controversy. The vast majority of developing states have little trade with Russia and even less influence over its decisions. They aren't going to declare economic war on a faraway nation which has done nothing against them. Although Washington, with less commerce at stake, remains among the most fervent advocates of sanctions, Europe is divided over the issue. Many Europeans recognized that Russia's activities in Ukraine were all about Ukraine, not them, and saw no reason to penalize themselves in the midst of economic hard times in order to punish the Putin government. In early March the EU extended measures targeting individuals and companies close to Putin with asset freezes and travel bans, but opposition emerged to routine renewal in July of restrictions on Russia's banking, energy, and military industries. Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni announced: "We cannot take for granted any decision at this stage." Similarly, argued Hungarian Foreign Minister Pere Szijjarto, renewal "cannot be automatic" and must "be decided at the highest level." He added: "You cannot decide on sanctions by sweeping the issues under the carpet." Also skeptical of continued economic war are Cyprus and Greece. Moreover, farmers across Europe, suffering from retaliatory Russian measures, recently mounted protests in Brussels over lost trade. Advertisement The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Federica Mogherini backs continued sanctions, but last week hosted a gathering of foreign ministers of member states to discuss general policy toward Moscow. The issue almost certainly will end up on the agenda of June's EU summit. Sanctions supporters insist that Russia more fully comply with the Minsk peace process and end support for the separatist campaign in Ukraine's east. "Today Russia faces a choice between the continuation of economically damaging sanctions and fully meeting its obligations under Minsk," contended Secretary of State John Kerry. Yet the armed conflict has ebbed, political crisis fills Kiev, and some Ukrainians aren't sure they want the separatists back. Indeed, Oksana Syroyid, Deputy Speaker of Ukraine's Rada, has blocked passage of a constitutional amendment providing autonomy for the Donbas region, explaining: "We need to stop thinking of how to counter Putin, or how to please all our partners." Brussels faces the unpleasant possibility of Russia fulfilling its responsibilities while Ukraine breaks the deal. "Both sides need to perform," complained Germany Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Targeted sanctions have a certain appeal, hitting named individuals and concerns seen as consorting with evil. However, there is little evidence that they are more effective than broader measures. The latter have hurt the Russian public without turning them against their government. Moreover, Western penalties have discouraged, even reversed, liberalization of the Russian economy, as businesses have grown even more dependent on government support. Finally, people in allied states have suffered from lost markets due to Western sanctions and Russian retaliation. Which means the Europeans, in particular, have spent much to achieve nothing. The belief that imposing sanctions a little longer will force Moscow to capitulate reflects the triumph of hope over experience. The U.S. and EU are reinforcing failed policies, hoping that doing more of the same eventually will yield different results. Advertisement Rather than reflexively continue sanctions, the Western states should rethink their policy toward Russia. Vladimir Putin isn't a nice guy, but that hardly sets him apart. Russian democracy may be an oxymoron, but then, lack of civil and political rights never stopped Washington from backing Egypt, aiding Pakistan, or embracing Saudi Arabia. The Europeans have been similarly practical. Geopolitically Ukraine matters far more to Moscow than to Europe or America: that's a practical fact, not a moral judgment. Russia always will spend and risk more to protect its perceived security interests next door. And the West did much to challenge Moscow: encourage a "color revolution" in Kiev, pledge to include Ukraine in NATO, press Ukrainians to choose West over East economically, and encourage a street revolt against a democratically elected president. That still didn't justify Russia's brutal actions to dismember its neighbor, but Putin acted predictably and rationally. He is neither Hitler nor Stalin reincarnated, but a traditional Tsar. Indeed, Moscow acted like a pre-1914 great power, taking limited forceful steps to assert its interests and secure its borders. Russia's treatment of Ukraine holds few implications for Europe. Putin has never demonstrated a desire to swallow non-Russian peoples, which explains why he did not move on the rest of Ukraine, as predicted by some alarmists. He prefers Kiev independent, though weak and harmless, rather than part of Russia, convulsed by violent opposition to annexation. Moscow isn't going to invade the already harmless Baltic States or the highly independent Poles, let alone leading European nations further west. Why would he choose war for territories which would cause his government indigestion? Thus, the allies should negotiate their way out of the sanctions box in which they are stuck. They could drop economic war, promise to stop expanding NATO along Russia's border (most importantly, to Ukraine), reduce military support for Kiev, and encourage Ukraine to look both ways economically. Moscow could drop support for Ukrainian separatists, cooperate with restructuring Kiev's unsustainable debts, accept Ukrainian economic ties with the EU, hold an internationally monitored status referendum in Crimea, and accept whatever outcomes emerge from the messy Ukrainian political system. Kiev would have to recognize that it won't be part of the Western bloc. Of course, Ukraine is independent and free to decide its own future. But it is in a bad neighborhood--where it always has been, part of the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union for most of its history. The Ukrainian people should choose their own course while fully aware that no one in the West is prepared to initiate all-out economic war, let along military conflict, with nuclear-armed Russia over Kiev's status. Advertisement An appropriate model might be Moscow's neighbor Finland during the Cold War. The Finns maintained a prosperous democracy but avoided foreign alignments and got along with the Soviet Union, which could have swallowed the country in the aftermath of World War II. So-called "Finlandization" wasn't the best outcome. But it was the best achievable result. The U.S. and Europe shouldn't allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good in policy toward Russia. Maintaining economic sanctions won't cause Moscow to transform itself politically, abandon historic security interests, acquiesce in Ukraine's western turn, or disgorge Crimea. So what are the penalties supposed to achieve? At most they act as a moral statement, but one better made through other means. How should we measure career success? Happiness? Wealth? Work/life balance? Being able to contribute to society? Loving what you do for a living? A recent report by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce says career success is based primarily on earning potential. The research showed that while the more secure, non-manual-labor jobs are going to those with bachelor's degrees, the best--and most lucrative--careers most often go to college graduates who major in fields that include engineering and pharmaceutical sciences, rather than concentrations that encourage public service, such as social work and education. The study found that African Americans, in particular, are at a disadvantage because they often major in these lesser paying fields. Its authors went on to say that colleges should be encouraging African Americans to pursue careers that allow them to make the most money. While the report's authors agreed that it is hard to criticize anyone who wants to serve the community, they concluded that these majors just don't pay in America. Advertisement As the president of a major college whose mission is partially "to serve the general community," I am troubled by the sentiment that colleges should be urging African Americans to pursue more lucrative careers, to the exclusion of all else. Similar to the Obama administration's college scorecard which ranks institutions of higher education by the financial success of its graduates, it seems to me that this does not paint the full picture. Although it's certainly understandable that students may wish to pursue careers that they believe will maximize their lifetime earnings or future financial security, this should not be the sole, universal standard by which to choose a long term career path. To suggest that colleges should push students toward jobs based on earning potential alone is, at the very least, impractical. If students are not oriented toward math or science, they shouldn't be pushed into careers in finance or medicine, as they won't find fulfillment in the work and may become unemployed before long. A college's first priority is education. Our job is to impart values: of knowledge and mind-expansion; of right and wrong; of collaboration; of responsibility; of being an adult. Advice to Students So what should students actually be seeking as they make career choices? When I advise students, I give them four major points to consider: 1)Pursue a career based on your personal interests. One who enjoys his or her work is much more likely to excel and advance and also, to find fulfillment; Advertisement 2)Another critical factor is identifying your strengths, i.e. do something you're good at because that's a likely path to success; 3)Look at economic prospects of potential career paths. Research the expected salaries of careers under consideration and determine whether these will allow you to support the lifestyle you desire; 4)Factor in the ability to contribute to the community via a given career path, since most people derive great satisfaction from serving others. Each individual student must decide for himself how to weigh the above four considerations and which will figure larger in his calculation as he chooses a career. There are fields that enable service to society and financial success to coexist, but clearly there are some that won't and hard choices will need to be made. Where Does Income Inequality Fit in? While income inequality is rampant in the U.S. and minorities are hard hit by this very real trend, college grads do not often fall into poverty or near poverty levels. In fact, most college graduates find themselves solidly in the middle class, as recent studies have shown that the difference in lifetime wages between a college graduate and a high school graduate is $1 million. Advertisement Once people have earned a place in society's middle class, there is little correlation between income and happiness. Research shows that Americans who earn $50,000 per year are much happier than those who earn $10,000 per year, but Americans who earn $5 million per year are not much happier than those who earn $100,000 per year. So one's bank account is not directly tied to happiness. Finding meaning in life, having good social relationships, liking what you do--along with a good work/life balance--usually is. In Thomas Frank's "What's the Matter with Kansas?," the author notes that the voting habits of the state population of Kansas has shifted greatly in the last century, moving from staunchly liberal principles to those of conservatives. Frank opines that this transformation was a result of the Republican Party successfully, and illogically, convincing the people to vote on the basis of their social and cultural ideals, even though conservatives espoused policies that went against the people's mostly working-class economic interests. Without addressing the validity of Frank's opinion about whose economic policy is better for middle-class voters, Frank makes the same mistake as Obama's scorecard and Carnevale's Georgetown study. When measuring success, it's not all about the money. When it first launched, and even before that, there were hiccups with Boeing's 787 program. Many people will recall the battery issues and production delays. But that's all behind us, and the 787 is truly a revolutionary plane. The more you fly, especially on long flights, the more you notice the differences not just in cabin service but in the planes themselves. Every commercial aircraft model does some things better than others. The behemoth and unlovely Airbus A380 super jumbo, for example, rides more smoothly through turbulence than its smaller A321 cousin, and inside the cabin it's eerily quiet thanks to quieter engines and better soundproofing. But having recently completed several long-distance trips on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner I think I will seek it out from now on, whenever possible. My trips included a flight on a British Airways 787-9 from London to Austin, a 10-hour flight and a longer one on Norwegian from Los Angeles to London on a 787-8 and I loved every minute, mostly because I was better able to sleep. The seats in BA's World Traveller Plus (premium economy) were nicely padded and offered plenty of legroom and knee room, but the real show goes on in this plane's newly designed first class with its huge lie-flat seats and enormous 23-inch video monitors. Norwegian's 787 premium economy was also surprisingly comfortable, and I slept for a good six hours on my 11-hour flight. Advertisement Why do I love the 787? Wide open spaces The bigger windows and higher ceilings are the first things you notice when boarding. If you feel at all claustrophobic when flying, the spacious 787 cabin can help. Speaking of extra space, the big overhead bins mean you'll find room for your carryon. Excellent design choices all around. Better sleep on long flights Because the 787 is pressurized at about 6,000 feet rather than 8,000 feet, you'll breathe easier. More oxygen in your lungs means better sleep, less chance of headache, no difficulty breathing (flying at altitude is like sleeping at a ski resort). And because it's made of composites rather than aluminum Boeing can humidify the air more than in other planes (humidity doesn't affect plastic the way it does metal). So your contacts and nasal passages won't dry out as easily. Easier breathing and less irritation result in better sleep, and possibly less jet lag. You can hear announcements The 787 also has better cabin speakers so the public address system is easier to hear and understand. It's a smooth ride Boeing designed software to mitigate things that go bump in the flight. Its "gust suppression system" works with sensors and the rudder and flaps to reduce turbulence. If you get a chance, compare the ride on American's A321T (trans-con) planes, which I fly frequently between New York and LA. I love that new plane but it can be a bumpy ride over the Rockies, the Great Lakes, and other areas known for air turbulence. Advertisement Better lavatories Little things matter. The lavs in the 787 have motion-activated taps and flush, a self-closing toilet seat, and tabs on the seat to make opening it easier. Those window shades Electronic window shades might seem like a gimmick, but they allow the flight crew to darken all the windows centrally, preparing the entire cabin for sleep. And yes, they're pretty cool technologically as well. It's just a very pretty plane And let's face it, looks matter. The Airbus A380 is a very quiet, smooth-riding aircraft, but it's never going to win kudos for looks. The 787, however, especially the 787-9, which is 20 feet longer than the original 787, is just a gorgeous craft, with its sweptback wings and sleek lines. I imagine the forthcoming 787-10 will look even more svelte. One quibble, some airlines order their 787s with individual overhead air vents (airplanes are offered with options just like cars); but others don't. I like controlling the air flow myself. baby newborn sleeping on parents hands, kid and family concept. Mothers across the globe have a special bond, and we share our frustrations, outrage and tears. Our families have been torn apart by punitive prohibitionist drug war policies that have decimated the lives of our loved ones and robbed us of our innate and natural rights to protect our children. Our families are the casualties of the drug war. We've experienced too many precious lives lost and we've been stripped of countless human liberties. A generation of young people are growing up without a father in their home because he has been locked behind bars for a drug charge; parents are grieving the loss of children to accidental and preventable overdose; and there are empty chairs at dining room tables across the globe due to unfathomable human loss caused by drug war violence. We are coming together to speak out against the War on Drugs on April 18 in front of the United Nations in New York on the occasion of the UN General Assembly Special Session on Drugs (UNGASS). Our Moms United to End the War on Drugs campaign is mobilizing parents from 12 US states, and we are joining forces with family members from Canada, the UK, Afghanistan, Kenya, Belgium, Honduras, Mexico and the Philippines in solidarity to declare that the war on drugs must end. Advertisement When UNGASS met last in 1998 the slogan was "A Drug Free World - We Can do It." This unrealistic goal has failed miserably. The UN shapes international policy, so this is a rare opportunity. The slogan for UNGASS 2016 is "A better tomorrow for today's youth." Our global parent partnership is promoting peaceful alternatives to drug war strategies that will put family health and safety first, and we are being joined by other organizations such as GRASP (Grief Recovery After Substance Passing), Anyone's Child, the Drug Policy Alliance and Students for Sensible Drug Policy to reinforce that position. Families from the Caravan for Peace and Justice whose children have been "disappeared" and murdered by drug cartels will speak out with family members from the United States, sister to sister, mother to mother, father to father and brother to brother to declare that these tragedies must end. We will not be silenced by fear, stigma or shame. Parents who have lost their child to accidental overdose have suffered the additional twist of the sword of having their dead children stigmatized by blundering drug laws that criminalized that child for having the bad fortune of struggling with an addictive disorder. With 129 people dying of accidental overdose in the US every day, I find it unconscionable that there isn't more of an outcry about this. Yes, finally people are talking about it, but it wasn't until they realized that this tragedy was happening across the cultural economic spectrum and including white kids with promising futures, that people and politicians finally took notice. And, the overdose epidemic is a global problem. Parents are grieving these tragic losses all over the world. In the United States we must face up to the national disgrace and tragedy of mass arrest and incarceration. For two decades now I have been speaking out against the war on drugs, which has caused so much damage, not only to my own family but to families around the nation and across the globe. I have been saying that this is misguided and blundering policy, but we have long suspected that when President Nixon declared a war on drugs in 1971 (ironically the year my first son was born), there was a method to this madness. Now we know this wasn't mere paranoia. John Erlichman, White House Counsel to President Nixon, recently told a journalist that the drug war was based on lies about drugs. He admitted that the main purpose of the War on Drugs was to attack Nixon's political enemies: the anti-war left and black people. This war has been disproportionately targeting people of color and poverty for over 40 years, keeping a population of brown and black people marginalized and disenfranchised. The destruction to the fabric of our society is monumental, and with 2.3 million people incarcerated in America, it is indeed an ugly and open wound to the integrity of our nation. Advertisement Mother's day is approaching and I reflect on the awesome and daunting role of motherhood. I first became a mother 45 years ago, and when I held my beautiful first-born son I was struck with the magnitude of the miracle of life and realized that my own life had been forever and irrevocably changed...that I had taken on a mantle of protecting and nurturing this precious being forever. My two sons are beautiful and bright. They have both struggled with addictive illness for decades, and our family has experienced the pain of watching our children's health and happiness compromised by their illnesses and by an angry and punitive criminal justice system focused on retribution rather than restoration. My sons are survivors of both incarceration and accidental overdose, and our family has the scars of battling stigma and prejudice. But we are not defeated, and together we are speaking out, with first-hand experience, for compassionate and therapeutic drug policies. Motherhood is not a part-time or short-term commitment. It is a lifelong, complicated and ever-evolving relationship. I looked up the definition of womb recently, as I was trying to understand the ache I feel when my sons are struggling. "Womb: a protective and encompassing space - a place of origin and development." A mother's empty womb holds a visceral memory of enveloping and nurturing the miracle of new life, and when our children are in danger or pain, we feel that emotion deep within our bodies and souls...for life. April 18th is also the eve of the NY primary election. We fear that the importance of our human stories and our mission to end the global war on drugs will be lost in the blare of the political process. We challenge politicians and legislators to hear our voices, and to recognize that this is a global chorus of mothers and parents who are decrying the damage being done to our families, for the sake of the futures of all the children of the world. Advertisement Photo by Chiaralily as found on Flickr Creative commons "I don't usually share photos of myself..." I can't tell you how many times I've read this posted underneath a photo on Instagram or Facebook. A photo of a woman with a smile on her face against an amazing backdrop of a cool building or beautiful scenery. She probably also mentions how she doesn't look that good. In her caption she will blame the heat or the cold, a long hike, or the weather. Anything to explain why she doesn't look perfect, even though she looks great. Because, somehow, in an industry where we are supposed to search for adventure, get dirty, wet, muddy, and sweaty, we are also supposed to be beautiful. And, in a way, we are punished when we are not. Take a scroll thorough your Instagram feed and focus on the accounts of the top female travelers. How many of them post photos of themselves in a bikini? Check the likes on those photos and compare them to the numbers of likes on photos where they are more covered up. Notice a difference? Or what about the accounts that showcase female travelers? The ones that every travel girl tags in her favorite 'grams, the ones with thousands of followers. Take a look there and see how many bikini-clad or short-skirted women with perfect hair and flawless skin are featured. There's a lot, aren't there? Now look for the red-faced, sweaty ones with frizzy hair from hiking in the rain or humidity. It's near impossible to find them, and it's not because they don't exist. They do, and some of their photos are incredible. But the women themselves... well they aren't "pretty" enough in these photos to make the cut. Advertisement Don't get me wrong. I am not bashing these accounts or the women featured in them. I follow a lot of them and am as guilty as everyone else for liking and thinking that these photos, with their perfectly posed women, are beautiful. But are they real? Are they real in the sense that they are showcasing what life is really like for most female travelers? Do women actually sit with their breasts out, hips cocked to the side, and a sexy pout on their face? Do that many women actually wear makeup and straighten their hair to go to the beach? I don't, and nor do any of the female travelers I know. While I admire these photos for their aesthetics, I can't help but think that we have let artistry overcome reality. That these, admittedly stunning, photos buzzing around the internet have gotten out of hand and actually go against what I, and so many other bloggers and female travelers, are trying to do: encourage women to travel. We already live in a world where women doubt and dislike themselves and struggle to feel pretty and good enough in their everyday lives. By focusing so much on physical beauty, are we turning the travel industry into the next Hollywood or fashion runway? I'm afraid that we are. Photo by Emanuely Porto as found on Flickr Creative Commons A little over a month ago I wrote about my travels in Thailand. Not what I did or saw but how I felt. Because the truth is, as a curvy girl, I was scared to visit Thailand. I was afraid that my non bikini-body wouldn't fit in. That I would stand out too much, be teased and harassed for not looking the part. I'm thrilled to say it wasn't the case, but I was still apprehensive about it. Why? Because when I looked into Thailand I didn't see photos of bigger girls lying on the beach or exploring the jungles. I only saw photos of lithe, toned bodies in string bikinis and teeny shorts. Since publishing that article I've learned I'm not the only one. Women around the world choose not to visit certain places because they don't think they look the part. And it's not just places like Thailand. I've heard countless stories of women who avoid all beaches because they "aren't skinny enough." They would rather stay inland and avoid exploring some of the most beautiful places of the world because of fear. Fear that they don't fit in because of how they look. Advertisement That's not right. Nor is it true. But somehow, among all the filters, poses and prepping, we have allowed it to seem that way. Somehow the pretty girl smiling naturally on the beach in her bikini isn't sexy enough. The casually dressed girl walking through the cobblestone streets in Paris with the look of awe on her face isn't wanderlust-worthy enough. It's no longer enough to just capture happy moments. While they might be ok for your personal scrapbook those photos won't get noticed publicly. To do that they need to look like ads for a Victoria's Secret or a MAC cosmetics campaign. My complaint with this isn't just about making women feel unworthy and unwelcome. While I hate that so many women feel they can't travel because of their looks, feeling out of place isn't my only problem with this unnecessarily quest for beauty. Wherever I travel it seems that vanity has somehow bested cultural appreciation. I can't tell you how many times I've seen young women visit historic churches, ancient temples and even walk down the streets of more conservative nations dressed completely inappropriately. A few months ago I visited Chiang Mai's famous mountain-top temple, Doi Suthep, to discover two girls making a scene about having to cover their bare legs and shoulders. When they (finally) covered themselves up to enter I found them quickly taking off their shawls and scarves when they thought no one was looking to take photos in front of the gilded domes. I cringed at their insensitivity and rudeness, knowing that these photos would soon be blast over their personal social media accounts. And while I hoped that these particular photos wouldn't be shared or featured, I knew that those that did see them would see it as validation to do the same. How did this happen? How did going on an adventure become synonymous with looking like you walked out of the pages of a magazine? How did embracing new cultures get swept aside for the sake of a "perfect" photo? It's not just the bloggers and Instagram accounts to hold at fault, although in our hunt for more followers, likes, and better numbers, we definitely play a role. But it's also the travel companies, cruise lines, and tourism boards that run advertisements with perfect, airbrushed models. It's the clothing lines that design the "perfect travel wear," that looks like it belong in a nightclub and only runs up to a certain size. Travel is a massive industry, with multiple facets, and all are to blame. Advertisement But we can change that. Especially the bloggers, photographers, and videographers and the avid travelers who understand that travel isn't always pretty. That it's not even about being pretty, but about being empowered, about learning and embracing different cultures. We can help create the change needed. We can shift the focus to what really matters: the adventures, the thrills, the happiness and smiles that really are beautiful, even if they are accompanied by frizzy hair and sweaty skin. Let's focus on what women who travel are doing and not how they look while doing it. Because that's what is really sexy. PS: If you are a travel girl who isn't afraid to post your sweaty-faced, frizzy-haired photos of your epic adventures check out my new Instagram account dedicated to feature amazing female travelers in their natural glory: She_wants_adventure. You can use #shewantsadventure on your best travel pics to be featured. 22nd March. An ordinary day in the calendar for most people in Europe, at once transformed into the very symbol of fear and pain. As 56,000 passengers assembled at the Brussels International Airport on yet another seemingly ordinary day, little did they know that their busy life schedules were about to be wrecked forever by the horror that followed. So many people, from so many different spheres of human life, with so many places to go, at once reduced to screams and agony as two bombs went off one after another at the crowded departure hall just preceding the security checkpoint. A tragedy indeed. Then, just an hour later, yet another explosion occurred at the Maelbeek Metro Station, about 30 miles away from the airport. More wails, more bursts of painful agony, more innocent lives destroyed by the blood-soaked hands of terrorism. Did it accomplish anything except striking terror in the hearts of innocent men, women and children? Certainly not. But then again, that's all the terrorists wanted. The Islamic State has since claimed responsibility for this unnecessary act of violence. Killed, yes they have. But do they even possess the strength to return to all those people the lives they lost on the fateful day? This Sunday, over a week after the horrifying attack, the Brussels International Airport opened partially with high-profile security procedures. Employees hugged each other in respite as the first plane went off without incident. Soon enough, more people accumulated. The airport was abustle once again. But will it be enough? Advertisement Perhaps it won't be enough. Perhaps it never was. Perhaps that's why the terrorist attack went forward with such ease. It has been reported that authorities at the Brussels Airport were already warned of several security shortcomings weeks before the attack by Israeli security personnel. According to Israel's Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, Belgians were too busy "eating chocolate and enjoying life" to pay any attention to the brewing wave of Islamist terrorism happening under its nose. While this is hardly the time for Israel to go on the offensive against an oppressed nation, it has certainly worked hard to establish itself in a position to criticize a country on airport security. Having been in the war zones for far too long, Israel has developed an airport security system that is one to boast about, though a democracy in Europe would certainly find such a system difficult imitate. At the famous Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel has adapted a series of stringent entry procedures to filter out any terrorist activity miles away from the departure hall. All vehicles that wish to enter must pass through preliminary security, where armed officers search the vehicles and examine the passengers for any malevolent intentions. Plain clothed officers and surveillance cameras flood the entire region, monitoring the activity of every single person on board. Weight sensors, trunk x-ray and undercarriage scans are used to examine every vehicle, while traditional metal detectors are used to scan every person and every luggage. Focusing on the human factor in terrorist attacks, Israel creates a network of security systems that is bound to capture even the slightest human error made by a terrorist on the move. Further, advanced machinery is available to armed guards to combat any threat upon detection. Advertisement While the security may certainly make the airport a safe haven, it also has a number of downsides which prevent most European countries from recreating it. The system is largely unsuitable for huge airports, where there will be delays and blockages around every corner throughout the elaborate security check. Further, Israeli security is highly dependent on racial profiling, something which is a serious no-no in any democratic nation. Is Bernie Sanders having his Trump moment? While the Sanders campaign should have been celebrating his victory in the Wisconsin primary, it was suffering from a barrage of negative media coverage of his disappointing interview with the New York Daily News editorial board. (Remember Trump's foreign policy interview with the New York Times last month?) If you haven't read any of the Sanders interview, I suggest you do. Opinions vary, but for the most part, major newspapers, magazines and political sites have criticized his lack of knowledge on the centerpiece of his campaign: taking Wall Street to task and breaking up the banks. He was also taken to task for his unsettling answers on Israel, ISIS, and Sandy Hook and guns. Overall, he sounded out of his depth. Sanders has injected a lot of important ideas into the campaign. I agree with him that we have a moral obligation as a country to try to rebalance our economic scales. But the question for me has always been, how would he do it? What are the plans behind his big, sweeping statements? And how would he galvanize Congress to work with him? The interview didn't answer those questions - it raised more. Advertisement Sanders is finding out what it's like to be under the media microscope -- something Hillary Clinton has had to deal with since she was first lady. As political analyst Mark Halperin tweeted, "if Hillary gave answers like this to ed board, she would be crucified." Amen. I'm always amazed at how much hate gets hurled her way. The insults and accusations have been shot from the Right for the whole of her career, and now they're coming from Sanders fans. But if you do your research -- or just read this article -- you'll be reminded why she is the most capable and accomplished candidate in the ring, and why she has the relationships and gravitas to be president of the United States. So without further ado, a little love for candidate Clinton. Champion of women: Throughout her career and especially as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has worked with women here and around the globe to improve their plight. She has met with world leaders and the disenfranchised and voiceless to better understand the struggles women face, give voice to those struggles, and fight for justice. Just listen to Meryl Streep introduce Secretary Clinton at a Women's World Summit in 2012. She explains how deeply Clinton has touched women throughout the world, and how effectively she has changed the conversation around women's rights. Foreign Policy expert: With everything that's going on in the world, we need a president who knows what she's doing, and knows everybody. Focus all you want on her email server, but you're missing the much bigger picture. "Nearly every foreign policy victory of President Obama's second term has Secretary Clinton's fingerprints on it," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told Politico. Those victories include killing Osama bin Laden, the new START Treaty with Russia, normalizing relations with Cuba, and restoring our leadership, alliances and reputation overseas after the Bush administration did so much damage - a long, painstaking and multi-pronged effort. Advertisement Deal Maker: Clinton had a leading role in the daunting effort to get China, Russia and Europe to agree to crippling sanctions against Iran. "Hillary Clinton was the principal author of the sanctions on Iran that brought them to the table," says Howard Dean, former Democratic Party Chairman and Vermont governor. That statement has been echoed by many other Democrats. She also personally negotiated a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Coalition Builder: It's one thing to have voters behind you, but you need Congressional allies to get legislation passed. Hillary Clinton has infinitely more support from senators, representatives, governors and state legislators than Bernie Sanders. Even Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy has endorsed Clinton rather than his fellow Senator Sanders. Call it business as usual, but the reality is the president needs allies in Congress to get anything done. Period. Unflappable HRC: If you haven't watched any of the hearings before the Congressional Select Committee on Benghazi, do it now. They grilled her for eleven hours. It was a witch-hunt meant to discredit her campaign. But she stood up to the GOP bullies led by Congressman Trey Gowdy. As much as they tried, they couldn't rattle her - she never cracked under pressure. Isn't that a quality we want in the leader of the free world? Advocate for children: From her days with the Children's Defense Fund, to her work in the White House, to her tenures as New York Senator and Secretary of State, Clinton has always championed the causes of children. She was a critical player in the Adoption and Safe Families Act. And though some foes have tried to discredit Clinton's claims that she was instrumental in securing health insurance for millions of kids, Factcheck.org says she absolutely deserves the credit for SCHIP, or CHIP. Team Player: "Clinton has been raising money for other races; Sanders hasn't, and is still being evasive on whether he will ever do so," Says NY Times columnist Paul Krugman. There's not going to be a Sanders revolution if Congress remains in the hands of the GOP. Yes, Clinton is trying to get herself elected, but she is also working to help the broader party. Advertisement After Donald Trump played dumb by saying he did not "know anything about David Duke or white supremacy", most Republican condemnation of their frontrunner totally missed the point. Unlike Ben Sasse, and even Mitt Romney, who took moral stances against Trump following his ambivalence towards white supremacy, other Republican politicians balked at the frontrunner losing them elections, not at the prospect of supporting a race baiter. For example, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) said, "We can't have a nominee be an albatross around the down-ballot races... That's a concern of mine." Following Trump's failure to condemn David Duke, Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson said he, "prays every night" that the Republican presidential nominee "is a person of integrity, intelligence, ideas, and courage." However, like so many other GOP politicians, he now too has "no problem supporting whoever the Republican primary voters select as our nominee." He added, "I just remind everybody that it will be a comparison. Would they rather have Hillary Clinton sitting in the Oval Office?", citing Hillary's email server "investigation" and Benghazi. Advertisement Meanwhile on February 22, 2016, would-be candidate Donald Trump said about a protester in Las Vegas, "I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks." What Trump means is that in the "good old days" his people would have black protesters demonstrating against the killing of unarmed black youth hanging from a tree. Trump's most visible protesters are the Black Lives Matters movement, some of whom have been violently assaulted by his supporters at mostly white rallies while Trump ironically bemoaned, "Whatever happened to the freedom of speech?" But of course Trump is someone who thinks that race "shouldn't matter", he explained, while chastising Chris Matthews for pointing out that many blacks and Latinos live in Chicago after Trump cancelled his rally there. This is a typical conservative tactic that is also used by Trump's horrendous supporter Jeffrey Lord, who has been masquerading on CNN as a "contributor". After his candidate hesitated to disavow the Ku Klux Klan, Lord argued with Van Jones, who is African American, about the Klan, ludicrously saying, "We're all Americans here, Van. This is what liberals do. You are dividing people by race." You could bring up anything, even Genocide to Jeffrey Lord, and he would still fire back a canned line about Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton and how you are displaying typical Democratic divisiveness by acknowledging the ugly, unforgivable racism of the Trump campaign. Donald Trump is truly despicable; he race baits to make opportunistic political gains and revels in the resulting violent chaos he has provoked. After all, this is the candidate who hoped that the recent violence at his rallies would earn him more votes. Then, after doing everything he can to guarantee conflict, Trump claimed that he did not "want to see the real violence", which is why he said his Chicago rally was cancelled. If not for security concerns, this was surely another ploy meant to increase his supporters' sense of victimization. Trump manipulates the emotions of white voters who have gotten the short end of the deal to feel that their rage and fear are legitimate and that they need him. He vilifies his protesters using heavily racialized language: "Some of these protesters are extremely dangerous, extremely physical." On March 11th in Saint Louis, Trump bemoaned that "nobody wants to hurt each other anymore." Advertisement I don't know anyone who's ever seen a unicorn, the end of a rainbow, and most don't believe in magic. These phenomena conjure up the words "myth," "surreal," and even "impractical." But my unshakeable belief in unicorns has helped me overcome insurmountable challenges. Before you write me off, do read on. Since childhood, I've believed in things I cannot see. I believe that we are born pure spirit energy and then we become so immersed in our human being-ness, we forget that we are from God, and take on ideas that limit us. As an entrepreneur, daily, I am confronted with choices -- to follow the rainbow or be practical; to chase the unicorn or settle for the bird in the hand; to pursue that desire to make magic, or stick with the status quo; to give up... or believe. I studied several successful entrepreneurs and two things they all have in common are -- 1) they're empathic, and 2) they have a drive to manifest that "unicorn" of an idea no one has before, or that others don't have the chutzpah to pursue. Therein lies the gifts: heart. and the spark of ingenuity, otherwise known as the belief in unicorns, rainbows and miracles. I spotlight three stories below. Advertisement She believed in the Rainbow. Marissa Levin is a 20-year entrepreneur. This powerhouse has built two businesses -- Information Experts and Successful Culture. She is a mother to two teenage boys, has been married for 25 years, is a best-selling author, and speaker. She's a leadership columnist for Inc. Magazine and was selected to participate in Microsoft's Women's Business Summit. People see accolades, discipline and drive when they think of her. However, she has overcome tremendous adversity. What propels her are her faith in a Higher Power, belief in achieving the impossible, and knowing that at the end of every challenge lies a rainbow. "I begin every day from a place of gratitude. I know my capacity for growth and resilience is unlimited; that I'm stronger than my challenges; and that spiritually, faith and fear cannot co-exist. My greatest life is ahead of me." She believed in Unicorns. Mali Phonpadith is an entrepreneur, author, speaker, with 19 years experience; producer of Tea with Mali TV and Host of SOAR Community Network Podcast. As the CEO of SOAR Community Network (SCN), she offers businesses marketing and IT consultation, and develops legacy-driven leaders. Mali's family escaped from Laos, in a boat, across the Mekong River, when she was four years old, seeking safety at the shores of a Thai refugee camp. Today, Mali's belief in unicorns -- the unseen gifts in others -- is her business model -- she helps others discover their unique gifts, uncover their brilliance and share them with the world. On May 6th, she hosts the inaugural SOAR Community Summit, where more than 50 national experts will share insights on legacy driven leadership. She Believed in Magic. Dr. Jennifer Sims has more than 13 years experience as a chiropractor, and is the mother of two boys. She channeled lessons learned from personal challenges into Blue Sky Health and Wellness, where she incorporates emotional and physical healing. Her determination and belief in miracles, have made her a sought after physician. Her business model was built on her unique view of the future of holistic health -- one that incorporates empathy and love, not just spreadsheets and business plans. This unconventional way of thinking, sprinkled with fairy dust, magic and miracles drives her success. Advertisement Marissa, Mali and Jennifer are real women with goals, dreams and challenges. Experts can teach you how to write, market, network, but it's remarkable when you meet entrepreneurs driven by faith in the impossible (the rainbow), the desire to find something that doesn't exist (the unicorn) and who conjure up miracles (the magic). Some might wonder about the practicality of building a business centered around such esoteric beliefs. As entrepreneurs, we focus on the bottom line, value, quality, superior products, expertise, board approvals and endorsements from peers. Really, how mainstream is the idea of launching an innovative zinger of a business, built on empathy, magic, unicorns and rainbows? The thing is, global consciousness is shifting towards breakthrough ways of doing business. I spoke with entrepreneur, Laura Hollick, who built a six-figure business based on our most fundamental human need -- love. To some people, graffiti and street art are a nuisance and an eyesore. To others, it's a way of bringing artistic expression to the public. There was a time when street art and graffiti was pretty much banned in in Bogota. But today, it's so popular -- and accepted -- that the local scene has attracted artists from around the world and inspired multiple city tours that focus solely on this very visible art form. This photo collection shows just a bit of what's happened in the years since the art form took hold, as some parts of the city have become veritable open-air modern art museums. During my recent trip to Colombia, I spent several days in the capital city of Bogota looking for new things to cover for my Latin America travel blog, LatinFlyer.com. To get a ground-level view of the city's creative side, I signed up for a tour with Bogota Graffiti Tour, a company run by a group of artists and art fans. Surprisingly, the 2.5-hour tour -- which departs twice a day from Parque de los Periodistas, a downtown park -- is free, although they do request donations at the end. The tour focuses mostly on public creativity in La Candelaria, the historic city center, where there is so much artwork that, according to our guide, Bogota has become one of the 10 best cities in the world for graffiti and street art. If you enjoy modern art and architecture, you'll likely enjoy the Bogota Graffiti Tour. And even if you don't know much about the subject, this excursion provides an excuse to see streets and sections that you won't see on most Bogota city tour. And at the end of the tour, you can follow the guide back to a small shop that serves as headquarters for the tour company, and also stocks items created by some of the city's most famous street artists. Advertisement Even if you don't take a guided tour, it's hard not to notice the street art in Bogota, since it pops up in many neighborhoods throughout the city. The work tends toward bold visuals, with strong colors and imaginative images, but political statements aren't as common, for the most part. In some cases, the artwork may be small, in other cases, it may envelop an entire building. Sometimes, the street art covers an abandoned building, bringing new life to an otherwise ugly piece of real estate. In other spots, it graces buildings that are inhabited by residents or businesses. And often -- especially in the case of larger works -- the building or business owner may even commission an artist to decorate the structure. Thousands, millions of people are fleeing daily from their countries due to wars looking for a new opportunity in Europe. This scene is a personal representation of refugees trying to cross a fence while having a speeding train. Across the fence and they tend hands that can start a new life in other countries. Europe is struggling with a refugee crisis of epic proportions. Whether the various efforts to stem the tide will bring about a significant drop in the number of immigrants is yet unknown. But what already is clear: Germany, which has taken the brunt of the immigrants in Europe, has a Herculean task. A successful integration of the refugees may even decide over the political stablity of the largest country in Europe's center. At recent elections on a regional level the newly founded xenophobic party "Alternative for Germany" (AfD) garnered so many votes that they were able to make the leap into all three regional parliaments that were at stake. In the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt the right-wing AfD collected almost a quarter of the votes. Support for the AfD is an expression of the uneasiness many Germans show when they think about the way the German society may change due to the many immigrants. In order to stop that tectonic political shift, integration has to work. Otherwise the AfD will become even more powerful. Advertisement Many German communities are already suffering under the weight of the immigrants. Some 1.1 million refugees came into Germany in 2015. Even if a substantial number will not be allowed to stay and are sent back home (which is in doubt) the integration task is huge. In addition, many of the asylum seekers already in Germany want to bring their relatives. Therefore, the number of immigrants will very likely multiply. The key element for integration is learning the (somewhat complicated) German language. Some estimates put the number of teachers needed at 20,000. But where will they come from? In a society that for decades was experiencing a decline of its population, becoming a teacher was not considered a particularly safe bet. Now all of a sudden it is teachers Germany needs. At the same time, establishing a fast track for training and promoting inexperienced or retired teachers encounters bureaucratic hurdles. Efforts to increase the salary for teachers of integration courses so far have fallen flat. At one of the many Berlin language centers one recent Friday morning, two teachers were sitting in a room doing interviews with refugees. They have fifteen minutes for each applicant. The refugees outside the room are waiting to be called in. During that time the teachers have to find out which course level is appropriate. Many refugees, illiterate in any language, have been sent to what is called an "alphabetization" course. Another group has oral knowledge but is missing writing skills. And then there are few who know English or German well. This is specifically true for refugees from Syria who have often enjoyed a rather good education. "Some of the refugees do not even show up for the appointment", one of the teachers, who does not want her name published, says. "Others come here with a very demanding manner. They are convinced that they are entitled to immediately get what they want." Advertisement After the traumatic experiences the refugees have gone through, learning a foreign language turns out to be much more difficult. During the language classes emotions may flare-- and teachers need to know how to handle. In addition, for those who have lived for years under the conditions of a civil war or in refugee camps, it is hard to relate to the concept of learning: To concentrate and focus, to understand and implement. Time is required -- very often much more time than the administrators of the language courses anticipate. Among the refugees, one group causes the most concern: the unaccompanied youth. Their number is estimated at roughly 67,000 -- and they are almost all male. These young immigrants are between 14 and 18 years old, not accompanied by parents or relatives, and have risked everything to make it to Germany. They have the clear-cut mission to either pave the way for other members of the family to follow suit or at least to quickly earn money and send their earnings back home. Johannes Fischer, head of a regional youth office in Rosenheim, Bavaria, in an interview, recently said of this group: "Initially we had been somewhat euphoric." Euphoric because those young refugees are motivated and willing to learn. A couple of months later he was disillusioned. "Today we know: Even many of the best ones do not succeed." Why? Many of the immigrants coming from Somalia, Eritrea or Afghanistan are uncompletely uneducated. Therefore, only a handful can cope with the challenges of integration. Will this group help overcome Germany's demographic problems? Fischer's answer is unambiguous: "No, not this generation". All of this is happening with the backdrop of the fact that Germany should be well aware of the trouble a lack of language knowledge can cause. Of the more than three million Turks living in Germany since the 1970s, at least 20 per cent do not have sufficient language skills. A possible future scenario is this: Immigrants stay within their communities, do not mix much with Germans and build a ghetto-like subculture. A subculture which -- in the worst case -- can become the perfect breeding ground for radicalism as one can observe in the Muslim dominated quarter Molenbeek in Brussels Advertisement Hoping to avoid the above, the German government is spending billions of Euros to finance integration efforts. According to the German Ministry of Finance, integration efforts in 2016 will cost roughly 10 billion euros. After arriving in Germany, every asylum seeker undergoes the same procedure. He or she applies for asylum, the application is examined and it is decided whether the applicant will receive asylum status or not. If accepted, persons granted asylum and those granted refugee status receive a temporary residence permit and are given the same status as Germans within the social insurance system. Those immigrants are entitled to social welfare, child benefits, integration allowances and language courses among other things. If an application is turned down, the refugee can object and ask for a review of the decision. If again unsuccessful, the refugee must leave Germany. During the time leading to a decision in the asylum process, refugees get housing, food, clothing and a monthly allowance of 143 Euros. Eligibility for language instruction is dependent on multiple factors. It makes a major difference whether an immigrant is from Syria or, say, Kosovo. Because Syria is considered unsafe, Syrians do not face repatriation -- no matter their status in the asylum process. For migrants from Kosovo, Albania, Serbia and many other countries, the situation is different. Those refugees also get welcome perks but they do not automatically qualify for state-funded language courses, work permits or better housing. Will those not accepted for asylum status be sent back? So far, the number of returned refugees is low. Official figures are difficult to obtain but probably did not exceed 25,000 in 2015. To increase that figure, politicians are asking to add more names to the list of countries considered safe. Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, for instance, are slated to be labeled safe. Now here comes the catch: Even if those countries are determined safe, the respective governments may be unwilling to take their own people back. Advertisement Although the German government has started to exert pressure on those governments by threatening to cut development aid -- until now the results of these actions have not proven to be very effective. So what to do with immigrants that are not entitled to stay in Germany but cannot be returned? Refugees from the Maghreb countries are causing additional concerns since their cultural background vary so much from European norms that integration is considered especially difficult. Much hope now rests on the German job machine to do most of the integration work. Having a job is seen as the best integration tool. As long as the economy runs smoothly, a large number of the refugees can probably find a job. Critics, however, claim that unskilled immigrants are not what the German labor market is looking for. Clemens Fuest, president of the well-known Ifo-Institute for economic research in Munich, is constantly sending out warning signals. "We should not live under the illusion that we can turn the refugees into skilled employees any time soon." And he has another warning: "Let's not water down our worldwide acknowledged education system." By Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, Medical Discovery News Have you noticed in the past few years, we seem to be continuously assaulted by microbial menaces? Some years back it was SARS, which set off a global panic. People were screened for fevers at many major international airports. Then came the West Nile virus, which started from a single case in New York and in a matter of years marched across the U.S. Who can forget the avian flu or swine flu, which happened around the same time? More recently, the MERS virus has emerged, with outbreaks in the Arabian Peninsula and then whole villages in Korea. We are just now reaching the end of the devastating Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Even if you're not an alarmist, it's hard to ignore the threat of these new microbial menaces. The latest is one that we are beginning to know well is Zika. While it sounds like the name of a modern Scandinavian rock band, this virus was first isolated in 1947 in Uganda. It emerged in the Pacific Islands before it spread to Brazil, and it's rapidly spreading through two dozen countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America. Now, cases of Zika have been confirmed in the U.S. and Europe in people who have recently traveled to an outbreak area where the virus is spreading. Individuals can also become infected after direct contact with someone who has just returned from one of these areas. What makes public health officials in America highly concerned about this virus is that it is spread by mosquitoes called Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that are common in the eastern and southeastern United States. Advertisement There is accumulating evidence that Zika infection in pregnant women leads to birth defects, most notably microcephaly. This means Zika could potentially threaten thousands of unborn fetuses. The images of the babies afflicted by this disorder, which causes abnormally small head sizes, are heartbreaking. But the damage to babies born to a mother who was infected is not limited to this highly visible birth defect. There is emerging evidence that Zika can cause other neurological problems. In a recent study of 42 fetuses from women testing positive for Zika, 12 babies showed a range of neurological problems. Seven had lesions in the central nervous system, five had issues with brain development and an additional two were stillborn. The neurological lesions are devastating and lead to significant developmental issues. Mothers who become infected with Zika immediately become part of a high-risk pregnancy group. Evidence now suggests that Zika infection is associated with neurological disorders in children and adults as well. Most adults who become infected with the Zika virus don't experience symptoms, and it's usually mild for those that do. They have symptoms such as joint pain, fatigue and low fever, which usually last two to seven days. Some adults however can develop Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder. However, women who are pregnant or want to become pregnant in the near future should avoid Zika-infected areas, and men who've traveled to Zika-infected areas should refrain from unprotected sex for at least two months since the virus can be transmitted sexually. Currently, there are not any treatments or vaccines for Zika, so hang on, we are in for a bumpy ride this summer and beyond. Advertisement Waffles have been popular part of American food culture since they arrived stateside in the 1700s. A tasty tradition brought over by Belgian immigrants, the humble waffle has risen to celebrity status over the past few years, popping up in gourmet restaurants from coast to coast, topped with everything from caviar to fried chicken. And it makes (awesome) culinary sense. The patterned confection -- made into its characteristic shape by cooking dough between two hot checkerboard-patterned plates -- is the perfect vessel for carrying both sweet and savory goodies. Whether you're a sucker for a classic with maple syrup or itching to try a more inventive take, here are 11 waffle dishes that'll make you go bananas: Photo provided by Yona. Photo by Greg Powers. Yona delivers a savory variation of the typically sweet breakfast food, serving waffles with uni (sea urchin), a schmear of taramasalata (cured roe spread) and a touch of caviar to share at dinner. Photo provided by The Winchester. Advertisement Easy on the eyes and on the palate, the Liege Waffle at The Winchester oozes with juicy blueberries and dollops of cream. Photo provided by The Sinclair. A standout selection on The Sinclair's New American brunch menu, the Waffle Bar offers sweet and savory options depending on your preference -- toppings include bananas, caramel, pecans, fried chicken, berries, bacon and Marshmallow Fluff -- plus a waffle flight delivering mini versions that are perfect for sharing. Photo provided by The Pig. A Southern-fried comfort classic, the Chicken & Waffle at The Pig, prepared with Mikie B's fried Tennessee hot chicken, honey butter and dill pickles, is a popular selection on the pork-centric brunch menu. Photo provided by Little Park. Photo by Noah Fecks. A lovely complement to the freshly pressed juices and brunch cocktails at Little Park, the Multigrain Waffle wows with walnuts and seasonal strawberries. Advertisement Photo provided by Amis Trattoria. Treat yourself to Amis Trattoria's rustic, Roman-style dishes and mouthwatering desserts, including the Belgian Style Waffle with Nutella, vanilla semifreddo and toasted hazelnuts. Photo provided by The Franklin Room. The ideal end to a comforting, flavorful American meal, the Waffles and Ice Cream dessert at The Franklin Room is served with fresh fruit, caramel and honey, plus a side of vanilla ice cream and puffs of whipped cream. Photo provided by Kapnos Taverna. Photo by Greg Powers. A sweet confection on the savory, island-style Greek brunch menu, the Greek Coffee Waffles at Kapnos Taverna are adorned with chocolate espresso beans, cinnamon butter and crema. Photo provided by Crossroads Kitchen. Crossroads Kitchen serves up an innovative vegan version of a traditional Southern meat dish, delivering fried "chicken" on waffles with warm maple hot sauce. Photo provided by Mussel Bar. Mussel Bar offers both sweet and savory brunch waffles to whet your appetite, preparing a Belgian Waffle with banana, hazelnut croquant (French for "crisp") and Nutella butter, as well as a Fried Chicken and Waffles dish with crispy natural chicken, chile butter and BLiS Bourbon Barrel maple syrup. Advertisement Photo provided by Kit Kat Lounge. A delicious brunch dish to cozy up to with a Bloody Mary, the Chicken and Waffles at Kit Kat Lounge is a hearty delight with fried chicken, waffles, cayenne maple syrup and potatoes. Russian Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a rally of his supporters at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow on February 23, 2012. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday vowed he would not allow foreign powers to interfere in Russia's internal affairs and predicted victory in an ongoing battle for its future. 'We will not allow anyone interfere in our internal affairs,' Putin said in a speech to more than 100,000 people packed into the stadium and its grounds at Moscow's Luzhniki stadium ahead of March 4 presidential elections. . AFP PHOTO/AFP PHOTO / YURI KADOBNOV (Photo credit should read YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images) Across the world, nations are seeking out leaders who promise strength. What explains the sudden resurgence of the autocrats, 25 years after the end of the Cold War appeared to have heralded the final triumph of liberal democracy? The answer unquestionably lies in the specific economic and political transformations that the world has undergone since. The autocrats have risen again in response to the very specific anxieties and displacements born of an increasingly globalized and digitalized world economy. Advertisement Liberal democracy is premised on coalition-building, on minority vetoes, on the atomization of power. It was, historically, the ideological product of a period in which nation-states could build up enormous power over the individual. But, today, the currents of the global economy have instead served to reduce the power of nation-states. The ability of capital to flow across borders has meant states struggle to maintain sovereign monetary and fiscal policies; the ability of individuals to cross the same borders has meant the notion of national community and shared values faces constant challenges; and the internationalization of ideas, whether of religious fanaticism or of "godless" popular culture, threatens shared national beliefs. The turn to national saviors in country after country reflects, perhaps, a desire to reinvent national power and salvage national pride in a world where nations seemed to be becoming irrelevant. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara, on April 6. (Turkish Presidency/Yasin Bulbul/Anadolu Agency/Getty) Naturally, almost all of these saviors, whether in the West or not, seek to restore a national pride somehow lost in the age of globalization. Erdogan consciously seeks to recreate the glory of the Ottoman Empire; Shinzo Abe, the grandson of a minister in Japan's wartime cabinet, is defensive of the record of the Japanese imperium; India's Narendra Modi constantly speaks of the glories of ancient Indian culture; and Vladimir Putin is building a cult of strong Russian potentates from Catherine to Peter to Stalin. Advertisement But there is more to them than that. Responding as they do to global currents, autocrats across nations also tend to share certain economic and social policy principles. On social matters, most promise to preserve and reinvigorate the national consensuses over public and private behavior that appear under threat from liberal minorities and permissive global culture. Putin presents himself as the defender of the Orthodox Church. Both Modi in India and Erdogan in Turkey challenge the liberal, secular regimes that monopolized power in their respective countries for decades. Even Abe of socially liberal Japan used his first speech as prime minister to call for "family values" in the educational system. The autocrats seek to restore a national pride somehow lost in the age of globalization. Part of the reason why autocrats strongly emphasize traditional values is also economics. Autocrats are often seen as figures who root out corruption. For societies undergoing economic turmoil thanks to technological or regulatory changes that are not easy to understand or internalize, all-pervasive corruption -- and the related suspicion that a network of elites are stealing your economic future -- can become a popular scapegoat. This corruption is interpreted as a sign of decay in the moral order, one that can be righted by the restoration of lost traditional values. The second characteristic is that today's autocrats are almost all economic nationalists. Many seek to roll back the deleterious impact of globalization on the state's power over the domestic economy. They are thus attached to national economic champions: Putin has ensured that Russia's great public resource monopolies serve as an arm of the Kremlin's power, for example. Modi has disappointed his free-market backers by refusing to privatize India's large and inefficient public sector; and in Egypt, general-turned-president Abdel Fattah Al Sisi has tried to ensure that enterprises controlled by the armed forces are the backbone of economic development. Market forces that transcend borders are uncontrollable by states; even free markets without free trade tend to decentralize power. If anything, today's autocrats are by and large "national capitalists." The Cambridge sociologist David Lane describes Putin's ultimate aim as "state-led corporate cooperative capitalism, having an electoral authoritarian shell." This could equally well describe the desire of many of his peers. Advertisement Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event in Milwaukee on April 4. (REUTERS/Jim Young) In most cases, strongmen are not ideologues. They are programmatic pragmatists, looking for specific interventions that serve national development and enhance their power. Electorally, their promise is "implementation" rather than policy leadership. Thus the economics behind their pledges can border on the magical -- from Donald Trump's commitment to save $10 billion worth of "government waste," to Modi's commitment to double farmers' profits in a few years, to Erdogan's vow to raise Turkish per-capita income from $11,000 to $25,000 in eight years if granted presidential powers. In the end, it does not matter if their promises don't add up. What the autocrat actually promises is that old assumptions about the economy will no longer hold once he is in charge. By ending corruption, by controlling waste, through better implementation and greater efficiency, by expropriating monopolists and hunting down wealthy tax evaders, the money will be found for populist schemes. In fact, strongmen possess no answer to the economic stresses of globalization but the seductive power of this narrative. Those who can back it up with commodity wealth, such as Putin, have managed to survive longer. Others very quickly began to struggle to deal with the real constraints on their economies, such as Modi and Sisi. Strongmen are created by global downturns. But if those downturns last longer than is convenient, then they too will find themselves tested, as their promises are increasingly found wanting. In the end, one of the most important things to remember about the authoritarian leader in the 21st century is that he seeks democratic legitimacy. This much of the promise of the early 1990s remains: Ratification of popularity through an election and the other outward forms of liberal democracy are still considered necessary by autocrats -- perhaps because voters keep on voting for them. Traditional parties have failed to come up with imaginative solutions to deal with stagnation, displacement, security threats and the vanishing sense of community that many feel. It appears that in a time of unprecedented and uncontrollable change on so many fronts, assurances of development and security are untrustworthy unless they are embodied in an individual. If so, then this is a sad indictment of liberal democracy. Traditional parties have failed to come up with imaginative solutions to deal with stagnation, displacement, security threats and the vanishing sense of community that many feel. The vast expansion of trade across the world has created many losers, but very few have been compensated. The Uberization of the formal economy has gathered pace over recent years and threatens to be as disruptive as was trade. The rise of the robots in manufacturing is on the horizon. And yet, even now, little has been done to anticipate and deal with the stresses and displacements these additional technological shifts will bring. If liberal democrats of all shades do not learn from their errors of the past 25 years and work on creating a new economic consensus that restores electorates' faith in the tired shibboleths of the post-War West, then the age of the autocrat is with us to stay. Earlier on WorldPost: Since the Brussels attacks there have been plenty of articles on the safety of traveling to Europe, or anywhere outside the United States for that matter. The New York Times most recently published "seven ways to take care when traveling to Europe, or really, anywhere." My wife, Gilda, and I have flown into the Brussels airport several times. We've walked around Brussels. We've walked Paris and London and Copenhagen, as well as Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Rome, Florence, Venice, Tokyo, Moscow and St. Petersburg. We've walked all over Israel, even during the second Intifada. At least three times a week we are in Manhattan. In short, we've been to many places terrorists-- Islamic jihadists or run-of-the-mill types--would go to sabotage normal life. I don't know how to combat fanaticism. But I am certain it is not through repression. Even in totalitarian states individuals willing to forfeit their lives can blow up complacency. Not deliberate complacency. Just everyday vigilance gone soft because no society can maintain 24/7/365 red alert status against the deranged or misguided. Advertisement So we're left with trepidation mixed with ernest resolve. Fear of flying balanced by an unwillingness to let the terrorists win in their random assault on our liberties to travel as we please, to dine out, to attend concerts or commute to work. Fear of new attacks is driving more people to consider Donald Trump a rational choice for president. No doubt fear is a powerful motivator. One can only hope that fear doesn't trump (pun intended) more rational emotions like decency, tolerance, integrity and compassion. Otherwise, the terrorists surely would have succeeded in toppling Western values. Are you afraid ISIS is an existential threat to America? Don't be silly. We are in no danger of losing a battle, much less a war, with ISIS or any other extremist organization or country. Our military is the strongest in the world, in the history of the world. But America could be lost if we allow our values and system of government to be eroded. Look no further than the Republican scheme to undermine the constitutional process of nominating and confirming an appointment to the Supreme Court because, the GOP says, the next justice would have a long term impact on the future of the country and therefore should be chosen by the next president elected by the people, ignoring the reality that the people chose Barack Obama, not once but twice, to serve for full four-year terms. Advertisement There is nothing in the Constitution that requires the Senate to vote on a presidential nomination within a specified number of days. But by suggesting that in the last year of office a president should not nominate a justice Senate Republicans are emasculating the powers of the chief executive. By extension, they might also argue that a president in his last year in office should not conduct foreign policy, should not advocate legislation, should not command our armed forces. All these tasks would affect the future of our country, as would a successful nomination to the Supreme Court. The Senate has a right to reject a nomination but it is constitutional malfeasance to not even meet with, interview or schedule a vote on the president's choice. Would-be presidents Trump and Ted Cruz would like to abrogate our values in other ways pertaining to the ISIS threat. Trump wants to legalize torture and kill families of terrorists. Apparently indifferent to causing civilian casualties, Cruz wants to carpet bomb ISIS strongholds. He also wants to "empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods (in the U.S.) before they become radicalized." Cruz seems to be advocating a medieval "ghetto" solution. Perhaps he could ask Muslims to make it easier for police to keep track of them by "voluntarily" wearing yellow crescent armbands. After all, such a private citizen solution to our country's problems have a long Republican history dating back at least to George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light" initiative to bolster the safety net rather than have government provide for the needy, George W. Bush's call for consumer spending as a response to the September 11 attacks, and Mitt Romney's belief that illegal aliens would voluntarily repatriate to Mexico. Across America there's a revolution going on. Too bad it is not the revolution Bernie Sanders is calling for. Rather, it is a revolution of the Right, rolling back hard won civil liberties. In state after state, funded by the Koch brothers and their allies, conservative Republicans are undoing progressive legislation, denying citizens unencumbered voting, affordable health care, education opportunities and the right to choose their own reproductive options without intrusions and obstacles. State house after state house, governor's mansion after governor's mansion have turned red, the successful implementation of a strategy to take hold of America at the grass roots level. Advertisement Hillary Clinton's or Sanders' election as president might well ensure a left of center bent on the Supreme Court. But even a flip of the Senate into Democratic hands would not unshackle residents in many states from regressive laws enacted by state legislatures and signed by doctrinaire conservative governors. In the last two weeks alone examples abound. In Kansas, perhaps the poster-child state for failed conservative dogma, Gov. Sam Brownback is pushing to recall judges who do not hew to the conservative line of permissible death penalty verdicts, anti-abortion laws and tax cuts that reduce spending on education. In North Carolina, the legislature and governor have usurped the right of local municipalities to adopt laws that bar gender discrimination. This brazen act runs counter to long-held conservative thinking that government is best when it is administered at the lowest level possible so that it reflects the beliefs of the most local populace. Only a threatened veto by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal stands in the way of a law passed by conservatives that would permit faith-based groups to deny "social, educational or charitable services" and employment to individuals who "violate" their religious beliefs. The battleground of conservatism versus progressivism is in the trenches of state and local elections for governor, state legislators, state judges, local boards of education, and even to town/county clerks who have the authority to issue marriage licenses (FYI, a measure to permit public employees to deny same-sex marriage licenses is expected to be signed into law in Mississippi). Advertisement Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed a law that cut state funding to clinics that perform abortions. Planned Parenthood, already denied funding for abortions, may now have to cut back or curtail programs for birth control, cancer screenings and other services for thousands of low-income women in Florida. States continue to come up with new obstacles women must overcome if they seek an abortion. In Utah, a new law requires a woman undergoing an abortion at 20 weeks or later of pregnancy to be anesthetized to prevent a fetus from feeling pain during an abortion, a condition most medical professionals believe is not safe for the mother and is irrelevant to the fetus because it does not have any neurological sensation at that stage of development. We have Donald Trump's revealing faux pas about a woman's culpability when having an abortion to illuminate the real threat from anti-abortion activists. They seek to criminalize not only the providers but also the recipients of abortions. Their most potent plan is passage of personhood laws that proclaim life begins at conception and anything that harms a fetus would be grounds for prosecution. Personhood status protections would go beyond fetal homicide laws. If, for example, a pregnant woman is not wearing a seat belt while riding in a car, she could be charged with endangering the life of the unborn. Similarly, smoking or drinking while pregnant could be prosecutorial offenses. Meanwhile, Republican-controlled states have repeatedly passed restrictions on voter rights. They require voters to show state-issued identification cards, they've cut back on early voting times and polling places, and are making voter registration more difficult. Advertisement The vortex of social and political change clearly can be found in state capitols. Yet Democrats focus their eyes almost exclusively on the big picture--the presidency and the U.S. Senate. Democrats fail to turn out in sufficient numbers for mid-term congressional elections and for too many state and municipal elections. They moan when schoolbooks picked by conservatives deny climate change or equate creationism with evolution. They cry foul when states refuse to extend medical coverage under Obamacare to Medicaid recipients. They rail against restrictions imposed on abortion providers and the stripping of funding for Planned Parenthood. Ironically, it is Big Business that is mounting the most effective challenge to conservative hegemony. Numerous corporations and executives have warned North Carolina, Georgia and other states about the economic fallout repressive laws could generate. The threat of losing the chance to host national sporting events, with the millions of dollars in revenue they generate, appears to be more potent than a Bank of America expressing its displeasure with North Carolina officials. Bank of America, after all, most probably would not move its headquarters out of the Tar Heel state. But not getting the Final Four NCAA basketball tournament next year could sway politicians to reverse course. One need only look at Arizona's example. Republican governor Jan Brewer last year chose not to sign a bill passed by the GOP legislature that would have allowed business owners citing religious beliefs to refuse service to gay people. She made her decision after the NFL threatened to move the 2016 Super Bowl out of Arizona. Advertisement On Monday, actor Tim Robbins of Shawshank Redemption fame made an ill-considered political dig against Hillary Clinton by making a punchline of disenfranchised voters in Guam, declaring at a Bernie Sanders rally that "winning South Carolina in a Democratic primary is about as significant as winning Guam." Less than 24 hours later, Senator Elizabeth Warren took a stand for Americans who call Guam and other U.S. territories home, arguing at a Senate hearing that "the four million people who live in the territories are not the subjects of a King. They are Americans. They live in America. But their interests will never be fully represented within our government until they have full voting rights just like every other American." As Senator Warren explained, Americans living in U.S. territories "are subject to federal law. More than 150,000 people from these islands have served our country in the Armed Forces - and many have died in that service." Continuing, she highlighted that "these four million Americans have almost no say at all in federal decision-making even when it directly affects the islands they live on. They can't vote in presidential elections. They have no Senators. And each territory gets only one non-voting Representative in the House." Advertisement Senator Warren unpacked things further still, noting that a resident of Guam can gain the right to vote for President by moving to California, and can even keep voting for President if she then moves to Italy. But if she ever moves back to Guam, that right once again is denied. "This is absurd," Senator Warren said to her colleagues, "four million Americans live on American soil and can fully participate in our democracy - but only if they leave home. At their homes - on U.S. soil - all of their representational rights disappear." This isn't just absurd, it's unconstitutional. In Segovia v. Board of Election Commissioners - a federal voting rights lawsuit we have filed on behalf of residents of Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico who would be able to vote for President if they lived literally anywhere else in the world - we argue that the right to vote should not depend on where you happen to live. Lead plaintiff Luis Segovia served two deployments in Afghanistan, most recently following the 2012 election when he shipped out with more than 600 members of the Guam National Guard. Earlier, he served in Iraq, providing security for the 2005 Iraqi elections. Yet, based solely on the place he calls home, this decorated soldier cannot vote for his Commander-in-Chief. Another plaintiff, Pamela Colon of St. Croix, VI, is a defense lawyer who has defended clients against federal criminal charges that could put them in jail for the rest of their life. Yet Virgin Islanders and other territorial residents have no say in the Congress that makes federal criminal law, the federal prosecutors who enforce those laws, or the federal judges who try and sentence criminal defendants. Advertisement As Senator Warren explained on Tuesday, this contradicts the "central principle in our American democracy that Americans, through their votes, can have a say in their own governance." As earlier civil rights movements have demonstrated, legal action alone is not enough. In the coming weeks, we will announce a new proposal to build on the approach of the Twenty-Third Amendment (granting the right to vote to residents of the District of Columbia) to provide full enjoyment of the right to vote to Americans in U.S. territories. As many Americans have learned this hard-fought election cycle, U.S. territories actually do participate in presidential primaries despite not having a vote in November. Primary voters and delegates in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other territories should demand presidential candidates seeking their vote take a position on a right to vote amendment for citizens living in U.S. territories. On the Democratic side, U.S. territories have a total of 103 pledged delegates and 27 superdelegates - a total greater than either Virginia or North Carolina. On the Republican side, territories have 37 pledged delegates and 22 unbound delegates, more total delegates than Indiana. The significant number of unbound delegates might prove key if Donald Trump should narrowly fall short of pledged delegates. If only for the next few months, residents of U.S. territories actually have leverage and political power. They should use it. Voting rights for Americans in the territories shouldn't be a partisan issue. Both Guam and the NMI currently have Republican Governors alongside Democratic Non-Voting Delegates to Congress. The situation is reversed in American Samoa, with a Democratic Governor and a Republican Non-Voting Delegate. The Virgin Islands has an Independent Governor (a former Republican), and a Democratic Non-Voting Delegate. And while the current Puerto Rico Governor is a Democrat, its immediate past Governor is a Republican. Advertisement Disenfranchised Americans in the territories are truly swing voters who are up for grabs and who shouldn't be taken for granted by any party or any presidential candidate. And let's not forget, there are also more than 1 million Puerto Ricans now living in the crown jewel of swing states: Florida. I guess Tim Robbins didn't get the memo. Regardless, he should personally apologize to Guam voters before they caucus on May 7th. U.S. citizens shouldn't be denied the right to vote for President because they live in a U.S. territory. Senator Elizabeth Warren got it right: "This kind of second-class status is not how our government is supposed to work." Sign a petition to support equal rights and representation in U.S. territories at www.EquallyAmerican.org. Photo credit: Edward Kimmel UPDATE: On Wednesday evening, Tim Robbins apologized for his ill-considered comments about Guam voters: Advertisement In an attempt to draw attention to the mainstream media anointing Hillary as the presumptive candidate after only 4 states had voted, I was making a joke about size and significance and I did so at your expense. For that I am truly sorry. I did not mean to disparage you or your say in the democratic process. In fact we would all be better off if everyone in Guam could actually vote in the presidential election. I urge everyone to support the #WeThePeopleProject #RightToVote Full apology here. sad girl sitting and thinking in the classroom My buddy (and new parent) sent me this article. It's about 6th graders so worried about grades and where they'll go to college that they take stimulants to stay up and study. Some are so angry and upset that they cut themselves. So I'm writing this post to you -- those worried about getting into Stanford / MIT / Princeton / Harvard ... or any school (or for the Class of 2020, which colleges you did or didn't get in to.) Those whose parents seem to only care about their grades. Those worried that they don't have that "one brilliant thing" that will set them apart and for sure will get them to the right university which for sure will get them the right job which for sure will get them the right life. I'm here to tell you the low down truth about what it's like in the real world. As someone who used to be you. Who remembers it like it was yesterday -- worried day and night about my grades, about where I was going to school, about what job I would get, and on and on and on. It was a mental prison. A treadmill. A never ending quest. I am going to tell you what's for real and what's not and what's sort of for real... because life isn't always super tidy. Advertisement Before I begin... who am I? I think this is important because I suspect that I may have done some of the things (or at least peers to them) that some of you super stressed out students might want to do. I went to one of those top universities (Princeton), I did well there (graduated with honors), and I worked at some of the best technology companies in the world (Amazon and Google). 1. Where you go to college matters, but just barely. So I went to Princeton. Good school, right? What's the utility of a good school? Education? No. (I'll get to that in a second.) What you want is a job. A life. A good ole safe, fat paying job that will give you a great career / life, right? So does where you went to school matter in this? Here's what I would say -- it matters a little. It doesn't matter nothing. But here's the tricky thing. There are other skills that are way more important for the other stuff than where you went to school. Where you go to school is not a magic ticket. So don't treat it like that. Let's deconstruct this (and my perspective). I've looked for (full-time) work twice in my life. When I was about to graduate Princeton and after I left Amazon. Both times I sent out resumes. Did my Princeton education help me get a job? Some... for sure. But I got an astounding amount of no's. Astounding. Astounding in the sense that you would not believe how many, and how bad, the companies were that not only turned me down for an interview, didn't even acknowledge my application! And I went to Princeton! So how good could that Princeton diploma really be? (And did I mention I was a good student with good grades and a "good" major in Economics?) Advertisement Do you know what would've helped me more in getting a job? Hustle. Willingness to fail. Willingness to think outside the box. How's that? Let's say you want a job at... a hot startup. So what should you do? Go to Stanford and then Stanford Graduate School of Business right? Wrong. What you should do is figure out any way to get your butt into the company. (including everything from networking to taking a low level temp job) Then work your butt off and have a great attitude and be really scrappy. Then I guarantee that you will have laid a terrific foundation for having a great career either there or somewhere else (assuming that's what you want.) But wait... where in that sentence was, "When they think of promoting me, won't they ask where I went to school?" Here's what no one has been telling you. No one cares. There'll be lots of other dynamics at play for that -- some fair, some not -- but the ones that you'll be in control of and easily in control of -- will have nothing to do with where you went to school. Now, I can't flat out say where you went to school matters nothing. Because at Google we actually looked at where you went to school, what grades you got, even your SAT scores. But Google was an outlier. Amazon wasn't like this. A lot of startups aren't like this. (They'll look but put a relatively small amount of weight.) But some companies do care. So you're probably thinking, "But I don't know where I want to work and I can't take the risk that where I want to work will be such stick in the muds about where I went to school so I better work work work my butt off now, right?" Here's my nuanced answer. I say this as someone who put all his eggs in the "get into a great school, work your butt off at said great school to get a great job to have a great life" basket. That path ain't so great. I know lots and lots of people who reach the "mountaintop". They're lawyers. They're doctors. They've founded companies. They're business executives. They have fancy degrees. They have multiple fancy degrees. I literally meet people at the tippy tippy top of their profession and they tell me their plans to do something else. That school or job you so crave now is not you. It is not determinate of your success. It is not determinate of your life. 2. Don't fool yourself that where you go to school is about learning. It's not. Ok, sometimes it is. If you want to research the universe's secrets, you're probably going to have to know something about physics. But for a lot of us -- and I mean a lot -- what you learn won't matter one bit. How many English majors go into a career where they're actively applying their degree? History majors? Psych majors? Econ majors? (Those are 4 of the most popular majors right there.) So the vast majority of us end up in a field that has nothing to do with what we studied. Advertisement So what's the point of all that studying? For going to a world class institution and to study with people at the top of their field? Well, it's not for that learning. Because that's not what's going to affect you long-term. I used to argue to myself that there was some sort of ineffable "education" some sort of invisible process that led to greater mental growth for me because I was at Princeton. I now believe that to be false. Look -- it was what it was. I went to Princeton and what did I get? I got a degree that says I went to Princeton. In some instances, that will be valuable. In the vast majority of instances that I personally deal with -- it has no value. None. 3. Focus on work/quality/passion not on results (e.g. your degree / your grades / etc.) I have a buddy. He's a well-known venture capitalist. Occasionally he likes to introduce me to people. Sometimes it's for him, sometimes it's for me, sometimes he thinks it's for me. These are powerful, successful people. My buddy writes flowery, glowing emails (and is even more effusive in person) -- about what a great guy I am and the amazing work I've done and the even more amazing work I can do. (My buddy is great but he's completely ridiculous sometimes -- though it's very kind of him to say such things.) Do you know what he has never said in any of these interactions? Never ever ever? "He went to Princeton." Never. What matters out there in the real world is your work and your reputation. If you get to the stage in your career where you're good at your job and people like working with you -- people will run to work with you. It won't matter if you went to Princeton, Waterloo, Towson State, University of Alabama, or the University of Phoenix or... didn't go to college (I'm serious.) So this is a little down the line. But focus on the quality of your work. The thing you're working on. And whether or not people like working with you. That will pay dividends in ways that you can not even conceive right now. (or perhaps it's what you conceive where you go to school would do for you but... won't) Advertisement 4. Learn to do you own thing and say F*CK YOU Ok, you can't actually say, "F*CK YOU" or at least there are so so many occasions when you shouldn't say it out loud. But learn to say it to yourself when all the people around you are telling you to do things that you absolutely don't want to do. I lived that life for a long time. My dad had conversation after conversation after conversation with me about how I was wasting my life by not working hard enough. And he told me where I couldn't go to school. And he told me what I couldn't major in. And I had to do what he said... for a while. Because I lived under his roof and he was paying for school and I had no means of supporting myself and he threatened to throw me out. So I get it. But you know what I did? I told myself that I would get out as soon as possible. And I did -- I got out so soon that I graduated Princeton in 3 years and started making my own money. Paid my own bills. Then charted my own course. Now, by then, I was all wrapped up in weird notions of success and what a good life constituted and all that jazz. But I worked through that... eventually. I write this because I get that I'm now in a different position. I have money. I pay for stuff. I can make my own decisions. You guys and gals probably can't. You probably argue with your parents over this stuff. Or worse, it's been so beaten out of you by this point that you just mindlessly shuffle around and do everything as you're told. I'm not telling you to fight with your parents. But I'll tell you something that I'm sure you already know. Your parents aren't always right. Sometimes, your parents don't even have your best interests at heart (!) Sometimes your parents want things for you because they're prestigious, or because they think it'll make you happy or because they have a conception of what a good life should be or what type of life you should have. But you know what? It's your life. Not theirs. Yours. So for those of you who think your life just sucks on a daily basis -- I'm here to say, once again, I understand. I remember trudging from one thing to the next, day after day after day. You know what kept me going? The crystal clear realization that it wasn't forever. It was a long time, but then I got out and could do my own thing. I'm here to tell you right now, doing your own thing is pretty awesome and make sure you don't check out before you get a chance to do it. Advertisement So let's say you're reading this and saying... but but but -- I can't do any of this! I live with my parents, I have a test tomorrow, I have to study for my SATs, everyone I know is worried about this -- even if I agreed with any of this, what can I actually do? Here's what I would say. There's probably so much of your time right now that's not your own. It's either directly influenced (e.g. your parents are hovering over you) or there's just X amount of work you need to get done every day or else there are consequences (i.e. bad grades = bad news). My advice is multi-fold. The first is... don't sweat it so much. It'll be fine. If I've made one thing clear, I hope it's this. Where you go to school won't matter nearly as much as you think it will. It won't matter zero -- but it could be close. The second is... find a small amount of time to explore. Let your mind wander and dream. To figure out things you love to do. The stuff where you see newfound possibilities. Because maybe somewhere in those dreams and wanderings is the germ of something that you'll find really really cool to study and work on and make a career out of. Or maybe not. Maybe it'll just be a hobby. Or maybe it'll be a passing fancy. Doesn't matter. But what I know for sure is that crushing your standardized test or doing an extra-curricular activity you don't care about is not really a good use of your time and mental energy. So give yourself a break and find something that you think is pretty darn great. The "Trump and Women" dynamic, from one perspective, is reminiscent of "Father-Daughter" relationships. Usually very special, sometimes complicated. Most every girl looks for a man that reminds them of their Daddy. Big, strong and lovable. All Dads are in their daughter's eyes. The numero uno "take charge protector" against any threats or bad guys is Dad. No guy is good enough, unless he is somewhat like Daddy and Daddy likes him. Dad expects respect and so long as a suitor shows respect to him and to his daughter then he is okay to let him into her life, alongside Dad. That's why the Father, sometimes begrudgingly, gives the hand of his daughter, the bride, to the groom. In the increasingly dangerous world we live in today, even strong daughters look up to strong men for protection for themselves and their children. "I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection," are the words of Sigmund Freud. Not being a trained psychologist, but as the daughter of a strong Father and eldest of 10 children, the first eight being strong daughters, my "university of life" experience says Freud got that one right and makes understanding the Trump phenomena easy. Donald Trump reminds women of Dad and of other strong men in their lives. For better or for worse. Mr. Trump's children certainly are a true testament of his positive Fathering skills. Of course, like our Dad, he chose great Moms. Advertisement "You Can Be Whatever You Want by Hard Work" When considering Trump and his obviously good and supportive relationship with his daughters Ivanka and Tiffany, I recall in the early '90s an eye-opening invitation by a friend in New York whose Dad was a well-known billionaire baron in Texas. The invite was to join a unique father-daughter retreat in the mountains of Colorado. Trouble was then and throughout their lives the fathers were missing, physically and emotionally. This group of politically diverse heiresses from multi-billion dollar families got together every year to talk about something they shared in common-their disappointing relationships with their Dads. To this day I wonder why I was invited, since I am not an heiress, my Dad is not a billionaire, and he is actually more of a feminist than his eight daughters. In fact, contrary to his strong daughters, he is for Hillary simply because she is a woman. The days I spent with America's blue-blooded descendants were enlightening. Until that insightful weekend, I thought most fathers were supportive of their daughter's worth and most women were "Daddy's girls." That was my life experience. The group of affluent women friends are all accomplished in their own right yet somehow they felt a lack of appreciation by the man in their life they desired loving affirmation from the most, their Dad. They complained that their destiny was partially unfulfilled because they had been let down by their fathers. They expressed harbored "love-hate" sentiments toward their Dads. All were from famous second, third, fourth and beyond generation wealth, representing iconic American families. As we sat in a circle, one by one, each woman poured out her heart about her Dad. With each grievance, I became more and more squeamish as to how I was going to share my positive "Daddy" experiences of us eight sisters growing up being told by our Dad we could be whatever we want so long as we worked hard for it, and had faith in God and in ourselves. Not The Boss' Daughter, Feminist Dad and CEO Advertisement As a side note, I recently received the book "Unbinding The Heart" from a beautiful friend and talented author, Agapi Stassinopoulos. In one chapter she describes a friend who is an artist and could not ever feel good enough for her neuroscientist Father. The sorrowful daughter said to Agapi, I'll never match up to my father! He doesn't see me at all, and I don't think he ever will. You don't know what it is like to be raised with such a powerful father who gets so much attention. Wherever you go, you are this man's daughter, not yourself. It makes you question your own abilities. It makes you doubt who you really are. The disappointment shared in this strained and painful "father-daughter" relationship made me think of Donald Trump and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, in striking contrast. The biggest gripe expressed by the highly-educated group was that their Dad only trusted the business acumen of the sons to carry on the family's enormous wealth. These "daughters of fortune" said they were expected to hold teas with their Mothers, undertake philanthropic endeavors and marry well, not be involved in the business of the Dad. This is not the case in Donald Trump's family. The contrary is true. His daughter Ivanka plays a vital strategic planning and senior management role in the Trump Organization. He notably praises her talents, her advice and her commitment to practicing Orthodox Judaism. Ivanka is her own entrepreneurial person, even with her own brand and clothing line, but she proudly keeps her Trump name. Donald Trump is an equal opportunity Dad, CEO and entrepreneurial politician. Even when he offends people by his sometimes brash New York business-style, he does so equally, irrespective of gender. That clearly illustrates he is not a misogynist. He may even be a "feminist Dad", advancing his daughters at every opportunity. Women with good relationships with their Dads do like Donald Trump. He puts his daughters forward, encouraging them to fulfill their potential. It is also interesting to note and to give him due credit, that he keeps a positive relationship with their Mothers, Ivana Trump and Marla Maples. Both ex-wives only have good to say about him and support his candidacy. His wife Melania Trump is a formidable woman, devoted mother and trusted confidante. Advertisement Family Matters I have known Ivana Trump for many years and she is a strong, confident, successful businesswoman, in addition to being a dedicated Mother and Grand-mother. She and Donald, the Father of her children, enjoy a beautiful mutually respectful relationship with each other, their children together and the extended family. This shows Donald Trump is sensitive and values women and the importance of family, because there is nothing worse for a child (except divorce) than an acrimonious relationship between their parents. It would not be surprising to learn that women in the media vehemently attacking Mr.Trump for being "anti-woman" possibly have Dad issues. Certainly some act like it. The obsession of marking Mr. Trump as discriminating against women resembles the bitterness expressed during the memorable weekend I spent with the circle of lamenting women attacking their Dads. Feminist women expound their desire to be treated equally until equal treatment interferes with what they want from a man. The weekend in The Rockies seemed a bit like the 1966 film, "The Group." Needless to say, that was my singular retreat with "the group." I do not fit the anti-Dad mentality. It Bears Repeating, Strictly Business: True Grit Meeting CEO Trump in his Trump Tower offices to discuss the plight of disadvantaged women in developing countries and inner-cities, I can reiterate he is "strictly business" and respectful in his approach with women and desire to support their advancement. Not flirtatious, nor condescending, treating women professionally, with integrity and as equals in business. In the book, "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" the author Dr. Meg Meeker writes, When we think of masculine men, we (women at least) envision those with one overriding quality: a spine of steel. Nothing makes a woman's heart melt like a man with courage and resolve. We admire men who are willing to risk their lives to help good triumph over evil and who have the moral wit to distinguish between the two. Masculinity means strength. Men in high finance are often highly charged, deeply driven, and propel themselves through hard work to success. Men work with such intensity because they have grit. Undeniably, Donald Trump has true grit. Independent, conservative and liberal women I know who support Mr. Trump for President share a common bond, Daddy. They feel respected, trusted and encouraged by their Fathers. And if married, they feel loved and respected by their husbands who remind them of their Dads. One of my strongly pro-life sister's likes Mr. Trump because "He speaks truth from the heart, no holds barred, non-politician approach. Someone who will fight for our freedoms." Women concerned about national and financial security for their families and frustrated by America's diminishing leadership role in the world respect CEO Trump. He is tough like their Dad. Big, strong and lovable. Even Dad and Grand-daddy Trump fighting for babies in the womb is endearing to women who believe his intention is to protect them and their baby or grandbabies from harm's way. After all, The Talmud teaches: "He who saves a single life, saves the entire world." And as The Good Book says, "The righteous man walks in his integrity, his children are blessed after him (Proverbs 20:7)." Aung San Suu Kyi - via Flickr Aung San Suu Kyi, who has served as the standard bearer for the Burmese people's dream of a democratic state for two and a half decades, is now facing the biggest challenge of her political career. Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won the 2015 general elections by a landslide and, after months of negotiations, formed Myanmar's first civilian government in 50 years on March 30th. However, will Suu Kyi manage to rise to the occasion or ultimately be doomed to disappoint? In other words, will Suu Kyi remain true to the beliefs she has professed over her years of house arrest and avoid becoming a partisan political figure? On the other hand, can she hope to make any significant and lasting change as a purely non-partisan figure? Despite Suu Kyi's newfound position as State Counselor, a position that is comparable to that of a Prime Minister, Burma remains at constant risk a Thailand-style military coup and a return to the junta of old. Indeed, the recent thaw between the junta and the NLD in no way indicative of a decline in the military's influence. Burma's military leadership has rather chosen to step back and observe how the country performs while not directly under their auspices. Nonetheless, the constitutional articles that have kept Suu Kyi from holding the office of President - revolving around the British citizenship of her children and former husband - are still in place, as are the parts enshrining the military's role as ultimate kingmaker. The announcement of Suu Kyi as State Counselor is sure to have raised eyebrows among Naypyidaw's army powerbrokers, serving as the first test of how far she can go in putting Burma on a democratic path. Using this position to eliminate the laws preventing the emergence of a fully-fledged civilian government will demonstrate not just her commitment to reform but also how far the military will allow itself to be pushed. Suu Kyi has some very difficult decisions to make. She has to weigh the negative consequences of leaning too hard on the military establishment while simultaneously managing the expectations of a keenly interested international audience. As of now, the strain of these expectations is materializing most visibly in Suu Kyi's handling (or mishandling) of the minority Rohingya population. Advertisement Burma is not the only country to single out Muslim minorities for ill treatment. Indeed, some Southeast Asian nations are experiencing a rise in extremist feelings, the consequences of which have ranged from the displacement of Muslim populations to the horrors of officially sanctioned murder. The Rohingya, a migrant Muslim population described as one of the world's most persecuted minorities, have been at the forefront of these abuses. Many of Aung San Suu Kyi's international supporters expect her to halt these abuses, which include restrictions on movement and education as well as a blanket ban on voting or holding political office. However, her commitment to the Rohingya issue has been lukewarm to say the least. In a 2013interview on the matter with the BBC, the signs of strain showed themselves as "The Lady" of Burma stormed off the set afterwards and allegedly remarked: "No one told me I was going to be interviewed by a Muslim!" The dramatic slip of the halo on this particular occasion shows to just what extent that one issue is preying upon Suu Kyi's mind. Hearsay comments about the BBC interview have prompted activists to launch a petition to strip Suu Kyi of her Nobel Prize. So far, upwards of 50,000 people have signed on. While such demands might be overblown, Suu Kyi's record on Rohingya rights is somewhat sketchy and does little to defend her intentions. In a country that is 90% Buddhist, however, making inroads with the Rohingya would have done little to endear her to the junta or the population. Her position on this issue is just one of the many tactical choices Suu Kyi has had to make along the way. As the leader of Burma's newly minted political establishment, her prerogative is now to keep the country on an even keel without letting up on the pressure she has applied to Burma's military elite. Advertisement Why haven't you gotten that promotion or raise? Why does your boss give you extra attention, but not in the way you'd like? There are modes of behavior that are not in the employee handbook which can radically affect the way you are perceived by your CEO at work. Though these traits are not in themselves fireable offenses, they won't make you a popular person to your CEO (or your fellow coworkers) either. Luckily, once you become aware that you may be guilty of these actions, it's easy enough to curb these bad behaviors if you can be honest with yourself. Mind Your Bad Attitude An employee's work product is a huge part of what sets them apart from their coworkers. Company culture is a huge part of what creates a successful or unsuccessful environment for a business, and a person's attitude can create a positive or negative atmosphere. We all have days that aren't ideal: lose a client, an account, or don't hit revenue targets. It happens. The difference between an employee who gets negative or positive attention from the CEO is how the employee handles bad news, and stressors. Honesty vs Oversharing Let's face it, no one wants to see fifty pictures of your cat. At work, there should be a certain level of friendliness but please, keep it professional, especially if you work in an industry that requires discretion. If your loose lips run amok at the watercooler, you may sink your own ship come promotion time. A person who can't tell the difference between what should or shouldn't be shared at work (or company functions), comes off as untrustworthy. Who wants to share information with a person who shares all information? Advertisement Share an appropriate number of pictures. There is no need to go all or nothing, but know your audience. Your CEO could be a dog person. Are You Being Micromanaged? There Is Probably A Good Reason To be fair, some micromanagers are born and their helicoptering can't be helped regardless of how perfect your work is. For the purposes of this article, let's concentrate on you. Ask yourself honestly: have I been dropping the ball, missing deadlines, turning in sloppy work, or coming to meetings ill-prepared? If you answer "yes" to any of those questions, you may need a micromanager. Nobody wants to admit he or she is failing in their roles, but many targets of micromanagement fail to ask the aforementioned questions. If your CEO is hovering and using you as a helipad but no one else, it may be time for you to be honest with yourself about your performance at work. Emotions Can Affect Your Credibility Life happens, so we are not suggesting that having emotions from situational incidents or struggles in your personal life isn't ok. What we're talking about is whining, pouting, rage, storming out of meetings, or overreacting to x. There is one surefire thing that no CEO (or anyone) enjoys in an employee: a moody, constant complainer. If your moods change with your current situation, if you get slighted easily, or if you bring every single complaint about the weather, your significant other, etc to every conversation with your CEO, you'll start looking like the boy or girl who cried wolf. They will automatically discount your complaints as your modus operandi. Your Boss Isn't Your Friend Some bosses and employees are friends, but that isn't always the case. Don't overshare, ingratiate yourself, or expect for the end of your tenure at the company to mean that you'll be taking trips to Hawaii with your CEO. First and foremost, they are your boss -- responsible for your paycheck, and your upward mobility. Your actions outside of work are just as important as how you act at work. A CEO will not groom you to be their next manager if you cannot show decorum, restraint, and grace in every circumstance and situation. Advertisement (This post originally appeared on InnovationFiles.org.) There has long been a de facto consensus among U.S. policymakers that America's system for discovering and developing new drugs is the world's best, and that there are two reasons for that success: First, the federal government provides robust funding for scientific research, mostly through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Second, the U.S. system encourages vigorous innovation in the private sector by providing strong intellectual property protections and a drug reimbursement system that allow companies to earn enough to reinvest in risky research and development. But this consensus is now under intense pressure from critics across the political spectrum, especially on the populist left, as left-leaning think tanks and presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) question the legitimacy of both the public-private policy framework and the results it produces. The critics' various indictments revolve around a number of misconceptions about how the U.S. system functions. Here are five of the most common myths: 1. The U.S. private sector does a poor job of discovering and developing new drugs. The reality is that America's biopharmaceutical sector is by far the world's most innovative and productive. The industry today has more than 3,400 drugs under clinical development, including many that are firsts of their kind. Because this R&D pipeline is so robust, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been able to approve more than 500 new medicines in the last decade and a half, providing new and better treatments for a wide variety of diseases. Advertisement This output far exceeds that of any other country. In fact, from 2000 to 2010, U.S. companies were responsible for 57 percent of the world's new drugs, while France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom together accounted for just 29 percent. No surprise then, the U.S. biopharma industry stands as a source of economic strength and competitive advantage, producing nearly $100 billion in value added and more than $50 billion in exports annually while supporting some 3.4 million jobs. 2. The U.S. pharmaceutical industry invests in the wrong things. The populist left argues we should not rely on industry to drive drug development because it focuses only on profits and either ignores certain diseases altogether or produces "me too" drugs to get in on the market for high-demand treatments. Dean Baker, an economist with the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research, specifically charges that industry neglects research that is not likely to lead to patentable discoveries. He gives this example: "If a researcher at a major drug company discovers evidence that a natural substance or long existing drug like aspirin could provide an effective treatment for a specific condition, they have no incentive to do further research in the area." This ignores the fact that such "open source" medical discoveries are few and far between. Moreover, market incentives drive companies to focus on diseases that impose the greatest and most severe health problems for the most people. And we already have effective policies to align public priorities with private interests. Examples include smart tax credits and policies such as longer periods of intellectual property protection for the clinical trial data associated with "orphan drugs," which have smaller markets because relatively fewer people have the medical conditions that require the drugs. 3. Industry wastes money. The populist left argues there is plenty of money for the biopharma industry to develop drugs, even if its revenues were significantly lowered through price controls or reduced intellectual property protections. Critics rationalize this assertion with claims of excess profits and wasteful spending. For example, Baker argues that the industry's marketing expenditures are comparable to its expenditures on research -- so he reasons that if companies simply cut back on advertising, they could lower drug prices. Advertisement In reality, studies find that the biopharma industry spends less than 2 percent of its total sales on direct-to-consumer advertising -- hardly a honeypot of potential savings -- while it pours more than 18 percent of its sales into R&D, more than any other sector. The left's broader critique is that industry rakes in an excessive amount of profit and that if government limited drug company revenues (by imposing price controls or weakening intellectual property protection), it would not come at the expense of R&D or drug discovery. In reality, the claim that any individual drug generates too much revenue cannot be viewed in isolation, because many more drugs never make it through clinical trials, and thus generate no profits, only losses. Moreover, even among the drugs that make it to market, studies have found that as many as 80 percent never cover their capitalized R&D costs. In addition, return on equity in the pharmaceutical industry, adjusted for R&D spending, is only about one percentage point higher than it is for all U.S. industry. 4. Cutting industry R&D would have little impact on future biomedical innovation. In their quest to reduce drug prices through price controls and weakened patent protection, drug populists know they have to seed the narrative that reducing revenues will not hamper drug discovery. But there is no getting around the fact that reducing revenues also would shrink R&D budgets, which in turn would slow drug discovery. Indeed, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that, "There exists a high degree of correlation between pharmaceutical sales revenues and R&D expenditures." Despite the amazing breakthroughs of the last half century, we are a long way from discovering all that needs to be discovered. Failure to achieve more breakthroughs will deprive millions of people of the cures they need -- which will cost us more in the long run than we can possibly save in the short run. To take just one glaring example, the Alzheimer's Association expects the financial impact of that one disease to reach $1 trillion per year by 2050 -- much of which will have to be borne by the federal government. 5. Government could lead drug discovery without industry. To the extent that left-wing populists acknowledge that cutting into industry's revenues with price controls or weaker intellectual property protections would lead to lower levels of private R&D, they contend government easily could make up the difference. To that end, they have floated a variety of proposals, from having employers pay medical research fees, to instituting compulsory licensing for drug patents, to simply turning the whole task of research and discovery over to the NIH. Advertisement There are any number of problems with these proposals, but the first is that there is no chance Congress would appropriate the necessary funding. Consider that the NIH budget is about $30 billion, while the U.S. biopharma industry invests more than $50 billion in R&D. Even if the drug populists were correct that half of this funding is unnecessary, taxes would still have to be raised by tens of billions of dollars to cover the gap. Fat chance that will happen in the current environment. Tina Fey was definitely on to something when she called BS on those who respond to the question about whether or not they are a feminist with "I am a humanist." In an interview with Rachel Simon, Fey said, "It's not the question, hotshot, the question is do you want to be paid the same for the same work? The question is do you want to control your body?" Since egalitarianism is foundational to humanism, it's inherently a feminist philosophy, so claiming one isn't a feminist but a humanist instead isn't just a slap in the face to feminist struggles--it's also nonsensical. The current issue of Elle includes a discussion with Beyonce about the need to work for equal pay and access to healthcare for women. Beyonce says, "Working to make those inequalities go away is being a feminist, but more importantly, it makes me a humanist." Beyonce is closer to the mark about humanism than others, since she explains, "I don't want calling myself a feminist to make it feel like that's my one priority, over racism or sexism or anything else." But she still seems to be using the term "humanist" as a non-label, something that somehow won't offend. Advertisement Fey was undoubtedly responding to a number of other statements in recent months. When asked if she was a feminist, Meryl Streep said, "I am a humanist; I am for nice, easy balance." Sarah Jessica Parker said, "I don't think it's just women anymore. We would be so enormously powerful if it were a humanist movement." And Susan Sarandon said, "I think of myself as a humanist because I think it's less alienating to people who think of feminism as being a load of strident bitches and because you want everyone to have equal pay, equal rights, education and healthcare." Using humanism as an excuse for not being bold enough to embrace feminism is a cop-out, but this cop-out isn't limited to avoiding feminism. Black Lives Matter co-founder Marissa Johnson called "all lives matter a new racial slur" when interviewed on Fox News, and she was right. When a movement finally rises up to confront generations of institutionalized bigotry and rallies around the Black Lives Matter banner, to respond with "all lives matter" is similar to the cop-out suggesting humanism should replace feminism. Humanists certainly value humanity as well as the web of life of which we are an inseparable part, but we should be smart enough to recognize what it means when we respond with overarching generalities to specific injustices. Doing so suggests that those specific injustices are somehow selfish or unworthy of public outcry. If we don't mean to communicate that kind of belittling message we shouldn't say it. Humanism is really a philosophy based in reason, compassion, and egalitarianism. So humanists don't rely on any gods or other supernatural powers, and we are committed to improving the lives of others and treating people equally with dignity and respect. Part of doing that in a meaningful way is supporting a variety of social liberation movements that tackle specific forms of marginalization: from women's rights to racial and LGBTQ equality to the rights of minority faiths and philosophies and more. It's time more people realized that there's a natural tie between humanist thought and support for social justice. As activists, as journalists, and as those simply interested in making this world a better place, we need to ask men, as well as women, whether or not they are committed to feminist aims. We need to ask everyone to get behind the Black Lives Matter movement. And we need to call out those who would hide beyond generic humanitarianism in order to avoid addressing the pressing issues of the day. GRAY IN L.A. I live in Los Angeles, where anything can happen, even to gray-haired people (like me and Bernie Sanders). And it did. Two weeks ago, when Mr. Sanders visited our lovely city, two topless young women who called themselves "equal rights activists" instead of "clueless exhibitionists" showed their love for Bernie with naked skin (easy in our climate!). Bernie brings out gushy giddy love, he can't help it. Hillary, in contrast, gets showered with unmitigated hatred, denigration and sexist put-downs like poor "Carrie" with oxblood. America is obsessed with love & hate. Mostly at the same time, which is typical for two of the strongest adversarial emotions humans seem to have. Either or. Love Bernie, hate Hillary. "Socialist" old Jewish East Coast guy versus overachieving, conniving bitch who greedily reaches for the crown that she can't have and doesn't deserve. Beyonce backs Hillary, Susan Sarandon backs Bernie. Moviegoers back Batman v Superman big time. Can't love two heroes or even regular people at the same time! So let's go for folksiness and approachability. Today I came across some Randy on a "Vote for Hillary" Facebook page that explained why he hates Hillary, and why Bernie is his lovable buddy for President. "This is the guy I'd love to sit down in a pub and have a beer with." Oh, how exiting! And then what? So the next time -- as president -- when it's about terrorists, rape on campus, refugees in Europe and shootouts in a black church, and Bernie is a little less presidential than anticipated by his fans, the male logic would be: "But he's a real nice guy to have a beer with?" (Whip out the cupcakes, Hillary!) Advertisement But that's only the guy view. Now, with the help of those impressionable young women, bespectacled Bernie is made into a cuddly cult-figure that has the new wonder-word "socialist" attached to it, just like the elbow patches on his corduroy jacket from the 70s I'm sure he has in his closet. Bumbling Bernie has the "advantage" of being much like a nerdy Woody Allen character. His shtick is the slightly crotchety older guy, climbing out of his dusty cabin in Vermont, being nothing fancy, just caring and intelligent, a guy, voters feel drawn to. The latter not being crucial for a president but very good for the lovability factor among young women with a daddy thing. Hillary remains someone like the frustrated Frosty Queen with a real whip. I grew up in the 1960s -- so I'm all for "love" for everybody and everything, the hippie way (which I was/am). Except for politics and presidents. "I love Bernie" is said in a smiling, offbeat way, implying not only innate trust but also forgiveness for his foibles. He's not perfect, and why should he? We aren't either. "I love Hillary" -- in contrast -- sounds almost grim, as there's an element of caution in this reluctant admission, and of course, the willingness to criticize. Women always criticize other women. Men sweep women (and men) off their feet with nothing but their gender, strong women have to fight for affection, adoration and love. Now comes the big question: Why should they? Why does anybody need to fight for something so humanly average? But the bigger question is here: Why do we have to "love" our presidents and therefore are reduced to -- as the song goes -- "A teenager in love"? So the lesson is here: having a beer with a candidate dude or noshing on cupcakes with the female contender -- something Hillary is surely willing to do -- does NOT make an informed or intelligent voter or a perfect and "lovable" president. Advertisement The reality check would reveal that for being a president one needs to be a special animal; sharp, clever, resilient, driven, unwavering, uber-capable. In short: an action-hero. Next to Hollywood's action heroes, everything pales. Batman v Superman was the biggest box office opening EVER. So Hillary is up against a major stumbling block. She is neither Batman nor Superman, not Thor, Lorna, the Jungle Queen, Darth Vader or the Prince of Darkness -- she is barely Wonder Woman, or even Supergirl. She is a flawed, talented woman with a bad helmet-hairdo and dowdy clothes, too ungainly to fly, but incredibly experienced and intelligent, trustworthy enough as far as presidents go, with a dash of aggression and a no-nonsense can-do attitude. I like that in friends, in people, in women especially -- and I would like it in my president. Love and hate are fine for movies, art, architecture, fashion, and food. Love for presidents? Just make sure they can do the job the best, fair, righteous way -- which no one has and no one will ever manage completely, by the way. Still, there are two things I have in common with Bernie Sanders: gray hair and the same astrological sign. But I don't hate or "love" him -- or Hillary. And I don't need to. "GRAY IN L.A." is a humorous weekly column about surviving Los Angeles as a Single with style and bravery. Advertisement Earlier on Huff/Post50: In the run-up to the Wisconsin primary, RealClearPolitics, the top polling aggregator in the United States, predicted that Bernie Sanders would win Wisconsin by 2.6 points. Harry Enten, one of the top analysts for the nation's top standalone polling website, FiveThirtyEight.com, was a little more generous: he predicted a 5-point Sanders win. Based on the data analyses I've been conducting over my last nineteen articles for The Huffington Post (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19), I predicted on social media yesterday afternoon -- in preparation for this, my twentieth article on the Democratic primary race -- that Bernie Sanders would defeat Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary by 16 points (58 percent to 42 percent). It may have seemed, on the face of it, a blindly partisan prediction, given that not a single poll in America had ever shown Sanders winning Wisconsin by more than 8 points -- and indeed two polls released in just the last week actually showed Hillary Clinton in the lead in Wisconsin. While it's true that I've been very transparent about supporting Senator Sanders in the primary race, my projection for Wisconsin was based on data -- granted, data the mainstream media has ignored and various media personalities (Philip Bump of The Washington Post, Gideon Resnick of The Daily Beast, Nate Cohn of The New York Times, and the aforementioned Harry Enten, to name a few) have snarked repeatedly -- and the data said to me that Sanders would win Wisconsin by far more than any poll anywhere had ever predicted. Advertisement Sixteen points, I said: 58 percent to 42 percent. In the end, Bernie Sanders won Wisconsin 56.5 percent to 43.1 percent. In fact, he won 69 of the state's 72 counties. That's 96 percent of Wisconsin counties. And in two of the three counties Clinton won, she won by just a few hundred votes out of many thousands cast. Counting state result-pledged "PLEOs" (Party Leaders and Elected Officials), Sanders also took home a net delegate haul (+20) that was 250 percent larger than the supposedly optimistic one half-seriously given to him by CNN's John King in his many "Magic Wall" demonstrations. Sanders doubled the already rosy net delegate target set for him by FiveThirtyEight.com. He even approached the 15-point threshold that the contrarian Enten -- a strong believer in Clinton's inevitability -- had set for a "game-changing" performance. If Sanders were to win by 15 points or more, said Enten on Tuesday morning, "It would mean that maybe something has changed. Maybe Sanders has a real shot at winning this thing." Sanders fell short of Enten's threshold by just 1.6 percent. Advertisement Artificial threshold met or missed, the fact is that Sanders does have a real shot at winning this thing. And the same data that gave a more accurate prediction of the Wisconsin results than the mainstream media -- and, indeed, a spot-on prediction of the caucus results in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington, even as the media was between 20 and 30 points off in predicting Sanders' margins of victory in those states -- is the data that says Bernie Sanders and the Democrats are headed to a contested convention in Philadelphia this summer. The first reason is hard data -- specifically, contrasts between early voting and Election Day voting in individual states, nonwhite voting patterns over time, and large-scale, macroanalytical data about how Senator Sanders performed in each primary and caucus over the course of March. The second reason it's being predicted here, and not elsewhere, that the Sanders campaign is correct in stating that we're headed to a contested Democratic convention is that the 2016 Democratic primary race is absolutely nothing like the 2008 race, no matter what anyone in the mainstream media has been saying. The hard data simply doesn't support that analogy -- and neither will the results. Indeed, the constant drumbeat from the mainstream media to analogize 2016 to 2008 grievously misunderstands a simple fact: the situation Bernie Sanders is in right now is nothing like the situation Hillary Clinton was in eight years ago. Advertisement As I've analyzed early and nonwhite voting trends in my previous articles -- see the links above -- here I focus only on the second issue too little discussed by the media: broader conceptual models that help us predict how a given primary battle will play out. In lay terms, there are many different models for how a primary race can unfold. And the model we saw when Clinton was running against Obama is entirely different from the model now being exhibited -- and with perfect precision -- in the Clinton-Sanders race. So let's compare the two primary races, using easy-to-distinguish "headlines" for each model: Primary Model: "Seesaw of Equals" Year: 2008 Candidates: Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton Primary Results (in % of Delegates Won): Super-delegates Pre-Iowa (link): Clinton 53 percent (169), Obama 20 percent (63) Month 1: Clinton 50.4 percent, Obama 49.6 percent Month 2: Obama 63.3 percent, Clinton 36.7 percent Month 3: Obama 50.6 percent, Clinton 49.4 percent Months 4-6: Clinton 53.9 percent, Obama 46.1 percent Key Features of This Model: Both candidates appear viable at all points in the race. Super-delegates are therefore looking seriously at both candidates at all points. Super-delegates flip one at a time, if at all, after tough personal deliberations. Result: In 2008, the Democratic candidates needed 2,117 votes to clinch the nomination. In the end, President Obama was able to do this only through super-delegates; he didn't clinch the nomination using exclusively pledged delegates earned from primaries and caucuses. In fact, he actually lost the popular vote to Clinton -- by well over a quarter of a million votes -- and only was announced as the presumptive nominee on the final day of the campaign season, when he rolled out 60 super-delegate endorsements all at once. These endorsements put him over the 2,117 mark. At the Democratic National Convention, Clinton received more than 1,000 delegates' votes -- perhaps because, despite endorsing Obama in June, in August she permitted her name to be entered into the official convention roll call as a still-eligible presidential candidate. Primary Model: "Collapse of the Prohibitive Favorite" Year: 2016 Candidates: Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton Primary Results (in % of Delegates Won): Super-delegates Pre-Iowa (link): Clinton 97.8 percent (359), Sanders 2.2 percent (8) Month 1: Clinton 59.4 percent (607), Sanders 40.6 percent (414) Month 2: Clinton 51.2 percent (657), Sanders 48.8 percent (626) Month 3 (ongoing): Sanders 63 percent (63), Clinton 37 percent (37)* Months 4-5: N/A * = Figure includes actual results from Wisconsin and projected results from Wyoming based on previous caucus results (all media outlets nationally predict a substantial Sanders win in Wyoming). States left to vote in this portion of the election cycle include New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Indiana. Advertisement Key Features of This Model: Only one candidate appears viable until nearly the very end of the process. Delegates do not seriously consider the underdog candidate until the very end. Super-delegates flip in packs, in response to a growing media narrative and events in the final two months of voting. Result: As much as the media reports that Bernie Sanders is behind Hillary Clinton by "263" delegates, in fact prior to Wisconsin that number was, at a minimum, 16.5 percent less: 220, per FiveThirtyEight.com's latest count. I say "at a minimum" here because Sanders is still expected to gain two to six net delegates on Clinton after all provisional ballots are counted (and delegates allotted in response) in Arizona. So Clinton's actual lead is somewhere between 214 and 218. To put this into perspective, at this point in the 2008 primary race Barack Obama's pledged lead over Hillary Clinton fluctuated between 120 and 140 delegates, according to MSNBC. So Sanders is 66 percent further behind than Clinton was at this point eight years ago. (Chuck Todd wrongly wrote on Tuesday that Sanders is "twice" as far behind, likely because he -- like the rest of the mainstream media -- is for some reason using the now-outdated "263" figure for Clinton's lead). After Wisconsin, Clinton is ahead of Sanders by somewhere between 194 and 198 delegates. After Wyoming, Clinton's lead will almost certainly be between 184 and 188 delegates. There are two full months of primaries and caucuses after Wyoming, including votes in some of the most delegate-rich states in America: California, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Indiana among them. When Secretary Clinton was defeating Sanders throughout the Deep South, she was doing so on the strength of an average margin of victory among nonwhite voters of 70 percent. Today, her average lead over Senator Sanders among nonwhite voters, in both polling and actual vote tallies, is about 14 percent -- one-fifth of her previous advantage. It won't be enough to repeat the results Clinton achieved in the South, or indeed anything like them. Sanders will win a number of the large states listed above. Advertisement Going back for a moment to the two-model theory discussed above, the difference between Sanders in 2016 and Clinton in 2008 is that Hillary Clinton started out the present election cycle with a lead over Sanders that would have been unimaginable eight years ago. Before anyone in America had cast even a single vote, Clinton had a 351-delegate lead on her next-closest contender -- who was, not surprisingly, a political Independent, as Clinton had hoped to use her super-delegate lead to scare all other credible Democratic contenders from the nominating process. At least as to the Democrats, it worked; the Clinton campaign didn't count on a challenge from a progressive Independent, however. Right now, the Clinton campaign is sending out its surrogates to tell the nation that a 200-delegate lead is basically "insurmountable." This is the same logic they used -- to be clear -- to try to ensure, via a 351-superdelegate lead, that Clinton wouldn't have a primary challenger in the first instance, as it was never in the Clintons' plans to let Democratic voters have options. Moreover, the Clintons were confident that the national media would provide assistance with their plan by always reporting super-delegates as though they were pledged delegates (which they aren't). That hope and expectation has been, of course, richly rewarded. And in the first month of the primary season, Clinton performed so well that she built upon her existing 351-delegate lead with an additional 193-delegate lead among pledged delegates. While the virtual ties in Iowa and Nevada, and the shellacking in New Hampshire, were not according to Clinton's plan, her victories in the South -- South Carolina, then all the states in the so-called "SEC Primary" -- gave Clinton, by the end of the first month of voting, a larger pledged delegate lead than Obama had ever had on her (193) and a larger overall delegate lead (543) than basically anyone has ever had after just one month of an election cycle. Over time -- one might even say glacially -- the mighty have fallen. Clinton's 97.8 percent "win percentage" among super-delegates pre-Iowa was severely undercut -- if only in perception -- when she won just 59.4 percent of the pledged delegates in the first month of the primary season. Some may well have wondered (though almost none in the media did) why Democratic elites saw Clinton as best-qualified to lead the Democratic Party at a 97.8 percent clip, while actual Democrats in early voting states -- and not just any states, but the very best states for Clinton, demographically, of any in the U.S. -- only came to the same conclusion at a 59.4 percent rate. Still, 59.4 percent ain't bad. Disappointing, but not bad at all. 51.2 percent was a different story. After leaving the South, it was clear that the rest of the American Democratic Party supported Clinton at only a roughly 50-50 rate. It turned out that Iowa and Nevada were much more representative of Democrats' opinion outside the South than was (frankly) either New Hampshire -- a big Sanders win -- or South Carolina, a big Clinton win. Still, 51.2 percent is a majority, and with the entire Democratic Party apparatus behind her, a Hillary Clinton who wins the support of a bare majority of American Democrats outside the solid-red states of the Deep South would certainly be a strong enough candidate to maintain super-delegate support. Advertisement But then we started to see the cracks in Clinton's "inevitability" narrative, and it became clear that this wasn't a third possible model for a primary race ("Essentially Uncontested," as was the case in 2000 with Al Gore and Bill Bradley) but in fact the worst possible one for the Democrats: "Collapse of the Favorite." So while the media continued saying, "It's all about the math, stupid," a small cadre of political observers -- along with the almost 50 percent of Democrats who now support Senator Sanders -- began to see the obvious: the math wasn't going to get Clinton to a point where she could clinch the Democratic nomination with just pledged delegates. That's worth repeating: Hillary Clinton will not clinch the nomination through primaries and caucuses. Observers, this writer included, began to understand what the Sanders campaign had long understood, which is (a) the model for this primary race is (as we're calling it here for the sake of simplicity) "Collapse of the Favorite," and (b) with no clinched nomination prior to the Democratic National Convention, a contested convention in which both of two candidates make their case directly to super-delegates is inevitable. Having said this, let's be clear: if and when Hillary Clinton gets to 2,383 delegates via pledged and super-delegates, the mainstream media will call this race for her. Advertisement Immediately. You will see a blue-backgrounded graphic on CNN that says "Presumptive Nominee" and has Hillary Clinton's smiling face next to it. Meanwhile, back in America, people will be recalling how many super-delegates switched allegiances in 2008. People like this writer will be pointing out -- as I have already -- that the "Collapse of the Favorite" narrative wasn't just a two-month narrative, but indeed one that played out in many of the states Clinton won. Accepting for a moment (though it's a grave over-simplification) that early votes largely went for Clinton this year solely because older voters vote early, why did Clinton win Floridians who voted two to four weeks early by 36 points, and those who voted one week early by 13 points? Why did the RealClearPolitics average of polling prior to Election Day in North Carolina predict a 24-point Clinton victory, when what the Secretary got instead was a 13-point victory and a near-tie (a 52 percent to 48 percent margin) on Election Day? Why was the difference between early and Election Day voting in Illinois and Ohio so vast -- in the former case about 30 points different, and in the latter about 20? It's one thing for early voters for favor Clinton, it's another for early and "live" (Election Day) voting to be essentially two different elections. Is it possible that Clinton was actually losing support between early voting periods and Election Days across the country? The questions then start to come faster: why did 700 more Sanders delegates show up to the Clark County (NV) Democratic Convention than Clinton delegates, when Clinton "won" Nevada on Election Day by 5.5 points? Why did Clinton win nonwhite voters by an average of 70 points in the Deep South, and then start winning them by smaller and smaller margins everywhere else -- with a current margin of (depending upon the national or state poll) somewhere between zero and 19 points? Why did Secretary Clinton lose Wisconsin, a state any solid front-runner this late in the election season would expect to carry handily -- as now-President Obama did in 2008 -- by 13.4 points? The answer: this isn't 2008. This is the slow-motion collapse of a front-runner's campaign. A 48-point lead in New York is now down to just 10 points two and a half weeks later. Senator Sanders has won seven of the last eight contests, and -- lest we forget -- actually won the voting in Arizona on Election Day 52 percent to 48 percent after all the votes had been counted. In other words, he's won the last eight Election Days in a row, and it'll be nine on Saturday, when he wins in Wyoming by forty points or more. Advertisement So, let me ask this: has any presumptive major-party nominee ever lost nine straight Election Days in the latter half of the nomination season? In 2008, the most losses in a row ever suffered by Barack Obama -- the eventual winner -- was two. And that was considered a very, very tight contest. Today, surrogates for the candidate who's about to lose nine Election Days in a row are saying that it's their candidate who's ahead -- and by a mile. Because (they say) "math." But super-delegates don't cast votes based on math, as Hillary Clinton herself discovered in 2008, when super-delegates voted against the popular vote winner. Let's say you're not convinced by this, however. You say -- as some reading this undoubtedly would -- that elections are at base pretty simple things: get the most votes, you win. Or, here, delegates. For those whose doubts about the above run in this direction I'll paint a different picture for you, one that explains not only why Sanders is still running but why pundits who say outlandish things, like that Sanders needs to win all the big states remaining 60 percent to 40 percent, are dead wrong. So here's the picture I'd like to paint for you: it's June 7th, and the California primary has just finished. The results are in. Bernie wins. This is just another win in a long string of them: Sanders, after winning nine straight Election Days heading into New York, beat Hillary Clinton in her home state -- where the second-largest haul of Democratic delegates is -- 51 percent to 49 percent. Advertisement The Clinton camp responded, predictably, with just one word: "math." But then Sanders went on to win Pennsylvania 52 to 48, New Jersey 51 to 49, and California 54 to 46. And in between those wins he nailed down victories in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, New Mexico, Montana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Clinton walked away with victories in Maryland, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. So, to get back to the picture being painted here -- one fully supported by the same data that predicted the results in Alaska, Hawaii, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as the Election Day surprises in Arizona and North Carolina -- the California polls have just closed and delivered Clinton an eight-point loss, and, though Clinton hasn't (and won't be able to) get to the 2,383-delegate mark via pledged delegates -- and though at this point she's lost 22 of the final 25 votes (88 percent) -- she still leads Sanders in delegates by slightly less than 100. She's lost the delegate race in the entire second half of the election season by about seven points -- 53 percent to 46 percent -- and, in addition to losing her home state, also lost Pennsylvania and California (among many other states). Her trajectory among Democrats nationally has been consistently downward, such that she's now behind her opponent in the national polling 52 percent to 47 percent and writers are coming out of the woodwork to point out the hollowness of her "wins" in Nevada, North Carolina, Arizona, Iowa, Massachusetts, and elsewhere. Even Florida and Ohio are looking like states that were closer than polls and early voting suggested they should have been. The narrative of a slow-motion campaign collapse seems fairly clear -- mathematical, even. Under these circumstances, with Clinton having just lost California but clinched a delegate lead over Sanders (though not a majority of all delegates in the nomination fight), does she: (a) Give a speech in Los Angeles announcing that, though she's just lost California, she has -- in fact -- actually won the nomination! Advertisement (b) Contact the press backchannel and insist that they put up a graphic announcing her as the presumptive Democratic nominee, despite her super-delegates having many weeks left to make their final decision about who to support? (c) Not announce victory but call on Sanders -- who's won 22 of the last 25 votes and has weeks to make his case to super-delegates -- to concede? You see now the problem with the whole "it's the math, stupid" wing of the national punditry. So here's what the Sanders campaign and certain commentators have been trying to tell us about "the math": the math shows that the Clinton campaign is collapsing. The math shows that super-delegates backed Clinton before any votes had been cast and before her campaign had imploded -- an implosion that was not so much caused by unforced errors but by the historic strength of the Sanders campaign, as evidenced by its mobilization of young voters, record-breaking fundraising, and, most importantly, upward trajectory in the actual voting across the course of a five-month presidential primary season. And the math will show that Bernie Sanders polls much better than Clinton against every possible Republican candidate both nationally and in every battleground state. But most importantly, the math would show, in this scenario, that not only had all the comparisons to the 2008 primary race been inapt, but that all the references to primary "math" as algebraic had occluded the fact that, in actuality, what we're dealing with here is a very complicated -- and deeply human -- calculus. And that calculus is leading the Democratic Party straight to a contested convention in Philadelphia this summer. Advertisement By Matt Vespa As the Aliso Canyon disaster has made clear, California's overreliance on natural gas comes with significant cost. New gas plants are not, as the fossil fuel industry suggests, a bridge to decarbonization, but instead a dangerous detour that moves us further from our climate goals and diverts investment from clean energy resources. Yet the urgent need to reduce reliance on fossil fuels has still not penetrated the labyrinthine halls of the California Public Utilities Commission ("PUC"). The PUC is charged with approving utility contracts for new energy resources and when it comes to gas, the PUC just can't seem to get enough. Last year, the PUC overturned the decision of its own administrative law judge and hastily approved the Carlsbad gas plant before clean energy alternatives could be evaluated. It then approved the Stanton Peaker plant even though the utility's own analysis showed energy storage was significantly more cost effective. Now, the PUC is poised to override yet another administrative law judge decision, and approve a third new plant -- ironically named "Puente," or "bridge" in Spanish. It is difficult to imagine a project more at odds with California's priorities than Puente. Under a recent Executive Order, all state agencies are required to prioritize investments that "protect the state's most vulnerable populations" and "both build climate preparedness and reduce greenhouse gases." But Puente would be located in Oxnard, a city that ranks in the top 20 percent of the most environmentally burdened communities in the state, and at a coastal location that is vulnerable to sea-level rise and flooding. Puente would meet 96 percent of the area's identified need for new power generation in the region, with only 4 percent provided by clean energy. Advertisement The City of Oxnard, Sierra Club and the California Environmental Justice Alliance ("CEJA") have all strongly fought Puente's approval by the PUC, arguing that the project's vulnerability to sea-level rise poses reliability risks, that Southern California Edison ("SCE") ignored its obligation to consider environmental justice in procurement, and that the number of offers for clean energy that SCE received was depressed by its much larger, concurrent resource solicitation for the Los Angeles area. In her proposed decision, the Administrative Law Judge largely agreed, deferring approval of Puente until the California Energy Commission ("CEC") had fully considered climate risk and environmental justice as part of the project's environmental review. Yet, like Carlsbad before it, following lobbying by fossil fuel interests, the Commission issued an alternate proposed decision that would approve the Puente contract, ignoring calls for SCE to issue a new resource solicitation to identify the clean energy solutions the people of Oxnard deserve. A final Commission vote on the Puente is expected April 7th. Regardless of the outcome of the PUC vote, the fight will continue at the CEC, where environmental approvals are needed before the project can proceed. As described by Lucus Zucker, Policy Director for Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE), the people of Oxnard, long overburdened with the region's most polluting industries, are done accepting further industrialization of their community. It is time for regulators to recognize that Puente is a bridge to nowhere and solicit clean energy alternatives to this ill-advised project. When Azeri and Armenian forces started to fire at each other in the early hours of April 2, it seemed that this exchange would enter the history of the decades-long conflict as just another of many routine violations of the ceasefire, which the parties to the Karabakh conflict clinched in 1994. However, rather than subside, as many of the previous violations did, the initial clashes spread and escalated, lasting four days and leaving dozens dead on both sides in what became the worst outbreak of hostilities since the 1994 agreement. Intended or not, this escalation substantially increases probability that Armenians and Azeris may stumble into an all-out war even though the latter would not be in the current interests of either Baku or Yerevan or those great powers, which have traditionally played important roles in the South Caucasus. Unintended Escalation? There are conflicting accounts of what triggered the latest round of hostilities, which subsided on April 5, but which can flare up again any time. It is my hope OSCE will conduct a full-fledged investigation to ascertain who initiated hostilities and how they evolved as the European Union did after the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. It is also my hope that the Minsk Group of OSCE will develop and implement a mechanism to permanently monitor the ceasefire in ways that allows to attribute violations. In the meantime, we can only guess what the sides' original intentions were. I can think of three possibilities. Advertisement First, there's a hypothetical possibility that Armenians chose to initiate an escalation of the conflict. In fact, that's exactly what the Azeri side insists has happened. According to Baku's version of events reported in the press, the hostilities erupted because the Armenian forces began firing at the Azeri forces and settlements along the line of contact (LOC). I am, of course, biased, given that I am a native of Karabakh myself, but I just don't see why the Armenian side would want to reheat a conflict, which they won in the 1990s, especially when President Serzh Sargsyan was out of the country, returning from the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington. (In fact, I asked the Armenian leader less than three days before the beginning of the clashes whether he thinks there is already a war underway between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and, if not then what are the chances of such a war. His answer was that Armenia and Azerbaijan are not at war, but that Armenia needs to be ready for such a war). The second possibility it that Azeris could have planned a 'routine' violation of the ceasefire, but things got out of control as both sides suffered human losses, including civilian casualties. In fact, according to the Armenian side's version of the events, the hostilities began when an Azeri saboteur group which tried to infiltrate into Karabakh in the night of April 1-2, but got trapped, prompting Azeri commanders to try rescue that unit and that's when the escalation ensued. Amazingly, it is exactly the scenario, which I foresaw in a paper that I co-wrote in 2012 to warn how Armenians and Azeris can stumble into a new war against their wishes. "Leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia may think they have become masters of controlled escalation, but one can imagine how a minor incident can set off a chain of events that would plunge the two republics into war" the paper said. "It won't require extraordinary power of imagination, for instance, to construct the following sequence: The Azeri military sends a group of scout saboteurs across the line at night as it has done before. The group is detected and starts retreating, but gets bogged down in fighting close to the line of contact," we hypothesized in the paper. I find this second scenario to be more plausible for a number of reasons. For one, unlike Armenians, Azeris do have an interest in reheating the conflict in hopes that their actions can eventually coerce the Armenians to make concessions in the long stalled peace talks. Hence, they occasionally initiate exchange of fire and even send special forces teams across LOC, reminding Armenians that the conflict is not frozen beyond reheating and prompting them to reciprocate. It is quite probable that that this time the Azeri side had planned such a reminder too, but then the infiltrating unit got trapped behind LOC and things got out of control. That Azeris reportedly took and kept three heights, which are located at the border with Iran and which Karabakh Armenians described as "important enough" may appear to contradict this second scenario, but it cannot be ruled that the Azeri commanders saw an opportunity to make some gains in the course of fighting and exploited. Advertisement The third possibility is that the Azeris could have planned a wide-ranging multi-pronged operation designed to make significant territorial gains, if not take Karabakh and adjacent districts. However, I don't think that this was the Azeris' initial plan for a number of reasons. One of them is that Azeri president Ilham Aliyev was out of his country, flying back from the same Nuclear Security Summit in Washington when the clashes erupted. Heads of state normally do not want their militaries to start a major military operation, which can escalate into an all-out war, at the time when they are travelling abroad. Also Azerbaijan's defense minister Zakir Hasanov would not have reportedly assumed command of the 1st Corps, which is positioned around Gyandzha and Yevlakh, if the battle plan had called for coordinated actions of several corps or entire armed forces which execution of such a major operation would required. Finally, the Azeris would not have announced a unilateral cessation of hostilities, which they did on April 3rd. You don't stop and call for ceasefire if your plan is to solve the conflict militarily, especially knowing that your plan buries the peace process regardless of the outcome. Latest Hostilities Significantly Increase Chances of Full-Blown War Regardless of what the sides' initial intentions behind the latest hostilities were, the latter have significantly increased probability of a full-blown war in the future for several reasons. Firstly, these hostilities have created a precedent for use of heavier and more sophisticated weaponry. Both Grad and Smerch Multiple Launch Rocket Systems and TOS-1 Heavy Flamethrower System have been used for the first time along with attack drones. When the next provocation occurs, commanders on both sides will have fewer qualms about employing such heavy systems again, especially if in "the fog of war" they come to conclude that the other side's use of these weapons is an attempt to 'soften target' ahead of a full-blown major offensive. A provocation that begins with mortar fire has low chances of quickly escalating into a war as long as leaders on neither side desire such a war. A provocation that begins with use of large-caliber multiple rocket launch systems and gunships has significantly higher chances of leading to an accidental war because of casualties it can cause. If Azeris did secure three heights, then this may encourage them to try take more in the next round of hostilities in what will also increase risk of an all-out war, given that Armenians would try to take them back. Also, if Armenians' accusations that Azeri soldiers have beheaded an Armenian soldier and cut the ears off an Armenian civilian are true, than memories of such atrocities will not fade away easily. This also makes it more difficult for the Armenian public to accept any compromises, which are needed on both sides, to come to a peaceful resolution of the Karabakh conflict and, therefore, increases probability of war. The latest clashes once more underscore how dangerously wrong country leaders when they think they can first up the ante in a stand-off with another state for purposes of signaling resolve or demanding concessions, and then control the resultant escalation. As John F. Kennedy's decision to order the U.S. military to go to DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated, once the order to up the ante is issued, the military begins to implement standard operational procedures, which the other side responds to and which significantly increases likelihood of an all-out war even if leaders on both sides of the conflict wish to avoid it. Advertisement Why The War is No One's Interest and How it Should be Prevented Again, I am not privy to decision-making in Baku and Yerevan, but I believe leaders on both sides wish to avoid an all-out war. Armenian leaders obviously are content with what Armenians have gained in the war that ended in 1994. And Ilham Aliev probably realizes that there's no guarantee that Azeris will win the new war, but that there is a strong probability that a defeat may lead to implosion of his regime. A new war over Karabakh would be much more devastating than the one fought more than 20 years ago, given the weapons that the sides have acquired since then. And some of the weaponry systems that the Armenian and Azeri armed forces possess, such as multiple-launch rocket systems or surface-to-surface missiles, can wreak havoc almost comparable to impact of a nuclear strike, if used massively against targets that are within their range, such as national capitals, or Azerbaijan's oil infrastructure, or Armenia's nuclear power plant. In my view, leaders of other great powers that have important interests at stake in the South Caucasus also do not wish for a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan that will have devastating consequences not only for these two post-Soviet republics, but also for stability of the region. If a full-blown war erupts and Azeris begin to lose, then Turkey would feel obligated to intervene. Turkish leaders have already drawn criticism from the nationalist part of the Turkish electorate for failing to either protect interests of the Crimean Tatars or to stop Russia from bombing Turkoman rebels in Syria. Turkish leaders would come at even greater pressure to intervene on behalf of Azeris, who are closest to Turks linguistically and ethnically. Ankara realizes, however, that such an intervention may evolve first into a proxy war with Moscow and then into a direct war between Turkey and Russia. Russia obviously would not want to get dragged into a conflict, which may end up escalating into a conflict with NATO, either. A full-blown war between Armenia and Azerbaijan would also force Russia to take sides between Armenia, which is a member of the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and Azerbaijan, which the Russian Ministry of Affairs describes as "friendly." If Armenia begins to lose this war and Russia doesn't intervene on Armenia's behalf, then this could cast serious doubt on Russia's reputation of a guarantor of security of its allies and reputation of CSTO as a viable military bloc. A number of experts have speculated that the hostilities were actually encouraged by Russia so that it can deploy peacekeeping troops along LOC to boost its presence in the region and increase its leverage vis-a-vis Azerbaijan. However, even though Vladimir Putin's KGB evaluators described him as having "lower sense of danger," and, therefore, more prone to take risks, I don't think it is a very plausible theory, given that he already has his hands full with two conflicts (Syria and Ukraine), which Russia wants to be resolved on favorable terms. Advertisement Nor would Iran want resumption of the war in Karabakh, given Teheran's delicate effort to maintain good relations with Armenia without alienating its sizeable Azeri minority. If Azeri forces begin to retreat in such a war, it will send thousands of Azeri refugees across the Azeri-Iranian border as it was the case during the Karabakh war. If Armenians begin to lose, then Iran would see its rival - Turkey - expand its influence in the South Caucasus. The United States clearly, too, has no interests in resumption of a full-blown war. U.S. has important interests at stake in the region, given Azerbaijan's supplies to the world oil market, which Armenia can disrupt with ballistic missile strikes. U.S. also is member of OSCE's three-strong Minsk Group and is responsible for mediation of the Karabakh conflict along with France and Russia. There are also an estimated total of more than one million people of Armenian origin living in the United States, and the U.S. government cannot ignore their opinions. While it is not in the current interest of either Armenia or Azerbaijan to restart this war, a number of factors can change their cost-benefit analysis in the future. A significant decline of one side's power relative to the other may also change prompt the leaders on the weakening side to go to war in what Harvard Professor Graham Allison has described as Thucydides's Trap. Another possibility is that a protracted decline of oil prices may leave Aliev facing protests so serious that he would come to view probability of losing his seat because of such protests greater than the probability of losing a war over Karabakh. In that case, chances are that he may attempt such a war to distract the protests' attention and mobilize the public support for his rule. The April 2-5 escalation of violence between Armenians and Azeris should serve as a wake-up call to the Minsk group of OSCE, which represents powers with great leverage vis-a-vis Armenia and Azerbaijan. These powers should ascertain which side has initiated the hostilities and take measures to prevent their resumption. In the longer-term, members of the Minsk groups should exercise that leverage and make a coordinated push before either another incident at LOC or change of assessment of feasibility of war in Baku or Yerevan bring about a full-blown war, which would have devastating consequences both for the region and external stake-holders. April is Genocide Awareness Month, a time to reflect on atrocities of the past while ensuring that we avoid acts of mass murder in the future. The urgency of this mandate was highlighted just weeks ago when the U.S. House of Representatives and the State Department officially recognized that ISIS is committing genocide in the Middle East. ISIS has massacred hundreds, trapped tens of thousands without food or water, and captured, enslaved, sold, and raped thousands of women and girls. ISIS targets and attacks Christians, Yezedis (Yazedis), and Shia Muslims for who they are. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry noted that "its entire worldview is based on eliminating those who do not subscribe to its perverse ideology. There is no question in my mind that if (ISIS) succeeded in establishing its so-called caliphate, it would seek to destroy what remains of ethnic and religious mosaic once thriving in the region." Advertisement USC Shoah Foundation's model is to use testimony from genocide survivors to show that we all have a role to play in intervening in the cycle that leads to mass murder. It is a modern, urgent role, as genocide is happening on our watch. Genocide is never the same thing twice, but its consequences for the victims and the survivors are chillingly similar. Comparing human suffering between one genocide and another serves no purpose and to my knowledge there is no meter for human pain. We cannot take on the suffering of another, but we can acknowledge it and in so doing share the burden. "Never again" has been said in earnest and with the best of intentions, for the best part of three quarters of a century. But it starts to ring hollow when intent is not followed by action. The first action is acknowledgement that genocide is underway, because once you state it, you cannot take it back, and it comes with a moral imperative to act. In 1948, the United Nations instituted the Convention for Punishment and Prevention of Genocide for critical reasons. First, they wanted to name what had just happened to the Jews, and several other groups, during World War II. Second, they wanted to provide a globally recognized identity for a crime that until then, had no legal definition and was therefore difficult to identify. Third, they wanted the convention to provide a framework to end impunity. Unfortunately, the convention had no teeth, so it was only a matter of time before Cambodia, Guatemala, Rwanda and other genocides were occurring with little or no intervention. Advertisement The genocide convention states that genocide occurs when a national, ethnic, racial or religious group is sufficiently targeted, and it is clear that the group is no longer required or wanted under the jurisdiction of the ruling power. It has specific provisions, such as killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting condition calculated for physical destruction of the group, preventing births, and removing children. At first glance, it does not seem to cover the ghettos, concentration camps, gas chambers or a death toll in the millions. Because the Holocaust was genocide in extremis, it is sometimes depicted as being "unique" and therefore in a category of its own, but genocide is not about numbers of victims and has nothing to do with methods, scope or scale. Genocide is defined by intent and the steps taken to attempt to destroy a group because of who they are. This definition means that if a perpetrator demonstrates intent, the first victim is a victim of genocide, which can and should be stopped right there. The world did not need to wait for the murder of 6 million European Jews to know that Hitler had genocidal intent: It was clear before a single Jew was murdered. The right time to name genocide is when you can do something to prevent it. Unfortunately, we are now in a position to add a whole new category of victims to USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive: Muslims and Christians whose lives are in danger from the genocidal ideology of ISIS right now. Different time. Different place. Similar human pain. I am reminded that in the archive, there are many testimonies of individuals who, in the face of genocide, took it upon themselves to make small differences. The horror and suffering they speak of are unimaginable, but even in the darkness they found shafts of light, of human decency, kindness and courage. These illuminations of humanity survive the genocidal madness of the killers themselves. By preserving the witnesses' stories, and showing that one person can make a difference, we encourage ourselves and our learners to be people of conscience. CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- As I sit in traffic during Cape Town's busy rush hour, it's difficult to imagine that running beneath this city of approximately 3.75 million are hundreds of kilometers of underground brick tunnels, tunnels that transport millions of liters of fresh spring water from Table Mountain directly out into the sea. The mountains that overlook this beautiful city were once its lifeblood, supplying the entire population with water. I flick through the latest edition of the newspaper and come across another headline about the impact of the drought currently gripping South Africa. The last few months have been a particularly difficult time for the country. Annual total rainfall between January 2015 and December 2015 fell to its lowest level in 112 years, leading to widespread crop failures. As a result, South Africa's water supplies are under pressure. The country's dams were just 55 percent full in January, leading authorities to curb water supplies to residents in several cities. In Durban, emergency steps were taken to deliver water to the poorest, while residents in the coastal city of Cape Town had to cut their water consumption by 20 percent from 10 percent. We drive past the deprived Khayelitsha township of Cape Town and I spot a group of children walking to collect water from a distant water pump. It's a stark reminder that even before this drought, demand for water across the whole of South Africa has been steadily increasing. Despite being one of the most industrialized countries in Africa, 3.6 million people here still lack access to "improved" water and nearly 18 million don't have access to "improved" sanitation. Harding and his film crew in one of the many Cape Town tunnels, built in the 1800s, through which millions of liters of potable Table Mountain spring water run to waste each day. (Sven Harding). Cape Town is no exception. Despite its proximity to Table Mountain, a historic source of water, the city is severely water-stressed. Experts predict in the next three years there will be a shortage of water as demand outweighs supply. As I watch the children wait patiently in line to collect their water, it seems impossible to comprehend that there was once an abundance of fresh water in this city. Go back 2,000 years and Cape Town was actually first named "Camissa," meaning "Place of Sweet Waters," by the indigenous Khoi people, because of its natural and clean streams stemming from the mountainside. It once had four rivers and 36 springs running through it, and was colonized by the Dutch in 1652 because of its plethora of fresh water. But as the city grew, these water systems became polluted and were diverted underground via a storm water system. Today, this water rushes away hidden and unused into drains and sewers and out into the ocean. "Here's a city which was once developed because of its natural resources and they have been discarded to the extent that we now have to bring water from the food growing region 65 kilometers away," Caron Von Zeil, the founder of the not-for profit Reclaim Camissa project, told me. Advertisement One of the many underground tunnels in Cape Town, South Africa. (Sven Harding). I first met Caron at an event last year. She spoke with tremendous passion and depth about this wonderful resource which is the foundation of modern-day South Africa, yet nowadays this water is being funnelled away in tunnels under the city like sewage water. Caron is now fighting to reclaim these forgotten underground waterways. "Water is required in every part of life, for that reason it's important that this water be reclaimed as far as possible and it is possible," she added. Her views are supported by international development charity WaterAid, which works to bring water and sanitation to some of the world's poorest communities. "The global water crisis is one of the greatest challenges facing us today," Chilufya Chileshe, WaterAid's regional policy and advocacy manager, told me. "As the global urban population rapidly expands, we're seeing that growth in developing cities is typically unplanned and water, sanitation and hygiene services are not keeping up." Harding and his film crew in an underground tunnel in Cape Town. (Sven Harding). "In addition, most of our governments in southern Africa have yet to proactively declare the need for close attention to the impacts of the climate crisis on communities," she added. "Urgent attention has to be paid to help these communities adapt to the coming changes and help build resilience." According to Caron's research, by 2019 there will be a shortage of water in Cape Town. For the past 11 years she's been lobbying local government officials to try to reclaim these waterways, but despite several officials showing interest, there's still no change. Advertisement "This water belongs to each and every one of us," Caron said. "It's important that we reconnect with this resource so that we can survive in the future not only as a city, but as a community." Brazilian Real and U.S. dollar notes are pictured at a currency exchange office in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in this September 10, 2015 photo illustration. One thing is clear for Brazil's economy after its credit rating was downgraded to junk: political leaders now have little choice but to push ahead with painful austerity measures if they hope to regain market confidence. Standard & Poor's on Wednesday stripped Brazil of its hard-won investment grade rating, moving sooner than the government and investors had expected. Although investors expected a downgrade at some point, they still sold off Brazilian assets early on Thursday. Stocks suffered modest losses while the currency, the real, fell nearly 3 percent to a 13-year low of 3.9 per dollar. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes The news is currently filled with stories of corruption. A global group of media outlets just broke the story of secret offshore bank accounts in Panama, which suggests widespread corruption in the Russian government and elsewhere. For months, stories of the Brazilian government's bribery scandal have filled the news. Other headline-grabbing events include Malaysia's prime minister allegedly siphoning almost a billion dollars from a state development fund. Many stories focus on the politics of corruption. The Economist magazine even has an entire section devoted to political corruption. Some stories focus on the exact details of how corrupt money flows around the world, such as a recent Wall Street Journal story on how Malysia's missing funds actually paid for the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street." Advertisement Corruption is ethically wrong and is illegal in most countries. For example, the U.S. has laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that clearly states people in business should not bribe, cheat or steal when doing business. Few of the news stories, however, explain in simple economic terms why corruption is so bad. Corruption Is Another Tax In economic terms, bribery is simply another government tax. Imagine a store owner who pays a set tax each year. Now imagine each year the store owner also needs to bribe local officials for an operating permit. The tax plus the bribe affects the store's bottom line the same as simply being taxed once by the government at a higher amount. In general, taxes discourage business. When costs go up without a change in revenue, profits fall. If profits fall so low as to disappear, the reason for being in business goes away. In simple terms corruption and bribery reduce the economic incentive to produce. This lowers a country's output and drags down the entire nation's standard of living. Bribes result in a smaller economic pie because businesses don't expand resulting in fewer jobs, smaller legitimate tax revenue and lower output for everyone. Advertisement Corruption and bribery, however, have a more damaging impact than most regular government taxes. First, having to pay bribes reduces people's trust in government. Second, bribes are more damaging than a tax because the amount paid in bribes is often both unknown and highly variable. The global cost of corruption is estimated at more than US$2.26 trillion a year, or 5 percent of global GDP, according to the World Economic Forum. More than $1 trillion of that is paid in bribes. Another study found that every percentage point increase in corruption - according to an index that measures it - reduces GDP growth by 0.13 percent and GDP per capita by $425 a year. Corruption has also been linked to higher levels of poverty and inequality. But beyond the direct costs, even the threat of a bribe disrupts economic activity and leaves everyone worse off. While a tax is usually known in advance, allowing businesses and individuals to plan, it is exceedingly difficult to plan and adjust for bribes since the amount is not fixed but instead is "negotiated." A Tale From Tanzania Corruption exists in forms small and large across the globe, from poor country to rich. I saw the direct impact of low-level corruption and bribery and this "negotiation" a few months ago during a holiday stay in Tanzania. The incident occurred in Africa but it could have happened on any other continent. Tanzania, a large country in East Africa, is home to many friendly and welcoming people as well as awe-inspiring scenery and wildlife. Unfortunately, the police in Tanzania can be less so. They are woefully underpaid and boost their pay by demanding bribes. Transparency International rates Tanzania 117th out of 168 countries on the scale of corruption. Denmark, at number one, is ranked least corrupt, while the U.S. comes in at 16. Advertisement On my way to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, I hired a car and driver for the typically six-hour trip. On the way there, we were in a shiny new Toyota Land Cruiser, in perfect working order. As we passed police checkpoints, we saw cars being pulled over. We made the drive without incident. On the return trip, however, the shiny Land Cruiser wasn't available. Instead, the company's owner and one of his drivers beckoned us into an old but serviceable minivan. Why did the owner have to tag along? I wondered. It soon became clear. Police pulled us over at almost every other checkpoint, where we waited as they examined papers and inspected the horn, the lights, even the directional signal to ensure they worked. The company owner explained that the police were looking for any kind of a problem as an excuse to take a bribe (the brand new Land Rover didn't offer such opportunities). If even the tiniest problem was found, he told me, they would offer a choice: accept the official fine or pay a lower bribe on the spot in cash. That's why the owner came along, to negotiate how much to pay, which can depend on anything from how rich the passengers look to whether the police had already made a good haul that day. Fortunately, everything worked, and the police didn't have an excuse to extort us. But the economic cost of corruption isn't only cash forked over in bribes. As my anecdote illustrates, a culture of corruption is extremely inefficient, costs a lot of time (in our case a couple of hours) and leads to wasted wages, among many other ill effects. Corruption's Results One of the most pernicious impacts is that this kind of low-level corruption and arbitrary demands stymie the kind of entrepreneurial activity that drives an economy. Advertisement The car company owner, for example, said it made him less eager to expand his business, hire more workers and buy more vehicles. This has resulted in Tanzania having a smaller economic pie because bribery made this owner reluctant to expand his business. Corruption is highlighted by the media because the amounts being exchanged are often huge. The real reason corruption should be headline news is that it steals a bit of economic prosperity from every person each time it occurs. Previous posts centered on films about heroic African-Americans who were enslaved. Because slavery permeates American history and is our American tragedy no single film can represent the entirety of its story. Using a larger format the renowned television series, "Roots," broadcast in late January 1997, added needed substance to the history of slavery and its aftermath. Parallel to "Roots" are recent films about Abraham Lincoln. One is "Lincoln" (2012) directed by the maestro, Stephen Spielberg. That film joins many dozens of films about the 16th president. Added to these films are approximately 15,000 books about Lincoln. Lincoln's story--from poverty to President and the moral light of his century's greatest struggle--justified building the Lincoln Memorial in 1922 . In American history, illustrious moments of national advance occurred in front of the Memorial. The great statue looked upon Marian Anderson when she sang there on Easter Sunday in 1939. Having been denied use of Washington's Constitution Hall by the Daughters of the American Revolution, Anderson performed on the steps of the Memorial as the guest of Eleanor Roosevelt. Advertisement Idealizing Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr. Similar events occurred in 1941, 1957, and in August 1963, when the March on Washington concluded in front of the Memorial. On August 28, Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his famous speech, "I Have a Dream" in front of the Lincoln statue. It is impossible to not feel that Lincoln is meditating upon these events from his god-like throne as we witness them from below. Certainly King had immersed himself in Lincoln's writing. Spielberg's film presents Lincoln as wry, savvy, and of implacable moral will. During the film we yearn to hear Lincoln's prose poem, The Gettysburg Address. Somewhat awkwardly Spielberg has a black Union soldier recite that speech back to Lincoln. Good enough. Those sentences, later engraved on an interior wall of the Memorial, discern the course of America's past and future. Lincoln speaks about the nation that will emerge after the War is ended and slavery will have been banished. As Garry Wills noted, Lincoln's grammar and style is muscular (masculine in that sense) while his imagery is about delivery, a nation that was conceived, a new birth of freedom, and the struggle to preserve that newborn nation (feminine in that sense). In speeches that won him the Republican nomination for President, Lincoln looked back to the intentions of the Founders, "Our Fathers" as he called them. In his debates with Stephen A. Douglas, his Democratic opponent for the US Senate, and in his speech at Cooper Union on February 27, 1860, Lincoln also looked forward. He recognized that the US began with an accommodation to slavery. While the Constitution of 1787 embodied compromises with slaveholders, that was an expedient. The Founders tolerated the existence of slavery; they did not promote it. For that reason, Lincoln said the Constitution did not contain the words "slave" and "slavery." This was done "on purpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that there could be property in man." Lincoln's speeches and his address at Gettysburg were about expectancy. He hoped to reveal the intentions of the founders; he wished to identify their best selves with himself; he sought to visualize their promises fulfilled. Advertisement King was acutely aware of the location of his speech and the time, the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation (issued on January 1, 1863). He began by recalling the Proclamation and its hopes not yet fulfilled. In King's words, which amplify Lincoln's, the Declaration of Independence was "a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir." The rousing conclusion of King's speech-"I have a dream"-embodied his religious genius for grounding political struggles in the Hebrew Bible's promise that justice emerges out of God's will. King cited the Prophet Isaiah's proclamation: "Every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight." (Isaiah 40:4-5) The Cost of Idealization: Our Tasks Because Lincoln and King represent our better selves we idealize them. Persons who lived through the news of the assassination of either man (deaths that made them martyrs) remember the suffering each death caused for those who loved them. Spielberg's film deserved its dozen nominations for the Academy Award in 2013. Daniel Day-Lewis earned his Oscar for giving us the illusion of knowing Lincoln in our time. However, the cost of idealizing Lincoln and King is that we may value the feelings they arouse in us and go no further. Our task is to move from feeling linked to them through our emotions to being linked to them through our actions. As the election season moves forward like a freight train filled with sound and fury, immigration reform takes a front seat. With the backdrop of global terrorism, and threat of ISIS, strategies to keep America safe have become a common denominator in the spirited debates. Mr. Trump, in his infinite medieval wisdom, wants to keep certain select group of ethnicities out to keep us all safe, theoretically. If towering walls and deafening alarms were the only solution, and the country was not surrounded by oceans, a drawbridge over alligator infested moats may also have been suggested. However, limiting such restrictions to only a certain demographic may be a bit of short sightedness. After all, most ethnic groups, if not all, over time have shown a tendency towards violence as a means of political, economic or social dominance. So, if we are truly serious about this, then it may not be an unreasonable idea to create a short list of other potential threats, just in case. Here are a few that have proven worthy over the past few centuries: 1. Muslims: They are the hot topic and the very reason behind this ambitious plan. They are certainly guilty by believing in a peaceful version of the same religion as some groups of crazy fanatics in the recent past. After all, there are only 1.2 billion of them, no reason to think that they are all not thinking exactly the same violent thoughts at all times. 2. Jews: While we're at it, let's think about excluding Jews from this list of immigration approvals. They've had issues with law and order and a large segment of the world population considers them as oppressors of some sort. Also, there's always been a significant undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the United States, this will be an excellent time to bring it on. 3. Mexicans: According to Mr. Trump, they are thieves and rapists. Many other consider them as a drain on our economy, (usually the same people who continually hire them on less than minimum wage, so we won't mention that they work harder, and have a better work ethic than most of us). Time for that wall to come up; xenophobic graffiti, barbed wires and all! 4. Japanese: They have caused more damage to us than anyone else in history. Remember Pearl Harbor? We secluded them then, why not again. You never know. Hiroshima, Nagasaki? Inadmissible evidence? 5. Chinese: We have issues with their human rights record (except when they are our favorite outsourced manufacturers). We are concerned about them taking over our country, and of course they had a big role to play in the last big war. Mainly, they look different and we don't really understand them. 6. Koreans: We do like South Koreans, however, we have some major issues with the North. They're all the same, aren't they; they even look exactly the same? How do we tell between good and evil? 7. Germans: Need I say more? Hello! Does anybody remember that incident called the Holocaust? It wasn't just Hitler, a lot of people followed him blindly, so how do we know who is a bad apple? You want to keep America safe, ban them! Who really wants to drive those pretentious German jalopies anyway? 8. Russians: Remember the cold war? There's potential for more damage coming from them than anybody else in the world. Remember all those ICBMs, which forced us to get our own arsenal of devastating nuclear weapons; just a deterrent of course. Putin; need I say more! 9. British: Over the past several centuries, they have been the biggest oppressors. Conquering the world through deceit or sheer might, just to pillage, colonize and take back the spoils home with them. That kind of imperial thought just doesn't go away and requires extreme caution. Remember the Revolutionary war; war of 1812? Don't you think they would be looking for some revenge? Advertisement 10. South Africans: Remember the apartheid? They weren't very nice to their black population. We have lots of African Americans in this country. Who knows if they'll come after them and attack us? 11. African Americans: While we are trying to save them from the apartheid, remember all the crime and their continuing resistance to slavery? Remember all the racial profiling and their response with violence? It's about time we start cleaning up on the racial dilution started by our ancestors; I'm sure the South will agree. 12. Southerners: So it may sound ambitious, but they are the ones who started the Civil War. Should we leave it alone, hoping that it will not happen again, or it's time to put up a wall along the Mason-Dixon Line? We can even make the South pay for it. 13. Canadians: We love our friendly neighbors. They don't really seem to mean any harm. But, do you see what they're doing? A liberal prime minister, a socialist even. They want to give minorities power, and allow Muslim refugees into their homeland with open arms. We should definitely block them out. Another wall? 14. Native Americans: Now that's a conundrum. They are different, proud, bordering on arrogant. We've got to find a way to have more control over those casinos to compensate for the Trump Taj Mahal disaster. Problem is, they were always here, and guess what, all of us are on THEIR list to be excluded from this land. It appears that we are in a fix. Going down this road is akin to opening the Pandora's Box. A precedent as dangerous in its execution as it is grand in its raw, misguided ambition. Maybe it's time to push this nonsense aside and focus on bringing people together, rather than driving ethnic wedges to isolate like-minded voters. Walled and isolated threats only breed contempt and anger and have, as history stands a witness, never resulted in a happy ending. By Paul A. Friesen In Zimbabwe, over 4 million people are likely to go hungry at some point during 2016. For a country once considered the breadbasket of Southern Africa, food availability per person in 2014 was the lowest ever recorded according to the World Bank. This spring's absent harvest will leave the country desperately requiring food assistance, just as neighboring nations struggle to meet their own demands. Although the government of Zimbabwe has appealed for $1.6 billion in food aid from the international community, initial delays and a lack of preparedness by the government means that such assistance may come too late. Poor governance and climate change-related weather events threaten to create chronic food insecurity for populations living across the developing world. 2014 and 2015 were the hottest years on record due to a combination of greenhouse gases increasing the world's baseline temperature, and a strong El Nino weather pattern. One of the adverse effects of El Nino is that areas including India, Australia, and the eastern coast of Africa receive much less rain than usual, and new research warns that rising greenhouse gases may double the number of extreme El Nino weather events. Given the unpredictability of weather and its effects on agricultural production, long-term planning is crucial. Amid predictions of poor conditions for agriculture in 2015 and 2016, several Asian countries began organizing early by securing stockpiles of rice. Already, analysts are predicting that the current El Nino system will lead to decreased yields for maize, wheat, and rice by up to 5 percent across the globe. Advertisement Smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa, a group which includes 60 percent of all women living in the region, will experience the effects of climate change the hardest. Over 95 percent of agricultural production in Sub-Saharan Africa lacks irrigation, and is therefore highly vulnerable to the reduced rainfall caused by El Nino. Average temperatures in Africa are also expected to rise 1.5 times faster than the global average, while its population doubles by 2050. African maize, the primary staple for most people in Southern Africa, may be completely devastated in ten years' time in the absence of meaningful policy interventions. Several countries in the Horn, Sahel, and Southern African regions are currently experiencing a food security "crisis" or "emergency" according to the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET). In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, torrential rains caused by El Nino have destroyed homes, food stocks, and public infrastructure. An ongoing drought in Ethiopia has resulted in over 10 million people urgently requiring subsistence support. In total, 20 million people will likely become food insecure in Southern Africa by early 2017, due to one of the worst droughts in recent memory. Africa as a continent has only contributed about 8 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions, while the United States and European Union have combined for more than 30 percent since the beginning of the industrial era. When natural disasters linked to climate change, a phenomenon largely caused by industrialized nations, bring about humanitarian crises in poorer countries, with whom does responsibility fall for providing relief to the most vulnerable? The 2015 Paris Agreement is a vital first step in supporting those groups most affected by the changing climate through presenting a long-term plan to help curb extreme weather. The landmark agreement also includes $100 billion per year, to be distributed to developing counties starting in 2020, to support climate adaption strategies. Other interventions, some of which are already being implemented to help mitigate the effects of an increasingly unfriendly climate, include the development of drought resistant seeds, enhanced irrigation systems, and more readily available weather information for farmers. However, shifting the agricultural sector to adapt to these changes requires local governments to develop, approve, and implement effective policies. Advertisement Citizens from developing countries with ineffective governments, few safety nets, and poor infrastructure are at the greatest risk of suffering from long-term poverty and severe food insecurity. In order to help stem these risks, the wealthiest countries must embrace a multi-pronged approach of combatting climate change in their own countries, committing to the rapid deployment of humanitarian relief, and partnering with developing countries to promote good governance and adoption of new agricultural innovations. While food distribution is a necessary primary response to the current food crises, curbing climate change and supporting sound governance are just as vital to the interests of all nations. By Tania Cohen Senator Ted Cruz's Middle East policy is somewhat unique among Republicans, particularly in comparison to former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. Regardless of the success of their respective endeavors in the Middle East, both pursued actions that at least partially prioritized stability and democracy. In contrast, as revealed in his speeches and op-eds, Cruz's primary conviction has been that the United States should only intervene militarily in foreign conflicts when the conflict or its actors pose a direct threat to the United States, yet he also emphasizes his belief that the United States should "restore [its] leadership in the world," which is somewhat contradictory to his isolationist tendencies and necessitates soft power diplomacy. In his December 2015 speech at the Heritage Foundation, Cruz argued: "Nothing that has happened [since 2013 when the Obama Administration began taking action in Syria] has given me any more confidence that intervention in the Syrian civil war is in American interests...because... we do not have a side in the [war]." While this is a legitimate viewpoint, Cruz contradicts himself by adding: "I believe we should focus on the immediate and unambiguous challenge to our security, which is utterly destroying [ISIL]." With these statements, Cruz misrepresents reality. The civil war in Syria is a multi-sided conflict in which the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is one force of many. As such, the United States cannot simply 'destroy ISIL' while staying out of the war itself. Cruz used a September 2014 op-ed, written after ISIL beheaded two American citizens, to propose his three key steps for defeating ISIL. First, he advocates prioritizing border security on the U.S.-Mexico border, which is far from ISIL's centers of power and influence. Second, he proposes rescinding American citizenship from Americans who fight for or support ISIL. If Cruz's goal is to eradicate ISIL and its membership, this policy measure would be insufficient, as most ISIL fighters are not American. Lastly, Cruz says he will "do everything possible to make [ISIL] understand there are serious ramifications for threatening to attack the United States and for killing American civilians", through "principally military" means. While this statement may appeal to voters for its bravado, it lacks substance. Advertisement In the same piece, Cruz did not explicitly rule out soft power, but shared his hope that President Obama would not propose an intervention "laden with impractical contingencies, such as resolving the Syrian civil war, reaching political reconciliation in Iraq or achieving [international] consensus." Diplomatic strategies are key to effective global leadership and vital to any successful foreign policy, yet Cruz presents them as signs of weakness. This philosophy represents a major strategic inconsistency for Cruz. For example, in 2013 Cruz suggested responding to Bashar Al-Assad's use of chemical weapons with a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) vote "condemning" Assad. While there is nothing fundamentally wrong with this proposal, Cruz also wrote: "It is not the job of U.S. troops to police international norms or to send messages." On the contrary, as a global power and signatory state to many UN treaties and conventions, we are obligated to uphold those principles. Furthermore, endorsing a UNSC resolution is certainly a form of "policing international norms" and "sending a message," but his specific reference to U.S. troops allows him to make these otherwise contradictory statements. Similarly, in an October 2015 op-ed Cruz wrote: "We should extend consistent, robust assistance to our regional allies - Israel, Egypt, and Jordan - who are on the front lines of this fight." His apparent openness to cooperating with other countries on this issue indicates a shift in his approach to foreign policy. The issue with this plan is not Cruz's hesitation to get involved in a foreign conflict. Rather, the problem is his failure to embrace the important role that diplomacy and international dialog play in multilateral action. Advertisement Following the recent terrorist attacks in Brussels, Cruz called for preventing Middle Eastern refugees from entering the United States, "patrol[ling] and securing Muslim neighborhoods" to prevent radicalization, securing the southern border, and destroying ISIL. Respectively, these ideas ignore our humanitarian obligation to help refugees; discriminate against American Muslims based on religion; mischaracterize ISIL's sphere of influence; all while failing to describe any specific actions Cruz would take against ISIL. In an interview following the attacks, he also said, "Donald Trump is wrong that America should withdraw from the world and abandon our allies ... [he] is wrong that we should retreat from Europe." This statement and his calls to return to our position as an international leader demonstrate a belief that the United States should intervene in foreign conflicts not only when there is a direct threat to American security, but also when our ideals are threatened. This contradicts his opposition to soft power and appears to contradict his earlier beliefs that we should only intervene militarily when there is a direct threat to American security. In each of these examples, Ted Cruz attempts to position himself as a fearless defender of American security by emphasizing military power and dismissing diplomatic actions. He simultaneously proposes a return to American leadership and multilateralism, which both necessitate soft power, indicating subtle contradictions and inconsistencies in his approach to American foreign policy. If he is to be considered a serious presidential candidate, Cruz must reconcile the inconsistencies in his policy proposals and seriously acknowledge America's responsibility to engage with other countries with strength and understanding. MANJUNATH KIRAN via Getty Images Indian Yoga guru Baba Ramdev stretches after addressing a press conference in Bangalore on March 18, 2016, ahead of a five day yoga camp. / AFP / Manjunath Kiran (Photo credit should read MANJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/Getty Images) Does freedom of speech not apply to Baba Ramdev? Thats what BJP president Amit Shah wants to know. Absolutely, it does. Baba Ramdev, if you remember, decided a Sadbhavna (compassion) rally was the perfect setting to thunder Koi aadmi topi pehan kar ke khada ho jaata hai, bolta Bharat Mata ki Jai nahi bolunga, chahe meri gardan kaat do. Arey is desh mein kanoon hai, nahi toh teri ek ki kya, hum toh lakhon ki gardan kaat sakte hain. (Someone wearing a cap stands up and says that he won't chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai even if someone kills him. There is a law in this country, otherwise I would've beheaded lakhs of people.) Baba Ramdev at least admits the law restrains him. And he is not literally asking anyone to go on a beheading rampage any more than Smriti Irani is really offering to cut off her head and place it at Mayawatis feet. Advertisement Shah has sprung to the Babas defence saying while Baba Ramdev is not a member of the BJP he wants to know from those who talk of free speech, does it not apply to Baba Ramdev. Its rather peculiar that a yoga guru who should be adept at doing headstands wants to be known for cutting off heads instead. As a biting cartoon from Hemant Morparia puts it Baba Ramdev seems to have morphed from Deshbhakt to Daesh-bhakt, Daesh, of course, being the preferred name for ISIS infamous for its beheading videos. Its rather peculiar that a yoga guru who should be adept at doing headstands wants to be known for cutting off heads instead But to each his own and certainly freedom of expression should protect Baba Ramdev and his virtual sword of patriotic fervour just as it should protect Salman Rushdie, Taslima Nasreen, those young women who posted on Facebook after Bal Thackerays death, the university professor who forwarded that cartoon poking fun at Mamata Banerjee, U R Ananthamurthy, Asaduddin Owaisi, Umar Khalid and the list goes on. Advertisement Shahs statement epitomizes what bedevils freedom of expression in this country. We wilfully refuse to understand that the same laws, the same rights should apply to everyone and that includes people we vehemently disagree with. Otherwise freedom of expression becomes merely another form of selective outrage. Just as Shah asks what about Ramdev he opens himself up to the counter charge what about Kanhaiya Kumar, what about Owaisi? The right to chant Bharat mata ki jai cannot trump the right to chant Jai Hind instead or chant nothing at all and still be entitled to all the protections that the Indian constitution offers. Freedom of expression is not about being nice, patriotic or aadarsh balak. To be worth anything it has to be a right, not a perk to be doled out according to the whims of the ideology in power. Those who never offend anyone have no practical need for the protection that freedom of expression offers anyway. To be worth anything it has to be a right, not a perk to be doled out according to the whims of the ideology in power This selective understanding of freedom of expression suits our powers that be perfectly. In 2008 during UPA rule, two young men were arrested for posting derogatory content about Sonia Gandhi on Orkut. Kapil Sibal as communication minister tried to force social media sites like Facebook to pre-screen content, pointing to an offensive anti-Sonia Gandhi page and saying This is unacceptable. An unnamed UPA top official had told The Indian Express. The government of India does not believe in censorship. But sensitivity and feelings of different communities cannot be allowed to be hurt. Mostly its political sensitivity that cannot bear to be hurt. A picture photoshopped to show Narendra Modi bowing down before a Saudi sheikh is absolutely yellow journalism especially if its deliberately peddled as fact not satire. BJP MP Maheish Girri took up the matter with the I&B ministry, the same Girri who vociferously pursued the JNU fracas. But Girri shows his selective outrage when he does not protest the doctoring and photoshopping when it comes to JNU student videos as yellow journalism. Advertisement The likes of Girri might say the difference is when it is about the office of the Prime Minister. But thats just hogwash. As an I&B official tells the media A black-and-white photo of a young Modi holding a broom that was widely circulated during the Lok Sabha elections to reaffirm his humble past was fake. Modis photo posted by the Press Information Bureau which showed him in a helicopter during an aerial survey of flood-hit Chennai, had also been photoshopped. Photoshopping falsehoods into fact is wrong, no matter whether it elevates the office of the PM or denigrates it. Photoshopping falsehoods into fact is wrong, no matter whether it elevates the office of the PM or denigrates it In India all rights and all laws seem to come with a VVIP exception. All that changes with a change in sarkar is the particular pantheon thats off limits, protected from the grubby fingers of the aam aadmis freedom of expression. Thus a BJP in opposition can call Section 66A an online emergency yet defend it when in power. And the Congress which helped pushed it through in the first place can rejoice Free speech reigns supreme when the Supreme Court strikes it down just because its no longer in power. The government is both stoking the fire and downplaying the issue. BJP leader and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis says people not saying Bharat Mata ki jai should leave India. Advertisement But in Delhi, Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu says those are views not authorized by the government. Has the government issued any circular saying that those who dont say Bharat Mata ki jai should leave the country? asks Naidu. As has been pointed out by multiple people on Twitter, Baba Ramdev might be a private citizen, and not officially a member of the BJP, but Devendra Fadnavis is a sitting chief minister belonging to the BJP. How much more authorized by government can you get? All it shows is that on contentious issues like this governments are happy to talk out of both sides of their mouth. Or if we are to take Naidu at face value, the governments right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Chopping off heads, maybe? But just keep in mind its still a private act not authorized by a government circular. In India all rights and all laws seem to come with a VVIP exception Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost India: AIR/Twitter For the last three months, the Mexican Ambassador to India, Melba Pria, has been travelling across Delhi to attend meetings in a chauffeur-driven auto rickshaw. White in colour with a lovely floral pattern and the Mexican flag fluttering proudly above the indicator, her official vehicle might be too cool for school, but has often hit road bumps. On Tuesday morning, the Mexican Ambassador was reportedly not allowed to park her auto at the India Habitat Centre (IHC). Ironically, she was there to speak at an event on air pollution. Advertisement According to this report, when the envoy's vehicle was denied parking space, the organizers of the event intervened. The event organisers told India Today that there is a perception that people coming to such venues use cars and therefore there is no designated parking space for non-motorised transport.' However, the office of Embassy of Mexico told HuffPost India that Pria didn't face any such hurdle. "On April 5th, I attended the ConnectKARO event organised by the World Resources Institute that was held at India Habitat Centre to give a keynote speech about air pollution. India Habitat Centre allowed the entrance and parking of the auto rickshaw. We experienced no problems gaining access to the premises of India Habitat Centre while using this vehicle," she said. While Pria may "love this form of transport" and thinks it's a "wonderful way to promote India", she definitely hasn't had it easy sometimes. Advertisement She is quite aware that her auto-rickshaw creates a sensation wherever she goes. @vamhussain Sir, Mexican Ambassador Melba Pria @EmbMexInd rides an offcial auto #Simplicity!! pic.twitter.com/sJKuqXrecF Gurjeev Singh Walia (@gurjeevwalia) March 22, 2016 "The first thing that catches people's eyes is the fun design, which is inspired by our tourism promotion campaign and the beautiful spectrum of colours you can find in Mexico. I think some rickshaw wallahs are confused initially but they always find it amusing. Even my driver enjoys being a part of the experience," Pria said in a statement. The envoy says she did not want to be any different from the millions of Indians who use the mode of transport every day. "I think Delhiites have had positive reactions to this rickshaw, as it pays homage to Indian cultural tradition. They also appreciate the fact that it may be less polluting than a four-wheeler," the statement said. Advertisement Days ago, when she went to meet the CEO of Rajya Sabha TV in her auto-rickshaw, she was stopped at the gate. Pria was told that three-wheelers are not allowed inside the Parliament House. The auto-rickshaw is usually parked at Prias Embassy in Anand Niketan. The vivid floral design on the canvas top has been painted by Mexican street artist Senkoe. Also See On HuffPost: ASSOCIATED PRESS File-This Jan. 3, 2013 file photo shows a Google sign at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Google wants your permission to use your name, photo and product reviews in ads that it sells to businesses. The Internet search giant is changing its terms of service starting Nov. 11. Your reviews of restaurants, shops and products, as well as songs and other content bought on the Google Play store could show up in ads that are displayed to your friends and connections when they search on Google. You can opt out of sharing. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File) Google has removed Taliban's app 'Alemarah', launched on Friday, 1 April, from play store. The app, which was in Pashto, was launched to spread propaganda messages and videos of the group. The search giant told AFP that this action is countering the tech-savvy Afghan militant group's increasing efforts to boost global visibility. The Taliban's spokesperson told AFP that they were building a Farsi version of the app as well. Advertisement Taliban, which is not considered a tech-savvy organization is now slowly following on the footsteps of ISIS to foray into the social media world. Earlier Taliban believed that all the electronic items are un-islamic. ISIS has a separate cyber cell which handles all the activites related to technology. In January ISIS even started a 'Help Desk' to guide terrorists on how to evade the western authorities on the social media. They also released a 34-paged guideline for terrorists on which apps and websites to use while communicating with each other. They have taken years to make a group call The Electronic Horizon Foundation (EHF) which publishes even encrypted android apps for messaging. Taliban and ISIS have turned to the world wide web for recruitment as well. The Islamic State has used social media in India to lure people to join their organization. Advertisement "In this era of IS and its disturbingly tech-savvy ways, many of the older guard militant groups like the Afghan Taliban may feel they're losing out," Michael Kugelman, Afghanistan expert at the Washington-based think tank the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, told AFP. Recently, Google removed a Pakistani app called SmeshApp which was used for spying on Indian Army officers. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Protests and slogans of 'Recall Appa Rao" rocked the Hyderabad Central University (HCU) campus on Wednesday. Activists from various student groups demanded the removal of Appa Rao Podile, the vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad. On 6 April, the Cyberabad police stopped scores of students who tried to march towards VC Lodge, where the academic council was scheduled to meet, according to the Hindustan Times. The police had stepped up security at HCU anticipating chaos in view of a Chalo HCU call. There was also a protest organised by the Joint Action Committee for Social Justice (JACSJ) an umbrella group of 14 student bodies. Hyderabad: Student organisations protest against HCU VC Appa Rao, demand his resignation. pic.twitter.com/G5PE0WQck5 ANI (@ANI_news) April 6, 2016 The protesting students want to present three demands - enactment of the Rohith Act, removal of Rao as VC and the end of blockade in HCU and dropping of all cases against students and faculty. The CRPF have also been deployed in the campus after students alleged that the police hit them with lathis during the ensuing chaos. Srinagar: CRPF deployed inside #NITSrinagar campus after few students were lathi charged by police,earlier this morn pic.twitter.com/c9jJLvBfB8 ANI (@ANI_news) April 5, 2016 Students have been protesting again, ever since Podile took back charge of the university as its vice-chancellor. Podile has been accused of the institutional murder of Rohith Vemula. The students had even written to President Pranab Mukherjee, seeking his immediate intervention. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India PTI A group of students, protesting with a fairly legitimate set of demands, gets roughed up by the police. Sounds like Jawaharlal Nehru University? Or perhaps Hyderabad University? Sure it does. Only, this one is in Srinagar. And, unlike the cases of the other two universities, this one saw social media commenters who identify themselves with right wing politics, come out in rousing support for the students. Why? Because this was an issue that was completely in line with their ideas of 'nationalism'. It all started with locals celebrating India's loss in the WorldT20 semifinals, when students hailing from outside Kashmir protested. Consequently, the students, who also wanted the college to hoist a national flag in the campus, sought a meeting with the Human Resource Development ministry officials. As soon as they tried to step out of the college campus, the police allegedly cane-charged them. Advertisement The issue has snowballed and now is highly politically charged. Kanhaiya Kumar. The bare facts of the incidents indicate just one thing: students in the college responded to activities which they found to be objectionable with a non-violent protest and demonstration. However, they were subjected to physical aggression by state agencies. In their pattern and the complicity of state machinery, the JNU, HCU and NIT Srinagar incidents are not vastly different. Yet, instead of commenting about the needless and autocratic involvement of state machinery in a student's protest, social media has taken to pitting one incident against another, holding one up to put the other down. The right wing voices, especially, seem to have turned NIT Srinagar into their answer to JNU, though the students of the college made no references to other universities even while giving statements to the press. Thus Chetan Bhagat tweeted the following: Salute to brave students who held India's flag high in #NITSrinagar despite security fears. Hope govt does everything to keep them safe. Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 6, 2016 Dear BJP,no alliance,no state-govt worth it if u can't defend Indian students standing up for India in India.Do the right thing.#NITSrinagar Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 6, 2016 Dear Media, you made Kanhaiya into a hero.You know the real heroes? The #NITSrinagar students who stood up for India and were beaten for it. Chetan Bhagat (@chetan_bhagat) April 6, 2016 However, we would like to present Bhagat and his ilk with some facts that may help them view the issue with more clarity. Firstly, Bhagat, like some others on Twitter, has emphasised the idea that the NIT students were standing up for 'India', thereby, indicating that the JNU students weren't. The NIT students were demanding the hoisting of the national flag in the campus as a symbol of their allegiance to the country and its ideals. The JNU students too were demanding the same from the government and its associated agencies--only, they chose to hold up the constitution as the symbol of what the country stands for. A constitution which calls India a socialist, secular democracy. Since Bhagat has mentioned Kanhaiya Kumar, one can perhaps re-listen Kanhaiya's speech before he was arrested. He is heard demanding azadi (freedom) from bhukhmari (starvation), 'manuvaad' (caste-based oppression), Brahmanvaad (Brahmanical dominance), punjivaad (capitalism). He is asking for a country free of poverty, starvation, casteist oppression and unequal distribution of wealth. If the constitution is a yardstick to judge him by, he is fighting as much for 'India' as the students in NIT are. Advertisement Srinagar remained tense following alleged police atrocities on NIT students. Then, Bhagat suggested that the 'media' had 'made' Kanhaiya Kumar the hero. Kumar isn't the first students' body President of JNU, neither was his politics and its expression remarkably different from predecessors in his own college or peers in other colleges, who follow left-of-centre politics. So, how, indeed, did he become a 'hero'? Here's how: the police picked up a student who was delivering a speech, exhorting people to protest the many wrongs in this country. He was later made to languish in jail for several days. He was beaten up in the court premises by 'lawyers' as the police watched. His travails, which he has perhaps unwittingly brought upon himself, showed the country how their elected government can tighten its iron fist on the citizens' democratic rights when they fancy. That's why he became a 'hero'. It was not Kanhaiya, or Umar, or Anirban who were heroes--it was what they represented that became many people's hero. A reminder that the country shouldn't stop demanding it's rights, never mind to what length oraganised political forces in power try to stifle them. Finally, we are surprised that Bhagat is surprised that BJP has failed to keep Indian students safe in India. After all, in Delhi and Hyderabad, BJP's government machinery had actively condemned protesting students and have been somewhat complicit in making the students 'unsafe'. Maybe, Bhagat needs to be reminded of various statements made by the likes of Smriti Irani and Rajnath Singh where they valiantly declared that anyone who they think has insulted a fictitious mother figure, will not be spared. Bhagat is right about one thing. The NIT Srinagar students deserve applause. For protesting, making themselves heard, for keeping democracy alive. Absolutely like the students in JNU or HCU. Advertisement Also see on HuffPost: Hindustan Times via Getty Images PATHANKOT, INDIA - JANUARY 5: Commandos stand guard at Air Base during combing operations at Pathankot Air Base on Day 4 of terrorist attack on January 5, 2016 in Pathankot, India. Addressing the media after a visit to the forward base that was under siege from Saturday morning, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the terrorists were neutralised in an operation that was over in 38 hours but combing operations are still on and may continue for a day or two. (Photo by Sameer Sehgal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has come under attack from a united Opposition after a scathing report in a Pakistan online newspaper claimed that "India used the Pathankot attack as a tool to expand its vicious propaganda against Pakistan without having any solid evidence to back the claim. The paper based the allegation on findings by the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) that came to India to probe the terrorist strike at the airbase. Pakistan Today claimed quoting sources that the Indian government did not cooperate with the probe team. Advertisement "The report also raises serious questions over the veracity of Indian claims regarding the Pathankot attack. The JIT has concluded that contrary to the claims of the Indian government about the duration of the encounter, the standoff between the Indian army and alleged terrorists ended within hours of the attack, the report said. It accused India of staging the attack to malign Pakistan. Opposition parties launched a scathing attack on Modi who was instrumental in inviting the Pakistan team. "Did Modiji invite the Pakistani JIT so that they could insult the memory of our brave martyrs," the Congress tweeted. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the "invitation" amounted to giving a "clean chit" to the ISI for the terror attack in January. Kejriwal also demanded that Modi tender an "apology" for the "monumental" foreign policy failure. An ISI official was part of the five-member JIT that was in India last week. JD-U said the claim by an unnamed JIT member quoted in the media reports was a "slap" on the face the country for which the Modi government is responsible. Advertisement BJP hit back at Kejriwal by saying that his attack was "shameful". Congress demanded an apology from BJP chief Amit Shah for "having distributed certificates of sincerity to Pakistan" in the light of the Pakistani media reports. The JIT source told Pakistan Today that Indian claims about the entry from the Pakistani side were "unsupported". Congress' communication department chief Randeep Surjewala said, "it is now clear that neither has Modiji's rhetoric of 56 inches chest or showing red eyes to Pakistan and China paid off nor has his sudden visit to Pakistan and attending feasts and marriage parties with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had any effect." It is now clear that neither has Modiji's rhetoric of 56 inches chest or showing red eyes to Pakistan and China paid off nor has his sudden visit to Pakistan and attending feasts and marriage parties with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had any effect. Surjewala said the prime minister should "rise over theatrics" and take diplomacy seriously, which the country expects as 125 crore people of India are feeling "betrayed" by Modi. He, however, said the reports once again exposed the "doubled-faced" policy of Pakistan in dealing with terrorism. Alleging that the development has caused "national embarrassment", senior party spokesperson Anand Sharma said Congress had "cautioned" the Prime Minister and the government about the JIT which also had a representative from ISI. "A diplomatic crime has been committed. This has caused national embarrassment. BJP chief Amit Shah, who lacks any comprehension of the complex issue and gravitas of foreign policy, was distributing certificates of sincerity to Pakistan in the Pathankot matter. He should apologise to the people," Sharma said. The Centre's decision to invite a Pakistani JIT to probe the Pathankot airbase attack was a "monumental failure" and a "stab" in the back of "Bharat Mata", Kejriwal told reporters. Advertisement He alleged that Modi had entered into a deal with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif during his Lahore visit in December last year, and sought to know its details "in the country's interest". "The Prime Minister called over ISI officials despite being aware that it was behind the Pathankot terror attack which amounted to a clean chit. Now the JIT has reportedly claimed that India had itself staged the attack. No prime minister has capitulated before Pakistan the way Modi ji has." BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said the 125 crore people of India will never forgive Kapil Mishra for calling the Prime Minister an "ISI agent". Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu termed the "stage managed" theory propagated by Pakistan as its "regular drama" as done by it in the past, but called for dialogue as the way forward. Advertisement Pakistan should once and for all decide on whether to have a policy of aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorism. This is a fact. "Pakistan should once and for all decide on whether to have a policy of aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorism. This is a fact. India and Pakistan are neighbours. We want to have friendly relations with all our neighbours, including Pakistan. Earlier we were together. Keeping that in mind, the responsibility lies with Pakistan to create a conducive atmosphere to move forward," he said, adding, dialogue is the way forward and the process must be exhausted to see what can happen. Naidu also claimed Pakistan is "under pressure" from some "extremist groups" in their country and that is why they are taking this particular line. "I hope it will rethink," he said, adding, nobody including Pakistanis would believe on Pak's claim that Pathankot was 'stage managed' by India". He, however, said there is an "overwhelming" public opinion to have good relations between both the countries. (Inputs from PTI) Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also on HuffPost: NARINDER NANU via Getty Images Indian police personnel stand alert near the airforce base in Pathankot on January 5, 2016. Umbrella group of Pakistani proxy jihadist outfits fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the United Jihad Council, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued to the media on January 4, after a weekend of fierce fighting with insurgents left seven soldiers dead. AFP PHOTO/ NARINDER NANU / AFP / NARINDER NANU (Photo credit should read NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images) Intelligence agencies have sounded an alert and warned police personnel as well as security agencies in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi to keep a watch out for a grey sedan bearing a J&K registration plate, which, they fear, is packed with explosives and a suicide belt. The car, a Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire, has three fully-armed terrorists and a local person, and is expected to pass through the Banihal Tunnel in J&K on Wednesday night, reported NDTV. Advertisement According to The Indian Express, security establishments have been put on high alert all along the route from the Banihal tunnel to New Delhi and surprise checks are being conducted on suspected vehicles. On 2 January, terrorists had attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station, part of the Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force. Four terrorists were killed and two security personnel lost their lives in the gun battle. However, the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team, which came to India to probe the Pathankot attack, claimed that Indian authorities 'failed' to provide evidence to prove that Pakistan-based terrorists had stormed the IAF base. The team from Pakistan said that the attack was a drama "staged" by India to malign Pakistan. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: HuffPost Staff The Morning Wrap is HuffPost India's selection of interesting news and opinion from the day's newspapers. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox each weekday morning. Essential HuffPost A huge number of leaked documents incriminating several prominent personalities in India as well as abroad has been dominating news for the past couple of days. Hundreds of journalists went through 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm headquartered in tax haven Panama, to reveal some of names of the people who have set up offshore entities in tax havens around the world. But don't worry if you haven't had the time to grasp it all, for this Reddit user has dissected the news in such a way that even a five-year-old can understand. Advertisement In a monstrous episode of brutality, three Dalit teenagers were stripped naked, tied to a tree, and beaten because they allegedly stole the motorcycle of a upper caste man in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. A video released by a news channel shows the naked teenagers sitting on the ground, quivering with fear, while men take turns to beat them. TV actress Rakhi Sawant, known for her on-screen and off-screen antics, held a press conference in Mumbai mourning the alleged suicide of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee and claimed that it was the ceiling fan's fault that her colleague was dead. She also suggested that India get rid of the ceiling fans and replace them with air conditioners or table fans. Four foreigners who had come to visit India were beaten up by a bunch of drunk goons in Ajmer, Rajasthan. According to reports, the group allegedly beat one of the tourists with a stone and tore one of the women's clothes. Main News Four students were injured on Tuesday as a group of protesters was lathi-charged at the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Srinagar, where unrest has been growing the past few days. The protesters were outstation students who said they wanted to go back home in light of the violent clashes that broke out with local students on Friday after India lost the World Twenty20 semifinals. Advertisement Breaking its silence on statements regarding the slogan 'Bharat mata ki jai' made by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Yoga guru Baba Ramdev and RSS leader Bhaiyyaji Joshi, parliamentary affairs minister Venkaiah Naidu clarified that the views were not authorised by the Centre. Pakistan media reports that the Pathankot terror attack was 'stage-managed' by India, are seen here as 'double-speak' by Pakistan's security establishment. Defence experts condemned the Pakistani Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and called it funny, given that after providing all possible evidence, Islamabad could come up with such statements. Off The Front Page Soon after the Search app update and Android April security update, Google on Wednesday announced that Android Auto was now available in 18 new countries including India. There are speculations that the new rollout in India with country-specific features will see be adopted by Indian vehicle manufacturers for in-dash infotainment systems in cars. Scientists at Bengalurus National Research Development Forum (NDRF) are developing an aerostat or a hot air balloon/ craft, to help farmers scare away pests and birds. The small craft measuring three or four metres in length, will be deployed about 100 meters from the ground and fitted with acoustic devices and lasers to scare away birds. Pakistani film producers and distributors filed a petition in the Lahore High Court on Tuesday, seeking a ban Indian movies in the country. Their argument was that the films have a 'bad impact' on Pakistans youth. It also added that Bollywood films deprived Pakistani cinema of a level playing field. Advertisement Opinion In 2016, happiness is no more within our reach. Our metros are held together by the weak glue of Facebook ties, in which we feel safe and fake, writes Nalini Singh in her column in The Indian Express. "We all long for intimacy, and there is no human being who is not threatened by its loss. But in India today, our intimacies and relationships are getting swallowed. Theres something inevitable about this when we begin to aspire to Life As Reality TV in which we are chasing fame and money 247. Alone," she writes. India needs a balanced West Asia policy. By skewing it towards the Saudis in pursuit of short-term goals, New Delhi runs the risk of antagonising Tehran, writes Stanly Johny in The Hindu. "There is believed to be friction between Islamabad and Riyadh over the former warming up to Tehran and their growing energy cooperation. Pakistan also refused to join Saudi Arabias war coalition that has been bombing Yemen for the past one year in the name of fighting the Iran-backed Shia rebels... So India will have to factor these developments in its overall West Asia approach. The best way to do it is to restore the balance in its West Asia policy," he writes. Citing someone's suicide as an example to urge others to look around themselves for signs of distress is one thing, and issuing value judgments on victims of suicide is entirely another, writes Piyasree Dasgupta in HuffPost India. Without directly referring to the recent alleged suicide of television actress Pratyusha Banerjee, Malini had said that one must not succumb to pressure and that the world admires 'a fighter and not a loser'. "We need to understand that preaching on mental illness, minus empathy, cannot be a part of anyone's social media project to look accomplished and smarter-than-the-average. If you cannot empathise, please spare everyone the knowledge of what life looks like from atop the moral high horse," wrote Dasgupta. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Also On HuffPost: Dado Ruvic / Reuters A Whatsapp App logo is seen behind a Samsung Galaxy S4 phone that is logged on to Facebook in the central Bosnian town of Zenica, February 20, 2014. Facebook Inc will buy fast-growing mobile-messaging startup WhatsApp for $19 billion in cash and stock in a landmark deal that places the world's largest social network closer to the heart of mobile communications and may bring younger users into the fold. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Tags: BUSINESS) In a major security upgrade, the immensely popular WhatsApp messenger turned on the end-to-end encryption for all the communication through the app. From now on, all the messages you send, all the calls you make, photos, videos and files you send are fully encrypted. This means nobody else will be able to monitor your conversations without cracking the encryption. WhatsApp has been developing the feature from a past few months in collaboration with Open Whisper systems. In January, CEO Jan Koum hinted at the feature at a conference. Even though all the messages are now under the wraps of security, for group chats to be encrypted, all members of the group should have the latest version of Whatsapp installed. Advertisement What's end-to-end encryption and how does it affect you? End-to-end encryption means that no one apart from you and the person you are sending the message to can read that message or make anything out of it. If someone intercepts your message, he'll just see a bunch of code even if you have sent a simple 'Hi' to your friend. Same thing goes for the calls, the person who is intercepting your call will just hear gibberish if he manages to pass through heavy security. Some of the apps have the encryption between your app and their server, but end-to-end encryption means even the company (In this example, WhatsApp) can't read your messages. So, whatever you are sharing with your friends is behind the curtain of privacy. "The idea is simple: when you send a message, the only person who can read it is the person or group chat that you send that message to. No one can see that message. Not cyber-criminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private--sort of like a face-to-face conversation.", The Facebook-owned company said in a blog post. Advertisement "Recently there has been a lot of discussion about encrypted services and the work of law enforcement. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse from cyber criminals, hackers, and rogue states," CEO Koum said, siding with Apple in that company's recent standoff with the Federal Bureau of Investigation over encryption. There has been a lot of discussions around encryption as Apple had denied the court some weeks ago to unlock the iPhone 5c of a person accused in San Bernardino shooting case. A lot of tech companies also rallied in support of the tech giant, highlighting the importance of privacy and security of the users. "I grew up in the USSR during communist rule and the fact that people couldn't speak freely is one of the reasons my family moved to the United States," Koum added. It would be interesting to watch how India's national security establishment reacts to Whatsapp's move. The app, with more than 1 billion users around the world, is immensely popular in India. Advertisement Encrypted messaging has always been a touchy subject here, in a country with a high susceptibility to terror attacks. Security agencies argue that they need the ability to intercept all communications to avert attacks and keep the country and its people safe. In 2010, Blackberry was almost banned from India for refusing to let government see the messages on BBM. After a long stand-off, the company and the government reached an agreement that government will be able to monitor BBM and email services offered by Blackberry. The users of the Blackberry Enterprise Server were exempted from the monitoring. In 2015, government proposed a law that all the citizens should keep the plaintext version of the encrypted data till 90 days and hand it over the security services. Later on, the government gave social media apps like Facebook and WhatsApp a pass after a huge backlash from people. There are provisions in Indian law that allows enough discretion for the government to go after Whatsapp if it wants to. This step will be applauded by the users who moved to another app called Telegram which offered end-to-end encryption from a long time. Apps like Telegram, which reached 100 million active users in February, faces a lot of backlash because up alleged usage by terrorist groups like Daesh. Advertisement Contact HuffPost India Hugo Barra Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is launching a new crowd-funded toy version of their Mi Pad which can transform into a robot. The company is partnering with toy maker Hasbro for this cool experiment. The project is codenamed Soundwave. A report from Gizmo China suggests that this robot will be up for grabs for 169 Yuans (Approx. $20) and it will ship to the backers from 13 May. Advertisement "R&D worked really hard to ensure that the colour, details, and feel are exactly the same as Mi Pad 2. They were challenged at turning such a slim 7mm tablet into a 3D robot, but they managed to do so with a 30-step folding assembly", said Hugo Barra, global vice president of Xiaomi in a Facebook post. Xiaomi and Hasbro are collaborating for the first time crowdfunding a kickass robot model named Soundwave in China.... Posted by Hugo Barra on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 Xiaomi ventured into a non-smartphone ecosystem with a sub-brand called "Mi Ecosystem' a few weeks ago. Under this, they launched their first product, a rice cooker. The product is just for the Chinese market as of now. In India, Xiaomi is having a fan festival where they are having multiple flash sales and deals. The company is selling older phones and accessories at slashed prices. They recently launched their flagship phone Mi 5 at 24999. Advertisement While we are talking about transformative gadgets, reportedly Samsung is building a foldable phone which will come out in 2017. Reports say that this 5-inch phone will turn into a 7-inch tablet when unfolded. Contact HuffPost India Kansas football heads toward a bye week it needs A number of Kansas football players were either out Saturday due to injury or at least limited. The bye week should help them. In anticipation of severe El Nino weather, many South Californians hurriedly purchased flood insurance, but with the rainy season drawing to a close and rainfall anything but record-breaking, some consumers have questioned whether or not they made the right choice with their purchases.Homeowners also stocked up on sandbags, cleared their drainage systems, trimmed their trees and bushes, and had their roofing fixed in a panic, only to find this years El Nino to be underwhelming.Although some consumers are lamenting their rushed decisions, the government wants to reassure the public that they did the right thing.We certainly dont think it is a waste of money, said Federal Emergency Management Agency in Oakland spokesperson Mary Simms. When youre healthy, you dont cancel your health insurance.South Californias rainy season normally runs through April. In the past, the area experienced 30 inches of rain during the winter of 1997-1998. Many residents who remembered the flooding mistakenly anticipated this years El Nino weather to be just as severe, and rushed to buy flood insurance policies.According to the Press Enterprise, the regions current rainfall totals are considerably lower than what is typically expected in an average year. Bill Mangiardi, farm manager at Hancock Shaker Village, holds a chick appearing at the village's annual 'Baby Animals' event. Photo by Judith Lerner. Berkshire Tidbits: Baby Animals, Say Cheese A wintry week of wine tastings and dinners, cooking classes, an annual food conference and the last indoor winter farmers' market of the season in downtown Pittsfield in May it will move back outdoors to the Pittsfield Common. And lots of other tidbits. The menu for the Haven Supper Club for the week of April 4 will be: Chicken parmesan served with spaghetti and sauteed spinach Shrimp and vegetable curry with basmati rice Balsamic glazed meatloaf served with mashed potatoes green beans and mushrooms Entrees come with soup or salad and cost $22 for one to three dinners ordered, $75 for four dinners ordered, $110 for six dinners, $200 for 12 dinners. They can be any of the dinners. Order by Wednesday, pick up at the bakery in Lenox on Friday. The staff suggests people can order for different meals and can choose among that week's options: 413 637-8948 or havencafebakery@gmail.com , to order and get on their list to received upcoming menus. On Wednesdays, starting this week, Eat on North, the restaurant of Hotel on North in Pittsfield, will have Prince Spaghetti Day evenings. A dish of featured pasta spaghetti and meatballs this week will be $15 between 5 and 7 p.m. Like their Taco Tuesdays two tacos and a cocktail for $15 -- and, now Fried Food Fridays between 5 and 8 but no fixed price for that one. Just go and pick up something crunchy. Berkshire South Regional Community Center , 15 Crissey Road off Stockbridge Road/Route 7 in Great Barrington, , 15 Crissey Road off Stockbridge Road/Route 7 in Great Barrington, 413 528-2810 , will be offering a series of cooking and nutrition classes for young children 5 to 8, modeled on a series of successful classes held last fall for teenagers. "Now You're Cooking (For Kids)!" will be taught by chef and caterer Anne Dinan. There will be four two-hour after school sessions on Tuesdays and Thursday, April 5 through April 14, from 4 to 6. The series, program 161YT83, will cost $28 for Community Center members, $34 for non-members. There is a 10 precent sibling discount and a 25 percent discount for Action Adventures students, but the discounts may not be combined. Although classes began on Tuesday, there may be room in the rest of the series. Call for information and to register. Chabad of the Berkshires rebbetzin/rabbi's wife Sara Volovik, known in the Jewish community to be an extraordinary chef, will be at Spirited Wines, 444 Pittsfield Road/Route 7 at the beginning of Holmes Road in Lenox, From 11:30 a. m. to 1:30 p. m.,rebbetzin/rabbi's wife Sara Volovik, known in the Jewish community to be an extraordinary chef, will be at, 444 Pittsfield Road/Route 7 at the beginning of Holmes Road in Lenox, 413-448-2274 , to demonstrate how to make three kinds of charoset one German, one Greek and one Turkish the yummy fruit, wine, spices and sometimes nut mixture freshly made and eaten during Passover to represent the mortar the Jews had to use to build Pharaoh's structures when they were slaves in Egypt. Spirited will also supply samples of different sorts of gefilte fish, a cold fish burger popular during Passover. They promise to have, "extensive selection of outstanding kosher for Passover wines and other special kosher libations" for tasting. This will be a free tasting for anyone interested in tasting and finding out about the drinks and foods and about Passover, not only for Jews. Contact Volovik at 413 499-9899 or saravolovik@gmail.com with any questions. Spirited Wines of Lenox and Hotel on North in Pittsfield this Friday, April 8. Spirited will present a dinner featuring the wines of Southern Italy this Friday, but it will be hosted by Hotel on North's sister hospitality venue, the Red Lion Inn , 30 Main St. in Stockbridge, Last week, I wrote that there would be an Italian wine dinner collaboration betweenof Lenox and Hotel on North in Pittsfield this Friday, April 8. Spirited will present a dinner featuring the wines of Southern Italy this Friday, but it will be hosted by Hotel on North's sister hospitality venue, the, 30 Main St. in Stockbridge, 413 298-5455 Leonardo Locascio, president of Winebow Inc., a leading importer of affordable premium Italian wines from family wineries, will send his wines to pair with a menu inspired by the ingredients and flavors of Southern Italy merged with fashionable, contemporary sensibilities of Berkshire chef Brian Alberg of Main Street Hospitality Group, which includes both the Red Lion and Hotel on North. Austin Slitt, wine educator for Leonardo LoCascio Selections, will be the guest speaker. The second in a series, the format will be similar to the extravaganza hosted by Hotel on North last month. From 5:30 to 6:30, there will be a pre-dinner walk-around tasting of nine wines from top Southern Italian growing regions including Umbria, Tuscany, Campania, Sardinia and others, accompanied by hors d'ouvres. Dinner seating is at 6:30. As with the first dinner, the $90 cost includes the wine reception, five wine four-course dinner, tax and gratuity. And the inn has a special rate for guests who wish to stay overnight after the dinner. Call for reservations. Menu shrimp, octopus and mussels salad and fresh Burrata with Berkshire Mountain Bakery crostini Tasca d'Almerita, Grillo Cavallo delle Fate 2014, Sicily duck confit arancini with smoked tomato sauce and roasted mushrooms Tenuta di Fessina, Etna Rosso, Erse, 2013, Sicily Librandi, Ciro Duca San Felice Riserva 2011, Calabria Lila's mountain-braised leg of lamb with red quinoa and chickpea cake and broccoli rabe Mastroberardino, Radici Taurasi 2008, Campania almond cake with Nutella and orange creme Anglaise Librandi, Le Passule Vino Passito, 2009, Calabria This Saturday, April 9, from 9 to 1, the last indoor, Downtown Pittsfield winter Farmers Market will take place at Lighthouse Cafe in the basement of the Boys & Girls Club, 16 Melville St. There will be pasture-raised meats, eggs, cheese, fruits, vegetables, breads, baked goods, coffee, wine, art, and more. Assembly Coffee Roasters, Balderdash Cellars, Caroline's Scottish Shortbread, Country Seasonings, Cricket Creek Farm, Elmartin Farm, Green Meads Farm Herbals, Matt's Cookie Bars, Mountain Girl Farm, North Yeast Bakery, Square Roots Farm, Trusted Roots Farm, White Goose Gardens and Windy Ridge Farm will be there. Artisans Ali Herrmann, Jake Czaja, Milltown Beadworks, MVB Printmaker, Things That Work and West End Boutique will be selling their wares. There will be a youth booth where Pittsfield High School students from its Farm and Garden program will have seasonal handmade treats with all proceeds donated to the pediatric unit of HospiceCare in The Berkshires, Inc ; Kate Wiles, 18, will show her nature and Berkshire photography. And there will be live music from 11 to 1. The easiest way to find the market is to enter through the big blue doors at the back of the building from the parking lot closest to the former Notre Dame Church. Center for Food Studies a t Bard College at Simon's Rock , 84 Alford Road in Great Barrington, 413-528-7247, is holding its third Think Food conference, themed "Berkshire Foodways," this Saturday from 10 to 3 in the Kellogg Music Center to the right up the hill just past Blodgett House. There will be two 1 1/2-hour panel workshops separated by a 1 1/4-hour lunch in Blodgett House, where posters made by students in the Global Foodways course will show the results of their research. The, 84 Alford Road in Great Barrington, 413-528-7247, is holding its third, themed "Berkshire Foodways," this Saturday from 10 to 3 in the Kellogg Music Center to the right up the hill just past Blodgett House. There will be two 1 1/2-hour panel workshops separated by a 1 1/4-hour lunch in Blodgett House, where posters made by students in the Global Foodways course will show the results of their research. The morning panel, "Grown/Made in the Berkshires," from 10:15 to 11:45, will include Richard Bourdon, baker and owner of Berkshire Mountain Bakery in Housatonic; blogger, food activist and cookbook (The Homemade Pantry and The Homemade Kitchen) author Alana Chernila of Great Barrington; and Maddie Elling, co-owner of homestead-based Hosta Hill Foods in Great Barrington which produces kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh and more. The three will discuss the question, what is Berkshire food? The Nutrition Center will make the healthy, locally sourced lunch, 12 to 1:15. The afternoon panel, "Feeding the Berkshires," from 1:30 to 3, have been asked to discuss the question, what networks have been established to distribute the food produced in the Berkshires? The panelists will be Sarah Gardner, associate director and lecturer in environmental studies at Williams College in Williamstown who will speak on food mapping in the county; Jock Herron, a Center for Food Studies advisory board member who worked on the Worcester food hub; Nick Martinelli who will speak on his hopes for a Berkshire food hub; and Peter Stanton director of The Nutrition Center and of Stanton Home, who will talk about the Berkshire FoodWeb that he helped create and complete last year. A food hub forms to help local and regional producers reach larger-than-retail markets such as institutions to strengthen the local and regional food production business economy. The cost of the conference is $15, lunch is $10, students are free. Register online here, or the number above or kadvokaat@simons-rock.edu with any questions. Kids Can Cook!" at Berkshire Co-op Market, 42 Bridge St. in Great Barrington, There will be a cooking class, "" at, 42 Bridge St. in Great Barrington, 413-528-9697, Ext. 10 , this Saturday, April 9, at 10:30. This week's lesson will be making vegetable spring rolls and tempura batter to fry vegetable tempura. A delicious way to get your vegetables. Call for information or to sign up for this free class. The Williamsville Inn Culinary School, 286 Great Barrington Road/Route 41 in West Stockbridge, Sunday, April 10, from 10:30 to 3,, 286 Great Barrington Road/Route 41 in West Stockbridge, 413 274-6118 , will offer a hands-on class in making culinary gifts from your kitchen including presentation and packaging taught by owners Erhard and Kandy Wendt. The $125 cost of the class covers the 9:30 pre-class breakfast buffet and lunch with wine after the class. Contact Kandy at Thewilliamsville@aol.com Hancock Shaker Village , 1843 West Housatonic St./Route 20 at the corner of Route 41 in Pittsfield, , 1843 West Housatonic St./Route 20 at the corner of Route 41 in Pittsfield, 413-443-0188 , will open for the season on Saturday, April 16, with the "Baby Animals" showing that will run through Sunday, May 8. What's not to love? For children and adults, alike. Meanwhile, artist Susan Merrill of Stockbridge will host a reception for her farm animal paintings in the Poultry House Gallery for the eighth year be prepared for muddy ground. This year, her theme is "Colors and Camouflage." Her paintings and drawing are always graphic, unusual and endearing. Susan travels to county top to bottom and West to East to gather her subjects. This is a free event but it is best to call to let them know if you plan to attend. The show will hang through Sunday, May 22, but, once HSV opens, it will be part of a visit to the village that will cost $20 for adults (discounts may apply), $18 for seniors, $8 for teens 13 to 17, children under 12 free. Berkshire animal lovers take note. On Monday, April 11, from 5 to 10 p. m., Methuselah Bar and Lounge, 391 North St. on the corner of Bradford St., will host a cocktail party, "Whiskey, Wine and Whiskers" to benefit Berkshire Humane Society. The cost will be $25 for two drinks and passed hors d'ouvres from 5 to 7, then, dancing to the New England bluegrass band Picky Bastards from 7 to 10 for a donation of $10. Methuselah is tiny so they ask people to RSVP if they are coming to the party. It may be difficult since no one answers the phone, here. Just do it on Facebook Cookbook author and activist Alana Chernila serves her homemade yogurt and lemon curd at the Berkshire Athenaeum last year. Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield's library at 1 Wendell Ave. at the corners of East St. and Bartlett Ave., "When we feed people, people come," laughed Marilyn Manning, adult program coordinator at, Pittsfield's library at 1 Wendell Ave. at the corners of East St. and Bartlett Ave., 413-499-9480 Feed them??? When the library presents movies, Manning fills a table with bags of freshly popped popcorn plus jars of toppings. And, every two or three months, she drops a cooking demo into her adult programming sponsored by Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum. She keeps her audiences happy. Last fall the Athenaeum hosted an afternoon fresh smoothie demonstration and tasting. The cups of smoothies were refreshing and tasty. In January, everyone gathered 'round to watch and eat little cups of cookbook author Alana Chernila's just made lemon and blood orange curds with homemade yogurt she had brought. This Wednesday, April 13, at 7 p.m., Berkshire personal chef and health coach Molly Johnson, owner of Back to Basics cooking and coaching, will demonstrate soup making downstairs in the library auditorium. With tastings and recipes. The event is free and no registration is required. You will not be disappointed if you come. All day Thursday, April 14, 8 to 8, Berkshire Co-op Market owners/members will receive a 10 percent discount during the Co-op's quarterly Owner Appreciation Day. Homage to Cheese. On this Owner Appreciation Day, the Co-op, 42 Bridge St. in Great Barrington, 413 528-9697 , will be celebrating local cheese with its first Local cheesemakers will give out samples of their cheeses and, from 1 to 4, the Co-op will have a free grilled cheese station for sampling. There will be giveaways and cheese-themed raffles all day long. It's a good day to shop at the Co-op, especially if you are an owner. The lasagna dinners to benefit Purradise, like this one last fall, draw a big crowd. Berkshire Humane Society's Purradise cat shelter at Crissey Farm, 425 Stockbridge Road/Route 7 way back behind Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington, On Thursday, April 14 from 5:30 to 8, there will be a big lasagna dinner fundraiser for's Purradise cat shelter at Crissey Farm, 425 Stockbridge Road/Route 7 way back behindin Great Barrington, 413 528-4844 Chef Odile Carpenter oversees the preparations for meat and vegetarian lasagna, at least two kinds of salads, garlic bread as part of the dinner $12 for adults, $6 for children, $10 for early birds who come between 4:30 and 5:30. Drinks and Odile-made desserts will be for sale. Reservations are not needed. There is ample parking behind the building. The huge hall will be filled to the rafters. The Marketplace in Sheffield, 18 Elm Court, Kitchen at Guido's, 760 South Main St. in Great Barrington, 413 528-5775. You can order chopped liver and matzoh ball soup, kugel/savory casserole, potato-leek tart, macaroons and chocolate covered matzoh for Passover made by, 18 Elm Court, 413 248-5040, Ext. 100 . These can be ordered from Sheffield or at their, 760 South Main St. in Great Barrington, 413 528-5775. Order by Friday, April 15. Pickup at Guido's can be arranged beginning Wednesday, April 20. There will also be some of these Passover foods at The Marketplace counter in Guido's for those who have not pre-ordered and are willing to take their chances. Mohan Kannan And Koco Talk About 15 Years Of Agnee And Everything Else In Between Page Content ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu (far left) met with Nigerian President and Head of State H. E. Muhammadu Buhari (2nd from right) during his recent mission. They are accompanied here by Nigerias Honourable Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika (2nd from left) and by its Honourable Minister of Transportation, Mr. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi. MONTREAL, 6 April 2016 The President of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, met and held high-level discussions this week with the President and Head of State of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H. E. Muhammadu Buhari. The two officials covered topics including projected aviation growth and associated human resource capacity and infrastructure challenges, ongoing threats from terrorist organizations in the region, as well as Nigerias potential to position itself as a leader in the provision of air services and aviation facilities including training for aviation professionals. President Aliu also welcomed Nigerias confirmation of its pending financial contribution to the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) for Africa. President Buhari was accompanied during the discussions by Nigerias Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, its Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, and other high officials. President Aliu was joined by the Representative of Nigeria on the ICAO Council, Mr. Nwafor Emeka Martins, and ICAOs Regional Director for Western and Central Africa, Mr. Mam Sait Jallow. Civil aviation in Africa is an essential enabler of growth and social development, and ICAO has been very encouraged by Nigerias recent leadership and commitments with respect to aviation safety, capacity, security and human resources development, President Aliu highlighted. Consistent with the principles and priorities of ICAOs No Country left Behind initiative, ICAO will collaborate with Nigeria towards the enhancement of aviation training capacity here and the upgrading of the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology (NCAT) to full status as an ICAO Regional Training Centre of Excellence (RTCE). The establishment of an Aerospace University in Nigeria has also been proposed. Additional topics covered by the senior officials included the need to strengthen the autonomy of Nigerias Civil Aviation Authority and to ensure that revenues accruing from aviation activities are returned to the sector in the form of investments for training and other priorities. It was agreed that a concrete roadmap and masterplan for aviation development will be put in place as a follow up to the discussions held. During his mission, President Aliu also met with heads of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, the Nigerian Accident Investigation Bureau and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency, as well as the Nigerian College of Aviation Technology. He visited the new Abuja International Airport terminal project, meteorological installations and weather forecasting facilities, and the Accident Investigation Agencys laboratories. In addition, meetings were held with the Vice President of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Mr.Edward Singhatey, the Executive Director and Staff of the Banjul Accord Regional Aviation Safety Oversight Organization (BAGASOO), and the Regional Director of IATA for Africa and the Middle East, Ms. Adefunke Adeyemi. Discussions with these stakeholders focused on the need for greater collaboration and mutual cooperation between ICAO and the respective organizations for the advancement of aviation safety, security, capacity building, infrastructure development and air transport liberalization. In the course of the visit an MOU for cooperation was signed between ECOWAS and BAGASOO in a bid to support the Regional Safety Oversight Organization. Contact: Edward Price Non-Resident Senior Fellow NYU Center for Global Affairs Contact email linkedin Edward Price, a former British economic official, teaches international political economy, financial systems and international relations at NYUas Center for Global Affairs. He is also an economic advisor for BritishAmerican Business (BAB). Educated at the London School of Economics (LSE), Edward holds an MSc in Finance and Economic Policy and an MA in German History. He has worked in both the British and European parliaments, was Americas editor at IFLR and has worked in the City of London. He speaks German, gets by in Italian and is a member of the Economic Club of New York (ECNY). Press Release: CEMAC Officials Take Stock of Public Financial Management Reforms Press Release No. 16/157 April 6, 2016 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) held a regional seminar in Yaounde on April 46, 2016. The event took stock of public financial management (PFM) reforms in the CEMAC countries since the adoption five years ago of regional directives that aim at modernizing and improving the management of public finance and strengthening the regional integration process. It also highlighted the major contribution of Japan to support their implementation in partnership with the IMF and to foster fiscal institutions in Central Africa. In addition to representatives of the Japanese government, the seminar gathered officials from the CEMAC Commission and member states governments and parliaments, as well as representatives from the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Commission and some of its member states. Donors and technical assistance partners, including the World Bank, the European Union (EU), the French and German cooperation agencies and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), also participated in the seminar. The IMF, in close coordination with the above-mentioned development partners, has provided extensive technical assistance to support the directives drafting and implementation, assisted by the generous support of Japan. Despite a wide diversity of national contexts and capacity level, significant results have been achieved at the country level. However, important challenges remain to be addressed. Mr. Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of Finance of Cameroon noted that these reforms contribute to achieve our Chiefs of States vision to make the CEMAC zone a dynamic and virtuous monetary zone. He thanked the IMF for the technical assistance that it has provided to the CEMAC Commission and Member States for the past five years. Mr. Paul Tasong, the CEMAC Commissioner in charge of Economic, Monetary and Financial Policies, also highlighted the high impact of the seminar to identify progress achieved, difficulties and challenges encountered in order to give further impetus to reforms implementation in the CEMAC zone. Mr Kunio Okamura, the Ambassador of Japan in Cameroon, confirmed Japans commitment to continue its support to African countries in general, and CEMAC countries in particular, to improve public financial management. During the seminar, Mr. Hironori Shoji, the Advisor to the IMFs Executive Director for Japan, discussed Japans continuing support to promote sound PFM and strategies for PFM reform. The technical assistance to the CEMAC zone is part of the Fiscal Affairs Department of IMFs longstanding commitment to strengthen public financial management in CEMAC countries. Background The six CEMAC Member States are: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. The six PFM regional directives of the CEMAC, adopted in December 2011, include directives on transparency and good governance of public finances, budget law, accounting regulations, budget nomenclature, chart of accounts, and the summary fiscal table. The deadline for their transcription in national laws was December 2013, and was recently extended to December 2017. However, their full implementation is progressively planned over the next eight to ten years. Providing capacity development (technical assistance and training) to help countries design and implement economic policy is one of the IMFs core functions alongside its surveillance and lending activities. The IMF shares its expertise with member countries and provides training to build strong institutions, boost economic skills and formulate sound financial policies. Capacity development is closely integrated with the IMFs surveillance and lending work and is highly appreciated by member countries. Japan is the biggest and longest-standing partner in capacity development for IMF member countries. Since 1990, Japan has contributed over US$430 million and has been the largest donor, among external donors, to IMF technical assistance activities. Japans support has covered the full range of IMF assistance across 125 countries in Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Western Hemisphere. Open Workshop on International Taxation of the 7th IMF-Japan High Level Tax Conference for Asian Countries Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director, IMF Tokyo, April 6th, 2016 As Prepared for Delivery Good morning, everyone. It is my great pleasure to welcome you to this workshop, co-hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Finance and the IMF. I would like to thank our co-host, the Ministry of Finance, for their generous support of the workshop, and staff of the IMFs Fiscal Affairs Department and Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, for all their effort in making this second open workshop on international taxation possible. I also thank the delegates from Australia, Hong Kong, and Singapore for volunteering to participate in the conference and share their valuable experiences. And I am happy also to welcome representatives of the OECD and Asian Development Bank and participants from the private sector and academia. Over the last few years, tax evasion and avoidance across national borders have risen to one of the top global policy agenda. At a time of rising fiscal pressures and modest global growth, and of growing concern around the world at increasing inequalities in income and wealth, it is not surprising that so many people are deeply frustratedeven angeredby the ability of some to escape paying what is seen as their fair share of tax. There is a widely shared recognition that too many multinational companies and wealthy individuals are gaming a creaking system of international taxation that was not designed for the modern global economy. To highlight this, let me quote from a speech by a famous President of the United States: Recently more and more enterprises organized abroad by American firms have arranged their corporate structures-aided by artificial arrangements between parent and subsidiary regarding intercompany pricing, the transfer of patent licensing rights, the shifting of management fees, and similar practices which maximize the accumulation of profits in the tax haven-so as to exploit the multiplicity of foreign tax systems and international agreements in order to reduce sharply or eliminate completely their tax liabilities both at home and abroad. This is not, as you might have suspected, from a speech by President Obama. This is actually from one delivered by President Kennedy, way back in 1963. These issues, clearly, are not new. What is new is the extent of popular discontent they now arouse. The good news is that progress has been made in recent years. The G20-OECD project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) is an important step towards reforming a century-old system and preventing multinational companies from artificially shifting profits to low-tax locations. I am sure you will hear a good deal more about this today. There has also been progress towards establishing the automatic exchange of tax information as a global standard, which will make it harder for wealthy individuals to avoid income and wealth taxes by moving assets to offshore locations. This is a project with an enormous potential for building fairer and more trusted tax systems. Of course, tax authorities in both advanced and developing countries will continue to face big challenges in international taxation, including in relation to traded services, the shifting of intellectual property across borders, and issues related to capital gains tax that you will be focusing on later. We are moving into what may be a different world, as we enter into a phase of BEPS implementation. Now we need to make the international tax system work for all countries, and indeed our own research has shown that the revenue at stake on international taxation issuesrelative to total revenue, or GDPmay actually be greater for non-OECD countries. There are hopeful signs of a more inclusive discussion of international tax issues than has been the case in the past, and I am sure you will hear about the OECDs important initiative in this regard. We believe that the IMF has special responsibility in the area of taxation, because of our global membership and because of our ability to provide analysis and world-class technical assistancecurrently, to over one hundred countries every year. Our key objective is to help develop approaches to all taxation issues, both international and more generally, that are relevant and appropriate for all of our members, both advanced and developing. This workshop is one of the ways in which we aim to do this, by providing a venue for developing countries in the Asian region to raise and discuss their concerns in the areas of international taxation. The Fund is also intensifying its cooperation on tax issues with other international organizations. One element of this is a joint initiative with the World Bank on tax matters launched at the Financing for Development conference in Addis Ababa last year, one pillar of which is a commitment to ensure that the developing countries views on international taxes are fully heard. Another, announced at the G20 in February, is the creation of a new Platform for Collaboration on Tax, bringing together the Fund, OECD, World Bank and UNan immediate task of which is to develop toolkits to implement BEPS, as requested by the G20. Resolving the problems of international taxation will not address all the revenue challenges .The unspectacular work of building effective VATs, functioning personal income taxes and the like will remain critical and central to our work at the Fund. But fixing the international tax system must be a key part of building more effective and trusted tax systems. And to achieve that, it is important to listen to voices of taxpayers, tax experts, and academia and to be transparent in what we all say and do. This is why we have opened this workshop to the public, and we very much look forward to useful inputs from the many interested stakeholders here today. Welcome once again. Our hope is that, by drawing on the wisdom and experience in this room, we can go further towards creating an international tax system truly fit for the 21st centuryand put the problems so eloquently described by President Kennedy behind us. Thank you Imperial Valley News Center Governor Brown Announces Appointments Sacramento, California - Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced the following appointments: Judith Frank, 74, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, where she has served since 2002. Frank has been managing principal and owner at Asset Strategies since 1993. She was a consulting project executive at the California Department of General Services from 1996 to 2004 and vice president of real estate development at Warner Brothers from 1988 to 1992. Frank was development principal at the Wolff-Sesnon Battery Development Company from 1983 to 1985, president of the Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Real Estate Division from 1974 to 1983 and project manager at Gruen Associates from 1972 to 1974. Frank is chair of the City of San Fernando Redevelopment Dissolution Oversight Board and a member of the Los Angeles County Capital Asset Leasing Corporation. Frank earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Los Angeles Anderson School of Management and a Master of Science degree in city and regional planning from the University of Southern California. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Frank is a Republican. Jay Hansen, 53, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, where he has served since 2012. Hansen has been chief strategy officer at the California Medical Association since 2010. He was legislative and political director at the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California from 1999 to 2010 and special assistant in the California State Assembly Speakers Office from 1996 to 2000 and 1993 to 1995. He was special assistant in the Office of California State Assembly Democratic Leader Richard Katz from 1995 to 1996. Hansen is a member of the Sacramento City Unified School District Board and the University of Southern California, State Capital Center Advisory Council. He earned a Master of Public Administration degree from the University of Southern California, Sol Price School of Public Policy. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Hansen is a Democrat. Joaquin Anguera, 72, of San Diego, has been appointed to the California Commission on Aging. Anguera has been a professor at San Diego State University since 1999. He served in several positions at the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agencys Aging and Independent Services from 1974 to 2005, including as deputy director. Anguera is a member of Elder Law and Advocacy, Independent Transportation Network, Greater San Diego and Consumer Advocates for Residential Care for the Elderly Reform. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in human behavior from Alliant International University and a Master of Theology degree from the Catholic University of America. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Anguera is a Democrat. Steven Castle, 59, of Los Angeles, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Aging, where he has served since 2013. Castle has been president and chief executive officer of DrBalance Inc. since 2012 and clinical director of geriatrics at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and a professor of geriatric medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles since 1986. He earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Ohio State University College of Medicine. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Castle is a Democrat. Julie Conger, 73, of Sonoma, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Aging, where she has served since 2013. Conger has served as an assigned judge for the Administrative Office of the Courts since 2008. She served as a judge at the Alameda County Superior Court from 1998 to 2008 and at the Berkeley-Albany Judicial District from 1983 to 1998. Conger earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and a Master of Science degree in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Conger is a Democrat. Stuart Greenbaum, 62, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Aging, where he has served since 2013. Greenbaum has been president and creative director at Greenbaum Public Relations since 1991. He was vice president of public relations and brand management at Eskaton from 2009 to 2013, director of public relations at LeadingAge California from 2006 to 2008 and co-founder and communications director at the National School Safety Center from 1985 to 1990. Greenbaum was a publications specialist at the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General from 1981 to 1984 and publications director at the California District Attorneys Association from 1976 to 1980. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree in school administration from the Pepperdine University School of Business and Management. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Greenbaum is a Democrat. Meea Kang, 49, of Davis, has been appointed to the California Commission on Aging. Kang has been co-founder and president at Domus Development LLC since 2003. She was senior project manager at A.F. Evans Company from 1997 to 2003 and project manager at the Housing Conservation and Development Corporation from 1996 to 1998. Kang is a member of the Council of Infill Builders, California Housing Consortium and the AARP Livable Communities Advisory Team. Kang earned a Master of Architecture degree from the University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Kang is a Democrat. Gail Nickerson, 66, of Granite Bay, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Aging, where she has served since 2013. Nickerson has been director of rural health services at Adventist Health since 2004. She was a consultant at Rosenberg and Associates from 2000 to 2004, where she was an office manager and consultant from 1984 to 1991. Nickerson was executive director at the North Country Clinic from 1994 to 1999 and an administrator at the Southern Humboldt Medical Center from 1991 to 1994. She is a member of the National Rural Health Association, California State Rural Health Association, National Association of Rural Health Clinics, California Association of Rural Health Clinics and the California Mental Health Planning Council. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Nickerson is a Democrat. Robert Petty, 68, of Monterey, has been reappointed to the California Commission on Aging, where he has served since 2013. Petty was a boomer transition advisor at Partners for Transitions from 2011 to 2015. He held several positions at the Alliance on Aging from 2000 to 2011, including manager of the Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program and community educator. Petty was a counselor at De Anza College from 1985 to 1996 and held several positions at Santa Clara University from 1973 to 1989, including assistant professor of psychology and director of counseling and learning resources. Petty is a member of the Monterey County Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council and was a California delegate for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging. Petty earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in counseling psychology and a Master of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Illinois. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Petty is a Democrat. Sedalia Louise Sanders, 74, of El Centro, has been appointed to the California Commission on Aging. Sanders was a member of the El Centro City Council from 2003 to 2015 and 1984 to 1999, where she served as mayor five times. She was a laboratory technician and medical technician at the Imperial County Public Health Department from 1965 to 2004 and a laboratory technologist and trainee at the El Centro Community Hospital from 1962 to 1964. Sanders earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Phoenix. This position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Sanders is a Democrat. President Obama on the Retirement of General Lloyd J. Austin III Washington, DC - Statement by President Barack Obama on the Retirement of General Lloyd J. Austin III: "On behalf of a grateful nation, I congratulate General Lloyd Austin on his retirement after nearly 41 years of service to our country. General Austin's character and competence exemplify what America demands of its military leaders. Over the last three years as Commander, U.S. Central Command, General Austin has overseen military operations in one of the most demanding regions of the world, including operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and our broader counter-ISIL campaign. I have relied on his wise judgement and steadfast leadership to help me navigate the many challenges we find there. Additionally, as Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, General Austin was instrumental in allowing Iraqis to take the lead for securing the future of their own country. These are among his many accomplishments over a storied military career. I am certain that General Austin will find other ways to serve his country in retirement, and Michelle and I wish him, his wife Charlene, and his family well as they begin another chapter of their lives." ~ President Barack Obama King Charles' Signed Painting Sold For 5 Lakh Rupees, Ten Times More Than What Was Estimated Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Just as university students are questioning the rationale of raising statues to historical figures, a new one has been proposed at the BBC. It's of George Orwell, the novelist, journalist, political allegorist and scourge of totalitarianism, the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. If Westminster Council accepts the Corporation's proposal, the bronze statue will stand 8ft tall (Orwell was 6ft 2in) showing the Old Etonian socialist adopting an uncharacteristically effete teapot stance and holding a cigarette. On the wall behind him will be a quotation from his original preface to Animal Farm: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not wish to hear." There's a splendid irony here. Just as the sentiment may upset students' unions which "no-platform" public speakers whose views they find offensive, the Orwell statue was the subject of a similar controversy four years ago. When plans were first mooted in 2012 by Ben Whitaker, the former Hampstead MP, they were turned down by Mark Thompson, then BBC Director-General, on the grounds that Orwell "would be perceived as too left-wing a figure for the BBC to honour". It was, perhaps, the first recorded instance of "no-plinthing". 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 The sculptor will be Martin Jennings, who created the figure of John Betjeman clutching his hat at St Pancras Station. "Orwell not only worked for the BBC," says Jennings, "but is widely regarded as the 'patron saint' of political journalism As the home of BBC News, Broadcasting House is the ideal site for commemoration of this great man." Is it though? Orwell worked at the BBC for just 27 months, from August 1941 to November 1943, and described the atmosphere there as "something half-way between a girls' school and a lunatic asylum". Using his real name, "EA Blair" was taken on as Talks Producer at the Indian Section, earning 640 per annum and working in the Corporation's Oxford Street HQ. The job suited him: he'd been born in India, had served in the Indian Imperial Police in Burma for six years, and was happy to help the war effort. But the scope of his employment was limited: he was to prepare commentaries on the daily news, in English, to be broadcast to India, Malaya and Indonesia, and produce programmes on political and literary issues. "The general air was one of mild cultural uplift," wrote DJ Taylor, Orwell's biographer, "and the guest speakers drawn from an eclectic pool of talent that ranged from well-known literary figures to minor celebrities of no particular distinction." Orwell could find himself asking TS Eliot to recite new poems, or Dr PH Chatterjee if he'd like to speak to the Indian nation about "Rural District Councils". The BBC's reaction to having Orwell (inset) aboard was mixed. Most people liked him, admired his friendliness and mocked his technical ineptness and fondness for canteen food. Others thought him one of those on a "jobs-for-the-boys kind of billet", wangled "on to the BBC payroll until they could be found more suitable appointments". Also of concern was his voice. Though no record of his delivery survives, his normal strangulated tones were made worse by a bullet wound to the neck sustained in Spain. In a memo, the Controller of Overseas Services complained that "his voice struck me as both unattractive and really unsuited to the microphone... I am quite seriously worried about the wisdom of keeping Orwell personally on the air." His left-leaning politics sometimes became an issue, too: he tried twice, unsuccessfully, to broadcast a talk by his friend Reg Reynolds on the Russian anarchist Kropotkin; and complaints flew from the India Office about a script he'd written on trades unions. But it isn't true that, to Orwell, the BBC was the original of the mendacious and propagandising Ministry of Truth in Nineteen Eighty-Four. Perhaps surprisingly, Orwell was in favour of propaganda, if it was the right kind. The man who interviewed him for the BBC job wrote: "He accepts absolutely the need for propaganda to be directed by the government and stressed his view that, in wartime, discipline in the execution of government policy was essential." But he became decreasingly keen to broadcast things he did not believe and he worried about the possibility that nobody was listening out there. Hence his departure in November 1943. DJ Taylor writes that a key scene in Nineteen Eighty-Four, when Winston Smith listens to the prole women singing, is taken straight from life when Orwell used to see eight charwomen at the BBC singing in harmony as they went off to start their cleaning shift. That vision of working-class communality, just as much as the memory of the endless corridors and faceless bureaucratic offices, was his most vivid souvenir of his time at the BBC. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Game of Thrones has had its fair share of controversies over the years, mainly centred on the fantasy series' depiction of rape. Only last year, a controversial season five episode featured a scene which saw Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) force new wife Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) into consummating their marriage - a twist fans deemed offensive for several reasons, including the fact the moment doesn't occur in George R.R. Martin A Song of Ice and Fire book series. This wasn't the first time Thrones has included such a scene, however: back in season one, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was raped by her new husband Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), the action shown in the TV series as a customary ritual of the fictional Dothraki race. Five years on, Clarke has spoken out about this scene in a new interview with Glamour. Game of Thrones season 6 stills Show all 26 1 /26 Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills HELEN SLOAN / HBO Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills HELEN SLOAN / HBO Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills Game of Thrones season 6 stills "Well, Daenerys and Khal Drogos arranged marriage, and the customary rape that followedask George R.R. Martin why he did that, cause thats on him," Clarke levelled. "But," she continued, "I thought the consensual sex she has thereafter was genius. She is physically saying, 'You cant rape me again. Im going to be in control and show you something youve never seen before.' The actor suggested she believes fans were placated by the way Daenerys' storyline has transpired since the first season. Game of Thrones Season 6 Trailer "At the heart of it, were telling a story; you need that part of the story to feel empathy for Daenerys. You see her attacked by her brother, raped by her husband, and then going, 'Fuck all of you, Im gonna rule the world.' Thats where we are now." In the US, season six will debut on HBO on the 24 April at 9pm. It will be simulcast in the UK on Sky Atlantic, at 2am on the 25 April. In anticipation, we've rounded up all the details we know so far into one convenient place for your reading pleasure. Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the IndyArts email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} *Warning: spoilers for The Walking Dead finale which aired 04 April in the UK, below* The Walking Dead fans knew bad days were on the horizon with the arrival of Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan); but they may not have guessed season 6 would end on such a tense cliffhanger. Lining up Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Michonne (Danai Gurira), Glenn (Steven Yeun), Daryl (Norman Reedus), Rosita (Christian Serratos), Carl (Chandler Riggs), Maggie (Lauren Cohan), Aaron (Ross Marquand), Eugene (Josh McDermitt), Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), and Sasha (Sonequa Martin-Green); Negan took his choice of who would fall victim to his wire-covered bat, so fondly called Lucille. Yet, as Negan took the hit, the screen suddenly went black; leaving the final revelation of which character met their grisly death until next season's opening. Though the rest of the cast have so far protested their ignorance about what's ahead, Norman Reedus didn't cut any corners; the actor knows who's kicking the bucket, and he's not happy about it. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Show all 10 1 /10 The most shocking Walking Dead moments The most shocking Walking Dead moments Sophie's a walker (season 2, episode 7) Much of season two's opening half is spent looking for Sophia, the missing daughter of Carol (Melissa McBride). Turns out she was locked up in Hershel's barn as a zombie all along. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Shane reanimates without being bitten (season 2, episode 12) When Carl (Chandler Riggs) guns down a deranged Shane (Jon Bernthal) to protect his father, the shock arrives when he manifests into a walker despite not being bitten; turns out everyone's infected with the virus and will turn whichever way they die. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Axel's bullet to the eye (season 3, episode 10) A character introduced in the show's prison arc, Axel is a reformed prisoner who strikes up a friendship with Carol - until he's gunned down mid-sentence. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Carl kills Lori after she gives birth (season 3, episode 4) Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) goes into labour at the very moment a zombie siege breaks out at the prison. Unfortunately, she doesn't make it through the procedure with her son Carl being the one to put a bullet to her head. The most shocking Walking Dead moments The Governor slays Hershel (season 4, episode 8) The Governor makes his dramatic return for a showdown at the prison after he captures Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Hershel (Scott Wilson). Rick reaches out, attempting to reason with him - but The Governor starts a war when he proceeds to decapitate poor old Hershel instead. The most shocking Walking Dead moments "Look at the flowers" (season 4, episode 14) In a standout episode from the show's fourth season, Carol is forced to take drastic measures when young teenager Lizzie murders her sister Mika in the belief that she'll live on as a zombie. Realising Lizzie's depraved mind would endanger those around her, Carol puts a gun to the young girl's head and, telling her to "look at the flowers," pulls the trigger, fighting back the tears. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Carl's bullet to the eye (season 6, episode 9) Season six returned from its mid-season break in typically dramatic fashion when an iconic moment from the graphic novels came to life: Carl takes a bullet to the eye. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Beth is killed (season 5, episode 8) Upon being kidnapped, Beth (Emily Kinney) is taken to Grady Memorial Hospital managed by Atlanta Law Enforcement. Forced to reside there against her will, the group - including Rick and Daryl (Norman Reedus) - eventually find her - only for her to be accidentally shot in the head by her captor. The worst thing? Her sister Maggie (Lauren Cohan) had just arrived outside. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Negan kills Abraham Season seven opened in brutal form as we discovered it was Abraham (Michael Cudlitz) at the opposite end of Negan's baseball bat. "Suck my nuts," the soldier growls as the Saviours' leader brings Lucille raining down on his head until nothing remains but a pulpy mess. The most shocking Walking Dead moments Negan kills Glenn Negan decides to punish the group once more after getting clocked round the face by Daryl. Without expectation, he thwacks Lucille round the head of poor Glenn. With his eyeball popping out of his head, he manages: "I'll find you, Maggie before Negan proceeds to finish the job ending the former pizza delivery boy's life. "I know what happens, and it's gut-wrenching to me," the actor told Today; further defending the importance of the cliffhanger in terms of progressing the show's narrative."I think sometimes people think our show is survivor island and 'Who's gonna eat it this week?'," he added. "But it's not, and that episode was to show the change of power. Rick goes into that episode real confident, and he comes out of it broken." Indeed, producer Robert Kirkman had previously stressed the importance of the finale in setting into motion the events of season 7; "Im feeling, oddly, great. Im very excited where its at. Whats happening in the show is extremely sad and extremely depressing but I think its going to put us into a good place going into season 7." You can read our rundown of who's most likely to have fallen victim to Negan's brutality here. The Walking Dead returns to FOX in October. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The well-to-do residents of Kensington and Chelsea made headlines last year, when they successfully pressured the council into cracking down on the loud supercars which roam their streets. The cars' wealthy drivers, often young men from the Middle East who ship their toys to London for the summer, today risk committing a criminal offence if they rev their engines too loudly, suddenly accelerate, or perform stunts within the boundaries of Knightsbridge. Now, it appears as though their neighbours closer to home are getting sick of obnoxious driving as well. As reported by Gulf News, Captain Ahmad Abdullah Al Muhairi of the Abu Dhabi Police has invented a noise-measuring camera, which will help officers take action against abnormally loud cars. Al Muhairi said his device, apparently the first of its kind, will use microphones to listen out for car horns and loud engines. If noise levels are too high, its built-in cameras will snap a picture of the car's license plate and register an offence for the driver. The device is fitted with cameras and microphones to detect noisy drivers (Abu Dhabi Police) The police said the devices will mostly be placed in residential areas and near hospitals, schools and mosques, to keep away drivers who illegally modify their vehicles to make them as loud as possible. Major General Mohammed Khalfan Al Rumaithi, the Commander of the gulf emirate's police force, said: "Introducing this new device will make Abu Dhabi the first city in the world to use the latest systems aimed at preserving the environment and reducing noise pollution caused by vehicles and excessive use of horns." "It will promote Abu Dhabi's vision to achieve a sustainable traffic safety." It isn't the first time Abu Dhabi's police have resorted to extreme measures to combat super-rich boy racers who "spread chaos and cause nuisance to the public." Last June, the force announced it had purchased a 2.4 million Lykan Hypersport, a Lebanese supercar capable of accelerating from 0-60mph in 2.8 seconds, in order to better chase down other high-end vehicles. A wealth of other anti-speeding measures have proved successful - police recently reported a 27 per cent decrease in traffic deaths caused by speeding since the start of 2016, compared to the same period last year. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} All of us may become disabled at some time in our lives, and yet people with conditions that affect their mobility are still fighting for equality across the world, from making cities wheelchair accessible to having access to basic support. To mark World Health Day, here are some examples of how countries have improved the lives of their disabled populations - and where they still need to improve. Thailand invisible disability In Thailand, welfare benefits for disabled people are generous and there are care facilities that ensure disabled people that need it have shelter, food and health care support. However, provision for disabled people hasnt gone beyond that. Bangkok has an excellent metro and bus system, but neither is wheelchair-accessible. When you are in Thailand, look around. How many disabled people do you see? Disabled people are being cared for, but infrastructure is not being set up to enable independent living. Philippines breakthrough in voting rights The Philippines, in contrast, is short on financial support for disabled people but it has accessible transport systems that it can be proud of. However, to its shame, its disabled people have historically been denied the IDs necessary to enable them to vote. National elections scheduled for this April will be the first in which disabled people will have a role in choosing the party and leader that shapes the legislation that affects them. Guyana blocked from South Americas summer of sport Some politicians from the Caribbean nation view people with disabilities as objects of charity to be given handouts, but not given an equal playing field to succeed, according to local advocacy worker and teacher Ganesh Singh. The South American nation passed its first disability bill into law in 2009, which was widely welcomed. However ministers are proving slow to mobilise in registering the countrys Paralympic association with the International Paralympic Committee in time for the continents first Games this summer. Mr Singh, one of a crop of talented blind sprinters hoping to participate, fears he will miss out. Zimbabwe prosthetics arrive despite economic hardship Prosthetics are reaching the most remote pockets of the world, with local doctors in Zimbabwe among those qualified to perform fittings on those who want and can afford them. It is expensive though and artificial limbs remain out of reach for many in the country. 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 UK the postcode lottery Running blades are being made available to children through the NHS this year, making British children the envy of many. For their families however, a safe home and a means to get to and from work and school will always be their priorities. Waiting lists for homes for disabled people are shrinking in Scotland. Over in Wales, the blue badge parking scheme has been extended to cover those with temporary restrictions to their mobility. Waiting times for accessible houses continue to increase in England though, while just one in three Tube stations have step-free access in London. People with disabilities are more likely to be unemployed or excluded from school than those without a disability, wherever in the world you look. Leonard Cheshire Disability is hoping to support 100,000 people into work and education over the next five years. Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Stay ahead of the trend in fashion and beyond with our free weekly Lifestyle Edit newsletter Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Lifestyle Edit email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} GP workloads have reached unsustainable levels researchers have said after a major study showed doctors are dealing with more consultations than ever. Workloads in general practice increased by 16 per cent over the last seven years as family doctors in England deal with more frequent and longer consultations while the rate of GPs has decreased. Recommended Read more Worry over rent sends a million to GP surgeries Average consultation time increased to almost nine minutes, just under the 10-minute allocated slot, with the study authors warning GPs have little time to perform other duties before seeing other patients. Doctors leaders said the sector was in crisis and warned that general practice is nearing saturation point. Professor Richard Hobbs, lead author from the Nuffield Department of Primary Care and Health Sciences at the University of Oxford, said it is the first time researchers have been able to provide objective data on increasingly workloads. The demands on general practice have increased substantially over the past seven years. Recruitment of new GPs and nurses remains low while the population in England steadily increases, he said. As currently delivered, the system seems to be approaching saturation point. 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 study, published in The Lancet, is the largest of its kind and based on analysis of more than 100 million GP and nurse consultations at almost 400 general practices in England between 2007 and 2014. It found the average number of annual consultations per patient rose by almost 14 per cent for doctors, with the average patient now seeking almost four GP visits each year. The number of nurse consultations rose by 2.76 per cent while telephone consultations nearly doubled. Although the total number of GPs increased over the study period, the rate per patient fell slightly - from 60.9 GPs per 100,000 patients in 2007 compared with 60.6 in 2014. Dr Maureen Baker, Chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs, said the report should ring alarm bells for the Government and spur ministers into action before its too late. Dr Richard Vautrey, Deputy Chairman of the British Medical Associations GP committee, called on the Government to reverse its disastrous approach that has seen the proportion of NHS funding devoted to general practice dropping from 10.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent. He said: This is starving GP practices of resources and exacerbating shortages in appointments. We need an urgent, sustained package of support for general practice that prevents GP services collapsing completely. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} You might think, logically, that the beginning of the tax year would coincide with the calendar year and in some countries it does. In the UK, however, the scramble to get your affairs in order comes to its conclusion on April 5, with the new tax year starting on April 6. To understand the reason for this apparently random date, you have to go back to medieval times. In England and Ireland, the New Year used to start on March 25, also known as Lady Day in commemoration of the angel Gabriels announcement to the Virgin Mary that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ. Along with Midsummer on June 24, Michaelmas on September 29, and Christmas Day on December 25, Lady Day was one of the four most important days in the religious calendar. All accounts, including debts and rents, had to be settled by these so-called quarter days, and Lady Day was the first, gradually becoming regarded as the start of the financial year (although the precise reason for this remains unknown). The move forward to April 6 results from changes to the calendar and the actual number of days in various years. Until 1582, Europe had used the Julian calendar established by Julius Caesar. Under the Julian calendar, the year had 11 months of 30 or 31 days, with one month, February, consisting usually of 28 days but with 29 every fourth or leap year. This had worked well for centuries, but because it did not align exactly with the solar calendar (the time it takes for the Earth to move round the sun), over time problems developed. Playing catch-up The Julian year was only 11 minutes longer than a solar year, but by the late 1500s, this had all added up and the Julian calendar was some ten days adrift from the solar calendar. The Roman Catholic church was especially concerned because the celebration of Easter had been gradually getting later than when it had been celebrated by the early church. Recommended And so in October 1582 Pope Gregory XIII instituted a change (to the Gregorian calendar) to solve the problem: three leap days were omitted every 400 years by the authority of a papal bull known as Inter Gravissimas. While Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar, however, England, with its history of conflict with the Roman Catholic church, did not (nor did Russia), and continued with the Julian calendar. By 1752, when it was 11 days out of alignment with the rest of Europe, England finally accepted that it would have to make a change. The decision was made to drop 11 days from the month of September to catch up, and so September 2 was followed by September 14 that year. To ensure that there was no loss of tax revenues, however, the Treasury extended the 1752 tax year by adding on the 11 days at the end. Consequently, the beginning of the 1753 tax year was moved to April 5. In 1800 a further adjustment was made, shifting the start of the tax year forward by one more day to April 6, once again to mitigate for the differences between the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The year 1800 would have been a leap year under the Julian calendar system, but not the Gregorian one, so the Treasury treated 1800 as a leap year for purposes of taxation to get an extra days revenue. April 6 has remained the beginning of the tax year ever since, though it was only formalised in 1900. Although some countries, including the US, Canada, France and Germany, have adopted the calendar year as their tax year, the UK and others such as Australia have not. Another oddity is the UK governments own financial year, which runs from April 1 to the following March 31, and so does not coincide with the tax year, although 1 April to 31 March is also the fiscal year for corporation tax. The reason for this is less clear than why April 6 was adopted as the start of the tax year and is perhaps a tale for another day. Jane Frecknall-Hughes, Professor of Accounting and Taxation, University of Hull This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Tata Steel intends to formally start the sales process of its UK business by Monday at the latest, Business Secretary, Sajid Javid has said. Mr Javid said the meeting was constructive and positive and had demonstrated once again Tata was a responsible company. The Business Secretary said he expected more buyers to come forward once the sales process begins after Liberty House indicated its interest in recent days. They've said that they intend to launch formally the sales process by Monday at the latest, he told Sky News. Recommended Read more Four charts that show why the UK steel industry is in crisis But Tata Steel gave no details of what the timeframe for the sale would be. Sajid Javid was meeting Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the Indian conglomerate, to discuss the planned sale. The head of a group which could rescue steel plants and save thousands of jobs said he is aiming to avoid any redundancies if a deal is agreed. Sanjeev Gupta, the head of the Liberty Group, held talks with the Government and has raised hopes that jobs could be saved, especially at the huge plant in Port Talbot, South Wales. Union members at Tata's Scunthorpe site are meanwhile voting on a balloted 3 per cent cut in pay and reduction in pensions, part of a transformation plan ahead of the expected sale to investment firm Greybull Capital. The government has said it is working to broker a deal with potential buyers after Tata's decision to pull out of its almost decade-long venture in Britain which threatening up to 40,000 jobs. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} In an apt display of solidarity, the cast of Green Wing have reunited to support the Junior Doctors strike at Northwick Park Hospital in North London - the same hospital where the series was filmed. Sporting their immediately recognisable, trademark green scrubs, the cast of the Channel Four noughties sitcom, have turned out to support the goals of real life doctors. Stephen Mangan, who played Guy Secretan in the series, gave a short commentary of the picket line on Twitter. 2 surgeons, a house officer, the HR director and a sexy Swiss anaesthetist - Northwick Park Hospital at 11am #juniorcontract #GreenWing, the the 47-year-old actor wrote. Todays 48-hour strike is the fourth junior doctors protest to date, with more strikes programmed for the end of the month, as the ongoing dispute continues. In the latest walkout, thousands of doctors have gone on strike and more than 5,000 operations have been cancelled today. Junior doctors are protesting against the new contract in England, which the British Medical Association says is unfair and argues will compromise patient safety. In their own words, "We urge the government not to impose a contract that is unsafe and unfair. We will resist a contract that is bad for patients, bad for junior doctors and bad for the NHS. In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Show all 10 1 /10 In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 20,000 Junior Doctors marched through central London in protest at the new contract changes the government is trying to impose which they say will be unfair and unsafe In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors protest in London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK 4 year old Cassius takes part in a demonstration in Westminster, in support of junior doctors over changes to NHS contracts, London In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Protest over proposed changes to junior doctors' contracts, Leeds In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors and NHS staff protesting against the health service cuts and the proposed contract changes offered by the government outside Parliament In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Over 5000 junior doctors rallied in Waterloo place, before marching through Whitehall and onto Parliament Square, in opposition to Jeremy Hunt's new working conditions for doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Demonstrators listen to speeches in Waterloo Place during the 'Let's Save the NHS' rally and protest march by junior doctors In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK Junior doctors marched in London to highlight their plight In pictures: Junior doctors protests in UK A protester at a demonstration in support of junior doctors in London Under changes proposed by the government, medics will no longer be paid more for working unsocial Saturday shifts and will simply be given the normal rate. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A D-Day veteran who jilted his childhood sweetheart because of his wartime trauma has proposed to her 70 years later - and she said yes. Roy Vickerman, from Hartshill, Staffordshire, was helped to find Nora Jacksons address by a local radio DJ after he called the show to talk about his lost love. The 90-year-old then went to her home with a bouquet of flowers to apologise for breaking off their engagement in 1946 but told the taxi driver wait outside for a few minutes as he did not know if she was married to someone else, Mail Online reports. Roy and Nora during the war (BBC Midlands Today) (BBC West Midlands) Instead, the widowed Ms Jackson, 89, threw her arms around him and a year on the couple celebrated their second engagement at Mr Vickermans 90th birthday party. The couple first met at school when Mr Vickerman was evacuated from London to Ms Jacksons hometown of Stoke on Trent. He said when he arrived at the school, he stood at the front of the class and noticed a pretty girl. When he saw her again later at a local hotel where she was with a group of friends, he asked her out on a date. A short while later the couple became engaged but Mr Vickerman, then 18, was called up to fight in the war. He took part in the D-Day landings in June 1944 and the Battle of the Bulge - one of the biggest and deadliest battles of the war which lasted six weeks between December 1944 and January 1945 and cost around 110,000 Allied casualties. Heartwarming news stories from around the world Show all 30 1 /30 Heartwarming news stories from around the world Heartwarming news stories from around the world A boy who saved the life of a suicidal man by simply asking him "Are you okay? has said he did it because he likes to help people who need help. Jamie Harrington, from Ballymun, Dublin, told the Humans of Dublin project about a meeting with a man in his 30s sitting on the edge of a bridge and about to jump off it. After sitting down and speaking to the stranger for 45 minutes, 16-year-old Jamie persuaded the man to go to hospital and seek treatment Heartwarming news stories from around the world This little boy loves books so much that he cries when his mother stops reading to him A good book can keep a child entertained for hours, but there aren't many that can actually make babies cry when they end. That's exactly what happened to one little boy, who looks completely engrossed while his mother reads him the book 'I Am a Bunny', a classic children's book about the pattern of the seasons. However, when the story ends and his mother closes the book, he immediately begins crying. The only thing that seems to placate him is opening the book at the beginning and reading the story again. It's heartening to see such a little child so completely in love with a book, but it must get a little wearing for his parents after a while Leesedanielle/YouTube Heartwarming news stories from around the world Tattoo with a hidden message highlights the invisible battle faced by people with depression A young woman has brought attention to the invisibility of depression - by getting a tattoo which sends out two opposing messages depending on how you look at it. The tattoo on her leg appears to say "I'm fine" when read by someone looking at her, but reveals its true secret to its wearer when she looks down at it, reading "Save me" instead. Bekah Miles, a 21-year-old US student who has struggled with depression for some years, got the inking on her leg to start a conversation about mental health and give voice to her experience Facebook/Bekah Miles Heartwarming news stories from around the world Teen goes to extraordinary lengths to give autistic twin the high school graduation to remember A teenager has earned herself an army of fans after she finally reached her goal to help her severely autistic twin brother across the stage at their high school graduation. Anders Bonville, 18, from Birmingham, Alabama, was diagnosed with autism when he was two, which left him non-verbal but along with his sister, Aly the pair developed their own unique language and set out to alter perceptions of the condition. Aly was called first on-stage to receive her diploma. With her brother being walked quietly behind a curtained area in his wheelchair to keep him calm, she quickly exited to get him before his name was called out. Aly zoomed down the hallway with her brother in his wheelchair so that he would be happy when the big moment came. Although the principal had ordered the audience to hold all applause until the end the moment Aly took her brothers hand and led him across the stage the entire hall rose to its feet and erupted into applause including the principal herself Benida Pillitary Bonville via Facebook Heartwarming news stories from around the world 'Forrest Gump' completes 42 back-to-back marathons A man has completed 42 back-to-back marathons while dressed as Forrest Gump. Ewan Gordon, 42, from Oxfordshire, copied the popular film character by growing out his hair and beard to complete the 1,050-mile challenge in memory of nine-year-old Thomas Laurie who died last year. Thomas suffered from Cockayne Syndrome a rare premature ageing disease which is known to affect just 100 youngsters in the UK. Mr Gordon, a civil servant, ran about 26 miles each day (42km) the equivalent of a marathon a day for 42 days, from John OGroats to Lands End. He said he was inspired to adopt the quirky persona following a bet when a friend said he would sponsor Mr Gordon more money for his charity run if he did @OxLightBlues/Twitter Heartwarming news stories from around the world Charity shop thanks 'true gent' who donated late wife's wedding dress with heartfelt message A charity shop in Leeds has tracked down the elderly man who donated his late wifes stunning 1950s wedding dress with a heartfelt note. St Gemmas Hospice, which runs a speciality bridal shop in Garforth, described the man as a true gent while appealing for help finding him on social media. The stunning vintage gown has a lace bodice and sleeves and full embroidered skirt. A note attached to it read: I wish any lady who takes this dress to have a life with her loved one 56 years like I did. Happy years. I was a lucky man to marry a lady like mine" St Gemma's Hospice Heartwarming news stories from around the world Blood donors in Sweden get a text message whenever their blood saves someone's life With blood donation rates in decline all over the developed world, Swedens blood service is enlisting new technology to help push back against shortages. One new initiative, where donors are sent automatic text messages telling them when their blood has actually been used, has caught the public eye. People who donate initially receive a 'thank you' text when they give blood, but they get another message when their blood makes it into somebody elses veins Getty Heartwarming news stories from around the world Guide dog jumps in front of oncoming bus to save blind owner When Figo the service dog saw an oncoming mini school bus heading for Audrey Stone, the blind woman he was trained to guide, the golden retriever's protective instincts kicked in: He threw himself at the closest part of the vehicle he could. Police photos show the result: fur stuck to the front driver's side wheel and in the middle of Michael Neuner Avenue in New York, where the bus came to a stop after striking the pair. The driver of the Brewster school bus, carrying two kindergartners to St. Lawrence O'Toole Childhood Learning Center, told police he didn't see the pair crossing the road as they made their way home at about 8:15 Monday morning. But Figo saw the bus coming and leapt into action AP Heartwarming news stories from around the world Florida boy grew his hair for two years and endured bullying to donate it to charity After more than two years growing his hair, a boy from Florida has donated his locks to charity, despite being bullied along the way. Christian McPhilamy, an eight-year-old from Florida, began growing his hair after seeing an advert about paediatric cancer and has now donated four locks, each measuring over 10 inches, to charity Facebook Heartwarming news stories from around the world A police officer who told a student his parents were killed surprised him at his graduation ceremony Kazzie Porties parents, Riley and Emily, were killed by a drunk driver. Eric Ellison, an officer at the Orange Police Department in Texas, broke the news to the couples five children and told the youngest hed be by his side during graduation Heartwarming news stories from around the world Cafe asks customer to leave after he tells breastfeeding mother to cover up An Australian cafe has been praised for sticking up for a breastfeeding mother after a customer told her to cover up. Jessica-Anne Allen, owner of Cheese and Biscuits Cafe in Queensland, Australia, has described how she was approached by a male customer in the cafe on Thursday to complain that he was upset by a woman in the coffee shop breastfeeding her child nearby. The customer asked the cafe owner, 29, to tell the mother to cover up. When Mrs Allen refused to do so, he took matters into his own hands and challenged the woman himself. Staff at the cafe then asked the man to leave Heartwarming news stories from around the world Dog with cancer completes bucket list When their dog was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Cocos owners put together a bucket list and made sure their hound experienced an exciting few weeks before she died. Before she was put down on 5 May, Coco: visited a beach; took a ride in a helicopter; went in a fire engine; ate a steak at the pub; and also had a Big Mac from a McDonalds Drive Thru, amongst other activities https://www.facebook.com/symon.spencer.9 Heartwarming news stories from around the world Elderly cancer patient who rang 911 because he had no food is inundated with donations from well-wishers An elderly cancer patient who called 911 because he was hungry and had no food is receiving donations from hundreds of people across America who were moved by his story. Clarence Blackmon was discharged from a private hospital in Fayetteville, in North Carolina, on Tuesday after spending months there for cancer treatment. The 81-year-old returned to his house without any supplies and anyone close by to call for help, leading him to call 911 in desperation and ask for food. An hour-and-a-half later, Marilyn Hinson, the operator who answered that call, arrived at his front door with police carrying bags full of food and made him some ham sandwiches Heartwarming news stories from around the world Son receives touching 30th birthday card from father who died in 1999 A son has revealed how he only just received a birthday card from his dad who died from cancer over a decade ago, with the father having the foresight to mark his children's milestone birthdays before passing away. It was inscribed with a simple 'Love ya - Dad', and was written such a long time ago that even the corny joke on the inside feels quite charmingly dated ChrisBenRoy Heartwarming news stories from around the world Chinese student carries disabled friend to school every day for three years so he doesn't miss class A teenager has been hailed as the most beautiful student in China after spending three years giving piggy-backs to his disabled friend so that he doesnt have to miss a class. The story of 18-year-old Xie Xu, who volunteered to look after his 19-year-old classmate Zhang Chi, has been shared widely on Chinese social media and received widespread local media coverage Heartwarming news stories from around the world Teenage Aldi worker Christian Trouesdale walkes an old man home A young man from Horwich in Greater Manchester has become an unexpected internet sensation after he was photographed walking a frail old man home from the supermarket. Aldi worker Christian Trouesdale, 18, said he had received a crazy reaction with messages of support flooding in from as far afield as Dubai, Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. The image of Mr Trouesdale hand-in-hand with a 96-year-old customer on the street outside the shop was first shared by nearby worker and Horwich resident Samantha-Jayne Brady, 23, who said it was a lovely thing to witness Samantha-Jayne Brady Heartwarming news stories from around the world 8-year-old survivor of abuse writes inspirational 'thank you' letter to social workers An eight-year-old girl who was abused as an infant has written a thank-you letter to social workers and detectives who helped to rescue her from a home where she had been left paralysed as a result of beatings. Marie Suprenant is not able to walk as a result of the injuries that she sustained before she was taken under the care of a foster parent. I want to thank you for making me happy by giving me a new warm and safe environment, she writes. Now I have a home that is nice and I have three nice meals a day Heartwarming news stories from around the world Woman praised for defending Muslim woman 'harassed on train for wearing a hijab' An Australian woman has been described as a hero for challenging a train passenger who was allegedly being abusive towards a Muslim woman sat in the same carriage. Stacey Eden claimed an older woman was accusing the unidentified Muslim woman and the man sat next to her of being an Isis supporter because she was wearing a hijab. Ms Eden, from Sydney, said the alleged tirade began "a good ten minutes" before she started filming the woman, later uploading the video on to her Facebook page. Footage from the alleged incident began as the unnamed passenger asked the woman, who was also sat with a pram on the opposite side of the train, "why do you wear it [a hijab] for a man that marries a six year-old girl?" The woman and the man remained silent, but Ms Eden responded: "She wears it for herself, OK? She wears it because she wants to be modest with her body, not because of people like you who are going to sit there and disrespect her" Heartwarming news stories from around the world Loving parents have got matching tattoos of their daughters huge red birthmark Honey-Rae Phillips was born with the large strawberry mark covering half her body. The Daily Mirror reports that Mum Tanya Phillips and dad Adam Philips, who are both from Grimsby, got the tattoos after people starting making comments about it in public. We wanted Honey-Rae to feel special, that her birthmark was something to feel proud of and not embarrassed by, Ms Phillips told the newspaper Heartwarming news stories from around the world James Robertson who walked 20 miles to work every day for nine years is gifted new car James Robertson who was unable to afford a new car after his last one broke down nine years ago was recently awarded more than $310,000 in donations by kind strangers who learned of his daily difficulties. Even though the money raised was meant for a new vehicle, a car dealership decided to give him a new one worth around $37,000 (around 24,000) for free in his preferred colour, red Reuters Heartwarming news stories from around the world Stranger gives Kindle to homeless man An anonymous do-gooder has shunned praise after he gave a homeless man his Kindle. The man from San Diego, California, was visiting Las Vegas last month, when he met a homeless man named Paul, who had read the same, worn book, each time he passed. The man said he had also been down on his luck in the past, and decided to give Paul his Kindle e-reader. A moving photo showing Paul with his Kindle has been viewed over 2 million times on Imgur Mjuad/Reddit Heartwarming news stories from around the world Attacked pensioner Alan Barnes crowdfund passes 200,000 in donations Pensioner Alan Barnes was mugged outside his home in Gateshead last week in an attack that left him with a broken collarbone and too scared to return to his own house. Katie Cutler, who lives nearby to Barnes, set up a crowdfunding page intending to raise 500 to help the disabled pensioner find a new home. Her efforts have led to more than 200,000 in donations being made Heartwarming news stories from around the world Man reunited with stolen dog during search for new pet Richard Brower was heartbroken after his dog, a German shepherd called Dozer, was stolen from the Yard of his Alberta home, and his endless searching proved fruitless. But he had no idea that when he started searching for a new German shepherd, he would experience the closest thing to a miracle in his life the Claresholm Animal Rescue Society, unbeknownst to its organisers, had Dozer safe and well, and now hes back at home Global News Heartwarming news stories from around the world Bart the 'zombie cat' set to make full recovery following his unlikely return from the grave Bart, the Florida cat who was buried after his owner found him lifeless in a pool of blood after being hit by a car, is set to make a full recovery when he returned from the grave five days later. Upon his return owner Ellis Hutson took the cat for surgery to remove his eye and have his jaw re-wired, and Bart is expected to return home soon Reuters/Humane Society of Tampa Bay Heartwarming news stories from around the world Friendship Nine's civil rights-era convictions overturned by South Carolina court It is 54 years since the Friendship Nine walked into McCrorys in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and sat down at the whites-only lunch counter in a sit-in that inspired non-violent protests across the South that were an integral part to the civil rights movement. The nine were arrested and convicted of ignoring a segregation order and sent to jail for 30 days, but this week their convictions were finally overturned Reuters Heartwarming news stories from around the world 'Humans of New York' blog raises over $1 million for Brooklyn school Humans of New York, the photo blog that aims to capture daily glimpses into the lives of New York inhabitants, has raised over $1 million dollars for a school in one of the most-crime ridden parts of the city this week, all because of the story of 13-year-old Vidal. The money is for Vidals school to be able to make contributions towards its pupils college tuition and to fund trips for sixth-graders to tour Harvard University IndiGoGo/Humans of New York Heartwarming news stories from around the world Mystery man who gave heart-warming note to young mum on train to 'put a smile on her face' has been identified The stranger who handed a small piece of paper and a 5 note to a 23-year-old mother just to tell her what a great mum she is has been identified, after recipient Sammie Welch was so overwhelmed by his kindness she started a Facebook search just to be able to thank him. Ken Saunders, 50, said he just wanted to put a smile on Welchs face PA Heartwarming news stories from around the world Father calls out his daughters racist bullies in emotional video A father has taken to YouTube to shame bullies who bombarded his daughter with racist abuse on social media. Mr Knudsons daughter, from Prior Lake in the US state of Minnesota, was adopted and is of African American descent. He recounted how he approached the parents of the twin bullies only to be told that there was nothing wrong with the abuse. I have a beautiful African American daughter who I love more than life itself and would do anything for, he said in the video Heartwarming news stories from around the world This kid thought the postman should get post too It must be kind of lonely being a mailman, all this correspondence running through your hands every day but none of it addressed to you. It must be kind of lonely being a mailman, all this correspondence running through your hands every day but none of it addressed to you absofaluminium Heartwarming news stories from around the world Student raises thousands of pounds for homeless man who offered her 3 for a taxi Christmas is a traditionally a time for giving, particularly to the less fortunate members of society, but one homeless man was prepared to hand over everything he had. The man, named Robbie, offered a 22-year-old student 3 to help her get home safely after a night out - and now she is hoping to raise enough money to help him off the streets Rex When Mr Vickerman returned the couple resumed their relationship but it soon broke down again as he was suffering from what would now be diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He told BBC Midlands Today: I just wanted to be on my own, I called off the engagement. And Nora was very, very good. She was a lady and she sent the ring back to me. Both moved on with their lives and later married other people and had children but now Ms Jackson is wearing the original ring Mr Vickerman used to propose all those years ago. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Morning Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Following the introduction of the National Living Wage and unwelcome increases to council tax, today sees another wave of new laws come into force in the UK. You must microchip your dog All dog owners in England, Scotland and Wales are now required by law to microchip their pet, and keep their details up-to-date on an authorised database such as Petlog. The Government says the measures will make it easier to find lost and stray dogs, which currently cost taxpayers and charities 33 million a year, and trace the owners of animals that attack other people. INDY VERSION- Dog owners urged to have pets microchipped as new law is introduced However, a senior vet has advised dog owners to ignore the new law, as the chips can lead to health problems among puppies and smaller breeds. From 6 April owners of dogs found not to have a microchip by the will be given a short period to comply with the law before facing a fine of up to 500. More than one million dogs in the UK have not yet been microchipped - one in eight of the estimated canine population - the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said. The new law does not replace previous requirements for dogs to wear a collar and tag with their owner's name and address when in a public place. Darcy the Pug examining a dog microchip (PA) Non-EU workers earning less than 35,000 face deportation Changes to UK visa rules mean that overseas workers will not be allowed to stay in the country for more than five years unless they can prove they earn more than 35,000. If that applies to you and your five-year visa expires soon, you could face imminent deportation. The new law will not currently apply to nurses, PhD-level jobs and those on the official Shortage Occupation List, although the exemptions could change in the future. However most teachers and people working in IT and marketing could be packing their bags sooner than they had hoped. More than 110,000 people signed a petition against the changes, which were called discriminatory by campaigners. In a response to the petition, the Home Office said the 35,000 threshold was announced in 2012 and all affected migrants and employers had been informed. New laws that will change the way you live Show all 5 1 /5 New laws that will change the way you live New laws that will change the way you live 1. Stricter immigration rules for working people You might think that a nurse who has spent the last decade tending to terminally ill British citizens would be considered an asset to our society. But under new legislation that comes into effect from April 2016, she could be deported. If you come from outside the EU and youve been working here for more than five years, you must be earning more than 35,000 a year, or else you will be shipped off back to your country of origin New laws that will change the way you live 2. A higher minimum wage The minimum wage for workers over the age of 25 will increase to 7.20 in April 2016, in the largest real-terms increase since 2007. The increase is part of a move toward a national minimum wage of 9 per hour by 2020 New laws that will change the way you live 3. Gender pay gap in workplaces must be reported At the moment, companies only disclose information about their pay gaps on a voluntary basis, unless forced to do so following an accusation of sexist pay discrimination being brought against them in court. But new legislation rolling out in 2016 will force employers to disclose this information each year New laws that will change the way you live 4. A new, flat-rate pension From April 2016, there will be only a single-tier pension. This will be a flat rate paid at 155.65 a week. This replaces the current, lower basic state pension of 115.95, but it also replaces secondary and additional pensions which would normally enable people to top up the basic rate New laws that will change the way you live 5. and smaller vapes and e-cigarettes If Britain in 2016 could be incarnated into a single body, it would be that of a young man gliding down a high street on a hoverboard and puffing on a vape. But new EU legislation could see vapes and e-cigs disappearing from our public spaces State pensions will be paid differently If you plan to retire on or after 6 April, the way you receive your pension will be different. Instead of a basic state pension plus an additional pension, there will be a flat-rate payment of 155.65 a week. This is an increase from the previous minimum of 120. This is supposed to make government pensions easier to manage and understand, but a survey by consumer group Which? found that 44 per cent of 50 to 64-year-olds do not know what the new rate will be, and only 18 per cent knew if they had ever been contracted out of a state pension. Women and the self-employed may find themselves better off under the new system, according to the BBC. But to receive the full rate, you need to have paid National Insurance for 35 years, meaning younger retirees could lose out. The lifetime allowance for pensions has also been reduced from 1.25 million to 1 million. It is hoped that the new state pension will give savers a more solid base for their retirement planning (Getty) A new personal allowance will boost savings Another policy announced in last years budget that came into force on 6 April is the introduction of the Personal Savings Allowance, which will allow people to earn up to 1,000 in interest tax free. Previously, earnings on savings were automatically taxed at 20 per cent by your bank or building society. This change will benefit almost anyone with a savings account, but if you pay the higher 40 per cent rate of tax, your allowance will be 500, and the richest earners on the top tax rate of 45% per cent will not have an allowance at all. A new 10 per cent tax on share dividends has also been introduced, with a 5,000 tax-free allowance. George Osborne has championed the personal allowance (Getty) Capital Gains Tax changes The higher rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT) has been reduced from 28 per cent to 20 per cent and the basic rate from 18 per cent to 10 cent. These changes are now in effect for all disposals, as is an extension to Capital Gains Tax entrepreneurs relief. The relief is being extended to external investors in unlisted trading companies. The new rules apply to newly issued shares purchased on or after 17 March, providing they are held for a minimum of 3 years from 6 April 2016, and subject to a separate lifetime limit of 10 million of gains. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Activists have burned 35,000 in fake bank notes with Theresa Mays face printed on them outside the Home Office, in protest at new immigration rules that come into effect today. The campaigners, from Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, dressed in pink veils and black clothes as they ceremonially set alight the notes as part of what they called a "symbolic exorcism of the Home Office's fixation on money and disregard for the suffering it inflicts on ordinary people. Under the new immigration rules non-EU workers who come to Britain will be deported after five years if they fail to show they are earning more than 35,000 a significant increase from the previous 20,800 threshold. Campaigners claim it will starve Britain of vital talent in the teaching, charity and entrepreneur sectors. These migrants need a work sponsor, are not entitled to receive public funds, have to pay a health surcharge to access the NHS and must also put up a sizeable fee sometimes in excess of 1,000 to have their visas extended by a year. Last month the Home Secretary ducked a key debate in Westminster Hall, over the controversial policy, after more than 100,000 people signed an online petition expressing anger at the measure, which Labour has called ill-considered, destructive and discriminatory. Morten Thaysen from Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants said to The Independent: "With this new law, Theresa May will force thousands of people to leave this country simply because they don't earn enough money. "We should be welcoming the people who run our essential services, not discriminate against people based on their paycheques". May announces asylum plan The group of activists style themselves on the 1980s Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners to stand in solidarity with migrants and refugees. The group also uses creative action to disrupt the prevailing right-wing media narrative which pits LGBTQIA+ people against migrants. The government is creating a divided society where something as essential as the freedom of movement and the right to work is dictated by the size of your paycheque, said Alex Williams, another member of the group. We have come a long way in terms on stopping discrimination against people based on sexuality why should we now discriminate based on how much money people take home each month? A spokesperson for the Home Office said to the Independent: In the past it has been too easy for some businesses to bring in workers from overseas rather than to take the long-term decision to train our workforce here at home. This morning we burned 35k of fake bank notes printed with the face of home secretary Theresa May in protest over a new... Posted by Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants on Wednesday, 6 April 2016 They added: That is why we changed the settlement rules in 2012 to break the link between coming to work in the UK and staying here permanently. "These reforms will ensure that businesses are able to attract the skilled migrants they need, but we also want them to get far better at recruiting and training UK workers first. Former Cabinet minister Alistair Carmichael, who was David Cameron's Scottish Secretary before the election, told The Independent in January that discriminating on the basis of income would harm the UKs place at the forefront of the global economy, while shadow immigration minister Keir Starmer said there were real concerns over how key industries would be affected. With this new law, the Home Office clearly shows that they value money over ordinary people, said activist Sam Bjorn. Were outraged that people whove been running essential services will face deportation. Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Brexit and beyond email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Government is to spend nearly 10 million of taxpayers' money sending leaflets to every household in the country to make the case for Britain to stay in the European Union. In a move described by leave campaigners as "disgraceful", Downing Street signed off on plans to spend 9.2m printing and distributing the 16 page glossy leaflet outlining the benefits of Britains continued EU membership. The publication, which will start arriving on doorsteps next week, makes the case for why the Government believes that "voting to remain in the EU is the best decision for the UK". But in a move that will be attacked by critics as an escalation of Downing Streets "Project Fear" tactics, the leaflet also warns that leaving the EU would cause an "economic shock" and increase the prices of household goods. It goes on to say that British voters would lose access to cheap flights and face higher mobile roaming charges when travelling if they back a Brexit, and that "over three million UK jobs are linked to exports to the EU". The pamphlet recalls a tactic used by Harold Wilson ahead of the 1975 referendum when an "independent" government analysis of his renegotiation was sent by voters alongside the pro- and anti- campaign literature. It is being sent out now because the Government is able to spend an unlimited amount of money on its campaign to keep Britain in the EU ahead of the "purdah" period, which comes into force 28 days ahead of the June 23 referendum. Critics say this gives the Government an unfair advantage over the campaigns attempting to take Britain out of the EU. This is an outrageous way to spend hard-working taxpayers money, said the Tory MP Peter Bone, who is a leading voice in one of the main leave campaigns. "This is a major error of judgement given the lack of funding for vital public services. I urge the Prime Minister to rethink wasting such an astonishing amount of British taxpayers money. What is being done is immoral, undemocratic and against what the Government has promised. However Environment Secretary Liz Truss has defended the spend. This referendum will be a huge decision for our country, perhaps the biggest we will make in our lifetimes and it is crucial that the public have clear and accessible information, she said. Independent polling carried out on behalf of the Government made clear that 85 per cent of people want more information to help make an informed decision. Meanwhile the claim and counter-claim between pro and anti EU campaigners sunk to new depths yesterday after the leading group vying to pull Britain out of Europe was reported to the Electoral Commission for allegedly making misleading claims in their own voter leaflet. Chris Bryant, Labours Shadow Leader of the Commons, made the complaint over literature delivered to thousands of households over the last few weeks. While the leaflet was produced by the Vote Leave campaign it contained none of the groups branding and directed people to a website which Mr Bryant suggested seemed deliberately designed to appear impartial. What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Show all 5 1 /5 What's the European Parliament ever done for us? What's the European Parliament ever done for us? A cap on the amount of hours an employer can make you work The Working Time directive provides legal standards to ensure the health and safety of employees in Europe. Among the many rules are a working week of a maximum 48 hours, including overtime, a daily rest period of 11 hours in every 24, a break if a person works for six hours or more, and one day off in every seven. It also includes provisions for paid annual leave of at least four weeks every year Getty Images What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping the people of Britain to avoid smoking In 2014 MEPs passed the Tobacco Products Directive strengthening existing rules on the manufacture, production and presentation of tobacco products. This includes things like reduced branding, restrictions on products containing flavoured tobacco, health warnings on cigarette packets and provisions for e-cigarettes to ensure they are safe What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Helping you to make the right choices with your food Thanks to the European Parliament, UK consumers have access to more information than ever about their food and drink. This includes amount of fat, and how much of it is saturated, carbohydrates, sugars, protein and so on. It also includes portion sizes and guideline daily amount information so people can make informed choices about their diet. All facts must be clear and easy to understand What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Two year guarantees and 14-day returns policy for all products Consumers across the EU have access to a number of rights, from things which are potentially very useful, to things which used to be annoying. For example, shoppers in the UK receive a two-year guarantee on all products, and a 14-day period to change their minds and return a purchase, these things are useful www.PeopleImages.com-licence restrictions apply What's the European Parliament ever done for us? Keeping your air nice and fresh (and safe) Believe it or not, although the situation is improving, some areas of the UK have appalling air quality. A report by the Royal College of Physicians released on 23 February says 40,000 deaths are caused by outdoor air pollution in the UK every year. Air pollution is linked to a number of illnesses and conditions, from Asthma to diabetes and dementia. The report estimates the costs to British business and the health service add up to 20 billion every year Pro EU campaigners claimed the leaflet made at least eight misleading claims despite suggesting it was presenting the facts about Britains membership. At the same time Downing Street released details of an official Government leaflet to be sent out to every household in the UK making the case for Britain to stay in the European Union. At a cost to the taxpayer of 9.3 million ministers claim that the leaflet will meet a demand from the public for the facts about the implications of leaving the EU. However anti EU campaigners said it was scandalous that ministers had authorised such spending on what they described as propaganda. "The Government promised that it would not take on the lead role in the referendum, so its disgraceful that theyre spending taxpayers money which could go to the NHS on EU propaganda instead, said a spokesman for Vote Leave. "We should Vote Leave on 23 June to stop Brussels taking 350 million of our money every week and spend our money on our priorities like the NHS." Among the disputed assertions in the leaflet were claims that the EU had "taken control" over Britains "borders and public services". The main pro-EU campaign said this assertion was wrong as the UK remained control of its borders as a result of the countrys opt out from Schengen Agreement. They added that the EU had absolutely no say over how Britain ran its public services. Britain Stronger in Europe also rejected Vote Leaves assertion that the EU "costs Britain 350 million a week". In fact, they said, Britains contribution was around 7.1 bn a year - or 136 million a week equivalent to 263 per household per year. Independent think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies said yesterday that the UKs overall net contribution would be a little over 8 billion a year in future. They added that in past it had fluctuated from year to year and was 7.5 billion in 2012, 9.1 billion in 2013 and 5.7 billion in 2014. James McGrory, Chief Campaign Spokesman for Britain Stronger in Europe, claimed Vote Leave were trying to pull "a grand deception on the British people and were using a fact sheet that was remarkably short on facts to do so". "This leaflet is nothing short of Project Fantasy," he said. "It fails to address the real concerns that many people will have about the economic costs to Britain of leaving Europes free-trade single market." Addressing the lack of branding on the leaflet a source in Vote Leave pointed out that Britains Stronger in Europe had also produced literature with deliberately obscure branding on it. A spokesman added: People want to know the facts on the EU such as the fact that we send 350 million every week to Brussels that could go to the NHS if we vote leave and we are experimenting with different formats to see what is most effective." Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The claim and counter-claim between pro and anti-EU campaigners has sunk to new depths after the leading group vying to pull Britain out of Europe was reported to the Electoral Commission for allegedly making misleading claims in a leaflet. Chris Bryant, Labours Shadow Leader of the Commons, made the complaint over literature delivered to thousands of households over the last few weeks. While the leaflet was produced by the Vote Leave campaign it contained none of the groups branding and directed people to a website which Mr Bryant suggested seemed deliberately designed to appear impartial. Pro-EU campaigners claimed the leaflet made at least eight misleading claims despite suggesting it was presenting the facts about Britains membership. Among the disputed assertions in the leaflet were claims that the EU had taken control over Britains borders and public services. The main pro-EU campaign said this assertion was wrong as the UK remained in control of its borders as a result of the countrys opt-out from the Schengen Agreement. They added that the EU had absolutely no say over how Britain ran its public services. Britain Stronger in Europe also rejected Vote Leaves assertion that The EU costs Britain 350 million a week. In fact, they said, Britains contribution was around 7.1bn a year or 136m a week equivalent to 263 per household per year. The independent think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies said that the UKs overall net contribution would be a little over 8 billion a year in future. They added that in the past it had fluctuated from year to year and was 7.5bn in 2012, 9.1bn in 2013 and 5.7bn in 2014. James McGrory, the chief campaign spokesman for Britain Stronger in Europe, claimed Vote Leave was trying to pull a grand deception on the British people and were using a fact sheet that was remarkably short on facts to do so. This leaflet is nothing short of Project Fantasy, he said. It fails to address the real concerns that many people will have about the economic costs to Britain of leaving Europes free-trade single market. Addressing the lack of branding on the leaflet a source in Vote Leave pointed out that Britains Stronger in Europe had also produced literature with deliberately obscure branding on it. A spokesman added: People want to know the facts on the EU such as the fact that we send 350m every week to Brussels that could go to the NHS if we vote leave and we are experimenting with different formats to see what is most effective. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It was another time, a more innocent age. In 2003 George Osborne, then just a backbench MP, appeared on the BBCs Daily Politics programme, and offered some chirpy advice to the first caller, Bill. There are some pretty clever financial products that enable you to, in effect, pass on the value of your home to your son or daughter and then get personal care paid for by the state," said the future Chancellor, adding, with a half-grin: I probably shouldnt be advocating this on television. How times change. Now, when asked on television about whether he might benefit now or in the future from one sort of clever financial product offshore funds an older, seemingly more wary Mr Osborne restricts himself to saying: Well, we have made clear the arrangements we have. They are all declared in the register [of members interests]. Then, despite being asked the same question twice, he moves swiftly on to more interesting topics, to how this Conservative Government has done more than any previous government to tackle tax evasion, to tackle tax avoidance". Already the Panama Papers leak has shed an unwelcome light on how David Camerons father had been director of a Caribbean-based offshore fund and, according to Channel 4 News, held shares in another fund based on Jersey. But when you look beyond the Panama Papers, it emerges that the Prime Minister is not the only Cabinet member to have had questions asked about their attitudes, or the attitudes of those close to them, towards the complex business of paying tax. Take, for example, that cheery 2003 TV pundit. In February this year, it was reported that the Osborne & Little Group Ltd, the parent company for the Osborne familys upmarket wallpaper business, had entirely legally not paid corporation tax for seven years. This despite The Sunday Times reporting that the interior design group, co-founded by the Chancellors father Sir Peter Osborne, the 17th baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon, had made profits in the year to March 2015 of 722,200 on revenues of 34m. The Osborne & Little Group Ltd had, according to The Sunday Times, paid out dividends worth 335,000 to shareholders, including the Chancellor, on 30 May 2014. However, a spokesman for Osborne & Little told The Independent there was a simple and legitimate explanation: Corporation tax has not been paid since 2008 because losses since then have arisen. Under UK tax legislation, losses incurred in prior years are offset against profits of later years. And a spokesman for Mr Osborne said: All of the Chancellors interests are declared properly and in accordance with the rules. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here Closer still to Mr Cameron than the Chancellor, but in some senses further offshore, is the Prime Ministers stepfather-in-law. Viscount Astor, who is married to Samantha Camerons mother Annabel, has a home in Scotland owned by a company registered in the British Virgin Islands. The 19,000-acre Tarbert Estate, on the Hebridean island of Jura, was bought by the Astor family in the 1921, but in 1979 it came into the ownership of a Bahamas-registered company called Ginge Manor Estates, passing to its British Virgin Islands-based parent company Altar Properties Ltd in November 2014. Ginge Manor is also the name of Viscount Astors Oxfordshire home, where one David Cameron married his wife Samantha in June 1996. Mr Cameron likes visiting Jura too. I fish and try to catch the odd sea trout or mackerel," he told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2005. "I love swimming in the sea off Scotland. The peace and quiet is fantastic." Fortunately for everyones peace and quiet, the estates offshore arrangements are entirely legal. Viscount Astor told The Independent the reason for the use of the offshore companies was historical. When my grandparents bought the estate, as they were both born in America, they used American money for the purchase," he said. "There has been no tax advantage as they, my father and myself were or are resident in the UK and pay full taxes on all assets. There is no tax advantage and nothing is hidden. Viscount Astor did once reflect on why he hadnt insisted on a name change for Ginge Manor, the distinctively titled Bahamas company. Perhaps I should have, he said in 2013. But [about] 40 years ago I did not expect to have a stepson-in-law as PM." At least the PM can be confident that, as yet another walk-out by striking junior doctors collides with the Panama Papers affair, his Health Secretary has stuck rigorously to the tax law. Jeremy Hunt, named last year as the richest Cabinet minister, is after all a man who knows the wisest way to handle money. In 2012 it was reported he had entirely legally avoided a 100,000 HM Revenue & Customs bill through a deal concluded days before a tax rate rise. In April 2010 Mr Hunt and his business partner Mike Elms allegedly transferred ownership of the office building of their educational company Hotcourses into their own names. Both men were then paid a dividend by Hotcourses in the form of half its office building each, before the property was leased back to the company. Accountants told The Daily Telegraph that the deal meant a legal reduction in Mr Hunts potential tax bill of more than 100,000, because it was completed just days before an announced 10 per cent rise in the tax on dividends. The Health Secretary, however, ceased to be operationally involved in Hotcourses once he became a minister, and Mr Elms told the Telegraph that Mr Hunt had no control over the timing of the dividend payment. All appropriate taxes were paid, he said. Mr Hunt has no responsibility for any financial decisions including the nature, amount and timing of dividend payments to shareholders. Hotcourses was not alone. Hundreds of other companies also brought forward their dividend payments before the April 2010 tax rise. Mr Hunt can at least consider himself more fortunate than the Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond who, in 2010, was one of the subjects of what he called a malicious documentary about the tax affairs of the wealthy. Mr Hammond, said last year to be worth 10m, started paying himself a dividend rather than a salary from his property company Castlemead when he joined the Shadow Cabinet in 2007. He transferred Castlemead shares into his wife Susans name before Labour introduced the 50p tax rate in 2010 but, Mr Hammond later explained, this was because at that time he was expecting to enter Government. He therefore wanted to abide by the code of conduct stating that ministers must scrupulously avoid any potential conflict between their government role and their private financial interests. The transfer was, he said, done on advice and was cleared by both the Permanent Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary, following proper procedure. National Insurance contributions are not deducted from dividends, but Mr Hammond insisted that being paid in them, rather than receiving a salary, would provide at best only a marginal 1 per cent gain for a higher-rate taxpayer. The MP told his local newspaper: At all times I have paid all taxes for which I have been liable, and any suggestion that in reaching these arrangements my motivation was to avoid tax is without foundation. It seems that whatever the Panama Papers may reveal about David Camerons father, in his Cabinet the days of chattily recommending clever financial products are over. Arent they? Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Downing Street has issued further clarification about the Prime Ministers financial affairs, confirming that neither he, his wife or his children stand to benefit from offshore funds or trusts in the future. The denial is the latest of a series of statements issued by No10 in the wake of the Panama Papers revelation that David Camerons father ran an offshore investment fund which never paid UK tax. Yesterday, officials only went as far to say the Prime Minister and his immediate family did not currently benefit from any offshore funds, leading to speculation that he still stood to inherit or realise funds in the future. In a sign of growing frustration in Downing Street, after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested yesterday that Mr Camerons familys own tax affairs should be part of an independent investigation into the Panama leaks, a spokesperson said it was time for those questioning the PMs financial arrangements to put up or shut up. However, Labour MP and member of the Treasury Select Committee Wes Streeting said that, despite the latest clarification, Mr Cameron still had to confirm whether he had benefitted in the past from offshore funds. Yesterday the PM himself made a rod for his own back by issuing a partial statement, he told BBC Radio 4s Today programme. On the basis of the statements that were put out yesterday the key question is, has he benefitted in the past from this? World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here This whole issue about tax havens is about openness and transparency and it's really clear the UK, acting independently but also in conjunction with other countries, still has far more to do to tackle aggressive tax avoidance and tax havens, he added. So from a public point of view, the question will be: when our Prime Minister says he is serious about tackling itare we absolutely certain he doesnt have a vested interest and if he does, will he be up front about it? In its statement, Downing Street said: There are no offshore funds/trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future. Officials have yet to comment on whether Mr Camerons mother Mary continues to benefit from Blairmore the investment fund which Mr Camerons father Ian set up in the Bahamas in the 1980s. Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph reported that Blairmore moved its operations to Dublin in 2010, the year that Mr Cameron became Prime Minister, and started paying corporation tax in Ireland. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} David Cameron is facing further questions over his links to offshore investment funds, after it emerged that his late father was involved in a second company based in a tax haven. Labour accused the Prime Minister of failing to put the record straight despite four statements in the space of three days. Channel 4 News reported that Ian Cameron was a director of Jersey-based Close International Equity Growth Fund and held 6,000 of its shares. His assets were reportedly left to his family following his death in 2010. Downing Street has said that the Prime Minister, his wife or his children do not stand to benefit from offshore funds or trusts in the future. The denial is the latest of a series of statements issued by No 10 in the wake of the Panama Papers revelation that David Camerons father ran an offshore investment fund called Blairmore Holdings in the Bahamas, which never paid UK tax. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here Asked specifically about the Jersey off-shore fund, a spokesman for No 10 said: "On the subject of the PMs finances, we have nothing to add to the statements already issued." Labour MPs said that Mr Cameron had not clarified whether he had benefited in the past from the investment fund, which was reportedly moved to Ireland in 2010. Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford and a member of the House of Commons Treasury Committee, said that Mr Cameron had to prove he had no vested interest in tax havens. In a sign of growing frustration in Downing Street, after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested earlier this week that Mr Camerons familys own tax affairs should be part of an independent investigation into the Panama leaks, a Downing Street source said it was time for those questioning the PMs financial arrangements to put up or shut up. Mr Streeting told BBC Radio 4s Today show: From a public point of view, the question will be: when our Prime Minister says he is serious about tackling it are we absolutely certain he doesnt have a vested interest and if he does, will he be up front about it? The Prime Minister was also criticised by Labour MP Jess Phillips. Writing for the Huffington Post, she said the sins of Daddy Cameron were not illegal but they are utterly disgusting, accusing the Government of being no strangers to damning the children of people who they think arent doing their bit for society. Meanwhile, George Osborne refused to say whether he had benefited from offshore funds or expected to in the future. Asked about his tax affairs, the Chancellor said: All of our interests as ministers and MPs are declared in the register of members interests and we have made our position very clear. Treasury sources later said Mr Osborne and his wife had no offshore interests at all Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The repercussions of the Panama Papers expose have spread around the globe and prompted a worldwide investigation by US officials. The scandal led to the resignation of the Icelandic Prime Minister and has forced David Cameron into a public defence of his familys tax affairs. Directly addressing for the first time the revelation that his late father ran an offshore fund that never paid UK tax, Mr Cameron said he personally had no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. Facing further questions, Downing Street later issued a statement clarifying that neither the Prime Minister, his wife, nor his children benefited from offshore funds. The statements, which came after Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn called on minsters to publish their tax returns in the wake of the leaks, will leave Mr Cameron open to further questions on whether he has benefited from his fathers investments in the past, or stands to in the future. In the UK, the Government was forced to defend its record on tax avoidance after it emerged that more than half of the companies assisted by the Panama law firm at the heart of the scandal, Mossack Fonseca, were incorporated in UK-administered tax havens. View of a sign outside the building where Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm offices are placed in Panama City on April 3, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images) Condemning what he called tax avoidance on an industrial scale, Mr Corbyn joined a growing chorus of voices calling for Mr Cameron to force the UKs overseas territories and Crown dependencies to comply with British tax law. The Labour leader said that the Government should be prepared to use direct rule if territories such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands did not comply. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here He also pledged to publish his tax return, urging Government ministers to do the same, and called for an independent investigation into the Panama Papers revelations, including those relating to Mr Camerons father. Its a private matter insofar as its a privately held interest. But its not a private matter if tax is not being paid. So an investigation must take place, an independent investigation, unprejudiced, to decide whether or not tax has been paid. I think the Prime Minister, in his own interest, should tell us exactly whats been going on. Corbyn on 'tax dodging' Mr Cameron later responded to questions about the leaks at a public event in Birmingham, claiming no Prime Minister had done more to make sure we crack down on tax evasion, on aggressive tax avoidance, on aggressive tax planning both here in the UK and internationally. Addressing his own financial affairs, he said he earned his salary as Prime Minister, had savings from which he earned interest, and had income from a house, which his family occupied before moving to Downing Street and was now let out. Thats all I have, he added. A survey, published this week but conducted just days before the Panama Papers leaks, finds that 77 per cent of the public believe David Cameron has a moral responsibility to ensure the UKs overseas territories are as transparent on tax as possible. The ComRes poll, commissioned by Christian Aid and Global Witness, also found that 81 per cent agree that all companies, whether registered in the UK or in overseas territories, should be legally required to reveal who owns them. Downing Street said the Government was working toward such reforms requiring overseas territories and Crown dependencies to offer UK law enforcement access to the beneficial ownership information of companies. Officials said they were close to agreements with Bermuda, Gibraltar, Jersey and Guernsey and Isle of Man, but still needed to get the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands over the line. Sign up to the Inside Politics email for your free daily briefing on the biggest stories in UK politics Get our free Inside Politics email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Politics email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} These facts are awkward for the Prime Minister: In the early 1980s his father Ian helped to establish an offshore fund, unabashedly named Blairmore after the familys ancestral family home in Aberdeenshire, which avoided ever having to pay tax in Britain. According to some party loyalists, simply referring to them is tantamount to using Camerons dad to attack him. And in the years that followed my first reporting of the story in 2012, No.10 spokespeople have maintained that these facts are private while Tory Chairman, Grant Shapps insinuated that they were a smear and expressed surprise that such a cruel story didnt provoke more outrage. Mr Shapps has since resigned. And facts remain facts. Only now, of course, we know a few more because, in 2015, Channel 4 News reporters discovered that Ian Cameron did not just run a fund off-shore but held personal wealth off-shore they found the grant of probate showing that he left assets worth more than 10,000 in Jersey (how much more we still dont know). And, this week, the Panama Papers have revealed that, in common with a network of international tax-avoiders, the Blairmore Holdings fund relied on offshore agents Mossack Fonseca as well as locals in the Bahamas, to arrange and sign its paperwork. So questions about Ian Camerons legacy have resurfaced. Downing Street maintains that all this is a personal family matter but, had I agreed, I never would have written the story in 2012. My aim then was not to smear the Prime Minister nor to traduce his dead father, but to report matters which are neither private nor personal but on official records. After all, Ian Camerons name appears in the company registers of Panama and Switzerland precisely because he assumed legally-responsible business positions in those territories while his legacy is laid out in probate records in the UK and Jersey because thats where his money was left. The Prime Minister defended his record on tax evasion (Getty) Nothing of this is illegal. The Prime Minister was not responsible for these decisions and confirmed on Tuesday that neither he nor his wife and children benefit from off-shore funds. I never alleged he did. These facts are awkward because they raise questions for a Prime Minister who has staked his reputation on tackling tax avoidance; who used his G8 speech in 2013 to argue for international transparency and said, It matters because some people use complicated and fake structures to hide their profits and avoid their taxes; who banned bearer shares which allow the anonymous transfer of assets and opened up UK Companies House; who employs a man as his Chancellor who calls tax avoidance morally repugnant and whose office, in the light of the Panama Papers, issues a standard line which states that David Cameron is determined to take action to tackle evasion and aggressive tax avoidance. Transparency, however, requires disclosure. Ian Cameron was obviously a successful father and by all accounts a decent and popular man but he took a different view on tax and made no secret of it in the context of Blairmore. He was the funds highest-paid director and is identified in a prospectus issued to wealthy investors which boasted that the Fund will not be subject to United Kingdom corporation tax or income tax on its profits. Recommended Read more US authorities begin probe into Panama Papers That prospectus was printed and distributed in 2006, following David Camerons election as leader of the Conservative Party. So an awkward question: was David Cameron aware of the prospectus? And another: what knowledge does the Prime Minister have of his familys off-shore interests? And if these questions will not be answered by Downing Street, theres another: how does the Prime Minister reconcile his own approach to tax with that of his father? And that question is most important because its a microcosm of an honest debate Britain should have about tax and foreign ownership. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here Since the demise of exchange controls in the 1980s, off-shore structures have bloomed in Britain and Blairmore is only one example. The Panama Papers show the trend in raw numbers: of the 14,000 banks, law firms, and company incorporators that worked with Mossack Fonseca off-shore, nearly 2,000 operated here. Crown dependencies are some of the most popular off-shore shelters. Even our own property has become a home for foreign investment more than 100,000 titles are owned off-shore. Far from leading the field on tackling tax avoidance, it sometimes looks like we have spent decades building a highly-skilled economy which actually enables the havens. So how do we reconcile that legacy and the profit it created with our desire for wealthy people and huge corporations to pay fair tax? Thats the real question and the fact that its awkward shouldnt put us off. The Panama Papers will not be the last leak. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} A care worker who saved a starving Nigerian toddler derided as a "witch boy" has spoken about their bond and his recovery. Anja Ringgren Loven, from Denmark, first saw the two-year-old in south-east Nigeria, where he was riddled with worms and struggled to stand. He had been rejected by his family for being a "witch". She named him Hope. "I was so sick to my bones to see a two-year-old boy in such a horrible condition," she told MailOnline. "When we first entered the village I looked over my shoulders and slowly turned around to see Hope sitting on the side of the road. "I thought I was going to see a bigger boy but when I saw he was the size of a little baby, my whole body froze. "I became a mother myself 20 months ago and I was thinking of my own son when I saw Hope." Anja Ringgren Loven gives water to Hope, 2, after finding the emaciated boy wandering the streets (Anja Ringgren Loven/Facebook) The boy had been homeless for eight months before Ms Loven and her team rescued him in January. He was taken to hospital on the same day as his rescue where doctors found he had contracted a series of diseases. Ms Loven said: "He got the best treatment we could give him, and everyday my team and I was hoping that he would survive. "Very quickly we discovered that Hope was a very strong boy, a little fighter." She added that when she and her husband, David, took their son into the hospital to meet him - it was the first time she saw Hope smile. Hope has been living at the children's foundation for two months (Anja Ringgren Loven/Facebook) Hope has now been living for two months at a home run by the children's foundation run by the Lovens which is dedicated to helping "witch" children. "Once a child has been accused of being a witch, there is no turning back," Ms Loven said. "Villagers will call for the child to be exorcised nightly by a local priest to rid him his evil spirits or the parents will bring the child to a witch doctor, who also has 'magical powers' to exorcise the witch." The foundation, the African Childrens Aid Education and Development Foundation, have been unable to find out what caused Hope's banishment. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Some green sea turtles are no longer classed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act thanks to successful conservation efforts. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have reclassified the turtles from the breeding populations in Florida and the Pacific coast of Mexico from an endangered status to a threatened status. Successful conservation and management efforts developed in Florida and along the Pacific coast of Mexico are a roadmap for further recovery strategies of green turtle populations around the world," said Eileen Sobeck, the assistant NOAA administrator for fisheries, in a statement. But green sea turtles are still faced with a number of threats including being caught accidentally in fishing nets, habitat alteration and disease. Now, both agencies will divide the global turtle population into 11 segments to make way for tailored conservation. Of the segments, three will be reclassified as endangered and the rest as threatened. Ms Sobeck said: Ultimately, this will help up protect and conserve green sea turtles more efficiently and effectively, so that we can achieve our goal of recovering the species. Critically endangered species Show all 10 1 /10 Critically endangered species Critically endangered species Yangtze Finless Porpoise There are as few as 1,000 of this highly intelligent dolphin from the Chinese river of Yangtze. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Cross River Gorilla There are around 200-300 left in the wild. Wikmedia Critically endangered species The Amur Leopard There are only around 30 left, exclusively in the Russian Far East. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Black Rhino Improving numbers, but with fewer than 5,000 left in central Africa, it is critically endangered. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Hawskbill Sea Turtle Mostly threatened by wildlife trade; their shells highly valued. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Javan Rhino The most threatened rhino species - there are as few as 35 in Ujung Kulon National Park in Java, Indonesia. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Leatherback Turtle Having lost many of its habitable beaches, and impacted by fishing operations, this seaturtle is considered by WWF to be 'critically endangered'. Wikmedia Critically endangered species South China Tiger It is believed to be 'functionally extinct', with none of the species left in the wild. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Sumatran Elephant There are between 2,400 - 2,800 of this elephant native to Borneo and Sumatra. Wikmedia Critically endangered species Sumatran Orangutan There are an est. 7,300 but the gradual deforestation of their Sumatran habitat may threaten further. Wikmedia Dan Ashe, the Fish and Wildlife Service director, said: While threats remain for green sea turtles globally, the reclassification of green sea turtles in Florida and Mexico shows how ESA-inspired partnerships between the federal agencies, states, NGOs and even countries is making a real difference for some of our planets most imperiled species. Catherine Kilduff of the Center for Biological Diversity said the recovery of the turtles and their ability to "overcome illegal harvest, plastic pollution and warming waters" was a testament to their resilience. Since 1978, green turtles have been protected under the Endangered Species Act. According to the National Wildlife Federation, green sea turtles can grow to four feet long and live up to 100 years. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Mexico has announced a new ambassador to Washington DC - a diplomat who will be tasked with tackling an "anti-Mexican atmosphere" in the US. With US presidential candidates such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz regularly raising the rhetoric about Mexico and with the New York tycoon even saying he will build a wall, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto promoted his current consul in Los Angeles, Carlos Sada, to be his ambassador in the US capital. Reports said the move to promote Mr Sada was a shift in strategy by the Mexican government in regard to its most important diplomatic mission. Donald Trump claims he will build a wall (AP) Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieu said the move was prompted by the anti-Mexico atmosphere, which is largely due to lack of knowledge about our country, the AFP reported. Republican contender Donald Trump has branded Mexican immigrants drug smugglers and rapists during his campaign for the presidential nomination. On Tuesday, he claimed he would seize some of the billions of dollars sent back to Mexico in remittances to pay for his proposed wall. We had to implement a strategy focused on protecting our community but also on projecting Mexico's image, Ms Ruiz said, without referring to Mr Trump by name. Mr Sada has held several consular posts in the United States and Canada. He replaces Miguel Basanez who has been ambassador for just eight months. Ted Cruz has also taken a hardline stance on immigration (Reuters) Mexico's foreign ministry also announced the appointment of presidential country brand adviser and foreign media coordinator Jose Paulo Carreno King as undersecretary for North America. The two appointments are part of an integrated strategy that the Mexican government is implementing to strengthen relations, promotion and the image of our country in Canada and the United States, the ministry said. Mexican authorities will send Mr Sadas name to Washington for approval, and he must still be confirmed by the US Senate. The Los Angeles Times said Mr Basanez last summer said that Mexicans should not worry about a Trump candidacy. He said the real estate tycoon would apologise to Mexico for calling its people rapists and criminals, an apology Mr Trump has yet to offer. The United States is Mexicos biggest trade partner and home to more than 11 million Mexican-born people. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} New York, Vermont and Washington have banned official state-funded travel to Mississippi following the enactment of an anti-LGBT law. The District of Columbia is also planning to implement a ban, the Associated Press reports. The citys mayor has already banned travel to North Carolina who implemented a similar legislation. The travel bans were all issued on Tuesday following Governor Phil Bryants decision to sign House Bill 1523, legislation that allows businesses to turn away same-sex couples or transgender people. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo condemned the bill as a sad, hateful injustice against LGBT community. Discrimination is not a New York value. We believe our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will continue to reject the politics of division and exclusion, Governor Cuomo said in a statement. This Mississippi law is a sad, hateful injustice against the LGBT community, and I will not allow any non-essential official travel to that state until it is repealed. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} PayPal will not move forward with planned expansion in Charlotte, North Carolina following the passage of a widely condemned anti-LGBT law. Dan Schulman, president and CEO of PayPal, issued a statement on Tuesday saying that his company previously announced plans to open a new global operations center in the state and hire more than 400 employees. "In the short time since then, legislation has been abruptly enacted by the State of North Carolina that invalidates protections of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens and denies these members of our community equal rights under the law," Schulman wrote. "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPal's mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte. North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory did not immediately respond to The Independent's request for comment. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Inside Washington email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The voters of Wisconsin like to think of themselves on being particularly informed and engaged about Americas politics. On Tuesday, they handed a huge win to Ted Cruz - reenergising his campaign and raising fresh questions about the chances of Donald Trump securing the Republican nomination. They also delivered a handsome victory to Bernie Sanders. Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry, Mr Cruz said in a victory speech delivered in the city of Milwaukee. We have a choice. A real choice. Mr Cruz vowed that he would beat Mr Trump - and then the Democrats (AP) He added: Hillary get ready, here we come.God bless you. It was always likely that Mr Cruz was going to win Wisconsin, which has a large number of churchgoers and a population more highly educated than many states. Polls had suggested he would beat Mr Trump by between seven to ten points. Yet the scale of his win was such that at least three major US broadcasters were in a position to call the victory for the Texas senator within moments of polls closing at 9pm. 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 With a little under half of the precincts having returned their results, Mr Cruz was on 52 per cent, Mr Trump on 31 and Ohio Governor John Kasich on around 15. The victory will have been particularly sweet for Mr Cruz, who entered the Wisconsin primary trailing more than 200 delegates behind Mr Trump. Mr Cruz was predicted to win at least 30 of the states 42 Republican delegates, which were distributed on a proportional basis. Over the last two week, Mr Cruz has fought off repeated attacks from Mr Trump who has consistently accused him of being a liar. He was also required to dismiss a supermarket tabloid claim - which he blamed on Mr Trump - of having had five illicit affairs. Mr Trump also retweeted an unflattering photograph of Mr Cruzs wife, Heidi. For Mr Trump, meanwhile, Wisconsin on Tuesday marked another bad day for the New York tycoon after two very bad weeks of stumbles and missteps. The billionaire has stood by his campaign manager, even after he was charged with physically assaulting a female reporter. He then told an interviewer that if abortion were to become illegal in the US, any woman having such a procedure would be punished. He struggled to correct his position and many commentators said they believed the self-inflicted blows may have lethally injured him. Mr Trump did not appear on Tuesday night. His campaign issued a statement that said: "Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet - he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses, attempting to steal the nomination from Mr Trump." What seems ever more likely is the Republicans will gather for their convention this summer in Cleveland, without any candidate having secured sufficient delegates to win the nomination. The last time this happened was in 1976. Mr Sanders has won six of the last seven contests (EPA) For Mr Tump to win, he would need to secure 60 per cent of the remaining Republican delegates, while Mr Cruz would need to win 80 per cent. It is mathematically impossible for Mr Kasich to win enough delegates prior to the convention in Cleveland. That means that a contested, or brokered, convention is likely to play out. A large number of powerful Republicans are determined to use the convention to nominate a non-Trump candidate. Mr Sanders was also smiling on Tuesday night, which represented his sixth win out of the last seven contests. He had gone into the contest with polls suggesting he would beat Ms Clinton around two or three points. As it was, with around half of precincts having reported, the Vermont senator was leading the former secretary of state by 54-45. Donald Trump: What are his actual policies? The states 86 Democratic delegates are awarded on a proportional basis, and the former Burlington needs as many as he can get. Ms Clinton went into the primary leading him 1,271 to 1,024 in pledged delegates. Her lead is even greater when so-called super-delegates are included. Mr Sanders spoke to his supporters on Laramie, Wyoming, which is holding its primary contest on Saturday. I dont know if anyone knows as there arent any TVs, but weve just been projected by all the networks as the winner in Wisconsin, he said, to huge roars. Sign up to our Evening Headlines email for your daily guide to the latest news Sign up to our free US Evening Headlines email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Evening Headlines email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The United States was named a global leader in number of state executions carried out last year, led only by Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, a new Amnesty International report shows. In the annual Death Sentences and Executions report, released Wednesday, Amnesty International found that the US carried out 28 executions, the fourth highest 2015 figure. The US remains the only country in the Americas region to carry out the death penalty for the seventh consecutive year. Additionally, the US remains the only country of the Organization of American States and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe to carry out executions in 2015. The report brings into question the legality of some US executions, especially as they pertain to people with mental and intellectual disabilities. The USA continued to use the death penalty in ways that contravene international law and standards, the report says, citing the 27 January execution of Warren Hill, a Georgia man with an intellectual disability. Recommended Read more Florida death penalty in legal limbo after US Supreme Court ruling Texas led the US states with 13 executions out of 28 in 2015, but California led in number of new death sentences with 15. (Texas only sentenced 2 to death last year.) Still, 2,851 people remain under sentence of death in the US, according to Amnesty International's findings. Only 18 of the 50 US states have abolished the death penalty, five of which did so since 2007. According to the report, global executions rose by 54 per cent, with 1,634 carried out the most recorded by Amnesty International. Eighty-nine per cent of executions in 2015 were carried out in three countries: Iran, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. Global death penalty figures excluded China, whose death penalty figures are classified as state secrets. The human rights organization considers China to be the world's top executioner. Amnesty Internationals figures on the use of the death penalty are minimum figures, the report says. The true figures are likely to be higher. However, the report adds that a total of four countries Madagascar, Fiji, Suriname, and the Republic of Congo abolished the death penalty for all crimes in 2015, adding to the global trend towards abolition. "Today the majority of the worlds countries are fully abolitionist, and dozens more have not implemented death sentences for more than a decade, or have given clear indications that they are moving towards full abolition," the report reads. "The starkly opposing developments that mark 2015 underscore the extent to which the countries that use the death penalty are becoming the isolated minority." For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Here in a city that has defined Pakistan's struggle against Islamist extremism, thousands of people have been killed or injured in terrorist attacks. But now, if asked their greatest fear, many residents cite one of the world's other menaces: rats. Over the past year, according to Peshawar's mayor, eight children have been killed by rats. At night, rodents spill out of the city's crude sewer system, chewing through doors and walls, feasting on food supplies and overrunning hospitals and schools. And these aren't ordinary rats, residents say. These creatures are big -- so big that residents swear they can't be native to the area. And that gives rise to yet more conspiracy theories in a country already prone to blaming its woes on outsiders. "They can be so big, like cats, and with two big sharp teeth in the front," said Muhammad Humayun, 38, who describes the size of the rats by stretching out his arm and pointing from his elbow to the tip of his fingers. Throughout history, tales of cat-size rats have repeatedly surfaced only to be debunked by scientists. The average body of a Norway rat in the West, they say, is six to eight inches long. But some rat species in Asia have been known to grow larger, creating some uncertainty about what sort of rodent is now rampaging through Peshawar. Still, the roots of Peshawar's rat problem appear obvious. More than 1 million people live packed together in poorly constructed houses in one of the oldest cities in South Asia. Uncovered sewage drains empty directly into streets or streams. Garbage is casually tossed onto sidewalks or vacant lots. Butchers slaughter cows and goats in store-front windows. And chicken and dairy farms can be found in the middle of densely populated neighborhoods. It seems like the makings of a rat paradise, yet residents are mystified as to why they are now being terrorized by one of human civilization's most persistent foes. Some say the problem began after a series of floods in 2010 and 2012 flushed rats from their nests in the mountains near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. A man walks near holes on the bank of a canal that a resident said are the living places of rats in the city of Peshawar. Others believe the rats were bred on U.S. military bases in Afghanistan and brought to Peshawar in the trucks that are withdrawing coalition supplies on Pakistani highways. One theory is that super-size rats came in the luggage of refugees fleeing a military operation in Pakistan's tribal belt, where rumors of huge rodents have persisted for centuries. There have been allegations that the rats were genetically modified by a foreign power and left here to terrorize Muslims. Whatever the case, Peshawar is now locked in yet another war. Last week, amid an outcry from lawmakers and residents, Mayor Muhammad Asim announced a three-pronged strategy to treat rats in the same manner the city combats "the hideouts of militants." To win the battle, Asim has created a new team of 30 municipal workers who will be spreading rat poison throughout the city each night. Free rat poison was made available to residents. Naseer Ahmad (left) is waging a dogged battle against the rats of Peshawar (Getty Images) Peshawar has also set a bounty on rats, promising 25 rupees (about 25 cents) for each dead rodent. "People are afraid," Asim said. "They say these are not your normal rats. . . . They will eat your food. They eat your clothes, and they eat your papers." As residents of Washington and other U.S. cities can attest, this sounds like typical rat behavior. But reports that rats have killed eight children and injured numerous others in Peshawar have escalated the crisis. Asim said one infant recently bled to death from rat bites to the face. Asker Pervaiz, a member of the local provincial assembly, said a 3-month-old baby died after a rat bit off part of an ear. Some Peshawar officials are skeptical, noting that few of the deaths have been confirmed by a doctor or mortician. "If a rat bites a baby, there is usually no medical evidence whether it's a rat, a flea, a snake or mosquito," said Taminur Ahmed Shah, a spokesman for the Peshawar Water and Sanitation Services, who blames Pakistan's media for hyping the extent of the problem. But Noor Qadir, 33, has no doubt Peshawar's rats are turning into killers. Qadir was sleeping in his house -- located next to a brackish stream and a flour mill -- on March 22 when his 8-month-old baby began crying. "I woke up to his screams and saw the rat was in bed with him," Qadir said. "The rat jumped out of the bed, and I killed the rat, and there was blood and teeth marks on his face." Qadir's baby survived, but wounds from nine razorlike incisions remain visible under the child's eye. Now, like many of his neighbors, Qadir stays awake at night dreading a return visit. "I put my slipper in the space under the door, but half the slipper was eaten by the rat," he said. As with Pakistan's sputtering war against human terrorists, there are already signs that Peshawar's struggle against rats will be hampered by poor planning and a lack of commitment. On Friday night, the new rat eradication team collected 500 rat carcasses after it left poisoned bread in three neighborhoods. On Saturday evening, however, the team decided to take a night off because rain was forecast. Peshawar officials temporarily suspended the reward program over the weekend because they were caught off-guard by how many people showed up with dead rats -- and demanding payment. Peshawar does have one crucial asset, however. The city's eradication effort is led by Naseer Ahmad, a local celebrity nicknamed the Rat Killer. After the wife of one of his friends was bitten by a rat seven years ago, Ahmad took it upon himself to start killing the animals for sport. Using his own special mix of poison -- the same toxic brew Peshawar is now using in its citywide campaign -- Ahmad has killed 103,050 rats over the past seven years, he says. He, too, believes the rats in Peshawar are getting bigger and meaner because of mysterious circumstances. "Based on my experience, this is not a local rat. This is something different," said Ahmad, adding that he recently started finding rats with coin-size testicles. "They are now not even afraid of kids, and kids can't fight them." Peshawar's strategy for killing rats, however, rests on children doing exactly that -- motivated by the reward program, which is set to resume. "If everything else fails, the 25 rupee incentive won't fail," Asim, the mayor, said. "A lot of children are already scavengers who pick up paper and plastic" for money, he added, in what is one of Pakistan's poorest cities. "Now, they can be working to kill the rats." Copyright Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} France has made paying for sex a crime a radical change of approach in a country where brothels were once legal. Prostitutes pressure groups are divided about the new law. Some welcome the fact that, in future, the clients not the sex-workers will be treated as delinquents. Other prostitutes demonstrated outside the National Assembly, complaining that they will be forced to work in even greater secrecy and that they will lose their more respectable and non-violent customers. We will simply face more poverty, more violence and more stigmatisation, said Morgane Merteuil, spokeswoman for Strass, one of several sex-workers unions in France. The lower house of the French parliament approved the new law at its fourth reading after a three year battle with the upper house or Senat. In future, anyone who is proved to have paid for sex will face a 1,500 fine, rising to 3,750 for a second offence. The law also provides financial support for prostitutes who want to create new lives. It will permit foreign sex-workers to remain legally in France, so long as they abandon prostitution. In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester (R) holds a sign reading 'Prostitutes with fists raised against the penalisation of clients!' during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester wears a hat rimmed with red roses during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Sex workers hold signs during a protest against new bill against prostitution and sex trafficking In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Transgender sex workers protest against a parliamentary vote to enforce the penalisation of solicitation, near the Assemblee Nationale (French parliament) in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris A protester wears a mask during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters wear masks during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris, as French lawmakers take part in a final debate on a bill that would make it illegal to pay for sex. French lawmakers were poised on April 6 to pass a controversial law that makes it illegal to pay for sex and imposes fines of up to 3,500 euros ($3,970) on prostitutes' clients In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters hold up their fists and chant slogans during a demonstration by sex workers and supporters near the French National Assembly in Paris In pictures: Sex workers protest in Paris Protesters hold a banner reading 'Don't liberate me, I'll take care of it myself!' A law passed in 2003 which criminalised passive street soliciting - in other words wearing skimpy or provocative clothes - was repealed. The estimated 40,000 prostitutes in France, eight out of ten from Africa, Asia or eastern Europe, can now offer their services openly on French streets or on the internet but it will be illegal to approach them. This is the latest in a series of attempts to regulate prostitution in France since licenced brothels or maison closes were abolished in 1946. France becomes, after Sweden, Norway and Iceland, the fourth country in Europe to transfer punishment to the client. The Socialist deputy who first proposed the law in 2013, Maude Olivier, said the penalisation of customers would reduce demand and allow prostitutes to be considered as victims and not offenders. The health minister, Marisol Touraine, said it would force men to think about what they do and the way they behave. Gregoire Thery of the prostitutes support group, Mouvement du Nid, said the law would finally end the impunity of clients. Three previous attempts to push through the new law were rejected by the centre-right dominated upper house of the French parliament. The Senat has now exhausted its constitutional rights of amendment and delay. The previous French laws on prostitution were similar to those in Britain and enforced equally patchily. It was illegal to run a brothel or to be a pimp or to solicit in public. It was not actually illegal to sell your body or to buy one. Under the new law, pimping and brothels remain illegal. It is legal to offer your body for sale but illegal for someone to buy it. Police unions have campaigned against the changed approach.They say it will be difficult to enforce because financial transactions between prostitute and client will be difficult to prove. The clients fear of punishment or publicity will nonetheless force prostitution further underground, police say. This will make action against the international prostitution networks, a 2bn a year industry in Europe, even tougher. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The German Interior Minister has said Italys access to the important Brenner Pass may be compromised in a warning to the country to refrain from sending migrants and refugees towards the north of Europe. Thomas de Maiziere said Rome could not simply guide people north to Austria and Germany as it had done so in the past, and added: Italy cannot depend on Brenner always staying open. He said Italy could face restrictions on traffic along Brenner - an important passage for goods travelling from the country to Austria and other nations in the north of Europe. In preparation for the arrival of more migrants and refugees who have travelled from countries in north Africa such a Libya, across the Mediterranean to Italy, Austria has previously said tighter border controls may be needed at the crossing between the two countries. Some people then use Austria as a way of reaching Germany. Depending on the number of people attempting to reach Austria, border control methods could include vehicle checks and barriers for crowd control. On Sunday, the Brenner Pass was the scene of a clash between Austrian police and protestors demonstrating against the closure of the border. As the peaceful march neared an end, some protestors attempted to break through a line of police in riot gear. But speaking about the possibility of tighter border controls to ORF television while in Austria on Tuesday, Mr de Maiziere said: We hope that it will not have to be necessary to decide on such matters. That is assuming that the number coming to Italy are not too high. That is assuming that Italy fulfils its obligations. Additional reporting by Reuters For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Iceland's right-wing coalition government has named Agriculture Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johanssonn as new prime minister, a day after his predecessor was forced to step down following the Panama Papers scandal. The Progressive Party and the Independence Party agreed during talks on Wednesday to hand the prime minister post to 53-year-old Mr Johannssonn, replacing Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Progressive Party MP Hoskuldur Thorhallsson told reporters. The appointment comes after Mr Gunnlaugsson said he has not resigned but simply stepped aside for a period of time after the leak of the Panama Papers, according to a press release from his office. The so-called Panama Papers from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, reportedly show that Mr Gunnlaugsson and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir had an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands to allegedly shield investments worth millions, sparking wide-spread protests in the country. The shell company, Wintris, was set up in 2007, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which published the papers. But it was not declared when Mr Gunnlaugsson entered parliament two years later. The statement from Mr Gunnlaugsson had suggested that the vice-chairman of the Progressive Party should take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time. The Prime Minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Progressive Party, it said. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The Prime Minister of Iceland has said he has not resigned but has simply stepped aside for a period of time, according to a press release from his office. It comes after the leak of the Panama Papers from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which reportedly show that Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir had an offshore firm in the British Virgin Islands to allegedly shield investments worth millions. The shell company, Wintris, was set up in 2007, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which published the papers. But it was not declared when Mr Gunnlaugsson entered parliament two years later. On Tuesday - two days after the papers were leaked - it was initially thought the Prime Minister had resigned. But this was later contradicted by a statement from his press secretary. The statement said Mr Gunnlaugsson had suggested that the vice-chairman of the Progressive Party should take over the office of Prime Minister for an unspecified amount of time. The Prime Minister has not resigned and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Progressive Party, it said. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, the President of Iceland, has not yet confirmed any changes to the leadership. What are The Panama Papers? On Tuesday, Mr Gunnlaugsson asked the President to dissolve parliament and call an early election. But the request was rejected by Mr Grimsson who said he first wanted to consult leaders of the ruling coalitions Independence Party. The Prime Minister has denied any wrongdoing and says he sold his shares in Wintris to his wife. He said he had paid his taxes and did nothing illegal regarding his offshore holdings. The Prime Minister also said his financial holdings did not affect his negotiations with Icelands creditors during the countrys 2008 economic crash. But the opposition said the holdings amounted to a major conflict of interest with his job. Wintris reportedly had $4 million in the bonds of three banks in Iceland which failed in the crisis, according to the ICIJ. Some protestors, who suffered in austerity during the economic crash, gathered outside parliament to express their dissatisfaction with the lack of a clear resolution. Store manager Elfar Petursson said: Im here because the government still hasnt resigned. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here The Panama Papers, published on Sunday, consist of more than 11 million documents and name a number of current and former world leaders who allegedly used the services of Mossack Fonseca. There is no indication that any of the named individuals have done anything illegal. Additional reporting by PA For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Jean-Marie Le Pen has been fined 30,000 (24,000) after being convicted of denying crimes against humanity. The former French far-right leader was fined in a court in Paris on Wednesday for repeating remarks he made about the Holocaust. The 87-year-old had called the Nazi gas chambers a detail of World War II. He was convicted of the same offence in 2012 because he said the Nazi occupation of France was not particularly inhumane. Regarding his most recent offence, during a television interview in April 2015 Le Pen said: "Gas chambers were a detail of the war, unless we accept that the war is a detail of the gas chambers." He made similar remarks in 1987. Le Pen founded the Front National (FN) party in 1972 and was leader until 2011. But he was expelled in 2015 by his daughter because of his comments about the Holocaust and extreme beliefs. Marine Le Pen has been leader of the FN party since 2011. Additional reporting by AP For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The European Union has unveiled plans to overhaul its asylum system in an attempt to address the chaotic influx of refugees through a centrally-managed claims mechanism. In a policy paper the European Commission set out two reform options, including one that rips up the principle that northern EU countries such as Britain can deport asylum seekers to their port of first entry. The other would leave the system staying largely as it is but with an emergency clause to allow a country faced with a sudden influx to share out refugees. The first option is likely to be seized upon by groups campaigning to pull Britain out of the EU. They have already claimed that the Commission has plans to rip-up the so-called Dublin Regulation but have suggested they are delaying the move until after Junes referendum on Britains EU membership. This report makes for alarming reading, said the Tory Brexit supporting minister Priti Patel. It's clearer than ever that we need to take back control of how we manage our immigration and asylum policy. But Downing Street insisted that it had lobbied hard and succeeded in attempts to preserve the rules that has allowed Britain to send 12,000 migrants to EU countries since 2003. Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Show all 11 1 /11 Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey's two million Syrian refugees There are already over 2.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, but their current camps can only hold 200,000 people ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish citizens protest a new deal, also criticised by human rights activists, which will see refugees who arrived in Greece after March 20 be sent back to Turkey AP Photo/Emre Tazegu Turkey's two million Syrian refugees An estimated 80% of Syrian refugee children already in Turkey are unable to attend school BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Refugee children beg for water near the Turkey-Syria border. Turkey has been accused of illegally deporting asylum-seekers back to Syria BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees In Turkey, no-one from outside Europe is legally recognised as a refugee, meaning the 2016 deportations may not meet international legal standards for protecting vulnerable people BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A refugee child cries as she is searched by police at the Syria-Turkey border, where 16 refugees (including three children) have been shot dead in the last four months BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Many refugees are living rough on the streets of cities such as Istanbul or Ankara (pictured) ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkish soldiers use water cannon on Syrian refugees BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Syrian refugees shelter from rain in the streets of Istanbul BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees A derelict building housing Syrian refugees in Istanbul Carl Court/Getty Images Turkey's two million Syrian refugees Turkey houses around half of all the refugees who have currently fled Syria Carl Court/Getty Images After intense lobbying, it is clear that the existing approach under the Dublin system remains on the table and the Commission will demonstrate that it is likely to preserve the current arrangements for the first EU member state of arrival being responsible for an asylum claim, said a Government spokesperson. The proposals come in the wake of last years wave of more than a million refugees into Europe, mainly from war-torn regions like Syria. Most of them landed on unguarded beaches in Greece and Italy, where overwhelmed officials were unable to process their claims, eventually letting them continue their journey unchecked towards richer northern European countries like Germany and Sweden. "The current system is not working, Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said, pointing out that different national approaches had fuelled asylum shopping and irregular migration. We need a sustainable system for the future, based on common rules, a fairer sharing of responsibility, and safe legal channels for those who need protection to get it in the EU." The Commission suggested two paths to reforming the rules. The first would reshape the system, with all asylum seekers being shared out across the EU on a quota basis, regardless of where they first arrived. The quotas would be assigned according to a distribution key taking into account the countrys size, wealth and capacity to absorb them. Amid deportations, refugees scramble to reach Europe This is what both frontline states Greece and Italy want, as well as the main recipients, Germany and Sweden. But it is fiercely opposed by eastern European countries, who have resisted efforts for them to take in a greater share of refugees. The other option would be less drastic, tweaking the existing Dublin rules, but still sharing out asylum seekers on a quota basis through a corrective fairness mechanism" if a country is overwhelmed by a sudden influx. Recommended Read more We cannot look the other way as child refugees go missing Mr Timmermans said he hoped the European Parliament and EU governments would agree on a legislative proposal for changing the rules before the summer. In the long term, he suggested that the European Asylum Support Office could be tasked with processing asylum claims, setting up a "single and centralised decision-making process," harmonising procedures and ensuring a "fair sharing of responsibility. Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope said he still backed the Dublin rules, but accepted that the countries on the frontline needed help to cope with processing. "The Dublin system stopped working because countries stopped applying the rules, he said. "Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel we need the system that we have in place to work more effectively. Amnesty International said the asylum reforms had to lead to a fairer distribution and better conditions for refugees. Persevering with a system that has stranded 50,000 refugees in Greece in dire conditions is nothing short of madness, said John Dalhuisen, Amnestys Director for Europe and Central Asia. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It's widespread practice for schoolchildren in Switzerland to shake the hands of their teacher at the beginning and end of each day. Now, one school's decision to exempt two children from this tradition -- because the children are Muslim and their teacher is a woman -- has caused a storm of controversy across the European state. The two pupils at the school in the town of Therwil, near Basel, had requested an exemption from shaking a female teacher's hand, citing their belief that it would go against Islamic teachings. The local school district later came up with what they felt was an acceptable compromise that could avoid discrimination: The pupils, who are aged 14 and 15, would not be required to shake any teacher's' hands, whether they were male or female. However, the plan hit a hitch when the Schweiz am Sonntag reported on it, sparking a public debate about the compromise. "We cannot accept this in the name of religious freedom," Swiss Justice Minister Simonetta Sommaruga said in an interview with Swiss-German broadcaster SRF. "The handshake is part of our culture." Others agreed. "Today's it's the handshake and what will it be tomorrow?" Felix Mueri, a member of the anti-immigration Swiss People's Party and head of the Swiss parliament's education commission, said in an interview with the 20 Minuten news site. Both the Swiss Teacher's Union and the local Therwil council have also come out against the plan. However, the school itself has defended the decision, despite the controversy. "They are no longer allowed to shake the hand of any teacher, male or female," headmaster Jurg Lauener told SRF, "For us, that addresses the question of discrimination." Authorities in the local Basel-Country canton could overturn the decision, but have not done so, with canton education chief Monica Gschwind suggesting to reporters that it was a temporary and "pragmatic" measure. The situation is the latest controversy over the integration of Islam into Swiss society, where Muslims are thought to make up around 5 percent of the population. In 2009, Swiss voters banned the construction of minarets and last year the canton of Ticino passed a law that made the wearing of a burqa in public punishable by a $10,000 fine. The Swiss Muslim community has largely suggested that the boys are misinterpreting Islamic teachings with their refusal to shake their teachers hands. "[To] the students and parents I would suggest to the following reflection: Can the denial of shaking hands be more important than the Islamic commandment of mutual respect?" Dr. Montassar Ben Mrad, president of Federation of Islamic Organizations in Switzerland, said in the statement. However, another group suggested that the backlash to the boys was overblown. "One would think that the continued existence of Switzerland's core values was at stake, when this particular case in fact involves just two high school students who have said they wish to greet their teacher in a different way than with a handshake," a statement from the Islamic Central Council of Switzerland said. Copyright Washington Post For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Relatives of the Syrian archaeologist who died rather than tell Isis where the ancient city of Palmyra's treasures were hidden have described his final moments and how they were forced to flee the city. Before his death, Khaled al-Asaad, 81, who was chief of the Unesco world heritage site, had been dubbed "Mr Palmyra" in recognition of his work on the 2,000-year-old buildings and works of art in the city. When Isis took control of the area, they tried to force him to reveal the locations of valuable antiquities. The main reason behind the execution of my father was that he refused to tell Isis about the locations of monuments that were still uncovered, his son Mohamed said in an interview with The Times. The news hit me like a thunderbolt. They took him to the main square of the city and beheaded him in front of people. "Whoever tried to leave was killed as well. Our father was a man who served his city and country for decades. His murder was ugly and shameful. Mohamed added that his family only learned that Mr Asaad was dead when they read a propaganda post about the execution online. Fearing for their own lives, the family abandoned the city, unable to collect Mr Asaad's body. It was hung from traffic lights, with his severed head placed below. A sign tied around his midriff described Mr Asaad as a "directory of idolatory" and an "apostate". In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra Show all 4 1 /4 In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra The iconic Temple of Bel prior to being blown up by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in September 2015 and the remains of the temple after Syrian troops recaptured the ancient site In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra he Arc de Troimphe (Triumph's Arc) prior to being destroyed by Islamic State (IS) group jihadists in October 2015 and the remains of the iconic structure after government troops recaptured the ancient city In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra The once vibrant museum is now full of empty displays after the destruction of artefacts In Pictures: Isis loses control of Palmyra Corbis The Monumental Arch is among the many lost structures and treasures Corbis Mr Asaad was born in the area in 1934. He studied history at Damascus University, but as an archaelogist he was entirely self-taught. He devoted four decades to the excavation and preservation of ruins in Palmyra, before retiring in 2003. Another son, Walid, took over his role at the Unesco site. Mohamed al-Asaad added that Walid, like his father, had been questioned over the location of "gold and treasures" in the city known as the "Pearl of the Desert". Stolen artefacts and "treasure" are an important source of revenue for the Islamist militants, particularly since the US started bombing Isis-controlled oil fields. But they also destroyed several historic remains. The Temple of Bel was a Mesopotamian place of worship, considered one of the best-preserved ruins in the region, while parts of the Temple of Baalshamin were up to 2,200 years old. The Arch of Triumph was a secular structure dating from the same era. Isis consider the preservation of non-Islamic relics and places of worship to be heretical, and destroyed all three of these monuments, in whole or in part. For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Breaking News email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} The number of executions carried out worldwide reached a 25-year high last year due to a dramatic rise in the number of people being put to death in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, according to new research. At least 1,634 people were executed in 2015, a rise of 54 per cent on the year before, Amnesty Internationals annual global review of the death penalty found. It is the highest total recorded by the charity since 1989 and does not include figures from China, where thousands of people are likely to have been executed in secret. The surge in deaths, which Amnesty described as profoundly disturbing, was largely driven by a ramping up of executions in Iran, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Iran killed at least 977 people in 2015, the vast majority for drug-related crimes, a rise of almost a third on the previous year. At least four of those killed were under 18 when they committed their alleged crimes. In Pakistan, the lifting of a moratorium on civilian executions in December 2014 resulted in more than 320 people being killed in 2015. In Saudi Arabia, the only country in the world to carry out the death penalty by beheading, at least 158 people were executed. The execution rate has shown no sign of slowing in 2016. Last week, The Independent revealed that Saudi Arabia has already executed 82 people this year following the mass killing of 47 people in January, meaning that it is on course to behead twice as many prisoners as it did in 2015. Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Show all 10 1 /10 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 1. China (1000+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 2. Iran (289+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 3. Saudi Arabia (90+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 4. Iraq (61+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 5. USA (35+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 6. Sudan (23+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 7. Yemen (22+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 8. Egypt (15+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 9. Somalia (14+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 10. Jordan (11+) Getty The rise in executions last year is profoundly disturbing, said Amnesty Internationals Secretary General Salil Shetty. Not for the last 25 years have so many people been put to death by states around the world. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials. This slaughter must end. The UK Government has been criticised for maintaining close relationships with countries such as Saudi Arabia which continue to make use of the death penalty, and MPs on the Foreign Affairs Committee said recent statements from ministers had led to a perception that promoting human rights was no longer a priority. Now more than ever, Britain needs to be speaking out against the grave abuses including mass trials, torture and death sentences handed down to juveniles and political protesters being committed by its allies, said Maya Foa, director of the death penalty team at the charity Reprieve. Baroness Anelay, the Human Rights Minister, said she was deeply troubled by Amnestys report. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we make our opposition well known at the highest levels to countries which continue to apply it. Our message to them is clear, the death penalty is unjust, outdated and ineffective, she added. Despite the spike in executions in 2015, four countries also abolished the death penalty: Fiji, Madagascar, Republic of Congo and Suriname. The development means that for the first time, a majority of the worlds countries do not execute people. Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Nadine White Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter The Race Report Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the The Race Report email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Student protesters in the US who are staging a sit-in in part of a university building over allegations of racism among staff leaders have entered their fifth day of occupation. Nine students have been camping out in the main administrative building at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, since Friday, more than a month after the student newspaper, The Chronicle, published an online investigative article. In the article, the paper reported on how Dukes executive vice president, Tallman Trask, allegedly hit black parking attendant, Shelvia Underwood, with his car in August 2014. Recommended Read more Black student filmed harassing white student over his dreadlocks According to ABC News, in a lawsuit filed last month by Underwood, she has also accused Trask of using a racial slur against her as he drove off. Despite The Chronicle reporting in its original article that Trask said he did not intentionally hit the parking attendant, he has always denied using any racial slur, calling the latter a complete fabrication. In a petition urging the university community to boycott the university, the demonstrators - who call themselves Duke Students and Workers in Solidarity - attached a statement demanding accountability and justice for black and brown workers. The statement added: The administration has remained unapologetic and silent on the universitys racist abuse. Yet, it has threatened peaceful student occupiers with arrests and disciplinary action, including suspension and expulsion. The protesters have also said they refuse to leave the building until a list of demands have been met by the universitys administration. Urging Duke University to dismantle its history of plantation politics and take immediate action to address systemic discrimination and abuse, the demands include the immediate termination, without compensation, of Trask and two other members of administration, that Trask issue a public apology to Ms Underwood, and for Trask to pay full legal and medical reparations to the attendant also. Other demands include transparency and community input in the recruitment and selection process for Duke administrators, as well as for the minimum wage for Duke employees and subcontracted workers to be raised to $15 (10.61) an hour. Addressing the issue in a statement of its own on Monday, though, the university described how the Duke administration has worked very hard with the occupiers to enable productive discussions, including providing amnesty to all nine and offering solutions to several of their demands. The university added how the students have, so far, met with the institutions president, provost, vice president for student affairs, associate vice president for student affairs, dean and vice provost, as well as faculty leaders. The top 10 universities in the world Show all 10 1 /10 The top 10 universities in the world The top 10 universities in the world 1. California Institute of Technology The top 10 universities in the world 2. University of Oxford The top 10 universities in the world 3. Stanford University The top 10 universities in the world 4. University of Cambridge The top 10 universities in the world 5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology The top 10 universities in the world 6. Harvard University The top 10 universities in the world 7. Princeton University The top 10 universities in the world 8. Imperial College London The top 10 universities in the world 9. ETH Zurich Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich The top 10 universities in the world 10. University of Chicago The institution added: The negotiations have continued Monday and it has become clear that reaching agreement on all the remaining demands will require far more extensive conversation, likely to include other members of the Duke community. Closing the building while these negotiations go on has presented a significant disruption to students, faculty, staff, and visitors, and cannot continue indefinitely. As a result, the university will only continue negotiations after the nine students voluntarily leave. The university concluded that it is committed to completing these negotiations and reaching a mutually agreeable resolution in a peaceful and productive way. Addressing the allegations that have been made against him, Trask also issued a statement of his own through the university on Monday about his interaction with Underwood on the day the incident is alleged to have taken place, something he said has been a subject of much recent discussion. The executive vice president continued: While the details of what happened are a matter of disagreement and subject of civil litigation, I recognise my conduct fell short of the civility and respectful conduct each member of this community owes to every other. I express my apology to Ms Underwood, and to this community, and re-commit myself to ensuring that these values are upheld for all. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for weekly expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the Simon Calders Travel email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Valparaiso is like a paint box whose colours have been tipped out and splashed down its steep hills. In the 19th century the population of the Chilean port grew so fast that there were no street names, let alone house numbers, so the new homes were painted in shades of red, green, yellow and blue for identification. The houses, many built from the corrugated iron that ships would use as ballast, the steep steps, the cobbled streets and creaking funiculars would be enough to justify the historic quarter's status as a Unesco World Heritage Site, but this ampitheatre of colour is made all the more vivid by that most problematic of art forms - graffiti. These are not the ugly scrawls on the sides of trains but cleverly executed works that decorate otherwise ragged walls, doorways, shutters, the entire sides of high rise blocks, with a bravura that can be satirical, funny, angry, sexy and pop-art quirky. To get to know the city and its distinctive graffiti I took a Valpo Street Art Tour (valpostreetart.com; free two-hour group tours; three-hour private tours US$30pp/21) from the Plaza Anibal Pinto, where the guide explained that most of the artists enjoy celebrity status here. There is a hierarchy, from tags labels for artists whose scribbles are little more than vandalism to the crews such as Vomito, which can involve as many as 25 people working together to create fantastical scenes. I was taken to the Museo de Cielo Abierto (The Museum of Open Sky), a concentration of streets on the Cerro (hill) Bellavista, where street art began between 1969 to 1973 when students, arguing that art should be available to all, painted 20 huge murals. Many were removed under the dictatorship of Auguste Pinochet (1973- 1998). Street art at Museo de Cielo Abierto (Municipalidad de Valparaiso) Every wall tells a story. The steps too; I climbed several lined with mosaics and peopled by surreal characters at every corner on the way to the hilltop cemeteries. From there I could see the austere lines of La Ex Carcel, in the Parque Cultural. Once a prison for Pinochets opponents, the building is now a cultural centre, used for art, dance and music. I then moved on to St Pauls Anglican Church on Almirante Montt to listen to an organ recital (Sundays only) before taking the dizzyingly embellished - and dizzyingly steep - steps down and up again to the elegantly restored Baburizza Palace, once the home of a wealthy Croatian saltpetre trader and now the Museum of Fine Arts. Paintings in frames? Whatever next. UNPACK Casa Higueras (00 56 32 249 7900; casahigueras.cl) in Cerro Alegre, one of Valparaisos smartest areas, is all atmospheric dark wood floors and panelling. It has a stylish restaurant, The Monte Alegre, a spa and a pool. Doubles from US$271 (194), including breakfast. Opened in January, the Hotel Boutique Cabernet (00 56 32 335 8514; hotelboutiquecabernet.cl), down the hill from Pablo Nerudas home (see Dont Miss, below), is a light, bright B&B with 12 bedrooms. As the name, and grape-inspired logo, suggests, its big on wine, with a wall of barrels at reception and a selection of wines served by the glass. Room-only doubles from 69,000 pesos (73). THINK LOCAL On Sundays in the Plaza OHiggins, a five-minute taxi ride north from the Cerro Alegre, in the heart of the Unesco district, a flea market sells everything from 1930s magazines to hats, lamps and chinaware. Theres an edginess about the streets here in this part of the city, but be brave and visit Worm (00 56 98 604 3423; wormgallery.tumblr.com), a ramshackle gallery that encourages unknown artists to be as radical as they dare this month, see works by US illustrator Nicholas Jenkin and video artist Lena Hiriartborde from France. EAT The Cinzano (00 56 32 221 3043; barcinzano.cl) in Plaza Anibal Pinto is a century-old institution whose walls are covered with sepia prints of old Valparaiso. It offers daunting mountains of meat - the parillada - and digestion is eased - or not - by a succession of venerable crooners who wow their delighted audience with a selection of Valpos greatest (oldest) hits. Cinzano restaurant (Municipalidad de Valparaiso) By contrast, Apice (00 56 95 708 9737; restaurantapice.cl) on Almirante Montt is coolly minimalist, with a chef who trained with Michelin-starred Frenchman Olivier Roellinger, producing dishes such as octopus with candied sweet pepper and rockfish with mustard emulsion. DRINK The Terremoto is a deceptive mix of pipeno - a sugary fermented wine - pineapple ice cream and a dash of Fernet Branca to blunt the sweetness. Try it with a shellfish empanada in the rambunctious Bar Liberty (Plaza Echuarren; 00 56 32 236 2249) where dockers and students gather. Beware: terremoto translates as earthquake. SPEND The British immigrants of the 19th century used mining technology to build ascensores (funiculars) to climb the citys hillsides, and seven of the original 26 or so are in use - little wooden boxes that lurch and squeal alarmingly. The cruise ship passengers use them to get to Cerro Concepcion and the souvenir stalls on Paseo Gervasoni and Galvez, but for more soigne options clamber further uphill to Lauturo Rosas, a pretty street with handsome houses in Cerro Alegre, for clothes boutiques such as Rosal Tienda, a photo gallery and a silver workshop. One of the city's funiculars (Municipalidad de Valparaiso) DONT MISS La Sebastiana (00 56 32 225 6606; bit.ly/NerudaHome), one of the three homes owned by Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda, is as quirky as the poet himself, who wrote: Valparaiso: how absurd you are ... you havent combed your hair, youve never had time to get dressed, life has always surprised you. High above the city, the house is like a collection of shambolic, unfinished lighthouses, largely unchanged since his death in 1973; the bar where he would dress in a barmans uniform to serve drinks, odd objects such as a fairground horse from Paris, the leather chair in which he wrote and held court, and a wash basin which was never connected to the mains. Take the 612 bus from Plaza Echaurren which rattles its way there on a mini-tour via the citys hill top roads. La Sebastiana (Municipalidad de Valparaiso) TRAVEL ESSENTIALS Getting there Richard Holledge flew from Heathrow to Sao Paulo in Brazil with British Airways (0844 493 0787; ba.com) and on to Santiago with TAM (tam.com.br). Taxis from here to Valapariso cost about 60. Journey Latin America (0208 747 8315; journeylatinamerica.co.uk) can tailor-make packages to Chile that feature Valparaiso. Visiting there Ecomapu Travel (00 56 32 228 0275; ecomapu.com) offers a range of walking tours, some free. More information chile.travel Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Why do rich people shift their money offshore? Why do companies create artificial overseas structures to do so? And do either think through the full implications and possible consequences of their actions when they make these decisions? The Panama tale is a multi-layered one, one more little cog on a great global legal and financial machine that has been created by the very governments that now condemn it. The public mood, in the UK as elsewhere, has understandably and rightly shifted sharply against this creation, and reining back its excesses will dominate the next decade. But progress will not be straight line, because sovereign countries compete for financial services, just as they compete in manufacturing, tourism and other investment. Indeed pressure on the fringe, say Panama, may end up pushing business more towards the centre, say Dublin. What will surely end will be artificiality, because what has been shifting over the past three or four years has been the risk/reward ratio. As far as individuals are concerned we have seen a prime minister, albeit of a rather small country, being toppled by the Panama papers. Fairly or unfairly (I happen to think unfairly) our own prime minister is damaged by them. But the bigger event this week was the effective block by the US Treasury of the proposed takeover by Pfizer of the much smaller pharmaceutical group Allergan. This would have had the effect of transferring the headquarters of Pfizer from high-tax US to low-tax Ireland, for though Allergan is run from New Jersey it has its legal domicile in Dublin. If large countries lean harder against artificial company structures that have been designed to cope with high corporate tax rates, expect competition to shift even further to the tax rates themselves. That is the UK strategy, and in the brutal world of trying to attract inward investment it looks like a pretty smart one. Recommended Read more How the global elite stopped you buying your own home It is easy to understand why companies should dart through legal loopholes to try to reduce their tax bill, even if they sometimes suffer reputational damage if these seem too artificial. You can see why they should want to move their headquarters too. It is harder to understand why individuals should risk their reputation by using complex schemes designed simply to cut their tax, particularly when they are well enough off for it not to make any difference to their standard of living. When, in the 1970s, the top tax rate on investment income reached 98 per cent, you could absolutely understand it. Equally you can understand families now wanting to respond to the many mainstream tax incentives on offer that cut their tax bill. But Panama? Perhaps the best way to think of this is a clash between legality and social convention. In a law-based society you obey the law, and Britain has moved more towards a law-based, or at least rule-based, society over the past 60 years. If you stray into a bus lane you are fined even if there is no bus in sight and you are not holding up any traffic. Convention has weakened. Indeed some of the conventions of the past have disappeared. (Look at the tone of the language of comments at the bottom of articles and compare that with readers letters in newspapers in the 1950s.) Panama Papers: Government to comply with investigations But now we are, I think, moving back towards convention becoming more important: what is socially acceptable in financial behaviour and what is not. As far as companies are concerned, look at the way Starbucks and Google, among other US companies, have been castigated for their tax affairs in the UK. They have had to respond to reputational damage by paying at least some tax. I suspect that from now on much the same will be happening in personal tax behaviour. People who have any aspiration to public life, or indeed to a prominent role in the private sector, will quite reasonably seek to minimise their tax payments but will equally reasonably want to make sure that whatever they do is seen to be socially acceptable. If you look back over British history there have been huge swings in what one generation deems appropriate and what the next one thinks is right. If the Panama fallout helps nudge us back towards a more convention-based society and less of a legalistic one, then many of us would I think welcome that. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Could the Governments handling of the steel crisis cost David Cameron his job? The question is being asked by politicians in Wales, who feel a backlash against the established parties and the EU as they campaign for next months Welsh Assembly elections. If Wales voted to leave the EU in the June referendum, that could tip the scales in favour of Brexit and Cameron would be calling the removal men to Downing Street much sooner than he would wish. Although he insists he would not resign if he loses, Conservative MPs cannot imagine they would allow the leader of the In campaign to lead the negotiations on our exit terms. They would want it done by an Outer. No wonder ministers want to keep Tata Steels Port Talbot plant alive until 23 June one unstated reason why Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, urged Tata bosses during his talks in Mumbai on Wednesday to allow more time for a buyer to be found. But the timetable is not under the Governments control. Opinion polls already point to a very close referendum. Now events in Wales could make life even harder for the Remain camp. There is real anger on the doorstep, said one Labour source in Wales. A lot of it is directed at the EU, as well as the Tories for their woeful response to Tatas announcement. A Liberal Democrat activist said: The EU and all the established parties are getting the blame. That is not surprising when campaigners for Brexit cynically exploit the steel crisis. Boris Johnson got big headlines this week by claiming that EU membership leaves us powerless to help the steel workers, citing rules limiting state aid and tariffs. We cant take emergency action against dumped Chinese steel, even with British industry on its knees, he argued. It is funny how free-marketeers who champion free trade deals come over all protectionist when it suits them. Superficially, the Leave campaigns message on steel is plausible. EU state aid rules could make it hard for the UK Government to ease the burden of Tatas pension fund on a new owner. The EU has been slow to act against Chinese imports. Brussels is a very convenient scapegoat across Europe. Mainstream parties lose support as those to their left and right play on the genuine grievances of people left behind by globalisation and the financial crisis. Recommended Read more How the global elite stopped you buying your own home But blaming the EU for what is happening in South Wales does not stack up. Although Tatas decision was brought to a head by losses of 1m a day, the company is also said to be worried about the prospect of Brexit. Why? More than half of Britains steel exports to go the EU. Brexit could mean crippling tariffs and the loss of EU-wide unfair competition measures against Chinese steel; 16 of the 37 currently in place cover Chinese products. Outside the EU, British steel could be hit by the same anti-dumping moves. We would not with one bound be free to bail it out: World Trade Organisation rules also limit state aid, as Switzerland and Norway have discovered. Stephen Kinnock, whose Aberavon constituency includes Port Talbot, is also a prominent figure in the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. He is trying to counter the Leave campaigns attack, insisting: The men and women working in the steel industry know that leaving Europe would be a killer blow for British steel. But it is an uphill struggle. Leave campaigners pump out leaflets about the EUs threat to steel jobs. The turmoil is a gift to Ukip, which was already set to make gains in the Welsh Assembly elections. It could now be the only party that advances next month bad news for Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru. Yet the biggest impact could be felt in the referendum seven weeks later. Liberty House saving Tata jobs Wales has always been regarded as pro-EU, and with reason. The latest House of Commons Library figures show that Wales gets 163 of EU funding per head per year in farm subsidies and aid to poor regions more than Scotlands 118. Wales and Northern Ireland are net beneficiaries from the EU, while England and Scotland pay in more in budget contributions than they get back. Although polls have normally shown a majority of Welsh people in favour of Remain, that could now turn upside down. Cameron has every incentive to preserve as many as possible of the 4,000 jobs in Port Talbot, because his own is on the line too. To make matters worse, the explosive Panama Papers, bound to reinforce the Tories image as the party of the rich, may encourage voters to give a kicking to the man heading the Remain campaign. Thats what disillusioned voters do in referendums and why it is so dangerous to call them. However unfairly, the Prime Minister has been caught up in the tax avoidance scandal; some mud sticks. As they fight for their jobs, the steelworkers campaign under the banner SOS Save Our Steel. They are not the only ones who need to send an SOS signal. Cameron does too. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} It was often said six years ago, when the Coalition government was formed, that it would be an embodiment of that patron saint of modern conservatives, Edmund Burke. Certainly, as a two-party administration, it had one of Burkes more practical maxims written in its DNA: All governmentis founded on compromise and barter. In other words, to be a good government, you have to be able to make good deals. With their Liberal partner jettisoned, some members of the Conservative cabinet seem have forgotten that. On two fronts, with the future of two British institutions at stake, urgent deal-making is needed. Britains steel industry is facing calamity if a buyer is not found to breathe new life into its furnaces and factories; and the NHS, already under financial strain, could suffer a mortal blow if a generation of junior doctors depart in despair over their new contracts. Neither of the two ministers responsible Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, for steel, and Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, for the NHS has shown themselves to be prepared for the scale of the crisis unfolding on their watch, nor in possession of the instinct for compromise that marks out true problem-solvers from mere seat-fillers. Mr Javid knew as well as anyone how precarious was the future of the British steel industry, well before the board of Tata decided, in Mumbai last week, to sell its UK business. Yet he decided that now would be as good a time as any to fly to Australia on official business, and to enjoy a short break while he was at it. Having cut short his trip, he did, belatedly, make an appearance in Mumbai yesterday. A prospective buyer has emerged in the shape of Sanjeev Gupta, the founder of the Liberty House commodities group. He wants some drastic concessions from Government, so reaching a good deal may take time. Mr Javid could buy himself some with a bold move push for a temporary nationalisation of the Tata plants. It would go against the ideological grain of this government, but then again, sometimes the person we have to compromise with to reach a solution is not some pushy buyer, but ourselves. As for Mr Hunt and the junior doctors, both sides have accused the other of lacking compromise. In fairness to the Health Secretary, he has in the past few months made concessions to improve what was a truly appalling contract offer to junior doctors last summer. But he was equally guilty of failing to predict how furiously a highly-motivated, highly-intelligent workforce would react to a contract offer that, when all the details are digested, essentially asks it to work more for the same amount of money. Junior doctors quickly realised that this contract, with its demands for more weekend working, but without a funding increase to back it up, was less about improving patient care as it was about cutting the cost of the NHS pay bill in the long-term. The British Medical Association deserves some of the blame for accepting cost-neutrality as the basis for negotiations in the first place, meaning that any possible deal would never wash with its members. But the potential consequences of this dispute are now so grave that blame games need to be abandoned. A generation of junior doctors is losing confidence in the Governments commitment to a safe, properly funded NHS. Rather than risk harming patients on under-staffed wards, they will vote with their feet. If this is to be avoided, Mr Hunt needs to swallow his pride, drop his threat to impose the contract, go to the Treasury, and say more money is needed. Then, we will see whether George Osborne has also learned the gift of compromise. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} What did the Panama Papers say about David Camerons father? Someone must have done Ctrl-F Ian Cameron on the 2.6 terabytes of leaked documents, and found what The Guardian had reported in 2012: that the Prime Ministers late father was a founding director of an investment company called Blairmore Holdings, registered in Panama. The leak of documents from Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm that included Blairmore Holdings among its clients, provided a little more information. Blairmore was actually based in the Bahamas, although its decisions may have been made by Ian Cameron and his associates in London. Richard Brooks, a Private Eye journalist and former HMRC tax inspector, said: If HMRC had seen the papers they would have had some very serious questions. The clear intention for Blairmore was to avoid becoming UK tax resident and the test for this, even in 2006, is the location of the central management and control. World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Show all 15 1 /15 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Petro Poroshenko President of Ukraine World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Ayad Allawi Allawi Iraqs Vice-President between 2014 and 2015, and the countrys interim prime minister from 2004 to 2005 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Salman bin Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman Al Saud King of Saudi Arabia World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan President of the United Arab Emirates, Emir of Abu Dhabi World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sigmundur Davi Gunnlaugsson Prime Minister of Iceland World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sergey Roldugin Close friend of Vladimir Putin World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani Emir of Qatar 1995-2013 World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Li Xiaolin Daughter of Li Peng, the former Premier of China (The current vice-president of state-owned power company China Datang Gorporation and former CEO of China Power International Development, she has been nicknamed Chinas Power Queen World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Rami Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hafez Makhlouf Cousin of Bashar Assad, the President of Syria World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Clive Khulubuse Zuma Nephew of Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Maryam Nawaz Sharif Safdar Daughter of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hasan Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Hussain Nawaz Sharif Son of Nawaz Sharif, prime minister of Pakistan World leaders linked to 'Panama Papers' Alaa Mubarak The eldest son of ousted former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Read more here On the other hand, many of Blairmores customers were not British, and it was legitimate for their investments to grow free of tax, but for them to pay tax when they brought their money home. Ian Cameron was paid 12,400 a year as a director of Blairmore, and presumably paid UK income tax on it. When he died in 2010, he left 2.7m in his will. David Cameron inherited 300,000, while his two sisters split the proceeds of a 1m Kensington mews house between them. What did David Cameron say? In answer to a question from Faisal Islam, Sky News' political editor, after a speech about Europe on Tuesday, he said: I own no shares. I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and thats all I have. I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. Journalists pointed out that he hadnt fully answered the question, which was whether you and your family had derived any benefit in the past or in the future from Blairmore Holdings, and phoned 10 Downing Street for more information. So the Prime Ministers press office put out a statement: To be clear, the Prime Minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. The Prime Minister owns no shares. As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her fathers land, which she declares on her tax return. Again, though, nothing about possible past or future benefits for example as possible beneficiaries of a discretionary trust. So on Wednesday, a spokesman provided a further statement: There are no offshore funds/trusts which the Prime Minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future. Finally, then, that leaves benefits from Blairmore in the past, but it is obvious that Mr Cameron benefited indirectly from his fathers business, given that it didnt go broke. The same applies to a fund, reported on Channel 4 News on Wednesday night, that Ian Cameron had based in Jersey. Again, that was reported in The Guardian in 2012, and presumably any interest in it that David Cameron might have inherited is onshore now. Should I be outraged or not? If Blairmore cheated the tax rules by pretending its decisions were made abroad, as Brooks suggests, it broke the law. But the evidence from the Panama papers is far from conclusive. It seems quite plausible that, as a sideline to his main job as a stockbroker, Ian Cameron merely took advantage of the lifting of exchange controls in 1979 to run an offshore investment fund, and that he did so entirely within the law. Naturally, if you think that controls on global capital are desirable and possible, you might think that investment funds such as Blairmore should be shut down (Blairmore itself moved its operations to Ireland in 2012, after Ian Camerons death, and is now regulated under EU law). But it would be just as unfair to blame David Cameron for his fathers business choices as it was to hold Ralph Milibands Marxist beliefs against Ed Miliband. The hullabaloo over the Prime Ministers incomplete disclosures feels a little synthetic. Obviously the wording of his first answer to Faisal Islam was imperfect, and it took two attempts by his press office to cover all the hares that had been set running. But it got there in the end. We have ended up where we usually do after furores of this kind, which is with the demand that politicians should publish their tax returns. The politics of the London mayoralty election in 2012 meant that candidates for that office are now expected to publish which is why we know about Zac Goldsmiths fluctuating trust income. At the time, Mr Miliband, Mr Cameron and George Osborne all agreed to publish their tax returns, but somehow never got round to it. If thats what you want, sign a petition, but be aware that it would make it less and less likely that normal people would ever want to go into public service. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} PayPals decision to abandon plans for a brand new $3.6m global operation centre in North Carolina is bad news for the states economy. With 400 potential jobs and a significant boost to local wages at stake, PayPals move is symbolic of the battle-lines being redrawn in the fight for full LGBTQ+ equality. In truth, PayPals change of heart is a principled one, a direct response to the passage of the Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The bill represents a grave attack on LGBTQ+ equality, providing for the prohibition of local equality ordinances and the requirement that trans people use the toilets corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate. This puts LGB people in the situation whereby they may marry, yet possibly face unfettered discrimination in the workplace. On the menu for trans people is the threat of humiliation, misgendering, even violence each time nature calls when not at home. The fact that a well-known global entity such as PayPal is willing to place paramount importance on the wellbeing and safety of its employees is to be celebrated. Economic activism can, and indeed should, form an integral strand of our regrettable, yet all too real, ongoing struggle for full equality in all areas of life. Where authorities legislate in favour of discriminatory practices, policies and procedures, companies must refuse to pay in. To act otherwise amounts to a betrayal of LGBTQ+ employees and the community at large. The sad truth is that PayPal is highly likely to be an exception to the rule in its seizure of the moral high-ground. What's the most ridiculous thing you've been asked about LGBT relationships? Other companies have far fewer scruples, readily placing profit above people. In these cases, collective bargaining could force employers to enact equality policies that do not take heed of the insidious discriminatory law-making instigated at local level. Industrial action could play its part in forcing businesses, many of which issue regular fluffy declarations of adherence to the principles of equality, to put their money where their mouth is. Hop across the pond and examine the status quo here in the UK. Devolved government in Northern Ireland has accorded power to right-wing, Bible-wielding unionist politicians to halt the progress made towards LGBTQ+ equality. They have refused to legislate for marriage equality and to end the ban on men who have sex with men (MSM) blood donation. The PayPal principle could be applied with equal validity on this side of the Atlantic and would undoubtedly be successful in convincing Stormont that making citizens unequal before the law in any way, shape or form renders investment untenable. Recommended Read more An open letter to former doctors criticising the junior doctors strike Ultimately, the pull of the Pink Pound remains undiminished. Those of us with a semblance of critical thought are tuned into the disingenuous way in which LGBTQ+ people are often courted in an attempt to persuade them to part with their cash. It is precisely for this reason that activists must diversify their strategy to attack governments where it hurts, in the areas of job growth and maintenance of a stable tax base, particularly in this era of almost constant economic instability. Only then will those in power fully appreciate the consequences of their actions and the devastating impact their law-making can have on the lives of LGBTQ+ people. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Growing up in Stoke-on-Trent I was never far from remnants of the old pottery industry. Blackened bricks; run down factories; untended canals. Never forget where you came from was a phrase I heard a lot growing up. How could I? Terraced rows and hollow industrial shells - from a distance it looked like someone had breathed life into an LS Lowry painting. So many people, never seeming to do all that much. Ive been thinking a lot about my home town in light of the Port Talbot steel crisis. Stokes decline, after the pottery industry all but disappeared, should act as a warning to the government about the cost of doing nothing. Port Talbot stands on the brink of losing a lot more than jobs. As business secretary Sajid Javid meets Tata Steel bosses for crunch talks in Mumbai this week, to discuss the prospects of a rescue deal with potential buyer Sanjeev Gupta, he should keep that in mind all thats at stake. By allowing Port Talbot to close, the government wouldnt just be letting the British steel industry collapse, they would be letting a place fail too. The deindustrialisation of the Thatcher years has left many towns, particularly in the north and the midlands, economically obsolete. No amount of government largesse can give these communities back what theyve lost: their purpose. Some have become ghost towns, haunted by memories of a stolen future. Progress, where an industry has been brought back, often resembles an attempt to reclaim the past; it cant hide the fact that many such communities are now just sleep walking into economic failure. Javid, and prime minister David Cameron, cannot preside over a repeat of that previous Tory mistake. Despite the poverty of the era, my grandfather used to talk about the golden age of the pottery industry. It would be a disservice to the man to dismiss his passion as rose tinted nostalgia, though he never seemed happier than when he was living in the past. When an industry leaves a community, the community does not die. Instead, it falls asleep, choosing to live in its memories rather than confront its atrophies. It becomes ever weaker until, eventually, it lacks the strength or will to rouse itself at all. With the Conservatives under self-imposed pressure to see the human cost behind the economic figures, Port Talbot represents a litmus test for how far the party has moved on from its slavish reliance on the market to solve all problems during the 1980s. Sajid Javid in Port Talbot But, so far, the governments position doesnt inspire confidence. Its insistence on no nationalisation and its determination to find a buyer from outside, while nevertheless openly discussing proposals that sound very much like nationalisation, is an irritating semantic sleight of hand. It suggests Number 10 knows there is a huge ideological row just waiting to happen, with Jeremy Corbyn sitting in the wings until it ignites. To avert such commotion, the Prime Minister must realise that his and Port Talbots interests are aligned. Neither can afford to be made a hostage to economic dogma. The price of intervening might be high, but the cost of not doing so is higher still. For the government this is not about saving the steel industry as much as it is about whether it can allow Port Talbot to fall into a slumber from which it may never wake. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Isn't it high time we took a good, hard look into our own psyches and asked ourselves why anyone is still watching or worse, cheering the carnage of the Grand National? The Grand National is, by design, an extremely challenging course. Forty horses compete for space on a 4-mile course of obstacles, jumps and dangerous terrain. In 2012, only 15 managed to reach the finishing post. Not even half completed the course in each of 2013, 2014 and 2015 races. Horse-racing is a dangerous sport: in 2015 alone 156 horses died doing it. In response to media coverage of the death toll, race organisers may make some perfunctory alterations in courses from time to time, but these are never sufficient to create conditions in which horses are completely safe. While a few of the obstacles have been slightly lowered on some courses, many remain dangerous. During races, horses can sustain pulled tendons, broken legs and other serious injuries when they crash face-first into the ground. And while deliberately hurting an animal is prohibited in many other circumstances, riders at the Grand National are actually required to carry a whip. Recommended Read more Five things would happen if everyone stopped eating meat Of course it's not just during the Grand National that horses are treated as little more than replaceable inventory. Horses routinely pay with their lives on other British racetracks. Seven died in this year's Cheltenham Festival three on one day alone. Jockey Ruby Walsh epitomised this indifference when he blithely dismissed the death of a horse named Our Conor in the 2014 Cheltenham Festival, saying, "You can replace a horse". Walsh's comments were disturbingly prescient: two more horses died on the Cheltenham track the very next day. Breeders churn out horses in hopes of producing a winner, but not every horse is a fast runner. It's estimated that 18,000 foals are born every year into the British and Irish racing industries. Only about 40 per cent go on to race. Those who don't make the grade face uncertain fates, which can include tragic neglect and slaughter. Where not to visit if you love animals Show all 9 1 /9 Where not to visit if you love animals Where not to visit if you love animals Monkey shows Chimpanzees are forced to perform demeaning tricks on leashes and are often subject to cruel training techniques. Animals who are confined to small, barren enclosures and forced to perform unsurprisingly show symptoms of stress and depression. Chimpanzees have been documented rocking back and forth, sucking their lips, salivating and swaying against enclosure perimeters in distress. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Marine parks Some parks confine orcas to concrete tanks and force them to perform meaningless tricks for food - many die in captivity. Orcas are highly intelligent and social mammals who may suffer immensely, both physically and mentally, when they're held in captivity. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Tiger shows Tigers are forced to live in an unnatural and barren environment and have to endure interactions with a constant stream of tourists. Since tigers never lose their wild instincts, across the world they are reportedly drugged, mutilated and restrained in order to make them safe for the public. However, every year, incidents of tiger maulings are reported at this type of tourist attraction. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Donkey rides Sunning on the beach is great for humans we can take a quick dip or catch a bite to eat when we get too hot or hungry. But it's pure hell for donkeys who are confined to the beach and forced to cart children around on the hot sand. Some donkey-ride operators at beach resorts in the UK even keep the animals chained together at all times. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Swimming with dolphins Some marine parks use bottlenose dolphins in performances and offer visitors the opportunity to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, people are often unaware that these animals are captured in the wild and torn from their families or traded between different parks around the world. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Canned hunting Lions are confined to fenced areas so that they can easily be cornered, with no chance of escape. Most of them will have been bred in captivity and then taken from their mothers to be hand-reared by the cub-petting industry. When they get too big, they may be drugged before they are released into a "hunting" enclosure. Because these animals are usually kept in fenced enclosures (ranging in size from just a few square yards to thousands of acres), they never stand a chance of surviving. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Running of the Bulls Every year, tourists travel to Pamplona for the Running of the Bulls. The bulls who are forced to slip and slide down the town's narrow cobblestone streets are chased straight into the bullring. They are then taunted, stabbed repeatedly and finally killed by the matador in front of a jeering crowd. The majority of Spaniards reject bullfighting, but tourists are keeping the cruel industry on its last legs. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Horse-drawn carriages City streets are no place for horses. The animals toil in all weather extremes, suffering from respiratory distress from breathing in exhaust fumes as well as numerous hoof, leg and back problems from walking on pavement all day long. As easily spooked prey animals, horses subjected to the loud noises and unexpected sounds of city streets are likely to be involved in accidents, even deadly ones. Getty Where not to visit if you love animals Zoos The zoo community regards the animals it keeps as commodities, and animals are regularly bought, sold, borrowed and traded without any regard for established relationships. Zoos breed animals because the presence of babies draws visitors and boosts revenue, yet often, there's nowhere to put the offspring as they grow, and they are killed, as we saw with Marius the giraffe in Denmark. Some zoos have introduced evening events with loud music and alcohol which disrupt the incarcerated animals even further. EPA The racing industry is not kind to its spent cast-offs, either. There are too many retired horses and too few retirement options. Some former racehorses are simply shot, while others are slaughtered and their flesh exported for human consumption or rendered for dog and cat food. Yet others are left to languish in forgotten fields. This was the fate of the 1984 Grand National winner, Hello Dandy, who was ultimately found under different ownership, living in appalling conditions and suffering from rain scald. Similarly, in February of this year, a horse eventually identified via microchip as the Weatherbys-registered racehorse Out of Nothing was found - again, under different ownership - in a pasture, emaciated, covered with sores and barely able to stand. This was a horse that, before 2014, had run 43 races in Ireland and the UK, with three wins and eight placings to her credit. Her condition was so grave that she could not be saved. This cruelty will end only when the public realises that when it comes to funding the cruel and exploitative horse-racing industry. There is no such thing as a "harmless flutter". This article was amended at 10.12am on 07/04/16 to correct factual inaccuracies related to horse injuries and deaths in the horse-racing industry Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} Even before the leak of the Panama Papers this week, we knew it was happening. So widespread is the use of central London property as a safe haven for the spoils of the worlds elite that the government had already promised to do something about it. The problem is, it promised so little. Last year, speaking in Singapore, David Cameron was forced to acknowledge that foreign investment in British housing stock was damaging to the housing market and provided a cover for illegal activities. He agreed to crack down on individuals and organisations using the mask of offshore companies to invest in the UK property market as a means to launder what he called dirty money. He described how London property was being snapped up with plundered and laundered cash and promised that the UK should not be a safe haven for corrupt money. But it wasnt enough. In making the speech, Cameron was responding to a growing realisation that, in ushering in foreign investment, the government had also welcomed in a wealthy elite that objected to transparency in its financial dealings. Did we really know what, or who, we were dealing with? More importantly, did we understand how significant an effect their secret spending with the global luxury real estate brokers of Mayfair was having on everyone else, right down to the family trying to buy a modest two-bedroom semi in Chelmsford? The world's least affordable cities for housing Show all 10 1 /10 The world's least affordable cities for housing The world's least affordable cities for housing Hong Kong The world's least affordable cities for housing Sydney The world's least affordable cities for housing Vancouver The world's least affordable cities for housing Auckland The world's least affordable cities for housing Melbourne The world's least affordable cities for housing San Jose The world's least affordable cities for housing San Francisco The world's least affordable cities for housing London The world's least affordable cities for housing San Diego The world's least affordable cities for housing Los Angeles Even Donald Toon, director of economic crime at the National Crime Agency, said the use of corporate wrappers and other tactics to launder money had skewed the property market. Prices are being artificially driven up by overseas criminals who want to sequester their assets here in the UK, he said last year. UK property valued at a total of 170bn is held by overseas investors. Of course, not every purchase made by a company registered offshore is an attempt to launder dirty cash or conceal illegal activity. But buying a home through an offshore company structure is one way of escaping the taxes and costs of ownership which the rest of us all have to bear. Now we know the scale of the influence these offshore sales are having, and its alarming. The Panama Papers, leaked this week, found that 2, 800 Mossack Fonseca companies are linked to the title deeds of 6, 000 properties in the UK, worth 7bn. It is estimated that 90, 000 homes in England and Wales are registered to overseas owners, the majority of which (75, 000 in total) are thought to be owned by companies registered within tax havens. That looks like an awful lot of property tax dodging and wealth hoarding to me. Wealthy elites, purchasing high end residential and commercial property, have pushed up the prices of housing for everyone. In the city centre, global high rollers compete aggressively for prime space, the solid investments that can weather a global financial crisis and even a predicted future downturn. The fight pushes up the price, but when youre finding ways to sidestep all the financial obligations that go with buying a home, perhaps that doesnt matter quite so much. The buyers keep on coming. The lack of property tax returns to the Treasury over the last decade is in part (though not entirely) to blame for the lack of money available to invest in new housing at affordable prices. Cameron and the Treasury attempted to deal with this sleight of hand by introducing charges on properties owned through offshore vehicles, but it might be too little too late. A consultation on whether to force buyers to disclose their identities wont unpick the damage done. For, elsewhere in the capital, the housing market is already distorted by this influx of foreign cash. While the international elite leave the apartments of central London sitting empty a literal shell - the otherwise wealthy move towards the capitals fringes. Even in zones three and four, the greener suburbs, even at the comparatively (though, frankly, not at all) modest level of a three bedroom family home, the housing market is now controlled by the cash buyer. What hope for an ordinary household, requiring two incomes to repay a mortgage? Even with a major deposit of, say, 40 per cent, the buyer with the readies will always take precedence. That causes a ripple effect. According to analysts at the Centre for Economics and Business Research, house price growth in the south east of England is predicted to hit 8.3 per cent, compared with just 5.8 per cent in London. For the elite, the costs are being capped; the clampdown from Cameron and his government might be weeding out the worst influences, but the rush to buy up London has already had its effect. The cost of housing for ordinary Britons is creeping up and up. For many, the chances of ever owning their own home now look slim. A huge shift of life expectations is taking place. Yesterday we learned that private renting is now cheaper than repaying a mortgage in half of British cities. Thats the case because mortgages are so hard to secure, and properties so expensive and hard to find. But with rents still rising, thats little succour to those who have no choice but to accept that theyll be renting for life, thanks to the malign influence of the selfish hoarders who make up the 0.1 per cent. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the View from Westminster email {{ #verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ ^verifyErrors }}Something went wrong. Please try again later{{ /verifyErrors }} My first real execution left me horrified. Brandon Rhode was executed in Georgia in September 2010. Six days before his execution, terrified of what was to come, he tried to commit suicide by slashing his veins with a razor blade. Prison officials rushed him to hospital to suture his wounds and save his life so that in the name of justice the state could execute him one week later. I only found out that British drugs had been used to kill Brandon Rhode after his execution. And it was only after his execution when I received the autopsy photos that I came to know that, like Rudys, Brandons execution had been torturous. Brandon was executed using the then standard lethal injection cocktail: sodium thiopental (an anesthetic agent), pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent) and potassium chloride (which stops the heart). This cocktail was specifically designed to mask any suffering of the prisoner being put to death the second drug serving to paralyse him so that he is unable to scream or thrash if something goes wrong. Paradoxically, the drug that is used to make the lethal injection look humane to the public is precisely the one that can cause the most suffering to the prisoner. Something did go wrong in Brandons execution. His autopsy photos show him with his eyes wide open, evidence that the anesthetic had failed and that - paralysed but still conscious - Brandon had suffered the excruciating pain of the administration of potassium chloride, a sensation that Supreme Court Justices recently described as the chemical equivalent of being burnt at the stake. Having worked as an investigator into cases concerned with the death penalty and specifically on lethal injection executions in the US for many years, I thought I was pretty hardened to the subject. But as I watched the guards drill into Rudy Jones ankle in a botched execution attempt in the first episode of Peter Moffats fictional drama, Undercover, whatever professional detachment Id built up over the last six years fell away. In the first episode of Undercover, Peter Moffat achieved something Ive spent years fighting to do: expose the myth that lethal injection is in some way clean and clinical, a humane method of execution. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Kashmiri Shiite Muslims, carrying a placard with the portrait of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world at Saudi executions Indian police used tear smoke and rubber bullets to disperse Shiite Muslims who were protesting after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaida militants. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shane Enright, Global Trade Union Advisor for Amnesty International, addresses demonstrators as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London, following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners in one day, including a top Shiite cleric In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian protestor burn pictures of a member of the Saudi royal family in front of the Saudi Arabia embassy in Tehran, Iran, 02 January 2016. Protesters have stormed the Saudi embassy building in the Iranian capital of Tehran early Sunday amid backlash over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Flammable substance was seen thrown at the building as protests gained steam over the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Reports states, protesters taking down a Saudi flag and burned the building. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shiite Muslims hold placards with pictures of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution in Saudi Arabia was announced Saturday, during a demonstration to condemn his execution, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 in Peshawar, Pakistan In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions A Kashmir Shiite Muslim shouts slogan from Indian police vehicle after he was detained during a protest in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, As Undercover illustrated so deftly, when lethal injection executions go wrong, the result is torture. Viewers may have wondered if the execution scene in Undercover was exaggerated for dramatic effect. Sadly, real life executions can be just as bloody and brutal. Oklahoma prisoner Clayton Lockett, for example, moaned for an hour as officials jabbed his body in fruitless attempts to find a vein. Ultimately they hit an artery in his groin causing blood to spray over a medics white coat. After some back and forth with the states Governor about exactly how one might go about halting an execution, proceedings were called off. Clayton died of a heart attack behind the curtain. And Undercovers hour-long execution lasted only half as long as that of Arizona prisoner, Joseph Wood, whose lawyers convinced the Supreme Court to assemble and consider staying the execution while the state was still attempting to kill him. The Justices were still arguing the toss when Wood died on the gurney, just shy of the two-hour mark. Lethal injection is unquestionably grisly. But its brutality is not all blood and gore. Perhaps the most chilling moment in the show was Louisianas tuxedoed Assistant Attorney General reassuring a Judge that Haysberts execution could press ahead because we dont think his breathing is actual breathingits a kind of snorting. This kind of argument, distant and dehumanising, is familiar in states legal submissions in death penalty cases. It reduces a human being to a process which the law says must go ahead. The kind of process where trying to kill yourself ahead of an execution is deemed to be a misdemeanour, and where you cant have a cigarette for your last meal, because its bad for your health. As the number of death penalties worldwide skyrocket, its more important than ever to emphasise that theres no such thing as a humane execution. The use of the death penalty is at its highest in 25 years, with three countries (Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan) accounting for almost 90 per cent of the killings. After what Ive seen, this is more than unacceptable. It was a fine March morning in Co Meath when I went to walk a lovely 94ac residential farm at Piercetown, Fordstown. The farm with a spacious four bedroom bungalow, a yard and the best of land is to be sold at auction with a guide of 1.1m. Located 3km from Kells just off the R164 Athboy road the farm has plenty of road frontage on to a side road and on to the main road. The land is some of the finest you will walk anywhere in Ireland and is laid out in a series of sizeable fields divided with neat whitethorn hedging. Currently under a generous swath of grass the fields are in the main elevated and naturally draining. There is private water to every paddock and some fine stands of beech trees near the dwelling. Walking the land with Stephen Barry of Raymond Potterton auctioneers he waxes lyrical about the quality of the ground and its fertility, it is hard to disagree with him. The ground is firm under foot and is none the worse for wear after the poor spring. The residence, built in 1999, is a substantial four-bedroom bungalow in top class condition accessed from a separate entrance through electric gates. The accommodation includes an entrance hall, two reception rooms, one with a bay window, a marble fireplace and ornate coving and another with maple flooring. Double doors lead from the second reception room to a sunroom that is beautifully finished with a conical lofted wooden ceiling with velux windows. The kitchen is fully fitted with units in oak. There are four bedrooms one of which has ensuite facilities, a family bathroom and a guest WC. The attic space is converted on one side for walk-in storage and on the other it stretches out into a spacious games room. The house has some lovely features throughout including high ceilings, ornate plasterwork and a high quality finish. A car garage is located adjacent to the house. The yard comprises of buildings old and new. Among the more modern facilities is a six-bay slatted shed with accommodation for up to 100 animals. The building is finished to the highest of standards with rubber-coated slats, access to automatic drinkers in all the links and external agitation points for slurry. The shed also contains a cattle pen and cattle crush and there is the option to feed the stock from both sides of the cattle accommodation. Adjoining the slatted shed is a 13m by 18m silage pit and next to that is a fully enclosed three-column haybarn. Also included in the yard is a modern two-bay machinery shed, a traditional stone barn with a cattle crush and pen located outside and an old stone dwelling house with storage on two floors. There is also a stainless steel meal silo and a diesel tank. This is undoubtedly a top class farm and will attract huge interest when it comes to auction at the Navan offices of Raymond Potterton at 3pm on Tuesday, April 26. Trim tillage sale On the same day Potterton auctioneers are handling the sale of a 44ac parcel of tillage ground at Kiltoome on the outskirts of Trim. Set in a quiet cul-de-sac the farm is in two large divisions and currently under a crop of winter barley. The fields rise away from the road and are planted ditch-to-ditch with a generous crop that is greening beautifully. The parcel, which has no independent source of water, is surrounded by mature boundaries with hardly any waste. "As agricultural ground goes you can't get much better than this," Stephen Barry remarks. "But this is a highly prized residential area and the price of houses here is booming. "A house built on this piece of ground would be exceptionally valuable." The parcel is guided at 10,000/ac and will be sold at auction at the Raymond Potterton offices, Navan at 3pm on Tuesday, April 26. ABP's Larry Goodman flew to Beijing to meet with Chinese government officials to highlight the quality of Ireland's beef as processors bid to gain access to the Asian marketplace. Along with the US, China has been a key target for the country's meat processors after the Asian giant moved to lift the BSE ban on imported Irish beef in 2015. However, discussions to achieve full approval are still continuing behind the scenes with further visits from Chinese authorities expected. A spokesman for the Agriculture Department said they are continuing to work closely with the Chinese authorities to finalise the remaining technical steps to allow trade of Irish beef to China to begin. "A Chinese inspection team visited Ireland for 10 days in January and we are currently awaiting their report which will determine next steps," a spokesman stated. Dawn Meats has already flagged the potential it sees in China for the Irish market. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information show that ABP Food Group contacted the Bureau of Import and Export Food Safety, AQSIQ to meet officers in Beijing last November. "The purpose of the meeting would be to discuss the ongoing process of approving Irish beef for export to China," stated the letter from ABP. "The company is privately owned by the Goodman family. Each year, ABP Food Group slaughters circa one million cattle across Ireland, the UK and Poland. Group turnover is currently 2.4bn per annum." A spokesman for ABP said the market access process is ongoing. "The meeting with the Chinese government officials was an opportunity to highlight the quality and unique attributes of Irish beef from the leading player in the sector," the spokesman stated. It comes as the Polish competition authority has been notified by the ABP Food Group of a proposed merger between ABP Poland and a Polish beef processing firm, Sklodowscy-Tykocin. The firm has a meat processing facility with a capacity of 4,800 head a month. The value of the proposed deal has not been disclosed by ABP. ABP Poland is already active in the country through its two plants at Pniewy, purchased in 2011, and Klosowice, purchased in 2014, which process around 100,000 animals a year. Exports of beef from Poland rose 15pc last year, with exports of over 400,000t valued at 1.3bn. ABP Food Group and Fane Valley Co-Op are already awaiting the outcome of documents lodged with the EU merger watchdog over the proposed joint venture in relation to Slaney Foods which would see it process 28pc of the cattle kill. Candidates in the IFA presidential election have urged farmers to come out and vote as early indications indicate a low turnout at the ballot boxes. Seasoned campaign activists believe the turnout could be down by up to 25pc on the 2013 election, as farmers vent their anger and disappointment over the pay controversy within the body. The turnout at branches for the first three nights of the ballot varied widely throughout the country, from an estimated 90pc turnout to less than 10pc in other areas, with stronger turnouts in areas boasting candidates. Galway candidate Joe Healy said the reports of very low turnouts at some branch ballots was a worrying development for IFA. "We have only one chance to reform the IFA and that is in this election. I have said this throughout the campaign and I am as certain of it now as I was at the start," Mr Healy said. "The 12pc drop in levies since last autumn, along with the 4,500 lapsed and cancelled memberships, confirms that the IFA is facing very significant difficulties." He said the future of the organisation is in the members' hands and by casting their ballots they can influence how the IFA conducts its business in future. Kerry's Flor McCarthy urged IFA members to use the opportunity to use their vote to reunite the association and focus it on listening to members concerns on the ground and getting real improvement in farm incomes. Mr McCarthy said he understood that some farmers are annoyed with IFA in the wake of the controversies of the past year, but he said farmers need a unified IFA, with a strong effective president, to tackle the huge issues facing farming, farm families and rural communities like never before. IFA national chairman Jer Bergin said the election is an opportunity for the 75,501 members who have a vote to decide who will lead them for the next four years. Despite the 29 strong husting campaign that saw candidates clock up thousands of miles, it is estimated that only a small number of the members attended to question the candidates. In 2013 the total vote was 31,730, a fall-off on the 36,872 that voted in 2009. Voting got off to a strong start in the west, with over 90pc turnout at branches in Galway, while estimates for other parts of the west are putting the turnout at "the region of 20pc". Turnout in the Cavan area was estimated at around a fifth, with farmers highlighting the busy time of the year as "unsuitable" for the election, while some branches in Roscommon cancelled meetings over the impasse in the Connacht regional chair. Turnout at the early branches in the north east was described as "very disappointing" with some key branches returning "around 20pc" in north Leinster. Voting in Munster appears to be bucking the national trend with the added pressure from candidates for the regional chair who are reliant on the 'weighted' vote. North Cork is returning "around 50pc" average within a range of 30-80pc and a similar pattern is emerging from Cork Central and West Cork. With an electorate of 6,000 in Kerry, it is expected that the poll will top 65pc overall. Limerick is returning 30-50pc in general with up to 80pc being reported from West Limerick. Turnout in Leinster is estimated at "around 40-45pc", while officers in some of the key counties are fearful that total turnout could be down by 30-40pc on 2013. Voting at the 947 branches will continue until April 15, with the count scheduled for April 19. With farm finances tight and the cost of fertiliser a big burden on cashflow, Belfast company Sixty-5 Technologies Ltd has launched a new simple to use app-based GPS guidance system to help farmers save money. Grass-Guide is a system that guides farmers while spreading fertiliser or applying pesticides to help eliminate overlaps and missed areas, thereby making the process more efficient. The company claims savings of up to 15pc on fertiliser costs could be achieved using GPS as testing has found that the further an operator drives from a fixed reference point, such as a hedge, the higher the pass-to-pass inaccuracy and increased wastage occurs. Sixty-5's software development team is based in Belfast and the company is led by John Arrell, who has over 15 years experience in precision farming. Mr Arrell was increasingly frustrated that entry-level products on the market were aimed towards the arable and tillage sectors and grass-based farmers were expected to adopt technology not designed primarily for their use. With this in mind he decided to build a team of dedicated people and develop their own system. "We think Grass-Guide's number one feature is its ease of use," said Mr Arrell. "Once the tractor operator enters the implement width, there is only one button to press to get going. After that the software takes care of everything else." The system displays a coverage map, guidelines and predicted direction for the operator to follow, eliminating the need for either A-B lines or a light-bar. The system is built on an android platform and is supplied with a seven inch Samsung tablet. The guidance software itself is an app, which means it is seamlessly updated to ensure the user always has the latest version installed. Grass-Guide uses the latest NovAtel GPS/Glonass Agstar satellite receiver which is globally regarded as the most reliable single band receiver. The receiver is easily mounted via magnets and is supplied complete with a mounting plate should the tractor have a non-metal cab. The tablet connection to the receiver is via bluetooth and a GPS output is also available to connect to modern implements. Once the field operation has been completed the as-applied treatment map is sent to a dedicated online cloud portal where it can be later viewed for management and traceability purposes. This means the system will be of interest to both farmers and contractors looking to keep track of jobs as they are carried out. Sixty-5 Technologies Ltd has received substantial support from Invest NI in order to create an additional 23 jobs in the near future. Mr Arrell explained: "Over the next three years we are aiming to substantially increase both turnover and export sales through developing new products and services and growing our technological capability. Sustainable farming "Our long term goal is to accelerate sustainable agriculture through the provision of GPS, to ensure the farming industry optimises the best use of its land. Essentially, farmers need technology to be easy to use and we believe that the data should be there to support them for greater farm profitability. "Our new technology has already been very well received in the industry and we aim to strengthen our team and bring our ideas to the global marketplace to generate substantial export sales." The Grass-Guide package comes with the NovaTel GPS receiver, the Samsung Galaxy tablet, Grass-Guide software app and a mounting bracket for the price of 1,399 (1,775) plus VAT. This isn't the only innovation that the Belfast company have come up with. Following shortly will be Con-Trac, a simple-to-use solution for agricultural contractors utilising GPS to record operations, price jobs accurately, and share completed jobs with their customers. Con-Trac enables the contractor to bill more accurately and gives customers full traceability of completed jobs. Readers looking for further information can look on the company website www.sixty-5.com, which contains video footage of the solutions in action. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Photo: Reuters European bourses ended the second day of the week in the red, as weaker than expected data from the region's biggest economies, falling oil prices and a weak performance by stocks in Asia weighed on sentiment. IMF boss Christine Lagarde said yesterday that while the global recovery is continuing, it's too slow and fragile. Despite fresh rate cuts from the ECB, economic activity has remained subdued in Europe, with companies cutting prices again in March. "It really dents hopes that the weakness we saw in January and February is just related to temporary concerns about the global economy. There is something more fundamental going on," said Jennifer McKeown at Capital Economics. "Without ECB stimulus I suspect that things would have been a lot worse but it certainly is evidence that we are still in a deflationary environment in the Eurozone." Ireland's ISEQ Overall Index was among yesterday's fallers, losing 1.02pc, or 63.90 points, to end the session at 6,223.19. Stocks on the move included Bank of Ireland, which fell 1.9pc to 26 cent. Ryanair declined just under 1pc to 13.96, while CRH fell 2.3pc to 24.20. Ferry group Irish Continental lost 2.3pc, while packaging giant Smurfit Kappa shed 1.08pc to 21.95. Bucking the trend was hotel operator Dalata, which gained 2.1pc to close at 4.70. Drinks group C&C fell almost 3.4pc to 3.86. The UK's FTSE-100 fell 1.2pc, while Germany's DAX was down 2.6pc. France's CAC-40 was 2.18pc lower. Volkswagen declined nearly 3.8pc, and other car makers also fell. Retailer Tesco declined 1.7pc after Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on the stock to 'hold' from 'buy'. The EC wanted Ryanair to pay the Government 12m in air taxes, and Aer Lingus to pay 4m. The European Commission will tomorrow argue in court that Ryanair and Aer Lingus should be forced to hand over as much as 16m to the Government arising from the implementation of the now suspended air travel tax. The Commission had previously argued that the way Ireland's air travel tax was structured meant shorter air routes had effectively benefited from illegal state aid. It also wanted Ryanair to pay the Government 12m in air taxes, and Aer Lingus to pay 4m. But last year, the two airlines successfully overturned the Commission's previous determination to that effect. The EC will now plead at the European Court of Justice that its original finding should be retained and that the airlines must pay up. The Government introduced the controversial air travel tax in 2009. The urgent revenue-raising measure was pilloried by airlines that claimed it would hinder passenger growth. The new tax levied a 2 charge per passenger on flights up to 300km from Dublin, and 10 for distances over that. But Ryanair complained to the European Commission. The institution determined that the lower levy rate amounted to illegal state aid, because it benefited airlines that primarily operated shorter routes. Following the Commission's ruling, the Government scrapped the two-tier levy system and in 2011 introduced a flat 3 tax per passenger. The air travel tax was then suspended in 2013, prompting Ryanair to expand its services out of Ireland. But the European Commission then told the Government that it would have to collect from both Aer Lingus and Ryanair, the difference between the two rates - 8 - that had previously been in operation, in respect of each passenger that had been charged the lower 2 levy between 2009 and 2011. That was meant to equalise the levy that had been charged to ensure that no airline had had an unfair financial benefit. Ryanair and Aer Lingus both successfully appealed that decision to the European Union's General Court, saving them millions of euro each. At the time, the European Court of Justice stated that the Commission had not established to the requisite legal standard that the recovery of 8 per passenger was necessary in order to ensure the re-establishment of the status quo if all flights had paid the same charge. "The recovery of an amount of 8 per passenger from the airlines could not ensure the re-establishment of the situation which would have prevailed if the operations in question had been carried out without the grant of the aid concerned, since it is not possible, for the airlines, to recover retroactively from their customers the 8 per passenger which should have been collected," the European Court of Justice ruled. But the European Commission wants the ruling overturned, and lodged an appeal against the General Court's ruling last June. It's relying on one ground for its appeal. The Commission claims that by creating a new economic test to be applied when determining the amounts to be recovered from beneficiaries of State aid consisting of a tax measure fixing a lower rate by reference to a standard rate, that the General Court violated existing regulations. It's likely to be months before a ruling on the appeal is made public. The Irish arm of international fashion brand Karen Millen lost 300,000 in the financial year before it entered Examinership in 2014, newly-filed accounts for the business show. The company noted that its turnover had dropped 15pc to 6.4m in the 53 weeks to March 1, 2014, against the backdrop of a difficult retail environment. The business successfully exited Examinership in February last year, having secured the repudiation of onerous leases and rent reductions to market levels. The scheme of arrangement was approved by the court dependent on a 500,000 investment being made by the Irish arm's parent company. That money was used primarily to pay secured and unsecured creditors. Karen Millen is controlled by Icelandic bank Kaupthing. "Following formal exit from Examinership, the company will continue to focus on improving cash flow and margins in remaining stores by increasing efficiency and managing risk," directors note in the latest set of publicly-available accounts. Last year, Karen Millen announced that it was closing its shop on Dublin's Grafton Street. It took advantage of a lease break option on the premises. It was originally paying just over 1m a year in rent on the store, but that amount had been reduced by the owners - a Bank of Ireland staff pension fund - to 450,000 a year when the slump hit. Barack Obama has pushed for greater action to stop big US companies shifting their tax base to Ireland and other low-cost nations. A planned $160bn merger of drugs giants Pfizer and Allergan has been thrown into doubt after the latest crackdown on so-called corporate tax inversions. The controversial deal, in the works since last summer, would create Ireland's biggest company by shifting Pfizer's global tax base to Ireland. The deal and others like it have provoked an angry backlash in America. Last night US President Obama urged his country's Congress to take action to stop US companies from taking advantage of tax loopholes that allow them to avoid paying taxes. "When companies exploit loopholes like this... it sticks the rest of us with the tab and it makes hard-working Americans feel like the deck is stacked against them," Mr Obama told reporters at the White House. He said wealthy corporations and individuals should not be "gaming the system". The US levies a 35pc tax on corporate profits, compared to the 12.5pc rate here. With no real disadvantages to leaving the US it has become attractive for companies to shift their domicile abroad - including by buying smaller off-shore rivals. US authorities have tried but so far failed to block that process, known as corporate inversion. Inversions allow companies to slash tax bills by redomiciling outside the US, including here, even if their core operations and management stays in the United States. Mr Obama, a Democrat, has repeatedly said action is needed by the Republican-controlled US Congress to prevent the practice. On Monday the US Treasury Department took its most decisive action yet to crack down on inversions. The move threw a number of proposed mergers into doubt, including Pfizer's $160bn agreement to buy Dublin-based Allergan. "I want to be clear. While the Treasury Department's actions will make it more difficult... to exploit this particular corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good," Mr Obama said. The US President has previously said that tax inversions are unpatriotic. Up to now lawmakers have been a step behind lawyers and accountants in trying to shut the loopholes that allow inversions. But the new tax regulations proposed by the US Treasury Department on Monday threw current deals into doubt. That includes the Pfizer takeover and a proposed $16.5bn merger of Johnson Controls, a US maker of car batteries and ventilation equipment with industrial giant Tyco International - which like Allergan is officially domiciled in Ireland. Pfizer and Allergan said in a joint statement that they were reviewing the Treasury notice and declined to speculate on whether their deal will now go ahead. But Allergan shares were down 15.5pc in New York as investors bet the deal will collapse. Pfizer has said the tie-up could save it $2bn a year, including in lower taxes. (Additional reporting Reuters) Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers: Irish Independent * Families face a hike of up to 700 in health insurance costs within weeks - with additional price rises on the way later in the year. Laya and GloHealth are both hiking prices, just a week after VHI announced rises. * Barack Obama has pushed for greater action to stop big US companies shifting their tax base to Ireland and other low-cost nations. A planned $160bn merger of drugs giants Pfizer and Allergan has been thrown into doubt after the latest crackdown on so-called corporate tax inversions. * The European Commission will tomorrow argue in court that Ryanair and Aer Lingus should be forced to hand over as much as 16m to the Government arising from the implementation of the now suspended air travel tax. The Commission had previously argued that the way Ireland's air travel tax was structured meant shorter air routes had effectively benefited from illegal state aid. The Irish Times * The Irish rate of unemployment dropped to its lowest level in eight years as the wider economy continues to improve. The number of those unemployed fell by 2,900 last month representing a year on year dip of 23,400. The improvement here contrasted to poor growth in Europe as Brexit fears strengthened. * Revenue at Irish travel site Hostelworld increased by 5pc last year after the company published its first set of financial results since its initial public offering. Hostelworld said the average value of bookings increased by 5pc up to 12.1 per booking while earnings for the year fell to 23.6m. * An incentive has been offered to shareholders in Northern Irish energy firm to prevent them from calling in their investment once the firm is acquired by ISquared Capital. As part of Viridian's bond documents the firm must pay its bond holders directly after the takeover is completed. The deal is understood to be valued at around 1bn. Irish Examiner * Irish phone operators are continuing to reduce the prices of roaming charges in the EU ahead of a ruling that will make the abolition of the charges compulsory. The abolition of the charges will take effect by June of next year with Eir set to become the first operator in Ireland to scrap them completely. * Isme and Retail Excellence Ireland have called for an "IDA-Style" government agency that will look after the interest of small and medium enterprises across the country. Both groups are due to meet Independent TDs today about a submission they have put forward to Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and other parties. * US pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly is to invest 35m into a new facility at its Cork-based campus. The manufacturing facility is expected to be up and running by early 2017. The Indiana headquartered firm said the new facility has the potential to change the way in which medicines are made in the future. She's not your typical 9-year-old. Hilde Kate Lysiak would put many an adult news reporter to shame with her skills. The 9-year-old is the editor and publisher of Orange Street News, based in Pennsylvania. She broke this story about a local alleged murder after she got a tip "from a source". She headed over to the location with her camera and notepad and spoke to local residents and police. Hilde got her report online hours before her local newspaper, The Daily Item. Speaking to the Washington Post, Hilde revealed why she loves news reporting. "I just like letting people know all the information,"she said. "It's just what I really want to do. And crime is definitely my favorite." Hilde said she "got a good tip from a source" about the story and was able to confirm the details. However, many people were perturbed by Hilde's reporting, questioning whether or not she is old enough to report on such issues. Video of the Day One wrote, "I think this is appalling that u would do a story liek this when all the facts are not in yet. Have some respect for all parties involved please." Another wrote, "Why is a child reported on a case like this?!?!!" Hilde, who is in third grade, took her critics on via social media and a video post. "If you want me to stop covering news, then you get off your computer, do something about the news. There! Is that cute enough for you?" she said. The first trailer for Steven Spielberg's big screen adaptation of Roald Dahl's beloved BFG has landed. It tells the magical story of a young girl and the giant who introduces her to the wonders and perils of Giant Country. Why did you take me?" says 10-year-old Sophie. He replies, "Because I hears your lonely heart." We're enraptured already. The giant is voiced by Mark Rylance with other giants voiced by Bill Hader and Jemaine Clement. Its a story about friendship, its a story about loyalty and protecting your friends and its a story that shows that even a little girl can help a big giant solve his biggest problems," says Spielberg. The screenplay is written by Melissa Mathison of ET and The Black Stallion fame and the film opens in Irish cinemas on July 22, the year that marks the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl's birth. Superstar Beyonce is having trouble filling Croker, with a range of tickets for her gig still available - two months after they first went on sale. The pop star will return to the capital with a night in 82,000-seater Croke Park on July 9 as part of her Formation World Tour. Tickets went on sale in February with much anticipation following her sold-out tour in 2013. However, the Herald Diary can reveal that fans of the pop queen are in luck with tickets still available in most categories for her standalone Dublin gig this summer. Meanwhile, a package - which includes free food and drinks at a pre-party show and themed merchandise - are on sale for a cool 444 each. The Queen of Pop will play the gig just over a week after Bruce Springsteen graces the stage. Tickets for Springsteen's first gig on May 27 sold out in two hours and Aiken Promotions then confirmed a second date on May 29, which also sold out. It had been expected that Beyonce's Croke Park show would sell out in the same way. She played four nights at the O2 in March 2013, adding a fourth night to her Dublin leg after the first three shows sold out in 20 minutes. Ivan Yates is leaving Newstalk. The former Agriculture Minister presents the Breakfast show on the stations at the weekday morning slot from 630am to 10am. He will be departing in July and also stepping down from his roles as a presenter on TV3 and as a columnist with the Irish Independent. Mr Yates has presented the programme since 2008, apart from his 16 months in Wales when he emerged from bankruptcy. He worked alongside Claire Byrne initially on the show and was later joined by co-presenter Chris Donoghue on his return from Wales. Speaking to independent.ie Chris Donoghue has paid tribute to Mr Yates saying they worked brilliantly as a team. He's such a drama queen! Trying to overshadow Enda and Micheal's meeting.... pic.twitter.com/KLGHHGjn83 Chris Donoghue (@chrisrdonoghue) April 6, 2016 "Ivan has been a great partner on air, where most 'big names' want all the limelight to themselves Yates has always been happy to share with the people he works with.... He just wants all the money, he joked. "He's never been boring and it's been a real pleasure to share a studio with him. We've been talking about this day for a couple of months and will see out our last three months of Newstalk Breakfast with great energy." He added: "As for Newstalk, it has so many talented people there's a great opportunity now for a fresh new breakfast show with a fresh new line up." Read More The former Fine Gael TD will be stepping back from public life and travelling with his wife, Deirdre, for a year. Mr Yates has categorically denied his departure from his media roles is related to his wifes financial difficulties after AIB secured a 1.6m debt judgment against his wife, Deirdre. Video of the Day I am saying categorically this is completely unlike my departure to Wales and which was quite brutal. This is absolutely by choice, he told independent.ie. On whether this time out, the departure was down to Deirdres finances and if she was now seeking bankruptcy, he said this was absolutely not the case. The debt arises out of a guarantee Deirdre Yates gave on loans obtained from AIB to her husband for his Celtic Bookmakers business, which went into liquidation in 2011. Mr Yates was later declared bankrupt in the UK, having lived for 16 months in Wales to qualify under that country's more relaxed bankruptcy laws. AIB said that as Mrs Yates was a majority shareholder, director and company secretary of the bookmakers, it was entitled to recover from her 1.6m arising out of the single guarantee that she signed on her husband's debt. Mrs Yates, a primary school teacher, claims that when she signed the guarantee she did not receive, and was not advised to receive, legal advice about the implications of doing so. Award-winning TV3 soap Red Rock has bagged a daytime TV slot on BBC. The sale of the rights - for a reported 500,000 - to all 80 episodes to the BBC was announced in February. The BBC officially announced the acquisition this week, confirming that the soap will broadcast during the day. Daytime viewers are in for a treat with Red Rock. It's a compelling new police drama set in Ireland, it has plenty of twists and turns, and it's coming to the BBC this year," said Dan McGolpin, Controller of BBC Daytime. The soap had already proved a hit in the US with positive reviews following its broadcast on Amazon Prime. Stephen Driscoll, EVP Media, All3Media International said, We are very proud to see Red Rock secure a home on the BBC. Red Rock delivers an engaging cast of characters and storylines that will grip audiences with this original mix of family drama and police procedural. The soap, which is set in a fictional seaside town just outside of Dublin, costs about 65,000 per episode to make and is now in its second series. Simon Harris with OPW chairwoman Clare McGrath and Damien Cassidy, Kilmainham Gaol Board of Visitors chairman, as they pay tribute to the gaols volunteer workers. Photo: Colm Mahady Kilmainham Gaol hopes to attract over 500,000 visitors every year after recent renovations were finished to coincide with 1916 Rising commemorations. The Office of Public Works (OPW) invested 5m refurbishing the gaol and the courthouse beside the building. Visitors will now enter the gaol through the courthouse, instead of the original entrance the 1916 Rising leaders were brought through. Visitors can now also book tickets online to avoid queues. Junior Minister Simon Harris praised volunteer workers who initially helped save the historic building from ruin in the 1960s. Mr Harris said it was important to "recognise the commitment of the workers who saved Kilmainham". "They said 'not a hope in hell will we let this building go to rack and ruin,'" the minister said at a special event held last night to honour the volunteers who refurbished the prison. "The achievement of restoring Kilmainham does not belong to this or any Government. "I ask you not to see tonight as a one-off but as a thank you for all the volunteers restoring the building. The OPW hopes to attract over 500,000 visitors in a year and this most recent renovation can enhance those numbers," he added. Chairman of the Kilmainham Gaol Board of Visitors Damien Cassidy said recent 1916 commemorations held at the Stonebreakers' Yard of the Gaol "had moved him to tears". "The most moving moment I can remember was the wreath-laying ceremony with President Michael D Higgins," he said. "Looking at the national flag, it moved me to tears. "There was a great feeling of pride and of pride for Ireland." Mr Cassidy was one of a number of volunteers who helped restore the building in the 1960s and remembered how the building was when he first walked inside. "Everything we did was voluntary, we insisted on that. "I remember going inside at first and there was weeds an ivy on the floor. I remember seeing there had been an equal number of future Fine Gael and Fianna Fail supporters in both cells [held after the Rising]," he told the Irish Independent. "Simon (Harris) must go back after this event to see if he can help bridge that divide once more in forming a new government." Volunteers said they were unhappy not to be introduced to President Higgins or acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the wreath-laying event at the Gaol on Easter Sunday. However, Mr Cassidy said workers who saved the gaol were invited to the official ceremony. The OPW has also appealed for families to donate items relating to Easter 1916 and other historic items relating to the gaol for the renovated museum. TWO people have died in a head-on collision which has forced the closure of the Cork-Limerick road. The accident occurred shortly after 5pm on the N20 between Buttevant and Mallow. Initial reports indicated that one vehicle suddenly appeared to veer across the busy road into the path of an oncoming car. Gardai and paramedics were at the scene within minutes. However, a man and a woman, both understood to be in their 70s, suffered multiple injuries. Both were pronounced dead before they could be rushed to Cork University Hospital (CUH). It is understood they are husband and wife. A woman driving a second car was hurt in the collision. However, her injuries are not understood to be life-threatening. The road was closed to facilitate the work of the emergency services. Gardai warned the road will remain closed for some time while accident scene investigators examine the stretch of roadway involved. Diversions are in place and motorists have been urged to avoid the area if possible as lengthy delays are expected. Gardai have also appealed for witnesses to contact them. A senior executive with Anglo Irish Bank asked colleagues in November 2008 if a 7.2 billion transaction used to bolster the bank's deposits figures was window dressing, a trial has heard. Four former senior bankers from Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) are alleged to have conspired to mislead investors by setting up a 7.2 billion circular transaction scheme to bolster Anglo's 2008 balance sheet. Peter Fitzpatrick (63) of Convent Lane, Portmarnock, Dublin, John Bowe (52) from Glasnevin, Dublin, Willie McAteer (65) of Greenrath, Tipperary Town, Co. Tipperary and Denis Casey (56), from Raheny, Dublin have all pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to conspiring together and with others to mislead investors through financial transactions between March 1st and September 30th, 2008. On day 43 of the trial, Colin Golden, Anglo's Head of Group Finance in 2008, told the jury that he attended a meeting of the bank's audit committee on November 18, 2008. He said that Donal O'Connor, a non-executive director and member of the audit committee, was also in attendance at the meeting, having dialled in from Australia. Mr McAteer, the bank's then Head of Finance, and others attended in person. During the meeting Mr Golden read out a briefing note prepared by Group Finance which dealt with the allegedly back to back transactions with ILP. Mr Golden testified that he then told the committee that the transactions bolstered customer deposits. The witness said Mr O'Connor then asked was this window dressing? and Mr McAteer answered using the words balance sheet management. Mr Golden told Una Ni Raifeartaigh SC, prosecuting, that he saw the transaction as a straight cash for cash transaction and that it was not collateralised. He said he did not become aware until February 2009 that the sequence or timing of the multiple deposits and loans who gave who the money first - had been incorrectly represented to Anglo's auditors the previous October. He said he did not see the significance of the sequence until he read about it in a newspaper report on Tuesday this week. He said he didn't think it would affect the accounting treatment of the money. The 7.2bn figure was included in the bank's balance sheet published as part of it's preliminary annual results on December 3, 2008. Mr Golden told Ms Ni Raifeartaigh that the figures were treated as gross meaning they were shown separately in the balance sheet. This meant the balance sheet customer accounts figure and loans and advances to banks figure were both 7.2bn greater that if the transaction had been accounted otherwise. Counsel asked him about the issue of netting or set off of the transactions. This is a financial term which means the transactions between parties would effectively cancel each out. He said that he thought it was correct to say that if the deposits and loans had been set off against each other, the figures on the balance sheet would be 7.2bn lower. Mr Golden said he was unaware of any discussion, prior to the publication of the results, of adding a note to the accounts which would indicate to the public that the transactions were linked. He said he didn't know why there was no note included. He told the court that he was relying on what he was told by colleagues in deciding how to treat the transactions on the balance sheet. The trial continues before Judge Martin Nolan and a jury. The jury saw an email from Mary Burke in the Financial Regulator's office discussing the Anglo/ILP transaction on October 24, 2008. In the email Ms Burke told her superiors, Con Horan and Patrick Neary that she had spoken to Mr Golden and to the accused, Mr Fitzpatrick, ILP's then director of finance. She said that according to Mr Golden, the bank's auditors had just reviewed the transactions and were satisfied that it met accounting rules. She outlined the difference in opinion of both banks with regard the accounting treatment of the transaction. Ms Burke said: They (Anglo) argue that under accounting rules it does not need to be netted off as there were multiple entities, there was no legal right of set off and they had no intention to net them and settle net. She continued: Peter Fitzpatrick maintained that their deposits with Anglo were secured on Anglo's deposit with ILP and these funds were not returned to Anglo until Anglo had repaid monies to the Irish Life subsidiary. Mr Fitzpatrick positioned this transaction as a response to the Governors suggestion that Irish banks should help each other out. In a heated exchange with Michael O'Higgins SC, for ILP's former CEO Denis Casey, Mr O'Higgins put it to Mr Golden that the fact that nobody who was tasked with accounting the transaction spoke to the Anglo treader who carried it out was a massive system's failure. After a reference by counsel to the Stardust nightclub tragedy and systems failure Mr Golden replied that they were discussing accounting, not life or death. Mr O'Higgins turned and pointed to his client and told Mr Golden: See that man? For him, this is life or death. Judge Nolan advised counsel he was not entitled to abuse the witness. A 15-year-old boy has been granted bail after he was charged with the murder of a young Dublin man who was stabbed on Halloween night. Lorcan O'Reilly (21), from Robert Emmet Close in south inner city Dublin, was stabbed in the nearby Oliver Bond flat complex in the early hours of November 1 last year. He sustained a single stab wound to the heart and was rushed to St James's Hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later. Detectives arrested the 15-year-old boy last Thursday morning. The teenager, who cannot be named because he is a minor, appeared in court on Friday and was charged with the murder of Mr O'Reilly. Due to the nature of the charge, the juvenile court did not have the power to grant bail and the boy was remanded in custody to the Trinity House detention centre in Co Dublin. The teenager made an application to be released at the High Court sitting in Cloverhill yesterday and was granted bail. He is due to appear again at the juvenile court on Friday. At his first hearing last Friday, he was accompanied by his mother and granny. However, Judge William Hamill said "perhaps due to the gravity of the charge, it would be entirely appropriate, in his interest, to have both his parents attend". Defence solicitor John Quinn said he would contact the teen's father about attending when the case resumes on April 8. File photo: Anne-Louise and Greville with Jude when he was two years old. A FOUR-year-old boy was left profoundly brain damaged after an operation in Crumlin Children's Hospital in Dublin, the High Court heard. Jude Miley was only six months old when a suture used in an operation to release his diaphragm and help his breathing remained untrimmed causing damage to the heart muscle. Two days later, he had a heart attack and had to be rushed to theatre for emergency surgery which saved his life. The child has sued the hospital and a settlement of 1.8m has already been agreed in relation to his accommodation and loss of earnings. The court is now assessing damages in relation to the cost of future care. Liability was admitted last year. His parents, Anne Louise and Greville Miley, were told he had suffered irreversible damage as a result of what happened. An MRI scan days later showed he had widespread damage to the brain. Liam Reidy SC, for Jude, told the court from the time of the original operation, every time he took a breath, the raw end of the suture was piercing sword like around the heart. Counsel said Judes parents sought explanations and were told it was a risk of the original operation and there was nothing that could be done. They were not told a mistake had been made and a suture had been left untied down and every time poor baby Jude took a breath he was causing injury to his heart, counsel said. The Mileys asked to be involved in the hospital's internal investigation but, counsel said, they were not consulted or kept informed. Mr Reidy said a most remarkable feature of this case was "a whitewash" put forward by the hospital. He said the internal investigation found, contrary to the facts, there was a new risk they had never heard of before. The hospital denied there was any cover up, the court heard. Jude, of Holywell, Upper Kilcmacud Road, Dundrum, Dublin, sued the hospital through his father. He was born on July 16, 2011 and by January of the following year a condition regarding the contour of his diaphragm was diagnosed. Necessary surgery was carried out on January 24, 2012 which Jude's side contended was below the standard of care. It is claimed a suture was placed in the wrong place damaging the heart resulting in the baby deteriorating culminating in the baby suffering a cardiac arrest on January 26, 2012. It is claimed there was an alleged failure to use the correct suture or that a suture had been placed to protrude in such a way as to abrade the baby's heart muscle. It was further alleged that before placing any sutures there was an alleged failure to ensure the surgeon could visualise both the heart and other organs which it was claimed was vital in such a procedure. There was also, it is claimed, an alleged failure to take into account and act appropriately upon the baby's parents concern post-operatively regarding the baby's condition. The court heard the Mileys brought their son to the UK and US for treatment after friends set up a trust fund to help Jude. Both parents had to give up their jobs to care for him and take him to overseas appointments. The case resumes on Friday. An Irish actor who starred in the 'Harry Potter' film series is being sued by his former agent for 286,000 in commission fees. Devon Murray (27), who played the character of Seamus Finnigan, is being sued by Neil Brooks, trading as Neil Brooks Management, Cape Town, South Africa. Devon's parents, Michael and Fidelma Murray, of The Lawn, Oldtown Mill, Celbridge, Co Kildare, are also being sued as their son was a minor when he entered the contract with Mr Brooks in 1998. In a counter-claim, the Murrays are seeking the return of around 98,000 they say they paid Mr Brooks. The High Court was told by counsel for Mr Brooks that Devon Murray earned some 1.2m from his roles in the 'Harry Potter' films. The Murrays told the court they intended to represent themselves. Mr Justice Seamus Noonan adjourned the case to today. In his action, Mr Brooks says he was appointed sole agent for Devon Murray in October 1998 under an agreement in which he became entitled to commissions of 12.5pc for his film and TV earnings, 15pc from TV commercials and 7pc from theatre work. It is claimed that in breach of that agreement, the defendants have since in and around August 2005 failed, neglected and refused to make payments falling due. As of March this year, the total sum due, including interest, is 286,375, it is claimed. The Murrays deny the claim. More members of the notorious 'Rathkeale Rovers' crime gang have been jailed over a 71m plot to "plunder" British museums of rhino horn and other priceless Chinese artefacts. The group, named because of their links to the Co Limerick town, targeted high-value objects in a string of break-ins, including Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum and twice at Durham's Oriental Museum in 2012. Judge Murray Creed heard that although the items stolen in Durham and Cambridge were valued at up to 18m, detectives believe they might have fetched more than three times that figure on the booming Chinese auction market. In all, 13 men have been sentenced over two days, after three trials which concluded with the gang and its associates convicted of wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to steal, with connections to Ireland, Europe and China. John "Kerry" O'Brien, aged 26, of Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire - but also of Rathkeale, Co Limerick - was said by the judge to have had a central role in the conspiracy. He was jailed for six-and-a-half years. Control Terrence McNamara, of Marquis Street in Belfast, was told he would be jailed for four years. Addressing 43-year-old Michael Hegarty, also of Orchard Drive in Cottenham, and Rathkeale, he said: "I believe you were controlling him (McNamara) in relation to events at Durham Museum in the first instance." Hegarty was jailed for six-and-a-half years. He sentenced 47-year-old Richard Sheridan, of Water Lane in Smithy Fen, and Patrick Clarke, aged 34, of Melbourne Road, Newham, London, to five-and-a-half years apiece for their part. Sheridan is a former spokesman for the Dale Farm travellers site in Essex Ashley Dad, aged 35, of Crowther Road in Wolverhampton, who did not appear at court, was jailed for five years and three months. The judge said the conspiracy had been centred on the family seat in Rathkeale, telling the defendants: "At the heart of this enterprise was a family - a number of you are members of the O'Brien family." He added: "Of 14 original conspirators, seven were connected with that home, seven were associates, like Terrence McNamara, while others were recruited in to find thieves." Robert Gilbert Smith, formerly of Hockenden Lane in Kent was jailed for his part in the crime last year. Independent TD Michael Lowry will have to foot the legal bill for the four days of a High Court hearing in which he failed to stop his trial on mainly tax- related charges. Last February, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan rejected his judicial review challenge to his trial, saying it was based on arguments which were "devoid of any substance and ultimately built on a foundation of sand". Mr Lowry, he found, had "conspicuously declined" to engage with the 372,000 transaction of 2002 at the heart of the case. He also disagreed with Mr Lowry's argument that a 2015 Appeal Commissioners' determination of his tax appeal was a "vindication" of him, in light of which continuation of the tax prosecution was oppressive. The Appeal Commissioners found "clear evidence" Mr Lowry "misappropriated" monies of his company Garuda, the judge said. The case returned before Mr Justice Noonan yesterday to deal with the issue of the legal costs of the hearing. Patrick Treacy SC, for Mr Lowry, asked that there be no order as to costs. Remy Farrell SC, for the DPP, sought costs. Awarding costs, Mr Justice Noonan said it was argued by Mr Treacy that there should be no order on grounds including that Mr Lowry was not legally aided. It was argued, the judge said, that he faces a criminal trial in the Circuit Court on the tax charges, for which there would be significant other costs. However, the judge said, the DPP had said that if Mr Lowry was acquitted on the tax charges, he could make an application for his costs then. Therefore, the issue of hardship as a result of having to pay costs did not arise, he said. The judge also rejected arguments on behalf of Mr Lowry that his position had been vindicated by an Appeals Commissioner who found the TD had no personal tax liability although his company did. The argument that he might have got his costs before the Appeal Commissioner was not relevant because the legislature had decided the Commissioner had no power to order costs. Mr Lowry's trial before the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court is due for mention there today. He faces five charges arising from a 2002 transaction involving a 372,000 payment due to Garuda being diverted to an Isle of Man trust account. He is charged with filing incorrect income tax returns for the year 2002 and conniving in alleged delivery by Garuda of incorrect corporation tax returns for the years ending 2002 and 2006. He is also charged, under the Companies Acts, with wilfully causing a company to fail to keep proper books of account. A man has avoided a jail sentence for taking advantage of an Ulster Bank computer failure which allowed customers to withdraw unlimited amounts from ATMs. Babatunde Fagbule (46) visited several ATMs around Dublin and Meath on June 22, 2012 and made thousands of euro in withdrawals. By the end of the day the account, which belonged to his wife, was overdrawn by 8,315. Fagbule of Insebay, Laytown in Meath pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to 13 counts of theft from Ulster Bank at various ATM location in Artane, Finglas and Bettystown on June 22, 2012. The court heard Fagbule had no right to withdraw more money than was in the account as it did not have an overdraft facility. However because of a massive IT failure which affected all ATMs in the Royal Bank of Scotland group, including Ulster Bank, computers temporarily failed to reduce customer's balances when they withdrew money. Fagbule used the money to refurbish his home and make purchases in Ikea. His defence counsel David Staunton BL said he stopped withdrawing the money of his own accord that day while other customers only stopped when the ATMs ran out. Counsel said Fagbule, who used to work for Bank of New York in Ireland, had since repaid the money in full. Prosecution counsel Lisa Dempsey BL said the account was set up in Fagbule's wife's name and that it was used as a joint account. Ulster Bank shut it down after the thefts came to light and reported the issue to gardai Fagbule's wife was interviewed but said she knew nothing of the withdrawals. Her husband was arrested shortly afterwards and made full admissions. He said he stopped withdrawing the money because he knew his wife couldn't have that much in her account. He said he was sorry and intended to repay it full. Mr Staunton said it was a very crude and opportunistic crime and that his client had never been in trouble before. He said Fagbule came to Ireland from Nigeria 15 years ago and worked for Bank of New York until 2010. He was currently studying financial services in Griffith College. Judge Melanie Greally called it a serious offence but noted Fagbule's previous good character and his repayment of the money. She imposed an 18 month sentence suspended for two years. Independent TD and former government minister Michael Lowry is to stand trial on tax offences in March of next year. Mr Lowry (60), of Glenreigh, Holycross, Co Tipperary is facing charges that he allegedly filed incorrect tax returns in 2003 and 2007. He was in court for the brief hearing this morning. The prosecution and defence both agreed that the trial could go ahead on March 20th, 2017. Mr Lowry recently lost an application in the High Court to have the case thrown out. The TD appeared initially before Thurles District Court in 2014, charged with three counts of knowingly filing incorrect tax returns on October 31, 2003, and one count of knowingly filing an incorrect tax return on August 3, 2007. Judge Elizabeth MacGrath formally sent him forward to Nenagh Circuit Criminal Court but the case was later transferred from Co Tipperary to Dublin on the application of the DPP. Lawyers for Molly Martens Corbett and her father Thomas Michael Martens are concerned about the safety of their clients and family. Molly Corbett (32) and Thomas Martens (65) were charged with second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter on August 2 last year over the death of Mollys husband, Jason Paul Corbett. Jason Corbett was bludgeoned to death at his home in Wallburg with an aluminium baseball bat and a paving stone, an autopsy showed. Corbett and Martens entered pleas of not guilty, claiming self-defence and the defence of others. Expand Close Molly Martens Corbett pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband Jason Corbett / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Molly Martens Corbett pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband Jason Corbett During an administrative hearing Wednesday at Davidson County Superior Court in Lexington, one of Molly Corbetts lawyers, Walter Holton voiced concerns that his client Molly Corbett is getting threats via social media. Molly Corbett and Martens were each released on $200,000 bond in January and were ordered to give up their passports and to not have any contact with Jason Corbetts family including his two children, Jack and Sarah. Jack and Sarah are the children of Jason Corbett and his first wife, Margaret Fitzpatrick Corbett, who died in 2006. Molly Corbetts second lawyer, Cheryl Andrews, said that the Davidson County Sheriffs Office may have seen and used information that is inadmissible because of attorney/client privilege. When the Sheriffs office began its investigation in August, search warrants included getting emails from Corbett and Martens Google accounts. Google sent that information in several discs, said assistant district attorney Allen Martin to Judge Kevin Bridges who presided over the hearing. Expand Close Accused: Thomas Martens. Photo: Winston-Salem Journal / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Accused: Thomas Martens. Photo: Winston-Salem Journal Some of the emails were printed and both the hard copies and discs were submitted to discovery, Martin said. Some emails were addressed to and from Freedman and lawyers in charge of Corbetts estate and civil cases. The state and defence lawyers agreed that information obtained from the privileged emails will be removed from discovery. Bridges agreed as well. Andrews also voiced concern that some reports from the sheriffs office last month were dated in August. Why didnt we get these with the rest of the reports from August? she asked. Freedman said they have extended openness to the sheriffs office and he hopes he can expect the same from them. Weve had Tom and Molly available for interviews and they havent interviewed them, Freedman said. We said there wasnt any need for search warrants because well give them any information they want but they went and executed all these warrants. Assistant district attorneys met with investigators from the sheriffs office after the Wednesdays hearing to discuss what information had been seen and used during the investigation and why there was a discrepancy in the report dates. Defence lawyers said they also are slightly concerned that they may not receive a fair trial in Davidson County because of the attention the case has gotten locally, the problems with the Davidson County Sheriffs Office and their motions against Davidson County Clerk of Court Brian Shipwash. Molly Corbett attorneys accused the clerk of court and a lawyer representing her husbands estate with hiding unethical, secretive conversations about the case. In a motion filed last month, Holton asked that Shipwash be removed from the case, for Shipwash to hand over all his communications about it and for a judge to re-examine decisions about the guardianship of Jack and Sarah, who are in the care of Jason Corbetts sister and brother in law, Tracey and David Lynch. Molly Corbett and Martens next court date is May 30. A passenger has been cleared of molesting an air stewardess while drunk on a London-bound flight. Artur Niewolik , 37, was accused of touching the attendant's waist from behind and then whispering "nice legs" as she served drinks from her trolley on the Dublin to London Gatwick flight. The incident happened when he got up to use the toilet at the start of the hour-long flight, before the fasten seat belt lights had been switched off, the court heard. The arresting officer, former police constable Jonathan Cruise, told jurors at the Old Bailey that the defendant was "clearly drunk". Polish national Niewolik denied sexual assault, an alternative charge of assault by beating, and being drunk on the low-cost airline flight, during the afternoon of March 30 last year. In his defence, he told jurors he was a married family man with a good character and had only touched the air stewardess because he wanted to get past her in the aisle. The Old Bailey jury deliberated for half a day to find Niewolik, of Weavers Close, Isleworth, west London, not guilty of all charges. Seagulls have become a major issue in recent years on Merrion Strand, according to local councillor Paddy McCartan. Photo: Brian Lawless/PA A councillor has said he is in favour of a cull of seagulls after their droppings have been blamed for polluting a popular beach in South Dublin. "These gulls have become a major issue in recent years," said Dublin City Council's Paddy McCartan. "Given the scale of the damage they've caused, and could continue to cause, I would support any efforts to reduce their numbers. "If they're contaminating the water then I would definitely be in favour of a cull," he said. Bird droppings were listed as one of the reasons for the Environmental Protection Agency to brand Merrion Strand as 'poor' in its latest 'Bathing Water Quality' report. It is one of six Irish beaches to receive the substandard rating. Youghal Front Strand in Cork, Galway's Ballyloughane beach, Duncannon Beach in Wexford, Rush South Beach in Dublin, and Fingal's Loughshinny beach were also deemed to have poor bathing waters. A total of 93pc of Ireland's 137 bathing waters passed the EPA's tests with a rating of 'excellent' in the 2015 quality report. Fine Gael councillor Mr McCartan believes the seagull population around Merrion Strand has increased in recent years. "You can see they're an issue if you walk about the Sandymount/Ringsend area, up near the [River] Dodder. "The birds were nesting in houses [a while ago]. Up in the sky, they look small but they're big aggressive animals and they've little fear of humans." EPA Senior Scientific Officer Peter Webster says seagulls are 10 times more polluting to the country's beaches than people. "In a single day, the droppings from the gulls carry about 10 times more concentrated bacteria than the pollution caused by human waste," he said. "That's about 40 million E. coli per gull." Despite the increased health risk posed by the seagulls, Mr Webster urged caution when it came to tackling Merrion Strand's "complex pollutant problem". "At the site, the DCC found waste belonging to humans, dogs and birds. The proportions of these haven't yet been established; so we've no clue honestly if the birds are 10pc of the problem or 90pc," said Mr Webster. "There are two local streams going into the area that drain through housing estates... [and] there's clear evidence that some contaminates are coming from these sources. But until we can find the primary contributor, it is very difficult to come up with a management plan for the strand." Mr Webster said suggestions the EPA had called for a cull of seagulls was "completely untrue". "There's been some utterly puerile reports on social media saying we told people to tamper with nest eggs that's an abhorrent suggestion and we want to stress that the EPA is completely opposed to anything like that." Describing the EPA's rating of Merrion Strand as "disappointing", Labour councillor Dermot Lacey said: "Maybe we humans should take a bit of responsibility before we start imposing responsibility on seagulls." Asked if a draft management plan submitted to the EPA for Merrion Strand included a proposal to cull the area's seagull population, the DCC said it could not comment. Where various Independent TDs stand Rural Five Independents Who: Denis Naughten , Michael Collins, Mattie McGrath, Michael Harty and Noel Grealish The five TDs from rural Ireland were the ones that kick-started the drawnout talks with Fine Gael over the past fortnight by suggesting Enda Kenny was in the driving seat to win todays Dail vote. However, they have maintained that there will not be a new government until Mr Kenny and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin do a deal on how it would work. All five TDs were the only ones to abstain in bulk during the first vote - and despite all the talks will continue that wait and see approach today. Independent Alliance Who: Shane Ross, Michael Fitzmaurice, John Halligan, Finian McGrath, Kevin Boxer Moran and Sean Canney The Independent Alliance have held a series of discussions based around their Charter for Change with both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. And their views on those talks have flip-flopped from a waste of time to very constructive. Last night Shane Ross said they were nowhere near getting any sort of a final solution but progress was being made. As a result all six TDs are expected to abstain when asked to vote for Enda Kenny or Micheal Martin in the Dail today. The Healy-Raes Who: Kerry brothers Michael and Danny The pair will either abstain or vote against both the main candidates. While there has been much speculation regarding a split over which way to vote, this has since been dismissed. Crucial to the talks for Michael Healy Rae in particular is the Governments response on post offices. He yesterday met with postmasters before warning that his support now hinges on the withdrawal of Department of Social Protection letters which sought to encourage welfare customers to switch to Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT). The others Who: Independent TD for Dublin South West Katherine Zappone and Independent TD for Dublin Central Maureen OSullivan Both deputies are expected to abstain during todays votes for Mr Kenny and Mr Martin. Ms Zappone, however, will be encouraged by the commitment from Fine Gael to set up a citizens convention to examine the Eighth Amendment. She is believed to be leaning towards FG. Ms OSullivan has committed to remaining in the talks and has advocated several measures in the areas of education, housing and disability. Acting Children's Minister James Reilly believes he was a "lightning rod" for the out-going Government's problems. The former Health Minister added his department bore the brunt of harsh budgets, speaking on RTE's 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' show. "A decision was made to get out of the bailout and health was the one that paid the price for it," Mr Reilly said. "I was the lightning rod for the problems of the Government." The Fine Gael deputy-leader said he considered returning to his "first love" as a GP after his failure to get re-elected in General Election 2016. However, he hinted of running for office again. "The sooner an election comes, the more likely I am to run," he said. Mr Reilly admitted he may have been "toxic to some people" in the Dublin-Fingal constituency where he topped the poll in 2011. "It's always hard to be rejected," he said. "But I'm very grateful for two terms from the people of Dublin-Fingal and I'm honoured to be Fine Gael deputy leader." He also said he thought of quitting as Health Minister as he believed medical card holders suffered to get the State out of financial crisis. "I was left with a very, very difficult choice over what we were being asked to do in the medical card scheme. "I could have walked but I felt if I did that it might have brought the Government down," he said. Main picture: Shankill Dart station near where the assaults took place. Inset: Sisters, Shauna Daly, 22, right, and Sophie Daly, 21 with their children (Photo: Damien Eagers) Women fearful about a series of sexual assaults in a local area have welcomed council action to help deter further attacks. One man is believed to be behind four different sexual attacks on young women in the region of Shankill Dart station in south Dublin, which has caused widespread fear and sparked public meetings demanding action. Several local women told the Herald yesterday that all females in the area remain wary of the attacker striking again. More than a dozen new public lighting poles have been erected in recent days in green areas adjoining the station by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council. Nervous New tarmac paths have been laid out across the green areas, and bushes and trees - where an attacker would be capable of hiding - have been cut back drastically. Expand Close Sisters, Shauna Daly, 22, right, with her son Teddy, and Sophie Daly, 21, with her daughter, Marley, walk in a green area beside Shanganagh Wood in Shankill, where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sisters, Shauna Daly, 22, right, with her son Teddy, and Sophie Daly, 21, with her daughter, Marley, walk in a green area beside Shanganagh Wood in Shankill, where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers A 58-year-old mother-of-four told the Herald: "The first girl to be attacked was a friend of my daughter. She was 21 and a gutsy girl. She managed to get away from him and put up warnings on Facebook." Local mother-of-one Shauna Daly (22) said she is happy about the changes, saying: "I still feel really nervous since hearing the reports of those attacks a few weeks ago. Expand Close One of the green areas near Shankill Dart station where the attacks happened which has been cut back to be more open. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp One of the green areas near Shankill Dart station where the attacks happened which has been cut back to be more open. Picture credit; Damien Eagers "But I'm glad that new lighting has been provided. I moved to Cherrywood a few months ago but I'm still nervous, as no one has been caught." Her sister, mum-of-one Sophie Daly (21), agreed that the improvements were needed. Expand Close Sisters, Shauna Daly, 22, right, with her son Teddy, and Sophie Daly, 21, with her daughter, Marley, next to a green area beside Shanganagh Wood in Shankill, where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Sisters, Shauna Daly, 22, right, with her son Teddy, and Sophie Daly, 21, with her daughter, Marley, next to a green area beside Shanganagh Wood in Shankill, where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers Read More "Like all local women, I'm very nervous too - but hopefully the new lights will help," she said. The first incident on December 2 happened close to the Dart station. The second was on January 3, at the entrance to the nearby Holly Park estate. Expand Close Shankill Dart station, which is close to a green area where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Shankill Dart station, which is close to a green area where an alleged sexual assault took place. Picture credit; Damien Eagers Two further assaults were since reported in the region and are being investigated. "There have been no arrests to date and the investigation is ongoing," said a garda spokesman. A 49-year-old mother-of-three from the nearby Rathsallagh estate said that the area feels a bit safer now with the latest improvements. Vigilant "The new light poles have gone in, but they have not been completed - as the lights haven't been fully fitted yet," she said. "But an awful lot of bushes have been taken away, which is reassuring. I had been very afraid from my daughter, who's 24, and she would not even go out alone during the day after the attacks. "The worry levels have scaled back - but people are still staying vigilant." Local councillors Carrie Smyth and Hugh Lewis said women should remain alert until the attacker is caught. They said improvements were planned for a considerable time, but the attacks - and the public meetings in their aftermath - had sped up the works. Keith Collins who was stabbed while on a date in Sydney A beloved dad who was stabbed to death on a first date in Sydney will be laid to rest this weekend, just days after the third anniversary of his son's death. Keith Collins (53) died after he was stabbed during a first date in a Sydney restaurant last week. It is understood that single dad Keith met Jovi Pilapil, a care nurse and also a single parent, on a dating website. The date took a sinister turn however when Ms Pilapil's ex-husband, Alexander Villaluna, allegedly stabbed the successful businessman in his neck and chest. Ms Pilapil was also stabbed but managed to escape to an upstairs shop where she collapsed. Describing her brother s "larger than life", Ms Collins told fellow mourners the funeral will take place at midday, Saturday at the Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church, Wyoming, followed by a reception at the Wamberal Surf Club. Keith's sister Audrey Collins told friends and family that they are "warmly invited" to join the family as they "celebrate the life of Keith Collins". Expand Close Tributes paid to 'amazing man' Keith Collins (inset). Main picture: The scene of the attack in Sydney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Tributes paid to 'amazing man' Keith Collins (inset). Main picture: The scene of the attack in Sydney Read More She also paid tribute to her nephew, Keith's son, who tragically passed away three years ago following a car crash in 2013, aged just 23. Writing on her Facebook page, Ms Collins said she would see both Keith and Aaron in heaven one day. "Three years today buddy! You will always be remembered, missed and loved," she wrote alongside a photograph of Aaron. "I can only imagine the joy of the reunion of you and your dad. "He missed you so, so much. I will see both of you in heaven one day. Love you Aaron!". Dramatic footage from the moments after the harrowing attack on Mr Collins show the suspect being arrested as he sat calmly nearby after stabbing the couple. Alexander Villaluna (44) was later charged with murder and attempted murder and will appear again in court on May 26. Australian police previously told the Irish Independent that Ms Pilapil is recovering after minor surgery. Investigators are gathering statements and examining mobile phone footage of the killing. A burnt out car is removed from the scene at Ravensdale Park near Dundalk, in which two bodies were found. Niall Carson/PA Wire A man has been arrested at Alicante Airport in Spain over a double murder in Co Louth four years ago. The 32-year-old was detained on a European arrest warrant around 9.30pm last night after stepping off an EasyJet flight from Belfast. Civil Guard officers had been tipped off and were waiting for him at the Costa Blanca airport. He is now due to appear at an extradition hearing in Madrid where he will be asked if he consents to extradition or not. He is understood to have been arrested in connection with the murders of Dublin gangland figures Anthony Burnett, 32, and Joseph Redmond, 25. The pair, from Ballybough, were found in the front seat of a burning car close to Ravensdale Forest, Co Louth, in March 2012. It is believed the men were tortured and shot in the head before the vehicle was set alight. A 41-year-old from Rathmines, south Dublin city, was arrested over the crime in April 2014. A spokesman for the Civil Guard in Alicante said today: I can confirm we have arrested a 32-year-man on foot of an extradition warrant in connection with a double murder. He was held as he arrived at Alicante Airport on a flight from Belfast. IRISH Naval Service vessels are to be redeployed to the Mediterranean for six months in a bid to save the lives of refugees attempting the dangerous sea-crossing after fleeing poverty and war. The LE Roisin is being prepared for the first deployment with two other ships also being sent in rotation. Last year the crews of three Naval Service ship saved the lives of more than 8,000 migrants trying to get to Europe from North Africa in make-shift boats. The Cabinet today approved a proposal from Defence Minister Simon Coveney for the renewed mission which is a bilateral humanitarian search and rescue operation in conjunction with the Italian authorities. The LE Roisin, with a crew of around 60 Defence Forces personnel will be despatched to the Mediterranean within the next month. "The humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean continues to be of great concern to Ireland and to our EU partners," Mr Coveney said. "I am anxious that we would resume support to Italy in the search and rescue activities in the Mediterranean, he added. The despatch of an Irish naval vessel represents a tangible and valuable Irish national contribution to assisting with the continuing migration crisis in the Mediterranean. An elderly husband and wife died in a head-on collision which forced the closure of the main Cork-Limerick road. The couple, named locally as Con and Mary McCarthy, are from Buttevant in north Cork. The accident occurred shortly before 6pm between Buttevant and Mallow, less than 1km from Mallow General Hospital. Initial reports indicated that one vehicle suddenly appeared to veer across the busy road into the path of an oncoming car. Traffic was particularly heavy at the time. One theory being examined by gardai is that the driver may have been taken seriously ill in the seconds before the collision. The couple, who were in their late 70s, suffered multiple injuries. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Her husband, who was driving the car, died before he could be rushed to Cork University Hospital (CUH). A young woman driving a second car suffered only minor cuts and bruises in the road collision. The woman was treated at the scene by paramedics and was said to be deeply shocked. However, the woman did not require overnight hospitalisation. The road was immediately closed to facilitate the work of the emergency services, including gardai, Mallow Fire Brigade and paramedics. Tragedy Gardai warned the road will remain closed for some time while accident scene investigators examine the precise stretch of the N20 roadway involved. Diversions are in place and motorists have been urged to avoid the area if possible, as lengthy delays are expected. Gardai have also appealed for any witnesses to the collision to contact them at Mallow Garda Station on (022) 31450. Weather conditions were described as quite good at the time of the tragedy. The place where the accident occurred is just over 1km from Mallow General Hospital and involves a relatively straight stretch of the N20. The fatal accident also occurred less than 2km from the scene of a five-vehicle pile-up on March 20, in which a 72-year- old motorist died. Rescue hero Davitt Walsh cradles baby Rioghnach-Ann, whom he saved from the icy waters. Photo:Derry News Buncrana pier hero Davitt Walsh is looking forward to being a part of "beautiful" baby Rioghnach-Ann's life. The 28-year-old saved the four-month-old infant after jumping into Lough Swilly when the car in which her family were travelling slid off the pier into the water. Sean McGrotty (46), his sons Evan (8) and 12-year-old Mark, Ruth Daniels (57) and her 14-year-old daughter Jodie Lee Daniels all drowned in the tragedy. Mr Walsh, from Kerrykeel in Co Donegal, said he has had time to reflect on the tragic events in recent weeks. He believes it was people's "kindness and sincerity" that gave him strength. He also praised Rioghnach-Ann's mother, Louise, who he described as "exceptional". "Louise has been an inspiration to me and a great comfort, she is an exceptional woman," he said. "Rioghnach-Ann is a beautiful baby and I look forward to being a part of her life and to see her growing up. Sean, Mark, Evan, Ruth and Jodie-Lee are now together in heaven. God bless, RIP." Mr Walsh said he had been overwhelmed by the messages and emails people had sent him. "It's impossible for me to reply to everyone individually but I have read them all. "It's your kindness and sincerity that has given me great strength and enabled me to cope over these last days. So I would like to thank you all so much for this," he wrote in a moving Facebook post. Last night, Sean McGrotty's brother, Jim, told the Irish Independent Mr Walsh will be part of their lives forever. "As a family we will be keeping in touch with Davitt. He is inextricably linked to Rioghnach-Ann and Louise. "Davitt is a good fella and he couldn't do enough for Louise," Mr McGrotty said. "Davitt is part of her life. And Louise wants him to be part of Rioghnach-Ann's life. They would be in touch regularly." The producers of a controversial prison escape movie have hit back at critics claiming the project is providing jobs and a boost to the economy. Based on the 1983 escape of 38 IRA inmates, 'Maze' is currently being filmed in the old Cork prison and stars Love/Hate's Tom Vaughan Lawlor and Rebellion's Barry Ward Earlier today Austin Stack, the son of murdered Chief Prison Officer Brian Stack, said he was "sickened to the core" that the Irish Prison Service (IPS) would be involved in such a project. Commenting on the fact that one prison officer died during the escape and two others were shot and wounded, Mr Stack said: No right thinking arm of the State should be involved in a project that will essentially glorify the death of a prison officer. However the movie's producers and the Irish Film Board have hit back at the comments in a joint statement released to Independent.ie this evening. They said the Irish Prison Service (IPS) has a proven record in supporting the Irish filming industry through the provision of prison facilities for both fictional and non-fictional recording. Expand Close Maze Prison / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Maze Prison They claimed the project in Cork has been widely welcomed in the city for creating employment opportunities and providing investment in local business and services. Jane Doolan, producer of the film, said the drama focuses on the relationship between an inmate and a prison officer and is essentially a story about peace. She welcomed the involvement of the IPS: "Making this film would not be possible without the support of our financiers the Irish Film Board, RTE, Film Vast Sweden. "The local assistance of Film in Cork and the Irish Prison Services has enabled us to keep the production in Ireland facilitated by the use of the decommissioned prison." The Irish Film Board added: "We're very confident that the experienced team behind Maze will deal very sensitively with this story. The Irish Prison Services have a strong track history in supporting film and TV production where possible, which ensures Irish stories can be told realistically on screen. "In supporting film production across the country they are also helping to create employment opportunities and encouraging investment in local business and services." A spokesman for the Prison service also defended the decision to allow former Cork Prison be used as the location for the film. "The IPS has a proven track record in supporting the Irish film industry through granting access to prison facilities. "The project in Cork was providing employment opportunities and investments in local businesses and services." Oliver MacDonnell sits in front of the portrait of the late Charlie Haughey in his bar, Dick Mack's, in Dingle HE remains at the centre of controversy even in death and no more so than in his local pub in his beloved Kerry. The owner of a Dingle bar has refused to remove a portrait of Charles Haughey from his world-famous hostelry despite it coming in for a hostile reaction, including attempts to throw pints at it. Visitors and tourists from around the world come to drink in Dick Mack's iconic pub on Greene Street. But many voice their disquiet about having to sup their pints opposite a print of the late Fianna Fail Taoiseach proudly displayed behind the counter. Recently, the portrait was lucky to survive after a customer threw his pint at it and the owner admits it can be controversial. "Some people come in and aren't happy to find Charlie here at all," owner Oliver MacDonnell said. "In fact over the summer one guy tried to throw a pint over the picture. He didn't like it being here at all and went wild when he saw it." Despite this, the Kerry publican has vowed the portrait of CJ Haughey will remain in the pub where he was once a regular. "I knew Charlie Haughey and found him to be a good man who helped many people. He came here regularly when he was alive and was well liked. "I knew him to be a good man so I won't be taking his picture down, or removing it from my bar on a point of principle," added Mr MacDonnell whose family have run the bar since it opened in 1899. Despite tribunals and evidence of corruption, Mr Haughey remains a venerated figure in Dingle where the people of the town remain steadfast in their support of the politician who passed away in 2006. The former Taoiseach owned Inishvickillane island, one of the Blaskets, and in a long-standing engagement opened the Dingle regatta every year for 38 years. Son Conor Haughey took the role over from his father in 2001 with other members of the Haughey family on hand to present prizes at the Dingle Regatta each August. In 2005 a bronze bust of Haughey was unveiled on Dingle Pier by local fishermen in recognition of the politician's contribution to the development of the harbour. And for the future, Charlie will remain looking down on all who enter Dick Mack's. By Ken Sweeney Taoiseach Enda Kenny has failed to secure the support of any of the 15 independent TDs who have taken part in government formation talks. A vote on his nomination for Taoiseach was defeated in the Dail this afternoon by 80 to 51. The 51 votes came from his own 50 TDs, while Tipperary Independent Michael Lowry had indicated he would vote for Mr Kenny although his support was not officially sought. It means Mr Kenny actually secured less support for his re-election than when the 32nd Dail sat for the first time on March 10. On that occasion the Labour Party voted with Fine Gael, however today their seven TDs chose to abstain. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martins bid to become Taoiseach has also failed to garner any extra support since the first vote. His nomination was defeated by 95 votes to 43. Expand Close Party leaders Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Party leaders Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin Ruth Coppinger, the first woman to be proposed to the role of Taoiseach, has been defeated by 108 votes to 10. Ms Coppinger managed to secure four more votes than six guaranteed from her own party, the Anti-Austerity Alliance. Read More Earlier Fine Gael had launched a stinging attack on TDs not engaged in the negotiations for a new government as Mr Kenny was again nominated for Taoiseach. Expand Close Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Photo: Gerry Mooney / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny. Photo: Gerry Mooney Dublin North West TD Noel Rock told the Dail that there were people elected 40 days ago who are obsessed with hugging the opposition benches tight. The reality is this country needs a government and as Robert F Kennedy said one fifth of people are against everything all of the time, he said, adding that he hoped that figure would not rise above one fifth. The attack was aimed at Sinn Fein, the AAA-PBP and independents who have ruled themselves out of playing any role in government. Parliament simply cant afford too many passengers, he said. Mr Rocks speech was much more pointed that the one which he gave when nominating Mr Kenny on March 10. I would rather nominate the right person for Taoiseach twice than even contemplate the wrong person once, he said. He went on to say that no democracy can function without compromise but thats no bad thing. What we now need is patience and composure. This process takes time and this process take resilience, he said. I know Enda Kenny is serious about governing and forming a government. Fianna Fail TD Lisa Chambers nominated her party leader Micheal Martin for Taosieach saying he is "very well qualified to undertake the duties of the office". Read More She said his CV "speaks for itself" outlining how he served as minister for education, health, enterprise and foreign affairs during the course of his career. Ms Chambers said he "represented this country and government with distinction on both the national and international stages". "As leader of the opposition over the last five years he has consistently opposed government policies with were unfair and hit the vulnerable hardest. He has campaigned tirelessly for a fairer and more inclusive Ireland". "We campaigned for a change in government. The people gave their verdict on the outgoing government and their policise and it is very clear that they voted for change. On that basis I belive that we must do the very same in this chamber today. We must vote for change. By voting for Micheal Martin as Taoiseach you are honouring that commitment," Ms Chamber said. Richard Boyd-Barrett proposed Ruth Coppinger for Taoiseach, making her the first woman to be proposed to the role. Mr Boyd-Barrett said he wished Ms Coppinger could have a realistic prospect of being elected, and hit out at larger parties for not getting a Government together. Jesus Christ went into the wilderness for 40 days and nights to think about how he could save humanity, he said. Bigger parties have left this country in the wilderness for the past 40 days since the election. Mr Barrett used his proposal speech to hit out at Fine Gael for its TDs' praise of Enda Kenny's resilience. He does not have the same reslience as people waiting on a house on the housing list, he said. The Anti-Austerity Alliance's Mick Barry also spoke calling on voters to continue a boycott of water charges. Acting Tanaiste Joan Burton attacked Fianna Fail as she told the Dail they will abstain on the vote for Mr Kenny but vote against Mr Martin. She claimed Fianna Fail are trying to look after their own interests and have not put forward any serious proposals that could lead to a new government. And she said their plan to abolish water charges was an act of national vandalism. Theyve really brought us back to the days of old Fianna Fail, the Labour Party leader said. Ms Burton added that Fine Gael and Fianna Fail now need to sit down and hammer out a deal before the next vote for Taoiseach. She said Fine Gael had put forward a discussion document for a Programme for Government, it was not progressive enough. People are become fearful about the ongoing political uncertainty, she said. Independent TD Mattie McGrath said he will take part in the talks about government formation with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail for another week but no more. Denis Naughten, of the Rural Five, said his group would be abstaining from todays vote in order to offer the leaders of the two parties a last chance to work together. Its time to stand up and do the job that they were elected to do, he said. Danny Healy Rae told the Dail he and his brother Michael had worked tirelessly with Fine Gael and Fianna Fail since our last session in the Dail. We have made little progress. We have done as good as we can, he said. But he alleged that the two parties have been holding secret high-level talks for the past 10 to 12 days. My rumours are very well substantiated, he said. Micheal Martin laughed across the Dail chamber and shouted that Mr Healy Rae might update him on the progress of those talks later. The Kerry Independent also hit out at Health Minister Leo Varadkars antics when he tweeted a picture of his election posters stacked and ready for reuse. He warned that while the Healy Rae posters might not be neatly stacked, they would find them quickly. We are as well able to go as ye are, he said, adding: Nobody wants another election. DAIL EIREANN has reconvened for just the third time since the General Election and the country still has no Government after over a month of discussions. Deputies will vote for a Taoiseach again but it is unlikely to produce a result with the numbers stacked against acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Fianna Fail's Micheal Martin. Here are five things to look out for as the afternoon progresses: Who Independents will vote for as Taoiseach Most Independents are likely to abstain in today's vote after discussions with the two biggest parties ended inconclusively. Roscommon-Galway's Denis Naughten appeared to give up on power saying that it would be better for Fine Gael and Fianna Fail formed a government this morning. Expand Close Party leaders Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Party leaders Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin If you were a betting person youd bet your house on Enda Kenny getting 51 votes and Micheal Martin getting 43. Ruth Coppinger hopes to make history The Anti-Austerity Alliance hope to make history by putting forward Ruth Coppinger as a nomination for Taoiseach. This will make her the first woman to be put forward for the role. This follows the party's symbolic gesture of putting forward Richard Boyd-Barrett for the role when the Dail first again met last month. How long will Enda Kenny and Micheal Martin spend talking tonight? All eyes will be Mr Kenny and Mr Martin after today's formality of voting for Taoiseach. The pair still have agreed a time or location for the meeting, which isnt a good sign after their previous spat over text to set up a meeting last week. Independents will be keen see how much of their discussions have inspired any agreements made between the two leaders. How long they talk tonight could be telling. Where this leaves water charges? Both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are at odds over the issue. Fianna Fail have proposed scrapping the charge but Fine Gael are adamant that charges will remain. How both sides line up after today's events could be crucial to keeping water charges. Is the Dail changing the way it does business? A Dail committee is bringing forward ideas for new ways of doing business in the parliament. Expect plenty of grandstanding as the proposals are debated this evening. A priest who hit global headlines in 2006 for having an affair with a woman 42 years his junior has passed away. Fr Maurice 'Mossie' Dillane shocked parishioners when he retired from the priesthood in January 2006 after his long-term affair with a local woman was revealed. He received a massive outpouring of public support and sympathy at the time. He passed away peacefully on Monday in the care of UCH Galway. A private removal will be held on Thursday to St Brigid's Church, Portumna for Requiem Mass at noon. Fr Dillane was a native of west Co Limerick and was a late vocation who joined the priesthood after working in banking. He later served as a missionary priest in San Antonio, Texas for several years. He returned to Ireland in the late 1990s and was assigned to the Killoran parish near Ballinasloe. His much-publicised affair emerged in early 2006, and the couple went into hiding to avoid the glare of the media. Fr Maurice Dillane met the woman shortly after he returned to Co Galway from San Antonio in Texas in the mid-1990s. It is understood they were in a relationship for a total of nine years. The relationship began when she was 22 years of age. The woman lived just yards from the church in the Killoran parish near Ballinasloe, Co Galway, where he served. It is understood that the woman changed jobs to follow him to a new parish when he was appointed curate in Looscaun, Co Galway. "They have known each other since Fr Mossie came back from the States," one source told the Irish Independent at the time. "This was not just a one-off fling. They are committed to each other." A very sociable individual, he is understood to have met his future lover at a social event before the relationship blossomed. The relationship remained a secret until she gave birth to their child and the rumour mill went into overdrive. The secret relationship was confirmed when the chairperson of the Woodford Pastoral Council, Justin O'Byrne, decided to seek clarification from Woodford parish Priest, Fr Patrick Naughten. Locals and friends of Fr Dillane remained supportive of him during the time of media interest. "He is a very nice, sociable man and was friendly to everyone, so nobody really suspected this relationship was going on," one churchgoer said at the time. The mystery of the 110-year-old antique clock which was stolen from a landmark pub by a group of middle-aged men has been solved. The valuable timepiece which hung on the wall of Dick Mack's pub in Dingle, Co Kerry, since 1899 was taken from the pub by a stag party at midnight last Saturday. Gardai were looking for the stag party, while a massive online campaign spiralled in an attempt to bring the clock back home. Members of the stag party became aware of the online campaign and soon realised the error of their ways, and offered to pay for the damage. James Barry told independent.ie: The clock has been returned. It was returned by a local who found it abandoned in the back of Currans Yard. The culprits have since been in touch, have apologised and will pay for the damage to the clock so we will draw a line under the whole fiasco, We would just like to thank everyone online for their interest and help, the locals here in Dingle, the lads in Currans Pub and other pubs in town and the Gardai. The online reaction was insane and that was what forced the culprits to come forward. Locally it created quite a stir and we will indeed raise a few glasses tonight to celebrate the return. Finn McDonnell, manager of Dick Mack's, had told the Irish Independent that the stag party confronted on Saturday night by local people who spotted them with the clock in another pub in the town. A portrait of Charlie Haughey was taken from the wall of the same pub last year but was recovered. FIANNA Fail leader Micheal Martin has promised to recruit 600 new gardai, increase allowances for rural GPs and freeze third level students fees by the end of next year as part of his attempt to win the support of Independent TDs. Mr Martins negotiation team provided Independents with a new document outlining detailed timelines for achieving policy measures if Fianna Fail leads the next government. Among the proposals is Fianna Fails plan to introduce a slimmed down agency to replace Irish Water within 18 months as revealed in the Irish Independent. The Fianna Fail Response Document on Government Formation, which has been seen by Independent.ie, also sets out timelines for other key policy areas being discussed with Independents. This includes timeframes for achieving objectives in housing, health, justice, education and rural affairs. On tax, Fianna Fail pledges to abolish the 1pc Universal Social Charge (USC) rate by the end of next year and simplify the tax and close loopholes within six months. The party will abolish USC for all income up to 80,000 over five year, as it promised before the general election. Mr Martin plans to give the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF) an additional 100m to alleviate waiting times by next January. No details are given on what target he is setting for waiting times. He will also abolish the prescription charge over five years and introduce a tax on fizzy drinks. The rural GP allowance will be increased to 25,000. Mental health funding will be increased by 37.4m and a new Mental Health Authority will be established. In a clear sop to Waterford based Independent Alliance TD John Halligan, Fianna Fail is committing to expanding services in Waterford University Hospital to allow 24 cardiac care services. Under rural affairs, a food ombudsman will be established, a cross-departmental rural affairs minister will be appointed and there will be reform of the commercial rates system. The document states that broadband will be available in every home within five years. For older people the State pension will be increased by 30 and the living alone allowance will be raised to 15. In the section on justice, Fianna Fail promises to recruit 600 gardai and double the size of the Garda Reserve by the end of the year. The party will set up a National Major Crimes Investigation Team and a Serious Organised Crime Unit. Mandatory sentences will be introduced for attacks on older people. Under education, Fianna Fail will stamp out the practice of schools seeking voluntary contributions from parents, ensure LGBT teachers are treated equally and introduce PE teachers in primary schools. The housemates of a teenager who self-terminated her pregnancy with drugs bought online have spoken out about why they reported her to police. In an interview with the Belfast Telegraph, the two women revealed details about the tragic case that has reignited furious debate over Northern Ireland's abortion laws. They said they have been vilified for contacting the PSNI about their former housemate, who this week received a suspended prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to procuring her own abortion by using a poison. The 21-year-old, who was 19 at the time, had been sharing a house in south Belfast with the two women. She told them she was pregnant and that she could not afford to travel to England for an abortion. Instead, the teen, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, purchased pills online and induced a miscarriage in July 2014. The male foetus was left in a plastic bag in a household bin for eight days before police were contacted. One of the housemates, who asked to remain anonymous after a backlash on social media over her decision to contact police, told the Belfast Telegraph she was so badly affected by the events that she had to receive counselling. The 38-year-old claimed she offered to be legal guardian to the teenager's child if she still did not want the baby after giving birth. "She called the baby 'the pest' and kept saying she just wanted rid of it. She said: 'I don't want this inside me.' I offered a number of times to become legal guardian to the child. I myself had just had a miscarriage. Read More "I really tried to help her. I talked through a number of options but she just didn't want to know," said the Belfast woman. "She said she was going to order these pills online. I tried to talk her out of it. She didn't tell us they had arrived. The first I knew that she had taken them was on the Friday night when she said she was getting awful cramps." She said she told the young woman not to cut the cord and advised her to get medical treatment, but she refused. "A couple of hours later she came down carrying a plastic bag. I couldn't bring myself to ask what she had done with the baby. After my own miscarriage my mind wasn't in a good place," said the woman. She added: "A bit later I was going to put rubbish out in the bin and there was the bag. When my other housemate came home on the Sunday we went and looked in the bag in the bin. There was the baby on a towel. "Even now I just have a picture in my mind of it. "Even now I feel sick. It has done so much damage to me mentally. "It is something I can't get out of my head. On bin collection day I couldn't bring myself to put the bin out for collection. I didn't want to throw a baby away. I didn't know what to do." She said she was upset by the woman's attitude towards the termination. "This isn't anything to do with the rights and wrongs of abortion. I'm not anti-abortion. I believe there are circumstances, like rape, where it should be a woman's choice. "This is about her attitude. It was as if she was getting rid of a piece of clothing," she stated. "There was absolutely no remorse. Even the way she was up and away out and doing her own thing a day after the abortion, while me and our other house-mate just walked around in shock. "She wasn't forced into anything. Read More "We tried to help her. She was given lots of different options. We even tried to talk to her family to get them to help her, but we didn't know them and she wouldn't give us their contact details. People are saying we contacted police out of malice. That's not true," she added. The second housemate, who has also been targeted by online trolls, said the pair decided to contact police after confiding in a friend. "We tried so hard to support her when she told us about the pregnancy but it made me so angry when she kept calling it 'the pest'. Then, after the abortion, she showed no remorse. It was so weird the way she reacted to what had happened," said the woman. She added: "I tried to be nice to her. My mum took her own life when I was 17 and I knew how badly that affected me, so I thought that something that bad must have affected her. But really there was no sign of remorse at all, her attitude really got to me. "I asked her why she wouldn't give the baby a proper burial and she said 'do you want me to put it in a bag and throw it up the street?' I was so angry at her attitude. I eventually cracked up and told a friend. I was a frantic mess. He was shocked and told me I had to contact the police." The 22-year-old from the north coast said she has not been able to put the events behind her and has been hounded by internet trolls since Monday's court hearing. "It is just insane the way we are being portrayed as being the bad ones in this. The abuse we are getting is just awful. People are accusing us of having no compassion for not getting her help. But she begged and pleaded with us not to tell anyone. "This isn't a debate about the rights and wrongs of abortion. The way this was done was wrong. The baby had hands, feet, all its facial features, its little nose. I can't stop thinking that it might have been alive when it was born. It is awful," she said. The criminalisation of the woman has been criticised by human rights organisation Amnesty International. "A woman who needs an abortion is not a criminal - the law should not treat her as such," Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International's Northern Ireland director, said. Cause for concern: Doctors say if you are going to consult the internet, use accredited health websites When Co Leitrim mum Yasmin Vorajee couldn't get an immediate appointment with her GP about a nagging pain in her breast, the mum-of-two consulted the internet. Eighteen weeks pregnant with her third child, the business consultant's Googling left her even more worried: "It made me even more anxious, because there was an implication that it could be quite serious," she says, adding that the information she unearthed in relation to her symptoms pointed to breast cancer. However, when Yasmin from Carrick-on-Shannon, attended her GP's clinic for the scheduled check-up some days later, her doctor was able to reassure her. "After she checked me out she said everything was fine - she felt it was probably just hormonal. The pain went away," reports Vorajee, who adds that she learned a valuable lesson. "What I took from that experience was to stick with the GP! Google is great but when it comes to your health, you really need to see your GP face to face, because if you get anxious or worried easily, it can make you even more so," says Vorajee. The growing trend for patients to research symptoms online instead of, or before visiting the family doctor is leading to 'cyberchondria' - patients believing themselves to be at greater risk than they actually are, doctors heard during the Irish Medical Organisation's (IMO's) annual conference in Sligo at the weekend. The phenomenon is now a daily issue for GPs all over Ireland, says Dr Harry Barry, a well-known GP and author of a series of bestselling mental health books, including Flagging Anxiety and Panic which is due to be launched next week. "My favourite advice to people is to avoid Dr Google. Dr Google does not have 20 or 30 years of face-to-face medical experience behind him," says Barry, who believes that while some patients will consult the internet in a "sensible, practical way" using recognised websites such as those run by the Vhi, NHS or HSE, others will use the internet as "a form of safety behaviour and then get even more frightened". A parent worried about a child with a high temperature may research it on the internet and notice that "a cause could be meningitis," says Barry, adding that very often the parent will then investigate the symptoms of meningitis and get really frightened, he says. "There are cases where someone who is continually anxious hears about a friend who has bowel cancer. "They Google it after experiencing something like tummy pain and then do 'jumps' - because one of the possibilities is that it could be bowel cancer and so they must have it. "I have had people coming in like this who have looked up symptoms they might have and are worried about them." One of the big problems, he says, is that if you input general symptoms into a search engine, it can throw up "50 conditions that could be theoretically life threatening". "Fatigue, for example, can be linked to cancer or diabetes and if I suddenly start Googling these conditions, I may begin to think there's a problem." While technology can be very useful in medicine, it should be used in the context of consistent, personalised GP care, believes Dr Ray Walley, outgoing president of the IMO. "There are recognisable websites such as NHS, with proper up-to-date informed websites, but there are others that can have agendas and can have links to prescribing medication," he says, adding that the tele-consultations are not always necessarily good value for money. "Some people do telemedical consultations on the basis that it's cheaper or that they have busy lives," says Dr Walley, who recalls how an 18-year-old patient of his recently opted for a telemedical consultation because she was unable to get to his clinic to see him. "She was prescribed something she had a bad reaction to," he said, adding that such an incident was much less likely to happen in the context of continuity of GP care. "She came back to me and said she's learned the lesson, that quick is not necessarily best. She has now requested me to refer her to a GP near to where she is attending college in another part of the country." There is no reason why the GP network cannot expand to take telemedicine into account, he says, but it must be in the context of "personalised continuity of care with the same GP". "Countless research over the past 40 years has shown that continuity of GP care is crucial to optimal patient treatment." There is a growing tendency for people, especially those in their late teens and early twenties to consult the internet first - but Dr Walley warns, given the huge amount of information available from a wide variety of sources on the internet, members of the public can find it difficult to distinguish between good and bad advice. "Everyone wants everything immediately and sometimes you have to wait for what's good," he points out, adding, however, that in Ireland, you can still often get a same-day consultation with your GP, or at least, shortly afterwards. Most of the 3,000 GPs in the country, says Dr Mark Murphy, would echo his belief that the majority of the patients they would see daily would already have sourced internet information of some kind on their symptoms. He told GPs during the conference that a study of 22 accredited online "symptom checkers" published in the British Medical Journal last year showed they overstated the risk to the patient, making them more anxious. Apps did not take into account the patient's psychosocial issues, he added. "When people have quite complicated symptoms, we know that an internet search can result in inaccurate information," he said, adding that many providers of such information tend to be "risk averse" which means that they can overstate the actual risk posed by a particular set of symptoms, leading to a situation where a patient may believe there is something "very wrong" when in fact, their symptoms are mild. GPs are concerned about the excessive use by patients of unaccredited websites, leading to heightened patient anxiety. "Some patients are really anxious and many expect investigations to take place when in fact they are not needed," he said. "If patients wish to access internet information about common symptoms, it's recommended that they visit www.undertheweather.ie, says Murphy, adding that this is a reliable, accredited health website created by the Irish College of General Practitioners and the HSE. "People can refer to this website for the common symptoms such as high temperatures, cough, sore throat or pain in the ear," he said, adding that they will receive good information and advice. How often do parents lift the phone to their child's doctor or queue at the doctor-on-call? Do you make that visit regularly, 'just in case'? It seems that you are not alone. But it bothers me that children see the doctor more frequently than in the past. Hospitalisation rates are also high and this has to be traumatic for any small child. It bothers me because children are not any sicker. In fact, thanks to vaccination and improved living conditions (and despite obesity issues) we have one of the healthiest generations ever. Many life-threatening infections have all but disappeared. So why are our doctors so busy? Parents, ironically, appear to be more anxious than ever. This is despite medical expertise at the click of a mouse and despite the very welcome Under-6 GP scheme. Or perhaps it is because of these. Certainly, the responsibility as a parent weighs very heavily. Should you visit the doctor, as a precaution? What if that temperature is meningitis? What if you've missed something? Understandably, no parent wants to take chances with their small child. Of course, you may also be facing the pressures of work and day care in the morning and it may seem safer to check with an expert. And so the queues at doctors' surgeries and hospitals lengthen. I wrote When Your Child is Sick with parent and author Grainne O'Malley because I believe that parents want to - and can - play a central role in managing their sick children. However, the pressure to get it right is now considerable. Is it any wonder that parents can lose confidence in their own judgment? It wasn't always like this. Fifty years ago, there was no internet and less medical information but instead there was a community of experience. In every street there were neighbours who had raised six children and who could tell when a child was truly sick. There were families who had lived through everything from gastroenteritis to croup. I have no doubt that it is more difficult for parents today. Now our families are smaller, our neighbourhoods are less connected and many new parents find themselves learning on the job from other new parents - or from the internet. There is an overload of medical information and it's not always balanced by common-sense experience. The effect, unfortunately, has been to disempower parents. The free access to GP services, which is so welcome, may even contribute unintentionally. Could it send parents a message that they should go to their GP? I believe that we have lost sight of what is normal when a child falls ill. What is normal, as most doctors know, is a very minor illness which can usually be treated by the parent at home. In the main, there are 20 reasons why children are taken to the doctor and we have built our book, When Your Child is Sick, around these 20 core childhood illnesses. It is a health guide that any parent, carer or creche manager can very easily use. At a glance, you can learn how to recognise and treat the illness at home and the danger signs that need a call to the doctor. The book draws on 25 years' experience as a paediatrician in children's hospitals in both Europe and Australia and in this new edition I have also considered the most advanced thinking in the 'new illnesses' of childhood - allergy, obesity, hyperactivity, asthma - and complementary health remedies. The book empowers you to make informed decisions about your own child's health and an informed parent is a tremendous ally for any doctor. It lays out what is common during childhood and answers every parent's health worry - "is this normal?" So the next time your child is sick, will you visit the doctor - or will you handle it yourself first, with great common sense? Common health problems - and what to do Asthma Be quick to get help with an asthma attack. Call a doctor or hospital immediately if: The breathing is fast and shallow. He is so breathless that he cannot complete a sentence when he talks. He is constantly coughing. His colour changes. If his lips seem blue, go straight to a hospital. Trust your instincts. If it feels dramatically wrong, it probably is. Eczema The five-step approach It is relatively easy to control eczema, but it is an ongoing thing: 1. USE MOISTURISING CREAMS GENEROUSLY The secret is keeping the skin moist. You cannot put on too much moisturising cream (emollients). I tell parents to put their hand in the tub and lash on agricultural dollops of it. But they have to keep it up, even when the rash stops. Cream alone can control mild eczema, but make sure it is unperfumed. 2. AVOID IRRITANTS There are triggers that make eczema worse. Simply remove them where you can (eg soap) or keep contact to a minimum. 3. USE STEROIDS SPARINGLY If the eczema does not improve with moisturising, you will need to rub a steroid on the skin. But use it sparingly because it can thin the skin; and use the least potent one that works. 4. CATCH SKIN INFECTIONS EARLY Look out for signs of blisters, weeping sores or crusting skin. They will add to his problems unless nipped in the bud. 5. CONTROL THE ITCHING Some children get into an 'itch-scratch-itch' cycle that can be hard to break, especially because the skin starts to thicken (lichenification) and that makes it itch all the more. Try to catch itching early. Parents are surprised when I recommend daily baths. Doesn't a bath dry the skin? In fact, the baths hydrate it, they soothe itching and they are a great way to get baby oiled. Food Allergy Is it a food allergy? Diagnosing is a little like being a detective. Timing is especially interesting. Did the symptoms appear shortly after he ate the food? With an allergy, the symptoms will usually show - quite fast- in one of four parts of the body: SKIN He may have a general blotchy rash, which is itchy. In some cases, there may be swelling or puffiness around the eyes. These signs will appear within minutes or hours of exposure to the food. GUT His tongue, lips or palate may swell soon after eating the food. He may also vomit, have stomach pain or diarrhoea. The symptoms will, however, be mild. CHEST If it shows in the chest, it will most likely be a runny (or blocked) nose, sneezing, a cough or a wheeze. Nothing particularly severe. If it is, make sure it is not asthma or allergic rhinitis. EYE Food intolerance can show up as itchiness around the eyes or as conjunctivitis. BUT The symptoms of anaphylaxis are different. It needs urgent help. 'When Your Child is Sick' will be published by Gill Books on April 22, priced at 19.99. Aidan Timmons and Motoring Editor Eddie Cunningham team up to help readers make the right choice with their next car. Aidan visits dealers all over the country to produce a monthly guidebook on the values of used cars. He is co-editor of Motor Trade Publishers, who supply a car-valuing service to the motor trade, insurance companies and finance houses. Eddie is author of former best-seller 'Clever Car Buying'. I drive a 1990 Honda Accord automatic (2-litre petrol, fully loaded, sun roof, etc). I've had it since new. Last year I had the timing belt and distributor replaced and got two new tyres for the front. Most of my driving is short city drives. Some weeks I don't use it. All the electrics work; 86,500 miles. I do about 3,000-4,000 miles a year. NCT due June. My wife drives a 2006 Renault Megane Sky 1.4 petrol with glass sunroof, 65,000km since new. Most driving in town, short trips. Also timing belt and brakes done last year. What do you think each car is worth? If we were to change one car which one? We possibly don't need two. I presume any new car should be petrol. Extras like cruise control, reverse parking camera are a must, and possible sliding/sun roof. Getting in and out should be easier than at present as I have back problems. Maximum budget 20,000 plus trade-in. Should we go for a new small/medium-sized car (Kadjar, Jazz, Auris) or a more luxurious two-year-old second-hand (Volvo, Merc A-Class). Any other models you would suggest? Aidan: This is not straightforward by any means. Neither car is worth a great deal and so you need to manage your expectations that your budget of 20,000 won't be bolstered much by trading in either car. However, you might discover some manufacturers are running scrappage offers, which includes a minimum trade-in allowance that would greatly exceed both of your cars' respective market values. Leave no stone unturned. The motor trade works in quarters and as the first has just lapsed, some new deals could be rolled out or extended. Have a look in the Peugeot, Hyundai and Nissan stables. If nothing is forthcoming, you might think about off-loading one car privately. There are lots of permutations here. First, you drive an automatic. I assume you need at least one of the cars to be auto. Second, you have a bad back. You need to test every car thoroughly to make sure it suits because it is such an idiosyncratic ailment. Third, finding a used car that ticks the first two boxes that comes with a sunroof will involve a lot of shopping around. And last, you need to get rid of one of the cars. Common sense prevailing, the Accord is probably the one to let go. However, it's an automatic. So let me give you a few options. First, sell the Megane and buy a Yaris Hybrid. By the time you kit a new one out just right, you will have exhausted your entire budget. However, you now have two automatics and a new car that will effortlessly devour short journeys for next to no cost as you glide around on battery power. The Skoda Fabia 1.2 TSi DSG (auto) is also worth considering. It's bigger than it looks. The Honda Jazz has a CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) gearbox and a tall seating position. Any of those three would be ideal. If you want something bigger ditch the Accord and look for an Auris Hybrid. Its modus operandi seems to suit your needs just perfectly with the possible exception of the sunroof. It's worth investigating though. With such specific requirements, you are probably better off buying a new car. Plus, we didn't sell a great deal of petrols since 2008, so choice will be scarce. If you can live with having just one sunroof between the two cars, then the market is wide open for you. Eddie: I'm going to suggest you wait a little. Just think: you have ploughed a lot of money into timing belts and brakes and keeping the cars in good nick so they are unlikely to give you trouble. And you drive less than you walk, by the look of things. So you are going to spend a lot on an occasional convenience rather than a pressing need. If I were you I would sell the Renault privately over the next few months. Then I would plan on trading in the Accord against a new Jazz (Honda v Honda) either by July or, better still, wait until January (171-reg). I think the Jazz will suit your back, your need for flexibility and space and frugality. I'd echo Aidan's sentiments and take plenty of time over this. But start by reducing numbers to one by selling privately. That makes choices much cleaner. I really enjoy your articles and the motoring sections in the Independent each week. I was just reading Eddie's excellent article on First Auto Finance's used-car PCP plan. It is an interesting concept. Is 8.9pc a high APR in comparison to credit union (8.19pc), Skoda 0pc, AIB 8.45pc HP? But that's really not why I am on to you. I was planning on upgrading the car this time next year but that article got me thinking it could be possible to do it earlier seeing as PCP is now available for cars three years old. I have a 2009 Audi A3 Sportback, 5dr hatch, 2.0 TDI, 167bhp with 103,000 miles (UK import). It has posed no problems; NCT passed October last. Do you know what kind of value would be put on this car? Having checked online I only see two similar cars asking between 12,000 and 13,750. I would be in the hunt for a similar powered car (2.0 TDI, 140bhp - 170bhp) but after that I am open to suggestions. I like Audis (saloon, hatchback or estate) but I know they are on the more expensive side. I also like: Skoda Superb, BMW 3-series, Honda Accord, Mazda6, Volvo S40/S60, Hyundai i40. Total budget probably in the 25,000 range. I do up to 20,000km for commuting but often car pool: daily work commute 80km total. Aidan: Some lenders are now offering PCP on used cars. This essentially works in the same manner as it does for new cars. A guaranteed future value and mileage parameters are set and monthly repayments are subsequently calculated. However, just as it is the case with cars (in fact, even more so) the suitability of any finance deal for each person's own circumstances can only be determined by the individual. This is true for PCP, Hire Purchase, or a regular personal loan. Therefore, I encourage you to explore every option so you can best make an informed decision. Let's just work on the basis you have 25,000 and you want an efficient diesel. Considering the new A4 has recently been launched, there should be a fairly healthy supply of used models to choose from. Most went for the 2.0 TDi SE 120bhp although there are a number of 143bhp versions around, too. Nothing wrong whatsoever with the 120bhp in my mind. I like how you've name checked the Superb. Excellent choice. With a 2.0 TDi and 170bhp, the Superb is a confident motorway cruiser. It's library quiet in the cabin. Rear passenger room is limousine-esque so your car pool pals will be happy. Try to find one with the DSG transmission and you've got a premium motor. The 3-Series is another smart choice. Again, I would advocate starting your search with BMW dealers as their two years Premium Select warranty package is attractive. You will find most purchased the 316d but if you want more poke, the 318d and 320d are the ones for you. Maybe even ask a BMW dealer to keep their eyes and ears open for one. I think you've narrowed the list down to a competitive bunch by including the excellent Mazda 6. If you can find a 132 registered Platinum model you will have a lot of car for your money. The 2.2 diesel engine isn't the most highly tuned but you will not find it lacking. Lastly, if you like your A3 and want something similar then take a look at the A3 saloon. Again, most will be the lower powered 1.6 TDi versions but the 2.0 TDi was available, too. It's not as big as the others that I have mentioned but just like with the finance deal, it's all about how well it fits you. Eddie: Yes the widening of PCP to 131-reg and younger is moving apace. The Volkswagen Group tell me their rates are lower (I quoted them in last week's issue) than those of the newest entrant. Just to point out, as you probably know, PCPs are effectively leases and if you 'own' your car you are giving up that status. Indeed you may find you have too much of a deposit and have the dealer hand you back money because around 22pc/23pc deposit is optimum. I'm not being negative here; just checking you are aware of the shift. Do you need a bigger car? Would an Audi A3 saloon suit you seeing as you're trading in an Audi? Great little buy; yes a tad expensive but rock-solid re-sale value. There should be a few coming back onto the market now. Much larger but omitted from your list is the Volkswagen Passat, much more in line with your level of commute, I think. How about a new Skoda Octavia? Lots of room, great diesels and well-specced. I have to say that's the route I'd go. JUST TO SAY We love getting your enquiries but can't reply to all of them in as full a manner as we'd like due to time and space restraints. We try to deal with as many as possible via email. But you can help us help you if you make sure to include the following critical elements in your query: * Total budget. * Annual mileage. * Size of car required (number of seats). * Present car (make, model, year and mileage). ecunningham@independent.ie I just didn't like the look of one of the front tyres. They looked under-inflated. So I stopped at the local garage to check the pressure on them all. I check them about once a month, which is the recommendation. The pressure was just a couple of psi out but one of the rear tyres was down to 26 psi; it should be 32. There was a lady parked beside me. The tyres on her car looked really under-inflated. I offered to check them. She declined the offer. Maybe she thought I was a weirdo or didn't think it was worth the effort. If it's the latter, it's really symptomatic of the public's attitude to tyres. Our own studies show that people know that they should check them regularly, and know how to check them, but very few do. This is hopefully about to change. The RSA recently published a report on the role vehicle factors play in fatal road crashes. It makes for disturbing reading. 'Pre-Crash Report on Vehicle Factors in Fatal Collisions', was produced by analysing data from detailed 'Forensic Collision Investigations' conducted by An Garda Siochana between 2008 and 2012. These reports differ from the initial on-scene preliminary investigation carried out in the immediate aftermath of a crash which form the basis of our annual crash reports. Forensic reports are much more detailed and can take years to complete. They examine the circumstances and factors contributing to these collisions and record where vehicle factors are listed as a contributory factor in the Investigation files by the gardai. These factors include the condition of tyres, brakes, lights, steering etc. Of the 867 collisions analysed, 858 involved a motor vehicle. In total 101 or 12pc of fatal collisions were identified as having a vehicle factor which contributed to the collision. These may not have been the sole cause of the collision, but may have contributed in full or part to the outcome in combination with speed, alcohol etc. Tyres were the number one vehicle factor. They were a known contributory factor in 8pc of all collisions involving a vehicle. When you look at the factors as a whole, the condition of tyres accounted for almost two thirds (64.1pc) of the 101 collisions where a vehicle factor was cited as contributing. Defective tyres were a big factor in single vehicle crashes (74.1pc) when compared with multiple vehicle crashes (57.6pc). More than half of the tyres were excessively/dangerously worn and 10pc were underinflated, some dangerously low. About 6pc comprised a combination of excessively worn, under-inflated, wrong size or fitted in the wrong direction. The county with the largest proportion of defective tyres was Donegal (18.2pc), followed by Cork, Kerry and Wexford (9.1pc each). Losing control on a bend on a regional road and on a road surface that was dry at the time were typical scenarios. In all, 111 people lost their lives and 30 were seriously injured in collisions where vehicle defects were a contributory factor. This may not have been the sole cause of the collision, but this fact in combination with other pre-crash behaviours such as alcohol, speed etc. resulted in these deaths. Of the 111, 71 people were killed and 19 were seriously injured in a collision where a vehicle had defective tyres as a contributory factor. A further 18 people were killed and six were seriously injured in a collision where a vehicle had defective brakes. Again, this may not have been the sole contributing factor to the collision but may have had an impact on the outcome. There is no component in your car that's as likely to contribute to a crash as your tyres. The reason for this is that tyres simply aren't on the radar. You never think about them until you need to. It's time to take tyre safety more seriously. You need to think about what a worn tyre might cost you. What you might lose when your tyres lose grip with the road. As a result of this research the RSA have embarked on a major tyre awareness and safety campaign this week. The message is simple. When your tyres lose grip, you lose everything. Check yours regularly. Republican Ted Cruz easily won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump's hopes of amassing enough delegates for the party's nomination and boosting chances of a rare contested convention. Cruz's double-digit win over Trump was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nomination fight that could last to the July convention in Cleveland, Ohio. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against front-runner Hillary Clinton and trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Trump entered the night with 737 convention delegates to Cruz's 481, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the party's nominee in the Nov. 8 election. Cruz said the result in Wisconsin showed the party was beginning to rally behind him, but he acknowledged the growing possibility that the fight could go all the way to the convention. Meanwhile, in the east, Armenian-backed forces violated a ceasefire in Azerbaijan's breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region 115 times in the last 24 hours, RIA news agency cited the Azeri Defence Ministry as saying on Wednesday. Back in Ireland, the front pages of this morning's national newspapers are as follows: 'Health cover to rise by 700 in fresh squeeze' reads the front page of the Irish Independent. The newspaper reports that some families are facing a hike of up to 700 per year in health insurance premiums within weeks. Personal Finance Editor Charlie Weston says addiitonal price rises are also forecast to be on the way this year. The front page of the Herald reads: 'Michaella's lies'. The drug mule told RTE in an exclusive interview that she fled threats, but her family knew of Ibiza months before, the newspaper reports. The Irish Daily Star also leads with Michaella McCollum - this time an exclusive interview with her former boyfriend. The headline reads: 'Michaella's ex: She deserves a break'. The front page photograph shows Michaella and the English DJ sitting on a boat together. The Irish Examiner leads with the news that a flood crisis group had not had a meeting for up to six years. The headline reads: 'No flood crisis meeting for up to six years'. The front page also features a photograph from last night's fatal crash in north Cork which left an elderly couple dead. It is the second fatal collision in north Cork in recent weeks. The Irish Times leads with the Panama Papers latest. 'Panama legal firm linked to Quinn case' reads the front page. The Irish Daily Mail leads with politics and the race to form a government. 'Tonight's the night!' reads the front page of the newspaper. The Irish Daily Mirror leads with the statement of Buncrana hero Davitt Walsh as the young man said he is looking forward to being a part of the life of Baby Rioghnach-Ann, who he saved from the pier tragedy last month. 'Bonded for life' reads the headline. Finally, the Irish Sun leads with tycoon Jim Mansfield Jr's appearance in court yesterday in connection to an alleged unlicensed weapons cache. The headline reads: 'Brothers 'n' arms'. Premium John Downing Opinion Pension reforms are dicey territory but grand plan by minister Heather Humphreys just might win through Pension system changes all across the western world have a great propensity to infuriate those most feared by politicians: the grey brigade. And when the oldies take to the streets, they usually play for keeps. I realise I'm a masculinist It's someone who is characterised by attitudes or values held to be typical of men; an advocate of the rights or needs of men. Brigitte Bardot is one too, declaring: "I am a masculinist. I hate feminism." I hate feminism too - not its fundamental tenet that all men and women deserve to be equal. I couldn't be a bigger champion of that, personally, politically and socially. But the brand we are fed here in Ireland - the militant, illogical, strictly PC, feelings-before-facts type of neo-feminism that has crept into society in recent years. I find myself sympathising deeply with the men it demonises. The kind of so-called feminist that makes a parody of the whole movement, that is so serious about itself and so constantly outraged and fuming and quick to take offence at, well, everything, that it is dragging the campaign for women's rights back decades. Its loud, bullish, no-debate voices are often the only ones given a platform on the issue of women. Is this what our culture wants to depict feminism as? Because it's excluding those of us who have high regard for balance, fair judgment and being allowed to decide for ourselves. Intelligent people, the ones you want on your side, when you're really passionate about the battle for the rights of women, who remain, behind all this debate, the most oppressed people on the planet. What would Countess Markievicz think of today's feminists? The feminist icon who didn't just think like a man, but was proud to do so? When a global company urged women to "think like a man" in an ad recently, they were forced to apologise, such was the mortal offence amongst the more delicate flowers in the neo-feminist brigade. What? Are we denying now that women and men think differently? It's a scientific fact. If you're a media feminist, you are appalled at this. Here are their rules. If you don't agree with them, you're a misogynist. You must jump on bandwagons and get incensed by issues, whether they are backed up by evidence or not. You must laud Waking The Feminists as the world's greatest campaign. You must be vehemently pro-abortion, even if your gut is telling you that terminating the life of an unborn might not always be the right choice, and get on the abortion bus, even if it feels a little crass. Rail about the Repeal of the 8th and send Enda Kenny tweets about your menstrual period. Take everything that ever happens and make it the fault of men. Last month, a young woman called Victoria Curtis took to Twitter to show a slightly bruised eye that she got after getting into a debate on Dublin's Camden Street at 2am that Sunday. Just for context, party zone Camden Street is probably one of the drunkest places in Ireland in the early hours at the weekend, and, consequently, one of the most dangerous. It's the place where much-loved journalist Eugene Moloney was killed by a blow to the head as he walked home in 2012. A very real tragedy. Ms Curtis told how she got the injury after she "called a man out" for asking her and her friends to show him their "arses". She stated she was punched in the face because she is a lesbian. We don't know the man in question, we haven't heard from him, because Curtis's story went viral on social media without the other side of the story, or without a court hearing. I have lived on Camden Street for years; and many times I have walked through the staggering throngs at night, with the head down, ignoring all comments, my own safety paramount. But the feminist telling of this story is, it's simply because Curtis "challenged" a man's sexist comments. No discussion. If you're a "feminist", who lives in an ideological belljar, the correct and only response is: "Bravo! Well done you." Anyone who questions the wisdom of engaging in debates over sexual orientation at 2am with drunks will be labelled as having an agenda. It goes without saying that such an attack on a person is abhorrent, and never justifiable. But does it make you feel any better - if you're sitting in A&E - to know you're in the right? When you're on social media a few hours later crusading about it, perhaps there may be some lessons learned, as regards personal safety and responsibility. Just minding yourself, because there are bad people out there who do bad things. If you suggest protecting yourself against the evils of the world, you're accused of putting the blame on the victim. Pragmatism, practicality and context are out the window. Here's a thought, neo-feminists. Not everything is about whether you're a woman, what your sexuality is, not everything is about you. Sometimes a row on a street is a row on a street and it spills over into violence. At least try to avoid it. I am not a feminist of the new definition. But I am what was once regarded as a feminist. A woman who is free, to argue, speak her mind, have her own opinions and not be forced what to think. Who doesn't let society dictate how she should look, how she should live. But there is no progress in misandry. The British actress Emma Watson put it best when she said: "I have realised that fighting for women's rights has too often become synonymous with man-hating. "If there is one thing I know for certain it is that this has to stop." The behaviour of the main political parties since the February 26 election - now almost six weeks ago - has been nothing short of contemptuous towards the will of the Irish electorate. I seem to recall, in the past, both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael having referred to this same electorate as "discerning" and this same "discerning electorate", on February 26 showed quite clearly their will by returning a depleted Fine Gael and a Fianna Fail who, essentially, did a little better than expected. I think it's fair to say that the smaller parties and Independents performed, more or less, as anticipated and the end result was that the outgoing Fine Gael/Labour coalition had no realistic chance of returning to Government. Had both the main parties any real respect for the electorate then they would have taken their final decision on board and quickly formed a Government. Instead, their every move since the result was announced has clearly indicated that their sole motivation has been personal and party advantage and this has been displayed in a fashion which has been even more blatant than the electorate, long used to political cynicism, has witnessed for some time. From a historical perspective, it's worth reminding ourselves that on two occasions in the late 1980s - 1987 and 1989 - Charles Haughey's Fianna Fail found itself in a similar position. In the former case, Alan Dukes's Fine Gael gave its support for Haughey's government in the so-called 'Tallaght strategy'. This Government lasted no longer than two years, whereupon Fianna Fail formed a coalition with the Progressive Democrats. None of this was, perhaps, ideal and it certainly didn't result in an entirely stable government. But it did set in place policies which paved the way for the economic upturn which occurred a few years later and it certainly illustrated that, for all his documented opportunism and cynicism, Haughey showed, arguably, a more reasonable attitude toward the "discerning Irish electorate" than any of the current opportunists have done. JD Mangan Stillorgan, Co Dublin Living without cheap alcohol Having read Eamon Delaney's article (Irish Independent March 31) it would appear that fourth place in the EU Nanny State Index is not a good position to be in. Why should it be seen as wrong for a government to try and protect its citizens from the effects of cheap alcohol? What about the children whose lives are destroyed because their parents' whole lives revolve around cheap alcohol? Who looks out for the welfare of these children? What about the parents who wait up all night for their sons or daughters to come home, only to be told that, in many instances, they won't be coming home again. What about the alcohol-related suicides, the drunk drivers . . . need I go on? Would all these be included in the 'sins of the few' category? If living in a nanny state means these issues are being addressed then I, for one, have no problem with that. John Higgins Ballina, Co Mayo 'Bowing to intolerance' Like many other Belfast citizens, I was terribly disappointed that President Michael D Higgins had withdrawn from the civic event at Belfast City Hall commemorating the Easter Rising. Apparently, his decision was motivated by so-called "democratic" unionists who declined invitations to the event. In that light, advisers felt his attendance would be controversial. Might I offer a piece of advice to our President? Bowing to intolerance is not the way to build an inclusive society. Did those well-paid advisers even consider the feelings of the people of Belfast who regard Michael D Higgins as their President? Those citizens of Ireland who were left behind after partition and condemned to endure decades of state-controlled sectarian discrimination and forced emigration but nevertheless maintained their sense of nationhood? Those same people would have been delighted to have seen the President of Ireland at Belfast City Hall. Belfast contributed in no small part to the Easter Rising. Charlie Monahan from Short Strand was the first Volunteer to die in Easter Week. Two of the seven signatories, James Connolly and Sean Mac Diarmada, had strong connections, having lived in the city for many years. The same is true of two of the most prominent women to take part in the Rising - Winifred Carney and Margaret Skinnider. Perhaps in this centennial year it is time the Government in Dublin started to acknowledge the responsibility, and indeed, the debt of gratitude it has to Irish citizens in the North rather than kow-towing to the ungraceful bluster of the ne'ersayers who claim allegiance to another state? Eddie Whyte Sandefjord, Norway Laurel and Hardy The photo of the wonderful Laurel and Hardy published along with your main letter (Irish Independent, April 4) was just mesmerising. It literally brought the two boys back to life. I do hope you find many reasons to publish it again. Brian McDevitt Glenties, Co Donegal Awards for gallantry Hugh Duffy's letter of March 31 is incorrect when it states that no cases of Irish gallantry were ever rewarded by a "Mention in despatches". Major Vere Ponsonby, (Suffolk Yeo) and Viscount Duncannon, (later Earl of Bessborough) December 1917; Lt Col Frederick William Evans Johnson (RIF) five mentions and a DSO and Bar in 1915; Second Lt Patrick Fennelly (RIR) DCM & MID; Cpl John Boyd (ACC) 30 May 1916; Col Alexander John Donald (RAMC) four times and a CBE in 1919; Major Garret Brennan (RGA) April 7 and November 8, 1918; Sgt Joseph Atkinson (RMF) by Lord Kitchener in 1902 while serving in South Africa and he again served during the Great War; Cpl John J. Boyd April 30 and June 17, 1916. There are other numerous examples from the Great War and before. Lastly, I think it unfair to laud the men of 1916 while denigrating the achievements of John Redmond. I cannot help but wonder where Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O' Connell stand in Mr Duffy's estimation. John Kirwan (archivist) Inistioge, Co Kilkenny Amanda Byram with her celebrity pals on her hen night Amanda Byram with her celebrity pals on her hen night She may have only got engaged in December, but it is full steam ahead for Amanda Byram. The smitten presenter is counting down the days to her wedding to TV producer Julian Okines and what better way to mark the end of her single life than a raucous night on the tiles with some of her celebrity pals? The Castleknock native painted the town red during a hen night in London with a group of gal pals, including Laura Whitmore, Denise Van Outen and Spice Girl Mel C to celebrate her last nights as a single woman. The group headed to Camden hotspot Koko were they watched newly reformed '90s girl group All Saints. Playing their first live show in over 17 years, the group performed material from their new album as well as their classic tracks. Expand Close Amanda Byram with Denise Van Outen on her hen night / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Amanda Byram with Denise Van Outen on her hen night Read More Dressed down in a check shirt, Amanda sipped champagne and danced the night away for the low-key celebrations on Monday night. The girls were later joined by All Saints members, including Nicole Appleton, as they partied into the early morning. Amanda and Whitmore, from Bray, have been friends for years and the pair first bonded when Laura made the move to London. Expand Close Amanda Byram with her celebrity pals on her hen night / Facebook Twitter Email Whatsapp Amanda Byram with her celebrity pals on her hen night The Total Wipeout host announced her engagement to Julian after returning from an adventure holiday to Argentina on New Years Eve, where they spent several weeks travelling South America. Ethel Easter told Fox26 she secretly recorded her surgery after an upsetting meeting with her doctor. Photo: YouTube A woman has allegedly captured the insulting remarks made about her by a surgeon and operating room staff while she was under anaesthetic, after she hid a recording device in her hair. Ethel Easter, from Texas, was undergoing surgery for a hernia when the operating room staff allegedly called her a handful, compared her to the title character from 2009 film Precious, talked about touching her and made a reference to Bill Cosby. Ms Easter told Fox26 she had decided to record her surgery after a meeting with her doctor from Harris Health Systems that left her in tears. She said that when the doctor informed her she would need to wait two months for surgery, she was shocked. She said she felt unable to wait and described the surgeon as becoming very abrupt before being asked, Who do you think you are? and being told she would have to wait like everyone else. Ms Easter said she did not like her surgeons tone. When she came to have surgery she hid a recording device in her hair, which she had tied up for the procedure. Fox26 has obtained part of the tape, in which the surgeon is allegedly heard saying: Shes a handful and had some choice words for us in the clinic when we didnt book her case in two weeks, once Ms Easter is under the anaesthetic. He allegedly quotes her as saying, Im going to call a lawyer and file a complaint, to which someone responds: That doesnt seem like the kind of thing to say to the person whose going to do your surgery. Later in the tape a woman is reportedly heard saying: Did you see her belly button? before laughing. Harris Health Systems has yet to respond to a request for comment from The Independent. Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson has resigned following the biggest popular protests in the country's history, which saw 10,000 demonstrators mass outside the country's parliament building to demand he qui5tt after he was accused of concealing millions of euros offshore. Photo: Brynjar Gunnarsson/PA Prime Minister David Cameron leaves after holding a Q&A session on the forthcoming European Union referendum with staff of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Birmingham, yesterday. Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images David Cameron was last night forced to defend his family's tax arrangements as it emerged his father's offshore trust was moved from Panama to Ireland in 2010. The British Prime Minister took the unusual step of insisting that neither he, nor his wife and children receive any benefit from an offshore company set up in Panama by his late father Ian, which paid no tax in Britain for 30 years. 'The Daily Telegraph' newspaper reported last night that Ian Cameron's firm Blairmore Holdings Inc was moved to Ireland in 2010 - the year Mr Cameron became Prime Minister. A source close to Blairmore - which is still operating with assets of 44m - said the company had been moved because its directors believed it was about to "come under more scrutiny". Details of Ian Cameron's offshore interests were contained in the so-called Panama Papers - a leak of 11.5 million documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca - which claimed their first major scalp yesterday with the resignation of Iceland's prime minister. Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson stood down following the biggest popular protests in the country's history, which saw 10,000 demonstrators mass outside the country's parliament building to demand his head after he was accused of concealing millions of pounds offshore. Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France's far-Right Front National, and several aides of his daughter, Marine, the party's current leader, were yesterday also accused of hiding more than a million pounds offshore. Mr Cameron was dragged into the scandal on Monday after details of his father's offshore interests were published. The disclosures were potentially embarrassing for the Prime Minister because he has previously condemned tax reduction schemes. Mr Cameron's initial response had been to insist that his tax affairs were a "private matter", but after 24 hours of confusion and criticism he caved in to pressure. He said: "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares. "I have a salary as Prime Minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and that's all I have. I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description." The carefully worded statement made no reference to whether he or close family members had benefited in the past or stand to benefit in the future from Blairmore. Ian Cameron established Blairmore in Panama in 1981 and used a network of officers in the Caribbean to sign paperwork and fill nominal roles within the company. The fund, named after Ian Cameron's former family home in Scotland, moved its operations to Dublin in 2010 and started paying Irish corporation tax. A source close to Blairmore said: "It was very much the prevailing wind at the time that these things were starting to come under more scrutiny around the world. Tax laws were changing so it was moved." Ian Cameron remained one of 10 directors until he died in September 2010. Investors claim the scheme was "100pc transparent" and had been registered with HM Revenue and Customs since its launch. Ian Cameron left an estate worth 3.5m in his will, which was distributed among his four children. UK residents would have to pay tax on any profits they repatriated, and there is no suggestion the Camerons did not. (Daily Telegraph, London) Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] A girl carries her brother on the island of Chios. Photo: Reuters/Giorgos Moutafis, Rights groups and some European politicians have challenged the legality of the EU-Turkey migrant deal, questioning whether Turkey has sufficient safeguards in place to defend refugees' rights and whether it can be considered safe for them. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has stopped transporting arrivals to and from the Moria camp on Lesbos, initially set up to register arrivals but which has since become what it calls a "detention centre". Through barbed wire at the camp, one man held up a piece of cardboard, which read: "Kill us if you want." On the wall of the sprawling gated complex, which was once an army camp, graffiti read: 'No one is illegal'. UNHCR says there are some 600 people above capacity at Moria, including pregnant women, lactating mothers and children, with insufficient food. Other aid groups have also pulled out from the site in protest at conditions there. Last night Turkey announced that it is ready to take another 200 migrants deported from the Greek islands. In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with money, visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations. "This arrangement will prevent the Aegean Sea being turned into a cemetery for migrants," Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in parliament. Meanwhile, Danish police say a controversial law passed two months ago that requires refugees and migrants to hand over valuables worth more than 10,000 kroner (1,300) has not resulted in a single seizure. The law was intended to help cover migrants' housing and food costs while their cases were being processed. National Police spokesman Thomas Kristensen said that none of the migrants' valuables went above the specified limit. Human rights activists and artists had denounced the legislation as degrading and inhumane. Last year, Denmark received about 20,000 asylum seekers, one of the highest rates per capita in the EU. David Cameron has sought to draw a line under questions over his family's personal tax arrangements after his late father Ian's offshore fund was linked to the Panama Papers scandal. Questions still remain, however, that the Prime Minister will need to answer as critics continue to pile pressure on him. On Tuesday, Mr Cameron said he had "no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds" but did not directly respond to whether anyone in his family could still benefit from an arrangement set up by his father. "In terms of my own financial affairs, I own no shares," Mr Cameron said. "I have a salary as prime minister and I have some savings, which I get some interest from and I have a house, which we used to live in, which we now let out while we are living in Downing Street and thats all I have. I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description." In response to demands for clarity, Downing Street later issued a further statement which said: To be clear, the Prime Minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. The Prime Minister owns no shares. As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her fathers land, which she declares on her tax return. But what questions are still to be answered? Has David Cameron benefited from his father's fund in the past? Mr Cameron's statement did not clarify whether or not he has benefited in the past from Blairmore Holdings Inc. Labour MP Wes Streeting, for Ilford North, described Mr Cameron's statement as "partial" and claimed that "it raised more questions than perhaps it answered". Mr Streeting, a member of the Commons Treasury Committee, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think there are still questions about whether or not he's benefited in the past and I think we could do with having far more tax experts coming out and saying that actually he has squared off all possibilities." Will David Cameron publish his personal tax return? Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, has urged Mr Cameron to show leadership on the issue of tax transparency and publish his personal tax return. He said: When asked in 2015 about his tax affairs the Prime Minister said he was very relaxed about providing transparency. He should stick to that approach now and be as open as possible about his finances. However this issue is about the sunny places that shady things happen and I again call on the Prime Minister to live up to his promises and end the tax avoidance culture of UK territories. Has David Cameron been evasive about his family's tax affairs? While David Cameron might have tried to draw a line under discussions about his family's tax affairs, his critics have inevitably tried to drag him further into the debate over the Panama Papers scandal. Jeremy Corbyn called for an independent investigation into tax arrangements, including those of the Prime Minister. As questions continued about the past and future benefits the Camerons may have reaped, No 10 put out a fresh statement stating the PM, wife Samantha and children would not benefit in the future. A spokesman said: "There are no offshore funds/trusts which the PM, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future." The statement, however, does not mention Mr Cameron's wider family, including his mother Mary. So, just how open has Mr Cameron been about his own family's arrangements? "I think the clarification about whether or not he or his family will benefit in the future is a welcome clarification," said Mr Streeting. "I think where David Cameron made a rod for his own back yesterday was issuing what was quite a qualified statement, that then led people to think, 'is he being shady about this, is he being evasive, are there further questions to ask?"' Mr Streeting said the issue about tax havens was about openness and transparency. He said: "It's really clear that the UK, acting independently but also in conjunction with other countries, still has far more to do to tackle aggressive tax avoidance and tax havens. "And so from a public point of view the question will be, when our Prime Minister says he's serious about tackling it, he's said it many times, are we absolutely certain he doesn't have a vested interest, and even if he does have a vested interest would he be upfront with us about it." Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022] Security officers surround a vessel transporting migrants from the Greek island Chios as it docks in Dikili port in Turkey (AP) Frans Timmermans is seeking a fundamental reform of policies that have heaped pressure on some nations such as Greece and Italy (AP) The European Union has taken its first steps towards a fundamental reform of its migration policy, which has heaped huge pressure on some nations such as Greece as more than a million migrants and refugees surged into the continent over the past year. Yet almost immediately, the East-West fissure within the EU over migration was laid bare. Nations such as Germany and Greece welcomed the plan by the EU's executive commission that seeks to amend the current principle under which the first nation where a migrant arrives is forced to process their asylum request and temporarily shelter them. The Czech Republic, which chairs the Visegrad group of four eastern EU nations, voiced opposition to any plan that would mean each EU nation has to take a set number of asylum-seekers. The commission is proposing a reform in which a "distribution key" to spread asylum applicants around the EU would be a key element, either as part of a whole new system or as an addition to the current one. But efforts to distribute the recent influx of refugees already caused serious friction with many EU nations. Migratory pressures over the past year drove a stream of hundreds of thousands of people up from the Mediterranean toward northern nations such as Germany and Sweden in chaotic circumstances. "The current crisis has shown the present system is not working," EU vice president Frans Timmermans said, adding small nations such as Greece could never have dealt with such a task to process so many asylum claims. "This is neither fair nor sustainable." The commission said in a document to EU institutions that "significant structural weaknesses and shortcomings" in the current system were rife, which placed "a disproportionate responsibility" on some nations, while others, mostly eastern European members, sought to shield their countries from having to carry much of the refugee burden. In the face of such shortcomings, nations such as Greece and Germany quickly welcomed the commission's proposals. Showing the sensitivity of the issue though, the commission said its proposals offered only "options" on which the member states and the EU parliamentary groups should build further. And Mr Timmermans insisted that a logical extension of common EU policies, such as a central European system to deal with asylum claims, was still too controversial. "In political terms, it is not realistic to talk about this today," he said. The bloc's inefficient rules on how to handle migration along with its slow decision-making once the refugee crisis hit last year have been fodder for critics of the EU. Even French president Francois Hollande, a staunch defender of the EU, was forced to admit that the bloc's biggest problem is its slow decision-making process - whether in the financial crisis, the fight against terrorism or a common response to the refugee crisis. In an interview in the German daily Bild, Mr Hollande said "in the end (Europe) always succeeds in finding a solution... but we have to pay a high price for the lost time." More than 53,000 refugees and migrants have been stranded in Greece since Austria and the Balkan nations north of Greece - Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia - closed their land borders last month. Prior to that, hundreds of thousands fleeing war and poverty at home crossed the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece, then went overland to wealthy European nations. To stem that flow and break the Turkish smuggling rings ferrying migrants to Greece, the EU reached a deal with Turkey last month. Now those arriving on Greek islands from March 20 onwards who do not apply for asylum in Greece or whose application is rejected will be deported back to Turkey. For every Syrian returned to Turkey, another Syrian there will be relocated to a European country. The deportations began on Monday with 202 people being sent back from Greece to Turkey. But an increase in the number of asylum applications by those earmarked for potential deportation have led to a pause in the returns, with no more deportations planned until Friday. By Kirk Brown of the Independent Mail A bill similar to North Carolina's controversial "bathroom" law was proposed Wednesday in the South Carolina Senate. The measure, which would require transgender people to use public bathrooms matching their birth gender, was quickly criticized by a legal advocate. "We should not jump on this bandwagon," South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center director Sue Berkowitz wrote in an email. She described the bill as "divisive and discriminatory legislation that could result in the loss of business to our state." Sen. Lee Bright, a Spartanburg County Republican, said his measure is based on a bill that North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed into law last month. "Men and women sharing the same bathroom is just beyond me," said Bright, adding that he wants "to stand with North Carolina" in promoting "common decency and common sense." Critics say the North Carolina law is the "most extreme anti-LGBT measure in the country." Citing its opposition to the law, PayPal canceled plans for a facility in Charlotte that would have resulted in 400 new jobs. Under Bright's bill, local governments in South Carolina could not enact rules governing the use of bathrooms at private businesses. His bill also would require people to use "multiple occupancy" bathrooms in schools and other public buildings that correspond with their birth gender. Schools could provide "single occupancy bathrooms" in special circumstances. City of Anderson-based Anderson School District 5 does not have a policy "that deals with bathroom privileges," spokesman Kyle Newton said. "Upon request, in the past we have allowed students to use a unisex bathroom," Newton said. Because it deals only with bathrooms, Bright's bill is more narrowly drawn than the North Carolina law, which also bars local governments from setting rules about minimum wages, employment discrimination or other discriminatory practices. Two Upstate senators Republicans Larry Martin of Pickens and Kevin Bryant of Anderson are co-sponsoring Bright's bill. Martin, who has a 20-month-old granddaughter, said he doesn't want local governments to impose rules that would allow "cross-dressing men to be in the bathroom with her when she get a few years older." The bill was sent to the Senate General Committee for further consideration. Bryant, chairman of that committee, said he intends to schedule a public hearing about the measure. Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter @KirkBrown_AIM A troubled history of labor unrest at the Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) factory in the industrial town of Manesar has damaged the regions reputation as an investment destination. The Gurgaon Manesar belt in the state of Haryana is a premier manufacturing area in North India, and is the countrys largest manufacturer of automobiles. Yet, recent labor unrest has caused manufacturing managers to muscle up their HR and security practices, forcing workers and labor unions to be more direct. A comprehensive review of the regions labor unrest shows that mismanagement and miscommunication are the leading causes of these highly damaging and preventable incidents. Businesses that understand local conditions, comply with regulations, and adopt best practices significantly reduce the potential for labor troubles and increase the productivity of their workforce. Leader in the Indian auto market Maruti Suzuki has been Indias largest carmaker since its launch in 1983. It has two manufacturing bases in India. A third upcoming plant will be located in Gujarat, and owned by the Japanese parent company Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). Gurgaon houses three fully integrated manufacturing plants spread across 300 acres. The second facility, established in Manesar, became operational in 2007, and is spread across 600 acres. During April to July in 2015, Maruti Suzuki India secured its highest market share since 2001 reaching 47.5 percent. Marutis performance is a remarkable turnaround from an all-time low of 38.3 percent in 2011-2012, during the peak of labor strife at the companys plant in Manesar. The implications of the 2011-2012 violent labor unrest are tied into the managerial, political, demographic, and legal aspects of industrial relations in the country. The labor disturbances provide important lessons for manufacturing firms and investors. Why the continuing labor unrest? Industrial relations The factory regime in the Maruti Suzuki India plants underpin the state of industrial relations in the company. Workers perceive the management as distant and unresponsive, seeking only to obstruct their demands. Managers have been disinclined to negotiate with striking workers and union leaders, who are viewed as troublemakers and opportunists. Further, the management often hires muscle men as employees to check and inform on potential labor unrest. This has cumulatively contributed to a growing climate of discontent and mutual suspicion, causing repeated labor strife and strengthening a militant labor unionism. Since most of the workers belong to the same castes, are locals, and train at the same industrial training institutes, they function and rebel as a cohort. In addition, the introduction of a Japanese work culture by the management including constant cost reductions, a grueling work ethic, unyielding deadlines, unpaid overtime, and an oppressive culture of rules has exacerbated discontent among workers. This plays out on the wage front as well. According to experts, workers anger stems from how increasing revenues and profits of MSI are distributed among the management as opposed to the workers, despite the rapid increase in production and longer work hours. While most automakers have been struggling to increase sales, Maruti Suzuki has captured a 14-year-high share in the domestic segment. The recurrent labor strife at the Maruti plants thus illustrate the importance of better industrial relations. The lesson for the upper management is clear; they need to increase their involvement at the floor-level with the workers. A transparent feedback system, grievance redressal, and open communication between representatives of workers and HR executives can bridge mistrust, check friction, and enable faster resolution of live conflicts. Management training should include the study of the nature of work performed, familiarity with the workers and their ascribed roles, their social structure, prior history of union activities, the study of resolutions and decisions taken in the past, and the comparison of facilities given to the worker vis-a-vis the workers of competitors. This information allows managers to anticipate, understand worker grievances, navigate solutions in context, and mitigate potential sources of conflict. Contract labor One of the main triggers of the labor unrest at the MSI plants has been the uptake in the use of contractual labor as opposed to hiring permanent workers. This has been reflective of a wider trend in the organized private sector (chemical, textile and garments, cement, mining, and automobile industries) where estimates placed the employment of contractual labor at between 25 to 30 percent of total employment. Discontent emerges from the fact that contract employees do work that is of a permanent nature, as pointed out by a Supreme Court ruling in 2011. Further, they do not receive social benefits and are paid lesser than their permanent counterparts. Since 2013, MSI management has also pursued an active policy of recruiting temporary workers (temps). Temps are hired on seven month contracts, constituting a new category of workers, whose contracts may or may not be renewed. Maruti has set an aim of hiring 70 percent permanent workers and 30 percent temps. According to MSI Chairman R.C. Bhargava, the company employed about 19,000 workers in 2014 12,500 were regular, 6500 were temporary, and 1100 were apprentices. The policy of hiring temporary workers has been directed towards phasing out the contractual system and provides a buffer against future union strife. Nevertheless, the massive employment of temps is problematic given the short duration of work experience and lack of job security. Further, since the temporary workers do work that overlap with permanent roles, the present peace could give way to renewed strife, causing further reputational damage and loss of revenue to MSI. Labor laws Indias labor laws have been criticized for their complexity, lack of modernization, inflexibility, and poor implementation. Indias federal form of government implies that labor matters come under the jurisdiction of both federal and state governments. Currently, India has approximately 200 labor laws, of which 52 are federal acts. Though labor laws at both levels seek to protect workers, in practice, they cover only a minority of workers, and many do not get implemented. For instance, Dr. Sanjay Upadhyaya, faculty at the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, points out that the labor law mandates that any company employing contractual labor needs to obtain a license from the labor department; this license can be cancelled if the rights of the contract laborers are abused, which rarely happens. The eruption of violence at the MSI plants are indicative of a structural weakness in the framework of Indian labor laws and sluggish dispute settlement mechanisms. Rigid rules on hiring and layoffs harm the formal sector and discourage investment, which in turn impedes the growth of employment in manufacturing. Given the Prime Ministers Make in India initiative, India will need to address labor law reforms to ensure a balance is achieved between protection and flexibility, and that laws are made responsive to changes in the market situation. Background The 2012 riots at the MSI plant in Manesar were the most notable incident of labor unrest in recent years. The trajectory of the unrest is traced back to multiple strikes in 2011 before a tripartite agreement was signed between the management, workers, and the Haryana government representatives. However, on July 18, 2012, a mob of angry workers stormed into the plant, halted production, and proceeded to beat members of management all in reaction to the suspension of a worker over alleged misconduct towards his supervisor after the latter reportedly made a casteist remark. The resulting violence considered the worst in the companys history burnt an entire management block, injuring 100 managers, and causing the death of the companys HR head. The episode was caused by tensions, which built up due to rumors and miscommunication. The police, in its First Information Report (FIR), claimed that the labor riot was orchestrated by a section of workers and union leaders, and arrested 91 people. Subsequently, the Manesar plant was shut down under The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 pending results of an inquiry. This led to losses of about US $18 million per day for MSI. The company reopened production at a reduced capacity on August 21 and dismissed 500 workers who had been implicated in the violence. The Maruti riots remain an influence on labor unrest and union action to this day. For instance, seven major labor ignited incidents of violence have occurred in the last half decade, including three in 2014, at Gurgaon based garment export houses. In the past two years, MSI workers and unions have repeatedly called for strikes in protest of the mass jailing and dismissal of their colleagues over the 2012 riots. Moreover, a nearly identical scenario to the one at MSI has played out in the Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India, Private Limited (HMSI) plant in Rajasthan that led to massive worker protests, ongoing since February 16 this year. Altogether, such incidents have instigated a conscious change in HR policy favoring the hiring of temps from across the country to ensure regular labor turnover and a lack of unionization. It remains to be seen if this practice is sustainable. Another major reason for the recurrent strife at the MSI plants has been over the wage expectations of the workers. After several bouts of unrest over the past decade, the three labor unions (Gurgaon, Manesar, and Suzuki Powertrain) conducted six months of peaceful negotiations with company management in 2015. A wage settlement was reached in September, providing permanent employees a wage hike of about 38 percent over three years, setting an industry benchmark in the process. This led to unrest among temporary workers, and finally, in October 2015, MSI hiked the wages of all its temps, by about 10 percent a month. Deepak Chiripal, CEO, Nandan Denim Limited , did masters from Thunderbird University, US, in finance after graduating from the Gujarat University with majors in finance, before joining the family business. He brings a mix of wisdom from the family and dynamism of a youthful entrepreneur. Nandan Denim Limited (NDL) is the worlds fifth largest integrated denim fabric maker. The company forayed into textile manufacturing in 2004 and engages in the manufacturing of denims, cotton fabrics, and khakis. NDL is a part of a leading conglomerate, Chiripal Group, established in 1972 and is currently diversified across several businesses such as textiles, petrochemicals, chemicals, packaging, infrastructure, and education. Headquartered in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, NDL has expanded its capacity from 6 MMPA to the intended capacity of 110 MMPA over the past decade. Further, the company has earmarked a capacity expansion plan to strengthen its domestic market share, expand its exports business and have an increased focus on value-added segments. Post the expansion, NDL will become the largest denim manufacturer in Asia and the fourth largest in the world. The company has a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility unit near Ahmedabad, Gujarat and exports its denim fabric to over 28 countries. A team of 3,000 passionate and motivated individuals drive Nandan Denim Ltd. Replying to Yash Ved of IIFL, Deepak Chiripal says "Going forward, with better market response, efficient capacity utilization, and cost savings on captive yarn, along with capex of Rs. 612 crore, EBITDA margins are expected to improve further." What are your expansion plans? The company is expanding its denim fabric capacity from 71 MMPA to 110 million meter per annum. Currently, operational denim fabric capacity stands at 99 MMPA. It is also expanding spinning capacity from 54 tons per day (TPD) to 124 TPD; at present, operational spinning capacity is at 70 TPD. The company has created product diversity in its portfolio through addition of Yarn Dyed shirting business with an initial capacity of 10 MMPA. It is also working on enhancing its profitability through multifold strategic initiatives, including market-customer diversification and uplifting the value addition drive within the well established denim business. Are you planning a foray into garments and retail businesses? As of now, there are no immediate plans to expand in to garments and retail. We are contemplating product diversity to work on the next growth engine, wherein we are creating cotton shirting and bottom-weight manufacturing facilities. It surely is going to be an exciting journey albeit the learning curve for the business. Nandan Denim explores and innovate products that are forward looking and those which bind us to different apparel brands. The companys strategy is to have a portfolio of hybrid brands straddling across consumer segments and price points. Trendy color option, stretchable fabric, printed denim are currently in demand these days. Having said so, denim being a fashion fabric, has lesser predictability when it comes to defining the trend. It is a trend breaking and youthful fabric where the manufacturers with the most flexible set up of machines can continue to flourish since history is only for academic purposes. Post the completion of current expansion, the company will breathe for a while as it optimizes its operation, works on improving operational efficiency, and focuses on structuring customer and product strategy. Having reached a global scale in less than a decade, the company would be capitalizing on its competence before taking a call for future expansion. The company has been one of the most influential players in making denim a popular fabric in India and we would like to build upon the strength that we have acquired over the last one decade. What is your EBITDA margin? There has been constant improvement in EBITDA and other return ratios of the company. EBITDA margin has risen from 13.4% on FY11 to 15.1% in FY15, while PAT margin too improved from 3.4% to 4.7% in the same timeframe. EBITDA margin further improved to 16.7% for the quarter ended December 2015 compared to 15.7% in December 2014, jump of 100 basis points. Going forward, with better market response, efficient capacity utilization, and cost savings on captive yarn, along with capex of Rs. 612 crore, EBITDA margins are expected to improve further. Can you throw some light on your fund raising plans? The ongoing expansion plan of Rs. 612 crore, which is to be completed by H1 FY17 is funded with a debt to equity ratio of 2.4:1. There are no immediate plans for raising any funds for the ongoing projects. The company has recently issued 25 lakh fully convertible warrants to UK-based foreign institutional investor, Polus Global Fund, for a total consideration of Rs.50 crore in November 2015. The warrants will be converted into equity shares at Rs.200 per share within 18 months time. Give us an overview of your financials? The company has reported a net profit of Rs.15.65 crore for Q3 FY 2015-16 as against Rs.12.63 crore in the corresponding period of 2014-15, a rise of 23.8%. Net sales for third quarter ended December 2015 was at Rs.287.37 crore, higher by 3.5% over previous fiscals same quarter net sales of Rs. 277.60 crore. The company reported healthy EBITDA and PAT margin in Q3 FY16 at 16.7% and 5.4% respectively. EPS for Q3 FY16 stood at Rs.3.44 (Face value of Rs.10 per share). What is your growth target for the fiscal year? In view of multiple external factors, it is difficult to assign any specific number. However, once the capacities are added and operationalized, product-market diversities are realized, we expect to get back the growth rate that we have recorded in the recent past. However, the profitability is expected to grow at a disproportionately higher number. What percentage of revenues comes from exports? Nandan Denim exports its denim fabric to over 27 countries across the globe through its strong global dealer-distribution network. The company continued to increase its penetration of international markets to drive the exports business forward, as revenues from exports grew 75% yoy to reach Rs. 136.3 crore in FY2015 from Rs. 77.7 crore in FY2014. For FY 2015, exports constituted 12.7% of the total sales, improving from 9.2% in FY 2014. Domestic sales for FY 2015 stood at Rs. 87.3%. The company is working on optimization of geographic diversities over next 1-2 years. What is your current debt equity ratio? For FY 2015, the debt equity ratio was at comfortable level of 1.8:1. Despite major expansion, leverage ratio was comfortable and improved further from 2.2: 1 in FY 13. With most of the expansion over and company not requiring further debt, the ratio will improve once the benefit of the expansion starts coming in from FY 17. As of March 2015, total debt outstanding debt was at Rs. 470.9 crore on equity of Rs. 258.8 crore. Prevent Unauthorized Transactions in your demat / trading account Update your Mobile Number/ email Id with your stock broker / Depository Participant. Receive information of your transactions directly from Exchanges on your mobile / email at the end of day and alerts on your registered mobile for all debits and other important transactions in your demat account directly from NSDL/ CDSL on the same day." - Issued in the interest of investors. 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The leaking of Panama Papers has sent jitters across the echelons of power. Billionaires, business tycoons, political leaders, and celebrities worldwide are feeling the heat. The Panama Papers exposes systematic financial dealings or mis-dealings of white collar individuals, who used tax havens to hide unaccounted wealth, often referred to as Black Money.The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents created by Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider. The papers provide detailed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies, including the identities of shareholders and directors.The Panama Papers is an unprecedented revelation in recent times. The sheer magnitude of the expose makes it a huge one. It is considered 100 times bigger than the data provided by Wikileaks in 2010, as it exposes individuals who used offshore companies predominantly to evade tax.Bollywood biggies Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai are likely to come under the scanner as the Papers have reportedly revealed their involvement as directors with firms in British Virgin Islands and Bahamas. Both have categorically denied their involvement in any wrongdoings on their part. Amitabh Bachchan has said that it is possible that his name has been misused. Aishwarya's media advisors have called the files "totally untrue".Over 500 Indians feature on the firms list. Some big names in the Indian corporate sector have figured in the list directly or indirectly (links with family members). Some of them include DLF owner K P Singh, and nine members of his family, promoters of Apollo Tyres and Indiabulls, and Gautam Adanis elder brother Vinod Adani, according to The Indian Express report.Investigation reports reveal that these individuals have forged their addresses, which has led to physical destinations with no trace of the concerned individuals.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered an investigation by experts on tax, foreign exchange transactions, and financial crimes to probe the dealings of 500 Indians, named in the Panama Papers.RBI policy did not allow any Indian citizen to float an overseas entity before 2003. Later, RBI permitted individuals to buy shares under Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS). Notably, in 2004, it allowed individuals to remit funds up to $25,000 under LRS. In 2015, RBI enhanced the limit to $250,000. However, it never allowed them to set up companies abroad. RBI changed the policies only after August 2013, when it let individuals to set up subsidiaries or invest in joint ventures under the overseas direct investment window.The Panama Papers has put 12 current or former heads of state in an uncomfortable position. Links to highly influential people have sent shock waves across the world. Some of the key names that figure in the expose include: associates of Russia's President, Vladimir Putin; brother-in-law of China's President Xi Jinping; Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko; Argentina President Mauricio Macri; the late father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron; Iceland's Prime Minister, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson; and three of the four children of Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.Russian Government has dismissed Mossack Fonseca files as unfounded and based on "Putinophobia". According to a TOI report, conspiracy theorists have dubbed The Panama Papers as "CIA false flag operations", pointing to the absence of any American in the list and maintaining that the real corruption is in NATO and the UN.The documents were obtained by the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, and then shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who worked with journalists from 107 media organisations in 76 countries, including the leading Indian publication The Indian Express. Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State (I/C) Environment, Forests and Climate Change. He was speaking at the session on Balancing Economic Growth with Sustainable Development at CII Annual Session 2016: Building National Competitiveness in New Delhi. India has been able to successfully place the concept of Sustainable lifestyle in the global discussions on climate change; this is now a part of preamble of the Paris Agreement, said. He was speaking at the session on Balancing Economic Growth with Sustainable Development at CII Annual Session 2016: Building National Competitiveness in New Delhi. The Government has enabled online process for environment and forest clearances and has done away with unnecessary delays without compromising on environmental conditions. It is committed to facilitate ease of doing Responsible business. The average time of granting approvals has come down from 600 days in 2004-09 to 190 days in last 22 months and the Government is committed to further bring it down to 100 days, stressed the Minister. During the discussions at the session, the Minister agreed to create a special cell for providing technical advice to the industry on various environmental aspects, pollution control processes and associated technologies. This will help the industry especially micro, small and medium enterprises to take informed decisions about addressing their environmental impacts. Our motto is Development without Destruction, said the Minister, and the Government is reviewing the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Act to promote sustainable development in the coastal areas. This may also help in ensuring livelihood security to the coastal communities through the promotion of activities like eco-tourism. Speaking on the use of technology for sustainable development, the Minister said that the Government will soon make available an online environmental database which can be used to undertake Environment Impact Assessment with greater reliability. T V Narendran, Chairman, CII Eastern Region and Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited, suggested that businesses need to explore ways in which the limited resources could be employed more efficiently and stressed on creating the required enabling ecosystem. Mr Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises said that leveraging the information and communication technology is important for tackling sustainability challenges including climate change. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) on Tuesday warned Tata Group Chairman against a fire sale of its UK steel business, saying that it wasnt the responsible thing to do. Workers at(JLR) on Tuesday warnedagainst a fire sale of its UK steel business, saying that it wasnt the responsible thing to do. Representatives for thousands of JLR workers wrote to Mistry, demanding that the Tata group should sell Tata Steel UK as a whole entity and that it should wait for a credible buyer. The JLR workers are part of 'Unite', Britain and Irelands largest trade union which claims to have over 1.4 million members. The Unite members expressed alarm over reports that the Tata Group was going through the motions and was looking to dispose off its UK steel operations in a matter of weeks. Leaders of Unite, Community and GMB met with business secretary Sajid Javid in the afternoon to demand government action to save UK's steel industry ahead of Javids meeting with Mistry in Mumbai on Wednesday. Tata Steel last week said that it was exploring all options for portfolio restructuring, including potential divestment of Tata Steel UK, in whole or in parts, amid a deteriorating financial performance of the arm in the last 12 months. The move by Tata Steel to sell its UK business has threatened over 17,000 British jobs, according to reports. After plunging almost by 2% in the previous trading, the Indian equity market eked out modest gains on Wednesday. Nifty just managed to sustain above the 7600 while BSE Sensex was just shy of the 25000 mark. Market had fallen sharply after the Reserve Bank of India announced a 25bps cut in repo rate on April 5, 2015 which was in line with market expectations.Metal stocks were back in action; the capital goods, realty, power and basic materials index were among the top gainers. On the other hand, the banking and finance stocks were under pressure. The mid-cap and small-cap index once again outperformed the benchmark indices.Tata Steel, Hindalco, UltraTech Cement, ACC, Eicher Motors, Grasim and Tata Motors DVR were among the gainers on NSE, whereas Bosch, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports and Aurobindo Pharma were among the losers today.The BSE Sensex ended with a gain of 17 points at 24,901. The BSE Sensex opened at 24,979 touched an intra-day high of 25,001 and low of 24,834.The NSE Nifty closed with a gain of 11 points at 7,614. The NSE Nifty opened at 7,736 hitting a high of 7,639 and low of 7,592.The India VIX (Volatility) index was down 2.72% to 17.3450.The Indian Rupee was trading down by 20 paise at 66.66 per US dollar.On the global front, China's Shanghai Composite index closed marginally down and Hang Seng up 0.15%.In Europe, the FTSE 100 up 0.56%. On the other hand, DAX gained 0.10% and the CAC 40 trading higher by 0.60%.Out of 1,804 stocks traded on the NSE, 470 declined and 1,080 advanced today.RPG Life Sciences jumped 14% to Rs.266 on BSE. The company received GMP Certificate from Bavarian Authority, a competent authority in Germany, as per EUGMP standards for its formulation manufacturing facility in Gujarat.Tata Steel jumped 5.2% to Rs.328.45 after the British government opened talks on Tuesday with potential buyers for the companys UK operations.NMDC climbed 3.9% to Rs.101.55 after the company increased the prices of its Iron Ore with effect from April 4, 2016. The Lump ore price has been fixed at Rs. 2,100 WMT while price of Fines has been fixed at Rs 1,860 WMT.Bharat Forge slumped 4.8% to Rs.789 after the company said its north American class 8 truck orders down 37% from a year ago to 15,800 units. Class 8 trucks contributed 20 percent to total revenue of Bharat Forge.Airline stocks rallied on BSE after the government hinted at scrapping 5/20 rule, as per media reports. Jet Airways soared 5.6% to Rs.628 on BSE. SpiceJet Ltd jumped 2.9% to Rs.70.75. Interglobe Aviation gained 2% to Rs.992.20.Kiri Industries hit 10% upper circuit to Rs.167.30 on BSE. The stock rallied for the second consecutive session. The company said that it has executed agreements to settle all of its debt. The total borrowings have been reduced to Rs 410.6 crore from 853.1 crore last year and the company plans to further reduce its borrowings by Rs 250 crore in FY17, Manish Kiri, MD of Kiri Industries said. As per settlement agreement executed, the company is committed to settle and repay majority of the balance debt during the current financial year 2016-17, it added.Gallant Ispat zoomed 16.8% to Rs.635.75 on BSE. The company said that its board has approved the capital expenditure (capex) plan of Rs. 511 crore. The company said, in order to achieve projected sales and profitability targets, installed capacity of the existing plants is bound to be expanded. Management personnel of the company had approached the technical team for taking their advice on the expansion plan to be designed.After a crash on Tuesday, GM Breweries gained 1% to Rs.1,033 after the company reported a net profit of Rs. 17.4 crore for the quarter ended March 31 compared to Rs.5.7 crore reported in the year-ago period.Delta Corp climbed 6.6% at Rs. 74.30. The company has announced that the Government of Goa has granted permission to Delta Pleasure Cruise Company Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta to operate their vessel "M V Royale Flotel" in Mandovi River till an alternate feasible site is finalized by the Government or till March 31, 2017 whichever is earlier.ABG Shipyard dropped 2.2% to Rs.46.90 after the company has announced that a meeting of the board of directors of the company will be held on April 8, to discuss general corporate issues, strategy for induction of Strategic Investor / Partner and authorize Monitoring Institution on behalf of CDR Lenders to appoint Investment Banker to identify a Strategic Investor / Partner etc.Talwalkars Better Value Fitness zoomed 7% to Rs.213 on BSE. The company announced the launch of 33 Zorba - renaissance studios in 25 cities in India. Within four month of sealing their partnership, the Company has expanded the Zorba footprint in the yoga and wellness segment.Ashoka Buildcon hit lower circuit 20% to Rs. 136. According to media reports, the companys Nashik office was raided by the Income Tax department on Tuesday.A total of 33 stock registered a fresh 52-week high in trades today, whereas 19 stocks touched a new 52-week low on the NSE.Balaji Amines Limited, Bharat Bijlee Limited, Bhageria Industries Limited, Bodal Chemicals Limited, Dhampur Sugar Mills Limited, Dharani Sugars & Chemicals Limited, EID Parry India Limited, Gallantt Ispat Limited, Grasim Industries Limited, Havells India Limited, HeidelbergCement India Limited, Jayshree Tea & Industries Limited, JSW Steel Limited, Kesar Enterprises Limited, Kiri Industries Limited, Kothari Sugars And Chemicals Limited, Marico Limited, Mawana Sugars Limited, The Oudh Sugar Mills Limited, Piramal Enterprises Limited, Rajshree Sugars & Chemicals Limited, The Ramco Cements Limited, Rana Sugars Limited, RattanIndia Infrastructure Limited, Sakthi Sugars Limited, Shree Pushkar Chemicals & Fertilisers Limited, TIPS Industries Limited, The Ugar Sugar Works Limited, Upper Ganges Sugar & Industries Limited, Uttam Sugar Mills Limited, Vaswani Industries Limited, Vidhi Dyestuffs Manufacturing Limited, VIP Industries were some of the prominent stocks to log a fresh 52-week high.Ashoka Buildcon Limited, Austral Coke & Projects Limited, Bharat Wire Ropes Limited, Bilpower Limited, Birla Cotsyn (India) Limited, Coal India Limited, Ess Dee Aluminium Limited, Infibeam Incorporation Limited, Jammu & Kashmir Bank Limited, Jaypee Infratech Limited, Manaksia Aluminium Company Limited, North Eastern Carrying Corporation Limited, OCL Iron and Steel Limited, Paras Petrofils Limited, Rainbow Papers Limited, Raj Rayon Industries Limited, Radha Madhav Corporation Limited, Vaibhav Global Limited, Visesh Infotecnics were some of the notable stocks to record new 52-week low. Swiss private equity fund Partners Group is in talks with Infosys, TCS to sell domestic IT services company CSS Corp, according to reports. Report says that the deal values CSS at $400-$450 million. Avendus Capital has been tasked with managing the auction process says report. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd ended at Rs. 2462.65, down by Rs. 8.05 or 0.33% from its previous closing of Rs. 2470.7 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 2472.3 and touched a high and low of Rs. 2484 and Rs. 2446.75 respectively. A total of 945287(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 485247.44 crore. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2769 on 05-Oct-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 2119 on 29-Feb-2016. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2534 and Rs. 2435.55 respectively. The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.42 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 21.99 % and 4.59 % respectively. The stock traded above its 200 DMA. Kiri Industries hit 10% upper circuit to Rs.167.30 on BSE. The stock has rallied for the second consecutive session. The company said that it has executed agreements to settle all of its debt. The total borrowings have been reduced to Rs 410.6 crore from 853.1 crore last year and the company plans to further reduce its borrowings by Rs 250 crore in FY17, Manish Kiri, MD of Kiri Industries said. As per settlement agreement executed, the company is committed to settle and repay majority of the balance debt during the current financial year 2016-17, it added.Cadila Healthcare slipped 1.1% to Rs.315.20 on NSE.Around 8 lakh shares were traded in a single block at Rs.314.54 on the NSE.Airline stocks rallied on BSE after the government to scrap 5/20 rule, as per media reports. Jet Airways (India) Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 609.45, up by Rs. 14.9 or 2.51% from its previous closing of Rs. 594.55 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 599 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 612.8 and Rs. 599 respectively. So far 2937644(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 6754.09 crore.SpiceJet Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 69.85, up by Rs. 1.15 or 1.67% from its previous closing of Rs. 68.7 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 69.35 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 70.7 and Rs. 69.25 respectively. So far 4118478(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 4118.22 crore.Interglobe Aviation Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 982.25, up by Rs. 9.7 or 1% from its previous closing of Rs. 972.55 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 978 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 987.9 and Rs. 969.55 respectively. So far 715259(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 35046.48 crore.GM Breweries climbed 2.9% to Rs.1,056.50 after the company reported a net profit of Rs. 17.4 crore for the quarter ended March 31 compared to Rs.5.7 crore reported in the same period a year ago.Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Ltd stock was higher by 5% at Rs. 545. The company said that Karnataka government restores ore mining limit to 1.6 million tonne from 0.74 million tonne.Ashoka Buildcon hit lower circuit 20% to Rs. 136. According to media reports, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department on Tuesday conducted joint searches at the office of Ashoka Buildcon and the residence of its head in connection with allegations that it financed certain construction by family of ex-deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, arrested last month in a money laundering case.JSW Energy slipped 3.5% to Rs.63.65.The scrip opened at Rs. 64.05 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 66.1 and Rs. 63.65 respectively. So far 884036(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 10824.33 crore.RPG Life Sciences jumped 6.5% to Rs.248.60 on BSE. The company has received GMP Certificate from Bavarian Authority, a competent authority in Germany, as per EUGMP standards for its formulation manufacturing facility in Gujarat.Delta Corp Ltd was higher by 6% at Rs. 74. The company has announced that the Government of Goa has granted permission to Delta Pleasure Cruise Company Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta to operate their vessel "M V ROYALE FLOTEL" in Mandovi River till an alternate feasible site is finalized by the Government or till March 31, 2017 whichever is earlier.Tata Steel Ltd was higher by 3% at Rs. 320. Workers at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) warned the Tata Group Chairman against fire sale of its UK steel business, saying that it wasnt the responsible thing to do.HCC Ltd was higher by 4% at Rs. 20.ABG Shipyard Ltd has announced that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on April 08, 2016, to discuss general corporate issues, strategy for induction of Strategic Investor / Partner and authorize Monitoring Institution on behalf of CDR Lenders to appoint Investment Banker to identify a Strategic Investor / Partner etc. The stock is currently trading at Rs. 50, up by Rs. 2.05 or 4.28% from its previous closing of Rs. 47.95 on the BSE.Talwalkars Better Value Fitness zoomed 5% to Rs.209.30 on BSE. The company announced the launch of 33 Zorba - renaissance studios in 25 cities in India. Within four month of sealing their partnership, the Company has expanded the Zorba footprint in the yoga and wellness segment. The much awaited Tata Tiago, the newest offering from Tata Motors, was unvieled in Mumbai today, with the price tag of Rs. 3.2 lakh ex-showroom, Delhi, for the base petrol variant. The hatchback, which was earlier named Zica and had to undergo a namechange after its namesake virus, is expected to revive flagging Tata Motor's position in the passenger vehicle segment.With fierce competition in the auto industry, Tata Motors was left behind due to poor brand positioning and lack of right product mix. With Tiago, the company hopes to change all of that. Powered by a 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine producing 85bhp, the hatchback returns an ARAI certified fuel efficiency of 23.84 km/l on petrol and 27.28 km/l on diesel. The car is available in 5 variants, and has all the safety gears in place like dual airbags, engine immobiliser, etc. The hatchback would be competing with Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Hyundai Grand i10, Chevrolet Beat and the likes. Manufacturers of condoms and products like diapers, sanitary pads/napkins and tampons in India will now have to give out pouches or wrappers with each pack for their proper disposal. The environment ministry on Tuesday made the provision mandatory under its new solid waste management rules, keeping in mind the reluctance of ragpickers to handle used sanitary pads, diapers and condoms if not wrapped. Under the rules, manufacturers, brand owners and marketing companies are also expected to educate the masses on proper disposal of the products. The economics and modalities of providing pouches or wrapping material for 'sanitary waste' will be worked out under the 'extended producer responsibility' concept. The rules define 'sanitary waste' as "comprising used diapers, sanitary towels or napkins, tampons, condoms, incontinence sheets and any other similar waste". Timesofindia The new rules will be implemented across the country by local civic authorities, which have also been empowered to charge a 'user fee' from bulk waste generators and impose a 'spot fine' for littering and non-segregation of wastes at source. Bulk waste generators include new gated townships, group housing societies, institutions, resident welfare as well as market associations, hotels, restaurants and event management companies, among others. Though the rules came into force on Tuesday, local authorities and 'panchayats' of all census towns and urban agglomerations have been given a six-month window to prepare a solid waste management plan in keeping with the state policy. Local bodies in-charge of areas with a population of one million or more will have to set up solid waste processing facilities within two years. indiatv "This (the new rule) is in conformation with the 'extended producer responsibility' concept, where the producer will also be responsible for managing the end waste of the product," environment minister Prakash Javadekar said. He explained how the new rules made provisions to integrate ragpickers and waste-dealers (kabadiwalas) into a 'formal' system. "All ragpickers across the country will be registered. They will also be provided training on disposing of all kinds of waste in a scientific manner so that it cannot affect their health," he added. Noting that burning solid waste leads to air pollution, the minister said, "Burning of solid waste and biomass is a crime now, and will be dealt with severely under the Environment Protection Act." timesofindia The jurisdiction of the new rules has for the first time been extended beyond municipal areas to cover all urban agglomerations, notified industrial areas, census towns, areas under the control of Indian railways, airports, airbases, ports, defence establishments and even places of religious/historical importance. "We are committed to help Bihar make its ban successful. The task forces have been activated along the border to stop all liquor smuggling," Singh said. The Delhi government is likely to give exemption to women drivers under the second round of odd-even scheme starting from April 15. abraxasnu Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Swati Maliwal has also urged Transport Minister Gopal Rai to exempt women from the road-rationing scheme as the city's public transport is not in a good shape and safety for working women is also a issue of concern. Rai today held consultation with different women organisations where most participants raised their voices in favour of keeping women drivers out of the ambit of the scheme. Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has called his Cabinet meeting with coordination committee constituted on the odd-even tomorrow where a final decision will be taken. englishsamachar "Government is considering to give exemption to women drivers under the second round of the scheme. There is a need to improve public transport besides ensuring safety for women. Until government addresses these two issues, women will continue to be exempted," a source said. During the first phase of odd-even scheme from January 1 to 15 earlier this year, the Kejriwal government had also given exemptions to them. In the consultation on odd-even, a participant named Deepika Dutta said women's safety is not up to the mark in the national capital. "Government should first ensure women safety and improve public transport in Delhi. Until government addresses these two issues, it should exempt women drivers from the odd-even scheme," she said. Maliwal, who was also a participant, said that DCW had sought people's suggestion on whether women should be given exemption. "Out of 218 participants, 200 women wanted exemption for them. Cases of rape and eve-teasing have also been on the rise. There is first need to make women feel safe while travelling in public transport," Maliwal said. straitstimes Another participant Parminder Kaur Malhotra said during the first round of scheme, schools were closed, but this time, schools will remain open during the second round. She said women will also have to pick up their children from schools and in view of this, there should be exemption for them. Delhi Assembly's Deputy Speaker Bandana Kumari and AAP women MLA Alka Lamba also advocated giving exemption to women drivers in view of poor public transport and women safety issue. Archana Garodia Gupta, President of FICCI Ladies Organization, said that she is also in the favour of exemption for women. There were some women who demanded that government should not exempt women drivers during the second phase of car-rationing scheme. Tine, a resident of Dwarka, said that women should help government deal with the rising pollution level in the city. Under the scheme, odd-numbered cars are only allowed to ply on odd dates while even-numbered vehicle are allowed to run only on even dates. It seems like we Indians won't learn the lesson, no matter how many people continue to get killed trying to take 'that awesome selfie'. The latest victim of the selfie craze is a Class 10 student from Hyderabad. Indian Express Manjeet Chowdhary along with his family was at the Nehru Zoological park in Hyderabad on Tuesday to celebrate his vacation after completing his final exams. The mishap occurred when Manjeet climbed a rock fountain almost three times his height, apparently to take a selfie. He slipped and fell down into the water, possibly hitting his head on a rock. NDTV However his family claimed that Manjeet was electrocuted from a live wire, a charge which the zoo authorities have denied. The 16-year-old has become the latest name in a list which is growing in an alarming pace. In fact India has topped the list of most number of selfie related deaths in the world last year. The selfie craze had gone too far that in Mumbai, authorities had to impose no-selfie-zones in 15 places. For the first time in Navi Mumbai, a Vashi-based animal welfare organisation has started a free ambulance service for dogs, cats, birds and reptiles. newindianexpress The injured animals and birds are taken to the centre's clinic, located in sector 26, for treatment and then, if the need arises, to private veterinarians for further medical treatment. This is the initiative of the Bhumi Jeevdaya SamvardhanTrust, which has a doctor on call for six days and young volunteers to pick up the injured animals. The organisation is hoping to add more ambulances and open more centres across Navi Mumbai. "Founded by Raghavji Wagji Patel, the trust was started two years ago but until recently, we had to depend on vehicles to pick up the injured animals," explained Sagar Savla, a trustee. Most of the injured birds and animals are treated at the centre itself, veterinarian surgeons are called in for extreme cases. Injured or abandoned cattle are taken to the cattle shed started by the trust in Panvel. Until now, the ambulances available are mainly for sterilization programmes but they also attend to stray animals that are injured. "We started this service last week and we no longer have to depend on external help. In some cases, the animals are unable to get help due to lack of transport facilities. Hopefully, now that will not be the case," added Savla. sigmaautocrafts Although the trust has been looking for a plot of land to start an animal hospital, their requests have not been approved. "The concerned authorities have given us a list of provisions that we would need to furbish when the hospital starts. Ideally, we would like to start with the basics and then add on as time progresses. Hopefully something should materialize soon," added Salva. An IT engineer from Kerala has been abducted by an unidentified militia in strife-torn Libya, according to information received in Kozhikode. Regi Joseph, 43, of Koorachundu in Kozhikode district, was reportedly abducted by an anti-government group from his workplace at Souk al Jumaa near Libya's capital, Tripoli, on March 31. Mathrubhumi Three other people, reportedly Libyan nationals, were also abducted. Regi works as an infrastructure engineer in Al Diwan Company, implementing a key project to create a national citizen database. Rebel forces had tried to hack into its servers a month ago. vocativ/ Representational Image Regi had been staying in Tripoli with his wife Shinuja, a nurse at the Tripoli-based TMC Hospital, for the last two years. They have three daughters. Regi's father Pulluvelil Joseph said his daughter-in-law has sought the Indian embassy's help. M K Raghavan, Kozhikode MP, said he had taken up the matter with CM Oommen Chandy and external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj. You can now get visas for European countries without leaving your home. VFS Global, the agency to whom several countries have outsourced visa issuance, can now send the equipment for collecting biometric information along with a visa submission officer to your home for a fee. visareporter The "on-demand mobile visa" service has been started all over India for UK visas. Some Schengen countries like Hungary and Denmark have also given the go-ahead to VFS for the facility and this may start at a later date. "High net worth individuals, large groups and those going for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) have long been asking for a hassle-free experience where all the processes can be completed at a place of their choice, like their home or office," VFS Global COO (south Asia) Vinay Malhotra told TOI. "In the initial phase, our average cost for this service (which is in addition to the regular visa fees) is 750 (about Rs 70,500 at the current exchange rate) for a group of 10 visitors. Any incremental visitor will be charged an average of 75 (Rs 7,050) additionally," he added. thaiembassy He said the firm could provide the visa-on-demand service for individuals too but the price structure for the same is yet to be worked out. "VFS has visa centres in 16 Indian cities. This facility will be very beneficial for those who live in towns that do not have a centre and who have to go to the city nearest to them which has the same, a process that takes one full day," Malhotra said. "We are testing the waters. Some Schengen countries like Slovenia have also given their concurrence for this facility," he said. Top travel agents said VFS will do well to keep the charges reasonable for the facility as many countries especially the UK already have very high visa fees. "The UK's fee for standard visitors is Rs 8,700 for a six-month visa; Rs 33,000 for a visa of up to two years; Rs 60,000 for up to five years, and Rs 75,200 for a 10-year visa. Schengen countries don't charge that much but issue very short-term visas to the majority of visitors which could range from a few days to a couple of months. So going there again means paying again," said a leading Delhi-based travel agent. migreat.files "The US, on the other hand, gives 10-year validity visas for just over Rs 11,000. Having a long-term visa means people can plan multiple visits without going through the hassles of the visa application process for each trip. This way, the US gets more revenue from multiple visits. However, the Europeans are being penny wise and pound foolish with their policy of short- term visas," said the agent. Kerala police have registered a case against eight students from Government Victoria College in Palakkad for allegedly preparing a 'symbolic grave' for the retiring principal. Facebook The case was registered on a complaint by Dr Sarasu, who retired as the principal of the collage on March 31 after nearly 28 years of service. On her last day of service Dr Sarasu was surprised to see a freshly dug grave in the campus. When asked about whose grave it was, to her shock, students replied that it was hers. Educrib The grave was allegedly prepared by students belonging to the Students Federation of India (SFI) a leftist students organization as a protest to Dr Sarasu who was know to be 'strict' when it comes to student protests, a move which made her 'unpopular'. "I have not allowed students to protest and disrupt classes, so this is their farewell gift for me. They are not alone in this. There are some teachers from Left-leaning organisations behind this too," she said. The 127-year-old college is one of the most prestigious institutes in Kerala and boast of famous alumnus like Former Chief Election Commissioner T N Seshan, 'Metroman' E Sreedharan, former Kerala Chief Minister E M S Namboodiripad, writer and cartoonist O V Vijayan. US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump now has an ally in India in the form of N R Narayana Murthy. Trump, who has been vehemently opposing outsourcing of US jobs to countries like India and China, among others, has found support from Infosys founder Murthy, who on Tuesday said that the Indian software industry has been acting as 'immigration agents' for its employees. He said it was imperative for the IT companies to create local jobs as it was their responsibility to do so. "My belief was that a corporation that has global aspiration has to be fair to its global employees. All Indian companies guarantee visas, they guarantee green cards. The whole exercise has become as if they are immigration agents. I am sorry to say that. Indian companies behave as if they are agents for their employees to cross the Atlantic," Murthy said at the Indian School of Business (ISB), where he was conferred the ISB Honorary Distinguished Fellowship. twimg The debate on outsourcing has raised concerns among industry leaders and economists in India as a massive chunk of Indian exports comes from the export of IT services to the North American market. "My concern is that Donald Trump, in last debate, said that H1B, whatever it is, I use it but I don't like it. I want to scrap all H1Bs. That's very worrying for export-led growth going forward," chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian had recently said at the Advancing Asia Conference co-hosted by India and IMF. Meanwhile, Murthy, who is known for his simple living, said the rich and the powerful in the country must exercise self-restraint in allocating power and richness to themselves. "In India, capitalism is at a very nascent stage. Therefore you (the students) have to be evangelist. You have to lead simple lives. We need compassionate capitalism which is about treating every employee with respect and dignity," he added. timesofindia Last month, the Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has said that the H-1B visa programme he uses to employ highly-skilled foreign workers at his own businesses should end as it is "very unfair" for American workers and has been taking away their jobs. IT professionals from India and major Indian IT companies are major beneficiary of H-1B, a non-immigrant visa in the US which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations. Giant pink penises paraded the streets of Japan marking the annual 'Festival of the Steel Phallus', where hundreds of people gathered to not only carry the male genitals in their arms, but also lick off them. Aflo/Barcroft Media Yes, to celebrate male fertility, huge manhood-shaped shrines were walked on the streets of Kawasaki. Additionally, penis-shaped lollipops were enjoyed with full gusto. Reuters Held every year on the first Sunday of April, the festival is celebrated to uphold male appendage and fertility, and to remember a 17th-century legend of a sharp-toothed demon who fell in love with a beautiful woman. Damon Coulter/Barcroft Media The festival was first held in 1977 at the Kanayama Shrine. The legend goes something like this - the demon, spurned by the woman, castrated the men who wanted to sleep with her and took shelter himself in her vagina. In order to break free from his torture, the woman sought help from a blacksmith, who fashioned a steel dildo that was used to break the demon's teeth. The demon died, the woman was freed, and the penis was enshrined. Reuters All was well in the world. Aflo/Barcroft Media The Festival of the Steel Phallus was thus born and the Kanayama Shrine became a site of penis worship. So much so that it is revered by the LGBT community, and also by sex workers who often visit to pray for protection against STIs. Lucca, a 12-year-old war dog enlisted with the US Marine Corps, has been honoured with the highest bravery award after she lost a leg while serving on a mission in Afghanistan. The German Shepherd - who has successfully completed 400 missions with the Marine Corps - was awarded the Dickin Medal, the highest honour for war animals. Lucca was presented with the medal at Wellington Barracks in London on Tuesday. PDSA The brave soldier lost her leg in March 2012 while on a mission in Afghanistan. Lucca is highly trained in sniffing out explosives, and it was during one of her tasks that she got caught in an IED blast which almost ended her life. But her handler Cpl Juan Rodriguez treated her with first aid in the form of a tourniquet before the medics arrived. PDSA The medal is "the highest award any animal in the world can achieve while serving in military conflict," according to the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA). PDSA Miraculously, Lucca made a full recovery and retired to California where she found a home with her former handler, Gunnery Sergeant Chris Willingham. PDSA Willingham said in a press release: "Lucca is very intelligent, loyal and had an amazing drive for work as a search dog. She is the only reason I made it home to my family and I am fortunate to have served with her. "Even when Lucca was injured, her good temperament and gentle nature never faltered. "She has become an inspiration to everyone she meets and I am so very proud to see her decorated with this prestigious award." What a brave, brave girl! The Islamic militant group ISIS controlled the historic city of Palmyra for over a year until it was freed by Syrian forces backed by Russian airstrikes. The aftermath of ISIS's destruction, aimed at wiping out relics and traces of pre-Islamic history, left the city in ruins. Temples, tombs, columns and antiquities were reduced to rubble and Syrian heritage has been razed to the ground. Joseph Eid, a photographer with AFP, has compared the historical sites today with what they used to be in the past. 1. The Temple of Baalshamin was once visible through these two columns Joseph Eid for AFP 2. The Arc du Triomph Joseph Eid for AFP Joseph Eid for AFP Joseph Eid for AFP Joseph Eid for AFP 4. A close up of the Temple of Bel compared to what it is today Joseph Eid for AFP 5. The display cases at Palmyra Museum lie bare and ruined Joseph Eid for AFP 6. A closer look at the Arc du Triomphe Joseph Eid for AFP The Nigerian Army on Wednesday disclosed that no fewer than 11, 595 civilians held at various enclaves by Boko Haram have been rescued. This is just as it said troops have stepped up efforts to clear and mop up all insurgent activities in the insurgency-ravaged northeast. The army said the rescue operations were carried out within the last one month. The acting Director of Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, made this known in a statement. In continuation of the clearance and mopping up operations of the remnants of Boko Haram terrorists in various parts of the North East geo-political region, troops have rescued no fewer than 11,595 persons held hostage by the terrorists within the last one month. Mr. Usman, a colonel, explained that the rescue operations were carried out by different military outposts across the beleaguered region and a significant number of them were received from Cameroonian authorities. On 1st March 2016, troops of 155 Task Force Battalion received 10,000 refugees from the Republic of Cameroon at Banki and Bama axis, Mr. Usman said. Two days later, Army Headquarters Special Forces (AHQ SF) Battalion also rescued 63 persons held captives by terrorists at Maleri. The same unit on 5th March 2016 rescued 779 persons at Fotokol general area, a border town between Nigeria and Cameroon. Within the first week of March 2016, the 254 Task Force Battalion also rescued 45 persons at Kuaguru, while 143 Battalion similarly rescued 27 persons at Gadayamo,15 at Galadadani Dam in Madagali and 10 persons from Disa village. On 11th March 2016 troops of 231 Battalion and Armed Forces Strike Force (AFSF) also rescued 7 persons held captives by Boko Haram terrorists at Betso village; 5 of whom were elderly women and 2 young girls. Similarly 117 Task Force Battalion on 15th March 2016, received 14 refugees from Sahuda a border town with Cameroon. The Battalion equally rescued 59 at Bitta general area on 19th March 2016. In similar vein, troops of 22 Brigade in conjunction with Army Headquarters Strike Group (AHQ SG) rescued 309 hostages from Kala Balge general area on 23rd of March 2016. While on 30th March 2016 troops of 25 Task Force Brigade rescued 45 men, 85 women and 137 children from the Boko Haram terrorists at, Zahdra and Weige villages. Thus the total number of persons rescued by the troops during the ongoing clearance operations is 11,595 from February 26th, 2016 to date. The army spokesman also promised to prioritise the rights of civilians and always uphold their dignity. The gallant troops in the course of these clearance operations would continue to place high premium on respect for human right and dignity, hence the rescue operations. You and your darling are happy together but are you trying too hard to have that happiness? No relationship is perfect, but every relationship is a two-way street. Are you doing all the work to make it work? Watch out for these signs that you are: Playing the initiation game If you are always the one to block out weekends for a movie or constantly sending every hows your day going text, its time to reevaluate. He might have a busy schedule, but that doesnt mean it comes down to you to be the one to initiate every date night, or to find time to spend together. In a healthy relationship, both partners should work to schedule time to be with each other. Being the number one compromiser When you do spend time together, are you doing what you want? Feeling the need to only do what your partner loves means you both arent compromising in your relationship. Being in a happy and functional relationship means trying out new things together, but he should be as interested in your hobbies as much you are interested in his. The rationalization queen Constantly making excuses for your beau in order to hide how you are feeling, or whats really going on, is a big red flag. Its normal to be frustrated or upset at times, but consistently rationalizing his behavior to your friends and family means its time to get to the root of the problem. You shouldnt have to feel stuck in any relationship you are in. Playing hide and seek (with yourself) No one is 100% authentic on the first few dates, but after dating for a while, you should be able to feel like yourself around your honey. Feeling like you cant honestly be yourself in a relationship means its not worth staying with that person. Yes, yes & yes Any relationship needs give and take to survive, which may mean you order Chinese instead of going out for Mexican on occasion. Its fine to not always get what you want if it makes your honey happy, but that also means your darling has to do the same for you. If you are constantly agreeing just to make your partner happy, that needs to change. You deserve to have someone agree with you instead of being the sole people-pleaser in your relationship. Texting = Stressing Constantly worried if you should send that text, or ask him to come to your work party, shouldnt be a part of your relationship. Of course there are some pre-dating jitters of not wanting to come on too strong, but if you are dating, you shouldnt be afraid to ask your honey how their day went via text. Having the end in sight Living in fear of a seemingly impending break up is not the way to feel in a relationship. Doing just that makes you feel like every word you say could possibly tip him over the edge and break up with you. There needs to be a level of happiness and confidence in any functioning relationship; fearing any little thing could cause the breakup is no way to live. Losing perspective Being unhappy with your man is difficult to see if you cant even imagine being happy with someone else. If you are trying too hard to make him happy and not feeling happy in return, its time to move on. Im free whenever A glaring issue in any relationship is being too available. Yes, you want to spend time with your beau, but if they arent doing the same for you, it is time to move on. Dont radiate insecurities by feeling like you cant say no. Any relationship is going to take effort on your part, but if you are the one who is always available, constantly saying yes, or rationalizing everything, its time to reevaluate. Former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sen. Bayero Nafada, said on Tuesday that there was no division within the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Nafada, who currently represents Gombe North Senatorial District at the Senate, said this in Abuja at the National Secretariat of the party. There is no problem in this party and the party will deliver on its campaign promises, he told newsmen. All these are rumours that are going on about the party; there is no established division in the party, if there is, you can tell me, he said. I dont want to believe that there is no coherence because there is no election at the moment. If there is election I believe all the party members would put their heads together. There was a rerun in Rivers State, did you hear of any division among the party hierarchy? No! If you have a mega party like the APC, definitely, some people may not like what others are doing. And, it is not only in political parties, even in religions. If you are a Christian, you have so many denominations. If you are a Muslim you have so many sects, Nafada restated. On the recent attack on a member of the Houses Representatives in Gombe by some angry youths in the state, he said that there were angry youths in the state who felt left out. I believe you know that Gombe is not an APC-controlled state; it is a PDP-controlled state and we have so many supporters in Gombe. I can even say without doubt that the APC has more membership in Gombe than PDP but because we dont have government at the state, most of our youth are looking for jobs to do. As members of the National Assembly, we cannot provide or we cannot cater for the entire youth in Gombe for what they would do, but we are doing our best. But you know, you will do your best and some people would say this has got and I am not getting, so I will want to get my own right now, instead of you to wait when it is your turn, but you know as youth they would not wait, Nafada explained. However, he said that elders of the party had spoken to the youth on the need to exercise patience and peace had returned to the state. The governing All Progressives Congress, APC, has been accused of putting the nation under siege. The Labour Party (LP), which made the accusation yesterday in Abuja, said that the last 10 months of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had not brought joy to the land, but fears as well as political and economic siege. The partys position was contained in a statement issued by its National chairman, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam. According to Abdulsalam, the mentality of the present administration had created a nation without coherent practice of ethics, values and processes, but excessive action, taxes and laws that prevent growth, while governments intervention in the economy remained controversial. He said APCs change has only been successful in the furtherance of the siege mentality, whereby Nigerians are being oppressed, isolated and manipulated in the face of the negative maneuvering of the ruling party. The APC government despite purposeful intervention by well-meaning Nigerians, the Labour Party, civil societies and the NBA, has created a corridor of consistent flouting of the ethics of good governance, participatory democracy along sacred laws of the land in the pursuit of perceived and contrived idealism, thereby making effective opposition low, and multi-lateral thinking deficient. Abdulsalam said what was glaring was the efficacy of governments propaganda, which had consistently given excuses to cover up economic misfortune. The LP chair, however, said President Buhari must be reminded that there is no fuel, electricity, gas, food and peace in the land. The Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization (CBAAC) has urged the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for `Made-in-Nigeria goods to thrive in the country. The Director-General of the centre, Dr Ferdinand Anikwe, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that such a policy would motivate and encourage local manufacturers to produce quality goods that would be accepted locally and internationally. Creating enabling environment for local manufacturers will also ensure the sustainability of the Made-in-Nigeria goods and promote employment for many unemployed. It will also help to increase the nation`s foreign exchange earnings from those exported overseas, he said. According to him, the country could earn huge revenues by investing in our diverse locally made goods such as crafts, local fabrics, beads and agricultural products. Anikwe said that CBAAC was doing all within its reach to promote this policy of the Federal Government to its logical conclusions. The CBAAC boss also urged Federal Government to ensure that more locally made goods were exported than importing foreign products. The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) yesterday said it had set up a rehabilitation camp for repentant Boko Haram members under an exercise known as Operation Safe Corridor. The Director, Defence Information, Rabe Abubakar, made this known in a statement. According to the statement, the camps establishment was in furtherance of governments efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate surrendered and repentant Boko Haram members. Mr. Abubakar, a Brigadier General, said The main focus of Operation Safe Corridor is geared towards rehabilitating and reintegrating the repentant and the surrendering Boko Haram members back into normal life in the society. He added: The repentant terrorists in the camp will be taken through various vocational trainings so that they can be useful to themselves and be empowered to contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of their fatherland. The Defence spokesman urged insurgents who are still carrying arms against their fellow citizens to repent and benefit from the numerous opportunities offered by the camp. He warned that the militarys final onslaught against the remnants of the Boko Haram group would be sustained until they are completely neutralized. The reluctant Boko Haram members should therefore see wisdom in surrendering now, thereby saving themselves from the imminent calamity that is about to fall on them in the event of the military mop-up if they continue in their unwholesome acts, he said. Human rights activist, Femi Falana (SAN) has demanded the unconditional release from unlawful detention, leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN), Sheik Ibraheem el-Zakzaky and his wife, Hajia Zeenat Ibraheem. Falana made the demand in a letter dated April 5 and addressed to the Director-General, Department of State Services (DSS), Lawal Daura. Sheik el-Zakzaky and his wife have been in detention since December last year after a violent clash between members of his sect and the Nigerian Army in Zaria, Kaduna State. The lawyer said since their arrest and detention at an undisclosed location, his clients have not been allowed access to their legal counsel, family and doctors even though they have not been told that they breached any law. Mr. Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said although his clients were not at the scene of the clash between the army and members of the IMN last December, rampaging troops invaded their residence at Wali Street, Zaria. The troops set the building ablaze and killed three of our clients children in their presence and thereby subjected them to untold mental agony. Thereafter, the armed soldiers shot our clients several times. As a result of the brutal attack Sheik Zakzaky lost his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one. While in custody, both of them have gone through many surgical operations to extract bullets from their bodies, Falana wrote. To compound the physical pain and mental torture his clients were subjected to, the rights activist said the police and the DSS have held them incommunicado for over three months. He also recalled that during a similar attack in 2014 allegedly by a detachment of the Army in Zaria, three of el-Zakzakys children were also killed without any lawful justification. He further said the report of the fact finding Commission of Enquiry set up by the government into the attack was yet to be released, while the military personnel who allegedly killed his clients children and other unarmed civilians, have not been brought to justice. Some of the victims who survived the deadly attacks, Falana noted, have been charged with culpable homicide and sundry offences by the Kaduna State Government. Notwithstanding that such criminal charges are pending at the Kaduna High Court, the Kaduna State Government has set up a judicial Commission of Enquiry to investigate the same subject matter. Even though our clients have not been told that they breached any law, they have been denied access to their lawyers, personal physicians and family members for over three months. Our clients were only permitted to meet with us last Friday after several requests made by us had been turned without any legal basis. In the light of the foregoing, our clients and members of the IMN have resolved not to participate in the proceedings of the said Judicial Commission of Enquiry in any manner whatsoever and howsoever. Finally, we hereby demand for the immediate and unconditional release of our clients from illegal detention within 24 hours of the receipt of this letter, Falana said. A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State, Yusuf Ali (Raba Gardama) has described Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State as an embarrassment to democratic ethos. Mr. Ali, who made this known in a statement he issued in Abuja on Tuesday, said that the governors utterances in recent time have crossed the boundary of free speech. His frequent insults and vituperations against the President have crossed the boundary of free speech. It is the height of indiscipline and typical of someone who is plagued with hangover. Fayoses outburst does not help the polity in anyway because it portrays him as someone still weighed down with the fever of electoral defeat when the whole nation has united behind President Muhammadu Buhari to deliver Nigeria from the mess of the 16-year misrule of the PDP. If Fayose is suffering from verbal diarrhoea, I think it is time he goes for cure rather than abusing our president. This is unacceptable. Loyalty to the president is not a matter of choice but its an obligation by all citizens, including Fayose, who always throws caution to the wind and runs his mouth as if there are no laws in the land. Fayose is a whimsically eccentric person who shouldnt have been a prefect in secondary school not to talk of governing the highly educated and urbane people of Ekiti. Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has ordered that henceforth, all mosquito nets used in the country must be locally produced. He also endorsed the use of herbal medicines, and recommended that the drugs be produced in the country under the supervision of Nigerian Institute of Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NIPRD), and National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Prof. Adewole said this at the presentation of NAFDAC Guidelines 2016 on Tuesday in Abuja. He disclosed that billions of hard-earned monies were being used by the nation to import mosquito nets and other drugs that could be produced in the country, adding that the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, a body of drugs and related products manufacturers in the country, could produce mosquito nets, as the products are part of medical devices. Speaking further, the minister urged NAFDAC to partner with Universities of Zaria, Enugu, Ibadan and Jos to enhance research into local production of drugs. The Minister said: When we came on board, what we were mandated to do was to develop health agenda for the nation. Doing so, we work on delivering health to the Nigerian citizens. The APC manifestoes documented a new commitment to health, but we needed to build on this. We will make essential medicines available; make sure that we have self-sufficiency in local production and clinical practice. We will also ensure that we keep substandard products out of Nigeria. I saw a challenge with Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria. I believe that many of the key products that we use in this country can be labeled as medical devices, including the Long-Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets, LLIN. Please, ensure that these are produced in Nigeria. There is actually no reason why we should spend billions of our hard-earned money on importing nets from other countries when they can be produced in this country. For other agencies, I think this is the time to go into local production. We are prepared to give an undertaking that these be produced locally. In addition to this, we should also invest in local products. We call them traditional medicine. But, I want to call them Nigerian medicines. I think NIPRD will partner with us to research with your products, making sure that local preparations are available for Nigeria. I am sure NIPRD is aware of some of the commodities from Middle Belt such as the one that when taken can prevent Nigerian women from getting pregnant for the next one year. This should be made available. Speaking on the guidelines, the Minister said: Guidelines can only work when people work with guidelines. Without people, the guidelines will never work. So, my admonition is that you need to work with your manuscripts, improved guidelines and welfare of your staff. I will also say that you effect promotion arrears, and then, the demand from the staff is strike-free NAFDAC. It is going to be give and take. He charged that NAFDAC must become a reference point with regards to regulatory activities worldwide. In her remark, Acting Director-General NAFDAC, Mrs Yetunde Oni, said the guidelines for the agencys regulatory activities were developed through the support of World Health Organization, PATH 2 and UK AID. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said that no governor, House of Representatives member or senator will be allowed to monitor this Saturdays elections in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja. This is just as the commission declared that the restriction of movement in the April 9 FCT area council polls is total. The INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, stated this yesterday in Abuja at a stakeholders forum ahead of the polls. According to him, only accredited people on legitimate election duties would be allowed to monitor the election, adding that the restriction also includes members of the House Committee on INEC. We have accredited observers and monitors and there is a procedure. Vehicles on legitimate election duties will be identified and therefore the prescription of movement is total, he said. Prof. Yakubu said accreditation and voting would commence simultaneously at exactly 8 a.m while the smart card readers had been configured and charged ahead of the election. I appeal to all political parties and their supporters to maintain peace in the last days of their campaign and during elections and beyond. Reports of the outbreak of violence resulting in loss of lives in Gwagwalada are worrisome to the commission. We are equally disturbed by the report to attack the INEC headquarters in Abaji, nevertheless, we have received assurances from security agencies of peaceful, free fair polls, he said. In his remarks, the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, who was represented by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Wilson Inalegwu, said the restriction of movement is between 7a.m. and 4p.m. He assured stakeholders of security throughout the election. The FCT Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Jacob Jatau, said the commission trained a number of ad-hoc staff for the election. We have successfully completed the training of over 9,000 ad-hoc workers for the election, he said. Jatau, however, expressed dismay that only 646, 883 residents had collected their Permanent Voters Cards while he appealed to residents to take advantage of the two-day extension to collect their PVCs at various INEC area council offices as the collection deadline had been extended to Thursday, April 7. Card readers will be deployed to 562 polling units, 2, 207 voting units and 246 voting points, he said. The stakeholders forum was attended by candidates, political parties, observes and security agents. Punch The current fuel scarcity in the country may not end anytime soon as many filling stations and depots in Lagos did not have Premium Motor Spirit on Tuesday, while queues of desperate motorists grew longer at few stations selling the product. Vanguard AHEAD of the expected judgment of the Code of Conduct Tribunal, following yesterdays commencement of his trial over false assets declaration when he held sway as governor of Kwara State, Senate President, Bukola Saraki may throw in the towel by resigning from his position any movement from now, Vanguard learnt. Thisday Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja, Ernest Chinwo in Port-Harcourt and James Sowole in Akure In line with his commitment to comprehensive legal reforms, President Muhammadu Buhari has begun the process of reforming the nations electoral laws in order to bring them into conformity with best global electoral practises. The Sun The Bayelsa State Elections Petition Tribunal sitting in Nyanya, Abuja has granted the prayers of Governor Seriake Dickson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to inspect the election materials used to conduct the January 9 guber election in Brass Local Government Area. Daily Times The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Tuesday, denied a media report that the scheme is planning to review down ward the corps members allowance by 25 percent, due to current economic situation in the country. Daily Trust The national leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has urged the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government to stop blaming the PDP for the socio-economic problems confronting the nation. During the week, the APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and President Muhammadu Buhari at separate fora, blamed the current economic woes of the country on the 16-year misrule of the PDP. But while inaugurating the special convention committees of the PDP in Abuja yesterday, National Chairman of PDP, Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, urged President Buhari and the APC to stop the blame game and face the challenges of governance. I advise leaders of the APC to stop blaming the PDP for their problems. We want to tell Nigerians that we can do better, the PDP chair said. Sheriff accused some unnamed APC governors of plotting to rig the PDP out of the Federal Capital Territory council elections holding this Saturday. He, however, challenged the APC governors to make good their plot, vowing that the PDP was ready to match them governor for governor. If anybody believes they can rig the PDP out of the election, they are in for a shocker. If you bring your governors, we will bring our own. If you bring your former governors, we will bring our former governors. The APC should be guided; they should respect the wish of the people for one man, one vote. The PDP is not for violence, but we will defend our votes, he maintained. Mr. Sheriff also used the occasion to call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to live up to its responsibilities. The election must be conclusive. There should be no inconclusive elections again, Sheriff stated. The four committees inaugurated yesterday at the national secretariat of the PDP in Abuja ahead of its May 21 national convention, included those of Convention, Finance, Reconciliation and Zoning. President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday urged the people and Government of Burundi to explore dialogue in resolving the current political differences in the country. Buhari said this when he received the former Burundian President, Mr. Pierre Buyoya at the State House. He promised that Nigeria would continue to support peace processes in the continent through the African Union (AU), which had already intervened in Burundi. According to the President, since President Pierre Nkurunziza rejected the proposal of a stabilizing force from the AU, we cant impose it on him, but we will continue to opt for dialogue. Nigeria has been playing a key role in the continent through the AU. We participated fully in ensuring a truce in Mali, and we want citizens to enjoy the impact of the truce, although the terrorists are not helping matters. Nigeria is always committed to regional and continental peace, and we will continue to do our best, he said. The President told the former President of Burundi, who is the High Representative of the AU Mission to Mali and the Sahel, that he remained hopeful that there would be an amicable solution to the situation in Burundi. The Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Lagos Province 37, has donated sets of computer to Government Technical College, Ikotun, to enhance the teaching and learning of ICT in the school. The Pastor-in-charge of RCCG LP 37, Benjamin Ajayeoba, who led a team of pastors to the presentation ceremony at the school recently, said the gesture was part of the churchs corporate social responsibility, which was the vision of the General Overseer, Enoch Adeboye. He said with the relevance of technical education to the technological advancement of any nation, there is need for all education stakeholders to support technical schools in providing necessary teaching aids and infrastructure that would enable them produce well-trained manpower that would man appropriate sectors in the country. Ajayeoba explained that the RCCG being a religious organisation had been in the vanguard of supporting education at the grassroots over the years by donating materials and facilities that could boost teaching and learning to public schools, especially those in areas where its branches are located. He stressed that if public schools are well equipped with necessary facilities, more out-of-school children would be attracted back to school, thereby reducing the rate of out-of-school children in the country. On the relevance of computers to modern classroom teaching and learning, Ajayeoba described computers as veritable teaching aides used in developed countries to impart up-to-date knowledge of different subject matter in students. He reiterated that it is high time Nigerian students were taught in line with global best practices and called on the management of the college to ensure that the donated items are judiciously used. Responding, the Principal, Mr. Samuel Adaramola, thanked the church for extending its CSR programme to the school, adding that the sets of computer donated to the school would assist the college to set up a computer laboratory for students offering Computer Craft Course. Before the donation, he said the school could only boost of an ICT room where every student goes to acquire general knowledge in the use of computers, whereas those offering Computer Craft as a course needed a separate computer laboratory to carry out their practical. Adaramola called on other religious groups and notable non-governmental organisations to complement governments efforts at providing a conducive environment for teaching and learning in public schools in Lagos, as well as technical colleges, by donating educational materials to schools. He said if technical colleges are well equipped, there would be less youth unemployment in the country since those being trained in the colleges are expected to be job creators and employers of labour. Some students of the college expressed their gratitude to RCCG LP 37 for its kind gesture by rendering songs of appreciation. Source: ThisDay Most people are shocked when they hear the words youre fired come out of their boss mouth. But the savviest professionals always keep an eye out for the classic signs that their jobs are in danger. This way, if and when they notice red flags popping up, they can attempt to turn the tide before its too late. INFORMATION NIGERIA put together in this piece what to do when as soon as you realize youre about to get the boot. These tips may not save you from getting fired, but they just might help: Dont panic If you think youre about to be fired, its natural to freak out. But remember that firing signs can also be false reads. Initiate a conversation in a neutral setting with your boss This is the perfect opportunity to raise your concerns, ask questions, and to see if there is anything you can or should be doing to help improve the chances of you retaining your position Ask your boss for honest feedback Even if its not what you want to hear, not knowing is worse than knowing. Do your best work possible Try not to be distracted by negativity, as hard as that might be. Focus on performing to the best of your ability. This is the strongest form of job security you have. Brush up on necessary skills If you feel that you could advance your cause by taking a course, now may be a good time. Perhaps not having a competitive skill set has held you back. If nothing else, this will be an asset for your future marketability. Get stronger mentally and physically View this challenge as a time to gain a stronger physical and mental mindset. Sometimes facing obstacles can be the moment of a complete turnaround and catapult you to a new level of success. It may or may not be at this company, but you can give it your best shot by being on top of your game. Document everything Keeping an electronic file of your work and correspondence is a good policy regardless of your status at your job. Never assume you are safe Even if you take all these steps, dont assume youre safe. Make sure your resume is up to date, take advantage of training opportunities that might still be available that would help bolster your chances of getting a new job if the worst comes to pass. The May 29, 2016 date earlier announced for the commencement of the commercial operation of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge railway route is no longer feasible, the Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has said. He made the announcement yesterday shortly after inspecting the project at Idu and Kubwa, Abuja. The minister and his team also visited the Catholic Hospital, the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul Hospital, Byazhin, Kubwa, where he resolved the knotty issues around demolition of their premises for a major alignment of the rail tracks to occur. The delay in the alignment of the rail tracks is said to have been responsible for the delay in the completion of the project. The May 29 deadline isnt feasible. I was pushing them to keep to the initial deadline but the team, the project consultant, in their wisdom said we may make mistake if we continue to push. They advise we allow the contractors follow their time table. They need at least one month to finish the alignment at Kubwa, Amaechi explained. He, however, noted that the commercial operations may occur in June while the free test-run will still happen earlier, before the commercial operations begin. We have finally resolved what made us not to keep to our initial date of commissioning. The Daughters of Charity had refused to allow the contractors demolish their premises and strengthen the alignment. But weve negotiated and agreed that demolition should start from tomorrow (today) and that fencing will start today (yesterday), Amaechi said adding that by June, the project should be delivered. The minister noted that at this first stage, about 1,000 staff would be engaged, who would be on every six kilometers of the way for maintenance purposes even as security issues were still being reviewed. This week, I'm at a conference focused on helping CIOs help their organizations. The overwhelming issue is security. Email security, data leakage, and data loss/theft are all huge focuses -- especially when the company is involved in the health care industry where it's legally and reputationally essential that data be kept under control. IT's main defense strategies don't address biggest risks In most discussions, the same two solutions have come up to help prevent data loss: data loss prevention (DLP) tools and user training. Both Exchange and Office 365 have DLP built in, managed via an easy-to-use wizard interface for setting up DLP policies that create transport rules to prevent email messages and attachments from leaving the organization, such as those with Social Security numbers or other sensitive, personal information. There are also plenty of third-party DLP tools available to enhance the native Microsoft capabilities. Solid user training helps ensure that people don't accidentally send information that may have sensitive information and don't get tricked by a phishing attack that opens a secret channel for data theft. Both the technical DLP approach and the human training approach make the same assumption: The user doesn't want to harm the company. That is, any data leak is accidental on their part. But what about the case of intentional leaks and theft, such as from a disgruntled employee or whistleblower? Take this week's example of the Panama Papers that detailed possible money laundering by government officials and others throughout the world. Without inside assistance, it's hard to believe that 11.5 million documents would leak from a Panamanian law firm that has operated for 40 years without incident. (Though the firm claims the theft came from an outside hack.) Then we have Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who copied lots of sensitive government information and released it to the press to expose what he considered government lies. It doesn't matter whether you consider these examples to be actions by heroes or by traitors. What occurred was the kind of intentional leak that most organizations fear so greatly. The lesson? Too often, the defenses an IT organization puts in place focus on the perimeter, whether to stop attackers or prevent accidental leaks from the inside. And not enough effort is made to stop the intentional leak, where damage can be much greater. As a result, intentional breaches from the inside often go undetected until it's too late. IT should also adopt user-behavior analytics It's the inside-job scenario that demands IT add a third approach to DLP and training: user-behavior analytics (UBA). UBA software helps detect insider threats (along with insider fraud and targeted attacks, aka spear phishing or whaling). My publishing company recently released a book by Derek A. Smith (a CISSP and cyber security expert), "Conversational User Behavior Analytics," where Smith describes a predictive system that watches the daily, normal behavior of a user and tries to detect when a serious change has occurred. For example, if a user typically downloads 10 documents a day, then suddenly starts downloading 11.5 million, that change might be a major red flag. By monitoring user patterns -- where they log in from, what files they are poking around in, and so on -- and even their language in typed communication (what's called psycholinguistic analysis), the system can see a pattern and provide a preemptive heads-up to IT that an anomaly has been detected. It's not infallible, but it certainly is worth considering. Forcepoint, Splunk, and Veriato are a few vendors that offer UBA software. 3 essential techniques to safeguard your data There you have it, the three key deterrents to insider threats and data leakage: Letting people communicate securely and privately should be a no-brainer, not a complicated process where users jump through hoops or pay for expensive tools. For more than a billion WhatsApp users around the world, that dream is now reality, as the messaging app now provides end-to-end encryption for all users. The latest version of WhatsApp, released late last week, lets users send and receive messages, attachments, and voice calls that can only be deciphered by the intended recipient, Jan Koum and Brian Acton, founders of WhatsApp, said in the blog announcement. The encryption feature is turned on for all supported platforms, which means every WhatsApp user on iPhone, Android, Nokia, and BlackBerry devices are protected. [ An InfoWorld exclusive: Go inside a security operations center. | Discover how to secure your systems with InfoWorld's Security newsletter. ] From now on when you and your contacts use the latest version of the app, every call you make, and every message, photo, video, file, and voice message you send, is end-to-end encrypted by default, including group chats, Koum and Acton said. Each user verifies their contacts and all encryption keys are stored locally. Since none of the keys ever touch WhatsApp servers, there is no way WhatsApp can know the contents of users messages, even if law enforcement comes knocking with a court order. The only places the messages could be intercepted are on the two devices communicating with each other -- nothing in between. All you need to know is that end-to-end encrypted messages can only be read by the recipients you intend, WhatsApp said. Transition in progress The switch from a plaintext to an encrypted world cant be instantaneous since everyone will not update to the latest version at the same time. But WhatsApp shows the encryption status of every conversation, so no one is ever uncertain about the security of the session. In a group chat, if one of the recipients is still running an older version of the app, then the message doesnt get encrypted. However, all other members of that group chat would clearly be able to tell the session is not encrypted, as well as the name of the contact who is forcing the message to be sent in its unprotected form. This way, recipients always know the security of their messages, and they can pressure their friends and counterparts to upgrade to the latest versions. Peer pressure for more security -- why not, if it works? Once the chat client establishes an end-to-end encrypted session with a contact, it would never allow a plaintext conversation with that contact, even if the contact tries to use a device with the older version of the app. This prevents anyone from performing a downgrade attack. Eventually all the pre-e2e capable clients will expire, at which point new versions of the software will no longer transmit or accept plaintext messages at all, said Moxie Marlinspike, the cryptography researcher behind Open Whisper Systems, which provided the backbone of WhatsApps encryption technology. Using Signal WhatsApp has been working on the encryption problem for a while, adding encryption as a default for some messages in late 2014. That feature was restricted to certain devices, and it wasnt easy for users to tell when messages were not protected. Last year, WhatsApp partnered with Open Whisper Systems, the team behind secure messaging app Signal, to integrate the open source Signal Protocol into WhatsApp. The Signal Protocol is a modern, open source, forward secure, strong encryption protocol for asynchronous messaging systems, designed to make end-to-end encrypted messaging as seamless as possible, Marlinspike said. Marlinspike said Open Whisper Systems is working with other messaging companies to amplify the impact and scope of private communication even further. Its great that Apple encrypts iMessage and FaceTime messages, end to end, but that doesnt help users who dont have an expensive iPhone. WhatsApp and other messaging companies coming on board makes it easier for practically anyone to be part of the security mainstream. Security by default In regard to encryption, theres a sense that most people dont care about online privacy. If they cared, the logic goes, there would be more people using encryption tools that would keep online communications and information safe. The reality is quite different. People want the assurance that their communications with their contacts are private, that what they say or share stays between them. But it cant be too hard because the default reverts back to insecurity. Opting in to security typically don't have high rates of adoption. A month ago, Amazon justified removing encryption from its Kindle Fire devices because no one was using it (before it backed down). Apple made encryption one of the topics iOS users dont have to think about much. Its more engineering effort by the company to get encryption to work seamlessly and transparently, but it winds up protecting more people. Security needs to be enabled by default and not a decision left up to the user. WhatsApps decision to turn on encryption by default for everyone makes the process easy. Users dont have to do anything different to protect their conversations. They dont even have to dig through the apps settings menu to enable the feature. Use WhatsApp, use encryption. Its that simple. Securing online communications should always be that straightforward. The desire to protect peoples private communication is one of the core beliefs we have at WhatsApp, and for me, its personal, Koum wrote. Your turn, government WhatsApp's announcement comes at an interesting time. A recent New York Times report claimed the Department of Justice was in the middle of court proceedings against WhatsApp regarding intercepting certain messages. Details of the order was hazy, but suggested another legal showdown similar to the recent Apple and the FBI battle was possible. Its not only the U.S. government looking askance at secure messaging apps, either. Brazilian authorities recently arrested a Facebook executive for allegedly not providing information from a WhatsApp account potentially relevant to a drug trafficking investigation. Encryption is one of the most important tools available as more information gets stored on remote servers and various forms of communications move online. Encryption keeps governments, companies, and individuals safe from abuses by cyber criminals, hackers, and rogue nation-states. Over the past few months, governments have claimed that increased use of encryption is impeding criminal investigations, that attackers using encrypted forms of communications make it harder for law enforcement to gather information. But weakening it in the manner various government officials have suggested is a dangerous move and will cause more damage. While we recognize the important work of law enforcement in keeping people safe, efforts to weaken encryption risk exposing people's information to abuse from cyber criminals, hackers, and rogue states," Koum said. More -- and widespread -- encryption is the answer to a safe Internet. With this update, WhatsApp has put the communications of all its users out of the reach of anyone who isnt the intended recipient. The FBI didnt like Apples approach toward security, and it definitely won't appreciate what the worlds most popular messaging app did. Cattle bulls are back in force Sidwell Strategies - Sat Oct 22, 7:12PM CDT Cattle-on-Feed; Rebound in Equities & Energy Triple Digit Hog Rally Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Lean hogs extended their rally into the weekend with another $0.20 to $2.10 gains in the front months. December was up the most on Friday, but is still a $1.40 discount to Feb. Through the week, December... HEZ22 : 89.125s (+2.41%) HEJ23 : 93.850s (+0.78%) KMZ22 : 98.000s (+1.16%) Cotton Limits the Weeks Pullback with Friday Strength Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT Cotton futures traded in a wide 413 point range from +253 to -160 (Dec). At the close the front months were 32 to 173 points in the black. December closed the week at a net 402 point loss, having spent... CTZ22 : 79.13s (+2.24%) CTH23 : 78.55s (+1.67%) CTK23 : 78.15s (+1.44%) Wheats Closed Mixed on Friday Barchart - Fri Oct 21, 4:40PM CDT CBT SRW futures ended the last trade day of the week with 1 to 1 1/2 cent gains. For the December contract that meant a net 9 cent loss for the week. KC futures pulled back by 1/2 a cent to 2 cents on... ZWZ22 : 850-6s (+0.18%) ZWH23 : 869-4s (+0.17%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.8533 (+0.24%) KEZ22 : 948-2s (-0.16%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.0581 (-0.16%) MWZ22 : 961-4s (-0.10%) Nomura has dominated Institutional Investors roster of Japans Top Corporate Access Providers every year since the ranking was introduced, in 2013, but this year it shares the winners circle with rival Mizuho Securities Group. Each firm earns a place in every one of the surveys 25 industry sectors that produced publishable results. However, when a rating of 4 is applied to each first-place position, 3 to each second-place position, and so on, Nomura is the undisputed champ, with a weighted score of 92 to Mizuhos 63. In third place overall is Daiwa Securities Group, with 18 spots, followed closely by SMBC Nikko Securities, with 17. These are the only brokerages that earn double-digit totals in this years survey, which reflects the opinions of more than 410 investors at 231 institutions that collectively manage an estimated $786 billion in Japanese equities. A total of 18 firms make the cut (plus an additional six that receive an honorable mention). Click on the Leaders link in the navigation table at right to view the top institutions. Data regarding ranked firms not appearing here are available from the Institutional Investor Research Group; for information please contact Esther Weisz at 212-224-3307 or eweisz@iiresearchgroup.com. Over the past year companies in Japan have reached an unprecedented level of transparency. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has simultaneously pushed for greater accountability from executives and heavier scrutiny from their shareholders as part of his multipronged approach to kick-starting the countrys sluggish economy. Long criticized for blindly following corporate leadership, upwards of 100 Japanese money managers and asset owners agreed to become more actively involved in the companies in which they invest when they signed Japans stewardship code, Principles for Responsible Institutional Investors, in 2014. Last summer regulators unveiled Japans Corporate Governance Code: Seeking Sustainable Corporate Growth and Increased Corporate Value Over the Mid- to Long-Term, which requires those companies listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchanges first and second sections that is, large and medium-size enterprises to have at least two independent directors on their boards. Both initiatives have been important changes and are having key and visible impacts on interactions between investors and companies, reports Yohei Osade, Mizuhos global head of pan-Asian equity research. Investors are being more proactive in requesting change in line with both the wording and the spirit of the governance code. Shinji Wakizaka, head of client relations management at Nomura, says Japanese executives are keen to meet a broader range of investors than ever before. In the past many Japanese companies focused on dialogues with long-only investors, Wakizaka observes. Nowadays, they are willing to meet other investors that they had not met before, such as hedge funds based outside Japan. Nomura has seen robust growth in the number of meeting requests it receives from investors, and its flagship Nomura Investment Forum in November shattered previous records for attendance from both money managers and corporates some 2,100 global investors sat down with representatives of more than 300 companies in over 5,000 one-on-one and small-group meetings, up from 3,800 the previous year. Although the level of access has changed, clients questions havent, according to Kazuki Kawashima, head of corporate access at Daiwa. We still find investors focusing on business strategies, operating performance and long-term earnings prospects, he notes. Such a stance reiterates the main purpose of the stewardship code facilitating mid- to long-term growth in corporate earnings. As of June roughly 92 percent of the companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange had recruited outside directors, up 18 percentage points year over year, according to Tokyo-based Nikkei newspaper. Many market observers believe this change will not only help deter corruption but also compel executives to focus on improving profitability and increasing shareholder value. Its about growing the pie and we would all prosper from that, observes Akitsugu Era, Tokyo head of the investment stewardship team, which handles proxy voting and company engagement, at U.S.-based asset management behemoth BlackRock. He is impressed by how quickly companies have opened up since the codes launched. A couple of years ago, the speakers wouldve been the heads of investor relations, but now were seeing more board members reaching out and meeting us, Era says. Five years ago his crew would only meet with about 50 companies a year that number has since tripled, he reports. BlackRock arranges the majority of its meetings directly with the companies in which it invests, but from time to time the firm attends conferences, nondeal road shows and one-on-one meetings arranged by sell-siders, depending on the speakers and topics of discussion. Last year Mizuho took Japanese corporates overseas on more than 250 nondeal road shows, while arranging nearly 8,000 one-on-one and small-group meetings with investors in Japan, Osade says. The Mizuho Investment Conference held in September brought over 2,200 investors to Tokyo to hear from more than 300 enterprises, he adds. The tenth annual Daiwa Investment Conference in Tokyo, convened in late February and early March, was similarly successful, Kawashima affirms. The five-day event drew some 5,500 investors and 471 companies 407 from Japan. We believe the new corporate governance code will encourage companies to more earnestly interact with investors going forward, he says. Nomuras Wakizaka projects that corporate leaders will rise to the challenge, and notes that many are keen to meet a broader range of investors than ever before. In the past many Japanese companies focused on dialogues with long-only investors, he notes. Nowadays they are willing to meet other investors that they had not met before, such as hedge funds based outside Japan. Follow Jess Delaney on Twitter at @jdelaney_NYC. If your business involves transporting Mexicans cheaply across the U.S. border, you could be forgiven for being discouraged by the American political debate. With Donald Trump and Ted Cruz each promising to build a wall to secure the border, about the only bright spot in the Republican primary campaign is the fact that the Texas senator hasnt disparaged Mexican immigrants as drug-dealing rapists. Yet nasty campaign rhetoric fails to dim the irrepressible optimism of Enrique Beltranena, CEO of the low-cost Mexican carrier Volaris. Since its founding a decade ago, the airline, formally named Controladora Vuela Compania de Aviacion, has grown rapidly and now controls roughly a quarter of the Mexican air passenger market, both domestically and internationally. And the international routes principally to the U.S. but now beginning to branch into Central and South America are the fastest-growing part of the business. We started with the idea of doing something really disruptive, Beltranena said in a recent interview at Institutional Investors offices in New York, after meeting with investors. We are the first successful ultra-low-cost carrier in Latin America. Launched by the Mexican private equity firm Discovery Americas with backing from billionaires telecom tycoon Carlos Slim and media baron Emilio Azcarraga, Volaris took to the skies in 2006 with a plan drawn from the playbook of Southwest Airlines: Focus on point-to-point routes rather than expensive hub-and-spoke operations, undercut incumbents Aeromexico and Mexicana de Aviacion and grow the market. Beltranena, who led a five-way merger in the 1990s that created the Central American carrier TACA Airlines (now part of Colombias Avianca Holdings), has captained Volaris from the get-go and executed that plan brilliantly. Although Mexicos airline market suffered a massive shakeout and Mexicana filed for bankruptcy in 2010, Volaris went from strength to strength. It leased its first Airbus A320 in 2008, opened its first U.S. route (to Los Angeles) the following year and took advantage of Mexicanas demise to push its way into Mexico City International Airport in 2010. The company fueled its growth with an initial public offering on the New York and Mexico City stock exchanges in 2013 that raised $346 million. (Slim and Azcarraga have sold their stakes, but Discovery Americas is still a major investor, with a 14 percent stake.) The results are impressive. The companys revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 20 percent from 2011 to 2015, reaching 18.18 billion pesos ($1 billion) last year; net income rose fourfold last year, to 2.5 billion pesos. Volaris carried just under 12 million passengers last year, up 22.2 percent from 2014 and nearly two thirds of market leader Aeromexicos total. The company now provides service from 40 Mexican airports to 20 in the U.S., as well as to Guatemala City; San Jose, Costa Rica; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Although competition has heated up from Aeromexico as well as rival Mexican discount carriers VivaAerobus, partly owned by the family behind Irelands Ryanair, and Interjet, Volaris reported a 41.7 percent jump in international passenger traffic in the first two months of this year and a 7.1 point increase in load factor on those routes, to 85.5 percent. At $20.88 on April 5, the companys American depositary receipts had gained 88 percent over the past 12 months and were up 74 percent from the IPO price of $12. Beltranena isnt letting the success go to his head. He believes the company is still early in its ascent phase. The real competition for Volaris is bus operators, not other airlines. Mexicans took 2.7 billion domestic trips by bus last year and only 37 million by plane. Bus trips of 24 hours or more to visit friends or relatives across Mexico and far into the U.S. are commonplace. The countrys growing middle class the best-kept secret in Mexico, said Beltranena is just waiting to be lured on board if the price is right. Thats why Beltranena remains laser-focused on cost. Under the slogan Avion a precio de camion The plane at the price of a bus Volaris keeps fares at rock-bottom levels while offering an array of added services, everything from reserving a specific seat or allowing extra baggage for a fee to selling food and, soon, rental cars. Ancillary services generated 22 percent of revenue last year, up from 14 percent in 2013. The CEO aims to boost capacity 50 percent by 2020 by expanding his fleet to at least 90 aircraft, from 59 currently, and phasing out 160-passenger A319s for A321 models with 230 or more seats. We think the economy in Mexico is pretty healthy, he said. Consumption rates are pretty good. Beltranena vows not to sacrifice margins for growth. So far, hes been good to his word. The company boosted its operating profit margin by 3.6 percent points last year, to 14.4 percent, and Michael Linenberg, an analyst at Deutsche Bank, predicts margins will continue to grow this year even as Volaris expands capacity. The main risks are a possible rebound in oil prices, weakness in the peso and potentially politics. Donald Trump has aroused anger and worry south of the border with his disparaging comments about Mexicans and his promise to have Mexico pay for his massive wall. I am concerned, said Beltranena. Its difficult not to be concerned. But the CEO wanted it to be known that his airline has grown by transporting legal people, he said. In addition, if Trump is half the businessman he claims to be, he should recognize what Volaris has achieved in just one decade, he added. If he would know my team, the way they perform, he would buy our stock, said Beltranena. As for the prospect of a border wall, Beltranena cant suppress a glint in his eye. After all, if your business plan is based on getting people off the bus and onto your planes, a wall may have a silver lining. Cyclists given access to insurance products and services and other benefits Insurance technology provider the Target Group has announced two new additions for its business designed to further growth in Australia and New Zealand.The international group has announced that Gurraj Bhachu and Thais Bottieri will join the business to help build the presence of the company in the region.Bhachu joins from ANZ One Path and will focus on consultancy and business support for clients whilst Thais joins from Tokio Marine Seuradora in Sao Paulo, Brazil and will be focused on applications development and maintenance for general insurance products.David Conway, head of delivery services at Target Group, said that the new hires show the commitment of the business to the region.Gurraj and Thais extensive experience will be a great asset to our team as we continue to deliver for our clients, Conway said.Their appointments are part of an ongoing commitment to strengthen our local presence in Australia and New Zealand which will allow us to grow our business and further support our clients.Conway noted that the business is expecting to continue its growth in the region in the near future.We anticipate making further appointments to both our technical and client teams during 2016, Conway said.Both Bhachu and Thais will be based in the Auckland office of the business and will work with clients in both Australia and New Zealand. WorkSafe Victoria has announced a new agency panel which brings together five of the biggest insurers in Australia to manage workplace injury insurance claims and premium collection.The agent panel will see Allianz CGU , Employers Mutual, Gallagher Bassett and Xchanging manage the workers compensation claims of the state from 1 July.Employers Mutual will replace former agent QBE on the panel as WorkSafe Victoria chief executive, Clare Amies, thanked the insurer for their previous work.QBE has played a significant role in Victorias compensation scheme for many years, and I thank every member of the dedicated QBE team for their contribution, Amies said.The new agency agreement aims to further improve services delivered to Victorian employers and workers and ensure the sustainability of the workers compensation scheme.The makeup of the panel has been designed to provide the best possible balance of skills, capability and innovation to ensure that Victorian workers and employers continue to receive ever better service.Claims and registrations currently managed by QBE will be moved to either Xchanging or Employers Mutual. Ben Bessell , chief executive, Australian Business Division at IAG , said that the reappointment of the business to the panel shows the hard work the business has put in over five years.We welcome CGUs reappointment as an agent to provide quality workers compensation products in Victoria, following WorkSafe Victorias agent panel announcement, Bessell said.For the past five years, CGU has performed strongly on a number of metrics including service and return to work measures.We look forward to continuing to help employees return to work as soon as possible, while running a strong and responsible claims management function in Victoria.More than 210,000 employers contribute to Victorias workplace injury insurance system, and WorkSafe agents manage the claims of more than 90,000 injured workers every year. If Britain votes to leave the European Union, the countrys shipping sector faces years of disruption as trade agreements get reworked and currency volatility leads to higher costs at a time when the industry is battling its worst global downturn. Shipping contributes some 10 billion pounds ($14.2 billion) annually to the UK economy and directly employs 240,000 people in multiple areas including maritime services such as ports, transportation, as well as ship broking and marine insurance. As several shipping segments struggle with worsening market conditions due to global economic uncertainty, a Chinese slowdown and a surplus of ships for hire, alarms are sounding over whether Britain will quit the EU in a June 23 referendum. Renegotiating trade agreements with individual EU countries as well as the EU itself could take years following Brexit, which would also add to the burden on companies. No one has left the European Union before, and the EU may seek to punish the UK for leaving, in order to discourage others from leaving too. The Brexit negotiations are unlikely to be quick or easy, said Guy Platten, chief executive of the UK Chamber of Shipping trade association. If it is lengthy, with tariffs and other penalties built in, then the consequences could be profoundly negative. John Nelson, chairman of the Lloyds of London insurance market, said it was fantasy to expect bilateral negotiations to be simple. It would be impossible to do that except over many, many years, Nelson told Reuters. Legal experts said there were also likely to be complications over commercial paperwork. If existing contracts are drafted in a way that presumes the existence of an EU containing the UK, or makes a reference to the EU without specifically defining what that is, such contracts may give rise to disputes as to the meaning or ambit of the contract, law firm Ince & Co said in a note. Potential currency turmoil could also hit port operators given that over 40 percent of overall shipping traffic passing through terminals in Britain is with EU countries. The exchange rate could have some impact on trade and therefore on the volumes handled by the UK ports, said Joanna Fic, senior analyst with ratings agency Moodys. If sterling weakens, imports become more expensive. Given imports account for a larger chunk of movement of goods through UK ports, you could see some implications for domestic demand. Leading operators Associated British Ports and Peel Ports declined to comment. Scotlands Forth Ports said it would work within the outcome of the referendum, declining further comment. Single Market Britains Transport Minister Robert Goodwill told Reuters the shipping industry had benefited from the EUs single market, which had brought fairer competition between shipping firms operating in Europe, cut costs for freight shippers and removed customs duties for UK shippers trading within the bloc. That view was echoed by the City of London Corporation, which runs the only global financial center to rival New York and last month formally backed Britain staying in the EU. At a time of increasing competition in shipping markets, we want businesses in the UK to be able to keep their eyes strictly on doing business and not worrying about what ifs and a level of uncertainty, said Jeffrey Evans, lord mayor of the City of London and a senior director with ship broker Clarksons. Britain ranked in the top 10 of global ship-owning countries as of January 2015, according to the latest report by U.N. trade and economic think tank UNCTAD. The UK accounted for nearly 3 percent of the world total or just over 48 million deadweight tons, versus over 16 percent or 279 million dwt held by Greece, the No. 1 ship-owning nation, the UNCTAD report showed. Danish shipping company DFDS, which has active business operations with the UK, said it was better for Britain to stay in the EU given the potential impact on the wider bloc. We are concerned that Brexit will bring about a prolonged period of uncertainty which could in itself be negative for investments, trade and growth, DFDS Chief Executive Niels Smedegaard said. ($1 = 0.7049 pounds) (Additional reporting by Carolyn Cohn; editing by Veronica Brown and Dale Hudson) Related: Topics Trends Europe London PartnerRe Ltd. announced that Mario Bonaccorso, formerly managing director at EXOR SpA, has been appointed chief financial officer, subject to Bermuda Immigration approval. Bill Babcock, who has served as executive vice president and CFO at PartnerRe since October 2010, will leave the company to pursue other opportunities. Bonaccorso has resigned from his position as managing director at EXOR and from the PartnerRe board, and will immediately assume responsibility for all of PartnerRes financial operations and investments, reporting to PartnerRes president and CEO, Emmanuel Clarke. Bonaccorso was appointed managing director of EXOR in October 2007 where he was responsible for investments and for the management of EXORs portfolio of companies. During that time, he served (on behalf of EXOR) on the boards of directors of Cushman & Wakefield, Banijay Holding and Banca Leonardo. He has a Master of Science cum laude in Telecommunications Engineering at Politecnico di Torino University and an MBA with honors from INSEAD. With his appointment, Bonaccorso joins PartnerRes executive management team and will be based at the companys main offices in Bermuda. In order to ensure a smooth transition, Babcock will remain as executive vice president through the summer to support Bonaccorso during the transition period. In addition to this change, Charles Goldie, CEO PartnerRe Global, and Marvin Pestcoe, CEO Life, Health and Strategic Ventures, have been appointed to PartnerRes executive management team. Other executive managers, Tad Walker, president and CEO PartnerRe North America, and Laurie Desmet, executive vice president and chief operations officer, will continue in their current roles. I would like to welcome Mario to PartnerRe. His financial acumen and broad experience in managing EXORs portfolio of companies will be extremely valuable, said Clarke. The additions of Mario, Charlie and Marvin to the Executive Committee further strengthen our leadership team, bringing new skills, deep experience and a fresh outlook as we seek to take PartnerRe to the next level. Clarke added, At the same time, we are sorry to see Bill go. He has been a highly valuable CFO and member of our executive team, having successfully led a number of strategic initiatives during his tenure at PartnerRe. We will miss his deep knowledge of the industry, his sound judgement and his unflagging energy. We thank him for his considerable contribution to PartnerRe and we wish him the very best in his future endeavors. Source: PartnerRe Related: Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Talent Human Resources U.S. hospitals should brace for a surge in ransomware attacks by cyber criminals who infect and shut down computer networks, then demand payment in return for unlocking them, a non-profit healthcare group warned on Friday. The Health Information Trust Alliance conducted a study of some 30 mid-sized U.S. hospitals late last year and found that 52 percent of them were infected with malicious software, HITRUST Chief Executive Daniel Nutkis told Reuters. The most common type of malware was ransomware, Nutkis said, which was present in 35 percent of the hospitals included in the study of network traffic conducted by security software maker Trend Micro Inc. Ransomware is malicious software that locks up data in computers and leaves messages demanding payment to recover the data. Last month, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in Los Angeles paid a ransom of $17,000 to regain access to its systems. This week, an attack on MedStar Health forced the largest healthcare provider in Washington, D.C., to shut down much of its computer network. The Baltimore Sun reported a ransom of $18,500 was sought. MedStar declined to comment. HITRUST said it expects such attacks to become more frequent because ransomware has turned into a profitable business for cyber criminals. The results of the study, which HITRUST has yet to share with the public, demonstrate that hackers have moved away from focusing on stealing patient data, Nutkis said. If stuff isnt working, they move on. If stuff is working, they keep doing it, said Nutkis. Organizations that are paying have considered their options, and unfortunately they dont have a lot of options. Extortion has become more popular with cyber criminals because it is seen as a way to generate fast money, said Larry Whiteside, a healthcare expert with cyber security firm Optiv. Stealing healthcare data is far more labor intensive, requiring attackers to keep their presence in a victims network undetected for months as they steal data, then they need to find buyers, he added. With ransomware Im going to get paid immediately, Whiteside said. Frisco, Texas-based HITRUSTs board includes executives from Anthem, Health Care Services, Humana, UnitedHealth and Walgreens. (Reporting by Jim Finkle; By Tiffany Wu) Topics Cyber Six years after 29 miners were killed in a West Virginia coal dust explosion, the man who ran the mining company like a fiefdom a coal baron and power broker who earned millions of dollars a year will learn on Wednesday whether he goes to prison. Donald Blankenship, who presided over his coalfields from a mountaintop castle, faces as long as a year in prison and a $250,000 fine over his conviction, the first in U.S. history for a mining CEO of a workplace safety crime. In December, jurors found the former chief executive officer of Massey Energy had ignored safety standards. On Wednesday a federal judge, the daughter of a miner, will sentence him. The message this sentence will carry will be heard loudly and clearly in boardrooms across the U.S., said Patrick McGinley, a West Virginia University law professor who was part of a group that investigated the blast. The CEO of any company that fails to adequately protect its workers can be sent to prison just like any other offender. If U.S. District Judge Irene Berger does imprison Blankenship, it will bring some comfort to dozens of West Virginians, although the families of those killed had hoped for steeper felony convictions and longer jail time. Probation Sought Blankenships lawyers argue the former top executive, who was cleared of securities fraud and making false statements, deserves no more than probation and a fine. Probation will provide ample warning and deterrence to other mine operators, one of Blankenships defense lawyers said in a March 28 court filing. Even if hes handed a prison term, Blankenship may not be immediately headed to jail. His lawyers have asked Berger to allow the former coal baron to remain free until his appeal is decided. They say theyre confident Blankenships conviction will be overturned and he wont spend a day behind bars. Breaking News: Massey Ex-CEO Blankenship Sentenced to 1 Year in Jail for Fatal Mine Explosion Prosecutors said Blankenship sped coal production and willfully ignored safety so he could fatten his annual bonuses. This gentleman needs at least a year away from his luxurious lifestyle for reflection on what he did and how his greed led to the annihilation of 29 lives, Dr. Judy Jones Petersen, whose brother Dean Jones was killed in the disaster, said in an interview. I see no signs of remorse or acceptance of responsibility from him. Towering Presence A blunt taskmaster who bullied underlings and controlled virtually all of Masseys operations, Blankenship turned the mining company into the U.S.s fourth-largest coal producer. West Virginia officials said Massey grew into a towering presence in the Appalachian coalfields, with workers homes flying the companys white flag, a picture of a flame leaping out of an M. Blankenship, 66, a Republican, spent heavily to back politicians and judges friendly to the coal industry, according to state reports. He spent $3 million in 2004 on a candidate for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. The winning judge later helped overturn a $50 million jury award against some of Masseys units. In 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the judge should not have participated in that case. State Probe Investigators began probing the fatal blast at the Upper Big Branch facility, located about 30 miles south of Charleston, the state capital, immediately after rescue crews removed workers remains. A state panel concluded the following year that Massey managers forced miners to ignore basic safety measures, such as controlling coal dust and ensuring the mine had proper ventilation, as part of a push to increase production. The company operated the site in a profoundly reckless manner, the panel said. Blankenship disputed those findings, contending the explosion was caused by a stray spark from a mining machine and federal regulators had refused to allow Massey to use the companys preferred ventilation plan. At trial, prosecutors presented evidence showing that in 2009 alone Blankenship made more than $18 million. He stepped down as Masseys top executive in 2010 with a $12 million retirement package. Five months later Alpha Resources Inc. acquired the mining company for $7.1 billion. Officials of Alpha, which filed for bankruptcy protection in August, were seeking $28 million in restitution from Blankenship to cover legal expenses and fines tied to the Upper Big Branch disaster. Berger denied the request in a ruling this week. Recorded Talks Blankenship didnt testify at the trial but his own words came back to haunt him as jurors reviewed internal memos and listened again and again over seven weeks to recordings he secretly made of telephone conversations. In those calls and memos, Blankenship told Massey managers to keep quiet about safety issues and focus on what pays the bills, according to one memo. Their job, he said, was simply to run coal. If Berger sentences him to prison, its likely Blankenship will be sent to a minimum-security facility because of his short stay, said Larry Levine, who served 10 years in federal prisons and now advises on how to survive time behind bars. Each day will start at 6 a.m. as a loudspeaker blares, The Compound is Now Open! Levine said. Blankenship is likely to be assigned a demeaning job and may not get to pick whether he sleeps on a bottom or top bunk bed, the consultant added. Meals will feature beans, rice and tortillas. No Computer Instead of blogging his free-market beliefs under the heading American Competitionist, Blankenship probably will have no access to a computer and no more than 300 minutes a month of phone time, he said. Its going to be a rude awakening for somebody who made $18 million in salary and bonuses one year to go to making 12 cents an hour scrubbing showers and toilets, said Levine. The case is U.S. v. Blankenship, 14-cr-00244, U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics USA Virginia Mining Former coal baron Donald Blankenship was sentenced to a year in prison for evading mine-safety rules in one of the final chapters of a fatal mine explosion that was the worst U.S. coal industry accident in almost 40 years. U.S. District Judge Irene Berger in Charleston, West Virginia, also fined the ex-Massey Energy chief executive officer $250,000 and denied his request to remain free during appeal. Berger ordered Blankenship to report to prison as soon as the Federal Bureau of Prisons orders him to. Families of some of the 29 miners killed in the 2010 Upper Big Branch mine blast watched from the courtroom gallery on Wednesday as prosecutors urged the judge to send a message to the coal industry by jailing Blankenship. Blankenship clearly occupied a position of private trust and abused that trust, Berger said. Jurors concluded in December that Blankenship set up a scheme to circumvent safety standards and tip off workers to surprise inspections to speed up coal production at the Massey mine. The panel cleared the former CEO of felony charges involving securities fraud and making false statements, which would have carried longer prison terms. Blankenships lawyers said in court filings that prosecutors unfairly sought to portray the former West Virginia power broker as a monster who callously sent miners to their deaths to add to his personal fortune. They said he deserved no more than probation and a fine. Blankenships conviction capped a five-year effort by prosecutors to hold the former CEO and his underlings accountable for safety violations that led to the explosion at the mine, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Charleston. The case is U.S. v. Blankenship, 14-cr-00244, U.S. District Court, Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston). Copyright 2022 Bloomberg. Topics USA Virginia Mining Fire officials have confirmed that smoke detectors inside a Huntington apartment complex didnt go off when the building caught fire, causing more than 100 residents to be displaced. News outlets report that firefighters found two separate fires when they arrived early Sunday morning to The Flats on 4th, near Marshall University. Firefighters were able to quickly contain the flames, but Huntington Fire Chief Carl Eastham says it took a while to displace the smoke and account for all of the residents. No one was hurt in the incident. Huntington Deputy Fire Chief Jan Rader says he isnt sure why the buildings fire alarms didnt go off. Building owner Dennis Johnson says he has provided hotel rooms for each his residents until the investigation is complete and the building can be cleaned and reopened. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Virginia Employers cannot deny a worker a place to sit just because they prefer the person stand, and they must consider the employees work station, not their overall duties, when determining whether to provide a seat, the California Supreme Court said this week. The courts opinion stemmed from lawsuits brought by cashiers at the CVS drugstore chain and tellers at Chase Bank who said they were wrongly denied a place to sit while working. Experts called the opinion a victory for the cashiers and tellers. When all is said and done, the burden of proof is going to be on employers in most situations to determine why a seat would not be reasonable, said Stephen Hirschfeld, a San Francisco-based labor lawyer who advises companies. Companies likely will err on the side of providing a seat after Mondays opinion, and those facing similar lawsuits will settle, Hirschfeld said. The ruling is aimed at clarifying state labor regulations that require employers in California to provide workers with suitable seats when the nature of their work reasonably permits the use of seats. CVS and Chase Bank argued the rules require a holistic approach that determines the nature of employees work by considering the entire range of tasks they perform. In CVS case, cashiers also stock shelves and perform other tasks that require them to stand. The companys holistic approach would allow CVS to classify their jobs as standing jobs and deny them seats while working, the California Supreme Court said. But the court rejected that interpretation, saying it ignored the duration of those tasks, as well as where, and how often, they are performed. It instead called for an assessment of employees tasks and duties at particular work stations, such as a cash registers or teller windows, when determining whether they should get a place to sit. Michael Rubin, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said the decision was a victory for all workers who have been denied a place to sit while they perform repetitive tasks in fixed locations. For the millions of California worker in the retail industry, this is going to mean that in the next few weeks, their employers will start giving them seats, which will promote health and comfort, he said. The court did find that some situations might make seating at work unfeasible, like if it interferes with standing tasks or affects overall job performance. CVS and Chase had argued employees provide better customer service while standing. Suzanne Alexander, a spokeswoman for JP Morgan Chase, declined to comment. CVS Health spokesman Michael DeAngelis said CVS was pleased with the California Supreme Courts ruling. The companys policies are consistent with the long-understood, reasonable interpretation of the law that employers can consider factors such as their desire to provide prompt and efficient customer service when deciding whether seating is appropriate. The big loss for the plaintiffs here is that business judgment is allowed as one of the objective factors in evaluating whether to provide seats, said Reuel Schiller, a labor law professor at the University of California, Hastings in San Francisco. Still, Schiller said the opinion overall favored plaintiffs. The CVS and Chase Bank lawsuits are now before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. That court asked the California Supreme Court to determine whether each task employees perform must be evaluated to determine whether it qualifies for a seat. The 9th Circuit also asked whether the employers judgment about whether the employee should stand must be taken into consideration. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics California Commercial Lines Business Insurance The California Assembly Insurance Committee took another step towards making auto, homeowners and workers compensation insurance completely paperless by approving Assembly Bill 2591 on Wednesday. AB 2591, authored by Assemblyman Mathew Dababneh, D-Encino, gives policyholders the opportunity to opt-in and choose electronic delivery. The bill is designed to preserve consumer protections found in current law, and is expected to create a higher standard for sending policy cancelations via email. Consumers increasingly prefer conducting their personal business on the web or through their email. AB 2591 gives consumers the option to be completely paperless, said Armand Feliciano, vice president of the Association of California Insurance Companies, which is backing the bill. If AB 2591 becomes law, California will join 34 states that already allow for electronic delivery of insurance policy documents, according to Feliciano. The insurance committee voted unanimously to approve the bill. Related: Topics California Pharmaceutical exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer investors access to a basket of U.S.-based and foreign stocks of drug manufacturers and related companies in a single investment. These companies discover, develop, and produce medications used to cure disease, vaccinate, or alleviate symptoms of illness. Pharmaceutical stocks include Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK), two major drug companies, as well as biotech firms and smaller, fast-growing names. Pharmaceutical ETFs allow investors to share in the profits earned across the sector while avoiding the idiosyncratic risks of investing in individual stocks. A select number of pharmaceutical stocks have attracted heightened interest from investors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These companies have developed government-approved vaccines to protect against the virus, while others are racing to develop new vaccines or related products. On Jan. 31, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fully approved Moderna Inc.'s (MRNA) vaccine for the prevention of COVID-19 in individuals 18 years of age or older. The vaccine, which has been available under emergency use authorization (EUA) since December 2020, is now being marketed as Spikevax. It was the second COVID-19 vaccine to gain full approval from the FDA after the vaccine co-developed by Pfizer and BioNTech SE (BNTX), marketed as Comirnaty, was approved in August 2021. In May 2022, the FDA placed limits on the COVID-19 vaccine created by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), citing safety concerns related to a rare blood-clotting condition. On Aug. 31, 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) amended the emergency use authorizations (EUAs) of both Moderna's and Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines to target the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron variant and other variants. Key Takeaways The pharmaceutical industry outperformed the broader market over the past year. The pharmaceutical exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with the best one-year trailing total returns are PPH, IHE, and PJP. The top holdings of these ETFs are Mckesson Corp., Johnson & Johnson, and Gilead Sciences Inc., respectively. There are six pharmaceutical ETFs that trade in the U.S., excluding inverse and leveraged ETFs as well as those with less than $50 million in assets under management (AUM). The pharmaceutical industry has outperformed the broader market over the past year. Pharmaceutical stocks, as measured by the MSCI ACWI Pharmaceuticals Index, provided a one-year trailing total return of -4.9% over the past year, below the S&P 500's total return of -11.0%, as of Sept. 1, 2022. The best-performing pharmaceutical ETF is the VanEck Pharmaceutical ETF (PPH). Below, well take a look at the top three pharmaceutical ETFs as measured by one-year trailing total returns. All numbers below are as of Sept. 1, 2022. In order to focus on the fund's investment strategy, the top holdings listed for ETFs exclude cash holdings and holdings purchased with securities lending proceeds except under unusual cases, such as when the cash portion is exceptionally large. One-Year Trailing Total Return: -4.8% Expense Ratio: 0.35% Annual Dividend Yield: 1.63% Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 180,005 Assets Under Management: $533.2 million Inception Date: Feb. 01, 2000 Issuing Company: VanEck PPH aims to track the MVIS U.S. Listed Pharmaceutical 25 Index, which gauges the performance of companies operating within the pharmaceuticals industry. The ETF provides exposure to U.S. and international companies involved in the research and development, production, and sales of pharmaceuticals. It focuses on the most liquid companies based on market capitalization and trading volume.The fund follows a blended strategy of investing in a mix of growth and value stocks across developed markets. The top three holdings of PPH include Mckesson Corp. (MCK), a healthcare and pharmaceutical service company; sponsored ADRs of AstraZeneca PLC (AZN), a British-Swedish pharmaceutical and biotechnology company; and Eli Lily and Co. (LLY), a company that markets and sells pharmaceutical products. One-Year Trailing Total Return: -6.1% Expense Ratio: 0.39% Annual Dividend Yield: 1.39% Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 18,394 Assets Under Management: $404.7 million Inception Date: May 1, 2006 Issuing Company: BlackRock Financial Management IHE aims to track the Dow Jones U.S. Select Pharmaceuticals Index, which is comprised of U.S. equities within the pharmaceuticals sector. The market-cap-weighted ETF provides exposure to U.S. companies that manufacture prescription drugs, over-the-counter drugs, or vaccines. It is primarily focused on pharmaceutical stocks, with a small allocation to biotechnology growth stocks. IHE's portfolio is highly concentrated, with the top two holdings accounting for nearly 44% of invested assets. The top three holdings of IHE include Johnson & Johnson, a healthcare company that develops medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and consumer packaged goods; Pfizer, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology company; and Royalty Pharma Plc Class A (RPRX), which is the largest buyer of biopharmaceutical royalties in the U.S. One-Year Trailing Total Return: -9.9% Expense Ratio: 0.56% Annual Dividend Yield: 0.75% Three-Month Average Daily Volume: 17,162 Assets Under Management: $305.8 million Inception Date: June 23, 2005 Issuing Company: Invesco PJP tracks the Dynamic Pharmaceutical Intellidex Index, which is comprised of 30 U.S. pharmaceutical companies selected based on a range of investment merit criteria, including price and earnings momentum, quality, management action, and value. The ETF, which normally invests at least 90% of its assets in stocks that comprise the index, provides exposure to U.S. companies involved in the research, development, manufacture, and sale of pharmaceuticals.The fund follows a blended strategy, investing in a mix of value and growth stocks of various market caps. The top three holdings of PJP include Gilead Sciences Inc. (GILD), a biopharmaceutical company; Amgen Inc. (AMGN), a company providing end-to-end administration of human therapeutics; and AbbVie Inc. (ABBV), is focused on developing and distributing pharmaceuticals. The comments, opinions, and analyses expressed herein are for informational purposes only and should not be considered individual investment advice or recommendations to invest in any security or adopt any investment strategy. While we believe the information provided herein is reliable, we do not warrant its accuracy or completeness. The views and strategies described in our content may not be suitable for all investors. Because market and economic conditions are subject to rapid change, all comments, opinions, and analyses contained within our content are rendered as of the date of the posting and may change without notice. The material is not intended as a complete analysis of every material fact regarding any country, region, market, industry, investment, or strategy. Hedge funds are financial partnerships that operate outside of many of the traditional regulatory restrictions that can hamper mutual funds and commonplace investment vehicles. As a result, they have often been off-limits to ordinary investorsboth because they typically require six figure or larger minimum investments, but also because the types of investments they are involved in can be highly complex, illiquid, and risky, making them unsuitable for most regular folks. Still, while direct interaction with hedge funds is still mostly limited to accredited investors, some private equity partnerships that engage in hedge fund-like activity do list themselves on public stock exchanges and can thus be traded by otherwise-excluded participants. Key Takeaways Hedge funds are opaque and loosely regulated investment firms that engage in risky and complex strategies, often using leverage, derivatives, or alternative asset classes. As a result, hedge funds are typically off-limits for most ordinary investors. There are still ways you can gain access to hedge funds, either through retail-oriented hedge funds or by trading the stock of public investment firms. Why Go Public? Going public is an interesting move for a hedge fund since many attract investors, in part, by touting the lack of disclosures, reports and public information. While going public subjects the fund to a greater degree of scrutiny, the portfolios themselves would still be shielded from the investing communityonly actual performance and aggregate values need to be disclosed in the annual reports. A fund that elects to go public can be traded like any other listed security, allowing the investing community to gain exposure to the profits and losses of an otherwise unattainable portfolio. Hedge fund initial public offerings (IPOs) are rare because many hedge funds are simply too volatile to achieve high valuations. This volatility also extends to those who purchase a publicly traded hedge fund security. Additionally, hedge fund managers are not concerned with generating shareholder value through stock appreciation the way a growing company might. Hedge fund managers tend to be focused on one thing: cash returns on their investments. The Fund of Funds Option The public can also elect to invest in funds of hedge funds (FoF). As the name suggests, these are built from a portfolio of hedge funds. Most have relatively low minimums and represent a safe way to gain indirect exposure to the hedge fund world. Like any other type of diversified investment vehicle, risks are strategically reduced, but the upside potential is also limited. Examples of Publicly Traded Hedge Fund Companies BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) is one of the biggest and respected investment management companies. Based in New York City, BlackRock invests all over the world across all kinds of asset classes and serves private clients from pension funds to corporations and sovereign wealth funds. In addition to managing several traditional mutual funds and ETFs, the company also runs alternative asset portfolios and investments. BlackRock currently has about $22 trillion in assets under management (AUM) with a market capitalization of $106.5 billion. Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) (unrelated to BlackRock) is another investment management firm that includes is sizeable alternative investments group, with $618.6 billion in AUM, and caters mainly to high net-worth clients. Invesco (NYSE: IVZ) is similarly situated, with $1.206.5 trillion in AUM with roughly 14% of that dedicated to alternative investments. Some investment firms are organized more like traditional hedge funds, but still offer shares to the public. Some of these include: What Are the Ramifications of Offshore Banking? If you were interested in the Panama Papers scandal, you might be curious about offshore banking. Perhaps you have been considering stashing some of your money offshore? Perhaps you have hesitated because you dont want to wind up in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Offshore banking has an allure for some, but its actually a lot more mundane than it appears. Key Takeaways: Using the services of a bank outside of your home country is not illegal if it is done for legitimate reasons. Some foreign banks will start an account from a foreign customer with as little as $300 while others will not do business at all with foreign customers because of compliance requirements. Offshore bank accounts must be declared to the holder's home country for tax reasons; however, some countries allow foreigners to earn capital gains tax-free. Individuals may choose to keep their money offshore if there is instability in their own country, and they fear losing their investments. How Offshore Banking Works First, lets nix misleading terms such as stash, hide, or even offshore bank account. Using the services of a bank outside of your home country is not illegal. And although the term offshore literally applies in some casesa bank account in the Bahamas, for exampledoing business in Canada could be just a drive away. The practice is not just for the wealthy. Some foreign banks will take as little as $300 of your money and start an account. Like banks everywhere, those overseas set their own account minimums and other terms for customers. On the other hand, some foreign banks will not do business with some foreign clients because of the required compliance. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) have rules that require banks to report information on their foreign customers. Each country complies with these laws differently. Some countries dont comply at all. What About Swiss Bank Accounts? The famed Swiss bank account, or James Bond-like accounts that places rich peoples money out of the grasp of their own countrys government, the IRS, for example, come with strict Swiss privacy laws. This privacy is the reason for their popularity. In the past, Swiss banks didnt even attach names to accounts. However, Switzerland has agreed to turn over information to foreign governments on their account holders, effectively ending any tax evasion that could have come with having an unreported, or hidden, account. The Benefits of an Offshore Account Tax evasion was not the only reason to hold a Swiss bank account. There are plenty of legitimate reasons to hold money out of your home country. First, theres the tax treatment. In many countries, you can earn money tax-free. How would you like to put your money to work in another country, earn capital gains and pay zero taxes to that country? Thats technically possible when you move your money offshore. Even the United States allows the practice. In recent years, the United States has become one of the worlds favorite tax havens. Nevada, Wyoming, and South Dakota now hold a large amount of foreign money, but the reason is not primarily for favorable tax treatment. One of the main advantages of keeping foreign money in the United States, Switzerland, and other developed nations is their stability. People living in nations with political and economic upheaval fear that their money, as well as their lives, could be in danger. What if the economy collapses? What if theres a civil war? What if their government comes after them for some reason? If their money is kept overseas, its harder for their own government to seize it. Overseas bank accounts also give account holders more opportunities to invest internationally and serve as a currency hedge against a possible collapse in their home currency. Less important but notable is that due to currency exchange rates, in other countries, an investor might be perceived as a high-roller, As such, that person might receive the benefits that come with being wealthy, although this might not be the case in the United States. Note that you are not off the hook for U.S. taxes if you earn or hold money abroad. The IRS requires that Americans file the IRS FBAR form and report any money exceeding $10,000 in the aggregate that is held in foreign accounts. There is a foreign-earned income tax exclusion for the money you earn abroad, but the rest is taxable. Special Considerations for Offshore Accounts Theres nothing illegal about establishing an offshore account unless you do it with the intent of tax evasion. The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) requires banks around the world to report balances and any activity of American citizens to the IRS or face fines. Some U.S. firms that hold foreign money claim to use a team of lawyers to make sure they are reporting their foreign activity to their home country accurately and legally. Inevitably, there will be people who use the system to profit illegally. The United Nation's Office on Drugs and Crimes estimates that the proceeds from illicit funds and money laundering amounts to between 2-5% of global GDP (or about USD $2 trillion). In summary, holding money in an offshore bank account is not illegal, and it is also not tax-exempt. As long as you have legitimate business reasons, you can invest in secret bank accountsalthough it will not really be secret at all. I've Lived Overseas and Have a Foreign Bank Account, Is This Legal? If you have an overseas bank account, you must simply declare its existence with the IRS using a FACTA. However, if it has more than USD $200,000 worth in the account and you live abroad (or more than $50,000 and live inside the U.S.), you must file the more comprehensive IRS Form 8938. Why Is Hiding Offshore Financial Accounts Illegal? Hiding money or assets housed overseas is illegal for two reasons. One is that it can result in tax avoidance. The second is that these funds could be used for money laundering or other illicit activities. As a result, these monies must be declared, even if they are not subject to taxation. Why Keep Money Offshore? There are several reasons for holding an offshore account. You may have lived or worked overseas for an extended period and needed a local bank account. Or, you may want exposure to foreign interest rates or investments that can only be obtained using an overseas account to diversify a portfolio. Top News - Investor Idea Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Continues Acquisition Path With Purchase of ELMS Assets Including Factory in Mishawaka, IN., Enabling EV Production for Retail and Commercial Vehicle Lines BREA, Calif. - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle ("EV") manufacturer, announces the US Bankruptcy Court approval on Oct. 13th, 2022 of its acquisition of electric vehicle company ELMS's (Electric Last Mile Solutions) assets in an all cash purchase. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea 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. Top EV Stock News - Investor Idea EV Stocks Driving Higher: (NASDAQ: $MULN) (NASDAQ: $TSLA) (NYSE: $NIO) (NYSE: $F) Vancouver, Delta, BC - October 20, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading investor news resource covering EV and automotive stocks releases a special report featuring Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), covering the continued growth of the EV market as government policy and infrastructure plans sync up with consumer and investor interest in the EV space. Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea Breaking AI Stock News: FatBrain (OTCQB: LZGI) Acquires Confidential Computing Platform ZeroTrust to Protect Data Privacy and Accelerate Innovation for Millions of Growth Businesses NEW YORK, NY - October 19, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) FatBrain AI (LZG International, Inc.) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions for star enterprises of tomorrow, has acquired the confidential computing and privacy intellectual property (IP) plus software assets of Zero2A PTE LTD ("ZeroTrust Platform"), a software company based in Singapore. Check out our Podcasts for great investor ideas: Get new posts by email: Subscribe Powered by Investorideas.com Newswire: Subscribe to Investor Ideas Newswire Swedens Hoganas AB has announced that it is testing a new high-capacity transport (HCT) truck for carrying metal powder from the manufacturing site in Hoganas to the port of Helsingborg. Working in cooperation with Volvo and GDL Transport, Hoganas claim that loading two containers instead of one will lower carbon dioxide emission by up to 35%. Each year Hoganas AB dispatches 200 000 tonnes of metal powder from Hoganas to Helsingborg port for further transportation to Asia and North and South America. The aim of the HCT project is to reduce the number of vehicles from eight to four vehicles per day. This is an important part of our sustainability efforts. In the future we will be able to halve the number of transports between the cities, stated Melker Jernberg, CEO of Hoganas AB. The project is using the new Volvo FH16, a fuel efficient truck design that also has the ability to disengage and raise the drive axle when unladen, further lowering fuel consumption. Currently the new HCT truck is running on a special dispensation granted by the Swedish Transport Agency. But Lennart Cider, Project Manager at Volvo, is hopeful that the exemption requirement will be abolished in future. www.hoganas.com Concern Worldwide U.S. announced the appointment of Jack Haire as successor to Joseph Cahalan as Chief Executive Officer. A former Executive Vice President of Time Inc. and President of the Fortune/Money Group, Haire has been a board member of the international humanitarian organization for the past 18 years. A long time ago I met Tom Moran from Mutual of America, probably 20 years ago, and he introduced me to Siobhan Walsh, Haire told IrishCentral. She and Father Aengus were the first people on these shores for Concern. They had a compelling story and they were compelling people and I was thrilled to get involved. Previously working with groups looking after the welfare of orphans in Chicago and similar organizations to help the disadvantaged, Haire saw his meeting with Concern as the perfect opportunity to get involved in humanitarian work on moving to New York, especially happy be play of part in an organization that had such strong links with his own Irish roots. A proud Irish-American, Haires great-grandparents on both sides emigrated to America in the 1860s, in the wake of the devastating Great Hunger. His mothers grandparents were from County Monaghan; his fathers grandmother was from the Bantry Bay area of County Cork, and his grandfather was from County Antrim. There has not been a day that I've not been impressed with the quality of the work carried out by Concern, he continued. With 28 years experience at Time Warner Inc., Haire was also publisher of TIME magazine and engineered a partnership with CNN on the launch of CNNMoney.com, one of the world's most successful finance websites. More recently, he was the CEO of Parade Media Group from 2009 until its acquisition by Athlon Media Group in December 2014. Although the position he will hold in Concern has its similarities with these previous roles, the end goals of Times Warner Inc. etc., are quite different to those of an humanitarian aid group, but Haire explains that this change in direction is exactly where he feels he needs to be at this stage in his career. The end goals are quite different, he states, but I had a nice run on the corporate side and in the media world. When I sold Parade - the business I was running - a few years ago, Id had a positive experience there but I didn't want to go back to doing something else like that at this stage in my career. The people of Concern are a committed group of believers and when I heard about it [the CEO position] I had to take the opportunity. I hope to add some value to this organization. Haires own family history helps him to understand the great needs that Concern have as they carry out their humanitarian work throughout 29 of the worlds poorest countries. As a person whose grandparents came to the US after the hell of Great Famine, I can relate to these people trying to find a better place, he tells IrishCentral of the Syrian refugee crisis. Personally for me thats one that strikes, he adds, noting, however, that it is hard to say that one countrys crisis should be given any kind of presidence over a crisis in another suffering country. Haire has also previously had the opportunity to visit some of the programs undertaken by Concern, traveling to to Ethiopia for a memorable experience where he visited a school house supported by the organization; a local entrepreneur developing a nutritious and long-lasting kind of granola bar that was a great source of sustenance for the local people; and a favela where engineers brought a source of clean water closer to areas of population, eradicating the need for women to travel five to ten miles for clean water. Were doing a lot of tremendous work in Africa, in Asia, in the Caribbean and in the Middle East but there's no shortage of need, he states. Effective from April 1, 2016, Haire succeeds the three-year tenure of Joseph Cahalan, a tenure characterized by a growth in programs and services by over 35 percent. Jack brings a wealth of experience to his new role, said Cahalan, who has worked with Haire for the last eight years on the organizations board. He is an accomplished businessman, savvy about media, digitally literate, and a great leader. Perhaps most importantly, he has been a longtime presence on our board, is passionate about our work, and is a role model of our values. The US drug manufacturer Pfizer Inc and Ireland-based Allergan Plc have cancelled their proposed $160 billion merger, which would have seen the American drug giant relocate to Ireland. The decision was due to the US Treasurys rules aimed at curbing deals where companies move overseas to cut taxes. The news is seen a win for President Barack Obama who has been backing the Treasurys rules on such deals, called inversions. The deal would have seen Pfizer cut its tax bill by $1 billion per year. The Treasury rules did not name Pfizer and Allergan but one of the provisions targeted a specific feature of their merger, specifically Allergan's history as a major acquirer of other companies. A source told Reuters that the decision to call the deal off was due to the fact that Pfizer was concerned that tweaks to salvage it might have provoked the Treasury to create new rules. On Tuesday Obama called tax avoidance a huge problem. The President urged Congress to take action to stop these inversion deals. Its believed that the Pfizer / Allergan proposal was the largest inversion deal every planned and while its demise might seem like bad news for Ireland this may not be the reality. Ireland is the largest global recipient of inversions by value, according to a study carried out last year by the Think-tank for Social Change (TASC). While the collapse of this major deal might mean the loss of tax dollars in reality inversions tend to generate little revenue for Ireland, bring few jobs, and cost the Irish taxpayers money. On Wednesday the Irish Ministry for Finance said In relation to any transactions that may not involve real substance in terms of jobs and investment in the Irish economy, Ireland does not encourage such transactions. The Irish government has made clear that we would welcome any changes made by the U.S. administration to address this problem. Seamus Coffey, an economics lecturer at University College Cork, explained to Bloomberg, that the idea that inversion deals create a tax windfall for Ireland is questionable. The United States applies 35% tax to companies worldwide income. Pfizer therefore pays 20% to London, on its United Kingdom profit and an extra 15% to the US. However, in Dublin (where the tax rate is 12.5%) Pfizer would owe nothing extra to the Irish authorities on the companys UK income. According to Coffey, Pfizer would have reduced its tax bill, the US would have lost and Ireland would have gained nothing. Inversions represent a reputational risk, sometimes for very little tax gain and at the cost of higher contributions to the EU, said Coffey. He added that curbing inversions is not negative in any serious way for us. In the past US drug maker AbbVie Inc bowed out of its $55 billion takeover of Ireland-based Shire Ple in 2014. AbbieVie paid Shire a $1.6 billion fee. Pfizer will now reimburse Allergan $150 million in expenses following the collapse. On Tuesday shares of Allergan fell by 15% but were up 1.3% to $239.86 at early trading. Similarly, Pfizer edged up 1.2% to $31.74. Now that the deal to move to Ireland is off Pfizer will decide whether to split off its hundreds of generic medicines into a separate business. The company had been putting off making that decision until 2019. Les Funtleyder, health care portfolio manager at E Squared Asset Management in New York, which holds Pfizer shares is not clear that Pfizer should definitely split into two. He said It is true that these larger companies are a little unwieldy to manage but there are plenty of strategies to keep them together and increase shareholder value." Chief Executive Allergan, Brent Saunders, told CNBC the new Treasury rule would not stop the company from going ahead with their other stock-based acquisitions, as early as fall of this year. He said the new Treasury rule takes into account the past three years of a company's deals. Saunders said "It really looked like they did a very find job at constructing a temporary rule to stop this deal and obviously it was successful. A private bill in support of Malachy McAllister, the Belfast native who is subject to deportation from the U.S. on April 25, will be introduced in the House of Representatives on Monday by Congressman Joe Crowley of New York. Co-sponsors of the bill so far include Congressmen Joe Crowley and Peter King of New York. Also, the Ancient Order of Hibernians is mobilizing around the country, urging its members to reach out to House representatives to ask for relief for McAllister, who was told by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last month to report for deportation at an office in Newark, NJ on April 25 an action which would bring an abrupt end to McAllisters 20 years in the U.S. after fleeing Northern Ireland with his family in fear of their lives after their home was shot at by Loyalist paramilitaries in 1988. Time is of the essence. We all need to act now, Crowley told the Irish Voice on Tuesday. Malachy meets all the requirements to avoid deportation. He is absolutely no threat to the United States. He is one of the former hard men who took risks for peace in Northern Ireland, and his case needs to be seen in that context. We do not want to give reason for the dissidents to say their campaign should continue, and deporting Malachy would do that. McAllister, a former member of the Irish National Liberation Army who served three years in prison in Belfast in the 1980s, and his family fled Northern Ireland in 1988 after their home was attacked with gunfire. They first went to Canada and then to the U.S., where their quest for political asylum has been litigated ever since. Recently declassified U.K. intelligence documents indicate collusion between the British security forces and Loyalist paramilitaries in the attack on the McAllister home, making him even more worried about deportation. Im just worn down, McAllister told the Irish Voice on Tuesday morning. So many years weve had to go through this. All I want is closure. Questions have to be asked as to why this is happening now. Each spring since 2006, McAllister received deferred action from ICE for 12 months, while his case for political asylum undergoes appeal under the Board of Immigration Appeals. In March ICE reversed this course of action and ordered McAllister to report for deportation. ICE officials appear to be interpreting McAllisters case in the context of President Obamas executive order DACA, which offers deferred action for childhood arrivals of undocumented immigrants. Two of McAllisters children are availing of DACA his wife Bernadette passed away 12 years ago which says children with clean records are low priority for deportation. McAllisters prior arrest in Belfast, however, has been flagged by ICE, though the complete context of the political unrest in Northern Ireland at the time is being ignored, his supporters say. McAllister, a resident of Rutherford, NJ owns a successful stone mason business which has employed several U.S. citizens, and a new Irish bar and restaurant in Manhattan, Wolfe Tones Irish Pub and Kitchen. His record has been spotless since arrival in the U.S., and he has long disavowed paramilitary activity in the North, staunchly advocating for the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Trusting Irish American pols 2back Malachy McAllister in new deportation fight https://t.co/cpw606yUVT @Irishaporg pic.twitter.com/btHIxJAlGL Mairtin O Muilleoir (@newbelfast) April 4, 2016 Everybody here knows who I am and what I stand for, all the Irish groups and organizations. I am very grateful for their support, says McAllister, who is father to a 4-year-old U.S.-born son and grandfather to five U.S. citizen grandchildren. Crowley has been working with Republican Congressman Peter King of Long Island and Democrat Bill Pascrell of New Jersey on McAllisters case since the deportation letter arrived. Senator Charles Schumer of New York is also involved, and members of the Obama administration have been contacted. Crowley has also written on McAllisters behalf to Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and ICE director Sarah Saldana. BronxAOH CommB'fast USREPJoeCrowley speaks1916 Centennial & Malachy McAllister's wUS.Welldone BronxPres. BobNolan pic.twitter.com/gfyBZpb8DO Dan Dennehy (@Dan_Dennehy) April 3, 2016 The AOH is also urging action on behalf of McAllister, a long-time member of Mercer County AOH Division 1. McAllister, the AOH says, now faces imminent deportation on April 25, as we remember the 100th anniversary of Irelands Republic. Malachy McAllister, here for the past 19 years, is raising his young family, is a productive businessman and employer and is acknowledged by many as a key promoter of the Irish peace process. The AOH is asking members to call their local House representative to urge a suspension of the deportation order against McAllister. Since the foundation of our state the West of Ireland has been slowly but surely dying a slow death. Populations in townlands and villages all across the western seaboard have been devastated through state neglect and, in turn, the resulting ravages of emigration. One of these townlands is Loch Con Aortha, a tiny village in Connemara situated at the foot of the impressive Cnoc Mordan, a mountain that has for centuries been like a defensive wall for its inhabitants, but which today can no longer defend the village from this most recent onslaught. Since the 1970s the vigor of a vibrant, close-knit community and its ancient folk culture has vanished. Now life itself is disappearing from the village. It seems 21st century Ireland has no place for it in its future. Loch Con Aortha is my village. It is from here I first framed my view of the world, but it is also where the world framed its view of me, among my family, my neighbors and local physical landscape. Though it is very difficult to understand and comprehend change when you are living through it, I can see the village in decline. Year after year the young leave, the old die, and those left behind get older. From the 1850s through to 2004 the population of the village always hovered around the 80 to 100 mark, but since 2004 the population has dropped to 50 and only 20 of those are under the age of 60. Those living in the village are losing hope that the village and indeed all of rural Ireland can be saved. The decline in the West has been happening for years, but the current situation has been made far worse by the recent economic collapse. And while a recovery is in sight for towns and cities, for hundreds of villages the devastation is now irreversible. Read more: The strange death of rural Ireland as we know it There are many reasons as to why Loch Con Aortha and countless other villages are facing this current crisis. Young people, well-educated young people, must leave to gain employment and raise their families. Rural areas like this cannot offer young families a future where emigration has become a valuable safety valve for the political class so they do not to have to deal with the issue of neglect in rural communities. Though this story of a dying west has been well made for generations, it has continually fallen on deaf ears. The political system lacks the imagination or foresight to see that rural Ireland is not just another part of Irish life we can shed ourselves of. Without doubt the most troubling aspect of this current crisis is that many have become demoralized and live in despair. They do not believe their rural villages can be saved. While many in Ireland have lost respect for the political class in recent years, we in the west have lost hope in a state where our voices are not heard. Hope has been lost in many communities and the state and its ever-lengthening tentacles are viewed with suspicion, with anger and despair because people know it does not need to be like this. While some villages and townlands have been as badly hit and perhaps worse than Loch Con Aortha, there are thousands of others that are only a generation behind in terms of decline. They too will succumb to the inevitable fate unless we decide as a generation that a sustainable, vibrant rural Ireland is something worth fighting for. My upcoming documentary, Anseo i lar an Ghleanna or In the Shadow of the Glen, follows a year in the life of the people of Loch Con Aortha as they strive to protect and preserve their past and come to the realization that if they themselves cannot save their village, perhaps they can save its heritage. In attempting to save their heritage, Loch Con Aortha's current generation will have to answer many of the same questions as those sitting in the 32nd Dail will have to attempt to answer if the west is to be saved, what to keep, what to save, and what to let go. Anseo i lar an Ghleanna or In the Shadow of the Glen is produced by Mordan Films for TG4 and the BAI and will be broadcast on TG4 this autumn. * Sean O Cualain is the Producer and Director of the documentary. Follow the documentarys progress on Twitter @ShadowoftheGlen. Everyone knows that the 1916 Easter Rising was all about the battle between Irish rebels and British soldiers. However in Findmypasts Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook, youll find the stories of heroines and a few unfortunate citizens caught in the cross fire, that are almost as interesting as those of the rebel leaders. Some of their stories have been unearthed below from the 6700 names listed in the records: Louisa Nolan & Florence Williams Louisa Nolan and Florence Williams are among only 150 women to be awarded the British Military Medal. They were recognised for their services to wounded British soldiers under fire during the Easter Rising, both of whom pulled wounded soldiers from the fray under a hail of bullets. Richard Waters Mr. Richard Waters was a bank official with the Bank of Ireland who was shot while approaching Mount Street Bridge. It makes you think if our ancestors hated bankers as much as we do!? Thomas Joze Thomas Joze was a well-known chemist travelling home from his pharmacy on Dame Street to his home on Arran Quay who appeared to be shot by a rebel soldier without reason or warning. Have you got a rebel ancestor involved in one of Irelands most famous uprisings? For more stories on tracing your Irish heritage from Findmypast click here. *Originally published in August 2014. A man and a woman have been arrested over links to an extreme-left Turkish terror group. Officers from Scotland Yard's Counter-Terrorism Command held a 45-year-old woman in north London on Wednesday on suspicion of disseminating a terrorist publication and supporting a proscribed organisation. There may be no better place to witness what a world awash in crude looks like, and the 23 sq km complex seems to bear out oil traders fears that the industry is running out of space to contain a historic supply glut that has hammered prices. Such worries make weekly estimates of Cushing stockpiles from the US Energy Information Administration one of the hottest market indicators. These inventories peaked in mid-March and have edged lower since then. Some traders reckon they are unlikely to exceed those records for years as refiners rumble back from seasonal maintenance and demand rises. Others warn the stockpile could rise again. Up close, from a 24-hour bunker that controls a quarter of tank space here, the pipeline crossroads of the world, reveals its secret there is some spare room left. On March 24, the day after US government data showed Cushings tanks held a near-record 66.23m barrels of crude, Mike Moeller, manager at Enbridge, explained how the largest Cushing operator uses every last inch of usable space. Operators and technicians make it possible by moving a half-million barrels per day in internal pipelines that link the major pipelines and tanks of its 20m barrel terminal. Enbridges capacity has risen about a third over the past five years, but the volume of oil coursing through the jungle of pipes, valves and tanks that connects suppliers from as far away as Albertas oil sands to the Gulf of Mexico refiners has quadrupled. We are fuller than we have ever been, Mr Moeller said. Customers tell Enbridge every month how much crude is coming, but Mr Moeller and his team leave some space at the top of each tank that might be needed in an emergency. With oil-flow acrobatics getting exceedingly complex, workers can ill-afford any lapse in concentration. The lights in the control room building get dimmer or brighter as the day or night progresses to keep workers alert through their shifts. An exercise bike is on hand if their energy starts to wane. Mr Moeller, an Enbridge veteran of more than 15 years, arrived in Cushing in 2012 when the shale drilling and pipeline boom opened the latest chapter in its history as an oil town. It started in 1912 when an oilman named Tom Slick discovered the areas first crude. While production ceased in 1920s, the town, halfway between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, has served as a storage location. In 1983 it was picked as the settlement point for the West Texas Intermediate futures contract. The shale boom and the rapid rise of the Canadian oil sands industry transformed Cushing into a blending hub for light and heavy oil moving south. A Comptroller and Auditor General report on flood risk management has found that a group created to oversee the national coordination of flood risk management and flooding response did not meet between 2009 and 2015. Mr Turley said this level of inaction did not bode well for the Shannon River Basin Management Co-ordination Group, established earlier this year in response to severe flooding on the river. Mr Turley said: The new body set up to oversee the management of the River Shannon was announced at the height of the flooding crisis earlier this year, but it must not be a simple political response. It must have the power and the impetus to get on with its work to manage the Shannon waterway and take the necessary actions to prevent future flooding. Meanwhile, IFA environment chairman Thomas Cooney has described the latest EPA water quality results as an example of what investment and hard work can achieve. The results show that 93% of Irish bathing waters around the country are classified as being in either excellent or good condition. Mr Cooney cited significant investment by farmers as key to this result. Farmyard storage and control of effluent has improved dramatically as a result of the investment of over 2bn in the last 10 years, said Mr Cooney. Farmers recognise the value of a clean environment and will continue to work towards the highest standards. He said that Government support for agri-environment programmes for farmers will be critical to maintain this high level of clean bathing water. It is understood that IT professionals are among those affected, as well as human resource and customer service staff. None of the companys retail stores will be affected by the job losses, however. The newly combined bookmakers business Paddy Power Betfair is said to be targeting areas of overlap between the two former rivals while also looking to consolidate its operations into a single location in both Ireland and the UK. Consequently, the 300 or so Irish jobs will be shed from its headquarters in Clonskeagh, Co Dublin, while Betfairs Irish staff are expected to move into the same premises. Similar action is being taken in the UK where 350 jobs will be lost across many of the same business functions as Ireland. The cuts, expected to be implemented over the coming three months, represent a reduction of close to a quarter in its Clonskeagh-based workforce. A little over a year ago, Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended an event at Paddy Power HQ to celebrate the company hiring its 5,000th employee. Approximately half of its 2,750 Irish staff are based in Clonskeagh. Staff were informed of the restructuring decision on Monday. Shares in Paddy Power Betfair were down 1.5% yesterday. One employee, who did not wish to be identified, claimed the writing had been on the wall for a while, as departing staff members had not been replaced. Staff will reportedly be offered four weeks pay for every year they have worked at the company in addition to their statutory redundancy. The merger of Paddy Power and Betfair closed in February, having been first flagged in August 2015. Andy McCue, the former chief executive of Paddy Power and the chief operating officer of the merged business, unexpectedly announced last month that he would leave the business at the end of April. The Ludgate Seed Capital Fund has been launched to support startups locating at the Ludgate Hub which will be able to accommodate 80 people when its completed in the coming weeks. The Hub will boast internet speeds of 1,000MB courtesy of SIRO the ESB and Vodafone joint venture. For decades rural Ireland has been neglected, said Glen Dimplex CEO and fund investor Sean ODriscoll. Over the last decade many towns and villages in West Cork have been devastated. The Ludgate Digital Hub combined with the arrival of 1,000MBps of broadband to Skibbereen opens up enormous new opportunities for West Cork. This new digital age will make the impossible possible and consign geographic disadvantages to history and reinvigorate West Cork, The 930 sq m co-working space, the first of its kind in rural Ireland, has attracted 15 or so startups to date with a total of 30 people. In addition to local companies, the hub will play host to startups from Limerick and Dublin as well as international businesses from as far afield as the London, the US, and South Africa. The accompanying seed capital fund has been launched as figures from the Irish Venture Capital Association show a decline in the availability of seed capital with 43.8m raised last year compared to 66.8m in 2014. There is no limit on the level of funding companies can apply for from the fund with startups permitted to apply for the entire 300,000 should they wish to. Companies are encouraged to register their interest in the fund by May 20. Analysis by the IFPA found 76 of the 158 TDs support holding a referendum on repealing the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution and a further 39 have indicated support for a citizens assembly to examine the issue of reform. Just 39 have indicated they are opposed to repeal; and four have expressed no opinion meaning that 73% explicitly want, or are open to, changing the law. Niall Behan, chief executive of the IFPA, said: Politically, this election was a watershed. For the first time you had the vast majority of candidates saying that they wanted to repeal the eighth and for the first time the vast majority of TDs want reform. So were seeing this shift in political thinking but bizarrely, its not coming up as a programme for government issue. Mr Behans comments came as abortion rights campaigners warned the case in Northern Ireland of a young woman sentenced for inducing her own abortion with pills bought online, could be repeated here. The 21-year-old woman received a three-month suspended sentence after aborting a 10 to 12-week-old foetus using abortion pills drugs intended for treating medical conditions but which have the side-effect of causing miscarriage. She was 19 at the time and had confided in housemates that she was trying to find money to get to Britain for an abortion but was running out of time. Her housemates called police when they later discovered the aborted foetus in the household waste. Anti-abortion group, Precious Life, said the case deserved a tougher sentence and called for it to be referred to the Court of Appeal. Group director, Bernadette Smyth, said: Precious Life is very shocked that this judges sentencing was so manifestly lenient in respect of such a serious crime. Abortion rights groups here and in Britain, however, expressed shock at the prosecution and sentencing of the young woman. Amnesty International said it was utterly appalled and Linda Kavanagh of the Abortion Rights Campaign said the woman was effectively sentenced for being too poor to travel to Britain. Prosecution such as this one will not result in fewer abortions. They will just increase the fear and stigma attached to what is a medical procedure, chosen by thousands of women on this island every year, she said. The woman was prosecuted under an 1861 act which has been repealed here but was replaced by the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013, which makes it an offence carrying a sentence of up to 14 years to procure an abortion outside of the strict threat to life of the mother criteria. There is no recorded case of the authorities pursuing any woman here for importing abortion pills but Niall Behan said the law allowed for such a prosecution. Customs officers seized 60 batches of pills in 2014 in interceptions of fake, illegal and illegally procured medicines but many more are thought to have got through. Mr Behan said: Theres a lot of indications that the pills are being used between the reported seizures, women asking us about it, and raising it in counselling after the event. We dont support buying the pills online, both for legal reasons and because these pills should really be prescribed in a medical consultation and taken under medical supervision. If a woman decides this is still the option shes going to pursue, we will move to a harm reduction approach and we will tell her how the pills work and what precautions she should take. But the ultimate harm reduction is for safe and legal abortion to be made available here in Ireland. David Gorey, aged 33, of Kilbride, Trim, Co Meath, initially stole the money to pay off a 5,000 credit union loan and a 15,000 car loan before the vehicle was repossessed. He continued to take cash, bought three BMWs, worth 100,000, and used the rest to fund his addiction and social activities. The homeless charity said Census 2016 will be the second attempt made by the Central Statistics Office to develop a picture of homelessness across the country the first was in 2011. But while this count is another piece in this jigsaw, it will have limitations which must be acknowledged from the outset, said Simons national spokeswoman, Niamh Randall. Critically, it will not be a definitive count of homelessness but a count of those in emergency accommodation and those who are sleeping rough known to service providers, such as the Simon Communities. Ms Randall said the census will not count people in accommodation not designated for homeless persons or those in squats and cars who are not known to service providers. Also left out will be the hidden homeless those staying with friends or family, often in overcrowded and unsuitable conditions because they have no home of their own. The CSO has said every person in Ireland must be included on a census form on Sunday, April 24, including homeless people. Simons national spokeswoman, Niamh Randall Enumerators, together with service providers, would count those sleeping rough and those in private emergency accommodation, including hotels and B&Bs. Senior statistician with the CSO, Deirdre Cullen, said Census 2011 counted 3,808 homeless people, of whom 64 were rough sleepers. Ms Cullen, who was speaking on RTE radio yesterday, said three enumerators would deal exclusively with homeless individuals and families in B&Bs and hotels. Thousands of people have made objections to Indavers plans to build a 160m incinerator in Ringaskiddy. An Bord Pleanala plans to start the public hearing on the matter on April 19 at the Carrigaline Court Hotel. The plan is surrounded in controversy and so too is the date for the start of the inquiry. Cllr Marcia DAlton (Ind) said she had written to An Bord Pleanala asking that more time be given to objectors to prepare their cases. She said it was unfair that objectors were given such short notice. The Belgian-owned company has consistently argued that Ireland needs to turn from landfill to incineration. It is the third time since 2002 that Indaver has tried to get the project up and running. Indaver is proposing an incinerator with capacity to burn off 240,000 tonnes of hazardous and household waste per year. Ms DAlton, an environmental engineer, said it is unfair that the public has been given just 18 days notice for the oral hearing. This is against a window of three-and-a-half years which Indaver has had to prepare. During this time, they have had pre-consultations with the board, a luxury which the public is not afforded, she said. The 18-day notification of what will be a technical oral hearing is entirely unacceptable and is utterly in contravention of the Aarhus Convention to which Ireland is signatory. I am asking that it would be deferred so the public may have adequate time to prepare. Ms DAlton maintains that Indavers plan is fundamentally flawed because the incinerator is in the wrong location. An Bord Pleanala previously ruled the proposed site was subject to flooding. Ms DAlton said while that was one factor, for her the bigger issue is that it would be built in a cul-de-sac. This is extremely dangerous as there is only one road into the area. There are 700 students and 60 staff from the maritime college directly across the road and then you have the Beaufort Centre and a further 1,000-plus people at the naval base. She said if there is a serious incident at the incinerator, the only hope for a lot of those people would be to escape by sea. Ms DAlton said a huge incinerator at the entrance to the harbour would be an eyesore and go against plans by the council to spend 40m turning Spike Island into a major tourist attraction. Councillors representing Cobh/Glanmire municipal district have lodged an objection, saying that an incinerator in the harbour flies in the face of the governments greening of the area, with renewable energy research clusters and plans for increased tourist attractions. The group Cork Harbour for a Safe Environment (Chase) represents thousands of people living in the lower harbour, and has again lodged an objection. PDFORRA, which represents enlisted men at Naval Service headquarters, has also objected. An Bord Pleanala expects a decision on the project by July 12. Deborah Courtney, aged 54, from Castlegregory, Co Kerry, was only 10 when she suffered the abuse, which continued for three years. In February 2015 she and her older sister Mary, waived their right to anonymity, following the conviction of their abuser, Jimmy Flannery. Flannery, aged 76, of Baile Na Buaile, Dingle, was jailed for 10 years, following a five-day trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin last year. He had denied three counts of raping Mary Courtney at locations in Dingle between January 1971 and April 1975 and 10 counts of sexual assault against her between April 1969 and April 1974. He was also convicted of the sexual assault of Deborah Courtney. Ms Courtney said she and her sisters four-year journey for justice, which began at Tralee Circuit Criminal Court, was all the more daunting because of the facilities in the courthouse. She now hopes other victims of abuse will be encouraged to come forward because of the new facility. First of all, you have the physical boundaries of the room. It shows the victims respect I suppose and gives them a sense of dignity, she said. You feel so vulnerable and exposed. I walked up those courthouse steps in 2012 with my sister and the place was so neglected looking and so cold. We felt bad enough but then we were bumping into the family and the perpetrator and we did not need that. The victims need to be protected and its almost like an embrace to have a room like this its so calming and welcoming. You can have your own private chat here or just let go and break down if you need to. But you can do it in private. Both cases were being tried separately at the Tralee court but following the collapse of the first trial due to a hung jury, they were eventually heard at the Central Criminal Court. It was a very hard process and I would not have been able to go through it without the support of the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, she said. I needed support while the case was before the court. Its much harder to be in the community where the abuse occurred because you have people not believing you, your shame and guilt and then youre trying to build yourself up and youre told, Sure, leave it be. But when we went to the Central Criminal Court in Dublin it was so different because the facilities were so much better. The manager of the Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre, Vera OLeary, who lobbied for the new facility, paid tribute to the Court Service for providing the room. She said because they had no budget it would not have been renovated without the goodwill and generosity of local businesses and individuals. It gives a very clear message to both victims and survivors that you will be believed and you will be supported, so please come forward. I think the local people giving that message will probably encourage more people to come forward than any awareness campaign we could undertake at the centre, Ms OLeary said. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has apologised after the Inishowen Peninsula in Co Donegal was cut off the map and apparently annexed by the Six Counties. Inishowen is Irelands most northerly peninsula. It is about the size of Co Louth and has a population of almost 40,000 people. The mistake on an infographic entitled The Journey of a Census Form, was spotted by an irate woman who contacted the Inishowen News website. Do the people of north County Donegal like being in the UK? You should kick up a stink about it, she said. The cartography error is especially embarrassing as it comes on the centenary of the 1916 Rising. It also comes just days after an Irish-language error appeared on the Remembrance Wall at Glasnevin Cemetery. The CSO said the mistake was inadvertent while the faulty infographic was rectified within several hours of the statistics body having been notified. The Central Statistics Office acknowledge the inadvertent error on the graphic which resulted in the omission of the Inishowen Peninsula and apologise for any offence or inconvenience caused, said a spokesperson. The graphic was provided to the CSO by a leading Dublin advertising and design agency, Language. The company has many prestigious clients and was the creative force behind the successful Yes Equality same-sex marriage campaign last year. Language said the map was corrected as a matter of priority. The CSO said it could not comment specifically on the cost of the faulty graphic to the taxpayer as it was just one part of a large amount of design work produced by the Dublin company for Census 2016. An official census of population takes place every five years and the next head-count will be held on the night of Sunday, April 24. Meanwhile, the CSO reassured all householders in Inishowen that, despite their initial exclusion from the map, they must fill out a census form. Census enumerators have been delivering forms to every household in the country and will continue to do so up until April 24 including, of course, to everyone in every part of Donegal, said the spokesperson. Doctors views on the creeping commercialisation of the health service are captured in a survey by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) which also found that four in five medics agree that private care can lead to over-investigation. One doctor said: The advertisement of independent sectors for non-evidence-based activity (health checks) exposes persons to excessive medical care, including over-diagnosis and over-treatment. I think of cases of healthy people receiving ionising radiation. The survey results, published by the IMO as part of a broader policy paper on commercialism in medicine Preserving Medical Professionalism in an Increasingly Commercial Healthcare Environment also found half of doctors agree there are few independent sources of information with regard to new drug therapies and that pharmaceutical sales representatives, promotional material and even magazines, journals, and news reports could be biased. Of particular concern to doctors is the role of pharmaceutical companies in the sponsorship of educational events. The IMO said many doctors believe the pharmaceutical industry has too much influence on Irish medicine and that pharmaceutical therapies are promoted above non-pharmaceutical treatment. One doctor said: Pharma companies are too involved in medicine. From research to hospitals they are silent decision makers. Another said: Pharmaceutical company influence means promotional materials are everywhere and management dont support non drug approaches knock-on is under-development of non-drug treatment facilities and staff... Huge factor in mental health. The survey also looked at the affordability of pharmaceutical care. Those without a full medical card face charges of up to 144 per month for prescription drugs under the Drugs Payment Scheme. The IMO said doctors are concerned that due to the high level of out-of-pocket payments for medicines many patients are not adhering to treatment. More than three quarters (76%) of doctors who responded to the survey agreed with the statement I am obliged to consider my patients financial circumstances when discussing options for care. The paper said IMO doctors found private health insurance reimbursement favours admission to hospital above day treatment, outpatient care or care in the community. The paper also said many doctors are critical of the willingness of private health insurance companies to reimburse more expensive MRIs over less expensive diagnostic procedures whether the tests are clinically indicated or not. Dr John Duddy, IMO president, said there was a need for vigilance to prevent the over commercialisation of medicine. The paper makes a number of recommendations including resourcing of the public sector to reduce reliance on the private sector; provision of non-directional educational material on new pharmaceutical therapies; encouraging appropriate care in the appropriate setting and routine registration of conflicts of interest in advocacy, education, and academia. Circuit Court president Mr Justice Raymond Groarke said taxi driver Anthony Olajude, who had been following Fabian Wolasewicz closely with his taxi, had, perhaps entirely by accident, run over and injured his left foot. Judge Groarke, awarding Wolasewicz 18,500 damages against Olajude, said there had been a very direct conflict of evidence between the two as to what had happened in September 2014, but he preferred the injured mans evidence. Mr Olajude, of Doire Beag, Oriel Rd, Collon, Co Louth, who denied driving over Mr Wolasewiczs foot, claimed Mr Wolasewicz had been very drunk and had tried to run away when asked to pay the soilage fee. He alleged that Mr Wolasewicz injured his foot when he had fallen while running. Mr Wolasewicz told the court he had been on a night out with friends in Harcourt St, Dublin, when they stopped Olajudes taxi to go home to Arbour Hill, Dublin. His friends had left the taxi when he became sick. He said he removed his shirt to try and wipe up his vomit and, following a request by Mr Olajude to pay a 140 fee, he had told him he did not have such money with him but had said if he came to his house at St Margarets Terrace, Arbour Hill, he would pay him. Mr Wolasewizc told his barrister, Conor Kearney, that as he could not find enough money at his home he had told Mr Olajude he would go to his sisters house nearby to get it. He said Mr Olajude was angry and had driven over his foot while following him in his taxi to his sisters house. He had been shirtless and in shock when he reached his sisters home and had been taken by ambulance to the Mater Hospital in Dublin. His foot had been swollen and bruised and he had suffered lacerations to his knee and elbow when he had fallen. His sister had later paid the soilage fee. Garda Killian Murphy from Bridewell Garda Station, said when he saw Mr Wolasewizc on the night he had noticed that he was very intoxicated. Awarding Mr Walosewizc 18,500 damages, Judge Groarke said the fact that Mr Olajude had twice called gardai showed, in the courts view, that he had been getting more annoyed and thought Mr Walosewizc would manage to escape. The organisations also report there are signs that cocaine availability may be on the rise again, with a worrying growth in maritime shipments, carrying larger consignments. The EU police agency, Europol, and the EU drugs agency, the Emcdda, report that traffickers are using ever ingenious ways to smuggle cocaine, incorporating it into beeswax, fuel, and breast implants. They report that criminal gangs are making massive profit from importing chemicals used in new psychoactive substances also known as headshops drugs or legal highs with a kilogramme of an NPS costing just 100 to buy and ship in from China to Europe. The agencies express concern at an increase in the purity and potency of many illegal drugs, particularly cannabis, ecstasy, heroin and NPS. The 190-page study, EU Drug Markets Report, estimates that more than 24bn is spent on illegal drugs every year. This includes: A cannabis trade worth 9.3bn (range 8.4bn-12.9bn); A heroin market valued at 6.8bn (range 6bn-7.8bn); A cocaine trade worth. 5.7bn (range 4.5bn-7bn); An amphetamine/ecstasy market valued at 1.8bn (1.2bn-2.5bn) The report flags a number of major concerns with the heroin trade. Exceptionally, large heroin seizures are now frequent in the EU and seizures in Turkey are increasing. There are also signs of an increase in the purity of heroin on the streets of Europe. It said there has been an unprecedented rise in the size of individual shipments sent along the heroin routes to Europe, with consignments of 100kg or more and, on occasion, amounts measured in tonnes. It said there had been record-breaking seizures in many EU countries, including the Netherlands (1.2 tonnes) and Belgium (864kg). These two countries are the main trafficking hubs of heroin into Ireland. Seizures here have not, so far, reflected the trends reported in this report. The report suggests that coca bush cultivation in South America is increasing and that the use of maritime containers to transport large consignments was of increasing concern. It said that cocaine was being incorported into a wide range of materials including beeswax, fertilisers, coffee, cocoa, plastic, clothing, liquids, foods, fuels and paper. The report said once the cocaine landed it was recovered using an extraction process. It said that lack of intelligence about this means of smuggling gave rise to concerns such methods are being used successfully to smuggle large amounts of cocaine into the EU undetected. The report expressed concern at the rise in purity and potency of MDMA in recent years more than half of reporting countries came across tablets with 200mg of MDMA compared to an average of 66mg in 2009. It said the average potency of both herbal cannabis and resin had almost doubled in the last decade. It said 560 NPS were being monitored at the moment and that 650 web shops selling them had been identified. READ MORE: Ten Irish gangs control the main import drug routes The dose of reality was outlined during the last day of talks between Micheal Martins party and unaligned TDs about what is on offer for anyone entering government. During lengthy discussions between Mr Martin, his four-strong negotiating team, and the six-strong Independent Alliance on nine topics including housing, education, Irish Water, and health, Department of Health officials provided a detailed overview of the money available to health this year. Despite Health Minister Leo Varadkar dismissing concerns about the inability of the health budget to cover costs and the fact no supplementary budget will be allowed under new EU rules, department officials said problems already exist in the system. They said that, as of the end of last month, the health service was already 60m over budget and, that if the trajectory continues, it will be at least 300m over budget by the end of the year wiping out most of the fiscal space available for 2016. The situation was put forward to underline the reality of the options available to both Fianna Fail and Independents should they form part of the next government, with a senior party source last night saying the only way to bring the costs under control would be to cut some services or delay others. Mr Martin has repeatedly claimed health budgets in recent years have been fraudulent and do not reflect the realities of what funds are available for the system. The dose of reality came as the partys negotiation team of Michael McGrath, Barry Cowen, Charlie McConalogue, and Jim O Callaghan outlined Fianna Fails position on a series of policy areas to the Shane Ross-led Independent Alliance. The discussion similar in nature to the day-long briefing that Fianna Fail gave to the five rural TDs, the Healy Rae brothers, Katherine Zappone, and Maureen OSullivan on Monday was given a cautious welcome by Independents. However, a number of Independent Alliance TDs who are due to meet again with Fianna Fail after 12pm today, just hours before the Dail Taoiseach nomination vote said last night it will do little to help them decide on who to support. One Independent TD told the Irish Examiner the groups view remains that there is no point in supporting either Mr Martin or Enda Kennys bid for power today as it is unclear what they will in reality be supporting. He said there is no point in helping to put our own heads on the chopping block, with one TD expressing scepticism about the entire talks process until this point as neither side have asked us to support either of them yet. Such is the anger after weeks of talks over Fine Gaels cut-and-paste proposal document and claims Fianna Fail has yet to ask them formally for support, Independents last night said they may vote against the would-be leaders to make their annoyance known. The potential move would not impact on the overall result of todays Dail taoiseach nomination vote as it will not reduce the tally for either Mr Kenny or Mr Martin who will finally meet this evening to begin a key stage of government formation talks, as Fine Gael acting Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said last night that his party is willing to look at the affordability of water bills in any discussions. Patients with the potentially life-threatening condition haemochromatosis have to get blood taken regularly due to a buildup of iron. University Hospital Limerick has been sending patients with the condition to Ennis and Nenagh General Hospitals for the past two years as it had no more capacity for taking blood from these people. The IBTS confirmed yesterday that it plans to open a clinic for haemochromatosis sufferers in June and is in talks with the private Barringtons Hospital. Dr Willie Murphy, scientific and medical director of the IBTS, said as well as taking pressure off University Hospital Limerick and the hospitals in Nenagh and Ennis, the new service will give them a whole new source of blood for transfusions. Dr Murphy said: At present the blood taken here in the Mid-West is dumped. But we will be able to take it for further use. We have to collect over 140,000 units of blood every year and we are always looking for new donors. The situation in Limerick and the Mid-West will give us lots of new donors. We would expect to cater for patients coming to the new Limerick clinic from Co Galway and Co Tipperary. The screening criteria regarding donor suitability is the same for people with haemochromatosis as the general population. Dr Murphy said the new clinic would be funded from its own budget. Medical card holders with haemochromatosis will not be charged and insurance covers the service provided to people with the condition. Ireland has the highest rate of haemochromatosis in the world, being particularly prevalent along the western seaboard. The amount of blood which need to be taken from a patient depends on the buildup of iron in the blood. Most people need to have about four pints (units) of blood taken each year. Denise McAuliffe of the Mid-West Haemochromotosis Association said the opening of a new clinic in Limerick is a welcome step. For people who do not have medical cards or medical insurance it can be quite expensive. More than 40 students of a Cork secondary school spent the night sleeping on the floor of their school gym to raise funds for Cork Simon. And, in an even greater test of their endurance, the teenagers also imposed a social media blackout for a full 12-hours as part of their sleep-in for Simon. Moved by the homeless crisis, the students of St Vincents all-girls secondary school on the citys northside wanted to experience what it might be like to have to sleep rough, and opted to spend the night on the floor of their school gym. Supported by their teachers, parents, school principal, and Simon community, they bedded down at 8pm. However, before they settled in, their parents signed forms to guarantee the students had left their smartphones at home. Most admitted being unable to check Facebook, Twitter, SnapChat, and Instagram was a tougher test than sleeping on the floor. The fundraising event was a key part of their junior cert CSPE project, said teacher Michelle Fitzgerald. As part of the CSPE programme, the students have to do an action project, she said. They were following the general election and the various political debates of recent weeks very carefully and realised that homelessness was a major issue, so the second years decided to take this on. They invited fourth years to take part, and in total, more than 44 students volunteered for the sleep-in. After signing in at 8pm, they enjoyed some ice-breaking activities, watched a movie, enjoyed some karaoke, and even managed to get some study done. They were due to finish at 8am. While the students got to go home, the sleep-in supervising teachers, Ms Fitzgerald, James Deane, Stephanie Reed, and Claire Barry, were facing in to classes. The students hope to raise several hundred euro from their efforts. From April 30, as the final part of a phased reduction in charges before total abolition, all mobile phone operators will only be permitted to charge a small additional amount on top of normal domestic fees when customers roam in the EU. After more than a decade of promises, the EU reached an agreement in June of last year to end roaming charges across all 28 member states as of June 2017. Regulations introduced since 2007 have meant that roaming prices within the EU have been dropping consistently over the past few years. Prices for roaming calls, SMS and data have fallen by 80% since 2007. Some operators have opted to start reducing costs even further in advance of the June 2017 deadline. By the end of this month Eir will become the first mobile operator in Ireland to get rid of EU roaming charges altogether. Customers can use their existing call and text allowances anywhere in the EU and get an additional 1GB of EU roaming data, as part of a range of new price plans that fall under the roam for free banner. Up to 40,000 existing Eir mobile customers, who signed up to Eir Mobile from September 2015, will also have the new benefit applied to their accounts by the end of this month. New customers will receive free EU roaming across a range of plans from 20 a month. Eirs subsidiary, Meteor, will also launch a range of plans that will include free EU roaming. Eirs director of mobile, Maeve OMalley, introduced the initiative saying: Our customers love value, have a big appetite for data and dont want to worry about unplanned post-holiday phone bills. So, ahead of the holiday season, we wanted to give them something that would make trips to the rest of Europe even more enjoyable, irrespective of where they are. Bart Lehane, CEO of Killbiller an app that details mobile phone usage across various plans said Eir and Meteor have stolen a march on their competitors but that customers should still be aware of roaming charges when travelling outside the EU. Obviously if you go outside the EU its still open season and it varies quite considerably. Vodafone still offer the best value in the United States and other countries beyond the EU. The April reductions mean EU roaming will be up to four times less expensive than previously and they were welcomed yesterday by Ireland South MEP Sean Kelly who has been campaigning for the scrapping of roaming charges since 2009. This reduction is is part of the transition towards the complete abolition of roaming charges by June 15, 2017, he said. By next June, extortionate roaming charges will be a thing of the past. Consumers will no longer be ripped off when paying for mobile calls, texts and data when they travel to another EU member state, including across the border to Northern Ireland. It is nonsensical and a total abuse of power over consumers that they were subjected to outrageous roaming charges when travelling in another EU country. For more information on comparative domestic and roaming charges go online to www.killbiller.com The group, dubbed the Rathkeale Rovers because of their links to the Limerick town, targeted high-value objects in a string of break-ins, including Cambridges Fitzwilliam Museum and twice at Durhams Oriental Museum in 2012. Judge Murray Creed heard that although the items stolen in Durham and Cambridge were valued at up to 22m, detectives believe they might have fetched more than three times that figure on the booming Chinese auction market. Members of the same gang also masterminded a bungled attempted theft at Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex, and organised the disposal of stolen artifacts in what the judge said was an extremely sophisticated conspiracy. In all, 13 men have now been sentenced after three trials which concluded with the gang and its associates convicted of wide-ranging criminal conspiracy to steal, with connections to Ireland, Europe, and China. On Monday, seven men were sentenced to between four years and six years and eight months behind bars, including fence Donald Wong. Yesterday, John Kerry OBrien, aged 26, of Orchard Drive, Smithy Fen, Cottenham, Cambridgeshire but also of Rathkeale who was said by the judge to have had a central role in the conspiracy was jailed for six and a half years. JohnKerryOBrienJrRichardKerryOBrienMuseum_large.jpg[/timgcap Terrence McNamara, of Marquis Street in Belfast, got four years. Addressing 43-year-old Michael Hegarty, also of Orchard Drive in Cottenham, and Rathkeale, the judge said: I believe you were controlling him [McNamara] in relation to events at Durham Museum in the first instance. Hegarty was jailed for six and a half years. He sentenced 47-year-old Richard Sheridan, of Water Lane in Smithy Fen, and Patrick Clarke, aged 34, of Melbourne Road, Newham, London, to five and a half years apiece. Ashley Dad, aged 35, of Crowther Road in Wolverhampton, who did not appear in court, was jailed for five years and three months. Sheridan is a former spokesman for the Dale Farm Travellers site in Essex and was seen in Wongs company, shortly before 50,000 in cash was found in the Chinese businessmans car. Michael Hegarty and Daniel Turkey OBrien. The judge said the gang had either stolen or tried to steal highly prized museum-quality items, often with historic Imperial Chinese dynastic connections, with the exception of an attempted theft on an auction house in March 2012 in which the bungling thieves took the wrong item. On two occasions the Oriental Museum in Durham was targeted, but also the Castle Museum in Norwich, Gorringes Auction House in Lewes, East Sussex, and the Fitzwilliam Museum. Fitzwilliam Museum The men carried out reconnaissance of these and other sites, including three museums in Glasgow, and another auction house in Yorkshire. The judge said the conspiracy had been centred on the family seat in Rathkeale, telling the defendants: At the heart of this enterprise was a family a number of you are members of the OBrien family. He added: Of 14 original conspirators, seven were connected with that home, seven were associates, like Terrence McNamara, while others were recruited in to find thieves prepared to carry out burglaries, particularly in carrying out the second attack on Durham museum. No doubt others were involved too. Robert Gilbert Smith, formerly of Hockenden Lane in Kent, was jailed for his part in the crime last year. Mr Coveney said he will bring a paper on the mission to the Cabinet today and expects swift approval as acting Taoiseach Enda Kenny has already signalled his willingness to send ships back to help the Italians to rescue migrants. Mr Coveney said there were approximately 800,000 refugees in camps close to the Libyan coast. Their numbers could be swelled following an EU-brokered agreement between Greece and Turkey, which is likely to close off migrant crossings of the Aegean Sea. He said that his department officials and the Italian Department of Foreign Affairs were working on finalising a formal agreement which will see LE Roisin take up duty in the Mediterranean Sea shortly for a 12-week mission. An exchange of letters has been going on and we are in the final stages [of confirming an agreement]. To a certain extent the migration crisis in the Mediterranean is changing rapidly. There are 800,000 refugees in camps in Libya, thats not far off the population of Munster. The acting minister added that refugees coming through Turkey may now decide to try and get into southern Europe via Libya. He said the Naval Service had performed admirably during last years operations and Ireland has an obligation to go back to help the Italians on the humanitarian mission. There is a clear indication that demand (by migrants) remain strong and they are willing to risk everything to get into unfit boats, risking their lives and the lives of their children. Thats the tragic reality. I make no apology for prioritising saving lives, Mr Coveney said. He said he realised the Mediterranean mission put a stress on Naval Service resources as crews still had to carry out fishery patrols, drugs patrols and search and rescue operations. The eight-ship navy was designed two decades ago for tasks we have in our own waters. I want to increase that to a nine-ship navy. It would give us greater flexibility to do these things [humanitarian missions]. Volunteers help refugees and migrants disembark from a small vessel on the Greek island of Lesbos last year. It is hoped Irish Naval Service missions will be allowed to resume Mr Coveney said he was hoping that within the lifetime of the next government a nine-ship fleet would become a reality. I think the next two years will still be financially difficult, but Id hope wed have the extra ship in the latter half of next five years, he said. A senior Fianna Fail TD has confirmed the party will lay off some Irish Water workers if its plan to scrap the utility is introduced by the next government. Transport spokesman Timmy Dooley said the situation will of course take place if Fianna Fail is able to put its policy in place as part of any deal with Fine Gael. Speaking on RTEs News at One programme after another day in which the future of Irish Water and its controversial charges dominated the political debate, the Clare TD said the majority of staff would be moved to local authorities and a redundancy scheme would exist for others. However, he said it is inevitable some workers who will be surplus to requirements will be laid off, which is expected to anger those working in the utility and unions which have previously called for clarity over their job security. I would expect that a redundancy plan would be put in place to facilitate that, said Mr Dooley. There are some [staff] who would transfer back to the local authorities where much of this work would be carried out, there are some who will be surplus to requirements. Asked if that means people will be laid off, Mr Dooley added: I think that follows, of course, where people are surplus to requirements. The comment was made during an interview in which Mr Dooley stressed Irish Water is not a red-line issue for him because theres a whole myriad of issues that are really important to us, the chaos in the health service and the crisis in housing amongst many. However, despite Mr Dooleys attempt to downplay the significance of the stand-off between the two main parties over the utilitys future, other politicians yesterday admitted the issue remains a cause of concern as negotiations loom. Speaking earlier in the day, outgoing Fine Gael childrens minister James Reilly said any move to freeze charges will be a major problem. He added that it will be very difficult to form a government that lasts unless there is a strong coalition based on agreed policies between Irelands two biggest parties. Fianna Fail environment spokesman and member of the partys negotiating team Barry Cowen said his party remains committed to abolishing Irish Water. Meanwhile, at a separate media briefing in Leinster House yesterday, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he will not accept the outcome of his own partys independent commission on Irish Water unless it rules in favour of scrapping charges. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams Asked how the party would respond if the commission found in favour of retaining water charges, Mr Adams said they cannot do that as the terms of reference would be so tight it would only allow one conclusion to be drawn, before comparing any such investigation to home renovation. If you want to convert my kitchen, you give me the terms of reference, you tell me the type of kitchen I want, you tell me the price I want [and] so on and so forth and I am obliged to handle that, you dont go and make my kitchen into a dining room, he said. Mr Adams also declined to say whether the party would support a Fianna Fail bill to suspend water charges and scrap Irish Water. Options and consequences Fiachra O Cionnaith - Political Reporter Option 1: Keeping Irish Water and the charges system, but reducing costs for vulnerable groups. Consequence: This approach which has been hinted at for a number of weeks as a way to build bridges between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail will help those most in need, particularly the elderly. However, economic think-tank the Nevin Institute recently noted that it could cause charges for everyone else to rise to 350. Option 2: Scrapping Irish Water and charges completely. Consequence: Such a policy would be a popular measure for the new government to introduce, and could help gain some badly needed public support. However, a complete removal would lead to European Union court action and the threat of significant fines, with further questions over how to pay for water infrastructure improvements something that crucially could also lose public support. Option 3: Delaying charges for a number of years. Consequence: Fianna Fail is seeking to do this for half a decade as part of draft legislation Micheal Martins party is currently in the process of drawing up, while EU sources have also confirmed officials in Brussels may allow it to happen as it technically does not breach the law. However, the move would still leave the question of how to fund water service improvements while the charges are deferred. Option 4: Cutting a deal between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. Consequence: It has recently been suggested that Fine Gael will scrap its long-stated plans to completely remove the universal social charge if Fianna Fail parks its equally long-stated Irish Water policy, but any deal depends on both parties convincing supporters they have won and are getting the best deal. Up to five of these syndicates have direct connections with South and Central America and sometimes orchestrate an entire shipment of cocaine into Ireland, sometimes via Europe. They include the Spanish-based Christy Kinahan cartel currently involved in a feud with the Hutch gang and a trafficking network controlled by a veteran criminal based in Holland and Germany. Irish gangs direct line with cocaine exporters in South and Central America was referenced in a massive report, EU Drug Markets, published yesterday by the EUs police and drug agencies. Direct connections from Central America into Ireland and the United Kingdom indicate connections between Irish and British OCGs [organised crime groups] with drug cartels in South and Central America, said the report. In March 2015, 25kg of cocaine was seized in Cork Port after being imported directly from Central America. In December 2014, 300kg of cocaine, originating in Colombia, was seized in Portsmouth, England, in a smuggling operation by Irish and British networks. The EU report referenced the September 2014 seizure of 1.1 tonnes of cocaine on the yacht, Makayabella, originating from Venezuela, off Mizen Head, Co Cork. In June 2012, 429kg of cocaine was shipped from South America into Rotterdam port and onto Dublin Port, before being seized. However, the bulk of cocaine, cannabis, and heroin coming here is sourced by an estimated 10 Irish gangs in Spain and the Netherlands. In Spain, they negotiate with British and Spanish cartels for cocaine and cannabis and, in the Netherlands, with Dutch gangs for cocaine, heroin, and cannabis. They are thought to pay around 25,000 for a kilo of cocaine, which, when shipped to Ireland, is diluted four to five times, with each diluted kilo selling for 25,000. The Irish gangs in Spain and Holland often join a conglomerate of networks in the importation of multi-tonne shipments from South America. The EU report said Irish and British gangs also operate in South Africa and use it as a transhipment point. READ MORE: EU police flags hike in massive heroin hauls The company, Exceedence, which is based at IMERC (Irish Maritime Energy Research Cluster) in Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, has developed a software package which can be used anywhere in the world to find the ideal location for renewable energy projects. Exceedence founder and chief executive Ray Alcorn said the software was developed over three years by UCC scientists and technicians and is the only system of its type which provides a comprehensive overview of the outcome of an off-shore project. He said that around 20 companies, including some multinationals, were trialling it in Germany, Australia, the USA, and the Phillipines. Around $200bn [175.5bn] is being spent worldwide every year on renewable energy projects. Its the biggest growth area in energy and we hope to tap into that massive market, said Mr Alcorn. The Exceedence package also allows companies to construct a business plan from the data received. It tells them (depending on positioning, etc) whether they will make or lose money, how long it will take to get into profit, and what outlay will be needed, he said. Larger pension fund operators need to see when they will get their money back. They want a very low risk option and thus are prepared to take a lower return than other investors who accept higher risks for a higher return. The company currently employs five full-time salespeople who are mainly concentrating on selling the programme to European markets at present. Meanwhile, the countrys research centre for marine and renewable energy, MaREI which is also based in Ringaskiddy has secured 750,000 in funding from the NTR Foundation. The philanthropic investment will be used to identify and exploit the opportunities for future energy requirements as the country makes the transition to a low carbon economy. NTR Foundation chairman Rosheen McGuckian said they were pleased to support this ground-breaking research project, which will address opportunities for climate change mitigation. The UCC Environmental Research Institute and the MaREI Centre are acknowledged leaders in this field and this work will contribute to building resilience for Ireland in a number of scenarios, while also identifying opportunities for entrepreneurs, said Ms McGuckian. Around 93% of our energy needs are currently being met by fossil fuels and 89% is imported, posing challenges and yet enormous opportunities for Ireland in the energy efficiency and renewables sectors. Over the last 15 years our share of electricity from renewable sources has grown to 23%. The erection of the Wall of Remembrance in Glasnevin cemetery in Dublin, opened last week, has already provoked some hostile comment. It looks like the famous Vietnam Wall in Washington DC. The names are inscribed on a polished black granite surface so that those standing at the wall sees their own reflection in the background. That is a poignant reminder that they could so easily be among the names, which really applies to any war. The big difference between the two is that the wall in Glasnevin includes the name of all the people killed during the Easter Rebellion of 1916, not just those who fought on one side. The bullets didnt differentiate between people, according to Conor Dodd, the cemeterys historian. He was one of the researchers involved in finding the names of all the people killed in the Easter Rebellion. When they began their research they were looking for the names of 485 people but they came up with 488. Most of those killed 268were civilians, and Joe Duffy noted in his magnificent book, Children of the Rising, that 38 were children aged 16 or younger. The dead included 142 Crown soldiers and policemen, and 58 of those were Irishmen. The rebel deaths totalled 62 in the fighting, as well as the 16 leaders who were later executed. They are rightly listed on what is being called the necrology Wall of Remembrance. Some have taken exception to listing all of the names. James Connollys great grandson, James Connolly Heron, feels he should be able to remember and pay tribute to those who fought and died in the cause of Irish freedom. If we remember everybody in general, were paying tribute to nobody in particular, he contends. The people who fought and died in the cause of Irish freedom, we should be able to remember and pay tribute to them separately. It is a stand-alone event. Enda Kenny speaking at Glasnevin cemetary That anybody would now suggest that we should only remember the 78 rebels, and just forget about the other 316 Irish people who died in the conflict, is particularly offensive to the memory of those people who claimed to be acting in the interest of all Irish people. The Glasnevin wall is a magnificent reminder of the events 1916 that can bring people together from all sides, because it demonstrates a parity of esteem. Strictly speaking it is a Necrology Wall necrology being a list of people who have died within a certain time. Unfortunately, most people have never heard of necrology, and some may think sounds akin to the deadly perversion, necrophilia. In more than 50 years of writing about history, I have done in-depth research into several wars and have found that those most involved in the various conflicts usually talked least. That was particularly true of our War of Independence, with a couple of notable exceptions. As the son of a soldier killed in the Second World War, I have always been acutely aware of the destruction of war. Some people think we should forget about wars. Rather than glorify or celebrate wars, however, we should remember them in all their gory detail in the hope of preventing further conflict. I have already written in this newspaper about the chance finding on the internet of the man who was with my father when he was shot, and who was decorated for trying to save him 65 years earlier. A member of that mans family told me he never talked about the war with his children, but he began to open up a bit with his grandchildren. In 1947, the Fianna Fail government made a magnificent contribution to our history by establishing the Bureau of Military History, which was supported by succeeding governments over the next 11 years in collecting 1,773 witness statements from survivors of the War of Independence. Many of those men would have taken valuable historical information to their grave about their involvement had they not been assured that their statements would not be released during their lifetimes. A few men published memoirs, but most were afraid to speak out lest that anybody would think they were behaving like a couple of notable loudmouths. In writing Tans, Terror and Troubles, a history of the War of Independence in Kerry, I found there were too many loose ends prior to the release of the witness statements. I had access to statements by Con Brosnan and Tom McEllistrim, which were very valuable, but the statement of Tadhg Kennedy, the Intelligence Office of the Kerry No. 1 Brigade, threw the most light on many of those loose ends. He had invaluable contacts providing information during the conflict. Those included two RIC County Inspectors, a District Inspector, and the head of the local special branch of the day. That was information that he could not have released publicly during their lifetime. Practically all of the RIC in Kerry were on side with the IRA, according to Kennedy. The Secretary of the Celtic League complained, however, about the inclusion of the names on the Glasnevin Wall of members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) who were killed in the Easter Rebellion. Were those men given any chance to help their countrymen? Two of the IRAs most effective agents were members of the DMP Ned Broy and David Neligan, and the DMP as a whole was far from hostile to the IRA. Many of the greatest successes we gained were gained entirely by true men who stood for us in the enemy service, Michael Collins told a dinner in Naas on April 16, 1922. Some people were complaining that he was using former members of the DMP and RIC to help organise the new Garda Siochana, but he stressed that those were men who stood with us always. We are not one bit ashamed of it, he added. Not only are we not going to apologise, but we are very proud to have them, and very glad to have them. The Celtic League contends that including the Crown forces amounts to a signal to Northern nationalists that the rest of the island endorses the behaviour of those who terrorised them over the last 40 years. But the Glasnevin Wall has nothing to do with the Troubles. These people opposing the Glasnevin Wall have been engaging in sheer hypocritical posturing with their hollow protestations in supposed favour of Irish unity. The unionist people of the North are not going to surrender or move out, and the overwhelming majority of the Irish people have formally accepted that they cannot and should not be coerced, so the only road to unity is through mutual respect for the rights of all. That will not come about by the perpetuation of division and disharmony. The Glasnevin Wall is a magnificent step forward that should be welcome by all decent Irish people who desire to break down the barriers and promote real unity, which must be based on a parity of esteem. So today is the day we have all been waiting for, the day finally when Enda Squatter Taoiseach Kenny and would-be Taoiseach Micheal Martin sit down together to see if they can form a Government. Now the waiting is over, all that is left is another six weeks of torturous and tedious talks. It is six weeks since the people have spoken and they and the media have so far remained patient to allow a Government be formed. But that patience is wearing thin and one cannot escape the conclusion that the process has been delayed by Enda Kenny and Fine Gael for political advantage. It is also hard to escape the conclusion that the two-week process of talks with the Independents has been a sham process, and today hopefully marks the beginning of the talks proper. As I have maintained since election results day, the only viable option based on the numbers is some form of a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail deal, coalition, or power-sharing arrangement. The reluctance to such a deal, particularly from within Fianna Fail, has been well flagged and some of that is driven by a fear of allowing Sinn Fein become the main opposition party. But such fears are, in my view, overstated, as the people chose only to make Sinn Fein the third largest party in the Dail, and the partys flip-flopping on Irish Water yesterday shows how far the party has yet to come. Gerry Adams with Sinn Fein vice president Mary Lou McDonald and other party members Last night, the Independents gave voice to how shambolic the process has been, dismissing the Fine Gael document as a mere cut-and-paste job of previous manifestos. Devoid of detailed costings and timelines, A New Partnership Government A Foundation Document, as it is called, is a shoddy return for two weeks of talks and is, frankly, an insult to the Irish people who have waited patiently for a Government to be formed. So vague and aspirational in order to try and secure votes as many Independents as possible, it is virtually meaningless as precious little will ever see the light of day. This is because the vast majority of additional money (dare not use the phrase fiscal space) will be eaten up by an expected overrun the Department of Health. Health officials told a meeting of Fianna Fail and Independents yesterday that the expected overrun by the end of year will be at least 300m, which would leave just 200m for additional spending. This is because of new EU budget rules, which means the usual end-of-year bailouts so common in health, are not permitted anymore. The report got short thrift from angry Fine Gael TDs who railed against their exclusion from the process, causing their parliamentary party meeting to stretch to more than three hours. So, while Kenny and Martin will finally speak today, it is important to reflect on how badly served the people have been in the past six weeks. The glacial pace of progress and the refusal of the two main leaders to speak properly before now ill becomes those who have claimed a desire for a new politics. Today, both Kenny and Martin will be rejected by the Dail as Taoiseach as expected, and after the two weeks of talks neither man will have even one additional supporter. Now, as the talks are to begin, the thorny issue of Irish Water looms large, as Fianna Fail have backed themselves into a corner from which it will be hard to emerge. Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin will finally start to have meaningful talks with Enda Kenny today Such explicit comments from the likes of Timmy Dooley, the Clare TD, yesterday means the chances of a second election have risen. One acting minister speaking to me in the Dail yesterday put the chances of another election at 50/50. The one bit of substantial progress yesterday came from the Dail committee on reform, which agreed a host of changes to how the Dail will do its business. The most important change is the formation of a new committee which will be responsible for scheduling Dail business, meaning it is no longer the prerogative of the Government. They have also agreed to change the rules to allow more than one technical groups and lowered the numbers needed to form such a group. The changes will see the Labour Party reduced to being allowed ask just one question a week of the Taoiseach, a stark reminder of how far their stock has fallen. The main focus today will be on what comes out of the meeting between Kenny and Martin. Lets hope some progress can be made. THERE is not a lot of difference between the carry-on revealed in the Panama Papers and what passes for business-as-usual in Irish politics. No, I am not referring to the shrouded shenanigans of a political elite. I am thinking of the political choices we routinely make. It seems, that a lot of what was being facilitated by the firm of Mossack Fonseca may have been barely legal. All the choices we make, probably are too. The scale and complexity of what is revealed in Panama is astounding, but not surprising. If the details are eye-watering and the facts bring home what was suspected, it doesnt diminish the scale and complexity of whats involved. Such scale is the privilege of an elite alone. There is likely wholescale kleptocracy involved as authoritarian regimes put resources beyond reach in preparation for the day when those lucky enough to get out, leave in a hurry. The image of that last helicopter taking off from the roof of the US embassy in Saigon comes to mind, or the shahs last flight out of Tehran. Those flights ultimately brought their passengers to safety and, in the shahs case, to the comfort of vast wealth he had stashed abroad. Others who used the services of the Panama law firm were possibly involved in blatant illegality, and money laundering illegal income from sight. Are ordinary people involved in that sort of thing? Hardly. But if the scale and complexity is totally different, some of the moral equivalence comes uncomfortably close. It is very likely for example that a lot of the activity detailed in these leaked documents, was barely legal and possibly above board. Whether it is moral, is another matter. Underlying public outrage is anger fuelled by the fact that some, but only some, can put their money beyond reach while the rest remained trapped in the tax net. There is the humiliation in being lumped in with the chumps who are taken for a ride. Thousands of Icelanders protested outside parliament There is too a righteous anger that special needs children go without necessary resources in schools or homeless families are piled into hotel rooms for months, even years. Yet a privileged few cruise at an altitude above taxpaying. It is genuinely outrageous, but not as entirely different as we would wish to believe. What is as outrageous, so much so it can be barely countenanced in the public conversation, is that on issue after issue swathes of us routinely make essentially the same moral choices as the rich and powerful. It not new, either. We have in Ireland, a remote and previously not prosperous island, a rich tradition, if I can call it that, of the overseas account. A reverse of the immigrants remittance which kept so many alive, the non-resident account repaid the compliment in kind. Butchers, bakers, and builders piled in, facilitated by local bank managers, in the day not long ago when relationship banking extended to ordinary punters. I recall that Milltown Malbay and Roscrea, neither known for their cosmopolitan character, were particularly active centres for global banking. It is odd that during our recent and magnificent commemoration of the Rising, scant mention was made of the fact the largest number of combatants around Dublins OConnell St were neither rebels nor British soldiers, but looters. No monument has ever been erected to them either. Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is stepping down Our own choices eerily mimic those of the assorted clients of Mossack Fonseca. Reducing property tax by up to the maximum 15% allowed became a blood sport across most of the country. Only the Greens abstained entirely; and Labour, in a typical fashion that mixed moral superiority with mealy-mouthedness, would only commit the venial sin of supporting half the allowed reduction. Otherwise, left, right, and centre piled in. Feck the homeless who relied on the local authority services funded by the charge. Forget too a central lesson of the economic crash which was that we had narrowed the tax base too far. No this is what we demanded and what we got. We didnt require the services of a Panama company, we just gave it to them in the neck, on the door-step. Water charges are a continuum of avoidance of the same responsibility. Its about a view that ultimately it is all for somebody else to pay. We offload responsibility. For those whose activity via Panama was legal, as distinct from moral, our equivalence is much greater than any difference we might claim. The debate about abolishing USC in the last election was part of the same conversation. Only the incompetence of the salesmen sent out to make the case saved the day. Now as the shards of our once modular political system are with difficulty fashioned into a government of some sort, the conversation continues today in the Dail around themes that are remarkably similar to the ones Mossack Fonseca might have had with many of its clients. This is how you shelter from responsibility and this is how you can be rewarded in return. It all depends on whether you think scale or essence is more important. If the latter counts, few of us are qualified to pick up the first stone. Legality is increasingly key to successful tax avoidance. Panama is an isolated outlier now. Next year, an unprecedented transfer of tax information begins, allowing authorities access to previously secret offshore accounts. Panama is one of just four countires with Bahrain, Nauru, and Vanuatu refusing to sign up. Switzerland used to be a mainstay until the US threatened to throttle the cuckoo in the cuckoo clock. Where once money-laundering could be conducted in the most respectable places, now its confined to sweaty dank counties you do not want to be seen in. The essence of course hasnt changed. What is required is a solid but preferably complicated legal basis, for tax evasion. It is style not substance thats changed. We know that because we are masterful at it. This is not subjective musing but a cold analysis of the choices we freely make. It is continuing in our name today as the Dail reconvenes and likely fails once more to elect a government. Those political timelines others worry about do not concern me, but substance does. As a country we need a broad tax base to be more resilient in a downturn. This must include water charges and a property tax. The other part of that equation is a requirement to robustly withstand an onslaught on the public purse by public servants. Leaving the blatant illegality of tax evasion aside, whats is happening via Panama is tax avoidance on a gargantuan, global scale. The policy choices we require in our name here are petty, almost trivial, in every respect except its essentials. We are as keen on the avoidance of responsibility in our own personal affairs are we are outraged about others elsewhere. The mother was visiting friends in the town of Vernal, about 280km east of Salt Lake City, the Uintah County Sheriffs Office said in a statement. Investigators said that, as the child slept on a couch, the mother went into the garage and began smoking meth. The girl was taken to another room and raped by four men, according to the statement. Sheriff deputies took a report of the rape on March 29 and arrested Larson RonDeau, 36, that day, the office said. The three others were arrested between March 31 and April 1. Mr RonDeau was charged with first degree rape and sodomy of a child and is due in court on Tuesday. As with any crime against a child, we take them very seriously, Uintah County Attorney G Mark Thomas said. The three others Josiah RonDeau, 20, Jerry Flatlip, 29, and Randall Flatlip, 26 have been arrested and Mr Thomas expects to file formal charges soon. The child was not hospitalised after the attack and has been taken into protective government custody, Mr Thomas said. The mother has not been arrested. The Washington Post cited a two-page memo sent by the Republican presidential front-runner outlining how he would force Mexico to pay for the 1,600km wall if he becomes president. In his proposal, Mr Trump threatened to change a rule under the USA Patriot Act, an anti-terrorism law, to cut off funds sent to Mexico through money transfers known as remittances. Mr Trump said he would withdraw the threat if Mexico makes a one-time payment of $5bn-$10bn to finance the wall, the newspaper reported. According to the Center for Immigration Studies, a non-profit research organisation, the US is home to more than 12m Mexicans, some living there illegally. They and other migrants use money transfer agents or banks to send money home, often with the objective of supporting their families. The Mexican central bank reported that money sent home by Mexicans overseas hit nearly $24.8bn last year, overtaking oil revenues for the first time as a source of foreign income. Cutting off those transfers would therefore represent a significant blow to Mexicos economy. In his memo, entitled Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall, Mr Trump said that the majority of that amount comes from illegal aliens. The billionaire businessman had previously provided few details on his proposed border wall with Mexico, saying only that it would cost between $10bn and $12bn, and that he would make Mexico pay for it. Mexico president Enrique Pena Nieto has said his country will not pay for any such wall. In an interview last month, Mr Pena Nieto compared Mr Trumps rhetoric to that of dictators Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, saying language like his has led to very fateful scenes in the history of humanity. Meanwhile, Mr Trump has begun wearing a bulletproof vest following a string of threats and growing violence at rallies, according to New York Magazine. People who know Trump say theyve never seen him so tired, wrote reporter Gabriel Sherman. Several months ago, he began wearing a bulletproof vest, two sources close to the campaign told me, which has added to his discomfort on the stump, leaving him sweaty and spent after events. The study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) also noted that the Chinese expansion in the South China Sea and Russias annexation of Crimea and support of Ukrainian separatists also accounted for nudging spending up 1% in real terms, compared to 2014. For weapons manufacturers, the non-stop pace of airstrikes targeting Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, as well as Saudi-led bombing of Yemens Shiite rebels and their allies, means billions of dollars more in sales. However, activists question continued US arms deals to Saudi Arabia as its Yemen campaign has killed civilians, while American fighter jet sales to both emerging military buyer Qatar and longtime ally Kuwait appear stalled. The US, with 524bn in defence spending, and China, with an estimated 189bn, led all countries in 2015, the annual report by SIPRI said. Saudi Arabia, however, came in third with spending of 76.7bn double what it spent in 2006, according to the report. That fuelled the first worldwide increase in military spending since 2011. Iraq spent 11.4bn on its military in 2015, up well over 500% from 2006 as it has rebuilt its armed forces following the US withdrawal and rise of IS, SIPRI said. While part of the US coalition fighting the extremists, Saudi Arabia also launched a war in Yemen in March 2015 to support the countrys internationally recognised government after Shiite rebels known as Houthis earlier overran the countrys capital, Sanaa. The United Arab Emirates is also taking part in both conflicts and likely has spent billions of dollars to support its military in 2015 as well, though SIPRI said it could not offer precise figures this year, senior research Pieter Wezeman said. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia also sent troops into Bahrain to put down its 2011 Arab Spring-inspired protests. And if you are wondering here's what just one trillion dollars would look like. Research released for 2016 National Pet Month by Rocket Fuel, a marketing platform provider, found cat sites have seen the highest growth in the past year, with a 563% growth in hits compared with a 192% increase for dog lovers. The research also reveals that while dog lovers are more concerned with shopping and finance, cat lovers are more focused on travel and entertainment. Debated duck ENGLAND: A statue of a famous locomotive designer has been unveiled without a controversial duck. The bronze sculpture of rail engineer Nigel Gresley was originally due to feature a duck next to the eminent engineer because he designed the Mallard locomotive. But the bird was missing when the statue was unveiled at London Kings Cross station on the 75th anniversary of Gresleys death because his family, and others, were not keen on its inclusion. Where cats are king USA: It started with a few kittens. But nearly a quarter of a century later, a California woman has transformed her 4,000sq ft home into what is believed to be the largest no-cage cat sanctuary and adoption centre in the US. An estimated 24,000 cats have been saved so far by the sanctuary, which houses up to 1,000 felines at any given time. Lynea Lattanzio set up Cat House On The Kings after finding out that many nearby shelters euthanise cats who are not adopted. As more feral and abandoned cats took up residence in her home, she moved out into a trailer on her 12-acre property. Restaurant rat THAILAND: McDonalds in Thailand has apologised to customers after a video surfaced online showing a large rat scurrying around a dessert counter at one of its restaurants. The fast-food giant confirmed in a statement that a rat had rummaged through its restaurant in a shopping mall in the city of Hat Yai in southern Thailand, and blamed the incident on local sewers. The statement said: We checked security footage and found that the accusation is true. A rat ran into the restaurant. Sea lion snarl-up USA: A wayward sea lion snarled morning traffic on a San Francisco Bay Area freeway before it was caught and taken to a marine centre for a check-up. California TV station KNTV reported a Sonoma County freeway was completely blocked at 10am as the sea lion tried to make it across the road. The sea lion evaded an off-duty officer, before experts from the Marine Mammal Centre arrived and caught the critter. Its far from the first marine mammal to lose its way in the Bay Area. Late last month, authorities say a baby seal made it four miles from the water to the front yard of a Bay Area home before it was rescued. Escaped bull USA: A bull that escaped from a holding area and darted through the streets of New York City has been captured and taken to greener pastures by Jon Stewart. Officials told The New York Times the black and white Angus was spotted in Queens. The bull was soon corralled at York College, where students snapped pictures and took videos. The bull was dubbed Frank Lee after a prisoner who escaped from Alcatraz. It was later taken to an animal shelter by the former Daily Show comedian and his wife, who are animal advocates. Its not the first bovine to hit New Yorks streets. In January, a cow that fled from a slaughterhouse in Queens was taken in by an animal sanctuary and renamed after rock legend Freddie Mercury. Explosive find USA: Crews have safely detonated a civil war-era land mine that prompted the evacuation of about 20 homes in Arkansas. Matt Bell says he was doing excavation work when he dug up what he thought was a cannonball near Danville, which is about 85 miles west of Little Rock. Bell said that he put the 32-pound land mine in his pickups backseat, buckled it in with a seatbelt, and drove 65 miles to his home in Hot Springs. Bell says he realised it was a land mine after talking with a Civil War historian, so he called the police. Authorities evacuated nearby homes and contacted an Air Force bomb squad, which later detonated the explosive at a local landfill. Napoleon exhibition FRANCE: Frances national army museum has recreated the home where Napoleon lived his final years, bringing furniture and belongings from the remote Atlantic Island of St Helena to Paris for the first time since he was exiled there 200 years ago. The exhibition that opens today offers a flavour of the atmosphere of the damp, rat-infested Longwood House, where the emperor spent his last years as a prisoner of the British government, surrounded by books and souvenirs. The 68-year-old guitarist, whose theatre producer wife Sally Humphreys is expecting twin girls in June, said: It is where every dad should be. I cant wait. Humphreys, 31 years his junior, is Woods third wife. He has already nabbed bandmate Mick Jagger, 72, for babysitting duties. Jagger said: I have volunteered to look after the two children after they have reached the age of one. I am not very good when they are really young. I can do it, but I am much better after that. They were speaking as they and bandmates Keith Richards, 72, and Charlie Watts, 74 arrived for the opening of Exhibitionism, a show reflecting the rock bands 54 years in the music business. Exhibitionism took three years to set up and features the revolting digs Jagger, Richards, and founding member Brian Jones lived in before they became famous. Jagger said the recreation of the flatshare on Chelseas Edith Grove, complete with the smell of his favourite tandoori chicken dish, is one of the top picks of the exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in central London. Bob Geldof, former Stone Bill Wyman, guitarist Jeff Beck, Jaggers daughter, Georgia May Jagger, former Spice Girl Geri Horner, Game Of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger were among the celebrities who took to the red carpet. The exhibition spans two floors of the Kings Road gallery, which is a stones throw away from Edith Grove. Burma Military MPs Boycott as Lower House Passes State Counselor Bill Despite pushback from the military bloc, Lower House passage of the bill will create a state counselor position for NLD chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi. RANGOON Burmas Lower House of Parliament approved the so-called State Counselor bill on Tuesday without any amendments to the legislation as passed by the Upper House, scoring support from a majority of lawmakers in the NLD-dominated legislature, despite aggressive pushback from the military bloc. The legislation will create a powerful position for National League for Democracy (NLD) chairwoman Aung San Suu Kyi, granting her a broad consultative mandate that spans Parliament, the executive branch and actors outside of government. It passed the Upper House last week but during a Lower House legislative session on Tuesday, four lawmakersthree military MPs and one lawmaker from the former ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP)made 13 recommendations, highlighting specific amendments to the proposed bill. While collecting secret votes from lawmakers on whether to approve each article of the bill, as passed by the Upper House, or consider further amendments, military lawmakers boycotted the proceedings by refusing to cast ballots. Military lawmaker Brig-Gen Maung Maung participated in discussion of the bill and afterwards told media that the military MPs had refused to vote because the NLD-dominated legislatures behavior amounted to democratic bullying. According to Article 95(a) of the 2008 Constitution, both chambers approval of a bill is equivalent to Union Parliament passage. The bill now goes to NLD President Htin Kyaw for his signature, at which point it will become law. Maung Maung, a member of the Lower House Bill Committee, expressed his concern, stating that it was important for Parliament to respect the Constitution, and that the militarys opposition to the bill was not due to political nor personal bias. He called for replacing the word State in the title of the bill with President, explained that a law should not allow an individual to possess both legislative and executive powers, arguing that this would contravene the Constitution, and stressing the importance of separation of powers. He said the military bloc would not collaborate in the voting process for the bill if Parliament refused to discuss the military lawmakers recommendations. We will not participate in the vote if Parliament acts according to the ballot results, he said, in apparent protest of democratic norms. He also called for amending the term Federal Union, which the bill used to describe the nation, to Union Country, because the word federal is not stated in the 2008 military-drafted Constitution. The request put on display the sensitivity surrounding the idea of a federal system of government, a constitutional reform that the NLD supports but which military leaders have sent mixed signals on. Military lawmakers Col. Aung Thiha and Tun Myat Shwe recommended not including the specific name or party of an individual, and to amend the description of the post to chairperson of the election-winning party, a change to Article 4 of the bill. USDP lawmaker Thein Tun said a law should not be created for a single term, calling to cut the last chapter of the bill. The Bill Committee, however, has argued that the legislation was drafted based on the current political contextin which Suu Kyi is constitutionally barred from the presidencyand that the last chapter should remain for that reason. Lower House Bill Committee member Wai Hlaing Tun, responding to the oppositions recommendations, said the bill would not impact the three branches of the State and that the title of the bill would not be amended. He also said the position was created specifically for Suu Kyi and that the bill should thus mention her by name. The bill was drafted for the popular leader [Suu Kyi], and not intended for other people, he said. As Lower House Speaker Win Myint announced on Tuesday that the chamber had approved the State Counselor bill as passed by the Upper House, the entire military bloca constitutionally enshrined 25 percent of the legislaturestood up to express their disapproval. Burma Mon Armed Group Seeks Talks With Prospective Investors Prospective investors to Mon State are advised to consult with local civil society and the dominant ethnic Mon rebel group before investing in the region. RANGOON Prospective investors to Mon State are being advised to ensure consultation with local civil society organizations and the dominant ethnic Mon rebel group before sinking money into the region. Nai Win Hla, an executive committee member of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the Mon armed group, told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that it was not enough for investors to deal only with the central government or its state-level counterpart, and that local stakeholders including the NMSP expected to have a say in development. We found that there was a problem at the cement factory from MCL [Mawlamyine Cement Limited] in Kyaikmayaw, because the company did not inform our locals of the building of a coal power plant. This is why we asked any foreign investors who come to our region to talk to CSOs, and our group, said Nai Win Hla, echoing an official statement issued by the NMSP over the weekend. MCL only took an agreement with the government when they built this company, this was a problem. They did not talk to CSOs or our group, he added. Nai Win Hla said the company inked a deal with the Mon State government to build the cement factory, and then built a coal-fired power plant inside the compound without local residents knowledge. It was only after the factory and power plant were up and running that locals realized the existence of the coal-fired power plant, a revelation that was upsetting to many who had learned of the negative environmental impacts of coal-fired power plants. The cement factory is owned by Mawlamyine Cement Limited (MCL), a subsidiary of Siam Cement Group from Thailand. Nai Win Zaw, director of the Jeepyah Civil Society Development Organization based in Moulmein, the Mon State capital, agreed that a lack of consultation with local stakeholders was the primary problem with the MCL project. MCL has been having problems with our locals because they have ignored the voices of the locals, he said. Since political and economic reforms kicked off in 2011, foreign investment in Burma has soared, though most of it has been directed toward the commercial capital Rangoon or other large cities. Elsewhere, concern over impacts to resident populations has been a stumbling block for investors, including in Mon States Ye Township, where plans for a coal-fired power plant in the village of An Din have run up against local opposition. Our area is not stable yet. We want foreign investment to come when we are able to find a political solution with the [central] government, said Nai Win Hla, referring to the fact that the NMSP is one of about a dozen ethnic armed groups that refused or were denied the chance to sign a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement with the government last year. Burma Sagaing Resident Dies During Heavy Winds Heavy winds hit Sagaing Divisions Kale Township on Tuesday night, killing one resident and destroying dozens of homes. MANDALAY Heavy winds and rain killed one local and destroyed dozens of homes in Kale Township, Sagaing Division, on Tuesday night. According to the police, Min Thu Wai, 29, died when a tree collapsed on top of him in the city of Kale, sometimes known as Kalaymyo. He and his friend were on their way home when the winds came, said an official from the Kale police station. His friend Arkar Hein survived. But he died on the spot, because the tree fell directly onto his head. The police said recovery work was underway and the scope and amount of the damage was still being assessed. We believe at least 50 homes were affected, said the official. However, we are still confirming and we cant announce the exact figure yet. According to locals, heavy winds battered the town for about 15 minutes and left the downtown littered with debris. Broken trees filled the roads, and roofs were torn off homes, said resident Aung Thu Htun. There was no electricity in the town because the electric lines were cut when the trees fell. Locals say this weeks windstorm was the second largest natural disaster they had ever experienced, after the severe flooding last year, when monsoon rains affected thousands in the region and millions nationwide. Commentary Foreign Minister Suu Kyi, What Is Your Message To Asean? Aung San Suu Kyis diplomatic knowledge and skills will be tested by the complexity of both internal issues back home and current Southeast Asian politics. Burma, once isolated regionally and globally, is rapidly opening up with ongoing political reforms. Foreign affairs representatives from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in particular are now anticipating a relationship with a new Burmese counterpart. Yet she is no stranger to them: the foreign minister is also the countrys charismatic leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. We will soon see Suu Kyi travelling within Asia and beyond to attend international summits and to represent Burmas National League for Democracy-led (NLD) government abroad. As Foreign Affairs Minister, the Lady will outline the countrys foreign policy. A major shift is not expectedinsiders predict that Burma will keep its current independent and active approach to international relations, but there is a hope that Burma will become a more dynamic regional player. It was not surprising that Suu Kyis first diplomatic meeting as foreign minister was with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on April 4. She denied discussing the construction of Kachin States multimillion dollar, Chinese-funded Myitsone Dam, which is currently suspended. It is expected to be a key and recurring issue in Sino-Burmese relations in the coming months, as investors and environmental activists alike wait for the Lady and her government to take a public position on the hydropower project, which would generate electricity for China. For these first talks, Wang Yi was openly invited to Naypyidawreportedly at Suu Kyis request; past meetings between China and the NLD chairwoman were often held under more secretive circumstances. Since 2012, Suu Kyi has felt able to travel outside of Burma; previously, she refrained from leaving the country lest she not be permitted to return.In the past four years, she has visited Thailand and Singapore, and has been to the White House as President Obamas guest. She also flew to Europe where she met various national leaders. Aside from visiting Japan on the invitation of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013, Suu Kyi also flew to Beijing where she was welcomed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2015. She is no doubt an international figurehead. A modern history of Burma within Southeast Asian regional relations arguably began in 1997, when the country first became an Asean member. The grouping had then exercised a constructive engagement policy with the countrys military regimea move that was met with widespread international condemnation. In the same year, Suu Kyi held her first meeting with the Philippines then-foreign minister, Domingo Siazon, at her residence in Rangoon. She also met with Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi the following year. Asean leaders were largely silent regarding Suu Kyis total of 15 years of house arrest between 1989 and 2010, but spoke out in May 2003 when regime-sponsored thugs viciously attacked her convoys in central Burma. In the first joint communique issued by the Asean foreign ministers, Burmas military rulers were asked to lift restrictions on Suu Kyi. It was perhaps a sign of Aseans growing discomfort in defending Burmas generals. Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysias former prime minister, who had once strongly supported Burmas admission to the Asean, began suggesting in 2003 that Burma be expelled from the group over the Suu Kyis continued detention. Subsequently, leaders in Singapore and Indonesia joined efforts to pressure the regime to take steps toward meaningful political change. The bloc later rallied to openly condemn the regimes bloody crackdown on Buddhist monks in 2007. Only in 2014, after 17 years of membership, was Burma permitted to host its first Asean regional meeting, and subsequently, its annual summit, where government leaders from China, India, Russia and the US attended talks held under former President Thein Seins administration. Today, Suu Kyis diplomatic knowledge and skills will be tested by the complexity of both internal issues back home and current Southeast Asian politics. The continued mistreatment of marginalized minorities such as Arakan States Rohingyareferred to locally as Bengali, a name which they rejectwill be a thorny issue of discussion. Malaysia and Indonesia will no doubt continue to express concern about this, as many Rohingya have arrived on their shores after fleeing Burma. Suu Kyi will have to confront some other uncomfortable questions from the media and her international counterparts on displacement and conflict. Over 100,000 refugees from Burma continue to live along the Thai-Burmese border, and several ethnic armed groups also maintain bases in this area. Millions of migrants have left Burma for Thailand or Malaysiawhat will be Suu Kyis message to them and to their host countries? Chinas assertive role in the region, the territorial conflict in the South China Sea, and the genuine economic integration that still eludes the Asean bloc are also issues with which Suu Kyi will be expected to engage. There are worrying signs of rising tension and rivalry between China and the US in Asia. Beijings political clout in the region and its strategy of courting individual Asean members sets off alarm bells. Suu Kyi is taking on a leadership role within a context where the Southeast Asian bloc to which Burma belongs is losing its steam, its unity and its prominence. Communist governments still rule Laos and Vietnam. Strongman Prime Minister Hun Sens 31-year-government in Cambodia is marked by continued violence and corruption. Malaysia is undergoing distressing political regression and Thailand is rife with political uncertainty. Only Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brunei appear stable. How will the Lady respond to this lack of regional cohesion? Leaders will expect Suu Kyis insights to be different from those of her military-backed predecessors, who frequently evaded or brushed aside inquiries about sensitive topics. Unresolved questions with regional repercussions will undoubtedly test the veteran activist-turned-foreign minister. In May, President Htin Kyaw is attending the Asean-Russia Summit in Sochi, Russia, and media reports suggest that Suu Kyi is likely to accompany him. What message she will carry and how she will interact with other diplomats will be interesting to watch, and to assess. Wednesday, April 6th, 2016 (3:20 pm) - Score 1,893 The Broadband SE16 campaign group has accused the local council and BTOpenreach of failing to live up to their commitment to deliver faster fibre broadband (FTTC/P) connectivity to 4,000 Southwark premises by March 2016. Not a single person in Rotherhithe has benefitted, said the group. The residential district of Rotherhithe in south east London has often been the focus of frustration due to the patchy and poor quality of local broadband connectivity in some areas, which largely stems from a legacy of Exchange Only Lines (EOL) that are notoriously tricky to upgrade (it tends to require a complex and expensive network rearrangement). Meanwhile alternative connections, such as those from Relishs fixed 4G wireless network, dont reach far enough into the area in order to be viable for most people and Hyperoptics local FTTP/B coverage is limited to a number of big apartment blocks. On top of that BT has also conducted a very limited trial of Fibre-to-the-Remote-Node (FTTrN) technology, albeit only with a small number of premises in Gwent Court (Rotherhithe Street). However everything began to change last September when BT confirmed that they intended to expand the coverage of their fibre broadband connectivity to 18,000 extra premises in Southwark (here). The local authoritys finance boss, Fiona Colley, later clarified that 4,000 premises would benefit by March 2016 and this included a particular focus in Rotherhithe. The remaining 14,000 would be completed by March 2017. The campaign group states that Phase 1 was due to see new connections comprising of three FTTRN installations at Courthope House, Pine House and Ritchie House, the installation of three new telephone / fibre cabinet combinations, two telephone cabinet upgrades and one fibre cabinet upgrade. Phase 1 would also include a cabinet upgrade at Bankside and a cabinet upgrade in East Dulwich. However theres some doubt over the progress of this deployment. Broadband SE16 Statement: Despite repeated assurances from Clr Fiona Colley (who is leading on this issue at the council) that BT were on target to complete Phase 1 by the end of March 201612 13, to date only one of the Phase 1 cabinet upgrades has been installed the additional fibre cabinet on Surrey Quays Rd, yet to be activated. As of 31st March 2016 not a single person in Rotherhithe has benefitted from a new BT fibre broadband connection. By 2017 Southwark will be the worse London Borough for superfast broadband and have the highest level of inadequate broadband speeds. Meanwhile the local authority admits that the roll-out has been slow going (here), although at the same time they claim to be making good progress in improving broadband services in Rotherhithe and state that some of this work has already started with new cable boxes being installed in the area (installed, but perhaps not yet live for orders?). Meanwhile Openreach could only offer a very general statement. A Spokesman for Openreach said: We are making progress in deployment in Southwark and remain committed to extending our coverage of fibre broadband. We are constantly reviewing options to see whether it is feasible to go beyond our existing targets. Residents and businesses in the borough can check on the status of fibre broadband availability at their home or business address by contacting their service provider or via http://www.homeandwork.openreach.co.uk/when-can-i-get-fibre.aspx. In fairness Openreach might be guilty of having set a time-scale that was perhaps a little too ambitious, particularly given the well-known complexity of tackling EOLs and this can sometimes be a lot more troublesome to tackle in dense urban areas. Similarly its worth remembering that the deployment in London is part of a commercial investment by BT and does not involve any public money, thus the councils input or control over the roll-out will be very limited (practically zero). The local authority may perhaps be guilty of over-playing their influence. On the other hand it would be helpful if, given the apparent delays, Openreach could at least offer locals a more useful update on the expected deployment time-scale for Phase 1 and 2. Wednesday, April 6th, 2016 (10:45 am) - Score 554 CityFibre has today signed a new 15-year agreement that will make SSE Enterprise Telecoms their first long-haul network (LDN) customer, with SSE buying Dark Fibre capacity along a stretch of network spanning 48 kilometres between Reading and Slough. Interestingly a lot of the infrastructure being used stems from Cityfibres earlier 90m acquisition of KCOMs national UK fibre optic and cable duct assets (here), which the operator has been quickly moving to commercialise. Colin Sempill, Managing Director of SSE Enterprise Telecoms, said: It is encouraging to see the breadth of fibre assets available both regionally and nationally from CityFibre. We look forward to a long term, mutually rewarding relationship as each of our businesses continues to grow rapidly. Rob Hamlin, Commercial Director at CityFibre, added: As the UKs leading national alternative digital infrastructure providers, CityFibre is able to deliver end-to-end wholesale dark fibre connectivity to service providers, data centres and mobile operators. This agreement with SSE Enterprise Telecoms marks our first LDN transaction and the beginning of a key trading relationship with a major national service provider. CityFibre now represents a compelling proposition on the long-haul UK fibre market and we look forward to more national service providers making use of our LDN. End. According to Ben Bucknell, chief executive of OnMarket BookBuilds (OMB) - the creator of an app giving investors free and fair access to Initial Pubic Offerings (IPOs) - new data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reveals that the volume of data downloaded via mobile handsets for the three months ended 31 December 2015 jumped to a fresh high of 90,693 Terabytes. Thats a 27% increase in data downloads from the three months ended 30 June 2015. And Bucknell says the ABS stats also showed there were a record 21.3 million mobile handset subscribers in Australia, an increase of 1.4% from 31 December 2014. For the 21.3 million mobile subscribers, this equated to 1.4 GB of data downloaded per subscriber per month. Bucknell maintains that as more and more Australians use smartphone to access the internet, and take advantage of innovative apps to source information, manage their finances and connect with others, growth in mobile downloads would continue at very high rates. We are an increasingly wired nation and it is very important for businesses to note - if your internet site isnt yet mobile friendly and you dont have an app, then youre not likely reaching your audience and keeping up with your competitors. Australian consumers have shown a clear demand for accessing the internet on their smart phones and it is those business that make the most of technology and launch the most innovative and useful apps that will attract new customers. According to Bucknell, OnMarkets new app is successfully drawing investors. Its free to sign up and free to bid and invest in IPOs. All of this can be done with a smartphone. Investors can easily swipe through the companies going public through the OnMarket platform. If an IPO interests them, members can see the prospectus and independent research about the company. Our app has disrupted the staid world of financial markets and made it possible for retail investors to bid directly in IPOs for free. For the first time, companies can directly offer shares to the public, who can be guaranteed fair access. Bucknell cites the Investment Trends 2015 Second Half Online Broking Report, showing that 635,000 unique Australian investors placed at least one share trade through an online broker in the 12 months to November 2015, up from 595,000 in November 2014 (7% growth year on year). And he says an earlier investment trends report found around 60% of Australian share investors used a mobile device to trade shares. Thats a high proportion, but were expecting even greater growth in online share trading and the number of Australians managing their finances on apps as we catch up to countries like Hong Kong where smartphone penetration is even greater and the proportion of mobile share trading usage is even greater at 83%. Bucknell points out that the ABS data reveals that the total volume of data downloaded on the internet in the three months ended 31 December 2015 was 1.71 million Terabytes (or 1.7 Exabytes) - a 23.5% increase in downloads when compared with the three months ended 30 June 2015. OnMarkets best-in-breed More Info panel includes video interviews with management, company releases, third party research, and relevant press articles. The platform was designed in response to survey data that shows investors need 7.2 sources of information before making an investment decision and allows users to be truly self-directed, Bucknell says. OMBs presence as a fintech disruptor was firmly established when the technology was launched by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in October 2015, who said at the time: The brilliance of this is simply that it makes it easier to buy, to trade. This will open up the investment market considerably. Medical referrals are still largely handled manually go to a GP, get a referral to a specialist, post/fax the referral to make an appointment or bring it with you. It is not efficient. New Zealand based Orion Health has developed a global healthcare platform that advances population health and precision medicine solutions for personalised care across the entire health community. Brisbane based Metro North Hospital and Health Service serves over 900,000 people, and employs more than 16,000 staff in five hospitals and eight community health centres, along with oral and mental health facilities. It has selected Orions Referrals Management platform to enable healthcare professionals to submit, track and manage patient referrals as the individual moves from home to hospital to community care. Orion Health CEO Ian McCrae says the contract with Metro-North will be delivered as a subscription licence with Orion Health Application Managed Services. Metro Norths goal of improving health outcomes by providing healthcare professionals across the care continuum with access to comprehensive patient information is closely aligned with our company vision for enabling personalised healthcare, McCrae says. Orion Health Executive Vice President for Asia Pacific Darren Jones says that Metro-North serves one of the fastest population growth regions in Australia and required a data platform that could accommodate the addition of new solutions over time.Metro-North can extend the functionality of the platform beyond Referrals Management over time through the addition of other modules that support better care coordination between its hospitals, community health centres and other healthcare providers, he says.We are excited to be working with such a strategic health care provider who requires a future-proofed platform. We look forward to helping Metro North support the patient as they move between home and hospital with high-quality care.The agreement with Metro-North will further boost the number of patient health care records managed by Orion Health software globally. Currently, Orion Healths software manages over 90 million patient health records worldwide.Orion Health was recently selected as an integration vendor in the first step of an interoperability overhaul for Queensland Heath and will to replace its legacy middleware system with Orion Health's Rhapsody Integration software in partnership with Fujitsu Australia. Queensland Health is responsible for the public health system serving Queensland's population of 4.8 million people. Trustwave, the cyber security arm of Singtel, will provide the software based UTM service to be integrated with Inmarsat hardware onboard ships, to protect data and reduce cyber risk for maritime companies. The UTM service offers a suite of cyber security defences, such as advance firewall, anti-virus, intrusion prevention and web filtering, which is backed by global round-the-clock support. It will be delivered through Fleet Xpress, which Singtel says is the first globally available, high-speed broadband solution for maritime and offshore operators, available from a single communications provider. Singtel and Inmarsat plan to launch the new maritime cyber security service in the second half of 2016. Optus parent Singtel was formerly a founding member of Inmarsat, which was set up in 1979 by the International Maritime Organisation.Andrew Lim, Managing Director, Business Group, Group Enterprise at Singtel said the partnership with Inmarsat is important as it marks the first phase in rolling out Singtel cyber security services for Inmarsat, starting with maritime.Lim said shipping still moves about 90% of the worlds trade, hence the maritime industry is a significant backbone of the global supply chain the industry to protect data onboard ships against all forms of cyber attacks. Our partnership with Inmarsat will provide maritime companies with a cyber security solution to meet rapidly evolving cyber threats, globally.The landscape of shipping is changing. As we move from traditional shipping into the ship intelligence era, the threat of cyber-attacks have never been more real, Ronald Spithout, President Inmarsat Maritime said. Risks from malicious attacks and unlawful access to a ships intelligence, its system infrastructure and networks cannot be ignored, and the shipping industry needs to take action.We are excited to enter into a strategic partnership with Singtel to leverage the power of the market proven Trustwave managed UTM solution for the benefit of the global maritime industry. Together with our recent launch of Fleet Xpress, which sets a new standard in maritime communications, we are confident in delivering enhanced cyber security services to our customers.Gary Gagnon, Senior Vice President Global Cyber Security, Inmarsat, said the new partnership supports Inmarsats commitment to the market and elevates the benchmark for maritime cyber security.Trustwave Chief Executive Officer and President Robert J. McCullen, said, Eliminating fragmented network security controls between land-based systems and assets at sea helps customers maintain audit and compliance requirements, while alleviating many of the stresses of managing complex networks.Trustwave is honoured to provide a fully-managed security solution for the maritime industry, and we look forward to working with Inmarsat to defend international commerce from cyber attacks. The survey by Silicon Valley-based cloud ERP sofware provider, Intacct, reveals that todays CFOs are embracing cloud systems and analytics to improve operational efficiencies and ultimately steer their businesses through a challenging economy. Robert Reid, CEO of Intacct, says the CFO Perspectives Survey found that, for 80% of CFOs, business reporting and analytics is one of their top three business initiatives, and another 60% of CFOs say the automation of financial processesincluding the implementation of cloud-based financial systemsis one of their most strategic priorities. Reid says further evidence that the role of CFO is becoming less tactical and more strategic, is that the survey found that only 8% of CFOs, or teams reporting directly to the CFO, are spending the bulk of their time closing the books each month. By contrast, the vast majority of CFOs (76%) are spending less than 30% of their time on closing the books and 43% are spending under 20% of their time on this function each month. So what are they doing instead?, Reid asks.The answer he says is that one thing CFOs are doing is implementing and managing technology systems that better enable them to perform tasks vital to the business, with the survey finding that 57% of respondents say they manage between three and five different business systems, and 12% manage six or more and, just 11% of those surveyed said that the only system they manage is their financial solution.Consequently, 72% of CFOs report that systems integration is among their top three technology investments they expect to make over the next 18 months, according to Intacct.Reid also asks: And what are these business systems helping CFOs achieve?He says the survey finds that CFOs want more insights into their business than simply broad stroke profit and loss numbers. Tools that provide greater understanding of nuanced performance metrics such as business unit performance, customer lifetime value, and churnutilising specific tools like data analytics (61%), cloud-based systems (37%), and mobile technologies (28%) will also be part of the CFOs top technological investments over the next 18 months.According to Intacct, the results of its survey show that the role of the CFO is evolving beyond traditional functional aspectssuch as closing the books and managing spreadsheets. Rather, CFOs are becoming irreplaceable strategic advisors, and empowered by insights, they are able to contribute to vital opportunities across the company and manage risk more effectively.Intacct also notes that, as the role of CFO becomes increasingly strategic, leading practitioners are also relying more heavily than ever on technology systems and data analytics to drive business sustainability. In fact, the survey found that CFOs are clamouring for easier access to financial and operational data in order to address disruptive business issues.Specifically, the survey reveals 78% of CFOs say better data insights could help them combat rising operational costs, while 63% want data that can help them take action around under-performing business units. An additional 55% said that increased access to data could lead to greater customer profitability.Reid says these results suggest that the role of the CFO is now almost perfectly aligned with the strategic objectives of the business as a whole. When asked to list the top business initiatives at their company, survey respondents most frequently cited sustainability, operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability.As the survey reveals, these are all core focus areas of todays CFOand the keys to survival in uncertain economic times, Reid says.The Intacct CFO Perspectives Survey shows that CFOs are elevating their role to being a true strategic business partners to the rest of the team and their Board of Directors, which is raised from their traditional role as scorekeepers, Reid observes.CFOs are approaching opportunity and risk in new and better ways, allowing companies to respond to business opportunities quicker, especially as we see the pace of commerce accelerate. The insights gained through cloud-based ERP can further help them to manage risk and drive business sustainability. By embracing cloud computing and data analytics, CFOs are not just enhancing their own productivity, they are partnering with the entire organisation to add value like never before. Inmarsat says the GX network, which entered commercial service in December 2015 and currently includes three powerful Ka-band satellites, will provide the international bandwidth capacity needed to meet existing and near-term demand from airlines. The fourth GX satellite is currently completing construction and testing by Boeing. Inmarsat also says it has been awarded an Airbus Defence and Space contract to build the first two satellites for its sixth-generation fleet, the first of which is scheduled for delivery by 2020. Uniquely for Inmarsat, the new fleet will feature a dual-payload, with each satellite supporting both Ka-band and L-band services. Based on current services and demand, the Ka-band co-payload will augment the capacity of the GX network over busy air routes and regions, while the L-band capacity supports a new generation of aviation safety services, Leo Mondale, President of Inmarsat Aviation, said.Inmarsats focus on global mobility is unique in the industry and our aviation broadband roadmap will ensure we continue to grow ahead of demand, with the ability to efficiently move capacity where its needed, when its needed.As a result, our airline customers will benefit from partnering with a highly-focused connectivity provider that is continuously investing to meet the aviation industrys long-term needs for superior performance and economics.This is extremely important, as airlines operate complex and constantly evolving route networks, each with their own unique requirements, and they need to look beyond a short-term answer to in-flight broadband. Inmarsats commitment to building on its GX payloads, in addition to the European Aviation Network, underlines the fact that we have the infrastructure, focus and investment power to deliver the ultimate aviation connectivity - now and in the future.And, the company says the launch of its Global Xpress (GX) Aviation solution this year creates the worlds first high-speed passenger in-flight connectivity solution with seamless, end-to-end global coverage, delivered through a single operator. The solution has been engineered to meet the needs of complex and evolving airline route systems, initial airline customers including Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Jazeera Airways.Mondale said another vital component in the roadmap for aviation capacity is Inmarsats European Aviation Network (EAN), which will be the first aviation passenger connectivity solution across European airspace to integrate an advanced satellite network and LTE-based ground network. The latter will be operated by Deutsche Telekom. Aircraft will switch automatically between satellite and terrestrial connectivity using an on-board network communicator for optimal service delivery. The first commercial EAN trials are expected in mid-2017.Airlines will connect to GX Aviation using exclusive new JetWave terminals being produced by Inmarsat partner Honeywell Aerospace., and Inmarsat says over 300 passenger aircraft have already committed to installing the system, with more to come. In addition, certification for JetWave is currently underway for 26 different aircraft models across commercial, business aviation and government end markets, with approvals received for the Boeing 757 and Bombardier 5000 and 6000 aircraft in recent months.Inmarsat says final ground and flight testing is now underway and initial results have successfully validated GX Aviations ability to deliver high-speed broadband connectivity to support video streaming and live radio, online conference video calls, multiple file downloads and more over land and water.Mondale says Inmarsat is also collaborating with Honeywell Aerospace and Kymeta, a company that develops innovative flat-panel antennas for satellite communications, to produce a new, higher-speed Ka-band wireless antenna.He says the aviation antenna, which is exclusive to Inmarsat, will have unique capabilities that will bring another step change in faster connectivity and higher quality broadband service to aircraft. In addition, its smaller and lighter flat-panel design will reduce weight and drag on the aircraft, in turn reducing fuel and maintenance costs.Our end-to-end solution, including the satellite and ground network, hardware and infrastructure, have been specifically engineered with mobility in mind. And as a single network operator, we can commit to a reliable global service with a uniform high quality of service, Mondale concluded. This Week in Review A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more. The clean diesel fiasco of Volkswagen is not enough for the German carmaker to give up on the United States, according to two of its highest company officials. In 2015, Volkswagen was forced to admit that it manipulated its emission tests for its diesel cars to make them fully compliant to US government regulations. It was the biggest press relations debacle that the German automaker has faced. The scandal led to the resignation of Martin Winterkorn, former VW CEO and financial losses that continues until this day. In a bid to win back the confidence of the American car market, the management of Volkswagen AG has recently extended an olive branch to car dealers that were severely affected by the 'clean diesel' fiasco. However, there are things US car dealers wanted to hear but were not mentioned by the German automaker. The new head of Volkswagen, Herbert Diess, met with car dealers in a 90-minute conference held in Las Vegas on Saturday. He drove home the main objective of Volkswagen: to be a mass-market player in the U.S. car market and is willing to go for sales volume and not for exclusivity. According to Diess, the company intends to fast-track the required products in order that dealers will be able to begin their recovery from the sluggish sales they are experiencing for the past six months. Accompanying Diess is Hinrich Woebcken, interim CEO of U.S. sales at the VW dealer's expo in Las Vegas. "We are working to redefine the Volkswagen brand in the United States by strengthening our management team, our partnerships with dealers, and our product portfolio," Diess told reporters after the dealer's conference. "We want to grow the volume consistently beyond past levels, and we will do this with our partners, the dealers. More than ever, we will include their ideas and their requirements into our decision-making," he added. The giant company General Electric announced Monday that they are investing $50 million for a series of projects in Boston, including spending $25 million in the public schools. The move is part of the company's preparation as they plan to relocate its headquarters to the city. CEO Jeff Immelt said that included in the $50 million package will be the funding of a career lab "to help prepare students for jobs in advanced manufacturing technology." Another $15 million will be spent on community health centers while $10 million will be used to expand diversity in the fields of science and technology fields and health care. On the other hand, Gov. Charlie Baker and Mayor Martin J. Walsh also rested some "ambitious benchmarks." According to these officials, the company has the ability to partner on projects involving transportation and helping the city's issue wuth income equality. Boston Herald reported that "the claims underscore the high expectations the elected leaders have for the relocation of the company, which in exchange for nearly $150 million in city and state incentives, brings with it from Connecticut its billions in annual revenue, 800 employees and the touted creation of 4,000 jobs." Mayor Walsh said that the company has the possibility of attracting other companies to venture in Boston and help the city employ residents from Boston and the neighboring places. Gov. Baker also pointed out the exponential benefit of the move. "The exponential benefit here will be in the partnerships and the investments they make in a lot of the other institutions that are around here," Baker said. Meanwhile, while the press conference was conducted on the 33rd floor of 60 State Stree, protestors also gathered outside the building and emphasized the issues involved in luring the company to Boston, including millions of dollars in tax breaks and public incentives used to lure the company to Boston. "I hate injustice. I hate corporate greed. I hate stupidity," said 70-year-old Susan Strelec, a member of the Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants. She said that the city should focus more on improving schools and other facilities before anything else. We've all said things we wish we could take back. But it is one thing to say something you regret and another entirely to write something that will now be immortalized on paper and can be shared and transferred forever. Monster tells you to avoid this by avoiding saying certain things in a professional email. Leave these things out of all professional emails: 1. Informal language that makes you sound uneducated or immature Work emails need to be kept free of all-lowercase letters, texting language (gr8, lol, thx) or informal greetings such as "Howdy." Same goes for emoticons. Remember that there is no reason why you should need emoticons when being professional. 2. Ramblings of any kind This includes overly-long requests and unnecessary explanations. Have some consideration for other peoples' time and stay brief. No one needs to know too many details about things, just stick to the important information. 3. Arguments Take your disagreements offline - and have it out in a place where you do not leave a record of it. The last thing you need is for an email detailing a heated disagreement between you and a colleague to surface years later and make you look petty. Arguments also tend to look a lot worse on text, especially because people say a lot of things on text that they wouldn't normally dare to face to face. 4. Don't resign via email While it is completely acceptable to accept a job over email correspondence these days, resigning might not be. It may be tempting to do it over email - it is a lot easier, after all. But be professional. Call up your boss, set up a meet and then do it face to face. As awkward as it might be, you will be happy you did it. It will save your reputation for any future business dealings you might have with the company. Don't burn your bridges. Recently, PayPal Chief Executive Officer Dan Shulman announced that the company has canceled plans to open a site in Charlotte. The main reason behind the halt was the House Bill 2. According to The Charlotte Observer, the "discriminatory bill", as described by the website, has threatened the loss of well-paid employment in the region. Senator Berger, House Speaker Tim Moore, Rep. Dan Bishop and other republican leaders didn't show any signs of regret about losing a business investment in the area - One that could potentially uplift the economic status of Charlotte. Previously, John McCabe, Senior VP of PayPal Global Operations and Gov. Pat McCrory proudly shook hands last month that PayPal was opening an operations site in Charlotte. The Washington Post also reported that Gov. Pat McCrory was boasting that PayPal was the kind of business that North Carolina needs. Now, that dream of business development and economic growth has been stunted when the Republican Party accused the company of hypocritical acts such as extortion and human rights abuses in other countries. The Republican Party chose to ignore PayPal's statement that it was declining to do business in Charlotte because of the House Bill 2. Instead, they pointed fingers at Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts for the economic loss. "If Jennifer Roberts, Roy Cooper and the far-left Political Correctness Mob she's unleashed really care about the economic future of her city, they'll stop the misinformation campaign immediately ... before more damage is done," Berger and Moore said in a statement. However, this was not the first time business has been pulled out from the state. The bill also pushed Lionsgate out from producing "Crushed," a show that was supposed to be filmed in Charlotte. Red Ventures CEO Ric Elias said Tuesday his company will "seriously reconsider" its plan to add 500 jobs in Charlotte. Elias said, "our long-term plans for aggressive expansion in North Carolina will change." Previously, JobsNHire reported that PayPal has dropped their plans of opening up a global operations center in Charlotte, North Carolina because of the House Bill 2 block. The Washington Post has it that it won't only cost jobs. The report says it will get worse. WP has indicated that the PayPal pull out is the first but not the last business to back out. Dealing with North Carolina has made it harder for companies to create a business platform in the area. The prospect of providing well-paying jobs has already declined. North Carolina, as The Charlotte Observer also noted, should prepare for major economic damage. Employment and income will be hit. The pull-out of PayPal has cost the state its potential cash flow. Attorney General Roy Cooper had this to say, "The threat that House Bill 2 poses to jobs and our economy is no longer a possibility, it's a reality." Stepping back, PayPal should be an advantage in North Carolina. The business community is largely on PayPal's side on this, and it could be just the first of several major companies decide it's not worth it to be involved with North Carolina anymore. While The Charlotte Observer talked about how the House Bill 2 blocks potential businesses from coming in, The Washington Post reports that it will be the economic downfall of the state where businesses will be frank about their stand. In North Carolina, other Fortune 500 companies, like Dow Chemical and American Airlines, have made their distaste for the law pretty clear. Some organizations, like the NCAA, have also directly threatened to follow PayPal's lead and take their business elsewhere. If the government does not come into an orderly agreement that allows businesses to thrive in the state soon, businesses may start to pack up and empty the region which will not only cost employment but the state's over-all living. Governments around the world, together with its prominent personalities, were rocked in their sweet easy chairs with the explosive scandal that was induced by the "Panama Papers." The 11.5 million documents contain explosive information on how and where the 1% elite of the world have stashed away their money. It revealed clandestine financial arrangements of public figures and politicians all over the world that include presidents, prime ministers and the who's who at this present time. The media was quick to pick juicy details about the financial dealings of Vladimir Putin, the controversial Russian President. He was dutifully pictured by the mainstream media as someone who is completely different from how he successfully portrayed himself as the liberator of Syria from the terrorist organization ISIS. The documents were leaked from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca which allegedly helped the rich elite to hide their wealth and money. They offer a glimpse into the sinister world where the rich and powerful hide and conceal their wealth. This raises concerns on the use of shell companies that hide the identities of their real owners. Unfortunately, the person who leaked the documents and wanted to publicize them turned the documents to the western corporate media. Consequently, the first major news connected to the leaked documents was about Putin. The first major focus on Russia and Russian wealth by the Guardian belies the intention of the western media to bury the rest of the sordid story involving presidents and prime ministers and well-known rich people of first world countries, and just focus the expose on a tiny minority. As it is, the tiny nation of Iceland was the first casualty. Iceland has been reforming its banking system which is not being reported in the mainstream media. It has jailed most of its corrupt bankers but no word came out from western media. Now, the news is out that its Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, has just resigned, the first casualty of the leaked Mossack Fonseca documents. Email Links to our top local news stories of the day, Monday through Saturday. According to early exit poll data, about three-quarters of voters in the GOP primary described themselves as conservative while, on the Democratic side, about two-thirds described themselves as liberal. Credit: Mike De Sisti By of the Compared to past presidential primary voters, Wisconsin Republicans who voted today are a more conservative group and Democrats are a more liberal one, according to preliminary exit polling by Edison Research. About three-quarters of voters in the GOP primary described themselves as conservative, compared to 61% in Wisconsins 2012 Republican primary. [INTERACTIVE: Complete exit polling data table] On the Democratic side, about two-thirds described themselves as liberal, compared to 46% in the last contested Democratic primary here, in 2008. Moderates were only about a quarter of the vote in each party. Here are some other highlights from the early exit polling of voters who cast their ballots today. Were describing these finds in broad terms, not exact percentages, because the data are preliminary and will change over the course of the evening: On the GOP side: A majority of Republican voters were negative in their views of trade, saying it takes away US jobs, rather than creates them. Economy, terrorism and government spending were cited by roughly equal proportions of voters as the most important issue, with immigration a distant fourth. Asked about immigration, about a third of voters said most illegal immigrants should be deported; two thirds said they should be offered a chance to apply for legal status. About two-thirds support a temporary entry ban on Muslims who are not citizens of the US. About half the GOP voters said they felt betrayed by their partys politicians. Two-thirds described themselves as very worried about the nations economy in the next few years. Asked what should happen if no GOP candidate gets a majority of delegates before the convention, a little more than half said the nomination should go to the one who gets the most votes in the primaries; just under half said it should go to the one whom delegates think is the best nominee. Almost nine in ten said they are angry or dissatisfied with the federal government. Among Democratic voters: When voters were offered four choices as the most important issue, the economy and income inequality were the top two choices, followed by health care. Terrorism was a distant fourth. Just over half of Democratic voters want the next president to continue Pres. Obamas policies, about a third want more liberal polices and a small number want more conservative policies. A plurality of Democratic voters had a negative view of trade, but this group was smaller than it is on the GOP side. Only a third said they were very worried about the economy, about half as many as Republicans. Democrats overwhelmingly wanted the next president to have political experience. By of the Nearly ten years after a Milwaukee County woman sued paint companies over her lead poisoning, her case went to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, which will decide whether a 2013 law can retroactively derail her claim. Six members of the court -- Justice Rebecca Bradley did not participate, having recused herself early in the case -- heard oral arguments in the long-running litigation over whether lead poisoning victims can sue paint companies when they can't identify which company's paint poisoned them. The court in 2005 ruled that victims in such cases could hold various makers of lead paint liable based on their shares of the market at the time, a doctrine called the risk contribution theory. The Legislature passed a law in 2011 blocking such suits, and in 2013 tried to make it retroactive, which would elminate the already-filed claims of Yasmine Clark and 171 other plaintiffs who had sued after the 2005 ruling and before the 2011 law. A Milwaukee circuit judge in 2014 found that Clark had a vested right to her claim, which was legal at that time she filed it in 2006. But lawyers for a paint company, and the state of Wisconsin, argued Tuesday that 2005 Thomas decision was only "speculative," and that Clark never had a "settled expectation" of being allowed to sue under risk contribution theory. Leon DeJulius said the court should now balance the greater public purpose of the 2013 law seeking retroactivity -- fairness to paint companies -- against the private right of an individual, Clark. Deputy Solictor General Luke Berg argued the 2013 law reassures Wisconsin citizens -- and companies -- they can rely on "settled law" -- the general theory that someone seeking damages must identify specifically who caused the harm -- and won't "be held responsible for conduct a century ago," when many homes were painted with lead-based paint. A lawyer for Clark, Fidelma Fitzpatrick, told the court that the Legislature was trying to retroactively change a constitutional decision by the court, which she called a violation of the doctrine of separation of powers between the branches of government. She said the Thomas decision clearly granted lead-poisoned children a substantive right to sue under the risk contribution theory. It didn't guarantee any recoveries, Fitzpatrick said, just the chance to seek a remedy. DeJulius said the Legislature was trying to "close a gap," in time from the Thomas ruling to its first law banning risk contribution theory, calling the window "a gigantic loophole" that would let claims under theory "get filed for generations to come." He said lead poisoning victims wouldn't be barred from court, they would just have to meet the usual burden of proof -- like showing which company made the specific paint that was on a specific house where the victim lived as a child. The Court of Appeals certified the case directly to the Supreme Court after the defendant companies appealed Judge David Hansher's 2014 decision. It was delayed while federal courts considered a similar case. In that case, the U.S. Suprme Court declined to hear the industry's appeal of a 7th Circuit decision that allowed a Wisconsin lead poisoning victim to sue under the risk contribution theory. SHARE By of the Generac Holdings Inc., of Waukesha, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority share of PR Industrial, an Italian manufacturer of mobile and stationary generators. PR Industrial, owner of the Pramac brand of generators, was founded in 1966 and is headquartered in Siena, Italy. The company also has a line of material handling equipment sold under the Lifter brand. The Italian company has more than 600 employees and sells products in more than 150 countries, according to Generac. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Inflation is a top issue for voters, but politicians' solutions could make things worse Voters have shifted their top priority from abortion to their wallets, but candidates are limited in what they can do about rising prices. Does the world need another addictive treat? Sure, why not? Meet OMGs. Both flavors Milk Chocolaty Graham Clusters with almonds and Peanut Butter Pretzel Clusters drizzled with milk chocolate achieve that perfect snack blend of crunch and sweet and salt. Created by a pair of Canadian food entrepreneurs, OMGs recently landed in the U.S. at Walgreen's stores, where resealable 4.8-ounce bags (3 servings) sell for $3.99. They're both good, but we especially liked the peanut butter. SHARE By of the A gunshot was fired at FBI agents Wednesday morning during a search of a home on Milwaukee's north side. No one was injured, and the agents did not return fire, police spokesman Sgt. Tim Gauerke said Wednesday afternoon. Milwaukee police and the FBI were executing a search warrant in the 5700 block of N. 42nd St. about 6 a.m., Gauerke said. One of the occupants fired a shot at the agents when they were trying to enter the house, he said. Several people were arrested and the investigation is ongoing. Gauerke said there was no danger to the public. By of the University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross unexpectedly pulled the plug on plans for chancellors to describe the consequences, campus-by-campus, of $250 million in biennial state funding cuts during a Board of Regents meeting in Green Bay on Thursday. The chancellors had prepared presentations and even had a dress rehearsal with Cross last Friday. But Cross stopped the rehearsal before it was finished and has opted instead to have each campus provide a one-page written summary to the regents. Cross told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that it was too difficult for chancellors to summarize their handling of budget cuts in five minutes, and that he was concerned about how to most effectively present the information to the public. Cross said he made the decision after consulting with regents leadership, which includes President Regina Millner and Vice President John Behling. "We were not confident this was the right thing to do, which is one of the reasons we had a dress rehearsal," Cross said. "As we got closer to the end (of the dress rehearsal), we realized we can't do this in three to five minutes it's not enough time." There likely also was some fear about the implications of one campus leader after another lining up to talk about how cuts affect staff and students. Cross acknowledged he was concerned the UW System would be criticized again for "exaggerating or being overly dramatic" about the 2015-'17 cuts a charge Republican leaders leveled against at least a few of the chancellors last summer. It's no secret Cross and other UW System leaders are gun-shy about how they are perceived, especially after being told they have to find ways to be more efficient and accept tighter state funding because it isn't likely to change much. It's also worth noting that the system is just months away from preparing its next request for state funding, for the biennium beginning July 1, 2017. "We're trying to reveal this was a significant cut to deal with, and the chancellors are really handling this well," Cross said, describing how he wanted the message to be framed. "Take a $250 million cut and handle that very well on top of previous cuts. There's a lot of positive things." On the other hand, there is widespread concern that if the UW System downplays the impact of the cuts in this biennium, it could be that much easier for the Legislature to freeze resident undergraduate tuition for another two years, and add on another round of cuts. Regent Chuck Pruitt told the Journal Sentinel he regretted the missed opportunity to hear from chancellors. "I have long believed that it is critical that the Board of Regents offer a forum for public discussion about issues like the implications of deep budget cuts and multiyear tuition freezes on the quality of education on our campuses," said Pruitt, whose seven-year term ends after this week's regents meeting. "No group of individuals better understands those consequences than the chancellors who lead our campuses and deal with these issues every day." Democratic lawmakers caught wind of the cancellation of the presentations and accused Republican leaders of working behind the scenes to quash them. "If the governor doesn't want stories in the news about him slashing UW System funding, maybe he should stop slashing UW System funding," said Rep. Chris Taylor (D-Madison), one of the Democrats on the Joint Committee on Finance who signed a letter sent to the regents on Wednesday. Gov. Scott Walker's office could not be reached for comment. Jim Stingl In My Opinion SHARE George Carlin Journal Sentinel files Sally E. Anderson Steve Palec played the Seven Words routine in school. Family photo The seven dirty words that got comedian George Carlin arrested at Summerfest in 1972 will be preserved forever at the Library of Congress as an artistically and culturally significant recording. This news, announced last month, reminded Steve Palec of something astounding that happened when he was a student at John Marshall High School about a year after Carlin was dragged off to jail here in Milwaukee. (I still think, as I suggested in a column in 2008, that Summerfest should mark the spot of this infamous moment with a plaque.) Palec, best known around here the past 30 years for his Rock & Roll Roots show Sunday mornings on WKLH radio, wore out his copy of Carlin's "Class Clown" comedy album back in his teen years. He credits the "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" routine with teaching him to think for himself and be irreverent. He can still fire off the seven words in order, while retaining the good sense never to utter them on the air. "I thought that George Carlin's mastery of human insight was too impactful to be glossed over by our 'Wonder Years' generation," he said. So on that day in 1973 he asked his 25-year-old social studies teacher, Sally Gunerman, if he could play "Seven Words" in its entirety for the class. She agreed to the idea, which surprises me even now in 2016. Imagine those words echoing off the walls of a classroom and washing over the students for seven long minutes. When the needle was lifted from the record, the class discussed what they just heard, Palec remembers. They talked about free speech, creative thought, humor and the power of words. "I never quite understood how Mrs. Gunerman could be so cool as to let me do what I did. So after reading the news that an esteemed government institution would include the words, I felt compelled to track her down to thank her and ask her why she allowed it," Palec said. He recalled hearing that she had traded in teaching for law, and that her last name had changed to Anderson. So with help from Google, he found her at Wisconsin Lawyers Mutual Insurance Co. in Madison, where she is vice president of claims. Palec stunned Anderson with a blast-from-the-past phone call. She remembered him as a bright and enthusiastic student who often captured the sounds of high school on a tape recorder he carried around. She can't quite recall allowing the Carlin bit to be played, which is surprising because I think it would be burned in her ear drums and personnel file forever. Her best guess is that she trusted young Steve as a serious student of media and language to present the class with a teachable moment, and not just shock everyone as a lark. Apparently no students or parents complained, and there was no hell to pay for Anderson. Palec asked if she could imagine allowing him to play that record for a classroom now. "In some ways, we were more open then. We have become more closed today," she told him. When I called Anderson, she said people trusted teachers more back then, and there was less scrutiny via social media. She had heard the "Seven Words" before, "so I knew what we were getting into." "These are just letters put together. The shock value is something we give as power to those words, but they don't inherently have power," she told me. Anderson grew up in North Dakota and came to Milwaukee to attend Marquette University. After leaving teaching in 1976, she returned to Marquette for law school. She calls Palec one of her more famous former students, though she doesn't hear his show. "I go to church on Sunday mornings. I don't listen to classic rock," she laughed. In addition to radio, Palec has worked in real estate since 1986 with a focus on commercial property. "I was blessed to have an influence such as Sally Anderson that saw beyond small-minded paranoia that could have easily stifled that creativity," he said. "Here is one thing I have clearly figured out: If I am still in awe of a wonderful teacher encouraging me some 43 years ago to push the boundaries, then we ought not give a (expletive) about being too politically correct. "And take a minute to thank a teacher. It felt good for both of us." Call Jim Stingl at (414) 224-2017 or email at jstingl@jrn.com SHARE Sister Adele Thibaudeau Handout By of the Sister Adele Thibaudeau liked to tell the story of St. Francis of Assisi's journey in 1219 to meet with the mighty Sultan Malik al-Kamil of Egypt. It was during the Fifth Crusade, and Francis hoped he might end the war by converting al-Kamil to Christianity. Al-Kamil declined, but as a Sunni Muslim, he was moved by the ragged saint's devotion to God and hope for peace. Thibaudeau a Sister of St. Francis of Assisi who, at 71, died Wednesday "really lived the Franciscan value of creating dialogue with different communities, especially the Muslim community," said Janan Najeeb, president the Milwaukee Muslim Women's Center. Thibaudeau was involved with the center's activities since its beginning in 1994, Najeeb said. "She worked hard with us to highlight the enormous commonality between Christianity and Islam," she said. "She was a peaceful soul." Thibaudeau graduated from Cardinal Stritch University in 1967 and served the university community for 27 years, first as a teacher, then as director of campus life and finally as the founder and director of the Center for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. "Sister Adele embodied a passion for social justice, both on the local and global levels," Stritch President James P. Loftus said. "While at Stritch, her work was marked by this passion," he said. "She worked with students, faculty and staff to examine the issues of social justice through the lens of faith in the classroom, on service learning trips and doing service throughout the city of Milwaukee. "She had a gentle spirit, a kind heart, and always had time to listen," he said. Thibaudeau was born in Baraboo and professed vows in 1965. Something in Baraboo and its circus history got into her blood. Her master's degree in theology, which she earned at Mundelein College in Chicago, focused on the arts and spirituality, and she became adept at liturgical pantomime and clowning. During the early 1970s, Thibaudeau was associate director of vocations for the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. During the mid-1970s, she held the same position for the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. In 2012, she became vocational director for the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. She was diagnosed with abdominal cancer in early February and in March moved to St. Francis Convent, where she died peacefully in the presence of her family. She donated her body to the Medical College of Wisconsin. Survivors include five sisters, Yvonne Moyer, Clairese Huennekens, Camille Meyers, Valerie Graczyk and Marguerete Rekittke; and a brother, Raymond Thibaudeau. Sister Adele Thibaudeau Visitation for Adele Thibaudeau will be held Sunday from 3 to 5 p.m. in Troubador at St. Francis Convent, 3221 S. Lake Drive, St. Francis. Morning prayer visitation will be held Monday at 9 a.m. at the St. Francis Convent Chapel, followed by a Time of Remembering at 10:10 a.m. followed by a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m. SHARE Teens deserve better Having taught teenagers in junior high and middle school for 34 years and finding that experience very rewarding, I find it most disgusting and belittling for some local and national political pundits to compare the behavior of some presidential candidates to a bunch of teenagers. I would hope that these pundits would stop dragging these young adults down into the muck and slime where these candidates have been wallowing for most of the campaign. Our teenagers deserve better. Ray Hoffman Brookfield Let the river flow With the Department of Natural Resources soliciting public comment on the environmental impacts of repairing the Estabrook Dam until Wednesday, the Milwaukee County Board's decision to repair the dam on the Milwaukee River is once again under public scrutiny, and rightly so. After almost a decade of debate, the majority of Milwaukee County residents are still asking the County Board and the DNR to remove the Estabrook Dam. The number of voices calling for removal reflects a growing movement in our community to value the health of the Milwaukee River one of our most vital natural resources and to make it more accessible for all. Rivers have the power to revitalize an entire community because rivers do not discriminate. Dams, however, often do. Dams restrict rivers, and with them, a community's access to all of the benefits a river provides. Across the nation, communities are realizing this. Dams are being removed, and these decisions demonstrate how investing in our natural resources means investing in the whole of our communities. It is past the time that those charged with making this decision listen to our Milwaukee community. Remove the Estabrook Dam, and let the Milwaukee River flow free. Lynde B. Uihlein Milwaukee Not the whole picture on trade The March 27 Journal Sentinel Crossroads package "Trade: free, fair or both" did not present the entire picture of the trade debate. The top half of the page was devoted to the impressive-looking figures on goods exported from Wisconsin. But the other side of the trade coin known as imports was totally ignored. There was no mention of any figures on how much is imported into Wisconsin. That's like saying the Green Bay Packers had a great game because of some nice statistics while not mentioning that they lost, 40-10. In his commentary, Dennis Slater listed isolated instances in which Wisconsin businesses gained from exports along with agricultural "cash receipts" of $172 million. But he ignores the fact that every single day in America over $1 billion (that's 1,000 millions) go sailing off to foreign nations, never to return via our trade imbalance. This has been going on for decades, and Slater should have told us how long he thinks this can continue before it sinks our nation's economy. Edward Creamean Sr. Pewaukee Algebra matters With U.S. high school students continuing to lag far behind many of their peers in other industrialized nations, the absolute last thing we need to be doing is dropping algebra from our high school curricula! ("(y-3)2=what? Author calls algebra unnecessary stumbling block"). As the fundamental and common language of the physical sciences and engineering, a basic working command of mathematics is an essential prerequisite for any type of career in engineering or these sciences. More important, and applicable to all students regardless of their eventual career choice, are the expanded thinking skills that come from just working at and trying to understand mathematical concepts and principles. In this regard it is in the struggle, in the study of math, in doing the seemingly mindless "mental pushups" that we develop new and logical thinking skills, an ability to visualize problems and relationships, to learn how to teach ourselves new things. Rather than scrap algebra just because it may be a stumbling block, let's find out why our students are stumbling and then work to remove the block not the math. Larry Fennigkoh, Ph.D., P.E. Professor, Biomedical Engineering Milwaukee School of Engineering EECS Dept. Milwaukee SHARE Voter ID law a waste In a recent letter, William H. Jaeck took columnist Emily Mills to task for her assumption that 200,000 to 350,000 eligible voters lack a photo ID ("Is voter ID number accurate?" Letters, April 1). Jaeck suggested starting with the basics to determine specific problems and then use evidence-based data to solve them. I wholeheartedly agree. In fact, if our state legislators had followed Jaeck's advice, they never would have passed Wisconsin's voter ID law in the first place. Extensive credible research proves voter fraud to be virtually nonexistent. One award-winning and exhaustive study at Arizona State University involved sending thousands of requests to elections officers in all 50 states, asking for every case of fraudulent activity including registration fraud, absentee ballot fraud, vote buying, false election counts, campaign fraud, casting an ineligible vote, voting twice, voter impersonation fraud and intimidation. The resulting comprehensive, national election fraud database turned up only 10 cases of voter impersonation (the only voting fraud that ID laws prevent), or one out of about every 15 million prospective voters. Worse, additional evidence finds voter ID laws suppress the vote. Jaeck also suggested we shouldn't "throw away taxpayer money at a whim." He may want to take up his suggestion with our state Legislature. The Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated the cost to implement Wisconsin's voter ID law at $5.7 million, not including ongoing annual costs. This is a prime example of throwing away taxpayer money, but not on a whim. Republican lawmakers throughout the country are doing everything they can to make it harder to vote rather than easier, and they're using taxpayer money to do so. Why would our Republican legislators be passing laws to solve nonexistent problems when evidence-based data proves there are plenty of real problems such as the fact that Wisconsin has a job growth rate of less than half the national average waiting to be solved? Jill Morin Wauwatosa Editorial was right In answer to the letter written by Peggy R. Topham about Hillary Clinton's emails, I cannot fathom where she got her information ("Clinton editorial off-base," Letters, April 4). Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice used their own devices, but not their own email servers. How many people do you know who even have their own servers? Clinton's server was definitely not approved by anyone. She had one purpose, and one purpose only, and that was to be in control of who got to see her communications. She deleted over 30,000 that may not be recovered. How do we know what she was trying to hide? Clinton has been in government for a long time, but she and Bill have become multimillionaires doing it. If none of the documents to and from her server were classified, I'm wondering what work she did during her time as secretary of state. It seems that there should have been some work product generated. Did she have to run into her State Department office every time she wanted to communicate anything that was classified? How about when she was in foreign countries? Also, I'd really be interested in knowing just what she accomplished during her years in office. The editorial was spot on. Etta R. Miller Menomonee Falls VA bleacher seats The April 4 Green Sheet photo of fans watching a Milwaukee Brewers game from across the County Stadium parking lot was most appropriate for Opening Day. But its cutline didn't tell the whole story. The gentlemen pictured were very likely in residence at the neighboring VA Center. They are sitting on or standing alongside bleachers constructed for the veterans and situated atop a steep hill on the VA grounds. As a youngster, I sometimes walked through the grounds after ballgames, en route to a bus home, and I recall that the view of the playing field from those bleachers wasn't bad (although much better, presumably, if one used binoculars like the man in the photo's foreground). Sadly, the veterans' free seats were dismantled following an expansion of the stadium in the early 1970s that obstructed the view from the hill, ending a rather fascinating aspect of home games in Milwaukee that dated to the Braves in the '50s. Tom Jozwik Wauwatosa House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) speaks during his weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington in February. Credit: Associated Press SHARE By The spectacular strangeness of this presidential election may require a new display in Ripley's Odditorium of believe-it-or-nots. Among the exhibits, curators might place the History of Conventional Wisdom, wherein the page titled "Populists Never Win in America" has a large, red X drawn through the word "never." Like all things status quo, this bit of wisdom seems aimed for retirement. Indeed, no one wins this year by promising to keep things just the way they are. From the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump to the many thousands of fans who stand in line to catch a glimpse of these two, the letters in "unbelievable" are being worn off the keyboards of political commentators these days. Then again, when have news folks been more delighted by the horror before them? Sad but true: What's bad for the republic is good for cartoonists and columnists. Further evidence of the uniqueness of this season is the power of small purses against the Big Money that Americans now find so offensive. You want to end income inequality? How better to send a message to Wall Street than to out-fund the nominee of the conventionally wise? For the past three months, Sanders has outraised Hillary Clinton with mostly small, grass-roots donations, while Clinton, whose greatest deficit may be her membership in the pantheon of power politics, relies on big-donor fundraisers. It is still Clinton's nomination to lose, again according to conventional wisdom, but in a sense both Sanders and Trump would win by losing. Both have forced their respective parties further to the fringes and neither, one suspects, really wants to be president. Who would? Only a fool or the truly duty-bound. Into this camp I would place Clinton, who may feel it her duty to become president, and not only to satisfy what is necessarily a personal goal as an example to women the world over. I'd also put John Kasich next to her. In addition to seeming decent and sincere (and sometimes annoyingly cheerful), he conveys that he mostly wants to do the work. And then there's this other guy named Paul Ryan. Over on Capitol Hill, far from the madding crowd of rallies and racehorses, the newest speaker of the House of Representatives has been quietly reinventing the Republican Party by creating a new governing template. Ryan recently spoke of his philosophy to Hill interns in terms of subsidiarity as an organizing principle in both his Catholic faith and his politics. Politically, subsidiarity is the idea that matters should be handled by the smallest or least centralized competent authority. Similarly, in Catholic social thought, it means that nothing should be done by a larger centralized organization that can be done as well by a smaller organization. Structurally, this is the argument behind federalism and the conservative case for limited government. Practically, subsidiarity means that Ryan is taking a bottom-up approach to leadership. This means that debating and promulgating policy proposals take place at the committee level, where a more diverse cross-section of voices and ideas can be aired. Not all Catholics favor certain applications of subsidiarity, especially when it comes to welfare reform and other poverty programs. The schism within the church, in other words, reflects the divide between the two political parties. But both Republicans and Democrats may find common ground in Ryan's application of subsidiarity to the conduct of the House, which is fundamentally aimed at inviting the American people to the table. With a jaundiced eye, one notes that Ryan's pro-people template seems rather well-timed for a contested convention and perhaps for unifying the party given the divisiveness and repulsion posed by Trump and, almost equally, Ted Cruz. Plainly, it would be dicey for party leaders to bypass Cruz or Kasich, but Cruz will lose in a general election and Kasich may lack sufficient support to justify promoting him from last to first. Thus, an argument could be made for a fresher face, a former vice presidential pick, who has a record of working with Democrats, a man of faith and family values whose only real baggage is the suitcase he carries home each weekend to Wisconsin. Finally and surely surely Ryan had something more in mind when he agreed to take the speaker's job against the advice of so many. They feared, ironically, that he would be damaged by infighting and lose any shot at the presidency some day. Alas, he has done the opposite. We live and learn. And while President Paul Ryan may not fit today's conventional wisdom, his nomination would barely register on Ripley's odd-o-meter. Kathleen Parker is a columnist for The Washington Post. Email kathleenparker@washpost.com Twitter: @KathleenParker By of the Milwaukee City Hall veteran Robert Puente lost his 9th District aldermanic seat on Tuesday to challenger Chantia Lewis, a community activist who serves on the board of the worker rights group 9to5 Wisconsin. Puente appeared to be the only incumbent ousted on Tuesday. Ald. Bob Donovan, who failed in his bid to oust Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, held onto his 8th District seat in a close race with challenger Justin Bielinski, according to unofficial results. Donovan voiced disappointment at his mayoral loss but said he would continue his push to improve public safety. "It continues to be a huge issue in my district and across Milwaukee," he said. Fourteen of 15 aldermanic seats were up for grabs on Tuesday, including two that opened after Ald. Joe Davis in District 2 and Willie Wade in District 7 decided not to seek re-election. Cavalier "Chevy" Johnson, who left his post as a staff assistant in Barrett's office to campaign, edged Davis aide Sherman Morton to win Davis' north side seat. County Supervisor Khalif Rainey will succeed Wade in the west side District 7 after edging Milwaukee School Board President Michael Bonds for that seat. Other than Puente, all of the other council members retained their seats on Tuesday. Here's a look at those races: District 1. Ald. Ashanti Hamilton, who was first elected to the north side seat in 2004, secured a fourth term after topping challenger Vincent G. Toney by a wide margin. District 3. Ald. Nik Kovac, who has represented the east side-Riverwest-downtown district since April 2008, survived a challenge from Shannan Hayden, a marketing professional who is married to a Milwaukee police officer. Kovac, who serves as chair of the Finance and Personnel Committee, recently tangled with Hayden in a yard sign dispute. The alderman, a Green Bay Packers fan, also hosts a "Packerverse" call-in show at Riverwest Radio. District 4. Ald. Bob Bauman, who was first elected in April 2004, rebuffed challenger Monique Kelly in the race for his downtown-west side district. Bauman is an attorney, a longtime historic preservation advocate and vocal proponent for expanding public transportation. District 6.Ald. Milele Coggs, who was first elected in 2008, beat community activist Tory Lowe in their near north side district. District 10. Ald. Michael Murphy, the council's longest-serving member, survived yet another challenge from Richard Geldon, who has repeatedly run against him. Murphy, who was first elected in 1989, has served as council president since February 2014. District 11. Ald. Mark Borkowski, the city's newest council member, held onto his south side seat after a challenge from Department of Defense employee Tim Kenney. Borkowski, a former county supervisor, was elected in August to serve out the remaining term of his friend, Joe Dudzik, who died in a motorcycle crash. District 12. Ald. Jose Perez, who has served on the council since 2012, beat back a challenge from former Ald. Angel Sanchez to hold his near south side district. Sanchez was Milwaukee's first Latino alderman when he took the seat from Jim Witkowiak in 2000. District 13. Ald. Terry Witkowski beat Chris Wiken, who moved from Brookfield to Milwaukee to challenge the incumbent in the far south side district over his pro-streetcar position. Wiken is the manager of The Packing House restaurant, which his family founded in 1974. Witkowski, first elected to the Common Council in a special election in July 2003, voted in favor of the streetcar and has said he would like to see it extended to the airport. The two were embroiled in a dispute this week over a claim by Wiken that he'd been endorsed by Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki. District 14. Ald. Tony Zielinski easily survived a challenge by former Milwaukee School Board member Meagan Holman to hold his seat, which covers much of Bay View. Zielinski was first elected to the Common Council in April 2004 and previously served years as a Milwaukee County supervisor. District 15. Ald. Russell Stamper II bested challenger Sean Muhammad to hold his seat on the north and west sides. Stamper, a lifelong Sherman Park resident, was elected to the council in 2014. Allison Dikanovic of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. Hannah Dugan (left) defeated Judge Paul Rifelj in Branch 31 and Jean Kies (right) scored a narrow victory over incumbent Michelle Ackerman Havas in Branch 45 in Milwaukee County Circuit Court races. Credit: Journal Sentinel files By of the Two incumbent judges appointed by Gov. Scott Walker were defeated Tuesday, while most incumbent Milwaukee County Board supervisors were re-elected or were leading their races in Tuesday's spring election. In Branch 31, Hannah Dugan easily defeated Paul Rifelj, a former assistant public defender in Children's Court who was appointed by Gov. Scott Walker in December, in the Branch 31 seat. In Branch 45, Jean Kies scored a narrow victory over incumbent Michelle Ackerman Havas, a Walker appointee, according to unofficial results. As the County Board this month moves into a new era of reduced pay and shorter terms, nine of 18 supervisory seats were filled by contested races on Tuesday. Incumbents were challenged in six of those races. District 7: Supervisor Michael Mayo Jr. of Milwaukee defeated Valerie Sauve of Milwaukee, a retired MPS math teacher. District 9: With 36% of votes counted, Supervisor Steve F. Taylor of Franklin was leading Patti Logsdon of Franklin, a retired accountant. District 14: Supervisor Jason Haas of Milwaukee brushed aside the challenge of Franz Meyer of Milwaukee, a teacher and mentor with Teach for America-Milwaukee. District 16: With 88% of the vote counted, Supervisor John F. Weishan Jr. of West Allis was leading Scott Espeseth of West Allis, a self-employed business development consultant. District 17: With 44% of ballots counted, Supervisor Tony Staskunas of West Allis was leading by a wide margin over Timothy J. Johnson of Greenfield, a custodian for Honda City in Greenfield. District 18: Supervisor Deanna Alexander of Milwaukee defeated Martha R. Collins-De La Rosa of Milwaukee, executive director of Wisconsin Jobs Now. There will be five new faces on the board when it meets April 18. Two of the five did not face competition in their bids for open seats on the board. Sequanna Taylor of Milwaukee, a Milwaukee Public Schools parent engagement specialist, will represent the 2nd District where Supervisor Khalif Rainey did not seek re-election. Sheldon Wasserman of Milwaukee, a physician and former state representative, will represent the 3rd District. Gerry Broderick did not seek re-election. The other three new supervisors won contested races that did not include incumbents. District 5: In a showdown between two MPS teachers, Marcelia Nicholson defeated Michael Glabere to replace Supervisor Martin Weddle, who did not seek re-election. District 8: David Sartori of Cudahy, a retired state parole officer and former Greenfield alderman, beat Tony Bloom of South Milwaukee. Bloom was owner of the former PJ's Variety Store in South Milwaukee. The winner will replace Supervisor Patricia Jursik, who did not seek re-election. District 11: Dan Sebring of Milwaukee defeated Patricia Najera of Milwaukee, an appointed member of the Milwaukee City Plan Commission since 1999. Sebring, owner of Sebring Garage LLC, was endorsed by former Supervisor Mark Borkowski. Borkowski resigned last September to become a Milwaukee alderman. Seven incumbent supervisors were unopposed: District 1 Supervisor Theodore Lipscomb Sr. of Glendale, the board chair; District 4 Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic of Milwaukee's Bay View neighborhood; District 6 Supervisor James Schmitt of Wauwatosa; District 10 Supervisor Supreme Moore Omokunde of Milwaukee; District 12 Supervisor Peggy Romo West of Milwaukee; District 13 Supervisor Willie Johnson Jr. of Milwaukee; and District 15 Supervisor Eddie Cullen of Milwaukee. After the April election, supervisors will be paid an annual salary of $24,295, less than half the current base pay of $50,679. The Milwaukee County Board chair's annual salary will drop from $71,412 to $36,442. Milwaukee County supervisors' terms in office will be reduced from four years to two beginning in April, under a 2013 state law known as Act 14. Circuit Court: In Branch 45, Kies, 50, appeared to score a narrow victory in a race that stayed neck and neck through the evening. Kies has been in private practice for nearly 25 years, representing clients in areas from family to administrative law in courts from municipal to federal. Havas, 47, formerly an assistant prosecutor in Children's Court, was appointed by Walker to the job in August, replacing Rebecca Bradley, who had been appointed in May to the Court of Appeals, before being promoted to the Supreme Court in October. In Branch 31, Rifelj lost to Dugan, an attorney who has served on county and city ethics boards. Rifelj is a former assistant public defender in Children's Court who was appointed in December. The winners will serve six-year terms and earn $131,187 annually. Bruce Vielmetti of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele high-fives supporters as he comes out to make a victory speech at Uglys Pub in Milwaukee. Credit: Kyle Bursaw / for the Journal Sentinel By of the Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele defeated state Sen. Chris Larson Tuesday, after spending $4 million of his own money since July and loading broadcast airwaves and mailboxes with messages in recent weeks. Abele, 49, was re-elected to a second full four-year term by a wide margin of 12 percentage points. Abele won 56% of the vote to Larson's 44%, according to incomplete results. Abele had placed a close second behind Larson in the four-way February primary. County Comptroller Scott Manske won re-election to a second four-year term. Manske, the former appointed county controller, was not opposed for the office. Abele supporters chanted "four more years" after results were announced during an election watch gathering at Ugly's Pub on Old World Third St. "So what do I owe you for that?" he said of the work that secured a second term. "What I owe you is that we're going to think bigger and aim even higher." Pointing to his administration's project to eliminate chronic homelessness in the county in the next three years, Abele pledged a similar effort to reduce racial disparities in incarceration, housing, employment and education. "We're going to put a stake in the ground," he said. "Hold me accountable for it." Larson, 35, had expected to spend about $210,000 on his campaign a figure dwarfed by Abele's multimillion-dollar campaign. Larson attempted to counter the large spending imbalance by greeting voters at community events and Friday fish fries. Late Tuesday, Larson thanked supporters at Garfield's 502 while jabbing his opponent's well-funded campaign. "Big money may have won the battle, but they haven't won the war," he said. The challenge forced Abele to listen more attentively to the community, according to Larson. "The Chris Abele that we ran against today is very different than the Chris Abele we were running against six months ago," he said. Larson promised to continue the pressure. "This is a movement. And so, while we didn't win the battle today, we will the war," he said. "We will continue to fight." Abele pledged to complete the full term, dousing rumors of his interest in running for Wisconsin governor in 2018. Larson did not make the same pledge and had been expected to use this election as a springboard to run for governor in two years. One of Abele's consistent messages was that voters should rehire him based on a record of accomplishment during five years in the office. His list includes: reducing the projected county deficit and cutting annual debt payments; supporting bus transit services without increasing fares; boosting job training programs; adding more than 150 acres of parkland; and ending long-term institutional care of mental health patients at the troubled Mental Health Complex in Wauwatosa. Abele was first elected in 2011 in a special election to fill the final year in Scott Walker's term after Walker was elected governor. Abele was re-elected in 2012 to a full four-year term. As part of his campaign platform, Larson said he would push to add 1% to the sales tax collected here, to 6.6%, to provide dedicated funding for bus transit and parks maintenance, and reduce property taxes. The current 5.6% rate collected in the county is the maximum allowed under state law. With the extra revenue, Larson promised to lower bus fares and expand routes. Abele criticized Larson for promising such dedicated funding with a plan that could not be executed by a county executive without the backing of the Republican-controlled Legislature an unlikely prospect at best. Rather than raising the sales tax, Abele suggested that the county ask the Legislature to restore state funding to Milwaukee County so that shared revenue and other payments are set at the same rate as other counties. Abele said he had not raised bus fares in his five years in office and had put more property tax dollars into the transit budget to replace cuts in state aid. Larson challenged Abele's collaboration with Republican lawmakers to add county executive authority while undercutting the County Board. His chief complaint of such collaboration is an amendment to the state budget law adopted in July by GOP lawmakers. The amendment gave the Milwaukee County executive authority to sell or lease county-owned land not zoned as a park without county board approval. Such a sale would need the approval of the comptroller or a municipal representative of the community where the land is located. Larson had been endorsed by the Wisconsin Working Families Party, which actively campaigned for him. County Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic is state director of the group. Mark Johnson and Ellen Gabler of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett signs his name while checking in before voting Tuesday at Neeskara School, 1601 N. Hawley Road. Barrett easily beat back a challenge from Ald. Bob Donovan. Credit: Angela Peterson By of the Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett easily won re-election Tuesday after a bitter and personal race, overcoming a challenge from Ald. Bob Donovan. "I'll continue to do what I've always done, work with all parts of the community the north side, south side, east side, west side and make sure I am listening to the concerns of all people," Barrett said at his election night party at La Perla Mexican Restaurant. "We're stronger when we work together." Barrett beat Donovan 70% to 30%, with all of the precincts reporting. Barrett, whose party featured salsa music and plenty of margaritas, drank a cola and wiped his brow with a washcloth as he stood under bright lights at the packed restaurant. The mayor said that in his fourth term, he wants to focus more on bringing community leaders and the private sector together. And he said he plans to continue pushing to fight poverty in the city. Much of the debate between Barrett, 62, and Donovan, 59, centered on public safety, jobs and education. Barrett touted his record in expanding development downtown, improving employment numbers, fighting to recover from the city's foreclosure crisis, reducing infant mortality and building job training programs. Donovan, who was first elected to represent the city's south side on the Common Council in 2000, argued that the city needed new leadership, repeatedly citing Milwaukee's recent spike in homicides and its recent rash of car thefts. He accused the mayor of lacking urgency in working toward solutions. Some of the sharpest clashes between the pair arose over race relations in the city. Throughout the campaign, Donovan accused Barrett of resorting to dirty politics, and especially bristled when Barrett repeatedly brought up a statement the alderman had released in 2011 following a violent incident near State Fair Park. Donovan linked the episode to "a deteriorating African-American culture in our city." Barrett, noting that 40% of the city's population is African-American, argued that Milwaukee needed a mayor who would unite not divide the city. For months, the mayor far outraised Donovan, and he dominated the airwaves when it came to TV and radio advertisements. Barrett painted Donovan as someone with Republican Gov. Scott Walker's ideas and GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump's erratic behavior a not-so-subtle reference to the alderman's legal problems over the years. Some of Barrett's ads specifically cited a pair of incidents involving Donovan, including a 2007 clash in which a constituent accused Donovan of cursing him out and trying to slap him in front of the man's 6-year-old niece. The man previously had two other people file restraining orders against him and had been urging Donovan to help him take on a problem property next to his house. Barrett also cited an issue dating back to 2005, when the alderman was charged by federal authorities with misdemeanor fraud after being accused of failing to disclose his financial ties to a nonprofit community group. He founded the group, the Milwaukee Alliance, after being elected to the Common Council, and his wife worked there. Federal prosecutors dropped the charge after they discovered that Donovan had disclosed his links to the alliance in a letter to city ethics officials in 2002. As part of the deal to dismiss the criminal complaint, Donovan agreed to pay a $2,500 "penalty" to the city, play no role in providing money to the alliance, and have no association with a nonprofit receiving federal funds for two years. Donovan released only a pair of radio advertisements although Barrett was targeted by a secretive group led by GOP operative Craig Peterson, Milwaukeeans for Self-Governance, which attacked the mayor's record on everything from crime to plans for a streetcar. The alderman ran on a law-and-order platform and won the endorsement of the city's police and fire unions. "I want to thank all of you here tonight. We sent a message to this community, and although apparently we lost the mayor's race, we put the mayor on notice," Donovan said at his election night party at McKiernan's Tavern on S. 37th St. "We got the message out that we are going to continue the fight on public safety. We're going to continue the fight to get jobs back in Milwaukee. And we're going to continue the fight to improve our education." Barrett was first elected mayor in April 2004. He was re-elected with more than 70% of the vote in both 2008 and 2012. While he cruised to re-election as mayor in 2012, that same year he lost to Walker in a historic recall race. Although Barrett has been in office for nearly 12 years, that's still less than half the time that Milwaukee's longest-serving mayor, Henry Maier, spent in office. Maier was mayor for 28 years, from 1960 to 1988. Karen Herzog and Allison Dikanovic of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report. A poll worker at Whitman Middle School in Wauwatosa pulled ballots out of a ballot machine that was not working for a short time Tuesday morning. Voter Elaina Meier took these pictures when she saw the ballots handled in what she called a haphazard manner. Credit: Elaina Meier By of the When Elaina Meier stopped at Whitman Middle School in Wauwatosa to vote Tuesday morning, she saw an election worker pull a pile of ballots out of a machine and stack them haphazardly in a corner. A file was put on top of them as a weight. Meier, who taught political science at Wauwatosa East High School for a decade, thought something was amiss. When she cast her vote around 8:20 a.m., the ballot machine was still not working. She was told to place her ballot in a secure box. After leaving the school, 11100 W. Center St., she called the city clerk's office. "They indicated they resolved the problem with the ballot box and that there are times when ballots need to be taken out of the box but they're secured. I told them they were definitely not secured," Meier said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon. Meier called the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board and talked to Mike Haas, who told her election workers are trained to always have two inspectors, if possible, handle ballots. "It's not unusual for them to have to empty the ballot box when it gets full," Haas, the GAB's elections division administrator, said Tuesday afternoon. "The voter told me she thought the inspector was handling them haphazardly, setting them back behind the workers and were not secure." GAB employees talked to the Wauwatosa city clerk, who by then had talked to the poll workers at Whitman, reminding them to secure ballots in a ballot bag, which is documented on the inspector's log at the polling place. Wauwatosa City Clerk Carla Ledesma had not seen the photos Meier snapped of the ballots being handled by the poll worker but said "it was a problem with the power supply and not the machine and it was taken care of very quickly." It does not appear that ballots at Whitman Middle School were not counted or were discarded. Reddit Email 106 Shares By Brian Glyn Williams | (Informed Comment) | Recently Donald Trump broke with Republican convention and roiled the party base by boldly stating You call it whatever you want. I want to tell you. They [the Bush administration] lied. They said there were weapons of mass destruction [in Iraq]; there were none. And they knew there were none. There were no weapons of mass destruction.[1] He also stated We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives. Obviously, it was a mistake. George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes. But that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East. This typically brash Trump statement went against an unwritten rule in the Republican establishment which states that it is taboo to bring up the subject of the WMDs that were not found after the invasion and occupation of secular-Baathist Iraq (all of the strands of intelligence, from Iraqi killer drones to mobile weapons labs to nuclear centrifuges fell apart after the occupation of the country and exploitation of its bases and facilities). If you go to Google images and try finding online pictures of U.S. reconnaissance and exploitation troops uncovering the much-hyped Iraqi WMDslike killer drones that were said to be able to strike American mainland or mobile weapons labsthere are none available. All that was found by the U.S. Army Joint Captured Materiel Exploitation Group teams were some old, corroded, un-useable, demilitarized artillery shells rotting in the desert from the 1980s, a far cry from the active, threatening chemical, biological and even nuclear(!) WMD program we were repeatedly told by Bush, Cheney, Powell, Rice and Rumsfeld that Iraq possessed. Trump was of course absolutely correct in his bold, in your face statement. But try telling that to the average Republican voter, the majority of whom (63 percent according to a Dartmouth College poll) believe that WMDs were found in Iraq.[2] It seems the Republican base has a hard time accepting the fact that their president led them into a disastrous war that took the lives of almost 4,500 brave American men and women who thought they were defending their country from WMDs (i.e. fifty percent more than were killed by Al Qaeda on 9/11) and cost three trillion dollars and spawned ISIS (where there had previously been a secular Baathist government with no WMDs) based on cooked up intel. But the very leaders who sold them the goods on Iraqs non-existent weapons program have (with the exception of Cheney) come out and acknowledged that there were no WMDs. Bush, like Powell before him, ultimately acknowledged that the search for WMDs had ended in failure as reported in his own memoir Decision Points. Bush wrote, No one was more shocked and angry than I was when we didnt find the weapons. I had a sickening feeling every time I thought about it. I still do.[3] When discussing the lack of WMDs, Bush would later state, It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be wrong.[4] In an interview with ABCs Martha Raddatz, Bush would once again confirm the lack of WMDs in Iraq: Raddatz: Just let me go back because you brought this up. You said Saddam Hussein posed a threat in the post-9/11 world. They didnt find weapons of mass destruction. Bush: Thats true. Everybody thought they had them. [5] On yet another occasion, Bush said Now, look, I didnt part of the reason we went into Iraq was the main reason we went into Iraq at the time was we thought he had weapons of mass destruction. It turns out he didnt, but he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction.[6] Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, who made numerous declarations on the existence of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Iraq, also acknowledged making at least one misstatement about WMDs.[7] He then stated, It appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.[8] When asked by the BBC about the lack of WMDs in Iraq, Rumsfeld would later say, Why the intelligence proved wrong, Im not in a position to say.[9] In his memoir, Known and Unknown, Rumsfeld specifically mentioned the lack of WMD stockpiles in Iraq and said Saddam Hussein didnt have ready stockpiles of WMD our intelligence community believed we would uncover. The shift in emphasis suggested that Iraqs intentions and capability for building WMD had somehow not been threatening. Many Americans and others around the world accordingly came to believe the war was unnecessary.[10] National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice similarly acknowledged, What we have is evidence that there are differences between what we knew going in and what we found on the ground.[11] Secretary of State Colin Powell would also state, Of course I regret that a lot of it [the evidence] turned out be wrong.[12] To compound matters, the Iraq Survey Group (ISG) created by President Bush to scour post-invasion Iraq and find hidden WMDs ultimately reported the following definitive findings to the U.S. government once their search was complete: Saddam Hussein ended the nuclear program in 1991 following the Gulf war. ISG found no evidence to suggest concerted efforts to restart the program. In practical terms, with the destruction of the Al Hakam facility, Iraq abandoned its ambition to obtain advanced BW [biological warfare] weapons quickly. ISG found no direct evidence that Iraq, after 1996, had plans for a new BW program or was conducting BW-specific work for military purposes. While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991. There are no credible indications that Baghdad resumed production of chemical munitions thereafter.[13] What does all of this mean for the majority of Republicans who still cling to the stated rationale/pretext for invading and dismantling Baathist-Socialist Iraq? It would seem to indicate that they have been grasping onto straws and they should, like the Democrats who previously acknowledged that President Bill Clinton lied to them about the Lewinsky affair, acknowledge the truth, just as the very leaders who deceived them in the first place have belatedly done. Professor Brian Glyn Williams worked for the CIAs Counter Terrorism Center in Afghanistan and is author of The Last Warlord. The Life and Legend of Dostum, the Afghan Warrior who Led U.S. Special Forces to Topple the Taliban Regime. NOTES. [1] Yes Trump Said Bush Lied. FactCheck.Org. March 17, 2016. [2] Yes, Iraq Definitely Had WMD, Vast Majority of Polled Republicans Insist, Huffington Post, January 21, 2012. [3] George Bush Had a Sickening Feeling over the WMD Lack, BBC, November 2, 2010. [4] Bush Admits Intelligence Was Wrong, Guardian, December 14, 2005. [5] Bush Not Insulted by Thrown Shoes, ABC. December 14, 2008. [6] President Bush Holds a News Conference. Washington Post. August 21, 2006. [7] Ewan MacAskill, Donald Rumsfeld Book Admits Misstatements over WMD Sites. Guardian, February 7, 2011. [8] The Intelligence Business, New York Times, May 7, 2006. [9] Rumsfeld Questions Saddambin Laden Link, BBC. October 5, 2004. [10] Donald Rumsfeld. Known and Unknown. New York; Sentinel. 2011. Page 712. [11] Adam Blenford, Rice Admits Doubts on WMD, Guardian, January 30, 2004. [12] Colin Powell Regrets UN Speech Justifying the War. Raw Story. June 15, 20 [13] Iraqs Chemical Warfare Program, CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/iraq_wmd_2004/chap5.html. Reddit Email 0 Shares Maan News Agency | JERUSALEM (Maan) Israeli police arrested two right-wing Jewish Israelis on Tuesday after they attempted to sneak into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound disguised as Muslims, locals and Israeli police said. Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement that midday Tuesday Israeli police officers suspected two young men approaching the King Faisal gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. The officers approached the two for inspection, who said they were Muslims heading to the Al-Aqsa mosque. The officers checked their identification documents to reveal that they were 21-year-old Jewish Israelis. They were arrested and taken to al-Qishla police station in occupied East Jerusalems Old City for questioning, al-Samri added. The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque. The third holiest site in Islam, it is also venerated as Judaisms most holy place, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. Following Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has maintained a compromise with the Islamic trust that controls the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound to not allow non-Muslim prayers in the area. Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to the site, however, leading to tension with Palestinian worshipers. Via Maan News Agency Reddit Email 362 Shares By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | The revelation in the leaked Panama Papers that Mossack Fonseca and Swiss bank HSBC serviced the companies of corrupt Syrian billionaire Rami Makhlouf (first cousin of dictator Bashar al-Assad) long after the US imposed sanctions on him is a reminder of why Syrians revolted against the regime in 2011 in the first place. Makhlouf was said to be worth $5 billion (likely more than Donald Trump) before the revolution, and to have dominated 60% of Syrias economy. Below is something I wrote about the political economy of Syrias revolution, which I never published but it makes even more sense, I think, in view of the Panama Papers. Rami Makhlouf & Bashar al-Assad P.S. The original cover image for this posting ws of Ribal al-Assad, a dissident member of the clan who has spoken out forcefully against corruption; it was extracted by a plug-in from the video interview cited below. In 1963 the secular, Arab nationalist and socialist Baath Party came to power in Syria. Conflicts within the ranks of the party, which had military and civilian wings, kept the country unstable until 1970. In that year, an Air Force general, Hafez al-Assad made a coup. A member of the Alawite, Shiite minority that comprises about ten to fourteen percent of the population, al-Assad turned the Baath Party into a mechanism for dealing with Syrias transformation from a largely rural, peasant society to a majority urban one. He reversed earlier Baath hostility to the agricultural business classes, allowing a vigorous private sector in the countryside. The public sector under his version of the Baath Part concentrated on organizing small-holding peasants and extending irrigation in the Ghab and the Euphrates Basin. The Baath building of dams and waterworks endeared it to small-holding rural Sunni Arabs, and over time incomes rose and cities expanded modestly. The regime was not universally popular, and in the small cities at the center of the country a powerful Muslim Brotherhood opposition flourished, with a class basis in businessmen, shopkeepers and artisans hostile to secular Baath socialism. In 1982, al-Assad brutally crushed a Brotherhood uprising in Hama, killing thousands.[i] By the 1980s the gains from the Baath Partys agricultural policies had reached a plateau. Economic and other discontents burgeoned. Syrias government embarked late in that decade on a privatization program, and during the 1990s the percentage of the non-oil industrial economy in private hands nearly doubled from 45 to 82 percent. Syria entered the new millennium no longer a socialist economy. The al-Assad clan benefited from the turn to a new entrepreneurial spirit. The presidents brother Jamil, for instance, went into the import-export business and came to dominate the Mediterranean port of Latakia. He developed a relationship with semi-criminal elements among the dock workers and underground of the city, and deployed them in a protection racket in the port. Also drawn from his Alawite ethnic group, they were known as the specters (shabiha), and went on to engage in smuggling (especially tobacco) and occasionally to challenge the police.[ii] Hafez al-Assad had designated his son Basil, head of presidential security, to be his successor, the first of the republican princes to prepare to come to power. Basils death in an automobile collision in 1994 caused Hafez al-Assad to designate his second son, Bashar, as the next president for life instead. Bashar was then studying ophthalmology in Britain (he only lived there 18 months), and his soft-spoken, timid manner did not suggest he would be a decisive leader. He admitted he was a fan of Phil Collinss music, and had enjoyed making home videos as he came of age in Damascus. He succeeded to power in 2000, in part because influential Baath generals and politicians preferred another al-Assad to seeing one of their rivals become president.[iii] Bashar al-Assad was unable effectively to address the economic problems of the country. Some of his difficulties were geopolitical. After a brief honeymoon with the United States from 2000 through 2002 (which included post-September 11 help in detaining, interrogating, and torturing al-Qaeda suspects), relations increasingly soured after Bushs invasion of Iraq. Al-Assads Syria attracted the ire of Western hawks and the Neoconservatives. He was allied with Iran, with which Washington had increasingly bad relations after 2003. He proved unable or unwilling to police his long border with American-dominated Iraq (through which Sunni Arab, anti-American guerrilla groups infiltrated that country). He paid lip service, at least, to supporting the Rejectionist forces in the Israeli-Arab conflict, i.e. Lebanons Hizbullah and the more militant Palestinians. In December, 2003, Congress passed and Bush signed the Syria Accountability Act. Likewise, France joined the US on the UN Security Council in objecting to the continued Syrian occupation of and meddling in Lebanon. Al-Assads Syria found itself blocked from favorable trading terms in Europe and the United States. The full impact of such sanctions can be seen if we compare Syria after 2002 to Turkey, a NATO member, where the Islamically-tinged government of the Justice and Development Party vastly expanded trade and industry from 2002 because of its special tariff treatment by the US and the EU. Al-Assad was initially young and inexperienced, and faced an entrenched Baathist bureaucracy suspicious of his experiences in Britain (though these were quite limited). He announced on coming to power that he would allow private banks to operate in Syria. He may have been influenced by his British-born wife, Asma al-Assad, who had worked as a broker at J.P. Morgan on Wall Street before she married. It took years for this decree to be implemented. Political scientist David Lesch interviewed her about the long delay in moving to private banking: We have not had private banks in Syria for 50 years. Our public banks are not functioning. We have staff who do not speak English, who do not have computers. So we are on a very, very basic level. We had no idea how to do this. We dont have the experience.[iv] Over time, private banks began operating, though the six public banks continued to be dominant, and Western sanctions hurt some of those.[v] From 2005, al-Assad implemented his New Social Market, which added on a private sector to previous socialist institutions and allowed a new class of boisterous entrepreneurs to transform downtown Damascus.[vi] In 2009 a stock market was opened. The new private sector was not enough, however, to create even a fraction of the new jobs demanded by Syrias Millennials, or to jumpstart the economy, and cronyism ensured that it functioned mainly to make wealth trickle up to the small elite. From 2005, the regime increasingly reduced subsidies, which hit the poor and working classes hard. On top of all that, the zeroes witnessed the beginnings of a severe drought in Syria, which deeply harmed farmers and the small towns that served as their initial distributors. If the Baath Party had been relatively good at water management and incorporated the rural Sunnis in the 1970s, it increasingly failed on both of those scores under Bashar. Either the challenge was too great, or the high Baath officials by then had other priorities (especially making billions through corrupt deals in the growing urban sector).[vii] By 2004, Syrias per capita gross domestic product was, in nominal terms, only $1,190 a yearhalf that of neighboring Jordan, a fourth that of Turkey, and a fifth that of Lebanon. Six years later, in 2010 on the eve of the outbreak of massive protests, the per capita GDP was still less than $3000 a year (124th out of 183 countries ranked), whereas neighboring Turkeys was nearly $11,000 (61st), according to the International Monetary Fund. That is, in 2010 Syria was similar in this regard to Honduras and the Congo, whereas Turkey was more in the neighborhood of emergent economies such as Malaysia and Brazil. By the outbreak of protests in 2011, the poverty rate in Syria had climbed to something between 11 and 30 percent, depending on how it was measured.[viii] Syria, like many other Arab countries, has difficulty growing its economy faster than its population. Its population growth rate remains relatively high, at 2.4 percent per annum, which will lead, if it remains unchanged, to a doubling of the national population in roughly 30 years, from 22 million to 42 million. That is, it will go from being about as big as todays Florida to being more populous than todays California (or in European terms, from being somewhat larger than the Netherlands to nearly as populous as Spain). Because the population growth rate was even higher in previous decades, Syrias labor force grows 4.5 percent a year, adding nearly 300,000 would-be workers. In the youngest cohort, from 15 to 24, unemployment ran as high as 70 percent before the revolution broke out. Because poverty has increasingly caused teenagers and even children to drop out of school to work, illiteracy has actually been rising in the past two decades.[ix] Governance in Syria under the Baath Party resembled the rings of an onion. The outer ring was the party, which incorporated Sunni businessmen and farmers, Christians, Druze (an esoteric Shiite sect), and the Alawites (another esoteric Shiite sect). The upper echelons of the party and the officer corps were disproportionately dominated by members of the minority Alawite sect. (The Alawite form of Shiite Islam has more folk elements and is less bookish, clerical and formal than the Twelver Shiite branch that dominates Iraq and Iran). The very inner circle was the al-Assad extended family or jama`at al-Assad. The al-Assad clan had opportunities to benefit from insider trading practices, given that they controlled government economic policy, and to receive business licenses and contracts. Already in the time of Hafez al-Assad, his propensity for promoting his friends and relatives inspired other members of his junta to do likewise. His longtime foreign minister and then vice president, `Abd al-Halim Khaddam, the informal viceroy of Lebanon, developed front companies in that country. He became a fixture in Beirut night clubs. He developed a close relationship to Lebanese-Saudi billionaire Rafiq al-Hariri, who made a gift to him of one of Aristotle Onassiss former apartments in Paris and set him up in the telecommunications business. Hariri also brought Khaddams two sons into business ventures in Saudi Arabia, where he had made his money.[x] Hafez al-Assads Sunni minister of defense, Mustafa Talas (usually spelled Tlass in the Western press), had one son who became a big businessman, Firas. Firas had extensive holdings in real estate, food distribution, and banking, and was said to among the richest men in the country. The other, Manaf, became a general in the army (he defected to the opposition in July, 2012).[xi] The rising business class in the Syria of the zeroes was hardly, however, confident or loyal to the regime that fostered it. The secretive and conspiratorial mindset of the Baath Party ensured that those who became wealthy were often under suspicion of corruption, that is, of stealing from the regime. In 2009, a Syrian newspaper published a list of Syrias one hundred wealthiest businessmen, conveniently omitting some prominent relatives of the president, and even the names of the owners of the newspaper itself. The edition was said by the US charge in Damascus to have sent chills up and down the spines of the families profiled, who were sure that the Syrian tax authorities would use it as an excuse to look into them. Most were probably nouveaux riches, with the old Baathist monied families excused from the ignominy of being discussed in public. The year before, a high security aide to the president had been killed in the port of Tartous by sniper fire while the president was out of country, and, when searched, the basement of one of his residences yielded $60 million. Periodic anti-corruption drives caught even those related to the president. A distant cousin of the president was arrested in 2009 for possibly abusing his position in the customs administration. The same year, a prominent Sunni client of the regime given the bid on key internet services was arrested after he made little progress in providing them, after pocketing the governments payment.[xii] If the sons of courtiers could do well, denizens of the presidential palace were even more favored. The brother of the president, Gen. Maher al-Assad, commander of the Republican Guards and of the Fourth Armored Division, was accused by dissidents of laundering money through agents in Lebanon for Iraqi Baathists. The Youth of Rage charged him in spring of 2011 with using businessman and media mogul Mohammad Hamsho as a corrupt silent partner (some alleged that Maher had a popular private television station closed so that Hamsho could open his own and garner the advertising revenue instead). They also accused him of hiding his ill-gotten gains in Swiss bank accounts.[xiii] Foremost among the new generation of Syrian crony capitalists is Rami Makhlouf, first cousin of Bashar on his mothers side. The Makhloufs are an Alawite family that initially served the al-Assads in the security forces. Then in the 1990s, the patriarch of that branch of the family, Muhammad Makhlouf, had had to be brought in as a silent partner in the private Real Estate Bank (REB), which by the late zeroes was said to earn over $110 million a year largely from its monopoly on processing credit card and ATM transactions. [xiv] At the height of his prominence, Muhammads son Rami Makhloufs holdings included monopoly corporations or semi-monopolies in construction, oil, airlines and airport concessions, real estate, telecoms and import-export. He was known to use his connections to the regime to close down others lucrative projects, using thugs, and then buy them for a song. [xv] He and his clan were alleged to be worth $5 billion in a country where the annual gross domestic product in nominal terms in 2011 was $59 billion. One dissident member of the al-Assad family, Ribal, characterized him as owning three-fourths of Syria.[xvi] Makhlouf is famed for sharp business practices that depended on his access to power. For instance, he went into the wireless telephone business with Orascom, an Egyptian concern, and when he decided to take over Orascoms shares, he allegedly had the company chased out of the country.[xvii] The Youth of Rage charged that the resulting company, called Syriatel, proved a bonanza that was shared with Gen. Maher al-Assad, the presidents brother. The pinnacle of power and wealth was Bashar and his immediate circle. The style of life of the palace was so opulent and cocooned that during the worst fighting of 2011 and 2012, first lady Asma al-Assad was obsessed with ordering gilt furniture, chandeliers and jewelry over the internet.[xviii] Her buyer confirmed in July of 2011 that she had acquired: -1 Turquoise with yellow gold diamonds and small pave on side: 1 Cornaline with yellow gold diamonds and small pave on side; 1 Full Black Onyx with yellow gold diamonds and small pave on side; 1 Amethyst with white gold diamonds and small pave on side.[xix] [i] Raymond Hinnebusch, Syria: Revolution From Above (London: Routledge, 2001); Patrick Seale, Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (Berkely: University of California Press, 1990). [ii] Bashir Zayn al-Abidin, Al-Hukuma al-suriyya wa muharabat al-fasad, al-Bayan, April 4, 2011 at http://albayan.co.uk/article.aspx?id=822 [iii] Joshua Stracher, Reinterpreting Authoritarian Power: Syrias Hereditary Succession, The Middle East Journal 65. 2 (Spring 2011): 197-212. [iv] David W. Lesch, The Evolution of Bashar al-Asad, Middle East Policy 17. 2 (Summer 2010): 70-81. [v] Part 1: Syrias Changing Financial Landscape, Charge dAffaires Maura Connelly, Damascus, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, May 11, 2009, Wikileaks, at http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09DAMASCUS327.html [vi] Bassam Haddad, Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2012). [vii] Bassam Haddad, Syrias Stalemate: The Limits of Regime Resilience, Middle East Policy Volume 19, Issue 1 (Spring 2012): 8595. [viii] Fayez Sara, Poverty in Syria: Towards a Serious Policy Shift in Combating Poverty, (London: Strategic Research and Communications Center, 2011) at https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/ComplexCoverage/Documents/Syria/Poverty_in_Syria.pdf [ix] Alistair Lyon, Syria grapples with surging population, Reuters, June 3, 2010 at http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/06/03/us-syria-population-idUSTRE6522FS20100603; Sren Schmidt, The Missed Opportunity for Economic Reform in Syria, Mediterranean Politics, 11:1 (2003), 91-97 [x] Gary C. Gambill, Dossier: Former Syrian VP Abdul Halim Khaddam, June 2, 2006, Global Politician, at http://www.globalpolitician.com/21829-syria [xi]For an overview of high Syrian officials of the past decade see A Lions Den: A Guide to Assads Regime, al-Arabiya, January 2013 at http://english.alarabiya.net/lionsden/ [xii] Corruption investigation rattles business community, Charge dAffaires Maura Connelly, Damascus, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, April 9, 2009, Wikileaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/04/09DAMASCUS274.html [xiii] Shabab al-Ghadab (Syria), Qissat fasad al-shaqiqatayn Bashshar wa Mahir al-Asad wa ibn khalihima Rami Makhluf, al-Tahaluf al-Watani al-`Iraqi , April 22, 2011 at http://www.iraqipa.net/04-2011/21-30/a9_22apr2011.htm [xiv] Part 1: Syrias Changing Financial Landscape, Charge dAffaires Maura Connelly, Damascus, to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, May 11, 2009, Wikileaks, at http://wikileaks.org/cable/2009/05/09DAMASCUS327.html [xv] Maximizing the impact of Ramis Designation, Economic Counselor Todd Holmstrom, Damascus, to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, January 31, 2008, Wikileaks, http://wikileaks.org/cable/2008/01/08DAMASCUS70.html; Khaled Yacoub Oweis, Syrias Makhlouf owes fortune and infamy to Assad, Reuters, June 16, 2011. [xvi] Muqabalat Ribal al-Asad, France24 Arabic, May 6, 2011 at youtube [xvii] Schmidt, Missed Opportunity, p. 95. [xviii] Robert Booth and Luke Harding, Gilded lifestyle continued for Assad coterie as conflict raged in Syria, The Guardian, March 14, 2012 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/14/gilded-lifestyle-assad-coterie-conflict [xix] Alia Kayali [a.k.a. Asma al-Assad]/ Amal al-Akhras, 19 July 2011, hacked email published in The Guardian, March 14, 2012 at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/14/bashar-al-assad-syria3 Related video: Euronews: Panama Papers show how Syria and North Korea evaded sanctions Reddit Email 0 Shares By Andrew J. Bacevich| ( Tomdispatch.com ) | Lets face it: in times of war, the Constitution tends to take a beating. With the safety or survival of the nation said to be at risk, the basic law of the land otherwise considered sacrosanct becomes nonbinding, subject to being waived at the whim of government authorities who are impatient, scared, panicky, or just plain pissed off. The examples are legion. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln arbitrarily suspended the writ of habeas corpus and ignored court orders that took issue with his authority to do so. After U.S. entry into World War I, the administration of Woodrow Wilson mounted a comprehensive effort to crush dissent, shutting down anti-war publications in complete disregard of the First Amendment. Amid the hysteria triggered by Pearl Harbor, Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order consigning to concentration camps more than 100,000 Japanese-Americans, many of them native-born citizens. Asked in 1944 to review this gross violation of due process, the Supreme Court endorsed the governments action by a 6-3 vote. More often than not, the passing of the emergency induces second thoughts and even remorse. The further into the past a particular war recedes, the more dubious the wartime arguments for violating the Constitution appear. Americans thereby take comfort in the lessons learned that will presumably prohibit any future recurrence of such folly. Even so, the onset of the next war finds the Constitution once more being ill-treated. We dont repeat past transgressions, of course. Instead, we devise new ones. So it has been during the ongoing post-9/11 period of protracted war. During the presidency of George W. Bush, the United States embraced torture as an instrument of policy in clear violation of the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. Bushs successor, Barack Obama, ordered the extrajudicial killing of an American citizen, a death by drone that was visibly in disregard of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. Both administrations Bushs with gusto, Obamas with evident regret imprisoned individuals for years on end without charge and without anything remotely approximating the speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment. Should the present state of hostilities ever end, we can no doubt expect Guantanamo to become yet another source of lessons learned for future generations of rueful Americans. Congress on the Sidelines Yet one particular check-and-balance constitutional proviso now appears exempt from this recurring phenomenon of disregard followed by professions of dismay, embarrassment, and never again-ism once the military emergency passes. I mean, of course, Article I, section 8 of the Constitution, which assigns to Congress the authority to declare war and still stands as testimony to the genius of those who drafted it. There can be no question that the responsibility for deciding when and whether the United States should fight resides with the legislative branch, not the executive, and that this was manifestly the intent of the Framers. On parchment at least, the division of labor appears straightforward. The presidents designation as commander-in-chief of the armed forces in no way implies a blanket authorization to employ those forces however he sees fit or anything faintly like it. Quite the contrary: legitimizing presidential command requires explicit congressional sanction. Actual practice has evolved into something altogether different. The portion of Article I, Section 8, cited above has become a dead letter, about as operative as blue laws still on the books in some American cities and towns that purport to regulate Sabbath day activities. Superseding the written text is an unwritten counterpart that goes something like this: with legislators largely consigned to the status of observers, presidents pretty much wage war whenever, wherever, and however they see fit. Whether the result qualifies as usurpation or forfeiture is one of those chicken-and-egg questions thats interesting but practically speaking beside the point. This is by no means a recent development. It has a history. In the summer of 1950, when President Harry Truman decided that a U.N. Security Council resolution provided sufficient warrant for him to order U.S. forces to fight in Korea, congressional war powers took a hit from which they would never recover. Congress soon thereafter bought into the notion, fashionable during the Cold War, that formal declarations of hostilities had become passe. Waging the long twilight struggle ostensibly required deference to the commander-in-chief on all matters related to national security. To sustain the pretense that it still retained some relevance, Congress took to issuing what were essentially permission slips, granting presidents maximum freedom of action to do whatever they might decide needed to be done in response to the latest perceived crisis. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964 offers a notable example. With near unanimity, legislators urged President Lyndon Johnson to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression across the length and breadth of Southeast Asia. Through the magic of presidential interpretation, a mandate to prevent aggression provided legal cover for an astonishingly brutal and aggressive war in Vietnam, as well as Cambodia and Laos. Under the guise of repelling attacks on U.S. forces, Johnson and his successor, Richard Nixon, thrust millions of American troops into a war they could not win, even if more than 58,000 died trying. To leap almost four decades ahead, think of the Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) that was passed by Congress in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 as the grandchild of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. This document required (directed, called upon, requested, invited, urged) President George W. Bush to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations, or persons. In plain language: heres a blank check; feel free to fill it in any way you like. Forever War As a practical matter, one specific individual Osama bin Laden had hatched the 9/11 plot. A single organization al-Qaeda had conspired to pull it off. And just one nation backward, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan had provided assistance, offering sanctuary to bin Laden and his henchmen. Yet nearly 15 years later, the AUMF remains operative and has become the basis for military actions against innumerable individuals, organizations, and nations with no involvement whatsoever in the murderous events of September 11, 2001. Consider the following less than comprehensive list of four developments, all of which occurred just within the last month and a half: *In Yemen, a U.S. airstrike killed at least 50 individuals, said to be members of an Islamist organization that did not exist on 9/11. *In Somalia, another U.S. airstrike killed a reported 150 militants, reputedly members of al-Shabab, a very nasty outfit, even if one with no real agenda beyond Somalia itself. *In Syria, pursuant to the campaign of assassination that is the latest spin-off of the Iraq War, U.S. special operations forces bumped off the reputed finance minister of the Islamic State, another terror group that didnt even exist in September 2001. *In Libya, according to press reports, the Pentagon is again gearing up for decisive military action that is, a new round of air strikes and special operations attacks to quell the disorder resulting from the U.S.-orchestrated air campaign that in 2011 destabilized that country. An airstrike conducted in late February gave a hint of what is to come: it killed approximately 50 Islamic State militants (and possibly two Serbian diplomatic captives). Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Libya share at least this in common: none of them, nor any of the groups targeted, had a hand in the 9/11 attacks. Imagine if, within a matter of weeks, China were to launch raids into Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan, with punitive action against the Philippines in the offing. Or if Russia, having given a swift kick to Ukraine, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, leaked its plans to teach Poland a lesson for mismanaging its internal affairs. Were Chinese President Xi Jinping or Russian President Vladimir Putin to order such actions, the halls of Congress would ring with fierce denunciations. Members of both houses would jostle for places in front of the TV cameras to condemn the perpetrators for recklessly violating international law and undermining the prospects for world peace. Having no jurisdiction over the actions of other sovereign states, senators and representatives would break down the doors to seize the opportunity to get in their two cents worth. No one would be able to stop them. Who does Xi think he is! How dare Putin! Yet when an American president undertakes analogous actions over which the legislative branch does have jurisdiction, members of Congress either yawn or avert their eyes. In this regard, Republicans are especially egregious offenders. On matters where President Obama is clearly acting in accordance with the Constitution for example, in nominating someone to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court they spare no effort to thwart him, concocting bizarre arguments nowhere found in the Constitution to justify their obstructionism. Yet when this same president cites the 2001 AUMF as the basis for initiating hostilities hither and yon, something that is on the face of it not legal but ludicrous, they passively assent. Indeed, when Obama in 2015 went so far as to ask Congress to pass a new AUMF addressing the specific threat posed by the Islamic State that is, essentially rubberstamping the war he had already launched on his own in Syria and Iraq the Republican leadership took no action. Looking forward to the day when Obama departs office, Senator Mitch McConnell with his trademark hypocrisy worried aloud that a new AUMF might constrain his successor. The next president will have to clean up this mess, created by all of this passivity over the last eight years, the majority leader remarked. In that regard, an authorization to use military force that ties the presidents hands behind his back is not something I would want to do. The proper role of Congress was to get out of the way and give this commander-in-chief carte blanche so that the next one would enjoy comparably unlimited prerogatives. Collaborating with a president they roundly despise implicitly concurring in Obamas questionable claim that existing statutes [already] provide me with the authority I need to make war on ISIS the GOP-controlled Congress thereby transformed the post-9/11 AUMF into what has now become, in effect, a writ of permanent and limitless armed conflict. In Iraq and Syria, for instance, what began as a limited but open-ended campaign of air strikes authorized by President Obama in August 2014 has expanded to include an ever-larger contingent of U.S. trainers and advisers for the Iraqi military, special operations forces conducting raids in both Iraq and Syria, the first new all-U.S. forward fire base in Iraq, and at least 5,000 U.S. military personnel now on the ground, a number that continues to grow incrementally. Remember Barack Obama campaigning back in 2008 and solemnly pledging to end the Iraq War? What he neglected to mention at the time was that he was retaining the prerogative to plunge the country into another Iraq War on his own ticket. So has he now done, with members of Congress passively assenting and the country essentially a prisoner of war. By now, through its inaction, the legislative branch has, in fact, surrendered the final remnant of authority it retained on matters relating to whether, when, against whom, and for what purpose the United States should go to war. Nothing now remains but to pay the bills, which Congress routinely does, citing a solemn obligation to support the troops. In this way does the performance of lesser duties provide an excuse for shirking far greater ones. In military circles, there is a term to describe this type of behavior. Its called cowardice. Andrew Bacevich, a TomDispatch regular, is the author of Americas War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, which has just been published by Random House. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Book, Nick Turses Tomorrows Battlefield: U.S. Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa, and Tom Engelhardts latest book, Shadow Government: Surveillance, Secret Wars, and a Global Security State in a Single-Superpower World. Copyright 2016 Andrew J. Bacevich Note for TomDispatch Readers: Heres a special offer for you today. A TD favorite, bestselling author Andrew Bacevich, has just published Americas War for the Greater Middle East: A Military History, a stunning new book on Washingtons roiling set of conflicts in the Middle East from 1980 to late last night. Ive been following the subject at TD for years and I still was repeatedly surprised by what he covers and makes sense of. For a limited period, in return for a $100 contribution ($125 if you live outside the United States), you can get a signed, personalized copy of the book and believe me, if you want to understand our screwed-up world, its one youll want to read. Check our donation page for the details. Tom] Via Tomdispatch.com Related video added by Juan Cole: Aljazeera English: UpFront Can drone strikes defeat al-Shabab? Reddit Email 382 Shares By Ali R. Abootalebi | (Informed Comment) | The emergence of political Islam in the mainstream politics in the Middle East and across other Muslim countries since the 1970s has impacted socioeconomic and political development in so many different ways. The return of religiona symbol of traditionalismto the mainstream debate about and the struggle for modernization might be unsettling to the liberal mind that sees a clear dichotomy between what is traditional, e.g., religion, patriarchy, patrimony and kinship and what is modern, e.g., rationalism secularism, and individualism. Regardless of the debate in the western academic circles, the Islamic world continues the examination of the proper place of Islam in society and polity. Thus, questions are asked: what actually constitute the Sharia or should the Sharia be the sole law (the constitution) of the land; or, who has the religious authoritybeing a Mujtahid to interpret or reinterpret the sharia and to declare new religious decrees or fatwas; or, who should govern and oversee the implementation of the Sharia? In a sense, can there be an Islamic State and be led by non-clerics? Such matters is further complicated since there is no real separation of the church and the state in the Islamic tradition. In its core then, the puzzle over the place of Islam in society and polity is really over the question of governance. Islam and modernity (including democracy) can coexist since there are more venues to modernity than just the one the West has experienced. Islam is not a monolithic religion and the realization of a modern Islamic society is a matter of resolving the puzzle of hermeneutics of Islamto come up with uniform understanding of how to interpret (tafsir) the Quran, the Hadith and the Sunna; in other words, the Sharia or the path to the realization of an Islamic society. In doing so, the pervasive place of Islam in society and politics cannot be ignored. It is my contention that the primary obstacle in resolving the puzzle of hermeneutics of Islam is the presence of authoritarian political systems in most Muslim countries, preventing the formation of political and religious institutions and their active and orderly participation in the political process. That is, political democracy is a prerequisite to resolving the puzzle of hermeneutics of Islam through a long process of trial and error within anyone given particular cultural and sociopolitical environment. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a primary case in point, where the simultaneous competition and cooperation between the religious and political establishment has resulted in tangible settlements, or still evolving, of some seemingly intractable issues involving Islam and the operation of modern society, economy, and polity. It is only natural to think of national governments once the question of governance comes up. After all, national governments ae endowed with tremendous power, legitimate or not, and resources to govern over matters of significance to the population, including law and order, national security, social and economic development, and the preservation of cultural heritage and overall social harmony. At its most basic level, however, governance is also about local neighborhoods and communities organizing themselves into more effective units in dealing with local issues, whether in cooperation with agencies of the national and local governments or with private individuals and agencies of civil society or a combination of such forces. The prevailing historical and cultural characteristics and forces present in any given community can also help the cause of local organizing, e.g., tribal order and affiliation or community mosques as places of both worship and mobilization and networking. Authoritarian rule by definition and nature is antithetical to long term good governance and is more prone to corruption and abuses of power. On the other hand, political democracy, if understood as a means to an end, offers the best chance for social organization and governance at local or national levels. At its core, political democracy would require the presence of free, fair and frequent elections to gage the health of the relationship between the governed and the governors. Political democracy also is about a continuous process of push and pull between the state and society, as structural and cultural changes always require political adjustments to meet the ever changing societal needs and demands. The presence of viable political institutions such as political parties and independent legislative and judiciary branches of the government help solidify the legitimacy of the political system, resulting in better governance. So, governance is really about the ability of the political system to continuously respond and adjust to the parameters of authority as the society becomes wealthier, healthier, more educated, more sophisticated and better organized. Democracy also is not about culture or religion per se but the management of political power and the competition over socioeconomic resources within agreed-upon normative principles and values and institutional arrangements, whereby individual citizens through elections and other forms of political participation determine their own choices through elected representatives. In other words, political democracy is (can be) an instrumental method in the resolution of identity conflicts over cultural and nationalistic issues by providing legal and institutional venues for resolution of differences and conflicts to groups in competition over socioeconomic resources and political power. The competition among cultural groups in a given society is not so much about the superiority or inferiority of certain value system or way of life per se but how the competition translates into control over local, regional and national resources while realizing the ambitions and aspirations of all cultural groups. This is especially true, where legal and institutional venues for dispute settlement and conflict resolution and power sharing among competing cultural groups are weak or are seriously lacking. In such cases, it becomes natural for a dominant culture try imposing its ethos and belief systems, through cooperation or coercion, on minority groups, monopolizing control over socioeconomic resources and political power. Militant Muslim movements have historically emerged as voices for justice at the time of political turbulences, going back to the Kharijite movement in the early Islamic history in 657 AD. Modern militant movements like the Wahhabi movement in the 18th and 19th centuries in tribal Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood beginning in the 1920s, and the Shia Hezbollah and Islamic movement in the 1980s, the Taliban, the al-Qaeda since 1980s, and a plethora of other militant movements in the past few decades have all emerged to fill in the political vacuum and to restore Islamic governance. That is, the failure of politics and political leaders in Muslim countries in securing legitimate, popular participation in national and local governance galvanizes radical thinking and the thus emergence of militant groups, and all in the name of Islam. This is nothing but a crisis of governance. Secularism and liberalism may have proven instrumental in the evolution of political democracy and civil liberties in the Western tradition but they should not be considered as preconditions for the inauguration and the evolution of democracy elsewhere. Recall also that the appearance and the evolution of political democracy in Europe took centuries and remains and will persist an ongoing process. Every society must formulate its own strategy and travel toward political democracy and determining the levels and degrees of civil liberties within its defined particular cultural and socioeconomic milieu. That is, the parameters of democracy in a Muslim country may differ from those of the Western societies. If so, the gates of experimentations with Islamic governance and popular participation, e.g., an Islamic Republic, are wide open. This is precisely why political democracy can assist the cause of the realization of Islamic Republicanism. This is also what happened in the case of the Jewish nationalism, beginning in the late 1800s. As the experimentation with Jewish Democracy has been arduous and controversial and with obvious limitations, so would be the notion of Islamic Republicanism. The presence of democratic political institutions, despite the tradition-modern dichotomy in the Jewish personal and national experiences, helped the earlier Zionist leadership with visioning a modern state based on democratic foundation but Jewish in its core. (The successes and failures of this experimentation is clearly a matter of debate and not discussed here for the sake of space.) The advantage of an Islamic democracy is the embrace of Islamic culture and not its rejection for the sake of secularism and western liberalism. Therefore, an Islamic democracy can be instrumental in legitimately confronting militant Muslim groups and tendencies and resolving identity conflicts over cultural and nationalistic issues by providing legal, institutional, and, ideally, non-partisan, normative values to groups in competition over socioeconomic resources and political power. Iran is an example of a multicultural, Muslim country where the struggle for redistribution of socioeconomic resources and political power (e.g., Islamic theocracy dominated by elite clerics or political democracy based on open competition by all contenders of power) has taken place within a broader multicultural makeup in the past thirty seven years. Today, most members of the Iranian Parliament are non-clerics, and so are the vast majority of technocrats and bureaucrats working for the government and the State. The country is forging toward a possible resolution of the appropriate place of Islam and its tenants and leadership in a still evolving modern Islamic democracy. Professor Ali R. Abootalebi teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire (UWEC). He is the author of Islam and Democracy (2000) and, with Stephen Hill, Introduction to World Politics: Prospects and Challenges for the United States (2013) and numerous articles on Islam and Democracy, Arab Political Development and Global and Middle Eastern Politics. He can be reached at abootaar@uwec.edu - Related video added by Juan Cole: CaspianReport: Irans 2016 elections explained SANTIAGO, CHILE--(Marketwired - April 6, 2016) - Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN), announced today that Ivanhoe and its joint-venture partner Zijin Mining are preparing to accelerate a planned infill drilling program on the Kakula Discovery area at their Kamoa copper project, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), beginning in May 2016. Speaking at the 15th World Copper Conference in Santiago, Mr. Friedland said the Kamoa exploration team's goal is to complete approximately 25,000 metres of additional drilling in the Kakula Discovery area in 2016. The company is upgrading access and drill roads in the Kakula Discovery area to support the additional diamond drill rigs that will be mobilized to the site in early May. "Our accelerated infill drilling program will target thick, flat-lying, shallow resources at grades materially higher than the average grades at Kamoa that potentially could be incorporated into our Phase One feasibility study, which could enhance the already robust economics that were reported in our independent pre-feasibility study on February 23 and help to ensure that Kamoa becomes one of the highest grade, new copper mines in the world," Mr. Friedland added. The accelerated 2016 drill program initially will focus on a 12-square-kilometre area along the projected trend of mineralization intersected in holes DD996 and DD997 that were completed in 2015. The drill program now also includes follow-up infill drilling aimed at defining Indicated Resources in areas where the continuity of materially higher grade is confirmed. The 2016 drilling area and the initial drill sections are shown in figures 1 and 2. The 2015 holes DD996 and DD997 rank among the highest-grade and highest-grade-thickness intersections drilled to date within the Kamoa Mining Licence area. Hole DD996 intersected 24.16 metres (24.13 metres true width) of 3.48% copper, at a 1% copper cut-off. At a higher cut-off of 2% copper, the DD996 intersection was 13.16 metres (13.14 metres true width) of 5.26% copper. Hole DD997 intersected 18.75 metres (18.47 metres true width) of 4.64% copper at a 1% copper cut-off and 15.17 metres (14.94 metres true width) of 5.33% copper at a 2% copper cut-off. Ivanhoe Mines reported on January 25, 2016, that the Kamoa exploration team had made a new tier-one, high-grade, shallow and flat-lying stratiform copper discovery, ideally situated for low-cost mechanized mining, in the Kakula Discovery area, approximately five kilometres southwest of the currently defined resources at the Kamoa copper deposit. The Kakula Discovery is situated within the 400-square-kilometre Kamoa Mining Licence area and represents a major extension of the Kamoa copper deposit, which the company discovered in 2008. Mr. Friedland said in the January announcement that the Kamoa copper deposit already is distinguished as the world's largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper discovery. "The Kakula Discovery has the combination of significant thickness, high grades and strike length that holds promise for significant and rapid expansion of the Kamoa copper deposit." To view Figure 1: Kamoa plan map showing Kakula exploration area, discovery drill holes and 2016 drilling area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F1.pdf To view Figure 2: Kamoa discovery drill holes and Kakula 2016 drilling area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F2.pdf Holes DD996 and DD997 were drilled into an area of thick, high-grade copper mineralization first identified in 2014 - now called the Kakula Discovery area - within the large, 60-square-kilometre Kakula exploration area. The two holes represent 400-metre step-outs north and east from the high-grade copper intersected in drill hole DD942 that recorded 13.50 metres (13.49 metres true width) of 4.15% copper, at a 2% copper cut-off. Mineralization at Kakula appears to be consistent in nature with downward vertical zonation from chalcopyrite to bornite to chalcocite in every hole. Mineralization is consistently bottom-loaded, with grades increasing downhole toward the contact between the host Grand Conglomerate and the underlying Mwashia sandstone. The highest copper grades are associated with a siltstone/sandstone unit and the base of an overlying diamictite unit. These units overlie a less mineralized, thin, sandy clast-rich diamictite above the Mwashia sandstone contact. (See Figure 3 for a section across the Kakula Discovery Area) The bottom-loaded nature of Kakula mineralization could support the definition of selective mineralized zones at cut-offs well above the 1% copper cut-off used to define resources at Kamoa. For example, the lower portion of the mineralized intercepts in drill holes DD996 and DD997 intersected 5.59 metres grading 9.16% copper and 7.06 metres grading 8.50% copper, respectively, both at a 3% copper cut-off. (See Figure 4 for a drill log of DD997). To view Figure 3: Sections across the Kakula Discovery Area, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F3.pdf To view Figure 4: DKMC_DD997 strip log showing bottom-loaded distribution of copper mineralization at 1%, 2% and 3% copper cut-offs, visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/1049631-F4.pdf Kamoa Copper Project description The Kamoa Copper Project, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines and Zijin Mining Group Co., Ltd., is a very large, stratiform copper deposit with adjacent prospective exploration areas within the Central African Copperbelt, approximately 25 kilometres west of the town of Kolwezi and about 270 kilometres west of Lubumbashi. Ivanhoe sold a 49.5% share interest in Kamoa Holding Limited (Kamoa Holding), the company that presently owns 95% of the Kamoa Project on an indirect basis, to Zijin Mining for an aggregate cash consideration of $412 million. In addition, Ivanhoe sold a 1% share interest in Kamoa Holding to privately-owned Crystal River Global Limited for $8.32 million - which Crystal River will pay through a non-interest-bearing, 10-year promissory note. A 5%, non-dilutable interest in the Kamoa Project was transferred to the DRC government on September 11, 2012, for no consideration, pursuant to the DRC Mining Code. Ivanhoe also has offered to transfer an additional 15% interest to the DRC government on terms to be negotiated. Constructive and cordial negotiations over the offer are continuing between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin and senior DRC government officials. Subsequent to the sale to Zijin and Crystal River, Ivanhoe owns an effective 47% of the Kamoa Project, which will decrease to an effective 40% should the additional 15% interest be transferred to the DRC government. Kamoa is the world's largest, undeveloped, high-grade copper deposit. On February 23, 2016, an updated Mineral Resource estimate was issued for the Kamoa Project, with an effective date of May 5, 2014. Kamoa's Indicated Mineral Resources total 752 million tonnes grading 2.67% copper and containing 44.3 billion pounds of copper at a 1% copper cut-off grade and minimum thickness of three metres. In addition to the Indicated Resources, the updated estimate included Inferred Mineral Resources of 185 million tonnes grading 2.08% copper and containing 8.5 billion pounds of copper, also at a 1.0% copper cut-off grade and a minimum thickness of three metres. Qualified Person and Quality Control and Assurance The scientific and technical information in this release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, P.Geo., Ivanhoe Mines' Vice President, Project Geology and Evaluation; a Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release. Ivanhoe Mines maintains a comprehensive chain of custody and QA-QC program on assays from its Kamoa Project. Half-sawn core is processed at its on site preparation laboratory in Kamoa, prepared samples then are shipped by secure courier to Bureau Veritas Minerals (BVM) Laboratories in Australia, an ISO17025 accredited facility. Copper assays are determined at BVM by mixed-acid digestion with ICP finish. Industry-standard certified reference materials and blanks are inserted into the sample stream prior to dispatch to BVM. For detailed information about assay methods and data verification measures used to support the scientific and technical information, please refer to the current technical report on the Kamoa Copper Project on the SEDAR profile of Ivanhoe Mines at www.sedar.com. About Ivanhoe Mines Ivanhoe Mines is advancing and developing its three principal projects in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery in South Africa; and the Kamoa copper discovery and the high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine in the DRC. (For news and details, visit www.ivanhoemines.com) Forward-looking information Certain statements in this release constitute "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including without limitation, the timing and results of: (i) statements regarding plans to accelerate an infill drilling program at the Kakula Discovery area in May 2016 and statements regarding the intention to target thick, flat-lying, shallow resources at grades materially higher than the average grades at Kamoa that potentially could be incorporated into the company's Phase One feasibility study; (ii) statements regarding the development of Kamoa into one of the highest grade, new copper mines in the world; (iii) statements regarding the potential to enhance the economics reported in the company's independent pre-feasibility study; (iv) the timing and terms of transfer of an additional 15% interest in the Kamoa Project to the DRC government; and (v) statements regarding the completion of approximately 25,000 metres of additional drilling in the Kakula Discovery area in 2016. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "would", "could", "will", "intend", "expect", "believe", "plan", "anticipate", "estimate", "scheduled", "forecast", "predict" and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the company's current expectations regarding future events, performance and results and speak only as of the date of this release. As well, the results of the pre-feasibility study of the Kamoa Project constitute forward-looking information, including estimates of internal rates of return, net present value, future production, estimates of cash cost, proposed mining plans and methods, mine life estimates, cash flow forecasts, metal recoveries, and estimates of capital and operating costs. Furthermore, with respect to this specific forward-looking information concerning the development of the Kamoa Project, the company has based its assumptions and analysis on certain factors that are inherently uncertain. Uncertainties include among others: (i) the adequacy of infrastructure; (ii) geological characteristics; (iii) metallurgical characteristics of the mineralization; (iv) the ability to develop adequate processing capacity; (v) the price of copper; (vi) the availability of equipment and facilities necessary to complete development, (vii) the cost of consumables and mining and processing equipment; (viii) unforeseen technological and engineering problems; (ix) accidents or acts of sabotage or terrorism; (x) currency fluctuations; (xi) changes in laws or regulations; (xii) the availability and productivity of skilled labour; (xiii) the regulation of the mining industry by various governmental agencies; and (xiv) political factors. This release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation (including estimated future production from the Kamoa Project, the anticipated tonnages and grades that will be mined and the estimated level of recovery that will be realized), which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on: (i) fluctuations in copper price; (ii) results of drilling, (iii) metallurgical testing and other studies; (iv) proposed mining operations, including dilution; (v) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (vi) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licenses. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indicators of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the factors discussed here, as well as unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts with the company to perform as agreed; social, political or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; limitations and availability of capital; and the failure of exploration programs or studies to deliver anticipated results (including the actual results of drilling and exploration activities,) or results that would justify and support continued exploration, studies, development or operations. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release. The company's actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of the factors set forth in the "Risk Factors" section and elsewhere in the company's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis report and Annual Information Form, available at www.sedar.com. VANCOUVER, BC --(Marketwired - April 06, 2016) - Quaterra Resources Inc. ("Quaterra" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: QTA) (OTCQX: QTRRF) and its subsidiary Singatse Peak Services LLC ("SPS") today announced results from Hole B-051, the fourth core hole of a drill program to explore and further define the Bear deposit, a large porphyry copper system on the Company's 52-square mile property in the historic Yerington Copper District of Nevada. The drill program is being funded with option payments to SPS by Freeport-McMoRan Nevada LLC ("Freeport Nevada"). Highlights Hole B-051, drilled vertically to a depth of 3,878 feet, intercepted 1,483.3 feet (452.1 meters) of 0.26% copper beginning at a depth of 2,191.2 feet. Included within this interval is 1,213.8 feet (370.0 meters) of 0.30% copper starting at 2,191.2 feet. Several narrower intervals shown in the table contain > 0.40% copper with anomalous gold and molybdenum. Hole B-051 is a significant step-out. The nearest holes are B-049, approximately 1,150 feet to the west and historic hole B-22, about 1,300 feet to the southwest. Table 1. Significant intercepts from Bear core hole B-051* HOLE B-051 From To Interval Interval % ppm ppm ppm feet feet feet meters Cu Mo Au Ag 2191.2 3674.5 1483.3 452.1 0.26 54 0.021 <0.5 includes 2191.2 3405.0 1213.8 370.0 0.30 61 0.025 <0.5 includes 2298.0 2602.4 304.4 92.8 0.42 55 0.032 <0.5 includes 2416.5 2558.0 141.5 43.1 0.46 39 0.041 <0.5 includes 3253.0 3278.0 25.0 7.6 0.43 182 0.120 <0.5 *Drill intercepts are based on actual core lengths and may not reflect the true width of mineralization. Note: 1 ppm = 1 gram per tonne Discussion Hole B-051, collared 1,150 feet east of Hole B-049, is the fourth hole of an exploration program designed to corroborate historic assay results, determine geologic controls for higher grade mineralization and attempt to extend higher grade mineralization to the north. The thickness of the mineralized intercept in B-051 is larger than those in the three previously announced holes of the current drilling program. Bornite also is more common than in previous SPS holes, occurring with chalcopyrite and molybdenite in quartz-sulfide veins, veinlet swarms and stockworks. The quartz-sulfide veins appear to correlate with higher gold and molybdenum values found in B-051 compared to the three previous drill holes. The interval 3,253 to 3278 feet averaged 0.43% copper, 182 ppm molybdenum and 0.12 ppm gold over 25 feet; the interval 2,218 to 2,241.9 feet averaged 445 ppm molybdenum over 23.9 feet. Each of the three step-out holes drilled during the current program (B-049, B-050 and B-051) have intersected significant copper mineralization, which remains open to the north, northeast and northwest. Hole B-051 was collared more than 1,000 feet from the nearest drill hole. The thick interval of copper mineralization, together with quartz-sulfide veins carrying increased amounts of bornite, molybdenum and gold, highlights the potential adjacent to hole B-051, particularly to the north. Hole B-052, located 700 feet north-northeast of Hole B-051, is in progress. Hole locations are shown on a map available on Quaterra's website at http://quaterra.com/projects/quaterras-yerington-copper-projects/bear-deposit/. A video of the current drill-program at the Bear deposit is available for viewing on the Company website at http://quaterra.com/quaterra-video-2015-bear-drilling/. Further results will be reported when available. For background on the Bear deposit, Quaterra's Yerington project and the option agreement with Freeport Nevada please see the news release dated November 17, 2015, or visit the Company website at www.quaterra.com. Quality assurance and control Core samples were either sawed or split by SPS personnel in Yerington, Nevada, and shipped to Bureau Veritas Minerals NA - Inspectorate America Corporation, an ISO certified assaying/geochemistry facility, in Reno, Nevada, for sample preparation. Gold analyses are assayed in Bureau Veritas' lab in Reno using their "FA430" procedure (fire assay with atomic absorption finish) with a 5 ppb Au detection limit. Prepared pulps are shipped to Bureau Veritas' lab in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, for analysis using their "MA 300" procedure for 35 element ICP-ES analysis. Commercially prepared standards and blanks are inserted by SPS at 50-foot intervals to insure precision of results as a quality control measure. SPS has a chain of custody program to ensure sample security during all stages of sample collection, cutting, shipping, and storage. Technical information in this news release has been approved by Thomas Patton, Ph.D., the President and CEO of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined in NI 43-101. About Quaterra Resources Inc. Quaterra Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE: QTA) (OTCQX: QTRRF) is a copper exploration and development company with the primary objective to advance its U.S. subsidiary's copper projects in the Yerington District, Nevada. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Thomas Patton, President & CEO Quaterra Resources Inc. Disclosure note: Some statements contained in this news release are forward-looking statements under Canadian securities laws and within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are identified in this news release by words such as "believes", "anticipates", "intends", "has the potential", "expects", and similar language, or convey estimates and statements that describe the Company's future plans, objectives, potential outcomes, expectations, or goals. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. In particular, forward looking statements in this news release include or assume that the Company will receive all option payments over the next six months, that exploration results on the Bear deposit will define further mineralization, that historic exploration results will be confirmed by new exploration, that further drilling will extend the boundaries of the known high-grade mineralized area, and that drill results from the current drill program point to a large copper system. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. A summary of risk factors that apply to the Company's operations are included in our management discussion and analysis filings with securities regulatory authorities, and are publicly available on our website. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement that may be made from time to time except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. 2015 saw the highest number of recorded executions in more than 25 years, Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] reported [press release] Wednesday. AI records show that at least 1,634 people were executed last year in 25 countries. However, the report also shows that there was a sharp decline in the number of death sentences between 2014 and 2015, falling to 1,998 from 2,466 recorded sentences. Yet at the end of 2015, 20,292 individuals were still waiting to face execution. Most executions take place in China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the US. However, some countries such as Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname have begun to abolish the death penalty for all crimes while more than 100 limit the practice. Capital punishment [JURIST op-ed] remains a controversial issue in the US and around the world. UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ahmed Shaheed [official website], expressed continued concern in March regarding Irans alarming rate of juvenile executions [JURIST report] and other flaws in the justice system [press release]. Mississippi lawmakers last month reintroduced a billh that would allow for execution by firing squad [JURIST report] as an alternative to lethal injection. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in March halted the execution [JURIST report] of a Texas man who was convicted of killing his children. [JURIST] The National Assembly of Cambodia [official website, in Khmer] approved legislation on Monday that sets rules for the creation and operation of trade unions. All 67 members of the ruling Cambodian Peoples Party [party website, in Khmer] voted for the law, which passed [AP report] the lower house of the legislature and now moves to the senate. The government of Cambodia supports this legislation, despite backlash [VOA report] by unions who say the law will make it difficult to strike and allows union leader discrimination. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Cambodia [official website] released a report [report, PDF] last week that stated the draft law is in violation of international labor conventions. The lack of transparency in the Cambodian legislature and contention between political parties have led to international concern. In November the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia warned [JURIST report] that the increasing polarization of the political parties in Cambodia is reaching a breaking point. In October the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed concern [JURIST report] over the organized attack on opposition politicians in Cambodia. In April the UN Human Rights Committee stated that the government needs to make public all draft legislation in order to facilitate debate. Cambodia has had a history of human rights abuses that have continued to alarm rights organizations around the world. In March Cambodias Parliament passed [JURIST report] two controversial new election laws that rights groups criticized as ill-conceived and potentially damaging to free speech. In January Cambodian General Sao Sohka admitted to using force [JURIST report] against political opponents of the reigning Cambodian Peoples Party. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) [official website] filed a civil antitrust lawsuit [complaint, PDF] Wednesday to block Halliburtons proposed acquisition of Baker Hughes, Inc. [corporate websites]. The two companies are giants in the oilfield services industry and together would comprise a majority of oil-related business. The DOJ alleges [press release] that the transaction threatens to eliminate competition, raise prices and reduce innovation in the oilfield services industry. According to the suit, the proposed purchase of Baker Hughes, Inc. would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act [text, PDF] because it would combine two of the three largest providers of oilfield services providers in the world. Suits alleging monopolies have become commonplace of recent, as many of the worlds largest companies have faced antitrust charges [JURIST backgrounder] in the US and internationally. In 2015 the European Commission opened an investigation [JURIST report] into potential antitrust violations in the e-commerce market with the scope of the investigation including a number of the worlds largest technology and search companies. The prior month, the European Commission initiated antitrust proceedings against Google [JURIST report] accusing the company of utilizing its dominant position in the search engine market to hurt competitors. Earlier that year a judge for the Northern District of California dismissed a class action suit against Google [JURIST report] for allegedly monopolizing search engines in Android phones. In 2014 a judge for the US District Court for the Northern District of California approved a settlement between federal antitrust authorities and eBay [JURIST report] over allegations that eBay agreed to not to selectively recruit and hire employees from rival companies. [JURIST] The Bangladesh government has failed to respond adequately to naturally occurring arsenic in rural drinking water, Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] said in a report [text] Wednesday. The report found that the governments efforts to combat water-contamination has drastically fallen off since 2006. In particular, HRW said there is little or no ongoing government water testing of wells and monitoring of results at the village level which has led to the false belief that the issue has been solved. The problem is far from solved, however, as a 2013 study examining drinking water at the point of use found that 12.4 percent of samples exceeded the Bangladesh standard, meaning that there is approximately 20 million people exposed to arsenic above this level. Further, the countrys standard of 50 micrograms of arsenic per liter of water is five times higher than the World Heatlh Organizations (WHO) [official website] guideline of 10 micrograms. HRW found that the countrys health system was also failing to address the issue, neglecting to conduct arsenic screening in villages and telling those affected that nothing can be done for them. According to the report, tens of thousands of individuals affected face death, and millions more face cancer, lung disease, cardiovascular disease, and other serious afflictions. While the government, international donors, and NGOs have installed deep tubewells to reach safer water, the government [expends] considerable resources in areas where the risk of arsenic contamination is relatively low and where water coverage is relatively good. The report further called upon the government and the Department of Public Health Engineering [official website] to implement plans and policies to promote safer drinking water for Bangladeshis. In March 2010 Bolivian President Evo Morales [BBC profile] called on the UN [JURIST report] to declare access to safe drinking water a basic human right and introduced a resolution to that effect. In July of that year, the UN General Assembly [official website] adopted [JURIST report] a resolution [materials] declaring that access to clean and sanitized drinking water is a basic human right. The resolution passed by a vote of 122-0. One of the Millennium Development Goals [official website] to reduce social and economic harms by 2015 includes decreasing by half the number of people who cannot reach or afford safe drinking water and do not have basic sanitation. The resolution expressed concern that approximately 884 million people are without access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6 billion people lack access to basic sanitation. [JURIST] Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant [official profile] on Tuesday signed a bill [HB 1523, materials] into law that will allow state employees to refuse to issue same-sex-marriage licenses and allow private companies and religious groups to deny services to the LGBT community without the threat of punishment. The legislation will also allow [Reuters report] employers to use religion as a reason to establish workplace policies regarding such things as dress codes and bathroom access. Proponents of the bill claim that the law will help protect sincerely held religious and moral beliefs of people who now live in a country where same-sex marriage is legal. Detractors of the law claim that it will allow employers to freely discriminate. The law is not as broad as other religious freedom bills passed by other states recently, but it still specifically protects the beliefs that marriage is between a man and a woman, that sex should be reserved to such a marriage and that the words male and female are objectively determined by anatomy and genetics at birth. The intersection of religious liberty and sexual orientation and gender identity has been a controversial issue in the US. On Thursday Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed a notice of appeal [JURIST report] of a judge s decision upholding a Fayetteville ordinance that protects members of the LGBT community from discrimination. Last month Georgia Governor Nathan Deal said that he would veto [JURIST report] a religious freedom bill that critics claim would sanction discrimination against LGBT individuals. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe vetoed [press release] a similar bill. Also last month North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper on stated [JURIST report] during a press conference that he will not defend House Bill 2, which he considers to be discriminatory against the LGBT community. That legislation specifically prohibits local municipalities from enacting anti-discrimination ordinances. [JURIST] South African President Jacob Zuma [BBC profile] on Tuesday survived a vote to impeach him after the African National Congress (ANC) [official website] gave him their support. The move to impeach Zuma came from opposition leaders after the constitutional court ruled that he had ignored their order [JURIST report] to personally repay the amounts determined by the National Treasury, as they relate to the non-security upgrades to his private residence. However, his future as president is still in question [Guardian report] as many influential figures have maintained their requests for him to resign over other questionable matters. The issue with his residence improvements came to light when several South Africans, including a Member of Parliament, complained to the Public Protector concerning aspects of the security upgrades made to the private residence triggering a fairly extensive investigation by the Protector into the Nkandla project. After not paying and the matter of impeachment going to parliament, the ANC decided to back Zuma and used their control of two-thirds of parliament to win the vote against impeachment. This is not the first time that Zuma has faced controversy in South Africa politics. Zuma was ousted [JURIST report] as the countrys deputy president in 2005 after an aide was convicted of corruption. He was also charged with rape, but he was ultimately acquitted and reinstated [JURIST report] as African National Congress deputy vice president. In July 2008 the South African Constitutional Court rejected a motion [JURIST report] by Zuma to exclude evidence from the corruption trial. Zuma had argued [JURIST report] that evidence seized in 2005 raids by the Directorate of Special Investigations should be thrown out because the raids violated his rights to privacy and a fair trial. The court upheld the warrants used in the raids, confirming a November 2007 decision [JURIST report] by the Supreme Court of Appeal. He was first charged with corruption in 2005, but those charges were later dismissed [JURIST report] because prosecutors failed to follow proper procedures. A spokesperson for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights [official website] on Tuesday expressed concern [press release] about increasing mob violence in Malawi, urging authorities to act to alleviate the situation. Spokesperson Cecile Pouilly expressed particular concern that mob uprisings have successfully been able to attack government buildings and remove individuals from custody. In one instance a man was removed from a police station and killed after he was accused of murder. In a similar instance, a mob set fire to a local court to prevent three accused murderers from receiving bail. The UN is calling for increased government action in response: We urge the authorities in Malawi to act promptly to identify and prosecute those involved in mob killings, and to offer remedy to victims. We also urge the authorities to address the root causes of such attacks and to launch an awareness campaign to encourage people to report crimes to police rather than take justice into their own hands. In recent months, government authorities in Malawi have also spoken out about the increasing violence. In February several members of Parliament claimed that Army forces were responsible for killing [Nyassa Times report] two villagers and terrorizing communities in Dzalanyama. In Late March President Arthur Peter Mutharika [Bloomberg profile] called for peace and an end to mob violence when he released the following statement via Facebook. NEWSLETTER Sign up Tick the boxes of the newsletters you would like to receive. Just Drinks Daily News The top stories of the day delivered to you every weekday. Just Drinks Weekly News A weekly roundup of the latest news and analysis, sent every Monday. Just Drinks Magazine The industry's most comprehensive news and information delivered every quarter KEARNEY First Lutheran preschoolers oohed and aahed Tuesday as they walked out of the school and saw the Buffalo County Bookmobile for the first time since it had been wrapped with a new design. The Kearney Public Librarys new bookmobile, which started making its rounds in Buffalo County in August, was completely white before it went out on the streets March 23 with the new design that features large photographs of Nebraska landscapes and icons, said Christine Walsh, Kearney Public Librarys assistant director. Walsh said when Buffalo County and the city of Kearney bought the used bus in April 2015 from a California library system, it had been painted white. She said this provided a clean slate to create a new design that would be different from the white/green and white/brown color combinations used in the designs on past Buffalo County Bookmobiles. We wanted it to have a wow factor, Walsh said. We wanted it to have an identity with Buffalo County. Walsh said library staff members knew they wanted photographs in the design that represented Buffalo County, but to find high-quality images that could be enlarged to the desired size was a challenge. They hired Paul Brokering of Denver, who has taken high-resolution photographs of Nebraska landscapes and who provided the large photograph for the mural in the childrens room at the library, Walsh said. His large photograph of rolling Nebraska hills is wrapped around the bus in the background of the design. Dean Ringlein of Kearney, a volunteer at the library, donated the eight insert photographs that adorned both sides of the bus. Photographs were taken in the region and include a rancher herding cattle on horseback, a windmill, a train and Kearneys Cottonmill Park. Walsh said the design was a collaboration between eight library staff members and CS Graphics of Kearney, which created the wrap for the bus. She said she also kept the Buffalo County Board of Commissioners abreast on the progress of the design. Its been a cooperative effort by lots of people to make it come together, she said. Walsh said the cost for the wrap and photograph was about $10,000, which was partially paid for by the trade-in of the old bus. She said the new bookmobile is a used 2004 Thomas Built, which had about 33,000 miles on it. It cost about $116,000, which was partially paid for with a $100,000 sinking fund set aside for the bookmobile. Walsh said the county was lucky to find a bus with all the bells and whistles that they wanted for about half the estimated price. It came with shelving and has seats and seat belts for three people, she said. The last bus purchased was in 1994, and was on its last leg, Walsh said. The generator went out a few months after the new bus was purchased. Walsh said the plan had been to use the old bookmobile through summer 2015, but the library had to start using the all-white bookmobile before getting the new design on it. Im thrilled. Its been a labor of love, Walsh said of the finished product. Kearney Public Library Technology Learning Center Coordinator Beth Rosenthal has gone on the road with the new bus and design as a bookmobile clerk. She said when they went to Pleasanton, The kids would freak out over the train picture. She added, They really thought it was a brand-new bus. There will be a ribbon cutting for the bookmobile at 4 p.m. April 13 at the library at 2020 First Ave. Tours will be available until 5 p.m. that day. WASHINGTON Colorados legalization of recreational marijuana has fostered more acceptance of the drug among Nebraska teenagers and pushed more high-potency pot into the state, Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson testified Tuesday. The diversion of marijuana into my state has been fierce, Peterson said. He appeared at a hearing of the Senate drug caucus called by its chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Peterson called on the federal government to take action. Its amazing, he said, that a single 2013 federal memo in that outlined the government's priorities for marijuana enforcement has given the green light to a thriving pot industry churning out high-potency, high-profit marijuana. He pointed to a string of stops in Lancaster County that netted large quantities of marijuana believed to originate in California, Oregon and Colorado with a value in the millions. Grassley opened the hearing by citing a GAO report that said the Justice Department should be doing more to collect data on the legalization experience in states such as Colorado. According to York Superintendent Mike Lucas, who wrote to the editor on April 2, Schools not gouging taxpayers, one reason Nebraska property taxes are high is due to decreases in state aid for total education funding. But discussing state aid decreases in education without considering increases in spending by Nebraska public schools is irresponsible. Nebraska ranks relatively high on per-pupil spending in public schools nationwide. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Nebraska ranked 18th among states in 2013 for spending per pupil. Nebraska spent $11,579 per student in 2013, compared to a national average of $10,700. Other studies show once adjusting for cost of living that we are ranked even higher. Nebraska is one of a minority of states where state education aid per pupil was higher in 2013 than it was prior to the recent recession. Lucas touts Nebraskas top ranking of a 21.7 ACT average when compared to 17 states with over 80 percent ACT participation. However, all of Nebraskas neighboring states test with nearly 80 percent ACT participation and have higher average scores. We can also point to high poverty public high schools in Nebraska where the ACT averages are 16.8, or 18.5 with a 100 percent participation rate, according to the Nebraska Department of Education. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have approved school choice options, including all of the states that border Nebraska. School choice options like public charter schools, tax-credit scholarships for businesses, educational savings accounts, and vouchers have shown significant academic improvement for low-income, marginalized student subgroups. And they have shown that with innovative legislative bill writing, school choice can save taxpayer dollars and have a zero-sum effect on public school funding because the amount needed to follow the student is typically only a fraction of what is spent annually by the traditional public school. Deb Portz, Lincoln The world was supposed to end in January. Well, at least according to Al Gore. In An Inconvenient Truth, the 2006 global warming documentary featuring the former Vice President, Gore famously warned that without taking major steps to cut greenhouse gases within the next decade, the world will reach a point of no return. That deadline has come and gone. Were still here. And Gore has been forced to scale back on making dire warnings of a true planetary emergency. Indeed, the last decade rebukes Gores entire alarmist worldview. Gore has made grand promises about the power of renewables to meet Americas energy needs. At a recent ideas summit sponsored by the Atlantic magazine, he stated that solar energy electricity offers the most exciting source of hope. And yet, despite taking in billions in federal supports, renewables are a tiny fraction of American energy production. Combined, solar, wind, and hydroelectric generate just 10 percent of our power. Without lush subsidies, most of these businesses would collapse. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry continues to meet most of our energy needs. Revolutionary new drilling techniques like fracking have improved our energy output. America is now on pace to be the top energy producer in the world by the end of 2016. That growth has generated serious economic returns. The oil and natural gas industry supports 10 million jobs and comprises 8 percent of our countrys GDP. Gore also alleges that migrating away from fossil fuels will improve American energy security. During a recent interview, he claimed that renewables are an investment worth making because we cannot continue to be so dependent on expensive foreign oil. Americas energy security has been improving but no thanks to renewables. The rapid expansion of the domestic supply of fossil fuels has enabled this country to slash its energy imports from rogue nations. Net imports today account for only 27 percent of all locally consumed petroleum the lowest level since Ronald Reagan was president. The real irony of Gores anti-fossil fuel agenda is that the recent growth of this industry has helped the environment. Thats thanks to the invention of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. This innovative drilling technique empowers developers to tap into previously inaccessible underground energy deposits. Fracking has dramatically increased the production of domestic natural gas, which is cheaper to use and more environmentally friendly than coal. Thats caused many companies to shift away from coal and toward natural gas. As a result, the countrys carbon emissions have dropped to their lowest level in over 20 years. In fact, despite not signing the Kyoto Protocol, America has actually met the treatys emissions reduction targets on schedule. As a rich man in a wealthy nation, Gore can afford to disdain fossil fuels while benefiting from them. When An Inconvenient Truth premiered, Gores mansion used 20 times as much electricity as the average American home. But those living in third-world countries arent so fortunate. They need access to affordable energy to survive. Gores crusade is wrongheaded. The expansion of the fossil fuel industry has created jobs, boosted economic growth, and reduced our dependence on foreign oil all while reducing harmful emissions. Fossils fuels are not the enemy. Drew Johnson is a Senior Fellow at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization committed to limited, responsible government. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, left, arrives for a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Poroshenko said at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday that an offshore holding company set up for his candy business was a necessary step to put his assets into a blind trust when he became president in 2014.(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi) Pump prices likely on the rise in coming months Gas prices are likely to go back up following the OPEC+ decision to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, starting in November.... Spindle Items .. ETERNAL HAPPINESS All of us are chasing happiness. None of us wants to be miserable, angry, frightened , depressed or the like. If... Out of the Past 25 Years AgoOct. 22, 1997 Zoning laws in the Town of Tonawanda received much needed updating Monday as Councilman Raymond Sinclair presented amendments in underground... Family fun for everyone Halloween is every kids dream holiday, with costumes and candy, tricks and treats. Some of my favorite memories with my family have centered around Halloween,... 104 Shares Share I hereby authorize xxx, my patient, to donate plasma up to two times per week. I moved to Cleveland over the summer to start work as a full-time primary care internist. Within a few weeks, I started receiving a form in my mailbox that I had never seen during my training in San Francisco: an authorization request for my patients to donate their plasma. By the time the fourth form came, I realized that plasma donation was more than an altruistic fad that happened over Cleveland summers. What I eventually learned was that our patients line up for hours, twice a week, to trade their time and plasma for money. The money $20 per session is used to pay rent or bills. The plasma is used to create expensive biologic intravenous medications like IVIG and clotting factors. I admit I was ignorant about plassing: the colloquial name for paid plasma donation. My first step was to look at a map. I found three plasma donation centers in Cleveland, a city which counts under 250,000 adult residents. The centers are in the Cudell, Clark-Fulton, and Buckeye neighborhoods. Zero are in San Francisco. I hadnt just looked the other way during my training. These centers are situated in the poorest neighborhoods, and while some poor people do find a way to live in San Francisco, poor neighborhoods have vanished there. No shortage of plasma donation center locations in Cleveland in high-poverty neighborhoods. What is plasma? Plasma is whole blood minus blood cells and platelets. When our patients give plasma, a wide needle and tube is placed in their arm to draw out whole blood. The whole blood is run through a machine that filters out blood cells and platelets, then adds salt water and returns the blood to the donor. The protein-rich plasma goes to the plasma donation center. Donors go through screenings before they are permitted to give plasma that include blood tests and a questionnaire about risky behavior. In some cases, potential donors must provide an authorization form from their primary care provider, like the ones that show up in my mailbox. The health risks of giving plasma are unclear. The American Red Cross allows volunteers to donate only once every 28 days and 13 times per year due to perceived risks of more frequent plasma donation. In the case of plasma donation centers, donation and donor are misnomers. Each center promises $50 for each of the first two sessions, and $20 per session after that. The plasma centers say that the payment is compensation for the time donors spent giving plasma, not the plasma itself. That way, they can continue to call it a donation. The American Red Cross, on the other hand, does not offer cash for blood products, due to concern that it would incentivize donors to lie, potentially increasing the risk of transmitting infectious diseases through the blood supply. According to an article in the Atlantic, The Twisted Business of Donating Plasma, the total number of plasma donations nearly doubled in five years: from 12.5 million in 2006 to 23 million in 2011. The plasma therapeutics market sales of drugs made with collected plasma nearly tripled from $4 billion to $11 billion between 2008 and 2014. Plasma from paid donors in the United States make up 70 percent of the worlds supply, the author writes, earning the U.S. the distinction in the industry as the OPEC of plasma collections. This is not a description of a dystopian future. This is now, in the community where I live and work, and likely in your community. Have times gotten so desperate that people need to sell their plasma to make ends meet? Yes, they have. In the book, $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer write about the rise of extreme poverty in the U.S. They use census data to estimate that 1.5 million households lived on incomes of $2.00, or less, per person per day in 2011, double the number in 1996, when welfare reform legislation was passed. The authors write about the lives of people in Cleveland, Chicago, rural Tennessee, and the Mississippi Delta, who subsist on virtually no income. Plasma donation is one of their survival strategies. Back at my mailbox, I struggle with the decision of whether to sign the forms asking for permission to take my patients plasma. Do I authorize an opportunity that will provide up to $80 a month for my patients who may have no other source of income? Or do I decline their request based on the shady ethics of the plasma centers and the potential health effects of losing the protein rich fluid that holds their blood cells? For most, I choose to sign. David Margolius is an internal medicine physician who blogs at Building Better Primary Care. Image credit: Shutterstock.com 852 Shares Share The media is full of stories about the current opioid crisis. But unlike many national crises, such as the Flint lead-contaminated water crisis, the focus is on solutions and not blame. A few weeks ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued guidelines for prescribing opioids in chronic pain, Congress approved funding for prevention and treatment, and the US HHS released a National Pain Strategy. So to fulfill my duty as an American, allow me to place blame for our current opioid crisis. Allow me to start with physicians. We overprescribe opioids, just as we overprescribe antibiotics. But it is generally well meaning; we dont want our patients to experience pain. Healthy Living magazine recently published a heart-wrenching story of a woman whose life was nearly destroyed by two weeks of oxycodone prescribed by a well-meaning physician for arthritis. These physicians can best be described as innocent bystanders. But pill mill doctors who set up shop, accept cash as the only payment and are willing to prescribe to anyone for any ailment, real or feigned, are criminals and need to be stopped. They cast a long shadow on the work of every other physician trying to help patients. After the minor role of physicians come the real co-conspirators. First is Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of Oxycontin. Despite a lack of increased efficacy in treating pain compared to older medications, Purdue mounted an aggressive marketing campaign that included a warning from the FDA in 2003 over misleading advertisements. Physicians, including myself, believed Purdue and started using Oxycontin, thinking we were helping patients. At around the same time as Oxycontins approval, the American Pain Society, introduced the pain as the 5th vital sign campaign, followed soon thereafter by the VA adopting that campaign as part of their national pain management strategy. This declaration was not accompanied by the release of any device which could objectively measure pain, as was done with all previous vital signs, making it the first and only subjective vital sign. The Joint Commission joins the list in 2001, issuing standards requiring the use of a pain scale and stressing the safety of opioids. According to the Wall Street Journal, they even published a guide sponsored by Purdue Pharma. This guide reportedly stated, Some clinicians have inaccurate and exaggerated concerns about addiction, tolerance and risk of death. This attitude prevails despite the fact there is no evidence that addiction is a significant issue when persons are given opioids for pain control. The Joint Commission framed pain as a patients rights issue, inferring that inadequate control of pain would lead to sanctions. Press Ganey deserves a place with their emphasis on patient satisfaction. They monetized their concept, selling not only surveys but also consulting services to help hospitals improve their scores. Unfortunately, the correlation between patient satisfaction and quality is unclear, with a study from UC Davis suggesting that high satisfaction is actually dangerous, correlating it to higher expenditures, higher rates of hospitalization and a higher risk of death. But acknowledging such literature would affect Press Ganeys lucrative survey sales, so such studies are ignored. CMS determined that pay for volume CMS developed the value-based purchasing program to shift from pay for volume to pay for value. Hospitals are scored based on their performance on measures of processes of care, outcomes of care, efficiency and the patient experience. The patient experience is based on scoring on HCAHPS surveys that are sent to patients, which includes patient scoring of their satisfaction with their pain control. CMS decided that a patients satisfaction was as important as whether a patient developed a hospital-acquired condition or even survived their hospitalization, and weighted satisfaction at 30 percent of the overall score. Because CMS was now attaching significant reimbursement to patient satisfaction, hospital administrators developed initiatives to improve their scores and avoid a penalty. Because only 25 completed surveys a month are required, and the difference between the 50th percentile and 90th percentile can be an absolute difference of 1 to 2 percent, a single poor survey can have devastating effects. Administrators held physicians responsible for ensuring that every patient is completely satisfied in every way. As described in the comments section of a 2013 Forbes article entitled, Why Rating Your Doctor is Bad for Your Health, administrators withheld pay or bonuses. Physicians felt pressured to prescribe opioids when patients demanded them, despite their reservations about the need for opioid medications. Thomas Lee, MD from Press Ganey in JAMA stated these (drug-seeking) patients do not respond often to surveys and thus have little influence on physicians overall ratings but without any proof of such; depriving a potential drug-seeking patient who threatens to give bad satisfaction scores is a sure route to trouble. CMS also tried to deflect blame in a JAMA editorial, noting, Because some hospitals have identified patient experience as a potential source of competitive advantage, these actions can create perverse and harmful incentives to elicit positive survey responses. For example, there are reports that some hospitals link individual physician or physician group financial incentives to performance on disaggregated HCAHPS responses. This is contrary to the surveys design and policy aim. If so, why did CMS not address this in 2013, when the Forbes article provided ample evidence that hospitals were using the surveys in such a way? A notice to hospitals forbidding the use of HCAHPS as a punitive measure would have gone a long way to empowering doctors to say no to patients demanding opioids. Of course placing blame will not fix the current problem but neither will asking for the resignation of the governor of Michigan, but those responsible for this crisis need to be held accountable. I call on Congress to hold hearings and compel the top executives from Purdue Pharmaceutical, the Joint Commission, Press Ganey, and CMS and hospital administrators to appear and testify as to their role in this national epidemic. Blame must be placed; it is the American way. Ronald Hirsch is vice president, regulations and education group, AccretivePAS. The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or opinions of his employer. Image credit: Shutterstock.com Sean mcKeown ahs been appointed as the full time director to lead the implementation of the South Eeast's Action plan for jobs. Formerly Head of enterprise with Kilkenny County Council he will be based at the Enterprise Ireland Regional Offices in Waterford. The South east Action Plan for Jobs Implementation committee has finalised its firstnreport, which confirmans that all of the actions for the regio in its three year plan have been completed.. Industry champions have also been sourced to help with the implementation of the plan - notably Terry Clune, Founder & Chair of Connect Ireland and Taxback, Kilkenny; Seamus Kilgannon, CEO Schivo Group, Waterford; Patsy Carney, CEO Eirgen Pharma, Waterford; Rachel Doyle, MD Arboretum, Carlow; Pat McLoughlin, Operations Manager Abbott Vascular, Clonmel; Pauline Oakes, Director of Operations CR Bard, Wexford; and Colin Gordon, CEO Glanbia Consumer Products. The Chairman of the Implementation Committee, Frank ORegan said: We have got off to a really good start with some early wins. The Action Plan is a public-private partnership between the local authorities and state agencies in the region on the one hand and local business and industry champions on the other. We are united in our purpose to ensure the potential of the south east as a great place to live, invest and to do business is maximised and that we develop the right environment to create the jobs the region needs. Employment in the south east region fell by almost 38,000 (or 17%) between 2006 and 2011 and the unemployment level reached almost 19 per cent. Since the National Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012, employment in the region has grown by over 25,000 (or 14%). The South East Action Plan for Jobs launched in September 2015 aims to build on this momentum and comprises of actions which specifically focus on the regions strengths, opportunities and challenges. The Implementation Committee finalised its first progress report at its meeting held at the end of last month. Among the actions that have been progressed to date are: the commencement of a regional microenterprise Food Strategy in conjunction with Bord Bia and other relevant stakeholders. support provided to local food producers has resulted in 5 from the south east, out of a national total of 29,being selected for trial listings in a cross section of SuperValu stores under the Food Academy Advance Programme; the development of a smart specialisation strategy for the region, looking at ways to maximise the use of ICT in particular in Agriculture, Digital Media, Medical Devices and Pharmaceutical Industries, Advanced Manufacturing and Tourism. the development of a new technology gateway - DESIGN+ (at IT Carlow) to complement the existing gateways (at WIT) that will provide industry with a mix of design and technical expertise to help prototype and implement new products, as well as help upgrade the industrial strengths of the region; a comprehensive programme of enterprise training and management development programmes(put in place by the LEOs in the region), aimed at assisting over 4,000 entrepreneurs to either start or develop and grow their business this year; the preparation of an application under the Accelerator Development Scheme, which is aimed at providing an intensive range of supports to accelerate the number of quality start-ups in the region; and the local authorities in the region have compiled a profile of available office and industrial space in the region The progress made since the launch of the Plan last September is very positive and the commitment shown by all of the stakeholders in the process thus far is really encouraging for the future of the region, said Chairman O'Regan. "Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them." William Arthur Ward Stock-based compensation is an excellent tool in building personal wealth. In particular, executives in public companies often enjoy being compensated based on their company's stock price. Having worked with public corporation executives over the past three decades, I have had the opportunity to see incredible levels of wealth be built. Unfortunately, I have also seen an amazing amount of money get left on the table. Here are three mistakes people often make with their stock-based compensation: Subscribe to Kiplingers Personal Finance Be a smarter, better informed investor. Save up to 74% Sign up for Kiplingers Free E-Newsletters Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail. Profit and prosper with the best of Kiplingers expert advice - straight to your e-mail. Sign up 1. Forgetting to exercise options before they expire. "North of 10% of valuable options expire unexercised every year," says Bruce Brumberg, editor of myStockOptions.com, a site devoted to options, restricted stock and other forms of equity-based compensation. Too often, you get busy, and your focus on other business and personal items causes you to forget that you need to deal with an option. All options should be placed into a management system to avoid this unfortunate, but all too easy, mistake. 2. Not having an exit strategy. This mistake is also quite common and sometimes leads to waiting until the last minute to exercise. In some cases, this is due to not having a strategy to determine when the optimum price and time to maximize the value of the option is. There are tools that can assist you in determining an appropriate time to exercise. For example, Black-Scholes modeling (opens in new tab) uses the current price, the stock's volatility and expiration, or expiry, date to assist in coming up with an estimated fair value. While not perfect, it is far better than holding up your finger to see which way the wind is blowing. If you have stock-based compensation, you will benefit greatly from having advisers with expertise in these strategies. 3. Misunderstanding the tax consequences. This issue is critical to achieving optimal results. Executive stock options fall into three general types: Incentive Stock Options, Non-Qualified Stock Options and Stock Grants. All have their own unique and special tax features. Incentive Stock Options (ISOs) ISOs have been waning in popularity at very large organizations, but are still popular with many start-up companies. ISOs have a special feature: When you exercise, the tax event is deferred until the stock is actually sold. For example, let's say XYZ Company issues a stock option for $10 per share, and the current value is $20. When you exercise the $10 gain, it is not recognized until the XYZ Company stock is sold and converted to cash. If you hold for one year and one day, the exercised stock's gain then qualifies for long-term capital gains treatment, at a maximum of 20%, instead of ordinary income tax treatment at a maximum of 39.6% plus any state taxes. This is a huge difference. In many cases, executives are not aware of this point, exercise the stock and sell immediately, losing the long-term capital gains treatment. Non-Qualified Stock Options (NSOs) The popularity of NSOs has been increasing as ISOs decline. The overall costs for the issuing company are lower due to the tax treatment at exercise. Let's look at an example using the same scenario as before. XYZ issues an NSO at $10 per share, and you pay no tax at the time of issue. The stock appreciates to $20 and is vested. If you decide to sell at $20, the gain is $10. The stock is either purchased with cash, or (most frequently) a zero-cost strategy is exercised that in effect sells and provides you with the same $10. Either way, the entire $10 is taxed as ordinary income. However, while for IRS purposes the gain is taxed as compensation, in most cases, your withholding would not be based on the combination of your salary and the NSO sale, which would result in the tax day surprise that no one wants. Proper consultation with your financial and tax advisers when exercising is critical to understand what will be required. Stock Grants Stock grants are gaining more and more traction in corporate America, in part, because of the increased pressure from shareholders to keep executive compensation reasonable. This type of stock option lacks the leverage that ISOs and NSOs enjoy, and in many ways, are like a deferred bonus with upside and downside potential. For example, let's say XYZ Company issues you 1,000 shares of stock at a price of $10 per share. No taxes are due at the time of the grant since the stock typically has a vesting schedule. The taxable event occurs when the stock is fully available to sell. Whether or not the stock is sold, the shares would be taxed when they become vested, either partially or fully. The challenge may be in having the cash to pay the tax on the vesting date. Let's assume the stock doubles to $20 and vests. The taxable income would be the full value of the stock, or $20,000. If, on the other hand, the stock drops to $5, the taxable income would be $5,000. The only way the stock can have long-term capital gains treatment is to hold it for one year and one day past the vesting date. There is one exception called an 83(b) election. By filing an 83(b) election, you are declaring the value of the stock at the time of the grant rather than waiting. If in the example above, thestock doubles to $20, and an 83(b) election was properly filed within 30 days of the initial grant, $10,000 would be taxed as ordinary income in the year of the grant, and $10,000 would be taxed as long-term capital gains when the stock is ultimately sold. Of course, there are disadvantages to this strategy: You could end up forfeiting the stock pre-vesting, if you wind up leaving the company, for example. Also, the stock may not appreciate, and the tax treatment would be worse than it would have been had you waited. If, however, you are very confident in your long-term role at the company, and the confidence is very high for the stock, then an 83(b) election is something to seriously consider. The landscape for stock-based compensation continues to change significantly, and the continuous evolution is almost certainly assured. Attention must be paid to the management of these tools and the timeliness and techniques that are most appropriate. By paying attention to the expiry dates, types of grants and the tax treatment, you can maximize the impact of stock-based compensation on your personal financial security. Bob Klosterman, CFP, is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of White Oaks Investment Management, Inc. (opens in new tab), and author of the book, The Four Horsemen of the Investors Apocalypse (opens in new tab). Palisade Radio is brought to you by First Majestic Silver Corp., one of the worlds purest and fastest growing silver mining companies. Palisade Radio Host, Collin Kettell: Welcome back to another episode of Palisade Radio. This is your host, Collin Kettell. On the line with us today is a new guest to the program. His name is Peter Zihlmann and he is a Fund Manager at Timeless Funds based out of Malta. Peter, welcome to the program. Director, Timeless Asset Management Ltd., Peter Zihlmann: Thank you. CK: You know we have done a lot of interviews based around uranium lately and for any of our listeners that have heard too much of it I apologize, but there is just a huge demand every time we talk about uranium. That is despite the fact that there is very small, very select amount of uranium companies to invest in. Now, Peter, you manage a few funds, but the one that maybe you are most interested in at this point in time is the Timeless Uranium Fund. Tell us a little bit about the uranium fund to start out. PZ: Yeah, it is correct. We focus on the uranium fund because we like the story very much. As you said before there are not too many possibilities to invest in uranium stocks. There are maybe about twenty we consider and which we have in the portfolio. We have spread our investments by the segment. We have big caps like Cameco. We also have stocks that invest directly in physical uranium. We have a few producers the well known name. We have also some of the senior explorer companies like NexGen and Fission and then also some smaller companies. Actually we have the whole spectrum of the uranium space. CK: Essentially, you have built a very nice proxy for investors who are interested in uranium to come in and get wide exposure to the space even though it is a narrow space. PZ: Absolutely. Somebody has production, development and exploration, and he has a little bit of everything. CK: Why do we not talk about why uranium is so exciting to you at the time? A lot of our listeners have probably heard the case for the demand in uranium, the rising demand. Tell us a little bit about why uranium interests you so much. PZ: Well, the fact is that the world is building new reactors. I mean presently we have sixty-six reactors under construction: twenty-four in China, eight in Russia, six in India and South Korea, etc. We had just also learned that China has made an agreement, for example, with Saudi Arabia, and Saudi Arabia plans to have sixteen reactors operational in 2032. For example, if you take just China as a driving force. China today has more or less twenty-five reactors operational. But they expect to have ten times that number in about fifteen years so that demand is growing everywhere in the world. The other side is that obviously we need a clean energy and nuclear is clean. We know very well that a lot of people actually die from bad air and pollution, etc. Nuclear power is the future and that is why we like it so much because the demand for uranium keeps growing. CK: It seems that the fundamentals for uranium are all there. But to be fair they were all there a year ago and two years ago. Of course we had the Fukushima disaster which really put a damper on the industry. But in terms of timing do you have any sense of when things are going to turn around? PZ: Well, it is difficult to forecast because as you say people have been very bullish for two years now and uranium price does not seem to go nowhere. Fukushima, obviously, had a huge impact and that is still in the minds of people. But I think it will change. It can change anytime. It can change tomorrow. It can change today. I think the fact is that people one day will wake up and just see the price go up. The other side is obviously the supply which at todays prices remains limited because traditional mining needs a much higher uranium price so that the supply will also be limited. The gap between demand and supply can only go wider and the price has to go up. But it is extremely hard to tell when it will really happen. It should have happened long ago, but the markets are markets. It seems also that more and more people talk about uranium and the fact is as, I said before, the whole world is constructing new reactors with the lead of China, Russia, and India. CK: Peter, uranium is a very unique commodity in that in terms of getting a new mining construction usually have somewhere between a 7 to 10 or 11-year timeline and that is due to the permitting associated, especially permitting of a mill, and at the same time the price of uranium during seven to ten years of a shortage can go up. We have seen it happen back 2001 to 2007 where uranium rose from $7 or $8 to $140 dollars. If that happened with oil or coal it would change in interest in using that source of fuel. But with uranium the fuel cost associated in nuclear reactor is not that important. Can you touch on that a bit? PZ: Well, it is minimal in a nuclear reactor. I mean nuclear reactor costs $7 billion and running it is very cheap. I think the most important thing is actually on the other side the correction of pollution. If you continue burning oil and coal you have a lot of pollution. With a nuclear reactor you do not have that, especially China has a big problem of pollution and for them it is the only way forward. The cost of uranium is not really a factor for them. Or let us take the example of Japan. Japan had to import all the oil. That is why they set on a nuclear power until Fukushima happened. But now they are going back because there is no alternative. CK: I am happy you brought up Japan because that was going to be my next question. Obviously, Japan shutting down their reactors set off a bit of a chain reaction. Germany followed suit at least for a short period after Fukushima. Japan has now restarted two of their reactors and then two more. But reports were that two of those were shut back down and getting all these reactors online has been a slow process and it may continue to be a slow process. How important is Japan in the big scheme of things in terms of the price of uranium? PZ: Well, it is certainly very important. In the first place when they shut down all their reactors there was a lot of fear that all the uranium they had would come to the market. Now that they are actually restarting their reactors, that will not be the case or very unlikely. I would say within two or three years at least half of the reactors in Japan will be online again. I think the Japanese factor or the fear from Japan will evaporate. CK: What would you say at this point, Peter, are the most important countries or aspects of the uranium price moving up? I guess China is the biggest of all at this point. PZ: Yeah, actually, presently, China has twenty-four nuclear reactors under construction. Russia has eight. India has six. The next one is the United Arab Emirates with four, the United States of America with five, and then Korea with three, etc., so a total of sixty-six reactors are under construction, and many, many more are planned. In this list we do not even have Saudi Arabia which has signed a contract with the Chinese to build sixteen reactors by 2032. The other thing is also that a lot of countries even like Switzerland that has more or less decided to get out of nuclear energy, they are really re-thinking what they decided some years ago and what they do actually thus the five reactors which Switzerland has. The capacity is actually being increased by about 13% and so do other countries. Even the existing reactors to them more capacity is added. I mean the demand picture is so clear that in my opinion it is just a matter of time until the uranium price goes up. With the uranium price, obviously, the companies that produce or explore will go up much more. We have seen some wonderful examples of an exploration company like NexGen, which is in our portfolio, which has gone up more than 200% in two years. I think the potential is just enormous. CK: Well, something we touched on at the beginning of the interview a bit and this is much more art than science in terms of looking back and seeing what has happened in the past. When uranium price does indeed start to move whether it is this year or in three years what kind of action do you anticipate in the stocks, and a lot of that is going to be a factor of just how few vehicles there are for so many investors rushing into the space to purchase? PZ: Well, you see if you simply look at, let us say, the most conservative uranium stock, the biggest one, Cameco; if you look at the chart going back twenty years from 2000 to 2008, their stock went up 2000% and then we had the correction. It came down about 70%. Then we had another rise of the stock price of 160% until Fukushima happened. If you look back we had several corrections in the past twenty years. One was 79%. One was 71%. Now we are down 60%. On the other side you see the potential these stocks had in the past when the uranium price started rising from 1992 to 96. The price of Cameco went up almost 500%, as I said before, until 2008. After the correction it went up 2000%. Until Fukushima happened, it went up 160%. This is the potential for the very conservative ones. But the other ones, the smaller ones, can easily go up five times or ten times as they did in the past. CK: Yeah, it is truly an epic move in the uranium space when these stocks do go, and it feels like ages ago the last time we had a significant move. But that will certainly come again or at least I believe so and you believe so. I want to point all of our listeners to your website for more information. The website is www.timeless-funds.com. Peter, anything else to add for our listeners at this point? PZ: Well, you see we are very hot about uranium, but obviously we also like a lot of precious metals. In an interview I recently heard somebody asked a guy what do you prefer uranium or gold? He said, You know I have three children. It is like asking me whom do you prefer? So I would say uranium is very hot, but gold and precious metals are also very hot. CK: Yeah, well thanks for that analogy. It makes a lot of sense. We might see many of these commodities move in tandem if we get a bull market here. It should be exciting times for all of your funds, Peter. PZ: Yeah, I hope so. CK: Peter, thank you so much for coming on the show. It has been a pleasure. PZ: My pleasure. Thank you. By Palisade radio SHARE Robert M. Gates is the first secretary of defense to live in military housing, an old but spacious 19th century home in a secure Navy compound in the District of Columbia, an easy compute from the Pentagon. Gates also could be the last defense chief to live there, practical as it is, unless Congress amends a law that prescribes how much a civilian must pay to lease base housing. As Gates has learned, it's no sweetheart deal. The defense chief is paying $6,506.83 a month to rent his quarters. That greatly exceeds what his neighbor, Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, pays. To live in his quarters in the same compound, Mullen forfeits only his monthly basic allowance for housing, which for an admiral assigned to Washington D.C. is $2,409 a month. Gates receives no tax-free allowance, or stipend of any kind, to cover his housing payments. So his rent of $78,082 a year gobbles up 40 percent of his cabinet salary of $191,300. Defense officials believe this is unfair and are seeking legislative relief, not only for their current boss but for future defense secretaries who might choose to live in the well-guarded compound with its high fences, guard gates and sophisticated surveillance and communication gear. The request for rental relief is among a packet of legislative proposals that the department submitted to Congress two weeks ago. Current law requires that when a civilian official is permitted to lease base housing, which occurs infrequently for security reasons or because no adequate off-base housing is available, the military must charge rent based on the fair market value of similar housing found off base. The Army Corps of Engineers assessed the value of the home Gates now occupies and concluded it would cost just over $6,500 to rent if located outside the gate in the high-priced D.C. area. Gates doesn't want to avoid paying rent altogether. But the department asks that the law be changed so the secretary pays rent equal to what a general or admiral forfeits in housing allowances plus 5 percent. If Congress agrees, Gate's monthly rent could fall to $2,530, a drop of almost $4,000 a month. It's viewed as a reasonable result both for the government and the secretary, according an analysis of the initiative prepared for lawmakers. Housing the secretary "on a secure military installation is far more cost-effective than installing, maintaining, and protecting sensitive Department of Defense equipment along with secure information facilities, and security and detection systems in private residences," the department explains. Using such housing "also substantially reduces the logistics, public disruptions and costs associated with protecting the secretary." Gates hasn't complained publicly about his rent, and it is not the first financial sacrifice he has made to serve as defense secretary. Gates' salary was more than $750,000, in 2005, as president of Texas A&M University, a job he said he loved. He gave it up, as well as lucrative income from public speeches, when he replaced Donald Rumsfeld in December 2006. Gates, 64, entered the intelligence community as a junior Air Force officer. He capped a long civilian career in the CIA when he became Director of the Central Intelligence in 1991 for then-President George H. W. Bush. Expanding Reserve Early Retirement Reservists and National Guard personnel mobilized for war and national emergencies for periods of 90 days or longer since Sept. 11, 2001, could see their age-60 threshold for receiving reserve retirement lowered under a bill (S 2836) introduced April 9 by 10 Republican and Democratic senators. "The bill we are introducing today enhances what we did in last year's defense bill and rewards our men and women who have deployed since our nation was attacked," said Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). Congress voted a compromise last year that allows only reserve component members deployed after Jan. 28, for 90 days or more, to earn the right to retire earlier than age 60. Chambliss, who led the effort to reduce reserve retirement age by tying the initiative to current and future wartime deployments, now joins with colleague to try to have early retirement credit applied retroactively to more than 600,000 reservists and Guard members who deployed since 9/11. Many of them have been unhappy to learn they were left out of last year's action. Congress only found money enough in the FY 2008 defense budget to apply the early retirement provision to deployment time served after the 2008 defense authorization bill was signed. For every consecutive 90 days spent mobilized, reservists will see the traditional age-60 start for annuities reduced by three months. Therefore a reservist eligible to retire who mobilized for a year after Jan. 28 can begin to draw retired pay at age 59. Chambliss, in an interview, said extending the early retirement provision to deployments since 9/11 would bump the estimated cost to $560 million over five years, up from $35 million for last year's change. Given the price tag, he suggested, the goal of the new bill, called the National Guard and Reserve Retired Pay Equity Act of 2008, to cover all 600,000 reservists deployed since 9/11, might not be reached this year. "At the end of the day, we're not likely to get it all in one year," he said. "We're probably going to have to get it in increments. But those folks who went to Iraq [or Afghanistan] from 2001 through 2007 will ultimately be entitled to the benefits of this provision." Tom Philpott may be reached at milupdate@aol.com; write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111; or visit: militaryupdate.com. Stuff reports: Green Party co-leader James Shaw said the move opened the door to partial privatisation. This deal makes it harder for the Government to use Kiwibank to drive competition in the banking sector, as the Green Party announced wed do, because the Government cant direct the Super and ACC funds in the way it could have directed Kiwibank, he said. The Greens announced last week they would inject $100m of capital into the bank, and allow it to keep more of its profits to foster a faster expansion. The fact is the Government forced Kiwibanks hand and todays announcement will make it easier than it was before to move Kiwibank into private ownership. But Cullen said Shaws argument, that the Government was able to direct Kiwibank, was completely incorrect Kiwibank is a 100 per cent owned subsidiary of New Zealand Post but in terms of the Companies Act and Reserve Bank requirements it must act independently in terms of its activities. The Government cannot direct New Zealand Post, nor through New Zealand Post can it direct Kiwibank. Shenandoah, IA (51601) Today Sunny with gusty winds. High 87F. Winds SSE at 25 to 35 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.. Tonight Windy with an isolated thunderstorm or two possible this evening. Then some showers later on. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low 57F. Winds SSW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 40%. Greg Johnson, News Sentinel columnist. The national debate over religious freedom comes to Nashville on Wednesday, pitting Christian counselors against gay rights activists. The state House is scheduled to vote on House Bill 1840, which declares "no person providing counseling or therapy services shall be required to counsel or serve a client as to goals, outcomes or behaviors that conflict with a sincerely held religious belief of the counselor or therapist." The bill would protect Christian counselors from a potential rash of lawsuits claiming discrimination by folks whose "sincerely held religious belief" prohibits them from, in good faith, providing services to those with different values related to same-sex marriage in particular and homosexuality in general. "As faith-based professional counselors, we cannot divorce our religious core values from ourselves even in our professional role," Dale Berry, head of Ebenezer Counseling Services in Knoxville, wrote in a letter to Gov. Bill Haslam. "In reality, all counselors should be supportive of HB1840 if they value their own core values. Non-religious counselors also have core values that cannot be divorced from their person." A national rash of lawsuits by the gay community has been accompanied by rash language from the American Counseling Association and the Tennessee Equality Project. The ACA and the TEP, a gay rights activist group, called the legislation "Hate Bill 1840." Christian counselors argue counselees are better served by counselors who share their values. "As Christians we believe that all people are made in the image of God and are therefore valuable and to be respected," Berry wrote. "We are willing and consider it a privilege to see people of any race, belief system, sexual orientation, age, etc. However, no matter who it is, if the client espouses a goal that is in direct conflict with our core values, we would need to refer." Yet the ACA and the TEP warn of dire consequences. "This (bill) means that thousands of Tennesseans seeking professional counseling services could be denied access to the care they desperately need," the organizations said in a press release. "The discriminatory legislation could also result in costly unintended consequences for Tennessee including jeopardizing federal healthcare funding to the state and cutting into the bottom line of Tennessee small business, tourism and convention industries." Without the bill, Berry warns of other dire consequences. He and his colleagues would be forced to violate either ACA standards or their consciences by abandoning their Christian convictions. HB1840 "is about freedom," Berry wrote, "and about doing what is really best for the client." By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel A federal appeals court this week struck down a judge's decision to award only $1 in damages to a Sunni Muslim state trooper fired after a military liaison falsely labeled him a budding terrorist, calling the amount "wholly inadequate." The 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ordered U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell to consider "a more appropriate damages award" for De'Ossie Dingus, a 10-year veteran of the Knoxville branch of the Tennessee Highway Patrol fired in 2010. The firing came after military liaison Maj. Kevin Taylor called Dingus a potential terrorist after a brief encounter in November 2009 in which Dingus complained about the airing of a video on the radicalization of children during a training class that was supposed to teach troopers how to recognize weapons of mass destruction. Document: De'Ossie Deon Dingus 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision Campbell deemed the state Department of Safety, the THP's umbrella organization, and its officials guilty of discriminating against Dingus because of his religion. But she turned aside attorney Arthur Knight III's bid for $300,000 in damages, primarily because Dingus did not seek counseling or other psychological treatment. Instead, she gave Dingus, who already had won a separate civil service hearing that netted him back pay and lost wages, $1 in a symbolic gesture. Knight said Wednesday that Dingus, a military veteran, should not be denied damages simply because he has "a very strong constitution." "For De'Ossie, I don't think he ever said anything about money," Knight said. "You have a guy who is an American citizen who served in the armed forces, who was honorably discharged. It's a heck of a thing in this day and age to be called a terrorist because somebody says you are and then they railroad you out of the Department of Safety. "Our position (on damages) all along has been Dingus shouldn't be punished because he didn't run to a psychiatrist and cry and talk about everything wrong with his life since then." Taylor claimed Dingus was disruptive and belligerent during the class and confrontational afterward. But none of the 35 other troopers in the training class backed up Taylor's claim. An internal investigation showed none of Dingus' co-workers shared Taylor's view. Most said they'd never once heard Dingus mention his faith. But THP commanders fired Dingus anyway, relying on a psychological evaluation even the examiner said was based entirely on Taylor's conclusion. Knight presented documents showing officials, including now retired Safety Commissioner David Mitchell, THP Col. Mike Walker, staff attorney Deborah Martin and human resources staffer Kerri Balthrop, began the process of firing Dingus even before an internal investigation of the terrorist tendencies claim was finished. Campbell presides over a federal court division in Utah but heard the case while Knoxville's federal court was short a judge as then-nominee Pamela Reeves was undergoing the congressional confirmation process. It's not clear yet whether the case will go to Reeves, now a sitting judge in U.S. District Court here, or whether Campbell will return to conduct the hearing on damages ordered up by the appellate court. Dingus opted to retire early after winning his job back. The appellate court noted he struggled "to pay his bills" for the three years as he battled through the civil service process and federal court to make his case of wrongful termination. The 6th Circuit panel soundly condemned the Department of Safety in its ruling and opined the court record clearly showed Dingus suffered "emotional distress" that rated an award of damages. "In light of the egregious nature of the (department)'s conduct, the $1 award of damages for Dingus's mental anguish and emotional distress is wholly inadequate," the court stated. Knight called the agency's conduct "sickening." "To be labeled a disloyal American who is capable of terroristic activities, I don't know what amount of money (should be awarded) for that, but I think what (the appeals court) is saying is you need to come up with something," Knight said. "Money is the deterrent factor not to engage in certain activities again. Other than the department being embarrassed by (publicity over the case), there wasn't a lot of teeth backing it up." SHARE Police work the scene of a crash on Interstate 640 on Tuesday night, April 5, 2016. (Credit: Knoxville Police Department) (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) By News Sentinel Staff KNOXVILLE A 36-year-old Knoxville man was trapped for nearly two hours in the wreckage of his SUV after he rear-ended a tractor-trailer along Interstate 640 on Tuesday night, police said. Henry Gonzales was extricated by firefighters after midnight and transported to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, according to a Knoxville Police Department news release. He remained in serious condition Wednesday afternoon. The driver was traveling west about 10:50 p.m. in a 2004 Chevrolet Suburban, just west of the Broadway exit, when he struck the big-rig as it sat stopped in traffic along the right-hand lane. The impact trapped Gonzales under the trailer. "Gonzales was wedged so tightly that the vehicle had to be cut apart by the Knoxville Fire Department," the release states. "University of Tennessee Trauma Center ER staff were transported to the scene where Gonzales was given blood and other lifesaving fluids." The truck driver, Dominique Wheeler, 27, of Florida, was not hurt. Gonzales is expected to survive, police said. The crash remains under investigation. More details as they develop online and in Thursday's News Sentinel. By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel PIGEON FORGE The sightseeing helicopter that crashed Monday, killing four passengers and the pilot, had been inspected about 30 days earlier and had seen about 40 hours of flight time since then, federal investigators said Wednesday. The pilot, Jason Dahl, 38, had about 1,300 hours of flight experience, according to log books reviewed by the National Transportation Safety Board. Dahl had spent 870 hours of that time flying helicopters of the same make and model as the 1977 Bell 206L LongRanger owned by Sevierville-based Smoky Mountain Helicopters that struck the ground near the top of a ridge line behind Tanger Outlet Mall about 4:10 p.m. Monday, said Luke Schiada, senior NTSB investigator, during a briefing Wednesday. Dahl had received training at Bell Helicopters, Schiada said. Another helicopter pilot who was flying in the area from 2:30-5:30 p.m. told investigators "he had not heard any distress calls from the accident helicopter," Schiada said. "He did hear the accident helicopter make a position report." After the helicopter struck the top of the ridge, it came to rest about 80 feet below and caught fire, igniting a small forest blaze that burned into the night. Firefighters were called back to the site Wednesday afternoon to douse an area still smoldering, Schiada said. Investigators on Wednesday hauled the helicopter wreckage which had been heavily damaged by the flames from the crash site off Rainbow Road to a storage facility in Springfield, Tenn., at about 2:30 p.m. The storage site will provide a "controlled environment" to disassemble and ship components to the NTSB lab for further analysis, possibly including metallurgy analysis, Schiada said. The helicopter did not have a black box recorder, nor did it have a GPS or other systems that would contain any data offering clues about the crash, Schiada said. Investigators continue to examine records on the pilot, the maintenance of the aircraft and Smoky Mountain Helicopters. Investigators will also interview witnesses who saw the crash, officials at the tour company and other pilots who flew the helicopter. Smoky Mountain Helicopters has been in business since the 1960s and operates one helicopter out of Pigeon Forge and another based in Cherokee, N.C. The company employs four full-time pilots in Pigeon Forge and two mechanics, Schiada said. Along with the pilot, the crash killed Johna Morvant, 49; her daughter, Peyton Rasmussen, 22; her son, Parker Rasmussen, 18; and her daughter's boyfriend, Michael Glenn Mastalez, 21. NTSB officials have said determining the cause of the crash could take up to a year. A preliminary report could be available by late next week. Pigeon Forge Fire Department crews pulled a piece of the main rotor from the bottom of the nearby west prong of the Little Pigeon River on Tuesday. The Tennessee Highway Patrol's Critical Incident Response Team assisted the investigation with a 3-D scan of the wreckage. SHARE By Richard Locker of the Knoxville News Sentinel NASHVILLE A state bill mandating that the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation be the lead agency investigating all shootings of people by law enforcement officers in the state and public release of the findings likely won't go as far as its legislative sponsors originally intended, for this year at least. Committees in both the House and Senate have already removed the mandate for a TBI investigation, and public disclosure of the findings when TBI does investigate has been removed from the House version. Under current law, TBI investigates officer-involved shootings only when requested by district attorneys. And by law, all TBI investigative records including those of officer-involved shootings remain permanently confidential, even after the investigations are closed. But the issue has spurred statewide interest as residents demand more transparency when people are critically injured or killed by law enforcement officers. In Knoxville, the police department investigates all shootings by its officers, and Police Chief David Rausch expressed concerns to a state legislative committee in October about TBI leading such investigations including fears of bodies being left in view while TBI investigators travel to the scene from out of town. The state bill is moving along different paths in the House and Senate but both have been amended in committees to remove the mandate for TBI probes of all officer-involved shootings statewide. Rep. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, the House sponsor, said Tuesday that that provision may have been too ambitious of a goal to accomplish this year, with the Legislature headed to adjournment by the end of the month, and will have to be delayed until next year. But he believes the separate provision requiring some kind of public disclosure of the investigative findings when the TBI does investigate shootings by law enforcement officers, particularly those involving deaths, will win legislative approval this year although how and when disclosure will occur is yet to be determined. The current Senate version of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, says that after TBI completes its investigation and turns its report over to prosecutors, the district attorney "may disclose the investigative records to the public upon agreement with the chief law enforcement officer of each agency involved in the shooting." The current version of the House bill has removed all references to the TBI and public disclosure, leaving only a provision that increases the death benefit paid by the state to the family of a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty from the current $25,000 to $100,000. (That provision is part of the Senate bill too.) Hardaway said that when the House Criminal Justice Committee considers the bill Wednesday, there likely will be efforts to reinsert a provision requiring public release of the results when the TBI does investigate an officer-involved shooting, with redaction of sensitive information to protect sources and other investigations. That could be immediately after TBI turns over its report to the district attorney, or 30 days later, he said. Whatever happens, the Senate and House must approve identical language for a bill to become law and unless the House and Senate differences are resolved, no bill will pass. Deborah Fisher, executive director of the Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, said the current version of the bill doesn't go far enough. "If the General Assembly wants transparency in officer-involved shootings, they require that investigative reports on officer-involved shootings be made public after the investigation is over." Hardaway said that any bill requiring public disclosure is a step forward because under current law, all TBI investigative files are confidential forever unless a court orders release of information, as occurred at Weirich's request in the Darrius Stewart case. "We will probably end up with a good bill and we will have made considerable progress, not only for victims but for officers too," he said, citing the death-benefit provision. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks Saturday, April 2, 2016, during a campaign rally at Memorial High School in Eau Claire, Wis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) What happened Saturday in Nashville is another indication that unless Donald Trump arrives at the Republican convention with 1,237 delegates, he will not be the nominee of the party. What happened here is likely happening all across the country. In a nutshell, the state party has appointed Trump delegates who are not likely to stick with him beyond the state requirement that they vote for him on the first two ballots. Not to mention all the Marco Rubio delegates who, after two ballots, are free to vote for a Trump alternative. If Trump doesn't win outright on the first ballot, his votes will start to melt away. The national party will change whatever rules are necessary to favor another candidate. If Trump is very obviously screwed at the convention, the Republicans will lose in the fall. Party leaders are evidently of the mind that they will lose with Trump anyway or worse, win with him. But a Mondale-like loss (49 states against Reagan) could also lose them the Senate and a lot of House seats. That's why real Trump delegates and the Trump campaign are so upset about Tennessee's slate of delegates. I think it's significant that the state's congressional delegation, normally getting delegate seats to the convention, is sitting this one out. They don't want to suffer the fallout and get the blame from Trump supporters. TV ADS A BUST?: One of the things Trump has done this year is to explode the myth that it's all about the TV ads. Literally millions have been spent in television advertising against Trump, but he has rolled through the early primaries spending less money than anybody. When the airwaves are full of competing ads for primary candidates, they tend to cancel each other out. For years on end political consultants have said television advertising is the best way to win elections. What always irritated me is that even print reporters swallowed it whole. You have rarely ever read a story explaining that when political consultants buy television advertising, they get a commission, from five to 15 percent. Is it any wonder that political consultants never like to spend money on anything other than television advertising? The reason this idea of the all-powerful television advertising trope has lasted so long is that everybody spends money on television advertising, and the campaigns with the most money also buy the most ads. But then the campaigns with the most money also have the money to spend on getting out the vote, using direct mail and "getting the talk right" among political reporters covering the campaign. UPDATE: State Rep. Curry Todd, R-Collierville, who sponsored the provision that limits liquor store ownership to two stores, thus limiting competition and discouraging out-of-state discount liquor stores, complained that some in the news media have accused him of being in somebody's pocket. "I'm only in one person's pocket and I always will be in it and guess who that is? Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior is the only pocket," he told his colleagues. I've heard liquor lobbyist Tom "Golden Goose" Hensley called a lot of names over the years, but Jesus Christ isn't one of them. And even though Jesus turned water into wine, I can't imagine he is the one helping Todd craft liquor legislation. SHARE The Tennessee Legislature is making an effort to adopt the Holy Bible as the state's official book. Disregarding the absurd and self-serving nature of this entire concept, it might be wise for the proponents to give some thought to three matters. First, which version of the Bible are they adopting? There are nominally 50 versions or translations of the Bible. It would be good if our legislators would identify which document and revision we need to read lest we commit blasphemy. Second, what is the significance of the Bible being the state book? Will the appropriate version be symbolically placed in the Capitol rotunda for display? Will all Tennessee public school students be required to read from the appropriate version each day as affirmation of the wisdom of our elected officials? Will some specific Tennessee publisher be ordained as the official publisher of the official state book, with rebate royalties going to supporters of the legislation? Third, will non-English versions be banned as non-conforming? Are non-print versions acceptable? Will Braille editions be considered acceptable? My perspective may be viewed as borderline asinine, but it's not any more so than the logic of the elected officials pursuing this travesty. Why can't they just privately ask for forgiveness for the transgressions they may have committed instead of imposing a penance on the whole state? A.L. King, Alcoa 12:24 p.m. April 6, 2016 Former youth pastor pleads guilty to production and distribution of child pornography The former youth pastor of The Grace Place Church in Stuart, Florida has pleaded guilty to the production and distribution of child pornography. Jeffrey Brian Mobley, 24 of Ocala, formerly of Stuart, Florida pleaded guilty to an indictment, charging four counts of production of visual depictions of sexual exploitation of minors and two counts of distribution of visual depictions of sexual exploitation of minors. Mobley faces a mandatory minimum of 15 to 30 years imprisonment for the production counts and a mandatory minimum of 5 to 20 years imprisonment for the distribution offenses. Mobley is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. According to the court record, in September 2015, a suspicious conduct report was made to the Martin County, Florida Sheriffs Office concerning a youth pastor, Jeffrey Brian Mobley, and a minor who was under his trust and care through a religious based youth program in Stuart, Florida. During the course of the investigation law enforcement learned that Mobley, while the youth pastor, engaged in sexual intercourse with a minor who was a participant in the churchs youth program. Using various forms of electronic communication, Mobley used various forms of electronic communication to induce the minor to engage in sexual activity and produced sexually explicit images of their illicit relationship. Source: FBI Published April 6, 2016 An affiliate of South Korean energy and telecom conglomerate SK Group has been fined 5.53 million yuan ($853,000) in China for violating foreign exchange rules, industry sources said Wednesday. SK Global Chemical International Trading Co., an affiliate of SK Innovation Co., the group's refining unit, was slapped with the fine by China's foreign currency authorities, according to the sources. The SK company is reportedly accused of failing to endorse checks in some of its transit trade and foreign exchange transactions between January 2011 and March 2013. It is rare for a South Korean conglomerate to be fined in China for breaching foreign exchange regulations. SK Group's affiliates are also under probes for shoddy property transactions and their delayed corporate disclosures. The probes came as Chey Tae-won, the chief of the country's No. 3 conglomerate, is accelerating his move to tighten his grip on group management after he was named a new board member for SK Corp., the group's holding firm, last month. Chey also took the title of CEO for SK Corp. SK Group operates businesses in the telecommunications, chemical, tech and other sectors, taking third place behind Samsung and Hyundai Motor. By Bruce Kaplan MELBOURNE, Australia Samsung Engineering and a consortium led by Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Hanwha and Daewoo were implicated in a rigged tender process to get a major share of a $2 billion Algerian contract to restore two decaying oil refineries. According to Melbourne's The Age newspaper, to which the emails and documents were leaked, what happened over the next 18 months involved a rigged tender process and bribes. The winners were corrupt Algerian officials, Samsung Engineering and Hyundai Engineering, a Spanish multinational and Unaoil, the Monaco-based "bribe factory" at the heart of the multi-billion dollar scandal. The leaked Unaoil emails and confidential documents there are more than 10,000 show that the company started working with Samsung in 2008, when the Korean giant was trying to win contracts for both refineries. One requirement was that a consortium led by fierce rival Hyundai be eliminated. But Unaoil's Algerian contacts pointed out that Hyundai's technical bid was superior and that it had already done some "high level marketing" with local officials. The solution was a backroom deal in which the competitors formed a consortium to carve up the work, and pay off a Spanish bidder to "run dead" in the tender process. The Algerian emails show how Unaoil created a "sharing formula" that generated funds to bribe senior officials from Algeria's state-owned oil company Sonatrach. In 2008, the Hyundai-led consortium won a smaller, $600 million job to revive Algeria's Arzew oil refinery. The following year, Samsung won a $1.2 billion contract to redevelop another refinery called Skikda. Samsung also wanted Unaoil to ensure that a Spanish competitor, Tecnicas Reunidas, would agree to run dead to ensure the Algerians did not cancel the tender process for lack of bidders. This was achieved after Unaoil came to a financial arrangement with a senior executive from the Spanish company. Unaoil also paid $2 million to Tecnicas Reunidas to lock in the cartel deal. In a statement to Fairfax Media (owner of The Age), Samsung said it always complied with anti-corruption regulations, and would not comment further. By Choi Sung-jin The job of airline stewardess is not as popular as it used to be but many young women still aspire to be one. But about half those would-be flight attendants will likely have to bide their time, because Asiana Airlines, one of the nation's two flag carriers, has decided not to hire new stewardesses for now. Instead, it plans to transform part of its general staff into cabin attendants, the company said. Asiana said it would receive applications from April 11-25 from female employees who entered the company in 2010 or later, conduct interviews and physical tests, and announce successful applicants around the end of June. This is the first time the nation's second-largest carrier converts general staff into flight attendants. "The company made the decision as there are many general staff members who want to become crewwomen, and the workforce relocation will also help to improve management conditions," an Asiana spokesman said. The company, which recorded a net loss of 81.5 billion won ($70.5 million) last year, said then that there would be "no artificial manpower trimming" and it would relocate the workforce to maintain job security. Asiana did not recruit new flight attendants early this year and has no plans to do so until the year-end. Instead, it will reinforce its cabin with female employees now doing other work. The company hired 400 new crew members last year and 300 in 2014. The female employees will maintain their job grading and pay scale but their salaries will increase as various allowances, including the cost of stays and flight pay, will be added. Asiana has yet to decide whether it will do the same for male flight attendants. Internal opinions of the decision were mixed. Existing cabin crew members were unimpressed. In an in-house mobile bulletin for anonymous writers, one attendant said: "I wonder whether they can endure the cabin culture, in which when you start careers and with whom are everything." The complaints grew louder because the manpower relocation came in the wake of an increase in their workload as the company reduced crew on flights by one or two, beginning last month. Proponents struck back, saying: "That is a good idea because it lets people do the work they want to do and leaves sufficient room for other transferences." As Asiana has not been able to repay interest with its operating income for four years from 2012, the company went into a restructuring. In January, it dismissed 47 employees with 15 years' service or longer, and has implemented unpaid leave since the beginning of this year. The company also plans gradually to shut down 45 of its branches while considering outsourcing its booking and ticketing business and airport services, here and abroad, the company spokesman said. By Choi Sung-jin Sister automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors aim to export 8 million cars this year, as they did in the past two years. Their overseas shipment target seems reasonable given their brisk exports to the U.S. and European markets so far this year. But when it comes to shipments to China, the world's largest car market, the story is different. According to industry sources, the two companies sold 94,235 cars in China in February, a drop of 21.2 percent from the 119,512 sold in the same month last year. Hyundai Motor's sales plunged 28.1 percent to 53,226 cars and those of Kia dropped 9.9 percent to 41,009 cars. In January, too, the two automakers' combined sales in China plummeted 21.9 percent from a year ago to 124,495 cars. Industry sources presume the "China shock" for Korea's largest auto group might have continued in March. "Given the increasing share the Chinese market takes in Hyundai-Kia's overall sales, the slump in the first quarter of this year will likely pose a considerable burden on their global performances this year," an industry analyst said. More seriously, the sales setback came while total auto sales in China in February rose 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 1.23 million vehicles, he said. Over the period, the sales of Ford, Toyota and Honda increased by 5.3 percent, 11.4 percent and 45.2 percent, respectively. Particularly, the sales of Chinese cars amounted to 418,317 units, up 12.4 percent from the same month last year. In February, Volkswagen took the largest market share in China of 19.9 percent, followed by GM's 13.2 percent, Hyundai-Kia's 7.7 percent, Ford's 5.2 percent, Toyota's 4.5 percent, Honda's 4.4 percent, Nissan's 2.9 percent and Peugeot-Citroen's 2.8 percent. Hyundai-Kia's Chinese market share fell sharply from 10.6 percent in December. Some industry executives, in and outside the company, expressed concern that the "China shock" that hit the automaker in the third quarter last year may revisit it. In July-September last year, Hyundai-Kia fell into a crisis, sandwiched between low-priced Chinese vehicles and higher-quality Western cars. The automotive group barely managed to get out of the crisis by replacing local management and embarking on a massive marketing campaign. This time, their Seoul headquarters plan to hit back by releasing new local models equipped with an air-purifying system that blocks polluted material and a "connectivity platform" run by China's largest platform, Baidu, that connects vehicles to smartphones, a company spokesman said. "With these and other active marketing activities, we hope to restore sales in the first half to that of a year ago," he said. By Yoon Ja-young Exports of Korean cosmetics are increasing steeply on the popularity of the country's pop culture abroad. According to the Korea Customs Service, the country's exports of cosmetics totaled $2.5 billion last year, up 53.1 percent from the previous year. Exports have been growing sharply, marking a 350 percent increase from 2011 when they stood at $698 million. This year is no exception, with shipments in the first quarter recorded $710 million, up 21.9 percent from a year ago. "On top of the continuing popularity of Korea's cultural products such as films, music and TV dramas, the strong competitive edge of the cosmetics brands themselves seems to be driving the exports," the customs office noted in a media release. China was the biggest importer of Korean cosmetics at $1 billion last year, or 40.6 percent of the total. Hong Kong followed, taking 24.8 percent, while the United States took 8.5 percent and Japan 4.6 percent. The customs office expects that exports to China may increase further as the tariffs on goods valued 100 yuan (17,880 won) or more will be lowered from 50 percent to 32.9 percent following a tax revision on e-commerce. Korea exported cosmetics to 131 countries last year, up from 118 in 2011. Destinations also included Central Asia and Africa. Basic cosmetics such as toner, lotion, essence and eye cream made up half of the exports. Cosmetics for makeup accounted for 9.9 percent. Exports through e-commerce are also rising steeply, marking $19 million last year. While that is only 0.8 percent of the total, it is a 5,158-fold increase from 2011. The customs office picked the global economic slowdown and China as potential risks this year. China has shifted policy recently to nurture domestic companies. It also strengthened regulation on imported cosmetics. "The support for small- and medium-sized firms following the establishment of the global healthcare fund as well as the introduction of a regulation-free zone are expected to work positively for Korea's cosmetics exports," it added. By Nam Hyun-woo Share prices of companies said to have "connections with political big shots" are showing an uptrend, as the April 13 general election approaches. As the stock prices are rising regardless of the companies' fundamentals, the financial authorities are paying keen attention to them, stressing they will impose strong punitive measures against those who attempt to influence share movements by spreading rumors. In Korea, shares of companies known to have relations with influential politicians are dubbed "somebody themed stocks," and their prices often soar during major elections, based on the belief that the firms may receive "benefits" from those elected. The lists of such companies can be accessed easily through a simple Internet search, such as "Ahn Cheol-soo themed stock," and the shares of the companies believed to have relations with the minor opposition People's Party co-chairman indeed have been showing noticeable hikes throughout this week. The list includes Sunny Electronics, which ended at 5,870 won after showing a 1.21 percent rise, Wednesday; Tamul Multimedia, up 1.02 percent; and AhnLab, up 3.29 percent. Their hike was most noticeable Monday, with Sunny Electronics showing a 20.95 percent rise; Tamul Multimedia, up 29.95 percent; and AhnLab, up 14.48 percent. Sunny Electronics' shares have been rising for four days except, Tuesday. The shares rise, however, seems to have no grounds except for the company owners personal relations with Ahn. Sunny Electronics' former vice president Song Tae-jong worked at AhnLab, founded by Ahn; while Tamul Multimdeia CEO Jhung Yon-hong worked with Ahn at the Advanced Institute for Convergence Technology. The price of a textile company Chonbang, whose honorary chairman is ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung's elder brother, also shot up to 50,100 won from 47,050 won, Monday. The preferred stocks of Sungmoon Electronics, one of whose executives is said to have a connection with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, once hit the roof before sharply dropping to 2,750 won, Monday. As the prices of such "politician themed stocks" fluctuate during a general election, the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), the Financial Services Commission and the Korea Exchange have joined forces to monitor moves related to such shares. The FSS said it will focus on rumors related to politicians being spread on Internet forums or SNS. Should there be obvious illegalities or unfair trading, it will hand the case over to the Securities and Futures Committee, which will decide whether to have prosecutors look into the matter. "A study of previous cases shows that the hike of the so-called politician themed stocks was nothing more than a bubble and there is high possibility of unfair trading," an official at the FSS said. By Kim Jae-won Eight duty free shops, including Lotte, Shilla and SK, got away with price fixing for five years by manipulating foreign exchange (FX) rates, the antitrust agency said Wednesday. The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) said that it concluded the duty free shops had colluded in charging customers above market prices by applying their own FX rates between 2008 and 2012. "Our investigation committee reached the conclusion that duty free shops manipulated FX rates for the purpose of price fixing," said a director at the FTC. "Our board members will decide on the matter after listening to their explanations." The announcement came amid government plans to issue five new licenses for duty free shops in Seoul this year. Competition is heating up in the industry as retailers rush to win the right to sell duty-free goods to foreign tourists, mainly from China. Representatives of the duty free shops were not available for comment. Duty free stores posted a combined 9.2 trillion won ($8 billion) in sales last year, with an average of 15.1 percent growth over the past decade. Duty free sales have been sharply rising since 2011 thanks to the increase of inbound travelers, but they also slowed last year in the wake of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, according to the customs office. The government said last week that it decided to extend the operational licenses of local duty free stores to 10 years from the current five and let them automatically renew, helping the retail industry conduct business in a stable and predictable environment. The government has been under fire for wavering too frequently between a soft and hard approach in customs policies, as the duty-free market became one of Korea's most prosperous businesses in tandem with a sharp influx of deep-pocketed shoppers from China. In 2013, the finance ministry adopted a policy of holding an open competition for duty-free licenses every five years as a way to encourage market competition and improve the climate for newcomers. Two retailers Shinsegae and Doosan won licenses last year, depriving Lotte and SK of theirs. The two conglomerates have strongly asked the authorities to give them one more chance, citing the waste of their facilities and workforce. The Korea Customs Service will announce a set of new regulations this month, which are expected to include new measures for Lotte and SK to get additional licenses. By Yoon Ja-young Rival parties are pledging to raise minimum wages ahead of the April 13 general election, but their hastily arranged campaign promises are drawing skepticism. Kang Bong-kyun, who heads the governing Saenuri Party's campaign committee, said at a press meeting on Sunday that the party would raise the minimum wage to 9,000 won per hour by 2020. Currently, the minimum wage stands at 6,030 won after an 8.1 percent increase. The election pledge came as a surprise, as the conservative party has been cautious about raising the minimum wage. The party, however, made a sudden change. Cho Won-dong, the party's economic policy committee chief, said in a radio interview with YTN Tuesday that the media misunderstood the party's intention when they reported that the minimum wage would be raised to that much. "Other countries are seeing job opportunities for young people decrease after hiking the minimum wage. As the wage rises, the self-employed can't hire part-timers," he said. He added that simply raising the minimum wage to 10,000 won would be like ignoring the economic ecosystem. He pointed to the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, which pledged to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020. Cho said that the Saenuri Party will instead increase the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), where the government gives cash to low-income workers as an incentive, so that they can enjoy the same effect as a minimum wage hike. He said this is a more trustworthy pledge than handing over the burden to employers. Many countries are raising minimum wages in line with measures to vitalize their economies. Economists say that raising the minimum wage helps those in the lower income bracket who can immediately increase their spending, boosting the economy. According to analysis by Prof. Hong Jang-pyo at Pukyong National University, a 1 percentage point rise in the real wage growth rate leads to a rise of between 0.68 and 1.09 percentage point in GDP growth rate. The employment rate also marked additional growth, between 0.22 and 0.58 percentage points. "Raising earned income, such as the minimum wage hike, can have a maximum effect on the economic structure. The government policy should focus on this," the professor said. Others, however, say raising the minimum wage is not as simple in Korea compared to other countries. "Large businesses are already paying high salaries and they thus have nothing to do with the minimum wage debate. It is small businesses that will be affected. That makes the issue more complicated," said a ranking official at the finance ministry. The high ratio of self-employed employers who hire part-timers also means that political parties may lose their votes by pressing for a minimum wage hike. It is also true that many employers are ignoring the minimum wage, paying less than they should. However, little is done to correct this. The labor ministry uncovered 832 violations of the minimum wage rule last year, but legal action followed in only 16 cases. "Raising the minimum wage will leave those benefiting from the hike with more room for consumption," said Bae Sang-kun, vice president at Korea Economic Research Institute. "However, it shouldn't be overlooked that still many people are getting less than the minimum wage." He pointed out that many self-employed owners of small shops, eateries, etc, pay part-timers less than the minimum wage as they can't afford to pay more. "The owners themselves often earn less than the minimum wage." Bae said raising the minimum wage may lead to more violations of the law and fewer jobs. "Though the policy is well-meaning, it may be populist when considering the current situation." Currently, more than 2 million workers are estimated to be earning less than the minimum wage. The labor ministry's minimum wage council will start discussions Thursday to determine the minimum wage for the next year. The council is an independent body composed of those representing workers and employers as well as third-party experts. Victoria Song, right, who stars as Cha Tae-hyun's tough wife in the upcoming film "My New Sassy Girl" hits Cha with an air-filled toy hammer at a press conference held in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap By Yun Suh-young "My Sassy Girl" (2001) directed by Kwak Jae-yong became a megahit film that drew a domestic audience of 4.88 million before it was exported to 18 countries. It was also remade multiple times in countries as diverse as the United States and Nepal. A sequel to the international hit movie, "My New Sassy Girl," will be released next month. The film is directed by Jo Geun-sik and features a new cast including Chinese national Victoria Song of Korean girl group f(x) and actor Bai Song-woo along with the first film's Cha Tae-hyun. This time, the film was co-produced by the Korean film company ShinCine Communication and Chinese investor Beijing Sky Wheel Media. The movie is scheduled to hit 7,000 screens in China on April 22. In "My New Sassy Girl," Gyeon-woo (Cha Tae-hyun) has trouble forgetting his "old" sassy girl (Jun Ji-hyun), but soon reunites with his childhood love (Victoria) who had protected Gyeon-woo from the teasing of fellow classmates. The "new" sassy girl, the only child of a rich family in China, returns to Korea to marry Gyeon-woo despite disapproval from her family. However, Gyeon-woo's newlywed life with his new, but not so new (in terms of the treatment he receives) sassy girl is tough. With the characters making a comeback after 15 years, public interest is running high. After the March 1 press conference held in China, a preview of the film recorded 720 million views on China's most popular social networking service, Sina Weibo. "There's no change to the characters, except that Gyeon-woo was a student back then, and is now an office worker and a husband," said Cha Tae-hyun, during a press conference held in Seoul, Wednesday. "The woman has changed, but her way of treating me hasn't changed at all," he said. "I loved the plot a lot. I think there will be a new trend of people following certain actions from the film as there was with the first film." "The couple switched shoes the man wearing his partner's high heels, while she wore his sneakers in the first film, and I think after seeing the new film, newlyweds might try new experimental behaviors introduced," Cha said. For Victoria, this was her debut film. "Victoria did a good job and I'm really proud of her," director Jo Geun-sik said. "Acting in Korean for a non-Korean must have been more difficult than a Korean acting in English. I'm thankful for Victoria's efforts in not trying to take the easy way around." The difference between the original film and the sequel is the "mix of the old and new" according to director Jo. "The mix of staff is both old (Cha Tae-hyun) and new (myself, Victoria and Bai). This time, it's a pan-Asian mix of staff. Actors from Korea, China and Japan participated so I hope this can be a stepping stone for future productions between Korea, China and across Asia," he said. Japanese actress Mina Fujii features as Yuko, Gyeon-woo's coworker. "I hope the film doesn't ruin the reputation of the first one and I hope it can receive a lot of love from Asian audiences," said Jo. Hwang Kyong-choon / Korea Times photo by Kim Bo-eun By Kim Bo-eun English-language media in Korea have a distinct and critical role to play in Korea, according to a veteran journalist. "English is a universal language, and therefore English-language media have the mission to introduce Korea to the world," said Hwang Kyong-choon, former AP Seoul bureau chief and Seoul Foreign Correspondents' Club President. He made the remarks in an interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday, a day before the national Newspaper Day. "The Korea Times has been notable in carrying out this role," said the 92-year-old journalist, a longtime subscriber and contributor to the newspaper. Hwang worked for AP's Seoul bureau for 30 years starting in 1957, serving five years as bureau chief. After that he served as chief of Time Magazine's Seoul office for five years. He also worked for The Korea Times for two years when the newspaper was headquartered in Busan during the Korean War (1950-53). Hwang said he worked during the days when Korea had virtually no freedom of the press and news outlets were subject to strict control. "We would have Korean Central Intelligence Agency (current National Intelligence Service) officials in our office all the time," he recalled. "They would instruct us not to publish certain stories and photos." However, the foreign press was not subject to so much control, enabling agencies such as AP to cover the Gwangju Uprising on May 18, 1980, a pro-democracy movement in protest of military dictatorship. A photo taken by an AP photojournalist made the cover of the U.S. weekly news magazine Newsweek, and foreign news agency reporters, including Hwang, were detained for questioning by the agency. Korea achieved freedom of the press after decades-long democratization movements, but the current Park Geun-hye administration has been criticized for limiting this freedom. Hwang said it seems the government is attempting to influence the media, especially when it comes to security issues concerning North Korea or diplomacy issues concerning Japan. Foreign correspondents here also showed concern when Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief of Japan's Sankei Shimbun, was indicted on charges of defaming President Park in a column on the Sewol ferry disaster in 2014. He was later acquitted. "The government seems to place greater restrictions on the press than countries such as Japan," Hwang said. Marking Newspaper Day, Hwang encouraged journalists to revive the "journalistic spirit" and a sense of pride. "Back in the day when I was a reporter, local daily reporters only earned about a fifth of what those working for foreign news outlets earned. They were subject to strict government control, but still provided information to the foreign press, hoping for stories which needed to get out to be published." This was also the spirit with which the Kwanhun Club, an association of journalists established for the betterment of the Korean press, was founded, he said. Hwang advises journalists to always keep in mind the public. "Journalists essentially exist for the people," he said. The government has rejected calls to disclose the results of radiation level checks conducted on fishery goods caught near Japan, a civic group said Wednesday. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Tuesday dismissed the information disclosure request filed by the Lawyers for a Democratic Society, the group said. "As the information is related to a case pending at the World Trade Organization (WTO), (the disclosure) could lead to a leakage of our strategy to Japan," the ministry was quoted by the group as saying. The lawyers association, however, countered that the reason provided by the authorities was groundless since the government has to submit its findings to the WTO and Japan anyways. Tokyo filed a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against Seoul's import ban of its fishery goods. South Korea has banned imports of all fishery products from eight Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, where the 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused the meltdown of a nuclear reactor, marking the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster. The import ban was imposed in September 2013 after reports that massive amounts of radioactive materials and contaminated water from the Fukushima reactor were being dumped in waters surrounding Japan. This caused serious safety concerns here, that not only affected Japanese imports but the local fishery sector as a whole. (Yonhap) In the top photo, ruling Saenuri Party candidates running in Daegu for the April 13 general election bow to appeal for support in a park, Wednesday. Kim Young-geun, a People's Party candidate running in Gangseo A in Seoul, campaigns on a street in the left photo, while Rep. Moon Jae-in, former chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, joins a campaign for the party's candidate Park Kwang-on, running in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. / Yonhap By Kim Hyo-jin Ruling Saenuri Party candidates who are close to President Park Geun-hye are losing the support of voters, according to recent polls. Even in Daegu, Park's political stronghold, her loyalists who once led polls are now falling behind independent or opposition candidates. The ruling party has now changed its campaign strategy by distancing itself from Park, removing her posters from its offices and erasing anything associated with the President from their campaigns, party officials said Wednesday. The change reflects worsened voter sentiment toward Park's loyalists following a nasty power struggle over candidate nominations for the elections. An April 6 poll by the JoongAng Ilbo showed that Rep. Yoo Sung-kull leads over Saenuri Party candidate Chong Jong-sup, a former home affairs minister backed by Park, 39.8 percent to 34.3 percent. Choo Kyung-ho, a former policy-coordinating minister at the Prime Minister's Office, had a lead over independent candidate Koo Sung-jae, but now trails Koo, 35.6 percent to 35.2 percent, according to an April 4 poll by local broadcaster MBC. Saenuri Party candidate Lee In-sun is also trailing Joo Ho-young, an ex-minister under the Lee Myung-bak government, by a double-digit margin, and is showing no signs that he can improve his standing. The metropolitan area and Gyeongsang provinces, too, are no-win contests for Park's loyalists. Lee Jun-seok and Sohn Soo-jo, Saenuri Party candidates who worked on Park's campaign for the 2012 presidential election, face an uphill climb in beating out Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo of the People's Party in Seoul's Nowon, and independent candidate Chang Je-won in Busan's Sasang. Other notable pro-Park candidates Ahn Dae-hee, a former Supreme Court justice and Park Jong-hee, a member of the nominations committee are also faring poorly against opposition candidates. Amid the soaring unpopularity of pro-Park candidates, the party has changed its Park-leaning campaigning style for the first time in 12 years. The Saenuri Party had relied heavily on Park's unwavering supporters and used to highlight her membership of the party since the 2004 general election. But it is now having to adopt a new approach. Of 47 ruling party candidates running in Seoul, nobody includes Park's name or her photo on their election leaflets. Of 18 candidates running in Busan, only three have mentioned their connection to Park. Rep. Choung Byoung-gug, who is running in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, said, "We don't even say please help the Park Geun-hye government' while campaigning." The office of Kim Moon-soo, former Gyeonggi Governor and a candidate for the Saenuri Party, also admitted that it had erased Park's image from placards. Public sentiment has turned negative toward candidates using Park's name, following a series of intra-party factional wrangling, said a Saenuri Party official engaged in an election campaign in Daegu. "Due to the nominations committee dumping non-Park loyalists and the controversy over whether the party should allow them to rejoin if they are elected, citizens have become more sympathetic toward independent candidates," he said. "The so-called Park Geun-hye marketing is not working anymore." The ongoing difficulty even on its home turf is a reality check for the Saenuri Party, according to a party official. "We are mulling over how to lure back voters," said Cho Dong-won, the party's public relations director. "The party leadership has taken the results of recent polls seriously, and plans to seek a new approach in campaigning." (From left) Kim Moo-sung, Kim Jong-in and Ahn Chul-soo / Yonhap By Ko Dong-hwan Candidates for the April 13 general election are busy campaigning, as are the leaders of the three major parties. But the leaders' efforts have been so relentless they are suffering strained throats due to frequent public speeches. And without time to put their feet up as poll day looms, they are resorting to emergency treatment. Ruling Saenuri Party chairman Kim Moo-sung is one of them. Kim, who is standing for the Jung and Yeongdo districts in Busan, reportedly sought treatment from a medical specialist Monday because of a throat problem. He had been campaigning in cities in South Gyeongsang Province, according to the Chosun Ilbo, and continued his street campaign the following day in Daejeon, Cheongju and Sejong. In Daejeon, Kim pardoned himself in front the crowd, saying: "My throat has gone hoarse; can you hear me at the back?" Kim's campaign staff said the candidate is "frequently drinking water in his car to soothe his distressed vocal cords." People's Party co-chairman Ahn Chul-soo, who is standing in Nowon C district, Seoul, had trouble giving a speech Tuesday in the city of Uijeongbu because of a hoarse throat. A party associate said the technocrat from security software provider AhnLab always carried the medicine Yong Gak San to soothe his throat. Kim Jong-in, the interim head of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) and the party's No.2 proportional representation candidate, also pushed through his campaign despite a worsening throat condition. Kim, oldest among the three leaders at 76, was seen coughing many times during campaign speeches in areas in Chungcheong Province, Tuesday. "He hasn't recovered from his recent cold yet," a party insider said. "He eats a lot of Lotte Confectionary's Throat Candy in his car." The MPK leader's wife, an emeritus professor who teaches nutritional science at Ewha Woman's University, reportedly cooked him special meals for his throat. South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Seoul on Wednesday after a two-nation tour to the United States and Mexico focused on security and economic cooperation. In Washington, Park held a series of talks with leaders of the U.S., China and Japan that resulted in them agreeing to enforce the toughest-ever sanctions resolution on North Korea. The consensus sent a clear message to North Korea: give up its nuclear ambitions and provocations or face even tougher sanctions and isolation. The development could boost Park's stance to pressure North Korea into abandoning its nuclear program. The North is under U.N. sanctions for carrying out its fourth nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch earlier this year in defiance of international pressure. Still, North Korea has shown no signs of relenting on its nuclear policy despite the mounting pressure. North Korea views its nuclear program as a powerful deterrent that can ensure its survival against what it claims is Washington's hostile policy towards it. Park has pledged to join international efforts to develop nuclear security regimes amid growing concerns over possible nuclear and radiological attacks by terrorist groups. The chief executive also secured support from her Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto, for the U.N. sanctions on North Korea. Pena Nieto told Park in Mexico City that Mexico is handling a North Korean freighter in a manner that fully adheres to its obligation as a member of the U.N. Mexico has vowed to continue to detain the freighter despite North Korea's protests, a South Korean official said. The North American country detained the Mu Du Bong after identifying the ship as belonging to Ocean Maritime Management, a North Korean firm blacklisted by the U.N. for illegally shipping arms. Park and Pena Nieto agreed to hold working-level talks later this year on a free trade deal between the two sides. South Korea and Mexico launched free trade talks in 2007, but the negotiations have been stalled since 2008 due to strong opposition from the Mexican automobile industry. Park and Pena Nieto observed the signing memorandums of understanding that Seoul says could help South Korean companies participate in infrastructure projects. Mexico is pushing for projects worth US$590 billion to modernize such sectors as energy, transport and water resources management. Separately, more than 110 South Korean companies held two separate business meetings with American and Mexican buyers in Los Angeles and Mexico City to explore new business opportunities. Some of them signed deals worth $254 million, according to South Korean officials. (Yonhap) By Kim Se-jeong A 26-year-old university student faces arrest for repeatedly sneaking into a government building in Seoul at the end of March in an attempt to alter the results of a test for low-ranking public servants. The National Police Agency (NPA) said Wednesday that it asked the prosecution to seek an arrest warrant for the man, surnamed Song. The infiltrations took place while the government was under a high security alert facing a potential threat from North Korea. According to police, the Jeju Islander slipped into the building a total of five times since early March. Before March 5 when the test was held, he attempted to steal a test paper, and after that he tried to alter the results. But he was never stopped by guards at any checkpoint there are two checkpoints blocking access to the offices there, requiring an ID pass. In the last intrusion on the night of March 26, Song entered an office of the Ministry of Personnel Management responsible for administering the test. He told police that he used passes stolen from gym lockers inside the building. Song allegedly went up to the 16th floor where the ministry is located, opened the office door with a pass-code, turned on the computer of the official in charge of managing the test results and inserted his name on the list of those who passed. He said he did so because he was desperate to get a job. Police are still unsure of many of the details. It is uncertain how he got into the building in the first place to steal the passes from the gym because he needed a pass to get in there. How he got the passwords for the office and the computer is also unresolved. He said he brought with him a computer file to unlock the computer password. "We are investigating if he was helped by a third person with access to the building," an NPA official said. The Ministry of Interior said it would overhaul building security after the investigation is finished. Another intrusion happened in 2012 when a man in his 60s lit a fire in one of the offices and killed himself by jumping off the building. By Chung Hyun-chae More universities will allow students to earn credits from taking lectures from the country's massive open online courses (K-MOOC) this year. The Ministry of Education said Wednesday that it is working out a plan to encourage universities to recognize credits for K-MOOC lectures. Ewha Womans University has already begun to provide credits for students since March if they take any of the four lectures that the university produced last year for K-MOOC. Four other universities will soon join Ewha. They are Kyung Hee and Seoul National universities, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST). The five universities are among 10 which have taken part in K-MOOC which was begun last October by the National Institute for Lifelong Education under the initiative of the education ministry. Now, 27 lectures are available. From September, Kyung Hee will recognize credits earned from two online lectures it created last year. Seoul National, POSTECH and KAIST will jointly produce five lectures that will appear on the K-MOOC website (www.kmooc.kr) also from September. The ministry plans to increase the number of the lectures to more than 100 to provide more diverse educational content, while doubling the number of participating universities to 20. "We have devised the plan to boost participation in K-MOOC," said Jang Mi-ran, director of the ministry's university finance division. She said the ministry will select 10 more universities to participate in the K-MOOC service. "We also plan to encourage companies to give preferential treatment in recruitment to those who took some K-MOOC lectures, which they believe are related to their industries." As of February, 66,000 people had registered for the K-MOOC lectures. According to a recent survey conducted by the ministry among 2,691 people who took K-MOOC lectures, 81.1 percent of the respondents said they were satisfied with the lectures. South Korea's top envoy to Japan said Wednesday he has offered to resign upon completing his duty of mending frayed bilateral ties. Amb. Yoo Heung-soo told Yonhap News Agency by phone that he has been planning to step down this year after the two countries agreed in December to settle their decadeslong dispute over Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women. The ambassador said he postponed his resignation offer to handle the aftermath of North Korea's nuclear test in January but recently tendered his resignation to President Park Geun-hye. Yoo added, however, that the row over the "comfort women" has yet to be fully resolved. Yoo, the then head of the Korea-Japan Friendship Association, was tapped by Park in 2014 for his close ties with the Japanese government and public. The ambassador spent his childhood in Kyoto, Japan, and served as a leader of an association of South Korean and Japanese lawmakers from 2000-2004. He also served as chief of the national police agency, governor of South Chungcheong Province and four terms as a lawmaker of predecessors of the current ruling Saenuri Party. (Yonhap) South Korea is in a debate about developing its own nuclear weapons, despite the United States' assurances to extend its "nuclear umbrella" to protect the Asian ally, a congressional report said Tuesday. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) also said in the report on U.S.-South Korea relations that such a move by the South could result in a series of negative consequences, including economic sanctions on Seoul and a nuclear arms race in the region. "In the wake of North Korea's recent nuclear weapon test and satellite launch, South Korea has re-engaged in a debate about developing its own nuclear weapons capability, notwithstanding Seoul's reliance on the U.S. nuclear 'umbrella,'" the report said. The report also noted that an opinion survey after North Korea's third nuclear test in 2013 indicated growing support in South Korea for developing an indigenous nuclear capability "amidst doubt that the United States would use its nuclear weapons to protect South Korea." "Although U.S. policymakers have reiterated their 'ironclad commitment' to defend South Korea and have publicized B-52 and B-2 long-range bomber flights over the Korean Peninsula, some South Koreans have pointed to the failure of the United States and others to stanch Pyongyang's growing nuclear capability as justification for Seoul to pursue its own nuclear arsenal," the report said. "Analysts point to the potential negative consequences of such a move for South Korea, including economic sanctions, diminished international standing, and the potential to encourage Japan and others in the region to follow suit, leading to a dangerous arms race in Asia," it said. Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests reignited calls in South Korea for its own nuclear armament, with some leading members of the country's ruling party arguing that it makes no sense to rely on the U.S. "nuclear umbrella" as the North's nuclear arsenal grows. But the government dismissed the idea, saying it runs counter to the principle of a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Adding fuel to the debate was a suggestion from U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump that South Korea and Japan could be allowed to develop nuclear weapons for self-defense in response to the North's nuclear and missile threats. The White House flatly rejected the idea as directly contrary to long-standing U.S. policy. U.S. President Barack Obama also openly criticized Trump, saying the remarks about a nuclear South Korea "tell us that the person who made the statements doesn't know much about foreign policy or nuclear policy or the Korean Peninsula or the world generally." The CRS report, meanwhile, said that U.S. officials are also concerned about the "possibility that a small-scale North Korean provocation against South Korea is more likely to escalate than it was previously, due in part to South Korea's stated intention to respond more forcefully to an attack." "U.S. defense officials insist that the close day-to-day coordination in the alliance ensures that U.S.-ROK communication would be strong in the event of a new contingency," it said. The report also said that Seoul's decision to begin official talks with the U.S. about the potential deployment of the THAAD missile defense system could be part of an effort to "convince China to place more pressure on North Korea, according to analysts." (Yonhap) By Kyung Moon Hwang The upcoming 20th National Assembly election inspires thinking about the very first such election, in 1948, which took place even before the Republic of Korea existed. In creating the first National Assembly, or the "Constitutional Assembly," that election laid the foundation for the South Korean state and political system. It was anything but a straightforward process, however, and thus the complex legacy of that vote remains strong today. The first major sticking point, as everyone knows, was that the 1948 election was limited to southern Korea, which was ruled by an American military administration, and held amidst tremendous political and social conflict. After failing in 1947 to reach an accord with the Soviet Union to realize a unified governing system on the peninsula, the Americans kicked the "Korea problem" to the newly-formed, and largely American-dominated, United Nations. The U.N. Temporary Commission on Korea could not gain cooperation from the Soviets, however, or even entry into northern Korea. It therefore proceeded, under American guidance, to set up elections in only the southern half of the country, to take place in early May of 1948. This sparked passionate opposition from a wide range of Koreans, from communists to ultra-nationalists, who feared that such a step would harden national division. Two such major figures, Kim Gu and Kim Gyu-sik, even took a trip to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Il-sung. But upon their return to the south, they were condemned by the right-wing press for having been duped by the communists, which only helped the hardliners who wanted to move forward with the separate southern election. Needless to say, these two men, along with many other political and cultural leaders, refused to participate. The most vehement resistance to the elections, however, came in early April of 1948 from the inhabitants of Jeju Island, who exploded in protest against the oppressive actions of police and right-wing youth groups, the most notorious of which originated in northern Korea. In response, these same paramilitary forces, along with army troops, terrorized the population and brutally killed thousands over the ensuing months. This was part of a general cleansing of leftist and even moderate elements who expressed opposition to the election and to the nascent southern system coming into form. Communist guerrillas in southern Korea continued their efforts to sabotage the elections, but for the most part, they could not hinder the process of registering the people to vote. U.N. observers at the time, however, listed a variety of abuses and irregularities, including intimidation, bribery, and fraud, which would mark the actual vote on May 10, 1948, as well. Despite often waiting in long lines, however, the people turned out in overwhelming numbers to cast their ballots. Furthermore, the main rightist political parties and organizations could not completely control the election, and their candidates were outnumbered by independents of various stripes, who won the majority of the Assembly seats. Despite the rightists' domination, with the help of the American military, of the formal political system, many of these figures had worked for the Japanese colonial regime, and this aroused strong suspicion from the masses already fearful of a divided country. The right wing was also split into two main factions, one that supported Syngman Rhee, the former independence activist who had spent most of his life in the United States, and another composed mostly of conservative landed elites and represented by the Donga Ilbo newspaper, headed by Kim Seong-su. Upon convening on May 31, 1948, the Constitutional Assembly proceeded to select Rhee as its speaker. Rhee used this position to push through the two most consequential decisions by this body in drafting the founding Constitution of South Korea. First, it established a presidential system as opposed to a parliamentary system, a fateful move that would facilitate the concentration of power in strongmen over the course of the country's history, despite numerous calls to switch to a more democratic structure later. The single attempt at a parliamentary system came in 1960, but this experiment was quickly quashed by a military coup the following year. Second, the Constitutional Assembly elected Syngman Rhee as the first president of the Republic of Korea, and both were inaugurated on the third anniversary of liberation, August 15, 1948. In hindsight, it became clear that Rhee had seen the first parliamentary elections and the Constitutional Assembly that resulted therefrom as part of a plan to seize authoritarian power. His ready disregard for the Constitution's pronouncement of fundamental rights for the people, including workers and the political opposition, proved this again and again. As president, Rhee would exploit the inter-Korean rivalry and the Korean War to suppress dissent of all kinds in the name of anti-communism. To maintain support for this power play, Rhee had to sustain the country's dependence on the United States military, on migrants from the North, and on pro-Japanese collaborators from the colonial era, all of whom held a fierce hostility to communism. These maneuvers established the basic structure of social domination in South Korea thereafter, including up to the present day. Little wonder, then, that historians have long expressed great regret about the manner by which the South Korean state came into being, starting with that first parliamentary election of May 1948. Those citizens who lined up to vote nearly 70 years ago could hardly have foreseen such an outcome. Kyung Moon Hwang is professor in the Departments of History and East Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Southern California. He is the author of "A History of Korea An Episodic Narrative" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). The Korean translation was published as , " " (21 , 2011). By Frank Ching The Hong Kong National Party, whose ideas of Hong Kong independence were weighed and dismissed by older and, presumably, wiser heads in previous years, nonetheless has succeeded in getting the attention of Chinese officials and, in the process, brought to the forefront discussion of freedom of speech in Hong Kong, a right clearly upheld by the Basic Law. Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Chinese government's Liaison Office in Hong Kong, said the formation of a party advocating independence had touched the bottom line of "one country, two systems" and could not be tolerated since it had exceeded free speech. He made a distinction between speech and action, citing the act of establishing a political party as exceeding free speech rather than mere advocacy of independence. However, this was a distinction that the official Chinese government agency involved, the State Council's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, refused to make. It simply declared that it was "resolutely opposed to any statement or action advocating Hong Kong independence," making it clear that there was no room for debate. But there is a great difference between words and actions, and the Chinese government knows this well. After Chen Shui-bian was elected president in Taiwan in 2000, Beijing's official response, made through its Taiwan Affairs Office, was that it would "listen to his words and watch his actions." Thus, while the words may sound conciliatory, his actions may well belie them. In Hong Kong, it seems, Chinese officials simply don't want to hear any words in support of independence. But that doesn't mean that people shouldn't talk about it. Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's first chief executive and currently vice chairman of the China's top advisory body, has urged people to speak up in opposition to independence, calling the idea "very naive." It appears that Chinese officials, Tung included, are not encouraging a discussion; they just want a one-sided condemnation of the idea, without giving the other side a chance to elucidate, expound or defend its position. That is to say, one side has freedom of speech and the other side doesn't. It may well be that, as Tung said, independence has absolutely no benefits for Hong Kong. But why not let people talk about it? In fact, by issuing a statement condemning independence for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office is, in fact, expressing its view on independence. This ought to justify other people entering the discussion and providing views either for or against the idea. But Chinese officials like to make sweeping statements and escalate all discussion to the level of sovereignty, thus in effect forbidding the other party to make his argument. Thus, Xinhua, the state news agency, condemned the newly proclaimed party and said it had "harmed the country's sovereignty and security, as well as endangered the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong." Is Chinese sovereignty so fragile that it can be damaged by a handful of very naive people? What about the sovereignty of Britain, which allowed a referendum to be held regarding Scottish independence, or the sovereignty of Canada, which has allowed Quebec to vote on its possible separation? Is Chinese sovereignty, which we are constantly told is supported by 1.3 billion Chinese people, so frail that it cannot even withstand some public discussion? As for endangering the stability and prosperity of Hong Kong, the root cause of the unrest in the territory can be traced to distrust of the central government, and the Lee Bo case exemplifies it, in spades. The downgrade by Standard and Poor of both the mainland and Hong Kong cannot be blamed on pro-independence sentiment. It is entirely attributable to the question mark hanging over the future of Hong Kong brought about by Chinese actions and doubt regarding the rule of law in the territory. If the central government is serious about supporting Hong Kong's stability and prosperity, it should publicly explain its actions in the Lee Bo episode and pledge never to allow actions that undermine Hong Kong's autonomy to ever happen again. Beijing should realize that the Lee Bo case has greatly affected local confidence in the Hong Kong government. After all, what the case highlighted was the inability of the local authorities to protect Hong Kong residents and to keep them from harm by the mainland. But the likelihood of the central government coming clean on the Lee Bo case is as likely as the sun rising in the west every morning from now to 2047, when the Basic Law will expire. Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based freelancer journalist. Contact him Frank.ching@gmail.com. North Korea could have already started reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to harvest weapons-grade plutonium in a process that could give Pyongyang enough fissile material for up to three nuclear bombs, a U.S. research institute said Tuesday. The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a think tank in Washington that specializes in the Iranian and North Korean nuclear issues, raised the possibility, citing an unidentified "government official who monitors the situation closely." The report came a day after 38 North, a U.S. website focusing on North Korea issues, also raised the possibility of the North reprocessing spent fuel, saying recent commercial satellite imagery showed "exhaust plumes" from a thermal plant used to heat the reprocessing facility. These assessments are in line with a statement that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made last month that the North had restarted its main five-megawatt nuclear reactor at Yongbyon and has since run it for long enough to harvest plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months." "If North Korea has indeed started, or even partially completed, this plutonium separation process, the question becomes: how much plutonium for nuclear weapons could it separate? The amount of plutonium separated will depend on the amount of plutonium produced in the 5-megawatt reactor since it restarted in mid-2013," ISIS said. The reactor is believed to have produced about 3-4 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium through the end of the summer of 2014. Though the reactor has run intermittently since mid-2014, it could have produced an additional 2-3 kilograms of plutonium. "In total, the 5-megawatt reactor could have produced an estimated 5-7 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium since its 2013 restart," ISIS said. "This is enough plutonium for one to three nuclear weapons, assuming 2-4 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium per weapon." If confirmed, such reprocessing would represent yet another provocative act that the North has been engaged in recently in defiance of international pressure over its nuclear and missile programs. (Yonhap) The U.N. Security Council will soon designate additional items to be banned from entering North Korea as part of measures to strengthen its sanctions against the communist regime, a government official said Wednesday. The U.N.'s North Korea sanctions committee submitted a list of items to the Security Council on Monday in line with Resolution 2270, which punishes Pyongyang for its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in February, according to the official. Under the resolution adopted last month, the committee is required to report the additional goods to the council within 15 days of the resolution's adoption. "The list will soon be released as a council document and published on the U.N.'s website," the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The list is expected to include items that could be used for the North's development of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons as well as missiles. The items were originally listed in an annex to the resolution but put aside for further discussion due to opposition from Russia, one of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the council. (Yonhap) North Korea said Wednesday it is sticking to its stance to seek dialogue with South Korea with the aim of improving inter-Korean ties in what may be a peace gesture in the face of tougher U.N. sanctions. The North's comments came two days after it said that pursuing stability and talks, rather than unilateral sanctions and military pressure, will become fundamental solutions to easing heightened tensions on the peninsula. "There is no change in our stance that we seek to open the path toward dialogue with South Korea and better ties," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a commentary. It said that North Korea made a series of offers that can bring big change to inter-Korean ties last year in a bid to end distrust and confrontation between the two sides. The KCNA's report came as the United Nations Security Council imposed the toughest sanctions in decades last month over the North's January nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in February. What appears to be a conciliatory gesture reflects the North's attempt to tip the balance in its favor ahead of its key party congress slated for May, experts said. North Korea is seeking to make progress on various fronts as it is prepares to hold the ruling party's first party congress in more than three decades in early May. But the North also blamed South Korea for the current strained relations between Seoul and Pyongyang, urging the South's government to change its hostility-laden attitude toward the communist nation. (Yonhap) Provocative GPS interference needs response in kind North Korea has been interfering with our global positioning system (GPS) for days now. So far, some aircraft and fishing vessels have been affected because Pyongyang is shifting its target areas but its influence reaches far south of Seoul and large swaths of the East and West Seas. It is said that the North keeps the jamming at low intensities. Now, the damage is limited to nonfatal inconveniences because the vessels have to switch to using their compass or aircraft must turn off their GPS and use other navigational systems. Experts, however, don't rule out the possibility that small airplanes which rely only on GPS might stray into North Korean airspace. The government quickly dismissed such a possibility because pilots of these planes can also navigate without the aid of instrumentation. It's a naive response. This jamming interference should be reported to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a U.N. body, to determine how it can endanger flights. The North's jamming should be taken seriously on two counts. First, it is no less a provocative act as firing big guns at residents and garrison troops on Yeongpyeong Island or torpedoing the ROK Navy frigate Cheonan, both North Korean attacks that caused significant casualties. As prompted after the Cheonan attack, more forceful rules of engagement have been reaffirmed by President Park Geun-hye, allowing the military to react in kind or make a response that causes much stronger damage to the North. This type of "eye for eye, tooth for tooth" is called for, considering the North appears to be sending out feelers to check out the ROK-U.S. readiness for conflict as the toughest-ever U.N sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests are starting to bite. The U.N. Security Council should also be kept informed about the latest developments. Therefore, the lack of response could give the North the wrong idea, encouraging it to mount more provocations or delay a move back to the negotiating table. Thus far, the military says that it is keeping an eye on the North, at the risk of being criticized for not having sufficient counterattack plans and failing to evolve its contingency strategy, although the latest jamming provocations are the fourth by the North since the first such provocation in 2010. We want to give the military the benefit of the doubt because it may not want to disclose all information regarding capabilities and counter-plans and hope that the military enhances its readiness. Reports have it that protective measures against the North's jamming are limited due to legal constraints. Now is the time to consider which of these barriers should be removed in order to provide adequate protection. There are, however, military measures available to let the North know that it can't get away with this. One is jamming its air defense systems by employing Wild Weasels or EA Intruders aircraft equipped with equipment to jam surface-to-air missile radar and, if necessary, destroy them with missiles. Of course, it requires careful judgment not to overdo this. On a broader scale, the military should try to understand the ulterior purpose of the North's jamming provocations and fathom the true depth of its electronic warfare capabilities. The modern tools of war rely heavily on electronics so it is only natural to make an accurate estimate about its capabilities. However it may sound like a plot of a Hollywood movie, disturbing news is that the North may be developing electro-magnetic pulse weapons to neutralize the enemy's warfare capabilities at an initial stage of war. As with any life-or-death matter, the military should fully prepare itself for the latest North Korean challenge under the worst-case scenarios amplifying the intensity of interference many times or using this tactic as a prelude to a bigger provocation. We don't want to find out later how high a price we should pay for our lack of military readiness, do we? BMW Korea CEO Kim Hyo-joon By Oh Young-jin Kim Hyo-joon, BMW Korea CEO, represents the story of a truly self-made man. The 59-year-old has overcome his humble beginnings to lead the most successful import car business for the longest period, serving as the source of inspiration and providing young people with an enviable role model. He is the first Asian to join the German car-making group's group of 47 top leaders. BMW is set to see 3 trillion won in sales this year, making the brand one of the easily encountered with in Seoul streets, Korean-made Hyundai and Kia cars included. What has he done for the past 21 years to steer his operations away from business risks that have made rivals Mercedes and Audi stumble, and stay at top? Can his being Korean explain his success over BMW's rivals, led by foreigners? If so, that is only half of Kim's story. Kim is always mild-mannered and polite, and has a habit of not leaving his remarks in mid-sentence. Rarely will he reveal a hint that underneath his "Mr. Right" attitudes, he hides a steely discipline, do-or-die determination and a lot of patience. A recent lunch with him proved to be one such a moment. With an awkward smile on his face, he said that he had to visit an emergency room. When our party protested for his not asking us to delay the get-together, he said, "I wouldn't miss our customers for the world." Instead of taking a rest, he took an intravenous drip to meet with us. Looking out the window that takes in Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall, we pointed out with a little exaggeration that the street was "teeming" with BMWs. "Not enough," he replied with a playful grin on his face. Then, our occupational instinct came alive and we started what we were good at _ asking questions in an effort to find out what makes him different from other CEOs. How would Kim discipline an underperformer or one who was not a team player? He recalled one case he had when he was vice president. "My boss demanded a certain manager immediately be fired," he said. He calmed the angry CEO by explaining that a worker had his rights and couldn't be dismissed without due process. Kim called in the worker and questioned him about his job performance. Surprisingly, the worker thought he was a top performer. "There can often be disconnect between employer and employee that should be connected to make A Team," he said. Then, another case offers a lesson on communicating with his boss. "When one executive, who should be in constant contact with Kim, weekends as well as weekdays, was transferred, the executive told him how he felt light-hearted. "I felt a little surprised, wondering whether I stressed him out," he observed, stressing the delicacy of inter-person relationship. "That feeling comes back sometimes." One of his former employees couldn't grow to cope with a bigger responsibility. "He had overcome his limitations to become an executive," he said. One day after a human resources meeting, he was confronted by a staff member who demanded an explanation for his being passed up for a promotion. "The executive was let go out because he violated protocols and divulged what was said in the meeting to the staffer," he said. "That was incompetence." Threading these anecdotes together is "people," the core competency of BMW he has worked with for 21 years. "The business of business is to create value," he said. "The foundation of the 100-year-old BMW's value-chain is employees and employers." Buttressing this foundation are transparency and fairness that Kim has also contributed to. "Munich (the BMW headquarters) was a bit surprised when I explained that we were planning to set out a rule for my successor to be selected," he said. After all, he still has four more years to go before retirement. Already, a team has been organized to select a field of 10 candidates, which will be whittled down to three before the final one is selected. The "chosen one" will be appointed to be chief operating officer to work with Kim in his final year. "The whole idea is to select the best candidate and make things predictable so as to prevent transitional chaos," he said. What he is doing is an attempt to transplant the mature European-style corporate succession culture that offers an alternative to the family feud for management control in Korea's big businesses. A sibling fight in Lotte is the latest example. Finally, we asked him how he has managed not to be tainted by corruption through BMW's rapid growth, his answer was simple. "I do a lot of delegating. I don't know any of our vendors for instance. There are people in our company who are responsible for them. My job is to make systematic crosschecking possible." The lunch ended as before like a lecture but we managed to remain attentive throughout. After all, everybody is a human resources manager of one type or another. By Yoon Sung-won Intel introduced new server processor and storage devices, Wednesday, aiming at corporate clients planning to set up data centers for cloud computing systems. The world's largest semiconductor provider said its new Xeon processors and its first 3D NAND solid state drives (SSDs) will help clients establish systems that fully support both public cloud services and their own private on-premise cloud systems. "Corporate clients are increasingly demanding to tap into high-speed processing and the efficiency of cloud-based architecture either by adopting a public cloud service, establishing a private cloud system or using both at the same time," Intel Data Center Group General Manager Diane Bryant said. "Accordingly, the demand for software-defined infrastructure (SDI) is also increasing and we are expanding our investments to meet such needs." The Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 server processors have been made under the 14-nanometer process. It has 20 percent more processing cores and cache memory than its predecessor and has improved security functions that are fit for cloud systems, the company said. The company said Naver, Korea's largest web portal company, has already tested the new processor at its data center in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, improving the efficiency of its search engine service. "Naver, which operates one of the nation's most efficient data centers, has tested the new processor even before its introduction here to look into possible improvements in efficiency," Intel Korea spokeswoman Angela Park said. The company said vendors including Dell, Lenovo, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Myungin Inno, Sandia Systems, Tera Technology and HPC Korea have adopted its new Xeon processors for their servers. Intel said its new SSDs for data centers have adopted the non-volatile memory express standard and have a dual port design and provide the redundancy and failover functions. Whereas Samsung Electronics is the world's leading SSD provider in general, Intel said it holds the largest share of the data center SSD market. By Kim Yoo-chul Samsung's corporate strategy office confirmed Wednesday that it is in talks with Publicis of France over the sale of its stake in Cheil Worldwide. "We can confirm that Samsung's stake in Cheil Worldwide is up for sale," Cheil Worldwide CEO Lim Dai-ki told reporters. "No significant progress has been made so far but talks are underway for sale of the shares." He made the remarks on the sidelines of his participation in Wednesday's regular weekly meeting of senior Samsung executives at the company's Seocho Tower in southern Seoul. In a statement to The Korea Times, Cheil said; "We will issue regulatory filing when details have been confirmed or within three months." The remarks were a major reversal as Cheil previously denied market rumors that the French company had shown interest in purchasing a 30 percent stake in the agency at a general shareholders' meeting last month. The sale is part of Samsung's corporate strategy to cut the function of back offices such as marketing, finance, human resources and administration to create a leaner business structure and to remain adaptive amid challenging market circumstances. Therefore, the role of Cheil Worldwide within the group has been reduced as Samsung has been tightening its belt in advertising and other operational expenses. Officials say the talks were stalled because the two parties disagreed on the value of Cheil Worldwide's stocks, management premiums and guaranteed ads amount for Samsung Electronics. Cheil Worldwide's market value is estimated to be about $1.9 billion, according to market analysts. Samsung spent about $2.4 billion globally on advertizing through the third quarter of 2015. "If Publicis wins the Samsung deal, then it will significantly boost its client base especially in North America," a Samsung executive said. Cheil Worldwide has continued increasing its presence in North America, where it owns McKinney, Iris and the Barbarian Group. Lim declined to specify the major issues that need to be addressed for the completion of the multibillion-dollar deal. In a separate meeting with reporters, Samsung Electronics' semiconductor chief Kim Ki-nam said the company was on track to develop DRAM chips using an advanced 10-nanometer processing technology. Samsung earlier said it had begun selling 8-gigabit DDR4 DRAM chips using 18-nanometer technology, helping the company widen the technology gap with its chief competitors SK hynix and Micron Technology of the U.S. Senior Samsung executives attending the weekly meeting were briefed about ongoing moves by major Japanese companies and the Japanese government to expand its healthcare industry. Samsung earlier identified the healthcare industry as one of its next revenue streams. Since 2001, Japan has been consistent in increasing its investment in various healthcare-related projects. When autocomplete results are available use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary Read more This is a bit of follow-up to a post that Ellen Alperstein wrote for our Native Intelligence blog in 2012. Ellen explored the realm of spiders in Southern California, especially their activity in the autumn, and included a data point that the only native venomous spider here was the female black widow but that the non-native African brown widow had been discovered and was coming on strong. She spoke to experts at the Natural History Museum, including entomology volunteer Jan Kempf. Now comes a piece at KCET's website that also talks to Kempf and updates the story to say that brown widows are winning out and the old familiar (but scary looking) black widows are becoming more and more scarce around Los Angeles. The story of brown widows in Los Angeles begins in 2002. According to Brian Brown, entomology curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, that's when the museum began encouraging Angelenos to capture spiders from their houses and backyards and bring them to the museum. Since the Spider Survey citizen science program started, more than 1,000 families have contributed more than 5,000 eight-legged specimens to the museum's collections. "They brought them in every conceivable container you can imagine," says Brown, including one empty bottle of Chanel No. 5. But Brown isn't a spider expert; his passion is tiny flies. The job of identifying every specimen falls instead to museum volunteer Jan Kempf. As a child, Kempf was already intrigued by the natural world. She was the sort of kid who chased after lizards in the backyard. That might explain why she began docent training at the museum twenty-six years ago. At the end of the training year, participants had to present a research paper. "I decided to research something I didn't know anything about, and it ended up being spiders," she says. She was hooked. She began taking classes in her spare time on spider biology and spider identification. Before long she met Brown, and she quickly transferred from the docent program to volunteering in the entomology department. Ricardo DeAratanha, the Los Angeles Times news photographer who was arrested by Simi Valley police while transmitting photos of the Nancy Reagan funeral motorcade last month, was charged Tuesday by Ventura County with one misdemeanor count of resisting, obstructing or delaying a peace officer. His arraignment is Thursday. I would have thought that the officials out there would want this blemish on law enforcement to quietly go away. But no. Now they are going to embroil themselves in a very public controversy over what actually happened. Police say they responded to a call about a suspicion vehicle near the Reagan Library and that DeAratanha refused to identify himself. DeAratanha's lawyer says, however, that he did cooperate with the officers and provided cards issued by the Times and by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department. The lawyer says that the cops kept asking for more identification, and that when DeAratanha suggested they were bothering him because he has dark skin, three officers swarmed him and pushed him to the ground. After he was arrested, DeAratanha who is of Brazilian heritage and 65 years old was allowed by the police to finish transmitting his pictures. He then went to a hospital to have an injured arm examined. Im disappointed that its come this far, lawyer Mark Werksman said. Its hard to imagine any legal or factual basis for prosecution over this. The Ventura DA's office would not provide the LAT with details of the case against DeAratanha. Scott Kelly, who returned to Earth last month after spending almost a year aboard the International Space Station, will write a book chronicling his groundbreaking journey. Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars will be published by Alfred A. Knopf. Kelly holds the record for the most total time spent in space, with more than 520 days logged on spacecraft, including the 340 consecutive days he worked on the space station. In an excerpt from the book provided by Knopf, Kelly describes the hardships he endured during his time aboard the station: During my time in orbit, I lost bone mass, my muscles atrophied, and my blood redistributed itself in my body, which strained my heart. Every day, I was exposed to ten times the radiation of a person on Earth, which will increase my risk of a fatal cancer for the rest of my life. Not to mention the psychological stress, which is harder to quantify and perhaps as damaging. Advertisement He retired from NASA this month, weeks after he and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko returned to Earth after completing the nearly yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station. The project was launched to observe how long-term spaceflights affect the human body. Several medical experiments were conducted on Kelly, as well as on his identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, who was on Earth at the time, and served as a kind of control subject. According to a news release from the publisher, Kellys book will tell the story of his journey to space and his life aboard the ISS. He will also recount the obstacles he encountered along the way his early struggles in school (where he was a C-student), his training as a Navy test pilot, and the work required to become an astronaut (and live in space for one year). The book will also contain Scott Kellys arguments in favor of more space travel, both government-sponsored and private. There are few aspects of everyday life that arent touched by the technologies developed for space travel, he writes, but these innovations arent the only benefits of spaceflight ... The superhuman accomplishment of innovation, perseverance, and cooperation carried out by thousands of Americans working towards one audacious goal speaks for itself. Kelly, who earned more than 1 million Twitter followers with the photos he took from the space station, will also publish a book of photographs. There are plans for Random House Childrens Books to publish several books about his time in space for young readers as well. Endurance will be Scott Kellys first book, but his brother, Mark, is already a prolific writer. Mark Kelly has published childrens books such as Mousetronaut and Astrotwins: Project Rescue, as well as two nonfiction books he co-wrote with his wife, Gabrielle Giffords, the former Arizona congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in 2011. Scott Kelly is co-writing Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars with Margaret Lazarus Dean, author of Leaving Orbit: Notes from the Last Days of American Spaceflight, which was published last year by Graywolf Press. Endurance will be published in November 2017. Pre-orders for the Tesla Model 3 have topped 276,000, with buyers lured by the electric vehicles coolness factor, sleek and low profile, $35,000 starting price and the promise of thousands of dollars in government incentives. But before customers start earmarking those subsidy savings for new rims or a thumping sound system, know this: Many government rebates could be exhausted by the time most get behind the wheel of their Model 3s. Buyers shouldnt be counting on either the federal or the state level incentives as part of their financial calculations in purchasing the vehicle, said Patrick Min, senior analyst at the automotive company ALG. Advertisement ------------ FOR THE RECORD April 6, 1:41 p.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said the $7,500 federal credit runs out when a manufacturer sells 200,000 qualifying vehicles. The credit starts to gradually phase out at the 200,000 mark. ------------ A combination of federal and state financial credits have helped defray the cost of buying zero-emission or hybrid vehicles for Southern Californians: up to $7,500 in federal subsidies and $2,500 in state subsidies for Tesla owners. But there are caveats. The federal subsidy starts to phase out once a manufacturer sells 200,000 vehicles in the U.S. And wealthy California buyers will also miss out: Starting last week, state rebates were no longer available to single filers earning more than $250,000 a year, head-of-household filers making more than $340,000 and joint filers making a combined $500,000. According to data compiled by the research firm Polk and by the industry publication Inside Evs, Tesla to date has sold about 67,000 Model S and Model X vehicles that qualified for rebates. If the company hits its stated targets of delivering 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles this year, analysts said, those rebates could begin to drop off before the first Model 3 is slated to hit the road in late 2017. Many of those who stood in line at Teslas stores around the country last week took government incentives into consideration. Santa Monica resident Paul Scott, who was among the first to put down a deposit at his local Tesla store on the Third Street Promenade, said he was intending to order a fully loaded Model 3 because he believes that Tesla will build and deliver the most expensive models first. He could spend as much as $50,000 for his model, he said, but that gives him a better chance of getting a tax credit before Tesla sells its 200,000th vehicle. If any of the tax credit is available, only the first Model 3s will get it, Scott said. But Im fully prepared to buy the car without the tax credit. SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >> Chief Executive Elon Musk said Teslas rollout plan should enable large numbers of customers to take advantage of incentives, but analysts questioned just how many new customers would see them. At this pace, theyre going to burn through the available credits, said Alan Ohnsman, spokesman for TrueCar.com, an automotive pricing and information website. Jeremy Acevedo, pricing and industry analyst for Edmunds.com, said if there is no subsidy extension, theres no chance that everybody on this list is going to be able to attain the federal rebate. California also offers incentives, but amid a potential flood of new electric cars, those enticements could be in question. Under the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP), California offers up to $6,500 for the purchase or lease of new, eligible zero-emission vehicles that include electric, plug-in hybrid electric and fuel cell vehicles. Tesla owners receive $2,500. The rebate program receives an annual allocation to distribute to clean-car buyers. The budget for the next fiscal year that starts July 1 contains $175 million, said Colin Santulli, senior manager of clean transportation for the Center for Sustainable Energy. What the state is going to designate for 2017, 2018, 2019, when the Tesla [Model 3] hits consumers driveways and they can apply for the incentives, we really cant say, Santulli said. According to California Air Resources Board numbers, rebates exceeded the money allocated for the program in fiscal years 2012-13 and 2013-14. The state will have to look at what the demand is going to be the next time they propose allocating a budget for the program and theyre definitely going to have to take into consideration the Tesla Model 3 demand, Santulli said. rob.nikolewski@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @robnikolewski Times staff writer Charles Fleming contributed to this report. MORE BUSINESS NEWS For Disney, its a small, small world of possible candidates to succeed CEO Iger Ballast Points Sculpin leads San Diego craft beers to robust growth in 2015 The Boss will battle Batman v Superman for top spot at the box office this weekend You might think the people you hired to help arrange your retirement finances have to put your best interests first. Thats not always the case. So the Obama administration has taken a controversial step to try to protect more Americans from being ripped off. The new rules unveiled Wednesday by the Labor Department are designed to prevent consumers from being steered toward IRAs and other retirement investments with higher fees or lower returns that benefit the advisors recommending or selling them. Advertisement The White House estimated that those conflicts of interest cost Americans $17 billion a year. Initially proposed in 2010, the rules would save a 45-year-old worker with $100,000 in retirement savings about $37,000 over the two decades before turning 65, the White House estimated. Consumer advocates, Democrats and retiree groups such as the AARP cheered the administrations move. When youre planning for retirement, your advisor should be focused first on what makes sense for your finances, not theirs, said Pamela Banks, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union. But the financial industry, top business groups and Republicans complained that complying with the complex new rules would drive up the cost of investments and make it more difficult for average Americans to get retirement advice. This is Obamacare for your IRA and 401(k), said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas). Heres five things you need to know about the new rules, which will be phased in over eight months beginning in April 2017: Your nest egg takes precedent For decades, many investment advisors have been required under federal law to put the best interest of their clients first. That makes the advisors, who usually are paid a flat fee, into what are known as fiduciaries. But other retirement advisors, such as brokers and insurance agents, have had a lower standard. They are only required to make sure investments are suitable for their clients. That allows those advisors, who often receive commissions for the sale of specific investments, to recommend investments that benefit their bottom line as well sometimes even more than the clients. The commissions are paid by the companies that offer the mutual funds or other investments that can have higher fees or lower returns, benefiting the company and harming the client. This has become a bigger issue as Americans have shifted from pension plans administered by their employer to 401(k) and other retirement plans that they manage themselves. The new rules makes all retirement investment advisors into fiduciaries, meaning they must put the clients best interests above their own. The biggest impact will be on IRAs A 401(k) plan is administered by a fiduciary who selects and monitors the investment options available to participants in the plan. Thats not the case with IRAs, which can be sold by a host of financial advisors. The risks of conflict of interest are greater with IRAs. The costs related to those products tend to be higher because they are purchased individually, while 401(k) plans are run by companies that pool the investments of their employees. When youre with all the other employees, you have more buying power, said Robert Kaplan, an associate at the Ballard Spahr law firm in Philadelphia, who specializes in employee benefits and executive compensation. Its much cheaper to service a million-dollar client than service a $50,000 client, he said. The new rules require the advisors who sell IRAs or help you roll over your 401(k) balance into an IRA when you leave a job to act as fiduciaries. Financial advisors can still accept commissions with a caveat The Labor Department said that being a fiduciary means an advisor must provide impartial advice in his or her clients best interest and cant accept any payments, such as commissions, that would create conflicts of interest. Still, theres a way for advisors to continue receiving commissions from retirement products. Advisors can sign a contract that, among other things, promises to charge only reasonable compensation, discloses conflicts of interest and commits to adopting policies to ensure they are acting in their clients best interests. But the so-called best-interest contract comes with a catch: It allows for class-action lawsuits if violated, rather than the binding arbitration that many financial firms require of clients. Arbitration can be required for individual claims, but class-action suits must be allowed if a group of people are harmed, the Labor Department said. More financial advisors could switch from commission to upfront fees The new regulatory burdens on financial advisors who want to accept commissions means that it could be more attractive to work for a flat fee, Kaplan said. I think were going to have a shift from the world of commission advisors to hourly rate advisors, he said. Fee-only advisors advertise themselves as such and charge a flat, upfront fee for their work. That removes a key incentive lucrative commissions for conflicts of interest. Those advisors also would not have to sign the best-interest contract and provide all the additional disclosures. Although the Labor Department made some changes to the final rule, the legal liability probably will be severe enough that publicly traded broker-dealers with financial advisory businesses will switch to a fee-for-service model from a commission model, said Jaret Seiberg, a policy analyst for Guggenheim Partners in Washington. Among such publicly traded companies are E-Trade, Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade. The rules could make it more difficult for some people to get financial advice Upfront fees can be more than $100 an hour, which could be difficult for average Americans to afford, Kaplan said. Fee-only (advice) tends to be for only high net-worth people because its expensive, he said. While there is the potential for conflicts of interest, commission-based advisors dont require the customer to pay upfront for the service. Thats part of the reason opponents of the rules have argued retirement saving will become more difficult. Policymakers should do everything they can to help Americans be more prepared for retirement and not create red tape that makes saving for retirement more difficult, said Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor who is chief executive of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the largest banking and financial services companies. jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com Follow @JimPuzzanghera on Twitter Californias economy will grow faster this year than the national economy, and unemployment will drop to 5% in early 2017, according to a new report by the UCLA Anderson Forecast. Personal income in California will increase more slowly than it has in recent years, when the states economy was bouncing back from the high unemployment of the recession. In 2016, personal income in California will grow 3.6%, compared with 4.5% in 2015, the report said. Advertisement SIGN UP for the free California Inc. business newsletter >> Its not worrying. Its actually an encouraging sign, said Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist at UCLA and coauthor of the report. The fact that we are getting close to full employment means we should be growing at a slower rate, unless there is a faster growth in innovation and capital accumulation. Unemployment is expected to hit 5% in the first quarter of 2017, he said. The jobless rate in California was 5.5% in February. Wages and salaries in the state, not adjusting for inflation, will grow about 5.7% this year, according to the projections. Thats down from 7.5% last year. That means Californians will earn $60 billion more in wages than in 2015. Total employment, which has been growing at more than 2% since 2012, will grow 1.9% this year, and tick down to 1% growth in 2017. The U.S. economy overall will expand 2.7%, the report said. UCLA economist David Shulman said concerns about a recession have subsided. Financial markets, which were volatile the first two months of the year, have calmed. That could change and U.S. growth could be hampered if Britain decides to leave the European Union, the report said. Shulman also said that extreme rhetoric in the presidential campaign raised the specter of upending the global system of trade. Trade wars usually do not lead to prosperity, he noted in the report. natalie.kitroeff@latimes.com See more of our top stories on Facebook >> MORE BUSINESS NEWS New tax-inversion rules appear to kill Allergan-Pfizer deal WhatsApp extends encryption beyond texts to photos, videos, group chats and calls Why Disney could have to go outside the Mouse House for a new CEO The massive natural gas leak above Porter Ranch that caused thousands of families to flee, complaining of headaches, bloody noses and nausea, appears to have had a secondary effect that residents feared: It disrupted the neighborhoods housing market. Sales from December to February declined 20% from a year earlier, though prices held up after the leak that began Oct. 23, according to data from online brokerage Redfin. In contrast, both sales and prices rose countywide during the same three-month period. Syd Leibovitch, president of Rodeo Realty, said the figures suggest that some buyers were spooked by the leak at the Aliso Canyon storage facility that was finally sealed Feb. 18 though he thought the situation could have been worse. Advertisement There were people that wouldnt buy a house with the uncertainty over the gas leak, Leibovitch said. I thought no one would buy anything. In total, 61 homes were sold from December to February, compared with 76 a year earlier in Porter Ranchs 91326 ZIP Code. The median price was up 5.7% to $670,000, less than in some other affluent areas. In Calabasas and Hidden Hills two other upscale neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley combined sales rose 44% and the median price climbed 30%. Countywide sales increased 5.8% and the median price climbed 8.7%. Real estate agent Amber Dolle of John Aaroe Group said some of the disruption arose from the simple fact that many residents in the community of 30,000 left as the damaged well spewed gas for months. She was working with a couple to sell their home before the leak, but as methane wafted over the neighborhood, the couple moved into temporary housing elsewhere. They relocated and it got to be too much, Dolle said. And they were thinking, Would we even get as much? for their home. Some residents are still living in temporary housing paid for by Southern California Gas Co., operator of the well. And last month the company said it would hire a private contractor overseen by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to test homes for trapped methane and mercaptans, the additives that give odorless methane its rotten-egg smell and have been blamed by some residents for continued health effects. The well ultimately spewed nearly 100,000 tons of methane and was deemed the largest methane gas leak in U.S. history. That has raised concerns that home values could be permanently affected in the neighborhood. Disclosures for homes now include a mention of the communitys proximity to the gas field and the recent problems. And some lenders began asking for two appraisals on a property to ensure that homes werent losing value. The Los Angeles County assessors office also started looking into whether the assessed value of the homes has changed for tax purposes. Assessor Jeffrey Prang said any conclusion now would be premature. We are still collecting data for the last couple months to determine where those values are going, he said. Despite the concerns, some real estate agents doubted that the effects on the housing market would be permanent. The neighborhood had been performing well in the fall, with sales and prices rising in the three-month period from September to November. Scott Himelstein, an agent with Park Regency Realty, said he didnt see any slowdown. Buyers he has spoken with viewed the problem as a temporary inconvenience that didnt derail their desire to live in a master-planned community with good schools. The agent said he had six offers on a three-bedroom home he listed in January. The home sold for $673,000 more than $20,000 above the list price. Since the leak ended, Himelstein said, hes also held open houses where more than 60 groups of people strolled through over a five-hour period. There is more demand than there is supply, Himelstein said. Its very similar to the rest of the San Fernando Valley. Leibovitch of Rodeo Realty agreed. Now that the leak is stopped, we are seeing an increase in activity. However, given the communitys size, data can fluctuate and a clearer picture of the leaks effects will emerge in coming months. Since the leak, more residents have put their homes on the market. From November through February, the number of homes listed for sale rose each month compared with a year earlier before posting a 50% pop in March, when 99 were on the market, according to Redfin. If sales keep falling while inventory expands, values probably wouldnt hold so steady. Daren Blomquist, senior vice president with RealtyTrac, a firm that also reported falling sales, said he expects that there will be some impact on prices over the next year. When looking at a market, the first sign of weakness is sales slowing down, and then the next domino to fall would be values, he said. Some homeowners have that very worry. David Balen and his wife, Nena, bought their four-bedroom home for $1.4 million in 2005 and plowed an additional $150,000 into landscaping and a pool. During the leak, Balen said he couldnt breathe when walking around the neighborhood and his daughter had stomach issues and bloody noses. To escape, his family moved into temporary housing in Tarzana. We want to keep our value at the end of the day, said Balen, president of the Renaissance homeowners association in Porter Ranch. We dont know where we stand. Balen said he has talked with his wife about selling, but they arent planning to now. They wonder how much they could get and they want to stay in Porter Ranch anyway. I love the community, Balen said. andrew.khouri@latimes.com Twitter: @khouriandrew Faith Erin Hicks' new graphic novel "The Nameless City" is a story of friendship. The first book of an eventual trilogy, "Nameless City" is set in a fictional world based on historical China. Main characters Rat and Kai are from opposite sides of a conquest. One is a child of the Nameless City, and the other is the child of the latest nation to invade and occupy the other's home. Its a challenging foundation for forging a friendship, but their shared love for the city helps them make it work. While exploring the nuances of friendship may be nothing new to Hicks, the world of "The Nameless City" is a definite change for the Eisner Award-winning cartoonist, who is known for "The Adventures of Superhero Girl," "Friends With Boys" and "Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong." See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >> "Most of my stories have been set in modern times, a lot of them in high schools, and I was pretty burnt out on drawing school lockers," Hicks said in an email. "My editor makes fun of me for this. Like, I got sick of drawing school hallways and decided to draw complicated historical Chinese houses instead. What was I thinking?" Of course that alone wasnt what appealed to Hicks when developing a whole new world for the graphic novel. "But seriously, it was the challenge of the thing, both doing the research into what history would influence this story, and then setting out to draw that in both an appealing and authentic way," Hicks said. "It appealed to me because I'd never done anything like it before." Hero Complex readers can check out pages from "The Nameless City," published by First Second Books, below. Hicks discussed Rat, Kai and "The Nameless City" over email. What are the origins of The Nameless City? How long was this project in the works and how much did the city itself and characters like Kai and Rat evolve as your initial idea gestated? "The Nameless City" has been in the works for a really long time, much longer than any of my other comics. I actually found very early sketches of the characters drawn in sketchbooks that date back to 2007. Originally it was a fun side project, something to mess around with while I drew other projects. When drawing is your job, I find it's important to have fun things that aren't work-related to draw, and the initial Nameless City story was a way for me to play around with historical fantasy-inspired character design. There was a lot of evolution in the story. Originally it was much more sprawling, and [I was] more interested in the world-building rather than the characters. But I'm definitely a writer who prefers writing characters and their arcs over intricate plots, so once I got interested in Rat and Kai's story, the comic became much more focused. Now the comic is specifically about Rat and Kai and their arcs as characters, and we see the world they live in through their eyes. Some might say Avatar: The Last Airbender has set a pretty high bar for Asian-inspired fantasy. Even though The Nameless City is a different kind of story, in a different medium, were you worried at all about any comparisons to Avatar? Haha, I would be totally fine with comparisons to "Avatar"! It's one of my favorite things in the world, and it definitely influenced "The Nameless City," although perhaps more in character arc and storytelling than world-building. One of the co-creators of the show, Bryan Konietzko, was even kind enough to blurb my book. So I'm totally fine with comparisons to that show. It's an amazing accomplishment, and if people get the same feelings reading "The Nameless City" as they do watching "Avatar," I would be thrilled. Rat and Kais friendship and the world of "The Nameless City" is steeped in larger themes of conquest and colonialism were you hesitant at all to include some of these themes for a book intended for a younger audience? How conscious were you about introducing some of these heavier themes? It wasn't something I thought too hard about, to be honest. I knew these were issues that I wanted to address in the book, and that it would be problematic if I presented the Nameless City as an uncomplicated, happy place to live, despite the cycle of war and invasion. I did want to be careful in how I represented the violence of "The Nameless City" on the page. I wanted to be respectful of kids who might be upset by that violence, but I think it's important to bring up these complicated issues to kids. I think kids can be really smart and thoughtful, and can look at complex issues of conquest and a violent society trying to evolve into something different and understand that complexity. Running is a big part of Rat and Kais initial interactions. Why running? Are you a runner? Any experience with parkour? I'm a bit of a runner, although I don't claim to be much good at it. If I could just be healthy without exercising, that would be the dream! I kinda like sitting on my butt better than going jogging in the morning. I'm definitely not a parkour person, but like many people who aren't skilled physically, I admire those who are. Mostly I felt the running and climbing was very much an aspect of Rat's character; she's physical and strong and knows the city like the back of her hand, and if Kai wants to befriend her, he has to keep up. How different is it for you when working on a project as a serialized webcomic where people can see installments as you go versus working on a graphic novel thats released in a complete volume in one release? What do you think are the benefits of the two processes? Webcomics and print graphic novels are super different, and they have different things to recommend them. With webcomics you have the wonderful experience of having your reader alongside you while you create this story. So you get feedback and criticism (hopefully good criticism) while you work. You have the opportunity to evolve the story and choose new paths for it. However, the downside of that is sometimes you can get caught up in trying to please your audience. Drawing a graphic novel by contrast is really solitary. It's just me and my editor working on "The Nameless City." And hopefully people will like it and respond to it when it comes out, but you don't really know what will happen. For better or worse, "The Nameless City" is my story, complete and whole. But is it good? I'm sure the readers will tell me. What can you share about Part 2 of the series? Whats next for Rat and Kai and the city? Book 2 of "The Nameless City" is going to be bonkers. I think I've upped my game in terms of drawing the world, so hopefully it'll look super gorgeous (Jordie Bellaire is back on colors, praise the comic gods). The story takes place a few months after the events of Book 1, and the story threads from the first book ... (sorry, I'm worried about spoilers). We find out more about Rat and her family, and meet some of her friends, and we learn more about Kai ... as well. And then all hell breaks loose. I probably shouldn't say any more than that! (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) (Faith Erin Hicks / First Second Books) Twitter: @tracycbrown Get more entertainment news on Facebook. Most people who know anything about Elvis Presley know that his career ignited in 1954 with his recording of the old Arthur Big Boy Crudup blues song Thats All Right. It became a signature number in his live shows, and it was something fans always waited for in the last years of his life during his seemingly endless stream of concerts in Las Vegas. Yet it was several years before anyone living outside the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn., where he recorded that number at Sam Phillips Sun Studio, knew anything about Thats All Right. Thats All Right is widely acknowledged as the beginning of the explosion of his career, said John Jackson, senior vice president of A&R (artist development) for Sonys Legacy Recordings catalog division, which has just released Elvis Presley The Album Collection, a monstrous 60-CD box set containing all 57 albums released by his label, RCA Records, during Presleys lifetime. It also includes three CDs of rare tracks, alternate takes and other bonus material from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Advertisement Thats All Right, Jackson noted, was released to the public originally as a single from the small Memphis label Sun Records. It sold about 20,000 copies. It didnt come out to the public at large until 1959, on [RCAs] For LP Fans Only album, a compilation the label put together because Elvis was in the Army and they thought, Hey, lets put something out. ------------ FOR THE RECORD April 6, 10:30 a.m.: An earlier version of this article said Thats All Right came out on the 1959 compilation album, Something for Everybody. That album was called For LP Fans Only. ------------ It was on a compilation of singles that had already come out and sold millions, songs like Heartbreak Hotel and Jailhouse Rock. I cant imagine what impact it might have had as sort of a leftover dropped in among those huge hits. The new box set follows Sony Legacys release of every track Presley recorded officially all 711 of them on the 30-CD box set The Complete Elvis Presley Masters in 2010. That project put his recording career into chronological order a drastically different sequence compared to how those songs were originally released to the public. Several of the songs Presley recorded with Phillips at Sun in 1954 and 1955, for instance, were dribbled out on RCA albums for several years after the label bought his contract from Phillips for the then astronomical price of $35,000 (plus a $5,000 signing bonus to Presley). Were pretty much constantly working on the Elvis catalog, said Jackson, who earned a college degree in rock music history and wrote his thesis on Presleys career. He had joined Legacy in 1998, at which point the label had nothing to do with Presleys music. But a corporate merger in 2004 brought the RCA catalog under the Sony umbrella, a serendipitous development that couldnt have made Jackson happier. His masters are well represented everywhere, Jackson said, but the idea here was to have all the original albums in tip-top shape for digital, for downloading and for CD, rather than just doing a few at a time. This is the first time all the album masters have been up to the same quality at one time. Weve gone back and done them all over again, from scratch, for this package for the hi-res audio providers, for the Mastered for iTunes program, for Spotify and all the streaming services. This is not a piecemeal exercise. The CD set, which is selling for around $250 on Amazon about $4 per CD is timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the original release of Presleys first RCA album, Elvis Presley. It includes a 300-page small-format book with pages devoted to each release, including song titles, songwriter and musician credits and other relevant archival information. What really comes across, more than just the music, Jackson said, is the marketing and the promotion of Elvis as a famous person. You see how sometimes they would include a new poster: Heres a picture of what hes up to in Germany [during his two-year stint in the Army], heres a fold-down calendar with the date circled of when hes coming home from Germany, heres a picture of him in concert for all the people around the world who couldnt go see him perform live. Everything was one large idea to the colonel [Presleys manager, Col. Tom Parker] and RCA Records. Sometimes the music wound up suffering, but he continued to come back by recording great tracks along the way. One intriguing example: 10 songs into the soundtrack for Presleys 1966 car-racing movie Spinout, lurking among pedestrian numbers such as Adam and Evil, Beach Shack and Smorgasbord, is his version of Bob Dylans Tomorrow Is a Long Time. Among the books 52 pages of session information detailing each of his stints in a recording studio, it shows that during three days in 1957, amid recording songs for Elvis Christmas Album, he also knocked out two soon-to-be hit singles, Treat Me Nice and Dont. He was always looking to record songs he liked, Jackson said, even though, especially early on, the fare offered to Presley was drastically limited by Parkers insistence that songwriters share their publishing royalties with Presley and Parkers music publishing firm. In some cases, signature tracks that werent included on studio albums a practice common in the 1950s and even through much of the 60s have been added to the appropriate records. The original studio recording of Presleys 1969 hit Suspicious Minds, for instance, didnt appear on an album until the Elvis Gold Records, Volume 5" compilation in 1984, seven years after his death at age 42. Jackson is part of a team that also includes producer-engineer Ernst Jorgensen, who has done much to restore order to the chaos RCA subjected Presleys recorded legacy to in the years immediately after his death, and Roger Seamon. During the 70s, Jackson notes, It must have been genuinely confusing for fans. There are more than a dozen albums where the cover shows him in a white jumpsuit against a black background. Is it new studio stuff, is it live stuff, is it a mixture what is this stuff? At the time, I dont think it bothered them, but I think it would have been very confusing to people. Twitter: @RandyLewis2 ALSO: New Rolling Stones album coming this year, Ron Wood says Commentary: Do we really need the iHeartRadio Music Awards? Gregg Allman bands tour bus crashes, injuring three, but everyones OK American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson ended its 10-episode season Tuesday night on FX with the polarizing verdict in the Trial of the Century, in which O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder. It was a verdict the nation had collectively watched on TV 20 years prior even the outliers who hadnt tuned in at least knew about it from the around-the-clock coverage due to the medias infatuation with the trial. And Cuba Gooding Jr., who portrayed Simpson in the drama, isnt surprised by the unsullied interest. Theres so much that trial shed a light on, Gooding said in a conversation with the Los Angeles Times, alongside costars Sarah Paulson (Marcia Clark), John Travolta (Robert Shapiro) and Courtney B. Vance (Johnnie Cochran). Seeing all that went into it how could you not be fascinated? Advertisement Gooding said he had a gathering of people at his home in October 1995 when the verdict was rendered. We were excited, screaming, he said. We didnt care if he did it or not. It felt like a victory for us. Vance said he was in Toronto that morning filming the Hallmark TV movie The Boys Next Door, alongside Tony Goldwyn (Scandal), and experienced the mixed emotions of the verdict firsthand. I was in Tonys trailer or his apartment, I cant remember which, when the verdict came down, and I screamed, Vance said. I was very happy. He screamed, for a different reason. And we looked at each other in horror, and we started talking it out. I really feel like there needed to be forums for people to go to and talk it out. I mean, Ive been watching for a year and a half what do I do know? What does this all mean? Appropriately titled The Verdict, Tuesdays season ender delivered the jurys decision 30 minutes into the episode. The next hour delved into the crushed emotions of the prosecution team, the doubt that was taking over Simpson pal Robert Kardashian, the conflicting views on what the outcome really meant for the black community, and the realities Simpson would face as a free man. I was happy when it was all over, Vance recalled. It was a lot for us all to go through. But I just felt like I had nothing else to give. I had given my all. I had done it all. Paulson, whose last day of filming was the scene in which Marcia reveals to Christopher Darden (Sterling K. Cooper) that she was raped as a teenager, said saying goodbye to the role and the show was more emotionally devastating than she anticipated. When I finished that scene, I cried and cried, she said. I had a good friend talk to me on the phone that day who said, Why dont you say goodbye to everything? Because I have a very big-time feeling about playing this part and knowing it was the kind of part that I was maybe not going to have again. I didnt want it to be over. I didnt want to not be playing her anymore. I didnt want to say goodbye to her. I didnt want it to be done. She continued: I had just finished filming an hour before. I had walked out of my trailer into her office, and everything had been taken down because the next day they were going to start shooting something for American Horror Story. The Jim Morrison picture in the office was now on the ground. All the files, gone. The name on my door, gone. I went in the courtroom, too, and everything had been piled up by our prop master with tags all going back. I got this feeling that I hadnt really been aware of before, which is that it wasnt real. Even to this day, Ill have a conversation with a friend where well start talking about the case and Ill go, Well, what you dont understand is we didnt have ' WE! Im like wait a second, we didnt do anything. Im not actually Marcia Clark. I actually didnt experience this. I was not on the prosecution team. But somehow, molecularly, I had a weird connection. The verdict scene was the final one Gooding filmed. And a tradition he has long rebuffed became something he regretted not partaking in: applause from the crew when an actor wraps their time on a show. I usually hate when they applaud I dont want to do that because then it really feels like work, and when I perform, I want it to be like real life, Gooding said. I got my wish that day because my driver was like, Cuba, Im here to pick you up. I was like, OK, lets meet at my trailer. My driver called and said he was there and I got in the car and drove away. And then I was like, Wait!!!! I didnt get an applause. This is it. Its over. Travolta, who surprised many with his bold portrayal of Simpson defense attorney Robert Shapiro, said all he can remember about the final day of filming was Wow, its over. I cant quite believe it. I mean, it had been such a jolt for me. A true highlight. I had never had more pleasure acting with people in my life. These are people who love to act. The satisfaction of this experience was truly a gift. MORE: The O.J. Simpson murder trial, by the numbers Simpson Not Guilty: Drama Ends 474 Days After Arrest The essential The People v. O.J. Simpson FAQ: Inside the L.A. Times Archive A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit over a mans public nudity citation, ruling there was evidence that San Diego police may have discriminated against him at the annual gay pride event in Balboa Park. The ruling by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals means the lawsuit is headed back to the lower district court in San Diego for a jury to decide. Will X. Walters was wearing a skimpy gladiator costume, his buttocks partially covered by a loose loincloth flap, at the San Diego Pride Parade and Festival in 2011 when he was approached by police officers, who told him to cover up. Advertisement According to evidence, San Diego Police Lt. David Nieslet had told pride organizers in advance that authorities would be enforcing stricter rules that would require buttocks to be fully covered, as opposed to previous years where the center of the buttocks had to be covered by a one-inch strip. Walters lawyer, Christopher Morris, argued that the rule was only being enforced for the pride event and not at other special events around the city, such as the often risque Over the Line tournament or at any city beach where women can be seen wearing G-string swimsuits. When Walters was asked to cover up, he refused, and police wrote him a ticket. Deputy City Atty. Bonny Hsu argued that police enforce the ordinance across the city when theyre able to, but citations are rare because many people comply when asked to cover up. A San Diego federal judge in 2014 sided with the city, saying, There is nothing on the record that reasonably suggests sexual orientation had anything to do with the decision to insist upon compliance with the law. The judge granted summary judgment in favor of the city. Walters appealed. The three-judge panel at the 9th Circuit stated there were issues of fact that a jury, not a judge, should decide. Among them: whether police did enforce the ordinance elsewhere, and whether targeting gay pride attendees is tantamount to targeting gay individuals and individuals who support gay rights, the ruling stated. The court noted: That an officer referred to Walters as a drama queen during his arrest is additional evidence of discriminatory purpose.... Although defendants (police and the city) may ultimately establish that another purpose motivated their nudity policy at the Pride Event, that question is seriously disputed. Some of the judges indicated their leaning during oral arguments on the appeal last month, especially when Judge Harry Pregerson ended the hearing with this comment: Why dont we just say that was a bad call by a police officer? Walters attorney agreed to dismiss the false arrest and battery claims against the officers. Since the appellate court threw out the false arrest and battery claims, the only remaining issue for trial is whether SDPD engaged in selective enforcement, city attorney spokesman Gerry Braun said. Mr. Walters, however, was never prosecuted for anything because our office declined to issue a criminal complaint at the time. Morris said he looked forward to presenting the case to a jury. We are confident theyll see this case the way we have, which is that Will Walters was discriminated against by the San Diego Police Department, he said. kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO LAPD investigating alleged threats made by Charlie Sheen Dad allegedly left baby in car to get strip club lap dance Video shows L.A. limo driver swinging object at motorist in apparent road-rage attack Assembly race: In the April 4 California section, an article about a special election for a Central Valley Assembly seat misstated the family history of Democratic candidate Joaquin Arambula. He is the grandson, not the son, of immigrant farmworkers. Toni Grant: In the April 5 California section, the obituary of radio psychologist Toni Grant gave her age as 72. She was 73. UC admissions: In the April 5 Section A, an article about the University of California said that the state had cut $1 billion in funding after the 2008 recession but provided more than $3 billion in new money since then. State support fell from $3.2 billion in 2007-08 to $2.2 billion in 2011-12. Since then, the state has slowly restored funding each year to bring UC closer to its pre-recession level. According to the California Department of Finance, the state has pledged about $3.4 billion in annual increments between 2012-13 and 2016-17 and so far has delivered about $2.4 billion. Advertisement Minimum wage: In the April 5 Section A, a photo caption with an article about Hillary Clintons reaction to New Yorks new minimum-wage law said she appeared at the Javitz Center in New York. It is the Javits Center. Voting rights: An article in the April 5 Section A about the Supreme Courts decision on voting rights stated that Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said that the Supreme Courts voting district decision recognized that all citizens count. He said the decision recognized that all constituents count. Los Angeles police arriving at the quiet North Hills street found a gruesome scene. Outside a bungalow was the body of a 38-year-old man. He had been blasted with a shotgun. Inside, the mans mother lay in a bathroom, stabbed to death. Advertisement The homeowner, Shehada Issa, 69, confessed to police that he had shot his son but explained it was in self-defense, according to detectives. Issa told police that he had heard noises inside the home and, suspecting a burglar, grabbed a shotgun only to find himself confronted by his son, Amier, who he said threatened him with a knife. One week later, however, police say they suspect Issa fatally shot his son after killing his wife sometime during the previous 24 hours. Det. John Doerbecker said Issas story conflicted with the crime scene evidence, saying there was no knife found near his sons body. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Meanwhile, he said, investigators have amassed evidence of animosity between Issa and his wife before her slaying. Doerbecker, who is supervising the investigation, said police were trying to find more evidence before seeking a possible murder charge against Issa in his wifes killing. Dad killed mom and then killed his son to cover it up, Doerbecker said, summarizing the theory investigators are working on. The case generated national headlines over the weekend after the L.A. County district attorneys office announced that Issa had been charged with murder in his sons March 29 killing and that it was committed because of the victims sexual orientation. The office said Issa threatened to kill his son on prior occasions because he was gay. Issas anger over his sons sexuality was a contributing factor, but not the underlying motivation for the killing, Doerbecker said. Generally, they didnt get along with each other, the detective said. You might say they had problems through the years. LAPD Det. Rich Wheeler said Issa viewed his son as a freeloader and wanted him to move out, but the son refused. He was clearly angry at his son, Wheeler said. I think this is a case of anger and disappointment building over an extended period of time. Deputy Dist. Atty. Emily Cole, who is handling Issas prosecution, said her office decided there was sufficient evidence to support a hate crime allegation against Issa. She said authorities had information from Amiers siblings about previous threats their father made about Amiers sexuality. We have enough, obviously, to prove he killed the son, but the motive and the reasoning and everything is very much an ongoing investigation, she said. Cole declined to provide details about the previous threats and said Issa didnt make any reference to his sons sexuality during his confession to police. To prove the hate crime allegation, she said, prosecutors must show that Amiers sexuality was a motivating factor in the killing, not that it was the only factor. No charges have been filed in the killing of Rabihah Issa, 68, Cole said. Issa was being held without bail at Mens Central Jail. His arraignment is scheduled for April 11. His attorney did not return calls for comment. The home in the 15000 block of Rayen Street was a source of turmoil since Amier moved back in with his parents, which neighbors said happened in the last two years. The LAPD said officers had been called to the home to help evict Amier, whose parents were attempting to sell the house against their sons wishes. The son had even vandalized the house, according to police. A rambling tirade posted on Amiers Facebook page 10 days before his death said he worried that his parents, brother and sister were literally controlling me in my sleep and that they tell people to rape and molest me and make it seem like I enjoy that. If there is a devil or evil spirit, I truly believe it manifests itself in my family, the post said. Interested in the stories shaping California? Sign up for the free Essential California newsletter >> According to court records, Amier was convicted in San Diego of assault with a deadly weapon in 2010. He had slashed his ex-boyfriend across the face with a knife, leaving him hospitalized. Amier Issa, who fled to Las Vegas during jury deliberations, was sentenced first to treatment at a state mental hospital and then to three years probation with further mental health treatment. The allegation that Amiers sexuality was a motive in his killing horrified many and highlighted a wider pattern of violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Gays and lesbians are among groups that are overwhelmingly affected by hate crimes, according to a report released last year by the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. Sexual orientation was the primary motivating factor in one out of every four hate crimes. The number of hate crimes motivated by sexual orientation rose by 14% to 108 between 2013 and 2014, the report said. Hate crimes targeting gay men rose 31%. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Los Angeles LGBT Center said allegations of violence are far from uncommon. Each day, the center has about 100 LGBT youngsters who have been abused or abandoned by their families or forced to flee because they dont feel safe at home, spokesman Jim Key said. Whatever the truth of this case is, he said, the sad reality is that our LGBT youth, and people of all ages, remain targets for abuse and violence, even by family members. richard.winton@latimes.com | Twitter: @lacrimes nicole.santacruz@latimes.com | Twitter: @nicolesantacruz marisa.gerber@latimes.com | Twitter: @marisagerber Times staff writers Hailey Branson-Potts and Kate Mather contributed to this report. ALSO Thousand Oaks student who died from explosion remembered for intelligence, kindness and huge smile UC offers admission to 15% more Californians, particularly Latinos and African Americans Prosecutor accuses Tanakas defense team of inconsistencies as jail scandal trial goes to the jury He could be a burr in your saddle, says former L.A. Unified Supt. Roy Romer. But generally he was there when I needed him to help get the job done. I dont always agree with Scott, and sometimes I vigorously disagree with him, says school board President Steve Zimmer. But I always want to know what hes thinking, and if Ive done something wrong in his eyes, Im interested in that criticism. Both men are talking about Scott Folsom. Chances are youve never heard of him, and neither have hundreds of thousands of students who have benefited from Folsoms two decades of unpaid public service. Advertisement Hes been a local and state PTA member and has raised a hand to serve on dozens of education committees. He advocated for restoration of arts programs and expansion of health services, and he kept an eye on how intelligently the district was spending your precious tax dollars, by the billions, on the school building boom. Scott Folsom is a longtime PTA dad in L.A. Unified and a blogger. Terminally ill, Folsom was recently honored for his tireless and tenacious work. (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times) And Folsom has chronicled this journey on his blog, 4LAKids, where he is both critic of and cheerleader for L.A. Unified I read it every single Sunday morning, said Zimmer, who told me that Folsom has an eye for when the emperor has no clothes. Zimmer, along with Folsoms family, friends, and a whos who of educators, administrators and education wonks, honored Folsom on Friday for his tireless and tenacious work. Folsom, 68, insisted on leaving the hospital where hed been admitted for the intense pain of a terminal illness. He did not want to miss the shindig complete with jazz band at a friends Art District loft. Party over, Folsom is back to writing, serving, going to meetings, because his work is not finished. When I asked him how it all began, Folsom clued me in on the little mix-up that launched his mission. About 20 years ago, at Mt. Washington Elementary, Folsoms daughter was assigned to kindergarten after hed been promised a first-grade slot for her. He tried to get help from the principal, the district and a school board member. Strike one, strike two, strike three. So Folsom who worked in TV and film production held his breath, stepped to the edge of the abyss and dived head first into the murky depths of public education bureaucracy. Soon he was the PTA president at Mt. Washington Elementary, where it came to his attention that the prehistoric copy machine was ready for the scrap heap. A school without a Xerox machine might as well not have a flagpole out front, Folsom says. He was told there was no money for a new one, and nobody seemed to know what to do about the problem. So he wrote a tongue-in-cheek ditty about the little Xerox machine that could, until it couldnt. Somehow it circulated around district headquarters. The bureaucrats got the point. They found a used replacement. Folsom later used the power of the pen to muse about one of the daffiest district experiences. If you want to get your child into, say, a particular magnet, you dont apply to that magnet. Of course not. That would make sense. Instead, you apply to schools you dont want to get into. With each rejection, you compile points that can be cashed in with luck, witchcraft, connections or who knows what for assignment to the school of your choice. I made it a little funny, says Folsom, including information on what to do if you get accepted into a school you dont want to be in. Folsom became obsessed with trying to make a difference, and perhaps was over-invested at times. His daughter asked if he could please not be PTA president at her high school, and Folsom wonders if he strained his marriage by volunteering more and more and earning less and less of an income. But by then he had made the district his lifes work. He knew that the majority of students were impoverished and attended falling-apart schools on year-round tracks, stuffed into overcrowded classrooms. So he became a member of the bond oversight committee and helped Romer and others bust through political and bureaucratic hurdles and build 130 new schools. He was one of the keys, said Romer, and we were on a remarkable roll. We built about $19 billion worth of schools. Says Zimmer: Scott in large part made the building program possible, and he did it with this very unique combination of agitation, impatience and absolute commitment to his ideals. This is someone who has fought the bureaucracy and in many ways has won, but he also sees the very benefit of the institution hes trying to change. As part of that mission, Folsom lobbied for every school to have a cafeteria, library and multipurpose room. He opposed former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosas attempted takeover of L.A. Unified, and though he sees the attraction of charter schools, he saves his highest praise for the districts magnet campuses. In his 2009 Thanksgiving blog post, he wrote, We hear too much chin music about how hard it is to get rid of a few bad teachers and administrators and not near enough about how to honor the many, many good ones. He praised non-teaching staff, nurses who are spread too thin, those who volunteer in the classroom and on the playground before and after school, and the students who work hard and make us proud. Cancer has spread to Folsoms bones, but at his home in Hollywood early Tuesday morning, Folsom reminded me he had to cut our interview short because he had work to do. As he once put it, the job is to raise issues, raise awareness, raise hell. He winced in pain, moving with the aid of a walker, eager to get to a meeting at school district headquarters. steve.lopez@latimes.com Twitter: @LATstevelopez A jury awarded $2.1 million Tuesday to a former Los Angeles police detective who claimed she was so mistreated and harassed after taking a medically ordered leave that she suffered irreversible harm and could no longer work. Maria Elena Montoya sued the city of L.A. and the LAPD in April 2013, contending that she was punished by one of her supervisors after suffering a back injury during a 2011 vacation. The ailment stemmed from a previous work-related injury, according to court papers. While on leave, an ugly, untrue rumor developed that Montoya was abusing her benefits. When she returned in early 2012, she was reassigned from the sex crimes desk to burglary, a move she considered a demotion, according to court papers. Advertisement Join the conversation on Facebook >> Montoya, who joined the LAPD in 1994, alleged that one of her supervisors in the Newton Division, then-Lt. Lillian Carranza, was the main source of retaliation, ordering the reassignment and giving her an undesirable vacation schedule. Carranza, who had been transferred to that division about three months before Montoya first took a medical leave, was also accused of interfering with the processing of medical claims, delaying the receipt of benefits, according to court papers. Montoya reported Carranzas actions to internal affairs, which launched an investigation. Attorneys for the city disputed Montoyas characterization of events and said her reassignment from the sex crimes desk was related to a spike in thefts and burglaries in the Newton Divsions territory. In court papers, Carranza said she told Montoya: I need you -- I need you on the burglary table. Thats where the numbers are. In a meeting, Capt. Jorge Rodriguez said he told Montoya that her reassignment was at his direction, according to court papers. On Feb. 13, 2012, Montoya was deemed to be temporarily completely disabled because of stress and placed on 60-day leave. The next week, she was stripped of her peace officer powers and her badge and weapon were seized, which she viewed as retaliation for reporting misconduct to internal affairs. Attorneys for the city, however, said it occurred after a doctor determined that Montoya was psychiatrically temporarily totally disabled, according to court papers. Montoyas internal affairs complaint was dismissed after investigators concluded it was unfounded. She has alleged in her lawsuit that the internal probe suffered serious flaws. For example, her husband, an LAPD sergeant, and other critical witnesses were not interviewed, according to court papers. In February 2016, Montoya was approved for a 45% service-connected disability pension after the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners found that her physical injuries prevent her from working. Attorneys from the city argued in court papers that the award of a disability pension was at odds with the premise of her legal case: that she would be able to do her job but for the discrimination and retaliation she had endured. After the verdict, a spokesman for the city attorneys office declined to comment. Carranza was promoted to captain in 2012 and is now assigned to the Van Nuys Division. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. ALSO 2 sheriffs deputies in jail abuse case wont be retried on excessive force charges After jury deadlocks, L.A. County sheriffs deputies to be retried on jail beating charge L.A. County jail abuse trial starts off with vastly different accounts of what happened A former administrator at Palmdale School District and her live-in boyfriend pleaded no contest Tuesday to animal abuse charges, after authorities had to euthanize 19 pit bulls kept at the womans property. In an Antelope Valley courtroom, Pauline Ruth Winbush, 53, and her boyfriend, Kevin Williams, 52, entered the plea to one felony count each of animal neglect and possession with the intent of dogfighting, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County district attorneys office. As part of the plea deal, 27 other counts against Winbush and Williams will be dismissed. Advertisement The case began Oct. 29, 2014, when a horse owned by Winbush and Williams was found wandering the streets. Deputies later found scores of animals in poor condition at the couples Antelope Acres home. Inside the couples home, the dogs were kept in crates filled with urine and feces, prosecutors said. Some of the dogs bore signs of fighting with other dogs, Deputy Dist. Atty. Lyle Riggs said at the time. Snakes and a tortoise were also kept at the home, along with a box with mice that appeared to be eating each other out of hunger, according to a statement from the district attorneys office. A third person, Rodney Scott, 47, was linked to the case after evidence surfaced that he was involved in breeding pit bulls for dogfights, prosecutors said. Scott pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty. At a sentencing scheduled for May 5, Winbush faces 270 days in jail and Williams faces a year in jail. Scott, who is expected to be sentenced at a later date, is barred from owning or possessing animals for a year. Winbush launched her career in 1989 as an educator at the Los Angeles Unified School District before joining the Palmdale School District in 1992, according a biography that was previously posted on the districts website. She ascended the administrative ranks, serving as assistant principal and principal before becoming an assistant superintendent of human resources. Before Raul Maldonado was named the districts superintendent in May 2014, she served as the interim superintendent. In February 2015, shortly after Winbush was charged, the districts board voted unanimously to fire her, the Antelope Valley Times reported. The district, the fourth-largest elementary school district in California and the largest in L.A. County, serves 22,000 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. Advocates, former juvenile offenders and attorneys who represent children accused of crimes agree that Los Angeles Countys system for providing juveniles with legal defense is flawed, but disagree -- sometimes vehemently -- about the best way to fix it. Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to commission a report on options for overhauling the way juveniles are defended. Those options could include changing the pay structure for the private attorneys who are contracted to represent some juveniles; transferring the duties to the countys alternate public defenders office; or combining the public defender and alternate public defender into a single office with a division responsible for handling conflicts. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour >> The so-called panel attorneys represent juveniles whose families cant afford a private attorney and who cant be represented by the public defenders office due to a conflict. They are paid a flat fee of $340 to $360 per case and must pay for training and investigators, if needed, out of their own pockets. A report released last month by UC Berkeleys Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy found L.A. was the only large California county that pays attorneys representing youths a flat per-case fee -- rather than an hourly rate, salary, or fee based on the type of case -- and does not give them access to investigators. It also found that youths represented by the panel attorneys were more likely than those represented by public defenders to be transferred to adult court. Elizabeth Calvin, an advocate in the childrens rights division of Human Rights Watch, told the board she was horrified by the findings. There is no more important decision that this county makes about a child, no more far-reaching impact on a childs life than to put them into the adult system, she said. Its an important decision that deserves important resources. Several advocates spoke in favor of handing off the panel attorneys duties to the alternate public defender, including Carol Chodroff. A former public defender and juvenile defense and policy attorney, Chodroff said the current system falls woefully short of our constitutional obligation to provide children with competent legal counsel. The private attorneys, many of whom agreed that the current pay structure puts them at a disadvantage, took umbrage at the idea that the kids they represent get worse service. Over 25 years ago, when I applied to law school, my reasoning for becoming a lawyer was to defend and protect the rights of children, Pamela DiBello, who heads the panel of attorneys representing youths at the Pomona courthouse, told the board. That has been a passion of mine for over 25 years. DiBello said afterward that panel attorneys are often assigned the more serious and complex cases and had repeatedly asked for and been denied more resources. She said she had put in unpaid time to advocate for the youths assigned to her, even after they were no longer her clients. Do I think that things could be improved? Absolutely, she said. Get rid of the flat fee, give us access to investigators, give us social workers in every courtroom. ... These are things weve asked the county to do for years, and weve been told no every time. Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who called for the overhaul of the system along with Sheila Kuehl, said the proposal was not meant as a personal attack on panel attorneys. We see this as a structural issue, he said. Join the conversation on Facebook >> Kent Mendoza, 22, told the county supervisors that he had faced trial as an adult when he was a minor, but the case was sent back to juvenile court, where he said he was assigned to a public defender who was very committed to my case. She worked out a sentence less harsh than he would have otherwise received, he said. Mendoza said he now goes to school full time and works for the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. I was convicted and I was accountable for the things I did, he said. But if it wasnt for her ... I would probably be doing time in prison. I would probably be doing worse. The board asked the countys chief executive and top attorney to report back in 90 days with recommendations on how to overhaul the system. abby.sewell@latimes.com Twitter: @sewella ALSO San Francisco approves fully paid leave for new parents Father threatened gay son over his sexual orientation, siblings told authorities Southern California braces for summer blackouts due to Porter Ranch gas leak Three women from the Philippines have filed a lawsuit against Ray Irani, the former chief executive of Occidental Petroleum Corp., and his wife Ghada, alleging the couple underpaid and overworked them at their Bel-Air mansion, and that two of the women were trafficked into the U.S. via Qatar and effectively confined at the couples home. In a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the women claim that the work at the Iranis eight-bedroom, 14-bathroom home such as cleaning, preparing food and performing massages and manicures was grueling, and some workdays lasted up to 16 hours. Two of the women started at a fixed salary of $1,200 per month, without overtime, according to court papers. Advertisement Their passports were confiscated and security details kept close tabs on their movements, amounting to imprisonment in the opulent, 17,480-square-foot home and its grounds, according to the complaint. NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >> Ghada Irani, a philanthropist who chairs the Southern California regional board of UNICEF, is alleged to have denigrated the workers nationality, referring to Filipinos as liars who cannot be trusted, according to the complaint. Dr. [Ray] Irani was well aware of the abusive and hostile environment created by Mrs. Iranis highly offensive remarks and treatment but failed to stop it, the suit alleges. An attorney for the couple told The Times that he was unaware that any people employed by the Iranis had such complaints. Unfortunately, people like the Iranis, who make large charitable contributions, are often the subject of lawsuits such as this, said Lee Dresie, a lawyer at the Century City firm Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger. I know both Dr. and Mrs. Irani and they are wonderful people. I would be very surprised if this lawsuit has any basis. One of the women, Trinidad Dela Cruz, was brought to the U.S. in 1997 from Saudi Arabia, where she had been working for one of Ghada Iranis relatives, according to the suit. Dela Cruz, who stopped working for the Irani family on Jan. 31, has fewer claims against her former employers than the other two women but contends she worked for nearly two decades without proper compensation. She said she was paid by the Iranis limited liability company, which was also named in the suit. The other two women, Melanie Belonio and Elena Gabriel, had been working at the Iranis vacation home in Lebanon when they were brought to the U.S. in 2013, court papers say. The circumstances of their arrival, they claim, amounted to human trafficking. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> According to the 40-page lawsuit, Gabriel and Belonio were shuttled to Qatar, where they were falsely represented to be working for the ruling royal family of Qatar. From there, they were given visas to travel to the U.S. and flew to Los Angeles, where Ray Irani allegedly confiscated their passports and stored them in his office, according to the lawsuit. When one of the women asked for her passport back, Ghada Irani allegedly said: Youre going to live here, youre going to work here, and youre going to die here. Both women contend that Ghada Irani threatened them with arrest or prosecution if they left, and that she once ordered them confined to their shared bedroom after she accused the women of theft, according to the suit. All three women claim Ghada Irani slandered them on several occasions, referring to her Filipino staff as idiots and thieves, according to the suit. Gabriel and Belonio, who also allege they were not given proper rest, meal breaks and a minimum wage, left the Iranis household on Feb. 10. Ray Irani took the reins of Occidental Petroleum, then based in Westwood, in 1990, and over more than two decades built the company into one of the largest in the oil and gas industry. During his tenure at Oxy, Irani took criticism for his outsized pay, including more than $460 million in compensation in 2006. That year, the companys compensation committee cited Iranis particularly strong relationships with government leaders in a number of Middle East countries as giving Occidental a competitive edge. In 2013, at the age of 78, Irani was ousted from the company, now based in Houston. Before filing the lawsuit, all three women secured right-to-sue letters on March 29 with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing regarding the alleged harassment and discrimination. For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno. ALSO Panama Papers: Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa and ex-wife named in leak, report says Swiss police raid UEFA over TV deal with indicted executives Ex-LAPD detective awarded $2.1 million after claiming retaliation, discrimination I am a German-American and Southern California native. While other kids watched Saturday morning cartoons, my German-born mother sent me to German school, where I learned how to build extremely long sentences with verbs placed at the end. I grew up with Grimms fairy tales not the watered-down Disney versions but the crazy originals in which Cinderellas stepsisters cut off their heels to fit into the glass slipper. I liked being a German-American kid in Southern California, and I am now a professor of German history at Cal State Fullerton. But when I learned that a German American organization had recently erected a sign in a part of Crescenta Valley Park welcoming visitors to Hindenburg Park in gothic German script, I couldnt help but cringe. This new marker isnt something that should be celebrated. The portion of Crescenta Valley Park in question used to be privately owned by the German American League from the mid-1920s to the 1950s. The organization named its land for former German President Paul von Hindenburg after his death in 1934. In the mid-1950s, Los Angeles County purchased the land and incorporated it into Crescenta Valley Park. The name Hindenburg Park then existed only unofficially among locals old enough to remember. In 1992, after a grassroots effort by a German American organization known as the Tricentennial Foundation, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors rededicated that part of the park as Hindenburg Park. Small markers referencing Hindenburg Park existed, but nothing as prominent as the new sign erected last month. Join the conversation on Facebook>> Advertisement The Jewish Federation of the Greater San Gabriel and Pomona Valleys, which has protested the sign, correctly points out that the name Hindenburg evokes painful memories of the Nazis Third Reich. The Tricentennial Foundation claims that it is merely preserving the sites historical name, and they downplay Hindenburgs connections to Nazism. This is selective memory at best. Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg was not himself a Nazi, but his ideas and actions contributed to Hitlers rise. A World War I hero and staunch monarchist, Hindenburg helped lead a conservative nationalist movement that worked to destabilize Germanys young Weimar democracy. He is known among German historians for propagating the powerful stab in the back myth an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that blamed Jews and democracy advocates for Germanys defeat in World War I. The Nazis then used this conspiracy theory for their extreme purposes. Most tragically, Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler as German chancellor in January 1933, part of an effort that gambled unwisely that the Nazi party could be made to behave as respectable conservative nationalists. So what should Los Angeles County and its Parks and Recreation Department do about Hindenburg Park? I agree that that the new and uncritical Willkommen zum Hindenburg Park sign should go. County officials should also abandon the official Hindenburg Park name. Yet we should not, as some have suggested, remove all public reference to the history of Hindenburg Park. As painful as these memories can be, erasing Southern Californias 1930s infatuation with Hindenburg misses an opportunity to learn from Southern Californias own dark past. When members of Southern Californias German community chose to name a park for Hindenburg after his death in 1934, they had many famous Germans to choose from Beethoven the composer; Goethe the poet; or even Remarque, the bestselling author of the pacifist novel All Quiet on the Western Front. Instead, they chose a militaristic authoritarian who aimed to restore German greatness. These were the same values held by the pro-Nazi Bund movement, Americas own anti-Semitic fascist movement that rose in the 1930s including here in Southern California. It was no coincidence that the Bund held rallies at Hindenburg Park in the mid-1930s. The decision to name the park after Hindenburg was as misguided back in the 1930s as it is today. Yes, it was a product of its time, but the 1930s were problematic times, when a tendency to be swept away by pageantry, rallies and calls to restore national greatness led ordinary people to ignore the dangers of racial bigotry. German Americans were not the only ones swept away by these attitudes. As an undergraduate at UC Berkeley in the early 1990s, I stumbled across a collection of old Cal yearbooks in the library and pulled the 1936 volume off the shelf. Its pages were full of swastikas celebrating the new and exciting movement in Nazi Germany, host of the Olympic games that year. Racial exclusion, moreover, was not the monopoly of Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Californians too lived in a world of anti-Semitism, restrictive racial covenants and redlining. While Americans fought bravely to defeat Nazi Germany, we cannot forget that Southern California has a long history of racism whose legacies persist today. Rather than erase references to Hindenburg Park, we should turn this portion of Crescenta Valley Park into an open-air historical exhibition. Here, visitors could learn about the dangerous history of nationalism and racism a history that is not just about faraway countries, but a California story too. Instead of sweeping the Hindenburg name under the rug, visitors could learn the dangerous history of the man, how the park name came to be and why it was rightfully abandoned. If park officials are not sure how to do this, they can turn to present-day Germany for examples. In cities like Berlin, pedestrians regularly encounter engraved cobblestones in front of homes, listing the names of the Jewish Holocaust victims who used to live there. Children play in parks with signs letting them know that a Nazi prison once stood nearby. Using public sites to openly address its history of racism is something Germany today does well. L.A. County should do the same. Being a German American means understanding the positive and negative legacies of both my German and American pasts. Germanys willingness to discuss openly and learn from past mistakes, rather than simply burying them, is one quality that makes me proud to embrace a German identity today. Lets bring that same spirit to Crescenta Valley Park. Cora Granata is a history professor Cal State Fullerton. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook MORE FROM OPINION A Texas man is due to die because hes black Will California unlock the door to an open convention for the GOP? Putting human stem cells in animal embryos? The NIH should get on board. Sexism is driving women away from the GOP front-runner Donald Trump and the Republican Party, potentially providing a windfall to Hillary Clinton in a general election. But to ride womens discontent into the Oval Office, of course, Clinton has to win the Democratic nomination. And while she has maintained a strong advantage with women voters overall, shes not doing well with all women. White millennial women favor Bernie Sanders. Perhaps thats because the best rationale for Clintons candidacy hasnt been effectively communicated to millennial women. There is a powerful case to be made for electing a woman president, and it has nothing to do with the straw man of identity politics. Advertisement The most compelling reason women should vote for Hillary Clinton? Pure self-interest. [A] model ... predicts that Democratic and Republican women will offer three times more feminist bills than their male counterparts will. The global scholarship leaves no doubt: Women in political office make it a priority to advance rights, equality and opportunity for women and girls, in a way and to a degree that men in power overwhelmingly do not. A large body of research has been devoted to answering a fundamental question: Do women substantively represent women more effectively than men do? In hundreds of studies examining large data sets of roll call votes, bill sponsorship, laws enacted and other measures the answer is clear. Across time, office, and political parties, political scientist Beth Reingold writes in a comprehensive review, women, more often than men, take the lead on womens issues, no matter how such issues are defined. Consider just a handful of these studies. Georgetown Universitys Michele Swers has found, among other things, that both Democratic and moderate Republican women in Congress have been more likely than men in either party to advance legislation on child care and domestic violence. Even when men and women in the same party hold similar opinions on reproductive health issues, for example it is the women officeholders who step up. This is particularly clear at the state level, where legislatures with more women have passed fewer abortion restrictions. Another study analyzed every instance in which a U.S. House seat switched between a woman and man between 1973 and 2002. Controlling for multiple factors, the model generated by that analysis predicts that Democratic and Republican women will offer three times more feminist bills than their male counterparts will. Its much the same in other nations. An analysis of 31 countries (including the United States) found a statistically significant relationship: the higher the proportion of women lawmakers, the greater the number of laws enacted to advance gender equality. Jennifer Piscopo, an Occidental College political scientist, examined 18,700 bills introduced in Argentinas lower house over a 10-year period and found that nearly three-quarters of womens rights bills were written by women. Such findings dont mean that all female officeholders seek to advance womens rights, or that women govern only from the standpoint of gender. But the research does speak strongly to the fact that women and men in power have different priorities. And then theres the danger that if women arent at the table, they might be on the menu. In late 2009, the all-male Senate Democratic leadership team met privately to decide what would be included in the final Affordable Care Act. They eliminated a womens healthcare amendment that had passed overwhelmingly in committee, and that included coverage for such things as contraceptives and mammograms. The amendments sponsor, Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.), had to demand its reinstatement just as the caucus was about to vote on the final bill. You have to include the women, she told then-majority leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Had she not stood her ground, with the support of other women senators, the interests of 51% of the population would have been sacrificed in the most consequential piece of legislation in a generation. The scholarship, and anecdotal evidence like Mikulskis story, argues that women should take their distinctive interests and concerns as women into account when they decide how to vote. But we dont often hear about the interest-based case for electing women. Certainly part of the explanation is that women voters care about many issues, not just womens issues. Still, their aversion to explicitly advocating for themselves, I suspect, stems from fear of being labeled selfish. From childhood, women imbibe the notion that selfishness, like ambition, make them unlikable and untrustworthy. This may be part of how we get to a moment in which white working-class mens overwhelming support for Trump or Sanders is called a movement, while womens support for Clinton is dismissed as touchy-feely identity politics. The U. S. has made tremendous advances on equal rights over the last 40 years, and yet we have a ways to go. Women are paid less than men in almost every job and at every level. Ours is the only advanced economy that doesnt guarantee paid leave for new mothers. On broad measures of gender equality, the United States ranks an unimpressive 28th in the world. To achieve equal opportunity and full participation for women and girls in all areas of American life demands leadership, dedication and political will and especially the will to expend political capital at the top. All the evidence tells us that our odds of making progress on gender equality will be much higher if the president is a woman. Nancy L. Cohens latest book is Breakthrough: The Making of Americas First Woman President. Twitter: @nancylcohen Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook. MORE FROM OPINION Forget Congress and let the Fed handle tax rates More chest thumping and zero reason from Donald Trump on his border wall plan Panama Papers blockbusters make waves abroad, but secret money is a U.S. problem too The headlines about the Panama Papers, the gigantic trove of offshore records that surfaced this week, were all about the famous names connected to secret financial accounts: Russias Vladimir Putin, Ukraines Petro Poroshenko, Chinas Xi Jinping, Syrias Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabias King Salman and more. But on second glance, most of the names werent too surprising. You didnt really expect the worlds autocrats to keep their money at home, where it could be seized by whoever came next, did you? (And in some cases, the autocrats names werent really there; the accounts were held by family members or friends in Putins case, an old classmate, a cellist with $2 billion.) What was more striking was the industrial scale of the money transfers: almost 215,000 offshore shell companies, more than 14,000 clients, more than 11 million documents and uncounted billions of dollars. Advertisement Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota have all passed laws making it easier to set up shell companies -- and harder to identify the real owners. That and the fact that the business of moving secret foreign money isnt confined to steamy tax havens like Panama. Some of the money in the Panama accounts ended up in the United States, invested in real estate and other assets from Miami to Las Vegas. The firms that transferred the funds included major European banks headquartered in Switzerland, Luxembourg and London. And most of the shell companies formed by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca were set up in the British Virgin Islands, a possession of Britain. Those shell companies are being formed to buy property and open bank accounts in safe places places like New York and Los Angeles, said Sarah Chayes, a former U.S. advisor in Afghanistan who now works on global efforts to combat corruption. What that law firm did is just one step in a chain of corruption services, Chayes told me. And the next level outward includes people in the United States lawyers, real estate brokers, other agents. Indeed, the United States is an active competitor in the corruption services business. Nevada, Wyoming and South Dakota have all passed laws making it easier to set up shell companies and harder to identify the real owners. Bankers say that has actually prompted a flow of foreign assets from traditional tax havens such as Zurich and Bermuda to less elegant banking centers like Reno and Sioux Falls. How perverse that the USA, which has been so sanctimonious in its condemnation of Swiss banks, has become the banking secrecy jurisdiction du jour, Swiss lawyer Peter Cotorceanu wrote in legal journal cited by Bloomberg News. That giant sucking sound you hear? It is the sound of money rushing to the USA. Some people think that rushing is actually good news for the American economy. High-end real estate brokers from New York to Beverly Hills have seen a flood of buyers from Russia, China and the Middle East. Wouldnt it be great if we could get all the Russian billionaires to move here? Michael Bloomberg said in 2013, when he was mayor of New York. But if there are short-term benefits to anonymous money, the long-term picture is far less sunny. At least some of that money is undoubtedly the product of corruption in other countries. And corruption is one of the main drivers of instability and terrorism around the world, including the rise of groups such as Islamic State. Corruption is a radicalizer because it destroys faith in legitimate authority, Secretary of State John F. Kerry said in a speech earlier this year. No one knows that better than violent extremist groups, who regularly use corruption as a recruitment tool. Corruption also robs poorer countries of money for economic development. One respected research group, Global Financial Integrity, estimates that corruption costs developing countries at least $1.1 trillion a year more than all the foreign aid and direct investment they receive from the rest of the world. Theres no easy fix. Nobodys suggesting that corruption can be eliminated. But there are at least two things the United States can do to make it harder for foreign investors to evade taxes or conceal the proceeds from corruption. One is a practice European countries have already begun: Establish a beneficial ownership registry of the true owners of shell companies. In most countries, the registry is designed to be easily accessible to any government agency investigating a violation of the law; in Britain, its intended to be open to the public. A second, less ambitious reform: Require lawyers, real estate brokers and registered investment agents to follow the know your customer regulations that apply to U.S. banks. Thanks to energetic lobbying, those industries are exempt from the federal requirement to report dubious inflows of foreign money. The Obama administration will have a chance to work on both of those ideas soon; British Prime Minister David Cameron is holding a global summit on corruption next month. Cameron has a personal stake in a successful outcome. His late father, Ian Cameron, ran an offshore investment fund to help wealthy British clients avoid paying taxes in Britain. His name turned up in the Panama Papers, too. doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com Twitter: @doylemcmanus Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Movies and novels about scientists tend to trade on the socially inept genius who can win a Nobel Prize but not the girl, and on science itself being inscrutable and mysterious. Real science is nothing like that, but how do we know that if scientists cant tell us? Alan Alda, the actor, writer and lover of science, has a university center in his name thats committed to teaching scientists how to describe their work to the rest of us. Hes taking that message to sciences inner sanctum Caltech on Wednesday, April 6, and doing the same right now, right here. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THIS INTERVIEW ON THE PATT MORRISON ASKS PODCAST>> Why are there so few scientists who have a public profile? Advertisement My guess is it has something to do with the fact that people dont see science as having a place in their lives, which is an odd thing, because more and more as time goes on, were swimming in a sea of science. But I guess were like fish: if you said to a fish, What do you think about all this water? the fish would say, What water? And what were stuck with is relying on science more and more, having to make more and more decisions based on some understanding of science, because our health depends on it, possible the future of the species, and were not conversant with it. You were the host of the Scientific American series on PBS. Did you have an epiphany about scientists and their ability to communicate when you did that show? I did and it might be what you dont expect. It wasnt that they werent any good at communicating, which is the stereotype its that they could communicate so much better when they got a personal connection to the people they were communicating with. We had a very free conversation; it was almost like an improvisation. I didnt know what they would answer, they didnt know what they would answer. We were just trying to, both of us, trying to get me to understand what they were talking about. And as a result, I saw something happened to them in that interaction. They became much more who they were really were in real life. They werent lecturing me, they were really trying to make another human understand this complicated stuff. And what I came away from it believing is that we could train scientists to communicate in a way that is comprehensible and connected to the people theyre talking to. One of the great science communicators was Richard Feynman, the Caltech Nobel laureate. He understood that there seems to be some resistance by scientists to being able to explain their work in lay language. He was a model of presenting the scientist as a human, a fellow person who was very smart but very human and was just like the rest of us in many ways. And Fineman also said something like this, and so did Einstein say something like this if we cant make it clear to somebody else, then maybe we dont understand it as well as we think we do. A lot is dependent on science -- not just the practicalities of what we do, but if you cant explain yourself as a scientist, how do you get a research grant? I think its probably especially hard if youre doing basic research which doesnt have an immediate payoff thats visible or predictable. For me a good example of that is 100 years ago; Einstein did all that work on general relativity, and those few people who could understand it thought it was really interesting but they didnt see it had any connection to their daily lives. A hundred years later, were all carrying around a GPS system in our pockets and our iPhones. And that GPS system wouldnt have been possible without an understanding of general relativity and the ability therefore to track the time as its happening in the satellite. But if you cant even interest people in the knowledge in the first place, or in gaining that knowledge, youre not going to be able to afford to do it. So of course I couldnt agree more that if scientists cant explain their work to the general public in a way that gets them excited about it, gets them involved in funding it, theyre not going to get the funding. But you know, theres something else that the public misses in that process, and thats the pleasure of watching these great minds at work. Theres something extraordinary about their ability to take the smallest piece of information, a little bit of data, and figure out through measurement tools, through analysis tools, something on a much more important level, on a bigger scale. To me, its like a great detective story, and we shouldnt be deprived of that any more than we should be deprived of music or sports, things that we more easily get pleasure from. You saw the consequences, I think, in a session of Congress where members of Congress were asking questions of scientists who probably had something important to say and they were flummoxed. I wasnt there at the time but I was told by a member of Congress about it. There was a panel of scientists talking to a panel of representatives in Congress, and the members of Congress were passing notes to one another, and the notes said things like, Do you know what this guy is saying? And the guy would pass back the note, No, I have no idea, do YOU know what hes saying? This is tragic! They had taken time out from their work to fly to Washington to explain their work hoping to get funding for it, and yet they couldnt explain it to people who were intelligent enough to understand some pretty complicated things. Carl Sagan, the great Cal Sagan, probably one of the founding science communicators, who did it to, well, billions and billions on television he did not exactly have the respect of his colleagues. No, in fact its sad that he was denied admission to -- I think it was the National Academy of Science at the time, because he was thought to be too popular and therefore not a serious enough scientist. I think that even in the last few years that has begun to disappear as an objection. I have a colleague at the Center for Communicating Science that I helped start who says its not communication when you write a paper on your work its communication when somebody understands it. The stereotype of the scientist as nerdy, as socially inept -- how much of this is true, how much of it is part of the problem? I think its been a real problem for a long time, that you show the mad scientist. I think it dates back at least to the Frankenstein story by Mary Shelley, which was prefaced by the Ludditism of fear of the Industrial Revolution, fear of new things in science. And each generation has its own version of that. And its all based on some extent on a sensible caution about is this tool you know, is this bandsaw really only to be praised because you can cut circular things out of wood? Or is it liable to cut my finger off? We do have to be careful about our tools and respect what they can do, in positive and negative ways. But we dont have to go crazy about it. Science ought to be listening to the public and vice versa, but they ought to be speaking the same language. Science has also become politicized, as weve seen with the climate change issue. What are the publics responsibilities when it comes to science? Its politicized when you decide that certain people only understand science a certain way and they see it in competition with other things that they know or believe in, whereas actual science has a system in place of professional skepticism. Thats the way science moves forward. And sometimes it takes a step back and says, Wait we dont think so -- yesterday it looked like this, today it looks like that. Some people get frustrated with that and think science cant make up its mind. But thats the wonderful process that science goes through to try to understand a little more clearly how things work in nature. So its after MORE truth, not THE truth. But there are people who are maybe more impatient about having THE truth, and those people can be used politically. But thats the nature of politics. The Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science is at Stony Brook University in New York. Are there other universities and colleges that are picking up this model? We now have 17 affiliated universities and medical schools in the United States and a couple of days ago, I came back from Australia where we got our 18th affiliation. So its a real partnership across the country and beginning now around the world. Your fascination with science, and your frustration with science, began with a fire. When I was 11, I was fascinated with the flame at the end of a candle, and I wondered what it really was, what was going on in there? So I asked the teacher, Whats a flame? And all she would say to me was, Its oxidation. Now I had a new thing I didnt know what it was: I didnt know what a flame was, and I didnt know what oxidation was. So many years later, I started a contest for scientists, and its been joined by scientists around the world, to explain difficult things like what is a flame so 11-year-olds can understand it. And 11-year-olds -- real 11-year-olds -- are the judges. And each year now, 11-year-olds around the world suggest a new question. This year its, What is sound? Theyre pretty expert at the answer to the question and are now judging the scientists on how well they did in answering the question. There must be a lot of nervous scientists as youve got 11-year-olds sitting in judgment on them. Its a good experience for the scientists because it seems easier than it is when you set out to do it. And more than one teacher has reported back to us that the classroom has said, I wish we could learn everything this way. If that long-ago teacher had given you a better answer about flame than oxidation, is it possible you would have found yourself in a lab instead of on a soundstage? I kind of doubt it. I think I found my way by hook and by crook to what Im really suited to. I think throughout my life Ive learned things about talking to an audience, conveying a story to an audience, and I can really help do that with scientists, because the thing I had when I was 11 I still have with me, which is my curiosity. I think it was Mark Twain who said, Its not what we dont know thats not so good, its what we know for sure that isnt so. Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: I see the argument supporting the apparent cold-blooded killing of a wounded Palestinian who had stabbed an Israeli soldier as analogous to the myriad excuses given by American police officers who shoot unarmed people with impunity. (In Israel, many now find justification for the videotaped killing of a Palestinian, March 31) The entire world knows about the U.S. and the wanton killing of our citizens by our police. I am sure the world also sees this incident of the Israeli soldier shooting the Palestinian man while he was lying on the ground following in the same footsteps. This reckless behavior can only undermine any moral influence in the eyes of others. Advertisement Lillian Laskin, Los Angeles .. To the editor: One wonders how some holier-than-thou individuals would react to two assailants stabbing one of their friends, an attack in which one assailant is killed while the other lies wounded. And now that its been discovered that the wounded one might have had a suicide belt, one has to ask whether some of those people might have shot the wounded assailant in self-defense. Oh, how easy it is to condemn the Israeli shooter trying to protect himself, with threats constantly around him and with one of his comrades wounded. The Israeli soldier did nothing wrong, but, unlike in other Middle East countries, there is freedom to express differing opinions. And that shows the vibrancy and democracy that exist in Israel. Jack Salem, Los Angeles Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is riding the wave of poverty and misfortune in places like the Bakersfield area community of Oildale. Blaming Hispanics for blue-collar injustices only causes prejudice and fractures communities. (Conservative Oildale could be a bellwether of how Trumps message translates in California, April 4) Neighbors who once lived side by side peacefully in these rural areas are now focused on immigration and building walls because Trump has offered them his solution to ending their poverty and problems by offering up Hispanics as the cause. Nobody knows the consequences of racial hatred Trump will leave across our country after he goes home to New York. I beg to differ with Trump: He will do everything but make America great again. Advertisement Kerie Berkowitz, Moorpark .. To the editor: Im writing from the home city of United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, who will surely not vote for Trump. I am legitimately curious as to whether the reporter you sent to Oildale was aware that Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders held a rally in Bakersfield two days prior to this articles publication. I am a liberal, and yet this article puts the liberal in liberal media. The reporter writes as if the short amount of time she spent in Oildale and Bakersfield makes her an expert on the voters who represent our county. This article is the equivalent of going to Northridge to write a story about Los Angeles. Kaitlin Hulsy, Bakersfield .. To the editor: I was shopping in Walgreens last week in Bakersfield and at the checkout counter I met a Hispanic mother and daughter. As a retired Spanish teacher, I generally try to help when translation is necessary. Our conversation drifted to politics, and when I mentioned Trumps name, the mother slammed her foot down to the ground and twisted it back and forth. So much for Trump. Elizabeth Keranen, Bakersfield .. To the editor: Is it a paradox, ironic or simply hypocritical that a woman quoted in the article who was standing in her trash-strewn yard states, I dont like Mexicans. To me if you cant speak English, why be here? Go back to where you came from, while wearing a Day of the Dead T-shirt printed en espanol? Babette Wilk, Valley Village Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook To the editor: This very successful long-term asset protection industry in Panama assists some of the worlds heads of state, their families, and their friends in Russia, Pakistan, China and a dozen other nations in squirreling away their millions to avoid taxation. (After massive Panama Papers document leak, rich and powerful around the world deny wrongdoing, April 4) U.S. government leaders are not mentioned, of course. Our 1% dont need to go offshore to form shell companies, because they can do it in Wyoming, Nevada and Delaware. We have our own secret shell industry right here in the United States. June Maguire, Mission Viejo Advertisement .. To the editor: The rich may be scurrying for cover, as The Times writes, but they can rest assured that at least one news outlet (and likely many more) has their back. The Times once again displays its embarrassing journalistic priorities by burying the story on page A4 while elevating a puff piece about the final season of American Idol to front-page status. Michael Toohey Heilig, Venice Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook Shortly after the polls closed in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was declared the victor in the Republican primary and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was called as the winner among Democrats. Minutes later, I got a text from my wife: Bernie/Ted general election? My sweet spouse is as big a political junkie as I am, and I was intrigued that she came up with a provocative question that no one else has asked up to this point. A year ago, the conventional wisdom was that the Democrats would nominate Hillary Clinton for president, the GOP would nominate Jeb Bush, and the general election would be a contest between two political dynasties. In recent months, the bet has been that Hillary would, instead, be facing off against Donald Trump, the billionaire reality TV star who has been the central protagonist of the Republican primary race. That still seems likely, but what if? The vote in Wisconsin makes a remote what if scenario an autumn battle between Sanders and Cruz just a bit more plausible. Advertisement Trumps significant loss in Wisconsin has many pundits predicting he will fall short of the 1,237-delegate majority needed to lock down his partys nomination. If that happens and the GOP national convention in Cleveland becomes a free-for-all fight over convention rules, Trump might be easily outsmarted by the party veterans who are convinced he would bring disaster on down-ballot Republican candidates in November. The establishment folks are no big fans of Cruz, but, having dumped Trump, they might be wary of totally overturning the primary results by shunning Cruz as well. Cruz has a real path to the nomination. It may be narrow, but it is there. Sanders is much more of a long shot, but his campaign, like Trumps, has been an unexpected phenomenon in this election cycle, so it would be presumptuous to predict he has no chance at all. During CNNs primary night coverage, one Sanders backer insisted Democrats should expect a contested convention of their own. Sanders has been on a roll, winning most of the primaries and caucuses in recent weeks. If he could pull off a surprise in New York or Pennsylvania, he would have powerful momentum going into the campaign finale in California on June 7. That is a big if, of course, but not an impossibility. Because Democrats award all their delegates proportionally, an increase in the share of votes going to Sanders in the remaining states could keep Clinton from reaching the goal of 2,383 delegates needed to win the nomination. Unlike Trump, who horrifies leaders of his party, Clinton is the favorite of establishment Democrats, so, even if she arrives at the convention in Philadelphia at the end of July with a shortage of delegates, it would be shocking if they turned on her and gave the nomination to Sanders. On the other hand, if Sanders continues to do better in general election polls against a Republican candidate and this is probably key some unforeseen development comes along to damage Clintons already shaky favorability ratings, Sanders may look like the winning choice. Speculation about politics is a great sport, and it has been especially fun in campaign 2016 with high numbers of voters in both parties so deeply engaged. The Bernie-Ted scenario is not likely, but, should it happen, Americas choice for president would be stark. On one side would be the most left-wing Democratic nominee ever. (The 1972 Democratic nominee, George McGovern, was the antiwar darling of the New Left, but he never claimed to be a socialist.) On the other side, Republicans would put forward their most right-wing candidate of all-time. (Barry Goldwater, the 1964 nominee, was a conservative champion, but he was a libertarian who warned against religion intruding on government.) Sanders versus Cruz would truly be a choice, not an echo. Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders reveled Tuesday in hard-fought victories in the Wisconsin primary, but both men confront an implacable challenge ahead: Math. What Cruz and Sanders are attempting is exceedingly difficult this far into in a presidential contest -- translating momentum from individual contests into race-altering movement among delegates. Hillary Clinton lost to Sanders on Tuesday but retains an expansive delegate lead over the Vermont senator. Her margin over him can be diminished enough to deny her the nomination only by a series of swamping defeats in the remaining contests which would upend the way the race has comported itself so far. Advertisement Donald Trumps loss to the Texas senator had a bigger effect because Trumps path to the nomination already was narrower than Clintons. That, plus the evidence from Wisconsin that Trump continues to struggle to expand his portion of the electorate, increased the chance that the summer Republican convention will open without any candidate having seized the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination. The result could be a historic clash over the partys direction and its standard-bearer, played out inside the convention hall and on the streets of Cleveland. As politicians do, the winners on Tuesday glossed over the difficulties ahead as the race now careens into New York, where a titanic primary is set for April 19. At present both Trump and Clinton hold big leads in the state, where Trump and Sanders were born and where Clinton lives and served as senator. But the challenges were evident in what the winners said and didnt say. Cruz skipped over the rest of the primary season entirely in a victory speech in which he effectively declared himself the nominee. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland, together we will win a majority of the delegates, and together we will beat Hillary Clinton in November, he said at a lively rally in Milwaukee. The latter option at the convention in Cleveland remains Cruzs best shot. Even a complete collapse by Trump in his home state and subsequent primaries would not necessarily give Cruz the pre-convention delegates he needs for the nomination. He would need to win almost all the remaining delegates to achieve that. Sanders, talking to thousands of supporters in Laramie, Wyo., boasted of the momentum his campaign has developed over the last few months. But he offered no answer to how he would defeat Clinton by the margins necessary to finish ahead of her in the delegate count. Democrats allocate their delegates proportionally to each candidates vote, so the losing candidate still collects some. That means a challenger can shrink a leaders margin, but its all but impossible to leapfrog over a front runner. Wisconsin provided a wincing example: 86 Democratic delegates were at stake in the voting, not counting the states 10 Democratic elected officials and party leaders who as so-called super-delegates automatically get slots. Sanders big victory stood to net him only about a dozen more delegates than Clinton. The former secretary of State began the night about 250 pledged delegates ahead of him, not counting her 400-plus advantage among the super-delegates. Sanders only answer on Tuesday was that he was relying on changing the minds of super-delegates who already have committed to Clinton. He did not explain why they would abandon her if he ends up winning fewer pledged delegates than she does. If you ignore what you hear on corporate media, the facts are pretty clear: We have a path toward victory, a path toward the White House, he said. That path exists, but it requires some extraordinarily uphill climbs. While the dynamics facing Cruz and Sanders are similar, the specifics differ. Cruz benefited Tuesday from an accumulation of factors. Some were unique to Wisconsin, such as a GOP electorate fiercely loyal to the states governor, Scott Walker, who endorsed the Texan. Others stemmed from a difficult stretch for Trump: He refused to denounce racists, said that women who seek illegal abortions should be criminally punished, then immediately flip-flopped, re-engaged over and over with protesters and insulted Cruzs wife. The result was that voter groups that have buttressed Trump all along the primary season wavered. Those who lack a college degreea consistent Trump votewent for the Texas senator over the New Yorker, according to exit polling of voters casting ballots on Tuesday. Trump regularly wins independent voters in open primaries like Wisconsins; on Tuesday independent voters were split, and Cruz buried him among Republicans. One of Trumps signature issues was waved off by voters: the percentage saying immigration was an important issue was in the single digits, and by almost 2-1, voters favored a path to legalization for those in the country illegally, rather than the deportation Trump favors. Still, it was clear that many Republicans were less entranced with Cruz than repelled by Trump. Among those who cast ballots in the Republican primary, about 3 in 5 said that they would be concerned or scared if Trump were elected president. Only 2 in 5 said they were excited or optimistic about Trump as president. Republican voters had concerns about Cruz as well, with about 2 in 5 saying they were concerned or scared about his presidency. Even though Cruz won the primary, only about 1 in 8 Republican voters said they were excited about the prospect of him as president. New York will test whether Trumps difficulties were transitory or represent a coalescing of the anti-Trump vote around Cruz. At the very least, Trump has an opportunity as the race moves to his home turf: If some of the sentiment against him in Wisconsin stemmed from his rough-and-tumble actions against Cruz, Trump now will be casting for votes in a state where tough campaigning is not only expected, but demanded. And Cruz will be forced to curry favor in the state he openly derided in his past criticisms of Trump and New York values. The Democratic race, meantime, moves to the type of contests in which Clinton has done far better this year: big states with diverse populations. New York, with its powerful African American and minority voting blocs, also holds a closed primary in which only Democrats can cast ballots. The same is true in Pennsylvania, which votes a week after New York, and all but one of the other four states with primaries that day. Even in her Wisconsin loss, Clinton carried black voters by more than 2-1. Her defeat rested mostly on independent voters, who went strongly for Sanders while registered Democrats were split. There was a signal demographic warning sign for Clinton: She and Sanders split female voters, a group that has consistently been in the former secretary of States corner this year. Still, Democrats remained more united than their Republican counterparts. About 7 in 10 of those who voted in Wisconsins Democratic primary said they were excited or optimistic about a Clinton presidency, and slightly more said the same about a Sanders presidency. That unity may be threatened in the vitriolic days ahead, however. For weeks, Clinton has largely ignored Sanders to focus her ire on Trump. But she cannot risk Sanders leveraging his Wisconsin win to sneak ahead of her in New York. Already she has grown more antagonistic toward him. Early Tuesday, her campaign sent out a full transcript of an interview Sanders had with the New York Daily News editorial board in which he was unable to offer details on some of his campaigns basic promises, such as how to break up Wall Street banks. He also faces more belligerent media coverage than hes accustomed to; he was hit this week with glaring criticism for opposing a lawsuit by families against the manufacturer of the weapon used to kill six adults and 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn., in 2012. Front-runners can weather difficult patches. In 2008, Clinton was in the position Sanders is in now, winning late contests but unable to cut far enough into Barack Obamas delegate lead to claim the nomination. In 2012, the Republican front runner, Mitt Romney, was humbled by late-season defeats by his challengers. Almost always, those front-runners end up as the nominees. But this year has been anything but usual. In both parties, the outcome now depends on whether Tuesdays results turn out to have been harbingers of things to come or stumbles en route to the nomination. cathleen.decker@latimes.com Follow me on Twitter: @cathleendecker. For more on politics, go to latimes.com/decker and sign up for our free daily newsletter ALSO: Bill Clinton: Star surrogate, reminder of Hillary Clintons liabilities Latinos and women are blunting Trump and Sanders in Californias primaries Donald Trump leads in California primary but threatens a GOP fracture Live coverage from the campaign trail California elections officials are anticipating a surge in voter turnout for the June 7 presidential primary election. More than 600,000 Californians have registered to vote online or updated their registration in just the last three months, and county election agencies may be overwhelmed by the volume of people who show up, Secretary of State Alex Padilla warned Gov. Jerry Brown. Voter registration application cards are in high demand statewide, he wrote in a letter Monday to the governor. Padilla also wrote that one campaign alone recently requested 200,000 registration forms to sign up voters, although he did not specify which candidates campaign made it. Advertisement Our data suggests a surge in voter participation in both the presidential primary election in June and the general election in November, Padilla wrote in the letter. Padilla requested a meeting with Brown to discuss the resources and time counties will need to ensure the elections go smoothly. Specifically, the secretary of state is asking the governor and Legislature for an extra $32 million to help county elections officials and his agency handle the increased workload. High interest in the 2016 election cycle, a significant rise in the use of online voter registration, growing demand for registration cards, and increased voter turnout in neighboring states suggests that California could see a major surge in voter turnout, Padilla said in a statement released Tuesday. Padilla said he expected county election agencies to be hit with increased costs, including the need to print more ballots, and will need additional staffing. The fact that Californias primary has such a high profile in the national presidential contest . means that we need to ramp up, said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan. Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said hes seen a major spike in people registering to vote in the last few months and expects to see high turnout in both the June and November elections. The good thing is that theres interest in the election. Thats what were all about, said Kelley, who also serves as president of the California Assn. of Clerks and Elections Officials. Counties will have to hire and train temporary workers and volunteers to keep up and make sure that polling sites do not wind up with long lines on election day. Its going to be a tough climb, Im not going to lie to you, Kelley said. I think there will be some counties who I think will be short of resources. Elections agencies in Californias 58 counties also are being swamped with a massive number of petitions for proposed November ballot initiatives. Under state law, local elections officials are required to verify petition signatures are from qualified registered voters. As many as 9.4 million signatures may need to be verified across the state, according to Padillas office. Supporters of 13 proposed measures are still gathering the signatures needed to qualify for the November ballot, and are expected to submit them to county agencies shortly before the June primary election. Its a crunch period, Logan said. The swell in voter interest and increased workload in preparing vote-by-mail ballots comes at the same time that many county election officials are inundated with petitions for ballot measures. And thats not the best timing, Kelley said. With as many as 21 potential measures on the November ballot, the voter guides that arrive in the mail could be up to 288 pages long and county election agencies are required to pick up the tab for printing costs. Donald Trump leads a GOP presidential field that has been winnowed down to just three contenders, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Despite his victories in earlier state primaries, Trump lacks enough delegates to capture the Republican nomination outright, meaning California could decide the fate of the GOP race. Californias 172 GOP delegates 14% of the 1,237 required to win the nomination will be chosen on the last big day of the voting calendar. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has accumulated such a substantial delegate lead over rival Sen. Bernie Sanders that she remains the clear front-runner in the race. Because Democrats allow decline-to-state voters to participate in their presidential primary, counties will need to have extra crossover ballots on hand at polling places, Padilla said. The GOP holds a closed primary, so anyone who wants to cast a ballot for one of the partys three remaining presidential candidates must be a registered Republican. The rest of the ballot the Senate contest and congressional and local races will still be for the top two candidates to advance to the general election. phil.willon@latimes.com Follow @philwillon on Twitter for the latest news on California politics ALSO: Donald Trump is about to blow up the California primary. Heres how Track the delegate race Latinos and women are blunting Trump and Sanders in Californias primaries Updates on California politics Live coverage from the campaign trail Im Christina Bellantoni, and this is Essential Politics. As if any more evidence was needed to prove Californias June 7 primary will be decisive in the presidential nominating contest, Wisconsin voters provided fresh figures Tuesday that ensure this thing is far from over. Tonight is a turning point, Sen. Ted Cruz said in a victory speech after routing Donald Trump in Wisconsin. It is a rallying cry, it is a call from the hard-working men and and women from Wisconsin to the people of America. We have a choice. We have a real choice. Advertisement Following the rockiest stretch of Trumps campaign, there was a sense beyond Cruzs remarks that Wisconsin may prove a pivot point in the highly unpredictable GOP contest. The primary contest offered just 42 delegates of the 1,237 needed to clinch the nomination. But each and every delegate has come to matter greatly. On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders was on track to defeat Hillary Clinton in Wisconsin by 100,000 votes and capture at least 14 more delegates than she did. With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have now won seven out of eight of the last caucuses and primaries, said Sanders, campaigning in Wyoming ahead of caucuses there this weekend. And we have won almost all of them with overwhelming landslide numbers. Sanders is running as if the nomination were in striking distance, and pointedly promised to take his campaign well beyond the next major contest in New York and all the way to California. But as the day begins, Clinton remains atop the delegate fight, even when the superdelegates that Team Sanders says could change their minds are not factored into the equation. Well be tracking the fallout on Trail Guide and via @latimespolitics, so follow along with us there. FLOODGATES OPEN IN CALIFORNIA Meanwhile, Californias contest is drawing so much interest more than two months before the primary that elections officials are sending out warning flares that local governments might not be able to handle the volume. Phil Willon reports that Secretary of State Alex Padilla asked for an extra $32 million to help with the increased workload. In the last three months, more than 600,000 Californians have gone online to register to vote or update their registrations. Even more interesting: Padilla said one campaign alone recently requested 200,000 registration forms to sign up voters, although he did not specify which candidates campaign made the ask. Keep an eye on our Essential Politics news feed as the candidates target Golden State voters. SOME CONTEXT FOR THE BERNIE BLACKOUT PROTEST The perception that Sanders gets less media coverage isnt really a thing. Thats according to Ev Boyle, the associate director of the USC Annenberg Center on Communication Leadership and Policy. David Lauter explains the USC study and others, and writes that since the start of this year, Clinton and Sanders have received very similar amounts of coverage, according to data from the Internet Archives presidential tracker project. Each currently accounts for about 15% of all mentions of a candidate on TV. But Sanders supporters still feel their guy is being slighted. DEMOCRATS KEEP FRESNO ASSEMBLY SEAT Joaquin Arambula prevailed in the 31st Assembly District race Tuesday to fill the remainder of Henry Pereas term. Christine Mai-Duc reports that Republicans felt like they had a chance to capture the seat after 40 years of Democratic power, but unofficial results show Arambula ahead by 10 points. SURGE PRICING UP FOR DEBATE Is it fair for ridesharing companies to charge surge pricing? One of the biggest broadsides against Uber, Lyft and the industry passed its first committee hearing Tuesday one thats coming from a state senator with deep ties to the taxi industry, Liam Dillon reports. State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) wants the state to take an active role in setting prices for Uber and Lyft, raising concerns about the companies surge pricing models and their effects on consumers and drivers. TODAYS ESSENTIALS Driving while high? California lawmakers are proposing legislation that would allow police officers to test if motorists are driving under the influence of marijuana using oral swabs. California might be in for rolling blackouts this summer thanks to the gas leak at Porter Ranch, Alice Walton reports. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) wants the Census Bureau to collect more information on gay, lesbian and transgender Americans, saying lawmakers need more data to set good policy. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) pitched a new Clinton-themed ice cream flavor to Ben & Jerrys Ice Cream to balance the companys flavor named after Sanders. Boxer offered a model pint design for The HRC or Herstoric Raspberry Chocolate. A state Senate committee approved a bill Tuesday that would give an independent, citizen-run commission the power to redraw district boundaries, taking the responsibility away from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The bill must still be voted on and approved by the Assembly and Senate. Trump will hold a press conference Friday at his Southern California golf course. Like many Trump properties, this one has a back story. After enduring Trumps hyperbolic attacks for months, Mexico abruptly replaced its low-profile ambassador to Washington with an experienced, well-traveled diplomat and put a public relations expert into its Foreign Ministrys top spot for American affairs. What do you think of Trump? Readers can weigh in with our quick survey. The Festival of Books is coming up. Here are details on the program, which will include panels featuring Team Politics. LOGISTICS Miss yesterdays newsletter? Here you go. Did someone forward you this? Sign up here to get Essential Politics in your inbox daily. And keep an eye on our politics page throughout the day for the latest and greatest. And are you following us on Twitter at @latimespolitics? Please send thoughts, concerns and news tips to politics@latimes.com. State Sen. Ben Hueso (D-San Diego) wants California to take an active role in setting customer prices for Uber, Lyft and other rideshare companies. His bill sailed through the Senate committee he leads Tuesday, ratcheting up a fight between the popular tech companies and those who believe the industry needs more regulation. SB 1035 is one of the Capitols biggest broadsides against Uber and Lyft this year, taking aim at the core of the companies business model -- the ability to lower prices when demand is low and hike them at times of high demand. Hueso said he was concerned for consumers and workers. It isnt fair, he said, for a couple to pay $10 for a ride to a restaurant, then face a $60 bill on the way back. The state also should protect drivers from receiving rates that are too low. Advertisement See the most-read stories this hour >> Theres gotta be a way to allow some flexibility in the pricing but also to allow some guarantee to the drivers that theyre going to make some kind of profit, Hueso told the Senates Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, which he chairs. Hueso insisted that his bill doesnt give state regulators the ability to fix prices for ridesharing companies, but simply restates their authority to do so. Indeed, the California Public Utilities Commission, which currently regulates rideshares, already can do it under the law. But before Huesos bill, no one had formally been pushing the agency to take such a step. Tech advocates testified at Tuesdays hearing that the bill would, in fact, lead to state regulation over prices. The thought that we would be fixing prices for these companies is very dangerous from our perspective because that would upend the business model, said Robert Callahan, who leads the Internet Assn. advocacy group in California. Aside from rate setting, Huesos bill would encourage regulators to beef up restrictions on background checks for rideshare drivers and insurance requirements, and allow local police to enforce state rules on rideshares, among other changes. Its completely transparent that this is an attack on the industry, Callahan said after the hearing. That Huesos bill passed out of the committee he chairs isnt a surprise. Two Republican senators, Mike Morrell of Rancho Cucamonga and Anthony Cannella of Ceres, were opposed. Its advancement sets up a fight between power players over the big policy question of how much the state should regulate ridesharing companies. Hueso has long and deep ties to the taxi industry and has taken numerous steps to add regulations to rideshares while blocking efforts to ease them. Meanwhile, Uber alone has spent millions in lobbying over the last few years. liam.dillon@latimes.com Twitter: @dillonliam ALSO: How a state senator whose family is in the taxi business put the brakes on two Uber bills Lawmaker who wants more rideshare regulation says hes going to fail Facing regulatory roadblocks, Uber ramps up its lobbying in California With medical marijuana in widespread use and a ballot measure planned to legalize recreational pot in California, state officials Tuesday proposed using new technology to catch the increasing number of motorists who are driving while high. Legislation would allow law enforcement officers to use oral swab tests to strengthen cases when there is probable cause that a driver is impaired and the driver has failed sobriety field tests. A hand-held electronic device would test for the presence of marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and pain medications, including opiates, on the swab, according to Republican Sen. Bob Huff of San Dimas, who authored the bill. Advertisement Sadly, weve become a nation of self-medicating, careless people, Huff said. The public is naive in understanding how dangerous our roads are made by people who are abusing opiates, meth and cannabis. The legislative proposal is backed by the California Police Chiefs Assn. and California Narcotic Officers Assn. Supporters of SB 1462 cite a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that found a 22% increase in drugged driving arrests between 2007 and 2014. California voters legalized medical use of marijuana in 1996. Between 2009-13, the number of drivers killed in crashes who tested positive for drugs increased by more than 40%. After Colorado voters legalized recreational use in 2013, marijuana-related traffic deaths there increased 32% in one year, according to a report by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area enforcement initiative. A bill similar to the one touted Tuesday stalled in committee last year after medical marijuana advocates opposed it. The new proposal is premature, said to Dale Gieringer, director of the California branch of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Gieringer said the technology was not widely used by law enforcement. Oral swab testing is still an unproven technology, Gieringer said. Its accuracy has not been demonstrated in controlled, published scientific studies. Theres no evidence that oral swab testing results have any correlation to impaired driving. Test programs monitored by the federal government have been conducted around the country, including in Los Angeles, Fullerton and Kern County. The swab tests are used in place of more complicated blood and urine tests to detect drugs. L.A. prosecutors found cases using the swab evidence are pleading out earlier than cases without it. In what is believed to be the first successful prosecution using the test, a judge in Kern County admitted the swab results as evidence, according to Michael Yraceburn, a supervising deputy district attorney. If the Legislature acts to authorize use of the devices, it could lead to more widespread deployment, supporters said. The bill also has the backing of Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gatto of Glendale, who underwent the test Tuesday in a demonstration at the Capitol that found him clean of drugs. Drugged driving is a serious problem that impacts every corner of our state, Gatto said. This legislation is not partisan. Its simply the right thing to do to help save lives. Last year, the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown approved a new state bureau to license, regulate and tax those who grow, transport and sell medical marijuana. The bill also authorizes research by UC San Diego to lay the groundwork for new marijuana-specific field sobriety tests. Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale), a former California Highway Patrol officer, said the research can help refine the practices of officers in the field and incorporate the use of oral swab devices. patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com Follow @mcgreevy99 on Twitter ALSO Capitol Journal: Longtime marijuana use might make you a loser Portable drug test a new addition at New Years DUI checkpoints How evolving public attitudes on marijuana could affect the 2016 presidential race Updates from Sacramento Researchers plan to search the seafloor off Southern California for clues that could help answer two of the oldest and most contentious questions in science: When did the first modern humans arrive in the Americas? And did they initially spread south from Siberia by following ancient Pacific shorelines that are now covered by water? San Diego State and its partners will use sensors to look for areas in the northern Channel Islands that might have been human settlements thousands of years ago when the sea level was lower and the land was exposed. Scientists said these submerged cultural landscapes might contain remnants of the tools that the First Americans used for fishing, hunting and boating, as well as sites where they cooked shellfish. Advertisement The $900,000 study, funded by a federal agency, is scheduled to unfold during the next four years. It represents the largest underwater archaeological expedition of its kind off Southern California. See the most-read stories in Science this hour >> It also underscores a grand mystery: Scientists are able to spot planets dozens of light years from Earth, but figuring out key details in human history remains elusive. Were taking up fundamental questions about who we are and where we came from, said Todd Braje, a San Diego State archaeologist who is helping to lead the project with Jillian Maloney, one of the schools geoscientists. This is about human history and the human odyssey, Braje added. Scientists are confident that they have reconstructed part of the story. Its widely believed that Asia and North America were linked by a land bridge across the Bering Strait during the last Ice Age, when the sea level was hundreds of feet lower. The bridge, which is now covered by water, connected Siberia to Alaska and northwestern Canada. Researchers theorize that humans crossed the bridge from Siberia to hunt for mastodons, mammoth and other large game. These First Americans used sharp projectiles to kill their prey. But what route or routes did they follow into the Americas? Exactly when did they migrate to the New World? And did these settlers move in one migration, or in many? Those questions remain unanswered, and exploring them has proved to be a humbling, acrimonious experience. In the 1920s and 30s, stone spear points were discovered near Clovis, N.M., drawing intense interest from archaeologists. Scientists decided that these Clovis points were part of hunting spears used by the first settlers. The thinking was that the settlers had traveled from Siberia into Canada, then moved southeast through an opening in the ice sheets, reaching the interior of North America. It is the foundation of the Clovis First theory, which asserts that the settlers arrived about 13,000 years ago. The theory became dogma as artifacts from Clovis culture were found in other parts of the Americas. Adherence to that view has become almost a litmus test for acceptance into archaeology, Scientist magazine said in a retrospective. But the theory slowly began to unravel in the 1970s when American researcher Tom Dillehay identified artifacts from a human settlement in Chile. Dillehay determined that the artifacts were at least 14,000 years old, predating Clovis culture. Many scientists disagreed with his claim. But it turned out to be true, and researchers have since found other sites where the archaeological record suggests that settlers arrived before the Clovis people. The findings include a site in southern Oregon that some scholars see as possible evidence that the First Americans originally traveled south along the Pacific coast, by foot and by boat. San Diego State will explore the so-called Pacific coast migration model with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, which protects marine assets on the West Coast. We dont want to put anything in areas that are biologically or historically important, said Dave Ball, an archaeologist with the bureau. And we expect that theres going to be interest in developing offshore renewable energy off the West Coast. The northern Channel Islands San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa were connected thousands of years ago, when the sea level was about 360 feet lower than it is today. Now, the islands are separate, and many ancient shorelines are submerged. Even with advances in imaging and detection technology, Braje said finding traces of human settlements will be harder than looking for a needle in a haystack. Shipborne researchers will use three types of sensors, including sidescan sonar, to take images of the seafloor and the rock layers below. These kinds of sensors are also used to search for earthquake faults and oil field deposits. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> San Diego State and its partners will initially focus on the seafloor between the Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz islands. If there are any landforms that have not been buried by sediment, we would be able to observe them with these data, Maloney said. The combination of ... these types of data help us to understand how the coastal environmental has changed through time, from the glacial period low sea level all the way up to modern sea level. The scientists will be able to take small core samples of the seafloor if they spot areas that may have been human settlements. Braje, 39, is excited but circumspect, saying: Its possible that by the time I retire, well still only have a general idea of how the first humans settled the Americas. gary.robbins@sduniontribune.com Twitter: @grobbins Robbins writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune. ALSO Losing a partner can literally break your heart Hot Jupiter! Astronomers discover giant planet with three shining suns This Kite Runner arthopod kept its young tethered to its body with strings The death of a life partner can throw your heart out of whack -- not just emotionally but physically, according to a new study. Researchers found that people who lost their partner within the previous 30 days are 41% more likely to develop an irregular heartbeat compared with those who were not recently bereaved. And it appears that the more unexpected the death, the higher the risk of a fluttering heart. Advertisement People under 60 were the most affected by the recent loss of a partner: Their risk of having an irregular heartbeat doubled compared with control groups. The risk of developing arrhythmia also increased for those who had a partner who died suddenly compared with those whose partners died after a long illness. The study also suggests that just as time can heal an emotionally broken heart, it can also reduce the chances of developing a physically challenged one as well. The authors say the risk a person will exhibit heartbeat irregularities is most pronounced 8 to 14 days after a partners death and then slowly begins to taper off. By one year after a partners death, the bereaved is no more likely than anyone else to suffer from an irregular heartbeat. Stress has long been linked to arrhythmia in the heart, and the acute stress of losing your partner in life constitutes one of the biggest impacts of psychological stress one would experience, said Simon Graff, a researcher at the department of public health at Aarhus University in Denmark who lead the work. We wanted to examine that association. The results were published Tuesday in the journal Open Heart. To see whether there was a relationship between atrial fibrillation and the recent loss of a partner, the authors turned to Danish medical records that start in 1995 and go through 2014. From these they identified 88,612 cases in which people had been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation for the first time. Of those, 17,478 had lost a partner in the last year. Atrial fibrillation is the most common type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm, in the Western world. It occurs when the hearts electrical system malfunctions, causing the hearts two upper chambers to contract very fast and irregularly. Graff explained that people who suffer from atrial fibrillation often report heart palpitations, shortness of breath and discomfort in the chest. It is also associated with increased risk of death, stroke and heart failure. Using information collected by the Danish Civil Registration System, the researchers were to able to determine whether each of the diagnosed people had a partner, if they lived with them, if they were married, if that person had died recently, and how likely that the death occurred one month before the heart problem appeared. They were able to do this by looking at the partners medical records to see how old they were, what medications they were on and whether they were hospitalized. The researchers were also able to get information about the atrial fibrillation patients previous illnesses, age, sex and education status, among other things. In addition to the findings reported above, the researchers said people who lived with their partners and those who lived separately were just as likely to develop atrial fibrillation after the partners death. The authors did not study what physiological mechanisms are responsible for the relationship between atrial fibrillation and the loss of a life partner, but they have a few ideas. Graff said it is possible that the death of a partner could affect basic hormonal processes that can alter a heartbeat. For example, adrenalin in long-term and excessive amounts can disrupt heart rhythm, he said. In addition, acute mental stress can also cause an imbalance in the part of the central nervous system that controls both heart rate and the electrical pathways that run through the heart, he said. Graff and his team said they hope that more research will be done to look at other associations between heart health and emotional stress. In the meantime, they hope that relatives of those who lost a life partner and their doctors will keep an eye out for signs of a physically disrupted heart in the early stages of mourning. A timely diagnosis of this possible association between bereavement and [atrial fibrillation] could change the outcome of the condition, he said. Do you love science? I do! Follow me @DeborahNetburn and like Los Angeles Times Science & Health on Facebook. One of the largest private jet companies will soon bring a more upscale lifestyle to the flying general public at Bob Hope Airport. On April 19, Irvine-based JetSuite will launch its newest charter service JetSuiteX, which will connect Burbank to Concord in the East Bay. A one-way ticket on one of the companys 30-seat planes will cost between $109 and $300. However, those who are willing to spend extra can privately charter an aircraft for about $7,000 an hour, said Alex Wilcox, chief executive of JetSuite. Join the conversation on Facebook >> JetSuite publicist Gareth Edmondson-Jones stands inside the cabin of an Embraer 135 aircraft. Irvine-based JetSuite is launching its newest service, JetSuiteX, which will connect Burbank to Concord in the East Bay. (Tim Berger / Staff Photographer) Flights to and from Bob Hope and Buchanan Field Airport in Concord are estimated to take a little more than an hour each way and are available Monday through Friday. Wilcox said more people used to fly between Southern and Northern California during the early 2000s, but he thinks the drop in passenger traffic is due to airlines consolidating and the flying experience being less personal. Additionally, he has noticed that fewer people are taking short-haul flights which are fewer than three hours and he thinks he can make the new service more attractive to them. We see an opportunity to put aviation back into aviation, he said. The companys fleet of Embraer 135 aircraft have been modified for a more luxurious feel. Seven seats were removed from the cabin to add 36 inches of leg room for each section. The seats themselves have been upgraded with softer material, and faux wood has been installed for the fold-down trays. NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> Additional soundproofing has been installed for a quieter ride, and free Wi-Fi will be available to all passengers. The biggest change is the removal of the overhead bins, which frees up more headroom and adds a sleeker look to the cabin. In the event that a passenger needs to put a coat away, a small closet was installed in the front of the aircraft. Once people start hanging their coats at the front of the airplane, I dont think folks will miss the overhead bins at all, Wilcox said, adding that most passengers store their coats in the compartments, which are too small for most carry-on luggage. JetSuiteX is looking to add routes to San Diego, Santa Barbara and Phoenix in the future, according to a company statement. -- Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com Twitter: @acocarpio -- ALSO: Library system receives grant, hires monitors Patient sees an option in Californias right-to-die law Burbank residents pound out a percussion history lesson In colonial America, each colony had its own charter (form of government), and each colony was answerable directly to the king of England and to Parliament. Once the Declaration of Independence from England was signed in 1776, a new form of government uniting the colonies needed to be established, so the Articles of Confederation was written. When the War for Independence was won, and the Treaty of Paris signed in 1783, the Articles of Confederation remained as the governing document for the new United States of America. A confederation is a loose union of states, and it proved to be inadequate for meeting the needs of a new nation. A stronger national government was needed to govern all of the states while preserving the power of the individual states. This was a delicate and original task something that had never been done before! During the hot summer months of 1787, representatives from the 13 new states convened to correct the inadequacies and failures of the Articles of Confederation. These representatives decided then and there to write the new Constitution of the United States. Once this new Constitution was written, it needed to be ratified, or accepted, by the states. An intense debate followed for the next nine months. The Federalists argued for a strong national government while the Anti-Federalists feared a strong national government. To protect the rights of individual citizens and the authority of the states, the Constitution was ratified in June 1788 on the condition that the first order of business would be to amend it to include specific guarantees regarding the rights of individuals and of the states. The First 10 Amendments to the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, were passed shortly after the Constitution was ratified. These 10 Amendments are: I.) Freedom of Speech and Press. Right to Peaceable Assembly. Freedom of Religion. II.) Right to Keep and Bear Arms being necessary to the security of a Free State. III.) No Soldier shall be Quartered in Time of Peace without Consent of Owner. IV.) Free from Unreasonable Search and Seizure. No Warrants issued without Probable Cause. V.) No person to be tried for Serious Crime without Indictment by a Grand Jury. May not be tried Twice, nor be compelled to be Witness against Self, nor be deprived of Life, Liberty or Property without Due Process of Law. VI.) Right to a Speedy Trial by Jury of Peers. Right to be Defended. Right to be told Charges. Right to be Confronted by Witnesses Against Him. VII.) Right of Trial by Jury. VIII.) Excessive Bail shall nor excessive fines imposed. No Cruel or Unusual Punishment. IX.) The Enumeration of Rights in the Constitution shall not be Construed to Deny Others Retained by the People. X.) The Powers Not Delegated to the United States Government are Reserved to the States and to the People. Our forefathers wanted to specifically state these rights in order to guarantee that our liberty would be protected and that we would remain a free people. Newport Beach resident SHERRY NORD MARRON is a former American studies professor at Orange Coast College and the University of Connecticut. In response to the deadly clash between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh this past weekend, members of the Armenian-American community rallied in downtown Glendale Monday night to protest the violence. An estimated 500 people attended the demonstration, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William. The impromptu protest, which was loosely organized on social media, took place along West Lexington Drive, beside the Consulate General of Armenia. Traffic was closed on Lexington at North Central Avenue, as police watched over the peaceful demonstration. There were a few people that were upset about the situation and wanted to make a statement that the Armenian community isnt just standing by, said Aran Manoukian of the Armenian Youth Federation, one of a handful of organizations that was present. A video of the gathering uploaded on YouTube shows people waving the Armenian flag and shouting slogans. Signs, written in English and Armenian, were hung on the fence of the consulate office, calling for peace and prayers in the region, which is largely occupied by ethnic Armenians. At least 30 soldiers 18 Armenians and 12 Azerbaijanis and a boy were reportedly killed when fighting broke out Saturday in the disputed territory, according to the Associated Press. Nagorno-Karabakh, a region located in Azerbaijan, has been under the control of local ethnic Armenian forces and the Armenian military for over two decades. Small clashes have occurred along the demilitarization zones that buffer the area, but Saturdays fighting was the most violent clash since all-out war concluded in 1994. Azerbaijans Defense Ministry on Sunday announced a unilateral cease fire, but Nagorno-Karabakh officials disputed the report, saying that attacks have persisted. A similar protest is being planned by the Armenian Youth Federation at 1 p.m. on Friday in front of the Azerbaijani Consulate General in Los Angeles. We want to tell the world its not OK to commit these atrocious crimes, and we demand justice, Manoukian said. -- Brian Park, brian.park@latimes.com Twitter: @TheBrianPark -- ALSO: Glendales new social-media campaign encourages diners, revelers to #MeetMeOnBrand Family creates local support group to help survivors of traumatic brain injuries City Council decides not to contribute funds for Glendales 2017 Rose Parade float Good morning, 818. Today is Wednesday, April 6, 2016. Temperatures for today are forecasted to reach a high of 85 and a low of 58, according to the National Weather Service. Here are your local headlines: In the Community Armenian Americans protest recent violence overseas In response to the deadly clash between Armenian and Azerbaijani troops in the separatist region of Nagorno-Karabakh this past weekend, members of the Armenian-American community rallied in downtown Glendale Monday night to protest the violence. An estimated 500 people attended the demonstration, according to Glendale Police Sgt. Robert William. Glendale News-Press NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in the 818 >> Rocket Girls profiled in new book Author Nathalia Holt tells the story of the women hired by NASA to be human computers at JPL in her new book, Rise of the Rocket Girls: The Women Who Propelled Us, from Missiles to the Moon to Mars. Holt will be joined by former rocket girl Sylvia Miller for an appearance at 7 p.m. on Monday at the Buena Vista Library, 300 N. Buena Vista St., Burbank. Glendale News-Press Big turnout for Autism Speaks walk at Rose Bowl An estimated 55,000 people made their way to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena on Saturday for the 2016 Autism Speaks Walk, one of the biggest such events in the country, according to organizers. The goal of the Los Angeles-area walk is to raise $1.95 million for the year. Four months in, about $1.3 million has been raised. Glendale News-Press Crime and Public Safety Gang-related intimidation reported Burbank police are investigating an alleged gang-related assault involving several suspects who, reportedly armed with sticks and a sledgehammer, challenged two people driving near Robert Lundigan Park to fight, officials said. Burbank Leader Business Now arriving at ... Hollywood Burbank Airport? The operations and development committee of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority unanimously voted to recommend to the board that Hollywood Burbank Airport should be Bob Hope Airports new branding name. The airfields legal and current name will not be changed. Burbank Leader New charter service coming to airport One of the largest private jet companies will soon bring a more upscale lifestyle to the flying general public at Bob Hope Airport. On April 19, Irvine-based JetSuite will launch its newest charter service JetSuiteX, which will connect Burbank to Concord in the East Bay. A one-way ticket on one of the companys 30-seat planes will cost between $109 and $300. Burbank Leader -- Ryan Fonseca, ryan.fonseca@latimes.com Twitter: @RyFons When Gerard Ryle saw a photograph of thousands of protesters gathered outside Icelands Parliament this week, a thought flickered through his mind: My God. Weve done this. It was true. Icelands prime minister stepped down from office Tuesday the most significant fallout so far of the work by journalists collaborating with Ryles International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Over the weekend, hundreds of reporters in more than 70 countries unveiled a nearly yearlong global investigation and began publishing a series of articles on millions of leaked financial documents they dubbed the Panama Papers, a trove of information bigger than anything WikiLeaks or Edward Snowden ever obtained. Advertisement FULL COVERAGE: Panama Papers document leak>> The effect has been like shining a flashlight into a series of dark rooms packed with money and lies. The documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca and examined by journalists at outlets including the Guardian, the BBC and the Miami Herald have forced global leaders and public figures to answer for the massive amounts of wealth they had hidden in offshore tax havens, outside the scrutiny of auditors and voters. But the story started small, with an anonymous writers message to the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung in early 2015: Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data? The newspaper was interested, of course. But the source said there were conditions: My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever. Why are you doing this? a journalist at the newspaper asked the source, according to an account published this weekend. I want to make these crimes public. The documents sent to the newspaper stretched back decades and were unwieldy. They included bank records, emails, phone numbers and photocopies of passports held by Mossack Fonseca to track its clients. But there was no road map to show what they all meant. It was like trying to read an MRI without a doctor. Seeking help, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reached out to Ryles consortium, a global network of journalists that had handled document leaks from the HSBC bank and the tiny European nation of Luxembourg. The network is overseen by the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit known for its muckraking journalism in the United States. The two share offices on different floors of the same building. They are not large-scale journalistic operations. The Center for Public Integritys typical yearly revenue is less than $10 million mostly grants from other nonprofits such as the Omidyar Network Fund and the Knight Foundation. Ryle said the international consortium has only about four staff members in Washington, with others scattered around the world, mostly working from their homes. But Ryle was game to help out the Germans with the sprawling Panama leak. He flew to Munich and spent four days reviewing the material. It was pretty obvious at that point we had something big, Ryle said in an interview Tuesday. He secured partnerships from the BBC, the Guardian and the McClatchy newspaper chain in the U.S. During one early meeting in Munich of at least 100 journalists from around the world, Ryle felt nervous as he pitched them on a close collaboration that would require teamwork and strict secrecy. If they only knew how scared I was, Ryle said this week. But they bought in. The consortiums data journalists began indexing the documents and building a searchable database. The group also built an internal social network so that members could chat with one another from around the globe. British reporters who found French documents could ask French reporters what they meant. Holly Watt, an investigative reporter for the Guardian in London, said the cache of documents was so massive that a search could leave the computer just smoldering in a corner for three days as the journalists awaited the results. We would have moments of being like, Oh my gosh, so and so has an account here, said Watt. The investigation stretched on for so many months that her friends and family wondered why her byline had disappeared from the newspaper. Sometimes you would look at so much data your eyes would completely glaze over, she said. Many searches simply involved typing in names of prominent politicians or donors to see if anything turned up, said Kevin Hall, the Washington-based chief economics correspondent for McClatchy. But the sense of camaraderie among the journalists grew as they shared tips and findings. You all felt like you were on this big expedition together, Hall said. Journalists from the news outlet Fusion traveled to Delaware to examine how incorporation worked in the U.S. and stared at one-story buildings that were allegedly the home of thousands of corporations. Last month they traveled to Panama, where at least seven allied news crews from international outlets assembled in Mossack Fonsecas building to pressure someone from the firm to come out and speak with them. We showed up, we stood downstairs, said Alice Brennan, an investigative producer with Fusion. I felt like I was a college student picketing. Nicholas Nehamas, a Miami Herald real estate reporter, said he knew that foreign wealth had helped snatch up Miami property. But in an era of diminished resources and staff at U.S. newspapers, he could not figure out the identities of the Brazilians, Italians and Argentines doing the buying until he started collaborating with Brazilian, Italian and Argentine reporters on the Panama Papers. A lot of it was an aha! moment where Im digging through the files, and Im seeing a convoluted offshore transaction, Nehamas said. Hed post it to the consortiums secured chat group, and within an hour Id have three responses being like, Oh my God, this guy was arrested for corruption. Ryle said the consortium didnt have any members in Iceland but ultimately signed up an independent journalist, Johannes Kr. Kristjansson, to investigate Icelands prime minister. Documents showed the prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, and his wife, through an offshore corporation called Wintris, had held an undisclosed financial stake in the Icelandic banks that collapsed in 2008. It was a potentially serious conflict of interest for a politician in a country still enraged by the financial meltdown, and it would be up to Kristjansson to do the reporting. See more of our top stories on Facebook >> The pressure on him he was the loneliest man in the world for months, Ryle said of Kristjansson. His work came to a head in March. The prime minister, Gunnlaugsson, walked out of an interview on video when confronted about his undisclosed stake in Wintris. Gunnlaugssons wife soon claimed that her husbands stake had been an error made by the bank. After the investigation and the interview aired Sunday and protesters began to gather Monday Kristjansson sent a message to Ryle: Wintris has arrived. The next day, amid mounting pressure, Gunnlaugsson stepped down from office. matt.pearce@latimes.com MORE WORLD NEWS Bangladeshi surfer girls go against the cultural tide Stung by Trumps attacks, Mexico names ambassador to U.S. who is expected to fight back Syrian rebels have long wanted anti-aircraft missiles. Their wish may have been granted The number of executions carried out around the world in 2015 increased more than 50% over the previous year, a surge largely driven by three countries: Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Amnesty International said in its annual report on the use of capital punishment. At least 1,634 people were put to death in 25 countries last year, the highest number of executions recorded by the London-based human rights group in more than a quarter century, excluding those carried out in China. Amnesty believes that thousands more people are executed every year in China, but the government treats information about capital punishment as a state secret. In a statement released before the report was officially published Wednesday, Amnestys secretary-general, Salil Shetty, described last years rise in executions as profoundly disturbing. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have all put people to death at unprecedented levels, often after grossly unfair trials, Shetty said. This slaughter must end. The report did not attempt to explain all the reasons for the sharp increase. But it noted that in almost every region, governments use executions as a tool to respond to real and perceived threats to state security and public safety, including terrorism-related offenses. Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia accounted for 89% of the publicly disclosed executions recorded by Amnesty, which opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. The United States also figured among the worlds top five executioners. (Los Angeles Times) In many cases, the report said, the death penalty was applied in contravention of international laws and standards. Iran and Pakistan executed people who were younger than 18 at the time of the crimes for which they were convicted. The rash of executions in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia was in stark contrast to a long-term trend toward the abolition of the death penalty and de facto moratoriums on capital punishment in a growing number of countries. More than two-thirds of nations have abandoned the death penalty in law or in practice. When Amnesty first started tracking executions in 1977, just 16 countries had fully abolished the practice, compared with 102 more than half today. Four countries Fiji, Madagascar, the Republic of Congo and Suriname removed the death penalty from their laws in 2015. Mongolias parliament also passed a new criminal code abolishing executions for all crimes effective in September. Here are more details on the worlds top executioners: China A court in Chinas Inner Mongolia region sentenced Zhao Zhihong, center, to death in 2015 for the killing of 10 people and the rape of 13 women and girls between 1996 and 2005, state-run media reported (AFP / Getty Images) (Test) Amnesty considers China the worlds No. 1 executioner. Although reliable data are impossible to obtain from the country, the group believes that the number of executions there remained in the thousands last year. The report noted that the number of executions probably decreased after the Supreme Peoples Court began reviewing death penalty cases in 2007, but said it was not possible to quantify the reduction. Amnesty believes that China continued to impose death sentences for a wide range of offenses that did not meet the standard of the most serious crimes to which international law restricts the use of capital punishment. These include drug-related offenses, economic crimes such as embezzlement and taking bribes, rape and, to a lesser extent, arson. Iran Most of the executions carried out in Iran in 2015 were for drug-related offences, Amnesty International reported. (Vahid Salemi / Associated Press) (Test) Authorities in the Islamic Republic announced 400 executions last year. However, Amnesty said it was able to confirm through credible sources that at least 977 people were put to death in 2015, an increase of 31% over the previous year. They include 16 women and four juvenile offenders. Most of the executions were for drug-related crimes, but others were for such vaguely worded offenses as enmity against God. The defendants often had no access to lawyers during pretrial investigations, Amnesty said, and the courts admitted as evidence confessions that the group contends were obtained under torture. Pakistan The coffin of executed prisoner Zahid Hussain is carried in the Pakistani city of Multan during his funeral Jan.15, 2015. (AFP / Getty Images) (Test) More than 320 people were sent to the gallows in Pakistan, the highest number of executions Amnesty has ever recorded for the country in one year. The executions were carried out after a moratorium was lifted in December 2014, in the wake of a deadly attack on a school, to permit the use of capital punishment for terrorism-related offenses. In February 2015, the country began executing prisoners for other crimes, though many had been convicted by special anti-terrorism courts. Among those put to death were Aftab Bahadur, who was convicted of killing three people when he was just 15. The only prosecution witness who testified to seeing Bahadur and his codefendant committing the crime in 1992 later recanted, saying police had pressured him to make the statement, Amnesty said. Bahadurs codefendant also maintained that the police had tortured him into confessing. Saudi Arabia Protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, raise their fists in front of a poster of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration against his execution by Saudi Arabia in January. ( Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images) (Test) At least 158 people were executed in Saudi Arabia last year, an increase of 76% over 2014. Most were beheaded, but authorities in the conservative kingdom also used firing squads and in some cases put the bodies on public display. In the report, Amnesty expressed grave concerns about the way the Saudi authorities impose capital punishment, saying the penalty is used disproportionately on foreign nationals, many of them with no knowledge of Arabic, and detainees are commonly denied access to a lawyer or a meaningful appeal. One of the most significant concerns remained the fact that confessions extracted under torture, duress or coercion were often the sole evidence in death penalty cases, Amnesty said. United States The execution chamber at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. (Sue Ogrocki / Associated Press) (Test) Although the U.S. remains the only country in the Americas to carry out executions, the numbers continued to decline in 2015. A total of 28 people were put to death in six states, the lowest number of executions recorded in the U.S. since 1991. Eighteen states have fully abolished the death penalty; Pennsylvania imposed a moratorium on executions in February. For more international news, follow @alexzavis on Twitter Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have finally agreed to terms for a Brooklyn debate ahead of the New York primary of April 19. Debate Night Set in Brooklyn According to a statement from the Sanders campaign, the independent Vermont senator accepted another invitation to debate Clinton in New York. Both campaigns have reportedly went back and forth about the date and location of the debate, but have agreed to Brooklyn on April 14 with CNN and local news television station NY1-Time Warner Cable. "We are glad that she finally has agreed," said Sanders' spokesman Michael Briggs, adding that the Vermont senator has been pressing to a primetime television debate to ensure a great number of New Yorkers and Americans hear both candidates talk about issues ranging from the economy and the campaign finance system. "It's great for the people of New York that there will be a debate in Brooklyn, something that the Clinton campaign has long opposed," added Briggs. "Fortunately, we were able to move a major New York City rally scheduled for April 14 to the night before. We hope the debate will be worth the inconvenience for thousands of New Yorkers who were planning to attend our rally on Thursday but will have to change their schedules to accommodate Secretary Clinton's jam-packed, high-dollar, coast-to-coast schedule of fundraisers all over the country." The Sanders campaign said it had initially agreed to NBC's debate invitation scheduled for April 17, but the date conflicted with Clinton's schedule. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who initially scheduled only six debates for the 2016 Democratic presidential season and later agreed to add more, acknowledged the New York debate has been approved as it met the framework previously agreed by both Sanders and Clinton's campaigns. "Every time our candidates take the stage they show the temperament and judgment the American people expect in a President and Commander in Chief. While the Republican primary has sunk deeper and deeper into chaos, the Democratic primary continues to show democracy at its best and we look forward to seeing our candidates debate next week," said Wasserman Schultz. The New York Electorate Taking into account all of New York City's diverse ethnicities, only one in four of the Big Apple's voters participated in the 2014 midterm general election, which furthered a downward trend recognized by NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer. New York State is home to the fourth largest Latino population, with approximately 3.7 million, and 1.9 million are eligible to vote. Stringer wants to improve voter turnout and introduced 16 ideas to increase voter access and turnout and improve how elections are administered. "As New Yorkers head to the polls to elect our next president, it's important to remember that voting is not only a fundamental right - it is the most important tool we have to ensure accountability in our democracy," Stringer said in a statement. "Turnout in recent elections in New York has been abysmal and yet our laws often prevent, rather than encourage, people from participating. We need to make it easier for every New Yorker to register and vote." Among the 16 ideas are pre-registration for 16 and 17 year olds that will then become active once becoming 18 years old, allowing same-day Election Day registration, permitting "no-excuse" absentee voting, expanding poll inspections and enhance access for Limited English Proficiency New Yorkers, which will provide voting materials in additional languages. __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Puerto Rico approved legislation that will grant its governor, Alejandro Garcia Padilla, to suspend debt payments. Protecting the People 'We Were Entrusted to Represent and Serve' On April 5, the Puerto Rico Senate passed the "Puerto Rico Emergency Moratorium and Financial Rehabilitation Act." In a statement released on April 6, Garcia Padilla said the bill is further proof of the commonwealth moral and legal commitment to protect the island's residents that "we were entrusted to represent and serve." "This legislation provides us with the tools to address the highest priority of needs -- providing essential services to our people -- without fear of retribution," Garcia Padilla said on Wednesday. "This legislation also helps the Government Development Bank address its difficult situation in an orderly manner." According to the Puerto Rican governor, only Puerto Ricans and the island's leaders have stepped up to address the commonwealth's $72 billion debt crisis, despite calls for the U.S. Congress to help provide comprehensive solutions. Garcia Padilla claims creditors have participated in a public relations campaign featuring misinformation toward the public and Congress about necessary solutions for Puerto Rico's 3.5 million inhabitants, who are also U.S. citizens. "The Commonwealth is insolvent and the situation requires responsible efforts to finding a solution. We remain committed to working with all stakeholders to reach a mutually beneficial outcome to that end," continued Garcia Padilla. Meanwhile in Congress, Hearing Date Confirmed A hearing about a Puerto Rico restructuring bill has been confirmed for April 13. In late March, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources, announced a draft legislation addressing the commonwealth's economic crisis. Bishop acknowledges the works comes after House Speaker Paul Ryan's, R-Wisc., orders for select and relevant House committees to find solutions on the issue. Bishop said the draft legislation "provides Puerto Rico with tools to impose discipline over its finances, meet its obligations and restore confidence in its institutions. The framework was developed through broad-based collaboration with Members of Congress in both parties, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a range of economic, business and market stakeholders, and with engagement from Puerto Rico's elected leadership." The House Committee on Natural Resources did note changes in the draft resolution is open for changes based on feedback. "Everyone is working hard and in good faith on the Puerto Rico bill, and it's still a work in progress," said House Committee on Natural Resources Ranking Member Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. "I look forward to a hearing and I'm hopeful that my colleagues on the Committee will remain focused on our common goals here -- helping the families living on the island and giving Puerto Rico a clear path forward." __ For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com. Donald Trump often talks about fortifying the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border at the Mexican government's expense. On Tuesday, the Republican presidential front-runner revealed strong-arm tactics he would use. "It's an easy decision for Mexico," Trump wrote in a two-page memo sent to the Washington Post. "Make a one-time payment of $5-10 billion to ensure that $24 billion continues to flow into their country year after year." The memo, titled "Compelling Mexico to Pay for the Wall," threatens to stop Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. from sending money transfers -- known as remittances -- to anyone south of the border. Trump's proposal not only goes against an anti-terrorism law described under the Patriot Act, it has the potential to deepen already-strained relations between the neighboring countries. Trump's Three-Day Plan On day one, Trump would redefine "financial transactions" to affect money transfer accounts capable of sending remittances and wire transfers, along with money transfer companies, like Western Union. Companies would have to ensure "the alien first provides a document establishing his lawful presence in the United States," otherwise the U.S. government could seize their assets. Trump expects Mexico's rebuttal on the second day. He believes the plan justified because Mexico receives about $24 billion a year from transfers, the "majority" of which is sent by undocumented immigrants, though he doesn't give a specific percentage. According to Trump, remittances "serve as de facto welfare for poor families." By the third day, Trump has given Mexico an ultimatum; either contribute to construction of the border wall or face pernicious regulations, like trade tariffs on imports and cancellations of visas and green card. "Immigration is a privilege, not a right," Trump wrote. "Mexico is totally dependent on the United States as a release valve for its own poverty - our approvals of hundreds of thousands of visas every year is one of our greatest leverage points." President Obama Wishes Trump "Good Luck" At its core, the plan is about halting legal immigration, but it may have an adverse effect if Mexican nationals can't remit funds. President Obama said as much, calling Trump's proposal "half-baked" and an example of something "primarily put forward for political consumption." "The notion that we're going to track every Western Union bit of money that's being sent to Mexico, good luck with that," Obama said, speaking to reporters at the White House on Tuesday. The president warned such a plan may have devastating effects on the Mexican economy, which benefited from $25 billion in remittances in 2014 and stands to lose roughly two percent of their gross domestic product. Long-Term Consequences In repealing visa accreditations, U.S. immigration reform efforts would stall since more people would cross in search of jobs. Some may resort to underground networks and drug smuggling techniques for money transfer. "Mexico has taken advantage of us in another way as well: gangs, drug traffickers and cartels have freely exploited our open borders and committed vast numbers of crimes inside the United States," Trump concluded, adding that Americans have "borne the extraordinary daily cost of this criminal activity." The number of immigrants arriving declined since 2008, according to right-leaning think tank the Center for Migration Studies. Nearly 11 million crossed in the last two years, the country's lowest rate since 2003. The Great Recession and heightened anti-immigration sentiment during 2012 and 2016 presidential election cycles were a contributing factor, but Trump's proposal - along with his call to deport 11 million undocumented individuals living in the U.S. -- may buck the trend. The state of Mississippi is in the headlines this week for allowing a law to be enacted that would allow businesses to refuse services to gay couples. The law covers religious objections regarding same-sex couples' wedding services and other actions condoned discriminatory by rights activists. According to the Washington Post, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed into law a bill that protects "sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions." This law believes that a marriage should be given only between a man and a woman and that sexual relations should only occur in such marriage. Furthermore, it highlights that the person's gender is "determined by anatomy and genetics at time of birth." It additionally states that businesses can determine if an individual could be allowed to enter bathrooms, dressing rooms and locker rooms that are not in line with their gender identity. Bryant, being a Republican, stated that he signed the law to protect the religious and moral beliefs of individuals and organizations from the discriminatory action by state government, Yahoo wrote. Mississippi is notably the latest state drawing protests for a law seen against the LGBT community. Recently, North Carolina barred transgender people from choosing bathrooms inconsistent with their gender identity. Tennessee is also considering the similar legislation to be passed in the case for school bathrooms. This is the latest wave of measures that are being done by social conservatives after the nation's highest courts ruled that there should be legalized same-sex marriages. Reuters reported that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) condemned the law which is going to be applied on July. Jennifer Riley-Collins said in a statement that "This is a sad day for the state of Mississippi and for the thousands of Mississippians who can now be turned away from businesses, refused marriage licenses, or denied housing, essential services and needed care based on who they are." Following the passage of the law, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned all non-essential trips to the state. Critics of the law also include Nissan North America and MGM Resorts International. However, two-thirds of Mississippi still support the law according to a poll survey. On Tuesday, one of the most prominent lawyers in the US told the Nevada Supreme Court that justices shouldn't make any public statements about cases, adding that a Las Vegas judge who oversees the lawsuit involving Sheldon Adelson should be forced to step aside for committing such act. According to Las Vegas Sun, Nevada's top court is being asked if a political group defamed casino mogul Sheldon in 2012 via an ad that was posted on the internet, alleging that Sheldon used prostitution-tainted money from the casinos in Macao to finance the Republican presidential campaigns in the nation. A lawyer for a fired former casino executive in Macau countered that the judge did not commit any wrongdoing. The trial is currently scheduled for June 27 in a case that might be aired about how Las Vegas Sands developed its lucrative interests in the Chinese gambling enclave. However, chief executive Steven Jacobs and former lawyer of Sands China, Todd Bice, said the schedule was effectively frozen pending ruling by Nevada's highest court. During oral arguments held in Las Vegas, Bice said that the casinos don't want a public trial and a public airing about what they did and what was going on in Macau. A central question during Nevada Supreme Court Oral Arguments was whether point-and-click hyperlinks on the internet are comparable to footnotes on a printed paper, reports Macau Daily Times. Sheldon Adelson did not come to the hearing where Todd Bice accused the billionaire of unleashing unlimited resources and pressing for the ejection of Clark County District Court Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez to try to derail the case. ABC News reported that the high court is requested to overrule an administrative decision made by a judge that Gonzalez didn't exercise bias by answering questions from a Time magazine reporter for the January board titled, "Meet the Judge at the Center of Sheldon Adelson's Strange Deal to Buy a Newspaper." Judge Gonzalez has clashed several times with Adelson's defense attorneys in the Jacobs case. She placed a fine to Las Vegas Sands in 2012 for deceiving the court and not turning over documents as required to Jacobs and his lawyer. In 2015, she placed a fine on Sands China $250,000 for similar violations. Pennsylvania Capitol Building The Pennsylvania state capitol building in Harrisburg. (Associated Press file photo) There have been a number of letters to the editor from CPAs opposing the HB76/SB76 legislation, which would eliminate the school property tax in Pennsylvania. Their basic claim is that it isn't even remotely possible and there is no "feasible and economically prudent proposal" on the table to make up a nearly $12 billion loss in local property tax revenue. The CPAs know this isn't true, or perhaps they are locked into a single-scenario analysis with no vision of the possibilities. Gov. Tom Wolf certainly sees the possibilities of sales tax hikes. Pennsylvania ranks 12th highest in the nation for property tax. Our politicians cannot even give a property tax break to seniors, claiming it would be discriminatory. Is not property tax in itself discriminatory? Do all people pay this tax in Pennsylvania? Consider this simple logic: Property owners are a subset of people in Pennsylvania. There are more people who pay property taxes in Pennsylvania than there are people in Pennsylvania. Removal of property taxes would lead to greater investment in Pennsylvania and thus more taxable income. It would eliminate a complex bureaucracy needed to assess, maintain, collect and pursue payment delinquency, saving money. There would be fewer foreclosures, fewer abandoned homes in center cities, improved investment opportunity for city assets, creating better life for inner-city, more spending and more tax revenue for cities. Property taxes must be eliminated completely! Terrence Zavecz Alburtis Hope Township sign Residents in Hope Township are concerned about the impacts of a gas station proposed on Route 521, just north of the Interstate 80 interchange. (Courtesy photo) A gas station proposed just off Interstate 80 in Warren County has some residents worried about the safety of their water. "My major concern is having this fuel in the aquifer that feeds Hope Township," said Pete Peterson, who distributed more than 100 postcards last weekend asking residents to attend a zoning board meeting Thursday. The gas station is proposed just off Exit 12 on I-80. (file photo) The proposal -- which seeks to establish a gas station and convenience store at Route 521 and Willow Court, just north of the Exit 12 interchange on I-80 -- first came up a year ago. Since then, it has gone through some changes and analysis from various experts, including a hydrologist, said Richard R. Keiling, attorney for applicant Sarabjit Singh, of Middlesex County. The zoning permits a service station but a variance is sought for the store, the Blairstown Township attorney said. The proposal currently calls for a 2,000-foot store -- down from the 3,000 square feet originally proposed -- along with gas and diesel fuel tanks totaling about 40,000 gallons. Experts have concluded the project is safe, Keiling said. "Of course they have the right certainly to ask," Keiling said of residents' concerns. "But we believe we've supplied every safety response that has been requested." A vote is possible for a proposed Diesel and Gas Station at the Hope Zoning Board Meeting on Thursday, April 7 at 7:30pm... Posted by Hope Township NJ Environmental Commission on Tuesday, April 5, 2016 A flier that Peterson mailed and handed out last weekend says air and water quality are at risk, specifically the Beaver Brook which runs nearby. He also questions the traffic impact. Peterson encouraged residents to attend the Hope Township Board of Adjustment meeting 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the township municipal building, 407 Hope-Great Meadows Road. "We want to preserve the beauty of the town of Hope for future generations and not turn it into a Flint, Michigan," said resident Kelly Thompson. While the mailing suggests a final vote by the board is possible, Keiling said he does not expect that before the board's May meeting. Testimony will likely be wrapped up Thursday with a summation offered next month, he said. Mayor Tim McDonough declined to comment on the proposal, saying he has recused himself of all discussion because his wife's real estate agency is involved with the property. Deputy Mayor George Beatty said the township committee has not taken a stand on the project, choosing to rely on those appointed to the zoning board who have heard all the information. He said residents have a right to question the project and express concerns. "You hope the people you put on the boards will make the right decision for the residents of Hope Township," Beatty said. Steve Novak may be reached at snovak@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @type2supernovak. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook. xA-22-year old Leitrim man has gone on trial for muder at the Central Criminal Court. The court was told by a prosecuting barrister that Dublin assassins murdered a man living alone in a country lane because he found a 30,000 stash of drugs belonging to a criminal gang. Leitrim native Matthew Gralton (22), with an address at Mt Prospect in Co Roscommon, and Ross Allen (25), with addresses in Carrickmines, Co Dublin and Clara in Offaly, have pleaded not guilty to the murder. Patrick Marrinan SC opened the trial of the two men accused of murder for their alleged part in the killing of 47-year-old Christy Daly at Bog Lane, Kilbride, Clara, Co Offaly on a date between December 29, 2013 and January 7, 2014. Mr Marrinan told the jury of six men and six women that the prosecution's case is that both men admitted to being involved in the killing during interviews with gardai in February 2014. He said that the jury would hear that neither admitted to being the actual gunman, but that "Ross Allen and Matthew Gralton had a role to play" in the killing. He said the prosecution would show that Mr Allen hid drugs worth 30,000 on the laneway where Mr Daly lived, but when he returned to pick them up on December 29, 2013 they were missing. He said this was reported to a Mr X, who owned the drugs, who sent for two "assassins from Dublin", who killed Mr Daly. Mr Marrinan said that the jury would hear from state pathologist Marie Cassidy that Mr Daly suffered multiple gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma "that would indicate a beating". He said eight 9mm luger bullets were discovered near where Mr Daly lived. Two similar bullets were found in a Volvo car that was parked by the quarry where Mr Daly's body was found. He said Mr Daly was estranged from his wife and was released from prison in 2013. After his release he went to live in a caravan at Bog Lane, an isolated country lane, where he dealt in motor cars. Early on December 29, he said Mr Daly was with another man and that they both noticed two people on the laneway. Mr Marrinan said one of those men was Mr Allen. Mr Daly then left to go socialising in Navan, Co Meath with his brother. His son left him home again at 8pm that evening. "That was the last that was heard of Christy Daly," said Mr Marrinan. His body was discovered by gardai in a drain on January 7, 2014. On the second day of the trial, yesterday (Tuesday) a witness told the court that Daly was worried about men in dark clothes hanging out near his home. Gary Gonoude from Daingean said he towed a car to Mr Daly's home on December 29, 2013, the day he went missing. As they entered the laneway leading to Mr Daly's caravan he said they spotted "three or four lads" wearing dark clothes and with hoods over their heads. He thought they had two dogs with them. He said Mr Daly wondered what they were doing there. When they reached the caravan they spotted dog paw prints around the door of the home. " He said: someone's probably tried to break into my caravan,"" said Mr Gonoude. "And then he went in to see if there was anything missing." The trial continues before Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of six men and six women this afternoon. - You can follow the case on the Leitrim Observer website www.leitrimobserver.ie A-22-year old Leitrim man has gone on trial for muder at the Central Criminal Court. The court was told by a prosecuting barrister that Dublin assassins murdered a man living alone in a country lane because he found a 30,000 stash of drugs belonging to a criminal gang. Leitrim native Matthew Gralton (22), with an address at Mt Prospect in Co Roscommon, and Ross Allen (25), with addresses in Carrickmines, Co Dublin and Clara in Offaly, have pleaded not guilty to the murder. Patrick Marrinan SC opened the trial of the two men accused of murder for their alleged part in the killing of 47-year-old Christy Daly at Bog Lane, Kilbride, Clara, Co Offaly on a date between December 29, 2013 and January 7, 2014. Mr Marrinan told the jury of six men and six women that the prosecution's case is that both men admitted to being involved in the killing during interviews with gardai in February 2014. He said that the jury would hear that neither admitted to being the actual gunman, but that "Ross Allen and Matthew Gralton had a role to play" in the killing. He said the prosecution would show that Mr Allen hid drugs worth 30,000 on the laneway where Mr Daly lived, but when he returned to pick them up on December 29, 2013 they were missing. He said this was reported to a Mr X, who owned the drugs, who sent for two "assassins from Dublin", who killed Mr Daly. Mr Marrinan said that the jury would hear from state pathologist Marie Cassidy that Mr Daly suffered multiple gunshot wounds and blunt force trauma "that would indicate a beating". He said eight 9mm luger bullets were discovered near where Mr Daly lived. Two similar bullets were found in a Volvo car that was parked by the quarry where Mr Daly's body was found. He said Mr Daly was estranged from his wife and was released from prison in 2013. After his release he went to live in a caravan at Bog Lane, an isolated country lane, where he dealt in motor cars. Continued on page 3 Airbus, which employs 15,000 people and the UK and supports another 100,000 UK jobs through its supply chain is backing Remain, reports the Guardian. The same article reports a survey that found 70% insurance professionals believe that leaving the EU would harm their industry. Stanley Johnson (father of Boris) says that staying in important for the environment. He was supported by former Tory Cabinet Minister John Gummer who said: The people who believe in Brexit do not accept a world in which you no longer have the sort of national power that we had in 1945 or 1900. You now operate within groupings. And if you are a powerful member of the most powerful grouping, you can get a great deal done. The government will publish more detailed information on the number of national insurance numbers being used to pay tax or claim benefits by citizens of other EU states, reports the BBC. A group of 5 of Britains top leaders in the services sector (such as law, accountancy, telecomms, public relations, and architecture) have written an article for the Telegraph supporting Remain. They write: Britain sold 226 billion worth of services abroad last year. Our biggest export market by far was the European Union. Forty-four per cent of our goods and services go to the EU, compared with 5 per cent to India and China combined, though that figure is growing. The nature of the restrictions can take many forms, ranging from excessive licensing requirements to the refusal to recognise UK professional qualifications. Sometimes rules force companies to set up local subsidiaries run by the host countrys citizens, or they limit who can own a company. The EU has removed thousands of such restrictions, to the benefit of the UK economy. Take financial services. Thanks to the EU, a firm that is allowed to do business in the UK can do so in every single EU state without having to seek additional permission. If we left the EU, there is a clear risk that many of the barriers would be re-erected. Those who want to leave the EU often point to Canada and Switzerland as countries outside that have struck trade deals with the EU. But even the most ambitious of these deals fall way short of the level of EU market access the UK gets for its services firms. A new phone poll for OBR has Remain 7 points ahead but only 1 point when certainty to vote is taken into account, reports the Mail. Remain has to make sure it motivates people to turn out to vote. Corbyn is being attacked within Labour for his lack of effort towards the referendum campaign. The latest development is that he will attend Glastonbury, which starts on referendum day reports the Telegraph. City Law Firms, such as Pinsent Mason, are gearing up to make a fortune advising clients on new complexities if we Leave. Four former Health Secretaries have said that claims Briexit would help the NHS are a dangerous lie. * Antony Hook was #2 on the South East European list in 2014, is the English Party's representative on the Federal Executive and produces this sites EU Referendum Roundup. The Liberal Democrats exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society. For our party, a strong education system, freely available to all, is the key to building the society we strive towards. This year, David Camerons government has announced an extensive programme of reform to the British school system, including the much publicised forced conversion of all schools to academy status, the resulting abolition of the Local Education Authorities, the removal of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), the end of parent governors and the extension of the school day. Currently any opposition to the education reforms are being attacked by Nicky Morgans Department for Education as playing politics with our childrens future. This comes despite these sweeping reforms having been brought forward with almost no consultation with teachers or with parents. The scale of these reforms were not included within the 2015 Conservative General Election manifesto and therefore there is no clear mandate. Liberal Democrats are committed to strengthening the democratic process and ensuring that there is a just and representative system of government. The Cameron government appears to be showing a total disregard for our democratic processes. This alone gives our liberal party ample reason to oppose these reforms until they have been subject to proper consultation and discussion. However, reviewing the basis and impact of the proposals raises further significant concerns. One of the major impacts of forced academisation is that our County Councils will no longer have any involvement in running schools. The Local Education Authorities will be abolished and all monitoring and funding will be managed centrally by the Department for Education. At the same time, they are also seeking to abolish parent governors. Liberal Democrats believe that people should be involved in running their communities and we are committed to empowering local government. By centralising control of our schools, the Cameron government will significantly undermine accountability; your MP is going to have a lot less influence on the Department of Education than your County Councillor had with the local authority. Without proper scrutiny, bad things tend to happen and we are already beginning to see this within existing academies as illustrated by the financial indiscretions of the Perry Beeches academies trust that came to light this week. The Cameron government argues that these changes will raise standards and ensure excellence everywhere. They have very little data to support these claims. There are undoubtedly some great academies, led by superb teachers and providing excellent education. However, current academic research is far from conclusive on the benefits of academy status and many studies contradict the government assertions. For example, recently the National Audit Office found that informal interventions such as local support were more effective than academy conversion. As a party, we believe that policy decisions should built on a foundation of evidence. The government cannot provide data to support their disruptive reforms. They are also ignoring the expertise and knowledge of concerned teachers and governors, which in itself is strong evidence that further review is required. School leaders have had the opportunity (and added incentives) to convert for some time and yet many, particularly in primary schools, have taken informed decisions to resist academisation. It does seem staggering how quickly the Cameron government appears to ignore free market principles when they undermine their own half-baked ideas. The move towards universal academisation is just one way in which the current government is removing choice, and therefore diversity, from our education system. They have also announced a complete rehaul of teacher training, with the closure of PGCE routes and the end of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). As a liberal party, we aim to foster diversity and to nurture creativity. Diversity provides more solutions to more problems and should be embraced. We are therefore intrinsically opposed to any policy which removes options unless absolutely necessary. The PGCE route into teaching has been highly successful, providing many trainee teachers with experience from a broader range of schools and a wider professional network when they begin their careers. School based teacher training routes should not be discouraged, but should not become the only choice. Meanwhile Qualified Teacher Status does provide assurance as to the ability of teachers and it is actually academies, who do not have to employ QTS teachers, which open the door to the erosion of teacher standards. It is also worth noting that although Nicky Morgan has publicly commented that QTS can be awarded after only 120 days of classroom experience, non-academy schools can only employ teachers that also pass their subsequent induction year with an additional 189 days of experience. Only academies could employ people who failed this induction. When discussing QTS, this is either a significant oversight by the Minister of Education or a deliberate effort to mislead the British public. Overall, there are many reasons to be deeply concerned by the Cameron governments proposed education reforms and there are many unanswered questions as to the long-term impact of a system where schools can set their own entrance criteria, are competing for graduates and have little accountability to their local communities. However there does appear to be a significant risk that this will lead to a more divided society which fails to bring opportunity to its most deprived communities. As Liberal Democrats we will not allow that to happen. * Jamie joined the Lib Dems in 2014 and was elected as City Councillor for West Chesterton in May 2018. A LIMERICK based sexual health charity was part of the team which launched Know Now Irelands first national free rapid HIV testing programme. The pilot scheme is coordinated in different parts of the country, among them GOSHH in Limerick. The testing is community based and will be provided by a team of community volunteers in a variety of non-clinical venues, including the GOSHH Centre at 18, Davis Street in Limerick. We are particularly excited about the launch of KnowNow and look forward to partnering with GLEN and the Sexual Health Centre. One of the goals of KnowNow will be that everybody living in the Mid-West will get to know their HIV Status and be aware of Sexual Health Services within their locality. "These days HIV is a treatable infection and the sooner someone living with HIV accesses treatment, the sooner the medication will reduce their viral load to undetectable. It is also important to encourage people to openly discuss their HIV status with their sexual partner, said Ann Mason, GOSHH manager. GOSHH have been providing rapid HIV tests for the last four years but this pilot scheme sees a national approach to rapid HIV testing for the first time. By making the test free of charge it removes the barrier of cost which was sometimes a factor in people not testing for HIV. TWO Limerick brothers are facing the prospect of lengthy prison sentences after they pleaded guilty to drugs offences. Kieran Collopy, aged 40, of St Itas Street, St Marys Park and Brian Collopy, aged 43, of Kilonan, Ballysimon have admitted possession of heroin, worth around 50,000 for the purpose of sale or supply. Yesterday, at Limerick District Court, the defendants formally signed guilty pleas, ahead of their appearance before the circuit court. Both men were arrested on December 15, last after gardai led by members of the divisional drugs unit searched a house at St Itas Street, St Marys Park following a lengthy covert operation. The brothers have been in custody since as they were refused bail a number of days later after investigating gardai objected saying they feared they would flee the jurisdiction, if released. Brian Collopy, who is in receipt of disability allowance, left the country on 11 separate occasions over the past 18 months and along with his brother has access to an apartment property in Benidorm in the south east of Spain. Kieran Collopy travelled outside of Ireland five times during the same period. High Court bail applications was later withdrawn. It was previously indicated by solicitor John Herbert that signed pleas would be entered by his clients and the documentation was formally signed yesterday afternoon. When asked by Judge Marian OLeary, Brian Collopy identified his signature saying: Yes thats my signature while his brother said: It is yeah. Sergeant Donal Cronin said the DPP consented to the case being sent forward to the Circuit Court and he informed the court that because both men had entered signed pleas of guilty, a book of evidence had not been prepared. Judge OLeary granted an application to extend the defendants legal aid to include both a barrister and a senior counsel in each case. The case was then formally sent forward to the present sittings of Limerick District Court, which run until the middle of May. A sentencing date is expected to be confirmed early next week. THE case of a teenage girl who has been prosecuted for not having a television licence at her home was adjourned to allow her produce proof of her age. The 15-year-old appeared before Limerick District Court after she was summonsed by An Post, relating to a detection at her home last September. When the case was called, relatives of the teenager questioned if it was legal for a child to be prosecuted over a TV Licence and brought before the court. An inspector with An Post told Judge Aingeal Ni Chonduin he was not aware of the girls age when he spoke to her after she answered the door of her home when he called. He told solicitor Michelle Madden, prosecuting, that he noted the details of the girls father on the day before handing her a card for him to fill out. The inspector confirmed there was a television at the house when he called but that there was no record that a licence had been taken out. The girls mother told the court when she became aware of what happened, she made efforts to inform An Post of her daughters age However, legal proceedings were still initiated and the 15-year-old was summonsed to appear in court. When asked by the judge the defendant said she was born in April 2000 and she named the secondary school in the city which she is attending. However, Judge Ni Chonduin was told there was no documentary evidence in court as the girls Birth Certificate was recently posted to Cork as she has applied for a Passport ahead of a planned family holiday in the summer. Adjourning the case to May, the judge said she needs to know she is who she says she is before she finalised matters. A relative of the defendant undertook to bring the defendants Passport and Birth Certificate to court on the next date and Judge Ni Chonduin indicated if they are in order the case will be stuck out. The case was one of almost 200 TV licence prosecutions listed before Limerick District Court last Friday. HUNDREDS of people took part in a moving, emotional and joyous ceremony in Limerick city this Monday night, to celebrate 150 years of the Redemptorists devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Fr Seamus Enright, rector of the Redemptorist order, was among those who led the procession through the citys streets, from its church at Mount St Alphonsus to St Johns Cathedral. Up to 400 people spilled out of the church after the 6pm mass, to follow a replica of the icon of Our Lady which was blessed by Pope Francis in the Vatican in Rome as it brought the citys streets to a standstill. The Bishop of Limerick, Dr Brendan Leahy, was among those who met the Pope in the Holy City recently, and said his eyes again lit up when Limerick was mentioned. He has a soft spot for Limerick, and why wouldnt he, of course the Bishop told the congregation in the South Circular Road church. I think it really is a providential sign for us Our Lady is with us in Limerick. She will untie any knots that occur in our lives. This day, this moment, this occasion is an opportunity for us to entrust ourselves in a new way, in the presence of the Papal Nuncio. Lets go forward together. The Papal Nuncio, who was previously in Limerick for Bishop Leahys ordination, said it was his first time in the Redemptorist church, and said his breath was taken away by the beauty of this house of God. Many of the clergy and its lay volunteers had spent weeks, if not months of preparation for this occasion. Dozens of people volunteered their time on the night, including the Order of Malta, and the Organisation of National Ex-servicesmen (O.N.E) amongst others. Fr Enright, who was accompanied by the Papal Nuncio to Ireland, the New York-born Archbishop Charles Brown, was in exalted mood as they commanded the streets for a once in a lifetime event. Theres a joyous, festive atmosphere. Its not often we see an event like this through the citys streets. It gives people the opportunity to profess their faith. Were delighted that the Indian Catholic community, a very old community which can trace its origins back to St Thomas, one of the apostles, have joined us. There has been great representation from the Filipino community and the Polish community. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. We and our partners use data for Personalised ads and content, ad and content measurement, audience insights and product development. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. Some of our partners may process your data as a part of their legitimate business interest without asking for consent. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. If you would like to change your settings or withdraw consent at any time, the link to do so is in our privacy policy accessible from our home page. Ancient shovel unearthed (Image credit: IAA) While excavating in a 2,000-year-old settlement near the Sea of Galilee, researchers unearthed an ancient bronze shovel. The shovel was unearthed near the ancient settlement of Magdala, which was once a port town where fish were salted. Magdala was also considered a military base used in rebellions against the Romans, according to Jewish sources. And according to Christian historical texts, Magdala was the birthplace of one of Jesus' followers, Mary Magdalene.[Read the full story on the discoveries near Magdala] Ritual purpose (Image credit: IAA) The shovel, which was delicately carved, is similar to ones that were used to rake coals of incense during cultic rituals in the Second Temple Period. Holy and ordinary (Image credit: IAA) While archaeologists originally thought such shovels, called mahtas in Hebrew, were only ever used for working with burnt incense offerings in religious rituals, later excavations have revealed that people also used them for more ordinary tasks. Here, the shovel shown upright. Ancient port city (Image credit: IAA) The ritual shovel was unearthed in the ruins of an ancient port city called Magdala, which lies on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. During the Second Temple Period, the city was known for salting fish. It may have also been home to Mary Magdalene. Ancient jug (Image credit: IAA) The shovel was found along with a bronze jug in a storeroom of the house of an ancient Jewish family. One possibility is that the family had stored the treasured heirloom for many years underground, where it lay hidden until recently. Religious iconography (Image credit: IAA) The town of Magdala is also famous for the Magdala stone, a box found in a 1st century synagogue that shows images of menorahs and other religious iconography. An ancient whip uncovered at a medieval English monastery may be one of only four metal scourges found in the country, according to the Nottinghamshire County Council, which manages the archaeological site. Scourges, whips or cat-o'-nine-tails made of copper-alloy wires braided together were used by people in the Middle Ages to chastise themselves. And this particular artifact, which dates back to the second half of the 14th century, was probably used by monks at Rufford Abbey to whip themselves as a form of penance, and to ward off the Black Death, the council said in a statement. The Black Death was a catastrophic outbreak of the bubonic plague that killed more than a third of Europe's population in the early 1330s. In England, the Black Death lasted only a year from 1348 to 1349 but records show that it was enough to wipe out entire families and resulted in a decline in Rufford's wool trade, which was also a primary source of income for Rufford Abbey, in the following years. [Pictures of a Killer: A Plague Gallery] During a dig underneath the meadow at Rufford Abbey in 2014, archaeologists discovered a stain of green copper coloring the soil. But the archaeologists were unable to decipher the significance of the copper artifact until further tests linked it to a few rare scourges found at other monasteries. (Image credit: Photoseeker Shutterstock.com) A similar scourge was uncovered in the 1920s at Rievaulx Abbey, another former Cistercian abbey, in Yorkshire; and another was previously discovered at Grovebury Priory (also known as La Grava), in Bedfordshire. A third scourge was found at Roche Abbey in South Yorkshire, the council said. The Rufford Abbey discovery is only the fourth such monastic scourge found in England, even though the metal whips were popular after the devastation of the Black Death, said Glyn Coppack, an expert in the archaeology of monasteries at the University of Nottingham, who was not involved in the Rufford Abbey excavation. Few scourges have survived since the Middle Ages because most were later melted down as scrap metal to be reused, he told Live Science in an email. Emily Gillott and Lorraine Horsley, both community archaeologists at the Nottinghamshire County Council, made the connection between the Rufford Abbey finding and previous artifacts because of its similarities with the scourge on display at Rievaulx Abbey. Other archaeology experts also have confirmed the Rufford scourge's significance since then, the researchers said. "Each archaeological dig at Rufford Abbey unearths something new about its remarkable history," John Knight, the committee chairman for culture at Nottingham County Council, said in a statement. "And this is another fascinating discovery which helps us to build a picture of what life could have been like for the monks living in the abbey during the dark days of the Black Death and its aftermath." Additional details about the archaeological discovery can be found on the Nottinghamshire County Council website. Follow Knvul Sheikh on Twitter @KnvulS. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Human remains, estimated to be about 2,500 years old, were unearthed at the Plain of Jars site in Laos. An ancient burial site, including an oddly shaped quartz stone covering the face of one of the newly uncovered human skeletons, has been discovered at the mysterious Plain of Jars, an archaeological site in remote central Laos littered with thousands of stone vessels. The new findings could help researchers solve the long-standing puzzle of why the stone jars were scattered across this part of Laos. When it was found, the skull beneath the quartz adornment appeared to be looking through a large hole in the stone, said Dougald OReilly, an archaeologist at the Australian National University (ANU), who led a team of scientists on a joint Laos-Australian expedition to the Plain of Jars in February. [In Photos: Exploring the Mysterious Plain of Jars Site] "When we excavated it, the skull was actually looking out through that perforation. It was quite interesting, but whether it was done purposefully is difficult to know," OReilly told Live Science. Ancient burials The burial site is estimated to be 2,500 years old, and was found when researchers from ANU, Monash University in Australia and the Laos Ministry of Information, Culture, and Tourism, spent four weeks mapping and excavating the ground around a group of the massive carved stone jars that dot the landscape. More than 90 jar sites some with up to 400 stone jars measuring as tall as 10 feet (3 meters) high are spread across foothills, forests and upland valleys of this remote region. The members of the Laos-Australian expedition worked at the most accessible site, known as Jar Site 1, located a few miles outside the city of Phonsavan, in Xiangkhoang province in central Laos. The researchers plan to explore a second, more remote jar site next year. The Laos government hopes to develop Jar Site 1 as an archaeological center and UNESCO World Heritage site, to protect the unique Plain of Jars landscape and to stimulate scholarship and cultural tourism in the area. Mysterious jars OReilly said the latest expedition was the first major effort by archaeologists since the 1930s to visit the site, in an effort to understand the purpose of the jars and who created them. Since that time, however, some archaeologists have undertaken important work at the Plain of Jars, mainly on their own. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth] The latest team of around 11 researchers worked together to compile the first comprehensive scientific study of one of the jar sites, including a GIS (geographic information system) map recording the precise location of each of the jars, stone disks and quartz stone markers scattered over the site. The largest jars weigh more than 10 tons (9,000 kilograms), and a big part of their mystery is how they got there. "There are a few well-known quarry sites where the jars were sourced and then brought across the landscape, about 8 to 10 kilometers [5 to 6 miles] to the jar sites," O'Reilly said. "So there's a huge amount of effort involved in moving them one would have to speculate that elephants must have been involved, given the incredible weight of the jars." And carving the massive jars would have been no easy task for primitive peoples with iron tools, he added. "Some of the jars are over 2 meters [6.5 feet] or perhaps even 3 meters [10 feet] in height, and in girth you couldn't get your arms around most of them," O'Reilly said. "And there are variations in the design of the jars: some have larger or smaller openings, some are rectangular, some circular or oval in some cases you wonder how did they even carve these things?" The variety of sizes and shapes of the jars has prompted many researchers to theorize about their purpose over the years. "Its probably likely that they do represent a memorial of some kind, and the variations in the sizes of the jars may indicate that there were differences in status and perhaps a hierarchy in the society that created the jars," O'Reilly said. "You could spend a lot of time theorizing." Unearthing new mysteries The burial site with the oddly shaped quartz stone was one of three distinct types of burial sites found at Jar Site 1, the researchers said. [Top 10 Weird Ways We Deal With the Dead] "This is the first time that this type of interment has been uncovered at the Plain of Jars, but if there is one, there will probably be others," O'Reilly said. "And this burial is also quite interesting because it contained the remains of not one but two individuals: the cranial bones of what's estimated to be an 8-year-old child were found in that burial as well [as an adult skeleton]." The expedition also uncovered 11 ceramic jars, which are expected to contain "secondary" burials of human bones from which the flesh was removed. A pit filled with bones from several secondary burials and covered with a large limestone block was also found, and the marker stones and stone disks on the ground around the stone jars seemed to correspond to the location of secondary burials, O'Reilly said. Scientific study of samples and remains from the Plain of Jars site will continue in the laboratory. OReilly said the expedition recovered some human teeth that could provide DNA for testing and clues to the origins of the ancient peoples buried there. But, DNA tends to degrade heavily in the climate conditions of Southeast Asia, so a proper analysis might not be possible, he added. The contents of the ceramic jars excavated from the site will also be carefully examined to confirm if, as the researchers suspect, they hold human remains. But the Plain of Jars is not giving up all its secrets just yet. Although some archaeologists have proposed that the stone jars were used to decompose bodies before the bones were cleaned for secondary burials, it may be impossible to know for sure. "This is something you find in various religious practices in different parts of the world, but it's something that needs to be investigated a little further at the Plain of Jars," OReilly said. One of the biggest problems at the site is that the jars have been exposed to the harsh Southeast Asian climate for more than 2,000 years, making it very difficult for scientists to study and run test on the artifacts. "Possibly we could look at trying to extract lipids from the stone jars to see if there is any evidence for decomposition of human remains, but the jars have been exposed for so long that it's a bit of a long shot," he said. "So, I fear we probably will never know the true purpose of the large stone jars." Follow Tom Metcalfe on Twitter @globalbabel. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. The bullet that archaeologists said was likely fired by T.E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia") from his Colt 1911 pistol during the Hallat Ammar train ambush on Sept. 19, 1917. The early 20th-century British military leader T.E. Lawrence, widely known as "Lawrence of Arabia" for allying with and advising Arab forces fighting against Ottoman Turks, wrote about taking part in a train ambush in Saudi Arabia in 1917 that proved to be a pivotal skirmish during the Arab revolution. In the decades since Lawrence published the memoir "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" describing his wartime experiences, critics have accused him of exaggerating or even falsifying his participation in certain events. For instance, some biographers have said he embellished his role in the Hallat Ammar train ambush, recognized by historians as a clash that helped define tactics used in modern guerilla warfare. But now, archaeologists have discovered a piece of evidence that appears to place Lawrence at the scene of the ambush. It's not quite a "smoking gun," but it's the next best thing a bullet fired from a Colt 1911 automatic pistol, a gun that Lawrence was known to have carried. [Photos: The Oldest Known Evidence of Warfare Unearthed] Hallat Ammar ambush site the curving railway embankment is where the attack took place and where the archaeologists conducted their investigation. (Image credit: N.J. Saunders) A distinctive weapon That type of gun was unlikely to have been used by anyone else at the ambush, said archaeologist Nicholas Saunders, one of the leaders of the team that investigated the site. Saunders co-directs the Great Arab Revolt Project (GARP), whose members have excavated a number of Arabian Desert locations where key battles were fought during the Arab Revolt between 1916 and 1918. A Jordanian army escort accompanied Saunders and his team during their work on the ambush site, which lies in a demilitarized zone between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. A metal detector led the researchers to the bullet, Saunders told Live Science in an email. Though the bullet was clearly different from the hundreds of other expended cartridges at the site, the archaeologists didn't recognize the find's significance right away, Saunders said. Handgun experts on the team conferred with an international network of specialists to identify the bullet as originating from a Colt 1911 automatic pistol, rather than from a rifle or other pistol of British, German or Turkish make that accounted for most of the spent ammunition the researchers found. "It was the only Colt 1911 bullet found at Hallat Ammar," Saunders said, adding that Lawrence was the only person known to carry one of these guns during the ambush. A Hejaz Railway engine nameplate, which Lawrence allegedly removed from one of the locomotives during the ambush and gave to a friend's family in 1933 for safekeeping. (Image credit: N.J. Saunders) Another recent find by Saunders' team further bolstered the credibility of Lawrence's Hallat Ammar ambush accounts: a train nameplate that Lawrence took as a souvenir and gave to a friend's family, and which had been lost for nearly 80 years, Saunders said. Most of the train ambushes led by Lawrence would have happened too quickly to allow him time to safely collect a memento, Saunders said. But the lengthier Hallat Ammar ambush, which involved two locomotives, could have provided Lawrence with the time he needed to remove an engine's plate. GARP's archaeological efforts, originally slated for three years, have extended for nearly a decade. "We wanted to understand and investigate the landscape in which modern guerrilla warfare had been 'invented' and to see if it was possible to find archaeological evidence of this," Saunders told Live Science, adding, "We found far more than we originally thought." Follow Mindy Weisberger on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Scientists have created a bizarre new state of matter, called a Kitaev quantum spin liquid, in the lab. The weird state of matter produces quasiparticles that seem to "split" electrons. A bizarre new state of matter has been discovered one in which electrons that usually are indivisible seem to break apart. The new state of matter, which had been predicted but never spotted in real life before, forms when the electrons in an exotic material enter into a type of "quantum dance," in which the spins of the electrons interact in a particular way, said Arnab Banerjee, a physicist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. The findings could pave the way for better quantum computers, Banerjee said. [Wacky Physics: The Coolest Little Particles in Nature] The dance of spins While most people encounter only the three ordinary states of matter in daily life solid, liquid and gas under special conditions, more exotic states of matter can emerge. For instance, about 40 years ago, physicists proposed the existence of a matter state called a quantum spin liquid, in which electrons interact to create bizarre effects. Electrons have an intrinsic property called spin, meaning they act like tiny bar magnets that orient in one direction or another. If all of these tiny magnets align in one direction, a material is referred to as ferromagnetic. A material with alternating spins is anti-ferromagnetic, and a material with disordered spins that do not interact are paramagnetic. As most materials cool down, these teensy bar magnets tend to align. But in a quantum spin liquid, the tiny bar magnets "talk" to each other, so they influence which way the others are spinning but still remain in disarray no matter how cold the material gets, Banerjee said. A quantum spin liquid could seem like a solid, meaning it could be a literal hunk of matter that could be held in the hand. However, if you were to zoom in and look just at the material's electrons in the outer rings of the atoms, the electrons in the material would have the disorderly interactions characteristic of a liquid, Banerjee said. "They still interact with one another; they form waves and form ripples. But they are not held together," Banerjee told Live Science. For instance, about a decade ago, physicist Alexei Kitaev predicted that a special form of quantum spin liquid could make it seem as though the electrons were breaking up into Majorana fermions, long-predicted particles that can act as their own antiparticle. If this new matter state existed, it would have some truly bizarre effects, because whereas protons and neutrons are made up of smaller particles called quarks, electrons are thought to be fundamental particles, with spin and charge that are indivisible. [7 Strange Facts About Quarks] Though the electrons in this case would not actually break into tiny parts, their spin interactions would make it look as if they had fragmented, which is why the Majorana fermions in this state of matter are called "quasiparticles," Banerjee said. Special material Banerjee and his colleagues set out to prove that Kitaev's predictions occurred in the real world. So they looked at a powder made of a flaky material called alpha ruthenium chloride. The atoms of alpha ruthenium chloride are aligned in two-dimensional sheets in a honeycomb pattern. The team used ruthenium because the element has just one electron in its outer shell, meaning the material is more prone to the type of quantum fluctuation that produces the necessary interactions between electrons, Banerjee said. Then, the team bombarded the material with neutrons, which excited the spins of its electrons, creating a kind of "splash" on the quantum level. Next, they observed the pattern of the neutrons bouncing off the material. Based on the pattern of scattered neutrons, the team deduced that the material had indeed caused the electrons to form pairs of Majorana fermions. In the material, "a group of electrons go into a dance," Banerjee said. "It's this team of electrons that gives this perception that, 'Ah! Now, you have a separation of the electron into smaller particles.'" These bizarre ripples look very different from what would be expected in an ordinary quantum spin liquid. What's more, the ripples had the characteristic signature of Majorana fermion formation, and exist even when exposed to small temperature changes. "To see them really in a material, in a hunk of material you can hold in [your] hand, is very special," Banerjee said. Quantum computing material The new material, which the scientists dubbed a Kitaev quantum spin liquid, could eventually pave the way for more robust quantum computing, Banerjee said. In quantum computing, instead of encoding information in the classical bits of "0" and "1," atoms or particles of a material exist in a superposition of all possible states between 0 and 1, meaning each quantum bit, or qubit, can process many bits simultaneously, and the quantum entanglement of the information allows calculations to be performed instantaneously, Banerjee said. But the materials traditionally used to produce qubits are finicky and pricey, requiring laborious "babysitting" to make sure there is absolutely no motion or thermal fluctuation, and no imperfections in the materials, Banerjee said. By contrast, if researchers could create qubits made from a Kitaev spin liquid, these qubits would be robust at higher temperatures and would occur independent of imperfections in the material properties, he said. Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. If you do not have a current print subscription to the Lodi News-Sentinel, but want to view unlimited articles for the month, please choose this option. The regeneration of Longford town took a leap forward this week with news that Longford County Council has appointed property firm Colliers to search for investors for the towns Northern Quarter. Colliers told the Longford Leader that initial approaches have already been made with a number of potential financiers to discuss development options for the town's former Connolly Barracks site, its surrounds and the still vacant 10,000 sq ft shopping centre. Among the possible options being considered are a new hotel and event venue, an IT hub and outdoor recreation centre. Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Gerry Warnock said private investment is crucial to the success of the project. There will have to be some form of commercial element to it that is sustainable, he said. The ambitious plan could transform Longford town and provide a catalyst for further development in the town. Connolly Barracks was purchased by the Council in 2012, and some restoration work has been carried out there. Now, development options are being sought for the Barracks site as well as the vacant shopping centre. We are looking at a number of options there, said Roger Hobkinson, Director of Destination Consultation at Colliers. There have been a few discussions and a few meetings, he confirmed. We are pushing it out to our contacts in Ireland to test the market and to people we know in the UK and the US. Consultancy chiefs hope the planned development of a 233m Center Parcs resort in Ballymahon will aid the firm in its talks with would be investors. That is huge and is a real game changer that will help shift opinion on Longford both internationally and domestically, said Mr Hobkinson. Outlining the councils plans, Cllr Gerry Warnock said talks had already taken place with NAMA over the future of the vacant shopping centre should a potential investor be found. A lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to see if we can flag it as a package, he said, confirming that private investment is needed. A public development just doesn't suit as the council hasn't got the resources, he explained. What this shows is we are very serious about regeneration and it's to put a foot in the water to see if there is interest in the private market. Colliers are looking to receive expressions of interest from developers, investors, occupiers, operators and other interested parties by April 18. 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 Al Nusrah Front confirmed today that Abu Firas al Suri, a veteran jihadist who served al Qaeda since the 1980s, was killed in an American airstrike on Apr. 3. The group eulogized Abu Firas in a statement released online that was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group. The al Qaeda arm says that Abu Firas was killed along with a group from the best of our brothers in a Crusader airstrike carried out by the Crusader-Arab coalition led by America. The jihadists portray the airstrike as a service to Bashar al Assads regime. America has blatantly helped the Nusayri [a pejorative used to describe Alawites and Bashar al Assads government] regime, where it bombed a camp that was preparing to graduate a class of mujahideen to fill their role in defending their religion and people, the people of al Sham [Syria], against the hordes of the enemy that gathered against them, including the Nusayris, Rafidha [Shiites], and Crusaders, the statement reads, according to SITEs translation. The camps class of heroes was from the same group of jihadists that overran the village of Talat al-Iss two days earlier, according to Al Nusrah. In other words, the al Qaeda group claims that those killed in the airstrike are the same as those jihadists fighting Assad and his allies. Al Nusrah is a regional branch of al Qaedas global organization The Department of Defense confirmed on Apr. 4 that Abu Firas was targeted in a US airstrike. Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said that al Qaeda members meeting in northwestern Syria were the target, but he did not say anything about the training camp Al Nusrah claims was hit. Cook acknowledged Abu Firas longstanding membership in al Qaeda, noting that he began working for Osama bin Laden in the 1980s. But Cooks description of Al Nusrah made its al Qaeda affiliation sound weaker than it really is. In light of the fact that an American airstrike targeted Abu Firas, a reporter asked Cook if Al Nusrahs leaders are a legitimate target. The Pentagon Press Secretary replied: We have always considered al Qaeda leaders to be legitimate targets. Of course, Al Nusrah has its ties to al Qaeda. And that is something that weve been very upfront about for years. And [this] continues to be an ongoing, active part of our efforts, will be to target al Qaeda leadership. However, Al Nusrah doesnt just have ties to al Qaeda. Al Nusrah is one of al Qaedas several regional branches. The others are: Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), Al Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM), and Shabaab. Still other organizations are also part of al Qaedas network. [For more on al Qaedas regional branches, see LWJ report, Analysis: Al Nusrah Front committed to Ayman al Zawahiris orders.] As a regional branch of al Qaeda, Al Nusrah is responsible for waging jihad in its designated geographical area, the Levant. Like other regional heads of al Qaedas global organization, Al Nusrah emir Abu Muhammad al Julani has sworn an oath of allegiance (bayat) to al Qaeda chieftain Ayman al Zawahiri. And Julani is openly loyal to Zawahiri to this day. During a two-part interview that aired on Al Jazeera in late May and early June 2015, Julani explained the he is committed to the orders of Dr. Ayman [al Zawahiri] and follows the directives that come to us from the al Qaeda master. By the grace of Allah, Julani said, we have inherited this banner and this jihad. The al Qaeda organization or the Afghan jihad renewed the jihad, leading it to be extended to Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Algeria, andthe Levant. With the exception of Iraq, al Qaedas official branches openly operate in all of the areas mentioned by Julani. (It is possible that al Qaeda is clandestinely working inside Iraq as well.) In another interview, aired on Orient TV in December of last year, Julani refused to break from Zawahiri. He also explained how al Qaeda works. Nusrah at this stage is only interested in fighting Bashar al Assad and Hezbollah, he said. Julani elaborated by explaining that the al Qaeda organization has various roles divided among various parties and not everyone has the same role. Al Qaeda may have people who are fighting the United States and operating in Europe, but that is not Al Nusrahs task. We have people whose hair had gone gray in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere, Julani continued. They had been involved in war against the [Assad] regime in the Levant the 1980s and went on to Afghanistan and were involved in the war against the Russians, then the war between the factions there and the Taliban government, and then the American war, before returning to the Levant to fight the [Assad] regime. Although Julani did not name any of these jihadist veterans, he clearly had men such as Abu Firas al Suri in mind. Abu Firas life followed almost precisely the same path outlined by Julani. Abu Firas first waged jihad against the Assad regime in the 1970s and 1980s and then against the Russians in Afghanistan. He fought on the side of the Taliban government in the 1990s, before relocating to Yemen in the early 2000s. He returned to Syria in late 2012 or early 2013 to fight the Assad regime once again. Abu Firas was part of a cadre of al Qaeda veterans who were sent to Syria to help lead Al Nusrah. An American airstrike finally ended Abu Firas decades-long career. For more on Abu Firas al Suri, see LWJ reports: Al Qaeda veteran appears in Al Nusrah Front video, criticizes rival (Mar. 20, 2014) Al Nusrah Front spokesman explains differences with Islamic State in video appearance (Aug. 13, 2014) Al Qaeda veteran takes on a more prominent role as spokesman in Syria (Sept. 6, 2014) New Al Nusrah Front video features interview with leader, military gains in Syria (Feb. 13, 2015) Al Nusrah Front celebrates 9/11 attacks in new video (June 29, 2015) Jihadists say airstrike killed veteran al Qaeda leader in Syria (Apr. 3, 2016) Pentagon confirms US targeted veteran al Qaeda leader in Syria (Apr. 4, 2016) Note: The spellings of Al Nusrah and al Qaeda have been standardized throughout this article, including in the quotes from Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook. Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal. Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. Brewery Gulch Inn Offers Once-in-a-Lifetime Package Priced at $10,000 Act Now These Only Last Through May 31st Enjoy at Your Leisure But Don't Wait Too Long No Place Else on Earth The Ultimate Escape Others compare the atmosphere of ancient towering trees and wildflower-dotted meadows to Arthurian England or the New Zealand countryside, where the Shire of the Hobbits was brought to life so effectively. With its temperate climate and stunning coastline, there's no question that Mendocino hasIt affects your soul and lightens your heart to be surrounded by so much natural beauty. 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Some claim that the pleasures of Mendocino can be best contemplated by yourself. Save $30 per night if you inform the inn that you are traveling on your own. If booking online, please mentionin the comment section and your rate will be adjusted.Visit Savings For Singles for details.Of course we have saved the best for last. The Brewery Gulch Inn's proprietors credit the irresistible attraction of the Mendocino Coast for sparking their lifelong commitment to the area. Lawyers would advise against claiming that a single experience together could cement an everlasting love, but if there were one that could do itIntroducing theexperience, available exclusively at the Brewery Gulch Inn. This four-day, three-night extravaganza features accommodations at the inn-adjacent, oceanfront Cottage at Serenity Point. A curated escape to pleasure ensues including fine wines, massage, horseback riding, haute cuisine, fresh flowers, and of course treasured down time to absorb all of the beauty and wonder. Unsurprisingly, this package has limited availability. You must call the inn directly to reserve. Visit Once-In-A-Lifetime! for details.For more information, visit the Inn's website at www.brewerygulchinn.com or call 800.578.4454 Kipling Suite & The Jungle Book at Brown's Hotel Named in celebration of the English author Rudyard Kipling, who wrote The Jungle Book during one of his many stays at Browns Hotel, the suite features personal touches from the hotels illustrious history. The launch of the suite also falls before the UK release date (Friday 15th April) of the new Disney adaptation of the classic.With floor-to-ceiling windows throughout, views over Mayfairs Albemarle Street, the use of English wallpaper and fabrics by designers Lewis & Wood, and furniture by Julian Chichester, the hotels location is central to the suites design. The piece de resistance: a framed hand-written letter from Rudyard Kipling, penned and sent during a stay at Browns Hotel. Authenticity is at the heart of Rocco Forte Hotels and was fundamental to the redesign of the new suite.Of the project, Olga Polizzi says: "Like all of our rooms at Brown's Hotel, we designed the Kipling so you can feel that you are in London. This will be a grand classical suite of great comfort with a combination of antique pieces and contemporary designer items. The English theme carries on and is maintained as in all our rooms at Brown's Hotel with English wallpaper, fabrics, colors and objects.The Kipling Suite is the first of the Forte Suites to be unveiled by Rocco Forte Hotels, part of the newly launched Rocco Forte Suite Experience program of benefits for guests.Visit website: New CroisiEurope Ship Coming to Africa in 2017 Europe's longest running river cruise line, celebrating 40 years this year, will be welcoming a new ship on Africa's Chobe and Zambezi Rivers next year.Highlights of this exciting announcement include: A new, luxurious river cruise ship with capacity for up to 16 passengers in eight exterior-facing deluxe suites with balconies; Panoramic restaurant, lounge bar and rooftop patio with pool and chaise lounges; New 6-day, 5-night cruise itineraries that will sail along the Chode and Zambezi Rivers; Following the cruise, guests will enjoy a 4-day, 3-night stay in 5-star lodge accommodations, owned by CroisiEurope, with safaris and a day at Victoria Falls included.At this moment, the new ship has not yet been named.Visit website: Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C. Announces Executive Chef In his new role, Chef Beckert is responsible for overseeing food and beverage operations at the former Old Post Office turned luxury hotel, including in-room dining for 263 guestrooms, along with banquets and catering in over 38,000 square feet of meetings and events space. In his 27 year career, Beckert has worked with many luxury hotels including opening four high-profile projects in top destinations around the world.It's an honor to return to Washington, D.C. and join the team at what will be, one of the most luxurious hotels in the world, said Chef Beckert. This iconic project will set the culinary vision of the entire Capitol region, and through the partnership of local vendors, our team will create an incomparable experience for guests.Chef Beckert joins Trump International Hotel, Washington, D.C. after developing his international culinary expertise over 20 years with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts in Vancouver, London, New York and Washington D.C. This will be his fifth hotel opening, having launched some of the world's most notable luxury properties. Beckert's approach to developing his culinary programs, lies in his passion for the art of simplicity using only the freshest, locally-sourced and seasonal ingredients in his work. Chef Beckert will partner with local purveyors, to showcase the best local, natural resources offered regionally.The hotel's food & beverage leadership also includes Director of Catering David Anderson, who comes to Trump International Hotel D.C. from the Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C. Together, Anderson and Beckert will prove a dynamic force in the culinary space, as they create memorable experiences for guests and visitors to the hotel and largest luxury ballroom in the District. For more information, visit India must put quality control at the centre of its policies on IP filing if it doesnt want to deal with a mess of its own making later Marie Claire newsletter Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox! Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Thank you for signing up to . You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions (opens in new tab) and Privacy Policy (opens in new tab) and are aged 16 or over. Meet Katrina Pierson, she's almost as grim as her boss. Chances are you havent heard of Katrina Pierson. But youve definitely heard of her boss, could-be president of the United States Donald J Trump. The frontrunner in the race to be crowned the official Republican presidential candidate - and go head-to-head with Democrat counterpart Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election is well known for his spewings of anti-women sentiment, his plans to build a wall around Mexico and make them pay, and his frequent calls to ban Muslim immigration to America. So far, so vile. But his spokesperson, Katrina Pierson is arguably just as abhorrent. Weve already examined Trumps grimmest statements, and now its Piersons turn. Weve trawled through her rants with a fine toothcomb, and heres what we found: That time she responded to Trumps Muslim ban with the comment: So what? They're Muslim. That time she went on CNN wearing a necklace made of ammunition. That time she mused over why there were no pure breed presidential candidates during the 2012 campaign. A statement so horrific, when it was wheeled back out again this year, even Harry Potter author JK Rowling felt compelled to respond, tweeting: Death Eaters walk among us. And let us not actually forget that time when she actually decided that working for Donald Trump was not just a good but a downright great idea. She told Politico: When Donald says, I think youre great, I really want you to work for me, I dont think any sane person would say no to that. Absolutely no comment. North River Boats formula for success: anchored in a diverse portfolio and customer base. Tucked away in Roseburg, Ore., North River Boats began simply enough in 1974 by building jet powered boats to run shallow, technical white water rivers. Over time, the company also developed a solid reputation for jet boat designs. Later, as sport fishing regulations, seasons, and species evolved, North River expanded to build deep vee outboard powered recreational boats to fish larger rivers, estuaries and the ocean. The firm is also known for another reason: its diversified production of hulls, delivered to an equally wide range of clients, both domestic and foreign. Situated on 9.5 acres with two large detached manufacturing facilities, the boat builder boasts a full array of offices, large boat fabrication, paint preparation and coatings, canvas, upholstery, outfitting and warehouse operations. Today, North River Boats employs 127, up from about 75 people when CEO and President Brent Hutchings took over the company in August 2012. Enjoying steady annual growth in good times and bad a diverse portfolio of output and clients has kept this west coast builder on even keel, even as others falter in a slowing marine economy. How that came about is equally important. Looking Back: Laying the Keel for Tomorrow North Rivers 2002 purchase of Almar Boats in 2002 was a key move for the firm. Mike Blocher, North Boats Director of Sales and Marketing explains, Almar Boats was established about the same time as North River, but Almar focused on commercial and government boats. This is something that North River had done on a small scale, but Almar dramatically broadened North Rivers capabilities into complex workboats. Both factories remained open until the beginning of 2008 when Almar was absorbed into the North River Boats factory in Roseburg. Coming quickly up to speed on the complexities of the commercial and government boat world, North River then began building on the original Almar designs and expanding their portfolio diversity in terms of vessel sizes and types. Today, the firms business split is about 40 percent commercial/government boats and 60 percent recreational boats. The largest boat delivered to date is a Crew Transport vessel delivered to Trinidad & Tobago that 52 feet LOA equipped with twin diesel waterjets. Blocher adds, This is soon to be surpassed, as we are designing a 56.5 x 17 crew transport vessel that will be delivered by the end of the year. Diverse Portfolio In addition to as many as eight different recreational models that are sold through a dealer network, North River is capable of building more than 40 commercial boats annually. Building everything from charter fishing boats, U.S. Coast Guard Sub Chapter T Passenger Inspected boats, Hydrographic Survey boats, Law Enforcement and Patrol, Fire Rescue, Vessel Assist and for the U.S. Navy, North Rivers reach into almost every aspect of the workboat market is deep. But Blocher says that the variety and number of North Rivers customers is just as important. Our customer base is as diverse as our boat portfolio. One of the things that set us apart from other commercial boat builders is our ability to efficiently design and build one-off products. Many of our competitors go after large government contracts that have multi-year IDIQ delivery orders. We have done a great job at going after the one to 10 boat contracts. We are able to deliver world-class products to a broader customer base. Buying a North River Boat can also include training and re-activation on commercial and government models. We always conduct the re-activation on every vessel. This is to ensure proper delivery and set-up of the boat prior to it going into service. These are expensive boats and it is our responsibility to make sure the boat is functioning properly before putting it into service, said Blocher. Although the recreational market remains North Rivers largest in terms of revenue, Blocher says the firm remains committed to not having more than a small percentage of our business with any one customer. Although the recreational market is a large part of our business, we have many dealers within that market. This gives us the flexibility to adjust depending on how each market segment is doing. Our recreational business is sold out through our dealer network until the model year change in August with steady growth expected for the 2017 model year. In 2016 alone, North River will produce as many as 325 recreational hulls. But, he adds, The commercial market remains very strong for us. We are growing both internationally and with private commercial customers and staying steady with government work. We have a solid backlog with only a handful of open spots between now and spring 2017. With an eye towards the future, North River is aiming to add capacity that will eventually allow another 60 recreational boats and 20 commercial boats to be produced annually. Most boats are newly designed to meet current customer needs. Blocher explains, We have several boats that are entirely new to North River, such as our Crew Transport boat and our Riverine shallow jet boat to name a couple. North River Boats only builds aluminum boats. Blocher spelled out that business strategy by saying, We have very skilled personnel throughout our company with the majority of the production staff having over 10 years of experience. We believe in making the highest and best use of our limited capacity and building what we know best, which is aluminum boats. We have no intention of building other than aluminum boats. Beyond Our Shores North River has also been exporting boats for several years. Aggressively concentrating on the Caribbean and Latin America markets, the firm typically ships three to five boats annually into this market. Blocher adds, We recently completed three boats that went to Israel and are working on projects and quotes in many countries at this time. Closer to home, a relationship with Trinidad Pilots started through Almar Boats shortly after North River acquired Almar. The Pilots were looking for a more efficient and safer method of transporting their pilots. Their search took them to Almar Boats, and a factory visit was the first step in developing a long and mutually satisfying relationship. Bridge Control Services Limited (BCSL) is based in Trinidad and Tobago and provides marine transport services to the Trinidad and Tobago Pilots Association and other companies in various sectors. A long-time North River customer, their fleet includes jet-propelled boats capable of speeds up to forty knots, all fully certified to effectively execute a wide array of services. Darren Josa, Director at BCSL, told Marine News in March, We have 11 North River boats in our fleet, ranging in sizes from 38 feet up to 55 feet. The majority of BCSLs fleet are pilot boats used for Launch Services and there is also one dedicated crew/ supply boat. Blocher told News in March, I believe that we were one of the first companies to include roof top boarding for pilot transfers. By using roof top boarding, the pilot can enter/exit the vessel closer to the top of the ladder. The majority of incidents occur with the pilot falling from the ladder so by giving the pilot fewer rungs to climb we have improved safety for the transfer. This, combined with the speed of the vessels (approximately 40 knots), enables Trinidad Pilots to grow their business by opening up the vessels to various other uses as well as reducing the travel time to and from transfers. We asked Josa why BCSL had purchased so many North River Boats and he replied, North River has continuously proven to be a reliable boat building supplier, who provides strong and unique vessel designs suitable to our companys needs. We keep coming back because of their professionalism, competitive prices, excellent customer and after sales service, their dependability when it comes to meeting our time-frames for delivery and the quality and durability of the vessels. North River also offers a wide range of vessel designs. One of North Rivers latest designs for BCSL is a crew transport vessel provides seating for 24 passengers and a maximum load of 3 tons of cargo. Service speed is very important to BCSLs customers, so they require a service speed no less than 30 KT. The new boat will be fitted with triple Caterpillar C12 705hp marine diesel engines with ZF 360 transmissions and Hamilton HJ364 jets. Other features include an exceptional fendering system, and state-of-the-art navigational system. Josa says that BCSLs goal is to be the premier and most innovative maritime service provider in the region. That being said, we always look for suppliers who can contribute to our overall goals, he adds. And, while price is important to BCSL, Josa says it isnt the only reason that they keep coming back, year after year. The maintenance costs for the North River vessels are economical and parts for repairs are easily accessible, he explains, adding quickly, With regards to prices, North Rivers prices are comparable with other competitors. However, what sets them apart from the competition is the customizability of their boats, the after sales service and the working relationship we have developed with their staff. Many Designs for Myriad Customers According to Mike Blocher, a key aspect of North Rivers success is the firms ability to custom design for a wide range of customers. With two in-house designers, North River will reach outside to get help when appropriate. Blocher explains, We have a great design team and generally do the majority of design and calculations in-house. For the times that we do need to sub-contract a certified PE we use Boksa Marine Design in Florida. We also use a local PE in Seattle Washington for some of our US Coast Guard Sub Chapter T Passenger Inspected boats. The firms pilot boat designs are a perfect example of their design capabilities. The twin diesel Hamilton Jet design is great for coming alongside ships at pilot transfer speeds. Traditional propeller designs can get stuck to the side of the ship making it hard to pull away from the ship after the transfer is complete, Blocher explains, adding, With the twin diesel jets it is very simple. The ability to adjust the buckets during transfer not only helps keep the hull against the ship during the transfer but allows the operator to easily pull away when the transfer is complete. It is very important to work with Hamilton Jet on these pilot boats to get the cavitation ratio correct. Our background is with jet boats and we do an excellent job at making sure we pair the right hull with the right engine and jet combination. Out of those plans come many different types of vessels and the firm has delivered or is in the process of building a wide variety of hulls. The portfolio, in addition to its considerable recreational output, includes: 38 Valor Fire Boat to North Kitsap Fire and Rescue in Washington State Two (2) Fire Boats for the U.S. Army 11 U.S. Navy Force Protection Large boats (fleet protection / law enforcement vessel) 33 38 Pilot Boat with twin or triple outboard propulsion and standard cabin configuration 40 45 Pilot Boat with standard cabin configuration (Choice of twin jet or twin propeller) 45 57 Pilot Boat with choice of standard or aft cabin (Choice of twin or triple jet or twin propeller) Sectors, Service and Selection: Thriving and not just surviving in boatbuilding today involves many things. For North River, it means delivering aluminum quality and variety to commercial, government, and recreational clients; domestic and foreign. CEO Brent Hutchings told Marine News, Over the last three years, sales have tripled and we continue to see strong demand across the three primary market segments we serve: Recreational, commercial and government. We owe our success to our amazing employees who deliver the best quality and service available in the heavy-gauge aluminum market. At the same time, Hutchings also says that North Rivers diversification strategy is deliberate, adding Since boat building is an inherently cyclical business, North River has worked hard for many years to develop customers throughout the United States and the world. Our sales staff regularly exhibit at international trade shows to maintain our global focus. We also work to spread our exposure across industries and agencies within each geographic market. North Rivers approach insulates the company against the economic cycle and is the foundation for its growth and success. The business model also enables knowledge transfer from one segment to the other. So far, its a winning formula, in good times and bad for the domestic boatbuilding markets. In any endeavor, being all things to all people is a difficult thing to do. North River Boats doesnt claim to do that. Arguably, their business model is about as close as it gets. Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), through its subsidiary, Keppel FELS Brasil SA's BrasFELS shipyard has been awarded a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) module fabrication and integration project by its repeat customer MODEC Offshore Production Systems (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., a MODEC, Inc. group (MODEC) company, for a contract value of over BRL 500 million (SGD190 million). BrasFELS' work scope for this project comprises the fabrication and integration of nine topside production modules for the FPSO Cidade de Campos dos Goytacazes MV29. The vessel is expected to arrive at the shipyard by the first quarter of 2017 for the integration phase. The most established offshore shipyard in the Latin American region, BrasFELS has successfully completed a range of construction, integration, upgrading and repair projects over the years. Mr Kwok Kai Choong, CEO and President of Keppel FELS Brasil said, "We are pleased to support our long-standing customer MODEC with another important project for Brazil's oil and gas industry. Having delivered a number of milestone offshore and marine projects for the country, BrasFELS has built up a strong track record and established itself as a provider of offshore solutions with strong local content. Our yard is committed to deliver all of our projects with Keppel's hallmark executional excellence." When completed, the FPSO Cidade de Campos dos Goytacazes MV29 will have the capacity to process 150,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 5 million cubic metres of gas per day. The unit's storage capacity is 1.6 million barrels of oil. Slated to depart the shipyard in the third quarter of 2017, the FPSO will be deployed at Tartaruga Verde and Tartaruga Mestica Fields, in the Campos Basin, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Mr Sateesh Dev, Executive Managing Officer of MODEC, Inc. said, "We are very pleased to work with BrasFELS on a fifth FPSO project as they have always delivered to our satisfaction. Three units, which have been completed safely and ahead of schedule, are operating successfully in their respective fields. We look forward to working with them on our latest two FPSO collaborations. "Brazil has one of the most significant offshore oil reserves in the world. We are confident of the long term goal by Brazil to increase oil production and our partnership with a reputable yard like BrasFELS enables us to meet their needs in a timely and safe manner." BrasFELS' current job for MODEC is the integration and commissioning of the FPSO Cidade de Caraguatatuba MV27. The FPSO is expected to arrive at BrasFELS in the second quarter of 2016, and will be deployed in the Lapa Field, Santos Basin, Brazil. The FPSO Cidade de Itaguai MV26, which was delivered by BrasFELS to MODEC in mid-2015 achieved first oil production four months ahead of the schedule, in the Iracema Norte Area of Lula Field in Brazil. In the past five years, BrasFELS delivered five FPSO projects safely and ahead of schedule, of which three were for MODEC. The above contract is not expected to have a material impact on the net tangible assets or earnings per share of Keppel Corporation Limited for the current financial year. "Bunker drill!" In response to the alert, four Marines spring into action, donning their flame retardant uniforms. They race to put their helmets on as a Marine cries twenty seconds! from within the chaos. One by one, the Marines climb aboard a fire truck, slaping their hands on the dashboard to signal they are ready to go. Readiness is paramount for the Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting Marines with Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron, MCAS Futenma, Okinawa, Japan. Being ready requires constant practice, such as the flight line fire fighting training they conducted here, April 1. An aircraft can become fully engulfed in less than a minute, so every second we take to get ready is another second that someone else might lose, said Lance Cpl. Rodrigo Cruzvera, an ARFF Marine with H&HS. So, it is important to respond as quickly as possible to ensure that we can get as many people out as possible. Gunnery Sgt. Uriah J. Gruber, the ARFF training chief with H&HS, is one of the primary senior leaders who ensures that ARFF H&HS is ready to roll. Throughout the training, he drilled his Marines as about different aircraft parts, and firefighting tools, and how to respond to various emergency situations. Because the threat of fire never goes away, teams of Marines must rotate in 24 and 48-hour shifts to ensure someone is always on call . The teams become close-knit because of how much time they spend together. Its a family, said Gruber, a native of San Jose, Calif. When you see (us) off duty, we dont split to the winds. We do everything together. The Marines share Grubers perspective. I love the camaraderie you feel -- not only as Marines, but as firefighters, said Cruzvera, a native of Gardnerville, Nev. You build a whole different level of camaraderie amongst your fellow Marines and firefighters that you just dont see in many other units and many other shops. Continuous training helps build the camaraderie. At 6 a.m., as soon as shifts rotate and new ARFF Marines arrive to work, they inspect their building and fire trucks. The inspection assures the water pumps engage, the trucks water and air pressure level is correct and all rescue tools are in working order. Soon after, the Marines move on to more training exercises, such as the flight line fire drill. Training is a big part of our job, Cruzvera said. It is important that we train every day to be the best possible firefighters and Marines that we can be because, in the event of an emergency, we are the thin line between life and death According to Cruzvera, some of the dangers they face are easily forgotten. Besides the obvious danger of fire, the Marines face harmful chemicals when rescuing people from aircraft. Okinawa also has a large amount of rainfall, which can cause difficulty with dry gear contributing to steam burns. Before earning ARFF certification, Marines have to go through medical screenings to ensure they are physically able to perform their duties. Their health, heart, lungs and previous medical history are taken into account. After gaining medical clearance, they take their first step to becoming ARFF Marines by attending a formal ARFF school, where they learn firefighting techniques and basic life-saving skills. Once they reach the operating forces, they continue training hard to achieve common goals. As Marines, the most important thing is to kill the bad guys, but its also important to make sure that the good guys get home safely, said Cruzvera. Forex Trading Alert: EUR/USD Time for Correction? Earlier today, official data showed that German factory orders dropped by 1.2% in Feb, which weighed negatively on investors sentiment and pushed the euro lower against the greenback. As a result, EUR/USD slipped under the Feb high. What does it mean for the exchange rate? In our opinion, the following forex trading positions are justified summary: EUR/USD: short (stop-loss order at 1.1512; initial downside target at 1.0572) GBP/USD: none USD/JPY: none USD/CAD: none USD/CHF: none AUD/USD: none EUR/USD Looking at the above charts, we see that although EUR/USD moved little higher yesterday, currency bulls didnt manage to push the pair higher, which resulted in another drop under the previously-broken Feb high earlier today. Therefore, what we wrote in our previous commentary is up-to-date: () Although this is a negative signal (an invalidation of the breakout), we think that it would be more reliable if we see a daily closure below the orange area. Finishing todays commentary on this currency pair, it is worth noting that all indicators are overbought and very close to generating sell signals ,which suggests that further deterioration is just around the corner. Very short-term outlook: bearish Short-term outlook: bearish MT outlook: mixed with bearish bias LT outlook: mixed Trading position (short-term; our opinion): Short positions (with a stop-loss order at 1.1512 and the initial downside target at 1.0572) are justified from the risk/reward perspective. USD/JPY On Thursday, we wrote the following: () if the pair extends losses, we may see a drop even to around 111.34-111.41, where the support area created by the 76.4% and 78.6% Fibonacci retracement levels is. Yesterday, we added: From todays point of view, we see that the situation developed in line with the above scenario and USD/JPY reached our downside target earlier today. Although the pair could rebound from here, it seems to us that the exchange rate will re-test the strength of the green support zone in the coming week. Looking at the above charts, we see that currency bears pushed USD/JPY lower as we had expected. With todays downswing, the pair not reached our next downside target, but also declined below it. This is a negative signal which suggests further deterioration and a drop to around 109.81, where the 127.2% Fibonacci extension is. Are there any factors that could encourage currency bulls to act? Lets examine the weekly chart and find out. From this perspective, we see that USD/JPY dropped to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement, which could trigger a rebound (especially when we factor in the proximity to the green support line based on the Sept high of 110.07). However, if this support area is broken, the exchange rate could extend declines even to around 108.14, where the 70.7% Fibonacci retracement is. Very short-term outlook: mixed with bearish bias Short-term outlook: mixed MT outlook: mixed LT outlook: mixed Trading position (short-term; our opinion): No positions are justified from the risk/reward perspective at the moment. USD/CAD From todays point of view we see that USD/CAD extended gains, which means that what we wrote yesterday is up-to-date: () currency bears pushed the pair lower in the previous week, which resulted in a drop to the medium-term green support line (as we had expected). As you see, this support triggered a rebound, which took USD/CAD above the lower border of the blue declining trend channel. Additionally, all indicators generated buy signals, which suggest further improvement. Nevertheless, in our opinion, such price action would be more reliable if we see a daily closure above this line. If this is the case and currency bulls manage to push the pair higher from here, the initial upside target would be around 1.3281, where the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement (based on the entire downward move) and late-March highs are. Very short-term outlook: mixed with bullish bias Short-term outlook: mixed MT outlook: mixed LT outlook: mixed Trading position (short-term; our opinion): No positions are justified from the risk/reward perspective at the moment. Thank you. Nadia Simmons Forex & Oil Trading Strategist Przemyslaw Radomski Founder, Editor-in-chief Sunshine Profits: Gold & Silver, Forex, Bitcoin, Crude Oil & Stocks Stay updated: sign up for our free mailing list today * * * * * Disclaimer All essays, research and information found above represent analyses and opinions of Nadia Simmons and Sunshine Profits' associates only. As such, it may prove wrong and be a subject to change without notice. Opinions and analyses were based on data available to authors of respective essays at the time of writing. Although the information provided above is based on careful research and sources that are believed to be accurate, Nadia Simmons and his associates do not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the data or information reported. The opinions published above are neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase or sell any securities. Nadia Simmons is not a Registered Securities Advisor. By reading Nadia Simmons reports you fully agree that he will not be held responsible or liable for any decisions you make regarding any information provided in these reports. Investing, trading and speculation in any financial markets may involve high risk of loss. Nadia Simmons, Sunshine Profits' employees and affiliates as well as members of their families may have a short or long position in any securities, including those mentioned in any of the reports or essays, and may make additional purchases and/or sales of those securities without notice. 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Perth Mint Silver Coins Have Second Highest Monthly Demand The Perth Mints sales of silver coins and especially Silver Kangaroos surged again in March and saw the second highest levels of silver coin demand on record as silver buyers in the western world continue to accumulate silver at what they believe to be depressed silver prices. Silver stackers continued to accumulate silver coins and bars and the new silver nugget or kangaroo coins (1 oz and 5 oz) saw very high levels of demand. To keep up with very robust global demand, The Perth Mint has produced 7.5 million Australian Kangaroo 1oz silver bullion coins since it was released less than 8 months ago. The first Australian bullion coin to be made from 99.99% pure silver, the iconic release comes with an innovative authentication feature in the form of a micro-laser engraved letter A. Representing exceptional value for money, the coin has attracted attention from investors around the world for whom the press is currently running flat-out according to the Perth Mint themselves. Bullion buyers continue to accumulate and see silver at below $16 per ounce as great value vis a vis gold ($1,225 per ounce), stocks and many other investments. GoldCore can attest to that fact as we are seeing record demand for silver coins (now VAT free) in Ireland, the UK and EU Gold Prices (LBMA) 6 April: USD 1,225.75, EUR 1,079.76 and GBP 868.38 per ounce 5 April: USD 1,231.50, EUR 1,083.59 and GBP 866.32 per ounce 4 April: USD 1,215.00, EUR 1,068.80 and GBP 854.58 per ounce 1 April: USD 1,232.10, EUR 1,080.69 and GBP 860.20 per ounce 31 Mar: USD 1,233.60, EUR 1,085.50 and GBP 857.62 per ounce Silver Prices (LBMA) 6 April: USD 15.19, EUR 13.37 and GBP 10.69 per ounce (Not updated yet) 5 April: USD 15.19, EUR 13.37 and GBP 10.69 per ounce 4 April: USD 15.58, EUR 13.92 and GBP 10.99 per ounce 1 April: USD 15.58, EUR 13.92 and GBP 10.99 per ounce 31 Mar: USD 15.38, EUR 13.52 and GBP 10.68 per ounce This update can be found on the GoldCore blog here. Mark O'Byrne IRL 63 FITZWILLIAM SQUARE DUBLIN 2 E info@goldcore.com UK NO. 1 CORNHILL LONDON 2 EC3V 3ND IRL +353 (0)1 632 5010 UK +44 (0)203 086 9200 US +1 (302)635 1160 W http://www.goldcore.com/uk/ WINNERS MoneyMate and Investor Magazine Financial Analysts 2006 Disclaimer: The information in this document has been obtained from sources, which we believe to be reliable. We cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness. It does not constitute a solicitation for the purchase or sale of any investment. Any person acting on the information contained in this document does so at their own risk. Recommendations in this document may not be suitable for all investors. Individual circumstances should be considered before a decision to invest is taken. Investors should note the following: Past experience is not necessarily a guide to future performance. The value of investments may fall or rise against investors' interests. Income levels from investments may fluctuate. 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The details you are being asked to supply may be used to provide you with information about other products and services either from GoldCore or other group companies or to provide services which any member of the group has arranged for you with a third party. If you do not wish to receive such contact, please write to the Marketing Manager GoldCore, 63 Fitzwilliam Square, Dublin 2 marking the envelope 'data protection' 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication. Tedrico "Teddy Crocker" Latham cooks intricate meals from around the world, taught to him by a variety of girlfriends and their grandmothers of different nationalities. "I have been to 42 states and lived in 18 of them," the 45-year-old said. "Every girlfriend Ive ever had, they introduced me to their parents. They find out I love to cook. Me and the abuelita (grandmother) chum up next thing you know, Im serving their meals." However, the first grandmother to turn him on to cooking was his own, the late Pattie Lou Taylor of Rich Square, North Carolina, He used to stay with her in the summers. Latham was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in the Bronx and Newport News. He was graduated from high school in Augusta, Georgia, and went to college in Mississippi. His parents settled in Rich Square, and he became an IT specialist working as Tedricos Page Web Design and Video and went on to live across the United States. He began his travels in New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, Louisiana. "I had majored Cajun Creole by the time I left Lake Charles," he said. "Then Texas Houston, that got me into the Tex-Mex scene," Latham said. The cuisine there is "heavy on chilies." Next he went to San Antonio, where he was "turned on to the many different styles of Mexican cooking. (A girlfriend named) Esperanza, her mother and her grandmother frequently had me in the kitchen because they saw how receptive I was to cooking." In Phoenix, he decided that "the desert flavor is the purest you can get for Southwest cuisine. By the time I made it to San Diego: California cuisine is anything with an avocado in it," he joked. "Lots of things with seafood." In San Diego, "I was starting to run into Asians and Pacific Islanders. I started diving into tempuras and rolling my own sushi logs." He also learned to cook food of Vietnam, the Philippines and Indonesia there, he said. However, "the cost of living was too high," so he went to Oakland in the East Bay of California. There, "I started running into" people from Las Vegas, the Rockies and Sierra Nevada. Their food included Rocky Mountain Oysters and venison "everythings wild out there in the West." Latham was living high on the hog in Castro Valley, California. He merged his company, Tedricos Page, with another, "and we made a killing." He was able to eat out often in restaurants, where he came to appreciate food from Israel, Persia and Ethiopia, he said. In 2002, he moved to Seattle. There, "I got back heavy into Far Eastern (food), and Oriental is starting to become a favorite cuisine. My London Broil tightened up when I was in Seattle." The grunge, Goth and punk movement was strong there, he said, and "the kids who rebel" in those styles "are eating about everything in the world." He moved to Miami in 2003, where he made friends from Haiti, Cuba, South America and the West Indies, he said. The meals included "lots of things with black beans." He left Miami for the Deep South, where "my dirty Southern cooking got a bit better." Everyone was "cooking with fatback. The farther down South you go, the bigger they get, but that food there always stays wholesome." In Tennessee, "Memphis is about chicken and barbecue, plain and simple. Up until then, I never grilled in my life," Latham said. He encountered "heartier meats, briskets, sides of meat (and) every single way you can do a chicken." His wanderings almost came to a halt in 2007. His grandmother died, so went to his parents in Rich Square. He tried living there, "but I couldnt stand it. Im used to a million-plus people. I used to jump on a train, jump on a trolley, jump on a streetcar" and have some fun, and the little town of less than 1,000 wasnt enough. Portland was his next stop. That Oregon city "has every ethnicity on the planet. Folks are awesome. Its the best city in America. In six years (there), I can say Ive eaten everything." When his mother died, he decided it really was time to settle down and be with his father, he said. His mother loved the Blue Ridge Mountains and he is a major NASCAR fan, so Martinsville is a bit of a compromise between what his father enjoys, what his mother would have appreciated and his own interests. He and his father arrived in October 2012 and bought a house. "Its quite different, but Im adaptable," he added. The new food he learned to cook in Martinsville was deer stew, from his former neighbor, Debbie Menefree. She also introduced him to "grits with elk meat and a gravy that was out of this world." Because he works flexible hours, sometimes "I spend all day cooking, like I always do." In the kitchen, he sets the mood by playing music from the region of the world of the meal he is cooking. He regularly posts pictures of his complicated meals on Facebook under his name as well as a page called Love That Teddy Crocker. "There are 256 ethnicities on the planet, and Ive had 256 cuisines and can cook 32 of them," Latham said. The Henry County Fire Marshals Office, on Tuesday, still wasnt releasing the name of a woman who died in a house fire early Monday morning on Sanville School Road pending the results of an autopsy, as a matter of protocol, but one of the womans sons identified her as Frances Cox Willis. Wayne Cox of Ridgeway said his mother, of 149 Sanville School Road, Bassett, "is going to be greatly missed, not just by the family but the whole community." She and her first husband, William Robert Cox, moved to Sanville in about 1960, Wayne Cox said. She worked at a number of mills, including Fieldcrest and Bassett Walker; worked in the cafeteria at Sanville Elementary School; and was a nurses aide, Wayne Cox said, summarizing her career. "She was real active in the church," Wayne Cox said. She was a member of Orchard Drive Baptist Church and attended services at Sanville Assembly of God. "A lot of people in this part of the county know her because she taught Sunday school classes for years," Wayne Cox said. She was an ordained deacon at Orchard Drive Baptist Church, he added. "Everybody loved her to death. She was always laughing," Wayne Cox said. He noted that she lived alone with her two dogs. (Two dogs died with her in the fire, fire officials have said.) "She loved animals. She was always rescuing dogs," Wayne Cox said. He said his mother was born in Logan, West Virginia, the great-granddaughter of Andover "Devil Anse" Hatfield. According to biography.com, "Devil Anse" Hatfield led his family in a bloody feud with the McCoys in the late 1800s along the Kentucky-West Virginia border. She moved to Floyd County, Virginia, in the 1950s when she was a teenager and married William Robert Cox in 1954. He died in 1983. She later married Charles David Willis Jr. and they were married nearly 30 years before he died in December 2015, Wayne Cox said. He added that his mother was nearly 79 years old when she died. She had four sons twins Wayne and Layne Cox, and Rodney Cox, who are still living, and the late Barry Cox; two stepdaughters; 11 grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and other survivors, according to Wayne Cox and the obituary for Charles David Willis Jr. Wayne Cox said that memorial service details have not been finalized. Lisa Garrett, Henry County assistant fire marshal, said Monday that the fire was reported at about 3:15 a.m. Monday. It appeared the fire started in the front part of the single-story house, and the house was destroyed. Garrett said Tuesday that she expects it will be at least today, and perhaps later, before she receives autopsy results. As a matter of protocol, the fire marshals office does not release the name of the victim of a fatal fire until after receiving autopsy results, she said. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Garrett added. With over a million demonstrators, the protests of March 31 confirmed the deep unpopularity of "La loi Travail" [Labour law] amongst the youth and workers of France. That same night, in Paris's iconic Place de la Republique, thousands of people - especially young people - participated in the very first "Nuit Debout", or overnight occupation of the square. A very enthusiastic atmosphere helped the protesters as they refused to go back home or even fall asleep. Every night since, the square has found itself occupied by workers and youth. However, following that protest-filled night of March 31, the government has responded to protesters by simply reaffirming its unwavering support for the El Khomri bill. This is not surprising. This counter-reform is just what is needed to satisfy the objective needs of today's French ruling class. If it becomes law, the capitalists will be even freer than they already are to significantly increase the exploitation of workers, lower wages and terminate employment more easily. The stakes are high for big business - and therefore also for its lackeys, President Hollande and Prime Minister Valls. They will not give up on this proposed counter-reform just because a million people expressed their discontent on the nation's streets on this or that day. By themselves, these great "days of action" like March 31, cannot make the government abandon its planned attack on the working class. Many workers have already realized this through personal experience. French workers still remember the failure of the movement against the Woerth "reforms" which sought to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. This movement, which took place in the autumn of 2010, failed despite several "days of action" that had over three million participants. Despite all this, the union leadership in France that has been organizing these "days of action" against La loi Travail have yet to learn the lessons of 2010. Or, more likely, they are only pretending not to have learned these lessons. The role of union leadership In a March 31st press release the leadership of the CGT (one of the five main French trade unions) states: "The government must withdraw this proposed law. It will prove futile to persist stubbornly for several weeks as was done in trying to make constitutional the revoking of citizenship and the state of emergency measures. The proposals this government offers alongside the MEDEF [the largest bosses "union" in France] are outdated; it's been over thirty years that France, as well as Europe, has been experiencing a decline in workers' rights and wages with the only consequences being rising unemployment and an increase in dividends paid to shareholders (25% in 2015)." Who are the CGT leadership trying to convince here? It's not clear. They ask the government not to be stubborn and then come up with the idea that the government's policies favor "an increase in dividends paid to shareholders." Do they not understand that that is precisely the point - the point of this proposed labor law and all other government policies? The government is being stubborn and has been since 2012 because they want to ensure that there is "an increase in dividends paid to shareholders." Moreover, the references to the "revoking of citizenship" and the "state of emergency" are not at all relevant. Hollande did not acquiesce on the question of revoking citizenship due to pressure from the streets, but because it threatened to bring about a parliamentary fiasco, especially thanks to right-wing deputies and senators. As for the state of emergency, it has yet to be lifted. "It will prove futile to persist stubbornly for several weeks . . ." the leadership of the CGT says to the government. But La loi Travail is not some kind of temper tantrum based on a mistake. Again, this is a counter-reform tailor-made to serve the fundamental interests of the ruling class. The government is therefore determined to hold on for "several weeks", especially if it only has to deal with scheduled "days of action," no matter how massive they may be. This is what the CGT leaders should be explaining to all young people and workers, all while indicating the way to lead a victorious struggle - and while organizing this very struggle. The statement of the CGT ends with the following paragraph: "With all the trade union organizations behind the struggle of March 31, we will propose to continue and intensify the action, strikes and demonstrations, especially on April 5 towards parliamentarians and on Saturday, April 9 and afterwards until the withdrawal of this bill and the gain of new social rights." The leadership of the CGT proposes to protest, on April 5, a parliament in which we already know the majority strongly supports La loi Travail. What's the point? One has to wonder. The workers are not willing to lose a day's pay for nothing, so there will be little to no strikes on April 5. As to April 9, a Saturday, again, there will be few strikes. These days will end up being days of protests. The CGT's press release refers to an intensification of action, including "strikes", but it does not foresee any truly massive strike. It is possible - and desirable - that April 9 ends up being a bigger day for the movement than March 31. But will it be this "day of action" itself that will make the government back down? That seems out of the question for us. Are the leaders of the CGT as naive as their March 31 statement seems to indicate? We do not think so. They know that the government is determined to pass the El Khomri bill and they understand that only an escalting strike movement embracing a growing number of economic sectors is likely to force the government to acquiesce. But this prospect frightens them as much it frightens the government and the ruling class. Why? Because an escalating strike movement can quickly gain its own momentum, pushing it beyond the control of union leaders, and may lead to an unlimited general strike - as in May '68 - of revolutionary dimensions. It is exactly this possibility that would make the government retreat; the ruling class only makes concessions when it fears it is on the brink of possibly losing everything, especially in times of crisis. But nothing could be further from the intentions of the union leaders. They long for calm and stability. In order to look good to the workers, they now lecture the government, tell them not to be "stubborn", and make empty threats - all while patiently awaiting the ebb of the movement. This is the reality of what is happening in the leadership of French trade unions. Having learnt from the experience of the autumn of 2010, along with other failures brought about by this leadership, many union activists already understand this reality. Mobilization of the youth Since the demonstrations of March 17, the youth demonstrations have been the target of much violence and police brutality. This abuse is obviously commissioned by the government itself. It is afraid of the youth, of its uncontrollable character, its radicalism and the influence it can have on the entire working class. The government therefore seeks to halt the mobilization of university and high school students through the use of batons wielded by riot and plainclothes police. There have been many injuries and arrests. Faced with this policy of repression and police intimidation, the trade unions have a responsibility to use their collective force to oppose police interventions. At the very least - to be generous - we can say that the unions are simply slow to adopt the right position. To justify this situation that leaves young people exposed to police violence, we are told that "anarchists" and "thugs" are wreaking havoc in demonstrations of young people during protests and are provoking the police. Let us suppose that this is correct. Is that any reason for the CGT and other trade unions to keep their distances and let the police abuse young people? In addition, how many of these so-called "anarchists" are actually agents provocateurs? The "anarchists" excuse is clearly invalid. Many young people are now furious at the attitude of the CGT, particularly in Paris. On this issue, the attitude of the union leadership is clearly expressed in the press release of March 31 signed by the CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, UNEF, UNL and FIDL. Here is the only relevant paragraph: "The signatory trade unions once again affirm that public authorities must guarantee the right to demonstrate, to assemble and to organize, all while ensuring the safety of protesters." That's it - and it is almost unbelievable: the press release requests that the aggressor - the "public authorities" - ensure the safety of the abused. Young people who have been gassed and clubbed in these past weeks will not find this joke at all funny. Let's ask the question once more: are the national leaders of these trade unions naive? Are they unaware of the government's role in police violence? The answer is no. They are well aware of this dynamic, yet they do not want to make any inferences based on this knowledge. Why? For one simple reason: they too are afraid of the youth in struggle, of its radicalism, its uncontrollable nature - and the impact it can have on the rest of the working class. It is lamentable, but it is what it is. And again, many union activists are aware of this sad fact. Lessons of 2010 This analysis so far does not lead to a pessimistic conclusion. The attitude of the union leadership is only a relative obstacle to the success of the movement, which has amongst its rank and file enormous reserves of energy and a fighting spirit. But it is an obstacle nonetheless; union activists must take stock of their leadership and then draw practical conclusions. They must exert the maximum pressure on the union leadership so that they change direction. At the same time, they should not limit their activities to management and schedules defined by these same leaders, which currently are driving the movement towards a cliff. They must also take the initiative to intervene against the police violence that has been targeting the youth. In autumn of 2010, an escalating strike had already developed among trash collectors and workers in ports, refineries, railways, and in road transport, among other sectors. The union leaders were not at all behind these escalating strikes and refused to support them, let alone expand them to other sectors of the economy. But the movement developed nonetheless - to a certain extent. "Interprofessional General Assemblies" had been established in several cities, uniting trade unionists, workers, youth and unemployed people in a common fight. The embryo of a national coordination of these general assemblies even got to see the light of day. The movement had ebbed, however, before this national coordination could truly play any role. But this experience highlighted the creativity of young people and workers, their ability to organize the struggle on militant and democratic foundations. The victory of the movement against La loi Travail will be possible only on the basis of an escalating strike involving a large number of workers. Many union activists know this and are discussing it. Youth - which was poorly mobilized in 2010 - could contribute its enthusiastic support to such a movement. The coming days and weeks will be decisive. Methods of struggle and strategy The scrapping of this labor bill is - logically - the main goal of the current movement. But among the youth in particular, it comes with more of a general questioning of the entire "system." Indeed, even if the government renounced La loi Travail, capitalism in crisis would continue on its destructive path: growing unemployment, insecurity and all forms of poverty; the destruction of public services, housing shortages, etc. From the perspective of the involvement of the working masses, the question of methods and strategy is decisive. Most workers understand that La loi Travail is a major attack on their interests: all the polls show this. But for many of them, especially those in the private sector, 24-hour strikes are a major sacrifice. They not only lose a day of pay, but they face punitive measures from their employer. And for what? Even when they are massive, the "days of action" do not force the government to back down. This is why many workers supported the protests of March 31, but did not participate themselves. They understand or sense that in the context of deep economic crisis, the ruling class will never give in easily. Workers would be willing to commit to an escalating strike, provided that its end result will be worth the risks that need to be taken and the sacrifices that must be made. The simple withdrawal of La loi Travail is to them insufficient - it would prevent yet another attack on workers, certainly, but also it would not solve any of the problems that today afflict workers, day in and day out. Besides, many of them are already suffering through the working conditions La loi Travail wants to make universal. We are told: the union leaders are not content with just demanding the withdrawal of La loi Travail; they also advance other slogans. That is right, but just see how they are doing it - and if their approach can convince the working masses. Here is an excerpt from that inter-union statement already quoted above: "The signatory trade unions (...) confirm their availability to meet with the government and formulate proposals seeking new rights in terms of employment, wages and pensions, working time, social protection, group benefits, working conditions, training and trade union work. These are proposals that will bring about social progress and correspond to the realities of work today and tomorrow." This quote presents two problems. Firstly, the union leaders are speaking about a reactionary government - which brutally attacks the Labor Code - and say they are "available" to discuss "proposals" of "social progress" in a number of areas. The government has declared war on the workers; in response, union leaders offer it peace, brotherhood and "social progress". The workers understand that it is up to them to mobilize in order to extract this or that concession from this government of the big bosses. But after reading the diplomatic bows of the excerpt just cited, workers just shrug their shoulders and keep walking. Secondly, are proposals that will bring about real social progress even compatible with the capitalist system in crisis? This is the question that many workers ask themselves. Again, they understand and feel that the deep crisis of the system does not encourage concessions from the ruling class. They see that the order books are empty - and that the lines of the unemployed are getting longer each day. They see that, far from making concessions, employers everywhere are on the offensive - both within their companies as well as nationally, through their government. Therefore, workers are very skeptical of the possibility of obtaining, under this capitalist system in crisis, "new rights in terms of employment, wages and pensions, working time, social protection, group benefits, working conditions, training and trade union work." In all these areas, the ruling class demands and imposes regression. How can we reverse this trend? For this question there is only one realistic answer: by overthrowing the system, by expropriating the ruling class and placing the economy under the democratic control of the workers themselves. In other words, we must put the question of power at the centre of our programme, explaining that there will be no solution to all the problems faced by youth and workers as long they have not yet taken power and started to reorganize society on a new basis - a socialist basis. An increasing number of workers will understand this and will be willing to dedicate themselves to this struggle because it is the only way to end once and for all with permanent social regression. Revolution, April 4, 2016 In Defence of Marxism is committed to safeguarding your privacy. At all times we aim to respect any personal data you share with us, or that we receive from other organisations, and keep it safe. 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We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways. Data retention The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes. In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again. Policy amendments We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email. Third party websites We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website. Updating information You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com Contact We are not required by law to have a Data Protection Officer however we have a Data Protection Manager. Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com MassMutual headquarters 2009.jpg The MassMutual headquarters on State Street. (Republican File Photo) This story follows and expands upon: SPRINGFIELD -- Insurance giant MassMutual Financial Group is outsourcing part of its information technology functions, and plans to lay off nearly 100 workers from its headquarters on State Street in Springfield. But the company won't say where those jobs are going. MassMutual spokesman James Lacey responded to questions from The Republican on Tuesday by saying only that the IT vendor is a company that MassMutual has had a long business relationship with and that it is a U.S.-based company, but one with operations worldwide. Lacey declined to elaborate further. He didn't confirm a specific number, saying only that the cuts amounted to just less than 100 people. But he said in a telephone conversation with an editor that not the entire department is being outsourced. It amounts, he said to less than 1 percent of MassMutual's work force of more than 7,200. But the cutback comes on the heels of a 360-person layoff announced in February that amounted to 5 percent of the workforce. Founded in 1851, MassMutual also announced in February its purchase of MetLife's retail adviser force of life insurance agents for $165 million. Called by management a "milestone event" in the history of the company, the purchase makes MassMutual the largest writer of new life insurance policies in the United States. MassMutual is not a stockholder-owned company. Instead, MassMutual is owned by holders of participating whole life insurance policies. LONGMEADOW - JGS Lifecare's nursing home, the Leavitt Family Jewish Home, is pleased to welcome Alexis A. Girhiny as Dining Services Director, responsible for overseeing dining services at the Home and Ruth's House Assisted Living Residence. As an experienced culinary instructor and executive chef, her culinary achievements bring a new dimension to JGS Lifecare's kosher dining and banquet menus. From Springfield, Girhiny brings 25 years of culinary experience to the JGS Lifecare campus. Formally trained at the Culinary Institute of America, she has spent much of her career training and developing culinary career staff. Most recently Girhiny worked as a chef instructor for the Louisiana Culinary Institute in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Here, she provided hands-on training in culinary technique, preparation, and presentation. She also served as Director of Career Services at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Boston, one of 30 Le Cordon Bleu schools worldwide. Le Cordon Bleu(r), which means "Blue Ribbon," is internationally recognized for culinary expertise, tradition, and innovation. "We're proud to welcome Alexis to direct our dining services. She not only brings tremendous talent, enthusiasm, and experience to our culinary team, she also brings the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu brand name to our JGS Lifecare campus," said Anne M. Thomas, vice president of residential health, JGS Lifecare. "She has a real passion for food that she can't wait to share with our residents," she added. Girhiny says "I love to cook and I want to elevate the food we serve for our residents." In addition to culinary education, Girhiny brings exceptional experience including executive chef and management experience locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, including her own restaurant, AGB Corp that was located on State Street in Springfield. She is ACF (American Culinary Federation) certified as an Executive Chef and also Serve Safe certified as an instructor proctor. SPRINGFIELD -- U-Haul Company of Massachusetts and Ohio, Inc. has announced that Plaza Supermarket has signed on as a U-Haul neighborhood dealer to serve the Springfield community. Plaza Supermarket at 121 Spring St. will offer U-Haul trucks, towing equipment, support rental items and in-store pick-up for boxes, according to a news release. Hours of operation for U-Haul rentals are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Plaza Supermarket owner Eduardo Infante said he is proud to team with the industry leader in do-it-yourself moving and self-storage to better meet the demands of Hampden County. U-Haul and Plaza Supermarket are striving to benefit the environment through sustainability initiatives. Truck sharing is a core U-Haul sustainability business practice that allows individuals to access a fleet of trucks that is larger than what they could access on an individual basis. hello my name is doris.jpg Sally Field stars in "Hello My Name Is Doris." FAMILY FOCUS "God's Not Dead 2" (PG) "Zootopia" (PG) 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE - THREE STARS - (PG-13) Directed by first-timer Dan Trachtenberg, "10 Cloverfield Lane"is not a full-blooded sequel to 2008's "Cloverfield," though it evokes plenty of chills. John Goodman and Mary Elizabeth Winstead star. (106 min.) BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE - TWO STARS - (PG-13) All this gloom and doom is just the pits. Ben Affleck and Hery Cavill are just stiffin' around, significantly immobilized by costumes and the screenplay, which overflows with the ham-handed psychosomatic muck that defines them, poorly. Later, both their eyes will glow as they glower at each other, Batman's acting as headlights in his helmet, Superman's burning red with his heat vision, and the imagery is, like, symbolic of things and stuff lurking somewhere in all this unfocused thematic slop. (151 min.) DEADPOOL - ONE AND A HALF STARS - (R) Nothing is sacred to either "Deadpool" or this character (played with "I'm so naughty" abandon by Ryan Reynolds), which pokes fun at superhero movie culture, Hollywood itself, Reynolds, director Tim Miller, love and human decency -- and that's just in the opening credits. On the page, it sounds like a lot of fun, and it starts out strong with a cheeky, self-awareness, but that wears thin very quickly. (108 min.) DEMOLITION - THREE STARS - (R) Jake Gyllenhaal stars as an emotionally hamstrung investment banker coping with the death of his wife. Ultimately, the film hinges on Gyllenhaal's ability to be a loose, but not too loose, cannon. (100 min.) THE DIVERGENT SERIES: ALLEGIAN - TWO STARS - (PG-13) The first two films were all Faction-this and Divergent-that, and now that Tris has helped topple the fascist authority lording over her post-apocalyptic home of Chicago, the lingo is different, all Fringe-this and Council-that, a smidgen less cumbersome and pervasive, but just as dull. (121 min.) EYE IN THE SKY - THREE AND A HALF STARS - (PG-13) Helen Mirren and the late Alan Rickman in military thrillers about a top secret drone operation to capture terrorists in Kenya. (102 min.) GODS OF EGYPT - ONE STAR - (PG-13) "Gods of Egypt" is noisy to the eye and ear, an utter mess of story and aesthetic, no subtext and all hypertext, and is bad in a most memorable way. It also features transformers of a sort - Egyptian deities that change from human form to robotic animal-men (127 min.) HELLO MY NAME IS DORIS - THREE AND A HALF STARS - (PG-13) Doris is an aging eccentric who's one trash-pile treasure away from being a hoarder, one Harlequin fantasy away from being a table-for-one lonelyheart, one trip to the shelter away from being a crazy cat lady. She's also the type of movie character who's one mistimed joke away from being the subject of a nasty, point-and-laugh trainwreck. But that doesn't happen. As the title character in "Hello, My Name is Doris," Sally Field finds the sweet spot between mooshy cliche and mean-spirited caricature. (95 min.) LONDON HAS FALLEN - TWO STARS - (R) A blood-soaked action sequel about a resourceful Secret Service agent who must save the president of the United States from terrorists when, while attending a foreign funeral, he walks right into an elaborate trap. (99 min.) MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING 2 - ONE AND A HALF STARS - (PG-13) Recycled jokes and characters from the first movie and the short-lived TV series "My Big Fat Greek Life." (94 min.) THE WITCH - TWO AND A HALF STARS - (R) An effective, atmospheric horror story from writer-director Robert Eggers'set in 1630s Puritan New England. (92 min.) ZOOTOPIA - FOUR STARS - (PG) Disney's animated cop buddy movie set in the metropolis of Zootopia. Fung gags mixed with social commentary and an underlying message of tolerance. (100 min.) Charter Schools7.JPG Great Schools Massachusetts delivered thousands of petitions to Springfield City Hall in support of lifting the cap on charter schools in the commonwealth in late October. (DON TREEGER / THE REPUBLICAN) By ROBERT BARDWELL Special to The Republican There is a battle brewing in Boston that, if not resolved by legislators soon, will end up in the hands of Massachusetts voters come November. The battle has to do with charter schools and whether the state law should be amended to lift the current cap on the number of charter schools allowed to be in operation. The proposed ballot initiative would allow the creation or expansion of 12 new charters a year with preference given to the lowest performing districts beyond the cap of 120 currently allowed under the law, a move strongly supported by Gov. Charles Baker and education Secretary James Peyser. Currently, there are 81 charter schools in operation in the commonwealth serving some 40,000 students. Since the first charter school opened in 1993, Massachusetts arguably has some of the best such schools in the nation based on test scores and independent audits. In order to gain entry into a charter, students must simply indicate an interest as there is no application, entrance exam or fee. If more students want admission than spaces are available, then a lottery is held for those available spots. There are an estimated 34,000 students in Massachusetts on wait lists (and over 1 million nationwide), hoping for an open slot. Charter proponents argue that these schools provide options for students, primarily poor, under-represented students in cities where the public schools are failing them. Some students may opt to leave their home districts not necessarily because of anything negative but because of a specialty focus not offered. The Pioneer Valley Performing Arts Charter School and the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School, in South Hadley and Hadley, would be two such examples. Research indicates that the Boston charter schools often outperform their peers on standardized testing and eliminated persistent math achievement gaps. In addition, between 2007 and 2011 charter students received an additional 259 instructional days in math and an additional 245 days in reading as compared to their peers in public schools. Opponents counter that since charter schools are funded by state dollars that follow each student, such schools take away much needed financial support necessary to keep public schools open and struggling to make it better. Take Boston, for example. There are some 57,000 students in the Boston Public Schools and 7,000 students are in charters. They take an estimated $119 million out of the public school budget. Funding is currently provided to school districts which lose students to charter schools; however, it is only a percentage of the lost revenue as districts have never been fully reimbursed. Governor Baker's current budget calls for an extra $20 million for this purpose, in an effort to appease charter opponents. There is also data which suggests that some charter schools are not all that equitable - that students of color, those with disabilities, and those for whom English is not their first language are not treated fairly. A national study found that the number of African-American males suspended was more than 10 percentage points higher as compared to the white males and 20 points higher for students with disabilities than those who do not have a disability. In 2014, at Roxbury Prep Charter School located in Boston, 40 percent of all students and 58 percent of disabled students were suspended, as compared to 10 percent and 18 percent in all other schools nationwide. So if charters are all that bad, why are there so many students who want to coveted spot? A recent lottery for the Brooke Charter Schools, a group of three schools in Boston catering to predominantly low income, minority youth, yielded 5750 applications for only 240 spots, an admission rate that makes getting into selective colleges look easy. To further complicate the matter, last September a lawsuit was filed in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston on behalf of five students who were denied seats in the charter school lottery process because their constitutional right to a quality education was denied. A decision on this case has yet to be made. Currently, there is a four-person committee of state senators charged with coming up with an alternative to avoid additional lawsuits or a binding ballot question this fall. Their challenge is to create legislation that makes everyone happy, allowing the charter school movement to move forward yet providing safeguards for the public school districts that are losing out with fewer students. So which side will win? Ultimately, that will likely be decided by the voters. The debate is sure to be intense as each side is adamant that their position is the right one. One thing is for sure. A great deal of money and effort will be spent should it make it to the ballot. That's a shame because all of those resources could be better used to help fix the problems that currently exist in all of our schools. Robert Bardwell is school counselor and director of guidance and student support services at Monson High School. You can learn more about him and his work online at bobbardwell.com. The fintech firms are not about to kill off traditional banks. But they will reshape financeand improve itin three fundamental ways. First, the fintech disrupters will cut costs and improve the quality of financial services. Second, the insurgents have clever new ways of assessing and innovating around risks. Third, the sectors newcomers will create a more diverse, and hence stable, credit landscape. Serguei Netessine, Full Story: http://knowledge.insead.edu/economics-finance/is-fintech-here-to-stay-4609?utm_source=Content+Partners&utm_campaign=acb3138329-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_602b84e75f-acb3138329-250171813 This April, help your business blossom Winter is melting away, the days are getting longer and temps are rising! As flowers start to bud, its a great reminder to get some fresh new print materials and make your marketing pop this spring. Ready for custom printing effects? Check out our blog on embossing and debossing, and then call us for a quote on materials that add a great tactile element to your mix. Looking to improve the quality of your writing? Weve got you covered with 6 rules you can implement today to drive more engagement and excitement with your prospects and customers. No matter what your printing needs are, our knowledgeable experts will help you bring your idea to life. Contact us today and get started on the next big, beautiful project that will bring a smile to your face and new customers through the doors. 6 Rules for Better Writing No matter what business youre in, chances are youre writing content for your prospects and customers. Check out our blog for 6 rules that you can apply today to improve your writing, enhance your materials and drive customer engagement. Read the post http://www.printingforless.com/blog/marketing-ideas/6-rules-to-make-anyone-better-at-writing-content?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuaXJZKXonjHpfsX97ugpXKeg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YAGTMJ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEBSbXYSqlot60NWw%3D%3D Build Better Business Cards Your business card is often the first piece of your brand that a prospect will see. It should be one of the strongest, most personal pieces of collateral you produce. And because you deliver it by hand, its a powerful, personal connection that makes an impression so make sure your impression is the right one. Theres no time like the present to upgrade your business cards. Use effects like unique die-cuts, custom foil stamping and soft-touch feel to create a one-of-a-kind card that keeps you, and your business, at the top of your prospects mind. Contact us today and get a quote on the custom business card of your dreams! Get a Quote http://www.printingforless1.com/ps/Request/Quote?type=BusinessCards&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuaXJZKXonjHpfsX97ugpXKeg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YAGTMJ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEBSbXYSqlot60NWw%3D%3D Emboss to Impress When it comes to custom printing effects, adding the tactile component of an embossed or debossed design makes all the difference. Check out the difference and learn how to put this exciting effect into your own materials through our blog. Read the Post http://www.printingforless.com/blog/design-ideas/what-is-embossing-or-debossing?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRojuaXJZKXonjHpfsX97ugpXKeg38431UFwdcjKPmjr1YAGTMJ0aPyQAgobGp5I5FEBSbXYSqlot60NWw%3D%3D Senator and Governor: Montana is the Best Place To Do Business, Create Jobs Following PayPals decision to cancel its expansion plans in North Carolina, Senator Jon Tester and Governor Steve Bullock today invited the multi-billion dollar company to open up shop in Montana. Tester and Bullocks letter to PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman outlined the many reasons why Big Sky Country is best place to do business and create jobs. Highlighting the states top-notch business tax climate, western way of life, and talented workforce, the Senator and Governor encouraged the online money transfer business to seriously consider expanding into Montana. "We were recently ranked the number one state for entrepreneurial activity for the third year in a row," Tester and Bullock wrote. "Montanas positive business climate fosters growth and promotes innovation. But its Montanas quality of life that truly sets us apart; with safe communities, excellent schools, and unparalleled access to public lands and recreational opportunities, Montana truly is the Last Best Place." https://ci6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/RnNZfQn2o2xpggJQqefCOervMbPIci5mujDPJnvl43kv6Rtxjyh5gHN_JKVzeU-aaGz3pePFgxfoAAtZJZNx8mveVTc-11j98EfuAJVcumUenA=s0-d-e1-ft#https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif Tester and Bullocks invite comes on the heels of a recently passed North Carolina law banning anti-discrimination protections for LGBT individuals. In PayPals decision to cancel its plan to open a new global operations center and create 400 new high-paying jobs in North Carolina, Schulman said, "The new law perpetuates discrimination and it violates the values and principles that are at the core of PayPals mission and culture. As a result, PayPal will not move forward with our planned expansion into Charlotte." https://www.paypal.com/stories/us/paypal-withdraws-plan-for-charlotte-expansion Drawing a stark contrast, Senator Tester and Governor Bullock wrote, "Knowing that our state shares your bedrock values, we encourage you to choose Montana. Doing business in our state is a low-cost venture with an unparalleled quality of life. If you decide to pursue locating operations in Montana, you will have the full support of our offices to make doing business here as easy as possible." Tester and Bullocks letter to Schulman is online HERE. http://www.tester.senate.gov/files/images/pay%20pal%20signed.pdf Honourable Minister, Tackling Elder Abuse during and beyond confinement First of all, we congratulate you for the measures your Ministry has been undertaking to assist the needy and particularly older persons at a time when we are going through difficult and very trying challenges under COVID 19 attack. The 7 of April is World Health Day to be marked under a Damocles sword as close to 1 billion people are in obligatory or self -imposed or solitary confinement. In Mauritius the whole population, except for those of our fellow citizens working in essential services, are confined at home, in residential care homes, and in quarantine centers. We are appreciative of the measures taken by Government to protect people, to educate them, and mitigate transmission. The story of the old couple residing in Phoenix, an older man with disabilities following two strokes and his equally older wife staying without food for four days, is perhaps one of many stories going untold for quite some time. This one case would not be classified as one of ageism but this has triggered in many of us a special focus on older men and older women in similar situations and in abusive relationship. The cadres of your Ministry, the officers of the National Human Rights Commission, NGOs of whom DIS-MOI have, over the years, conducted sensitization programmes on Elderly Abuse and Ageism because Elderly Abuse and Ageism are a recognized fact of our society. As you aware Elder Abuse as well as Ageism is a tough hydra taking different aspects physical, verbal, uncare, theft, sexual abuse, abuse of trust in own homes, residential care homes, health care systems, or in public. Older people were not made to align separately in supermarkets as a matter of respect to their rights. Within the ambit of the Protection of Elderly Persons Act 2005, the Monitoring Committee and the Elderly Persons Protection Unit have over time constructed a list of potential risk cases which would require monitoring and follow up. Just as the officers of the Ministry are braced for house to house remittance of pensions to older persons in their residence, we are making a solemn request for visits by officers of the Ministry to households where there would be suspected cases of Elder Abuse. This initiative will go far in alleviating the stress and boosting the morale of many. Thank you for consideration of our letter. Vijay Naraidoo, Secretary-General of DIS-MOI Register for more free articles. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox! Sign up! Already a Subscriber? Already a Subscriber? Sign in Terms of Service Privacy Policy Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank. by Larissa Faw , April 5, 2016 Rokkan has been awarded AOR duties for William Grant & Sons (WSG) to oversee "digitally-led creative" for the brand's core portfolio, including Glenfiddich, The Balvenie, Tullamore D.E.W. Irish Whiskey, Hendricks Gin, Milagro Tequila and Sailor Jerry Spiced Rum. Rokkan first won creative duties for WSG in December of last year to promote Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch Whiskys 14 Your Old Bourbon Barrel Reserve. WGS liked the work so much that they expanded the scope to include their core and launch brands following a formal review. The first work will launch later this year to support the 14-year-old Glenfiddich through multiple channels. Work for other brands will soon after. This account represents a turning point for the agency primarily known for its digital expertise. In the past year weve grown more distant from the word digital,'" says John Noe, Co-Founder and CEO of Rokkan. "It means such a specific thing to some people. But for those who really are digital, we know it to be much more about the connection between people, things, cultures, movements. And with William Grant & Sons, weve found a like-mindedness in how we see the role of digital transforming the way we connect people and brands. by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 6, 2016 Was this spoiler alert really necessary? Or to pose this question more specifically: Is there anyone on Earth who doesnt know that O.J. Simpson was acquitted in his murder trial -- a verdict that stunned the world? Well, if you didnt know this, sorry for spoiling it. The folks at FX apparently think some people didnt know the verdict. So the p.r. department included a request for TV scribes in an advisory e-mail they sent out last week with a link to watch the final episode of American Crime Story: The People Vs. O.J. Simpson (subtitled The Verdict) in advance of its air date Tuesday night. No spoilers, read the request, and we are asking that NO REVIEWS BE POSTED UNTIL THE EPISODE AIRS ON TUESDAY, APRIL 5 AT 10 PM E/P (capitalization theirs, and it was also in bold). OK -- far be it from me to violate a request from a network p.r. department. And for all I know, FXs instinct might have been correct -- that there may have been some viewers, and maybe even a lot of them, who didnt already know how Tuesdays Verdict episode would play out. It is sometimes hard for me to imagine that there may be viewers who were very, very young or not even born yet in 1995 for whom the O.J. Simpson case was not a real experience they lived through, but merely a historical event to which they have no connection -- like the Civil War or Watergate or the Reagan administration. For those of us who were around in the 1990s and engaged in the world around us, the Simpson story -- and most especially the televised verdict on Oct. 3, 1995 -- is something we can never forget. FXs no-spoiler request notwithstanding, I suspect that the vast majority of those who watched the 10th and final episode of this event series Tuesday night on FX knew how it would turn out. For the producers of this series, that was the central challenge of not only the final Verdict episode, but of all the other episodes that came before it -- to make their series suspenseful and compelling despite the fact that so many of us were already so well-acquainted with most of its aspects. It goes without saying that the not-guilty verdict in the finale likely came as no surprise to most of those who were watching. And yet the show still managed to build a degree of tension around the moment, possibly because after nine episodes, viewers already had so much invested in the feelings and reactions of the dramas principal characters -- mainly, the lawyers on both sides of the trial. So while most of us knew what the verdict would be, the scene played out about as well as it could have played in the TV version as the actors -- led by Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson (pictured above with Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran) -- all reacted in the way we remember them reacting when we all watched on that October day in 1995. The 1995 reading of the verdict represented a singular moment in TV history. It was a telecast that was so widely watched that a Google search this week for audience data came up with a wide range -- anywhere from 95 million to 150 million people -- which means the audience was so large that it really could not be accurately tallied. A key reason why the audience was so large was not delineated in the script that was created to reproduce the verdict drama for TV. If memory serves, the news that the jury had reached a verdict broke some time late on the day before the verdict was actually read in court. And the court then set a specific time the next day that the trial would reconvene for the reading of the verdict -- 10 a.m. Pacific time, 1 p.m. Eastern and noon Central. Since the entire nation -- if not the world -- knew well in advance exactly when to stop what they were doing and find a TV to watch in the middle of the day on Oct. 3 (a Tuesday), the result was that the whole world seemed to stand still as millions gathered in homes, workplaces and public squares (such as Times Square in New York) to watch the verdict together. In Tuesdays 66-minute episode on FX, the verdict came somewhere in the middle of the show. The rest of the episode dealt with the aftermath in the day or so after the verdict, as O.J. went home to Rockingham, the prosecution came to grips with losing the case, and Simpsons lawyers savored their victory. The show ended with pictures of murder victims Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman as a reminder that they were real, and that they were the real victims here. It was a nice touch. by Thom Forbes @tforbes, April 6, 2016 Changes in the tax laws announced by the Treasury Dept. late Monday that had eyes for the pending acquisition and inversion deal crafted by Pfizer and Allergan last November have had their intended effect. The companies announced early this morning that the $160 billion deal is dead. In separate press releases, the companies called it a mutual decision, and Pfizer said it agreed to pay Allergan a $150 million breakup fee, reports Renae Merle for the Washington Post. Pfizers board voted Tuesday to halt the combination and the New York-based pharmaceutical company then notified Dublin-based Allergan, sources told the Wall Street Journals Jonathan D. Rockoff, Liz Hoffman and Richard Rubin before the decision was announced. The decision was driven by the actions announced by the U.S. Department of Treasury on April 4, 2016, which the companies concluded qualified as an Adverse Tax Law Change under the merger agreement, Pfizer says in its release this morning. One of the regulations makes tax inversions harder and potentially much less profitable for foreign companies that have been involved in multiple deals with U.S. companies over a three-year period, what Treasury officials called serial inverters. Allergan was bought in March of last year by Actavis, a one-time New Jersey-based firm that itself had merged in 2013 with an Ireland company, explains Don Lee for the Los Angeles Times. That rule appears to be directed at Pfizer-Allergan, Adam Rosenzweig, a professor at Washington University School of Law in St. Louis tells Lee. If the sole purpose [of the merger] was tax-driven, this would probably stop the deal. Pfizers decision to walk away rather than engage in a potentially costly legal battle is a victory for the Obama administration, which introduced the initiatives as part of an effort to thwart the ability of companies to move income overseas, beyond the reach of the United States, write Michael J. de la Merced and Leslie Picker for the New York Times. Obama voiced strong support for the action yesterday, saying the rules are meant to crimp one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there, and prevent wealthy corporations from shirking their tax responsibility, according to an AP report on CBS Money Watch. Big corporations are playing by a different set of rules, Obama said at a brief news conference in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House. He argued that the middle-class, as a result of these inversions, are punished because they have to make up for the lost revenue, the CBS report continues. He also called on the Republican-controlled Congress to take action. Only Congress can close it for good and only Congress can make sure that all the other loopholes that are being taken advantage of are closed, Obama said. Previous Treasury rulings have scotched deals such as AbbVies 2014 bid for the Dublin-based Shire but the new rules are seen as much more aggressive and expansive, and they sent shock waves up and down Wall Street, the NYTs de la Merced and Picker report. They paint a picture of beleaguered attorneys camped out in conference rooms studying how the new rules would affect their clients. There is another side to the story, of course, and we can be sure senior marcomm executives are similarly camped out, honing new ways to tell it and get it circulated. You may recall that Pfizer CEO Ian Read called the Allergan deal a great deal for America in an interview with CNBCs Meg Tirrell, allowing it to sustain an investment of about $9 billion mainly spent in the U.S. And, he pointed out, we have 40,000 combined employees here. In a op-ed piece published on USA Todayssite last night, Brad Anderson, the former CEO of Best Buy, argues that inversions might actually create jobs in the U.S.A. Now a member of the Job Creators Network, Andersons main pitch is for lowering the corporate tax rate of 35% (the highest in the developed world) and end[ing] double taxation by adopting the system used by other countries where companies pay taxes only on their domestic earnings. Allergan, meanwhile, reiterated its compelling standalone growth profile and strategy following the announced termination of the combination of the two companies, according to its release this morning. Allergan is positioned to drive strong, sustainable growth powered by leading franchises, new potential blockbuster product launches and unmatched pipeline. Sounds like doing business the old-fashioned way. by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, April 6, 2016 Gawker Media is asking a Florida judge to throw out a jury's finding that the company violated Hulk Hogan's privacy by posting an excerpt of a sex tape. The company argues that it had a free-speech right to post the material, because it involved a matter that the celebrity (whose real name is Terry Bollea) had alredy publicly discussed. "The evidence showed that plaintiff openly made an issue of his sex life," Gawker writes in papers filed this week with Pinellas County judge Pamela Campbell. Last month, a jury in Florida found Gawker, its founder Nick Denton, and former editor A.J. Daulerio liable for invading Hogan's privacy. The jury awarded Hogan a total of $140 million. Gawker is now asking Campbell to reverse that verdict. The company argues that it had a First Amendment right to post the clip, given that it had already been discussed in the media. "The evidence showed that, prior to the publication at issue in this case, there was widespread discussion of the sexual encounter and video at issue ... including by plaintiff himself," Gawker writes. The company specifically adds that Hogan discussed the sex tape in a 2011 interview with Howard Stern. The wrestler argued at trial that there was a distinction between his public persona of "Hulk Hogan," who discussed the sex tape, and his private persona of Terry Bollea. But Gawker is urging Campbell to reject that concept. "Plaintiffs self-perception of this artificial, dual reality is not one that is recognized by the First Amendment, precisely because it would allow a public figure to thrust himself into the public eye, invite discussion of a topic, and then allow him to unilaterally declare some aspect of that topic off limits," Gawker writes. The company alternatively is asking Campbell to reduce the damage award, or order a new trial. If Campbell rules against Gawker, the company is expected to take its case to the appellate court. Appellate judges previously sided with Gawker in 2014, when they reversed Campbell's pre-trial order requiring Gawker to remove the clip and a 1,400-word commentary by former editor A.J. Daulerio. It was within Gawker Media's editorial discretion to publish the written report and video excerpts, a three-judge appellate panel wrote in 2014. Those judges added that Gawker's post dealt with a matter of public interest, and that Hogan had called TMZ Live to discuss the sex tape, appeared on the Howard Stern Show to say that he had an affair with the wife of a friend, and was certainly not shy about disclosing details of a separate affair in his autobiography. "The mere fact that the publication contains arguably inappropriate and otherwise sexually explicit content does not remove it from the realm of legitimate public interest," the appellate judges wrote. by Tobi Elkin @tobielkin, April 6, 2016 It's a goal for many industry stakeholders: the ability to use consumer data -- and insights drawn from that data--to inform creative messaging. How does that happen? Michael Davis, head of creative for Conversant, explains the media companys approach. Conversant offers video, display, mobile and CRM programs, and sees Google Ad Network, Yahoo Audience Network and Facebook as its main competitors in terms of its focus on one-to-one personalization and relationships with both brands and agencies. Real-Time Daily: What is the opportunity for data to inform creative? Michael Davis: On one side you have creative agencies and most marketing companies on the agency side, which want data-driven creative. They need data to give them the answers on how to build creative stories. Thats the agency model. While the industry is inundated by verification based on clicks, we cant verify clicks theres too much ad fraud. We verify what real people are actually doing. We get the data from agencies and brands and then on our side, we help them break the data down into thousands of different pieces. On the media side of the business that we work on, the data actually informs decisions, not creative. We work with lots of creative and media agencies. Based on the 160 million consumer identities that we have, theres a creative algorithm that will show you all of the data that informs the decision on what people should actually see. Its advanced personalization. Real-Time Daily: How does that work? Davis: Say you have Brand A, and on that brand there might be three campaigns running. We might create seven different looks for those three campaigns. We work with agencies or brands to help them with those treatments and how they should look across devices. Of those seven different treatments, we might create 30 to 50 different headlines and 50 different opportunities. For example, based on weather and geo-location, if someone is buying shoes in Florida, we wont send an image of snow boots. We might have 80 different product images, headlines, calls to action, backgrounds, copy and text. In the algorithm, you have the potential for 56 million potential iterations on one campaign. Theyre all multiplied in the algorithm, along with 7,000 attributes (identifying people by gender, where and when theyve shopped, what theyve bought, etc.) and we have data on 160 million individuals. The holy grail is, how many real people can we talk to today? We have 160 million real people across deviceswe can talk to that many people. The engine we have makes decisions on who the right person is, where theyve been in the last hour, two hours, 10 days, in-store, etc. We have online and offline data thats anonymized. Real-Time Daily: Are you doing retargeting? Davis: Were not doing retargeting. Were using first-party cookies and work with online and offline data. Real-Time Daily: How are you dealing with ad fraud and non-human traffic within this system? Davis: Theres a difference between real people vs. bots and clicks. We go through extensive data scrubbing to ensure our ad quality. For the ad inventory, were up to 96% accuracy and cross-device matching verification. What that means is that we have a way to talk to real people who are doing real things because our advertisers provide us with their offline and online data. That data enables us to verify second by second whether those people are real, where theyre buying and what theyre doing. Real-Time Daily: Can you walk us through an example? Davis: Take the hunting, fishing and camping gear retailer Cabela's, for example. We want to talk to a real or potential Cabela's customer. Were optimizing creative right at the time when theyre online, deciding what layers to send. We assess your personality and lifestyle attributes and where you are cross-device. One Cabela's ad might have 10 different headlines. All of those decisions come together. The ad isnt pre-rendered it gets put together at the second the customer goes to the site. We offer personalized display advertising thats rendered at the time of the bid. Within 40 milliseconds, well make a decision on what ad to serve you, so its a truly one-to-one transaction based on who you are and your attributes. We might send you any one of 56 million iterations of an ad, offer or promotion. This isnt just about putting a new headline on the ad. We put all the layers together within 40 milliseconds at the time of the auction, in real-time. With the CRM data we have, we can understand anonymously where people are going. We have 100 people in the creative department. The decision on what creative units get rendered is constantly changing based on the analytics. The analytics team works within the engine to make the decision. Death is a part of life for people over 95 years old, who mainly live day-to-day, concludes a rare study of attitudes to death and dying amongst the very old. The research, from the University of Cambridge and published in the journal PLOS ONE, finds that this group is willing to discuss dying and their end-of-life care, but is seldom asked. Improvements in our environment and lifestyles, as well as significant medical and healthcare advances, mean that more and more people are living to a very old age. According to a report published last year by the Office of National Statistics, the number of people aged 90 or more at the time of their death has tripled in the past three decades in the UK. "Despite the dramatic rise in the number of people living into very old age, there is far too little discussion about what the 'oldest old' feel about the end of their lives," says Dr Jane Fleming from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge, who led the study. "We know very little, too, about the difficult decisions concerning their end of life care." In a study part-funded by the National Institute for Health Research, researchers interviewed 33 people over 95 years old from the Cambridge City over-75s Cohort and for 30 of these and for 9 people too frail to be interviewed in person, a 'proxy' - a relative or member of care-home staff, for example - about attitudes towards death, dying and end-of-life care. The responses are at times poignant and occasionally humorous, but provide a fascinating perspective on the views of an often overlooked minority. The age of the older people was so great that most of their contemporaries had died, so death was a regular feature of life and many spoke of living on borrowed time. "As people get older, as their friends die, there's an element of ticking them off," said one proxy. Many of the older people referred to "taking each day as it comes", expressing thankfulness for where they were in life and content, at this stage, to take life one day at a time, not worrying too much about tomorrow. There was a sense of life ticking along until something drastic happened. "It is only day-from-day when you get to ninety-seven," said one. Although one interviewee described only being "three-quarters of the way" through their life, others knew and accepted that they were going to die soon. One son-in-law describes his elderly mother-in-law giving a long-life light bulb to her granddaughter, saying: "Something for you, it's not worth me having". Most of the interviewees felt ready to die. "I'm ready to go," said one woman. "I just say I'm the lady-in-waiting, waiting to go." Some felt they were a nuisance to others, while others were more desperate in their desire to reach the end, suggesting they had simply lived too long. "Please don't let me live 'til I'm a hundred," one woman said to her proxy. Several proxies discussed conversations that they had had about euthanasia. A son described a vivid memory of accompanying his mother to visit one of her friends who had dementia: "She said 'Gordon, if I ever get like that, for goodness sake put a...', it was her words, not mine, 'put a pillow over my head, will you?'" Most were not afraid of dying, either reporting that it did not worry them or their proxies saying they had not expressed any worries or fears about it. For some this absence of fear was rooted in positive experiences of others' dying: One interviewee said of her parents: "They were alive, then they were dead, but it all went off as usual. Nothing really dramatic or anything. Why should it be any different for me?" Proxies reported that death was rarely talked about: "That generation, they didn't actually discuss death much, I don't think," said one. A few, however, talked openly about death and the future - one proxy described a conversation: "She said, 'I should think I'll snuff it soon, don't you?' I said, 'I don't know, you tell me' and she just laughs. I mean, she... You can laugh with her about it, you know." Discussion of funeral preferences was more common than talking about death, although the extent of discussions varied. Some had made their preferences clear and had made plans themselves and paid for their funerals in advance. Others noted the difficulties of discussing funerals - one proxy described a conversation with her mother: "I said, 'Do you think you would want to be buried or cremated?' And she said, 'Well, cremated, I think.' I find it very difficult talking to her. I don't feel that I can. You see, I say to my children 'Oh, that's a nice song on the radio. Oh, perhaps I'll have that at my funeral'. And you couldn't to my mum." The manner of death was of more concern than its imminence. Although some said they had not really thought about dying, many explicitly expressed the wish to die peacefully, pain free and preferably while asleep - to "just slip away quietly." "I'd be quite happy if I went suddenly like that," said one interviewee, snapping their fingers. When asked whether, if they had a life-threatening illness, they would want to receive treatment that would save their life or prefer treatment that would just make them comfortable, few people chose life-saving treatment. "Make me comfortable" was a far more typical response and proxy informants tended to echo the older people's dominant preference for comfort rather than life-saving treatment. Few people wanted to be admitted to hospital in the event of such an illness, though rarely gave reasons. One care home manager explained about her resident: "If she went to [hospital] quite poorly, I think she would be full of anxiety and I think it would exacerbate any illness she had. I think she would find it alarming actually." Family members were often aware of preferences. One niece said of her aunt: "She's dead against going. She doesn't like hospitals. She doesn't want to go." Her aunt, she said just wanted to go to bed and go to sleep without going into hospital - "I think that's her ideal, just dying in her own home." A handful of interviewees viewed well-intended medical interventions as prolonging life unnecessarily, an issue usually, but not exclusively, raised by proxy informants. One 98-year-old couldn't "see any point in keeping people alive". One proxy described being annoyed when the doctor gave her relative a pneumonia injection: "She had no quality of life... was ready to go ... [but] there was no consultation with us at all about it." "Death is clearly a part of life for people who have lived to such an old age," says Dr Fleming, "so the older people we interviewed were usually willing to discuss dying, a topic often avoided." However, most had only had discussions regarding end-of-life preferences with health care professionals, rarely with family members. Nonetheless proxies tended to feel they knew their relative's preferences, though the study found in a couple of instances relatives' guesses were wrong. A care home manager commented that it was not necessarily with older people themselves that professionals broached the topic: "Historically what happens in hospitals is they tend to... if it's not asked beforehand they go straight to the relatives. They won't broach it with the individual, which is actually [...] against the Data Protection Act, and it's nobody else's business. But it is how the culture of hospitals works unfortunately." However, the same care home manager pointed to the practical difficulties of having conversations about end-of-life care preferences: "I've not had long discussions, because of [her] hearing problem. It's very difficult to write them down on paper. And she's got to shout the answer back at you and you've got to re-clarify it." "In our previous research we found the majority of people who die in their 90s or 100s are dependent on others because of very high levels of disability and cognitive impairment by the last year of life," explains Dr Fleming. "Over recent decades most people dying in very old age have moved into care in their final year or died in hospital. To plan services to best support rising numbers of people dying at increasingly older ages we need to understand their priorities as they near the end of life." "Now so many more people have reached a great age before they die, it's important we know about their views and their concerns, particularly in relation to end-of-life care," says Dr Morag Farquhar, the study's other lead author. "These are difficult conversations to have and no one wants to have to face their own death or that of a loved one. But having these conversations before it is too late can help ensure that an individual's wishes, rather than going unspoken, can be heard." Cerebral activity is governed by a fine balance between neuronal excitation and inhibition. Specifically, neurons are activated by excitation mechanisms tightly regulated by inhibition processes. For certain functions, the neuronal network needs to be synchronized. This causes high-frequency oscillations that make behavior and information-processing possible. This synchronization depends on the excitation/inhibition balance that is affected in a significant number of disorders that involve cognitive dysfunction. In an article published in the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, scientists from the Centre for Genomic Regulation, led by Dr. Mara Dierssen, and the laboratory of Dr. Mavi Sanchez Vives, at the Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), describe altered oscillations and synchronization in the cerebral cortex for a Down syndrome candidate gene in a mouse model. Such alterations have been linked to problems with functions as relevant as decision-making, impulsiveness, working memory or attention. "Changes in the cellular architecture of neurons in the cerebral cortex, in Down syndrome animal models had already been detected in the past. We observed that the neurons had a different structure. Now we have taken another step, studying the physiology, or the function of this cerebral cortex, and found that those cellular alterations and slight changes in inhibitory connectivity translate into a deficit of activation of this region and of its neuronal activity rhythm and synchronization," states Dr. Mara Dierssen, head of the Cellular and Systems Neurobiology group and Co-Principal Investigator of this study. "One of the main problems with mental impairment is that we don't understand how the alterations that we detect at the cellular level trigger changes in the cerebral circuits and alterations in cognitive function. The study that we've published explains some of these cellular alterations and offers for the first time an in vivo study of the physiology of the cerebral cortex, a key structure in executive functions such as concentration, learning or problem-solving." she adds. The researchers focused on one of the genes related with Down syndrome. Using experiments on animal models that overexpress the candidate gene, the researchers have shown that an excess of this gene causes very subtle changes in the excitation/inhibition balance, and these lead to a significant diminishment of the activity and synchronization of excitatory neurons in the prefrontal cortex. In other words, when this gene is over-expressed, it reduces the discharge level of the neurons and alters the oscillation of high-frequency waves in the cerebral cortex. Not only that, they observed that the problem originates in neurons responsible for controlling inhibition. In short, if there is less activity and an imbalance in the frequencies of the cerebral waves in Down syndrome it could be due to changes in the connectivity of neurons that should control them. The study combined experiments in electrophysiology and histology with a computational model that virtually emulates the neuronal circuit of the cerebral cortex. "We've identified anatomical and functional alterations and, using a computational model, we've shown how these deficits could explain experimental observations," says Dr. Sanchez Vives, head of the Systems Neurosciences team and Co-Principal Investigador of this paper. "The computational model has made it possible for us to understand the entire mechanism. We can make predictions on how the cerebral cortex functions in this pathology, and how the alterations detected will impact cognitive function," concludes the researcher. This study, the lead authors of which are Marcel Ruiz-Mejias of IDIBAPS and Maria Martinez de Lagran of the CRG, has also been participated in by researchers from Pompeu Fabra University, the Pablo de Olavide University and the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome. Amarin Corporation plc has announced two posters presented at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). This research adds to the growing body of clinical and pre-clinical data relevant to the use of EPA with statins. The first poster, "Icosapent Ethyl (Eicosapentaenoic Acid Ethyl Ester) in Statin-Treated Patients With Elevated Cardiovascular Risk and Very High Triglyceride Levels: Results From the MARINE Study," is an exploratory subgroup analysis of results from Amarin's MARINE trial of Vascepa (icosapent ethyl) and observed that, compared to placebo in statin-treated patients with elevated cardiovascular risk and very high triglycerides (TGs), Vascepa administered at 4 g/day significantly lowered TGs and improved other parameters relevant to cardiovascular health without raising LDL ("bad") cholesterol. The MARINE study and this subgroup analysis were led by Harold Bays, MD, Medical Director and President, Louisville Metabolic and Atherosclerosis Research Center, Louisville, KY. The second poster, a pre-clinical study titled, "Eicosapentaenoic Acid and Atorvastatin Active Metabolite, Alone or in Combination, Reversed Glucose- and Oxidized LDL-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction Measured Ex Vivo in Rats," noted that, independently and in combination, EPA and the active metabolite of atorvastatin improved endothelial function measured in rat kidney sections. This pre-clinical research was led by R. Preston Mason, Ph.D., Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and president and founder, Elucida Research LLC. "The results of these two studies add to the growing body of clinical and pre-clinical data on the effects of EPA when combined with statins under the conditions studied," said Steven Ketchum, Ph.D., president of research and development and chief scientific officer at Amarin. "Amarin's REDUCE-IT trial, examining the effect of EPA therapy on top of statin therapy in at-risk patients with elevated triglycerides has reached target enrollment and will provide needed cardiovascular outcomes data for this important patient population." About the Presented Research Dr. Bays' analysis was based on a subgroup of the MARINE trial, a study designed to determine the effects of high-purity, prescription-grade icosapent ethyl (Vascepa) on patients with severe hypertriglyceridemia, including those who were also receiving statin therapy. The 12-week, double-blind, phase 3 MARINE trial included patients (n=229) with TGs between 500 mg/dL and 2000 mg/dL. Statin treatment was not mandated as part of the study's inclusion criteria, but was used as a stratification factor. The subgroup analysis presented at ACC examined the effects of icosapent ethyl 4 g/day on fasting plasma lipid and lipoprotein parameters in the subgroup of patients from MARINE receiving stable statin therapy, with or without ezetimibe, which represented approximately 25% of the MARINE patient population. This MARINE subgroup analysis focused on a comparison between statin-treated subjects administered 4 g/day icosapent ethyl (n=20) versus placebo (n=18), showing that, compared to placebo, icosapent ethyl significantly reduced TGs (-65%; P=0.0001), non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-29%; P=0.0094), total cholesterol (-25%; P=0.0045), very-low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-46%; P=0.0185), and RLP-C (-57%; P=0.0198) and numerically (all P > 0.05) reduced ApoB (-7%), oxLDL (-10%), and ApoC-III (-23%). The reductions seen in the study were not associated with a significant increase in LDL-C (-2%) or change in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (+2%) (P > 0.05 vs placebo). As with many subgroup analyses, a limitation of this analysis is the small sample size, but the results are nonetheless suggestive of complementary beneficial changes in lipid and lipoprotein parameters from the addition of icosapent ethyl to statin therapy beyond statin therapy alone. Dr. Mason's exploratory study was designed to determine if a combination of EPA and the active metabolite of atorvastatin could improve endothelial cell function in rat kidney sections. Endothelial dysfunction, a condition where the inner lining of the blood vessels is unable to provide its normal function of vasodilation and vasoconstriction, is a precursor to cardiovascular disease. The reduction of the release of nitric oxide (NO), which allows blood vessels to function properly, is often accompanied by a concomitant increase in peroxynitrite (ONOO-) and is the primary cause of endothelial dysfunction. Increases in NO and the ratio of NO/ ONOO-, along with decreases in ONOO-, are considered indicators of improved endothelial function. This research tested the separate and combined effects of EPA and the active metabolite of atorvastatin in rat kidney sections exposed to oxidized LDL (oxLDL) and high glucose levels. The combination of EPA and atorvastatin active metabolite increased NO release by 298% (P < 0.001), decreased the release of ONOO- by 32% (P < 0.05), and increased the NO/ONOO- ratio from 0.26 to 1.51 (P < 0.001). The researchers concluded that the combined effects of EPA and the active metabolite of atorvastatin on the release of nitric oxide (NO) and the NO/ONOO- ratio were significantly greater than what was observed for the active metabolite of atorvastatin alone. Amarin's clinical development program for Vascepa includes a trial known as REDUCE-IT, the first multinational cardiovascular outcomes study evaluating the benefit of high-dose EPA therapy as an add-on to statins in patients with high cardiovascular risk who, despite stable statin therapy, have elevated triglyceride levels. The company announced last week that it has achieved its target enrollment of 8,000 patients for the trial and that an interim analysis by the independent Data Monitoring Committee of the REDUCE-IT trial is expected within the next six months. Additional information on MARINE, REDUCE-IT and Amarin's other clinical studies of Vascepa can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov. Being able to shop for food in later life is an important aspect of remaining independent and staying well. Shopping can be a social activity; a time to go out, meet friends and maintain good health. However, many older adults fear that carrying shopping bags will increase their risk of falling and for those living alone this can lead to isolation and difficulties in accessing food. A report by Age UK* estimates that as many as one in ten over-65s living in their own homes are at risk of malnutrition. But a recent study, conducted by the Active Ageing Research Group at the University of Cumbria, has concluded that carrying shopping bags, whether in one or both hands, should pose no additional threat of falling. The study examined the stability and walking patterns of younger and older females while carrying different combinations of shopping bags ie no bags, light bag on one hand, heavy bag on one hand, light bag on both hands, heavy bag on both hands. The bag loads (heaviest load was 3kg in each hand) represented the load of typical items eg a loaf of bread (400/800g), one can of soup (300g), 1 litre of milk (1kg), etc. The research showed that carrying shopping bags does not make older individuals more unstable during standing or undisturbed walking. These findings should lessen concerns about instability and falling during a shopping excursion. The study's authors, Dr Susan Dewhurst and Theodoros Bampouras, explain: "The idea for the study came from discussions with older individuals about the barriers they face while out and about, completing everyday tasks. Encouraging older adults to continue shopping for essential items helps to reduce social isolation and increase their levels of physical activity. "The university's Active Ageing Research Group is committed to helping older individuals maintain independence and quality of life through scientific research, which can easily be used and translated into practical applications." "Based on the findings of this study, we are now examining different ways that can potentially assist older individuals maintain better balance." The study is published in Gait & Posture journal. Advertisement GA-PCOM has been working on this initiative throughout the school year. Through its Interprofessional Education (IPE) program, the college has developed a curriculum that involves osteopathic medical and pharmacy students working together throughout all four years of their education. The curriculum teaches future healthcare professionals the importance of collaborating and communicating to deliver the best patient-centered care. This year the theme revolved around drug addiction.On April 7, a team from GA-PCOM including Assistant Dean of Clinical Education Paula Gregory, DO, MBA; Professor and Assistant Dean for Curriculum Bonnie Buxton, PhD; and Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Jennifer Elliott, PharmD; along with "Addiction on Trial" author Steven Kassels, MD, will be presenting the college's IPE data at the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine annual meeting in Washington, DC. Vice Chair and Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Sara Reece, PharmD, is also part of the IPE team, but will not attend the meeting. This year, first year students worked together in five member teams to explore aspects of ethics and professionalism, particularly surrounding issues of drug abuse.As the culmination of this year's IPE work, Dr. Kassels spoke to students, faculty and staff members. With the assistance of Dr. Kassels, a curriculum had been designed to guide students in exploring the psycho social and ethical issues affiliated with addiction.According to Dr. Kassels, the annual cost to society for drug and alcohol addiction-related issues is $400 billion which includes crime, health care and lost worker productivity. The disease affects all socio-economic groups. "We've tried to cut supply for years," he said, "but it has not worked. We also need to cut the demand." He added, "We as Americans have a desire to take away the pain, and physicians need to be more cognizant of best prescribing practices for pain medications."Dr. Kassels believes that the gateway drugs to heroin include opiates, alcohol and marijuana and that physicians and pharmacists have an obligation to monitor usage. He encouraged students to screen, intervene and refer to treatment when they are practicing providers. By learning to recognize the signs of drug abuse and how to communicate with other disciplines, these future doctors will be able to effectively use treatment resources in caring for patients.Source: Newswise Please complete this form and we'll send you a personalised information that is requested You may use this for your own reference or forward it to your friends. Please use the information prudently. If you are not a medical doctor please remember to consult your healthcare provider as this information is not a substitute for professional advice. Advertisement "She had symptoms including a rash, conjunctivitis, and fatigue," the statement said, adding that she tested positive for Zika last Thursday. VnExpress, a state media outlet, said the woman is two months pregnant.Both patients are in a stable condition and the ministry has monitored the relatives and friends of the two women but "did not detect any other cases," of the virus, which has been linked to increased rates of microcephaly in babies born to infected mothers.It was not immediately clear if either of the women had recently travelled abroad. Vietnam had already raised its alert level against the virus after an Australian tourist tested positive after leaving the country on March 6, the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said.Zika is transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads dengue fever, and was first discovered in Uganda in 1947. It is not usually life-threatening but has been linked to a rise in birth defects, with hundreds of babies born with unusually small heads in countries where the virus is prevalent.Brazil has been hardest hit by Zika, with some 1.5 million people infected and 745 confirmed cases of the brain-deforming syndrome microcephaly in children born to women infected with the virus while pregnant.It has also spread quickly to more than 30 places in Latin America and the Caribbean since last year. There have been a small number of Zika cases across the Greater Mekong region. Nearby Thailand has recorded around five cases a year since 2012, according to health officials who earlier this year stressed that the virus currently posed no widespread threat.Source: AFP MEMRI is continuing to meet the challenge to homeland security, assisting Western authorities 24/7, particularly in light of the terror attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Istanbul, and Brussels. So far this year, MEMRI has focused on two main directions: first, expanding our efforts in 2014 and 2015 in the war against the Islamic State (ISIS), with the Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) - and reporting on encrypted jihadi communications with our Cyber Jihad Lab (CJL). MEMRI research on jihad directly assists European efforts to thwart ISIS activity - last September, an extensive MEMRI team held a two-day seminar on ISIS for the EU Council in Brussels. MEMRI's second effort is the launch, in January, of its new Russian Media Studies Project. Russia's reemergence as global rival to the U.S. and the West was underlined by U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph F. 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WHY YOU SHOULD SUPPORT MEMRI As a valued reader of MEMRI, you are familiar with our continuing efforts to monitor more media sources in more countries, research more subjects, translate into more languages, and expand our reach. You also understand that tremendous resources are required in order to sustain these efforts. MEMRI's unique and timely research is a critical part of the discussion about the Middle East among governments, the media, militaries, academia, and the general public. MEMRI is a resource for international law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and is the only organization worldwide constantly monitoring, translating, analyzing and making available to Western audiences content from hundreds of Arabic, Farsi, Dari, Hindi, Urdu, Pashtu, Russian, and Turkish newspapers, magazines, television shows, and websites. 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He suggests that a potential solution to the Syria crisis might be an "asymmetrical federation" that will respect the principle of the country's territorial integrity but will at the same time guarantee "sufficient autonomy" for ethnic, religious, regional and political groups in Syria. Kortunov states further that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is neither a client of Russia's nor a personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin's. Rather, Russia considers Assad and his regime as a mere instrument to prevent chaos in Syria, since an authoritarian state is better than a "failed" one. Kortunov says that Russia does not want Syria to become another Libya, considering its geographical proximity to the South Caucasus and Central Asia. As for the American role in the Middle East, Kortunov stresses that Russia has no interest in pushing the U.S. out of the region. Russia wants to be a global player, but at the same time it has "no resources for and no interest" in replacing the United States as the "next hegemonic power" in the Middle East. Indeed, Kortunov stresses that Russia needs the U.S. in the region, because if Washington withdraws from the Arab world, it is likely to leave behind a vacuum that will be filled by radical fundamentalist forces hostile to the West and to Russia. Lastly, Kortunov contends that the role of Iran will be one of the decisive factors shaping the future of the Middle East. Speaking of Russian-Iranian relations, Kortunov admits that while there has always been "a temptation" to build these relations on an anti-Western basis, this cannot be a "stable and reliable foundation," and Russia and Iran should rather increase their cooperation on regional matters - including the Caspian Sea issues, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The interview with Kortunov was previously published in Farsi on the website of the Iranian research institute Iran Eurasia Research Institute (IRAS).[1] The following are excerpts from the English version of the interview with Kortunov, published on the RIAC website on March 29 (the text has been lightly edited for clarity).[2] Andrey Kortunov (Source: Russiancouncil.ru) "Authoritarian States In The Middle East Are Better Than Failed States" Question: "Russian military presence in Syria makes Russia a pivotal player in the Middle East. How does Russia define its role in the Middle East?" Andrey Kortunov: "OCRussia tries to avoid taking sides in the Sunni-Shia disputes, supporting those in the region who back religious tolerance and respect for minority rights. The Arab Spring of 2011-2012 changed many fundamentals in the regionOC If in the West the Arab Spring was initially received by many with high hopes and even enthusiasm, in Russia, from the outset, the political mainstream expressed deep skepticism and concern about the likely outcomes of the ongoing regional transformation. Furthermore, the Arab Spring was often presented by Moscow as a long-planned Western (predominantly U.S.) conspiracy aimed at acquiring more control over the Arab world by pursuing a strategy of 'controlled chaos'OC The failed transition in Libya was an important learning experience for Moscow. It consolidated the conservative faction in the Russian political establishment and nearly silenced the liberal opposition. After Libya, Russian officials formulated their new approach to the Middle East, which can be summarized in the following way: First, authoritarian states in the Middle East are preferable to failed states that replace the former following public uprisings (which are often planned, funded, and instigated from abroad). Second, the intentions and commitments of the West should not be trusted; the West can easily 'sell out' its longtime allies and friends in the region (e.g. Mubarak in Egypt)OC Third, if Russia remains an idle bystander, observing the Arab Spring from the sidelines, the chaos, instability, and terrorism generated in the Arab world will ultimately spill over Russia's borders, not to mention lead to the demise of Russian influence in the region. The practical application of this new approach was, of course, Moscow's engagement in the civil war in Syria. In this bloody and protracted conflict Moscow demonstrated much more than its readiness to oppose what was perceived as the consolidated position of the West. For the first time since the invasion of Afghanistan back in 1979, the Kremlin used military force outside the boundaries of the former Soviet Union. For the first time a Russian military aircraft was downed by a NATO member country [Turkey]. For the first time Russia became a central player in a large-scale war right in the heart of the Arab world." Question: "How do you assess Saudi objectives in the Middle East, and to what extent are these goals 'for or against' Russian interests in the region? Could Russia and Saudi Arabia reach an agreement on the future of the Middle East?" Kortunov: "...Relations between Moscow and Riyadh have always been complicated; Russia accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting militant radical Islamic groups in Syria, while the Saudis have consistently opposed Russia's support for the regime of Bashar Assad in Damascus. However, there are also overlapping interests: both Russia and Saudi Arabia oppose plans to partition Syria and both are concerned about the current crisis of statehood in the region. Another common interest is to prevent a further uncontrolled fall in energy prices. Recently, we have seen more active interaction between Russian and Saudi leaders, although major differences in approach to the Syrian situation remain unresolved. My personal guess is that a Russian-Saudi agreement on the future of the Middle East is more likely to be achieved in a multilateral format than in the framework of their bilateral relationship." A Potential Solution To The Syrian Crisis Would Be An "Asymmetrical Federation" That Respects The Country's Territorial Integrity While Guaranteeing Sufficient Autonomy Question: "With respect to recent events between Russia and Turkey impinging on cordial bilateral trade ties and economic cooperation, how do you predict the future of Russian-Turkish relations?" Kortunov: "I would argue that the crisis between our two countries has been in the making for a long time, and the SU-24 downing was only the last straw that broke the camel's back. For many years, Russians and Turks tried to convince each other that they could 'agree to disagree' on many controversial and explosive political mattersOC Over the years serious disagreements over Caucasus, the Middle East, Iran, Ukraine, NATO, BMD [Ballistic Missile Defense], gas pipelines, and other matters were swept under the rug. But this mutual hypocrisy could not last forever. In a way, the ongoing crisis was possible only because the notion of a strategic partnership between Russia and Turkey remained on paperOCWhat could either side do to restore the relationship? Before answering this question, we should ask ourselves something else: what can we not afford in the near future? First, we cannot restore mutual trust anytime soon - the trust between the two national leaders and between the political elites in Moscow and Ankara is completely broken. Second, we cannot realistically discuss any strategic reconciliation between the two countries or a Russian-Turkish "Grand Bargain." In the absence of mutual trust and with the lack of the strategic depth the idea of a mutual remission of sins by Putin and Erdogan seems ridiculous. Third, we should be fully aware of the fact that the spiral of hostility and mutual animosity is spinning ever faster, and both sides would have to invest considerable time and energy in slowing this negative momentum, not to mention reversing itOC One should seek the solution where the problem is located. The most critical bone of contention between Russia and Turkey today - all other disagreements and disputes notwithstanding - is the future of Syria. Russia is committed to preserving the territorial integrity of Syria, while Turkey feels responsible for the future of the Syrian Turkmen and other Turkey-oriented groups opposed to Damascus. A number of external players including Iran and the Gulf states have their own interests and claims to protect among the Syrian factions. I do not like the term 'soft partition' because it emphasizes the noun 'partition' more than the adjective 'soft.' But a potential solution to the Syrian riddle might well be connected to the concept of an 'asymmetrical federation' that will not question the principle of the country's territorial integrity, but will at the same time guarantee sufficient autonomy for ethnic, religious, regional and political factions in Syria, including the preservation of their traditional links with neighboring countries. The concept of an 'asymmetrical federation' may become the platform for a compromise not only between Russia and Turkey, but between all the major players involved in the Syrian conflict. If we agree on the future of Syria, it would be much easier to move ahead on other burning issues." Question: "Some say that Russia is employing hard power to deter threats and secure its interests in different parts of the world. How effective is such an approach?" Kortunov: "Russia invested considerable resources into restoring and upgrading its hard power capabilities under President Putin. It now has robust military potential with significant power projection capacities and a reliable nuclear deterrent. Russia has successfully tested some of its newly-acquired capabilities in the Syrian conflict. Despite the current economic difficulties, the ongoing large-scale modernization of the Russian armed forces continues mostly as scheduled. Russia remains a major global exporter of arms, second only to the United StatesOC [However,] skillful diplomacy is no less important than hard power. Russia is still learning how it can use its soft power in the most efficient way. Bashar Assad Has Never Been A Client Of Moscow's Nor A Friend Of Putin's Question: "What is the Kremlin's plan for Syria's future? What kind of Syria is good for Russia and under what circumstances might Russia end its mission in Syria?" Kortunov: "When Western experts and Kremlin watchers analyze Russian strategy in Syria, they usually single out three goals that Moscow allegedly pursues in this conflict. First, to rescue the Russian client in the region - Bashar Assad and his regime; second, to diminish U.S. influence in the Middle East to the extent that this is possible; third, to support Shias against Sunnis in the sectarian clash that is tearing apart the Islamic world. In my view, all three alleged goals can be questioned. First, Bashar Assad has never been a client of Moscow's and he is not a personal friend of Vladimir Putin's... Bashar Assad does not have powerful lobbyists in Moscow, as Saddam Hussein once had. Economically, Syria is much less important to Russia than, for instance, neighboring Turkey, or even Iraq. When Russian officials argue that their prime concern is the future of Syrian statehood, not the future of Bashar Assad personally, they are not necessarily trying to deceive the West. To have another Libyan situation in Syria, much closer to the South Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia proper, is not an attractive option for decision makers in the Kremlin. In this respect, Bashar Assad and his regime are nothing but instruments to prevent chaos and anarchy in Syria. Are these instruments indispensable? Probably not. But so far all the efforts of the U.S. and its partners to present a consolidated Syrian opposition as a credible alternative to the regime in Damascus do not appear too convincing to Moscow. Second, the idea that Moscow is desperately trying to push the United States out of the Middle East fits nicely into standard Cold War logic, but does not convincingly explain Russia's recent moves in the region. If Washington is the main competitor, why offer to work together with the U.S. on chemical weapons in Syria; or to collaborate with the Americans on the Iranian nuclear dossier? Decision makers in the Kremlin might be generally anti-Western and anti-U.S., but they are definitely not crazy. They understand that Russia has no resources for and no interest in replacing the United States in the Middle East as the next hegemonic power. And if Washington does withdraw from the Arab world, it is likely to leave behind a vacuum to be filled with radical fundamentalist forces equally hostile to the West and to Russia. Russia needs the U.S. in the region, despite its insistence that current American policies in the Middle East - starting with the Iraq war of 2003 - are ill-conceived, poorly implemented and, at the end of the day, mostly counterproductive. Third, the Sunni-Shia explanation for Russian strategy is linear and schematic at best. To start with, the Damascus army does not include only Shias, as there are many Sunnis fighting on Assad's side as well. One of Russia's closest partners and friends in the Arab world is Egypt, which happens to be the largest Arab Sunni country. The majority of twenty million plus Russian Moslems are Sunni and it would be political suicide for any regime in Moscow to align with Shias against Sunnis abroad. However, since Moscow is committed to fighting against ISIS, pure military logic pushes it to build alliances with whoever has the best fighting capacity on the ground. For a variety of reasons, Sunni states in the Gulf and most other Arab Sunnis are not in a position to commit substantial ground forces to a joint anti-ISIS campaign." Question: "Envisioning an end to the Syrian conflict, would Russia and Iran be eager to cement their strategic cooperation in the Middle East? What are your recommendations for improving bilateral political, economic, and military dialogue in the future? How could both countries cooperate on the energy market?" Kortunov: "Russia managed to take the lead in the dramatic events currently taking place in and around Syria. Its positions cannot be ignored and no settlement is possible without Russia's participation. However, one should not overestimate the role of Russia - or of any other non-regional power - in the mid- and long-term evolution of the Middle East. The region has entered a historically unprecedented cycle of social, economic, and political transformation that is likely to last until at least the middle of this century. The future of the Arab world will depend mostly on the successes or failures of its own regional centers of gravity - such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia. As for external factors affecting the Arab world, the influence of overseas players is likely to become less significant, while the influence of neighboring non-Arab states (Iran, Turkey, Israel) is likely to grow. The role of Iran will definitely be one of the decisive factors shaping the future of the Middle East. And speaking of Russian-Iranian relations, we must define what 'strategic cooperation' really means for them in the current circumstances. There has always been a temptation - at least on the Russian side - to build these relations on an anti-Western basis. But this is not a stable and reliable foundation. I think that Russia and Iran have to upgrade their current collaboration on regional matters - including the Caspian Sea issues, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. We clearly underutilize the existing potential for economic partnership. Finally, we simply need to know each other much better than we do now, which involves more contacts in education and research, and more cultural and civil society exchanges." Endnotes: [1] Iras.ir, March 26, 2016. While the new Facebook reactions didnt blow up as Facebook wanted it to, the latest feature it has launched will literally change the life of blind people. Touted as a revolutionary move in the world of tech, Facebooks latest feature will allow blind people to experience pictures on Facebook. YouTube To do the unthinkable, Facebook brought together Artificial Intelligence and the age-old technology of screen readers. Until now, screen readers could only turn text into spoken words but not explain whats in a picture. YouTube So, this feature will literally dictate what all contents are in a picture. For example, if a picture is that of a bunch of friends hanging out on a beach, the feature will let the visually challenged person know who all are tagged in the photo, where it was clicked and how many people have reacted to it. This is arguably the first time AI has been put to a very logical use and if proven to be a success, can pave way for a better future. Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Mardas carried out a visit to Berlin from 4 to 6 April 2016, to participate as a speaker in a Greek-German Business Forum organized by the Economist Greece and entitled Restoring confidence and navigating for new trade, investment and start-ups. In his speech, Mr. Mardas highlighted that Greece needs a development shock with investments of over 22 billion by 2022. He also referred to Greeces comparative advantages that should attract investors, emphasizing human capital, the reduction in bureaucracy on matters pertaining to investment approval, the great potential for developing investment activities in the logistics sector, etc. Within the framework of his visit, Mr. Mardas met with the German State Secretary for European Affairs, Security and Crisis Management, Markus Ederer, with whom he discussed the programme and goals of the International Conference on Connectivity for Commerce and Investment, which the German OSCE Chairmanship is hosting in Berlin on 18 and 19 May 2016. Greece will be represented at this Conference by Mr. Mardas and an accompanying delegation. Mr. Mardas also met with Peter Clever, the Executive Director of the Association of German Employers' Confederations (BDA), which represents 52 confederations across the range of the German economy. Together with the Managing Director of Enterprise Greece, V. Dotsis, he met with the President and CEO of German Trade and Investment (GTAI), Benno Bunse. Additionally, Mr. Mardas talked with a representative of the Greek-German Business Association, with whom he agreed on the opening of bilateral meetings aimed at promoting cooperation between German and Greek companies active in the sectors of Information Technology and Communications (ITC) and Tourism. Finally, Mr. Mardas attended an event promoting the 2nd Moyvos-Lesvos International Classical Music Festival, which was held under the auspices of the Greek Embassy in Berlin, with the support of the Greek Culture Ministry and the German Embassy in Athens. In the context of this even, there was a tasting of local wines of Lesvos. On Friday and Saturday, 8 and 9 April, the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, will receive, in Athens, six Ministers and Deputy Ministers of European Union member states. The purpose of the visit of European Ministers and Deputy Ministers is a practical expression of European solidarity and their being apprised with regard to the management of the migration/refugee crisis following last months decisions from the European Council. The delegation is made up of Bert Koenders, the Foreign Minister of Holland and representative of the country currently holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union; Harlem Desir, Frances Deputy Minister for European Affairs; Miroslav Lajcak, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia; Sandro Gozi, Italys Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister for European Affairs; Margarida Marques, the Portuguese Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs; Ian Borg, Deputy Minister at Maltas Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responsible for preparation for Maltas 2017 Presidency of the Council of the EU and for management of EU funds. The Ministers and Deputy Ministers will be received by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, paying a courtesy visit to the Maximos Mansion on Friday. On Saturday, 9 April, talks will be held at the Foreign Ministry, with the participation of a Greek government delegation made up of the Alternate Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Nikos Xydakis, the Minister of Shipping and Island Policy, Thodoris Dritsas, the Alternate Minister for Migration Policy, Ioannis Mouzalas, and the Secretary General of the Defence Ministry, Ioannis Tafylis. The Greek side will present its positions on the course of the implementation of the decisions of the European Council, the practices and operational difficulties being met and the solutions proposed for dealing with them, as well as the needs of the assistance agreed upon by the EU and the member states. Following the talks, at about 13:30, a press conference will be held at the Foreign Ministry (Kranidiotis Hall, 1 Akadimias St.) by Mr. Xydakis and the Foreign Minister of Holland, Bert Koenders, in the presence of the other participating Ministers. News media representatives interested in covering the visit are asked to contact the Foreign Ministrys Information and Public Diplomacy Department (tel: 210 368 1921, 210 368 1922; email: ) by 15:00 on Friday, 8 April. This Email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it State police say 20-year-old New York City resident Juan Carlos hired the car in Philadelphia to take him 200 miles to central New York. Police say the driver asked Carlos to take the wheel Saturday while he napped, and a trooper later clocked Carlos going 86 mph in a 65 mph zone on Interstate 81 near Binghamton. When the real driver woke up and asked Carlos why he was driving so fast, Carlos told him it was because police were chasing them. Carlos soon crashed. Both suffered minor injuries. Carlos was charged with fleeing police and driving without a license. It wasn't clear if he has a lawyer. The state Senate gave final approval Monday on a 19-8 vote despite arguments the measure conflicts with a provision in the Tennessee Constitution that "no preference shall ever be given, by law, to any religious establishment or mode of worship." Republican Sen. Steve Southerland argued his bill is aimed at recognizing the Bible for its historical and cultural contributions to the state, rather than as government endorsement of religion. Opponents argued the Bible would be trivialized by being placed alongside other state symbols like the official tree, rock or amphibian. The measure heads to Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, who hasn't said whether he'll issue a veto. BAD AXE Nearly four months ago, Meijer announced its interest in potentially opening a new store near Bad Axe. Since then, the corporation is still in the early stages of determining if the area is the right piece to fit its puzzle. Frank Guglielmi, senior director of communications for Meijer, said the corporation has taken the first step in possibly bringing a store to the area, but the process can be quite lengthy. The projected site is located on the northwest corner of M-53 and Pigeon Road in Colfax Township. The property is under contract good for one year which puts a hold on the location. Were still going through the very early stages of due diligence, Guglielmi said. During that process, we look into if it makes sense to put a store there. The next stage would be purchasing the site and go from there. Thats a long ways away though, he added regarding a property purchase. Because the site still has not been purchased, an opening date or potential opening date cant be determined. Sometimes when were required to put a date on paper, its not until were building that we know when the store is going to be open, Guglielmi said. The next phase would be to take it to public meetings such as a planning commission meeting. When that could happen? It could be months before we appear at a meeting. During the Feb. 1 Bad Axe city council meeting, city manager Dale VanDeVusse reported: The city was provided opinion of probable costs for utilities, according to council minutes. The opinion entails what the cost would be to extend a line from our system into the new facility, VanDeVusse told the Tribune. Theres no change in the status of due diligence, VanDeVusse said. Weve not heard back from them with respect to the water and sewer. Even though the city and Meijer have not made a deal, its not to say the site isnt capable of supporting the chain big-box store. Carl Osentoski, director of the Huron County Economic Development Corp., received a request sometime in November 2015 regarding availability of services in the general area Meijer is considering. Osentoski told the Tribune on Tuesday he provided information to the realtor regarding the sites capacity for electrical and natural gas services and, There is an adequate supply of it in that area, he said. However, all water and sewer inquiries must go through the city of Bad Axe. We stand ready to help the city if our role is needed, he added. While the city waits to take the next plunge in the project, Bad Axe Mayor Jim Hicks predicted Meijers arrival in 2018. They (Meijer) were doing grand openings for 2016 and Bad Axe wasnt on the list, Hicks said. The mayor added Bad Axe was also not on the list for store openings in 2017, but did predict 2018 to be the year for the stores arrival. Nothing is for sure yet, Hicks added regarding the possibility. This year, Meijer will continue to expand and open stores in Sturgis and Flat Rock, both in southern Michigan. Almost 100 people mostly from Haiti who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for... The Navy's Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes Illinois marked another milestone in efforts to make uniforms more gender-specific Monday when female recruits received their first enlisted white hats, informally known as Dixie cups. All female enlisted sailors at ranks E-6 and below will be required to wear the hats by Oct. 31, according to a Navy administrative message released this year. But all sailors can now wear them with service dress uniforms, and recruits at Great Lakes will now get them as part of uniform issue. The development is part of a series of gradual changes that will result in a more uniform look across for sailors of both genders. In February, officials at the U.S. Naval Academy announced that the women of the class of 2016 would be required to wear pants instead of skirts at graduation. More changes are on the horizon. Navy officials said men and women will get redesigned jumper-style service dress blue uniforms beginning Oct. 1, creating a unisex version of the iconic "crackerjack" uniform in place of the current female version. The new jumper uniform will include a side zipper, and the slacks will have a front zipper to assist with ease of changing and fit. In a news release Tuesday, female recruits spoke positively of their new "Dixie cup" covers. "This feels incredible as we are making a part of history," Seaman Recruit Madeleine Bohnert said in the release. "It's really awesome how something as simple as our cover is so symbolic in regards to equality and the uniformity in the military. It's a sense of pride knowing that we are a part of getting the first Dixie cups." Another seaman recruit, Maria Frazier, said she liked the consistency of the look. "I think it's really beneficial because as we work side by side, we have to work as a team," she said. "For me, it's important that as we're working together, we look uniform so we can work in uniform." -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@monster.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. The director of veterans' affairs for a civil rights organization resigned Tuesday just days into the job after he and his family were threatened by religious extremists angry over his role in the removal of a Bible from a missing man memorial at a veterans clinic in Youngstown, Ohio. On Monday, Jordan Ray, a retired Army captain who served multiple overseas tours, started his job with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. On Tuesday, following Military.com's report about Bible's removal and Ray's role in it, he and his family were stunned and frightened by the threats made against them in online forums. "I cannot believe I deployed five times to fight radical Islamists overseas only to come home, voice my opinion, and be attacked by radical Christians," Ray, 41, said in his letter of resignation, a copy of which was provided to Military.com on Wednesday. "Who's persecuting who?" In an interview on Wednesday with Military.com, Ray said in addition to online threats, he received voice messages left on his family's home phone that he took as veiled threats. They called him "godless SOBs [who] should kill ourselves, die, etc.," he said. Ray, 41, said he served in the Army for 13 years before combat injuries to his spine and nervous system forced his retirement with a full disability rating. Mikey Weinstein, president of the organization, told Military.com he regretted Ray's resignation but understands it. "My family, as well as MRFF's hundreds of paid and volunteer staff and countless supporters domestically and around the world know well what this kind of hostile reprisal and retribution from fundamentalist evangelical Christian extremists is like," he said. Weinstein said he routinely receives hate mail, some of it anti-Semitic, from people angry that he challenges military officials whenever there are allegations of improper displays of religion. Ray contacted the organization last month after seeing the Bible on the missing man table. Other veterans, who have remained unidentified, joined in the complaint. The Youngstown incident was the second time that the group pressed an Ohio VA clinic over its display of a Bible on a missing man display. In February, the clinic in Akron removed the Bible. Ray said he served two 18-month deployments to Afghanistan as an adviser to the Afghan National Army, as well as tours in Serbia, Kosovo, Egypt's Sinai and Qatar. In his letter of resignation, he said he continues to support what the foundation does in opposing extremist Christians who push their theology on others. But while he supports the foundation's mission, Ray said he could not do so as an official representative "due to Fundamentalist, Evangelist, and Dominionist threats made against myself, my wife, and my child in online forums simply for standing up to what I believe is a constitutional right of all soldiers and veterans equality when it comes to Faith and ideology." -- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan. A veteran in Congress is calling on the secretary of defense to examine the current Navy SEAL combat training program, saying it's less effective than a previous method and not conducive to SEAL operations. Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican from California, former Marine officer and member of the House Armed Services Committee, sent an April 5 letter to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter requesting that Carter provide "clarity" on Naval Special Warfare's 2011 move to replace its Close Quarters Defense institutionalized training system with Mixed Martial Arts. "I have concerns with the process for considering and awarding the contracts that have led to the removal of CQD from SEAL training," Hunter wrote. "NSW operators and leadership have consistently determined CQD to be the most operationally effective training to prepare SEALs for combat, evidenced by more than 11,000 positive critiques and numerous complimentary reports." Hunter is raising the issue as the Senate prepares to consider the nomination of Rear Adm. Timothy Szymanski to be commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, which oversees all Navy SEAL teams. Szymanski, currently the assistant commander of Joint Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, would replace current NSW commander Rear Adm. Brian Losey, who was denied a second star last month amid complaints that he had engaged in whistleblower retaliation. An official with Hunter's office indicated the congressman had concerns about Szymanski's fitness for the new post. "There have been reports that Szymanski is a central player in the selection of MMA over CQD," Joe Kasper, Hunter's chief of staff, told Military.com. "And it's important before any promotion proceeds that there's clarity on that role and assurances that it was all above board." The letter also notes that CQD costs just $345 per SEAL compared to $2,900 for MMA training. It also refers to a 2015 Defense Department Inspector General review of NSW contracts that found about 25 percent of contracts inspected were not awarded in accordance with Federal Acquisition Regulations. While the MMA contract in question was not considered, Hunter suggested it too could contain problems. "It is my firm belief that contracting decisions involving the transition from CQD to MMA must be thoroughly reviewed to include any personal interests and relationships that could have created conflicts of interest in the selection process," Hunter wrote. "A review should also include all instances of open competition between CQD and alternative systems, with specific focus on NSW solicitations in 2003 and 2009. I also ask that you provide me with the full results of these competitions and any reports and documentation that were generated as a result." Kasper said Hunter planned to talk with members of the Senate about holding Szymanski's nomination until the matter raised in his letter could be resolved. -- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck. A Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, substituted a "prop" book for a Bible after a civil rights organization accused the facility of endorsing a particular faith by having only the Christian holy book displayed at a table set up to honor American prisoners of war and missing in action. In a note to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation on Monday, Kristen Parker, chief of external affairs for Cleveland VA Medical Center -- which handles media for the Youngstown clinic -- said the Bible was "replaced with a generic book, one whose symbolism can be individualized by each of our veterans as they pay their respects" to POWs and MIAs. Parker told Military.com on Tuesday that because the VA cannot endorse, favor or inhibit any specific religion, "we are supporting our local veteran organizations with their decision to use a prop-book on the POW/MIA Table at our Youngstown [clinic]." Parker previously said the clinic would support the Disabled American Veterans -- the group that set up the table -- in its decision to display the Bible on the missing man table. The switch was made after the veteran who initiated the complaint, working with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, responded to the clinic's initial refusal to pull the Bible by demanding a separate table be set up with the Jewish Torah and a copy of "The God Delusion," a popular book on atheism. "If in the future I decide to add the Quran, or Mormon book of Latter Day Saints, that is my implied right," retired Army Capt. Jordan Ray wrote. The MRFF, which often butts heads with the military over religious displays, has now made Ray its director of Veterans Affairs. Bobby Muller, a co-founder and past president of Vietnam Veterans of America and a member of the MRFF's advisory board, followed up Ray's letter with one on April 1, reiterating Ray's demand and noting the clinic "can probably expect more demands for additional displays including a variety of other religious and nonreligious texts in the very near future." Parker did not respond when asked if the demand that other books get equal treatment on a memorial table played a part in the VA clinic's decision. Missing man tables are set up as memorials to remember the fallen and the missing who never returned home. Though the tables set up at the Ohio facilities included a Bible, Military.com's search of missing man table images turned up memorials without a Bible at military bases and at a VA facility in Maryland. The Bible's removal from the Youngstown facility represents the second time since February that the MRFF forced the removal of a Bible from a missing man table at an Ohio VA clinic. The VA Akron Specialty Outpatient Clinic removed a New Testament Bible on Feb. 25 after the group was contacted by a disabled veteran troubled by presumption that all POWs and MIAs are Christian. "I know for a fact that all POW-MIAs were not Christian because my grandfather was MIA from World War II and he was Jewish," the Akron Beacon Journal quoted the unidentified veteran as saying in a story published March 12. MRFF Founder Mikey Weinstein said nine other veterans from the Akron clinic joined in the complaint, which he brought to the clinic leadership. He said the Bible was removed within three days. -- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@military.com. Follow him on Twitter at @bryantjordan. The U.S. is open to setting up more stand-alone artillery firebases in Iraq similar to the one in which a Marine was killed last month to support an advance by Iraqi Security Forces towards Mosul, a top Pentagon planner said. "As the ISF progresses toward isolating Mosul, there may be a situation where there is another base that is opened -- or re-opened from years past -- that would be used in the same manner as a fire support base," Rear Adm. Andrew L. "Woody" Lewis told reporters on Wednesday. However, the move is "dependent on what's happening on ground and what's happening in the campaign," said Lewis, the Joint Staff's vice director for operations at the Pentagon. Lewis said no additional firebases have been set up as yet since about 200 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit secretly deployed last month with four 155mm howitzers to establish a front-line position about 60 miles southeast of Mosul. The position that the Marines called Fire Base Bell -- the Iraqis call it the Kara Soar Counter Fire Complex -- was set apart from the Iraqi forces and was the first stand-alone fire base for U.S. troops in Iraq. On March 19, rocket fire from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, killed Staff Sgt. Louis Cardin, 27, of Temecula, California, and wounded eight other Marines. On April 1, hundreds gathered on the steps of the Temecula city hall to honor Cardin, a 10-year Marine veteran. The presence of the Marines near Makhmour, projected as a staging base for an advance on Mosul by Iraq's 15th Division in concert with Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, only became known after Cardin's death. Cardin was the second U.S. service member officially listed as having died in combat on the ground in Iraq since the air campaign to degrade and defeat ISIS began on Aug. 8, 2014. The first U.S. combat casualty occurred last October during a special operations raid on the northern town of Hawijah to free ISIS prisoners in which Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, was killed. At a Pentagon news conference, said that the Marine fire base was part of the "accelerated" campaign against ISIS that was focused on retaking Mosul, the main ISIS stronghold in Iraq, and Raqqa, the self-proclaimed ISIS capital in northeastern Syria. Last month, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford said they would be sending requests to President Barack Obama to authorize sending additional U.S. troops to the region to support the accelerated campaign. Obama has consistently ruled out ground combat for U.S. troops in a strategy relying on coalition and U.S. airstrikes and "train, advise and assist" missions in support of local Iraqi and Syrian opposition ground forces. Lewis declined to say how many U.S. troops are currently in Iraq beyond the authorized limit of 3,870. The U.S. has acknowledged routinely exceeding the limit because of overlaps in troop rotations and the presence of troops on temporary assignments. Last month, Dunford said there "fewer than 5,000" U.S. troops in Iraq. Lewis spoke a day after Obama convened a White House meeting of Carter, Dunford, the service chiefs and the regional combatant commanders that primarily dealt with efforts to retake Mosul and Raqqa. Carter has said previously that Obama has frequently pressed him to oust ISIS from the two strongholds before he leaves office. "One of my main messages today is that destroying ISIL continues to be my top priority," Obama said in prefatory remarks to the meeting, using another acronym for ISIS. "And so we should no longer tolerate the kinds of positioning that is enabled by them having headquarters in Raqqa and Mosul. We've got to keep on putting the pressure on them." In a letter Tuesday to Carter, Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, raised concerns about what he called the "grudging incrementalism" indicated by the request from Carter and Dunford for more troops. "As a young military officer, I bore witness to the failed policy of gradual escalation that ultimately led to our nation's defeat in the Vietnam War," said McCain, a Navy pilot in Vietnam who was shot down and spent nearly five years as a prisoner of war. "I fear this administration's grudging incrementalism in the war against the Islamic State (ISIL) risks another slow, grinding failure for our nation," McCain said. Last year, McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, called for the deployment of 20,000 U.S. troops -- 10,000 for Iraq and 10,000 for Syria -- as trainers and advisers to speed up the campaign against ISIS. McCain and Graham said the additional U.S. troops would act in support of a proposed ground force of troops from Sunni Arab countries such as Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. -- Richard Sisk can be reached at Richard.Sisk@Military.com. Army Lt. Col. Lynn Ray has become one of the key female officers in the Pentagon's grand design to have them serve as combination role models and taskmasters in moving women into previously restricted military occupational specialties. The implementation plan varies from service to service, but the bottom line is that "the standard is the standard across the board" for men and women, said Ray, the first commander of the newly formed "Pioneer" Regimental Engineer Squadron of the storied 3rd Cavalry Regiment of the First Cavalry Division based at Fort Hood in Texas. "I think it's a fantastic thing that we've opened up the combat engineer 12B MOS to enlisted soldiers. I think it's phenomenal. I think everything comes in the time that it should, and I think the time is right -- where our society, our military and the way we think -- is more open to it," Ray said. However, the "young ladies" seeking to make the grade in her unit will get no slack, Ray said. "As a woman deciding on whether women qualify as 12 Bravo -- well, I look at them as just the same, the same training, the same reception, the same standards that need to be met by a male soldier. That is the absolute most important thing." Of the 760 troops in her squadron, about 60 now are enlisted women, Ray said. "They are volunteering to do something, break the mold, go outside of themselves -- that tells me they want to be a combat engineer, they want to be in that MOS. They weren't forced into it. That's half the battle." "I did not shave off the standards or anything when these young ladies got here, and they have not disappointed" thus far, Ray said. Army Opens Up Positions The Army opened up combat engineer positions to women last June ahead of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's historic decision last December to lift all restrictions against women, including in the infantry, armor, artillery and special operations. The decision reversed generations of military tradition and was not without controversy. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford was conspicuously absent from Carter's announcement at a Pentagon news conference. As Marine Corps commandant, Dunford had sought "exceptions" for the Marines from opening all billets, but his recommendation was rejected by Carter and Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. In March, the services submitted their "implementation" plans for integrating women into new billets that were reviewed by Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a statement, Carter said the department's top priority was to implement the changes "the right way, because the combat effectiveness of the world's finest fighting force is paramount." A crucial role in the implementation plan was assigned to women officers. The Army and Marine Corps will take a "learn first" approach, integrating female officers and senior enlisted women into previously closed units before integrating junior enlisted women, to "ensure they have leaders," Carter said. "This will help ensure that women officers play a key leadership role, set the right example, and enhance teamwork wherever possible," he said. "As a result, our military will be even better at finding and training not only the most qualified women, but also the most qualified men, for all military specialties." The first enlisted women began reporting to her Engineer Squadron in January, said Ray, who acknowledged her leadership role in integrating women while downplaying the gender factor. "I don't feel I'm in a unique position in that respect" because of her positon as a woman commander, Ray said, but "I am in a unique position because I used to be that soldier." Ray, 48, of Philadelphia, joined the Army in 1987. She had been going to Tuskeegee University in Alabama but her grades weren't that good and the student loans were piling up, she said. Ray saw the Army recruiting commercial with the catchphrase "Be All You Can Be" and decided to give it a try. The opportunities for women in the military then were much more limited, but Ray said she never saw that as a drawback. She served 10 years in the enlisted ranks before going to Officer Candidates School. Along the way, she picked up her undergraduate degree from Campbell University and a masters in human resources from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York. She has served in Panama, Kosovo and Germany, as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan. 'I Used to Be the Only One of Something' In her career, she said, "I used to be the only one of something, the only female airborne in an MP [Military Police] platoon at Fort Bragg for a while, or the only one of a certain skill set." In that sense, Ray said, she has a responsibility to the young female enlisted soldiers coming to her unit "to help them navigate some of those areas that they may feel either uncomfortable with, or never have dealt with before -- let them know that this is how you deal with these things." One of those women Ray has helped to navigate through the new tasks was 18-year-old Pvt. Lashonda Ivy, of the 43rd Combat Engineer Company of the Regimental Engineer Squadron, according to a 3rd Cav news release by Staff Sgt. Tomora Clark. "I knew I wanted to join right after graduating high school," said Ivy, of Merrillville, Indiana. "My recruiter asked me if I wanted to blow stuff up, so I picked this MOS. Then [the recruiters] told me after I picked my job that I was making history -- I didn't know females weren't in combat jobs yet." "The other soldiers in the unit are like my brothers," said Ivy, who will soon deploy with her unit to Afghanistan. "I'm looking forward to deploying with my unit because we've formed a close bond through training, and I know they have my back." -- Richard Sisk can be reached at richard.sisk@military.com. Centrale nucleaire de Fessenheim A DETROIT, MI - Elon Musk has made it no secret that he wants to launch production in Europe for Tesla Motors, the California electric car company he co-founded. As of January, he had not yet settled on a location. But on Wednesday France Energy Minister Segolene Royal reportedly offered the country's oldest former nuclear reactor site as an option. Agence France Presse reportsA that Royal proposed Fessenheim, a nuclear reactor site that is set to close at the end of the year. Under pressure from unions and local politicians, the French government is keen on keeping employment at the site, which supports about 2,000 jobs. Musk did not say no to the option, and French officials are set to meet with Tesla within 10 days, the report says. Musk has mentioned Alsace, the region of northeast France where Fessenheim is located, as a possibility A before, and it prompted the creation of this video trying to woo Tesla to the area: In a video (below) posted by Automobile Propre in January, Musk is seen discussing plans for production in Europe and Asia. He said it would be logical for Tesla to establish factories in China and Germany The company currently has a small factory in the Netherlands, but need a much bigger area of land and access to a larger employee base to do large-scale production, Musk says in the video. He mentioned Alsace as a possibility, seeing as it straddles both France and Germany. In any case, he said there's an incredible talent pool of designers and engineers in Europe. "Actually I think it's a deeper and richer pool than in the United States," he says. You can see his remarks here, beginning at about the 18-minute mark: Tesla has made waves as of late with the unveiling of the Model 3, its $35,000 electric car for the masses. But the company faces volume hurdles to overcome to successfully mass produce and sell the car, which has already been met with fierce demand. David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook. carolinescart.jpg Sophie Stegg, 5, in the first Caroline's Cart at a Meijer store. The grocery carts are design to hold children and adults with special needs. (Photo courtesy of Ashley Stegg) ADRIAN, MI -- Ashley Stegg beat Meijer in announcing that the retailer will carry Caroline's Cart, grocery carts that come with a seat big enough for children and adults to sit in. "I feel a sense of relief and inclusion that I don't have to keep my daughter at home," Stegg told MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Her April 5 Facebook post announcing her three-year effort and Meijer's decision generated more than 7,000 likes in 19 hours. Stegg wanted the cart for her 5-year-old daughter, Sophie, who has Mowat-Wilson Syndrome, a rare condition that affects less than 300 people worldwide. She is unable to walk or talk. Sophie, who weighs 35 pounds, doesn't fit into a standard cart because she has poor trunk control. The braces on her legs make it difficult for her limbs to bend. "My daughter doesn't have special needs. She has the same needs as everyone else," Stegg said. "We just have unique ways to go about getting these needs met." The Walker-headquartered retailer has had little demand for the carts across its six-state footprint, said Frank Guglielmi, Meijer spokesman. He said the carts would be added to the retailer's 223 locations as they are requested by customers. "Our stores have the ability to order these carts now," Guglielmi said. "It is not a mandate that each store has to purchase them, they simply have the ability to order them if there is customer demand." The carts cost $850, excluding freight and tax, according to Alice Little, sales and marketing coordinator for the North Carolina-based Technibilt Ltd., the largest shopping cart manufacturer in the country. She said the company has spoken to Meijer, and expected an order to arrive by the end of the week. "I just know they are planning a partial roll out," Little said. Stegg sent her first email to Meijer in March 2013, asking for a Caroline's Cart at the retailer's Adrian location. She sent more but the request didn't get much traction until she found the right person at the corporate level to respond, she said. Caroline's Cart was designed by Drew Ann Long, an Alabama mother, after her special needs daughter, Caroline, outgrew the traditional shopping cart. The cart's seats have a harness that can hold a child or adult between 35 to 250 pounds, and has space for groceries. "A lot of times, I didn't take her with me because she couldn't fit into the cart," Stegg said of her daughter, adding that it was difficult to maneuver a wheelchair and a grocery cart at the same time. She and her husband work opposite shifts so she often grocery shops alone. With a cart available, she won't have to use a caregiver or respite hours for her daughter. They can shop together. Earlier this year, national retailer Target added the carts to its stores. They are also in Publix, Kroger, Wegmans and ShopRite stores across the country. Two other grocery stores in Adrian have Caroline's Carts, Country Market and Busch Fresh Food Market. They added them at Stegg's request in 2013, she said. "I'm trying to look at the three years as water under the bridge," said Stegg. "But I feel like mission accomplished." KALAMAZOO, MI - Stryker Corp. has completed its acquisition of defibrillator maker Physio-Control International Inc. and two other major deals. In the merger-driven medtech industry, Kalamazoo-based Stryker has been expected to be active with mergers and acquisitions in 2016. Physio-Control makes monitors/defibrillators, automated external defibrillators and CPR-assist devices. The Redmond. Wash.-based emergency medical response company also provides data management and support services. It has more than 1,300 employees in 16 countries. The $1.28 billion cash deal was announced in mid-February and completed Tuesday. On Friday, April 1, Stryker announced that it had completed its previously announced $2.78 billion buyout of Sage Products LLC. Sage is a 45-year-old, privately held company that is based in Cary, Ill., a northwest suburb of Chicago. Its products include solutions for oral care, skin preparation and protection, patient cleaning and hygiene, turning and positioning devices, and heel care boots. Its products are used to prevent hospital-acquired conditions such as ventilator-associated conditions, skin ulcerations due to incontinence, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections and healthcare worker injury. There has been no word on how the acquisition will affect staffing levels at that company, which has more than 800 employees in the United States, Canada and Europe. On Friday, Stryker also completed its previously announced all-cash acquisition of Synergetics USA Inc.'s Neuro Portfolio. The portfolio includes the Malis electrosurgical generator (which helps suyreons use hand-operated, cutting and coagulating instruments), Spetzler Malis disposable forceps, and Stryker's existing Sonopet tips and RF generator (which help in the dissection of fine bones and soft tissue). In 2015, the group of products achieved approximately $31 million in sales to original equipment manufacturers. "The acquisition of the Synergetics neuro portfolio is highly complementary to Stryker Instruments' Neuro Spine & ENT (ear, nose and throat) business and is aligned with NSE's strategy of expanding its neurosurgical product offering," stated Timothy J. Scannell, Group President, MedSurg and Neurotechnology. Synergetics is a Missouri-based medical device company, from which Stryker has made previous acquisitions. In 2010, Stryker paid more than $2.5 million for the rights to a line of that company's bone-cutting tools. MLive writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow me on Twitter at ajones5_al. On this week's Ag Report on , Tim Boring, vice president of the , discusses energy conservation and emerging energy efficiency technology in agriculture, describing energy as a critical aspect of farms and agribusinesses across Michigan. "We often talk about energy as a critical aspect of all we do in agribusiness, and for good reason - we rely on energy for everything from drying grain, to powering facilities, to processing food products," says Boring. "Today, we have some of the highest energy costs in the Midwest, and many rural areas see a lack of reliable, affordable access to electricity and natural gas. Conserving energy, or generating our own, can provide solutions for many in agriculture." Boring says for agribusinesses that are heavy seasonal energy users, energy efficiency is a common-sense way to save energy and money. For most, that process starts with securing an energy audit or engineering study of their facilities. "In addition, new technologies like solar power allow farmers and agribusinesses to generate their own energy," he says. "Michigan agriculture sees renewable energy as part of our sustainable future and a pathway to a more reliable energy infrastructure." 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 -- Police are looking for information about a man who dressed as a woman when he robbed a PNC Bank at gunpoint Monday. Michigan State Police on Wednesday, April 6 released a photo of the newer-model, blue Ford Mustang the suspect drove from the scene. At 9:20 a.m. April 4, police responded to the PNC Bank at 8130 W. Grand River Ave. in Brighton Township for a report of a bank robbery, according to a press release. A black man approximately 20 to 30 years old dressed as a woman entered the bank, announced the robbery and showed a handgun and what appeared to be a bomb, police say. Security camera photos show the man wore a shoulder-length wig with black, wavy hair, a long maroon coat and a blue scarf. The suspect left in the Mustang with an unknown amount of money, according to police. PNC Bank is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of this suspect. Anyone with information about the incident can contact Detective Sgt. Scott Singleton at the Michigan State Police--Brighton Post at 810-227-1051. Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com. Water_Street_Site.jpg A new mixed-use development that includes residential and retail is proposed for Water Street in the area outlined in red. The east-west street is Michigan Avenue, and the north-south street is River Street. (Courtesy of the city of Ypsilanti) YPSILANTI, MI -- In October, a Michigan State Housing Development Authority report suggested the Water Street parcels where Ypsilanti proposed a $12 million affordable housing project were too contaminated with lead, arsenic and PCB's to build on. In response, Mayor Amanda Edmonds and other city officials slammed MSHDA and media reports stating that the area is contaminated. Six months later, it's confirmed the site is indeed contaminated, leading officials to scrap the project, which took over two years to plan. The development, which was to be called Riverwalk Commons, was controversial and loudly opposed by many in the city who didn't want affordable housing built on the 38-acre Water Street site. But on Tuesday, city staff presented a new plan that calls for a two-story, mixed-use affordable housing and retail development fronting Michigan Avenue. By a 5-1 vote the Ypsilanti City Council approved a resolution allowing staff to start negotiating over the new proposal with developer Herman & Kittle. The plans must go back before council by the end of May. Mayor Pro Tem Lois Richardson said she had some concerns but liked the project's new look. "I think, yes, there was a lot of contention over the project and affordable housing before ... but the fact that there will be businesses on Michigan Avenue makes it a lot different, and I think it makes it viable and sellable to our community," she said. Plans previously called for a four-story, 75,000-square-foot multiunit complex that would have housed 80 apartments on a 1.7-acre parcel in Water Street's southeast corner. The new development is proposed for two parcels totaling three acres near the River Street and Michigan intersection that wrap around the Family Dollar. Plans call for a mixed-use building with approximately 14,000 square feet of first floor commercial space and 80 residential apartments ranging from one bedroom to four bedrooms on both stories. The site would also include a 150-space parking lot and a tot lot. Mike Rodriguez, a development analyst with Herman & Kittle, said the new location could address MSHDA's concerns. "(MSHDA) was concerned about digging up contaminated soil and fugitive dust," Rodriguez said, adding that the new site appears to be contamination-free. A significant portion of the project's funding comes from MSHDA, so the authority must be satisfied that the site is safe enough for human habitation. That's a requirement for it to provide loans and protect itself legally. Without those loans, there is no development. Two areas that appear to still be contaminated on Water Street are in and around the three-acre site of the now dead project. Aside from the two areas of concern, MSHDA also found that contamination boundary lines delineating contaminated areas aren't accurate, and contamination on the site is 10 to 40 times what's considered safe by state and federal regulations in some spots. "Moving the location addresses many of MSHDA's concerns with future developments and the impact of construction of the development. The proposed development will create natural boundaries with garages on the site," Beth Ernat, the city's economic development director, said. "We are cautiously optimistic. (Herman & Kittle) had a preliminary discussion with MSHDA and it looked positive, but part of this is starting the process and moving quickly," she added. Council Member Brian Robb was the lone vote against the resolution. He offered a list of reasons why he opposed it including: -The city originally expected to net $1.1 million for the two parcels, and Herman & Kittle is offering $170,000 for the land. - Herman & Kittle is still asking for a tax break in the form of a PILOT, and the new PILOT provides a bigger break. -Herman & Kittle isn't committing to as much infrastructure improvements - like building roads and installing underground electric - to the site. -The plan calls for breaking from the grid plan developed and adopted by City Council and the Planning Commission "after months of public hearings." Robb said he also isn't enthusiastic about where the development would sit on the property. The city envisioned the type of mixed-use development Herman & Kittle proposed, he said, but the PILOT would cost the city $25,000 in annual tax revenues and up to $750,000 less over the PILOT's 30-year life. That significantly cuts the project's actual value to the city. "This takes a project that a lot of people hated and moves it into a prime real estate location," he said. "This is like putting the senior high rise down there. This projects keeps morphing and morphing further from what we wanted." "I think this is the wrong project for the site." Robb added that he is hesitant to provide a Water Street tax break to a developer just as the city is preparing to ask voters to pay off the rest of its Water Street debt. "This will destroy any chance we have of doing a Water Street millage, and we have to decide what's more important," he said. Several council members agreed with concerns over the PILOT, but Ernat stressed that city staff has yet to negotiate with Herman & Kittle. "We have not sat down and discussed in any way how this would look," Ernat said. BAY CITY, MI -- A 19-year-old Bay City man is charged with hitting his girlfriend with a skateboarding pipe. At 9:23 p.m. on Thursday, March 31, police responded to the McLaren Bay Region hospital emergency room for an assault complaint. They met with 20-year-old Breanna L. Mendyk, who told them she was wounded by boyfriend Trevian S. Lynn, court records show. Mendyk told police she and Lynn weren't getting along that night and he told her to leave his home. She said she sat on his porch waiting for a ride and that he started moving her possessions off the porch, court records show. Mendyk said she yelled at Lynn and started pushing him. She then walked to a nearby parking lot and a friend, Haley Duran, drove up. Duran also started yelling at Lynn, Mendyk told police. Lynn grabbed a 6-foot pipe or pole used for skateboarding and shook it at the women, standing in front of Duran's car, Mendyk told police. "He swung the pipe at me and hit me in the left side of the head," Mendyk said, according to court records. "I fell down to the ground. He said that he didn't mean to hit me in the head." Duran gave police a similar account. "He had a pipe in his hands," she told police. "He said something about hitting my car with the pipe. I wasn't going to let him do it. Then Breanna stepped up in front of my car. That's when Trevion hit her with the pipe in the head." Police wrote in their reports, contained in court records, that Mendyk had a large bump on the left side of her forehead, near her hairline. Police later spoke with Lynn, who said he grabbed the skateboarding pole, intending to hit Duran's car with it. He said he did hit his girlfriend in the head, but that he did not mean to do so, court records show. Lynn is charged with single counts of misdemeanor domestic violence and assault with a dangerous weapon, a four-year felony. Lynn is to appear for a preliminary examination before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, April 19. Tyler M. McKeon BAY CITY, MI -- A 33-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a dog he said was interfering with his hunting has to wait a while longer for his next day in court. The preliminary examination of Tyler M. McKeon was to begin Wednesday, April 6, before Bay County District Judge Timothy J. Kelly. However, the hearing has been rescheduled to commence at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April 19, due to defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes having to be in court in a different county. McKeon is charged with one count of killing or torturing an animal. The charge is punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The charge stems from an incident that happened Sunday, Dec. 20. That afternoon, police responded to the farm of Jeffrey and Denise Pickvet in the 2400 block of East Erickson Road in Fraser Township. The Pickvets had called 911 to report they believed their dog Tippy, a Labrador/pit bull mix, had been shot. Jeffrey Pickvet told police he was outside when he heard a shot, followed by his dog yelping. He called for Tippy, then heard several more shots, court records show. Police and the Pickvets found Tippy dead, lying in a wooded area a few hundred yards west of the farm, court records show. He had been shot multiple times. Blood spots indicated he initially was shot about 41 yards from a raised hunting blind, court records show. Inside the blind, police found a shell casing from a 9 mm pistol. Police described the weather as clear and sunny, with high visibility, according to reports in court documents. Denise Pickvet told police she observed a man walking to the road carrying a gun shortly after hearing the shots. She asked him if he had shot her dog, to which he replied he only shot a deer, court records show. The man then entered a black 2009 Chevrolet Silverado and drove off, flipping off the Pickvets as he did so, they told police. The Pickvets followed him in their truck and confronted him a second time. He again denied having shot a dog, court records show. The Pickvets went home and called 911. They added they have "No Trespassing" signs on their property, court records show. Police linked the Chevrolet to McKeon, whose home they visited. "All right, I shot him," McKeon allegedly told police after they told him what they knew. He added he shot Tippy because dogs have been chasing deer on his property for the past two years and Tippy, in particular, had been hanging around his blind all morning, court records show. McKeon said he shot Tippy with a muzzleloader, then shot him again with a handgun, court records show. He said he previously spoke with the Pickvets and asked them to control their dogs. He added he had called Bay County Animal Control, and staff there told him to "take care of the dog," court records show. Police again spoke with the Pickvets, who denied having spoken with McKeon about their dogs. Animal Control records also show no complaints from McKeon or anyone else about the Pickvets' dogs, court records show. Reyes has said the dog was killed on property owned by his client's father. "Obviously, our thoughts on this is it's an unfortunate situation where a dog is killed in a hunting accident, and that's what this is," Reyes previously told The Times. "Unfortunately, the animal was on private property that was being legally hunted, and sometimes there are hunting accidents. I think once all the facts and circumstances come out, that will be clear and we'll be able to move forward." Denise Pickvet, who also previously spoke with The Times, said Tippy was 2 1/2 years old. The couple has two other dogs on their 38-acre ranch. She said Tippy was shot a total of five or six times. "He was a very loving dog," Pickvet said. "He was always taking care of everyone. He would make sure my in-laws, who are in their late 80s, would get back in the house when they came outside. If one of the horses or pigs got out, he would tell us. He loved everyone. He was a one-of-a-kind dog that had his own personality. He would talk to you, and if he wanted something, he would get your attention and show you." The incident also sparked an online petition on www.animalpetitions.org, with the stated goal "to "prosecute (the) man facing a felony charge for shooting a family dog to the fullest extent of the law." It is addressed to Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, though the case is handled by the Bay County Prosecutor's Office rather than Schuette's. As of April 6, the petition has 23,542 signatures. BAY CITY, MI -- An 18-year-old Bay County man is a step closer to facing a jury after an underage girl testified he had sex with her. The preliminary examination of Jorden L. Volders was held Tuesday, April 5, before Bay County District Judge Mark E. Janer. During the hearing, a girl testified she met Volders through Facebook. On the night of Friday, Sept. 25, when she was 13, she received Facebook messages from Volders, she said. Volders is charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim between the ages of 13 and 15 and one count of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. The former charge involves penetration and is a 15-year felony, while the latter is limited to touching and is a two-year high court misdemeanor. In Michigan, the age of consent for sexual activity is 16. In response to the Facebook messages, she left her Monitor Township home without telling anyone and was picked up by Volders, who drove her to his home, she testified. She said they went into his basement bedroom, where he sexually touched her and proceeded to have intercourse with her. Volders later dropped her off near her home, where she encountered her mother, she said. When the girl returned home early Sept. 26, her mother called police and the girl gave a statement to a Bay County sheriff's deputy. The girl said she hasn't had contact with Volders since. The girl largely spoke in terse statements, answering Bay County Assistant Prosecutor Bernard Coppolino's yes-or-no questions. For most of her testimony, the girl faced away from Coppolino and looked in the general direction of the judge's bench. Cross-examined by defense attorney Matthew L. Reyes, the girl said she did not recall when she first communicated with Volders. She said she thought she messaged him first and that she knew how old he was. "Did you and Mr. Volders ever discuss how old you were?" Reyes asked. "Yes," she said, adding she told him she was 13. "What were you planning to do?" "Nothing." "Were you planning to go engage in sexual conduct?" Coppolino objected, saying any consent is irrelevant because of her age. Janer allowed the question, but the girl did not directly answer Reyes' question about what she intended to do. The girl said she did not remember the order of events after she arrived at Volders' house. At some point, the girl fell asleep in Volders' room, she said. When the girl returned home, her mother was angry, she testified. She said she was later interviewed by staff at the Nathan Weidner Children's Advocacy Center. At the hearing's end, Coppolino asked Janer to bind Volders' case over to Circuit Court for trial. Reyes objected, but Janer granted Coppolino's request and sent Volders' case to the higher court. Volders is free on bond. BAY CITY, MI --The Michigan Association of Public School Academies demands that state Rep. Charles Brunner, D-Bay City, apologize to every student, parent and staff member of Bay City Academy for remarks he made about the charter school in his district. Brunner blasted the charter school after the Michigan Department of Education approved its five-year, $1.3 million deficit elimination plan. He called it a "sorry excuse for a school," and questioned the school's connection to Steven Ingersoll, its founder who is awaiting sentencing for tax fraud. Dan Quisenberry Dan Quisenberry, president of MAPSA, the state's charter school association, condemned Brunner's remarks, calling them an "attack" on the charter school community. "In an obvious effort to score political points with his backers, Rep. Charles Brunner issued an outrageous and totally ill-informed attack on Bay City Academy and Michigan's entire charter school community," Quisenberry said in a statement. "For him to call Bay City Academy a 'sorry excuse for a school' is beyond the pale. It's untrue and beyond offensive, and he owes an apology to every student, parent and staff member at that school. Rep. Brunner should be ashamed of himself." Brunner responded that he will apologize to the school when he "sees the numbers" that show Bay City Academy's students are "competing academically." Rep. Charles Brunner "People say they're making progress -- well, show us the data," Brunner said. "They have tremendously under-performed. If I see otherwise, let's have a discussion and I'll keep my mouth shut." Brunner, D-Bay City, said he took issue with comments made by Brian Lynch, who runs Mitten Management, the management company of Bay City Academy. Lynch called Brunner an "uneducated individual who is trying to connect invisible dots." "I beg to differ with him as a 30-year public educator with a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees and having taught in a very good school district in Midland Public Schools," Brunner said. "I think I know a little about education." Quisenberry went on to say Brunner "has no idea what he's talking about," after the Bay City legislator said Michigan has "outrageously lax charter school laws." "Michigan is, in fact, a national model of how charter school accountability and oversight are supposed to work, and the Bay City Academy situation is the textbook example of that," Quisenberry said. "The problems were dealt with quickly because the right oversight was in place. Contrast that with other recent news stories of alleged criminal misdeeds that have happened in traditional public schools in Michigan." Quisenberry also responded to Brunner's comment that said Bay City Academy "failed academically." "If Rep. Brunner was more concerned with the truth than he is with playing politics, he would discover that Bay City Academy's academic performance has been improving greatly," he said. State Rep. Charles Brunner, D-Bay City, says he's disappointed in the state approving a five-year deficit elimination plan for Bay City Academy. BAY CITY, MI -- State Rep. Charles Brunner is again blasting Bay City Academy and calling for charter school reform after the Michigan Department of Education approved a five-year deficit elimination plan for the embattled school founded by Steven Ingersoll, awaiting sentencing for tax fraud. Brunner, D-Bay City, called the charter school's deficit elimination plan "laughable." "Nothing in the deficit elimination plan offered by the Bay City Academy has given me faith that the academy is serious about educating the students attending their sorry excuse for a school," he said in a prepared statement. In response, Brian Lynch, who runs Mitten Management, the school's management company, called Brunner an "Uneducated individual who is trying to connect invisible dots." Brunner formerly taught business and marketing at Midland's H.H. Dow High School. Steven J. Ingersoll stands in U.S. Federal Court in downtown Bay City during a February sentencing hearing. Following months of review, the state approved the school's $1.3 million deficit elimination plan with one caveat: The charter school needs to assure the state it's no longer associated with its former management company, owned by Ingersoll. That could prove tricky, because Ingersoll, who owns the buildings that more than 200 students attend today in Bay City, remains the school's landlord. Lynch said the state is aware of the school's lease agreement. Lynch said the lease is being negotiated with Ingersoll. On Friday, April 1, Ingersoll suffered a heart attack. He was scheduled for triple bypass surgery on Wednesday, April 6. Brunner, who worked in public education for 30 years before entering politics, criticized the academy's deficit elimination plan, saying it hinges on "drastic growth" in the number of students enrolled, the "assumption" that no repairs are going to be needed on their buildings in the next five years and an increase in per-pupil funding from the state. "That the Michigan Department of Education does not have the tools to hold the Bay City Academy accountable for its failures is further evidence that bills my colleagues and I have introduced to bring transparency and accountability to charter schools are increasingly necessary," Brunner said. Brunner also called out the Michigan Department of Treasury, Attorney General Bill Schuette and Lake Superior State University, the chartering university for Bay City Academy, for "refusing to take responsibility to investigate the financial misdeeds and misuse of taxpayer dollars at the academy." "I don't think it's healthy for proper discourse in a democracy to target a school or schools," Lynch said. "We have 400 happy students here. His complaints about charter schools really have nothing to do with Bay City Academy in the present, and to blame a specific school so viciously is uncalled for. "If he wants to change the laws, that's what he was elected to do, but do it without targeting schools. He has the legislative power to do that, so do your job." Bay City Academy operates a satellite campus in Mancelona where nearly 200 students attend. Bay City Academy School Board President Craig Johnston, second from right, speaks during a school board meeting. Brunner is also questioning the academy's ability to separate itself from Ingersoll. He points to the fact that the school's board President Craig Johnston is a longtime friend of Ingersoll who previously served on the Bay City Planning Commission with him. Johnston, who lives in Milford, said that he was previously a neighbor of Ingersoll's and served on the Bay City Planning Commission with him, but that the relationship ended when Ingersoll was charged with tax fraud in 2014. "I haven't spoken to him in more than a year and a half," Johnston said. "I'd put this to Mr. Brunner: Cite one situation -- just one -- in the past two years, since Steve Ingersoll has been gone, where there was any action by the board that favored Steve Ingersoll or any of his current situations. Mr. Brunner can spout things off, but I want to hear some examples." Responding to Johnston's comment, Brunner said, "It's understandable he's not associated with him anymore. (Ingersoll) is a convicted criminal." Brunner also said Lynch has family ties to a business associate and friend of Ingersoll. Lynch confirmed he is the son-in-law of Mark Noss, president of Full Spectrum Management, which operates Grand Traverse Academy, a charter school in Traverse City also founded by Ingersoll. Brian Lynch, owner of Mitten Management, the management company for Bay City Academy, speaks during a parent meeting at the school in 2015. "Yes, I have a father-in-law, that is accurate," Lynch said. "Mitten Management is a completely separate entity from any other company in the state of Michigan." Brunner said, "If the Bay City Academy were truly concerned about students and cared about responsibly handling the taxpayer dollars they receive, they would absolutely divest themselves of anyone and everyone personally connected to Steve Ingersoll and remove from their board people who have been involved in the previous failures o the school." Lynch said the school board is made up of seven people, six of them parents of students. "And he's talking about a corrupt school board? A sorry excuse for a school?" he said. "I wouldn't allow our own students to use that type of divisive language." Brunner went on to say Bay City Academy has "failed academically," pointing to past Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test scores. According to 2013 test results, the academy was below state averages in all 18 grades and subjects. Test scores from 2014 weren't filed with the state, according to Brunner's office. The state now assesses student achievement using the Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) standardized test. Officials from Brunner's office said comparing M-STEP and MEAP scores is like comparing apples to oranges, but they added the academy performed "well below" public schools in Bay County. Lynch said the 2013 MEAP scores are based on academic progress made during the 2012-2013 school year. "That is very old data and we have made quite a lot of change and improvement since then," he said. "He's also using data from ages ago, before my time at Bay City Academy." DETROIT, MI -- Theodore Wafer, the convicted murderer of 19-year-old Renisha McBride, is locked up at the Alger Correctional Facility prison in the Upper Peninsula; his earliest release date is set for March 5, 2031. He'll be 72. But that could change, based on a state Court of Appeals ruling this week that calls for Wafer to be re-sentenced. A jury on Aug. 7, 2014 found Wafer guilty of second-degree murder, manslaughter with intent but without malice and felony use of a firearm for the November 2013 killing of McBride. He was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison. It was about 4:40 a.m. when Wafer killed McBride on his front porch. McBride, who had a .21 blood-alcohol level and marijuana in her system, struck a parked car and fled the scene blocks away nearly four hours earlier. Wafer said McBride pounded violently on his front and side doors; he feared it was multiple home invaders outside attempting to enter and potentially kill him. He never called 911. Wafer instead, armed with a shotgun, unlocked his front door, opened it and shot McBride through the locked screen door when she appeared feet away. Wafer, who is a lifelong bachelor, appealed his conviction in October 2014, making several claims, including allegations of prosecution misconduct, improper jury instructions and double jeopardy. The Appeals Court ruling didn't find evidence in support of withdrawing the conviction or a retrial, but it did say Wafer should have another chance to be sentenced. The decision is based on a state Supreme Court ruling in People v. Lockridge, which says mandatory prison sentences are advisory only, and judge's may stray from the guidelines. According to the Appeals Court ruling, Wayne Circuit Judge Dana M. Hathaway erroneously said, because the court "cannot go below the guidelines," it would sentence him to the statutory minimum. The Lockridge ruling, issued after Wafer's sentencing. Because of that, means Wafer should be re-sentenced, the court said. Appeal's Court ruling: MOUNT CLEMENS, MI -- A 25-year-old man was sentenced to six months in jail Tuesday for the February stabbing of a dog. Patrick O'Connor of Chesterfield Township pleaded guilty in February to torturing, maiming, mutilating or disfiguring an animal. He was accused of stabbing the dog nine times because it defecated indoors. Police were alerted to the crime Feb. 1 by a veterinary hospital in Clinton Township, where a woman took the dog for care, telling employees her ex-boyfriend stabbed the female pit bull mix. O'Connor was arrested days later, saying to police "I did what I did," and telling investigators he had an alcohol and anger management problem. The dog, now named Harley Quinn, survived. "The veterinarian who treated it saved the dog's life, despite the fact that part of the dog's lung had to be removed during emergency surgery," said Assistant Macomb County Prosecutor Dana Goldberg. Macomb County Circuit Judge James Biernat, Jr. ordered O'Connor to pay $7,825 in restitution to Advanced Animal Emergency, the veterinary hospital that saved the dog. The dog is now being cared for by a unique rescue group, Pit Stop for Change, which is run out of a home and adjoining lot in River Rouge. "She's doing really well where she is," said Anne Savage a board member for Pit Stop for Change. "She's coming out of her shell." Volunteers for the rescue group attended the sentencing Tuesday as Harley waited outside the courthouse with Savage. "We were happy that he got jail time," said Savage. "It's a harsh thing to do that he did, and it's something he should have gotten more time for, but we're happy." She said the rescue group hopes to put Harley up for adoption once she fully recovers and undergoes some training. "We are going to be very picky about where she goes," Savage said. "We want to make sure that she'll never be hurt again." More on Harley and the unique group caring for her: DAVISON TWP, MI -- Police have arrested a 68-year-old Davison man in connection with a body found in a shed Tuesday, April 5 at a Davison Township mobile home community. Related: Police investigating after body found in shed in Davison Township Officers were called around 10:15 a.m. April to Davison East Mobile Home Park off Davison Road, near Oak Road, for a body inside a shed. The victim has only been identified as a white male. The investigation is being conducted by Davison Township police, who were assisted at the scene by Davison City police, Richfield Township police, Michigan State Police and a Genesee County Sheriff paramedic. The cause of the man's death is not yet known, and police did not specify if the person under arrest is the same person taken into custody for questioning following the discovery. An autopsy was expected to be performed Wednesday, April 6 on the body. Anyone with information on the incident has been asked to contact Davison Township Detective Mike Angus at 810-653-5656. GENESEE COUNTY, MI - The state of Michigan is offering up to $100,000 in grant money to local governments affected by the water crisis in Flint. Gov. Rick Snyder announced the opening of the state Disaster and Emergency Contingency Fund to offer assistance to the city of Flint, Genesee County, and other communities impacted by the water situation. "While this emergency is still ongoing, both the city of Flint and Genesee County have bills to pay now," said Snyder in a statement. "Money from this fund will help cover some of the costs they incurred while responding to the emergency." The grant program will be administered by the Michigan State Police, Emergency Management and Homeland Security Division. State statute allows for the governor under extraordinary circumstances to authorize reimbursement from the fund to offer assistance when federal emergency reimbursement is not made available. Money received by communities may be used toward costs associated with the response to a disaster or emergency, covering overtime for public employees, contracts, shelter supplies, gasoline and repair of public buildings and roads. Snyder said he would continue to explore options to provide financial assistance to local government partners. A directive issued at the end of March by the Myanmar Investment Commission has added an additional layer of complexity for foreign investors and granted ministries greater scope to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis. The notification designated 26/2016 adjusts the list of economic activities that require a joint venture under the Foreign Investment Law. In addition to relaxing restrictions in several areas, it adds a single new restriction on foreign investment described by investment adviser U Shine Zaw Aung as ominously broad. Economic activities endangering watershed forests, religious sites, traditional worship sites, farm and grazing lands, water resources are now off-limits to foreign companies, according to an unofficial translation. The broad language could technically be used to exclude foreign investment from any sector on a whim, said U Shine Zaw Aung. A careful review and reconsideration is needed. This addition is aimed at monitoring the location of an enterprise, not just the economic activity in question, an MIC official told The Myanmar Times last week. Cheah Swee Gim, director at Kelvin Chia Yangon, said the prohibition is inevitably vague, as it would be impossible to define the full range of endangerment. On the other hand, the foreign investor will be at liberty to present its investment proposal in a manner that establishes that there is no endangerment, which will allow the MIC to evaluate the matter on a case-by-case basis, she said. It appears now that investors must take responsibility for proving their projects will not have an adverse impact on the environment, she said. Some observers believe the new rules are problematic even if well intentioned, as they may create parallel legal requirements. There should be one consistent framework which requires all businesses to address the adverse environmental and social impacts of their business, said Vicky Bowman, director of the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. This should be enforced regardless of whether companies invest via the MIC, she said, and should be overseen and enforced by regulators in the new Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation with the relevant knowledge, powers and resources. Having a separate body of law under the Investment Law can create confusion and lead to unclear lines of accountability. Other activities off-limits to foreign companies remain unchanged, including manufacturing arms and ammunition for national defence, the exploration and production of jade and producing ethnic language periodicals. For Edwin Vanderbruggen, partner at VDB Loi, the endangerment rule is less concerning than a line at the bottom of the directive, which allows ministries to impose a local partner requirement for any investment, if they feel it is called for. [The statement] really confounds me. It kind of makes you wonder why there is a list to begin with, he said. It is not helpful and creates additional work for investors and for ministries. Now instead of going through MIC you will need to check with the relevant ministry beforehand. It reduces the predictability of exploring an investment. In reality, he hopes the MIC will persuade ministries not to add any unpublished restrictions on a case-by-case basis. I guess it must have proved too difficult to get together an exclusive list, he said. Approved foreign direct investment has reached more than US$9 billion in the financial year ending March, while officials say they plan to track the level of pledged foreign investment that has been spent in the country, which will likely reveal a far lower figure. A rush of last-minute approvals pushed headline foreign direct investment (FDI) up by almost $4 billion in March alone from $5.6 billion at the end of February to $9.4 billion by the end of March, according to an official at the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA). This is over $1 billion more than the $8.1 billion approved in the previous financial year and much higher than the governments $6 billion target. Over $2 billion of the March approvals came from a single project in the oil and gas industry, said U Kyaw Win Tun, a director in DICAs statistics department. Even before the March jump the approval numbers looked good, said Charles Schneider at the World Bank in Yangon. Local and international officials look to the DICA numbers to assess investor confidence in Myanmar, and so an increase is broadly positive for that reason. But the DICA figures, although they are a useful benchmark, show what is approved, not what is actually invested. Approvals may signal confidence, but actual investment has a far greater impact on the real economy. DICA does have data on actual investments, which it collects quarterly. This comes partly from reports local firms are required to make, detailing the foreign investment they receive. But the reliance on reporting means DICA is not confident in the final figures. Sometimes firms do not comply [with the regulation], said U Kyaw Win Tun, which he said led to weakness in the data. Rather than settle for uncertainty, DICA is planning a more rigorous and detailed FDI survey, which is scheduled for April of 2017, U Kyaw Win Tun said. That should provide some clarity over how much of the billions in pledged investment every year actually ends up entering the country. DICA plans to receive technical assistance from the ASEAN-EU commerce program, which has already provided assistance on three previous occasions, said U Kyaw Win Tun. Collecting the necessary data to provide reliable actual FDI figures will require help. DICA will need to work and negotiate with government ministries, the Central Bank, the customs department and the internal revenue department among others, U Kyaw Win Tun said. The planned survey would bring Myanmar closer to its ASEAN peers, whose governments typically provide data on actual FDI, he added. In many countries, the central bank monitors the banking system to track the flow of public and private investment coming into and out of the country. But the Central Bank of Myanmar is unable to monitor such FDI flows, said U Kyaw Win Tun. Because DICA does not have confidence in its existing actual FDI figures it does not make them publically available, he added. However, the data is made available to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which publishes it annually. Comparing the two, it is clear that actual investment is far smaller than approvals (see graph above). Astrit Sulstarova, chief of UNCTADs Investment Trends and Data Section, said his organisation had provided technical assistance to DICA in the past on collecting FDI data, and that its process had improved. He could not comment on how reliable the figures are and until the 2017 survey it will remain unclear how much of the gap between pledged and actual FDI is down to under-reporting, which an official at an international financial institution, who asked to remain anonymous, said was clearly an issue. In the meantime, IFIs and other groups continue to offer a range of different estimates. The IMF also receives DICAs data on actual investment, according to U Kyaw Win Tun, yet the Fund has considerably higher figures for FDI. In its recent Article IV Consultation report the IMF said FDI for the 2012 fiscal year the last year it had a hard figure for was $2.8 billion. The ASEAN Secretariat, which also receives the DICA data, gave a $1.35 billion figure for the 2012 calendar year. The World Bank estimated 2012 calendar year FDI at $1.33 billion. The IMF also offers projections, and in its Article IV report predicted FDI for the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years at $3.2 billion and $3.6 billion respectively. An early version of this article misstated the IMF FDI figures, which have now been corrected. The Central Bank of Myanmar has released regulations on mobile financial services, widening a market previously limited to banks to include non-banking financial institutions. The Central Bank announced yesterday that it had issued rules on mobile financial services at the end of last month to build an enabling regulatory framework for efficient and secure mobile financial services in Myanmar. For some, the country seems primed for these services. Few of its 51.4 million population have bank accounts, and distrust of the financial sector remains high. The majority of our population is either unbanked or under-banked, and many unfortunately are un-bankable by traditional methods, said U Thura Soe Paing, co-founder of mobile money solutions provider Frontier Technology Partners. Mobile money changes all that, and makes financial services available to everyone. All they need is a mobile phone and an ID. Frontier Technology Partners myKyat service runs under a Central Bank licence given to First Private Bank, he said, which co-owns the product. Meanwhile, rivals in the market also rely on banks, with 663 Mobile Money backed by Myanmar Citizens Bank and Myanmar Mobile Money affiliated with Innwa Bank. Despite competition heating up in the market, not all players have been able to launch as Central Bank Governor U Kyaw Kyaw Maung has only just now ratified rules that clarify permitted practices for non-banking financial institutions offering mobile financial services. Under the new regulations which have been unofficially translated and made available on the Central Banks website mobile financial service providers can offer a number of services including kyat-denominated cash-in, cash-out transactions, money transfers and domestic payments. However, unlike in the draft regulation, they will not be able to complete the domestic side of international remittance transactions. Companies that want permission to offer mobile financial services must have at least K3 billion in their coffers and pay K300 million for the application. A tie-up between Yoma Bank and Norwegian-owned operator Telenor Myanmar called Wave Money will be one of those lining up for a licence. The new rules will allow the joint venture to have its own customers, rather than keeping them with a bank, according to Wave Money CEO Brad Jones. [We will be] regulated directly by the Central Bank as a non-banking financial institution, he said. We look forward to submitting our application to the Central Bank and working with them to a satisfactory conclusion. Wave Money has been engaging in commercial testing, which at least one person has called out as unfair. An unsigned letter delivered to editors at The Myanmar Times said Telenor has ignored the draft status of the mobile financial services directive in order to get an edge on competition. MyKyat, Myanmar Mobile Money, 663 Citizens Bank and True Money ... must not be discriminated against. Everybody should be treated equally, the note said. Meanwhile, Mr Jones said Wave Money was permitted to commercially test its system and that the company had not done any above-the-line marketing. All of that will allow us to provide a better product to the Myanmar customer, he said. The competition is certainly going to be intense but we welcome it. And Wave Money will have it. Ooredoo CEO Rene Meza said yesterday that mobile money would be part of the companys strategic approach in line with its targeting of Myanmars masses. [Well be] submitting the application in due course, he said. Meanwhile, industry players said that getting customers on board would represent a significant obstacle. The biggest challenge or rather the tipping point for the explosion of growth on mobile financial services is to get the trust of customers, Mr Meza said, highlighting good customer service and a wide distribution network as important factors. Technology reliability is fundamental. Youre dealing with peoples money, here. We dont have guns. But I have a knife, says Daw Ai Thon. If they tried to rape us, I would like to use it. In the five months since the signing of a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement that excluded a number of key ethnic armed groups, fighting between the Myanmar military and non-state armies in northern Shan has increased dramatically. Thousands of civilians have fled their villages after coming under attack, many afraid of being used as porters or guides by the armed forces. They have sought shelter in IDP camps or with friends and relatives. But in one Taang village in the remote hills of Kutkai, not everyone has left. A few brave people have stayed behind. They are all women determined to do whatever is in their power to guard their homes and property from Tatmadaw marauding. The Myanmar Times travelled to Ngot Ngar village, in the hills above Nant Phat Kar town, to meet them and find out why they decided to stay behind when everyone else had fled. Daw O Khe is in her late 50s with strong features and a steady gaze. Her home is a sprawling single room, dark and cool, lit by shafts of light that filter through the wooden walls, with a cooking fire smouldering in an ashy pile in the corner. She sits by a large pile of rice sacks. There are similar piles all around the house, but they are not all hers. She is guarding the rice of all the villagers. At night she and another 11 women all sleep in her house, protecting each other and the rice from possible Tatmadaw assault. By day, while the other women tend their farms, she stands guard alone. I am a leader. When I told them it was best that they stayed they accepted that, she says of her fellow guardians, who are mostly in their 30s and 40s. If we werent here and the Tatmadaw came they might burn the houses, and steal things. They already stole all the solar panels. They cant do that if we are here. All the women, she says, carry knives, but they know that they are no match for Tatmadaw guns. If the Tatmadaw want to do something it will be hard for us to stop them. But if they come, I will swear at them, she adds. Because we are together they wont be able to do much. Ngot Ngar village, home to 176 households and around 800 people, is no stranger to fighting. But an incident in early March marked the tipping point of fear for most of the community. Before when they used to fire on the village we had hiding places and we would run there and wait and then come back when it was over, says U Aik Yee, 30. But on February 19 and 20 they used big weapons. We had to move to the jungle and wait more than a week, he says, showing bombed roofs and bullet holes in houses. He points to a dent in the cement where a mortar landed but did not explode, just inches from the wall of his house. He was on the other side when it hit the ground. U Aik Yee is back for the first time since he and his family fled. He volunteered to take us up the mountain on his motorbike via a steep, churned-up back road after a woman who had made a trip to the market assured him it was free from Tatmadaw presence that day. He will return to the IDP camp before it gets dark, though. An emaciated kitten wanders up to him mewing. My cat, he says sadly. I had to leave it behind too. After hiding out in the jungle following that assault the villagers eventually returned home, but on March 4 the Tatmadaw sent notice they wanted the men to attend a meeting in the centre of the village, assuring them they had nothing to worry about, says U Aung Myat, chair of the Kutkai Taang Literature and Culture Organisation. But when the villagers arrived, the Tatmadaw detained 14 of the youngest and strongest men and took them into the jungle. It is a practice that has occurred elsewhere in the region recently. Last month The Myanmar Times reported that in less than two weeks as many as 100 people had been detained in similar ruses across a number of villages in northern Shan. When [they took away the men] we knew we couldnt stay any longer. It was too dangerous, says U Aik Yee. In the end, 10 detainees managed to escape when the Tatmadaw troops that took them came under attack from the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA). They fled into the jungle. When the firing started, we all ran, recounts 22-year-old Ai Sak, who is now living in Nant Phat Kar IDP camp. According to U Aung Myat, the four remaining captives are being held in Kutkai, accused of being involved with the TNLA. If they are not TNLA they should let them go, but they have not, he says. This fear of men being captured by the Tatmadaw and forced to be guides, porters or worse frightened the villagers even more than the bombing, they say. They are worse to the men than the women. My husband did not dare to stay. I said to my husband you must go, but I will stay, recalls Daw O Khe. She is very brave, says U Aik Yee. Empty villages stand testimony to bitter ethnic conflict But the women see it as a matter of necessity. We have no choice. We have to stay, says Daw O Khe, We have to be brave because everyone has to go to the IDP camps, and if we do not stay we will lose everything. It is the longest she has been parted from her husband. It is lonely, not having anyone here for support, she says. And it is hard for the younger women who are apart from their husbands. Despite 12 of them being crammed into a small house, she laughs when asked if they have arguments about housework or daily life. Not at all. We are all from the same village. We are all good friends. If one of us has to go the toilet in the dark, one of the others will always go with her. In an adjoining village, Daw Ai Thon, 48, shares a house with four other women guardians. She does not see herself as brave either, but her rice and her house are all she has. Mainly we guard the rice, our houses and other peoples houses too. If the Tatmadaw come and we are not here I am scared they will burn our rice and houses. I dont think Taang women are braver than men. I feel so scared living here while my husband is away, but I have to look after my house. I do not know what we will do to defend ourselves if the Tatmadaw come again, but one or two of us speak Myanmar. So we will plead with them and tell them we have nothing to do with the TNLA. The women are well aware though of the Tatmadaws reputation of using rape as a weapon of war. Yes, we do have fear of that, but were living together so it should not happen, says Daw Ai Thon. She has her knife ready in case. When the topic of rape is raised with Daw O Khe she looks uncomfortable and less than assured for the only time in the interview. We are frightened of this, but we are together. It just cant happen, she says, her words more confident than she appears. She worries for the future, but again plans action. These two months are so important. We have to plant our rice and harvest tea. If we cant work now, what about next year? What will we eat? When we think about the future our heads are so confused and tired. But she is not prepared to give up. We have a plan to protest. To talk to the head minister for the peace process and to the ward and township administrators and ask for peace. If there is no peace we will protest. Women have been conspicuously excluded from Myanmars peace negotiations, but Daw O Khe says she wants to be involved. Id like to work for peace negotiations and to present [my ideas] to the authorities. I will dare to speak out if I get the chance. The World Happiness Report 2016 reported Myanmar as one of the least happy countries the planet in March, ranking The Golden Land 119th out of 156 countries but some in Myanmar have taken issue with the parameters. The report measures happiness using metrics such as GDP per capita, perceived freedom to make life choices, government corruption and access to medical care. Although generosity also factored into the report, Myanmars international reputation as one of the most charitable countries in the world failed to raise it higher than any other Southeast Asian country save Cambodia (140th). In a letter to the editor sent March 24, six days after The Myanmar Times reported the news, long-time reader Dominique Savariau expressed discontent with the ranking. If money makes people happy, then the index is right, she wrote. But if you have been here a few years you will agree with me that Myanmar people are generally happy, unstressed Time has no real impact on them, nor money. Daw Ohnmar Shwe, the owner of an antique shop near Bogyoke Market, both countered and confirmed Savariaus sentiments. Though she expressed some stress about money and business, she insisted that her happiness was more focused on charity. Charity has always been my largest source of happiness, she said. In terms of business, I am not happy at all as the demand for my goods is declining recently. But festivals lighten up my mood whenever I think of donating. Near-monthly festivals often corresponding with full moons and Buddhist holidays are occasion for people here to make merit and support monasteries. More than 90 percent of the nation practices Theraveda Buddhism, which encourages dana, or generosity, to help erode craving and desire. No wonder the World Giving Index ranked Myanmar first in the world for giving in 2015: 91pc of survey respondents reported having donated in the past month. I am not wealthy enough to contribute to charity every month but I still donate often with the little money I earn and I am satisfied with that, said drinks seller Daw Cherry. Shes not alone. Myanmars GDP per capita is roughly US$1200 per year, making it one of the poorest nations in the world. This fact, combined with decades of harsh military rule, would seem to make the people of Myanmar as unhappy as the World Happiness Report suggests. But every person we asked refuted the claim that Myanmar people are somehow less happy than the rest of the world, pointing to donations or meditation as indicators of happy living. A 20-year-old gem shop worker in Bogyoke Market, Ma Ngwe Ngwe Win, said, The meditation centre is a place of peace and joy to me. I am now working just to earn money but money does not offer as much happiness as meditation would. A lot of people at the meditation centre feel the same way. Regardless of poor or rich, family is also a source of joy for many people. Many Yangon residents live with their parents even as they begin their own families. For less wealthy people like me, we work just to earn money, said U Than Myint, a parking attendant at Bogyoke Market. The only true happiness I enjoy in my life is when I am back at home, eating a meal and playing with my three-year-old daughter. The recent shift to democracy and overwhelming election of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis National League for Democracy may soon be giving people even more to smile about. Bike taxi driver U Thit Lwin said people seem happier now that NLD loyalist U Htin Kyaw has been elected president. MPs in Mandalay have approved the new regional government cabinet put forward by chief minister U Zaw Myint Maung on April 4. Parliamentarians backed the list of ministers without objection, although the constitution gives them little grounds to reject a nominee. U Ye Lwin, an honorary professor at the Institute of Medicine, got the key post of Mandalay mayor. The cabinet features four National League for Democracy representatives: U Soe Than, who will lead the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation; U Zar Ni Aung, appointed head of the Ministry of Electrical Power, Energy and Construction; and U Myo Thit, the new minister for natural resources and environmental conservation. The party also holds the position of Shan ethnic affairs minister, which was won by Sai Kyaw Zaw in the 2015 election. His victory was contested by his opponent due to questions over his ethnicity but the case was dismissed by a Union Election Commission tribunal. Technocrats and former civil servants were given the remaining civilian positions. Former Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development director general U Myat Thu will lead the Ministry of Finance and Planning in Mandalay Region, while U Aung Win and Daw Khin Swe Aye were approved as attorney general and auditor general, respectively. Meanwhile, Colonel Myo Min Aung was nominated by the commander-in-chief for the post of security and border affairs minister. None of the ministers spoke to the media as they left the parliament following yesterdays session. Translation by Khine Thazin Han A testimony given by U Gambiras wife in court yesterday was marred by poor interpretation, according to the 2007 protest leader. Marie Siochana defended her husband against the immigration charges laid against him after they had crossed the border together into Myanmar from Thailand on January 16. Police allege that U Gambira, who is also known as U Nyi Nyi Lwin, did not enter the country legally and have charged him under the colonial-era Burma Immigration (Emergency Provisions) Act. After U Gambiras arrest, the couple said they had returned to Myanmar to get him a passport, and to have a new marriage certificate issued. In a cross-examination in Mandalays Maha Aung Myay Township Court, Ms Siochana said they had been planning for a temporary stay in Australia and insisted that U Gambira lived in Thailand, where he receives medical treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. When the prosecution pointed out that no Myanmar doctor had confirmed the formers monks illness, Ms Siochana said this was because doctors were too scared of government retribution to treat him. U Gambira listened at the court while his wife took the stand. She spoke strongly in my favour, but the interpretation wasnt very good, he said. During the previous hearing U Gambira and his mother Daw Yay testified. Both sides will present their final arguments on April 8. U Gambira will face anywhere from six months to five years in prison if found guilty. The inclusion of National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in the list of ministers published on March 22 by incoming President U Htin Kyaw has myriad implications for the governance of the country and the management of the party and of parliament, many of which are yet to emerge. But one result, observers say, is to strengthen still further the influence of former Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann. The new configuration is unlikely to mollify opinion within the Tatmadaw, even as Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing named the three senior officers to occupy the cabinet posts reserved for them under the constitution. Long seen as a close ally of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the former Speaker and chair of the Union Solidarity and Development Party has been appointed to head the Union-level Commission for the Assessment of Legal Affairs and Special Issues, a legislative review and advisory body. Thura U Shwe Mann has been joined on the commission by 11 USDP members thought to be loyal to him personally, and thoroughly familiar with the operations of parliament. The body is therefore considered to be a deep well of experience available to both houses of parliament. The role of the commission and the influence of its chair are likely to assume greater prominence as a result of Daw Aung San Suu Kyis effective resignation of her parliamentary seat. The constitution requires members of government to quit parliament and also refrain from all party activities. Some have raised questions as to the primacy of the Speakers the NLD has put in place, U Win Myint in Pyithu Hluttaw and Mahn Win Khaing Than in the Amyotha Hluttaw. U Win Myints three years in parliament were spent when Thura U Shwe Mann was Speaker, and Mahn Win Khaing Than has less experience for the post. Both are seen as more or less reliant on advice from Thura U Shwe Mann. Following her entry into parliament in the by-election of 2012, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was known to consult regularly with the then Speaker. The relationship evidently survived the ouster of the USDP government and Thura U Shwe Manns own electoral defeat. It was Thura U Shwe Mann who recommended U T Khun Myat for his post as deputy speaker of the lower house, and two of the former Speakers close associates, Thura U Aung Ko and U Thein Swe, have been named to the cabinet. Both former USDP ministers were ousted from the party leadership, alongside Thura U Shwe Mann, in a sudden internal party reorganisation last August. Speculation about the significance of these appointments has already begun. Referring to the dramatic breach that occurred within the USDP following clashes between President U Thein Sein and Thura U Shwe Mann, political analyst U Sithu Aung Myint said, It could cause problems if U Win Myint and Mahn Win Khaing Than are seen to be under the influence of U Shwe Mann. Poor relations between Thura U Shwe Mann and the military could also arouse suspicions within the Tatmadaw over supposed influence by the former Speaker on the amendment of existing laws and the adoption of new legislation. The military has already hastened to deny a report that military MPs sent an objection to the Supreme Court about the status of Thura U Shwe Manns legislative review commission. The Tatmadaw true news and information team has formally denied these reports, blaming news media for the error. U Sithu Aung Myint said Thura U Shwe Manns influence would depend on his ability to have the ear of the Speakers. Though the commission has broad powers, it is parliament that will take the final decision. That makes the position of the Speakers very important. They will have to examine any recommendation from the commission that appears to have consequences for any members financial interests, particularly those of U Shwe Mann and [family members], he said. He said he was convinced of U Shwe Manns continued influence in parliament. He could well be regarded as shadow Speaker, he said. All the speakers men: Inside Shwe Mann's committee Commentator U Yan Myo Thein also warned of excessive influence being exerted over parliament. How will this affect legislation? I hope the Speakers will conduct parliamentary business without excessive influence from the commission, and ensure that any new laws benefit the people as a whole. Through his social network page, Thura U Shwe Mann has urged all concerned to cooperate with the NLD to build a democratic country, and pledged to do his utmost in the interests of the country and its people. The appointment to the NLD cabinet of two former USDP ministers could also stir resentment within the rump of the former government party, where members have already reportedly suggested expelling them. According to one USDP member who asked not to be named, Thura U Shwe Mann and his followers seem unconcerned whether they are expelled or not. Asked if he had sought permission from party chief U Thein Sein to take a post in the NLD cabinet, U Thein Swe said he had not because the president had then not yet handed over power and therefore remains banned from party activities. However, he did inform acting chair U Htay Oo, he said. Because U Thein Sein could not intervene in party affairs prior to the handover of power on March 30, the USDP leadership dispute and fractures within the party remain unresolved. A decision will be taken by the party conference in July, said one unnamed USDP official. China's Wang Yi was first through the door but Western foreign ministers are also beating a path to Nay Pyi Taw to offer their support to the new government and press for investment opportunities. Italys Paolo Gentiloni is scheduled to fly in today at the head of a business delegation. Other foreign ministers are hot on his heels, including Germanys Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Stephane Dion of Canada, diplomats say. Mr Dion will arrive in Myanmar today and is scheduled to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Htin Kyaw tomorrow. We are very glad to be the first Western country to visit Myanmar at such an historic moment. It is a strong signal of political support to the new government from our side, said Italian ambassador Giorgio Aliberti. Daw Aung San Suu Kyis decision to appoint herself as foreign minister, rather than remaining an MP in parliament, smoothes the way in terms of diplomatic protocol for meetings with visiting foreign leaders. Mr Gentilonis two-day visit takes in political discussions in Nay Pyi Taw followed by business meetings in Yangon. Italian companies have been slow to invest in Myanmar, in part because of EU sanctions that were mainly lifted in 2013. State-owned ENI has signed two onshore and two offshore oil and gas exploration contracts while most of Italys limited investments are in the tourism sector. According to Italian data, bilateral trade in 2014 totalled only 147 million euros (US$167 million), although Italian exports to Myanmar more than doubled to 115 million euros. Listing Myanmars economic attractions, Italys foreign ministry points to its wealth of oil and gas, timber, fish, andagricultural products, and the size of its market. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met Italys then-prime minister Enrico Letta in Rome in October 2013 and also had an audience with Pope Francis in the Vatican. Meanwhile, President U Htin Kyaw announced yesterday that he had appointed U Kyaw Tin as deputy foreign minister. He becomes the first deputy minister in the new government. The previous administration had almost 60, but the NLD has slashed the size of the government from more than 90 ministers and deputies to around 20. In October 2013, we commented on the need for the reform of agriculture and closely related fields, including veterinary science, in Myanmar (see Agricultural Reform: It Dont Come Easy). In particular, we raised the urgent need to merge the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation with the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development. We also suggested reform of the training of graduates who support agricultural, veterinary and related fields by creating a comprehensive university to train them. The recent decision of President U Htin Kyaw to merge the two ministries to form the new Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation is most welcome. Perhaps the president could now go further and adopt our second suggestion: establishing a specialised agricultural university. What we have in mind is the training of personnel to support the animal production industries. We note that some steps have been taken to that end through the University of Veterinary Science, Yezin but we still hold the strong conviction that there is an urgent need to develop a specific course for the education of animal production specialists, just as there is a need for the training of veterinarians, agronomists, soil scientists, horticulturalists, foresters, rural sociologists, agricultural economists, natural resource specialists and other specialist personnel to service the agricultural and related industries. Now that the reform of the ministries responsible for agriculture and related fields has begun, there would appear to be merit in altering the oversight of the universities currently producing agriculturalists, veterinarians, foresters and other specialists. The Ministry of Education is best placed to provide oversight of the education of these graduates. It is fortuitous that the Yezin Agricultural University, the University of Veterinary Science, Yezin, and the University of Forestry, Yezin, are co-located even though they have been functioning as independent entities overseen by separate ministries. There should be no impediment to their integration into a new comprehensive university overseen by the Ministry of Education and given substantial autonomy. The new university should comprise the faculties (or schools) of Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Forestry and other related disciplines such as Aquaculture, Pisciculture, Rural Sociology, Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Engineering, with each faculty comprising departments responsible for teaching and research in specific disciplines. The new university could become the University of Yezin, thereby avoiding any conflict over nomenclature. This suggestion is entirely consistent with the view expressed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in a speech delivered at a forum at the University of London under the auspices of the British Council in May 2013. In this speech she said, We want to make our universities independent. We want to make them vital and we want to modernise them to be in keeping with the developments of the times. Later, in late June 2013, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at a high-level policy dialogue on higher education sector reform in Myanmar (Empowering Higher Education in Myanmar: A Vision for Myanmars Universities) convened by UNESCO in partnership with the British Council, the Asian Development Bank and AusAID, and held in Nay Pyi Taw. She emphasised the need for the higher education sector to aim for complete autonomy, inclusiveness, a change in mind-set and a future, which Myanmar aims to build. Although her comments applied to Yangon University, they are equally valid for other higher education institutions in Myanmar. At the forum on Higher Education held in Myanmar in late June 2013 in Nay Pyi Taw, Jamil Salmi, an international expert on global tertiary education, noted that the current situation offers a unique opportunity to undertake courageous reforms that are often not possible in other countries because of vested interests and entrenched positions that block meaningful change. He concluded by expressing the view that the political transition is too good an opportunity to be missed, as the country commits itself to establishing the basis for a strong higher education system. We strongly urge the reform of the provision of higher education in agriculture, veterinary science and related disciplines in Myanmar. Taking the bold steps required to effect the necessary changes will prevent Myanmars rural economy from languishing. Indeed, the country should in time derive massive benefits from reforming the education of graduates in the agricultural and related industries. Dumrong Leenanuruksa is a former academic staff member and vice president of Maejo University in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Graham McDowell is a former deputy vice chancellor of La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia. I have followed the flood of articles over the past few days, both in English and Myanmar, rejoicing at the dawning of the new era in our country. I am indeed very glad that a page has finally been turned on the military dictatorship and that we now have a democratic government. But I am not certain whether many of us have really understood that we, as citizens, share the responsibility in moving forward, and that a change in government does not mean that everything will be fixed. Many still seem to be comfortable following orders and relying on the notion that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will solve (almost) every issue there is in the country. Many have noted that she has cleverly handpicked President U Htin Kyaw and that she will be leading four ministries now two single-handedly. Her defiant endurance of several years of house arrest proves that she is a capable lady. She has said that she would be above the president. Only time will tell. But what concerns me more is that many in parliament are interested in changing the constitution, but only the part that prohibits Daw Aung Sun Suu Kyi from becoming president. So let us imagine that the constitution has been changed, which will take some time, and that Daw Aung Suu Kyi will become the next president. Does that mean she can guarantee to fulfil our hopes and wishes? Are we not interested in changing the constitution because we want to have a better life in accordance with our rights, because we want to take control of our own destiny and not be dictated to by anyone? Are we not interested at all to read the document in a more general sense and to question and challenge our constitution, especially on questions concerning the fundamental rights and duties of citizens? Or are we still ignorant and naive enough to think that someone else, higher in status, or some political party will fight for our rights, our lives and for the future of our children? Khaing Tun Interpreter [April 06, 2016] Benbria's Loop Guest Engagement is now Brand Standard for A&W Canada Benbria, a leading provider of mobile messaging and guest engagement software, announced today that it has become the brand standard for A&W, the home of Canada's best tasting burger. The announcement means that all 856 A&W Canada restaurants will soon be operating the Loop Kiosk "Guest Connect" Engagement solution from coast to coast. The solution allows for restaurant guests to provide real-time information on the quality and service of their experience using a dedicated kiosk or via their personal mobile device. The feedback from the guest is immediately shown on a scoreboard within the restaurant - which management and employees use to gauge their performance based on key QSC-focused operational metrics. Currently, 50% of A&W corporate-owned and franchised stores in Canada operate the Loop Kiosk "Guest Connect" Engagement solution. "This is a pivotal point for our relationship with Benbria," commented John Pigeon, Manager, GX Implementation with A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. "Benbria's commitment and level of collaboration with our organization was a major factor in making this decision and has helped us to create a better conversation with our Guests about what they want from our restaurants and how we can best serve them." Over the past 3 years, A&W Canada has ben using the Loop Kiosk "Guest Connect" Engagement solution to provide customers with a medium to voice concerns and opinions on the experience. To date, more than 15% of A&W customers are using Loop to provide valuable input, a rate that is fifteen times higher than standard industry metrics. The importance A&W Canada places on continuously improving service quality is something the Benbria team values and has strived to support from both a product development and client care perspective. "A&W Canada has been a wonderful partner to work with and we are honoured to be their brand standard," noted Andrea Baptiste, CEO of Benbria. "Their commitment to service quality and motivating team members to continuously improve their product and overall customer experience is something we admire and strive towards within our own business." About A&W Food Services of Canada, Inc. A&W Food Services of Canada Inc. (TSE: AW.UN), home of Canada's best tasting burger, is the nation's second largest hamburger restaurant company with 856 locations coast-to-coast. A&W Food Services of Canada is 100 per cent Canadian owned and is one of the strongest brand names in the Canadian foodservice industry. A&W Restaurants feature famous trade-marked menu items such as The Burger Family, Chubby Chicken, and A&W Root Beer. For more information, please visit http://www.aw.ca/. About Benbria Loop, by Benbria Corporation, is a mobile messaging and engagement solution that helps brands to enhance the customer experience. Leveraging the customer's preferred choice of communications - texting, web chat, native app, email and kiosk - Loop allows customers to communicate directly with a brand to make requests, resolve issues and share their experience before, during and after their visit. Closing the loop through on-the-spot staff action helps brands to improve customer satisfaction, save at-risk customers, increase revenue and drive long-term loyalty. For more information, visit www.benbria.com. Benbria, Loop, Get in the Loop, and Keep Us in the Loop are registered trademarks of Benbria Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160406006175/en/ [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] Yvonne Okoro 06.04.2016 LISTEN Popular Ghanaian actress Yvonne Okoro has revealed that she was once denied a movie role because of the colour of her skin. However, she says she doesn't think the issue of colour is still an issue in the Ghanaian movie industry at the moment because a lot has changed over the years. The beautiful actress cum producer made the revelation while reacting to claims that actresses must look a certain way to get movie roles when she spoke at the African Women in Film Forum held at Alliance Francaise in Accra on Monday. I remember I was told that I am not too fair, which is weird to me because a lot of people don't talk about that. In our industry there are times that you are not a certain type of way or you are not a certain type of colour so you don't appeal to the masses. But now that people have come to understand and believe that black is good, we are all different types of humans, we can't be the same. We all can't be light or blackso now as much as there is negativity in terms of how they want people to look, I think that we have changed to a certain point. We have come to accept certain things- which are our colour, how we look- and in a way we don't let people dictate who we are and what one should be. It is now not about how you look but the kind of story you are telling. The content we sell to people is changing, Yvonne said. The African Women in Film Forum was organised by Golden Movie Awards in association with the African Women's Development Fund on Monday to among other activities empower women in the movie industry to use their movies to change certain negative beliefs about the African woman. Martha Ankomah, Rama Brew and Yvonne Okoro Topics discussed included identity and originality in Ghanaian movies in relation to the portrayal of the real African woman or the Ghanaian woman in movies. Popular actresses and female produces Nadia Buari, Juliet Ibrahim, Martha Ankomah, the legendary Rama Brew and producer Helen Omaboe among others also shared diverse opinions on the topics discussed. When Nadia Buari spoke, she had a different opinion about colour discrimination in the movie industry. . I'm light-skinned and it is obvious. I get asked a lot of times if I feel being light-skinned contributed to the success of me being an established actress. No! It is wrong and I will tell you why; because I feel like you get to a certain place obviously because God permitted it. He put you there and because you are determined and because you have the talent. I am not trying to blow my horn but I feel like I've worked so hard to get to where I amI have had a lot of roles where I wasn't good enough because I was too light-skinned. For instance a certain movie producer called me and said she wanted me to be part of her movie and I felt I really wanted to be part of her movie. But the one thing she asked me was, 'I think you are too light-skinned; is there a way you can tan?' And I was like, 'Wait a minute. What do you mean [by] tan?' And she was like, 'Go in the sun and get brown.' And I said to her, 'I don't know if you have seen me before but I'm almost like an Obroni (white).' And she said, 'Well like I wanted you to play a sister to other dark characters' And I wasn't favoured. I don't think light-skinned actresses are favoured because they are light-skinned. I feel like you have to possess talent. You need to have the drive and you need to have God on your side. You need to earn that and not really about you being light-skinned or any complexion. And please, it is wrong, she said. But other speakers at the event disagreed with Nadia because they thought the issue of skin colour discrimination was deep-rooted in the Ghanaian culture. Nadia flanked by Laurene Abdulai (R) and another speaker It is not something the perpetuators of it are even conscious about. It is something that they have done over time without knowing, said Laurene Abdullah of NAFT. I want to tell Nadia not to personalise it because she might have the luck to be talented but for me in my experience, I feel light-skinned actresses are favoured in Africa. I mean it's from the culture. It is from how we were brought up. It is not about you, Nadia Buari. You are talented but most of them are not talented, sorry to say. It's really happening, Mimi Andani of Golden Movie Awards also added. Monday's forum was also attended by members of Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPA). Among them were Socrates Sarfo and Asare Hackman among others and movie director Pascal Amanfo. Juliet Ibrahim's documentary film about how some African women allow themselves to be maltreated in their marriages was also screened at the ceremony. The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) is a foundation that supports local, national and regional organisations in Africa working towards the full realisation of women's rights. There were appeals from the Ghanaian female filmmakers to AWDF to help the industry with grants for their productions. By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: [email protected]) 06.04.2016 LISTEN A waste management project adopted by Miss Earth 2015, Silvia Naa Commodore, will on Saturday, April 9 be launched at the Golden Tulip Hotel in Accra. Silvia, who is also an environmental ambassador, will be joined by other Miss Earth Queens from Fiji, India, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Trinidad and Tobago. While in Ghana, they will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with the work of Miss Earth Ghana on environmental issues. She will unveil plans of her modest contribution for an effective management of waste in the city, which is growing fast owing to constant migration from rural parts of the country. The queens will also visit the Presidency, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology and the Lands and Natural Resources for meetings and familiarisation tours. They will equally visit various embassies, schools, tourist sites and make donations to flood victims in parts of the city, which bore the brunt of the May 2015 floods that killed dozens and rendered many more homeless. First Royale Events is the franchise holder for Miss Earth Ghana and has been organising the event since 2002. The launch is being supported by Eco Earth Fund, Forestry Commission, Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Melcom, Nissan, Ghandour Cosmetics and KLM. Sorry, we can't find the content you're looking for at this URL. Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria has established a camp to rehabilitate and reintegrate Islamist Boko Haram militants who have surrendered and are sorry for their actions, the military said Tuesday. The camp "is geared towards rehabilitating and reintegrating the repentant and the surrendering Boko Haram members back into normal life," it said in a statement. The military did not give any details of the camp is or how it run, but said the repentant militants would be given vocational training so they can help contribute to the economy. An estimated 20,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram began its campaign of violence in 2009 to carve out a hardline Islamic state in northeast Nigeria. More than 2.6 million people have fled their homes since, but some of the internally displaced have begun returning. Nigerian military authorities also appealed to those still carrying arms to repent, after recently announcing the capture of dozens of jihadist militants. The statement said that troops will continue their offensive against insurgents in the northeast, and warned reluctant Boko Haram members of "imminent calamity". Brazzaville (AFP) - Congolese troops deployed across parts of the capital Brazzaville on Tuesday as business slowed to a trickle a day after fighting in opposition bastions that sent thousands fleeing for safety. Following heavy gun battles that began before dawn on Monday and raged through the morning in the city's southern districts, sporadic gunfire continued until sunset but petered out overnight. There was no immediate toll from the fighting, which came on the heels of a disputed presidential election and was blamed by the government on a rebel group known as "The Ninjas". Troops deployed at key points throughout the city and manned roadblocks, searching the few cars and people out on the streets during Tuesday morning. The southern districts of Makelekele and Mayana remained eerily quiet and few residents appeared to have returned home after fleeing the fighting in droves the day before. Stalls were empty at the Total market, the city's biggest, while vendors only had fruit, vegetables, beans and onions on sale at the Makelekele market, where a handful of buyers did their shopping in a hurry. Traffic was unusually thin on the main thoroughfare linking the southern districts to the city centre. The government has issued no toll from what it called "a terrorist action" and has said it is investigating whether the assailants were linked to opposition figures who have contested President Denis Sassou Nguesso's re-election last month. Late Monday, Congo's constitutional court confirmed the March 20 election victory of the former paratrooper colonel, who has ruled the country for more than 32 years despite accusations from critics of rampant corruption and nepotism. The results of the poll, in which Sassou Nguesso took more than 60 percent of the vote, had been denounced by the five defeated candidates who alleged "massive fraud". In a televised statement Monday, government spokesman Thierry Moungalla blamed the fighting on "disbanded Ninja Nsiloulou" fighters, saying they had attacked an army position as well as four police stations. - 'Peace always under threat' - The Ninjas is a rebel group which fought two civil wars in the 1990s and was headed by Protestant preacher Frederic Bintsamou, known as Pastor Ntumi, whose trademark colour is purple and who disbanded the group in return for a junior government position. He recently came out in favour of presidential candidate Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas, who came second to Sassou Nguesso in last month's vote with 15 percent. In a phone interview with AFP on Tuesday, Kolelas said the government allegations against the rebels were "overly hasty." "I want a totally impartial enquiry carried out," said Kolelas. "It's a masquerade," he added. "I'd like to see proof ... of what happened." He also slammed a Monday ruling by the constitutional court that his request to have the results of four regions annulled was "inadmissable as it was filed after the constitutional deadlines". He said the request had been filed on time. "We live in a country where, whether you vote or not, peace is always under threat," said a woman in the city's restive south who gave her name as Julienne. Moungalla said the trouble had erupted in the wake of the March vote, which he dubbed "a great moment of peaceful democracy". In an apparent reference to the opposition, he said the government "does not yet have proof that candidates or their supporters are involved in this affair", but noted that investigations "are ongoing". Last week, there were strikes in several southern districts in protest over the election results. Congo has been on edge since an October constitutional referendum that ended a two-term limit on presidential mandates, allowing the 72-year-old head of state to run again. Former colonial power France on Monday called for "restraint" and urged French citizens to stay at home. Sassou Nguesso served as president from 1979 to 1992 and returned to power in 1997 following a civil war. He won two successive terms in 2002 and 2009, but the results of both elections were contested by opposition parties. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - Fewer UN relief convoys are reaching starving civilians in Syria's besieged areas, prompting the United States on Tuesday to call for renewed pressure on the Damascus regime to allow access for aid deliveries. The UN Security Council heard during a closed-door meeting that food aid in March reached 21 percent of Syria's 500,000 people trapped in besieged areas, down from 25 percent in February. "We need the trend lines going in a much different direction," US Ambassador Samantha Power told reporters after the briefing. "Every besieged area needs to be reached. All those in hard-to-reach areas need to be reached, and we are a long way from that." The United Nations began scaling up deliveries of aid in Syria after a ceasefire went into force in February, hoping the desperately needed supplies will shore up a fragile peace process that began that same month. Aid deliveries to hard-to-reach areas however climbed to 83,000 in March from 53,000 in February, according to UN aid officials. Power singled out the rebel-held town of Daraya, which has received "not one crumb of UN food, since 2012" and was in urgent need of supplies after shelling polluted the water. The United States and its partners have "appealed to those with influence" over the Syrian regime to press for more humanitarian access, said Power in a reference to Russia. Chinese Ambassador Liu Jieyi, the council's president for this month, said Daraya was "part of a bigger problem" of humanitarian access in Syria. "We need to really look at the problem from all dimensions and, whoever can have influence to bear on the different parties, we should really work together," he said. Nearly half a million Syrians are trapped in towns besieged by the Syrian army, armed groups or Islamic State jihadists, in the complex war now in its sixth year. The United Nations has asked Syria to grant access to 11 priority areas in April, but the government has so far approved only six, said Amanda Pitt, spokeswoman for UN humanitarian affairs. Daraya, Duma and East Harasta have been left off the government's list. An airdrop of humanitarian is planned for Deir-Ezzor, which is under siege by IS jihadists, after a first delivery failed to meet its target. Lagos (AFP) - Embattled Nigerian Senate president Bukola Saraki on Tuesday brushed off allegations of wrongdoing concerning his wife's offshore assets revealed in the Panama Papers, as he went on trial in Abuja on fraud charges. The latest graft claim to hit the senate president emerged from the "Panama Papers" investigation into a trove of 11.5 million tax documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which specialises in creating offshore shell companies. Saraki is alleged to have failed to declare at least four offshore assets listed under his wife Toyin's name that appear in the leaked documents, according to the investigation's media partner Nigerian newspaper Premium Times. Under Nigerian law, it is mandatory for the president, the vice-president, state governors and their deputies to declare their assets along with those of their wife and children under 18 when they take office and before stepping down. But Saraki said he did not do anything illegal and argued that the assets are listed as part of his wife's "family estate". "I've fully complied with (the) law on asset declaration," Saraki said in a statement issued on Monday and posted on his website. "The law does not require a public officer to declare assets held by the spouse's family," Saraki's spokesman Yusuph Olaniyonu said. "It is public knowledge that Mrs Saraki comes from a family of independent means and wealth with numerous and varied assets acquired over decades in family estates and investments." - Huge payments - Saraki's corruption trial finally got under way before the Code of Conduct Tribunal in Abuja on Tuesday after months of delays. He faces charges including false declaration of assets while he was governor of the western state of Kwara from 2003 to 2011, all charges that he denies. Michael Wetkas, head of the team that investigated Saraki at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, took the stand as the first prosecution witness, telling the court Saraki had made massive payments into private company accounts. He used the deposits to repay personal loans from a local commercial bank and purchased property in Nigeria and abroad, Wetkas said. Wetkas also said Saraki had laundered money through his British and US Bank accounts and failed to properly declare most of the assets. Between 2005 and 2013, his Nigerian account had a total inflow and outflow of up to 4 billion naira ($20 million, 17.6 million euros), Wetkas said, with the local bank loan being the major source of the inflow. A trained physician and former banker, the senate president is considered Nigeria's third most senior politician behind President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo. Yet anti-corruption campaigners fear that the powerful politician will, like others before him, outmanoeuvre the law. "The latest revelation about Saraki's family should not surprise anybody," Debo Adeniran, chairman of the Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders lobby group, told AFP of the Panama Papers leaks. "We suggest that the Nigerian anti-graft agencies should collaborate with their foreign partners to move against Saraki and make him accountable," Adeniran added. "If Saraki escapes the Nigerian laws because of the loopholes and leniency in our laws, the international community should not allow him to escape. "He should get the Ibori's treatment," Adeniran said, referring to the case of former Delta state governor James Ibori who was acquited in Nigeria on corruption charges but jailed in London for a similar offence. Several high-profile politicians are currently standing trial as part of Buhari's drive to tackle endemic corruption in Nigeria, Africa's largest crude producer and biggest economy. GNPC REJECTS SLUSH FUNDLABEL The Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) has refuted allegations that it is reserve fund that government dips its hands into at will. ECONOMISTS TIIP NEW BOG BOSS TO SUCCEED Economists are backing the new Governor of the Bank of Ghna Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku, to succeed in a putting the economy on a sound footing but cautioned him of political interference. MAKE STUDENTS TRAINABLE TO FIT JOB MARKET A partner at KPMG, Anthony Sarpong, has challenged institutions of bigger learning in the country to churn out students who can be trained to fit into the job market. BE FIRM TO SAVE ECONOMY NEW BOG BOSS TOLD The newly appointed governor of the Central Bank of Ghana, Abdul-Nashiru issahaku, would have to be firm and stand his grounds to check government spending if he is to make any meaningful impact on the economy. CORRUPTION RANKINGS FLAWED UN ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR AFRICA DECLARES In what will come as a relief to African leaders whose countries have been consistently ranked as corrupt by various indices, the UN Economic Commission for Africa says current predominant perception-based measures of corruption are flawed and fail to provide a credible assessment of the dimensions of the problem of corruption in Africa. RENEWED CHIEFTAINCY CLASHES AT SOVIE, V/R One person is reported dead and at least two others sustained gunshots wounds in renewed chieftaincy clashes at Sovie, near Kpando in the Volta Region. I FEAR BNI FOOD POISON JB KILLER CRIES OUT Daniel Asiedu, the 19-year-old man accused of murdering Joseph Boakye Danquah-Adu, the NPP MP for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, fears operatives of the BNI may want to poison him through food. NANA DARES ADAKABRE NPP flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has dared Neat FM radio presenter Adakabre Frimpong Manso to lodge a formal complaint to police if he claims that he threatened his life. JURY TRIAL FOR AFOKO An Accra High Court Commission has empanelled a seven-member jury to take over the trial of 52-year-old Gregory Afoko for alleged murder of Adams Mahama, Upper East Regional Chairman of the NPP. DI BOSS IN TROUBLE Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) has charged the Executive Director of pro-opposition think tank Danquah Institute, with conspiracy to commit crime. NPP ACCUSES BAA KAMARA OF ABUSING INCUMBBENCY NPP has accused the National Security adviser of abusing incumbency by ordering the arrest of the managing director of Marbles and Granites for allegedly taking pictures of vehicles belonging to the governing NDC. 06.04.2016 LISTEN The former Member of Parliament for Lower Manya Krobo constituency will be playing a major role as the chairman of President John Mahama's 2016 campaign team in selected constituencies in the Eastern Region. The firebrand former MP who once broke ranks with the party has been tasked by the regional and national executive committee of the NDC to garner votes for the President. Popularly known as the Political Maradonna, Teye Nyaunu's foremost responsibility is to lead a team of NDC executives on an outreach program in Lower Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Upper Manya Krobo, Akropong and other constituencies in Akuapem-Krobo enclave. The idea of the outreach program is to sensitize the grassroots on the upcoming limited registration exercise and to explain government policies to its membership. Speaking after an NDC stakeholder meeting in Koforidua, Nyaunu, a staunch follower of ex-president Rawlings, founder of the party expressed satisfaction with his inclusion in the campaign. According to him the top hierarchy of the NDC met with him in Accra to deliberate on his role in the 2016 campaign. "We had a meeting last Thursday or so in Accra with the national chairman, General Secretary and the vice president. We discussed a lot and they welcomed me, he stated. I have a role to play to ensure that the party I belong to win the elections. In fact Im back to ensure that my good friend John Mahama, the political Ronaldinho is elected again as the president. I have decided to campaign for my friend because I can see that he's really performing. The evidences are there for you to see expect that he inherited a bad legacy so people may think he caused some of the problems but he didnt, he explained. The former third deputy speaker of ECOWAS Parliament explained that he will not hesitate to tell the president and the leadership of the NDC the realities on the ground, should he find it necessary. I am not going to sing anybody's praises when I shouldn't sing. I am going to tell them what the grassroots are saying and that is going to help us win massively because if you shelve its going to create problem," he explained. The former Lower Manya Krobo MP came under intense scrutiny from top officials of the NDC for among other actions, endorsing the candidature of Mrs Rawlings when she broke away from the party to form the NDP. Tomorrow, the African Union Commission and the European Commission will hold their annual College-to-College meeting in Africa's political capital, Addis Ababa. This is the biggest Africa-EU political meeting of the year. Tomorrow, the African Union Commission and the European Commission will hold their annual College-to-College meeting in Africa's political capital, Addis Ababa. The two Commissions work together as the engine of EU-Africa relations, collaborating on tackling challenges that the two continents are facing together. This annual meeting is the biggest EU-Africa political meeting of the year. Discussions will focus on key themes such as migration, peace, security and sustainable growth, as well as other policy areas enshrined in theJoint EU-Africa Strategy (JAES). Ahead of the event, High Representative and Vice President FedericaMogherini, who will be heading the EU Commission delegation, said:"Europe and Africa are long standing and close partners. We share many of the same priorities and challenges: terror has targeted both continents, we all deal with unprecedented flows of people, we have a common interest in fostering growth and creating new opportunities for the African youth. Our present and future bind us together. This is why this high level meeting of the two Collegesof the European Commission and the African Commission - is both crucial and timely. This will be my second visit to the African Union in just a few months, and I expect our work will foster common activities in many areas such as economic and social development, migration, fight against terrorism and international and regional issues." Besides High Representative Mogherini, Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, AndrusAnsip, Vice-President responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, ValdisDombrovskis, Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, NevenMimica, Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, MarianneThyssen, Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, ChristosStylianidesand Commissioner for Transport, VioletaBulcare also expected to attend the meeting. The topics of tomorrow's discussions will cover various themes across the five priorities of theJoint Africa EU-Strategy (JAES) Roadmap 2014-17with a focus on peace, security and migration, as well as the two continents' responses to the need to ensure sustainable economic growth and development to the benefit of Africa's and Europe's populations. A joint communique/declaration will be adopted within the respective competences of the two Commissions at the end of the meeting. Background The annual College-to-College meetings are held to provide regular political guidance to the Africa-EU Partnership through political and policy dialogue, on an alternating basis in Brussels and Addis Ababa. The last meeting was held in April 2015 in Brussels. Africa-EU relations are framed by theJoint Africa-EU Strategywhich was adopted at an EU-Africa Summit in Lisbon in 2007 and reaffirmed at last year's Summit. A road map (2014-2017) implements the Strategy in five areas for dialogue and cooperation: peace and security; democracy, good governance and human rights; human development; sustainable and inclusive development and growth and continental integration; global and emerging issues. The annual College-to-College meetings take stock of the implementation of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy Roadmap 2014-17. Africa is the EU's most important continent for EU development assistance. From 2007 to 2013 the official development assistance (ODA) disbursed to Africa by the EU and its Member States is estimated at around 144 billion (around 20.6 billion Euro on average per year). The EU and AU hold a yearly human rights dialogue. The last one took place on 24 November 2015 in Rwanda. 2016 happens to be Africa's Year on Human Rights, with Special Focus on the Rights of Women. The EU agreed to support the AU with its plan to expedite the ratification of international and continental human rights instruments at the national level. EU cooperation with the AU Collectively, the EU (including its Member States) is the African Union Commission's main financial contributor providing more than 80% of its budget. The European Commission alone provided approximately 1.7 billion to the African Union since 2004 until 2015. In 2015, cooperation between the European Commission and the African Union Commission amounted to 337 million. Cooperation between the two covers mainly peace and security operations, capacity building activities as well as cooperation programmes in different thematic areas, involving a wide range of actors such as Member States, Institutions and implementing partners. An arrangement will be concluded between the European Commission and the European External Action Service on the one hand and the African Union Commission on the other hand aimed at renewing administrative cooperation between them, intensifying staff exchanges and cooperation in a number of priority areas of mutual interest. Daniel Asiedu, the man accused of killing the former Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North, Mr J.B. Danquah-Adu, yesterday told the Accra Circuit Court that he is allergic to maize but he is being forced to eat food prepared with maize in the custody of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI). 'As a result of this, I give my food to the other inmates in custody and just survive on water,' he said At yesterday's sitting, Asiedu also told the court that he was been victimised in custody. Solitary confinement According to him, despite the fact that other inmates were sometimes allowed to go out of their cells for fresh air, he was kept in solitary confinement and only allowed to go out to visit the washroom. Asiedu , who appeared in court without his lawyer, also told the court that he had complained about the situation several times but nothing had been done about it. This is the third time Asiedu has complained to the court about his condition in custody since the start of the committal proceedings. Reaction Reacting to Asiedu's claims, the prosecutor, Superintendent of Police Mr Francis Baah, said he was surprised Asiedu had informed the court that he was being fed on something he was allergic to because Asiedu never told him about it. 'I have informed him to tell me about any difficulties that he is facing, so that I will take it up with the appropriate authorities. However, now that such an issue has been brought to my attention, I will check it up with the relevant authorities,'' he said. With regard to the accused person's claim of being kept in solitary confinement, Mr Baah explained that the structure of the BNI premises did not allow an inmate to be given the freedom to take a stroll or go outside. 'Besides, most of the restrictions are meant to protect the accused and other inmates,'' he added. The court, presided over by Mr Stephen Owusu, however, ruled that Asiedu be allowed to go out of his cell under guard to enjoy fresh air. 'In the interest of his health, he needs to be allowed to go out to take a stroll or stretch,'' it said. The case was adjourned to April 19, 2016. The High Court in Accra will, on April 12, 2016, decide whether or not to extradite the British national who is on the run from the British authorities for allegedly smuggling 400 kilogrammes of cocaine to the United Kingdom (UK). David Philip McDermott has been on the run for the past three years from the authorities of the UK but was picked up at his hideout in Accra on March 11, 2016. The British authorities are requesting his extradition and have, accordingly, attached the necessary legal documents to facilitate the process. Extradition proceedings for McDermott, who is alleged to have been part of a gang that smuggled 400 kilogrammes of cocaine, with a street value of 70 million, from Argentina to the UK, began at the Criminal Division of the Accra High Court on March 22, 2016. Earlier at the court's sitting in Accra yesterday, the prosecution and the defence teams addressed the court on whether or not the fugitive should be extradited. Counsel for the fugitive, Mr Victor Adawudu, is battling the state in his bid to stop the process. According to him, Ghana and the UK did not have an extradition agreement. Counsel also argued that his client could be tried in Ghana, adding that his client had not been convicted in the UK. Mr Adawudu said the state had breached the extradition procedures with impunity, insisting that the extradition treaty the prosecution was relying on had been repealed. He urged the court to boldly decline the invitation by the state to extradite his client because the court had the jurisdiction to hear the case. But a Senior State Attorney, Mr Richard Gyambiby, held a different view and insisted that there was a valid extradition agreement between Ghana and the UK. He said the prosecution was not seeking to try the fugitive in Ghana but was only interested in seeking a court order to extradite him. Background McDermott is wanted by the UK government to stand trial in the Liverpool and Knowsley Magistrates Court for narcotic offences in the UK. He is facing three counts, namely, conspiracy to contravene Section 170 of the Customs and Excise Management Act, 1979, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977; conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of Class A, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, and conspiracy to blackmail, contrary to Section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 of the UK. The prosecution said McDermott was believed to be a key figure within the conspiracy to supply a large quantity of cocaine to the UK, for which his extradition was being sought by the UK government. The Accra High Court yesterday constituted a seven-member jury to pave the way for the trial of Gregory Afoko, the man indicted of killing the Northern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Adams Mahama. The seven-member jury, made up of three males and four females, was arrived at after Afoko had used his right to three peremptory challenges to reject three potential jurors, two males and a female. Following the presentation of the facts of the case, the court, presided over by Mr Justice Lawrence L. Mensah, an Appeal Court judge with additional jurisdiction over the High Court, asked the accused to enter his plea. Afoko then pleaded not guilty to the charges of conspiracy to murder and murder. The court subsequently fixed April 19, 2016 as the day for the trial to begin. In all, the state is expected to call 15 witnesses, including the wife of the deceased, Hajia Zenabu Adams. Afoko is being represented by Mr Israel Ackah, while a Chief State Attorney, Mr Matthew Amponsah, is leading the prosecution. Committal The Accra District Court, on February 22, 2016, committed Afoko to stand trial at the High Court. That was after the lower court had ruled at the committal proceedings that based on the evidence presented, there was a 'compelling case for the accused to answer at the High Court'. Facts According to the facts of the case, on May 14, 2015, Gregory's brother, Mr Paul Afoko, and Mr Kwabena Agyepong, then national chairman and general secretary, respectively, of the NPP, arrived in Bolgatanga for a meeting. The deceased, the prosecution claimed, organised some thugs to violently attack the two, scuttling the planned meeting at the Azumsolon Guest House, for campaigning against the flag bearer, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, and also not notifying him of the meeting. The situation, according to the prosecution, was later brought under control by the police, adding that the accused, who was then upset, confronted Mahama but was chased out by thugs. Another group The facts also noted that Gregory and Asabke formed another youth group in their bid to protect persons perceived to be against Nana Akufo-Addo. It said the accused persons held a series of meetings with the youth and on May 20, 2015 they laid ambush at Mahama's residence with a substance suspected to be acid. 'The deceased returned home around 11:10 p.m. in his pick-up vehicle, with registration number NR 761 - 14, and immediately he parked the vehicle in front of his house, the suspects went close and signalled him to roll down the glass. 'The deceased identified the suspects to be party members and rolled down the glass to talk to them. Suddenly, the suspects poured the substance, suspected to be acid, on his head, face and other parts of his body and fled on a motorbike. 'The deceased started screaming for help and his wife, Hajia Zenabu Adams, went to his aid and managed to bring him out of the vehicle,' the prosecution added. Injuries According to the prosecution, Mahama's wife also sustained burns on the right side of her chest and breast while assisting her husband. It said when she inquired from her husband about what had happened to him, he told her Gregory and Asabke had attacked him. Mahama died while being airlifted to Accra for treatment. Gregory, who was later picked up, led the police to Asabke's father's house. The police later located Asabke's house but he had then absconded with his wife, abandoning their baby in the process. A post-mortem report on Mahama said he died of shocked lungs and extensive acid burns. Writer's email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The British High Commissioner, Mr. Nic Hailey, and UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) will officially launch the partnership between Ishida Europe and Allwin Packaging International at a networking reception on Thursday 7th April between 5:30pm and 7pm. The event will be held at the British High Commissioner's residence on 2 Tchui Road, off Naivasha Avenue in Muthaiga. Ishida Europe, a UK-based company and world leader in the food packaging industry, is expanding into the East African food market following its establishment of a partnership with Kenyan company, Allwin Packaging International, itself a leading packaging machine supplier. With its appointment of Allwin Packaging International as its agent for the region and the introduction of a new multihead weigher and checkweigher, Ishida Europe will help to support East African food manufacturers' growth through the effective use of automation in markets such as snacks, nuts, cereals, pulses, and sugar Speaking at the event will be British High Commissioner to Kenya, Mr. Nic Hailey, Mr Steve Jones of Ishida Europe, and Mr. Saji Kuriakose of Allwing Packaging International. In attendance will be stakeholders from across the Kenyan food packaging and processing industry, including Ms. Tabitha Karanja of Keroche Breweries and Mr. Vimal Shah of Bidco Oil Refineries. Members of the media are invited to cover the event. For security reasons, all media houses are requested to confirm and submit names of reporters and cameramen attending the event to the British High Commission Press Office by 2.00 pm Thursday 7th April 2016. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia & Rev Emmanuel Martey 06.04.2016 LISTEN THE THUNDEROUS welcome and cheers from members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana to the 2016 vice presidential candidate of the NPP, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, as he unexpectedly appeared at the church's 50 years anniversary celebration at the Sunyani Jubilee Park in the Brong Ahafo Region on Sunday overshadowed the presence of President John Dramani Mahama who was already seated on the dais for the programme. The president, who was in Sunyani last Sunday to grace the climax of the week-long anniversary celebration of the Presbyterian Church, had earlier arrived at the venue with his entourage including Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the ruling NDC, Elizabeth Ofosu Adjare, Tourism Minister, Hanna Bisiw, Deputy Agric Minister, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Eric Opoku, and a host of NDC functionaries, but received no applause from the gathering. A few minutes after the president and his entourage took their seats, the MC announced the arrival of the vice presidential candidate of the NPP, Alhaji Mahamudu Bawumia, and his entourage, to which the crowd shouted 'Bawumia oooooo Bawumia.' . When Bawumia finally entered the grounds, he was greeted with cheers and shouts from the crowd as he walked to his sitting place. President John Dramani Mahama sat quietly on the dais with his head bowed down, supposedly writing something on a paper, whilst Dr Bawumia received his rousing welcome. President Mahama never raised his heard to see what was happening. The president later addressed the congregation and asked Ghanaians to have faith in his government and in the economy, saying that all would be well. He asked parents to impress upon their wards who had turned 18 years to go and register when the limited voters register exercise commenced on 28th of this month. He also advised people to desist from doing double registration, warning that else their names would be expunged from the register if found. He donated GH 10,000 whilst Bawumia also donated GH5,000. FROM Daniel Y Dayee, Sunyani [email protected] The Zambian Government-led response to an outbreak of cholera has received a 'shot in the arm' with UNICEF handing over to Ministry of Health, a diarrhoea kit and other supplies worth US$12,000. The diarrhoea kit, which contains medicines, medical consumables and equipment, oral rehydration salts (ORS) and intravenous fluids, is aimed at supporting efforts to control the outbreak with 549 cases and four deaths have been reported in the Southern African nation. Two of the dead are children. Speaking during the handover ceremony on 18 March held in Lusaka at the national medical supply chain facility, Medical Stores Limited, UNICEF Zambia Representative Dr. Hamid El-Bashir Ibrahim, called for long term solutions from the Zambian Government and partners in response to outbreaks of waterborne diseases. While this support from UNICEF will go a long way in complimenting the efforts of the Ministry of Health to control the current cholera outbreak, it is my fervent hope and prayer that the Government of the Republic of Zambia and partners will look into long term solutions to address outbreaks of waterborne diseases, Dr. Ibrahim said. Dr. Ibrahim further noted that cholera and other waterborne diseases frequently occur in peri-urban and urban areas, thereby affecting the poorest and most vulnerable populations who live in areas that lack access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. Receiving the cholera kit, Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr. Peter Mwaba expressed gratitude to UNICEF for supporting the Government response to the cholera outbreak which has affected Lusaka, Central, Copperbelt and Northern provinces. Lusaka is the most affected with 480 cases reported, resulting in four deaths. As Government we are happy to have UNICEF, our all-weather friend, coming to our aid during this outbreak. I am relieved because I now know that in terms of supplies to use and looking after our staff we are done. I can only thank you on behalf of patients and frontline workers who I must say have done a commendable job given the magnitude of the problem, said Dr. Mwaba. UNICEF Zambia Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Specialist Dr. Colleta Kibassa, MD, explained that the cholera treatment kit will enable MoH treat up to 500 cases. The kit is designed to treat 500 people, that is, 100 severe cases and 400 mild or moderate cases. As UNICEF, in whatever we do, we have children in mind so this kit also provides for the needs of children, Dr. Kibassa said. The supplies were air-lifted three weeks ago from UNICEF's strategic Supply Division warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark. UNICEF has also provided support to the Government by helping to set up a new cholera treatment centre in the Bauleni area of Lusaka as well as aiding sensitisation activities through radio, interpersonal communication, print media and other communication media. Other support includes the provision of supplies to health workers such as protective wear, chlorine and soap. In Zambia, cholera is considered endemic and breaks out during the rainy season as evidenced from repeated episodes of the disease over the years. The country experienced the worst cholera outbreak in 2010 with over 4,500 cases recorded and more than 120 deaths. The 2016 outbreak, like all others, has been attributed to poor water, hygiene and sanitation in communities. The affected peri-urban communities such as Kanyama and Bauleni in Lusaka lack clean water, sewerage systems and have shallow wells located next to pit latrines which overflow after heavy rains. 06.04.2016 LISTEN I have written several times about the need for all district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives to be selected at the polling station by the ballot, if they are to be strictly held accountable to the people for their conduct. It may also be necessary to have the titles of Regional Ministers changed and converted into Regional Governors and make the occupants of such titles appointed directly by the people at the polling booth. The alleged arrest and imprisonment of an elementary schoolteacher, Mr. David Hammond, at Ekumfi-Otabanadzi, in the Central Region, makes such democratic reform immediately imperative (See GNAT Demands Release of Teacher Imprisoned for Insulting DCE Citifmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 3/9/16). Mr. Hammond was accused of insulting Mr. Ibrahim Dawson, the District Chief Executive Officer of Ekumfi, the very district which the late President John Evans Atta-Mills called his ancestral home. Actually, President Mills hailed from Ekumfi-Otuam, the village in which his remains ought to have been fittingly interred, had sanity reigned among the hopelessly cynical operatives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Hopefully, some day in the offing, the right thing will be done. Anyway, it is not clear precisely what Mr. Hammond, the Ekumfi-Otabanadzi schoolteacher, told Mr. Dawson that so offended the latter as to prompt him to call for the arrest of the former who, we are told, was arrested while in the classroom instructing his pupils. Why the Ekumfi district police would act so grossly unprofessionally may also have to be promptly investigated by the Cape Coast Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service (RC-GPS) or the Deputy Commissioner of Police for the Central Region (DCOP) to avert any future recurrence of such inexcusably embarrassing situation. It also must have had some psychologically traumatizing impact on these largely innocent pupils the integrity of whose instructional and learning space was so flagrantly violated by the Ekumfi police. Whatever the contents of the alleged insult that Teacher Hammond is reported to have volleyed at Mr. Dawson, the Ekumfi District Chief Executive Officer, is not clear from the news report which is sourced by Ghanaweb.com to Citifmonline.com. What is crystal clear, however, is that the accused had not been charged with having physically assaulted DCE Ibrahim Dawson. Which means that whatever transpired between the two men was not a case of emergency into which the Ekumfi police had to promptly intervene. Likewise, as already noted, the method by which the Ekumfi police chose to intervene, primarily on behalf of Mr. Dawson, had absolutely no professional credibility whatsoever. It clearly appears that the Ekumfi police had rather unprofessionally allowed themselves to be unwisely and unduly drawn into a situation which must have been purely personal on the part of a publicly embarrassed Mr. Dawson, who capriciously felt the need to gratuitously establish his relative political preeminence. As of this writing, the executive operatives of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), both at the regional and national levels, had reportedly had their say on the matter. But other than calling for the prompt release of one of their own and the issuance of a sharply worded condemnatory note, the GNAT leaders did not appear to have had much else to say. In other words, were these GNAT leaders on top of affairs, they would have promptly called for the removal or dismissal of Mr. Dawson from his post by President John Dramani Mahama, the man who personally appointed him. It well appears that DCE Dawson had called a conference/meeting of some sort at which he had cavalierly presumed to either crassly intimidate or put these village teachers in their place. Unfortunately for Mr. Dawson, Teacher Hammond would have none of it. And so Mr. Dawson had to teach Mr. Hammond where real power lies. Well, as I clearly adumbrated at the beginning of this column, in an enviably functioning democracy it is among the people where real power lies, and Mr. Dawson would have conducted himself with utmost professionalism if he had been elected by the people instead of a neo-colonialist President Mahama, sitting comfortably at the Flagstaff in Accra. And he would have chosen his words very carefully, wisely, diplomatically and thoughtfully. *Visit my blog at: kwameokoampaahoofe.wordpress.com Ghanaffairs Jumia Ghana, the biggest online shopping mall in the country is celebrating two years of providing customers with a wonderful online shopping experience. Being the leader in online shopping, Jumia Ghana does not only provide customers the luxury of shopping from any location, but delivers these items right to customers' doorsteps. Jumia also believes in innovation and changing economies around the world, of which Ghana is no exception. Jumia has pioneered e-commerce in Ghana and attracted huge foreign investment leading to a rise in the industry's contribution to Ghana's GDP. Jumia has raised over $326 million from Goldman Sachs: a US investment bank; AXA, a French Insurance Multinational and MTN, a South African Telecommunications giant, among other investors. The company can also boast of assorted brands on its website, top-notch customer service and timely delivery of goods. Jumia is a part of Africa Internet Group. Africa Internet Group was founded in 2012 with an investment from Rocket Internet a German internet group. In partnership with Millicom, a Swedish Telecom company and MTN, AIG has created 71 different companies accross 26 African countries. Other AIG brands include Jovago; an online booking company, Carmudi; an online automobile company and HelloFood; an online food delivery company. "We are keen on ensuring that the online success story of Ghana would be based around the Jumia story. We have a strong mandate to make the e-commerce business the way forward for the Ghanaian economy" Funlola Abe, Managing Director for Jumia Ghana. As part of its birthday celebrations, Jumia is giving its customers up to 75% discount on all items from now till 7th April. Customers are encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to grab any item of their choice from the platform. The company is celebrating customers, partners and employees who have been very instrumental in creating the Jumia brand in Ghana . As part of our second anniversary celebration, Jumia has lined up a number of activities which will be announced at a later date via its website and social media platforms. About Jumia About Jumia & Africa Internet Group. Jumia ( www.jumia.com ) is the leading ecommerce platform in Africa with a presence in 11 countries. Since launching in 2012, the company has transformed the way that African consumers shop by offering them the opportunity to buy everything from fashion items to consumer electronics to home appliances all online. Jumia is part of a larger ecosystem of companies supported by Africa Internet Group (AIG), the leading internet platform in Africa with a network of companies including Carmudi, Easy Taxi, Everjobs, hellofood, Jovago, Kaymu, Lamudi, Vendito and Zando across 23 African countries. 06.04.2016 LISTEN The NPP and their flagbearer have subjected some journalists in Ghana to supressiveness because their reportage are making their Nana Addo who is currently battling with serious internal problems as a result of his intolerant posture in the party and poor leadership unpopular. They have decided to single out the two most powerful journalists/radio presenters with massive listeners to attack. These are Kwame Nkrumah Tikesie and Adakabre Frimpong Manso. Adakabre who granted an interview to Joy FM has been forced to apologise or resign because some leading members of the embattled NPP are putting pressure on the owner of the radio station to sack him. Is this the kind of opposition party awaiting to take up the mantle to govern Ghana? What do you think will happen to journalists in Ghana should the NPP under Nana Addo win November 2016 elections? Your guess is as good as mine. The NPP flagbearer's intolerant posture has led to the suspension of some party members either indefinitely or temporarily for disagreeing with him. Among the suspended members are: Paul Afoko (National chairman) Kwabena Agyepong (General Secretary ) Sammy Crabbe (National Vice Chaiman) Dr Wereko Brobbey (Founding member ) Dr Arthur Kennedy (Founding member ) Dr Nyaho Tamakloe (Founding member ) and some executive members in the Ashanti region. Some journalists who have been verbally assaulted by NPP members including a leading member of the NPP, a financier and a close associate of Nana Addo who is also NPP MP for Assin North, Kennedy Agyapong are: Mugabe and Afia Schwarzenegger. Other journalists the NPP have decided to boycott their programs or put pressure on their CEO to sack them so that they can have media dominance and supremacy are: Afia Schwarzenegger, Mugabe, Kwame Nkrumah Tikisie and Frimpong Manso Adakabre. It is sad to note that the NPP under former president Kuffour is not the same under twice-defeated presidential candidate, Nana Akuffo Addo. The party has now lost public trust and confidence as a credible alternative to the current government whose achievements are unprecedented. NPP are now seen as a security threat to the nation after bringing three ex-police officers from South Africa to train some NPP members as private security men parallel to the national security officers of the nation. Contract killing in the party has led to the death of some prominent members including party Chairman, Adam Mahama. These aforementioned problems have made the NPP party so unpopular that they have decided to silence journalists to prevent the exposure of the current state of the party and the true character of its leadership. Will this work? Michael Frempong Rev Fitzgerald Odonkor, MD Capital Bank 06.04.2016 LISTEN Indigenous bank Capital Bank has increased the number of branches that offer comprehensive banking services on Saturdays to 11 in a bid to offer convenient customer-focused solutions to customers. The Dansoman, Ashaiman and Kumasi branches have been added to eight others that offer banking services on Saturday. They include Makola, Abossey Okai, Newtown, Osu and Tema, Kasoa and Takoradi and Tamale branches. The eleven branches represent 61 percent of the bank's total branch network. Chief Banking Officer, Daniel Gaikpah said, We believe that banking is about convenience so we are adopting a multi-channel approach aimed at delivering convenience across multiple customer contact points. He urged prospective customers to come on board and enjoy a full bouquet of banking services from Capital Bank. . Customers, who receive regular remittances from abroad, can also visit the 11 branches of Capital Bank to receive monies from their relatives and families on Saturdays. Currently, plans were underway to make the bank's Speed banking solution, which allows customers to deposit cash through their mobile phones available in over 25,000 outlets nationwide. Capital Bank is expected to open a minimum of three new branches in strategic locations across the country this year. Its vision is to become the local bank of excellence for African markets and provide a standard of measure for stakeholders' return. 06.04.2016 LISTEN Ghanaians have never showed so much interest in the quality of the Governor of their apex bank Bank of Ghana (BoG). The man who exited the position a few days ago and triggered questions about whether his successor would be better than him received the hardest punches from despaired Ghanaians. Their aggressive attitude to him was occasioned by the persistent downward spiral of the economy and its attendant impact on Ghanaians. Until now the citizens of this country hardly knew how the performance of the Governor can impact on the economic fortunes of the country. Dr Abdul-Nashiru Issahaku has taken up the position of Governor of the Bank of Ghana at a time when the economy of the country is in its worst moments. With elections almost at the corner, the tendency for government to take economically inappropriate decisions and coerce the apex bank to come along is largely expected. The ability of the governor to stand up to the challenges posed by the government seeking to protect its parochial interests under the prevailing circumstances would stand him apart from others who could not and paid dearly for their amenability. Dr Issahaku should learn from the Achilles' heel of his predecessor and stand his ground when politicians push him to take decisions which would compromise his profession. Unlike his predecessors, he has attracted more attention, having assumed the position at a time when a lot of blemishes visited the economy and continue to do so, most of them traceable to their stewardship. The microfinance companies have sprouted like mushroom on a plane some of them in breach of existing regulations as the apex bank sleeps on its job. The DKM debacle is a major fallout from this slumber. . Dr Issahaku must take tough decisions to deliver the country from the quagmire it finds itself in today. In an election year, cynics think that he has been appointed to facilitate government's reckless drawing of public money from the state coffers. He has a fine opportunity to prove these persons wrong and save the country the attendant financial challenges originating from such profligacy. It would be tough but necessary if the new governor seeks to make a mark. Since the true fiscal position of the country cannot be subjected to the propaganda associated with governance, it would not be long before the realities of these become public knowledge. It is our admonition therefore that a periodic presentation of the true state of the economy, indebtedness et al, is given the people, devoid of adulteration for political effect. Under the stewardship of his predecessor, such information was not only delayed unduly; whatever originated from the apex bank lacked credibility. The cedi continues to suffer painful ordeals against its convertible counterparts as a result of self-inflicted fiscal injuries. It would take tough decisions to reverse the trend. Can the newly installed Governor be tough on such matters? It would not take long to see the stuff he is made of. A Bank of Ghana Governor at this time should be one who would tell it as it is and take the appropriate decisions, regardless of whose ox is gored. A portion of Agility's warehouses in Kuwait 06.04.2016 LISTEN Agility Distribution Parks (ADP), a world-class freight, logistics and warehousing company headquartered in Kuwait, will in May, this year open its 40-acre site in the Tema Port Free Trade Zone Enclave to both regional and global companies operating in Ghana. The company cut the sod for the construction of the facility in January last year. The company plans to build 70 logistics parks of 100 acres across all the key locations in Africa to actually provide a pan-African logistics network. According to Geoffrey White, its Africa CEO, it is a five-year programme that is demand-driven. Our global customers are looking for access to that market. We believe there's an increasing opportunity for regional trade and export, so now is the time to be investing and building the infrastructure to support the logistics business. At a press briefing in Accra, the company said its network of Agility Distribution Parks being developed across Africa would serve the growing requirements of Agility's existing and new customers as they seek distribution facilities across the continent to meet the demands of the burgeoning growth in both the FMCG and commercial markets. . Fred Kojo Ellis, Commercial Manager West Africa at Agility, noted that Agility is a world leader in the development of logistics parks around the globe and is committed to developing a network of quality distribution parks in Africa. By providing the much-needed import and export routes in and out of Africa, Agility Distribution Parks will help companies operate in Africa with the reliable, modern and secure infrastructure they need to grow their business. The Tema facility will provide uninterrupted power, IT connectivity and security for tenants, creating an international platform from which companies can efficiently operate their businesses. Agility operates its own warehouses and also designs and builds warehouses on its distribution parks for third parties to specific individual customer specifications. The company is one of the world's leading providers of integrated logistics. It is a publicly traded company with more than $4.8 billion in revenue and over 20,000 employees in over 500 offices across 100 countries. The first phase of the park will be operational in May and when fully occupied will include 100,000 sqm of bonded and non-bonded warehouses with ancillary services. A business desk report 06.04.2016 LISTEN David Smith covering his face from the lenses of journalists at the court yesterday David Philip McDermott, the 42-year-old British national being held by the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) over an alleged importation of 71 million worth of cocaine into the United Kingdom (UK), has waived his right to call any witnesses in his extradition trial. The accused had through his lawyer, Victor Adawudu, given strong indication that he intended to call a witness to further advance his case. However, in a court presided over by Justice Merley Wood, the lawyer, in a dramatic move, stated that his client had waived the right to call any witnesses. The defence counsel rather said per the copy of the inventory of items taken from the accused person, there was no mention of a narcotic substance a position the case investigator, Detective Sergeant Marcus Yawlui, admitted. He argued that narcotic related offences are not an extradition crime per the interpretation of the first schedule of the extradition law. He said the case could be tried in Ghana, adding that his client had not been convicted in England and that even if he had been, his rights as a human being were to be respected. Adawudu said the state had breached the extradition procedures with impunity, insisting that the extradition treaty the prosecution so relied on had been repealed. . The lawyer said the court ought to boldly decline the invitation by the state to extradite his client because the court has the jurisdiction to hear the case. Richard Gyambibi, a state attorney, disagreed, contending that there was an extradition treaty between Ghana and the UK. He said the state had not said that the accused had committed any offence in Ghana, but was being sent to the UK to stand trial in respect of the case. The judge has fixed April 12, 2016 to decide whether or not to extradite McDermott aka David Smith. The state had dropped its earlier charge of unlawfully undertaking prohibited business relating to narcotics in Ghana and the United Kingdom (UK) between 2013 and 2016. The state had filed a Nolle Prosequi at the registry of the circuit court where David Smith was being tried over narcotic related offence. The Attorney-General (A-G), through a letter dated March 21, 2016 signed by Yvonne Atakora Oboubisa, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), stated emphatically that the case involving the accused should be discontinued. By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson [email protected] President Mahama Addressing the people 06.04.2016 LISTEN President John Dramani Mahama has justified why most Ghanaian graduates fail to secure jobs in the country, saying, the demands of the job market in Ghana have changed. According to him, businesses and industries are no longer looking for the book-long grammar school education but are looking for skilled, practical and technical personnel. The economic strength of every country is linked to the skills and competences of its workforce and the skills and competences are bountifully supplied by well-resourced technical universities, the president noted. President Mahama stated this during the symbolic launching of the conversion of six polytechnics in the country to technical universities at a colourful ceremony at the Takoradi Polytechnic auditorium on Monday. The six polytechnics that will operate as technical universities beginning from the 2016/2017 academic year are the Kumasi, Takoradi, Koforidua, Sunyani, Ho and Accra Polytechnics. These soon-to-be technical universities have benefitted from upgraded engineering laboratories and workshops. He pointed out that government had gone far with the process of the conversion of the polytechnics to technical universities. He indicated that first, a technical committee was set up to advise government on the conversion. According to him, the committee advised government that the exercise must be done progressively to allow the polytechnics satisfy the requirements of becoming technical universities. He revealed that a stakeholder consultative forum that was organised unanimously agreed that the conversion should not be a wholesale exercise but be based on an assessment of each and every polytechnic. . Bill The president indicated that the Technical University Bill has been finalised by the Attorney General's Department and is currently under consideration by the National Council for Tertiary Education. It will go to cabinet and then will be presented to Parliament when the [House] resumes later this month. I can assure you the bill will be passed at the next sitting of Parliament, the president said. He indicated that the Tamale and Cape Coast Universities had requested for a re-assessment of their status to also become full-fledged technical universities, adding, We shall await the report of the re-assessment. President Mahama assured Ghanaians that his government would continue to prioritise technical and vocational education. The Rector of the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev John Frank Eshun, appealed to the government to assist in the provision of certain priority projects for the polytechnic including the campus roads, fencing of the institution's lands and staff accommodation. He also requested for additional modern lecture theatres, an administration block, equipment for training in engineering studies and hostel for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) campus at Akatakyi in the Ahanta West District. He noted that the Polytechnic's Jubilee Technical Training Centre (JTTC) was already providing hands-on technical training in oil and gas-related studies in areas such as Instrumentation, Mechanical, Electrical and Process Engineering as well as Health and Safety Awareness. The polytechnic also has ultra-modern laboratories dubbed 'Amatrol Laboratories' equipped with current technology and software to provide technical skills in Mechatronics, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCS), Process Engineering and Fluid Mechanics among others, he added. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Tertiary Education, pointed out that the records at the Ministry of Education showed that under this government, technical education had received massive support. He revealed that over the last four years, the government had pumped more than $200 million into the development of technical education in the country. According to him, government could not just upgrade polytechnics without assessing the varying levels of infrastructure and capacity; hence, the need for the implementation of the conversion in phases. From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi Oakbay Investments (www.OakbayInvestments.co.za)demands an explanation from Mr. Jacques Celliers, the Head of First National Bank ('FNB'), for the closing of the Company's accounts. Oakbay has received no reason whatsoever justifying FNB's actions. We are already in the process of moving our accounts to a more enlightened institution. We find the timing of FNB's decision staggering given Oakbay's accounts are in excellent financial health and we have been a loyal and profitable customer for many years. In December 2015, we also received a similar notification from Absa Bank with no explanation. Interestingly, this remained confidential for over three months until a couple of days ago. We question the timing of Absa making this public. These latest incidents are clear proof that the recent allegations against the company and the wider Gupta family are all part of a carefully orchestrated political campaign, which, tragically, involves some of the country's most senior institutions and individuals. It is very disappointing that FNB (and Absa) have allowed themselves to be dragged into the political in-fighting by the campaign's orchestrators. We challenge the purveyors of the numerous false allegations made against us in recent months to provide any evidence of wrongdoing. It is time to put up, or shut up. South Africa is currently facing extreme economic challenges and Oakbay has consistently been a successful job creator and tax payer for the benefit of South Africa and its citizens. This success has clearly upset some of the establishment. Sadly, those who are against us want to resort to any means necessary including slanderous, unfounded innuendo. They talk about state capture when only 1% of our business is from Government. That is an inconvenient truth for our detractors, but truth it is, as our fully audited financial results show. Our business success in South Africa over the last 23 years (not 6 years as some mistakenly believe) has been based on taking a long-term perspective and a 'challenger' philosophy. This means expanding into tomorrow's growth industries today, and operating in established industries in a more efficient manner than our peers. We welcome competition and enjoy it. We demand an explanation from Jacques Celliers. For more information, please contact: [email protected] About Oakbay Investments and the Gupta family Oakbay Investments (www.OakbayInvestments.co.za) has invested more than R10 billion in South Africa and employs more than 4,500 people. The Gupta family has a 23-year history of strong business performance and turnaround skills. This strong performance has come almost entirely via successful activity in the private sector, with less than 1% of the Group's revenue coming from government contracts. Sector diversification has also enabled Oakbay companies to deliver consistent growth and job creation throughout times of both economic boom and bust. For example, 47,000 jobs have been lost in South Africa's mining sector between 2012 and 2015. In contrast, Oakbay's mining companies have created 3500 of jobs in the sector. Over the past few years, Russian authorities have been prioritizing media cooperation and the use of soft power to address the falling image of Russia among the political and business elites in Africa. The authorities have also made persistent efforts to inform the elites and business community about the positive developments and emerging economic opportunities in Russia, but Russian media and policy experts say there is still much room for improvement. Quite recently, Olga Kulkova, a research fellow at the Center for Studies of Russian-African Relations, Institute for African Studies in Moscow, noted in her opinion article that "in the global struggle for Africa, Russia is sadly far from outpacing its competitors. In terms of stringency of strategic outlook and activeness, the country is seriously lagging behind China, US, EU, India, Brazil." For example, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) meeting, both China and Africa have fixed a "China-Africa Press Exchange Center" in China to encourage exchanges and visits between Chinese and African media, and China already supports frequent exchange of correspondents by media organizations of the two sides. Professor David H. Shinn, an adjunct professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs George, Washington University, thinks that China Central Television, China Radio International, China Daily, and China's official news service, Xinhua, have made a major media push into Africa. This effort coincides with China's expanding economic and political engagement, including the fact that China is Africa's largest trading partner at more than $200 billion annually, Shinn, who was a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia (1996-99) and Burkina Faso (1987-90), wrote in an emailed interview to Buziness Africa: "Neither Russia nor the government-controlled media of any other country has made a comparable media outreach effort in Africa. This situation speaks more, however, to the extraordinary effort China is putting into its African media campaign than it does Russia's comparative lack of effort." Kulkova suggested that "Africa needs broader coverage in Russian media. Leading Russian media agencies should release more topical news items and quality analytical articles about the continent, on-the-spot TV reports in order to adequately collaborate with African partners and attract Russian business to Africa. More quality information about modern Russia should be broadcast in African states. Indisputably, it would take a lot of money and efforts, but the result will pay off." The 21st century is the century of new technologies bringing international communication to a qualitatively different level, it is a time for new methods of "struggle for the hearts and minds" of African partners. Russia ought to take that into account if it wants to improve the chances for success in Africa. All the leading countries have been doing that quite efficiently for a long time, Kulkova noted. While many experts say African media seem uninterested in developing links to Russia, Vasily Pushkov, an independent expert on international media relations argues that "it works both ways and moreso the two regions are very far from each other. They are not as interconnected as they were during the Cold War era. But, the interest in the media is relatively high right now." He explained that Russia might have an image problem among African elites, "partly due to the fact that Russia had to somewhat reduce its different development and investment programs in the African continent compared to the Soviet era. There is also a communication problem. Most African media get their global news from the leading Western media outlets, which in turn have a nasty and longstanding habit of always portraying Russia as the world's bogeyman." Some problems and challenges in developing the media connection to Africa still remain. Pushkov said: "Africa is a huge continent. And it is only fair to remind oneself again and again that it is not a single entity. It has multitude of languages, cultures, nations, customs and regional or global interests. This is something that many people tend to forget when dealing with the continent." "But this diversity also means that you can not cover the whole continent by firmly establishing yourself in just one part of it. This calls for a very complicated and structured work that requires a lot of resources the amount of which has been significantly reduced by the global financial crisis," Pushkov explained assertively. He, however, points to positive trend in media cooperation. Last year for instance, Russian media made somewhat of a breakthrough in establishing partnership relations with African media companies. The main progress was reached during the forum of the heads of the BRICS countries' leading media outlets "Towards creating a common information space for the BRICS countries" which took place in October in Moscow. This resulted in a number of signed cooperation agreements between Russian and South African media companies. Furthermore, leading Russian media outlets have continued their work to expand coverage of events happening on the African continent. China is leading among the BRICS. During the Sixth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) held in December 2015 in Pretoria, both China and Africa aspire to reach new milestones in many spheres, one of which is to train hundreds of journalists, help them with skills development and skills transfer programs. According to the official reports, this will provide an opportunity, by using the power of modern media, for advancing the common interest of the two regions in a mutually beneficial way. For the past few years, Russia has made some efforts to return with investment and business to Africa, but unfortunately only a few of those development projects have been made public. "Russian media write very little about Africa, what is going on there, what are the social and political dynamics in different parts of the continent. Media and NGOs should make big efforts to increase level of mutual knowledge, which can stimulate interest for each other and lead to increased economic interaction as well," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor-in-chief of the journal Russia in Global Affairs. "To certain extent," Lukyanov said, "the intensification of non-political contacts may contribute to increased interest. But in Russia's case, the main drivers of any cooperation are more traditional rather than political interests of the state and economic interest of big companies. Soft power has never been a strong side of Russian policy in the post-Soviet era." But, this trend may be changing. In a foreign policy speech, President Vladimir Putin urged all his Russian ambassadors and diplomats to actively use new technologies to highlight Russian success stories, improve Russia's image and defend its interests abroad, according to Russian daily Kommersant, quoting an official who attended the meeting. "It's not enough to just crow something once We should explain our positions again and again, using various platforms and new media technologies, until they understand," the official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity, quoted Putin as saying. According to experts, the level and intensity of cultural influence can be raised by the effective use of soft power, and of course, social media as pointed out by President Putin in his mid-July address to Russian diplomats at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But the primary task is for diplomatic representations both in the Russian Federation and inside Africa to recognize these new methods of disseminating information, work with transparency and self-dedication, and keep up their legitimate responsibilities within the policy framework. *Kester Kenn Klomegah is an independent research writer on Russia-African affairs and a member of the Regional Council on Development of Relations with Africa. The nurses at the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations on Monday 06.04.2016 LISTEN Graduates of the School of Hygiene will have to enrol onto the Youth Entrepreneurial Agency (YEA) as they wait for their posting by government, Employment & Labour Relations Minister, Haruna Iddrisu, has said. Mr Iddrisu, speaking to an Accra-based local radio station on government's inability to employ the over 1,350 graduates in the last five years, said the arrangement will be a stop gap measure while he works to get their clearance from the Ministries of Finance and Local Government for their employment. It is true that government has reneged on its promise to issue the clearance letters from the Ministry of Finance and Local Government, but that notwithstanding, I made a pledge to them and I still stand by the pledge. As a stop gap measure, we will recruit all of them under the Youth Employment Programme. They will be on such allowances and salaries as if they were on permanent employment. They have to decide between doing something and doing nothing with their own productive skills that they have acquired, he said. The Employment & Labour minister entreated the graduates to remain calm as government works to find permanent jobs for them. It is, however, unclear when their clearance will be completed for them to be posted to their various stations to start work as government employees or how much they will be receiving under the YEA. . On Monday, over 200 graduates of the School of Hygiene picketed at the Ministry of Employment & Labour Relations to demand postings after five years of graduating from school. This is the third time the graduates had picketed after a similar one at the Flagstaff House and the Local Government Ministry. According to them, they have been jobless for nearly five years as several pleas for them to be employed have proved futile. Prince Dzramado, a spokesperson for the group, said government must find them jobs immediately as they were made to sign an agreement during their training to work as government employees after completing their studies. Maurice Ankamah, an organiser of the group, reacting to the arrangement made by Mr Iddrisu, pointed out that the graduates had accepted the temporary measures suggested by the minister. He, however, added that we have agreed to accept the work at the YEA but we will do that under our own condition if not we will go back to the Ministry of Employment. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri One of the wards of the new Dodowa district hospital. 06.04.2016 LISTEN President John Mahama has officially inaugurated a new hospital at Dodowa in the Shai Osudoku District under the Ministry of Health (MoH) Built-To-Care Ghana Project. The 120-bed capacity hospital is the first of six district hospitals to be built under the $175 million project agreement signed between the MoH and NMS Infrastructure Limited from the United Kingdom. The project which would also see the upgrade of one existing district hospital was funded by Barclays Bank PLC United Kingdom (UK) through the UK government. The Shai Osudoku Hospital, built in line with World Health Organisation's (WHO) guidelines, captures a substantial walk-in clinical capability, surgery backed by two operating theatres, accident centre and emergency, diagnosis and physiotherapy, maternity unit and ward, logistics support, pharmacy services, high-earned medical equipment, staff accommodation, among others. The new district hospital is, therefore, expected to bring sustainable healthcare to the doorstep of all within Dodowa and its surrounding communities. President Mahama, inaugurating the hospital, said other new district hospitals were being constructed at Sekondi, Kumawu, Abetifi, Fomena and Garu-Tempane, and the European Hospital in Takoradi will be upgraded under the project. He said two of the districts hospitals Fomena and Kumawu hospitals will be completed by October this year, adding that work is ongoing in Garu-Tempane and Abetifi, and our expectation is that those two hospitals will be completed early 2017. He stated that the Sekondi District Hospital will kick start soon following the resolution of land issues that delayed the project. President Mahama said the upgrade of the Takoradi Hospital was ongoing with the construction of new flats for staff of the hospital and a new infectious disease centre. . Ghana is currently experiencing an annual population growth rate above two percent which translates into an increase of about half a million people added to the population every year, hence the need to expand health facilities to accommodate the increase in population, he mentioned. President Mahama stated that a next batch of the construction of new district hospitals will soon be constructed at Sowla Tuna Kaba, Keta, Somanya, Wekpe, Tolon and a new polyclinic in Bamboi. In addition, we have a policy of increasing the number of health training institutions for the training of more health personnel, doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff, he added. Minister of Health Alex Segbefia, in his welcome address, said the project which commenced in April 2013 is part of government's policy of providing a fully-fledged hospital in every district of the country. He said the inauguration of the hospital is, thus, strategic, adding that it is a prestigious asset bequeathed to Ghanaians for prudent management. Mr Segbefia, therefore, tasked the management of the hospital with the active support of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to make the hospital work by providing excellent patient care, generate enough revenue to maintain the facility, be innovative in their service provision and decision-making. There is so much pressure on government resources to the extent that communities that have benefited from the provision of such infrastructure should not expect government to be responsible for maintenance, he said. UK Minister for Africa, James Duddridge, thanked the MoH for its contributions to making the construction of the Shai Osudoku District Hospital a success. He stated that the innovative design had been adapted to suit the unique topography and geographical conditions of its location by a world class team of experts from Ghana and the UK. By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri 06.04.2016 LISTEN The youth of Pokrom-Nsaaba in the Akuapem South District of the Eastern Region, are up in arms with their chief, Nana Toah Djah II, for allegedly shielding his cousin, one Nana Kwame Ntow, 60, the Sanahene, who is said to have defiled a 15-year-old JHS 1 girl an orphan. According to the youth, the chief had refused to report Nana Kwame Ntow to the police, and had warned them (youth) not to report the matter to the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service. The student (name withheld) was adopted by Nana Toah Djan about four years ago to stay with his family at the palace, DAILY GUIDE learnt. Sanahene Nana Kwame Ntow, this paper gathered, also lives in the same palace with his family. The little girl was at first sleeping with the Sanahenes children in the same room, but the chief's wife later gave her a different room, which the Sanahene took advantage of and allegedly lured the little girl into the act. Eyewitness A resident in the town, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said last week Wednesday the Sanahene, in the absence of his wife and the chief, allegedly went into the orphan's room to defile her. The little girl started to shout which drew the attention of scores of people in the area. They stormed the palace and arrested the Sanahene. They then put him before the chief, but he (chief) asked the mob to set his cousin free, our source asserted. . According to the resident, the chief then fined his cousin a bottle of foreign Schnapps and one sheep, refusing to report the matter to the police. Victim's Account The JHS 1 student in an interview with DAILY GUIDE, said Nana Kwame Ntow has had sex with me at the bathroom, kitchen and my room on several occasions. She added, Last Wednesday afternoon, I was having abdominal pains when the Sanahene entered my room and had sex with me. Youth Appeal Meanwhile, the youth have appealed to human rights activists, the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry and DOVVSU to quickly intervene and rescue the orphan. When DAILY GUIDE contacted Nana Toa Djah, he declined to comment on the matter. FROM Daniel Bampoe, Nsawam 06.04.2016 LISTEN It is becoming funnier and funnier everyday as the General Election comes closer and closer everyday. It started with the president of the Republic of Ghana, Mr. John Dramani Mahama fidgeting for a lost page of his speech when he was delivering a speech at an AU meeting. Then he went to parliament to deliver his last State of the Nation Address, and the bad omen followed him there. There he stood with a prepared speech to deliver but half way during his delivery, he realized that one page had gone missing. To salvage the situation, the president had to quickly adopt what he called evidence-based approach Fifty nine years of independence is worth celebrating. And so the government of President John Dramani Mahama set out to celebrate the occasion in a grand style. Presidents were invited to grace the occasion and they responded and came along with their retinues in full force to join Ghanaians celebrate our hard won independence. Huge sums of money were voted to prepare a brochure which would be distributed to invited guests. The brochure was supposed to contain much information, including a brief history of Ghana. Until I had a copy of the brochure I did not know that Ghana was sitting on the Equator which is located in the high seas. All along I used to think Ghana is the lone star of Africa, hence the black star that we see embossed on our Coat of Arms (or is it Coat of Arm?) and flag. The brochure taught me a great lesson and as such I have to revise my notes. So after all, Ghana is rather the Lodstar of Africa The disgrace that this ill-fated brochure has brought to the good people of this country should be documented for generations yet unborn to read and see the mess that a government which once ruled this country caused when we celebrated our 59th Anniversary as an independent nation. Before we could uncoil ourselves from the international disgrace that we suffered as people living in a country in this 21st Century, the mother of all disgraces came knocking on our door. Unlike other jurisdictions where opposition flagbearers are given police protection, the same cannot be said of Ghana. The handlers of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo knew their man will be exposed to danger in this election year since the NDC will do everything to maintain power so they decided to bring in some three South African ex-police experts who are good at training bodyguards of VIPs to train the bodyguards of Nana Addo. These men shipped their equipment to Ghana and paid the required duties to the government of Ghana. The equipment did not include any weapons or any harmful chemicals. The irony of the whole mess is that when the men were arrested they were kept in the BNI cells for more than the stipulated 48 hours, thereby deliberately breaching the constitution of Ghana. Then they were hooded and hauled before a court of competent jurisdiction and slapped some funny charges on them. The judge read the charge sheet and decided to give them bail because the offence they were alleged to have committed did not warrant any remand. In the full glare of the media, lawyers and well wishers, these BNI operatives defied the order of the court, re-arrested the South Africans and took them back to BNI cells. Then the lawyers of the South Africans threatened to go to court and file for contempt. Before they could even prepare the court documents, we woke up one morning to hear that the government had deported the poor South Africans. Funny!!! When the BNI leaked the arrest of the South Africans to pro government newspapers, they said the South Africans were mercenaries. Later they said they were suspected terrorists. At court, they said the three gentlemen were engaged in illegal training. Whatever that means can only be explained by the BNI. From the days of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah through the days of General Afrifa and Dr. Hilla Limann, we used to have what was called Special Branch (SB) of the Ghana Police Service. These were well trained officers whose activities could be likened to those of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence (FBI) of the United States of America. You could not identify a Special Branch operative because they were secret agents who worked undercover. When Flt. Lieutenant Rawlings was planning his 1981 coup, the SB trailed him cautiously. He was able to elude their surveillance and did strike on 31st December 1981. When Rawlings succeeded, he quickly disbanded the SB which was a torn in his flesh. In its place, Rawlings established the BNI. In those days the BNI operatives were very professional and hardly did we see the face of any BNI operative. They did covert operation to thwart the efforts of any soldier who planned any coup. During the National Reconciliation Commission sittings, it was revealed that about thirty foiled coups took place when Rawlings was in power from 1981 to 1992 Today, the BNI has become a branch of the NDC. They do not hesitate to introduce themselves to anyone who cares to know. Some of them are not well trained so they act like ordinary policemen. Some people even use some of them to collect debts and also harass their opponents. The truth is that the BNI that Rawlings established is a pale figure of itself under the John Mahama administration. They act like zombies, always at the beck and call of their masters and ready to do the work of politicians instead of putting the interest of the nation above any other consideration. Espionage, which should be their guard post has been thrown to the dogs. . COMING EVENTS CAST THEIR SHADOWS For the umpteenth time I had cause to write that historians always look back. That is not to say historians don't care about the future. Historians look back in order to know what went wrong so that the wrong could be corrected as they move forward. The sages say when a person is drowning, he or she will even grab a snake, thinking that it is a rope in his attempt to survive. The same can be said of the NDC. In the run-up to the 2000 General Election then candidate Kufour invited some Italians to Ghana. These Italians stayed in the country for some few days and decided to leave to their country. Candidate Kufour accompanied them to the Kotoka International Airport to see them off as courtesy demanded. Unknown to candidate Kufour, the BNI operatives were trailing them. Before the Italians could embark and fly out of the country, BNI operatives arrested them and detained them. Candidate Kufour had to sleep at the airport that night because he could not have left them there alone since they were his guests. The following day when news of the arrest of the Italians went viral, the BNI who came under pressure from the good people of Ghana released the Italians without any charge preferred against them. This too happened in an election year. Such intimidation did not lower the moral of candidate Kufour who put everything behind him and went all out to win the 2000 General Election. Mr. Mahama has come to realize that from the way he has mismanaged the economy, with stinking corruption engulfing his administration, Ghanaian voters will show him the way, come November 7th and so he is adopting intimidation as a weapon to cow down the NPP. This will not work because God is in control. What the NPP should do is to fly the security details of Nana Addo and Dr, Bawumia outside the country to receive the needed training. The NDC is desperate and will do everything to survive. We cannot toy with the lives of these two gentlemen and their spouses. Just imagine what will happen in this country if Nana or Bawumia is assassinated! (May God forbid). You see, if the country is driven into turmoil Mahama and his family have nothing to lose. All what they will have to do is to jump into the private jet of his brother, Ibrahim Mahama and fly outside the country to enjoy their booty. PROSPER BANI'S IGNORANCE When I read the reasons given by the Minister of Interior, Mr. Prosper Bani concerning the arrest of Captain Koda, I cursed the day I was born in Ghana. How can a whole Interior Minister expose himself to public ridicule? Captain Koda broke jail thirty seven years ago and so what? The man has been living in this country all this while but nobody arrested him until the South Africans came into the country. Is Mr. Bani telling Ghanaians that Rawlings, who also broke jail at the Burma Camp guardroom to launch his June 4th Revolution should be arrested? Seriously, if such a person is in charge of internal security of Ghana, then cry the beloved country. Politics under NDC is gradually destroying hitherto fine gentlemen. I used to admire Mr. Bani but sadly his actions these days have eroded all the respect I have for him. It looks as if anyone who becomes an Interior Minister under the Mahama administration tries to open the Pandora Box. When Mark Woyongo was the Interior Minister and we went to Talensi for the by-election, he too vomited rot. When violence was visited on NPP supporters at Talensi, it was Woyongo who said 'violence bigets violence How sad!!! Eric Bawah 06.04.2016 LISTEN A FINAL year student of the Adu Gyamfi Senior High School (SHS) in the Ashanti Region cannot take part in the ongoing WASSCE due to superstitious reasons. The student, identified as Elizabeth Darkwa, had been possessed by a fetish spirit in her family, and this had made it impossible for her to write the examination. Headmistress of the school, Joana Frimpong, said even though Elizabeth was eligible to write the examinations, she could not do so due to the spirit. When fully possessed, Elizabeth would become a fetish priestess who could provide spiritual help to people in need of her support. Madam Joana said out of the 747 students registered for the WASSCE, Elizabeth and one, Dorenda Amoako, were the only ones absent when the examination started last week. Madam Frimpong who was speaking on Kessben FM, said both students could also not be located on campus so I became worried about their situation. . She said she became curious so she called the father of Elizabeth about the whereabouts of his child only to be told that she had been possessed by a spirit. Madam Frimpong said Elizabeth's father told her his daughter got possessed by the fetish spirit days to the start of the WASSCE so she left school to the house. The father added that Elizabeth's mother had taken her (Elizabeth) to a location at Konongo in an attempt to reverse the control of the fetish spirit over the poor girl. Madam Frimpong expressed worry about how Elizabeth would not be able to write the WASSCE after three years of intensive studies due to superstitious belief. She said the school was yet to get in touch with the parents of Dorenda Amoako to determine why she had been absent since the start of the examination. FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi Osman Bani Police Killer(right) 06.04.2016 LISTEN THE BURKINABE national, Osman Bani, who together with his accomplice allegedly killed a police officer, Corporal Yaw Lokpao, at Sawla in the Northern Region, bolted and was arrested by the Brong-Ahafo police at Ayimana, a suburb of Techiman, has been transferred to the region to face the law. According to the regional police, the suspect who was originally known as Sani, was later found to be bearing the name Osman Bani and claims to be a Burkinabe. Acting upon a tip-off, the police went to his hideout at Ayimana and asked his two Ghanaian wives to call him for them, and he was subsequently arrested. The police said Osman, who was heard speaking Twi with one of his wives inside a room before his arrest, pretended he did not understand the (Twi) language when he was being interrogated. The Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Commander, DCOP Maxwell Atingane, said the region would not serve as a safe haven for criminals and so the law enforcement agents would always go after supposed criminals. He commended members of the public for volunteering information and encouraged them to do more to help the police clamp down on criminals. FROM Daniel Y. Dayee, Sunyani [email protected] His Excellency John Dramani Mahama has on Wednesday, 6th April, 2016 cautioned opposition Political Parties to stop harassing the Electoral Commission and allow the Commission to perform its constitutional mandate without fear or favour. Speaking on GBCs Twin City Radio in Sekondi-Takoradi - Western Region, as part of his Accounting to the People tour, President Mahama chided his opponents and critics to cease tormenting the EC emphasizing that Ghanas Electoral Commission is one of the best in Africa and in the world. According to the President, the situation where some political parties have taken a firm decision and keep piling pressure on the EC to dance to their wimps and caprices must not be allowed to continue. This harassment must stop. Allow the EC to work. President Mahama charges. President Mahama on Monday, 4th April, 2016 began what he described as 'Accounting to the People' tour of the country from the Western region. He is expected to spend three days in the Western region. The President is of the firm belief that his government has done a lot for the country in the past three years as evident in the execution of some projects such as roads, electricity, water and education among others. He is also expected to hold meetings with the chiefs and people in some of the communities and give an account of the performance of his government. President Mahama would also perform a ceremony to convert some Polytechnics into Technical Universities in some parts of the country, as well as inspect and inaugurate both ongoing developmental projects and completed ones. By: Analimbey, Adobe-Rah Chris Email: [email protected] Twitter: @analimbeychris Contact: 0207992552 By Jean-Claude Juncker and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma As we face the challenges of the 21st century there is more that unites Africa and Europe than divides us. We share a common history of thousands of years. Today more than ever we need to work together to build our common future and to work jointly on the defining global issues of our age. We both have a shared view of the benefits of cooperation on our continents. Europe's journey from the devastation of 1945 to a Union of more than half a billion citizens based on shared values and designed to create peace and prosperity is well known. So too is Africa's liberation from colonial rule to independence and greater integration through the creation of the African Union (AU). Our journeys towards integration are far from over but by working together we can help each other forging stronger ties, learning the lessons from each other's experiences and building sustainable growth that will benefit our citizens. Our two institutions, the African Union Commission and the European Commission work jointly to help drive this process forward. Sustainable and inclusive growth and development for both Africa and Europe must benefit us all. This was well recognised by the leaders of Africa and Europe at the last EU-Africa Summit when they put Human Development at the heart of our cooperation. Africa's population is growing fast. By 2035, the number of young African men and women entering the job market will exceed that of the rest of the world. The full and equal participation of women is essential. As the African Union's Agenda 2063 recognises, no society can reach its full potential unless it empowers women and removes all obstacles to women's full participation in all areas of human endeavour. To fully benefit from the demographic dividend, Africa needs to implement the policies spelt out in Agenda 2063 and these need to be implemented fast. We know that sustainable development can only occur in stable and secure societies. We know, too, that security will be undermined if equal access to the benefits of sustainable development is not assured. This is becoming even more evident in times when terrorist groups are targeting disenchanted and often unemployed youth groups that seek to spread violent sectarian ideologies to destroy the pluralism of our societies. We must guarantee that all citizens, in particular the youth, find a place in society and be fully empowered to reach their potential. Security cannot exist without justice, democracy, the rule of law, good governance and the effective respect for human rights of all individuals and communities. 2016 is the African Year of Human Rights with particular focus on the Rights of Women. The European Union (EU) has also designated 2016 as a year of human rights activism and global campaigning. This is an opportunity for all of us to team up, strengthen our work together in support of the African Governance Architecture, as well as in support of universally agreed human rights. Africa can be proud of having one of strongest human rights' frameworks in the world: by the end of 2016 we should ensure that all our Member States have ratified all human rights treaties. The African Peace and Security Architecture is designed to enable Africa to manage its own peace and security. This is in our common interest and the European Union is ready to continue supporting this goal. The work that has been done in countries like Somalia, the Central African Republic and Mali bears testimony to this. The African Peace Facility has pioneered a shared EU-Africa commitment by giving Africa the means to develop and use its own capacity to carry out essential mediation work, to prevent conflicts and to secure peace. In light of the connectivity of global threats and major regional crises, a strong and resilient African Union is essential. Today's migration crisis, partly rooted in violent conflicts, also makes a compelling case for closer cooperation. Europe is confronted by an unprecedented flow of refugees and asylum seekers. In Africa, too, people are on the move from villages to cities, to neighbouring countries and sometimes towards Europe. Those moves are mainly motivated by fear and hope. Fear of conflict and poverty, hope for peace, security and opportunities. We must address both the fears and the hopes. If we want to ensure integration, we must manage human mobility. Our two Commissions will continue to work together on migration and mobility. We will work together to address the root causes of illegal migration, support mobility and labour migration, reduce the cost of remittances, strength international protection, facilitate return and to combat human trafficking. There is optimism about Africa's future, and rightly so. For more than a decade, Africa has enjoyed sustained economic growth. Africa is an increasingly attractive place to do business. Trade with the EU has increased by 50% since 2007. Around 40% of Africa's exports are made up of processed products, with a consistent trade surplus in Africa's favour. The EU remains Africa's main trading partner. Investments by European companies and their subsidiaries in Africa total over EUR200 billion annually, making the EU Africa's leading investment partner. Trade and investment relations between Africa and the EU can be improved further through closer cooperation, policy coordination and the conclusion of WTO negotiations. Europe also remains Africa's main development partner with more than 20 billion official development assistance (ODA) per year. But continued growth cannot be taken for granted. Decreasing price of oil and other commodities as well as reduced demand from China and other emerging economies will have negative impacts. Africa's reliance on raw material exports makes it vulnerable to downturns in demand in overseas markets, hence the need for value addition through industrialisation. Our two Commissions are working together to promote industrialisation, diversification and increasing value added. We are working together to promote investments in African infrastructure, facilitate technology transfer and intensify joint research and development. Last but not least, we are working together to boost agriculture to promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth. This is why creating a Continental Free Trade Area which promotes free and fair trade is so important. Our Unions, our two continents face common challenges From climate change, migration, ensuring sustainable economic growth to the fight against terrorism and violent extremism; those are challenges that we have to face together. We know well that we are stronger when we are working together. We are starting preparations for the 5th EU-Africa Summit to be held in Africa in 2017 with these objectives well in mind. Jean-Claude Juncker is the President of the European Commission and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. Ms Dholakia said: The UK shares the grave concern of the international community over the treatment of prisoners in Burundi. We continue to hear widespread reports of arbitrary arrest and killings; disappearances; and torture. The death of former Rwandan Ambassador Jacques Bihozagara in prison in Bujumbura on 31 March is another example of the failure of the Burundian authorities to protect the human rights of those detained by the security forces. While we welcome the return of his body to his family, there now needs to be a full investigation into his death. We urge the Government of Burundi to comply quickly and fully with UN Security Council Resolution 2279 and take steps to end these horrendous abuses, including providing unfettered access to international human rights monitors and the United Nations police contribution agreed in the resolution. President John Dramani Mahama met one of his passionate critics in Ghana politics, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Prof. Emmanuel Martey in Sunyani on Sunday. The two came face to face for the first time in many months at the 30th anniversary of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery. Prof. Martey has been a staunch critic of President Mahama's administration and is noted for his famous call for people of vision and wisdom to lead the country. "Nyansafo mo w hen?" he had called out. Pictures from the event showed that they had a hearty albeit brief conversation to the admiration of the public. In a radio interview on Takoradi based Twin City Radio Wednesday morning, President Mahama responded to a question on how he felt when he met and hugged Prof Martey. Listen to what President Mahama said here 'Professor Martey is a respected clergyman and I consider him as my father. I attended the 30th anniversary of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery and of course he was presiding and he was full of humour, he preached a very good sermon and I respect him and he continues to be my friend, I think that we need to have a spirit of acceptance.' President Mahama continued, 'I'm a leader who accepts criticisms and so I have nothing against anybody who criticizes me and I have continued to extend a warm hand of friendship to even those who are my political opponents.' 'I believe that not one person has all the wisdom of this world and you must be open to the fact that somebody might be right and you are not right and so I embrace everybody. I was happy to see him, I haven't seen him in a long time and I was happy to see him,' he said. Listen to President Mahama's full interview on Twin City Radio here 06.04.2016 LISTEN The general overseer of the international central gospel church (ICGC), Pastor Mensah Otabil has expressed the need for the state (government), leaving the citizenry to operate freely to amass wealth. He stated that, the state must make way for Ghanaian citizens to build the nation themselves; the state must get out of the way of the citizens. This excerpt from the piece denotes the relevance and promulgation of the Free Market Economy. The state is in perpetual readiness to plunder what any citizen has strived to produce. The powers of government are like an ensnaring spider web and are used in preventing domestic and foreign trading opportunities of the innocent Ghanaians. The Free Market Economy is what the clergyman is preaching, the truth and the most indispensable theory to liberalize the economy, allowing prosperity to flourish. Frederic Bastiat a French economist in the 18th century proposed that see if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and give it to other persons whom it does not belong, see if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the other citizen himself cannot do without crime. With such an errorless chronicle that cannot be repudiated in our contemporary politics, government activities are full of restriction on the part of the individual from going about to find his daily bread. The laws of the state benefit a small group of people and indirectly embargoing the mass of the citizenry thereby asking them to berg for assistance. Incomprehensive Regulations, protectionism and tax spurt the outraged cry of the innocent Ghanaian hoping for things to change. It is the primary responsibility---if such a role exists--- of the state to insure the individual citizens pursuit of life, liberty and protection of private property. The most common role for the state in todays whorls is in the provision of security from violence, to maintain peace, law and order. Sadly, this gives a monopoly to the state over violence and over time leads to lower quality of services, higher prices and less quantity of the service. This is the inevitable result of any monopoly whether private or public. However, Pastor Otabil stated it clearer relative to Ghana by trumpeting; the state must only ensure that, appropriate rules are set and observed ...just set out the rules, enforce the rules, and leave us alone, we know how we can run our lives and our businesses. To epitomize this, the Bastiat Institute of Liberty and Entrepreneurship (BILE-Ghana), a non-profit policy Think Tank based in Tema is calling for a minimal government intervention ensuring peaceful voluntary exchange and free association. Every government is striving to centrally manage and control the economy as if this will meet the needs of its people; this is a mistaken model as it destroys creativity and entrepreneurship. The absence of free market ideologies and policies unfavourable for practical entrepreneurial approaches as well as paving the way for a free and practical trading systems, we would continually reform policies to no avail. Our economy in Ghana is all about call and responds just like the kantanka television set. The LAW by Frederic Bastiat denotes that, we hold from God the gift which includes all others. This gift is life-physical, intellectual and moral life. But life cannot maintain itself alone. The creator of life has entrusted us with the natural responsibility of preserving, developing, and perfecting it. To accomplish this, He has provided us with a collection of marvellous faculties and has put us in the midst of varieties of natural resources. By the application of our faculties to these natural resources, we convert them into products and we use them. This process is necessary in order that life may run its appointed course. Life, faculties, production or in other words, individuality, liberty, property-this is man......... These innate gifts the individual has, has not been put into its perfect use due to government regulations restricting individuals from exhibiting their prowess. God gave energy to individuals and not to groups or man-made governments. Prosperity comes from individuals, voluntary associations, but government espoused taxation and regulation that favour one group over another. Any such action is but a variation of Marxs most famous quote To each according to their ability, to each according to their needs. This has created more poverty and less prosperity wherever and whenever tried. Ghana is a small country with abundant natural resources, needed to be tapped with our faculties and convert them into production. But our capricious policies and politically multi-partyism are making the youths dormant in creativity. The natural law creates a serene business environment to exchange goods and services. The individual is capable of managing his own natural affairs, thereby enhancing mutual improvement in mans conditions. Everybody is a producer and a consumer. Protect properties, maintain rule of law and not rule by men and leave the citizens to play their own business cards as to which colour they would like to choose from. Each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of the other. People must be permitted to run their own lives as they wish than to be conditioned by laws. Where there is freedom, there is harmony but our state laws and policies have acted opposite in achieving its own intents. The Clergymans concern has been labelled political. Our democratic propaganda politics tags individuals and organizations championing a good course as an antagonist. Free markets, individual liberty and minimal government are not only ethical, but moral under the eyes of God and allow for optimum prosperity within and among the people versus favouritism to special interest groups including government itself. We look forward to seeing a political party in Ghana that would promise less power to the state than promising unfeasible promises. If government is strictly limited to protecting mens rights, then peace prevails, and men can go about working to improve their lives, associated with their neighbours in a division of labour and exchange, no one would criticize government and the pressure from the citizens asking for improvement in their economic lives would be out from their lips. Work and happiness are what we need. Channel policies to meet individual liberty and promote free trade. Allow the youths in the decision making processes when and where they have value, not by law, but by action, not by privilege, but from merit. Bismark Peter Kwofie CEO/PRESIDENT BASTIAT INSTITUTE OF LIBERTY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP (BILE-GHANA) Edited by: Afrikanus Kofi Akosa CEO/PRESIDENT African Youth Peace Call (AYPC-GH) Board member of BILE-GH Nii Armah Ashietey 06.04.2016 LISTEN Incumbent Member of Parliament (MP) for Klottey Korley, Nii Armah Ashietey says nothing would save his opponent Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings in her attempt to delay a High Court ruling. Dr Zanetor Rawlings who happens to be the daughter of former President Jerry John Rawlings, the founder of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) contested and beat the incumbent MP in the recent constituency primaries of the NDC to become the party's Klottey Korle parliamentary candidate for the 2016 general elections. But the celebration of her win was short lived after Ashietey filed a suit in court challenging her qualification. He claimed Zanetor was not a registered voter in Ghana, let alone the constituency she wanted to represent in parliament hence wants the court to declare the election null and void. The Electoral Commission (EC) has indeed confirmed that Zanetor is not a registered voter. But even before the High Court would rule on the matter, Zanetor had sought refuge at the Supreme Court seeking a restraining order to stop the judge hearing her case at a High Court because she claims the court has no jurisdiction on the matter. . Ashietey however considers the move as unfortunate since the case was being brought to a closure with a ruling to that effect. Addressing his teeming supporters yesterday, he said that was part of delayed tactics being employed by Zanetor and her lawyers to frustrate the ruling. That notwithstanding, he was confident that the courts would right the wrongs insisting that the right thing must be done. There is only one truth, we are in a party with rules and the party must respect its rules otherwise we tend to be doing selective justice, he said. Apart from that, Ashietey said I don't think her going to register when the EC opens the register will cure the defect; it will not cure the defect. Our own rules say that no member of the party shall qualify to contest a primary if that person is not a registered voter. By Charles Takyi-Boadu Assin Fosu, (C/R) April 06, GNA - Mr Kennedy Ohene Agyepong, the Member of Parliament for Assin Central Constituency, has urged women to play lead roles in the political and electioneering activities ahead of November 7 polls. He said the nation needed their expertise for national development to alleviate the suffering of the people. Mr Agyepong said this during a tour dubbed, ''Meet Your MP", of some communities in his Constituency. He said allowing women to sit on the fence during political campaigns had done a great disservice to the country because their perspectives and active participation could have made the election process better for Ghana. However, the Member of Parliament said women remained vulnerable because they had failed to bring on board their rich opinions on matters concerning the development of their localities for fear of being tagged. The tour afforded the Chiefs and the people the privilege to ask pertinent questions bordering on their minds on the development of their communities. The communities visited included Mempeasem, Pompside, Atonsu, Habitat, Dwaabronuso, Dantwe, Bantema, Abesewa, Obrayo, and Obrayeoko. At Pompside, he addressed a well-attended durbar and asked the chiefs to always seek accountability from public office holders put them in check. He said the Mahama-led Administration had failed Ghanaians because they had managed the economy poorly and thus urged women to lead the campaign for the change of government and the transformation to better their lives. The Assin Central MP also asked members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to embark on vigorous house-to-house campaigns with voter education of the electorate as the topmost agenda in their engagements. He urged them to remain focused and not to be detracted 'by the volumes of lies and propaganda being peddled' against them but to engage in issue-based politics to ensure the victory of Nana Addo, their flagbearer to achieve the aim of providing Ghanaians with the leadership that would move the nation forward. GNA WASHINGTON, ACCRA, April 6 - (UPI/GNA) - A day after the U.S. Treasury announced new rules to reign in the practice of American businesses seeking tax relief offshore, President Barack Obama on Tuesday asked Congress to shut that loophole for good. During a briefing at the White House Tuesday, Obama said the best way to close the loophole is through tax reform -- an act that requires the work of Congress, which is presently controlled by Republicans. "My hope is they start getting serious about it," the President said. "I am very pleased that the Treasury Department has taken new action to prevent more corporations from taking advantage of one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there, and fleeing the country just to get out of paying their taxes." The Treasury's new rules will reduce the number of corporate inversions -- which are effectively mergers with foreign companies with the goal of minimizing tax burdens. "They are gaming the system," Obama said of the companies that use the loophole. The Treasury's move, announced Monday in conjunction with the Internal Revenue Service, is aimed at U.S. companies that buy foreign companies in order to move U.S. assets overseas and reduce the taxes they pay to the U.S government. The new rule would apply to any inversion attempt after Monday, and retroactively to pharmaceutical manufacturer Pfizer's $150 billion acquisition of Allergan in 2015. Allergan, the maker of Botox, is based in Ireland. This is the third effort by the Treasury Department in recent years to stop American companies from merging with foreign companies to avoid paying U.S. taxes. "Treasury has taken action twice to make it harder for companies to invert. These actions took away some of the economic benefits of inverting and helped slow the pace of these transactions, but we know companies will continue to seek new and creative ways to relocate their tax residence to avoid paying taxes here at home," the U.S. Department of the Treasury said in a statement. Tuesday, Obama said Congress now must act to solidify the effort. "While the Treasury Department actions will make it more difficult and less lucrative for companies to exploit this particular corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good," Obama said. "And only Congress can make sure that all the other loopholes that are being taken advantage of are closed." Allergan stock shares fell 21 percent in after-hours trading Monday night. The new rules also take aim at earning stripping, in which profits of U.S.-based businesses can be moved to overseas businesses. Borrowing from the foreign entity and using the interest payments to offset earnings reduces the U.S. tax bill. Monday's ruling reclassifies this financial manoeuvre as though it is stock-based and not debt-based, eliminating the interest deduction. The Treasury statement quoted Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, who admitted only Congress can end the inversion process with an overhaul of the tax laws. "I urge Congress to move forward with anti-inversion legislation this year. Ultimately, the best way to address inversions is to reform our business tax system," Lew said. GNA 06.04.2016 LISTEN Accra, April 6, GNA - The Universal Merchant Bank (UMB) in partnership with the Ghana Supply Chain Development Programme, has organised a business breakfast meeting targeting international oil companies and local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Takoradi. A statement issued by the UMB and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said the seminar was meant for companies and SMEs operating mainly in the oil and gas; extractive and other energy related sectors. Mr Percy Amoo-Yankey of IBS Consulting Alliance, who led discussions during the event, spoke on 'Networking and Stakeholder Management' for SMEs and highlighted ways that participants could effectively network to boost their bottom-line. He pointed out that networking could give SMEs access to both tangible and intangible resources that are often beyond their current capacity and also expose them to innovative and creative ideas that could enhance their businesses and give them competitive advantage. Ms Yvonne Botchey, UMB's Director of Marketing and Communications, said that the bank's vision of becoming a leader in innovative banking solutions by 2020 requires a renewed focus on further enhancing the services that the bank renders to SMEs. 'This event is the first of many SME partnerships and engagements that we will undertake throughout the year and beyond,' she added. Speaking at the event, Mr Ernest Tetteh, UMB's Head of Business Banking, said:'To us at UMB, small business is big business and our aim is to help transform our SME customers into the next generation of corporate giants.' Mr Tetteh also highlighted some of the 2016 strategies and plans that UMB had crafted for SMEs and explored the Treasury, Credit, Trade and E-Banking services that UMB had designed specifically for SMEs. He encouraged participants to take advantage of these services and to expect other innovative initiatives from UMB in the coming months. UMB is a full-service financial institution specialising in customised banking products and services. UMB opened on March 15, 1972 and is a leading Ghanaian indigenous bank with considerable financial expertise. UMB is recognised for its entrepreneurial approach, innovative use of technology, and distinctive banking solutions. UMB currently has 28 branches and a vast network of ATMs. GNA (By Mohammed Nurudeen, GNA) Accra, April 6, GNA - The NDC Parliamentary candidate for Okere Constituency, Mr Micheal Ofori Ofei has commissioned a borehole facility for the people of Kwomante, a farming community near Apirede in the Eastern Region. The facility is in fulfillment of a promise made following an earlier request by the Odikro of the area, Nana Kojo Largely when the candidate visited there a month ago as part of his constituency tour. Nana Kakra, as the candidate is affectionately called, said the people of the area needed good quality water to survive, adding that water is life. He said leadership was not just about winning elections but empowering the people to be self sufficient, and promised that when voted as the Member of Parliament for Okere in the November 7 polls he will offer quality leadership to move Okere forward. He paid tribute to the late Fuzzy Torbay whom he said raised the name of Okere Constituency high on the political ladder. The parliamentary aspirant called on the youth of Kwaomante who have attained the age of 18 years and above but who did not get the chance to register in the previous election to do so in their numbers when the exercise begins from April 28 to May 8, 2016. He urged the youth to have faith in the NDC Government led by President John Dramani Mahama because the policies being implemented will soon yield positive results. The odikro of Kwaomante, Nana Kojo Largely thanked the candidate for his generosity and assured him of the people's support. Among the dignitaries who graced the occasion were the MCE of Akuapem North, Mr George Opare Addo and the NDC constituency chairman for Okere. GNA Mankessim, (C/R) April 6, GNA - A 25 year-old head porter at Adumadze, a suburb of Mankessim, was in the early hours of Tuesday, April 5, 2016, lynched by some unknown persons for allegedly stealing a goat. The deceased, only identified as Yaw, was found dead on the compound of the Adumadze MA Basic School at about 0700 hours with broken blocks, stones and other objects, which were apparently used in lynching him, scattered around the body Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Sergeant Raymond Asaba, the Central Regional Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service, said the Police had information that a dead body was lying on the School's compound. He said the Police rushed to the scene and found the deceased tied with a rope around his neck with a dead goat, which he was alleged to have stolen beside him. He said the body had since been deposited at the Central Regional Teaching Hospital for autopsy, while the Police were conducting investigations into the matter. Sgt Asaba urged the public to hand over suspected criminals to the Police rather than lynching them. GNA Kumasi, April 06, GNA - The Brotherhood Church has responded to calls for increased private sector participation in the development of education with the construction of a students' hostel at Ayeduase. This is meant to assist provide accommodation for students admitted to pursue programmes at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The church has so far spent over GHE500,000.00 on the three-storey building, which is nearing completion. The Right Reverend S. K. Adofo, the Primate, announced this when he conducted journalists to inspect the project. He said it was being funded through the church's own resources and expressed optimism that it would be ready by next year. The remaining works include fixing of doors and windows, painting and interior furnishing. GNA The Managing Director of Uniliver Ghana, Maidie Elizabeth Arkutu has challenged business leaders to be more creative in addressing organizational issues especially, in these current economic times. This she believes is important in meeting the needs of their workers to sustain their businesses. Many businesses were last year forced to lay-off some of their workers citing what they deemed as harsh economic conditions. But speaking with JOY BUSINESS after an evening public forum organized by the Chartered Institute of Marketing Elizabeth Arkutu said the current situation requires ingenious leaders to keep businesses afloat. Maidie Elizabeth Arkutu An authentic leader according to her has a purpose, values and lives those on an ongoing basis. It also involves adapting to changing economic situations like the current one. So if a leader was heading an institution where things were going well, in a stable economy for instance, that would be one phase. But as things change, the leader must sense the new situation, get enough information and implement the right strategies and plans to equally deliver well in such challenging times she added. On how managers should position themselves to meet the demands of their employees in especially, tough economic situations Madam Arkutu said even though different organizations would have different strategies, one could exhibit his/her true leadership skills by living the purpose whiles delivering the results for the business. Some participants at the forum Authentic leaders she added would in such a situation would need to draw a lot closer to their employees to ensure that their problems are well understood and that they are made to feel cared for she intimated. Madam Arkutu stressed that leadership is not about your title or your position, its about the personality so each individual leader must remain true and authentic to him/herself. Authentic Leadership she emphasized is not the preserve of unique people, anybody can learn to become such a leader, she added. Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, will be in Tunisia on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 April. Commissioner Hahn will meet key interlocutors of the country including President Beji Caid Essebsi, Prime Minister Habib Essid, Minister of Foreign Affairs Khemaies Jhinaoui, Minister of Development & International Cooperation Yassine Brahim, Minister in charge of relations with civil society and constitutional bodies Kamel Jendoubi to discuss about the future EU-Tunisia partnership priorities based on the ENP review, reinforced cooperation against terrorism and implementation of socio-economic reforms. The visit aims also at preparing the Association Council which will take place on 18 April in Luxembourg. The Commissioner will also meet representatives of the civil society and will visit EU funded projects. In presence of Minister of Health Said Aidi, Commissioner Hahn will officially open two EU funded health centres. Ahead of the visit Commissioner Hahn said: "Tunisia is a privileged partner in our neighbourhood: Tunisians are achieving a remarkable democratic transition but they are also facing unprecedented socio-economic and security challenges. Young Tunisians in particular deserve to be offered better perspectives. The EU has deployed significant assistance since 2011, but we are determined to do more, deploying all the means at our disposal: our Privileged Partnership, the Action Plan, the Association Agreement and especially the new European Neighbourhood Policy. We will seek to support the efforts of the Tunisian people and government to enhance our relations in all possible areas." 06.04.2016 LISTEN The Executive Director for the Institute of Democratic Governance (IDEG) has warned of a possible collapse of Ghanas democratic system if vote buying is not stopped ahead of November polls. Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey says the practice and several others undermine Ghanas democratic system which calls for urgent attention. Speaking on Burning Issues, a segment on the Super Morning Show on Luv FM Thursday, Dr. Akwetey observed the power of the ordinary Ghanaian is gradually being sold to the rich politicians. It is not the power of the people that is governing Ghana now but the power of people who have money. They have different agenda than serving the public good and are exploiting the system. He stressed. Dr. Emmanuel Akwetey told host David Akuetteh mandated institutions like police should confront the issue head-on. He said: I think we need to confront these things because if we undermine the value of the vote and the importance of it in strengthening democracy we are going to create such crisis for the system that it will collapse. The situation, according to him means cronies are being put in strategic positions where the laws of the land cannot be enforced. There is a small group of people that is controlling this democracy and not for public good but for their pocket. Some callers admitted selling their votes during elections, ignorant of the consequences. The way forward, according to Dr. Akwetey is for relevant institutions to intensify civic education. Meanwhile, the Principal Civic Education Officer of the National Commission on Civic Education in Ashanti region, Kwabena Abayie, says politicians should be blamed for creating compromised conditions which compel voters to accept money in exchange for their votes. As we raise the civil consciousness of the people, there are challenges. The challenges are the general conditions within which the voters find themselves; [they are] compelled to accept money to vote, he said. But despite the challenge, NCCE will not give up in a bid to address the trend through public education. We are not giving up, we will continue to educate and raise civic consciousness. And make them know that buying vote subvert the democratic processes that we have or subscribe to. Mr. Abayie said A seven-member Jury has been selected to try Gregory Afoko for the murder of the Upper East Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Adams Mahama. This came after Gregory Afoko objected to three of the Jurors, prompting their replacement at the Accra High Court. An Accra District Court, on February 22, 2016, committed Afoko to stand trial at the High Court. The court said based on the evidence presented there was a compelling case for the accused to answer at the High Court. Gregory Afoko and Asabke Alangdi have been charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit crime and murder. A third accomplice, Musa Issa, was granted bail after the Attorney-General had advised that there was not enough evidence to charge him. The trial was scheduled to start on March 23, 2016 but was postponed to Tuesday, April 5 after the absence of the trial judge, Justice Lawrence L. Mensah, an appeals Court judge, with additional responsibilities as a High Court judge. As a result of the development, the prosecutor, Mr Mathew Amponsah, a Chief State Attorney, and Afokos legal team agreed on the next adjourned date. At the court on Tuesday, lawyer for the accused, Israel Ackah said the facts as presented by the prosecution are not conclusive and do not establish the guilt of the accused. He asked the jury to carefully assess the facts and come to a just verdict by acquitting the accused. Mr. Ackah said that they will soon be made aware that the case against Mr Afoko is built on unfounded speculations, half-hearted investigations, innuendos, unsubstantiated rumours which the Jury will reject. The author of the primary one Science book that has been heavily criticised for stating that the function of the head is for carrying load, says he stands by the illustration. Mr Joseph Albert Quarm said his description of the function of the head in the book is informed by the level of understanding of primary one pupils. In an interview on Joy FM's Super Morning Show Tuesday, Joseph Quarm told show host, Kojo Yankson that his description is apt because children learn best by visual aides, hence it was important to use visual illustrations for the use of the head as it pertains to the Ghanaian society. He said he chose 'carrying load' because it was a common use of the head in the Ghanaian society. Mr Quarm, nicknamed 'Prof Quarm', further explained that as children grow and move up the educational ladder, they would improve in knowledge and be taught more abstract ideas such as using the head to think. Following public outrage, especially on social media, over the content of the book, the Ghana Education Service in a statement said it has not approved the book for use in schools. Joseph Quarm said although his book is not an approved textbook, the GES has approved it as a supplementary textbook for use in schools. Vice President of think tank, IMANI Centre for Policy and Education, Kofi Bentil, who has been very critical of Prof Quarm's illustration of the function of the head to the primary one pupils said he is saddened by the explanation offered by the author of the controversial book. He said on the Super Morning Show that he does not blame Mr Quarm for the "unfortunate comments." He said he blames the Ghana Education Service. Referring to Mr Quarm's depiction, he said although the head is used in the manner being described, a progressive society "cannot use the lowest denominator as the standard. We should never assume that every kid is deprived. It is a scientific error." He insisted that contrary to Mr Quarm's thinking that "kids don't know anything", some kids in class one have been able to memorise things ten times better than some adults. Arkstone Granites and Marbles has confirmed that the pictures of alleged National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) Mahindra vehicles which were branded in National Democratic Congress (NDC) colours were taken from their premises. In a press release Monday, April 4, the company stated that the pictures were taken by an individual who is not a member of their company, although they did not say who. "We wish to state that our company did not participate in taking this photograph or indeed, in the circulation of the story," the statement said. The press release signed by Edmund Ani also said they have fully co-operated fully with the investigative authorities as it is their civic duty. Two members of the company were invited by the security services on Friday, April 1 to assist in an investigation after pictures of close to 50 Mahindra 4X4 pick up trucks alleged to belong to NCCE were rebranded in NDC campaign colours, went viral on social media. There has been a video making the rounds on social media of the said vehicles being moved out after the pictures went viral. According to sources who live close to the yard where the trucks were kept on the Spintex road in Accra, the trucks were moved at dawn amid tight security with officials believed to be from the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) providing escort. National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Baba Kamara, confirmed to Joy News he ordered the arrest of the managing director of quarry company Marbles and Granites. Alhaji Kamara told Joy News' Seth Kwame Boateng that the yard on which the Mahindra cars were on is his property and it was not right for Dr. Edmund Ayo Ani to take any pictures, make them viral and accuse him of rebranding NCCE trucks as NDC campaign vehicles. He thinks it is wrong for Dr. Edmund Ayo Ani to just get up, look into somebody's yard and take pictures. Alhaji Kamara questions what if the publication of the pictures had compromised his security. Alhaji Kamara hinted that on Monday, he will drag Dr. Ayo Ani before the court to explain why he took those pictures. Also, he would want an explanation from the MD on where he got the information that the cars are NCCE property which has been branded in NDC clours. Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Abubakar Ibrahim | Email: [email protected] Akua Donkor 06.04.2016 LISTEN GENERAL CONCERNS Our duopolistic schadenfreude politics has somehow resolved or descended into a politics of insults, mutual disrespect among Ghanaians, acrimony, lies and hatred. As a matter of fact, all the expectorative nonsense we are witnessing in our newfound political culture derives partly from this fundamental fact of borrowed schadenfreude politics, of the politics of self-interest that largely ignores the serious question of national interest, patriotism and creative solidarity. The bane of our development is therefore not hard to find. Again, this is a painful reminder of grave negative corollaries from an uncritical appropriation of ideas alien to a people's entrenched autochthonous psycho-cultural sensibilities. Thus, a sense of dignified personality and responsibility must always accompany press freedom, and freedom of speech and of conscience and of association. That is, the elastic texture of these freedoms implies a greater sense of rhetorical and auctorial circumspection in the matter of private and public discourse. Therein lay embedded a topological set of redeemable qualities in the matter of personal preferences and choices, rational and otherwise. What is more, the fact of man being a social animal also presupposes personal or individual subjugation and submission to the normative ethos of the collective enterprise in nation-building. This personal or individual submission may take on the grudging character of self-abnegation. This does not matter much if a given society is communitarian or individualistic, that is. On the other hand, this does not necessarily mean a sense of individuality is totally lost in the blinding fog of social collectivism, contrary to popular perceptions of a manmade existence of a strict sociological and geopolitical dichotomy setting communitarian and individualistic societies apart. In this limited sense the line of Manichaean demarcation is therefore one of geopolitical convenience. Then, in Ghana for instance, our libel laws notwithstanding, some persons have taken extreme liberties with the idea of maligning their opponents, enemies and detractors, political and non-political, as a conscious and sometimes inadvertent exercise as if the real intention is to test the bounds of legal and social propriety. At least, not so in Madam Akua Donkor's peculiar choice or decision never to extend a simple rhetorical gesture, let us say here a happy birthday, to her political colleague Akufo-Addo on his birthday. Neither do we think a happy birthday wish necessarily translates to nor is it a natural antithesis of a happy deathday. Death is not an elastic phenomenon that obeys some strange idea of statistical certainty. Death is inevitably a certainty. As simple as that. It is an irreversible verdict nature has imposed on man. In fact it is only a matter of time before each one of us succumbs to this solid phenomenon of inevitable certainty. There is therefore no point wishing death for another man. Madam Akua Donkor did not wish Akufo-Addo a happy deathday with her controversial remarks. To wit, her rhetorical absence of a happy birthday is not a substitute for a death wish. We have conceded this fact already! AKUA DONKOR AND AKUFO-ADDO Regardless of what anyone might thing of her and her decision, that peculiar stance she took not to extend a happy birthday wish to Akufo-Addo is hers and hers only. This controversial stance must be respected in spite of its negative connotations. Madam Akua Donkor, founding leader of the Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), a party which we also believe could be an appendage of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has taken this position probably because she essentially perceives Akufo-Addo as her nemesis. But, whether this is a political or non-platonic, or romantic, decision, is not our place to conjecture. On the other hand if we can override our conjectural reservation, then we shall say with some level of confidence and psychological comfort that she may have necessarily arrived at that controversial decisional destination based on a personal knowledge of Akufo-Addo's involvement in the arson-related sacking of her party's office. This is what she alleged: Agyenim Boateng and the NPP used petrol to burn my office. I was in Accra when I had information that my office was in flames. When I came, there was a gallon containing petrol at the back of the office. They allegedly broke the rivets of the office building and poured the petrol into the room and set it on fire After they stole the documents, they set an agenda to burn down my office which they have done. All my office equipment have been destroyed, including the Kente I bought from Italy and some undisclosed amount. The NPP did that because they are threatening to kill me that's why they went ahead to set my office on fire in order to destroy my original documents. These allegations are difficult to prove. Regardless, she is entitled to her decision not to accord Akufo-Addo a happy birthday wish just as Akufo-Addo is entitled to his minority perception that he won the 2012 general election, though a self-serving claim without hard substantiated facts based on forensic evidence, only for the Supreme Court to steal it for President Mahama. Akufo-Addo and his canine running mate, Dr. Bawamia, may have spent a lot of quality time listening to Geto Boys' Halloween-flavored rap track My Mind Playing Tricks On Me. Perhaps, also, Akua Donkor's decisions may have been borne out of Akufo-Addo's All-die-be-die and Yen Akanfuo rhetorical fiasco. Who knowstwo statements Akufo-Addo has consistently refused to recant? She could as well have operated on the maxim the enemy of my friend is my enemy also, a subtle allusion to her close friendship with President Mahama and to her probable understanding of the perceived political antagonism between President Mahama and Akufo-Addo. Who knows? And here is what she essentially said to the media: I won't do anything that will make Akufo-Addo happy so I won't wish him a happy birthday. This courageous woman! Who says Akufo-Addo is not happy? And who says her wishing Akufo-Addo a happy birthday will make him happy? We are even certain that Akua Donkor's singing Akufo-Addo Pharrell Williams' international hit Happy will not make her man happy. That said, if this afore-mentioned attribution were in fact true as the media reported it, then we have to applaud this woman for her unique style of personal and rhetorical courage in the sphere of public diplomacy! Because she has loudly proven not to be the type willing to hide her contempt for Akufo-Addo in the shadows. Unlike some. Then again, Akufo-Addo stands to benefit the most from this public rhetorical revelation. In other words he can blacklist her for now. Regrettably, though, wishing somebody, even an enemy, a happy birthday should have been a simple courtesy for Madam Akua Donkor to undertake so effortlessly, and to add salt to injury, she made the following damning remarks about Akufo-Addo not too long ago: If Ghanaians can live in Ghana with Akufo-Addo, why can't they live with the detainees [Gitmo 2]is Nana Addo not more dangerous than them? Nana is a killer. We must rather send him to Guantanamo Bay to campaign to be president there. More specifically, she made these remarks some two-and-a-half months ago prior to the importation of the three South African mercenaries. What is not however clear is, having said all that, if she is in fact doing the bidding of President Mahama and the NDC! She has this to say about President Mahama, though: President Mahama did the right thing to bring the 2 detainees here in Ghana. I am really proud of him. A BELATED HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AKUFO-ADDO We will implore our readers to join us to wish Akufo-Addo a belated birthday. We shall use Steve Wonder's song Happy Birthday, a beautiful piece of song he wrote to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday and through which he appealed to the powers that be to set aside a day in a calendar year to celebrate King and his legacy. That is not to say Akufo-Addo fits the shows of King. Never. King was more Nkrumah-like. Here we go: You know it doesn't make much sense There ought to be a law against Anyone who takes offense At a day in your celebration Cause we all know in our minds That there ought to be a time That we can set aside To show just how much we love you And I'm sure you would agree It couldn't fit more perfectly Than to have a world party on the day you came to be Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday Happy birthday to you Happy birthday to you Happy birthday REFERENCES Ghanaweb. I Can't Wish My 'Enemy'Akufo-Addo A Happy BirthdayAkua Donkor. March 30, 2016. Daily Guide. Akua Donkor Party Office Burnt. January 23, 2016. Ghanaweb. Akufo-Addo More Dangerous Than Gitmo 2Akua Donkor. January 15, 2016. United Nations (United States) (AFP) - At least 100,000 people have been driven from their homes in an upsurge of fighting since January in Sudan's Darfur region, the UN's peacekeeping chief said Wednesday. "Clashes and aerial bombings are currently continuing" in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Marra, Herve Ladsous, the under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the Security Council. About 103,000 people have sought refuge at four camps set up by the joint UN-African Union UNAMID mission in Darfur, he said. Ladsous quoted humanitarian agencies as saying that at least 138,000 people had been on the run since mid-January. Restrictions imposed by the Sudanese government to aid agencies and to the UNAMID mission made it difficult to be precise in assessing the number of displaced in the recent fighting, he said. Jebel Marra sits at the heart of the Darfur region and is a stronghold of the rebel Sudan Liberation Army commanded by Abdulwahid Nur (SLA-AW). Sudan's Ambassador Omar Dahab Fadl disputed the reports of large-scale movements of civilians, saying "large numbers" of displaced people had managed to return to their villages in Darfur and were growing their crops. "Preparations are underway for the return of 100.000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) to their villages in the east and west of Darfur," the ambassador told the council. Khartoum's envoy insisted that the Sudanese army was responding to attacks from the SLA-AW and had managed to restore security to the region, with roads now open to civilians. "For the first time in 13 years, primary school students sat for general examinations. Levies ceased to be paid to hooligans," he said. "Show me in which way this can clash with UN objectives." The UN peacekeeping chief called on the government and the rebels to immediately halt fighting in Jebel Marra and begin peace talks to end the conflict. British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft expressed concern over the continued violence in Jebel Marra and said humanitarian access to central Darfur had become "even harder" as a result. "We ask all parties to provide the cooperation that UNAMID needs to do its job," he said. Darfur descended into conflict in 2003 when ethnic minority insurgents rebelled, complaining the region was being economically and politically marginalized by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. More than 300,000 people have been killed in the Darfur conflict since 2003 and there are some 2.6 million displaced, according to the United Nations. Brazzaville (AFP) - The runner-up in Republic of Congo's election on Wednesday called on his supporters to accept the official results of the violence-tainted poll that returned longtime president Denis Sassou Nguesso to power. Guy-Brice Parfait Kolelas said he did not wish to stir up controversy by challenging Monday's Constitutional Court's finding that Sassou Nguesso, Congo's ruler of 32 years, won the March 20 election with over 60 percent of the vote. "I accept the Constitutional Court's verdict, however questionable," Kolelas told reporters in the capital Brazzaville. "I nonetheless invite President Sassou Nguesso, the declared winner, to be humble in victory because this election has been marred by all sorts of irregularities," Kolelas said, calling on the president to work to heal the divisions wrought by the vote. On Monday, heavy fighting erupted in southern Brazzaville districts loyal to the opposition ahead of the court's confirmation of the election results. The government accused former members of the disbanded Ninja Nsiloulou militia of a "terrorist attack" targeting several public buildings and said 17 people had been killed, including three security force members. Kolelas, who was credited with 15 percent of the vote, rejected the government's claim that former militia members were responsible for the violence, accusing the authorities of a set-up aimed at quelling protests. He was among five presidential challengers who had claimed electoral fraud when the provisional poll results were announced last month and had called for peaceful protests. Congo has been on edge since an October constitutional referendum ended a two-term limit on presidential mandates, allowing the 72-year-old head of state to run again. Sassou Nguesso, a former paratrooper, served as president from 1979 to 1992, returning to power in 1997 following a civil war. He won two successive terms in elections in 2002 and 2009, both of which were disputed by opposition parties. The Electoral Commission (EC) will proceed with the limited registration exercise slated for April 28 after a New Patriotic Party (NPP) Youth Organiser withdrew his application for an injunction. The NPPs Brong Ahafo region youth organizer Kwame Baffoe told Joy News Wednesday, he withdrew the motion on the advice of the Chief Justice, Georgina Wood. She advised him to focus on a substantive application at the Supreme Court where he is asking the for a declaration that the current voters register is bloated, not fit for the purpose. He wants the Commission to be compelled to compile a new voters register and named the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Attorney General as defendants. While he had filed the application, Kwame Baffoe in March, also sought to stop the EC from carrying out a limited registration exercise . A similar injunction against the April 28 limited voters registration brought by Messers Ramadan and Nimako earlier had been thrown out. Chairperson of Electoral Commission Charlotte Osei But Mr. Baffoe told Joy News he holds a firm conviction that until the final determination of the case by the court, the limited registration by the EC should not go on. Not to be outdone, the Attorney-General also filed an application seeking to strike out Baffoes substantive case at the Supreme Court. The state lost, paving the way for the hearing of the substantive case. While the case is to be heard, the Chief Justice has advised the NPP man to leave the EC to do its work and hinted that his injunction application could suffer the same fate dealt with Abu Ramadan of the Peoples' National Convention (PNC). Retelling the Chief Justice's counsel, Kwame Baffoe said if at the end of the day the matter is determined in my favour whatever the Electoral Commission is doing, that judgment will [nullify] what the EC is doing so I agreed with the Chief Justice. The NPP Youth Organiser had up to 11 April 2016 to file his statement of claim on the substantive matter. The EC and A-G have a 12 April 2016 deadline to do same. The Chief Justice expects to use 10 days to determine the merit of his application when the case is called. Kwame Baffoe discounted any possibility of backing down in his resolve to have the EC compile a new voters register. I will just leave everything to the court to determine the merits of the matter, he said in an interview with Joy FMs Dzifa Bampoh. Baffoe is escalating the opposition party's claim that there are ineligible names on the register and therefore is not fit for the purpose of electing a credible winner come November 7. 06.04.2016 LISTEN Dormaa-Ahenkro (B/A), April 06, GNA - As part of efforts to strengthen surveillance to check the possible cross-border transmission of avian influenza from neighbouring countries into Ghana, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), has banned the importation of day old chicks, eggs and other poultry products. Dr. Hannah Bisiw, the Deputy Minister in charge of the livestock who announced this on Wednesday said the decision comes on the back of increased commercial activities at the border towns, particularly of La Cote d' Ivoire and Burkina Faso. The Deputy Minister who was speaking to members of the Dormaa Poultry Farmers Association in Dormaa Ahenkro, in the Brong Ahafo Region, underscored the need to enforce such stringent measures in that Municipality-the hub of the poultry industry in the country, that also shared boundary with La Cote D'Ivoire. 'The Municipality which also produced one-third of the nation's poultry requirements was also strategic to be earmarked for the protection of healthy birds in line with standards outlined by the world Health Organization for Animal Health (OIE)', she added. Dr Bisiw stated that in demonstration of government's commitment towards the fight against the disease, it provided 120 motor bicycles kits and other chemicals to the veterinary officers to aid surveillance and protect birds in 2015 expressing government's continuous support in that direction. She noted that the quest to see the growth of the poultry industry had a lot of Presidential backing which was accentuated by plans to actualize the 40 per cent reduction on the importation of broilers, while ensuring consensus among importers of poultry materials to reduce cost on those items as it was subsidized by government. She further stated that a pilot project which was initially embarked upon by government to find problems confronting poultry farmers and establish a processing plant in Dormaa Ahenkro, had to be aborted due to perceived mismanagement of state institutions. 'Additionally, the aggressive battle with the bird flu outbreak, took our attention off the pilot project' Dr Bisiw however, expressed the Ministry's willingness to rehabilitate the poultry laboratory in Dormaa Ahenkro, to lessen the burden of farmers of transporting their birds to Kumasi for treatment. The Deputy Minister added that the Ministry was in partnership with a private investor to set a processing plant at Duayaw Nkwanta as 180 hectares of land had been finally secured for the project. She said Duayaw Nkwanta was selected for its central location to serve poultry farmers in both Kumasi and Dormaa Ahenkro as well as those from other communities. Mr Gordon Asubonteng, the Dormaa Municipal Chief Executive said the Assembly was seeking assistance from various bodies including the European Union (EU) to help it establish a processing plant in Dormaa Ahenkro. GNA By Iddi Yire, GNA Accra, April 6, GNA - Al- Hayaat Foundation has cautioned young females to abstain from early sex to prevent being exposed to the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), which causes cervical cancer. Hajia Hanatu Abubakar, the Founder and President of Al- Hayaat Foundation, said the HPV is mainly sexually transmitted, hence, staying away from sex was the most effective way of preventing the disease. 'Cervical cancer takes years to develop; it develops between 10 years and 20 years, and by the time the symptoms begin to show the cancer may have invaded deep into the cervix,' she explained. Hajia Abubakar was addressing the media at a Cervical Cancer Sensitisation and Awareness Programme, in Accra. The event was held under the auspices of Al- Hayaat Foundation and supported by Achievers Ghana, a non- governmental organisation. The programme aims at using education and mentoring to empower young women for an improved livelihood in the society. She said, according to the Ghana Health Service, more than 3,000 Ghanaian women were diagnosed of cervical cancer yearly. Hajia Abubakar said the risk factors of contracting cervical cancer were early sex activity and multiple sexual partners. Therefore, the awareness programme, which would arm them with all the information on the disease, was to serve as a long-term preventive measure. She said symptoms of cervical cancer included pain during sexual intercourse, pelvic pain, heavy virginal discharge, which may be smelly, and continuous bleeding after menopause. She, therefore, urged all participants to disseminate the message to their colleagues at home and in their communities to promote a healthy lifestyle. She encouraged women, especially the young, to take advantage of screening exercises as a preventive measure and as part of efforts to kick out cervical cancer in Ghana. Ms Lois Adu Nyame, a Cytotechnologist at the School of Allied Health, University of Ghana, advised women to get prescription from a certified medical practitioner in the course of seeking medical attention so as to promote a healthy lifestyle. Cytotechnologists are laboratory professionals who study cells and cellular anomalies. Using a microscope, they examine slides of human cells for any indication that a cell is abnormal and/or diseased (i.e., cancerous or precancerous lesions, infectious agents or inflammatory processes). She cautioned women to desist from inserting objects into their vagina to avoid infesting themselves with bacteria; stating that, 'Whoever is inserting the finger or object in the vagina needs to be clean because we know there are bacteria in the air'. Ms Adu Nyame urged women who had ever had sex to go for screening to check their status and advised young females to consult authorised persons for the appropriate treatment of genital conditions. Mr Amadu Mohammed, a Co- Founder and Director of Achievers Ghana, commended Al- Hayaat Foundation for educating young females on health issues, particularly, on cervical cancer. He urged them to extend their campaign to slum communities and other schools across the country. He also called on the Government to support the activities of the Foundation to enhance their laudable initiative, which he said, would go a long way to protect women as well save more lives. GNA By Samira Larbie, GNA Accra, April 6, GNA - Mr Philip Addison, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Parliamentary nominee for Klottey Korle, has called on the youth of the party to take keen interest in electoral activities. He said they should do so at their registered polling stations during November 7 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections. He said Ghana cannot experience disputed electoral results again hence the need for all to be vigilant and show interest for a peaceful polls that would allow voters to accept the official declaration of the result. Mr Addison urged the youth to offer their services as responsible polling agents for the party to foresee the activities at the polling stations and ensure there is only one pink sheet with correct figures since this is the reason the NPP lost the election petition. He made the call at the launch of African University College of Communication (AUCC) Students Representative Council (SRC) week celebration in Accra. He said when this is done diligently it would help safeguard results at the various polling stations. The theme for the occasion: 'Responsible Communication Panacea to Electoral Violence,' is to use effective communication to set the right agenda which would enhance peace and move the country forward. He said the peaceful atmosphere in the country should not be taken for granted and urged the media to make every effort to change the current mass media landscape since it is having negative effect on the people. Dr Koryoe Anim Wright, President of AUCC said Ghana has moved close to its maturity in politics but no good is said about its actions. Dr Wright said Ghanaians especially the youth must be tolerant, honest and trustworthy, behave responsibly and analyse issues critically before they act on it to avoid any mayhem. 'We must encourage one another to be civil for a peaceful environment before, during and after the election,' he said. Mr Ken Ashigbey, Managing Director Graphic Group of Communications appealed to President John Dramani Mahama as well as all other presidential aspirants to disassociate themselves from party communicators who come on air to abuse each other. He said Ghanaians as well as students must start taking action on what they are using the social media platform for to move the country towards the right direction. Mr Andrew Atariwini, SRC President challenged the student body to be agenda setters in their professional practice. He said: 'Ghana remains the only country we can be proud of, hence the need to maintain this peace whatever be the case.' GNA By D.I. Laary - GNA Accra, April 6, GNA - Effective States and Inclusive Development (ESID), a research body of the University of Manchester, has presented its findings on investigation conducted on the effectiveness of Ghana's public sector reform for improved service delivery. The findings were presented at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) to solicit stakeholders' views and share ideas to improve the sector's operations. The research conducted in African countries with good democratic records, vibrant market and active civil society; brought discussants to deliberate on the central management of public services, anticorruption and meritocracy in public service institutions. Dr Pablo Yanguas, a Research Associate at ESID, said public sector reforms formed part of their broader research plan to establish effective public sector operations, and how to achieve greater efficiency. He commended Ghana for developing a functional legislative framework saying what contained in the structure usually appeared different from occurrences on the field largely due to political inducement. 'Who gets what role in the public sector depends on who joins which political party, whose friend is in government [and this] is not helpful,' he said. He said Ghana's public sector needed to shed itself off political influence and withstand political change, and urged civil societies to build resilient networks and broader coalitions to push for better services. The research outcome showed that out of 450 respondents, 63.7 per cent said they joined the service for job security while 36.4 per cent said were in the private sector for the same reason. However, 32.6 per cent were engaged in public service because of good salary and benefits against 43.1 per cent who joined the private sector. Professor Phillip Duku Osei, Deputy Director of GIMPA, said the research underpinned the fact that no single country could start public sector reform without considering the linkages between capacity building and the ability to extend quality services to metropolitan and remote areas. 'GIMPA is a major player in this because we enhance capacity development and public sector management, we are happy that ESID engaged us in this report,' he said, when they were looking for the rightful place to disseminate the report. He said GIMPA would disseminate and apply the findings to deepen students understanding of Ghana's public services. Representatives from the public sector, including the Public Services Commission, Head of the Civil Service, the Public Sector Reform Secretariat at the Presidency, and International Development Agencies participated in the research discussion. The research brought together fellows from the University of Ghana, the University of Manchester with partners from African countries including Kenya and Malawi to form a consortium to engage in public sector research to find out how public sector reforms has engendered inclusive development. GNA By Stephen Asante, GNA Kumasi, April 06, GNA - A leading member of the National Democratic Party (NDP), Ernest Owusu-Bempah, says renewal of the mandate of the Mahama Administration would be a disaster for the nation. He said the voters could simply not afford the mistake of giving the government another four-year term in the face of what he claimed was record corruption and economic mismanagement. He was addressing thousands of protesters, who hit the streets of Kumasi to ramp up pressure on the Electoral Commission (EC) to validate the voters roll. Dubbed 'Baamu Yadda' (we will not agree), the demonstration was organized jointly by pressure groups - 'Let My Vote Count Alliance', the Alliance For Accountable Governance (AFAG), Movement for Change and opposition political parties including the NDP, New Patriotic Party (NPP), People' National Convention (PNC) and the Convention People's Party (CPP). Amid the blowing of vuvuzelas, brass band music and chanting of slogans, the protesters carried placards with messages like 'We need credible register', 'Mahama stop controlling the EC', 'Who controls STL', 'No more rigging', 'EC not independent', 'Think about Ghana, Madam EC Chairperson', 'Clean, credible register and nothing else' and 'EC is working for NDC'. Mr. Owusu-Bempah rallied voters to vote down the ruling party - NDC, to stop what he said was the looting of the nation's resources. He accused the government of the abuse of power through the use of the state security agencies to intimidate the people. Mr. Sammy Awuku, the NPP's National Youth Organizer, said the party together with civil society organizations would not relent in efforts to ensure that the voters roll for the coming election was credible. Mr. David Henry Asante, a leading member of the PNC, demanded that the EC came out with a clear road map for validation of the electoral roll as recommended by the panel of experts it set up. The delay, he warned, could be a recipe for trouble. GNA Accra, April 6, GNA - A mechanic, Moro Mohammed, on Wednesday appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on charges of conspiracy to commit crime, carrying offensive weapons and causing harm to one Yussif Hamadu. Mohammed, who had in his possession a cutlass, is said to have conspired with four others, now at large, on March 25 to cause harm to Yusif. He pleaded not guilty to the charges but was remanded by the court, presided over by Mr Aboagye Tandoh, despite an application for bail by his counsel. The court adjourned the case to April 12 to rule on the bail application. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Kwabena Adu told the court that the complainant, Hamadu, is a trader while Mohammed is a mechanic and they both lived at Ablekuma Borkorborkor. He said the complainant's brother and the accused person's brother fought and stabbed each other. After their separation, they both reported the case to the police and were all issued with medical forms to go to the hospital for treatment. The prosecution said later Mohammed organised some boys and attacked the complainant with cutlasses and other offensive weapons. During the attack, the accused person and his accomplices inflicted cutlass wounds on the complainant. The complainant reported the case to the police and Mhammed was arrested. Police Chief Inspector Adu said Moro admitted the offence in his caution statement and mentioned his accomplices as Razak, Emma, Kwesi and Abu but failed to assist the police to arrest them to assist in investigations. GNA 06.04.2016 LISTEN The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) says it is not considering reinstating suspended National Chairman, Paul Afoko and General Secretary, Kwabena Agyepong as being speculated on social media. The two were suspended last year for engaging in acts the party said could be detrimental to its electoral fortunes. But a story which has gone viral on social media claimed the party needs the financial resources of Messrs Afoko and Agyepong for its campaign ahead of the November 7 elections. However, a statement signed by the party's Director of Communications, Nana Akomea said the claim is palpably false. He stated emphatically that the issue of re-instatement has not come up at any Steering or National Executive Committee meeting for deliberation and subsequent decision. Below is the full statement . NPP HAS NOT CONSIDERED THE REINSTATEMENT OF PAUL AFOKO AND KWABENA AGYEPONG The attention of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has been drawn to stories on one or two social media portals that the party intends to reinstate Mr. Paul Afoko and Mr. Kwabena Agyepong. At the last Steering and National Executive Committee meetings, this issue did not come up at all for any discussion, much less a decision. Any such report on this matter is mere speculation. Signed Nana AKomea (Communications Director) -adomonline IVA Struggling with debt? Compare your debt options and write off up to 80% of your unsecured debts from 80 per month Get Started for free What is an IVA? With an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you can make affordable monthly payments towards a percentage of your debt for 5 years. At the end of the 5 year plan, your remaining debt will be completely written off. Benefits of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common advantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Affordability You will only be asked to pay back what you can afford, with allowances taken into account for food, bills, entertainment, travel, childcare and others. You may be sacrificing certain essential costs at the moment. With an IVA they are budgeted for so they will no longer be neglected No upfront costs When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny You have a finishing line Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good Confidential Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not No more contact from creditors When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits Stay in your house Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright Your pension An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA Risks of an IVA Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA): Equity Release If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property Credit Rating If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement You must keep up with repayments If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt Who qualifies for an IVA? There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet: Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income What debts can I include in an IVA? You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include: Credit card debt/credit cards Loans/loan debt Payday loans Council tax arrears HMRC debt Overpaid benefits Catalogues Gas and electricity arrears Overdrafts/overdraft debt Water arrears Income tax arrears Debts to friends and family Other unsecured debts Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice. What debts cant be included in an IVA? Secured loans Your mortgage (if you still live in the house) Car finance (if you still have the car) Rent arrears for your current property Court fines/Police fines Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product) Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on) Student loans Other secured debts What does I.V.A stand for? IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments. Can I apply for an IVA online? Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free. Will an IVA affect my employment? In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either. There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything. Will an IVA impact my partner? There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private. If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans. If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way. Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file? Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating. What proof will I need to apply for an IVA? Proof of ID Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements 3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income 3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits How long does it take to set up an IVA? Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email. How long does an IVA last? Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need. How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement? The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt. How does an IVA affect your life? By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA. Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed. What is the IVA protocol? The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances. How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA? Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors. Can I pay in one lump sum? There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you. Who regulates the debt industry? At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website. Should I use a debt charity? There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services. Which charities help with debt? You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels. Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs. We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently? In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected. If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties. Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan. LOOKING FOR HELP? 100% Confidential. Thousands Helped. No upfront fees Keep me signed in Thank you for posting your query We will send it across to the expert; watch this space for the reply. Your message will also be posted on our community on messageboard business Tiago to pave way for Tata Motors' new strategy: CEO Butschek This is the first product to combine a new design and technology strategy, said CEO Guenter Butschek. He is confident of Tiago doing well and making a difference in the hatchback market you are here: business Decentralizing helping Railways fast-track projects: Prabhu Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu says the Railways will spend USD 142 billion towards boosting the country's railways infrastructure. Will he be the man to turn around the transporter? Last year Bellamys Australia [ASX:BAL] shares made amazing 724.85% returns for investors. The dramatic share price rise was largely due to their continual profit increases. Yet Bellamys shares are down more than 32% in just four months. So are they still worth investing in now? For those of you watching the markets last year youre probably familiar with Bellamys Australia [ASX:BAL]. But for those who are unaware, Bellamys was a standout stock for 2015. We even had many subscribers here at Port Philip Publishing make a killing off our Bellamys recommendation. And when I say our recommendation I mean Sam Volkerings. Sam is the editor of Small-Cap Investigator and Revolutionary Tech Investor. And his recommendation made a lot of his subscribers a nice bit of coin to end 2015. Last year Bellamys shares made amazing 724.85% returns for investors. The dramatic share price rise was largely due to their continual profit increases. Bellamys revised profits up twice in latter half of 2015. And it was all thanks to increasing sales over in China. However, recently Bellamys has fallen out of favour with most investors. They treated Bellamys as a get rich quick stock. And now they believe all that is to be had from Bellamys is already gone. Some investors are even going as far as to short sell Bellamys. Why? Because they dont want to invest in anything associated with China. I think this is a ridiculous idea. Bellamys financials are still quite strong. And they are experiencing strong demand coming from China. This is exactly the conditions that put Bellamys in the limelight. Yet the BAL share price has fallen quite substantially this year. Bellamys shares are down more than 32% in just four months. So, is it time to buy? Its hard to say. While potential growth is definitely still there for Bellamys, do shares need to come down further for it to be attractive? As I stated before, Bellamys share price has already dropped more than 32%. And of course this drop isnt all because of short sellers. It would be foolish to think that a stock gaining over 700% that there wouldnt be shareholders selling out to crystallise profits. Yet it begs the question, has Bellamys share price fallen enough? Dairy inventories in China are falling Some believe the Australian dairy industry has just finishing off its short-lived run. They think the level of buying from China will slow down. And therefore Bellamys and other related dairy companies arent a great investment. They are correct about one thing. China did increase their dairy consumption quite recently. The 20132015 period was considered a peak for the Australian dairy industry. And all this buying led to a backlog of inventory in Chinese warehouses. In October last year Macquarie estimated current Chinese inventories at 300,000 tons. The key catalyst for whole milk powder prices in the near term will be the clearing of inventory in China, the bank said. But the USDAs Beijing bureau said that the expectation of higher imports in 2016 reflects the ideas of Chinese dairy companies [to] draw down carryover stocks through the end of 2015. What does this mean? China might be expected to consume vast amounts of stock very quickly. Another driver for milk related powders is the lack of refrigerated supply chains in China. The main consumption areas in the south and east are encouraging the use of powdered milk products. And Australia might soon take over the US as third leading supplier to China for milk related powders. All good signs so far for Australias dairy industry. Bellamys Strong Financials While it is good to identify macro trends, its also important to focus on the micro factors. And what I mean by this is Bellamys financials. Bellamys release their first half report for FY16 in late February. Bellamys was still able to boast impressive figures. Revenue was up 83.3% to $105 million, and net profit after tax jumped a staggering 325.3% to $13.66 million. Bellamys also stated in the report China continues to exhibit strong growth for Australian made products. And in Singapore they were able to double their market share. However since Bellamys posted their results, global turmoil has placed havoc with their share price. And of course there are risks associated with the baby formula company. As it stands, Bellamys still do not own one cow. The whole production of Bellamys products are not done by themselves. Theyve had to overcome supply squeezes in the past. But their new production agreement with Fonterra [NZE:FCG] has helped sales. And it has helped reduce Bellamys reliance on manufacturer Tatura. So of course investing in Bellamys has its risks. But the way I see it, prices are depressed for a company with great earnings potential. And the possibility of a pickup in Chinas dairy imports is very possible. Harje Ronngard, Junior Analyst, Money Morning PS: Bellamys was a great investment for 2015. And if prices keep dropping they could also be another great investment for this year. However Bellamys wasnt the only great stock last year. There were in fact dozens of great investments you could have made last year. And all of them yielded triple digit returns for those who took the opportunity. According to Money Mornings Publisher, Kris Sayce, there are three great investments this year. In fact they were great investments last year and are continuing over to 2016. Kris has written a report all about it called The Three Best Investments in Australia for 2015 and Beyond. In his article Kris will tell you why its time to load up on the most hated Aussie sector. And theres also a tip on how to buy Aussie property on the stock market. To get all this information and more check out Kriss report. To get your free copy, click here. St Barbara Ltd [ASX:SBM] share price picked up another 2.35% in todays trading. Year-to-date, SBM shares have picked up more than 50% in gains, vastly outperforming some of the other stocks in the Aussie stock universe. What happened to the Santa Barbara Ltd share price? the St Barbara Ltd [ASX:SBM] share price picked up another 2.35% in todays trading. The broader Aussie market was marginally up after some reflation in commodity prices overnight. Year-to-date, SBM has picked up more than 50% in gains, vastly outperforming some of the other stocks in the Aussie stock universe. Why did SBM shares do this? SBM is a gold producer, so its stellar performance should not come as any surprise to investors. If you dont know what I just referred to, then you should take a look at the performances of all gold producers in 2016 so far. Gold producers have been able to track the dramatic rise in gold price, amplifying the price increase in the precious metal several fold. There is no denying it, SBM is a momentum stock, and it makes complete sense for momentum traders to include it in an active trading position. The question is: how high will gold go? The answer lies in two key factors concerning gold. One is its long term correlation with the commodity basket; the second relates to the short term inverse relationship between gold and the stock market. One can argue that the commodity basket has reached a bottom of sorts. That means it is likely to reflate over time, which supports the price of gold over the long term. On the other hand, renewed volatility in the stock market can greatly boost the performance of gold and gold-related stocks. The harder question here is, has gold gone too high? What now for Santa Barbara Ltd? For the momentum traders, it almost does not matter what the fundamentals say. If the stock is on a run, then thats enough reason to include it temporarily. For the fundamental investors out there, the question is more complicated. I argue that gold is, in fact, too high at the current price, due to the inflows in the first quarter. It can suffer a setback, or at least a flat period. However, there is no rule to prevent the stock market from creating volatility again, which means there is leg in the momentum of gold. That can only prolong the gain of gold and the eventual settling down of its price. In the long term, there is support for the precious metal. This means I am bullish on gold over the long term, but very cautious on it in the short term. Ken Wangdong+ Emerging Market Analyst, New Frontier Investor Bonne nouvelle, ce sujet contientreponses et elles vous seront peut-etre d'une grande aide !Pour pouvoir les consulter, vous devrez etre connecte au forum Emma Wall: Hello and welcome to Morningstar. I'm Emma Wall and I'm joined today by Tom Idzorek, Head of Economic Research for Morningstar Investment Management. Hi, Tom. Thomas Idzorek: Hi. Wall: So you just did a quick pop-quiz among the attendees at the Morningstar Investment Conference where we are in Amsterdam, and you found that time and time again investors voted for the shiny stock. The stock that everybody wanted. Idzorek: Right. Thats absolutely right. I opened up my talk with five, what I thought would be easy questions. Do you prefer a speculative investment or a safe investment? Do you want to something that has lots of capacity versus low capacity, powerful brand, low brand, high reputation, low reputation et cetera, and time and time again as you pointed out, people really want what is the very best characteristic. And of course as it turns out, people want that characteristic so much that, that they swarm into those stocks bid up the price and often those are the ones that are performing relatively poorly in the short term. Wall: Because of course we can't all buy the same stock at the same price, can we? Idzorek: No we can't. And again its that over popularity we tend to love great companies so much you could almost say we're over loving them, right. Then we dislike, let's say bad companies, but we overly dislike them and eventually there is a return to fundamentals and there can be a premium thats actually harvested by systematically investing in let's say unpopular characteristics. And eventually somethings that are unpopular will become popular and those things that are very popular will inevitably have a reduction in their popularity. Wall: Because Investing 101 says that risk equals returns. The higher risk you take on with a stock the higher returns you take on. Do you think this concept is actually flawed and this popularity concept is a better one, a more it applies in more circumstances? Idzorek: So that traditional view of more risk equals more return it works at the asset class level often. So bonds outperform let's T-Bills and or stocks outperform bonds. And that relationship seems to hold throughout different marketplaces in different countries. Once you dive into a particular asset class such as equities and you have let's say similar overall risk characteristics, its these other characteristics that begin to matter more than risk. And again what we see is that traditional paradigm that more risk equals more return begins to breakdown, and we need another theory, a new theory, in our case the theory of popularity that seems to explain all of the let's say recognized risk premia that are out there as well as the various anomalies. Wall: One of the risk premia, rather the popularity premia, that you mentioned is someone having a company with a strong brand, strong competitive advantage over their peers and we at Morningstar call that an economic moat. Which we've learned can lead to outperformance over the long term. Now these two theories to the lay person sound like they are mutually exclusive, but you say actually they can work together. Idzorek: They can, so I guess to moat, having a wide moat or a sustainable competitive advantage is something that we think makes a wonderful company. Now I think what we would also stress is that doesnt necessarily make them a great investment especially over the short term another factor that is critical and one where we do a lot of work is coming up with a fundamental valuation associated with the different firm. So the ideal company would be one that has a very wide moat or very large sustainable advantage, but you could get a very attractive valuation. Wall: Because it's about great companies at great prices. Idzorek: Exactly. Wall: Tom, thank you very much. Idzorek: Thanks. Wall: This is Emma Wall for Morningstar. Thank you for watching. The Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. is set to begin to push for a national housing strategy that would include affordable housing as a top priority, an agency official said in a speech. This year, CMHC will work with other federal colleagues to undertake broad-based consultations on a national housing strategy, CEO Evan Siddall stated in a Whitehorse, Yukon speech, as quoted by Bloomberg. This will include consultations with provincial and territorial governments, Indigenous and other communities, and key stakeholders. Our goal will be to develop a comprehensive national housing strategy to reduce housing need, Siddall added, citing Statistics Canada figures that placed the proportion of the population that needs adequate housing at 12.5 per cent. As noted by advocacy groups, such a broad-reaching strategy should include low-cost housing as an inalienable right for citizens. Canadian markets, especially red-hot Toronto and Vancouver, have seen significant upward spikes in average housing prices over the past few years, raising grave concerns over a similarly sharp growth in homelessness across the country. An attempt by the New Democratic Party in 2013 to address the issue in the form of bill C-400 did not push through. The current Liberal administration, on the other hand, was elected last fall with affordable housing as one of its major campaign promises, but these vows have yet to take fruit. Real Estate Market in the West is on Fire, and Spreading - Town for Sale in Nevada What does $1.45 million get you in Nashville? Well, if you don't mind buying a house from Kesha, this is what you'd have. The S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City composite index showed that home prices rose 5.7% in January in line with expectations. Zillow chief economist Svenja Gudell noted that lower-income buyers are having a harder time with the limited inventory. And despite limited economic growth, job opportunities are rising which should keep the housing market stable and healthy. The top cities for home price appreciation was Portland, Oregon (+11.8%), Seattle, Washington (+10.7%) and San Francisco, California (+10.5%). (READ MORE: CoreLogic Estimates Large February Price Gains) NAR put out the list of the 20 hottest real estate markets. While some at the top are not surprising (San Francisco) some of the other names are more associated with the economic dumpster fires we saw as the collapse began. Cities like Stockton CA and Detroit MI are included in the 20 hottest markets. And in the autumn Pro Teck's Home Value Forecast (HVF) for September reviewed trends in average sold home prices versus total mortgage in San Francisco and Detroit. Their results indicated that buyers have averaged over 20 percent down within the last 14 years with LTV ratios between 67-82 percent in San Francisco, whereas in Detroit, the average LTV is between 86-101 percent. In other areas like Phoenix and Scottsdale, average home prices are now 20 percent below all-time highs after declining 37.5 percent. The HVF also highlighted the 10 best and 10 worse performing metros, with some of the top metros to include, Bellingham, WA, Boise City, ID, Durham-Chapel Hill, NC and Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ. The worst performing metros include Detroit, MI, El Paso, TX, Jacksonville, NC and Midland, TX. Home Prices rose 0.84% in October and at that point were up 5.5% YOY, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Portland, San Francisco, and Denver led the charge. And in the autumn it was also noted that home values had also increased by more than 10 percent in six major metros to include, Denver, Dallas, San Jose, San Francisco, Portland and Miami. Despite an increase in home price appreciation, the number of homes for sale has declined and currently rests 6.8 percent below its level in October 2014. The pace of home value growth is forecasted to drop, growing 2.6 percent from October 2015 to October 2016. Over the next year, Las Vegas, Dallas, Seattle, Sacramento, Denver and Portland are expected to have home values grow by 5 percent or more. Despite the recent drop in rental appreciation, rent prices are not expected to significantly decline within the next year. San Francisco is the City by the Bay, and home to the Golden Gate Bridge, sourdough bread, Alcatraz, and more recently, a lot of million dollar homes. Amongst the largest metros, San Francisco metro has the highest share of million dollar homes in the country at 58%. And not surprisingly, the other two Bay Area metros rank #2 (San Jose) and #3 (Oakland). Within the city of San Francisco itself, more than 63% of homes are valued above the $1 million mark. To find out where million dollar homes have spread the most in the City by the Bay, we calculated the value for every home in San Francisco between January 2010 and September 2015. We define a million-dollar home as any home - regardless of whether it's listed or not - with a value of $1,000,000 or more. The number of homes worth more than a million dollars has grown exponentially in just five years. Pro Teck Valuation Services published its Home Value Forecast (HVF), looking back at the last twelve months. Over the past year, San Francisco, San Rafael and San Jose metros top the list for current sales price, followed by Honolulu and Vineyard Haven. The HVF also examined the twelve-month active list price appreciation, with College Station-Bryan, TX leading the year with an active price change of 46.32 percent. The top markets for current months of remaining inventory, which shows how "hot" a market is, include San Jose and Santa Cruz with around two months of inventory. The HVF also identified the top performing markets this month which include, Bellingham, WA, Bend-Redmond, OR, Boise City, ID, Boulder, CO, Eugene, OR, Oak Harbor, WA, Portland, OR, Sacramento, CA, Seattle, WA and Stockton, CA. The metros on this list have remained quite consistent throughout the past year, but with rising rates expected in 2016, there will most likely be a change among the top performing metros list. Zillow has published on article indicating that the share of homes underwater has been on the decline, as the U.S. negative equity rate has dropped to 13.4 percent in the third quarter from 14.4 percent the second quarter and 16.9 percent last year. The negative equity rate has dropped 14 consecutive quarters after its peak of 31.4 percent in the first quarter of 2012. Still, more than 6.5 million homeowners are underwater, as more than 30 percent of Americans with a mortgage are underwater, in negative equity or lack enough equity to sell their home and buy a new one. Negative equity does affect both the supply of homes for sales and the demand, as those underwater are unable to sell their home and buy a new one. This also impacts first time homebuyers looking to buy, as available inventory becomes more strained. Homes that are listed for sale in markets where there is a greater share of households in negative equity often stay on the market longer as well. The areas where negative equity is most common include the Southwest, Southeast and parts of the Midwest. For example, Las Vegas (22.1 percent) and Phoenix (16.4 percent) have higher rates of negative equity, along with Chicago (20.6 percent), Atlanta (18.6 percent) and Orlando (16.1 percent). Whereas areas like San Francisco and San Jose have negative equity rates below 5 percent, which correlates to greater job opportunities and stronger income growth. Although the number of households underwater is dropping, there is still a strong presence of homes in negative equity, delaying many markets from recovering and reducing the share of available inventory even more. But it seems that plenty of buyers, once again, are heading north to places like Portland, Oregon. That happened several years ago, and once again appears to be a trend that those in Portlandia aren't wild about. "Come visit but then go home." But hey, forget about a house in Oregon! You can buy an entire an entire town in Nevada, near Las Vegas, for $8 million. Turning to the capital markets, the increasing Federal Reserve mortgage-backed securities holdings have driven the spread between Fannie Mae 30-year coupons and 5-year and 10-year Treasury notes to 108 basis points, the tightest level since 2012. The Fed has indicated further asset purchases may be ahead. In mildly interesting news yesterday was the JOLTS Job Openings report, which showed slightly fewer help wanted signs going up in February. And this morning we've had the MBA's application data from last week showing what lock desks already knew: locks were +2.7% over the prior week, and 3% over where they were a year ago. Refis were +7% and account for about 54% of all applications. That does it for scheduled news until later today when we'll have a chance to look at the March FOMC meeting minutes. Rate sheet-wise we closed the 10 year Tuesday at 1.73% and this morning we're at 1.74% with agency MBS prices down/worse slightly. Jobs and Announcements Catalyst Lending opened three more branches in Utah and is hiring. Catalyst Lending, headquartered in Greenwood Village, CO is opening up branches in Ogden, Sandy and Spanish Fork. Brant Haywardopened Catalyst Lending's second branch in Ogden, UT and is acting as the Ogden Branch Manager. In his new role, he will focus on driving growth in the Ogden market. Catalyst Lending's third Utah branch, in Sandy, UT, was opened by Jim Rogers. He will also be the Sandy Branch Manager. Gregg Driggs is the newly appointed Branch Manager in Spanish Fork, UT, Catalyst Lending's new fourth location. In reflecting on Catalyst Lending's recent expansion Debbie Isaacs VP, Utah Regional Manager said "One of Catalyst Lending's values is 'Excellence Always' and our new Branch Managers always go above and beyond to provide exceptional service to their clients." Catalyst Lending, Inc., founded in 2007, "is an Ellie Mae Hall of Fame Award Finalist for the 3rd year in a row for Exceptional Achievement in Loan Quality and Excellence in Compliance Automation. And, we were named a 2016 Top Mortgage Employer by National Mortgage Professional magazine." For more information, contact Mary Murphy VP, Marketing. Sacramento's VITEK is searching for a Chief Information Officer. This is a new role, and this individual needs to be a true difference-maker for our team, playing a key role in helping improve scalability and productivity of all IT-related functions, and identifying and leading initiatives that support our growth. Ability to anticipate and translate mortgage banking business needs into system functionality, proactive communication with team members across the organization, and maintaining strong 3rd party vendor relationships are key elements of this role. While technical skills are a must, and a customer-centric focus is required, the most important personal attribute needed for success is to be forward-thinking and strategic - able to create, articulate, gain buy-in, and implement the vision. IT leadership and innovation are a given, and mortgage-specific experience is highly desired, though other financial/banking services background may fit the need. Interested candidates please contact Libby Feyh, VP of HR. As featured in The Mortgage Professional's Handbook, the chapter, Source, Train, and Assimilate New Loan Officers, is now available to download for free. Use this chapter to build and grow a productive sales team to ultimately increase your production. Written by Casey Cunningham, CEO and Founder of XINNIX, The Mortgage Academy, this chapter provides incredible value for managers looking to grow their team's production. Download your complimentary copy now! My sympathies to any mortgage banker, or banker, who has heard of Stuart Delery. He is the Justice Department official that oversaw civil investigations of banks for conduct related to the financial crisis. He is stepping down April 14 to "explore options in the private sector." WASHINGTON The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it had filed suit to prevent Halliburton, an oilfield services behemoth, from acquiring its rival, Baker Hughes. If successful, the antitrust suit could derail a huge merger between two of the largest oilfield services companies in the world, a deal that at one point was reportedly valued at $35 billion. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said regulators were concerned that the acquisition would lead to decreased competition and higher prices. European regulators have also expressed concerns about the deal. "America and the American consumer deserve meaningful competition," Lynch said in a call with reporters. The merger would "substantially reduce competition in 23 separate markets," she said. And it would turn many of those markets into "non-competitive duopolies." In a joint statement, the companies said that they "intend to vigorously contest" the government's attempt to block the merger, arguing that the deal was "pro-competitive and will allow the companies' customers to benefit from a more flexible innovative and efficient oil services company." Halliburton had earlier proposed a divestiture package, worth billions, "that will facilitate the entry of new competition in markets in which products and services are being divested." The companies said they "intend to demonstrate that the DOJ has underestimated the highly competitive nature of the oilfield services industry, the many benefits of the proposed combination and the sufficiency of the divestitures." The merger, which was first announced in 2014, would allow the companies to operate more effectively, which they said was increasingly important because of low oil prices. But Lynch said the proposed divestiture "falls far short" of addressing the department's concerns. Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer said the Justice Department doesn't "bring these cases lightly. We bring them where the facts fully support concerns about the future competition in these markets." The attempt to block the merger is the latest antitrust action brought buy Justice in recent years. Testifying before Congress last month, Baer said his office has sought to foster increasing competition to help consumers. "Our antitrust laws have sought to enshrine the core principle that consumers win from competition and lose when it is unfairly restricted," he said. Previously, the Justice Department sued to block Electrolux's acquisition of General Electric's appliance business, which Baer said "preserved head-to-head competition and choice for major household cooking appliances." Comcast and Time Warner abandoned a merger after the department raised concerns. Halliburton and Baker Hughes had agreed to extend the time period to gain regulatory approval to the end of the month. In the statement they said that if the judicial review goes beyond them, they could continue to seek regulatory approval, or either company could terminate the merger agreement. At 17-years-old, when she should have been looking forward to senior prom and high school graduation, Midlander Lauren Erdmann was dealing with a diagnosis of colon cancer. Nine years later, Erdmann has fought two more cancers and has become an advocate for cancer research and survivors. She will share her story at MD Andersons Making Cancer History next week at Midland Country Club -- the first time the seminar has been presented in Midland. This is just one of the many things she has done to give back after surviving three cancers and learning she has a rare gene that could cause her cancers to recur. Erdmann was 15 when she started suffering from stomach pains and rectal bleeding, she said. Too embarrassed to say anything to anyone, she suffered alone for a long time. As it got worse, she googled what might be going on. I was like, Oh my gosh, I could have colon cancer, this is how bad it could be, Erdmann said. It could be something simple or it could be really bad. She was too embarrassed about the symptoms to talk about it; instead, she wrote her mom a letter to tell her what was going on. Her mother was concerned, but told her not to worry. Erdmann said she had a bad feeling, though. After a series of tests, Erdmann had a colonoscopy and was diagnosed with Stage 1 colon cancer. Her doctors in Midland had never seen colon cancer in someone so young and suggested that she seek treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Her doctors there decided to remove her colon. Erdmann had to graduate high school a semester early to make time for the surgery, which caused her to feel constantly weak, sick and unable to eat. Nine months later she was diagnosed again. This time the cancer showed up in a lymph node. So, Erdmann was back in Houston, getting chemotherapy and radiation. Me and my mom were always goofballs, so were trying to laugh, make light of the situation, Erdmann said. So every time at the chemo place we had people laughing. At this time, I was 19 ... Ive had cancer twice. ... I had the rest of my life ahead of me. I have to laugh. Im young and if I die, at least Ill go out laughing. After that, Erdmann was cancer-free for three years. Then she received a third diagnosis -- this time for uterine cancer. She had a full hysterectomy. Erdmann had undergone genetic testing to determine why she had multiple cancers at a young age. Doctors thought she might have constitutional mismatch repair deficiency syndrome, a rare childhood cancer predisposition syndrome caused by mutation in certain genes. The thing that was scary about that was that they told me this gene first attacks the colon, then attacks your uterus if youre a woman, and then it goes to the brain, the skin, stomach, you can get leukemia, etc., Erdmann said. If I have it then we have an answer and we know why Ive gotten all these cancers and we can try to prevent the others by doing preventative testing. But also, if I do have it, then Im gonna be really upset because Im at risk for all these other cancers. On her 24th birthday, Erdmann received confirmation that she had the gene. Approximately 5 percent of all patients who develop the cancers Erdmann has had have a hereditary component, said Dr. Pedro Ramirez, one of her doctors at MD Anderson. Now she goes to MD Anderson for PET scans, MRIs, blood tests, X-rays and other tests every six to nine months to check for a resurgence of her old cancers or other cancers that might arise. Thankfully, her most recent evaluation did not show any evidence of active cancer, Ramirez said in a phone interview. Erdmann has been cancer-free since 2013 and shes a testament to the fighting spirit, Ramirez said. She truly embodies the theory of survivor and shes an example to all patients with cancer because of her attitude toward the misfortunes shes been dealt, Ramirez said. She has already gone through the major manifestations of her condition, the hereditary component of her disease. So now what we have to be very vigilant of is recurrences of past cancers. But I think we can be very optimistic that shell be a long-term survivor. Her age, her spirit and her family support is what has been the catalyst to making her the success story she is. On a windy and warm Tuesday, Erdmann sits at her parents house in Midland. She looks out the window and the light makes her eyes shine. Erdmann is funny and charismatic, with an energy that is contagious. And when she tells her story, she explains that laughter, God and the close support of her family are what got her through it. Everyone always asks me how I got through it, and I dont really have a clue, Erdmann said. The only person I can think of is God, and of course my family. I laughed a lot. ... That's the only thing I can think that got me through it all. But her story also is about the pain, fear and depression she experiences. Sometimes I just cry, Erdmann said. Im sick and tired of being sick and tired. But you just have to keep pushing on because theres nothing else to do. I love my doctors, but Im tired of all these doctor appointments. I have anxiety and depression, so Im on meds for that, so I have to see a doctor for that, too. I have to go to therapy. Its very tough. I wanna just be normal. ... I have stomachaches more often, I get sick more, my weight has gone up. I didnt walk across the stage for (high school) graduation because I had a colonoscopy bag and I was embarrassed. I didnt get a real college degree. I got a certification in phlebotomy, but thats not a real degree, not really. It seemed like every time I tried to do something, cancer would happen and I would have to just focus on me. To Erdmann, a headache makes her think brain cancer, and her past pains remain present. Im 26 years old and Im going through menopause. ... she said. I never knew if I wanted to have kids or not, but all my friends are having babies and getting married now. ... I will never know what its like to carry a child, to feel a baby kick, to go through labor. ... (S)o many choices were just taken away from me. As she talked, Erdmanns story became about so much more than cancer. It became about human struggle, the continued grief caused by loss, fate and facing those things in life that are out of ones control. I dont blame God, Im not mad at God. ... My mom will chime in and say, You can adopt and Im like, yeah, I know, but its still that loss, that loss that I never really had the choice to have a baby. So sometimes I cry over that, Erdmann said. Or its that I will always be a cancer patient. The disease that I have will never go away. I will be at risk every day. My life revolves around all these problems ... Im trying to keep positive. My parents will tell me, but that was in the past. Im like no, its still here. I still remember the pain, I still remember I cant have a child. I still have the scars. I still have that fear every time I go and have a test done, the fear of something happening. Erdmann has learned to enjoy the little things. Im trying to do positive things like getting my story out there, that yes, Ive been through all this but Im here, Im surviving, Im pushing through. Yes, it sucks sometimes and that is part of my story. Sometimes Im just absolutely pissed off at the world because I want things to just not be like this. But you have got to keep going, Erdmann said. Theres nothing I can do about it. Its in my genes. So I cant just lay down and die, I have to keep pushing. Its been a lot, but Im doing my best. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The coral on the South Pacific sea floor around Kiritimati looked like a boneyard in November stark, white and lifeless. But there was still some hope. In April, color returned with fuzzy reds and browns, but thats not good news. Algae has overtaken the lifeless coral on what had been some of the most pristine coral reefs on the planet, said University of Victoria coral reef scientist Julia Baum said after dozens of dives in the past week. Maybe 5 percent will survive, she estimated. What it really looks like is a ghost town, Baum said. Its as if the buildings are standing but no ones home. Kiritimati is where El Nino, along with global warming, has done the most damage to corals in the past two years, experts said. While dramatic images of unprecedented total bleaching on Australias Great Barrier Reef are stunning the world, thousands of miles to the east conditions are somehow even worse. This El Nino has its most powerful grip right at this spot, said Georgia Tech climate scientist Kim Cobb in a telephone interview from the island 2,000 miles south of Hawaii. About 36 percent of the worlds coral reefs 72 percent of the U.S. reefs are in such warm water they are under official death watch, and that could rise to up to 60 percent of the worlds coral by July, said Mark Eakin, the coral reef watch coordinator for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Eakin said Kiritimati was the worst hes seen, with America Samoa a close second. It is unprecedented, Baum said. This is absolutely the most intense response, the most dramatic death of a coral reef from an El Nino event. The island has been on the highest level of alert for coral stress since June 2015. NOAAs Eakin wasnt part of the Baum-Cobb team, but when he saw their photos, he emailed Baum: I was simply aghast at the pictures. I expected the worst, but still wasnt prepared for those. He called it gruesome. Its the heat thats killing the coral. In December, temperatures at Kiritimati peaked at 88.5 degrees (31.4 degrees Celsius) and have been about 5 to 7 degrees warmer than normal. Thats the kind of temperature spike that can be the difference between life and death for coral, Eakin said. Water temperatures around the island are nearly a degree Fahrenheit warmer than the last big El Nino, in 1997-98, and the damage is far worse, likely an assist from man-made warming on top of the natural transitory warming from El Nino, Cobb said. Coral reefs are important for fishing; nearly half a billion people rely on coral reef marine life for food, Eakin said. Coral reefs cover only one-tenth of one percent of the sea floor but are home to 25 percent of all marine species, Eakin said in an interview. Baum has hope that something can survive because of what she calls little miracle corals, the small amount of one particular species that seems to be surviving so far. Perhaps over a couple decades it can repopulate this once bright reef, she said. In Australia, where 100 percent of the corals are snow white on some reefs, it is hard to imagine that Kiritimati is worse, said Terry Hughes, an Australian professor who heads the countrys National Coral Bleaching Task Force. One area to the north is absolutely blitzed, he said. In the past, El Nino warming of the Pacific didnt cause such mass bleaching events in Australia. But the effects of recent, major El Ninos have coincided with water thats already warmer because of man-made climate change, Hughes said. The link between bleaching and global warming is incontrovertible, Hughes said. Coral can survive mild or short-term bleaching and recover, but if it goes too long or is too severe, they die from bleaching or disease, Eakin said. Climate scientist Cobb said 7,000 years of coral fossils in Kiritimati dont show such a big die-off. It moved Cobb to tears on one dive. They are older than me, 50 to 60 years old, Cobb said. To see them succumb was really an emotional event. Online: Julia Baums lab work on Kiritimati: http://kiritimati.weebly.com/ NOAAs Coral Reef Watch: http://coralreefwatch.noaa.gov/satellite/index.php Avicii set the internet ablaze with the all-not-too-surprising announcement that he was retiring from touring at the end of 2016 at the tender age of 2016. His tour schedule is still pretty sparse to this point, but he has unveiled the rest of his Las Vegas residency tour dates at the Wynn properties, which include XS Nightclub and Encore Beach Club. The dates will kick off at the end of this month with a weekend at both XS and Encore on April 29 and 30. Over the course of May he will then spend each weekend in Vegas doing the double of XS and encore, before taking some time off in June and ending his residency on June 24 and June 25. "We spoke with Avicii's team and, although we are sad to see him retire, we are happy to report that he is honoring all of his upcoming 13 dates at Wynn Las Vegas (Encore Beach Club and XS) through June," said Christie in a statement. "We support Tim's journey in life and wish him the very best. He knows our door is always open should he decide to tour again." He will spend 13 days and nights in total at his high-paying and lucrative residency that will bring out some big-name VIPs and a lot of out-of-towners for what they believe is their last chance to see the young Swede live for the last time. These are the only shows he has announced in the United States until now, with other gigs in Europe until Creamfields on Aug. 28. There may be more shows in the offing, so stay tuned. Tickets can be purchased here. Friday, April 29 @ XS Nightclub Saturday, April 30 @ Encore Beach Club Saturday, May 7 @ XS Nightclub Sunday, May 8 @ Encore Beach Club Saturday, May 14 @ XS Nightclub Sunday, May 15 @ Encore Beach Club Friday, May 20 @ XS Nightclub Saturday, May 21 @ Encore Beach Club Friday, May 27 @ XS Nightclub Saturday, May 28 @ Encore Beach Club Saturday, June 18 @ Encore Beach Club Friday, June 24 @ XS Nightclub Saturday, June 25 @ Encore Beach Club 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. We need to calm down after hearing this news about the collaboration! Just hours before the release of Taylor Swift's Midnights, the pop star gave a first look at the music videos for her highly anticipated 10th studio album. In a teaser Please enable JavaScript to experience the functionality of this website. - MWEB Someone should sue the President for ... San Andreas, CA Calaveras County public health officials are actively investigating details surrounding a confirmed case of measles involving an infected child who traveled through both Calaveras and Amador counties. The fear is that the child may have exposed residents to the disease. County Health Officer Dr. Dean Kelaita reports testing has been done to ensure no local residents were infected. He maintains, The people exposed to the child with measles have tested negative for the disease. At this time no Calaveras county residents have contracted measles. It is very concerning to receive a report of a child with measles traveling through our community because we have seen a decrease in the numbers of children protected with vaccinations in Calaveras. The child became sick with measles after returning from a trip oversea and heading home to Nevada County. The child has made a full recovery. Measles is a completely preventable disease, said Dr. Kelaita, who recommends, Parents should check their childrens shot records and ensure they are fully protected against measles. Measles is a highly contagious disease that spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Kelaita notes initial symptoms include fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Then a red rash that usually begins on the face moves to the rest of the body. The person is contagious from four days before and after the rash begins. For more measles information, contact Calaveras County Public Health Services at 209-754-6460. A defendant accused of burying a woman alive accused his attorney of falling asleep during the trial, forcing his own lawyer to take the stand Wednesday. In another twist, an uncooperative witness refused to testify, highlighting a strange day in court. On a day intended for testimony from crime-scene technicians about the wooded area where Darice Knowles was buried alive in 2006, instead, Vahtiece Kirkman accused his attorney of sleeping during trial proceedings Tuesday, forcing the attorney to take the stand. "He was still with his eyes closed. This is my life, sir. He was ineffective," Kirkman told the judge under sworn testimony. Kirkman is allowed to voice his concerns about one of his lawyers. And in rare testimony, the judge brought up each of the courtroom deputies, whom Kirkman claimed observed attorney Frank Bankowitz dozing off at one point during court. Each testified they saw Bankowitz with his eyes closed, appearing to be asleep, but only for less than a minute, and at no other time during the day. The judge brought Bankowitz up to the stand to give his side of what happened. "I had a bad headache yesterday afternoon. I did close my eyes, trying to relieve the headache," Bankowitz testified. "You can do what you want to do, bring all your witnesses. I'm here. If I get a life sentence, or death row or I get innocent, it is what it is," Kirkman responded to the judge afterward. The judge said he is reviewing courtroom video to see for himself what took place. In another unusual development Wednesday, one of Kirkman's friends was set to testify but refused. The judge told him to leave and return in an hour or face contempt of court charges. The state is expected to wrap up its case Thursday. The defense will then be up. Knowles, 22, from the Bahamas, vanished in 2006. Her body was found in 2010 in a wooded area of Cocoa after a tip to law enforcement. Her boyfriend, Christopher Pratt, accepted a plea agreement in 2010 for agreeing to testify against Kirkman and lead police to Knowles' body. Pratt, an admitted drug dealer, testified Tuesday that he was threatened by Kirkman and feared for his own life when he buried Knowles alive. Kirkman is serving life in prison for another 2006 murder and could face death if convicted in this case. The anticipated expansion of weekend and late-night SunRail service may not happen until 2020 or 2021. That's because for now, the catalyst for the expansion is Phase 3 of the SunRail project, which would connect the main line with Orlando International Airport. That project isn't expected until 2020 at the earliest, according to Orlando and SunRail officials. Right now, SunRail, which began in 2014, only runs Monday through Friday, except for rare, special-event service. But because of the 24/7 nature of the airport, weekend and late-night service would be added as a necessity. "It is not only a possibility, it will have to happen," Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said after delivering Tuesday's State of the City address. SunRail officials echoed Dyer when it comes to expanding services to late nights and weekends. "Were looking to get to the (Orlando International) airport, and I think one of the things thats really important about the airport is that you cant just have a Monday-through-Friday, commuter rail train because the airport is 24/7," SunRail Project Manager Tawny Olore said. Olore said funding partners agreeing to spend more money for night and weekend service is the penultimate hurdle. SunRail passengers said they were pleased with the current service but said expanded service would be more convenient. Its a smooth ride. Its real comfortable. The conductors are really nice. Its good," said SunRail passenger Sam Clay, who lives in downtown Orlando but works in Sanford. But If it worked on weekends and it worked late at night for people that work out in Sanford and Altamonte Springs, it would be more convenient for them," Clay said. If the SunRail worked until 10 or 11 oclock (at night) during the week, it would be more beneficial to a commuter that actually gets of work at a later hour," Clay said. The Riggin family, visiting Central Florida this week from Atlanta, wanted to ride SunRail to explore downtown Orlando on Tuesday night but thought otherwise. It stops running kind of early for us being on vacation," Denise Riggin said. "We ended up just driving and just paying to park. Riggin and her husband, Nicholas, gave SunRail another try, traveling from Winter Park to Church Street Station on Wednesday morning. It was a successful alternative commute for the Riggins. "Last night when we came downtown, parking was really difficult to find a place to park. It was kind of confusing being an outsider, not being familiar with the city," Nicholas Riggin said. How is SunRail ridership fairing? In March 2016, 88,296 people rode SunRail. Thats an average of 3,839 per day. Officials said thats slightly down compared to last year. They think low gas prices and severe weather are partially to blame for the decrease. SunRail is hoping a new marketing plan allowing riders to try out SunRail for free and will lead to a long-term boost in ridership. HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Proponents of legalizing marijuana in Connecticut urged state lawmakers on Tuesday to act quickly and capitalize on the novelty factor of possibly becoming the first New England state to allow recreational use of the drug. Tracy Helin, of Middletown, who is registered to use the states medical marijuana program to relieve cancer symptoms, warned legislators who attended an informational hearing on legalization that time is of the essence. Recreational marijuana legalization is being considered in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Vermont. If Connecticut is on the trailing end of this trend, we will miss the novelty factor ... it wont be the shiny new toy in a few years, he said, likening legalized marijuana to casinos, which have opened in a growing number of states over the years. If we miss the boat on this, there will be many dollars lost when were really in a budget crisis. Helin would like the revenues to help reduce costs for medical marijuana participants. Others have suggested using the money to help address the states opioid abuse problem or to balance the states deficit-plagued budget. Two bills legalizing the recreational use of marijuana already failed during this years General Assembly session, due to inaction. But the bills proponents held Tuesdays informational hearing at the Legislative Office Building to keep the issue alive. Rep. Juan Candelaria, D-New Haven, plans to resurrect the legalization bill next year. We will continue to have the dialogue and the discussions, he said, after hearing from dozens of people who mostly supported legalization. We will continue to try to move something forward in this legislature. It may not happen in this legislature, it may not happen in the others, but who knows. Legalization faces some strong opposition in Connecticut, despite support voiced Tuesday from people who said they use marijuana to relieve debilitating medical symptoms, consider smoking marijuana to be a harmless activity or have been caught up in the criminal justice system because of marijuana-related crimes. Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who backed the states medical marijuana program and decriminalizing possession of small amounts of pot, reiterated Monday that he opposes the legalization of recreational marijuana. I think when you legalize marijuana, youre encouraging marijuana and thats not the place I want to go, Malloy said. Recreational marijuana is already legal in four states and the District of Columbia. Proponents estimate Connecticut could reap about $50 million or more in revenues if it legalizes and taxes the drug. Seamus Kelly, a Waterbury resident, warned legislators they could be squandering this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity if they allow other states in the region to legalize pot first. They will dine in opulence and you will lay off more Connecticut citizens, Kelly said, referring to looming state employee layoffs Malloy has said are needed to help cover projected budget deficits. The new fiscal year, beginning July 1, is about $900 million in the red. Colorado state Rep. Dan Pabon, who helped to write that states marijuana legalization law, told his Connecticut counterparts that Colorado is also facing budget challenges and severe spending cuts have been necessary. He said the states marijuana regulatory program has remained intact because it generates enough revenue to support itself. Pabon suggested that if Connecticut ultimately legalizes pot, it shouldnt allow people to grow the drug at home. While Colorados law allows individual adults to grow up to six plants, theres a provision which allows so-called caregivers to grow up to 99 plants per patient in a home. Pabon said he believes the caregiver program has been a contributor to black market marijuana. If I had to do it all over again, he said, we would not allow home-grow facilities. This ruling is a step forward after more than one year of controversy. Image source: Lumber Liquidators. What: Shares of specialty flooring retailer Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. are up 14.5% at 12:03 p.m. ET on April 5, following a California court ruling that's very favorable for the company. So what: Lumber Liquidators had been accused of violating Proposition 65 in California, which requires businesses like Lumber Liquidators to notify Californians about significant amounts of chemicals in the products they purchase. The issue at hand for Lumber Liquidators is tied to Chinese-made laminate flooring the company sold in prior years. Many kinds of laminate products, including laminate flooring as sold by many flooring retailers including Lumber Liquidators, as well as office furniture, carpet, and many other common household items, contain formaldehyde, which can cause irritation to the lungs and eyes at high concentrations, and can potentially cause cancer with very prolonged exposure to high levels of emissions. A group called Global Community Monitor filed suit against the company, accusing it of violating Prop 65. However, a California state judge issue a preliminary decision dismissing the claims that Lumber Liquidators failed to meet its obligations under Prop 65. If the order becomes final, it will be a major step forward -- and away -- from what has been easily the worst patch in the company's history, following the March 2015 60 Minutes story alleging that the company's Chinese-made laminate flooring had potentially dangerously high formaldehyde emissions. The story has continued to drive customers away and also led to a number of lawsuits, as well as several investigations by both California and federal government agencies. While only a preliminary ruling, this is a definite "win" for Lumber Liquidators, especially following a favorable settlement in late March with the California Air Resources Board, which found no violation by the company with regard to its Chinese laminate. As part of an agreement with CARB, it paid $2.5 million, and also agreed to implement new procedures to ensure its products would continue to meet California formaldehyde standards. Now what: There's still an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission, which released preliminary results from product testing earlier this year. While the results of testing the CPSC worked with the CDC to complete indicated potentially high levels of formaldehyde emissions, the risk wasn't higher than many other things consumers are regularly exposed to, and the report indicated that it was highly unlikely that removing the flooring would be a necessary step. But until the final investigation by the CPSC is complete, there's still risk. But at the same time, the rulings are trending in the company's favor, and it seems less and less likely that the CPSC will come down hard on it, which has not only removed the product from its stores, but also invested in a testing program -- implemented and controlled by an independent third party -- for existing Chinese laminate customers. The recent rulings not only indicate the company has done little to nothing wrong, but also that regulators are satisfied with the steps it has taken to address this problem and make sure it doesn't happen again. This probably also significantly reduces the likelihood that any class action lawsuits alleging consumer damage would hold up in court. I'm no lawyer, but when regulators and the courts say a company hasn't done anything wrong, it's hard to sue them for wrongdoing. Bottom line, this is favorable news, and hopefully it's some indication that the CPSC will also issue a favorable finding when its investigation is complete. But at the same time, as long as this story stays in the news, people will continue to see "Lumber Liquidators" and "Cancer" in the headlines together. And that's not a good thing. But at least the company should, very soon, be able to move beyond this chapter. Hopefully, it can close the book completely in the coming months and completely distance itself from this awful story. The sooner it can move completely beyond it, the sooner customers will forget and start coming back in greater numbers. This iSecret stock could make this pop look tiny 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 Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc. Stock Up 14% on Favorable Ruling: Here's What You Need to Know originally appeared on Fool.com. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Virgin America just sold itself for a hefty price. Image source: Virgin America. After a turbulent start to the year, most airline stocks had a relatively quiet March. Still, two major airline stocks posted double-digit gains during the month. Shares of Virgin America jumped 23.6%, while shares of Alaska Air climbed 11.0%, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Virgin America and Alaska Air stock performance, data by YCharts. Merger in the air It's very easy to understand why Virgin America stock spiked during March. As of March 22, Virgin America shares were down about 2% for the month. The following day, Bloomberg reported that Virgin America was considering selling itself, after being approached by a potential buyer. This news sent the stock up 13%. On March 28, numerous sources reported that JetBlue Airways and Alaska Air had both submitted bids to buy Virgin America and that a deal could come together in as little as a week. This sent Virgin America stock even higher. News of these potential deals also boosted shares of JetBlue and Alaska Air, albeit to a much smaller extent. JetBlue and Alaska have been vying for the No. 5 spot in the airline industry in terms of capacity and revenue, but they are just a fraction of the size of the four biggest airlines. Investors recognized that JetBlue and Alaska could both benefit from bulking up. A good time to be a domestic airline In addition to these merger rumors, Alaska Air stock also benefited in March from investors' renewed interest in airlines -- and particularly domestic-focused airlines. While all airlines are benefiting from cheap oil, global airlines have been hurt by everything from the strong dollar to the spread of the Zika virus in Latin America and terrorist activity in Europe. Domestic-focused airlines like Alaska Air (and Virgin America, for that matter) are mostly insulated from these problems. As a result, they are expected to post solid profit growth in 2016, as long as oil prices stay low. Merger accomplished: what's next? Earlier this week, Alaska Air announced that it had agreed to purchase Virgin America for $2.6 billion in cash, or $57/share. That's nearly 50% ahead of Virgin America's share price as of the end of March, and an 86% premium to its share price at the close of trading on March 22, just before the merger talks became public. As a result, Virgin America stock gained more than 40% on Monday and now trades around $55. Alaska Air paid a big premium to buy Virgin America. Virgin America shareholders are getting this massive premium because Alaska Air had to win a bidding war with JetBlue to seal the deal. Just two days before the sale was announced, sources suggested that the price would be around $2 billion. The final price soared nearly 30% above that estimate. Meanwhile, Alaska Air shareholders experienced a bit of sticker shock on Monday, sending the stock down as much as 6%. However, the stock has made up some ground since then. While Alaska is paying significantly more than expected for Virgin America, the deal solidifies its place as one of the most important airlines for travelers on the U.S. West Coast. There's a lot of work ahead to gain regulatory approval for the deal and then integrate the two airlines. Nevertheless, the Virgin America acquisition gives Alaska Air a strong foundation for long-term share price appreciation. 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 Why Shares of Virgin America and Alaska Air Soared in March originally appeared on Fool.com. Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Aunt Marie didn't know what hit her this time. Rising viral star @maggieglenn (actually named Charlie) posted a homophobic texting exchange between herself and her Aunt Marie on Twitter and the Internet rose up in support. "I got into a fight w my auntie and she said 'at least I don't have to worry about my kid being a f***** like your mum does," Charlie tweeted Saturday. In the later posted iMessage conversation, the Internet say that Aunt Maggie brought fighting words with the homophobic insults. "You need to stop being so sensitive I did not mean f***** in a bad way I just mean you gay people have a lot of drama," Aunt Marie sent her niece via iMessage. "I tried to understand this bi s***you claim to be but you teenagers make stuff up all the time. Youre young you will find a man. You can change. You used to be so clever." NOTHING NEW: Man allegedly pours boiling water on gay couple in Georgia Aunt Marie then withdrew her invitation to Charlie for "Indies birthday", but Charlie then brought her own fighting words in response to her auntie. "Hi aunt Marie Don't worry about it! I know what you're like after a few bottle of wine," Charile texted back. "I can't make Indie's birthday I'm afraid, I have a huge lesbian orgy that day and me and the other f*****s have been planning it for months. By the way How's your divorce going? I saw uncle Lee with his girlfriend, she's 20 years younger than you right? Speak soon!" Naturally, her satirical response gained the attention of the Twitter-verse. In 24 hours, her Twitter interaction ballooned to millions of impressions. The shutdown of Aunt Marie warranted hashtags - #TEAMCHARLIE and #auntmarie - to begin to trend. As well as a parody account for dear - and very brutal - Auntie Marie. READ MORE: Bisexual man is convicted of hate crime for killing gay man It also generated a response from the rest of her family - including her cousin cussing her out and her parents wondering "what she did now". Charlie now has over 19,600 followers, after seemingly only starting off with 3,000 and many are accusing her of using her family to gain fame and attention. Charlie promptly released a comment addressing those accusations. "The whole purpose of the thread was so I could let off some steam and actually laugh about how stupid it was," Charlie tweeted. "And it's not a set up. It's not supposed to get me attentions. Why would I use homophobic abuse against MYSELF for 10 seconds of Twitter fame?? Having a family that aren't accepting is AWFUL and I would never use that for attention." She goes on to say that "having it blow up feels horrible" and what she said was horrible and she's "never done anything like it before [she] just snapped." This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate The Raindrop Cake, a unique gelatinous dessert that looks like a water drop, has come to a food venue in the United States after being available only in Japan. The mesmerizing vegan cake is at Smorgasburg, a popular flea market focused on food in Brooklyn form April through November, for $8, according to BuzzFeed. RELATED: Arizona Diamondbacks debut crazy new dessert: the 'Churro Dog' Chef Darren Wong said on his website he got the idea to create the cake after it went viral in Japan a few years ago. When the dish wasnt available a year after the craze, he decided to make it himself. The cake is known as mizu shingen mochi in Japan, and has become as popular as the Cronut or the rainbow bagel here in the States, according to the Huffington Post. It kind (of) reminds me of that scene from A Bugs Life where they drink water drops off of leaves. Wong said on his website. RELATED: Hottest dessert? It's ice cream Its made from agar, a gelatin-like substance, and mineral water. And the way you eat it? You dip your spoon into it and mix in some of the toppings, which include Kuromitsu black sugar cane syrup and roasted soy flour. It reportedly tastes like eating a water droplet, but its unique texture makes it an interesting dish to try, Wong said. RELATED: Taco Bell unveils new dessert filled with cream and covered in Capn Crunch cereal If you get a chance to eat the rare cake, you do so fast, because the raindrop cake melts into a puddle after being exposed to room temperatures for 30 minutes. The dish has zero calories, according to BuzzFeed. Wong said the cake is currently only going to be available at Smorgasburg, but he is open to expanding it to other locations in the future. Click through the slideshow to see photos the Raindrop Cake provided by Tim Ireland. twhite@mysa.com Twitter: @tylerlwhite Some Lone Star State homes come with Texas-sized rental rates. See what $10,000 rents per month in this state's luxury housing market. 26 South Badger Lodge in The Woodlands, Texas: This Houston-area estate has five bedrooms and four full baths. Sitting on more than an acre, the 5,558-square-foot Mediterranean house is an architecturally intriguing structure, with a backyard arcade that opens onto a hacienda-style courtyard. The tastefully decorated interior is outfitted with luxury accents, including marble and limestone counters and name-brand fixtures. Luis Tamborrel at Tamborrel Properties has the listing. Price: $10,000 per month READ MORE: Texas-based organization builds unique homes for low-income families using trash Undisclosed address in Austin: A rustic, contemporary interior makes this home a warm, elegant place to call home. The 4,930-square-foot house has four bedrooms and four baths. It was built in 1939 but has been well maintained, with custom upgrades and stylish furnishings. Texas Chic Executive Lease has the listing. Price: $10,000 per month 4524 Westway in Highland Park, Texas: Built in 1940, this Dallas-area house was renovated in 2008. The 5,295-square-foot home occupying a quarter-acre has four bedrooms and four baths. One of the property's most notable features is the partially covered backyard lounge, which is set up for elegant al fresco entertaining. It also has a large bar area, five living spaces and four fireplaces. Landscape maintenance is included in the rental rate. Douglas Ratliffe at Lively Realty, Inc. has the listing. Price: $10,500 per month (Story continues below.) SEE ALSO: River Oaks English countryside-style home's price slashed 1306 Noble Way in Flower Mound, Texas: Enclosed within a private, gated lakeside community is this sprawling 6,171-square-foot mansion. Built in 1997, the four-bedroom, four-bath house sits on an acre of land in Denton County. The interior is a blend of European flair in the kitchen and luxurious countrified style in other living spaces. Outside, a resort-style swimming pool decorates a heavily wooded yard. Robin Massey at JP & Associates Realtors Frisco has the listing. Price: $10,500 per month With the new year comes the idea of having a fresh start and being a better version of yourself. A stick man named Bill is popping up all over the Internet to tell you how to do that, even if it stings a little. "Be Like Bill" memes are being shared across social media to call out people's annoying habits online and in daily life. From people who don't use blinkers to that guy from high school who keeps inviting you to play Candy Crush, the memes call out these folks in the most passive-aggressive way. One of the worlds most beautiful restaurants and bars, recently recognized for being insanely unique, is located inside a massive cavern adorned with colorful lights and stalagmites in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Alux Restaurant Bar & Lounge, located in Playa del Carmen, offers pre-Hispanic, Mexican and International dishes on a menu including vegan lasagna and cenote duck. While the atmosphere is classy, the food options are relatively inexpensive, with entrees averaging about $15-25 (USD) a plate. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Rob The Original Ferrel, the multi-talented barber who has made himself a household name in San Antonio and gained national attention for his intricate hair portraits, teamed up with Selena Quintanilla-Perezs brother to create a piece to honor her. And a quarter million people tuned in to watch Ferrel shape salt into the late star. Ferrel told mySA.com A.B. Quintanilla has been a client of his barbershops for the past couple of months. The two have formed a friendship during his time in the barber chair and have been brainstorming ways to honor the beloved Tejano Queen. RELATED: Today marks the 21st anniversary of Selena Quintanilla Perez's death in Texas Selenas brother approached his barber and friend with idea to create a portrait of her using a blanket of salt as the medium an easy feat for the artist who has completed similar works in the past. But, broadcasting the process for fans to watch in a live stream was unprecedented in Ferrels career. I thought it was a really good idea, I had never done a live stream, he said, adding that approximately 260,000 people tuned in from around the world to watch a pile of salt transform into an image of the icon. RELATED: Barber does cutting-edge work on Spurs haircuts Although the project had been in the works, Ferrel said he didnt expect it to happen Monday night. A.B. Quintanilla had just returned to San Antonio from a concert in Arizona with Selenas widow, Chris Perez, and shot Ferrel a text asking when they could meet up. Hours later, he was meticulously arranging grains of salt to create Selenas face. It kind of just happened, the artist said. I wasnt planning for it to happen last night, but it turned out to be a beautiful experience. RELATED: This 70-year-old woman shaved Hillary Clinton's face into the back of her head in San Antonio Ferrel said he has been amazed by the international reaction he has received, less than 24 hours since he put the final touches on the salt Selena portrait. The local businessmans talents have evolved through the years from his foundation in hair art. He has become an internet sensation for his ability to craft masterpieces from just about anything including hair trimmings, ketchup, dusty car windows and Oreo cookies. Comedian Eddie Murphy is one of many celebrities keeping an eye on Ferrel. To celebrate Murphys 55th birthday on April 3, the barber sent him a portrait he created from hair clippings. The star posed by the piece in a photo that was shared on the RobTheOriginal Instagram account. RELATED: Rob the Original's disabled teen brother attacked, robbed in San Antonio crime spree Ferrel is enjoying the world-wide attention but his latest piece holds special significance, he said. I dont know if its because I was inspired by having A.B. there, but I am very satisfied with the results, he added. Selena will never get old, shell always be a classic and a big part of Mexican culture. He said usually uses less than a can of Morton salt to complete his projects and is searching for methods to preserve each masterpiece. I think Man, this is a great piece, but I have to clear it off the dinner table because we have to eat dinner later, he joked. mmendoza@mysa.com Twitter: @MaddySkye A man killed in a shootout with an Austin police officer during a struggle was identied Tuesday a San Antonio man. Darrin Andrew Martin, 25, was spotted by a security guard as he was walking in a parking garage in the 800 block of West 5th Street in Austin, Austin Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said during a news conference Sunday following the shooting. The security guard confronted Martin when it appeared he was going to burglarize vehicles, the chief said. Thats when Martin began running from the guard, prompting him to call 911 and ensuing a chase that would lead them to the parking lot of Frank and Angies Pizzeria, located in the same block. APD officer Armando Perez had been turning a corner in his vehicle when he spotted Martin and the guard, police said. As Perez approached, the guard knocked down Martin, Acevedo said. Martin got back on his feet and was then knocked down by the guard a second time. Perez approached the two and tried to take Martin into custody. As they struggled with one another, Perez radioed that Martin was being combative, requesting other officers to hurry to the location. Acevedo said as Perez asked the guard to assist him, Martin suddenly pulled out a gun. He's first one who sees the gun and yells Gun! and disengages, Acevedo said. Martin took a shot at Perez, hitting him in his lower right abdomen below his bullet proof vest. Perez quickly pulled out his gun and returned fire, fatally hitting Martin. EMS transported Perez to University Medical Center-Brackenridge, where he underwent surgery and had the bullet removed. Police announced Tuesday after his recovery that Perez was placed on paid administrative leave according to standard procedure. APD officials said in a statement Tuesday that the case remains under investigation and will be reviewed by APDs Internal Affairs Unit, Office of the Police Monitor, APDs Special Investigation Unit, the Travis County District Attorneys Office and will be presented to a Travis County Grand Jury. According to Bexar County Criminal Records, Martin was convicted of theft between $1,500 and $20,000 in 2009. He was also convicted of three counts of burglary of a habitation by force, one in 2010, and two other counts in September 2012. jbeltran@express-news.net Twitter: @JBfromSA This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate AUSTIN Lawyers in the abuse-of-power case against Rick Perry continued to take shots at each other Wednesday as a judge signed an order formally dismissing the indictment against the former governor. Perry's lead lawyer, Anthony Buzbee, suggested he might take action to hold the appointed prosecutor, Michael McCrum, accountable for what he called an improper pursuit of the case. As he told the Express-News previously, Buzbee said Wednesday he would seek a transcript of grand jury proceedings. "We feel like Mr. McCrum must have said some things that are probably actionable to that grand jury based on the people that we know testified and the facts as we know them and we're going to explore that," Buzbee told reporters after the hearing at which Judge Bert Richardson signed the dismissal order. SEE MORE: Rick Perry visits Universal Studios with daughter following indictment dismissal Buzbee didn't say exactly what action he'd seek but mentioned there are professional responsibility rules for lawyers. McCrum, of San Antonio, said he acted appropriately and that the law doesn't allow the release of grand jury transcripts because it's important to protect the integrity of the process and ensure evidence is fairly reviewed. He took aim at Buzbee, a prominent Houston trial lawyer with a history of handling high-profile injury cases yielding big awards to clients. "The law guards the confidentiality of those proceedings very, very much for good reason," McCrum said."Mr. Buzbee should know that. I don't know he handles snake bite and car wreck cases." McCrum said he didn't decide against trying to resurrect the case until late Tuesday because he believes Perry committed a crime. RELATED: Former Gov. Rick Perry says no to third-party run for president, sticks with Cruz "We believe that he did. Strongly believe that," McCrum said. But McCrum said that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, in ordering case dismissed in February, "so muddied the law" that he didn't think it would be the right to try to revive the case. Perry's legal team defended his actions and Buzbee took issue with "the stuff that came out of his (McCrum's) mouth." "If the law doesn't support a crime was committed, then you don't prosecute, period. That's how it works," Buzbee sad. "This has all been a colossal waste of time." The presiding judge in the case, Richardson, said the case "has not been a pleasant experience for me either." He said he felt like a "punching bag." RELATED: Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry trolls hard with ice cream photo after 'epic legal victory' "I didn't ask for this job and I didn't want it," he said, pointing out that he was running for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals while presiding over the case. In an unusual turn. Richardson was elected to the Court of Criminal Appeals while the case was ongoing. He didn't participate in the high court's decision to throw out the indictment since he still was presiding over the case at the trial court level. The case stems from action that Perry took while governor in 2013. He vetoed state funding for the public integrity unit that was overseen by Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg after she refused to step down following a messy drunken-driving incident. In making the veto, the Republican then-governor said the Democratic prosecutor had lost the public's confidence. Texans for Public Justice filed a complaint saying that Perry went too far in trying to use a veto threat to force out Lehmberg. Perry said he acted properly and would do it again. The complaint led to the 2014 indictment accusing Perry of coercion of a public servant and abuse of official capacity. The 3rd Court of Appeals last year tossed the coercion charge, saying the law underlying it violated the First Amendment. The Court of Criminal Appeals in February threw out the remaining charge, saying it violated separation of powers, and ordered the indictment dismissed. The opinion by Presiding Judge Sharon Keller of the Court of Criminal Appeals put Perry's complaint in a special category of claims that can be raised before trial. She said the prosecution of a veto violates the constitutional separation of powers among the branches of government. pfikac@express-news.net Twitter: @pfikac We can only achieve true transparency in government if there are adequate laws in place to protect access to information. Almost 50 years after President Lyndon Johnson signed the original Freedom of Information Act on July 4, 1966, access to government information is not as routine as intended. The FOIA was supposed to make it easy for the public to obtain government records, but the wide latitude given each federal agency in complying with the law has left the public waging a perpetual battle to assert those rights. Recent passage of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 in the House and Senate signals bipartisan support for breaking down some of those barriers. Differences in the two versions of the legislation must now be worked out before it is sent to President Barack Obama for signature. Following a unanimous vote in support of the legislation in the Senate last month, Texas Sen. John Cornyn, one of the bill sponsors, said the unanimous of approval sends a clear message that the American people have a fundamental right to know what their government is doing. We could not agree more and applaud the legislations aim to reduce the exemptions the government can use to withhold information. The bill requires federal agencies to consider the release of government information under a presumption of openness instead of operating under the mantra that information is not for public view. Another major plus of the legislation is the creation of a central portal through which individuals can submit a Freedom of Information request for documents held by any federal agency. This move alone will eliminate a few levels of red tape and minimize the publics frustration in attempts to access information. Under the current system, each agency handles its own open records requests and each has its own rules about how a request must be submitted. The next step should be for members of Congress to address the exemption they have generously provided for themselves in the legislation. The FOIA regulations do not apply to them. They never have. Posted on 04/06/2016, 1:00 pm, by mySteinbach Fairway Ford is among an elite group of Ford and Lincoln dealerships to be recognized as a 2015 Presidents Award winner by Ford Motor Company of Canada. The Presidents Award, one of Ford of Canadas highest dealership honours, is presented annually to dealerships who demonstrate outstanding achievement in sales and customer satisfaction. Our success is driven by our strong customer relationships and our ties to Steinbach and the surrounding community, says Fairway Ford owner, Ron Loeppky. Were proud to earn the Presidents Award distinction for a second time because it shows that our customers appreciate our teams commitment to service excellence. Ford of Canada introduced The Presidents Award in 2000. Dealers become eligible through excellence in dealership operations and exceptional customer feedback through survey responses related to their sales and service satisfaction and overall dealership experience. The Fairway Ford team is dedicated to Steinbach and surrounding communities and supports a different local charity or cause each month through dealer-run fundraising initiatives. Past recipients of fundraising efforts include the Canadian Cancer Society, Grunthal Community Centre, Niverville Collegiate, Clearspring Middle School, Mitchell Middle School and Kleefeld School. TORONTO, Ontario Starbucks Canada has launched its Starbucks Evenings program at some Toronto locations, the Financial Post reports. We already have the customers in our stores, said Rossann Williams, president of Starbucks Canada. We are just extending the type of experience that they can have with this Evenings menu. Yesterday, the expanded menu debuted, adding cider, craft beer and wine starting at 2:00 pm. Also, the menu has shareable appetizers, such as truffle popcorn, artichoke and goat cheese flatbread, and bacon-wrapped dates. The company began testing the Evenings menu at select U.S. locations in 2011. Its not going to be the bar of the future, but today you can go to Starbucks for a glass of wine, and its not a place where it is too loud to talk, said Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic. It is very in line with the DNA of the Starbucks brand, and they do it off of a fixed cost overhead. Now, there are 13,000 Starbucks (in the U.S.) and this is not right for every one of them, but they will do it in the locations that make sense. Williams indicated that how quickly the company rolls out the Evenings menu to other Canadian locations depends on how quickly customers adapt to the new offering. Currently, more than 300 U.S. units offer the Evenings menu, plus one each in the United Kingdom and Japan. As we see this program work, we will continue to innovate and enhance it and will make decisions on how quickly and how far it will roll out, she said. Im a little behind, so your full roster of Links should be up by 8:00 AM. Early visitors please come back then! Better Batters Perceive Ball as Bigger Scientific American (Chuck L) Humans become aroused when touching robots in sensitive places, Stanford University study finds Independent (Chuck L). I wonder if this reflects suggestion by the researchers. Why Some Societies Practiced Ritual Human Sacrifice New York Times (Steve C) Fiddling over fossil fuel while world burns Martin Wolf, Financial Times Half of Scotlands energy consumption came from renewables last year Herald Scotland (martha r) Wind and Solar Are Crushing Fossil Fuels Bloomberg The Inclusive Cost of Pandemic Influenza Risk NBER (resilc). If you need something new to fret about: Estimates of the long-term annual cost of global warming lie in the range of 0.2-2% of global income. This high cost has generated widespread political concern and commitment as manifested in the Paris agreements of December, 2015. Analyses in this paper suggest that the expected annual cost of pandemic influenza falls in the same range as does that of climate change although toward the low end. Publication Bias Is Boring. You Should Care About It Anyway. Mother Jones A spiritual successor to Aaron Swartz is angering publishers all over again ars technica (Chuck L). Elsevier saying its not a bad guy is risible. Barclays becomes the first big UK bank to back a digital currency firm Reuters Disturbing rise in global executions BBC Mossack Fonseca China? Chinas 450 million millennials, the new miracle Sydney Morning Herald. EM: Capsule summary: Paid Kool-Ade drinker says this time is different. Note the emphasis on the need for improved messaging by the government. Ignore that collapsing global demand and those robots coming for manufacturing workers jobs we simply need to get better at telling da peeps how great things are! Fitch: Why a Chinese hard landing is unlikely CNBC Millions of people in Bangladesh still drinking arsenic-laced water Guardian (resilc) Refugee Crisis The Problem with NATO American Conservative (resilc) Syraqistan Big Brother is Watching You Watch How a federal spy case turned into a child pornography prosecution Washington Post. Im told that whistleblowers worry about having kiddie porn planted on their computers as a way of getting rid of them. And this case reads as if the porn could have been placed. Friends make a drone-controlled CHAINSAW and use it to hack at trees Daily Mail (resilc) 2016 North Carolinas Anti-LGBTQ Law Just Cost It a Huge PayPal Office and 400 Jobs Wired Police State Watch Top NYPD brass wrongly accepted splashy gifts: source New York Daily News Inversion Surprise! Oil ASIC and Westpac face off over rate rigging Sydney Morning Herald. Davin: I think some bank traders must just want to get caught. Why else would they say openly on tape: I know its completely wrong but f it, I might as well, I thought f it. Weve got so much money on it we just had to do it, right?'! The Coming Default Wave Is Shaping Up to Be Among Most Painful Bloomberg (resilc) Negative rates deepening liquidity trap Financial Times. Very good set of stories today at the pink paper. Puerto Ricos Senate Declares Debt Moratorium New York Times Class Warfare How a billionaire hedgie hopes to fix corporate America Yahoo (furzy). Anyone who touts free markets as virtuous is at best intellectually incoherent and at worst a propagandist defending the status quo. I dont trust this as far as I can throw it. And Lambert sent confirming information (and then some!) for my initial reaction: I may be painting this picture too colorfully, but Paul Tudor Jones is that lunatic donor who helped get UVa President Sullivan fired because a cabal of board members and Deans got all excited about MOOCs and thought Sullivan wasnt heaving classroom professors over the side with sufficient alacrity. It was a horrid episode filled with stupid people, the only redeeming feature being the student protests that got Sullivan reinstated. Save me from billionaires with bright ideas. Skeptics Said $15 Minimum Wage Movement Was Unrealistic 60 Million People Are Now Slated to Get It Intercept Antidote du jour (martha r): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Four Corners. File photo By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News Hoffmann Commercial Real Estate did it again. The real estate holding company has purchased its 10th property on Fifth Avenue South and has its eye on what could be its 11th acquisition on the swanky street in downtown Naples. On Monday, Hoffmann closed on its purchase of the Four Corners building at 898 Fifth Ave. S., said Greg Hoffmann, a principal in the firm. He wouldn't disclose the selling price, and the deed hasn't officially been recorded, so the price hasn't showed up in public records yet. "We were glad we were able to come to terms on it, and we think it's just the natural fit to everything else we own on the street," Hoffman said. The iconic building was listed at $7.1 million. It has been marketed for sale since December 2013. "It's a very attractive building. For us, it serves as that first building when you enter the core of Fifth Avenue South," Hoffmann said. Hoffman, an established real estate holding company headquartered in St. Louis, started investing in Fifth Avenue South with its purchase of 680 Fifth Ave. S., anchored by Chase Bank, last year. In October the company purchased seven more buildings at: 305 Fifth Ave. S., 365 Fifth Ave. S., 375 Fifth Ave. S., 405 Fifth Ave. S., 625 Fifth Ave. S., 780 Fifth Ave. S. and 900 Fifth Ave. S. It also bought a lot at Fourth Avenue South and Fourth Street South, where it plans to build condominiums. The purchase price was an eye-popping $74.35 million. "The Four Corners building will make a great addition to the Hoffmann's portfolio. It will be the celebrity of the Fifth Avenue collection," said Clark Pear, the listing agent with Premiere Plus Realty in Naples. Pear also would not disclose the selling price. The Four Corners building, on the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and Ninth Street South, has a storied past. It was once home to a pop star's restaurant and a movie star's art. A string of restaurants have come and gone over the years in the three-story, cupola-topped building, with apartments on the top floor. A listing on LoopNet.com for the property screamed: "Double your Money!! Naples Four Corners of Gold!" The building was advertised as 100 percent occupied. Hoffmann has eyed the property since his company made its first investment in Fifth Avenue South last year. The company announced it had the building under contract in January. "We weren't kidding back in October when we said we wanted to own as much as possible on Fifth Avenue South. We are big believers in the area," Hoffmann said. The company's next target is at 837 Fifth Ave. S., which includes two buildings with two longtime businesses, Chops City Grill and Engel & Volkers, a real estate firm. While Hoffmann announced it had the property under contract, Rainer Filthaut, the listing agent and broker at IRC International Realty Corp. in Naples, said negotiations are ongoing. "We are negotiating with Hoffmann (and other potential buyers) about the sale of 837 Fifth Avenue, but no firm agreement has been signed," he said in an email. The property is owned by 837 Fifth Avenue South Ltd., a private limited company. Filthaut is the company's manager. Hoffman plans to create a statue walk on Fifth Avenue, with the first statue at the Bank of America building. Many of its buildings, including Four Corners, will get face-lifts, including fresh paint and awnings. The Naples City Council has been great to work with as the company looks for ways to improve the street, Hoffmann said. The company's ideas include having more live music on the street and a farmers market. Most of the businesses in the buildings Hoffmann has acquired have stayed put, and the company has attracted some new ones, including a couple of restaurants, a retailer and a big office tenant. "All of our tenants are very welcoming and have been a joy to get to know, and we continue to try to make improvements that will support them, improve their business and draw more interest to Fifth Avenue South, if that's even possible," Hoffmann said. The company continues to look for more property on the street. "There is a couple we have our eye on," Hoffmann said. "Conversations haven't gone far enough where I can disclose anything." Brent Batten Columnist SHARE Sharon Mahar, Jennifer Jenkins' mother, and Carol O'Callaghan, Kathleen O'Callaghan's sister, listen to court proceedings Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at the Hardee County courthouse in Wauchula, Fla. Michael Phillips, 51, appeared in court concerning his involvement as the driver of a semi-truck that plowed into a Toyota Corolla on Dec. 30, 2011, killing Jennifer Jenkins, 35, of Naples and her childhood friend, Kathleen O'Callaghan, 34. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Carol O'Callaghan, sister of Kathleen O'Callaghan, center right, hugs Sharon Mahar, mother of Jennifer Jenkins, before departing Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at the Hardee County courthouse in Wauchula, Fla. Michael Phillips, 51, appeared in court concerning his involvement as the driver of a semi-truck that plowed into a Toyota Corolla on Dec. 30, 2011, killing Jennifer Jenkins, 35, of Naples and her childhood friend, Kathleen O'Callaghan, 34. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Apparent skid marks are shown on State Road 64 near Blue Jay Road Tuesday, April 5, 2016 in Wauchula, Fla. Michael Phillips, 51, appeared in court concerning his involvement as the driver of a semi-truck that plowed into a Toyota Corolla on Dec. 30, 2011, killing Jennifer Jenkins, 35, of Naples and her childhood friend, Kathleen O'Callaghan, 34. Jenkins and O'Callaghan were driving east on State Road 64 heading to Orlando for a friend's birthday party. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Marge O'Callaghan, from left, mother of Kathleen O'Callaghan, Carol O'Callaghan, sister of Kathleen O'Callaghan, Daniel Jenkins, husband of Jennifer Jenkins, and Jason Mahar, brother to Jennifer Jenkins speak in an interview in the lobby Tuesday, April 5, 2016 at the Hardee County courthouse in Wauchula, Fla. Michael Phillips, 51, appeared in court concerning his involvement as the driver of a semi-truck that plowed into a Toyota Corolla on Dec. 30, 2011, killing Jennifer Jenkins, 35, and her childhood friend, Kathleen O'Callaghan, 34 Daniel talks about how hard it has been and the numerous trips to the courthouse to keep reliving the hard memories over again " just a emotionally taxing process. (Corey Perrine/Staff) Related Photos Michael Phillips Appears in Court An outdated address. A computer disk lost in the mail. An incomplete record. A calendar mix-up. An endless string of seemingly minor snafus have added up to years of delays in bringing to trial a Frostproof, Fla. man accused of DUI manslaughter in the 2011 deaths of two Collier County women, leaving their families in a prolonged state of grief and uncertainty. Relatives of Jennifer Jenkins and Kathleen O'Callaghan have made dozens of trips to the Hardee County Courthouse in Wauchula to sit in on hearings for Michael Phillips, 51, who is accused of two counts of DUI manslaughter in the Dec. 30, 2011 crash that claimed to the lives of the two childhood friends. The ordeal has left them frustrated to the point of anger. "I want this closure," said Dan Jenkins, the husband of Jennifer Jenkins. "This is the one part of her life that is the ugliest but it goes on the longest," he said Tuesday after yet another pretrial conference before Judge Marcus Ezelle. The halting pace of the case seemed at last to wear on Ezelle, who approved a scheduled proposed by prosecutors to have all expert witness opinions in and depositions completed by September, setting the stage for a trial in October. "At some point, we should actually be able to set a trial date," Ezelle said near the close of the hearing. However vague and distant a trial six months from now may appear, it represents progress to the family members. "It seems like the first positive step in a long time," said Carol O'Callaghan, sister of Kathleen and one of five members of the two women's families in attendance. The latest set of delays in the case it was 10 months before Phillips was even arrested and while free on just $20,000 bond he absconded, putting the case on hold for another six months centers on the role of Dr. Stefan Rose, an expert witness brought in by defense attorney Kelley Collier late in 2014. Getting a report from Rose has proved difficult, and as late as Friday he contacted Collier to tell him he still doesn't have the information he believes he needs to form an opinion. An exasperated prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney David Ward, did something he says he's never done in more than 15 years trying cases, ask for a court ordered schedule to compel the defense to move. "There's a fine line. The defendant is entitled to due process but there comes a time when the defense expert has hijacked the case," Ward said before the hearing. "We've been sitting on our hands for 18 months." "It is a fair characterization he (Rose) could and should have been more responsive," Ezelle offered. Collier tried to explain some of the difficulties. A computer disk with 1,000 pages of toxicology reports and backing information was sent in January by registered mail to Rose, a frequent defense expert in DUI cases. But the address was an old one, and Rose never got the material. For some reason Collier wasn't notified. Eventually a new disk was mailed to the correct address. "He's only had it two or three weeks," Collier said. Going through that many pages takes time, and it was April 1 when Rose told Collier there was information missing. Compiling and copying the additional material could cost up to $1,000, an amount Collier said he could petition the state to pay but that will probably be paid by the defendant's family members, who have been helping with his defense. Collier acknowledged after the hearing that the case is dragging on. "It is unusual. It is unnaturally long," he said. His job is to give his client the best defense he can. He declined to comment on the toll on the victims' families. Dan Jenkins said everyone they meet around the Hardee County courthouse speaks highly of Collier. But in one instance that still galls the families, a hearing was called off when Collier's office made a mistake in his calendar and he didn't show up. The two-hour drive from Naples to Wauchula was a complete waste. So, Jenkins said, when the family sees the man defending Phillips, "The only thing we can picture is pitchforks and horns. The devil." Phillips appeared in court alongside Collier in a gray and white striped jail jumpsuit and shackles. He said nothing during the hearing and didn't acknowledge the victims' families in the second row behind him. Toxicology reports state Phillips had methamphetamine and a form of Valium in his system when the Kenworth truck he was driving east of Wauchula crossed the centerline and slammed into a Toyota Corolla carrying Naples resident Jennifer Jenkins, who was 35, and O'Callaghan, 34, her friend since middle school who was living in London at the time. Dan Jenkins was following the two in a Ford Escape also occupied by the couple's two-month-old daughter, Ashley. The Escape rolled over as Jenkins swerved to avoid the wreckage but both he and Ashley survived. The travelers were passing through Hardee County that day on their way to holiday in Orlando with friends. Now, each trip there is an occasion to relive those terrible events, with new frustrations piled on every time the case goes nowhere. "Just coming out here, there's a feeling of loss," Dan Jenkins said. "We've been through a lot out here." Ashley Jenkins is now 4 and is beginning to wonder about her mother, about why her dad leaves town for the day every couple of months. "My daughter asks a lot of questions," Dan Jenkins said. "I was just hoping this would be over before she'd remember." There's no guarantee the October trial will come about. Ezelle stressed that Phillips' right to due process can't be rushed. "It is fundamentally important that both the state and the defense have a reasonable opportunity to be prepared for trial and to have witnesses present," Ezelle said. After what will be nearly five years waiting, Sharon Mahar, mother of Jennifer Jenkins, is tired of hearing what the defense deserves. "Nobody ever says anything about what the victims deserve," Mahar said. (Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter@NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten) SHARE BELFAST, Northern Ireland In a recent interview for the BBC2 series "Inside Obama's White House," President Barack Obama sounded somewhat wistful as he spoke to an interviewer about how he has tried to use his voice "to move things toward a more ethical and moral outcome." The question of morals and ethics has been debated since the dawn of humanity. It won't be settled by the shifting winds of politics, because not everyone can agree on what is moral and what is not. Dictionary.com defines morality as "conformity to the rules of right conduct." Ah, but here's the rub. That definition fits a different era. Morality today is personal. It is not a standard to which one is encouraged to conform for one's own, or society's, benefit. Rather, it is about what makes one feel good. By this nonstandard standard, one can easily change one's sense of what is moral as one might a suit of clothes or a pair of shoes and suffer no societal condemnation because that "moral code," such as it is, exists only for the individual. When Obama speaks of ethics and morality, the follow-up questions should be: "Whose ethics and whose morality? Who, or what, established that standard?" To take one example, if you say there is no God and then turn around and tell me I should not be a racist, or that I should help someone in need, and I say, "Why should I?," how do you respond? If we are all evolutionary accidents, why can't I believe and practice anything I wish? Perhaps you respond that there are laws prohibiting discrimination. To that I answer, "Suppose the laws are changed, is it then OK to discriminate?" It was once legal to own slaves, but did that law make slavery moral? There is the Constitution, but the courts are busy renovating that great document to fit the spirit of the age, as reflected in opinion polls, which now determine almost everything. Moral relativism has contributed to a host of societal and relational problems few wish to acknowledge. To do so would force people to admit their "standard," which in reality is no standard at all, isn't working. And such an acknowledgement could lead to what theologians call repentance, a turning away from the old and embracing the new, which is not new, but old, tried and proven best. Obama may be the most pro-abortion president America has ever had. He has done little to reduce their number, which near 60 million in the U.S. since 1973. By what standard is his position "moral"? The president used to be against same-sex marriage, now he's for it. Was he moral when he opposed it, or is he moral now that he supports it? And what is his standard, because these positions are contradictory? Is the president being moral when he allows mostly Muslim refugees from Syria into the country, but permits few Syrian Christians to enter? He says he's a Christian. Wouldn't it make more sense for him to protect Christians first, since they are the ones being targeted by Islamic fundamentalists for death, forced marriages and sexual slavery? Mark Twain is quoted as saying: "Always do what is right. It will gratify half of mankind and astound the other." That's funny, but Twain didn't tell us what he thought was right. What is the new standard for "right" and "moral"? Who established it and why should anyone follow your standard when mine might be the antithesis of yours? The inability or unwillingness to answer these questions and to enforce a moral code that mostly served humanity well until the self-indulgent '60s began to destroy its foundations is responsible for the confusion and moral chaos we witness today. Who will rescue us from this moral quagmire? It won't be anyone running for president. These things bubble up from the human heart; they do not trickle down from Washington. SHARE By Joe Landon, Citizen Contributor You may have heard someone use the term traumatic brain injury or TBI, but did you know there are more than 13,000 people in Collier and Lee counties living with the effects of a brain injury? And there are many more with an acquired brain injury (ABI) caused by a stroke or lack of oxygen. There's a nonprofit group in Collier County that's dedicated exclusively to helping those coping with TBI and ABI. Miracles Among Us, Inc. is committed to "restoring lives, one brain at a time." Their mission: "To provide support and resources to improve the quality of life for families and survivors of brain injury including trauma and illness." Suzan Berg, the organization's president, believes that "there are miracles among us every day. You may be sitting next to someone who has recovered from a brain injury to the point that they just blend into society. But they've suffered a life altering event. Some injuries, of course, are more serious than others but their lives will never be exactly the same again." Traumatic brain injury is referred to as the unseen disease or a disability in disguise since TBI symptoms may not be visible. David Smith, a member of the Miracles Among Us board of directors, explains that we can see a back brace, wheelchair or a cast on a leg or arm, "but we can't see the frustration of the forgotten word, blurred vision, muscle spasm or many of the other daily problems associated with TBI." It's believed that TBI often goes undiagnosed at first when someone suffers multiple life threatening injuries like in a traffic accident. The focus in the ER is on lifesaving measures. An MRI on the brain may be negative at the time, but symptoms sometimes show up hours, days, weeks, months or even years after an injury. Smith maintains that the diagnosis of TBI is missed about 30 percent of the time in cases like these with multiple injuries, as it was with his son. Smith recalls, "Patrick had several spinal cord breaks following a severe fall at work. Doctors addressed Patrick's visible trauma masterfully, but no one addressed his brain issues." Marjorie Appleby's son, David, is also a TBI survivor. She calls TBI a "family affair" in that those who surround the person who suffers are also changed. "I did not realize that I too was on a journey of discovery and recovery. It was an emotional roller coaster ride." And she credits Miracles Among Us with helping her learn to deal with TBI in a positive way. "When others share their experiences it helps me understand my son. We share what works and give each other encouragement." That sharing happens during monthly brain injury support group meetings held on the third Monday of each month in Naples. The next one will take place at 1 p.m. on April 18 at Veterans Park Fire Station 45, located at 1885 Veterans Park Drive. Smith says that "everyone talks about their circumstance, injury, triumph and problems, and quite often someone in the group will offer a solution to a problem. Berg tells us the next goal for Miracles Among Us is to be able to help pay for medical treatment for those who can't afford the cost of restoring their health. And she dreams of the day they can open a quality of life center for patients who are uninsured or underinsured. To learn more about the difference being made by Miracles Among Us, to see how you can support their mission, or to get some support if you need it, visit miraclesamongus.org. - - - Joe Landon is a communications consultant having retired as executive director of communications for the Collier County School District. Please send suggestions for future columns to JoeLandon@Outlook.com. Jimmy Keys will perform an encore concert Saturday at Barbatella restaurant on Third Street South in downtown Naples. SHARE Zen Asian BBQ in North Naples has added new happy hour, lunch and late-night specials to its menu of Korean BBQ and Next Level Sushi. Yabba Island Grill in downtown Naples ends its seasonal lunch program on Saturday, April 9. Continental compliment The Continental in Naples made The Daily Meal's list of 101 Best Restaurants in America 2016. The listing complimented the restaurant's stylish indoor-outdoor steakhouse, its lively cocktails and wine list. The restaurant is listed as No. 101. damicoscontinental.com New happy hour Zen Asian BBQ has added new happy hour, lunch and late night specials to its menu. Happy hour now features extended hours from 4 to 6 p.m. with a selection of $4 appetizers such as Spicy Tuna Tacos and Zen Korean Wings as well as $4 beer and wine specials. Lunch now includes Korean BBQ specials from $12.95-$14.95 with unlimited salad bar and miso soup. Late night specials from 10 p.m. to midnight also include Korean BBQ. 10823 U.S. 41 N., Naples. eatatzen.com Last days for lunch Enjoy the last few days of Yabba Island Grill's lunch program this season from noon to 2:30 p.m. throughSaturday. Beginning Sunday, April 10, the restaurant will be open for dinner service only, with a range of specials including early dining and happy hour, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at 711 Fifth Ave., S., Naples. 239-262-5787. yabbaislandgrill.com Culture nights Cultural nights continue at Barbatella restaurant on Saturday at 10 p.m., with a command performance by Jimmy Keys, a comedian, musician, impersonator and performer. The Jimmy Keys concert is $35 and includes the performance and a glass of wine. Reservations must be made online at JimmyKeysBarbatella.Eventbrite.com. 239-263-1955 Whiskey tasting Avenue5, located at The Inn on Fifth, 699 Fifth Ave. S., Naples, will host "Whiskey Business at Avenue5." The event will feature a tasting of eight single-malt Scotch whiskies from some of the world's most distinguished distillers, including The Macallan, Glenmorangie, Ardbeg and others. Executive Chef David will prepare special food pairings to accompany the tasting, including sous vide ribeye filet, pork belly and smoked salmon, as well as select cheese and chocolate. Host distillers will share their insights and expertise, and attendees will have the opportunity to purchase whiskeys. $50 per person. Space is limited and reservations are required. Thursday, April 28 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Creating snapper Cooking class with Chef Josh Zeman, Saturday, April 9, at 11:30 a.m. at Sea Salt restaurant, 1186 Third St. S., Naples. Learn to create a succulent red snapper by wrapping the fish in parchment paper so that it gently bakes in its own juices. $50 per person. Reservations recommended. 239-434-7258 French-Mex food fest Book your table for lunch or dinner for a French-Mex Culinary Extravaganza on April 11 at La Bazenne on Fifth, 474 Fifth Ave. S., Naples. Specials of the day will include fresh fish, all natural meats and vegetarian dishes with a Mexican twist. Also, enjoy La Bazenne's Signature French Sparkling Margaritas for $5 or bottles of Dos Equis for $3 all day. 239-682-8623 Lionfish cookbook Reef Environmental Education Foundation announces the second edition of "The Lionfish Cookbook," a collection of recipes designed to encourage the removal and consumption of the invasive lionfish. The new edition of "The Lionfish Cookbook" contains 16 new recipes from highly regarded culinary professionals throughout the United States and Caribbean, all of whom have created unique methods of preparing lionfish. Lionfish, native to the Indo-Pacific, are the first non-native marine fish to successfully invade Atlantic waters. Wine news Is your wine bar offering a tasting of a varietal? Email the information with the cost, date and time, and we will list them as we have space available weekly in the Neapolitan section. Please email features@naplesnews.com. Compiled by Sebastian Gonzalez, Sebastian.Gonzalez@Naplesnews.com, 239-435-3432 FILE - Coalition of Immokalee Workers supporters picket in front of the Publix near the intersection of U.S. 41 and Bonita Beach Road on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2015, in Bonita Springs. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers have been protesting Publix for six years asking the grocery chain to abide by the farmworkers advocacy group's Fair Food Program. (David Albers/Staff) SHARE By Maria Perez of the Naples Daily News The Coalition of Immokalee Workers is conducting a boycott campaign against fast food chain Wendy's, saying the company refused to join their Fair Food program and has replaced Florida suppliers for growers in Mexico who don't respect workers' rights. "Wendy's stopped buying tomatoes in Florida and went to buy tomatoes in Mexico," said Leonel Perez, with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. "They ran away from the place where there are workers' rights," he said. Wendy's didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The coalition has long protested Wendy's for not joining their Fair Food Program. Growers that participate in the program have to comply with a workers protection code of conduct, and the buyers pay one more penny per pound of tomatoes, which is distributed to tomato pickers and other non-supervisory employees. In the fast food sector, McDonald's, Burger King, Subway, Taco Bell and Chipotle are already members of the Fair Food program, according to the coalition. The premium passed to workers in the 2014-2015 growing season was $4.06 million, according to a program report. Since the program's initial 2010-2011 season, buyers paid nearly $19 million for this premium. Florida growers within the program employ about 30,000 workers, according to the programs' website. Perez said college students with the Alliance for Fair Food started a boycott against Wendy's last year on their campuses. In March, the coalition launched their campaign advocating for a national boycott of Wendy's protesting in different cities like New York and Palm Beach. Perez said the boycott will continue until Wendy's starts to buy tomatoes again from Florida growers and they join their program. He said the new actions are planned nationwide and they will hold a protest in Fort Myers on April 17. Pedestrians pass through the First Street Plaza- Zocalo during its opening ceremony in Downtown Immokalee on Tuesday May 20, 2014. (Scott McIntyre/Staff) SHARE By Greg Stanley of the Naples Daily News Collier Commissioners rejected a request Tuesday to give part of the county's casino revenue to the Immokalee fire district, and offered no insight on the future of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency. During an annual redevelopment workshop, commissioners didn't act on hiring for the short-staffed redevelopment agency that seeks state and federal grants to improve Immokalee's infrastructure. The agency also serves as Immokalee's main advocate to county officials, who live 25 to 45 miles away. Immokalee leaders have complained to the county in recent months, arguing the area receives little attention. The redevelopment agency has been without a permanent leader for four months after ex-operations manager Bradley Muckel resigned, saying he was frustrated over limited results and poor communication between the agency's advisory board and commissioners. Over the past several years, the agency has worked to use federal and state money to slowly add sidewalks and drainage to Immokalee roads. Members of the agency's advisory board asked commissioners to hire permanently as manager interim leader Christie Betancourt, who has been with the agency since 2008, and then hire someone to replace her as administrative assistant. But commissioners gave the board no clear direction. County Manager Leo Ochs said he may shift existing county personnel to the Immokalee agency to help seek grants for projects. "We might be able to help supplement (the agency) with resources that are already available," Ochs said. The agency will work to find money to add sidewalks and drainage to several Immokalee roads over the next year. With the county's help, it will work to revise landscaping and development codes to make it easier for businesses to build in Immokalee. The agency will also lobby the Florida Department of Transportation to add a traffic light to help pedestrians cross the State Road 29 and Westclox Street intersection. Immokalee Fire Chief Paul Anderson, along with members of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency, asked county commissioners Tuesday to set aside a portion of the roughly $500,000 the county receives each year from the Seminole Tribe's Immokalee casino. "The intent of that compact was to offset the impact a casino has on local government operations and services," Anderson said. "We're looking for some county support." The request received little support from commissioners. Commissioners have designated the casino revenue specifically for economic development projects. It will be used to help fund a technology-based business accelerator in North Naples and could help support a second accelerator planned for Immokalee focused on food-science, a project moving forward once again now that state lawmakers set aside $2 million for it in this year's budget. The accelerator and business development efforts will directly help Immokalee, said Commissioner Tim Nance, who represents the area. "The compounded benefit that Immokalee receives on economic development is much greater than if that money were just dedicated to operational costs," Nance said. The Seminole Tribe pays the fire district $125,000 year for fire protection services under an expiring five-year deal with the district. As an independent district, fire officials need to renegotiate their own deal with the tribe, said Commissioner Tom Henning. "We have a lot more government services there supporting Immokalee than we do in other parts of the community with the same population," Henning said. "And we do that because of the needs of the community." Frank Nappo, chairman of the Immokalee Community Redevelopment Agency's advisory board, said he's happy that the dialogue at least started with commissioners. "We have to get a new fire house," Nappo said. Jane Trejo-Beverly had just returned home from her office holiday party when she phoned the Collier Courthouse and learned she had to report for jury duty the next morning. The 49-year-old North Naples woman immediately texted her supervisor at Island Title 5 Star Agency, then emailed a note with information to several supervisors, saying she'd call from the courthouse if she was selected. The next morning, she texted again and her supervisor said she was aware. While she was doing her civic duty, however, her phone rang while she was in the jury room. She listened to the voicemail during a break she'd been fired. "I hung up and burst into tears," Trejo-Beverly said of losing her job 11 days before Christmas. On Friday, she sued Island Title 5 Star Agency, a real estate company with offices in Naples and Marco Island, alleging it violated the law by firing her. Company officials deny the allegations, citing performance issues during Trejo-Beverly's probationary period. It's against Florida law to threaten an employee with termination or to fire someone for reporting to jury duty. The law allows employees to sue to seek compensatory and punitive damages, which are meant to punish, set an example and deter wrongdoing. "This is the heart of the jury system," said her attorney, Bernard Mazaheri. "If jurors are afraid to serve on juries because they'll lose their jobs, we're not going to have trials." "What this employer did was unspeakable and hiding behind a probationary period is a pretext," he added. "There was no indication she'd be fired. She even went to the holiday party the night before." The lawsuit, filed in Collier Circuit Court, is supported by evidence that includes emails, texts, and voicemail messages she received, sent and saved. Her supervisor, Dawn Norgren, faces a misdemeanor contempt charge and was summoned to court by County Judge Mike Provost hours after the Dec. 14 termination. Norgren pleaded not guilty and returns to court Jan. 20.Island Title owner Robert Leeber called the allegations "incorrect," noting that in 30 years of business, 15 employees served jury duty and were paid. "We would never do that," Leeber said of terminating an employee for serving on a jury. "It's not fair for an employee because it's their obligation. There's more to this than meets the eye here. It will all come out because of the lawsuit." He contended Trejo-Beverly was demoted during training and fired during a probationary period. However, he maintained she didn't tell anyone about jury duty. "When I get a call for jury duty, I don't care if I'm No. 1 or No. 500, I don't keep it a secret," he said. "I let my employer know." Trejo-Beverly said she never thought she'd be called because No. 426 was so high and she wrote on her jury questionnaire that family members are in law enforcement, which often gets jurors excused. She'd been hired Nov. 14 after leaving the real estate industry 10 years earlier to start a wedding event planning business and a boutique. She was being trained as a bilingual closer for property sales in Naples, she said, but it was too busy there, so she was sent to Marco Island. On Dec. 13, she went to the office holiday party, where she said employees praised her work. When she returned home, she called the jury hotline, which said jurors 400 to 500 had to report the next morning. "I immediately texted my office manager and said I have to report to jury duty at 8:30, then said I'd follow up with an email," she said. She scanned in her jury number, the jury hotline number, and emailed them with a note to her supervisor, office manager and others, telling them she'd call to say if she was selected. Early the next morning, she said, she texted her supervisor, who replied that she was aware she'd been summoned. But in the jury room, her phone rang and she couldn't answer. During a break, she played the voicemail, which asked her to call to talk. "Things just are not working so I want to terminate our relationship," the voicemail by Norgren says. "I'm sorry you had to be out of the office this morning and you didn't tell us." She burst into tears, she said, then called to ask why. Norgren accused her of knowing she'd be on jury duty because her number was 86, she said. She corrected her, but Norgren called her communication "inappropriate." A clerk who saw her crying notified Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock, who spoke with her. Brock gave a bailiff a note to inform the judge about the firing. Provost summoned her to the bench after a break, shortly before she was selected for the two-day misdemeanor battery trial. "I told him she said I didn't give her enough notice for jury duty," Trejo-Beverly said. "Then I started crying." "I loved that job," she said. "If there is a message, I guess it's that employers and employees should be aware of the law." It's unusual for employees to be fired for serving on a jury, partly due to negative publicity and because most states prohibit it. "I think it is rare that employers take such blatantly illegal action against employees," said Paula Hannaford-Agor, director of the National Center for State Courts' Center for Jury Studies. Most defendants argue employees were fired for other reasons, while plaintiffs' attorneys brand that a pretext. In a 2009 Washington, D.C., case, a guidance counselor was unable to prove she'd been fired after 20 years because she'd served on a four-month capital murder trial. A federal judge agreed everyone should know jobs are protected and noted, "Sitting as a juror on a lengthy, difficult, capital case is one of the most challenging, but absolutely critical, civic duties of all citizens." Although she called the principal a "very unconvincing witness," she ruled the Local School Restructuring Team branded the job an "excess," so the counselor couldn't prove her case. Over the years, there have been several Florida lawsuits, most filed by jurors on lengthy trials. State law doesn't limit damages if a jury can find an employer acted with specific intent to harm an employee and juries often are sympathetic. In 1987, a Broward jury awarded a Fort Lauderdale woman $2.8 million after she alleged she was fired from Pier 66 Hotel and Marina when she served as a juror in a murder trial. But the Fourth District Court of Appeal overturned it two years later, citing the tearful woman's "histrionics," inflammatory statements by her lawyers and witnesses calling them prejudicial to the defendants. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount. In 1988, in Juror 157 vs. Corporate Defendant, a woman's lawsuit alleged her employer fired her after she served on a 7 month Colombian drug kingpin's trial. It was settled two years later for an undisclosed amount. Prosecutions are rare. In 2007, a Pasco County prosecutor filed contempt charges against a print shop owner when an employee was fired after reporting for jury duty. The employer denied it, calling him a problem employee, but the judge found records didn't back that and found the employer guilty. He fined him $500, half the maximum. SHARE Florida wildlife managers are understandably proud about an updated black bear count, saying it "stands as one of the state's greatest conservation success stories." The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) reports there are about 4,350 adult bears across the state, compared with a 2002 estimate of 2,640 and just 300-500 in the 1970s. Counts completed in 2014-15 showed the greatest percentage rebound in northern regions of the state. Southern Florida, including Collier County, saw a 64 percent increase from about 700 in 2002 to about 1,150 now. In overall numbers of black bears, that would put the southern region's population behind only Central Florida among five areas the state studied in its updated count. A lack of updated numbers was one reason we opposed FWC's decision a year ago to authorize October's black bear hunt, the first in more than two decades, although we understand hunting is an accepted wildlife management practice. Because the updated study was under way a year ago, we suggested the FWC should have waited for completion of the scientific count before authorizing the 2015 bear hunt. The latest count confirmed what FWC staff had projected in recommending the hunt a substantial increase in the Florida black bear population. Another hunt? FWC hasn't decided whether to consider another hunt, although the latest count might suggest there are enough bears in the woods to support one. Even so, the lack of updated numbers was just one of several reasons we opposed the resumption of bear hunting. Our main objection was that a deep-woods hunt doesn't address the problem of bears interacting with neighborhoods. In our opinion, that point stands and must be more fully tackled before another hunt is considered. Another concern has arisen in the past year the 2015 hunt itself. Across Florida, the hunt was beset with problems that must be better addressed by wildlife managers before another hunt should be considered. Some of those problems: The weight limit was supposed to be 100 pounds, but a bear as small as 40 pounds was killed; lactating bears were killed, though mother bears were to be spared; baiting occurred, though it wasn't allowed. Also, limits were set by FWC by region, but were off just about everywhere. In one area, the limit was exceeded by three times in the first day. A revamped plan, particularly addressing enforcement, seems in order. Neighborhood conflict A recent visit by a 260-pound juvenile bear to the grounds of Three Oaks Elementary School in Estero was a reminder of the primary issue reducing bears' interaction with neighborhoods. That's not just an FWC responsibility. On the plus side, Gov. Rick Scott sought money in this year's state budget to help provide bear-resistant trash cans and outreach programs to reduce animal-human conflicts. A Senate budget memo says the final $82.3 billion state budget included $500,000 for bear conflict reduction. It would be worthwhile to track that spending and measure the results before authorizing another hunt. On the down side, a bill proposed by two Florida lawmakers died in committee this past session. Their measure called for state agencies to collaborate to better manage bear habitat, including rules against harvesting berries that provide a natural food source, a system to allow local governments to obtain loans to buy bear-resistant garbage containers and coordination on controlled burns in bear habitat. Their legislation points out the state may be able to do more to better manage bear habitat before considering another hunt. In the meantime, FWC's website reminds us to secure household garbage in a shed, garage or wildlife-resistant container; put household garbage out on the morning of pickup; feed pets indoors or bring dishes in after feeding; clean grills and secure them in an enclosure and pick ripe fruit from trees, among other tips. Adhering to those measures, along with bear-resistant trash cans in rural areas, remain preferable approaches to manage this successful rebound of Florida's black bear population. SHARE Ken Hess, Naples Degrading I am writing to express my disappointment with a recent article by Robert Hutchinson of The Philadelphia Inquirer regarding Easter and the resurrection of Christ. Christianity requires faith, an essential that the author of this commentary left out. Hutchinson's lack of faith is one thing, but the total disregard for its readers and Christians in our community by your newspaper is another. On the most Holy Day in the Christian faith, the Naples Daily News chose to publish an article that degraded Christianity and those who believe in the resurrection. Would the Naples Daily News publish an article degrading Muhammad during Ramadan? I think not. SHARE Judi Palay, Naples Residents at risk A Naples Daily News article by Arek Sarkissian quoted Collier County Mosquito Control District Director Patrick Linn, stating that Zika-carrying mosquitoes thrive in small pools of water, so Linn urged residents to drain or cover any standing water. Since Lodge Abbott changed the beautiful green space at Wiggins Pass and Vanderbilt Drive, we have had standing water between this lot and Glen Eden. Although the powers that be in Collier government have been contacted, apparently nothing has been done. If they would drive over to this lot and walk this area, besides sloshing around and getting wet and muddy, they would see the very serious problem that has been created. There is no provision to remove this hazard. The trees and ground cover that had been there have been removed. The saturated ground cannot absorb any more. Yet, we are urged to remove standing water. How? You are putting our health at risk. Officials, please do your jobs especially now when it isn't even rainy season. We anxiously await your physical presence followed by quick action. The Bonita Springs Utilities board of directors re-elected Jim Strecansky president for a third term, and re-elected Bob Bachman vice president. John Mathes was elected treasurer, and Mike Malloy is secretary. Strecansky has served on the board since 2008. He has lived in Bonita Springs since 2000, when he retired as division vice president and general manager with Air Products & Chemicals, the Fortune 500 company he joined in 1962. Bachman, a board member since November 2000, is owner/president of WBG SW Florida. He has served as board president for three years and as vice president and treasurer. Mathes a certified residential real estate appraiser and licensed real estate broker, has owned Mathes Realty since 1979 and Mathes Realty Appraisal since 1993. He has served on the BSU board since 1990, including four terms as president and several terms as vice president, treasurer and secretary. Malloy, who has served on the board since 2012, is vice president for client services at MACH Energy, an energy-management company based in San Francisco. BSU member-customers elect nine board members to govern the utility. Other board members are Paul Attwood, Frank Liles, Hank Hochstetler, Dave McKee and Robert Sharkey. The board of directors meets at 5 p.m. the first and third Tuesdays of each month. Bonita Springs Utilities is a not-for-profit water and wastewater utility founded by local citizens in 1971. The member-owned utility provides service in the City of Bonita Springs, The Village of Estero and unincorporated South Lee County. The utility is recognized as an industry leader with awards from the American Water Works Association, Florida Water and Pollution Control Operators Association and Florida Water Environment Association. For more information, visit the BSU website at www.BSU.us. Backseat Drivers: Can Logano go all the way this year? Alex Weaver, Mamba Smith, and Kim Coon discuss whether Joey Logano has an advantage with his early lock-in to the Championship 4. The majority of first-time homebuyers plan to skip the starter-home step and move straight into the home that would meet their long-term needs, according to the Homebuyer Insights Report from Bank of America. The inaugural edition of the report found that 75% of first-time buyers would rather bypass the starter home to purchase larger properties. Thirty-five percent also said they plan to retire wherever they buy. Age and debt could explain why many first-time buyers are eyeing larger homes. Forty-three percent of Gen Xers, defined roughly as those born between 1965 and 1980, have opted to hold off buying homes until they paid down debt. These buyers don't necessarily want to live in starter homes, D. Steve Boland, consumer lending executive for Bank of America, said in a press release Wednesday. "Today's aspiring homebuyers want to be selective and believe they should wait until they can afford to buy a home they'll live in for years to come," he said. Thirty-two percent of millennials said that they would wait to pay down debt before buying a home, but more than twice as many 66% said they would likely need assistance from their parents to buy their first home. For experienced buyers, acquiring a home meant making tradeoffs, with 75% saying they made sacrifices to afford the purchase. Nearly half said they sacrificed travel, while 37% skipped buying new car and 32% decided against adding new features to their homes. To produce the report for Bank of America, independent market research company Braun Research surveyed 1,001 people age 18 or older who wanted to buy a home in the future. Homebuyers in hot housing markets from San Francisco to Brooklyn have grown accustomed to bidding wars, waived home inspections and rapid-fire offers. If you're house-hunting in Omaha, Neb., Grand Rapids, Mich., or Indianapolis, you might want to brace yourself for similar tactics. Those cities and several others saw sharp declines in the number of homes for sale over the year ending in February. It's surprising to see Midwestern housing markets tightening this way. The large U.S. metropolitan areas with the sharpest population declines from 2014 to 2015 were concentrated in Ohio, Pennsylvania and upstate New York, according to the Census Bureau's most recent population estimates. But stricter lending standards since the housing bust have made cities with strong job growth and cheaper home prices particularly attractive to buyers, said Nela Richardson, chief economist of real estate brokerage Redfin. That may be leading to tighter housing supply in such cities as Omaha and Minneapolis. "Before the bust, if I got a good job offer in Seattle, I'd move there. I'd just go and get a mortgage," Richardson said. "Now I don't have flexibility to go where the pay is the most, so I have to go to a place that I can afford." In cities showing less robust job growth, the short supply of homes for sale might be explained by another factor: Prices in about half of the country's local markets are still below bubble-era peaks. Owners may be reluctant to sell their homes for less than they were once worth, especially if they owe more on their mortgage than they can get in a sale, said Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Realtor.com. That limits the supply on the market. The inventory squeeze has proved especially harsh for first-time homebuyers, in part because builders have prioritized luxury homes over starters. A theory making the rounds at Redfin contends that trends in buyer behavior start out West and move eastward. In California, for example, parents are taking out home equity loans on their own homes to help children muster all-cash offers on a property, Richardson said. Once the deed has transferred, the kids borrow against the home they just bought to repay their parents. "As things become more competitive in the Midwest, you can expect to see some of the same things that buyers on the West Coast have been dealing with for a long time," she said. The country's most competitive housing markets remain in the West. Among the top 20 markets on Realtor.com's Hotness Index, which measures demand by the number of page views and supply by how long listings stay online, only three are east of the Mississippi: Boston, Raleigh, N.C., and Lafayette, Ind. A bidding war is going to cost a buyer less in Buffalo, N.Y. (median listing price: $137,000, per Redfin) than in San Francisco ($1 million), and the Rust Belt is less likely to see some of the more convoluted strategies employed in richer markets. The Midwest is definitely getting hotter, and not just in climate. "California has really been the standard-bearer and started this trend," Realtor.com's Smoke said. "But we're starting to see the same pattern emerge in more parts of the country." A first group of Uzbek officers graduated from a pilot English language course on 24 March, which was launched last year for Uzbekistans defence ministry by the NATO Liaison Office in Central Asia. The graduation ceremony was hosted by the head of the defence ministrys Partnership for Peace Training Centre, Colonel Dusniyazov. It was attended by the NATO Liaison Officer for Central Asia, Rosaria Puglisi, and the defence attaches of some NATO countries. Thirteen middle-to-high-ranking serving officers received certificates attesting the level of English achieved during the six-month training programme. "Enhancing your English language skills allows you to take part in NATO partnership and cooperation activities, thus providing you with an opportunity of professional growth while better serving your country," the NATO Liaison Officer told graduating officers. The course was well received by the trainees. This is a helpful training," commented Lieutenant Colonel Rustam Tashmatov, who is already making use of his newly learned skills in interpreting for defence ministry staff. In line with the defence ministrys request for NATO to assist in improving military education, the pilot course will be extended for a second year. In the same spirit, on 23 March, Ms Puglisi presented a new batch of academic books to the NATO Multimedia Corner in the Armed Forces Academy. Set up in 2015, this is the first NATO Multimedia Corner established in a military higher educational institution of a partner country. The NATO Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Alexander Vershbow will travel to The Hague on Thursday 7 and Friday 8 April 2016. On Friday 8 April, Ambassador Vershbow will deliver a speech at the EU Inter-parliamentary Conference on the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, and address a meeting of the Atlantic Treaty Association. Ambassador Vershbow will also meet the Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, H.E. Ms. Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. There will be no media opportunity. The remarks by the NATO Deputy Secretary General will be available on the NATO website after the events. The programme of the visit may be subject to change. For any further information, please contact the NATO Press office, Tel : + 32 2 707 50 41. Follow us on Twitter (@NATOPress and @NATOdsg). Officials from the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces (ANDSF) are working with counterparts from NATO member and partner countries to improve the teaching related to the civilian oversight of the armed forces. Together with NATO, Azerbaijan recently hosted a first expert workshop to support curriculum development. Afghan Army and Police instructors draft new curricula for their schools on civilian oversight with the help of NATO experts from the Romanian National Defence University and Bulgarian National Defence Academy. Organised as part of the Defence Education Enhancement Programme (DEEP) with Afghanistan, the workshop took place at the ADA University, Baku, Azerbaijan, from 28 to 30 March 2016. It was supported by experts from the Romanian National Defence University and the Bulgarian National Defence Academy. The event initiated cooperation within Afghan defence education institutions in the field of civilian oversight. This activity supported the sharing of lessons learned by different countries and their integration in national strategic planning. The Afghan instructors participating examined draft curricula for a stand-alone course designed to introduce senior army and police officials to the community of practice on civilian oversight. This was an invaluable opportunity for the participants of the workshop to equip themselves with the right tools and skills to develop curricula that can respond to the specific needs of the ANDSF, said Colonel Bismillah Ramaki, the Director of the Military Sciences Department at Afghanistans Marshal Fahim National Defence University. With the help of the facilitators and professors from NATO countries, we met the targets of the workshop and are now returning home with a sense of achievement. This workshop, along with educational scholarships and other training programmes at ADA, are aimed at providing non-military assistance to Afghanistan by Azerbaijan in order to achieve peace and stability, said Fariz Ismayilzade, Vice-Rector, ADA University. This first curriculum development workshop for Afghanistan elevated peer-to-peer exchange with NATO experts from Bulgaria and Romania on curriculum and faculty development in the realm of civil-military relations, explained Colonel Stan Anton, DEEP Afghanistan Academic Coordinator and Director of the Defence and Strategic Studies Centre at the Romanian National Defence University. This enabled Afghan academic staff to incorporate new learning areas into programmes of studies at different levels of their Professional Military Education system, in order to support the overall national democratic process." DEEP is a tailored programme through which NATO supports partners in their efforts to develop and modernise education institutions that deal with security, defence and military affairs. Building the capacity of the ANDSF in critical areas of need, through defence education, is an important element of NATOs Enduring Partnership with Afghanistan launched at the Lisbon Summit in November 2010. Bumble trouble What can be done? (NaturalNews) Bees are important , not just for their ability to churn honey, but for our very livelihood. Without bees, we wouldn't be here. And yet, bees are in trouble . According to a recent study co-authored by a University of Guelph professor, even low levels of herbicides can affect the foraging abilities of bumblebees to extract nectar and pollen.Both wild and domestic honey bees account for approximately 80 percent of global pollination. Just one bee colony can pollinate 300 million flowers in a day. Greenpeace estimates that 70 of the top 100 human food crops are pollinated by bees, and these crops represent about 90 percent of the world's nutrition supply.Albert Einstein noted that if the bees were to vanish from the face of the Earth, mankind would face extinction. Unfortunately, Einstein's warning has not been taken seriously enough. The worldwide bee colony is collapsing, thanks to habitat loss and the use of herbicides.In the resent study, published in the journal, researchers sought to analyze the impact of low levels of herbicides on bee production. Bumblebees were exposed to common levels of a neonicotinoid insecticide known as thiamethoxam. The study was the first to investigate the impact pesticides have on bumblebees' ability to forage from common wild flowers with complex shapes.The researchers found that it took herbicide-exposed bees longer to collect pollen from a different flower than controlled bees. In addition, the pesticide-exposed bees decided to forage from a different flower than the controlled bees."Bees rely on learning to locate flowers, track their profitability and work out how best to efficiently extract nectar and pollen," said environmental sciences professor and senior author of the paper, Nigel Raine."If exposure to low levels of pesticide affects their ability to learn, bees may struggle to collect food and impair the essential pollination services they provide to both crops and wild plants," he added.Previous studies have verified that exposure to neonicotinoid herbicides can alter the chemistry of the brain, particularly in areas linked to memory and learning in honeybees. In the recent study, herbicide-exposed bumblebees collected more pollen than control bees, but the control bees were able to learn how to extract nectar from intricate flowers after a few visits.Lead author, Dara Stanley, of Royal Holloway University in London, told sources, "Bumblebees exposed to pesticide initially foraged faster and collected more pollen. However unexposed bees may be investing more time and energy in learning. Our findings have important implications for society and the economy as pollinating insects are vital to support agriculture and wild plant biodiversity."Adding to these remarks, Raine said that more realistic field research is needed into the relationship between herbicides , bumblebees and other wild pollinators."Our results suggest that current levels of pesticide exposure could be significantly affecting how bees are interacting with wild plants, and impairing the crucial pollination services they provide that support healthy ecosystem function," he said.In other words, if herbicides hinder bumblebees' ability to learn and adapt, then wild bees could become increasingly sensitive to changes in the environment. According to a separate review, an estimated 57 different herbicides are poisoning European honey bees, which is contributing to the rapidly declining bee population worldwide.In 2013, Europe enforced an unprecedented two year continent-wide ban on three neonicotinoid herbicides believed to harm bees. Unfortunately, the U.S. has failed to make similar strides in protecting the bee population. In 2014, President Obama signed the Monsanto Protection Act , which gave biotech companies immunity from the havoc their commercial compounds wreak on people and the environment in federal U.S. courts.Although the nature of the problem is complex, the solution is simple. The global bee population can be restored by banning dangerous herbicides, and preserving wild bee habitats. If such practices aren't put in place, bees won't be the only species to bear the sting of extinction Are food companies finally listening to consumers? Good news, bad news? (NaturalNews) In what can be considered a victory for the countless Americans who do not wish to consume food that contains toxins, food giant Del Monte has announced that it will start using packaging that does not contain bisphenol A (BPA).The canned goods firm, which is based in San Francisco, said that the switch would start with its tomato and fruit products. By May, almost 100 percent of its vegetable products should be in line with the new policy.Del Monte is not the only firm to have made such a move recently. Campbell Soup announced that it would be transitioning to BPA-free cans in the US and Canada by the middle of next year, switching to polyester or acrylic-based linings instead. Around three-fourths of its soup products should already have made the switch by the end of this year. General Mills has also reluctantly agreed to start labeling GMO products , largely in response to a few state laws mandating such labels.It appears that food companies are finally starting to get the message that consumers have been sending for years. It is now fairly common knowledge that BPA is linked to serious health problems like brain damage and cancer. It is often used in food packaging to coat metal cans and harden plastic in bottles, where it can then leach into the food.The FDA has largely ignored the problem, but several nations have banned the substance. It has been linked to several cancers, particularly breast cancer, and it is also known to cause hormonal imbalances in both genders. It also has adverse effects on the brain and nervous system , according to a study published in. The substance can remain in the bloodstream for a long time, and mothers can pass it on to their newborns in the womb and via breastfeeding.An official press release from Del Monte reads in part: "These moves, which represent a majority of the company's products, come as a direct response and commitment towards meeting the evolving preferences of many consumers."The firm is also transitioning away from genetically modified crops, which use the cancer-causing agent glyphosate . They announced that the vegetables, tomato products, fruit cups and added ingredients like soybeans and sweeteners found in most of their foods will soon be non-GMO. The 150-plus products affected will be labeled as GMO-free While this is certainly very good news for consumers, no one knows for sure whether or not the BPA will be replaced with chemicals that could ultimately prove to be equally harmful. Thankfully, there is a foolproof way to ensure that you are not eating anything unsafe, and that is growing and canning your own food . This is actually easier than most people think, and preserving it yourself gives you complete peace of mind that you know exactly what is inside of it.Mike Adams, the Health Ranger , also has some useful tips for avoiding the hidden toxins in food in his meticulously researched book, Food Forensics , which will be released this July. Beneath its beauty, there is a supervolcano underneath the Yellowstone National Park and experts said it can wipe out half of the U.S. if it erupts. Studies differ as to when the eruption will take place, but one thing is for sure: it can cause millions of deaths and massive destruction. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) revealed that there is a humongous magma reservoir underneath the Yellowstone National Park in Idaho. The result of this magma reservoir is not just a typical volcano, but a supervolcano, which is eleven times stronger. The presence of this supervolcano poses as a threat to the U.S. One eruption can wipe half of the country, a TechInsider report said. In a study by BBC, they defined a supervolcano as a volcano in a massive scale. Its eruption is caused by magma pressure, making its eruptions more dangerous and deadly compared to a normal volcano. What makes its eruption more threatening is its large magma reservoir. According to BBC's same study, a normal volcano can emit around one kilometer of material, while a supervolcano can spew at least one thousand kilometer of material, thus causing a wider range of devastation when it erupts. According to the USGS, if the supervolcano underneath the Yellowstone erupts, it can largely affect food and water supply in the country. It will also cause massive respiratory problems due to the huge amount of ashes from its possible eruption, which is ten times bigger than a usual volcanic eruption. It will also cause ten years of uninhabitable devastation, especially to areas surrounding the park, affecting not only wildlife but also people who rely on the area for livelihood and tourism. Although the supervolcano is a massive threat to Idaho and the U.S., experts said we shouldn't worry about it--at least for now. Supervolcanoes erupt hundreds of years apart. The last time the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted was around 650,000 years ago and the next one will not likely to happen in the next ten thousand years. However, as per this report, the European Science Foundation said there is a ten percent chance that the supervolcano will erupt even sooner, possibly in the next 80 years. Experts from the foundation said the Yellowstone supervolcano poses more threat to mankind, compared to asteroids, earthquakes, nuclear war and global warming. They said it can even lead to millions of deaths. The Yellowstone National Park in Idaho is home to wildlife, such as wolves, buffalo and bears, surviving in its vast wilderness. Tourists and locals alike frequently visit the area, that's why experts are closely monitoring the magma activity underneath the park. "Everything comes down to poo," said a funny song by Turk and JD in the hit TV series, "Scrubs." Now, a newly discovered ancient horse poop is guiding scientists who are trying to uncover the 2,000-year-old enigma about the route Hannibal took through the Alps into Italy. According to the study published in the journal Archaeometry, researchers found geochemical and microbiological evidence from an alluvial floodplain mire located below the Col de la Traversette. Col de la Traversette, according to Dangerous Roads, is a high mountain pass located in the Cottian Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps, on the French-Italian border. It has an elevation of 2.398 meters (7,867 feet) above sea level. The mire was named Mass Animal Deposition (MAD) bed due to its disrupted bedding, greatly increased by organic carbon and key or specialized biological components or compounds. The researchers said that the abnormality presented by the MAD bed was possibly caused by the passage of Hannibal's army and their animals that fed and defecated during their journey. Irish Times reported that Hannibal took 30,000 troops, 15,000 horses and mules, and about 37 elephants for his Alp crossing expedition. When the researchers dug about three to four feet of soil, they discovered a layer that seemed to be organic. Upon close analysis, microbiologists from the Queens University of Belfast found microbes that are usually associated with horse manure. According to a Washington Post report, researchers also found signs of horse tapeworms--strengthening the possibility of finding an elephant tapeworm in the future--to further prove their theory that Hannibal and his troops passed through this land. Hannibal, according to a report from The Guardian, is one of the greatest military strategists of the ancient world, alongside Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Scipio, his greatest nemesis. His reputation as a military strategist skyrocketed mostly for his triumph in passing through to The Alps to Italy to bring the war directly in the Roman Republic. It is no doubt that Hannibal made it through the Alps, but the question about the routes he took remains unanswered. This time, perhaps everything will actually come down to poo. Young women across the Bay Area are learning yoga thanks to a non-profit promoting self-respect, self-control and healing. Since 2005, the Art of Yoga project has sent trained yoga teachers to high schools, juvenile detention centers and programs for exploited girls. High school classes focus on preventing risky behaviors, while yoga for incarcerated and exploited girls work on healing and rehabilitation. Girls are the fastest growing segment of the juvenile justice population, according to the organization. That fight or flight, that overreaction, or the freeze, that underreaCtion, are the behaviors that get them into trouble in the first place, said Mary Lynn Fitton, Founder of Art of Yoga Project. Fitton is also a neuroscience nurse and family nurse practitioner who specializes in adolescent health. The yoga practice and the meditation and the breathing techniques gives them sensory integration, self-regulation, so they can move out of their survival brains up into their learning brains, their higher brains, because when youre in your lower brain you cant learn," Fitton said. "So you can see how this is essential, especially in a school environment, but in any environment were bringing girls to their best selves." The Art of Yoga project has worked with over 5,000 girls for 11 years. Classes are held in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties. San Francisco police were surprised Tuesday night when they stopped a vehicle with an unlikely person in the passenger seat: Mayor Ed Lee. The mayor and the driver of the unmarked vehicle - police Lt. Luke Martin - were slowly patrolling neighborhoods to get a firsthand glimpse of the rising property crime that has been alarming city residents, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. "I think I was driving maybe a little suspiciously, so the officers keyed into the way I was driving and decided to investigate further. What their investigation turned up was Mayor Ed Lee," Martin told the Chronicle. Lee and Martin were immediately sent on their way. The stop occurred near the intersection of Mission Street and the Embarcadero. California public utility regulators are asking state lawmakers for more money to pay for their legal bills related to an ongoing corruption investigation into the agency. In its budget change proposal, the Public Utilities Commission said it needs another $6 million to comply with two ongoing criminal investigations. The PUC said its own in-house lawyers are not criminal attorneys and the state attorney general has a conflict because that office is heading one of the investigations involving the PUC. In the aftermath of the San Bruno pipeline explosion and fire that killed eight people in 2010, the state attorney general opened a corruption and influence peddling investigation into suspected back room deal between utilities and regulators at the state PUC -- essentially one public agency investigating another. Federal authorities have also started a separate corruption investigation. The PUC said the $6 million it is requesting is needed to comply with eight subpoenas and three search warrants. The bulk of the costs have to do with discovery, especially document production because there are a million pages the PUC wants to run by outside lawmakers. "This is government. Government should be an open book," said Jerry Hill, San Bruno's state senator. "It shouldn't be hiding behind criminal lawyers paid for with utility customer money." Hill said he will try and block the PUC from getting the $6 million. He tried last year to stop a similar $5 million request, and the PUC threatened to gut programs. The legislature eventually relented. San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane notes the $6 million request on top of last year's $5 million is actually twice the PUC's annual budget for pipeline safety regulation. "This is ridiculous. This is crazy," Ruane said. "It's an outrage and it's a slap in the face to the taxpayers of California." The PUC has yet to respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment on the budget request. A gold-flecked meteorite that has traveled from the asteroid belt near Mars to the mountains of Fukang, China, and finally Marin County, California, is at the center of a vicious ownership battle being waged in federal court. The 227-pound iron "pallasite" meteorite is estimated to be 4.5 billion years old. First discovered in Fukang, China about 15 years ago, it could be worth as much as $1 million, according to Stephen Settgast, an asteroid collecter who claims he's the rightful owner. He sued a museum in Maine and a New York meteorite expert in February alleging breach of contract over the sale of the meteorite. But they have now filed a counterclaim, alleging that Settgast, who is staying in Marin County, is behind a "blatant theft of a unique and precious meteorite." The countersuit alleges Settgast sold the meteorite for $425,000, then engaged in an "outrageous act of sellers remorse" by stealing back the space rock for himself. "This isn't a typical theft," said Wayne Minckley, undersheriff in Miami County, Kansas, in a Skype interview with NBC Bay Area. A sheriff is involved in the out-of-this-world case because authorities arent yet ready to decide who stole the meteorite until the suit is settled. "Its a complicated case in the mere fact that the individual who sold it to the folks in Maine is our suspect in the theft," Minckley said. Settgast would not speak on the record. But his attorney, Curt Edmonson of the Oregon firm, Slinde Nelson Stanford, said this is a simple business dispute gone awry. "Civil suits dont use terms like steal.' Thats a criminal term," he said. "We didnt go over the top in our complaint, but they certainly went over the top in their counterclaims." But Settgast's story is full of holes, according to the founders of the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum Lawrence Stifler and Mary McFadden of Brookline, Massachusetts and meteorite expert Darryl Pitt, of New York. All three filed the counterclaim on March 29. In the suit, Jeff Valle, the trio's Los Angeles attorney, laid out his clients argument like this: Noted for his ability to spot beauty and value in meteorites, Pitt suggested to the museum founders that they buy the meteorite in question. Stifler and McFadden agreed to pay Settgast $425,000 to feature the "Fukang meteorite" in their museum, which is not yet open. In August 2014, Pitt brokered the deal with Settgast. The final of three payments was made in February 2015, the counterclaim contends. According to his website biography, Pitt is the purveyor of the "world's foremost collection of aesthetic iron meteorites," which he describes as "extraterrestrial objects d'art." Valle and Pitt have declined to be interviewed. Courtesy of Maine Mineral And Gem Museum After the money was paid, Pitt and the museum founders waited for the meteorite to be cleaned up and prepared by Kansas duo Keith and Dana Jenkerson, of KD Meteorites. The couple's website twinkles with brightly lit stars and boasts they've been "chasing meteorites since 1990s." The Jenkersons took almost two years to stabilize, restore and prepare the "Fukang meteorite," the countersuit alleges, and on Jan. 10, Keith Jenkerson told Pitt this was "one of the most awesome meteorites to ever be displayed." He guessed the spiffed-up space rock to now be worth $1 million. But Pitt and the museum founders said this higher price is wildly inflated, the counterclaim states. Less than two weeks later, the meteorite was reported stolen. Pitt and the museum founders allege that Settgast, whose lawyer described him as a "world-renowned" fossil hunter who also has a ranch in Montana, went into the Jenkersons' lab on Jan. 23 and stole back the meteorite. Settgast's attorneys claim a condition of the sale was that the meteorite couldn't be shown in a public museum, a point the museum founders' say is simply not true, the counterclaim contends. How Settgast would have gotten the meteorite out of the lab, at the Jenkersons' home in Osawatomie, Kansas, without detection, and then to Marin County, where Settgast has been living with a relative, has not been clearly explained. Minckley, from the sheriffs office, reiterated that its his understanding Settgast stole the meteorite from the lab. He said there was no surveillance video to document what might have happened. His office, however, is reserving a final determination on whether a crime was committed, and by whom, until a federal judge makes a ruling on who really owns the meteorite. As for why the sheriffs department is letting the civil case play out first, Edmonson said: "That tells you a little bit about how they feel about the criminal action. If they dont feel there is enough evidence for the claim of theft, then its not there." A hearing is set for June to be heard by Oakland-based U.S District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong. A Los Angeles man who was attacked and placed in a submission hold inside Miami Beach's Burger King Whopper Bar last month is speaking out about what happened. The incident was caught on camera and police are searching for the men who attacked Jordan Schaeffer and his partner. "Even talking about it makes me uncomfortable," Schaeffer said. The fight happened around 3 a.m. on March 14 at the Whopper Bar at 1101 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach police said. It was Schaeffer's first time in Miami Beach and he didn't leave with a good impression. Photos show welts, bruises and cuts all over his face. "We're in 2016 and especially in a city like Miami Beach, where I thought being homosexual would be pretty accepted, it's just not right that anyone should suffer," Schaeffer said. The 25-year-old was attacked while waiting for food at the Burger King location, which is across the street from the police department headquarters. He said he was targeted because he's gay. "It was just a simple kiss with my boyfriend," Schaeffer explained. "Then right after that kiss, I started walking over and that's when I was approached by this gentleman." Surveillance cameras show a man approaching Schaeffer after he came out of the bathroom. Schaeffer said he used a derogatory term for homosexuals. "'Why don't you show if you're tough or not you little f----,'" Schaeffer recalled. Police said one of the unidentified subjects appears to have experience in martial arts. He body slammed Schaeffer, put him in a leg hold and took swings at his face. "It all happened so fast once I got slammed to the ground. It's just kind of a blur," Schaeffer said. He is now back in Los Angeles and recovering from multiple injuries to his lip, nose, face, wrist and back. But it's the psychological healing that needs the most attention. "The biggest injury has been all the emotional trauma. We were going to Miami for a relaxing weekend and it was traumatizing, to be honest," Schaeffer said. His lawyers said if and when the suspects are caught, they should face the heaviest charges. "We believe this was a hate crime against Jordan because of his sexual orientation," Attorney Douglas Ede said. Miami Beach Police said they're looking for two men seen in the video, who were allegedly involved in the fight. Anyone recognize them, you're urged to call Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS. Chicagos Columbia College announced Monday that it would not fund students Monetary Award Program grants for the 2016-17 academic year as a result of the states ongoing budget impasse. The state has been without a budget since July of last year. As a result, Illinois' social services and public colleges and universities have been adversely affected. The school did announce, however, that it will cover the $7 million balance owed to students by the state for the 2015-16 academic year. Columbia has over 1,800 MAP grant recipients. We recognize that Illinois is in the midst of a budget crisis, but expecting college students to carry the burden of the states budget failure is unconscionable, Columbia President and CEO Kwang-Wu Kim said. Im proud to lead a college that puts students first and commits to supporting them in a substantial way under these extraordinary circumstances. Other state public schools have also made cuts in the wake of the impasse. Chicago State University has announced a plan to cut its school year short and Northeastern Illinois has added furlough days as a cost-saving measure. Were all in this together, Kim added. Institutions across the state are also asking themselves the same hard questions about how to fund students this year without compromising the quality of education students expect and deserve. Kim announced the decision not to fund MAP grants for the 2016-17 school year on Monday, two days after the college hosted an open house for over 3,000 prospective students. In response to the school's MAP issue, Columbia plans to make resources available to create financial plans for students in need. The school is also preparing an additional plan if the states budget issue is not resolved by next spring. That plan will allow students to pay off money that would have been covered by grants over an extended period of time. Illinois lawmakers reconvened in Springfield Monday following Marchs legislative break but no legislation on the docket slated for committee hearings is related to the states budget impasse. A domestic battery suspect who was shot by an Illinois police officer is accused of trying to kill the officer. Illinois State Police say 21-year-old Austin E. Foster of Elmwood was charged Tuesday in Fulton County Circuit Court with attempted murder of a peace officer, aggravated battery, disarming a peace officer and domestic battery. Foster is accused of repeatedly punching Farmington officer Jennifer Parkinson in the head and face, the Peoria Journal Star reports. State police say Foster attacked Parkinson after she pulled him over Sunday afternoon. They say Parkinson was able to grab her pistol and fire one shot at Foster. Foster is expected to appear in court Wednesday to meet with his court-appointed attorney. Parkinson is on paid leave while the police department investigates the shooting. Loved ones mourned the loss of a family man and veteran construction worker Tuesday after Vicente Santoyo, 47, was killed in an accident on the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Des Plaines. It's very sad. I'm in construction too, said family friend Domingo Ramirez, who stopped by Santoyo's home in Berwyn to offer condolences. I tell my daughters if I don't come home one day I said respect your parents because I might not come home one day. Santoyo attended St. Anthonys church in Cicero, where parishioners said he was a father figure to many in the community. As a father, he brought the family together as one. Always there for them, said Guillermo Duarte. He was a role model here at St. Anthony and just like a father for a lot of people. Tragic accident. Santoyo was a 25-year veteran of construction, specializing in demolition work and a dedicated member of the union, according to Tony Cantone of Chicago Laborers Local 225. Santoyo was on a small lift vehicle as the crew was using two cranes to move steel across the roadway when the 187-foot beam shifted and fell from its rigging, according to the Des Plaines Police Department. He was taken to Lutheran General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Three other workers suffered minor injuries, were taken to area hospitals, treated and released. As soon as I heard the bang I knew something was wrong, said Mark Keifer, a former construction worker who lives close to the site and heard the crash. Its pretty dangerous, especially cause those guys were up in a cherry picker. And basically once that thing starts coming down, they have nowhere to go. So they just gotta brace for the impact and hope for best." OSHA has opened an investigation with Santoyos employer, the Omega Demolition Corp. of Elgin, and Judlau Contracting Inc. of New York, the general contractor on the site. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the worker, said OSHA in a statement. OSHA wishes to express to this workers family and friends and those of the three injured these types of incidents are preventable if OSHA standards are followed. The exact cause of the accident is still unknown. Our prayers and sympathies are extended to all families and loved ones of those affected, Illinois Tollway Executive Director Greg Bedalov said in a statement. In particular, our thoughts are with the family of the worker who lost his life in this accident. We will immediately begin our work with local authorities and OSHA to learn the causes of this accident. Nearly 500 Chicago Public Schools students were mistakenly sent acceptance letters for highly coveted spots in a magnet school, the district said Tuesday. CPS said only 16 letters should have gone out to transfer students at LaSalle Language Academy, but instead, 512 letters were distributed. "Due to an error in assigning transfer students to LaSalle Magnet School, CPS inadvertently offered more seats to students than LaSalle had available," CPS spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement. "When the error was discovered, CPS immediately called and emailed all families that received an incorrect notification, and District staff is working with families individually to help identify alternate options for their children." The letters were sent to students from first grade through eighth grade. No other schools were impacted by the error, district officials said. Shortly after the letters were sent out, parents reported receiving another letter saying the acceptance letters were a mistake. "According to our records, your child received an offer for LaSalle Magnet Schools for the 2016-17 school year," the second letter says. "Unfortunately due to an error in assigning transfer students LaSalle, CPS discovered that LaSalle does not have enough available seats for the number of offers that were made. As a result of this error, your childs status for LaSalle has changed." The letters apologize for the error and say officials will work with affected parents to make sure they understand their options. Danielle Nix, a mother of three, is one of those parents. She said she sacrificed so her children could attend St. Sabina Academy, a private Catholic school in Chicago, because sending her children to their neighborhood school on the South Side "was not an option." But once her son was accepted into Mount Carmel High School, where tuition is significantly higher, she could no longer afford to send her younger daughter and son to St. Sabina. Nix said she entered the CPS lottery after nine months of research and was overjoyed when she learned both of her kids had been accepted to LaSalle. "I freaked because I couldn't believe that... they both got accepted and that I got accepted into our first choice school," she said. "LaSalle is a school that I watched for a long time and knew the reputation it had. And knowing my kids, I just knew this was going to be a perfect fit." But she was devastated to learn the acceptance letter was sent out by mistake. "[The kids] were so excited they got in and now I have to go back and say, 'Hey, you didn't get in. You didn't get in and it's not your fault. It's through no fault of your own,'" she said. "When they want to know what happens now, I don't have an answer for them. And that's devastating." CPS has faced a series of budget cuts and layoffs amid a historic state budget impasse and struggling finances within the district. Teachers, who are still in contract talks with district officials, held a one-day strike to address the budget woes last week. The first Syrian family to be resettled in the United States departed for Kansas City, Missouri, on Wednesday, NBC News reported. Ahmad al-Abboud and his family fled Syrias civil war three years ago and found refuge in Jordan. But al-Abboud was unable to find work. His wife, family and five children are among the 1,000 Syrians who have been permitted to enter the U.S. from Jordan since last October. "I'm happy. America is the country of freedom and democracy, there are jobs opportunities, there is good education, and we are looking forward to having a good life over there," al-Abboud told The Associated Press on Wednesday from the international airport in the Jordanian capital of Amman. Missouris state leaders have not tried to bar Syrian refugees, although Gov. Jay Nixon called on the federal government to use safeguards to protect Americans. Gov. Sam Brownback signed an executive order in November saying neighboring Kansas would not accept refugees. A South Texas man was executed Wednesday for the 1998 slaying of a 12-year-old boy whose blood the convicted killer said he drank after beating the seventh-grader with a pipe and slitting his throat. Pablo Lucio Vasquez told police he was drunk and high when voices convinced him to kill David Cardenas in Donna, a Texas border town about 225 miles south of San Antonio. He also told detectives in a videotaped statement that he drank some of the boy's blood. Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Vasquez, 38, told relatives watching through a window that he loved them and thanked them for being there, then turned his head to look through an adjacent window where four of his victim's relatives stood. "I'm sorry to David's family," he said. "This is the only way that I can be forgiven. You got your justice right here." As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he said he was a little dizzy. "See you on the other side," he said, raising his head off the gurney pillow and looking toward two of his sisters, a brother-in-law and a cousin. He snorted loudly once, then dropped his head back to the pillow and took a few quiet breaths before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead 24 minutes later at 6:35 p.m. Cardenas' relatives declined to speak with reporters following the execution, the 11th this year in the U.S., six of them in Texas. The punishment was carried out about four hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Vasquez' lawyer, James Keegan, who sought a reprieve so the justices could review whether several potential jurors were improperly excused from Vasquez' capital murder trial because they either were opposed to the death penalty or not comfortable making such a judgment. State lawyers opposed any delay, arguing the potential jurors' exclusion was legally proper and that the latest appeal was similar to an unsuccessful one 12 years ago and amounted to "nothing more than a meritless attempt to postpone his execution," Assistant Texas Attorney General Jeremy Greenwell told the high court in a filing Tuesday. Earlier, unsuccessful appeals, including one rejected last month by a federal judge, focused on whether Vasquez was mentally ill and should be ineligible for the death penalty. Court records showed Vasquez, his 15-year-old cousin, Andres Rafael Chapa, and Cardenas, Chapa's friend, all attended a party in Donna, a Texas border town where Vasquez and Chapa lived. Cardenas was from nearby Alamo, also in the Rio Grande Valley, and was spending the weekend with Chapa. The killing occurred April 18, 1998, after the three left the party. Vasquez told authorities as they reached a wooden shed, he started hearing voices telling him to kill Cardenas. "Something just told me to drink," Vasquez said in the statement to police. "You drink what?" a detective asked. "His blood," Vasquez replied. Police received an anonymous tip about the slaying that led them to Chapa and eventually to Vasquez, who was arrested in Conroe, a Houston suburb more than 325 miles north of Donna. Authorities found the mutilated body five days later under some scraps of aluminum in a vacant field. "It was really horrendous," Joseph Orendain, the lead trial prosecutor, recalled last week. Vasquez declined an interview request from The Associated Press as his execution date neared. His statement to police about the devil and drinking blood fueled speculation about Satanism, but the subject never came up at Vasquez's trial or in appeals. "Did he drink it? I don't know," Orendain said. Chapa pleaded guilty to a murder charge is serving a 35-year prison term. Three other relatives of Chapa and Vasquez received probation and a small fine for helping cover up the slaying. One of them was deported to Guatemala. As Sen. Bernie Sanders team was trumpeting his win in the Wisconsin primary, one of his hometown tabloids was blasting the Vermont senator Wednesday for supporting gun manufacturers. "Bernies Sandy Hook shame," blared the front page of the Daily News, which bills itself as "New Yorks Hometown Newspaper." "Callously defends gunmakers against Newtown kin lawsuit," it said. Today's front page... Bernie's Sandy Hook shame defends gunmakers against Newtown kin suit https://t.co/QCKRnhhNMI pic.twitter.com/6oLnKsS4au New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) April 6, 2016 Relatives of students and staff killed when Adam Lanza opened fire with a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, are trying to sue the guns manufacturer. In an interview with the News last week Sanders responded, "No, I dont," when asked whether he thought a victim of a crime committed with a gun should be allowed to sue, the newspaper wrote. [NATL] Highlights From the 2016 Campaign Trail Hillary Clinton, his opponent for the Democratic nomination for president, pounced immediately. "That he would place gun manufacturers rights and immunity from liability against the parents of the children killed at Sandy Hook is just unimaginable to me," Clinton said Wednesday on MSNBCs "Morning Joe." Erica Smegielski, the daughter of slain Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, was equally critical on Twitter. Shame on you, @BernieSanders try living one hour of our lives. Love, the #SandyHook Principal's Daughter https://t.co/fTLWBujm7E Erica Lafferty Garbatini (@ELaffGarb) April 6, 2016 Sanders voted for a 2005 federal law that gives gun manufacturers broad immunity from lawsuits. Clinton voted against it. "But I do believe that gun manufacturers and gun dealers should be able to be sued when they should know that guns are going into the hands of wrong people," Sanders said in the Daily News interview. Top Tri-State News Photos "So if somebody walks in and says, I'd like 10,000 rounds of ammunition, you know, well, you might be suspicious about that," he said. "So I think there are grounds for those suits, but not if you sell me a legal product. On MSNBC Wednesday morning, Sanders senior adviser Tad Devine defended the senator, urging the Sandy Hook relatives to look at his record on gun violence. Sanders lost his first election for Congress because he said he would support a ban on assault weapons, Devine said. "He has a D- lifetime rating from the NRA," Devine said. The sparring over the gun lobby continued into Wednesday evening, with the Democrats' campaigns tweeting matching insults at each other. Sanders said Clinton "takes gun lobby money to fund her campaign," but Clinton countered that Sanders "voted for the NRA's 'most important piece of legislation in 20 years.'" Only one Democratic candidate has voted for the NRA's "most important piece of legislation in 20 years." You. https://t.co/GJ4wJ13dn2 Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 7, 2016 Sanders' plan to break up big banks also was met with skepticism when he stumbled over details in his meeting with the Daily News editorial board. Clinton later said she was concerned that some of his ideas would not work. "On breaking up big banks, Senator Sanders understands exactly how to do that," Devine responded. "And we don't need any lessons on getting things done in Congress from someone who didn't pass a single amendment by a roll call vote during her entire career in the Senate." New York's primary is set for April 19, with the state set to provide the most delegates of any contest until California in June. Both candidates have New York ties. Clinton, the former New York senator, has a home in Chappaqua. Sanders grew up in Brooklyn. The Connecticut primary is April 26. [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More The Manchester, Connecticut restaurant where an argument about crab legs got out of hand on Saturday night had to throw out all its food after it was contaminated by pepper spray. Manchester police responded to 410 West Middle Turnpike after an argument over crab legs at the buffet table escalated into a physical confrontation, police said. [NATL] Top News Photos: Pope Visits Japan, and More During the scuffle, a 21-year-old man was punched in the face and lost a tooth. His mother jumped in and used pepper spray on her son's attackers. Her actions were in self-defense and she is not facing any charges, according to police. Police arrested a Windsor couple -- Clifford Knight, 45, and Latoya Knight. Clifford Knight was charged with third-degree assault and disorder conduct. Latoya Knight is charged with disorderly conduct and threatening. The manager said on Tuesday that he had to send a full house home and throw away all the food. On Tuesday, customers at Royal Buffet said that should someone empty the crab legs tray, you wait for more because there will be more. Clifford Knight was released on a $5,000 non-surety bond and Lataya Knight was released on a $2,500 non-surety bond. They are both expected in court on April 14. The Manchester Fire Department responded to vent out the restaurant after the pepper spray was deployed. The restaurant was closed until Sunday as the health department assessed the air quality. Battleships can spend months at sea, requiring them to be small cities, with all of the moving, complicated, necessary parts a typical municipality boasts. One of those parts doesn't always receive the spotlight, but it was, and is, an essential gear in the operation: the barbershop. Sailors on the ship had to keep their locks shipshape, and the ship's barber was there with his shears and pomades, ready to do the job. The Battleship USS Iowa, often called the "Battleship of Presidents," has a barbershop, too, of course, one that served the many servicemen who lived on the ship after its 1942 launch. The shop has long been closed to those looking for a touch-up around the ears, but that will change on Monday, April 11 when the chairs briefly reopen. Reopen for but a day, we should say. It's a special event, in honor of Barbershop Quartet Day, and there shall be a barbershop quartet on hand in the form of Men in Stripes. Find the performers on the Captain's Veranda from 11 a.m. to 2 in the afternoon, humming and harmonizing in that quintessential old-timey way that is the hallmark of the nostalgic singing groups. As for what's happening in the barbershop proper? A-Barbershop of Long Beach will wield the shears and razors from 10 in the morning to 4 o'clock to anyone looking for a trim. Cost? It's thirty dollars, which also includes a self-guided tour of the expansive battleship. (That price doesn't include the tip, just fyi.) Here's your reservation info. (You will want to reserve your appointment; just note they are on the half hours.) It's described as a family friendly event, so if your tot needs a bang trim, she is most welcome, as is anyone looking for a quick, quality cut. If you'd like to pose for a picture in the very chair where President George H.W. Bush got a haircut, you can, for "an additional donation." One thing to consider: There are some ladders involved, getting to and from the shop, which is located on the third deck. Best check out the Battleship Iowa site for more information. It isn't often that we visit historic landmarks with the sole purpose of viewing the daily stuff of life, such as haircuts. But even truly famous places, and vessels in this instance, couldn't operate without folding that daily stuff into the running of the enterprise. As it turns out, the daily stuff, like haircuts aboard a ship, are incredibly important, too. A father severely disabled after being shot in the head by a Los Angeles police officer last year has filed a civil rights complaint against the officer and the city. Walter DeLeon was not armed when he was shot by police while he was on an early evening walk to Griffith Park on June 19. Police shot DeLeon four times after they said was acting aggressively, refusing to comply with their orders, and possibly was concealing a gun beneath a gray cloth during a confrontation, even though police later said he was not armed. DeLeon lost an eye, is nearly blind in the other eye, spent two weeks in a coma, lost the ability to walk and has nightmares of being shot in the head, court documents said. "God has given me the opportunity to voice what it is and how it is to go through this pain and suffering," DeLeon said reading from a statement in a video on youtube announcing the filing. "There are hundreds that did not make it ... So I am here for that purpose, to be heard and to bring change to the law enforcement departments as to how they go about enforcing the law." The lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges civil rights violations and negligence. The complaint said that DeLeon was walking on Los Feliz Boulevard, blocks from the entrance to Griffith Park, when Officer Cairo Palacios and his unidentified partner, stuck in traffic, began talking with DeLeon from their cruiser. "Mr. DeLeon was a substantial distance from the officers and posed no threat and made no threats," the lawsuit said. "The conversation lasted mere seconds before Officer Palacios rushed out of the patrol car, drew his gun, and without warning or commands, immediately opened fire." The lawsuit alleges that the officers "stood idly by" for a "significant period of time" "not knowing what to do" while DeLeon bled profusely unconscious and residents ran out of their homes to help. The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents the officers, did not return a call. A father and son are facing charges after police say they operated a clandestine dentist office in Miami where a woman suffered from a severe infection that caused her to be hospitalized. Angel Nolasco, 81, and son Andres Nolasco, 40, are both charged with practicing dentistry without a license and other charges, Miami Police said Tuesday. Jail records showed Angel Nolasco was being held on $12,500 bond while his son was being held on $10,000 bond Tuesday. It's unknown if they've hired attorneys. The victim told detectives she visited the Coral Dental Laboratory at 2540 Northwest 7th Street beginning in April 2015. She said the business appeared to be a fully functioning dentist office, where she underwent a dental examination and was given prescription strength pain medication and antibiotics to take home, police said. Days after the procedure, the woman felt weak, sick and had uncontrollable bleeding so she went back to the dentists, who gave her more medication, police said. As the problem persisted, the woman went to a local hospital where she was treated for an adverse infection that required immediate attention, police said. The woman survived the experience. Angel Nolasco was arrested on similar charges in 2011, police said. Police are asking any other possible victims to come forward by calling Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Florida health officials have reached a settlement ending a decades-long class-action lawsuit that alleged the state is violating federal mandates by failing to deliver critical health services to 2 million children on Medicaid. The settlement comes after a 2005 lawsuit against three state agencies alleging 390,000 children did not get a medical checkup in 2007 and more than 750,000 received no dental care. Judge Adalberto Jordan sided with the plaintiffs in 2014 and sent both parties to meditation. An agreement was finalized in the last few days. One of the biggest victories for the plaintiffs requires insurance plans to provide a "reasonable opportunity'' for pediatricians to earn rates that are on par with Medicare, which typically pays more than Medicaid. In later years, those reimbursement opportunities will extend to specialists, addressing a huge gap in the system by improving doctor participation in the Medicaid program and preventing children from having to travel long distances to receive treatment. Florida's Medicaid reimbursement rates are among the lowest in the country. Even state health officials have acknowledged a critical shortage of Medicaid specialists. The state must also beef up its enrollment efforts. Many eligible children are not enrolled, in part due to poor outreach efforts by the state, according to the plaintiffs. The state also will have to meet certain medical benchmarks, such as meeting national standards for checkups over the next 2 years starting in October. If they don't, the state health agency may have to pump additional money into the system to get insurance companies and providers up to the standards or the health agency may have to ask the Legislature for more funding. The state must also improve access to dental care to meet national standards and, if needed, increase reimbursement rates for dentists. "It's been a decade of hard work. It's a comprehensive set of measures. The children are going to be the real beneficiaries,'' lead attorney Stuart Singer told The Associated Press on Tuesday. His firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner handled the case pro-bono for the plaintiffs, which included 10-year-old Thomas Gorenflo. Thomas, who was mentally disabled, blind and required a full-time nurse because he chokes on his own saliva, died a few years ago during the lengthy court battle. Medicaid red tape forced him to wait about 16 months in 2005 for a back surgery to correct scoliosis so bad it was affecting his left lung, according to his mother Rita Gorenflo, who is a former emergency room nurse. Doctors say the delay worsened the curvature in his spine. Agency for Health Care Administration Secretary Elizabeth Dudek released a statement calling the settlement "a very positive resolution'' and said the state's transition to Medicaid managed care had created "a new era of working collaboratively'' with pediatricians and pediatric doctors around the state. The state has spent well over $7 million defending the case, which critics say could have been spent fixing the problems. Over the years, state health officials agreed Medicaid was in crisis, and several times made legislative budget requests citing critical problems accessing specialists, including dentists, endocrinologists and orthopedic surgeons. But during the trial, state officials downplayed concerns about access to care. The state had argued the case is moot because it has switched from a fee-for-service Medicaid system to one that pays private health insurers a set amount of money to care for each patient, and emphasized Tuesday that insurers are required to maintain provider networks at levels sufficient to eliminate access problems. Dozens of students at a Connecticut college were charged with underage drinking at a bar, following a raid there tied to the sexual assault of a student last month, authorities said. Eighty-five Sacred Heart University students were arrested after the raid at the Golden Star Cafe in Bridgeport Tuesday night, authorities say. Fifteen other people were also busted on underage drinking charges. The bar's owner was also cited for several liquor law violations after the raid. Sources told NBC 4 New York that the bar was a hotspot for underage students. The raid came hours after the arrest of 39-year-old Alfonso Reid, who authorities said sexually assaulted a 19-year-old Sacred Heart student he met at the bar on March 30. Authorities allege that Reid offered to give the student a ride home from the bar, but instead took her to his house, where he allegedly sexually assaulted her. Reid is being held on $750,000 bond. Attorney information for the man wasn't immediately available. A part-owner of the bar declined to comment on the case to NBC Connecticut on Wednesday. Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard was amused when Kauffman Stadium's speakers played "America Woman" as he trotted out to the mound for the first inning. The standing-room only crowd of 39,782 fans drowned out the music with its boos. Syndergaard silenced the fans with six dominant innings, Neil Walker hit his first homer with the Mets and New York beat Kansas City 2-0 Tuesday after the Royals were given their 2015 World Series rings. Syndergaard (1-0) was the only pitcher to beat the Royals in the World Series last year, winning Game 3 after intentionally throwing his first pitch above Alcides Escobar's head. Escobar started this one with a triple, but then Syndergaard struck out the next three batters and retired 12 straight before Kendrys Morales' double opened the fifth. "That's not the result I wanted, a leadoff triple, but I gained a lot of momentum after that," Syndergaard said. "I just went about my game plan." Syndergaard allowed three hits, walked one and struck out nine. Mets manager Terry Collins knew Syndergaard would not be intimated by the surroundings. "He's not afraid. He's 6-7, 250 pounds," Collins said. "They don't have much fear, those kind of guys." Syndergaard pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, striking out Morales on three swings. "We had the bases loaded in the sixth and he threw Morales a 95, 93 and 93 mph slider that there is not a man on this earth I believe could hit any of those pitches," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "I even asked George (Brett), 'Do you think you could even foul any of those off?' and he said, 'No way.'" The Royals went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. The Mets acquired Walker in a December trade with Pittsburgh. He homered off Chris Young (0-1) in the fourth after Yoenis Cespedes walked. That was the first hit Young allowed. "I tried to throw a fastball away, behind in the count 1-0," Young said. "He put a good swing on it and that was the difference in the game. I got outpitched." Young was pulled after five innings and 93 pitches, allowing three hits and three walks while striking out four. The Mets loaded the bases in the seventh on two walks and a single, but Luke Hochevar retired Cespedes on a fly ball to Escobar to end the threat. Jeurys Familia, who blew all three save opportunities he had in the 2015 World Series, pitched a spotless ninth for his first save this season. TRAINER'S ROOM Royals: RHP Greg Holland had Tommy John surgery last September and remains unsigned as a free agent, but he was back for the pregame World Series ring ceremony. He said he is throwing 60 feet in Arizona and hopes to sign with a club soon, although it is unlikely he will pitch this season. RHP Jason Frasor and OF Alex Rios, former Royals who were members of the 2015 team, were invited to the ring ceremony and both attended. CONTINGENCY PLANS With Mets RHP Jacob deGrom's wife expecting a baby this week, he might be summoned to Florida for the birth and be unavailable to start the home opener Friday against the Phillies. Manager Terry Collins said they could start LHP Steven Matz or RHPs Matt Harvey or Bartolo Colon on Friday. Colon is penciled in for the Saturday start, while Harvey started the opener Sunday at Kansas City and would have his normal four days of rest. METS SIGN CATCHER The Mets signed C Rene Rivera to a minor league contract and assigned him to their Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate. Rivera, 32, has a .211 average with 20 home runs and 92 RBIs over 334 major league games with the Mariners, Padres, Twins and Rays. UP NEXT Mets: As of now, deGrom is the probable starter for Friday after the club has two days off. Royals: RHP Yordano Ventura draws an assignment Friday against the Twins. Donald Trump will hold a large rally on Long Island, while Ted Cruz was at a meet-and-greet in the Bronx on Wednesday, a little less than two weeks before New Yorkers vote in the states presidential primary. Republicans Donald Trump is holding a rally that is expected to draw 12,000 people to Grumman Studios, a sound stage in Bethpage. The event kicks off at 7 p.m. Around 1,000 protesters are also expected outside of the rally. The Facebook group Long Island Progressive Coalition plans to protest the rally at 5 p.m. Ted Cruz was at a meet-and-greet at at the Sabrosura 2 restaurant in the Bronx. He spoke further about about "New York values" and referenced his Hispanic heritage after the event, which was interrupted by a protester who said "you should not be here." John Kasich was in Ohio delivering his State of the State address. He had no scheduled events in New York. Democrats Hillary Clinton was be in Pennsylvania and had no scheduled events in New York. However, Mayor de Blasio will be at a rally in support of her candidacy at 6 p.m. Its being held at the United Federation of Teachers headquarters on Broadway in Manhattan. Bernie Sanders had campaign events in Philadelphia. He had scheduled events in New York. A Newtown Middle School teacher was found with a concealed gun at the Connecticut school Wednesday morning and has been arrested and placed on administrative leave, according to police. Police officers responded to the school at 11 Queen St. around 9 a.m. after school staff called and said security staff were detaining a teacher who was seen in the school carrying a firearm, police said. The school is in the same town as Sandy Hook Elementary, where a deadly mass shooting in 2012 prompted strict gun laws statewide. Police identified the teacher as Jason M. Adams, 46, of Newtown, and said he was found with a concealed firearm. We really dont know the motive and why he was carrying it in school," Chief James Viadero with the Newtown Police said. After he was detained briefly, police charged Adams with possession of a weapon on school grounds. He was released on his own recognizance and is due in court in Danbury on April 20. It wasn't immediately clear if he had an attorney. "This matter is very serious and troubling, both the Newtown Public School system and the Newtown Police Department took immediate steps to address the matter," the Newtown School System said in a statement that police released. "The teacher was immediately detained by security personnel. The teacher has additionally been placed on administrative leave pending an administrative investigation. Both agencies have been working closely together to investigate the incident and are taking precautions to ensure the continued safety of our students, staff and community members." The state of Connecticut enacted some of the strictest gun laws in the nation after the December 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, where 20 first graders and six educators were killed. One parent described Adams as "kind, helpful, considerate." Im shocked," Liz O'Connell, a student's parent, told NBC Connecticut. "I think its horrible, obviously I dont know the reason why but it was a stupid mistake." Adams has a valid State of Connecticut pistol permit, according to police. They have contacted the State's Licensing and Permit Unit and made them aware of the arrest. Police said school policy strictly forbids the possession of firearms on school property. Dan Corcoran contributed to this report. A New Jersey community is trying to figure out how to deal with the wild turkeys they say are terrorizing them. Residents in the township of Teaneck met with a representative from the New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Tuesday to discuss concerns over the increasingly brazen birds. Courtney Lopchinsky says she's a victim of the turkey attacks. She was sitting with two of her three children at their kitchen table in Teaneck in January when a wild turkey crash-landed through a window into her home, she told NBC 4 New York. It landed on her dining table, its talon prints still visible. "It was so loud and so dramatic when the bird came in, glass was flying everywhere, we were covered in glass, the bird was freaking out, the turkey was throwing his wings," she said. "Every time he spread his wings, glass was flying everywhere." "I called 911, I said, 'there's a turkey in my house, I need your help!'" she said. Her son Jacob said, "I don't think anyone was thinking. My mom managed to just pull whatever she could on me and my sister, and get us out of the house. It was all just a big blank." The turkeys have routinely roamed the streets around Lopchinsky's home. A neighbor captured on cellphone video a turkey chasing after her. Amy Decheser of New Jersey Fish and Wildlife told residents at Tuesday's meeting they could "humanely harass them, spray them with a hose, bang pots and pans, use a dog on a leash to kind of chase them away." Only representatives of the state are allowed to physically touch the birds and one said she captured an aggressive male turkey on Tuesday afternoon, The Record reported. Meanwhile, Animal Control Officer Vincent Ascolese said he plans to give away 20 air horns for officials to give to the public, the paper also reported. Teaneck isn't the only New Jersey town fighting off the feathered foes. In February, a postmaster in neighboring Hillsdale called 911 when a carrier was held hostage in a mail truck by turkeys. And an East Brunswick man said a family of wild turkeys tried to crash through the back door of his home the same week. New Jersey Fish and Wildlife say that so far this year, they've gotten 20 to 30 calls about turkeys alone. They say turkeys are a protected species, so residents are encouraged to humanely harass them, and to never feed them. Lopchinsky, meanwhile, says she's still traumatized. "I hear it sometimes at night, that loud noise of the turkey breaking through the glass," she said. "It's just one of those things where, when you're in it, at the time, it's so scary." "It happens so suddenly, that it's just one of those moments where: Is this the time when life is going to change in a moment?" The man shot and killed in Los Angeles by his father for allegedly being gay was convicted of attacking a man in San Diego in 2011, according to court documents. Shehada Khalil Issa, 69, was charged Friday in the shooting death of his son, Amir Issa, 29, whom he allegedly killed because he was gay, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Amir Issa was shot outside of his familys home in LA Tuesday. His body was discovered in the front yard. His mother was found dead inside the bathroom, investigators said. Prosecutors said Shehada Issa allegedly threatened to kill his son on prior occasions because of his sexual orientation. An investigation into the mother's death is ongoing, prosecutors said. Click here to read more about the murder. NBC 7 Investigates discovered while living in San Diego, a jury convicted Amir Issa of assault with a deadly weapon in 2011, after he slashed his then-boyfriend's face with a five-inch knife. The attack happened in Hillcrest. Court records show Amir Issa was at first found mentally incompetent to stand trial but after treatment at a state hospital, doctors declared him sane. Charges were refiled and Amir served more than a year in jail followed by three years probation, according to court documents. The court documents detail that while serving probation he moved to Los Angeles, to live with his family. Shehada was charged with one count of willful, deliberate and premeditated murder, officials said. Prosecutors said the felony complaint includes a special allegation that Issa personally and intentionally discharged a shotgun and an allegation that he murdered his son because of his sexual orientation. A San Diego County Sheriffs Department (SDSO) deputy has been fired after admitting he slapped a woman in a wheelchair at least twice and threatened a family of tourists that tried to intervene, according to documents obtained by NBC 7 San Diego. The incident happened sometime in the past two years when the deputy, heavily inebriated at the time, slapped the woman at least twice without provocation, according to a Civil Service Commission document from the Feb. 3, 2016 meeting. The incident happened when the deputy worked in detentions and court services. When a group of tourists from Arizona tried to step in to help the woman, the deputy pulled out his badge, but lied and identified himself as a police officer, the documents say. The deputy knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily stipulated that all of the charges were true at the meeting, according to the document. As San Diego Police (SDPD) officers arrested him, the deputy kicked at the windows and doors of the police car as he was being transported, according to the document. He demanded professional courtesy from the officers and told them they were lucky he didnt have his gun on him. The deputy said in his defense that this case was his only instance of bad behavior in 23 years of military service and police work. Because the act was so outrageous and out-of-character, he argued, it should be discounted. Conversely, he argued that the outrageous nature of the conduct shows that it should be discounted from any estimate of his real character, according to the document. SDSO spokeswoman Jan Caldwell said the deputy's behavior was not representative of the thousands of men and women who worked at the department every day. "Employees make mistakes, employees do things they shouldn't, but this rose to a level that is completely unacceptable," Caldwell said. She said when people go through training to become a deputy, they go through many different types of training, including ethics and how to interact with the public. "You don't assault anyone, for any reason, whatsoever," she said. She said she was glad the case was an outlier; the deputy's behavior was unlike anything she had seen in her ten years with the department. County and Sheriff's officials said the officer personnel records are protected by state law and his name is not being released. "Every aspect of the behavior was reprehensible to this department and that was what happened; then we took a look into it substantiated the allegations and found them to be accurate and that's when he was terminated," Caldwell said. A 7-month-old Chihuahua purportedly stolen from San Diego's Mission Beach is now safe at home after the pooch's family members said they went through great lengths to find their beloved pet. The search ended two differing accounts of the rendezvous and exchange of money for the dog, Peanut, in a North County parking lot. "The whole thing felt like a ransom," said dog owner Catharine, a mother of two daughters who doesnt want to use her last name. "Our dog was held hostage." However, the woman who returned the Chihuahua said she has been unfairly misrepresented by the family. The circumstances surrounding the dogs return arent clear. Cynthia Fonseca said she was not the one who stole the dog she found Peanut in the street and took care of her. "I took this dog in, not knowing where she came from, what she had -- she could've had a disease, Fonseca said Wednesday. I still took her in, gave her shots, we grew a bond with her, we named her Bella. San Diego police said they're investigating the case, which began two weeks ago when the Laguna Beach family was vacationing in San Diego and visited Belmont Park. At the park, Peter, Catharine's husband, said he placed Peanut's small pet carrier on the ground while he purchased tickets for an amusement ride March 19. Within seconds, someone had swiped the family pet and vanished, Peter said. It wasnt until Peter tracked down surveillance footage from a candy store that he realized it was no accident. The video shows a couple quickly walking away while hiding the carrier with a piece of clothing. "These people were professionals. They were unbelievably quick. Unbelievably efficient. If you look at the way they covered up the bag [and] walked together the way they got through the crowd how quickly they got out of the crowd," Peter said. The family launched an exhaustive search and hired marketing specialists to get spread the word of the dog's disappearance. Thats when they got a phone call that their dog had been found and would be returned. This is where the story is disputed. Catharine said she asked the detective assigned to her case if officers could accompany her to the exchange. After they declined, she still went with friends to the arranged location, an Escondido Wal-Mart parking lot. When the girl pulled up to return the dog, she pulled up with several other cars watching us at the same time and videotaping us. I don't know why," said Catharine. "It felt like a business enterprise to me, like this is what these people do, is take people's dogs and try to get money from them." However, Fonseca said there were no other cars there, and she didn't bring any cameras. Right away, they took the puppy from my hands, no thank you, no nothing, they handed me a fanny pack and said here's a thousand dollars cause obviously we don't have $5,000 to give you," she said. A San Diego police spokesperson said its unclear how the handoff will impact the investigation, which is still open. But even if the suspects were caught and convicted, the offense wouldnt carry a large punishment. Police said the suspects would most likely face misdemeanor petty theft charges. Fonseca said all she wants is an apology from the family. "I did not steal this dog," she said. "If I did I wouldn't want my name in public, I'm not hiding, there's nothing to hide, I'm actually trying to become a police officer." San Diego Countys craft beer makers generated $851 million in sales while employing more than 4,500 during 2015, according to the latest annual industry impact update by National University System Institute for Policy Research. The regions craft beer sales in 2015 posted a 17 percent increase over 2014, with the employment count rising 20 percent. In related news, four local companies retained their status among the nations 50 largest craft brewers based on 2015 sales volume, in an annual ranking by the Colorado-based Brewers Association. The 2016 list includes Escondidos Stone Brewing Co. at No. 10, Miramars Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits at No. 11, Mira Mesas Green Flash Brewing Co. at No. 41 and Pacific Beachs Karl Strauss Brewing Co. at No. 46. Ballast Point, which was acquired last year by New York-based Constellation Brands in a $1 billion deal, moved up 20 notches from No. 31 on the 2015 list. National University researchers said local operators of craft breweries and brewpubs numbering 114 at the end of 2015, but recently passing 120 with more on the way face newly emerging industry challenges and policy choices. Those include flattening of local wages, and debates over water usage, land use and housing affordability that could affect the local brewing industrys long-term competitiveness. Industry sales and jobs continue to rise each year in San Diego, but the local marketplace for craft beer is changing, said Vince Vasquez, a senior policy analyst who authored the National University report. Regional marketing efforts and consumer education will be critical in identifying craft brewers in a new era of industry acquisitions and expansions in San Diego. Additional stories from the San Diego Business Journal are available here. Sign up for their free daily email newsletter. Seven students were detained on Tuesday morning across the street from Westview High School in Torrey Highlands as part of a marijuana raid. San Diego police said they were following an anonymous tip on Fallhaven Road about a car with marijuana inside. There, undercover officers discovered two cars were linked to the pot investigation, officials said. Officers declined to provide specifics of what was found or any possible charges against the students. Four of the students are under 18 and three are 18, meaning they can be charged as adults, police said. San Diego police Sgt. Wes Albers said he wants the situation to serve as a lesson to high school students. "For those who are in school that might be adults, what I would ask is they think about the reality that you might be in high school right now, but the world changes the moment you turn 18," Albers said. Westviews principal released this statement to community members: "Prior to the start of school this morning we were alerted by the San Diego Police Department to possible illegal activities taking place across from our campus on Fallhaven Road. We will continue to monitor the situation and are working with the SDPD as they continue their investigation. The individuals involved with this situation have been detained and there are no safety concerns for the students on our campus at this time." Parts of Southern California might face 14 days of electrical power disruptions due to unavailable natural gas after a monthslong leak at a storage facility in the San Fernando Valley, leaders from key energy agencies said Tuesday. The blowout crippled a major energy supply for the region and required a partial shutdown. The storage field has not operated at full capacity since the leak was discovered in October, and the chairman of the California Energy Commission said Tuesday that the partial shutdown could lead to power cuts for up to 14 days as demand skyrockets during the heat of summer. The information was presented at a meeting of staff members from the California Energy Commission, the California Independent System Operator, the California Public Utilities Commission, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The agencies worked together to assess how the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility would impact summer electricity supplies parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties. They submitted a draft plan Tuesday that provided a range of recommendations to minimize the possibility of electrical disruptions during the summer. The field still has some gas in it, but officials are planning for expected shortages when gas is needed to power electric plants during peak summer demands. Gas shortages to electrical power plants supplied by Aliso Canyon could interrupt supplies to customers, according to the agencies. "Aliso Canyon plays an essential role in maintaining both natural gas and electric reliability in the greater Los Angeles area," according to the plan. "As a result, the facilitys limited current operations create a distinct possibility of electricity service interruptions in the coming summer months." Possible actions include the use of 15 billion cubic feet of natural gas preserved in Aliso Canyon to be used during peak demand periods. The gas was preserved through an order by the California Public Utilities Commission. The recommendations include "strong energy conservation programs," such as the state's Flex Alert campaign, which warns residents and businesses to reduce energy consumption on high-demand days. Customers can sign up for alerts, issued by the California Independent System Operator. Those plans and other measures "will reduce, but not eliminate, the risk of gas shortages" that could cause outages this summer, according to the plan. The draft action plan will be discussed at a public workshop with the energy agencies Friday in Woodland Hills. The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Warner Center Marriott, 21850 Oxnard Street. It is estimated the leak, active from Oct. 23 to Feb. 18, released as much as 100,000 tons of methane, the primary constituent of natural gas, and an undetermined amount of different hydrocarbons, sulfur compounds, and other contaminants. Health officials said there was no risk of long-term health problems, although the presence of mercaptan -- an odorant added to natural gas -- could cause temporary discomfort. Many residents reported symptoms such as nausea, headaches and stomach problems, prompting them to move into temporary housing out of the area as teams worked to cap the leak. Paris Jackson will forever be daddy's little girl. Michael Jackson's daughter debuted a new tattoo on Instagram Tuesday that is meant to honor her late father. "'Queen of My Heart' in his handwriting. To everyone else he was the King of Pop. To me, well, he was the king of my heart," she captioned the black-and-white photo. "Thank you @dermagraphink, you're a legend." [[374770021,C]] The photo shows Jackson sporting cropped, bleached hair sitting in the tattoo parlor's chair after the work was all done. She smiles as she looks at her new arm ink. Jackson has opened up about her father in the past, describing him as the person she looked up to the most. In February the "Thriller" crooner's daughter took to Instagram again to call out those who were criticizing her for the way she was living her life, using her father as an example of someone who faced harsh critics regularly. "It's so selfish that I am literally attacked on every f--king thing I post just because people that I DON'T EVEN KNOW aren't getting what they want...I appreciate the love and support, but the expectations are f--king ridiculous," she responded to a critic on the picture-sharing platform. "The expectations for my DAD were f--king ridiculous. He didn't owe you anything, yet he was ripped to shreds DAILY. I will not let that happen to me." [[238904721,C]] After the King of Pop died in 2009, Jackson and her siblings, Blanket and Michael, lived with various family members but spent most of their time with grandmother Katherine Jackson. Jackson also went to a boarding school in Utah, where she reportedly suffered from depression and attempted suicide. A year later, however, the 18-year-old was said to be "doing a lot better." Permanently residing in Los Angeles now, Jackson has been spotted on dates. PHOTOS: Guess the celebrity tattoo PHOTOS: Michael Jackson Forever tribute concert San Francisco has approved a measure making it the first place in the nation to require businesses to provide fully paid leave for new parents. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday after supporters said six weeks of fully paid leave is needed because too many families can't afford to take time off after a child is born or adopted. When the law takes effect in 2017, San Francisco businesses will have to share the parental leave cost with the state. The state already allows workers to receive 55 percent of their pay for up to six weeks to bond with a new child. The money comes out of a state insurance program funded by workers. The proposal requires city employers with at least 20 employees to make up the rest. If an employer provides benefits that equal or exceed this requirement, the ordinance would not apply. "Were trying to balance the needs of businesses and of many families who are struggling to get by," Supervisor Scott Wiener told NBC Bay Area Tuesday morning. "Especially low-income and working class families right now literally having to choose, 'Do I spend time bonding with my child or put food on the table?' And that is a choice no one should have to make." Nume Montoya, a single mother who didn't have the opportunity to take six weeks off from work after the birth of her son, agreed. "I think it's about time, especially for single mothers who work really hard to take care of their kids," she said. Advocates say the legislation is needed because too many families can't afford to take leave, but small business owners say the latest proposal is just another in a long list of city mandates including paid sick leave and health coverage that unfairly target independent owners. Federal law grants workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave. California, Rhode Island and New Jersey are the only three states in the nation that already provide partial pay, with the money coming from employees. Legislators in New York last month approved up to 12 weeks of partial pay. The United States is one of only four countries in the world that does not guarantee paid maternity leave, the others being Swaziland, Lesotho, and Papua New Guinea. Nationally, only 12 percent of workers have access to paid family leave through their employers, and only half of first-time mothers take any paid leave, according Wiener, who is spearheading the legislation. Some workers have it better. New parents who work for the city and county of San Francisco enjoy 12 weeks of leave at full pay, while private employers such as Facebook and Microsoft are generous with leave as a way to retain workers. NBC Bay Area was the first to report in May 2013 that Yahoo began paying new mothers for 16 weeks of maternity leave, and fathers for eight weeks. But Wiener says not everyone works for the city or Facebook. He sees paid leave for full-time and part-time workers as another step toward addressing income inequality, much like the $15 hourly minimum wage legislation that California Gov. Jerry Brown signed Monday and San Francisco approved for workers in 2014. "Fully paid family leave will make it more likely that women will return to work, return to a previous employer and return with the same or higher wages," said Jennifer Reisch of Equal Rights Advocates. For small businesses, however, the proposal is yet another requirement that cuts into their competitive edge, according to Mark Dwight, founder of Rickshaw Bagworks, a company of 30 employees that makes custom work bags in San Francisco. Local businesses don't have the wiggle room to spread costs or turn to deep-pocketed investors, he said. "We are in the most expensive place to do business, and that's all we've got. The economies of scale are just not there,'' Dwight said, adding of the mandates, "It's kind of like, where does it end?'' San Francisco's Small Business Commission, of which Dwight is president, opposed the measure, saying that the increased costs, along with high rents and taxes may deter new business from opening in the city. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce was neutral. Both groups, which represent thousands of small businesses, say these matters are better addressed by the state or federal government. The business-sponsored Bay Area Council, whose members include Google and Microsoft, supported the proposal. Other advocates include: Planned Parenthood, the California Work & Family Coalition, Equal Rights Advocates, the Legal Aid Society Employment Law Center, and The Opportunity Institute. A California bill increasing the amount of paid leave to 70 percent of wages awaits the governor's signature. Advocates say the issue is gaining momentum across the country, much like the debate over a higher minimum wage. "This is another opportunity for San Francisco to stand out and show other jurisdictions that it can be done, and it's feasible,'' said Julia Parish, staff attorney at Legal Aid Society-Employment Law Center in San Francisco. Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees have until 2018 before the requirement takes effect. NBC Bay Area's Lisa Fernandez and Chuck Coppola contributed to this report. An administrator from Hartford Public Schools has resigned amid a police investigation, the NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters have learned. Eduardo Genao resigned yesterday as executive director for compliance. Sources said the investigation involves allegations of inappropriate text communication with a minor out of state. "He began texting her. I guess she ignored it at first because she thought it was him being nice," the victim's mother told Jill Konopka with NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters. The text messages soon became inappropriate, the mother said. "It became very graphic," she told NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters. Police did not name Genao and said no charges have been filed and no one is in danger, but the school department did name him. "It's important to know that -- one, no one's in danger, currently in danger, and we have no indication that any students or staff in the Hartford schools system were ever in danger," Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley said. In a statement, a school spokesperson said they are fully cooperating with investigators and the investigation does not involve any other staff members or students in Hartford. "The Hartford Police Department has informed Hartford Public Schools that Mr. Eduardo Genao is under investigation and the district is fully cooperating with this investigation. As of April 5th, Mr. Genao is no longer employed by Hartford Public Schools. Mr. Genao was employed by Hartford Public Schools since 2005, and his most recent position was Executive Director for Compliance. The alleged victim of this investigation is not a staff member or student of Hartford Public Schools. For further inquiries, please communicate with the Hartford Police Department," a statement from the school department says. Genao worked for Hartford schools since 2005. Authorities in New Hampshire say they're investigating multiple allegations of abuse at the prestigious Phillips Exeter Academy. Tuesday's announcement by Exeter police came as Gov. Maggie Hassan apologized for allowing a teacher to stay on her supporter list during her 2012 campaign. Rick Schubart was forced to resign from the elite prep school in 2011, and has since admitted to sexual misconduct in the 1970s. Exeter police had said they determined the statute of limitations had expired in both cases Schubart acknowledged. But Exeter's police chief said Tuesday his department had received information from the school detailing multiple allegations of misconduct and abuse and is in the beginning stages of investigating each allegation. Police are asking anyone with information to step forward. Schubart hasn't answered phone calls to his home seeking comment. A recording says his message box is full. Among the school's notable alumni since it was founded in 1781 are Daniel Webster, Mark Zuckerberg and President Franklin Pierce. The school didn't immediately release a statement on the allegations. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Police have arrested a Hartford man who is accused of attacking a West Hartford man in his 70s after robbing his Bloomfield Avenue home last Thursday. Tony Villegas, a 37-year-old Hartford man is accused of stealing jewelry and electronics from the victim's home, police said. It appears he randomly chose the home, which is located in a row of large residences, and entered through an unlocked door. The 911 call reporting the attack came at 4:30 p.m., but police said Villegas hit the victim with a rock or brick, knocking him unconscious and the attack might have happened an hour or more earlier. The victim told police he heard a noise on the second floor of his home, and thought his cats knocked something over, but when he went to go see what was happening, he saw a burglar going through the house. It was outside where the confrontation turned violent and escalated when the victim went to take a photo of Villegas' car, police said. The victim was treated at a local hospital and released. Officers found Villegas 2006 Saturn Vue with New York plates at his girlfriends house in East Hartford. At the time of the arrest they were about to use heroin when the detectives went in, Lt. Ted Stoneburner. Police from West Hartford, East Hartford, Hartford and Waterbury worked together to search areas hes known to frequent and located him at a friends apartment in Hartford. Villegas has been charged with home invasion, first-degree burglary, first-degree robbery, first-degree assault on a victim over the age of 60 and third-degree larceny. Bond was originally set at $1 million, but it was lowered to $800,000 when he was arraigned. A court date of April 19 has been set. After the violent confrontation, police put out a warning to residents to call police instead of confronting burglars on their own. UConns student government wants to revoke comedian Bill Cosbys honorary degree because of the numerous sexual assault allegations against him. Cosby's honorary degree was given to him in 1996 when he delivered the universitys commencement speech. UConn's Undergraduate Student Goverment (USG) passed an unanimous proposal to revoke the honorary degree Wednesday. Honorary degrees are the university choosing to associate public figures with our school. And I dont think we should choose to associate someone whos been accused of over 50 acts of sexual violence, said Stephen Porcello, the USG Funding Board Chair Cosby's reputation came crumbling down after more than 50 women accused actor of sexually assaulting them. Dozens of women came forward with claims of sexual assault, some dating back nearly 50 years. The statutes of limitations in most instances have passed. Cosby has repeatedly denied all allegations of sexual misconduct. It wasnt until Dec. 2015 when 78-year-old Cosby was charged in Pennsylvania with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. He pleaded not guilty. USG students said Cosby does not represent their university. If UConn has a commitment to survivors of sexual assault we cant simultaneously say were going to honor this man at our university, Said Haddiyyah Ali, USG's Commuter Senator. A spokesperson for the university told NBC Connecticut in a statement: Were having thoughtful discussions at UConn about the issue, but no decisions have been made so far. USG students say theyve been waiting for a decision since last year. They're asking university administrators for a swift response. Eight other universities in Connecticut have revoked Cosbys honorary degrees. Questions are being raised about whether a man who committed a bank robbery, a carjacking and an attempted carjacking should have been free after an arrest earlier in the week. Michael Munroe, 32, of Raymond, New Hampshire, was arrested March 29 by police in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, for trying to sell heroin to undercover officers at a Wal-Mart. At the time of his arrest, the Union Leader reports that he was wanted by police in Epping, New Hampshire, on a warrant for a home invasion that occurred 10 days earlier. He also had an active warrant for a parole violation. Despite the active warrants, Munroe was released on March 30 following his arraignment on the Tewksbury drug charge and not turned over to police in New Hampshire. Later that day, police say Munroe committed a carjacking in Tewksbury, and attempted another carjacking in Reading, Massachusetts, the following day. On April 1, he robbed the Granite State Credit Union in Seabrook, New Hampshire. He was finally captued on April 2 in Hancock, New Hampshire after assaulting an officer. Tewksbury Police told the Union Leader they "don't know what happened" after Munroe was brought to court on March 30, or why he was released despite the two outstanding New Hampshire warrants. Court officials were also unable to provide any further clarification. Kings Lynn Quakers begin new Still Centre Kings Lynn Quakers begin new Still Centre This month, the Quaker Society of Friends in Kings Lynn are starting monthly sessions of stillness called Still Centre, open to everyone of faith or none, to come together and be silent. The Quaker Society of Friends in Kings Lynn is inviting everyone to step aside from their everyday concerns and join them for a new monthly session of stillness. The first Still Centre will take place on Thursday, April 21, 12.30pm 1pm at the Friends Meeting House in Kings Lynn. Lucy Faulkner-Gawlinski, from the Kings Lynn Quakers, said: Everybody is welcome to join in an open session of stillness. Whether you hold a faith or not, you are welcome to join others in a period of silence to pray, reflect, meditate or simply to be still together. Spending time together in stillness and silence in the midst of the week can be a source of great refreshment. We hope that you will be able to join a session soon. The sessions will be held on the third Thursday of each month at 12.30pm 1.00 pm. Friends Meeting House, 38 Bridge Street, Kings Lynn To understand the context here readers need a bit of history. RedHat is, of course, a company that has been wildly successful commercializing open source software (in particular Linux). It is also a big part of the OpenStack open source cloud computing initiative. Mirantis is a company focused solely on helping companies move to OpenStack. These two parties were once upon a time best of friends with Red Hat making a significant investment early in Mirantis' life. And then things soured, to the point where Red Hat started telling customers that it didn't support its own Linux distribution, RHEL, on Mirantis' flavor of OpenStack. There was lots of back and forth, and lots of minutiae around the move, but essentially it indicated, very publicly, that Red Hat and Mirantis' bromance was finished forever. And since then, all eyes have been on the relative success of Red Hat and Mirantis in the OpenStack space. Which is why today's announcement that Volkswagen is building a private cloud and standardizing on Mirantis OpenStack across all of its individual brands (including Audi, VW, Porsche, Bentley and Skoda) is such big news. Big news for a number of reasons. VW is, after all, a Red Hat shop (or historically has been, anyway). Big news because this is a fantastic proof point for OpenStack, in particular, heading into the OpenStack summit next month in Austin. And big news because, according to sources, Red Hat once again used the "we don't support RHEL on Mirantis" line with VW who reportedly ignored that thinly-veiled threat and went for Mirantis anyway. And finally, big news because VW's intention is to connect all of its cars to the internet within a couple of years. What that means is that the cloud, OpenStack and, ultimately, Mirantis, will power VW's connected and self-driving cars. As the automotive industry shifts to the service economy, Volkswagen is poised for agile software innovation. The team at Mirantis gives us a robust, hardened distribution, deep technical expertise, a commitment to the OpenStack community, and the ability to drive cloud transformation at Volkswagen. Mirantis OpenStack is the engine that lets Volkswagens developers build and deliver software faster, commented Mario Muller, Volkswagen vice president of IT infrastructure. + ALSO: Will self-driving cars become terrorists' best friends? + According to VW, the company followed a "comprehensive and rigorous selection process" that saw Mirantis score a 98 percent execution rate cross the 64 use cases that VW set up for it. Interestingly Mirantis was tested alongside other OpenStack distributions, although the company didn't detail what those other distros were. Muller went into some more details about what VW is trying to achieve here and why the cloud in general, and OpenStack in particular, is the right choice for them. Per Muller: "Digitization lets Volkswagen take advantage of emerging business models, but it requires a more agile IT. The companys traditional infrastructure could not fully support this new business model due to its manual work, specialized hardware, and time-consuming hardware procurement process. With Mirantis OpenStack, Volkswagen is looking to build a new way to deliver applications at any scale, in a global single network, consistent across the brands. And as to why the cloud, and the OpenStack cloud in particular, again from Muller: "The era of digitalization presents new business models through IoT, big data, and faster application development. However, these business models create significant challenges for IT, doubling storage volume every two years and requiring real-time procurement of resources. Cloud computing is the best way to future-proof our IT for this new business reality. OpenStack is the largest open source project and backed by hundreds of technology vendors and tens of thousands of community contributors around the world. No single proprietary vendor, over time, will be able to keep up with the innovation cycles of OpenStacks open source development model. We think this approach not only removes any vendor risk for VW, it also lets us take advantage of new developments in cloud computing faster as those advances will be quickly absorbed into OpenStack or created within OpenStack." Never one to be brutally honest, Mirantis co-founder Boris Renski had this to say about the deal: "Volkswagen evaluated several major OpenStack distribution vendors and it came down to Mirantis versus Red Hat at the end. Volkswagen brought Red Hat and Mirantis teams to Wolfsburg, Germany, where the companies demonstrated capabilities of their respective OpenStack distributions across 64 different use cases. Mirantis OpenStack emerged on top with an execution rate of 98 percent. Mirantis OpenStack will be used for Volkswagen group cloud across all 12 brands, spanning dozens of data centers and thousands of compute hosts." It's a safe bet that Jonathan Bryce, the executive director of OpenStack and someone who has borne a massive load of criticism about the project, will have a grin from ear to ear upon the public release of this information. Not so for Red Hat which will no doubt be a little bruised by the news. I reached out to Red Hat for comment but have not yet received a response. Oh man, what a shame, Italys Hacking Team had its global export license revoked, and now it cant sell its spyware outside of Europe without getting special approval. It hasn't even been a year since the Hacking Team became the Hacked Team, but after being owned, the company apparently didnt crawl off and die. The Hacking Teams newest woes, which were first reported by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, means the company cant easily conduct business as usual by selling its Remote Control Software to just anyone who wants it. The Italian newspaper reported that the Hacking Team cant sell outside the EU without jumping legal hoops for the following 46 countries: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, India, Iraqi Kurdistan, Jordan, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mongolia, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Peru, the Philippines, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Help Net Security reported that sources within the Italian Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) claimed the Hacking Team had previously been granted authorization on April 3, 2015, to sell to those countries after an evaluation by the Advisory Committee for the Export of Dual-use Goods deemed the list of countries consistent with the public interest at that time. The same committee now revoked the authorization two years before it would expire, on April 30, 2018 by offering the following explanation: The authorization is not in the public interest anymore. Hacking Team CEO David Vincenzetti, who is reportedly under investigation for some of the deals he has made on foreign soil, told Il Fatto Quotidiano that not all of the 46 countries listed in the document are really its trading partners, yet he wouldnt provide a list of countries that are buyers of its surveillance malware. Sadly, Hacking Team spokesperson Eric Rabe doesnt foresee any problems obtaining permission on a country-by-country basis. He told Forbes, The global license has been suspended by MISE but Hacking Team still has approvals for all countries within the EU, and the company expects to be given approvals for sales to countries outside the EU as well as needed. The investigation regarding David Vincenzetti seems to be a review of past sales, all of which were conducted in accordance with laws and regulations in place when the sales were made. The Hacking Team refers to their products such as Galileo as lawful intercept technology sold to government and law enforcement agencies. The company claimed that it didnt sell to blacklisted countries or those that facilitate gross human rights abuses. Really? Reporters without Borders has labeled the Hacking Team as an enemy of the Internet, and Citizenlab mapped the Hacking Teams untraceable spyware. It sure did look like Hacking Team sold their spyware to repressive regimes. If encryption is something to be feared in the hands of terrorists, WhatsApp just delivered them a tool that will give the FBI nightmares much worse than the encryption on iPhones. WhatsApp enlisted the help of Open Whisper Systems to implement the encryption, and according to that companys blog, This includes chats, group chats, attachments, voice notes, and voice calls across Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, Nokia S40, Nokia S60, Blackberry, and BB10. This will likely drive law enforcement crazy, the FBI in particular, because it makes it impossible for WhatsApp to obey court orders to decrypt specified communications. Even if it wanted to comply, it couldnt. The encryption is set up between the endpoints in the communication and WhatsApp just moves the traffic. Unlike the case with the San Bernardino terrorists iPhone, theres nothing WhatsApp could do or technology it could create to change things. This should trigger a renewed sense of urgency from the FBI and other proponents of backdoors that allow encryption vendors to decrypt on demand when presented with a court order. Because WhatsApp has no backdoor, it would take legislation mandating one to change things, assuming the company chooses not to install one voluntarily. So the wrangling over this issue that had been embodied in the court case about Apples refusal to comply with an order to disable the brute-force protections on the San Bernardino iPhone will begin anew. Only this time since theres nothing WhatsApp can do or create to make communications it facilitates accessible to third parties, legislation will be required. And that means more public debate of the issue. The issue seemed to have moved to the back burner when the FBI got someone else to crack the terrorists iPhone and abandoned its legal battle with Apple to do it. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, says its likely that he will pass around such proposed legislation this week. The issue was never going to go away, but WhatsApps move means its back and likely to get attention sooner rather than later. The second largest car manufacturer in the world, Volkswagen Group, will use the open-source cloud computing platform OpenStack to build a private cloud that will host websites for its brands VW, Audi and Porsche, and be a platform for innovating automotive technology, the company announced today. +MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Mirantis beats out Red Hat for big VW OpenStack deal | Jeff Bezos to shareholders: At 10 years old, AWS is bigger than Amazon was and growing faster + For the past two years VW officials at the companys Wolfsburg, Germany, headquarters debated what platform to use. VW decided to first build a private cloud based on OpenStack that will eventually span thousands of physical nodes across multiple data centers in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Eventually VW hopes to incorporate public cloud resources to create a hybrid cloud, said officials with VWs consultant, Mirantis. When fully built out VWs private cloud could be one of the top five or 10 largest OpenStack-based clouds in production, said Mirantis co-founder and chief marketing officer Boris Renski. According to the OpenStack Foundations user survey in October 2015, only 7% of OpenStack production deployments surpassed 1,000 nodes. Only 2% of OpenStack deployments were in the industrial/manufacturing industry. The Group IT Cloud is a new way to deliver Volkswagen applications at any scale, in a single global network, consistent across VW brands, wrote Mario Mueller, Corporate Director IT Operational Services & Infrastructure Technologies, Volkswagen Group in an email interview. Over time, all net new applications will run on this cloud which will naturally replace most of the legacy systems. Its built entirely atop x86 hardware, using a Red Hat operating system and the Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM) hypervisor (95% of OpenStack production clouds use KVM, OpenStacks user survey shows) with Mirantis licensed OpenStack distribution provisioning the virtual machines. VW officials said theyre using OpenStacks Nuetron/OVS/VXLan technology for networking and Ceph for storage, with others likely to be added. Renski said VW is in the midst of choosing a platform as a service (PaaS) layer to act as an application development and hosting environment that would run on top of the OpenStack IaaS. In the final stages of the vendor vetting process, VW officials conducted an evaluation assessment across 64 use cases before choosing Mirantis, which bases its software entirely off of code from the open source project. Mirantis packages the open source components into a product bundle to ease installation and management and provides 24/7 help desk support, basic triage of bugs plus continuous updates and patches of the software. Cost savings will derive from the flexibility not being reliant on single vendors any more, Mueller wrote. Though the project was not done with cost savings being a primary consideration. Renski said VW will use the platform to help produce cutting-edge technology, like self-driving car applications. Far more important is VWs new agility to develop applications and the faster time to market since VW is transforming from a product to services company, Mueller wrote. Its not everyday you could have the opportunity to buy a piece of space but Christies London auction house will on April 20 offer about 80 meteorite pieces and a bunch of space rock paraphernalia to go along with them. +More on Network World: + The meteorite collection is made up of a variety of sample space rocks from private and public collections with some items expected to fetch over a million dollars at the auction. Arguably the most interesting space rock up for sale is one known as the Valera Meteorite which is purported to have killed a cow. The Christies entry for Valera looks like this: VALERA METEORITE THE ONLY DOCUMENTED METEORITE TO HAVE KILLED One face is cut and polished. The multi-hued variegated matrix is embedded with sparkling metallic grains, and a single large metallic inclusion is at the left margin. Blurred chondrule boundaries evidence heating on its parent asteroid long before its brush with Earth and a cow. An echo in miniature of the devastating asteroid believed to have killed off the dinosaurs, it was on the evening of October 15, 1972 that farmhands in Trujillo, Venezuela were startled by an inexplicable sonic boom. The next day an exotic rock was found alongside a cows carcass whose neck and clavicle had been pulverized. It was obvious to the farms owner, physician Dr. Argimiro Gonzalez, what had occurred, but he didnt give it a second thought since mayhem from falling meteorites seemed intuitive. An unplanned steak dinner was enjoyed that night and the celestial boulder was used as a doorstop. More than a decade later scientists confirmed what Dr. Gonzalez had long presumed. However, what Dr. Gonzalez didnt know was that this was the first and still the only documented fatal meteorite impact. When Dr. Ignacio Ferrin, an astronomer at the University of the Andes, learned of the act of bovicide that had occurred at Valera, he visited the Gonzalez estate and left with an affidavit affirming the aforementioned events as well as the meteorite itself. +More on Network World: NASA identifies Top Ten space junk missions+ Another historic space nugget, The Wold Cottage meteorite is also on the auction package. From Christies: The Wold Cottage meteorite played a crucial role in the scientific communitys acceptance that rocks could indeed fall out of the skya notion previously met with disbelief or considered heretical. On December 13, 1795, Wold Cottage crashed to Earth just yards from farmworker John Shipley. Edward Topham, the owner of the Wold Cottage estate, was away in London at the time, but he hurried home after reading accounts in the press. Topham was a well-known bon vivant with a sterling reputation. Certain that the stone was of great import, Topham arranged to have Wold Cottage placed on exhibition in London, helping to sway public opinion to embrace Shipleys extraordinary claim. The scientific community took note, especially after Wold Cottage proved similar to a rock reported to have fallen out of the sky eighteen months earlier in Siena, Italy.The fact that two stones from different localities had common characteristics convinced many scientists of their possible extraterrestrial origin. This is an uncommon offering of an extremely historic meteorite. The meteorite that might bring the highest bid because of its size, 1,400 lbs and significance -- is the Brenham meteorite. According to the Christies write-up: As evidenced by its shape, this meteoriteunlike the vast majority of other meteorites did not tumble or change its vertical axis as it plunged through Earths atmosphere. The parabolic "heat shield" curvature seen here was sculpted at exceedingly high temperatures, and is the most efficient angle at which heat deflects from a falling object. This is the reason NASA engineers studied this parabola in other oriented meteorites when designing the heat shields for the first manned space capsules. The smoothness of the surface is the result of the melting process in Earth's upper atmosphere in which olivine crystals melted and exposed tendrils of the nickel-iron matrix in a process that repeated until the meteorite slowed to terminal velocity. A significant fraction of the meteorite vaporized or ablated off its edges during its descent. The ablative heat shield-like action pushed the hottest gasses (referred to as the shock layer which is hotter than the surface of the sun away from the meteorite). Check out these other hot stories: DARPA takes first step to develop technology that launches volleys of drones FAA doubles altitude limits for business drones US Federal Courts warn of aggressive scammers DARPA $2M contest looks to bring AI to wireless spectrum provisioning NASA competition could net you $1.5M for next great airship FBI grows Cyber Most Wanted list with Syrian Electronic Army members IRS: Top 10 2015 identity theft busts The transition of 3.7 million Verizon landline customers in California, Florida and Texas to Frontier Communications, as announced on April 1 of all days, continues to be a mess due to a combination of technical and communications issues. Unhappy landline phone, broadband FiOS Internet and video-on-demand customers have vented to Frontier support, including on social media sites, to express their frustration. Some have blamed Verizon as well, for not ensuring its residential, small/medium business and enterprise customers would receive a smooth transition after grabbing its $10.54 billion in the sale and shifting 9,400 of its employees to Frontier. (Though Verizon has blamed uncertainty round federal Internet regulation (i.e., net neutrality) for forcing it to sell the assets in the first place.) MORE: More than 4,200 comments have been left on a cheery Frontier Facebook post from March 31 that exclaimed: "We're excited to announce that on April 1, Verizon home services in California, Texas and Florida will move to the Frontier Communications network. This means that if you currently have Internet, TV or Voice service, it will be provided by us. We will continue to provide the same products and services you currently enjoy with Verizon. For more information, please visit: http://meetfrontier.com/how-to-videos/billing-videos" Facebook While I haven't pored through all 4,200-plus comments, it's clear that there are way more negative than positive ones. More than 430 people have used "angry" Facebook reactions, whereas about 100 thumbs up and hearts have been used on the post. To Frontier's credit, it has kept the post pinned to the top of its Facebook page and diligently responded to customer complaints and questions. Its @AskFrontier Twitter handle assures customers that the company has tech support on duty 24/7 this month. The beleaguered are threatening to find alternatives, such as Google Fiber. A sampling of complaints: *"Frontier must be transferring customer accounts with paper and a pencil. If VOD ever does work, I won't be surprised if it is an etch-a-sketch." *"Another unhappy customer here. We pay a lot of $$ for the service that is down right now. I think we deserve a refund" *"At least some people get a response from this company on here. I just dont understand scripted responses to serious problems. Going on day two with no service at all. Fix it now or come pick up your equipment. It is unacceptable to not give answers to anyone. What exactly is the problem? When will it be fixed? Those are questions that you won't answer and truly need to be addressed.like I said if it is not fixed today I will canceling all my service with your company and begin a lawsuit for all the money I'm losing." *"What a horror story this has been. I can't even download a file and my connection keeps getting dropped. I'm about ready to switch back to cable. The upload may be slow but at least it works. All I am hearing is complaints from all my friends about your switch. Your CEO needs to start telling the truth." Complaints about the crossover to Frontier started early, including by those who were blindsided by the fact that it was even happening, reports The Consumerist. And local news outlets have been raising questions about if problems for Frontier will ever end (i.e., Tampa Bay Times: "Can Frontier regroup after its bungled Verizon FiOS takeover? Or will this get ugly?") Meanwhile, California, Florida and Texas continue to be the trouble report hotspots on the downdetector site's Frontier outage map. There have been rumors floating among Microsoft enthusiast sites that the company plans to replace its Lumia brand with a Surface branded phone, bringing it at least into name parity with the more successful tablet line. Now Windows Central, which has a decent track record on mobile news, saysthat there will be a Surface Phone line, but not until next year. In the meantime, there would be a marginal effort with the Lumia, a $7.7 billion mistake that can be blamed on the prior CEO. WC theorizes this is to continue Windows 10 Mobile development, give OEM partners time to make new hardware and give Microsoft time to come back with a bang. As it stands, Lumia accounts for 97% of the Windows Phone market, according to AdDuplex. How that changes, when Microsoft will remain an active competitor in the hardware space, is beyond me. Yes I know Google has its own branded phones, made by partners. But those phones serve more as a high bar for the rest of the industry. They are not actively competing with Samsung and LG. Microsoft has two major updates to Windows in the pipeline, codenamed "Redstone." Redstone 1 is due this summer, while Redstone 2 will hit in early 2017. Now Intel has a new generation of processors called "Kaby Lake" due at the end of the year, so it stands to reason that new generation PCs and Surface tablets with Kaby Lake processors will come out at the same time as Redstone 2, or at least reasonably close. If there is a new Surface tablet launch in early 2017, it would be logical to release branded phones at the same time. WC said that Microsoft is considering three different models of Surface phones, for consumer, business, and prosumer/enthusiast. What that means is not clear but it will likely mean variations in hardware specs. The business phone fits a comment made at Build last week, when Aaron Woodman, a marketing exec, told a Russian news site that the company sees business users are a target market. Conspicuously absent from this new line of thinking is the low end, which is where the Lumia brand has done well, especially in Europe and emerging countries. So it looks like Microsoft may, repeat may, be looking to dump the one market it's had success. And it still remains to be seen how Microsoft will lure back developers, even with the Universal Windows Platform to simplify porting. Windows Phone 8 was a great platform. I really, genuinely liked it. But it had no apps. And that will be the undoing of the Surface Phone, too. Champaign, IL (61820) Today A mix of clouds and sun with gusty winds. High 79F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 15 to 25 mph. Relief from low vitamin D levels could now be just a spray away thanks to an award-winning vitamin D oral spray that could help boost the vitamin D levels of those with chronic heart failure, resulting in improved heart function, according to a recent study. BetterYou, who are pioneers in transdermal magnesium and oral vitamin sprays and are at the forefront of research into vitamin D levels, welcome research led by Dr Klaus Witte from the University of Leeds, which highlights vitamin D deficiency as a result of our western lifestyle choices and the need achieve an effective level. The research involved 160 patients already being treated for heart failure. Over the course of a year, those who took the vitamin D3 (100mcg daily equivalent to 4000IU - International Units) experienced a great improvement in heart function compared to those who took the placebo, with the results being the best seen "in a generation", according to Dr Witte. 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. 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. Ulster University will shortly be releasing the results of its trial comparing tablets and oral sprays. Dr Charles Heard, who lead the Cardiff University absorption trial, explains: The ultra-fast uptake is due to the very absorbent tissue within the mouth and the close proximity of a rich vein network. In some cases it is close to that of IV or intramuscular injections. The research findings also reveal that our vitamin D levels decline with age and that an unnecessary elevation of calcium can be bad for your heart. The Department of Health recommend 10mcg (400IU) of vitamin D for those aged 65 years and over [3]. Vitamin D is required in the body to make proper use of calcium for stronger bones and teeth and for the maintenance of a healthy immune system. A lack of vitamin D reduces the bodys ability to absorb calcium into the bone. BetterYou, the makers of the DLux range of vitamin D oral sprays, works with Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust to provide a simple, affordable and accurate home testing kit for everyone to take control of their own vitamin D requirements. Testing is carried out by City Assays, who use liquid chromatography mass spectrometry to measure the Vitamin D in the blood. A clear interpretation of the vitamin D level is then sent to the customer. Customers are offered supplementation advice, along with a complimentary DLux daily vitamin D oral spray to help raise levels to adequate amounts. Andrew Thomas, founder and managing director of BetterYou, said: People are using brain-machine interfaces to restore motor function in ways never before possible - through limb prosthetics and exoskletons. But technologies to repair and improve cognition have been more elusive. That is rapidly changing with new tools - from fully implantable brain devices to neuron-eavesdropping grids atop the brain - to directly probe the mind. These new technologies, being presented today at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) annual conference in New York City, are mapping new understandings of cognition and advancing efforts to improve memory and learning in patients with cognitive deficits. Eavesdropping on neurons "A new era" of electrophysiology is now upon us, says Josef Parvizi of Stanford University who is chairing the CNS symposium on the topic. "We have gotten a much sharper view of the brain's electrophysiological activity" using techniques once relegated to science fiction. Over the past decade, scientists have gathered a wealth of new data via grids of sensors inserted into the top layers of the brain. "You can basically eavesdrop on each millimeter of the human brain in real-time using 300-400 sensors, recording simultaneously from a large mantle of the human brain." That data, combined with new data mining and processing techniques, has led to an explosion in studies involving humans. "Just compare recent papers in humans and non-human primates," says Gyorgy Buzsaki of New York University (NYU). "In the latter case, 2 or 3 subjects are used with typically fewer than 50 recording sites, and a typical papers is based on 100-200 neurons. In contrast, observations in humans report on dozens of patients and an order of magnitude more data than in monkeys." Buzsaki, who is presenting at the CNS meeting today, has been working to understand the syntactical rules of the brain - how information is parsed, packaged and transmitted. He thinks the answer is in the self-generated rhythms of the brain. His work has found that nearly all brain rhythms are preserved through mammalian evolution. Despite a 15,000-fold brain volume increase from the smallest to the largest mammal, "the dynamics of brain rhythms vary remarkable little across species," he says. In a new study, Buzsaki and colleagues have been studying epilepsy in rats, specifically looking at interictal epileptic discharges (IEDs). Distinct from epileptic seizures, IEDs can impair memory in epilepsy patients. The new results suggest that the IEDs hijack the physiological patterns connected to memory consolidation, including during sleep. "Eliminating IEDs would be an ideal solution," Buzsaki says. Short of that, scientists may be able to decouple IEDs from electrochemical signals associated with memory consolidation. To help support such interventions, Buzsaki has been working on a new tool for recording and stimulating signals from the cortex. The scalable system offers higher spatial resolution for the superficial cortex layers and, unlike the commonly used subdural grids, sits atop the brain rather than penetrating it. "Young students of cognitive neuroscience are lucky to be in the midst of a new era where we have access to amazing new tools of science for eavesdropping on the population of cells with a superb temporal resolution," Parvizi says. Stimulating for memory deficits "Brain disease is a growing socioeconomic problem," says Dejan Markovic of UCLA. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and epilepsy alone affect millions of patients a year. Neuromodulation - adjusting the electrochemical signals at the neural level - offers a potential solution. Today's technology is inadequate for treating complex diseases at the network level, Markovic says: "Drugs have very limited success, making the development of new neuromodulation technology for treating cognitive and psychiatric disorders a major medical and social priority." Tackling this is a challenge, as the brain is a massively parallel, complex system: about 10 layers of cells sit between the regions of the brain that handle our senses and our cortex, where memories are stored. And each cell has thousands of connecting points to other cells with multiple branches. Since mapping out the basic neuroanatomy of neural cells in the late 1800s, scientists have worked to understand how these cells dynamically interact. Some scientists think the secret is in short electrochemical pulses exchanged between neurons - the language of the brain. In work previously only possible in animals, scientists are now recording these signals directly from the brain and in some cases trying to stimulate the brain with those signals to help patients with cognitive deficits. Markovic - with an interdisciplinary team including Lawrence Livermore National Labs, UCLA, and UCSF and a grant through DARPA - is working on a platform technology for such brain stimulation. Epilepsy patients commonly have electrodes implanted in their brain to help doctors pinpoint the location of their seizures. The team is using these already-implanted electrodes to record and stimulate the activity of single neurons and small neuronal populations during the patients' 2-3-week-long hospitalization. Some patients receive a chronic implant that uses surface and depth electrodes for sensing and stimulation. The project builds off past work demonstrating memory strengthening by stimulating the brain's entorhinal region, the gateway to long-term memory storage in the hippocampus. As Markovic is presenting at the CNS meeting today, the team is starting animal testing of a new system and will test in humans sometime this year. Among their goals for this system are: a higher density electrode array to allow for more precise targeting on neurons, new recording circuits that vastly increase the volume of data captured, and a new wireless power and telemetry technology that allows for real-time data transmission from the brain. The hope is to develop a neuroprosthetic that could not only help patients with epilepsy and TBI but also those suffering from depression, anxiety, PTSD, and other neuropsychiatric disorders. What makes cognition especially challenging as a target of this technology, as opposed to motor behavior, is that memory function is represented by sparse and partially overlapping neural networks consisting of millions of neurons, Markovic says. "Obviously, access to all these neurons with the interface and recording technology that we have today is not possible, and clinical neuroscientists have to work hard to make inferences from very limited data they can access," he says. "Our technology will greatly increase the efficacy of neuromodulation and enable access to broader patient population." While the work of Markovic and his colleagues "may well be science fiction at this point," Parvizi says, "their research will definitely push the envelope, and all of us will benefit from it." In this new era of big neural data, "new analysis and theory are needed to make sense of data leading to discoveries," says Xiao-Jing Wang of NYU. His work combines experimental data computational modeling of oscillations in the brain to understand the many feedback systems across different scales in space and time. With help from volunteers, Anne Marie Clarke estimates she has planted about 5,000 trees in Amherst County in the last nine years. Wow. She started the Amherst Tree Buffer Program in 2007 to help landowners create riparian buffers along streams and rivers. The worst consequences of erosion, pollution and flooding can be diminished by planting trees along a rivers edge. Trees help stabilize banks and provide shade for aquatic life in the river as well as habitat and food for other wildlife. They also limit pollutants by absorbing runoff before it gets to the river. Clarke, the Amherst Watershed Coordinator for the Robert E. Lee Soil & Water Conservation District, realized many non-farming landowners needed help creating riparian buffers. The state provides cost-share programs for agricultural producers, but not all landowners are farmers. So with help from a variety of funding sources, including the Virginia Department of Forestry and the Chesapeake Conservancy, Clarke secures grants to purchase trees and kits to plant them at no cost to the landowner. In recent weeks, Clarke has been working on a 900-foot buffer along Rutledge Creek, just off U.S. 60. One morning, I joined Clarke, her Randolph College intern Emily Phillips and Central Virginia Master Naturalist Cynthia Haney to see the process firsthand. Digging holes uphill from the creek proved challenging as each stab of the shovel seemed to hit rock. After getting a hole wide and deep enough, we planted a variety of native hardwoods including silky dogwood, redbud, sycamore, pin oak, willow and red maple. The two-year-old trees are planted with bare roots. A tube is slipped over each tree to protect it from deer and other critters. A weed mat then goes around the tree to reduce weeds and hold moisture. The tube is staked and a net slipped over top to keep the birds out. Reusable ties bind the tube and stake. Clarke plants the trees in the spring when there is ample moisture in the soil because there is no feasible way to water them. Nonetheless, the program boasts an 80 percent survival rate. Haney has helped plant hundreds of trees and says there is nothing more satisfying than going back to a site in five or six years and seeing how well the trees are doing. Lucy Shields is another landowner benefitting from the program. When she and her husband Bill moved to a home along the Buffalo River in 2012, they had no idea how much the river could change its course from year to year. They contacted Clarke and decided tree plantings would be the best way to prevent their topsoil from being washed downstream. Anne Marie has been an enormous wealth of information, Lucy Shields said. While Lucy and Bill Shields pitch in to plant trees in their multi-year project, Clarke said some property owners are unable to help. She relies on master naturalists and other volunteers and is always looking for more. Interested Amherst landowners should contact Anne Marie Clarke before Dec. 1 at (434) 851-7043 or anne.clarke@releeconservation.com. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. RUSTBURG In a presentation to the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, schools Superintendent Robert Johnson said a little more than $1 million had to be taken out of expenditures to balance the schools budget. Johnson said during Tuesdays meeting the schools budget includes a 2-percent raise for teachers, mostly paid for with state money, and a 1 percent raise for administrators. Soon after the announcement was made, he was advised by the Virginia Department of Education the school board was not allowed to divide the raises that way The school division asks for level funding, about $27.9 million, from the county and makes no carryover request. The budget also accounted for a 12.5 percent increase in health insurance costs and an increase in required Virginia Retirement System costs. Until state funds are restored to 2008 levels, there is no windfall for money for schools, he said. To balance the budget, cuts were made by reclassifying a high-level position, reducing fuel expenses and reducing the number of buses to be replaced from four to two. Borland said there is a perception Campbell County school administrators are paid too much. He asked if it could be restructured so there was a 15 percent cut and a 2 percent raise added on top. Rustburg Supervisor Eric Zehr said he would be interested in seeing how salaries compare with administrators in other counties such as Appomattox, Bedford or Amherst counties. The school board budget will be included in the county budget to be released next week. In other business, the Board of Supervisors approved a $15.5 million five-year Capital Improvement Plan. 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 Govt tinkering with Budget Moonilal This is a sham, Moonilal said. There is no new economic policy or incentive plan. What we are seeing is just tinkering with small change here and there. It is an attempt to mislead the population into believing that the Government has a plan. All they do is review, audit and consult. Newsday exclusively reported yesterday that Finance Minister Colm Imbert is due to propose an additional $16 million in funding for Parliament to cover MPs expenses. This will be part of a $559 million variation package which will see no increase in the Budget but shifts between heads due to realigned portfolio responsibilities. However, it remains open to the Government to announce matters not related to fiscal policy or matters which do not require budgetary appropriation in the current year. The Standing Finance Committee is due to meet today ahead of Fridays sitting of Parliament. 'He Had the Chance to Go in and Save the Children' (Newser) Ace history students might remember that Hannibal led his Carthagian army across the Alps around 200BC and soundly defeated the Roman army in one of the most epic military maneuvers of all time. But not even actual historians can tell you with any degree of certainty where Hannibal crossed those mountainsuntil now. Researchers think they've solved the mystery after finding a "mass animal deposition," they write in a press release out of Queen's University in Belfast. In other words, they found a lot of manure, they're nearly certain it's from horses, and they can date it to the time that Hannibal was making his crossing with 15,000 horses, not to mention 37 elephants and 30,000 troops. The answer to future trivia questions: Hannibal crossed at a pass known as Col de Traversette, near Grenoble in France and Turin in Italy. The locale has been floated as a possibility previously, but without proof. The search team did their digging near a pond, "one of the few in the area that could have been used for watering large numbers of animals," writes researcher Chris Allen in the Conversation. The terrain also generally matches the landscape described in ancient history texts. Further genetic testing is being done to confirm that the manure is from horses, and scientists also plan to conduct a radar survey to find evidence of humans and the famous elephants as well. "My sniffer tells me some will turn up, coins, belt buckles, sabres, you name it," study leader Bill Mahaney tells the Guardian. This wouldn't have been the easiest route for Hannibal's army, but Allen writes that he likely picked it because he was afraid of being ambushed on easier routes. The findings have been published in Archaeometry. (Read more Hannibal stories.) (Newser) A beloved doctor was killed when he rushed to help two women injured in a shooting Monday in Centennial, Colorado, KDVR reports. According to the Denver Post, 65-year-old Kenneth Atkinson was shot in the head and torso as he ran out of his house to help the women, who had also been shot. He had been a doctor in Centennial for 30 years. "He cared about his patients, and that came across, Mari Delapp, Atkinson's medical assistant of 15 years, tells KDVR. She wasn't surprised he was killed trying to save others. If Doc saw something, he was just going to help," she says. "That was Doc." The two injured women, 44-year-old Elizabeth Lyons and 46-year-old Laurie Juergens, remained in the hospital Tuesday, KWGN reports. They are expected to recover. Lyon's husband, 46-year-old Kevin Lyons, was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder. Neighbors say the general contractor and father of three unexpectedly started shooting Monday afternoon and didn't stop even after police arrived. Police believe it started as a domestic dispute. Lyons allegedly shot his wife as she ran for help then shot Juergens, a neighbor who tried to come to her aid. In court Tuesday, Lyons yelled at his public defenders, interrupted the judge, and claimed to have hired John Elway's lawyer. A public defender raised questions about his mental health. Besides failing to show up for a civil case in 2013, Lyons has no known criminal history. Charges are expected Friday. (Read more shooting stories.) (Newser) Computers can master ancient games, drive cars, and have social-media meltdowns. But can they continue the work of a master painter who died more than 300 years ago? "That's an appealing question," professor Joris Dik tells International Business Times. Dik, along with assorted developers, art historians, and data scientists, spent 18 months trying to solve it. The Guardian reports the answer is The Next Rembrandt, a computer-generated painting unveiled Tuesday in Amsterdam. The team analyzed all 346 of Rembrandt's paintingsmore than 168,000 painting fragmentsto create software that understands how and what Rembrandt painted. It is a way of keeping the great master alive," says Bas Korsten, whose ad agency was the driving force behind the project. The Next Rembrandt is a 148-million-pixel portrait of a 17th century man wearing a hat that the team hopes could be mistaken for a lost Rembrandt. The 3D printer used to create the image even mimicked the physical texture of an actual oil painting. Dutch News reports not all Rembrandt fans who've seen the work were convinced, quoting one who said they "would expect more accent on the collar and the painting to be sharper." And Korsten admits some people may be upset by the idea that a great artist could be replaced by an algorithm. But he wants to assure art lovers they aren't trying to make Rembrandt obsolete. We are creating something new from his work," Korsten says. "Only Rembrandt could create a Rembrandt. (The mystery of a dismembered Rembrandt was finally solved.) Business / Companies by Agencies Who then should you trust? What is the way forward? Fake motor vehicle insurance policies have flooded the market and this could affect you unless you are vigilant. Millions of dollars are being lost to fraudsters. This not only affects the individuals who are insured under these bogus policies but also affect local government and the insurance providers. If you have bought one of these bogus policies you will only find out when you have had a loss and wish to make a claim. At that point you will realise that you will not get any compensation for your loss or the premiums that you paid.In difficult times when every dollar counts, you want to make sure your insurance policy will actually protect you. So, what do you look out for? Its all about trust.Any official licensed insurance agent should be able to prove they are registered with the Insurance and Pensions Commission of Zimbabwe (IPEC). You can easily check this yourself by calling them directly http://www.ipec.co.zw/, Tel. 443358/443261/443422; Cell: 0772 154 281, 0772 154 282 . Most insurance agents are honest and ethical, but there is a growing number of dishonest agents who are cheating their customers. Instead of arranging the policies with the Insurer, they create fake policies and steal the premiums . Customers only discover the scam when they make a claim and the insurer cannot trace their policy because it doesn't exist. You should always report such cases to IPEC and the police. If your agent is registered, you might be able to make a claim from their professional indemnity insurance that official agents must hold.ZimSelector.com will give you peace of mind because as a licensed and official multiple insurance agent we only deal with leading and trusted insurance brands. This is fantastic news for Zimbabweans at home and in the diaspora as you can now compare and buy insurance and banking products online and reduce your chances of being robbed of your hard earned cash.To give you even more reassurance, on 4th June 2015, the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Dr John P Mangudya endorsed the ZimSelector.com platform as being "well aligned to the RBZ's policy of financial inclusion and as an important platform for those in the Diaspora to invest back home." He applauded the unique attributes of ZimSelector.com stating that "This platform resonates very well with the current trends in ICT. He also congratulated the participating brands for "their willingness to be transparent and also for their commitment towards simplifying products. The participating institutions include: CABS, CBZ Group, CIMAS, Fidelity Life Group, NMB Bank, Nicoz Diamond, Old Mutual Group, Old Mutual Insurance Company (formerly RM Insurance), and Zimnat Insurance Group.Don't be discouraged from insuring your assets though, it is absolutely the correct thing to do just do it safely. One sure smart and safe way is to insure online through www.zimselector.com or the ZimSelector mobile app available on the Google Playstore. You receive your confirmations and documents electronically and will always have a fall back office location and phone line to call.In the meantime however, there is a remedy that the Government is working on to combat the fraudsters. According to Honourable Minister Gumbo, his ministry has consulted the Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ) to introduce electronic insurance cover notes. The project will see insurance companies being linked to databases of Zimbabwe National Road Agency (Zinara) and Central Vehicle Registry (CVR) to ensure no vehicle was licensed without a valid insurance policy.The introduction of electronic cover notes will come with the advantages that include elimination of cheating and issuance of forged cover notes which why you need to take a look at ZimSelector.com where you're kept up to date with technology and most importantly compare your options before buying.Providing financial security for you and your family can never be over emphasised, especially in these tough times. You will find all the information and products you need on www.ZimSelector.com . A friendly customer services team is always available onemail : customerservices@zimsselector.com, Tel (04) 480417, 0775713867, or visit us at 14 Steven Drive, Msasa, Harare, Zimbabwe.You can download a free Mobile App Now (Newser) A Sumatran rhino, whose discovery in the wild last month was "hailed as a landmark conservation success," has died only weeks later, AFP reports. According to National Geographic, the rhino, named Najaq, was captured March 12 in Indonesian Borneo in a trap set by conservationists hoping to move any surviving rhinos to a nearby sanctuary. With only 100 or so left in the wild, Sumatran rhinos are thought to be one of the rarest mammals on Earth. The area where Najaq was caught is considered to be unsafe due to its proximity to mining operations and plantations. The female rhino, believed to be 4 or 5 years old, was in failing health and eventually died from a leg infection, which appears to have been caused by an earlier poaching attempt. The capturing of Najaq was seen as a big deal because it was the first contact conservationists had with a Sumatran rhino in Indonesian Borneo in 40 years. Until 2013, when hidden cameras captured images of the rare rhinos, they were assumed to be extinct on the Indonesian portion of the island. They were declared extinct in Malaysian Borneo last year, Fox News reports. In addition to plantations and mining, Sumatran rhinos are at risk from poaching. Their horns are believed to be good for health, despite scientific research to the contrary. While conservationists are disappointed to lose Najaq, her death won't be in vain. She proved Sumatran rhinos still exist on Borneo and need help to survive. "We will continue protecting them," AFP quotes an Indonesian official. (Read more Sumatran rhino stories.) (Newser) A Los Angeles man has been charged with child abuse for allegedly leaving his baby in the car while he went to a strip club, the AP reports. Authorities say 24-year-old Auwin Dargin left his 9-month-old daughter in the car for an hour last month during an afternoon visit to the club. Authorities say the baby was found by employees of the club and a neighboring business. According to the Los Angeles Times, Dargin would leave the club every 15 minutes to check on the baby. He was reportedly angry when the strip club's manager interrupted a lap dance to tell him they had found his baby in the car. Dargin pleaded not guilty to the charge on Monday. He could face up to six years in prison if convicted. (Read more child abuse stories.) (Newser) Sarah Palin is feuding with notoriously outspoken rapper Azealia Banksand even some of the Alaskan's detractors say this time, she appears to be in the right. Palin has threatened to sue Banks over an NSFW Twitter rantwhich was deleted but can be seen herein which Banks suggests Palin should be gang-raped by black men. Palin tells People that she is suing "on behalf of all reasonable women of every age, race and political leaning." "I've had enough of the unanswered threats and attacks against my family and me," says Palin, who, in an earlier Facebook post, said she would go through her "young daughter's playlist to make sure there hasn't been any inadvertent addition of any anti-woman, pro-rape garbage." Banks appears to have gone on the attack after reading a satirical news article with a fake Palin quote about black people enjoying slavery, USA Today reports. The rapper later "apologized" in a rambling open letter posted on Tumblr. "I want to start this letter off by telling you that I actually, really like you," she said, going on to claim that she had only been kidding, and the language she used referred to group sex, not rape. "Woman to Woman, I hope you will accept my sincerest apology," she concluded, adding: "If Bristol Palin listened to my music she probably wouldn't have all those cotdamn kids!" (Read more Sarah Palin stories.) (Newser) Just a few weeks before he marked his 20th anniversary working for Walmart, Frank Swanson was fired Saturdaypartly for hugging his customers, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The 52-year-old West Plains, Mo., cashier was canned after his supervisors told him his hugging was inappropriate, as well as for selling a gallon container of tea to a customer for 50 cents off the listed price to honor a store policy of matching a competitor's price. The customer reportedly didn't have the competitor's ad, but Swanson, who the Post-Dispatch notes suffered a severe brain injury when he was in eighth grade, took her word for it. A statement from Walmart noted, per KY3, "Letting an associate go is never easy. But part of being a cashier is making sure customers are paying for their merchandise before they leave the store." Swanson says he started his hugging spree in November and was warned about it in January; his bosses told him he had to ask for permission from customers first. A woman who says her husband is one of the managers at Walmart posted on Facebook that Swanson had been overheard joking about not giving customers their change until they hugged him; she added that what he's doing could be considered "sexual harassment." But many regulars at the store who say his hugs and caring attitude brighten their day aren't happy about his firing: There's even a Hugs for Frank Facebook page set up to promote a protest against the store on Saturday. "Walmart was blessed to have Frank as an employee, not the other way around," one customer said in a Facebook post. (A woman's body sat in a Walmart parking lot for months.) (Newser) The boyfriend of a Bollywood actress found hanged in her Mumbai home on Friday may have had a hand in her death. Police say actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh has been charged with assault, criminal intimidation, and abetment to the suicide of Pratyusha Banerjee, the lead actress in the Indian TV drama Balika Vadhu who had also appeared in a dance competition similar to Dancing With the Stars, per USA Today. Authorities say they acted on a complaint from Banerjee's parents, who accuse Singh of abusing Banerjee, 24, over six months, managing her finances, and hiding a child from a previous marriage, per the Indian Express and India Today. Friends say Singh cheated on Banerjee, who was also allegedly abused by his ex-girlfriend, reports India Today. Singh was interrogated by police for two days after finding Banerjee hanging from a ceiling fan in their home in Goregaon on Friday afternoon. He has since been admitted to a hospital with chest pains and is said to be suffering from shock and depression. He's likely to be arrested upon his release in a day or two. "Singh's movements are being monitored as we are trying to corroborate his statement," says an officer. "We have been checking text messages that the duo exchanged. We have obtained transcripts of their conversations that indicate fights between the couple." Surveillance video from the building in which the couple lived is also being reviewed. (This case is eerily similar to another Bollywood suicide.) (Newser) The University of Northern New Jersey looked like any other school: It had a website, a Facebook page, and a crest. Unlike other colleges, however, it was staffed entirely by Homeland Security agents. The Department of Justice announced this week it had indicted 21 people for visa fraud in a sting operation that centered on the fake school, invented in 2013 as a tool to catch those seeking fraudulent student visas to remain in the US. Agents say brokers purchased forged paperwork from UNNJ to obtain visas for 1,076 clients, knowing they would never attend any classes. Some acquired work visas, allowing clients to get jobs at Apple, Facebook, Morgan Stanley, and join the US Army, per ABC News and the New York Times. In exchange, the brokers took home thousands of dollars in commissions. "The University of Northern New Jersey was just another stop on the pay-to-stay tour," says the US attorney for New Jersey. Authorities describe the defendants are mainly naturalized citizens and legal permanent residents. One Chinese national allegedly enrolled dozens of students at UNNJ. "You know that none of these people are going to class?" an undercover agent asked him, per BuzzFeed. "We've been doing this for years, no worries," he replied, according to an indictment. An immigration rep says the 1,076 "students"many of whom are Indian or Chinesehave had their visas revoked and will be investigated by immigration authorities, reports NJ.com. (Read more Homeland Security stories.) (Newser) Starbucks may be heading "home" to Italy, but its largest store ever will be stateside. The coffee company is planning a 20,000-square-foot location in Manhattan dubbed the Starbucks Reserve Roastery and Tasting Room, per the Seattle Times. CEO Howard Schultz describes it as "the Willy Wonka of coffee," per CNNMoney. Housed in a nine-story office building, the locationpart roasting facility, part cafewill be based on the Starbucks Roastery that opened in Seattle in 2014. The doors are set to open in 2018. "In New York, we want to take elements from what we originally created and build something even bigger and bolder, celebrating coffee and craft in a completely unique and differentiated way," Schultz says, per Bloomberg. Small-batch coffee will be roasted on-site, with the beans available for purchase. Customers will also have the opportunity to learn about coffee beans and brewing. Far from New York? Don't fret. Starbucks is considering at least two other Roastery locations: one in Asia and another in the US. (Read more Starbucks stories.) (Newser) Approximately 20 members of NYPD brass, including a number of chiefs, are being implicated in a corruption investigation by the FBI, the New York Times reports. They're suspected of accepting expensive gifts, including tickets to the Super Bowl, according to the New York Daily News. The New York Post reports other gifts include trips to the Caribbean, Rome, Las Vegas, and London. If NYPD members, who are prohibited from accepting so much as a free lunch, are found to have accepted these trips, they could be punished or even fired. But a New York police union says the chiefs and other brass aren't the targets of the investigation, despite FBI agents showing up at their homes to question them as early as 5am. The corruption investigation started with an unrelated investigation into a liquor deal involving two businessmen, Jeremy Reichberg and Jona Rechnitz, with connections to New York mayor Bill de Blasio. A tap of the men's phones revealed their generous treatment of NYPD brass. It's unclear what crime Reichberg and Rechnitz are suspected of committing, but sources say they were getting favors from the NYPD in return for their gifts. An NYPD corrections union president questioned by the FBI denies there was any "quid pro quo" going on. But one NYPD detective has been put on restricted detail after refusing to answer questions from a grand juryconvened for the investigationon whether or not he had ever "fixed tickets" for Reichberg and Rechnitz. Both men have denied any wrongdoing. (Read more NYPD stories.) (Newser) Raffaele Sollecito spent seven yearsfour of them in jailon trial for the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, the roommate of his now-ex-girlfriend Amanda Knox, the Independent reports. Well, all that time getting ground up by the Italian legal system is finally paying off. According to NBC News, Sollecito made his debut as a TV crime expert Saturday on Italian news channel TgCom24. Unsolved-crime show Il giallo della settimana, or The Mystery of the Week, hired him as a "guest criminologist," the Times reports. On Saturday, he weighed in on the 2010 murder of a 15-year-old girl for which her cousin was jailed. "I have been a victim of a miscarriage of justice, I know the faults of the justice system, what happens in jail, and what happens when the media twists the truth," Sollecito, 32, tells the Times. "The usual experts on these shows have seen these things through a windowI have lived them." Sollecito was sentenced to 26 years in 2009 (Knox got 25) for Kercher's murder before both he and Knox were exonerated in March 2015. In addition to his new TV gig, Sollecito is launching Memories, a social network for paying respect to the dead. (Read more Raffaele Sollecito stories.) (Newser) A Florida man who's either seen The Shining one too many times or is being paid by a rum distillery to promote product was arrested Monday for a burglary reported in Marchand it was his body ink that did him in, the Sun Sentinel reports. Cops say surveillance video showed 25-year-old Johnathan Hewett breaking into a house in West Palm Beach on March 21, with the stolen items including a fake Rolex, a real Michael Kors watch, and a gun, the Palm Beach Post reports. Clearly shown in the video, however, was the suspect's "redrum" neck tattoo (in a meta twist, Hewett also has the state of Florida inked onto his temple, which likely also stood out). For non-Shining devotees, the detective who wrote up the report added some context to Hewett's neck ink, writing, "The tattoo is on the left side of his neck and reads RED RUM. If you reverse the letters, it spells the word 'Murder.'" Investigators were able to match the tatted man in the video with Hewett based on an ID from the homeowner (he'd met Hewett before) and info found in the Palm Beach County Jail's tattoo database. Hewett was arrested on charges of burglary, grand theft, and possession of a weapon by a felon, as he'd been in prison before for a robbery conviction and other weapons-related charges. (His tats were way more subtle than this guy's.) Bulawayo24: Who inspired you to do music? Byo24: Do you face any challenges in your career and what are they if any? Byo24: What are your expectations for the future in the music industry? Byo24: Do the fans accept your music? Byo24: How do you come up with the music you are doing? Some say they dream some say they look at what is happening around them. Byo24: Which artists have you collaborated with, local and abroad? Byo24: Do you have albums? Byo24: How about any new releases? Byo24: Whom are you doing this with? Byo24: Tell us about Mukoko, who wrote the song, who directed the video and what does 'Mukoko' mean? Byo24: I notice the video reached 100k views within a week, how do you feel about that? Byo24:T: I expect my brand to grow very much in value and look forward to representing Zimbabwe and Africa at large around the world.T: Yes they do very much. They are pretty excited by it and I am humbled by such support.T: Well, most of my music is directly linked with my personal experience in life, the rest is inspired by what I see around me. The only thing I can dream of is a melody but I would assume I am probably half asleep LOLT: I have collaborated with Cynthia Mare, Ammara Brown, Donald Kanyuchi and Clive "Mono" Mukundu locally and abroad I have only collaborated with Jusa Dementor who is based in the UK.T: I do not have an album yet but it's due for release in July this year. The album will be called Mukoko.T: My latest release is called Mukoko. It's a flirtatious song about a man who is trying to win the heart of a girl but in the process, the girl states her value as a woman and en-likens it and her to a honey comb full of precious and sweet honey.T: I featured a fantastic female vocalist called Ammara Brown.T: I wrote the song and approached Ammara Brown to be part of it where she added on her lines to the song. The video was directed by Walter Chawota from Mr. Elders Films which is a subsidiary of Mr. Elders Creations. Mukoko is a honey comb.T: That's fantastic!! I am thrilled by it. We have set a record in the history of Zimbabwean music. I don't know of any video that has ever received such response in Zimbabwe for as long as I have lived. (Newser) Police say a teacher was arrested Wednesday for bringing a gun to the middle school in Newtown, Conn., the same town where, on Dec. 14, 2012, a gunman shot and killed 20 students and six educators at nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School. The 46-year-old teacher, Jason Adams, has a valid pistol permit, but Connecticut state law prohibits possession of firearms on school grounds. Adams was detained by school security after he was seen with the gun and then arrested by Newtown police who were called to Newtown Middle School, according to Police Chief James Viadero. Adams was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and released, the AP reports. Adams has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to the Newtown public school system, which said in a statement that it has been working closely with local police. "This matter is very serious and troubling, both the Newtown Public School system and the Newtown Police Department took immediate steps to address the matter," the school system said. Newtown police said the department has contacted the state's weapons licensing and permit unit to make them aware of the arrest. Since the Sandy Hook shootings, armed school security officers have been placed at every Newtown school, the Hartford Courant reports. After another teacher saw Adams allegedly carrying the weapon while there were no students in the building due to a two-hour delay, he alerted school officials and the school security officer disarmed Adams. (Read more Newtown, Connecticut stories.) The world's largest primate, Grauer's gorilla, faces warfare and worrying extinction due to illegal hunting and mining. Its endemic populations have rapidly reduced by about 77 % in the last two decades, shows the latest study from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). There were some familiar apes, such as the eastern lowland gorilla, but now these iconic apes inhabit conflict-plagued Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They are close relatives of the mountain gorilla, G. beringei beringei, which resides in the montane forests of the Albertine Rift. In 1998, the primate population counts totalled 17,000, but today the study shows only 3,800 Grauer's gorillas (Gorilla beringei graueri) in the wild. "The crash in the gorilla population is a consequence of the human tragedy that has played out in eastern DRC," explained Jefferson Hall, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. "Armed factions terrorize innocent people and divide up the spoils of war with absolutely no concern for the victims or the environment." Weighing 400 pounds, Grauer's gorillas are the biggest apes in the world. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 drove hundreds of thousands of refugees into eastern areas and sparked off a civil war from 1996 to 2003. With increased mining and foraging for food by miners, the gorillas are threatened. Scientists used an innovative technique to gather information collected by local communities and forest rangers. They were able to accurately identify populations of Grauer's gorillas. Being at a great risk of extinction, the primates were recommended to be on the critically endangered list in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. A lot of funds and effort is required to be invested into reversing the gorilla's situation. The militias in the eastern DRC need to be disarmed, along with the control over illegal mining and poaching. They need to enhance the existing protected areas. "Human dignity and welfare are inextricably linked to the dignity and survival of wild animals like Grauer's gorilla and the ecosystems that sustain them," said Andrew J. Plumptre, lead author of the study. "The outcomes of regional armed conflict have a global impact on our survival. The activity of armed militias controlling mining camps in the Grauer's gorilla heartland is likely to eliminate the Grauer's gorilla entirely. Conservationists are pushing for the establishment of the Reserve des Gorilles de Punia and the Itombwe Reserve, which has strong community support, along with the reinforcement of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, arguing that this would make a huge difference for the gorillas." Their findings were recently published by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Flora and Fauna International and the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature. Kim Jong-Un is dead according to a twitter user. The North Korea dictator was reported to be dead by a false twitter account of Han Min-goo, from the Korean Defense Ministry. Since then the account has been suspended making it appear even more that the announcement could be just a rumor. On April 4, the false account had tweeted, "URGENT. Unconfirmed report from Korean military sources. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been killed or seriously injured. No details." Now rumors are swirling around like wildfire that the dictator had died. There haven't been any confirmed reports, yet many are highly skeptical. According to Mirror, reports say that it was done by military intervention. Another news site says that rumors are spreading that the death might've been caused by a secret assassination operation. The news came after a month of many threats of nuclear bombs from Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, especially toward South Korean and the United States, but also Russia, Japan, and China. Just 10 days ago, a propaganda video was posted revealing a rocket heading to Washington D.C. Then again, it was recently posted on an official North Korea website a video of rockets hitting South Korea's Blue House and other government buildings hit with a ball of fire. The Dail Mail reported, "The ongoing joint exercises have been larger than usual and included a special operation to 'decapitate' the North Korean leadership in the event of a full-scale conflict." Kim Jong-Un has been in office ever since his father, Kim Jung Il stepped down from office after five years. During his time in office, he was known for being very brutal, ordering military officials to kill his own uncle Jang Sung-taek and ex-chief of military staff Ri Yong-gil. Though many see the news of Kim Jong-Un's death as just a fib, if it's true, it can cause great problems for the countries in the Asia Pacific region, India reports. Tokyo: US military bases remain essential to Japans security, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today, as he brushed off comments by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Tokyo should be left to defend itself. Japans alliance with Washington has been the bedrock of its defence since the end of World War II, and the country still hosts 47,000 US troops. I cannot conceive of any situation within the foreseeable future when the US presence wouldnt be necessary, Abe told The Wall Street Journal. Abe has vowed to boost Japans military but he sidestepped a question on whether Japan would play a bigger role in its own defence, saying Tokyo would strengthen its relationship with Washington. By strengthening the Japan-US alliance, well strengthen deterrence and that will contribute to peace and stability in the region, not just Japan, Abe said in the interview with the WSJ, conducted in Tokyo on Tuesday. Abe also said he wanted to push through a huge trans-Pacific trade deal that has been attacked by both Democratic presidential candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. This is the birth of an economic zone that has 40 percent of the worlds [gross domestic product], one that is protected by free and fair rules, Abe told the WSJ, referring to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive multi-nation deal of which Japan and the US are the key players. Through it, the US, Japan and the other countries participating in TPP will achieve great profit and gain chances for growth. Abes comments come after Trump said that US alliances with countries such as Japan and South Korea cost too much to maintain and that they should be responsible for their own defenceunless they bear more of the cost burden. Trump has also suggested that they could develop their own nuclear weapons, a stance particularly controversial in Japan, which is the only country in the world to be attacked with atomic bombs. Asked at a press conference last week about comments by Trump, Abe said that the alliance with the US remains strong and will not change after the US presidential election in November, comments he reiterated in the interview. No matter who will be the next president, the Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone of Japans diplomacy, he said. Japan, which is constitutionally barred from waging offensive war, last year passed new laws that could, under certain circumstances, see its troops fight abroad for the first time since the end of World War II. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. London: A 55-year-old woman has become Britains oldest mother of triplets after undergoing IVF treatment. Glam Sharon Cutts, grandmother of four, gave birth to triplets and gave herself Botox injections and hair extensions to ensure she looked good after the birth. Sharon and her boyfriend Stuart Reynolds, who is 15 years younger to her, became parents of sons Mason and Ryan, and daughter Lily. I knew there was a possibility of multiple births because the doctor put four embryos in me, for a higher chance of conceiving, Cutt was quoted as saying by The Sun. In the UK the National Health Service (NHS) will provide the process only up to the age of 42, so the couple turned to a private London clinic. Cutts, had taken out 15,000 British pounds in loans to fund In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment to have a child with factory worker Stuart, who she met on a dating website. Ive been trained by a doctor to administer Botox. It was important to me to look my best for when the babies were born, Cutts added. The couple brought the babies home last week following their births on March 21. She spent 11 weeks on a maternity ward to ensure the babies were delivered safely. At one stage doctors advised her to consider aborting one of the babies due to the dangers of pregnancy at her age. But she refused and the triplets were born by Caesarean section at Nottingham University Hospital. They each weighed between 4lbs and 5lbs. For all the Latest Viral News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: At least 23 people were killed and 30 others injured today in two separate road accidents in central Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir region, police said. A passenger bus overturned after colliding with a trailer at Harloni Mur in Mianwali district of Punjab province. Eighteen passengers were killed and 30 injured in the accident, a police officer said. The injured were rushed to hospitals of Mianwali, where some of them are reported to be in critical condition. Police said that the accident was caused due to over speeding by the bus driver. In the second accident, five people were killed when a car fell into river Neelum at Falaka Bridge in Neelum Valley of PoK. Five people in the car were killed on the spot, police said. Road accidents are common in Pakistan. Most of the mishaps are caused by reckless driving and bad roads. For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. Islamabad: Pakistan tonight said India had not produced witnesses belonging to the security forces before its Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the Pathankot terror attack. In its first statement after the JIT returned here following its visit to Pathankot and New Delhi, Pakistan Foreign Ministry made no reference to media reports in this country that claimed that the Pathankot attack was stage-managed by India. The report had been sharply condemned in India as double-speak by ISI and Pakistani armed forces. For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps. News / Local by Stephen Jakes A man from Old Pumula in Bulawayo has been fined $80 with an option of 30 days in jail for recklessly keeping his gun leading to its theft.Farayi Moses Chitsa (37) pleaded guilty to the charge when he appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya. The magistrate convicted and sentenced him to pay $80 fine with an option of 30 days in jail.The court heard that on March 25 this year at 6pm Chitsa phoned his wife NMatasha Dube (26) who stays at Sizinda to give his (Chitsa) gun to Bankani Khumalo so that he will hand it to him (Chitsa). Khumalo was not licenced tio possess any firearm and the loaded gun later got stolen before reaching Chitsa.Chitsa was later charged for violating Firearms Act. News / Local by Stephen Jakes A Bulawayo magistrate has sentenced a South African citizen who illegally stayed in Zimbabwe to three months in jail which was wholly suspended before ordering her deportation back to her country.Moalusi Denise Salamina (46) of 4064 Krugersdorp in SA pleaded guilty to the charge when she appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Tinashe Tashaya.The magistrate convicted and sentenced her to three months in jail which was wholly suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour. The magistrate also ordered that she be deported back to South Africa.The court heard that on March 29 this year at 9am accused went to immigration offices in Bulawayo where she had some businesses to do. She approached John Mpofu who is an immigration office who then asked her to produce permit which shows her to be in Zimbabwe legal but she failed. Her passport had no entry certificate this led to her arrest. News / Local by Thobekile Zhou Bulawayo mayor - Martin Moyo could be headed to Dubai after he was invited by His Highness Sheich Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE President.Moyo, is due to attend the sixth annual investment meeting (AIM) in Dubai UAE from 11th to 13th April.Acting Town Clerk Sikhangele Zhou saidAmbassador Hamad Horeb Alhabsi of the United Arab Emirates Embassy in Pretoria South Africa sent the invite to Moyo."I wish to extend to you my sincerest greetings from the United Arab Emirates."Under the Patronage of His Highness Sheich Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, I have the honourto invite you and your esteemed organization to the sixth edition of the Annual Investment Meeting, to be held from 11th to 13th April 2016, at the DubaiInternational Convention and Exhibition Centre".The theme of the sixth edition of AIM will be "The New World of FDI, Key Features and Best Practices"."As the principal host the event, the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Economy will be honoured to welcome you and your esteemed team to participate at the sixth edition of AIM."Your involvement can align with the event's content-rich set of features as either a premium partner, a key sponsor, a showcase at the exhibition, or a speaker at the conference to present your organisation investment policies in specific high growth sectors in frontier and emerging markets, your new modes of market penetration or your new investment strategies".However, council said the invitation is silent on the aspect of funding and the assumption was that all attendant costs had to be borne by Council.The estimated cost for the trip inclusive of travel and hotel accommodation was $2000.Council there recommended that "in principle, authority be granted' for Moyo to attend. News / National by Fidelis Munyoro The hearing into Prosecutor-General Johannes Tomana's request for a judge outside High Court to hear his interdict application commenced yesterday with the Judicial Service Commission conceding to have the matter referred to the Constitutional Court.Tomana, last month, filed an urgent chamber application at the High Court to stop JSC from continuing with the process leading to his possible removal from office. He wants that challenge to be heard by a retired High Court judge or any judge not sitting in the higher court.JSC lawyer Mr Addington Chinake of Kantor and Immerman told Justice Lavender Makoni that his client was not opposed to the referral of the matter to Constitutional Court, but denied that a correct procedure had been followed.He said the matter should not have been brought in the form of an urgent application. In his argument, Mr Chinake placed reliance on the provisions of Section 175(4) of the Constitution."In terms of Section 175(4), it is not necessary to make a formal chamber application for the referral in the form of an application in order to have the matter referred to Constitutional Court," said Mr Chinake."If a constitutional matter arises in any proceedings before a court, the person presiding over that court may and, if so requested by any party to the proceedings, must refer the matter to the Constitutional Court unless he or she considers the request is merely frivolous or vexatious," he added, quoting the proper section of the supreme law.He said where a constitutional issue arises in the matter, the court was bound to refer the case to the apex court. Mr Chinake also brought before the court a notice of what he termed - a 15-point constitutional issues his clients want referred to the apex court for determination.He again based his argument on section 175(4) of the Constitution for the court to decide his request on the basis of whether it was frivolous or vexations. He said the issues he raised could not be said to be frivolous and vexatious considering the nature of the matter at hand.Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who is appearing for Tomana, strenuously opposed the notice saying Mr Chinake's attempt to bring a notice in application proceedings defied logic and lacked substance at law.He said if a chamber application filed, like in the case and the respondents desired their own relief contrary to the one sought by applicant, the procedure to follow was set out under Rule 2229A of the High Court."In terms of the rule they can file a counter chamber application," said Adv Mpofu."This procedure is unknown at law. This court is bound by its own rules and there are many case authorities to that effect. The highest court has made several detailed judgments on the procedure to be followed when one seeks to approach the Constitutional Court."Adv Mpofu also differed with Mr Chinake's interpretation of provisions of Section 175(4) of the Constitution.He said the section allows any person alleging violation of rights as enshrined in the Bill of Rights to make a request for referral to the Constitutional Court.However, the hearing was stopped mid-way after it emerged that the Attorney-General's Office had not been served with the JSC's notice.AG's counsel Ms Fortune Chimbaru said she was not aware of the notice produced by Mr Chinake.She said she could only respond to the document after studying it and needed time for that. Justice Makoni agreed with the parties to adjourn the hearing to April 14 for continuation.Tomana faces possible removal from office due to non-compliance with court orders. He is facing criminal charges at the Harare Magistrates' Courts involving the attempted Gushungo Dairy bombing, was in October last year slapped with a 30-day term of imprisonment for contempt of court after he defied court orders to issue certificates for the private prosecution of Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke and Telecel shareholder Jane Mutasa.Kereke is accused of raping an 11-year-old relative, while Mutasa was facing charges of swindling the company of airtime recharge cards worth millions of dollars. Tomana was fined by a nine-member judges' panel of the Constitutional Court led by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku.The sentence was, however, wholly set-aside on condition that he complied with the court orders and issue private prosecution certificates to Mr Francis Maramwidze and Telecel, failure of which he would be barred from practising as a lawyer in Zimbabwe. Americas police state citizen surveillance modeled after communist Chinas citizen reputation scores Police in the United States are increasingly using a scoring technique to assess citizens potential threat levels, with critics of the assessment methodology seeing little difference between them and police in communist China. As reported by the Washington Post, a recent scenario that played out in Fresno, Calif., is indicative of just how pervasive Americas police state mentality has become, and in an era when the nation is still reeling from the discovery of massive warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency. The Post noted: While officers raced to a recent 911 call about a man threatening his ex-girlfriend, a police operator in headquarters consulted software that scored the suspects potential for violence the way a bank might run a credit report. The program scoured billions of data points, including arrest reports, property records, commercial databases, deep Web searches and the mans social- media postings. It calculated his threat level as the highest of three color-coded scores: a bright red warning. Its for your own good The data center produced information indicating the suspect had a firearm conviction and had been associated with gangs information of this kind that has been available to police departments for decades. The man surrendered to police upon their arrival, and officers credited the intelligence when helping to make the right call; turns out he had a firearm. However, its the accessing of social media and other data by police again, without first obtaining a warrant, as the Fourth Amendment requires that is alarming civil libertarians. That doesnt seem to matter, however. As the debate over NSA surveillance continues, a new generation of technology like the Beware software (even the name is ominous) that the Fresno P.D. uses is spreading to departments around the country, giving them unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens, the Post reported. As you might have expected, police are defending their use of such technology as an important tool that can assist them in identifying terrorists and potential mass shooters. They also claim the technology better protects officers and the public, and can help locate suspects and break open cases. And departments in California, especially, claim the technology is even more important following the San Bernardino attacks. But authoritiessay that this is for the good of the community mentality is always the standard excuse for what becomes a blatant violation of constitutional privacy and due process rights, and frankly are no different than the arguments the federal government was using to justify the NSAs mass surveillance. Civil libertarians, the Post noted, are disputing the justifications, saying that they not only violate privacy but are being implemented without public oversight. Also, they say the potential for abuse or error is extremely high, meaning that laws ought to be implemented to better protect the public. Surveillance and data-processing has to be constitutional As the Post noted further: In many instances, people have been unaware that the police around them are sweeping up information, and that has spawned controversy. Planes outfitted with cameras filmed protests and unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson, Mo. For years, dozens of departments used devices that can hoover up all cellphone data in an area without search warrants. Authorities in Oregon are facing an internal investigation after using social media-monitoring software to keep tabs on Black Lives Matter hashtags. This is something thats been building since September 11, states Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends privacy in the Internet age. First funding went to the military to develop this technology, and now it has come back to domestic law enforcement. Its the perfect storm of cheaper and easier-to-use technologies and money from state and federal governments to purchase it. Not many departments are willing to discuss whether they are using such technology, and that in itself is even more troubling. Most Americans would agree that we should do all that is possible to protect and inform our police, but such measures must pass constitutional muster. Otherwise there is little difference between our republic and the communist and authoritarian regimes the world over. Sources: Washington Post Natural News Bugout.news Submit a correction >> North Carolina voters should rebuke their attorney general for refusing to defend bathroom bill (Freedom.news) In September a county clerk in Kentucky caused a stir, mostly among Left-wing extremists, for refusing to grant same-sex marriage licenses in violation of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer, which mandated that every state redefine marriage to include those between partners of the same sex. Not only was the ruling a horrendous insult to the Tenth Amendment, but it also assailed First Amendment religious freedom. Kim Davis, the county clerk, refused to issue licenses to same-sex couples on the basis that, as a Christian, homosexual sex and marriage are deemed sinful and improper. As you likely recall, her beliefs did not matter; she was roundly criticized by the radical gay, lesbian and transgender community and their allies in politics and the media for failing to do the job she was elected to do (and then mandated to do by the nations highest court). Many called for her removal from office if she continued to deny licenses, though after a short stint in jail she eventually complied. Fast-forward to the present day. The attorney general of the state of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has just announced he will not defend a duly-passed law requiring only biological men to use male public bathrooms and biological women to use only womens public bathrooms. The law was not passed to discriminate against anyone, it was passed to protect the privacy rights of the vast majority of North Carolinians, as well as defend young residents from potential creepers who are only posing as a transgendered person. That said, regardless of your position on the law and/or the political/religious implications behind it, as it stands now, it is a valid statute and one that is already being challenged in state and/or federal court; and it is the attorney generals job to ensure that the state has adequate defense. As reported by Yahoo News: One day after civil liberties groups filed suit to fight a controversial bathroom bill in North Carolina that they say discriminates against the LGBT community, state Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that he would not defend its constitutionality. We should not even be here today, but we are. Were here because the governor has signed statewide legislation that puts discrimination into the law, Cooper told reporters in Raleigh Tuesday. According to Cooper, House Bill 2 (HB2) is in direct conflict with nondiscrimination policies at North Carolinas justice department and treasurers office, as well as many of the states businesses. Though the LGBT community is targeted, he said, it could ultimately result in the discrimination of other groups as well. House Bill 2 is unconstitutional, he said. Therefore, our office will not represent the defendants in this lawsuit, nor future lawsuits involving the constitutionality of House Bill 2. Cooper called the new law a national embarrassment that will hurt North Carolinas economy if not repealed. First of all, if were talking about discrimination, straight men and women in North Carolina could certainly make a case that without the law their rights to, and expectations of, privacy, even in a public place, are being discriminated against. Secondly, Cooper may have his finger on the judicial pulse of his state, but he cannot in any meaningful, convincing way predict what judges and juries will decide when it comes to this particular law, let alone federal courts (especially when the current vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court is filled). It it is indeed unconstitutional, that is up to a court to decide, not him. But even if Cooper is 100 percent correct in his assessment of the legislation, he nevertheless has an obligation as the states highest elected judicial official to defend the North Carolina government in court, regardless of the case. If this law so offends his sensibilities, he had no business running for attorney general in the first place because his sensibilities are immaterial to his duty a his states chief legal advocate. He should resign; if he wont, he should be forced out. In the meantime, dont expect to hear any outcry from the same lunatics who were ready to all but lynch Kim Davis in Kentucky over her initial refusal to violate her own closely-held Christian beliefs. If there is one constant about Left-wing extremism, it is hypocrisy. As an aside, when a nations political system and social values become so fractured and maligned by fanaticism that neither is capable of recognizing even basic sexual and gender distinctions, how far away can the end really be? Freedom.news is part of the USA Features Media network. Submit a correction >> Doug Menuez / Getty Images BETHEL State officials will hold a community forum Thursday to discuss how to fight the opioid and heroin abuse in Connecticut. The discussion will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bethels Stony Hill Fire Department, 59 Stony Hill Road. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate Whether it can lead him to the Republican presidential nomination is a major point of contention, but for the second time in two weeks, the unconventional path of John Kasich will take the potential Donald Trump spoiler to Connecticut. The Ohio governor, who is running a distant third to Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in GOP delegates, will hold a town hall with would-be primary voters Friday at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield. Connecticut is one of five northeastern states up for grabs April 26 where Kasich needs to make a strong showing to demonstrate that he is not a one-hit wonder, having only won his home state so far. Despite calls by Trump for him to drop out, Kasich is vowing to hang in the race through what could be a contested Republican National Convention this summer. His supporters contend that the swing-state governor and former House Budget Committee chairman is the only Republican who is leading Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in general election polls. Wouldnt it be stupid to nominate Trump if he loses to Hillary and John can beat her? said Christopher Shays, a former House colleague and close friend of Kasich. Shays, who represented Fairfield County in Congress from 1987 to 2009, has been joined at the hip of Kasich in New Hampshire, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania. He is expected to introduce him at Fridays town hall, a format that Shays said allows Kasich to shine and is a stark contrast from Trumps massive rallies. Hes been shaped by these town hall meetings, Shays said. He listens to what people ask. What Trump does is he flies in, talks to a group and leaves. Trumps supporters in the state were dismissive of Kasich, who visited Greenwich for a March 30 fundraiser. Looking at the primaries to date, theres no demand for a John Kasich candidacy among the Republican electorate, said Jim Campbell, Greenwichs former Republican Town Committee chairman. At stake in Connecticut are 28 delegates, three in each of the states five congressional districts that are awarded on a winner-take-all basis to the candidate with a plurality of votes. The remaining 13 at-large delegates are awarded proportionately to candidates who muster at least 20 percent of the vote statewide. They become winner-take-all if a candidate surpasses 50 percent of the total vote. Historically more of a magnet for its bountiful campaign cash, Connecticut is emerging as a key piece of the jigsaw puzzle for both Republicans and Democrats to reach the magic number of delegates for clinching the nomination. Its uncertain whether Trump can get the 1,237 to get there. Cruz is saying that (Kasich is) helping Trump and Trump is saying (Kasich) is taking votes from him, Shays said. Neither can win in the general as far as almost everyone knows. One is, in my judgment, someone whos appealing to peoples anger, one is appealing to peoples hope based on a track record of success, and one is appealing to the religious right. Cruzs volunteers say that even in deep-blue Connecticut there is support for the Trump rival. Theres plenty of conservatives in the state, as you well know, and theres only one conservative left, said Bob MacGuffie, a tea party stalwart from Fairfield who is leading the volunteer effort in the state for Cruz. Theres a good ground game. Well get more than 20 percent of the statewide vote. For Gary Rose, chairman of the Department of Government and Politics at Sacred Heart University, Kasichs visit to campus is a teaching opportunity. My students are going to be there, Rose said. Kasich certainly represents the establishment wing of the party. We know that establishment Republicans are largely what Connecticut is known for. neil.vigdor@scni.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy News / National by Fungai Lupande Zanu-PF Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke yesterday accused former Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Webster Shamu of demanding $2 000 to reveal who framed his rape case and the minister was trapped and caught with the extortion money.Continuing with his defence yesterday, Kereke said Shamu demanded the money so that he could help him manage the rape case."I reported the matter to higher officials in Government and a trap was set involving Central Intelligence Organisation boss Musafare Nyamudahondo and his junior," said Kereke."We used marked notes and drove to Shamu's Borrowdale Brooke home, me ahead and Nyamudahondo following. All evidence was collected and the highest office is aware of this."Kereke alleged that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission bosses were bribed with houses and money so that they did not investigate former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Dr Gideon Gono."Gono summoned two ZACC bosses one Butaunashe and (Eric) Harid and gave them $10 000 and $10 500 respectively as gifts to go on holiday."Houses were bought for (Ngonidzashe) Gumbo and placed on shelf companies using State money."A house was bought in Alexandra Park for a female commissioner who was in charge and another in Borrowdale for Gumbo."I wrote to Retired Maj-Gen Happyton Bonyongwe to look into the matter because it was a clear corruption between Gono and ZACC."Kereke told the court that Dr Gono paid a Standard reporter, Caiphus Chimhete, and fed him with information to smear his career."Chimhete invaded my privacy when he entered my bedroom pretending to be a relative of my wife Patience Maramwidze during an inspection in loco," said Kereke."However, David Butau confessed and apologised to me for the rape case after his relation with Gono turned sour."This was after Butau was accused of externalising 450 000, which saw him fleeing into exile to United Kingdom."I managed to help him prove that the 450 000 was money meant for agriculture equipment transferred to him by Gono to buy foreign currency."The magistrate, Mr Noel Mupeiwa, ruled that hearsay evidence was not allowed after Kereke started divulging what Butau communicated with the mother of the alleged victims, Chipo Maramwidze.Kereke suspected Butau of having an affair with Chipo.Kereke disowned the gun register book produced in court as an alien document."I signed for a black ledger book printed by Fidelity Printers with serial numbers on each page not the tiny counter book brought in court," he said. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 1 of 5 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 2 of 5 Contributed photo Show More Show Less 3 of 5 4 of 5 File photo Show More Show Less 5 of 5 BETHEL A local candidate for the state General Assembly blames a recent wave of negative rhetoric against minority groups as one reason why he left the Republican Party. Thomas Burke Jr., who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2nd District in the state assembly, switched parties in late March after deciding he no longer considered himself a Republican. News / National by Stephen Jakes ZimFirst leader Maxwell Shumba has said he is missing the abducted human rights activist and journalist Itai Dzamara as he has not been found after a year now.Dzamara was abducted on March 9 2015 while in Harare."We Miss you beloved muningina in the struggle. A Proudly ZimFirster you are. We miss your humbleness and your resolve to see a peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe," said Shumba. "Where ever they took you to, we remain hopeful that you will come back one day safe and sound and be reunited with your fellow ZimFirsters. We continue to pray for your safe return brother." NEW YORK, Apr. 5, 2016 /CNW/ -- New York Residence, Inc. is pleased to announce its most recent exclusive listing on Central Park. This Central Park South luxury apartment was filmed for a new television series, "What's For Sale With A View," to be shown in Canada on the Cottage Life Channel. This episode will be aired on April 5th, at 9:30pm. Soon to be announced, this series will also be shown on cable channel, Destination America, in the US. In addition, this apartment was showcased in the New York Post on September 24, 2014. Property Description: A quiet entry hall leads to an open, sunny, beautifully laid out home facing Central Park in one direction, and Billionaire's Row in the other direction. The elegant living room has floor-to-ceiling windows and a private balcony with sweeping aerial views of Central Park. In the evenings, the illuminated sky from the Central Park lights and the lit iconic buildings will be your view from your 20th floor apartment windows. The rare above-park setting is especially dramatic and inspiring. As you enjoy the illuminated sky view in the living room, your evening will be topped off with champagne and strawberries while gazing at your decorative fireplace with mantel. This one bedroom residence was converted from a two bedroom to allow for additional entertaining space, extended kitchen, and dining area. The expanded chef's kitchen is the heart of this home, with full-sized stainless steel Jenn-Air range, Miele dishwasher, custom tile backsplash and marble countertops. There is a marble breakfast counter, and a full dining area along a 23 foot wall of south facing windows. The kitchen is adorned with built-in shelves, cubbies, and other custom storage, as well as designer overhead lighting. A large master bedroom also faces south with a wall of windows, as well as a wall of custom closets. Adding further luxury and drama to this uncommon residence is a separate hot-tub room, with a trefoil shaped whirlpool, mirrors and custom built-ins. There are two distinctively tiled full bathrooms, each with its own spa-like character. This exceptional property offers the comfort and warmth of its plush interior setting, which is elevated by its magnificent views of Central Park, TimeWarner Center, Trump International Hotel, and the Circle which was completed in 1905, and renovated in 2005 with the famous water fountain. If you have interest in this amazing property, please contact Mr. Richard Pino at [email protected] or 917-209-7862, or David Nocero at [email protected] or 917-439-1052. Private appointments may be arranged in advance by sending an email to either licensed agent. About New York Residence: In 2014 and 2015, New York Residence was ranked in the top five "Top Manhattan Boutique Firms" by The Real Deal, an industry publication. For more than a decade, New York Residence has been traveling the globe to introduce international buyers to, and educate them about, the advantages of purchasing real estate. New York Residence' seasoned brokers speak a total of 20 languages, and are well-educated in all aspects of the real estate market. New York Residence has prime access to all residential, mixed use, and commercial listings. New York Residence is a real estate brokerage firm specializing in residential, commercial, and investment property sales and rentals to domestic and international buyers. New York Residence maintains three offices in New York, with international offices located in Hong Kong, Seoul, and Shanghai. New York Residence' corporate headquarters is located at 1501 Broadway, 26th floor, in the iconic Paramount Building in the heart of Times Square. Contact: Richard Pino Chief Financial Officer / Associate Broker New York Residence, Inc. O - 1+212-360-7000 x125 M - 1+917-209-7862 [email protected] SOURCE New York Residence, Inc. News / National by Zvamaida Murwira JUSTICE, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Virginia Mabhiza has revealed that government officials auditing the Constituency Development Fund were threatened with violence by some legislators.Mabhiza said she now fears for her life should she reveal the identity of the concerned lawmakers.She said one of the reasons why at least 53 constituencies were not audited is that some legislators threatened to harm government auditors.Mabhiza said this while giving oral evidence before a parliamentary portfolio committee on public accounts where she had been invited to explain irregularities that were found in her ministry by auditor general, Mildred Chiri.Bulawayo South MP Eddie Cross (MDC-T) demanded that she identifies the constituencies saying Parliament could institute disciplinary proceedings against the concerned legislators who refused to account for government money."Honourable chairperson, I also need protection as it's not easy to disclose some of the occurrences that we came across. I'm also scared at times to reveal some of the information that we came across," said Mabhiza.The committee, chaired by Mufakose MP Paurina Mpariwa (MDC-T), wanted her to explain several issues including why CDF money was paid through cash and not bank transfers and why some constituencies were not audited despite several irregularities unearthed by Chiri regarding the ministry."Some of the constituencies weren't accessible to us due to security reasons. As a result, not all constituencies were audited. We always brought this to the attention of our principal who was the then Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs (Advocate Eric Matinenga). At the end of the day, not all constituencies were audited," said Mabhiza.Binga North MP Prince Sibanda (MDC-T) asked Mabhiza to explain what she meant and whether government security agencies had refused to provide protection."First and foremost let me highlight that non-accessing of 53 constituencies is not 100 percent attributed to security reasons but resources. There were instances where our auditors would be threatened by Members of Parliament whenever they attempted to go in constituencies to see the projects on the ground. We would receive information on paper that there's this project but when we want to see projects on the ground that's when we had instances of our officers threatened with violence," said Mabhiza. [April 05, 2016] Carlson Rezidor Leads The Way With Cutting-Edge Virtual Reality Interface NEW DELHI, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the world's largest and most dynamic hotel groups, unveiled its state-of-the-art Virtual Reality (VR) interface for the Radisson Blu brand's new design program, BluPrint, at its Asia Pacific launch during the Hotel Investment Conference South Asia (HICSA) 2016. Leveraging the latest in immersive and interactive visualization technology, Carlson Rezidor has also created a downloadable app and is employing the use of portable VR devices to showcase the merits of BluPrint. "Carlson Rezidor is redefining the design process for investors and how travelers discover and explore our hotels. We are opening up a new world of experiential engagement, enabling a sensorial appreciation of what we have to offer," said Thorsten Kirschke, president, Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. "Our focus on technology and innovation underscores our drive to stay ahead of changing guest expectations, captivate new audiences and ensure even stronger returns for owners and investors. Our technological edge will also help propel the evolution of our Radisson Blu brand, which has been built on iconic and innovative design, sophistication and style." In Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor currently operates 46 Radisson Blu hotels and has 34 more under development. BluPrint is a new dynamic interior design program that is implemented in new Radisson Blu hotels and resorts, and those that are to be refurbished. Delivering distinctive yet flexible design, BluPrint enables hotels to achieve the perfect fusion of form and function by challenging traditional layouts, being responsive to evolving trends and requirements, and incorporating local cultural influences and artistry. Hotelscan have more multi-functional spaces, a variety of unique room configurations, as well as inventory flexibility in terms of materials and color schemes. BluPrint addresses three key aspects of the guest experience -- guest rooms, social, meetings and event spaces. For example, BluPrint creates more efficient working and living spaces that deliver a more emotionally engaging and enriching guest experience. With an iconic chair and a bespoke headboard with built-in seating and bedside tables as the main focal points, carefully curated furnishings and locally relevant art pieces provide the perfect complements for a warm and inviting guest room. A vehicle of Radisson Blu's organic evolution of the brand's DNA and design, BluPrint combines iconic, stylish and sophisticated characteristics to this dynamic and innovative concept. Find out more about BluPrint at www.radissonblu.com/bluprint-app. The BluPrint augmented reality app is free and available for Android and iOS. About Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the world's largest and most dynamic hotel groups and includes 1,400 hotels in operation and under development with more than 220,000 rooms and a footprint spanning 115 countries and territories. The Carlson Rezidor portfolio includes a powerful set of global brands: Quorvus Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. In most hotels, guests can benefit from Club Carlson, one of the 2015 -- 2016 "Top Three Hotel Rewards Programs" as ranked by U.S. News and World Report. Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and its brands employ 90,000 people worldwide and is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. USA, Singapore and Brussels, Belgium. For more information, visit www.carlsonrezidor.com and follow on Twitter @carlsonrezidor. About Radisson Blu Radisson Blu is one of the world's leading hotel brands with nearly 300 hotels in operation in 69 countries and territories. Radisson Blu's vibrant, contemporary and engaging hospitality is characterized by a unique Yes I Can! service philosophy, and all of its first class hotels offer a range of signature features that are empathetic to the challenges of modern travel, including the 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Distinguished the world over as the brand with Hotels Designed to Say YES!, Radisson Blu offers a vivid visual celebration of leading-edge style where the delight is in the detail. Radisson Blu hotels are located in prime locations in major cities, airport gateways and leisure destinations across the world. Radisson Blu is a part of Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, which also includes Quorvus Collection, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. For reservations and more information visit, www.radissonblu.com. Connect with Radisson Blu on social media: @RadissonBlu on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook.com/RadissonBlu. Contact details Camilla Chiam, Vice President, PR & Communications, Asia Pacific, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group I +65 6511 9297 I [email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150820/8521505407LOGO [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] EOSTATE MeltPool: Automated, Intelligent, Real-time Process Monitoring for Direct Metal Laser-sintering (DMLS) CHENNAI, India, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Process monitoring and analysis per spot, per layer, per part; minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs - Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) - EOS, worldwide technology and quality leader for high-end Additive Manufacturing (AM) solutions launches EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring as an add-on to the EOS M 290 DMLS system. This innovative tool paves the way for complete part traceability as well as an automated surveillance and analysis of the melt pool during the DMLS build process - every spot, every layer, every part. With the tool EOS expands its existing comprehensive portfolio of monitoring solutions for AM by adding this high-performance online monitoring which ensures even greatr transparency of the complex build process. As such, EOSTATE MeltPool targets R&D and manufacturing customers with demanding quality requirements. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349330 ) Dr. Tobias Abeln, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at EOS states: "We developed this powerful, intelligent monitoring solution jointly with plasma Industrietechnik GmbH, a global high-tech supplier of automated quality assurance systems." And he continues: "With EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring we offer a powerful expert tool to those who need to improve their quality assurance procedures for AM and who want to build up deep insights into the DMLS process to support further process development." Minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs Reliable quality assurance tools play a decisive role in boosting trust in a new technology. The EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring allows the quality assurance to be moved from post- to in-process, not only supporting a better risk management, but as well reducing time and costs for quality assurance and as a consequence overall costs per part. Please find the complete English press release here . For further information: Stephanie Cheong, Marketing Manager EOS Singapore Pte. Ltd. (phone +65-6430-0541, e-Mail: [email protected]). [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 05, 2016] Inspur Shares Innovative Deep Learning Technology at GTC16 SAN FRANCISCO, April 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Inspur released the Caffe-MPI, a multi node parallel version open source framework for Deep Learning, at the 2016 GPU Technology Conference (GTC16), which is being held from April 4-7 in Silicon Valley, California. Inspur also announced its plan to launch a Deep Learning Speedup Program (DLSP), aimed at facilitating the accelerated development and efficient application of Deep Learning -- from the perspectives of hardware infrastructure, system optimization and parallel framework. Caffe-MPI to Speed Up Deep Learning The newly released version of Caffe-MPI features excellent cluster parallel scalability. Testing data shows that in a 4-node environment, the performance of the new version with 16 GPU cards is 13 times higher than the single GPU card version. Another feature of the new version is its support for the cuDNN library, which makes high-performance Deep Learning code development much easier for program developers. DLSP Program to Facilitate Deep Learning Ecosystem Construction During GTC16, Inspur announced its plan to launch the Deep Learning Speedup Program (DLSP), aimed at accelerated development and efficient application of Deep Learning from three perspectives: the innovation of hardware infrastructure, optimized system design, and improved parallel framework. In the innovation of hardware infrastructure, Inspur plans to focus on the research and development of the offline training server, incorporating the latest Nvidia M40 GPU and the next generation Pascal GPU. Another focus isonline identification applications based on M4 GPU, aimed at developing a GPU computing platform with better performance per watt. In the optimized system design, Inspur will put together a team specializing in Deep Learning, based on the parallel computing laboratory - jointly established with NVIDIA - which will develop customized optimized solutions, based on the application demand for deep learning in various industries. This enables balanced design in system computing, storage and network, while fully tapping the potential of the system and ensuring satisfactory manageability. In the improved parallel framework, Inspur will continue to increase its investment in the open-source project of the Caffe Deep Learning framework to attract more developers and users to get involved in community building. Currently, the open-source Caffe-MPI spearheaded by Inspur has attracted the attention of numerous companies and research institutes in China, India and the U.S. Innovative Deep Learning: Enabling AI to Serve Society For Inspur, the three Deep Learning plans announced have been, to a large extent, a result of the accomplished experience gathered from serving world-class internet companies such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, enabling Inspur to build up strong R&D and innovation capability. Additionally, this has allowed Inspur to gather even further experience in internet data center products, more confidence in creating a Deep Learning computing platform to meet the demands of the internet, and other fields. At present, Inspur's Deep Learning solutions have been applied in numerous internet companies including Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Qihoo, Iflytek and Jingdong, supporting "super brains" of various types, and providing intelligent services for society. With the three Deep Learning projects gradually rolling out, it is expected that Inspur's Deep Learning Solutions will be adopted by more companies in the future. A key area of focus is that Inspur also presented NX5460M4, a Deep Learning server for industrial customers. The NX5460M4 is a high-performance blade server of Inspur I9000; a converged architecture of the blade server series specially optimized for Deep Learning applications, which supports a maximum of eight Deep Learning computing nodes and 16 GPU accelerator cards in a 12U space, as well as high-density servers, 4- and 8- socket key business servers, software defined storage and multiple computing schemes. This includes heterogeneous computing aimed at providing commercial corporate customers with the Deep Learning infrastructure, featuring high reliability, and high performance. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/inspur-shares-innovative-deep-learning-technology-at-gtc16-300246897.html SOURCE Inspur Group Co., Ltd. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] CIGNEX Datamatics Strengthens its Big Data Analytics Services with Elevondata AHMEDABAD, India and CHICAGO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CIGNEX Datamatics, the Silicon Valley-based global leader in open source solutions, announced that it has signed a definitive investment agreement with Elevondata, a next-generation global data services and solutions company. CIGNEX Datamatics is strengthening and expanding its portfolio of open and scalable global offerings. The investment will allow an expansion of innovative products and service offerings at the intersection of data and content management. Elevondata uses principles of big data, open source and cloud along with traditional enterprise data integration and warehousing skills to provide faster and cost effective data solutions. "Elevondata joins CIGNEX Datamatics at a tipping point in the industry, where enterprises now realize that they cannot address their increasingly complex data management needs without innovation," says Vidur V. Bhogilal, Chairman, CIGNEX Datamatics. "We are excited with Elevondata's inclusion into CIGNEX Datamatics' family, and look forward to helping our clients tackle the complexities of the digital enterprise, leveraging the expertise and solutionsof Elevondata." "We are thrilled to be part of a company which has understood the disruptive value of open source and orchestrating structured and unstructured content together since its inception," says Vin Siegfried, CEO, Elevondata. "With CIGNEX Datamatics expertise, we can now extend our reach to more clients and offer more comprehensive solutions together. Data lakes for financial services, intelligence management for compliance, customer and patient engagement powered by big data sciences and risk management analytics with advanced predictive models are just a few examples of areas where we are expecting to be able to make a broader impact." With this investment, CIGNEX Datamatics also announced the appointment of Sanjiv Tandon, to its board of directors. Sanjiv Tandon, a proven leader in the IT consulting and outsourcing, was most recently the Chairman of Elevondata, and in the past has shaped large-scale operations across the world for TCS, Xansa plc and IBM. About CIGNEX Datamatics CIGNEX Datamatics, a subsidiary of Datamatics Global Services Ltd., is a Silicon Valley-based, global, pure-play, open source consulting company, offering enterprise-grade solutions, platforms, products and services for systems of engagement and insight. Find out more; please visit us on the web at http://www.cignex.com About Elevondata Elevondata is a leading edge data management solutions and advisory consulting company, fusing big data, cloud, data science, and other leading edge practices with traditional data governance, data management, data warehousing, and business intelligence disciplines. For more information please visit us on the web at http://www.elevondata.com For more information, please contact: Chandni Bhagchandani Senior Executive - Corporate Communication [email protected] +91-7874461850 Rahul Nair Sr. Executive - Marketing CIGNEX Datamatics [email protected] +91-79 6701 0345 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] Twist Bioscience Acquires Genome Compiler To Add Gene Design Capabilities SAN FRANCISCO and TEL AVIV, Israel, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Twist Bioscience Corporation, a company accelerating science and innovation through rapid, high-quality DNA synthesis, today announced the acquisition of Genome Compiler Corporation, an Israeli-based company providing software for genetic engineers, molecular and synthetic biologists. Twist Bioscience intends to leverage Genome Compiler's technology and expertise to drive a digital products portfolio, including an eCommerce solution with gene design capabilities, expected to be available in the second half of 2016. "Twist's beta program is progressing well and our first customer shipments are underway," said Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO of Twist Bioscience. "Over the next few months we expect to scale our gene volume substantially, enabling us to offer market-leading production levels by this summer. We are delighted to bring the Genome Compiler technology, network and expert team into the Twist Bioscience organization. They are the leader in developing software that allows design of gene sequences for synthetic and molecular biology experiments. We intend to build an elegant, intuitive eCommerce solution with a deep pipeline of digital products to follow that will enable our customers to reimagine their research by providing seamless integration of the design and build of their synthetic DNA." Under the terms of the agreement, the Genome Compiler research and development center in Israel will become Twist Bioscience's first international ite. Twist Bioscience intends to expand the center in Tel Aviv to advance its digital product and gene design capabilities. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "We are extremely excited to join forces with Twist Bioscience," commented Omri Amirav-Drory, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Genome Compiler. "By combining our advanced software design capabilities with the technology leader in DNA synthesis, our customers will be able to streamline the design-build-test cycle. We believe the synthetic and molecular biology communities will find the integrated offering a great platform to accelerate their research." About Twist Bioscience Corporation At Twist Bioscience, our expertise is accelerating science and innovation by leveraging the power of scale. We have developed a proprietary semiconductor-based synthetic DNA manufacturing process featuring a 10,000-well silicon platform capable of producing synthetic biology tools, including genes, oligonucleotide pools and variant libraries. By synthesizing DNA on silicon instead of on traditional 96-well plastic plates, our platform overcomes the current inefficiencies of synthetic DNA production, and enables cost-effective, rapid, high-quality and high throughput synthetic gene production, which in turn, expedites the design, build, test cycle to enable personalized medicines, pharmaceuticals, sustainable chemical production, improved agriculture production, diagnostics, biodetection and data storage. For more information, please visit www.twistbioscience.com. Twist Bioscience is on Twitter. Sign up to follow our Twitter feed @TwistBioscience at https://twitter.com/TwistBioscience. About Genome Compiler Corporation Genome Compiler provides an intuitive all-in-one software platform for genetic engineers, molecular and synthetic biologists. The company supplies a comprehensive set of tools for DNA design & visualization, data management and collaboration. Using Genome Compiler, customers benefit from an optimal design experience with its extensive suite of advanced design tools, a variety of plasmids and parts repositories, direct connections to an array of DNA synthesis providers and lab automation services, all in one platform. Genome Compiler was incubated at Singularity University Labs and participated in the S15 class of the NFX Guild incubator and raised $6M from Autodesk, LionBird VC and angel investors. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140526/91128 Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160401/350665LOGO [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] News / National by Stephen Jakes ZIMBABWEAN authorities have summoned a government employee to stand trial at the end of this month for allegedly claiming that President Robert Mugabe is increasingly becoming a burden to his family due to the nonagenarian leader's advanced age.Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights communications officer Kumbirai Mafunda said Ernest Matsapa (46) has been summoned to stand trial at Nyanga Magistrates Courts in Manicaland province on Friday 29 April 2016 on charges of criminal nuisance in contravention of Section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23.He said the Prosecutors claim that Matsapa, who resides in Matsapa village in Chief Hata, in Nyanga, Manicaland province and is employed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development as a livestock specialist, unlawfully and intentionally circulated an audio and visual message on a Whatsapp group called Nyanga Free Range, of which he is a member."The audio and visual clip, the prosecutors charged, has the impression of portraying President Mugabe, who in February celebrated his 92nd birthday, as incapacitated and has become a burden to the majority including his family due to some diminishing responsibility," Mafunda said."The circulation of the audio and video clip, the State charged, had the effect of denigrating the ruling Zanu PF party leader in his personal capacity as such material is likely to interfere with the ordinary comfort, convenience, peace or quiet of the public."Matsapa is the second Zimbabwean to be targeted this year by authorities who appear to be intensifying a government backed crackdown on social media platforms and applications.Mafunda said in February, police officers in Bindura in Mashonaland Central province arrested Edson Chuwe, a school head at Shamva Primary School, Edna Garwe who is employed as a typist at the same school and Leman Pwanyiwa, who serves as the secretary of Shamva Primary School Development Committee and charged them for undermining authority of or insulting President Mugabe in contravention of Section 33 (2) (b) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23 or alternatively criminal nuisance as defined in Section 46 (2) (v) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act Chapter 9:23."The three school authorities were accused of mocking President Mugabe on social media after they purportedly posted satirical pictures of the ZANU PF party leader on Facebook," he said."Police claimed that the trio had "doctored" some degrading photographs of President Mugabe using the school computer and had shared a message through WhatsApp, which read; "Mr President isn't it time to bid farewell to the people of Zimbabwe".He said ZLHR has in recent years noted a dramatic increase in the prosecution of citizens whom authorities charge with ""insulting or undermining the authority of the President'."The human rights organisation's records compiled since 2010 show that the organisation has attended to close to 150 cases where clients have fallen foul of this law and the bulk of the victims are residents and villagers residing in the politically volatile Mashonaland Central province," he said.Mafunda said in court, ZLHR has challenged the constitutionality of Section 33 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act (Chapter 9:23) on several occasions, on the basis that it infringes on freedom of expression, particularly of a public figure, and one who must be subjected to scrutiny as a political candidate."In courts, the NPA has in recent years and months been withdrawing charges against several suspects after declining to prosecute some of the insult cases and conceding before Constitutional Court judges that the allegations do not disclose the commission of an offence. This would be after ZLHR lawyers have petitioned the country's apex court seeking orders challenging the constitutionality of the some provisions of the insult laws," he said.. [April 06, 2016] EOSTATE MeltPool: Automated, Intelligent, Real-Time Process Monitoring for Direct Metal Laser-Sintering (DMLS) GOTHENBURG, Sweden, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Process monitoring and analysis per spot, per layer, per part; minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs - Cross reference: Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com ) - EOS, worldwide technology and quality leader for high-end Additive Manufacturing (AM) solutions launches EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring as an add-on to the EOS M 290 DMLS system. This innovative tool paves the way for complete part traceability as well as an automated surveillance and analysis of the melt pool during the DMLS build process - every spot, every layer, every part. With the tool EOS expands its existing comprehensive portfolio of monitoring solutions for AM by adding this high-performance online monitoring which ensures even greater trasparency of the complex build process. As such, EOSTATE MeltPool targets R&D and manufacturing customers with demanding quality requirements. (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349330 ) Dr. Tobias Abeln, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at EOS states: "We developed this powerful, intelligent monitoring solution jointly with plasma Industrietechnik GmbH, a global high-tech supplier of automated quality assurance systems." And he continues: "With EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring we offer a powerful expert tool to those who need to improve their quality assurance procedures for AM and who want to build up deep insights into the DMLS process to support further process development." Minimizing risk and reducing quality assurance costs Reliable quality assurance tools play a decisive role in boosting trust in a new technology. The EOSTATE MeltPool Monitoring allows the quality assurance to be moved from post- to in-process, not only supporting better risk management, but as well reducing time and costs for quality assurance and as a consequence overall costs per part. Please find the complete English press release here . For further information please contact Karin Wennerberg (phone +46-317604642, E-mail: [email protected]). [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] Synthace Partners With Microsoft to Bring Antha to Azure LONDON, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synthace Ltd., a London based technology company developing Antha, a high level language and operating system for working with biology, today announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft to use Azure cloud analytics, cognitive services, and machine learning. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151026/280624LOGO ) Geoff Hughes, Business Development at Microsoft commented: "We are excited about Antha's ability to transform the productivity of working with biology, from genomics, to drug discovery, to bio manufacturing. We are delighted to be working with Synthace to deliver this disruptive technology through Microsoft's Azure Cloud Machine Learning services via our BizSpark Plus program." "Supporting projects like Antha is part of Microsoft's long term commitment to help people innovate and improve all of our lives through the power of technology," said Raya Yunakova, Startup Programs Manager, Microsoft UK." The BizSpark Plus program provides entrepreneurs with essential tools and technology, giving them the freedom they need to create and grow. We are humbled by the ambitious tasks tha Synthace and others like them undertake and are excited that we can support them in their journey." "Biological experimentation is in crisis. Understanding complex systems is impossible if the underlying working practices are as highly variable and failure prone as they are today," said Sean Ward, Founder and CTO of Synthace. "Powerful advances in AI and deep learning are of little use without sufficient and structured experimental data to train them on, which is why Antha is bioscience's missing link." Antha is an open-source language that provides a clear and complete description of working practices, which can then be translated, using the AnthaOS operating system, into automated execution on hardware from many different vendors. It also ensures that structured data is produced from every experiment. The result for the user is enhanced traceability, reproducibility and simplicity. Andrew Phillips, Head of Bio Computation at Microsoft Research commented "As we develop the next generation of biodesign software technologies it is critical to be able to translate them into the real world. Antha solves the current disconnect and major bottleneck between this digital to physical transition enabling us to build and apply advanced tools to understand and engineer biology." About Synthace Synthace is transforming the engineering of biology, for all its applications across health, food, energy and manufacturing. Combining computation, biology and automation the company is able to rapidly develop robust, high yielding bioprocesses to make bio-based products. Central to Synthace's technology is Antha, a platform that brings quality by design and design for manufacturing to biological research and development. Learn more at http://www.synthace.com and http://www.antha.com. About BizSpark Plus Microsoft BizSpark Plus is a premier program offered exclusively through select partners that helps startups succeed by giving free access to Microsoft Azure cloud services, software and support. Company Contact Sean Ward Founder & CTO [email protected] +44(0)77385-11117 +44(0)207-554-5877 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] MSG91 Announces Strategic B2B Partnership Program INDORE, India, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MSG91, a global enterprise SMS solutions provider, announced their new partnership program that will help transform how businesses interact with their customers, market trends and other businesses. It is for the first time that MSG91 has collaborated with fifteen B2B companies and counting. The crux of the partnership lies in simplifying the integration process by merging technologies in order to provide better consumer experience to all their clients. The shared vision of MSG91 and its partners is to offer business professionals the power of communicating at the right time without putting in added efforts. Devshreem Solutions for Tally: Devshreem provides complete Tally solutions which include consultancy, design, development, implementation and training. By default integration of MSG91 in Tally, clients will now be able to add value to the productivity of their customers by sending timely information stored in the Tally database itself. Send dynamic and personalized SMS for invoice, payment reminder, debit/credit note and more. Rixyncs India Inc for Salesforce: Rixyncs offers an integrated platform to all businesses through their Salesforce Customer Relationship Management (CRM) custom software. The default SMS integration will let clients streamline and automate heir business communication by adding to the productivity of the service and support through timely communication for transaction updates, product tracking alerts, account detail management, customer query, assigning of the same and more. WebTiger Technologies: WebTiger is a website design and online media planning company that offers complete e-commerce solutions through leading online applications and technologies. The MSG91 default integration will add value and efficacy to the e-commerce web stores by allowing clients to send automated, timely notifications for order updates, track orders, notify clients, online transactions and the likes. Software Suggest: Software Suggest is an online software discovery and recommendation platform that provides the right software to businesses and individuals. With 30,000+ softwares available on a single platform, Software Suggest is also coming up with a Software Evaluation Tool. Find the right software for your business and with the default SMS integration of MSG91 API, send automated notifications directly from that software in real-time to enhance business communication. "Different businesses have different communication needs. What we did, is simply identified the key challenges and provided an interactive platform to businesses for them to maintain flexibility and effective communication", said Pushpendra Agrawal, CEO, MSG91. For more information about the MSG91 partner program, please visit: https://msg91.com/partners The partnership program is open for other B2B companies as well. If you wish to be a part of it, write to us at: [email protected]. About MSG91: MSG91 is a flagship product of Walkover Web Solutions, which works as a communication bridge between organisations by providing them enterprise messaging solutions. Other than the web application, MSG91 provides several tools and add-ons to send bulk SMS. Learn more at: https://msg91.com/ Follow us on Twitter: @msg91com Media Contact: Pallavi Jaisinghani [email protected] +91-94240 8265 Creative Content Strategist, MSG91 [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] iRobot Board of Directors Sends Letter to Shareholders Outlining Perspectives of Director Nominees Mohamad Ali and Michael Bell BEDFORD, Mass., April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT), a leader in delivering robotic technology-based solutions, today announced that it has mailed a letter to shareholders that provides insight into the personal perspectives of iRobot's newest directors, Mohamad Ali and Michael Bell. Messrs. Ali and Bell bring critical software, cloud infrastructure, technology development and Internet of Things (IoT) experience to iRobot as the Company continues to shift its strategic focus to its Home Robots business. In a Q&A format, they reflect on their decisions to join the iRobot Board, the Company's transformation and the future of iRobot. The iRobot Board of Directors strongly recommends that shareholders vote on the WHITE proxy card "FOR" iRobot's experienced and independent director nominees: Mohamad Ali and Michael Bell. The full text of the letter and Q&A follows: April 6, 2016 Fellow Shareholder, Over the past few years, iRobot has transformed itself into a high-growth, leading global consumer robot company. As part of this transformation, we have also evolved iRobot's Board of Directors to ensure that we have the right mix of skills to position iRobot for success. Our directors bring expertise in areas critical to our business, including consumer technology, innovation and product development, finance, software, robotics, and Internet of Things (IoT), in addition to public company leadership and board experience. Our newest directors Mohamad Ali and Michael Bell bring critical experience to the iRobot Board and it is important that you vote for them on the WHITE proxy card. Both Mohamad and Michael were added following the Company's standard process of assessing current board skill sets against the needs of the business moving forward. After identifying the needed skills, the Board conducted a national search through one of the leading director recruitment firms, identifying Mohamad and Michael as great additions to your Board. We thought you would be interested in hearing them discuss their backgrounds, relevant experience, and what attracted them to iRobot. At the May 25th, 2016 Annual Meeting, you will have the opportunity to help shape the future of iRobot and to protect your investment I hope that we can count on your support. Please vote the WHITE proxy card today FOR iRobot's highly qualified, independent director nominees: Mohamad Ali and Michael Bell. Sincerely, Colin Angle Chairman and Chief Executive Officer MEET YOUR TWO NEWEST DIRECTORS: MOHAMAD ALI AND MICHAEL BELL MOHAMAD ALI Mohamad Ali, President and CEO of Carbonite Inc., joined the Board in August 2015. Mohamad's extensive vision and technology leadership in areas such as software, cloud infrastructure, and data analytics are key for iRobot as we enter this next phase of growth. Mohamad served as Chief Strategy Officer of Hewlett-Packard, and led the decision process to separate HP into two companies the PC and printer business (HPQ), and the server, services, and software business (HPE) with a commitment to return at least 50% of the companies' free cash flow to shareholders. HP's share price more than doubled during Mohamad's tenure. He also served in senior leadership roles at IBM, where he acquired numerous companies to build IBM's analytics and big data business. Q: You have helped major technology companies including Carbonite, Hewlett-Packard, and IBM navigate transformative change to increase value for shareholders. Do you see similarities with iRobot? A: Studies show that market selection is the most important factor in determining a company's success. In the mid 1990's at IBM, we recognized that software had much more growth potential than hardware. To address this market shift, I led the divestiture of several hardware businesses and the acquisition of over a dozen software businesses to build IBM's analytics business, which created significant shareholder value. At HP, we took the dramatic step of separating the consumer and enterprise businesses to give each the best chance to create value, and committed to returning at least 50% of the free cash flow to shareholders. Most recently at Carbonite, I have worked with my team to reposition the company and ensure it is operating in two high-growth markets that will ensure future value creation. I certainly see parallels now with iRobot, which is undergoing a major transformation following the sale of the Defense & Security business. Overall, I have been impressed with the work the Board and management team have done to position iRobot for its next phase of growth. The business has evolved and is now turning its focus to Home Robots, a proven high-growth market, reallocating resources to this opportunity where the Company has true market leadership, and returning excess capital to shareholders. In order to succeed as a technology company in today's fast-moving marketplace, you must continuously evolve. iRobot's leadership and the entire Board, including my new Board colleague Michael Bell, understand this aspect of today's technology industry. I'm very pleased to be part of this evolution of iRobot to its next phase of growth. Q: After having served on the Board for seven months, what can you tell us about the Board's priorities and how strategic decisions are made? A: Each director on the Board is highly engaged and brings strategic vision, but also understands the business at a granular level. Our directors bring extensive experience across key disciplines, such as consumer technology, Internet of Things, software and SaaS, and innovation. Equally important are directors who bring deep financial expertise and understand the best way to allocate capital to the highest potential opportunities with shareholder value creation as the guiding post. The top priority of the Board, as demonstrated by the recent actions to divest the Defense & Security business and focus on the high-growth consumer robotics market, expand the Company's share repurchase program, and invest organically in groundbreaking new products such as the floor mopping Braava jet, is to create extraordinary value for all of our shareholders, customers, employees, and partners. Q: You have a history of prudent capital allocation and strategy execution, including at City National Bank and Carbonite how do you think about capital allocation at iRobot? A: At City National Bank, we saw a significant opportunity to provide banking services to technology companies as an adjacency to our core banking markets, and allocated capital accordingly. Royal Bank of Canada recognized the value we had created and were creating, and acquired City National Bank for approximately $5 billion. At Carbonite, we are one year into a capital reallocation process to realign the company to better capitalize on opportunities in high-growth markets, and we are seeing great progress. For any company that invests in technology, it is important that the board is continuously examining its spending and capital allocation to ensure maximum efficiency in the business. iRobot's Board has a thoughtful and deliberate process to ensure that capital is deployed in the best way to create the most value for shareholders. We are constantly working with management to review potential acquisitions, R&D spending, and capital return to shareholders and the reallocation of R&D funding from Remote Presence to Home Robots and expansion of the Company's share repurchase program to $100 million are great examples. Q: When you were appointed to the iRobot Board in September, 2015, Red Mountain stated in an investor letter that they were enthusiastic about your appointment. What is your view on that? A: I can't speak for any one shareholder, but in my experience, shareholders want to know that a Board has new expertise, fresh thinking, and is not afraid of change. I think that is the expertise I bring to the iRobot Board at a critical time in our transformation. We all have the same objective enhancing value. MICHAEL BELL Michael Bell, Silver Spring Networks CEO, joined the Board in March 2016. Michael is a pioneer of the Internet of Things (IoT) and brings significant technology development and innovation management expertise to the Board given his product development experience at Intel, Apple, and Palm. Throughout his career, he has been responsible for spearheading expansions into new product categories of connected devices, leading the development of product strategies and bringing new products to market. Q: What attracted you to join iRobot's Board? A: The emerging categories of the "Internet of Things" and "Smart Homes" have begun to transition from "mostly hype" to reality. In addition to a proven track record of innovation, iRobot already has a product that is loved by millions of people and occupies a coveted place within their homes. iRobot is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the proliferation of the Internet of Things and drive business opportunities for the smart and connected home. Q: You have been credited as a pioneer of the Internet of Things and have a track-record of technological innovation. How will you be able to translate that experience into success as a part of iRobot's Board? A: I am passionate about consumer product development. I love to take complex technologies and use them to create products that are indispensable to the consumer. Technology can lend an air of magic to a consumer product experience the best products become better over time as they benefit from and adapt to the behaviors, schedules, and even eccentricities of their owners. I call this phenomenon "Continual Surprise and Delight." Throughout my career at companies such as Intel, Apple, and Palm, I have had the opportunity to spearhead efforts to create new product categories, oversee design strategy, and bring new products to market many of which were connected devices. At Intel for example, I first oversaw the company's entry into the phone and tablet markets. Later, my group was tasked with identifying a set of the "next big things." For consumer technology companies like iRobot, market leadership requires an ongoing investment in research and development to ensure a technological advantage. In recent years, the required velocity of this innovation has increased at a break-neck pace, making the need to prioritize and efficiently allocate R&D spending even more important. My experience at Intel, Palm, and Apple has given me a deep understanding of how best to manage this dynamic, and I greatly look forward to leveraging that understanding as I work with the iRobot Board going forward. Q: You've worked with other founder-led companies such as Apple. How is a founder-led company unique and how do you view the Board's responsibilities towards a company led by a founder? A: Some of the greatest consumer and technology companies have been led by founders founders often bring a level of passion and dedication to their companies that simply can't be matched by outsiders. For a company like iRobot, which is truly unique in its space, having a visionary and strategic CEO who is setting the innovation course can be instrumental to success. As with any founder-led company, it is important to have a deeply involved Board and a governance structure that enables the Board to make tough decisions and ensure that the Company is on the right path to create maximum value for shareholders. In this case, iRobot has an engaged and independent Board, a Lead Independent Director with robust responsibilities, and has put in place a best-in-class governance structure. This is a Board which has an excellent working relationship with management, but also holds management accountable and isn't afraid to take bold, strategic actions to drive the future success of the Company. Q: What do you see as the next step for iRobot and what do you think will be important for the Board to focus on moving forward? A: iRobot has already shown its prowess in building advanced, industry leading hardware products the future growth and expansion of iRobot hinges on its ability to continue to innovate and advance its software capabilities. Today's customers expect an "end to end experience," and not simply a stand-alone product. In the area nearest to my own expertise, iRobot is perfectly placed to benefit from increasing interest in the connected home and Internet of Things. iRobot is already prepared to capitalize on this trend with an increased emphasis on software coding and design the new Roomba 980, the first connected home robot, contains 500,000 lines of code compared to 50,000 in the Roomba 880. iRobot is also developing and growing significant incremental adjacent categories in Home Robots. iRobot's primary focus must be on investing in critical technologies and the economic opportunities they unlock and ensuring that capital spending is prioritized towards those areas that promise the highest potential opportunities for growth and returns. Your Vote Is Important, No Matter How Many Or How Few Shares You Own If you have questions about how to vote your shares, or need additional assistance, please contact the firm assisting us in the solicitation of proxies: INNISFREE M&A INCORPORATED Shareholders Call Toll-Free: (877) 717-3929 Banks and Brokers Call Collect: (212) 750-5833 REMEMBER: We urge you NOT to vote using any Green proxy card sent to you by Red Mountain Capital, as doing so will revoke your vote on the WHITE proxy card. About iRobot Corporation iRobot Corporation ("iRobot", or the "Company") designs and builds robots that empower people to do more. The Company's home robots help people find smarter ways to clean and accomplish more in their daily lives. Its remote presence robots enable virtual presence from anywhere in the world. iRobot's portfolio of solutions feature proprietary technologies for the connected home and advanced concepts in navigation, mobility, manipulation and artificial intelligence. For more information about iRobot, please visit www.irobot.com. Important Stockholder Information iRobot will hold its 2016 Annual Meeting of stockholders on May 25, 2016. The Company has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and mailed to its stockholders a definitive proxy statement and form of WHITE proxy card in connection with the 2016 Annual Meeting. The definitive proxy statement contains important information about the Company, the 2016 Annual Meeting and related matters. COMPANY STOCKHOLDERS ARE STRONGLY ENCOURAGED TO READ THE DEFINITIVE PROXY STATEMENT AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT SOLICITATION MATERIALS WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THESE DOCUMENTS CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. The Company and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the stockholders of the Company in connection with the matters to be considered at the 2016 Annual Meeting. Information regarding the Company's directors and executive officers is contained in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 19, 2016, and definitive proxy statement filed with the SEC on March 29, 2016. The proxy statement and other relevant solicitation materials (when they become available), and any and all documents filed by the Company with the SEC, may be obtained by investors and security holders free of charge at the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, the Company's filings with the SEC, including the proxy statement and other relevant solicitation materials (when they become available), may be obtained, without charge, from the Company by directing a request to the Company at 8 Crosby Drive, Bedford, MA 01730, Attention: Investor Relations. Such materials are also available at www.irobot.com. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements made in this communication are not based on historical information are forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements may be identified with words like "believe," "may," "could," "would," "might," "should," "expect," "intend," "plan," "target," "anticipate" and "continue," the negative of these words, other terms of similar meaning or the use of future dates. This communication contains express or implied forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, iRobot's expectations regarding future financial performance, future operating performance and growth, our strategic actions to continue revenue growth, demand for our robots, strategic investments to diversify Home revenue, the impact of the divestiture of our Defense & Security business, the impact of our strategic actions to enhance stockholder value, and anticipated revenue. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: our ability to operate in an emerging market, the financial strength of our customers and retailers, our ability to enhance stockholder value through our strategic actions, including the sale of our Defense & Security business, general economic conditions, market acceptance of our products, and competition. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. iRobot undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this communication, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by iRobot, see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the SEC. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131104/NE10106LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/irobot-board-of-directors-sends-letter-to-shareholders-outlining-perspectives-of-director-nominees-mohamad-ali-and-michael-bell-300246858.html SOURCE iRobot Corp. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] Research and Markets - Vivaldi Launch Feature - Laden Web Browser DUBLIN, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Vivaldi 1.0, the new free web browser from industry veteran Jon von Tetzchner, launched today with the promise of greater personalization and faster performance than what's offered by Chrome and Firefox. While both Google and Mozilla are focused on offering a stripped down browser experience with minimal features, Vivaldi is equipped with a wide variety of customizable functions designed to improve the user experience for people who spend a lot of time online. The global web real-time communication market is projected to grow from USD 569.2 million in 2015 to USD 4.45 billion by 2020, according to a report available from Research and Markets, offering Vivaldi a serious opportunity for expansion. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160330/349511LOGO ) The browser features a range of functions including numerous hot keys and shortcuts, plus a new approach to tab display. Tabs can be stacked in organizable groups, or tiled together to show multiple web locations at once. In addition, tabs can be displayed on the top, botom left or right side of the browser. There are also special gestures for mouses, which increase the number of controllable actions the device can complete, and the option to navigate the browser through key combinations. Vivaldi's profit will be made through search and advertising partnerships. The global digital content market will be worth more than USD 500 billion by 2019, as forecast in an industry report. The large market value could result in unprecedented digital partnerships between Vivaldi and content creators and new innovative methods for delivering content to web users. The global content delivery network market itself is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25.45% by 2019, as forecast in a market report, providing Vivaldi with a robust market to expand into should its web browser prove beneficial to users. For further information on this topic, and a full list of all related documentation, please visit the Internet and E-Commerce section at http://www.researchandmarkets.com/rm/NMOJ. Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2016/04/06/vivaldi-launches-challenge-to-chrome-and-firefox/#7b658103384e 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 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 U.S. Fax: +1-646-607-1907 Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716 [April 06, 2016] CoreMedia Extends Integration to the IBM Marketing Cloud SAN FRANCISCO, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreMedia, a leading digital experience (DX) company, today announced the official validation of its integration with the IBM Marketing Cloud, a cloud-based digital marketing platform that provides email marketing, lead management and mobile engagement solutions. This integration builds on the capabilities of its existing CoreMedia LiveContext solution, which augments IBM-powered Web stores with content and digital asset management capabilities and extends it to support omni-channel digital marketing. By extending CoreMedia LiveContext to connect with the IBM Marketing Cloud in addition to IBM WebSphere Commerce, joint customers can easily create personalized email newsletters and targeted landing pages that are seamlessly integrated with their existing Web content, media assets, and e-Commerce data all from a single user interface. This deep integration includes flexible templates, pre-built design elements, and instant previews to improve editorial efficiency and increase the visual impact of omni-channel marketing campaigns. Business users can prepare landing page and email content in CoreMedia Studio and deliver it to the IBM Marketing Cloud with a single click. Additionally, the solution's advanced personalization tools allow business users to access customer data from multiple source and use it to significantly improve the relevance of all targeted communications. "Extending our in-depth integration to IBM arketing Cloud makes it significantly easier to produce engaging content that is supported by real-time data," said Jochen Toppe, VP of Product Management at CoreMedia. "The combined capabilities these three systems ensures online retailers can deliver a customizable experience with the right content at the right time." CoreMedia LiveContext is an out-of-the-box solution that provides seamless and real-time, Ready for IBM Commerce validated integration with existing WebSphere Commerce product catalogs, pricing systems and front-end modules. CoreMedia LiveContext provides unsurpassed capabilities for enhanced digital experience management to any B2B or B2C customer using IBM WebSphere Commerce and Marketing Cloud. Customers can build upon their existing investments without sacrificing years of effort or putting current operations at risk. This integration is available now at no additional cost to existing CoreMedia and IBM WebSphere Commerce and IBM Marketing Cloud Customers. A video demo of this new integration can be seen here: https://youtu.be/VH-xBpGZDj4 About CoreMedia CoreMedia is a leading digital experience (DX) company that has been powering the online strategy of organizations across varied industries for more than 19 years. We partner with our customers to connect them with their audiences wherever they are by seamlessly integrating digital, e-Commerce and social media assets, accelerating time to market, and increasing the productivity of business users. Our solutions also help transform e-Commerce stores by infusing visually compelling and immersive content into the online customer experience, resulting in increased engagement, sales, and loyalty. Established in 1996, CoreMedia is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, with offices in San Francisco, Washington DC, London and Singapore. CoreMedia's clients include global brands, such as Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), BILD, CLAAS, Continental, Deutsche Telekom, Henkel, Internet Broadcasting, Office Depot and Telefonica Germany. For more information on CoreMedia, please click here. Media Contact : Ben Jolley Connect Marketing +1.801.373.7888 [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/coremedia-extends-integration-to-the-ibm-marketing-cloud-300246883.html SOURCE CoreMedia [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] Minister Carr Highlights Commitment to Sustainable Natural Resource Development TORONTO, April 6, 2016 /CNW/ - The Honourable Jim Carr, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, today delivered a keynote address at the inaugural Ontario Natural Resources Forum in Toronto, where he emphasized the importance of developing natural resources in Ontario and throughout the country in a responsible and sustainable way both in Canada and abroad. In his remarks, Minister Carr discussed the outcomes of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's recent visit to Washington, during which the leaders announced the U.S.Canada Joint Statement on Climate, Energy and Arctic Leadership, which will see the two countries cooperate on a host of energy- and natural resource-related issues and took steps to establish a new long-term agreement for softwood lumber. The Minister also highlighted actions taken by the Government of Canada with respect to energy, including Mission Innovation a partnership between 20 countries, which aims to double government investments in clean energy; the signing f the North American Memorandum of Understanding on Climate Change and Energy Collaboration; and the Government's interim approach for the review of major resource projects. He also emphasized the critical role of the forest industry and its contribution to carbon mitigation in Canada's transition to a low-carbon future, as well as the significance of the mining industry in Ontario and Canadian mining leadership globally. Finally, Minister Carr underscored how the Government's first federal budget delivers strategic investments in energy, mining, forestry and clean technology to bring Canadians good jobs, create a cleaner environment and help communities thrive. Quote "The Government of Canada recognizes the economic importance of developing our country's energy and natural resource sectors in a responsible and sustainable way. As Canada transitions to a low-carbon economy, it is imperative that all levels of government and industry think big and work together to achieve results. Times of change can be challenging, but they can also bring new opportunities to build a more sustainable and prosperous resource sector than ever before, here in Ontario and across the country." Jim Carr Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan) NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. SOURCE Natural Resources Canada [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] [April 06, 2016] Smartvue Releases CloudDrive Hybrid Dynamic Cloud Video Surveillance LAS VEGAS, April 6, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At ISC West 2016, one of the world's largest security conferences, Smartvue Corporation released CloudDrive, the hybrid cloud solution for video surveillance. CloudDrive not only gives customers the ability to pick between storing video surveillance in the cloud, locally, or both, but also allows for an unlimited number of days of storage and advanced bitrates to support the highest resolution possible per camera. The company is promoting more flexibility across their cloud platform by offering several new features through its elegant and easy-to-use interface. "Smartvue provides yet another example of innovative and simple to use cloud video surveillance technologies by offering the most detailed imaging possible by supporting up to 10 megapixel cameras and individualized dynmic settings," said Martin Renkis, Founder and CEO of Smartvue Corporation. "CloudDrive also delivers to customers the most flexibility with new hybrid cloud technologies that allow them to store locally (up to 1.5PB), in the cloud (unlimited storage) or both all on a per camera basis." CloudDrive supports thousands of cameras through Onvif and supports bitrates as low as 128Kbps and up to 6Mbps through the secure, double-redundant Smartvue cloud which is available in 140 countries worldwide. About Smartvue Corporation Smartvue revolutionized the world of surveillance with the introduction of the first wireless cloud based video surveillance system in 1999, winning best of show at CES. Today, Smartvue leads the industry with Cloudvue, CloudDrive, and Commandvue IOT cloud services, which are available in 140 countries around the world. The company leads innovation in its industry with more than 45 patents in the US, EU, and China. Smartvue is dedicated to making the world a safer place with amazing video surveillance technologies that are elegantly simple. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/smartvue-releases-clouddrive-hybrid-dynamic-cloud-video-surveillance-300247249.html SOURCE Smartvue Corporation [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] News / National by Danisa Masuku National broadcaster, ZBCtv has come under fire after they mistakenly used comical footage of a spirit medium Mbuya Nehanda standing next to Internet sensation 'Tezvara' instead of her husband, Sekuru Kaguvi.Tezvara (real name Peter Irimayi Mudavanhu) hogged the limelight last year after making a rare appearance at his daughter's wedding clad in khaki shorts, a move which saw him being criticised by many for his dressing. As a result, meme's of him were created, including the one used by ZBCtv where his image was used to replace that of Sekuru Kaguvi, leaving him posing with Mbuya Nehanda.After a long hiatus from the public scene, Tezvara shocked many TV viewers on Monday evening when he appeared standing beside Mbuya Nehanda during the 8 o'clock news.Anchored by Rumbidzai 'NewsBae' Takawira, the clip meant to educate the younger generation on the country's Independence from the British ended up seeming like the station had rewritten Zimbabwe's history."The younger generation has been called on to always remember milestone events in the struggle for Independence," read NewsBae before seasoned ZBCtv diplomatic correspondent, Judith Makwanya took over.Though Makwanya's reportage was informative, the blunder was Tezvara's surprise appearance among nationalist icons.Those who are techno savvy where quick to rewind the footage on the DStv PVR decoders to record the gaffe to share with others who had missed it.And in no time, shocked viewers were ranting on social media networking sites with some baying for the news producers' blood.Most, however blamed the national broadcaster for distorting the country's history.A top videographer, Nico Abote, was among those who proposed that the crew responsible for the blunder be fired."ZBCtv News department needs to be FIRED with immediate effect. The whole department needs to go home. Well, how can Sekuru Kaguvi surely be looking like Tezvara?" questioned Abote on his Facebook wall."Who edited and authorised this and Newsbae Rumbie Takawira, how did you honestly continue after this?"NewsBae was quick to respond to Abote saying: "Oh well Nico Abote, what was I supposed to do? Walk off the set? Ayas."Another Facebook user, Semai Danha blamed ZBC for the mistake saying the young generation, which in fact was the clip's target audience, had been greatly misled."Our children are going to grow up thinking Kaguvi used to swag it up Nehanda ari mu nhembe (traditional attire) . . . I can't imagine the essays children are going to write after this mistake."Gracious Mugovera suggested ZBC could have ideally used Tezvara's meme as a marketing gimmick to determine whether people were still watching the channel's programming."I think ZBC wanted to check if people were still watching ZBC because someone can't sleep on the job like this."Francis Chinjekure concurred with Mugovera: "Is this a marketing stuntotherwise there's no excuse to it."Jibilika Dance Trust founder Plot Mhako weighed in laughing saying ZBC staff may have been intoxicated."kkkk, this ZBC guy is high on crack or something."However, ZBC through their Twitter handle ZBC News Online apologised for the gaffe by posting the original image of Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi."ZBC apologises for the 'tezvara' picture yesterday. Mbuya Nehanda's role in the struggle will be tackled today (last night)," tweeted ZBC. The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has slammed the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for attempting to re-o... The Lagos State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has slammed the Lagos Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for attempting to re-open the case against the National leader of APC and former Lagos Governor, Bola Tinubu.The APC claimed that it was an attempt by the PDP to slander and tarnish Tinubu's image.Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the APC, Joe Igbokwe, in a statement, yesterday, said APC viewed the call as silly rants of frustrated losers desperately splashing mud to tar others when they are facing weighty corruption cases.According to APC the trial which happened during former President Goodluck Jonathans led government and instigated by PDP; Lagos PDP and indeed the entire PDP are suffering acute Tinubu-phobia borne out of the fact that Asiwaju Tinubu constitutes the greatest nightmare for PDP rank and file given his prosecution of the defeat of the PDP last year.APC, also described Lagos PDP as a spent gathering of losers facing indictment for their role in the monumental corruption that marked the woeful PDP governance in the country. Medical doctors are currently battling to save the sight of the detained leader of the Shiite sect, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, a human rights... In a letter to the State Security Service demanding Mr. El-Zakzakys immediate release, Mr. Falana said armed soldiers shot at Mr. El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenat, several times.As a result of the brutal attack, Sheikh Zakzaky lost his left eye while doctors are currently battling to save the right one, said Mr. Falana, a senior advocate of Nigeria.To compound the physical pain and mental anguish that our clients were subjected to in the circumstance, the Nigeria Police Force and State Security Service have held them incommunicado for the past three and half months.The El-Zakzakys have been in detention since December last year, after a violent clash between members of the Shiite sect and the Nigerian army.On December 12, armed soldiers clashed with members of the sect at Zaria, Kaduna, after the latter allegedly blocked the passage of the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai.The next day, the soldiers returned to unleash more violence on the sect members.More than 300 members were believed to have been killed in the attack, which the army initially described as an attempt to assassinate Mr. Buratai, an army General.In January, the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Mr. El-Zakzakys group, said their leader and his wife were recuperating from gunshot wounds at an undisclosed location in Abuja.Mr. Falana said a similar incident in 2014 resulted in a detachment of the Nigerian Army killing three of Mr. El-Zakzakys children.The report of the fact-finding Commission of Enquiry set up by the government has not seen the light of day, he said. There was drama at the Oando Filling Station in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos State on Tuesday when angry youths pummelled a policeman wh... There was drama at the Oando Filling Station in the Ojodu Berger area of Lagos State on Tuesday when angry youths pummelled a policeman who allegedly obstructed them from buying fuel at the station.It was learnt that the policeman, whose name had yet to be ascertained, was attached to a Safer Highways Patrol unit.It was gathered that as a result of the fuel scarcity, youths numbering over 50 had besieged the station with different jerrycans as early as 4am.Our correspondent learnt that at about 9am, the Safer Highways Patrol policemen got to the station and had an altercation with the youths.The youths reportedly pounced on one of the policemen, beat him up, and tore his uniform.Our correspondent gathered that the policemans cap was taken away by one of the attackers.When newsmen got to the scene around 10am, the youths were still making trouble with their jerrycans and motorcycles, causing traffic at the Berger end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.Some Rapid Response Squad operatives and Federal Road Safety Corps officers were observed cautioning the youths, who also accused the policemen of provoking them.One of them, who gave his name only as Olamide, said the policeman had allegedly tortured a youth before they attacked him.He said, I have been here since 6am to buy fuel. At some point, the attendants said they would not sell to people with jerrycans. We tried talking them out of that decision. Then, the policemen came to the scene, and started harassing people.One of the officers attacked a young man. So, some youths became angry and punched the policeman. The youths tore his uniform and one of the attackers escaped with the policemans cap.Our correspondent learnt that the embattled policemen thereafter called for reinforcement from the RRS, which mobilised to the scene and stopped the rampaging youths.It was gathered that the injured policeman was taken away in a van to an undisclosed hospital.Another witness, who declined to give her name, said, The policemen are still looking for the thug who escaped with the officers cap. The policeman was hit in the nose, and he staggered and fell. He was dealt with because he and other officers wanted to harass people who were already provoked by the fuel situation.The RRS Commander, ACP Tunji Disu, who later came to the station, urged the youths to maintain calm.In a rowdy situation like this, you cannot rule out policemen shouting at people. But everyone has to be calm and take things easy, he said.The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said she had not been briefed on the incident.I do not have that report, she said.Police arrest manager for selling above pump priceOperatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested the Manager of the Oando Filling Station near the Otedola Bridge end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Mr. Rasaq Fakorede, for selling petrol above pump price and into jerrycans.The accountant of the station, Ibrahim Adewale, was also nabbed.The RRS said it got information that the petrol station was selling fuel at N180 to hawkers, who brought jerrycans to the station, neglecting motorists.It was learnt that the officers of the RRS swooped on the station and caught the stations attendants selling fuel to people with jerrycans, while many motorists lined up without hope of buying fuel at the station.A RRS source said, We learnt that the station was dispensing fuel to the public at N180 per litre, which was far from the regulated pump price of N86.50k.We also found out that the station, as of the time of the visit, had over 5,000 litres inside its underground tanks, while refusing to sell to motorists.Our correspondent gathered that the police also seized 30 jerrycans filled with petrol, which were hidden in an office at the station.The stations manager and accountant were subsequently arrested.Fakorede, the manager of the filling station, pleaded that he be pardoned.I will organise my boys to start selling the fuel to the vehicles in the queue, he added.RRS commander, Disu, said the manager and the stations accountant had been handed over to the Isheri Police Station for onward transfer to the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters in Ikeja. Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Wednesday appealed to residents to bear with government over the lingering fuel crisis and power s... Gov. Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State on Wednesday appealed to residents to bear with government over the lingering fuel crisis and power shortage across the state.This is contained in a statement issued by the states Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr SteveLagos State consumes more than 40 per cent of the fuel and energy needs of the country and therefore appreciates that the impact of the scarcity would be felt more in the state, Ambode said.He urged residents to remain calm, orderly and law abiding, assuring them that government was doing everything possible within its power to find an immediate solution to the crisis.I share the pain and discomfort of Lagosians.I assure them that the Federal Government is deeply touched by the situation and is working round the clock to alleviate the suffering of the people, Ambode said. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) discussed about the political party, APC, Muhammadu Buhari adm... Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC) discussed about the political party, APC, Muhammadu Buhari administration, fuel scarcity among other things in a recent interview.Tinubu said: Nigerians do not want to continue to import toothpick. We can make toothpick out of our bamboo trees. Nigerians dont want to continue to import rice or plastic and call them frozen chicken.Nigerians dont want to continue to import apple. What did the PDP leave after 16 years? What did they leave in our account? Why should certain things that we bring into this country become our priority? These are things APC government is ready to make work in Nigeria. Through agriculture, we can stimulate and encourage starch that we are using for our cloths; we can produce the textiles here, he said.Why do we have to bring in all those things that we can produce? Why cant we do it ourselves? The disease needs a very serious surgical operation, redirection, good and steady hands and very honest Nigerians and that is what Buhari is providing, Tinubu added. A 20-year-old man, Mr. Precious Ereta, has been remanded in prison for allegedly raping a five-year-old boy through the anus. A 20-year-old man, Mr. Precious Ereta, has been remanded in prison for allegedly raping a five-year-old boy through the anus.A Magistrates Court sitting in Choba, in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, on Monday sent the accused to prison pending a legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions.The Chief Magistrate, Ibiere John, ordered that case file be sent the DPP and adjourned till June 29, 2016.I order that the case file be sent to the DPP, and the court adjourns this matter till June 29, the magistrate held.It was gathered that the incident occurred on March 29, 2016, at Rumuekini community, where the accused and the victims parents were residing.A source said the charge against the accused had not been read in court, but noted that the act was an offence, which was punishable by law.A relative of the victim, who said he would not want his name to be in print until justice was done, said the little boy had been in pain since the incident.He said, The boy can no longer sit because of constant pain. Sometimes, blood and other fluids come out from the victims anus. The Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), has once again called for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leade... The Movement for the Actualization of Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), has once again called for the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Ben Onwuka of Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM).Also, the movement demanded for immediate release of 23 other Biafran detainees languishing at Awka and Onitsha prisons since 2006.In a statement yesterday in Onitsha, the national Director of Information (MASSOB), Comrade Samuel Edeson, said the groups leader, Uchenna Madu would soon attend International conference with seven other members in Western Europe where some of the issues would be discussed.He said the decisions were taken at MASSOBs headquarters yesterday at Okwe, Okigwe during its emergency meeting.Furthermore, MASSOB said the continued detention of these Igbo agitators by the federal government, was the more the country suffered diplomatic damages.MASSOB will continue to partner with (IPOB), lower Niger congress and Biafran groups in Diaspora for genuine agitation, we shall never relent despite arrests, detention, killings and persecutionThe international conference according to (MASSOB), was on the rights of Indigenous People and self determination groups across the globe.We demand for the unconditional release of our brother, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, (IPOB leader and others) whose cases cannot be justified by the Nigeria government, their continued detention has exposed the bias of Nigeria judiciary MASSOB said. The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Wednesday demanded the reinstatement of the sacked Vice Chancellors of the 13 Fe... The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) on Wednesday demanded the reinstatement of the sacked Vice Chancellors of the 13 FederalUniversities established by the administration of former President, Goodluck Jonathan.12 VCs, as well as that of the National OpenUniversity of Nigeria, Prof. Vincent Tenebe, were fired by Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, recently. The Governing Councils and Boards ofthe institutions were also dissolved by President Muhammadu Buhari.But President Buhari, during the National ExecutiveCouncil meeting of the All Progressives Congress, apologized for the action todissolve the governing councils and boards of the institutions.Following the apology by the president, NANS National President, Tijani Usman Shehu, at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, urged Adamu to do the needful by reinstating the sacked VCs.He said the association would continue to press homeits demands if the Federal Government refused to reinstate the VCs.Tijani said: The unjustly sacked Vice Chancellorsshould be reinstated immediately in consonance with Mr. President apology andspelt out universities rules.We are dismally dismayed by the fact that the Ministerof Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has remained hesitant in doing the needful which is the reinstatement of the sacked Vice Chancellors which was wrongfully done.Rather the minister has chosen to give diverse counter- interpretations to Mr. Presidents apology just to soothe his whims andego whereas the President categorically stated that there are specificallyspelt out roles for which the Governing Councils are meant to perform and whichcannot be usurped such as appointment of Vice Chancellors.Clearly, Mallam Adamus refusal to take the rightpath has demonstrated his contempt and disregard for our dear president, Muhammadu Buhari. On the heels of this, we herein state our resolve topeacefully press until the right thing is done with respect to the sack of the 13 affected Vice Chancellors of Federal Universities.Tijani said that the sacking and subsequent hiring ofnew VCs for the institutions did not follow due process.According to him, the association has not received any response to the several letters written to the Ministry of Education throughthe Permanent Secretary, Dr. Folashade Yemi Esan.He therefore, asked the minister to resign formisleading Buhari into firing the VCs.Tijani said: The minister should tender an unreservedapology to Nigerian students and the entire academic community for his misleading actions and statements thus far. Conversely, heshould resign hisappointment. Obviously the Vice Chancellors appointment of Adamu did notfollow due procedure since no board sat down to consider and interview prospectivecandidates for the said appointments.The National Association of Nigerians Students hasvowed to pursue this just cause for the right thing to be done in our universities.We have peacefully taken our cry to Mr. President who gave his favourbaleattention and followed same with a sincere apology.Our demands have also been tabled before the NationalAssembly which has also empathized with us and waded in to resolve the crisis. Theminister of education on the contrary has adopted an adversarial approach toour genuinedemand choosing instead to harass the never intimidated Nigerian Studentsvia arrest by men of the Nigerian PoliceForce until the IGP graciously intervened.All eyes and attention was thus fixated on theminister of education who in the first instance misdirected the Federal Government. News / National by Nduduzo Tshuma VICE President Phelekezela Mphoko did not abandon the liberation struggle to be with his wife, as claimed by the embattled War Veterans Association chairman Christopher Mutsvangwa, Zipra's former intelligence chief Dumiso Dabengwa said yesterday.Mphoko, according to Dabengwa, remained in Mozambique towards the end of the war for Zimbabwe's independence in the late 1970s on assignment in his brief as the chief of logistics - specifically to receive weapons and secure their safe passage to Zipra fighters.The Zapu president made the remarks during an address to commemorate the death of former Zipra commander Lookout Masuku at an event organised by Ibhetshu lika Zulu in Bulawayo."From my recollection, and from the report we were given by (the late Zipra commander Alfred Nikita) Mangena on his return (from Mozambique), he said he left one man [VP Mphoko] because there were weapons expected from East Germany. Since the weapons had been given to Zipa, and that man being in charge of logistics, he would receive our portion of weapons," said Dabengwa.The former Home Affairs Minister spoke about Mphoko after he was asked by a member of the audience to clarify why one person remained in Mozambique after the collapse of the Zimbabwe People's Army (ZIPA) and the rest of the Zipra cadres returned to Zambia.He added: "There was a man that worked on reconnaissance and after conducting reconnaissance entered through Gonakudzingwa, entered through Malipati after crossing the Mozambique border. If you cross the Mozambican border, you get to Malipati, there were our people there, and he went that far."Those weapons needed to be transported into the country so that those guerrillas who entered through Botswana or Zambia travelled light and get the weapons inland. That's the only man I know was left with that job."Mutsvangwa, whose leadership of the former freedom fighters has been called into question after his removal as War Veterans Minister by President Robert Mugabe last month, claimed that Mphoko deserted his comrades in Mozambique at the height of the liberation struggle to enjoy life with his then wife-to-be, Laurinda.The couple wed in 1977, with former Umkhonto WeSizwe guerilla and current South African President Jacob Zuma as best man.Retired Brigadier-General Abel Mazinyane, a former member of the Zipra High Command, was the first to hit back at Mutsvangwa, who fought on the side of Zanla.Mazinyane said Mutsvangwa would do well to limit himself to Zanla matters, adding: "I know there're some who wish they were knowledgeable on Zipra issues, unfortunately they're not. There's no harm for those who were junior during the war but senior today to consult those who are junior today but were senior during the war. Speculation should be avoided."The Zanu-PF secretary for finance Obert Mpofu also castigated Mutsvangwa for trying to undermine VP Mphoko's liberation war credentials, saying the party would not tolerate mischievous elements bent on denigrating the leadership.VP Mphoko also weighed in last week, trashing Mutsvangwa's claims and calling him a mad man."Someone sees the sun rising from the east and he says it's the west. Lolo luhlanya (that's a mad person). Please take him to Ingutsheni Hospital," said Mphoko to thunderous applause while addressing a meeting at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo last Friday."If you talk about my wife, you irritate me because that's the person I love, that's my best friend. All my 16 years in the armed struggle, God knows I never left the struggle."I was loyal to the struggle and loyal to Zipra. I never sold out. I'm a son of a hero and my grandfather wayeliqhawe likaMzilikazi. I've never been a sell-out and will never be."Mphoko said he joined the liberation struggle at a tender age and had committed himself to its cause to this day.Speaking at the same event, Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo, the Zanu-PF deputy secretary for Women's League who is also the Bulawayo Provincial Minister of State, blasted Mutsvangwa for trying to denigrate Mphoko by poking his nose into Zipra issues.She said the war veterans chairman was not a Zipra cadre and could not talk about Zipra activities, which he has no knowledge about. Some North-East youths under the umbrella of North-East Youth Peace and Development Empowerment Initiative, NEYPDI, have berated Governor ... Some North-East youths under the umbrella of North-East Youth Peace and Development Empowerment Initiative, NEYPDI, have berated Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti state over comments credited to him that over 300 Chibok girls abducted by Boko Haram sect were never abducted.Alhaji Kyari Abubakar, President of the group, expressed surprise that somebody like Fayose who regarded himself as a democrat could make such statement to score a cheap political point.He said, We are surprised that this statement is coming from someone who regards himself as a democrat, that statement suggest that he has no sympathy for the parents of the abducted girls and the pains they are currently passing through.Abubakar who advised Fayose to stop misleading Nigerians by his unsubstantiated comments urged him to take a trip to states like Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and see the extent of damages done by Boko Haram insurgency before reeling out information to the public.He said, He (Fayose) should not mislead the Nigerian public about the truth. The people of North-East cannot afford to tell lies on the abduction of their daughters, that incident is always fresh in our memory.His utterance is short of what we expect from an elder statesman like him. We advise him to concentrate on his poor governance of Ekiti state with his flamboyant city life and wastage of peoples resources.The youth leader urged civil society organizations campaigning for the release of Chibok girls to disregard Fayoses statement and continue with their good works.The North- East Youths will use this opportunity to thank civil society groups and socio-cultural organizations as well as the international bodies campaigning for the release of the Chibok girls.It would be recalled that Fayose in the statement described civil society organisations campaigning for the release of the abducted Chibok girls as mere opportunists and job seekers.Abubakar, however, urged the Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase and other relevant authorities to caution Fayose who as a politician has lost morality and decorum engages in destructive criticsms just to be heard. The Peoples Democratic Party has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to stop blaming the opposition party for his failure. Rather th... Rather than accusing the PDP of being behind the challenges facing the country, the opposition party said the President should settle down and work.It said it was wrong for the President to still be blaming the PDP 11 months after he assumed office.The National Chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, said this at the partys secretariat in Abuja on Tuesday.Sheriff, who was a former governor of Borno State, said the All Progressives Congress claimed to have solutions to the nations problems, saying this was why it was voted into power by Nigerians instead of the PDP.He spoke during the inauguration of the four committees set up by the party.The committees are national convention committee, finance committee, reconciliation committee and zoning committee.Sheriff was apparently replying to the claim by the President that the PDP failed to save for the rainy day throughout the 16 years it ruled the country.President Buhari spoke while receiving the President of the International Civil Aviation Organisation, Dr. Bernard Aliyu, at the State House in Abuja.He had said, In the First Republic, more enduring infrastructure was built with meagre resources. But in the past 16 years, we made a lot of money without planning for the rainy day.We showed a lot of indiscipline in managing our economy, and that is why we are where we are today.Before Buhari spoke, a former Governor of Lagos State, who is also the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, in another forum, had also blamed the PDP for the current fuel crisis in the country.Tinubu, while addressing journalists in Lagos, said the PDP destroyed Nigeria during its 16-year rule by refusing to pursue what was necessary for the growth and development of the country.He had said, We want to stay focused and redirect Nigeria. We want to reverse the decay of 16 years. We are hearing comments from the PDP left and right. We are saying we want to clear the mess they created. For 16 good years, the PDP destroyed the country.We should not be lamenting over petrol queues today if they had seen what was necessary and done what was necessary for this country.Sheriff, however, said the blame game should stop and called on the President and the APC to get to work and deliver on their electoral promises.Sheriff, who was a member of the APC before he defected to the PDP, said the result of the 2015 general elections had afforded Nigerians to know the difference between the two parties now.He said, Nigerians have the opportunity of comparing the two parties. I read in a publication recently where the APC was blaming the PDP for the unavailability of petrol in the country.They said we are responsible for petrol scarcity after one year in office. They should stop blaming us.They told Nigerians they could do better and thats why Nigerians voted for them. They should stop blaming us for their woes.I like to advise the leaders of the APC to stop blaming the PDP. We are now the opposition party, we would reposition our party to show that we can do better.He said the days of rigging election in the country were over, and called on the APC governors to steer clear of Abuja on Saturday when council elections would hold.Sheriff said he had been informed that some governors of the APC were planning to storm Abuja.He said if this happened, then the PDP would also bring its governors to the Federal Capital Territory.He said, Governors of the APC should not be in Abuja for the election. If they think they can rig out the PDP, they are joking. If they bring governors, we would bring governors.If they bring former governors, we would bring our own. We can match them everywhere.The APC should be guided. We are not going to be part of violence. The PDP will not be part of violence, but we will protect our votes. Winners must be announced. No inconclusive elections.Also speaking at the occasion, the immediate-past Governor of Niger State, Dr. Babangida Aliyu, called on members of the PDP to stop correcting Buhari and the APC government.He said they should be allowed to make mistakes in order to allow Nigerians know the difference between them and the PDP. Members of both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate held secret caucus meetings outside the Natio... Members of both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in the Senate held secret caucus meetings outside the National Assembly complex on Tuesday.The meetings were said to be part of the search for a likely successor to the embattled Senate President, Bukola Saraki.The trial of the Kwara Central Senatorial District representative began at the Code of Conduct Tribunal after all options by his team of legal experts to secure an adjournment of the case failed.Our correspondent learnt that only 23 senators, comprising mainly members of the PDP, were with the Senate President in court while majority of his colleagues in the APC stayed away.A group of the APC senators, who were said to have met secretly somewhere in the Asokoro area of the city, were said to have agreed to plead with Saraki to resign his position.A Senator, who attended the meeting, told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that they reviewed the proceedings at the court and concluded that the CCT judges might convict Saraki based on the evidence before them.He said, We are trying to see how we can guarantee a soft-landing arrangement for the Senate President and we believe that the best thing for him would be to resign honourably now and face his trial.Attempts to speak with the senators to know their individual positions on the issue failed as those contacted refused to speak on record.A PDP Senator accused the APC-led Federal Government of trying to discredit the immediate past Senate President, David Mark, with the Panama Papers offshore assets scam due to its fears that Mark might be re-elected as Sarakis successor.He said, They raised the same Panama issue sometime in 2007 when Senator Mark wanted to contest as Senate President but we denied the allegations. They kept quiet when they didnt see any evidence against him.They are scared that the opposition could hijack the Senate going by the division among the APC senators.Our correspondent learnt that Senators Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) and Shaba Lafiaji (Kwara North) were still being considered by the APC as possible replacement for Saraki, if he either resigns or is convicted.Meanwhile, Saraki said he was glad that his trial before the CCT on false asset declaration had finally commenced.The Senate President stated this in a statement by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, in Abuja.Saraki believed that the Tuesdays proceedings at the court had given him the confidence that if the trial was conducted fairly, he would be vindicated. Senators in support of Bukola Sarakis leadership of the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday vowed to resist every attempt to impeach their lea... Senators in support of Bukola Sarakis leadership of the Nigerian Senate on Wednesday vowed to resist every attempt to impeach their leader.Mr. Saraki is facing a 13-count charge of alleged false asset declaration levelled against him by the Code of Conduct Bureau.The senators who were represented by Senators Rafiu Ibrahim and Samuel Anyanwu, representing Kwara South and Imo East respectively told journalists on the sidelines of the tribunal sitting that they consider Mr. Sarakis trial as an attempt by the leading All Progressives Congress to blacklist him before the Nigerian masses.We have since discovered that the trial of the senate president is a mere attempt to blackmail him and make him look bad in the court of public opinion, Senator Ibrahim said. No more, no less. A dispassionate analysis of the proceeding of the CCT yesterday has pointed to the fact that the APC-led executive is still embittered against Dr Saraki over the manner of his election as senate president.The senators, who were 12 in number at the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Wednesday, said regardless of its outcome, the trial of Mr. Saraki would be subject to other statutory procedure for the impeachment of Nigerias Senate President.For those calling for the impeachment of the senate president, we urge them to avail themselves of the provisions of the law relating to such a sensitive step. They will have to produce as many as 100 senators to achieve that aim. As long as they dont have the majority, the call is a tall dream that will remain a figment of the imagination of the groups and their sponsors, the senators said.During the previous sitting Mr. Saraki was accompanied by as much as 80 senators.On Wednesday he was accompanied to court by just eight senators, including Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. News / National by Stephen Jakes MDC-T secretary General Douglas Mwonzora has said the party is gearing for the mass protest scheduled for April 14 to challenge the government over poverty prevailing and economic crisis.Mwonzora said the MDC-T is staging a peaceful demonstration against poverty and corruption on the 14 of April in Harare."We wish to demand the $15bn that was stolen by the government officials. We also wish to demand the 2 million jobs that Zimbabweans were promised by the government of President Robert Mugabe," he said. "We call upon all Zimbabweans to join in this peaceful march to press legitimate demands. We call upon civil society, churches, political parties as well as other organisations to attend this peaceful march."He said as Zimbabweans , people can not watch idly as the country is going down the drain."It is time that we stand up against the poverty and misery that our people have been plunged into by this illegitimate and insensitive regime. The march will start at the Freedom Square down Robert Mugabe Avenue into Julias Nyerere," he said. "We will turn into Nelson Mandela and end up at the African Unity Square. We have already informed the law enforcement agents about this peaceful and responsible activity. Their cooperation so far is good. We emphasize that this is a peaceful march." News / National by Staff reporter The British government has reportedly rejected President Robert Mugabe's choice of ambassador designate, Ray Ndhlukula for undisclosed reasons.Ndhlukula currently a deputy chief secretary to the President and Cabinet has been embroiled in a bitter tussle over Centenary Farm in Figtree with David Connolly.Sources close to the developments said Britain had indicated it will not accept Ndhlukula's appointment after Mugabe nominated him as his choice of ambassador to replace Gabriel Machinga, a former education minister. News / National by Staff reporter With the warring Zanu-PF's politburo and central committee power structures meeting in Harare today and on Friday respectively to discuss, among other issues, dozens of outstanding disciplinary cases, things don't look good for the party's faction loyal to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.While there has been a sense over the past few weeks that the former liberation movement would check back and reach out to all its disaffected members, in a desperate endeavour to head off the challenge posed by former Vice President Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZPF), it emerged yesterday that Mnangagwa's party foes were driving a hard bargain against his camp.Well-placed Zanu-PF sources told the Daily News that hardliners within the Generation 40 (G40) group a party faction rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe were pushing for the confirmation this week of the suspension and expulsion of all of the beleaguered VP's allies who were under the cosh in the party."There is no mercy for successionists. The resistance and other nonsense that has so far been put up by Team Lacoste (Mnangagwa faction) must come to and end, which is why the party leadership must endorse the expulsions of all the successionists," a G40-aligned party official said.It was even speculated among the VP's camp last night that the push to have the Zanu-PF National Disciplinary Committee (NDC) that is chaired by Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko to recommend the confirmation of all suspensions and expulsions to the party was allegedly a strategy to emasculate former War Veterans minister Christopher Mutsvangwa ahead of the crunch engagement between Mugabe and ex-combatants tomorrow.Contacted for comment on all this, the party's national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo said as he had not had sight of the agenda of the politburo and the central committee meetings, he could not say much, referring the Daily News to party secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo.But as party bigwigs meet in Harare, Midlands and Mashonaland West provincial co-ordinating committees are pushing for the expulsion of party deputy national secretary for administration July Moyo and Mutsvangwa from the former liberation movement, along with several other officials aligned to Mnangagwa.Both Zanu-PF acting Midlands chairperson Tapiwa Matangaidze and Keith Guzah, who chairs the Mashonaland West provincial disciplinary committee, told the Daily News that they expected Moyo and Mutsvangwa's cases to be finalised as recommended."We sat as the Mashonaland West PCC on March 20 and resolved that Mutsvangwa be expelled from the party and also be recalled from Parliament because we felt that he dismally failed to adhere to Zanu-PF's ethos. We realised that he is an unrepentant character," Guzah said."The politburo will most likely expel Mutsvangwa while Moyo may get away with a suspension, but whatever happens, the consequences for the party will be too ghastly to contemplate."Team Lacoste is ready to disengage if one considers the work they are doing on the ground. How else do you explain a situation where a party has two structures antagonistic to each other at every level?"We are doomed as a party if these things are not handled carefully, and the opposition is watching us with glee. We may even see them participating in subsequent by-elections to test if there is still cohesion in the party and we risk being embarrassed by them in 2018," a central committee member, who claims neutrality in the party, said.Meanwhile, the other alleged Team Lacoste officials who could be in soup this week include former Midlands provincial chairperson Kizito Chivamba, Gokwe-Nembudziya legislator Justice Mayor Wadyajena and his Gokwe-Kana counterpart Owen Muda Ncube, as well as war veteran Victor Matemadanda who were all booted out of their troubled province last month.And amid all this, the stage is delicately set for a potentially explosive encounter that could radically reshape Zimbabwe's turbulent political landscape when Mugabe meets restless war veterans in Harare tomorrow to try and iron out their deepening differences.In a daring act of defiance on Sunday, war veterans aligned to Mnangagwa openly contradicted Mugabe saying they were "equal partners" in Zanu-PF and that the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) was not just an affiliate organisation of the ruling party as the nonagenarian said on Saturday, on his return from Japan.Speaking in an interview with the Daily News, the spokesperson of the Mnangagwa-aligned ZNLWVA formation that is led by Mutsvangwa, Douglas Mahiya, also said it was folly for anyone to think that former freedom fighters did not have a key role to play in Zanu-PF."Just as you cannot separate Jesus from God, and cannot separate Jesus from the Holy Spirit, you cannot separate war veterans from Zanu-PF. After all, we (war veterans) are the ones who introduced Zanu-PF to the masses during the war of liberation."If someone wants to separate us from Zanu-PF, I think it will be a betrayal of the liberation struggle," Mahiya said as he unapologetically contradicted what Mugabe said at the weekend.He said further that ex-combatants "are not supporters of Zanu-PF but are members of the party", and as such were not supposed to operate under the leadership of people they had taught politics."During our training as liberation fighters we were taught how to use the gun and also taught how to handle the masses in terms of politics. So you cannot say we must go under them while we are the ones who were educating them. War veterans have a big role to play in Zanu-PF politics," he added.Prodded to comment further on the view that war veterans should play second fiddle to Zanu-PF, Mahiya said this was a misunderstanding as each party needed the other, adding that one side could not dictate to the other on issues that had to do with how the party must be run."The issue is not about direction. As war veterans, we already have direction. However, the direction must not constantly be renewed because if you do so you will lose that direction."You cannot renew the direction that we had, the direction of fighting the colonial regime. We think that as war veterans we are taking the right direction. Now, it's about how government functionality and programmes benefit the people that we fought for," he said.Mahiya also admitted openly that Zanu-PF was "collapsing like a deck of cards" because of its seemingly unstoppable factional and succession wars."What we are experiencing is tantamount to total chaos in the country and total destruction of the party, and if we leave people destroying the party as war veterans we will be left with nothing at the end of the day."Zanu-PF is being manipulated to produce a different product altogether, which is a misdirection of the liberation war. This thing is becoming tense because our former enemies have infiltrated us," he said. News / National by Staff Reporter ZANU-PF Bikita West legislator Munyaradzi Kereke has made sensational claims that former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono bribed an ex- Alpha Media Holdings reporter to smear his career.Kereke told a court that former Standard news editor Caiphus Chimhete was paid by Gono and fed him with information to smear his career."Chimhete invaded my privacy when he entered my bedroom pretending to be a relative of my wife Patience Maramwidze during an inspection in loco," said Kereke.He also said former Minister of Media, Information and Publicity Minister Webster Shamu demanded $2,000 to reveal who framed his rape case.He claimed that Shamu was trapped and caught with the extortion money."I reported the matter to higher officials in government and a trap was set involving Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Musafare Nyamudahondo and his junior," said Kereke."We used marked notes and drove to Shamu's Borrowdale Brooke home, me ahead and Nyamudahondo following. All evidence was collected and the highest office is aware of this."Kereke alleged that the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission bosses were bribed with houses and money so that they would not investigate former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono."Gono summoned two ZACC bosses, one Butaunashe and (Eric) Harrid and gave them $10,000 and $10,500 respectively as gifts to go on holiday."Houses were bought for (Ngonidzashe) Gumbo and placed on shelf companies using State money. A house was bought in Alexandra Park for a female commissioner who was in charge and another in Borrowdale for Gumbo."I wrote to Rtd Maj-Gen Happyton Bonyongwe to look into the matter because it was clear corruption between Gono and ZACC." News / National by Staff Reporter A cheeky Harare woman - Beauty Ndoro threatened to stab her husband when he confronted her for allegedly infidelity.Ndoro is now in court seeking a protection order against Michael Munhambara accusing him of physical abuse."Michael assaults and harass me in front of our children. He got me arrested twice alleging that I assaulted him."I left our matrimonial house because he took my phone and texted all my family members and friends saying that I am a prostitute."All I want him to do is to stay away from me," she said.Michael denied all the claims saying "I dispute all the allegations your worship."Beauty threatened to stab me with a knife if I am to ask anything about her boyfriend and she communicates with him in my presence."Magistrate Barba Mateko granted Beauty the protection order. A shrimp boat drags skimmers through the oil slick in the Gulf Of Mexico Thursday, May 6, 2010. New Orleans candy theft suspect, 'on the cliff' of lengthy sentence, jailed after coming to court high News / National by Staff reporter It has emerged that the Kwekwe-based Zanu-PF terror group that goes by the sick moniker "Al-Shabaab" went berserk at the weekend, attacking party youths who attended a homecoming rally for President Robert Mugabe at Harare International Airport on his return from Japan.Two Zanu-PF Kwekwe district officials, Pambanani Phiri and Lisbon Jaure, told the Daily News yesterday that they were attacked by a well-known Midlandsparty provincial executive member and his "Al-Shabaab" gang for "selling out" the province by attending the Saturday rally - as the factional and succession wars devouring the former liberation movement continue to escalate."When we came back from Harare, they approached us accusing us of selling out Midlands Province. Vakati tarasika gwara reprovince saka tinofanirwa kubuda muKwekwe. (They said we had lost the province's way of doing things and as such we should leave Kwekwe)."It was at that point that they began to assault us viciously with clenched fists. In the end, we managed to escape and report the matter to the police."However, when we arrived at the police station, we discovered that some of the people who had assaulted us were already there, making their own report and accusing us of beating them."As a result, the case was recorded as public violence, case number 104/16. We are still to get medical reports but we also made a report to the provincial chairperson, Tapiwa Matangaidze," an aggrieved Phiri said.Matangaidze confirmed receiving the report but would not shed more light on the matter, saying this would "jeopardise police investigations".The Midlands "Al-Shabaab", named after the Somalia-based terrorist affiliate of al-Qaeda fighting to turn the country into a fundamentalist Islamic State, has been blamed for many attacks in the troubled province.The terror group was earlier this year accused of tormenting a number of ministers that come from the Midlands.Sources who spoke to the Daily News then claimed that the brazen thugs were being bankrolled by a regional party bigwig (name supplied but withheld on legal advice) - who allegedly promoted himself as a key supporter of Mnangagwa's mooted presidential ambitions."This terror group is operating openly in the province and has in the last few days alone accosted a number of ministers, accusing them of siding with the G40 (ambitious Zanu-PF Young Turks said to be rabidly opposed to Mnangagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe)," one of the sources said.The ministers who had come under pressure from "Al-Shabaab" allegedly included Makhosini Hlongwane, Joram Gumbo, Chiratidzo Mabuwa, Fred Moyo, Matangaidze, Anastasia Ndlovu, Tsitsi Muzenda and Jason Machaya."We are told that the situation is so bad that . . . Muzenda is said to have even approached national political commissar Saviour Kasukuwere over the threats on her life by these misguided yobs," the source said.Contacted for comment at the time, a cautious Kasukuwere would neither deny nor confirm the claims, choosing to say he needed to first investigate the matter and establish the facts before commenting substantively."This group must be something operating outside the party structures because we do not have a structure by the name Al-Shabaab' in Zanu-PF."I need to go on the ground to find out how it is working," he said.But a provincial party official said the "thuggish activities" of "Al-Shabaab" had heightened tensions between opposing factions in the Midlands, as the struggle for regional mastery in the burning governing party reaches a crescendo. What it's like to almost get executed: 'Things slowly started to get more intense' The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. WASHINGTON (AP) The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all. News / National by Staff reporter Gokwe Nembudziya legislator, Justice Mayor Wadyajena's warrant of arrest issued earlier this month by the Victoria Falls Magistrate Court has been cancelled.Cde Wadyajena was issued with the arrest warrant for failing to attend the court session for the ruling following an application to refer the case to the Constitutional Court.The magistrate cancelled the warrant based on the fact that Wadjajena's default was not wilful as he was on state assignment in Lusaka, Zambia.Wadyajena's lawyer, Givemore Muvhiringi had earlier been advised to bring precedence -supporting act or ruling on a similar case dealt with before to the court to support his argument that the state is contradicting itself by sending his client on foreign duty and then go on to issue a warrant of arrest.Wadyajena is being accused of disorderly conduct in a public place and will appear in court on the 25th of April for the trial. News / National by Staff reporter President Robert Mugabe has called for frankness on discussions regarding challenges facing the party and the nation.Addressing journalists in Harare today, the Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, ambassador Simon Khaya Moyo said Mugabe made the call at the opening of the Zanu-PF Politburo held at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare today.He also said the Politburo meeting received reports from the National Disciplinary Committee, the Commissariat, External Relations, on ZIMASSET and from the Secretary for War Veterans Affairs in Harare this Wednesday.The Secretary for Legal Affairs, who is also the Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa said between 3 million and 5 million people may be in need of food aid.He also said the food situation is being addressed through the importation of maize from various countries and that irrigation is being accelerated on all ARDA farms and other farms with water bodies.Chinamasa also told the Politburo that a comprehensive scheme is under way to promote agricultural productivity, while infrastructural development and energy needs are being addressed.The Secretary for War Veterans, Sydney Sekeramayi told the Politburo that preparations for meeting between war veterans and their patron, President Mugabe are going on very well.On behalf of the Chairman for National Disciplinary Committee, Chinamasa briefed the Politburo members that some cases that have been brought before the disciplinary committee are still being considered, while others were referred back to the provincial level because the procedures had not been followed.National Political Commissar, Saviour Kasukuwere said the Chitepo School of Ideology will be opened soon. The first day of Dennis Jones civil trial was spent finding a jury and alternates. The civil trial between the plaintiffs versus Jones and Methodist Physicians Clinic started Tuesday morning at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse. With Fourth Judicial District Judge James Richardson presiding, attorneys for both sides worked to shrink the jury pool of 99 down to 16. At that point, the attorneys will be allowed to strike certain jurors. Eight jurors will decide the case. When the courthouse closed at 4:30 p.m., there were still 78 possible jurors. Judge Richardson, the attorneys and court staff were going to stay late and continue jury selection. During the trial, according to court documents, the plaintiffs attorneys, Randy and Emily Shanks, will argue that their plaintiffs were long-standing patients of Jones who is currently serving a state and federal sentence in a Texas prison and Methodist Physicians Clinic who trusted the defendants with their health care needs and had confidence that the defendants would not do anything to betray that trust relationship. Michael Ellwanger, a Sioux City-based attorney, will defend Methodist Physicians Clinic, and Mike Winter, who handled Jones State of Iowa case, will defend the former physician. On April 19, 2014, Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Richard Davidson accepted Jones guilty plea to the state charge of lascivious acts with a child, a Class C felony. Davidson sentenced Jones to the maximum of 10 years in prison, to be served concurrently with a more than 10-year (121-month) federal sentence on child pornography charges. Concurrently means the two sentences will be served at the same time. The trial will continue Wednesday morning. Despite the partisan frenzy surrounding the U.S. Supreme Court, its eight justices united to make a strong statement in favor of the one person, one vote principle their predecessors enacted more than half a century ago. The unanimous decision quelled an effort by some Texas voters to require representation to be based on voter registration. To do that, however, would have run counter to the idea that political districts must be of similar populations reaffirmed in a 1964 ruling that established the one person, one vote litmus test. This is being described as a partisan issue in many media reports. Some analyses call this as a major win for Latinos and immigrants, traditional Democratic voters, who may not be registered or eligible to vote or a loss for rural areas with older populations that may tend to vote Republican. In truth, any decision by any court favors some and inconveniences others. But if one disregards these narratives, a simple truth appears: Elected officials serve all constituents, regardless of voting status, in their districts. Writing the courts opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the nations history, our decisions and settled practice in all 50 states and countless local jurisdictions point in the same direction, while adding that representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote because nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates. However, the Supreme Court did not explicitly state whether total population or if an alternate method, as the Texas group requested, would be acceptable. Though two of the courts most conservative justices, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, wrote separate opinions based on different concerns, all eight agreed the precedent set more than half a century ago must be followed. Voters ability to freely elect representative leaders of, by and for the people is what made the American experiment so earth-shattering in the late 1700s. While a two-house government is often maligned by political infighting today, it was originally designed to equally represent both geographic areas and population zones. Efforts to draw political boundaries and control election outcomes unfortunately still exist through gerrymandering and other devices. This is less of an issue in Iowa, which has a nonpartisan redistricting commission. Nebraska is attempting institute a similar policy after its last effort was plagued with partisan complaints on both sides of the aisle. But, regardless of location, two things must be guaranteed to all Americans: The will of the people all people must be allowed to be decided fairly by voters, and that will must extend to those who are not voters themselves. News / Press Release by MLF Its as fresh as if it happened yesterday to us in the struggle for Matabeleland (Mthwakazi, that we bade, in rivers of tears, our last salute and farewell, to our brother, leader, commander and mentor- Lt General Lookout Sikhalisa Mafela Masuku.It is indeed 20 very painful years that all Mthwakazi people have lived under torture, marginalisation and outright hate and endure this to this day. We did and still do not expect any mercy from the enemies who killed you Masuku, raped our grand mothers, mothers, sisters and children including babies. We do not expect and we have not received any development from people who failed to recognise your contribution in the fight for liberation of the binary state of Zimbabwe. We are however, happy that your Spirit has worked havoc in the enemy camp that killed you and they are now in splinters that are yet to increase.MLF recognises You as an unwavering protector. Of the vulnerable, defender of the defenseless and mentor to all to be born after you in Mthwakazi. Your name is exalted high and you are in the same league with DEFENDERS OF MTHWAKAZI INTEGRITY (Mzilikazi, Mkhaliphi, Mkhithika) Chief Khayisa Ndiweni, Mabhena(governor), Sydney Malunga, Mgandane Dlodlo and we promise to fulfill your desire of your entire life-the total emancipation of our nation-Mthwakazi. The enemies who took away your precious life are known to us-some have died of over looting and over eating while others wallow, groan, nash their false teeth in the hope their are called to heaven, but alas, The Mighty God long forsook them-and they live to re-live all the memories of people they have murdered over and over again.As MLF we extend a hearty welcome to DR DD(HIS EXCELLENCY THE PRESIDENT OF ZAPU for delivering such comforting yet very painful,true words during the Memorial Lecture of our mentor. We salute you. We also extend our gratitude to our comrades in struggle-Ibhetshu lika Zulu for organising the event. Such events unite us all Mthwakazi, inside our colonised country and abroad where some of us sought refuge.Ngeleth'I"izwe!Vuka Mthwakazi! The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 374 on St. Joseph Island be hosting the 49th Annual Maple Syrup Festival in Richards Landing, April 9 & 10, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Royal Canadian Legion Branch 374 on St. Joseph Island be hosting the 49th Annual Maple Syrup Festival in Richards Landing, April 9 & 10, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Every year, the festival serves thousands of all you can eat pancakes and sausages topped with sticky and sweet St. Joseph Island maple syrup to residents from Wawa to Sudbury and everywhere in between. This treat is available for just $9 per adult, $8 per senior, and $5 for each child under the age of 12. The 2016 festival includes many of the usual features including local Maple Syrup Producer booths with a variety of syrups, candies and sugars. Craft vendors and local organization information tables are favorites with the regular patrons. The yearly $1,000 prize raffle tickets will be for sale. This year, the festival is privileged to include a few special guests: Central Algoma Secondary School's History Club, the 49th Field Regiment, RCA and Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma District CUPE Council. The History Club will be selling trench cakes. Funds raised will help the 12 students in the club attend the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge; an honor they won by raising funds for the Vimy Ridge Foundation. A great addition for the Legion's event, April 9 is Vimy Ridge Day. Also in attendance will be the the 49th Field Artillery Regiment, RCA (Sault Ste. Marie). As the Legion is there to serve them, they are coming to help serve others. Their recruiter will also be on hand with information about how to become an artilleryman with the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve. On April 10, Sault Ste. Marie & Algoma CUPE Council will sponsor the festival. As part of their community outreach, they will be paying $5,000 worth of customers' breakfasts. The Maple Syrup Festival on St. Joseph Island is a wonderful community experience. More than 100 volunteers make the event possible. Every Legion Branch continues to struggle to find innovative ways to support Veterans, their families and community service organizations. This event is the largest fundraiser for Branch 374, it helps keep the doors open for Veterans and for the community. Without events such as this festival, the Legion would not be able to continue to offer they help they generously offer. Many friends and family annually mark their calendars to attend. It is a sign of spring, where you are guaranteed to run into old acquaintances. If you have never been, you should attend to sample some local maple syrup and experience some down-the-line hospitality. A Greater Sudbury company has landed a contract with the Canadian Space Agency to build a combination drill and rotary multi-purpose tool that is essentially a space-age 'Swiss Army Knife. A Greater Sudbury company has landed a contract with the Canadian Space Agency to build a combination drill and rotary multi-purpose tool that is essentially a space-age 'Swiss Army Knife.' The federal department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development has granted the Canadian Space Agency $700,000 to fund projects like Deltion Innovations' Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool, or PROMPT. The tool will be able to drill into the moon or Mars at small depths around 10 centimetres, to collect samples, and will also be able to complete the attachment and removal of screws and bolts in robotic construction, maintenance and repair tasks. It costs around $250,000 to transport just one kilogram of material to the moon, and around $1 million to bring the same amount of material to Mars. A lightweight robotic tool like PROMPT means organizations like NASA can maximize space by building structures at surface, and transporting everything in pieces. In addition to its light weight and multiple uses, the tool will need to withstand extreme conditions. Where they're looking to set up mining on the moon the ground temperature is -150 C, said Deltion Innovations CEO Dale Boucher. Once you get into the sunlight, because there's no atmosphere, the temperature on the surface goes to 150 C. The device would also be subject to corrosive dust, cosmic radiation and would have to work in a low-gravity environment. Boucher said the Canadian Space Agency has approved the concept for the tool. The next step is for Deltion to present a more detailed design, and then produce that design. If all goes according to plan, Deltion could be testing its PROMPT prototype by Christmas. Deltion is subcontracting with two other Ontario based companies Neptec Design Group, based in Kanata, ON and Atlas Copco, in North Bay, to work on the PROMPT project. Nickel Belt MP Marc Serre said the project builds on more than 100 years of mining history in Greater Sudbury. He said the federal government will continue to support small companies like Deltion to promote innovation. Cyclist, activist, public speaker and recovered addict Chris Cull made Sudbury his final stop for his Inspire by Example talk series before heading out on his second cross-canada bike trip. Cyclist, activist, public speaker and recovered addict Chris Cull made Sudbury his final stop for his Inspire by Example talk series before heading out on his second cross-Canada bike trip. Sponsored by the Sudbury Alcohol and Drug Concerns Coalition, the Greater Sudbury Community Drug Strategy, Greater Sudbury Police Services, Sudbury District Health Unit and the provincial government, Cull discussed opioid use and prescription guidelines with doctors and pharmacists on April 5, prior to an evening public talk in which he shared his message of hope and recovery with members of the public. In 2014, Cull cycled through Sudbury on his 7,900 km journey from Victoria, BC to St. John's, Nfld. and he was back in the Nickel City on April 5 to discuss his ongoing journey to inform and inspire as many people as he can. On his first cross-country trek, Cull recorded interviews with addicts and recovered addicts talking about their experience with prescription drug addiction. One of the stops on his journey was in Greater Sudbury, where he conducted interviews with some local people about their experiences with opioid addiction. That documentary is soon to be released. During his discussion, Cull spoke openly about his tragic past, where at just 22 years old he lost his father to suicide and turned to prescription drugs as a way of coping. Cull battled addiction for nearly a decade and was alienated by family and friends along the way, but is now using his experiences to empower others to make the most of their lives. My talks aren't exclusively about dealing with addiction, said Cull. It's about sending the message that you can do something with your life, that you can find something you love to do and go out and do it. It's about finding what's important to you and focusing on that. Now 31 years old, Cull is clean and taking action against addiction and standing up for mental health. He says that prescription drugs like Oxycontin are a far bigger issue than a lot of street-level drugs such as cocaine, due to what can be perceived as a lack of knowledge about prescription drugs and ease of acquiring them. Painkillers are getting more and more powerful, and there's issues like irresponsible prescriptions, said Cull. The FDA in the United States just OK'd presribing Oxycontin to kids for things like cancer, and I'm not against painkillers, but you have to look at whether you're creating a problem to solve another one. Chris' passion on the subject has led to a number of opportunities for consulting with various levels of government, professors and doctors, advocating for necessary changes to society both nationally and internationally. He has advised organizations such as the Canadian Ministry of Health, the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse and the National Advisory Council on Prescription Drugs. This is a big problem in our society, he said. If terrorism killed as many people as (prescription drug addiction) we would be all over it. Chris will hit the road later this month and make his way to Vancouver by car to start his second bike trip across the country, where he will be stopping in a number of communities to share his message. I've got a few weeks of training two hours a day, six days a week to get ready for the ride and then I'll have a little going away party with friends before I head out, said Cull. You can follow along with Chris' journey at InspireByExample.ca. He has also created a GoFundMe page to help fund the trek with a goal of raising $15,000. All money raised beyond the $15,000 goal will be donated to the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). Capreol-based mining and automation robotics firm, Deltion Innovations Ltd. Capreol-based mining and automation robotics firm, Deltion Innovations Ltd., announced today that it has been awarded a contract as part of the Canadian Space Agencys (CSA) Space Technology Development Program, to develop PROMPT, a robot with the potential for deployment on future exploration and prospecting missions on the Moon and even possibly Mars. PROMPT (which stands for Percussive and Rotary Multi-Purpose Tool) is a combination drill and rotary multi-purpose tool essentially a space-age Swiss Army Knife which combines elements of previous CSA supported Deltion projects such as mini-corer drill, power socket wrench tool and a lunar sampling drill. Key elements from these projects will be combined into a single small, lightweight unit and installed on the end of a CSA robotic manipulator arm. PROMPT is designed to work on its own, drilling into rock and other materials to capture a variety of samples. The tool will also be equipped to attach and remove screws and bolts in robotic construction, maintenance and repair tasks. Deltion Innovations Ltd. is very proud to have been awarded this contract by the CSA to develop PROMPT, said Dale Boucher, CEO of Deltion. "This project continues our unique heritage of space mining technology developments, and we are eager to combine those technologies in an innovative, practical way Deltion Innovations Ltd. is subcontracting with two other Ontario based companies Neptec Design Group in Kanata and Atlas Copco in North Bay. Northern Life will update this story with additional information. News / Regional by Melody Baya A YOUNG couple from Bulawayo's Mabutweni suburb have told of their hell after the body of their three-week-old daughter was switched at a funeral parlour and buried by another family.Simbarashe Mahweda, 22, and Silvia Gopoza, 21, said they were given the body of a five-month-old baby when they went to collect their tot for burial at Exodus funeral parlour on Easter Saturday.The baby died following complications days after birth."I asked my aunt Betty Mataka to assist me in identifying the body. But as we approached the morgue, we were stopped by two men who asked us to wait," said an emotional Mahweda."We were made to wait in a room for almost an hour without any communication from the parlour administrators."He said they were finally shown a body of a five-month-old baby whom he said "was picked to the replace our child who we were later told had been buried by another family on Thursday last week."Officials at the parlour, said Mahweda, promised to rectify the "mistake."He said they met the family that had buried their only child and waited for Exodus Funeral Parlour to facilitate exhumation of their daughter's body.He did not disclose the name of the family.Mahweda said the funeral home's officials went quiet and after probing, they asked for up to Monday and yesterday to solve the problem."They didn't communicate again until we approached the police who advised us to talk with the parlour's owners," said the distraught Mahweda.Yesterday, he said the parlour's owner - whom he identified only as Charles - told them to pay $100 to the Bulawayo City Council so that the body could be exhumed."We don't have the money. Exodus Funeral parlour has drawn out our grief and we find it traumatising," he said.Gopoza said she heard, with mounting alarm, the parlour officials saying: "The whole process (exhumation) can take a long time and it can only be done on a Friday or Saturday."She said: "I'm in pain as we speak. I really trusted these people to prepare my child for burial. I just want to facilitate a proper burial for my child and make sure she's buried the right way."Charles, who told The Chronicle his surname is Juwake, said the mix-up was made by the morticians."I guess our morticians made a mistake. This couldn't be avoided as the babies were placed side by side and their name tags had been put in their wrappers which led to the incident," he said."Besides, when babies are dead they all look the same." Opinion / Columnist ~ Peace Marangwanda is a UK-based political commentator. Recently, Zimbabwe music legend Thomas Mapfumo is reported to have urged Zimbabweans, especially the youth, to wage another Chimurenga - or uprising - as the only way in removing the regime of long-time dictator Robert Mugabe from power.Mapfumo was right.Zimbabweans have for the past 36 years - since the country attained its independence from the United Kingdom - been fighting for their rights under an increasingly totalitarian Mugabe.Never has a single day lapsed without Zimbabweans wondering if ever they would be rid of Mugabe - who has made life a living hell for the people of this once great nation.In the early part of his misrule, Mugabe managed to launch a genocidal war on the people of Matabeleland and Midlands provinces, which claimed over 20,000 lives at the hands of his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.He then presided over a gruesome brutal campaign of lynching in the 2000s, after the formation of the then formidable Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), that saw hundreds of people being killed - and thousands more beaten up, tortured, had their limbs cut off, or had their homes razed to the ground - by ZANU PF youths and members of the Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA) at Mugabe's direct orders.Millions of people were forced to flee their country to foreign lands, including myself, as a result of these atrocities.What type of a leader is this that does this to his own people?A merciless, cruel and ruthless individual who seems intent to be in competition with Adolf Hitler.People may then wonder: why do we not simply remove him from power?Well, even the European Union and the United States of America can attest to the fact that this man has shamelessly manipulated the political and electoral space over the past three and a half decades, such that it is impossible for any opposition political party to make any significant inroads - let alone removing him from power.In fact, when the MDC achieved the impossible in 2008 by winning both the parliamentary and Presidential elections, Mugabe refused to concede defeat, but instead unleashed all his military might to massacre Zimbabweans - which resulted on the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai opting to stand aside and agreeing to form a Government of National Unity (GNU) with Mugabe (who it should be mentioned, remained the President).Today, despite commendable constitutional provisions for a level political and electoral landscape Mugabe still refuses to translate that into any meaningful legislation.As such, the political and electoral landscape is still very much skewed in favour of Mugabe, and there is no hope of the opposition ever winning in the 2018 elections.Mugabe's adamance in wanting to win the next elections by any means necessary is already apparent in the purges within his own party ZANU PF, in which any challenging voices - including long time ally and Vice-President Joice Mujuru - have been expelled on flimsy charges of trying to topple him - none of which have ever stood up to judicial scrutiny, as none of the accused have ever been charged with any crime.This clearly demonstrates that Mugabe can never be removed through any democratic process, and it is time for Zimbabweans to seriously consider an uprising.This uprising does not necessarily mean taking up arms as happened in the 1960s and 70s - not yet anyway - but for Zimbabweans to take a leaf out from the so-called Arab Spring, which saw the downfall of similar longtime dictators in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.Zimbabweans need to realise this fact now, and not expect some miracle to happen that will usher in a new democratic dispensation, but we need to do it ourselves.Nothing short of an uprising - a Chimurenga - will work.Let all Zimbabweans go out into the streets en mass to make their voices heard clearly and unequivocally that, 'Mugabe must go!'Let every street in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kwekwe, Masvingo, Mutare, Kadoma, Chinhoyi, and others be filled with Zimbabweans of all ages - from children to adults, men and women, mothers and fathers, grandfathers and grandmothers.Now is the time, as failure to do so will only spell doom and disaster for the country.If we do not march right up to the gates of State House and demand that Mugabe goes, then no election will ever achieve that - as history had clearly shown us.Mugabe had to go, or else Zimbabwe itself will go!There is no longer any moment to waste - no time to dilly-dally.It is now or never. Zimbabwe can not wait any longer.Let us all dispense with our fears of this man's brutality.Dictators such as Gaddafi, Mubarak, and Ben Ali were once feared in their countries as well, but there came a time when the people finally said, 'Enough is enough!'They bravely launched their Arab Spring, and although some lives were lost, but they achieved their goals.Today, Tunisia is experiencing a comeback and the people are generally satisfied with what they managed to achieve.Zimbabwe can achieve the same - it is just a question of just how much we desire this change.Are we willing to sacrifice the country and our own children's future on the altar of cowardice?Are we not the same people who boldly told ZANU PF that, 'Dzoserai nyika yacho kwamakaisunungura, tinonoisunungura isusu' - 'they could return the country to where they liberated it from, and that we ourselves could liberate it'.Seriously!Today, the country is indeed back to colonial times, so let's put those brave words into action.Let us liberate our country - or was it all just empty talk that proves that ZANU PF has every right to brag that they liberated the country and that we all owe them.I would rather think not!We have a choice - we can either sit back whilst the country burns and will become no more very soon, or we can rise up now and save our country and our children's future - it is entirely up to us. Opinion / Columnist Reading different newspapers in both the private and public media houses on a daily basis, one never misses the reports that allegedly show that there is chaos and division among ZANU PF members and supporters who are allegedly fighting on factional sides to succeed President Robert Mugabe when he calls it quit.Headlines like: ZANU PF abusing war veterans-Dailynews 19 March 2016, Msipa rips into Mugabe, The Standard 3 April 2016, Mugabe savages Lacoste war vets, Dailynews on Sunday 3-9 April 2016, War vets dare Mugabe-Newsday 4 April 2016, Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe-Dailynews 4 April 2016, Kasukuwere comes out guns blazing, The Herald 4 April 2016, ZANU PF in series of indabas-The Herald 5 April 2016 and all other headlines not mentioned here show the gloomy picture of what is happening in the revolutionary party ZANU PF. The situation as portrayed by the newspapers is that ZANU PF is in the brink of collapse hence the immediate remedial actions are needed to thwart that threat of division within the party.The revolutionary party has been dogged with allegations of mistrust and divisions coming from its members and supporters against its leadership with the war vets cited as people who are said to be on the receiving end from those in leadership. On the other hand those in leadership view the war vets as abusing their positions in the party by claiming to be treated differently from other members and supporters of the revolutionary party. War vets are said to be not towing the line that they are expected to follow by the leadership as they are allegedly fighting to make sure ZANU PF leadership is renewed.As such the war vets are said to be fighting on the corner of the so called team Lacoste in a battle to succeed President Mugabe when he calls it quit. On the other hand the so called G40 is allegedly fighting against team Lacoste on the same mission to succeed President Mugabe. So the revolutionary party is in a tag of war which needs its leadership to reign into it as to save the party from the total collapse.The situation on the ground which the media takes it as juice cannot be left to flourish as the opposition political parties could be celebrating all their ways to the 2018 harmonised elections. ZANU PF has got the National Political Commissar (NPC) in form of Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and it is the duty of this man to make sure that the party is kept intact. Cde Kasukuwere`s position should be regarded as that of the godfather and peacemaker in ZANU PF who is supposed to unite the warring factional parties.As National Political Commissar of the ruling party, Cde Kasukuwere should make sure that those fighting on factional lines to create fictitious vacancies are told to stop it and tow the ideology and principles of the party. He should not be seen to be aligned to any one of the factions fighting to take dominance of the ruling party. His position in the party should be that of someone who has a father figure-head in which if two children of his are fighting he should only chips in to restrain them as an intermediator and give them a fatherly love so that in future they are not going to fight again. He should not take sides.It is good for Cde Kasukuwere to make sure that ZANU PF remains united. He should avoid being viewed by another factional side as aligned to another one fighting to succeed President Robert Mugabe as well. The issue of team Lacoste and G40 which are allegedly fighting to succeed President Mugabe when he calls it quit should be informed to wait for an appropriate time that will come may be at the 2019 National People`s Congress where new leadership of the party would be elected to stand for the 2023 harmonised elections. Cde Kasukuwere`s duty is to make the two factions to stop their political shenanigans so that the revolutionary party remains united. It is clearly known that President Mugabe has been elected by the December 2014 National People`s Congress to be the ZANU PF candidate for the 2018 presidential elections and that position must be clearly be spelt out to the warring factional parties so that the party remains intact. They need to be educated on that by the NPC.The situations in which Cde Kasukuwere has been accused by the other faction as targeting the one in which he is allegedly not in favour of creates divisions and mistrusts within the party. It has been reported in some media houses that in one of the rallies across the country he was heard saying that the "gloves are now off", indicating that he was ready to fight against another party which is going against what he perceives to be right in favour of the one he is perceived to be leading. Such a move if true was very unfortunate as Cde Kasukuwere should not be taking sides in those factional fights. He should unite the party instead of dividing it by taking sides. Actually Cde Kasukuwere must stand like President Mugabe who is supporting neither any faction there.Cde Kasukuwere need to realise that he is the centre of all ZANU PF activities and if the party happens to be defeated in the 2018 harmonized elections, he would remain in the ZANU PF history books as the worst Political Commissar ever to grace that position. While it is necessary to carry out disciplinary actions against those members of the ruling party found on the wrong side of ZANU PF but Cde Kasukuwere should not single handedly carry out suspensions without the authority of the National Disciplinary Committee which has the prerogative to deal with miscellaneous acts within the party.The NPC should make sure that he cannot issue statements that are viewed by those against his preferred faction as derogatory and decisive. While he might not agree with this writer that he belongs to another faction but allegations from the so called Team Lacoste fronted by mostly the war vets is that he has soft spot to the G40 faction making his judgement of the factional wars in the ruling party questionable.Cde Kasukuwere`s handling of the Midlands and Masvingo as well as Mashonaland East fiascos recently allegedly left a lot to be desired. When he suspended Cdes Kizito Chivamba, Ezra Chadzamira and Joe Biggie Matiza as provincial Chairpersons of Midlands, Masvingo and Mashonaland East respectively on allegations that they mobilised ZANU PF supporters to snub President Mugabe`s AU welcome rally in Harare it left those affected with more questions than answers. Some people expected him to pick their deputies as acting provincial chairpersons but to the public`s surprise Cde Kasukuwere chose to handpick his preferred candidates to fill such vacancies leaving supporters of those affected snubbing his instructions which nearly overshadowed the Masvingo hosting of the 21st February Movement celebrations recently.Such a move could have been corrected if Cde Kasukuwere had left everything to the NDC to deal with such cases decisively. So Cde Kasukuwere could still make sure that the party remains united by avoiding himself to act as if he is fighting for the supremacy of another faction over another instead of uniting both. He should desist from issuing statements that seem to be targeted to another faction. Actually he needs to make sure that the party is united so that the emergency of the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) is neutralised. Divisions within the ruling party could make ZimPF stronger than unexpected as those who would be disgruntled could seek their political survival in that party. When North Platte High School Distinguished Alumni 2016 winner Dr. Ivan McMurtry graduated from North Platte High School in 1961, he had every intention of becoming a forest ranger. He worked for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department while attending the University of Wyoming, and quickly realized that it wasnt quite what he had expected. I realized bird biologists didnt have tons of freedom, McMurtry said, explaining that they constantly had to report to someone else. I worked the next two summers in Grand Teton National Park. Once again ... the subdistrict ranger had to take his orders from higher up. He graduated from the University of Wyoming with a bachelor of science in zoology, but wasnt entirely sure what he was going to do for a living. His sister-in-law was suffering from a congenital heart condition called Eisenmenger syndrome, leading to health problems including pulmonary arterial hypertension, a type of high blood pressure that occurs in the arteries in the lungs. Through her doctor, he got a job in a Colorado State University cardiovascular pulmonary research laboratory and decided he needed to go back to school. He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to receive his master of science in physiology and then earned a doctorate in physiology from Colorado State University. For his postdoctorate training, McMurtry found himself back in the same CSU lab where he had worked before. [I thought] I was going to be there for a couple years and then find a job, McMurtry said. I ended up being there for about 30 years. McMurtry worked his way through the ranks in the lab at CSU Denver as a research assistant, research associate, assistant professor, professor, faculty affiliate and director of cardiovascular pulmonary research. Then he moved to the University of South Alabama College of Medicine, where he currently works as a professor in the departments of pharmacology and internal medicine and the Center for Lung Biology. His laboratory researches the regulation of pulmonary vascular tone and structure and the manner of development of pulmonary arterial hypertension. His research has had a significant impact in the area of pulmonary vascular disease, where hes credited with the development of two therapies widely used today on patients with the condition. My earlier studies laid the groundwork for calcium channel blockers, McMurtry said. McMurtry said his goal is to identify the safest and most effective agents to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension. He is being honored as a distinguished alumnus because of his outstanding accomplishments in medicine. McMurtry still has family in the North Platte area and will be in town Friday to accept his 2016 Distinguished Alumni Award. McMurtry said he was surprised when he found out hed be receiving the honor, because his family and colleagues had managed to keep it a secret. WASHINGTON Nebraskas top law enforcement official said Tuesday that high schools in the state are feeling the influence of Colorados legalization of recreational marijuana. Ive learned from school administrators that students have taken a much more accepting and less guarded attitude towards marijuana, Attorney General Doug Peterson told a group of U.S. senators. School administrators frequently hear students say, If its legal in Colorado, it cant be that bad. Peterson called for action from Congress and the Department of Justice when he appeared at a Capitol Hill hearing convened by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate drug caucus. The hearing posed the question: Is the Department of Justice adequately protecting the public from the impact of state recreational marijuana legalization? Petersons short answer: Not on your life. He said the impact of Colorados pot legalization has been felt from Nebraskas westernmost counties to the Omaha metro area. According to Peterson: n Before the legalization move, Omaha police mostly encountered relatively weak marijuana from Mexico that sold for about $1,000 a pound. But Colorados wide-open market has allowed for strains that are up to five times as powerful. Now marijuana in Omaha is more likely to be high-potency product from Colorado growers that commands prices around $3,500-$4,200 a pound. The higher price means a higher profit margin, prompting more gangs to get into the pot business. n From mid-January to the end of February, Lancaster County saw three significant marijuana stops totaling over 2,000 pounds and a value in the millions. The largest was believed to come from Oregon, another from California and the last from Colorado. n Young people in Nebraska have been known to pool their money and send an older sibling to Colorado to bring back the high-potency marijuana. Much of Tuesdays hearing focused on the Justice Departments scramble to respond to states that have jumped into legalization. A landmark moment was a 2013 Department of Justice memo that identified eight priority areas for federal enforcement efforts. Those targets included diversion of marijuana to states that continue to outlaw the drug, drugged driving and distribution of marijuana to minors. The message to the marijuana industry in legalization states like Colorado was that aside from those priority areas, federal agents wouldnt go around kicking in doors. Testifying on Tuesday, Peterson described that memo as a green light to the industry to take off. And take off it has. Peterson pointed to legal pot sales that have skyrocketed, reaching $5.4 billion last year. While that 2013 memo suggested federal law enforcement would take a hands-off approach to state-level legalization, it also called on states to implement strong regulatory systems that would effectively prevent distribution to minors, drugged driving and other impacts on public health and safety. If state enforcement was insufficiently robust, the memo warned, the federal government could step in to enforce the law in individual cases and even challenge a states entire regulatory infrastructure. Grassley cited a recent Government Accountability Office report that found the Department of Justice falling short in monitoring the issue. The department has not developed clear rules on when it will step in to challenge a states regulatory system, according to the report. Grassley said the administration should stop burying its head in the sand about whats happening to its enforcement priorities on recreational marijuana and pointed to statistics showing increases in pot-related hospitalizations and traffic fatalities, as well as seizures of the drug bound for other states. Benjamin B. Wagner, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California, said such data is alarming and that the department is keeping on eye on those issues. But he said that the department must weigh factors beyond data in considering an enforcement action. For example, its possible the federal government wipe out a states regulatory framework without actually affecting the underlying decriminalization. Its possible such an outcome would create even more chaos than the status quo, he said. Enforcement decisions are going to be informed by data, and more data is good, but theyre not going to be dictated by data, Wagner said. And he also pushed back on suggestions that the department should offer more clarity to state and local authorities as to just when the feds would step in. We dont expect the state troopers to tell you in advance how many miles over the speed limit you can go before theyre going to stop you, he said. Don Murphy of the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group, spoke with The World-Herald after the hearing. He noted that Peterson talked about the power of the free market in Colorado producing highly-potent pot. Would he rather his constituents in Nebraska use marijuana from Mexico that nobody understands what it is or what it isnt? Murphy asked. Peterson said in an interview that such comments are ridiculous spin. This industry is cute, this industry is smart, he said. Theyre trying to lower everyones concern about the product at the same time theyre amping up the potency and making it more dangerous than ever. Although Portage wasnt officially incorporated as a town until 1959, its rich history extends back to the 1830s, when early European settlers first came to the area. They first arrived with their families in 1834. More families followed gradually and on April 12, 1836, Portage County was created, covering about 36 square miles in Northwest Indiana. An election was held three weeks later with 29 men casting ballots. The Pottawatomie were the first settlers to this area, said Kathy Heckman of the Portage Community Historical Society. Farmers found many arrowheads and other Indian implements on their land. The early families to this area included Blake, Crisman, McCool, Robbins, Wolf, Dorr, and others buried in our four township cemeteries of Blake, McCool, Robbins and James/Schrock cemeteries. Early businesses included a saw mill and cheese factory, with plenty of farming done on the fertile land where crops grew and cattle grazed. Large quantities of sand were also shipped to Chicago after railroad development began in the 1850s. Before it became a town, Portage consisted of three villages of McCool, Crisman and Garyton, said Heckman. My dad was born in Garyton and although I was born in the Gary hospital I was raised in Garyton. These communities combined to become the town of Portage and later the city of Portage. Although the railroads enabled farmers to ship crops, livestock and dairy more easily, it didnt bring huge growth to the population of the area. While Gary, Hammond and East Chicago thrived, it wasnt until after World War II that there was significant growth in Portage. I can remember Portage before we had any stop lights and Willow Creek Road ended at Lute Road where the Lute family farmed and had a big beautiful barn. They had barn dances occasionally at Lute's Barn in the 1950s, said Heckman. On the southwest corner of Willow Creek Road and Central was Slanger's Farm, and Butch Slanger would stop traffic for his cows to cross to the field where the shopping area and Burger King are. Mr. Slanger either sold or donated his land to build the police station, the library, the post office and city hall. During World War II some of the farmers went to work in the labor and steel industries and it was the beginning of big changes to the largely agricultural area. Later farmers would sell off land that became subdivisions to provide housing for the boom that the area saw as new jobs became available. In 1959, National Steels Midwest Division opened a plant that provided 1,600 jobs in Portage Township. The Port of Indiana was built in 1961, providing even more jobs. Another 6,000 jobs became available when Bethlehem Steel Company added a facility located partly in Porter Township in 1963. The population skyrocketed from just over 2,000 in 1950 to close to 12,000 in 1960 and its continued to grow every decade since. According to 2010 census reports, the population was 36,828 at that time. Even through the decline of the steel industry in Northwest Indiana, Portage continues to thrive. The history of the city of Portage and Portage Township has been preserved in documents and displays by the Portage Community Historical Society. The Mayor speaks out about a federal bribery investigation involving two contributors to his campaign and several members of the NYPD. NY1 Criminal Justice Reporter Dean Meminger has been following this story and has the details. The FBI has questioned a number of high-ranking NYPD officers about allegations of a scheme that possibly landed some of them vacations from two powerful members of the Jewish community. "The NYPD is fully cooperating with the investigation," Mayor de Blasio said. "But again an investigation means something is being looked at. "Until we get a result we can't make final judgments." Law enforcement sources say the allegations include ranking officers providing various police escorts for Jewish community members. As well as escorts to the airport to fly bodies to Israel for burial. It has alleged in return, politically connected and wealthy businessman Jona Rechnitz and Borough Park community leader Jeremy Reichberg may have taken officers on trips around the world. That includes a trip to Israel for former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks and Correction Union President Norman Seabrook. Sources say during the Israel trip Banks did meet with Law Enforcement there about counterterrorism. In a statement, the head of the captain's union Roy Richter said: "I am aware of a federal investigation involving a member of the Orthodox community. A number of my members have been interviewed by federal investigators. All of them fully cooperated and were told they were not the targets or subject of the investigation." Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg contributed to Mayor de Blasio's campaign and were a part of his inauguration team. Mayor de Blasio says he won't take any new donations from them and he's done nothing wrong. "No, No gifts, I met them for the first time in 2013," de Blasio said. "In terms of any past donations, I will make that determination when we see the results of the investigation." De Blasio says everyone should wait and see if those involved are exonerated or charged with a crime. Police sources close to the case say when the investigation is completed they think it will show NYPD cops did nothing more than the jobs they were supposed to do for members of the community. NEW YORK - Fresh off his primary win in Wisconsin, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is spending his day stumping here in the city. Cruz is conducting a meet and greet at a restaurant in the Bronx this afternoon. From there, Cruz will then take a tour of Bronx Lighthouse Charter School. The Texas Senator picked up 48 percent of the vote to GOP front runner Donald Trump's 35 percent in Wisconsin. Ohio Governor John Kasich was third with 14 percent. Meanwhile, Trump is picking up from last nights loss and turning his focus towards New York. Trump is holding a rally on Long Island tonight at the Grumman Studios in Bethpage. Anti-Trump demonstrators are also expected to protest at the event. Opinion / Columnist We are rather surprised that Parliament has once more approved a further $98, 6 million loan from the Export Import Bank of China to fund TelOne's backbone network expansion. This comes as a closely related state enterprise, NetOne, is mired in corruption scams whose full extent we are still to learn. The argument that NetOne and TelOne are different organisations is trite and uninspiring. They have the same shareholder, the same patronage culture and fall under the same minister.This approach of treating state enterprises as separate entities is a silo mentality which continues to cost the country hundreds of millions of dollars due to duplication and the failure to look at the economy holistically.In our understanding, an infrastructure sharing agreement was being considered between these two companies in order to minimize inefficiency, avoid duplication and cut infrastructure development costs, which certainly makes business sense.The fact that Chianamasa has given undertakings to manage the loan proceeds does not remove the fact that the ZANU(PF) looting machine which feeds of state loans will not come into effect to fuel the ZANU(PF) patronage cabal especially now as the economy titters on the brink of collapse. State enterprise loans continue to feed the secret economy of patronage and political favours.As PDP our approach would be first to complete fixed asset audit of the two parastatals, determine to what extent the infrastructure can be shared and only then consider any further expansion and loans if necessary. The latest reports on the efficient use of infrastructure within Net One have indicated that the equipment there still has a significant shelf life anyway which could be shared with TelOne. But of course this has been over looked as inconvenient.Our other problem is that our parliamentarians are not doing enough investigations and research before they approve things and ZANU (PF) bulldozes issues while lying that this time they will behave differently. They will not because accountability and transparency are not in their DNA.The saddest reality is that this loan is a twenty year loan. Given the acceleration of technological changes, especially in telecommunications, we are likely to still be paying for equipment which will most likely be obsolete in the next five years or so.As PDP our view is that all state enterprises must all first be subject to forensic audits before getting any new loans are approved. In addition, we will need to change the management culture and the continuing fraud that is happening within them. We also need fresh nonpartisan professionals to run them in the best interests of the country.Only until we have dismantled this ZANU (PF) looting machine can we begin to see real development which benefits ordinary citizens.Another Zimbabwe is possible! Her own life as a creative artist epitomized the independent spirit with which she so frequently imbued her dramatic heroines. The figure conquering sexual fear in "Errand Into the Maze," the woman looking deep into herself while preparing for an unnamed fate in "Herodiade" and the American pioneer brimming with optimism in "Frontier" could also be Clytemnestra or Jocasta, antiquity's queens who -- in the Graham canon -- emerged from crisis through the sheer force of self-understanding. Miss Graham usually cast herself at the center of these works until 1969, when she gave her last performance and retired reluctantly from the stage at the age of 75. Because she rarely met conventional expectations about dance, she was both misunderstood and acclaimed. She was surrounded by debate throughout her career; few remained indifferent to her. Acknowledgment of Miss Graham's role as a dominant force in all the arts at first came from painters, writers, musicians and the acting profession. Gregory Peck and Bette Davis were among the many drama students she taught over the years at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Eleanor Roosevelt invited Miss Graham to perform at the White House in 1937, and in 1976 Miss Graham became the first dance personality to receive, from President Gerald R. Ford, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. Nonetheless, Miss Graham's highly intense dancing and choreography were not intended to soothe the spirit and did not find ready acceptance. Quest for Inner Reality, But Never for Realism Like Picasso, she was concerned with an inner reality. "For me, dance is theater," she wrote. But she never resorted to a realistic theater. More often than not, her choreography presented a dancer's body as distorted or dislocated, an assemblage of forms aligned into maximum expressiveness. Audiences throughout the world were often disturbed by Miss Graham's frank acknowledgment of human sexuality, especially in her famous cycle inspired by Greek myths. Miss Graham's Medea, Jocasta, Phaedra and Clytemnestra gave vent to their lust and hate, baring the passions that few humans liked to recognize in themselves but that Miss Graham exposed with the unflinching scrutiny of a 20th-century Jungian analyst. For Miss Graham, dance became a collective memory that could communicate the emotions universal to all civilizations: mythology, she felt, was the psychology of the ancients. Miss Graham's encyclopedic approach to dance -- a creative wellspring from sources as varied as American Indian rituals to the Bible -- often carried several levels of meaning and startled a public that defined dance in linear or pictorial terms. Miss Graham, for her part, said she wanted her dances to be "felt" rather than comprehended in the usual manner. Mila and her father, Gil, are about to embark on a trip from London, where they live, to the United States, where Milas fathers best friend, Matthew, lives. The trip has been planned for months, but just as theyre ready to leave, Matthews wife phones to tell them Matthew has vanished. Should they go on the trip anyway? They decide they will, but now the trip is no longer a vacation, but a missing-person investigation. So begins Meg Rosoffs Picture Me Gone, a melancholy and ruminative book that is part travelogue, part mystery and part coming-of-age for Mila. Mila is a rarefied sort of narrator, familiar to certain parts of Rosoffs adopted London and to places like New York City, if not many other locations. Mila is the only child of a Swedish-Sudanese orchestra-musician mother and a father who translates Portuguese into English; they came to parenthood late, never marrying. Mila is cherished by these accomplished, affectionate, intelligent, idiosyncratic parents for her own possession of these traits, as well as a singular knack for empathy that sometimes verges on the psychic. With such parents Mila hardly needs friends, but she does have one, a live wire named Catlin whose own family situation presents a stark contrast to Milas. Its Catlins parents, wretched and the cause of wretchedness, who provide Mila with a foretaste of the fact that as a child, one sometimes falls under the power of selfish and unhappy adults. Rosoff has written five previous novels (the first, How I Live Now, won the Michael L. Printz Award), and picture books, too, including the very funny Meet Wild Boars. Picture Me Gone, told in Milas voice, is beautifully written, full of keen observation. Marieka notices the world in what she calls a Scandinavian way, which means without a lot of drama, Mila says of her mother. The vanished mans house looks like a beautiful spaceship that just happened to land in a clearing. It shimmers in the black night. A lonely dog, reunited at last with her master, rubs the length of her body across his chest, first one way, then the other. If she could eat him, she would. Such a voice is almost reward enough. Yet here, the very strength of the voice begins to cast the weakness of the plot in sharp relief. Just as the object of Milas vacation with her father keeps changing, so too does the object of the book. What begins as a mystery story soon turns into an unhurried travelogue, as Mila and her father wander the highways of upstate New York, sampling American traffic and American hospitality, in slow-motion pursuit of a man who, it turns out, is not lost at all: the mystery isnt where to find Matthew, but why no one wants to. Once Mila realizes this, both she and we feel shortchanged. This indecisiveness of plot is mirrored by Rosoffs depiction of Milas empathy, which sometimes resembles mind reading. Suzannes thoughts sound like a CD skipping. Damn damn damn damn damn and at other times X-ray vision, as when she sees a waitress smoking on break and thinks: I wonder whether shed smoke if she knew she was pregnant. I guess shell find out soon enough. Yet elsewhere Mila maintains that there is nothing supernatural about her powers of observation, that she is merely sensitive, and indeed much of the plot relies on Milas being kept in the dark by the adults she most trusts. The result of all this premise-shifting is a book that can feel, at times, as oddly paced and directionless as Milas road trip with Gil. When that trip is over, Suzanne, Matthews estranged wife, says to Mila, Im sorry we made such a mess of your holiday . . . and everything else. Suzanne might be apologizing for these narrative shortcomings. Despite her intelligence, compassion and courage, and despite her beautifully wrought voice, Mila is relegated a passive role in her own story; she spends the bulk of her time in the back of a car. This is a fine metaphor for her powerlessness at the hands of clueless and selfish adults. But this is also a story, and in stories, at least, children have a better shot at triumphing, or should. Season 1 Episode 10: The Verdict O.J. Simpson was found not guilty for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Everyone knows that, but this episode found a way to infuse that fact with tension. The evidence against O.J. was overwhelming, but this countrys history of racism helped produce a complex cultural moment in which a man accused of murder was set free in order to condemn a corrupt police force. In this episode, Chris Darden told Johnnie Cochran that this was the first time in history a black defendant got off because he was black. The only problem is that the acquittal doesnt feel like justice. This episode was filled with small, emotionally devastating moments, but it centered on two big ones: the closing statements and the jury deliberation. Marcia Clark and Chris Darden do a phenomenal job by pointing out the facts, but facts alone were never enough in this case. The amount of O.J.s blood found on the crime scene, on his socks, and in his car should have made the jurys decision an easy one. Dardens focus on the violence regularly inflicted upon Nicole and his characterization of the relationship as a ticking time bomb make it easy for him to point to O.J. in court and call him a murderer. Clark asks a very subtle but obvious question: Why didnt O.J. ask how Nicole died when he got the call that she had been murdered? All great questions, all for naught. [Interview: The Creators of The People v. O.J. Simpson] Its frustrating to watch the prosecution fight for a conviction knowing that the jury is going to vote for O.J.s acquittal. The most shocking aspect of this finale (and, you know, history) is the fact that it took the jury only four hours to reach a verdict. I cant help but agree with Robert Shapiros assessment that the jury discussed this case less than anybody in America. It was a stroke of brilliance to show actual footage of people crowding around televisions when the verdict was announced, it seemed as if all of black America was cheering while all of white America was stunned. So is the prosecution. Clark, Darden, and Gil Garcetti gather in an office and just sit, shocked. Clark smokes one of her omnipresent cigarettes before admitting that shes ashamed to have lost. This case had Clark in its teeth for the duration, but the verdict shakes her to her core. Later, she tells Darden that she was raped in Italy when she was 17 as a means of explaining what fueled her to become a lawyer. She wants vengeance for victims, and thats how she defines justice, but now shes full of doubt. Its a moment played with calm precision by Sarah Paulson. Pariss oldest covered passageway, Passage des Panoramas in the Second Arrondissement, has taken shape as a gastronomic incubator of sorts over the past decade. Stone-paved and glass-roofed, the pedestrian arcade opened in 1799 and has housed stationery stores, printers and specialty shops ever since. In 2007, the serial restaurateur Pierre Jancou put it on the map as an innovative food destination when he opened the still hugely popular Racines bistrot a vins there. At the time, Racines was one of the first tables to champion la bistronomie, as produce-driven contemporary French bistro cooking has come to be known, and was an early proponent of organic and vins nature, or unsulfured wines. The Passage des Panoramas is a beautiful space with a very particular atmosphere. Its also sort of an intimate time capsule, says Jancou, who is well-known for bringing new life to forgotten corners of the city. The passage was the sort of venue I was looking for: a place with history that tells a story. (Today, Racines belongs to the restaurateur David Lahner.) Inge Hardison, whose bronze sculptures immortalized black historical figures, innovators and ordinary people she characterized as Our Folks, died on March 23 in Manhattan. She was 102. The cause was complications of Alzheimers disease, her daughter, Yolande Hardison, said. A former actress, artist and photographer, Inge Hardison sculpted a cast-iron collection in the 1960s that she called Negro Giants in History, which included George Washington Carver, W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson and Harriet Tubman. She titled another series, featuring relatively obscure black inventors, Ingenious Americans. In 1981, Ms. Hardisons bronze bust of Jackie Robinson was installed at the Jackie Robinson Recreation Center in Harlem. Another bust, of Frederick Douglass, was installed in 1983 in the reference room of Princeton Universitys Firestone Library. In 1990, Gov. Mario M. Cuomo of New York presented her sculpture of Sojourner Truth, the 19th-century abolitionist and womens rights advocate, to Nelson Mandela. Since the Rolling Stones released their last studio album, A Bigger Bang, in September 2005, the group seems to have been working full throttle mostly as a road act playing packed stadiums. In the ensuing years, the Stones have been on five elaborate tours, bringing their blues-powered, two-hour-plus set list made up mostly of hits, from opening numbers like Jumpin Jack Flash and Start Me Up to the closing encore (I Cant Get No) Satisfaction to an array of countries: New Zealand, Israel, Abu Dhabi, Mexico, Norway, Japan, the United States and Cuba, to name just a few. Now, fresh off the road and more than 10 years after the release of A Bigger Bang, Mick Jagger and company are preparing a new studio album their 30th one with a distinctly bluesier flavor. The Stones have indicated they have laid down new material and a bunch of blues covers by such greats as Howlin Wolf and Little Walter that they say grew organically out of a series of recent jam sessions. Andrew Caspersen violated a circle of trust that included colleagues, a Princeton classmate and even his wealthy family when he raised tens of millions of dollars for what authorities have called a fraudulent investment scheme that has rattled Wall Street. Among the victims to emerge from Mr. Caspersens alleged scheme are members of his own family, who invested more than $3 million, according to a person with direct knowledge of the events who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Another was a college classmate, James McIntyre, an executive at the hedge fund Moore Capital, who personally invested $400,000. Mr. McIntyre then recommended that a charitable trust affiliated with Moore Capital put in $25 million of its money. A former Blackstone Group managing director, Mr. Caspersen was well respected on Wall Street. He came from a world of privilege, attending Groton, Princeton and then Harvard Law School credentials that allowed him to move easily within the world of high finance. The British government has pushed through its first licensing of a virtual currency company, underscoring its desire to make London a hub for the development of financial technology. The Financial Conduct Authority, Britains top financial regulator, has granted an electronic money license to Circle, a company based in Boston that uses Bitcoin, the virtual currency, to enable consumers to make payments to other consumers using a mobile app, or social payments as the company puts it. The regulator helped Circle get the license by putting it in the governments Innovation Hub, which is one of several initiatives Britain has undertaken to encourage experimentation in the financial industry. The license makes it possible for Circle to establish a banking relationship with Barclays, the British bank. It is the first time that a large global bank has agreed to work with a Bitcoin company, though Circle has attracted investments from others. The United States trade deficit rose in February to the highest level in six months, $47.1 billion, a 2.6 percent increase from January, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. Buoyed by stronger sales of American-made autos, exports increased 1 percent to $178.1 billion the first rise since September. Imports were up 1.3 percent to $225.1 billion, despite a drop in oil imports to the lowest level in 13 years. The deficit for 2015 rose to $539.8 billion, an increase of 6.2 percent. For February, the deficit with China dropped 2.8 percent to $28.1 billion, still the largest imbalance with any country. United States exports to China fell 2 percent to $8 billion, the lowest level since June 2011. The deficit with Canada, Americas biggest trading partner, narrowed sharply to $1 billion, down nearly 60 percent from January. Times Insider shares insights into how we work at The New York Times. In this piece, Andrew C. Revkin, The Timess Dot Earth blogger, explains why his beat is less a noun environment, climate, science than it is a question. I joined the news staff of The Times in April 1995. I recall how, when working late some nights that first year, rumbling vibrations in the building at 229 West 43rd Street would signal that the printing presses several floors below were turning todays news into newsprint. Early signs of the epic changes in the news business began to pile up. The Timess website was launched in 1996 and the presses in that building were shut down just one year later as printing moved to the suburbs. (Its worth mentioning that the tenants of 229 West 43rd now include Yahoo and Snapchat.) I had come to the newspaper from the languid worlds of magazine and book writing, so the speed of the daily news cycle required some swift adjustments. Early on, one editor in the Metro section, Jack Kadden, leaned over my shoulder as I was running late on a 500-word story about a hearing for a riverfront park and warned, Revkin, this aint no seed catalog. (He later told me he picked up this expression from Susan Edgerley, a rapid-fire editor fondly nicknamed Edge.) Opinion / Columnist President Mugabe, who is the patron of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association (ZNLWVA), is set to meet ex freedom fighters in the capital today. Amid this expectation, there have been some attempts to set the agenda for today's indaba.The screamers that bordered on agenda setting were awash in the media. 'War vets dare Mugabe,' 'Mugabe has alienated, abused, dumped war vets,' 'Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe,' 'Mugabe threatens war vets, Mugabe meets his match,' 'Mugabe to meet 10 000 disgruntled war vets' and 'Time for war vets to stop Mugabe autocracy' among others, were the topical headlines in the media.This attempt to set the agenda for the meeting is just a wild goose chase. The agenda is already there. War veterans have already pledged their loyalty to President Mugabe and they have vowed that nothing will separate them with their patron for their bond is cemented by liberation ethos.Dr Joice Mujuru's Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) has also attempted to incite war veterans to be antagonistic when they meet President Mugabe. In a Newsday story titled "Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru," ZimPF coaxed war veterans to remind President Mugabe that he owed his political survival to them. Ever since Zanu PF was formed in 1963, members' survival depended on each other. War veterans and President Mugabe share a symbiotic relationship.Although there has been a tiff between Zanu PF and a certain section of the war veterans, the later can never reach to an extent of uttering before their patron, the gibberish that Rugare Gumbo wants them to throw up. It will be so sad for war veterans to heed Gumbo, a discredited politician who will be a political has been very soon. To show that Gumbo is a man of no standing anymore, the courier of his claptrap attributed it to Dr Mujuru. Reading the misleading heading (Take Mugabe head-on: Mujuru), one would think it is Mujuru who is inciting war veterans to be confrontational.It is strange that after ZimPF appointed Methuseli as the national spokesperson, Gumbo continues posing as the supreme spokesperson. He is usurping the powers Moyo and it is apparent that he is not contented with his assigned designation of party elder. ZimPF risks losing the residual iota of credibility if it continues leaving Gumbo vomiting such kind of twaddle on its behalf. Even the youths of his party are currently mounting pressure on Mujuru for her to drop Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa from the party owing to their soiled political backgrounds. They argue that these brands have passed their political sale by date a long time ago. This is the reason why Mutasa is mulling a return to the ruling party. Mutasa is fast approaching the bridge and very soon the nation will see him cross it.ZimPF thinks it can take advantage of the tiff between some war veterans and Zanu PF to lure them into joining their grave train. The war veterans are a trained lot who are deeply rooted in the ideology of the revolutionary party. The ZimPF is wasting time for they have a deep seated ideological difference with the freedom fighters. These gallant fighters will never join sellouts. Some of them left lucrative projects, high paying jobs and luxury lives to fight the system that Gumbo now wants them to join today.The war veterans cannot be such imprudent to squander a glorious opportunity by engrossing in confrontational engagement with their patron. We do not doubt the wisdom of this constituency. It is a time that they must take advantage to channel their grievances to the supreme leader. In as far as their grievances are concerned, the bucks stops with their patron. He is the Alpha and Omega. It will be very unfortunate and extremely unfair to the two thirds of the war veterans who will not be able to attend, if their representatives misspent the golden opportunity by prioritizing issues that will not bring grist to their mill.Of course there are some war veterans who will need to have their perspectives re-aligned. For instance, it is an erroneous philosophy that the war veterans association and Zanu PF should be viewed on an equal footing. Cde Douglas Mahiya was off side here and it will be unfortunate if some of the war veterans meet the President with this perverted way of thinking. As the President constantly says, politics always leads the gun and this has been the norm in the liberation struggle. The politicians directed the war and this is a standard practice the world over.Thus, the war veterans must subordinate themselves to the party. They must be willing to accept lawful guidance from the politicians. The politicians must also respect the war veterans. The war vets must accept the plain reality that they are an affiliate of Zanu PF. This reality invalidates calls by certain people for the indaba to take in the likes of Mujuru, Jabulani Sibanda, Dumiso Dabengwa and many others who have diverted in a major way from the revolutionary principles. These disloyal war veterans are free to form their own associations and align themselves to any political party of their choice. As for today's indaba, President Mugabe is meeting loyal war veterans who still uphold the founding principles of the revolutionary party. The visits, unannounced and in the early morning hours, began several weeks ago at houses and apartments in and around New York City. They followed a pattern: Two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation would approach the front door and ring the bell. They would be invited in. Then the questions would come. What set these visits apart from similar house calls that are routinely made by F.B.I. agents investigating crimes, according to three people familiar with the inquiries, was the people who answered the door: Almost all of them, about 20, were senior members of the New York Police Department, many of them chiefs. Some of the questions centered on allegations of free meals and trips given to police officials by members of Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn. But the agents were more focused on two Orthodox businessmen with ties to Mayor Bill de Blasio, according to the three people, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation. One of the people who has been briefed on the inquiry suggested that many of the police officials were effectively being treated as witnesses, although some could face administrative charges and penalties up to firing if they took free trips. The questioning of the officials was reported on Tuesday by The New York Post. The New York State attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, has opened an investigation into a series of transactions surrounding the lifting of a deed restriction on a Manhattan nursing home that enabled its purchase by a luxury condominium developer for $116 million. The attorney generals office began sending subpoenas on Friday to the developer and several other companies involved in the transactions involving 45 Rivington Street, a former school building on the Lower East Side that had been a nonprofit health care center for AIDS patients until last year. The question of how and why the city removed restrictive conditions on the deed for the property, paving the way for its transformation into market-rate apartments, has already drawn the scrutiny of the citys comptroller, Scott M. Stringer, and the citys Investigation Department. A spokesman for the attorney generals office, Eric Soufer, confirmed its investigation on Monday but declined to discuss its details or targets. As of Tuesday, subpoenas had been received by several parties in the transactions, including Allure Group, a for-profit nursing home company, and Capalino and Company, a lobbying firm that represented the operator of the health care center, Village Care, in its negotiations with the city to try to lift the deed restriction. In February 2015, Allure bought Rivington House from Village Care for $28 million, and several months later it paid the city $16.15 million to remove the restriction. After the city did so, the company resold it to the developer. One evening in August, an executive director of an arts nonprofit in Queens was leaving her office for the day when a man holding a cup approached her, the authorities said. The cup was filled with a chemical drain cleaner, and he flung the liquid at her, severely burning her face. The attack was not random. The Rev. D. Alexandra Dyer, the executive director of the Healing Arts Initiative, was targeted to cover up a scheme led by a former bookkeeper for the organization to embezzle more than $750,000, according to a 65-count indictment unsealed on Tuesday. The authorities said that three people, including the bookkeeper, Kim Williams, had been arrested on various charges. Ms. Williams faces charges that include assault, grand larceny and conspiracy. This case is troubling on so many different levels, Richard A. Brown, the Queens district attorney, said in a statement on Tuesday. To their credit as trailblazers, both California and New York are now headed for a minimum wage of $15 an hour, but they are taking different paths to get there. Californias is more direct and offers a better model for other states and the federal government. Both states cautiously phase in their increases over several years. The crucial difference is the geographic inclusiveness of Californias law. Its $15 minimum will apply to the entire state, with all large businesses phased in by 2022, and all those with fewer than 26 employees by 2023. In New York, the upstate region will be assured a minimum of only $12.50 by the end of 2020, with a possibility of further increases if state budget experts give the go-ahead. (New York City will get to $15 by the end of 2018 and the citys suburbs by the end of 2021.) The two-tiered approach in New York was a political compromise to win over upstate lawmakers who said $15 would be too burdensome for employers in the states poorer areas. But it is flawed policy. Historically, minimum wage increases have not been a drain on businesses because they lead to greater labor productivity, lower turnover and more consumer spending, all of which are good for business and thus help employers pay the higher wages. In recent days Ive read that Donald Trump is finally done and Ive read that these reports of his death are greatly exaggerated. Ive had smart people tell me confidently that a loss in Wisconsin would almost surely prevent him from winning the Republican presidential nomination and Ive had equally smart people tell me with equal confidence that it wouldnt. How and when does Trump end? In terms of politics, its a fascinating question, all the more so after Ted Cruzs victory in the Badger State. In all other senses, its a foolish one. Trump doesnt end. Whether hes the nominee or not, moves into the White House or consoles himself at Mar-a-Lago, hell never shut up and never slink off not after the convention, not after Election Day, no matter how resounding his defeat, no matter how grotesque his path there. He wont follow vanquished candidates of the past into grudging exile. You wont spot him where someone saw Marco Rubio on Monday in Seat 19C on an American Airlines flight from Miami to Washington with no aides in attendance and no reporters in pursuit, according to Mike Allen and Daniel Lippman in Politico. I just read a book that Barack Obama and Donald Trump would both enjoy. It argues that the last two decades of U.S. foreign policy were an aberration an era when America became so overwhelmingly more powerful than any rival that it got geopolitically drunk and decided that it didnt just want to be a cop on the beat protecting our nation, but also a social worker, architect and carpenter doing nation-building abroad. It was all done with the best of intentions, and in some cases did save precious lives. But none of the efforts achieved the kind of self-sustaining democratizing order we wanted, which is why neither this president nor the next wants to be doing any more of that if they can at all avoid it. But can they? The book is called Mission Failure: America and the World in the Post-Cold War Era, by the Johns Hopkins foreign policy professor Michael Mandelbaum, and its going to be one of the most talked about foreign policy books of the year. Beginning with the 1991 decision of the first Bush administration to intervene in northern Iraq and create a no-fly zone to protect the Iraqi Kurds from their countrys genocidal leader, Saddam Hussein, the principal international initiatives of the United States for the next two decades concerned the internal politics and economics rather than the external behavior of other countries, writes Mandelbaum, with whom I co-wrote a book in 2011, That Used to Be Us. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced last July that the Pentagon intended to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military within six months, calling the decades-long ban outdated and an impediment to attracting and retaining top talent. More than eight months later, a new policy has yet to be unveiled. It is imperative that Mr. Carter complete this process in a matter of weeks so transgender troops can start serving openly while he is in office. A study by the RAND Corporation, undertaken at the request of the Defense Department, recently concluded that repealing the Pentagons discriminatory transgender ban would have minimal impact on the force. The study, which has not yet been publicly released, predicted that between 29 and 129 service members would seek transition-related medical care annually. It also found that the change in policy was unlikely to harm unit cohesion and that the cost of providing transition-related care would be negligible. A task force Mr. Carter convened last year to establish an inclusive policy has drafted regulations addressing how the Defense Department should handle cases of service members who transition after joining the military. But questions remain. Some officials have recommended that transgender troops who transition soon after enlisting should be discharged, but have given no legitimate reasons for this proposal. In any case, such an approach would be discriminatory. There is also some debate over the criteria to use in evaluating whether people who are undergoing transition-related medical treatment are fit for duty. WASHINGTON The epic fight between the F.B.I. and Apple over a locked iPhone is now over, but a central question in the case has remained unanswered: What secrets did the phone, used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino, Calif., rampage, actually hold? The question has persisted with all the anticipation of Geraldo Riveras ill-fated unlocking of Al Capones secret vault on live television 30 years ago which produced only a few empty liquor bottles and a stop sign. On Tuesday, the F.B.I.s top lawyer shed a bit more light on the question, a week after the Justice Department announced that it had gotten into the iPhone without Apples help. The lawyer, James A. Baker, the bureaus general counsel, told an audience of privacy professionals in Washington that the F.B.I. had extracted data and was putting it to use. He would not say, however, whether he considered the data the subject of a monthlong legal battle between Apple and the F.B.I. that ended when an undisclosed outside firm helped investigators unlock the phone to be useful. WASHINGTON Justice Antonin Scalia could be caustic in his dissents, but he was also known for a sharp wit that often drew laughter from Supreme Court audiences. So perhaps even he would have found humor in the commotion over the new name, announced last week, of George Mason Universitys law school the Antonin Scalia School of Law which, as snickering observers on social media quickly pointed out, makes for a rather unflattering acronym. Hashtags poking fun at the abbreviation and variations on it took off on Twitter and Facebook almost as soon as the news was made public. Senator Bernie Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, his sixth straight victory in the Democratic nominating contest and the latest in a string of setbacks for Mrs. Clinton as she seeks to put an end to a prolonged race against an unexpectedly deft and well-funded competitor. Mrs. Clintons defeat does not significantly dent her comfortable lead in the race for the 2,383 delegates needed to secure the Democratic nomination. But the loss underscores her problems connecting with young and white working-class voters who have gravitated to Mr. Sanderss economic message a message he will now take to economically depressed parts of New York State ahead of the April 19 primary there. Mr. Sanderss victory came after he had hardly left Wisconsin in recent days, pouring his energy and resources into securing a win that would help him put to rest any doubts that he could capture a major primary state, and providing his campaign with renewed focus as he strives for an upset in New York, Mrs. Clintons adopted home state. Opinion / Columnist The independence of Zimbabwe has always been a bitter experience for all well meaning citizens right from the 1980 elections which were stolen by the British and ZANU. Lord Soames, then Governor of Rhodesia, standing for British interest decided who should rule this county.The violence that unleashed on ZAPU members and supporters in the then Eastern Provinces was unparalleled in the country's history. Two ZAPU parliamentary candidates were killed in cold blood while other supporters were tortured , maimed and displaced while the then Governor Lord Soames acknowledged this mayhem he did nothing to curtail it because it ensured that ZANU will get into power.After independence the incoming governing party continued the violence that it had started during the campaign period leading to the elections now fully targeting the Zimbabwe African Peoples Union (ZAPU), its leaders and supporters but more on a regional basis. All Matebeleland and parts of the Midlands Provinces were affected.The Gukurahundi (5th Brigade) which at the time was answerable to a political party(ZANU)carried out the mayhem unabated leading to the killing of over 20 000 innocent, unarmed civilians. A callous, senseless destruction of human life whose crime was to belong to a different political party and a different region. The entire armed liberation struggle for independence did not kill so many unarmed civilians let alone combatants. This is SAVAGERY at worst. THE TORMENT OF A PEOPLE.The 5th Brigade was followed by other uncouth militias - the so-called Zimbabwe Peoples Militia, and the Green Bombers - all answerable to a political party(ZANU) but fully kitted and, sustained by the tax payers - you and me. All this is to ensure that ZANU retains power at any cost. What a shame! A TORMENT OF A PEOPLE. This is only done a party that cannot freely appeal for support from the populace and get it.The economy is haemorrhaging today because of the wanton disregard of human rights - ALL.COMBATANTS MEETING. WOW!Today 7th April, the President of the country, the entire cabinet and some members of the Zimbabwe National War Veterans Association are meeting to deliberate on God knows what at a cost of around $1 000 000(one millions United States dollars). In this gathering of the unequalls the majority of the participants are ZIPRA and ZANLA combatants accompanied by a skewed political leadership. The agenda, I believe is the welfare of themselves and not the country at a large.My call on these, our erstwhile comrades, is this: Pause a moment, think about victims of the gukurandi, victims of the liberation struggle who are all Zimbabweans of all descriptions - dead and alive - who have been reduced to destitution. Think seriously and search your consciences about the Zimbabwe that we desired during the struggle for emancipation that have been thrown out of the window never to be seen again.ZIPRA Veterans - sitting in this meeting search - search your inner persons, your souls! Remember the over 20 000 ZAPU and ZIPRA members who were butchered or disappeared without trace in order to humiliate you and deny you the recognition that you fought a gallant war and that you were reduced to dissidents. How do you repay those! Remember whole villages were burned down in search of US. Search Your Souls.SKMoyo, Eunice Sandi, Kembo Mohadi, Kutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Commissarr Cain Mathema P V Sibanda, Titus Abu Basutu, Ambrose Mutinhiri and others in there search your souls! EDMnangwagwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, Robert Mugabe, Perence Shiri, General Chiwenga, Major General Nyikayaramba - Search Your SoulsSearch Your Souls.This is a CLARION CALL TO HONOUR UP AND HEAL THE NATION.GUKURAUNDI - A TORMENT OF A PEOPLE SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco on Tuesday became the first city in the United States to approve six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents mothers and fathers, including same-sex couples, who either bear or adopt a child. California is already one of only a few states that offer paid parental leave, with workers receiving 55 percent of their pay for six weeks, paid for by employee-financed public disability insurance. The new law in San Francisco, passed unanimously by the citys Board of Supervisors, mandates full pay, with the 45 percent difference being paid by employers. Before the vote, the supervisors amended the proposal to make employees eligible only when they have worked for a company 180 days. The ordinance goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2017, for companies with more than 50 employees, and a year later for those with 20 or more workers. The new law will make San Franciscos policy far broader than that of New York City, which has also expanded its parental leave policy. In December, Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York ordered that 20,000 nonunionized workers be given six weeks of fully paid parental leave, but that amounts to a sliver of the total municipal work force of around 300,000. Derided by critics as everything from unconstitutional to sacrilegious, a proposal to designate the Holy Bible as the states official book has nevertheless been approved by lawmakers. Sponsors argue the bill seeks to honor the historical significance of the Bible in Tennessees history rather than serving as a government endorsement of religion. But opponents say the measure trivializes the Bible by placing it alongside other Tennessee symbols like the smallmouth bass, the state sport fish; the cave salamander, the state amphibian; and the honeybee, the state agricultural insect. The State Senate approved the bill, 19 to 8, on Monday night, sending it to Gov. Bill Haslam, a Republican, who opposes it but has not said whether he will veto it. The bills sponsor, Senator Steve Southerland, a Republican and ordained minister, said a legal organization had offered to defend pro bono any lawsuits challenging it. So I ask you, what do we have to lose? he said. RIO DE JANEIRO A justice on Brazils high court ruled on Tuesday that an impeachment request made against the countrys vice president, Michel Temer who had been expected to take over the presidency if Dilma Rousseff were to be ousted must also be considered by the countrys Congress while it holds hearings about removing Ms. Rousseff. The interim ruling by Justice Marco Aurelio Mello puts another obstacle in the path of those pushing to impeach Ms. Rousseff and who had thought that Mr. Temer taking over would help quickly fix the countrys political and economic crises. Brazil is battling a prolonged economic recession and huge corruption scandal. The impeachment hearings against Ms. Rousseff, based on allegations that she violated fiscal laws by using funds from state banks to cover budget shortfalls, are currently taking place in a committee in Brazils lower house, and many have argued that her ouster is highly probable. Mr. Temer had already been meeting with opposition politicians and was planning a new government in recent months, according to Brazilian news media reports. Yet Tuesdays decision will probably not only raise doubts about whether Mr. Temer can take over, but will also embolden many of Ms. Rousseffs supporters, who have long seen him as the shadowy figure engineering the impeachment effort against her, from within her government. CAIRO The foreign minister of Italy said Tuesday that his government would take immediate and proportional measures against Egypt if it failed to help uncover the truth behind the death of an Italian graduate student in Cairo two months ago. We will stop only when we will find the truth, the real one, Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni told Parliament, adding that he would not accept any fabrication. The threat by Mr. Gentiloni came the day before a team of Egyptian investigators was scheduled to land in Rome for meetings on the case of the student, Giulio Regeni, 28, a doctoral candidate, whose brutalized body was discovered on a roadside in February in Cairo. A slow-moving investigation into the killing, hampered by troubled cooperation between the Italian and Egyptian police, has prompted Italian accusations of an Egyptian cover-up. As it turns out, slowly was the right word to describe the Velvet Undergrounds impact. In the early 1970s, champions of the band like David Bowie set it on a path to be continually rediscovered by new generations of musicians and fans. Image John Cale, a co-founder of the Velvet Underground, performing at a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of the bands first album. Credit... Francois Guillot/Agence France-Presse Getty Images The exhibition, The Velvet Underground: New York Extravaganza, which opened March 30 and runs until Aug. 21, kicked off with a concert on Sunday night at the Philharmonie by Mr. Cale and guest musicians playing the banana album and other Velvet Underground songs. Associated events include a concert series, symposiums, musical workshops, and films and videos. Rather than trying to present an exhaustive chronology of the band, the exhibition focuses on the context that allowed the Velvet Underground to exist: New York City and its artists, filmmakers and musicians in the mid-60s. Without New York, the Velvets would not have existed, said Christian Fevret, the exhibitions main curator. It was the only place where people as different as Lou Reed and John Cale would have been able to meet. New York was an El Dorado, he said, and in the exhibition I wanted to do more than just mention the other artists that surrounded the Velvets people like Barbara Rubin, Jonas Mekas, Piero Heliczer I wanted visitors to discover their work to understand the context out of which the Velvets grew. Merle Haggard, who died on Wednesday, his 79th birthday, wrote some of the greatest songs in American music about drinking, working, prison, love, morality, memory and modernity. Here are five of his best: The Bottle Let Me Down (1966) The narrator does more than blame the alcohol, the woman or himself: he describes a triangular relationship with the bottle and your memory. Once the wine dont take effect the way it used to, the memories gain ground. The sought-after Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki will become the principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2017, the orchestra said on Wednesday making her its first principal guest conductor in a generation, and the first woman to hold the post. The high-profile appointment is likely to be seen as paving the way for a future music directorship for Ms. Malkki in the United States, if not in Los Angeles where the popular music director, Gustavo Dudamel, has a contract through 2022 then elsewhere. While women have made inroads at many orchestras as players, they have continued to face barriers when it comes to conducting assignments and, especially, directorships. Marin Alsop became the first woman to lead a major American orchestra in 2007 when she became the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Malkki has been lauded for both her work in the standard repertory and her expertise in new music, which she developed as music director of the Ensemble Intercontemporain, which she led through 2013. She will become chief conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra in the fall; has recently made debuts with the Philadelphia and Cleveland orchestras and the New York Philharmonic; and next season will make her Metropolitan Opera debut, conducting the company premiere of Kaija Saariahos LAmour de Loin. Ms. Malkki first conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2010, and quickly developed a rapport with the players and the institution. I think orchestras in general are discussing the changing world, and I think the L.A. Philharmonic is really showing a great example in how they see the change as a positive challenge, rather than a threat, she said in a telephone interview from Miami, where she was conducting the New World Symphony. You can see that in their commitment to the repertory and different ways of presenting the music, and I think thats very, very interesting. The series is based on The Run of His Life, Jeffrey Toobins book, as well as court transcripts and dozens of other books, many by key players in the trial. (The writers didnt directly consult any of the real-life people portrayed.) It wrapped up Tuesday night with the inevitable: The not-guilty verdict that elated Simpsons fans and defense team and broke the hearts of the victims families and prosecutors. Image Scott Alexander, left, and Larry Karaszewski Credit... Andy Marx [Recap: The People v. O.J. Simpson Finale] In a recent interview, Mr. Karaszeweski and Mr. Alexander, who created the show and are executive producers, along with Ryan Murphy and others, discussed the trials relevance to contemporary events, the Kardashian factor and the enduring tragedy of the overlooked victims, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. So you stayed on book for the finale. LARRY KARASZEWSKI We joked about, What would Quentin Tarantino do? Hed convict him and hed be taken off to prison. I think particularly for this episode, knowing what happens almost gives it more power. Theres almost like a United 93 or Titantic quality, because you know its about to go down. Its like youre watching this slow motion crash thats happening in all these peoples lives. Like when Chris grabs Marcia and says, Wait a second, what if we won? And theres this really brief moment where both of their faces light up. I was surprised at how suspenseful it was, even knowing what was coming. SCOTT ALEXANDER We always tried to mine the facts that the audience is unaware of. Everyone was going to know the greatest hits but we dont expect them to know the backstage details. The fact that it was only a four-hour deliberation for me was complete insanity, the idea that all those lawyers talked themselves blue in the face for a year and then the jury didnt even discuss 99 percent of what they heard in that courtroom. Did the show have an opinion of the case? KARASZEWSKI The opinion the show has is there is overwhelming evidence that O.J. Simpson did it. The number of times that Marcia Clark talks about his blood at her house, her blood at his house. Rons blood there. But the key thing is we wanted you to understand the verdict. For so long people have said, Oh its a ridiculous verdict. We wanted you to say, Wait a second, if I was in that jury box, I dont know which way I would have gone. Because of things like Mark Fuhrman. Because of the way things were presented. Our goal was to make people understand the verdict. But all signs point to the fact that O.J. Simpson did it. When I was a poet living under the stairs in Brooklyn, I tried to be self-employed on my taxes, Mr. Blanchfield said. (Like Harry Potters room at the Dursleys house, his studio apartment was, in fact, under the stairs.) One year, he said, he made something like $250 from his poetry but reported $4,500 in writing-related expenses, triggering a warning letter from the I.R.S. about a possible audit. It made me really scared, he said. (There are a lot of ways to show that you are a legitimate professional writer, Ms. Smith counseled. Dont let fear prevent you from deducting for expenses.) After the session, several of the writers elaborated on their situations. Theres a temptation to use magical money for magical purposes, to say, I should just throw the money up in the air and quit my job for a year and write my book, said Alice Sola Kim, 32, who supports herself in part from her job as the executive assistant to a Columbia professor, writes short fiction and nonfiction for a variety of publications and is working on a novel. But this has taught me theres another way, too, that I can be prudent about the future. Like many of the writers, Ms. Kim said she had a conflicted attitude toward money. She grew up without much in Seattle her mother was frugal, but her father was profligate. It can feel like this stuff just doesnt apply to people who grow up poor or have been poor or dont have a sense of money, she said. When you get money, you either hoard it like a dragon because you feel its not really real, or you spend it because you need to spend it. It doesnt feel relevant to be thinking about things like Roth IRAs. Mitchell S. Jackson, 40 and the author of a novel and a book of essays and short stories, said that until recently he supported himself largely through teaching. At one time, he taught something like eight classes, paying between $1,800 and $5,500 each, at different colleges. He made a lot less than he had when he worked at his first job, dealing crack and other drugs as a teenager in Portland, Ore. I dont think I ever got it out of my mind how a drug dealer spends money, he said, which is really frivolous. It comes fast, and you spend it just as fast, and thats set the tone. I know its not an entirely intelligent way to deal with my finances. In the seminar, Ms. Smith admonished the group members to refuse to work for nothing and to demand to be paid what their time and writing are worth. Opinion / Speeches A life of struggle Steady development of a hero From war to dodgy peace ZIMBABWE AFRICAN PEOPLE'S UNION (ZAPU)15 JMN Nkomo Street/Connaught Avenue, BulawayoLookout "Mafela" Masuku Memorial LecturePresentation Notes by ZAPU President Dr. Dumiso DabengwaIbhetshu likaZulu, Fidelity Towers, Bulawayo, 5 April 2016Distinguished GuestsColleagues and FriendsLadies and GentlemenAll protocols observedI would like to start by commending the organizers of this event, Ibhetshu likaZulu, who approached me to deliver this inaugural lecture. This day, 5 April 2016, is the 20th anniversary of the untimely death of Lt. General Lookout "Mafela" Masuku who passed away in 1986. Some of his friends, colleagues and relatives are here today, recollecting the journey and the highs and lows of this remarkable man. In line with my brief when I got this invitation, I will go through salient facts and events and shared experiences with Lookout, then reflect on what we hoped for and what we actually got.It is remarkable that Zimbabwe will be celebrating 36 years of independence on 18 April 2016 and that Lookout Masuku (7 April 1940 5 April 1986) died two days short of his 46th birthday. The gap is even smaller when you calculate the time that Lookout devoted to the armed struggle for independence from his early twenties and add the over 4 years spent in prison in post-independence Zimbabwe till his death. He literally spent half his life in struggle and never had the chance to enjoy the fruits of independence.The progression of Lookout from a militant ZAPU youth to army Commander of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZPRA) is an inspiring story. It illustrates how young people shaped the course of this country's history by sheer dedication and their readiness to sacrifice. In 1962-3 the late Amos "Jack" Ngwenya who had set up office in Lusaka received the first volunteers like Lookout Masuku who he first deployed in the Copper Belt to organize party structures, before military and related training in Russia and other parts of the Soviet Union. We came in the later part of 1963 and proceeded to Russia early in 1964. On our return we formed the first military wing of the party under the Department of Special Affairs. Subsequently we sent other contingents for training, such as those that went to Algeria in 1965 and included future ZPRA Commander Alfred "Nikita" Mangena and the legendary John Dube (J. D.) of the Wankie 1967 ZAPU-ANC alliance battles against Rhodesians and South Africans.Lookout Masuku and Nikita Mangena trained a steady stream of our people in Morogoro in Tanzania, allowing us to deploy high-quality fighters. It is important here to point out that Lookout Masuku was in charge of political and ideological training, because part of his training was that of commissar. More than anyone else, he built up ZPRA's famed record as a people-centered force that worked harmoniously with the public in our operational areas. It is no accident therefore that, from the outset, indiscriminate use of force against unarmed civilians was out of question in our ethos.Upon the setting up of ZPRA in 1971 Lookout Masuku moved from Tanzania and became a member of the High Command, as Deputy Commander under Nikita Mangena. In this capacity he covered all camps and prepared cadres politically before their deployment, assigning commissars to all units as they were deployed. When Nikita Mangena was sent to Mozambique to help build the Zimbabwe People's Army (ZIPA) combining ZPRA and ZANLA (ZANU's military wing), Lookout Masuku was left in charge of the Northern Front along the Zambezi Basin.I will not dwell on the difficulties that accompanied efforts to build a united ZIPA force, but for today's talk what is relevant is that a more political approach to unification was begun after the "Third Force" (ZIPA) had collapsed. I (Dumiso Dabengwa), and Lookout Masuku and a ZANLA team led by Solomon Mujuru (a.k.a. Rex Nhongo) got the assignment to find out if our military cadres would accept to operate under a united political leadership. This was a prelude to the formation of the Patriotic Front between ZAPU and ZANU, formed after the release from Zambian prison of Josiah Tongogara (plus others incarcerated after the assassination of Herbert Chitepo) and political leaders (Dr. Joshua Nkomo included)previously detained by the Ian Smith regime in Gonakudzingwa, Whawha, and other places.While the quest for unity was going on Nkomo introduced in our Revolutionary Council (of which I was Secretary) the "Turning Point" strategy. This would involve the escalation of fighting, using regular army battalions and deploying the civilian departments of the party to administer semi-liberated territory. Whilst the regular battalions would defend the liberated zones, smaller guerrilla units would be deployed further inland towards towns and cities to carry out sabotage and ambushes along the routes used by Rhodesian forces.Before the end of war our forces had achieved a strong presence in operational areas in Hurungwe, Sipolilo (Chipuriro, Guruve, Gokwe, Binga, Hwange and Tsholotsho. among other areas in Mashonaland West and the Midlands. This capacity to take on and push back the enemy which we proved when the Rhodesian forces attacked our bases in Zambia and Angola was a major factor in the rush towards a political settlement that followed talks in Malta and Geneva and finally Lancaster House in London.It should be noted that Comrade Jason Ziyapapa Moyo and Nikita Mangena had been killed by the time we went to Lancaster House. On the ZANU side of the Patriotic Front the patriotic ZANLA's Josiah Tongogara was killed between the end of the Lancaster House talks and our return to take over control of the country. Lookout Masuku and Solomon Mujuru were now respective Commanders of ZPRA and ZANLA. In January 1980 I worked hard on enforcing the ceasefire arrangements and on modalities for integration of the three armies into the new Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), with General Peter Walls and Mujuru, deputized on my side by Lookout Masuku.Treacherous politicsWhen we left Lancaster House the expectation was that the Patriotic Front of ZAPU and ZANU would take part in independence elections as a united movement. Until the last moment Dr. Joshua Nkomo did not make arrangements for a separate campaign because he believed in the Patriotic Front. The decision by ZANU-PF to go it alone was not only a surprise but a disappointment to Nkomo because he anticipated problems and unproductive competition between the war allies. Even as the election campaigns took place, it was evident that our efforts to create conditions for peace were politically undermined. ZANU kept a sizeable portion of its seasoned fighters outside the assembly points to campaign for elections, while ZAPU relied on the assurances of British administrators that where violence was used to intimidate voters and create no-go areas the election results would be annulled. No such annulment took place, with the result that even in areas previously dominated by ZPRA the population was left at the mercy of ZANLA that terrorized voters and restricted ZAPU and other campaign teams. This was a classic case of winning the war and losing the peace.Since we are in Bulawayo today you are no doubt familiar with the clashes that took place between ZPRA and ZANLA forces in Entumbane because of political tensions and a rush by politicians to prematurely show off the fighters prior to their integration. This happened elsewhere in places like Connemara, but the underlying problems were more politically generated by failure to create unity.I want to suggest that Dr. Joshua Nkomo's unwavering commitment to unity in the face of treachery and even personal humiliation is the main reason why this country did not go through civil war at the attainment of independence. Politicians with different egos would have used the massive forces at his disposal to refuse being relegated to seats in Matebeleland and Midlands provinces when they could challenge results elsewhere in the country. We got to know even before results of the elections were announced that ZAPU was not going to be allowed to get more than twenty seats. Dr. Nkomo believed in British assurances whereas the Western countries were more worried by our links with South Africa's Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) and what they saw as Soviet advantage in geo-politics. In my view, this hangover from geopolitics has continued to affect ZAPU because independence of thought is wrongly seen as opposition to other people's interests. In spite of being the party whose supporters have received the most documented atrocities since independence, there is no support for our struggle to achieve true liberation as part of unfinished business of the struggle. There is still no closure on the Gukurahundi massacres involving more than 20,000 killed and many injured and displaced. The resulting "development deficit" from engineered insecurity has yet to be dealt with.Lookout Masuku is buried in this city at Lady Stanley cemetery. His status as a hero is beyond question. Ironically, he took the salute here when the colonial flag was lowered in 1980 while Mujuru did that in Harare. He could not be given a place in Heroes Acre in Harare, while all sorts of people we have to look up in references are buried there. I salute the City of Bulawayo for giving us space to bury those whose massive contributions have been denied. In a way this development allows those victimized not to be buried like captives in hostile graves whose yardstick is political loyalty to ZANU rather than what they have done for this country.May the memory of Lookout Masuku be an inspiration to young people and future generations, to appreciate that contributions to liberty live longer than us.I thank you for your attention and for taking the time to come today. In her debut novel, Tuesday Nights in 1980, Molly Prentiss sets an almost impertinently high bar for herself. Shes determined to write a love letter in polychrome to a bygone Manhattan; to recreate the squalid exuberance of Jean-Michel Basquiats and Keith Harings art scene; to explore all the important, hairy themes love, creativity, losing your innocence in one cruel swoop. That she mostly pulls it off is impressive, thrilling. That she sometimes sorely tests the elasticity of your patience with her excesses is also part of the deal. Give her a mulligan on them. She knows exactly where she wants her book to go. After a brief prologue, Tuesday Nights in 1980 starts at a New Years Eve party on Dec. 31, 1979, in the home of Winona George, a larger-than-life New York gallerist who says things like, Youve got the I-was-born-with-its and the self-taughts and something-somethings to the artists she loves. Its a moment when the art scene is changing there was a new air of possibility and a new wave of capital coming in and the guest list reflects it. The California conceptual artist John Baldessari is there, shivering from the New York cold. So is Keith Haring. But most important, so are two of the novels three main characters: Raul Engales, a handsome young painter who has fled Argentinas Dirty War; and James Bennett, a synesthetic art critic with overlarge ears and undersized social confidence who is nevertheless the toast of downtown, thanks to his impeccable taste. Later that night, Engales will leave the party and meet Lucy a radiant gal from Ketchum, Idaho, whos come to New York because she didnt want to have only one story (who does?) and fall giddily in love. While the copy has yet to be examined by the broader scholarly world, Eric Rasmussen, a professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, who authenticated a First Folio found in northern France in 2014, called Ms. Smiths research, which is to be published on Thursday in London in The Times Literary Supplement, convincing. I think this is absolutely the real deal, Mr. Rasmussen said. All the pieces fall into place. The copy in Scotland was not, strictly speaking, totally unknown. It had been listed in the typed catalog of the Bute family library as early as 1896, but its existence seems never to have been made public, even after a census of First Folios in 1902 by the scholar Sidney Lee led more than one millionaire to complain that his prize treasure had not been listed. Mount Stuart, which is owned by a charitable trust, has recently been trying to assemble a full catalog of its substantial library and art collection, both to attract visitors and to make the holdings accessible to researchers. Alice Martin, the director of collections, said she had pulled the Folio, which is bound in three separate volumes, off the shelf at some point last year. At first glance, she said, the Folio is far from the most arresting item at the house, which also has paintings by Titian and Veronese, a garter presented by King George III to the third earl of Bute (the first Scottish prime minister of Britain) and, perhaps more prosaically, the worlds first heated indoor swimming pool. You get goose bumps when you read about the First Folio, but its sort of unassuming when you see it, Ms. Martin said. The billionaire investor William A. Ackman defended his large holding in Valeant Pharmaceuticals International in a conference call on Wednesday, arguing that the stock was drastically undervalued after its sharp decline last quarter. Yet while he aggressively promoted the operational potential of the troubled drug company, he acknowledged that he had underestimated the political and regulatory complexities in making the initial investment and that the recent turmoil surrounding the company had had an effect on the reputation of his firm, Pershing Square Capital Management. Anytime you have a large investment decline, by 80 percent that is damaging to our track record as investors, Mr. Ackman said. The initial stake in Valeant was passive, he noted. Now, with his joining the board, Pershing Squares involvement will become active in the style of a number of the funds activist-oriented positions, he said. Banking has long been viewed as one of the last traditional, old-school, stuck-in-the-past industries. When you think of banking, you might still think of wood-paneled walls and pinstripe suits. That impression may increasingly be misguided. If you spend more than 15 minutes with any senior executive of a large bank these days, it is almost impossible not to hear the phrase fintech uttered. It is usually spoken with a sense of optimism, but sometimes with a sense of dread. Fintech, of course, is short for financial technology, a catchall for a near-revolution of new technologies aimed at upending parts of the financial world, including payments, wealth management, lending, insurance and currency. The fintech phrase itself is actually not new it dates to the late 1980s and early 1990s though it has taken on a heightened sense of importance and urgency now that it has been embraced by Silicon Valley as the new new thing. An estimated $19 billion of investment poured into the fintech bucket last year, according to Citigroup, up from just $1.8 billion five years earlier. SAN FRANCISCO Getting a financial start-up off the ground is tough enough. The likelihood of incurring huge legal fees to secure money transmission licenses in all 50 states makes it that much harder. Yet that is what some digital currency start-ups face as a result of a bewildering hodgepodge of regulations across state and national lines that can make it difficult even to know which rules apply. Hoping to remove at least some of the burden, government agencies in the United States and elsewhere have been increasing their efforts to update the regulations. Last week, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an arm of the Treasury Department, unveiled a white paper that it said was a first step in helping foster innovation in financial tech, particularly for businesses tied to existing banks. Not every innovation is appropriate for a regulated financial institution, and not every innovation that is appropriate for a regulated institution is appropriate for all regulated institutions, Thomas J. Curry, the comptroller, said in remarks. But avoiding new approaches completely is equally dangerous. Finance is where they built their careers. Now some of bankings former stars are pouring millions of dollars and in some cases staking their careers into new technologies that are shaking up everything from lending to payments to investing. The list of investors is practically a Wall Street whos who: Vikram Pandit, former chairman and chief executive of Citigroup; John J. Mack, a former chief executive of Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse First Boston; Jon Winkelried, former president of Goldman Sachs; and J. Christopher Flowers, a former Goldman Partner. From the payments industry, Hans Morris and Joseph W. Saunders, both former chief executives of Visa, are among the prominent names. They are part of a wave of investors who sank $17.8 billion into financial technology, or fintech, in the first nine months of 2015, an 88 percent increase from the same period in 2014, according to a new report by Accenture. The three top technologies were cloud, mobile and analytics, the report said. A separate analysis by Citigroup put total fintech investing for all of last year at $19 billion, up from $1.8 billion in 2010. All three hedge funds have something else in common: They are part of a successful network of so-called Tiger cubs, managers that got their start from the billionaire trader Julian Robertson, who made his mark picking stocks. His Tiger cubs have also struck gold. Many of them have ventured away from betting on publicly listed companies to taking stakes in private start-ups. Other investment firms, too, are pouring tens of millions of dollars into Silicon Valley. Much of that money is going to companies that focus on financial technology called fintech which includes new ways to replace traditional banking using the Internet and automation. Last year, funding for fintech start-ups more than doubled, reaching $12.2 billion, compared with $5.6 billion in 2014, according to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. There was a huge wave in 2013 of hedge funds and other alternative investment firms shifting into the fintech space, said Fiona Grandi, a financial services fintech leader at KPMG. After the 2008 financial crisis, banks around the world reduced lending and other services. The Internet and smartphones have allowed new players to step in and provide those services directly to consumers without using traditional banking platforms. Investor enthusiasm for the fintech sector has helped push valuations higher, with several start-ups reaching the milestone unicorn status, referring to valuations of $1 billion or more. If you were to step back and just look at what has happened in terms of banking with the unbundling of the banks, weve watched venture capitalists pour in money and were seeing the number of unicorns marching towards going public increase, Ms. Grandi said. There is tremendous movement in this space, and its not surprising that hedge fund managers want to capitalize on this. Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, the company behind a chain of down-home restaurants, might not seem an obvious model for advanced financial technology. Its specialty is vintage: vintage food, and in its gift shops, vintage toys and vintage music in the form of hymnal CDs. Yet an upstart fund manager called Arabesque Partners has determined that Cracker Barrel is among the most attractive investments out there in a special category that takes into account environmental, social and governance factors known in the industry as ESG. And even more intriguing: The calculation was not made by a human analyst, but by a robotic one. In the most recent full quarter for which data was available, Cracker Barrel represented 1.31 percent of the Arabesque Prime fund, which factors in a companys sustainability and corporate responsibility track record before investing. That was more than any other stock, including more obvious suspects like Unilever, the consumer goods giant that is obsessed with sustainability, and Xinyi Solar Holdings, a big maker of solar panel components. Arabesque is one of a growing number of investors that are leaning on mountains of new data about companies environmental, social and governance performances in hopes of making more profitable trades. A collective sigh and most likely some profanity echoed across Wall Street on Wednesday after Pfizer and Allergan terminated the biggest deal in 15 years and federal regulators sought to break up another large deal on antitrust grounds. Forget the time the negotiators spent working on the two deals. Bankers may be forgoing hundreds of millions of dollars in fees. Pfizers $152 billion agreement with Allergan had been in the works since last year, while the other deal, Halliburtons $35 billion acquisition of Baker Hughes, was signed in 2014. Had the merger between Pfizer and Allergan closed, their bankers would have raked in more than $200 million in fees, according to estimates by Freeman & Company, a merger advisory and consulting firm. The bulk of the fees are paid when a transaction is completed. Ripple and several other companies working in the online world aim to fix that with a technology known by the yawn-producing term distributed ledger. Its possibilities are anything but dull, however: Mr. Larsen imagines that the technology could go far beyond accommodating financial transactions among people and eventually enable self-driving cars to pay for tolls, parking and fuel without the help of humans. Home energy meters with ledgers might buy different sources of energy. Jet engines could record the installation of new parts and pay for maintenance on the spot. Like many things in tech, a distributed ledger is a seemingly complex idea that is actually built on a very simple one. Since the dawn of record-keeping, ledgers have been where receipts and disbursements of cash and goods are recorded. If you buy a sandwich at a deli, for example, several ledgers come into play. The money you carry to pay for it registers a slight deduction on your personal ledger. The deli owners ledger records a gain in one place and in another a payment for the ham it bought from a supplier. A ledger at the bank records the deposit it receives from the deli owner. In a world where every business has its own books, payments tend to stop and start between different ledgers. An overseas transfer leaves the ledger of one business, then goes on another ledger at a domestic bank. It then might hit the ledger of a bank in the international transfer system. It travels to another bank in the foreign country, before ending up on the ledger of the company being paid. Sammy Yuen, a graphic designer who lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, was standing in line at Whole Foods Market one morning waiting to pay. He used the Starbucks app on his phone to order coffee in advance and then bought his Whole Foods items with Apple Pay by holding the phone in front of the register. Using his phone in these ways has become a routine for Mr. Yuen. Wherever I can use it, I do use it, he said. But Mr. Yuen is very much the exception. Banks, technology companies and retailers are spending large sums to build systems and apps so that people can pay for items with their phones in stores, where most retail spending still takes place. The hope is that phones will make payments more efficient and give banks and retailers new data on their customers shopping habits. Phone and software makers, including Apple, Google and Samsung, are getting involved in mobile payments to make their products more useful and attractive to their owners. Behind all this is the belief that consumers will discover the benefits of paying with their phones and then use them more often as a payment method. Adding fuel to an increasingly contentious deal, the Williams Companies on Wednesday said it was suing Energy Transfer Equity and its chief executive, Kelcy Warren, for breaching their merger agreement. It is a bizarre turn of events for the $38 billion deal between Williams and Energy Transfer, which was signed in September but has since been dragged into the gutter with the sharp decline in commodity prices. Energy Transfer, based in Dallas which would be taking on billions in debt to finance the acquisition has sought any way out of the agreement. However, the deal is so ironclad that only Williams, based in Tulsa, Okla., can end it by paying a $1.5 billion breakup fee. The Williams board said in a release on Wednesday that it was still committed to the merger as it was signed in September. Shareholders still have to approve it. PARIS Alexandre de Juniac, the chief executive of Air France-KLM, is stepping down to run the airline industrys main trade group, the International Air Transport Association. No successor has yet been appointed, injecting a note of uncertainty into a company emerging from four years of restructuring amid tough competition from low-cost carriers and Persian Gulf rivals. Air France-KLM said on Tuesday in a statement that it would appoint headhunters to find a replacement, adding that Mr. de Juniac would take up his new post in Geneva by Aug. 1. Mr. de Juniacs departure to replace the director general of the International Air Transport Association, Tony Tyler, who retires in June, was not widely expected. LONDON The model in the Gucci ad is young and waiflike, her frail body draped in a geometric-pattern dress as she leans back in front of a wall painted with a tree branch that appears to mimic the angle of her silhouette. On Wednesday, the Advertising Standards Authority of Britain ruled that the ad was irresponsible and that the model looked unhealthily thin, fanning a perennial debate in the fashion industry over when thin is too thin. The regulator said that the way the woman in the image had posed elongated her torso and accentuated her waist, so that it appeared to be very small. It said her somber facial expression and dark makeup, particularly around her eyes, made her face look gaunt. It said the offending image a still photograph of the model that appeared in an online video posted on the website of The Times of London in December should not appear again in its current form. A Texas teenager was killed last week when the Takata airbag in her Honda Civic ruptured in a crash, a local police official said Wednesday, bringing the number of deaths linked to the suppliers defective airbags to 11. Honda said that the vehicle had been recalled multiple times since 2011, but its airbag was never repaired. The victims family, which has owned the car for about five years, said it received no recall notices, local investigators said. The victim, Huma Hanif, 17, was driving on a state highway outside Houston around 4:30 p.m. on March 31 when she ran into the car in front of her, according to Bob Haenel, an officer at the Fort Bend County Sheriffs Office. Ms. Hanifs airbag ruptured, sending a metal fragment into the side of her neck, said Danny Beckworth, a lead investigator in the case. She died at the scene, about a seven-minute drive away from George Ranch High School, where she was a student. Blanket, a longhaired Persian the color of steel wool, gave up his spot on the dining room table when a reporter came knocking, and made himself scarce. His owner, Grace Coddington, the longtime creative director of Vogue, shrugged and settled down in a chair to discuss her new project: her first perfume, which sat on the table like a rosy pepper mill, its long flacon topped with a stopper modeled on the head of a cat. Ms. Coddington is well known to those in the fashion industry and indeed many outside of it, thanks to a fabulously upstaging turn in the 2009 documentary The September Issue and the memoir, Grace, that followed it as one of the driving forces of Vogue. Ms. Coddington has spent more than 25 years at the magazine, styling its most lavish shoots. So long was her tenure, and so certain her reign, that it came as a shock when she announced in January that she was stepping down from her full-time position to become creative director at large, a role that will allow her to do several Vogue shoots a year but also pursue outside projects. In short order, she signed with the new agency Great Bowery, whose stated mission is to create and pursue hitherto unexplored opportunities for the fashion and art stars it represents. The perfume, Grace by Grace Coddington, is the first such effort, though it was actually begun before Ms. Coddingtons change of role. It smells primarily of roses, a scent Ms. Coddington associates with childhood (Ive come from a trail of roses, she said) and now can see her through to old age. (She is 74.) It is being produced by the perfume branch of the Comme des Garcons empire, whose resident nose, Christian Astuguevieille, developed the scent with Ms. Coddington and encouraged her to spray it into her hair. She travels in a ready-made diffuser, a nimbus of coppery frizz. Can you guess the party based on the celebrity guest list: Marina Abramovic, Swizz Beatz and Al Pacino? This unlikely mix helps to separate the New York Academy of Arts annual Tribeca Ball, held on Monday night, from a more predictable rubber-chicken event. The Academy, founded in part by Andy Warhol in 1982 as a graduate school for traditional painting, drawing and sculpture techniques, occupies a sprawling five-story industrial loft with creaky wooden floors on Franklin Street. And it was there that the crowd of celebrities, fabulously dressed upstarts and would-be art collectors traipsed up and down the stairs, through a warren of about 100 tiny art studios and makeshift bars, as performers on stilts and musicians milled about with accordions and guitars. Ive bought quite a few paintings here over the years, said the actress Naomi Watts, who wore a bejeweled Valentino dress, as she inspected artwork on the fourth floor. I cant afford massively expensive paintings, and these are all very good. You can buy them right off the wall. Reya Benitez listened and laughed. Turning 24 at midnight, she wore a white slip dress designed by Mr. Warren, and bopped in her seat to the beat of Justin Biebers Sorry, asking the driver to turn the volume up, way up. Its my jam, said Ms. Benitez, the daughter of Jellybean Benitez, a D.J. and music producer. Sparkling in a see-through gold dress also on loan from Dolce & Gabbana was Gaia Matisse, the great-great-granddaughter of the painter Henri Matisse. Andrew, do you have any pics? she asked, turning to Mr. Warren. I need to look on my phone, he said, the soft light of the screen bathing his face. Las Vegas in the 1950s and 60s had the Rat Pack. In Los Angeles in the 80s there was the Brat Pack. Now, New York has become home base to a young, wealthy and itinerant group that one may think of as the Snap Pack. For them, taking photos and videos for Instagram and Snapchat is not a way to memorialize a night out. Its the nights main event. In the S.U.V., the four passed their phones to one another, assessing the goods, texting pictures that they favored. Obviously Im going to put a different filter on it, said Ms. Matisse, 22 and raised in Paris and New York, as she considered whether to post a picture of herself and her friends. About half of those cases involved local transmission within Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and American Samoa. Almost all the remainder occurred in travelers who returned from countries where the Zika epidemic was raging. Until Wednesday, officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services had been adamant that they could not spare any Ebola funds because they had already been spent or had been allocated to strengthening surveillance and health care systems in Africa to spot and suppress any new outbreaks. There have been more than 20 Ebola outbreaks since the disease was first described in 1976. The one that began two years ago in West Africa was by far the worst, and it was the first to reach the United States. Several doctors and nurses with the disease were brought back here to recover, and two nurses caught it from a Liberian man who died in a Texas hospital. Last week, at the Zika Action Plan Summit at the C.D.C. headquarters in Atlanta, Amy E. Pope, a White House deputy assistant for homeland security, said: Congress is asking the American people to choose what disease they want protection from when Ebola threatened, they didnt do that. A spokeswoman for the Office of Management and Budget declined to say whether a deal had been reached with Republicans who opposed funding for control of Zika in return for the administrations moving the funds. The blows flew through the early-spring chill on Friday night, landing with so much force on TaJae Warners face that she fell to the ground. Her head struck the pavement outside Ocean Towers in Coney Island, Brooklyn, where her family lives, and she slipped into unconsciousness, the police said. Ms. Warners family said on Wednesday that she had died on Tuesday, after she was taken off life support. Ms. Warner, 17, had been declared brain-dead on Sunday at NYU Langone Medical Center, where she had been transferred from Coney Island Hospital after being attacked, the police and the Brooklyn district attorneys office said. They aint have to take my baby like that, Ms. Warners mother, Niece Warner, 44, said as she stood smoking a cigarette inside the apartment where she lives with her husband and their children, who now number five. Ohio Police Body Cam Captures Standoff With Knife-Wielding Suspect Trending News: Insane Video Shows Being A Cop Isn't Easy Why Is This Important? Because we often forget cops have to put their lives on the line every single day. Long Story Short Ohio Police have released shocking body cam footage of a man armed with a knife lunging at an armed police officer who shoots him. Long Story If ever we wanted proof of how scary the job of police officer can be, the latest video doing the rounds is the perfect demonstration. Prosecutors in Hamilton County, Ohio have released images from March 29th that show Glendale Police Officer Josh Hilling shooting Javier Pablo Aleman. The video gives a clear view of the bizarre and terrifying situation Hilling was forced to deal with. Hilling stopped Aleman, 46, walking south on the Interstate 75 to question what he was doing (walking along an Interstate is illegal). On the video we see Hilling ask for ID and then take Alemans backpack from him, then, as he asks Aleman to put his hands on the police cruiser, he suddenly draws a big knife. Hilling responds quickly by shooting Aleman in the abdomen. Aleman shouts repeatedly, over 40 times, for Hilling to kill him but the police officer doesnt shoot again, instead demanding that Aleman surrender. Warning: The footage is graphic and extremely disturbing. The wounded Aleman continues to stagger around with his knife on the highway, ignoring Hilling and continuing to present a threat, until support officers arrive at the scene. Aleman is now in hospital awaiting charges. It later emerged that he is wanted in connection with the March 17th stabbing of Victor Adolfo Serrano in Dundalk, Maryland, and theres a good chance the knife waved at Hilling was the murder weapon. It has been confirmed that no charges will be brought against Hilling who has been widely commended for his cool and measured response in the face of a threat to his life. Hamilton County prosecutor Joe Deters said, quoted by WCPO Cincinnati: Im not going to speak for the chief or the sheriff, but Joshua Hilling deserves a medal for what he did. Body cams and cell phones will continue to capture more and more of these types of incidents. A homeless man in LA was shot last March by police; NJ police shot a man in his car last January and just last week a Chicago-area man live-streamed his own shooting on Facebook. While videos have surfaced in past months showing the worst of the police, such as the shooting of an unarmed black man, Cameron Massey, in Alabama in 2013, this time the video proves there are some very good and brave cops out there. Own The Conversation Ask The Big Question: We tend to give police officers a hard time but how would you react in a situation like this? Disrupt Your Feed: Sure, cops make mistakes but people need to know how dangerous and stressful their jobs are. Drop This Fact: In 2015, 52 police officers across the US were killed in traffic-related incidents while 42 were killed by gunfire. As New Jersey Transit and Amtrak prepare to work together on building a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, a former Amtrak executive has been named to lead the state agency. The former chief operating officer at Amtrak, William Crosbie, was appointed executive director of New Jersey Transit on Wednesday. He will arrive at a critical time for the agency, which has been struggling with financial problems and is starting work on an environmental review for the tunnel project. Mr. Crosbie, 51, will replace Dennis J. Martin, who was the interim leader of the agency after Veronique Hakim left last year to become president of New York City Transit, which runs the citys buses and subways and is part of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. He is expected to start on April 25. Bill Crosbie brings a depth of background in operations, transportation, engineering, finance and security to New Jersey Transit that is perfectly suited to address the needs facing the agency at this important time, Richard T. Hammer, the agencys board chairman, said in a statement. As a Long Island high school student checked her phone for the results of her college admissions applications, she was overcome by disbelief. One by one, each relayed the same news: Harvard. Yes. Dartmouth. Yes. Princeton. Yes. The University of Pennsylvania. Yes. Cornell, Yale, Columbia, Brown: yes, yes, yes, yes. It was March 31, the emotion-filled day when Ivy League universities posted their decisions online. And Augusta Uwamanzu-Nna, a senior at Elmont Memorial High School, became the second student there to pull off an exceedingly rare feat: She swept all eight. She screamed. Then she cried. Its so surreal, Ms. Uwamanzu-Nna, 17, said on Wednesday. Its still hard to actually believe that this has happened to me. NEWTOWN, Conn. A teacher was arrested on Wednesday on charges of bringing a gun to Newtown Middle School, the police said. The teacher, Jason Adams, has a valid pistol permit, but Connecticut state law prohibits possession of firearms on school grounds. Image Jason Adams Credit... Newtown Police Department, via Associated Press Mr. Adams, 46, was detained by school security after he was seen with the gun and then arrested by officers who were called to the school, said Chief James Viadero of the Newtown Police Department. Mr. Adams was charged with possession of a weapon on school grounds and was released. A passenger who got behind the steering wheel of an Uber car so that the driver could nap led the police on a highway chase in central New York, the State Police said. The passenger, Juan R. Carlos, 20, of the Bronx, hired the car to travel nearly 300 miles from Philadelphia to a college in Herkimer, N.Y., on Saturday, the police said. At about 5:35 a.m., the State Police were monitoring traffic on Interstate 81 in Kirkwood, N.Y., a town near the Pennsylvania border, when a 2016 Hyundai Sonata went by at 86 miles per hour, the police said. Troopers attempted to stop the car, but it sped up and they eventually lost sight of it. Ted Cruzs big win in Wisconsin Tuesday was an important moment for the Never Trump forces that hope to keep Donald Trump from amassing the delegates he needs to win the Republican nomination outright. But Mr. Cruzs supporters remain seriously frustrated anyway, to the point where they have begun denigrating and demonizing Mr. Trumps supporters, a tactic that can do neither Mr. Cruz nor his party any good. Wisconsin was a big Midwestern contest that provided Mr. Cruz with the opportunity to show he can appeal to a broader constituency than just the hard-line and evangelical conservatives who have been his main strength. But the results showed that many supporters in Mr. Trumps most steadfast constituency, non-college-educated whites, stuck by him. Exit polls show that Mr. Cruz won 48 percent of this group, but more than one-third of them still voted for Mr. Trump. This confounding fealty is maddening to some Never Trumpers, who have turned their anger on the people who have stayed loyal to Mr. Trump. Erick Erickson, a conservative commentator, calls Trump supporters Branch Trumpidians, and appears to spend much of his time retweeting insults of them. Last week Mr. Erickson wrote that the only people who love Mr. Trump are white supremacists, neo-Nazis, a white victim class of mostly blue-collar workers, a group of white folks who have failed at life and blame everyone else for their own bad decisions. To the Editor: Re MetLife and the Threat to Dodd-Frank (editorial, April 4): Regarding the motivation for MetLifes legal challenge to its designation as a nonbank systemically important financial institution, or SIFI, you suggest that the lawsuit was MetLifes effort to weaken the Financial Stability Oversight Council. To the contrary, MetLife has consistently expressed support for robust regulation of the life insurance industry. MetLifes appeal of its designation as a SIFI is an avenue of judicial review specifically provided for in Section 113(h) of Dodd-Frank for any entity that may disagree with an oversight council determination. In its appeal of its designation, MetLife is not trying to weaken the oversight council; it is furthering the standards and procedures that Congress created. Dodd-Frank sets forth a detailed set of criteria for determining whether an entity is systemically risky, or too big to fail. The oversight councils designation of MetLife satisfied only one of those criteria, the obvious one: that MetLife is a large institution. Dodd-Frank makes clear that size alone does not make a company systemic, as former Senator Christopher Dodd himself said during congressional debate over his bill. A journalist was killed in St. Petersburg last week, but no one called for an immediate and full investigation. No one seemed to suspect that he was killed because of his work. In a country of frequent and varied violence, this was a different kind of crime, a murder that dare not speak its name. There is a fine art to reading obituaries, as anyone who lived through the AIDS epidemic in the West and paid attention knows. Back in the late 1980s and 1990s, if an American newspaper reported that a young man had died and mentioned no cause of death (or attributed the death to respiratory failure), it was a safe assumption that the man had died of AIDS. If the obituary also referred to a surviving longtime companion, this seemed to provide confirmation. The equivalent in contemporary Russia is an obituary that says that a man was found slain in his own apartment and there was no sign of forced entry. When this happens to someone well-known enough to warrant numerous written remembrances, the writers usually refer not to a killing but to a tragic death as though it were not a criminal but a personal trait that caused the persons demise. What they mean is that the deceased was gay and apparently died at the hands of someone he brought home. No one can say how often this happens, but it happens enough to form a recognizable pattern. Many, if not most, LGBT people in Russia knew someone who died in this manner. When Alexander Smirnov, an official with the Moscow city government, decided to come out in a magazine interview three years ago, he chose to talk about this, too. Two years ago someone I knew died, said Mr. Smirnov. He was found in his apartment, naked, stabbed to death. He was gay. You know how this happens? Gays often meet one another online. And there are whole gangs that come to gay mens houses, then kill them and rob the apartment. Their families conceal the stories, of course. WHEN Apple first released the iPhone in 2007, I wrote a blog post with the headline: Why my phone wont be an iPhone. I laid out several reasons I would not be giving up my Palm Treo 700p for Apples gadget, including the poor voice and data service of Apples lone wireless partner, AT&T, and the lack of third-party apps. The iPhone has obviously come a long way since then. It can now be used on any carrier. Its voice and data quality are stellar. Some of its built-in apps, such as Apple Pay, are best in class. There are 1.5 million apps created by outside developers. I have finally caved in: My phone is now an iPhone. And I got there the way that many others have: by switching from an Android-based smartphone. About six weeks ago, I swapped my two-year-old Samsung Galaxy S5 for a new iPhone 6S to better understand Apples flagship product as I began a new assignment about the company. Faced with slowing sales growth, Apple is counting on millions of people like me to give up their Android phones, which can be bought new for as little as $30 in some countries, to purchase iPhones, which cost $400 or more. It appears that many moderate voters, who have long been the biggest obstacle to Mr. Cruz, finally broke his way. According to exit polls, Mr. Cruz won 29 percent of them far higher than the 12 percent he won in Michigan and 15 percent in Illinois. Mr. Kasichs share of the vote among both self-described moderate and somewhat conservative voters dropped. Perhaps nothing exemplified Mr. Cruzs newfound competitiveness in moderate areas better than Madisons Dane County, where he won by a comfortable eight-point margin and 38 percent of the vote. Just a couple of weeks ago, he finished third in places like Ann Arbor, Mich., and Chicago. Mr. Cruzs strength did have limits. It was heavily concentrated in the more populous eastern part of the state. In the older, more rural, less religious and less educated western and northern areas of the state, Mr. Trump still ran far ahead of Mr. Cruz. The distinctly regional element of Mr. Cruzs strength at least raises the possibility that it wont be replicated elsewhere. The region is one of the few places in the northern United States where Republicans dominate in well-educated suburbs. (Orange County, Calif., and Indianapolis are similar and still to come.) But perhaps the best reason to think it still might be part of a broader phenomenon for Mr. Cruz is that he has outperformed expectations at every point since Super Tuesday. He nearly doubled his support in the contests immediately after Super Tuesday, as Mr. Rubio faltered. He posted strong showings on March 15 like clearing 40 percent of the vote in Missouri and 30 percent in Illinois that were largely overlooked because it was not enough for him to win. Those gains put Mr. Cruz very near the point where he could prevent Mr. Trump from earning a majority of delegates close enough where merely splitting the remainder of Mr. Rubios vote would be enough. It was 3 a.m. when Sunny Jos smartphone began insistently sounding with Facebook notifications, alerting him that his name was being mentioned. Ping. Ping. Ping. For Mr. Jo, a photographer from Hazleton, Pa., the alerts on a Saturday last month were his first hint that a picture he had retouched for a grieving mother in North Carolina was gaining widespread attention on social media. But the attention, it turned out, was for the worst reasons possible. The mother, Jeanie K. Ditty of Spring Lake, N.C., had contacted Mr. Jo a month after her 2-year-old daughter, Macy, died on Dec. 4, 2015. Mr. Jo, 22, offers a service, One More Time, in which he adds a superimposed image of a dead loved one into a photograph of a surviving family member. He said in an interview that the retouched photos were a way to bring comfort to grieving relatives and to reunite them with their loved ones. This was a reference to Milton Glaser, the world-renowned graphic artist and creator of the iconic I Love New York logo, who had been drafted for the Rhode Island project and came up with the logo and the slogan. In an interview on Tuesday, the governor acknowledged some blunders. We didnt do nearly enough public engagement before rolling out the campaign, she said. Nor did they get stakeholder engagement and buy-in in advance. But she avoided answering the question of whether it was a mistake not to seek homegrown talent in the first place, especially from the estimable Rhode Island School of Design. Mr. Glaser said in an interview that he felt that being from New York or at least not being from Rhode Island was held against him. But his biggest complaint was that the governors team had failed to lay the groundwork for the end product and provide context for it. People became crazed by the idea that they didnt get it, he said of the slogan. If you rolled it out over weeks, you could have made a case for it. But in the absence of a real presentation, and the presence of so many mistakes, the whole thing became enshrouded in negativity. The social media thing is a killer. His thought behind the white sail logo was to give people a positive association with the Ocean State. Billowing sails, pleasure, relaxation and optimism, he said. The slogan cooler and warmer, he said, was meant to convey that people are doing cool things in Rhode Island and that they are warmer and friendlier than the frosty New England stereotype. BOMBAY HOOK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Del. Is it political correctness, or a shrewd way to clean the scales off an 82-year-old federal program? Will it secure more money for wildlife, or wreck one of the better things the United States government has going? We speak of the duck stamp. Essentially a national license for hunting migratory waterfowl, the stamp now costing $25 and each year featuring a different painting of a duck, goose or swan must be affixed to every hunters state permit. The proceeds are used to acquire new lands for a national archipelago of wildlife preserves, including this bird-rich stretch of tidal Delaware, 95 percent of which was purchased with duck-stamp money. Now the Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed making the traditional waterfowl share space on the stamps with birds that are not hunted, like herons or hawks. The idea, officials say, is to drum up more interest in the stamps from birders while preserving the loyalty of duck hunters. Setting their sights on the next big delegate prizes, the presidential candidates descended on New York and Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon, with Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders looking to extend the momentum from their Wisconsin victories while Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton work to regain their footing after stinging defeats. Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton, who still have wide delegate leads in the Republican and Democratic nominating contests, will be working furiously to win New York, where their opponents are devoting significant resources to try to score upsets in the delegate-rich state in its April 19 primary. With both candidates having deep roots in the state, losses would be especially painful. Mr. Trump, who has been uncharacteristically quiet on Wednesday, planned an evening rally that is expected to draw thousands of supporters. A poll released Wednesday showed Mr. Trump with more than 50 percent support, and showing particular strength in New York City, Long Island and western New York. Still, the pressure is intense on Mr. Trump, who is enduring the most challenging stretch of his insurgent candidacy. His rally in Bethpage, Long Island, which is expected to draw up to 10,000 people, comes after a week of damaging questions about his treatment of women and knowledge of policy. And his double-digit defeat in Wisconsin further emboldened the Stop Trump movement within the Republican Party. WASHINGTON At a time of increasing threats of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, the Department of Homeland Security is having trouble recruiting much-needed computer experts because it cannot match the pay of the private sector and does not have the same allure as intelligence agencies. Recent disclosures that Iranian hackers with ties to the government in Tehran had launched a cyberattack against a dam in New York highlighted the need for the department, which is charged with protecting government and private systems from cyberintrusions, to have a staff capable of responding to sophisticated enemies. We are competing in a tough marketplace against a private sector that is in a position to offer a lot more money, Jeh Johnson, the Homeland Security secretary, told senators at a hearing last month. We need more cybertalent without a doubt in D.H.S., in the federal government, and we are not where we should be right now, that is without a doubt. Concern about the potential for cyberattacks on infrastructure was heightened after a Dec. 23 hack of the Ukrainian power grid that caused a blackout for 225,000 customers. The department, which helped Ukrainian officials investigate the case, confirmed that it was a cyberattack. The college campus, long a home to spirited protests and expressions of provocative opinions, can also be home to safe spaces, trigger warnings, news media restrictions and rules about what can be written in chalk on the sidewalks. But most students dont believe that their First Amendment rights are under attack, according to a new Gallup survey: 73 percent said they thought their freedom of speech was secure. There was one notable exception along racial lines: While 70 percent of white students said that their right to assemble was secure, just 39 percent of black students said the same. The survey, based on phone interviews with 3,072 United States college students and 2,031 adults, was sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Newseum Institute and released on Monday. A news article posted on Tuesday, San Francisco Approves Fully Paid Parental Leave, by Thomas Fuller, described a groundbreaking law that will give parents six weeks of fully paid leave when they have a new baby. Readers responded vigorously on Facebook, some to applaud the law and others to chide the United States for not offering such benefits as a matter of course. Here, three reporters for The New York Times Jodi Kantor, an enterprise reporter who has written about gender, politics and the workplace; Noam Scheiber, a labor reporter based in Washington, D.C., and Mr. Fuller, the San Francisco bureau chief discuss their views on new family leave laws in California, New York and corporate America and what they might augur in terms of national policy. First up, Jodi Kantor. Dear Noam and Thomas, Heres a mashup of what I used to hear, as a reporter and parent, about the prospects for ever having state-mandated parental leave in the United States: Paid family leave may be desperately needed, but its a political pipe dream. Democrats are unwilling to fight for it. The business world will never go for it. The United States just has terminally shoddy parental leave policies. (Cue dirgelike music and new parents giving longing glances to countries like Sweden, which grants 480 days of paid leave.) But now every day the statements above are becoming a little less true. On Tuesday San Francisco approved six weeks of fully paid leave for new parents. Last week, New York State adopted a measure that will phase in 12 weeks of paid family leave, which can be used to care for ailing relatives as well as new babies (the pay for higher-income workers will be partial; details here.) Similar laws have been passed in California, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington State. Washington D.C. may be next; Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Minnesota are possibilities, too. The United States government is close to issuing a rule that will for the first time require banks and other financial institutions to find out the identities of people hidden behind shell companies. The rule is meant to close a major loophole in the American banking system that enables the sorts of secretive financial maneuvers that were thrust into the spotlight this week with the leak of millions of documents from a law firm in Panama. That firm, Mossack Fonseca, is one of the largest incorporators of shell companies in the world. The trove of leaked documents analyzed by more than 100 news organizations worldwide revealed offshore companies tied to 143 politicians, their families and close associates. The documents also showed scores of shell companies doing business with major international banks, including UBS, Credit Suisse and HSBC, that rely on access to the American banking system. A plan to fight the extinction of wild tigers in Cambodia would require importing the big cats from abroad, in what conservationists say would be the first transnational tiger reintroduction. The last tiger seen in the wild in Cambodia was in its east in 2007, Un Chakrey, communications manager for the conservation group WWF-Cambodia, said on Wednesday. Poaching and the loss of habitat have wiped out tigers in Cambodia, and the species is considered functionally extinct there, with no breeding pairs, WWF-Cambodia said. Under a plan approved last month by the Cambodian government, a small number of tigers will be imported and introduced to the Mondulkiri Protected Forest, the last place in the country a tiger was seen. The first phase of the plan would call for two male tigers and five to six female tigers to be released, Mr. Un Chakrey said. The consortiums review of the leaked documents found that Mr. Deng had acquired three additional offshore companies, well before Mr. Xi became Chinas top leader and made a crackdown on corruption one of the centerpieces of his leadership. The disclosures provide further insight into how Chinas political elite has tapped into the global network of lawyers and wealth managers who, for a fee, can set up complex corporate structures that often have the effect of cloaking vast personal wealth. It is not illegal for Chinese citizens to own companies offshore, and there are legitimate reasons for having one. Thousands of Chinese nationals have set up companies in offshore havens such as the British Virgin Islands and the Seychelles. Mossack Fonseca has more offices in China than in any other country, according to the companys website. Many of Chinas most powerful families set up offshore companies during the administration of Hu Jintao, who preceded Mr. Xi as president and as leader of the Communist Party. Family members or close business associates of at least five of the nine men who served on the Politburo Standing Committee from 2007 through 2012 had links to offshore accounts, according to records reviewed by The New York Times. Image President Xi Jinping in Beijing in 2012. The ties of Mr. Xis brother-in-law to offshore companies have been known for several years. Credit... Ed Jones/Agence France-Presse Getty Images It was during that period that Jia Liqing, the wife of Mr. Lius son, Liu Lefei, appears to have become the director and a shareholder of Ultra Time Investments, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2009, according to the consortium's report. It is not clear what Ultra Time was used for, if anything. A Google search for the companys name on Wednesday turned up only one result, a list of offshore shelf companies stating that Ultra Time had been incorporated on April 20, 2009. Ms. Jia and her husband represent two of the most potent arms of the Chinese Communist Party. She is the daughter of Chinas former minister of public security and chief prosecutor, Jia Chunwang, according to two people who have met the couple and who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preserve those relationships. Liu Lefeis father oversees the countrys propaganda apparatus. SEOUL, South Korea North Korea could deploy a new rocket system as early as this year that would expand its ability to strike South Korean and American military forces in the South, South Koreas defense minister said on Wednesday. South Korea has been closely monitoring the Norths development of the 300-millimeter multiple-rocket launcher system, which the country has tested frequently in recent years. The weapon has alarmed officials because it is believed to have a range long enough to strike major American and South Korean military bases, including those near Pyeongtaek, about 60 miles south of Seoul, the capital. Defense Minister Han Min-koo said on Wednesday that North Korea was likely to deploy the new system late this year at the earliest. The North developed the weapon because it is cheaper than its short-range, Scud-type ballistic missiles and allows it to fire far more projectiles, Mr. Han said in an interview with South Korean reporters. PARIS After a debate lasting nearly two and a half years, Frances Parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to discourage prostitution by penalizing those who pay for sex, following the example of Sweden and Norway. The National Assembly, Frances lower house of Parliament, voted 64 to 12 for the bill, with the vast majority of the 577 Assembly members not voting. Parliament can approve legislation without a quorum. The French Socialist government, which had backed the bill, hailed the new law as a victory. Prime Minister Manuel Valls posted a message on Twitter saying the vote was a major advance for the rights of women. The minister for womens rights, Laurence Rossignol, told the National Assembly before the vote that prostitution was violence done to women and that the new measure would send a message to those who work as prostitutes that the state, the Parliament and society finally recognizes fully the violence of the system of prostitution. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia The doctor told the parents to say goodbye. With wet eyes, they held out their palms in prayer and bent over the hospital bed to kiss their daughters tiny foreheads. The girls had spent the year since their birth facing each other like mirror images they could not escape. Identical twins joined at the belly, each had two arms and two legs, individual hearts and digestive tracts, but they shared a liver. Blood pumping through one also flowed through the other. They could stand with their mothers help, sometimes posing cheek-to-cheek, other times draping their arms around each others neck as if slow dancing. Now, shortly after their first birthday, they had traveled from their poor town in Pakistan to oil-rich Saudi Arabia for a rare and risky separation surgery that would radically change their lives. I still have doubts, and I am scared, said their father, Nisar Ghani, 45, as the doctors wheeled the girls, Fatima and Mishal, toward the operating room. In the end, it is all up to God. Despite a growing repudiation of the death penalty by governments around the world, at least 1,634 people were executed last year, the highest total in a quarter-century, Amnesty International said Wednesday in its annual report on capital punishment. The deaths represent more than a 50 percent increase over the 1,061 recorded in 2014 by Amnesty, a London-based rights group that has made abolition of the death penalty one of its signature causes. The group said almost 90 percent of the 2015 executions were carried out in Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, which have repeatedly ignored pleas by rights groups to abandon capital punishment. In Iran and Saudi Arabia, many of the executions were for nonlethal crimes. Amnesty said drug-trafficking offenses were the main reason for executions in Iran. The group said other reasons cited by countries that practice capital punishment included adultery, blasphemy, corruption, kidnapping and questioning the leaders policies. As it had done in previous years, Amnesty did not count executions in China, which the group said resorted to the death penalty more than any other country. The true extent of capital punishment there is unclear because the data is considered a state secret, but the report said executions were believed to be in the thousands. BEIRUT, Lebanon Iran announced on Wednesday that it intended to send a delegation to Saudi Arabia this month to discuss the hajj pilgrimage, a rare official meeting between the Middle Eastern rivals at a time of deep regional tensions. The delegation wants to discuss arrangements for Iranians to attend this years pilgrimage as well as compensation for the relatives of 461 Iranians who died in a human crush during the event last year, said Saeed Ohadi, the head of Irans pilgrimage organization, according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency. The pilgrims were killed during the rite last year when large crowds ran into each other in the narrow alleys of a pilgrims camp, crushing many people who had no way to escape. More than 2,400 pilgrims from three dozen countries died, according to a count by The Associated Press, a toll that would make the crush the deadliest event in the history of the hajj. The message was clear: Fix it, or else. So after a year of much study and negotiation, monument conservation experts plan to first remove the iron cage that Jerusalems colonial British rulers built in 1947 in a prior effort to keep the Aedicule from collapsing, after a 1927 earthquake and rain left the structure cracked, its marble slabs flaking. They will take apart, slab by slab, the ornate marble shell built in 1810, during Ottoman rule of Jerusalem. The conservationists will then tackle the remains of the 12th-century Crusader shrine that lies underneath. That was erected after the Shiite ruler of Egypt, al-Hakim, destroyed the first Aedicule in 1009. The original was built by Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, the Christian Roman emperor who did much to elevate the status of Christianity through the empire. Finally, the workers will repair cracks in the remains of the rock-hewed tomb underneath, where most Christians believe Jesus was placed after he was crucified. (There is a rival Tomb of Christ just outside the Old City walls, patronized mainly by Protestants. But that is another story.) Antonia Moropoulou, the conservation expert heading the project, said the shrine would remain open to visitors during most of the painstaking process. Hundreds of pilgrims waited to enter one recent day as Catholics said Mass near the Aedicule, blocking the entry with wooden pews. The shrine is topped with a large gray cupola, and it is decorated with gold, icons, pillars, candles, heavy bronze lamps, inscriptions and a large painting of Christ. This is a very super experience of my spirit, said Anil Macwan, 30, a lay Catholic preacher from India. The world cannot give me the feeling I get from this tomb, this place. It is a very sacred place. JERUSALEM An Israeli prison parole board rejected a request on Wednesday by Moshe Katsav, the former president of Israel who is serving a seven-year term for rape, for a conditional early release from prison. Mr. Katsav, who entered prison in December 2011 after losing a Supreme Court appeal, had requested that his sentence be reduced by a third for good behavior. In its ruling, the parole committee said that Mr. Katsav, who has always professed his innocence, never expressed regret for his actions and had refused to participate in rehabilitation programs, factors that did not work in his favor. The committee noted what it described as Mr. Katsavs obsessive preoccupation with trying to prove his innocence, saying he could continue to offend his victims and possibly still pose a risk to women. The so-called conflict-of-interest rule covers only tax-advantaged retirement accounts and does not apply to most other investments. But it could lead to more sweeping changes across the financial services industry, making it harder for some smaller firms to do business and perhaps encouraging a further consolidation into larger companies better able to handle the detailed rules of compliance. It is also expected to promote a shift away from commissions for individual transactions toward a greater reliance on flat annual fees for managing accounts, a move that would not benefit all investors equally. Critics of the rule in its earlier proposed form said they were still reviewing the specific details of the new regulations to determine its effect on investors. Jules Gaudreau, president of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, whose members include insurance agents and brokers, said the organization was pleased that the Labor Department had incorporated some of the changes it suggested. But he said his members still had reservations. We remain concerned, Mr. Gaudreau said, that the costs to implement such a complex rule will result in higher costs and reduced access to advice, service and products for retirement savers. For the last year, the industry has lobbied Congress to delay or kill the rules, so far without success. Before going ahead with the final rules, the Labor Department held four days of public hearings at which nearly 80 parties testified; it also received more than 3,000 comments on the proposal from consumer advocates, industry stakeholders and others. We heard the concerns. We listened. We acted, Secretary Perez said. And I think we improved the rule as a result. A good haircut lasts long after you leave the barbershop. But how long, exactly? To a large degree, the life span of a cut depends on the style, and the prevailing Brooklyn do tight on the sides, with some length on top puts guys, on average, in the chair once every three to six weeks. When I give a haircut, of course its going to look good you just got it cut, said Garrett Pike, a head barber at the Brooklyn-based chain Persons of Interest. But I try to get the most out of every cut. The dialogue with your barber at the start of your session (how long since your last cut, how do you like to wear it, the continuing horror of the New York Knicks) isnt just small talk; its vital information that will lead to a cut that will still look good once you have run it through a shower and may even improve as it grows out. The more you can tell your stylist, the better. Youve been dealing with your hair your whole life, Mr. Pike said. You know all the kooky things that can happen. Composed of simple materials steel, hand-drawn ink on parchment, a burning candle Yael Kanareks Feedback-Loop might not seem to be the work of a new-media artist. But Ms. Kanarek has spent the last 20 years moving between digital and analog, virtual and real. Starting Tuesday, the Lower East Side gallery Bitforms will host Kisses Kisses, Ms. Kanareks fifth show there, which looks back at her career exploring life in the information age. The show includes Feedback-Loop and World of Awe, a multimedia narrative on the web that Ms. Kanarek has been working on for more than a decade, chronicling the journey of a lone traveler who crosses through a portal on Manhattans East Sixth Street into a virtual desert, searching for lost treasure. Kisses Kisses will feature paintings and ephemera by Ms. Kanarek that have never been seen before. (212-366-6939, bitforms.com.) I arrived at the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins in September 1985, bearing a box of books, a Kaypro word processor and a long blond wig I kept hidden in a box in the closet. I wasnt out as transgender in those days, not by a long shot, but I did have the tools I needed to slip out of the house, once in a while, and prowl around Baltimore en femme. Then Id head home, wash off the makeup and get ready for the workshop, taught by the writer John Barth. Wed been told to call him Jack, but it seemed impossible. Barth was considered an Olympian of literary maximalism. In the vein of Borges, Pynchon and Calvino, his work combined erudition, parody and the sense that a novel might be, among other things, a comment on itself. Even if the high-water mark of maximalism in American literature had come and gone by then the writers in my workshop were more likely to dream of becoming the next Raymond Carver or Ann Beattie Jack was revered for his teaching. We sat there, enthralled as he introduced his theory of plot (the gradual perturbation of an unstable homeostatic system and its catastrophic restoration to a new and complexified equilibrium) or compared the structure of dramatic action to a love affair. I can still see him smiling wickedly, saying, Theres a reason they call it climax. I was working on a novel called The Invisible Woman at the time, a story that was meant to be Barthian in its comic self-referentiality, but which, in the end, turned out to be inescapably Boylanesque a tale of a woman who had to keep herself hidden, lest the unforgiving world discover her identity. It would take me years to understand the obvious: I wasnt writing a novel, but a memoir, and the woman in hiding was, of course, myself. On the 40th anniversary of the founding of Hopkinss Writing Seminars, the university staged a reading by the programs professors. That was the first time I heard Jack read Night-Sea Journey, a short story narrated by a sperm. Ive begun to believe, not only that She exists, but that She lies not far ahead, and stills the sea, and draws me Herward! he says. So why did America turn against government? With their previous book, Winner-Take-All Politics, Hacker and Pierson won rave reviews for explaining why inequality has risen faster in America than in any other rich country and how a strategy started by conservative foundations and rich libertarians to limit and weaken government paid off spectacularly. This new book rehashes enough of that analysis to give readers not amnesia but deja vu. It also contains grim new evidence, especially about the growing lobbying and legal influence of the Business Roundtable and United States Chamber of Commerce. Hacker and Pierson argue that no private organization in the history of American politics has assembled anything comparable in scope or capacity to todays Chamber of Commerce. Hacker and Pierson highlight three main prongs of the Republican attack: Denounce crony capitalism while catering to narrow business interests; Feed political dysfunction and win by railing against it; and Undermine the capacity of government to perform its vital functions and at the same time decry a bungling and corrupt public sector. Still, the authors are suffering their own amnesia about the troubled state of the economy and American business during the 1970s, which is when the public fell out of love with government. This gets only a few pages, with observations like the decade was not the economic wasteland it is often remembered as today. Yet experiencing stagflation and other economic troubles for the first time in the era of mass prosperity provided ample reason for Americans to question the prevailing mixed-economy orthodoxy and ask whether government was overreaching. Whats more, for all that bashing, government has become the dominant American political narrative, and for all the Randian resources deployed by the Koch brothers and others, antigovernment forces have been unable to stop the current Democratic president from introducing a huge expansion of government in health care, and then getting re-elected. The authors also bury near the end their surprising belief that despite everything, as a society, we really have never had it so good. Then there is the excessive nostalgia for the heyday of trade unionism. While Hacker and Pierson acknowledge the negative role played by teachers unions in blocking education reforms that might have kept America higher in those international performance rankings, that fact gets barely one sentence. And as for Wall Street, they are too one-sided the other way. Though Wall Street deserves much blame for the crash of 2008 and the subsequent Great Recession, the financial sector is not all a giant rip-off. Many of its innovations over the past 50 years have been adopted around the world because they can yield significant economic benefits. As for solutions, Hacker and Pierson say there is no magic bullet. They offer several sensible suggestions further limit the use of filibusters in the Senate; institute campaign finance reform; make it easier for people to vote; introduce regulatory reform to tackle todays robber barons in finance, energy and health care. Yet their big call is for a new, broad-based movement to restore Americas love for effective government the modern successor to the Progressives of a century ago. Is this realistic? There are a few hopeful straws in the wind. The popularity of Bernie Sanders with younger voters hints at a generational change in attitudes. Some enlightened business leaders Bill Gates, Howard Schultz, Marc Benioff are emerging as a different sort of role models, on issues like inequality, the treatment of veterans and gay rights. Perhaps the unexpected strength of Donald Trump will provide a wake-up call if it isnt already too late to the Republican establishment, reminding it that if all you ever do is bash government, you risk creating a vacuum that may be filled by something you will really want to forget. Chicago has sent many theatrical gifts to New York over the years, including Tracy Lettss August: Osage County and some great plays by the Chicago native David Mamet (in general, if not lately). A notable import of the moment is Ike Holters Exit Strategy, in previews in a Primary Stages production. Mr. Holter, named Chicagoan of the Year in Theater by The Chicago Tribune in 2014, received a rave from Chris Jones of The Tribune when Exit Strategy ran there. Mr. Jones described the play, about the final days of a failing urban high school, as at once poetic, political, sad, funny, timely, complex and compassionate and went on to compare the linguistic excitement with Mr. Mamets feisty early work. (Opens Tuesday, April 12, Cherry Lane Theater; primarystages.org.) Luckily, there are still some architects working who havent forgotten their professions obligation to please the people who use their space. Richard Rogers is one. Mr. Rogers and his firm, Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners, create buildings that offer alternative spaces public realm is their phrase where you can experience the building in a casual, relaxed way. (The square in front of the Pompidou Center in Paris, which Mr. Rogers designed with Renzo Piano, is one example.) Moreover, Mr. Rogerss inside-outside approach, which uses the buildings innards its water pipes, ventilation ducts, escalators, etc. as the facade itself, offers a new way of imagining a buildings interior. With the inside now outside, a buildings interior is more open and flexible space can be converted and reconfigured without worrying about disturbing most of the buildings innards. As a big fan of his work, I was (almost) pleased when American Airlines decided to route me through Madrid on my back way to France last year. My thinking was that Mr. Rogers, who was awarded the Pritzker, architectures highest honor, the year after his new terminals opened in 2006, could deliver a space, along with his collaborator, the architect Antonio Lamela, that prioritized the traveler and his needs. The layover did not begin well. At 6 a.m., we landed at Terminal 4S, a satellite terminal. Bleary-eyed, I walked almost seven minutes to the other end of the terminal, which is lit by light fixtures that are too bright to allow you to sleep and not bright enough to read. We were quickly whisked away via tram to a larger building, Terminal 4. Here, as with many European hubs, they dont assign gates to flights more than an hour in advance. For those waiting, the terminal provides clusters of aqua-blue chairs that are scattered around almost haphazardly, like puddles might form after a quick rain. The banks of steel chairs have two armrests separating four chairs, which, unless youre about 6 or younger, make it impossible to splay out. SACRAMENTO Democrats held onto a Fresno County seat in the California Assembly with a special election victory in a critical race for the majority party that will be rehashed again in June and November. Emergency room doctor Joaquin Arambula received 52 percent of the 29,000 votes counted so far in Tuesday nights contest, besting Republican Clint Oliviers 42 percent and a small margin that went to a second Democratic candidate. Arambula, 38, of Kingsburg, will succeed moderate Democratic Assemblyman Henry Perea in the seat Arambulas father held for six years. He is guaranteed the seat for only eight months the remainder of Pereas term but Democrats have held the seat for 40 years and have a registration edge in the district. All three candidates are slated to race again in the June 7 primary and the top two vote-getters will then face off in November. Arambula, a political newcomer, has said one of his long-term objectives is to bring a medical school to the Central Valley, where he cant recruit enough doctors to keep up with patient volumes that have tripled in the last decade. I am ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work fighting for the issues important to the valley like more water, better schools and quality health care, Arambula said in an emailed statement Wednesday. Olivier, a Fresno city councilman and former television reporter, presented himself as a conservative taking on wealthy special interest groups who bankrolled Arambulas campaign and the Democratic lawmakers who held the seat before him. Overnight is a lifetime in politics and a lot can change in the months that will pass between now and then, Olivier spokesman Alex Tavlian said. This is not the final chapter in this race by a long shot. Arambulas campaign and outside groups supporting him have amassed more than $1.5 million this year. Much of that came from organizations of doctors, health care providers and a political action committee that works to elect moderate Democrats to the Legislature. Oliviers supporters raised about $470,000 ahead of the special election, including about $200,000 in contributions from the California Republican Party. At least 5,000 special election ballots have not yet been counted, but Olivier would need to win nearly all of those to tip the scale in his favor. The 31st Assembly District includes southern Fresno and the rural, southwest portion of Fresno County. The win gives Assembly Democrats 52 of the chambers 80 seats and puts the party back within two votes of the 54-person majority need for the ability to unilaterally raise taxes and suspend lawmakers. Bita Daryabari knows what its like to be a new American. The 46-year-old Silicon Valley philanthropist moved to the U.S. from a war-stricken Iran in 1985. Overnight, she went from being a rebellious teenager who resisted wearing a head scarf to being called a terrorist by classmates in Missouri. Daryabari remembers her initial experience now, as she helps provide legal and social services to Iranian immigrants and Farsi speakers from other countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan and India. On April 1, Daryabari launched a new Pars Equality Center in Irvine, the fourth such center in California. She founded the first location in Menlo Park in 2010 and expanded to San Jose in 2012 and Los Angeles in 2013. The Irvine center is open, but not fully operational yet. Much like the others, it eventually will not only provide legal aid workshops, citizenship and English classes, but the camaraderie and sense of social belonging for which immigrants yearn. Refugees have all kinds of social needs, she said. Many of them are depressed because they feel isolated. They dont understand the language or culture. We hold workshops for the community on how to deal with such problems that we dont normally talk about. The San Jose center also has a program for senior citizens from other countries, offering English classes, field trips and social gatherings. Daryabari said she hopes to start a similar program at the Irvine center. Legal aid covers a variety of services from immigration to family law, including restraining orders and divorce, she said. We educate women about their rights, we teach men how to behave in a society with different values and codes of behavior, Daryabari said. For example, four years ago, we helped a couple where the husband was arrested for slapping his wife in public because she wouldnt listen to him. It takes a lot of building education and awareness. Nearly 40 percent of the $2 million annual budget for the three Pars sites is contributed by Daryabari, the remaining funds coming from California Iranian Americans and government grants. A computer programmer with a masters degree in telecom management, Daryabari married Google executive Omid Kordestani in 1994; they divorced in 2007. She then wed Dr. Reza Malek, a surgeon and medical entrepreneur, in 2009. Daryabari founded the Unique Zan Foundation in 2005 to empower women in the Middle East. Through the foundation, Daryabari opened a girls school in Kabul, Afghanistan, along with human rights activist Sakeena Yacoobi to whom she was introduced by Laurene Powell Jobs, the wife of Apple founder Steve Jobs. The foundation also handed out grants to educate nurses and teachers in Afghanistan and opened a womens center in Palestine. Pars Equality Center is a continuation of that work at a local level, Daryabari said. A center in Orange County, she said, is a necessity to help the growing refugee population in the area. The Los Angeles center has been a lifesaver for local Iranian American business owners, said Shani Moslehi, president of the Orange County Iranian American Chamber of Commerce. Moslehi and other members of her team have conducted workshops at the Los Angeles location in Farsi and English over the last two years. There are so many newcomers from Iran and Farsi-speaking countries. This center would be a tremendous resource for this community, she said of the Irvine center. We are badly in need of such a resource. Moslehi estimates there are about a half-million Iranian Americans in Southern California. But, she says, accurate numbers are not available because Iranian Americans are counted as white by the U.S. Census Bureau. Pars centers have been a haven for refugees, she said. Pars is filling the need for several refugee communities, not just Iranian Americans, Moslehi said. Kia Kiani, an Irvine-based Iranian American dentist, said he is eager to help the center and members of his own community. This is great news for our local community, he said. If everyone can pitch in and help a little bit, a lot of people can benefit from this center. The need is definitely there. A lot of people are struggling. Contact the writer: 714-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com So you want to travel, but the cost is holding you back? And youd like to meet new people, but you dont know how? Maybe its time to consider the Evergreen B&B Club, through which adults 50 or older can travel and stay at hosts homes for only a $20 per night per couple gratuity, including breakfast. And you can host travelers yourself, pocketing a bit of change for use of your spare bedroom, and giving you the chance to make new friends from all over North America. The club was founded 33 years ago by Patty Wilson, who enjoyed discovering small bed-and-breakfast homes in Britain, where people would put small signs in their windows when they had rooms available. When the room wasnt available, the cards were removed. She came back to the U.S. and founded a bed-and-breakfast association in 1981, but it quickly became more upscale and pricey than she ever intended. That led to the creation of the Evergreen Club, devoted to low-cost lodgings that encouraged personal connections between hosts and guests. How does it work? Sign up online at EvergreenClub .com. It costs $75 per year. You get access to some 2,000 homestay listings in the U.S. and Canada, and a handful in Mexico. You get an online search directory to look for places to stay thats constantly updated. If desired, you can also buy a paper directory for $15 thats updated twice a year. A gratuity to your hosts of $20 per night for a couple, or $15 for a single, gets you a greeting from your host, a private room with a bed, and a breakfast in the morning. The club stresses this is not rent, but a required gratuity. Youre entitled to clean, comfortable sleeping accommodations and a wholesome breakfast. No one will be toting your luggage or turning down your bed. You are also required to offer your own spare room for travelers, because the club found that when members offer their own rooms, theyre more considerate of hosts when they travel. Guests can generally expect their hosts to welcome them in the evening, show them around and then fix them breakfast in the morning. Breakfasts range from basic continental to fully cooked. The listings will specify whats on offer. Hosts make their own rules and describe them in the online listings. While at least one guest must be 50 or older, some hosts may allow children or pets. Listings will offer a general description of the host household and details such as the size of room, bed size, any pets, whether theres a private bath and smoking policies. In many cases, theres a photo of the room, which might also double as an office when not occupied. Potential guests contact the hosts and make arrangements for their visit. Sometimes, they become lifelong friends, club co-administrator Kathleen Kavanaugh told me. Because people get to know each other before the visit, security issues are minimized. The club offers a full refund of dues if youre not satisfied. My friends father Frank Cardon, a retired newspaper man, told me hes been a club member since 2004 and welcomed many people to the suburban Rochester, N.Y., home he shares with his wife. We have a lot of colleges near here, so we tend to get people coming to graduations, he said. Cardon and his wife have stayed in homes in Colorado, Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Florida and Canada. Weve been in some beautiful homes, Cardon said. Unbelievable gated communities. Most of these people are world travelers and dont need the money. He recalled handing over his small gratuity to a host in Vermont, and then learning this surgeon had his own plane. Generally, Cardon said, he and his wife suggest that their guests come after dinner, and the couple welcome them with a glass of wine, cookies and a chat to answer any questions they might have about the area. In the morning, they cook a full breakfast. The couple has been treated to sightseeing tours by their hosts. The club is mostly just for sleeping, but you can stay multiple days, Cardon said. Id recommend no more than three days. Got a good travel tip for me? Or a suggestion? Email me at mfisher@ocregister.com. I love to hear from readers. Contact the writer: mfisher@ocregister.com or 714-796-7994 PHOENIX The Justice Department has opened an investigation over the decisions that led to the chaotic presidential primaries in Arizonas most populous county, where thousands of voters waited up to five hours to cast ballots and thousands more were barred from participating because of mistakes and confusion over party registration. In a letter dated Friday, Chris Herron, chief of the voting section of the departments Civil Rights Division, cited allegations of disproportionate burden in waiting times to vote on election days in some areas with substantial racial or language minority populations as he outlined a list of requests to the Maricopa County recorder, Helen Purcell. They include the reasons for reducing the number of polling places by 70 percent in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, and the procedures used to log party registration in the rolls. Purcell has said the cuts were primarily a cost-cutting measure. The goal, Herron wrote, is to properly evaluate Maricopa Countys compliance with the federal voting rights statutes during the administration of the March 22, 2016, election, the first in the state since the Supreme Court in 2013 annulled a provision of the Voting Rights Act requiring federal approval for any changes to the electoral process. Arizona was one of 15 states that had to abide by the provision, known as Section 5. Arizona has a long history of discrimination against minorities, preventing American Indians from voting for much of its history because they were considered wards of the nation, imposing English literacy tests on prospective voters and printing English-only election materials even as the states Spanish-speaking population grew. In an email on Monday, Dena Iverson, a spokeswoman for the Justice Department, declined to comment. Last week, the countys elections director, Karen Osborne, told the Board of Supervisors that the decision to reduce the number of polling places had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with an attempt to decrease turnout of any group. In his letter, Herron asked for the number of bilingual workers assigned to each polling place and how the assignments differed from previous elections. Please, he said, also describe any plans by the county to avoid such concerns in future elections. Purcell pledged to double the number of polling places for the state elections in May and open 724 of them for the general election in November. Elizabeth Bartholomew, a spokeswoman for the county recorder, said, Our office is fully cooperating with the Department of Justice, and were in the process of gathering up the information that they asked for. Mayor Greg Stanton of Phoenix wrote to Attorney General Loretta Lynch the day after the primary, asking for the inquiry. The county had slashed the number of polling places to 60 from 200 in 2012, estimating only half of the actual turnout for the elections. Though voters were allowed to cast ballots anywhere, long lines formed outside many of the polling places, which were officially open until 8 p.m. In heavily Hispanic parts of the city, people waited well into the night to vote; in South Phoenix, a Latino enclave, the last ballot was cast at 12:12 a.m. the next day, according to official results. In an interview on Monday, Stanton said, The fiasco that occurred here in Maricopa County could have resulted in and likely resulted in voting rights violations, and Im glad the Justice Department moved very quickly to begin their investigation. Dozens of voters packed three adjoining hearing rooms at the state Capitol last week, voicing complaints that ranged from spending hours in line to finding themselves listed as independent even after they had registered as Democrats or Republicans ahead of the presidential primaries, when independents are not allowed to vote. A lack of funding, limited resources and staff vacancies at Orange Countys senior service agency are overburdening key programs, a problem that could worsen over the next five years when the senior population is projected to grow by 100,000, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday. Among the services feeling the strain are those providing transportation to medical appointments and meals to housebound older residents, as well as investigations of care in nursing homes, the report said. Services cannot be expanded to meet the need as long as the county assigns seniors a low priority in the annual budget process, the report said. The county cant solve the problem through federal funding because those allocations are based on U.S. Census results from 2010, and the next measurement wont be taken until 2020. By then, the countys older population will have grown by 38 percent from 2010, according to projections, increasing pressure on local agencies to pick up the slack. The grand jury recommended that the county increase its annual funding to the Office on Aging to nearly $1.3 million from $778,000, so that it could restore staffing, hire a grant writer and improve volunteer recruitment, among other suggestions. The Office on Agings annual budget is $17.3 million. Representatives of that office did not return calls for comment Tuesday. While the report praised many of the services and providers who aid the countys seniors, it also highlighted that many senior programs rely upon a fluctuating group of volunteers and stopgap private donations to remain wholly functional. For example, many of the ombudsmen who investigate complaints and abuse allegations in the countys 1,100 long-term elder-care facilities are volunteers. In 2013, funding shortages and other problems caused the number of ombudsmen to drop. The result: More than 150 facilities lacked an assigned inspector, and fewer complaints from seniors were resolved. UNANSWERED CALLS In the offices call center, where requests for senior services are referred to service providers, the grand jury estimated that 15 percent of calls go unanswered, partly because a paid position has gone unfilled since 2012. A program providing 2,000 county seniors with transportation to medical appointments has leaned on nonprofits to bridge gaps by seeking out donations after demand for the service multiplied more than six-fold between 2012 and 2015. County Supervisor Shawn Nelson agreed the county faces challenges serving the growing senior population. But he said the issue is one of many fighting for county funding. Orange County, he said, is shortchanged by the amount it receives from the state for property taxes. Everything theyre saying is true, but what youre seeing is a microcosm of every program in Orange County, Nelson said. We have to balance the specific needs that this grand jury has made with other things they havent said but are equally important increased demand for animal control, homeless services, and the list goes on and on, the supervisor said. Darla Olson, a vice president at Community SeniorServ, which provides Meals on Wheels to central and north Orange County seniors, said the growing senior population is having funding issues with the federal government as well. Recently, cuts in federal funding caused the programs waiting list to grow to 200 seniors, forcing the nonprofit to raise funds and apply for more grants. I would say that there are more stresses now, Olson said. There are many adults that live with the decision of whether to pay for food or medication or the electric bill. We dont want that. Contact the writer: 714-796-7960 or jgraham@ocregister.com All those years being driven by her grandmother back and forth on I-405 from her Huntington Beach home to dance practice in Santa Monica were worth it for Danica Paulos. Shell be among the principal dancers when Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater comes to Costa Mesa for six performances this month, plus a free Arts Plaza performance, Revelations Celebration, aimed at introducing audiences to some of the most iconic choreography from the companys famed founder. In 2010, Paulos left Huntington Beach High School in her senior year because her talent merited entrance to New Yorks Professional Performing Arts School, where she graduated with honors, and then trained on scholarship at The Ailey School. When she was selected to join the company last year, Dance Magazine named her one of the dance worlds 25 to Watch, calling out her rare blend of attack and willowy elegance. But whats this California girl really like? We get to know this homegrown talent: Q. What made you want to be a dancer? A. It was an innate love. Honestly, my grandma took me to see a Nutcracker at a local dance studio in O.C. when I was 5. During the intermission, the story goes, I was running up and down the aisle just dancing like a crazy little kid. She says thats when she realized something was going on with me and dance. My mother struggles with addiction and other issues, so grandma and my grandpa, Sandra and Terry Paulos, raised me. She will be at every single show in Costa Mesa! She knows everyone in the company by name. Q. Fill in the blank: For a California girl, living in NYC is . A. Oh, my god horrifically cold all the time. It is so crazy. Something I cant stand is that I can never see the sun. And oh, my goodness, never being near the beach! It is a complete lifestyle change, but I do know that, even though it was so difficult, this is where I have to be to achieve what I want. Still, if I could do what I do in California, I would be so happy. Q. Few dancers in Alvin Ailey II made of younger dancers graduate to the company. What does dancing in such a famous company as Alvin Ailey mean to you? A. My grandpa likes to say, You are in the big leagues, the Olympics of dance. It is a lot of pressure. We have a lot to carry with the legacy of Alvin Ailey, the reason why he started the company. But when we get on that stage, we know we truly inspire people. It is about showing the audience their potential of what they can be, because we are dancers, yes, but we are just human bodies. Q. What are some things you are looking forward to doing when youre home? Surely it cant be all work! A. I am definitely going to be at Fiesta Grill and Chronic Taco to get my taco on! Im going to take a bunch of dancers to the beach and give them the whole California experience. My roommate and I are going to stay at my house in Huntington Beach, and my grandparents will let me drive their car so we can go around and do stuff look at cute surfers! My friends are all coming to the show! I think theyll be 60 people at one. To be performing 15 minutes from where I was born is incredible. Hunters at Outwest Farms in Okeechobee, Fla., discovered a massive alligator Saturday at one of the ponds on their private ranch, CNN reported. The photo of the 780-pound beast has gone viral and been shared more than 4,000 times on Facebook. (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = //connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);}(document, script, facebook-jssdk)); Lee Lightsey and I had the pleasure of doing a guided gator hunt this morning and killed the largest gator we have ever Posted by Outwest Farms Inc. on Saturday, April 2 Outwest Farms owner Lee Lightsey, his 9-year-old son Mason, his guide Blake Godwin and two hunters were on a hunt for hogs and happened to come across the gator, Godwin said. There are lots of gators out there, Lightsey told CNN. Its the start of mating season. This was a big one. The animal weighed in at 780 pounds, according to Lightsey. His son Mason said he estimated it was almost probably close to 15 feet. Some people have doubted the photo was real. Theres a lot of folks saying that, but its 100% real, Godwin said. The Florida state record for the largest alligator caught is 14 feet, 3 1/2 inches from Lake Washington, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Committee. That gator weighed in at 654 pounds but is not the heaviest on record. The record holder in Florida for weight is 1,043 pounds. But Lightsey told CNN he isnt concerned about records: Its just fun to see a great day for the hunters. Fountain Valley police arrested a 28-year-old Colorado man on suspicion of vandalizing a freeway guardrail with graffiti and was found with a hunting knife and drugs. On April 1, officers responded to a call of graffiti vandalism at Warner Avenue and the 405 freeway about 4:35 p.m. When they arrived, they found Ryan Tatara, of Colorado Springs sitting on the guardrail with a marker matching the graffiti color in his hands, according to a statement by Sgt. Tony Luce of the Fountain Valley Police Department. Officers searched Tatara and found what they described as a large hunting knife under his shirt, prescription medication, methamphetamine and a pipe, police said. He was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed dagger, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance. Jail records show he was booked into the Intake Release Center on $20,000 bail and was set to appear in court April 13. Fountain Valley police encourage people to call 911 and report graffiti vandalism. Reporting parties can receive a reward up to $500 if the offender is convicted. Contact the writer: 714-796-7865 or afausto@ocregister.com UPDATE: Kroger confirmed expanded distribution of Hydrox Cookies at its stores. Hydrox, the original sandwich cookie relaunched last year by a Newport Beach product reviver, will start sales at Kroger-affiliated stores nationwide, the producer, Leaf Brands LLC, said this week. Kroger, which has nearly 2,800 stores in 35 states, began stocking Hydrox in most of its outlets, a Leaf Brands press release said. In addition to its own name brand, Kroger runs Ralphs, Frys Foods, King Soopers, and Dillon and Jay C stores, among others. But Kroger has yet to include distribution in its Food 4 Less and Harris Teeter outlets, said CEO Ellia Kassoff. This is our first national program, said Kassoff, adding that the deal adds about 2,300 stores carrying Hydrox. A spokesman for Kroger confirmed the deal. Were excited to welcome Hydrox back to our stores nationwide, said Keith Dailey, Krogers media relations director. Kassoff, who is behind a revival of lapsed candy and department store brands, made national headlines after Hydrox resumed production in September. The snack had been on the losing end of a century-long cookie war with Oreo, one of the worlds best-selling cookies. Hydrox disappeared after its 100-year anniversary in 2008. Nostalgic fans created websites with hundreds of posts dedicated to the cookies revival. Public Radios Planet Money did a podcast tracking how Kassoff resurrected the products lost recipe using tasters from across the country who had been devout Hydrox fans. The cookie resembles Oreos in looks and flavor, but is slightly less sweet, said Kassoff, who grew up eating Hydrox because Oreos werent kosher at the time (they now are). In addition to Kroger-affiliated stores, Hydrox is being sold in Gelsons markets, Wegmans stores in the Northeast and at Dierbergs and Schnuks, both in St. Louis. Kassoff recently reached an out-of-court settlement with Macys over his attempt to seek federal trademarks on two dozen defunct department stores that had merged with the department store chain. The settlement gives him rights to use seven store names, including Robinsons, May Co., Bullocks and I. Magnin. Other brands revived by Kassoff include Astro Pops, Tart n Tinys and Screaming Yellow Zonkers. Contact the writer: 714-796-7734 or jcollins@ocregister.com LOS ANGELES Members of a Los Angeles family praised their slain mother and brother Wednesday as police investigate whether their father killed both. Family members said in a statement that their mother, Rabihah Issa, defended them from domestic abuse and they were confident their adult brother, Amier Issa, would not have harmed her. We loved our mother who defended us all and sacrificed everything to protect her children from domestic abuse, said the statement released through Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Emily Cole. We always supported and loved our brother. We are confident our brother would never harm our mother. The father, Shehada Issa, 69, was charged last week with one count of premeditated murder for the shotgun killing of his son. Prosecutors added an allegation that the murder was committed because of the sons sexual orientation. Shehada Issa had allegedly threatened to kill his son on prior occasions because he was gay, a prosecution press release said. No charges have been filed in the womans death but police allege the primary reason Shehada Issa killed his son was to cover up the stabbing death of his wife the previous day. Shehada Issas arraignment was postponed to April 11. Its not clear whether he has an attorney who could comment on his case. When he was arrested, Shehada Issa told investigators he shot his son in self-defense after finding his wifes body last month. The wifes body was inside the familys North Hills home. The sons body was outside. Police Detective John Doerbecker tolds the Los Angeles Times (http://lat.ms/1V7ZwpI ) Tuesday that the sons sexuality was a contributing factor, but not the main factor. Dad killed mom and then killed his son to cover it up, Doerbecker said. Another homicide detective, Steve Castro, had told the Daily News of Los Angeles earlier that Amier Issas sexual orientation was not the key factor in the killing. ALEXANDRIA, Va. For Yaseen Kadura, a U.S. citizen of Libyan descent, placement on the no-fly list caused problems far beyond the airport. He was handcuffed and interrogated for hours when he tried to cross borders by land. He struggled to pick a medical school, unsure where he could travel. And when he tried to use Western Union, the transfers never went through. Even after he was removed from no-fly list, many of the problems persisted. On Tuesday, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group, filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court in Alexandria on behalf of Kadura and thousands of other Americans who have been placed on the terror watch list. The suit seeks unspecified monetary compensation. Among the plaintiffs is a 4-year-old California boy, listed as Baby John Doe, who according to the lawsuit was placed on the list of known or suspected terrorists as a 7-month-old boy. The FBI didnt immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The no-fly list and the larger, broader terrorist watch list have been the subject of numerous lawsuits, which have been successful to varying degrees. The litigation has forced the government to make modest changes in its administration of the no-fly list those who challenge their placement on the list are now informed of their status and given general information about the reason. Prior to that, the government wouldnt confirm whether an individual is on the list. The lawsuits have dragged on for years, the no-fly list itself remains intact and the terrorist watch list continues to expand. The class-action suit provides several advantages, according to Gadeir Abbas, one of the lawyers who filed it. It allows those who were wrongly placed on the list to receive compensation. It eliminates procedural difficulties that would occur when a plaintiff would challenge the list and the government would subsequently allow that individual to fly to avoid a potentially adverse ruling from a sympathetic judge. And it allows the suit to focus on some of the side effects of the watch list that are sometimes overlooked. Kadura seems to have been placed on the watch list after traveling in 2011 to Libya, where he was working and helping journalists who were flocking to the country to cover civil unrest there. Shortly after returning, his travel troubles began. In September 2012, he was handcuffed with guns at pointed him and detained at a border crossing after a brief trip to Canada. He said at one point, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent pressured him to become an informant. He said, We know youre not a bad guy. We want you to work with us, Kadura said. He told the agent he wanted a lawyer. The agent said that if you stick with your lawyer its going to be difficult for you. Kadura appealed his placement on the no-fly list, and last year the government responded that it reevaluated Mr. Kaduras redress inquiry and is now providing a new determination. At this time the U.S. government knows of no reason Mr. Kadura should be unable to fly. Still, Kadura experienced problems. In January, he tried to fly domestically, but it took hours on the phone with government officials and questioning from airport agents before he was allowed to board. And he still cant use Western Union, according to the lawsuit. Other plaintiffs have had citizenship applications placed on hold, been detained at the border and had their phones tapped, according to the lawsuit. The government has engaged in a decade-long delusion that being placed on a watch list is not a big deal, the attorney Abbas said. The goal is for the watch-listing to affect every aspect of these peoples lives. The lawsuit alleges that placement on the watch list is motivated by religious profiling rather than any real security threat. Many of the plaintiffs named in the lawsuit are residents of Dearborn, Michigan, which has a large Arab population and has been subjected to aggressive watch-listing tactics by federal agents, said Lena Masri, a CAIR attorney. More than 1 million people are on the list of known or suspected terrorists administered by the FBIs Terrorist Screening Center, though most are not U.S. citizens. She remembers the vomit, the tears, the driving around with her cars headlights on as an act of protest. As Tracy Miller watches the finale of The People v. O.J. Simpson she braces herself for the emotions. Miller, 45, was an unpaid law clerk for the Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office in 1995, and her first day on the job was just before jury selection during the trial of the century. Watching each episode of the television series she usually has a viewing party with a few friends at her Yorba Linda home can be a three-hour ordeal. Friends constantly pause the show to ask what it was really like and if what they are watching really happened. It brings up some stress, said Miller, who now works in gang prevention for the Orange County District Attorneys Office. The show is incredibly entertaining. It gets a lot of things right. But it makes me sad that two people died. In 1995, Miller was a second-year law student at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles. In her first criminal justice class, she had received a D+. Her professor had no hope that she could get an internship with the DAs office, but set up an interview anyway so Miller could see the inside of the building. Miller sat down for her interview with an extremely busy prosecutor named Christopher Darden. Darden was about to become famous. And yes, he asked about her low grade. My grade didnt matter, Miller said. He wanted someone who could make him laugh, and work with him 60 hours per week. Miller said she spent most of her time getting coffee and getting lunch for the prosecution team and the witnesses. She watched most of the trial from the war room upstairs in the courthouse, and occasionally from a seat just behind the prosecution. She transcribed some of the 911 tapes in which Nicole Brown Simpson, O.J.s ex-wife, accused him of beating her. Simpson was accused of murdering his ex-wife and Ron Goldman, her friend. She saw all the evidence and interacted with all the prosecutors. When I saw the autopsy photos, I went into the bathroom and threw up, she said. More than once, she answered Dardens phone and heard death threats aimed at him. They were ugly, racial slurs, Miller said. I didnt understand why he was being attacked for doing his job. He was incredibly kind to the law clerks. Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor who is being played by Sarah Paulsen in the television series, was heroic to Miller. She was tough, Miller said. I learned that women need to be judged by their character, their ethics and their intelligence. Marcia Clark was a real person. A lot of the shows back then were more concerned about what she was wearing or what her hair looked like. Millers favorite detail of the new TV series? The Jimi Hendrix poster on the wall in Marcia Clarks office. She loved rock stars, Miller said. On the day of the verdict, when Simpson was acquitted, Miller will never forget the conversation she had with herself. She told herself not to cry. She wanted to impress the attorneys in the DAs office. But she couldnt control her emotions. She went out on a staircase at the courthouse with three or four other law clerks and cried. This was real-life pain, she said. Today, Miller gives motivational speeches (tracymotivates.com), and the O.J. Simpson case always comes up. She said she tells audiences that even though the prosecution didnt get a conviction, domestic violence is viewed differently today. Police now have mandatory arrest rules if they see evidence of violence. In 1995, there wasnt much she could do. She felt helpless. Miller remembers driving for three days with her car headlights on to signal how upset she was with the verdict. That was my protest, she said. LONDON Icelands already fragile coalition government was thrown into further uncertainty Wednesday after the countrys prime minister said he had not resigned but had stepped aside for an unspecified period after leaked documents linked him to an offshore company. The revelation over the weekend about politicians and business people around the world hiding their wealth in secretive shell companies and offshore tax shelters has fanned a public backlash. The details were contained in millions of documents, known as the Panama Papers, from a law firm that were made public. On Tuesday, the scandal claimed its first political casualty when Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of Iceland asked his deputy to take over, after documents showed that the prime minister and his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, had set up a company in the British Virgin Islands in 2007. Gunnlaugssons deputy, Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson, initially said the prime minister had offered to resign. In a reflection of the political turmoil and maneuvering that the Panama Papers have created, the prime ministers office issued a statement later Tuesday night saying that he had proposed stepping down in favor of his deputy for an unspecified amount of time a sort of indefinite leave of absence and not resigning. It remains unclear whether Gunnlaugsson, who remains leader of his party, will succeed in his effort to avoid a formal resignation in the face of significant public anger in the tiny island nation of 323,000. According to the documents, Wintris, the offshore company set up by Gunnlaugsson and his partner, lost millions of dollars because of the 2008 financial crash, and is claiming about $4.2 million from three failed Icelandic banks. Some critics have suggested a conflict of interest for Gunnlaugsson because, as prime minister, he was involved in reaching a deal for the banks claimants. The revelations led to mass protests in Iceland, with as many as 20,000 people gathered in Reykjavik, the capital, demanding that Gunnlaugsson go. Gunnlaugsson has vehemently denied that he hid any assets or tried to avoid paying taxes. The opposition, meanwhile, has been pushing for a vote of no confidence, potentially opening a window of opportunity for the Pirate Party, an anti-establishment group that has been tapping into the widespread discontent with the status quo. The party, made up of a group including artists and computer hackers, supports a 35-hour workweek, relaxed drug regulations and the legalization of blasphemy. In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron sought to limit the political damage caused by the revelation that his late father, Ian, was a client of the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, and used it to set up an offshore fund. Cameron said he owned no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that, and his office issued a statement adding that the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. That failed to quell the controversy, with critics arguing that the language used by Cameron kept open the possibility that he might benefit from offshore investments in the future. Forced into a further clarification, Camerons office said Wednesday that there are no offshore funds or trusts which the prime minister, Mrs. Cameron or their children will benefit from in the future. Nevertheless, the leak of documents has been doubly embarrassing for Cameron, who portrayed himself as a leader in the international fight to close tax loopholes, because of the extent to which British overseas territories feature in the revelations. TUSTIN Terry Onuma scarcely misses the stolen jewelry and cash. What breaks her heart is the collateral damage. Inside an absconded safe were love letters from her late mother to her children a precious link now lost. It doesnt bother me that I lost material possessions, she said. I just want the letters back. On Thursday, Onuma returned from her job as an accountant to find her Tustin home ransacked. Initially, she couldnt quite process the information. Someone had made a mess of things, Onuma said. At first, I thought it was the dog. Then I noticed that the front door was open. Without stopping to consider that the culprit might still be lurking, she headed upstairs to her and her husbands bedroom. It was a disaster every drawer open and contents tossed, Onuma said. The closet was torn apart. Onumas eyes went straight to the vacant spot where a small, 100-pound safe belonged. In it, she had kept eight momentous pieces of correspondence four for each of her two sons composed by her dying mother. She asked me to give the sealed letters to them at milestones high school graduation, college graduation, marriage and first child, Onuma said. Her mom, Elizabeth Yamane, a teacher, battled colon cancer for nine years before succumbing to the disease in 2014. She put herself through one chemo session after another because she was determined to see her grandsons grow up, Osuma said. She was a powerhouse. In the final few weeks of her life, when Yamane had accepted the inevitable, she composed the treasured missives to her only grandchildren Beckman High junior Jeffrey, 17, and Pioneer Middle School eighth-grader Alan, 12. She wanted them to know how proud she was of the great people they are becoming, Onuma said. Only three months after his wifes death, Onumas father, businessman Haruyuki Yamane, died of heart disease. The Yamanes lived in Hilo, Hawaii, where Onuma grew up. But they visited their mainland family often undertaking the journey even when Elizabeth Yamane felt weak from chemo treatments. Elizabeth Yamane probably also slipped money into the envelopes and not an insignificant amount, Onuma said. Its Japanese tradition to give generous monetary gifts for milestones. But whoever has it can keep the money. I just want the letters. Tustin Police Lt. Bob Wright said Tuesday the burglary is still under investigation. Detectives are examining all potential evidence in hopes of locating the suspect or suspects responsible for this crime, he said. Onuma hopes those responsible will learn about her familys distress and anonymously mail back the notes. However, she knows that dream is a long shot. They probably just threw the letters in the trash, she said. Someone else would not recognize their importance. The Tustin Police asks anyone with information about the burglary to call the department at 714-573-3200. Contact the writer: sgoulding@ocregister.com In an interview with the Financial Analysts Journal last year, Nobel laureate economist William F. Sharpe, creator of the Sharpe ratio for risk-adjusted investment performance analysis, said public pensions in the United States are a disaster and a crisis of epic proportions. Idiotic accounting drives even worse economic decisions, he contended. This is the classic case of an organization that borrowed money while issuing purportedly guaranteed payments and then used the money to invest in risky securities. Where have we heard recently that this is not a good thing? Sadly, things are even worse for most other developed nations. A Citigroup analysis of 20 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (including the U.S.) found that the nations $44 trillion in traditional debt nearly tripled to $122 trillion once their $78 trillion in public pension and social security liabilities are factored in. It is really a ticking time bomb, Charles Millard, Citis head of pension relations, told the Wall Street Journal. [M]ost of the world still relies too heavily on government pensions through pay-as-you-go social security pensions or public-sector schemes, the report concluded. This is unsustainable, and a rapid shift to private pension savings is inevitable in our opinion particularly in Europe. The implications are stark, as governments will have to raise taxes or cut government expenditures elsewhere to make room for increasing pension and social security payments. Within the U.S., the Citi report singled out Illinois, New Jersey and many municipalities in California as having particular difficulty meeting their pension obligations in coming years. The mounting pension tab will be disruptive everywhere, but will come as a particular shock to Europe, as Greece can already attest. This should serve as a cautionary tale to the U.S. that we should not be so eager to adopt European socialism. It also highlights the danger of growing dependence on government and the rising tax demands of insatiable governments. The U.S. can still place reasonable limits on benefits, shrink the size and debts of government and return to self-sufficiency and control over ones own retirement planning, but time is running short. Sixteen years ago, Steven Pappas was nearly beaten to death near the Mexican border by four men who tried to steal his wallet. Afterward, the La Palma resident often thought of buying a gun for self-protection and trying to obtain a concealed weapons permit to legally carry it. But for years he didnt bother pursuing it. I was always told it was very hard to get, said Pappas, 39. Then, in 2014, after a court ruling striking down restrictions some California law enforcement authorities had placed on concealed weapons permits, Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens relaxed her policy. Pappas seized his opportunity and received a permit. Late last year, he found himself in a position to draw his gun in public for the first time, when he came upon assailants beating a young teen with the handle of a sledgehammer. Pappas is one of the nearly 8,500 Orange County residents now legally carrying concealed weapons a nearly tenfold increase in just two years. Thats still just 0.35 percent of the countys adult population far below the projected national rate of 5.2 percent. But its a higher concentration than reported by sheriffs officials in neighboring counties. In addition, spurred partly by recent terror attacks, mass shootings and the prospect of new gun control regulations, the number of firearms sold or transferred in the county last year increased to 31/2 times the 2010 count, according to Department of Justice records. Theres been a related surge in demand for training and shooting range use, instructors say, with one area school sold out through June. Gun control advocates such as Charlie Blek, president of the Orange County chapter of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, cite research, including a 2014 study in the Annals of Internal Medicine, that found people with access to guns were three times more likely to kill themselves and twice as likely to be murdered. I believe in large, barking dogs, Blek said. Second Amendment activists maintain the public is safer when more good guys with guns are present in the community, and a majority of Americans tend to agree. A national Gallup poll in October found 56 percent of residents felt the country would be safer if more vetted and trained people were allowed to carry weapons. I want more guns on the streets, said TJ Johnston, owner of AllSafe Defense Systems in Orange, which offers courses needed to obtain permits to carry weapons. Demand for Johnstons classes jumped after Decembers mass shooting in San Bernardino by a couple who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State terror group. The attack at a holiday party for county workers killed 14 people and wounded 22. After last months terrorist bombings in Brussels, Johnston said he came to his office to find 36 voice mails. Its at a crescendo now, he said. Much of the current demand is for personal protection weapons, such as smaller pistols, said Keith Nichols, owner of OC Guns N Gear in Huntington Beach. Hes also sold more firearms to women in the past year than in any of the prior eight years, he said. We cant rely on men or law enforcement in the event that we have to be our own first responders, said Wendy Knudson, 41, of Anaheim Hills, who recently took a beginner handgun class from Johnston and hopes to get a concealed carry permit. I want to feel confident knowing what my laws are in my state and how to properly shoot a gun if Im in an emergency situation. Talk of more gun control typically spurs owners to buy more firearms and ammunition. And Nichols noticed a bump in semiautomatic weapon sales after a so-far unsuccessful attempt late last year to renew a federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. The increased gun sales and carry permits are coming in a state that has some of the nations strictest gun control policies. In a January Public Policy Institute of California poll, 62 percent of state residents said the government still doesnt do enough to regulate access to firearms. And support is building for a ballot initiative by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom that would require background checks for ammunition purchases and prohibit residents from having magazines that hold more than 10 bullets. Public interest related to Second Amendment rights, as well as gun control, has never been higher, said Lt. Matthew Stiverson with the Orange County Sheriffs Department. LAWSUIT OPENS PERMITTING PROCESS For there to be more good guys with guns, advocates say larger numbers of residents should be able to obtain permits to carry loaded, concealed weapons. Californians who want permits have to prove residency, pass background checks, complete a safety course and show good cause. But counties differ in their interpretations of good cause. Some issue permits to anyone who wants a firearm for self-defense. But San Diego, Orange and many other largely urban counties generally had required residents to prove they are at greater risk of harm than the average citizen, by providing copies of restraining orders or showing they regularly carry large amounts of cash. San Diego resident Edward Peruta sued when he was denied a permit. The case went to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a panel of three judges two appointed by Republican presidents and one by a Democrat in 2014 declared in a 2-to-1 ruling that the countys strict interpretation of the good cause requirement was unconstitutional. In the wake of that ruling, Sheriff Hutchens loosened the standard for issuing concealed carry permits. The number of concealed weapon permits jumped from 438 in 2013 to 3,240 in 2014 and 4,446 in 2015, according to department records. Authorities said there have been no reports of incidents involving residents permitted to carry a concealed weapon improperly using one. There was a 23 percent spike in crime last year, though sheriffs officials attribute that increase to an unrelated state law. Researchers say there has been no accepted causal relationship established between concealed weapon permits and crime rates. One of the countys permits recently went to retired Marine Andy Vineyard. Vineyard and his wife once proudly flew two military flags from their Laguna Hills home: one for their daughter whos in the Navy and one for two daughters in the Air Force. Then their daughters commanders recommended they take the flags down out of concern that military families could become targets for terrorists. The Vineyards already had guns in their home. They decided it was time to get permits to carry those guns. I do feel a little bit safer, Vineyard said. We all really need to be responsible for doing our part. LAW STILL IN LIMBO Concealed carry permits continue to be issued at vastly higher numbers than they were before the Peruta case, even as the final legal resolution of the court battle remains unclear. Attorney General Kamala Harris asked the appeals court to reconsider its decision, saying the relaxed permit policy took away local law enforcements discretion on an issue of major community importance. The court agreed to re-hear the matter, which took place in June before a larger panel of randomly selected 9th Circuit judges. Nearly 10 months later, no new ruling has been made. The decision wont affect permits that have already been approved, and many legal experts expect the losing side will appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, the Sheriffs Department is back to requiring residents to document safety concerns that might merit carrying a concealed weapon, Stiverson said. But rather than just deny applicants who dont initially demonstrate good cause to be granted a permit, Stiverson said, staff guides applicants through the permit process. Roughly 98 percent of the applications processed in 2015 and so far in 2016 have been approved, Stiverson said, with most applications taking an average of two to three months to process. And the department projects it will still issue roughly 3,600 permits this year. It took around six months for Vineyard to get his permit. But having gone through the background check and training, he said he appreciates the process. When you decide to carry, its a big responsibility, he said. The responsibility that can come with a permit hit home for Pappas on Halloween night. He was in the parking lot of a restaurant he owns in Bellflower when he saw a group of older males hitting a young teen with a sledgehammer handle. Pappas drew his weapon and yelled at the attackers to stop. The man with the handle took a step toward him, Pappas said, but then saw his gun and fled. In February, the city of Bellflower presented Pappas with a valor award for intervening. Ive been in the place that teen was, being beaten on the ground, and nobody was able to help me, Pappas said. Im just happy I was there. Contact the writer: 714-796-7963 or bstaggs@ocregister.com The biggest U.S.-based drugmaker, Pfizer Inc., will stay put thanks to aggressive new Treasury Department rules that succeeded in blocking Pfizer from acquiring rival Allergan and moving to Ireland on paper to reduce its tax bill. As analysts and investors had expected, the two companies called off the record $160 billion merger early Wednesday by mutual agreement. Pfizer cited Treasurys new regulations, issued late Monday, to make such tax inversions less lucrative. The merger would have moved Pfizers address but not its operations or headquarters to Ireland, where it would pay far less in corporate taxes. Pfizer Inc., based in New York, has agreed to pay Dublin-based Allergan PLC $150 million for reimbursement of expenses. Now the two drugmakers will focus on other strategies to boost profits and sales quickly, with Pfizer saying it will decide by years end whether to separate its global established products business, which sells older, mostly off-patent drugs. Pfizer has endured years of relentless pressure from analysts and others to break up the company so growth and profits could accelerate. Thats easier said than done, given Pfizers huge scale, increasing pressure from insurers for bigger discounts and a revenue base thats been declining over the last several years as multiple blockbusters such as cholesterol drug Lipitor have lost billions in annual sales to much-cheaper generic copycats. We remain focused on continuing to enhance the value of our innovative and established businesses, Pfizer CEO Ian Read said in a statement. We believe our late-stage pipeline has several attractive commercial opportunities with high potential across several therapeutic areas, Read added. We also maintain the financial strength and flexibility to pursue attractive business development and other shareholder-friendly capital allocation opportunities. Allergans CEO, Brent Saunders, said in a statement that his company is disappointed that the Pfizer transaction wont happen, adding that Allergan is poised to deliver strong, sustainable growth. Allergan is focused on delivering growth from an efficient operating structure while also being committed to investing in R&D, Saunders said. His company has scheduled a morning conference call to discuss its plans and answer questions. Meanwhile, Allergan is still in the process of selling its generic drug business for $40 billion to Israels Teva Pharmacueticals Industries Ltd., the worlds top generic drugmaker. That deal may be delayed due to scrutiny from antitrust regulators in multiple countries. Shares of Pfizer edged up 36 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $31.72 in premarket trading about 45 minutes ahead of the market opening, while Allergen shares lost $4.99, or 2.1 percent, to $231.56. The companies decision could deter other tax inversions in the works exactly the impact the Obama administration is seeking by having Treasury issue 300-plus pages of new regulations that remove or reduce key financial benefits of a tax inversion. Pfizer had expected to save hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. taxes annually under its planned deal with Allergan. Read, Pfizers CEO for five years, has said the deal was needed because U.S.-based drugmakers are at a major disadvantage to their multinational rivals based in Europe and elsewhere, who face lower corporate tax rates. Other U.S. companies likewise have complained about the top U.S. tax rate of 35 percent which few ever pay and the U.S. taxing them on profits made overseas. As a result, Pfizer and other companies are keeping billions in overseas profits outside the U.S. to avoid a big tax bill if they repatriate those profits. With Pfizers planned inversion looking like the start of a dreaded trend, tax inversions became a hot issue in the presidential race, with some candidates calling companies considering such deals unpatriotic. And on the heels of the new Treasury rules, President Obama held a news conference Tuesday, saying the rules are meant to prevent one of the most insidious tax loopholes out there and make wealthy corporations shoulder their tax responsibility like working class Americans. In an inversion, a big company buys a smaller one in another country, usually with a lower tax rate, then moves the combined companys address on paper but little else to that country. Allergan itself is the result of multiple inversions, and despite its Dublin address is operated from offices in Parsippany, New Jersey. Thats not far from Pfizers high-rise headquarters near Manhattan landmarks such as the United Nations complex and the theater district. The Allergan deal was Pfizers third and most expensive attempt at an inversion, including its failed hostile attempt to acquire Britains AstraZeneca PLC in 2014. Pfizer has a history in this century of doing mega-acquisitions that allow it to cut costs and increase sales to boost profits quickly. That has kept Pfizer among the top global drugmakers but hasnt pleased investors enough, which ultimately led to the ouster of CEO Ian Reads predecessor late in 2010. Read noted that Pfizer has returned to its original timeline for deciding whether to spin off or sell its established products business, which accounted for nearly half of Pfizers $49.6 billion in revenue and $9.1 billion in net income in 2015. The company had pushed that decision back to 2018 because of the planned inversion. WASHINGTON The Justice Department on Wednesday sued to stop Halliburton Co. from acquiring oilfield services rival Baker Hughes Inc., saying the deal would harm consumers and eliminate head-to-head competition. The proposed transaction, valued at nearly $35 billion, would combine two of the worlds three leading providers of those services to oil and gas companies and create a bigger rival to the industry leader, Schlumberger Ltd. But the Justice Department warned in its complaint that consolidation of the Big Three would lead to higher prices and weaken innovation in an industry that fiercely competes for the business of exploration and production companies and to develop technologies for deeper drilling. The U.S. economy, American consumers, and those who engage in the production of energy consumed in the United States cannot be asked to accept the risk to competition posed by this transaction, the department said in its complaint. Halliburton and Baker Hughes announced their plan to combine in November 2014, shortly after oil prices began to fall. Few, however, predicted the depth and duration of lower prices caused by a global oversupply of oil. The glut has slowed demand for drilling services and crushed the stock price of both companies. A 174-acre kelp reef that the California Coastal Commission required Southern California Edison to build off San Clemente needs to be bigger to support more fish, a team of scientists said this week. The $45 million reef, funded by Edison and SDG&E ratepayers, is designed to make up for a reduction in the fish population off San Onofre said to have been caused by the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations saltwater cooling system. There were concerns that sea water taken in by the plant to cool the reactors had a negative effect on kelp off San Onofre when the plant discharged warmer, cloudier water than the surrounding waters. Officials at a public meeting hosted by the Coastal Commission Monday at the Ocean Institute in Dana Point suggested that the state may order Edison to expand the reef, built in 2008, by as many as 200 acres. The reef, a half-mile off San Clementes beaches, is growing kelp similar to natural reefs in the area, said scientists who monitor it for the Coastal Commission. But they said the reef isnt generating enough fish to sustain the 28-ton fish population required by Edisons coastal permit. Dan Reed, a research biologist at UC Santa Barbara, said the Coastal Commission staff will go over design options with Edison representatives to decide how to proceed. Options suggested Monday could require significantly less than 200 acres of expansion using taller rock and greater seafloor coverage than the existing design. Kate Huckelbridge, a staffer with the Coastal Commission, said she hopes to have a proposal before the Coastal Commission within a year. At its present size, the reef could only be expected to routinely sustain a population of 13.5 tons of fish, said Steve Schroeter, a member of the UCSB team. Sand bass, California sheephead and kelp bass are the most important reef species in terms of tonnage, Reed said. Edison is required to meet the 28-ton standard for 30 years to make up for 30 years of operation of the saltwater cooling system. The plant retired in 2013. Each year that Edison meets required standards, it gets a one-year credit. After the first seven years of monitoring, Edison is still awaiting its first year of credit. David Kay, environmental management project manager for Edison, said the company will discuss reef options with Coastal Commission staff over the next year. I expect well reach some agreement on ending the project by whatever means, sunsetting the monitoring in a reasonable amount of time and in the ratepayers interest, Kay said. UCSBs Reed said that ultimately the Coastal Commission will decide what type of reef Edison will build. Ken Nielsen, a commercial fisherman and marine consultant from San Clemente, told the group he fears that continuing studies, analysis of alternatives and requirements before building the bigger reef will drag on, escalating the cost of a solution and extending yearly monitoring costs out further decades. How many millions of dollars are our ratepayers going to have to pay? he asked. Chris Goldblatt, founder of the Fish Reef Project, suggested that Edison incorporate concrete reef balls into the reef. They are about three feet tall, he said, and cost about $1,000 apiece to deploy. Because they are hollow and surrounded by holes, he said, they produce a whirring sound, the same acoustic signature as a 15-foot-tall pile of quarry rock. For $1 million, we can deploy 1,000 reef balls and youll meet your fish standard within two years, Goldblatt said. The researchers said that would be outside the parameters of the reef Edisons coastal permit requires, as it must mimic a natural reef. Several nuclear activists asked why radiation monitoring of ocean waters isnt part of the studies. Marni Magda of Laguna Beach voiced concerns about radiation implications from Edisons release of coolant water and leaving discharge pipes on the sea floor, after 30 years of operation. The research team, which is under contract to the Coastal Commission, said its task is to monitor the reef off San Clemente, not the waters off San Onofre. Radiation monitoring is the purview of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the scientists said, and is outside Coastal Commission jurisdiction. Eric Miller, senior scientist with MBC Applied Environmental Sciences, said his firm does radioactive monitoring by collecting sediment and fish tissue in area waters, sending them to NRC-approved labs. It has been going on for quite some time, he said. There are people keeping an eye on that very closely and, so far, there have been no red flags. Contact the writer: fswegles@ocregister.com or 949-492-5127 Over the last few months of the year, several well-known brands closed in Orange County. Heres the latest: Nello Cucina, a popular Italian eatery at South Coast Plaza was operated for years by the same owner of Antonello Ristorante and Quattro Caffe, two other South Coast Plaza properties. Its unclear why the restaurant closed. South Coast Plaza said Nello will be replaced by Mezzet, a Middle Eastern small plates concept. Slated to open in May, the casual dining restaurant will feature a menu of fish, lamb, flatbreads, couscous and kebabs made with fresh herbs and Middle Eastern spices. The restaurant is located in the Crate and Barrel/Macys Home Store wing, formerly known as Crystal Court. The restaurant is on the lower level, across from Rubys Diner. It is owned by Joseph Dib and Wael Nasser. Dib formerly worked at Antonello Espresso Bar at South Coast Plaza. La Perlita Mexican Food in Foothill Ranch has been converted to an Avilas El Ranchito. A representative for Dickeys Barbecue Pit confirmed the closure of the Brea and Laguna Niguel locations due to unforeseen circumstances. Both were owned by the same franchisee. No other information was provided. The chain operates other O.C. locations in Ladera Ranch, Fullerton, Buena Park and Tustin. A new store is slated to open soon in Lake Forest, at 23633 Rockfield Blvd., the company said. Hometown Buffet locations in Laguna Woods and Santa Ana (on Bristol) have shuttered just weeks after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The North Left, a downtown Santa Ana restaurant formerly known as The Crosby, was forced to reinvent itself after a deadly beating occurred outside the restaurant/nightclub in 2014. Owners Phil Nisco, Chris Alfaro and Marc Yamaoka tapped Laguna Beach chef Ryan Adams of Three Seventy Common to oversee operations of the revamped concept, which opened that same year. Adams was a managing operator until the end. The space has been taken over by Ryan Garlitos. The chef-owner plans to open Irenia, a modern take on Filipino cuisine. The Balcony Grill & Bar, one of the first tenants at Diamond Jamboree in Irvine, closed in late February. Owner Paul Zhu said he was unable to renegotiate agreeable terms for a new lease. We can no longer sustain business, he said. The restaurant was known for its authentic Taiwanese cuisine, which included dishes such as fried stinky tofu. Since opening in 2008, the Asian-themed Diamond Jamboree has become a destination dining hub. Popular restaurant at the center include 85C Bakery Cafe, Capital Seafood Restaurant, Urban Seoul and Guppy Tea House Cafe. A man was shot twice and critically injured in Santa Ana on Tuesday evening, police said. Police received reports of a shooting at 6:30 p.m. in the 1300 block of South Bristol Street, said Santa Ana police Cmdr. Matt Sorenson. Officers found a man in his 30s sitting in the drivers seat of a vehicle with two gunshots wounds to his upper body. It appears to be a car-to-car shooting, Sorenson said. The victim was taken to a hospital, but expected to survive. No suspects were arrested. It was unclear whether the attack was gang-related, Sorenson said. No description of a suspect or the other vehicle was available. Contact the writer: 714-796-2478 lcasiano@ocregister.com It amazes me the steps to which our government will go to increase taxable wages and union dues in this state. With the rise in the minimum wage, this will result in larger taxable incomes, and more tax income to the state, or so they think. The results will be the opposite, except in union shops. When the unions get a minimum wage increase, there is also a rise in the employees union dues. Theres no doubt many small employers will simply go out of business, and larger businesses will automate to decrease the need for lower wage earners or leave the state altogether. A higher minimum wage equals higher union dues, equals more money for the union to give to liberals in our state Legislature. Consumer price increases and higher unemployment will be the result for all who work in our state. I have one more rhetorical question: If a fast-food employee cannot afford today to buy their familys dinner where they work, after the wage and price increases take effect, will they then be able to? John Young Irvine I see the usual Big Business shills for the Republican Party have weighed in, blasting the increase in the minimum wage, using that tired old mantra that it will hurt all businesses in California, leading to massive layoffs. Job killer? The job killers are Corporate America, which eliminates union jobs, ships them overseas, destroys the small Mom-and-Pop businesses (can you say Wal-Mart), have huge tax shelters, massive compensation for its elite and expects more work from its laborers for less pay, which is sucking the blood out the middle class. Bernie has it right. The revolution is coming. Ed Pyle Laguna Niguel SACRAMENTO Endangered salmon blocked for nearly a century from hundreds of miles of the Klamath River in Oregon and California are expected to return en masse under unusual agreements signed Wednesday to tear down four hydroelectric dams. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, who signed the agreements with the governors of both states, said the plan would bring about one of the largest river restoration projects in the history of the U.S. The landmark agreements also protect farmers and ranchers from rising power and water prices as the various interests work to end long-running water wars in the drought-stricken Klamath River basin. The dams now block fish from migrating to their historic spawning grounds and also degrade water quality, spreading fish diseases and algae blooms. Salmon are sacred to some Native American tribes that use them for subsistence and ceremony. Our allocation of fish this year doesnt meet half of our subsistence for our people, said Yurok Tribe Vice Chairman David Gensaw. This is a threat to our culture, our religion and the economic survival of our people. The Klamath basin has been the site of tense disputes between tribes, environmentalists, farmers and ranchers for nearly two decades. In 2001, water deliveries to farmers and ranchers were severely curtailed. Adult salmon suffered a major die-off a year later. Salmon harvests have been sharply reduced for the tribes as well as recreational and commercial fishers. The latest deal is spelled out in two agreements signed at the mouth of the Klamath in northern California in a ceremony attended by Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, California Gov. Jerry Brown, high-ranking federal officials, tribal leaders, conservation groups, large-scale water users and dam-owner PacifiCorp. The agreements include promises to keep working on a dormant, six-year-old settlement process that died when Congress failed to approve it last year. In addition to removing dams, the initial settlement would have restored tribal lands and provided more water for farmers and ranchers. By removing the dams without congressional approval, and providing price assurances to farmers in exchange, the advocates hope to make the larger deal more palatable for Congress. Not everyone is celebrating. Dam removal is a major improvement, but the guarantees for farmers and ranchers dont belong in the agreement, said Jim McCarthy of the conservation group WaterWatch. The PacifiCorp utility has supported a dam-removal agreement because it offers the company liability protections and caps the costs to its customers. Several studies have shown that dam upgrades likely to be required would significantly reduce electricity generation and would cost millions more than dam removal and replacement of hydropower with other sources. The company will transfer ownership of four Klamath River dams to a nonprofit corporation recently created in California, which will petition the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval to tear them down. Two others will be transferred to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which will continue operating them without raising prices for farmers and ranchers who irrigate their fields. One of the tribes already has obtained senior water rights through the courts, limiting water available for farmers and ranchers, and the others could pursue that process. Klamath Basin agriculture is valued at about $670 million annually. Funding for the $450 million project would come from PacifiCorp customers in California and Oregon, along with a water bond approved by California voters in 2014. Havas PR North America, part of publicly-held Havas, is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its founding as Creamer Dickson Basford by donating $400,000 of PR professional time to pro bono work in the year to March 1, 2017. The program was announced by Marian Salzman, CEO of Havas PR North America. Marian Salzman Each Havas North American office will provide pro bono help to organizations in the respective city or region. The New York office will work with the Bob Woodruff Foundation which helps injured veterans, service members and their families. The Phoenix team will work with Tucson Values Teachers and the Pittsburgh office will work with New Sun Rising which supports leaders of social enterprises and community projects to create local, sustainable and measurable impact. Havas/Pittsburgh will also work with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and other local citizens groups. This is a landmark year in an extremely exciting time for Havas PR, said Salzman. Were so proud to lean in to our charitable culture with our pledge of $400K for 40and Im excited to engage this group in the initiative, knowing that every member of the Havas North America team will throw themselves into the efforts wholeheartedly. PR Group Launched as CDB in 1976 The PR group was launched in 1976 as Creamer Dickson Basford and over the years segued to Kratz & Jensen, Magnet, Euro RSCG Worldwide and currently to Havas PR. It has been identified with many PR firsts and innovations, said Salzman, including her own popularization of the metrosexual man more than a decade ago. RSCG used ithe term in conducting a marketing study in the early 2000s. The Metrosexual is defined as a single young man with a high disposable income, living or working in the city because that's where all the best shops are. He is said to be perhaps the most promising consumer market of the decade. In the eighties he was only to be found inside fashion magazines such as Gentlemans Quarterly. In the nineties, hes everywhere and he's going shopping, said WP. Seated (L to R): Laura Shore, Pattie Sullivan, Lesley Sillaman, Mandy Haines, Susan English. Standing (L to R); Dempsey Kunselman, Kelly Lovato, Christina Misch, Brittney Cira The agency has long held the belief that local is the new global, she said. Salzman and the Havas staff are authoring Agile Public Relations which will be published by AMACOM before Christmas. Were newscrafters and buzz builders who launch and nurture brands that people admire, adore and emulate, she said. Havas PR North America has won more than 375 honors in the past seven years and is one of the most honored agencies in its size category, she said. Salzman will be jury chair this spring for Design & Art Direction for Jacques Seguela, one of the Havas founders. D&AD is the U.K. charity that promotes excellence in design. She will also be a judge for the BBCs One Show PR industry awards. Havas Net Grew 22.7% in 2015 Havas reported a 22.7% gain in net income in 2015 to euro 172 million. Revenues were euro 2.188 million and reflected organic growth of 5.1% and unadjusted growth of 17.3%. CEO Yannick Bollore said, 2015 was another record year for the Group which once again posted one of the strongest performances in the industry. We delivered growth in all our regions, increase income from operations margin by an additional 30 basis points to 14.4% and maintained a strong balance sheet to support our future growth. Havas continued to implement its collaboration and integration strategy by creating 37 Havas Villages around the world that bring creativity, media and innovation under a single shared roof. Opening in 2015 were villages in Bangkok, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Manchester, Mumbai, Phnom Penh, Reunion, Seoul, Laos and Myanmar. The Group produced nearly 120 pro bono campaigns representing 2,800 working days by the teams involved. It won a total of 1,100 awards in 2015 including those from the Canes Lions (International Festival of Creativity); Clio Awards; D&AD; International Awards for Innovation; the AWARDS awards; Spikes Asia; Eurobest, FIAP, El Sol, El Ojo de IberoAmerican and at regional and national Effies. Havas PR North America won Best Mid-Sized Agency for Corporate Reputation and Good Works, Midsize Agency of the Year and Global Agency of the Year (Multinational Practice) at the Bulldog Awards. Photos of Hillary Clinton and aide Huma Abedin are being featured in the New York Post as a means of embarrassing Clinton since Abedin is married to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner. NYP on April 5 ran a three-column photo of Clinton and Abedin almost cheek-to-cheek under the headline, Huma fell for Hill. Todays online NYPost has the headline, Huma Abedin Gushes about How She Became a Hillary Fan Girl. Clinton lost her sixth straight primary to Bernie Sanders yesterday. The vote in Wisconsin was 56-44% in his favor. They will debate Thursday April 14 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Abedin told a Call Your Girlfriend podcast that she experienced a wow moment on meeting Clinton as a 21-year-old student in Little Rock, Ark. I had such a fangirl moment and I was hooked, Abedin told the podcast. I remember thinking, Oh, my God, shes so beautiful and shes so little! said Abedin who was deputy chief of staff for Clinton when she was Secretary of State. NYP Notes Weiner Problem The NYP article, by Joe Tacopino, notes that Abedin is married to disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner. Sidebars to the Tacopino story have the headlines, Film shows Carlos Danger (pseudonym used by Weiner in emailing photos of his penis) is still in need of a good whacking; Hillarys foundation subpoenaed over Huma Abedins work, and Weiner regrets giving access to filmmakers, wont see documentary. MWW PR became embroiled in the controversy by retaining Weiner as a consultant from July to September 2015 when a burst of media stories led to his departure from the firm. MWW in recent months has been adopting a low profile. CEO Michael Kempner and former ODwyer editor Kevin McCauley had expressed high praise of Weiner. McCauley later joined MWW. U.K.'s Daily Mail Covers Abedin/Weiner/Clinton The U.K.'s Daily Mail has given extensive coverage to Clinton's ties to Abedin/Weiner. It interviewed Donald Trump on the subject who spared no words. Four photos were also part of the Daily Mail's coverage. Trump told DailyMail.com last July 30 that it's reasonable to think Abedin may have shared information with Weiner, including the contents of classified emails that passed through the former secretary of state's private server. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman, resigned in 2011 amid lewd sexting scandals, said DM. Trump told DM during an interview in New York that "the person seeing [Clinton's] emails more than anybody else is Huma. And who's Huma married to? The worst deviant in the United States of America, right? Weiner!' DM said Abedin holds a security clearance that typically comes with detailed guidance on what kind of information must be kept secret from family members, including spouses. Said DM: "Trump said Weiner's actions were 'shocking and disgusting' and questioned whether 'anyone that untrustworthy' should be 'anywhere around national secrets.' 'Huma knows all those emails and she's married to a deviant who has a big mouth.'"